Bloody Terror - Shadow of Death (2014)

 

Cost: $1.00

I was expecting much worse from the generic band name, album title, and "logo."  The core of this is black metal, but the lead guitar stands out as being extremely prominent and unusually proficient for this style, with lots of shreddy soloing.  There's plenty of keyboard usage, which ranges from somewhat cheap sounding gothic metal-esque flourishes to more subdued synths reminiscent of mid '90s atmospheric BM.  Together with the guitarwork, the keys often give the music a very strong neoclassical feel.  Going even further, the final instrumental bonus track dispenses with the black metal entirely and is pure prog./power metal.

 

Initially I found the flashier guitarwork quite appealing, as it's a genuine difference from your typical Nordic BM clone.  Nothing really stuck out as being terribly memorable, though--without the guitar and keyboard flourishes, I don't think there's much of note in the underlying music.  Musically, it is literally a  power/neoclassical metal guitarist dropped into a black metal band, although it avoids being the terrible genre mashup trainwreck that may sound like. 

Agiel - Dark Pantheons (2014)

 Cost: $1.00

The band's full length (over a decade before this) was brutal, fairly technical DM with the distinction of having some minimal keyboard use.  Here, they've redone a couple of songs with full blown Emperor/Dimmu BM symphonics and multilayered vocals.  The new arrangements seem slightly more black metal-orientated, and while the underlying music under the effects is death, it doesn't always seem like it with everything else going on.  The vocals are still mostly gutturals but they're very toned down compared to the debut album.   The synths, vocals, drums, and leads are all pretty high in the mix and all fight for space, making parts seem overly chaotic (and not in a good way) and messy.

Fleshgod Apocalypse comes up a lot in other reviews of this.  It's inevitable, since ultimately they're both DM with some kind of symphonic element.  It's also not entirely inaccurate (especially when Agiel decide to blast), although I feel this has more of a black feel and comes off as more subdued. At times this somewhat brought to mind a weird alternate universe version of Cradle of Filth, where they still retained all the death metal elements from The Principle Of Evil... in the later, more symphonic material.

Baby Stab Horror - Manifesto Infernale (CD-R, 2006)

 

 Cost: $1.00

Admittedly the band name was so curiously stupid (it might work for a brutal DM or grind band, but not this), I was almost counting on this being some sort of odd fluke that was really good.   The bulk of the influence in the music seems to come from the early Nuclear Blast albums of Dimmu Borgir, and although they're nowhere near as symphonic sounding as DB, there are some limited attempts.  This is described as black/thrash, which I have mixed feelings about.  In a strict literal sense I do hear some '90s Slayer (unfortunately both less desirable Diabolus type stuff as well as decent Seasons in the Abyss influences) in the riffage, but absolutely none of the music has any of the '80s sound you'd typically associate with that tag.   Besides, the black metal influences are the primary ones, so this doesn't seem any significantly thrashier than say, an album like Spiritual Black Dimensions. 

Oddly, they completely shift gears on the closer "Sentinel," which sheds much of the black metal and seems more like a raspy-vocalled tribute to the Gothenburg melodic death scene.  The solo section and harmonized twin guitar parts are probably the most compelling music on the entire CD, although a guest guitarist is credited for a solo.  I personally think it's a shame, as I think I would have found a CD full of "Sentinel" style stuff to be more interesting.

Ancestor / Unlight Domain - split CD (2008)

 

 Cost: $1.00

I must admit I tend to gravitate (often irrationally) towards metal from more "exotic" locales, even though  the novelty in that is mostly long gone.  With modern technology, someone from the most obscure place can make an awesome Sodom or Hellhammer sounding recording, although of course it unfortunately almost always goes the other way, and trends merely extend to every far corner of the world.

