Vordr - I (2004)

When listening to Vordr, you'd have a hard time believing that they were formed in 2003. These Finns play raw-as-fuck punk-ish old school black metal akin to Von, Darkthrone or, most obviously, Ild-fucking-jarn.

The production manages to keep each instrument discernable, while having an overall ancient, cavernous rawness. Composition-wise, it consists mostly of short (around 2 minutes) tracks, with the odd 4-5 miuntes tracks that are mid-paced, Burzum-inspired numbers. These short lengths work to the album's advantage, as no song overstays it's welcome.

The riffs are fucking simplistic and have that great, evil second-wave fuzz, but they never become too repetitive or tiring. Even though you may not be able to tell most of the songs apart, variety isn't a stranger here, especially if you know a thing or two about early '90s Norwegian Black Metal. The drumming is equally simplistic and Burzum-ish. Double bass and blast beats are lacking, though the drummer knows when to pick up the pace in a punk-ish manner.

So, it has the raw black metal aesthethics nailed, but what about the spirit? Well, Vordr sport a kind of Ildjarn-like nature-admiring misanthropy, wishing nothing but death for modern man and all of his contraptions. With schizoid, "Aske"-ish screams to support it! This minimalist, hateful, sylvan theme permeates the album through and through, from the cold, isolated artwork down to the song titles, such as "Rhythm Of The Storms" or "Fertile Human Waste". All in all, I guess I can imagine these guys living in a cabin somewhere in the woods, splitting logs with nothing but their unadultered distaste for humankind, wearing lumberjack shirts, sitting on their porch with a couple of beers, blunts, and hand-made crossbows on their laps, to protect their property from intruders. They're the kind of manly men that hunt deer by repeatedly bludgeoning them to death with their erect phalluses, while humming "Forest Poetry" and mentally sketching a couple more paragraphs for their "Unabomber"-like manifestos. And that's always something welcome!

Download

-Radu

Onslaught - The Force (1986)

1986 is considered the hiatus of thrash metal especially concerning the American way. Both albums which are known to every fan of rock music and beyond were released one by Slayer the inventors of occult, straight and merciless thrash, the other by thrash originators Metallica who lifted the genre to the next level. This evolution served as a base for many other bands to come like Forbidden, Testament and Dark Angel, additionally thrash became a serious business displayed by the afore mentined Metallica who would become the worlds best selling rock music act besides the Stones.

But there were still bands practicing the ancient, occult and dark art of thrashing metal:
Onslaught among them started as a punk band and quickly turned into one of the most relentless thrash acts. Their first LP Power from Hell was a piece of harsh and savage thrash assaults and showed their potential and foreshadowed what was yet to come - The Force. Easily standing its ground against the strongest releases of compareable bands from all over the world (Possessed by Fire, Seven Churches etc) unleashing heavy riffing attacks upon mankind this is pure worship of raw thrash like Exodus' Bonded by Blood, Slayer's Show no Mercy and Metallica's Kill'em all. Likewise the vocals are done in the tradition of the godfathers Exodus, ranging from raw singing to catchy falsetto chorusses which will stay in your mind till the chorus of the next track replaces it. Definitely one of the best and throughoutly catchiest albums you will ever enjoy in thrash metal!

Mediafire

Porcupine Tree - Voyage 34 (1992)

Genre - Space Rock, Psychedelic Rock

Reviews - This is the their most underrated work apart from the epic 40 minutes version of the track "Moonloop". Its a shame that the fans dont bother exploring PT's earlier efforts which in my humble opinion is far more matured, varied and better than their latter mainstream albums like Deadwing, In Absentia, Lightbulb Sun.

This EP is over 1 hour long and contains four awesome trippy songs. Songs that will be best enjoyed by turing the lights off and playing at "just audible" volume. There are pretty obvious Hawkwind influences on this EP.Infact the Hawkwind influence was also there on "The Sky Moves Sideways". Its more of space rock oriented than Progressive rock which the band adopted in the coming years. Its mandatory for the fans of post-TSMS fans of PT r anyone who hasnt heard this one before.

Part 1 Megaupload
Part 2 Megaupload
- EyeHateDoG

Azarath - Diabolic Impious Evil (2006)

Genre - Brutal Death Metal, Blackened Death Metal
Reviews - Okay here is another one of the polish death metal output. And perhaps the best from that country. Anybody who has known me on last.fm, orkut, facebook must be acquainted with my fanboism for the band. This band was introduced to me by one trsuted metalhead friend of mine who got me into extreme metal about 2 years back. Since then its been on my playlists forever.

