On the 25th day of the 12th month of 2012, the Six-Tongued Hellgoat was summoned to rise from the ashes and bring darkness to this place called Popdose. Join him in his quest.
Somnolent Regurgitation of the Scrolls of Proselytism
(The Hellgoat wishes to convert you to the ways of the metal. But he prefers to let the press release and bio do most of the talking on these nefarious black circles.)
Album: Sombres ForÁªts, La Mort du Soleil
Label: Sepulchral Productions
Release: July 9, 2013
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Press: Sombres ForÁªts is back with its third album, [which] sees the band take on a more atmospheric and introspective approach. By incorporating some Miserere Luminis ADN into his solo project, Annatar offers an album that is rich in atmosphere and textures, where dissonant and droning guitars go side-to-side with the acoustic parts and tortured vocals that have become the group’s trademarks over the years. A journey to dark and stormy lands!
The Hellgoat’s Take (7.5/10): Piano and atmosphere mixed with blood-curdling black metal riffs and ungodly screams makes for a deeply dark and disturbing album. The screams in “Au Flambeau” might haunt the Hellgoat for weeks.
Album: Gris, À l’Á‚me EnflammÁ©e, l’Á„me ConstellÁ©e…
Label: Sepulchral Productions
Release: July 9, 2013
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Press: 5 years and a half after the unforgettable Il Á‰tait Une ForÁªt, and after the Miserere Luminis project, Icare and Neptune resume their trip with their third album, once again a masterpiece. Featuring two symmetric, 5 song parts for a total of 80 minutes, À l’Á¢me enflammÁ©e, l’Á¤me constellÁ©e… sees the band integrate more of the classical and acoustic parts displayed by the last track of their second album to its melancholic Black Metal. A painfully beautiful album…
The Hellgoat’s Take (8.5/10): Another haunting black metal record but this time for different reasons. The dark songs are still creepy and affecting but they are mixed with a lot of atmospheric tunes not as intros to tracks but rather as stand alone pieces of art. One minute the void darkens, the next the light shines through again.
Album: Hivelords, Cavern Apothecary
Label: Anthropic Records
Release: July 2, 2013
Genre: Black/Doom/Sludge
Press: Hivelords are blackened psychedelic sludge from Philadelphia. Experiencing Hivelords is much like watching an 111 year old tree getting uprooted from the earth. A windstorm of punishing riffs, your heart pounding to ritualistic drums, and a vocalist, standing upon his alter, conjuring spirits to rip and tear the roots from your lifeless and monotonous existence.
The Hellgoat’s Take (7/10): This is the third record in a row this week with ungodly screaming. Hivelords though, play bowel rattling sludge and doom at the core while the blackened screams offer a nice contrast of styles. Cavern Apothecary is creative and different for sure. There’s room for more in the future, that is if anyone has any eardrums left to listen to them again.
Album: Humiliation, Turbulence from the Deep
Label: Deepsend
Release: July 9, 2013
Genre: Death Metal
Press: Malaysian death metal soldiers, Humiliation will release Turbulence From the Deep this summer on Deepsend Records. Their fourth studio album sees the band continue on their path of mass destruction while forging a doom-laden approach to their death metal arsenal. It should be no surprise the band warship at the tank known as Bolt Thrower. Musically, Humiliation focus on mid-tempo headbangers with heavy anthems of war, lack of humanity and minimal guitar solos. Turbulence From the Deep sees the band shift to a more doom/death Asphyx approach to songwriting.
The Hellgoat’s Take (9/10): Obviously Bolt Thrower is legendary and happens to be one of the Hellgoat’s favorite bands, so he’s always skeptical of bands compared to a band that is so loved by many. But that’s right on the mark here. This is the first album the Hellgoat has heard from Humiliation and the riffs are awfully basic and very straightforward but it works damn well on this release. There’s nothing innovative at all but innovation sometimes isn’t the be all end all and Turbulence from the Deep is still pretty damn entertaining.
Album: Deiphago/Ritual Combat, Accept the Mark Split
Label: Iron Bonehead
Release: July 25, 2013
Genre: Black/Death
Press: Deiphago and Ritual Combat, two of the metal underground’s most authentically violent bands, make a pact with Satan for an exclusive split 12″ MLP fittingly titled Accept the Mark. Both hordes each deliver two, characteristically blowtorching tracks: Deiphago create a humid human furnace of chaotic churn, including a cover of Sarcofago’s “The Last Slaughter,” while Ritual Combat create a ritualistic thrust of decimating decibels. Nuclear-powered violence + force in the name of Satan.
The Hellgoat’s Take (7/10): Red Stream released this on CD back in 2012 but if you’re a vinyl collector like the Hellgoat, you might want to pick this up. You can try to describe these two bands anyway you’d like but two words tell it best for both; fucking chaos.
Album: Sacrocurse, Sulphur Blessing
Label: Iron Bonehead
Release: July 25, 2013
Genre: Black/Death
Press: With the release of Sacrocurse’s Sulphur Blessing tape, Iron Bonehead Productions once again unveils a killer new horde that will soon be talked about far and wide within the underground. However, Sacrocurse is not an entirely “new” entity, as it is actually helmed by scene veteran Zolrak Montes, most known for Nodens and Unholier, but also a former member of Morbosidad and Obeisance. Here, with help from Turkey’s Godslaying Hellblast, Zolrak unleashes unhinged barbarity firmly with the ancient tradition of South American black/death, but adds a uniquely memorable element to the caustic chaos at hand.
The Hellgoat’s Take (9/10): The US and Turkey unite! Sulphur Blessing is a fine slab of blackened death metal that’s sure to be a hit with fans of both genres. It’s fierce throughout but even somewhat melodic at times like in “C.O.N.V.U.S.L.E.” which is a hell of a tune. It’s being released on cassette only so it looks like the Hellgoat is going to have to buy one of those tape deck thingys.
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