WARFARE
NOISE (Paraguay)/ HEXENALTAR (Pol)/ BASTARD CHRIST
(Peru) Split tape. 2022. DESTRUKTION Recs. Here is a very
cool split cassette for fans of underground black/ thrash/ death
with "unpolished" spikes!
WARFARE NOISE:
A cracked skull with 3 iron crosses impaled on the forefront, this
is the picture you might see listening to the songs of this band
from Paraguay. The 3 tracks they offer evolve between old black
thrash and old school death thrash, with reminiscences of old Teutonic
thrash and the old South American vibes. The blood flowing from
the skull's cracks kind of has a taste of ooold SLAYER ("Hell
awaits"), DEATH INVOKER (Especially the "Necromancy, Damnation..."
Demo), old SARCOFAGO (Blast parts), a bit of early DEATH (First
Lp), perhaps a bit of old MORTEM (Peru), and some 80's German thrash
bands, with death metallic vocals at the top. This is very cool
songs for fans of old school thrashing metal with a warm vibe!
HEXENALTAR:
The style of this polish band is different, they scream black metal/
black death bound in the early 90's. The music is colder and lets
me see the first BM wave from North Europe. While the playing sometimes
reminds me of very early IMPALED NAZARENE (First two Lps), this
doesn't sound as crazy... In fact the blastbeats aren't sooo numerous
as you hear about 2/3 of kinda "thrashing" (Or better
said fast "punk hardcore"?) drums. Perhaps it has also
something to do with old BELIAL (Fin), but in a more black metal
way, and I also felt influences from old Norwegian/ Swedish bands.
This sounds somewhat like simple/ primary stuff. The 3 songs (+
intro) are decent, but not as impressive as the first band... Their
genre isn't as much of my liking anyway.
BASTARD CHRIST:
This Peruvian outfit vomits violent underground black metal. Due
to the quite raw/ rehearsal production I won't go into a deep analysis,
but this sounds quite angry and the drummer seems to be quite skilled.
Ah, these two songs could even seem to be a very early DEICIDE/
AMON bootleg live recording by moments... So you might turn the
999 upside down and vomit the opposite of the white! GET A COPY
OF THIS TAPE, OR BE RECTALLY TRAUMATIZED BY THE VIBRATING CRUCIFIX! Warfare
noise: https://www.facebook.com/Warfaren Hexenaltar:
https://hexenaltar.bandcamp.com Bastard
christ: Link is dead Label: http://www.destruktionrecords.de
WARNINGFOG (Ukraine) Fog
Warning Tape. 2016. FREAK FRIENDLY DIY Recs.
I got this tape in a trade package with a Russian guy, it was lost in the middle
of cassettes of the dark ambient/ Power electronics/ Experimental genres, so I
was surprised to hear some kicking grind!
This is grindcore/ Powerviolence in a kicking manner, with lots of blast parts
and some slow songs. Most of the vocals are low pitched and angry à la early
NAPALM DEATH (Lee Dorian).
There are also some punk riffs and a couple of slow sludgey hardcore stuffs
(Usual for Power violence).
Well, this is a kicking tape and it could easily please the fans of early
NAPALM DEATH (F.E.T.O, Peel sessions, Mentally murdered etc).
Ps: After writing this review I learnt WARNINGFOG was created from the ashes of
FOIBLE INSTINCTE... It's not a surprise since both bands kick!
