Forgotten Horror - Aeon Of The Shadow Goddess (CD Review)

01.The Adept
02.Behold A Shadow Goddess
03....Of Man's First Rebellion
04.Lilithian
05.In Ravenous Darkness (The Shores Of Mictlan)
06.Queen Of An Ivory Moon
07.Babalon Emissaries
08.Her Crescent Horns
09.The Ghost Of Time


Tuomas Karhunen (Guitar/Vocals/Keyboards/Bass)
Kennet (Guitar)
Kassara (Drums)

Guests
Mariann Hermansson (Vocals)
Jodi Cachia (Vocals)
Jess (Vocals)
Thomas Corpse (Guitar on track 3)
Abraham (Piano)
Kai Jaakkola (Death Screams)
Antti Boman (Death Screams)
Kosti Orbinski (Guitar Track 7)

Black/Death Metal band from Finland formed in 2004.

The band's frontman Tuomas Karhunen speaks:

"Making this Babalon's Beast of an album has been an extremely long process during which the material has matured a lot. As Forgotten Horror walks hand in hand with my own personal and spiritual growth, this dark alchemical process has required me to turn my life completely upside down, to step back and re-evaluate everything regarding music and my personal life. When it comes to songwriting, there are a lot of new elements and layers and everything is more dynamic than before.

With "Aeon of the Shadow Goddess" I set out to create an album that I could stand behind wholeheartedly; an album I gave my absolute everything for, and in that I have succeeded. I've poured my heart soul into this work of devotion towards the Queen of Souls, the beauteous Daughter of Sunset."

Very quiet and slow intro to 'The Adept' then starts to come to life with some spooky sounding keyboards and other instruments, then it just explodes into a full modern black metal attack, sounding like early Cradle Of Filth, except i dont ever remember them having some spanish acoustic guitar in the mix, which this does and it sounds amazing.

More hi-octane blast beats with the second track, this one has more of a death metal feel, though with some symphonic undertones, same is true of the next one as well.

'Lilithian' returns to more traditional black metal, has a furious guitar sound and the song is a drum driven monster, lots of great vocals as well.

Next track 'In Ravenous Darkness' really throws everything into the mix, not only some full speed mayhem but a nice breakdown with near spoken vocals over it and it ends on a slow doomy beat with great female harmony chorus and piano.

Beautiful gothic guitar intro to 'Queen Of An Ivory Moon', the riff remains throughout even when the rest of the music takes on a more agressive pace, and again towards the end some great harmony backing vocals.

Now this one starts with the feamale harmony backing vocals, but then 'Babalon Emissaries' soon turns into another powerhouse of speed and agression, this one ends with some church organ.

After another more death metal style song we end on 'The Ghost Of Time' which has a riff running through it that i've heard somewhere before (Though cant think where).
they certainly don't let up on the speed and go for a quiet final song that's for sure.

Rating 8/10
For Fans Of: Vallenfyre, Cradle Of Filth, Satyricon, Dimmu Borgir.

Mekigah - Litost (CD Review)

01.Total Cessation Of One
02.The Sole Dwelling
03.Arangutia
04.By Force Of Breath
05.Sa FII Al Dracului
06.Wurrmbu
07.Circuitous Revenge
08.Mokuy
09.An Overbearing Insanity
10.Bir Yun

Vis Ortis (Vocals/All Instruments)
T.K. Bollinger (Vocals)
Axiam Ziltch (Guitar)

Mekigah is a unique act from Australia formed in 2008, creating a mixture of Black/Doom/Metal and ambient soundscapes.
The record company adds; "It will not appeal to everyone - but at the same time people who appreciate many underground or metal sub-genres will be impressed by this".

So we begin with 'Total Cessation Of One', strange synth sounds and weird vocal f/x, nothing else but layer upon layer of sound.

Heavy distortion chords and more synth weirdness and i am starting to get an understanding of what Vis Ortis is creating here.'The Sole Dwelling' keeps the noise in the background and adds some doom drum patterns and more guitar then comes in an eveil sounding vocal, borderline avant-garde funeral doom, but creates something you can barley listen to.
Now that is not a bad thing here, back in 2006 there were 2 cd's by Occupier, music that was described as a soundtrack to a torture chamber and unlistenable, except that it was listened to in the same way that Merzbow is.

So this music is very difficult to review without sounding negative (which it is not menat to be) you see each of these pieces are long slow, torturous, have little than you can pick up on in the way of a hook or chorus, they are not even nice to listen to, its a nightmare of the worst kind made real through sound manipulation.
Yes there is the occasional piece that has a solid rhythm played out on a cymbal or drum beat.

Some may view this as just a series of noise layered upon more, but its not, the more you listen the more you can see the method in the madness and a solid structure forming.

Think of the werid/spoken passages in the early Axis Of perdition albums, its that kind of style but as a whole body of work.

