The Scrolls of Akhenaten: April 12th, 2024

This one is coming to you a day late because life got in the way this past week and I didn’t get as much time to hammer out which albums I wanted to recommend to you all on Friday. I was also busy hosting a show at The Traxide in Montreal featuring some rather excellent bands from the Maritimes, namely the blackened death metal stylings of Paratomb and progressive metal wizardry of Omnivide, along with local thrashers Grimhold and death-sludge riffologists Obelisk. Now that I’ve got a few moments of free time to myself this Saturday (between recovery) I’m going to make up for it. Read on for some of your (somewhat) regularly scheduled riff recommendations!

Black

Pakkt – To Brocken Heights Where Witches Dance
December 24th, 2021
Black Metal
Ván Records
Germany
Standout Song: “Three Desecrated Hosts”

The first time I heard this record I was absolutely floored and to this day it continues to shock me. I’d like to thank Devon Milley for this recommendation as it was through him that I discovered this band. I’ve never heard a band so perfectly emulate the sound of Darkthrone’s early material. Everything on this record from the guitar tone to the drum approach to the production to the vocal approach is the closest I’ve ever heard a band mimic that style, and they do it wonderfully. The riffage is so pure and kvlt and trve and devoid of any bells and whistles. Even the vocals sound eerily similar to the range and tone of Nocturno Culto on those classic black metal albums as well as the post-Panzerfaust era of the band. All you have to do is listen to the first track here, “Three Desecrated Hosts”, and you’ll see what I mean. If you’re at all a fan of that style of Norwegian black metal, then Germany’s Pakkt is a must-listen, especially for Darkthrone die-hards like myself.

Death

Human Remains – Using Sickness as a Hero
August 27th, 1996
Deathgrind / Grindcore / Death Metal
Relapse Records
Hazlet, New Jersey, USA
Standout Song: “Weeding Out the Thorns”

I first discovered this band through a video made by the YouTuber known as The Punk Rock MBA. I think that guy sucks but I’d be lying if I said he hadn’t put me on to some cool music over the years. Human Remains is definitely one of those bands. The first time I put this record on I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. “A deathgrind diamond” as one Bandcamp reviewer named Brett put it, this thing is fucking weird. There are sounds on here that I didn’t even know a guitar could make before I listened to this thing. It’s exceptionally brutal, uncompromising, relentless, and unapologetically experimental. There’s plenty of moments where the music remains firmly rooted in brutalizing the listener with blast beats and atonal guitar riffs before launching into interludes that feel like they’re drawing upon bands like Mr. Bungle and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Of course Dillinger was probably influenced by this band considering that Human Remains predates them.

Doom

Wardehns – Now Cometh the Foul
December 21st, 2018
Stoner Metal / Sludge Metal / Crust Punk
Independently Released
Wausau, Wisconsin, USA
Standout Song: “Denim Dogs”

I was put onto this band through a friend of mine who just happened to be playing them out loud on a Bluetooth speaker while I was hanging with some pals at their house. I was pretty much immediately hooked by the quality of the riffage, the production value, and just how similar it felt to the kind of sludge metal that I am really drawn to: bands like Mastodon, Kylesa, and Black Tusk. The ones who are a little artsy but aren’t afraid to get deep, down, and dirty with their music. Wardehns certainly scratches that itch for me and I’ve had this record on repeat ever since that initial encounter. It’s monolithic in size, with every song imparting the image of a group of intrepid travelers and warriors climbing their way to the top of a frostbitten mountain, surviving blizzards and avalanches, and fighting horrible beasts all along the way. The album cover is indeed a perfect representation of what kind of music you’ll hear on this thing. It comes highly recommended.

Prog

Omnivide – A Tale of Fire
March 22nd, 2024
Progressive / Symphonic / Technical Death Metal
Independently Released
Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Standout Song: “Holy Killer”

I brought up Omnivide in the intro to this article not just to tell you about the show I was at last night, but also as a genuine recommendation for a band that kicks fucking ass that doesn’t live all that far from Newfoundland. This New Brunswick progressive metal outfit just released their debut album, A Tale of Fire, last month, and are currently embarking on a tour across Canada in support of it. Having seen them live a couple of times now as well as having listened to this thing all the way through time and time again I can attest to this band absolutely ruling. If you want your brain to be disassembled and then put back together wrong then this is the record for you. Their music certainly draws heavy influence from big-name prog bands like Between the Buried and Me, but there are also shades of groups like Cynic, Obscura, and Beyond Creation to be found within. If you like any of those bands you’ll almost certainly like this.

Punk

Flower – Hardly a Dream
December 26th, 2022
Crust Punk
Profane Existence
New York City, New York, USA
Standout Song: “Lethargy”

I was lucky enough to catch Flower at Varning Fest last year, an annual underground crust punk and metal festival that occurs in Montreal. They came up from New York City to play here and absolutely tore the place apart. I thought their live performance was already great but it was checking out their recordings after the fact on my own that really sold me on them. This right here is the kind of punk I like the most. It’s loud, aggressive, angry, and dirty as fuck. All the best crust punk is only a few steps removed from speed metal and black metal and Flower really embrace that vibe on this LP. The album opens with an atmospheric blackened guitar riff that reminds me extensively of Gallhammer and Darkthrone, before the unruly punk ripping starts at full force. It’s so gross and nasty, from the raw guitar tone to the punchy drums to the pissed off vocals. Flower are fantastic, and this LP absolutely slays.

Thrash

Phantom – Handed to Execution
October 27th, 2023
Thrash Metal
Inframetal Records
Guadalajara, Mexico
Standout Song: “Reaper’s Bane”

Mexico’s Phantom are pretty much everything I want from modern thrash. Their sound is supremely old school, drawing clearly upon the bands of the 80’s, with the Teutonic sound in particular being a primary influence. If you like Sodom, Kreator, or Destruction, or at least the way those bands used to sound back in the day, then Phantom may be for you. That’s not to discount the American influence in their sound either, because notes of Slayer and Metallica definitely crop up from time to time, but ultimately they keep things rooted in that more aggressive sound that veers on the edge of black metal without ever stepping forth into the blizzard. What makes this album even more impressive is that the dudes in this band are really young, most of them being around the ages of 18 to 20. For being as young as they are they’ve got a fantastic grasp of their instruments and their songwriting capability is excellent. I’m stoked to hear what they put out next.

Trad

I am the Intimidator – I am the Intimidator
March 8th, 2024
Speed Metal / Traditional Heavy Metal
Miserable Pyre
Portland, Oregon, USA
Standout Song: “Eat My Smoke”

I never thought I would unironically enjoy a NASCAR-themed metal band but then I am the Intimidator came out of nowhere and showed me the errors of my hubris. This is the new solo project of former Poison Idea guitarist Andrew Stromstad and the entire thing is lyrically and aesthetically based around the final day of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt’s life. If that wasn’t already enough to sell you on the concept, then I’m happy to report that the music contained within is just as fucking awesome. It’s old school speed metal that draws as much influence from Metallica, Motorhead, and King Diamond as it does from a blackened speed metal act like Venom and an epic doom metal band like Candlemass. While the record may be all over the map in terms of influence it is surprisingly consistent all the way through, featuring fabulous riff after fabulous riff and vocals that’ll put hair on your chest.

