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/

Concilium "Desecration"

   Crawling out of the wretched abyss comes a ritualistic offering of pure sickening brutality to present before the extreme music altar! Concilium’s debut release, “Desecration,” is an extremely raw sounding piece of black/death metal that also incorporates some agonizing doom elements. This Portuguese extreme metal band constructs some unbelievably insidious sounding atmospheres, while also leading listeners straight into a nightmare realm full of inhuman sounds. 

   Joining forces with Sentient Ruin Laborites, Concilium looks to unleash a tsunami of unfathomable chaos upon the metal world with their debut release. Musically, the band does not rely on overly technical compositions, or flashy guitar work to bog you down with random and excessive sounding riff progressions. Throughout the album Concilium presents solid sounding arrangements that are locked into this hellish vision, thus taking listeners on one hellish journey.   

   The album's low-fi and unforgiving occult like atmosphere succeeds in creating a merciless sounding musical landscape. On the open track, “From the Chalice,” the band introduces listeners to this massive bludgeoning of fiendish riffs and tormented sounding vocals. They do a solid job building up anticipation as the song progresses, which ultimately establishes their sacrilegious sounding dominion of pure evil. 

   On the following tracks like, “Shadow Gospels” and “From Emptiness to Oblivion,” the band continues to explore the dark confines of their abhorrent musical mindset, while also taking the music in a variety of haunting directions. “From Emptiness to Oblivion,” is a truly impressive arrangement that incorporates some mesmerizing guitar work to create a calming void like world that eventually succumbs to an explosion of raw ritualistic sounding instrumental chaos. 

   The drumming on the album is very primitive sounding and definitely adds to the band's bloodthirsty raw style by providing the right amount of brutal aggression. On the track, “Sacred Land of the Impure Blood,” you feel as though the world is crumbling around you and the entire arrangement is fueled by a barrage of skull crushing drum parts, inhumane vocals and ear piercing guitar riffs. The last song on the album, “Blood Candles,” is without question my favorite track and presents a more mind altering doom like atmosphere. Over the years I’ve notice that when recorded properly, the slower and extremely sludgy sounding arrangements always seems to leave the greatest impact. Plus, you become possessed by the simplistic rhythms that guide you through all the apocalyptic sounding decimation to reach that calming end when everything slowly fades away. 

   Once again, here is a band working Sentient Ruin that gets what it takes to record an impressive and engaging album from beginning to end. The haunting blend of extreme music styles and raw presentation made, “Desecration,” an extremely enjoyable listen. I welcome more bands like Concilium, because when done right and without all the over the top nonsense, you are given an extremely profound sounding listening experience. There is substance, which I find to be lacking in most modern music that tends to cause people to become mindless sheep. Put on some Concilium and they will awaken to a vivid reality of unholy desecration and ruthless sounding destruction! 

Listen to "From the Chalice" below: 

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp (Album comes out July 2, 2021):

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/desecration

Double Feature Review: Glyph and Reproach

     Get ready for a double album review featuring two brutal and devastating up and coming metal acts! Glyph and Reproach are two destructive sounding forces with their sights set on taking the metal world by storm.  

    I decided to do a double album feature since both bands are on the same label, Ritual Abuse Hysteria, which actually sent me a vicious sounding compilation just a couple months back. Glyph and Reproach were featured on that compilation and both bands contributed some wicked sounding songs on the compilation. Now with the opportunity to provide listeners their own full-length releases, Glyph and Reproach are able to demonstrate more extreme sounding tracks that build off of what they accomplished on the compilation release. 

    The first band I will be talking about is, Glyph, and their release, “We Are None of Us.” When first listening to Glyph you hear a lot of early European black metal influences mixed with some slight atmospheric black metal elements. The band constructs these depressive sounding atmospheres full of agonizing arrangements that capture the frozen shadowy essence of black metal. I hear a lot of similarities to that of the early Burzum releases, but I am also reminded of the calming melancholy approach that can be heard on the first Summoning release. The tracks blanket you in this frosty environment full of tormenting riffs and utterly raw sounding compositions. 

    The opening song from Glyph, “Of the Clock Tower,” is a ghastly track full of haunting chord progressions and sinister sounding vocals. I really enjoyed the song’s raw and abhorrent atmosphere that seems to be shrouded in a blanket of pure unforgiving darkness. “Corrupt That Which Will Be,” is another depressive and fierce sounding assault upon the ears with a feverish drum attack. The production quality on the album definitely compliments the band’s grim black metal vision rather perfectly. 

