Grand Supreme Blood Court - Bow Down Before the Blood Court (2012)

   As being the 4th band formed by former (or current)  Asphyx members, that also didn't show many differences compared to other, Grand Supreme Blood Court was founded by Eric Daniels (ex-Asphyx, Soulburn) Bob Bagchus (ex-Asphyx, ex-Soulburn), Theo van Eekelen (Hail of Bullets), Alwin Zuur (Asphyx) and Martin van Drunen (Pestilence, Asphyx, Hail of Bullets). So to say when "Bow Down the Blood Court" came out, parallely 4 Asphyxes existed, and that could have been a bit confusing even for old fans. 
   It could be said that the difference lied in the lyrical concept, cause it could be pulled on Hail of Bullets maybe, but that's not too convincing, since Asphyx also didn't lack Worldwar II related topics. The main reason why multiply bands should be formed that are basically the same in style and concept is different imaginations between the band members. And if someone might say that Asphyx worked the best in their early period, when Eric Daniels, Bob Bagchus and Martin van Drunen played together, this album could be the perfect evidence that shows how correct it might be. Grand Supreme Blood Court is exactly how Asphyx was in the early '90s and how it should have been after. Something was definitely missing from Asphyx after Martin von Drunen was quit, and after the band regrouped and he remained it's only old member, Asphyx have become it's own nostalgia band and kept releasing forgetable albums, that might recall the sound and feeling of Asphyx, but lacks it's spirit. That's something that also any other new waved band could do (like Skeletal Remains for instance), so except the financial reasons (cause Asphyx successfully broke in into the mainstream scene too - after they've become forgetable... how typical) it's not really clear why it is a must to pull down a once cultic name by turning it into another generic cliché. But back to the point: Grand Supreme Blood Court's one and only album has everything that lacks from all other Asphyxes (Asphyx, Soulburn, Hail of Bullets) since a long while: the extremely noisy, slow heaviness, that only by itself is able to pull down the listener to the most obscure depths. And doing that without the assistence of any frenetic guitar solos, catchy melodies or extreme intensity. The combination of medium thrash speed frequently switched by extended doomy slow downs, and funeral theme-compatible simple melodies completed by Mr. Drunen's well known iconic suffocating growls, creates the atmosphere that became something essential in the extreme underground. And even if one of these features are missing, Mr. Daniels' and Mr. Bagchus' themes or Mr. Drunen's vocals, this just couldn't work, no matter how it's desired in the other Asphyxes. And if it wasn't intentional to peel off another skin from something that worked well before, there shouldn't be any reason to keep referring to that in different bands and music projects. However, under Grand Supreme Blood Court they were able to recall the same genuine features on the level they did long ago under Asphyx, and with a very few exceptions that's something missing from nearly all big returns. 

Asphyx - Death... The Brutal Way (2009)

   The New Wave of Old School Death Metal had an important side-effect: many old bands decided to regroup, because the audience demanded some authentic '90s nostalgia too, directly from those who took an important role in creating the old school scene. Asphyx was one of those bands who had to regroup therefore, and there was great anticipation for their return.
   Asphyx took a weird direction after first Martin van Drunen left the band and later Eric Daniels too. Things somehow didn't work out well and they split up. The unique feeling that was created by the band, survived in similar form in Soulburn. With the same lineup they've recorded an Asphyx album too, but somehow they've caught the feeling better as Soulburn. Lately Asphyx was reunited with the same lineup with Martin van Drunen, but minus Eric Daniels, and "Death... The Brutal Way" seemed to successfully recall the feeling why Asphyx was great band before. The album starts quite intense, but later the very familiar and nostalgic slow downs and miserably monotonous themes are getting into focus. The same old concept have returned that was meanwhile divided into other Asphyx clone projects, so finally with the reuinion 4 Asphyxes existed parallelly with the same style and sound, and with some of the old members (Soulburn, Hail of Bullets, Grand Supreme Blood Court). Why was that good and necessary is unknown, but finally the long awaited legend was resurrected and left behind an album that was definitely worth to wait for. Compared to the old albums their music didn't become only more intense, but also more diverse, so the return also included some surprise too, and unlike most other reunions, they didn't try simply to replicate their old style (at least not yet), and also didn't play something disappointingly different like Carcass or Pestilence did. 
 

