Contra Ignem Fatuum - Detritus EP
Black metal has in recent years transcended the genre boundaries and proved itself one of the most exciting musical catagories. After all, where else do you find bands as diverse as Anaal Nathrakh and The Meads Of Asphodel, Benighted Leams and The Axis Of Perdition (and those just from Britain)? A new wave has risen, progressing a long way since the heady days of Euronymous and the Inner Circle, driven by a fresh generation seeking something with more meaning and depth than the commercial pop fluff of today. They may not always hold absolutely true to the old philosophies ("bands that incarnated evil in its most pure state") yet manage to take a uniquely cynical look at the world we live in.
One such band is Contra Ignem Fatuum, taking a different path to the Cradle and their ilks' "success" by making modern music that keeps the underground fires ablaze. This, their intial relase, a three track EP lasting just about twenty four minutes, manages to be melancholic but with a strangely aggressive undercurrent. After the synth and percussion-driven intro Blood Upon The Horizon has worked its simple spell on you, it flows seamlessly into the fourteen minute title track. Listening to this feelings of disorientation, fear, anger and loneliness arise as droning riffs slide in and out and drums pound harsh rhythms whilst croaking vocals spit hatred and keyboards swril around you. The overall effect is like standing in a foggy field, not being able to see where the gate to exit is. Do you start walking towards where you think it is at the risk of getting even more lost, or do you wait and brave it out? The production helps a lot to create this effect, being rather muddy and unclear, yet it serves to give mystery to the music, making you concentrate harder, allowing the atmosphere to get through and work its magic. As the track draws to a close the outro Hyperborean Ascention comes in, sounding like a lamenting funeral choir. All is done professionally and serves to whet the appetite for the full-length expected sometime in 2006. The booklet keeps the theme going with daVincian anatomical drawings and dancing corpses; all we are told is that the msuic was recorded between 2003 and 2005. No interviews or website for this band (consisting of John Marshall of Dommedagssalme and Niall from sludge/noisers Drear)!
All I can say in conclusion is that if the coming album is as good as this then the flourishing British scene has gained another supremely talented band, for the good of black metal as a whole. On this evidence, 2006 will be an interesting year.....

I've got a few over on m-a, but I'm unhappy with most of them. Some of them are pretty much rants, and others I've just failed to get across what I'm trying to say. Some I'd go back and edit (if i could be bothered) to get rid of poor choices of words or stupidly inaccurate comparisons I've made under the grip of temporary insanity.

I wrote a pretty good pissed off one of the new Annihilator album and then accidently clicked the keyboard shortcut for close window. :x

I've got something like 35 up, username Bloodstone. I'm on OlympicSharpshooter's list of recommended reviewers

And yes I'm unhappy with quite a lot of my stuff. Sometimes I swear too much and at other times I sound too bitchy and angsty for...well, my taste. :oops: Is posting links in this topic ok or what?

I've only got three up there. This one, the Sigh one I posted in Helheim and a really crappy one for 3iob.

Yeah I've seen it. :roll:

Well, I'm looking yours up now...

Self-explanatory, there are enough of us out there!

Just got this accepted by metal-archives (a sure sign of quality!):

Nice paragraphs, Mr. Quality. :roll:

I put them in. YOUR FORUM removed them, Mr Moderator.

<p>paragraph</p> not paragraph<br>paragraph

ps: link me to some Drear

I'm on OlympicSharpshooter's list of recommended reviewers

I've got something like 35 up, username Bloodstone. I'm on OlympicSharpshooter's list of recommended reviewers

And yes I'm unhappy with quite a lot of my stuff. Sometimes I swear too much and at other times I sound too bitchy and angsty for...well, my taste. :oops: Is posting links in this topic ok or what?

...And Oceans - AM GOD
Industrial/Black Metal
Century Media, 2001
9 tracks, 48min31sec

...And Oceans is great. Got that? Okay. I'll be a little biased about this one as it's totally my kinda music (which I regretfully only recently found out), but whatever. I'll try and make clear to you lot why this one is worth buying - or not?

Fact is, this album has been sitting in my mp3 player for almost a full month now, after daily listens. Without a doubt I can tell you this is the most refreshing and energetic stuff to pass my eardrums in half a year. It's all in the mix (pardon the commercial slogan): the simplicity and effectivity of black metal riffs, coupled with electronics that hover between industrial and techno. Furious up-tempo bitches like Esprit de Corps or Postfuturistika, interspersed with more thoughtful and deliberate tracks like Tears Have No Name and Odious&Devious... Plenty of excellent compositions, and joyful versatility.

