Gehenna - "Murder"
(Moonfog, CD, 2000) Last
year's deathmetalish "Admiration Black" was a warning...the Norwegian
Gehenna were preparing themselves to release something seriously brutal...and
looks like they've made it. Believe it or not, as I'm listening to the second
track of this "Murder", I can't stop thinking: "Are these guys
the same who released "Black Seared Heart and "Seen Through the Veils
of Darkness"??. As you probably know, most of their compatriots are getting
softer, boring and trendy...there's no need to mention names. Gehenna decided
not to follow the same way, they became more brutal and aggressive...so the
result were these 10 tracks of death metal with a low, dirty sound (no need to
say that I was really caught by surprise!). The voice is guttural, the guitars
are constantly discharging very direct and fluent raw riffs and the drumming is
quite fast (but the double base could be less muffled). The lyrics here are
about war, death, religion and different kinds of insanity, wich is appropriate
to their "new" sonority (notice that some samples from old horror
movies and documentaries were also included). The cover artwork of the album is
an old photo of an execution, wich was posteriorly modified. Concerning the
production, some tracks were recorded with different sound volumes, wich reveals
a lack of profissionalism by whoever did that (maybe it was made intentionally,
who knows). Anyway, this detail won't change my opinion about this release,
fucking great!
Tracklist:
1 - Intro
2 - Murder
3 - Worthy Exit
4 - Devout Dementia
5 - The Crucified One
6 - Perfect Hate
7 - To The Grave
8 - Trail Of Blood
9 - Master Satan
10 - The Dead
17/20
Damned
Godless North - "Summon the
Age of Supremacy" (Merciless Records/Breath of Night, CD, 2001) This
Canadian band released a demotape in 1998 named "Dark Rites of the Mystic Order"
that received very good reviews within the Underground scene. Now, three years
and couple of delays later, their debut "Summon the Age of Supremacy" is finally
out.
By listening to this record, the first thing I noticed was that they continue in
the same vein of the demo, but now you can clearly see more experience,
specially in the way the songs are composed.
If you're not familiar with their demo I can classify their sound as a blending
between Darkthrone's "Transylvanian Hunger" and Moonblood's "Blut Und Krieg", so
don't expect a good production and a very technical album, for this is
Blackmetal as it was meant to be: cold, harsh and primitive.
The only flaw I can point in this release is that the songs are relatively long
and always at a high-pace, so it sometimes gets a little boring. But's it's not
this detail that will change my opinion that this is a very good album.
Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Glory of the Past Returns
3. Dark Skies Over Vinland
4. Under the Veil of Night
5. Winter of Cleansing
6. Upon Heathen Battlefields
7. Dawn of a New Empire
8.Wisdom of the Ancient Cults
9. ... The Wolf Unleashed - Outro
17/20
Shemahmforash
Godless North / Chemin de
Haine - "Only Human Ashes are Real"(War Spirit, Split-CD, 2003) Finally
some new songs from the Canadian Godless North in the form of a split-CD along
with the French Chemin de Haine.
The split features four songs from Godless North and three from Chemin de Haine.
About the Godless North part, their new songs show a much more mature band, when
compared to their full-length "Summon the Age of Supremacy", now they managed to
get rid of being labelled "darkthrone clones" with an own and original sound.
Their new sound is achieved with a superb combination of mid-paced parts with
devastating high speed moments.
The songs played by Chemin de Haine in this split are quite similar to the ones
they usually record alone, for those less familiar with them I can label their
sound as a much more aggressive version of Celestia, if you know what I mean.
This split is clearly a good alliance between two bands very well respected
within the Underground. Recommended only for the Blackmetal fan.
Tracklist:
1 - Godless North - Intro
2 - Godless North - The Fading Cause Of Light's Crusade
3 - Godless North - Sombre Reflections Of Hate's Embrace
4 - Godless North - Carnage on Holy Soil
5 - Chemin de Haine - Intro / Sempiternelle Existence
6 - Chemin de Haine - Ere Du Démon - Année Premiére
7 - Chemin de Haine - Le Christ Humilié / Outro
17,5/20
Shemahmforash
Graveland - "Memory and
Destiny" (MCD, No Colours Records, 2002) Well
well, someone that listened to the first albums of this band, and since then
have lost their track, may no longer recognize Graveland's sound, for now the
grimm and raw parts have been replaced by atmospheric ones.
