Well, this bad boy has been sitting around gathering dust for a while, waiting for the correct assembly of EP’s before unleashing itself upon the world. Alternately, I forgot I wrote it until recently and am posting it now. I know which narrative I prefer you to believe, but I’ll let you decide for yourself. This installment features thrash metal from a time capsule, a black metal project that uses serpent imagery instead of going the default goat path and some raw Portuguese black metal that sounds like it was recorded in an aquarium. Enjoy!
Deathraid – Submit To The Will Of Chaos
Deathraid’s “Submit To The Will Of Chaos” demo is a literal time capsule from a period when the thrash being produced was kind of exciting, worth listening to and not just banking on nostalgia for better bands with better riffs. Granted, some of those imitators are good at what they do, but more often than not the music lacks that original fire that makes thrash, well, thrash. Deathraid are that exact fire and not much else; riffs that boldly proclaim “I’m here to mosh and drink” burst forth from the speakers, forming a shifting metallic wave that carries Deathraid’s brand of death/thrash through to the end of the demo’s eighteen minutes. The bare but effective drumming only begs the listener to focus on and further appreciate the abrasive fretwork. Grab this one from Iron Tyrant when it becomes available, strap on your Nike Terminators and mosh to some perfectly preserved thrash.
Voidnaga -Demo MMXVI
Voidnaga and Serpents Athirst (talked about last time) couldn’t have landed in my inbox at a better time. As much as I love black metal (next to sludge, it’s my go to), eventually the goat/Satan circle jerk becomes too much and I get bored because, well, I’ve seen it a hundred times. Sorry all you goat bands. That’s where these two bands, particularly Voidnaga, become important. IT ISN’T GOATS. Snakes. Serpents. Something just as intrinsically linked with the Judea-Christian idea of corruption that black metal loves to revel in than any horned and hoofed beast but not a goat. The music Voidnaga puts forth has a tribal rawness that feels like a primitive type of spiritualism is running through the songs, not unlike the new Rotting Christ album. I also appreciate that this entire EP isn’t just screeching high-end noise, but explores the lower end of the soundscape as well. The worst thing about this EP is just that; it’s an EP and far too short to truly get lost in which I think the intention is here.
Ruach Raah / Ordem Satanica – “Tradição Decadente”
“Tradição Decadente” is a split EP between Ruach Raah and Ordem Satanica who both play a rough, almost throwback style of black metal. Ruach Raah represent a much more rhythmic and ordered facet of black metal than their album mates. Their contribution to this split are a solid three songs and they get the job done but doesn’t really stand out. When there are so many players in the game, as pretty much every town over 10,000 is required to have at least one goat worshipping band, it’s imperative to stand out from the crowd of leather jackets and long locks. If Rauch Raah represented a semblance of order, than Ordem Stanica’s side of this split is chaos. The music itself is good; not highly skilled technically but alive in the rawness of it. The second side of this split really does sound like it was recorded in a cave, or maybe they tossed the mic into an aquarium that was in the room and then hit record. I appreciate and understand this primitive approach as much as the next black metal fan and as much as i do enjoy the “kvlt” tape hiss and flatness that this recording is offering, I would like to see what they could do with an ever so slight increase in budget. Like, four mic’s instead of two; nothing huge. That said, Ordem Satanica presents a far more interesting selection of songs than the other half of this split. I’m interested to hear (slightly better produced) material from Ordem in the future for sure but Ruach Raah can only come is they loosen up a bit like their buddies in Ordem Satanica.
-Scotty Floronic