Haxan's Halloween Mixtape III

As a tradition here on Forever Cursed, i leave you with the third Halloween Mixtape curated by Häxan. Have fun, get wasted. don't drink and drive. Me? Well, I'm about to enter a Hellraiser movie marathon. Enjoy.

Hell... oh... Win!

tracklist:

1 - Intro 

2 - Zombie Society - Nasum 

3 - Witch's Hole - Ablach 

4 - Ghouls of the Endless Night - Bastard Priest 

5 - Nightghoul Of The Graveyards - Drawn And Quartered 

6 - A Ghoul Rising From The Grave - A Transylvanian Funeral 

7 - She is Clenched in the Teeth of Zombies - The Last Surrealist 

8 - Witch-Storm - Bal-Sagoth 

9 - Werewolves On Wheels - Dishammer 

10 - A Night With No Mercy - Muert 

11 - Forest Samhain - Moon 

12 - Infernal Dance of the Wicked - Teitanblood 

13 - Night Of The Deathcult - Hooded Menace 

14 - Pakt - Detritivore 

15 - Cold - Troum 

16 - At Night - Seirom 

17 - Dance With Me - T.S.O.L. 

18 - Werewolf - The Frantics 

19 - Sleeping With The Witch - Dax Riggs 

20 - Beneath the Mask - Bell Witch

Nomadic Rituals "Holy Giants"

Nomadic Rituals are a recent doom/sludge metal band coming from Belfast, Northern Ireland. This 3-piece, bring in their luggage a fucking heavy debut album entitled "Holy Giants" and holy crap... this sounds exactly like music for giants. The tracks are heavy as fuck, proving us that once in a while there are great sludge/doom acts coming from northern Europe. Specifically from Ireland, where the scene appears to be very small when it comes to this genre. Shit... I can only think of names like the disgusting Wreck of the Hesperus, De Novissimis and another recent case, Tome. So, Nomadic Rituals, we all welcome you. Please smash our skulls with your powerful sludge/doom sledgehammer.

The production of "Holy Giants" is excellent, very professional and the sound speaks for it self. Just adjust the volume up when you play "Don't Fuck with Giants"... the ground will shake as slow and heavy riffs strike from above nailing us down to the ground. Almost as if they're being played in slow motion. As we all know, when it comes to doom/sludge, the tracks don't evolve too much, and here in "Holy Rituals" there's no exception. Everything here is about weight, as the music is played 90% of the time, very, very slow. A very great album for you to discover. Buy it, stream it, download it. Just play it loud. Recommended for fans of Zoroaster, Abest, Bädr Vogu, etc.

Don't fuck with Giants

Scroll "Scroll Demo"

Now this particular release isn't new. Some of you may already be familiar with it but for those who aren't, keep on reading. Scroll is a one man black metal band from Seattle and this is its first self-titled Demo released back in 2011. It was released as a tape with a very awesome DIY hand-made pouch. For those who grabbed it, lucky you. Scroll's Demo features 5 tracks giving us a total of 30 minutes of very well performed, very good, intense and memorable black metal music. I was really astonished by the quality of this. It's really, really good. I personally love the sound of it. It's very dense, almost as we're involved with this cold tremolo picking blanket in the middle of this grim whirlwind of blastbeats.     I guess the best way to describe Scroll's sound is that it sounds pretty much "cascadian". Very Ash borer-esque or Fell Voices-esque, if you know what i mean. Nevertheless it has a soul of it's own and it's not just another copy-cat band. The barrage of the tremolo picking notes spewing from the guitar melts perfectly with the fury of the drum, creating this thick wall of noisy and impenetrable black metal. I just hope this project hasn't died yet and the man behind it can surprise us with something new soon. You hear that Jesse??

Whispers within the forest

Nefaria "Demo II"

I bumped into this band the other day, Nefaria, a raw black metal band from Portland. Nefaria play this insane, primitive and noisy style of black metal that brings to my mind bands like Black Cilice, Invertebrate, Ostots, just so you can get the picture here. Nefaria's sound swings between the depressive and most raw side of black metal although at some points there might be some parts we can consider slightly atmospheric, slightly... As the first track "Dragged Through Dirt, Gravel, and Broken Glass" begins, the riffs are spilled on the floor as blood coming out from a fresh knife wound. But the most demented and tenebrous part arrives with the introduction of this ill keyboard. Absolutely insane. There are great riffs throughout this Demo, as heard in "As a Dying and Never Repeated Echo" and "Supreme Intellect Through Scorched Earth" for example, making this a must-have for fans of the genre. I find this Demo is really good indeed, but like i said, only real fans of the genre will give true credit to it. Support the artist, buy the tape.

As a Dying and Never Repeated Echo

THOU "Call No Man Happy Until He Is Dead"

While i dream about the next Thou album, that I'm pretty sure it will crush everything and everyone, here is something that caught me a little by surprise. Thou like you never heard before. As said on the Bandcamp site, this was recorded before Brian aka "The Jeff Walker of sludge/doom" joined forces with the band. And I'm glad he did. No offense, i just enjoy a LOT of his style of vocals and i think it suits Thou's sound just fine, giving the band an unique touch. I'm sure a lot of you out there agree with me. In the meantime enjoy these early-days tracks by Thou. Cool!

Call No Man Happy Until He Is Dead

Afterwalker "Afterwalker"

While browsing my playlist, trying to organize it and stuff, I was face to face with this very nice release from Afterwalker, the solo project of D.P.Pearce of Kigo. To be honest with you guys, I've never heard of him or Kigo. But it doesn't matter. D.P.Pearce is the whole master-mind here and he basically does everything: the guitars, bass, synth, vocals, recording and mixing. The result is quite interesting. Very mesmerizing and mysterious atmospheric black metal, so don't be scared and run off when you first hear "Callus", the first track, entirely played acoustically even featuring some piano too. My favorite tracks here are "Left to Burn" and "The Dweller", i really dig the atmosphere of these tracks. The whole balance between that evil and more melodic side of black metal on "Left to Burn" is just perfect, very Drudkh-esque but played in a more raw and harsh way. While "The Dweller", reminds me a bit of Tardigrada, that i personally love. I just think that D.P. should bet more on this type of sound and tracks. Really good stuff. The Demo is available as "name your price" on the artist Bandcamp. Worth a listen for sure.

Moongazing

Sangus Legio "Vengeful Brutality"

Hello boys and girls. Today i bring some rotten, putrid, new evil stuff. You can still see and smell the fresh blood on this one...

Sangus Legio are, as described by themselves, a misanthropic black thrash unit, coming from Providence, RI, formed by members of Paindriver, Haxen, Sin of Angels, Nachzehrer & I, Destroyer. Quoting names as Sarcofago, Impaled Nazarene, Nifelheim and Driller Killer as their main influences, is not difficult to guess what to expect here: three tracks of the most fast, vicious-as-fuck, straight-hate, killer black punk metal assault.

Man... the only thing that comes to my mind every time i hear "Vengeful Brutality" are: rivers of beer, loud motorbikes and worshiping Satan. Shit. This is really good stuff. If you get the chance, please don't miss this band live. I, personally, will be glad with a full-length soon. The Army of Lucifer is recruiting... join the Army now!

Legions of doom