Repuked – Dawn of Reintoxication (Death Metal)

With a name like Repuked the first thing that comes to my mind “is this grindcore”? What is mostly at play here is filthy death metal though in the veins of legendary Autopsy. This is the first time I hear the band but they’ve been going since 2007, so veterans of the scene for sure. With two full-length albums, one EP, two splits and two demo releases together with very few line-up changes during the years I expect Dawn of Reintoxication being Repuked at the top of their game. It would turn out I was almost right.

Repuked has a very varied offering here where they change the tempo seamlessly and utilize their strengths well. Honestly really surprised by Dawn of Reintoxication, I came into this album thinking it would at the very best be an decent effort but here I am spinning this album on a daily basis for a week and loving it. “Kick Fuck” has those grindcore elements a la Birdflesh I thought the album would be full of which just fits perfectly into the Autopsy style they got going in general. Having a bit of slower paces death doom scenarios could of been a very misplaced decision but instead that is a great change of pace that gives the listener room to breathe. With songs like “Repulsive Erected and Anally Infected”, “Vodka Til the Grave”, “Shitfister” and “Fucking Your Fucking Corpse” you know from the song-titles along you’re in for a fucked up party. The title track “Dawn of Reconfiguration” even gives you an instrumental sci-fi horror type of tune which instantly made me think of The Thing or Colour Out of Space. Big surprise and I would not think this was from Sweden if I didn’t read it in the promo several times myself haha.

The only thing here is that the red line might be missing a bit, as the album can be a bit all over the place and maybe too varied actually for some listeners. A hard thing to master really as the most memorable albums that last for years are varied but still have the thin led line it dances on that makes you want to get back to it time and time again. Repuked aren’t quite there but they did blow me away with Dawn of Reintoxication either way with this more than solid nasty death metal offering, one of the better albums I’ve heard these past months (was debating on a 4 for a long time) and it can definitely sneak into my top 50 list by the end of the year.

Artist: Repuked
Label: Soulseller Records
Release date: October 9th, 2020
Favorite track: Repulsive Erected and Anally Infected
For fans of: Autopsy & Cryptic Brood
Score: 3.5/5 Very good

Repuked
https://www.facebook.com/Repuked
https://repuked.bandcamp.com/

Soulseller Records
https://www.facebook.com/SOULSELLERRECORDS/
https://www.instagram.com/soulsellerrecords/
http://www.soulsellerrecords.com/
https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/

Khôra – Timaeus (Atmospheric Black Metal)

Khôra has released it’s debut full length album, with the title of Timaeus. It’s an philosophical journey through cosmos, reaching far out to the very edge of it and beyond. What can almost be described as an existential storytelling, about where, what, who and why.

Originally formed in Freiburg, Germany by multi instrumental Oleg in 2013, since then have managed to release an demo, in 2016, and moved his base to Dublin, Ireland. According to the philosopher Plato, Khôra’s meaning is simply put it nothing and everything at the same time. Khôra is neither a being nor non being but something in lika a intervene which nothingness is originally being held.

Timaeus is a pot where a lot of different genres have been molded into a unique constellation. Everything from Black, Death, Progressive and many more. This have created a powerful sound, that will live up to the bands name, universal. Here you will feel and hear their vision of the infinity/eternity that keep everything in balance.

Khôra have since it’s first demo release been reinforced by very exceptional musicians from acts like Dødheimsgard, …and Oceans, Finntroll and more.

If something needs to be mentioned, it will have to be the artwork, made by Sergey Shenderovsky. Here follows an interesting dialogue between three entities, celestial eternals before the world and time exists.

If you’re a fan to the mythos of H.P Lovecraft and in general extreme metal, then this is the album for you.

Written by Ķ

Artist: Khôra
Label: Soulseller Records
Release date: April 17th, 2020
Favorite song: The Purge
For fans of: Dødheimsgard & The Great Old Ones
Score: 3/5 Good

Khôra

https://www.facebook.com/KHORA.Official/

Soulseller Records

https://www.facebook.com/SOULSELLERRECORDS
https://www.instagram.com/soulsellerrecords/
https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/
http://www.soulsellerrecords.com/

Wombbath – Choirs of the Fallen (Death Metal)

Created in 1990 Wombbath is a pure veteran of the Swedish death metal scene. After disbanding in 1995 the band was recreated in 2014 by the founder Håkan Stuvemark who together with one of Sweden’s best death metal vocalists Jonny Pettersson (Berzerker Legion, Gods Forsaken, Heads For the Dead etc) has been for core of Wombbath today. The bands latest release The Great Desolation came in 2018 and was in my opinion one of the best swe-death albums of the year. Since then only Håkan and Jonny has remained in the line-up as Thomas von Wachenfeldt (De Tveksamma, Wachenfeldt) joins on guitar, Matt Davidson (Repulsive Vision, Henry Kane (live)) on bass and Jon Rudin (From Ruin and Just Before Dawn) on drums. With the core still intact it was interesting to hear if the band would sound like this time around.

