Transcending Obscurity Records

Ignominy, Imminent Collapse (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Canadian dissonant death metal band Ignominy present their first full-length album, Imminent Collapse.

Formed in Quebec, Canada ten years ago, Ignominy create dissonant, avant-garde death metal that is an all-out attack on your senses. The EP Fear The Living (2019) established the fundamental ideas the band wanted to deal with. The new record, their first long-player, takes these notions further, and deploys them with fuller force. The band is Philippe Gariépy (guitars), Marc-Antoine Lazure (drums), Alexandre Desroches (vocals), and Alexandre Préfontaine (bass).

There are six primary tracks on the album plus two short transition pieces. “Frantic Appeasement” starts the show with a clank and a bang. It is a noisy affair that does lay down a riff and rhythm to guide the vocals in their guttural exertions, screams, and howls. Chaos breaks out now and then, like a sudden, unexplained stabbing. “Defaulting Genetics” is a bit more linear in a Primus kind of way. It feels like an expression of mindless violence and/or hatred. “Reminiscence of Hatred” starts quietly, but you know it is a trick, a lure. Given what has come before, you know that something heavy this way comes. There is less raggedness in this track, although some is there. “Premonition of a Dead End (Interlude I)” is an airlock between side one and two.

“Nightmare Bacteria” speaks to me most, perhaps because of the doomish interiors. There are long spaces of heaviness drawn across the ground with periodic eruptions of abstract activity. “Visceral” cleaves a way through the hedge and is reminiscent of Tool for a short while. Sour clangs beat insurgent order into submission. “Prélude Vers L’angoisse (Interlude II)” is the sound of placidity in the distance, leading to the final track, “Visuals.” It is the longest piece by a hair, and stands out for its creativeness in a set that is defined by creativeness. It goes out on a scream. This music is work for you unless you are into avant-garde metal, and if you are, you will revel in it.

Imminent Collapse is out now through Transcending Obscurity Records. Have a look at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://ignominydeath.bandcamp.com/album/imminent-collapse

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

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

© Wayne Edwards

Ignominy, Imminent Collapse (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Vomitheist, NekroFvneral (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , ,

The debut long-player from death metal band Vomitheist is filled to the brim with ill intent, NekroFvneral.

From Switzerland, Vomitheist has been haunting the earth since 2013. They have never been in a hurry to release recordings, waiting five years to issue their initial EP, Graveyard Flesh Orgy (2018), followed by a demo and a spit with Funeralopolis. Fans have waited and at last they are rewarded with a full-length album. The band is Gubler (bass, vocals), Yänä (guitars), and Wöhrle (drums).

There are eleven tracks on the new record. Let’s start at the top. For a song titled “Strangled by Entrails,” the musical construction is surprisingly jaunty, at least at first. The tone turns more serious, and certainly the growling vocals do not carry many light moments. There is an undeniable groove, however. Sometimes it is beneath the surface and sometimes it is the driving force, but it is always present, and it has a branding effect on the band’s music. “Epidemic Disembowelment” begins with doom, like the tolling of death bells. The guitar line that enters is a narrative itself. Vocals do appear, but this song is perhaps best understood as an instrumental. “Horrific Bloodshed” is a short bit, less than two minutes in duration, with fantastic riffs and hooks. Great piece. The set is shaping up to have a delightful variety to it, and all the songs are very well-written. Clearly, a great deal of work was put into their construction.

Other stand-out tracks for me are “Putrefaktor.” It is almost silly to say I like the riffs in this song because they are all so good throughout the entire album, and yet this one does stand out. “Tormenting Fungal Infestation” has an engaging pestilent grind to it that is quite memorable, and then there is the long anchor song, “Carnivorous Cult,” clocking in at over twelve minutes. I am a sucker for doom, aren’t I? The big riffs that start this piece lured me in and kept me listening long after they had themselves passed away. This record is my first hearing of Vomitheist and I am very impressed. Recommended.

NekroFvneral is out on Friday, May 19th through Transcending Obscurity Records. Have a look at Bandcamp (or the label’s US store) for variants and the usual impressive line of merchandise.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://vomitheistdm.bandcamp.com/album/nekrofvneral

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

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

© Wayne Edwards

Vomitheist, NekroFvneral (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Decipher, Arcane Paths To Resurrection (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , ,

Decipher throws down crushing dark menace on their debut album, Arcane Paths To Resurrection.

Greek black metal band Decipher came into being in 2017. They released an EP in 2019, Of Fire and Brimstone, and the new record is their debut long-player. Undeniably a black metal band, their music exists under a fairly broad umbrella that welcomes in heavy metal fans of many stripes. The band is Mick Leventellis (vocals, chants), Kostas Gerochristos (guitars, bass, vocals, chants), Kostas Xatzis (guitar), and Nodas Chatzopoulos (drums).

