ALBUM REVIEWS V - Music - http://maxpages.com/aeazine/ALBUM_REVIEWS

Mortician Darkest Day of Horror Relapse
The all-powerful lords of horror metal are back with another skull-crushing release poised to reduce your brain matter to something vaguely resembling seafood salad long since gone over. Darkest Day of Horror is actually one of two releases to come out this year after touring excursions that seemed to last forever as the band traveled Europe and America with a legion of bands accompanying them including Vader, Marduk, Bal-Sagoth and Amon Amarth. The “companion” of Darkest Day of Horror is a collection of classic Mortician songs re-recorded in the studio called Final Bloodbath Session. As far as new material, the Will Rahmer-fronted death-gore-thrashers still seem to increase their speed and intensity with each disc they create and unleash upon the thrash underground. Composed by Rahmer and Roger Beaujard, the material shows an additional push in how far Mortician take every pulverizing blast beat, mind-scraping bass distortion and gut-churning riff into a brutality level, emerging even more excessive than last time. By contrast there’s a higher amount of slower sections added bestowing graphic visions of the lyrics Rahmer bases on independent gore flicks like Pieces (“Human Puzzle”) and Zombie (“Darkest Day of Horror”) and mainstream films like The Serpent and the Rainbow (“Voodoo Curse”) and Children of the Corn (“The Final Sacrifice”). Excerpts from these and other films Rahmer writes about are sampled as introductions to set the tone for the song to follow. Again, the artwork adorning the album cover is by Wes Benscoter who has designed art for Deceased, Embalmer, Sound of Death magazine and more recently, Kittie and this year’s upcoming Ozzfest. I don’t think you’re going to see Mortician changing their style anytime soon in the hope of reaching a bigger audience.

Kult Ov Azazel Oculus Infernum Arctic Music Group
Because Kult ov Azazel are from Florida, you might expect them to be death metal, as many death metal bands that went on to become influential forces in extreme music such as Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel started there. But this band not only play black metal, but some of the rudest, most misanthropic and morally offensive black metal to spew itself from the bowels of America since yesterdecade when Abazagorath and Blood Storm reared their corpsepainted heads to be heard this side of the mighty Atlantic. Christened after the Biblical bearer of mankind’s sins, they recite blasphemous passages against light and holiness on their second full-length Oculus Infernum that would make Joseph Lieberman piss himself and, more importantly, appease the bloodlust of thrashers across the country. The band’s slogan is “no beauty, no atmosphere, no tranquility,” which reminded me of “no mosh, no fun, no trends” coined by Euronymous of Mayhem at the dawn of 90’s black metal. You can rest assured the attitude is very much the same here. Reviewers who heard their last full-length Triumph of Fire have made frequent comparisons to black metal bands who are today the stuff of legend such as Emperor, Immortal and Marduk. I’m inclined to agree as far as the comparisons to the last two bands mentioned due to the relentless assault that Kult Ov Azazel bring to the table, charging ahead with an endless barrage of double bass kick drums, blast beats played with mechanical precision that seem almost impossible to reach, guitars that sound like a red-hot razor being dragged across your flesh with deliberate slowness and vocals spitting forth hatred and sacrilege that will alarm and outrage anyone within earshot. Bands such as this one should ensure that black metal is in no way dying out.

Darkest Hour Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation Victory
Being major fans of Swedish melodic death metal bands like At The Gates and In Flames, Darkest Hour traveled all the way to Sweden themselves to record their third album Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation at Gothenburg’s Studio Fredman with famed producer Fredrick Nordstrom who worked with the above mentioned Swedish bands along with Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth. After releasing two other albums; So Sedated, So Secure and The Make of the Judas; in the space of eight years, Darkest Hour believe they’ve stumbled onto something big they can display proudly once they returned to the States to release it through Victory Records and hit the road to bring it to the people. In the studio the band worked with Nordstrom to bring out the strongest points of their songwriting, paying close attention to the heavy accents they introduce the different sections of their songs with and the melodic guitar harmonies decorating the refrains in these songs. Swedish death metal often relies on guitar harmonies so Nordstrom definitely had something to build on as the band wrote many of their songs this way, creating a solid balance between the riffs, the lyrics sung over them and the breaks where brief Dave Lombardo-esque drum fills were added before the band crash back into the song. I noticed that the percussion was given a great deal of exposure to show how much faster Darkest Hour play compared to on their older albums. The songs given the best treatment in emphasizing their differences include “Sadist Nation,” “Seven Day Lie” and “Accessible Losses.”

