121st part of the short reviews.
NIGHTWALKER – The Eternal Flame of Death
Year: 2025
Label: Amor Fati Productions
Rating: 5 / 10
A new EP by the German one-man band. All the technical and aesthetic aspects are at a high level here. The dark sound is clearly influenced by BURZUM. The only trouble is that it completely lacks even the faintest hint of originality and interesting moments. This EP goes straight into one ear, goes out the other, and, eventually, leaves absolutely nothing.
IMPERIALIST – Prime
Year: 2025
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Rating: 3 / 10
The US band with the repulsive name IMPERIALIST embodies a lot of saddening aspects of nowadays extreme metal. It's a terrifying identity crisis mixed with deep ignorance. The guys obviously wanted to join the stream of technical sci-fi Death Metal bands. Hence the name - not because they are imperialists, but because a technical Death Metal band must have a name ending with -ist. But they lacked technicality, so they started playing less complicated material, and to make themselves look more serious, they designated themselves as Black Metal. The arrogance of these clowns can only be envied, because there is no smell of Black Metal here, no hint, not a smallest drop of it. You can see it even by the looks of the band. The music is a bit like NECROPHOBIC, DISSECTION, and other melodic Swedes, but that doesn't mean anything. Because of its vivacity, it is perceived better than the above-described NIGHTWALKER, and this is the only positive side. The songs, again, are uninteresting, and they don't fit the Sci-Fi theme at all. The final nail in the coffin is a complete set of ridiculous merchandise, among which you can find shorts with the IMPERIALIST logo. Black Metal? Get the fuck outta here. Know your place.
GROG – Sphere of Atrocities
Year: 2025
Label: Helldprod Records
Rating: 7 / 10
GROG is a very old Portuguese band that has been mixing Death Metal and grindcore since 1991. I've never been a fan of this style, so I can't tell you what “Sphere of Atrocities” looks like against the background of classic records. But from my uninformed point of view, I am pleased to note that the album is interesting to listen to. It is not only very aggressive and assertive, but also somehow morbidly technical. There are a lot of guitar moves here that I haven't heard before. I also didn't find on the album all that hardcore street shit that I hate in DYING FETUS music, for example. GROG is primarily a Death Metal band, and the other elements only enrich their sound.
NECROMANIAC – Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable
Year: 2025
Label: Invictus Productions
Rating: 7 / 10
Old-school metal ("morbid metal," as the band calls it) from England that doesn't sound like shit, isn't fake, and isn't bursting with its own pretentiousness? Really?! The world is healing at last! But it soon turns out that the miracle did not happen, as during the creation of “Sciomancy...”not a single Englishman was injured. The band consists of Greek Alexandros (MACABRE OMEN, ex-SCYTHIAN), Spaniard Sadistik Fornicator, Pole Vlad and Swede Karl (NIGHTBRINGER). The Irish, Poles, and an Italian woman were responsible for recording, photographing, and so on. If it hadn't been for the mastering by Greg Chandler, the album would have been 100% English-free, because even the label that released it is located in Ireland.
As for music, the definition of "morbid metal" is very apt. It is a sound and aesthetic blend of the main extreme genres, made with full understanding. The songs are not that impressive, but they have a certain depth. Especially those featuring the vocalist of CULTES DES GHOULES. It's all pretty serious, no gimmicks and such. The dynamics, again, are in place. In some parts, the album begins to strongly resemble classic MASTER's HAMMER. It's worth listening to.
P.S. What a vivid example of the gulf that lies between the consciousness of the proper artists and scene tourists. In the work of NECROMANIAC, who don't even call themselves Black Metal, there is immeasurably more of this Black Metal than in IMPERIALIST's shit candies.
SCHEUSAL – Urwahn
Year: 2025
Label: Purity Through Fire
Rating: 5,4 / 10
Good artwork is an essential element that always positively influences the perception of an album and attracts additional attention. For example, I decided to listen to "Urwahn" only because of the Warhead Art cover. Unfortunately, the album turned out to be weak, but at least I can tell you about it, and someone will be interested in it anyway, so it's something already! SCHEUSAL plays primitive blackened metal, in which German national and global punk tastes have equal force. A voice passed through a harmonizer (I don't know who came up with it first, but this person needs to be crucified as a lesson to others - what a disgusting idea!), a harsh and noisy guitar sound, an ILDJARN-style rhythm section. The familiar formula. In talented hands, it can give you ACWEALD, and in another case... well, for example, SCHEUSAL. I do not know what this project can give to you, except for an unpleasant feeling of rawness. The early BILSKIRNIR, to which SCHEUSAL is very similar, was much more clumsy, but also more diverse. I'm not even talking about the ideological charge. Like the first two albums in today's Blitz, "Urwahn" is a kind of fast food for the extreme music fans. You can swallow it if you're hungry, but the choice of music around is so rich that I would not recommend wasting your time on such a record.
