Throne Of Katarsis - Ved Graven Review

I am a very big fan of raw black metal and I love all black metal bands from Norway like Mayhem, Burzum, Gorgoroth and Immortal. I really love that cold atmosphere in the music and the the raw production. I was in search for a black metal band that makes music in a melancholic and scary mood, and this masterpiece is what I found:

Throne Of Katarsis, Ved Graven (eng. "At The Grave") released in 2011 through Candlelight Records, a fantastic full-length album.

The album begins with some really confusing and mysterios/scary guitars tones and after only 20 seconds the lead guitar comes in, a riff build in a standard black metal format, dirty minor chords, tremolo picked at a high tempo. You can imagine what comes as next... fast and really tight blast beats. The first scream of the singer and frontman of the band can be heared after one minute of furious blast beats. His voice can be described as scream or high growl and this is the only technique used. Sometimes it also variates and that high harsh growl becomes darker. The voice is typical for black metal, a powerfull voice full of pain and anger, of hate and desperation and of regret and sorrow. I really like the lyrics and that they are full of blasphemy. Used topics in the lyrics are like usual ( for ToK standards) satanism, death and nature and as you can read from the song titles, the lyrics are on norwegian and english. Sick lyrics, check them out !

These characteristics for the first track of the album also fit to the other tracks, they all fit together and have this evil feeling that I love. On the album you can find fast and slow songs, really agressive ones or slow melancholic depressive ones; everything what the heart of a black metal fan needs.

I will try to describe the music and the sound more precise: This is defenetly nothing totally new in the black metal scene, don't expect the best black metal release of the decade but it is one of the best releases of 2011. The music was mixed very well, the bass is present and I really love the way it sounds on this album . It is also not always following the guitar, it also plays own variations and melodys at some points.The drums are played tight as I said and they are variated and dynamic, a very good studio drummer. The guitar tone is raw and it has much gain and "highs" in it and not really much bass. It is something between heavy crunch and extreme distortion; it fits very well.

In the end, the cover artwork makes this album perfect and I would recommend this to all "true" black metal fans, you cn't go wrong with Throne Of Katarsis! Check them out!

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Strigampire - Where Torments Drown Review

Strigampire is a melodic black metal band from Canada formed in 2001. After releasing two eps, a live dvd and a demo, the first full-length album called "Where Torments Drown" was released in september 2009.

On this self-released album you can find 10 beautiful tracks that perfectly fit together and give you eargasms all day long. You can hear beautiful melodys and fast blast beats, a desperate voice and melancholic acoustic passages; everything what the heart of a melodic metal fan needs and even more.

The guitars are playing tremolo picked riffs, thrashy riffs and sometimes also just long notes in the choruses. The solos are very fast and breathtaking and the guitarists show us on every single track how high-skilled they are. The album has a lot of groove and thrash metal influences, but it's still definetly black metal. The drums are very dynamic and diverse and I really love the snare and the fills ins on this album. The band isn't afraid to experiment stuff and thats why we can also hear a breakdown in "Winter, White Season Of Power" or keyboard on "The Ocean Between Us" for example. The songs are very good structured and they always have a chorus or parts that get repeated. The wonderful leads are very catchy and they will stay in your head for days!

Lyrically, the band talks about melancholy, sorrow, solitude, rage and bitterness. The voice of the singer fits perfectly to the music. The voice is not really diverse, you can only hear a very good and tight high growl or a mid-low scream growl that is very powerfull, but it's enough to make this album perfect!

The production of the album is very good, the mix and master is good and it's still half-raw like other black metal releases. The cover art fits perfectly to the music and the only bad thing about the album is that it may get boring for some listeners after 25 minutes of listening because the songs are written in the same style and sound identic at some points.

This is not generic black metal, this is a beautiful masterpiece, a very melodic album with lots of other influences, don't be afraid to fall in love with it, check it out!

Denial Of God - The Statues Are Watching Review

"The Statues Are Watching" is one of my favorite "Denial Of God" releases, or maybe even my favorite one. It contains two tracks, "The Statues Are Watching" and "The Dawn Of Aemizaez".

1."The Statues Are Watching" (5:27) is one of my favorite Denial Of God songs because of the creepy intro, the scary verses and the lyrics. The lyrics are very interesting, the whole song was written to make the listener fear. Sad chords, fast tremolo picking and dirty blast beats can be heared and also an almoust desperated voice crying and shouting for deliverance. It also has a short and fast thrash metal part, that makes the song even better and much more interesting. The song also has a clean passage that fits very well.

2."The Dawn Of Aemizaez" (5:47) is not a new song but it fits to the other song, the transittion between them is also nice, the scream at the beginning is breathtaking, and the music is very fast and energic, a very good generic black metal song and a ep that you surely will enjoy. Give Denial Of God a try.

Denial Of God - The Horrors Of Satan Review

(Originally written for the Metal Archives)

Denial Of God, my first and maybe my favorite black metal band finally released it's first full lenght album called "The Horrors Of Satan" in 2006. I've waited for years to listen to their first LP and I have to say, that the quality of their music is always evolving . What we heared on the previous albums is a musical growth, the band always makes their music more intresting, complex and atmospheric, a good thing for every band who wants to separate themselves from the rest.

Like always, this new DoG release has tons of tremolo picked guitar riffs and fast blast beats, it has beautiful melodies, acoustic parts and keyboard sections. Most of the tracks tend to start with an acoustic intro and with a spooky whisper overlayed and I have to say that this technique gets overused, but still, it remains interesting and doesen't get boring. Songwriting was not a problem on this album for the guitarist "Azter", the riffs are fitting very well on the songs. The songs are long and diverse and they also have very atmospheric or almost thrashy parts sometimes. They tend to use two guitars, one playing a low rhythm, tremolo picked and one playing very high leads or solos that are mainly played on the B string of the 6th string of the standard tuned guitar Azter uses.

A cool thing that can be heared on this album is the bass that is not very present on the most black metal releases, but on "The Horrors Of Satan", "The Unknown" DoG bassist is using a distortion pedal sometimes and made some intresting interludes and maybe creepier than with a normal, clean, bass sound. The bass is almost playing the same thing the rhythm guitar is playing, but thats not a problem 'cause that's what the bass is "designed" to do on a black metal album.

Ustumallagams' voice is diversed on this album. He uses for example low growls, harsh growling, moans and so on but also whispers on some intros to create an interesting atmosphere. (listen to: The Witch- Now A Restless Spirit). Despite the diversity of the vocals, it's easy to figure out the lyrics. Covered topics include witches and lycantrophy, but also satanism and other demonic stuff. Otherwise the dynamics aren’t bad with pace changes occurring fairly frequently. The album also has some easily memorable choruses that will definetly stay in your head for days. (for example: Cycle of the Wolf)

Overall, the album is a good work of danish black metal band Denial Of God, recommended to every one of us who likes melodic parts in black metal songs and also for people who want to start listening to black metal and don't like raw bands like Gorgoroth or Emperor, yet. Just find the track "The Curse of the Witch" or "The Book of Oiufael" on youtube and let the horror of satan begin.

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