Between the many emotions the music declaims, there is the emotion of the artists, hidden between the layers of notes. Often remained hidden and otherwise not completely satisfactory, the emotion of the artist on this album is pure joy. The joy to create with such boldness and bravoure, to transcend the mostly cliché thematics of modern extreme metal and do something radical (White Synthetic Noise; refers to use of drugs in a very poetical way), or take something even more cliché just for laughs! (Tears Have No Name; very melodramatic lyrics.)

Most metal purists will write this album off as arty-farty, or progressive wankery, or even commercialised shite. I however invite them to take off their leather jackets and combat shoes, and put on a trendy fluorescent aerobics suit. Art = Evolution!

Favourite Cuts: the whole lot, with the exception of the slightly below par Of Devilish Tongues.

Borknagar - Borknagar
Folk Black Metal
Malicious Records, 1996 (rerelease by Century Media in 1999 and by Displeased in 2003)
10 Tracks, 44min12sec

There used to be a lot of music that could send shivers down my spine. You know, that odd quivering feeling when you hear a grandiose piece of music. I do not know whether the growth of my metabolism has something to do with it, or that I have just heard too much music for it, but these moments are seldom nowadays. What I do know however, is that Borknagar still manages to do it.

So, I'll be reviewing their self-titled debut album, personally my favourite and a great inspiration in my own music. The entire album is somewhat comparable to other Black Metal with folk influences, and especially Ulver's Bergtatt. Not a great surprise: they share a singer. Wunderkin Garm (also of Arcturus fame) has been called in by guitarist and founder Oystein G. Brun, together with some other well known names as Grim (Immortal, Gorgoroth), Infernus (Gorgoroth) and Ivar Bjornson (Enslaved). What an allstar crew eh?

Borknagar's music is lardered with a love for nature; everything has an immensely epic, poetic grandeur Milton could grow to envy. Listen for example to Ved Steingard and its second part Krigsstev. Both the raw, yet ingeniously melodical Black Metal and the lain-back, deliberate folk strumming are top-notch. The production helps to deliver this too; the typical quality lets through only tantalising hints of brilliant riffs, at just the right moments.

I'd like it very much to be able to give this album some bad criticisms, or I might look like a wuss (I am aware that I am, but nevertheless...). So I choose the keyboard work, which often sounds a little cheap (Tanker Mot Tind). But - and here I go again - these are generally very low in the mix, so nothing to worry about. Yeah, you can guess, this is an album like I want it. Certainly one of the most underestimated albums in its style, which is a shame.

Favourite Cuts: the whole album, but Vintervredets Sjelesang is one of Borknagar's best ever.

Chris Jericho is back ! - 58%
Written by TIE on January 29th, 2005

Wrestling supserstar / Metalhead wanabe hits back with Fozzy's 3rd album... Unlike the previous ones, All That Remains is filled with original compositions so no more tribute to his Idols...

So, what have we here ? I can feel that, for the 1rst time, Jericho's Fozzy has become an ambitious band. this shows through the "not so traditional metal" arrangements filling most of the songs on this album (well, a big half of it). Never Fozzy has been so close to what's popular & we love to hate : NU-METAL ! Everything (not all the time fortunately) is here to wanna make you puke : KORNish guitar riffs, Limp Bizkit rapping stuff, superguests that don't seem to care that much (Marty Friedman & Zakk Wylde soloing far from their best...) etc... The topping being Jericho's voice similarities with late Ozzy (melodic vocals only).

So it's crap ? No it's not ! Sure, it's only average but quite pleasant to listen to actually... Some of the "less NU" songs are even pretty enjoyable("The Way I Am", kinda like Ozzy meets Megadeth's Youthanasia era or "Born of Anger" and it's fine metalcore tendencies)... The worst song on this album is, no surprises, "It's a Lie" featuring Bonecrusher on the rap part... this one is really awful but it's the only one of its kind which is a good thing for Fozzy's credibility.

All in all, one song is utter crap, 5 others are too "nu" but still okay, the last four being nice but "just nice" so I suggest that you don't bother spending your money on this one & concentrate on less commercial attemps.

That guy is in the running for the King Douche award.