Tag Archives: symphonic black metal

Reviews

(review) Caedeous – ‘Malum Supllicium’

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Horror and metal go hand in hand so this combination fits perfectly to extreme metal genre. Portuguese Caedeous released their third opus revolving conceptually around horror, whether it is cosmic horror atmosphere in the vein of great H.P. Lovecraft, or more meaty body horror of Clive Barker or esotherica of Dante, this band delivers with their new opus. This one contains nine songs, one being intro using samples which I always condone and love. Music of Caedeous is a mixture between high energy death metal full of blast beats and growling death metal vocals sometimes mixing with black metal screams, technicality meeting brutality and also symphonic black metal where symphonic and keyboard passages with their eerie melodies add to the overall horror and murky darkened atmosphere of the record as a whole. I also love the use of melodic, clean female vocals in ‘Obscura Ascensions’. If I must choose some songs as highlights for me, that would be ‘Cruxis Inferni’, ‘Pandemonium’ and the title song. If you are looking for brutality with added horror and sympho passages this one is the right one for you.

8,5/10

Reviews

(review) …And Oceans – ‘As in Gardens, So in Tombs’ (Season of Mist)

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Finland’s …And Oceans have a new full length opus out with Season of Mist. I was so glad when they released their new come back opus called ‘Cosmic World Mother’ back in 2020. Although there were some line-up changes through the years, this didn’t stop …And Oceans. They were very interesting band to me back in the day because they mixed industrial with symphonic black metal and it worked excellently. Then they changed name, line-up but they returned and new vocalist Mathias Lillmåns, known also as singer for Finntroll delivered new power with his strong voice capable of black metal screaming, angry growling to some spoken word and clean singing. This new batch of songs are concentrated more on melodic and symphonic black metal, not unlike Old Man’s Child in some segments of the songwriting or maybe even Dimmu back in their early and best days. Lyrics deal with more deep introspective and philosophical side of darkness in man and universe. This also means strong synth melodies and symphonic arrangements, guitar work which connects old school aggressive black metal riffing with melodies and melancholic hooks only Finnish bands are capable of making. Add to this phenomenal drumming from blasts to changes of tempo to emphasize the strength of material. This is sympho black melodic par excellence. My personal favorites on this record are: ‘As in Gardens, So in Tombs’, ‘Within Fire and Crystal’ and epic ‘Ambivalent God’.

9,5/10

Reviews, Various

(review) Dawn of Ashes – Scars of the Broken

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I am so happy when I discover new bands that I like and learn to love their music, the same as I was back in the days of tape trading and waiting for weeks for your new music to arrive via snail mail and sometimes discovering your new favorites through such tapes. Now, it is easier, especially when you run a webzine for seventh year now, but the principle is still the same, scratch beneath the surface of underground and find what you like yourself and learn everyday new stuff in our beloved extreme music scene. So, I am so happy that I discovered LA´s Dawn of Ashes. But I am at the same time a little bit ashamed. Why? Because I found out late about them and they have been in the scene for more than twenty years now, delivering their punches and this is their ninth full length opus. This one contains 12 songs, some being intro and intermezzos between the maelstorm of Hellish sadomasochistic rites, darkened atmosphere, Satanic rituals, sex, death, life all of three being interlinked in one undividable whole of us as puny humans on this planet.

Dawn of Ashes play a mixture of industrial ebm metal, with symphonic black metal parts here and there, some gothic metal songwriting thrown in and whole lot of atmospheric darkness. I always respect and love the use of samples and Dawn of Ashes use samples so clever and so fantastic that it made goosebumps on my skin while listening to this opus. Electronic is great in adaptation with guitar parts, thundering drums, keyboards and superb vocals. The latter are special and it is so amazing to hear singer Kristof Bathory changing his voice from black metal croaking to screaming, back to gothic spoken word, some singing and altering back to industrial almost robotic voice. If I must compare this band to some it would be Kovenant from Norway in Animatronic period, but Dawn of Ashes sound richer and superb, also it would be a more upgraded black metal version of Combichrist. My personal favorites are Bane of Your Existence, Heart Beats Cold and Scars of the Broken. My recommendation for you, check this one out!

9/10