Vampire - Vampire Album Review

Track Listing: 

1. Orexis
2. Howl From The Coffin
3. At Midnight I’ll Possess Your Corpse
4. Ungodly Warlock
5. The Bestial Abyss
6. Black Deserts
7. Jaws Of The Unknown
8. The Fen
9. Cellar Grave Vampire
10. Under The Grudge

The self titled debut from newcomers to Sweden’s death metal scene reminds listeners exactly what the name-sake for the band should be about. Back before vampires become sparkly objects of pre-pubescent desire and cheesy romance novels, they represented exactly what this album attempts to capture. Brutal and horror-filled, this is a pretty decent debut album. Reminiscent at times of both Bathory and Possessed, it is a reminder that old-school death metal can have a modern flair and still be good. 

Drawn from the depths of classical horror influences and regurgitated into lyrics, Vampire delivers a no-compromises attitude. Keeping the air of mystery alive, the band members have chosen to use pseudonyms. The message is clear: focus on the the music, not the personalities behind it. A bit of a twist on classic death metal, sometimes incorporating the slightest thrash influence, this album nonetheless drags the listener into the grimy, dark abyss. ‘Howl From The Coffin’, released before the album, is a solid track and needs little extra prompting to make the listener headbang. The introduction to  ‘The Fen’ has a classical Dissection feel to it, segueing into a song that would prove fantastic live. One of my personal favorite songs on the album, ‘The Fen’ showcases a melding of influences that have shaped the genre to this point. Vampire demonstrates that classical horror literature and film are still poignant subjects, translating perfectly into an album that will leave listeners practicing their windmilling skills. This album starts off as solidly death metal piece, moving into something a little bit more interesting in the last few tracks. After much hype about the demo released in 2012, this is a suiting follow-up. It will be interesting to see where Vampire can take this; I’m already awaiting a second album. 

Paganfest North America

These photos (found in a post at this tumblr: http://the-heavy-metal-viking.tumblr.com), reminded me again that I will be missing out on Paganfest. 

Almost every edition of Paganfest has managed to stop in Edmonton, but no such luck this time. Unfortunately I don't have the funds to make the journey of a couple of hours that is required to catch this show either. Although I've seen Korpiklaani, Turisas and Chthonic, I would love to see Varg. I missed them last time they came to town as I was on the Barge to Hell cruise. I haven't had a chance to list to any Winterhymn, but I'm assuming if they're on Paganfest, they're good. In all honesty, I was pretty excited when they announced the line-up, and then quite disappointed when I realized there was no date I could make it to. 

Paganfest North America:

Korpiklaani

Turisas 

Chthonic

Varg 

Winterhymn

T-shirt Tuesday: Round Two

Entrails - Raging Death Album Review

This one got lost somewhere in the abyss that formed from having too much to do and too little time to do it in. Better late than never though. 

Track Listing:

1. In Pieces
2. Carved To The Bone
3. Bloodhammer
4. Headless Dawn
5. Cadaverous Stench
6. Descend To The Beyond
7. Death League
8. Chained and Dragged
9. Defleshed
10. The Cemetery Horrors

Released in 2013, Raging Death is easily one of my personal favorite albums of the previous year. Originally formed in the early 1990’s in Sweden, Entrails disbanded before releasing any material. That is, until 2008, when they re-formed and began releasing albums reminiscent of other bands in the death metal scene from years ago. Not that this is a bad thing; in fact, it’s completely the opposite. Raging Death sounds as if it were ripped directly from the early ’90’s, brining old-school Swedish death metal to the forefront again. (Actually, after acquiring this album, I promptly acquired both of Entrail’s other full-length albums, obviously enjoying what I heard). For someone who was just a kid during the rise of the death metal scene in Sweden, being able to hear ‘newer’ bands releasing such material is actually quite exciting. 

The album starts with a horror movie-esque intro to ‘In Pieces’, setting the scene for the bombardment of death metal that follows. Raging Death is a ruthless album, slamming the listener with all of the skull-crushing elements you would expect from a death metal band that knows exactly what they’re doing. Entrails aren’t trying to re-invent wheel; rather it feels as if they are working toward death metal perfection. While this album sounds more ‘produced’ than their previous efforts, it works. A more polished approach to production usually works, contrary to what any ‘trve’ black metal musician will tell. (But I suppose this is why I don’t listen to a lot of black metal). All musical elements meld to create a sound that would send most children under the bed to hide, with crunching guitars, heavy drums and bloodthirsty vocals. The slower elements found in some songs balance the relentless drive toward blasting eardrums apart with brutality. Overall, this is a great album.

If you don’t like death metal, Raging Death certainly won’t change your mind. If you do like that old-school Swedish death sound, you’ll like this album. It’s pure savagery from start to finish, reminiscent of the early 90’s, and a piece of near-perfection from the genre.  As an added bonus, the artwork is pretty sick too. 

T-shirt Tuesday: Round One

With the more mundane things in life getting in the way, I find that it's difficult to create the time to write anything interesting. T-shirt Tuesday seems to be a popular topic, so I figured I'd give it a try.

More Månegarm & Thyrfing

Reflecting on my previous post regarding my list of albums I will be attempting to acquire over the next while brought to mind a few things I would like to share.

Firstly, Månegarm released their music video for 'Sons of War', a track from the Legions Of The North album. It was released a while ago, and I have watched it before, but I thought it was worth mentioning here. I personally really enjoy the song and quite like the video. Have a quick watch if you haven't already done so:

Månegarm - Sons of War Official Video


Secondly, this show would have been spectacular to see:

While I have never heard of Netherbird, both Thyrfing and Månegarm playing a show together? I must admit I am a little envious of the Swedes who were able to attend. Just seeing photos of the show makes me feel like I missed out, even though it would have been in no way possible to travel to Sweden for one concert. If this particular line-up decided to tour and stop in my city, well, I can't even express how excited I would be. (But that's wishful thinking, right?)

Photos of the event can be found on the Facebook page of photographer Soile Siirtola (extreMMetal.se) or on the extreMMetal.se website.

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Kaaos Tv Interview: Mathias 'Vreth' Lillmåns

I stumbled across this interesting and well-done interview with Mathias 'Vreth' Lillmåns, vocalist of Finntroll, this morning. The interview is in Finnish, but there are English subtitles. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of 70000 Tons of Metal, and Vreth's favourite European festivals. Brutal Assault and Metal Days are two of the ones I'd like to cross off my list.

Check out the interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zaI0yiOy6A&feature=player_embedded#at=17

Checking Off The List

Like almost every other metal head out there, I find myself continually making and amending lists of albums that I would like to acquire. I did actually manage to cross several off my list last year, and thus have found myself creating a new list. This is how it is shaping up so far:

This one should be in the mail some time soon:

These are a few I'd like to get my hands on sometime soon, although some of them are proving quite difficult to find unless I'm willing to pay an outrageous price: