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Therion – Gothic Kabbalah

Being dissatisfied with creating what might be called a pinnacle of death metal in ‘Beyond Sanctorum‘ (an undertaking that for all its immersive grandeur and epic legends never felt entirely comfortable within the genre), Therion mastermind Christofer Johnsson embarked upon a massive crusade in pursuit of an album that successfully integrated a symphonic revelry into a metal foundation. While others, including Mr. Johnsson himself, might disagree, it is the opinion of this reviewer that, having toiled for over fifteen years in this particular effort, Therion finally achieved the full extent of its aim in ‘Gothic Kabbalah’, and album that we not only deem to be the single best record of the past record, but also the most inventive, most ingenious accomplishment to emerge from a band no longer affiliated with the original death metal framework.

Once the listener can eventually penetrate the deeper meanings of ‘Gothic Kabbalah’, which can require a great deal of time and concentration due to the sheer immensity of its vision, he is likely to be struck by how purposeful the music seems. Every track sets out an individual lyrical theme (all lyrics written by the studious Thomas Karlsson), and the composition as a whole (not merely the vocals) actually reflects the corresponding theme as it should always do. This is where truly excellent music will unfailingly show its quality: the imaginative vision of the artist, whether the intent be conscious or not, is sublimely displayed in the overall thematic unity of the album, in both conceptual and strictly musical dimensions, as well as in an intricate understanding of precisely what the artist wishes to create, and of course of the tools that he is working with.

In ‘Gothic Kabbalah’, we are entranced by a composition that sings and dances fluidly in a notable contrast to the relatively plodding movements that characterize some of the earlier records. A full sense of the album’s strong self-awareness is manifested by an easy alliance between some convincing, eccentric vocals, plenty of nimble solos and delicate melodies, and a deeply visceral performance by a devoted rhythm section; taken as a whole, the instrumentation is perfectly charismatic. This does not altogether give the impression of being a fun, careless endeavour to entertain guests around a campfire; the album does, however, address some perennial subjects with a certain seriousness that graces them with an unmistakable aura of authenticity, all the while doing so with a natural easiness that only reinforces the sense of sincerity.

What makes this, Therion’s ninth album, especially remarkable is not that it approaches arcane material in the hope of evoking something real and mystical; previous albums have evidently been produced in this very eagerness. No, what makes ‘Gothic Kabbalah’ special is that it actually accomplishes the invocation of a strong esoteric presence in a musical fabric that goes far beyond the aesthetical, something which the albums prior could never do. The true moments of greatness on this record are found wherever the shocking light of revelation pierces through the veil of the myth and of the occult; whereas Therion were previously content to simply demonstrate the shapes and the outlines of the old legends, ‘Gothic Kabbalah’ cannot cease until it has transcended them altogether!

Now, it is quite clear that Therion have indeed managed an artistic representation of a wondrous realm in Esoterism, and have made it come alive therein; what is especially remarkable, however, is how the many different mythic strands that the albums touches on are eclipsed by a strong recurrence to the specifically Hellenic idea of the ‘Sophia Perennis’, or of the universal idea of the ‘Eternal Wisdom’. Just as a decidedly bombastic classical music has melded with a more crudely defined death metal background, as well as with other styles besides, so too have the various topics respectful to esoterism conformed to the overriding aim for the beautiful Sophia. So, while the cryptic meaning of the pair of terms ‘Gothic Kabbalah’ still escapes us, the meaning of this album has not: it is the soulful execution of a vision set squarely upon the sun and the heavens above, and as such it is the perfect transition from a typically death metal perception that stares perpetually into a deep, long, and fiery abyss.

Death Metal Album of the Week: Wombbath – Internal Caustic Torments

By 1993, the year that ‘Internal Caustic Torments’ was realized, death metal was a growing force in Sweden; indeed, most of the legendary bands had already put down to record what many consider to be their greatest albums. The result of this originally small kernel was naturally a ‘blossoming out’ of a sizable multitude of bands both popular and obscure (our subject is probably in between the two) that built upon what the founders had planted; and the result of this was the giant pantheon of bands we now collectively and concisely refer to as ‘Swedish death metal’. As one of the many, Wombbath is, whether consciously or not, urged to discover an autonomous identity in the increasingly congested ranks of an aging movement.

While Wombbath clearly created an album worthy of the early annals of Swedish death metal, its style of production does not actually continue in the vein of the ‘trademark Swedish buzzsaw sound’, which has been duly immortalized by Dismember, Entombed, et al. To convey their brand of cold and slimy death metal, Wombbath instead employed a deeper, more menacing sound which would be perfectly transparent but for a slight murkiness that does well in assisting their monstrous aesthetic.

