Affliction Gate

 

2015 turned out to be a good year when it comes to metal and it was a particularly good year for death metal. The year end list contenders have more representation from death metal than the other styles. If Affliction Gate’s new EP ‘Dying Alone’ is any signs of things to come, then 2016 shouldn’t be any different from 2015. These Frenchmen already have a couple of EP’s and a full length to their credit. The upcoming addition to their solid discography continues the trend of unleashing well written old school death metal riffs.

Affliction Gate have an ace up their sleeve, in that they write riffs that are loaded with emotions. The semi melodic quality of the riffs give the song a distinctive quality making them almost instantly memorable. Heaviness is also present in spades and the tracks pack quite a punch. Take for example, the album opener ‘Negative Lucidity’ which bursts right out of the gate with the ferocity of a rabid beast.

Affliction Gate have an ace up their sleeve, in that they write riffs that are loaded with emotions. The semi melodic quality of the riffs give the song a distinctive quality making them almost instantly memorable. Heaviness is also present in spades and the tracks pack quite a punch. Take for example, the album opener ‘Negative Lucidity’ which bursts right out of the gate with the ferocity of a rabid beast.

Courtesy of MetalGallows 

MetalGallows 

Vile Insignia

The skies are dreary and winter shows it’s cold face. The season calls for some black metal. The dark chilly nights demand satanic, infernal black metal tunes and Vile Insignia delivers just this in their debut full length, titled ‘Bestial Invocation’. Hailing from Canada, this band share a few similarities with the likes of Blasphemy and Proclamation. Their overall sound however is quite different from the war metal bands. Firmly rooted in traditional black metal, they incorporate elements of death metal into the song writing to create a vicious and barbaric sound which contains some very solid riffs.

Vile Insignia write tracks that are generally over 5 minutes and take the black metal approach of building up with tremolos and a dark atmosphere. The first half of the album shows little to no death metal influence. The tracks are rife with blast beats, tremolo sections and sinister melodies. Tracks like ‘Enslaved Possession’ can be considered pure black metal tracks and they are well written.

Where the band truly shines however, is on tracks like ‘Desecration Through Blasphemy’. Here they take ideas from death metal, especially of the technical kind, and use them to write a black metal track. The result of this is that the riffs are part sinister, part technical and sound absolutely enthralling. These ideas are concentrated more on the second half of the album on tracks like ‘Incarnation of Torment’, ‘Ritualistic Inquisition’ and the title track itself.

The album is brought to an end with the 10 minute long epic, ‘Morbid Tales of Bloodshed’. Easily the best track from the album, this track takes the listener on a ride with impressive riff work and melodic undertones. The production is fine and the ominous atmosphere adds a sinister touch to the riffs. The blastbeats sound a tad bit compressed in the mix though. The vocal work which comprises of snarls and deep growls are as venomous as the riffs.

A well written and well executed black / death album is the perfect way to welcome the season. Vile Insignia have provided with just that with their debut full length.

Courtesy of Metal Gallows 

Inner Sanctum

 

    


There comes a point in the growth of every music scene, where its artists are not only loved in their homelands, but in other countries as well. The Indian scene has well surpassed this point and this realization hit me when my fellow scribe Magne Karlsen  was talking to me about Inner Sanctum’s gig in Oslo. And now the band have released their full length titled ‘Legions Awake’ and this album totally explains why these guys are so loved. This is an album that have been awaited by fans ever since the band came out with their first EP and the wait of six years is well justified.

      The band’s thrash / death metal hybrid captures the exuberance that the band exhibits during their live shows, well in the form of music on this record. The riff writing skills of this band is one of the bests this country has to offer. The riffs are memorable, fresh, entertaining and well executed. The rhythms and riffs of tracks like ‘Wake of Destruction’, ‘March of the Wounded’ and  ‘Legions Awake’ have an almost earworm quality (in a very good way) to them. A mix of thrash metal riffs and death metal heaviness formulate the guitar work.

     The lead guitar work is tantamount to the riffs and rhythm work. Guitar solos are not exempt from this band’s skill set and they put it to good and measured use. The vocals which are weave of the tone death metal growls and the energy of thrash metal shouts. This concoction manages to raise the energy levels to a high degree and aiding to this is the drum work; it is quick and not drowned in monotonous blast beats. Some of the fills and rolls are timed and executed with technical perfection.

    Inner Sanctum have managed to rope not one, but three guitarists worthy of legendary status. How can one expect an album that features Christopher Amott (Ex- Arch Enemy), James Murphy (Ex- Death, Ex- Testament) and Dan Mongrain (Voivod) doing a solo trade-off, to not sound good? The production is flawless and the sound on the album promulgates the energy of the band. The crunchy guitar tone and the crystal clear drum tone are well suited for the band’s style of music.

