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The Difficulties of Folk Metal

by Staff on July 5, 2016

Article by Johan P.

I’ve never been overly impressed by the folk metal phenomenon, which emerged in the middle of the 1990s and began to gain popularity some years later. I do not mean to imply that there isn’t any good folk music out there. On the contrary, there’s a lot of rewarding traditional music to discover. Many musicians – metallers included – have realized that their respective countries’ folk music reservoir is a gold mine for potential ideas to integrate into more modern forms of music. It was on these premises that folk metal was born. However, if the source material is to be successfully re-animated and be brought into metal or any other genre, it requires some serious work from the composer and performer. Most folk metal bands fail at this point for a variety of reasons, with the end-result often sounding like bad heavy metal adorned with folk-melodies that have been stripped of all subtlety to fit into a rock-based harmonic and structural environment.

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34 Comments

Tags: folk, folk metal, genre, hipster bullshit, modern metal, music analysis, musical analysis, Sweden

Absurd’s Der fünfzehnjährige Krieg Reissued

by Daniel Maarat on July 1, 2016

Absurd‘s Der fünfzehnjährige Krieg CD of old tracks rerecorded by the current line up is being reissued by Hammer of Damnation for everyone who wishes Absurd’s older material had a sterile metalcore production. Hopefully the reissue is better than the horrible Asgardsrei one.

2 Comments

Tags: absurd, German Black Metal, germany, hammer of damnation, Hardcore, Hardcore Punk, national socialist black metal, nsbm, reissue, rerecording

The Mythic and the Mystic

by Staff on July 1, 2016

Article by Lance Viggiano.

Burzum and Beherit each represent two summits of black metal’s many perspectives – in particular its looking back to look ahead ethos. The work of Laiho is exploratory and spiritual while the work of Varg is seeking and religious. Each composer followed a similar trajectory of mapping this landscape through metal first, then ambient. Each phase reveals strengths and weakness in each of their aims which results in a somewhat complementary synthesis between two highly individual bodies of work.

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12 Comments

Tags: Ambient, ambient music, beherit, Black Metal, burzum, composition, musical analysis, mystic, mysticism, mythic, mythic imagination

Hate Mail (#5): Fornicating Freedom of Speech

by Daniel Maarat on June 29, 2016

“666 YOLO SWAG 666” commented on Death Metal Underground’s coverage of the Highline bar in Seattle refusing to let Fornicator open for Profanatica:

I didn’t read the whole thing, just wanted to leave this here:

– The Highline is a bar located in the widely known “Gay Neighborhood” of Capital Hill in Seattle, WA.
– Gay Pride weekend was taking place during this show.
– Owning a bar (or any business) in this kind of a neighborhood is different.
– Sure there’s the whole “I GERT MAH FREEDOM ERV SPEECH”, but come on, with everything going on lately and the environment this neighborhood was trying to provide for this weekend, it only makes perfect sense for the management to make such a decision.

If the lazy piece of shit had bothered to read the article or the actual complaints, he would have realized that homosexuals weren’t the ones complaining. The whiners like “666 YOLO SWAG 666” were crusty, white heterosexual women who felt Fornicator’s incomprehensible lyrics threatened their communist worldviews. I highly doubt a death metal show would be appealing to the stereotypical gay pride festival marcher outside of the leather jackets. Actually, “666 YOLO SWAG 666” is the only person implying that Fornicator actually wanted to physically harm homosexuals like the closeted Islamic fundamentalist turned terrorist in Orlando. Continue pumping Drake “666 YOLO SWAG 666”.

Fornicator bitching

12 Comments

Tags: Brutal Death Metal, communists, death metal, fornicator, free speech, Goregrind, Hate Mail, Highline Bar, homosexuality, lazy, lyrics, metalgate, moribund records, profanatica, Seattle, sjws

Morte Macabre – Symphonic Holocaust (1998)

by Staff on June 29, 2016

Article by Johan P continuing Death Metal Underground’s progressive rock coverage.

Morte Macabre is a collaboration between members of the Swedish prog revivalist groups Landberk and Anekdoten, who joined forces to create progressive rock that is equal parts beautiful and disturbing. Their only album – Symphonic Holocaust – is a real treat for those who enjoy creepy music in general, especially 1970s Italian horror movie soundtracks. It is a tribute to the darker side of 70s progressive rock, with reference to Italian groups and composers like Celeste, Goblin, Museo Rosenbach, Fabio Frizzi and Riz Ortolani. An explicit Red-era King Crimson influence permeates the album as well.

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14 Comments

Tags: 1998, covers, hard rock, Horror, horror film, horror films, horror movie soundtracks, keyboards, mellotron, Morte Macabre, movie soundtracks, prog rock, progressive, progressive rock, review, Sweden, Symphonic Holocaust

Dark Fury – This Story Happened Before (2016)

by Daniel Maarat on June 27, 2016

Dark Fury - This Story Happened Before - front cover

Dark Fury present a mid-paced black metal work of catchy lead melodies atop generic power chord metal riffing. These leads are never jaw-dropping or profoundly clever but mostly effective in the context of the songs. This Story Happened Before‘s problem is that many of the best leads send out a sense of déjà entendu and are only occasionally progressed to fitting melodic conclusions; Dark Fury rely too much on highly-structured rock song formats with bridges and breaks almost making the album a riff salad. Many of the rhythm riffs are the sort of filler power chord chugs used by death metal bands and the few war metal bands that actually care to occasionally have metal riffs such as Diocletian. Dark Fury too often use this as a songwriting crutch.

