Witching Metal Webzine

Witching Metal Webzine

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Kerasphorus - Cloven Hooves at the Holocaust Dawn



What’s that, you say? A new release from the master of Canadian War Metal himself, Pete Helmkamp, featuring J. Read of Conquerer fame (but NOT a new Revenge album)? 4 songs of bludgeoning black/death metal aggression? Well, then, this sounds right up my fuckin’ alley!

Any fan of Helmkamp’s older projects (namely Order From Chaos and Angelcorpse) should know what to expect here: highly energetic and aggressive, blasting straightforward black/death metal with sinister vocals and super-fast riffage. The production is quite clean for such a release without going overboard and sterile, so you can hear everything that’s going on, which is nice.

This has got to be one of the most savage releases I’ve heard recently. Everything about this record is intense, from the insane yet controlled blast-heavy drumming, to the intense Angelcorpse-style riffage, to the surprisingly audiable bass, to Pete’s evil-as-fuck foul rasp shouting at you through the speakers. The songs here conjure up images of ultra-violent and uncompromising warfare, which nobody is safe from.

The first and final tracks here probably stand out the most for me, with the middle two also excellent. I really can’t get enough of this EP, and strongly urge you filthy warmongering bastards to do whatever you can to get your hands on it.

5/5

www.nwnprod.com

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Ignivomous – Death Transmutation




Something about modern Death Metal just rubs me the wrong way. Death Metal is NOT meant to sound polished and clean, it’s supposed to be ugly, dirty and evil. There’s nothing worse than seeing a bunch of emo-kids chugging along on their ridiculously down-tuned guitars and claiming to be re-inventing the wheel for “Death Metal”. Every now and then, though, a band will rise up from the ashes of Old-School-Death-Metal (OSDM) and just kick my arse so hard I don’t know what hit it. Ignivomous is one such band.

Featuring past and present members of prominent Australian bands such as Destroyer 666, Abominator, Destruktor, Earth and Urgrund among others, and formed in 2006, these boys play Death Metal via the old-school Swedish and New York scenes (among other, less obvious influences, of course).

I don’t even know where to start with describing this album. Everything about it just REEKS of pure old-school aggression and darkness. The riffs, the vocals, the drums, the low-end, the compositions, the lyrics, it’s ALL there and it’s ALL great! I can’t stress how crushingly heavy every single song on this record is. Anybody into OSDM needs to hear this album as soon as humanly possible.

All I can say is, Ignivomous have brought back my faith in Death Metal. All hail the old-school!

5/5

www.myspace.com/ignivmousmetal

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Destruktor - Nailed



What we have here, is the long-awaited full-length album by Australian War Metal horde Destruktor. Something I spent a LOT of time anticipating!

These boys play a mix of Black, Death and Thrash Metal. Over the years they have combined the mixture in different ways, starting off with a more straight-forward Black Metal approach on their first demo, then going for a bestial Black Thrash assault on the Brutal Desecration EP, then a more Death Thrash sound on the Nuclear Storm EP. Nailed, however, goes in a very Death Metal direction, whilst still keeping strong Black and Thrash Metal influences, it is clear that the old-school Death Metal sound is now the most dominant influence.

The album kicks off with a slow, brooding intro that kicks into a smasher of evil Death-thrashing awesomeness that is the song “Embrace the Fire” which hastily sets the mood for the rest of the album. Every song on this album is a relentless blasting assault on your ear-pussy that simply crushes and forces it’s way into your head. The songs are generally mid-length, catchy, fast and evil. There is a bit of overkill when it comes to blast beats, but it seems to work here, it just fits with the mood.

My personal favourite tracks would have to be Violence Unseen and Meccademon. It’s hard to choose a stand-out, though, as every track is killer. This album is not for the faint hearted, it is old-school, heavy, evil and has riffs that kill! This is Australian Metal played the way it should be played.

