RECOMMENDED

Deathless Void – DEMO MMXXI [Netherlands, Death / Black] (2022)

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Iron Bonehead | 2-4-22

Well this is it. A release which has all of the the parts that are cool and interesting. Iron Bonehead vinyl / tape. Death / Black. Netherlands. Cryptic album cover. Even with three or two of these, I would be interested but all four makes for an exciting time. Deathless Void is a new entry into the world with this debut demo proudly displaying the bandmembers as initials. Through three blistering tracks the listener is treated to a chaotic world which is abrasive yet accessible. Dynamic riffs and a versatile sound palette makes for an easy onboarding experience into something that is potentially dangerous. This is a sound in which things seem the most intriguing and full of deathless life. Though this whole package could have been constructed based on things the internet likes, to hear it in real life hits just the same.

DEMO MMXXI by Deathless Void

Penny Coffin – ΤΕΦΡΑ / ΣΚΕΛΕΤΙΚΟ ΣΚΟΤΑΔΙ [Scotland / Greece, Death / Doom] (2021 / 2022)

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Dry Cough Records | 1-15-22

ΤΕΦΡΑ / ΣΚΕΛΕΤΙΚΟ ΣΚΟΤΑΔΙ is kind of a compilation, kind of bonus material: it comprises Penny Coffin’s first two demos, but the second demo just so happened to be concurrently self-released by the band when this release was issued. Dry Cough Records thoroughly impressed me last year with incredible releases from Vaticinal Rites (my non-LP of the year), Slimelord, Plague Patrol, and Gouger; this is only another addition in an already stellar catalogue. Penny Coffin exhibits what I like to call “dissolving death metal”: death metal with hollow production, hoarse vocals, and huge layered guitars; as if one is being dissolved in acid. The first half demonstrates that caustic, primitive attitude most readily, while the second half introduces hyper-fast riffing and roar vocals. Though from two completely different recording sessions, the compilation flows strongly – the second half’s gradual introduction of gear-grinding guitars works perfectly as augmented doom. “Confinement” from the first demo and “Skeletal Darkness” from the second are the compilation’s two strongest tracks, with the latter’s fading three-note pulse eerily peering out from the gloom.

ΤΕΦΡΑ / ΣΚΕΛΕΤΙΚΟ ΣΚΟΤΑΔΙ by Penny Coffin

Blood Ouroboros – Demo MMXXII [USA, Black / Death] (2022)

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Self Released | 2-14-22

This is one of the coolest demos I’ve heard in the last few years – and that superlative isn’t for its own sake. Blood Ouroboros put out their first equally-awesome demo in 2020, which captured the attention of not a few extreme metallers who like their guitar leads at that curious superposition of melody. Two years later, and we have another – the appropriately titled Demo MMXXII. This leads from the very start with pseudo-punky black / death rhythms and chugs that show remarkable songcraft abilities within this two-piece. The production has that ever so slight guitar crunch to it, which only adds to the wrung-out growls. It’s all full and fire – and full of fire. On their Bandcamp page, the band implores “any label” who wants to release on tape to get in touch with them. I can only hope that this write-up into the aether will help them with that goal. Besides, I want one.

Demo MMXXII by Blood Ouroboros

Dracoempericon – Dracoempericon [Australia, Death / Black] (2021)

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Self Released | 11-14-21

Kap started off the year with reminding us that vegetables are a decent addition to one’s diet, and exercise will occasionally benefit your body and mind. I’m going to kick off my first post of the year with one of those albums that I’m pretty sure all 40 listeners on YouTube are people I know from the Discord network where it was shared. (Indeed, a Google search of this album brought up all of their Last.FM networks.) Dracompericon has no page on the Metal Archives, no member information, and no presence on social media outside of a lonesome Instagram account… and yet they are undeniably rooted in the fiery bowels of Australian black / death. Even the release date is suspect; the YouTube videos say November 2021, but that’s likely the date of upload and not the date of release. Even more so, one must wonder who is a part of Dracoempericon – this LP blasts out the gate with that ever-so-slightly reverbed production and exceedingly constructed extreme metal. To what other bands can I compare Dracompericon – and perhaps muse on potential membership? Well, I hear a bit of the frenetic spider-hand guitar playing that might point to Horror Illogium of Vomitor and Portal. There’s a bouncy bass aesthetic that doesn’t sound too out of place from StarGazer, though with such an emphasis on capital-A Atmospherics with hints of melody poking through the discord on the longer compositions such as “The Moon Is An Eye”. Whether a late addition to 2021 or an early favorite for 2022, Dracoempericon is an out-of-nowhere masterful addition to the Australian black / death canon.

Check out the LP on the band’s YouTube channel here.

Faceless Entity – The Great Anguish of Rapture [Netherlands, Raw Black] (2022)

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Argento Records | 4-15-22

We do not have much to go on at this point. All we have from the Netherlands based Faceless entity is one track from their new full length, a previous release, and a bunch of images and thematics that seem really fucking cool. From just the sound profile of the preview track “Decaying Banners of Existence” when compared to the multipart segments for their 2017 full length In Via ad Nusquam, Facelsss Entity has made great strides in terms of sound. While both of them are still in the raw black universe, “Decaying Banners of Existence” cuts with a more robust sound while still sounding as menacing as recently freed banshees. Combine this is the spectral ectoplasm cover and and air of mystery which builds walls around this release and one could be excused from becoming excited. I will wait until April but everything for this new full length is a promising escape into the void.

