• MASSIVE REVIEWING CAPACITY • is our latest short review column focusing on stray quality releases a few times a month, or, roughly every two weeks depending on the current month’s release schedule. In an attempt to be more conversational these are easygoing and casual thoughts for the most part, so relax and think for yourself as I attempt to find something, anything to say about multitudes of new releases relevant to my interests. — If you find a record you dig go tell the band on social media and support them with a purchase. If you’d like your music reviewed, read the FAQ and send promos to: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

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Whereas most early 90’s built black/thrash metal offerings were aligned with exaggerations of Celtic Frost and early German witching metal Umeå, Sweden-borne quartet BEWITCHED were more clearly inspired by 80’s traditional heavy metal, first wave black metal, and the rowdier ‘Ace of Spades‘ informed side of speed metal. Comprised of folks best known for Naglfar (also: Throne of Ahaz, Setherial, Ancient Wisdom et al.) their first ten years were prolific and marketed well enough that I’d recognized their records from magazine ads years before I’d sourced a copy of their first. By the time the band’s fifth album released in 2006 they weren’t catching as much motion as the blackened neothrash of the time but you’ll find some folks saying they were “ahead of their time” I guess in reference to the popularity of Midnight or similar. Two full decades later they’re back with an album that seems to reprise and reference their debut album ‘Diabolical Desecration‘ to some degree.

‘Diabolical Death Mass‘ is more-or-less a solid and straightforward “evil speed metal” album and doesn’t reprise the striding Bathory-esque stance of ‘Spiritual Warfare‘ (2006) too directly, though at least one song (“The Witch Spell”) pulls out some Tom G. Warrior type noises briefly. The songcraft here is repetitious in template with shorter ~3-4 minute pieces featured throughout and the full listen reads as traditional in inspiration as a result. The album is a great time and a solid return for the band though I would’ve liked more variety tucked in there to flesh out the full listen.

https://osmoseproductions.bandcamp.com/album/diabolical-death-mass

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Black metal side-project RIVERFLAME bring admirable exuberance and high-dramatic atmosphere to the ‘epic’ melodic niche on this well-concieved debut full-length album. Though folks will want to point to Summoning for a “vibes-based” reference outright this is misguided as the style and headspace conveyed here is uptempo melodic black metal which has more to do with pagan black metal and lead-driven folk metal, such as Havukruunu or something deeply obscure like Shambless. Whatever reference pulls you in you’ll find an intense cinematic scope applied to most of these pieces while the main point of focus is primarily a number of shredding leads, some neoclassical inspired guitar work and such. Their engine is running hot and the actual sound of ‘Lunar Crusades‘ is sharp though I didn’t find these songs substantive beyond their striding n’ shredding roll through.

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Sicilian quartet DEMON SPELL should recall the early days of Mercyful Fate most clearly as this debut full-length album opens via “As Lucifer Smiles” but they additionally touch upon later NWOBHM inspired bops and early speed metal (“Curse of the Undead”) within said context. Vocalist Federico Fano doesn’t necessarily have King Diamond‘s pipes or cadence but the effect is close enough as layered arrangements and a fair amount of reverb give certain songs a Satan-esque wail I’d enjoyed. If you are looking for a more direct likeness to the infamous Danes on ‘Blessed be the Dark‘ I’d point to “The Tolling” coming closer than most but this type of song trades off with pieces (“Dive the Hellfire”) which any Metal Massacre-era collector or general US power metal fan would enjoy just as well. Though I’d wanted to cover this one in more depth there was very little to say beyond “Great 80’s heavy metal inspired fare.“

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Somewhat in the tradition of earlier “industrial” black metal via Aborym, Diabolicum and various Norwegian progenitors Finnish quartet ANTIHUMAN INDUSTRIES describe their collective work as mechanized black metal, or, “mecha-black” if you will. Featuring folks known for both black metal and outlier craft far beyond these folks don’t necessarily hinge their interpretation on 90’s tropes and sound fonts for ‘Accelerated Death Impulse‘ but when focusing on the synth and electro-kraft imbued in pieces like “A.H.I. (Syndicate Dolls)” you’ve gotta hear at least a bit of ‘Millennium‘-era Front Line Assembly or nearby in their work. Granted that song is an side-step from the raw black metal oontz-oontz produced otherwise. The second half of the album breaks out more variety, takes a few bigger swings and lands some of the best songs on the album in the process. I am no expert in this realm but their approach reminded me of ‘Fire Walk With Us‘ enough to get both feet into their portal.

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For what it is worth this debut album from Bulgarian black metal artist HAJDUK was the first record of the lot reviewed this week I’d cranked the volume up to an unhealthy level as its roughly hissing guitar sound and deeper-set melodic thread inspired. Inspiration is a fitting observation as the title ‘Хвърковата чета‘ refers to the Flying Cavalry, a troupe and movement from Bulgarian revolutionary apostle Georgi Benkovski which’d inspired the populace (and foreigners) against the Ottoman empire. Though I’m not sure how much of the figures life they detail here they’ve been inspired by classical poetry for the lyrics and Bulgarian folk music for their melodies, ensuring they’ve escaped at least some of the common tropes of raw melodic black metal ideals today. Fans of chivalric melodic black metal from France and Poland should appreciate the approach here which is tuneful and dramatic at once. Certain songs have their cloying moments (re: parts of “Ударите”) but I figure if you can hang with a Drudkh album you’ll still appreciate this. Sublimely immersive work.

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Italian quintet STREGA return for a second EP release and this time their alchemists have brewed a three-song MCD seeking to splice epic tonality onto their oddly upbeat rasped and keys-tapping heavy metal inspired sound. Though you’ve likely heard a thousand blackened heavy metal bands to date ‘Mors Mortiys Morte‘ bears its own odd personage thanks to its unique keyboard/synth deployment (“Inna! Ulthar!” even has a solo) and otherwise ‘epic’ and jaunty movement through these songs. Imagine a King Diamond wail over an (older) Black Magick SS lead chorus and you’ll have some sense for the havoc within the title track. To make things even more interesting there is some manner of dark high fantasy narrative/world building happening here which helps to bring a theme to an otherwise unsteady concoction of proggy “Maiden-black” forms. Title track is the most cohesive piece here, the other two have their shaky disconnected moments but overall theirs is a unique enough meld.

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Moscow, Russia-based death metal quintet GROND bring a loud and somewhat chaotic big-grooving approach to this third album. Rooted in ‘old school’ Eldritch death interest but lacking a compelling grasp of the riff for my own taste ‘The Temple‘ generally focuses on lead guitar interest in order to differentiate each song. That is to say that they’re prone to distract with shredding and divebombing rather than a melodious one and most of these songs simply lumber within mid-paced riffing that is indiscriminate from my point of view, larger gestures you’d find on a Hail of Bullets album (see: “Dreadnought”). Vocals are inhuman and almost function as an atmospheric element within the band’s cranked approach but everything is so damned cranked to ten that their wall of sound obliterates much of the nuance available. There are a few exceptions such as the mid-paced and doomed title track, “The Temple” (see also: closer “Dark Solitude of the Sea” intro), which brings in keys for its middle section. The second half/end of the album is easily its better half for my own taste, so if you’re not sure on this one off the bat hang out ’til the end to see how it develops.

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