Spanish extreme black metal group Noctem do NOT mess around. With this year’s release of Haeresis, the band leaves no page unturned. No frilly intro, no soundscaping, and no gently easing into the album; it starts fast, heavy and loud. The band’s bandcamp tells us that the album was recorded by Tore Stjerna of Necromorbus Studio, who have also recorded material for Watain and Tribulation. Continue reading
Immortal was (or is, depending on its new lineup getting anything off the ground) one of the most intriguing acts in extreme music. A great deal of fans consider them a Norwegian black metal institution with a string of classics under their belts. For others they’re that borderline Spinal Tap band that have some of the most ridiculous promo pictures and music videos ever captured. For real, Norway, the music is great and all, but some of the message can be lost when you willingly pose yielding a plastic axe.
Maybe that’s why some turned have turned to crime? Anything for the arts.
But I digress. It’s not breaking news that in 2015, Immortal was on ice again and a brief legal battle ensued over the band’s trademark. Multi-instrumentalist founding member Olve Eikemo (or as we know him) Abbath walked away and pledged to work on his own music. The result is Abbath (Season of Mist), an eight song exercise in creative freedom and avoiding ugly litigation.
And allow me to immediately answer your query; it’s not as awesome as Battles in the North or Sons of Northern Darkness. And nor does it have to be. Since he is no longer under the weight of the Immortal legacy, Abbath is free to explore other things, namely his love of classic metal sounds. With Abbath’s death croak and drummer Creature peppering songs like ‘Winter Bane’ and ‘To War’ with double bass and the occasional blast beat they fall under extreme metal, but the structures are as traditional as they come. There’s even a sweet cover of Judas Priest’s ‘Riding on the Wind’ added as a bonus track.
But the Kvlt faithful need not worry, it’s not all New Wave of British Heavy Metal worship. ‘Eternal’ has enough blast beats to thaw any frozen heart and ‘Fenrir Hunts’ is highly reminiscent (in the best way) of the blackened death metal that Behemoth has been expertly brewing as of late.
And even for those who are too stubborn to appreciate Abbath because it doesn’t say Immortal on the cover or isn’t grim enough, they should respect that Abbath decided to step down. Why? Because he dropped the legal horseshit that would’ve jammed all parties involved and likely split the Immortal name into two lesser collectives. Need proof? What do you think about the recent work from Entombed A.D. or Queensryche and whatever Geoff Tate’s project is called?
8.0/10
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HANSEL LOPEZ
Norwegian black metal legends Borknagar has unveiled their début video for the title track of their forthcoming album, their tenth in their career. Winter Thrice releases on January 22nd, 2016 from Century Media Records. You can watch the video for the ‘Winter Thrice’ track at this link or below:
Directed by David Solbjorg and Kjetil Kolbjornsrud of Twitchy Films, the ‘Winter Thrice’ track features former/original vocalist and Ulver-mastermind Kristoffer Rygg on guest vocals.
Borknagar Guitarist and founder Øystein G. Brun commented about the video:
“Finally it’s time to present our brand new video for the song “Winter Thrice”. Being the title track for the 10th album, we wanted this to be something special. We are indeed a special band. The song and the video features all the 4 vocalists throughout our 20 years of adventure, including Kristoffer Rygg a.k.a. Garm, who was our very first vocalist back in the days. The video was produced by the eminent team from Twitchy Films and was captured at various locations in Norway; first and foremost at the amazing Midgard Historiske Senter at Borre, but also in the furious wilderness of the wintry Telemark. We all laid our hearts into this project, we hope that shines through! Enjoy and happy holidays!”
Borknagar Winter Thrice track listing:
1. The Rhymes Of The Mountain
2. Winter Thrice
3. Cold Runs The River
4. Panorama
5. When Chaos Calls
6. Erodent
7. Noctilucent
8. Terminus
Pre-Order Winter Thrice here:
http://smarturl.it/winterthriceITUNES
http://smarturl.it/wtAMAZONMP3
In celebration of the album release Borknagar has released a special branded, band-themed Beard Oil:
Borknagar confirmed festival dates for 2016:
Jun 17 – 19: Graspop Metal Meeting – Dessel, BE
Jul 03: With Full Force – Roitzschjora, DE
Aug 04 – 06: Wacken, Wacken DE
Borknagar line-up:
Øystein G. Brun – Clean and Electric Guitars
Vintersorg – Grim Vocals, Clean Vocals and Choirs
Jens F. Ryland – Lead Guitars
ICS Vortex – Bass, Clean Vocals and Choirs
Lars A. Nedland – Keys, Clean Vocals and Choirs
Baard Kolstad – Drums
Borknagar’s Blog
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Over the course of more than 20 years, black metallers Kampfar have always been one of the genre’s most understated acts; certainly one never reaching the acclaim or, of course, the headlines of some of their brethren of that period. Despite all this, these Norwegians have always had an air for taking black metal to new boundaries and territories, often with stunning results. On their latest album Profan (Indie Recordings), they showcase this even further, concluding the recent trilogy of albums to a flourishing finale.
Having been a part of the burgeoning Norwegian black metal scene in the early 90’s, Kampfar expectedly show much of that common sound, but they aren’t afraid to merge it extra traits, or inject it with contemporary production values. Take album opener ‘Gloria Ablaze’ which almost instantly shows the blistering fury and blastbeat driven pace that the genre is synonymous with, before it interjects with moments of grandeur, bellowing clean vocals and an epic atmosphere. The proceeding ‘Profanum’ similarly brings in a crawling, doom like slower passage bookended between pacier parts. Their use of unconventional and traditional instrumentation is present as well, from the ominous orchestral introduction to ‘Icons’ to the use of didgeridoo on ‘Daimons’.