Smoke – Ralvurahvavuimago [Netherlands, Raw Black] (2022)

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The Throat | 1-5-22

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This is where we are going to have to clarify a few things. Ralvurahvavuimago by the Dutch black metal project Smoke was released on tape in 2012. You might have missed it. The Throat is a Dutch label that not only releases new works but unearths obscure releases from the past that you might have missed. I believe I would have remembered Ralvurahvavuimago as it has the capacity to make its lister physically ill. With a wall of noise and chaos which pull at the core of its audience, Smoke is the embodiment of of terror. Part of my excitement comes from discovering this label as one more resource into Dutch black metal as it continues to be a region of dark and never-ending misery. This is said in the highest regard as after listening to Ralvurahvavuimago, I need to lay down for a bit and rest.

θoʊθ – Ruins of Gubla [?, Death / Doom / Sludge] (2021)

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Kellerassel Records | 2-1-21

Let’s see if I can get through this review without using the word “goobly”. The enigmatic θoʊθ (purported to be an ancient name for the god Toth) plays “ancient death metal” with a Phoenician and Babylonian lyrical bent. “Ancient’ is certainly a good self-descriptor: there’s no lack of dust on this production. Note that I use the word “dust” instead of “filth” or “grime” – it’s tempting to interchangeably use those words, but I think “dust” better demonstrates the thick, brow-beating grotesqueness. I would go so far as to call some of these riffs positively stoner – the very beginning has that kind of hypotuned chunkiness I closely associate with Sleep. Most of the demo is the kind of death / sludge embodied by Boy Body (pun intended!), though with a less caustic affect. Track three (“Trumpets of None Ѭ Kingdom of All”, very nice) brings back that stoner-doom quality again with all the grinding criticality that good death metal evokes. This is the kind of release that perfectly fits the demo aesthetic, and I can only hope this isn’t a one-off release; hence why I am making sure there’s a Tape Wyrm write-up for this prior to end of the year shenanigans. There, I did it.

θoʊθ – Ruins of Gubla by Kellerassel Records

Exsanguinated – Millions of Tortured Souls [USA, Death] (2021)

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Self-Released | 11-3-21

New York death metal’s brutal, pummeling aesthetic comes to the forefront on Exsanguinated’s first-ever release. This two-track demo recalls the hollow horror in the production of Immolation and Morpheus Descends, but with a spacious (though I wouldn’t say cavernous) approach to death metal songwriting that’s distinctly contemporary death metal. “Demon Infested Tomb” is like Pan.Thy.Monium after listening to too much Cop-era Swans; perhaps not industrial, but definitely churning, and with the open-throated hoarse growl that invoked Raagoonshinaah. Pinch harmonics buried under dust abound, as if the metal is entombed beneath the cemetery’s centerpiece. In nine minutes, Exsanguinated hits the autumnal nature of things ending; or perhaps here, they’re already rotted.

Millions Of Tortured Souls by Exsanguinated

Vaticinal Rites – Vaticinal Rites [UK, Death] (2021)

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Caligari Records / Dry Cough Records | 11-12-21

A little birdie told me (read: one of my fellow death metal nerds and I exchanged links on Discord) about how there’s a hell of an underground death metal scene in the UK right now – especially in Leeds and London. Well, I guess there’s always been a hell of a scene in London: and Vaticinal Rites is a next-level addition to that pedigree. This debut EP take significant influence from South Florida death metal circa-1993; not so much your Morbid Angels, but definitely your Monstrosities, Malevolent Creations, and Brutalities. It’s all wrapped up in crunchy production that lends itself well to dive bombs and guitar squelches, as awesomely shown on “Burning Elysium”. Like this year’s Antediluvian LP, this release is even cooler given that it’s a bit of a product of information sharing: two of the members live in southwest England within Devon (according to Ye Olde Metal Archives), so the release was primarily recorded through sharing tracks back-and-forth. And here I thought my Top 50 demos/EPs/splits was firmly established; here comes four tracks that completely shook down the rest.

Self-Titled EP by VATICINAL RITES

Weathered Crest – Blossoming Of The Paths [Austria, Raw Black] (2021)

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Self Released | 10-13-21

Somewhere in the dark forests (?) of Austria lies a hovel in which a creature stirs. This creature has bene apart of projects like Brånd and Kinga and is the work of Vritra. While also running the label that releases work from all of these projects, Vritra seems to be at the center of a dark and uncaring world. Blossoming Of The Paths is the first full length from the project Weathered Crest and similar to other entities, it is a sharp and crude extension of unprocessed emotions. With a wall of noise that the music barley breaks, Weathered Crest makes music in the same way objects fall downhill with the momentum of emotion and mood dictating the direction. Abrupt starts and stops are only respites from an avalanche of black poison which is at the center if this recording. I have already expressed my love for noisy black metal and the tone employed by Weathered Crest is so fitting to its atmosphere as Blossoming Of The Paths is the underside of a cinder block left out in some cold field for years. It is ugly, raw, and entirely cathartic.