At the start much have stayed the same, which is for the good seeing as I loved The Great Desolation. Wombbath being heavily rooted in the days of old school swe-death this is no surprise to be honest as members have come and gone but their core sound has always been there, that’s the case this time too. Dismember like riffs comes at you straight from the get go as “Fallen” starts the album in style. “Crawling from the Pits” is HM-2 galore where every single old school swe-death fan should jump with joy when the riffs shreds you halfway into the song. On “We Shall Remain” Jonny switches up the vocals a bit and tries some other styles which doesn’t quite hit a home run for me and the track feels a lot weaker than the rest of the album all around to be honest. “A Sweet Taste of Death” also has some high and lows but here the quality is more back up to what the first two songs delivered. Loving the eerie feeling and tempo-changes they’re going for here even if I feel it could of been done even better it’s a nice change of death metal. “From the Beggars Hand” then comes on, my favorite track on the album because holy crap is this the way I love Wombbath play. The solo at around 4:10 is lethal and should come with a warning label while Jonny does one of his best performances just adds more fuel to my headbanging ways. An absolute killer track which shows Wombbath at its peak. Funny thing is the other six minute song (they are actually both clocking 6:06) “Wings of Horror” does give “From the Beggars Hand” a run for its money however as here their newer elements just clash perfectly and the horrific atmosphere laid down by Jonny’s variation on growls and shrieks in the background along with some filthy instrumentals works wonderful together. Think more doomy death metal a la Finland and Krypts or Corpsessed than classic swe-death here. If you have to just listen to two songs choose those two as they showcase two very different sides of Wombbath.

On Choirs of the Fallen they’ve actually tried more new things than I originally thought they would, with varied outcomes. Nice to see a band so rooted in a certain style tries to add new elements though. I do think The Great Desolation was a better album overall though and that Wombbath might have tried a trick or two too many here. There are a few too many songs that are just good than great here and I also think the overall songwriting was a bit better on The Great Desolation. However with that said fans of Wombbath will feel right at home, that thing is certain and the band has released some of their best material here, just also some of its weaker ones too. Have to be said I have very high expectations of a band of this caliber which is obviously something to keep in mind if you’re just checking the score. It’s a very good death metal album which shows a band willing to try new things (an old dog can learn to sit!) and I’m very exiting for what comes next from Wombbath to continue this path.

Artist: Wombbath
Label: Soulseller Records
For fans of: Dismember & Entrails
Release date: March 6th, 2020
Favorite song: From the Beggars Hand
Score: 3.5/5 Very good

Albums of the month: January

The first month of the year has come to pass and with that the first albums of the month article of 2020 is now live. I did mention I could be a bit late on my articles due to recently becoming a dad and this is one of those cases as I simply didn’t have the time to sit down with this. I’ve had a long list of bands but it was tough to get through it all, not only time wise but this was actually a very strong field of albums to kickstart 2020 in style! January is usually a slow month (was in 2019 for example) but not this time around. We got bands such as Lorna Shore, Wormhole and Svarttjern releasing their best material yet while we also got wicked full-length debut albums that packs a punch in Berzerker Legion and Sallow Moth just to name a few examples. Here is me hoping 2020 will be another strong year for metal and that this incredible start pushes the rest of the bands to release their best material yet.

Album of the month:

Lorna Shore – Immortal

All drama aside Lorna Shore has lived up to the hype and released their by far strongest album to date. Not only that I think it’s one of the best deathcore albums in years! Together with bands such as Shadow of Intent and AngelMaker they are pushing the genre forward to reach new grounds.

Lorna Shore – Immortal was released January 31st via Century Media Records.

Runners-up:

Svarttjern – Shame is Just a Word

I liked Dødsskrik a lot but with Shame is Just a Word Svarttjern has become even darker and evolved their sound to new levels. We already got a contender for the best black metal album of the year. This is fantastic and the best album so far by Svarttjern where they’ve truly managed to capture the essence of old black metal with the more modern touches. You can read the review here.

Svarttjern – Shame is Just a Word was released January 17th via Soulseller Records.

Sallow Moth – The Larval Hope

This is just a wicked full-length debut album from Sallow Moth. The Larval Hope is the best old school death metal album I’ve heard so far this year. It packs a punch and is varied enough, with high quality, to keep you wanting to spin this again and again. You can read the review here.

Sallow Moth – The Larval Hope was released January 15th via Dead Red Queen Records.

Berzerker Legion – Obliterate the Weak

What can I say I’m a sucker for catchy death metal! Berzerker Legion is something as rare as a supergroup (with members from Vader, Dark Funeral, Hypocrisy, Asphyx and Wombbath) that works and delivers a superb album.

