Empatic - Gods of Thousand Souls [Full length] (2010, Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Psycho)

Thrashy semi-melodic death metal is more or less the national metal genre of my home country Denmark, so listening to the Polish band Empatic's newest album, 2010's Gods of Thousand Souls, was almost like listening to bands from home like Hatesphere or Aphyxion.

Like mentioned above, Empatic plays some nice and heavy thrashy half-melodic death metal with a good sense of pace and structure. The 10 original tracks of the album feature some pretty snazzy chunks of metal that beg to be headbanged to. But what the Polish band have in talent for flow they lack in hooks and memorable riffs. Though they are obviously talented musicians I'm missing something truely memorable about the music. The songs simply blend in too much with each other, making the album a bit repetitive because it's hard to distinguish the tracks from each other.

That said their Randy Blythe-esque vocalist goes great with their more ruthless riffs and the tight-as-fuck drums. Songs like False Friend or The Game start out really heavy but then mellow out during the middle until they climax in the end. After a few listens I get the feeling that Empatic has only two settings: Crushingly heavy and melodic flowy stuff, mostly because all their songs have these two modes incorporated in some way. Though this tendency isn't very noticable or prominent, it's still enough so that it can halt an otherwise great pace.

In general I'd say that Gods of Thousand Souls is an honest, down to earth piece of death metal with varying musical tendencies. It's not something blindingly special, and Empatic don't seem like they're trying to create something new and exciting, but they've succeeded in compiling a solid set of songs for metalheads to enjoy. Apart from the hideously out-of-place cover song in the end of the album, Gods of Thousand Souls is pretty good work. 7/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Green Mile
2. G.O.T.S.
3. False Friend
4. The Game
5. Tomorrowland
6. VS
7. So What
8. Dreamer
9. Fulfilled Dreams
10. Empatic
11. Enola Gay (OMD Cover)

EMPATIC official site
Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Psycho official site

Sphere - Homo Hereticus [Full length] (2012, Masterful Records)

"Absolutely hellish death metal" was my immediate thought when "Forever Sworn to Blasphemy", the first track of Sphere's Homo Hereticus, toned in on my speakers. However you can never judge a band from just one track, but Poland's SPHERE is no one-trick pony. Having adopted elements from both technical, brutal and melodic death metal aswell as grindcore they make it quite clear that they aren't going to let their music become stale or monotonous. That said, Sphere aren't exactly revolutionizing the genre. They do, however, play some tight fucking death metal.

Switching from simple thrashy riffs to more technical and intricate riffs are among the many strengths the polish band have. The drummer is great at varying his speeds and compositions and the production of everything from the lingering bass to the demonic lead vocals is just genious. They're certainly not afraid to throw in some blistering blastbeats into the mix, and tracks like Sadistfucktion has its' grindcorey moments while the third track "Third Scent Carcass" is borderline brutal death metal. Homo Hereticus is definitely some great shit for the lovers of fast death metal.

Usually after listening to an album a few times one will have found their favourite tracks, but on this 2012 album it's really hard to pick favourites because every track is just plain awesome in its' own right. I imagine Sphere is a great live band, and if they aren't it certainly isn't the music's fault. 9/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Forever Sworn to Blasphemy
2. Godless Profanity
3. Third Scent Carcass
4. Sadistfucktion
5. Homo Hereticus
6. Holistic Paralisys
7. Psalm to the Dark One
8. Grave's Cold Darkness
9. Vengeance's Core
10. Devil's Reunion
11. Beyond Madness of Gods
12. War

SPHERE official site
Masterful Records official site

Countess - On Wings of Defiance [Full length] (2011, Barbarian Wrath)

Usually when I listen to music to review I like to give a few listens before I write it, but in the case of Countess' newest album "On Wings of Defiance" I had to give up after a mere two listens. That's all I could bear.

I could go on and on about what's wrong with the album... So that's what I'm going to do: First of all the guitar tone is completely atrocious, sounding more like a failed attempt to play Dire Straits à la Satan than... Well, any metal genre really. The album starts out with an 8-minute epic with insanely monotonous and single-tracked drums which begs the question if Orlok, the sole member of Countess, knows anything about drum-programming. Vocal-wise he doesn't fair much better, and half-way into the first track I'd already grown bored and slighty irritated with his generic, incessant barking.
Apparently Countess' idea of a great album is an hour long pile of completely unvaried, beginner-level black metal riffs with equally unvaried vocals and drums. The only thing that comes close to variation on "On Wings of Defiance" is the entirely arbitrary changes between Scandinavian and Mediterranean sounding melodic riffs.

Enough of the senseless ranting. Boiled down to a few sentences, Countess' 2011 album is little more than unvaried sub-standard Bathory-influenced black metal with cheesy MIDI-keyboard sounds. I remember there was a time where I thought all one-man bands were awesome, but some of my more recent acquaintances have certainly made me rethink that notion.

I admire a band that can be persistent, and Countess has released a multitude of albums over the years since its' creation in 1992, but if all of those releases are equally lacking as On Wings of Defiance things are looking grim... And not in a good way.

