Kalmah to Release 'Palo' in April

One of the best melodic death metal bands (at least in my opinion), Kalmah, will release their newest effort 'Palo' at the beginning of April. I wasn't even aware that they were working on a new album until the lyric video for "Evil Kin" was made available a few days ago.

My first impression of "Evil Kin" is that the music is pretty decent, but the lyrics are weak. I have high expectations for Kalmah as I feel that their entire discography is rock solid. As such, I'm looking forward to this album and hoping that "Evil Kin" might actually be a weaker point. It's definitely not bad, but it's just not as mind-blowing as I'm used to from this Finnish powerhouse.

Swedish Bands To Deliver The Goods In February

Two very different sounding bands, both hailing from Sweden, are set to release new albums this February.

First out of the gate is Grimner, a folk metal band from Motala. They play a style similar to Månegarm while adding their own unique elements. 'Frost Mot Eld', which was released in 2016 was easily one of my favourite albums of that particular year. 'Vanadrottning' will be available on February 9, 2018.

Stockholm's Necrophobic will be dropping their new album on February 23rd, 2018. Titled 'Mark Of The Necrogram', it promises to be a proficiently solid blackened death metal release. This is one band that hasn't managed to achieve much recognition, but has none-the-less put out some fantastic albums. With nearly five years in between albums, I'm certainly looking forward to this one.

The Best Of 2017

I was far from diligent in reviewing new releases in 2017; that much is evidenced from the serious lack of posts doing just that. With all of the "top releases of 2017" lists coming out in December, and my difference of opinion from most of them, I wanted to share my top picks of last year. Keep in mind that these are my FAVOURITES, highly subjective to my own personal taste in metal.

Top Five (from well-known bands):

Belphegor - Totenritual
Blackened death metal (Austria)

Entrails - World Inferno 

Death metal (Sweden)

Cut Up - Wherever They May Rot

Death metal (Sweden)

Kreator - Gods Of Violence

Thrash metal (Germany)

King Of Asgard - Taudr

Viking metal (Sweden)

Local Picks:

My favourite releases from bands I've had the opportunity to see live and watch grow over the last few years. If you're into the style of metal they play, I'd recommend checking out these albums. Admittedly, there are a few of my Canadian favourites from whom I failed to pick up albums from in 2017. 

Körperlose Stimme

Blackened death metal (Canada)

Forsaken Rite 

Folk metal (Canada)

Shared From Transcending Obscurity: Swedish Death Metal Highlights

Maybe it's the increasingly cold and snowy weather, or maybe I'm just feeling in need of delving deeper into some Swedish death metal lately due to being stuck at home. Either way, I ran across this article on the website of the Transcending Obscurity record label/online magazine a while ago and felt it was well-worth sharing:

https://tometal.com/special-highlights-swedish-death-metal-highlights/

I know absolutely nothing about Transcending Obscurity itself, but after seeing some of the bands they've signed and doing a bit of browsing on their site, it definitely seems like a good place to check out once in a while. This article gives a good round-up of what has been going on in the Swedish death metal scene recently, focusing on bands that are probably a little more obscure than some of the 'big' names of the sub-genre.

I haven't had a chance to listen to probably half of the bands mentioned in the article, but would agree in recommending Interment, Entrails, and Cut Up. A few of the others, such as Under The Church, Paganizer, and Vangheld are on my radar but I don't feel like I know any of their material well enough to comment about it other than liking what I've heard. As for the rest, it leaves a hell of a lot of bands I've either never heard of, or heard of in passing to check out!

If you're interested in Swedish death metal, I'd recommend giving this article a quick scan (at the very least). You'll probably find something to pique your interest.

Exploring the Roots Of Finnish Folk Metal with Wolfhorde

Finland's Wolfhorde is often hailed as blackened folk metal, and I suppose rightfully so as the atmospheric elements of black metal can be heard interspersed throughout their work. In fact, they are a pretty good embodiment of that unique 'Finnish sound' that makes many bands from that particular country identifiable, even if you have never listened to them before. It's a sound that seems to permeate (to some extent) almost every band from Finland, no matter which sub-genre of metal.

