International symphonic black metal project MorteMutta
have released their new single, “Hrungutsutr,” now available for streaming. The
track was recorded at Eijefjorden Studios and mixed and mastered by Chris
Highlander.
Formed in 1999 by DC (Norway) and JJ (Japan),
MorteMutta describe their music as “Fjordmetal,” combining elements of Nordic
and Japanese folklore with multilingual vocals and unconventional
instrumentation, including the koto and chainsaws. The project places
particular emphasis on world-building and mythological storytelling, creating a
cinematic setting that connects the landscapes and traditions of Norway and
Japan.
“Hrungutsutr” continues the duo’s distinctive approach
to combining symphonic black metal with their broader cross-cultural concept.
Siberian death ’n’ grind/deathcore band ACCIDENTAL
DEATH BENEFIT have released their new single, “Despair,” on September 18, 2026.
The track combines intense vocals, an organic production approach and lyrics
addressing themes of social inequality and industrial dominance.
Formed in 2013 in Bratsk, Siberia, the band developed
their sound within the region’s distinctive cultural and social environment.
Their lineup includes a mathematics and computer science teacher who also
serves as drummer, composer and sound engineer, as well as handling the band’s
informational materials.
ACCIDENTAL DEATH BENEFIT released their debut
full-length album, Venets Tvoreniya Prirody, in 2017, followed by the Big
Brother Won't Forsake You EP in 2022. Their subsequent releases include the
double single Essence of Evil / White World (2023) and the single Sincerity in
Hatred (2025).
The band have performed extensively across Russia,
appearing at major festivals and sharing stages with acts including VADER,
MARDUK, SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL and GRIMA. They have also headlined the
international NOISE festival in Mongolia.
ACCIDENTAL DEATH BENEFIT are currently working on a
new full-length album, which is scheduled for release in spring 2027.
Έχοντας
πίσω τους τα All Hell Breaks Loose και The Antichrist, οι τρεις «Ούννοι» —
Schmier σε μπάσο κι ουρλιαχτό, Mike στην κιθάρα και Marc Reign στα ντραμς — δεν
άφηναν τον καιρό να πάει χαμένος. Περιοδεία και, στα καπάκια, νέος δίσκος
εναλλάξ, όπως παλιά. Έτσι, πριν καλά καλά αντιληφθούμε τι γίνεται, να σου κι
αυτός, κολλητά σχεδόν!
Ανελέητο
Thrash Metal, με άρωμα των μέσων προς τα τέλη της προηγούμενης δεκαετίας και,
μάλλον, πάλι με λίγο flat παραγωγή, στην οποία είναι ειδικοί από το κλασικό,
κατά τα άλλα, Release From Agony του 1988.
Ειλικρινά,
όμως, κάπου άρχισαν κι οι ίδιοι να βαριούνται, όπως έδειξε η ιστορία μετά απ’
αυτό. Πάντως, ο Schmier το πήρε πάνω του το σχήμα, με τα γνωστά, καλά ή όχι
τόσο καλά, αποτελέσματα. Άλλη φορά, σε άλλη ιστορία.
Δέκα
κομμάτια έχει ο συγκεκριμένος δίσκος, με τα επτά να είναι αντιπροσωπευτικά του
τι εστί Destruction: The Ravenous Beast, Metal Discharge, Rippin’ the Flesh
Apart, Mortal Remains, Savage Symphony of Terror, Made to Be Broken και
Vendetta — τα άλλα παλικάρια από τη Γερμανία, που το Thrash ρέει στις φλέβες
τους!
Η
αρχική έκδοση έχει και δεύτερο CD, με τέσσερα παλιά, επανηχογραφημένα, καλά
κλασικά τους και τρεις διασκευές. Από αυτές, οι δύο — το Killers των Iron
Maiden, βέβαια, και το Whiplash των Metallica — είναι οι αγαπημένες μου, ενώ το
Fuck the USA των Punk ηρώων Exploited έρχεται να αποτελειώσει την τριπλέτα.
English:
At Regular Intervals
With All Hell Breaks Loose and The Antichrist already
behind them, the three “Huns” — Schmier on bass and vocals, Mike on guitar and
Marc Reign on drums — were not about to waste any time. Tour, then a new album
straight afterwards, alternating one with the other, just like in the old days.
So, before we could even realise what was going on, here came another one,
almost right on its heels!
Relentless Thrash Metal, carrying the scent of the
mid-to-late years of the previous decade and, once again, probably featuring
that somewhat flat production they had already become specialists in, going all
the way back to the otherwise classic Release From Agony of 1988.
To be honest, though, somewhere along the way they
themselves seemed to start getting bored, as subsequent history would show.
Still, Schmier took the band firmly into his own hands, with the familiar
results — some good, some not quite so good. But that’s a story for another
time.
The album contains ten tracks, seven of which are
representative of what Destruction are all about: The Ravenous Beast, Metal
Discharge, Rippin’ the Flesh Apart, Mortal Remains, Savage Symphony of Terror,
Made to Be Broken and Vendetta — those other German lads with Thrash running
through their veins!
