Uranium “Pure Nuclear Death”

    The American one-man savage doomsday composer behind Uranium unleashes a devastating full-length album that is brighter than a thousand suns and more devastating than anything one could have ever imagined. The mixture of agonizing black metal and surrealistic industrial elements creates a wasteland of post-apocalyptic sounding horror, making Uranium’s sophomore release, “Pure Nuclear Death,” an utterly haunting listening experience. 

    Uranium is working with Sentient Ruin once again, which comes as no surprise given the fact that Sentient Ruin was responsible for releasing Uranium’s cassette compilation “Wormboiler" back in 2021 as well as the band's first full-length album, “An Exacting Punishment.” This new release definitely continues the reign of industrial extreme blackened electronic chaos that one can hear on the previous releases, but I think this album goes even further into the entropic sounding landscapes where all light is devoured by a dark cloud of ash. 

    When I look at this album and the five tracks which are featured on it, I find that the entire release is one vivid sounding abysmal tale from beginning to end that almost traumatizes you as your mind is constantly being overloaded by these surreal arrangements. From the very first track, “Absolute Terror,” you are met with a festering swarm of raw aggressive guitar distortion and nerve pounding rhythms. Uranium holds nothing back and really begins the album with a merciless assault of sonic terror, thus grabbing your attention as the music radioactively seems to evolve into even darker sounding directions. On the second track, “Pure Nuclear Death,” you find yourself speechless hearing the crackling sounds burst out of the speakers while these sound clips discuss the grim realities of what will happen if we experience nuclear armageddon. 

    For me the album is going to be one those releases that you either find extremely fascinating, or one which will end up leaving you completely terrified and not wanting to leave your house for a week. The music is very abrasive sounding as the album progresses with song's such as “Casual Violence” and “Fortified Mass Fungus.” In terms of the explosive chaotic compositions, they only become more overwhelming as you try to make sense of the bleak reality which will befall humanity if we continue to march off the cliff and into a hopeless oblivion. The vocal parts on this album actually impressed me the most, as the vocals really compliment the doom like atmospheres that give off a very cinematic like aura at times. I really enjoyed the last song, “Black Knight Satellite,” as the Godflesh-like approach with its agonizing industrial elements aggressively shreds away at your sanity. You almost cannot imagine what you are hearing is human as the music transforms into this cataclysmic electronic onslaught. 

    Overall, Uranium’s “Pure Nuclear Death,” is a horrifying extreme warning to all of us regarding nuclear war and the impacts it will have on our world should our world leaders decide to the press buttons. I think Uranium’s unfathomable extreme creativity throughout this release was on full display. Even if you are not a fan of this type of music I believe that the attention to detail as well as the strong production made the album’s theme undeniable potent. Extreme music has always been at the forefront when it comes to calling out these topics that people tend to ignore, which is why labels like Sentient Ruin and artists like Uranium continue to gain massive support from the underground extreme music community. Highly worth checking out if you are into punishing extreme music with a very profound message! 

Check out the song "Pure Nuclear Death" :

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/pure-nuclear-death

 

Ash Prison “Future Torn”

    Ash Prison is a true meeting of the most malevolent minds in the world of decimating underground extreme music and their debut album, "Future Torn," is a surrealistic sounding nightmare that invites listeners to partake in one punishing darkened industrial sounding exhibition. Featuring Matt Auxier from industrial occult themed act 6th Circle, J. Thompson from the darkwave group Child Ov Night and M. Alagna of Abstracter/Somnolent/ex-Atrament, their collaboration on this release is definitely something to take notice of if you are fan of agonizing extreme music. 

    Sentient Ruin will be responsible for releasing this sadistic electronic creation, so right away you know that the music is going to be profoundly sinister and down right unapologetic to the rotten core. Ash Prison’s sound and style is exactly what you want to hear if you are a fan of Ministry (The Land of Rape and Honey period especially), Godflesh and Skinny Puppy, as well as ambient industrial black metal artists that have come along as of recent to offer these really raw and mind altering pieces of hateful sounding music. This album speaks to those who see the world as a bleak and hopeless mess, slowly being driven to the edge of collapse. M. Alagna’s vocals tell this frightening tale of futuristic annihilation as the heart pounding industrial rhythms and gritty distortion perfectly forms these ruinous soundscapes. 

    Once I first started listening to this album, I could definitely hear a mixture of each musician’s vicious artistic backgrounds as well as their extreme sounding musical influences. The opening track, “Archangel,” commences with these thunderous bursts of guitar distortion that signal forth the hellish deafening destruction. As much as the arrangements hit and grab your attention, I can’t stress the importance of the vocals and how on songs such as, “Death Reborn,” “Eraser” and “No Return,” the lyrics inject a sense of vividly haunting realism that speaks directly to you. “No Return,” is especially one track which I really enjoyed as the hypnotic sounds as well as the abrasive straightforward guitar riffs definitely convey a harsh old school 90’s industrial metal sound. 

    As I listened to this album multiple times, I truly felt as though that the execution on each track in terms of the production and recording quality played an important role in making this release really standout. A lot of artists that experiment with extreme industrial music tend to get carried away and end up putting out atrocious sound piles of horseshit, which is why I am very selective with this style of extreme music. Ash Prison’s confident and uncompromising aggression simply demands your attention. As the album progresses, you can really hear their sadistic experimental passion on tracks like, “Scorn,” “Collapse” and “Black Horizon.” Actually, the suffocating atmosphere on “Black Horizon” perfectly captures the nihilistic nature of raw black metal, which is why it was probably one of my favorite tracks off of the album. 

    To quote Pinhead from the movie Hellraiser, “Demons to some, angels to others.” Ash Prison is an act that I can see winning over those who fiendishly desire chaotic extreme industrial music which digs deep into the endless blackened distorted depths, while at the same time striking fear into the minds of those who might find themselves lost in the abrasive sounding voids. “Future Torn” is an album that perfectly encapsulates the abhorrently creative artistic talents that Sentient Ruin continues to promote, thus making this yet another album highly worth seeking out once it is released September 22, 2023. 

Check out the song "Death Reborn" below:

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/

Abstracter, Disimperium and Funeral Chant live at Eli's Mile High Club (9/8/2023)

 

    Last night I decided to make the trek out to Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland, CA where three unfathomably extreme bands would be performing and offering up decimating ear shattering riffs to all those metal maniacs in attendance. Funeral Chant, Disimperium and Abstracter are three very insidious sounding acts that exemplifying the decimating dark spirit of extreme music. 

    Before the show I will admit that driving through the part of Oakland where Eli’s Mile High Club is located can be a very surreal and sobering experience when pertaining to the state of society. As much as the bands performing are “extreme” and the fans in attendance can put on the tough image, nothing compares to the harsh and abysmal reality of the area around the venue where you see people strung out on drugs and living in torn up tents. Actually, getting to hear live music while being around people who share the same passionate of extreme metal is sort of the perfect escape from that chaotic world outside. Also, I was also really excited to meet up my friend from Canada who came out to the Bay Area, because he too has the same enthusiastic mindset for metal music as I do, which made attend this show really enjoyable. 

    Upon arriving at the venue, the first band Funeral Chant just launched into their set right as I walked through the door and into the dimly light venue. Funeral Chant is a local black metal band that has a purely sinister sound that reminds me a bit of groups like Marduk, Blasphemy and Beherit. Being that they are a local band I could tell the audience was extremely supportive of the group throughout the entire set. I thought the band’s singer/guitarist had great stage presence as he unleashed his agonizing cries over the hellish chord progressions. The band for the most part sounded solid and I think that they were a good choice to open the show, because the crowd seemed to very responsive from the start of their set until the very end. 

