Karonte - Paraíso Sin Fe [Full length] (2012, Self-released)

Since 1994 Karonte have unleashed a slow but steady stream of death metal upon the Spanish masses from their homebase in Cantabria. Except from one change of drummer back in their demo days, Karonte has had a highly stable lineup.

The quartet is most often labeled as melodic death metal, so it may come as a shock when you're met with a fat, simplistic and grooving guitar as opposed to the squeaky clean hyperactive wankery that has been made a custom by especially the Swedish scene. Karonte strive to meet the genre in the old school way, meaning exactly what it is: Death metal with a slightly more melodic tinge. As such they aren't as susceptible to the weaker elements of the genre, namely overly melodious solos and riffs that border on metalcore.

On Paraíso Sin Fe flashy melody comes second to groove-laden passages where guitars, bass and drums go hand in hand. But there are times on their second album where it only seems suitible to go a little more overboard on the whole spectrum. Even when the tide is high their grooves feel a bit too controlled and as such it seems like they're restraining themselves. I get that it's not all about speed and brutality, but Paraíso could stand to benefit from just a tad bit more in that department.

I wouldn't offend Karonte by putting them in a box neatly marked "melodic death metal", because they are much more than that. Tracks like Falaris and Carme show their affinity for the heavier aspects of the genre, while Mercado Infecto's marching pace brings back memories of certain death/doom groups.

Paraíso Sin Fe feels like the product of a band sure of what they wanted to do. It adequately mixes enough different elements to keep things interesting for the almost 40 minutes the album consists of. It seems sincere and doesn't follow modern trends. But even so, with the little variation in tempo evident on Paraíso does as times make it feel like a long journey. With the arguably fastest track starting things off, each songs is more or less a step down, culminating in the bluesy closing track, Gris. I found myself often tempted to take a break from the album because it felt like nothing exciting was going on anyway, and without the promise of a greater track later on the album, there's little reason to listen to the album in one sitting. There seems to be only little thought-process behind the tracklisting, because the flow feels uneven and weird. The title track serves nicely as an album closer as Gris (the actual album closer) is too unlike anything else heard on the album and therefore feels like more of a bonus track or intermission. 6/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Carme
2. Mercado Infecto
3. La Piedad De Los Débiles
4. Falaris
5. Repta Humano
6. El Día De Las Alabanzas
7. Paraíso Sin Fe
8. Gris


Visit Karonte's official website

Fathomhell - Non Pietatem Erit [EP] (2012, Runenstein Records)

I have previously reviewed Balmog and Amnion from Spain, but the country itself is hardly known for its black metal scene. Perhaps it has something to do with the sunny weather, although the country's economic crisis in recent years and its towering youth unemployment rates should provide enough frustration, drive and lyrical material to go around. Or maybe those subjects are instead fueling thrash metal, punk and grindcore bands. Who knows. In any case there is something intriguing and exciting about extreme metal bands from unlikely places, and if black metal from Spain isn't an unlikely match I don't know what is.

Non Pietatem Erit is thus far Fathomhell's only release. The duo started in 2010 and by 2012 had their first EP ready, centered around a cold atmosphere with a small amount of modernity added through the use of sparsely used synths and carefully programmed drums. More often than not programmed drumming is a product of laziness and as such often sounds completely terrible and poorly thought through. A few bands can bear this simplistic, inhuman, cold and mechanical approach, but most bands cannot. But with Fathomhell the drumming really isn't an issue; It feels thoroughly worked through and well-considered, and above all it is commendably well-integrated.

This is not the only feat of Non Pietatem Erit, obviously. The sounds brought forth by the Spanish duo is that of a traditional approach to black metal without leaning decisively on any regional sound. It proposes glimpses into the melodic side of black metal, followed by deluges of distortion and blast beats, all neatly arranged into immaculate sequences. The track Illusions of Death reaches for titanic and epic magnificence with one of Fathomhell's most ambitious riffs, while "Devours the Light, Eats their Soul" goes a more traditional way with uninterrupted grittiness.

