Review by Alex on January 29, 2020.

If this is your first time (such as me) hearing Primeval Mass then it's safe to say it will be an enjoyable one. There's something here for the 1st wave black metal fan, the traditional heavy metal fan and a lot for the speed metal maniac. Though the project fronted by Orth has undergone changes since the 2003 demo debut, after hearing Nine Altars you'll get the feeling it was done for the better. Black metal can get boring rather quickly especially if you're listening to Darkthrone carbon-copies. But when the backbone of the genre is given alignment adjustment with the addition of speed metal and traditional heavy metal, it not only becomes exciting to the ear and fresh once again but justifies the essence of the music. Can't tell you how many times I've had to revisit the classics (Venom, Bathory etc.) as an act of therapy; but when a project such as Primeval Mass can borrow some of the elderly spells and apply them, they save me the time of having to go soul searching. For, Nine Altars the black metal factor lies within the vocals and philosophy behind the lyrics, while the speed and trad metal tackle sound; now that’s very old school/traditional.

Most songs are lightning fast and packed with great solos, Orth’s riffs are outrageously good considering the speed at which most are played; and for a 54-minute record, consider what you’ll get on Nine Altars a treat. 'Circle of Skulls' is good but compared to tracks like ‘The Irkallian Born’, ‘Night Rapture’ and the scorcher of an instrumental ‘Amidst Twin Horizons’, it just does not manage to even rise from its kneeling position. Those songs are fucking lethal riff-wise and the drumming is more than the average speed metal wallop. Ruthless fills on the toms and snare all done quick and tidy. Instrumental track ‘Amidst Twin Horizons’ sounds like a lesson conveyed with disdain for the lackluster representations of the genre. Repetition is not an issue here as you’ll rarely find the content on Nine Altars struggling to stay refreshed, again it all comes back to the guitaring, there’s always a new and more exhilarating riff to follow, thus transmitting massive levels of sonic dopamine to the listener. Having managed to open so convincingly it would prove a challenge down the order to sustain the impetus.

With ‘Amidst Twin Horizons’ being the peak of side A on the record competition among songs stiffens on the B side. ‘Burning Sorcery', ‘Orphne' and ‘Firecrowned’ go to battle with each other for the main spot on side B and eventually the complete record; pelting out fiery lacerations of licks, Orth is a real showman, same can be said about George C. that when joined as a team, construct music that embarrasses the piles of alleged ‘efforts’ by other bands. Amidst the competition without expectation the true pinnacle of the album is realized on the final track being the longest by a significant margin, ‘The Hourglass Still’. As if Bathory never went away and "Hammerheart" is the album of the year, this epic ode to black metal genius freezes the glistening era with a serenade that in contrast to the speed takes the road long, cold and slow to a knighted height. There’s no trading punches with this song, its far out the league of all other entries on Nine Altars, a heavyweight to a featherweight, gold to copper, ‘The Hourglass Still’ demolishes without being scraped a single time; thus bringing Nine Altars to the conclusion it is worthy of and giving Primeval Mass a stronger imprint within the Greek black/speed metal terrain.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by Arek on January 24, 2016.

Although this album was released back in 2014 it got caught in my sticky for death metal claws in December 2015. All that thanks to the intensified promotional activities of ViaNocturna. Despite the passing of time and due to album effects it was impossible for me to leave this position without a remark. Hexenhammer is the second full length album from the band but it is the first one recorded in a five-person lineup which consists of: Karol "North" Łapczyński - vocals, Krzysztof Kiecana - guitars, Alek Szymański - guitars, Mikolaj "Total" Kujda - drums, Mateusz "Raven" Szymanek - bass. These 10 pieces of strong, meaty death metal reeking of the devil take a little less than 41 minutes but I can guarantee to all metal maniacs that this time will not be wasted.