Non-Metal

Shpongle – Tales of the Inexpressible
March 29th, 2001
Chillout / Psychedelic Trance
Twisted Records
Chobham, England, UK
Standout Song: “Star-Shpongled Banner”

I discovered Shpongle years ago when I was still in high school. While sick and staying home from school one day I went down an enormously long musical rabbit hole on YouTube (this was back in the day before algorithms ruined everything) which eventually led me to a fan-made animated music video for the song “Star-Shpongled Banner”. I was so enamored by the combination of the music with the visuals I was experiencing made that song stick with me for years to come, and to this day I still revisit this record from time to time. While I don’t often find myself listening to electronic music, when I do I prefer the kind of stuff that’s outside the realm of the typical club fare. I don’t go to clubs often, mind you, but I have a hard time imagining that this is the kind of thing played anywhere outside of a hippie drug den. It’s not for everyone, but if you like weird electronica you should definitely check this one out.

~ Akhenaten

Album Review: Falter – Salt in the Soil

Falter – Salt in the Soil
November 26th, 2023
Black Metal
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland

In late 2023 St. John’s black metal alumnus Adam Sharr, perhaps best known for his position as vocalist of the blackened melodic death metal band Grenadier and as the sole creative force behind Nocturnal Prayer as well as the now defunct Oxygen Chapel and Bone Alley projects, returned with a new solo project. This time performing under the name Falter, the project released its first record, Salt in the Soil, at the tail end of the year. Coming out in November, this one almost squeaked by me, but I’m grateful to have caught it because this thing is monumental.

Lyrically focusing on the hardships of pastoral life, Falter melds elements of atmospheric black metal together with elements of rural folk instrumentation and classic black metal to produce a sound that plays into the lyrical subject matter, comparable to a project such as Panopticon or perhaps Agalloch. The record opens with a beautiful but simplistic clean guitar melody playing over a sample of trickling water on “The Trickling of Rain”, before launching into the plodding slog that is “Strife”.

The vocals here are harsh and screamed, though they don’t often venture into the high pitched shriek that is so common in most black metal. Sharr instead prefers to remain somewhere in the mid-range or even going a bit lower than that. His vocals are harsh, pained in agony, and doubtlessly powerful. As a treat, however, the record ends with a rendition of “The Old Sunday Dinner”, a cover of a song by The Martin Family, in which Sharr demonstrates his ability with clean vocals. Those who have been Sharr’s musical output will know that he released an EP of neofolk tunes earlier in 2023, and so it will come as no surprise to you that he’s a great singer aside from showing command over the harsh side of his voice, and “The Old Sunday Dinner” is a great example of that on this record.

The riffs here are mournful, melancholic, and full of grandeur, really dipping into the kind of melodies that emerge from the so-called Cascadian black metal scene, of which Panopticon and Agalloch are both a part. It’s epic and grandiose, but comes with a sense of loss, struggle, and nostalgia for a time long gone. That’s not every song, though. The track that follows “Strife”, entitled “Mattock”, contains a lot of variety in it, and showcases Sharr’s ability to embrace blackened punk riffs in a manner similar to perhaps some of Darkthrone’s work or even some riffs cooked up by the band Watain. It’s dark, shit-kicking, and makes me want to stomp heads. The song “Devout” continues these ideas, adding a bit of a jaunty, melodic twist on the whole atmosphere in a way not dissimilar to Sharr’s contemporary in Grole. I also love how the bass here stands out and cuts through the mix. Every now and then Sharr will throw in a little flourish on the bass at the end of a measure that in my opinion greatly enhances the flavour of the whole composition.

The drums are actually full of a lot more energy and creativity than I initially expected them to be. Atmospheric black metal of this nature tends to rely a lot on meditative drumming styles that lull the listener into a state of hypnosis through constant repetitiveness. That said, I think Sharr put a lot of thought into the drumming here. The types of rhythm patterns will change and transfer multiple times throughout the same track, greatly switching up the vibe of each song as they twist through different movements. There’s a lot of energy here, and I also think the fills are creative.

The production here is great too, if perhaps with the exception of the drums. The snare to me sounds a little weak and I wish that it cut through the mix a little bit more. But then again this is black metal. I’m just glad that the drums here are real and not programmed, as is the case with so many one man black metal bands and one man bands of other genres these days. Still the guitars are beautiful and the vocals sit well in the mix amidst everything else.

This is an excellent new record to add to the ever-growing canon of Newfoundland black metal, and easily one of the best releases to come out of the province this year with regards to extreme metal. I’ve been a fan of Sharr’s musical output for many years and he’s rarely if ever disappointed my expectations, and Salt in the Soil is no different. This record is chock full of variety, beautiful melodies, and ravenous punk-infused passages. It’s basically a pastiche of everything that makes black metal awesome, and I couldn’t ask for more than that.

Final Verdict: 9/10
Awesome

Favourite Tracks:
“Strife”
“Mattock”
“Devout”

~ Akhenaten

Metal Maniacs: Greg Ravengrave

This edition of Metal Maniacs features Greg Ravengrave, the multi-instrumentalist behind Mistwalker, drummer of Ratpiss, as well as numerous other projects, and the founder of Heavy NFLD.

Hey folks! After doing this project for a few months thanks to the inspiration of Winterhearth frontman and guitarist Andrew Marsh I figured it was finally time for me to sit down and write about my own series of inspirational and influential records that led me to become the musician I am today. For those of you who don’t know, my name is Greg, I’m the founder of Heavy NFLD and the guy who mainly writes for this blog. I write and record everything in the black metal project Mistwalker, play drums in the crust band Ratpiss, and have umpteen-thousand other side projects besides that which span a number of different genres. With that out of the way, let’s get into it!

The Sword – Age of Winters

When I was but a wee lad I was growing up in the town of Glovertown, which is about three hours outside of St. John’s, in the Gander area. I grew up in a pretty strict Christian conservative household where my family did everything in their power to shelter me from the outside world. In all honesty, it was pretty fucked. Thankfully we eventually got the internet. At this time in my life I was pretty heavy into gaming and I was obsessed with the PS2 video game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. One day I was browsing YouTube and found a trailer for the game’s sequel, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. The song used in that trailer? “Iron Swan” by The Sword. The heaviness, aggression and insanity of the instrumentation in that song was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. Coupled with visuals of vast swathes of Venezuelan jungle being burned to the ground and tanks and attack helicopters blowing shit up, it kicked my ass. From that moment I was hooked and needed more. Thankfully the rest of this record, including such classics as “Freya” and “Winter’s Wolves”, had plenty more megalithic riffage to offer my adolescent brain.

Slipknot – Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses

While The Sword was my gateway drug into metal, it wasn’t until Slipknot came across my ears that I delved fully into my nu metal cringelord phase. I first heard “Before I Forget” on Guitar Hero III as a teenager and, in all honesty, it didn’t quite click with me. However, when I eventually came across the song “Duality” on YouTube I was hooked. The rest of the album was like a drug, from the absurdly heavy and chaotic early tracks like “The Blister Exists” to the absolute banger that is “Pulse of the Maggots”, this album was exactly what my miserable, angst-filled teenage brain needed. Even the quieter, more solemn songs on this album, like “Circle”, “Vermilion”, and “Vermilion Part 2” hit me right in the feels. From this record I would eventually branch out into the rest of Slipknot’s discography and became a die-hard Maggot.