At its core, this holds much of the structure and sound typically assigned to black metal, but it has nuances, both obvious and less so, throughout which make this a deeper listen than it first appears. Kampfar are a band that aren’t completely reinventing the wheel when it comes to black metal, but who are pushing it to further expanses and borders than many would dare to.
8.0/10
CHRIS TIPPELL
Immortal has entered the studio to begin making a new album. Led by founding member Demonaz and Horgh, the band recently (July 21st) won trademark protection of their name and logo from former front man and vocalist Abbath (Olve Eikemo) so they may continue under the Immortal banner.
The band commented on their recent experiences:
“Immortal never stopped, we just had to go through a long legal process before we could go out in the media with the news. Immortal is much more than just a band, and much more then just a form of music. The departure of one member cannot change that, no matter. We will continue what we believe in, and the power of ”Blashyrkh” shall live on.”
New song titles include ‘Northern Chaos Gods’, ‘Called To Ice’, and ‘Blacker Of Worlds’.
Immortal online
Immortal on Facebook
I think that how excited you’re prepared to be about a new Arcturus album depends on what stage you were at in 1997 when they released La Masquerade Infernale (Music For Nations) in a burst of masks, frilly shirts and knowingly ludicrous poses. Though neither their first album nor universally the most popular, it was LMI that made them seem, no matter how briefly, so ferociously IMPORTANT. At a time when the Norwegian Black Metal scene was rapidly torn between fragmenting and shrinking into insular irrelevance, Arcturus were at the very forefront of the bands shining a torch into entirely new vistas.
Bold, dramatic, frequently funny and entirely possessed of itself, the combination of Hellhammer’s thundering drums, Garm’s gleefully pompous vocals and Sverd’s densely intricate instrumentation created something that Black Metal fans had genuinely never heard before. It cast a long shadow over the “avant garde” side of Black Metal (to the extent that they could truly be called that anymore) for years afterwards – even suffering that most 90’s of indulgences, the Remix Album – to the extent that though many fans preferred 2002’s more “progressive” The Sham Mirrors (Ad Astra Enterprises), it seemed to others like a futile attempt to recapture their brief majesty.
An odd choice to spend so long talking about an old album in a review of the new one, perhaps, but in this case the context is essential – because Arcturion (Prophecy) sees the also-ran, half-hearted entity that Arcturus have been over the last two albums shut the door behind them and let LMI Arcturus back into the room. Everything that made that late 90’s classic so… well… CLASSIC is back in full force here, but they’ve also brought some new tricks learned over the last twenty years.
Once again every track has its own theme and spirit – the “carnivalesque” sound that has been part of their image since LMI is still present on tracks like ‘Bane’, but they’re no longer pounding it with repetitive monotony as they did on Sideshow Symphonies (Season Of Mist). Elsewhere ‘Ad Astra’s meditative cosmic vibe returns on ‘Warp’, ‘The Arcturion Sign’ conjures up found memories of ‘Master Of Disguise’ and ‘Angst’ even sees them recapturing some of their Black Metal fury far more successfully than they did on Sham Mirrors.
Which is all rather lovely, but makes it sound as though they’ve simply gone back to a twenty year old album and tried to recapture the formula. Fortunately, that’s not the case at all. Firstly, they’ve broadened their palette noticeably – the driving, contemplative Rock of ‘Game Over’ and ‘Demon’s sleazy electronic Pop aren’t quite like anything they’ve recorded before, yet manage to retain the feel and character of both the band and the album. Secondly, and even more importantly, though is the undeniable feel that this band has grown up. Maturity, such a difficult concept to pin down but easy one to recognise, shines in every second of Arcturion. They’re every bit as arrogant and forceful as they were on LMI, but precocious youth has now been replaced by the confidence of age. In Garm’s absence ICS Vortex (who sang LMI’s standout ‘The Chaos Path’) brings a range and depth that exceeds his predecessor’s bold but often limited operatics.
Arcturion is not likely to blow any modern listeners away in quite the shocking fashion that La Masquerade Infernale managed in 1997 – both the Metal scene and the way we engage with music have changed dramatically since those days – but in terms of musical excellence and thematic power it matches or even exceeds that classic album.
Whether or not you’ve ever engaged with Arcturus before, do so now.
9.0/10
RICHIE HR
Norway has long been known for its black metal output, championing artist producing both true black metal and more diversely inspired acts pushing the boundaries to create exciting new combinations. Khold are a band that has placed themselves distinctly towards the latter.
Mixing in a heavy dose of rock n roll set against a grim dissonant backing, Khold have created a distinctive sound that sets them apart from black metal purists while still retaining an oppressively darkened atmosphere. Guitar riffs weave their way over a prominent rattling bass lines tied together by Gard’s rasped vocals. The majority of the album remains mid-paced, particularly opening songs ‘Myr’ and ‘Ravnestrupe’, contrasting this however are later tracks ‘Dommens Arme’, ‘Avund’ and ‘Hengitt’ that race through towards the closing of the album.
While Khold have crafted a great sound for Tel Endes (Peaceville), the album’s real issue is with their unwillingness to stray from it at any point. All of the tracks maintain a similar atmosphere making the final section of the album a chore to get to and reducing any memorable features the album might contain. The vocals and guitars may vary their material, but the tone is maintained throughout reducing the impact of any contrast in the bands material and creating very little opportunity for the listener to really grasp onto something unique about an individual track.
For any black metal fan looking at straying into the move diversely inspired music making its way out of Norway at the moment, this is certainly an album to take an hour out for. The blackened groove coupled with clean production makes this a decent piece of work but the repetitive nature of the riffs and the atmosphere still leave it lagging behind many other bands working in the same area today.
6.0/10
Khold are too Khvlt for Facebook
CAITLIN SMITH