Witchburner - "Final Detonation"

(Germany, Undercover Records, Thrash Metal, 2005)

Witchburner is not a band from the 80s but man they sound like one, and guess, they are coming from Germany, so you know what to expect when it comes to old school Thrash Metal! They manage to capture perfectly the raw Thrash Metal atmosphere, also they sound so raw and pure. Lyrics are dealing with some usual patterns within Thrash Metal area, war, alcohol, end of the world and alike. A great thing about this release is the production and the way they skillfully manage to play their instruments, and not in the last place the vicious vocalist, with its raged and high pitched tones. This is already their fourth release to date so if you missed the old ones, get a hold on this new thrashing masterpiece. Best song: "Pounding Warriors". This is like a fist in the face on Nu-Thrash Metal trends!

Witchtiger - "The Oath Of The Witches"

(Finland, Self released, Heavy Metal, 2005)

The main influence of this band is early N.W.O.B.H.M. and Doom Metal. The music on the demo single (limited to 50 copies!) is somehow of a moderate quality, the worst and definitely the main issue that is bringing this release down is the production, too muddy and without a feeling of completion, you have the feel that you are listening to random played instruments which are not congregating into a song. The best of all are the vocals which succeed in bringing some great atmosphere. The "Orgasmatron" voice is somewhere near a whisper, a shout and a cry. One thing that I did not liked are the "Yeah!" parts and the occasional upper octaves that he's trying from time to time. The guitar lines are mediocre but with a cool lick from time to time like the opening riff of "Dying Salvation" or the riffs by the end of "Demon Angel". Unfortunately there is a drum machine used and the rhythm is almost without variation 1/1. Not much of first good impression but it is somehow worthy of a few listens. It is not by any means a good release but it has a hook.

Wolfen Society - "Conquer Divine"

(U.S.A., House Of Death Records, Black/Death Metal, 2004)

Thanks to Vincent Crowley from Acheron, the spiritual and musical leader of this very known extreme Metal band, I've recived the first musical achievement of his parallel project called Wolfen Society! As we can read in House Of Death Records band info, we can label this combo as Black/Death Metal. What stands out in bold relief, from the first Wolfen Society reading composition is the plenty well known names which were famous for their previous bands. And if you want to know more things about these persons I'll try to reveal you the whole Wolfen Society line-up: Vincent Crowley (v/b - Acheron), Kyle Severn (d - Incantation), Lord Ahriman (g - Dark Funeral), Thomas Thorn (k - The Electric Hellfire Club) and Viktor Ravensbruck (g - The Electric Hellfire Club); very known musicians in the extreme Metal area across the ocean! Just an informative note, I'd like to add that "Conquer Divine" was totaly recorded in the U.S.A. although the final version was made by Tommy Tagtgren! This product contains just 4 songs, one of them being a cover version of "Race War" originaly played by Carnivore. Being used with Acheron's old stuff I was pleasantly surprised by Wolfen Society's way of playing. I'd also like to add that "Conquer Divine" is in the well known Acheron's way of playing, and you can hear that only if you'll listen to their new album! Generally speaking the Black/Death Metal music Wolfen Society brand is a very technical one, the slower moments alternating in an unique way with the most extreme Metal parts; the final result being a very good one for sure. I'm a little bit dissatisfied by Wolfen Society's choice to use The Abyss Studio for the final mix of this album! Why am I saying all this things? Because, sometimes, in those Death Metal parts Wolfen Society seems to be very closer to Dismember; and this isn't a bad ideea in the end, but I know very well that this U.S. combo has its own sound and way of playing. In the end I'd like to say that every Black/Death Metal fan should get this material, a product in which the musical concept fits perfectly with some occult lyrical lines; Vincent being nevertheless the main attraction point of this awesome MCD!

Woods Of Desolation - "Woods Of Desolation"

(Australia, Odium Records, Black Metal, 2006)

Here we have some very raw Black Metal from Woods Of Desolation, yet with an eerie and hypnotic feel to it. I am reminded somewhat of "Thickthorn" by Ethereal Woods, though this is much more evil sounding than that band. It also features lone Odium member P. Knight on bass and vocals along with Dolor (who lives in Australia), who plays the guitar and drums, so you can expect this to sound sufficiently coarse. There are some great riffs to be heard, such as on the melancholy "Remains..." and "Shadows", which strangely reminds me of "Twenty Four Hours" by Joy Division (probably a coincidence). We even have an acoustic track, entitled "Suicide". Woods Of Desolation are an interesting proposition for those who like ultra-underground Black Metal with a little atmosphere; however the raw, home-recorded sound may put off those who like their Metal more polished. Still, this was a good listen. Home made CD-R with card sleeve available from the address below.

Woods Of Infinity - "Hejda"

(Sweden, Total Holocaust Records, Black Metal, 2005)

My first musical meeting with the sickos from Woods of Infinty was when I first heard their "Promo 2001" release, and I was quite surprised by their musical offering, I was wondering what the hell has Black Metal in common with Country music, not in hillbilly way of sounding, but... or what was with those sick/weird interludes that nobody used before, at least not in the common Black Metal? As you can hear on their releases or as you can see from their photos they are not quite the common Black Metal band, I mean they do not have that usual black/pseudo Satanic/warrior image, even tough they have pentagrams and corpse/blood paint on their faces, they somehow do not fit the cliché (there are some pictures here with Ravenlord holding a bloody plastic doll head).
Do we have here something original? I can say yes, and originality spews from all of their music, what it spews it may be a little hard to swallow if you are a purist of the genre because even tough they somehow use the Black Metal cliché they do bring something more, not being true to genres standards but in the same time being truer than most of the so called true bands in the genre, in their standards true meaning, gruesome, pervert and purely blasphemy.
The way that Woods Of Infinity puts the problem, is somehow more into post modern music applying, even tough I don't know if conscious the postmodern standards to a genre that by lots of years has put all the problems that were to be put. Woods Of Infinity's release is in my opinion more valuable to the evolution of music than loads of true Black Metal bands (this not meaning that I call Woods Of Infinity an untrue band, I always think that is better to put the problem in your own terms than try and copy other bands that are more technical/inspired than you are).
They comprise in their sound the low-fidelity Black Metal guitars and the typical vocals, the rest will be a total surprise for the listeners, various sick piano melodies, some clean guitar, lots of pervert samples, (the most pervert/Satanic being the one when a child says a prayer, probably "Our Father" and in the same time you can hear sex moans, well that is sicker that raping dead babies, hehe). I say that they are into postmodernism because they decompose music, and reassembling it in a new form that has similarities with genre from which it has rooted but in the same time surpasses it and brings something new, not new as content but new as a form of expression.
The surprise of this CD is the decomposition of Barry Manilow's song "Old Songs" from 1981, (originally "The Old Songs") which has a sick twist in the vision of this Sweden psychos, not a cover version of that number one/evergreen but a total decomposition of it, making any fan of Barry Manilow to creep under the blanket and a Black Metalist to wonder why is this song here, this in the case if he knows who Barry Manilow is, hehe, and the question would be if he knows who he is, why would he listen to Black Metal?
A cacophony to some, but for me this band explores territories that not many dared to explore, and they are not making fun of themselves! Even tough this is far from perfect when it comes to sound, is brilliant as composition, not by virtuosity, but for innovation. A pity that I don't have a translation of the lyrics, they seem quite long and I bet they are not boring or standard.

I will end this review with a quote from their guestbook:
Vlad: "Worst band ever. Feeble pussies and nerds who wants revenge for all the asskicking in school, this is your new favourite band! Hits for kids, by kids. Now fuck off."