Un breve viaggio nell'ultrafast black metal: i Dark Funeral e gli Unlord!

Ormai lo sapete, io sono ossessionato dalla velocità più assassina. La roba veloce infatti mi piace un sacco da tempo ormai immemore. Ma non solo nell'hardcore punk, anche nel metal. Uno dei miei generi metal preferiti è infatti il bestial black/death metal o war metal o che dir si voglia, e quindi la roba alla Blasphemy, per intenderci. Però sono anche un grande fan del black metal ultraviolento nella sua accezione più pura e oltranzista. E infatti in questo articolo ho voluto sviscerare 2 album del passato proprio di questo genere, il primo realizzato da un gruppo svedese famosissimo, l'altro da un gruppo olandese invece non tanto considerato dalla massa metallica: ecco a voi allora "Attera Totus Sanctus" dei Dark Funeral e "Schwarzwald" degli Unlord.

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Children of Technology - "Written Destiny" (Hells Headbangers Records, 2020)

Band: Children of Technology

Title: Written Destiny

Genre: Punkish Speed Metal

Release date: 18th December 2020

Time: 33.42 min

Vote: 86/100

6 years ago I reviewed on Heavymetalwebzine.it "Future Decay", the second album of an Italian group called Children of Technology. From that time, very much is changed in the world but also in this band of 4 maniacs, that, during that period, in 2014, was a half-female quartet while now it is an all-male trio, leaded, as always, by the vocalist DeathLörd Astwülf, accompanied since 2010 by the guitarist Borys Crossburn, a guy involved in other some bands like Barbarian and even owner of labels such as Agipunk. Instead, the new entry is the drummer Dee Dee Altar, that isn't a freshman because of his militancy, for example, in notable acts like Bunker 66. With this line-up including a Borys Crossburn also in the role of bassplayer, Children of Technology have spewed recently forth, through the infamous Hells Headbangers Records, a new album: "Written Destiny".

Honorable Mentions from the Abyss #7: Seax/Pounder/Fatal Curse

Hey brutalbangers,

the pure heavy metal has been covered very few times on this 'zine (I remember, for example, a review about October 31), so this new appointment with "Honorable Mentions from the Abyss" is very special. In fact, today you'll read about 3 bands playing traditional metal and/or speed metal (speaking about this last one, check it out my articles about the proto-speed/thrash metal) and, plus, all of them comes from USA. It's possible that I'll talk about similar bands in the near future because ultimately they are sending me a lot of this stuff but, for the moment, read this article and enjoy it!

Midnight - "Sweet Death and Ecstasy" (Hells Headbangers Records, 2017)

Band: Midnight
Title: Sweet Death and Ecstasy
Genre: Heavy/Black/Speed Metal with Punkish vibes
Year: 20th October 2017
Time: 32 min
Rating: 83/100












Midnight are BACK! After the "Shox of Violence" compilation (reviewed by me some months ago) and the curious charity release "I Don't Need Society" destined to help the victims of the Hurricane Harvey by donating all the profits of this EP to the Red Cross, the Cleveland one-man sleazy squad Midnight recently released the long-held third album "Sweet Death and Ecstasy" obviously through Hells Headbangers Rec. No other bullshits and let's go already to discover this new full-lenght!

Goatmoon - "Stella Polaris" (Werewolf Records, 2017)

Band: Goatmoon
Title: Stella Polaris
Genre: Folk/Black Metal
Year: 24th February 2017
Time: 35 min
Rating: 80/100













After Barathrum, 2017 marks the return with a new album of another great Finnish band: Goatmoon. Born in 2002, this band is, in practice, the solo-project of BlackGoat Gravedesecrator that was included by the Italians Davide Maspero and Max Ribaric into their "Wolves Among Sheep", the excellent and monumental essay about NSBM released in 2013. Well, Goatmoon have become now a more mature and, in a certain sense, refined entity if compared with their very raw early works, and this 5th album called "Stella Polaris" is examplary of what I say. It was released, as always since the debut album of Goatmoon "Death Before Dishonour", by Werewolf Records, which is, as you know, the label of Werwolf of Satanic Warmaster whose productions were now distributed even by the very known Hells Headbangers Records.

