P.S. Global Metal Apocalypse does not support or encourage the NSBM movement, nor do we condone it, we purely look at it as a Black Metal genre and focus purely on the music itself.  FEUERNACHT 'Kamps Macht Frei' ONE PEOPLE ONE STRUGGLE The debut from the Austrian NSBM machine known as Feuernacht does not go without any compromise, singing entirely in their native German language, the band drag out from the darkness the most gruesome and evil types of Black Metal, the National Socialist kind. Whilst most will hate on the album, the music deals justice in that it delivers a cleverly structured slice of classic Black Metal. Fast-drumming on top of raw vocals that are so raw, it makes blood-red meat look pathetic. With a morbid, cold and damp atmosphere being drawn into the affray, this release could be the peak of the movement and as such, without any argument, a release worthy on anyone's shelves. Grim, black and practically old-school, 'Kamps Macht Frei' is the signature tune of Feuernacht. [7.5] RHYS STEVENSON  MOSHPIT 'We Carry The Heart' ONE PEOPLE ONE STRUGGLE Let's face it, the 2012 offering by German Metalcore mob Moshpit is poised to smack the hell out of the cloned Metalcore bands that scatter the earth's surface these days. Their 2012 album 'We Carry The Heart' is a perfect example of how Metalcore 'should' be done. Brutal breakdowns, neck-slashing riffs and gut-rotting vocals accelerate the monstrosity that is Moshpit. Signed to OPOS Records, Moshpit are one hell of a promising band and are sure to smash their way through the German Metal scene like a dozen horses charging into battle, this, is, the, sh*t! [8] RHYS STEVENSON  WARSENAL '2012 Demo' Give the lads due and praise, well after all Canada's Speed / Thrash Metal crackpots Warsenal make their debut on the scene with their 2012 demo. Regretfully quality is near appalling, but there again it makes you turn the volume up past 13, and then you'll find that this release has close links to the likes of Slayer and Anthrax. For the trio from the French-speaking region of Quebec, this could be the first step to bring back the old glorified sounds of 80's Speed and Trash Metal. Fast percussive beats, shredding riffs and slick vocals, Warsenal maybe become the war arsenal. [5] RHYS STEVENSON  NIGHTCREEPERS 'Alpha' Gallantly wielding their swords, strapping together their barrels and priming their arrows, is French Pagan Folk Metallers Nightcreepers with their majestic sophomore album 'Alpha'. This sextet create an upbeat yet traditional sound with the usage of keyboards and a finely-tuned accordion to mix the classic French music sound with the harsh brutality of the Metal music infrastructure. It is not often that you come across bands similar to that of Arkona, Primordial or Cruachan; minus the Celtic Metal influence, or so one thinks. However, Nightcreepers are sure to storm the European lands, turn heads and most importantly sport that upcoming, needed label signing (and one could see them on a label like Nuclear Blast someday). [9] RHYS STEVENSON  RISE OF AVERNUS 'Rise Of Avernus The debut EP by Australian quintet Rise Of Avernus does not go without it's drawbacks, it's too short. The EP kicks off the melodramatic and dark atmosphere through the delinquent sounds of the keyboard and the raw riffs of the guitar intertwining with the deep and depressive vocals, all of which bring together a real dank release. For the Progressive Gothic Doomsters, this is a great attempt on the first hurdle and it would seem that they have much more to offer in the next few releases. With clear-cut influences from Opeth, Paradise Lost and Candlemass, this is one EP to please any Doom Metal fan. [7] RHYS STEVENSON Add Comment  GRAVETY 'Into The Grave' SOURCE OF DELUGE Smackdown and let rip to the sounds of Heavy Thrash Metal, or one should say the debut album 'Into The Grave' released by Gravety. The German quintet lash together a unique sound that reflects the glorified Oktoberfest in its prime, sensational riffs and menacing drumming all adding flavour to the mind-blowing vocals that cascade and scale the volume levels like no tomorrow. 'Into The Grave' is a strong starting point and it is highly promising that this band are to get a name for themselves across Europe. Finally the missing component to the Heavy Thrash Metal vein has come, the anxiety can now dissipate. [8] RHYS STEVENSON  SPECTRAL 'Gateway To Death' CCP You know, it seems to be that when German musicians adopt Viking Black Metal as their chosen music genre, they seem to nail it perfectly, however taking Spectral's fifth offering 'Gateway To Death' into account, they do more than just nail it, they obliterate it. Blasting out blastbeats like no tomorrow and utilising a chaotic vocal range, the quintet are in no doubt amateurs in producing quality music and as such are not even remotely reluctant to go the extra mile, not much could be said about the German cars, but that's Industrial Metal surely? Spectral are amongst the elite of Viking Black Metal bands who do