Album review: Velka - Purgatori Ignis Ludicium (2022)

Velka - Purgatori Ignis Ludicium

Spain

Base Record Production / Necromance Records

Hailing from the Basque Country (sovereign region in Spain), Velka is an autonomous black metal band and “Purgatori Ignis Ludicium” is their debut album released by Base Record Production & Necromance Records.

The band may refer to their music as black metal, and that’s fair enough considering the overt amount of blasphemous riffs and evil feeling that prevails in their music, but the ferocity they exude also brings to mind extreme black/death by way of old Belphegor, or fast-paced black metal like Impaled Nazarene or Handful of Hate. Musically, Velka is its own entity, and they deliver a strong performance full of power, energy and musicianship to rival with the best.

The first track, “Eternal Hate Awakens”, is a nine-minute stomper that opens this album in brutal fashion, with lightning fast drums, muscular riffs, and vocals that alternate between aggressive rasps and menacing growls.

The rhythmic guitars carry the music, while the drums are nifty and add a good deal of variety. The vocals are perfectly balanced in the mix – not too loud, nor too soft. A mixture of morbid melodies and sledgehammer brutality fills the show with high-octane energy and pure raw rage.

Despite its seven tracks, the average track is about 7-8 minutes long, assaulting the listener with a non-stop barrage of hellfire and brimstone, which is similar to Vital Remains when it comes to lengthy compositions, but in Velka's case, they offer enough variety to keep the listener interested, coupled with an energetic performance and unpolished production that add to the enjoyment of this album. The music itself is pretty straight-forward, although honest and free of gimmicks.

The searing intensity of the music is unquestionable, with a heavier than thou attitude sweeping throughout the album. Considering it's Velka's debut album, it's a solid effort. (HT)

Album review: Bloody Sadism - Eloquent Atrocity (2019)

Bloody Sadism – Eloquent Atrocity

Iran

Base Record Production

You must have some balls to be from a country like Iran and play in a metal band, considering that people from there have been prosecuted for their involvement in heavy metal-related activities. It's fucking stupid, and religion as a whole is a cancer (especially monotheistic religions) and should be abolished, along with all its prophets for committing to such pernicious propaganda, but I digress. 

Bloody Sadism is a solo project from Iran playing Brutal/Slamming Death Metal and while I am generally not really into this style, I can at least appreciate the band's output to some extent and respect the fact that they come from a country like Iran and have the guts to play this kind of music.

"Eloquent Atrocity" is the debut album by Bloody Sadism, which contains 10 tracks of skull pounding brutality. The album was released by Spain's Base Record Production on CD in 2019.

The whole disc has a squeaky clean production, which I have noticed is quite common for this style (I generally prefer a rawer sound). The guitar sound is verily clear, and the riffs are pretty easy to pick out. The vocals are rather typical of this style – deep and guttural – but well done and not lacking in execution. Each track is well recorded, featuring a series of cookie monster vocals and heavy slam parts, coupled with themes involving misogyny, gore, and of course sadism. There's nothing remarkably unique about it, though it's good for what it is.

All in all, if you are a fan of this kind of brutal/slamming death metal and want to hear some heavy and groovy shit with themes about killing woman, then you should definitely listen to Bloody Sadism. (HT)