Album review: Orthodoxy – Novus Lux Dominus (2019)

Orthodoxy – Novus Lux Dominus

Spain

The Sinister Flame

Hailing from Spain, Orthodoxy is a four-piece death metal outfit featuring members from bands such as Devotion, Profundis Tenebrarum, and Pestkraft. The band was formerly a solo project and released a relatively well-received 5-track demo in 2015, entitled “Shaarimoth. The release in question, “Novus Lux Dominus,” is their debut full-length and an absolute juggernaut of an album informed by only the darkest and heaviest bands in the realm of black/death metal. An immensely morbid atmosphere permeates this release from start to finish, augmented with the injection of harrowing doom tempos. The ingenious and rotten production adds to the overall feel of the album. It’s clearer than a demo recording, yet rawer than what most bands would opt for on an album. It walks that perfect middle-ground. Using references are effective in giving the reader an idea of a band’s sound, but at the same, also subjective. That being said, I feel like Orthodoxy might just be the death metal counterpart to a band like Vassafor, as both bands have a strong predisposition for ominous soundscapes, as well as infusing a hefty amount of doom in their music. The difference is clearly the genre boundaries, as this leans more towards death than black. Overall, if it is dark and brooding death metal you seek that sounds like it was recorded in a mortuary somewhere in the midst of some bizarre necromantic ritual, then Orthodoxy’s “Novus Lux Dominus” is an absolute essential listen. If death ever had a soundtrack, this would be it. (HT) 

Interview: Beyond Mortal Dreams (2021)

Beyond Mortal Dreams is one of those great bands from down under that seem to fly under most people’s radar. If you’re a fan of dark, brutal, and well-executed death metal with equally excellent themes, then I strongly suggest that you check them out as soon as possible. The following interview was conjured with vocalist/guitarist, Doomsayer.

Hails Doomsayer! How’s everything going? Can you give us an update on the current status of the band and when we can expect a follow-up to 2014’s killer “Lamia” EP?

Hails Death By Hammer! Going well here. A lot of activity happening behind the scenes with various projects I'm involved in, including BMD. As for the current status of the band, unfortunately, it's no longer a live endeavor anymore, as the members have all since moved their own separate ways. Some out of the state of South Australia, some starting families, etc. Life happens, my friend! The show goes on, however. It's pretty much turned into a one man band at this point, so whatever will happen as far as gaining a live line up again, well, we shall see...

At the moment I'm currently working on new material for future recordings as well as finishing up mixing the next full length LP to follow up 2008's From Hell. It's certainly been aeons between drinks there! Since Lamia, there's been another release out on Lavadome Productions in 2016 entitled "As Death, We Shall Walk". It's more of a compilation CD of old demos, cover songs and also includes the Lamia 7" EP. Also, From Hell has recently been remastered and repackaged and released on both LP and Digisleeve CD by Nuclear Winter Records. These are all still available through myself, or Lavadome Productions and Nuclear Winter Records respectively.

As for the next LP, it's been a long slog with many setbacks along the way, but I'm happy to say that the end is finally in sight! I'm at the final mixing stages now, and so far it's looking like you'll be seeing it come out (via Lavadome Productions) by year's end. We're aiming to begin promoting the album in the next couple of months, so stay tuned.

Which bands influenced the infernal sound of Beyond Mortal Dreams, and what kind of atmosphere do you try to capture with your music?

I guess you could say the late 80's, early 90's era Death Metal that mostly came out of the U.S. was a big influence on our style in our early years. Bands like Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Nocturnus, Death, these all had an influence on the style of metal we wanted to play at the time. Cannibal Corpse - Butchered at Birth and Napalm Death – Harmony Corruption were probably the two albums that influenced me most when it came to my vocals. Some black metal styles such as Immortal and Dark Funeral had an impact also, but that came out more in a later incarnation of the band. There was a time actually that BMD went into a more experimental phase during the mid to late 90's. Members in the band at that time were getting more heavily into more psychedelic music and wanted to incorporate that into metal. Nothing really came out of it though, and that incarnation was short-lived. When myself and original BMD drummer Matt (Hellaeon) reunited in the early 2000's, we were both blasting out the early albums of Nile, Krisiun, Diabolic, Emperor, Dark Funeral, Myrkskog (to name a few). When we started jamming again, there was this shared desire to play fierce, fast, and brutal, and some of the albums that were coming out around that time had a big affect on us. Albums like Krisiun's Apocalyptic Revelations, Nile's Amongst the Catacombs of Nefren-Ka, Myrkskog's Death Machine were on high rotation. Bestial Warlust's Vengeance War 'till Death was also a big influence for its sheer atmospheric savagery! You put that fucker on, and after all these years it still spits forth blood and venom! Haha.