https://warningfog.bandcamp.com
WARPATH
(Pol) "On the war path" Demo CDr. 2011. Self-released. Shake
the goat a brutal way… We want more milk! Shake the goat to blasting
intensity… We want more milk! Shake the goat until cerebral explosion
and blood splashes! We want all the slurping milk! I'm sorry,
but you won't find so much milk with WARPATH. This polish band
plays quite old styled Death metal: While 2/3 of their music is
fast and blasting, about 1/3 is slower and closer to the doomy. The
fast parts sound half of the time like old satanic Death metal (Not
too far from old DEICIDE or some polish bands from few years ago),
while the other half would be closer to death black (Not too far
from BLACK BLEEDING). The slower moments vary between mid-paced
death and death doom, it could remind of old BENEDICTION or old
PARADISE LOST (Maybe "Shades of god" for quite epic reasons),
with a little of old Greek nostalgia sometimes (I bet no finger
on this quote) The problem lies in the fact the music can quite
often taste quite flabby, the fast parts could be more energetic
for the style and some of the slower parts are too easy for me (And
by moments it's not so tight in the fast parts). This demo doesn't
suck to dry: There's something like a little hot atmosphere, or
some mid old MORBID ANGEL in the composing of songs, and some riffs
doesn't suck in themselves... But I feel WARPATH have to rehearse
more and harder, to record their songs in a more compact, energetic
and convincing manner. For now, this is only for big underground
warriors who collect many demos and support many bands. The
hairy skull concludes with a dark trembling voice: COMPACT IT OR
BE COMPACTED! http://www.myspace.com/warpathmetal
WITCHTRIAL (Usa) Demo
2017. Tape. Self-released.
Emerging from Washington/ Usa, here's WITCHTRIAL: A quite very cool project
mixing old school metal with elements of old punk Hc.
Well, in my unpierced hears, the mixture they provide is composed of various
old school metal influences melted under the banner of old CELTIC FROST! The
four songs contained here are quite varied, and explore the underground styles
you could find during the 80's, and sometimes the 90's.
The thrashing parts evoke early SLAYER, early EXODUS (First Lp) or even DEATH
(Scream bloody gore), the punk hardcore reminds me the early days of CELTIC
FROST ("Crypts of Ray") or EXTREME NOISE TERROR (Retrobution), the
early speed metal sounds like some early BATHORY demos (Not the rawest)... I
even heard some hard/ heavy touches à la MERCYFUL FATE (Melissa), old
MOTORHEAD, and also doomier moments à la Black Sabbath... Do you think it could
be a metal mess? A too varied porridge of music? No, not really, because the
whole flows well together.
Well, before this review turns into a name-dropping fiesta, I can also add this
band have something from the spirit of the early 90's "black thrash"
(USURPER or early AURA NOIR).
Wait... Is this review still readable? Do you have metallic balls, and a
corroded alcoholic stomach? Then this release might be for you :)
This demo is all quite well done and recorded. Perhaps it's a little too
"wide" musically, but it doesn't bother me... Perhaps it also lacks a
bit of craziness or aggression compared to usual "black thrash", but
this doesn't bother me either: I feel it's closer to the "cool old school
metal" you found more often 10-15 years ago and it’s quite good to hear…
It's a very nice demo of old school metal the "old school" way
(AhAh), for those who have metallic balls and an eroded stomach! ARGH!
https://witchtrialdc.bandcamp.com
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WOLF SERMON (Uk) Demo 2016 MCD. Self-released.
An age of legends and fear, a time now so distant.
Pagan fears, the past is alive.
This quite new English band comes with a first demo and plays a style located
between old Death metal, death doom and semi melodic death.
The music is influenced by old albums, I think it might have been composed in
the mid to later 90's (And it's not a problem).
During the listening, you can hear some old HYPOCRISY (Third or fourth albums,
when they were becoming less brutal and more "doomy"), early
DISMEMBER (First Lp for some kicks and "melodies"), some ASPHYX, some
heavy BOLT THROWER (Minus the epic riffs), perhaps some old NECROPHOBIC, or
even maybe SOLOTHUS from Finland (For some doom).
The music is equally balanced between the slow, the mid-paced and the faster.
The band calls their music "Melodic death doom" but the melodic riffs
don't take that much of importance (It doesn't sound like the mellow-dick
gothenburp stuffs, but tastes closer to some old black/ death from Scandinavia,
with some mystery), and the production is quite massive/ raw so it can't be
mellow.
The guitar production is very overdriven, but it doesn't really sound Swedish,
might be closer to early ASPHYX ("The rack") or perhaps the first
ILLDISPOSED album.
Globally the feelings I could gather from this recording were rather fresh,
cold, quite sorrowful and darkened. There are also some energy and some
aggression in some fast parts, but it's not the main point.
It's not really a mixture of styles I usually listen to, but "Pagan
skin" sounds like a pretty nice demo. Those who like the heavier kinds of
Death metal in the old way, with some "melodies" and quite seriously
overdriven guitars might find here a cool underground band to support.
https://wolfsermonmetal.bandcamp.com
WOMBAT SIMOGATO HAPSIK
(Hungary) Untitled Demo tape. 20015. POSTHUMAN Recs.
If you're only into retro/ old school metal you can skip this review. This Hungarian
project plays extreme music in a quite "digital" form: This is
electronic grindcore/ noisecore with many angry screams on the top.