Carach Angren - Lammendam (2008)

 I'll admit it. I can be one of those "judge a book by it's cover" type of listeners. When it comes to black metal, if I'm in the mood for something specific, I can be a sucker for a cool image. Carach Angren LOOKS like a band I would be super into. High concentration on image and concept albums makes me think, okay, I'll give it a try, and I did, with their 2015 album. Bad choice. I can't stand it. Lammendam is a stark contrast. This is a great fucking album.

     What initially turned me off about Carach (on their later albums, I mean) wasn't the exact idea of concept albums, it was the over-applied technique of breaking off into story telling. Which, I get it, it's totally their thing. I think it's a cool concept. Lammendam's use of the breakaways enhances the listening experience. The low that exists between ultimate symphonic black metal to sing-songy concept story telling is complementary. What I mean is, the art of their musical abilities isn't lost behind an overuse of  "story time". Lammendam shows that the members of Carach, without a doubt, have an undeniable talent at composing and performing multi-leveled arrangements. If you're underwhelmed by their later albums and looking to give them another chance like I was, 100% this album delivers. It's a shame they didn't stick with this ratio in their songs. I'm sure it makes for a better live show... maybe.

Izegrim - Tribute to Totalitarianism (2008)

   While the mainstream audience was completely impressed by forgettable bands like Arch Enemy or In This Moment to hear aggressive female vocals in front of a metal band (that already showed up in the '80s... Good morning "metalheads", it's always nice to see that you're paying attention), and thanks to the latest one, the whole thing started to develop into a metal Barbie movement; it's always nice to find bands who are unlike them, and are authentic too.
  Izegrim formed as a thrash/death band with quite heavy social criticism as lyrical concept. Catchy riffings are their most characteristic musical features that are like a bridge between the classical '80s style of thrash and the modern sound. Creative drum play is dictating the rhythm that's switching between intense and middle speed. It's far behind the extreme speed of the oldies, but the focus is more on diversity than on endless thrashing. The heaviness of the sound and the excellent cawing vocal style of Miss Marloes Voskuil are responsible for the harsher impression. The lyrics about the religious propaganda behind modern wars and terrorism were kind of accurate in the times of the Iraq war, but there are plenty of historical references for comparsion to find. That's definitely not the mirror whereinto many likes to look, and therefore Izegrim fills an empty space that was missing since a long while in the metal scene. Strongly recommended for both the newer and old school fans of thrash and death metal.

Hail of Bullets - ...of Frost and War (2008)

   Hail of Bullets was formed as a band with Worldwar II concept when Asphyx had a longer inactive period. And because musically it wasn't much different (in lyrics neither, since WWII topics also appeared there before), Hail of Bullets kind of filled the emptiness that was left behind after after Asphyx.
   So the same raw, noisy and heavy sound have returned with the suffocating vocal style of Martin van Drunen, except the music was written by others. The only difference was that Hail of Bullets had more intense music in general, though the effective demoralizing slow downs that were so common in Asphyx, also remained. Their debut covered the events of the Eastern Front from the Operation Barbarossa until the final fall of Germany. Even though WWII as a lyrical topic counts already as hackneyed in metal, the detailed way how Hail of Bullets managed it to illustrate by dedicating the project completely to that concept is quite genuine. This sound and style fits the best to express the cruel and tragic outcomes of the deadliest conflict in history. So for those who never can bored of it and also missed the noisy iconic sound of old Asphyx, Hail of Bullets became/could become a big favorite.

Bloodboil - Festering Fornication (2006)

   There was an endless line of brutal death bands in the late 00's, but only a few of them were memorable. Bloodboil was fortunately one of those who offered more than bare technical brutality that's able to turn the whole music totally boring after one minute of listening.
   "Festering Fornication", their one and only album mixed old school influences with the modern direction of brutal death. Their riffing and drumming style often referred to late Cannibal Corpse (even the cover artwork showed similarities), and they've also symphatized with technical themes that reminded to the intensity of Deeds of Flesh. They had quite catchy themes and switching solutions that made their music much more enjoyable than most modern brutal death with their sudden math metal-like theme switches. Bloodboil also experimented with some, but they didn't go too far with those. High sound quality and deep growling vocal style completed the circle, and of course the inevitable lyrical concept based on gore and killing spree. "Festering Fornication" is an excellent brutal death album, could be very entertaining for the fans of the genre.

