Album Thoughts | Incantation: Sect of Vile Divinities (Relapse Records / 2020)

As I get older, so do all the big, heavyweight bands in Extreme Metal, who we all know and love, as does their quality in sound, as does my interest in them. Its an unfortunate reality that we have to face as the sands of time drain our life force from our bodies and souls. Just like everything else though, there are always exceptions to the rule, where nature allows you to transcend time’s limitations and still bust out some of the nastiest riffs in the game, thirty fucking years into your existence. We’ve seen it with Possessed and their stellar comeback album last year, Immolation, who are still putting out rippers, Darkthrone, Mayhem, etc. The latest and probably the finest example, is the subject of this is very review. It’s no secret that incantation are masters of their craft, and have been for three decades now, widely credited or influencing a whole slew of bands all across the Death Metal spectrum, specifically what’s become known as ‘cavernous’ Death Metal, the more notable names of which, include Impetuous Ritual, Portal and more recently, Altarage. Easily, one of the most influential bands in the genre, who clearly haven’t lost a bit of inspiration within themselves, because after all these years, they have yet to disappoint me, or a lot of other people. In this current landscape, where the new wave of old school Death Metal is pretty much in it’s twilight phase, you can leave it to one of the true pioneers, to return and freshen things up again, in the only way they know how.

I praised the hell out of their last album, Profane Nexus, that only continued the sweltering hot, flesh-melting riff power that classics like Onward to Golgotha, Mortal Throne of Nazarene and Diabolical Conquest brought to the table and changed the course of DM altogether, spawning countless imitators and innovators alike, who brought the style to twisted depths of their own design. Three decades later, comes the latest installment of the Incantation legacy, that demonstrates the band’s insane consistency, in more ways than one! Sect of Vile Divinities is an album that can serve as a lesson to a lot of young blood OSDM acts, in both sound AND production. What a lot of these newer bands suffer from, is overly cavernous production, that tends to overshadow most of the instrumentation. It took me awhile to realize that, as I was very enthralled and caught up in the 2016 to 2019 OSDM wave, which really revitalized my love for the genre, after being dormant for several years, but this album, by a band known for their meticulousness and high expectations for every musician who’s been involved with them, really demonstrates the real nuances and dynamics of no frills, no fucking nonsense OSDM, that really turns up the heat and extremity, to unfathomable levels, that I can’t help but realize more and more, only a handful of modern bands pull off *cough Assimilation cough*.

The overall sound of this album, has that thick, chunky tone to it, that feels like slabs of concrete being thrown at you from every direction, and clashing with each other, in the middle of a concrete alleyway, on the hottest day of summer. Is that a good analogy? Probably not, but whatever; the point is, that this is Death Metal with the right level of mixing, that’s still feverishly cavernous, but leaves plenty of room for the guitars to breathe, as those riffs are as clear and audible as they are massive, which shines through right off the bat, as Ritual Impurity (Seven of the Sky is One) opens this beast and sounds like a fucking boulder falling on your head from the highest mountaintop and crushes you without mercy, as nature would. The band has moved away from the cavernous type sound in recent years, but have only turned up the heaviness as time went on, and this album is as hefty as they come, all the way down to the molten riffs that come flowing in like a stream of lava. There’s a good hint of technicality as well, that’s noticeable, but not too overabundant. Sounds like a slightly more straightforward Suffocation at times.

Propitation is also full of some catchy riffage, as it slows the pace a bit and goes the mid-tempo route. The bassline is pretty damn hefty too, as it rumbles throughout the track. John McEntee’s vocals are also on point throughout this album. Whether you prefer him or Craig Pillard is your choice, but at 50, the dude is still a beast on the mic. Entrails of the Hag Queen shows some dynamic in tempo, that shifts from mid-paced and groovy, to hammering blast-beats and sharper riffs, that still manage to be catchy. This album gives me the same vibe I got when I heard Bolt Thrower’s The IVth Crusade for the first time. Slowly, but surely, the package comes together and the layers are peeled back with each track. You get elements of speed and technicality, with tracks like, Ritual Impurity (Seven of the Sky is One), Entrails of the Hag Queen and Shadow-Blade Masters of Tempest and Maelstrom; you get groovier and catchier tracks, like Propitiation, Guardians from the Primeval and Black Fathom’s Fire; there’s even a hint of Doom, with Fury’s Manifesto and my favorite track on the album, Unborn Ambrosia; not sure what it is about that track, but it has a particular punch to it, that’s on a much uglier and nastier plane than the rest of them. I don’t know if it’s the extra mustard that’s put on the gnarly riffs that flow through the slower and groovier sections of the track, or if Satan himself was guest producer on this track, but it just turns up the heat and bursts with harsher aggression and flows like a mudslide of dirt, blood, and entrails onto an unsuspecting road full of vehicles. Best track on the album, with some of the best riff work.

