Fucking Nifelheim rule in so many ways is impossible to describe. Regain Records has just reissued their first two albums. It's the stuff that causes joy in me. Metal Mind from Poland keep on banging away the Nuclear Blast vaults and in their path rediscovering some minor jams and some awful shit too.  Read on and spread the word...

God bless Regain Records for reissuing these early Nifelheim releases.  Or I mean, Beelzebub shall curse this label for all eternity and have the head honcho roast in hell for doing so. Nifelheim’s 1994 debut album, initially released through Necropolis, is not only a masterpiece of the black metal genre, but it also features enough traits of traditional heavy metal to rank it amongst the best metal records of the past decade.  As the band still marches on representing exactly the same motifs it did back in the day, it’s impressive to notice the amount of musicality these Swedes had in their veins back then. From the primitive Brazilian influences to more well-nourished string skills and the totally necro vocals of Hellbutcher, Nifelheim, the album, represents everything that was right with black metal at the time.  As a bonus, this reissue includes a version of “In Conspiracy With Satan” taken from a Bathory tribute.  Also, contributing guitars in this recording were Jon Nodtveidt and John Swetsloot from Dissection.  

Nifelheim rules, and so does Regain for taking care of business. Something to notice and enjoy here is the insert included in these Nifelheim releases. The extra pictures included in the Devil’s Force (the band’s 1997 sophomore effort) reissue show how perfectly nailed down this band had their image. Dudes have taste. The sepia tones chosen for the band promos are perfect example of how metal was supposed to look like to some, most noticeably Sarcofago.  It’s intriguing, because musically, Devil’s Force sounds sloppier than the band’s debut. And yet, the playing is much more proficient and articulate. That’s hard to achieve considering the band was already somewhat tight in their debut but understandable considering how loose and sloppy Sarcofago, perhaps their greatest influence, were. The recording is also much different this time around. Devil’s Force features a more hollow sound, with bigger drums and echoey vocals.  This reissue includes a cover of Vulcano’s “Wtches’ Sabbat”. Aiding on this recording were once again Dissection’s Jon Nodtveidt and John Swesloot.

Despite including high profile members (dudes from Dismember, Desultory and Merciless are part of this band) Stockholm’s Unanimated have a much lower profile than Nifelheim and their take on black death metal is a lot more influenced by American and European death metal bands.  Control is of the essence here. No senseless and charmful abandon like the music that charactizes Nifelheim. Instead, Unanimated have a more dynamic sound based on a chunky guitar sound that grooves and grinds. Brutality surfaces frequently but for the most part the music is anchored by passages of mid tempo bliss and melodies propelled by early symphonic black metal.  In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead (No Fashion, 1993) shows its influences clearly. In the most brutal parts, Morbid Angel seems to be doing a cameo, in others more blackened, a more tamed and heavier Emperor seems to have peeked in. Kudos to Peter In De Betou who was in charge of remastering this debut album.  It sounds like it was recorded yesterday.  As a bonus, Regain Records has included Unanimated 1991 demo Fire Storm. Understandably, the sound is crap.

Poland’s Metal Mind just keep on trucking. Now, they are getting in the business of reissuing more obscure stuff than the usual Roadrunner releases. First in line are Abrogation out of Germany.  I had never heard of this band. Their sophomore release Das Blut Der Toten (Nuclear Blast, 2002) features a pretty well-played albeit conservative take on melodic death metal. A couple of things that jump out are first, the shitty hollow drum sound (albeit, impeccably played) and the vocals, which are in German and give the songs certain Rammstein-esque allure. I don’t like Rammstein, so whatever. What’s best about Abrogation are the guitars of Poldi. He solos with gusto and wicked finger work and jumps from melodic riff to faster, still brutal saccharine riffs. His work is particularly outstanding in the title track, where Abrogation transform into a traditional metal band as led by Kermit the Frog with a twist. To that point, not as nice are the German vocals of Frank Schwarte, which come off as very rigid, boring and one dimensional. 

