Sin Offering "Charnel House"

    When I first came across this four song EP via a Youtube channel that I am subscribed to called, No Deal, I was extremely interested to hear what this band sounded like given the very grim looking album cover. The band’s name, Sin Offering, is very appropriate given this band’s utterly haunting post-punk sound that instantly hooks you right away and covers you in this funeral veil of mesmerizing darkness. 

    Titled, “Charnel House,” this EP by Sin Offering is something that I can see appealing to a wide range of music fans. The band’s sound takes certain elements from gothic rock and post-punk bands like Christian Death, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bauhaus, as well as other acts that have this unique ability of creating macabre themed music while also coming up with very catchy sounding arrangements. The singer in Sin Offering has an unfathomably captivating voice that perfectly compliments the music and reminded me a bit of Debora Iyall the singer from the post-punk/new wave band Romeo Void. During some of the songs on this EP you feel as though the singer’s voice is leading you through this hazy maze as you become lost in the morbid blissfulness created by the other instruments. 

    Another area on this EP that vividly stands out and adds to the band’s profoundly haunting sound is the guitar playing. The guitarist may not be some shredding virtuoso, but they sure as hell know how to come up with some down right catchy chord progressions. Plus, I really like their guitar tone and how they went about utilizing different guitar effects throughout the release to give the music a very dynamic sound. The opening song, “Pleasure Garden,” starts out with these ghastly muffled noises, but once the drums kick in and offer up a solid straightforward heart pounding post-punk like rhythm, you quickly become possessed by the sonic rush of dark hallucinogenic distortion. On the second track, “Bell Glass Mortuary,” I really liked the primitive sounding opening riff along with the singer’s vocal delivery. Some lyrics that caught my attention were, “Pale roses, silver scalpel, Heart-shaped locket, tooth and hair,” which again creates this ghastly romantic tale that the singer is able emphasize with such raw emotion behind every word. 

    “Gilt Hotel” and “Velvet Ossuary,” are a couple killer tracks as well featuring more addictive sounding guitar parts and macabre lyrics delivered in an enchanting manner. Some of the guitar melodies like on, “Gilt Hotel,” are really brilliant sounding, because even though they are not overly complex in terms of technicality, they have this ability to demand your attention as the notes feverishly ring out over the deafening drum noises. The bass part at the ending of, “Velvet Ossuary,” was another very creative idea and did a great job wrapping up the release by creating this ghastly atmosphere where the solemn bass riff sends you off into the pitch black void. 

    From the start of the EP to the harmoniously eerie end, “Charnel House,” is an EP that I highly recommend listening to if you are a fan of horrifyingly catchy post-punk and gothic themed rock music. The band is able to convey an amazing amount of raw and hypnotic energy, while achieving an unbelievably tight overall sound. To me this album’s haunting production and recording quality, as well as the phenomenal gothic lyrics, makes this an atypical listening that is highly needed in our world right now. Society has really been inundated with such cheap sounding overproduced garbage that when you come across a band like Sin Offering, you are completely blown away and hope to hear from them in the future. 

Check out the full EP below (Also, subscribe to No Deal's Youtube Channel! Tons of killer punk and underground releases worth checking out!) : 

Bandcamp link to the EP: 

https://soundgrotesca.bandcamp.com/album/charnel-house

Lucifixion "Trisect Joys of Pierced Hearts"

    US black metal savages, Lucifixion, hold nothing back on their debut full-length album, “Trisect Joys of Pierced Hearts,” by unleashing a merciless cataclysmic assault upon the extreme metal world. The band’s sound captures the chaotically raw and pestilent nature of classic 90’s black metal that makes you feel as though everything around you is being swallowed up into an abyss as a massive dark force is spreading across the land bringing about apocalyptic destruction. 

