Sodomythical Frostgoats - Blackened Thrash and More Forest Battles

 Blackened fucking thrash. Like a dank wind from an open tomb its stench engulfs everything. From Burma to Brazil from Thailand to Iceland the mighty spiked gauntlet reings heavy over all metal fans. Who doesn't love Bathory or Venom. Show me the fun-hating butthole who frowns upon Sodom and I'll show you someone who's life means less than dust to any truVe metal fan. With this in mind Bloodmace and I set out on a dark journey into the heart of deepest Asia (and Australia) to uncover the best in christsodomizing unholy frostbearers who torment the ears with their angelripping hatemyths! Ahoy captain! Full speed ahead!

Impiety's Asateerul Awaleen is a hell of an album. From the overlong, Bathory-style intro to the raw thrashing of the closing tune, Blasphemyth... The Seventh Goatspawn, this is what I like to hear. The production is raw as shit, the lyrics are completely unintelligible and there's not a guitar solo to be heard, in other words, perfect. The grim atmosphere hangs heavy, like mountain fog as Shyaithan and the original lineup of this black thrash juggernaut blast through eight battle songs informed by the great German and Brazilian thrash bands of yore. Much like those globe trotting tides of evil, the music of these Asian hate mongers finds a reflection in the frosty black metal of northern Europe. 

Though ostensibly influenced by the great Teutonic thrash of decades gone, you can hear more than a little Darkthrone in the track Divine Hutamahan Frostfuck, and certainly those cheesy keyboards sound more Emperor than Sodom. These are minor quibbles though, for this is an album that I can listen to over and over again. The drums are worth a mention in this department, though the mix makes itself known a bit too much the infernal clanging of drummer, Iblyss' kit catches the ear and sets this album apart from other contenders. This is the first full length by the long-lived Impiety, who went on to release seven more albums and are still active today. Having never heard most of their later catalog, it's hard to say how this fits in the cannon, but I find it to be an engaging slab of ultra-misanthropic metal to soothe the nerves of the most harried wage slave. Winner of the night!

Frostor had been leaping branch to branch, unleashing deadly volleys of gunfire from above the heads of the sauron warriors. He laughs as he spies the harried troops of the royal Wyverns sending their human servants out with a flamethrower to burn out the unseen assassin. The nimble bounty hunter climbs up and around the trunk of the massive tree as the fire singes the branches below. As he jumps to the next limb something catches his eye. A large papery structure hangs from the branch ahead with three or four Lornflies hanging from the bottom, their stingers dripping with deadly venom. A smile grows over Frostor's face as he draws the scope to his eye and releases a single shot that sends the nest careening down to the ground, sending the angry insects swarming through the battlefield. "Nice shootin' there stranger." Frostor's eyes dart up to see Lady Deathcrush perched across from him, "look over there, the Wyvern have arrived from Samur." Indeed, as Frostor peered around to the place where the sauron army was attempting to gather, he beheld the five elder Wyvern circling in the air above. Huge, majestic creatures they were. Their bodies were huge dark forms, lit only by the glow of fires from the battle below and they swooped in and out of the forest canopy. Frostor looked at Deathcrush above and called out, "We better get closer to the ground, one of these clowns is gonna rip us right out of the tree. They're lookin' for us sister!" There was a sound of breaking wood and they both knew what was about to happen. Neither of the metal warriors could see much of the beast, but both felt its scaly flesh as they rushed toward the ground.

Arriving a little later to the scene than Impiety, Zygoatsis does their best to kick it up a notch and what you end up with is their 2011 offering, S.K.U.D. This is a much more bombastic affair with a real death metal edge. This album is more frenetic than ...Awaleen. Where Impiety stick to a moodier feeling and mid tempo pacing until the last half, Zygoatsis goes straight for the throat in the opening track. Evoke the Goatphomet, blasting out of the intro like a ghostly steed to singe the air with it's fiery breath. Drummer Sunyaluxx (formerly of the black metal band Surrender of Divinity, who released splits with Sabbat, Impiety and Bestial Warlust) keeps the sixteenth notes rolling along as guitarists Patiwat and Avaejee fill the soundscape with menacing thunder. Shyaithan of Impiety even turns up to belt out Zygoatical Epidemic Assassination and Black Forced Khaostorms. Overall this is a ultra sick fuckin' album that outdoes the night's champion on speed and brutality, but fell victim to my will.