Rating 10/10
For fans of: Merzbow, Exorium/Occupier, Axis Of Perdition, Zweitstein

Desert - Never Regret (CD Review)

01.Chasing The Prey
02.Assassins Fate
03.Son Of A Star
04.The Wolfs Attack
05.Never Regret
06.The Road To You
07.1812
08.Flying Dutchman
09.Final Journey
10.Imperial Eagle
11.Invincible

Alexei Raymar (Vocals)
Sergei Metalheart (Guitar)
Max Shafranski (Guitar)
Sergei Dmitrik (Bass)
Oleg Aryutkin (Keyboards)
Assaf Markowitz (Drums)

Guests
Ralf Scheepers (Vocals)
Infy Snow (Vocals)
Alex Zvulun (Guitar)
Merry Ann Genin (Violin)

Desert are a Dark Epic Metal band from Israel formed in 2002, since then they have expanded their musical palette mixing in some darker colors to go with power and epic metal.
During those years were released 2 EP’s: “The Way To Honor” 2004, “Prophecy Of The Madman” 2006 and one full length studio album "Star Of Delusive Hopes which was released in early 2011 by the Greek label Sleaszy Rider Records .
The album was recorded and produced by Nick Savio (Hollow Haze, White Skull) at Remaster Studio in Vicenza (Italy). Mix and mastering were done by Andy La Roque – a legendary guitarist of King Diamond at Sonic Train Studio in Varberg (Sweden). The internet single "Lament for Soldier's Glory", featuring a guest performance by Joakim Broden, the lead singer of 'Sabaton'.
On the waves of successful “Star Of Delusive Hopes” on 2012 the band started the pre-production work of the second full length album, later named as “Never Regret”. The album was produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Alex Zvulun at A.G. Studio in Tel-Aviv. As for previous album the cover artwork was done by a great Brazilian artist Jobert Mello – well known by his work with numerous bands including 'Primal Fear' and 'Grave Digger'.
Ralf Scheepers, a legendary voice of 'Primal Fear' has also contributed his voice to one of the tracks on the album alongside some other guests.

It may be well played but an intro is an intro and as with most intros it goes right into the first song 'Assassins Fate' so why not just have it at the beginning of the song?
Right so onto the song, its Power Metal, but with a difference, this one has more layers to it, a strong drum driven track, great harmony with both keyboards and backing vocals, clever little timing changes and a proper guitar solo.
The lead vocal style reminds me of Snowy Shaw, big, powerfull with plenty of range.

'Son Of A Star' is a slow and pounding anthemic piece, another superb vocal delivery, some Maidenesque guitar work and a great little keyboard hook.

A dark and moody start with church organ starts up and then 'The Wolfs Attack' builds into a full on metal attack, such is the style of this one that at times it has more than a touch of the legendary Crazy World Of Arthur Brown about it, add to this some shout it out loud backing vocals, a real stand out song.

Has to be said that 'Never Regret' is a very commercial sounding song, another stunning vocal delivery with a harmony line reminiscent of Lacuna Coils version of Depeche Modes 'Enjoy The Silence'and brilliant keyboard work all making for an intresting mix of symphonic rock and Rammstein.

A near ballad next with 'The Road To You' this one is quite operatic thanks in part to a stunning female vocal performance half way through, the music itself sounds almost cinematic in its execution.

I was wondering if '1812' may be a take on the classical masterpiece, but this is another symphonic/power metal song, hyper drumming over laid back keyboard and atmospheric guitar work, oh and lets forget that evil sounding bassline.Yet again we are treated to another passionate and powerfull vocal that hits every high note with perfect pitch.

Time for some folk rock as the violin starts off 'Flying Dutchman' and this one fits the genre "Battle Metal" with its high octane mix of epic sing-a-long vocals and solid riffs, this one "Sails" along and then gets into that classic folk rock rhythm with a stunning mix of violin and guitar.

Another cinematic intro and 'Final Journey' bursts into life before going all quiet with a simple vocal over piano which then picks up into a faster paced piece, more of that solid basswork is present here as well as that epic vocal performance.

A military trumpet (well keyboard to sound like one) and a snare rhythm to match leads us into 'Imperial Eagle' a few seconds shy of eight minutes this one really fits the term "Epic", i've said it before and i will say it again this one has some killer basswork going on and that Snowy Shaw/Till Lindermann style of singing is just to die for.Thrown into the mix are some sound samples of swords, i mention this because for some reason they really stick out as a way of underlining the theme of the piece.

Finally 'Invincible' the same way as we started, a style of music played with total precision and understanding.

