Evoken – Atra Mors (2012)
I’ve got nothing really special to say about this one. I don’t think funeral doom is for me.
Cannibal Corpse – Gore Obsessed (2002)
Pure fucking head crushing death metal! I’ll level with you, I expected Cannibal’s records to get worse as they went along, but fuck, this record is up there with their best shit. Gore Obsessed? More like Riff Obsessed, brah brah. Production is par for the course but the soundstage is huge and the balance of instruments is fantastic. Alex Webster’s bass clanks away maniacally underneath the razor wire riffage. Straight banger after banger after banger. Top shit.
Darkthrone – A New Dimension (1988)
Solid early demo from everyone’s favourite Norwegian (now) dads. Even at this primal point in time, the band were cooking up their own super interesting brand of death metal, and the complex drumming is of particular highlight.
Mortiis – Transmissions From the Western Walls of Time (Live 1997) (2021)
Frankly, a pointless release in every sense of the word, despite the lovely new artwork. Pretty sure this was available as a bootleg for many years. Truly, it should have stayed as such. I feel like I’m at a house party and some dork has put Crypt Of The Wizard on the stereo and the only effect it’s had is causing all the twats in the room to shout at each other a little louder. Avoid.
Von – Satanic Blood Angel (2003)
Von’s name is legendary. I remember a friend gave me some Von stuff on CDr many, many years ago but I couldn’t get into it. Over the last 15 years or so however I’ve come to appreciate the looser / noiser end of black metal, and in the timeline of such releases, the early Von demos are essential listening. I don’t think they are all that great; as in, stuff that came a little later is perhaps a whole lot better than these, but it never hurts to know your history. Von’s first two demos are just that – and this NWN compilation is probably the best place to hear them both.
Agathocles / Blood – Split 7″ (1991)
AGx stuff is more lo-fi than you’re average lo-fi stuff but fuck if early 90s AGx doesn’t blow your fucking sandals off – proper muffled, treble-heavy blow to the face. Like a brick is a sock. But there’s like, bits of fuckin glass in the fibers of the sock. If you like barely audible, grimy tape recordings, look no further! Blood has a clearer production but instead draws you down into bogs of heaviness and despair with their sound. Here we get two tracks which are perfect examples of the bands grindcore / death metal crossover sound. Truly, I believe Blood are one of the few bands to properly make “deathgrind” (a term which I usually hate and find pretty fucking stupid). Essential underground grindcore history is this!
Sick Sinus Syndrome – Rotten To The Core (2021)
Maggot-infested, swarming gore from Czechia with an insane pedigree (in the form of members of Malignant Tumour and the excellent Pathologist). Expect blasting drums, sinister riffs, watery vocals, oh and lots of cool cover songs such as Regurtitate’s “Vulva Fermentation” or Carcass’ “Oxidised Razor Masticator”. Either way, solid fucking production reigns supreme, allowing the sick display to be fully consumed in all of its glory.
Bathory – Destroyer Of Worlds (2001)
Nowhere near as confused or as eclectic as I went into it expecting it to be. Destroyer Of Worlds is yet another strange u-turn in the meandering back-and-forth river-like discography of Bathory. There are some hold overs that sound like they are from the Blood On Ice sessions here, such as “Lake Of Fire” (although I do appreciate there was like a five year gap between albums), but for the most part Destroyer Of Worlds just kinda floats between various styles that Bathory has tried over the years, but without really committing to any of them. Also, at 65 minutes in length, it can also be a bit of a test to get through this. At least the production is pretty good!
Bathory – Blood On Ice (1996)
An interesting return to something of a form from the later-career era of Bathory. I’m not scholar of Quothorn’s works so I have no idea why he’s whiplash u-turned back into fucking viking / norse stuff again after two albums of balls-to-the-wall blasting thrash, but here we are. My main complaint, at least initially, with Blood On Ice is that the production feels permenantly distant and far away, like I’m listening to a 192kbps mp3 rip of a bootleg CD from 1997. After a while it become wholly apparent that it’s supposed to sound like this and after multiple listens it’s even something that I can start to enjoy. Songs such as “Man Of Iron”, “The Stallion”, “The Woodwoman” and “The Lake” make suffering through the shite production a breeze. I guess it’s like reading a really cool ancient story that has been carved from wood. Some things aren’t perfect, and sometimes you might have to squint a little, but in the end it is worth it.
Morbus – Diabolikalrites & Nekrosexlust (2010)
There is something about this injection of raw bestial energy (I suppose not bestial as in, proto-war metal, bestial as in, deeply perverse sexual energy) that is just what the corpse-paint wearing doctor ordered this morning. Expect necrotic production but with a fat low end, something that is always a treat in the more tinnitus-inducing mires of underground black metal. Composition-wise, I find the tracks compiled here to be very excited, and far better than I could have expected from a random underground black metal pick. It seems this project is now RIP, which is a shame.