Mirrorthrone Of Wind and Weeping Red Stream
The driving force behind the French black metal act Mirrorthrone, known only as Vladimir, began work on what would ultimately become the near-masterpiece that is Of Wind and Weeping in 2000 after he found other projects he was doing too limiting for his imagination. Recording four songs to demo the bigger picture in early 2001, he completed the epic over the space of two more years before signing with Red Stream to allow it to be heard worldwide. This album is all the more impressive when you read Vladimir handled all the recording, production, mixing and mastering in his own home. If you’re into the classical elements brought into black metal by bands like Peccatum you should definitely acquire this album since this is one musician taking those mournful and classic shades far into deeper valleys of sophistication. You couldn’t even classify Of Wind and Weeping as black metal in the traditional sense; experiencing the depth of melancholy summoned in the instruments adding range to the fluctuating moods the guitars present each song with. The piano interludes and string arrangements become more integral to the endless longing and despair, and you can form images in your mind as to the setting of each part of this epic, what transpires there, and so forth. The melodic overlapping of the guitars, keyboards and strings, all arranged in a way to reveal themselves when they most ardently desire to captivate your attention, give way to the release of darker emotions with searing guitars and thunderous blast beats, then retreat into more of the mystifying license you were previously drowning in. If you think metal can’t be transformed into art, you should listen.

Reducer Lishon InnerVenus
For a metal band, the Pittsburgh-based Reducer sound a lot like crust-punk. Two of their members, bassist Amy Bianco and guitarist Frank Knezevich, share lead vocals on the six-song EP they released through InnerVenus promotions. There are no lyrics enclosed in the packaging but there are pieces of information about how Lishon was made. Reducer write many Black Sabbath-style progressions into their music, christening it “stoner rock.” The production sounds more on the level of a demo recording; the music is very gritty, reminding me of punks Nausea and Michigan thrashers Medieval. If this band formed a decade earlier I could see them opening for bands like 13. The bass is mixed too loud and tend to bury the other instruments, especially the drums, but the feeling’s there all the same. Some of the members are in other punk-metal outfits that toured with Raging Slab and Disengage. “Slugepump” and “Steamburn” indicate the band’s energy well and have good lyrical bases. Knezevich’s vocals in the former resemble a more angst-ridden James Hetfield while Bianco comes across adequately pissed in the latter. Log on www.innervenus.org to learn more about this band.

