Utzalu – Drowning in Sanguine Screams [US, Black] (2016)

Vrasubatlat | 3-31-16

This demo is recommended in the hopes that people eventually stumble upon the nest that is Vrasubatlat. Vrasubatlat is the nucleus of “R” and his many connected black, death, punk, and mixed bands including Urzeit, Uškumgallu, Serum Dreg, Triumvir Foul, Dagger Lust, and finally Ash Borer. R and collected company have put out 8 releases since June 2015 ranging from demos, EPs, splits and full lengths all within the category of damn good to amazing. I have reviewed these other bands before and the same is true for each releases — these demos are fantastic on their own and become near unholy when taken as a collective force of destructive violence.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Flesh of the Stars – Hosanna [US, Stoner Doom] (2016)

Self Released | 1-19-16

I do not cover a lot of doom. I think I cover even less stoner doom. This is not becasue I feel the style is without merit rather the imagery does not grab me as much as black and death metal. It takes a certain angle on stoner doom to grab not just me but anyone that isn’t specifically looking for that style. I want to pay attention to more doom this year as I feel there are some great bands hiding behind dark columns of smoke. If 2016 is going as well as Flesh of the Stars second record, I may be more persuaded to stay.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Triumvir Foul – Triumvir Foul [US, Death] (2015)

Blood Harvest | 12-11-15

There is no reason to wait until January to do a top 10, all of the ood albums come out before November. Ack! This is why I need to stave off best of the year lists until well after the year. I have been discussing the cabal of evil formulated by a few guys from Ash Borer. M and R both make up a slew of interesting black and death projects ranging from Serum Dreg, Urzeit, and Uškumgallu. Triumvir Foul was the most death related on the spectrum of noise created by the duo and the self titled debut is nothing short of a chaotic masterpiece.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Luminous Vault – Communion [US, Death / Black] (2015)

Graceless Recordings | 11-1-15

I find genres funny sometimes. Not in the sense that they are useless rather they can be a wonderful tool once people find the right way to speak. Luminous Vault is listed under death / black rather than black / death since this US based act shares more in common with slow plodding death than bands who owe more the black metal. This could be needless hair splitting but the fact remains that Luminous Vault is unique in their crypt walking variety of death / black.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Blood Incantation – Interdimensional Extinction [US, Death] (2015)

Dark Descent | 9-3-15

Oh cool, another space based black metal that fits along side of…wait….death metal? ARE THOSE FUCKING SKULLS FLOATING AROUND SATURN? Blood Incarnation comes via Dark Descent whose label and short history is more than enough to vouch for this Colorado three piece. Death metal has been exciting in the past 10 years and Interdimensional Extinction expands on the styles diversity at least in terms of atmosphere and thematics.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Nechochwen – Heart of Akamon [US, Black / Folk] (2015)

Birdrune Records | 9-4-15

Nechochwen is interesting for many reasons. First of all it takes a little bit just to pronounce their name correctly. Secondly, they are a black metal band who have whole heatedly thrown themselves into the plights and history of Native American lore. Thirdly, they take a folk approach to their music with acoustic instrumentals, war sounds, and searing black metal thrown into a fire. American folk metal is a long time coming and details are still being hammered and tinkered with.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Barghest – Into Weeping Firmament [US, Black / Death] (2015)

Self Released | 7-3-15

Hot damn, its another release by the wonderfully disturbed act named Barghest. It is always wonderful to see acts which show tremendous promise in the past only to continue doing exactly what they are capable of. I believe I made many mentions of the band’s name and related Dungeons and Dragons imagery as being a goblin like creature hailing from the realm of Gehenna. Since this is the second review, I will refrain from making parallels between such a bad ass creature despite my best wishes.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Pale Chalice – Negate the Infinite and Miraculous [US, Black] (2015)

Gilead Media | 6-17-15

There are a lot of things to process regarding Pale Chalice. First of all is the band’s love for a thesaurus when constructing album and song titles. Approaching the band’s debut Negate the Infinite and Miraculous could possibly come with an audible sigh looking through each of the song titles. This sort of density which comes attached to black metal can be exhilarating as much as it can be exhausting. The fact that Pale Chalice exceeds expectations, to the degree they do, is a marvel given they were already starting out out with a handicap. Negate the Infinite and Miraculous is a furious black metal exploration which approach the subject matter from various and dangerous angles.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

One Master – Reclusive Blasphemy [US, Black] (2015)

Eternal Death | 7-21-15

I knew this day would come. Back int he early years of Tape Wyrm I stumbled on the live release “Live in the House of Quiet.” I even ended the review with a lamentation reiterating that “it is sort of sad I never got to know One Master during a year with a full length but this live record is more than enough to keep scanning the radio waves for a program from the realms of the abyss.” This sort of thought is with me a lot when reviewing lesser known metal. I can not count the cumber of demos and EPs from bands who I wish would come back for a full length. One Master did come back, and it is fucking horrifying.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.

Uškumgallu – Uškumgallu [US, Black] (2015)

Vrasubatlat | 6-12-15

Just what in the Sam Hill is going on in Portland..specifically with two guys from Ash Borer running around making a bunch of noise and releasing cassette demos with abandon. These two gentleman have been responsible for the release of some really decent black, death, and black/death demos int he past couple of years. Urzeit, Triumvir Foul, Serum Dreg, and now the near unpronounceable Uškumgallu is added to the duo’s idiosyncratic list. The interesting part about all of this is that despite Ash Borer being somewhat of a high profile name in the atmospheric black metal crowd and having their last full length sponsored by Profound Lore, these demos come and go without much of any fanfare or even mention. To what end do these two weirdos from the midwest strive for? Whatever it is, I would like to know as I have completely fallen under the spell of un-publicized black metal.

Kaptain Carbon

Kaptain Carbon is the custodian of Tape Wyrm, a mod for Reddit’s r/metal, Creator of Vintage Obscura, and a Reckless Scholar for Dungeon Synth.