    After Funeral Chant cleared the stage, the second band Disimperium began setting up for their set. This destructive four-piece band from Portland, OR caught my attention a couple years back with the release of their debut EP, "Malefic Obliteration.” They combine sickening black metal with tormenting death metal to offer up one sadistic overall sound. Recently, they released an album called, “Grand Insurgence Upon Despotic Altars,” so I was looking forwarded to hearing the new material live. Right away, I could tell that this band had a profoundly brutal live sound as both guitarist seemed to play with this unexplainable savage synergy. The band’s technical riffs capture that gruesome old school death metal sound, while the slower sections convey a more malevolent and raw blackened death metal quality. Also, the drumming was insanely intense and I could tell that the drummer was expending a ton of energy from behind the kit. 

Disimperium

    Once Disimperium finished their extreme sounding onslaught, it was then time for the night’s headliner to take the stage. Abstracter is a Bay Area band that I have followed for many years, but unfortunately never had yet seen perform live. I was highly anticipating their performance, so as the band took to the stage with their instruments looking unleash their ferocious brand of apocalyptic blackened death/doom, I quickly made my way to the front. From the very first riff I was completely taken back by how tight and in sync they seemed to be while performing with all this smoke swirling around them. They sounded exactly the same as they do on their albums, if not even louder and more vicious live! The band’s singer is a tremendously talented frontman and he delivered the lyrics with such unapologetic attitude which really complimented the soul crushing arrangements. Getting to hear material from one of my favorite albums, "Abominion," was probably my favorite part of the whole night, as the songs from that album are insanely brutal. 

Abstracter

As the smoke cleared and the noise from Abstracter’s amps faded away until everything went silent, the audience roared with appreciation for the band one last time before everyone started to make their way out of the venue. I must commend each of the three band’s for giving every once of energy to put on such a cataclysmic show. This show was a testament to how underground extreme music continues to thrive due to the hard work from the truly creative musicians and the loyal support from all those diehard metal fanatics. I highly recommend checking out all three of these bands, and I hope to see them continue to record/perform as this world needs something to get us through all the insanity of where society seems to be headed...trust me, when you have to watch out for dog crap and human crap when walking down the street...things are not looking good. 

Abstracter Bandcamp:

https://abstracter.bandcamp.com/

Disimperium Bandcamp:

https://disimperium.bandcamp.com/album/grand-insurgence-upon-despotic-altars

Funeral Chant:

https://funeralchant.bandcamp.com/album/funeral-chant

Eternal “Faceless Evil”

    Over the past few years, I’ve come across a decent amount of solid up and coming extreme metal and punk acts from Arizona, which tells me there is a thriving underground scene out in that region of the country. Recently, I discovered this EP from death metal maniacs, Eternal, and was instantly taken back by the band’s raw unapologetic energy. 

    Titled, “Faceless Evil,” Eternal offers listeners five horrifying cuts of old school influenced death metal in the same vein as Obituary, Death, Autopsy and Massacre. This EP sounds like it came from the late 80’s/early 90’s period when death metal bands were really starting to unleash some utterly decimating releases. Eternal is by no means reinventing the wheel, but their sound and attitude pays homage to the gruesome death metal greats, while showcasing their skillful extreme music making talents. 

    The opening song off of the album will have some listeners surprised at first, but in the end, “Dagger to the Mind,” is a great opening piano composition to capture your attention. Also, I thought the song’s overall haunting ambience was a clever way to lead you into the fiery death metal onslaught that would take form on the second track, “Faceless Evil.” Right when the second song begins, you are instantly hit with a tremendous amount of raw old school death metal force. As the band slashes away at these ominous chord progressions the singer unleashes some tremendously decimating death metal vocals. Probably one of the areas of this album that I enjoyed the most was the vocal delivery, because so many young singers fail to maintain that profoundly sinister presence, where as the vocalist in Eternal stays consistent throughout the entire release. 

    On the third track, “To the Grave,” the band continues to stick to the old school formula by cranking out more putrid sounding riffs and agonizing drum arrangements. Also, the transition from the slower doom like parts to the more intense savage death metal compositions was very well executed. I liked how the band ended the song as well by coming up with a very abhorrent sounding riff section that reminded me of early Suffocation where the music hits you right in the gut with each palm muted chord strike. The last two tracks, “Diabolic Rebirth” and “Depravity,” are monstrous tracks that once again invoke the malevolent spirit of old school death metal. On, “Depravity,” I really enjoyed by the frantic lead guitar playing which was thrown into the blistering chaos. On future releases I definitely would like to hear more of those lead guitar fills as they do a great job adding to the sadistic soundscape.  

