[Throwback Reviews] MAYHEM - Esoteric Warfare

Note from the editor: this review was first published at my main blog and since I moved here I've decided to edit and repost those archived reviews once in a while just to get the database complete and give a second life to those earlier writings.

Mayhem - Esoteric Warfare (2014, Season of Mist)

Legendary Norwegian Black Metal band Mayhem is back with another game changing record for its fans. While spacing releases, their latest albums previous to Esoteric Warfare was Ordo Ad Chaos released in 2007. So, seven years have passed since they released one of the most avant-garde Black Metal records to date.

DESTRÖYER 666 - Wildfire

Deströyer 666 – Wildfire (2016, Season of Mist)

Australian Black/Death/Thrash metal legends, Deströyer 666 are once again masters the act of speed metal in a cult to Motörhead. In the vein of this year’s also very efficient black/death release of Stillborn, Deströyer 666 is not reinventing the genre but they manage to do it with precision and cohesion that satisfies the author of those lines.

NECRONOMICON – Advent of the Human God

Necronomicon – Advent of the Human God (2016, Season of Mist)

Extreme metal masters from Montréal, QC Necronomicon have released thru the renowned label Season of Mist their most recent attack Advent of the Human God.

URGEHAL – Aeons In Sodom

Urgehal – Aeons In Sodom (2016, Season Of Mist)

With the passing of vocalist/guitarist Trondr Nefas in 2012, many believed that the Norwegian Black metal act Urgehal was dead and gone as its leader. It is now widely known that like Piggy, Voïvod’s innovative guitarist, Nefas left completed guitar tracks of the next album of Urgehal. Aeons In Sodom is now the subject of this review.

ROTTING CHRIST – Rituals

Rotting Christ – Rituals (2016, Season of Mist)

Legendary Greek outfit that is Rotting Christ has been one of the first Black metal band out of Scandinavia to get attention and reach a status of great with their demo Satanas Tedeum in 1989. This album marked some of the greatest Black metal played slow and with their own signature.

ABBATH – Abbath

Abbath – Abbath (2016, Season of Mist)

Seven years after the release of last chapter of Immortal, All Shall Fall, and a series of judicial procedures over the use of the name Immortal, vocalist and guitarist Abbath, who is now on his own with bassist King Ov Hell and drummer Creature formed his own solo act : Abbath. It is supposed to be the continuity of his former band and not a side project like his entry in Thrash metal the band I.

THY CATAFALQUE - Sgùrr

Thy Catafalque - Sgùrr (2015, Season of Mist)

Avant-Garde mastermind Tamas Katai from Hungary has been forging a kind of music originally closer to black metal but evolving in a way that transcends genres and labels. Using a large array of instruments and sonorities, the experiments of Thy Catafalque are fast, engaging, and have enough time to unfold as the songs evolve and unveil their labyrinthine structures. At some point, there’s a eerie sense of contemporary but also timeless experience with Sgùrr even more than with Rengeteg.

TSJUDER – Antiliv

Tsjuder – Antiliv (2015, Season Of Mist)

In this era of saturated genre albums, especially a genre where evolution or departure from the original guidelines is often quickly discarded. In the black metal genre, many good records are released each year. However, a few are or are potentially labeled as great.

THY CATAFALQUE - Rengeteg

THY CATAFALQUE – Rengeteg (2011, Season of Mist)