Thematically, this album is highly reminiscent of something strange and dangerous lurking in the depths – not far from the myths of old seafarers as they wondered at the great fish of the sea, perhaps, or even of Grendel’s mother, the wicked swamp-witch lurking in the damp and gloomy caves. Wombbath generate an intense impression through musical and lyrical imagery: the chill feeling of death creeps in through the grotesque snarls of the vocal delivery, through the low and steady percussion, and through the abyssal, crawling riffs which are crafted in a curling, repetitive manner that supplements the persuasive effect that something sinister is emerging from the depths.

Although they certainly depart from the conventionally Swedish production of the era in order to better demonstrate their artistic vision, Wombbath are otherwise comprehensively loyal to tradition; the lean, distinct solos, the fast but simple drumming, and a strong penchant for the independent, muscular riff are all distinctive qualities derived from their national forebears. Wombbath recruit everything that makes them similar and dissimilar to the original canon of Swedish death metal, and promptly marshal it all into a sonic nightmare that brings to our nervous understanding the frigid realities of what lies ‘beyond the gloomy’, and of the miserable death that follows this short and tormented life.

Death Metal Album of the Week: Dark Tranquillity – Skydancer

For the true disciples of our thanatical religion, Gothenburg exists in the shadow of Stockholm as a spirtual centre for Death Metal; the latter being associated with the nobley barbaric masterpieces of Dismember, Therion, Necrophobic and their Sunlight Studio-powered comrades, while on the opposite coast, the city of Göteborg managed to establish itself as a breeding ground for faggots, feminists and pop musicians to collaborate on what has become one of the most abhorrent and effete styles of the genre. By eliminating the primal sensory and cerebral patterns by which Death Metal defines itself in order to communicate horror-tinged revelations through dead eyes, the Melodic Death Metal sound of Gothenburg relies on a few aesthetic reminders to bestow the illusion of being musically relevant, while remaining based entirely on the harmonic and rhythmic interplay of Iron Maiden, serving as the melodic ‘antitode’ to the chaos of Death Metal, or rather, a cheap excuse not to engage with it and instead delude the mind with pleasant riffs of insignificance that form the basis of roadkill which the most recent incarnations of this style along with metalcore and other forms of rock music that can trace their influences back to early 90′s Sweden all resemble.

Prior to this great epidemic of weakness that has not since ceased, the power of harmony in Death Metal music was becoming integral to the compositional framework of important bands, adding to a melodic lexicon established by the disharmonic experiments of Slayer, Morbid Angel and even Darkthrone albums, moving from traditional riffing to an almost contrapuntal sense of melodic tremelo style in ‘Soulside Journey‘. Atheist’s apex of fusion music, ‘Unquestionable Presence‘, handled Jazz harmony competently within Death Metal epics and back in Gothenburg, At The Gates were synthesising Atheist’s complexity with what began in Stockholm as Dismember and Unanimated‘s more Classically-aware debuts. This incessant emphasis on melodic development would see Finnish neighbours Sentenced refining the use of harmony with their ‘North From Here‘ album that rendered Iron Maiden technically obsolete, and following in Taneli Jarva and co.’s footsteps came Dark Tranquility, representing perhaps the last great height of this scene before Melodic Death Metal subsequently descended towards the cheap and childish music it became. That’s not to say ‘Skydancer’ didn’t verge on the edge of wimpish territory, as this album alongside At The Gates’ ‘With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness‘ could probably be described as the Phyrrhic victories of Melodeath (mellow Death), opening the therapist’s door to concepts like ‘hurt’, ‘loneliness’ and a general sense of agnostic and angst-ridden confusion. Nevertheless, what we’re dealing with in an album like ‘Skydancer’ extends far beyond the broken human spirit, reaching into both the depths of the cosmos and the self to find the same, ultimate source of power.

