It’s been a busy week here at Sixsixsix HQ. Hefst was
launched on Monday. And it’s a promotion business dedicated to promoting
unsigned and small label bands. Full details can be found here: http://hefst.blogspot.co.uk/
Hefst is the Icelandic for “beginning”. So I hope to help
many bands at the beginning of their musical adventures.
On the label side, the Baalberith album has been sent off
for duplication. I should have copies on Tuesday. HaatE is being sent off very
soon as well
And Toxoid have just joined the Sixsixsix Music Family.
They’re a Satanic Black Metal band from India. Details on their cd will be
announced soon
The Black Metal compilation Helvete : Confederacy of
Hatred is complete and will be unleashed on September 1st. It’ll be
available for free, and I’ll do a feature on all the bands who are included
next Sunday.
Just to be totally different, I’m working on some Metal
related Christmas cards. There are some pictures on my Facebook page of a few
of the possible designs:
https://www.facebook.com/1405099836423721/photos/pcb.1454528818147489/1454527998147571/?type=1&theater
If you click the picture, the next design will appear
And finally, I’ve had such an enjoyable time finding new
bands this week, that I can’t cram them all in today. So I’ll be updating this
blog throughout the week
Hyperborean -
Mythos Of The Great Pestilence
I should have reviewed this album a few weeks ago. But it’s
been an album I’ve tended to put on while I’ve been doing other things and I’ve
just emerged myself in the music, without really analysing what I’m listening
to.
The opening number, Hail Dystopia, is staggeringly good
and reminds me of the days of when I was listening to my Black Metal on tape,
about 20 years ago. It’s somewhere in-between majestic, technical, melodic and
brutal. It’s spins around and goes through a myriad of time changes. And for me,
it’s a perfect opener.
The only downside is that it’s head and shoulders above
everything else on offer. This is a good album, but the pace tends to slow down
too much at times and Hyborean are much better at the faster bits.
There’s so much to like here. I’m a huge fan of the
guitar sound, the vocals are wonderfully harsh, the production is superb etc…
but I don’t think Hyperborean have quite cracked it with their song writing.
Maybe a few more BPM and less slower elements and I’d be raving about this
album, but as it stands, it’s in the very good category, rather than the great.
And another band I should have featured before, are
Egyptian band Excimer
They’re heavily influenced by 80s Thrash and I’m loving
the old school vibe of their music. And their brand of Thrash is flavoured with
some NWOBHM influences as well.
The title track of this EP, Serial Killer, has a vocal
delivery that reminded me of early Suicidal Tendencies, so there’s plenty here
to enjoy if you love all aspects of 80s Thrash.
You also get a very cool cover of Metallica’s Whiplash
and Sodom’s Sodomy and Lust, to go with the three original tunes.
The band are recording a new album right now, so this is
a nice introduction before their album comes out in the autumn.
Melodic Death, for me, can be very one dimensional, with
so many of the bands all sounding the same. Thankfully, Sweden’s Unfolded are a bit of the good side.
This is supposed to be a demo, but the sound supersedes
many albums from bands that are allegedly a few rungs above this. There’s a
mighty groove going on, and Joakim Hegsund’s vocals tend to follow the groove
and the overall effect is a head nodding bundle of joy. I like music that makes
me happy and this certainly fits the bill.
My better half, who is a big fan of this genre and most
things Swedish, is particularly impressed with the construction of each song.
As a Maths Teacher, she also wonders if someone involved with this demo has a
mathematical brain, such is the precision of each song.
Everything about this 5 tracker screams class. From the musicianship, production and the songs themselves. The only thing I’m surprised at, is that this is a self release.
I know the musical industry is imploding in on itself
these days, but these guys are seriously good. I’m sure a few years ago the likes of Nuclear Blast and
Century Media would be sending someone over to Sweden to snap these guys up as
soon as they could.
It’ll be interesting to see where they go from here.
Skyggen hail from South Korea and have just released their debut demo via You Tube.
I’m not a massive fan of the drum sound, but apart from
that it’s a very solid offering of reasonably melodic Black Metal.
There are 2 original songs and a Gorgoroth cover for you
to digest and I’d say that Whispering Death just edges it for me as it’s a bit
more inventive in terms of the songwriting and the time changes.
Skyggen are definitely ones to keep an eye on.
Vorzug are a
new band out of Phoenix, Arizona and this one track single, I Am In Hell, is
both an introduction to the band and
a statement of intent from the band.
It’s a rumbling tomb of Old School Death Metal, with
darker Black Metal overtones. The sound is just about perfect and this is such
a fucking tease as one song just isn’t enough.
The band are currently working on their debut album… I
just hope it doesn’t take them too long as this is a very good opening salvo.
I Am In Hell is out on August 30th. And if you
visit their Facebook page, there’s a link to another song, In One-Hundred
Years, whose Death Metal parts remind me of early Amorphis
I was expecting 30 minutes of Depressive Shoegazing from
Belgium duo, Soul Dissolution, but
this is a much heavier release than I was expecting. Ok, it’s still quite soft
compared your average glass gargling raw Black Metal, yet it’s still (just
about) on the melancholic side of the same genre, but it’s nowhere near the
slit-your-wrist fest I thought it would be.
I’m not up on the slew of popular bands doing this kind
of music right now, such as Alcest, but what I did pick up on, during The Final
Solution : Part 1, was a similarity with Primordial, albeit at a much slower
pace. So that’s my (sole) reference for this release.
But maybe it’s a good thing listening to this with fresh
ears. My opinion is only based upon what I hear, not who it should be compared
with.
If I had to sum up this release in one work it would be
“sombre”. There’s an overall feeling of sadness throughout the duration of Cold
Rays and Grey Waves. It’s an emotional journey that probably has some
connection with the sea, which I’m basing my theory upon the album title and
the artwork. And as someone who grew up on the coast and yearns for a return to
living by the sea once again, I feel a real affinity with the songs. Even if I
am probably completely wrong about the subject matter.
That's the end of part 1 of a week of updates. Next update will be on Tuesday
Sixsixsix Music
E-mail: steve@sixsixsixmusic.com
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