Spirit Descent - Seven Chapter In A Minor

Word round the block is that Spirit Descent is an “epic” doom metal band. It is true, I guess, that they make doom metal music with epic qualities. But I’m not really sure that they should be coined as a symbolic figure of this strain of doom. Since every man and his brother’s band are making epic music these days there seems little value in even mentioning the fact that a band is epic. Maybe we should start labeling bands when they are not epic, at least so I’ve though ever since I started having cravings just to hear a regular, four-minute rock song with a steady beat. Hyperbolic rant on the genre classification war aside, it’s still an apt description; Spirit Descent do indeed make epic doom metal.

Hailing from Germany, SD bring to the table a smooth blend of traditional doom/heavy metal and the more recent, more extreme and modern styles of doom that appeared later when influenced by death metal. There is definite narrative in each composition here, and quite a lot of progression over the course of the album, but always the debt to Sabbath is glaringly clear. That’s one of the cool things about SD though: They make no pretenses about being something new and shiny, but revel in going by the books and paying great tribute to conventions of much-loved style. They are unashamed in their old-fashioned ways. Jan Eichelbaum on vocals, in addition to his authentic traditional heavy metal voice, occasionally garnishes the music with lengthy death/doom roars. This modernizes the music a bit as it recalls the rampant cross-breeding genres are committing these days. Nice, clean, new production makes the vintage vibes heavier than they could manage back in the day, too.

I have to say, Spirit Descent have done a pretty damn good job with these songs. I’m not usually too fond of more traditional metal styles, but I sat through Seven Chapter a few times without even becoming irritated by the singing, so that in itself says something. The riffage, it’s true, is instantly enjoyable, and the sweet production brings those doomed hooks out nice and fat and rock-heavy. Plus they write a better epic than most of the riff-raff trying to feet their heads into storyteller’s caps these days. If you favor this style of metal, I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest this album.

In conclusion: Classic metal, with a bigger, heavier, more technologically up-to-date streak. No originality, but quality songs that keep doom traditions alive.

Standout tracks: “Dawn of Mankind”, “The Tragedy of Captain Scott”, “Sleeper”

Score: 7.5

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Kreator - Phantom Antichrist

Thrash metal formed the perfect gateway for your average thirteen-year-old Led Zeppelin fan to enter extreme music. Largely thanks to a band called Metallica, this popular threshold has endured for decades. I was one who travelled such a path in my youth, and yet while peeling back the obscure layers of the genre I discovered that there were greater heights being achieved in thrash than the big M’s conversionary milestones of fandom. After Slayer, Kreator were one of the first bands I discovered in my blossoming metalheadism, and as most know they were instrumental in influencing the musical ideals of many headbangers before and after me. And they’re still Kreating with twenty-seven years and thirteen LPs under their belts. Kreator for the most part have had a successful metal career, following a typical pattern seen in many earlier benchmark bands: A strong set of first albums followed by a number of weak albums during which time diehard fans burned their T-shirts and cried into their mother’s laps. After this weak point the pattern splits into three different paths:

1)      Death. Either literal death of a band member or the permanent disbanding of the group for some other reason.

2)      Shit comeback. The band attempts to make a comeback and fails miserably, inciting criticism and hatred upon themselves.

3)      Rad comeback. The band returns to something akin to their former style and are welcomed back into the metal community.

With Violent Revolution in 2001 Kreator fell into the third category, and they’ve been marching strong ever since. Some people had their quibbles with Hordes of Darkness, but I’ve very much enjoyed the remade Kreator over the past ten years (although being generally open to musical change and progression I must admit that the only Kreator album I didn’t enjoy was Endorama). Every album has basically continued in the vein of Violent Revolution, experimenting with slightly different shades of their new style of thrash, and Phantom Antichrist is a stalwart installment in the series.

