Aug 282019
 

 

Man, every day brings so much new music. Honestly, it’s overwhelming. But that’s not a new development, is it? It just continues adding to the endless difficulty of trying to sift the wheat from the chaff. I feel confident there’s a lot more new wheat out there I haven’t come to yet, but I did pick these gleaming grains from the harvest of last night’s listening session. (Figure of speech of course, because this is some gnarly and nasty shit I’ve picked out.)

VASTUM

Any year that brings a new Vastum album is a very good year. I mean, other than all the other things in the daily headlines that make every year terrible. To counterbalance the greater-than-usual terribleness of what’s happening in the world during 2019, we will have Orificial Purge, and man, couldn’t we all use some a that? Continue reading »

Feb 152018
 

 

Not for nothing is the music of Byyrth heralded as “vampyric black metal”. Not for nothing is their new album entitled Echoes from the Seven Caves of Blood. And not for nothing is the opening track named “Blood Warfare“.

A venomous riff swirls and squalls in the song’s opening moments, setting the stage for a track that packs plenty of hooks and malignant intent, surrounded by an air of rampant savagery. A hammering drum beat kicks in, anchoring the advent of ominous, groaning, and seething guitar noise, accompanying a cacophony of wild, blood-letting shrieks and incendiary cries. And Byyrth also indulge a side of their sound with punk roots, moving the music with a swaggering rock beat and infectious chords… but never pulling back from the murderous blood-lust that gnashes within the boiling black core of the song. Continue reading »