Perversor: Anticosmocrator (2015)

Perversor is a Chilean band who play bestial black metal. It’s brutal, ugly, and uncompromising. I must be a sucker for this kind of stuff, because it seems I never hear one that I don’t like—but then again, I mostly listen to the ones that come out on Hells Headbangers, and if any label knows their shit, it’s them.



I couldn’t tell you what sets them apart from similar acts, but I can tell you Anticosmocrator is good. The thing that stands out to me is their use of tempo shifts to prevent the music from becoming an undifferentiated mass. Sort of like the lurch-and-stumble of doom, but it’s more of a stutter-and-attack in this case.

It’s not for the faint of heart. So enjoy.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars

Black Witchery / Revenge: Holocaustic Death March to Humanity's Doom (2015)

Black Witchery is one of the finest bands in metal right now. What they play is furious, uncompromising black/death that can singe your ass hair all the way from their Floridian den, no matter how far away you manage to get. This is what some call bestial black metal, or war metal. As they say, war is not going to win any beauty pageants. and bestiality is something reserved for only a few enthusiasts.

In the thoroughly-titled Holocaustic Death March to Humanity's Doom, Black Witchery laid down three perfect examples of why they are so great. They haven't lost anything with the inclusion of a new guitarist. Their assault is a swift, relentless current of destruction.

The other half of this split is from Canada's Revenge.* I know Canada is the home turf of this style, but that doesn't mean America's evil pope hat is going to be home to the best. Revenge's take on the style is less a current than it is a repeated, graceless pummeling. Not an unfeeling, remorseless force of nature, but a consciously impolite motherfucker who just won't stop hitting you with a maple leaf-inlaid claw hammer. Which is fine, but it simply does not rise to the level of Black Witchery's excellence.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars



*"Canada's Revenge" sounds like the diarrhea you get from drinking too much maple syrup.

Denouncement Pyre: Almighty Arcanum (2013)

Australia Will Destroy You and Everyone You Love

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Those who have been following me for awhile probably know that I am a big fan of the Australian extreme metal scene. You know the one, the bestial thrash/black/death mix that come to be referred to as the "war metal" scene. That scene had started to lose its lustre over the last several years but there are signs that there may be a revitalization at work lately. Groups like Denouncement Pyre, Vomitor, Black Jesus, and Mongrel's Cross have all emerged in a major way over the last few years. Though Denouncement Pyre and Vomitor have been around for quite awhile, Denouncement Pyre since 2003 and Vomitor since 1999, they have really gotten notice recently. These are likely the bands that are leading the Australian extreme metal scene for years to come.

If anything, this sophomore full-length from the Aussie crushers is an improvement over their debut release. This is mostly due to the improvement in the production quality. Their last album was murky, and while it sounded good for the type of chaotic metal that was on that disc, it is nice to hear that they have cleaned things up a little bit without going too far and sounding sterile. This is just about right where it should be for a raw black/death/thrash metal album.

Bestial Warlust: Satan's Fist (Demo 1996)

Australia is Terrifyingly Awesome

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Have I mentioned that I love the Australian "war metal" scene? I am sure it's come up before at some point or another. Well Hell's Headbangers loves it too and the label has been one of my principal sources for finding releases by these bands. The ones that they have not released new have at least been reissued. That is the case with this one.

Bestial Warlust is one of the founding bands of the scene. They recorded two terrific albums in the mid 1990's that were nonetheless plagued by terrible production. But their sound on those albums was taken by a number of other Australian bands and improved upon. Without Bestial Warlust, we likely would not have had Deströyer 666, Gospel of the Horns, Abominator, or many of the other terrific bands to come out of the land down under with the same bestial apocalyptic sound.

Deiphago: Satan Alpha Omega (2012)

Deiphago: A Fancy Term for Holy Communion

Are they still calling this "war metal," or is it supposed to be "bestial black metal" now?

Either way, Deiphago fully embrace all the clichés. Ridiculously fast and raw? Check. Uncompromisingly aggressive? Check. Over-the-top, blasphemous, slightly funny song titles with made-up words? Check. Songs you can't really tell apart? Check. Sub-par production? Check. Awesome? Check.

