Burning Witch/Crippled Lucifer/Southern Lord Records/1998 CD Review

  Burning Witch where a doom/death metal band with a blackened touch from Seattle, Washington and this is a review of their 1998 album "Crippled Lucifer" which was released by Southern Lord Records.

Drums are mostly slow beats with no fast playing or blast beats while the bass playing has a very dark tone and it is all doom metal riffing, as for the guitars it is all slow doom riffing as well as some distorted noise elements with no guitar leads and solos and there is an acoustic guitar that is used in one song.

Vocals are a mixture between high pitched screams with some clean singing, while the lyrics are a mixture of depressing and occult themes, as for the production it has a very heavy sound which captures all of the instruments.

In my opinion Burning Witch where a great doom band and if you are a fan of doom/death with a 70's metal edge you should ad this album to your collection. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Warning Sins" "Sacred Predictions" and "Tower Place". RECOMMENDED BUY.

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Burning_Witch/1042

Thorr's Hammer/Doomedagsnatt/Southern Lord Records/1998 CD Review

 Thorr's Hammer were a band from Seattle,Washington that played a style which I would describe as blackened doom/death metal and this is a review of their 1998 album "Doomedagsnatt" which was released by Southern Lord Records during the year of 1998.

Drums are mostly slow beats throughout the album with no fast playing or blast beats being utilized while the bass playing has a very dark tone with a lot of slow doom/death riffs.

Guitars are all rhythm with a lot of slow doom/death riffs that contain dark melodies at times with no fast riffing or guitar solos being utilized while the vocals are deep death metal growls with some occasional clean singing female vocals.

Production on this album sounds very raw but has a professional feel that captures all of the instruments and you can hear them all, while the lyrics touch on Norse Mythology with some lyrics written in Norwegian.

In my opinion Thorr's Hammer where a very talented band and one of the heaviest doom/death bands of the 90's that have also influenced a lot of other doom metal bands, if you are a fan of doom/death you need to have this album in your collection. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Norge" "Troll".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Thorr%27s_Hammer/650

Wicked Stench/Spreading The Word/Exterminate The Brutes Records/2009 CD Review

Wicked Stench are a band from Mississippi that plays a very raw and underground form of doom/death metal that has a black metal edge as well as a DIY approach and this is a review of their 2009 album "Spreading The Word" which was released by Exterminate The Brutes Records.

Drums are mostly slow to mid paced beats with some fast playing while the bass playing has a very dark tone with rhythm bass lines that follow the riffs that are coming out of the guitars.

Guitars are tuned down low and are mostly in the early 90's doom metal vein but with a more raw and under produced feel than the bands of that era and there are some mid paced riffs with some black metal influences and no guitar solos or leads.

Vocals are mostly low pitched death metal growls with the occasional high pitched black metal screams that also have a grindcore/noise while the lyrics cover hatred, pot smoking and some humorous themes, as for the production on this album it sounds like it was recorded on a tape player which gives the music a very uncommercial as well as underground.

In my opinion Wicked Stench are a very good band for this style of underground doom/death. If you are a fan of doom/death metal with a more humorous approach as well as a black/grind/noise edge you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Killing Therapy" "Spreading The Word" and "Load Me A Bowl". RECOMMENDED BUY.

https://www.reverbnation.com/wickedstench

Divine Eve Interview

1. Can you update us with what is going on with Divine Eve these days?

Hey there, Xan Hammack (Rythym and Lead Guitars/Vocals) from Divine Eve here answering your questions, I hope things are well with you. We are in the process of writing new material for the full length to be released on Ibex Moon, we’re hoping to have around 11 songs or so. We are also rehearsing with our new live drummer Dave Slaughter and getting ready to play out, as Matt Killen (Drums) can’t play live. We hope to be playing around Texas here in the not too distant future. Kyle Severn from Incantation played drums with us on the Vengeful Scapegoat European tour in January 2010, and he did a killer job. However Kyle lives in Columbus, Ohio so we really need someone local in order to be a more active live band.



