Mord'A'Stigmata - Ansia

In a few of my previous articles, I talked about some countries with a real Metal "history", where a bunch of fucking great bands come from. But in Eastern Europe, there's a country that I consider as one of the most Metal in the whole world, since it has bred an incredible amount of awesome bands. So, in your opinion, which one could it be ?

Poland, of course !
If you guessed it right, congratulations, and if you were thinking of another one, well... you suck. Seriously, just think about it for one second : Vader, Behemoth, Lost Soul, Mgła, Szron, Seagulls Insane & Swans Deceased Mining Out the Void (yup, that's a real band; go check them out, they deserve more attention), Outre, Cold Empty Universe, and a SHITLOAD of other fucking great bands come from Poland, and as if it weren't enough, I think the band I'm about to talk has the potential to becone a really big name on the European Metal scene.

Ladies and gentlemans Fvkkrz, let me introduce you to Mord'A'Stigmata.

To be honest, despite the fact that they've been playing for around 10 years now, I had never heard of this band until something like 3 months ago, and that's a shame because their two previous albums are fucking great too (especially Antimatter, the second one).
Prepare yourselves, awesome stuff incoming

So, Ansia, the third full-lenght of Mord'A'Stigmata, released on October 29th of 2013 by Pagan Records, consists of five songs of Post-Black Metal, with some Ambient (and even Electro) influences, and their music sometimes reminds me of great Orthodox BM bands like Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega or Dodecahedron (their songs does not sound as twisted as those of these three bands, though).

For the least I can say, these dudes did a fucking great job. Even if each song alternate violent and calm passages (except the last one, an outro which begins as an Ambient piece that progressively lose her shit, and finish in a burst of strident Noise), they managed to keep the whole album very fluent, very natural, and the 47 minutes of the album pass in no time.
There's not much I could say about those calm passages, except that they fit perfectly between the violent ones, and bring an errie and beautiful atmosphere to the whole thing, but speaking of the most brutal stuff, you'll find a cold, piercing guitar sound, uncluttered yet very efficient bass playing, fat ass drumming and harsh vocals.
On it's side, the production is just wonderful. You can hear every instrument very clearly, and yet, it doesn't sound too polished, and actually keeps intact the raw and aggressive feeling of Mord'A'Stigmata's music..

Long story short : Ansia is a fucking masterpiece ! With that kind of shit, there's NO DOUBT these guys will become a well-known band of the Polish and European Metal scene.
One of the best albums of 2013, nothing more, nothing less.

So, as always, GRAB YOUR FUCKING CREDIT CARD AND BUY IT MOTHERFVKKRZ.

Available here and on the band's Bandcamp page for almost nothing.
I love when quality comes with a cheap price.

Dumno - Cet Atebertas

Ever wanted to know what it would feel like to be cut in half in one single blow by a demented, laughing, entirely blood-soaked, 1m90 tall and 120kgs Gallic warrior ?
I'm pretty sure that some of you already reenacted in your heads great battles with dudes like the one I just depicted, joyfully ripping each other guts, with a good soundtrack, am I right ?
Yeah, I know that YOU know exactly what I'm talking about.
I can see it in your eyes. THROUGH MY FUCKING COMPUTER SCREEN.

Anyway, I got something for you. Something that will perfectly fit to this "pagan-historical" theme, you geeky, Tolkien-fed, psycho freaks.

Dumno is a young French band coming right from the city of Poitiers, where Charles Martel kicked the shit out of the Saracen's arses in 732 A.D., and these fierce bastards deliver some Pagan Black Metal goodness. They released Cet Atebertas, their first 5-titles EP, through Atavism Records, a great Burgundian label specialized in Underfuckin'ground Black Metal.

So, like I said, Dumno plays Pagan stuff. A war-themed, kinda raw, abrasive, atmospheric, lancinating, Pagan Black Metal driven by the spirits of ancient Celtic Gods, consisting of fast riffs, cold as a sword's blade stucked in your butt, brutal drum-hammering, and vocals alterning banshee-like screeching passages and ferocious growl. Yeah, nothing less than that.

