104th part of the short reviews.
GRABUNHOLD / CIRCLE OF SHADOWS – Lamentationen
Year: 2023
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Rating: 7 / 10
Blackened metal from Germany and Austria. Both groups dedicated 3 songs to the universe of John R. R. Tolkien. GRABUNHOLD (a member of BAXAXAXA and RUNESPELL on guitars and vocals) tries to cram a little bit of everything into its music: already in the first track there is a militant ancient metal a la INQUISITION, and rollicking Teutonic, and melodically atmospheric. Unfortunately, the group does not have its own clear face. The Austrians CIRCLE OF SHADOWS blast some kind of BLACK WITCHERY from the very first seconds, but very quickly switch to a more traditional medieval evil, which eventually also goes to the territory of Teutonic robber metal. In general, it turns out to be a good, high-quality release, which, according to modern German traditions, lacks real iron balls.
THE TROOPS OF DOOM – A Mass to the Grotesque
Year: 2024
Label: Alma Mater Records
Rating: 7,4 / 10
The Brazilian band, where one of the founders of SEPULTURA plays, continues to make real thrash, which sounds more like SEPULTURA than all the attempts of Cavalera brothers to re-record old material. The downsides are still the same as before: a fucking "groove", a too neat modern sound, attempts to create dynamics with slow fragments, which is very harmful for thrash. But this should not stop you! By the way, the album was released on a label created by the members of MOONSPELL - of course, they are opportunists playing shit, but they know good metal when they hear it.
KERASPHORUS – Kerasphorus
Year: 2016
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Rating: 7 / 10
The collection contains both mini-albums of the US band, released in 2010 and 2011. The participants of ABHOMINE, ANGELCORPSE, REVENGE, ORDER FROM CHAOS, PERDITION TEMPLE are playing here, so you can already imagine how it sounds. A distinctive feature of KERASPHORUS is the very uneven, broken structure of the rhythm section in all possible places. You never know when the next rhythm change will happen. Everything else is as usual: total war and ruins. Very unpleasant (in the proper sense) music.
HERZOG – Furnace
Year: 2023
Label: Amor Fati Productions
Rating: 6,4 / 10
The debut album of the Belgian band. This beautiful country has its own small but stylish extreme scene, and the albums there are almost always saturated with elegant, deep darkness. "Furnace" is no exception in this regard. Everything is fine with the atmosphere here, the sound is very thick and underground, and the music is diverse. Of course, there is also a certain intellectual content, otherwise the album would not have been released on Amor Fati. Unfortunately, the authors still lack concentration and good taste. There is a feeling that some fragments were added simply because they wanted to add something else, despite the fact that they do not bring any benefit. Or here's the track "All Rites" - in the first half it sounds like some kind of post rock shit, which is not appropriate on this album at all.
SACRENOIR – Comme des revenants parmi les ruines
Year: 2023
Label: Sepulchral Productions
Rating: 6,5 / 10
Here we have a kind of supergroup: a duo of members of FORTERESSE, MORTIFEROUS, SANCTUAIRE, SUI CADERE. The press release pretentiously (of course!) states that the veterans of the Quebec scene decided to pay tribute to the classic Black Metal of the 90s, primarily DARKTHRONE, GORGOROTH and even BATHORY. And, as is almost always the case with press releases, this is a lie. Of course, you can draw parallels between the combination of "tremolo riffs + blast beats" and DARKTHRONE, and you can also force a square peg into a round holeб but let the authors of such press releases do this. In fact, here we hear more or less the same Quebec blackened metal, only more vicious and almost not sweet. That's something, since I just can't swallow the ass-glueing syrup that is usually offered in this region. "Comme des revenants parmi les ruines" can at least be listened to. But not necessarily, because, for example, the Finns make such music five times more convincingly.
English (UK) 
Крыўская