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And here’s the second half of this batch of reviews, here (mostly) covering materials and labels from more southmost climes.

So without any further ado-ing, let’s put some wax on the trax and slide on into this, to paraphrase Adam Ant…

ARMAGEDDA – Svindeldjup Ättestup (NORDVIS) (May 29)

We’ve been exposed to quite a bit of this Swedish duo of late, with Only True Believers, Echoes in Eternity and Ond Spiritism and The Final War Approaching all crossing the virtual desk for review.

As you might expect for apair whose resume also includes the likes of Stilla, Ehlder and Saiva (among others), this is some fairly quality black metal, with an assured feel and dark drive pulsing throughout even the weaker moments…if you can find ’em in the first place, that is.

While the sound here comes off more akin to the questionable Ond Spiritism than any of the other, earlier material (and compilations thereof), don’t let that put you off – they’ve upped their game considerably, to the point where they’re less typically obnoxious and boring Watain wannabe than playing more in the big leagues alongside Gorgoroth, Watain and Tsjuder, working the same basic sound without losing the spirit that drives same or slavishly copycatting something they can’t possibly replicate.

Hint hint to about ten thousand dogshit bands out there.

Due hails to a band whose back catalogue, for all its merits, may just have been a preface to what they’ve become with this album.

LADY BEAST – The Vulture’s Amulet (Reaper Metal Productions) (April 3)

Our review of “the gift”, which made it to their Bandcamp:

“Blisteringly driving bass, melodic dual harmony lead guitars, classic USPM riffage and a throaty dramatic alto vocal in the vein of vintage Lee Aaron (with grace tones of both Chastain and Sentinel Beast) and a solo that wouldn’t feel out of place on an early Virgin Steele or Artch record…what’s not to love here, and where’s my copy of the CD?”

Well, I’m still waiting for the CD (big hint, there), but they did promptly send over the subsequent full length…and let me tell ya, it does not disappoint.

The biggest shock to yours truly is that these folks have been kicking around for a good 8 years now, with 3 albums and an EP (most of which are apparently compiled on one “Early Collection” I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on either!)…and they’re floating around in the tri-state area, yet (well, in Pittsburgh, which ain’t exactly a hop skip and a jump from NYC, but hey).

Frontwoman Deborah Levine pulls together the rough and raw sound of early US power metal frontwomen like Sentinel Beast’s Debbie Gunn, Lori “scream queen” Wilde of Black Knight, Nicole Lee of Znowhite and Bettina France of Meanstreak into one throaty (if admittedly slightly lisping) alto package, while the band falls into lockstep, dropping the post-NWOBHM bordering on thrashisms that made USPM the best (and certainly “truest”!) of all metal genres back in the days before the sound was even classified as such (it was all just “metal” or “thrash” back then, kids…)

Seriously, this is some absolute, no bullshit killer stuff, from what may well have just emerged as my favorite band of the modern era.

Yeah, sentiments like that fade as I drift into other genres and discover or rediscover bands and albums of worth…but considering how often the aforementioned bands (and many more of like) get pulled out for a spin, I can safely say Lady Beast have earned themselves a space among the greats of the genre.

Excelsior!

SEPULCHRAL CURSE – Only Ashes Remain (Transcending Obscurity Records) (July 31)

We’d covered their At the Onset of Extinction, which confused with its chasmic bowel-scraping vomit vox, punk rock-derived gang chants and more typically melodically inclined Finnish death metal.

Here a far lesser helping of said oddness still appears – the Mitch Harrislike backing shrieks on “from within the bowels”, the croak-shriek vox on “into the depths”, “swarming blackness” and “church of loss”…but the vomit vox, at least, are much less jarring, with the gang chants removed entirely.

Now on that last measure, it may be just a case of getting used to ’em after the initial surprise…but seriously, other than the shrieky bits (which should also be jettisoned with due alacrity), this represents a major improvement over their last offering.

It’s pretty traditional death metal through and through. The production’s a bit thin but not terrible by any means, the vox are good for the type, the band is good for its type, and those two even seem to gel significantly better this time (an overabundance of that shrieky shit aside).

One more important tweak, and you’ve got it.

Abrupt Demise – The Pleasure to Kill and Grind (Raw Skull Recordz) (April 29)

Death metal that borders heavily on goregrind, but with elements (solos, melodies, midtempo riffing, almost comprehensible vox) that keep ’em just to this side of death proper.

There’s even a hint of Suffocation floating about there, which should warn the prospective listener that while not a million miles removed from old school death, these guys clearly hail from a much more recent school thereof.

A lot of sound byte intros, tech-y riffing bits and grossout lyrics ensue.

That’s about all I can offer here. For those old enough to remember, Cannibal Corpse was a joke band in the genre, with over the top lyrics and imagery that got attention from the kids to cover for their lack of songwriting skills, musicianship or listenability.

Like the Mentors crossed with 70’s KISS, it was all about trying to scare the media into paying attention, on the same level as Metal Church dropping embarrasing lyrics like “I love to see my parents flee” or Judas Priest belting out “we don’t need no parental guidance here”. Suuure. Appeal to the 12 year olds for a buck, we getcha…(rolls eyes)

So, yeah. Ooh, look, it’s all serial killers and SOV “realism” and all that shit. Cue Beavis excitedly shouting how “cool” this is.

(shakes head, laughs)

…next?