more than shriek, they totally mean it. [7] RHYS STEVENSON  RAVENTALE 'Bringer of Heartsore' SOLITUDE As if the Ukrainians were going to let Russia steal the spotlight with the factory of doom pumping out disturbing Metal music day-in, day-out. Fat chance, as Raventale's fifth album saw light in 2011 it brought a majestic sound to it, one of which is totally different to conventional Black / Doom Metal albums, that said the melancholy and misery still resides in the most darkened atmospheres one could muster in such a musical genre, but with 'Bringer of Heartsore' being perhaps the best release by the one-man project, nothing can deter anyone from not calling this a work of art. Blistering drums acting as a forerunner to the rawest guitars heard, even the distortion is enough to create a double atmosphere, but with that in mind 'Bringer of Heartsore' is definitely one to have in anyone's collection. [9] RHYS STEVENSON  TEARS OF MANKIND 'Memoria' SOLITUDE Can't even begin to explain what this is about, it fails to even create anything but percussive noise, even if the rudimentary beginning of 'Memoria' is particularly unwelcoming, the album for which is number four for the Russian one-man project Tears Of Mankind is absolutely abysmal. The drums appear out of sync to the guitars and the vocals don't even resemble anything like Gothic Metal, given due that its meant to Melodic Gothic / Doom Metal, it more resembles a successful Metal version of Justin Bieber with accessorized corpse paint, sad to say this is perhaps the worst attempt to date. [2] RHYS STEVENSON  STORM OF ASHES 'Trial By Fire' Post-humourously, this is a good solid demo release, Storm of Ashes wield together the epic sounds of Thrash Metal with the ballsy  FORGOTTEN HORROR 'The Serpent Creation' WOODCUT Its something about the Finnish that makes them and Black Metal seem to go well, even if Thrash Metal is thrown into the affray, so when Kuopio-based trio Forgotten Horror make their anticipated debut album, the result is a glorious thirty-five minute jaunt of Black-infused Thrash Metal. From start to finish, the band serve up some of the most explicit musical creations to date, such that this is a promising start to the Finnish band's career, armed with a fist of fury and battalion armour, this is one record to savour and for those die-hards, one to recommend as a Finnish prodigy. [9] RHYS STEVENSON  BLUDGER 'The Death of The Trend' What only can be described as Progressive Deathcore, Bludger s**t out their latest EP 'The Death of The Trend' with extreme diarrhoea, taking clear influences from Meshuggah, Pantera and Ion Dissonance, the quintet who are based in Leeds excrete a solid slamming of Deathcore with the fluidity of Progressive Metal. Battering the listener with four tracks of concrete musicianship that could only be broken down by an atomic bomb, not even Sheffield noiseboys Bring Me The Horizon could muster this, it would send Oli Sykes running with his tail between his legs, it would seem Bludger are causing 'The Death of The Trend' that seems to be 'scenecore'. [7.5] RHYS STEVENSON  URINE TEMPLE / VERMIN / HEXE / SABBAGOR 'Urine Temple / Vermin / Hexe / Sabbagor' SKINNED ALIVE So when more or less the same two musicians for four different projects makes a split, it is somewhat of a novelty, usually its multiple people, but the South African musicians D-Hond and Vermox wield together instruments and sounds to produce this remarkable 4-way split, even if Black Metal is the primary genre, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal and Death Metal all make an appearance so there is a wide variety to choose from, the split release itself topples out at nearly one hour and twenty minutes so for those looking for new music, listeners are spoilt for choice. Definitely a South African gem in terms of its characteristics. [7] + [7] + [6.5] + [8] RHYS STEVENSON  PIEL DE SERPIENTE 'Inevitable' PURE STEEL Melodic Heavy Metal quintet Piel De Serpiente waste no time and effort in releasing their third majestic album, the five-piece from Valencia in Spain unleash the bulls in the paddocks for this one, mixing their romantic native language of Spanish with the delightful melodies found in bands like Dream Evil and Katana, fast and melodic songs are present on this release and that is guaranteed to captivate the listener. Whilst the male Spanish vocals aren't as dynamic as the females, senor Lufti Salah Al-Kharbutli does not fail to disappoint and even more so drummer Emma López proves that female drummers are just as good. It was 'Inevitable' that Piel De Serpiente were to make a justified return. [9] RHYS STEVENSON  FIREBRAND SUPER ROCK 'Firebrand Super Rock' RISING Scottish lads Firebrand Super Rock raise up the tempo with their debut album 'Firebrand Super Rock', it features the style of Iron Maiden and School of Rock style vocals and music, with an awesome array of riffs to covertly backdrop the sensational vocals on this album, the quartet from Edinburgh unleash a flood of extraordinary songs