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13 Comments

Tags: 2016, anti-islamic, Black Metal, Dark Fury, islam, Lower Silesian Stronghold, poland, review

Master’s Hammer – Ritual (1991)

by Daniel Maarat on June 26, 2016

Ritual is the pinnacle of the Central European black metal style characterized by continuing the riffing tradition of traditional heavy metal and strict adherence to speed metal song structure; Hellhammer, Mercyful Fate, Slayer, and even Megadeth influences are easily heard along with Bartók’s folkishness and Chopin’s romanticism. While their compatriots Root presaged the Hellenic scene, Master’s Hammer’s operatic use of the mellotron inspired the divergent atmosphere Emperor employed on In the Nightside Eclipse.

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11 Comments

Tags: 1991, bartok, Black Metal, chopin, Czech black metal, Heavy Metal, Master's Hammer, occult, review, Ritual, Speed Metal

Bulldozer Vinyl Repress

by Daniel Maarat on June 25, 2016

Bulldozer’s first two albums of drunken Motorhead, proto-underground metal in the style of Venom and Sodom are being repressed on vinyl from the original tapes for the first time in thirty years by F.O.A.D Records. Neither of these albums ever had good CD releases (the CDs sound like compressed needle drops) so fans of beer-fueled, 1980s first-wave black metal might want to check these out.

5 Comments

Tags: beer metal, Black Metal, Bulldozer, F.O.A.D Records, Heavy Metal, Italy, proto-underground, reissues, repress, Speed Metal, The Day of Wrath, The Final Separation, vinyl

Memoriam Announce New Record Out Early 2017 on Nuclear Blast

by Daniel Maarat on June 24, 2016

Memoriam nuclear blast

Memoriam, the new project of Karl Willets and Andy Whale from Bolt Thrower with former Benediction members Frank Healy and Scott Fairfax, have signed to Nuclear Blast Records and announced an upcoming album for early next year. Since they’re on Nuclear Blast, fans should expect a sterile production even though Andy Whale doesn’t use triggers. From Nuclear Blast’s press release:

Nuclear Blast proudly announces the signing of MEMORIAM, the death metal band founded by Karl Willetts (BOLT THROWER) and Frank Healy (BENEDICTION)!

MEMORIAM was primarily developed to fill the void that was left following the tragic death of Martin ‘Kiddie’ Kearns, the drummer from BOLT THROWER, back in September 2015. BOLT THROWER subsequently placed all activity on hold for the foreseeable future, which gave vocalist Karl Willetts an opportunity to develop a new project with friends, that had expressed interest in forming a band for some time.

Comments the band:
“The war rages on… It is with great pleasure that MEMORIAM announces that we have signed a recording contract with Nuclear Blast Records.

“Throughout our long careers, 30 years to be precise, within the music industry and specifically within the death metal scene we have witnessed the growth of Nuclear Blast Records to become the number one record company within our genre.

“When we started MEMORIAM back in January 2016 we intended just to form a band to go into the rehearsal rooms to jam out some cover versions of old classic songs that had influenced us in the past along with some cover versions from the bands we had played with over the years, and maybe eventually do a few low key gigs.

“With the introduction of Scott Fairfax into the line up all this changed, Scott has brought with him a wealth of killer riffs and new ideas which has totally changed things around from our original intentions. Very soon we decided to scrap the idea of being a covers band and to formulate our own songs using these riffs and ideas that Scott introduced to us, and from this we developed a whole load of new crushing brutal old school death metal songs which we are very proud of and can’t wait to unleash upon the world!

“When we started developing the songs we talked about the possibility of signing to a label and releasing an album, at that point we all decided that if Nuclear Blast approached us we would sign to them. This is because amongst all the labels out there none have a better relationship with the bands on their roster, none communicate better with both the bands and the fans of the music. None care as much about the music and the scene as Nuclear Blast Records.

“Nuclear Blast currently boasts the best artist roster of all the labels within the death metal genre, we are proud and honored amongst this list! 2016 is the year of MEMORIAM. Let the resistance begin…”

Markus Staiger, CEO of Nuclear Blast, adds:
“Being a lifetime fan of both BENEDICTION and BOLT THROWER, it is with great pride that I announce that the new band of Frank Healy and Karl Willets has now joined the Nuclear Blast family! Following the first news regarding the band, I have been keeping a close eye on them and was very curious to hear their material.

“Besides me, a lot of metal magazines have been in touch with the band even before they had heard a single note of music, while the band has also received many invitations to play several summer festivals. After hearing their first demo songs I was completely sold and knew that I had to get in contact with Frank and Karl to seal the deal. MEMORIAM will please all the fans of old school death metal and especially the worldwide fan base of BOLT THROWER and BENEDICTION! With bands like MEMORIAM, Nuclear Blast remains the no # 1 in extreme metal!!”

MEMORIAM maintains the standards set by their previous bands, focusing on the themes of death, loss and war. Initially, the band members got together to play covers of songs that had influenced them throughout their careers within the death metal scene. However, it soon became apparent that the new songs they had created were of a superior quality and that they needed to be heard. Currently the band is tentatively scheduled to release their debut album in early 2017 via Nuclear Blast Records.

MEMORIAM is:
Karl Willetts (BOLT THROWER) – vocals
Frank Healy (BENEDICTION, SACRILEGE) – bass
Andy Whale (ex-BOLT THROWER) – drums
Scott Fairfax (ex-LIFE DENIED, BENEDICTION) – guitars