Desecresy - Chasmic Transcendence (2014)

   Desecresy's third return stated pretty clear (if it wasn't evident already) that if it comes to this band, disappointment is simply not an option. For the lovers of extremely down-pulling putrid death metal, Desecresy is an everlasting (dark) gem.
   In this style any renewal or the intention to come up every time with something different is simply not required. Those who are choosing this style, choosing it for a reason. And somehow it never gets old, and interestingly similar bands wouldn't be judged by their audiences with self-repeating. And it's not even usual in extreme genres either. Why is that? The answer might lie in the noisy and compromise-less approach, that at one hand could be said about every band in any branches of extreme metal. But there are several levels, even if many are not willing to recognize that, and by crossing a certain line, some rules are completely losing from their importance. The more exaggerated a band is and the more special tone they can reach meanwhile, the whole thing becomes the essential part of their character. The constant noisy heaviness that Desecresy is operating with provides both obscure depths and a thick noisy atmosphere. Their combination is able to attract the listener with the effectiveness of a black hole. And assistance of the frequently returning higher toned, simple, but catchy melodies is priceless. Basically this is a highest quality performance that's possible by the features of Finnish death metal. The contrast that lies in the music and also comes by the drastic speed ups is good enough to fill the need of diversity in this form of musical minimalism. It always feels like that every time they're opening a portal to a new world. Some dark, hopeless and decaying world it is every time of course, but with incredible depths always. A contrast that leads to another contrast. Basically the sound is the only thing that Desecresy used to experiment with. And nothing else is needed, by using the good old recipe it might be difficult to fail. Another obscure masterpiece by Desecresy!

Corpsessed - Abysmal Thresholds (2014)

   Corpsessed debuted with a pretty impressive EP "The Dagger & the Chalice" that by heaviness and obscureness could be comparable to bands like Incantation, Disma, Slugathor or Desecresy. By their first full-length album they continued this line and extended these features to abysmal depths, and not only because of its title.
    Similar to the noisiest, most brutal and most obscure Finnish death metal bands, at first their music might seem hard to go into, but by giving the chance, the darkness that's flooding from their music proves to be a force irresistible enough to easily carry the listener away. This is the force that excludes any slight possibility of hope or escape, swallows all light and annihilates everything on its way. The song compositions are more complex than at similar bands (therefore the comparison with Incantation and Disma), and very well made. The intensity on the album has also wider spectrum from old school hammering through extreme speed to middle speed assisted by rough blast beats and also death/doom-like slow downs. They tried to apply them balanced, and this made "Abysmal Thresholds" pretty eventful. The band seemed to be comfortable at any speed, and more importantly the theme/tempo switches completing each other, therefore it might be difficult to determine any as highlighted. The heavy slow downs are as effective as the skull crushing intensity, the nosy riffs are creating as dark atmosphere as the ominous melodic leads. The excellence of "Abysmal Thresholds" is as difficult to describe as the vile, yet unseen creatures lurking in the dark.

Vampire - Vampire (2014)

   The nostalgia trend of the Swedish metal scene lined up a long list of bands since the '00s, and this partly British influenced, but better working tendency proved to be pretty successful in the underground. Similar bands keep showing up since then and the audience doesn't seem like ever getting bored of hearing music made by the same old formulas.
   Vampire is one of those bands, and their self-titled debut dismissed doubts again (if there was any) about the validity of vintage-like records. Their music is like time travel back to the '80s, when extreme styles were just about to develop. Therefore the thrash metal they play also includes both black and death metal features in limited form. The whole thing relies mainly on the feeling. The combination of the melodies and the slight atmosphere is responsible for the blackened touch, while the tone that became more aggressive than thrash metal used to be, includes the touch of death. This kinda indirect solution determines the essence of all three styles, and therefore gives the impression of diversity, though the band just kept using the same recipe during the album. And it's just a recipe that was used previously by many. Despite the album sounds  ancient, the band didn't try to strictly mimic the exact sound of the '80s like how for instance Death Breath did. But the effectiveness of "Vampire" still could be compared to theirs. When catchy themes and melodies getting embedded into primitive thrash hammering basics, their importance getting overstated instantly. In general this gives the essence of musical minimalism in extreme metal, and Vampire did literally a damn good job by recalling it the way how they did. 