The overall expression of Fathomhell's music is pretty good, although a tad bit ordinary. Even when they're feeling adventurous they're still just clinging to the same vestiges of melodic black metal. Even if the EP is well-crafted it feels like they're playing it safe and as a result comes across as completely inoffensive. Only rarely does Fathomhell break the veil of inocuousness, and whenever this happens it only leaves the listener with a feeling of wanting this part to play a bigger role in the grand scheme of things. 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Intro ad Tartarum
2. Devours the Light, Eats their Souls
3. Illusions of Death
4. Fall to the Infinite Depths of Abyss
5. Dante's Inferno
6. Fathom Hell


Visit FATHOMHELL on Facebook
Visit Runenstein Records

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Amnion / Balmog - Grim Repulse of the Southern Lodge [Split] (2013, Filthy Cave Records)

Spain isn't exactly the first country that comes to mind when thinking of black metal. Nevertheless, Spain is the country that both Amnion and Balmog hail from, and on the "Grim Repulse of the Southern Lodge" 7" split from 2013 they showcase the best of what Spain has to offer in terms of black metal. Both bands have over 10 years of experience in the genre, and both bands have as such released a slew of miscellaneous demos, splits and EPs.

With Amnion there are no obvious influences - Their style bears a resemblance to so great an amount of bands that singling out specific elements or influences would be to do them injustice, and it is exactly this that also makes "Semper Mors Erit Dux Tuus", Amnion's side of the split, stand out. You can talk for hours on end about "this little riff", "that small portion", "those blastbeats" and "that bassline", but in actuality the Spanish trio's music is best if taken for what it is: A mishmash of black metal sounds centered around a morbid cacophony made of guitars and a cavernous atmosphere. Though a great portion of the track is of a blastbeat-driven disposition, Amnion still have a nice way with rhythm that is seldomly seen in black metal of this sort. It's not a predominant component in the band's music, but does give it a nice touch and much needed variety.

I'm not going to say that Balmog is the polar opposite or the exact same as Amnion. Though there are similarities given that they both fall under the same categorization, there are at least as many differences. Balmog's songwriting centers more around riffing - which some may argue is a more traditional approach - but also has a more modern sound. The way they arpeggiate through their malicious chords and scales are reminiscent of a few contemporary groups, but Balmog's main strength lies with their ear for melody and the way these a put together over a strong, ponderous rhythm-section. They only occassionally lurch into life with faster tremolo-pieces only to soon fall back into the realms of arpeggiated riffs.

The efforts of both Spanish bands speaks of great musical integrity and a creativity that many current groups and bands lack. There's not much new under the sun about neither Amnion nor Balmog, but their songwriting styles both contrasts and complements each other with their vast differences and many likenesses. If you're expecting the next big thing in progressive, experimental black metal, you need to keep looking. But if you're into varying degrees of traditional black metal with several twists and turns, look no further. 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Amnion - Semper Mors Erit Dux Tuus
2. Balmog - Putrid Emanations from the Tomb

BALMOG official FaceBook
Filthy Cave Records official site

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Dèigh - Nothingness [Track] (2013, Self-released)

Spain has its fair share of black metal bands, but hardly any have ever achieved any form of international success. From Madrid comes Dèigh, a musician focused on creating "abrasive black metal". Dèigh released a demo in 2012 entitled No Life Flickers, and Nothingness, I think, is supposed to be one of a few tracks featured on a new EP with the same name.

Whether the 5:40 minutes long track is supposed to be the entire EP or just one track from it is a little unclear at the time of writing. I'm pretty sure 5 and a half minutes doesn't quite qualify as an EP, and if you could at all justify calling it such it would be because the track itself could well be separated into two parts. The initial part of the song is ripe with distorted guitars and is by far the most active part of the track, whereas the latter part of Nothingness is dominated by clean guitars and crash cymbals.

There are several things worth talking about regarding Dèigh and Nothingness. I don't exactly know where the "abrasive" tag fits in, because all I hear is poorly written and sloppily executed bland as fuck black metal. Nothingness does not possess the atmosphere and feeling a slow track can produce. It does not have the energetic headbang-inducing riffs a mid-paced tempo can invoke. And it certainly doesn't have the abrasive aggravation that high-tempo black metal can cause. The track (or EP or whatever) is mostly low speed "metal" with a really simple 4/4 riff accompanied by horrific bedroom production. After a minute or so the track completely changes to an equally simple clean guitar melody, this time chaperoned by some of the worst programmed drums I've ever borne witness to. When the distorted guitars set in again the image of bedroom black metal is completed with endless crash cymbals ad nauseum and no sense of timing whatsoever. To be honest it sounds a lot like the guitars were recorded with little to no attention to the drum track.

Dèigh has so little attention to detail that it sounds like he didn't even listen to the song before uploading it online. I have no idea if the rest of his material is of equally inadequate quality, but listening to Nothingness doesn't make me want to find out. I have seldom seen such a blatant disregard for the final product, and the fuck-it-all change from one part of the song to the next and the way the track jsut stops at the end as well as the near-constant crash cymbal only empasize this notion. The only thing even remotely redeeming on the demo are the completely run of the mill raspy black metal vocals sporadically found on the track. 2/10 guitars.

