Review/Unboxing: The Metalhead Box - May

Welcome to a little bit different of a review or unboxing. I'm not sure what we should call this one, but regardless today we are checking out the May edition of The Metalhead Box, a box dedicated to bringing some cool and exclusive items to Metal fans monthly, so let's jump in and see what we can find.

THE SHIRT

Right on top as we open the box is a shirt with a logo I was unfamiliar with. The art, as well as the logo, clearly Black Metal had me very interested. Upon a little bit of research, we found the band is Vargrav, a Finnish Black Metal band who are beyond excellent. I'm definitely a big fan of the shirt, the art is excellent and the back print, “As Night Swallows The Night” with a pentagram is something I'm sad my longhair will cover.

THE CDS

Right underneath the shirt was a few CDs. First, right on top, was Mayhem’s 2009 Season of Mist release “Ordo ad Chao”. While I'm a fan of Mayhem and this is an album a lot of people talk about, I had yet to hear it so this was a really cool album to have in my collection. Next up was Drudkh’s “Autumn Aurora” which is a band I had been meaning to listen to for quite a while. The album cover is spectacular and upon a few listens, I have to say I'm a fan, very glad to have received this album. Third, was an album from a band called Reign of Vengeance which was a DOA Magazine release. I was unfamiliar with this band prior to receiving this box, always happy to check out new stuff though so this is an album that will definitely get a few spins over the next few days. Last, was a sampler from the label Relapse Records, known for having some high profile bands on their roster. Obituary, Iron Reagan, Exhumed and Gruesome just to name a few of the bands on the album, definitely a good way to find some great new bands you may not know.

THE CASSETTE

The second coolest part of this box and a The Metalhead Box exclusive item is a transparent red cassette copy of “Eonian”, the new album from Nuclear Blast Records alumni Dimmu Borgir. The album came out with very split reception, but love it or hate it, this is a very cool item to own!

THE MAGAZINE

Right under the CDs and cassette is a copy of DOA Magazine, a Death Metal magazine I'm unfamiliar with. Taking a quick flip through, there's a lot to offer in here including a ton of album reviews and interviews. This will definitely be a good read for anyone into getting other opinions on albums before (or even after) buying them.

THE SIGNATURE

So now it's time for the coolest part of this box, hidden under everything else and nestled in right under the magazine is a nice The Metalhead Box exclusive picture of Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing, complete with signature. Regardless of whether you're a fan primarily of Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Metalcore, Doom Metal, whatever you can decide, everyone knows Judas Priest. Any Metal fan can appreciate how cool of an item this is to receive and it's definitely a good way to close out the box.

Benighted "Necrobreed" Review

           

             Unapologetic. Destructive. Breakneck. Just a few simple words to get you ready for what you’re about to discover with the new Benighted record “Necrobreed”. Before we begin just sit back, take a breather and get ready for a world filled with Death Metal, Grindcore, and blastbeats, because everything is better with blastbeats.

The album kicks off with an intro track that’s both eerie and intriguing. “Hush Little Baby” features Aurelie Raidron from the band Penumbra in a spoken word introduction to the album that I’m fairly certain see’s a crazy woman kill her child and then start singing to it. Death Metal.

Upcoming Benighted 2017 tour dates

A couple of the big, stand out tracks on the album are; “Forgive Me Father” which features The Black Dahlia Murder's vocalist Trevor Strnad as a guest vocalist, as well as “Cum With Disgust”. Let’s start with the former here and let the title of the latter sink in for a minute. Within the first minute of “Forgive Me Father,” you’re introduced to the contrasting vocals of Benighted's very own Julian Truchan and Strnad is very unique, for anyone who is familiar with both vocalist, they are both Death Metal frontmen so theoretically the vocals shouldn’t be as different as they are but with Strnad and his more Melodic background while Truchan has a Black Metal background and blends more Grindcore, speedy vocals into his style and has a grasp on how to pull off the infamous “pig squeal” the contrast is actually like day and night to any Extreme Metal fans. This is something many, many bands would love to pull off, but very few do so points to Benighted on that one.

