Farsot - Insects (2011)

Band: Farsot
Country: Thuringia, Germany
Style: Progressive/Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: Lupus Lounge

As my interest in black metal had grown with me within the last several years, I've noticed that my interest in two particular countries scenes have definitely become my favorites, the French and the Germans. If you'd paid attention throughout the years, you'd notice that a lot of the material coming from Germany is quite good. Farsot is one of those newer groups that definitely caught people's attention with their debut, "IIII," and this follow-up has been pretty highly anticipated ever since.
You know, after I'd say a couple years of not listening to Farsot, due to just listening to other albums not because I didn't want to, the opening of this album seemed really fresh to me. The vocals first struck me in a way where it almost sounded like a sample, which I think was used at first before transitioning into a more throaty spoken word which really was seamless. Somewhere in the realm of being progressive and atmospheric is where you could kind of put this band, cause both sides of the genre are well demonstrated on here, though not always together. I think that the band has some really interesting ideas being used throughout, whether it be through chanting, softer clean sections, or more psychedelic influenced guitar riffs, and I'll admit that not all of it works, but I found the greater majority does work. In addition to that, I do enjoy that this record does contain a lot more songs, because "IIII" really did feel like an album of movements rather than an album that had songs.
I've read some mediocre reviews of this album and I'm not sure why people feel as negative about the album as they do. For myself, this is the type of growth that I like bands to go through, once again, there are flaws in here, but it's not all that glaring or out in front enough to really make that big a difference. I do feel that while this album is a lot more well written than their debut, it is less cohesive, if only because it is a more song based album it loses some of that cohesion. The samples that are used throughout the album act to kind of hinge the whole thing together, which at times feel a little forced, but I do think have a place. I also believe that a couple of ideas from here can be traced back to influences of the band, or what appear to be influences, hear the softer passages like the interlude 7 or the constant shifting in a track like Perdition, like Opeth or Secrets of The Moon. For myself, I kind of think when people will look back at Farsot's discography in a couple of years, they'll see this album more of a transitional one from the more atmospheric based debut into a more progressive, but still atmospheric, one.
In the end I do think this is a nice album with a lot of good ideas, but ultimately I do view it more as a transition sort of release. I think the next album will see the band develop this sound into their own, at least in my opinion I hope they do. Very solid, and definitely worth checking out if you want to hear an interesting blend of ideas in your black metal.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Empyrean, Perdition, Withdrawal

Nunfuckritual - In Bondage to The Serpent (2011)

Band: Nunfuckritual
Country: Oslo, Norway
Style: Black Metal/Doom Metal
Label: Debemur Morti Productions

I, like many of the other people who saw this album were curious about what it was going to come out sounding like considering the people involved in it. Certainly, black metal was going to be the main sound, but beyond that I really don't know how strict it's going to keep that sound to it's chest. Supergroups are all the rage now, but I wasn't sure if this one was going to be a good one or bad, despite whatever you might have thought coming in.
Featuring members that include Dan Lilker of Brutal Truth, Espen Tørressen Hangård of Diskord, Teloch of Nidingr and The Konsortium, and Andreas Jonsson from The Black, like I said above, I didn't know how "black" this metal was going to be. Thus, to answer that question right off the bat, it you were searching for the record to fit alongside your early Darkthrone and Vlad Tepes albums, this is not where you want to look. This is the type of album that, while it's certainly a black metal album, is more than that, so put it alongside albums like the most recent Taake and Shining releases. It's got that kind of cleaner sound that still retains a lot of the darkness and grittiness of the black metal style, but the comparison made to those two bands comes in more ways than just the production. You will find that the personality shares a similar sense of distaste and disgust instead of hatred and chaos, or even sadness and depression. Also, the fact that Attila Csihar and Ravn both make a guest appearance on Komodo Dragon, Mother Queen should more than give them a solid boost of cred in the black metal scene.
Personally, it's those strange little sounds that are used in the background that perhaps makes the tracks I like stand out a bit more from the rest of the pack, so to speak. The organ that comes in a little more than half-way through Christotokos just brought in this almost psychedelic kind of vibe in while it was used. Plus the doomy nature of Parthenogen is far from being straight ahead blast-beats and tremolo riffing. This isn't really an album that relies on atmosphere as much as I think it kind of tries to to, and I hope that makes sense. What you get on here is an album whose production, at least to my ear, sounds pretty polished and clean sounding, it's not pristine or super slick, but it does sound like several more accessible releases from other bands who've released albums this year on bigger labels, but is trying to keep that more hazy and murky sort of sound. For myself, I don't think that the atmosphere manages to come through as effectively because the production is cleaner, it sort of pushes the ambiance into the background a lot more. I do believe that the title-track, In Bondage to The Serpent, does however, bridge the gap quite nicely though, really bringing the cleaner production and higher level of ambiance together in a very cool way.
I'm impressed with the record, for it's six songs do provide a good source of entertainment for it's entire running time. Like I said, the production does tend to kind of overwhelm some of the more ambient ideas on here, but I'd still say that as a whole, the album does work. Check it out if you're in the market for an interesting black metal album with a bunch of well skilled guys.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: Christotokos, In Bondage to The Serpent