Judas Priest – Painkiller

Around the same time that Guitar Hero started to fall off as a franchise, Rock Band came in to absolutely dominate the rhythm game market, and me, along with many of my friends, became obsessed. Towards the end of high school we used to host Rock Band parties on a pretty regular basis, and I can even credit the game with being how I first learned how to play drums. When Rock Band 2 came out near the end of the 2000’s I ate up the amount of metal tracks that had been included on the game’s disc at release, including Judas Priest’s “Painkiller”. I was blown away by the sheer sonic assault of the drum into. I had never heard anything quite like it. I was obsessed and immediately went to listen to the rest of the record. I remember having the thought, “this is fucking metal, man”. For real, if an alien visited Earth and asked me to define heavy metal I would play this album. Every single song on this thing is an unabashed banger. This is one of the few records in existence I would say is an 11/10, and to this day it remains in fairly constant rotation on whatever device I’m using to listen to music.

Mastodon – Crack the Skye

Similarly to Judas Priest, I also discovered Mastodon through Rock Band 2 thanks to the inclusion of “Colony of Birchmen”. At the time, however, that song didn’t quite click with me. Luckily it was only about a year later when the band would drop one of the most critically lauded records of their career. Crack the Skye came to me at exactly the right moment in my life. It was dirty and dark but was incredibly complex. This album introduced me to progressive metal but also encouraged me to push my drumming skills to the next level. Brann Dailor is an absolute monster on this record and I spent many hours in the rec room of my parent’s house trying to nail this entire album behind the kit.

Between the Buried and Me – Colors

Yet another artist discovered through Rock Band 2, albeit this time through the game’s downloadable content. “Prequel to the Sequel” was my first exposure to progressive metal of this stripe. The guitar playing on that song is on another level and the sheer complexity of the track as it twists and morphs into so many different areas still boggles my mind to this day. When listening to the full record it’s clear that Colors is in a class all on its own when it comes to contemporary progressive metal. Aside from showing me just what was capable within the framework of the “metal” genre, this band also got me into harsh vocals. There was a long time where I didn’t like screaming, no matter if it was the ultra low gutturals of a band like Cannibal Corpse or the higher pitched snarl of metalcore bands, I wasn’t into it. I could only tolerate Slipknot because for some reason in my adolescent mind Corey Taylor’s yelling wasn’t the same as a straight up death metal scream (don’t ask how I justified that, because I wouldn’t remember). But once I got into Between the Buried and Me I really understood just why harsh vocals were so appealing to people, and from then on I was sold.

Devin Townsend Project – Addicted

This was my introduction to Devin Townsend, an artist who has arguably had the most effect on my life as a musician, at least from a work ethic perspective. Addicted, like many of the other records on this list, came to me at the perfect moment in my life. It melded heavy guitars with a 100% pop aesthetic, fusing heaviness with absurdly catchy bubblegum melodies, and it was like a sonic version of crack to my ears. I couldn’t get enough of it. It was this album that made me realize that no matter how complex or impressive the musicianship on any given record is, what really matters to me as a musician is if your songs are memorable, and so I started putting a lot of focus into trying to craft catchy hooks over anything else. Granted, I wasn’t actually recording my own music at this point (around 2009/2010-ish), but it greatly influenced the music I did end up working on in the coming decade. Aside from that, the sheer amount of music that Townsend put out around this time wound up having more of an effect on me than the music itself did. How he was able to put out so much material so quickly, most of which was pretty damn good, astounded me, and I aspired to try and live up to that as much as possible with my own works.

SikTh – Death of a Dead Day

The first time I heard “Bland Street Bloom” by these UK tech metal legends I was blown away. If Between the Buried and Me opened my mind to what was capable of being played on guitar, and Devin Townsend showed me that prog and metal can still be catchy and poppy without sacrificing heaviness, SikTh showed me that you can maintain both of those qualities while also being insane. No doubt a huge influence on the djent scene that emerged in the 2010’s, none of the bands that followed in SikTh’s footsteps could ever really hold a candle to these guys. Sure, I love Meshuggah as much as the next guy, and they undoubtedly started the style, but SikTh has a special flavour that nobody could ever really match. As much as I love groups like Periphery and Tesseract and Born of Osiris, SikTh is the gold standard for technical and progressive metal, and this album is the pinnacle of that. To this day I’m still mesmerized by the guitar and drum work on this thing and I can only hope to one day be able to even come close to what is performed on this record.

Stolen Babies – There Be Squabbles Ahead

I was never quite a goth kid when I was in high school but I always kind of wanted to be. There was definitely an appeal to the aesthetic presented by what is considered typical “goth” media like The Nightmare Before Christmas or My Chemical Romance, but given the oppressive nature of high school in small town Newfoundland I never really went full tilt, so to speak. Musically I wouldn’t even end up getting into actual, honest to Satan, goth rock until recently. Back in high school I found myself drawn more to avant garde metal, which, in my opinion, is usually just a fancy way of saying carnival musical with distorted guitars. Stolen Babies were my entryway to that world, and to this day I don’t think any band has quite managed to capture the feeling that their debut record, There Be Squabbles Ahead, has. I remember hearing one song from these guys on YouTube and being unable to find the rest of the record anywhere, save on a torrent site, so I let the album download over the course of a week and when I finally got to listen to it I was enthralled by what I heard. It’s fair to say that this record has influenced my own music to a degree, especially when it comes to some of the Halloween-themed releases I’ve dropped as Mistwalker (namely Of Pumpkins and Pinecones). And yes, before you ask, I did end up buying the album. I own a CD copy of it at my parents’ place in Glovertown.

Amon Amarth – Twilight of the Thunder God

This one probably doesn’t come as much surprise to anyone. The band’s most popular and critically acclaimed record, Twilight of the Thunder God is remembered fondly for a reason. This album is another 11/10 for me. Every track on here is so flawless both with their songwriting capability and memorability. Every song on this album is memorable and stands apart from the others on the record with their own individual flavour and uniqueness. This was probably the first death metal record I ever full enjoyed, this or At the Gates’ Slaughter of the Soul. However, it was this album’s (and band’s) Viking themes that drew me. It was around this time (2011-2013) that I became very interested in Norse mythology and Viking history, and this record was my gateway to that. The riffs and the vocals are so powerful that nary a melodeath record has risen to accomplish what this album has. It was this record that led to me incorporating occasional themes of paganism and Norse myth in my own music when I officially started recording under the name of Mistwalker in 2013.

Darkthrone – F.O.A.D.

It was when I was in college (from 2012-2014) that I met my Kristopher Crane (from the projects Nemophilist and Acorn to Great Oak and also from the bands Impaled Upon the Mountains and Grimacing, which we formed together) who introduced me to black metal. I was aware of black metal before college but it never quite clicked with me. Once I was a bit older and felt a bit more depressed in my adult life I think that’s when I fully got it. The album that really did it for me was F.O.A.D. by Darkthrone, which Kris had introduced me to. Songs like “Canadian Metal”, “The Church of Real Metal”, and “Raised on Rock” just hit me right in the gut. To this day Darkthrone is the band that has inspired me the most as a musician, particularly in terms of style. Their mixture of black metal with old school heavy metal and crust punk (particularly their 2000’s era) and even the doom metal they’re doing these days is exactly the kind of music I want to create.

