Old Forest are hailing from UK and have been formed in 1998 and this is their new sixth full length opus and it will be out with help of Death To Music Productions. There are eight songs on this one. Music of Old Forest plays is black metal but so much more. In its basis it is no holds barred black metal but has so much melody and atmosphere, only reminding me why I love this music genre so much. Expressing feelings and emotions, battling inner demons and aggression has always been vibe of black metal music. There are also pagan and folk black metal influences in the songwriting of Old Forest. Tyrant Spell begins with atmospheric buildup only to become folk black metal anthem combining superb clean singing and black metal screams with melodic guitar melancholy, mid tempo and doomy passages. The Anvils is nineties old school black metal song reminding me of old Emperor a lot, being complex yet catchy with that haunting guitar melody through the song. Despair Is My Name slows things down again to beautiful mid tempo soundscape backed with nice keyboard work to accompany guitars and vocals screamed and transforming easily to clean and back again. Red Sky In Mourning serves as a kind of intermezzo between two black metal storms. My Haunting Vision is one of my personal favorites, dream like song catching the vibe of nightmare and unease with doom parts, epic melody and clean singing. Solitude Apocalypse is for me the best song on this opus, listen and see if you agree. Shadows Immemorial and A Bitter End finish this album which is for sure one of the best black metal releases this year until now.
We are pleased to present the second track from Djevel’s upcoming album “Tanker som rir natten”, which will be released on May 14 via Aftermath Music. You can listen “Maanen skal være mine øine, den skinnende stierne mine ben, og her skal jeg vandre til evig tid” at this location:
Djevel is Ciekals, Faust (ex-Emperor), and new vocalist/bassist Kvitrim (Vemod, Mare), and performs Black Metal with an ominous melodic sense.
Wratheon is an entity hailing from USA and this is the first e.p. containing five songs. Now this is what I call fine e.p. that just made my day and made smile return to my face and my old metal heart beating faster. Music of Wratheon is fast mixture of blackened thrash with almost some hardcore punk song parts thrown in here and there or is it only me. I was blown immediately away with superb melody and aggressiveness of In Seance but all got even better song by song. A Fire Burns is also fast song made to pump your fist in the air and ride to battle with, but having also almost sad and anguished melody behind all of the darkness and flame with clever use of keyboards in some song parts. Vocals are black metal like but you can understand almost all what is being sung, so it is another plus. With Crimson Eyes is an all out thrash metal attack with blackened vibe and double bass destroying everything in its path and blast beats bringing black metal in the forefront of aural assault yet also having wicked melody in guitar work. Life is an instrumental with lots of changes in tempo and showing more guitar oriented side of the band. Unescapable Null is for me somehow the darkest song on this e.p. ending in me wanting more and eagerly awaiting for the full length.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 