Ende - The God's Rejects

Upon the shore, waves roll in a gentle and reassuring rhythm. Buried underneath the current, however, is a sentient and emergent something that should not be. With this, we're brought into the world of France's Ende on The God's Rejects, which itself was buried in 2008 and has only surfaced this week.

While Ende look back through several generations of black metal for their inspiration, the way they keep this four-song-twenty-minute-demo varied throughout shows a more well-rounded tool belt than their insular ancestors. After the aforementioned short intro, the first track, and a large portion of the album overall, draws its strength from a deliberately plodding pace rather than the relentless blast-beats of their contemporaries. Ende is slow in the same way Michael Myers is slow; they are in no rush, as your demise is assured.

Throughout, there's a push-pull dynamic with genre tropes that keeps this from being black metal by numbers without descending into falseness. While the production is what we've come to know and love, there are, among other things, tasteful/appropriate guitar solos, parts during which one could conceivably mosh, melodically clean bits, crushing doom, and moments of Portal-esque complexity so dizzying that this reviewer had to pause the album to make sure another song wasn't accidentally started elsewhere.

As rain falls to this planet, a factory-sized beast groans its protest as it returns to slumber, and, with that, Ende leaves us to wonder: if this is what The God has rejected, how great was what he found worthy?

Here's Ende on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ENDE.official

Famishgod

I was expecting to just review a demo before going to sleep - not get oppressed with incredibly despairing and gloriously desperate doom. With super low pitched growls coming out of some sort of stygian crypt Famishgod are the kind of truly insane doom metal slaughter that attracted me so much to the genre in the first place. The incredible trudge of their new record Devourers of Light is frankly overwhelming. It leaves the listener beaten into the ground unable to reconcile themselves with the demented world that they have fallen into. There is a sense of utter brutality here that goes beyond any blast beat or riff. There is something physical about Famishgod - as if you feel your bones being pulled out of their sockets one by one. Even when the band speeds up there is a sense of crushing finality as if these are our last days here (get it?) and we have to press on no matter what the consequence. Famishgod have no hope and no sense of what tomorrow can hold, instead they focus on the suffocating terror of the everyday.

Find them on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/famishgod

Teeth

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I like music that makes me feel scared. Teeth are the kind of band that go for primal human emotions and leave you not only scared but also a little bit scarred. There sound isn't as polished as it should be, but that kind of adds to the sense of terror. The fact that this ungodly abomination of a band can leave me with such a feeling of pure horror and invoke such base instincts in me proves that they are masters of their craft. These songs lurch forward like some sort of Lovecraftian beast, there is not rhyme or reason to the terror within, it's just something you have to deal with on the unsteady march forward. As you inexorably wind your way through this record you are forced to face brutal truths about yourself and reflect on a much more profound and frankly terrifying inner darkness. Teeth could very well shatter your sanity, and I have to say I like it that way.

Find them on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/Teethofficial

Caina - Setter of Unseen Snares

Rare is the black metal record that is at once both sublime and terrifying. Immaculate in conception and yet inherently screwed up. This is what Caina creates with their new record, Setter of Unseen Snares. An album that transcends boundaries, brings out musical opposites, and carries the listener into a brave new world, this is what black metal should be about. With Setter of Unseen Snares Caina will capture your imagination and take you on a journey into realms that you may have never otherwise discovered.

I think that the general vibe that Caina manage to create on Setter of Unseen Snares is just as important as the riffs and songs themselves. The ambient terror that starts to sink in (and perhaps climaxes on the albums final track, Orphan) speaks t a greater humanity within us all. It's easy to get lost in the sounds that Caina create, because even though they certainly honor certain black metal maxims, they pervert the genre even further, creating something freakishly magical. There is a wonderful and distinctly unholy sense of darkness here, one that comes across be the vocals clean or growled, with guitars that are distorted or clean.

