Crest of Darkness ‘Give Us The Power To Do Your Evil’ My Kingdom Music
Formed in 1993, we are presented with here, the bands sixth album. The first being, Sinister Scenario, released in 1997,via Head not Found. Here we have a very intense, blasting melee of clichéd Black meets Death in a thunderstorm. A simmering fusion of galloping percussion, barking snarl vocals and furious guitar riffs, all boiling in a pot of ‘heard it all before’ extreme metal. I an utterly confounded at times on how to review something that is obviously very well executed, very well constructed and yet so safe, it is both predictable and uneventful. Its like looking at a line of cars with different bodies but having the same engines. The biog sheet labels the music as extreme metal and I can see
why. There is no immediate Black Metal, nor Death or Doom, nor Goth or retro, it is basically a musical entity that taps into the most polished, machine like violent metal music and spits it at you with the force of a charging mammoth. Tight, epileptic high octane music that is delivered with great unison. The album as a whole tries so very hard to become something other than the clichéd collaboration it already is, but never manages to do so. If you are new to extreme music then this will enrapture your quest to embrace the scenes many qualities. If you have been around for ages, then this will brush passed without raising too many goosebumps. www.mykingdommusic.net
 
Dead To This World ‘First Strike for Spiritual Renewance’ Dark Essence Records
Thrash Black from former Immortal bassist Iscariah (Stian Smorholm) and Kvitrafn, ex stickman for Gorgoroth, Det Hedenske Folk, and currently also residing in Jotunspor.
Here we have some bile dripping, corpse ripping, hell for leather thrash metal regurgitated and spat out from a smoking marshal amp. Think of the more caustic side to the genre, the opposite side to the more refined severity of Metallica and Exodus. [Although the track 1942 steals from the Fight Fire With Fire riff] The world Destruction, Whiplash, Kreator and Slayer inhabit. Dead to this World make a mighty fine noise and their rugged Blackened Thrash is crafted from the olden text book of lacerating riffs and scowling
vocals. Of course, any retro act whether it be adopting the sludge bleakness of Sabbath, or the choppy guitar dynamics of Thrash, it will be nothing new to the ears, nothing that has not already come to pass. Like Swedish retro masters Bewitched, the music here is direct, familiar and although masterfully formed, lacking in originality. Iscariah has dabbled in numerous bands, the last being with Martin Walkiers, The Clan Destined [sadly now defunct] There does seem to be a Thrash revival at the moment, although I fee it will fizzle away without much fuss.
 
Deathcult ‘Cruel Rehearsals’ 2006
 
The debut album ‘Cult of the Dragon’ was released last year, and what a lacerating primitive album that fucker was. These pre-production tracks are also chaotic, bone splintering renditions of raw, gut fucking Black Metal. With a low in the mix vocal snarl, the wonderfully drone guitar strum plunges the atmosphere into the most primitive of plague pits. The track, Black Metal, features Hoest [Taake] on vocals and has nothing, as far as I could hear, on the Venom song. This Darkthrone classic era vomiting Black Metal fury can be downloaded for free from, www.misantrof.net/mma_deathcult.htm Donate to the band from the link shown or fuck off you tight cunt!
 
Eld ‘Primeval Vespers’ Antichristian Front Records
Formed in 1998 under the name A Winter Within, and releasing a demo in 1999. titled, Frostbitten. With a name change to Eld, and the release of the demo, Primeval Vespers, in 2004 [of which the re-issued version is what we have here]. Initially, the first airing of this demo will level itself at your feet without much impact. The style and sound having pretty standard compositions and a repertoire plundered from any number of past bands. There is a competence of musicianship [drummer, S Winter, having previously been in such esteemed acts, Aeternus, Gehenna, and Forlorn] The musical potency Eld offer is best felt on the track, Wartime Symphonies. On this track alone does the band generate any
gripping Black Metal authority. It is the fastest track on offer here, and the most primitive and acutely Black Metal in construction. The vocal delivery is very similar to Gorgoroths more growling style. The fifth and final track, My Withering Self, is a mid-tempo melodic track with the obligatory fast sections littered within its hypnotic rhythms and this track sets the band above the mere chaotic rage previously entertained here. The sound here is way above demo quality, having strong powerful production.
 
