Denouncement Pyre - World Cremation

Alright so, what are us Aussies good at?
If you answered that question with “Creating absolute ripper Black/Death metal!” then you get a gold star.

Denouncement Pyre is a band from Melbourne that has featured members of Nocturnal Graves, Stargazer and Destroyer 666, to name a few. If this doesn’t get you tight in the pants then stop reading right now.

What we have here is their recently released first full length “World Cremation”, a great Black Metal album that incorporates different elements from various styles of Black and Death Metal. Throughout the album you will find catchy headbanging riffs, drawn-out melodic passages, chaotic blasting “bestial” sections all drenched in an aggressive and sometimes epic atmosphere. I’m not sure if I could pinpoint too many specific influences here, but that’s the beauty of it, I’d say. It’s certainly not super original but they don’t sound like any particular other bands. They have their own flavour.

I don’t really think there is a particular stand-out track on this release, but that’s not a bad thing as every track is excellent. My favourites are probably “Engulfed Temples” and “A Banner Drenched In Blood”.

In conclusion, everything about this album is good, from the killer guitar sound to the menacing vocals to the cool drumming to the audible bass. I have nothing bad to say about it and urge anyone into Aussie Black/Death to check it out. In fact, I liked it so much that I am now trying to track down their EP’s to purchase. I managed to hunt down “Hells Infantry” on eBay last week and it kills just as much as the album.

Worship this band!

5/5

Buy it from the best online label out there like I did:

http://www.hellsheadbangers.com/denouncementpyre/

Stormbane - Abyssus Abyssum Invocat

Stormbane are a band from Melbourne, Australia, that play a kickarse blend of Dissection and Destroyer 666 worshipping black, death and thrash metal. Abyssus Abyssum Invocat is their second EP.

This release starts off fast and furious with the song “Three Fates” which is a great track full of catchy and melodic riffs and killer vocals that really shows how the bands sound has “matured” since their first demo.

The second track, “Seraph” is my favourite. It brings to mind bands such as Tribulation, Angelcorpse, Repugnant and Morbid Angel. It’s a straightforward thrashing death metal stomper and it rips!

The title track is a nice instrumental that reminds me of Swedish style “melodic” black metal a la bands such as Dissection, Dawn and Watain. Cool atmosphere and melodies throughout.

The fourth and final song, Ruins From A Fallen world begins with a really cool slow and melodic intro that builds into a catchy as fuck riff-fest of a song, not to mention it has an awesome chorus! All in all another stellar track.

This release does not disappoint at all. 5/5

Buy it directly from the band through their myspace or facebook, if you’re nice they’ll do you a good deal!

www.myspace.com/stormbanemetal

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stormbane/161973910505856

Hellcannon - Infected With Violence

Well fuck, it’s been a while since I’ve written for my good ol’ site here hasn’t it? What better way to make a return could there be then by reviewing the first full length release of the first band I reviewed on here?

Anyone who’s followed this blog should know who these boys from Buffolo, New York are by now. But just for shits and giggles here’s a quick rundown of their history thus far:
Formed in 2009 they self-released their demo/EP Raiders of the Waste that year and you can find my review for that here: http://witchingmetal.blogspot.com/2009/11/hellcannon-raiders-of-wastes-demoep.html Since then these guys have been working hard playing gigs and writing songs for their full length, Infected With Violence which was recorded in December 2009 but not actually released until a year later. I eagerly awaited this the whole time, and boy was it worth the wait!

It kicks off with the ripper opening track “Leviathan” which is a definite example of what you’re in for if there ever was any. Bludgeoning riffs, inhuman vocals, tight drumming, audible bass and straightforward intense headbanging songs that are just good violent fun, which is everything I expect from a thrash record of this style.

There’s a few tracks from the first release on here (“Speed Killer”, “Sacrifice by Fire” and “Raiders of the Waste”) and I’d say they sound reasonably better then they did on the EP. The production bothered me a bit at first as it’s not as raw as the EP, which suited the sound really well, but after a few more listens it’s grown on me and does the job just fine. I have no complaints about the production.

The stand outs on here would have to be the vocals and the guitar sound. They just reek of the kind of attitude that rips ya nuts out and feeds them to your grandma while not giving a fuck. My personal favourite songs on this album would have to be “Chainsaw Ripping Death”, “Raiders of the Waste” and “Sacrifice by Fire”, although every song on here is good.

All in all this album is good, solid beef and sounds like an old-school sounding metal band having a good time and, I mean, what more could you ask for?

5/5

Just buy this right fucking now, you will not regret it:

http://hellcannon.bigcartel.com/

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

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

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

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.