Honourable Mentions:

At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul
Baroness – Red Album
The Black Dahlia Murder – Nocturnal
Darkthrone – Transilvanian Hunger
Diablo Swing Orchestra – The Butcher’s Ballroom
Equilibrium – Sagas
High on Fire – Death is this Communion
The Human Abstract – Digital Veil
Judas Priest – Screaming for Vengeance
Kylesa – Static Tensions
Mastodon – Leviathan
Periphery – Periphery
Slipknot – All Hope is Gone
Whitechapel – A New Era of Corruption

~ Akhenaten

Album Review: Grole – With a Pike Upon My Shoulder

Grole – With a Pike Upon My Shoulder
September 28th, 2021
Black Metal
Tour de Garde
Marystown, Newfoundland

Grole emerged unto the underground Canadian black metal world in September of 2020 with their first effort, a self-titled demo released through the Quebec label Tour de Garde, which received acclaim from the community who eagerly anticipated more work from the one-man project. Now, Grole has seen fit to grace us with a second offering of raw, unhinged, lo-fi black metal from the frigid shores of Newfoundland in the form of With a Pike Upon My Shoulder, the project’s first true full length release.

The album begins in a somewhat uncharacteristic fashion, featuring a punked-up version of a traditional Newfoundland folk song that leads into some supremely heavy black metal heavily inspired by “Ode to Newfoundland”, the province’s national anthem from the days before the province joined confederation. The decision to open the album this way, with some decidedly upbeat and hyper-melodic guitar leads combined with straight up punk rock chords, is a brave one, but it works well. Those who are familiar with the traditional music of Newfoundland will no doubt delight in hearing these familiar melodies beefed up with distorted guitars and played to a punk drum beat.

From there on we get some rather standard offerings of lo-fi black metal that engage in some of the genre’s most well worn tropes. But, that being said, Grole does the old school style well. The riffage on here is very reminiscent of old school Darkthrone and Burzum, drawing influence from the cold, atmospheric cuts from albums like A Blaze in the Northern Sky or Transilvanian Hunger, while also touching on the heavier, chunkier material from an album like Burzum’s self-titled. Songs like “Isle Bereavement” and “A Noted Sabbath Breaker” exhibit some dynamism between tracks, with the former being a slower, moodier piece and the latter being much faster and in your face, with an ending that even touches on some post black metal seen in the modern era like Alcest or even Agalloch. That being said there are some moments where the riffage breaks out into something completely unexpected, like the exceptionally thrashy and headbang-inducing moments on “Dust to Dust”.

While the riffs are quite varied and touch on all different kinds of black metal tropes that have been firmly established in the genre for years, the drums are, in my opinion, where this album really shines. Grole’s drum work runs the gamut of all different styles on here, switching from blast beats to punk beats, to slower, doomier beats all on the same song. There are some insanely fast blasts on here, particularly on the track “To the East”, even though it doesn’t last throughout the whole song. Overall the percussion is just really intense, tight, and holds this record together with a firm backbone.

Grole’s vocals are also pretty fucking intense. I can’t speak much to the lyrics because they aren’t available anywhere online from what I can find, but the performance of the vocals is monstrous. Grole has this really high-pitched yet mid-ranged rasp that’s extremely throaty and thoroughly disgusting. He has a lot of power in his voice that allows him to really push these loud-as-fuck screams over the top of the instrumentals, almost as if its an additional layer of percussion laying over these songs like a slab of concrete.

The production on here is probably what needs to be talked about the most. This album simultaneously sounds extremely lo-fi and like it was recorded from within a broom closet in some basement somewhere, yet everything sounds clear and extremely audible. This is how proper lo-fi black metal production is done. I can hear every riff that’s being played on the guitar. I can hear every hit of the drum stick to the cymbals and drum heads. Meanwhile the vocals kind of sit on top of the mix, but aren’t at all fighting with the instrumental. This is exactly what I want out of lo-fi black metal like this. It’s disgusting and raw, but I can still make out what’s going on on the recording.

For their first full length record, Grole has really shone through here. The riffs are both beautiful and savage at the same time. The drums are pummeling. The vocals are rancid. The production is garbage, but in a good way. While I feel like some of the material on here may just be retreading old material and tropes that have already been established in the black metal genre’s long history, I think Grole does this kind of Second Wave black metal worship really well, and I look forward to seeing what they put out in the future.

Final Verdict: 7/10
Good

Favourite Tracks:
“Thee Frozen Land”
“Dust to Dust”
“Unholy Order”

For Fans Of:
(Early) Darkthrone
Burzum

~ Akhenaten

Album Review: Artach – Sworn to Avenge

“…to find the elusive Northwest Passage.”

Artach – Sworn to Avenge
June 25th, 2021
Black Metal
Depressive Illusions Records
St. John’s, Newfoundland

The notorious St. John’s black metal duo of Artach have returned to the wintry wilds of the extreme metal world with this sophomore offering. Sworn to Avenge is the second album from this ever more raw and destructive force from the Newfoundland wilderness, released through Ukrainian black metal label Depressive Illusions Records in the summer of this year. I’ve had quite a bit of time to digest this rather monolithic release, which clocks in at just over an hour, and am finally ready to divulge my thoughts on it to you all.

Opening with the sound of gusting winds careening across a desolate tundra as the roar of a beast and the laugh of witch pierce through the ambiance, you get the feeling that what awaits you on this record is not for the faint of heart. Indeed, the opening track, “Tuiteam an Duine”, which is Gaelic for “The Fall of Man”, wastes no time assaulting the listener with a rather frantic riff playing over blast beats and coupled with the tortured screams of vocalist and percussionist Fiochmar. This opening track rumbles onwards for just over seven minutes, and showcases numerous tempo and time signature changes throughout, showcasing the group’s lack of respect for conventional songwriting standards. We even get a brief moment of cowbell playing on this track to emphasize just how little Artach wish to adhere to the rule books of black metal. Who cares about the rules anyways? Fuck the rules, says I.

Perhaps “Tuiteam an Duine” is a portent for what to expect from the rest of the record, as the songs that follow see Artach experimenting more with tempo and time signature changes, as well as invoking riff and melody ideas from across the spectrum of the metal world. “Ice Throne” involves some pretty flashy death metal riffage in its opening before launching into a kind of epic black metal galloping sound that wouldn’t sound out of place on an old school Immortal record. Similarly, “Into the Frozen Woodlands” conjures foggy remembrance of old school thrash bands like Slayer and Megadeth in the way the riffs are composed, but when the song comes together it feels like more of a melding of these disparate worlds together into a sort of blackened thrash sound.

Vocally this record sees Fiochmar stay mostly within his typical range of throaty rasping that sounds like an imprisoned demon trying desperately to break free from its chains while being possessed by the spirit of an even bigger, more insane demon. But there are some moments when he breaks free from this typical style and tries something different. I particularly like the “woah-woahs” that pop up on “Ice Throne”, which hearken back to some old school folk-infused black metal projects like Isengard. On the song “Shimmer” he even lets himself get slightly more melodic during the bridge, if only for a few lines, while he engages in a more spoken word style of delivery in the intro to “Endless Tundra”.

The guitars, however, are doing all sorts of different things on this album. While some songs may feel more grounded in the realm of epic black metal a la the previously mentioned Immortal, or even Taake, it’s clear that axeman Sruthan takes influence from many different areas. Elements of the track “Shimmer”, for example, invoke the memory of groups like Mercyful Fate or King Diamond during some riffs, before launching into more conventional, Darkthrone-esque tremolo picking. While Immortal seems to be a fairly obvious influence on Artach’s songwriting and Sruthan’s guitar playing (much like fellow St. John’s black metal alumni Winterhearth), it wouldn’t be too far fetched to bring up old school death metal acts like Death or Possessed as influences as well, especially when you hear those pinch harmonics present on tracks like “Endless Tundra”. The riffs also don’t shy away from melodic death metal influence here and there, especially on the song “She Gathers Leaves”, a Halloween-inspired ripper that I would say sounds like At the Gates meets Dethklok, albeit much more lo fi.

