BlackHolePit - Portals

Darkwave/Industrial Doom from South America. Only one album was released before the project was abandoned in favor of other efforts (which are all industrial as well, but take a good amount of influence from extreme metal).

This is a heavily atmospheric release, in the right environment it can be either terrifying or soothing.

I highly recommend this, give it a listen.

Download

Warmarch - The Declaration (2007)

Featuring the guitarist of Rites of Thy Degringolade, Warmarch continue in much the same vein, with a slightly more progressive touch. The production is cleaner, the songs are more adventurous, and "The Lake" features one of my favourite riffs of recent history. None of the visciousness and uncompromising brutality has been sacrificed in this equation, though in this case the attack comes more in the form of sardonic, twisted riffs than outright blastbeats, and the result is very satisifying. Personally I enjoyed this more than Begrime Exemious' recent debut, and it certainly contains that same otherworldly atmosphere. I'm sure most of you have heard Mitochondrion (rectify that as quickly as humanly possible if you haven't) and I see a lot of the same creative spark in these guys. Unfortunately, Canadian War Metal bands seem to have an incredibly short half-life, and this band split up shortly after releasing this album. Here's hoping the minds behind this album and Rites... will form another band post haste (someone slap me if this has already happened).

For now, enjoy:
Rapidshit (ask for an alternate site and I'll try to upload it there)

Trist, "Hin-Fort" (2007)

Band: Trist
Album: Hin-Fort
Year: 2007
Country: Germany
Genre: Ambient Black Metal, Ambient
MySpace

This is a classic ambient-black metal album by the German band Trist (NOT the better known Czech Trist). Trist is the project of Benjamin König, also known as Aran from Lunar Aurora. Quite simply put, this is one of the best albums that I have ever heard, as it entirely transcends anything in the physical or aural realm; it beings me to a place that I can't quite describe. It's not an escapist venture, necessarily, though it certainly functions that way. It's a two-disc set - the first disc contains the hour-long ambient black metal track "Hin," while the second holds another hour of pure ambient bliss. I realize it's a lot to sit through, and it will take up a good deal of your time, but I really do think that it will be worth it. I don't personally like to listen to this as background music while I do other things, but I won't tell anyone else how to listen. Trist has made a bunch of great albums, but this one is certainly Mr. König at the height of his craft.

It's a fairly large file; I apologize for the assault on your hard drives.

Mediafire

Gräfenstein – Death Born

Genre – Black Metal

Country – Germany

Just about when I thought that “Well I had enough of Black Metal” as nothing seemed to click with me from the past few weeks, I gave this band a random try to rejuvenate my love and fondness for this genre which had always amazed me and surprisingly it clicked.

Yes, Gräfenstein is one of those bands who play a rather modern style of Black Metal with a bit of Thrash influences here and there without clinging away from the roots. A bit generic and monotonous (but that’s where my interest in Black Metal lies) so it was never a problem with me.

So what do we expect from Gräfenstein ? These guys play No Nonsense Black Metal and this an out and out 46 minutes of Non-stop Black Metal onslaught, yes the riffs are there and they are right in your face one after another leaving you wanting for more, Very Very Impressive. Talk about the drumming, again very good. I always had this insta-connection with German black metal bands right from mighty Katharsis to Zarathustra, Gräfenstein is the latest addition, so get it here.

Ps. I find it a bit similar to Witchmaster, i don't know how though. =\

Fleshpress - Pillars (2007)

Genre : Sludge Metal \ Dark Ambient

Minimalism is the watchword of this release, as demonstrated right from the start. Opener “I am your Sacrifice” begins with rumbling, creepy, atmospheric noise and a very slow, loose and abstract figure on guitar which focuses on discord rather than melody. It reminds me strongly of the techniques used by bands such as Khanate, and should be of interest to fans of this style. This is sustained for some three or four minutes before the song proper explodes into form.
This opening section, with its cloying and oppressive atmosphere is returned to in spirit with the title track, which is not based on the same sound, but rather the same atmosphere. This time around, the main sound is more sustained and consistent, but with many half-heard noises buried in it: odd pattering noises, something akin to dropping water, and rumbling bass-created groaning noises that nearly sound like distorted whale song. It’s a chilling, but also sonically very interesting layer over which the focus of the piece is layered—a rather repetitive acoustic figure which is again based around discords. Overall it’s a very bleak soundscape which will draw in fans of dark ambient and perhaps some of the more droning forms of doom, since the “background” noise is actually far more absorbing than the guitar line!
Perhaps the strongest example of this kind of thing, however, is the final track, “Ave Nihil”. This is a pretty minimal dark ambient piece. It’s clearly influenced by several black/ambient works, but the flanging effect on the guitars reminds of Electric Wizard’s “Weird Tales”. It’s multi-layered and thus never boring, which is a blessing as it lasts almost ten minutes, making it the second-shortest piece on this album! I’d like to see Fleshpress develop this aspect of their sound, as it’s something that they’ve never really explored in depth before, but that they seem to be very skilled at. The strange percussion and strange tape manipulation noises near the end, in particular, make this a very strong piece.

Yah, It's No Longer Rapidshare

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - In Glorious Times (2007)

This little gem is a hodgepodge of weirdness. There's really no way to easily sum up every influence, but be prepared for something new with every song.