And mind you, I have always believed that 95 percent of BDM sucks but thankfully this belong to the other 5. If you are still going to disregard this as just another brutal death band, just listen to it once at least. Imagine Suffocation on Drugs combined with the vocals and drumming of Anaal Nathrakh and add to that the evil atmosphere of bands like Grotesque and what you get is AZARATH. No pig sequels, no boring blastbeats, no chugga chugga suffocationish riffing. The songs are fast and there are few sections that are really one of the most intense moments in death metal ever. The album is opener is probably the best intro you would ever hear in metal. Inferno's drumming and Bruno's riffing can very well be the most awesome thing you would ever experience. Dont expect a raw production here, Its quite clean and polished.

While I like most of their released but these are one of few bands that got better with age. I can hardly wait for their 2009 output "Praise The Beast".

- Get It Here
- EyeHateDoG

Armagedon (pol) - Invisible Circles (1993)

Genre - Old School Death Metal
Review - Well, I am not a very big fan of polish death metal scene. I would prefer Florida,NY,Finnish and swedish scene anyday over the polish one. One of the reasons is because the polish scene itself doesnt have a characteristic sound of its own. But I have seen death metallers who are mad about a few polish bands (read Vader, Behemoth).
Yes, yes I am keeping this trend of giving you guys the lost,forgotten old classics of the genres. It may not be as aggressive as Azarath, It may not be as sinister or evil as Autopsy. But certainly it has a brutal vibe that is particularly prominent on the recording of the drums. The vocals are great too, quite similar sounding as early Master. Seriously the first band band that came to my mind on listening to them was Master and obviously Master worship cant be a bad thing in death metal, or can it? And oh yeah! They are much better than their much overrated counterparts Behemoth and Vader.

-Get it here (sorry for RS links)
- EyeHateDoG

Darkspace - III (2008)

To begin I am going to steal a review from a fellow Behold the Blogtopus and last.fm user Mr DarkRadu;

"Darkspace are back, doing what they do best: they shut the hatch, depressurize, and eject your ass into space, only to be saved by aliens who want to test their new anal probes on you. It's pretty much the same raw atmospheric black metal, with blunt riffs and hypnotic leads that project your consciousness beyond the Gates of the Silver Key."

This album is an unrelenting assault on the audio receptors, there's hardly any time for rest as this album plows through dark matter. It's not a particularly easy listen and it's not exactly optimistic or uplifting either, so if you're not used to long 10 - 16 minutes tracks that in general keep the same structure, than this may not be the album for you but I suggest you give the album a few spins, just so you can begin to understand it.

However, if this sounds tempting to you then seriously check it out, this really is a surreal album, an album that hypnotizes the listener that grabs you by the hand and leads you into the dark and bleakness of space.

Also little (un)interesting fact for you, the sounds in the background of 3.15 are taken from Danny Boyle's, sunshine.




Download: Megaupload
Disclaimer: None of the albums I add are uploaded by myself and are intended for promotional purposes only, if you enjoy the album please support artists by buying records.


- RTG

Boris - Amplifier Worship (1998)

Oh holy shit did I just add a Boris album?! It seems I did, do I get a hipster point?

This album is so special that on the 2003 southern lord re release, inside the spine of the album was a motherfucking gummy worm....... that's trve for you.

This is essentially a drone album for those who are looking to seek knowledge in the genre and in my opinion one of the albums (though you could argue that feedbacker is a better drone album) that tops the genre along with Sunn's Black One and Earth's Hex.

Combining elements of Boris's Drone at heart attitude and including a mixture of the Southern Esq sludge we have come to expect, Boris are one of those few bands that no matter what style they choose to play they have the uncanny ability of managing to still sound like Boris.

Bringing what is generally expected from a drone album; it's heavy, bass is a significant instrument throughout , it's repetitive yet at the same time it's not what you expect from this genre, vocals play a more significant role, the drum beat is much more recognisable and not a consistent beat and guitar riffs have more variation. As the aptly named first track states this album is 'Huge'.

The thing with this album is if you don't like it doesn't necessarily mean you'll dislike Boris, so check it out.

On a side note, I wonder if anyone has eaten the gummy worm?


