Black Witchery - "Evil Shall Prevail" (Nuclear War Now! Productions, 2016)

Band: Black Witchery

Title: Evil Shall Prevail

Genre: Bestial Black/Death metal

Year: 1997-1999 (2016 reissue)

Time: 78 min

Rating: 80/100

 

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen, a retrospective compilation about the very early Black Witchery is recently released on CD and double vinyl by the infamous Nuclear War Now! Productions! This compilation titled “Evil Shall Prevail” contains even 18 songs per 78 minutes of non-stop violence in Black Witchery-style ranging, without a precise chronological order, from an obscure 1997’s demo (when this trio was still known as Witchery) to the split album of 1999 with the Canadians Conqueror “Hellstorm of Evil Vengeance”.

Totten Korps - "Supreme Commanders of Darkness" (Apocalyptic Productions, 2015; Blood Harvest, 2016)

Band: Totten Korps
Title: Supreme Commanders of Darkness
Genre: Death Metal
Year: 2015
Time: 43 min
Rating: 92/100

Totten Korps: the moniker is German but the band is Chilean. Ultimately Chile is spewing forth an incredible bunch of high-quality’s extreme metal bands, in particular about the purest death metal. To name a few, I must mention Pentagram Chile (obviously!), Demonic Rage, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Diabolical Messiah, the veterans Atomic Aggressor, and so on and so on forth, in an endless death metal explosion. But, into this interminable list, there are the Totten Korps, another band of veterans founded even in 1989 that, guided by the guitarist Francisco Torres since the early days, split-up for a first time in 1994 after various demos to return to terrorize the nights of the mortal world in 1998 releasing their long-awaited debut album in 2001. But, from here, Totten Korps hadn’t released something new, just splits with old songs and compilation dedicated to them. Finally, this silence was broken during December 2015 through a new fresh album titled “Supreme Commanders of Darkness”  and edited by the compatriot label Apocalyptic Productions. Released originally on CD, it has been recently reissued on vinyl by the Swedish label Blood Harvest. So, this is the third consecutive review about a release of this fantastic label!

INTERVIEW WITH GARGOYLE!!!

Ladies and gentlemen,

today it's Christmas Eve, so all we must be good and gentle for this time...but don't you think that a demo called "Reborn in Blasphemy" could be a fantastic gift? In any case, here you are the very nice interview to the Calabrians Gargoyle, an emergent doom metal band reviewed by me some days ago with a very good 73/100.

 

ENJOY THE READ!

Sadokist - "Thy Saviour's Halo, Held by Horns" (Black Goat Terrorist 666, 2014; Blood Harvest, 2016)

Band: Sadokist
Title: Thy Saviour's Halo, Held by Horns
Genre: Black/Thrash metal
Year: 2016
Time: 33 min
Rating: 66.6












Snoods, bullet-belts, face-painting à la Beherit and studs as much as one can. THIS IS the look adored by me and it is just the look of Sadokist, a Finnish band founded in 2007 which, after the classic plethora of demos, compilations and splits in the classic underground-style, released on tape its debut album titled “Thy Saviour’s Halo, Held by Horns” only in 2014 by the small Ecuadorian label Black Goat Terrorist 666. But, after two years, “Thy Saviour’s Halo, Held by Horns” see a new light through the stronger Swedish label Blood Harvest, that just yesterday has reissued it in vinyl format so to give to the album the right recognition.

Master of Cruelty - "Archaic Visions of the Underworld" (Blood Harvest, 2016)

Band: Master of Cruelty
Title: Archaic Visions of the Underworld
Genre: Black/Death metal with Thrash metal elements
Time: 33 min
Year: 2016
Rating: 90/100











Believe it or not, “Archaic Visions of the Underworld” is the very first release from a Paraguayan metal band that I ever listened in my entire life. It looks that Paraguay has some great bands but we mustn’t forget that it is a South American country, and everyone of us knows that the South America offers systematically high quality bestial metal since the Brazilians Stress released their homonym proto-thrash metal debut album in 1982. Master of Cruelty, a quartet founded in 2009 in the Paraguayan capitol Asuncion, aren’t an exception considering that with “Archaic Visions of the Underworld”, released on 25^th November 2016 by the Swedish label Blood Harvest, have created a true masterpiece of pure South American fury!

Gargoyle - "Reborn in Blasphemy" (Shadow Kingdom Records, 2016)

Band: Gargoyle
Title: Reborn in Blasphemy
Genre: Doom metal
Time: 24 min
Year: 2016
Rating: 73/100












The Gargoyle is one of those bands that I review for a precise reason: their nationality. In fact, the Gargoyle are Italians like me but, if I am Roman, they come from Reggio Calabria (Calabria). They released the DIY demo “Reborn in Blasphemy” on CD on 30^th March 2016, now re-released on cassette by the US label Shadow Kingdom Records with a new song in addition to the original 3 tracks. Hence, now we’ll discover what have to say to us these 4 hangmen of which their fantastic logo was made by Damien Thorne of the landsmen black/thrashers Bunker 66!

Infatuation of Death - "Code of Impiety" (Defense Records/Mythrone Promotion, 2016)

Band: Infatuation of Death
Title: Code of Impiety
Genre: Death metal
Time: 34 min
Year: 2016
Rating: 79/100










Infatuation of Death are…dead! In fact, “Code of Impiety”, released on CD by Defense Records/Mythrone Promotion on 21st October 2016, is the posthumous debut album (or so I understood!) of the Infatuation of Death, a Polish band founded in 2001 before releasing mostly demos from 2003 to 2005, though it seems that this band was alive until 2013, when these guys played in a festival headlined by the Belgian black metal band Enthroned in Krakow, Poland. Hence, “Code of Impiety”, comprised of some old demos, represents the musical testament of a very good band that deserved a better future.

Blake's Vengeance - "7747-7744" (Defense Records/Mythrone Promotion, 2016)

Band: Blake's Vengeance
Title: 7747-7744
Genre: Techno-Thrash metal with Heavy Metal elements
Year: 2016
Time: 20 min circa
Rating: 72/100












The story of the first and only demo of the Italians Blake's Vengeance (from Milan, Lombardy) is very troubled. In fact, "7747-7744" was originally released on digital format in 2014 but it had a very simple artwork but no title, hence it was known, simply put, as "Demo 2014". Fortunately, the band re-released the demo on CD as "7747-7744" in March 2015 with an artwork, simple but with a sci-fi fashion. Finally, the Polish label Defense Records (in collaboration with its compatriot Mythrone Promotion) reissued it with a very beautiful artwork close, in a certain sense, to the ones of the "oriental" NWOBHM bands like Tokyo Blade and Samurai. But, instead, this band offers another kind of metal, a bit more sophisticated than the music of the aforementioned NWOBHM-dinosaurs.