Svalinn´s Rift are new to the scene and they are hailing from Hungary. This trio is playing black metal, more of Norse oriented in thematic and lyrics with a touch of folk thrown in like in awesome Ice Waves And The Primordial Giant. This is their debut e.p. opus and it contains four songs of minimalistic yet complex mixture of epic and raw pagan black metal with warrior attitude and mixes emotions with warrior spirit, some thing that is quickly forgotten in nowadays black metal. There are not so much blast beats, this band is rather oriented on varied tempo from mid to aggressive and almost ritualistic parts in some songs. Lyrics are in English but I would rather if these guys sang in their native Hungarian, because that country has a beautiful language. Anyway, strong debut release.
Poland is one of the Europe´s most vital and prolific scenes regarding extreme music meaning death and black metal with so many names coming to mind right away, both more and less known in the genre. Baalzagoth are new band in the scene and this is their debut full length opus. This is, how they say it, intergenerational band with singer being 46 years old and drummer being only 13. No matter, music has no boundaries and Baalzagoth deliver on this opus, with intro plus eight songs of death metal with some black metal influences thrown here and there. Songs range from thrashy and blast beats speed to more slower rythmic approach, like panzer rolling over helpless infantry in some frozen field. Underneath aggression and brutality, you can find some melody and melancholy influenced by black metal touches. Vocals are superb, death metal growl, brutal yet understandable. Songs like Unholy War, Suffering, Pagan´s Hell are sure to be your favorite if you check out this record, but you will hear it for yourself. Good and strong debut.
Our Croatian underground scene just thrives and pulsates with great bands and releases and I remember the first time I saw Drone Hunter from neighbouring Varaždin town. It was an open air gig organized by members of MC Miners from Varaždin behind one shopping mall with Đubrivo from Split and some other bands and I immediately fell in love with Drone Hunter´s music. Later on my band played a house gig in Varaždin in a garage of one guy´s home and it was fantastic. I interviewed the guys for this zine and reviewed earlier releases. Now, it is time for a new e.p. This one contains 5 songs. Although Drone Hunter are an instrumental band and I am not an avid fan of bands without vocals, this one is so good that vocals are not needed, the instruments do the talking. Songs are so well written that they tell a story. The music of Drone Hunter is hard to categorize, but I will try. It is a mixture of doom, stoner, sludge, hard rock and atmospheric post rock. But, what brought more joy to this heart are some faster, almost thrash metal parts of the songs Cabin Fever and The Dark Den Brought Me Here. Production on this e.p. is so strong and great, courtesy of Tompa at e-minor studio in Varaždin, this dude does great job with many bands from this scene here up north. Anyway, if you like atmosphere, harsh riffs, aggression, emotions, check out Drone Hunter and support the scene.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 