CD Reviews

This is the band founded by Teloch more recently of Mayhem fame but featuring current or ex members of the likes of 1349, Dodheimsgard (DHG) and God Seed amongst others. ’Greatest Of Deceivers’ (G.O.D see what they have done there!) being their third full length album from these Extreme Metal Norwegians. Cover art for those who are interested is by Metastazis who has created covers for Watain, Ulver and Blut Aus Nord to name a few.

They have honed their brand of Black/Death Metal even further since the first and the second albums and on first listening it took me back a number of years as the Dodheimsgard (DHG) style of music passed over my aural receptors. This is complex and technical Metal writhing like an angry snake with pace and tempo changes around every corner. The various layers to each track like the jangling guitar, blistering, blasting drums, rumbling bass line and the hoarsely screamed vocals as it kicks

Void Paradigm hail from France and this self titled affair is their debut album release. Having an ex-vocalist of Bethlehem in the ranks had me intrigued to hear their brand of Black Metal that they refer to as ‘hypnotic and dodecatonic‘.

The first track ’Chao Ab Chao’ kicks in with buzzing guitar riffage overlaid with a repetitive melody slightly off key to the rest of the music that proceeds to change up and down the chords. I am a big admirer of Fleurety and I was hoping this was going to go off on a similar tangent but it was not to be. At this point I started to realise something didn’t seem right. Rapid rip speed drumming creating a backdrop to the track and then in come the vocals. I was expecting tortured banshee like screams but instead a more Melodic Death or Dark metal style greeted my ears. I gave the track more time into which, at a  point, into a slower more rocking pace, not dissimilar to

Geist is a one man Black Metal band from Israel and this is the debut full length from Ratimus the blackened soul behind the music. Just taking a glance at the Germanic track titles you know this is going to be Northern European in feel, with more than an air of Satanic atmosphere, and it doesn‘t disappoint! 

After a short intro, the first track ‘Mord’ hits you with a cold wall of hissing guitars making you instantly aware that this is not an overproduced affair. The sound is more like something from the underground or back in the early 90’s, due to the album being recorded in a live environment. The vocals kick in and have that distant, echoey atmosphere that are just the right side of being lost in the mix, unlike the drums that are barely discernable, but luckily that is rectified on later tracks. This first track sets the stall for the rest of the album with it’s changes in pace from spinning buzz saw

When this album landed in my inbox the name and album artwork conjured images of The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band but alas it was not to be. I was raised on 60’s and 70’s rock so this better be good! Was I disappointed? Was I fu…!!! 

Now either someone has created a time portal back to the early 70’s or this trio from Hastings really have captured the sound that defined an era in rock. Right from the swirling atmospheric blast of acoustic guitar, electrified effects and the chanting of the intro, to opening track ‘Mark Of The Beast’ you know you are in for something special. The electrified riff kicks in and lays the path to the spacey swirl of rock that surges from the speakers. From the disembodied echo effect, to the gritty vocals, to the fuzzed out guitar sound, fat groovy bass and slick beat 

The first ever Doommantia.Com Compilation is now available for download for only $7 from BANDCAMP. This compilation was put together to raise money to benefit Ed Barnard of Doommantia.com. He suffered a heart attack and due to huge medical bills, he is now homeless.

Immediate download is a mere $7 (about £4). Seriously that's less than the price of a pint in most places now and all the money is going to a great cause AND you get shit loads of music, 39 tracks, spanning over 4 hours!!!  Bands featured are Blackwolfgoat, At Devil Dirt, Low Gravity, Ichabod, Fister, Undersmile, Compel, Iron Man, Wizard's Beard, Oceans Rainbow, Beelzefuzz, Conan, Lazarus Complex, Spyderbone, Order Of The Owl, Dope Flood, War Injun, Heathen Bastard, Halmos, Kriz, Bongripper, Demonaut, In The Company Of Serpents, Switchblade Jesus, Pale Divine, When The Deadbolt Breaks, Bastards Of 

Black metal itself as a genre has always been closely tied to the landscapes. The scene so monopolised by the Norwegians whose corpse paint, and B&W imagery is firmly rooted in the stark black and white winter landscapes of a Norwegian winter.

Whilst Winterfylleth’s music is as bleak and biting as the best Norse offering, they root themselves in English heritage and the legends and saga’s of old Albion. They're named after the name given by the venerable Bede in the 8^th century to the full moon which marks the beginning of winter in what is now the month of October.

So, it's a full moon, its October, the autumn leaves are scattered across the ground and winter has indeed begun to fylleth. I’m sat here staring at the breathtaking northern landscape of Mam-tor (whose name graced a song on their 2008 release ‘the ghost of heritage’). 

The last few years have been a journey of discovery for Devin Townsend. The Canadian shed his former Strapping Young Lad skin, gave up drink and drugs, lost the infamous skullet and took to being almost always seen in public in a snappy silver-grey suit. It has also been a prolific period, with four albums issued that each reflected part of his internal process as a newly-sober man approaching his 40^th birthday. From the introspective “Ki” and “Ghost” opening and closing the series to poignant and sometimes aggressive moments on “Addicted” and “Deconstruction”, he has been exorcising his demons about life, the universe and everything. The series culminated in an extraordinary four-night stand in London last November when he played each album in its entirety and released a nine-disc box set, “By A Thread”, which is a very limited edition treasure well worth seeking out.

American black metal has over the last decade become something of a contested area, a battlefield of buzzwords and controversy in which terminology such as "hipster", "post-black metal" and other such frequently insulting and less frequently endearing descriptions and (sub-sub) genre tags are haphazardly employed, refuted and subsequently discussed. Bands such as Liturgy and Deafheaven and for different reasons artists associated with the Crepusculo Negro & Rhinocervs labels have over and over again been criticised and defended by a multitude of parties and in 2012 the argument has largely become over-burnt, stale and tired with many having quite simply stopped caring. 

A loosely congruent collection of musicians based largely, although surprisingly not entirely, in and around the Pacific Northwest of the USA have too been shown a particular degree of attention in recent years, with bands such as Wolves in the

Dragged into Sunlight’s brand of misanthropy spreads forth from Liverpool like some dark disease, utterly terrifying and yet dangerously infectious. Widowmaker is Dragged into Sunlight’s first full release since 2009’s incredible Hatred for mankind: Although the band are keen to point out it isn’t a direct successor. 

Indeed It's difficult to relate Widowmaker with the raging slab of misanthropy that was Hatred for Mankind. It's difficult because as soul destroying and intense as HFM was, Widowmaker just towers above it. It's utterly mesmerising, captivating and like nothing else I remember hearing, a master class in suspense, tension that would have Hitchcock applauding and asking them how they managed to do that. 

If Satan himself made music, he’d struggle to create something as truly terrifying as Widowmaker. It really isn't for the faint hearted, I'll be surprised if it doesn't come

Bosse-de-Nage is a dog-faced baboon who can speak no human words but "Ha Ha", a traveller accompanying Dr. Faustroll who happens to be a man born fully-grown at the age of 63 who travels in a bed, which is not a bed but a boat and is not in actuality a boat but rather, a sieve that floats like a boat. Confused yet?  Bosse-de-Nage is also a Bay Area based 4 piece who play a very particular and rather peculiar take on the black metal sub-genre and indeed, the latter is named after the former - a character from the French surrealist novel "Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician" by Alfred Jarry. 

The Bosse-de-Nage I speak of in 2010 released their debut and self-titled full-length and soon after, in 2011, released their second outing "II" - each put out by San