Reviews by Jason Guest
Here at MR, we’ve reviewed a number of releases from German label World Terror Committee: Flagellant’s Maledictum, Thy Darkened Shade’s Eternvs Mos, Nex Ritvs, Entartung’s Krypteia, Horna’s Askel Lähempänä Saatanaa, as well as Amenti from Acherontas and Surrealist Satanist from Paria have all been given the once over. Want to hear more from W.T.C.? You can check out more from the label on their website or give them a listen over on Soundcloud.
In the meantime, we’ve got three more recent releases from the label: from Sweden’s Valkyrja comes their third album, The Antagonist’s Fire; from Germay’s Darkmoon Warrior comes album number two, Nuke ‘em All; and from Finnish black metal legends Sargeist comes a compilation of hard-to-find material culled from vinyl-, cassette-, and compilation-only material called The Rebirth Of A Cursed Existence. Ready? Here we go…
Valkyrja – The Antagonist’s Fire
With the grand, darkly melodic and rabid opening track ‘Betrayal Incarnate’, album number three from Sweden’s Valkyrja gets dark, dirty and menacing very quickly. With wall-of-fire riffs, dark and ruthless drumming, and A.L.’s venomously harsh vocals, Valkyrja imbue every malaise-ridden melody, every riff, every beat, and every nihilistic and devastating lyric with a hellish authenticity and authority. Taking in the groove-laced as well as the brutal and the cold-blooded, the aggressive and unapologetic antagonism of the album is at the fore throughout. With seven tracks clocking in at fifty minutes – four of which are over seven minutes long – Valkyrja attempts to develop their art has proved largely successful, the closing nine-minute track ‘Treading The Path Of The Predator’ a triumphant display of the band at their best. Of course, the album’s diversity suffers a little for it, even becoming repetitive at times, but the melodic as well as the slower passages provide enough variation to the unbridled black metal barbarity contained within to give The Antagonist’s Fire sufficient depth to make it a compelling listen.
7.5 out of 10
Track Listing:
- Betrayal Incarnate
- The Cremating Fire
- Madness Redeemer
- Yearn To Burn
- Eulogy (Poisoned, Ill And Wounded)
- Season Of Rot
- Treading The Path Of The Predator
Darkmoon Warrior – Nuke ‘em All
German three-piece Darkmoon Warrior have been in existence since 1996, releasing a few demos, a split, and an EP in the thirteen years before their first album Crown Of Snakes appeared in 2009. An interesting début, the album established Darkmoon Warrior as a band of which to take heed. Four years on and Nuke ‘em All is upon us. With influences from both first- and second-wave black metal in the mix, the album takes a while to get started proper. Opener ‘Fuck Off’, more punk than black, is a feeble opener, unfairly leaving it to ‘Satanification’ and ‘The Call’ to shoulder the burden of proving the band’s mettle. Neither achieves it. Fortunately ‘Black Tongues and Rusty Nails’ begins to lift the album out of its lethargy and would do so were it not for the torpid pace and protracted structure. And from the title track to the close of the album, the band does little to rescue the album from its steady decline into repetition and tedium. It’s never a good sign when you find yourself flicking through an album trying to find something to latch on to.
4 out of 10
Track Listing:
- Fuck Off
- Satanification
- The Call
- Black Tongues And Rusty Nails
- Nuke ’em All
- Storm Of Feces
- Waves Of Salvation
- Soul On Fire
Sargeist – The Rebirth Of A Cursed Existence
Shatraug of – among many others – Finland’s Sargeist is a busy man. Contributing to countless bands in one way or another over the years, it’s apparent that he finds it incredibly difficult to leave even one note of his music unreleased. And so, just in case you missed any of them, the band have put together a compilation of re-mastered material that was previously available only on vinyl, cassette, and other compilations. While it makes for an interesting perspective on the band’s development, it’s more for completists who want their hard-to-find Sargeist tracks in one place and not an album to win over any new devotees. If you’re new to the band, their 2010 album, Let The Devil In, is probably the best place to start. Then you can work your way backwards with this and the band’s other releases. But it’s a new album that we want. I think we’re about due.
6 out of 10
Track listing:
- Reaping with Curses & Plague (split 7″EP with Merrimack)
- The Rebirth of a Cursed Existence (compilation CD Jatkosota)
- Sinister Glow of the Funeral Torches (compilation tape …and Jesus Wept)
- Wraith Messiah (split 7″EP with Temple Of Baal)
- Cursed be the Flesh I Have Spared (bonus track from Satanic Black Devotion)
- Vorax Obscurum (compilation LP Tormenting Legends)
- Black Unholy Happiness (compilation LP Finnish-German Alliance)
- The Covenant Rite (bonus track from Disciple Of The Heinous Path)
- Dead Ravens Memory (split 7″EP with Bahimiron)
- Crimson Wine (split 7″EP with Drowning The Light)
- Dark Embrace (the Dark Embrace 7″EP)
- The Crown of Burning Stars (the Dark Embrace 7″EP)
- The Moon Growing Colder (the Lair of Necromancy 7″EP)
- Nightmares & Necromancy (the Lair of Necromancy 7″EP)