5/5

www.myspace.com/666destruktor

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Some Australian Metal recommendations!

Alright so I'm back! Gonna try and update this thing a bit more now.
To start off with, I'm gonna recommend some cool new-ish Australian releases/bands, then soon I'll be back to posting a review or two a week, hopefully!

Destruktor - Nailed



Took these boys a while to finally get around to putting out a full length. They unleashed this beast of an album on the world in late September 2009, and HOLY FUCK it was worth the wait! I have a backpatch of this album for a reason, instant classic.

Ignivomous - Death Transmutation



Now this band is a bloody gem and a half! Straight up Old School Death Metal that worships at the altar of Incantation. Hell.Fucking.YEAH!

Stormbane - Tortured in the Arms of Salvation



Judging by the name, it's pretty obvious where Stormbane draw a lot of their influence from. Their interesting blend of Dissection and Destroyer 666 worship is very cool indeed. Watch out for these guys!

Vomitor - Devils Poison



God damn I was anticipating this release for a while. It did NOT disappoint! Bloody great straight up Deathrash, played the old school way!

Cemetery Urn - The Conquered Are Burned



Fast, demonic, intense, bestial. Old School Death Metal played in the most chaotic way possible!

Rampage - The Rampage Begins...



Straight up Bay Area Thrash from my local area! Great fun!

Darker Half - Duality



Melodic yet thrashy Power Metal in the vein of Dungeon/Lord. Excellent stuff.

And that just about wraps up my return post! I highly recommend each and every one of these albums to ANY Heavy Metal fan! Check them out, enjoy, maybe leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Cheers! Vagabond.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

I have a Forum now.

Check it out and please join here: http://witchingmetal.forum-motion.net/forum.htm

Will also FINALLY get around to writing more reviews etc soon. Been very busy.

Cheers!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Sorry for the lack of updates!

Life's been a bit hectic lately what with the end/start of the year, trying to find a new job and a bunch of other shit.

I'll get my arse into gear soon and write a bunch of reviews.

Watch this space!

Vagabond.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Mangled Condition - DEMO 2009



Grinding their way out of Semarang in Indonesia comes MANGLED CONDITION, A brutal two piece Deathgrind band with enough originality, bludgeoning riffs, brutal blasts and sickness to leave their listeners brutalized and craving more!

This demo released in 2009 contains 2 songs showcasing the sickness and technicality of Mangled Condition. The first is a 41 second intro track called "Violent Killer" which starts off with a great sample to get you ready for the brutality that will ensue. The audio sample paints a picture of a "world where violence, fear and murder are a way of life". Just as the track is coming to an end, with only 5 seconds left, the band grind their way through the speakers with some ultra brutal riffs and blasting drums, and vocals so guttural they would make Will Rahmer himself jelous!

'Tortured and Sodomized" starts off with another choice audio sample before slamming into one of the finest cuts of extreme metal I have heard in a long time. The riffs are razor sharp and showcase the technical abilty of band members 'Ekky'( Guitars, Drum Programming), and Ardi (Bass, Vocals). The riffs twist and turn along with Ardi's insane brutal vocals before the song takes a break from the blasting and slows down into a crushing venemous riff at about the 2 minute mark.. This doesn't last long however, Soon after we are treated to a bridge with some very tasteful lead work that adds an element of evil and depth to the song, And then its back to the blasting for the last 20 seconds of the track!

I can't recommend this enough, The best part is you can listen to both tracks for free at http://www.myspace.com/mangledcondition , The band have also just released these songs on a Split CD with French grindcore band "Decomposed Asthetic", The split is called "Innards Exposition" and can be purchased from Human Discount Records http://www.myspace.com/humandiscountrecs.

I may have taken an age to discuss just 2 songs, But this band is not your average death grind band. Which has me excited, I can't wait to hear more music from Mangled Condition, And if this demo is anything to go by, We're all in for a real treat when they put out a full length release.

4/5