In regards to the drumming I think Fiochmar has upped his game here, involving lots of different types of beats throughout the record, from blast beats to slower, more plodding gallops, to war-like tom beats to thrash-style one-two one-twos. In the past I’ve felt like Fiochmar’s drumming was a bit too flashy, like he couldn’t decide which cymbal he wanted to be the backbone of any particular beat he was laying down. While I think there are still some points where he engages in this kind of playing, it feels like he’s reigned that in a bit more. Most of the songs on this record seem to have a more consistent approach to the drum tracks, which, as a drummer myself, I can appreciate. There are, however, also some moments where it seems like the drums and guitars go out of sync. For some people this can add character to a recording since it makes the performance feel more human. However, from my perspective, it feels amateurish. I can tell because I’ve done the same thing in the past. I don’t know if Artach eschew the idea of recording to a metronome, but if they do then perhaps they should consider doing so on their next full length, if only to tighten up these few instances where synchronicity seems to be an issue.

Lyrically I can’t discern what each song is about on here since the band has only posted lyrics for a few of the tracks online. By and large this collection of tracks seems to mostly about typical black metal subject matter: warriors, ice, storms, battles, kingdoms, winter, forests, tundras, etc. You get the idea. However, there are a few exceptions. The track “Endless Tundra” is a 21 minute odyssey about the many failed attempts throughout the 1800’s to locate the elusive Northwest Passage, a trade route connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through the Canadian Arctic. I’m a slut for songs about historical subject matter like this, and I think Artach do a good job of evoking the feeling of being lost in a desolate Arctic wasteland after your ship has become trapped in the pack ice, only to die of exposure in the middle of nowhere, never to be found.

Instrumentally I think Artach have pushed the boundary of what they achieved on their previous record. The structure of the songs here are more experimental and incredibly diverse, especially with the aforementioned “Endless Tundra”. The guitars push up against the limits of what one would typically expect from black metal while also keeping a foot firmly planted in that world, so as not to stray too far from the conventions that make the genre what it is. It’s an interesting middle ground and I’d like to see Artach continue to push these ideas further on their next release. This album as a whole sees the band try different things and generally improve upon the formula established on their debut, and I look forward to seeing what they do next.

Final Verdict: 8/10
Great

Favourite Tracks:
“Ice Throne”
“Shimmer”
“Endless Tundra”
“Into the Frozen Woodlands”

For Fans Of:
Immortal
Darkthrone
Celtic Frost
Bathory

~ Akhenaten

An Interview with Artach

Artach are a two piece raw / epic black metal band from St. John’s, Newfoundland who have been active since 2019. They are comprised of Fíochmhar on drums and vocals and Sruthán on guitars and bass. To date the group have released one full length album entitled ‘Chronicles of a Black Winter’ along with numerous stand alone singles and are presently at work on a second full length album due out in 2021.

Can you tell us what your aliases, Fíochmhar and Sruthán, mean? I’m aware that they are Gaelic words, but why did you choose these aliases in particular?

Fíochmhar: Yes they are. I came up with them and the band name. I chose them based on our style or personality traits. I think they personify us well.

Fíochmhar: Fierce, aggressive, or savage.

Sruthán: Burn.

In relation to your aliases, do you feel that Irish folklore and mythology lends itself to the culture of Newfoundland and Labrador? Does this have any impact on your lyrical themes or the way you compose your instrumentals?

Sruthán: It would have been inauthentic and have no sincerity at all if we went with names that came from the typical (for black/folk/pagan metal) Nordic cultures so we chose to look to our own roots which like many Newfoundlanders trace back to Ireland, England, and Scotland. Irish/Scotish Gaelic and its mythology has influenced some lyrical themes, specifically for a new unreleased song we are recording now and on the band’s name. As for composing, not really, not for me. Other than we may have absorbed some elements of the culture as we both grew up in it. But overall, the compositions have more metal origins.

Fíochmhar: To me, black metal should evoke a feeling from the past… It has a spirituality that you don’t get in other genres of metal. Growing up in rural Newfoundland has shaped me as a person. The history has definitely had an inspiration on us. I want our music to put the listener in a sense of living in a different time in history…

When it comes to lyrics, what direction do you prefer to go in? I notice some similarities to bands like Immortal who sing primarily about epic landscapes and nature.

Sruthán: Immortal for sure is an inspiration yes. I didn’t want lyrics about demons and Satan and other overplayed themes. The natural world provides most of the lyrical inspiration for me. Winter plays strong in that because it’s the season that lasts for almost 8 months of the year here. There’s some other things in there like history, science, and even some science fiction topics that have been inspirations for other songs.

Fíochmhar: The lyrics are primarily written around man’s relationship and connection with nature… However, we try not to limit ourselves when it comes to the content of the lyrics. The first few Artach songs I wrote the lyrics on my own. Then we began collaborating more on the lyrics… I will usually ask Sruthan to write the majority of the lyrics and I will rearrange them and add lines to suit my vocal style

You’ve decided to keep your true identities (mostly) clandestine, though the intrepid music fan might be able to figure out exactly who is behind this project. Why did you decide to try and stay anonymous?

Sruthán: Who we are is not really that important. We let the music do the talking and remain the focal point. Not that we are ashamed at all, just that it’s not about who we are, it’s about the music.

Fíochmhar: In the beginning I wanted to remain anonymous out of shyness and lack of confidence. It was my first time as a vocalist in a band and I didn’t know how people would react to this. I really wanted to develop “Fiochmhar” as a character and tried to detach myself from it as an individual. Its like I’m an actor playing the role of a villain. Its not a big deal if people know who we are… But we do try to maintain that mystique around the band…

Why did you decide to remain a black metal duo (a la Darkthrone) as opposed to incorporating other members into the lineup, such as a bassist?

Sruthán: Since we can cover the bases with the instruments and vocals, there are no conflicts about direction or style. With just 2 members, there’s no scheduling to worry about, it’s just really easy to do. So it’s not that we planned to never add anyone, it’s just that it worked so well, there was never a need to consider it. And like you said, it works for the mighty Darkthrone, so why not?

Fíochmhar: Working as a duo has been so much easier than a full band situation! I feel it has been a big part in our productivity! There is no bullshit. No arguments. Easy to work around schedules. We started this as a recording/studio project, so we knew there would be no need for additional members…

So how does the songwriting process work within the band? Do both of you work together to create new material or is it more like Darkthrone’s process in which you both write songs and then bring them to the other member?

Sruthán: I compose the basics of the song and structure it at home. Then I bounce it off Fíochmhar for feedback, then we get together and play through the song a few times and record it then and there. This keeps it feeling raw, fresh, and at times almost unhinged. We have come up with some songs or parts together, but those haven’t been the norm for us so far. We both write the lyrics. Typically I’ll have an idea or topic and I’ll send some stuff along to Fíochmhar who then works his magic and adds to it until it’s complete.

Speaking directly to Fíochmhar, I noticed your vocals are really raw and unpolished (in a good way), almost bestial if I may be allowed to use the word. Are there any vocalists out there you’re trying to emulate or who may have inspired this approach?

