Zero Credibility

This last chilly day of rather contrast spring brings package from Relapse Records containing the awesomeness I was waiting for quite some time. The latest creation of one of my fave bands is in my hands: Beherit – “Engram”. This one is an awesome example of grown up black metal band: staying quite primitive and evil, yet bringing something new. Like last track of this album is an awesome mix of black metal and some kind of dubstep. Very well done! The sound on the album is also of very nice power and purity. All in all, one of my fave albums during the last months.
Cannibal Corpse – “Evisceration Plague”. I’m still continuing to gather last albums of the veterans of the grindcore as they’re indeed of top quality. This one is the latest album from CC and of course it sounds like typical CC: quality meatgrinder for your everyday needs plus better sound quality that modern tech brings. Nothing special about this album, just another heavy brick of sound form USA :)
Whitechapel – “The Somatic Defilement”. Another new grindcore band I discovered recently. They sound very brutal andВ intense. Nice mix of fast and slow tracks and proper low growling. What else you need to whet your grind appetite?
Relapse was В kind enough to include the promo of Cancer Bats – “Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Stones” into the package. At first I thought wtf I’m gonna do with this, but after listening to a couple of tracks I actually liked this canadian band. It’s proper hardcore with some hints of deathmetal. Seems like I’ve inadvertently discovered another band I like.
All in all this May turned to be quite rich in terms of new music deliveries. I’d say this is the hottest month ever. 26 cds during one month! That is indeed extraordinary update to my collection. Well, blame Napalm Death show that started this grind madness. By the way, Fear Factory and Cannibal Corpse will be here soon with their shows, I’m pondering to go to at least to one of them. Yet I’m thinking about going to Brutal Assault fest this early august, but I’m not sure how things will turn out.

Finally I’ve received latest Burzum album “Belus”. I listened to mp3 the day it was released and liked it instantly. The delay in getting the CD was caused by the fact that the CD was released on some obscure russian label, hence first not so big pressing kinda disappeared instantly. So I had to wait 2 more months. Anyway, the music is pretty much in style of “Hvis Lyset Tar Oss” or “Filosofem” which makes Burzum sound special and interesting once again. The music is ascetic and atmosphereic, the lyrics add the big part to it. Exactly what I expected from the act for quite some time. I never liked his last pure electornic albums, they were kinda boring, but this one is what I love Burzum for.

Enslaved – “Vertebrae”. Decided to buy this one finally. Latest Ensalved album sounds pretty much like some hi end rock, nothing common with viking metal. Still the melodies are nice, the usage of normal vocals makes it sound interesting too. Overall very varied and interesting album, even not being in strict genre boundaries.

Brutal Truth – “Evolution Through Revolution”. Decided to get this barrel of pure chaos after seeing this video. Well, it turned that other 20 tracks are the same screaming chaos as well. Even more chaotic than Napalm Death. No wonder they use GW’s chaos star on the cover ;) This album requires proper mood to listen to it, i.e. this is not vor everyday relaxed listening for sure.

Deathbound – “Non Compos Mentis”. Not sure why did I bought this one. Probably cover design attracted me and I’m in desperate hunt for proper grindcore. Local stores don’t have it in proper amounts. All in all, it turned to be quite generic death metal from finland. Nothing interesting to get hooked. Just wall of typical metal without any fresh ideas or proper execution. Once again I have to remind myself that I have to listen to samples before byuing stuff.

While this late May turned into the rainy and nice weather, I’ve got a package from Eternal Pride. First comes the CD I was wanting for quite tome time: selftitled All Hail Transcending Ghost. This is collaboration of Nordvargr with Tim Bertilsson who plays guitars here. This is nice mix of trademark dark ambient with guitar drones and noises. Some pieces might remind Maurizio Bianchi’s dronings but of course there’s more darkness due to presence of Nordvargr.
Next comes another Nordvargr project Toroidh – “Eine Kleine Marschmusik”. Pretty much like “Sergevittring”, this is another proper Toroidh martial industrial release. Though second track is some speech by supposedly swedish military man talking about some military operation. There’s also some ambient tracks, but background of all the album is of course martial industrial of proper kind.
Beherit – “The Oath of Black Blood”.В I’ve spotted this CD in Eternal Pride’s mailorder catalogue and decided to grab it. As I desperately trying to get latest Beherit album, I’m trying to survive getting their old stuff. В It is quite an old record dated 1990, so it’s rather harsh and raw black metal with trademark Beherit vocals. Some tracks still sound great and are really satanic. Cannot wait for the package from Relapse, there should be final album of this great act.
Bain Wolfkind – “Swamp Angel”. Decided to get this one as I liked samples on his myspace page. This is rather relaxed rock music with somewhat gangster theme. Imagine gangsters of 60s, this is what this musicВ associatedВ with for me. Add here very nice low voice of Bain and you’ll get pretty attractive mix.
Another Hau Ruck! release that attracted me after I heard their samples on myspace. Naevus – “Relatively Close to the Sea”. Some kind of neofolk with weird lyrics and nice melodies. And of course voice of theВ front man appealed to myВ senses, so i decided to buy this CD as well.
Atomine Elektrine – “Archiemtrical Universe”.В Eternal Pride kindly included this CD into the package. В This is their reissue of 1999 album. The music is very synthetic and light but brings nice spacey atmosphere. Or rather old sci-fi movies or sometimes it reminds me of the very old computer Darklight Conflict space game I enjoyed decade ago, hence it brings good mood. At least it works this way for me.