“Chants Of The Unholy” is a willing assault, and the exact best way to start the set. Ripping and tearing, rushing at a shred, then pulling up and shortening the tempo to deal some dooming death before ramping up again. Witheringly brutal with the occasional groove thrown in. More than occasional, actually, which is a mannerism I came to appreciate in this music. As hard and rugged as it is, you can exist in it. “Lost In Obscurity” opens with a riff that could work in an Anthrax song. Roughened up in every other respect, Decipher charts its own dark way. “Arcane Paths” is a mystical transitory piece leading to “Enslaved To Be,” a belligerent grinder with masterfully melancholy guitar work.

“Altar Of The Void” is an epic song, and the centerpiece to the set. While we have heard hook and groove intertwined with black metal throughout, this song perfects the melding. The long form allows for nine minutes of wandering through adjacent lands and related spaces, telling a deeper tale. “Penance” is monstrously heavy, and “Sanctum Regnum” highlights the underlying style while showcasing the flashier points. Good work here at the end. Recommended.

Arcane Paths To Resurrection is out on Friday, April 21st through Transcending Obscurity Records. In the US, Bandcamp is a great place to pick up the album and merch. Links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://decipherbm.bandcamp.com/album/arcane-paths-to-resurrection-black-metal

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

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

© Wayne Edwards

Decipher, Arcane Paths To Resurrection (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Lurk, Aegis (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

After six years we have new music from doom band Lurk, their fourth album, Aegis.

Lurk formed in Finland in 2008, and I have been a fan since their first record came out, the self-titled dark beauty, in 2012. Every two years like clockwork a new album would appear, through their third, Fringe. The recording hiatus that ensued thereafter created anticipation and longing which, I am glad to report, has been rewarded by their latest effort, Aegis. The band is Arttu Pulkkinen (guitar), Eetu Nurmi (bass), Kalle Nurmi (drums, guitar, synth), and Kimmo Koskinen (vocals, guitar).

There are seven songs on the new album. “Ashlands” sounds like the gates of hell swinging open. Clanking and grinding, pile driving and growling – the dark energy is palpable. The tempo is steady and working for most of the song, taking a lower path just passed midway, sinking even further into misery. Pulverizing excellence. “Shepherd’s Ravine” has a quieter beginning, making it all the more ominous because we know something else is coming. The bass line and sporadic percussion are deeply unsettling. On “Infidel,” a feeling of accelerating decay on an ancient structure overwhelms my brain like a sentient wraith, trancing my thoughts in the direction it chooses. This song is the one that will stay with me longest. “Hauta” has some similarities in ideation, but its sound is very different in that it is more active and scales measurably higher. This song also has a pleading quality of desperation heard more here than in the previous tracks.

I will say that “Blood Surge” has identifiable death metal nuances in the landscape of doom, and “Kehto” is a ballad played by tortured souls in hell on the raw bone and sinew of the damned. So, while doom is ever-present, gothic and death metal and other influences survive, coalesce, and intertwine with it throughout the set. The final piece is “The Blooming,” and it opens with a black metal trill. Tinted with ichor drawn from undefinable depths, the rapacious savagery of this composition is a final reminder of all that has come before. Recommended.

Aegis is out in a wide variety of forms through Transcending Obscurity Records on Friday, April 7th. You can order it through the links below, and there you can also peruse the stunning array of merch available to complement the recording.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://lurkdoom.bandcamp.com/album/aegis-sludge-doom-metal

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

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

© Wayne Edwards

Lurk, Aegis (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

71TonMan, Of End Times (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

The title of 71TonMan’s new album is no exaggeration: Of End Times.

I got on board with 71TonMan late, with their EP from 2021, War Is Peace // Peace Is Slavery. Hearing it, I quickly went back and consumed everything else they had released – two full-length albums, 71TonMan (2013) and Earthwreck (2017), and a split. Doom is heavy by nature, of course, but this doom will sink you. The band is from Poland and its members are Daniel Jakub Kida (vocals), Tomasz Gardecki (guitar), Michał Zieleniewski (guitar), Jędrzej Wroński (bass), and Jakub Jankowski (drums).

There are four long tracks on the new record, each running about ten minutes. “Conquest” starts off with a sour squeal, leading into clanking percussion. Crushing funeral doom-paced riffs smash down and take over, withering any hope of escape. “Plague” takes a more rolling thunder kind of approach, a crashing waves sort of manifestation. It is a marching menace that brings the plague with it and spreads it to every corner of the land surveyed. This music cannot me negotiated with – it is going to do what it does.

