Review: Abnabak's EP "Under The Mask Of Humanity"

For those who don't know, Abnabak is a Black Metal one man band from Morocco which has been around since 2009, and last year released their first EP called Under The Mask Of Humanity.
So, what to say about Under The Mask Of Humanity? It has 4 tracks and the total length is around 18 minutes.
It is a good one. Quite obscure and angry, sometimes getting very close to what Black Metal bands were doing in the 90's. It is really very dark, furious and melodic at the same time. The quality is OK, no noise, easy to understand, bit raw indeed, but good. Pleasant to hear and to hear again. Not boring, not repetitive, but on the opposite, full of good stuff, good riffs, good voice, good ambient sounds, scary stuff at times, but very good work in the end. It's a shame that it took such a long time for Lachryma Christi to listen to this.
Everyone should give a listen to this EP and also keep an eye on Abnabak in the future, because it can be quite big.

News: Eindhoven Metal Meeting

As you know, Eindhoven Metal Meeting festival is happening  on the 12th and 13th of December 2014 at the Effenaar, in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. There are already some bands confirmed and there will be more soon.
Here is the bill, so far:

ABORTED

AT THE GATES
ATTIC
BLASPHEMY
ENSIFERUM
EXHUMED

HOLY MOSES

MORBUS CHRON
ONSLAUGHT
ORIGIN
PRIMORDIAL
THYRFING
TRIPTYKON
URFAUST
WOLAND

Please check the official website for more info. Address below, on the flyer.

Review: Den Saakaldte's upcoming album "Kapitel II: Faen I Helvete"

Five years later, Norwegian Black Metal band Den Saakaldte are releasing a new album. It will be called Kapitel II: Faen I Helvete and is scheduled to come out on the 27th of May through Agonia Records.
Firt impression when Lachryma Christi heard the first songs of Faen i Helvete was: very good.
It is indeed a very good and aggressive album, very melodic, being similar to other stuff such as Mayhem on the heaviest and fastest bits, and Shinning on the doomish parts. This is not a bad point though, it is actually very nice.
Kapitel II: Faen I Helvete brings us seven tracks and so many emotions, so many introspective moments, such a good journey, it is impossible to not like it. It has really good quality regarding music and also regarding production. It is an album that you will want to hear over and over again. Really full of pleasant melodies, riffs, rhythms, voices. By the way, it includes present and past members of Gorgoroth, 1349, Koldbrann, Fortid and Nidingr.
So yeah, if you are a fan of bands like these, or even old Ulver and even Mayhem, you will enjoy it a lot.
So we can conclude that this is indeed a masterpiece.

News: Mayhem

Norwegian Black Metal band Mayhem are releasing a new track from the upcoming album which will be called Esoteric Warfare. The song is called Trinity and you can listen to it on the following places:

Metal.de (DE)
Rock Hard (IT)
Metal Sickness (FR)
Zware Metalen (NL)
Metal Hammer (NO)
Loud! (PT)
Zero Tolerance (UK)
Metal Insider (US)

As you know, Esoteric Warfare is scheduled to be released on June 6th (June 10th in North America). The album will be released in various formats, including a collector’s LP + CD box set limited to 1000 copies, a deluxe Digipak CD and exclusive coloured LPs for seven select countries. Please find details below.

The collector’s box set is a folder including blood red coloured double vinyl in gatefold sleeve with bonus track Into The Lifeless (record during the infamous 2012 Budapest Sessions), vinyl effect CD with bonus track, 10 posters, and numbered certificate of authenticity.

The Digipak edition is made of special board with booksleeve and a 24 page booklet of special paper.

Here is the list of vinyl double LPs, all coming in a gatefold sleeve:

• Transparent clear limited to 800 copies
• Transparent clear with red splatters limited to 450 copies
• Solid blue limited to 150 copies, exclusively sold in Italy through Audioglobe
• Transparent purple limited to 300 copies, exclusively sold in the UK through Plastic Head
• Solid yellow limited to 150 copies, exclusively sold in Australia through Rocket
• Solid red limited to 300 copies, exclusively sold in Sweden through Sound Pollution
• Solid grey limited to 300 copies, exclusively sold in Germany through Soulfood
• Solid orange limited to 250 copies, exclusively sold in Benelux and Spain through Bertus
• Transparent blue limited to 700 copies, exclusively sold in Norway through Indie
• Regular black

Cassette editions and various merchandising items will also be released. Except for the seven coloured LPs exclusive to the countries listed above, all formats are available for pre-order on Season of Mist e-shop

If you are in North America, please click here instead.

And don't forget the gigs!

You can also find a review for the recently released EP Psywar here:

http://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/review-mayhems-upcoming-vinyl-single.html


Read more in:

https://www.facebook.com/mayhemofficial?fref=ts
http://www.season-of-mist.com/

News: Forgotten Tomb

Doom Black Metal band from Italy Forgotten Tomb just released (yesterday) a new live album. It was recorded during Kings Of Black Metal Festival in Germany in 2012. 
The audio has been professionally mixed and originally comes from Forgotten Tomb's new DVD, Darkness in Stereo: Eine Symphonie Des Todes - Live in Germany, which additionally contains a full video of the above-mentioned concert, as well as excerpts filmed at: Under The Black Sun Festival and K17 Club in Berlin in 2012.The DVD is available since yesterday in Europe and will be released on May 13th in North America through Agonia Records. You can now download the free audio album at Bandcamp:

https://agoniarecords.bandcamp.com/album/darkness-in-stereo-eine-symphonie-des-todes-live-in-germany

Audio tracklist:

01. Intro (Springtime Depression)

02. Reject Existence

03. Shutter

04. Solitude Ways

05. Todestrieb

06. Spectres Over Venice

07. Disheartenment/Alone/Steal My Corpse (medley)

The DVD Darkness in Stereo: Eine Symphonie Des Todes - Live in Germany is available in:
- a noble A5 digibook with a 8-page booklet,
- a limited to 200 copies exclusive digibook including a postcard with signatures of all band members and a live poster (limited edition is available only via Agonia Records Webshop

You can find an interview with Forgotten Tomb here:

http://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/interview-with-forgotten-tomb-ita.html


Read more in:

https://www.facebook.com/Official.Forgotten.Tomb

News: Hades Almighty

Dark Essence Records have renewed their contract with Hades Almighty and a new album is expected to come out at some point.
Formed in 1992, originally under the name Hades, the band released four full-length albums, and everyone is now anxious for new stuff.
Let's just hope it won't take too long!

Read more in:

https://www.facebook.com/HADESHORDEN  
http://www.hades-almighty.com/
www.darkessencerecords.no

Review: Alfahanne's debut album "Alfapokalyps"

Alfahanne is a nice band from Sweden, very interesting music in fact. They manage to mix Black Metal with some Rock, some Punk and even some Goth.
Their debut album called Alfapokalyps came out in February through Dark Essence Records. It is indeed really good. Ten tracks of pure entertainment and very good music.
The voice is very original for the music they play. The music is aggressive enough, melodic enough, very full and strong.
Alfahanne is so peculiar and different and good, that they managed to have Taake’s Hoest, Shining’s Niklas Kvarforth, and Helheim’s V’gandr as guest vocalists, on one song each. So as you can see, it is really interesting and of really good quality.
Good fun, good music, very professional even though Alfapokalyps is still their debut album. Really impressive and catchy. Once you hear them, they won't leave your brain alone and you will keep singing or humming their songs.
This review is a bit delayed, which is a shame, but is still good to share such a masterpiece.