The latter of the two songs, now that you'd had a second to digest the title, “Cum With Disgust” is just a pure Death Metal headbanger. One of those songs that kicks off with a riff that gets all the hair in the house everywhere. After about a minute the song kicks into high gear, with a break followed by pure chaos. This would be the perfect spot for the band to split the house for a wall of death, but that’s just my thoughts because the second that silence ends, any crowd would be in a frenzy anyways. The song is an open and shut case, starts off with heavy headbanging, followed by a pure blitz of Death Metal destruction and then, it’s done.

The album is chalk full of goodies for Death Metal and Grindcore fans alike. The blend of technicality from Death Metal and speed from Grindcore is so pure that it would probably get fans of either genre interested in each and every song. Benighted have a great album here and anyone new to the band could very easily start right here, you’ll be hooked and delve backwards into Benighted's discography. The only complaint is that this album plays it safe, it doesn’t really do anything new from the past few releases, which isn’t bad as long as all the songs are as solid as they are, it just would have been nice to see a little bit more experimentation on one or two of the songs. All around “Necrobreed” is a great album from Season of Mist's very own Benighted. 

75/100

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Interview with Rob, The Witch, of Necronomicon

Hey, how are you today?

Good, thank you

Would you mind introducing yourself, what you do and Necronomicon for those who are unaware of 

You guys?

I’m Rob vocal, guitar, founder and song writer of Necronomicon who’s playing extreme metal for over 2 decades.

Necronomicon just recently released “Advent of the Human God” through Season of Mist, how has 

The feedback been so far?

To be honest really good, 90 to 95% of the reviews are extremely positive and from the emails we receive the fans are more than happy about the album. Nothing to complain so far.

Can you talk a little bit about the lyrics and ideas behind “Advent of the Human God”?

I continued in the vein and theme of the band, about how human beings need to reconnect with the great all, to be one with the creation, the earth, the sky, the ocean everything. With the opening and the conscience that we are one in all and all in one, we can reach and access unlimited knowledge and wisdom and realise that we are gods ourselves once we unify the body, the mind and the soul with the cosmos.   

When did writing for this album begin and how was the process any different from past releases?

We had already some songs in process when we released the previous album “Rise of the Elder Ones”, like right now I have 2 or 3 songs that I could work on. This time however it was a little more demanding due to the fact that we had to record the band at one place and the orchestration in a different studio that was proper for that, plus at the end the album was mixed in a 3rd studio in US. So it was really time consuming, but the result is there.

For a band who released their first demo in 1992, how has recording and writing changed and 

Become easy or harder for you over the years?

Writing is a bit easier since we have computers now and we can program the drums and orchestration basics in advance. So it give us a clearer idea where we are going instead of recording on a tape deck and practicing the parts after and re-record it to be sure to no forget it. With the computer I record it once and place the drum right away and that’s it. The album recording process is pretty much the same for us beside using computer as interface to record and not a tape recorder because we don’t use much editing and no plugins. So we practice a lot and go record, take the best version and work with that old fashion way, that’s how we work. We did one album once with plugins and full editing and seriously it became so sterile and I never listened to that album again and for sure we won’t record like that again.  

What songs do you most look forward to playing on stage on tour?

We are still debating on that, but looks like the one from the video clip “Crown of Thorns” will be one of them.

Speaking of touring, what are the current plans for tours?

We have 2 tour project in process right now but we can’t give dates or details at the moment, but I can tell you that US and Canada will be properly covered, as for other territory we haven’t had time to really work on it but we are always open proper offers of course.

What are some of the hardest parts of penning music for Necronomicon?