    Songs like, “The Folly of Vanity and the Doom of Folly,” and “…and So Fare the City,” remind me of early Emperor at times, because the band incorporates a lot of dynamic riff structures to create an environment full of tormenting transitions. I believe, “…and So Fare the City,” was the strongest track off of the album and one that was fueled by this unforgiving raw emotional drive. Overall, the music is written with such conviction and the harsh yet comforting dark sounding landscapes are extremely well recorded compared to some black metal releases that tend to end up sounding like a bunch of dorks decided to get together in an attempt do shitty Mayhem covers. 

    Alright, the next band I will be talking about is, Reproach, and their album, “The Book of Names.” Compared to Glyph, Reproach seems to draw more influence from old school death metal and war metal than raw black metal. I hear some Napalm Death influence at times and when I say Napalm Death, I am reminded more of the, “Harmony Corruption,” period. The riffs are very catchy at times, although they can instantly burst into a ferocious sounding bludgeoning of merciless sounding aggression. “Undo and Subvert,” is not the most technically challenging sounding piece of music, but has that bold and brutal presentation that captures essence of early Bolt Thrower and Benediction. 

    Throughout the album the band lays down plenty of monstrous sounding riffs and thunderous blast beats to hammer out some malevolent sounding compositions. “The Bones of Heathens,” is a crushing track and one that shows how brutal this can be once they get locked into a gruesome sounding riff structure. In all, Reproach is pretty straight forward in terms of their musical style, but at least they do not sound sloppy, or completely unimaginative. I really liked the band’s presentation and thought that their rancorous nature helped give the songs an extra boost of blasphemous attitude. 

    I think it is great that Ritual Abuse Hysteria working with both bands, because I find that each act has something special to offer the extreme metal world. I believe that these two bands have tons of potential and the recordings that they provided did not disappoint. Looking to the future I would like to see both bands continue to push themselves and stay true to their artistic visions. As the world continues to see mainstream music labels push more garbage onto the youth, we want more bands like Glyph and Reproach to be around so people can have recordings with substance available to them. 

Check out the song "...and So Fares the City" below:

Link to Ritual Abuse Hysteria Bandcamp:

https://ritualabusehysteria.bandcamp.com/

Dos Cobros "Misadventures in Dystopia"

    The new album from Dos Cobros, “Misadventures in Dystopia," is what I would call a rollercoaster through a dystopian cyberpunk themed world that has your head spinning and your mind constantly questioning all that you hear. Simply put, this is an album that I was not expecting to hear at first, but in the end it turned out to be something I'm glad came my way. 

    This two-man band based out of Nashville, Tennessee brings together an eclectic range of different musical elements. When listening to this album you can hear some industrial metal/rock, punk, hip-hop, as well as some cinematic elements. Right off the bat the opening song, “Initiation (A Space Wolf Tale),” throws you into a volatile sea of industrial sounding metal that contains a massive amount of adrenaline pumping force. There are plenty of slamming industrial arrangements that also blend into this hallucinogenic atmosphere of catchy sounding electronic noises. 

    On the next song, “No Hope (A Black Philip Tale),” the band delivers a strong hip-hop and industrial sounding piece of music. I was extremely impressed by the delivery of the lyrics and thought that the singer did a tremendous job added an extra boost of aggressive energy into the composition. Just imagine if Nine Inch Nails or My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult were working in the studio and Cypress Hill decided to stop by to lay down some lyrics. Honestly, the industrial rock/metal instrumental arrangements matched with this unapologetic no holds barred style of hip-hop is very profound and does not sound cheap, or gimmicky. Another band they remind me a bit of is the Butthole Surfers, but with a more industrial flavor added into the mix. 

    Also, I really like the horror movie references in their songs like, “No Hope (A Black Philip Tale,” as well as the track, “The Perfect Game (A Slender Man Tale).” The loudly distorted main guitar riff matched with the no nonsense sounding rhythms provided a fierce background for the singer to come in and unleash his tale of blasphemous terror. Overall, the song is a great example of solid production that all fits together flawlessly. Throughout the album you hear that this group is able to put everything together in such a solid fashion, which is impressive given the diverse sounding elements. “Ubuntu (Insomnia Mix),” was a song that at first sounded very chaotic and overwhelming with a hornets nest of industrial sounds, but eventually mellowed out to once again offer up a solid vocal performance and unique sounding musical landscape. 

    At first I did not know how I was going to like this album, because I am not exactly the biggest hip-hop fan on the planet. However, when listening to this album from top to bottom, I felt that the variety of influences actually allowed Dos Cobros to have a great amount of creative freedom. Again, the production on,“Misadventures in Dystopia,” is what really stood out and each track delivers in terms of recording quality. Dos Cobros is a band that I highly recommend checking out, especially if you are a listener who has an open mind. I’ve reviewed a handful of bands that incorporate a variety of styles into their sound and usually they end up sounding like a choir of feces throwing chimpanzees, so Dos Cobros is a talented group that definitely deserves recognition for their work on this album. 

