87th part of short reviews.
GALLOWER – Eastern Witchcraft
Year: 2022
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Rating: 6 / 10
Polish old timer Thrash Metal of the highest concentration. Contrary to logic, “Eastern" in the name means the Central Asian aesthetics of camel riding instead of "Eastern Block". One way or another, it doesn't affect the music in any way, because these guys create a sound, familiar at least since early 80s. Unfortunately, they sound too sloppy, akin to Japanese BARBATOS, especially in the vocals where you can't make out a single word... right up to the finale of the fourth track, where the band suddenly performs the refrain in terrible russian language:
Мы являемся одном
Лес и нашь мастер, нашим домом
Мы никогдо не выйдом из леса
Забыла из куда я и чем была
этот камен вызывает мне
Вокруг дерева, мох, так как в сне
старой жизни больше нет
All this, of course, is entertaining and cheerful, but still somehow uninteresting. I recommend it only to the hungriest listeners.
SOLUS GRIEF – With a Last Exhale
Year: 2022
Label: Purity Through Fire
Rating: 6,3 / 10
Tragically tedious atmospheric metal from Norway. A nasty home recording and a sloppy performance at the beginning make you want to turn off this shit and forget about it forever, but after the first track, you will find that everything is not so bad, and gradually, the music even improves. I recommend it to fans of Russian bands of this kind.
FÖRGJORD – Ruumissaarna pt. 1
Year: 2022
Label: Werewolf Records
Rating: 4,9 / 10
Finnish Black Metal with all the proper attributes, but recorded in a way that leaves no hopes for its success. Weak semi-transparent sound can still be tolerated, but these disgusting filtered vocals are simply unbearable – fuck it. The songs don't offer anything interesting, so you don't need to listen to this album. The worst Werewolf release I've ever heard.
BLACK GRAIL – VIII
Year: 2022
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Rating: 4,7 / 10
So the time came when I met a Chilean release that I didn't like at all. BLACK GRAIL tried to create something serious, occult and conceptual, looking at MORTUARY DRAPE, NECROMANTIA, MYSTIFIER, NEGATIVE PLANE and other bands with a mysterious “warm” sound. But all they did in the end is a terribly tedious porridge of ideas that will make you sick after the first spoonful. No deep concept will justify the irreversible loss of your time.
IRAE – Assim na Terra como no Inferno
Year: 2022
Label: Signal Rex
Rating: 7,1 / 10
The Portuguese cult released an album with a colored cover, and I was a little scared, but on the inside everything remained unshakably correct, although there are changes, of course. IRAE has always been a perfect Black Metal band of perhaps the most unpopular type: such formations remain within the Black Tradition, you can't find fault in their beliefs and behavior, but their music is never “entertaining” or “interesting”. IRAE spews clots of pure hatred into this world year after year, and he doesn't give a fuck about catchy riffs or exquisite compositions. "Assim na Terra como no Inferno" takes a step forward in the sense that there are some arrangements and attempts to give the songs a peculiar character. But the anti-human and anti-trend essence of the band remains unchanged, and because of this, my respect for IRAE only increases.
English (UK) 
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