That’s a really good question. I’m not sure to be honest because I always try to influence myself from previous albums we did, so usually it’s not too hard. I think it’s when I try to force it too much that problems emerge, I don’t believe in forcing composition to try to be new or original, which for me is bullshit because it become lifeless and especially soulless. Music need to haunt you, it need to float it your head just like that without forcing it, it need to come to you naturally. I know some people might not agree with that but it’s usually the more cerebral people than the intuitive ones that don’t agree. Let put it that way, it’s like Star wars and Star trek.   

You included a cover of the minute long instrumental “Innocence and Wrath” by Celtic Frost, what 

Made you decide this fit in with the flow of the album and to choose something so obscure where 

Most bands would have covered a full 4-5 minute song?

The real question is “Why not?” … we always did ambient, thematic, intros, songs and that kind of things, so why would we do the same things than everyone since it’s something really characteristic to us. It’s like the people comparing us to certain bands but at the same time saying “I don’t like they add ambiance songs it’s so weird and break the mood of the album’’ so they are saying at the same time that in reality we are not like these other bands because we do something they weren’t expecting and that throw them out of their comfort zone, so as an excuse they will say we copy this or that band but without constancy in their writing instead of see that in fact we have our own identity. So we did that song because it mean something to us , and I know it creates a lot of discussion since it’s out, but like I said it proves our point here, we do things differently.       

Being from an area of Canada with a huge local metal scene, are there any local metal bands that 

Have caught your eye recently?

I ll be honest I do go to any shows, local bands or international, it’s simply not my cup of tea. Beside that I was at the head of one of the biggest metal booking agency in Montreal for 21 years, so I had more than my fill of concerts.

Last but not least, are there any little secrets about Necronomicon, whether it be plans or little fun 

Facts behind songs that you can share?

Well it’s no big secrets but I don’t listen to metal beside vintage stuff once in a while, so I don’t know much about what’s been around for the last 15 years or more.  The song called “The Fjord” on the new album is about the band place of origin in the northern part of the Quebec province called Saguenay. Not sure what else to say here.    

Thank you very much for your time, I appreciate it very much and I hope to see you on the road 

Sometime soon!

You are welcome, be sure to keep in touch for more to come on the band Facebook and don’t forget to get your copy of “Advent of the Human God”

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Interview with Scott Hedrick of Skeletonwitch (audio)

     As the Decibel Magazine Tour 2016 was nearly finishing, the tour made its way up to a still snowy Toronto and after their exhausting set and having to unload the stage, Skeletonwitch guitarist Scott Hedrick still had enough energy to talk to us during High on Fire's set about the new vocalist, Adam Clemans, the upcoming EP, all the changes to the band, and of course, how happy Abbath's voice makes him.






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Tour review: The Decibel Magazine Tour with Abbath, High On Fire, Skeletonwitch and Tribulation in Toronto at The Opera House April 10th, 2016

                On Sunday, April 10^th, 2016 on a snowy day in Toronto, the Decibel Magazine Tour descended upon our beloved venue, The Opera House. Abbath, High on Fire, Skeletonwitch and Tribulation made up the extreme metal tour of the year bringing a couple different firsts to North America, Skeletonwitch on tour with their new vocalist Adam Clemens and Abbath on tour for the first time.

At roughly 7pm, with a line of us standing in the snow the doors finally opened and with very little time to waste, Tribulation took the stage shortly after. Opening with “Strange Gateways Beckon” this band is just as mysterious as they are fantastic, with guitarist Jonathon Hultan very light on his feet, dancing and making his way around the stage seamlessly. While the show continued the band continued to keep the audience captivated in each and every line they had to shout out. Eventually, very quickly and after only a few songs, “Holy Liberation” began and cranked through in what felt like no time at all and Tribulation were done. The audience was mesmerized and even though they were the opening band tonight, they packed in the venue and made plenty of new fans already. No one was ready to see them leave, except those of us who knew what was next.

