Manifesting
Descension Through the Seven Forbidden Seals
2013 Invictus Productions
As is commonly the case these days, Minnesota's Manifesting is a disturbing duo that features Sepulcherous on drums and guitar, and Maw on guitar, bass and vocals. I think the general concept behind both this and other bands centered around a duo is simply this... the individuals involved have little tolerance for other people as a whole, and have somehow managed to find one other similar-minded person to create music with. Finding one dependable person to form a band with is hard enough, let alone three or four or even five or more. Most likely, the mindset of a duo is that arguments are few and far between, and that any primadonna behavior will quickly lead to the dissolution of the band. Seems simple and logical to me, and the advantage over being just a single-person project is that one doesn't have to do everything, and the two members can bounce ideas off of each other. It's worked very well for Darkthrone over the years. Not surprisingly, Manifesting are part of this new generation of death metal that some half-wit hipster has dubbed "cavern-core." Yes, we get the idea. It sounds massively heavy, and with enough distortion to make the listener believe it was recorded in some deep dark cave. Granted, for some bands that may be true, but I highly doubt it. At the most, I'd say that bands of this ilk go for very subdued lighting from a few black candles, and are in some sort of conventional recording studio. Sorry to shatter any illusions. And that hipster, I heard he was dragged off and flogged with a razor-lined whip made of the hides of other hipsters. Now what makes Manifesting stand out to me at least, in comparison to other similar bands in this semi-sub-genre is that they don't go for the solely Incantation-influenced school of songwriting. They go back to something far more primitive... possibly even more primitive than Hellhammer. Manifesting rely on simple but effective riffs that are played repeatedly mixed in with tempo shifts, the occasional blast beat, and gutteral vocals from one of the lower circles of Hell. Far better to listen to (I'm not sure I'd dare to say "fun") than the uber-murky sludge sound preferred by most other similar bands. Small wonder then, that I keep spinning this ep over and over again (must have been three times while writing this) and wondering when or if we'll see a full length. Hey, I'm a fan of bands like Grave Upheaval and Teitanblood too, but I've always preferred to be able to discern one riff from another, rather than it all sound like a churning mass.
Lie in Ruins
Towards Divine Death
2014 Dark Descent
To kick off the year, Colorado's Dark Descent Records came out of the gate with all guns blazing. "Towards Divine Death" is the first in a trifecta of releases they know will assault your senses. It's been my extreme pleasure to have been able to follow Finland's Lie in Ruins since their demo days. As ever, they have that darker take on the sound pioneered by Stockholm. Mix-wise, they've gone a little heavier, with a sound closer to most of the rest of Dark Descent's roster. It's a little odd in that
everything seems to be on the same level except the vocals. Those are lower in the mix, and with a muddier sound than the rest. The effect is almost like everyone in the band is playing on solid ground, except vocalist Roni S, who apparently is standing in a deep hole. This is all definitely a different direction than what was heard on "Swallowed by the Void." That album had a much cleaner mix and more of a standard sound... even it's not as bold and heavy as what can be found on the new album. This is where I get fascinated by the whole mixing process. Just a few tweaks here and a few there, and the entire character of an album can be changed. I'm fairly certain that they initially started off with the same kind of mix they've had in the past, but then got the idea to make everything sound darker and heavier. I'd say they were mostly successful, but the way the vocals have been almost buried underneath everything else just irks me. Even so, you can tell that they put in some time and effort to get this sound. Just compare it to something like... say... the last release of Killing Addiction, which sounded like it was just thrown together with no goal other than that of just getting it done and over with. The recordings themselves may have been a mess to begin with, but that album didn't sound like they did much to help themselves or correct anything while mixing. The result was an unlistenable failure. This, on the other hand, is not unlistenable, but not quite a total success either. For the most part it works. You just need to let your ears adjust first. Do so, and you'll most likely agree this may be one of the darker and heavier slabs of death metal you'll hear this year.
Lvcifyre
Svn Eater
2014 Dark Descent
Somehow or another, Lvcifyre's debut, "The Calling Depths," went largely ignored by the metal-buying popvlation. Fortunately, Dark Descent fovnd ovt abovt them and qvickly signed them. With lvck, they'll get a lot more exposvre and become as known as they shovld be. Don't be fooled by the opening track, "Night Sea Sorcery." This one is a long, slow and brooding song that might make you believe that Lvcifyre is some sort of blackened fvneral doom band. Abovt halfway throvgh the track, yov'll learn otherwise. The blower bass svddenly picks vp, and so does the speed... to abovt a mid-pace of sorts. After this opening thovgh, the hammer gets thrown down hard, and the speed picks up considerably. The band's sick and twisted style of chvrning death metal fits in perfectly with the rest of Dark Descent's roster. Somehow, they manage to combine inflvences like Bestial Warlust, Krisiun and Incantation into a swirling malevolent maelstrom from whose miasmatic depths one will never retvrn. Mvsic like this reminds me of the time I saw a feeding frenzy of moray eels at a local marinelife park. It was jvst a swarm of chaos where yov covld not tell where one animal ended and another began. Savage, vgly and beavtifvl all at the same time. Definitely as "anti-trendy" as it gets. Jvst the way we like it.