Cet Atebertas is a pretty solid release, knowing that it's their first one, and I can't wait to hear more from them. Of course, as always, I can't help but bitching about the duration, but I guess 25 minutes of music is long enough for an EP.
That being said, the overall production sounds a little weak sometimes, but it doesn't affect the quality of the composition and these guys' work.
On a side-note, the fourth track, "L'Ancienne Race", is a cover of the well-known Ukrainian band Hate Forest, and they did a great job on this one too.

So, if you're craving for some good Pagan Black Metal stuff, grab your fucking credit card, and BUY IT, GODDAMMIT. It's worth a shot, you can trust me.




Available here. Just send an e-mail to Atavism Records for the details.

Arnaut Pavle - s/t

Have you ever been so mad at something / someone that you just want to break everything around you ? Yeaaaah, I'm sure everybody already felt like that.
Personnaly, I'm not very patient with my computer, and when this fucker isn't as reactive as I would like, I give him a gentle tap on the back...
NO, JUST KIDDING, I BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THIS PIECE OF CRAP. YEAH.
If it never happened to you, you can consider yourself as a fortunate person.
And as a fucking robot. Or a buddhist monk.

Of course, kicking in someone's face until he / she dies is not a really good idea, unless you want to go in jail, and breaking your furniture isn't a good idea either, especially if you can't replace the broken stuff afterwards.
A tripod-table, for example, is quite inconvenient for... doing almost everything a table is meant for, like eating, writing, etc.
So, what do you do to avoid the moment you'll just explode and set your world ablaze ?

You listen to something fucking VIOLENT.
That's the only solution, unless you are, as above-mentioned, a robot or a monk. Or... both ?
Whatever...

Let me introduce you to Arnaut Pavle, your new favorite non-pharmaceutical tranquilizer.

Arnaut Pavle is a one-man project coming right from the frozen landscapes of Finland.
The band released on February 2013 a first eponym demo on tape version (2 pressings for a total of 153 copies), via the finnish label Vlad Tapes.
Of course, this tape is now sold out, but if you're lucky, you may find it on some websites and forums, like NWN! (Nuclear War Now !), or Discogs.

So, what's so special about this first act ? In fact, there's nothing really outstanding.
It's just a really fucking solid release of vindictive, raw, old school Black Metal with some discreet Punk/Crust and Thrash Metal vibes, unveiling themselves during brief moments throughout the demo, but it's just the perfect thing to listen to if you're on the edge of killing someone.
Forget about melody, forget about atmospheres, forget about everything.
Arnaut Pavle is just an implacable and ruthless wall of sound consisting of raging guitars (with some furious solos here and there) and brutal drumming alterning slow-paced parts and blast-beats, so focus on your hatred, and let it flow away as the music goes by.
Speaking of that, I hope you have a strong neck, otherwise your head might just dissociate from the rest of your body, because of the irrepressible urge to headbang you'll be subjected to.

The only thing that bothers me, as always with demos and EPs, is the duration of the whole thing. With 7 tracks for only 18 minutes, it feels like it passes in no time, so you have to listen to it again, and again, and AGAIN, UNTIL YOU'RE FUCKING ADDICTED TO IT, JUST LIKE I AM.

Shit, I'm pissed off now. Guess I'll just have to listen to it ONE FUCKING MORE TIME, GODDAMMIT !



There's just ONE SINGLE TAPE available here at this moment, so be fast if you want to grab it. You can also download it here for free.

Darkenhöld - Echoes from the Stone Keeper

I'm pretty sure everybody out there already dreamt about being a hero, a great warrior, swinging his sword at hordes of ignominious, evil creatures, and killing the greatest villain Earth has never seen just for the sake of saving a kingdom, or a random princess' ass (without even having sex with her afterwards, how sad), am I right ?
Don't even try to deny it, I wouldn't believe you anyway.

So, yeah, dreaming about that kind of shit is quite entertaining, but it lacks something, don't you think ? But, what could it be...?
Oh ! A fucking soundtrack !
Since we're not planning on doing a remake of The Lord of the Rings, no need to call Howard Shore. The latest album of Darkenhöld will fit perfectly to the "heroïc-fantasy" theme.

Are you ready to go on a legendary journey with me ?

