Veilburner, VLBRNR (Transcending Obscurity 2022)

November 30, 2022November 30, 2022 Wayne EdwardsBlack Metal, Death Metal, Dissonant Metal, Heavy Metal, Pennsylvania, Transcending Obscurity Records, Veilburner, VLBRNR

Veilburner release their sixth album in eight years, VLBRNR.

Veilburner is the duo Mephisto Deleterio (music and production) and Chrisom Infernium (vocals and lyrics), hailing from Pennsylvania. The first album under the Veilburner moniker came out in 2014, The Three Lightbearers, and since then new music from the band has hit the world stage every year or two without fail. The music they make crosses over many landscapes, notably death metal and black metal, and features layer and depth as defining and organizing characteristics.

The album has ten strong tracks, including two instrumentals. The record starts out in a suitably bizarre fashion with “VI (Vulgar Incantations).” Peculiar sounds stab at you, pushing and hooking, followed by a more recognizable structure created by guitar and rhythm elements. The vocals and vocalizations are sung, despite the unusual format of the lyrics themselves, which run in a sort of paragraph arrangement, rather than in stanzas. More fascinating is the impressive variation in vocal approach that pings from death metal to black metal to something else entirely and back again. It seems designed to provoke.

If you make it through the first song, then “Envexomous Hex” assails your senses from the jump and knocks your block off. When you get to “Interim Oblivion,” the illusion of peace is offered initially, but chaos quickly follows. Oddly, as the song progresses, it has nearly linear moments, with exceptional guitar work and a segment that is almost psychedelic. What we know by now is that trying to anticipate what will come next is a fool’s errand. The album is a living thing. Watch for “Burning the Veil,” because it is mesmerizing (and my favorite track of the set), and “None So Hideous” for its sheer musical brutality. I have heard most of Veilburner’s albums (all but one) and this is my favorite so far. Recommended.

VLBRNR is out on Friday, December 2^nd through Transcending Obscurity Records. As expected, the label offers many forms, variants, and stunning merch to go along with the album’s release. Check out Bandcamp or Transcending Obscurity’s US store at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://veilburnerband.bandcamp.com/album/vlbrnr-dissonant-death-black-metal

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/veilburner

Transcending Obscurity Records, https://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/

Photo Gallery: Cultus Black at Piere’s, March 9, 2022

November 30, 2022November 16, 2022 Wayne EdwardsBlack Metal, Cultus Black, Cvltvs Black, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Live Music

A band that I was seeing for the first time, Cultus Black (or Cvltvs Black), opened the show at Piere’s Entertainment Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. On their Facebook page, they describe themselves as “a dramatic deathcore/Nu-metal crossover.” The photos will give you some idea of what went on. These musicians fully committed, and you must see them live if you really want to understand the experience. They were an excellent lead in for Prong and Overkill that night.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Cultus Black, https://www.cultusblack.com/

Piere’s Entertainment Center, https://pieresentertainment.com/

Acid Blade, Power Dive (Personal Records 2022)

November 29, 2022November 27, 2022 Wayne EdwardsAcid Blade, Angel Blade, Dresden, Germany, Heavy Metal, Personal Records, Power Dive, Speed Metal

The first full-length album from Acid Blade breathes fire and stomps the terra: Power Dive.

Acid Blade is a heavy metal band from Dresden, Germany who play in a classic metal style at an elevated tempo. They started out in 2019 as Angel Blade, releasing a demo and a split with Venator over the course of a year. Changing their name in 2021, they put out one more demo and now Power Dive, their first full-length album. The band is Sci-Man (bass), Eric Nukem (drums), Alvin Goreman (guitar), Luke Lethal (guitar), Klay Mensana (vocals).

The music starts with a clomping riff on “Hot Bloods on the Loose,” leading to a rising, then soaring, vocal as the tempo changes. Moving past formative hard rock and metal into speed metal, the general echoing you hear brings on waves of nostalgia. “Ablaze at Midnight” is another barn burner. You could say it is stepped down a touch, but more importantly it rolls out a long lead guitar part that turns into the off ramp for the song, reproducing a maneuver that I used to hear regularly but haven’t noticed for some time now. The title track takes the third spot, and it has steady, anticipation-inducing build toward the big break out. After that, it’s off to the races.

The 1980s metal style is ever-present throughout the record, and it is the defining characteristic of the music. Even if this is not your go-to metal vein, Mensana’s vocals are compelling and the guitar work is impeccable, so it is worth dipping your toe in. The music has many fascinating innovations, as you will hear in the eerie middle ground of “Into the Light” and the otherworldly insight of “The Tomb of Khentika Ikheki,” a song that will pong around in your brain for a good long while. There is even a power ballad, “Moonless Night,” for those of you who miss that long-time standard. Something for everyone, you might say. Recommended.

Power Dive is out now on digital and will be released on CD by Personal Records on Friday, December 2^nd. Get the facts at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://acidblade.bandcamp.com/album/power-dive

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/acidblade.rock/

Personal Records, https://www.personal-records.com/

Photo Gallery: Year Of The Cobra, Pure Filth Festival, Sharkey’s, Liverpool, New York, June 18th 2022

November 29, 2022November 16, 2022 Wayne EdwardsDoom Metal, Heavy Metal, Live Music, Pure Filth Festival, Year of the Cobra

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Ghost Cult Magazine article, https://www.ghostcultmag.com/festival-review-pure-filth-festival-at-sharkeys-event-center-liverpool-new-york/

Year Of The Cobra, https://yearofthecobra.com/

Sharkey’s Event Center, https://sharkeysbarandgrill.com/

Funeral Mass, Shadow Of The Raventhrone (2022)

November 28, 2022November 23, 2022 Wayne EdwardsBlack Metal, Funeral Mass, Heavy Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Poland, Shadow of the Raventhrone

Shadow Of The Raventhrone is the third studio album from black metal band Funeral Mass.