    I swear, from the bleak sounding guitar riffs to the ear shattering drums, this album is exactly what you want if you are looking to hear some pulverizing black metal similar to that of early Emperor, Gorgoroth, Satanic Warmaster, Darkthrone and Marduk. I would also say that even though the production quality on this album takes after the traditional cold blasphemous black metal sound, there were moments on this album where I actually liked how Lucifixion sort of added their own unique spin and came up with some creatively sinister sounding arrangements. Never once did I find myself feeling like this album would fall into the generic shitty black metal category that one can find on Youtube where all the members look like mountain men who failed at putting their corpse paint on, thus making themselves look like Juggalos. 

    The album begins as one would except from an insidious black metal band with plenty of hissing distortion and agonizing cries to usher in the deafening onslaught. “Hammer of Fevered Lights,” is a strong opening track featuring some decimating corpse shredding riffs as well as a massive amount of feverish drumming. Probably what I enjoyed most about this album was the very chaotically catchy blizzard like black metal tempos that instantly hooks you. Songs like, “Howl, Thy Desolate Sound” and “Feral Mass,” are a couple sadistic sounding tracks that throw you into this harsh sounding chaotic melee from beginning to end. 

    Also, the album’s shorter tracks contain a monolith sized amount of raw pestilent energy, which is why even though this style of black metal is nothing new to the extreme music world, you can really appreciate the utterly savage arrangements that Lucifixion conjures up. For example, track number five, “O, To Strike One Great and Final Wound On,” is a close to three minute blitzkrieg of bestial guitar riffs and adrenaline pumping primitive sounding rhythms. Plus, the intro to the song is extremely creative by having the sounds of wolves howling to setup the gruesome oncoming aural assault. Another track that caught my attention was, “Iron Outer Midnyghte,” which contains some intense tempos as well as these unbelievably sickening vocals that sound like a bloodthirsty ghoul crying out in a remote dark forest while feasting a human sacrifice.

    Overall, “Trisect Joys of Pierced Hearts,” is highly recommend for fans of insanely raw and unforgiving black metal. Lucifixion really captures the hateful spirit of what one would expect to hear from a ruthless black metal act, while also coming up with some extremely solid compositions. From start to finish there is little to nothing one can complain about this album, which is why once you start listening I don’t think you will be able to tear yourself about from the ritualistic sounding carnage. The album comes out June 30th via Sentient Ruin, so go pre-order now and secure a copy of this hellish offering before it sells out! 

Check out the song, “Howl, Thy Desolate Sound,” below:

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/

Starer "Wind, Breeze, or Breath"

    The one-man atmospheric black act Starer continues to impress with each new release by offering listeners an unbelievably profound listening experience. Starer’s third full-length album, “Wind, Breeze, or Breath,” is a thrilling exploration through grandiose atmospheric landscapes featuring some blistering black metal elements to create a fascinating sonic realm. 

    The album’s cinematic like presentation makes this a truly unique release where the music engulfs you with a plethora of sounds and emotions. Josh Hines, the mastermind behind Starer, is also involved in a variety of different projects and I’ve always felt that his approach to composing music is very dynamic. The guitar playing on this album is probably one of the strongest aspects of the entire album, and I like how he creates such simple yet monumental sounding riffs. Even though he does not baffle listeners with scale shredding lead parts, nor does he attempt to throw around whacky time signatures, the riffs on this album conjure up plenty of raw energy to add to the colossal sounding atmospheres. 

    This is definitely an album in which selecting a favorite track will be extremely difficult, because the music flows with a noticeably strong synergy. The first song on the album, “Drifting,” begins without any hesitation and feverishly jumps into a blizzard of aggressive black metal style riffs along with these epic sounding keyboard parts. Everything seems to be come at you all at once, although there are moments where the tempo slows down for a bit, but then suddenly picks up the pace to drag you right back into a distorted firestorm. After that first song I knew from the adrenaline pumping arrangements to the vivid sounding musical landscapes that the music was going to be moving into an even more grandiose sounding direction compared to previous releases. The album’s second track, “Crossing,” continues to hammer out more intense chord progressions and symphonic atmospheric elements. Also, Josh’s vocals are very impressive throughout the song as well as entire album. His harsh black metal vocal style really compliments the instrumental arrangements by emphasizing the album's unapologetic and raw emotional sound. 

