Xasthur's All Reflections Drained

Even amongst us Black Metallers, Suicidal/Depressive Black Metal is not for everyone. It is uniformly dark, "downer" stuff, and it is often-times relatively slow (this album really utilises the latter to a greater extent than previously done, more on this later). Also, for many people, the subject matter is too introspective - for some it is that they, the listener themselves, can't bear to scratch their own surface; others might denounce it as navel-gazing, the stuff of yogis et al, and is, to that listener, a waste of time. Those who know what this kind of depression is like, though, understand it and like to relate with it. However it is disliked, that is immaterial - this is one of the most sincere, kvlt forms of metal, and the American "band" Xasthur is perhaps the master of the sub-genre.

Xasthur recordings have certainly benefitted from Malefic's continuing association with Hydra Head. While Subliminal Genocide, the first HH-Xasthur release, had only a slightly clearer production, 2007's Defective Epitaph saw a markedly clearer production, real drums and real cello (!) However, whereas Defective Epitaph was a little...less varied, and more boring than I'd hoped/expected, as if Malefic was still suffering from "I have real instruments now"-itis, 2009's All Reflections Drained is just as sedative and depressive as it needs to be.

Not only does Drained make use of real instruments, it also is the first Xasthur album to utilise digital recording/tracking, as opposed to analogue like before. It makes a big difference in the ability to hear what is being played, but he still kept the tone very cold and sterile, so it keeps the necro sound one expects from Xasthur. The clean guitars and all the reverb through a digital recorder actually sound more disturbing than via analogue, in this case.

It does seem as if Malefic is really starting to side with his old thoughts of one day turning Xasthur into an ambient project. Many of the songs on this are rather slow, as far as Xasthur is concerned, in terms of the guitar, and the "metal" in this song is further de-emphasised than all previous Xasthur records in favour of the atmosphere. It is for this reason that I feel this release is best suited for Xasthur die-hards; it may bore many people who are into it for the Black Metal. The one thing that had me worried about this album was the fact that Malefic has brought another person into the fold - Mark Hunter, who is listed as "M.H." in the credits. He only does some vocals, segues, and ambient stuff, the rest is all Malefic.

This is not to say that the album is not metal - assuredly it is. More importantly, Malefic still has his classical Black Metal attitude; this is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in the fact that he didn't even bother giving track six of the bonus disc a name, leaving it simply "Untitled," and in the notes, Malefic states at the end, "This music is agony, not entertainment. Overdose is recommended for maximum auditory 'experience.'"

This brings about the topic of the packaging, the "liner" notes, and the bonus disc. It is to-day my favourite Xasthur cover art - simple and grim, as are the photos in the notes. The bonus disc is excellent, too. Malefic clarifies that it is "simply a bonus disc, nothing more. It has very little to do with the album 'All Reflections Drained.' Experimenting in between the chapters, that's what these songs are. Some are literally exclusive and some are not." It contains two cover songs, "Fleshcrawl" by Autopsy, and "Jomfrulysets Fall" by Forgotten Woods, which are both made that much more eerie by way of being covered by Xasthur. It also includes a newer version of "Trauma Will Always Linger" from Subliminal Genocide, only it is 5:51 longer than the original (14:40 as opposed to 8:29), and features M.H. on clean vocals. Also, there is a song where Malefic collaborated with Striborg, and the rest is just Xasthur.

Overall, I highly recommend this album; it is one of my favourite releases of 2009. I recommend even more strongly that you buy the album, as ever, but in this case the packaging is not something to be missed. If you like Black Metal, especially of the Suicidal variety, and you don't get or like this album, you're a fool.

http://www.xasthur.mercurous.net
http://www.hydrahead.com

The Project Hate MCMXCIX's The Lustrate Process

The Project Hate is a band that is relatively unknown, due to the fact that they don't tour, and it's a goddamned shame! The Project Hate has, in my mind, done the impossible time after time again and improved themselves with each album. It's a band that sounds like no one else and is hard to label. Explaining it to fellow interested metal heads I usually call them Epic, Progressive Death Metal with electronic/industrial parts. The emphasis of my label is on Death Metal. Through and through, The Project Hate is brutal and extremely heavy.

The jump from In Hora Mortis Nostræ, The Hate's previous effort, to The Lustrate Process is not as far as the jump from the album prior to In Hora Mortis Nostræ. Music-wise at least. Production and tone wise, The Lustrate Process is much more clear and crisp and the bass sounds absolutely amazing and tangy. The drums are as good as ever, and the new drummer lives up to the always stellar drumming, even adding some fitting blastbeats, which are a new addition. The amount of layers to this band have always been staggering and it's no different this time around. I'm still finding new details.

The Lustrate Process has a lot of guest appearances and it would take too long to go into each one, But I will say this: All of them are good.

While The Lustrate Process only span 7 songs, each one is an epic masterpiece, and the album still manages to clock in at 64 minutes! This means the songs are really long, the shortest being 7 minutes, whereas the rest are around 8-9 minutes long. The opening track is almost 13 minutes long but let me make it clear right away; You'll be clinging to your speakers for every second of The Lustrate Process. There's not a single boring or skippable part or song on this album.

The lyrical themes for The Project Hate have always been anti-christian, something that I normally denounce as being too simplistic. Lord K however, the mastermind behind the band, writes lyrics like no other. At his disposal, he has two incredible vocalists; Jörgen Sandström is fucking brutal, and his timing is flawless, but put against the absolutely beautiful voice of Jo Enckell, it becomes something more. It has to be heard, words can simply not do it justice.

The only downside, and this is really nitpicking, is that the closing track, "The Burial of Gods", isn't as powerful as the other songs on the album. But this is truly a minor issue. This album is, like all their previous albums, better than the one preceeding it and each preceeding album was perfect. If you don't know this band and you like Death Metal, go buy their records, you will NOT be disappointed!

Second Opinion by Argus
So I started playing this album, not knowing what to expect. The opening riff to intro track "Descend Into the Eternal Pits" was excellent, I thought...but it lost me with Enckell's vocals. Don't get me wrong, her voice is excellent, it is powerful, but fitting is not a word I'd use here. The harsh vocals are good, a little better than standard-fare Death Metal vocals, but, ultimately, they are still forgettable. My biggest complaint, however, is the length of the songs. It is not that long songs bother me - quite the contrary; some of my own are longer than those here. It is that they are unnecessarily long - they seem like they're going somewhere...and they never do. One is constantly left with the feeling of "o.k., is this song over yet?"...some would've been boring if four minutes in length, let alone 8:55. What's more, they seem to cram a lot of clearly unrelated riffs into one song, and it gives it a very disjointed feel. At times it was a struggle not to hit the Next button.

I will applaud them on their guitar and drum tones...bass is good too, easily audible, very dark sound to it, too. I'll grant that this band is unique enough, they've got some good riffs, and they each know their instruments... I'm not a huge fan of DM, so I'll sum it up by saying that I just wish that "unique" here also equalled "interesting."

http://www.theprojecthate.net/

http://www.myspace.com/theprojecthate

Behemoth's Evangelion - Second Review

Behemoth are without doubt my favorite band. This does not lend my reviews a bias - nay, I simply recognise the fact that they are the greatest band around. Demigod is sacred to me, and I love every release of theirs. Demigod was the first album I bought, and whence that record comes my epiphanic reaction to this band and their music - it was the cleansing light falling upon my obscured path, the slap in the face which I needed so. It wasn't just a musical elysium I'd happened upon; it contained the life-energy of mainman/frontman Nergal, and chunks of his philosophy embedded throughout the lyrics. It also came at the right time of my life...and his responsiveness/bond/"closeness" to the fans is also key.

At any rate, when The Apostasy came out, I was a bit disappointed. Perhaps it was because I was expecting something to best Demigod, and inasmuch was a decidedly unfair comparison/bar to set. However, to-day I think it is perhaps their weakest record...which isn't to say at all that I dislike it; it just lacks something intangible. I awaited Evangelion with the greatest of anxieties, and Behemoth did not fail in the least this time around.

