Katatonia "Sounds Of Decay" Avantgarde Music (1997)

There isn’t much to say about this EP. Like Brave Murder Day it stands somewhere between the death/doom metal of Katatonia’s earlier works and the depressive rock of Discouraged Ones and its followers. It actually seems that these three six-minutes-calibrated tracks are remains from the Brave Murder Day sessions, even if I don’t know to what extent this is true. On a sidenote it is puzzling that, while this EP represents the last step of this band before definitely falling into mellow so-called suicide rock, there are no clean vocals on it, while there were a decent amount of these on Brave Murder Day.

The first song Nowhere is a slow, dark track which can stand the comparison with almost anything on Brave Murder Day. A well-chosen, almost catchy opening doom riff, Mikael Akerfeldt’s harsh vocals sounding more lively than usual, and a welcomed semi-acoustic break make it a fully enjoyable track. The drumming itself sounds a tad more aggressive and more inspired than on the previous album, looking further than the standard rock beat Katatonia will later use. And paradoxically this track ends up sounding far closer to actual death/doom metal than to the melodeath vibe of BMD, what isn’t a bad thing.

The two other tracks are by contrast pretty much insignificant. At Last is not very different from Discouraged Ones rock songs, saved that Akerfeldt’s harsh vocals have been stuck on it, the result being a rather flat and monotonous piece of work. Inside the Fall is a patchwork of mediocre rock parts and slower doom moments exhibiting a very repetitive and annoying lead guitar, a forgettable song even if it slightly redeems itself at the end. I’ll eventually only remember the title – because it embodies THE FALL of Katatonia.

One (very) good song and two fillers which combine to make an eventually unnoticeable EP. Goodbye, Katatonia.

Buried Dreams "Beyond Your Mind" (Oz Records 1997)

An incredible record of a Mexican band, because it has everything that represents bands that emerged in the second half of the nineties. This disc was published on October 23th, 1997, it was integrated to the classic national metal discs along with names like Cenotaph, Agony Lords, Disgorge, Dies Irae among others that were produced by the legendary Mexican label Oz Records. For this reason we are honored to mention this debut album by this band originally from Mexico City: BURIED DREAMS. 

In the second half of the nineties he made his appearance several albums that were cataloged as the "Gotheborg sound" from Sweden as the bands At The Gates, In Flames and Dark Tranquility. For that reason, the same influences came to our country in the formation of bands with that same style. An example of this are the Buried Dreams who adopted these influences very well to create their own style and an identity for the national metal that would further along that same path.

The track list:

1. The Sword and the Cross 08:23  

2. Black Dragon 06:21   

3. Reflexions in the Light 07:15   

4. The Battle 06:07  

5. Beyond Your Mind 07:07   

6. Limits of Fantasy 08:47   

7. Looking Through the Fire 05:11   

8. Irony 06:09   

9. Moxtla 03:12  

10. Her Beauty    06:32

Line up recording

Ezequiel Mendoza Bass, Keyboards

Antonio De Yta Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals

Ndua Valdespino Guitars

Anuar Bautista Drums

Ivan Santos Vocals (lead)

The cover of both the jewel case and the slipcase are truly a work of art, showing the prehispanic influences of the group to create their own sounds and compositions. The group shows us how the Mexican metal sounds even though the sound of the production is a little low in the instruments. The influences of Swedish melodic death metal are notorious from the first notes of the first piece. They are a real enjoyment of the rhythm changes as well as their beating on the drums, boosting the speed of the songs or making more melodies between them. 

What I like about this album is its way of making each composition in a simple and direct way, we are pretentious or want to seem virtuous with the sounds, rather they give us melodies on the double guitars at each moment that a song advances, followed by the vowels that are absolutely brutal. There are no clean voices but you can appreciate the melodies of the lyrics between each song.

Contrary to popular belief Buried Dreams did not take their name from the song by Carcass. It was actually derived from their own song "Shining on Your Dreams", which the band believed to have "deep" lyrics. After realizing the coincidence they later covered "Buried Dreams" as a bonus track for the "Perception" album.

Buried Dreams formed in January 1995. In April the band began to perform live. They recorded their first promo-demo "The World Beyond" with three songs. One month later Buried Dreams won first place in the 1st.National Underground Heavy Metal Contest which led them to sign with Oz Records. So in August, with a new member for vocals, the band recorded their first full-length album called "Beyond your Mind".

I recommend the following songs as an example of the great work delivered by the band: "the sword and the cross", "black dragon", "reflexions in the light", "beyond your mind", "Irony" and "Moxtla".