Scarabaeus When the Heavens Declare Defeat Independent
There’s a growing metal scene emerging in Texas with bands singing deals with independent labels such as Forever Underground and Blackend from the U.K. Beginning with Absu, this new crop of Texan death and black metal bands has increased and multiplied to the point where the state could reach the same level of recognition as Ohio and other areas in America with burgeoning scenes. In an interview for Extreme Texas Metal Scarabaeus, who rose from the ashes of thrash act Restless Dead, say Texas bands manage to stay afloat by promoting their own material without the benefit of college radio. With only one demo, an EP and two independently released full-lengths to speak for Scarabaeus have toured with many prominent death metal bands in the States and Mexico and hope to open for Morbid Angel and Deicide, whom they cite as major influences. On When the Heavens Declare Defeat, the band take these influences in different directions, with Lord Pykos adding vomitous vocals inspired by occultic death and black metal bands from Brazil to freshly arranged guitar-double bass chops, accent patterns and changing from single notes to power chords. The band have songs featured at www.mp3.com so seek them out there or email xscarabaeus2000x@aol.com if you want to hear them.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed Altered States of America Relapse
Since Massachusetts’ Agoraphobic Nosebleed began back in 1994, they were fiercely determined to make themselves known as that one band who can transform distorted guitar and drum programming into the AK-47 fueled ultrablast chaos an infinite number of bands continue bragging about. Altered States of America comes closest to this goal while cramming as many songs into the space of thirty minutes as possible. One of the first things crossing my mind when I read the track list was Sore Throat’s unsung classic Disgrace to the Corpse of Sid, which despite the obvious fact that many Sex Pistols fans would take offense to the title pushed grindcore to its limits long before anyone thought to try. This could lead people to conclude that Agoraphobic overdo the whole grind thing as much as Sore Throat when they managed to fit 100 songs onto one side of an LP, before compact discs allowed longer durations. Recording 100 songs in one sitting; most of which don’t last longer than thirty seconds; is definitely the same exercise in excessiveness. This isn’t to say I don’t admire their effort to stretch boundaries, and admittedly Agoraphobic have taken the biggest chance in doing so since Sore Throat did all the way back in ’89. They’re doing something right since they received positive feedback from Rolling Stone as well as several noteworthy underground publications when Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope came out last year. As much as the album and song titles capture the socio-political atmosphere that Napalm Death started in grindcore around the same time the consistently brief set list leaves you with the feeling of being mercilessly pummeled in shorter and shorter increments.

Fleurety Min Tid Skal Komme Candlelight
If you visit their website (http://folk.uio.no/sveineh/fleurety) and check out some publicity shots, you’ll find Fleurety to be a pair of lighthearted, fun-loving guys. Well, maybe not entirely, but if you listen to what they created in the 90’s you’ll tell a difference between it and most of what was termed Norwegian black metal in those days. The Candlelight release of Min Tid Skal Komme is a reissue of their material from 1994 and ’95 when they released the EP version and the preceding 7’ A Darker Shade of Evil via Aesthetic Death. A black metal Pink Floyd wouldn’t be completely inaccurate as the description warranted by Alexander Nordgaren and Svein Egil Hatlevik. Named for an unpredictable demon mentioned in many occult areas who appears to humans who ingest mind-altering substances, the band’s dual personalities reflect its name as they encompass schizophrenic images of wandering through the most bizarre nightmare the human mind can devise, going from tranquil to mysterious to edgy to panicked at any given moment, with unexpected time alterations and overlapping female vocals. The elements reminding me of Pink Floyd exist primarily in the bass lines that follow repetitive patterns that draw your attention until things degenerate into another tempo change just as you’re most hypnotized. A few listens and it becomes apparent that Fleurety write for the purpose of messing with your consciousness. This is reflected in the lyrics of Min Tid Skal Komme (translated: “my time shall come”) arranged here as one poem, with the band mentioning how they made the lyrics deliberately ambivalent. Also included is their song from the first Blackend compilation, “Absence.”

Dying Fetus Stop At Nothing Relapse
Dying Fetus’ turn-of-the-millennium American tour with Destruction and Kataklysm in 2000 seemed to not only broaden horizons for them but prove instrumental in broadening their expression as a death metal band. This doesn’t mean they’ve become lacking in the departments of heaviness and brutality although the production of Stop At Nothing could have used more bottom for those qualities, but the issues their lyrics address are broader while being more cohesive. “Schematics” is airing guitarist Mike Kimball’s viewpoints on how the scientific community may find cloning to be financially viable. The song that comes right afterward, “One Shot One Kill” with its At War reminiscent title (read: “Creed of the Sniper”) makes known how the band must collectively see those involved with the 9/11 incident. The lyrics in this are as calculated as the actions described by the speaker as he does his part defending American liberty. That “Institutions of Deceit” follows to attack the use of religion as license for denial of personal freedom shows the band are organizing their thoughts on record in a more precise manner, as much as they’re striding ahead as musicians. The crunch sections are much clearer in the guitars and there is sharper distinction between those parts, the blast sections and those moments when Kimball and John Gallagher let loose with some intense fretboard gymnastics to coin an old phrase from Wehrmacht. The percussion of Erik Sayenga is as methodical as the guitars and their accompaniment by bassist Sean Beasley. Vince Mathews’ deep growling vocals fir everything that’s going on just about perfectly. Not much to complain about than there should have been more bottom.