The Austrasian Goat/Neige Morte - Split (2011)

Band: The Austrasian Goat/Neige Morte
Country: Metz, France/Lyon, France
Style: Black Metal/Funeral Doom Metal
Label: Musicfearsatan

Earlier this year we got the debut from Neige Morte, a strange and very left-field black metal album unlike that of almost any other band I've heard before. So with this we get them pairing up with a project of equal ambiguous stylings and categorization. What could you ask more for if you like weird and extreme black metal?
I'll start with The Austrasian Goat's song for the split, The Gracious Fall of The Morning Lights. Now, I'm a new fan of the project's work and I will say that I haven't listened to it a whole bunch as of yet, but when it comes to this track you get something very different. The eleven minute track builds from the base of a very dark and hazy sounding folk song into something that does resemble his more metallic work. Tremolo picking and blasting drums enter the picture after a while and pretty much redefine what kind of song you're actually listening to is, which happens a couple of times actually. You could pretty easily cut this one track up into three separate songs if you wanted to, to be honest. The dark folk from the atmospheric black metal from the more ritualistic sort of folk rock.
We Who Are The Worm is Neige Morte's contribution to the split, another eleven minute song. Unlike it's partner in crime on here though, this track is not nearly as defined as clearly cut into sections. It's a steady trek upward from the very beginning of the track, opening with very distorted bass lines that slowly bring in the drums before finally bringing in the vocals and guitar. It's a very abstract song in that, a lot of what the guitars are doing aren't "traditional" black metal, though it does escalate into that before the end of the song, a lot of it is much more avant-garde.
It's a nice split that showcases some real up and coming talent from the experimental black metal scene. I hope that people do check these bands out because they are definitely worth it. If you're a fan of experimental black, doom, and sludge metal, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to find something in here you would like.
Overall Score: 7.5
Highlights: The Gracious Fall of The Morning Lights

Mournful Congregation - The Book of Kings (2011)

Band: Mournful Congregation
Country: Adelaide, Australia
Style: Funeral Doom Metal
Label: Weird Truth Productions

When I look at the reviews I did last year, I covered a lot more funeral doom than I did this year, not that it really matters, it's just an observation. But the reason I bring this up is that it seems like most of the better bands from the sub-genre are the ones that are more well known, and thus we have a new Mournful Congregation album. I've heard nothing but praises being sung for this album, and as a fan of the band, I've obviously been awaiting it for some time as well.
If there's anything to really be said about funeral doom, as a whole, it's that there really isn't a whole lot of middle ground in terms of band quality, or at least that's how I see it. There has always been a distinct line between the bands that were good and the bands that were bad, I can't really recall any times when I heard a funeral doom record and I was just meh on it. It's a genre that you really have to be good at to really build a fanbase, or you just have to be as underground and kvlt as possible to get the kids in their basements as your fans. To say that Mournful Congregation is one of the better bands would be an understatement. In terms of the whole funeral doom sub-genre, even the good bands can be nothing in comparison to others. A band like Mournful Congregation is definitely one of those bands that is in the top teir of their genre and has the respect of those who have actually explored the genre and can see why these guys are so good at what they do.
When you get a band that fuses emotion with crushing heaviness you get a band that sounds authentic and passionate about what they do, something that does not come across in music as often as it really should. With this album, you can tell that these blokes aren't in this band for money or fame, though to be honest playing funeral doom really wouldn't bring you that anyway, but you can just tell that they put every ounce of themselves into these songs. It isn't about just being as heavy and slow as possible like many may believe, as I did when I first began my journey into the sub-genre, it's about how you can convey the deeper sense of emotion within the droning riffs and chords. That, combined with a great sense of melody is one of the reasons why this band has made it to where they are today. The use of brooding melancholy and absolute sadness that purveys even the acoustic ballad, The Bitter Veils of Solemnity, retain the same weighty darkness that the other three tracks on here contain, without sacrificing any of it to go acoustic. But it takes the concluding, thirty-three minute title-track, The Book of Kings, to really show you what funeral doom can do at it's very best. It takes a lot to stretch a single song out for that length of time and keep it interesting, something not even prog-metal bands do all that often, I can't recall one putting out a single song that tops thirty minutes actually, and it certainly takes more than droning guitar riffs to keep this track interesting all the way through. Sure, there are a couple of moments where I feel a riff could have maybe been shortened, but for the great majority of the track, and I'm talking at least thirty minutes of it's whole, is interesting and well justified with doomy melodies, quiet interludes, chanted and spoken word vocals, and brooding atmospheres. This track is one of the epitomes of funeral doom, in general and of all time; if you have the patience for it, you'll hear one of the best funeral doom songs ever recorded.
If you want a reason why I haven't covered that much funeral doom this year, it's because very few albums come even close to touching the quality of this one. These guys keep raising the bar with each album and are quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in all of doom. If you're in the mood and market for some fantastically slow doom, this is where you should go to first.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: The Book of Kings