The main atmosphere over all that I try to capture and project in my Death Metal music is of a dark nature. That can be conveyed either through the more film score soundscape parts we have delved into, such as in the song Dreaming Death, or through a much more raw, savage and aggressive way. Though there are exceptions, I always gravitate more towards raw and aggressive styles of music when it comes to this genre. In an artistic, or fantasized mindframe, I like to think of it as a power unleashed as a howl from the void tearing into existence, indiscriminate in it's destruction. Or like a sonic bulldozer flattening everything that lays before it. You take that aspect, and add some more melodic elements, some catchy riffing that you can walk away humming in your head, and some more dark, film score inspired symphonic elements, and you've got the basic ingredients for the type of music that I try to capture in BMD today.

What kind of themes do you explore in the musical context of Beyond Mortal Dreams?

Overall, the themes are dark in nature. Sci-fi and horror are big interests of mine, so you're gonna see that rub off on the kind of lyrics I write. A lot of what I write tends to be inspired by either books or film and I try to treat most of the lyrics like short fictional stories. From Hell pretty much covered the themes of Demons, infernal war, fictional tales, spiritual afterlife, horror. In Dreaming Death I went more on a mildly Lovecraftian influenced horror trip with the title track plus a kind of ghost/monster tale with "Feast of Carrion" and an anti organised religion take with "The Filth of Their God". Something I like to do more of these days is inject some artistic licence into the mix by taking concepts based in history, nature, mythology, or wherever, and give it a horrific twist. The theme for Lamia for instance, is a love affair with a ghastly necrotic flesh-eating vampire creature. I based the creature on the Lamia from Greek mythology, and turned it into a man's psychotic fantasized love tale, willingly giving himself over to be fed upon by the Lamia. Hallmark, eat your heart out!

What is the connotation behind your band name?

When I came up with the name back in '95, my thinking was to have a name which left us open to explore various themes either lyrically of musically, rather than be pinned to a name that speaks to only one thing, such as our previous name of "Suffering". Of course, in the realm of Death Metal these themes will usually come from a place of darkness. As I mentioned earlier, we had gone through a phase experimenting with and incorporating other styles of music, but my heart for BMD was, is and always will be death metal. That's not to say I'm against any kind of experimentation in the future, though. The next album will feature some material which has a different vibe to what we've done before, but don't let that worry you. This next album will still be 100% dark and brutal Death Metal!

Would you agree with the fact that Australia is renowned for spawning some of the most killer black/death/thrash bands on the planet? Also, do you think Australian metal has a trademark sound that distinguishes it from the rest of the world? What’s some of your favourite Aussie bands?

Absolutely! Australia over the years has produced some world class music in these genres. And others, for that matter. I'd say that blend of black/death/thrash would probably be one of the more stand out genres that Aussie metal has put its own stamp on, but throughout the years there's been a lot of great metal music that's come out of our corner of the globe. As for some of my stand-outs, there's a lot to name. Some still active, some no longer around, but bands like Armoured Angel, Bestial Warlust, Destroyer 666, Astriaal, Hobb's Angel of Death, Bastardizer, Abominator, Destruktor, Stargazer, Nazxul, Nocturnes Mist, Sadistik Exekution are but a few I hold in high regard.

According to the metal archives, you’ve been in 15 bands. Do you mind giving us a little overview on some of your past and current bands, and which ones held the most significance to you?

15? Jeez, haha. Looking back at them all, yeah, there's been quite a few throughout the years I've played bass, guitar or vocals in. The most significant will always be BMD, but that's not to say that I've ever held any of the bands/projects I've been involved in with lesser value. A lot of great music was created between all those bands, in a lot of different styles, which as a player was of great value to learn and adopt. The 2000's was where I was most active with various bands. Some out there beyond Australia may know of a black metal band I spent time in called Darklord, probably one of the heaviest BM bands on the planet. That's quite a boast, I know, but they had such a brutal, yet symphonic atmosphere that was such a rush to play. The double twin neck guitar attack in that band was a thing of beauty. One of the guitar players/song writers also plays in one of my other current bands, Oath of Damnation. There's an element of Darklord that's carried on in Oath, but there's a lot more going on in the music as well.