Caina are not a band to be trifled with, and Setter of Unseen Snares will guide you through a journey that covers lots of wonderfully dark emotions. Caina will get you turned onto something sublime, something that all people, regardless of gender, race, or any other sort of percieved difference will be able to connect to. Sure the surface may be alienating, but once you dig in it's not hard to find the mastery behind what Caina do. So let these songs beat in your heart and give you strength, it's our only way forward.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/cainaband

Eye Of Solitude - Dear Insanity

Eye Of Solitude may have very well just put out one of the best ambient doom masterpieces of 2014. A nearly fifty minute long, one song affair, Dear Insanity has a crushing beauty to it that will capture the imagination and send you groveling to the deepest pits of tartarus. There is a terrifying majesty to this album that will keep you on your toes from start to finish, proof that the geniuses behind this band have a perfectly clear idea of what they want to do with their musical careers. They are rapidly rising gods of a genre god forgot, and they won't leave you disappointed.

The thing with this song is that not only is it epic, it is incredibly beautiful, there is a romantic sense of magic that defines a lot of it. As you navigate the unique soundscapes that Eye of Solitude have created it's hard not to have your heart strings plucked. The gentle synths, demonic growls and occasionally crushing guitar lines come in to leave you bent over, a slave to the almighty power of this band. What really gets me though are the gentler moments, the clean vocals, and the stripped down guitar parts. It perfectly contrasts the destructive and crushing power that this band can have, making Dear Insanity all the more satisfying.

In the end, we are left with a record that takes us full circle, from the cradle to the grave, as we try to navigate the madness that defines our lives we look north and search for truth. Yet truth is not always what we find, instead we are forced to bend our knees and pray that something, anything can keep the darkness at bay. It seems to me that in this bleak day and age doom metal may very well be our only recourse. So let this anthem of madness comfort you in a plagued world and allow you to find the hope we all need.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/eyeofsolitudeband

Usnea - Random Cosmic Violence

The doom scene these days is frankly getting a little bit bloated. A lot of the bands are kind of bland, and certain types of riffs have come to dominate. So it's impressive that Usnea still maintain a special place in the hearts of thousands of fans. With Random Cosmic Violence I get the impression that Usnea are just about to reach a breaking point and start to get offers for tours around the world. The screams are unholy, the riffs wonderfully brutal, and the songs rife with the kind of dominating forward motion that only the greatest bands can seek to emulate. In other words, Random Cosmic Violence proves that Usnea have what it takes to truly rock.

I think that a large part of the appeal of Random Cosmic Violence isn't just in the primal heaviness, but also the bone crunching sense of depravity that seems to give the record so much of its trademark sense of destruction. These songs make you feel like the world is coming to an end around you, they start off stripped back and then suddenly introduce crushing guitarmonies. The growls turn into demented shrieks and you wonder what happened to the shattered remnants of your sanity. As you dig deeper into the pit created by Random Cosmic Violence you start to realize that maybe Usnea have uncovered something that was best left forgotten, the kind of Lovecraftian terror that brings nightmares to life.

Their is something wonderfully transcendent about Random Cosmic Violence, it proves that the band still have a lot to say and can definitely pull out a whole mess of exciting riffs. Usnea are only going to go up from here, and when this record hits, I think that the band are going to start getting more and more of the recognition they deserve. It feels to me that Usnea have done everything right up till now, and Random Cosmic Violence is the gem they needed to bring everything to the next level. Let it wash over you, the scene may be bloated, but Usnea will refuse to die.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/usneadoom

Nuklear Frost - Subjugation

I have been really craving for some black metal today and because I picked up Subjugation, the debut album by Nuklear Frost, I believe it is time for a review. The three-headed band from Minnesota found in 2004 did the trick for me. The opening song is absolutely brutal, Uranium Censer definitely sets the tone of the album. The changes between destruction and the calm before the storm in Theist Holocaust gives you the feeling the second part is twice as powerful as before and it succeeds in doing this sublimely.

Vortex of Horror is probably my favorite of the bunch. The power that it produces is both amazing and haunting. After that Charnal Ditch starts with hymns paired with gunshots, a truly powerful intro I must say. It stays powerful with the following guitar intro and the added drums building up to a powerful whole. Become Death is an amazing finisher, the added doom elements makes this into a solid black record.

If you are a black metal fan, you should definitely look into this band. Subjugation is a good listen, it doesn't reinvent the genre, but it is a package of great black metal. It has enough for you to enjoy, so if that is your thing, check it out.

Also, be sure to check them out on facebook; https://www.facebook.com/NuklearFrost/