‘Legions Awake’ is an album executed to perfection. It’s fresh, energetic and the writing is top notch. Inner Sanctum have nailed the perfect formula for a good metal record.

Rating: 88%

Courtesy of Metal Gallows 

Veld

 

It is not wise for a man to judge a book by it’s cover (or in this case, an album by its album art). Then again, I don’t claim to be a wise man and looking at the demon spawn suckling on the teats of the masked goat creature, I could not resist checking out ‘Daemonic: The Art of Dantalian’. This is fourth full length from Belarus based death metal unit Veld, out on Lacerated Enemy Records. This is sturdy piece of death metal that carries a lot of influence from the European bands and it’s pretty straight forward in its approach.

Veld have a strong Polish death metal influence in their sound and the blackened sound provides adequate amounts of evil feeling in the music. The sound can be compared to the early days of Behemoth. There is also a smidgen of technicality thrown into the mix and the combination, though not entirely fresh, is adequately entertaining. From beginning to the end, the brutality and heaviness is constant, only broken up by a beautiful instrumental interlude to keep things interesting.

The guitar riffs carry a certain level of technicality, all the while maintaining the constant heaviness that is characteristic of a death metal album. I like the fact that the technical stuff is not too over the top and it can be enjoyed without breaking your head trying to figure out how they pulled it off. Melody is also present in the form of subtle orchestral touches and it is emphasised upon during the guitar solos.

Veld borrow a bit of every facet of death metal and put it together to create an interesting album. The sound carries the blackened touch with technicality, symphonic touches, a wee bit of a melody and enough brutality to sound relentlessly heavy. None of these elements outshines the other. They work in tandem to create an entertaining mix.

The album ends on a high note with ‘Annihilation of Divinity / Trust Upon Ignorance’ which is the longest track on the record. The track features a section with childish female vocals singing along to distorted riffs, ending things on an experimental note. The production is a big high point in the record. The top notch production quality leaves nothing to be desired.

‘Daemonic: The Art of Dantalian’ is slab of death metal that one should explore to experience all things good in the genre.

  

Courtesy of Metalgallows

Gouge - Beyond Death

Norway may go down in history as the land of black metal, but they've got some pretty good death metal bands up there too. For proof, one only needs to look at 'Beyond Death' by Gouge, which came out recently on Hell's Headbangers Record. If you're familiar with this label, then you know what you're in for. For the uninitiated, 'Beyond Death' is a collection of no nonsense, old school, primitive sounding death metal from start to finish. The music here can be summed up in a few words like savage, heavy and primal. But that may cause a misconception that this album is only about savagery. The riffs and song writing here are of very good quality.Though the album is murky, thick and carries that old school effect, the guitar riffs are audible and one could tell the quality in the writing.

There is an inherent catchiness and groove to the riffs, just like the bands used to have in the good old days. The drumming is mostly composed of double bass action and the constant cymbal crashes. It's nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. The vocals are grimy, but the lyrics are quite discernible which is a big plus in my books.

There is no room for breathing in this album as the tracks continue to pound the listener one after the other. The pace of album is almost constant and the tracks have a thrash metal like speed. This may cause monotony when listening to it on repeat, but if pure death metal is all you crave, then look no further than this. 

Ur Draugr - The Wretched Ascetic

Take a look at this album cover. With something like that adorning this record, how could someone not expect the music to be weird? Ur Draugr is a three piece supergroup hailing from Australia. Looking at the other bands of the members, mainly Deathfuckingcunt and Corpsebitch, one might expect another brutal album with a sense of humor. But 'The Wretched Ascetic' is a different beast altogether. Mixing black metal and death metal, they offer the genre a twisted touch. The way the music alternates between clean acoustic guitar parts to mind crushing harsh parts is absolutely stunning. While the flow from the clean parts to the harsher areas are relatively smooth, the transitions in the black death parts of the song are schizophrenic in nature. Unpredictable and weird beyond words, Ur Draugr offer the genre a much needed breathe of fresh air. The album has its moments where the clean guitars sound beautiful and soothing, while at other times it challenges your mind with its maddening turns in direction. The two main tracks 'Unseen Golgotha' and 'The Wretched Ascetic' are both very long and highly compelling listens. Perhaps this is how the mind of an actual wretched ascetic work; calm, collected and beautiful when not entertaining twisted and maddening screams of a thousand imaginary voices. This was initially supposed to be a part of a full length, but unforseen circumstances led the band to push the full length away indefinitely with a chance that the other tracks may never see the light of day. This makes me sad as I really like the way the tracks on this record have shaped up. This is highly recommended if you fancy a weird, harsh and twisted take on black death metal.