Rating 10/10
For fans of: Snowy Shaw, Tristania, Therion, Dream Evil, Orpheus Blade, Synkvervet, Rammstein

Guest Vocalist Infy Snow

Analkholic - After Party Shit Stinks (CD Review)

01.Anal Punishment
02.Cypreen
03.Cumshot Attack
04.Genital Devastation
05.Deprave
06.Captain Malt
07.Mes Que Una Beer
08.Shit In Your Mouth
09.Cul Sec
10.Purulent Abscess
11.Fuck You I'm Drunk
12.Sergent Poppers
13.Spermathlon
14.Visceral Torture
15.Anal Montana
16.Double Headed Dildo
17.Dead Leden
18.Virulent Excrement
19.Extraction Of Balls


Arnaud AKA Nono Beer Belly (Bass)
Adrien AKA Fitch (Guitar/Vocals)

A self-styled "Coconut Goregrind" band hailing from New Caledonia (A small French Island on the Pacific Ocean).

So aside from soundbites in an asian voice, and what i think may well be ronald reagan, some other speech here and there, what we have is what you would expect, that is 19 songs all counted in on the drums followed by blastbeats, fuzzy guitar, and screams and shouts instead of vocals.

All may or may not be done in the best possible taste, thing is if this is your kinda music then its another good example, if on the other hand you can't see the point in this stuff then this will not sway your opinion.

Rating 6/10
For fans of: Anal Cunt, Kunt Puncher, Internal Rot

Amidst The Withering -The Dying of the Light (CD Review)

01.A Prelude To Darkness
02.Auri Sacra Fames
03.The Clarion Light
04.The Withering
05.Aegri Somnia
06.Autumnal Lament
07.Infinitus Dolor Amoris
08.Seraph Enslaved
09.The Acolyte
10.Prologue
11.A Love Benighted
12.Epilogue (A Defiant Succumbing)
13.The Dying of the Light


Serge Farinas (Guitar/Bass)
John Hembree (Vocals)

There is a land where even the grim Norse gods dare not tread (nor anyone of northern heritage for that matter). It is a forsaken wasteland where the summer sun is merciless, and on a particularly humid day, swimming rather than walking becomes the primary mode of locomotion. Here in the mind-numbing doldrums of suburbia, south of Atlanta, Serge Farinas, John Hembree, Cliff Widener and Jason Cartee decided the only thing better than one musician producing a terrible sound was a group of them doing it together. The brigands settled into this core group in the early 2000’s after much upheaval and rotations of itinerant musicians. The group’s “brilliant idea” was to create a sound incorporating elements from black and doom metal, and also experiment with rhythm and orchestration. About this time they settled on “Amidst the Withering” as their name because creativity was in short supply.

To understand how ridiculous and vain their efforts were, you have to put things in context. Here was a bunch of sweaty metal and goth kids trying to do dark-symphonic metal in the heart of Dixieland, where the top 40 radio has played the same Lynyrd Skynyrd songs for the past 40 years and the past-times of choice include Jim Beam, shooting TVs, and tire bonfires. The line-up at this time was John on drums (later vocals), Serge on guitars, Cliff on keyboards, and Jason on bass. Many songs were written and few of them could be described as listenable, yet the band began recording an album in 2004.

However and alas, the band didn’t survive the process. Due to stress, poverty, relationship problems, diverging life paths the band fell apart. Serge released the album “Ars Moriendi” in 2005 on the internet and acclaim shortly followed from a couple of people in Norway and maybe one Kenyan. The members went their separate ways to become (dis) functional members of society. Serge became involved with other music projects, but eventually after a long gap, came to work with John again in the late 2000’s (on a completely different project).
Serge and John began working once more on Amidst the Withering around 2010 or 2011. They decided to completely revamp the old material, while also setting aside new material for a follow-up. The re-titled release “The Dying of the Light” (2015) represents many hours of labor and love (and hatred?). Although it has changed much, the music still contains within it the spirit of Jason and Cliff. We are forever indebted for their contributions and for making times a little less miserable.

From the (Edited) bio above, i was expecting some less than serious heavy metal, but you would not believe just how epic this music is, so after the symphonic intro we get nearly eight minutes of quite stunning blackend power metal superb keyboard work and fast and technical drum work, ad to this a dual vocal style of dark and demonic and then high pitched to perfection clean vocals.Half way thrugh 'Auri Sacra Fames' there is a quite bit and some awesome bass playing.

This dark/symphonic style just keeps getting better, by 'The Withering' which throws in chorus vocals, blastbeats, harmony balanced with agression, spoken vocal is haunting and really adds menace.

With it's endless riffs and "Widley widley" solo's 'Aegri Somnia" is more power metal, but with a vocal style reminiscent of Dani Filth, this somehow becomes an all together different beast, towards the end there is some violin cutting through the mayhem.

Some classical/acoustic instrumental called 'Infinitus Dolor Amoris' makes for a welcome break, however 'Seraph Enslaved' kicks you back into life and then the power just continues with 'The Acolyte'.