In the treetop chamber, Chanthoth was madly chanting in the many languages of the sacred texts. A thousand voices issued from this mystic's throat as before him the keys appeared. Bloodmace tried to return to his body from the skin of the forest, but the voice of Chanthoth warned him, "Come gather the keys, you must deliver them. Hurry! Your energy for this spell will not last forever" Bloodmace rushed up through the roots and fibers, up into the floor of the bearded mystic's quarters where the keys were emerging. The mighty barbarian knew what he had to do. Because he had merged with the plant world, he could travel anywhere. His mind was one with the very life force of this planet and he could move at will to any place as he desired. Chanthoth touched the floor and directed Bloodmace 

through the soil and sand, under vast mountains and below the time desert. To seven underground lakes he journeyed, reaching out through sprout and fungi to drop the keys into their places. It was getting harder and harder for him to move. With a tremendous effort, he located his body and lurched into it, falling to the floor with a thud. All hell was breaking loose. Fire was consuming the room in several places, Chanthoth was still chanting, his voice modulated to a terrifying bestial wail. It seemed as though the very air was breaking apart. Outside, the huge body of a Wyvern plummeted to the ground, rocking the very foundation of the tree and sending both men crashing against the wall. It was silent a moment and Bloodmace opened his mout to speak but the terrible sound of a second lizard crashiung through the tree stopped him short. In the moment before the aincent tree began its precipitous decent to the forest floor, he looked across at Chanthoth. It was only a split second, but that moment chilled the hardened warrior to his bones. The face across him was no longer the arboreal shaman he expected. It was Headron, his mouth contorted with spectral rage. They slammed to the ground, bark and branch exploding chaotically around them.

BestialWarlust, who came up at roughly the same time as Impiety contributed the final chapter in our survey of unholy blasphemies from the southern hemisphere. Blood and Valor is the second, and final full length from this excellent underground war metal outfit and has the best riffs of the night hands down. Zygoatsis had the speed and brutality, Impiety dominated, but this band has riffs that are more than just smears of speed or straight up Emperor worship. This album holds up today because the riffs are kick ass. Falling somewhere between Burzum and Obituary, the guitars beat out tasty primitive licks punctuated by pinch harmonic squeals that would make James Murphy smile. I won't lie and say it was hard to decide who was going to take the crown tonight, but to me, this was one of the best metal nights ever.

Even in a single battle there are a thousand stories. Like a deadly prism, its facets reflect every aspect of  a warrior's soul. When steel meets steel and blood stains the ground, the inner life is laid bare. The Wyverns have fallen victim to Chanthoth's spell and the political landscape of Centon has been forever changed. Bloodmace and Demon Scourge are caught in the middle of the tide of history as it rushes into the icy ocean of madness. Behold fair readers! Behold the path of elders, so faint. Hear their voices in the air like dead leaves! Night is almost over, and the dawn breaks over yonder hills...

Until next week, Goatvomiting blasphmongers, 



Horns  

You gotta have gods - Flood the Desert interviewed in Jenkabala Palace

Flood the Desert, Grand rapids based prog metal titans are almost normal dudes...until you see them play. Drummer Jeremy Hyde and Bassist Zach Flora lay down a crushing, polyrhythmic foundation for Duncan Lammas' High-octane shred pyrotechnics, leaving audiences to gather their bottom jaw from the floor and wander into the night. With more energy than a pack of kids on a sugar rampage it was hard to keep the walls of Jenkabala palace intact when they visited us to talk about their new EP, Stolen Prophets, but after a few flagons of Bloodmace's hot blood punch they settled into the luxurious accommodations in the Jenkabala throne room and told us of their adventures...

 Metal Night - So you guys have an EP called Stolen Prophets. Independently released?

Duncan Lammas (guitar, keyboard, vocals) - Yeah, just us. Completely DIY, all our own money (all laugh)

Jeremy Hyde (Drums) - No really...all of it

MN - Where was it recorded at?

Photo by Robert Shooks

D - Mercury studios. With Ryan Cunningham from The Waxines

MN- How long did it take you to record the EP?

D - It was very stop and start. Ryan logged all the hours and it took sixty hours from tracking to final mastering.

MN - What about a full length album?

D - We're in the planning/pre production stage with that

Zach Flora (bass, vocals) - This EP we just put out, those are all older songs that we just wanted to get good recordings with Jeremy

MN - Your previous release, was that an album or demo?

Z - We call it an album so we can feel cool

Photo by Robert Shooks

J - It was called "before prophets" meaning, tongue in cheek, like we haven’t made any money or anything yet. So all this stuff happened, the album got stolen by this company, Distrophonics, now they make all the money off it, we don't see a dime from any sale. The old drummer walked off with a large chunk of the band fund...well all of it

Z - Yeah, that put us back to zero

J - But we quickly made enough money to fund the EP

MN - Who are the primary songwriters or how does the songwriting process come about?

Z - Almost every way you can think of how people write a song, we've probably done it. Sometimes Duncan will write a whole song by himself and have lyrics for the whole thing and bring it up like, "alright dude so this is what I got", check it out" Y'know, and play it and I'll be like "that is awesome, I need a scratch track or something"

D - Then he'll learn it then we'll decide where should we have vocals and basically, Zach's the heavy guy and I'm the light guy there is a little bit of mismatch but like, he does that well, I do mine well and that's a better chemistry than tryin' to hook ourselves into things we're not as good at.

MN - Ok, you guys have an interesting thing going on vocally, amongst other things, but splitting the vocals, where did you guys get that inspiration?

Z - Well, we basically just got sick of dickin' around with people balin' all the time on vocals, and, well, drums even at that point

D- yeah, we were auditioning drummers...

Z - We were auditioning drummers and we couldn't seem to find a vocalist that could sing and then get kind of dirty with the vocals...

D- And carry equipment!

All - Big laugh

D - Sometimes you get two out of three but you rarely get the whole package!

Z - So one day we were just like "screw it"....

D -Like Mastadon's the workhorse chronicles...those guys had to tour and they had a vocalist and everything and basically he quit or had some sort of issue and they manned up and just sort of did it. and that was...we were like, you know, just...start making noise first. If you listen to the EP, everything's on beat, very straightforward, little if any held notes and if they are, it's always for like the whole measure (beats with hand,) Y'know a four count. It's really simplistic vocally, because we had just stared singing and playing at the same time so there's a definite...I dont know who called us "progressive sludge"

J - Oh god

All - groaning and laughter

D - I think that's a fair statement for that EP, because the new stuff is a lot more singy and proggy and what I think people...that go to the live stuff. They're familiar with that style of us, witch is not anything recorded...

MN - We hear you guys played together in another band.

D -...it was In Phaedrus, witch was a five piece...

MN - What's the name of that again?

D - In Phaedrus

MN- uhh, how do you spell that?

All - laughter

D- I N P H A E D R U S, nothing changed, did y'see that? In Phaedrus, what? how do ya spell that?

Z- That was...everybody

Duncan - Yeah, every time someone mentioned Inthaedrius someone would go, "what?" or "how do you spell that?" and then I decided, OK, next band name, nothing made up. No funky spellings, I don't want to reiterate the band name however many freakin' times...

MN - Is this band kind of a continuation of that one?