It should be of no surprise that this album is definitely going down as one of the best Death Metal releases of 2020, as it’s from a band who we can trust to know what the fuck they’re doing, and are always consistent and meticulous at what they do. Even after thirty long years and a few lineup changes, just when you think Incantation have peaked, especially after putting out what’s regarded as one of the best Death Metal albums of all time in Onward to Golgotha, as well as some of their other earlier outings, on top of spawning a whole other subdivision of Death Metal, that a multitude of bands have partaken in, and brought themselves up to legendary status doing so, as well as putting their own innovative spins on it, they always have something fresh and new up their sleeve, and implemented into their sound little by little, and therefore keep people’s attention, without losing direction. This isn’t sad old man Death Metal, that a lot of the big names of the 90s have sunken into. You get a little bit of everything on this one; there’s blasts, groove, technicality, a little bit of Doom, little bit of Thrash, razor-sharp, classic style riffs, that don’t suffocate under overbearing, oppressive atmosphere, barbaric, hammering drums, dismal growls, and a thick, meaty bassline, that cohesively work together to leave you beaten and battered under the throes of flesh-melting, molten hot production, that feels like you’re in the middle of a desert without water. Brutal, versatile, full of energy and very well produced. One of the most consistent bands of their era, who still have working testicles and aren’t willing to dumb down their sound for the majority, unlike most of their peers. The kings are back!

Sect of Vile Divinities is available through Relapse Records.

Quick Album Thoughts | Summer Wrap-Up 2020

It’s that time again, folks. It’s time to finally say goodbye to the annoying yellow orb in the sky, as it fucks off once again, and allows for the cool Autumn air to breeze in and give me some nice, cool air to breathe in to my smoked out lungs. It’s been a particularly brutal summer, for different reasons; one, being stuck inside for most of it, due to this pesky little pandemic, also because of the ongoing civil unrest that we currently face, that, just like everything else now, has been politicized to death. It’s been an exhausting time to say the least, and I’ve pretty much mentally checked out I’ve everything at this point, but I am still very much engaged with music, particularly Metal, which has always been and always will be the one constant in my life, that HOPEFULLY will never jade me stiff.Anyway, You know the deal by now, this is my latest collection of new tunes that I’ve listened to over the last few months, that I want to share with y’all, and give my unsolicited thoughts on (hey, its my blog, so of course you’re going to get that). So, I’m sure you’re skipping this intro and getting right into the music, so I’m gonna cap it off right here.

Without any further adieu, here are my picks for summer 2020:

Golden Ashes: In the Lugubrious Silence of Eternal Night (Independent / 2020)

Admittedly, I’m not the biggest fan of a lot of what Maurice de Jong has done outside of Gnaw Their Tongues, or even what Gnaw Their Tongues has been doing lately, with the exception of De Magia Veterum and Hagetisse, but Golden Ashes is another one to add to that list. Maurice had dabbled into Atmospheric Black Metal several times in the past, but this is definitely his best take on it yet. I can’t really put my finger on what makes it so unique, other than the weird symphonic element and ambient backdrop, but it certainly does no harm, but only enhances de Jong’s usual Industrial-driven style of raw, icy Black Metal, that’s riddled in noise and other various forms of cacophony. Not the most soncially horrifying as his early works, or as experimental as it’s counterparts, but still decent for what it is. Atmospheric BM with it’s own unique twist, that’ll bother quench the thirst of consumers of such, and maybe even turn heads off some outsiders.

