Voëmmr: "Nox Maledictvs"

Harsh black metal only for the most incarnated

Voëmmr is one of those bands that subscribe to the ultra cult of mystery and obscurity. Very little is known about them officially, except their belonging to the Aldebaran Circle which also includes bands like Ordem Satânica, Trono Além Morte and Occelenbriig. Nox Maledictvs, though labeled a demo, is the group's debut album of clamouring black noise.

Rape On Mind: "Downwards"

Poland's worst export

Experimentation is the essence of progress, but experimentation with no goal in mind more often than not yields terrible results. While some are content with just fine tuning what has essentially been done before, that is something that Rape On Mind aren't about at all. Inducing a thought of "huh, I wonder where this is going", their Downwards album is definitely aiming to be different.

Asilo: "Comunión"

Sonic attacks on the mind

Turmoil breeds frustration and anger, which in turn breeds outlets for that frustration. South America has had a rich history dating back to the early 80s of metal bands expressing their anger through their music and lyrics, and like those legendary and trendsetting bands from the days of yore, the four-man group Asilo from Argentina presents a lyrical universe revolving around themes such as politics and the suffering it can bring, set to a soundtrack of furious and often dangerously calm mix of doom-laden drones drenched in grimy sludge.

0 The Experiment: "Simplifying a Demon"

Experimental droplets of rain from a darkened cloud of mediocrity

Whenever a project labeled "drone" appears, my warning bells start ringing, as much too often the drone label has been used as a cloak for lazy songwriting, blaspheming against acts like Boris and Sunn O))). Supposedly the idea behind 0 The Experiment is seeing how far you can take music with just a bass. Though undoubtedly the result of long sessions of in-depth research and analysis - a daring and well-thought through hypothesis indeed - the answer to this conundrum seems to be "not very far".

Trou Noir: "Echoes in Black Holes"

Uninspired voyage into deep space

With members from Russia and France, Trou Noir is a project made possible by the great invention of the internet. In mid 2011 the international collaboration released their debut, the demo tape Echoes in Black Holes through Eerie Torture. Between them, the three members have released dozens of demos, EPs, splits and albums through different outlets, so in that regard these fellows are seasoned in the dark arts of black metal.

Apocryphal: "Embrace of Death"

Apocryphal is to death metal fanatics what a turtleneck sweater is to autoerotic asphyxiation fetishists. The right idea is there, but it isn't quite tight enough to cause any real excitement.

Spayd and Polingyowma have taken up a  task of making doom-laden death metal in a simple, back to the roots fashion with their project Apocryphal. Embrace of Death is the resulting misshapen, writhing mass that is the band's first demo, presented with a simple gore-ripping cover to get the message across.

Hammerspace: "The Kings of Mediocrity" & "Volume 1: Reset, Repair, Restore"

Cliché-ridden heavy metal for the edgiest of fedora-enthusiastic neckbeards

While the 80s was probably the decade that saw the most progress and evolution for heavy metal as a genre, it is also the decade that many current bands revisit and mimic - Some more succesfully than others. The joining of old and new seems much more paraxodical, though, with a "band" such as Hammerspace. Created by Timothy Branch as a sort of virtual concept band with imaginary members, or characters, the conceptual group borrows from fantasy and heavy metal culture alike.

The following is a sort of double-up review, holding up against each other the project's two releases The Kings of Mediocrity EP and Volume 1: Reset, Repair, Restore, released by Torn Flesh Records.

Dark Entropy: "Demo"

The winds of change are blowing, but in the opposite direction of Dark Entropy

You can usually liken revivalist bands to a few bands that they're definitely taking inspiration from. Suicidal Angels, as an example, sounds a lot like Slayer, while Trench Hell is more akin to early Celtic Frost. But with Dark Entropy there aren't any obvious inspirations, and as such their sound is more modern in tone, distancing themselves from the wave of retro-thrash that has been going on for a while.

Total Desaster: "Warfare Noise"

For when you need your own musical confidence bolstered

When Desaster aren't gruesome enough, there's always Colombia's trio Total Desaster to fulfill your needs. Presumably they took their name from the song by Teutonic thrash titans Destruction, but that's where the similarities end. The Colombian band point to an old kinship between thrash and black metal, a combination that was highly popular in the 80s in South America, for inspiration.

Skjaersild: "Skjaersild" & "Damned Roots"

Unfulfilling and incoherent idolatry

Black metal is mostly inherently abrasive in nature, and to most outsiders most bands sound alike. And true, some (read: most) bands don't exactly contribute with anything worthwhile. Skjaersild from Spain are one of those groups that in their quest to sound as much like their Scandinavian idols - their Norwegian name gives them away - as possible they become entirely bland, contributing instead to the wrongful notion that all black metal bands do, in fact, sound the same.

Countess: "On Wings of Defiance"

Anti-cultural assault of epic proportions

There are bands that, no matter what you do, just don't sit right with you. Then there are bands so obnoxiously awful that you have no idea why they've continued for so long or why, in fact, they even have fans. I may not be the biggest fan of The Beatles, but I can see why most find their easy-going style appealing. What I can't see is why anyone gives a hoot about Countess, a Dutch black metal band that has at the point of release of "On Wings of Defiance" steadily been releasing albums for almost twenty years.

Putrified: "Neurotic Necrotic"

When everyone has access to instruments and recording equipment, mankind will reap as it has sown

There will always be bands and musicians that seek to push forward, perpetually experimenting and breaking new ground. Opposite those, there will likewise be those who delve into the sounds of the past - Traditional revivalists hellbent on perfecting an older blueprint. Some branches of music have so much influence and power that they never quite go out of style. Old school Swedish death metal like Grave, Dismember and Entombed continues to strike a chord with fans both new and old, their influential reaching far across the span of time.

Postscrypt: "Foreplay to Auralgasm"

Gothic mardi gras, lacking in personality and character

Upon listening you will find Postscrypt lurking in their own dark fantasies in some obscure part of the mind. In this ungodly place the band experiments with a variety of elements, ranging from blast beats, deep baritone vocals, symphonic instrumentation, throaty screams and sections of a somewhat gothic nature. No one element is particularly dominant, making "Foreplay to Auralgasm" a release hard to pinpoint exactly. The frequent gusts of prominent melody and the darkly romantic lyrical concepts that lie at the core of Postscrypt's musical universe tends to pull them toward an 80s gothic vibe, put they never fully submerge in those waters.