Proclamation - Nether Tombs of Abaddon

First of all be sure not to confuse the Spanish Proclamation with the American Proclamation who play “Christian rock at a whole new level”. Proclamation might’ve been a lot better in a different world, a different time. There is certainly nothing concrete, nothing you can point at lacking from this newest album, Nether Tombs of Abaddon. Their style is chaotic blackened death metal, and if you go through the checklist, it’s difficult to see where Proclamation fail. Dirty, under-produced guitars? Check. Battering blast beats? Check. Ferocious demonic roars? Check. Anything a decent blackened death metal band should have is there, it’s just that there’s nothing more. Both the riffs and the primal energy created by the band are lost to the memory amongst better bands.

I believe what Proclamation are trying to go for on this album (their “take” on metal, so to speak) is a particular kind of careless dirtiness about their blasting fury, or at least this is the only thing I can see that gives the band any real sense of individual personality. This shade of a sound to claim as one’s own is never going to be enough to pick up Proclamation’s reputation, because, unfortunately, in the oversaturated metal scene these days there’s a lot of strong black/death players, and in the end there’s just no reason why you would go back to Proclamation when you could listen to their contemporaries do the same thing better.

In short: This is pretty good music, it’s certainly filthy enough, but it just doesn’t stand up when bands like Archgoat, Antediluvian and Teitanblood are around.

Standout tracks: “Hatred Sacrament” had my favorite riff on it

Score: 6.0

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Nekromantheon - Rise, Vulcan Spectre

Nekromantheon are a bunch of Norweigans who play old school brutal thrash in the vein of Dark Angel, and they are very competent at what they do. Practically every song these guys ever beat out of their instruments would feel just as natural if it had actually been made in the late 80s-early 90s. But Nekromantheon have only been around since 2005. So, yes, what we have here is an emulation. It has been a trend in metal in the 21^st century to hark back to the good old days and bring back old school sounds in every subgenre (eg. Witchcraft, Electric Wizard, Insinnerator, Violator, and thousands of death metal bands), and then call it a “New Wave” of that subgenre. And hey, that’s pretty cool. After all, it’s not like old school thrash doesn’t kick The Haunted’s arse. And it’s a nice, tributary thing to do, as well. As far as I have seen, though, none of these thrash bands have actually furthered the genre (like Electric Wizard did with doom metal).

You get the sense nothing is meant to push the envelope here, only keep the torch alive. Instruments are tight and the thrashing is relentless – no Black Album-esque farting about, no sir, thank fuck. It’s raw, fast, frantic and furious (what thrash is meant to be, right?) and I especially like the old school vocals with plenty of echo on ‘em. I found the riffs to be a bit more memorable on the debut LP, but this is undeniably deadly music.

In summary: Thrash fans will love this, it’s old-school-as-fuck. No bullshit, just dirty, superspeed, evil thrash.

Standout tracks: Embrace the Oracle, Coven of the Minotaur

Score: 8.0

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Revenge - Scum.Collapse.Eradication

Revenge are not exactly a band bursting at the seams with surprises, all it takes is one look at Revenge’s formulaic album art and even album titles to know that. And actually that’s one of the things that make Revenge cool. They shirk progress, and they don’t bullshit you about it. Why bother progressing, after all, when you are one of the filthiest, most primal war metal bands on the face of the planet? And yet somehow I sense a slight maturity has formed in the band when I compare this with their other records. Are those riffs juxtaposed in a slightly more effective way? Do the trudging “war march” breakdowns crush you more than on the other albums? Of course, it’s impossible to tell through all the cacophony, but I suspect this is the case.

For those of you who don’t know, Canada’s Revenge play a barbaric concoction of black and death metal, and can be lumped into the war metal crowd with the likes of Conqueror and Bestial Warlust for their sheer relentless savagery. Many think Revenge are exemplary of this style, and I’d probably count myself one of them. Revenge seem to be just a bit nastier, a bit more feral, a bit more high on war. And if you are new to the band, this is a very good place to start. In fact I would say this is the best Revenge album, the one that can hold a person’s attention longer than the others. It doesn’t fully disintegrate into a chaotic mess of instruments apparently playing in a completely uncoordinated fashion - one of their main problems in earlier releases – and yet it still keeps their sense of ugly, demonic havoc trve to the core. Although I made a joke about the unintelligible cacophony before, I believe what Revenge have done to achieve this improvement is add a few more breakdowns to anchor the listener between the relentless, pummeling savagery witnessed elsewhere in the songs, thus creating a more coherent structure and general listening experience. They’ve also cleared up the muddiness of the production enough to actually make out the riffs, and now that we can hear them, we know: They kick a lot of fucking arse.