Defeated Sanity: The Sanguinary Impetus (Willowtip Records / 2020)

If you took your copies of Winds of Creation, None So Vile and Masticate to Dominate and smooshed them all together in the most thorough, precise and perfect way possible, you’d have this as a result. Defeated Sanity have once again crawled out of their sonic swamp and brought Brutal Death Metal back to it’s grubby roots, by channeling the suffocating muck of Deeds of Flesh and Gorgasm, as well as some of the more sophisticated acts, like Cryptopsy and early Decapitated into their sound, culminating in a repulsively delicious return to form, after briefly dabbling into Proggressive Death Metal territory. This is Brutal Death done through it’s original formula; no slams, no chugga-chugs, no pig squeals; just sweet, juicy riffs on top of knuckle-dragging aggression and sharp technicality. If you know those three albums that I mentioned well enough, you’ll definitely hear hints of them in this album, as well as the signature Defeated Sanity sound blended in like colors on a pallet. Its a breath of fresh air from the usual Slamming Brutal caveman DM that we get enough of on a daily fucking basis. Catchy riffs, technical mastery and all-around grimy aggression, coupled with precision. Defeated Sanity are another one of those bands who took a while to win me over, but I see the appeal more and more with each listen, especially with the noticeable influences that fuel it.

Werewolves: The Dead Are Screaming (Prosthetic Records / 2020)

Simply put: Death Metal at it’s purest and most viciously decimating, featuring members of The Berzerker, Consummation The Antichrist Imperium and formerly, Akercocke. Despite the various styles that those other names are known for, Werewolves goes straight for the throat with straight up, no nonsense, fairly modern sounding, but crushing Death Metal, that’s everything a pure DM needs to be; riffs for days, aggression, energy and raw emotion and passion behind it. One of Death Metal’s pillar releases for 2020, alongside the new Assimilation and Incantation albums. Simple, effective and fuled by hatred and evil. Death Metal done right! 

Xibalba: Años en Infierno (Southern Lord Recordings / 2020)

If there’s one band you can thank or spearheading the Hardcore/Death Metal crossover that’s taken Extreme Metal by storm over the last three or four years, Xibalba is definitely one of the names to consider. Their style isn’t quite the HM2 pedal-yielding, Entombed worship, that most of the current crop adheres to, but their Doomy, Sludgy, DM-flavored take on Hardcore is definitely an early spark in the explosion. Now, unlike many others, I have no issue with the aforementioned Hardcore/Death Metal crossover, as to me, it’s one of the most interesting things that happened to Hardcore in recent years, as I to find the genre pretty stale these days. Xibalba have only reinforced that notion with this massive, head-smashing beast of an album, that only continues the pattern of caveman like destruction, and has left in its path so far. Xibalba once again combine the nastiest and angriest Sludgy Hardcore, crafted in the sonic caverns of old school Death Metal, with the chunkiest instrumentation, toned down to the harshest low, harkening back to the dismal abyss of the early to mid-90s, through the lens of 2020 Hardcore aesthetics and attitude. Massive, brutal and unforgiving as you would expect from these west coast barbarians, only better and more refined.

Terminal Nation: Holocene Extinction (20 Buck Spin / 2020)

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover… or an album, in this case. While I don’t necessarily believe that sentiment, when it comes to some things, this is definitely a case where you should absolutely look beyond what is shown to the naked eye. This is the debut full-length by a Little Rock, Arkansas’ Terminal Nation,which, by looking at the artwork, you would think that these dudes have dropped the trashiest Pizza Thrash album of 2020, and you’re probably going to hear something of a Municipal Waste for Toxic Holocaust lovechild, right? Well, you’d be wrong. DEAD wrong! If you think Creeping Death and Fuming Mouth are the heaviest hitters in the Crossover Death Metal game (yes, that’s what I call it), then these dudes are hot on their trail. It’s the same style of hammering modern DM, heavily rooted in the revered works of Entombed and Dismember. I was actually floored by what jumped out at me once I clicked play on this one, given the misleading artwork! This is another Hardcore-infused DM act that brings a deal of legitimacy to the style with it’s intensity and thick, chunky tone and warzone-like atmosphere. It won’t please Death Metal purists, but I’m not a purist in anything, so its good in my book! Good shit!

