Review by Felix on February 5, 2020.

It seems to be a widespread opinion among the protagonists of extreme metal that the level of musical harshness simultaneously defines the degree of diabolic bestiality. I beg to differ. Bands like the gigantic Necrophobic have proven evidence that it is possible to create pure devilish sounds without playing the insane music-violator who performs songs with totally vulgar titles. Especially a great number of "war black metal" hordes will probably never understand that rabid chaos and misshapen noise are no signs of Satan, but of their half-baked musical skills. Nevertheless, it is not easy to give the audience the feeling of being confronted with the unadulterated bestial core of extreme metal. "Cursed To The Pyre" belongs to the few outputs that allow us an insight into the pitch-black soul of our music. 2020 starts amazingly (and Necrophobic have also announced a new album…).

Of course, the prototypical promo sheet babbles about a more mature style, a big step forward and yada, yada, yada but what can be taken seriously? Indeed, the tracks impress with mature and excellent structures. On the one hand, they celebrate sinister catchiness. Already the opener 'From The Tomb Into The Void' scores with a very memorable chorus. On the other hand, the song patterns avoid the traditional conventions successfully. This homogeneous album does not lack variety, even though the creative wiggle-room of this archaic form of metal is pretty limited. But I see definitely no evolution – and I am absolutely happy about this fact. My simple thought is: why change the best? Already the last two EPs mirrored the outstanding (and ripe) song-writing competence of these harbingers of the Apocalypse. I love to experience this kind of stagnation. Is there anything better than ingenious musicians confirming their abilities, their mentality and their status? Okay, maybe sex with Debbie Harry when she was 35 years old, but I fear no one of us has this opportunity to compare.

The eight songs exceed the 42 minutes mark, but don't worry. They don't lack compactness and come to the point in a matter of seconds. This goes for straight torpedoes like 'The Hammer of Ghouls' as well as for multi-layered pieces such as 'Hideous Affliction'. Slaughter Messiah can be compared with the aforementioned Necrophobic, but they do not just combine black and death metal. A thrashing element haunts through their music as well and regardless of the exact stylistic mix, they unleash five percent more fury than the Swedish role models. Perhaps one can say that Slaughter Messiah connect the black aesthetics of Ketzer's "Satan's Boundaries Unchained" with the monstrous vehemence of Desaster's "Angelwhore". Needless to say, that their sound also reminds me very pleasantly of the brilliant Enthroned debut. Anyway, let's stop the namedropping, because the king of venomous nagging (Lord Sabathan, who else?) and his henchmen stand on their own feet. They do not use blast beats (if we neglect some extremely fast parts in 'Pouring Chaos'), but more or less every other tried and tested ingredient of blackened, thrashing death metal. Profound, effective riffs meet murderously howling solo guitars, well embedded high-pitched screams express pain and (a surprisingly big number of) melodies that Satan himself could not have done better are accompanied by precise drumming and supported by a few atmospheric, almost spiritual sounds every now and then. By the way, all these building blocks benefit from a mighty and infernal production. This pretty transparent yet homicidal mix is simply perfect for this kind of music.

Minor misdemeanours? Well, the first tones of the album, which starts without any superfluous intro, lie in close proximity to the beginning of "Swamp of Torment", but this just increases the brand recognition. Secondly, any form of innovation does not show up, but who gives a f**k about innovation? Thirdly, if we want to be picky, we can mention the exchangeable artwork. Further flaws? None. Instead, the band ploughs violently through the encrusted ground of misanthropic metal with fierce resolution. Slaughter Messiah present their ironclad full-length with utter grimness, bitter contempt and musical excellence. My only serious criticism is that it took four very long years until this feast of authentic hatred was finished. But the devastating result speaks for itself: the material reaches the ultimate level of diabolic bestiality and almost musical perfection. I am really surprised, because my expectations were very high after gems like 'Crypts of the Undead' – and so I feared that they would have no chance to satisfy my hopes. But Lord Sabathan, Lucifer or whoever managed it cleverly: this album does not disappoint me in any way. Quite the opposite. And now excuse me. I have to make sure that I am not too late for a copy of the gold vinyl of "Cursed To The Pyre". I have to meet the diabolic core of reckless metal again and again.

Rating: 9.8 out of 10

Review by Jerome on December 12, 2022.