So, Echoes from the Stone Keeper is the sophomore album of Darkenhöld (which means, more or less, Dark Castle - Dark + Stronghold), a french band from Nice (PACA), released in 2012 by Those Oppose Records, a label specialised in Black Metal.
Aldébaran, the founder of this unholy combo, is a well known member of the french Black Metal scene, since he plays or used to play in multiple great bands, like Artefact (which released Magic Spellcraft, one of the best Melodic BM albums ever made, in my opinion), Fhoi Myore (as a live member) and Ysengrin (their last album, To Endotaton, is really great too).
But I think Aldébaran wouldn't like to see his current band compared to the other ones, so I won't talk about them anymore.

First things first : Echoes from the Stone Keeper is epic.
Whenever I listen to this album, no matter if it's day or night, if the weather is good or bad, if I'm taking a dump or reading a book, I feel like an urge to grab a fucking Zweihänder, get on a horse, ride like the wind to an unknown destination, explore obscure dungeons, chop dragon heads off and split trolls in two to find some forgotten treasures.
Yeah, it's THAT kind of epicness.

Darkenhöld's objective is to revive the flame of a long-lost (Satyricon's Dark Medieval Times-like) Black Metal spirit, inspired by old legends coming right from the Dark Ages (that's why they labelled themselves as a Medieval -and not Melodic- Black Metal band), and for the least I can say, this legacy is well preserved with these guys.
Echoes from the Stone Keeper is dense and very aggressive, with harpy-like screeching vocals, fast, sharp riffs scattered all over the place and brutal blast-beats, but also very melodic, with some gorgeous acoustic parts, and a good amount of great synth-based atmospheres, surrounding you throughout the whole album.
On its side, the overall production is really great too. Not too clean, because it wouldn't fit to their style, but well-defined enough to clearly hear every instrument, and that's a good point.

Long story short : this album is highly recommended to any fan of good ol' Immortal, Satyricon, Summoning or Dissection acts. So if you don't know how tu use your fucking money, BUY IT.



Available here or here (if you want to buy their two albums at discount price).

Bölzer - Aura

What do you know about Switzerland ?
Geneva ? Banks ? Overpriced (and overrated) chocolate ? Some Metal bands maybe ?

Yeah, Switzerland has bred numerous great bands during the past 30 years, like Celtic Frost, Triptykon, Coroner, Samael, Borgne, Darkspace, Tardigrada, Paysage d'Hiver, and countless others... I can hear some of you screaming "ELUVEITIIIIIIIIIIIIIE" through my computer screen, but no. For fuck's sake, NO, NO and NO.
This sounds like shit, and if someone pronounce the name of that shitty band again, I will stab him / her in the heart with a rusty fork.
Understood ?
So, what were we talking about...? Oh, yes, GREAT bands.
Well, I think we can add another one to this already substantial list.
You may not know them, but you will love them, that's for sure.

Beware my minions, here comes Bölzer.

Bölzer is a two-man Black / Death Metal project from Zurich, and the first thing you should know about them is... that there is no bassist in the band.
Yup, no bass in their songs, but surprisingly, they manage to be as loud and massive as nearly any other band of the genre.
How do they do ? It's a fucking mystery, but honestly, I don't give a shit about that, because Aura, their latest EP, is a fucking BEAST.

After listening to it countless times, I'd say that Bölzer could be the illegitimate son of Dismember and Blut Aus Nord. Sounds cool, right ? Keep reading, keep reading...
What comes out of this hypothetical unholy alliance is a combination of putrid, fast distorted riffs coming right from the mouth of Hell with the oppressive atmosphere and heaviness of Old School Swedish Death Metal.
Add some crazy vocals to this already pretty fucked-up mixture, and you get one of the very best 2013 Black / Death Metal releases along with Abyssal's Novit Enim Dominus Qui Sunt Eius.
In other words, a depraved, filthy, gigantic monument raised in the name of Satan. FUCK YEAH.

There's just one little thing that bothers me : THIS EP IS TOO FUCKING SHORT !
Ok, I KNOW that an EP is not supposed to be as long as a full-length album.
That's why a full-lenght is called a full-length after all, but Aura sounds so great that listening to it just make the wait of the real album HARDER...
Don't know when these guys will release it, but it will be day-one for me.

