Sacriphyx - The Western Front

A REFRESHING TAKE ON DEATH METAL

Over the past few years death metal has witnessed rabid insurgence. While most have fulfilled the needs of the desperate old school death metal fans by taking elements of the overlords of the death metal genre and rehashed them in an innovative way, some have at this junction of time decided to push the boundaries of this genre. Bands like Necrovation infused elements of rock in death metal without disastrous results, Karanrium infused elements of ritual ambient into its music, Antediluvian and Mitochondrion took chaotic brutality to its extremes and Dead Congregation crushing atmosphere would have made forefathers of the genre proud. Sacriphyx too are one of those bands who instead of sticking to a tried and tested formula have attempted to push the genres of death metal.

Sacriphyx are a duo from Australia who has been around for a while. Having formed back in 2007 they have released a demo, a few splits and a compilation. Now, finally in 2013 the band has released their debut album entitled ‘The Western Front’ in association with record label Nuclear War Now!  who have worked with respected death metal bands like Dead Congregation, Anatomia and more recently Wrathprayer. Sacriphyx are at their crux a death metal band, but as stated earlier they are not a band that plays traditional death metal. Their idiosyncratic form of death metal focuses a substantially on mid paced riffs and creating an atmosphere which was the defining trait of the early Hellenic black metal scene a la Rotting Christ, Zemial and Varathron , while at the same time bearing a semblance of traditional heavy metal.

The concept of Sacriphyx is about Australians at war. Now war themes and metal have had a long and lasting history, but Sacriphyx’s take on war and metal is different one. While most bands focus and the glory, epic battles and violent aggression of war, this band looks at war from points which are often ignored. The band looks at the labyrinthine dynamics of war at an emotional level and captures the feeling of despair, dogged determination, forlornness, frustration, honor, valor and pride within their music and has the uncanny ability to deliver these emotions upon the listener with an extremely powerful and well thought of sonic assault that lasts 38 minutes and stretches over 8 tracks.

As compared to the previous output by the band ‘The Western Front’ has ingrained within itself, elements of Greek black metal  far more than the band has ever done before as is apparent on tracks like ‘Fatal Fromelles’ and ‘Wells Of Beersheeba’. Apart from this the incorporation of long, flowing melodic solos on almost each track add an emotive aesthetic to the album and has contributed highly to the sound and stirring imagery that the band aimed to fabricate with its unique perspective. While the riff progressions do at times  seem to be influenced by a certain Arghoslent, Sacriphyx has taken the idea incorporated by Arghoslent and transformed it into a more varied, effective and successful output and in the process may have created a fountain of influences for other bands to sip from. For those who have been following this band or have heard their previous output you will know that the band has this uncanny knack of creating very well constructed lengthy songs and on this is apparent on this release as well where the 2 lengthiest tracks, ‘Fatal Fromelles’ and ‘Without a Trace’ are indeed the 2 best tracks here. While the latter is slower in tempo it succeeds in creating an atmosphere, because, after all the slower tracks do create more of an atmosphere in comparison to the ultra high speed ones. Almost a ballad in nature, ’Without a Trace’ may be my favorite track on the record with its death metal growls, black metal riffing and heavy metal soloing, aspects the band strives to stand for. While the solos deserve special mention the band has the ability to create highly catchy riffs that are simple, but effective in nature. Riffs like those on ‘Buried behind the lines’ and ‘Food for the Front’ are some of the best the band have come up with. The second half of the album is more up-tempo in sound and thus more traditional death metal in nature with the track ‘The Crawling Horror’ sounding like something out of the manual of later Bolt Thrower. However much you praise the bands guitar work or militaristic drums or atmosphere (which isn't a surprise considering the band members have been part of great Australian doom acts like Murkrat and Misery's Omen) and performance, when you get to the core of the matter, it is the bands’ superior song writing skills that enable the band the jump from a merciless death metal onslaught to a melodic and emotive section with such seamless agility because of which Sacriphyx have thrust upon the extreme metal fraternity a very well paced release which flows with effortless fluidity.