Endezzma ‘Alone’ EP Agonia Records
From the ashes of the legendary Dim Nagel ascends the magnificent Endezzma. Alongside former Dim Nagel creator, Sorgar, are fellow Norwegians, Trondr Nefas [ex Kvist], Jontho [Ragnarok/ Tsjuder], and Vulture Lord members. Dim Nagel, for those of you who do not know, released a classic demo in 1995 containing everything the Norwegian Black Metal scene was about during those legendary distant days. For some inexplicable reason, the band was never signed and many other awful bands were. Such is the music industry, such is life. Now, thirteen years on, and we have a kind or reanimated Dim Nagel. I say this as the three tracks here draw you back to those past times whilst still packing a 2008
punch. This is Black Metal the Norwegian way. The sound here owes much to classic era Gehenna as Dim Nagel. There is an emphasis on catchy rhythms, driving power chords and sustained vocal malice. The first track, Alone , just eats into your head with its additive vocal attack, the guitars swirling in a wall of graceful melody and flowing aggression. The track is a truly uplifting number and one that will stick in the head long after the savagery of the music withers from the air. The following, Antilevitation, is again, wonderfully likable with its progressive elements being released at the latter half of its six minute duration. The final track wallows in a keyboard haze, revealing a gentle side to the band. Here the dreamy atmosphere beckons you into a drowsy state of mind where the emotive essence it bares shall stroke the very embers of your soul. This is one of the finest MCD’s to emerge from Norway in a very long time, and I await the album with great anticipation.
 
Sjodogg ‘Landscapes of Disease and Decadence’ Osmose Prod
Norwegian Progressive Black/Death Metal that has little recognizable Black Metal in its standard form. However, there is a deeper, mesmerizing side to the music here that is both captivating and horribly grim in tone. Featuring members from Norwegian acts, Enthrall, Crest of Darkness, and The Flesh, what we have here is a mind bending collision of fast and furious Black Metal and melting drones of despair. Think of Katatonia on speed whilst fragmenting into the twisted world of Deathspell Omega. The linear notes to the promo state, Sjodogg is both minimalist, and innovative blending old school Death/Black metal with progressive elements and acoustic pieces’, and more revealing, ‘We believe that
Sjodogg has something significant to offer the fans of dark metal music around the world’. Notes such as these add fuel to the critiques fire, and all the self gratification cannot dispel the facts. And the facts are these, whilst not being the most inspiring release; this album does have much of what the notes stipulate. There is a unique undercurrent to the songs, although this uniqueness does wane as the album moves to its less than convincing conclusion. It is the repetitive rolling of the same hypnotic guitar patterns that inevitably plunge the release into a mire of its own making. Sprightly drum beats and resonant guitar strums can only sustain a certain amount of interest, and a whole albums worth of the same downcast, plodding woeful riffs and drum patterns is enough to wake up the devil himself, and at the same time send the most avid metalhead to sleep. www.osmoseproductions.com
 
Slavia ‘Live In Bergen 2007’ Misantrof ANTIRecords
 
Recorded during the Hole In The Sky 2007. Hammering dense Black Metal rumbling along in this fine live outing. The sound is great and reflects the atmosphere of the live environment with the crowd clearly audible, but never effecting the music’s intensity and clarity. Slavia are a relatively unknown entity outside the underground. Like the studio album [also reviewed on this page] the music is of varied pace and packs a hard punch. There is a definitive Nordic style to the guitars and a very direct approach. Like fellow Norwegians Urgehal, Taake, or, the equally hard and melodic, Nidingr, the tracks are blasted with controlled aggressive flair. For a live outing this hits all the right sensory plus points and I would urge you to get your version soon as this live album can be downloaded for free at www.misantrof.net/mma_slavia.htm There is a link to donate to the band and if you’re not a shithead, do so.
 