Tombstoner: Descent to Madness (Redefining Darkness Records / 2020)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t cover the debut release by some fellow Staten Island boys belting out some good shit. Tombstoner is a fresh name that’s already creating some buzz and showing a lot promise with this short, but nasty little EP, straight from the crypt of the early 90s, with the spirit of veteran names like Death, Cannibal Corpse, Entombed and whatever other cliche, but legendary act you can think of. Little bit of old school Death in the riffs, little bit of Thrash in speed and precision, and pure anger in blasphemy seeping through its pores. Just simple and to the point DM, that just tees off on you with every nasty riff it throws at you and every relentless drum beat it stomps you out with; dirty production, harshly toned and void of the need for fancy, overly technical clownery, which serves as a nice palette-cleanser, if you’re more on the purist side and are tired of all the Hardcore kids infiltrating the genre, or whatever it is that the old heads like to bitch about nowadays. Modern in sound, but true to it’s roots and just wants to crush you with precision, ferocity and a hefty supply of riffs. As pure and nasty as OSDM can get. Doing SI proud!

Gulch: Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress (Closked Casket Activities / 2020)

Gulch have really made a name for themselves in the last couple of years, turning heads I’m catching the attention of the Punk and Hardcore scene, with their style of vicious, chaotic an outright for violent brand of Hardcore Punk, of the nastiest and most spiteful nature, which eventually reached my eardrums and got me on board upon my first listen of the last EP, Burning Desire to Draw Last Breath. The viciousness and intensity of their sound is something I felt was missing in Hardcore since Code Orange Kids left that void behind, when they grew up and signed to Roadrunner Records. Unless you were just in it for the hoodie, like many ‘fans’ seemingly were, you know exactly what the EP brought to the table, and what they were bound to follow it up with on this album. It picks up right where the EP left off and tramples you from start to finish, with the angriest and most spiteful of might; very intense, gnarly and catchy all at once. Some of the best hardcore punk out there right now and definitely worthy of it’s hype. Don’t let the posers in hoodies discourage you from checking this out, its well worth the time of us level-headed folk too.

Escaping Aghartha: Oceanic Womb (Independent / 2020)

The best concept albums are based in reality, or at least some sort of concept based on reality. Especially grim realities. Today, no reality is more grim than the endangering of the planet we inhabit, and one-man Blackened Doom entity, Escaping Aghartha offers a deep, unsettling exploration of said endangering and the pollution we create each day. This is Escaping Aghartha’s debut full-length, that focuses on the ever-growing polluting of our oceans and the threats that it poses to both ocean life, as well as human life and Earth altogether. Sound-wise, you’ll hear an amalgamation of various different styles, ranging from old school Black Metal, modern Black Metal, Doom, Post-Metal, Ambient and everything in-between; it takes you on a ride, full of twists and turns, shifting tempos, odd, spastic riffs, tortured shrieks and programmed, but well-placed drumming, laced in slight, but present outer-elements, like ambiance, electronica and synths. Its a pretty ambiguous sound, but it stays clear as to what it is at it’s core, and it uses it’s unsettling sound to convey the alarming nature of it’s message. There was no better time to release this album than now, in the midst of a global pandemic, where panic and anxiety run rampant, because this is music that perfectly represents said anxiety and panic. This is unique, has substance and makes for an unsettling listen if you’re looking for such; I just hope you have patience as well, as it clocks in at well over an hour long. A lengthy listen, but one that is worth while and tackles a very real horror that humanity faces today.

Burier: In Communion With Death (Independent / 2020)

I first heard about this one from Sam of Take This Personally. Judging by the artwork, you wouldn’t expect this to be what it actually is, but upon my first listen of it, I was definitely blindsided. Burier is a one-man entity, who’s curator lurks behind a number of projects (Flesh Megalith being another one), and seems to have finally gotten some eyes on him with this particular outing. Overall, this is Raw Black Metal through and through, with minimal production, an abyss-like atmosphere, blown out instruments, fairly simple, but compelling song structures and a certain level of unease and dread that overall sound gives off. A fairly simple approach, but nothing short of dark and despondent, in the way it channels the roots of old and recaptures that cold, foggy death-like magic and hone. Very decent stuff overall and you’re a lie if you like your Black Metal raw, necro and proper.