Consecration - Ephemerality (2014)

   Concecrations debuted with the full album-length EP Gut The Priest in 2010 (it seems like a duration of 33 mins could still count just as an EP by death/doom standards). The EP was yet raw but promising, and illustrated well the band's strong and determined imaginations. This line was built further on their first full-length (over an hour long), "Ephemerality".
    By the extended duration they gave themselves plenty if opportunities to evolve and to introduce their complex and diverse vision. In their songs there are both unexpected and nicely, step by step built theme switches ranging from relaxing melodies to death metal intensity. This wide range combined with the overwhelming heaviness they operated with strongly reminds to Esoteric, though Consecration prefers to not stay in near funeral doom depths for too long.. While the melodic themes and the song compositions are similar to Earthcorpse, another, but lesser known death/doom classic from the UK. Even the sound of the album, despite being modern and way higher quality, seemed to be in analogy with the intention of Earthcorpse. Both bands relied of the contrast of higher toned catchy melodies and down pulling heaviness, and a cleaner, softer sound is required to support both approaches sufficiently. The combination of extended song lengths and their complexity doesn't make "Ephemerality" the easiest music to go into, but its diversity makes sure to be enjoyable for long term, and worth to listen to over and over again to find something new and interesting each time. A real rare gem or the fans of death/doom! 

Halberd - Remnants of Crumbling Empires (2014)

   The concept of war isn't a rare thing to find in extreme metal, but somehow Halberd's one and only album approached the topic from another, yet rare perspective. They didn't try to focus on the brutality and overwhelming intensity of war as it would be usually expected. It was more like the perspective of history nerds embedded into the mix of slow heaviness and melancholic blackened atmosphere.
   On the album the combination of old school death and doom metal themes are dominant, and the sound also has strong early '90s touch. Black metal influences are frequently returning not only in menacing themes and by atmosphere, but the vocal style also often switches to blackened cawing. This works pretty good during the extended slow downs by making the gloomy doom more diverse. However, black metal influences never taking the lead completely or could prevail, only having completing role. Relying on this solution could give an excellent black/doom too by the way. But when the opportunity could be given, old school thrashing death themes taking over. "Remnants of Crumbling Empires" is way more technical and experimental than how ordinary death/doom or blackened death albums used to be. If the goal was to avoid turning monotonous, it's definitely working even in case of song lengths over ten minutes. Something always keeps happening during the slow downs. A catchy leading theme, a tempo switch step by step, vocal style switch, stronger atmospheric effect. And the album kept its unity seemingly with ease, that's the evident sign of great songwriting. 
   In total "Remnants of Crumbling Empires" might be enjoyable for the fans of death/doom, old school death and black metal.

Yetna Apmaskema - Ancestral Manifest of Evil Poison (2014)

  Usually it's easy to identify South American black metal bands, cause if they don't involve death metal influences into their music, or if they're not playing war metal, the reduced role of atmospheric sound (better sound quality) makes them distinguishable enough. Some might even announce (those who are into the style because of the softening side effect of the strong atmospheric sound) that it's a way different direction from Northern influenced black metal.
   The fact that Yetna Apmaskema by their so far one and only full-length album didn't even try to follow ordinary black metal imagery, could make the whole thing even more convincing. But a statement like this couldn't be more wrong. Even if the garnishing doesn't reflect the most evident features of Northern black, the themes definitely does. References of the biggest names of the Norwegian scene could be found in the guitar themes and even in the atmospheric effects, like Mayhem, Burzum and Darkthrone for instance. The band's better sound quality based approach had advantageous effect by highlighting their music's intensity. Melancholic slow downs are frequent and creating enjoyable dynamics with the intense themes. Musical diversity could be another reason why this album couldn't count as ordinary. In total "Ancestral Manifest of Evil Poison" is quite a Norwegian influenced black metal record, but it's also better highlighting the effectiveness of the extreme intensity that also became one of the trademarks of the genre. 

Putrid Evocation - Echoes of Death (2014)

   Putrid Evocation debuted in 2013 with rehearsal quality, but promising EP titled as "Blackness Enshroud". Their full-length album "Echoes of Death" followed the same path with slightly better sound that proved to be well fitting to their music by creating a moldy dungeon-like atmosphere.
   Their music wasn't putrid only because of the band name, therefore the atmosphere created by the poor sound quality helped to put that feeling into focus. The band preferred mainly middle speed with common slow downs and short term speed ups. This switching tendency combined with simple, slowly rolling basic themes led to Asphyx-like song compositions, and pushed the music close to the border of death/doom. In case of longer songs, this worked pretty well, and as the album goes on, by the involvement of slow melodic leads the obscure melancholy turns to a very familiar twisted feeling that might strongly remind to old Autopsy. Eventually this impression gets dominant, and like if it was some secret occult ritual, this last component completes the circle to recall a nostalgic aspect of old school death metal. The album is evolving slowly step by step, from a seemingly unimpressive start to a pretty enjoyable outcome, so it's definitely worth it to give some time. Especially for the fans of putrid old school death metal.