And now, coming slightly later than expected are your friends and mine, Fulci, bringing their considerable talents to bear with three new songs that form the soundtrack to a 30 minute genre film Risorsero Dalla Tomba e Fu...L’Apocalissee. Their last LP, Duck Face Killings plays out like a love letter to the New York Ripper, one of the directors most infamous video nasties.
Starting with Risorsero Dalla Tomba e Fu...L’Apocalisse, Fulci, an introduction that could sit anywhere within that canon, and when it moves, it moves at pace into Paura Che Uccide, and then all bets are off. A scorching blast of death metal that could only have come from them, it has everything you want and is served up in a 4 minute blast. Guttural vocals? Check.
Double bass? Check. Riffs for days? Check, and its all wrapped up in this supremely sounding package. It just rips, it really does and to think that you have a song of this quality dropped as part of a soundtrack, it shows a little in how they approach their craft.
They approach it with the focus that what ever they do, they have to do it at a 100%. They cannot do it at anything else than that and it shows. As a stand-alone track, its dripping with quality and can rightfully sit as a prime example of what the can do.
Closing this out is their cover of Apoteosi Del Mistero, originally written by long time Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi. Its instantly recognisable but given an update on its original incarnation from the City Of The Living Dead and is a fitting way to finish.
Fans of the band, and I think of horror films in general will get a lot from this and considering that fans of the genre have had the opportunity to collaborate in such a way and from my perspective absolutely nail it means that I need to somehow find this film. Its also an exciting pointer to what their latest material will sound like. Excellent stuff, 8/10
Lömsk– Act II - Of Iron and Blood (Vendetta Records) [Spike]
If the debut was a manifesto of "creative destruction," then Gothenburg’s LÖMSK have used their second act to simply stand in the wreckage and watch the sky turn to iron. Released via Vendetta Records.
Lömsk– Act II - Of Iron and Blood (Vendetta Records) [Spike]
If the debut was a manifesto of "creative destruction," then Gothenburg’s LÖMSK have used their second act to simply stand in the wreckage and watch the sky turn to iron. Released via Vendetta Records.
Act II - Of Iron And Blood is a sprawling, nihilistic descent that manages to make the end of the world sound remarkably well-composed. It is black metal that refuses to hide behind the usual lo-fi fog, opting instead for a clinical, bone-shaking.
The record opens with Fields Of Elysium, and the shift in intent is immediate. There’s a stoic defiance to the riffing, a cold, calculated precision that feels like a direct response to a world the band sees as "rotten and vain."
The record opens with Fields Of Elysium, and the shift in intent is immediate. There’s a stoic defiance to the riffing, a cold, calculated precision that feels like a direct response to a world the band sees as "rotten and vain."
It flows seamlessly into the title track, Of Iron And Blood, where the blackened bile of their 2022 origins meets a much more mature, technical ire. The production is massive; it gives the drums a physical, snapping presence that makes the blast beats feel like a machine gun pulse rather than a muddy blur.
One of the more interesting aspects of the CD release is the inclusion of The Gathering Storm. Positioned mid-album, it acts as a much-needed atmospheric threshold, almost a "whisper beneath the skies" that builds the tension before the record descends back into the chaos of Chimaera.
One of the more interesting aspects of the CD release is the inclusion of The Gathering Storm. Positioned mid-album, it acts as a much-needed atmospheric threshold, almost a "whisper beneath the skies" that builds the tension before the record descends back into the chaos of Chimaera.
It’s a smart bit of pacing that rewards those not wedded to the vinyl version, providing a cinematic lull that makes the eventual return to violence feel significantly more earned.
The back half of the record Stare Into The Void, Furia, and the finality of The Silence Thereafter is where the "Rome burning" aesthetic really takes hold. Furia is exactly what it says on the tin: a high-velocity, blackened assault that feels properly, unpleasantly brilliant.
The back half of the record Stare Into The Void, Furia, and the finality of The Silence Thereafter is where the "Rome burning" aesthetic really takes hold. Furia is exactly what it says on the tin: a high-velocity, blackened assault that feels properly, unpleasantly brilliant.
It leads into the closer, which brings the record to a brooding, inevitable close. There is no hope here, only the "inevitable entropy" the band promised in their mission statement.
By the time the final vibration of The Silence Thereafter eventually dissipates, the silence it leaves behind feels heavy, like the air in a room just after a blackout. LÖMSK haven't just clocked in for another shift at the black metal coalface; they’ve documented a state of total, iron-clad exhaustion.
By the time the final vibration of The Silence Thereafter eventually dissipates, the silence it leaves behind feels heavy, like the air in a room just after a blackout. LÖMSK haven't just clocked in for another shift at the black metal coalface; they’ve documented a state of total, iron-clad exhaustion.