Wolfhorde's 2016 release, 'Towards The Gates Of North', was one of the more memorable releases of the year for me and the band is set to release a new EP on December 1st. Titled 'The Great Old Ones', it's a three song tribute to the roots of Finnish folk metal covering a few of the true masters of the genre: Finntroll, Moonsorrow and (early) Amorphis. I'm stoked to hear this in its entirety, as the teaser promises good things:

Körperlose Stimme: Making of 'Souls Of The Forest' video

Körperlose Stimme have just wrapped up a handful of tour dates supporting their debut full-length album, 'Souls Of The Forest', with upcoming dates in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton in the next few weeks.
Personally, I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this album as I've been following this blackened death metal act basically since their inception as a band. If you get a chance, I highly recommend going out to see Körperlose Stimme live. You won't be disappointed.

Körperlose Stimme Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/KorperloseStimmeMetal/

Horror Review: Rings (2017)

Although part of the Ring franchise, I’m reviewing the latest installment of the series as a stand alone film. It’s been close to ten years since I’ve watched The Ring, and honestly, I don’t remember enough about it in order to compare it to Rings. It obviously didn’t make much of an impression on me. On another note, I don’t think I’ve watched the Japanese original either.

Rings provides an origin story for Samara, the demonic well-dweller who manifests through television and computer screens. Other than providing some immediate excitement, the opening sequence isn’t really necessary. (The film could have just started with Gabriel purchasing the VCR and videotape). But as most horror fans might agree, a little extra of the ‘scary’ stuff isn’t a bad thing either. We’re reintroduced to the videotape (now digitalized from the VCR tape) and the subsequent “Seven Days” phone call through an experiment being run by Gabriel, a college professor. Setting Julia’s investigation into motion by enclosing it in the premise of a college professor’s experiment actually works well. It provides reasonable explanations for many of the other plot elements that pop up.

Rings raised a few questions. The film doesn’t really explain why Samara was born as an evil manifestation to begin with. Sure, she was the product of a priest raping her mother and keeping her captive in an underground bunker, but this alone (as disturbing as it in itself) doesn’t really account for her inherent evil. Especially since there was always something wrong with the child, even though she was not raised by her birth parents, nor kept in captivity, nor tortured or any other number of things. It’s almost like we’re supposed to believe it was just some random glitch that she was born evil. There’s no clear origin for Samara being a terrifying child before she’s thrown down the well. (The demonic being thing is a little more understandable after being discarded down a well). It’s probably an over-analysis, but a child born out of such circumstances doesn’t automatically become evil.

What happened to Evelyn (Samara’s mother) after Samara was born? Wikipedia says that Evelyn escaped before giving birth, but I completely missed this. And where did she end up from there? Besides wandering around as some sort of pregnant spirit? It’s clear that Evelyn disappeared, but how exactly? No doubt Burke had something to do with it, but providing a little more of Evelyn’s story might have been beneficial. Perhaps in another film?

As for another random question, why does Samara suddenly gain the ability to renew Burke’s sight? Apparently his self-inflicted blindness kept him from Samara’s harm because he was unable to see her, but if she had the ability to restore his sight, why not take revenge before now? I guess someone had to find her remains to ‘release’ her, but from Burke’s words, it wasn’t the first time Samara had manifested in his presence.

Burke isn’t immediately revealed as the priest either, which provides some suspense through the film and allows for the plot twists to develop as they do. The best twist is inevitably saved for last, after it appears that Julia and Holt’s lives have returned to normal after cremating Samara’s remains. The meaning of the braille burned into Julia’s hand is revealed. While Julia’s visions lead her (and the audience) to believe that the cremation would release Samara’s spirit and banish the evil presence that possessed her, it’s revealed not to be so. In an unsettling final scene, Julia’s skin begins peeling away where the word “rebirth” was previously burned in braille. It reveals decaying, waterlogged flesh underneath. Further, Julia begins gagging and pulls an impossibly long (and disgusting) strand of wet black hair from her mouth. A camera shot of the mirror suddenly reveals Samara where Julia’s reflection should be.

Overly analytical and critical questions aside, Rings was actually a reasonably suspenseful watch. There was an easily followed, somewhat developed plot line, believable acting, good effects and a few jump-scares. (A lot of horror films manage to fall short of combining all of these elements). While I wanted a few more explanations and answers at the end of the film, I found it pretty solid, especially if you like origin stories and additional insight into your horror antagonists.

Worth Watching: Probably