Reviews: Capilla Ardiente, Kaivs, Ghostheart Nebula, Seeds Of Mary (Reviews By Paul Hutchings & Rich Piva)

Capilla Ardiente – Where Gods Live And Men Die [Paul Hutchings]

I’ll level with you here. I’d never heard of Capilla Ardiente before this album came up for review. But as someone who is partial to a bit of epic doom, then it’s certainly a new but welcome introduction to a band who formed in Santiago, Chile, 18 years ago, and whose name translates to Burning Chapel.

This is their third album, and although it’s only four tracks, it’s a mighty 45-minutes of powerful and heavy riffs, slow crushing tempo and rolling drumming, all topped off with the enormous vocals of singer Felipe Plaza Kutzbach. That name might be familiar for the man has been in several bands including bass and vocals for Destroyer 666, guitars in Nifelheim (2013-22) as well as guitars, vocals and bass for Procession. A multi-talented musician indeed, and his performance across the songs here is impressive.

Written with the intention of compelling cinematic storytelling, Where Gods Live and Men Die closes the first chapter of the band’s journey, covered in albums Bravery, Truth and The Endless Darkness and The Siege. A tale of departure, the album deals with personal loss, wounds from the youth, disease and the need to overcome. It’s a powerful concept, and the sprawling pieces work majestically with a style that draws from bands such as Candlemass, Manowar and Hammerheart-era Bathory.

The four tracks are integral to each other, but comfortably stand alone as well. The Hands Of Fate Around My Neck is possibly the most potent, with a classic bit of traditional epic metal exploding in the final part of the song. It’s almost unexpected as one gets drawn into the overall funeral style of the band. Plenty of doom riffage remains, but the band appear to have formed their own sound and style here. 

Yes, a nod to the legends indeed, but Capilla Ardiente are certainly intent on maintaining their own approach. If you like your metal coming at you over elongated and expansive passages that flick from genre to genre whilst always maintaining a foot in the doom camp, then Where Gods Live And Men Die is one to add to the list. 8/10

Kaivs – After The Flesh (Brutal Records) [Paul Hutchings]

According to Metal Archives, Kaivs are a Roman Death Metal outfit formed in 2022. An early EP called Horrend earned a solid review, and now their debut album After the Flesh is unveiled as the band make their first appearance in these pages.

It starts very much as one might expect, with the jarring Koshercannibal. Pretty much schooled in the Old School Death Metal sound, this is HM-2 reverb with a rather tinny production; the cymbals are high in the mix and give it a sound that isn’t maybe as meaty as one might want. 

There’s a fear that the band are slipping into some kind of dark Doom fuelled track on Beyond the Autopsy, but that is quickly snuffed out with more raging cacophony, before slowing to a grisly crawl for the final few minutes. Again, the raw production providing the listener with questions and a challenging listen.

The quartet are certainly focused on what they do, with the crashing drumming of Leonardo Sastro impressing and irritating at the same time, the latter due to the horrible mix. 

At times this sounds like two bands playing across each other, which is a shame, for underneath the din appears to be the sound of a routine but enjoyable band. Enjoyable if you like Max Foam’s guttural vocals, but then again, if you aren’t a fan of Death Metal, you won’t be stopping here for long.

Lyrically it’s as you’d imagine. For Satan You Flesh For God Your Soul doesn’t really need words and pictures to explain, whilst Krushing all Altars is sadly not an ode to Mr Joule, but one of several anti-religious narratives here. It’s all decent enough, if rather routine and formulaic, but like every genre, it takes a lot to really shine these days. The constant chainsaw guitars are predictable and work well on Blooduniverses and the pulsating power of closing track Horrend, the title track from the EP – all the tracks there feature here as well.

Ultimately, if you like the Old School style of Entombed and Bolt Thrower you’ll likely enjoy After the Flesh. It’s whirling frenzy certainly isn’t desperate, just a little stale in delivery and originality. 6/10

Ghostheart Nebula - Blackshift (Meuse Music Records) [Rich Piva]

I grabbed the promo for Italian band Ghostheart Nebula for two reasons. First, I love their name. Second, the record was labeled “cosmic doom”, which certainly sounds interesting to me. I was not familiar with the band going in, so I was not aware of the death growl that makes up half of their vocals, which as I grow older, I am into less and less, but the second full length from the band, Blackshift, definitely has some very cool elements even if you lean more towards the clean vocals in your doom.

This is some heavy cosmic doom, both musically and the vocals, leaning more towards death doom. What keeps me in is the pairing with the softer female vocals and how great these guys can play. Musically this record is gigantic, just check out a track like Sunya. If you can deal with the death growls, I think you will be rewarded for sticking with the eight tracks on Blackshift. The Opal Tide opens with the haunting female vocals that really makes this record and shows quite the dichotomy with the from the bowels of hell death growls, creating a very cool battle between the two. 

Some of the tracks on Blackshift do just that; lean more towards black metal, which I am sure some people will dig but something that I can take only in small doses, like the song Naught, I. The band thrives when they leverage both vocalists and live up to that cosmic doom description, like on Infinite Mirror, which slows down to a snail’s pace and just chokes the life out of you. 

When the band leverages synths I dig it too, like on the title track. I think the issues I have with the Blackshift are around the length and the growls. The record is just under an hour and feels very long to me. While I do enjoy when we have the dual vocals, when it is just the growls it seems a bit one note, like the record loses what makes it special.

Overall, I enjoyed Blackshift in parts and in small doses. When I like it, I really did, I would say about 20 minutes worth I would go back to. But for me the death growls and the length of the record is too much for me, but you can tell the band can really play and have the passion for their work. If you dig death doom, some black mental, and female vocals to offset the growls, the new Ghostheart Nebula is for you. For me it was a bit much. 6/10

Seeds Of Mary - Love (Klonosphere Records/Season Of Mist) [Rich Piva]

French band Seeds Of Mary have a new record and it is called Love. I was not familiar with this band before, but the promo was labelled “grunge riffs” and they have an Alice In Chains cover on their Bandcamp page so what could go wrong? Well, I am not sure I get it. 

Yeah, you can tell the band likes grunge, and yeah, they have some riffs, but this one is a bit of a schmoz to me. Those who are not familiar with pro wrestling terms, it is all over the place, in the worst of Dusty finish fashion. I am not saying a band has to be a certain thing, but I am not sure what Seeds Of Mary was going for on Love.

For example, the opener sounds like an even more produced Linkin Park outtake, and that is not a compliment. The record is way too slick and lacks any direction that I can tell, and a song like New Anger is a microcosm of this idea. Parasite Paradise starts off OK, with a way more mainstream Tool vibe, or maybe The Deftones, which is probably why it doesn’t connect with me, especially with the growls kick in. 

Oh yeah, and the trumpet. The closest to grunge I get is the best track on the record, Spiral Me Down, but even my favourite track is kind of a mess. I think where I was totally out was the rapping on Insomnia. I was out after that. I tried; I really did. Even their effort of trying to do System Of A Down does AIC was a miss for me on Fire Is Bright Fire Is Clean.

I really didn’t get this. Seeds Of Mary is not for me. There is no direction on Love and nothing that I really connected with. At times was painful to listen to and I found none of the title in my experience with these ten tracks. 3/10