I just had some more reviews in me this weekend
TERRESTRIAL HOSPICE (PL)- Indian Summer Brought Mushroom Clouds - Digital/LP/Tape/CD (Shadow Records / Regain Records)
Nihilistic is a good place to start with Terrestrial Hospice. it comes across as noisy, violent and grim but there are some epic and really majesty parts that come in and out of this album. The production even though done purposefully Noisy and Harsh it still as all good Modern Black metal has were you can hear everything especially the bass and drums not just rumbles and tones. Bombastic and Combative this album is but there are some really impressive dark and haunting melodies going on as well. These guys know how to play and arrange things very much in a manner to draw folks in with this unsettling sound that at times feel like you heard before and maybe you need to hear them more. There is very much a punk and hardcore elements to the way the band creates the tracks. Black metal is more about the tones and they are clearly there. End of Days Terrestrial Hospice bring to the forefront. There is a a lot of 2nd wave Scandinavian Black metal ideals going on through out the album and those layer with what has been spoken about really make it for an adventurous listen.
Atræ Bilis (Canada) - Divinihility- Digital/CD ( Transcending Obscurity )
Tech Dark Deep and Dirty Death metal. These Gentlemen from Canada do not fool around. This is some next level Death metal to be honest. Do you like Gorguts, Obscura, Nile, Ulcerate and Revocation. We are strongly starting down the same path. Atrae Bilis is just down right creepy at the complexity, brutality and talent that a Death metal band can have. Let's be clear this is 100% Tech Proggy Death metal there is not trappings of Black metal or Grindcore. There are some of those amazing Blazing then more melodic mid tempo Death metal movements that really make this band shine. The sound is so huge mixing Jazzy, Bombastic and almost Symphonic elements at times . Transcending Obscurity has been on the cutting edge with more over the top Death and Doom for while now with labels like Willowtip , Unique Leader, 20 Buck Spin and The Artisan Era. This is truly a good time for Death metal and I feel this rebirth has really come at a time the scene needed it. Mixed the old and the new is another strength for Atrae Bilis. Lets see where they lead us as right now its the forefront of the scene .
Cryptic Shift -Visitations From Enceladus- DIGITAL/CD/LP/TAPE ( Blood Harvest )
What is brewing in the UK??? Cryptic Shift you are mixing so many elements in this 1st track that is 26 minutes fucking long the one song is an album in itself... We have Avant Death, Jazzy Prog metal, Doom, Post Black metal, Tech Death, Post Metal and Post Rock all right here and to top it all it works to brilliant levels. There are even bizarre electro sounds coming from this album. If Sci Fi and experimental Death metal ever had a leader their name is Cryptic Shift. I really just want to listen to the 1st track for a few weeks just to hear everything that is going on here. You are going to feel very much the same and that is one of the great things about this band. They are always turning new and different corners but keeping it all into a focused madness. The other three shorter songs all 5 + minutes are no less creative and impressing as we go through the album. You have to love the avant and thinking man's metal ideal if not this will be way to much for you to listen too. I feel Cryptic Shift is always two notes from going off the rails. They just know when to stop and pull back to make this a journey of wonder and awe.
Blaze of Sorrow -Absentia- Digital/CD ( Eisenwald )
With Blaze of Sorrow I'm ending on a musical style near and dear to my heart. Blackened Viking Folk Metal and with each achingly beautiful and emotional movement they God's of old are more and more proud to have a band like Blaze of Sorrow speak for them so we never forget the Heathen ways that are so strongly needed to come back ( Family, Laws, Honor and Respect of all tribes). The melodies are heartbreaking, The mix of acoustics, full on metallic attacks and those harmonies are just pulling at your very ancient soul. Blaze of Sorrow you have made a record like the ones i fell in love with from Bathory, Falkenbach, Thryfing, Mithotyn, Manegarm, Einherjer, Borknagar and Tyr.. You very much need to pick this gem of a release up and listen to it on a quiet night with an ale by you side and good friends to talk about how the world use to be and could be again if we just had these ideals instilled in us all once more. Sometime music can pull us all together and with a band like Blaze of Sorrow this is a very possible task.
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