I spent some time in a couple of brutal DM bands called Oni and Hatred Slave. Oni had a bit of a Japanese mythology theme about it, which was carried on into Tzn Tzu, while Hatred Slave was more straight forward with catchy, heavy riffing, blasting, and a bit of groove behind it. One Step Beyond was another band whose music I enjoyed playing. They have a death metal foundation, but with an ecclectic mix of other music genres. Brutal, groovy, grindy, funky, all in one. They're still going, I believe, so go give them a listen. Members of OSB and Hatred Slave have a DM band now called Brutaliate. Worthy a listen!

Some bands outside the DM genre I spent time in were Raven Black Night, Mammoth, Johnny Touch. RBN are a trad doom/rock band who are still going, Mammoth a stoner rock band with a massive, heavy wall of sound, also still active, and JT, a trad style of old school heavy metal. Mammoth was more in the vein of bands like Crowbar, and was the first band I started using cleaner vocals on, and JT, cleaner still. As for my clean vocals, let's just say that's still a work in progress, haha. As for my current endeavours, as well as Oath of Damnation, I'm currently bass/vocals in a trad/thrash/prog band called Shadow Realm, also featuring the guitarist and drummer of Oath. I have a couple of side projects on the go, one which is old school BM, and the other trad doom in the vein of Candlemass/Solitude Aeturnus. Just recently, I've started playing bass for a death metal band called Descend to Acheron. They've got an EP out through Petrichore Records called The Transience of Flesh.

Another project that myself and the BMD bass player have started recently is an old school DM style band called Dreaming Death (named afer the BMD EP). We're in the middle of recording an EP, so hopefully by year's end we can start promoting songs from it. It's got a real raw, late 80's thrash/DM vibe about it, drawing influence from Death, Pestilence, Morgoth, Possessed, Slayer. Looking forward to getting that out there, so stay tuned.

The level of virtuosity displayed by your band is definitely above average and competes with the best. Are any of the members in the band fans of prog or classical music, and do you try to incorporate that into your sound?

Yeah, between us in BMD we're fans of some prog stuff as well as thrash, doom, trad metal, even some glam. Those glam bands may have dressed like fairies, haha, but lets face it, they generally had great singers and guitar players. I'm more of a straight-out metal fan, myself, so I like to keep the music more savage with the songwriting but don't mind throwing in a little bit of technicality and odd time signatures as well as a slight symphonic element to keep it interesting. My other band Shadow Realm has a far greater incorporation of prog metal in it's style. The rest of the guys in that band are big prog and jazz fans. The keyboard player is classically trained, the drummer is primarily a jazz/prog drummer and The guitarist loves classical music as well as metal.

On the other hand, you also covered Beherit’s Beast of Damnation. Why did you choose to cover this band? Are you a fan of bestial black/death/war metal? Your band’s version is one of the best I’ve heard.

There's something about the original Beast of Damnation that has such an aesthetically evil vibe about it. Raw and savage, two main elements that draw me to this style of music, which is why that bestial black/death/war metal style is so appealing to me. When doing covers, generally what I like to do is inject a bit of our style into it, sort of making it our own, and there was a lot of room with Beast for us to do that. For years prior, we've talked about doing a rendition of Beast, and when the time came to record the Dreaming Death EP, we had only three new tracks ready and needed a fourth. A cover of Beast seemed like the perfect finale to round up the EP. We put out as a youtube clip a cover rendition of Bestial Warlust's At the Graveyard of God. It's as yet unreleased, so the only place you can find it for now is on youtube. The one exception to the rule when we tackle covers though was our rendition od the Nocturnus classic, "Lake of Fire". The only way we felt we could try and do it any kind of justice was to be as faithful to the original as possible.

Is Beyond Mortal Dreams mainly a studio enterprise or do you perform live?

