It seems like these triple reviews are more or less becoming the way I'm going to be running these reviews from now on. This multi-review format gives me the opportunity to give you all more albums to check out every week. There's so much great stuff out there, and it's always exciting to find something new to listen to, plus you get to support smaller, underground artists and labels. Now let's get to the reviews, shall we?
Hapless Wretch - Vol. 1 (2021)
Hapless Wretch, a passionate solo project from London, England, brings forth a devilish offering of blackened death metal that infuses various elements such as doom metal, hardcore, and even some slight elements of noise. This cross between the chaotic black metal sounds and the aggressive hardcore heaviness makes me think of Full of Hell a lot actually. The ghoulish, distorted, shrieking vocals married with the head crushing, bone crunching riffs I really feel can appeal greatly to the head banging death metal fans as well as the mosh pit-opening hardcore and metalcore fans. This album consists of four songs, lasting ten minutes, and holy fuck it is full of energy and is always going for the kill. The album blends in really unique moments of noise. The song Vomica has these repetitious distorted electronic bass moments that accompany the double bass and remind me of some of the blown out, distorted bass-lines you'd hear on a song from The Body. Then on the final song, Kuru, the song opens up with droning guitars that create a seemingly stagnant wall of sound while the vocals wail and groan aimlessly, creating a hellish atmosphere that reminds me of the song "Armory of Obsidian Glass" by Full of Hell. Overall, this is a killer release full of adversarial aggression, dense with memorable crushing riffs and vocals. I am looking forward to other releases to come from Hapless Wretch.
Artist: Hapless Wretch
Album: Vol. 1
Label: Independent
Rating: 7.5/10
Draugur - Nosferatu (2021)
To listen to Draugur's new album Nosferatu is what I imagine it would sound like if you awoke an ancient spirit from its entombed slumber. Draugur is an atmospheric black metal solo project hailing from Russia, and released this new album on Kryrart Records. The album is buried, or perhaps swallowed whole, by a turbulent sea of sound. The drums play on in the distance, the guitars strum away in your peripherals, and the ghastly growling vocals soar overhead like a restless soul. Like any atmospheric black metal record, it will take a few listens to really get a grasp on its complexities and deceptive depth, but at merely 21 minutes long, it doesn't overstay its welcome in the slightest and encourages repeated listening. The vocals are my favorite aspect of this record, they drift in and out like wind through the trees, the vocals are airy growls with a touch of a wet, guttural vibration from deep within. The album plays out like an ominous, stormy landscape of sound and instrumentation that balances moments of droning blast beats and riffs with anxious, tension building moments (the track "IIII" displays this best). For an atmospheric black metal album, Nosferatu holds your attention at all times, and actively encompasses you in the sounds it creates.
Artist: Draugur
Album: Nosferatu
Label: Kryrart Records
Rating: 7/10
Anharat - Blood Sorcery (2021)
It is always exciting to me when I find bands from my home state of New Jersey, getting to see what people are creating back home is always fun, and today I bring you Anharat's debut demo, Blood Sorcery, a heavy, black metal tinged offering of death/doom that brings you to the dark, haunted forests and castle corridors of Transylvania. The demo consists of 3 songs, giving about 17 minutes of sinister, brooding death/doom that has a bit of a dense, atmospheric black metal sound in its production. There's a few moments of truly heavy, grooving riffs, but mostly this album is focused on the longer, slower, cavernous doom metal style of song writing in the style of bands like The Funeral Orchestra, Spectral Voice, and Worm, and when the pace picks up into more of a death metal sound I hear a lot of Ossuarium, and even at times some Tomb Mold, in their writing. The guitars do a great job at giving this feeling like they are leading the listener upward then suddenly dropping you into a pit of heavy, pulverizing riffs that have the heft of a Primitive Man song. The drums are the only issue on this album for me, the cymbals and toms are present in the mix, but the snare and the double bass have very little presence, especially the double bass. The final track, Blood Sorcery, begins with a fast paced section of riffing and blast-beats, but because of the quiet and barely present drums, there isn't much there to keep everything sounding wholistic and on track, resulting in a bit of a muddy start to the song. Apart from my issue with the drums and the overall quiet production of the album itself, I think this is still a heavy opener for Anharat and I'm excited for what comes next, and if you're a fan of any of the bands I mentioned in this review, go give this album a listen. There is also a very limited run of cassettes for this album, so if you dig the album I suggest you order yours quickly!
Artist: Anharat
Album: Blood Sorcery
Label: Independent
Rating: 6/10