Megaupload

When Knives Go Skyward - A Thousand Miles of Rope (2007)

When Knives Go Skyward, an infamous band for those in the know. They existed fairly briefly, for a period of a couple of years in St. Louise. They released a promising demo and then started recording and album. Tracks surfaced on myspace and the like in various states of production,and then...... nothing happened. The album never saw the light of day. A leak of the album has been doing the rounds for years, but there are tracks that remain unheard/unreleased to this day. It will probably never surface because the damned band members seem to think it's funny to taunt their fans.

The members went on to form the very promising Goddamn Rodeo. Once again tracks were recorded videos put up on youtube, but to my knowledge, nothing was ever released.... FFFFUUUUUUUUUU

The Vocalist and bassist have a new band called A Dark Orbit and the guitar player is currently in the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza

Ok, but enough about that. What does it sound like? When Knives Go Skyward play a scathing brand of math/metalcore reminiscent of Will Haven among others. It's been done before, but here it has a certain ju ne sais quoi. For one thing it's heavy as fuck. I know, I know: you guys like OSDM. Come on though, at least give it a shot. Most of you will probably hate this, but Mastod0n Man has been eating this shit up for one. Whatever.

PEACE

Swallowed - Discography

Genre - Old School Death Metal, Death/Doom
Reviews - There has been a surge of new bands that worship old school death metal bands and try to play in their vein. I tried more than hundreds of them but to be honest, I wasnt impressed much by any of them (excepting a few like Dead Congregation, Deathevokation, Necros Christos, Maim, Excoriate and of course Swallowed).

This band is a massive Autopsy worship and thats why a cover of "In The Grip of Winter" doesnt quite come as a sweet surprise. The band picks up right from where the album Mental funeral had ended. Though Autopsy have been a source of inspiration for many death/doom bands but most of them fuck it up entirely by adding melodic/synth element. But some of the bands who are intelligent and talented enough are able to sound at least partly like Severed Survival. But in the case of Swallowed we are talking about "Mental Funeral" worship. Yes, you heard me right! Its really a collosal task to create slow doomy music yet sound massively brutal. Thats what Autopsy had achieved with that towering release of theirs which other bands cant even dream of.

Swallowed employs the same slow, crushing, doomy guitars with bluesy touch of Sabbath. It sounds heavy enough to devour you into its choking strangehold. The vocalist sounds as he is himself is Chris Reifert. You can almost touch those similar growls and high pitched screams when he goes berserk. The production is a bit iffy but its quite alright considering its a demo and almost all instruments and just listenable. And "In The Grip Of Winter" is probably one of my favourite Autopsy covers. Watch out for these guys and the band does need some attention so that they get signed and release a full length which I can hardly wait for.

To sum it up this "Epitaph of Nauseation" is like three unreleased tracks from Mental Funeral" unleashed upon you after 16 years.
The tape is long sold out from Detest records but the band may still have some copies left with them. The first demo as well as two rehearsal tracks are provided free on their website, The first demo is more like your usual death metal.

Other bands to be checked out on Detest Records - Miasmal, Abhorrot, Stench of Decay, and more recently the finnish maniacs "Ascended". I hope you guys have heard of the demo "The Art Of Necromancy" by Ascended which was released on Enucleation Records. They are coming up with their new EP "Temple of Dark Offerings" which will also be available on Detest Records.

-EyehateDoG
Megaupload

Morbid Scream - The Signal to Attack 1986-1990 (2007)

MORBID SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAM.
This is pretty much a compilation of their demos, and a few live recording.
Morbid Scream was a kvlt death/thrash band. They were active from 1986-1990, til they changed their name to The Morbid and released one more demo.
Anyway, this is pretty much death/thrash goodness, it has some pretty memorable riffs and the vocals really stand out. They're like some sort of proto-growl/yell.

Tracks 1 & 2: From Demo I (1987)
Tracks 3 - 6: From Demo II (1988)
Track 7: Unreleased Studio Track
Tracks 8 - 12: Live 11/11/87
Tracks 13 - 15: Live 6/3/88
Tracks 16 - 19: Live 10/28/88

-funeralmass

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kwznyimmmjt

Wolfbrigade - Prey to the World (2007)

I'm not too familiar with Crust Punk, but this is by far my favourite release out of what I've heard. What more can I say besides the fact that it's a fuckin' riff-monster? Check it out now, if you're a fan or at all interested in the genre.

Mediafire

In Disgust/Sidetracked - split (2007)

This is one hella tasty nugget of grind. In Disgust play a brand of grind violence immediately reminiscent of Insect Warfare. This is some brutal shit; extremely rapid changeups, heavy sludge mosh parts and blazing blast sections.

Sidetracked play an interesting youth crew influenced brand of power violence. Sidetracked's side is actually better in my opinion simply due to the fact that they play serious mind games. They'll start to settle into a stereotypical hardcore mosh riff, only to suddenly rip out a blazing blast section. They will use multiple tempo changes in a 10 second song. You never know what to expect. Crazyness. *interesting note*: none of Sidetracked's songs are scrobble-able, they're all under 30 seconds.

In Disgust/Sidetracked