    Atmospheric black metal acts like Starer definitely demonstrate certain characteristics that I think allows for the music to travel beyond the confines of what people think of extreme metal music. For example, the keyboard part during the intro to the song, “Witnessing,” caught my attention and I enjoyed how the notes created this spectral void like soundscape which reminded me of what you might hear from bands like Woods of Desolation and Earthshine. The balance of harsh black metal riffs and captivating atmospheric noises is something that I think makes this album very special, which I do believe can appeal to a wide range of music fans. 

    My overall thoughts about Starer’s new full-length album, “Wind, Breeze, or Breath,” should not come as a surprise given what I have already written throughout this review. Josh Hines is an impressive songwriter and composer who I think understands how to put together compelling sounding album. At the end of the day, Starer continues to get even better with each new release, and I can tell you that there is genuine passion and determination fueling each new recording from this act. I highly recommend this new album as well as past Starer releases, because the more people we get to listen to this music, the less likely society will become brainwashed by crappy artists like Maroon 5. 

Starer Bandcamp (Album comes out July 28th):

https://starer.bandcamp.com/

Vile Ritual "Caverns of Occultic Hatred"

     The one-man East Coast based death metal act known as, Vile Rites, delivers a downright brutal debut full-length titled, “Caverns of Occultic Hatred.” This album really captures the sickening bestial essence of devastating old school death metal by aggressively overwhelming listeners with insidious amounts of putrid distortion and cataclysmic blast beats. 

    Vile Rites offers a tremendous amount of monstrous sized guitar riffs, while throwing in some agonizing lead guitar parts when needed. I think what should be pointed out right away about this album is the extremely solid production. The way that this album was recorded makes you feel as though the instruments were recorded in some primordial cavern where all light is devoured by some unspeakable ominous dark force. From the beginning of the album until the ending, the songs simply give off this malevolent, yet mesmerizing vibe which reminded me a but of mid to late 90’s Morbid Angel. You can also hear influences from other death metal acts like Incantation, Morgoth and Demilich, but Vile Ritual does a great job not getting stuck recycling the same generic death metal compositions that you hear from some of the other new up and coming death metal acts. 

    In addition to the crushing riffs and devastating death growls, the haunting hellish atmospheric elements used throughout the release really add to the album’s deafening sound and inhumanly abhorrent lyrical themes. The intro parts to the opening song, “Formless,” is a very clever way to bring the listener through this surreal sounding void and into a thunderous landscape where the instruments consume you like a swarm of vile demons descending upon a small village. Songs like, “Aimless” and “Gyromancy,” feature some truly sickening riffs that perfectly compliment the barbaric death growls echoing across the musical carnage. 

    One track that really caught my attention was, “Manifestation,” because the ominous intro part reminded me of a terrifying supernatural horror film score, which then fades out to be completely annihilated by an agonizing guitar arrangement. The music starts out slow and takes on a very death doom like quality sweeping you away into this distorted void of hellish entropy. Towards the end of the album I’d say not much changes as the artist continues to pump out very vicious arrangements, while throwing in these eerily hypotonic atmospheric elements. The final two songs, “Living Hell” and “Void,” are a couple unbelievably solid offerings of ruthlessly bombastic death metal to wrap up Vile Ritual’s sonically destructive tale. 

     Working with Sentient Ruin Laboratories, Vile Ritual’s “Caverns of Occultic Hatred” will be released on June 16th, and I’d highly recommend fans of savage sounding extreme music to check the album out. I thought Vile Ritual did a great job not getting lost in a sea of random technicality, nor did the overall mix sound completely cluttered and horrendously arranged. For a one-man act I was extremely impressed by the songwriting, production and ability to come up with a unique sounding full-length release that does not simply copy similar sounding old school death metal riffs from past bands. In the end, Vile Ritual lays before the sacrilegious altar an album that deserves to be listened to as well as worshipped by all those who desire some hideous sounding light devouring death metal. 

Check out the song "Living Hell" below:

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/caverns-of-occultic-hatred