Finally got new CD of Darkthrone after the 1.5 month wait due to awful problems with post service here – “Circle The Wagons”. Well, Darkthrone dive even deeper into oldskool metal with this album. Tracks are more punkish and somewhat more melodic, you even might want to sing along with them when you’ll know them better. And they’re easy to remember. The records made in true raw Darkthrone style. All instruments sound soft and properly merged together. Despite it not being cruel black metal I like it nevertheless. Nocturno Culto’s voice is still piercing evil one, which is cool. On CD there’s also very cute little video where Fenriz talks about old metal albums, showing their vinyls’ envelopes and remembering old metal bands.
Carcass – “Reek of Putrefaction”. Decided to get this release because it comes with white plastic bag “to avoid unpleasant leakage” from the contents and also features DVD with clips and interviews. But I’m having troubles viewing DVD on my computer, probably have to assault someone’s DVD player one day and watch it as it looks promising.
SUNN O))) – “3:Flight of the Behemoth”. Decided to buy this one as one of the last SUNN cds I ought to get. This one is from the early era of the band. Still it’s quite experimental and interesting. I’d only cut away one track which is done with collaboration of Merzbow. Random piano smashing during entire track sounds quite unpleasant. Second Merzbow featured track is quite harsh and proper mix of noise and drones.
Annotations of an Autopsy -“II:Reign of Darkness”. Still being in grind mood, I’ve found this new band. Pretty technical deathmetal. Though I liked their previous album more, but it was absent in the record store, so I got this one. Not as intense as Napalm Death, but still has its own interesting moments and juicy slow bits.
Folkstorm – “Ortodox“. Released on OEC comes new Folkstorm. This time Nordvargr uses only analogue equipment to generate noises and it’s quite noticeable from the sound. It’s somewhat warmer/softer, but still brings devastating industrial atmosphere. Rather peculiar release, type of noise presented there is kinda attractive so I didn’t want to skip to the next track and was immersed when listening to it for the first time.
Vortex – “Phanopoeia”. I was recommended to listen to this album and liked it. It’s quite proper dark ambient with alot of variety in sound, from vast spacey to some evil droning with background noises. Recommended to darkambient / noise fans.

The Napalm Death show didn’t pass so easiy for me as it turned. I’m now officially a ND fan. Therefore? I started getting their records maniacally. Thus I’ve got three old albums “From Enslavement To Obliteration”, “Harmony Corruption”, “Utopia Banished” and 2 compilations. I regret I’ve bought “Noise For Music’s Sake” compilation though. As there’s no style in song shuffle. Instead of solid album feel there’s total chaos: tracks from various eras mixed making listening not so immersive. Only thing this 2CD compilation is good for is to try a couple of songs before buying proper album. I really wanna get “Diatribes” album as it was my long time favorite but looks like local shops don’t have it and not gonna have it in near future, well, this makes the hunt more interesting :) Also, nothing of these past albums beats the last two: “Smear Campaign” and “Time Waits for no Slave”. These two are the best ND albums! Another compilation is rather good. This is “Grind Madness at the BBC”. The collection of the Peel sessions for BBC recorded back in the late 80s and early 90s. There’s proper bunch of bands on these 3CDs: Napalm Death, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Extreme Noise Terror and other oldskoolers. Young grindcore from the past sounds kinda nostalgic yet cool.
And the final CD I finally bought is Carnivore “Retaliation”. I just had to buy it, this is the last album from Peter Steele I didn’t have. Now since he passed away (sob) I just had to get everything I didn’t have in my collection.