Sometimes the digital pen is just a mighty as the Video!!!!!
Khthoniik Cerviiks -Æequiizoiikum- DIGITAL/LP/CD (Iron Bonehead)
Just with the start of the album we are getting some very avant and experimental extreme metal and noise elements. Very spacey and sci-fi vibe. As we get into the 1st song the vibe does not go away. They are clearly a Black/Death band with some very progressive elements. This German unit on the 2nd full length really mix elements of early Voivod and some extreme thrashing elements of bands like Destruction and Kreator into the picture as well. There are some tasty nods to Piggy of Voivod in many of the guitar riffs. Khthoniik Cerviiks are complex and tight as all fuck in the presentation of arrangements and musical layers. They has that very left of center Finnish Death metal style going on too. I really remind me of Demilich at times. The last thing I feel coming from this release is a heavy Occult overtone and that mixed in with everything else come out as a violent, catchy aural adventure to say the least.
IRAE- Lurking in the Depths- Digital/LP/TAPE/CD ( Signal Rex)
This one man event on it's fifth album and what you get is a mix of 90's northern european 2nd wave Black metal, Some primitive thrash and industrial elements mixed in with that Post Black metal you hear very much from Europe these days. There is clearly something sinister going on here and it draws you in with what i want to call the dungeon synth elements. Vulturius is from Portugal and works with do many projects to mention but with IRAE this likes to mix the modern with the old school Black metal values for sure. The vocals has this very odd otherworldly effect with the guitars wanting to be raw but play some very avant and forward thinking riffs. The songs if you are a fan of extreme music really hook you in you can hear the love of punk and speed metal too from the days of yore coming out of the speakers as well. IRAE is not only interesting but inventive in a style that can become stale very quickly. The reinventing of a 2nd wave black metal ideal .. Very impressive.
Feral light-Viper Life- Digital/CD (Hypnotic Dirge)
I'm just going to start off with if you album is mixed or mastered by James Plotkin we are off to a good start. The production is just top notch. Feral light has ex members of Wolvhammer and that is going to say a bit about what we are getting here. This is challenging and inspiring Post Metal that mixes Post Black metal, Doom and some very progressive thoughts going on here. I want to talk more about the almost jazzy and blackened prog sound. As yes there is the fury and fire of any band with the musical styles I talk about about its more about the textures and way that harmonics and melodies work here. Feral light light is aggressive as fuck at times but its those hooks that just make you want to come back. Yes Yes Yes the vocals are Black metal and that is the band at its ROOTS not that full picture. I hear alot of what Dan Swano use to do here mixing the aggression with the melody to make something that is memorable and with Feral light very much the same is coming out of the speakers here. In 2020 Thrash is playing a heavy role in the Black metal scene and those that are not afraid to mix many elements into one are really the top of the heap in the underground. At times Ihear Rush, Opeth and Katatonia in the way the band creates. Very very impressive indeed.
Protosequence- A Blunt Description of Something Obscene-Digital/CD ( Lacerated Enemy Records)Do I really need to use the words Tech Death this early in the morning. Protosequence is really so much more mix of Neoclassical, Prog Metal, Jazz and layers on top of layers. If you mix bands likes like Atheist, Pestilence , Cynic, Opeth, Beyond Creation, Rivers of Nihil, Early Gojira and mix in bands like Agoraphobic nosebleed , Brutal Truth and Rotten Sound in for good measure we clearly have what Protosequence create here. Yes at times all over the map but in the best extreme metal way possible. So at the root of it all yes we have a Tech Death band but that is only were it begins and the talents of this group are stunning to say the least. I still don't know how you make Tech Death have a sick groove but these madmen have done just that? I really don't want to stop listening to this as Protosequence have so many of the layers and things I love in extreme music. The squeels on vocals that normally piss me off even work here. I going to say this is what classically trained Berkeley train musician would be if they went of the rails got really fucked up and went to a shit ton of Death and Grind shows and said " Well Hell we can do this and make it wierd".
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