                After a very short transition, Skeletonwitch took the stage with new vocalist Adam Clemens, known best for his work with Wolvhammer, opening with “I Am of Death (Hell Hath Arrived)” off the bands most recent album “Serpents Unleashed”. Instantly, most previous fans of the band were drawn to the new incarnation of the band, while not having quite the vocal range previous vocalist Chance Garnette had, Clemens made up for with sheer destructive Black Metal force. The band played a lot of songs off of “Serpents Unleashed” with a couple songs from “Beyond the Permafrost” and “Forever Abomination” mixed in, but it was the new songs that made everything special, you want to hear what the band will be bringing soon. “Well of Despair” has been out for a month now, but the song live is even more destructive, the fast paced Blackened Death sound Skeletonwitch are known for got the crowd headbanging like some psychos. “Black Waters” was the other new song shown off and personally sounded a bit more melodic and chaotic instrumentally than anything previously done by the band. Not knowing the song made it a bit hard to follow, but that’s fairly common with any song you don’t know, but all in all it’s a song to look forward to hearing a studio version of to really take in the madness. Eventually the band had to come to a close with “Beneath Dead Leaves” and let the pit open one last time for Skeletonwitch before their final goodbyes.

                Due to an interview taking place at the time, I was only able to catch the first couple songs from High on Fire, but the interview was worth it, don’t worry that will be up very soon. Opening with “The Black Plot,” I actually enjoyed the band more this time than when I saw them on tour with Pallbearer. Maybe it was just an off day for the band last time, but the new songs like “The Black Plot” seemed more rehearsed and much tighter than before. The band brings a traditional Heavy Metal destructive sound that a lot of people can enjoy, although being the slightly out of place band on a bill filled mostly with Black Metal. The other song I caught before having the leave the main area was “Carcosa” which, although a good song and it may have just been my excitement, seemed to take forever. High on Fire has a lot of energy tonight and it was a shame I had to leave, but just you wait for the interview.

                My interview finished just as High On Fire were closing out, meaning when i got back to the main area, the crowd was just thinning out a bit for the smokers to take a quick break. Sneaking back up close, Abbath’s introduction began and needless to say, the crowd went mad. After an epic introduction, the sound of marching feet began and out came the band, everyone except Abbath himself, but soon enough, just before the vocals of “To War!” started, the man of the hour made his way in front of Toronto. All eyes were on the frontman as the band cranked out songs, old and new, including “Winter Bane” from the first Abbath album, “Warriors” from the band I and Immortal’s “Nebular Ravens Winter”. When the band began “Ashes of the Damned” it was hard not to watch the frontman, if you know Abbath, you know his signature Black Metal grunt, and this song is full of them. While Black Metal is meant to sound evil, Abbath is hard to sake to seriously, constantly making faces and striking poses for photos, you can’t not be happy when seeing this band live. If you watch drummer Creature, you might feel uneasy though, dawning a demon mask, whoever is behind the set knows what’s going on. Creature will stare straight forward for 99% of the show, barely needing to look at what part of the set his sticks are hitting and if you watch it too long, you’ll start to get that “are you human?” feeling. When the band broke into the Immortal track “Tyrants” you knew shit was going down, the pit opened to its largest size and the crowd went wild, hair was everywhere and people were being thrown around like there was no tomorrow. In the songs slow section, roughly half way through, Abbath began to make poses and try to get the crowd as loud as he possibly could, and it worked, before breaking back into the headbanging madness. “Count the Dead” put a break between two more Immortal songs, “One by One” and a song that personally, I was overly excited to finally see, “Solarfall.” Abbath took every chance he got to take to the very front of the stage during “Solarfall” and again, got the blood pumping. “Root of the Mountain” followed with “All Shall Fall” afterwards. The band left the stage and after a ton of cheering and chanting Abbath retook the stage, asking “so you want some more?” and caused absolute chaos one last time with “In My Kingdom Cold,” saying goodnight, promising the bands return and leaving the stage.

