MYRKRAVERK - Nordvegen 7"

Slick & crafty BlackMetal with an Isengard touch. In no way another artsy/assy folkmetal puke you'd expect. On the contrary it easly evokes the feeling you had first time you heard Vinterskugge. Medieval? Yes, Pretentious? No way! Just a really good selection of riffs/melos combined with  the honest BM spirit that is even capable of being an ear-worm , yet you don't feel raped by it at all. Very nice.

TOMHET - Purpureargotamiceps CS

Insanely eccentric BlackMetal with ritualistic ambience inspired by Furze / Exitium and the likes. Apart from twisted riffs lots of other different sounds & interludes make thisa very interesting listen. Not like you'd wanna listen to this each day, but it's one of those releases that stand out in the crowd. Clearly not for everyone into BlackMetal. Pretty much THE definition of uncompromising BlackMetal that I doubt will ever be marketable.

Very good presentation aswell - the artwork just kills.

TUKAARIA / ODZ MANOUK Split CS

Both American BlackMetal Acts. Split CS starts off with Tukaaria. The band is pretty much in the way of older Ulver in terms of sound. Raw & Melodic BM really well executed . Guitar is playful with lots of melodics ; bass is pretty audiable which I like a lot, drums are fast and vox somewhat remind me of early Norge BM especially few demo bands from 90's. The First track "Mythology" slays the rest but these are pretty good tracks overall. Odz Manouk is blackmetal but with sort of a death metal sound to it unlike their debut album that was more into the Tukaaria sound.. The Scavenger is their side's better track eventou the mentioned track is a bit too long and not that interesting in it's "second part". Track "The sloth" is a slight let-down , I mean , it can pass as "average" but should have been placed before "The Scavenger" on the tape. Overall both bands deliver pretty good material, but Tukaaria is clearly the leader here.

WAFFENWEIHE / WOD "Terror" split 7"

Waffenweihe "zu Asche" a 7 minutes track starting off with church chours then abruptly diving into fast chaos and developing into Darkthrone-ish / CF riffing, then again going into fast-as-shit primitivistic blackmetal with fairly simple riffs then going back to the calming church chours .WOD on the other side helps things being delivered with their fast war-metal-like drums and furious guitars. No bullshitting, just straight blackmetal in your face. Fast & executive. WOD surely kicks ass here with frequent interludes and seemigly nervous fast-tempo drummer. Jotunheim fans beware. One of those UG split 7"s worth having/getting.

MATRICIDE - Black Mass Gathering CD/CS

Blast from forgotten past. Screams from hell surely helps your log-ago purchased blackmetal albums getting a spin. Matricide was one of those bands, noone mentions, noone knows much about yet they are amongs the finest blackmetal elite ever to emerge from the orthodox b/m era. Holy Virgin MLP was awesome, but this little fucker here slays it by far. To put it simple, as simple as I can, this album is THE fucking most hidden gem of post 90's underground blackmetal. Why? - Give it a spin, you'll fucking know why.

CHAOS INVOCATION - In Bloodline With The Snake CD / LP

Unusually Swedish-sounding black metal from Germany. Album definitely proves a big piece of work done made by people who are obviously  playing this type of music since many years.

The variety of song structures and the sophisticated bulid-ups and unexpected sections stun and instantly recall late 90's bands like mid era Sacramentum, and even a more recent band Valkyrja. In fact I'd say the excellent first Valkyrja LP is sub-par to this album. There is definitely a lot of things going on, even too much of the information within this grand work so that at first few listens it may seem a bit too much.But the replay value still remains high so that it eventually reveals to be a very fluent and enjoyable listening experience. Lyrics deal with orthodox black metal matters, but in a storytelling  way that does not deal much with the "I" approach at all. There is a lot of good riffs here, some very simple yet effective, others nicely complicated but never crossing the border into being overambitious. All these little things that shine and the solid structure that hold them firmly and  make this LP a really convincing and inspired output. As said the replay value is relatively high even despite the fact that this band sound-wise owes a lot to the already pre '08 heavily bloomed orthodox bm genre.

FLAGELLANT - Monuments LP / CD

180 degree turn since their demo. Band abandoned their previous gloomy and raw blackmetal noise in favour of a more polished sound with drums being in front of the recording and a guitar being less audible yet more clearer set at a higher tuneage . Also new are the rusty sounding thrashy vocal patterns (German 80's style ) higher in the mix than you'd expect with lyrics rhythmically ignoring most of song parts in the way you'd normally expect rhythm wise.Somewhat reminiscent of early Katharsis yet even more sloppy and I dare to say annoying at given moments. These songs easily manage to keep their identity due to very nice distinguishable patterns that set them apart yet don't water the album down to seem non-coherent. Lyrics seem halfway from being primitive to being somewhat sophisticated with few very good moments where in combination with the music the magic starts to work.Despite the truly aggressive mix of vocals the album works convincing and very fluent so that it turns it's unusual birthmark into a very desirable and positive point at the total. The album does not demand too much replay but when it does it can seem like a thing out of this word. It is good for special occasions & pretty demanding yet it gives back all it's unusual self  in return for a real treat.