Carach Angren - Ethereal Veiled Existence (2005)

     I was skeptical about doing a review for an EP, but I figured if I would do one, it would be Ethereal Veiled Existence. Are you ready for another concept collection? Yeah, I thought so. 

     This is a great collection of songs. Well produced, and not overly symphonic, which can get to be a bit tedious if you're not used to it.  There is an even balance of grainy guitar leads complimented by keyboard. A bit heavier, vocally, than what modern Carach albums give us, but for me, it gives a much more fulfilling haunting/evil feel, which ties into the entire concept of the album, which revolves around the ghost that supposedly haunts Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England.
     This is actually a really cool album for anyone who likes to dig a little deeper into the actual story behind an album. The lyrical approach takes the perspective of the ghost and their identity, those who lived in the mansion, and even the photographers of the infamous staircase entity. An amazing lyrically illustrative concept that we see Carach evolve with in their later albums.
 

Unlord - Lord of Beneath (2002)

   Even though Unlord have been around since the golden age of black metal, nothing could be heard about them until debut album "Schwarzwald", that came out in 1997. It's uncertain why did they keep their demos for themselves; because they were not interested about any level of publicity, or maybe because they just wanted to wait until they can step out with something enough remarkable.  However, their first album was stunning for a debut, a determined and well practiced band could be heard on "Schwarzwald".

   Two further releases were followed, and probably their third album "Lord of Beneath" had the highest sound and production quality. Their style was unified enough since he beginning, and on the side of the evident influence of the Norwegian scene, plenty of classic sounding heavy and thrash metal themes could be found in their themes. All of their albums have been extremely intense, fast and had a thrash metal-like aggressive tone. The role of the atmosphere was limited, probably cause they preferred to sound wild and heavy enough. If it's about their local scene, the influence of Dead Head is almost certain. This wasn't the most usual approach in early black metal, but from the late '90s other alternatives became not only more common, but dominant by audience friendlier new bands, for another reason. The band's classy influences are so well embedded into the unified sound, that for first listening it might be not even notable, that here's something very different to deal with. But as the album goes on, the old school references slowly piling up. Somehow the band's music is still staying far enough from being marked as thrash/black metal. However, by going forward on this line, it might be not an exaggeration to say that "Lord of Beneath" became Unlord's "Reign in Blood". 

Dead Head - Kill Division (1999)

   Dead Head plays their aggressive thrashing since the late '80s, and their music went through on a few small changes during the years.
   From "Dream Deciever" their second album the death metal influences became more evindent by focusing more on heavy sound and more aggressive vocal style. The band showed it's best all-round on "Kill Division". It's exaggeratedly rageful approach had an impressive insane effect, even though their music was never known about it's softness. The excellent sound of the album increased the effectiveness of their simple but heavy themes and made it one of the wildest thrash metal albums. They enjoyed to experiment with the song structures, and to invlove catchy themes by staying rough as possible. The main impression reminds to "Pray" by Solstice, but in a less noisy version. The lyrics are showing a genuine approach by their complexity and various topics compared to ordinaty thrash metal lyrics. "Kill Division" was another example of the excelllence of the once remarkable Dutch extreme metal scene, and the album is strongly recommended for the fans of wild thrash metal.

Soulburn - Feeding on Angels (1998)

   After Asphyx was split-up, guitarist Eric Daniels and drummer Bob Bagchus decided to continue to play in a new project. They borrowed Wannes Gubbels from Pentacle and founded Soulburn.
   Asphyx somehow wasn't the same since Martin van Drunen was quit from the band. Something was missing, and the following albums just didn't had the same catchy feeling like "The Rack" and "Last One on Earth" had. With Soulburn that missing feeling returned, and the band just sounded like some incarnation of old Asphyx. The simple, but characteristic and easily recognizable guitar themes, the heavy sound, the overwhelming netherworld-like impression and the despretate suffocating vocal style were reunited again. This is a combination of doom influenced death metal that no one is able to play in such a high quality like they did. "Feeding on Angels" was an excellent album without any weak points. The interesting thing that a few years later they continued as Asphyx with the same line-up, so the sense of this little intermezzo may seem questionable. But definitely not useless, cause Soulburn brought back something essential into the underground scene, and for the old fans.