What ‘The Western Front is, is not just a collection of war themed and impassioned songs. This means much more to the band. It is a history lesson of the wars Australia has had to fight that the Sacriphyx wishes to narrate to its listeners through its output as can be seen in the intro self titled track that has sounds of gunfire that acts as a precursor of what is to follow or the track ‘Damn Passchendaele Ridge’ which is an acoustic track and what seems to be an audio log of a soldier who is frustrated out of his senses. To my knowledge there are currently no bands that are playing in the territory this band currently is and honestly, I am surprised that they haven’t gotten more attention than they have considering bands like Arghoslent did and so did Deathevokation with its take on melodic mid paced death metal. Come what may, keep this album in mind. 2 months into this year, this release is my favorite debut by a death metal band in 2013 and is certainly top 10, if not top 5 stuff.

SCORE - 88/100

Listen To Full Album Here

Stonehenge - Bunch Of Bisons

ANOTHER BRILLIANT GERMAN STONER RELEASE

When asked to give a synopsis on Germany’s contribution to metal most will either talk about the brutal Teutonic thrash scene spearheaded by Kreator, Destruction, Sodom and Holy Moses or will bring up or the influence ze Germans had on modern power metal with bands like Running Wild, Blind Guardian, Helloween or Gamma Ray and some may even bring up the heavy metal exports Accept and Scorpions. However, not many know that the country in question here has a budding Doom and Stoner metal scene as well. As we are talking about stoner here, the German catalogue consists of bands like My Sleeping Karma, Kadavar, Samsara Blues Experiment, Electric Moon and Rotor.

This brings us to the new stoner band on the block. Going by the name Stonehenge which is a 4 piece band the band released their debut album entitled ‘Bunch of Bisons’ early in 2013. German stoner rock is notorious for its grandiose take on the mentioned genre and has gained quite some popularity because of it. Continuing in the same vein Stonehenge unleashes this album upon us. Bunch of Bisons can be described as a conglomeration of heavy fuzzed out stoner rock taking elements from both modern as well as the swamis of the genres ala Kyuss and Fu Manchu along with scanty trips into the psychedelia infused unexplained expanses and bluesy marijuana meanderings in a mirage inducing desert baked by the hot sun. These are meshed together with a rock out and live in the moment attitude of classic rock bands and with touches of krautrock sprinkled throughout all the time backed with the unpredictability and song writing skills of progressive rock bands. After you wrap your head around that, drench this in an organ bathed atmosphere and you have what is collectively known as Stonehenge.

With 7 tracks dragging almost an hour this band do not intend to make an easy listening album and know exactly what type of audience they are looking to target.  Apart from the sporadic vocals this is mainly an instrumental band. The band is at times similar to the fellow country mates Samsara Blues Experiment but instead of the drawn on hazy jams that enveloped the listener with Stonehenge you feel a proclivity towards more structured and thought of songs. While the album opener ‘Arctic Brother’ starts off with a krautrock type intro that lasts over a minute it doesn’t take for the band to get into its groove with the plodding riffs, groovy interludes and solos that can range from soaring to mini dabbles. Though there is the obvious worship at the school of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, especially on the title track, the band is never a rip off with its numerous tempo changes that contribute greatly to the atmosphere and the bands paltry respect for conventional song structures. Even though the band lays nothing back when it comes to the riffs department the changes in tempo and riffs are at times subtle which if one pays close attention to detail can understand how they complement each other. With each track and each passing minute you understand the band lesser and lesser as the band may at times cover you with a barrage of new riffs be it groovy or a soft strum and it times follow the minimalist approach by attempting to create an atmosphere through repetition and continually surprise you with sharp twists and sudden turns. Whatever the band seems to throw towards the listener be it a earthy and melodic phase or an unpredictable tempo change or a dope induced rambling section or even the fuzzed out heavy leads coupled with the swirling guitar solos you can hear the gargantuan amount of talent this band has and while you are gripped by the complex song structures you can sense the bands high level of amusement and frolic. The way the band has meshed together the unusually high amount of variables and still come up with a release that surrounds you and flows with such fluidity for almost 60 minutes is certainly laudatory.

