RAPID FIRE RECOMMENDATIONS: WRATH OF BELIAL, EZERATH, MALKAVIAN, SUNLESS, THE FUROR

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jul 062017
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli compiled this group of recommendations, with brief rationales and lots of music streams.)

There’s too much good metal coming out in 2017, and frankly, for me to attempt to review everything that catches my ear with the frequency at which good things are arriving would be madness. I’ve decided to start a new every-now-and-then series to offer either brief reviews or simple recommendations of albums that would get full length-reviews if the time or energy were there for me to do so. Most of these will be things that’ve already been out for a bit, but some will be records that aren’t out yet. With that said, let’s get started.

 

Wrath Of Belial – Bloodstained Rebellion

One of the best melodic death metal albums released this year. Fast, intensive riffing, very emotive with more brutal vocals than the genre commonly is associated with nowadays. Think of a mix of Kataklysm, The Black Dahlia Murder, and The Arcane Order. These guys are fucking sick. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE FUROR — “CAVALRIES OF THE OCCULT”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Dec 122016
 

the-furor-cavalries-of-the-occult

 

The first week of March seems so far away that it’s like a shimmering mirage on the calendar, with a vast expanse of days to cross before we reach it. That happens to be the time when Transcending Obscurity Records will discharge the fifth album by Australia’s The Furor, the title of which is Cavalries of the Occult. It’s a long wait, but after you hear the album’s title track, which we’re premiering today, you’l probably need the next few months just to catch your breath.

Seriously, you probably ought to put on a crash helmet, fasten your seatbelt, and put on some flame-retardent outerwear before listening to this song. It’s an absolutely scorching, blindingly explosive, adrenaline-triggering rocket ride. Continue reading »

THE FUROR: “SERMON OF SLAUGHTER”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
May 132013
 

I’m usually racing so fast to keep up with the continual advent of new music that it’s rare to take a breath long enough to explore music from a previous year. But I did that yesterday, and I’m sure glad I did.

The Furor is a band from Western Australia that released three full-length albums between 2004 and 2011, after which the membership dwindled to a single individual, Disaster (Louis Rando). Undeterred by going it alone, he put out an EP in 2012 under The Furor name entitled Sermon of Slaughter, and it is indeed a sermon of slaughter. The exceptional quality of the EP is perhaps surprising, because Disaster’s forte is drumming.

He is a ridiculously good drummer and a true metal veteran, as witnessed by his current participation in bands such as Singapore’s Impiety and Australia’s Mhorgl, as well as his past membership in the likes of Dybbuk, Pagan, Pathogen, and Psychonaut. But it turns out that his talents are manifold, and he shows them off to good effect on Sermon of Slaughter.

The music reminds me of a cross between Marduk and Satyricon. It is unquestionably warlike. The songs generally move at a furious pace, with hell-ripping guitars, booming bass notes, and the kind of murderous percussion that makes full-auto machine-gun fire seem slothful by comparison. Disaster’s scalding, clawing vocals also remind me of Mortuus and Satyr — full of fire and venom. Continue reading »