Blood Feast - "The Future State of Wicked" (Hells Headbangers, 2017)

Band: Blood Feast
Title: The Future State of Wicked
Genre: Thrash Metal
Year: 31th March 2017
Time: 43 min
Rating: 83/100













Now you could say that Hells Headbangers is specialized at releasing reunion's albums of bands that, in some cases, had no chances to realize their long-held debut album during their ole good days. And I have to say that these reunions supported by Hells Headbangers gave often to life true masterpieces like the debut "Sights of Suffering" (2014) of the Chileans Atomic Aggressor or the deadly "Emanations from the Crypt" (2016) of the US Embalmer but I cannot say the same thing about, for example, the comeback "Heaven Bled" (2016) of the Aussie thrash metal cult Hobbs' Angel of Death, that I found too black metal to be an album of theirs. And you think that "Descent Into Hell", the long-desired debut album of Death Yell, a band of pure cult like few others, will be released next month. But, instead, today we are talking about Blood Feast, a sanguinary quintet born in 1985 as Blood Lust that released two seminal albums between 1987 and 1989, especially the ultra-wild debut "Kill for Pleasure". Now, I think that you know all but Blood Feast were reunited in 2007 with two original members as the drummer Kevin Kuzma (but he is out from the band since 2014) and the guitarist Adam Tranquilli, the main songwriter of Blood Feast since their very early days. So, it is with an incredible old-school spirit that he composed "The Future State of Wicked", that looks completely to be a thrash album from the '80s also because its cover artwork see the return of that abominable and screaming blue creature that belongs to the aesthetics of the band since "Kill for Pleasure".

Midnight - "Shox of Violence" (Hells Headbangers Records, 2017)

Band: Midnight
Title: Shox of Violence
Genre: Black/Speed Metal
Year: 20th February 2017
Time: 71 min
Rating: 65/100













The sleaziest metal (one-man) band from Cleveland, Ohio, is back with its 4th compilation, the second one released by the infamous Hells Headbangers Records! The new compilation of Midnight, the creature founded by the multi-instrumentalist Athenar in 2003, is titled "Shox of Violence" and has the same name of the EP released in the end of 2016. It comprises even 25 tracks per 71 minutes where you will find not only the entire "Shox of Violence" EP but also a bunch of old stuff yet edited in the past years. More specifically, you will be crushed, for example, by the demo versions of old songs by Midnight then appeared in their debut album "Satanic Royalty" (2011), live tracks and an incredible quantity of covers also unthinkable that you will discover very soon. Thanks to them, it's possible to understand the various influences that have brought Athenar to create the unique sound of his creature. Curiously, I have to say that Hells Headbangers Records is recently releasing compilations of some its bands, as in the case of "Metal Massacre 31" of October 31 (reviewed on these pages some months ago) and the interminable "Cadaver Traditions" of Deceased.

Bestial Warlust - "Storming Bestial Legions - Live '96" (Hells Headbangers Records, 2017)

Band: Bestial Warlust
Title: Storming Bestial Legions . Live '96
Genre: Bestial Black/Death Metal
Year: 17th February 2017
Time: 36 min
Rating: 86/100













To summarize: the last my two reviews were about the debut EP of the Danes Vomit Angel and the split album between the Chileans Black Ceremonial Kult and the US duo Genocide Beast, and all these are 3 very young bestial black/death metal bands also if the first ones are composed of (ex)-Sadomator/Sadogoat members. Now, this new review is about a band that has made seriously the story of the bestial black/death metal genre: Bestial Warlust. Born in 1990 as a death metal band named Corpse Molestation, Bestial Warlust released in 1994 and in 1995 two very influential full-lenght albums before splitting-up in 1997. Now, their moniker is back because Hells Headbangers Records has unearthed an old gig of these Aussie maniacs, recorded in its entirety during in 1996. So, here you are "Storming Bestial Legions - Live '96", a live album able to show definitively to the entire world all the ferocity and hate on stage of Bestial Warlust.