Johannes steals the show with his organ work

It is not unusual for a bands selling point to be the guitar work or powerful vocals, but here the person who takes the cake easily is Johannes, the guy behind the keyboards and organs with his ‘I sold my soul to the devil’ like grandiose performance. His work is what gives the band its unique sound and thrust the bands to greater levels of originality and greatness. And with this, Stonehenge has once again proved why Germany is the hub of stoner music and is constantly putting out bands and albums in an unimaginable stagnant genre of music. ‘Bunch Of Bisons’ is an extremely powerful debut in an extremely over stuffed and uncreative genre, and with a little luck they may gain the much deserved accolades fellow bands like Kadavar has gotten.

SCORE - 83/100

Listen to entire album here

Brutality - Ruins Of Humans

OUT OF NOWHERE, BACK WITH A BANG

2013 has been a great year for death metal fans. First Finnish death overlords Convulse come out with an EP after 19 years and now legendary Floridian death metallers Brutality come out of the dark after 17 long years with an EP entitled ‘Ruins of Humans’. Even though the band has been active since mid 2012 not much was known about the activity of the band possibly because the band had already reformed twice, once in 2005 and the second time in 2008 but never recorded any new stuff or played new shows, so when I saw this release last night on Rateyourmusic I was taken aback. Not much info was available about this except the fact that it could be purchased digitally on cdbaby.com.

Even though Brutality has a distinct sound they can call their own none of the 3 albums that they have put out sound same. While their magnum opus ‘Screams of Anguish’ which makes my list of top 5 death metal albums any day was a technical slab of death metal suffering perfected the Floridian death metal sound and delved deeper into the twin guitar sound and had a sense of urgency throughout with its complex song structures, overlapping riffs and peregrination into doom metal territory, the bands second album ‘When The Sky Turns Black’ sported a heavier sound, flirted a bit more with the doom metal territory as well as the melodic leads, and though complex at times wasn’t as technical as the former album and the bands’ last album ‘In Mourning’ had a meandering muddy tone and most attention to detail was given to the flowing melodic solos. Needless to say ‘Ruins of Humans’ was a release where you would not know what to expect.

Surprise.. the Brutality way.

So, what is Ruins of Humans? 2 songs, 14 minutes, 8 solos and around a dozen riffs is what it is. First things first, the band logo as on ‘In Mourning’ which the band possibly adopted because of the onset of mid 90’s hardcore has been trashed the old iconic logo with the dragon on it is back. Secondly and more importantly this EP has the same legendary line up as on the debut with Scott Reigel handling the vocalist duties, Don Gates and Jay Fernandez heading the twin guitar assault, Jeff Acres taking care of backing vocals and playing the bass and Jim Coker bashing behind the kit. It is amazing that how even after a hiatus of almost 2 decades the band still has the signature Brutality sound. While Mr.Reigel still has that powerful voice which can alternate between guttural growls and deep screams it is Jim Coker’s ability to move dexterously from a blastbeat to a powerful drumfill to simply going in the background and supporting the band when one of the many soaring guitar solos that hit your ears that really captured my attention. With the 2 tracks lasting 8 minutes and 6 minutes in length the band is no stranger to long tracks with the band continually churning out songs in excess of 6 minutes throughout their career. On their last album the band did breach their 8 minute mark but the tracked seemed dragged out.

