Snow Wolf Records “This Wretched Earth” (Global Black Metal Compilation Album)

    The world shall soon face the sinister wrath of a colossal black metal storm conjured up by Snow Wolf Records. “This Wretched Earth,” is a compilation album that brings together 16 bands from 14 countries, thus creating one great black metal heathen army to unleash chaos upon the global metal community. 

    I really like what Snow Wolf Records has done as of recent, and the bands they have included on this compilation are extremely talented up and coming acts. Some of the tracks provided by the bands are exclusive tracks and are not available anywhere else. From top to bottom, the album features some raw ritualistic sounding black metal, yet features bands that are able to step outside the generic extreme metal trends and offer up unique sounding recordings. 

    Even though we come from different countries, the passion for extreme music is a truly unifying force and one that has allowed people to share some unbelievably creative recordings. The album’s first track, “Black Metal Invasion,” by the Canadian band Spectral Dance, was the perfect choice to start off the compilation. The song has that primitive old school raw black metal vibe and reminded me of early Bathory. You hear a band ready to take on the world without any remorse and they have an amazing amount of venomous energy. 

    Throughout the album you will hear a variety of approaches ranging from straightforward raw black metal to haunting atmospheric black. Take for example, “Akvan,” a band that really caught my attention by constructing a track that contained a profound atmosphere and featured some mesmerizing guitar work. When it comes to production I felt that for the most part the bands on this compilation did a tremendous job recording and getting the music to have that certain quality needed to keep listeners engaged. Some of the bands are of course a bit more skilled than others, but the passion is definitely there from a majority of the bands. Gestorven from Malaysia was one act which I felt hammered out a killer sounding riff and capture the pure dark essence of black metal. 

    Some of the names on this compilation sounded familiar and sure enough one of the bands I reviewed before for this blog. Starer, a band that I reviewed back in January of this year, is an extremely impressive band worth checking out. The band’s solemn atmospheric black metal style is truly breath taking at times and features some brilliant dynamic arrangements. Another band that I felt composed a really impressive sounding track was Odyrmos from Greece. The song mixed together ambient dungeon synth with soothing atmospheric touches that reminded me a lot of Lustre. 

    So many of the bands featured on this compilation offered up some epic, blistering and blasphemous sounding tracks, and in the end all of them are worth checking out. Huge respect for Snow Wolf Records for putting this compilation together, and for bring together the global extreme metal community. We may come from different places, but all across the planet there are fiendish extreme metal fans and artists who share the same passion for this music and no matter what is going on in the world, we are united as one global extreme metal community! 

Snow Wolf Records Bandcamp (Compilation comes out August 6th on Cassette, CD, and Digital Download. Pre-Order now available!) : 

https://snowwolfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/this-wretched-earth

Postcards from New Zealand "City Islands"

    Experimenting with a variety of unconventional sounds and atmospheres, Postcards from New Zealand composes an epic sounding instrumental story on their new release, “City Islands.” Sometimes the best albums are written without lyrics, because in the absence of lyrics, the musicians are able to use their talents to create an environment that then allows for the listeners to let their minds wander and create mental pictures for the sounds that they hear. 

    Part of the band’s, “We Watched Them Devour album series,” this new offering comes screaming across the musical landscape with a monumental rush of vibrant sounding elements. From progressive to post-rock influences, this band is all about putting together vivid sounding atmospheres that inject a cinematic flavor into the overall mix. Instrumental albums can be exceptionally well done, or can end up turning listeners off once they realize that the band has become lost in a repetitive haze of pointless rhythmic structures and lack luster sounding arrangements. 

    To be quite honest, if the music begins to sound weak or just plan sloppy, people will turn it off. Postcards from New Zealand seems to be aware of this and right away I could tell that they band wanted to make an impact and pull listeners into a massive sounding world by coming up with a strong and moving piece of music on their opening track. The band starts off with a very powerful sounding composition called, “As the Towers Crumbled,” that makes you feel like you are walking through a post-apocalyptic world and there is nothing around besides an endless row of ruins. I really thought the drumming was precise and provided a great deal of emotion to then aid the somber sounding guitar arrangement. 

    Throughout the rest of the album the band continues to experiment with sounds that continuously fuels this vivid cinematic environment. At times you do start to hear the band getting a bit comfortable with a rhythm and maybe stretch it a for bit, however, they always seem to transition at the right time and incorporate plenty of creative dynamics. 

    Take for example the song, “Ocean Avenue,” which is around 16-17 minutes long and contains one massive sounding riff structure. Even though what the band is hammering out is not exactly the most technical sounding arrangement, I was really impressed by the tranquil and trance like atmosphere. It is never an easy task to write out a 16 minute piece of music, although Postcards from New Zealand did a solid job and I felt as though the song helped strengthen the album’s overall theme which flows with an impressive synergy. 

    In the end, Postcards from New Zealand is definitely a creative group of musicians who thrive on experimenting and expanding on instrumental concepts that draw from a variety of influences, yet they are able to establish their own unique identity. Postcards from New Zealand is a band that I highly recommend checking out and the group demonstrates a great deal of artistic talent. No pointless sounding instrumental arrangements that you might hear at the local supermarket being played on this album! 

Check out the entire album below via Mr Doom 666's Channel :

Postcards from New Zealand Bandcamp:

https://postcardsfromnewzealand.bandcamp.com/

Band's Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/postcardsfromnewzealand/