Check out the song "Ubuntu (Insomnia Mix)" below:

Dos Cobros Bandcamp (Album comes out July 17th):

https://doscobros.bandcamp.com/album/misadventures-in-dystopia

Decoherence "System I"

    When listening to a Decoherence release I swear that you feel like you are being thrown through a vortex full of agonizing dynamic arrangements that eventually takes you to an eternal galactic realm of pure darkness. This band executes an extreme metal vision that brings together nightmare inducing industrial sounds with unforgiving black metal. Their new release, “System I,” contains remastered singles and tracks from EPs which were only available previously through digital format.  

    I’ve reviewed a couple of the band’s full-length releases before and I have never found myself walking away with massive amounts of criticism. Actually, I find it extremely hard to critique this group of musicians due to the fact that they put in some much effort into their creative style of extreme music. The production quality and overall atmosphere presented on this album provides a vivid rush of inhuman brutality. “System I,” breaks down the walls of typical extreme metal music by exploring the endless voids of cosmic sounding entropy and travels deep into the harsh blackened gateways of unorthodox sounding compositions. I can tell you that there are few bands who write like Decoherence, and with good reason, because this band knows how to make everything come together for one unforgettable extreme listening experience. 

    Compared to the band’s earlier releases, I really felt like the eight songs on this new album were very profound and offered a lot to take away. The guitar playing once again transcends the typical gritty distorted sinister sounding riff approach to instead make way for guitar parts that methodically pull apart your cerebral cortex piece by piece. As with all Decoherence releases, the band builds-up anticipation on the first song by mixing together these haunting industrial sounds that help usher in the massive sounding chaotic arrangements. “Line of Force,” is a track that really explores the more hypnotic industrial side of this band’s sound, while also adding those grim black metal touches into the mix. 

    The next on the release, “Ray Spallation,” is another hellishly distorted offering of extreme sounding music. Throughout most of the the album you are presented with such a plethora of dynamic arrangements that your head begins to spin as a result of the sadistic tempo changes. Tracks like, “Gate Error” and “Non-Holistic Constraints,” convey a more ferocious side in terms of presentation and thrive on adrenaline pumping blast beats to complement the chainsaw fueled guitar attack. 

    Another tormenting track off of the album is, “Dimension Witness,” which contains some utterly ghastly guitar riffs. There is nothing simplistic and dual about this band’s presentation, so every second of this release has you possessed by the blizzard of abstract extreme metal horror. Also, I really enjoyed their cover of Killing Joke’s, “The Wait,” and I liked how they approached the song. Instead of just doing a basic cover, Decoherence brought in their sinister industrial style to create a very catastrophic atmosphere. “The Wait,” is a classic that has been covered before by punk and metal bands, however, I felt as though Decoherence did tremendous job covering it by giving the track an even more terrifying edge. 

    Decoherence’s, “System I,” is currently out now and can be ordered through Sentient Ruin. Out of the three Decoherence releases I have reviewed so far, this one might as well be my favorite. I truly respect the creativity as well as the unbelievably intense instrumental compositions. The mix of industrial and black metal with touches of other extreme metal elements proves to be an almost other worldly extreme sounding concoction that has allowed Decoherence to pave their own unique path. I highly recommend checking out this album and I look forward to reviewing the next release from this band!  

Check out the full album below:

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/music

Coffin Lurker "Foul and Defiled"

    Not only does this album cover scream unfathomable brutality and unspeakable horror lurking in some dark grotesque setting, but the music is undeniably deafening once you start listening. Coffin Lurker’s debut release, “Foul and Defiled,” is just the right type of slow grave defiling death doom one would expect to be released through Sentient Ruin. 

    Coffin Lurker consists of Maurice De Jong (Gnaw Their Tongues, Cloak of Altering, De Magia Veterum, Dodenbezweerder) and Rene Aquarius (Cryptae, Dead Neanderthals, Imperial Cult, Plague Organ), which explains why this band is such an insidious sounding force to be reckoned with throughout the album. These musicians from the Netherlands prove to deliver what death doom fiends desire most, which is an album containing monolith sized riffs soaked in a foul and hideous cloak of agonizing distortion. The drum parts on this album add to the apologetic crushing nature that these musicians present with such sickening aggression. 

