Get Prep’d: The Seventh Seal
Get Prep’d is back for a seventh edition. This time bringing you some filthy good Australian death, doom-drenched Finnish destruction, and some Czech black metal…what more could you possibly need?
Sewercide
After a string of splits, demos, and a killer EP from last year, Sewercide are getting set to release their debut full length prior to their inaugural US tour (starting June 1st – Dates here). In other words, things are really happening for these miscreants from Melbourne, Australia. And about time too! The four-piece has doggedly pushed through a bunch of line-up changes and belted out a hefty amount of local shows to get to this point. This has not gone unnoticed, as the TovH label of the year (fuck you, I’m calling it now!) Unspeakable Axe has wisely picked them up for this release. Just last week they released a track from the upcoming album titled Immortalized In Suffering. Hit play on “Snares Of Carnality” below and prepare for the barrage!
Ripping shit right there! Judging by that offering alone, I think it’s pretty obvious that Immortalized In Suffering will have the potential to crack some of your coveted album of the year lists come December (or you know, August, when some clowns start posting them). Now, I know you’ll be hungry to witness more destruction in the wake of that new track so I’ll post their Severing The Mortal Cord EP from last year for those of you who missed it.
Above: Consummate professionals in the studio.
I won’t go into too much detail as I don’t think there’s much need to say more than what’s included in this mini-review from last May. However, for those who just wanna bang their head immediately, I will mention that there’s a healthy dose of thrash influence to accompany the prevailing death-metal menace on these 5 tracks. Since my review, I’ve discovered that the second track (and also my fave) “Shackled By Ignorance” was based on the Australian government’s reprehensible treatment of asylum seekers. So, much like our website, don’t let the name fool you, Sewercide aren’t simply shit-flingers. Also, seems the EP is name your price now too, so you’d have to be a complete muppet not to bag this one.
Addendum: Remember to check those tour dates and go support these fuckers on their first trek across the Pacific! Keep up to date with the band and their tour itinerary on their facebook page. You can also check out our very own Boss The Ross’ great interview with the unspeakably axesome (is that a word now?) label head Eric here.
Krypts
Hailing from Helsinki, Finland are 4-pronged death dealers Krypts. The band have so far released a demo and an EP (in 2009 and 2011 respectively), but it was their debut album Unending Degradation that made me take a proper look into the deeper recesses of their doom-drenched mausoleum.
Released in 2013, this twisting descent into the sepulchre will consume your mind in just shy of 40 minutes. Amongst the 8 tracks are a couple of instrumental pieces and a shitload of malevolence. The guitars shift between moments of filth-laden shred, to power chord riffing thicker than the funerary stelai of all ancient tyrants combined. To add to that lethal combination, Krypts intersperse the assault with luring tritone passages that sound like they billow from some kind of organ of doom, along with hauntingly eerie lead breaks that almost certainly emanate from a cathedral of unholy desecration. Comparisons to their Finnish countrymen Hooded Menace and Slugathor can be drawn, although they lack the melancholic melody of the former, and put more emphasis on the ominous aspect of their sound than the latter. Krypts seem to prefer delving into the monstrous chasms created during the 90’s by Demigod and Rippikoulu. Throughout its runtime, Unending Degradation seems to feed off its own perilous nature, devouring all within grasp in the process. Adding to the constant threat is the grisly bass, which rumbles along throughout proceedings, and while not as septic as those of similar artists such as Undergang or even Disma, it does bear some superficial resemblance.
Tentatively due out in Autumn/Winter (Northern Hemisphere), the release of the new album will be handled by Dark Descent Records and is titled Remnants Of Expansion. As with Unending Degradation, the album art will again be contributed by Timo Ketola, who has worked with approximately 493 bands you love. The track-listing is as follows:
I. Arrow of Entropy
II. The Withering Titan
III. Remnants of Expansion
IV. Entrailed to the Breaking Wheel
V. Transfixed
In the mean time, go and get yourself acquainted with their previous releases and follow the band here.
Inferno
Holy fuck! After only recently coming across this band through their masterful 2013 album Omniabsence Filled by his Greatness, I’ve become enamoured to the point of near-addiction. No joke, this album has barely missed a day’s play since purchase. 2015 was a year saturated with amazing black metal, and it would seem that in turn, 2016 has been quite death metal-centric. This may leave the gap open for Inferno to come through and steal the show. After digging through what I can find of their comprehensive discography, I’m now expecting their upcoming album to be in strong contention for a spot on my “Damn! Listen to this fucking album” list. From the abundant riffs, to the exemplary drumming, to the engrossing atmosphere; Inferno are the complete package.
For those who were also unaware of the band prior to now, Inferno are a 5-piece from the Czech Republic and have been active since 1996. In that time they’ve put out a plethora of releases, including: a handful of live albums, over 20 splits/EPs/compilations, and 6 full-length albums. All of them must now belong to me! And while the riffing on the older material appears to be predominantly Scandinavian-scented, the latest album showed a healthy blend of some more nascent influences entwined throughout the prevailing chilly turbulence. Considering their age as a band, I feel it would be kind of slighting them to infer they’ve been influenced by some of these younger but more fashionable bands that most people are familiar with. Whatever the case, the riffs are at once both instantly memorable and elegantly complex. The percussion matches their every manoeuvre immaculately. From the rampant fury of the blasting, to some brilliantly placed stomping sections that are nigh-on impossible not to headbang along with, Inferno know how to expertly craft songs that don’t just invade your mind, but rather pervade your entire being. The melodic layers clearly emanate directly from hell itself, and are of a similar vein to those of bands like Ondskapt and Acherontas. Infernal and majestic, they interweave with the riffs themselves until they become one, heaving their united conflagration like an unleashed army of diabolical basilisks. And although the searing leads flare out across a great duration of the songs, they never feel forced and are not simply pasted atop the riffs like sometimes feels like the case with many black metal tracks.
Assuming by now you’ve passed through the short intro track into the album proper, and are starting to become engulfed by the flames, any more coaxing from me would seem superfluous. So I’m just going to jump ahead and tell you that while we don’t have a definite date of release for their upcoming album as yet, we do have an album title – Gnosis Kardias (Of Transcension and Involution). The album will consist of five songs and one intro, and the artwork will be handled by Peruvian artist José Sabogal Gabriel Alegría. As is sometimes the case with esoteric-leaning black metal, promotion may prove to be minimal, but as the band has stated that the release will be handled by W.T.C Productions, I’ll be keeping up to date with their activity here and voraciously awaiting this album.
Side Note: Seriously, if you aren’t impressed by the first 3 minutes of the monumental third track “Funeral Of Existence,” say so down in the comments section so I can add you to the list of those deemed aurally destitute and metallically bankrupt.