2. You took a long hiatus for a while, what made you decide to reform the band after all these years? We had broken up and kind of gone our separate ways, I moved to Los Angeles and lived there for quite some time while doing various things but eventually ended up moving back to the Dallas area. After I had been here for a while Michael Sleavin (Rythym Guitars/Vocals) and I ended up getting back in touch after not talking at all for many years, and after several hangouts we decided to get together for a rehearsal and see how it went. It sounded great from the first song we played, so we decided to give it a go. Scott Cooksey (Bass), who was the engineer on the “Vengeful And Obstinate” ep and also played bass on the Vengeful Scapegoat tour, joined up with us full time after a while and here we are.



3. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance? The shows we played on the Vengeful Scapegoat tour all went really well. Barcelona, London, and Hradec Kralove were particularly notable although every show was fun and the turnouts were good at most of them. I would say our stage show is pretty stripped down and basic, we don’t use make up and props or anything (although that’s cool if bands want to) but prefer to just go out and kick ‘em in the face. We have a banner and some amplifier tapestries but not much more than that. Once we start playing more regularly we may develop a few simple stage concepts but there aren’t really plans for that at the moment.



4. Do you have any current touring plans? We should be playing around Texas here pretty soon, and by 2011 we hope to be able to play some festivals and do some touring in the U.S. and Europe, as well as possibly Japan.



5. How would you describe the lyrical content of the newer material?

Our lyrical concepts have always been somewhat varied from song to song and that holds true for the newer stuff as well. On the “Vengeful…” ep for instance, the song “Ravages Of Heathen Men” is about the first recorded Viking raid in history in Lindisfarne, England, while “Vindication” is about vengeance in general but we were actually thinking about a specific group/type of people when we wrote those lyrics. “Grievous Ascendance” is about some people who enter a ziggurat or tomb and consume the flesh of those within in order to become some sort of interstellar/god-like beings, so the subject matter can vary quite a bit. The lyrical concepts of the songs that will be on the full length are still being hammered out but will follow in the same morbid/primal/cosmic fashion as the other stuff we’ve written.



6. Out off all the releases that the band has put out so far which one are you the most satisfied with? Well every band says this of course, but I would have to say my favorite is our last release the “Vengeful and Obstinate” ep…



7. How has the reaction been so far from extreme metal fans to the newer material?

The reaction seems to have been positive for the most part, people have had lots of good things to say about the newer songs. The material we played on the last European tour was mostly older stuff and it all went over well live, so I can’t wait to start playing some of the newer songs live to gauge the reaction to them that way.



8. How would you describe the musical progress over the years and what direction do you see the music heading into on future releases? We have certainly progressed over the years as songwriters, although we have also stayed true to our roots at the same time. The newer material will follow in the same vein as past material, but we definitely do try to come up with fresh ideas and do things we haven’t done before while still honoring the old traditions.



9. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and what are you listening to nowadays? We have always been and still are heavily influenced by bands such as Hellhammer/Venom/Possessed/Entombed/Destruction/Slayer/Candlemass/Bathory/Dream Death etc., as well as some 70’s stuff like Black Sabbath and King Crimson. We still listen to all of these older bands of course. Watain, Gravehill, and Devil’s Blood are some good new-ish bands I can think of at the moment. Personally I’ve been listening to Roky Erickson’s “The Evil One (Plus One)” and The Exploited’s “Punk’s Not Dead” a lot lately…



10. What kind of influence do you feel that you have on modern metal bands?

I guess we may have an influence on some bands here and there…



11. What are some of your interests outside of music?

Things too infinite and primordial to be named…



12. Any final words or thoughts?Thanks for this interview and for your support, it is greatly appreciated. We are hoping to record the full length within the next few months (we don’t have a title at the moment) and have it out before the end of the year if possible, or if not by early next year so keep an eye out for it on Ibex Moon. We will also have a vinyl version of the “Upon These Ashes Scorn The World” anthology (which is our first two ep’s plus a Sodom and a Celtic Frost cover) coming out on Iron Tyrant records very soon so pick that up as well, the first 150 copies of it will also have the “Vengeful And Obstinate” ep included as a bonus 10” vinyl. Stay Morbid…

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Deathcult Interview

1. Can you update us with what is going on with Deathcult these days?
We released the full length L.P. “The Living, The Dying and the Damned” in march of 2009 and we are currently working on new material for a free digital E.P. We are also giving away free tracks on LastFM.com, I recommend people go here since we plan to load rare and live material soon.