Tyrants Blood: Crushing Onward Into Oblivion (2010)

Against the Tyranny of Apostrophes

Tyrants Blood is a Canadian band who contacted me about their 2010 sophomore full-length, Crushing Onward Into Oblivion. One definition of war metal is that it "sounds like Blasphemy." Well, Tyrants Blood features a former member of Blasphemy, and is every bit as insanely aggressive as what you might expect from the genre.

I haven't listened to a lot of war metal, but I'm hearing the same kind of black/death/thrash full-on assault of bands like Black Witchery. If you're even less familiar with the microgenre than I am, your closest point of reference might be Anaal Nathrakh, without the clean vocals that have been popping up more often in their recent work. In other words, Crushing is not for the faint of heart.

Atlas of Metal: Australia

This is the eighth installment in the Atlas of Metal series. Three of the previous countries have larger populations than Australia--Argentina, Algeria, and Afghanistan. But odds are, you probably couldn't name any metal bands from those countries without looking them up. Not so for Australia, which has a long-standing relationship with the genre going all the way back to the arguably metal AC/DC, formed in 1973.

Metal Archives lists a whopping 1,481 metal bands in Australia. That's only about 200 more than Argentina, but Argentina has almost twice as many people. That means that Australia is twice as metal by volume. (And hey, they are a major exporter of iron ore.)

Since the scene in Australia doesn't really need to be discovered, per se, I thought I'd just share a few of my favorites. I personally don't care for AC/DC and haven't listened to them since high school, but there's plenty more where that came from.

Portal is my favorite band of the country. They are definitely not for everyone. Please don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like it was composed by a pissed-off autistic genius. It has somewhat of an obscure ritualistic quality to it, it's not concerned with making friends, and it has a brilliant sort of hidden logic behind it all.

Black Witchery: Inferno of Sacred Destruction (2010)

Review

I bought Black Witchery's Inferno of Sacred Destruction by accident, after seeing it and thinking, "I know there was a band with 'witch' in their name with a new album I wanted to check out." Call it a happy accident.

Black Witchery is a Floridian band that's sometimes been called "war metal", an ill-defined tag that generally means thrashy, ugly, unrelentingly aggressive black metal. The tag is appropriate. Every track on here is fast and aggressive; the title track is the slowest one on here, but even it couldn't be considered mid-paced. And the music is definitely ugly. Think early Norwegian black metal heard coming up from a crypt, with all the echo and deeper register you'd expect from the depths of the tomb. The vocals are a deeper version of a black metal rasp, along with the occasional inhuman gurgle, and all the instruments play a whole lot of notes, real fast.

To go along with the evil sound, they've got the imagery and song titles (probably lyrics too, if you can discern them--I caught something about tearing an angel apart). They would probably be offensive if they weren't hilariously over the top. Highlights of the album like "Holocaustic Church Devastation" and "Barbarism Domination" are perfect examples of their Dethklok-esque sense of humor. And when you see their band picture on Metal Archives it becomes clear these guys have it down even better than the creators of that show.

To break up the aggression, they've wisely included some eerie ambient sections and "Sepulchral Witchcraft", which is little more than ambient. This leaves you with only 7 short songs, including a cover. Even including the intro and interludes, the total runtime is just over 22 minutes. And they call it a full-length, which to me seems like an outright lie. In my opinion, anything shorter than 30 minutes is an EP, regardless of the standards of the particular band or subgenre. But the length is a good thing, as I could see this becoming tiresome after much longer. It doesn't have a chance to get old. On the downside, there's only one solo (a freaky atonal one on the closing track). And they curiously end some of the tracks with a fadeout, something that seems out of place with these short, punchy songs.

The Verdict: This is an entertaining EP (by any other name), and I think these guys need to get hired to work on a spinoff to Metalocalypse. If you're looking for something completely evil-sounding and aggressive, but doesn't take itself too seriously, I would recommend it if you could get it at an EP price. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.