Bombers ‘Bergen’ 7” vinyl Hearse Records
	An obscure release, yet having, Abbath being known as frontman of one of the most successful black metal bands ever, namely Immortal. Pez being a dirty old school punk drummer in Punishment Park and J.E.F. and Tore, being the original guitarist of legendary death metal band Old Funeral. This is basically a Motorhead tribute release, with 3 classic Head rockers, Bomber, No Class, and, Dead Men Tell No Tales. Not a definitive Black Metal release, and contrary to my usual stringent review ethics, I just had to seek the EP out. The tracks are faithful renditions of the originals and the vocals very Lemmy with a slight Scandinavian accent. There is no real deviation in the tempo and one
could find time to have a yawn if you have heard the originals a million times, as many Head fans no doubt have. The lead guitar work is kick ass, Fast Eddie Clarke style, and for a Motorhead cover it needs to be good, and this resurrects the tracks from being run of the mill covers. www.bombers.no/
Dimmu Borgir ‘In Sorte Diaboli’ Nuclear Blast
	How do you follow the all consuming sound of Death Cult Armageddon, an album so solid, so polished that cranked up full volume every toupee in the vicinity would rocket into space. Then there is the recently re-worked, Stormblast album, an already cult symphonic masterpiece, dragged into the present Dimmu colossal sound mode. Two riveting releases from arguably the finest commercial Black Metal band on Plant Hell. Of course, Death Cult Armageddon had mixed reviews, the purists discarding it as all pomp and no substance, the modernists lapping every orchestral note. I for one, found Death Cult to be a fine release, a landmark in quality production sound, as well as containing great
tracks. So here we have the latest offering, the darkly titled In Sorte Diaboli. On first airing we can deliberate the similarities in sound to the previous, D.C.A, album. The massive orchestral spine is missing, as a more direct approach has been employed. Like, Spiritual Black Dimensions, the band are firing from the hip, making a deafening Black Metal tumult with songs more geared for the live stage. And so we come to the actual songs. To be fair, the material on this album is far better than 90% of the music you will come across this year. They are not as immediate as the monumental offerings on Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, neither are they as massively epic as those found on, D.C.A, but there are some magnificent moments, songs that rival the likes of Reptile and Dreamside Dominions, both from Spiritual Black Dimensions. I cite this album, because the music here seems to stand between D.C.A, and S.B.D. The frightening fact is, the music here is Dimmu Borgir firing on all cylinders, spitting forth memorable songs that make the album well worth having. www.dimmu-borgir.com
Isarnheimnr ‘Isarnheimnr’ Goatowarex
	Now, this is utterly wonderful. A fetid, Burzum meets Forgotten Woods Black Metal nightmare maddening soundscape. With the cliché black and white cover art, Norse lyrics and grim corpse painted imagery, the vocals draw upon the quite insane rants of Count Grishnack. This extreme vociferous style will either provoke feelings of utter annoyance, or lure you within their shrilling uniqueness. Musically, Burzums old school minimalism, and catchy early material are culled and re-moulded into a fresh ear screeching set of songs. There are seven equally inhuman, blood curdling tracks, each embodied with those unwelcoming crazed vocals, and it is the homicidal shouts and mad axeman shrieks that give
this powerful Black Metal art its genuine menacing atmosphere. The tracks are cold, dragging funeral like guitar sections, the next, boisterous up-beat parts. With 32 minutes and 8 tracks to render your senses numb with excruciating Black Metal extremity, I can recommend this to hardened purists only. http://home.no/isarnheimr/index.html
Iskald ‘Northern Twilight’ EP / self financed
	Black thrashing Metal that takes its basic sound from the eighties Thrash leviathans Wargasm and Testament.There is still enough rough edges to keep the atmosphere drooling with retro coarseness tethered to a modern edge. The vocalist grunts and gruffs over a pretty impressive display of tight, controlled thrash, that manages to keep at a mid-tempo speed, thus allowing the music to breath far better. The retro mood is not as obvious as with the likes of Inferno, or Bewitched, as Iskald have their own identity stamped on sound. The overall body of intent is not as virulent as Slayer, nor as rugged as Kreator, here we are presented with a lighter, more melodic thrashing rage. When the fast sections do kick in,
