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Sound of the Underworld is being suspended as a project indefinitely.  This may not come to a surprise to anyone who has seen it more than twice over the last year.  Finally, the start-stop chaos of the last twelve or so months have taken their toll, and I've come to the decision that, while my time remains so stretched, it's better to put the blog on ice than keep it formally going on the premise that it might be uat some undefined pdated at point in the future.

That said, it's with a very heavy heart that I've decided to discontinue this project.  Over the past year-and-a-half or so, I've been able to enormously expand my own musical horizons, sharing some wonderful time and the odd intriguing thought with some of the most talented young musicians in metal.  If I ever come to post music reviews and interviews again, this will be the place.  'til then...

Monolith, Voyager (2013)

Tracklist:

1. Prisoner of War
2. Patrimony
3. Inertia
4. Named
5. Initiation
6. Frontier
7. Endurance
8. Communion
9. Fortification
10. Onslaught
11. Desolation
12. Fear and Trembling

As the summer sun turns to autumn rain, the good people of this earth demand intergalactic escapism to deliver them from the terrestrial gloom.  And lo!  From the icy wastes of Canada have arrived our saviours: a trio of bright young sparks returning with their second full-length record of bombastic space-edged melodic prog-death metal.  Monolith’s superb new album, Voyager, delivers just as much as it promises, and it’s a lot: zangy synth; battering blastbeats; chugging chords; and a wild vortex of clean and death-growl vocals.

Asphodel, Graces of the Fall (Demo, 2013)

Tracklist:

1. Celestial Shade

2. Rivers of the Nether

3. Ghost Star

A year is a long time in music.  And the emergence of five bearded Greeks, from Patras, from imitating Opeth and Septicflesh to producing their own work, proves it.  According to the band’s own biog, Asphodel were established as a cover outfit in spring 2012 before trying their hand at original composition.  Their debut demo, Graces of the Fall, now showcases that work.  Whatever the humility of their own self-descriptions, Graces of the Fall is certainly more than a simple demo, its three tracks clocking in fully twenty minutes of head-banging, dead-ringing glory.  And Asphodel themselves, from their musical mastery to their black-death-gothic-progressive genre mashup, are much, much more than a simple cover band.

Back to the dead...

After an inexcusably long absence, I'm making a (tentative) return to reviews over the next month, with a view to properly starting the blog up again.  In line first are a number of cracking recent releases which reflect some of the most daring and exciting work in their respective genres.  Bear with me, and enjoy!

Mortuorial Eclipse, The Aethers’ Call (2012)

Tracklist:

1. The Summoner’s Procession
2. Advent of a Sinister Omen
3. Crepuscular Necromantic Visions
4. Perpetual Covenant
5. At the Gates of the Marduk’s Shrine
6. Brotherhood of the Serpent
7. Orion’s Progeny
8. Submission

Bands with death and gothic slants may have stolen the headlines in metal this year, but the past months have born witness to the continued relevance of black metal.  With 2012 already seeing the coarse, rusted gratings of traditional black metal recreated and revamped by groups as diverse as Denial of God and Anno Diaboli, it seems fitting that the year should be ended with a hat-tip to the slightly-different debut of Argentinian deviants, Mortuorial Eclipse.  Mid-way between an EP and a full-length album, The Aethers’ Call looks, instead, towards a tightly-strung symphonic heresy, resplendent in weighty, string-laden drapery, and demonic, misty utterings.

Sound of the Underworld Goes Live on Facebook

Sound of the Underworld's very own Facebook page has been launched at https://www.facebook.com/SoundOfTheUnderworld.  Links to all reviews, interviews, and commentary on the blog to be posted as and when the arise, as well as other updates.

INTERVIEW AND FEATURE: Morte McAdaver

 

He might not be a household name yet, but there are few characters as intriguing, talented, and colourful in metal as Morte McAdaver.  The fertile mind behind numerous American alternative metal projects agreed to meet for a virtual coffee to discuss particulars.  Amid great excitement and an extremely dodgy internet connection, we gathered to consider the past, present, and future...