2. How would you describe your musical sound for the younger people that have never heard of your music before?
We are Old School Death Metal, some have described our style as Death/Doom. There are elements of Thrash/Death/Doom but mainly good old fashioned Death Metal.

3. What is the meaning behind the band's name?
The name has 2 meanings, the first being the members of the band who enjoy playing Death Metal therefore making us a “DeathCult”. Secondly, how religions throughout history have used wars/torture/murder in the name of God.
4. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far, and how would you describe your stage performance?
There have been several shows that we’ve done that stand out in my head, but I would have to say East Los Angeles College ( Los Angeles, CA. USA ) in January 1993. The crowd was in synch with us and the music, we were just doing what we do but the energy of the crowd just amazing. There’s a clip of this performance on youtube of us performing the song Corpus Christi that someone posted. The sound quality is not great but you’ll get the idea of how the show was.

5. Do you have any plans to tour Europe?
There are no tours planned at the moment.

6. Your earlier material came out on Wild Rags Records, how would you describe your time on that label, I have heard some mixed reviews of that label.
We never signed with Wild Rags, we had a distribution thing going on with Richard of Wild Rags. We originally printed 1000 copies of “Sodomy – Repulsive In my Ways” ourselves, when all the copies were sold in a month we were about to print more when Richard approached us. For every 500 prints we would get 100 of them, he decided to put the Wild Rags logo on the CD which we did not mind, but it gave everyone the idea we were signed to them. Wild Rags helped our music reach places we would probably not have back then, Wild Rags was good to us as much as DeathCult was to it and Richard.

7. How would you describe the lyrical content of the music?
On our earlier material dealt with perversion and the occult. On the newer stuff they deal with suicide, dying and emptiness. The content is darker and just falls in place with the mood of the music.

8. The band took a hiatus for a long time, what where you doing during that time period and what made you decide to make a comeback?
Everyone kind of just let too much time pass between jam sessions and next thing you know a year passed and so on. I personally got my life to settle a little and slow down. We don’t consider it a comeback since we never broke up, but we just got together one night at Juan’s studio ( drummer ) and found that we still had some unfinished business. We just get together now and jam, what ever sounds good we record and make a song out of it. Too much time passed between recordings, but we play Death Metal for fun and nothing else.

9. How would you describe your musical progress over the years and what direction do you see the music heading into on future releases?
I think we’ve gotten simpler but heavier than before. If you were to listen to the “Sodomy” cd ( 1st 4 tracks ) that’s where musically “The Living, The Dying” picks up. We like to put a lot of heavy rhythm in our songs and I think our future releases will reflect that.

10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and what are you listening to nowadays?
We all grew up listening to Possessed, Kreator, Death, Sepultura, Sodom, Sacrifice, Celtic Frost, Carcass just to name a few. When we first started jamming we were trying to emulate those bands we listened to. Our fist demo “Devoured in Holiness” I think reflected those influences the most. I still listen to a lot of those records so my influence of the Old School is still present. I’ve been listening to Triptykon, Mindrot, Mars Volta, Coffins, and Tool severely, so who knows how they’ll influence me in the future.

11. What role does Satanism or Occultism play in the music?
The Occult I think played a big role in our first demo and kept it going with “Sodomy” mixed in with perverted lyrics. Satanism never played a role in our band but we questioned faith. If anything there is still a little of the occult present in the lyrics, but mostly they deal with the concept of dying, suicide and questioning the afterlife.


12. What are some of your interests outside of music?
I’m a huge hockey fan specially in the playoffs. I enjoy playing Texas hold ‘em and drawing.

13. Any final words or thoughts?
You can get info of DeathCult @ myspace.com/deathcultla and you can listen and download free music from us @ LASTFM.com under DeathCult ( U.S. ). The new E.P. should be out late 2010 and will be a free digital download.