D - Um, in spirit and attitude, I think

MN - 'Cause it sounds kind of a little like a death metal band name

D - Definitely heavier...half the stuff was written in standard [tuning] because...I really just like when people do that, i mean if you can play half a set in standard then drop to drop D it's like, whoa, you’re versed in both, you’re not just picking one and going with it. We did that for a while and then I realized, that fuckin' sucks, man. You gotta do that every fuckin' show! and he (pointing to Zach) had the advantage of having a five string bass, witch he tuned like a bastard with a low E and a D, so he never had to re-tune anything, so I'm like this, man (pantomimes tuning frantically)

J - From what I heard of Inthaedrius it was more like a...melodic death metal sort of thing.

D - Yeah, the one song that is recorded is really cool

J - Yeah, I was gonna say, it reminds me of a Gothenburg sort of thing...in a weird way, not that you guys ever really listened to a lot of in flames and Dark Tranquility

US - What are your musical backgrounds, in terms of schooling or experience?

Z - I'm self-taught, never had any lessons or anything

J - I can read percussion notation like a champ but it takes me a while to process it. Like somebody learning how to read english in the first six months

Z - Tabs, tabs man

D - Yeah, I'm better with tabs but I'm a music teacher, so I'm pretty proficient with notation

US - I'm really surprised to hear that you guys aren't music school guys

D - It's weird, we're kind of the anti-music school guys

photo by Robert Shooks

J - I'm not anti, but...use what you got. You grow up listening to something technical, well...

D - It depends on what you consider technical, I mean Decline is a bad bassline

Z - Dude, yeah, eighteen minutes of punk rock fury. There's alot of NOFX songs I still can’t play. Some of that shit is just absurd, the speed of it. The Idiots are taking over? Dude, that bassline is so insane

 D- You gotta have gods, so you have something to reach for

Good photos by: Robert Shooks

Crappy photos by us

Flood the Desert online: http://floodthedesert.bandcamp.com
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/stolen-...
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/floodthedesert
https://www.facebook.com/floodthedesert

A Day of Reckoning - Testament, Hellmaster and the Battle of Jenkabala Forest

 It's fun exploring the outer realms of the musical universe for weirdness and excitement, but sometimes you need to come home, to have a nice big comfy bowl of blood porridge and Yid entrails, just like mom used to make. Testament are kind of like that, for this crotchety old school thrasher.

Testament's first album, The Legacy, is their best album. Back in the day, I sort held up my nose at this sort of basic Bay Area thrash, opting more for the progressive thrash of Metallica and Voivod. But listening to this album for the first time in years, I find that my tastes have progressed into a learned regression, and I can appreciate this brand of no frills head ripping. Alas, I have matured. Their sound, somewhat derivative of Metallica's faster songs, is almost textbook Bay Area thrash, with an accent on skull crush and bludgeoning. There is a set formula, but there is also virtuosic lead playing courtesy of future Trans-Siberian Orchestra ass master, Alex Skolnick and there are also some damn tasty riffs and some catchy songwriting. Songs are about war, demons, wizards, swords, generalized alienation, and the end of the fucking world, man. Winner of the night!

Chronicles of the North Part 12.1 - Chalice of Blood 
Chanthoth's quarters are wet with blood and viscera. Bloodmace is still hacking his way through the seemingly endless troops that filed into this chamber of horrors. As the eager barbarian smashes the head of the last opponent into a disgusting pulp, the meditating mystic calls to him, "Enough! seal the passage with your Wolves in the Throne Room patch." Bloodmace complies, moving his right hand across to the bloodstained embroidery on the left side of his jacket. With the barest contact, Bloodmace has gone within the very being of the forest. He becomes one with the spirit of the tree, 

pulling rough fibers across the door until there is nothing but wood where the portal once was. 

