Audiopain ‘The Switch To Turn Off Mankind’ Vendlus Records
A limited edition of this release comes with Chicken bones of all things. Audiopain have been ripping up the air with their dirty Thrashing style the since 1998, with numerous ep’s/ split ep’s, and one prior album to this. The band are part of a Norwegian Thrash revival alongside, Nocturnal Breed, Aura Noir, Inferno, Dead to This World, Blood Tsunami, and The Battalion. This release, to my mind, is the most authentic and enjoyable of them all, with the exception of Inferno, who have a remarkable ability to reproduce the past with vigour and animated emotion. The first track, Hellbound, blasts off in a guitar frenzy and never lets up. This is pure Destruction meets Tankard. The following, The Switch to turn off Mankind,
snaps at the heels of a runaway train, galloping across a bullet belt field stinking of leather and beer. The melody and catchy riffs are all part of a good thrash song. The point is not to level the surrounding area to dust, but rather serenade it with all guns blazing Heavy Metal played faster and with more balls. There’s not much more to add as there is nothing remotely new to discover. This is Thrash Metal Teutonic style.
 
Gorgoroth ‘Bergen 1996 EP’ Regain Records
I suppose it was only a matter of time when this cult 7” would be digitally re-mastered and burnt onto disc. I am very familiar with the two tracks here, both representative of the Pentagram era and airing the most productive time in the bands history.
Gorgoroth have always fallen short when it comes to their albums, taking aside the classic Pentagram, and the rather good, Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam, most Gorgoroth albums have always been average to my ears. This Ep alone eats those lacklustre albums with ease, such is the venom emitted through the live experience here. This 7” contains tracks recorded live at Garage in Bergen, Norway, the 23rd May 1996. The Ritual, was originally
found on the Pentagram album, with a studio version of, Revelation of Doom, to appear on the, 1997, Under the Sign of Hell, album. Here we have two massively heavy live takes, and I mean massively heavy. Play this load and your roof tiles will flake off. The vocal style if reflective of the Pentagram era, and this is Gorgoroth in their pre-Gaahl form, and in my opinion a far more darker entity. The vocal resilience of Hat, is stunning here. This EP, is as underground as it gets, and thankfully enough, the recordings are pure Black Metal to the ears.
 
Helvetespine ‘Frykten & Mennesket’ Hexenhammer Records
Mystical hymns of emotional bleakness wrapped in icy fog. This is a stunning lo-fi Black Metal release of muggy demo quality and almost untouchable primitivism. Helvetespine is the creation of Banehogg, formerly of Mareritt, a band who released a caustic Ep in 2005. This new project is a far more magical beast than the former. Give this a few plays and the quite mesmerizing Strid meets Forgotten Woods strikes a nerve with its spellbinding up-beat melodies. There are the depressive drones of Germanic band Wedard heaving though the coarse woebegone listless atmosphere of Skepitism. The yelping vocals are unnerving at times, but this irritation is cast asunder by the ghostly guitar strums that follow the plodding
drum beats into a funeral realm of utter despair and pale dread hunger. There are many solitary guitar sections that introduce or end the tracks, Like the equally mesmerizing Selvhat, this atmospheric Black Metal band are a fresh breath of stale air giving the Norwegian scene new life. Alongside the masterful Beastcraft, Kaosritual, Min Kiv, and their likes, Helvetespine are part of a very exciting revival.
 
In Lingua Mortua ‘Bellowing Sea - Racked by Tempest’ Termo Records
Featuring members from Urgehal, Endezzma and Asmegin. From the orchestral intro explodes what at first will seem a Dimmu Borgir awakening and the supreme majesty of ‘Enthroned Darkness Triumphant’ does make its mark here, and that’s an unavoidable comparison, as the eclectic music here is more in tune with the solid, symphonic style than any other. Where this album strives to pull itself out of carbon Dimmu band, is the technicality sewn into the meandering arrangements. Blasting snares and razor sharp guitar riffs swirl in a crystal clear production. The Norwegians are not as prolific with their keyboard laden acts today, as they were in the mid-nineties. There are the likes of
Limbonic Art, and Emperor, But overall it is a rare triumph of solid songcraft that conjures music of this calibre. The music is dynamic, epic, fast and furious. The songs engorged with orchestral pomp and that flowing Black Metal majesty simmering from the raging vocal bite. The level of intensity is channelled though the aggressive guitars and the smooth keyboards, as well as Violin, Flute and even Saxophone. With the Norwegian scene rising from its latency, there are many fabulous bands appearing, and this is one of the finest. Not levelled at the raw primitivism of the underground, but still, a very able act delivering epic orchestral Black Metal.
 