Now, you know one more thing about Switzerland.
Click on the links below, and enjoy the music, or else, I'll KILL you, just like the Eluveitie fans.
YEAH.



Grab it here on LP (12€ +shipping - 2nd press) while it's still available !
According to the band, a CD version is on its way, too.

Falgar - La Dama del Alba

Sincerely, have you ever heard anything about the Puerto Rican Metal scene ?
No ? Me neither, until a few months ago.
To be honest, I was surprised about that, I never thought there would be any Metal band on this ridiculously small rock. So when I discovered that, I went on Metal Archives, checked a bunch of random bands, and spent quite some time on Youtube, hoping to stumble upon some good stuff.
Sounds like a good idea, huh ?
YEAH, JUST LIKE KICKING A BEAR IN THE BALLS.
I can't believe how much I had to TORTURE myself, by listening an incredible amount of shitty songs, almost for NOTHING.
YES, ALMOST.
They do have (barely) decent bands, but I only found ONE really worth of attention.
ONE.SINGLE.BAND, and It's a fucking MIRACLE that a GREAT project actually managed to emerge from this awful steaming pile of GOAT SHIT.
You don't know what to do with your life ? Record your farts and make a song out of them, or slam your cock in a door, it will still be more interesting than listening "Puerto Rican Metal".
Phew, I really needed to say that...

So, La Dama del Alba (Lady of the Dawn) is the third full-length of Falgar, the solo project of Etienne Goldberg, a talented musician from San Juan, capital city of Puerto Rico.
This third act, a concept-album based on the Greek goddess Artemis, has been released on Bandcamp on April, and on tape version (limited 100ex.) by Nebular Winter Productions a few months later.

La Dama del Alba is a raw, slow-paced album, with sharp-edged guitar sound, played in mid-tempo from the beginning to the end of it.
That rhythm choice allows the band to settle a monotonous, cold and ethereal atmosphere (reinforced by the presence of a calm, eerie and beautiful Ambient outro track), instead of simply blasting your ears off, which is a good point, in my opinion.
So, do not expect super fast riffs, blast-beats, or anything that includes the notion of speed, you would be disappointed.

Now that you know how the album sounds, I'd like to talk about the vocals.
I have nothing to say about the harsh passages, they fit perfectly to the songs, but Etienne pretty much messed-up the clear passages.
I wouldn't say that it sounds bad, nonetheless, there's still some work to do on that part, like learning how to properly mix his fucking voice rather than using reverb to drown it in the music.
I speak spanish, and despite the fact that he's not screaming, I can't understand a single word of what the fuck he says. It's a detail, since he doesn't sing like that very often, but it's kinda annoying.

That being said, La Dama del Alba is a great album, and everybody should at least listen to it.

You, who is reading this review, don't be an asshole and support the ONLY good band in Puerto Rico !



Available here for 3€ +shipping

Sombres Forêts & Gris - La Mort du Soleil & A l'Âme Enflammée, l'Äme Constellée

I can already hear people bitching around "WHAAAAAAAAAAT ?! But everybody knows about them ! What's the next step ? Mainstream shit ?!"
First things first : Shut the fuck up.
Yes, I KNOW that these bands are not THAT underground, but I simply COULDN'T ignore them.
Why ? If you're asking me that, your ears must be filled with donkey shit.
Yeah.

SO ! Today, I'm doing a "split-review" of the latest albums of Sombres Forêts and Gris.
"Why a "split-review" ? And what the hell is a split-review anyway ?"
Oh, well, it's quite simple.
These two bands worked together since the very beginning of their carreer (check out "Neurasthénique" and "Quintessence" booklets), come from the same place (Québec), have their albums released by the same label (Sepulchral Productions) AND made a conjoint album under the name of Miserere Luminis (and this one is AWESOME).
In my opinion, doing two separate reviews would be pointless.
Got it ? Fine.

&

If you already listened to the sophomore albums of these guys, you surely know that it is some high quality stuff, but since then, things have improved DRAMATICALLY. 

I mean, there's a HUGE gap between these releases and the previous ones, and both of the bands are on the edge of totally redefining what Extreme Metal is.