‘By The Devils Hand’ starts with the speech of the Lord Of Darkness, just like in a good horror film and with the sound of cemetery bells of course. It may not be particularly original, but it’s sooooo meaty. This section, those vocals, they make you want to listen. ‘Children Of Pestilence’ was vocally enhanced by Andrzej Analripper Papież (Sphere, Pyorrhoea, Revelation Of Doom), and video released for it supports the promotion of the album quite nicely. Rapid onset, release, acceleration, breakdown and then acceleration again, here comes another track from the CD, this is ‘We Were Born In The Eye Of The Storm’. Like most of the numbers on the disc, that one is mainly kept in medium tempos with a great melodic theme. ‘Masquerade In The House Of God’ was partially decorated with a movie theme and incidentally, greatly intermixes climate to a piece. It’s a perfect example of production professionalism. In ‘Baptized In Blood’ Artur "Chudy" Chudewniaks (Trauma) throat makes an ‘appearance’. It's one of the faster numbers with a great breakdown and solo in its second part of the song, and the ticking cymbals portend something disturbing. ‘Black Tongue Lithany’ begins with an interesting classical guitar prelude and for a variety; this is the most moody track on the album in which only drum work breaks its convention sometimes. ‘Bloodwritten’ is a fast, less than two-minute shot in the mouth preceded by the Wolf's Hour announcement from classic horror films. Turtle-speed beginning for the ‘Eight Winds Of Chaos’ has a recurring motif and reminds me of the work of Morbid Angel. The penultimate ‘Carnal Apostasy’ is just another injection of blood energy, which, according to a mathematical scheme, should foretell something slower. Nothing could be more wrong, Incarnal is not math, it’s five guys that grew up listening to older guys from bands like Immolation, Vital Remains, Morbid Angel, etc. Marching ‘Oath Of The Damned’ entertains our manic ears with death metal thumps.

So here goes 41 minutes of death metal a'la Incarnal. I know that many nay-sayers will raise a cry, that this album is nothing new, but I have this talk deep in the abyss of my rectum, because, although you can actually indicate a clear influence of certain bands, I know that Hexenhammer is an interesting and honest album torn from honest hearts and guts of these five Poles. I’m with those guys and I will wait patiently for another piece of meaty death metal from them.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Fernando on May 17, 2020.

Sojourner is an international epic black metal project that has recently been getting a lot of buzz on the back of their first 2 albums and their two singers, Emilio Crespo and Chloe Bray. In 2020 they return with their third LP Premonitions, released via Napalm Records.

Sojourner has been catching a lot of people's attention with their brand of atmospheric black metal with tinges of what many describe as "epic metal". Often found in subgenres like doom metal (that style in particular leans heavily on big and slow riffs), power metal and the obvious, Bathory inspired Viking metal. This mix of atmosphere and grandiosity made Sojourner known and it has served them very well, particularly in their sophomore release The Shadowed Road. Now that they're playing in the big leagues by signing to Napalm Records, for their third opus the band has decided to continue refining their style and taking full advantage of a more polished production. However, while the band continues showing off their skills in this particular style and doing a good job at being a solid entry level band into black metal, in my opinion they seemed to have succumbed to the dreaded "sophomore slump" on their third album.

The first major issue with this album is that the cleaner production and much bigger emphasis on the "epic" atmosphere, i.e. the band wanting the music to sound more operatic and grander, feels overworked and even gaudy in places. The album's opener 'The Monolith' gives some early 2000's vibes of Gothic metal akin to Nightwish, and not in a favorable way. The other problem is that, while this band became known for heavily leaning on the atmospherics, in here they seem to double down on it. I personally really enjoy long and elaborated songs, hell, black metal thrives and is characterized for being atmospheric, but in here, because of the emphasis on the atmosphere being so symphonic and orchestrated, instead of the music washing over me and lulling me into a sense of tranquility, I often found myself just watching the runtime. When there was a song with more energy and punch like 'The Apocalyptic Theater' (which is this album's best song), I felt wanting the band to do more of this than the protracted songs on the rest of the album that sound more like symphonic black metal than atmospheric black metal, as the music is too flowery and operatic - which doesn't have a place for the darkness of black metal. Using fantasy RPG's as a comparison, this band went from Dark Souls to World of Warcraft.