It's gone between the two over the years, really. It started out as a live band, but line up changes and loss of members has forced it to continue as a studio band. We were live up to the time From Hell was recorded, but were unable to carry that on with the departure of Hellaeon. Finding a competent or available drummer to fill the void is very difficult here, so it was a few years until Maleficus came along. By the time Dreaming Death was recorded, we'd resigned ourselves to be active as a studio band only but when Ghuul came back on the bass, we went back to playing shows again for a while. As of now though, it's back to being a studio enterprise again with myself flying the flag. Maybe one day another live line-up might come along, but until then, I will still be producing material and carrying on the BMD name.

There’s a lot of underrated bands from Australia, and Beyond Mortal Dreams is no exception. What do you think it is that’s been holding the band back in terms of getting more exposure?

Lack of self promotion would be the main thing. I'd say it's my biggest achillies' heel when it comes to the music industry as a whole. I spend almost all of my time playing/making music and little in the way of networking and promotion. In my constant pursuit of creativity the promotion side tends to get neglected, where really, equal attention should be given to both. What little I've done over the years has helped, certainly, but it is something I definitely need to get better at.

Are there any new albums that have caught your attention lately?

The latest Enforcer release "Live By Fire II" has been getting a fair amount of play here lately. An older album that escaped my radar years ago that's been getting some plays lately is Hypnosia's "Extreme Hatred". Killer early Kreator style thrash! A friend of mine here in Australia has a band called Puncture Wound that put put out an album last year entitled "Complete Carnage of Coagulating Cacophonous Corpses". It's a great, solid slab of OSDM, so if you're into that, go give it a spin. Other cool recent releases from the last couple of years I've been playing lately also are Impaled Nazarene - Eight Headed serpent, Vulure - Dealin' Death, Devastator - Baptised In Blasphemy, Grief Collector - En Delirium, Nekromantheon - Visions of Trismegistos, Skelethal - Unveiling the Threshhold, Metabolic - Demo 2021, Nazxul - Irkalla, Incantation - Sect of Vile Divinities, Cambion - Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium. The latest releases last year from Vader and Skeletal Remains are killer, man, there's been a lot of great stuff coming out I could go on for ages!

Thanks a lot for your time, mate! I wish the guys in Beyond Mortal Dreams all the best, as well as your other musical endeavours. The last words are yours.

Cheers for the interview, much appreciated! Quick shout out to Jan at Lavadome Productions, Walter and Unholy Prophecies, Anastasis and Nuclear Winter Records, and to everyone supporting BMD past and present, it means a lot and is greatly appreciated. The new material is really close to being complete, so keep an eye and an ear out! Eternal hails, stay heavy, play hard and loud!

EP review: Black Torment - Omega Beast Armageddon (2019)

 Black Torment - Omega Beast Armageddon

Mexico

Ablaze Productions

“Omega Beast Armageddon” is the latest EP from Mexican black/thrash squadron, Hell Torment. It was released in 2019 and flew under my radar for some reason. The 5 tracks on this EP has all the hallmarks of a Black Torment release: coarse vocals; thrashy melodic riffs; sharp drumming; and a dirty production to top it off. The band keeps their rawness intact, always maintaining a sense of integrity and keeping it purely underground. You can hear the band had a blast when they recorded these songs. The music is energetic, well-executed, yet decidedly blasphemous in its essence. It’s a fun little EP to jam if you’re in the mood for some lethal black/thrash. A point worth noting is that the band has been playing this style longer than most, so this is no retro shit by any means. They don’t try to be old school, they ARE old school. All in all, it’s a killer EP out-and-out with cool artwork. It must be heard! Check it out! (HT)

Album review: Lykhaeon - Opprobrium (2021)

Lykhaeon - Opprobrium

 

Switzerland

 

Repose Records

Lykhaeon’s second opus "Opprobrium" is a decidedly coherent affair of bleak black/death/doom with many quality aspects to it. A very thick atmosphere drenched in gloom pervade this record, including the infusion of eerie horror soundscapes redolent of being in the midst of some profane ritual. Black metal sensibilities are omnipresent, as the music draws you into the darkest corridors of the abyss. This isn’t so much an avant-garde experience, as the band retains a sense of barbarism that flirts with more ritualistic nuances. The superlative and dense production really accentuates every detail on this record, which makes everything more digestible. “Opprobrium” is a commendable work of transcendental black/death art and comes highly recommended for those into bands like Teitanblood, Cultes des Ghoules, Necros Christos, et cetera.

