Promethean Reign - Aftó Eínai Pólemos

Living in the backwoods of rural Oxfordshire, it’s always pleasing when an extreme metal band raises its gnarled head from the murky waters of the River Windrush and proceeds to spray you with distortion, bile and phlegm. Blackened death metal crew Promethean Reign are the latest band to spawn from the darkest recesses of Witney, releasing only a few pieces of demo material up until this, their debut EP release entitled ‘Aftó Eínai Pólemos’ (translating roughly to an approximation of ‘This Is War’ in English).

Opening with a foreboding Emperor-styled synth piece, ‘By the Ashen Light of Dawn’ demonstrates directly what the band are about, by segueing into a feast of slow burning tremolo picked harmonised guitar and double bass drum work. The harshly spat vocals are well enunciated, punctuated with moments of clearly announced oratory pieces, adding to the dark feeling of revenge and hatred the lyrics convey. ‘The Great Deceiver’ features more of the demonic harmonised tremolo picking that At the Gates utilized to great effect in their very earliest of works, before smashing into the ground running with inexorable down-tuned carnage, squealing guitars and barely contained chaotic drum work, leveling landscapes to smouldering remains as they go.

‘Dead Gods and Excrement’ shows no sign of letting up either, whipping up a maelstrom of furious guitars and crashing percussion over embittered vocals, grabbing you by the throat and choking you out for the entire 3 minutes of its run time. ‘Titanomachy’ begins with its foot off the gas, creeping slowly into your psyche with Mayhem-styled shimmering cold guitars, which shape shift into writhing, serpentine riffage. By the time the chorus arrives, it has a rather eastern flavour, which when coupled with bellows of “We Will Rise!”, gives off a strongly triumphant vibe to the proceedings. The EP finishes up on a high with ‘Burn’, a rapturous Morbid Angel-esque stomper which is swathed in dark mysticism, and features some of the best solos and riff work on the EP. Overall, Promethean Reign remind me of a looser, freer flowing Behemoth at times. Perhaps not quite as blasting or immaculately arranged as their Polish brethren, but with a billowing organic fustiness to them that brings to mind many great bands from the Greek extreme metal scene (the fact the EP was recorded live, rather than clinically pieced together on Pro Tools likely helps this). This is the physical release on digipak, limited to 100 hand numbered copies – so if you’re a physical music lover like myself, best to act quickly. 

This is certainly a promising start for the band, who I’m sure will continue to improve and hone their creative vision to an even sharper point than shown here – good stuff.

Prophecy of Doom - Matrix

The 2nd album from Prophecy of Doom released by Metalcore Records in 1992. Featuring reliably authentic old school sound, with a fierce guitar tone and growled vocals - whilst it won't blow you away with originality, it makes up it in enthusiasm and power. Good shit!

Perisynti - Hiilenmusta Lammas

Finnish black metal here from Perisynti, shown here in it's hand numbered original digipak version, limited to 100 copies. Furiously lo-fi, piercingly howling and frosty, it hits all the right notes, with spite-filled tremolo picked riffage that leaves you figuratively having your flesh removed from bones a la Sarah Connor's dream in Terminator 2. I love discovering bands like this, even though these guys seem to have been pretty short lived. Northern Silence release.

Parusie - ...In Silence

Another Raw Skull Recordz release here, but this time a re-issue of a release which was originally self released by the band to a super mean limitation of 300 copies. Parusie hail from Switzerland and this was their only full length album (so far, they reformed recently). Great old school European styled death metal here, which is boosted by a careful Ted Tringo (Dark Symphonies/The Crypt) remastering which breathes new life into this once dead corpse. The layout has been kept almost identical to the original as well, adding to the old school feel - which is great because I hate it when a label re-issues with shitty new layouts and/or completely new artwork. This re-issue is limited to 500 copies, so it won't be around for long.

Pallbearer - Sorrow & Extinction / Foundations of Burden / Heartless

The three full length album releases to date from US purveyors of doom and gloom, Pallbearer. 'Heartless', having recently been released really caught my attention and had my revisiting their earlier material once more - so much great doom here. Although 'Heartless' has a somewhat cleaner sound, it still taps straight into your pshyche and tugs hard on the heart strings - emotionally draining, but absolutely top notch doom throughout these guys' careers.

Paradise Lost - The Singles Collection (Box Set)

A nice little set of releases here, covering the bands early to mid-period of their careers to date. This was released in 1997, and combines the singles 'As I Die', 'Seals the Sense', 'The Last Time', 'Forever Failure' and 'Say Just Words' into one outer card slip case. I added in another pic of 'Seals the Sense' which I have that has been autographed by the whole band just for shits and giggles. A nice cross section of the bands early days - well worth picking up for completists and fans alike.

Peste Noire - Les Démos (Box Set)

A highly sought after set here, featuring two individual digipaks of Peste Noire's pre-album demo material, a sticker, a patch, and separate booklet all housed in a hard card shell box. As with most of Peste Noire's stuff, I picked it up directly from the band's website - otherwise you'll pay through the nose to scalpers. Pretty much zero marketing or fanfare upon release (again, standard for the band) this was limited to 1,000 copies. A good insight to the embryonic ages of one of the most refreshing and controversial bands of the modern era of black metal.

Phantasm - The Abominable / Lycanthropy

A dose of old school death metal from Wisconsin's own Phantasm. Both CDs are compilations of their early demo material, never actually releasing an official full length album - but the quality was enough for them to get quite a name for themselves back in the day.