If you are not so familiar with this band's sound I can introduce it as some
sort of hybrid form between Blackmetal, some pagan influences with a little
touch of choirs.
This album is an authentic war anthem with songs that take us right in to the
core of ancient battles. The way Darken manage to leads us to this long
forgotten past is writing very long tracks (all of them are about 10 minutes
long) that are dominated by mid paced moments, that remind me of the rhythmic
pace of an army marching towards the battle, and filled with great landscapes produced by
the keyboards.
I think that with this new sound Graveland have managed to gain a refreshed sonority
and identity that, for being honest, is quite stronger than in the
previous works.
Tracklist:
1 - Fate Of Warrior
2 - Jewel Of Atlanteans
3 - Memory And Destiny
4 - Legion Of Giants
5 - Runes of Rise
17/20
Shemahmforash
Gwydion - "Augmentation"
(Demo, 2001) A
melodic Blackmetal band comming from Portugal, that's how I describe Gwydion
with their 6 songs and a videoclip demo. I must confess you that I'm not a great
follower of melodic Blackmetal, but this band somehow managed to capture me with
this release.
This demo is filled with keyboards, but they do not muffle the guitars wich play
very good (nothing complex, though, but quite effective) riffs.
What realy pleased me in this demo was the high degree of coordination that
these guys already have and that they know how to compose songs, the only fault
I can point in this is some lack of consistency in the songs, but they are young
and have more than time to correct this. So for me, this is clearly a positive
work, keep it going guys!
Tracklist:
1 - Augmentation
2 - Forbidden Path
3 - Untamed Wrath
4 - Tones of Anticipation
5 - The Great Dome
6 - Time Vortex
+ videoclip of Untamed Wrath
Last
year's deathmetalish "Admiration Black" was a warning...the Norwegian
Gehenna were preparing themselves to release something seriously brutal...and
looks like they've made it. Believe it or not, as I'm listening to the second
track of this "Murder", I can't stop thinking: "Are these guys
the same who released "Black Seared Heart and "Seen Through the Veils
of Darkness"??. As you probably know, most of their compatriots are getting
softer, boring and trendy...there's no need to mention names. Gehenna decided
not to follow the same way, they became more brutal and aggressive...so the
result were these 10 tracks of death metal with a low, dirty sound (no need to
say that I was really caught by surprise!). The voice is guttural, the guitars
are constantly discharging very direct and fluent raw riffs and the drumming is
quite fast (but the double base could be less muffled). The lyrics here are
about war, death, religion and different kinds of insanity, wich is appropriate
to their "new" sonority (notice that some samples from old horror
movies and documentaries were also included). The cover artwork of the album is
an old photo of an execution, wich was posteriorly modified. Concerning the
production, some tracks were recorded with different sound volumes, wich reveals
a lack of profissionalism by whoever did that (maybe it was made intentionally,
who knows). Anyway, this detail won't change my opinion about this release,
fucking great!
This
Canadian band released a demotape in 1998 named "Dark Rites of the Mystic Order"
that received very good reviews within the Underground scene. Now, three years
and couple of delays later, their debut "Summon the Age of Supremacy" is finally
out.
Finally
some new songs from the Canadian Godless North in the form of a split-CD along
with the French Chemin de Haine.
Well
well, someone that listened to the first albums of this band, and since then
have lost their track, may no longer recognize Graveland's sound, for now the
grimm and raw parts have been replaced by atmospheric ones.
A
melodic Blackmetal band comming from Portugal, that's how I describe Gwydion
with their 6 songs and a videoclip demo. I must confess you that I'm not a great
follower of melodic Blackmetal, but this band somehow managed to capture me with
this release.