Berzerker Legion – Obliterate the Weak was released January 29th via Listenable Records.

Wormhole – The Weakest Among Us

While Genesis was solid it might have lacked some bits to make it stand out and be a long lasting album in my playlists I find The Weakest Among Us bringing all the right stuff. You can read the review here.

Wormhole – The Weakest Among Us was released January 14th via Lacerated Enemy Records.

More great albums of January:

Frogg – A Reptilian Dystopia
Aseptic – Cascading Fluids
Unbounded Terror – Faith in Chaos
Blighted – Silhouette of the Sun
Diabology – Nobody Believes Me
Waldhexen – Ego Canus Lunam Cano
Vvilderness – Dark Waters
Svrm – Занепад
Vengeful Spectre – 殞煞 Vengeful Spectre
Kataphraktoi – Ursinne
Unreqvited – Mosaic II: La déteste et la détresse
Empire of the Moon – Εκλειψις
Erdling – Yggdrasil
Kaoteon – Kaoteon
Horned Almighty – To Fathom the Master’s Grand Design
Blasphemer – The Sixth Hour
Impiety – Versus All Goods
Annihilator – Ballistic, Sadistic
Necropsy – Exitus
Dead End Finland – Inter Vivos
Kawir – Αδράστεια
Slave One – Omega Disciples
Defiled – Infinite Regress
Despondent – The Cosmic Horror
Frigoris – ….in Stille
Reincarnage – Reap
Child of Waste – Hunger Made Man
Aethyrick – Gnosis
Coffin Curse – Ceased To Be
Invictus – The Catacombs Of Fear
Dawn of Solace – Waves
Into Pandemonium – Darkest Rise
Nattverd – Styggdom
The Absolution Sequence – Silent King
One Vote For Violence – Desolation
Dark Usurper – Mortal Dissonance
I, Delusionist – Catharsis
Jordablod – The Cabinet of Numinous Song
Vananidr – Damnation
Macabre Demise – Awakening
Obsidian Tongue – Volume III

Svarttjern – Shame is Just a Word (Black Metal)

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I reviewed the last album Dødsskrik from Svarttjern back in 2016 and during that time I had a 0-10 scale on scores I gave it a 9/10, thinking it was a black metal masterpiece of the year with a fresh sound that every black metal fanatic should devour. While I haven’t actually gone back to that album as much as I thought I would I still think Dødsskrik was one of the best albums released in the genre that year. Oh and for those unfamiliar with Svarttjern it’s a five-man band which contains some very big names with three of said five coming from Carpathian Forest. Rounding up the line-up there is guitarist Fjellnord from Magister Templi and then ex-Ragnarok vocalist HansFyrste (one of my personal favorites from the Norwegian scene). With that in mind I had high hopes Svarttjern’s 5th album would prove to be a a contender for one of the best black metal albums in 2020, and a great start to the year.

Svarttjern sticks, for the most part, to the same formula and fans of their old material will feel right at home here. There are a couple of tracks that stands out with a more old school almost heavy metal/thrash feel, much of what 1349 tried to get back to the roots with their latest album but I do think Svarttjern does a better job at it much due to the fact Svarttjern has always been close to bands such as Celtic Frost and Hellhammer. Another thing that stands out is the song “Ment til å Tjene”, this song it the pinnacle of Norwegian black metal in my opinion. It has it all, the mighty riffs, fast pace, sung on the mothertongue and just plain evil. I can listen to that song on repeat all day and it’s honestly one of the best single songs I’ve heard in months. The solo at 3:50 gives me goosebumps and that song alone can bring fans into Svarttjern as they show just how well they can bring the old school and make it fresh. The cover of Exodus famous song “Bounded by Blood” is also one of the best made covers I’ve heard in quite some time and it’s very fitting Svarttjern in so many ways, great job and choice on that one!

As I stated before I liked Dødsskrik a lot but with Shame is Just a Word Svarttjern has become even darker and evolved their sound to new levels. The year is only 17 days old and we already got a contender for the best black metal album of the year. This is fantastic and the best album so far by Svarttjern where they’ve truly managed to capture the essence of old black metal with the more modern touches. All I can say to end this review with is, as I read in the promo email, “Show your true self and shake off your invisibility cloak. Embrace your shame. Shame is just a word.”

Written by J.B.

Artist: Svarttjern
Label: Soulseller Records
For fans of: 1349 & Ragnarok
Release date: January 17th, 2020
Favorite song: Ment til å Tjene
Score: 4.5/5 Incredible

Albums of the Month: April

This time the album of the month section is coming a late, I’ve simply had too much to do past few weeks. However here it is the 4th edition, 1/3 of the year complete and even though it took a few weeks before most of the good albums dropped we yet again have some great albums to show!

