Reviews: Hellbutcher, Haunted Plasma, Wormwood, Saltpig (Reviews By Matt Bladen, Paul Hutchings, Mark Young & Rich Piva)

Hellbutcher - Hellbutcher (Metal Blade Records) [Matt Bladen]

Not content with fronting Friends Of Hell and , black metal maniac Nifelheim, the Hellbutcher sharpens his knives ready to cleave your ears again. This time with his new band, the eponymous, Hellbutcher. The man himself describes this album as encapsulating "the true essence of metal" and boy does it ever, there are few melodies, few emotional bits, few moments where they slow down and let you breathe, perhaps only Possessed By The Devil's Flame, allowing that brief pause.

Hellbutcher are non stop metallic blasphemy from the first chord to the last. Biting disgustingly distorted guitars, tinny drums, little to no bass in the mix and those demonic vocals of Hellbutcher himself are all you need to know about this debut album, it's music that is in the Venom, Bathory, Mercyful Fate and Celtic Frost (ugh in Horned Of The Horned God) form, 40 years of extreme metal condensed into eight furious tracks.

Joining Hellbutcher are guitarists Necrophiliac (Mordant) and Iron Beast (Unleashed), bassist Eld (Aeternus) and drummer Martin ‘Devastator’ Axenrot (Bloodbath), so monsters in the extreme metal world, the reason why this album is so bloody vicious, they took a D.I.Y approach to the production, recording it nomad style in various studios, it sounds like it's crawled out of bathroom circa 1983-1993.

Scandinavian blasts of fury, Hellbutcher feels the band can offer more than Nifelheim ever did and he may be on to something as Hellbutcher is fucking nasty, be it on the Venom/Motorhead snarl of Death's Rider or the divebomb driven thrashing of Satan's Power, the evil of this album is difficult to contain. Paying homage to metal at it's rawest, Hellbutcher is the next exciting chapter in a very long story. 8/10

Haunted Plasma – I (Svart Records) [Paul Hutchings]

There’s something a bit special about this album. Whether it’s the driving electronica dance vibes that are subliminally touching that special spot (no touching now!), the sinister overtones of this predominantly dance based music, or the blackened edge that drifts throughout this 40-minute release with a mysterious air. Whatever it is, it’s hard to point to.

The description of Haunted Plasma as a ‘powerhouse of futuristic synth in symbiosis with the super violent atmospherics of kosmische Black Metal’, may blow your mind, but it seems about right to me. It’s an album that confuses, delights, bamboozles, and contorts in equal measure. An immersive, sometimes exploratory, always evolving collection of five songs that drift, vibrate, echo.

At the centre of this cosmic chaos is Juho Vahanen (Oranssi Pazuzu / Grave Pleasures), Timo Kaukolampi (K-X-P, Op:I Bastards) and Tomi Leppänen (Circle, Aavikko, K-X-P). Together with a collection of guest vocalists including Mat McNerney, Pauliina Lindell and Ringa Manner, they have crafted one of the most avant-garde albums you’ll hear. 

Now, I’m not familiar with the whole sonic soundscape that Haunted Plasma create, from the addictive Reverse Engineer that shaves out the first nine-plus minutes, through to the towering climax of Haunted Plasma that concludes in extraordinary style over the final 13-minutes, but it didn’t matter how many times I played this, it just slowly dove beneath the psyche.

I’m not going to draw comparisons, but there is a krautrock element to this music, alongside many other influences. The swirling, cinematic elements are compelling, whilst the driving, rhythmic motions simply enchant. It’s an album you need to hear. And then decide. Can I rate it? Probably. But it’ll no doubt change again after the next play. 9/10

Wormwood: The Star (Black Lodge Records) [Mark Young]

Ah, Sweden calling!! Wormwood drop their latest offering, a typically grandiose blast of black metal which leans heavily into the melodic and atmospheric that gives it a unique take on that aforementioned genre. It is an album large in scope and in its approach and Wormwood have the necessary skills to carry this off.

Stjärnfall, opens proceedings with a measured, controlled arrangement that brings strident riffs and of course a health dose of blast beats. There is a feeling of light within it as it progresses through each part and then a real surprise as it drops into a Pink Floyd style of melodic break. 

You will know what I mean when it lands, and it makes the song work because it is so unexpected. Then they do it again, the closing sections employing a choir effect that adds another dimension. It shouldn’t work but they make it work and we end up with a cracker of an opening track.