WITCHES – The Fates (Mighty Spells Records) (June 5)

Long running oddball French act that features original frontwoman Sibylle Colin-Tocquaine and a band of far more recent vintage belting out high speed “tech death/thrash”.

It’s too fast and amelodic to be classified as thrash, but something about the high speed drumming and chunky riffing – not to mention Sibylle’s death shrieks! – push this one straight into modern death territory, somewhere along the lines of crazed acts like Nile, Necrophobic or Centurian.

Not unlistenable, very well produced and certainly an album to unload a LOT of rage with (see also Deicide’s Legion for a good analogue here)…but more than a bit one note therefore.

Good album to (metaphorically speaking) pummel your boss to death in effigy with, no question.

Gloom – Rider of the Last Light (Spread Evil) (June 26)

Horna-esque debut from some Finnish black metal veterans.

Expect speedy tremelo riffing, gripping yet mournful melodic lead lines, raw production and abrasive hissing vox along the lines of Gorgoroth’s Hat and Pest, Satanic Warmaster or Horna. In other words, straight up Finnish black metal, no bullshit.

Damn straight, we dug this one. Hails!

IRAE – Lurking in the Depths (Signal Rex) (June 26)

We’d covered their The Old Ways and split with Moribund and appreciated their vintage Norwegian feel (thinking more very early Carpathian Forest than, say, Mayhem here).

Little has changed between the three releases, though you could say there’s a bit less of that early demo feel to the production…it’s clear enough, but still sounds hollow, with guitars and drums (cymbals aside) generally coming off as if they were recorded under a pillow.

To these ears, that says “demo”…but given the comparative clarity of the vox and cymbals and a vague sense of negative space that predominates behind and between all the din, it may be slightly more polished and produced than that assessment implies.

Either way, it’s more than listenable and certainly more than acceptable audio, particularly given the genre and its reliance on creating and evoking a certain range of atmospherics above all other considerations.

I liked it well enough, yeah.

Thrashera – NÃO GOSTO! (Helldprod) (March 31)

Don’t ask me why, but something about these Brazilian thrashers reminded me of Tankard.

I mean, the vox are somewhere between Tom G. Warrior, Beelzeebubth of Mystifier and ‘Antichrist’ of Sarcofago and the thrash riffing is as fuzzily raw and underproduced sounding as the classic SST albums of St. Vitus, but there’s a definite vibe here that says these guys aren’t entirely serious, that they’re a hard drinking bunch who just want to take the piss out of everything. I can hear that.

I mean, the fact that they have songs like “sangue ao metal!” “trapped in the 80’s!” “metal!” and “rei dos excessos!” should show you exactly where these guys’ heads are at…

Brazilian blackthrash, but in a more lighthearted vein than usual. Among the “serious”, dark toned satanic stuff you got with at least the early albums of bands like Sepultura, Vulcano, Sarcofago, Mystifier, Sextrash and Holocausto (among many others)?

These guys are the loveable drunken comedians, and it bleeds through every beer soaked pore of this.

Necro Chaos – Spiral of Obscurity (Helldprod) (March 20)

Raw, old school blackthrash-driven death metal out of Portugal. Think where Sarcofago was going with Rotting, then blacken it a bit more and keep things decidedly raw on the production end.

Best tracks, appropriately enough, open and close the EP: “casket breaker” is a must hear, “spiral obscurity” should keep you interested.

This is the sort of nebulous metal underground that used to be considered “thrash” back in the day, but now falls more under the headers of “first wave black metal” or “early death metal” as much as it does even “blackened” thrash…so yeah, I’ve been listening to stuff like this since ’86-87.

Yep, I was good with it.

Pombajira – S/T (Helldprod) (November 29)

We’d covered their Flesh Throne Press and…wait, this is a completely different sound.  Can two separate individuals seriously have come up with nearly identical variants of the same nonsense word?

Sure enough, looks like there’s a PombaGira and a PombaJira floating around out there…good luck finding the right album or attending the right show!

Well, anyway, what you get here is a midtempo to sluggish, almost stoner doom take on…what is this? Early Eastern European black metal, like Root?

Not bad, certainly listenable enough.

Didn’t exactly set me on fire, though – so give ‘er a listen and see what (if anything) it does for you.

Front Beast – Shadows (Helldprod) (November 15)

We’d covered both Demon’s Ways of Sorcery and, far more positively, Third Scourge from Darkness, but love him or hate him, you have to face it: it’s been a steady 3-4 years between releases for this notorious and long running one man band out of Germany.

This time, he’s recorded the entire thing as if it were some primitive rehearsal session held in the bowels of a cave…which comes off a whole lot better than it sounds in print.

While the crazedly screaming muppet vox are still present, they’re awash in just enough distance and just enough reverb to make them a whole hell of a lot less humorous, while managing to avoid falling into the usual “underground black metal” overuse of echo. In other words, the man manages to keep things from getting silly this time, displaying a surprising sense of balance in a situation that could easily have gotten ridiculous either way. Damn! Hats off to ya…

And finally the music end, which while as muted and mids-oriented as you’d expect from an effective rehearsal tape, still sounds clear and full enough to carry both atmosphere and effect. Again, bottom line, it works.

Did the man have to simplify his approach to make things work? Wasn’t Demon’s Ways of Sorcery simplistic enough?  These are rhetorical questions to ponder at leisure…while giving another spin to this surprisingly decent EP.  Due hails.