Thousand Year War are hailing from USA and apparently there are only two entities in this band, namely Hiram Lohr-Guitars, Keys, Bass and Bryan Arant- Drums. This is band’s second EP and it contains five songs of pagan Viking metal. Some of the song parts reminded me of Bathory a lot, like ‘Kingdom Of Nastrond’. I love the mixture of screeching vocals with clean sung parts and you can understand what is being sung most of the time. Music? A mixture of melodic death/black metal with pagan Viking metal and guitar and keyboard melodies are very catchy and get into your ear like for example excellent title song. The music is warrior pride and aggressive, but at the same time has that melancholy in guitar riffs and sometimes sadness, at least I hear it like that. My personal favorites are the title song and ‘Hammer to the Heart of Christ’. Great pagan Viking metal indeed!
ANGUANA is another band from the mighty Italian underground scene. This is their new EP containing 6 songs, two of them being atmospheric instrumentals which serve as kind of intermezzo between the songs. Anguana play mixture of raw old school black metal, melodic atmospheric black with touch of folk influences which can be heard in the song structures, like in the title song for example, which starts with folk metal guitar work, evolving into fast, aggressive, yet melancholic melodic black metal song, like Italian bands do. I love the use of choir clean vocals, reminding me of Bathory behind the black metal vocals which at times reminded me of Satyr from Satyricon with similarity of voice. Lyrics are in Italian and local dialect and deal with witchery, folk tales and tradition, this band being from Venetian region, meaning north of Italy. The usage of synth is sounding more dungeon synth and fits perfectly to the whole atmosphere of this opus, making it even more versatile and interesting for listening. This is good band and I am looking forward to the full length one day.
Keep of Kalessin are back with their new full length opus. This is band’s first full length since 2015 and seventh opus in all. This one contains nine songs. Keep of Kalessin don’t play melodic black metal as they did in their early days, band being formed in 1995. Nowadays, they play bombastic mixture of symphonic black metal and so much more, thrash metal solos being influences in ‘Hellride’, but also symphonic and orchestral melodies in the title song being one of my personal favorites. They retained their black metal roots and blast beats but made it more progressive, more aggressive and melodic at the same time. Keyboard parts fit perfectly in songs and vocals are story for themselves. Obsidian Claw, the only remaining founding member delivers vocals in unbelievable range, from classic black metal screams, fantastic clean passages and atmospheric melodies to thrash metal shouting and death metal grunts making this record one of the best black metal opuses released in 2023 and making my jaws open and dropped in amazement. Although there are some longer songs, like epic ‘The Omni’ or ‘The Obsidian’s Expanse’, not a second of this album gets boring or stale. At times they remind me of best Emperor’s works, but to be sure, not being a clone, only an inspiration. This is black metal record par excellence.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 