 WITCHING HOUR 'Past Midnight...' UNDERCOVER Summoning the evil spirits and unruly unrest in Blackened Thrash style is Germany's Witching Hour with their sophomore full length album 'Past Midnight...', clearly taking into account the Teutonic style of Thrash and quick, raspy Black Metal, the quartet from Rehlingen have a Toxic Holocaust influence in their music and as such develops a funky style of Metal essentially. 'Past Midnight...' is an album loaded with AK47's and armed with speaker-to-ear missiles, blasting the speakers beyond volume 11 and shifting the music into overdrive, Witching Hour is your perfect complement to any Halloween party, you have been warned. [9] RHYS STEVENSON  IRRLYCHT 'Schatten Des Gewitters' UNDERCOVER Relentless is one word to describe Germany's latest Black Metal baby Irrlycht, this comes with their first ever major words in form of their debut album 'Schatten Des Gewitters'. With songs as long as a ruler and as heavy as a gold bar, Irrlycht burn and torture any speaker to death. Whilst the lyrics are conventionally in German, this does not deter the band from unleashing blazing hell in a hard-hitting assault of blistering drumming, skull-shattering shrieks and gut-rotting riffs. Irrlycht are certainly devouring the underground like no tomorrow and as such will be rightfully positioned as one of the darkest bands in the German Black Metal scene. [8] RHYS STEVENSON  BLIZZARD 'Rock 'N' Roll Overkill' UNDERCOVER German Speed Thrashers Blizzard totally increase and accelerate the rock 'n' roll feel with their biker soundtrack-of-an-album that being their third full length release 'Rock 'N' Roll Overkill'. Bringing the best of Judas Priest-esque Speed Metal with the formidable Teutonic style of Thrash Metal. Fast, groovy and sensationally erotic, Blizzard bring on the table a full rack of ribs and douse it with the juiciness of BBQ sauce, in this instance the drums ride strong as the ribs, the vocals reside in the Kölsch and the guitars act as the BBQ sauce, all in all it has to be said that 'Rock 'N' Roll Overkill' is one tasty release. [8.5] RHYS STEVENSON  FUNERARIUM 'Nocthule' UNDERCOVER Back in 2008 a cold and darkened storm hung over the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, this was to be the striking of the match for Black Metal duo Funerarium, for their sophomore album 'Nocthule' took form and unleashed a scary-enough release of which is dark enough to shroud even the blackest of shadowy nights. Funerarium are setting the absolute example of how underground Black Metal should be performed and in doing so create the darkest blasting of music from the small European country. 'Nocthule' is an album for the fans of kvlt Black Metal and true underground BM. [7.5] RHYS STEVENSON  FUNERARY BELL 'The Coven' UNDERCOVER Arising from the caves of the frost-bittern lands of Finland is Black Metal trio Funerary Bell, bringing with them the sounds of the grave and their premier release 'The Coven'. Whilst not conventionally fast or noisy, Funerary Bell opts for a more atmosphere-charged release and so unleash a slow, mid-paced array of seemingly occult Black Metal. Hailing from Järvenpää, home to a burgeoning underground scene, Funerary Bell make their feelings heard and make Finnish Black Metal stand up for it's self-righteous beliefs, the ice-laden beast of the woods has spoken, welcome to 'The Coven'. [8] RHYS STEVENSON 1 Comment  SACRED MOTHER TONGUE 'The Ruin Of Man' TRASCEND This Northampton crew slithered themselves through the underground chambers to unleash the filth of Metalcore and ever-rotting flesh of Melodic Death Metal, to formulate their 2009 debut full-length release 'The Ruin Of Man'. Rebellious riffs encased a skin of articulate blastbeats and dual-tone vocals, this quartet are another living proof of the sexy and erotic result of combining these two genres together, for Sacred Mother Tongue 'The Ruin Of Man' has not yet begun, for the poseurs however it has. [8] RHYS STEVENSON  EXILIA 'Stop Playing God' GUN Back in 2004, Exilia upgraded their level of musical composition with their meaningful single 'Stop Playing God', highlighting the dangers and problems of being too big about things, but in Exilia's case it's more of a rebellious track and with that the spirit of Masha (vocalist) is extended beyond all extremity, a solid release by Italy's favourite Nu Metal group. Bring on the noise, for Exilia will bring their own buzz. [8] RHYS STEVENSON  DESDEMONIA 'Existence' Hailing from the land of Luxembourg in Western Europe is Death Metal novices Desdemonia, with their third full-length 'Existence' aligning the terrors and darkness found within such an extreme type of music. Whilst the recording itself is a bit high-pitched, lowering the clarity of the music produced, the riffs exhilarate the drumming into complete coalition state. For the quartet this is a worthy piece of material, but not one that will change much in the Luxembourg Metal scene. For fans of Unleashed, Mass Hypnosis and Beneath. [7] RHYS STEVENSON  A DARK PLACE 'Suffering' DEZLANIC On the other end of the Death Metal scale, this is perhaps the rawest form of Death Metal, whilst the recording itself is slightly poor, the vocals are not-audibly clear and so relies on the music to add back-up. For the Melbourne quartet this is not perhaps the best of possible debut's but certainly is not the worst, for percussive levels it exceeds expectations but indefinitely is one album for the fans of The Berzerker in their early days. Some would say A Dark Place need to see the wizard of oz, but that would be an awful pun, one that would leave people in A Dark Place 'Suffering'. [6.5] RHYS STEVENSON  GUTTED 'Mankind Carries The Seeds Of Hell' SOULFLESH COLLECTOR Blasting their way through the chasms of hell is Hungarian Death grinders Gutted with their sensational blitz of riff-infused blastbeats and gut-rotting vocals, all in sync with their third brutal assault 'Mankind Carries The Seeds Of Hell'. It comes with a warning, not for the faint of heart, for this record is by far one of Hungary's heaviest to date, served up on a plate of gormandizing flesh and sumptuous cannibalism-in-destroying-hearing kind of fantasy, all for the greater good. Without a doubt this album is in the top ten of Hungary's best Metal albums in 2010. [8.5] RHYS STEVENSON | 2013
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