The past is irreversible. Kreator will never truly regain what happened on their first five albums. They and no one will ever regain their youth. Phantom Antichrist is not as wild and ruthless as Terrible Certainty. Mille’s vocals and riffing no longer really hold the mad rage they once did. In fact the vocals are one of the only things I don’t like about Kreator these days. I find them slightly annoying for some reason. But anyway, Phantom Antichrist holds essentially to Kreator’s thrash basis, but these songs are slightly more anthemic in a trad metal way, if mainly only by way of atmospheric qualities. There are many moments you can happily sing along to on PA (“We are legion united in hate!”). Overall it’s quite a melodic thrash record, but this doesn’t seem to be detracting the interest of the fanbase. Practice makes perfect they say, and it really shows through in these songs. Each one is masterfully balanced and counterbalanced, simple, effective pieces of straight-up thrash metal. No bullshit, just good thrash. All instruments work together with admirable comfort, resulting in a triumphantly energetic performance destined to raise horns in the air. It’s great how Kreator have not lost any of their tightness over the years, evidenced by the bands popularity with both older and younger generations of metalheads.

There is no question about it, Kreator are solid. Few bands release as many good albums as this one does. An arch of classic records overshadowing a strong return to style creates an applause-worthy legacy. If I have deducted any points from PA’s score it is only for my minute aversion to the vocals and also because it doesn’t hold the scathing anger that made us fall in love with Kreator back in the day. Despite the undoubtedly more mature songwriting you will find here, they live in a shadow like any band who has put in this many hard years. But the important thing is just how much this album proves Kreator’s unshakeable solidarity.

In short: Old thrash and new combined with deft hands. Legends continuing the legend. A record anyone interested in thrash will be listening to this year.

Standout tracks: “Phantom Antichrist”, “Civilization Collapse”, “Until Our Paths Cross Again”

Score: 8.5

Lunar Aurora - Hoagascht

I sense there will be quite a few people hating on this album, and generally I loathe those people. I appreciate staying trve to a style and cvltivating strict dark arts, but that doesn’t mean I don’t also appreciate it when a band has the balls to do something different, to rock out the way they have the urge to, which is what we see happen gloriously here on Lunar Aurora’s Hoagascht. Gone is the straight up and down epic black metal LA used to play, you can pretty much tell when the first song Im Gartn introduces itself with an obscure synthline, a sound like fairies playing in the distance, lackadaisical and unreal. If you couldn’t tell by that, you know for sure when the alternative/indie rock riff hits next. In the second song we are confronted with a triumphant tremolo black metal riff that is laden with drums that could’ve been found on a Marvin Gaye record. And by the time you reach this point of the album, you’ll probably know if you love it or hate it.

Let’s analyze. Production is rich, more of a shoegaze fuzz to it than previous LA. Guitars play a goth rock-black metal fusion. The drums in general are slow and simple, rhythmic and groovy, only occasionally breaking into a double-kick gallop for variation and emphasis. All of the blast beats have been thrown in the bin, and gone is the speed in general; this is not a fast album. LA have previously used some interesting atmospheric synthesizers, but certainly never anything as stylistically daring as this. These synths exude a kind of dreamy euphoria, an indefinable state of bliss or mystery. They are not chilling, creepy or cold, and nor do they sound like someone blowing spit into a sensitive microphone. If anything one might call them ‘spacy’ or ‘trippy’, the way the hover fleetingly around the riffs. Vocals are rasped, but contain less fury than before and integrate themselves with the music more. Actually, the whole band is very tight, with a nice and evenly meshed sound.

So, let’s cast our black metal purists (and purisms) aside right now and admit what must be admitted, namely that Hoagascht rocks, and is going to succeed in rocking the worlds of many receptive individuals the world over. This is an incredibly atmospheric album with a very clear identity that can be listened to in moments of bliss or excitement or even melancholy.

In summary: Goth/alternative rock-cum-black metal with space age synth vibes sounds like a risky mix, but Hoagascht is just its own thing and I would simply recommend it to anyone who likes rockin’ tracks. Another fantastic album released this year.

Standout tracks: Nachteule, Haabergoass

Score: 9.0