Funeral Mass started in Poland in 2018. I thought from the name we might be dealing with a doom band here, but their music is black metal through and through, with melodic touches for depth and highlight. The have released two previous full-length albums and an EP in the few years of their existence, each one a step further down the path. The band is Kamil Żerański (guitar, vocals), Dmytro Kvashnin (guitar), Jerzy Wieliński (bass), and Ignacy Macikowski (drums).

“With Sinister Spell” is the first of seven songs on the album. The black metal framework is in place, firm and unquestioned. The vocals maintain the genre’s style and tone, modulated in a way that makes them more approachable to alternate practitioners. The hammering rhythm is there, alongside a melodic thread that gives the music a dramatic, almost theatrical, cast in fact. The title track follows, and it has a bounty of energy upfront, steady and unrepentant. The initial movement is repeated, instilling the impression of a quest that will demand sacrifice. “Nocturnal Eclipse” opens with obliterating black metal, taking no prisoners and offering no mercy. It is the most rugged song on the record.

Throughout the story told on the album, the many looks given are all draped in deep shadow. “Riders Of Nebulous Lands” stands out in this regard, while other tracks like “Epitaphium” have a lighter opening, nevertheless drawing fully on black smoke. “Everlasting Pagan Flame,” the band’s first single and a song that originally appeared on their album Cold Winds Of Desolation (2018), is redone here at the end of the album. It is a treat for the band’s fans and a fine way to sign off. Recommended.

Shadow Of The Raventhrone is out on Friday, December 2^nd. Bandcamp is the way to go in the US for digital and other formats. Links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://funeralmass.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/FuneralMassMetal

Photo Gallery: Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, Muddy Roots Festival 2022

November 28, 2022November 15, 2022 Wayne EdwardsFolk Music, Live Music, Muddy Roots, Roots Music, Slim Cessna's Auto Club

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Slim Cessna’s Auto Club website, http://slimcessnasautoclub.com/

Muddy Roots, https://www.muddyroots.com/

Ghost Cult Magazine article, https://www.ghostcultmag.com/festival-review-muddy-roots-festival-2022-live-at-junebug-boogie-ranch/

FFMB article on Muddy Roots 2022, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/10/03/muddy-roots-cookeville-tennessee-september-2-4-2022/

Photo Gallery: Buckcherry, Blue Ridge Rock Festival 2022

November 27, 2022November 15, 2022 Wayne EdwardsBlue Ridge Rock Festival, Buckcherry, Heavy Metal, Live Music, Music Festivals

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Buckcherry website, https://buckcherry.com/

Blue Ridge Rock Festival, https://blueridgerockfest.com/

FFMB article on Blue Ridge Rock Festival 2022, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/10/06/blue-ridge-rock-festival-alton-virginia-september-8-11-2022/

Ryze-Up Magazine feature, https://www.ryze-up.com/ryze-up-magazine-current-issue/ryze-up-magazine-october-2022/

Photo Gallery: Munly & The Lupercalians, Muddy Roots Festival 2022

November 26, 2022November 15, 2022 Wayne EdwardsFolk Rock, Live Music, Muddy Roots, Munly & The Lupercalians, Occult Rock

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Munly & The Lupercalians website, http://scacunincorporated.com/munly/

Muddy Roots, https://www.muddyroots.com/

Ghost Cult Magazine article, https://www.ghostcultmag.com/festival-review-muddy-roots-festival-2022-live-at-junebug-boogie-ranch/

FFMB article on Muddy Roots 2022, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/10/03/muddy-roots-cookeville-tennessee-september-2-4-2022/

In The Woods…, Diversum (Soulseller 2022)

November 25, 2022November 22, 2022 Wayne EdwardsBlack Metal, Diversum, Heavy Metal, In The Woods..., Prog Metal, Soulseller Records

Progressive black rock and metal band In The Woods… returns with a nuanced perspective on Diversum.

In The Woods… formed in Norway in 1991 alongside, in many ways, Green Carnation. Their earliest expressions were black metal, and later they were one of the first bands to refer to their music as pagan metal. I am most familiar with what sounds to me more avant-garde and prog-like from this group. The new album shines a light on familiar places as well as along less well-trodden pathways. The band is Anders Kobro (drums), Bernt Sørensen (guitar), Nils Olav Drivdal (bass, keys), Bernt Fjellestad (vocals), Kåre André Sletteberg (guitar, keys), and Alf Erik Sørensen (session keys).

“The Coward’s Way” is surprisingly straight-forward in structure with a gentle intro and an emotional rock delivery. It does swerve off into lands peculiar toward the end and that’s when I knew I was in the right place. “Moments” is a direct meshing of discordant elements in that the rhythm structure does not match, in a conventional way, the vocal presentation. As the song goes on, there is more of a meeting of the minds, but there is plenty of start-and-stop and swing and chop all the way through. “We Sinful Converge” is off in another direction, soaring on wings of high production. There is an episode of lostness in the middle, creating an important reference before the return to the earlier framing. It is a fascinating beginning.

“The Malevolent God” is very dramatic, taking the mood to a dire crescendo. It is my favorite track on the record for that set up and the amazing middle chopping riff and ramble, spiced with a slick lead break. I also appreciate the closer, “Your Dark.” This final song takes a soothing vocal mediation in precedence to screeching singing and heavy guitars, reverting at last to an off-balance placidity. A curious excursion indeed. Recommended.

Diversum is out now through Soul Seller Records. Follow up at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/diversum

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/inthewoodsomnio/

Soulseller Records, https://www.soulsellerrecords.com/