BEWITCHED - Pentagram Prayer LP / CD

First thing you notice about this second Bewitched album is the great artwork by Joe Petagno. You instantly recall the great NWOBHM days, especially Motörhead of course. And thats pretty much what you get with this record because this might have been released in 1997 but it's spirit lurks right there in the early 80's, among the smelly leather, the stench of  sweat, beer and vomit drenched spikes. As soon as the guitar kicks in you know you are right there. This works like a fuckin' time-machine; Exicter, Motörhead, Venom, Sentinel Beast, Tank, Warfare, Judas Priest ...etc.(You know the score) It's all in here, and it's all fucking real. It sounds damn raw and good, not like some wannabe arena-metal 80's crap. IMO this baby here is a beast of an album, probably best Bewitched LP ever, and surely one hell of a tribute to entire good HeavyMetal scene 1979-1985. I've been spinning this for ages now, it's easily accompaning my favorite HeavyMetal records from the early 80's, and I never think that this was done 15-20 years later. Basically, Petagram Prayer non-pretentious HeavyMetal that just never gets boring.

BLACKDEATH RITUAL - Profound Echoes Of The End CD

Heavy, noisy and fast blackmetal album from Finlands All-Star squad. Sounding like Kruzifixxion LP blended with older Funeral Mist. Vocals are extremely hellish, sort of in a death-metal style with an echo and probably a slight of reverb aswell. Good songs, maybe a bit stale towards the end but it's a good album nevertheless. Probably the least Norwegian sounding blackmetal coming from Finland so far. One question remains thou: Molestor  K., where the fuck is the vinyl version???

OBEISANCE - Unholy, Unwholesome & Evil CD

Haven't seen anyone write much about Obeisance, so it will be me to give this fucker the credit it deserves. Because: it is a real nasty & evil sounding record coming from "Hell Paso". A record that does not really fit into the commom drawer you might want to put it in.

What you get here is some real weird & twisted black / thrash even with some punk elements ( Well I hear 'em...) that MIGHT be compared to VON "Satanic Blood" + Black Witchery sound-wise+ Butthole Surfers "Locust Abortion Technician" weird-wise + Venom / Bathory spirit-wise. Heh, I guess you get the idea now but still Obeisance somehow manage to sound original, pure and trend-free. Obeisance are  contrary to their name,  NOT being obedient , well at least not to the scene-trends. The band does not serve, and THAT is a good thing. Weird structures and interludes  allows their music to avoid most traps set up by the genre so far. (I'm talking black/thrash/war metal) Everything is set  up really nice in the mix; the buzzing guitars , the warm sounding drums and can hear the bass well, plus the lyrics are especially great, at times hilarious., in a cool way. Conceptually this whole thingt turned out even better than Lucifer Master LP and that was a really good record imo! 

When you find yourself thinking,  "this is the shit" upon the first listening, like I have, you know damn well that you'll be getting back to the album a lot . Soooo, bottom line; JUST in case you want to hear some really over- the-top & weird black/thrash you  have to hear this band. Don't worry, these guys have the know-how, and they have developed their own style. The funniest thing is , I can very well guess, the guys  probably would'nt give a shit about  a review like this, and that' would be yet another "plus" for being non-pretentious.

SVARTSYN - Timeless Reign LP / CD

 

...Twin-Headed Serpent...

Nice shit. Never have I heard Svartsyn like this before. It's pretty clear now how the  previous "Bloodline" LP was actually a big let down. The one before, "Destruction of Man" LP, was a lot better, it's a record far more connected to this one. "Bloodline", I dare to say should have never been released at all.  Maybe the songs off that LP could have been better off ripening  few years more...

Anyway , as I said, "Destruction of Man"  was good, meaning what "good" means, nothing more nor less, but.., it did not have what "Timeless Reign" has...and that is at least six killer tunes in a row one after another starting from track one.

"Destruction..."LP suffered from few fillers. It seems  like the worst track from T.R. could've been very close to the averige good track on "Destruction...". (The same tune would have probably been the best song on Bloodline...)

...D-Headz...

First thing you notice on T.R. is the sound improvement. Svartsyn now sound hughe obtaining their previous crusty and sparky edge. Second thing is that they finally caught good melodic parts on tape. The previous stuff now seems like they tried to get it right, but this time they just knew when and what to grab and put it on a record...sounds simple...but you know it is not!

 ...D-Tail...

The main thing making  this a great record is that it contains plenty of good riffs that are more folklorish/ traditional by their nature, on quite few occasions, to my ears at least, sounding like  the ones from the Greek BlackMetal era of the early 90's. Svartsyn came really close to that particular quality. Well ,actually, Svartsyn did crack the code and made it this time...it just worked out.

...D-Bite... 

Do yourself a favour, try to get the vinyl version. Blut & Eisen did a good 180gr-job (as always) and the cover looks amazing on a big LP sleeve. Pay few bucks more, you will not regret it.