9th part of short reviews.
ALBIONIC HERMETICISM – Ancient Hermetic Purity
Year of release: 2018
Label: Signal Rex
Rating: 7,3 / 10
The debut album from a British Miguel Serrano-inspired project. Contrary to the insinuations of dumb worms from the Internet, the project is in no way connected with Nazism (or at least not directly), but deeply imbued with esotericism and alchemy. The concept of the album is based on hermetic rituals dating back to ancient times, when "the red-haired Egyptian aristocracy migrated to Britain". Musically, this is dark ambient metal with a truly mysterious and magical atmosphere. Despite the good compositional work, for some reason it doesn't made much impression on me, but it still fulfills the task. I recommend you to listen to it.
ALMS – Act One
Year of release: 2018
Label: Shadow Kingdom Records
Rating: 7 / 10
Classic stoner doom metal with two vocals - female and male. Excellent and natural sound, not a hint of innovation. The manner of using the synthesizer is reminiscent of DEEP PURPLE. I must add that the band does not hesitate to occasionally play some cheerful rock and roll parts with beautiful solos, which is always pleasant.
DRAWN AND QUARTERED – The One Who Lurks
Year of release: 2018
Label: Krucyator Productions
Rating: 8 / 10
The young French label continues to replenish its roster with powerful formations - this time it released a new album of the classics of American Death Metal: DRAWN AND QUARTERED. This group - perhaps due to the lack of radio-friendly stuff - has never been in the leading positins, but clearly deserves more attention. DRAWN AND QUARTERED are ideologically close to the original extreme Satanism of the US scene, and their music goes close to INCANTATION and IMMOLATION, periodically leaving in the protracted outbursts of brutal rage. Honestly, "The One Who Lurks" is spiritually much more like Black Metal because it is miles away from modern fat-free slag from major labels. Powerful, very powerful work.
OKSENNUS – Kolme toista
Year of release: 2018
Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions
Rating: 2,5 / 10
A very strange album with three songs for exactly 13 minutes each, and three occult carrots on the cover. For sure, there is some deep idea, avant-garde message, a challenge to the stagnant metal scene and so on but it seems to me that "Kolme toista" is really just an addle and senseless atonal bullshitand by the time you read these lines, I will already forget about it.
SVEDERNA – Svedjeland
Year of release: 2018
Label: Carnal Records
Rating: 6 / 10
I smell some suspicious scent of leftism in this band, although it tries not to fall into the pool of subhuman values. We, they say, are not a political band, we're just against the commercialization of the Western world, and so on. All this is fine, if some reasonable alternative is offered, but SVEDERNA, apparently, does not offer anything yet. Moreover, despite the strong social component in the lyrics, they position their music as Black Metal, and this is already complete nonsense. However, music in isolation from the conceptual component is perceived very well. The special melodics, resulting from punk and Heavy Metal, affects the sound, giving the album an interesting character. Nevertheless, it is not so beautiful that for the sake of it you forget about everything else. Is it worth listening to an album of questionable content for the sake of music, which is interesting only for two or three plays? It's up to you to decide. I advise you to start with the track "Dö i tid", the best on the record. If you won't like it, skip the album.
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