In short: Revenge, of all bands, managed to surprise me and release their best work at a point in their progression when things could have gotten monotonous. Every instrument sounds great, every track rocks. Experience the fury of Revenge without getting bored by the third song!

Standout tracks:  "Pride Ruination (Division Collapse)", "Banner Degradation (Exile or Death)"

Score: 9.0

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Mgla - With Hearts Toward None

Mgla are not a revolutionary band. They are, however, an evolutionary band. Since their raw little split with Exordium back in 2005 this Polish duo have been releasing a steadily improving series of epic black metal albums and EPs, which currently culminates in the new album With Hearts Toward None. What exactly is getting better about Mgla? Production for one thing has become increasingly lush, and on this album the swathes of guitar static are so soft and well balanced with drums, bass and vocals that you’re immediately absorbed. Another of the band’s absorbing refinements is balanced epic song structure and desperately clawing riffs of cloistering emotion. No, Mgla don’t do anything new, but the power of their black metal riffs cuts straight to the nerve. It’s that pure dark emotion of nihilistic hopelessness that so many bands strive to achieve but never will. On With Hearts Toward None, every single riff captures what I feel is the true spirit of the genre (and of its own individual vision), forming an entire work which is nothing short of uplifting, empowering and all that other lame shit that sounds out of place in a black metal review, but (be honest) you feel all the time when you listen to good black metal. And all of this is most definitely good. Some of these riffs just lift you out of your seat, it’s that good! Even my girlfriend digs these tracks, and she listens to nothing but Khmer pop.

Mgla are a band to watch out for. They create real black metal (with only a slight rock influence in some riffs, perhaps) that is grim and black as Hell could ever want it to be, and without deviating from this form create something that feels fresh, interesting and powerful. Also if history is anything to note (see incredible precursor to this album, Groza), this band will only continue to develop their style in the future.

In summary: An album that stands up to relistening again and again and again. Mgla tops my list for 2012 right now. Fuck anyone who says black metal is dead.

Standout tracks: “V” makes me cum, but generally all

Score: 9.5


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Fukpig - 3

Two years ago, Fukpig released what I thought was one of the filthiest, most rotten little punk/metal albums to come out in a long time, entitled Belief Is the Death of Innocence. Their third album – 3 – follows in the same footsteps as their previous work: a crust foundation with overtones of black metal and grindcore, notable for its conspicuous use of cheesy goth-horror keyboards. Here the boys (who you may know from their other acts Anaal Nathrakh and Mistress) continue to perform with unbridled hatred for and fierce resistance against mankind in a memorable, thrashing style.  Although it is essentially the same thing, I feel that this time around they have restrained their vicious punk mentality a little for a more sinister, metallic resonance. It’s only a slight shift but it makes the difference between a masterpiece of catchiness that you want to play over and over again (BItDoI) and just a really killer album. Catchlines like “Fascist moron” or “Who the fuck asked for you?” from 3 retain the Fukpig ethic, but hold nothing in terms of sheer go-fuck-yourself power over BItDoI’s hateful “Die, bastard!” or (my favourite) “Fuck you and fuck your son!” The riffs don’t seem to exacerbate the same vigorous frenzy in the thrashing of my head, either. It’s just a little bit more static than BItDoI, it doesn’t quite hold the same violently ejaculated energy.

But, that said, this is still Fukpig and everything is there: the D-beats, the keyboards, the hatred and the catchy crustcore riffing, and it’s a great respite when you’ve been over-listening earlier releases. The first few tracks are all nasty, cutting little blackened-crust knock-outs. The song-writing becomes somewhat more monotonous around the middle of the album, but is revived by a lethal breakdown into a plodding doom riff on “In the Absence of Your Savior”, and you are thus welcomed again into the final rush of crusty energy on the last two tracks. The conclusion to the album is also, indeed, satisfying.

In summary: Fukpig fail to bring us a better release than their 2010 effort, but this is understandable and it still kicks the arse of most of the popular new blackened crust craze.

Standout tracks: “Democracy Reset”, “The Eulogy of a Crushed Romantic”

Score: 7.5

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