Tribulation Performance: 85/100

Skeletonwitch Performance: 95/100

High On Fire Performance: 80/100

Abbath Performance: 95/100

Overall Experience: 90/100

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Rotting Christ "Rituals" Album Review

 

                In South Africa some bands are under fire from religious protesters, one of which being Rotting Christ, who now plan to tour the country under a different name. While this isn’t about their name, this is about their tour because today we are talking about their new release on the label known for its Extreme Metal, Season of Mist. Rotting Christ will be trekking down in South Africa to show off songs from “Rituals” and man, does the album title match the album.

                So let’s talk about why the title matches the album shall we? “Rituals,” rise of hand if you know what a ritual is.... Good, well a lot of this album sounds like it would be used in a ritual, the majority of the album is more of an Ambient “spoken word” Black Metal sound, while vocalist Sakis Tolis is using harsh vocals throughout the album instead of sounding like singing, most of it sounds more like a chant with the instrumentals being more of a backing soundtrack. The main song you can notice this in is “Apage Satana” where the vocals literally are a chant and the tribal sounding beat in the background is really just a soundtrack to the apocalypse for the entirety of the song.

                While most of the songs do sound more like “rituals” there are a few songs that stand out as true Black Metal epics, “Elthe Kyrie” has a strange vocal bit that sounds like a panicked woman but the song closes out with an epic tapping section that’ll instantly draw anyone in. “Tou Thanatou” is a song that shows off the instrumentals of the band, very consistent riffs and double bass from the drums make this a song the band will crank out on every tour from here on out, possibly even open or close with based on the sound. The real draw to me was “The Four Horsemen” which yes, is a cover, and no, it is not Metallica. The song is a cover of Aphrodite’s Child and is one of the only songs that actually sound like a song on the album, less ambient more old school Black Metal.

                So there you have it, with “Rituals” you know what you’re getting into. The idea is cool, assuming that was on purpose of course, the Ambient Black Metal thing was never something I, personally, was ever able to get behind though. The songs are a bit to drawn out for me and not understanding the lyrics as most are not English make it a bit hard to really get indulged in the album. If Ambient/Gothic Black Metal is your thing, this album will probably knock your socks off, if not it may be best to avoid.

45/100

Destroyer 666 "Wildfire" Album Review

The leading dominators in Blackened Thrash Metal are back with their new album on Season of Mist, Destroyer 666 and their new album “Wildfire” have been spreading like... well, a wildfire. Being the bands first full release since 2009 it’s a breath of fresh air to get something like this in the genre, taking over what Sodom stopped going for and doing it just as well if not better! 9 songs and 40 minutes of headbanging brutality, an incredible onslaught of destructive riffs and a consistent shock in vocal prowess the band brings their all on this album, but is their all enough?

                Destroyer 666 are back and in case you were unsure of that, right off the bat in “Traitor” you get introduced by an insanely high scream that could almost put modern Rob Halford to shame, mixed with the riffing harmony being Warslut and Felipe Kutzbach. If the speeds of these riffs weren’t enough and you have a problem headbanging to solos then just wait till the last 60 seconds, the song enters a riff that you have to headbang to that leads into a solo. “Live and Burn” follows up “Traitor” sounding like a cross between Destruction and Toxic Holocaust between having Destruction style tempo in the introduction blended with Black Metal-era Joel Grind (I know he never ACTUALLY did Black Metal, calm down there I see you typing to tell me how I’m wrong about Toxic Holocaust being Black Metal). The speed of this song is off the charts, between that and it being heavy this song would be excellent live as a pit song. With the next song “Artiglio Del Diavolo” being an instrumental how about we skip ahead a couple to “Wildfire” the title track of the album and see how it stands up being a bit later in the album. Warslut‘s vocals are less harsh on this song, taking more of a Speed Metal turn, which makes sense with the galloping style of riffing, featuring one of my favourite solos on this entire album which is followed by a heavy bridge into a straight speed solo before getting back to vocals. The song is sheer speed, the album is fast as fuck and unrelenting, and the contrast in the vocals between sounding like a Black Metal lunatic and Tom Araya at the beginning of “Angel of Death” makes a lot of these songs unpredictable which a lot of bands fail to do. The only real break you get in this album is right before the album resets with “Tamam Shud” being an incredible album closer and the song I see being played in the background as the band walks out on stage an bows goodbye to the crowd, it’s slower, mostly, it’s intriguing and the guitar patters are really cool even to someone who couldn’t play “Smoke on the Water” to save their life.