The Cedars of Lebanon - Archive II (2011)

Band: Cedars of Lebanon
Country: Chicago, Illinois(?)
Style: Drone/Noise
Label: Land of Decay

By the one fact that this is being release by Land of Decay, I was interested in this tape. It was actually surprising to me that the drummer of doom/sludge group Minsk is the head of this project. I knew coming in that this was going to be really different, but it was a completely different experience than I thought.
This six song tape can really take you places, if you let it. As six individual pieces, this is far from the doom/sludge metal of Minsk, instead, you have the heaviness and darkness translated into a much more ritualistic sense. It's perhaps darker, but not as accessible as a metal record would be. For myself, there were moments on here that were truly unsettling and did make me uncomfortable at times, Nerves in particular. There are moments on here where the soundscapes just become so intense, and that's not a joke or over exaggeration on my part, that it does creep me out. On more than one occasion, I seriously thought it was going to start raining while I was listening to this in my car. Call it paranoia, but this release is just that powerful and authentic.
Unlike what I've often heard as ritual ambient music, what occurs on this tape feels like an actual ritual. It's not just about the atmosphere, which obviously is a must, but it's what goes on with the instruments and in the background that brings these pieces to life. Sure, the percussion is very central to this project's style, but it isn't just a drum kit, Anthony Court esques that take for more abstract percussion. Hand percussion is used throughout, but electronic beats, or what appears to be electronic beats, along with more found sounds, like what appears to be wood being hit against metal on I Was There At The Moment of The Beginning. In addition to that, the vocals and voices that are used throughout provide a very necessary sense of almost spiritual eeriness to the songs. The field recordings also provide a much more authentic sense of realism and place to these recordings. Unlike a lot of other projects that I've heard termed as "ritual ambient", for this, the field recordings prove to be just as integral to the overall sound as any of the other instruments.
I won't claim that this is for everyone, because I doubt that a lot of people will be into this sort of stuff, but it is good. In my opinion, I do think a couple of minutes could have been shaved off here or there from various songs, but as a whole it's an interesting and introspective release. Check it out if you're into weird psychedelic drone or ambient music.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Place Me Underneath My Mother’s Breast Underneath The Cedar Tree, I Was There At The Moment of The Beginning

Servile Sect - Demos 2005/2006 (2011)

Band: Servile Sect
Country: Brooklyn, New York/Humboldt County, California
Style: Experimental/Psychedelic Black Metal
Label: Land of Decay