October 31 - "Metal Massacre 31" (Hells Headbangers Records, 2016)

Band: October 31
Title: Metal Massacre 31
Genre: Heavy Metal
Year: 25th November 2016
Time: 36 min
Rating: 70/100













You can read my review (in Italian) about "Bury the Hatchet" through the following link:

http://www.heavymetalwebzine.it/2015/03/13/october-31-bury-the-hatchet-2014/

After two articles about punk/HC bands, the only way to bring back this 'zine to an heavy metal direction was the review of a celebration, edited by Hells Headbangers Records, of the pure heavy metal of the '80s! In fact, the 5th album of October 31 is a bit strange: it's a covers album with no new songs. But what are these cover tracks? Yesss, this is a very fundamental question because we aren't talking about "normal" cover tracks! Specifically, October 31, guided since the early days by the singer King Fowley (also leader of the old-school Death metallers Deceased), this time have wanted to homage the fundamental series of Metal Massacre compilations edited by Metal Blade so to coverize tracks taken from the first 7 Metal Massacre volumes released between 1982 and 1986. That's why the album is titled "Metal Massacre 31"! As you know, the aforementioned 7 volumes were a very important showcase for the then emerging North American heavy metal scene destined to remove the decadent NWOBHM from his metal throne launching, towards the pantheon of the metal gods, young bands like Metallica and Slayer or foreigners ones like the Swiss Hellhammer but producing also many cult bands often never able to realize an album throughout their short and unlucky life. Just these last ones are the bands privileged by October 31 for this anthology comprised of little classics of the heavy metal music, and the most important of them are, surely, Omen, Hallow's Eve and Aloha (with a very young future-Megadeth member Marty Friedman before Aloha changed their moniker into the very absurd Hawaii in 1983).

Rotten UK - "That is Not Dead......" (Hells Headbangers, 2016)

Band: Rotten UK
Title: That is Not Dead Which Can Eternally Lie
Genre: Horror Punk Rock with Punk/HC influences
Year: 11th November 2016
Time: 28 min
Rating: 73/100












It's incredible but Rotten UK, although founded in 2011, looks to be a band totally coming from the British punk/HC of the '80s. You can realize this everything about them, even into their cover artworks characterised sometimes by the notice to the sellers to don't pay than 2.50 dollars (as for the first single of Rotten UK, "Bloody Hell!!", released in 2013), that was a convention adopted by the Anarcho-punk bands of the Old Britannia during the '80s (Crass in primis). But all this is ever more surprising if you think that Rotten UK aren't British but Americans! Precisely, these 4 guys comes from Rochester, New York and, after some 7'', EPs and even a live album in 2015, they have released their debut album "That is Not Dead Which Can Eternally Lie" during the previous year through, surprisingly (but, not too much, for the truth), Hells Headbangers Records, a label very known for its big passion about the metal/punk, a bit less for the pure punk rock.

Throneum - "Morbid Death Tales" (Hells Headbangers Records, 2016)

Band: Throneum
Title: Morbid Death Tales
Genre: Black/Death metal
Year: 2016
Time: 32 min
Rating: 88/100












You can read the review about the split "A Prophecy of Nihilism" through the following link:

http://www.heavymetalwebzine.it/2014/11/26/destruktor-throneum-a-prophecy-of-nihilism-2014/

Wow! “Morbid Death Tales”, the 7^th full-length album of the Throneum (a veteran band founded as Throne in 1996), is a true masterpiece of pure destruction! But it’s strange: in fact, the Polish duo Throneum (but now they are a trio with the recent addition of the drummer Diabolizer) is very prolific also due to releasing an album every two years from 2001 to 2011 but the more recent album is here among us after even 5 years from the 6^th one. In the middle between the last two albums, there is especially a bunch of splits, like “A Prophecy of Nihilism”, the split with the Aussie war-machine Destruktor, reviewed by me 2 years ago through the pages of heavymetalwebzine.it (link above). But, if I didn’t like so much that split, “Morbid Death Tales” is…well, I said it yet but it’s a “TRUE MASTERPIECE OF PURE DESTRUCTION”!