I am in a "kid-in-the-candy-store" moment listening to it. It is rapturous, the experience of this album. It is certainly one of the most I N T E N S E albums I've ever heard. From "Daimonos" straight on through to the closer "Lucifer," it is one aural onslaught after another, on the order of "Sculpting the Throne ov Seth," "Slaves Shall Serve," and "No Sympathy For Fools." It really puts the "Black" in "Blackened Death Metal." That's not to say they de-emphasise the Death Metal part of it all; on the contrary, the opening riff to "Transmigrating Beyond Realms oV Amenti" is a classically dark, brutal death metal riff. On a whole, the riffs are perhaps best described as just brutal, dark, mean, angry, and "balls-t0-the-wall" in the extreme. The solos are also great - some of my favorite Behemoth solos are on this record, especially Nergal's solo in "The Seed ov I," the blues-based solo that smacks of the solo in "LAM." Seth's solos are all beautiful in a dark, twisted manner. Orion's bass playing is tight as ever, and masterfully tasteful. Inferno plays the drums like he invented them - you know he's only now realising his own insane, physics-defying capabilities, and it seems like he could outdrum nearly anybody if he were brain-dead, let alone at the top of his game, as it is now.

Next up is the guitar tone. I was worried about this the most. The Apostasy's worst feature was the guitar sound - it was inferior in this manner to its predecessor, for some reason. The EMGs had quite a bit to do with that, I think. However, this album has hell-spawned guitar tone, and the EMGs actually sound good in this outing. The MESA shines through very strongly, has that signature loose, huge, fat growl, with a juiciness unheard before or after Demigod. Everything just sounds positively HUGE on this record. Orion's bass tone and Inferno's drum tones are simply awe-some. The vocals are just as intense as Demigod, but more natural and with seemingly fewer layers, and are also more intelligible. It's also great to hear the "gang" vocals in "Daimonos," to which contributed Inferno, Orion, Seth, and other more "behind-the-scenes" luminaries within the Behemoth organisation, namely producer/engineer/etc. extraordinaire Malta, webgod Manticore, and the irreplaceable MySpace/YouTuber/American front organiser Hatefrost. The lyrics are in many ways better than ever...I hate to have to pick out quotes as if they're favorites, but a sampling would be two lines from "He Who Breeds Pestilence," ...This earth grew weary and dull/Is it the renaissance of my existence?/Is there a future for me beyond the stars? It is also great to hear Polish lyrics - I've been dying for more for some time now.

If I were to pick out weaknesses for Evangelion, they would be as follows: "Lucifer" is a bit repetitive, musically, but I would like to see it as a closer, perhaps in place of "Chant for Eschaton 2000." "Alas, Lord is Upon Me" is a bit weaker than the rest of the songs. It seems to transcend less-so than its peers on the record. Third is that, overall, I wish the album were longer - can never have enough Behemoth. This all having been said, the word weakness is a very relative word here. None of what I mentioned as "weaknesses" are really a weakness, just things that seem to keep it from completely transcending Demigod.

All told, this album is absolutely phenomenal - I really can't put into words how much I love it. I'm only six and one-third listens in atm, but I have two copies in my immediate possession, one in the mail for emergency backup, and at least one of every subsequent special edition, should they be released, will be bought up by yours truly. This release is truly a "non-skip" album - I will run into a moral conflict, of sorts, when I happen to start to like certain songs over others, and so I listen to one or a few songs which dominate my mind/time to the exclusion of others.

I can recommend any Behemoth record to anyone, however, you could certainly do worse than to play this album for someone to familiarise themselves with Behemoth. Any digits possibly to be raised are up for this one! "All hail slain and risen God!"

Behemoth's Evangelion

After the first 6-7 listens, I started to get a sense for the album and what I had to write. I'll be honest with you, I wasn't looking forward to writing this review, because if I had to sum it up into one word it's this: Disappointing.

Evangelion is still very much Behemoth, but it's not as big an improvement over the previous as their other albums were. Not as fresh. The riffs are in focus, driving and defining each song. It's heavy, propably their heaviest yet, but compared to their other albums it's boring. The solos are tame and sound uninspired and overall nothing really jumps at you, forcing you to listen to that song one more time.

