Weapon

This 7" (Weapon - Para Bhakti... Salvation) arrived in the mail this week and I've been enjoying it immensely, so I thought that I'd share. I don't know how to describe this other than really great black metal with balls and depth (balls-deep black metal?). This only came out last year, but if it's not sold out already it's damn close and they have a new album that just came out through The Ajna Offensive label. And check out this amazing logo:


The main dude moved to Canada from Bangladesh and they're now based in Edmonton, Alberta. The drummer and the bassist have played in bands such as Revenge, Axis of Adavnce, and Rites Of Thy Degringolade, so you get the best aspects of Canadian black metal together with a certain je ne sais quoi. Aren't I a fancy-pants? Here you go:

clicky

Thy Mighty Contracy

Thy Mighty Contract is the very good debut album from Greece's most known black metal band Rotting Christ. I picked this up on a whim years ago and for whatever reason it took a while for it to click with me. I was probably comparing it to the Scandinavian stuff that I was listening to a lot of at the time. The riffs were more warm and melodic instead of shrill and frosty. The vocals more gruff and less shrieky. There's tasteful keyboards used sparingly and I think that they used a drum machine on this release, but it's not too obvious. Good stuff, have a listen.

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Nuns Have No Fun

Sometimes known as either A Corpse Without Soul or Nuns Have No Fun, this is Mercyful Fate's self-titled debut EP from '82. If King Diamond's vocals annoy the fuck out of you, like they do to many, you might find them more palatable here, being more raw and Halford-esque. It opens with a ridiculously awesome solo and only gets progressively more awesome. Awesome to the max. I'd almost take this over Don't Break The Oath.

face like a dead

Black Thrash Attack

An apt title for Aura Noir's first full-length album. This was another sweet used bin find that I was pretty sure that I'd like based solely on the album title. I guess that you could call them a "supergroup" of sorts, being made up of current/former members of Mayhem, Satyricon, Ulver, Immortal, Ved Buens Ende, yadda yadda. You can probably guess what you're going to get with this. It's good.

Black Thrash!

Protected by the Ejaculation of Wolves

This is a 2005 split release between England's Moss and Wolfmangler. Moss starts up the album with some really bleak, ugly doom metal played live in Holland in '04. Then a noisy remix of the track from the split they did with Nadja. Lots of feedback, lots of stressful heaviness.
Wolfmangler sound like some kinda funeral doom played with stand-up bass, guitar, a couple of electric basses and violin. There's a shuffling, creepy, demented folky vibe to the whole thing, and a strange cover of a Hank Williams Jr. song to boot.

Have a relaxing weekend!

Winterhawk - Revival

Here's some 70's rock-sounding rock from 1982. Hailing from Chicago, I can imagine these guys playing a lot of bar shows and not getting the recognition that they should have. A few years too late, perhaps. Features some ridiculously awesome guitar-work from Jordan Macarus and some great wailing vocals. And the winged centaur on the cover rounds out the package nicely. Enjoy.

CLICK

Violent Restitution

Razor are Canadian thrash metal of the highest order. They're fast, heavy and pulverizing, yet still extremely catchy and "upbeat". Definitely some Crossover appeal, especially in the drumming and vocals.  Sound-wise, this falls somewhere in-between the American and German thrash bands.

1988

Immortal

How about Immortal's self-titled first 7"? Yeah? Sounds good? Of course it does! It's Immortal! What we have here is an intro and alternate versions of two of the better songs from Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism. It has a great echo-y sound like old Burzum and a galloping epicness that reminds me of Bathory. A good way to spend 9 minutes.

9 minutes

Purgatory Afterglow

Several years ago my lady really dug this album for a while. She didn't give a shit about most of the stuff I listened to, but this struck a chord for some reason.
So gents, if you want to get your girlfriend into Swedish death metal, this is the place to start. Pretty melodic and accessible as far as this style goes, but there's still plenty of those crunchy/chunky toe-tappin' riffs.

clack

In God We Trust, Inc.

Yeah, it's kinda an obvious post that anyone remotely into any kind of punk/hardcore has probably already heard, but whatever. This left quite an impression on my 12 year-old brain. Harsh and speedy and furious.

I thought this was pretty damn cool at the time as well:

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Church of Misery

Here's some serial killer-obsessed Japanese dudes playing some bluesy, Sabbath-y doom metal. Not much else to say... Track 5 is a Blue Öyster Cult cover. The album's called Master of Brutality and was released in 2001.

here you go

Xibalba

I'm not sure what the "poop" in the album's title Ah Dzam Poop Ek means. The lyrics center around ancient Mayan culure and demonology, so it probably translates to something cool in some dead language.
So. Black metal from Mexico that sounds like what some of the Norwegian bands, namely Darkthrone, were doing at the time ('94) in terms of riffs/drums/guitar tone/production. But Xibalba had a different sense of melody that incorporated, I dunno, Mexican folky-ness into their riffs that makes for an interesting listen.

poop

Assaulter

Definitely one of the best of the current crop of Aussie metal bands, Assaulter are helping to tide me over until the release of Deströyer 666's new album (which can't come soon enough). They also boast Simon Berserker who played bass and contributed vocals for D666 at the turn of the century. For Assaulter he handles the guitar, bass and vocals, so there's a bit of similarity in sound between the two bands at times, but they stand out on their own. Reccommended to any fan of Austrailian metal in general, or just those who appreciate sweet, sweet speed metal riffs.

Omnipotent demo (2006)

Ironsword

Portugal's answer to Manilla Road, but not quite as good. Don't get me wrong; you can be not as good as Manilla Road and still be a pretty sweet band. Here's some good, epic catchy metal in the style of olde. Quoth the Ironsword,

"Fighting for Metal
Till' the last brrreath"

enjoy

Late for an Early Grave

Here's a collection of demos from Victor Griffin, guitarist for Pentagram circa the early-mid eighties, then again in the mid-nineties. Also currently the main dude of Place of Skulls. A pretty cool group of songs, some of which ended up on Pentagram's Be Forewarned album. Nothing mind-blowing, but definitely worth hearing. Hard-rocking doom.

Lank