Fíochmhar: When I perform the vocals… I try to be as dramatic and unhinged as possible.

As I said, I try to play a role. But a lot of it comes from my own anger and frustration… When I record the vocals… I’m usually in a bad state of mind! I need to release that anger and aggression! Music has always been my therapy! I’ve always been influenced by punk rock and the DIY/unpolished aesthetic. When I perform the vocals I want the listener to think “this dude sounds like he is fucking crazy” because I am… Haha

Some of my vocal influences include:

Tom G Warrior
Abbath
Nergal
Dani Filth
Shagrath
Aaron Stainthorpe

In terms of drumming, are there any drummers who you look up to as inspiration?

Fíochmhar: In this band I would say my biggest influences are:

Dave Lombardo, Frost, & Nicholas Baker

Speaking directly to Sruthán, your guitar and bass tracks certainly fit the definition of “raw” and “epic”. Are there any guitarists who have inspired or influenced you over the years to help develop your particular style of riffing and soloing?

Sruthán: For Artach riffs, some key influences are Abbath/Immortal, Satyricon, Darkthrone, Celtic Frost, Venom, maybe some 1349, Mgla, Dimmu, and Mayhem might be in there somehow too etc. Then there is a sprinkling of classic metal and thrash. For the lead guitars, my influences are not so much from black metal. I love black metal for the riffs, drumming, vocals, just the overall atmosphere, not so much for the lead guitars. Some of the players who have influenced my lead playing (not that I put myself in their league) would be bands or players like Alex Skolnick, Kai Hansen, Andy LaRocque, Marty Friedman, Kirk Hammet, Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, George Lynch, Dave Mustaine, Kreator, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, etc etc etc….

Given that you’re a duo and that COVID-19 has been ongoing for much of Artach’s lifespan, what is the likelihood that you guys would play live shows in the future? Is there any interest in doing so?

Sruthán: There’s some cool bands here, but the live metal scene in St. John’s is not the greatest. You essentially play to the same 50 people for every show if you are lucky. So for me, that isn’t overly inspirational. The creation process and constantly coming up with new songs, that’s what inspires me to do Artach. My motto is “create, don’t copy.” So it’s not that Artach would never consider live shows, it’s just not something that we think a lot about, and with the ongoing pandemic, it’s a near impossibility anyway.

Fíochmhar: It would be interesting to play a live show… I think I would have to choose between playing drums or performing vocals… If we could find musicians who were interested in learning our songs and working with us….it could be a possibility… but right now, I don’t see us bring any new members into the fold…

You guys have released one full length album entitled Chronicles of a Black Winter​ ​, however you seem to prefer to release new music as singles and then compile them into a full length LP once enough material has been released. Why did you decide to go about this unique way of releasing music?

Sruthán: Getting things out and having new music to share almost monthly is more fun than waiting years between albums, especially for a band that isn’t touring or playing live. It also keeps the creative flames burning, to always be in writing mode and not to put it aside for months or years because it’s not the time to record new material…it’s ALWAYS time to record new material and write new stuff. 🙂

Fíochmhar: We didn’t start this band essentially to make an album. We wanted to record a couple songs and release them for ourselves and our friends to listen to… It was an experiment for us…. So we kept on going, song for song, until we reach a point where we had written the first batch of songs…. And it seemed like we had reached the end of the first chapter in Artach’s story. So the album came out. This gained us a lot more attention! We were very surprised at the reaction and how our audience grew….

I think metal fans still want to see full albums!!! So we released the album though bandcamp and we eventually hooked up with Depressive Illusions Records from Ukraine who released our album on CD!

You’ve released songs in celebration of Halloween and Christmas before. Are there any plans to do another Christmas song this year?

Sruthán: Yes it will probably be online by the time this interview goes live. We’ve taken a couple of traditional Xmas songs and gave them a dirty Artach twist that you and your family can play all throughout the Xmas season.

Is there another full length in the works? What’s next on the horizon for Artach?

Sruthán: Yes, we have more than enough material for a second album. We have some surprises that are recorded but not yet released as well which will be released when the second album comes out. As for when, it will be in 2021. We don’t have an exact timeframe. That will depend on if anyone wants to release it, or if we will just self-release it again. We will continue writing new songs regardless and hopefully we will do another music video for a song from the second album ahead of its release.

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us here at Heavy NFLD!

Sruthán: I’d just like to say thanks to YOU Greg for the support you have shown to Artach and the local heavy scene. Our scene may be small-ish, but you tie it all together from metal, hard rock, punk, alternative, etc and everyone I’m sure is happy for the opportunity to get their music and name out there thanks to you!

~ Akhenaten

An Interview with Häg

Häg (left to right): Andrew Wicks, Adam Hefferman, Keith Harding, Josh Ward, Clair Hipditch

Hag are a five piece atmospheric / progressive doom metal outfit from St. John’s, Newfoundland featuring Clair Hipditch on vocals, Adam Hefferman and Andrew Wicks on guitars, Josh Ward on bass and Keith Harding on drums. The band is fresh off the release of their debut, full length, self-titled studio album which was released on June 5th, 2020. While Harding is present on the record, he has since left the band and has been replaced by Patrick Tarrant.

First off, tell the people who we’re talking to!

AW: I’m Andrew Wicks, guitar player.

AH: And Adam Hefferman, guitar player 2!

How do you guys know each other? Give us a bit of history as to how the band formed and how long you’ve been active.

AW: Me and Heff have known each other for ages, and he was the first to start talking about getting a band going.  Heff and Clair know each other from school and stuff so when we actually did start making moves to put together a band, back in 2016 I think, he reached out to her.  Josh and I have known each other for years as well, and played in a couple other bands together before HÄG, first Narrows and then Surgeon.  

AH: Me and Clair go back to high school! We bonded over basketball and weird art. Wicks and Josh probably came into my life around the same time when I was obsessed with Narrows. 

You once went by the name Goon. What led to you changing the name to Häg?

Also, why the umlaut?

AW:  Just as we were getting near the final stages of having the album ready we noticed this other band called Goon was gaining some attention and doing fairly well, so we didn’t want to have the same name as them and didn’t want to have to explain which Goon we were and stuff.  We thought HÄG had a similar vibe and couldn’t find many other bands with that name at the time on streaming services and so forth.  We added the umlaut on a whim, which was good because it turns out there are a few other Hag’s out there haha, so now we can just say we’re the ones with the umlaut.  The whole connection to the old hag and sleep paralysis and all that fit with what we go for as well. 

You guys are fresh off the release of your debut full length album. What was the writing process like for this record?

AW:  I demo all the tunes, usually just guitar parts and some programmed drums, that’s what those old Goon demos are.  They’re either tunes I’ve written, or tunes that started from a riff or idea that someone else had that I fleshed out and arranged. Clair would demo a few vocal ideas on those, and between the two of us we’d get to something we liked.  It works out great because if one of us is stuck on some section or tune the other person will have something.  “Your Skin” actually started from a little demo Clair had of what became the verses, so somewhere there is a haunting piano and vocal version of those verses. Then we brought the songs in the jam room and things got a little more refined, especially the drums. Josh came into the fold after everything else was recorded and just added a new dimension with his bass parts.  We just let him do his thing pretty much.