Slavia ‘Strength and Vision’ Drakkar Productions
Formed in 1997, the band have released several demos/ EP’s, and use Taake members for live appearances. The band is built around, Jonas Aus Slavia, [ex Disiplin, Koldbraan]
For all the Nazi imagery, [iron crosses, SS death head style skulls] Hitler samples and questionable lyrical expressions concerning cleansing the parasites from the surface of the earth, and ethnic cleansing pornography. [Fuck!, even the album title evokes the likes of Skrewdriver and the Honour and Blood ethos. No doubt purely coincidental.] the sleeve notes move fast to state, Slavia is not a political band, but they are anti-drugs-anti-alcohol, and pro terror. So a confusing ethos that reeks of that subliminal fascist ideology all too
hidden in the Norwegian Black metal scene, a reclusive Burzum theology that permeates many of the Black metal bands privately, and yet wisely never openly.
Musically, Slavia ride that Gorgoroth meets a mid era Satyricon style of melodic, turbulent Black Metal. The sound is thick, and driven by giant riffs, caustic vocals and up-beat arrangements. Overall, this is a modern Black Metal album with a solid, flesh ripping sound and some hard as nails tracks. There is a guest appearance by Vitoknic [Dodheimsgard], that adds some sense of esteem to the release. The pace is fast, but never at a velocity to obliterate the world speed record. There are many brooding mid-tempo moments that reveal the bands ability to create sustainable guitar arrangements within a ferocious mix of spiting percussion and barking vocal emissions. www.slavia.no
The bands my space page quotes, ‘Each and every part of your soil, we shall drench with all our blood. We shall march as warriors of Jihad!’ … This review is for the band as the label are arrogant and unhelpful.
 
Terminal Pulse ‘Cult of Enchanted Rage’ Antichristian Front Records
Blackened Death Metal from some members of Svartahrid, Sarcoma Inc and Trail of Tears. The sound here is thicker than an unshaved Greeks anus, like Kvist firing on all cylinders. The velocity the music hits you with is akin to being propelled though a mincing machine. With a drummer snapping at the heals of a scud missile and a guitar strum that is like a buzzsaw slicing through boneless limbs. The violent Swedish Death style is merged with a more grinding aural Blackened intent like a Spanish gore act colliding with a fast as Hell Norwegian Black Metal band in a smouldering smog of sumptuous amphetamines and decaying limbs. This really hits the button as each chord, each snare attack smoulders
across very expertly arranged compositions. Here is a band who pummels the senses with such ease. The extremity seems to melt into the ears with frightening clarity and although the battering tumult is of the very malevolent kind, the whole experience is one you’ll need to repeat time after time. 
 
Thorns/ Stigma Diabolicum ‘Compilation’ Kyrck Productions
This split cd features the following demo/ rehearsal tapes: Thorns 1-2 trondertun demo 1991 / Thorns3-8 grymyrk demo 1992: Stigma Diabolicum 9-10 rehearsal / Stigma Diaboilcum 11-13 demo luna des nocturnes 1990 recorded 1989, / 14-15 thorns rehearsal/ 1990.
Stigma Diabolicum formed in 1989, and featuring the likes of Bard Eithun [Emperor], Snorre Ruch, and Marius Vold. [in Arcturus 87-91]. Stigma Diabolicum wa, Snorres pre Thorns band and here we have a time capsule of material never really meant for mass consumption. [what demo/ rehearsal material ever is!] So you can be assured of a muggy
awful sound, thin atmospheres and work in progress compositions. There is also the charm and purity of such recordings made with energy and enthusiasm of excited musicians making their first stride into the cutthroat world of the music industry. The time these recordings were made was when Euronymous was alive, Burzum and Varg were releasing their embryonic Blackened music, Emperor were still an unknown entity, and Mayhem were formulating their cult, De Mysteriss opus par excellence. Stigma Diabolicum emit an average Deathly doom style and very much yearn to absorb the dated influences around its garage level creative spark. There are songs that [as in most demo’s] aren’t quite finished, musical arrangements that basically suck.
Forgetting Stigma Diabolicums less than inspiring contribution here, it is the Mighty Thorns that take centre stage. Here we can deliberate the awakening of Norwegian Black Metal. Along side Mayhem and Burzum, it is within these demos that part of the Norwegian Black Metal scenes very soul was truly born. The music is slow labouring bleakness wrapped in a menace born from the jaws of hell itself. There really is a foreboding atmosphere on both the sessions here. It ultimately leads to the magnificent, Arie Desends, to epitomize the wonderfully darkly sound of Snorres guitar style that is mesmerizing and a critical influence within the scenes form. These were the unexplored times where bands were wandering in an era of stale Death Metal and a new flickering of the Black Metal flame that was to shortly appear. I review this here for the music; the label can fuck off for ignoring my e-mails.