112th parth of the short reviews.
DEMON SPELL – Evil Nights
Year: 2024
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Rating: 7,8 / 10
This Italian band does not hide its main and only source of inspiration so much that I do not know why it did not name itself, for example, MERCYFUL KING, or DIAMOND FATE. After the very first notes, you want to ask: “Is that you, Melissa?". The Italians are not only looking out to MERCYFUL FATE, but they are simply playing the same music that the iconic Danes played at the beginning of their career. DEMON SPELL fell short in the sense that their guitar parts are completely devoid of the tricks and clever solos of Hank Shermann. But it even benefits them, as the songs turned out to be solid, consistent, and very catchy. Everything else is just fine: the sound is warm, old and authentic, the aesthetics are in place, and the singer may not be a king, but he's very good.
PUKEWRAITH – Banquet of Scum
Year: 2024
Label: Sewer Rot Records
Rating: 7 / 10
The guy behind this project has a dozen more of similar projects, and at first glance it's pretty hard to take someone like him seriously. However, the album turned out to be very good, and I can't help but recommend it. Imagine SIX FEET UNDER of "Undead" / "Unborn“ era, where Chris Barnes was into sports instead of marijuana all the time, and a talented sound engineer who is a fan of ”Clandestine" ENTOMBED was responsible for the sound. In fact, the author did everything on his own, and this is even more impressive. The album is very assertive, it offers a mountain of riffs, it doesn't let you breathe, and it also sounds great (with a drum machine!!!). There's nothing outstanding about it, it's dumb modern Death Metal, but made by a master butcher.
TEMPESTOUS zine #8, #9
Year: 2024
Tempestous (Maga)zine is a rather peculiar fanzine from Chile that will remind you of a dark era when extreme metal fanzines were made by real maniacs and fanatics. However, there is nothing surprising about that, because we are talking about Chile - the most metal country in the world! The eighth issue of the fanzine contains mostly materials that were published in previous issues, starting with the first one, which was published in 2009. Many of them were originally in Spanish, but now they can be read in English. The first thing that catches your eye is the high-quality, professional layout, outstanding design, and at the same time the abundance of pornographic images for every taste, so to speak. Hidden among all this are very deep, intellectual interviews with musicians, writers and other underground figures of dark culture, who in one way or another are doing the work of Satan on Earth. Most of them have quite severe mental disorders: some like to watch the suffering of children, others dream of murdering someone with their own hands, many are on drugs... The late Rumit of Black Madness zine would undoubtedly have read this fanzine with delight! The names of most of the participants won't tell you much, since they're related to the South American scene in one way or another, but I guess all Bagnik Zine readers have at least heard of BEWITCHED. The 8th issue also includes a lot of good reviews of music and magazines. The full version can be viewed or downloaded at Archive.org.
Issue 9 is almost exactly like issue 8, except the interviews are new, and there are almost no pornographic images. You can find out more about the content of this and other issues on the fanzine's website, as well as purchase a digital or physical version there.
https://tempestous.gumroad.com/
https://www.facebook.com/tempestous.zine
POUNDER – Thunderforged
Year: 2024
Label: Sewer Rot Records
Rating: 5,4 / 10
Once again, a sterile and totally “safe” album from POUNDER. A little better than the previous one, but still not worthy of your attention.
SEID – Hymns to the Norse
Year: 2024
Label: Aeternitas Tenebrarum Musicae Fundamentum
Rating: 6 / 10
When I looked at the photo of the band attached to this promo, I thought that rocker heavy metal in the style of the late 70s was waiting for me, but I was mistaken: the Swedes play very dark Viking metal with tremolos, blast beats and other extreme joys. In the most epic moments, where modest symphonic parts are played, the music is a bit like BATHORY, and in the quiet ones it reminds modern ENSLAVED, but otherwise SEID are quite independent. This is not a good thing, as their music is a little too noisy, and sometimes too tasteless (for example, in "My Kingdom Rise" the chord progressions with an increase in key are so disgusting that you want to skip it right away). "Hymns to the Norse” is a fairly familiar example of an ATMF release for me: the Italian label is always looking for original artists who have something to say with their music and lyrics, but in these efforts to be original, they quite often forget about what makes music interesting to the listener.