AH: Nothing to add here really. We spent a lot of time crafting the songs for this first record, and it became a pretty big departure from the first demos GOON had done, some of it happened in the room, but most was a product of Wicks finely crafting and arranging his own and our ideas. A big labor of love on his part. 

What has the critical reception for the record been like?

AW: Pretty good!  All the proper reviews have been really positive and point out that it’s something fairly unique, which means we met one of our main goals.

AH: It’s kind of overwhelming really how positive the reviews have been even just from people listening to the album. You think you are creating something that isn’t mainstream and then you don’t know how reception will be. But the people who love doom rock or metal really love those genres. The support for Clair’s vocal stylings has been so nice. 

As stated on your Bandcamp, the drums were recorded at Car Crash Studios in Conception Bay South. What was it like working with them?

AW:  It was good, rushed, but good.  We only had a few days of studio time budgeted so it was a bit of a marathon for Keith.  It would have been nice to play with mic placements and different drum treatments and stuff but there just wasn’t time.  But Rob at Car Crash was great, it was pretty chill and relaxed for a fairly rushed recording session. 

AH: Word!

What was the recording process like for the rest of the instruments on the record?

AW:  Everything else was done at one of our homes, just using a Macbook and a PreSonus interface.  For guitars we basically just stuck a 57 in front of the cab, made sure anything that was rattling in the room was removed or whatever, and went for it.  The bass was pretty similar, but we used a couple different mics and a DI.  We made a makeshift vocal booth in a closet and used a Studio Projects condenser mic for that.

AH: Thanks to our moms for lending us their sweet linen walk in closets. Very supportive of them. 

There’s a wide array of influences and styles present on this record. What bands and artists would you say influenced your unique sound?

AW:  Well, we say we’re a doom band but really that’s just a genre that our aesthetic kind of connects to.  There’s doom influences of course, like Loss, Yob, My Dying Bride, Mizmor, Pilgrim, some of the doomier Darkthrone stuff.  Led Zeppelin and Jane’s Addiction are a big influence for me.  The sort of majestic and mythical feeling they could evoke and the song arrangements being the major pieces.  Also the soundtrack work Goblin did, especially for Suspiria and Deep Red, had a creepy, proggy but trippy vibe that’s very cool. Then there’s Danzig, King Crimson, Weakling, Drukh, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Dead Weather, Nick Cave, and others that have had an impact one way or another.  Playing with Narrows and Surgeon definitely had a strong influence as well, both bands had a unique thing going and added to how I look at playing guitar and writing for sure. 

AH: I agree with all this.

In terms of individual musicians, who do you look up to as inspirations for your own playing, whether it be vocalists, guitarists, bassists or drummers?

AW:  I’m more inspired by songwriting and band interplay than individual playing, so all those influences are there mainly for that.  I kind of lost interest in guitar solos in my mid-late teens but I’ve been getting into them again recently, so from that angle some inspirations would be Jimmy Page, Marty Friedman, Frank Zappa, Brian May.  

AH: I’m a big St. Vincent and Robert Fripp guy, but I draw a lot more of my influences from more noisy players like The Talking Heads with and without Adrian Belew, Nels Cline of Wilco and The War on Drugs. 

We know that drummer Keith Harding is no longer in the band and that Patrick Tarrant has filled the role. How did this lineup change affect the band?

AW:  Unfortunately just as we were getting things rolling with Patrick a virus spread across the globe and everything came to a halt, but we had a couple jams before that all started.  Those jams were our first time playing live with Patrick and Josh, they’re both killer musicians and the jams were excellent.  We were all a bit surprised how quickly things came together, and the energy in the room felt really good. I think it’s gonna be awesome to have Patrick and Josh in on the writing process for our next batch of tunes. 

AH: I mean obviously Keith is a monster. Playing with him in Hear/Say and again in this group was a real treat. Playing that long with someone is cool! But, Patrick is filling his shoes very, very nicely and we’re having a whole lot of fun when we get to do stuff together. Happy to have him on board!

Once the situation with COVID-19 is good enough that shows can happen again, do you intend to gig regularly or will you be more of a ‘once in a while’ kind of band?

AW:  Probably more ‘once in a while’.

AH: Yeah we are definitely hoping to give some more immersive experiences performance wise, keep it to once in a while, but really make them count. 

What’s next on the horizon for Häg?

AW:  We did a cover of “Symptom of the Universe” that’s either already out there or will be soon.  That recording started during quarantine and was finished up fairly recently, after bubbles expanded and whatnot.  It’s a quick and dirty cover but we had some fun with it and put our own little twist on it in some areas.  Beyond that, I think the main goal is to get working on new material, which has started to percolate. 

AH: We’ve got some stuff in the tank to start developing that I’m pretty excited about, it’s going to be nice to turn our focus that way. 

Awesome stuff, folks! Love the record. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us here at Heavy NFLD.

AW: Thanks a lot, and thanks for supporting us and the local heavy scene!

AH: You’ve been so supportive and incredible, we can’t thank you enough!

~ Akhenaten

Album Review: Nocturnal Prayer – Advance on Weakened Foes

Nocturnal Prayer – Advance on Weakened Foes
April 2nd, 2020
Black Metal
Inferna Profundus Records
St. John’s, Newfoundland

Advance on Weakened Foes shows the already excellent early stages of old-school black metal tyrants Nocturnal Prayer. Nocturnal Prayer are a relatively new group from Newfoundland, made up of members Cancer, Murder, and Nausea, as well as their newest member Deimos who joined the band after this album was released.

Since their inception in 2019, Nocturnal Prayer has released two demos: 2019’s Grim Sermons of the Nocturnal Prayer, and May You Lay Waste To Astral Gods With Star Disintegration released in February 2020.  These two releases have gotten them a fair amount of global attention, with their first demo being covered by world-famous metal magazine Decibel in December of 2019, and joining with Lithuanian label Inferna Profoundus Records, which has led to the release of Advance on Weakened Foes, a compilation album combining the the two demos in to one full length release.

The first half of Advance is the demo, Grim Sermons of the Nocturnal Prayer.  The sermons mentioned are blasphemous worship to raw 90’s black metal. Tracks like “Glistening Sword Upon Thy Saviour”, and “Basking in Corporeal Destruction”, are excellent with fast, ghastly riffs, bombastic drumming, and tortured vocals.. Some stand-out moments on this side are the chilling melodic riffs throughout “Winter Winds and Cold Towers”, and the end of “Alignment of Skulls” when it goes into a devastatingly heavy breakdown.

Sermons ends on a cover of Black Murder’s “The Last Supper”, which the group nails and is an interesting choice to go with as it’s a more obscure track from a group that is part of the legendary French avant-garde black metal collective Les Légions Noires (The Black Legions) who’s influence can be he heard throughout both demos.

Their second demo May You Lay Waste To Astral Gods With Star Disintegration lives up to it’s amazing title with the band improving and expanding their sound while still keeping with the old-school approach from before. This demo sees the band also taking the concepts for their songs to a grander scale, we’ve gone from blasphemous rituals to slaying cosmic deities and the music reflects that. “Seven Scepters To Inflict His Spell” begins the demo with a wall of swelling feedback until the listener is thrown into a high speed dissonant riff that feels like you’re being dragged towards a black hole at full force.
This is where you can see more of the LLN, and more left of the dial influences come in which sets this demo apart from the first.

