97th part of the short reviews.
FORBIDDEN TEMPLE – Step into the Black Pentagram
Year: 2022
Label: Gramschap
Rating: 8 / 10
FORBIDDEN TEMPLE is another project of the participants of MOENEN of XEZBETH and PERVERTED CEREMONY. As far as I know, it's not an official information, but Yosuke from NWN! Prods burnt their cover. FORBIDDEN TEMPLE combines the influences of both of the above-mentioned groups: it is ancient, like death itself, black metal with a thick ritualistic Samael-ish atmosphere, performed in a dirty, heavy, aggressive sound. I don't really like the sound, as it feels unnaturally digitally processed, but everything else is simply excellent. Be sure to give it a listen!
ARYAN ROGUE – Twelve Dark Green
Year: 2022
Label: Darker Than Black Records
Rating: 7,1 / 10
A Finnish extravagant trio playing some kind of ballad RAC metal. I don't even know what to call it. The crooked (but in a sense magical) acoustic compositions here are mixed with deafening rhythmic metal in the style of the old BILSKIRNIR and a little ABSURD. Sometimes they have random synthetized bells and other weird things, and the vocalist screams in all sorts of ways. Sometimes all this excitement sounds quite phantasmagoric. This is a very non-standard album that has many moments that you can hate, but also those that are very soul-grabbing.
THE TROOPS OF DOOM – Prelude to Blasphemy
Year: 2023
Label: Alma Mater Records
Rating: 7,8 / 10
The compilation, which includes both EP's and two new tracks by the Brazilian band, featuring the original guitarist of SEPULTURA. I have already written about THE TROOPS OF DOOM in some detail, so I will not repeat myself. Almost an hour of old Brazilian metal (even with a new sound), baked by the masters of their craft - what else do you need!
PSICOSFERA – Summa Negativa
Year: 2023
Label: Lavadome Productions
Rating: 7 / 10
Dark Metal from Argentina which for some reason is described in the press release as “Avant-Garde Black Metal”, and in such boring formulations that I stopped reading them after the first few sentences. There is nothing avant-garde here - why do they think that a couple of atonal chords in 2023 mean avant-garde? - and no Black Metal, too. "Nihilistic void", "the soul of man"... fascinating, like reading the instructions for a medical drug. At the same time, music is worth listening to, since, unlike the quasi-philosophical concept, it is quite diverse and emotional. I don't know if the Argentines listened to the band TOD HUETET UEBEL, but the similarity is striking in places. And that's good!
WELLS VALLEY – Achamoth
Year: 2023
Label: Lavadome Productions
Rating: 6 / 10
Since this album is from the same publisher as the previous one, it also has a press release with pretensions not just on avant-garde Black Metal, but even on experimental one! Dark jazz of metal! Dear publishers, words cannot express how much I hate these pretentious, useless, graphomaniac pamphlets full of empty words. If there is at least one person in the world who will buy into such a bullshit (“Wells Valley embarks on the throbbing essence of creation, delving into its intricacies, both musically and thematically. Achamoth is an album unlike any other, now and forever. It embodies the unrestrained spirit of uncharted creation in extreme music, untouched by the confines of popular subgenre standards, compromises or other creativity corroding elements."), I'll show you the worst fool in the world. One of the main aspects of the label's work is to show its customers exactly why you decided to publish an album. And this must be explained in your own words. If you hire literary negroes to write unreadable and simply false press releases, it shows your indifference to your own work and creates a negative impression from the very beginning. Yeah, speaking in their disgusting languange, I just uncovered to you one of the underground’s most well-kept secrets. Use it.
As for ”Achamoth" itself, there is, of course, no Black Metal here, and the people behind the band clearly never had anything to do with it. Experimentation, and even more so avant-garde, is also very questionable. It's pretty fine played dark post-Black Metal, nothing more. Dissonances and all that stuff. There is no spirit and true originality about this as well. A release strictly for those who still likes bands like EMPTINESS or GAEREA for some reason.
English (UK) 
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