Eriaminell - Enraged

Perhaps someone out there might recall the highly unproductive Italian outfit of Pope John Paul II enthusiasts called Ghoulvault, who in the late '90s released a sole mCD called Wojtyla Masturbation. It's fairly standard (read: neither completely awful nor terribly impressive) '90s black metal given a somewhat industrial feel by a prominent drum machine. One track had some limited electronic elements added, and most notably, the last few minutes of the CD consisted of whispered anti-religious rhetoric and encouragements for the listener to kill themselves--all in heavily accented English--making it some sort of early blasphemous ASMR. It's the kind of thing a distro might politely label as "weird black metal" on a mailorder list in order not to dissaude potential buyers, much to the great dismay of Oxiplegatz and early Nastrond fans everywhere.

I can't say I've ever spent any time wondering what became of Ghoulvault, but the two brothers from the band resurfaced in Eriaminell a few years later. I didn't actively seek this out or even know anything about the band, as it was just among a mass purchase of several clearance titles at a mailorder. Visually, it didn't seem like a particularly noteworthy release until I saw this in the booklet:

This struck me as amusingly odd. Again, this is printed directly on the back cover of the booklet--it's not from a press sheet, ad, or hype sticker. Aside from that Rick Bizzaro gas mask guy, who's at the very bottom of the list, I can't think of any other person involved with Nocturnus that I would NOT want to give a noncommittal-yet-polite endorsement to a musical project more than Mr. Mowery. On the other hand, if Jeff Estes gave a band a glowing review, I'd be inclined to seek it out immediately. Also keep in mind I don't think Nocturnus even existed at this point, as it was a couple years after Ethereal Tomb, so it would have been one of the lowest points of scene credibility for anyone who served time in the band besides the foursome from the original 1987 demo. It feels particularly weird because at first it reads very informally, like positive comments they gleaned from a casual e-mail, but the last line makes it sound like the band actively asked him to shill for them. 

 

The vocals are indeed a highlight, as they are distorted and appropriately inhuman sounding. Good job on the vocals Lugdush! The music is extremely cacophonous--it's black/death with an extremely artificial-sounding, hyperactive drum machine which gives it a very industrialized feel, and the whole thing is laden with synths and lead guitarwork which just frantically shreds over everything, often with no regard for the underlying music. It can get very disjointed, often to a point where it sounds oddly progressive. 

 

I'm curious how calculated the sound was, and whether they were ultimately aiming more for chaotic and failed or more for weird and succeeded. The drum machine dictates the majority of the band's sound, but it's light-hitting and lower in the mix, so it's not percussive and punishing enough to work effectively as industrial metal. Similarly, the artificial drums and constant guitar noodling rob the music of power, sabotaging any potential they might have had as a more brutal black/death band. The music isn't bad enough to be amusing, but neither is it good enough to be compelling, and it ends up just being a mild metal oddity. 

Dismantle - Satanic Force

I'm back just to do a timely review of a 2009 release. This had been languishing in my ridiculously large to-be-listened-to pile for quite some time, and while I slightly regret it now, I had good reasons. Can't think of any newer AreaDeath signees that I've found all that engaging, and I've always been more interested in their reissues anyway. The band had less-than-stellar aesthetic sense, which normally isn't a good sign--the Ed Repka cover is one of the sillier pieces I've seen by him, the extra pentagrams they didn't even bother to directly integrate into the logo feel overdone, and then there's the lineup pic:

So from left to right, we have unamused young Ryan Waste doppelgänger, a Hispanic fellow with both a very unfortunate haircut and a similarly unfortunate upper body physique (to be fair, based on the cover, I assume it's a unstiffened fat guy mohawk like the one Possessor guitarist had, and not some weird side-shaved shit), and 13-year old Igor Cavalera, who does not have the benefit of a Wehrmacht-style helmet here.

Yet, much to my surprise, the music was far superior to the average American retrothrash band of the '00s. On the surface, the album is largely Teutonic-sounding, with lots of early Destruction influences in the melodies specifically (especially "Satanic Metal"), and perhaps a bit of Persecution Mania too. But I was surprised about how many subtle Death influences I heard, though in a purer thrash context. Several of the songs have a very Leprosy-feeling flow to the guitars (sadly, there are no Rick Rozz divebombs). "Exorcistic Rites" has that part that's slightly similar to the "Left to Die" intro, there's a "Vile Spell" riff that sounds vaguely like the "Evil Dead" melody, and "Ritual of the Dead" sounds like it could be a song by a much more blatantly Death-influenced band like Morfin. Despite this, I must stress that Dismantle rarely edge towards death/thrash, let alone death metal. Then on top of everything else, there are some very tasty Possessed/Whiplash style leads. The solo sections range from being very decent to unremarkable, although even the less-inspired ones never impede the music.

Then comes the vocals, which I imagine are very divisive. The guy is extremely fond of throwing in lots and lots of shrieks, an obvious homage to Schmier/Araya, but unfortunately for him, he literally screams like a girl. It's so over the top I actually found it rather charming. I do wish the normal vocals were a little better, though--you can tell the vocalist is on the younger side, and I would have liked a little more character and charisma in the vocals. Still, they come off as more energetic than something like the lethargic Merciless Death vocals, and they fit the music better than the snottier pseudo-punk style a lot of pizzathrash used.

While quite good, this is nowhere near the level of its influences, and the album is seriously lacking in variety at times--it just powers through any genericness and samey-ness with speed. Still, while it's on, it's an enjoyable listen.