Immediately, Chanthoth begins his chant, "The moon leads celestial legions to cast the stars from their ancient thrones! Astral blood pours forth from their grievous wounds!" tracing obscure shapes with his hands, he begins to weave his web. With the invaders momentarily held at bay, Bloodmace notices that he can feel everything the tree feels. He senses the roots and branches, he can feel the Wyvern troops climbing up the furrowed bark of this ancient sourwood on their way to attack the chamber. Down at root level I can feel the eyes of my brother upon us. Ophelia Skullbourne, Fester Blackheart, Hell Wraith, and I have just met the six-armed human who calls himself Parth-Amon and holds the final secret of the Garm. Hell Wraith is trying to convince the goateed elder to unlock the astral machine but the guardian is suspicious. Inside my mind, Bloodmace is telling me they have started the spell. I must act. Across the room, Parth-Amon is saying, "Yes, but how do I know you represent the T'Chah Karnac? This is not just some weapon. This machine could destroy our entire world!" My hand reaches up to the shoulder patch, Operation:Mindcrime, and when I touch it, the guardian’s face changes. He looks confused and threatened for a moment, like a trapped animal, and seems about to lash out when I approach him. I look into his eyes and say "Speak the word, the word is all of us." The others stare in amazement as the skeptical master of the Garm turns and begins tracing arcane patterns in the air with his six hands. Creaking and groaning, the weird engine roars to life.

Skip ahead, to their third album, Practice What You Preach, released the summer I graduated from high school, 1989. Now signed to a major label, this is a a more streamlined approach, and also a more boring approach. Gone are the fast ragers, replaced by songs that sound too earnestly like they wanna be in that top 40 list along with Metallica. There are some great riffs and some good jams on this album, but this it lets you down way too much at come chorus time, the melodies sounding almost breezy at times. This got great reviews when it came out, and the 'live in the studio' sound was praised, but tell you the truth, they refined this approach on their next album, Souls of Black, which has a crappier, rushed production(apparently they were trying to get product out in time for some big MTV thrash package tour), but is still better, heavier album than this.

Chronicles of the north 12.2 - March Into Fire
Hellmaster barely noticed the ground shaking, or the beating of the Wyvern wings from high above. The battle had begun and all around his friends were attacking the Wyvern troops from their hiding spots under and above the soldier's heads, but Hellmaster was focused on a single foe, Sharlen Gort. Lean and sinewy, wearing a suit of human hides in the manner of the Sauron elite, Sharlen snarled 

savagely from the other side of the branch, "Now you'll see how we deal with traitors in Samur, filthy dog!" He lunges at Hellmaster with his jeweled dagger but the desert mystic drops off the branch, catching himself with his hands. Sharlen loses his balance and falls also, catching himself on the next lower branch. Hellmaster drops down and waits for his challenger to rise, "You beg for your destruction, cousin. Go now and I will forget I have seen you." The wild eyed Samurian warrior pulls himself up and leaps again at Hellmaster, slamming him into a deep furrow in the bark where branch meets trunk. The flashing dagger slices across Hellmaster's sternum, cutting through the purple robe he wears. It's already too late though. Using the devastating magic he has studied in the Time Desert, Hellmaster focuses his energy towards one point and as Sharlen raises his weapon to deliver the killing blow, his fist smashes through armor, flesh and ribcage to grab hold of his cousin's beating heart. Looking directly into Sharlen's mesmerized eyes, he yanks the organ from his body and holding it to the sky, squeezes. The horrible, animal, sound of Hellmaster's victory cry is drowned out by the sounds of battle, but as the warrior of magic looks up from the battleground to the night sky, he sees the Wyvern tribe circling the treetop. "There will be no rest tonight," he thinks to himself as he wipes the blood from his hand.

 Jump forward to the end of the 90's, and The Gathering rears its blackened face. This album has been highly lauded in the metal press as one of the best albums of the 90's, but actually, it's overrated. It's ssoooooo....welll......90's. Their early 90's albums, were deathed up thrash metal album along the lines of Sepultura, and this album was lauded as a return to their roots. But the thrash and speed are toned down, and there are nu metal overtones and influences all this album. With a super group pedigree featuring Dave Lombardo and Steve Digiorgio, was expecting something a bit more raging and incredible, but what you get is just another Testament album. Not that there aren't some great moments here, mainly when it speeds up, but for the most part, overrated. Also, the lyrics are touchy-feely, I'm getting older now,  I hate mygoddamnself 90's bullshit. More dragons and death, please, Mr. Billy. Skip ahead to The Formation of Damnation, a more welcome return to form for us crotchety old school thrashers.

