For those who feel that metal is a purile genre and that black metal is purely just noise, this split release from two underground bands will certainly challenge such ideas. Those who harbour such preconceptions are unlikely to step within a hundred miles of this release, of course, but that’s hardly the point. From Krygyzstan, Darkestrah fuse black metal themes with a few traditional Asian musical slants, while Saudi occult metallers Al-Namrood mix up black metal with some heavy folk metal influences. While the music on this split release can take a while to fully appreciate – if, indeed, in the case of Al-Namrood, it can be fully appreciated – it cannot be said that either band play to extreme metal traditions and that these tracks aren’t in some way surprising.
Tag Archives: death metal
IMPERIUM – Titanomachy
Formed by ex-members of Trigger The Bloodshed and The Bridal Procession, Imperium came together in 2010 to unleash a brand of tech-death metal upon the world. A debut album quickly followed, but their momentum was then shattered by a huge split, leaving only guitarist Mike Alexander to pick up the pieces. A new band was formed around Alexander in 2015 and ‘Titanomachy’ presents the first fruits of the rejuvenated line-up.
EXTERMINAS – Dichotomy
On ‘Dichotomy’, Exterminas’ third release – their second full length – the Italian extreme metallers take the basics of black and death metal sounds and shake them by their foundations. The guitars and drums still attack at lightning speed, the voice – if it could be called as such – veers towards the rather typical growl, and yet there’s something within these eight tracks which suggests at least one band member has a couple of musical interests within the classical sphere. You won’t find any orchestrated parts, though; that sense comes rather more from the way the guitar riffs occasionally leap from the more typical speed and into intricate tunes that sound as if they’ve been mangled from melodies centuries old.
VOICE OF THE SOUL – Catacombs
Forming in the late noughties when the band were just teenagers – young enough to rival Def Leppard in the precociousness stakes – Voice of the Soul always had very grand musical ideas. Following three self-released EPs between 2009 and 2011, the Middle Eastern extreme metallers found themselves in a great position to expand on their previous works. Taking to the studio in early 2014, the band set about making their first full length release – and in melodic death metal terms, the dark and sprawling world conjured up on ‘Catacombs’ does not disappoint.
SUBSERVIENCE – Upheaval EP
Following a busy couple of years yielding two self released EPs (one each in 2012 and 2013 respectively) and a truckload of live dates – including one in a town on a small island off the Kent coast – UK based death metallers Subservience showed no signs of resting in 2014. If you thought that the departure of a frontman might set the band back, you couldn’t be more wrong. With new blood and clearly invigorated by the near-endless touring, the band’s third release ‘Upheaval’ isn’t just hard, fast and generally uncompromising – it’s positively staggering. As you’d expect, it’s top-notch in terms of production values and overall sound, but also in the complexity and quality of the material.