Compilation review: Dugu - Skeleton Nausea Abyss (2019)

Dugu - Skeleton Nausea Abyss

China

Awakening Records

The insane Dugu from China have been stalking the world with their repulsive and noisy brand of death/thrash since 2018. With this release, the Awakening Records label made a compilation of all their material to date, which was released in 2019. Maybe in the beginning you might find the mixing of the songs a bit odd, but that’s exactly how it sounds when it’s a compilation, like amputated limbs of different people forming a new body.

Their ability to make loud music on the Asian continent is admirable. The album is an explosion of noise, but good noise. Everything is perfectly audible and frenzied. That raw and cavernous aspect gives the music a quality essence that – at least from my point of view – I understand what they are doing. The blazingly fast solos are so wild that it sounds like a string might break at any time, although what’s really surprising is the fact that they do not give that much prominence to the guitars. The vocals sound like a hungry growling beast. The band shapes chaos in their own way and not the other way around. The bass and drums have a very good synergy, both sounding very forceful and direct like a fist to the skull. Throughout this compilation the band carries out several covers (showing their influences) although one of them is very notable Poison (Germany). Immediately I could perceive that rancid essence that emanates mostly from the guitar. The music conjures images of the gang feasting on leftover corpses from abominations of decades past, like mouldy fungi that make meat fall off bones.

The passion for the old school is very evident on “Skeleton Nausea Abyss” and I think they are on the right track. Let's hope we are alive to witness the release of their debut album. If not, then they have already left their mark with this production. For fans of: Morbid Saint, Possessed, Poison. (Catacombs Walker)

EP review: Funeralis - Hoc est Lvx mea Spiritvs Libero (Reissue 2021)

Funeralis - Hoc est Lvx mea Spiritvs Libero

Chile

Spreading The Pest Productions

Spreading The Pest Productions have just recently reissued this fantastic EP from 2014 by Chilean Occult Black Meta1llers, Funeralis. The new reissue also features 5 extra songs that were unpublished before, which makes it even more essential. 

The ambience on this release is absolutely dismal, paired with cadences of haunting dissonance and hoarse vocals. Lyrics seem to deal with themes pertaining to luciferianism and Gnosis, which gives the whole thing a very clandestine atmosphere. I’ve heard more than a fair share of similar sounding bands, so it’s not terribly unique or anything, but it has its appeal. The song “Ascensión” features a transcendental riff and is one of the EP’s crowning moments. 

Admittedly, the latter 5 tracks that were previously unpublished are my favourite part of this reissue. The reason for that is because the material here sounds much more hateful and raw, including the fact that a verily venomous, death-like atmosphere permeate these songs. 3 of these last 5 tracks are played live, although you could’ve had me fooled. 

Overall, the reissue of “Hoc est Lvx mea Spiritvs Libero” with the addition of the 5 extra tracks makes it a worthwhile purchase, especially if you’re a fan of this style of dark and occult black metal with death metal influences. Get your copy from Spreading The Pest Productions and let the darkness compel you. For fans of: Formless Devotion, Precaria, LvxCaelis. (HT)

Interview: Brood In Black (2021)

Kentucky is home to bourbon and brutality. The brutality comes in the form of the hate-fueled outfit, Brood in Black. Playing black metal with ethos fully entrenched in the underground, Sure, there's nothing particularly original about it, but I don't think the band gives much of a fuck anyway. Count Corinth gives some insight on the band plus expressing his distaste for trends and hipsters.

Hails. When and how did the vision of Brood In Black come to life and what is the ideology behind it?

Hails, brother. Let me start off by thanking you and your Zine, Death By Hammer, for taking the time to conduct this interview. The answer to this first question is going to be very lengthy, to tell this properly, so forgive me ahead of time..

Brood In Black originally started back in 2004 or 2005, as an idea, in which I was writing a lot of music on my own, heavily influenced by punk rock, ex. The Misfits, Samhain, G.G. Allin, DRI, but also Metal bands like Venom, old Slayer, Sodom, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, and Bathory, etc. while also playing drums in a thrash-punk band called One Armed Wifebeater. Haha. Mind you, at that time, I did not have the internet or YouTube or any of that crap. I was going solely by what I had found on my own, through friends or record stores. I thought that taking the speed of DRI, crossing it with Venom, and basically a blueprint for Black Metal. This was the first blueprint for what would become Brood In Black.