Where At The Gates’ seminal masterpiece, ‘The Red in the Sky is Ours’ was an autonomous quest for spiritual awareness from out of the ruins of Christianity, painted in all it’s pain, struggle and disharmony, Dark Tranquility’s ambitious sophomore effort exalts the harmony of nature as the goal of union for the human soul, the spiritual imperative of a ‘Skydancer’. The album is built around this ideal in relation to the darkness of modern reality that makes the beauty of the natural world seem like it only exists in a fantasy, and the experiments with harmony and counterpoint represent the voices of the real and ideal in a kick-drum punctuated dialogue. The highly courageous ‘Shadow Duet‘ takes this even further, using two vocal personifications of this theme to battle out in an aggressive, almost Grecian discourse. The riffing style, drawing equally from Scandinavian folk motifs and Baroque melodic interplay is reminiscent of the Romantic composers’ desire to create a holistic music that united the earthy folk tradition with the transcendental heights of Classical music. In the same way that Varg took Paganism away from the neo-Pagans and revealed the underlying Essence of what is usually otherwise depicted as a quaint and obsolete mythology of demigods, the mystical Paganism of Niklas Sundin is totally panentheistic in nature, where transcendence equals the ‘communion with the Oversoul of the universe’. The weak link lyrically, is Mikael Stanne who lacks this dimension, although his nationalistic references add another Romantic flavour to the album. Another In Flames member, Anders Friden, provides the vocal work, which sounds quite drunken and doesn’t meet the demanding lyrical placements within the songs. The yearning in the voice of a Tomas Lindberg is totally absent where the lighter, but still highly emotional melodic guitar work not distorted by discordant riffs would have complimented it very well. On a similar vocal note, the addition of clean vocals (the male singer is very bad) were totally unnecessary but it seems like even at this stage in their career, the band needs to make certain thematic elements and contrasts unbearably obvious, which is why a discriminating listener will stick to this album and not bother with the subsequent exhibitions. Bassist Henriksson draws no such complaints, accompanying the guitarwork to provide a deeper foundation for the melodic development, as expressive as the two other guitarists, adapting the sound to slower, heavier or tremelo riffing.

‘Skydancer’ is often the subject of complaints for it’s relentless flux of melody like an amphetamine-influenced violin concerto but this is not an unfocused, Liers in Wait experiment in seeking the limits of riffcraft. The compressed but pregnant structures bring the listener to focus on the narrative of the melodies and truly experience the restlessness of this spiritual life, rather than just passively drool at the ear-pleasing harmonies and other musical sensations as the success of Melodic Death Metal would later rely on. Hail to this once great band, so full of youthful ambition to widen the musical palette of Death Metal without resorting to cheap gimmicks but exploring the polar opposite of colour and texture in order to see the beauty of the cosmos through the symbiotic language of the Divine.

My yearning to be part
of nature’s truthful solitude
Of wisdom’s inner light
that shines in mystic multitude
The guiding source within,
so few of us will ever know
And few will ever climb
the great world-tree from which we’ve grown
But those who seek will find
the rhythm that vibrates high and far
And rearrange the cosmic threads,
the pattern of the Weave of Stars

Death Metal Album of the Week: Dominus – View to the Dim

The difficulty of maintaining a sense of brutality by balancing folkish melody with Death Metal’s deconstructionist tendencies is undoubtedly the reason behind the scarcity of such albums as this rare Danish classic that’s now enthroned within the golden halls inhabited by the likes of Unleashed and the previously hailed Asgard, as warriors of Viking Death Metal. Deriving their sound largely from the Swedish scene which housed the former band, Dominus additionally colour their music with the ancient, melodic sentiment of the memorable French beserkers, resulting in an album that sounds like ‘To a Golden Age’ as composed by Entombed from the ‘Clandestine‘ era. Steadily chugging riffs accompanied by a Bolt Thrower style of rolling percussion do battle with bouncy, highly pronounced rhythms in the manner of both Entombed and Seance, from which ominous shades of folk melodies emerge, initially encoded within the nihilistic rhythmic patterns, gradually becoming more independent as the album progresses, highlighting the journey of warriors and their struggles sanctioned by the gods, which reveal to man the true scope of his existence, within the continuum of cosmic action. Avoid all further output by and incarnations of Dominus, so that the memory of this carefully orchestrated saga stands proud over countless, unspeakable populist horrors.

Now as we ride in iron and steel
We know that this is the land of eternity

Death Metal Album of the Week: Carbonized – Disharmonization

The convoluted and nigh-on surreal saga of Christofer Johnsson is one that is ruefully chronicled by old-school death metallers and ignorantly neglected by slavering neophytes. The abridged version: young Christofer made a name for himself by composing some of the finest death metal to have ever graced Sweden, then 20 years later he’s famous for cranking out gothic metal that sounds like Orff locked in HIV-positive symbiosis with Queen. But somewhere along the rough yet creatively fertile beginnings of that timeline — while fronting SweDeath-celebrity grindcore outfit Carbonized — Christofer Johnsson went completely crazy in a manner not unlike the vehement Swedish author August Strindberg, with the same paranoid-schizoid fits and necromantic visions of shadowed beings and Faustian conjurations. Perhaps he was starting to keel under the crushing burden of his own talent. Perhaps he was bewitched by the anti-music of deranged saxophonist John Zorn. Or, perhaps he simply discovered drugs. Whatever the case, it resulted in this moonstruck chestnut that’s still so inscrutable that only a Russian label presses copies of it nowadays.