Download: Mediafire
Disclaimer: None of the albums I add are uploaded by myself and are intended for promotional purposes only, if you enjoy the album please support artists by buying records.

Cosmic Atrophy - Codex Incubo (2008)

From Myspace: "Cosmic Atrophy started in the very beginning of 2008 with the rather simple and straightfoward idea of "playing some metal". Cory and Juan met and decided to see if they could get something to work for them, and came to the conclusion that playing oldschool influenced death metal with a bit of otherworldly touch to it is what they wanted. Fast forward half a year and 6 songs later and their debut full length album is complete. A deal was struck with both Suffering Jesus Productions and Metalbolic Records to release this album which is quite frankly a huge blessing to the CA duo; to have a distribution deal this early is just unspeakably excellent! Now the only thing to do is wait to see what the future holds for Cosmic Atrophy, who are still hard at work writing new material."

I am amazed (and jealous) that these guys already have such a great release under their belts (with only two members no less). I wish that me and my friends were this musically gifted/productive... *sigh*

Cosmic Atrophy pick up where Demilich left off. Dissonant guitar noodling abounds. Don't get me wrong though, there is no sweep picking here.

The drums rock, surprisingly considering they don't have a full time drummer. Tons of tasty fills and grooves, along with the occasional blast. They have an organic flow though, and never overpower the guitars.

Great stuff. Not as crazy as Demilich, but still pretty damn crazy.

Codex Incubo (2008)

Fornicator - Fornicator (2002)

Well, yesterday was International Women's Day, and what did you do for your special someone? Did you take your gal out for some caviar and champagne at a fancy french restaurant, then to a theater to see that new romantic comedy with Owen Wilson? Did you take her for a walk in the park, holding hands, telling hillarious, yet politically-correct jokes, throwing your coat on the ground so that she can walk over puddles without getting dirty, knowing that a simple "My, what a gentleman!" look is enough compensation for your ruined, custom-made leather jacket?

Did you go back to her place to watch The Notebook and eat ice cream, give her a back massage, ponce her feet and prepare her a nice bubble bath, complete with incense sticks, candles and her favorite music? Did you respect her intimacy when she said she's too tired for sex, and that it would be a good idea for you to go home?

OR

Did you spend most of your day imbibed in alcohol, hearing your dead mother's voice inside your head, masturbating in front of an orphanage, resenting females because of childhood trauma, kidnapping teenagers (only to rape those cunts somewhere in the woods), fistfucking crackwhores, defecating inside emptied human torsos and generally treating women like objects?

If so, this album's for you. Kick-ass grind containing members of Lord Gore and Engorged, with Rob (Zooombie Roooooob!) from Whore, this is hate-filled music of G.G. Allin-esque proportions. The intro samples are good, the riffing's tight, the drumming's great and blasturbation-free, the vocals are sick (in a good non-wigger way) and any further stylistic disection would be somewhat useless. With song titles such as "Get On Your Knees And Fuck My Dog", "I'm A Goddamn Rapist" and "I Got Your Fuckin Kid Bitch", you're the one to decide if this is for you. Highly recomended if you're in a particularly agressive, humorous or paedophilic mood. Or all of them!

Download

-Radu

Antropomorphia - Necromantic Love Songs (1993)

Antropomorphia is a Death Metal band from the Netherlands. They formed back in 1989. They have a few other releases, but this record is their best known. I can't really tell what the bands current status is, M-A says they've changed their name, but doesn't explicitly say whether or not they are still active... it's doubtful as their last release was in 1998 so yeah... all of this bands members seem to have pretty much dropped off the radar. These days most people only know Antropomaorphia from DeathenvokatioN's cover of Chunks of Meat.

I have negligible knowledge of the Dutch metal scene, but from what I've heard these guys take the cake for Death Metal.

This is dirty, heavy, and low-pitched... the way death metal should be. Unintelligible grunts for vocals, groovy down tempo parts, blistering tremolo picking.

Get this if you like your death metal brutal, but old school. No Suffo worship here.

Necromantic Love Songs [1993]

Patterns Make Sunrise - s/t 7" (1995)

This is another shot in the dark, I'm not sure if any of you guys will like this but here goes...

Patterns Make Sunrise were a fairly low key Indie/Emo band from Seattle. They existed from 1993-1995. They only released this one 7" as far as I can tell, and consequently seem to have slipped through the cracks of history. It's unfortunate because this is quality stuff, though somewhat derivative.

