Record Label: Debemur Morti
Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/hellmilitiaband
Record Label Website: www.debemur-morti.com/default.php
Reviewer: Crin

French Black Metal that is so horrible it must be good! Or that’s the consensus with these obscure raw primitive offerings. I played this cd and thought, ‘Fucking ‘ell, is this just shit, or TRUE??? Dismal vocals of aching groans, blood spitting yelps and gnarled rasps litter the gruesome guitar sound and competently bog standard writing style here. This label is renowned for spewing forth releases that will never sell shit loads and they must be given respect for bothering in the first place. There are some atmospheric moments when the band slows down, but nothing really stands out here. What’s more astonishing is this band is full of members from Antaeus, Merrimack, Mutiilation, Arkhon Infaustus, Temple of Ball, and Secrets of the Moon. So, does that sort of line-up make a good Black Metal album?

Now, the first part of this review was written without knowledge of the members in it. Once I was aware of faces behind the corpse paint, I played the cd again. I suppose this so called super band would be on Nuclear Blast or Regain Records if it had such worthy credentials as the production here still sucks. I know its cult to sound like you recorded your music in a rehearsal room on a 4 track, but this is detrimental to the atmosphere here. The music lacks any good riffs and that always rings true when you don’t want to pay the album more than once. Well, I am playing it twice due to curiosity and I still cannot find anything that everyone else has done or is doing when it comes to ugly, nasty, Black Metal. If you like spending the odd half hour listening to average Black Metal then this is your lucky day. If not, avoid. 

Record Label: Witching Hour Productions
Band Website: www.witchinghour.pl/releases-en-evil023.htm
Record Label Website: www.witchinghour.pl/news-en.htm
Reviewer: Steve Green

Hailing from Poland and featuring Nihil from MasseMord, who I'm sure we've featured in the past, Morowe are one of those bands that are near on impossible to categorise correctly. While the label have them down as Post-Black Metal, which I sort of disagree with, mainly as I don't connect this to Black Metal at all, I have to whole-heartedly agree with their description of "melancholy and chaos", which is a beautiful way of summing this album up.

On one hand this album has its fair share of misery and an overall depressing feel and on the other hand, there is a mid-paced take on a more avant-garde style going on, albeit in a dark, sinister kind of way. Like a space free take on Voivod, which wants to cut your throat.

This also reminds me of the crazier end of another Polish band, Profanum, mainly from their 3rd album, 2001's Musaeum Esotericum, which created many weird thoughts and images in my mind. And the more you hear this album, the more you realise that it borders on pure insanity. When you really dig down deep, there's a lot of crazy shit going on here, from forceful riffing and twisting time changes, to a platitude of voices and growls that are constantly whirling around in each song. And the more I hear this album, the more I like it. It stands out because it's different. Like a nightmare set to music, it'll pummel your brain into submission and leave you gasping for breath. But if you had the choice of ending the nightmare or let it continue day after day, you'd choose the latter every single time.

If you are based in the UK, Play are offering this (at the time of writing) for a very reasonable £7.99, albeit with a 2 week delivery date. At that price, this album is a steal.  

Record Label: Debemur Morti
Band Website: http://koti.welho.com/mlehto4/of/of.html
Record Label Website: www.debemur-morti.com/default.php  
Reviewer: Crin

If you like peaceful, bleak and dreary Black Metal with a harsh vocal bite, then look no further.  

Record Label: Debemur Morti
Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/krohmvoid
Record Label Website: www.debemur-morti.com/default.php
Reviewer: Crin

Italy’s Tenebrae in Perpetuum meets Krohm from the USA. Two similar acts wallowing in dismal, primitive mire of Bethlehem worship and low fi Darkthrone regurgitation.

Like a basement black metal union of Xsathur melting into a pot of woe begotten Negura Bunget. Both bands share an equal depressive dark Metal footing here and the music is basic, decent Black Metal with neither making any real statements beyond what you would expect. A lack of identity is apparent with both bands as they borrow so much from others. Also the mainly mid tempo compositions here just lack that spark. It's harmless, ice cold Darkthrone/ Burzum worship that will not change the face of Black Metal. Six tracks make up this split, with each averaging seven minutes of ugly, raw Black Metal the way we heard it back in the day, and generally emulated it in abundance throughout this crowded bleak Black Metal underground.

Split releases are pure underground and should be supported as a good insight to the obscure. This, like many others has a sense of the personal about it as you know not many people will ever hear it and there will definitely be no repress when the print run is sold out.  

Record Label: Self Release
Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/underfleshmusic
Record Label Website:
Reviewer: Steve Green

Black & White is the debut EP from French newcomers Underflesh. The biog namechecks the likes of Lamb of God and Gojira, 2 bands that unfortunately aren't on my radar, so you'll get very few comparisons from me in this review as the music of Underflesh is somewhat of a fresh variety to these ears.

Opener, Unnatural Dreams, kicks off with a jarring riff before a brief flirtation with early Sabbath (circa Children of the Grave) makes way for a dirtier groove and lashings of gutteral roars and off-kilter riffs. As I've said already, this isn't my normal listening pleasure, but fuck me, this is good. The basic premise, as I see it, is that Underflesh like to layer their music. A riff builds from a rhythm and then a vocal is added, but they don't necessarily have a natural flow. It's not quite a stop/start scenario, but these guys are definitely mixing things up in a different style and it's all tied together with a variety of groove based ideas.

While I tend to overdose on French wine and French cheese on a weekly basis, it's probably just as well that I'm not exposed to more music from over the channel as what I do hear tends to be of a superior quality to what this country offers at present, and I've enough gluttony in my diet already, thank you very much.

As ever, another quality product from France.

Record Label: Canonical Hours
Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/withershin
Record Label Website: www.canonicalhours.com
Reviewer: Crin

A fifteen minute three track ep from Swedish Black Metal arse rippers, Withershin. Formed in 2006, these hell for leather exponents of the extreme metal art are relatively newcomers to the scene. Black-Death Metal is not a genre that excites the masses, in fact it is a very low key off shoot of the two said extreme metal bastions, and usually co-habits the Far East in droves. The style is better proliferated by Arkhon Infaustus, Belphegor and Crionics, and it is a violent, abrupt and more often than not, one dimensional form of brain masticating aural punishment [or pleasure depending on your point of view] . Here we have a very solid, dense wall of guitars and hammering percussion that bulldozes though the air like some iron chewing threshing machine. The first two tracks leap and lacerate your senses with very well conceived hard and fast Black Death metal. It is only when the last track, Crossing The Threshold, rumbles forth that this band really shine. This mid tempo heavy as hell musical leviathan crawls along and festers in your head. The riffs are wonderfully arranged and the addictive rhythmic chug is quite awesome. It is like a cross between Dark Funeral and Necrophobic.

If you are a fan of Black/ Death metal then this band will enrich your audio pleasure. If not, you best hide or be levelled under the sheer velocity of power present here.