of which are certain to rock out many listeners to death. Unleashed via the brilliant Rising Records (The Dead Lay Waiting, Confined Within, etc.), Firebrand Super Rock are exactly what their band name says and are sure to set alight the UK when they make their first major tour. [8.5] RHYS STEVENSON  VALBORG 'Barbarian' ZEITGEISTER MUSIC When Progressive Doom and Death Metal come together, one would assume it would be slow, heavy and not repetitious in anyway, but this is beyond utter belief, the fact that German trio Valborg have done exactly that does not leave a lasting impression on the band, whilst the vocals do offer some deep notes from time to time, the riffs are monotonous and the whole 'Death Metal' part of their shaming fourth album 'Barbarian' seems to be non-existent, whilst the given level of enthusiasm and effort lays there, the final product is one level short of becoming disturbingly non-metal, more or less shambolic. [2] RHYS STEVENSON  NAILGUN 'Paindustry' 2011 saw the rising of a new Heavy Thrash band, and not a doom and gloom of another copycat release, no, this is Germany's Nailgun with a heart of steel and music of atomic characteristics, the vocals explode on the speakers from the release 'Paindustry' like no tomorrow whilst the music delves into the most percussive of methods and unleashes a cascading blast of neck-snapping Thrash and gut-wrenching Heavy Metal, thus giving a migraine to any pop music listener. They only thought Germany had Rammstein in metal, fikken nein, Nailgun ist die neue scheiss!! [8] RHYS STEVENSON  OWL 'Owl' ZEITGEISTER MUSIC Catastrophe is a word not even beginning to describe the self-titled album by Germany's Death Metal duo Owl, for starters two of the tracks are insanely long, in fact hardly any listener would stick half an hour to one track that sounds of absolute nothing, the only decent track on this release is 'Spell Of The Ignis Fatuus That Lead To The Impalpable Altar Of Beasts'; the latter being long in the song title, but whilst the song offers some credit to the release, the overall impression is bleak, in fact in all fairness this is an absolute mockery of Death Metal; it would be interesting to see how the musicians learnt to play... [2] RHYS STEVENSON  THE MORNINGSIDE 'Treelogia: The Album As It Is Not' BADMOODMAN The first EP and third release by Russian Melodic Death / Doom Metal quartet The Morningside is one with antiquity to it, with an elaborate ever-changing atmosphere being the main focal point of their release 'Treelogia: The Album As It Is Not'; whilst the songs topple over the ten minute mark, it does leave the listener in anxiety of what's to come and what does come is soon to be dismissed as a general long track. However, the EP strangely coherently divides the norm from the common in that the songs are melodically slow and not just slow, unlike most Doom Metal releases, released in only a thousand copies; this is one release all Melodic Death / Doom Metal fans ought to own. [6] RHYS STEVENSON  COMATOSE VIGIL 'Fuimus, Non Sumus...' SOLITUDE PRODS. My death be thy worry of the Christ in 2011, for the darkness shrouding one's ears is of despair and sheer depression, as the Russian Funeral Doomsters Comatose Vigil unleash hell with their sophomore album, with three tracks amounting to twenty-odd minutes each and having the atmospherically-charged ambience expected in such a genre, without considering it murder on recording, 'Fuimus, Non Sumus...' does not shy away from making stomachs churn unwillingly. Closely sounding to that of Suicidal Black Metal, this is without any doubt Russia's darkest and most depressive release to date and one for not the faint of heart. [8] RHYS STEVENSON  ABSTRACT SPIRIT 'Horror Vacui' SOLITUDE PRODS. Without going into to much detail, not being a fan of Funeral Doom or Doom Metal as is, this has to be the most depressive album from Russia yet, talk about suicidal tendencies, this release would make even the most hardcore person cry in sorrow, so much so this release by Abstract Spirit is one of impending doom, depression and sadness enough to make you die inside. [7] RHYS STEVENSON  HEAVY LORD 'Balls To All' SOLITUDE PRODS Without much to say about this recording, this is not even music, the downside of this record is that sadly enough Stoner and Doom Metal do not work well together, so with that in mind I find Heavy Lord although their intentions and musicianship is respected, it is not one to be noticed well, a wildcard as it is, listen with caution. [1] RHYS STEVENSON  FUNERAL 'To Mourn Is A Virtue' SOLITUDE PRODS Norwegian Dark Metal veterans return with their 6th album in their 20 year existence and unleash another sorrowful torrent of Gothic, Doom, Death and Funeral Doom Metal aka Dark Metal in the form of the 69 minute opus 'To Mourn Is A Virtue', essentially one for those Doom fans, with depression seeping out like water from a blister Funeral are Norway's dark depressive secret. [8] RHYS STEVENSON | 2013
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