Unholy Vampyric Slaughter Sect: The World Trapped in Vampyric Sway (Darker and Darker) (Crown and Throne Ltd. / 2020)

Talk about being blindsided! Unholy Vampyric Slaughter Sect is a fairly well-known entity in the Raw Black Metal sect of the underground, known as one of the main perpetrators of the vampyric style, who’s put out a number I’m demos, singles, splits and full-lengths throughout its five-year existence so far. This is his third full-length album, which I went into while I was on a Raw Black Metal kick recently (which nowadays is pretty rare), expecting more of the same and ready to have my eardrums gouged with sonic sandpaper, but I was absolutely floored at what I actually got. This is a complete 180 from the usual raw, vampyric style, into a more straightforward and punky sound, with a little extra juice on the production and revving up on the aggression. This thing is furious, and also explores some outside elements, like electronica, ambient and symphonic. They’re still a good hint of rawness to this, but it’s more within the delivery and emotion, rather than the production, which, in its own right, it’s still cold and foggy, just not as blown out. This actually reminds me a lot of the latest Slavehouse full length, which I raved about to no end, due to itsraw, visceral dissonance and Punk-fueled ferocity, which I’ve always been a sucker for, as you may have already noticed through my love of acts like Cruel Master and Nyredolk. I’m not kidding when I say that this is one of my new favorite Black Metal releases of 2020 so far, right up there with the new …And Oceans and Gaerea. Nasty, vicious, and cold-hearted, which there can never be too much of when it comes to the colder and truer side of Black Metal, as far as I’m concerned.

Febris Manea: Enhanced Audial Terrorism (Independent / 2020)

Speaking of raw and necro, here’s another one that came out of nowhere and immediately intrigued me with it’s artwork and aesthetic, only to prove me right and deliver something insanely dark and disturbing. Febris Manea is another one-man Black Metal project, that digs into the deeper and more psychologically tormented doldrums of the genre, and draws you in with it’s twisted visuals and ravages your mind and soul with it’s sounds and words. Enhanced Audial Terrorism is an album that you should absolutely judge by it’s cover, because it sounds exactly as it’s title suggests. This is Raw Black Metal at it’s most stomach-churning and dissonant, that doesn’t rely on staticy noise or hide itself in the chaos of blown out instruments recorded through a tin can. All in all, this is Black Metal stripped down to it’s basic formula, but it uses what it has, to concoct it’s nightmarish, foggy, cacophonous sound, that pulls you in and forces your attention, and basically put you in a trance, as you listen and let it fill your mind with visions of torment,self-mutilation, and human chaos, as depicted on the cover art. It paints a visual picture, as well as using it’s sound, which, if you’re into the uglier and more vexing and provocative side of Black Metal, you fully understand it and immerse yourself in it for as long as it lets you. Another one of the better underground Black Metal releases I’ve heard this year, that I only discovered through Instagram, of all places, through a follow suggestion. That’s a first. Good stuff overall, and highly recommended if you’re into the more tortured and maniacal side of BM, like this, and the next release I’m about to talk about.

Lebenssucht: -273​,​15°C (Thanatoskult / 2020)

I’ve gone on and on for years about how much I love flat out absurdity in Black Metal. Ever since I fell in love with Bethlehem as a teenager, very few bands have come close to recreating the tortured, manic and psychotic sound that came from that band in their earlier days, and that they’ve thankfully gone back to in their current incarnation. There have been a few  who have come close in recent years, like Lifelover and Psychonaut 4, but while they do have their own unique sounds, they just couldn’t match up to the same level of disturbing mania that I’ve looked for since. Lebenssucht is a band who I’ve covered on this blog before, reviewing their debut EP, Fucking My Knife, which took Depressive Black Metal to sicker and more visceral heights, with their tortured and off-kilter sound, that enamored me the way to Bethlehem did all those years ago. Fast forward to 2020, and with their debut full-length, they not only perfected their own sound, but gave me that feeling of unease and dark euphoria that I felt over a decade ago, when I heard their fellow countrymen for the first time. This album is intense, vicious and absurd, like a continuous stabbing in the gut with the sharpest I’m blades from start to finish, and conveys genuine pain and mental anguish with it’s relentless delivery. I can’t even call this a full-on Depressive Black Metal album, as it’s far too aggressive to be classified as such. This is pure Black Metal, that represents pain, isolation and self-destruction in the most genuine way possible, and encapsulates the chaos of life itself, through through it’s instrumentation, ambient elements and tortured vocals, that S Caedes spews upon her throat. Excellent stuff, that scratches that itch for raw, disturbing emotion, expressed through an honest lens. Another top tier favorite for 2020, and a find soundtrack to the mental anguish that a lot of us are faced with right now, in the wake of the current fucked up landscape of our planet.