'Prolgue' leads us into the epic 'A Love Benighted', full of timing and style changes from black metal to symphonic and power metal, various vocal styles and a production to die for, this is then rounded off with 'Epilogue' which far from being another nice classical piece is a full on death/black metal hyper speed monster at just under two minutes.

The final song 'The Dying Of The Light' is anther neo classical piece, slow with a mainly spoken vocal, a clever way to end a very clever album.

Rating 10/10
For Fans Of: Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Therion, Graveworm

Bloodlust - Cultus Diaboli (CD Review)

01.Apocalyptic War Command
02.Sworn Servant Of The Devil
03.Black Blood Of Satan
04.Rex Inferni In Terra (The Antichrist Enthroned)
05.Crowned In Black Fire
06.Infernal Bloodlust
07.Spell Of The Raven Witch
08.Iron Tyrants



Disaster (Vocals/Drums)
Spectre (Guitar/Bass)

Australian band formed around 2011, the rest i leave to them:
Conceived in the slaughter of innocence, upon a desecrated altar of God. Nurtured in the cold earth of the tomb world amongst the bones of the dead. Fed on endless pain and suffering, caressed by the dark mother of decay then thrust howling for vengeance into this mortal world on a mission to do Satan's deadly work.

Bloodlust are a unit of infernal soldiers risen from Hell to spread a plague of blasphemous darkness against the light and all that is holy.

Armed to the teeth with an arsenal of dirty, thrashing black metal riffs, relentless bludgeoning war drums and scorchingly vicious vokills, Bloodlust spit forth a venomous tirade against Jehovah and his cowering angels. The rhetoric of holy destruction written in blood and the audial terror.

Inspired by visions of decaying graveyards, black magic rituals, demonic summoning and the mighty Infernal Lord, Satan, Bloodlust follow in the musical path of early metal warriors Venom, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost and Bathory.
"Thrashing Black Devil Worship" was the first demo release from Bloodlust featuring four raw and gritty tracks of old school black thrash straight from the fiery depths of Hell.

Opening track has a killer drum intro then just explodes into classic old school black metal punk, screaming vocals over a wall of power.

A spoken intro to 'Black Blood Of Satan' leads us into another sledgehammer performance, but this one throws in some great guitar solos and even a few timing changes.

Next stand out track is 'Crowned In Black Fire' a solid bass intro to a very raw song, full of fury and a nice nod to early thrash metal.

'Spell Of The Raven Witch' really blasts the speakers, another powerhouse of drumming and riffs, yet somehow they manage to keep it mid paced at the same time, half way through starts to show signs of doom metal and then ends on some great melodic guitarwork.

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Venom, Warfare, Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, Bathory

Sauna Youth - Distractions (CD Review)

01.End Loop
02.Transmitters
03.New Fear
04.Monotony
05.Cosmos Seeker
06.Modern Living
07.Leather
08.Paul
09.Abstract Notions
10.The Bridge
11.Try To Leave
12.Future Tense
13.Taking A Walk
14.Creeping

Richard Phoenix (Drums/Vocals)
Lindsay Corstorphine (Guitar)
Jen Calleja (Vocals/Sampler)
Christopher Murphy (Bass)

 Having started out in 2009 in Brighton, Sauna Youth ended up moving to London and changing line up to its current constellation in 2011. Attracted to the possibilities apparent within a DIY philosophy, the band self-recorded and self-released their own music until the release of their first LP, Dreamlands on Faux Discx/Gringo Records in 2012, creating a number of seven inches, splits and cassettes.

The band have naturally developed its sound in the three years since Dreamlands and is now in its ultimate form. All four members are also the band Monotony, which they formed while writing Distractions in 2014. Later in the year, they did two sessions over two days as both bands for Marc Riley on BBC 6 Music, and both Sauna Youth and Monotony were invited to play DRILL Festival by Wire. As well as playing in Monotony, members of Sauna Youth are also in the bands Tense Men, Primitive Parts, Feature and Cold Pumas

After an intresting seventeen seconds first track of well a feedback loop we blast straight into 'Transmitters' which is a good old fashioned new wave pop punk tune circa 1978, not art or experimental, just straight forward and really rather good.

Now thing is next bunch of tracks also fit that bill, just good old fashioned new wave, all sound like the Buzzcocks meets Wire, wheres this art stuff gone?

Up next is 'Paul' which is 52 seconds of talking over a bassline, could this lead into something weirder?
No is the answer back to 1978 again, as is everything else except 'Taking A Walk' which is more talking.

So somewhat dissapointed and at the same time a nice surprise, thought i may be getting some Throbbing Gristle meets Sonic Youth, got some well executed harmless punk tunes instead!

Rating 8/10
For fans Of: Monotony, Buzzcocks, Wire, Magazine, Vibrators