As the self titled tracks starts out with whispered vocals and a soft guitar solo in the background which extends more than a minute take a deep breath, it is the only time the band will give you the opportunity to do so throughout this EP. This music as expected does not sound very similar to anything the band has done in the past though it borrows elements from all their 3 releases specifically the first and last album. While not as potent as their previous albums it surely is an intensive one. As the band thrusts forward with fast paced riffs bolstered by the powerful drum fills which scream of the legendary Brutality sound you never know what to expect from the complex minds that are collectively known as Brutality. Blast beats often act as a precursor to a change in either tempo or riff or a solo be it miniature or lengthy. The complex song writing only fuelled by the many riffs which are at times subtle and yet complement each other and at many times distinct is what meshes the band together to create an 8 minute monster of a track. While mostly sporting the old school sound that is atypical of death metal the majority of the solos are very melodic. By melodic I don’t mean the keyboard wankery and symphonic drivel that most modern melodic death metal band use, but melodic as in the melodic solos present on previous Brutality albums albeit a bit more melodic. Think of the guitarwork on Quo Vadis’ ‘Defiant Imagination’ mixed with the soaring, towering and lengthy solos of Forsaken’s ‘After the Fall’. Look out for the moment @ around 4:30 on the first song where the music breaks away into the thudding of the bass drum followed by the galloping riffs. A growl and riff change later the band jumps into a guitar solo and descends once again into the pit of aggressive ruthlessness. As lengthy melodic leads and soaring solos end the first track the second track entitled ‘Irreversibly Broken’ begins where the band left off. Clocking in at less than 6 minutes has as many solos as the first song but this is a less complex track with lesser tempo changes and lesser riffs but never relinquishing from its pivotal desire which is a create a bit of an epic atmosphere with its melodic leads and the towering guitar solos.

All in all, by going the Suffocation and Convulse way by incorporating a real essence of melody in this release and not creating compositions as technical as before, Brutality has with ‘Ruins of Humans’ expelled forth their most accessible release. Having awoken from their slumber after almost 2 decades the newer bands should take a much needed lesson by these masterly death metal scholars. Back in the day the band never garnered as much attention as they deserved, but with this wrecking ball of a release and the modern age where a guy like me sitting behind his computer in India is reviewing this EP a mere day after the release, Brutality may hopefully get the recognition and exposure they so thoroughly deserve.

SCORE - 80/100

Magic Circle - Magic Circle

STEP INTO THE CIRCLE

“A magic circle is circle or sphere of space marked out by practitioners of many branches of ritual magic, which they generally believe will contain energy, and form a sacred space, or will provide them a form of magical protection between themselves and what they summoned, or both” ~ Wikipedia.

Awesome, isn’t it? What can possible make this witchcraft and wizardry even more fascinating? A huge dollop of doom of course. Of all the lyrical boundaries that Doom metal has implemented into its art form it is the fascination of doom with witchcraft and the occult that has often yielded the best results and timeless classics. So, when an occult drenched traditional doom metal band consisting of 4 members rises from Massachusetts whose doom scene has blessed us with acts like Upsidedown Cross, Grief, Elder, Ice Dragon, Tentacle and Blue Aside to name a few your heart is bound to skip a beat.

Highly animated live, he is really into his music

Magic Circle has members was formed in 2011 by a members from local hardcore bands which went by the names of Mind Eraser, Rival Mob and The A-Team. Having gained quite a reputation with their power punched gigs the band finally released its self titled full album early in 2013. True to its reputation Magic Circle does not disappoint. Starting off with a heavy lumbering riff the band announces its presence when vocalist Brendan Radigan goes ‘Out of the darkness I emerge’ and from there on there is no looking back. The band plays a style of music that encompasses influences from the riff-centric and occult drenched imagery of Hour of 13, the NWOBHM tinge and soloing as on Pagan Altar’s magnum opus ‘Mythical and Magical’ backed by song writing skills evocative of Mistreater’s ‘Hell’s Fire’ along with the tendency to milk out riffs as much as possible and add small noodling solos all throughout as was a hallmark with the legendary heavy metal doomsters Trouble. There music is generally mid paced but alternates between mid paced and up tempo so expect no dragged out tempos as present on releases by Pilgrim and Reverend Bizarre. While most tracks follow the similar structure of starting off but slowly and eventually morphing into a burgeoning piece with its plodding grooves and ritualistic riffs and drums there are tracks like ‘Rapture’ where the band goes all out right from the get go. The bands sense of melody is unparalleled and the band manages never to drift from its predominant intent of creating a cohesive and entertaining album that manages to stay fresh through with its chugging riffs, towering solos and dominant drums whether the band is playing a rumbling riff which is a calm before the storm or a whiplash inducing chorus. Another aspect which thrusts this band to newer heights and gives it an added dimension is the garage styled production of retro doom that lends its innate coarse harmony to the music which aids the foursome to better attain what they wished to.