    I’ll be honest and admit that some death doom bands can get stuck hammering out the same monotonous riff until I decided enough is enough and I eventually stop listening. Luckily with Coffin Lurker I never felt that way when listening to the five tracks on this release. From the first song, “Crypt Within a Crypt,” until the last bludgeoning piece of music titled, “Cadaverous Odor,” the band delivers a true behemoth in terms of extreme creativity. On the song, “Of Suffering,” you feel as though you are drowning in a sea of grotesque human remains and the world around you slowly begins to fade as you sink deeper into the putrid abyss. The ritualist drum parts provide a sinister and primitive rhythmic backbone to the suffocating distorted environment. 

    Midway through the album the band unleashes a couple horrific sounding and musically agonizing pieces of music. “Suspended Animation” and “Sacrificial Chalice,” are both extremely sickening sounding pieces of sanity shredding music. I was left paralyzed with fear as the band moved through the swampy death doom landscape and conjured up such nightmarish sounds. The final song off of the album, “Cadaverous Odor,” is similar to the other two tracks just I mentioned, but with an even more raw and aggressive edge. The walls around you begin to shake with the haunting tones of unfathomable decimation, thus leading to a wasteland where all that once stood has now turned to ruins. 

    Coffin Lurker perfectly blends together bone chilling doom metal with raw abrasive sounding death metal to offer listeners one punishing extreme metal release.They could have easily done the same cheap sounding death doom album as every one else these days, but Coffin Lurker contains a couple creative extreme metal visionaries who decided to record something that truly captures the vicious spirit of unapologetic artistic creativity. Sentient Ruin sure found yet another gruesome sounding release to bestow upon the metal world and I sure as hell can’t wait for what Coffin Lurker has in the works! 

Check out the song "Of Suffering" below! (Also, album comes out June 7th, 2021) : 

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp: 

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/foul-and-defiled

Archangel A.D. "Casus Belli"

    Up and coming thrash fanatics Archangel A.D. are preparing to unleash a fierce sounding heavy metal assault upon the metal world with the release of their new album, “Casus Belli.” Formed around 2015, this young group of passionate metal maniacs from Edinburg, Texas take their extreme music making talents to the next level and offer up an album full of blistering sounding thrash. 

    Now, I have come across this band before and I actually reviewed their debut EP back when it was first released. I remember hearing a group of young and hungry metal musicians who were trying to craft a merciless thrash metal sound. Also, I was really impressed by how this band took their time to write some clever compositions. On this new album Archangel A.D. has definitely become more polished in terms of songwriting, and the album’s overall production is very impressive. You hear the band add more dynamic compositions and throw in some different musical elements in attempt to show listeners how they are not just another one-dimensional worship thrash band. 

    The album contains nine tracks and I believe listeners will be able to take away a lot more than just simple repetitive palm muted riffs and generic thrash metal arrangements. For example, the band hits hard with the opening track, “Bet on Death,” which does a tremendous job getting the adrenaline flowing by throwing down a heavy dosage of headbanging riffs. On the second track, “Casus Belli,” the band starts to mess around with different tempos and I like how they transition between the different arrangements throughout the song. Also, the lead guitar playing is extremely fluid and gives the song an extra boost of vibrant sounding energy. 

    I have noticed over the years that a fair amount young thrash bands tend to get caught up in the speed war and end up writing very sloppy riffs. Archangel A.D. seems to be very aware of when to turn up the heat and when to lay down a slower sounding riff to complement the singer’s high energy vocal parts. Songs like, “Beacons” and “Celestion,” flow with a wicked sounding synergy that perfectly gets the job done. Even though this type of thrash metal sound has been hammered out quite often over the years by numerous bands, I like how Archangel A.D. injects such raw energy into their sound to give it that little extra something to help them stand out. 

    Songs that didn’t fit the typical thrash metal mold like, “Pluto-s Lament” and “Sangre de las Montañas,” were great additions and showed the creative mindset that seems to thrive within this band. The atmospheric sounding instrumental piece, “Pluto-s Lament,” was one of my favorite tracks and it allowed the bass player to have a certain amount of freedom to explore this vast musical landscape with plenty of free space to add some pleasant sounding bass riffs. 

    In the end, I was impressed by how much Archangel A.D. has grown as a band since their debut EP. This is a band that does not sit around and expected the metal world to just hand them everything because they play badass sounding thrash metal. These musicians are dedicated to their craft and “Casus Belli,” is a call to all metal fans around the world that Archangel A.D. is a band ready to make an impact. Honestly, it brings me great joy to see a band continue to triumph and improve with each new release. I hope Archangel A.D. continues to waive the thrash metal flag for many years to come! 

Check out the video for the band's 2019 single "Eventide" below (Also the new album drops July 23, 2021): 

Archangel A.D. Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ArchangelA.D