Album Reviews

Exploiting a sick and twisted approach to Black Metal, today we have France’s Vorkreist and their latest opus “Sigil Whore Christ”. In this release the band delivers over 45 minutes of deranged Black Metal in the vein of fellow countrymen Peste Noire minus the extreme use Avant-garde elements.

The album opens with the punishing riffing of “De Imitatione Christi” a piece that sounds very similar to a track on the latest Peste Noire release. With such a commanding guitar work and demonic vocals, the release quickly follows with the massive “Maledicte” and its brutal combination of shrieks and growls and deranged mourns, something that Shinning or similar BM bands would do.

In the current age of remakes and rehashes of anything from TV shows, Movies, and comics, it was about time to have a re-recording of some sort. Catamenia delivers 15 re-recordings of many of their hits, and having nine full-length releases under their belt makes it a daunting task to pick the songs that are worthy of the band’s newer Blackened Heavy/Melodic Metal sound.

With a few new band members as well, the band rips open this release with the powerful “Hollow Out – ChaosBorn” from their 2003 “Chaos Born” album. Immediately showing their strength, this song is very riff intensive and with a brutal combination of growls and shrieks, it just sounds amazing. The signature Catamenia sound is ever present, but the more clean and modern edge to their recent releases also seeps into the older songs in a very effective way. “Blackmension” from “Eternal Winter's Prophecy” follows and keeps the intensity of this release very high, the keyboards particularly shine in this great song.

Recently signed to Neurot Recordings, Ufomammut delivers their seventh full-length release titled “Oro: Opus Primum”. In this excellent release, the band brings five tracks of pure (and crushing) Psychedelic Doom Metal at its most devastating and cavernous shape, however this time around there are some seeping Stoner Rock influences that nicely add to the overall musical experience that this Italian band presents.

The band’s sound has always been very well crafted to highlight the heavy guitars and the well-developed atmosphere, and in this release the band continues with their excellent songwriting skills but on a bigger stage (Neurot Recordings). This release feels a bit better than “Eve” in terms of developing the songs a bit more efficiently and with extra elements that makes them less repetitive.

Following a dreadful opening track, “Holnap majd felgyújtom az erdőt” has a completely different production and sound to it. The band seems to have chosen a different pace and approach to BM, sounding a bit deranged and with a very barebones musical foundation. This track is actually enjoyable and entertaining after such a bad opener. Followed by an acoustic track titled “Varnak a varjak”, we are left kind of puzzled and intrigued to where this is going next.

Opening with the mysterious “Empireum”, the band uses nice atmospheric elements to create an initial build-up in this track. The build-up is quite effective and things don’t really get ‘heavy’ until the 10th minute mark, with some crushing riffs and some vocals. After the initial warm-up, “Aureum” delivers a chugging opening riff and some fresh Stoner/Psychedelic riffing sections that nicely set this track apart from the opener. Firing on all engines, “Infearnatural” keeps the riffage going and features some excellent clean vocals that give a nice contrast to the atmosphere of the track. This song is the one that sounds the most ‘traditional’ in the Doom sense of the word, making it the most accessible one of this release.

With some ambient and drone elements, “Magickon” nicely winds down the listener with a weird atmospheric piece that nicely builds up until the guitars and drums make an appearance quite late in the track. Now that the stage is set, “Mindomie” nicely closes the release with some heavy riffing, interesting drum patterns and some crazy vocals. This track is as dark and cavernous as the rest of the release but feels like a nice release of all the tension and build-up expectation generated in the first five songs.

Before you know it “Oro: Opus Primum” is all said and done but you are still left with the satisfaction that Ufomammut has delivered a worthy first release on Neurot Recordings, the home of very talented and diverse artists. If you liked any of the band’s previous releases, this album should nicely satisfy your cravings of Ufomammut for at least one or two more years.

Making its way from France, today we have Winterburst and their very impressive debut release “The Mind Cave”. With a very bombastic Symphonic Black Metal sound, the band delivers nearly 70 minutes of high-octane music that resembles the greats of the genre: Dimmu Borgir. Focusing on delivering the catchiest and most effective songs, the band delivers intense riffing and drumming with a high dosage of orchestrations and choir arrangements.

Opening with the highly dramatic “A Mirror’s Game”, this release immediately blows you away with the production quality behind it. The choirs are amazing and the immediate riffing intensity is excellent. The vocals sound a bit like Shagrath making them very fitting for the massive sound that Winterburst has. Changing between shrieks, growls and clean sections, the band’s vocalist Vorender is as versatile as they come. The power of Kyll’s guitars is felt immediately and on tracks like “The Mind Cave”, they pound away relentlessly. We particularly enjoy this track due to its intricate orchestrations as well.