In 2007, I finally purchased a Tascam Portastudio and started demoing these songs that I had amassed over this time, all by myself, as there was no one around in my area of South Central Kentucky who was playing Black Metal, the so called “scene” in those days was mainly a lot of what could be called Metalcore/Modern Death Metal/Technical Death Metal, so forming a band was out.

From 2007-2010, I recorded many demo tapes, to which were sent to many labels, many with no reply or a rejection letter/email. In 2010, after not getting this band off of the ground, out of frustration I threw the band/project into the crypt, not expecting to see it again..

Enter 2015, I decided to revisit some of the old demo tapes, and realized that there was something to this project, so I slowly started writing and recording again, and by late 2016/early 2017, I had written, and recorded the first Brood demo, “Arrival Of Death”, and with this release, started Blasfemas Records. So really, Brood In Black was finally realized in 2017..

The ideology behind Brood In Black, is basically war against society, the human race, and religions of the holy cross..all in the name of our infernal father, Satan..We are the nemesis of all..

What’s your opinion on the current state of Black Metal? Which active bands do you consider as torch-bearers of the genre?

My opinion on the current state of Black Metal is, of course, nothing is as good as the days of old. Our ancestors before us. The ones who helped shaped Black Metal. But with the invention of the internet and home recording software, it has inflated this entire genre to no end. I cannot entirely complain about the internet though-had it not been for the internet, no one would’ve EVER had known the name of Brood In Black! It took  having to get the internet and starting a label to get this blasphemy out! So there are a few good points to it, but they don’t outweigh the bad. So all in all, I support the real bands, the ones with the real passion in their music, the ones who are in league with Satan, and piss on the trend hopping bands who were playing Metalcore last week, and “atmospheric Black Metal” (without Satanic or occult tendencies) this week! Fuck you die!!

Newer bands of note: I’m going for within the last 5-10 years..Perverted Ceremony, Moenen Of Xezbeth, Walpurgia, Cult Of Eibon, Black Blood Invocation, Gates Of Sinn, Necromantic Worship (rip), Prophets Of Doom, Crurifragium, Abysmal Lord, Forbidden Temple, Mefitic, Croc Noir, Tomb, Belshazar, Belzazel, too many to mention..
Hails to all of these bands..

What do you think of that abominable garbage that came out recently called Lords of Chaos?

I unfortunately caved in to my curiosity, after vowing to never subject myself to this abomination..And I wanted to gouge my eyes and ears out of my skull with an ice pick. Pure shit that belongs in a sewer with all the other shit.

What are some of your biggest influences (both musically and lyrically)?

My biggest influences would have to be our Infernal Father, first and most of all, and also the Occult, musically/lyrically for Brood In Black- First and foremost, Venom, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Profanatica, VON, Demoncy, Judas Iscariot, Black Witchery(rip Tregenda), Black Funeral, Azazel, Archgoat, Beherit, Graven, Mortuary Drape, Mystifier, I’d be a liar to say that I didn’t buy the essential Darkthrone/Burzum albums, The Black, there are just too many to list..but all of these have influenced me in some shape or form..

Musically, do you have any aspirations to sound “original”?

As far as being original in Black Metal is concerned, that is nearly impossible to accomplish, without overreaching the bounds, and coming off as pretentious, and boring. For me, when I am listening to Black Metal, I don’t listen for originality. I listen for the feeling that the music puts off. I am not concerned about proficiency, or of the production. If the band is playing atmospheric BM for 8 minutes straight, I am bored by the 3rd minute. If a band is blasting Black/Death for 3 minutes, and screaming about the throne of Satan, most times, the feeling comes through. Like I imagine the feeling of someone from the late 70’s/early 80’s, hearing fucking Venom back then for the first time, you know that they felt it! They truly felt the power of Satan!! Back then, that was an original idea, not so much anymore. But rock and roll is the Devil’s music, and we are here to do his bidding..at whatever cost. Doesn’t matter how original you are, in my eyes anyways. Brood In Black is far from inventing the wheel in Black Metal, but I believe that those who listen with the right ears, will get that feeling in their hearts, that they are also in league with Satanas.

Can you tell us little bit about your solo project called RTNG JHVH and how it differs from BROOD IN BLACK?