Agatus - "The Eternalist" (Hells Headbangers, 2016)

Band: Agatus
Title: The Eternalist
Genre: Heavy Metal with Black Metal influences
Time: 42 min
Year: 2016
Rating: 90/100












I must admit it: I have the hots for the extreme metal Greek scene, always ready to crank out a bunch of very interesting bands. Don’t forget that one of the main black metal schools coming from Greece, thanks to great bands like Rotting Christ, Varathron, Necromantia and Thou Art Lord, and all of them are still active today. The band whose I’ll tell you today has not only lived the “golden years” of the Greek black metal being born in 1992 releasing its debut album “Dawn of Martyrdom” in 1996 but experimenting, through the years, sounds very far from the purest black metal (but, surely, not from pure metal!). This especially through the very recent third album “The Eternalist”, released on CD/vinyl/cassette on 9^th October 2016 by the Hells Headbangers Records, a label usually not addicted to this kind of productions.

Kerasphorus - "Kerasphorus" (Hells Headbangers Records, 2016)

Band: Kerasphorus
Title: Kerasphorus
Genre: Black/Death metal
Year: 2016 (reissue)
Time: 30 min
Rating: 74/100










Everyone who follows the rawer underground extreme metal knows who is Pete Helmkamp. For the ignorant people, he is into the scene even since 1987 when he founded, along with other two guys (now in the mighty Ares Kingdom), the legendary Order from Chaos becoming after a  stalwart of the Angelcorpse. Nowadays Pete is unstoppable like never before now since he is busy with 3 bands: Abhomine (his solo-project debuting this year with an excellent album released under Osmose Productions), the same Angelcorpse and Kerasphorus, both reunited recently. In particular, Kerasphorus were founded in 2009 like a superband formed not only by Pete but also by the drummer James Read, the incorruptible man behind the Canadian war-machine Revenge with a past with the similar Conqueror. The line-up was completed by a certain Benjamin Wolaniuk, also ex-Horn of Dagoth. Well, but why are we telling about Kerasphorus? Simple: because the Hells Headbangers Records has reissued on CD on 2^nd September 2016 both the EPs of Kerasphorus, originally released by Nuclear War Now! Productions between 2010 and 2011, year of the split of the band before their reunion in 2015 with two great Angelcorpse/Perdition Temple’s members: Gene Palubicki and Ronnie Parmer. And I must already that HHR has did very well to reissue the old Kerasphorus’ material!

Shed the Skin - "Harrowing Faith" (Hells Headbangers Records, 2016)

Band: Shed the Skin
Album's title: Harrowing Faith
Genre: Thrashing Death metal
Year: 2016
Time: 39 min circa
Rating: 62/100






This review is no other than the translation in English with some differences of my review published through Heavymetalwebzine.it:

http://www.heavymetalwebzine.it/2016/09/13/shed-the-skin-harrowing-faith-2016/

The Shed the Skin, from the great extreme metal scene of Cleveland (Ohio), are the new supergroup that likes so much to the Hells Headbangers Records. Their genesis dated back to October 20th 2012 when the 15th anniversary from the death of Tom Rojack from Blood of Christ (died in Oct 19th 1997 by falling down a staircase at only 28 years old) was celebrated through a live show. In that occasion, there was also the exhibition of the tribute-band of Blood of Christ including as members, among others, their ex-guitarist Matt Sorg (Ringworm) and no other than the drummer of the great Incantation Kyle Severn. But that night was so exciting that the two veterans Matt and Kyle decided to form a band on Blood of Christ-style with 4 members of 5 of that tribute-band (including also the bassist Ed Stephens), also if the singer Duane Morris of Terror quits right after to be already substituted by the unstoppable singer/guitarist Ash Thomas. So, the new band, completed by the ex-From the Depths keyboarder Brian Boston, decided to call itself Shed the Skin, just like a song of Blood of Christ. Then, the guys released a two-song EP via Hells Headbangers during 2014 to anticipate the long-awaited debut album of the band. Finally, that debut album has arrived in May 21th 2016 always via HHR both in vinyl and CD with the very clean production of Dan Swano, guru of the Swedish death metal, at the renowned Unisound Studios. Ergo, there are all the premises for an old-school death metal masterpiece...and instead...