Chambercraft "Delirium" Demo Review

     After an almost 20 year hiatus the absolutely brilliant Black Metal project Chambercraft has come back from the deepest darkest abyss to unleash some atmospheric misanthropic anthems in the meantime for the first time ever the 2004 demo Delrium is available online for your listen displeasure lets dissect this stellar piece of art.

     Opening track Full Moon Suicide has a very thrashy aura to it a full on face melting riff fest with grim and nasty vocals ,bit like a mix of Slayer and early Immortal, the proper way to unleash this quality release, The atmosphere gets a little more darker with the Doom Laden and Misanthropic Escapades of Poisoned and Bleeding To Death there's nice subtle Darkthrone-espue elements running thoughout this song,you're given the feeling the further into the track that a slow painful ,and torturous death is been endured, closing track The Throne Room pushes the atmospheric and misanthropic elements into a darker place ,this is my favourite track on the EP and reminds me of early Xasthur and Burzum,there's an eerily frosty aura to this track like you're lost in the wilderness in the depths of an icy and snowbound forest.

  Twenty years later and this EP still sounds extremely relevant in todays realms of Black Metal,you can say it's all about nostalgia,maybe that's true but there's a new generation of bands and artist delving into the true essence of what Balck Metal has always been about,the search for individuality and spirituality,i look forward what Chambercraft have in store for us in 2024.

 

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1vyJS7y2vPSFOOFe7AWPEQ?si=FUfwriEKQTiKgLk927oUbA

BANDCAMP: https://chambercraft.bandcamp.com/track/last-cast

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@chambercraft4092

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ChambercraftSam

INSATGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/chambercraftinsta/

 

Sickened "Sickened" EP Review

 

   Let This serve as a bit introduction/recommendation piece and a short analogy from the excellent One Man Deathcore/Brutal Death Metal Project Sickened,unbeknowst to a lot of people within the Irish Scene there's something special about to explode from the county of Wexford with a few artist/bands working dilligently and under the radar included is the aforementioned Sickened who recently released their debut S/T EP.

    Although it is noticable that there's a rawness and a lo-fi approach to the production there is a certain charm to it albeit with a lethal dose of Brutality and Heaviness,the Intro is a quick instrumental track designed to create an atmosphere of what's to come, We Are Not The First plenty of crushing grooves with some lo-fi vocals that at times remind me of Viral Load or Putrid Pile, Fucked Up is possibly my favourite track on this release it's filled with crushing and visceral riffage combined with some guest vocals courtesy of Kris of Dead Memories, with better all round production the tecnicality would be alot more noticable on this track.

   Infernal Feast continues with some fantastic technical ability,there's also a larger amount of Groove prevelent throughout this one which adds another positive element to the overall product, final track You Got Nothing From It was one of the first tracks to be released by this project and suffice to say is an absolute banger,visceral and crushing riffage combined with the lo-fi vocals give this a brutality and sickness that is so addictive to listen to.

  Overall there's plenty of potential on offer with this project,yes the production may not be to everyone's liking but hell the musicianship,technical ability and amount of work put in deserves to be lauded and praised to the hilt, this is a really enjoyable and worthwhile listen and with further releases this project will definitely improve.

RATING:7.5/10

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/album/65ZTWTT9yhLwYwp4MYkyoS?si=jRbszgRXRR6Y0gCtlkZsXA

BANDCAMP: https://sickened.bandcamp.com/album/sickened

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@cal669/featured

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/sickened_official/

Rotlaust "The Dirge" Album Review

    Once in a while something comes out of nowhere and hits you like a tonne of brick or a curveball so to speak and your left utterly gobsmacked and speechless i could add a few more descriptive analogies to describe the absolutely mind blowing album The Dirge from Blackened Death Metal Project Rotlaust, Former Dead Aeon Vocalist Jack Penders is the brainchild behind this monumental project and has enlisted the help of a few old friends to help create possibly one of the best releases within the Irish Metal scene this year.

  Carrion opens up with the sound of thundering drums rumbling in the background before we're hit with a barage of crushing riffs and relentless drumming add to that a groove that continually evolves the track into nefarious tinged vocals which switch between Crushing Growls and tortured shreeks,suddenly there's the brief sound of a sitar which blends in seamlessly with the rest of the music before a soaring lead pushes the atmosphere to another level, Ceaseless continues the trend of combining groove with crushing relentlessness with an added darkness and atmosphere, the vocals begin to develop a much more darker and sinister tone,as the song title suggest the boundaries pushed into a territory that's never ending, The tempo is slowed down slightly with the groove laden heaviness of All But Calcerous while the dual vocals add a more caustic/aggressive atmosphere to proceedings,another addition is the riffs are a lot more melodic on this track, near the end of the track there's a sample of some man speaking about some nightmarish scenario about life and evolution this seamlessly flows into the earth shaking crushingly heavy The Deafening Dawn Chorus which seems to be touching on the topic of depression and the mental restraints that go with it, the further you delve into this album the darker and more sinister it becomes which is further compunded with another eerie sample from the same person about beliefs and how much they enjoy the darkness within life.

  Stain Of The Familiar delves further into mental anguish and societal collapse, the relentlessness begins to reach even higher levels, the musicianship is absolutely mind blowing and soars like a pheonix risen from the ashes, Nascent really pushes a relentless atmosphere and darkness to the fore further compounding the exremely sinister aura persisting throughout this offering,again we hear another sample/spoken dialogue from the same person this time talking about rage and a world full of bleakness and hopelessness, The Dirge combines every element and facet within this opus with a relentless efficiency that most Death Metal Bands would only dream of,about half way through the song we're treated to a dream like sequence which adds a slightly uplifting element to the overall aura before delving back into the malevolent and aggressive scenarios, Nex Internum is a fitting way to close this absolutely magnificient opus combining elements of Black Metal with the trademark crushing groove laden Death Metal ,all executed with ruthless precision and efficiency.

  The Dirge was an absolute curve ball of a release that no one was expecting and to everyones delight it delivered an album with all the hallmarks of a modern masterpiece,this has everything you'd want from an Extreme Metal band,darkness,crushing grooves,the technical proficiency of all the luminaries that create this type of Blackened Death Metal,a relentlessness that evolves to a mind blowing crescendo the further you delve into this opus, furthermore the work, focus and effort put into this deserve to commended with all the aplomb of modern masterpice of artistic genius.

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3cdNp5FWU7T85voDcEjkTb?si=7YK5qkZCRwuAzM2Wuq5uPA

BANDCAMP: https://rotlaust.bandcamp.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/RotlaustMusic

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/rotlaustmusic/