                7 years later Destroyer 666 release “Wildfire,” an album that will, more than likely, stand tall to every other album released this year. With this album it’s becoming apparent that this year will be the year of Mist, releasing plenty of excellent albums already this year Destroyer 666 are just another notch up for the global domination Season of Mist must be planning at this point.

95/100

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Necronomicon "Advent of the Human God" Review

                Canada has been releasing some epic Metal the past few years, always having been a part of the Metal scene and giving bands a huge start like Possessed for example, but not having a ton of international bands ourselves. It’s more than deserved that we start getting some international recognition for more bands, Crimson Shadows and Revenge both touring with big bands internationally and getting huge American and European support and Crimson Shadows and Vesperia both playing and winning the international Wacken Open Air Battle! Today, we are here to talk about a band that has toured with Greek symphonic masters Septicflesh and Italian Death Metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse and found their home on the internationally renowned label Season Of Mist, known for being a home for all the best Extreme/Death/Black Metal. If you somehow don’t know yet we are talking about French-Canadian Symphonic Black Metal band, Necronomicon, who have destroyed plenty of stages on their tours, impressed the hell out of me when I saw them in 2014.

                Enough of a background on Canada and Necronomicon, let’s talk about now. Necronomicon’s “Advent of the Human God” is in every section, juicy symphonic goodness and blistering Black Metal mayhem, starting with “The Descent,” “Advent of the Human God” and “The Golden Gods” you’ll learn the true headbanging prowess of what this band offers all the way from the beginning of their symphonic opener. The album starts to get really interesting at their second symphonic interlude “Okkultis Trinity” introducing heavy brass, choir and just all together sounding incredibly classical and chilling, but in “Unification of the Four Pillars” with the constant blastbeats, backed with a fairly classic Black Metal riff and fucking horns this song sounds all sorts of epic. At about the midway point the song breaks into what can be seen as a breakdown, the beat turns almost tribal and the choir begins to create one hell of an atmosphere that sounds like you just walked into a ritual. “Crown of Thorns” comes next which has been released already and with the way people are talking about it, I’m not the only one who would say good things about it. Last pair I want to talk about is “Gaia” and “(I) Bringer of Light,” the former is a great instrumental build up with crows cawing and bells and choir vocals and thunder, if you need a song to open a movie or game and set an atmosphere of death, this is it, I can picture the pallbearers carrying the body of an emperor with this playing. The latter of the two is the song that follows that if I had my say, would be a live staple with its melodic Black riffs and not as insane but mesmerizing drum patters. This song would be a joy to headbangers and mosh pitters alike, the riff and drum patters are perfect to bang your head against the stage like you never did before and the constant aggression would never let the pit slow down.

                Here’s what we have learnt today, Black Metal is great, Symphonic Black Metal is awesome and Necronomicon are outstanding. This album is a banger from beginning to end and the only negative thing I have to say about it is that I think there are too many little symphonic interludes that are tracks of their own, I do think they should stay on the album as they give the album it’s atmosphere but maybe placed at the beginning or end of a song not being a song of your own, this is just my thoughts though.

85/100

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*Starting this Thursday we will be having Throwback Thursday, a day where we look back at albums that were beloved (or no so much) and see how they stand up now*