Blacksoul Seraphim, Blacksoul Seraphim (2012)

Tracklist:

1. Alms and Avarice
2. Conspiracy of Exarchs
3. Madness of Beggars
4. Virtue and Vermin
5. Dust Merchant
6. Plague of Pawns
7. Revelations of the Fallen
8. Tarnishing of the Crown
9. Psalm of Insurrection
10. Song of the Times

It's a question worth putting to all aspiring dark metal acts (and many established ones, too): how many deathly screams, blastbeats, and swooping synths does it take to summon evil? Blacksoul Seraphim reckon they have an answer, and it's not what you'd expect. The latest brainchild of a serial American dark heart, Morte McAdaver, the band sit snugly in a grimy corner of the doom metal genre, bearing familiar tales of fallen authority and lost grace in a not-altogether-familiar fashion.

INTERVIEW: Bend the Sky

Fresh from reviewing their fine full-length debut, I was able to grab the ear of the band’s drummer, Blake Savage, who kindly gave his time to answer a few questions. 

Bend the Sky, Origins (2012)

Tracklist:

1. Reform
2. Tempest
3. Glaciers
4. City of Decay
5. Concinnity
6. In the Wake of
7. Stolen
8. Ascension
9. Sketches
10. Halcyon
11. A Mindful Wave
12. Tides

And now for something completely different.  If, like me, you’ve restricted your field of vision to bands graced by the power of speech, it might be time to broaden your horizons.  So, what better way to do it than with a bit of Aussie instrumental power/prog/symphonic/djent metal?  Bend the Sky are a fresh young flame burning away down under, and Origins is their full-length debut.

Whyzdom, Blind? (2012)

Tracklist:

1. The Lighthouse
2. Dancing with Lucifer
3. Cassandra’s Mirror
4. On the Road to Babylon
5. Paper Princess
6. The Spider
7. The Wolves
8. Venom and Frustration
9. Lonely Roads
10. The Foreseer
11. Cathedral of the Damned

Over the past decade, metal fans have become used to the sight of symbolic metal acts striving for that rare spark of inspiration which could be called magic.  Whyzdom, a Parisian incarnation of the genre, are just such a band.  But their forthcoming album, Blind?, shows they’re much more besides: Whyzdom are mystic visionaries, foreseeing the ascent of man to the heavens; they’re intrepid explorers, discovering magical worlds unknown; and, seemingly, they’re enthusiastic zoologists, with a passion for wolves and spiders.  What they’re not are subtle, concise, or original.

Cradle of Filth: Daemonising the Female Body for 18 Sinful Years

It’s been a long and winding road for Cradle of Filth, from their ungodly inception in 1994 to their confirmation as one of the most revered (and, simultaneously, despised) extreme metal acts in Europe.  But, amid the ever-evolving tones of Filth’s post-black/dark/gothic/death mashup, some things have remained a constant.  It was no great surprise, therefore, when the first offering of their forthcoming album was released – which features the very worst of the band’s most recent nuances (rushed riffs, PVC-synths, and aimless melodies) – to hear the heartwarming groans of a woman in passion rushing obligingly to the aid of a song ailing amidst its own malodorous mediocrity.

Hero’s Fate: Human Tides: Black Light Inception (2012)

Tracklist:

1. Invoking the Doom (intro)
2. Blood Will Never Run Dry
3. Drowning in Sorrow
4. Apathy
5. Dead Waters (instrumental)
6. Faceless
7. I Am King
8. Masks
9. The Absence of Light
10. Surrogate of a New World
11. Dawn of the Black Light
12. Tranquillity

It’s never seemed like there’s been that much ground to cover between the backwaters of human despair to the interior of recording studios, but Hero’s Fate may well have stumbled upon uncharted territory.  A German death metal outfit who’ve been going for some years, Human Tides: Black Light Inception is their first full-length release.  Weighing in at almost exactly one-hour’s length, it’s a record the band claim “combines the strengths of their music, creating the perfect mix between melody and aggression, deep lyrics and catchy riffs.”

October Preview

It’s taken all of five months, but Sound of the Underworld has just about found its calling.  From October onwards, the blog will direct the vast majority of its focus towards new, unsigned, and unexposed bands, through reviews and the occasional interview.  Instead of providing just another set of reviews for established bands, there’ll be roughly monthly articles on one or another big-name release, considering specific themes and contributions within the wider musical framework.  Or, at least, that’s the plan…

At the beginning of each month, I’ll also try to stick up a list of the bands and albums which will be reviewed.  For example:

October

Hero’s Fate, Human Tides: Black Light Inception

Bend the Sky, Origins

Blacksoul Seraphim, Blacksoul Seraphim

These are all new releases and feature a wide variation of metal sounds.  All being well, there’ll be some time to take a look at the new Cradle of Filth, too.

 

Happy rockin’!