RTNGJHVH (pronounced rotting Jehovah) is a one man War Metal project that I started under a different pseudonym, Black Daemon Of Unholy Winds. Influenced by Blasphemy, Archgoat, Beherit, Proclamation, Sarcofago, Black Witchery, Conqueror, Revenge, etc. War Metal against the false rotting savior! The first demo, “ROTTING JEHOVAH” cassette was recorded during winter/spring of 2020 and released last August on Blasfemas Records, and was repressed as part of a split w/PROGOAT, titled “BESTIAL WAR ATTACK UPON THE CROSS”, on Propagator Propaganda Records out of Germany, CD Ltd. to 30 copies
Copies of both are still available to this date, on both labels..

The differences—Brood In Black is closer sound wise to Black Metal than Black/Death/War Metal, whereas, RTNGJHVH is closer to Bestial Black/Death/War Metal than it is to Black Metal. They both have their places and their purposes, both ultimately at war against everything “holy”..

You also have a small underground label called BLASFEMAS RECORDS that specializes in tape format. When was it conceived and what’s the idea behind it?

Blasfemas Records was conceived in late 2016/early 2017, with the first Brood In Black cassette Arrival Of Death. Blasfemas Records was born out of necessity, to be able to release Brood In Black cassettes, as this was a problem with the early vision of the band, from 2007-2010. No one wanted to release these demos at all, so to remedy the problem the second time around, I started Blasfemas Records. Since 2017, we have put out several other bands demos (Christrape, Unholy Christ, Cruel Spirit, ARRA,etc) and also, we have 15 releases to date. And we are on the verge of adding a few more to the roster. We are a DIY label, draw/copy/cut/paste/dub/. The first half of our releases were all mainly hand written and hand drawn, though we have gradually graduated to typing/printing liner notes.

What merchandise do you currently have available?

We currently only have cassettes/digital files for sale; all 15 releases are available in digital download, though a select amount of our cassette releases are currently in stock. Our Bandcamp page has all of our releases streaming/for sale. We hope to expand our merchandise in the future. Our latest idea has been of doing some exclusive runs of CD-R’s of our sold-out stock.

10 albums you can’t live without.

10 albums I can’t live without..
Hellhammer “Satanic Rites”
and “Apocalyptic Raids”
Celtic Frost “Morbid Tales”, “To Mega Therion”
Venom “Welcome To Hell”, “Black Metal”
First 4 Bathory albums.
That is all that you need!!

What do you regard as some of the most disgusting trends in metal today? Any pet-peeves?

I’d have to say some of the most disgusting trends in Black Metal today, on a musical level, which harkens back to bands overstriving for originality, is the so called “post BM” bullshit, it all sounds the same (ripping off Burzum riffs, or Avant-garde/emo bullshit)and even looks the same, ( the visual aspect is that the bands usually all look like they play indie rock, no corpsepaint/spikes/etc, just tattoos/nazi youth haircuts/beards; they look as they were playing indie rock last week, and decided that Burzum has some cool riffs but fuck that Nazi..hahaha) these bands totally try to exclude Satan, or Satanic ideas, because they think it’s been over done. Black Metal is about Satan, for Satan and is SATAN!! It’s funny, because they are all fools-they do not realize that ultimately, rock n’ roll/ Metal is the Devil’s music, and they are still serving Him, whether they think they are or not, and whether they like it or not!! They all can try to deny it- but it’s no use..It’s basically Emo/Metalcore for The Dark Lord..Hahaha!! This is just my opinion, if it’s not Satanic in some kind of way, it doesn’t need to be called “Black Metal”..

Another trend is using the word “Blackened” in a band’s description of their sound. Aaarrrgghhh…This should be self-explanatory, I need not have to explain..

One-man Atmospheric bands are a dime a dozen, with Internet and fucking recording software, also Dark/Ambient stuff has also been overdone all to hell. I stand with my last comment in the first section above…

Another trend, is the price gouging of vinyl releases. I don’t claim to be some big “collector” of vinyl, especially of the BM persuasion. I actually probably don’t own vinyl as much as the next person who listens to Black Metal, it is insane what some of the older releases bring on Discogs, EBay, etc. It really is a racket. Even with some of today’s releases, the desperate collectors are going to spend that money, to get that status symbol, to post on all of their social media accounts. And the labels are raking in the cash while they can, because today’s vinyl is going to be tomorrow’s download card. It’s all one big work, but who suffers? The ones who passionately listen to BM without the status symbols, the ones who can’t afford it, etc. Like all things that are considered “cool”, they unfortunately get turned in a trend. And vinyl collectors are no better than sports card collectors, unfortunately. Buy all the vinyl, only to look at it and never listen to it. Total neglect of these pieces of blasphemy. Music is made to be heard! If you were to ask me, I’ll buy a dubbed demo cassette for 10 bucks over an original press of an album that costs over $30 bucks and up any day!

