**************************************** * * * ##### #### ### #### ##### * * # # # # # # # * * ### #### # # ### # * * # # # # # # # * * # # # ### #### # * * * * # # ##### #### ##### ### # # * * # # # # # # # ## # * * # # # ### # # # # # # * * # # # # # # # # ## * * # ##### #### ##### ### # # * * * **************************************** Issue #7, March 2025 ---------------------------------------- I have a confession to make: I actually write these zines several months in advance. I mention this because a few weeks after I had finished writing the issue on Fellwinter, Gauntlet Ring, and Arbor, I managed to obtain a digital copy of Gauntlet Ring's Phantoms of Dark Symmetry. The February issue was already scheduled and I didn't feel like squeezing a review of that album into it, so I stuck it in this one. Satanic Warmaster put out a surprise album late last year, so I reviewed that as well. Aside from those two, this issue also features As the Shadows Envelop Me, Keys to the Astral Gates and Mystic Doors, Darkness Enshrouded the Mist, and Do Tremble and Fall Silent. Usually, band names are short and to the point, but there is a certain mystique that comes from having a name that is longer than usual. It stands out from the crowd a lot more. Satanic Warmaster - Exultation of Cruelty Just two years after the release of Aamongandr, Satanic Warmaster released a new full-length album called Exultation of Cruelty. The album cover reminds me of Vampires of Black Imperial Blood by Mutiilation. The music also has an omnipresent melancholic tone that would not be out of place on an LLN album. The minimalist blast beats are almost constant, only occasionally broken up by mid-paced rhythms and fills. Werwolf's sinister raspy vocals still sound great. Nothing else I can say about them. The many tremolo riffs are dark and frostbitten. Sprinkled in between these are mid-paced chord progressions that draw inspiration from Darkthrone. The guitars overall focus less on melody and more on bitterness and despair. Most surprising of all is the final track, which is a slow and somber piece that almost sounds like depressive black metal. This album isn't as good as Aamongandr and it's nowhere near as good as Opferblut, but it was still really enjoyable. Gauntlet Ring - Phantoms of Dark Symmetry Gauntlet Ring once again prove that they are what Judas Iscariot should have sounded like. The production is amazing. It's still raw, but it's also more forceful and compelling than it was in the past. Taurus still performs great croaking vocals, so no complaints there. The guitars still play plenty of dark and chilling tremolo riffs that have hints of melody. They then proceed to throw a curveball in the form of solos, such as the ones on "As Darkling Spirits Entwined in Chaos" and "The Black Sun Illuminates Our Visions." Though they are simple in design, they still sound excellent. Best of all are the drums performed by a man known only as Mercenary. His blast beats are simple, but they have a vitality that most other black metal bands lack. Sometimes he plays galloping rhythms like those on the title track, and other times his performance is slower and more methodical. I was most surprised by "To Destruction." That song was a minute long drum solo. Something like that is almost unheard of in the black metal scene. Phantoms of Dark Symmetry is Gauntlet Ring's best album to date, and Mercenary proved himself to be one of black metal's best drummers. As the Shadows Envelop Me - As the Shadows Envelop Me The self-titled debut from As the Shadows Envelop Me received quite a bit of attention from the underground, but I never got around to listening to the band until now. The production is very cloudy, but I can still hear the various elements quite well. Said cloudiness also makes the music more atmospheric. This is especially true of the rasps and howls, which have a chilling, ghostly quality. The blast beats and double bass sections sound like a subterranean rumbling. All of these different patterns are then punctuated by great fills. Subtle melodies are woven into every single riff, from the frigid and ravenous tremolo riffs to the almost folkish chord progressions. This was a very strong debut overall. As the Shadows Envelop Me - Fedrekult Two years after their self-titled debut, As the Shadows Envelop Me released another full-length called Fedrekult. It's almost twice as long, so the ideas present on their first outing have been given more room to develop fully. The production is still cloudy, but the instruments hit harder. This is especially true of the drums, which sound like infernal war machines stoming around beneath the surface. The music formula is mostly the same. The drums offer up blast beats, double bass sections, and focused mid-paced rhythms. The vocals still consist of haunting rasps and howls. The guitars still play a wide assortment of tremolo riffs with mid-paced chord progressions scattered in between. What makes this album better than their first, though, is that the melodies are more gripping and the overall mood feels more epic. This manifests itself in the pounding drums of "Inherited Memories from a Distant Past" and the triumphant tremolo riffs of "Sonnenmensch." These various elements conjure up images of ancient battles and quests for glory. What an incredible album this was. I can't wait to hear more from this band. Keys to the Astral Gates and Mystic Doors - Keys to the Astral Gates and Mystic Doors Keys to the Astral Gates and Mystic Doors (henceforth referred to as Keys for the sake of brevity) is a raw black metal band that recently emerged from Wisconsin. Their sound is an homage to LLN bands like Mutiilation and Belketre. The production is simultaneously cloudy and abrasive, as if the music were surrounded by poison gas. The drums play your standard simple black metal blast beats, but they also play a lot of bass-snare rhythms and skank beats. The raspy croaks are cloaked in reverb, making them sound like they're being made by a hateful specter. The guitars offer up a great amount of variety. Their tremolo riffs can be dark and menacing one moment and melodic and triumphant the next. On occasion they slow things down and play passages that sometimes sound like doom metal and other times like depressive black metal. Then they'll turn around and play chord progressions that have a