Review by Ves on May 8, 2023.

Think back to 2014 and try remembering all the good things that happened that year. Having a hard time? Yeah, that's understandable. After all, it's been almost 10 years. Just as a brief reminder, 15th of April 2014 marks the day Sacred White Noise, the debut album by Canadian band Thantifaxath and also one of my all-time favourite pieces of music, was released. Does that mean everything beyond this point is going to be very biased? Yes but hear me out anyway.

Let's begin with a brief refresher, in case Sacred White Noise hasn't been in your rotation as much as it has in mine over the past 9 years. Thantifaxath's debut album is a perfect mix between progressive rock oddities and the raw emotion of black metal. From the disorienting changes in tempo and time signature, riff variety, discomfort-inducing dissonance in guitar leads, to the pummeling blast beats, nasty guitar and bass tones, and bestial vocal performances, the album keeps you on your toes from start to finish. Sprinkle in eerie transitions in the form of violins or choir, and you have yourself a masterpiece. I am as high on this album today as I was when I first heard it in 2015. After a slightly underwhelming EP released in 2017 (underwhelming only by the standards set by the band's debut, mind you), before us is their sophomore album - Hive Mind Narcosis.

From the first chord and melody the sound is unmistakable. The gritty tone, the uneasiness-inducing note choice, and the chilling harsh vocals suck you in as 'Solar Witch's atmosphere starts building around you. With multiple tempo changes, stop-and-go patterns, and more interesting melodies down the line, the opener leads nicely into 'Surgical Utopian Love', almost 11 minutes in length. The rhythmic complexity disorients you, the melodies make the hairs on your arms stand, and the vocals rip your heart out. I cannot praise this song enough, as it hits all the spots for me musically and emotionally. A sinister mid section leads into a 7/8 riff which the band explores to its limits but not a moment more than necessary, closing the song with a synth melody growing in intensity until it perishes in a wave of noise. On 'The Lost Wisdom Of Wolves', the band starts of with a minute of straightforward black metal riffage and blasts, before the song starts unravelling into beautifully crafted layers of melodies, stripping down one by one before nothing is left but a howling wind. The fourth track, 'Burning Kingdom Of Now', is yet another grand piece which builds layers upon layers of sound and melody patiently before turning to chaos. The track is in 9/8, which may sound superfluous but it does not feel overwritten. On the contrary, all the riffs flow very naturally from each other throughout the cut. 'Hungry Ghosts' emerges from the ruins of the previous track as a simple drum pattern playing over a reverb-soaked melody. The rest of the band comes in promptly with a multitracked vocal narration, which has a suitably uncanny valley feel. This is taken further when the track heats up, with the drumming having the same effect on me as the London underground during a signalling fault - you're never sure whether you've reached your destination or just standing in the middle of a tunnel, being jerk about by the breaks and acceleration. I've had this album on repeat for the past few days, and whenever 'Hungry Ghosts' comes up, I immediately drop what I'm doing so I can focus on the song. This is no background listening material, and I love it all the more for this. The penultimate track, 'Blissful Self Disassembly', is a noisy atmospheric piece for the most part, exactly of the kind one might expect based on the debut album - the otherworldly voice towards the end of the track give me chills just thinking of them. The track dissolves into a dissonant tremolo guitar riff which quickly turns into the closer, 'Mind Of The Sun'. The song is marked by my favourite vocal performance on the album and a guitar arrangement which I can only describe as dizzying. The stereo guitar tracks sound out of phase just enough to make you think something's wrong. Naturally, the faster sections of the song are absolutely crushing, with the whole band coming together behind the blast beats to deliver exactly what you thought was brewing behind the layers of dissonance. And, just when you thought we have reached the apex, the album ends without warning, care or excuse. All that's left behind are silence and a feeling of incomplete release. As if you are forced to accept something you'd strongly opposed forever.

The cold atmosphere and surgically precise performances are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what makes this album a perfect one for me. The production gives enough space to every instrument to shine individually, while tying them all together in a cohesive wall of sound. The manic time signature and tempo changes which, upon my description, might put off listeners used to the unnecessary overuse of similar concepts in music in modern metal make this album the cold spiral into the void that I was hoping it would be. Each melody takes you a step further towards oblivion, each drum hit erases the path behind you. The only moments of respite, ironically, are the blast beat sections which you keep clinging onto as a leitmotif, while trying to make sense of the rest of this masterpiece. If you like your metal nihilistic, crushing, disorienting, and leaving you reaching for the replay button over and over again, do not miss Hive Mind Narcosis.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Alex Grindor on May 25, 2021.

Soul Grinder, a death metal band from Germany, are set to release their latest EP next month. Is it worth it? Yes it is!

What Soul Grinder delivers is pure, unadulterated death metal with plenty of atmosphere and in the vein of old school works. With tight and precise musicianship, and excellent vocalists backing them, it is all a delightful experience to listen to. The EP wastes no second in introduction, beginning immediately with the frantic delivery of all instruments before having an abrupt change in tempo, becoming even faster and introducing the vocals. From here on, the Lifeless Obsession has many twists and turns in its speed, but the band's playing is perfectly executed. Drums and bass are pummeling and precise, guitars are heavy as fuck and slash with great riffs and some acoustic passages. The vocals roll out with great low growls and piercing screams which are shared by guitar and bass players and their delivery is outstanding. Production wise there is not much I can complain about, everything is perfectly audible and in its proper place.

With great atmospherics thrown here and there, varied delivery in the music and featuring a guest appearance from Nachtgarm (of fellow band Negator), this is a well executed mini-record that I recommend entirely. It may not be innovative in any particular way, but it doesn't have to be.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by JD on September 5, 2012.

Finnish rockers The Purifiction came to me for review, with little in the way of any fanfare. Holding a varied shadings of influences from the quirkiness of Rob Zombie to the more simplified crunching of Disturbed with added bizarre sort of Grunge-ish metal underlaying playing with Motorhead/Judas Priest melodies at times. Needless to say, this certainly made me intrigued as all fuck.

There is little info on the band for me to use for background, other than the Facebook© page and the sadly ignored MySpace page - and that was basically shit. I used just what this band sounds like to do this review - and found myself listening to it rather intensly to catch every nuance that I could glean out of them. What I dug up was a mixed bag of things both musically and even lyrically that were dead.

While some of the songs have smatterings of interesting moments through out the disk, the horrible one dimensional vocals come across as bad metal karioke from a singer with very limited range and even less talent. I am impressed with the bassist at times with his playing, but even this member of the band seems to dip into the pool of crap and comes out smelling even worse - as the bass turns into mush.

The overall feel of the album is wrapped in this constant state of confusion, and never really gets going because of it. Most of you out there could not ever notice that the music sounds as if it had been thrown together with no direction to what the songs were. Couple that with some lackluster musicianship and the feel that the band needed something to get them motivated in the right direction... you get The Purifiction. My hope is that the bands rights itself and begins to make more of an effort to go forwards.

Bypass this album... you will be glad you did.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 5
Atmosphere: 2
Production: 2
Originality: 2
Overall: 2.5

Rating: 2.7 out of 10