No official release date yet, but will be releasing the new album "The serpent's redemption" from Swedish death-metal crusters Bombs of Hades. The label's reissue of the band's first album "Chambers of abominations" is out now.
reports that they will be handling the vinyl edition of the album "Inevitable decay" from Swedish thrashers Entrench. No official release date yet on that, but you can preview the whole thing right here. In other news, the label will also be handling the debut release from Sundsvall-based death metallers Decomposed. Again, no exact release date yet, but they are working to get sent to press ASAP.
will be pressing a vinyl edition of Finnish occult death metal act Serpent Ascending's album "The enigma unsettled" which collects both the self-titled and "The mournful pilgrimage" recordings from 2009/10 in one place. No release date yet, but I'll keep you posted.
reports that the upcoming Gates of Gehenna 3-track 7" debut will be called "Gloria Ignis: The Pyres Of Avignon" and will be sent to press in November.
Atlas Losing Grip is my summer jam. Earnest, politically-minded hardcore is a rare breed these days, so it makes me pretty damn excited to hear something like this, especially when it's done so damn well. Seriously, has there been any other modern bands besides maybe Lack that do this sort of thing and are worth noting? If they exist, I don't know about them. Powerful hooks and a powerful message, a perfect combo. Bonus points for the Aleister Crowley quote, an inclusion that makes a lot more sense when you know that vocalist Rodrigo Alfaro also runs the label . But yeah, very very recommended! For all the great raw hardcore being made these days, it's really nice to hear something from the other side of the pop spectrum.
Atlas Losing Grip - All in a days work
Bastard PriestThere has been an increase in the retro death metal style in recent years; new bands strive to create an old sound while old bands relinquish their new sound and attempt to revert back to the halcyon days of death metal. Stockholm's Bastard Priest fall under the first category and are one of the few out there who actually sound properly old-school in every manner. Some may say they emulate the Swedish output of the late-'80s, but it seems to me there's something in there that's more akin to an amalgam of the likes of "Scream bloody gore", "Consuming impulse", and "Morbid visions" with a hefty nod towards their fellow countrymen from back in the day. There's a definite attitude on here that was only ever really captured in the Swedish death metal explosion of the late-'80s and there is, without doubt, the definite punk influence that also permeated the scene back then. Definitely one of the best retro bands around today and so authentic that I almost find myself surprised to come out of the listening experience and find that it's not 1989.
- John Norby
Swedish label will be releasing a 4-track MLP from Finnish act Maveth entitled "Of serpent & shadow". Listen to the band at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/maveth666
Resurrected cult label has compiled a 12" from Swedish act Obscurity featuring the band's two demos from 1985/86, "Damnations pride" and "Ovations to death". 400 copies, official release on May 24, to be distributed via .
TribulationThose of us old enough to remember the emergence of the classic Swedish death metal sound -- that is, the Tomas Skogsberg/Sunlight Studios sound -- know only too well the nostalgic goosebump feeling that arrives every time we hear said sound chainsaw its way out of a good set of Mordaunt-Shorts. And it's that feeling that arrives in abundance upon listening to "The horror", the searing debut album from Arvika's Tribulation. The music itself is a tech-death/black/thrash amalgam that's as musically precise as they come and that benefits from exceptional song construction throughout. Add a shivering guitar sound that references Sweden's old-school elite with a perfectly-balanced production and you have an album that simply commands attention. With vocals bordering on a black metal rasp layered over a relentless metal bombardment, the sparing use of clean and piano passages offers a welcome deviation from the onslaught and exudes an eerie '70s horror movie feel. While the majority of "The horror" is an all-out riff-frenzy, there are numerous slower moments that, without doubt, is when we see Tribulation at their finest; parts evident in the likes of "Curse of resurrection" and "Seduced by the smell of rotten flesh" that suggest that these guys -– if they're clever -– could find themselves the torchbearers for a resurgence in the style. Hell, they even sport an image that screams Stockholm 1990. "Left hand path" this ain't but, by hell, it's one savage album!
- John Norby
