Metal!
Rhinocervs - RH02 (Rhinocervs 2010) - Rhinocervs isn't the bands name, they don't have a name so fans just call them by their record label name since it was the first of two releases this label put out at the same time as you can see here
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O32x7GIzOfY/Ta9RTh01RJI/AAAAAAAAACw/1vAHsGPfdFQ/s1600/Discog.jpg . I like RH-02 better than RH-01. For awhile I swore RH-01 and RH-02 were by different bands and thought that RH-02 may have been a split because Side A and Side B differ in various ways. I later found out my assumption was wrong. Side A is fast and repetitive for the most part, pretty straight forward but raw as hell Black Metal (these guys are tied in with the Black Twilight Circle, a group that includes bands like Volahn and Arizmenda among others, who have very close ties with Bone Awl). The second track is when things begin to change, it breaks down in the middle and gets completely melodic, then this melodic bridge picks back up pace until the end of the song and we are back in the ball game with a new developing sound that follows itself over to Side B and doesn't let up. Side B is great, it is definitely in line with the romantic French BM sounds - lots of melodic leads, minimal use of blastbeats that are tossed aside in favor of a punk directed drumming, and a sophisticated sound/mood - if Shakespeare was into Black Metal this is what he would write. I don't get how
anyone who likes Black Metal couldn't like this. This tape has a very high ranking in my collection.
Flame - March Into Firelands (HHR 2011) - So far this is one of my favorite Metal releases of this year. 8 tracks of Blackened Thrash with hints of "War" or "Bestial" Metal in there. Fans of the genre know there are more than one type of "War Metal" and when I mention it in this case I am referring to that bands like Bestial Mockery or the Metal that a lot of older South American bangers played instead of the crazy stylings of Revenge, Proclamation or Order of Chaos type "War Metal". I would say it is like a mix of older Aura Noir, Bestial Mockery and Vulcano. You can listen to a few full track off of it here:
http://www.hellsheadbangers.com/flame/Morrigan - Celt (Horns of Cernunos, 2003) - Fans of mid-era Viking Metal Bathory and Bathory worship will love this (this band was previously known as Mayhemic Truth). This CD never really gets that fast, it's more slow to mid-paced Metal with great hooks and really good use of Keyboards, occasional clean vocals and chants. The slower songs are sometimes refereed to as "doomy" by reviewers who don't know what the fuck they are talking about, "doomy" is a false tag in this case. The slow, chunky sections and songs are suggestive of the Hellenic BM (Greek) sounds of bands like (early) Samael, Thou Art Lord, Varathron, and Zemial. I usually like more raw and lo-fi Metal, especially when it comes to Black Metal, to me a sickening and dirty atmosphere is essential in 9 out of 10 cases. This album, no actually this
band is a good exception to that rule, they make up that 1 out of 10, because although there is an amazing atmosphere burning up in there this album more about riffs and the simple but talented drumming. This CD in particular needed good production values to pull off the sound they were aiming for and it worked perfectly as it did on all the albums they made from here on out.
Gonna pop in some Power Electronics now...