If for some reason you want to torture yourself or test your faith in the future of metal you can find Dèigh - Nothingness on Bandcamp here

DÈIGH official Facebook

Listen, if you dare



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Skjaersild - Skjaersild / Damned Roots [Demo] (2005 / 2007, Xaphan Records)

When it comes to black metal it's easy for an outsider to think all the bands sound alike, and the veritable hordes of so-called bedroom black metal bands aren't exactly helping.
I this review I will be taking a look at the Spanish black metal band Skjaersild and their first two demos, Skjaersild from 2005 and Damned Roots from 2007.

Skjaersild, the band who's name I keep misspelling, offer some fairly mediocre, slow-moving atmospheric/depressive black metal on the first demo. The two tracks, "Blinded to See the Most Inhuman Pain" and "Rotten Nature", feature little more than heavily distorted and rather simple guitars playing some moderately enjoyable riffs thick with melancholia.
The lack of drums and, well, any other instrument actually, on the first track makes the music sound depth-less and doesn't really leave much to the imagination or so to speak.
When drums are finally intruduced on the second track, the 10-minute opus "Rotten Nature", it is in companionship with the same bland guitars we heard on the previous track, only to occasionally be interrupted by what kinda sounds like the clean guitar MIDI-sounds from Guitar Pro with a ton of reverb.
When it comes to the structure of Rotten Sound the parts of the track are simply too incoherent and seemingly unrelated to each other to justify throwing them together into one long torturous track.
The fact that the cover is nothing more than the name written in capital, white gothic letters and a Mitsubishi-logo on a black background doesn't really make the demo feel more worked through or serious.

The 2007 demo "Damned Roots" pretty much features the same unexciting guitar work and, most notably, even more of those harrowing MIDI sounds that plagued the first demo. Little has changed in the two years that it apparently took to complete this 3-track demo, and pinpointing differences is almost completely impossible, one exception being the fact that the last song, "Looking at the Emptiness" actually has a couple of layers instead of just being guitar and drums. But as with Rotten Nature from 2005, Looking at the Emptiness suffers from the same problem: A total lack of coherency and continuity. It's basically just a bunch of completely unrelated bits put after one another. And these parts are everything from what sounds like stuff ripped from the Diablo II soundtrack to Burzum-inspired ambient-ish stuff, which by the way is more or less completely ripped off of Burzum's Gebrechlichkeit.

All in all both demos are very lacklustre and none of the tracks feel like they're particularly cared for or worked through, and it makes the final outcome seem unfinished and unpolished like a work in progress. It simply isn't a very wholesome listening experience. 4/10 guitars.

Tracklist (Skjaersild):
1. Blinded to See the Most Inhuman Pain
2. Rotten Nature

Tracklist (Damned Roots):
1. Looking at the Emptiness
2. Is Not a Voice Anymore
3. Go Away

SKJAERSILD official site
Xaphan Records official site

Digging Your Tomb - Demo(lition) [Demo] (2011, Self-released)

Slams all around! That's the feeling you get when you listen to Digging Your Tomb's 4th demo, the not-so-originally titled "Demo(lition)". The brutal Spanish trio delivers supreme guttural might on three masterfully crafted songs with more goresoaked vocals and slam riffs than you can shake a stick at.

Digging Your Tomb are pretty similar to the Norwegian butcherers in Kraanium in terms of the thugget-out-ness of their slams aswell as the way they build up their songs and the guttural style of the vocals. Like any good slam demo, Demo(lition) features cripling slams and breakdowns at both high and low tempoes, and compared to other upcoming bands of the genre they seem to have a little better understanding of song flow.

One thing about slamming brutal death metal bands though... I find it hard to be really enthusiastic about them, probably because there are so many of them. You wouldn't get excited over someone who had a nice ball-point pen either, would you? It's beginning to feel the same way with slam bands, even if Digging Your Tomb display an obvious expertice in the field.

All in all Digging Your Tomb isn't crazy technical, but one of the great things about this genre is that the music doesn't need to be blistering fast and hard to play. In a way I'd call Digging Your Tomb's demo the easy listening of slam. Though "brutal" is a descriptive term every scene kid and their dogs throws at every band who's lyrics are about gore or death I think that Demo(lition) is mighty brutal in every sense of the word! 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. 666 Deads
2. Inhuman Hostility
3. Weaponized
4. Outro

DIGGING YOUR TOMB official site
Listen for yourself HERE