Sathamel - Sathamel

(Words by Griefmonger, archivist of blackened aural misanthropies) 

A brutal black metal record? "What?" I hear you exclaim! "Warm bass and deep vocals?" Shock horror! What would seem at first as your average death metal chunk-and-stop evolves into a black death slugger quicker than water into good red wine. We have the drill of the tremolo layering the typical bellow and breakdown-friendly nod that what would normally be a staple of a death metal band. Sathamel build a song, but very quickly the meat of the mainstay is brought to bear. If you're into frostbitten kingdoms, you're not going to get it here; instead of hyperthermia, you're going to get a baton of freshly smithed nails smashed into your head. 

Its more on the melodic side of British black metal, but its heavy as fuck. If these guys were born in Poland then they would be held aloft. (Early) Decapitated and Behemoth seem to be the influence. It would probably be a crime not to mention that there is a bit of Belphegor here too but without a lyric sheet I might be wrong……

Tracks that stand out are "Wingless", "Abbadon" ( c’mon, a song about a deity that brings three versions of the bible into question can’t be bad) and "Eternal Hunters". It is not to put into question the other three tracks, but like the songs themselves, these tracks are the ones that build the album into a crescendo. Just listen to it, okay!

Witnessing them live also I can attribute the blood drenched image they use suites better than the crisp corpse paint. these guys will make you bang your head and none of that is lost on the recorded version. Also, the release is in a nice double cardboard sleeve (wish there was a lyric sheet though), and it has a chained up fat bird with her intestines and serpents bursting out of her so its fucking cool, alright? 

Look, listen and learn - there is a brutal black metal band (dare I say blackened death metal?) scene in the UK.

Voices - From The Human Forest Create A Fugue Of Imaginary Rain

With the recent release of Voices’ second album London, I realised that I hadn’t written anything on the group’s astoundingly perplexing debut (if you’re a frequent reader you’ll begin to notice that this happens quite a lot haha). Voices are a band formed out of the ashes of the amazing and forever-mourned Akercocke, with all-members bar one of the final Akercocke line up fleshing out Voices, along with bassist Dan Abela, who played with Sarah Jezebel Deva’s solo project at some point.

For me, Voices brings Akercocke’s enormously intricate brand of blackened death metal into a cold, clinical, grey new world; creating a stylish, almost artsy fartsy yet mechanically precise blend of noise that is just bloody brilliant. I’ll admit it took me a while to get used to David Gray’s unusual drum sound here. Granted, he has chosen some very unusual sounds in the past but this ultra-triggered set up kinda makes him sound like a drum machine. But hey, this is David Gray, he could be playing the fucking maracas for all I care, and it would still sound awesome.

Opener “Dnepropetrovsk” throws you right into Voices’ confusing yet beautiful sound, but for me the album really begins with “Eyes Become Black”; a slightly more stomachable blast with equal parts brutality and fragility. My favourite track on the entire thing is the bizarre “Sexual Isolation”, which is a twisting, writhing mass of post-modern metal de blaque. Another highlight is the closing track “Endless”, which melds almost post-rock style soaring riffage with ferocious blastbeats. And then it’s over. And then I remember that London came out recently, and the world doesn’t seem so grey anymore.

Watchmaker - Kill.Fucking.Everyone.

I think that Watchmaker are one of the most under-rated grindcore bands ever, which is weird considering this record was put out on Earache (through some deal that they had with Willowtip). In grind circles I never see people wearing a Watchmaker t-shirt, in fact I don't think I've even ever seen one for sale. I never hear people talking about Watchmaker, or recommending Watchmaker; and this goes for online as well as in the flesh. It's weird because, Watchmaker aren't some one-hit wonder band; they have several CDs out, so somebody must be listening out there? If you're a Watchmaker fan hit me back on Twitter or Facebook for the love of all that is grind-holy! You must be out there somewhere.

Ironically, after all that talk of under-exposure I discovered Watchmaker back in my 'confusing' teen years when I still trifled through a Kerrang! magazine if someone was daft enough to pay money for it and then leave it in the sixth form common room. There was a tiny album review for this in an issue; and I can't remember if it was good or bad but the striking cover art and the words "grindcore" and "Kill.Fucking.Everyone." stayed with me forever. When I got into grind properly I finally bought this from the Earache webstore, which was my first one-stop shop for grind back in the day.

At the time I thought the production was a bit muddy but with much more exprerienced ears I can retract that thought; Watchmaker play an interesting, and almost artistic approach to grindcore. This CD in particular always reminded me of a cross between Circle of Dead Children and the short-lived act White Eyes, even though vocally the bands don't come close. I guess it's just the vibe I get off listening to it. There's also a lot of elements of Insect Warfare type of shit on here too, but don't be misled to thinking that Watchmaker are one of those million-thousand carbon copy grind acts.

At a sensible 19 tracks in length, Kill.Fucking.Everyone. is actually pretty long (for a grindcore record). I implore all fans of the genre to check this band out, it's some pretty cool stuff! PS, muchos apologies for the low quality on the large pictures at the start of the post - I need to be more careful during my photography sessions.