there is still a preference to sustained melody than aural meltdown.The band also have a self financed album, Shades of Misery. www.iskald.com
Keep of Kalessin ‘Armada’ Tabu Recordings
	It has taken a while, but this band have kept plugging away, and here we have the result, a solid, furious technical Black Metal album. The quality production allows for a more fluent sound where precision drum work is best filtered through a quality audio sound. Crunching riffs, dynamic compositions and a fine vocalist amalgamate towards a near flawless display of teeth grinding music. The music’s fast, with an epic, progressive element that dilutes the seemingly crushing aural chaos into a very accessible format. The band have created an album of Slayer like thrashing riffs, weaved around acoustic sections, harsh and clean vocals, and bone cracking rhythms. There is even an instrumental
track that on closer inspection becomes far more than a filler. The focus on the musicianship on this track just confirms the finely tuned Black thrashing machine Keep of Kalessin are. With such a lucid sound, accomplished songs, and an exactness to the music’s delivery, what we can be assured of is a finely tuned modern Norwegian Black Metal album in the time honoured tradition of Emperor and Satyricon. www.taburec.com
Mayhem ‘Ordo Ad Chao’ Season of Mist
	One of the monsters of Black Metal, sitting equal to the likes of Venom, Bathory, and Emperor. The bands history and notoriety are well documented; the bands previous releases need no introductions. Here we have the bands fourth album proper. Maybe not so eagerly awaited as others. The very band is not as intimidating as it once was, so can this new opus stand against the new breed of Black Metal? With an intro building up to the ignition of A Wise Birth Giver, it becomes instantly apparent that the sound is somewhat lacking of the jackhammer punch of previous releases. The drum sound is muffled and Hellhammer seems to roll his sticks as usual everywhere and
anywhere. What strikes you almost at once is the very dry, chilling production that sets the scene foe the following splitting of ribs as the music’s tumult ensues. The distinctive vocal thrum of Attila Csihar is a welcome resounding throwback to the very flames of the bands legendary De Mysteriis album. After the initial blast, the track slouches into a dragging doom bellowing finale, descending into a stench of putrefied flesh. With off key notes, thundering snares, and scowling vocals emissions, the album continues to eat up the atmosphere with neck breaking velocity and bone cleaving intent. There isn’t much of the classic riffs or memorable moments found on the more simplified, De Mysteriis. It’s hard not to balance the current with the past, and the band have always, and will always be shacked to their past. This is a very experimental, modern Mayhem in texture. The tone and body belongs to the living entity of the core members, and yet it is the very challenging arrangements that weave their spell first and foremost, compelling the frailty of the mind to cower from the sheer weight of the music’s aural bombardment. This is very much a Black Metal album in its purest form. A heavy as elephants shit, with a flesh cutting sound blasted from the jaws of agony itself. It’s a dark, menacing beast drooling at the mouth like a rabies infected dog of war, licking the open wound of insanity. The berating vehemence often melts into mind altering slower moods where tortured vocal wails cast a bleak cloud across the music’s macabre atmosphere. Like an Enslaved, album, there is a one dimensional sound divided into controlled moods, some uncomfortable, others hypnotic. Mayhem still pack a punch, Mayhem still has something to offer on the strength of this release. To sum it up, this is one violent album, a beautiful deathly pallor set to music.
Taake ‘Nekro’ 7” Vinyl EP, Dark Essence Records
	A CD Ep containing three tracks that have appeared on various vinyl releases. We have the short, blasting Von cover, Lamb, taken from the 7” tribute reviewed last month. Next follows two interesting and finely crafted tracks that define what Taake are all about. Voldtekt from the spilt 10" vinyl with Gigantomanchy, is an impressive rough hewed track, but it is the truly wonderful, Hennes Kalde Skamlepper from the split 10" vinyl with Vidsyn, an eight minute epic of scowling, fog shrouded black metal, that brings this collection of songs to life.