At the most essential level, ‘Disharmonization’ (the title in itself a bald-faced reference to Disharmonic Orchestra) is still classifiable as a grindcore album, largely for its alternations between blast-beats and other rigid drum patterns to drive forth structurally disembodied, resolutely narrative riffs. Aesthetically, though, the album is strikingly protean, and bears much in common with other early examples of progressive death metal. Immediately noticeable are the production values — courtesy of a surprisingly adventurous Tomas Skogsberg — which are echoic, membranous, and at times even emollient, as if the walls of Sunlight Studios had been transformed into the fleshy, aqueous confines of a giant extraterrestrial uterus, straight out of Away Langevin’s over[re]active imagination. Songs follow a typically grindcore ethos in that they demand to be understood in the context of the whole album, but the growing influence of Johnsson’s neoclassical tendencies pushed this to artistic heights, such that ‘Disharmonization’ could be described as a sort of Swedegrind Suite held together only by a common theme of absurdity; this is certainly the brand of avant-garde that Tom G. Warrior had attempted with ‘Into The Pandemonium’, but where that album had its self-conscious falterings, ‘Disharmonization’ overcomes. A wide gamut of textures (harsh distortion; pristine resonance), styles (jazz-lounge slink; Iberian folk), and moods (madness, exuberance, and everything in between) are fearlessly explored, reflecting more of a musical lineage to the bizarro-wave of Die Kreuzen’s ‘October File’ rather than, say, the aforementioned Disharmonic Orchestra’s ‘Expositionsprophylaxe’ (which served as the template for the debut, ‘For The Security’).

Simultaneously alienating and captivating for its unabashed disregard to conventions, ‘Disharmonization’ dared to probe the outermost boundaries of a genre commonly dismissed as being limited in its expressional capabilities. For its unorthodoxies it may never emerge from its preceding album’s shadow — much less be accepted into the pantheon of grind — but for those whose brainwaves follow frequencies of a deviant pitch, this is a necessary listening experience.

Death Metal Album of the Week: Dismember – Like an Everflowing Stream

Intricate, violent and permeated by northern lights in the form of Classical and Romantic pre-Gothenburg melodic influences, the debut album of Dismember, arguably the master of Stockholm death metal scene, took the world by storm and was instantly imitated by many a musical wanderlusting soul breathing the ether of the early 90′s. As an eagle flying through a blizzard, consonant themes interact in a matrix of suggestion while the guttural vocals emphasize the active, garage born hardcore ethic in electrifying the music with moments of relentless harshness and distortion to offset the aching beauty of the severed spinal cord strings of David Blomqvist’s and Robert Sennebäck’s threatening and archaic phrasing. The powerful alienated wails brought by the “whammy wizard” Nicke of Entombed bear mention as a non-trivial element in this journey of gloomy souls from the Candlemass-meets-Slayer traditionalism of “Dismembered” to the outrageous moshpit destroying hysteria of “Skin Her Alive”, which matches every proto death metal moment of “Reign in Blood” or “Master” in directness. What makes Dismember‘s debut one of the most elusive, underestimated and permanent death metal albums from the Nordic kingdoms is their uncanny ability to match the beauty of solemn dirges with the intoxicated riots of Stockholm’s torn-jeans-and-baseball-caps Tunnelbana punks, mostly realized in troubling and uncomfortable juxtapositions, such that often make for more meaningful art than perfectly resolved and consistent style and aesthetics.

June 2nd 2010 – Slayer, HMV Forum, London, England

Fighting the conspirations of ill health, amounting to months of delays, the much anticipated return of Slayer to England’s capital was in ominous syncronicity with the most auspicious time of the year for disciples of their church. As the Hessian-led International Day of Slayer falls upon us once again, last week’s early blasphemy proved to be an highly adequate preparation. The Slayer we all exhalt on this site was a mystical entity and their music excoriated the flesh of society’s body of lies and delusions, revealing the inner, beating heart of darkness and measurer of our mortal lives. They were also the progenitors of Death Metal, without whom many of the cults that feature in our catacombs may not have ever manifested with as advanced a template. The heat of the Spring sun, optimal for decomposition, drew the wehrmacht to Kentish Town’s Forum for an evening where the secrets of the dead promised to be revealed.