Words of the Elders

Battle scorches the ground on this long and bloody night. The former and current rulers of this world have come to blows. Demon Scourge, Bloodmace and the rest are caught up in the middle of their fight. Who could have guessed that their quest to avenge their fallen comrade, Zodron the Minstrel, would lead them from Jenkabala to the Time Desert, to Waylor and through the realms of death. Now the legion of true metal faces their greatest peril. Thrust into a battle of titans, they must succeed or perish. What will be written on the scroll of history? 

Until next week, Sin Marauders, 



Horns

Thus Spake the Nightspirit - Battle Tales and Black Metal EP's

FUCK INTRODUCTIONS!!!!!!!! I'm just going to give you all the lowdown straight-up. 

Emperor-As The Shadows Rise- First thing Demon Scourge said was that this album sounded like crap. NO guitars and the kick drum was too prominent. I took my knife, brandished it his way, and said, "IT'S SUPPOSED SOUND LIKE THAT!!! IT'S CVLT!!! IT'S NECRO!!!!! Then I cut his fucking head off. But really, it does sound pretty bad. The production makes the average Darkthrone album sound like a Bob Rock extravaganza. But the quality of the songwriting and the inhumane ambiance make this album quite worth while. And listening to black metal for the high production values is like listening to Nickleback for the guitar solos. And why listen to Nickleback? I'd rather listen to something recorded by necrofucks in a basement.

 Emperors second EP, Reverence, is basically the sneak preview to their scalding yet sleek classic 'Anthems To The Welkin At Dawn. Gone are the necro production values, showcasing a BIG FUCKING PRODUCTION  to showcase their increasingly symphonic, bombastic soundscapes. It rapes babies, and therefore is the WINNER OF THE NIGHT!!!!!

Chronicles of the North part 11.1 - Stillbirth Machine  

In the darkness of the root level passages, bugs scurry from the light created by the Dio patch on the bottom left flap of the denim jacket. My right hand rests lightly on the embroidered insignia while a pale light emanates from my left. Up ahead I can hear the voices of Fester Blackheart and Ophelia Skullbourne growing closer as I make my way through the crude passage hacked in one of the huge 
underground tendrils that feed the enchanted tree where the T'Chah Karnac have been imprisoned by 

the Wyvern. The passage widens out into a large chamber where I can make out a dim light in the corner illuminating a metal cage with gears inside that attach to an arm that disappears into the cork-like floor. Fester, Ophelia and Hell Wraith are there. I call out to them, "Hai! When will the Garm be running? The Wyvern legion is attacking, it will only be a short time before the rest of the tribe arrives here from Samur." Fester is halfway up the cage, wrenching one of the gears and calls down, "Almost. we need some kind of oil to get this one unstuck." Ophelia is on the ground, securing the iron arm that plunges into the ground to the mechanism that gives it motion. "Almost done here!" Hellmaster comes running from across the root cavern holding a big black bug like the ones that attacked us in Fester's home. "Look, it's a Brentarn! The T'Chah Karnac used to keep flocks of these to make oil during their exile. We can use this to lube the gears!" he says excitedly. He reaches to the rear of the shiny black creature and squeezes a gland on it's lower thorax. Thick yellow slime bursts fourth into the water skin he holds below the struggling insect. When the container is full, he releases the bug. It scurries 
off into the darkened recesses of this underground room. Hell Wraith holds up the oil to fester,who 

squeezes it out over the rusty gears. Looking around at us, he asks, "Now how do we start it?" A quick check reveals no way to start the strange machine. From behind us, a strange voice answers our question, "You need me for that." Wheeling around I behold a six armed human. Small rectangular glasses mount his nose and he wears a scruffy beard on his chin. "I am Parth-Amon, keeper of the Garm. What is your business here?"