In Vain ‘The Latter Rain’ Indie Recordings
The Emperor like orchestral intro heralds the imminent ascension of In the Midnight Hour. The slow plodding drum tumult, thick grinding guitar riffs and low deep gruff vocals reminded me of another Norwegian act, Twin Obscenity. There is little trace of Black Metal here, even less trace of Death Metal. This is more like a progressive Pyogenesis when that seminal Germanic band were in their early stages of dark driving doom ignited metal. The track is quite potent and flows across a tight guitar riff. The following is more up-beat, a kind of In Flames meets Hypocrisy. The chopping guitars skim off the percussive barrage and heavy as fuck sound. Then comes the Hammond organ groove of Octobers
Monody, a blasting furnace of a track that takes no prisoners in its precise aural destructive sound. Again the great Swedish band, Hypocrisy spring to mind when assessing the all consuming power and musical construction. The eight minute, Their Spirits Ride with the Wind, is a slower, clean vocal assisted track and reveals a more delicate side to this bands repertoire. This is basically how the albums pans out in its entirety. Massive slow guitar riffs lay waste to the ears, a huge vocal roar shudders the skull to powder and every track has its own character. 
 
Knokkelklang ‘Eksistens’ demo tape
 
Agonizingly beautiful funeral Black Metal that eats into the atmosphere like a maggot slowly ebbing the glow from a putrid piece of meat. This lumbering raw primitive Black Metal strain is likewise shared by fellow Norwegians, Selvhat, Helvetespine, and the wonderful Skuggehiem. You can also attach this gruelling lamenting music to the likes of Skeptism, Wedard and Bethlehem, plus many other acts who prefer the slow menacing approach to the Black Metal aesthetic. This crackling tape just oozes that claustrophobic demo sound, the Burzum like vocal wailing issue their forlorn utterances into the still air. The first track Hvite Vegger, blots out the sun with is lazy guitar strum and haunting, torturous vocal snarl. The music ushers forth a spellbinding rhythmic hopelessness, a quite stirring piece of bleakness incarnate. This is followed by the solitude encompassing, Knokkelklang. A solitary guitar arrangement plucks the strings of death itself. The vocal deliver will chill you to the bone. The final hypnotic drone like, Eksistens, bleeds any trace of joy from the atmosphere. It’s like the guitar intro to Venoms, Witching Hour looped into eternity. The demo has a pattern of starting slowly and ending motionless. By the time this dirge fades into the memory, only suicide is left. A fine demo this is. Seek it out if you dare.
 
Orcustus ‘Demo’ Free download
In 2002 Orcustus released a demo which instantly became a classic in the Black Metal underground. "Demo 2002" was limited to 1000 copies. The demo was produced by Ivar P, of The Enslaved. The band consist of Taipan [Amok], Dirge Rep [Gehenna], and Infernus and Tormentor [Gorgoroth]. This demo blasts off with the savage, Death Becomes You, A blistering blend of Darkthrone meets Mayhem... in a sewer. The vocals leap out of the mix and blot out the guitars with rancid barks and snarls. The sound is good demo quality and thicker in tone than one would expect. The icy atmosphere is evident, but the primitive core is dismantled in favour of a more involved song writing style. The following
tracks varied in pace, offering a slower, more brooding atmosphere, as well as the charged intensity of the opening number. Orcustus on this evidence are a capable Black Metal band offering nothing above what Black Metal is in its primeval state... The tracks here are predictable and although solid compositions. The final track, Lucifuge Damnation, is a six minute hymn to Hellish Chaos, a real Black Metal arse shredding track that twists and turns like a lizard in a blizzard chasing its flaming tail. The following 7” vinyl Wrathtrash is far better. Download this demo for fuck all from: www.misantrof.net/mma_orcustus.htm
 