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That wraps up Summer 2020 here in the Scvm compound. Quite a bit of stuff this time around, but I had some more time to listen to new stuff over the last few months, for obvious reasons. This is only the stuff I deem worthy of your time. I’m more than ready to move on into the brisk seasons and bundle up in my hoodies and leather jackets! There will definitely be more new jams to discuss in the coming weeks/months, and I’ll be belting out more reviews and lists from now until the end of this miserable fucking year. Stay tuned and enjoy these rippers in the meantime!

Stay safe out there, stay level-headed and sit back, relax, and laugh at society’s cretins as they continue to burn down their own cities.

Album Thoughts | Gaerea: Limbo (Season of Mist / 2020)

If there’s one thing that I’m absolutely, positively sure that 2020 has filled all of our hearts and souls with, with everything its thrown at us, its good, ol’ fashioned nihilism. We were already treading the abyss of nihilism as a society for many years, but I feel like 2020 is the year that finally pushes us over the edge and makes us hang ourselves with the rope of our own inherent selfishness. As a certain band of masked philosophers from Poland recently stated: ‘the human nature is what it is’. That sentiment rings louder and truer with each passing challenge that nature puts us through, which we always twist into our own, twisted game of moral one-upsmanship, which, in turn, causes us to do the opposite and compromise our own morality and implode upon one another. No other period in time has exposed this dark, harsh truth than the last seven months. I bring this up, because I think I have finally come across an album, by a band, that fully embodies the pain and discomfort that humanity has been forced into throughout the better part of 2020, with no end in sight, through it’s honest, misanthropic and apocalyptic aural abyss of Black Metal, that’s as massive as it is ferocious in sound, as well as hopelessly despondent and borrows from both the cold, desolate landscape of Black Metal, and the misery-fogged wastelands of Doom; a dynamic I can always get behind, especially if it’s main source of influence is the disheveled, abyssic melodicism of Mgla and the misanthropic, depressive viscera of an act like Deinonychus. This is only the second full-length by these guys, but they’ve already managed to craft something that’s as balanced as it is honest and as despondent as it is apocalyptic.

This will no doubt get a lot of comparisons to Mgla, from both a sonic and lyrical standpoint, but while Mgla tends to focus on the more philosophical side of nihilism and the dark truth of human nature, Portugal’s Gaerea aims to convey such black pilled discomfort (the only true pill, by the way) through their sounds and actions. Its still introspective in it’s own right, but it gives off more of a foreboding vibe, than a hopeless and cynical one; the Doom element really helps with that, as opener, To Ain starts with a slow, two-note riff, that gives off a sense of dread, like an oncoming storm about to hit landfall, or some sort of major global event about to happen, that can’t be prevented. The track then unravels into blast-beat-laden fury, laced with slow, but searing melodic riffs, that slightly stink of Uada-style melody, but not to the point of sterility, like you’d hear on the first two Uada albums (though I am intrigued by their new material). They give you an inch of brightness and hope, with the, well… ‘prettier’ sounding tremolo riffs, then pull right back into the abyss of crushing despondency and massive guitars, hammering you over blast-beats and dismal, tortured howls, then breaking off into a calm, picking section at the mid-point, giving you a brief breather, before riding out the last minute or so on a mid-paced, Doomy note, which is picked right back up on Null, which immediately starts pummeling you with another array of chunky guitars and non-stop snare-abusing blasts, that constantly shifts tempos like sonic moods swings, revving up the intensity and pulling it back when necessary. Its a fine mix of massive aggression and tension, that gives you a suspenseful breather when it sees fit.

It was around the tracks Null and Glare where I noticed a bit of a Post-Black Metal influence as well, which I can handle in small doses, so that’s fine. Glare is also an abrasive standout, that has a heightened sense of urgency to it, mainly in the prolonged trem-riffing and double-bass combo. The vocals also spike up in aggression and vigor at this point. The biggest stand-out track comes next, with Conspiranoia; that title in and of itself is an eye-catcher, but it’s also the longest and most monstrous of the bunch, second only to closer, Mare. Both tracks are the longest and most structured on the album and are both harrowingly stunning epics, that take their time to build from ominous, rumbling, mid-tempo Doom, led by riffs that may as well be a forgotten cut, spawned from the cold, bleak landscapes of Exercises in Futility, into an Earth-shattering storm of blasting Black Metal, then slowly accumulates every element it has, to pull you through peaks of melodic euphoria, and valleys of despondent gloom, painting a dystopian picture through it’s tone, instrumentation, and even it’s visuals. The songwriting is also stellar, especially on those two tracks. The way the more abrasive and crushing parts of this meet with the searing melody and overlap with each other is fucking phenomenal and very cathartic, especially at the end, when the storm finally winds down to it’s last few seconds.