That, they would be, but not before some distractions within a chronology of events that would befit any highlight reel of modernity’s undoing, beginning with the supporting band from Sweden. The Haunted’s line-up consisted of some familiar faces, not just because they’ve been around for 10 years or so, initially Swedish Hardcore influenced Thrash before becoming the post-At The Gates band of Swedeath-influenced Speed Metal that they’re now famous for. Lead guitarist, Anders Bjorler of past-At The Gates fame, sporting a Disfear shirt in reference to both Swedish Hardcore and former bandmate Tomas Lindberg, launched with the band straight into ‘Bury Your Dead’, a signature track from their second album. Their set would mix old and new with some energy but the only problem from them is that their music sucks. This grammy-award winning combination of cliched galloping, groovy riffs interspersed with familiar and incoherently fragmented bursts of Swedish Death Metal melody, resulting in little to no melodic fluency is made even worse when the newer tracks demonstrate their love of pure nu-metal guitarwork. You know a set is bad when, despite it’s relative brevity and insignificance, every second of tedium feels absolutely unmitigated. They exit the stage with a warm crowd reception behind them but the diabolic concoction of Metal madness to follow boils the venue over with the hellish crepitance of anticipation.

Plumes of smoke veil the scene of everybody’s attention in stages of trademarked descent through noxious tributaries of the underworld. Led by battery commando Dave Lombardo, Slayer finally materialise from amidst the scarlet haze and open with ‘World Painted Blood, rendered near-flawlessy with Tom Araya’s completely static frame being the only, negligible sight to conflict with the fact that they’re still a well-oiled machine. Unlike other bands of such age and well-earned veneration, Slayer at least seem to understand the difference in purpose and spirit between their new and old recordings, rather than just the wear and tear of discographical order and simply ‘mixing it up’. The set was split roughly 50/50 in terms of timing, so there was quite some wait for the veterans to get their nu-material out of the way. The three standing band members would then congregate in a Seance-like circle formation around the beaten kit of Lombardo, ritually manifesting the schism and unleashing the demons of ancient times, channelling the wails of feedback as they did in their youth. Thus, the show really exploded with a rupturous performance of ‘Hell Awaits’ sending the violent hordes into a possessed frenzy. King and Hanneman were in brilliant, conversational form, damned to strike all the right notes and give a real sense of narrative familiarity to the chaotic and atonal guitar solos. Araya’s exoteric shouting was laid to rest and the invoked Mephistopheles conferred upon him sadistic scorn, the true voice of his priestly years, befitting such apocalyptic sermons as ‘Seasons in the Abyss’, ‘Mandatory Suicide’ and ‘Raining Blood’. The opening riff to ‘South of Heaven’ was possibly given it’s finest rendition to date, as the audio technicians menaced the sound with Kali-Yugic siddhis and lava on loan from Azagthoth. The song of the night was undoubtedly the pollutant ‘Chemical Warfare’, performed with as much vigour as on record way back in 1984. The intelligent, layered riff progressions that played out a multidimensional, mythologised communication of death, paranoia and destruction confounded the crowd but struck them hard, with the anthemic, holocaust winds of ‘Angel of Death’ to follow, releasing a tide of hatred and malevolence, and the highly multicultural crowd rose in unison to sing for the benefit of the Aryan race. The band known only as Slayer departed after covering the most recogniseable songs from ‘Haunting the Chapel’ through to ‘Seasons…’, reinforcing the memories of their greatness and perpetuating the echoes of their cryptic, Satanic messages.

Daniel Ekeroth – Swedish Death Metal

Swedish Death Metal by Daniel Ekeroth is an easy and enjoyable read that recounts the glory years of Swedish Death Metal told in large part through the mouths of those who actually lived it. Ekeroth presents the history of Swedish death metal, focusing mainly on the release of seminal albums and demos, and the means by which fanzines and tape trading played a role in the development and proliferation of the Swedish death metal genre.  This is definitely a worthwhile read if one is looking for a chronology of all of the important bands, namely Bathory, Nihilist/Entombed, Dismember, At the Gates, and Therion, that played an important role in the development and consolidation of Swedish Death Metal. Additionally, the layout of the book is such that it is easily navigable, making use of handy headings, subheadings and band headings, which also make this a great quick-reference text.  However compelling, it is a slight draw back that the various snapshots throughout the book interrupt the flow of the read, and are laid out in such a way as to provide a distraction.  One may be better off reading the book through and then returning to the snapshots at a later date.

In addition to analyzing the careers of many important Swedish Death Metal bands, Ekeroth indulges the curiosity of the reader and earns additional merit for mentioning important non-Swedish bands such as Master and Deathstrike, and for emphasizing the role of Morbid Angel in the overall development of Death Metal. Interestingly, the author seems at pains to make sure that the reader understands the relationship between Crustcore, Punk, and Metal and adds some welcome depth to his account of Swedish Death Metal by mentioning Discharge, whose strumming style and melody would influence countless metal bands. If you are looking for a chronology of the glory days of Swedish Death Metal, this book proves enlightening. Thankfully, there is little mention of “Slaughter of the Soul” and second rate Swedish bands such as In Flames and Soilwork that would later hijack, dilute and all but destroy this once living art form.