Who would have thought that 2011 would be the year when Servile Sect would come out of the obscurity of the underground into almost mainstream consciousness. With their previous two full-lengths that were released earlier this year, "Realms of The Queen" and "TRVTH," we got what has been some the duo's most acclaimed material. I'm not big on the idea of releasing demos, but when it came to Servile Sect, I was, and that's because I knew I'd be in for more than just rough ideas of songs from an album.
Depending on what you're a fan of from the SS duo will determine which side of this cassette you'll end up enjoying more of, though, if you're checking this out, chances are you're already a fan so you'll be more apt to already enjoy both sides. The first half of the cassette really exhibits a sound that could be described as a mix between psychedelic drone and piercing industrial noise. Now, if you end up hearing this, it's a lot more pleasant than it sounds written out. It's a very psychedelic track that does move around quite a bit. You'll find that while some sounds are maintained throughout most of the track, atmospheres will shift, different drones and noises will appear and disappear, and the overall appearance of the track will shift by the time it ends. It should also seem appropriate that the climax of the song comes a little more than half way through the track and then proceeds to be broken down again into darker soundscapes.
The second half of the cassette is a lot more "typical", if you can really say anything Servile Sect has released is typical in any sort of way to begin with. It's a much more aggressive and straightforward form of black metal that will probably be what will draw most people to this release. In comparison to even their first album, 2007's "Stratospheric Passenger," this is much more simplistic, riff wise, and you'll see an almost thrash element in some of the riffs as well, which is something that hasn't really been heard in any of their other material. Though, if you've heard any of the duo's material, you should know that they will never simply stay in one style. As the second half of this cassette progresses, the black metal element fades away into a similar realm of psychedelic drone and noise that was showcased on the first half. Unlike the first side of the tape however, this track does not maintain a drony/noise soundscape for what length remains after it begins, instead, it gives way to a more doomy sort of melody that is another element that I haven't really heard the duo explore all that often either.
Now, personally, I enjoyed this release; I find the duo's take on ambient and drone music is very interesting and unique in comparison with a lot of the other artists I've heard doing those styles. Be warned though, this is kind of completest material, don't dive headfirst into this expecting find the band sounding like this on every release that was released after this material was written. If you're a big fan of the duo, I highly recommend checking this out, but if you're new, definitely look into the full-lengths before going for this.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Side A

Flourishing - The Sum of All Fossils (2011)

Band: Flourishing
Country: New York City, New York
Style: Technical Death Metal/Grindcore
Label: The Path Less Traveled

Yes, another record I'm only now covering, yes, I've fallen behind, I know. I've heard a lot of good things about this record, and I kind of let it just slip through my fingers. While I approach death metal, new death metal, very hesitantly, I was very interested in this album.
Within the recently dubbed "post-death metal" sub-genre popping up on my radar as of a couple months ago, I found a new interest in hearing bands that were doing something a bit different with death metal. As much as I do have a distaste for super-polished death metal, or really any form of extreme metal, note the use of extreme, and have more preference towards death metal bands that sound like old-school death metal bands, for the most part, there will always be those handful of groups that I just get tremendous amounts of enjoyment from because of how they've done something a bit different with the genre. When I listen to this album, and it was lumped in with groups like Portal, Ulcerate, and Mitochondrion, just to give you an idea of what I was told the sub-genre was to resemble, it does resemble a style that I do prefer. Personally, I've found that death metal that works more with atmosphere, whether it's directly through groups like Incantation, Immolation, or to an extent Morbid Angel, or in their own unique way, like Portal, it's just something I've found myself drawn to this year. When I listen to this album, I get a band that does a lot of the things I'm currently enjoying about modern death metal, or "post-death metal".
So, what do you get if you decide to listen to this album? As a death metal band, that's obviously the core, but there are a whole lot of different influences that I heard, the first three tracks brought to mind doom, progressive rock, and mathcore alone, and the rest of the album only expands on the primal death metal core. The atmosphere is like listening to the band play while surrounded by a haze of smoke, both from drugs and from fire itself. Hopefully that makes sense. Things are constantly shifting, from intense death metal phases of blast-beats to slow and sludgy chugs, In Vivid Monochrome. If someone told me they wanted to hear a a good "death metal" album, this probably wouldn't be the best album to give them because for all intensive purposes, this is way to varied and experimental to be simply "death metal". I should say that I applaud these guys for crafting a record that is not only intense throughout, and that's making use of plenty of dynamics throughout, it's not brutal 100% of the time on here, but also builds tension, Fossil Record probably being the best example of this. There are plenty of moments on here that do slow things down and become a bit more melodic and quieter, and those sections only enhance the more brutal parts, something I would think would be common knowledge at this point in death metal's history, but it seems like a lot of bands just don't get that concept, I'm glad these guys do.
I expected good things from this record coming in after reading and hearing good things about it, but it actually exceeded my expectations. This is a very good "death metal" album that I hope you do check out. Definitely look this group up if you want to hear some very forward thinking death metal.
Overall Score: 9
Highlights: The Prospects of Rejection, By Which We're Cemented, Fossil Record