Musically Patterns Make Sunrise play a jangly brand of mid 90's emo with a tight driving rhythm section (the drums in particular stand out as quality). They often play poppy/catchy slower sections, which are then offset by sections with more driving drums and angular guitar.

Musically my only real complaints are that the vocals can be off putting at times, and the short length.

Give this a shot, you may be surprised and like it.

Patterns Make Sunrise - 7" [1995]

myspace

Appalling Spawn - Freedom, Hope and Fury (1998)

Where's all the death metal at in this blog?!

Well here's my offering from the band that went on to become Lykathea Aflame, with the exclusion of the then drummer Gabriel who was replaced by Tomas Corn, I have to say that Gabriel's drumming as good as it is, is nothing compared to that of Tomas anyway with that said and done let's get on to the actual album in question.

Bringing something fresh to the death metal scene is a hard goal to achieve, one that Appalling Spawns Freedom, hope and fury manages. Switching from fast paced brutality to intricate melodic riffing in the blink of an eye, without sounding awkward. This album is like being punched in the face and fucking enjoying it, pumped full of aggression and sheer power that resonate from the fast riffing, chaotic drumming and the vocalists guttural screams and topped off with a nice display of tight musicianship.

Fans of Lykathea Aflame really should check this album out, if not just to see where it all started.

Enjoy Fuckers

Download: Megaupload
Disclaimer: None of the albums I add are uploaded by myself and are intended for promotional purposes only, if you enjoy the album please support artists by buying records.


- RTG

Lunar Aurora - Ars Moriendi (2001)

With over 7.000 listeners on Last.fm, one wouldn't exactly call Lunar Aurora an underground black metal band, but it sure pisses me off when people don't mention them when talking about quality, worthwhile black metal.

Every other black metal band nowadays seems to have the "symphonic" moniker attached to it's genre description, simply by using keyboards in the music. Lunar Aurora do use synths, but I'm not gonna be all cliché and tell you that their sound is majestic or whatever. I'll try to be brief and just say this:

They kick ass.

Instead of lumping a brick on top of certain keys to hummm some repetitive sounds in the background, they sporadically appear throughout the songs, bitchslapping the guitars to STFU while they do their thing. Fuck coexistence and supporting roles, this is a war now! Yet do not think there's some bitchin' 70s guitar solo going on, and then the synth comes in, unplugs the guitar's amp and goes off in one of Chopin's "Etudes".

No sir, everything fits nicely, thanks in no small part to the exquisite drumming. It's not 399,999 bpm fast, there aren't tom rolls every split second and I don't think you can find 7/3,14 beats here. However, it's varied, the drums themselves have a nice crunchy sound, and they're angry as fuck. You can feel the misanthropy dripping off every cymball crash, forming a pool of AIDS for all humanity to drown in, ignorantly screaming, begging to be forgiven for their intransigent ways.

To expand on the aforementioned guitar-synth interplay, I'll say that these two do a good job at complementing each other. While the former buzzes along nicely and ever so abrasive, spewing out good, somewhat standard black metal riffs, the latter varies from droning, selenial, Beherit-esque electronic sounds to short orchestral bits, keeping the tracks fresh and entertaining, but never restraining you from headbanging. And speaking of "selenial", no wonder that adjective came up when referring to a band named Lunar Aurora. However, instead of using the moon as some sort of gloomy feminine symbol for flowery sonatas and bukakke rose petal fetishes, you feel as if Aran and the gang are outside in the middle of a wintery night, striking the Abbathian "storm summoning" pose on top of a cliff somewhere, declaring their distaste for mankind while lightning flashes behind them in a dramatic scene, after which they retreat to their medieval, tastefully-decorated castle found somewhere in the mountains of Germany to sip wine and listen to Wagner or Beethoven. And maybe give each other foot massages.

It's an album that reveres nature and psychotically laughs in the face of modern man. You can try to remember it by its lycanthropic nature, it's misanthropy or it's kick-assity. You can put peanut butter and anchovies on it and place it between your thighs, for all I care. Just get it if you're a fan of wintery, atmospheric black metal akin to Paysage d'Hiver, german black metal, in general, or this interview. If I've over-hyped it, go complain to your boyfriend, your mom, or your pet weasel.

Download

-Radu