Side two brings “War” and “Famine.” These two clearly go together, musically and in reality. Because you won’t have one without the other, which comes first is a matter of happenstance or intention … it doesn’t really matter. The vocals are like a choir that does not soothe, opting instead for grim truth. The final ten minutes of the set are the darkest and most dangerous, clawing away any comfort that somehow still remained. The music that came before sat on the event horizon and these final minutes are when you fall into the black hole where there is no escape. Highly recommended.

End Of Times is out on Friday, March 3rd through Transcending Obscurity Records. Touch the links below to explore the options.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://71tonmanband.bandcamp.com/album/of-end-times-sludge-doom-metal

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/71TonMan

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

FFMB review of previous 71TonMan EP, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2021/07/09/71tonman-war-is-peace-peace-is-slavery-transcending-obscurity-2021/

© Wayne Edwards

71TonMan, Of End Times (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Frozen Dawn, The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Spain’s Frozen Dawn chronicles an end on The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods.

Hailing from Madrid, Frozen Dawn has been an important presence is the European heavy music scene since their inception in 2006. With three previous impressive long-players under their belt, the new record is one of the few that can genuinely be described as highly anticipated. Their version of melodic black metal is higher energy than you find in other groups with similar descriptors, and their compositions achieve complexity while remaining approachable. The band is Dani Grinder Álvarez (vocals, guitar), Antonio Mansilla (bass, guitar), and Arjan van der Wijst (drums)

“Mystic Fires of Dark Allegiance” teases water and breaks shrill, startling you to attention. Melodic passages waylay your guard at your own peril because a careening black metal attack is on the way. Blast beats walk alongside moderated rhythm guitar and howling vocals. It is disequilibrating. Whenever a quieter moment seeps in, it makes you nervous because you expect a pummeling to smash your cranium any second. And it always does. “Spellbound” speeds off in a rage, like a slashed throat in the first frame of a horror movie. The music is relentless for four and a half minutes. No respite. Then comes “Black Reign Awaits” on a freezing wind. There is more of a groove here, but the speed overcomes it.

The album is breathless for the listener. Even songs like “Frozen Kings,” which has a stabilizing, rugged riff, are hard-charging and intense. “Wanderer of Times” seems a little more laid back at first, but it is not at all that way as the music progresses. There is a moment of quietude with “The Fall of Aeons,” a short piece that functions as a transition to the cover of Necrophobic’s “Blinded By Light, Enlightened By Darkness,” but it is the only one. Frozen Dawn is out for the kill on this record, and kill they do. This is the best music I have heard from the band, and the album is an early contender for best-of lists. Highly recommended.

The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods is out on Friday, February 10th through Transcending Obscurity Records. In the US, Bandcamp is an easy way to order the music and merch at the link below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://frozendawnbm.bandcamp.com/album/the-decline-of-the-enlightened-gods-black-metal

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

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

© Wayne Edwards

Frozen Dawn, The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Ashen Horde, Antimony (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Progressive blackened death metal band Ashen Horde summon essences from the beyond for their fourth long-player, Antimony.

Initially, Ashen Horde was a one-man band, but since its beginning the line-up has expanded to Trevor Portz (guitar, clean vocals), Stevie Boiser (harsh vocals), Robin Stone (drums), and Igor Panasewicz (bass). With at least seven EPs and three previous long-players in their catalogue, the band has a lot to offer. The new record expands and deepens the musicians’ legacy, moving them closer to the vanguard of contemporary metal.

After a short intro, “The Throes of Agony” is the ice breaker. At the beginning, the music feels like a battering from a rock hammer – on the pointy end. The weight of the metal accelerated by the swing assists in the deep penetration of the probing end. The lead guitar break is surprisingly lyrical, and the riffs have an underhanded hookiness to them. The vocals are half-hissed. When the elements are brought together this way, the blast beats enter easily and the gruff vocals, when they arrive, are perfectly in place. Excellent. “The Consort” brings its own introduction, which distracts from the cliff you are walking toward. The music reminds me of a dark carnival in many places. But then in the second half, there is a long guitar break that brings on nostalgia for metal from the past. The dueted vocals are a surprise.

Not counting the intro bit and the short “bonus” track at the end, there are eight longish songs on the album. Each is a combination of different genre lanes, assembled carefully for impact and consistency. Listening to the entire album is an unusual experience because, despite the angular differences in the pieces – both within and between – it all fits and flows so nicely together. “The Barrister” is an excellent example of this by itself. There is not much dissonance, although you will find it in places, like on “The Neophyte.” Overall, this is a great metal album that will have a broader appeal than I at first imagined. Recommended.