Styggmyr ‘Styggmyr’ Heidenwut Productions
I’m in heaven again, I just love these limited vinyl releases. They feel so personal and exclusive, like demo’s, a real fans musical heaven. Stygmr have already released a couple of albums, both as obscure as this quite arse shredding release. From the fuzzed out first track, Death of the Holy Trinity, is becomes blatantly obvious the music matches the whole package here. A limited vinyl, [500 hand numbered] a black and white presentation, and the rotting guitar distortion holding what little production there is together. After a few minutes the sound really draws you in to a kind of stoner Black Metal atmosphere where you can imagine a poisoned Kyuss buckling under some severe satanic flagellation. The
varied pace, and tempo on each track is also rather odd, and when you discover that some are different recordings to ones appearing on other albums, and the rest being recorded between 2003 and 2005. Stygmmr are a band unto their own making. Their sound is raw, yet very much rooted to a thrash platform than a more icy modern style. The Dutch band, Countess also wallow in this dirty guitar sound meets a Trashing rage. There is a total Darkthrone moment on the ice to the bone tracks, The Crucifixion, Satahnas Supreme parts 1 & 2, a gloriously one dimensional Black Metal attack that may as well be caked in the ash of a Norwegian church. An utterly convincing reflection of the Norwegian scenes charismatic past. This release is so under the radar it will probably never be unearthed that often. [There is no mention of a label on the cover] It has a demo atmosphere and the music will never set the world on fire, but it has a certain charm, and is rich with passion and simmering Black Metal as all these obscure releases do in my book anyway. 
 
Sykdom/Curse ‘In Life & In Death / Verden og Fanden’ split cd BlackMetal.com
A mighty split cd in true underground style and continuing the great legacy of the split release. [In Norwegian terms] The finest being the, Emperor/Enslaved split of 1993, the strangest, the Mayhem/Meads of Asphodel split of 2002, and other fine Norwegian splits being, Tummlus/Mock [1995], Det Hedenske Folk/Abyssic Hate [1997], and, Gaahlskagg/Stormfront [1999].
The purpose of the split is to basically have two mcd’s on one cd, thus theoretically giving more value for money as well as exposing two bands. The bad points of such a release is that one band generally will be better than the other, the sound will fluctuate and the style
Sykdom have already three fine albums, the last being the Under Krigen, the bands Ulver style Viking metal masterpiece. The music here is equally stirring, with the Church organ intro heralding the mid-tempo romping rhythms of Doedsens Stillhet. The guitar solo at the end lifts this piece far from the coarse Black Metal one expects. The following Hvit Ioegn, is more of the same, a track ignited with memorable riffs and a great blasting finale. The Sykdom side of this split disintegrates before the ears in glorious Black Metal flames, a woefully short, but inspiring piece of music. Sykdom are very much part of the current Norwegian Black Metal revival. Curse, are from Iceland, and strangely enough melt into the Sykdoms previous heroics rather well. The bands melodic twenty minute track is of equal quality to the rest of this split. Rumbling, up-lifting, atmospheric Pagan Black Metal with a great hypnotic feel to the guitar arrangements and soft euphoric keyboards. At times you will feel like you are listening to Emperors, Night of Graveless Souls, the drum and guitar style echoing those far off days. This is epic stuff. Goose bump activating music that very nearly eclipses the previous works of Sykdom. It falls short of doing so, but it certainly equals it.
 
Syrach ‘Days of Wrath’ Napalm Records
Strangely enough this is the bands second album. The first appearing way back in 1996. I have not heard the former, but this new album is not a Black Metal release, but this Doom laden album has a certain darkly charm that reaches beyond the normal doom drone of this gruff style. This is Doom Metal of the Paradise Lots/My Dying Bride [Aaron Stainthorpe of MDB designed the rather stunning artwork] School of lingering despondency. This band do not have the pure bile issuing chill of those acts, but do possess at times a darkly sound of their own. Gravel throated utterances emit a haunting malign across the lumbering bass
arrangements. Thick guitar chords rip the air, invoking a Black Sabbath like presence that bleeds an authentic Doom backbone into the music’s shuddering very being. Vibrant guitar solos rip though the air like a reapers scythe cutting though flesh. There is a thick guitar style that relates to the likes of Sweden’s Hypocrisy, a deathly edge to the gloomy mood that adds a more flowing edge to the otherwise dragging music. As the album progresses, the guitar solos become more excessive, female vocals appear, bells chime, and the melancholic nature to the atmosphere intensifies. This all erupts into the thirteen minute epic, The Firm Grip of Death. This is an album of clean, dense production, solid, heavy guitars and modern brooding atmospheres. There is not much on offer other than Doom, gloom and regurgitated despair, the music is pretty one dimensional, but as I mentioned, it retains a darkly charm, albeit a very modern incarnation of a very well trodden path.