As you may know, Sombres Forêts and Gris play Atmospheric / Depressive Black Metal, but when you listen to La Mort du Soleil (Death of the Sun) and A L'Âme Enflammée, L'Äme Constellée (To the Burning Soul, the Constellated Soul), it feels like you're hearing two distinct, quite different styles of Black Metal. 

Both of the bands make a massive use of folk or classical instruments, and are alterning calm and furious, thunderous passages. But on its side, Gris plays most of the time very long (up to more than 15 minutes) and progressive songs, and the album sounds very smooth, almost peaceful (with some great interludes all along the way to the last track).

For example, "Seixième Prière" is the perfect song to lay down somewhere and let your mind roam free. You have to admit that this kind of stuff is very unusual in Black Metal.

Sombres Forêts, on the other hand, develops a cold, tortured and foggy atmosphere.

Still, the album is far from being totally desperate, and has absolutely NOTHING in common with all the countless shitty DSBM releases popping out of nowhere like mushrooms every fucking day, playing awful, shitty music and crying like little girls.
In fact, the theme of the whole album seems to be hope.
Yes, you read it right. HOPE.
It doesn't sound depressing, just very deep and emotionnal, despite the fact that the lyrics are heartbreaking, as always. Speaking of the lyrics, this is fucking POETRY. For the two albums.

But if you don't speak French, you're totally screwed, deal with it. 

It's worth a (thousand) listen anyway.

These two gems will give you the chills, you can count on that, so if you still haven't checked them, you know what you got to do, and if you don't want to, then DIEDIEDIEMADAFUCKA !

Available here (Sombres Forêts), here (Gris) and here (Sepulchral Productions - Prices include worldwide shipping)

Abyssal - Novit Enim Dominus Qui Sunt Eius

What happens when you mix Death Metal and Black Metal ? You get Black / Death Metal.
Yeah. How creative...
Still, when it's well done (and I mean well-balanced between those two genres), it sounds great, don't you think ? Now, add some Doom metal to slow things down and you get the most heaviest, depraved, tortured sound ever made. Looks cool, right ? You betcha.

The band we're going to talk about is one of the very best example of this sacrilegious combination (along with Necrite, but I'll talk about these guys later).

Welcome in Hell, fuckers, and welcome to Abyssal.

Released on Bandcamp on January and officially released by Profound Lore a few months ago (on CD version, but there was also a handmade tape version directly sold by the band), Novit Enim Dominus Qui Sunt Eius (which means "For the Lord knew those that are His own") is the second album of Abyssal (UK), and unholy fuckin' fuck, THIS.THING.IS.AWESOME.

This is some top-notch Extreme stuff, and I've been listening to this since it first came out.
We got dissonant guitars, bruuuuutal drumming alterning slow-paced mid-tempo parts and fierce blast-beats, ungodly HEAVY bass sound, and some of the deepest vocals ever, for around an hour of contemplative, yet extremely aggressive music.
Novit Enim Dominus Qui Sunt Eius is the kind of album that sticks you to the ground from the first to the last minute of it, and don't bother resisting, it would be like trying to lift up a fucking mountain. No matter what you do, it won't move a bit, unless your name is Atlas.
Abyssal also knows how to create some good atmospheres, with Droning Noise-like interludes ("Elegy of Ruin" and "Elegy of Staves"), filled with screams, buzzing sounds and shit, that fits very well on this monumental corrupted and demoniac piece of art.
In other words, Novit Enim Dominus Qui Sunt Eius is a must-have. No more, no less.

Now, if you think you're strong enough to take a ride without being crushed to death, you know what you have to do...



Grab it there for 10.49$ +shipping

Cleric - Gratum Inferno

Now I think it's time for some fuckin' glorious Death Metal !

Don't you hate all of these Deathcore or commonly named """Death Metal""" bands like Wintersun or Suicide Silence ? When I hear that kind of garbage, it almost makes me puke. Really.
If you do like these bands (but I should call them a bunch of pussies), please, find a tall, nice tree, a solid rope and... Well, I guess you see where I'm going there.
Death Metal is meant to be dark, oppressive, violent and heavy as fuck, not melodic with tons of keyboards and shit played at the speed of light, making you feel like the musicians comes from Chernobyl and have at least 10 fingers in each fuckin' hand...

