Sunday, July 31, 2016

Faethom-Fury of The Scorned Witch (2016)

A sort of intro in the vein of King Diamond "Them" came on, when suddenly it came to life with a hellish torrent of noise like the scream of a demon and proceeded to steamroll forwards on a darkly churning riff. I hadn't noticed it before, but that was my introduction to "Slaves to the Dawn" and the album "Fury of The Scorned Witch". There is a lot of power held inside the underrated vaults of this release. I actually think that this album is much closer to black metal. However, the influences come more from Heavy, Thrash , and like i said BM. which tended to be more diverse than the current BM bands these days. The faster songs, particularly those that stick to a simpler format, take a killer route. You will either like or dislike this album depending on whether the atmosphere takes hold of you or not. For me this album is more mature than their early works and it rules. Great melodies, plus the additions of keyboard and female vocals by Mariela Muerte, both of which is a lethal combination in the way she delivers.  For me, the atmosphere works because it isn't exactly your typical black metal atmosphere, the weird hints of disturbance are evil; this is like watching yourself plan to assault and mutilate a stranger, the faster parts of the album work well, with slightly more complex riffs and a rushing, euphoric feeling to them, which perhaps resembles the feeling when you step back into your own mind to deliberate those acts of knowing cruelty. Faethom follow a path in many different directions: perhaps the general style of the album may be a surprise. They focus on creeping atmospheres and avalanching riffs. Don’t compare it to other bands; just take it for what it is: an individual album. Good job !
www.faethomweb.com
www.facebook.com/faethom
Review by Paul Caravasi

Skeleton Wolf (2016)

What a tremendous piece of thrash work! The shouty vocals give the album an agressive feel. And fast and heavy is the norm for the drums. Expect mosh pit and headbanging joy with this one kiddies, because this album rips. Fast riffing and drumming. I'm not going to try to break this album up too much in this review, and it will stay fairly simple. As stated above, every minute of this album just feels like one massive riff, and it's a damn good one! Every song on this album has a very hard-driving rhythm to it, and makes you wanna bang your head with regularity. To add to this amazing feeling, in every single song on this album, there's at least one riff that changes the pace notably, be it faster or slower (but always heavier) that gives me goosebumps every time I hear them. Every moment here is brilliant. If you don't have a sore neck when you're done listening to this album, listen to it again!
www.SkeletonWolf.com
www.facebook.com/skeletonwolfmusic
www.facebook.com/Clawhammerpr
Review by Paul Caravasi