With that said, readers beware!  Ekeroth has a tendency to try and convince his reader that death metal was all about “fun” back in the day and tends to present the extracurricular activities, namely drinking and partying, as the highlights of many bands careers. Although Ekeroth’s goal was to tell the history of important bands, releases and tours, I believe this book could have been improved had Ekeroth attempted to explore the philosophical underpinnings of this genre and refrained from presenting Metal culture as simply an offshoot or replication of self-indulgent rock culture. New frontiers await those willing to explore this aspect of Swedish Death Metal and Ekeroth’s book may in fact prove to be a trailblazer. Time Shall Tell.

An ennead of terrifying visions – classic EP’s of Death Metal

This series of reviews shows the infectious potential of condensing the multidimensional texture of darkness and mythology into a carefully trimmed brief explosion with no room for filler or long, meaningless passages of droning, experimentation or interludes. Those who mastered the art of the metal EP or mini-LP are rare, but deserve all the more credit for their achievements. The fact that you can listen to everything we have here easily within the space of one evening does not mean that the unlocked experiences won’t stay with you forever.

Slayer – Haunting The Chapel

Showing a strong advancement in technique and an evolution towards a darker style that would be the staple of records to come by the band, Slayer throw off the camp shackles of their excellent first album, and give a more progressive approach to songcraft yet give more emphasis on repetition within individual riffs. The violent droning guitar timbre of Discharge makes itself ever more present whilst the musical language of Judas Priest and Angel Witch works itself within those patterns. The dissonant twin soloing of King and Hanneman is more suitable to this new direction also, whilst Lombardo’s aggressive battery finds more cohesion in using less variation and being more of an ambient backdrop than before, with Araya’s unmistakable rasp encoding itself sadistically within the depths. A bleak affair that summed up the apocalyptic meanderings of the speed metal movement and the embryonic beginnings of the death metal that was yet to manifest. -Pearson

Napalm Death – Mentally Murdered

This work is like a convergence of Napalm Death and Carcass, having left ‘From Enslavement to Obliteration’ and ‘Reek or Putrefaction’ behind in order to expand on their styles, towards ‘Harmony Corruption’ and ‘Symphonies of Sickness’ respectively. By Napalm’s standards, at this point in their discography, these songs are quite lengthy and structured with an attention to detail that recaptures the subtle shifts in mechanical motion of the earliest side to ‘Scum’. This technique is re-invigorated by the cleaner production, relegating the extremity of fuzzy bass for the sake of a twin-guitar assault that creates an hypnotic and delusional sensation, and shows the input of Jesse Pintado who would go on to record another highly influential work of Grindcore – Terrorizer’s ‘World Downfall’. Composition is practically freed at very the earliest moments of songs onwards, unlike previous Napalm Death albums where these parts were used to establish exactly which single riff will become immersed in a barely discernable anarchic explosion for the rest of the 30 seconds of music. Instead, it’s given a more Death Metal treatment, e.g. in ‘The Missing Link’, the opening riff seems to degrade over time into smaller grinding patterns until the fragments are juggled like sacks of meat by morbid Death Metal riffs. This is where some of the tremelo melodies that would tear through the rotten wall of sound of Carcass finds its place, accompanied by the mocking lead guitars of Bill Steer. The human tornado, Mick Harris is even more precise than his previous effort, but doesn’t lose any of his epithet’s justification. Lee Dorrian’s vocals become more guttural and undecypherable, conceding to the futility of mainstream political discussion. The seeds of an approach closer in line with the burgeoning interest in Death Metal were sown here, simultaneously taking Grindcore one step further away from reaching the dead-end of short and simplistic outbursts of truncated riffs and hollow statements. -ObscuraHessian

Rotting Christ – Passage to Arcturo

Warm, playful and overflowing with the abundance of inspiration in the rediscovery of ancient shamanic techniques of mystical metal creation, the Greek pioneers of Rotting Christ forsook the aggravated modern noise of grindcore in time to ride the wave of blackness that usurped the European metal underground. Remnants and glimpses of 80’s fast modern metal (Slayer) give way to an astral, luminous intensity of synthesizers and slowly picked melodies that suspend the themes for a moment to enable the mind to stop wandering and relish the unholy moment of concentration, in a yogic gesture of blackness. Few have ever used the crushing sonic world of black and death metal to so fully immerse in ethereal ritual, and such rare examples as “Drawing Down the Moon” preserve plenty of subtle reminders to this widely heard classic of European black metal. As their chaotic exhortations in countless zines of the period conclude, Rotting Christ’s hybrid of gothic and black metal aimed for an architecture of the infinite, regal sunsets of lost kingdoms whose landscapes are not for the eyes of mortals, except in dreams and in death. As “Forest of N’Gai” aptly proves, black metal was at its height when not contorted to fit the schemes of a political ideology or an orthodox Satanist movement, but like the great works of literature a realm of fantasy of its own whose symbols are rooted in our deepest unconscious fears and desires. This sub-space can then be used by the analytical mind to figure the patterns of generation for a multitude of creative, even lunatic, concepts. -Devamitra