This is an OK but mostly unremarkable split of two Cuban black metal bands.  Both are Nordic-influenced BM in line with the majority of the Latin American modern BM scene since the late '90s (I associate this style with a lot of smaller Brazilian bands that appropriately, often released split CDs).  Ancestor seem to have better guitarwork and riff ideas, although the drumming is really monotonous (I'm thinking it might be triggered or an electronic kit).  Unlight Domain put their own typewriter drums up high in the mix, which doesn't do them any favors.  Initially I thought they were even more monotonous sounding than Ancestor, but there are some tempo variations in the last few tracks that make them a lot more listenable.

This doesn't reach bottom of the barrel for black metal, and considering the dollar price, it's pretty decent.  But I'll say it again and again--this is a ridiculously oversaturated genre, and neither band is all that remarkable.

Holocaustia - The Sacrament Seed (2006)

Cost: $2.00

Although decent enough as a bargain bin score, this CD was very personally disappointing.  The band's first demo was an enjoyable mixture of '90s Nordic BM and thrash.  Unfortunately, the thrash is gone here, and it just sounds similar to the glut of straightforward, fast-paced Watain contemporaries from the early-mid '00s.  I haven't heard the second demo (though the song titles sound more appropriate for thrashier stuff), so I don't know how sudden their musical transition was.

Adamas - Evil All Its (2010)

 

Cost: $2.00

Was expecting straightforward thrash, and while the underlying music is mostly thrashy, every track has prominent, almost gothic metal-style synths.  Another review compares the vocals here to Dave Mustaine, and while there is a very vague similarity, the vocals sound far more like Steve Sylvester to me.  Coupled with the gothic keyboards (although on a few occasions the keys are in a proggier style) and atmospheric sections, it does sound like some sort of odd thrashy take on Death SS (I'd say Heavy Demons or the more straightforward stuff on Do What Thou Wilt, as it doesn't really have the traditional metal influences or creepy/horror vibes of the old classic material, but there's no industrial/weird left field stuff here either).  Stripped of the keys, the music would be some sort of modernish, mid-paced, melodic US-style thrash.  They manage to decently pull off an idea that sounds absolutely terrible on paper, but I'm not too sure what to think of this, as it doesn't scratch any musical itches for me, thrash, gothic, or otherwise.

Also, just for the record, my apologies to the band--ever since getting this I've mocked the awkward grammar of the title, but on closer inspection of the (very ugly) cover, it's supposed to be "Still Alive" backwards.  Huh.

Retaliador - Levantando Da Tumba 2004 - 2012 (2012)

 Cost: $1.00

A generous reader sold me two batches of distro clearance CDs for $1 each (if anyone out there is up for a similar arrangement, email me!).  A fair amount of My Kingdom Music filler, but plenty of more underground stuff as well. Hopefully I'll get around to posting about more of these, but here's the first, a disc from the second bunch.

The first half of the CD consists of 2012 & 2011 tracks.  Immediately the opening riff to "Legião Underground" reminded me a little of Turbo's "Żołnierz fortuny."  While it's hard to go wrong with raw '80s style South American thrash, the original tracks feel somewhat generic and nothing particularly stood out to me.  The cover of Frost's "Nocturnal Fear" is straightforward, but I liked the "Space Invaders" cover more (I think it's the first Messiah cover I've ever heard).   Then the 2006 Ultra Violência demo tracks were a pleasant surprise, as the songs feel a lot more developed and stronger riff-wise than their later stuff.  There also seems to be a more prominent speed metal edge on this demo.  I think these are the best originals on the entire CD, but sadly for me, this is the only recording here without a cover song.   Finally, there's the Comando das Trevas 2005 demo, which is far more primitive than the other recordings.  Again, the songs themselves aren't really noteworthy (aside from "Morte Infernal" starting with a bassline similar to Violent Force's "Dead City"),  but the early Cogumelo vibe and evil aura here makes these songs more interesting to me than the first half of the disc.  I can't decide if I like the "Blasphemer" cover or not--it's endearingly sloppy, but gets too sloppy and off time in parts.