95th part of short reviews.
TRASTORNED – Into the Void
Year: 2023
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Rating: 8 / 10
Excellent trash from Chile, to which it is objectively almost impossible to make any claims (this is Chile, after all). The band is terribly technical and authentic, but its only problem is that it hovers somewhere between the social and the eternal, and these are completely different categories not only of subject matter, but also of sound. TRASTORNED tend to sing partly about the afterdeath, but their sound is too pure and advanced, closer to the street thrash a-la VIO-LENCE, EXODUS or mid-to-late SEPULTURA. Apparently, in their category, TRASTORNED perform more than convincingly, but what kind of category is this?
LACRAU – Axioma
Year: 2023
Label: Monumental Rex
Rating: 6,9 / 10
A gloomy conceptual album from Portugal which tells in detail about an ancient Scandinavian ritual of senicide (murder/suicide of old people who, due to weakness, were no longer able to perform their duties). The story is told in the form of melancholic dark metal with elements of doom. The sound is very German, that is, high-quality, flaky and one-dimensional, which I don't like at all. But there are some moments here: for example, "Queda" resembles KATATONIA in a good way, and it even contains some sincere emotions that are not a part of mandatory program. In general, "Axioma" is a very serious album, which was clearly approached with the intention of making a work that would meet all the requirements of the modern underground. That's what happened, but nothing more.
ULG – Windark
Year: 2017
Label: self-release
Rating: 8 / 10
Atmospheric metal from the States in its purest form: a home recording and a guitar that buzzes in the style of "Filosofem". The gray sound spaces of ULG strongly resemble the iconic WALKNUT and VEIL, as well as Kharkiv scene of the period of creative heyday (by the way, a Ukrainian session drummer plays on the album). The album may not be perfect, but for amateur creativity distributed through Bandcamp for free, it's just fantastic. This album alone worth more than all that pastoral rifless garbage that the hipster atmospheric scene is churning out today. Be sure to visit the artist's Bandcamp and pay attention to his work.
WOODEN THRONE – Eternal Wanderer of the Night Sky
Year: 2023
Label: Purity Through Fire
Rating: 7,8 / 10
The second album of the solo project of OCTOBER FALLS member. It does not differ in any way from the first one - it is again a contemplative atmospheric metal with a romantic sound, dedicated to lonely walks under the starry sky. But this time the songs turned out a little better (and they were good before, mind you). In addition, this album is also short (by the standards of atmospheric metal), so the songs don't waste time for long preludes, but immediately begin to demonstrate their beauty from different sides.
SIELUNVIHOLLINEN – Helvetinkone
Year: 2023
Label: Hammer of Hate Records
Rating: 7,7 / 10
We'll remain in Suomi to witness the celebration on the street of DISSECTION fans. The newest album of the Finnish project (led by a member of BARATHRUM and WHITE RUNE) continues the work of the great "Reinkaos", shamelessly dumping mountains of major melodic riffs and popsy beats on the listener. The guitar sings beautifully, and the vocals sometimes sound exactly like Jon's voice, although the ideological component of SIELUNVIHOLLINEN is much more simple. There is some element of guilty pleasure in this, but on the other hand – why not, we live only once! When various dimwits on the Internet complain that Black Metal is "too serious", they simply do not know that it can be like ”Helvetinkone" – still radical, but pleasant to the ear.
English (UK) 
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