Throcult Soldiers of a Blackened War Crash Music
Throcult have displayed infinite confidence in themselves appearing in metal fests with bands already established in the collective consciousness of the masses when they only had a few demos to speak for. On the other hand, this is what got them a recording deal with Crash not even a year after their most recent demo began circulating. Soldiers of a Blackened War contains songs from 2000’s Hunted, re-recorded with a new lineup that includes former Serberus members Jeremy Portz and Ivan Alcala. Those songs next to the new ones sound angrier with a more complete atmosphere executed by a pair of guitars and tense keyboards though the production can still use some work. Live videos are added in a multimedia section with member bios and reviews from several independent fanzines, Metal Rules being the most prominent of these. Filmed at two different shows in Colorado and shot from various camera angles, performances of “Salem,” “Eclipse of the Blood Moon” and “Kill or be Killed” gave me a bigger picture of how much Throcult have their act together, showing their tightness and professionalism. Their fusion of death and black metal comes across naturally as they perform these songs live, with a unique kind of mournful brutality. The power chords and single notes the guitars trade off with one another are delivered like a primal cross between Morbid Angel and Hypocrisy while vocalist Chris Vigil projects elements of Kreator; probably a holdover from their days as a thrash band. The keyboards are more integral to their sound used in moderation than they would be more up front. Their subtlety giving “Hunted” and the songs mentioned earlier a bone-chilling effect.

Pharaoh After the Fire Cruz Del Sur
The odd thing about this album, which was over four years in the making, is that the musicians comprising Pharaoh are of different mind-sets that emerge through differing styles of metal. Besides this, most of them have been involved in other bands for as long as they’ve worked together in this one. In fairness the band state they’re inspired by bands that existed before power metal reclaimed the spotlight in the late 90’s, and the guitars are undeniably heavy in many places. But their compositions sound too fragmented due to the variance in styles between each member, and the Iron Maiden similarities are too obvious although there are a few good moments with Murray-Smith guitar harmonies set to heavier thrash riffs a la Slayer and (vaguely) Celtic Frost. Vocalist Tim Aymar sounds throatier than when he sang for Control Denied, proving his adaptability to progressive metal as well as power metal. The band members writing these songs are capable musicians, and it does seem that things would have been tighter if they’d worked in the studio for a condensed period of time instead of drawing things over a number of years working apart from each other. As a debut recording, After the Fire manages to slip past its flaws, but my advice would be to do what they have to do in order to ensure things are tighter, have less of a distinction between power and thrash and make the harmonies have more of their own personality in the future.

Solace in the Shadows Blackheart Lake Independent
This is Solace in the Shadows’ third independently released demo, Solace in the Shadows and Of Darkness in Angels being the first two. The band hail from Pennsylvania where Insatanity and Blood Storm originated from. Again, it might be because I listen to so much of it, but I could catch the same atmosphere I remember from albums like The Shadowthrone by Satyricon mixed in with their death and classic metal influences. If Fate’s Warning had started all over again as a black metal band they may sound something like this as far as time changes and varying sounds. Of course I am embellishing a little and the band have a long way to go if they want to create an impact in the underground but there’s much potential for growth here. The rough edges in their songwriting could be smoothed out, especially where the contrasts between guitars and keyboards are concerned. There is a guitar-keyboard harmony in the middle of “Dying Under a Green Dawn” that’s a prime example of what they should build on to expand on themselves. I haven’t heard anything else from this band since I first came across them, but this was a good first impression. Visit www.solaceintheshadows.com to learn about them.

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Page Updated Thu Jul 22, 2004 8:40pm EDT