Enthroned "Towards The Skullthrone Of Satan" (Blackend 1997)

Sometimes destiny is weird, or even bad because a band like Enthroned deserved more attention…for sure. After the very good debut, they release in 1997 this excellent “Towards The Skullthrone Of Satan” that is definitely faster and more evil than the album before. 

The production is quite raw but exalts the guitar sound, always brutal, cold and truly evil. The drums are fast and raw in the snare-bass drum sound. “The Ultimate Horde Fights” is on blast beats with the screamed vocals typical by Sabathan. 

Well, the main Enthroned characteristic is to mix in a perfect way obscure guitar lines with fast tempo, so we can find more “mid paced” parts where the true satanic soul is expressed through bestial, malevolent lead guitars lines. “Ha Shaitan” is great and check out the satanic melody from the guitars, especially during the mid paced part. The hyper speed restart part in this song is something unbelievable…

“Evil Church” is my favourite one here. A track to worship, admire, love…rarely Enthroned expressed themselves in these levels. The track is perfectly balanced between obscure melodies and black metal massacres. The refrain is a piece of history of this genre. A small gem. “The Antichrist Summons The Black flame” and “The Forest Of Nathrath” are again a perfect mixture of black metal assault parts with lots of tempo changes and dark melodies. Fucking great. 

Listen to the great black melodies to “Throne To Purgatory” or to the gloomy beginning of “When The Horny Flames…”, this one with excellent solos breaks. Really, this is the very first, in my opinion, Enthroned great work. I believe it’s better than the debut, especially for the guitar song writing and for the burden of fury and Satanism. 

efore I bought this one, I hadn't heard much of Enthroned, and I know now that separated tracks from different albums are not really representative, at least for Enthroned. What's the difference? I have really thought that Enthroned is just another copy of Marduk plus guitar solos. But Enthroned is much more than just "berserk" drums and quickly "spitted" growl (satan, satan, satan and so on). Actually, so fast drums are rather often than usual, because in every song there are few slower moments. Also, lyrics are much more thoughtfully written. But what makes Enthroned so original is that the album is full of electronical intros/outros, sometimes you may heard acoustics or woman (I guess, "Hertogenwald") singing, keyboards are also common. This makes "Towrads the Skullthrone of Satan" various and different.

However, if you look for speed and blasphemy, don't worry - Enthroned is still based on style that swedish BM is known of. One thing that is not good in Enthroned are the vocals - but they are at leasts not annoying, like those in Absu (actually, Proscriptor sounds very similar to Sabathan). Each track sounds different, there are no "genious" ones and no bad ones, just good BM with in very interesting style. "Dusk of Forgotten Darkness", "Evil Church" and "Hertogenwald" would be the best on the album, but every one is really worth listening.

An album to admire in black metal. Back to the roots of evil with Enthroned. 

Abigor "Apokalypse" EP Napalm Records (1997)

The Silenius-era Abigor was always my favorite Abigor, using catchy and beautiful melodies and occasional keyboard interludes and then combining them flawlessly with a savage ferocity that few other bands have managed to imitate.

Apokalypse is the end of this era. We still have "Supreme Immortal Art", but that one doesn't come close to what Abigor released before it, especially Apokalypse. Take this ep as the final strike of a dying beast, a beast that is close to death, but still manages to gather enough strength to deal a final killing blow. That's Apokalypse, stripping everything that is unnecessary like cheesy synth intros, overdone keyboard sections, intricate melodies, and other things.

Tracklist:

1. Celestial
2. Verwüstung
3. Ein Hauch von Kälte
4. Hyperwelt
5. Tu es diaboli juna
6. Ubique Daemon
Length: 17:21 

This EP starts outright with a barrage of constant blast beats and tremolo-picked Darkthrone-like riffs fast and buzzing. After a few seconds of this savagery we are welcomed by Silenius' rage-filled vocals and here I'd like to emphasize the uniqueness of Silenius' vocals. His style is not like your average black metal vocalist as it's not a shriek or a growl, and it's not a scream neither. The vocals may not be intense or loud, yet the rage they communicate is extremely powerful and not easily forgotten.

The guitar work is usual tremolo-picked riffs with a large Darkthrone influence and there are considerably less melodic passages among the riffs, making them feel cold, grim, and violent. There is also a bit of Bathory influence here and there.

The drumming here is mostly blast beats, so there is not much variety to be found, but this is bare-bones black metal heavily influenced by Darkthrone and they had little to no variation in their music and this ISN'T a bad thing and id NOT a flaw. This is black metal and if you'd like more variation, then listen to something else.