However much the song writing skills, the sense the melody or the raw talent be praised here what cannot be exalted enough is the performance by vocalist Brendan Radigan. His passion fueled performance is what makes the record what it is. His tonality, which can be described as a weave of Pagan Altar front man’s  Terry Jones’ nasality and Lords Of The Crimson Alliance’s front man’s Far Cry’s towering vocals, is the lubricant which binds the band with such malleability which in turn evolves the band into a mass wrecking ball in front of which intransigence in nugatory. As on the end of February this album which has come out of nowhere is my favorite metal release of the year so far and may well be the doom metal release, if not THE album of the year. 

SCORE - 92/100

Album Teaser

Live Gig

Tyrant Goatkaldrakona - Horns In The Dark

HUNGARIAN INCANTATION




What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Hungary? The out of world leggy babes of course, how a stupid a question that was. So, more specifically when you think about Hungary and its connection to extreme metal music how many bands come to your mind? Not many will answer be able to answer that question because Hungary and extreme metal haven’t really mixed but there are a few noteworthy bands. Pokolgép for example was a brilliant heavy metal band. Void Of Sleep is decent doom metal band and Sear Bliss have gained some attention in the black metal scene, but amidst all this lies the exalted Tormentor and the brilliant black metal album ‘Ano Domini’ and the most revered track of all, the infamous black metal anthem of all ages, ‘Tormentor’  without the mention of which no black metal discussion is complete.  So, when an old school death metal emerges from that country it does turn your curiosity notch up a bit.

The band in question here is named Tyrant Goatgaldrakona and has 2 members which boast the names Hellfire Commander of Eternal War and Pain and Grave Desecration and Necrosodomy, with a logo designed by a company called Sickness 666 and a black and white album cover which has a goat reading an old black book in front of a sacrificial altar on which lies a pile of skulls and is surrounded by a few members of some secret satanic cult while there is a meteor shower in the sky. Oh, and there is of course a pentagram just above the band logo. If this doesn’t scream bloody metal I don’t know what will. As contrasted to the image that the band tries to put forth with their over the top imagery and names the music is primitive and brutal.

The mold of death metal that this band embodies is that of a savagely violent form of death metal. The band obviously worships at the altar of Incantation as is seen in their music and is at rare occasions dotted with influences from the Swedish metal scene. The bands main aim is to arrive, raise hell and leave. Its inclination towards just leaving a message in a small compact form without the frivolous sweeping solos or highly technical compositions is in a way the attitude that started the metal genre as a whole. Right from the onset the band the band unleashes an aural onslaught of a thick slab of death metal suffering which with its unrelenting constitution grips the attention of the listener. The heavy Incantation aura can be heard throughout with the signature Incantation like extremely heavy riffs being pummelled out like there was no tomorrow.  The vocals range from guttural to whispered and when guttural they are very reminiscent of the mighty Craig Pillard. As compared to the bands previous release which was their debut was an EP by the name of ‘Sign of Moloch’ which was more on the slower side of things this release is relentless throughout. The songs are more varied, complex and well thought of and instead of coming off as a brainless Incantation clone the band add a whole lot of originality in the composition. Though the band is very highly influenced by the American scene of old school death metal there are shades of the archetypal buzz saw guitar tuning and riffs of the Swedish death metal scene as is seen in a couple of riffs in tracks like ‘The Mountains of Irkalla (From Life to Death)’, ‘Church Of Fire’, ‘Dawn Of Decay’, ‘King of the Desert (Malkum in Rex)’ and the title track. The drumming is never just lost in the background. Though the drumming for the majority of the part acts just as support it never takes the centre stage but at times it used as the catalyst to thrust the band forward with blastbeats in tracks like ‘The Mountains of Irkalla (From Life to Death)’ and ‘Church Of Fire’ which are evocative of Jumpin’ Jesus played with sincere precision. The true strength of the band lies in its ability to change the momentum from hyperspeed to snail paced death doom riffs that are highly infectious with their simplicity and headbangability with impossible fluidity as seen in tracks like ‘The Mountains of Irkalla (From Life to Death)’, ‘Dawn Of Decay’ and ‘Arcanum Secretum’. If you have been following the band since its inception you will notice unlike most bands that write good small songs and falter at longer track, Tyrant Goatkaldrakona can craft the longer tracks very well. In a rather short album where most tracks are 2 – 3 minutes long the first and last track are over 6 minutes long and everything that the band stands for can be heard here, and with such a unique ability and track placing the band starts as well as ends off with a bang begging the listener for more. Though highly influenced by the Incantation school of music the band also reminds the listener of Black Witchery is songs like ‘Horns in the Dark’ with its frantic drumming and its penchant for war metal.