    Overall, Eternal’s “Faceless Evil,” is a solid EP that I would highly recommend fans of sickening old school death metal check out. I believe the band has something to offer and on their future albums I would like to see them continue to display the same savage attitude as they did on this EP, while also not being afraid to expand upon certain musical themes to create a very brutal and dynamic album. Eternal is another example of how this style of extreme music has continued to thrive even without mainstream recognition, because the young bands that have been inspired by the previous generations of extreme metal music are undeniably passionate fans looking to continue the brutal legacy by creating their own monstrously deafening releases.  

Check out the full EP below:

Eternal Bandcamp:

https://eternalaz.bandcamp.com/

Eternal Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Eternalbandaz

Lathe of Heaven “Bound by Naked Skies”

    With lyrical themes inspired by classic and contemporary science-fiction authors as well as a sound that blends together hardcore punk, post-punk and new wave, NYC based band Lathe of Heaven offers listeners an unbelievably profound debut album. Titled, “Bound by Naked Skies,” the album captures the pure essence of 80’s inspired post-punk/new wave, while also having a uniquely refreshing sound from start to finish. 

    I came across this album through the Youtube channel, No Deal, which is a great channel to subscribe to if you are a fan of hardcore punk, post-punk and crust punk. Lathe of Heaven reminds me so much of what you would have heard coming from the UK and Europe during that late seventies and early eighties period where you had punk bands starting to experiment more with electronics, dark atmospheres and haunting synth arrangements. You hear a bit of Killing Joke and Siouxsie and the Banshees in their sound as well as new wave acts such as OMD and early Echo and the Bunnymen. They really do such a great job recording a refreshing sounding album by coming up with some very catchy verse and chorus sections wrapped up in these mesmerizing compositions. Also, the band’s vocalist has a captivating delivery that grabs your attention right away and puts your mind at easy while you listening to words soar over the enchanting post-punk instrumental arrangements.  

    The album features eleven tracks, and I can guarantee that there are no filler songs on the entire release. Everything seems to be in perfect synchronicity when the band launches into the first song on the album, "At Moment's Edge." The guitar notes ring out with such an awe-inspiring sound and the guitar effects used by the guitarist create an extremely comforting atmosphere. On the second song, “Ekpyrosis,” the band comes up with a more punchy sounding piece of post-punk music that reminded me of classic Killing Joke. The lyrics vividly standout out as you slowly become engrossed in the catchy sounding musical landscape. Also, the bass tone on this track as well as most tracks on this album is truly immaculate sounding and adds so much to the band's overall sound. 

    Other tracks like, “Genome” and “Inertia,” continue to emphasize this classic post-punk/new wave sound that explores themes of science fiction and deep thought provoking concepts. Musically the band does not disappoint and the riffs on this album simply take you away from all the chaos and despair of modern society to look beyond what our current reality has to offer. “Moon-Driven Sea,” takes a turn down a more solemn sounding pathway, one which caught my attention instantly and made me forget about everything around me as I listened intently to the singer’s enchanting vocal delivery which follows along to the spectral guitar chords. 

    Another track that I want to point out is, "Ilusi ó n de Luces (Cold's Embrace),” because on this song there is another singer who starts the song off and then switches with the band’s primary singer. The contrasting voices makes the overall composition extremely fascinating, while also perfectly matching song’s quick and frantic tempo. I think what I took away most from this album was how strong the songwriting was on the entire release. There are few albums I have come across whether they be metal, rock, or punk releases that have such a captivating quality. 