Germans have never been adverse to all sorts of power metal fromage. Something in their diet has definitely trained them to withstand all sorts of funky shit. Hell, once I was in Munich and ordered a sausage sandwich only to be served an entire head of lettuce, a kilo of butter, and one tiny sausage in a stale bun. Anyway, we live revivalist times, so much so that the day is getting near when Pitchfork will declare Iced Earth geniuses of Radiohead-like proportions. Until then, this Mystic Prophecy reissue will do. The band hails from Germany and their sophomore album Regressus (Nuclear Blast, 1993) to me sounds much better than anything Iced Earth ever recorded. I must say that I am not a big fan of the genre. I can appreciate several aspects of Mystic Prophecy’s music though, which is played impeccably. The harmonies are soaring and vocalist Roberto Dimittris Liapakis has a commanding voice capable to lead a horde of children of the corn through the whole of Bavaria. Also included in the line up is Greek guitar god Gus G, who has played with Firewind and has recently been recruited by Ozzy Osbourne to take the place of Zakk Wylde. Regressus comes with two bonus tracks, one of which is a cover of Manowar’s “Fighting the World”.  It sucks, unless you are in the mood for subpar versions. Also, the thirteenth song sounds like bare drum tracks to some shitty heavy metal song. Nothing else, just ordinary drums. What the fuck?

UK’s Warlord are set to Active on Metal Archives but have only recorded one album in their career. And that was in 1996.  I wonder what the word ‘active’ entails. Maybe rehearsals are keeping them busy. Still, they can be proud of their recording career. As their only release Maximum Carnage is a more than competent entry into the annals of non-Swede melodic death metal. What’s  best of Warlord (commonly referred to as Warlord UK to distinguish them from namesakes) is that it sounds like a mellower version of Bolt Thrower. And I just say that because their sound is fat. Really fat. The riffs roll over like tanks over Baghdad, the double bass drums is a relentless machine gun attack and the one note vocals of Mark White give the album an air of primitive brutality.  The whole thing feels like some dick just put a blanket over your head and twenty dudes kicked the shit out of you. Also, the no frills, one track mind of Warrior is an evident influence of the raw simplicity of bands like Amebix. The original version of this album actually included two covers of that band plus one of Slayer. In their place, this reissue includes six bonus tracks, all badly recorded and hasty sounding. Their inclusion is of no benefit to this reissue.

From whichever way you see it, The Kovenant sucks. Some of these is downright laughable. Unless, of course, you like really cheesy, overwrought, industrial, gothic music. I really find S.E.T.I. (Nuclear Blast, 2003) pretty hard to listen to. Typically,  I find industrial  music too soulless to dig my teeth into. Even on the fringes of that genre, there is not even enough hate. On the other hand, gothic music can and in occasions has been OK, but once it’s bathed in operatic female vocals it becomes such a corn fest I prefer to stay distant.  Norway’s The Kovenant mix the worst of both genres, to titillating (but not in a good way) results. As is often the case of industrialized music, these songs feature some hideous generic modern sounding guitar playing, along with the required plethora of special effects and laughable keyboards coloring. The female vocals are just the cherry on top of the cheesecake. There is one outstanding feature of S.E.T.I., and that’s the drumming of Hellhammer (Mayhem and about two dozen others) who here goes by the name Von Blomberg and can beat the skins like few.

The metal game is a tough game. If you have any doubts just ask Germany’s Burden of Grief. They play melodic death metal with touches of blackened blasphemy and they do it just fine. Some might say that they in fact, excel at it.  And yet, hardly anyone knows them. I know I didn’t before this reissue fell on my hands. Blame it on their label. Their debut Haunting Requiem came out through Grind Syndicate Media in 2000 and since, these sons of Warburg have recorded three more albums only to find nothing but more obscurity. The truth is that Haunting Requiem is a pretty good record.  Apparently, the eleven songs originally included in this release were recorded for two demos, Eternal Solar Eclipse (1999) and Above Twilight Wings (1997) but you won’t be able to differentiate them. Maybe the songs from their first demo are more on a black metal vein. The only issue I have with this band is the uniformity of the sound which plagues the whole album and makes most of the songs become undistinguishable. Considering their latter albums haven’t sucked, I wish Burden of Grief good luck and a better record deal.

The Duskfall vocalist splits his time handling the mike for a band called MonsterSpank.  I’ve spent the last ten minutes trying to decide whether that’s the stupidest or the coolest band name ever. I am leaning toward the former. Regarding The Duskfall, well, what else can I say besides, ‘they can play’, and ‘they know what they are doing’. How about ‘go listen to early In Flames instead’?  Lifetime Supply of Guilt (Nuclear Blast, 2005) has absolutely everything the melodic death metal enthusiast craves for. And we all know those dudes don’t crave any originality. Therefore, this third release is absolutely void of it and effectively dishes out the dynamic melodies, the swift guitar lines, the typical easy to digest rough vocals and yeah, the relentless head pounding double bass footwork of drummer Oskar Karlsson. In other words, the same grunt work of about 70% of all Swedish metal bands. Well-done but dull as a Steven Seagal movie.