In the vast spectrum of death metal the class of music the band chooses to play the and with the influences the band has chosen the scope for variance reduces to quite an extent but with the album lasting only 30 minutes the album never becomes tedious. This and the fact that there are numerous tempo changes and solos dotted throughout also prevent boredom and sounding as if the band has run out of ideas. The clear production and the slightly muddy guitar tone aid the band well in its objective and adds the depth this kind of music needs. A bone that I’d like to pick with the band is its guitar solos. The few solos which are here sound rather similar and scattered all over the place and lack construction which is rather surprising because the band has the ability to write memorable solos when well constructed and thought of as seen on the track ‘King of the Desert (Malkum In Rex)’ and in their Morbid Carnage which in this modern day and age is one of the very few old school thrash metal bands that are worth hearing and do not sound like trash. Maybe the band wanted to keep things fast keeping in theme with the album and that may be the reason for such faulty scattered solos but I think they act as a hindrance to some good song writing. Despite this, the band knows its death metal and knows what audience it wants to target. Not being from a country that is known for death metal or a well known label may be the reasons the band does not garner as much attention it deserves, but for those into the old school of music this is a band to follow in the future and a death metal album that is surely worth hearing. This band may well be the finest extreme metal import from Hungary after Tormentor.

SCORE - 76/100

Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance

DARKTHRONE, LIKE YOU'VE NEVER HEARD 'EM BEFORE

Darkthrone needs no introduction. Their influence on extreme metal is almost unparalleled and with albums like “Soulside Journey”, “A Blaze in the Northern Sky”, “Under a Funeral Moon” and “Transilvanian Hunger” the band has more than their share of timeless classics. After conquering all they possible could in the black metal category the band changed their approach and started infusing elements of crust punk and heavy metal though never entirely moving from their roots. This started from their album in 2006 entitled ‘The Cult is Alive’ and the band proceeded to release a string of albums that sounded rather different from each other though never they were all essentially Black/Crust albums with hints of heavy metal. It was evident from the aural experience as well as the lyrics that the band were having fun, which you can’t blame them for as they had no option left since they had contributed literally nothing and went through an extended lean patch after releasing ‘Panzerfaust’. Any other band would have been done and dusted by now but since the releases however mediocre and poor they were carried the honourable Darkthrone tag the band managed to stretch out a carrier which has extended more than 2 decades now.

Anyone who has been following the band, even if it has only been from their punk infused music days (however unlikely that may be), one thing has been evident. That has been the gradual shift from crust and the inclusion of the more traditional, heavier and thrashier sound. So, as the band releases its 16^th (!!!) album on Peaceville Records, a company that has worked with the biggest in the business like Opeth, Katatonia, Anathema and Pentagram to name a few,  entitled ‘The Underground Resistance’ one could expect another album which embraced the traditional sound a bit more and let go of the punk attitude music a bit more.

‘The Underground Resistance’ is in a plethora of ways much much different from what the duo of Fenriz and Nocturno have ever done. Containing only 6 songs but lasting 42 minutes the band has opted for quality more than quantity and with long tracks the band will test the listener’s patience at times. The music on this record can be defined as a combination of Of Black Metal, Thrash metal, Heavy metal, speed metal, power metal and crust punk. It is not like the band choose to mesh all these genres together in each and every track but instead chose to pick a few of these genres per song and move on to the next and this is the reason no two tracks sound similar and make my job as a reviewer that much tougher because as much as I hate track by track reviews the band leaves me no choice here.