The Wakedead Gathering/Tenements Of Ephermera/Dark Descent/Skeleton Plague Records/2010 Cassette Review

  The Wakedead Gathering are a one man band from Cincinnati, Ohio that plays a brutal form of doom/death metal and this is a review of their 2010 album "Tenements Of Ephemera" which was released as a joint effort between Dark Descent and Skeleton Plague Records.

Drums use a good amount of variety with slow slow to mid paced drumming along with a lot of fast playing and brutal blast beats being utilized while the bass playing has a very dark sounding tone with a good mixture of slow and fast riffs that follow the guitars.

Rhythm guitars combine slow doom/death metal riffs that are very heavy and brutal sounding with a lot of mid paced and fast death metal riffs that are rooted in the early to mid 90's era with a small amount of a black metal influence, while the lead guitars are very distorted sounding guitar solos that are influenced by the darkest elements of early 90's death metal which also has a slow trippy and doomy feel at times.

Vocals are deep death metal growls with some high pitched growls being utilized at times that have some black metal influences while the lyrics cover some very dark topics, as for the production it has a very raw and heavy feel that makes all of the musical instruments sound very dark and brutal.

In my opinion The Wakedead Gathering are a very good doom/death metal band that plays  in the early 90's vein and if you are a fan of this style you should add this album to your collection. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "The Black Foundry" "Wasps From The Chamber Of The Divine" and "Betrayed By False Hopes". RECOMMENDED BUY.

www.myspace.com/thewakedeadgathering

Funebrarum/Beneath The Columns Of Abonded Gods/Necroharmonic Records/2001 CD Review

  Funebrarum are band from New Jersey that consists of members from Evoken and Abazarogoth that play a style that I would describe as doom/death with a blackened touch and this is a review of their 2001 album "Beneath The Colums Of Abonded Gods" which was released by Necroharmonic Records.

Drums mix slow and mid paced beats with fast playing and some brutal blast beats, while the bass playing has a dark tone that follows the riffs coming out of the guitars and at the end of the cd there is a short keyboard effect.

Rhythm guitars utilize a deep tuning and there is a mixture of slow slow doom/death metal riffs that are very heavy with some fast riffs that are mostly death metal influenced but have a black metal as well as grindcore edge to them, while the lead guitars are very distorted sounding guitar solos.

Vocals are mostly low pitched death metal growls with some high pitched screams, while the lyrics are very gory with themes about dying and graves with a necromantic touch that is also influenced by the writings as for the production on this recording which was recorded at Off Stage Studios during the months of October and November of 2001 sounds very dark and heavy which makes the music sound brutal.

In my opinion Funebrarum are a very good brutal death/doom metal band and if you are a fan of that style as well as brutal death metal you should check this band out. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Tombs Of Sleeping Darkness" "Adoration Of Abscesses Cadavers" and "Dormant Hallucination". RECOMMENDED BUY.

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Divine Eve/As The Angels Weep/Nuclear Blast Records/1993 CD Review

  Divine Eve where a band from Texas that played a style that I would describe as blackened death/thrash and this is a review of their 1993 album "As The Angels Weep" which was released by Nuclear Blast Records.

Drums are mostly fast drumming with some blast beats while the bass playing follows the riffs coming out of the guitars.

Rhythm guitars are a mixture of fast riffs that are a mixture of death metal/thrash and the first wave of black metal with some slow riffing that takes a lot of influence from doom metal while the lead guitars are fast guitar solos that have a small amount of melody.

Vocals are mostly deep death metal growls that have some thrash influences and some spoken word parts while the lyrics are a mixture of anti christian themes as well as the ignorance of mankind, as for the production on this album it has a very raw sound that sounded professional for the time this release came out.

In my opinion Divine Eve where a good band that was very underrated for their time. If you are a fan of classic blackened death/thrash you should this album to your collection. STANDOUT TRACKS INCLUDE "The Last Of Sunset" and As Angels Weep". RECOMMENDED BUY.

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