It’s a sophisticated bit of survivalism, a record that finds its strength in the realization that while everything eventually ends in ash, there’s a grim, technical beauty in the burning. It’s an honest, unvarnished look at the debris, and proof that Gothenburg can still weaponize the dark with more precision than most of the world can muster. 8/10
Miserate - Weaver Of Witchery (Rekviem Records) [Matt Bladen]
Another band from Norway who are heavily inspired by the Peacville label of the 90's it's Miserate who bring a melancholic style of death doom that features ferocious blasts, pained vocals, and introspective atmospheres that come from emotionally bleak place.
Miserate - Weaver Of Witchery (Rekviem Records) [Matt Bladen]
Another band from Norway who are heavily inspired by the Peacville label of the 90's it's Miserate who bring a melancholic style of death doom that features ferocious blasts, pained vocals, and introspective atmospheres that come from emotionally bleak place.
The band are all veterans of their scene with a load of experience behind them and clear understanding of and passion for, this music.
Having formed in 2024, Weaver Of Witchery is their second EP following on from A Ritual Of Doom and it brings them into slower and heavier territory than their last effort, the abject misery much stronger than before.
Having formed in 2024, Weaver Of Witchery is their second EP following on from A Ritual Of Doom and it brings them into slower and heavier territory than their last effort, the abject misery much stronger than before.
Beginning with Grip Of Winter, the tremolo clean guitars are joined by the ominous, bottom heavy riffs as they pack a few shifts in tone and pace into just four minutes.
It's a trick Miserate repeat on these four tracks with every song managing to tell some complex stories in a short time, never moving into funeral doom length but rather bringing concise but powerful death doom full of atmospheric textures (Behind A Veil Of Death) and crushing heaviness.
It's a trick Miserate repeat on these four tracks with every song managing to tell some complex stories in a short time, never moving into funeral doom length but rather bringing concise but powerful death doom full of atmospheric textures (Behind A Veil Of Death) and crushing heaviness.
On Weaver Of Witchery, Miserate stay faithful to the 90's influence of those Peaceville artists but with 21st Century production magic. 8/10
Black Label Society - Engines Of Demolition (Spinefarm Records) [Rich Piva]
Black Label Society is a band I am supposed to like. Looking at everything on the surface, the band has all the parts of something I would be a big fan of. The riffs and Mr. Wylde, the vibe of the band, the name and image.
Black Label Society - Engines Of Demolition (Spinefarm Records) [Rich Piva]
Black Label Society is a band I am supposed to like. Looking at everything on the surface, the band has all the parts of something I would be a big fan of. The riffs and Mr. Wylde, the vibe of the band, the name and image.
I am a huge fan of Ozzy’s solo stuff, with No More Tears being one of my favorite records of all time and of course, Zakk loves Sabbath and so do I. But I have never once connected with a BLS record where I would go back and listen to it again. Something has just always been missing for me. This does not change on their new one, Engines Of Demolition, album number twelve.
To say the record is way too produced while saying No More Tears is one of my favorites seems like I am contradicting myself, but Engines Of Demolition sounds antiseptic, which is not what I want from this band and the people in it. Zakk does his thing, squealing away though the thirteen tracks, but to me this is just heavier AOR. I want to like it and I keep trying, but there is just nothing there for me.
To say the record is way too produced while saying No More Tears is one of my favorites seems like I am contradicting myself, but Engines Of Demolition sounds antiseptic, which is not what I want from this band and the people in it. Zakk does his thing, squealing away though the thirteen tracks, but to me this is just heavier AOR. I want to like it and I keep trying, but there is just nothing there for me.
The first three tracks are pretty good, especially the solo on The Hand Of Tomorrow’s Grave, but after that I struggle. Better Days & Wiser Times is a struggle for me, and not just because it’s a ballad. Broken And Blind starts with promise, but winds up without the bite I am looking for, even with the cool riff. I think my favorite track is all lost in the second half of the too long album, the straight up heavy rocker Lord Hummungus.
The closer, Ozzy’s Song, is a touching tribute and certainly was a real and heartfelt letter to his now gone friend that will make anyone who gave even an iota about Ozzy touching their life will struggle not to shed a tear when listening. Props to Zakk for putting himself out there with this one.
I tried again, but Black Label Society is like the time when I first saw one of my favorite wrestlers, Bam Bam Bigelow, with his head tattoos, flame filled costume, 300 pound mountain of a bad ass as the saxophone player in the video for the single off of Piledriver, the second wrestling album.
I tried again, but Black Label Society is like the time when I first saw one of my favorite wrestlers, Bam Bam Bigelow, with his head tattoos, flame filled costume, 300 pound mountain of a bad ass as the saxophone player in the video for the single off of Piledriver, the second wrestling album.
Bam’s vibe is not the sax player, and BLS’s vibe is not what Engines Of Demolition sounds like. There is just something withered down and antiseptic about this record. Both to me are a consistent disappointment built up by my own expectations. 5/10
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