Not a peace sign. A tribute to Celtic Frost's "To Mega Therion"

See ? Expect a lot of early Celtic Frost influence here.

The album starts off with ‘Dead Early’ and as soon as it hits you one thing is clear and that is that the band unsurprisingly has shed the punk sound a bit more and embraced a heavier more traditional approach. If you’ve been a fan of the band’s last few albums there is no reason you shouldn’t enjoy this track with punky vocals and riffs (that would have made ‘Fast Eddie’ proud)  played out with a tuning more suitable for a proper black metal album. Throughout the track the band plays with a Motorhead sensibility and even though it is less than 5 minutes in length it a bit dragged out. Nothing special this track and is a lukewarm album opener. It is the second track entitled ‘Valkyrie’ where things start getting interested. Starting off on an acoustic guitar this track is the unlikely mix of traditional metal, old school power metal mixed with a tingle of black metal. While the song structure if based on traditional metal Fenriz tries his hand on the operatic siren like power metal vocals while the cymbal work on the drums as well the guitar tuning is more suited to a typical black metal abum. As the soaring chorus of the track has a definite epic Manilla Road feel to it you cannot but praise the song writing skills the band has expressed here. The tempo changes, the placing everything here is brilliant, and as the track ends on a beautifully soaring melodic outo that conjures images of the artwork in your mind you can understand why this track will be many’s favourite track off of the record. Proceeding to track number three entitled ‘Lesser Men’ which starts off with a blatant rip off of the famous Mercyful Fate track named ‘A Dangerous Meeting’ the influence of Celtic Frost and Hellhammer in the drumming, vocals and riffs permeates through this track and acts as the precursor of what is to come for the rest of album. Yep, expect a lot of First Wave of Black metal worship from now. As contrasted to the previous track there are a lot of gruff Celtic Frost vocals here as well as the Hellhammer riffs. Also as contrasted to the previous track the song writing is bad and like the first track this song as well seems too stretched. The fourth track ‘The Ones You Left Behind’ is essentially more of the same stuff but instead of gruff vocals there is a duo of operatic vocals as well as raspy vocals. Like Valkyrie this track has a great melodic section here with an atmospheric build up and heavy metal influenced solo but the tempo change from this section to a more upbeat part is bad and really breaks the flow of what was a great track. It just seems forced and out of place. This brings us the last two tracks which length wise make up half the album. The first of these entitled ‘Come Warfare, The Entire Doom’ lasting more than 8 minutes sheds off all influences except Celtic Frost/Hellhammer with the simplistic heavy and catchy riffs with raspy vocals with a good bit of Venom thrown in. Even with the long track length it never gets tedious even with hardy any riffs and just one small guitar solo in the end. The last track is the epic of the album, and clocking in at 13:49 minutes (of course, the length has to deliberate, and for those who don’t know 1349 was the year of the infamous Bubonic Plague in Europe) entitled ‘Leave No Cross Unturned’. The riffs, the clean vocals which are at time operatic is the bands take on old school power metal. Fenriz never sounded better with his clean vocals approach and the track starts off strongly with his strong vocals and catchy riffs. It doesn’t take long for the abundant Celtic Frost worship to come in once again with those simple catchy riffs, supporting drumming and gruff vocals. Amidst the tempo changes and the switching between Celtic Frost worship and old school power metal worship even though this song doesn’t have enough changes in the tempo or enough riffs to warrant the massive track length the band manages to pull it off in all its epicness and glory.