The original edition also comes with a second CD
featuring four old classics, re-recorded, plus three covers. Of those, two —
Killers by Iron Maiden, naturally, and Whiplash by Metallica — are my
favourites, while Fuck the USA by Punk heroes The Exploited comes in to
complete the trio.
One of my favourite metal record labels has struck
again. Following the excellent debut album by ARTIZAN, Pure Steel Records
presented POWER THEORY, a U.S. metal band whose first full-length, Out of the
Ashes, arrived after the group had already introduced itself with a single and
an EP. The album therefore represented an important step for the band: the move
from promising beginnings to a complete, fully developed statement.
Unfortunately, Out of the Ashes tired me.
The album contains the ingredients one would expect
from a traditional U.S. Metal release — heavy guitars, melodic passages, an
epic atmosphere and a clear affection for the classic Metal tradition — but the
songwriting does not always manage to maintain the same level of interest from
beginning to end. There are good ideas here, but they often need stronger
development and more memorable arrangements in order to give the songs the
necessary impact. The band clearly had potential, but at this stage it still
needed to improve its songwriting skills in order to progress.
The best track of the album is undoubtedly “Uriel’s
Tears”, the ballad of the record. It is a really great song and, interestingly
enough, one of the moments where the band manages to create a more emotional
and memorable atmosphere without relying exclusively on heaviness. “Slay the
Beast Within” is also a good track and gives a better idea of what POWER THEORY
could achieve when the songwriting is more focused.
The album is therefore not without its merits. There
is genuine enthusiasm for classic Heavy Metal throughout Out of the Ashes, and
the band's direction is clear. However, enthusiasm alone is not enough to make
an entire album consistently compelling. More variety, stronger songwriting and
songs that remain in the listener's memory would have made a considerable
difference.
In conclusion, Out of the Ashes is a mediocre debut
album. It shows potential, but it also makes clear that POWER THEORY still had
some way to go before reaching the level of the more established names in the
traditional Metal scene.
And since this was a release on Pure Steel Records,
there was certainly no shortage of alternatives. The label had already offered
— and would continue to offer — considerably stronger material, from ARTIZAN to
the latest album by Swiss veterans EMERALD, No Mercy by Commandment, as well as
reissues from bands such as HALLOWEEN. For listeners with limited money to
spend on Metal records, there were simply more rewarding choices to make.
Yesterday, while out record shopping with a friend, I
saw him pick up this particular album. I told him: “Don’t! It’s a poser
record…” But what can you do? Being a poser himself, he bought it! Well, I’ve
got the album too… you know, for the collection! Just so it’s there!
So, here we have RAVEN hanging up their athletic metal
gear—as you can see on the back cover—putting athletic rock aside for a while
and deciding to start shaking their asses seductively, with a guitar in front
of them, hoping to become commercial. And not just commercial… very commercial!
The Pack Is Back, released in 1986, is the album where
RAVEN decided to try out a much more polished, radio-friendly and FM-oriented
identity, leaving quite a bit behind of the manic, unpredictable energy of
Wiped Out and All for One. Atlantic obviously wanted something more accessible
to a wider audience, so the band entered Bearsville Studios in New York with
Eddie Kramer behind the production—yes, that Eddie Kramer, of KISS, Hendrix,
Zeppelin fame and so on. Only this time, the man found himself having to turn
RAVEN into… almost a completely different band!
If we were talking about demonic possession, I’d say
this album was possessed by the Commercial Spirit of DEF LEPPARD. Big choruses,
polished production, synths, “easier” melodies and, generally, an attitude
screaming: “Let’s get this played on the radio!” The only problem is that, with
RAVEN on the logo, it was pretty much inevitable that this particular recipe
would have… side effects.
And in the middle of all this, we get “Gimme Some
Lovin’”, a cover of the classic Spencer Davis Group song, while tracks like
“Hyperactive” and “Don’t Let It Die” even feature horns! Yes, you read that
correctly: horns on RAVEN! At that point you just go: “Hold on, guys… who
called you and told you this was a good idea?”
And yet, the funny thing is that the album isn’t
actually bad as a listening experience. We have to give it that. It has its
melodies, it has catchy choruses, it has some nice moments and, if you’re into
AOR-ish melodies, more commercial hard rock and the whole 80s poser vibe, you
can actually have a pretty good time with it. “The Pack Is Back” itself is
quite a catchy song, while “Youngblood” has that old RAVEN spark that shows
what this album could have been if they hadn’t covered everything in quite so
much… polish. John Gallagher himself said years later that some of the songs
from the album, including “Youngblood” and “The Pack Is Back”, worked very well
live.
And that is precisely the problem: you don’t hear the
RAVEN you expect to hear when you put a RAVEN record on the turntable. You hear
a band trying to squeeze itself into the commercial climate of 1986 and
ultimately looking a little like it has put on a suit two sizes too small.