The themes and concepts of the demo are aided by the bands improved, tighter sound making the music as a whole feel more dynamic. The production has also been slightly improved as well, while keeping the lo-fi grit of Sermons. It’s also worth noting their cover of Moonblood’s “Blut Und Krieg”, another solid cover that has the band bringing keyboards into their sound which works really well and would be interesting to hear brought into future originals.

Advance On Weakened Foes is one of my favourite releases of the year so far, it’s two great demos that stand out on their own strengths and go together really well. If you’re looking for some evil, wicked black metal do yourself a favour and give Advance On Weakened Foes a listen.

Final Verdict: 9/10
Awesome

Favourite Tracks:
“Winter Winds and Cold Towers”
“Seven Scepters to Inflict His Spell”

For Fans Of:
Black Murder (and other LLN groups)
Moonblood
Darkthrone
Mayhem
90’s black metal in general

~ James Titford

Album Review: Artach – Chronicles of a Black Winter

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Artach – Chronicles of a Black Winter
February 24th, 2020
Black Metal
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland

Black metal has been experiencing something of a renaissance in Newfoundland and Labrador over the last decade, with bands like Dark Era, Winterhearth, Mistwalker, Decima Morta and Nightbreed leading the charge forward. However there’s one group on the island that have been playing the game in a more honest and playful way than any of the others, and that group is Artach.

While Artach initially started as a project between two musicians who simply wanted to record black metal music for fun as a way to experiment and have fun apart from their other main projects, especially by releasing a string of singles on an almost monthly basis, the project quickly grew to the point where the group had enough material to compile a full length album. Over the past several months they’ve gained attention from other members of the underground metal press besides us at Heavy NFLD, and for good reason. What Artach are creating is something that feels like a tried and true formula with genuine passion behind it, but with more fun and energy behind it than I initially expected.

The album begins with a no holds barred assault in the form of “Eternal Black Winter”, which opens the gate with a barrage of blast beats, some ultra cold riffing and a bloodcurdling scream. After about 25 seconds the song slows down to a much more atmospheric section with some truly ugly vocals kicking in and it does a perfect job of illustrating exactly why this album is so strong.

Chronicles of a Black Winter does a fantastic job of combining all the elements of black metal into one pastiche of blackened fury. With Fiochmar handling both vocal and drum duties on this album, he includes both the ridiculous speed of Horgh’s blast beats with the snail paced lumbering percussion of slow burners like Burzum’s “Dunkelheit”, and shreds his vocal chords in a similar fashion to many of the first wave of black metal bands, especially Quorthon of Bathory. He even sounds like a more menacing, modern version of Cronos from Venom at times, and the band’s love of black metal’s first wave is solidified with their cover of Celtic Frost’s “Jewel Throne”, which pops up at the end of the album as a bonus track on the Spotify and Apple Music version.

Guitarist and bassist Sruthan includes a variety of influences on this record too, though his most obvious inspirations come in the form of the Immortal-esque riffing found all over this record. Oftentimes the band will transition from the softer, more atmospheric side of things such as on the track “Ice Raven” into the heavier and more brutal side of things. This contrast is present all over the record and is accentuated by the vocals as well, with Fiochmar screaming in his ugly, almost orc-ish voice or singing in a folksy style chant when the songs call for it. No song exhibits this Immortal worship more than on the track “Permafrost”, which features the cleanest guitar playing on the album. Some tracks do stand out a bit more than others, such as “Frozen in Time”, which presents a very Egyptian esque vibe reminiscent of a band like Melechesh, or the ending track “Fire & Ice” with it’s very early Darkthrone sounding menacing chords.

Lyrically the group isn’t tackling anything new that hasn’t been done a thousand times over by other bands in the black metal genre. Even the novelty and relevance of the track “Permafrost”, a song about ancient diseases frozen in the polar ice caps reawakening and wreaking havoc on humanity thanks to climate change, has been done before by bands like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. That being said it very much feels like the guys in Artach are writing about these topics because they’re having fun with them. It feels like a genuine appreciation for the lyrical topics that black metal has been known for, namely snow, ice, winter, forests, nature, misanthropy, mythology, wisdom, ancient ways, and all things of that nature, are being sung about on this record because the band simply finds those topics to be integral to the fundamental spirit of black metal. Despite the retreading of old ground, it works in their favor.

While this is the first record that Artach have produced in their less-than-one-year as a band, the group are already working on a second album, and if it’s as playfully experimental yet brutally honest as this first effort is it’ll be just as enjoyable of a listen. Artach have overnight become one of the most interesting bands to come out of the Newfoundland metal scene in some time, not only for the Darkthrone-esque duality of their lineup, but for their genuine appreciation for all things grim and frostbitten and their unique flavour of first wave meets second wave black metal. If you’ve not given Chronicles of a Black Winter a listen yet, give it a spin or two. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Final Verdict: 8/10

Favourite Tracks:
“Eternal Black Winter”
“Permafrost”
“Leviathan… Rise!”
“Frozen in Time”

For Fans Of:
Immortal
Celtic Frost
Bathory

~ Akhenaten

Mistwalker Releases New EP ‘N.W.O.N.F.L.D.B.H.M.’

Glovertown blackened thrash / heavy metal project Mistwalker has been teasing the release of his new EP since the beginning of autumn. The EP, entitled N.W.O.N.F.L.D.B.H.M. which stands for New Wave of Newfoundland Blackened Heavy Metal was released at 12:00 AM this morning on October 31st, just in time for the spookiness of Halloween.

In a statement by sole member Greg Ravengrave this morning, he stated that the EP was made in reverence “to Newfoundland and the black metal that comes from Newfoundland” while the title itself (as well as the album art) is an homage to the Darkthrone EP entitled N.W.O.B.H.M., which simply stands for New Wave of Blackened Heavy Metal.

Hey friends! So I originally posted this late last night because this dropped at 12:00 AM on the dot. But here’s my new EP! The product of two months full of work. N.W.O.N.F.L.D.B.H.M. or ‘New Wave of Newfoundland Blackened Heavy Metal’ is a tribute to Newfoundland and the black metal that comes from Newfoundland. These four songs vary widely in sound but are expressive of a certain nostalgia and mystery that comes from the misty little island that I call home.

The title itself and even the album artwork to a degree is alsoo a tribute to Darkthrone and their similarly named EP NWOBHM, which simply stands for New Wave of Blackened Heavy Metal. Darkthrone has been the biggest influence on my music, bar none, and I really hoped to capture the spirit of their more modern works with old school speed metal riffs, a few doomy Celtic Frost-inspired moments and primitive drumming. The whole thing was recorded in my bedroom (aside from drums which I recorded in my jam space) with a single microphone on a crappy Mega amp, as were most of my previous albums and other releases.

I really hope you, the listener, end up liking this EP as much as I do. I’m happy to say that I’m proud of the finished product and that it’s only upwards from here. You can find the EP on all major streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, etc) as well as on Bandcamp (link below) through which you can support me directly. If you’ve listened to this release, thank you so much from the depths of my trve kvlt soul. It means the world to me.

This new EP from Mistwalker is also the first to feature a guest musician since the projects 2016 full length album Necrotic Passion. The guest musician comes in the form of Erin Faithless, live bassist for Mistwalker, (and formerly of Montreal punk band No Way Out) who provides guest vocals on the second track of the EP, “Bastant Fist Assault”.

N.W.O.N.F.L.D.B.H.M. is available now through Bandcamp as well as all major streaming platforms. You can check it out through our Bandcamp embed below.

~ Akhenaten