Speaking of baby rape, we heard Marduk's charming ep, 'Fuck Me Jesus'. This being somewhat early in their career of evil, it sounds alot like a sloppy Swedish Death Metal album, with black metal influences creeping in. Still it's an amazing little nugget of hellish crossfire.

Abruptum is a band your friends will never like, and their ep, 'Evil' will get you ostracized from your small town community and thrown off a cliff. Along the way, they will flay you with sticks, as this
album's weird, sludgy noisy ambiance flays your trembling earbones. For true loner wierdos only, which makes this album almost fucking PERFECT.

Arcturus are one of the avant gard elite of black metal. Their Ep, My Angel, is a dark angel indeed. Actually,  I don't remember anything about this album. Were there synths? Definitely. And a lot of traditional influences, but it's still a blackened hellhole of burning souls, but with synths.

Chronicles of the North Part 11.2 - Sons of Amon

Hellmaster is perched on a low branch when he sees the first of the sauron battalions approaching. This is a bad place for him. Long ago, before he was Hellmaster of the Time Desert, he was Ka-Taw, 

of the noble Clan Parth who lived along the River Trimpor with the Sauron in the days of the T'Chah 

Karnac. When the Wyvern took control of Samur and made the sauron their elite, his family chose to worship the new gods and lead their people into a life of servitude to the ascendent lizard folk who once were their equals. When Ka-Taw heard of this, he left his home to wander the forbidden lands, learning the secrets of the Time Desert from Bloodmace and making his home in the barren and forbidding wasteland, becoming the feared Hellmaster. He cursed under his breath as row after row of the Wyvern guard marched beneath him in the gloom. They had surrounded the tree where Chanthoth was working his ancient magic in the prison fortress built within it's trunk. From the inky sky above, the sound of great wings heralded the coming of the Wyvern elders. One by one they landed in the open area near the base of the huge sourwood until there were nearly a dozen of the scaly beasts gathered, each one representing a royal family of this realm. Soldiers were climbing, single file, into the entrance of the trunk, but none had so far come out. He turns to dismount from the branch, but stops as a familiar figure stares at him from the branch above, "So, Ka-Taw, you have returned. This shall be your doom, brother." Hellmaster knew this moment would come. His cousin, Sharlen Gort, leaps nimbly down to the lower limb, drawing a jeweled dagger and hisses, "Now you shall pay for your treachery, fool. I'll skin you alive to finish my armor". From deep within the ground, a rumbling shakes the trees.

Polack punishers Behemoth's ep  And The Forests Dream Eternally is a polished little nugget of black metal dynamics. Despite this being their first (non-demo) recording) their ideas and musicianship are fully formed and well rounded. A mythic journey into the hell soul of the now. What?


Immortal's first self titled ep, on the other hand, sounds like a dip they are just dipping their troll toes into the icy waters. Pretty decent black metal, but they won't find their true purpose until Pure Holocaust. That's when the icy fingers molest your frozen soul.

And lastly, Dimmu Borgir's Inn I Evighetens Mørke. Demon Scourge nearly tore out his eardrums at the synthy textures, but I love love love a little cheese to go with my mead and blood sausage. A worthy corpse fuck.

Words of the Elders
The rich black soil of Jenkabala is aflame with the passions of battle. In the treetops, Bloodmace battles the imperial guard, protecting Chanthoth until Demon Scourge, Fester Blackheart, Ophelia Skullbourne and Hell Wraith can start the machine deep within the root caverns below that will transform the power of his spell into a disturbance powerful enough to disrupt the energy flow of the Wyvern magic, thus leaving them vulnerable to attack. The final struggle for control of the northern throne has begun. Evil laughter rides on the wind of mayhem so listen carefully and you will hear the storm as it approaches!


Until next week disciples of the watch,



Horns