This EP is pure relentless savagery, Abigor's finest moment, and the last roar of a dying beast. The only flaw I can find in here is that it's way too short. However, what defines this album is its primary strength which is basic fast black metal with melodic embellishment; its patterns are basic and time-tested, and its effect simple and invariant. Its success also defines its limits as being melodic, simple, one-concept black metal, and this is where it is best appreciated: as a corollary to grindcore in the black metal style. It is highly repetitive, gratifyingly violent, and exemplifies the black metal style at this time period in both strength and failings. 

Some tracks:

Jungle Rot "Slaughter The Weak" (Pulverized Records, 1997)

Durante la segunda mitad de los años ´90s en los Estados Unidos, seguía la resistencia underground en el movimiento del Death Metal parecía que el movimiento Old School había pasado a segundo plano en las bandas que aparecían en la escena, sin embargo aún conservaban la brutalidad en sus estilos. Una de ellas surgió en Wisconsin y llevaba por nombre el brutal término de Jungle Rot(en honor a las guerras de Vietnam y Corea del Sur donde participaron los militares de su país de allí el nombre). Un cuarteto demoledor que en 1995 publicaba sus primeras maquetas así con ese camino empezado en su ciudad natal firmaron para la Pulverized Records en el año 1996 con la cual publicaron su primer demo. 

Un año más tarde publicaron su primer full-lenght titulado "Slaughter The Weak"(1997) donde plasmaron su sonido brutal haciéndole honor a su nombre en toda la extensión de la palabra. La alineación que grabó tan grandioso debut donde el Death Metal estuvo infectado de Grindcore combinando letalmente ambos subgéneros estuvo integrado por Dave Matris en las vocales y guitarras principales, Jimi Bell en las guitarras secundarias y coros vocales, Mike Legros en el bajo y Rob Pandola en la demoledora batería. Todo el álbum fue producido por ellos mismos junto al productor Chris Wisco en los Studio One de Wisconsin. 

El track list que incluía el primer material de la banda es el siguiente: 

1.     "Left for Dead"  

2. "Gore Bag"  

3. "Infectious"  

4. "Demigorgon"  

5. "Consumed in Darkness"  

6. "Murder One"  

7. "Butchering Death"  

8. "World of Hate"  

9. "Deadly Force"

Son poco más de 26 minutos de puro y devastador Grind Death Metal con letras contándonos las historias de terror de las guerras en el mundo principalmente donde han aparecido la devastación en lugares qqe ha tenido como protagonista el ecosistema de la selva. 

Después de la introducción obligatoria de sonidos de la selva, golpes de machetes cortando (algo de una marca Jungle Rot), se ubica el comienzo de la pieza "Left for Dead", donde éste "Sacrificio de los débiles" comienza. Para describirlo acertadamente éste disco debut es musicalmente simple, es realmente muy simple, pero devastadoramente brutal y adictivo como ningún otro material de aquel año. En lo personal es tal vez su más sencillo álbum en términos de composición y estructura de los temas(imagínense los demás discos). En realidad, hay sólo un puñado de secciones de trémolas guitarras rápidas, algunas piezas tienen surcos lentos de las mismas, de ritmos rápidos y cambios de movimiento de batería; donde se rompe la tranquilidad y una ráfaga de riffs nos golpea la cara. Álbumes posteriores consiguieron un nivel más de lujo por tener variaciones más seccionales y secciones de transición a las mismas secciones, pero no aquí, sin embargo. Una gran canción para mirar como un ejemplo del estilo sería sin duda la titulada "Demigorgon" (¿Qué carajo es un Demigorgon por cierto, yo siempre pienso en Medusa cuando veo que título de la canción por alguna razón), tal vez mi canción favorita del álbum. "Demigorgon" comienza con quizás el más raro riff que puedas escuchar en una banda de Death Metal. Es tan devastador y me figura que el golpeteo en tu cabeza como un perro rabioso, más que de costumbre, incluso. Un simple súper riff resoplando comienza abruptamente en "Demigorgon", seguido de una sola patada a tu cuerpo como si fuera una trampa en la selva que sigue a lo largo del riff.

Una muy buena pieza de la cual seguramente recordarás al escuchar es la titulada "Gore Bag" que inicia a ritmo semilento con un delay demoledor desde el inicio para dar inicio a la devastación y al golpeteo brutal del doble bombo. Para dar paso a los cambios de ritmos lentos y rápidos como están estructuradas algunas piezas de Thrash Metal nada más que aquí la ecualización está infectada de Grind Death Metal. Con lo cual la devastación ésta garantizada y para que la adicción a tus oídos no termine de volarte todas las neuronas. Enormes como grupo los Jungle Rot y por supuesto que recomendamos toda su discografía.

Jungle Rot "Left To Dead"

Jungle Rot "Gore Bag"

Jungle Rot "Darkness Foretold"

DEVASTACIÓN TOTAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!