Corpsessed
Abysmal Thresholds
2014 Dark Descent
This is the last of Dark Descent's triple threat onslaught to open 2014. The full-length debut of Corpsessed has been a long time in coming. Right off the bat, I have to say that this album sounds like the band pulled a "Sepultura," in that their debut ep has better production than their debut full-length. It sounds like this thing was mastered at a low volume, and there's just a kind of muted feeling to the whole thing. Fortunately, that's what the volume knob is for, and if your neighbors don't like it, maybe they will after being subjected to it for a while. Maybe I just liked the more upfront sound of the ep, as "Abysmal Thresholds" has more of an even mix. All that said, this album dives right into the deep end of the well-established traditions of Finnish death metal (bet you thought I was going to say "Swedish" there, didn't you?). As ever with the style, there is an emphasis on a darker vibe, and absolutely zero death-n-roll. I think they took early Demigod, added in a little Demilich, and some demo-era Morgoth, and did their best to try and update the music of those bands to today. They completely made them their own in the process, mostly by adding in an epic kind of flair somehow... as death metal bands hailing from Finland tend to do. As I listen to this album, I can visualize what I think their stageshow could be like. I'm seeing a very dark stage, with a ton of fog and mostly dark red and blue lighting. I can make out the forms of the band members, but no real details. Do not take that "lack of details" as a reflection of their music. This stuff is very dark, very heavy, and very involved... bordering on what a friend of mine likes to refer to as an "obscure" sound. Makes me damn proud to be a supporter of the underground and not whatever mainstream metal is today.
Satan's Host
Virgin Sails
2013 Moribund Records
"By the Hands of the Devil" was one of the true metal highlights for me back in 2011. The return of Harry Conklin [Leviathan Thisiren] to the band resulted in an album that by far surpassed anything that I had expected. Not only that, but then we also got "Celebration: For the Love of Satan" just a few months later, which featured re-recorded versions of songs spanning the band's career. The mix of Harry's clean vocals combined with decidedly black/death/thrash metal style music was a match made in ... well... Hell. Last year, 2013, we finally got the followup in the form of "Virgin Sails." Things have changed a little bit. Guitarist Patrick Evil has backed away from the kind of blackened death metal he's been crafting over the last decade or so and gone back to a more "traditional" style for the most part. Blast beats still pop up here and there, and the aggression is stronger than your average traditional heavy metal band -- occasionally crossing over into speed metal territory, but the majority of the sound here is in the traditional vein. In theory, album reviews are supposed to be about what is on the album, and the author's opinion is not supposed to enter into the equation. Nonsense. The point of a review is an opinion, and I mean to give one whether you want it or not! So do I like what I hear on "Virgin Sails?" You bet. Do I think it's better than "By the Hands of the Devil?" I can't say for sure if that's a "yes" or a "no." I think the two of them are very different animals, and for the stylistic reasons I outlined before. I might have preferred to hear more of the extreme type metal that Satan's Host released in years past but now with Harry's vocals, but what I'm hearing is still very much enjoyable and was well worth the wait. I can't complain much at all here... although I do wish they'd bring back the old logo.
The Pete Flesh Deathtrip
Mortui Vivos Docent
2013 Pulverised Records
This one has been a long time coming. The last we heard of riffmaster general Pete Flesh was in 2008, either on Deceiver's "Thrashing Heavy Metal" or Flesh's "Worship the Soul of Disgust," whichever was released second that year. Depending on who you talk to, either Flesh metamorphosed in the The Pete Flesh Deathtrip, or TPFD is an all new project that has nothing to do with any previous band. Originally conceived as a completely solo band, Pete opted to recruit a couple of session members, mainly Andreas Jonsson drums and Micke Broberg (of Unanimated fame), who contributes vocals and lyrics to some of the tracks. What they've produced is an extremely guitar-oriented death thrash album, and quite possibly the most personal thing Pete has ever done. There's a whole ton of power and majesty in every riff, although I do wish there was a little more of a bottom end with the bass in the mix. As a result, quite a bit of the feeling of Unanimated comes through, even on the tracks where Pete takes the vocal spot instead of Micke. Every track here will defy you in any attempt to not bang your head. The urge is just impossible to resist. Give "Mortui Vivos Docent" a listen, and you'll be quick to understand why it's my favorite release involving Pete Flesh since Thrown's "The Suicidal Kings Occult."
Tyrants Blood
Into the Kingdom of Graves
2013 Self Release
Took me quite a while to get my dirty mitts on this one. It was well worth the wait though. While it's not clear to me why Tyrants Blood released this album on their own, I'm glad they did. Doing so shows a lot of conviction and belief in what they're doing on their part. The cult Ross Bay sound lives on in Tyrants Blood, and in my mind, they're like the spiritual successor to Blasphemy... which in no way do I mean to take anything away from their own merits. It makes sense of course, as guitarist Marco Banco used to be part of that horde. He's pulled out all the stops here with the furious riffing. Drummer Matt Blood is kept on his toes, with all kinds of odd time changes. Some might find the drum tone a little odd, as there are times when they have a kind of "trashcan" sound. That's fine with me. It's good to hear a technical edge like his, combined with a more organic sound. I can't stand the flat, dry drum tone favored by most of the tech types these days. Brian Langley spews forth all kinds of vocal venom, coming across as a rabid Wendigo with his foot caught in a bear trap. Overall, there's a lot more dynamics going on here than you usually hear from bands in this subgenre. Most other bands of the "war metal" style tend to prefer blasting out an album, going at a non-stop high speed pace with little to no variation. Tyrants Blood prefer to mix things up a bit. There's a few places where I wish the guitars were a little higher in the mix, such as in the first half of "Conjure the Watcher." But that's all forgivable, for two reasons. First off, this type of metal has got to be a complete bitch to mix, and second... it's not meant to have a super-polished clean sound!