While sometimes the beats could sound like an extreme form of hardcore techno (Wasn’t
the "Gabber" word the right one? I don't remember), it sometimes also
sounds like accelerated blastbeats.
This sounds like there could be guitars, there's a spectrum of noise that fills
the usual guitar frequencies, but there are clearly other electronic saturated
noises in there.
It's always fast stuffs, fast or nothing.
On the first tracks, the vocals sound like an angry militant during a strike,
then it's more crazy screams on other tracks.
It would be quite hard to judge the qualities of the recording, but it sounds
quite extreme, compact and noisy... Sometimes some noisecore recordings sound
quite meh and flabby, it's not the case here.
This is clearly an underground release destined to the sick minds that dwell in
the tectonic fractures of the underground.
Now I wonder why the creator of this project was so fucked and angry... Perhaps
he was terrorized by Georges Soros? Ah Ah
Youtube: https://youtu.be/tK7oHhgQk80
Label: http://www.posthuman.hu
WORMRIDDEN
(Den/ Jap) Infesting the grave Demo tape. 2012. EXTREMELY ROTTEN
Recs. Once you have swallowed too many coffins, you have
to brutally vomit it back (And generally it occurs a morbid way). But
you're not always able to belch the tomb, and sometimes it's needed
to stitch the lying members resulting from a brutal cadaveric implosion... So
the WORMRIDDEN corpse was recomposed from the decrepiting fingers
of UNDERGANG, the trembling legs and the gore throat of ANATOMIA...
(This might remind you our old friend Mr Fankenstein, but in this
case the "Frankenstench" moniker sounds more adequately
putrid) The music is an underground and quite fucked mixture
between old Death metal and Doom (The monolithic way). The doomy
parts are super heavy, almost drifting in nothingness, something
like WINTER but less boring. The Death metal parts are simple: Sometimes
fast, sometimes mid-paced, most of it reeks somewhere in the lands
of (Simpler) old AUTOPSY and early GRAVE (First two albums). One
could also hear a bit of ROTTREVORE ("Iniquitous"), few
downtuned riffs à la CREMATORY (Swe), a few doomy mysterious
riffs in the old finnish way, or a little of ABSCESS (In their
most Death metal days). The production is tremendously downtuned
and there are low pitched vocals of gore and morbid anger... But
wait a morbid minute, there are things that would need improvement:
The drums could be more appealing (Rather in some fast parts), some
riffs are a bit too simple... And this is a short demo (Only 2 songs). Last
line: Even thought it's a subproject, and it can be felt in the
way songs are composed for exemple, WORMRIDDEN contains more undead
body parts than some professional bands who released some albums...
Not bad for a project. Pay a bit more attention to the composition,
give us a few more songs, and with the second demo we would be able
to say "The undead will feast". http://wormridden.bandcamp.com
WRITHING
(Usa) Indomitable Demo 2012. The wombotomy keeps on going.
Your creativity is reduced to concrete, sucked to dry, and what
you need is a cool Death metal recording to resurrect what remains
of the living. After some searches on the blogs, and eating quite
an amount of dryness and suckness increasing recordings, I found
this demo of WRITHING which is quite worth a review. What you
hear is decent American Death metal located between the fast and
heavier tendencies of the genre... Since this is very short to describe
the content, I will say the sounds remind me of mid old MALEVOLENT
CREATION ("Eternal" or the fast songs from "The fine
art of murder") and later MORTA SKULD (For the heaviness and
quite big sound (For the time)). There's an obvious MORBID ANGEL
influence from here and there (Gateways/ Domination), in double
kicks parts and for some guitar arrangements. Some peoples could
hear a little of BRUTALITY (2nd and third albums) by moments even
if the style is less technical and colored... The first and last
song has black metal influences à la old DARK FUNERAL Some riffs
are cool and fit the morissounding death-metallisation of once,
there are quite good sounding fast or heavy parts, while some guitars
would need a little more of work to please me. I also regret
the drums sound a bit too clean in the playing, I'm not talking
about the production which fits the criterias of the genre, I would
have liked few playing surprises à la Dave Culross. It seems
to me WRITHING is on the right way to record some quite morissoundingly
cool songs, I think they would need to inject a bit more of life
or "style" in the playing from here and there. This
demo is a decent recording and could please fans of mid old
American Death metal with both blasting and heavier parts. http://www.reverbnation.com/writhingdetroit
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