Album of the month

Månegarm – Fornaldarsagor

Månegarm seems to do no wrong and Fornaldarsagor is a stunning album. In my opinion this is their best release since Vargstenen, which is hard to beat as it’s considered a viking metal masterpiece! Released April 26th via Napalm Records.

Runners-up

Gods Forsaken – Smells of Death

Their sophomore album is even better than their also great debut. One of the best HM-2 swedeath albums you will hear all year! Released April 19th via Soulseller Records.

Enterprise Earth – Luciferous

As one that have never truly got behind the Enterprise Earth hype train this took me by surprise. While they’ve released good albums in the past this is one of the best deathcore albums I’ve heard since I started this blog three years ago. If not for Månegarm releasing an album of the year contender this would be my album of the month pick. Released April 5th via Entertainment One Music.

Murg – Strävan

Yet another surprise. This time due to the fact I hadn’t listened to the band prior to Strävan though. Strävan is the bands third release and after going through their old stuff I dare say this is their best yet and the best black metal release of the month. Released April 26th via Nordvis Produktion.

Dawn of Demise – Into the Depths of Veracity

Dawn of Demise is, together with Illdisposed, the best death metal band Denmark has. Into the Depths of Veracity is yet another class release from these mad fuckers. Released April 19th via Unique Leader Records.

Honorable mentions

Numenorean – Adore
Istapp – The Insidious Star
AntropomorphiA – Merciless Savagery
Hath – Of Rot and Ruin
Hedonihil – I
Dethrone The Corrupted – Sintrophia
Belzebubs – Pantheon of the Nightside Gods
Marianas Rest – Ruins
Allegaeon – Apoptosis
Mephorash – Shem Ha Mephorash
After The Burial – Evergreen
Mist Of Misery – Unalterable
Waldgeflüster – Mondscheinsonaten
2 Wolves – …Our Fault
Archaic Decapitator – The Apothecary
Devour the Unborn – Liturgy of Irreverent Oblation
Wormwitch – Heaven That Dwells Within

Albums of the Month: February

While January was in general a bit slow it still put out some solid albums, you can read more about my favorites here. Enter February though and it was a whole other level, the quality releases just kept on coming and I had a really hard time choosing my top 5 this month around. I can only imagine some months will be even harder two as there are ten more to go… Last month was filled with death metal from my part but you will find February had a more varied selection. The albums I pick from needs to be full-length releases (I didn’t mention that last month), but in the honorable mention section I will mention those too. Give the albums bellow a listen, comment on your own list (maybe I missed a release!?) and don’t forget to support the metal underground!

Album of the Month

Saor – Forgotten Paths

Maybe not the strangest choice as the Scottish one-man army that is Saor is probably one of the most known acts within atmospheric black metal by now. Forgotten Paths is in my opinion his best release yet and it just keeps getting better with time. This is not just the album of the month, this is a contender for album of the year! Released February 15th via Avantgarde Music.

Runners-up

Ossuarium – Living Tomb

Who doesn’t love old school death metal and especially the filthy straight from the severs kind that adds some doom elements to it? That’s exactly what Ossuarium does and this is very well executed, hard to tell this is a debut album. A crushing debut that bulldozed its way to my heart. Released February 1st via 20 Buck Spin.

Rotting Christ – The Heretics

I know this album has got some harsh review from some sites but God dammit I love Rotten Christ and this is black metal 100% their way. I don’t think it’s their best album ever but 32 years down the road this band is still one of the best in the business and The Heretics is another solid effort that many bands wish was their own. Released February 15th via Season of Mist.

Wretched Fate – Fleshletting

I am just a sucker for meaty death metal riffs, sue me. There are obviously a lot of bands from Sweden who plays the same kind of HM2 infused metal but not everyone does it as well as these guys, on their debut to boot! Their biggest influence is definitely coming from Bloodbath and in all honesty I think Fleshletting is on par with them at its peak. That speaks volume on how bright the future look for this band! Released February 22nd via Redefining Darkness Records.

Grafvitnir – Venenum Scorpionis

Six albums in and I still think Grafvitnir is the best hidden secret from Sweden. Their whole discography is filled with Dissection worshiping black metal that will make any extreme metal fan headbang with joy. Venenum Scorpionis is another great offering to the black metal scene and I think it’s about time they get the respect they deserve. Released February 22nd via Carnal Records.

Honorable Mentions

Relics of Humanity – Obscuration (Best EP of the month!)
Electrocution – Psychonolarty
Ulfven – Folklore
Blodhemn – Mot Ein Evig Ruin
Candlemass – The Door to Doom
Continuum – Designed Obsolescence
Phrymerial – Xenomorphic Creation
Lucidity – Oceanum