Black Friday XIII – Underground Reco
4 min read
And here we are again. Another #BlackFriday. I listen to many good releases this week, but I decided to choose these 4 bands, the reason? Too many to mention, to be honest. So I tried to choose 4 bands completely differently.
Band: At Dusk
Title: Condemned
Label: Pacific Threnodies
Release Date: 29 March 2019
Country: USA
Format Reviewed: Digital Promo
This album started with the “Condemned” song, the song that gives the name to this album. The first thing that came to my mind when I start to listen to this album was “They are a Death Metal band?” Why? The riffs on the beginning of the song, that sounds like Hypocrisy riffs. But this one man band is not a Death Metal band. Korihor, the mind behind this band take me on a journey. A Black Metal journey with some Doom or Sludge moments but no depressive Black Metal (in the “traditional” way) at least in my opinion. It is an interesting release divided into 4 songs, an average of almost 13 minutes per song. It is a 51m 33s album that you need to give a listen. The band and Korihor deserve that. The last thing, I loved the piano on the last track and the way that the song flows after it. Very good.
Band: ORO
Title: Djupets Kall
Label: Endless Winter
Release Date: 01 March 2019
Country: Sweden
Format Reviewed: Digital Promo
From the Swedish land come ORO. A band that started back in 2014 and “Djupets Kall” is the debut album and from what I found the first release too. ORO that means “preoccupation” in English if the translator did it correctly. ORO is a band that moves inside the Sludge and post-rock or post-metal. They don’t bring anything new in the mention genres but the way they do and the atmosphere created in the songs, that’s what got my attention. The cadence in the songs, the sound of the guitars with the details, with some melancholic melody behind the riffs and the voice, very good. I can say that I was a lucky bastard when I got this promo and this way, I had the pleasure to listen to this amazing debut album. Well done.
Band: Ripped to Shreds
Title: Eight Immortals Feast
Label: Nameless Grave Records
Release Date: 22 March 2019
Country: USA
Format Reviewed: Digital Promo
According to the promo that I got and I quote “In Chinese mythology, the Eight Immortals are a group of individuals who transcended mortality and were thus granted abilities ranging from curing the sick to necromancy to being able to transform regular stones into silver and gold.” Well, If I got the lyrics I could say what they are talking about, but I didn’t, so, let us stay with the music. Ripped to Shred is (Just one person) HM-2 Death Metal or Old school Swedish Death Metal. It reminds me of a lot of Dismember, eheh. After one album the band decided to release this demo with just 2 original songs and 1 cover (Insect Warfare). This demo … I want more, these two original songs could not satisfy me, I want more. But as the demo only had two original songs, I had to content myself and put it on repeat. I can assure you that he played many times…
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Band: Forged in Black
Title: Descent of the Serpent
Label: Fighter Records
Release Date: 05 March 2019
Country: England
Format Reviewed: Digital Promo
Well… I never was a big fan of Heavy Metal, I mean the music style in the traditional way or the sub-genres related to Heavy Metal. I like the classics because I grew up with them but it is a style that does not make any “click” in me, but sometimes my curiosity is big and I decide to listen to some bands. FORGED IN BLACK was one of those bands. And you know one thing. I like it. Really. Maybe because it also has a few doses of Thrash Metal on it? Maybe, who knows. What it really matter as I like what I heard. The voice with some falsetto here and there, it reminds me Rob Halford sometimes, the solos are a kind of mix of Heavy Metal / Thrash Metal, the riffs are catchy, and sometimes reminds me, Bruce Dickinson (Solo) or Megadeth… One thing that I didn’t like some much on the album, was when they start to slow down the music, doing some harmonics and try to do a “strong voice”. This part, they remind me of some “Jump Jump” bands, luckily only happened once. It was a good hearing, this album it’s not a masterpiece, but it is an album that deserves a hearing.
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Till next week…
The Key Keeper
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