Pentacle - ...Rides the Moonstorm (1998)

   Not all death metal bands were influenced by the late progression and modernized sound of the style. Pentacle was another late arrived old band, and they preferred to stay at the old school sound of death.
   Their intense, strongly thrash influenced music refers to one decade earlier, when death metal was born, so "...Rides the Moonsorm" is like an excellent nostalgic album. Since thrash metal almost completely disappeared from the main scene (except a few old bands), it sounds refreshing too. And all made straight by authentic old school musicians. The themes often referring to Celtic Frost, but the influence of Asphyx is also mentionable mainly because of the vocal style. Frontman Wannes Gubbels' growling style was very similar to Martin van Drunen's suffocating voice. That didn't avoid the attention of Asphyx either, so lately Mr. Gubbels found himself in that band too for a while. From aggressive hammering they sometimes switching to slower middle speed, which occasions are the most common source of the Celtic Frost influenced themes, and increasing the effectiveness of their music. A stunning nostalgic album for the old school fans!

Mangled - Ancient Times (1998)

   There were plenty of death metal bands which formed in the early '90s, but couldn't manage their debut with ideal timing to join to the large wave of underground music in time. One of these late arriving bands was Mangled.
    Even though "Ancient Times" is definitely an old school death metal album, it's late timing could be sensed by it's more diverse musical features. The influence of Sinister is evident, but the band also liked to experiment with other styles (like doom metal for instance, but the open-eared listener may find more mainstream influences too) and to involve melodies. The brutal old school start ends up with some already modern death metal impression. In general "Ancient Times" souns like the mix of Sinister and Apophis, their musical concept was similar to what early German death metal bands did. They tried to put sumeting new and refreshing-like into the ordinary old school sound. The lyrics are far more interesting too, introducing horror and gore in life, mostly in relation with religious and historical references. That reminds to the late lyrical concept of Death, and they also formed a positive message between the lines.
   Mangled was like one of the last convulsions of the once remarkable Dutch undergound metal scene.

Last Days of Humanity - The Sound of Rancid Juices Sloshing Around Your Coffin (1998)

   All extreme genres tried to push their boundaries, to go further always, but there is an end of the line in all cases. If there is a possible ending border for grindcore, Last Days of Humanity certainly found it.
   While the pioneers of gore- and porngrind appeared on the late '80s and early '90s, the other exaggerated point, the completely noise-based animalistic insanity arrived a bit later. So nothing really left for the followers of the grindcore renaissance about a decade later, than to mix these basics. Still, probably it would be impossible to surpass what Last Days of Humanity did and still doing. This insane noise that went so far from musicality as it's possible, but still tried to keep the basic features of grindcore. The animalistic vocals are probably artificially distorted and they are mainly responsible for the extremely brutal effect of their music. The concept stayed on the line of goregrind, and they performed it's most exaggerated aspect. Later the band went even further of course and became even noisier. Their debut was only like a warm-up, so the lovers of extreme gore couldn't be disappointed.

Eternal Solstice - Horrible Within (1995)

   Eternal Solstice is a less known, but old band existing since the beginning of the golden age of death metal, straight from the hellpit of the Dutch scene. They debuted with a rude sounded, mostly Swedish death metal influenced album. For their second coming their music showed some further development.
   Grave, Unleashed and Entombed should be mentioned in first line if it's about their assumed influences. The ant-religious lyrics are like some strongly related references too. The basics stayed the same, but in themes they showed some plus diversity. "Horrible Within" is still an angry album that represents the simple, primitive brutality of the Swedish scene but some involved melodies, the creative composing of themes, and the solo parts with very old school touch telling about progression. That resulted more mature sound and increased the effectiveness of their hammering rampage. These features may shoo off any chance of disappointment for the fans of the unfriendly, cold sound of the Swedish death metal classics.

Etherial Winds - Find the Way... Together (1995)

   The first look may be enough already to expect some depressive-romantic background about the one and only album of Etherial Winds.
   The visual impression is partly correct, depressive issues are in focus, but it's more like about the outcomes of anxious struggles than only tender woes. This is the reflection of piled up negative experiences and the hopeless tryings to get out from the depths. The musical performance is way more aggressive and intense than it used to be at similar albums. Mostly the melancholic atmosphere and the lyrical background are reminding to the main concept, the signs of inner collapse are only occasional. Rageful deep growling and harsh riffings having the leading role, the atmosphere and the concept could have only small influence on that to create the required gloomy negative balance and may sound brighter than how it was planned. The album slipped from the border more into death metal, and this way it also couldn't be sorted to any of the most common directions of death/doom. Still it's a barely known, enjoyable death/doom classic assisted by the usual good quality sound of Dutch metal.