Don’t think for a second that this is just another Mgla ripoff, because it’s far from it. As mentioned earlier, while Mgla explores the more philosophical realms of nihilism and conveys them in the beautifully depressive way that they do, Gaerea throws the Nietzsche books out the window and expresses it in their own words. This is disgust, despair, anger, hopelessness and frustration, all woven into the fabric of inspiration and expressed through a melodic, but vicious serving of Blackened Doom, that pulls from the deepest doldrums of the mind and spirit and whatever emotion it makes you feel, it makes you feel it tenfold. Also, considering the escalating horrors we’re currently facing as this year goes on, the picture that it paints may very well be a real one, all the way down to the cover art. This is undoubtedly one of Black Metal’s top releases this year, not just because of the music, but the choice in artwork and visuals, which fit together perfectly. Its everything I look for in Black Metal, especially of the more nihilistic ilk. Definitely worthy of it’s hype, and definitely not one to miss. Blackened Doom of the highest order, fuming with the misery of a dying world.

Limbo is available through Season of Mist and the Gaerea Bandcamp.

Album Thoughts | Imperial Triumphant: Alphaville (Century Media Records / 2020)

To be perfectly honest, I never really paid Imperial Triumphant much mind, until recently. They were just one of those bands who didn’t really pique my interest, until I saw their name get thrown around on social media enough, to the point where I threw my hands in the air, said ‘fuck it’ and decided to see what all the hullabaloo was about. My starting point with these Brooklynites was 2018’s Vile Luxury, which not only sums up the band sonically, but thematically as well; if you’re into the horrifically cavernous hellscapes of Portal, the ominous, creeping Blackened Death chaos of Our Place of Worship is Silence, the melodic technical mastery of Gorguts, and have a taste that expands far beyond the boundaries of pissy, depressed, introverted Black Metal freaks like myself and like you some Neoclassical and Jazz as well, then this is a band who encompasses all of those things in the most uniquely captivating way an Extreme Metal act can possibly pull off, staying within the boundaries of modern-style Blackened Death Metal that rests at it’s core, and maintaining a steady balance between ominous, unnerving soundscapes and the other, more foreign elements, that orbit the core sound, and implement themselves when need be. Vile Luxury does a fine job of maintaining an unsettling vibe through cavernous production, spastic, but catchy riffs, protruding from hammering guitars, equally pummeling drums and spitefully snarling vocals to top it off. Needless to say, I came to enjoy Imperial Triumphant and they finally had my attention.

Fast forward to now; in 2020, the year of the modern plague, comes the latest offering of avant-garde insanity. Titled Alphaville, this collective has composed yet another atmospheric and otherworldly opus, themed around the smog filled, overcrowded, crime-ridden, capitalistic dystopia that is New York City. It’s an introspective, but viscerally angry piece of expressionism, spoken in the form of off-kilter riffs, unnerving melodies and idiosyncratic chaos, layered with those strange, but fitting outside-elements that serve as a backdrop to the core sound, rather than the backBONE of it, which, as we learned from the most recent Fleshgod Apocalypse album, as well as the recent surge of old school, Emperor-worshiping Symphonic Black Metal, is always the key; letting every element enhance each other, rather than overshadow! The technical prowess this band possessed shines through immediately, as Rotted Futures starts things off, opening with a slow, eerie, ambient build, that dramatically spirals out, climaxing into a weird, bouncing, two-note riff, that expands into an array of spastic melodies, similar to that of Portal, which Vile Luxury also quickly brought to mind, upon my first listen of it. Though not as cavernous and suffocating as its predecessor, as it focuses much more on technicality and cleans up a bit on the production end, it still finds a way to twist itself into a foreboding hellscape of dissonance and unease, which reminds me a lot of the recent works of Our Place of Worship is Silence, as I mentioned earlier.