    Lathe of Heaven’s “Bound by Naked Skies” has the potential to be a highly sought after release, especially amongst fans who enjoy 80’s post-punk and new wave. When I saw that Sacred Bones was the label that would be putting this album out, I knew Lathe of Heaven was in good hands since Sacred Bones is a label that is known for promoting very talented, highly driven and passionately creative acts. I do hope more people check this album out, because even if you are not a massive fan of this type of music, the songwriting and I think the overall sound of this album can be extremely appealing to a wide range of people. No matter what year or decade it happens to be, I strongly believe Lathe of Heaven is a band that will be able to transcend musical trends and maintain to passionate cult like following thanks to what they accomplished on this album. 

Check out the video for "At Moment's Edge" below:

Lathe of Heaven Bandcamp:

https://latheofheaven.bandcamp.com/album/bound-by-naked-skies

Marduk “Memento Mori”

    Swedish black metal titans, Marduk, continue to prove to the extreme metal world that they are one of the most vicious and unforgiving acts around with the release of their fifteenth full-length studio album, “Memento More.” Formed in 1990, Marduk has become one of the most influential and fearsome extreme metal bands around. From the early years where the band unleashed nightmarish raw sounding black metal on albums like, "Dark Endless" and "Those of the Unlight," to when they released one of the most intense and destructive albums ever recorded, “Panzer Division,” Marduk’s dedication to recording such hellacious releases is something that I believe deserves to be acknowledged. 

    It has been close to five years since Marduk released their last full-length album, “Viktoria,” which in my opinion was a solid album that demonstrated how skilled this band is at writing blistering black metal riffs, as well as dealing out some decimating blast beats. After waiting five years, I do think expectations for this new album were high and in the end Marduk delivered another strong extreme metal release. The tone of this album is a bit darker and the slower riffs sections on some tracks create a very morbid and bone chilling musical environment which was not something that the band emphasized as much of the previous couple full-length releases. I thought this album did a great job balancing the different types of riff structures, while still unleashing those deafening blitzkrieg like black metal riffs.

    The opening of the album instantly had me hooked and I liked how the band slowly built up the arrangement to create a very suspenseful sounding landscape. Morgan Håkansson’s sinister guitar tone rips through the sickening chaos, while the vocals provided by singer Mortuus paint a gruesome tale to compliment the hateful sounding riffs. Also, the feverish drum parts do a solid job maintaining the tempo and adding to the apocalyptic noises from the other instruments. The second track, “Heart of the Funeral,” is a strong piece of savage black metal, which is very reminiscent to what one would expect to hear from Marduk. On the third track, “Blood of the Funeral,” I thought the band really turned up the intensity, especially pertaining to some of the guitar leads Morgan thew into the recording to inject an extra boost of raw ferocity. Everything just really comes together on the song and this is something which continues throughout the rest of the album where the band sounds extremely tight as they deliver more catastrophic black metal music. 

    My favorite song off of the album is, “Shovel Beats Sceptre,” because the start of the track is just Mortuus growling out the lyrics while a bell eerily tolls in the background. Eventually the other instruments come feverishly crashing into the composition to unleash a very doom like sounding piece of music. Personally, I really enjoyed the slower more mid-tempo riffs on the album, because they do a great job drawing you into this brutally hypotonic sinister sounding realm. Other tracks such as, “Marching Bones” and “Year of the Maggot,” keep the black metal assault moving forward by hammering out more soul crushing riffs and ruthless sounding drum parts. Until the very end of the album you are unable to tear away from the sheer frantic insanity, which I attribute to the profoundly fiendish guitar playing. 

In the end, Marduk’s “Memento More,” is an album that I would highly recommend if you are a fan of black metal and want to hear something that is not poorly produced unlike some of the modern metal releases you might come across. Marduk has proven time after time to be one the most highly respect black metal acts around, which I would definitely credit to the band’s consistent and sinister creative mindset. Now, does this album stack up to some of their highly praised past releases? I think that is a tough call, and it will ultimately depend on your personal preferences. In my opinion, this album is a strong offering and one of the best black metal releases of this year that once again establishes Marduk as one the most malevolent forces within the global black metal community. 

Check out the song "Shovel Beats Sceptre" :

Marduk Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/Mardukofficial/

Century Media Website :

https://centurymedia.store/dept/marduk