Patriarch - Prophecy

The debut album from Belgian power/thrash group Patriarch here, released on Shark Records. This was released to little or no fanfare back in 1990, but to be fair it packs in some decent quality riffage into its just over 40 minute run time. Worth a look.

Pungent Stench - Dirty Rhymes and Psychotronic Beats

Finally managed to find this for a low price (hence why it was missing from my 400th post all those months/years ago - the search had been ongoing and extensive!). A nice cover, no? Anyway, you know Pungent Stench don't you? So you know what to expect on this sought after EP. More of the same gastric juice gargling vocals and shit lapping riffs! Another old school Nuclear Blast throwback...

Powermad - Absolute Power

Powermad were great back in the day, and it was a shame that they only managed to release one full length in their original stint (they reformed, so album number 2 could arrive one day!). Great thrash mixed with some touches of power metal that would sit as comfortably with fans of Megadeth as it would Queensryche. An original pressing on Warner/Reprise. It's scans like this one which really shows me how dusty the unreachable underside of my scanning platen has gotten over the years!

Psychopath - Making the Transition

The debut (and only) album from US progressive death/thrash metallers Psychopath. Released on the long defunct C&C/Major Records, this was a tasty snap of proggy (but not always tight or technical) death metal with thrashy overtones, delivering a good blast into the ballbags. It doesn't matter that it's not polished or that the production isn't the greatest, it has a nice old school vibe with genuine riffage and that's good enough for me. Out of print, but not that hard to find for a decent price if you're patient. *Note* - The disc looks pink in the pic, whereas in reality it's a deep red - my scanner must've been having an off day!

Possessed - Seven Churches

Arguably the birth of death metal right here, the debut album of Possessed still stands up to this day. No further description necessary, but if you call yourself a death metal head and don't know this album, bow your head in shame. This is the Roadracer 'Price Killers' pressing.

Profanatica / Masacre - Tormenting Holy Flesh / Ola de Violencia

Only the 5th release on long running French label Osmose, this 1992 release was a meeting of two sick minds on a split album which likely causes great illness if listened to for extended periods of time. On one hand we have Profanatica from the USA, Paul Ledney's black metal sicko crew, and on the other we have Deathly Columbians Masacre, who bring the violence in their own inimitable way. A great release which has it's place in extreme metal history for many great reasons.

Pan Thy Monium - Dream II / Dawn of Dreams / Khaooohs

Now, I may just be going a bit senile here, but I'm CERTAIN I posted these up previously. I even remember scanning them before, but somehow - nope they're not on my blog. Anyhow, Gremlins notwithstanding, here they are again in all their glory - the early EP and first two albums from Dan Swano's Pan.Thy.Monium. Just look at all those genres listed below... haha - it's death metal Jim, but not as you know it. Winding, experimental, progressive and doomy - this project covered all bases and pleased most. At first the sound was alien to me, but upon multiple re-visits each of their releases just opened up into a vast mindfuck of listenability. All are original pressings on Avantgarde Music, Osmose & Osmose respectively.

Phlebotomized - Preach Eternal Gospels EP / Immense, Intense, Suspense / Skycontact

Phlebotomized are one of those bands who were barely known by most folk until the age of the intarweb helping to beam quality metal into all our homes. Their music started out pretty much standard doom and gloom death metal in their early days, but in their album period there were many more peeks of weird experimentation and oddness (particularly on 'Skycontact' which is a strange beast - they even made their logo more 'readable' - usually a sign of a band selling out, but not in this case). But, when you have an album with a track called "I Lost My Cookies in the Disco" (which I'm pretty certain originated from Sesame Street), you know something has gone seriously wrong in the brain department. All original early pressings, with the 'Preach Eternal Gospels' EP on the wonderfully named Malodorous Mangled Innards Records label, and the two full length albums on Dutch label Cyber Music.

Paralysis - Patrons of the Dark

Another long lost US death metal band from the early 90s here, and what do you know, they released this one album before disappearing into obscurity. This is nice basic death metal, nothing flashy, no flourishes, just grimy death served up on a steaming platter of charred remains. An original pressing on Grindcore Records.

Pyogenesis - Waves of Erotasia E.P

Pyogenesis again, with the 1994 EP release which they put out just before their debut album. Not quite so doomy and deathly as their 1992 Ignis Creatio EP, this showed more of their gothy side, before they turned into complete horse shit with their later material. An original CD pressing on Nuclear Blast.

Panic - Epidemic

Thrash metal here on Panic's debut album, Epidemic. This came out in 1991, when people started to care less about thrash, To be fair, the quality of the sub genre started to wane and water down to such an extent that less and less people were paying attention, with death metal being the new extreme. This is a great album though - it has a real Exodus-y vibe about it (not surprising that Gary Holt & Rick Hunolt produced the album, and even provide guest solo work). An original pressing on Metal Blade. Not particularly expensive to find if you're patient enough, but out of print none-the-less.

Poltergeist - Nothing Lasts Forever

Switzerland's Poltergeist are known by most for having their vocalist take the mic stand on Destruction's first 'Schmier-less' album, 'Cracked Brain'. Poltergeist were pretty good in their own right to be fair, with this being their 3rd and final album. Not bad for a 1993 thrash album, all in all. An original pressing on Haunted House records.