At the Gates – Gardens of Grief

The original Gothenburg gloomy melody cult made one of their strongest statements on this early EP, pressed from demo to vinyl on the first year of the band’s existence. Fresh from life disrespecting bands such as Infestation and Grotesque, these Swedes nail the most desperate guitar harmonies since Candlemass, but infect them with the viral sensibility of a flux of death current. As if plugging the Sunlight Studios into your brains in direct interface, Svensson’s tremolos rip and rend mercilessly apart the soul of the beast that dared expose its true feelings of living in a world of hypocrisy and uncertainty. The band has preserved the most fragile moment of the Swedish death metal underground, the precarious balance between the catatonic psychosis of headbanging under alcoholic influence and the deep, burning, thoughtful soul of an encrypted Romantic in a world of pain and disguised memories. It all takes such tangible form in Tomas Lindberg’s cracking, maddened scream: “I am at the gates – Lord of Chaos – Let me sleep”. The fear and anger of At the Gates’ most revered albums will always remain something that divides audiences according to their response to such emotional cues, but “Gardens of Grief” is the un-terrorized, exuberant sound of youth that realizes the presence of death and dives into it headlong, appropriate to the Per Ohlin dedication in the liner notes. -Devamitra

Wings – Thorns On Thy Oaken Throne

An all too brief EP from Finnish gloomophiliacs Wings, as ephemeral as the tortured existence that is enshrouded in these twisted sounds of darkness-raped melody. Almost like the missing tracks from Cartilage’s cult classic ‘The Fragile Concept of Affection’, this continuation goes further to explore the sombre moods of songs like ‘Why Do I Watch The Dawn?’, in their Replicant-like reflections upon the transience of a human existence placed between the crushing, vice-grip of nothingness. Wings don’t peturb the balance of pace of slower, more expansive lakes of hypnotic melody that made up Cartilage’s contribution to their split with Altar, but there is greater focus on creating a doomier atmosphere, leaving no space for the grinding riffs of the past incarnation – a technique that parrelleled the Swedish Unleashed on their first album. Instead, an older treatment is given to the bouncier riffs, which could be heard as Punkier passages, but as this EP comes together as a whole to reveal, these bridge the narrative that seems to span across both songs with a mid-pace tempo in which the drawn out melodies pass through towards an expressive, quite neoclassical riff of totality – encompassing all the hopes that are weighed down by all the sorrows in the journey towards death. This poem in two parts is a valuable recording of Death Metal history, as a valid direction for these Finnish musicians to have taken following the demise of Cartilage, with all their weird melodic knowledge as baggage. -ObscuraHessian

Sacramentum – Finis Malorum

A true gem, Sacramentum’s first EP showcases a style that is melodic and emotive in a manner not unlike countrymen Dissection and Unanimated. Epic, catchy and well crafted compositions are multi-layered not unlike Emperor minus keyboards, the rush of guitar notes being vibrant and lively, with little emphasis towards a rhythmic expectation, as one would expect with most heavy metal and hard rock music. Simultaneously moody yet without being whiny, this early release by Sacramentum showcases a band who are able to master quality control and bring the best out of all the elements that define their music. Alongside At The Gates, artistically the finest Swedish metal act of the 1990′s. -Pearson

Zyklon-B – Blood Must Be Shed

Fast, raging black metal with the fury of early Deicide and the sharp harmonizing typical of Mayhem and Immortal’s ‘Pure Holocaust’ come head to head, in the guise of technically precise, abrupt songs. Shouty hardcore vocals, warm synth overlaps, a near constant blastbeat and anti-humanist lyrical concepts indicate a desire by known Norwegian musicians to advance the aggression of the black metal style and shift it’s idealogical focus away from romantic nostalgia. This brief E.P. lacks the spark of Norway’s foundational acts, but remains an influential statement of the subgenre. -Pearson

