65th part of short reviews.
PEKLA – Boogie With Satan
Year of release: 2020
Label: self-release
Rating: 6,8 / 10
The fourth album of a Lithuanian group with a title that is easily understandable to a Belarusian listener. Crazy "speed and roll" about the devil, zombies, women and so on. Unlike ДЕ САД и КОРРОЗИЯ МЕТАЛЛА, who are very close in spirit, Lithuanians base their music on more melodic and traditional metal. From time to time, we come across riffs that were blatantly ripped off from AC/DC and sped up several times. But there are also fragments that are clearly borrowed from DISSECTION of the great "Reinkaos" era. It was not for nothing that three PEKLA members played in a band called STRANGER AEONS. In general, it is fun, not monotonous, energetic, and in addition with a bunch of guests who can play some solo or sing a verse. I will also add that the album is performed and recorded very well for self-released production.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS / QUILMOLONCM – Illuminated Manuscripts / Quilmoloncm
Year of release: 2020
Label: Xenoglossy Productions
Rating: no rating
Here we got some bullshit something terribly wise and deep, clearly beyond the mind of ordinary reviewers like me. Split of two tracks, one from an Estonian project, the other from an Italian project. The Estonian plays something in the spirit of the more metal SUNN O))), slowly and solemnly, sometimes increasing momentum and psychological pressure, but in general it is quite meaningless. Everything is recorded on the knee, but not in the terrible sense, it's just dull. The Italian with the Herbert nickname Stilgar acted not only as the author of the second track, but also as the publisher. If it seems to you that the name of his project looks horrible, then you have not read the text where such gems as “icprogrefnricnbnrymau lzxjdfqu” come across. As it turned out, the split is based on the work of Jose Luis Borges, and the lyrics for the song are written in a language he invented. In terms of music, the picture here is rather strange: the Italian treats the guitar as if it was only the day before yesterday that he first took it in his hands, but the vocals are performed and recorded perfectly. In general, in my opinion, here we are dealing with an attempt to cover up shameful mediocrity with a spreading fig leaf of a philosophical concept, but I have not read Borges, therefore I cannot say for sure. To be honest, I don’t want to figure it out.
REVENGE – Strike.Smother.Dehumanize
Year of release: 2020
Label: Season of Mist
Rating: 8 / 10
“- Tell me these three words I want to hear...
– Strike. Smother. Dehumanize”
I can hardly say anything new about REVENGE, especially since they do not do anything essentially new, remaining true to their sound, despite the contract with Season of Mist, who have a habit of turning cool evil bands into dull shit. But REVENGE continue to play their grind-ish militaristic stuff, and the French have no choice but to publish their albums, to the displeasure of the bulk of their non-binary clients, who reasonably see in the work of Canadians a veiled propaganda of fascism and HATE, which is UnACePtaBle in Black Metal. So take it - you won't go wrong. Although for those who are used to hearing a brutal uterine roar in such music, the vocals of REVENGE can cause a lot of inconvenience.
OBSCURE RELIC – First Black Communion
Year of release: 2020
Label: Helldprod Records
Rating: 7,8 / 10
Very good Brazilian Black Metal, made according to the classic Scandinavian canons. The music is very ominous, fast, and really oozes (which the press release also joyfully notes) with that characteristic Black Metal poison that fills the veins of MAYHEM, DARK FUNERAL, SETHERIAL, ONDSKAPT, etc. It will take a couple of minutes to get used to the slightly hickish sound, and then you will plunge into a dark world, drawn by strong tremolo riffs and frenzied cannonade of drums. I am glad that the album goes exactly the way of the aforementioned bands, and does not strive for pretentious ceremoniality a la WATAIN, where behind the scenes at any moment you expect to hear the cry “Let me see your hands!”. The music is straightforward and ruthless, as it should be.
VOROTH – Voroth
Year of release: 2019
Label: Dark East Productions
Rating: 5,3 / 10
The debut release of the Russian Death Metal band with all that it implies - such material is often found at More Hate, Requiem or Dark East, just as it is now. Again, as often happens, this is not really shit, but there is something to laugh at, and something to scold, and the final conclusion turns out to be not the most optimistic. The music is expectedly mid-tempo, which is always the worst option for Death Metal, because at this speed every riff has to be of a very good level, otherwise the flaws will immediately rush into the ears. Dear musicians, stop looking back at SIX FEET UNDER, this is not an example to follow, but just the opposite. The rhythm section is very funny, like clapping your hands. The vocals are typically hollow - impeccably legible, but this is not a "deadly roar", but a sullen grunt. Only on the last track there are attempts at something more severe. The sound is home-clean, like thousands of similar bands. There are also positive aspects. VOROTH's guitarists may not be the most talented composers, but they are very good performers. Solos and all sorts of harmonics are played by them without apparent efforts. True, there is an observation on the style - when I hear the local riffs, I see the figure of... Sergei Terentiev (ex-ARIA) before my eyes. However, this is Russia, why not? The second plus is that the group almost managed to give the whole EP an atmospheric dimension. This is not TRIGGER's one-dimensional dumb shit, there is a bit of darkness here that justifies the presence of a cover that a completely drunken Necrolord could draw with his left foot. I will not dwell on the lyrics of the songs, because any of us has more than once come across such a set of randomly rhymed "sinister" phrases. You can do better.
All in all, the EP will do quite well for the opening. This is not a failure. But I don't see much potential behind VOROTH either. This metal is amateur metal in a bad sense. And it must be fanatical, especially at such an early stage of creativity. I did not hear fanaticism here, but I heard a desire to do everything, even if less energetically, but smoothly and smoothly, so that no one could say that VOROTH can't play well or something. Guys, this is an underground scene, noone here gives a fuck if you can play well or not. The main thing is to be yourself. Doing “like everyone else” is a road to nowhere.
English (UK) 
Крыўская