post-punk tinge to them. On the last track they play drawn-out tremolo riffs that are heavily inspired by atmospheric black metal. This demo might be short, but it's packed full of diverse ideas and great execution. Keys to the Astral Gates and Mystic Doors - Keys to the Astral Gates and Mystic Doors II Keys released their second demo just six months after their first. The music here feels like a logical evolution of what they had recorded in their debut outing. The blast beats are frequently broken up by punkish bass-snare rhythms. Slow and ponderous beats are also thrown in on occasion, such as on "What is the Glimmer 'top the Looming Castle Bell." The raspy croaks sound the same, but they're still performed well. The tremolo riffs are a blend of LLN-style raw black metal and melodic atmospheric black metal. The shrouded riffs on "Snowbringer's Spell" even remind me of early Branikald. The band's formula creates one of the most unique experiences in all of black metal. It's simultaneously dark, cold, somber, wondrous, and magical. Keys have proven themselves to be incredibly creative and talented, and I can't wait for them to put out a full-length. Darkness Enshrouded the Mist - Ritual of Undeath Spirits In the late-'00s, many raw black metal bands emerged in several different locations across the world simultaneously. The Netherlands was one such major hub, and Darkness Enshrouded the Mist was one of their most prominent acts. They formed in 2009 and released a slew of demos and a few EPs. Unfortunately, they have not put out any new material since 2016 despite seemingly still being active. Their first demo, Elixir of Occult Spells, is a black ambient release. It's alright, but black ambient isn't really my thing. Ritual of Undeath Spirits is their first actual black metal release. The production is quite raw and a bit muffled, but I can still hear it just fine. Their music takes the LLN formula and adds a bit of melody to it. The raging, minimalist blast beats are frequently broken up by simple mid-paced rhythms. Some of the chord progressions sound dark and foreboding, while others are more melodic and even sound a bit punkish at times. The vocals consist of a classic black metal croak. Most interesting of all is the final track, which consists of creepy clean guitars. This was a pretty nice demo overall. Darkness Enshrouded the Mist - His Kingdom This demo places a lot more emphasis on the harshness. The drumming has become a lot slower and more doom-like overall, but there are some moments when they pick up the pace and play d-beats. The croaking vocals have remained the same, but the guitars are an entirely different beast. Just like the drums, they have gotten slower and now creep around like nocturnal beasts. The many chord progressions are dark, menacing, and sometimes dissonant. Their compositions take on an almost ritualistic quality on songs like "Under the Grey Nightsky." Despite this, they still manage to include abrasive tremolo riffs on the last two tracks. You might like this if you enjoy black metal with a slower pace. Darkness Enshrouded the Mist - The Will and the Flames The band's 2010 demo, Forbidden Vocations, is a collection of black ambient tracks, and their 2012 EP, Under the Grey Nightsky, is a re-recording of the first two songs from His Kingdom. It is for those reasons that I won't talk about them. I will instead focus on their 2013 demo The Will and the Flames. The music here borrows even more heavily from Darkthrone. The minimalist blast beats and ice cold tremolo riffs are a dead giveaway. The blasting sections are made more interesting by clattering cymbals, and the tremolo riffs have subtle melodies woven throughout. The songwriting gets more unnerving on "Master, Servant, Slave." The only element that has remained unchanged are the croaking vocals. This demo was quite short, but still enjoyable. Do Tremble and Fall Silent - Do Tremble and Fall Silent Do Tremble and Fall Silent are one of the most mysterious black metal bands I know. They formed in Mesa, Arizona in 2007 and lasted barely a year. They then put out a self-titled demo six years after they had broken up. We know the names and have the photographs of the guys behind the project, but we don't know what instruments they played, if they participated in any other bands, or if they're even still alive. The production has a lo-fi, cloudy quality that creates a dark and mystic atmosphere. The blast beats are rapid and pulverizing, but sometimes they change things up by playing vigorous galloping rhythms and contemplative slow patterns. The tremolo riffs have a frantic delivery while also having a tone rooted in despair. The guitars get even more interesting when the tempo slows down. It is during these moments when they play moody chord progressions inspired by post rock. The howling raspy vocals further reinforce the grim quality of the music. It's a shame that this band didn't last long because they had some amazing skills and ideas. Satan's Massacre - Robbing the Graveyard and Raping the Dead Here's another mysterious metal band I am aware of. Satan's Massacre was a heavy metal band that formed in New York in 1986, released a demo called Robbing the Graveyard and Raping the Dead one year later, and then broke up shortly thereafter. They also recorded a three track demo, but no one can find any evidence of its existence. People have been investigating this band for years but they're still not any closer to unraveling the truth. The most likely theory is that it was a short-lived joke band created by Alec Dana, the owner of the M.A.R.S. metal zine. Imagine a lo-fi proto-black metal band that consists of Beavis on vocals and Butthead on guitars. That's what the music sounds like. The guitars are surprisingly good. The riffs are simple but really catchy, and the slow solo that starts off the album is quite haunting. Then there are the nasally vocals, which sound like they're being made by a bespectacled nerd who had just discovered underground metal. These vocals spend their time reciting lyrics focusing on Satan and anal sex. By any objective measurement, they sound terrible, but I find them too hilarious to hate. This is one of the best so bad it's good metal albums I've ever heard, and "Curse of the Two Blind People" is my favorite track on here. It's incredibly dumb, but also incredibly fun.