Seriously… what were they thinking?
Anyway… it’s a good album as a listening experience,
especially if you like AOR melodies, poser vibes and, generally, that more
polished 80s hard rock sound. A bad album if you’re into RAVEN.
And somewhere right there lies the whole essence of
The Pack Is Back: a good record to listen to — a strange record to listen to as
RAVEN.
When I was just six, I fell hard for KISS. I dug the
glossy hard rock of Dynasty (including the massive disco hit “I Was Made
for Lovin’ You”) and the pop experiments of Unmasked. Even Music from
“The Elder” fascinated me, despite its conceptual misfire. The makeup was
still there, but the danger was gone. By the early ’80s KISS were chasing
trends and in free fall.
Then, in the fall of 1982, when eight-year-old me put Creatures
of the Night on the turntable for the first time, everything felt
different. This was the furious course correction: a full-throated heavy-metal
statement that arrived just when almost nobody was still listening.
The album marks KISS’s most convincing shift into genuine
heavy metal. It’s denser, darker and more aggressive than anything they’d done
before. The guitars are thicker, and the whole record carries the nocturnal
menace the title promises.
A big part of that weight comes from the production,
especially the drums. Eric Carr delivers one of the most powerful drum sounds
of the early 1980s — cavernous, punchy and larger than life. He drives tracks
like the title song, “Danger,” “I Love It Loud” and “War Machine” with real
authority. In an era when many rock records were starting to sound thin, this
drum sound remains a benchmark.
Paul Stanley sings with commanding force throughout.
The title track opens the album with theatrical power, “I Still Love You” ranks
among the band’s finest ballads, and “Danger” is a particular standout. Gene
Simmons sounds re-energized and menacing on “I Love It Loud,” “Killer” and
especially “War Machine.”
Smart outside contributions raised the songwriting to
a new level. A young Bryan Adams (with Jim Vallance) co-wrote two key tracks
with Simmons — “Rock and Roll Hell” and “War Machine.” Input from Adam Mitchell
and the then-unknown Vinnie Vincent added further firepower, with Vincent’s
blistering solos giving the songs exactly the edge they needed. The result is a
remarkably consistent, mean-sounding album that still feels classic KISS.
Commercially it was a quiet disaster. It peaked at a
modest No. 45 on the Billboard 200 and only went gold more than a decade later
(1994). The irony still stings: KISS had finally made their heaviest and most
focused record in years — and almost no one noticed.
What followed was adaptation. In 1983 the makeup came
off and the hair-metal era began with Lick It Up. The rest of the decade
brought hits, lineup changes and solid albums like Revenge (1992). But
the original mythic aura stayed elusive until the 1996 reunion. On those tours,
“Creatures of the Night,” “I Love It Loud” and “War Machine” returned as
powerful reminders of that 1982 rebirth.
Creatures of the Night remains KISS’s great overlooked turning point — the
moment they became true metal gods. That almost no one noticed at the time only
makes the achievement more striking. Today it stands as one of their heaviest,
darkest and most focused statements: a thunderous reminder of what the band could
still be when they simply decided to be dangerous again.
Ribspreader have been remarkably consistent since
their formation in 2003, and that consistency is rooted in a very clear
understanding of what the band wants to represent. Rather than constantly
reinventing their sound or incorporating contemporary elements, the Swedish
trio have remained firmly committed to the classic death metal tradition. The
Van Murders continues that approach, delivering nine tracks of uncompromising,
old-school Swedish death metal with very little interest in unnecessary
embellishment.
There is nothing particularly experimental here, nor
is there any attempt to modernize the formula. Instead, Ribspreader focus on
the fundamentals: deep guttural vocals, heavy rhythm guitars, ominous riffing,
raw guitar tones and a generally dark, aggressive atmosphere. The arrangements
are tight and straightforward, while the production retains enough grit to
preserve the genre's old-school character. Even when the songs introduce more
groove-oriented passages, they remain firmly within the boundaries established
by the early Swedish death metal tradition.
The album's deliberately familiar approach may lead
some listeners to describe it as generic, and there is certainly little on The
Van Murders that could be considered groundbreaking. However, familiarity is
not necessarily a weakness when the material is performed with conviction and a
clear sense of purpose. Ribspreader are not attempting to redefine death metal;
they are concentrating on reproducing the spirit and aesthetics of its
formative years.
That places The Van Murders comfortably within the
long-running Swedish old-school death metal continuum. For listeners who value
the rawer, heavier and less polished side of the genre, the album offers
exactly what its title and presentation suggest: direct, uncompromising death
metal without unnecessary detours.
Ultimately, The Van Murders works precisely because
Ribspreader know what they are doing and, more importantly, know what they do
not want to do. It is a focused and consistent release that embraces the
classic Swedish death metal vocabulary rather than attempting to expand it. In
that respect, it stands as a solid contemporary example of how the
first-generation sound can still be approached without excessive modernization.