Of course, this release offers those of us who dislike vinyl, or those who are curious to experience a digital version of the songs, a chance to behold some fine Taake moments. A novel release of a band who seem to be media friendlily at the moment, with vocalist Horsts bollocks hanging out at a gig where his pants split, and the nonsense of the Nazi swastika shit that many feel appalled by.  There is never any bad publicity, so the band must be pleased with all the fuss I have no doubt. http://taake.theblacksun.org/
The Battalion ‘The Battalion’ EP Masculin Records
	Featuring members of Old Funeral, Borknagar, Deathcon, and Grimfist. Formed in 2006, with a desire to reawaken the classic old school Death/ Thrash, this four track CD/EP is a retro resurrection of the Teutonic thrash titans Tankard and Destruction, with a dose of the lesser renowned Assassin. You can hear this rougher form of thrash oozing from the more loose Metal vibe blazing from the full on guitar attack. The Americans had a far more polished and tighter approach to the genre. There is a booze fuelled, bullet belt attitude, a leather reeking atmosphere, and a mosh pit fit for pissheads every where. Musically proficient, tight and full of feel good tracks, this is retro thrash at its very best. The band haven’t attempted to re-shape the music’s roots into a modern hybrid, nor have they diluted any of the music’s Metal soul. www.myspace.com/thebatallion666
Thyruz ‘Northern Blasphemy’ Twilight Vertrieb
	With a drummer from the Hellhammer/Frost school of skin battering, and a style of ferocious, full bodied black metal similar of Nebular Mystic, Carpticon, Celebratum and 1349, all of whom display a modern, ruthless style embellished with a decent production. Whilst being unashamedly Norwegian [and proud of it judging by the Norwegian flag splayed in the inlay] the initial intro offers a misleading directive towards the pomp fuelled extravagance of Dimmu Borgir. This initial expectation is instantly buried under a raining curtain of blistering Black Metal fury, a convulsive, punishing 50 minutes of mind levelling ferocity that leaves one feeling like
a herd of bison has just stampeded through the audio speakers. This is pretty impressive, tight, polished technical Black Metal with pockets of subtle moments, yet it is the volley after volley of snare battery and guitar riffs that make up the logistics of Thyruz. For sure, there is nothing obviously new, nothing jaw dropping in terms of innovative creativity, except maybe the quite preposterous spoken narrative that is inserted mid way though the album. Here we have a ludicrous pulpit fire sermon spoken on broken English by a deranged orator. I presume the band has a sense of humour, or they really should see a doctor. At the final track though, you are overwhelmed with the sheer intensity of the albums content. www.twilight-vertrieb.de
Trelldom ‘Til Minne’ Regain Records
	Trelldom epitomise what the term, True Black Metal’ means. There are those who restrict that phrase to the band and persons who frequented Oystein Arseths, Helvete shop in the early nineties. I prefer, as others, to cite the terminology [also attributed to Darkthrones description of the sound] to the low fidelity sound and icy atmospheres generated by the most basic of compositions. Fronted by one of the most enigmatic players in the Norwegian Black Metal genre, Gaahl, who also resides in Gorgoroth, Trelldom have vomited forth an album that rivals their cult, Til Evighet, debut of 1995, and the equally, raw to the bone Til Et Annet, opus of 1998.
It's quite astonishing to behold such an archaic sounding release forged with the utmost detail to a time long raped of its stigma of evil and cold blooded essence. Maybe it has something to do with the songs transcending time, their whole being shrouded in an icy production that is powerful, and yet free from the polished clarity of the mixing desk. Trelldom were, and for some magical reason, still very much a time capsule of the mid nineties. The classic sound of Under a Funeral Moon, [via the basic guitar riffs] and Dark Medieval Times, [via the Nordic narratives] oozes from every note. That the band have managed to haul this authenticity into today’s watered down scene and get away with it is a testimony to their longevity, and for one of the olden masters to still deploy such a savagery of menace, one can only cower in awe. The songs are effortlessly catchy, strident blowing musical hymns to the miasma of Satanic mystery. The songs themselves are forged with individual paths set to various tempos and intensity. They have a basic one dimensional anaemic feel, although on closer inspection there is an intricacy weaved into the apparent simplicity of the compositions. Trelldom are the inextinguishable flame of True Norwegian Black Metal. You just can’t replicate authenticity. www.regainrecords.com
Voluspaa ‘ Taemen‘ Sonic Death Armageddon
	Here’s one of those unusual, lost demo releases, in the similar vein of Lyderhorn Records unearthing of the 1996 Imperium demo. Voluspaa released this Demo in 1995, and this is the 2006 MCD of this timeworn, Norwegian Black Metal piece of history. The band featured, Uruz, [Jarle Byberg] now of the mighty Urgehal, and Vulture Lord. Musically, the band employs a very Darkthrone approach, complete with a very Fenris vocal delivery. The sound is of decent demo quality, audible and very reflective of the era it was created. This was a time when, demos of Keep of Kalessin, Mysticum, Limbonic Art, and Tulus,
amongst others were making their initial marks on the scene. Fast, snappy snares, twiddley guitars and a deep husky vocal snarl make up the general sound of Voluspaa, with slow, Satyricon like mid-sections. Of the four tracks, there is nothing to cause you concern that the band may have been a tragic loss to the scene. This is pretty standard Norwegian Black Metal, but its very antiquity allows that rare sense of authenticity to generate that atmosphere of murder, smoke and desecration, that was still very much in the air at the demos conception. http://armageddon.hypervorea.net