Vulpecula – Fons Immortalis

Who would have expected Chuck Keller to open the gates to very Orion itself after the folding of the aggressor squad par excellence Order from Chaos? As if a continuation of the promise of the astrological and alchemistic symbolism of the former bands’ lyrics, Vulpecula slows it down and strums soothing, yet vigorous melodies while the vocals multiple into wraith-like dimensions of rhythmic rasps and Keller’s leads occasionally burst into the aggressive, spasmous flight of an eagle amidst a thunderstorm. “Phoenix of the Creation” delves into exercises in authentic space synth, while “The First Point of Aries” harkens to the mid-paced woodland meditations that the Norwegians used to record at Grieghallen. Occasionally slightly hindered by the band’s eagerness to cram all the influences from Schulze to black metal into one short EP, the mere richness of it invites the ears to take their pleasure at will from the Babylonian garden of ponderous and prestigious movements that are achingly attractive and acceptable in their innocent refusal to complicate things with dissonance. Credit also goes for the lead guitar efforts of Keller on their traditional melodious injection which easily avoids the neutrality of more pop oriented bands trying to do the same. Almost like envisioning a “new age” approach to the genre, Vulpecula is an alien saucer amidst the orbit bound technologies of “progressive” death metal. -Devamitra

Divine Eve – Vengeful and Obstinate

The first new release that’s being reviewed for 2010 and it’s already giving distinct impressions of the kind of quality that made 1993′s ‘As the Angels Weep’ a genuinely classic EP. Divine Eve keeps the form of this new material far simpler, stripping away the Death Metal-infected sludginess for a more rudimentary homage to early brutal music like Celtic Frost. ‘Vengeful and Obstinate’ makes its own unique statement by honing in on the nihilistic and warlike spirit of the Swiss legend’s ‘To Mega Therion’ magnum opus, even invoking the same battle-horns on ‘Ravages of Heathen Men’ that bring focus to the beauty of conflict and strife in a meaningless universe. The varied tempo of grinding riffs set to a dirty bass guitar adds to the atmosphere of struggle as an outlet for this primitive, instinctual response to the world. ‘Whispers of Fire’ being the exception on this EP for the constantly up-tempo pace, it’s a pleasure to hear such slow and sludgy music churning visions of the darker universe beyond our lives of comfort and languish. The final and most devastating touch of ‘Vengeful and Obstinate’ is how Divine Eve makes extensive use of the piercing tone that Xan’s grating guitar setup produces, highlighting the spiral passage of powerchords by revealing their hidden, melodic architecture, ingenuiously managing to explain and enhance this rugged approach of legendary lineage. It’s about time the band produced a full-length and they’ve proved that they possess more than enough knowledge of unholy riffcraft to do so. -ObscuraHessian

Death Metal Album of the Week: Amorphis – The Karelian Isthmus

From the frozen battlefields of southeastern Finland to the misty moors where Britons quested for the secrets of war and mystic revelation, Amorphis have reaped imagery and values of better times to update their EP’s grooving Carcass influenced style to something epic and everlasting in scope. In its blue-eyed skepticism towards modern values, replacing social democracy with sons of kings scouring the nightly landscape by torchlight, I envision it as the soundtrack to the fortress island of Sveaborg, the domain of drunken death metal teenagers much like Tunnelbana subway tunnels were in Stockholm. Mostly paced like a battle march, the similarities to our previous album of the week, “War Master”, are more than co-incidental. Overall heaviness is somewhat sacrificed on behalf of a somber mood of wanderlust, but the simpler folk oriented pieces are well balanced by tracks borrowed from the band’s earliest releases and even the former incarnation Abhorrence, which could receive the credit for being the first Finnish death metal band pressed to black vinyl. Familiar, even comfortable, Swedish production, courtesy of Mr. Skogsberg, encases “The Karelian Isthmus” in a growling precision of steel, where leads and riffs neither screech nor howl but form symmetrical patterns like Celtic decoration. Iron Maiden influences abound in heroic themes showing the precision and excitement of nowadays-semi-guitar-hero Esa Holopainen in discovering the magic of abyssal neoclassicism.

Despite being an introductory, essential piece of death metal for many of my generation and ethnicity, the album has since been forgotten in the shadows of the more mainstream releases by this band, that despite unleashing a torrent of “progressive” melodies, forgot how to create the militant spells of heavy guitars and impeccable pacing, which contributed much more to the evocation of “Kalevalan” atmospheres than borrowing the poetry itself for lyrics and using mundane beauty in pop cliches as an attractor of business and popularity. The only minor gripe would be that this work does contain traces of the lightweight, subdued and escapist tendency to fill gaps with cute melodies and make friends through heavy metal influences; something that leads to the massively popular but somehow, irritatingly inconsequential, series of absolutely alike discs from Amon Amarth and Hypocrisy when not executed as elegantly as herein. Like Unleashed‘s early work, it creates “pagan metal” before the idea was called such, before it was possible to “do” pagan metal and it consequently became just another clique. It bestows an earthen heaviness reminiscent of life in tribal early civilizations.