This amount of Celtic Frost worship could be expected though. If anyone had seen the promo photos of Darkthrone there was a pic where some felt the band was throwing a pace sign, but if one noticed carefully it was homage to the famous cover of Celtic Frost’s “To Mega Therion”.  This latest release is definitely a grower though, because a solitary or maybe two listens will not let you get hold of everything that is going around here. Just for the sake of summarization this album has elements of heavy metal, speed metal, power metal, 2 waves of black metal, thrash metal and crust punk. The vocals range from clean to operating to gruff to punky and to raspy. The track lengths vary from 4 minutes to 14, and from aggressive to laid back to atmospheric to epic.  Though it was wise of the band not to incorporate all these elements on each track together because that would just have been a clusterfuck, this albums seem to me an attempt to throw everything at the wall and see what stuck. Because of the variance of style of tracks the band has little or no fluidity and continuity and seems like the band doesn’t really know what they want to achieve. Unlike previous albums where the band had their fun this was a serious attempt at creating some good music however on previous releases, the band knew what they wanted, a good time, but here the band seems unsure and confused of what they want.  That being said it if definitely a better release than the last few albums and has enough on it even amidst the poor song writing to warrant a few listens except of course ‘Valkyrie’ and the brilliant epic ‘Leave No Cross Unturned’

SCORE - 64/100

Enforcer - Death By Fire

INCONSISTENT AND UNINSPIRED, THEIR WORST TILL DATE.

Enforcer is a Swedish heavy/speed metal quartet that has gained quite a following with their take on old school heavy and speed metal. Though they lack highly on originality the bands’ two albums entitled ‘Into The Night’ and ‘Diamonds’ has received much praise because of the inherent quality of the traditional old school sound. ‘Diamonds’ especially was an album which was considered a gem in the New Wave of Traditional Metal,  caught my attention and launched the band to the top of modern metal food chain due to the bands youthful energy and passion that bled profusely. The band sounds like a mixture of the speed metalesque youthful energy ‘Kill ‘Em All’ era of Metallica, melodic sensibility of ‘Cryptic Writings’ era of Megadeth and instrumentality of ‘Somewhere in Time’ era of Maiden meshed together with the power and choppy riff thought pattern which is reminiscient of early Angel With and Judas Priest.

Fast forward to 2013 the band released their third album which has been entitled ‘Death By Fire’. Like on the previous releases the album art, title and song tracks are all very 80’s.. Unlike previous releases the band has this time added influences from the fluffy cheesiness of power metal like on ‘Run For Your Life’ and has also added the glam metal quotient with certain choruses like the ones on ‘Take Me Out Of This Nightmare’, ‘Satan’ and ‘Sacrificed’being reminiscent of Motley Crue and Quiet Riot. I feel that the band could have done away with these elements as they don’t seem to suit the bands personality and contribute greatly in the final result which is a rather bland release. ‘Crystal Suite’, a 4 minute instrumental track is essentially history of the guitarwork of Maiden with the track opening with an early Maiden riff slowly moving onto a ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’ melodic portion and also containing a ‘Dance Of Death’ type solo. Also, the previous releases revolved a lot around Olof Wikstrand’s high pitched over the top vocals, but this time the axe work has taken center stage which is not exactly the best trade-off since Olof is brilliant vocalist, his voice suiting the band note for note. He added a completely new dimension to the bands’ sound with his John Gallagher (Raven) and John Cyriss (Agent Steel) type vocals because you could feel his passion which added a youthful energy to the whole band. After the title track the band seems to lose its way completely by churning out material that is boring, uninspired and highly inconsistent. The riffs seem rehashed, the vocals sparse and the solos badly constructed entering one year and leaving out the next without leaving an impace in between and in the process not giving anything with any playback value whatsoever.

However, not all is bad. Roped in by Nuclear Blast the production is not over produced but pristine and the plodding bass lines and drums can be heard well behind the guitar work and powerful vocals. The band still does possess the energy and love for the 80’s. Also all tracks leading upto the and including the title track are great songs. The masterful guitarwork and blazing solos on tracks like ‘Sacrificed’, ‘Satan’ and ‘Mesmerized By Fire’ really worth listening.

All in all this is the weakest release from the ‘Enforcer’ catalogue till date. They have never been original but always had the passion to leave a mark on the music they deeply love but here they seem to cover up for the lack of even that inkling of creativity by adding power and glam elements to their music which ended badly the band falling flat on its face. Highly inconsistent apart from the first 3 tracks and moments in between this album is possibly worth a solitary listen. If you ever need a dose of NWOTHM listening to this bands’ previous releases will be a better idea.

SCORE - 52/100

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