Apparently named after a fictional castle from a series of fantasy books by English author Mervyn L. Peake, the Gormenghast under our scrutiny is a no-nonsense Death Metal outfit from the Russian city of Ekaterinburg. The now five-headed, but four-headed at the time of recording – band has been active since 2008 and has released its debut record through Stygian Crypt Records earlier this year.

Resist or Serve is an album offering dark, hellish Death Metal, much in the vein of the old school. That means blast beats, crunchy and chunky guitars and completely incomprehensible vocals.

After a bunch of shorter / smaller releases and a debut full-length called Breed Deadness Blood in 2008, Necrovation apparently finally developed an album worthy of their own name.

The band, from Kristianstad, Sweden, is active since 2003 and produces some very traditional sweaty armpits, beer and smoke Death Metal, a.k.a. Old-School! In a time in which Metal is heavily commercializing it’s a good thing some bands remain close to the roots of Extreme Metal. Necrovation (the album) offers a selection of nine songs of ear punishment in the traditional Death Metal way. Proper Swedeath!

It’s been primarily work that has kept me from regularly writing about Metal in the last months, but to be honest it’s also been a while since I’ve come across some Metal that could really pull my pisser properly. This week though, there were two bands that kicked me in the nuts and urinated on my gasping face. An awaking and refreshing experience!

One of those bands is Blood Mortized. They say they do Svensk Dödsmetal, but it sounds more like Swedish Death Metal to me. And of the honest type too! Raw, punishing and with the sensitivity of a corpse rising up from its grave. But at the same time with a shining clarity of production.

You know you’re dealing with some underground shit when this is the best band photo to be found on the whole of the World Wide Web. The next sign is being named after a mountain in their Scottish homeland. And the third and surefire way to tell is the sound they create. This particular sound comes across as a somewhat modernized first-wave Black Metal loaded with Thrash and peppered with Death.

Stob Dearg formed in 2007 as Mortua, changed their name in 2010 and then released this demo in 2012. Nocturnal Witchcraft holds an intro and six songs coming in at just over twenty-six minutes. Just long enough to stay fun without overstaying its welcome. Its also free, so jump on in and get it!

Within the plethora of Death Metal bands that came out during the early nineties, it was quite easy to miss out on the gems that emerged from less obvious places (basically not Florida). Fortunately there are a few lucky bands who get revisited later by a record label, and the master tapes are dragged out from dusty corners, with new life breathed into them. Such is the case with Italian quartet Electrocution, who started out as a fast and brutal outfit borrowing from the Floridian scene, but later evolved into something more akin to Cynic or Atheist. However, before that transformation, they released Inside the Unreal, a 40-minute blast through technical-inspired Death Metal while also working in Bay Area Thrash influences, evoking the familiar mental image of long-haired sweaty guys headbanging in underground clubs in Florida.

Premature Burial gives a succinct snippet of the band’s style, as the album quickly flexes its low-end muscles in the form of the Canali brothers on bass and drums. Guadagnoli and Montaguti make up the guitar section, while the latter also delivers guttural growls throughout. There’s an undeniable groove to the songs, and a variety of tempos from Morbid Angel-fast to a doomier tone on Under the Wings Only Remains, where a very cool bass solo takes to the fore. Body’s Decay has a mid-paced stomp for a while, and one of the typical Slayer-like solos reminiscent of the ‘insane technical speed’ in the 80s. The drums, while not having many standout moments, leave little more to be desired, retaining the 90s feel through careful preservation and production.

I’m dealing with limited intel here, as Encyclopaedia Metallum seems to have been brought down by the FBI – wouldn’t worry too much yet, it’s April 1^st – and the band’s own Facebook page contains a bulleted time line that I’m basically too lazy for to read.

I’m not completely in the dark though. I know EmpactiC is Polish and consists of five dudes. And that the band was formed in 2005 and has recently released its debut full-length. This album is titled Gods of Thousand Souls and contains eleven songs of a crusty sort of Melodeath. Has a bit of an Old-school flavor to it too. The album was released through Terrasound Records from Austria on January 20^th and is distributed through the German Twilight mail-order company.

My first encounter with Sadistik Forest was through a sample of the above album, which raised my interest. However, I had to beg Niek for it in order to get Death, Doom, Radiation in my lap, but it has been worth it, because this album is a tiny little gem in the big sea of Death Metal releases.

This album delivers us a pounding old-school Death sound, which gets me bouncing up and down each and everytime I spin Death, Doom, Radiation. The style of Thrash-infused old school Death Metal isn’t new, but the songs are memorable and this is actually a really sophisticated record. With Sadistik Forest, it’s all in the little details, as the awesome logo shows too.

Sniff a smelly armpit and scratch your sack. Have a sip from the dead beer you’re still holding in your hand. It’s time to rise and fuckin’ shine people. Smash play on your stereo and bust that hangover with a shot of cheap scotch and burb. Louder please. If that’s what a typical morning looks like for you, I’ll bet you’ll like Burning Hatred too.

Why so stereotypical? Well, because quite frankly my fellow Dutchmen from Burning Hatred are what you’d call the stereotypical Death Metal outfit. Couple of unfit, longhaired guys that are just a bit too old for their trade. Got stuck in time twenty years ago, judging by their fashion statement, and it’s probably the last time they saw a barbershop from the inside too. Or a razorblade. Except the drummer maybe. Drummers are the only band members that ever grow up and have kids. Two daughters probably and they pull dad a little more down into reality. It’s brilliant such stereotypes actually exist.

Why? Because it allows all those other Metalheads who’ve left their head in 1992 to stay right where they are. It’s also fantastic that these chaps can be themselves without caring a hairy rat’s arse about what anyone else thinks. It’s why I love Metal! Anyfuck, Burning Hatred isn’t even that old a band; they started in 2002, did a couple of demos and shit and then had a massive exodus of members. Four out of five members took off, leaving only guitarist Martin to pull the cart. Didn’t take long before he found himself four new band members though, and they quickly set out to do an EP, titled Unleashed, which was released in early 2011. Let’s review!

Freshly formed Canadian no-nonsense Death Metal outfit Xyphos recently self-released a short, two-song single into Metaldom. It’s the second thing they release after formation date, somewhere in 2010. What Comes Before was a four-song EP, released in early 2011. A Casual Stroll through the Lunatic Asylum – which I think is a brilliant title and highly descriptive of the slightly sense-absorbing atmosphere that characterizes the two songs – followed in late January of this year.

The four men from Toronto take the bulk of their inspiration from classic DM bands, including Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, Death, Gorguts and Morbid Angel and the result is something that sounds like a fist in the teeth: brutal, shattering and with complete disregard for feelings and emotions. Fans of the old-school Death Metal sound will definitely find something they like here.

If you’ve been with us for a long time, you may remember that last May we had an out-of-the-ordinary post in which we presented just one thing: an album cover. It was the cover for an album then-to-be-titled The Ethereal Throne, in production by a Swedish band we’ve been following around for a while like a small dog sniffing a big dog’s arse. The band’s formed by two dudes, Patrik Carlsson and Andreas Åkerlind and though the album in question, their fourth since they started out in 2003, was supposed to be released still in 2011, they did launch it until January of this year.

I do not mind, for the simple reason that I know Patrik a little from over the internetz and I know these guys are a bunch of perfectionists. I’ve noticed it from their previous material as well. So a delay of a few months is probably fully attributable to this and must have had a beneficial effect on the record’s quality. I mean, it shows: this album is pure quality in a thick volumeous sauce of awesome with pinches of hot shit and drops of delicious old-school punch in the teeth. I mean: it’s good!