Lagrima - "Hannibal Ad Portas" (2012)

LAGRIMA "Hannibal Ad Portas"

Year: 2012

Genre: Epic Death/Black Metal

Country: Lebanon 

Track List:

1. Prelude (... To the Gods of War)
2. Serenade Upon Mount Aryx
3. Conquest of Iberia
4. Death of the Father ... Saguntum
5. Arise and Arrest the Destiny of Rome
6. Trepia Trazimian Cannie
7. Abhore the Antagonists
8. A Final Fight
9. Sealed With Poison

DOWNLOAD

One more release I received for a review not so long ago, this time from a very unexpected place: Lebanon. Yes, I know there were such great Lebanese bands as Ayat and Damaar, and I already have wrote several posts on the subject of Middle Eastern metal in general, but it's the first time I receive a message from a Lebanese band. The music turned out to be very interesting and well-produced - a kind of melodic death/black metal with epic moments (but not in the "Scandinavian" way). Of course there were some parts which I didn't like, but in general it turned out to be much better than I initially thought it to be. Definitely recommended!

facebook / reverbnation / myspace

Lamantide - s/t (2011)

LAMANTIDE "Lamantide"

Year: 2011

Genre: Blackened Crust/Hardcore

Country: Italy

Track List:

1. Invocazione
2. Adi Shakti
3. ...e i giorni una maceria
4. Esistere
5. Nihil Ergo Sum
6. Senza Calore
7. Misero, grido
8. O' Fortuna
9. Ultimo Sangue

Lamantide are a left-leaning blackened hardcore band from Cremona (Italy), formed in 2009. I think they're a very good representative of Italian blackened hardcore/crust scene, which seems to be growing fast. Unfortunately I have this album only in 128kbps bitrate, but you can get its shorter version in 320 kbps bitrate off bandcamp, if you wish. And as a final word - their cover of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" "(O Fortuna)" is great:

Kompost - demo (2012)

KOMPOST "demo"

Year: 2012

Genre: Metallic Crust/Hardcore

Country: Italy

Track List:

1. Vorrei non essere umano
2. Al patibolo
3. Psichiatria
4. Virtual death
5. Anossia
6. Fame! (Berserk cover)
7. Videocrazia

DOWNLOAD

Yet another demo from my mail, this time it is metallic hardcore/d-beat from Treviso (near Venice). On last.fm it was tagged as "grindcore" and "blackened crust"; however, I didn't hear much grindcore or BM influences there.

facebook

Outer Gods - "Mael Medusa" (2012)

OUTER GODS "Mael Medusa"

Year: 2012

Genre: Dark Ambient / Funeral Doom

Country: USA

Track List:

1. Writ en Dominae
2. Mael Medusa

bandcamp

Outer Gods are a new experimental drone/doom band from Atlanta who characterise their approach to music as "neofolk-ish / mystical". If I understood them right, they decided to send me their demo "Mael Medusa" because they wanted it to be on a blog that presents some genuinely different music. The demo consists of two long tracks stylistically ranging from dark ambient to funeral doom/drone. It also contains samples from avant-garde/classical works by Iannis Xenakis.

A Cloud Forest - "October's Overture" (2012)

A CLOUD FOREST "October's Overture"

Year: 2012

Genre: Black Metal (not quite atmospheric or depressive, though)

Country: USA

Track List:

1. Cower Into My Darkness
2. A Part of My Collapse
3. Where Shadows Dissolve

DOWNLOAD

Latest up-to-date release from Phoenix (AZ)-based anarcho-BM project of Eric (Contravene). In my opinion, it's a great EP, and the vocal work is noticiably better than on ACF's early releases. However, it isn't as "atmospheric" as I expected it to be.

Release notes:

"Limited to 100 copies on CD and packaged in a 4 panel digipak. Written and recorded from October - December 2011. 3 tracks of depressive and atmospheric black metal. Welcoming the cold, dark days of winter. Physical CD release also includes the 25 minute bonus track "the Widow Ghost". Released by Silence and Solitude Records, available NOW for $6 plus postage worldwide either direct from us by going to the music page or from the Silence and Solitude Records webshop http://silenceandsolitude.storenvy.com/"

bandcamp

Panopticon - "Social Disservices" (2011)

PANOPTICON "Social Disservices"

Year: 2011

Genre: RABM

Country: USA
Label: Flenser Records 

Track List:

1. Resident
2. Client
3. Subject
4. Patient

DOWNLOAD

Speaking of Panopticon - here's one more album which I forgot to review in time, namely "Social Disservices". Unfortunately, my health condition remains to be not very good, and i'm not in the mood for writing of detailed reviews in English (all the more so, there already is one much better than I'll ever write). I'd say, though, that I personally liked it more than "Kentucky". It's more aggressive and "crusty" than most of the recent releases by Panopticon, sounding even like early 90's industrial metal at times (track #3, for example). Don't know if Flenser Rec. are OK with free distribution of this album (they probably aren't), but Austin himself definitely is, and you easily can buy it online, if you wish.