Three 7” releases from the dungeon of unending torture…
Iron Bonehead Productions bring unto a deserving world more destructive delights in the form of three 7” releases. And so, the undefeatable ears of MR’s Jason Guest once again take on the dark and the mighty:
- Possession (Belgium) – 1585-1646
- Nekromanteion – Cosmic Horrors
- Spite (USA) – Trapped In The Pentagram
For more on the label, you can pay a visit to their website, take a listen on Soundcloud or Bandcamp, or get up-to-date info on their Facebook page. For now, however, to all things black and death-like we must subject ourselves…
Possession (Belgium) – 1585-1646
Vinyl on Iron Bonehead / CD on Invictus
Release date: 5 June 2015
Thus far, Belgium’s Possession have proven themselves to be an almost-great band. Their 2013 demo, His Best Deceit (reviewed here) introduced to the band’s unremitting black/death ferocity and though it bore some signs of individuality was more a homage. 2014’s Annalies2014’s Annaliese (reviewed here) showed how far the band had come in the two years since their formation with signs their own sound beginning to emerge more clearly.
2015 and Possession are back with 1585-1646, a 4-track EP that is old school and evil, well written, arranged and executed. Telling of the death by burning of Adrienne d’Heaur – an alleged witch who refused to confess despite hours of torture – there are a bunch of exceptional riffs and hooks carved into this seething mass. Black/death metal that tells a tale of a woman who makes a pact with the devil at the point of her cruel death, what more do you need? Possession have outdone themselves.
8 out of 10
Track Listing
- Obscurity – Visitation
- Ceremony
- Guilty
- Ablaze
Nekromanteion – Cosmic Horrors 7″ EP
Release: 19 June 2015
Darker and more haunting than Dracula’s privy, this two track EP from Bolivian three-piece Nekromanteion is just nasty. Ruthless and without mercy, the riffs, the melodies, the drumming, and the vulgar vocals are chaos controlled and crafted into two menacing and diabolical tracks. Like being held captive in a dungeon of unending torture with nowhere to pee or poo, the primordial rage contained in these two tracks reeks of death, destruction, and barbarity. Yet to deliver an album, it portends well for the band.
7 out of 10
Track Listing
- Oath of Black Fire
- Demonic Libations
Spite (USA) – Trapped In The Pentagram 7″ EP
Release date: 27 April 2015
Five years in and with but two tracks to their name thus far, 2015 sees the purveyors of witching metal Spite release this two-track, erm, “EP”. No doubt recorded in some crumbling and haunted chapel buried deep in a long-unexplored forest, the sound is cold, stone-like and hostile. With a snippet of the King Diamond / Tom Araya high-pitched scream thrown in, the incensed riffing displays a diversity of styles and so the ghostly atmospherics are all the more eeevillll! With one new track and a re-recording of the first single from the band, this leaves us wanting more. Much more.
7 out of 10
Track Listing:
- Trapped In The Pentagram
- Desecration Rites