Celestial Season - Solar Lovers (1995)

   Celestial Season formed as a unique formation that tried to mix death/doom with classical music influences. Nowadays it's sound like nothing new, but their second album probably belongs to the best  and earliest similar experiments that was ever made. Still "Solar Lovers" is a barely known and very underrated record.
   The way how they involved violin into doom themes creates a melanholic hamony that couldn't be compared to any similar tryings and it's far more effective than creating some simple atmospheric sound. "Forever Scarlet Passion" was a raw trying, but on the second album they found the perfect way how to compose together these definitely not related styles, and it fits well to their lyrics based on nature, sorrow and lovesickness. The other thing why the album is interesting is that they also involved stoner rock influences. That was a sign of their late style already, so "Solar Lovers" may count as a turning point too that predicted their late style. The album by this combination counts as one on the most genuine events even in the main metal scene and an evergreen masterpiece that couldn't be re-made.

Sinister - Hate (1995)

   As one of the most fixed bastions of Dutch death metal, Sinister kept it's activity since today, and reminds to a scene that have seen better days before. Such as the genre, the band also had it's most remarkable period in the early '90s.
  After two brutal and undoubtedly stunning albums they probably showed their maximum by "Hate". They came with same rough brutality and excellent sound like earlier, but their themes turned a bit more complex. On the side of their usual primitive and aggressive tone, perfect song compositions turned their music more diverse without changing their style or wihout to experiment with different influences. The involving of occasional atmospheric background almost gave new dimensions to the sound, but sadly these were not used so often to open a new chapter in the band's life. However these small changes were enough to give a different impression to "Hate" and to increase it's effectiveness. The third masterpiece of Sinister was still unable to cause any disappointment.

Altar - Youth Against Christ (1994)

   By listening Altar's aggressive anti-Christian musical rampage, the thought of the direct, strong influence of Deicide couldn't be shoo off.
   This extremely rageful and intense hammering definitely refers to Deicide in music, lyrics and main concept, but meanwhile listening the musical influence of Sinister and early Grave also could be suspected. The familiar sounding themes and impression may can distinguish "Youth Against Christ" from the exact Deicide copies, but not able to pull it out from their line. By the other influences of their music, the album didn't turn so repetative, and the classy old school death metal features are dominant. Altar basicly wasn't a very particular band, even though they probably had the strong ambition for that. They offered high quality death metal as it was usual from Dutch bands, and except that their appearence could have been impressive only for the most obsessed fans of satanic/anti-Christian death metal and of course for those who couldn't get enough from Deicide.

Mystic Charm - Shadows of the Unknown (1994)

   Mystic Charm's one and only full-lenght album is a forgotten genuine death/doom classic, that is probably one of the best early albums of the genre.
   "Shadows of the Unknown" is not remarkable only because of it's excellent sound and themes, but because it created such a rough and powerful musical impression that could be a perfect example to describe what death/doom used to be about. Even though the album didn't slip into any expected exaggerated points that could be normal in this style, but kept staying in the middle way, it's still very effective. No melancolic or romantic references, no endlessly extended song lenght or funeral doom-like depths, it's about pure heaviness and strong, noisy sound. The occasional melodic atmosphere also don't have more role than it used to be, it's only there to complete the soundtrack of slow but certain destruction. The vocal style assisting well and sounding more like a demonic growl than female vocals, so it's definitely unlike the main tendencies. All-in-one it's a well composed masterpiece without any weak points. 

Antropomorphia - Necromantic Love Songs (1993)

   Nowadays sex sells the most, and it has the same intense effect on metal music too, especially in more popular genres. In exreme metal it's not so sure, but still some death metal bands tried to extend the sickness of their music by mixing gore based lyrics with exaggerated perversion.
   Exactly that was the goal of Antropomorphia too. Occasional melodies, fast hammering and very deep growling style are the main musical features of their debut EP. The way how they combined the melodies with ordinary death metal themes sounds a bit raw, but they are well composed in general and may cause enjoyable moments. The concept is in focus, and the unusual title and cover art served the same cause. Those who may need extra supplies from gore and necrophilia based concept and lyrics influenced by Autopsy and Cannibal Corpse, may find their countings in Antropomorphia. While those bands had similar lyrics only the show something more disgusting and brutal than usual, "Necromantic Love Songs" was a more erotic approach.