Antimony is out on Friday, January 27th through Transcending Obscurity Records. Tons of great merch and format variants are available for this release through the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://ashenhordeband.bandcamp.com/album/antimony-black-death-metal

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

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

© Wayne Edwards

Ashen Horde, Antimony (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Leper Colony, Leper Colony (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

New music for the death metal legions: Leper Colony.

Leper Colony is a new vehicle for Rogga Johansson, best known for … what is he best known for? I mean, after all, he is in a bewildering number of bands. Here is a list of acts he is associated with, according to the Metal Archives: Battle Axis, Bloodgut, Carve, Catacomb, Dead Sun, Disruptor, Down Among the Dead Men, Echelon, Eye of Purgatory, Fondlecorpse, Formaldehydist, Furnace, Gauntlet Rule, Ghoulhouse, God Cries, Grisly, Heir Corpse One, House by the Cemetery, Humanity Delete, Johansson & Speckmann, Lobotomy Dept, Massacre, Megascavenger, Metal Against Coronavirus, Monstrous, Necrogod, Never the Dead, Paganizer, PermaDeath, Pile of Skulls, Putrevore, Reek, Revolting, Ribspreader, Rogga Johansson (solo), Severed Limbs, Stass, Stygian Dark, Svitjod, The Cleaner and Mr. Filth’s Van Murders, The Dead Cold, The Skeletal, Those Who Bring the Torture, To Descend, To the Gallows, Troikadon, and War Magic. Presumably, this is a partial list. I am most familiar with him being in Paganizer. Oh yes, and of course, Leper Colony, a new band that seeks to ensure “that the music has all the undiluted appeal of the classic albums of Death, Massacre, Morgoth and the like.” If experience counts for anything, Leper colony has a leg up. Johansson is joined by Marc Grewe (vocals) and Jon Skäre (drums).

There are nine boisterous tracks on the new record. The egg is cracked with “The Human Paradox,” an up-tempo death-thrasher with an excellent push and angry, gruff vocals. The lead guitar break is hectic and satisfying. So far so good, and, as it turns out, a sign of things to come. “Perdition’s End” keeps the ball rolling and offers an alternate take on the established premise. Like the other tracks on the album, there is a great riff here setting up thoroughly enjoyable metal. I like the speed and agility of the compositions, and the eclectic down- and side-shifts, as on “Tar and Feathers,” especially. “Leper Colony” is perhaps the oddest song in structure, and still it delivers the goods. The is an excellent set.

If you like what you have heard before from these fellows, then chances are you will like Leper Colony as well. I certainly do. It is catchy death metal, solid as granite all the way through. Recommended.

Leper Colony is out on Friday, January 13th through Transcending Obscurity Records.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://lepercolonydm.bandcamp.com/album/leper-colony-death-metal

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

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

© Wayne Edwards

Leper Colony, Leper Colony (Transcending Obscurity 2023)

Arche, Transitions (Transcending Obscurity 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Finland’s Arche present their first long-player, Transitions.

Arche is a two-piece funeral doom band comprised of E. Kuismin (guitar, bass, keys, vocals) and V. Raittila (drums, backing vocals). Their first recording was released in 2015, the EP Undercurrents. The earlier music is very memorable and impressive. Even so, the new album is a major step up in terms of composition and delivery. There are three songs on Transitions.

“Reverential Silence” builds anticipation with its gradual, self-assured entry. The music is not cavernous, but it is insular – like walking through a valley with steep cliffs on either side of you while the sky is open above … a dark sky. It is a beautiful lullaby to demise. Reassuringly wan in its final panels, the doom is delivered here with great elegance.

“Transition” is the shortest of the trio at six and a half minutes, and yet it carries nearly as much weight as its fellows. Quiet, almost tentative initially, the acoustic guitar that leads the way is enthralling in its sentiment. It is a virtuous intender but not necessarily a beneficent one. In other words, sometimes doing what must be done has terrible consequences.

“In A Solace Light” begins with a more familiar funeral doom framing. The massive riffs are softened a bit by their extensions, but they are not weakened. The tone is melancholy, deep and absolute. The vocals are disembodied, coming from nowhere and everywhere. Are they seeking or are they merely being? An absolutism could be applied in the cold distance, and that is perhaps where the throbbing truth lies. The dark beauty of this music is overwhelming. Recommended.

Transitions is out now through Transcending Obscurity Records. In the US, Bandcamp is a good place to pick up the album in its many forms, and the merch that goes along with it.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://archefin.bandcamp.com/album/transitions-atmospheric-funeral-doom-metal

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

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

© Wayne Edwards

Arche, Transitions (Transcending Obscurity 2022)

Veilburner, VLBRNR (Transcending Obscurity 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

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 2nd 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/

© Wayne Edwards

Veilburner, VLBRNR (Transcending Obscurity 2022)