Having calmed down, A Distant Glow is next up. Opting for that mid-tempo attack and uplifting guitar parts that soon become the standard template from which the others follow. I’ll say it now that Wormwood have an amazing knack for picking the right guitar parts that give the song that feeling of triumph. 

Liminal continues in the same vein, with more or less the same speed of attack but there is a wicked little change of tack that is wonderful, wringing out more emotional heft before it returns to the original arrangement. However, what becomes apparent that despite the quality of the songs here they all follow a similar template. 

Once that exceptional opening song finishes and they complete A Distant Glow that arrangement becomes almost a standard template for the rest to follow. Galactic Blood brings a blast of movement that is replaced by that keen sense of the melodic and a cracking lead break. It’s not that there is a lack of speed, it is more that there isn’t a song that has a vicious or truly aggressive edge to it. 

When they deploy blast beats or trem parts, they do it to embellish rather than do it for effect. But what they do, they do it well with Thousand Doorless Rooms providing more of that grand, sweeping metal whilst Suffer Existence brings the blasts from the off and is the closest to that aggressive sound I mentioned earlier. But what it does have are moments where a dual vocal kicks in, providing another facet to their sound. 

The use of strings goes a long way too, and it's these little touches that add so much overall. Ro has a gentle start, those dual vocals now providing the narrative in the opening moments. Like Stjärnfall, it is made up of so many moments of class as the trip runs from the subtle into the fully charged into an emotive lead break. It's tastefully done and ensures that they climax on a true high note.

So, on the one hand, it’s an album of superbly crafted music that makes good on their word of being unique within the realms of black metal. It is an endlessly uplifting album, chock full of those melodies and guitar parts that make the hair stand up on your arms. On the other hand, those wishing for a bit of grit and a balls-out attack won’t find it here. 

It is guilty of the songs following a similar build right through, but they are so good you will forgive them for this. Or maybe you won’t. But if you give any one of the songs a chance you will stop for the rest. Try it. 8/10

Saltpig - Salt Pig (Heavy Psych Sounds) [Rich Piva]

Heavy Psych Sounds has done a good job of picking up bands who released a record on their own in 2023 and giving them the full HPS vinyl treatment in 2024. Lie Heavy, the first example of this, was an excellent pick up and will for sure be on a lot of year end lists. 

Saltpig is another example, as the band put out their debut self-titled album back in October of last year to strong reviews and is now getting their very own ultra limited-edition splatters (and all the other variants) a HPS band gets these days. It is not fair to compare this album to Lie Heavy, but what I can say are both records are great heavy rock with Saltpig leaning more towards proto doom type heaviness leaning less on the production values and more on the frantic noisy fuzz with mostly killer results.

 
The opening two tracks, Satan’s War and Demon are beautifully underproduced slabs of Sabbath-y proto goodness with nods to bands like Witchfinder General that are just killer. This sounds like it was recorded in a garage with the washing machine going in the background and Iommi riffs flowing along with the detergent except there is nothing clean about Saltpig. 

This is some dirty ass proto metal. Did I mention dirty? Burning Water is just that, and has some chunky ass riffs to boot. I love the solo on this one. I would compare this to a band like Early Moods but only if EM didn’t pay for studio time and said fuck it and plugged in and recorded in the alley behind the studio (this is a high complement coming from this reviewer). 

When You Were Dead stays on the same tip, but we are now heading towards an even messier, mid-tempo, noise rock type approach (more on this later) that still rocks. Burn The Witch is more sloppy proto goodness which is something Saltpig, even in their early stages as a band, have perfected. I love the fuzzy and almost funky nature of the guitar work on this one. 

Where this album may lose people is with the closer, 1950, which is almost 20 minutes of straight up noise straight out of the bowels of Hell. Yeah, there are riffs, but this track is hard to digest. Like think of some dissonant black metal stuff or some of the most difficult to listen to Thou, and this is what you get on 1950, and it never seems to end. This track will ruin Saltpig for some, or people may just skip it and take the first five tracks and run, but kudos to the band for putting such a challenging track on their debut record.

 
Heavy Psych Sounds wins again with Saltpig, as the majority of this record will be killer for most of the proto riff loving community. Saltpig wins by getting this record out to more people and having some killer splatter options for the vinyl geeks as well. A win for everyone involved, band, label, and fans alike. 8/10