I don’t want to make too many comparisons here, but that’s the basic gist of the overall Imperial Triumphant sound; it isn’t too far off the spectrum of modern Blackened Death Metal, and has a foundation in many different styles, that more prolific names in the genre have innovated, but it’s still multiple styles woven into something bigger, fuled by it’s own meaning and essence. You’ll hear it in tracks like Excelsior, which immediately goes for the throat with blasting ferocity, seasoned with more spiraling riffs, cut from the same sonic cloth as one of the finer Portal or Deathspell Omega outings, only faster and even more urgent, not letting up a single bit, save for a brief tangent at the mid-mark of the song, and City Swine, where some heavy Gorguts influence can easily be detected, and is more than welcome (especially since the last time we heard anything new from Gorguts was 2013). This album has it’s more ferocious side, and even gets Grindy at times, but it can switch at the drop of a dime, as tracks like Atomic Age pull things back and slow the pace, raising the tension and the spook factor. The song has a strange, choppy flow to it, with spastic riffs, and off-kilter drum patterns, that stomp over you like a giant walking over you. Reminds me of something off of Cryptopsy’s Once Was Not. Oh, and did I mention: it features a brief appearance by a fucking barbershop quartet. That’s a new one!

Transmissions to Mercury is another great track, which opens with a lengthy, fancy piano and trombone arrangement, then takes a nosedive into somewhat Shoegazy Black Metal territory. Just a continuous blast-beat, with watery tremolo picking and dismal growls. The trombone makes a return towards the end of the track and wails in the background as it fades out. Definitely one of the more eccentric tracks. The Greater Good speeds things back up again and ditches the fancy stuff for a bit, but also has it’s quips, as those weird, squirming melodies come flooding back in, as the drums spastically blast beneath them. One of the more straightforward tracks, but even at their most (at least somewhat) normal, the band can still be as dissonant and unsettling as sonically possible. Even the two covers that close this thing out (Experiment by Voivod & Happy Home by The Residents) are tweaked into the band’s own image, with the implementing of the more obscure elements. The title track is also one of the more dynamic ones, that twists and turns itself like a rubix cube, and leaves it up to you to digest or spit out, depending on your tolerance for those chaotic melodies and constant shifts in pace and tempo.

The unconventional instrumentation and eccentric delivery, as well as all the Jazzy and (intentionally) oddly-placed elements, like a piano, a trombone, a choir and the aforementioned barbershop quartet, while random to the untrained ear, and would probably prompt words like ‘pretentious’ and ‘hipster’ to be hurled at it, is actually part of the overall concept of the band itself, representing the oppressive nature of an over-active, crowded and chaotic city like New York and it’s capitalistic divide. The dynamic of the band’s sound, is meant to represent the bright picture that the city is always presented as to the outside, as well as the negative of said picture. The harsher, more abrasive, straight Blackened Death side of this album, represents the squalor-ridden doldrums hidden beneath all the bright lights and architectural grandeur. The more progressive and avant-garde side represents the higher-ups, watching all of it in their fancy, comfortable, ivory towers. The ‘elite’; the high life that this city holds for those who can afford it. The Imperial Triumphant sound is the chaos, absurdity and busyness of New York City in music form, as well as the money-hungry dystopia that hides within all of the pomp and circumstance. Their previous outings did a good job as well, but Alphaville just captures it perfectly, the best way yet. I didn’t quite get that when I was first exposed to Imperial Triumphant, or even when I first heard this album and Vile Luxury, but the further I understood the band’s subject matter, the more it made sense, and as a downstate New Yorker, who knows all to well about how fucking expensive it is just to live here and even just to travel around the five boroughs, it really resonates with me.

It’s not every day you come across something that may seem random and scattershot, but actually has a purpose at it’s core. Imperial Triumphant continue to push the envelope of sonic dissonance, and use it to represent the dissonance and absurdity of reality and convey a message using such sounds. This may be one of the best outings in a while, of the ‘Avant Garde’ ilk (as some may call it), that the likes of Deathspell Omega and Portal brought to the forefront, that takes those styles and twists them into it’s own, while conveying some true, vitriolic emotion in the process. It’s challenging, eccentric and leaves a lot on the table to unpack and figure out for yourself. It’s not going to win over the majority, especially considering the hype around it right now, and some may see this as artsy fartsy nonsense, or pretentious drivel, especially after laying eyes on the masks the band bares, but if you seek something that pulls from the most twisted caverns of Blackened Death Metal and paints a frightening and depressing picture of the realities of class divide and the black hole of greed and destitution that rests at the core of the ‘Big Apple’, then this is right up your dark, filthy, 42nd street alley.

Alphaville is available through Century Media Records.