Be prepared, because this band IS the incarnation of what real Death Metal should be.

Cleric comes from Dallas (TX, USA), and these dudes deliver high quality stuff.
THIS is the real deal.
THIS is some unrelenting, vicious, putrid old school Death Metal.
Welcome back in 1990, OH YEAH !

7 titles of chainsaw-like guitars ripping through your guts, fat, crushing bass sound, guttural vocals from beyond the grave, great drumming sounding like shovels digging your own tomb, some gloomy atmospheres (on the last three tracks), and great production are the ingredients of this masterpiece (yes, you read it right : M-A-S-T-E-R-P-I-E-C-E).
I mean, this album is MASSIVE, and you can almost feel your bones cracking under its weight, while some maniac-creep comes around you to rip off your fuckin' limbs and play with countless other putrefied bodies all around.
In my opinion, Gratum Inferno is what we could call an "instant classic", that sums up all of the best things in Death Metal, and is as good as the best albums of bands like Dismember, Entombed, Autopsy, etc. Nothing less than that.

Six feet under the ground, how long will you be able to hold your breath ?



Full stream of the album available here
LP Pre-order here for 16$ +shipping fees

Entity Unknown - Unknown

Now, things are getting serious. I mean, no social shit, no pictures, no member name, no physical release... That band itself doesn't even have a "real" name ! How underground is that ?
I'm pretty sure that the guy behind this project is soooo underground that he shits nothing less than Black Holes. Yeah.
But hey, who the fuck cares about that anyway, as long as the music is good ?

So, Entity Unknown is a one-man band from Bosnia and Herzegovina that delivers some nasty, evil sounding, raw as fuck, mid-tempo lo-fi Black Metal that will fuck your ears so hard that they'll bleed. Sounds good, right ? I fuckin' love this kind of bands...

2 titles for about 10 minutes of, like I said before, really, really evil stuff.
Forget about gay keyboards or understandable lyrics, you won't find that kind of stuff here...
Totally fucked-up guitars, bass reduced to its minimal for a crude, live sound, simple slow-paced yet efficient drum work, and distorted demon-like vocals (with a short, nice """clear""" passage on the second song). Everything in this release is made to be very aggressive to your senses, and this works very well.
The overall production is also so raw that listening to this with headphones is like being tortured, but since I'm a musical-masochist creep, I can't help but coming back at it over and over again. Too bad there are only 2 songs, though.

Still, this is what I call a gem, and I recommend this band to every underground lover that would stumble upon their Bandcamp page, or this review.

Entity Unknown ist KRIEG



Available for free if you download the two songs one after the other. Otherwise, it will cost you 7 bucks.

Failure Ritual - s/t

For this first review on Burning Churches, I'm going to talk about Failure Ritual, an obscure US one-man band who released digitally his first album last year on Bandcamp, before being physically released (limited 200 ex.) by the french label Le Crépuscule du Soir.

This thing... This thing comes from the deepest pits of Hell...
To be honest, when I discovered this band, I had never heard something like that before.

Do not expect any kind of melody in this release, you would be disappointed.
Failure Ritual plays 3 tracks for approximately an hour of some kind of hybrid Suicidal Black Metal, with Drone, Noise, Ambient influences, without lyrics. Just some hideous and desperate screams scattered all over these songs.

For the least I can say, this is crushing. And I mean utterly crushing.
And I mean that even great Funeral Doom bands like Colosseum sound joyful and entertaining compared to this.
The band develop a very oppressive atmosphere, and listening to this album feels like being trapped in some sort of totally dark room, filled with heavy unbreathable poisoned air that gives you horrible hallucinations and kills you slowly. Yeah, it's that kind of stuff.

As you can guess, this is a very disturbing and discomforting album, but in my opinion, it's one of the best Black Metal albums released last year, that allows us to witness, for a brief moment, what eternal torment and suffering really means.
The only purpose of Failure Ritual is to completely destroy you and it fulfills its goal every fuckin' time you listen to it, but if you feel brave enough to give it a try (with headphones, but I shouldn't have to say that) and be pulverized by an impregnable monolithic wall of sound collapsing on you, click on this shit :



Failure Ritual A5 Digisleeve CD is still available here for 4€ + shipping fees