The first half is definitely the strongest, with tracks like 'Daimonos' (With the only really memorable solo) and 'Shemhamforash' and 'He Who Breeds Pestilence'. Then we get to 'The Seed Ov I', which has an awesome section about a third into the song that reminds me of Satanica or Thelema.6. Instead of building upon this, they go for some "generic" evil sounding riffage to end the track. After this comes two pretty forgettable songs(I still can't remember what they sound like), which is slightly redeemed by 'Lucifer'.

'Lucifer' replaced another slow and epic song, which I'm sure will show up on their next EP. The closing track we are left with is reminiscent of 'The Reign Ov Shemsu-Hor' I think, and that is certainly not a bad thing, but it falls short compared to it. I can't help but think what we could have had instead.

With all the things produced surrounding the album, including a fantastic art direction and the many video diaries, the album is the part of the machine that doesn't quite live up the rest.

Inferno is the only one that really outdoes himself, providing, once again, some of the best drumming in the genre. It's just a shame it's not enough to save the album.

It's still a good album, despite my unflattering comments, but I expected more from Behemoth. I'm sure it will find it's way into my circulation once the disappointment has washed away, but colour me unimpressed until then.

http://www.myspace.com/behemoth

http://www.behemoth.pl

Krallice's Eponymous Debut

I had never heard of this band before going to a learnt-of-at-the-last-minute Wolves in the Throne Room show from some friends of mine who were going, and they, not too familiar with Krallice themselves, described the latter band as being "Technical Black Metal" with riffs that are insanely long. My first thought was great, misnomer-Black Metal even more pretentious than normal. I didn't know either of the other bands, and was going so I could see WitTR live - doesn't often happen out this way. Krallice were the second band on, and my buddies wanted to see them, so I stayed with them. Was I ever surprised.

The band got up on stage, and I was already impressed when I saw that the bassist/vocalist was wearing a Drudkh shirt. Then I noticed a six-string bass, a beautiful one, by the way, and thought what in Hell is going on here? Then they started playing...they had weird, but addictive (perhaps weirdly addictive? and I mean weird in the etymological sense here, too...), long riffs, during which the bassist improvised! By the end of their set, I knew I had to get their record, and bought it at the venue (I would later learn that they didn't play much from the record).

There are but six songs on the entire album, also named Krallice and released earlier this year through Profound Lore Records, and yet it clocks in at 52:42 - the shortest song on the album is 6:05 in length, the longest being 15:21. Riffs will go on for what seems like a relative eternity before repeating; it's uniquely disconcerting. This tactic also lends a truly twisted feel to the music, in a way, and it does so more successfully than most of this acid/multi-hallucinogenically derived metal (Black and otherwise). The focus and musicianship that rehearsing music like this must take is daunting and self-evident. What's more, they have their own sound that isn't immediately reminiscent of any other music, especially any other strain of Black Metal. There are some odd song-titles (but not in the dope-fiend manner) on this record, such as "Cnestorial," "Moler Codices," and "Timehusk."

Fear not bad production, however. This album is not recorded-in-the-forest-through-a-toilet production, and the guitar tone is excellent. The bass is audible, too, and never stays with the rhythm guitar long, veering off quickly and just long enough to make the switches ever-so-slightly off-putting. "Keeps ya on yer toes," so to speak.

Overall, I am very pleased with this album/band, and I recommend seeing them live, if possible! If you're looking for something unique, musically, I cannot recommend this band highly enough. There's not a bad song on this album - you just need the time to listen to it straight-through. Highly recommended!

A second opinion by Nova

Krallice is weird. Discordant, then harmonic. It's a very interesting combination and it certainly keeps you on your toes, as my esteemed colleague put it. The tracks suffer from being long-winded, droning on with the same riffs for several minutes, not all of them interesting enough to justify it. That said, it's definitely a good album. There's a tense and haunting sort of atmosphere and some really beautiful melodies. I especially enjoy 'Energy Chasms'. 15-20 minutes shorter and this would have been my image of near-perfect Black Metal.

http://www.myspace.com/krallice
http://www.profoundlorerecords.com