Finally, for a band that does classify as "epic atmospheric black metal", the music sounds very cheesy and overwrought in places. This is mostly because of the cleaner and more professional production - and I will clarify that from a technical and instrumental standpoint the band DOES shine. The performances are top notch and when they succeed in their music sounding cinematic - they soar; however, the album tends to go on these long stretches to create an atmosphere, but it ends up feeling more bloated than grand. In my opinion, this album feels like a retrogression on the band's part, in the sense that now that they have the backing of a bigger label and access to better production, they sought to give themselves a rebirth of sorts. They closed the book on their first era (their first 2 albums) and tried to have a new beginning, and while they do shine in several places, it seems that their ambitions were just too much and went overboard.

Overall, while Sojourner have still the potential and novelty to push on and make a name for themselves, this album is the band trying to prove themselves in a new field - but unfortunately going through a lot of trial and error that they didn't face when they first began. Not a bad album and certainly not without real talent and passion, but a mixed bag in my opinion. Hopefully the band will succeed in ironing out their shortcomings for their next album.

Best songs: 'The Apocalyptic Theater', 'Fatal Frame', 'The Deluge'

Rating: 5.9 out of 10

Review by Arek on January 24, 2016.

Although this album was released back in 2014 it got caught in my sticky for death metal claws in December 2015. All that thanks to the intensified promotional activities of ViaNocturna. Despite the passing of time and due to album effects it was impossible for me to leave this position without a remark. Hexenhammer is the second full length album from the band but it is the first one recorded in a five-person lineup which consists of: Karol "North" Łapczyński - vocals, Krzysztof Kiecana - guitars, Alek Szymański - guitars, Mikolaj "Total" Kujda - drums, Mateusz "Raven" Szymanek - bass. These 10 pieces of strong, meaty death metal reeking of the devil take a little less than 41 minutes but I can guarantee to all metal maniacs that this time will not be wasted.

‘By The Devils Hand’ starts with the speech of the Lord Of Darkness, just like in a good horror film and with the sound of cemetery bells of course. It may not be particularly original, but it’s sooooo meaty. This section, those vocals, they make you want to listen. ‘Children Of Pestilence’ was vocally enhanced by Andrzej Analripper Papież (Sphere, Pyorrhoea, Revelation Of Doom), and video released for it supports the promotion of the album quite nicely. Rapid onset, release, acceleration, breakdown and then acceleration again, here comes another track from the CD, this is ‘We Were Born In The Eye Of The Storm’. Like most of the numbers on the disc, that one is mainly kept in medium tempos with a great melodic theme. ‘Masquerade In The House Of God’ was partially decorated with a movie theme and incidentally, greatly intermixes climate to a piece. It’s a perfect example of production professionalism. In ‘Baptized In Blood’ Artur "Chudy" Chudewniaks (Trauma) throat makes an ‘appearance’. It's one of the faster numbers with a great breakdown and solo in its second part of the song, and the ticking cymbals portend something disturbing. ‘Black Tongue Lithany’ begins with an interesting classical guitar prelude and for a variety; this is the most moody track on the album in which only drum work breaks its convention sometimes. ‘Bloodwritten’ is a fast, less than two-minute shot in the mouth preceded by the Wolf's Hour announcement from classic horror films. Turtle-speed beginning for the ‘Eight Winds Of Chaos’ has a recurring motif and reminds me of the work of Morbid Angel. The penultimate ‘Carnal Apostasy’ is just another injection of blood energy, which, according to a mathematical scheme, should foretell something slower. Nothing could be more wrong, Incarnal is not math, it’s five guys that grew up listening to older guys from bands like Immolation, Vital Remains, Morbid Angel, etc. Marching ‘Oath Of The Damned’ entertains our manic ears with death metal thumps.

So here goes 41 minutes of death metal a'la Incarnal. I know that many nay-sayers will raise a cry, that this album is nothing new, but I have this talk deep in the abyss of my rectum, because, although you can actually indicate a clear influence of certain bands, I know that Hexenhammer is an interesting and honest album torn from honest hearts and guts of these five Poles. I’m with those guys and I will wait patiently for another piece of meaty death metal from them.

Rating: 8 out of 10