But it's not all bad, I actually moderately enjoyed the song Foggy Dew, the 8-minute 6th track of the 11 track album. But if I had to choose between Bathory, by whom Countess is obviously inspired, I would always choose Bathory, even if Quorthon also had his dodgy moments when it came to vocal performance. Orlok's Countess merely feels like a watered down Bathory with the same boring riffs played ad nauseum. 4/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Where Eagles Die
2. I am the Infidel
3. Let the River Run Red
4. Invictus
5. At the Hot Gates I Stand
6. Foggy Dew
7. Sermon of the Devil Preacher
8. An Emperor's Stand
9. On Wings of Defiance
10. Night of the Demon (Demon Cover)
11. In League with Satan (Venom Cover)

COUNTESS official site
Barbarian Wrath official site

Neftaraka - Morts [Full length] (2012, Eldritch Lunar Miasma Records)

Black metal has really found its' way to the furthest corners of the Earth. Well, maybe except for Antarctica, which is arguably the grimmest place on Earth. With its' roots in Northern Europe it's amazing to see a genre like that travel around the globe to South America, Alaska, Russia, Japan, Australia and even Malaysia like Neftaraka.

Before I even started listening to Neftaraka's "Morts" album I noticed the completely over the top awesome artwork. Many metal albums have really shitty artwork, but Morts is one of the coolest covers I've ever seen. It would look glorious on 12" vinyl.
As I listened to the album I realized that this would probably take a few listens before I'd get into it. And I was right, it did take a couple of sittings before I could really appreciate the moods set by the band with their Scandinavian-style black metal. By taking inspiration from such legendary acts such as Darkthrone and Burzum they've chosen som tough names to live up to, and while their riffs may not match that of Transilvanian Hunger or Lost Wisdom they've taken an age old recipe and made it their own.

But let's not make it more than it is: Classic black metal with a tiny bit of raw and depressive elements once in a while just to mix things up a little. They've even incorporated the close-to-mandatory dark ambient piece in the song Anttarra Solitude, which, despite my words, is actually a pretty damn solid track.
This goes for the whole album. It's strong black metal and it makes for a satisfying listening experience with a ton of good riffs and a near-perfect production that satiates the thirst for both filthy black metal and black metal of a more modern kind.

Neftaraka have released a throng of demos and splits and even an album in their 16 year long carreer and Morts certainly shows that the band have a lot of experience in the unholy arts of black metal. That said it sounds like the best songs are gathered in the first half of the album, which makes for a small lack of flow, but this is easily overlooked because Morts as a whole is really good. 8/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. Rituale
2. Sufferance
3. Morbid
4. Legions (Silverian Kvlt)
5. Pandemonium
6. F.O.A.D.A.
7. Anttarra Solitude
8. Morts

NEFTARAKA official site
Eldritch Lunar Miasma Records official site

Vielikan - A Trapped Way for Wisdom [Full length] (2010, Self-released)

Progressive death metal is a rare sight compared to technical death metal. Some would say that all technical death metal is progressive or vise versa, but I disagree.
Many bands sacrifice accessibility for progressiveness and as such become rather esoterical. But with the Tunisian death metal band Vielikan this is not the case. Their personal style of metal is enjoyable to fans of regular death metal and progressive metal alike.

Comprised of seven otherworldly tracks of alien horror "A Trapped Way for Wisdom" is a collection of Nocturnus-esque death metal with lots of progressive undertones aswell as showcasing great skill in both songwriting and sense of pace. The talented growls of the vocalist leads me to think of such singers as Mikael Åkerfeldt in his hayday and the other Swedish growler Peter Tägtgren.
As I mentioned earlier I don't think progressiveness and musical technicality needs to go hand in hand, and Vielikan perfectly demonstrates that progressive death metal doesn't need to have billion notes per minute or run in speeds of 230 BPMs. The album has everything you could ever want from a death metal album, maybe except for blistering speeds. They've got malevolent aggressiveness, eerie chilled out slow parts and ominous atmospheres all around.

The third song, Zero Affection, to me is the absolute climax of the album. Some might say it's an early climax, but it works great as a mindsetter for what's to come. The mighty ascending roar around 2 minutes into the 7 minute song is plain genius. As far as album art goes the cover sets the mindset of how the music sounds: Eerily dark, spacey and esoteric. Vielikan are obvious masters of lengthy songwriting leaving almost nothing to be wanted. During the time where I listened intensely to the album I never got bored. After having listened to the album a few times it really grew on me, especially as I started noticing the bass that always seemed to linger in the background, adding to the sense of dread and intensity.
Listen to this if you're into Bloodbath, Nocturnus, Augury, Obscura or Gorguts. Give it a few listens and you will not be disappointed. 9/10 guitars.

Tracklist:
1. The Beginning of All Remorse
2. A Shelter of Flesh in the Void
3. Zero Affection
4. Black Marsh
5. A Vertiginous Fall
6. A Trapped Way for Wisdom
7. Celestial Autumn

VIELIKAN official site