I am sure there are other things about this genre that aggravate me and others, but at this time, I will conclude this answer..

Thanks a lot for your time, brother! The last unholy words are yours.

Thanks very much again for conducting this interview with me, for Brood In Black..I am truly honored.. At this time, I would like to send my gratitude to all worshippers of the cult of Brood In Black, and of Blasfemas Records and our other bands. Hail!!!

Also, Infernal Hails to all of our band comrades all over the world…

Hail Satan!!

https://blasfemasrecords.bandcamp.com

Album review: Prezir - As Rats Devour Lions (2018)

Prezir - As Rats Devour Lions

Poland

Godz of War 

I’m a cranky old-fart metal elitist. Yet, somehow, I found myself reviewing new albums in the most life-embittered way. This review is the story of the album “As Rats Devour Lions” by Prezir.

Prezir is an interesting band. They come from Milwaukee, WI in the USA, but they maintain a connection to the Balkans. The name of the band is the Serbian word for “Contempt.” And this fits the band’s music nicely. They are distinctively American, but they do have European undertones in their music.

Prezir describes themselves as Anti-Ideological Metal, which is accurate, considering the lyrical content. For simplicity’s sake, I would say that they straddle the line between several genres, but I think they lean closest to War Metal. They are definitely Black metal, but they incorporate elements of Death and Thrash Metal.

This variety is for a reason for this. The various members have been involved in multiple very different bands over the years. Rory Heikkila (Gust, Heedless Descent, Promethean Parallax, and Shroud of Despondency) and Tyler Okrzesik (Cholernik and Sillage) are on guitars; Luka Đorđević (Khazaddum and Promethean Parallax) is on vocals; Brian Serzynski (Pig’s Blood and Shut In) is on drums; Jerry Hauppa (Ara, Concentric, Northless, and Steel Iron) is on bass. These are working musicians who keep their skills sharp.

“As Rats Devour Lions” was released 18 August 2018 by Godz ov War on CD; and they selfreleased it digitally and on cassette. This is their second release; their first being “Contempt” back in 2017.

This is a varied and enjoyable record. Yes, it maintains a traditional Black Metal sound and feel, but it is much stronger than most Black Metal records – thanks to a noticeable Thrash influence. The vocals range from high-pitched Black to deep Death styles. What really is exemplary in this album is the how the interplay between the guitars and bass. I should mention at this point that I can hear a very strong “Anthems”-era Emperor influence in the guitar playing. And this is a very good thing.

While there are no particularly weak songs, this album has several tracks that stand out. “Dar alHarb” has some outstanding interplay between the guitars; it’s reminiscent of “Howl Ravens Come” by Einherjer. “Serpents in the House of Ra” is downright groovy – not groove metal, but groovy; I don’t know any other Black Metal song that I can say this about. 

“Hamatsa Death Ritual” is the high point of the album. It shifts gears seamlessly, has a good solo, and the instruments play off of each other really well. It also has this certain intangible something that makes it great.

“As Rats Devour Lions” was produced by Shane Hochstetler. The production on this album is clean, so all the instruments are clear. They complement each other instead of fighting for the listener’s attention.

Now, the lyrics – Despite what the scenesters will have you believe, Black Metal was created to be offensive to our most dearly-held beliefs. And Prezir delivers. As I pointed out before, they play “Anti-Ideological Metal,” and they spare no one. All the major religions and political stances are directly criticized in this album; and they do this to encourage the listener to form his own opinions as an individual. Also, these criticisms are not vulgar and mindless; quite the opposite – they are rooted in history. Each song gives a historical context and reason for their criticism. These lyrics are what really make Prezir stand out from the hordes of Black Metal bands.

Prezir’s “As Rats Devour Lions” is one of the very few bands that hold true to Black Metal’s roots while playing music that is both intelligent and enjoyable. If they continue to grow in this direction, they will become legends. Black Metal fans should run out, and buy this album, because you will not find a more honest and engaging album. (Hiram 3-5-7)