Stormruler is a melodic black metal band playing music very reminiscent of Dissection, Naglfar and Dawn. Some may even compare and confuse Stormruler with Stormkeep. This American band has gained popularity, not only because of their beautiful and eye-catching cover art, but also because of their recent inclusion on Napalm Records. Their latest release, Sacred Rites & Black Magick, released on October 14th, is a colossal album with a total length of 1h15. It goes without saying that in a world where the typical album is 45 minutes long, it can be a big challenge to compose an album of double the length. Indeed, artists must find a balance between having a coherent album and avoiding repetition and monotony. Thus, the question arises; did Stormruler manage to find this balance on their album Sacred Rites & Black Magick? The answer, which will be explained below, is unfortunately no.

Sacred Rites & Black Magick happens to use two main styles of music on this album. Indeed, although Stormruler is often compared to other Swedish melodic black metal bands, it turns out that a significant part of their compositions are more in the Dungeon Synth style. For those who are new to this kind of ambient music, Dungeon Synth can be described (roughly) as electronic music from video games the likes of Castlevania. The synthesizer is the predominant instrument of this style of music and so dungeon synth is a mix between the atmosphere of black metal and the minimalism of dark ambient. Stormruler dedicates half of the compositions of their album to this style of music, deciding that the odd numbered compositions are interludes of some kind. While this is not a problem in itself, it turns out that these interludes are too short to be memorable and not at all connected with the following pieces. Thus, Stormruler finds itself having composed a total of 8:41 divided into segments of less than 90 seconds that have no musical connection to the pieces that follow his interludes. It is clear that the duo of Jesse and Jason have the ability to produce a quality dungeon synth album, but for this album, it is a misused 8:41.

As for the remaining 1:05:33, that is to say the rather black metal compositions, it is also a disappointment in this respect. Although some of the individual compositions show innovation by mixing acoustic guitar chords in the middle of a relentless black metal, there is still a lot of repetition in these 10 compositions. Indeed, it would have been possible to produce an album using only the compositions that use this acoustic/electric guitar mixing and about fifteen minutes dedicated to a dungeon synth style interlude that acts as a transition from one piece to another.

It's disappointing to see a concept, which at first seemed promising, end up being so disjointed. Still, I believe that Stormruler has an interesting style of melodic black metal that uses acoustic passages not as interludes but rather as the predominant instrument during aggressive passages. I am also convinced that Stormruler has all the talent to compose a very good dungeon synth album, it just turns out that mixing the two styles in this way does not give the conceivable result. I only recommend it to the biggest fans of Dissection and Naglfar.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Originally written in french for www.metalalliance.ch

Review by Carl on September 2, 2020.

I remember the hype surrounding this album before it was released, it was touted as being the release that would usher in the renaissance of thrash metal. It was going to be the album that was going to go up there with the likes of "Reign in Blood", "Darkness Descends" (hence the title probably) and "Ride the Lightning". When it was released and I finally got to hear it, I wasn't thinking of any of those classics, no, all that this brought to my mind was the old Public Enemy classic "Don't Believe the Hype", and I'm not talking music here.

To be fair to them, the second track 'Don't Need a Reason to Hate' is a decent thrash metal banger with some pretty raucous riffing and neat percussive work, but after this one the party's mostly over. As the band switches over to their style of metalcore with groove metal influences the tempo takes a nose dive too, with the band working through a set of coma-inducing almost-songs that do nothing but go from mid-tempo yawn fests to breakdown and back again. Perhaps that this would have done way better in the period of 96 - 99 but then again, bands like Pissing Razors, Torque and Hostility have done this way more convincing. In 'Bear the Scars' the band pick up the pace again but even then the song peters out into another mid tempo dirge. Throughout I hear NYHC influences popping up in the music and the vocals, bringing to mind bands like Madball or 25 ta Life, except they do it better than Stampin' Ground. And speaking of the vocals: they are nothing out of the ordinary either, just your generic metalcore bark that recalls vocalists in the line of Karl from Earth Crisis with some hints of Agnostic Front's Roger Miret in execution. There are some occasional faster parts and thrash riffs here and there but they don't change the fact that this album is a pretty generic and boring metalcore record. This fact is not helped either by the squeaky clean, sterile production job.

It was probably very unfortunate for the band that in the previous years we had thrash bands that had their shit together way better than Stampin' Ground, just think of stuff like Darkane's "Rusted Angel", Hypnosia's "Extreme Hatred" or Dead Head's "Kill Division". Even oldies like Sodom and Agent Steel dropped way more memorable stuff than this in the form of "Code Red" and "Omega Conspiracy". Compared to the releases mentioned, A New Darkness upon Us is just bland and boring and utterly forgettable at that. Even if you look at it as a strict metalcore release this still sucks big fat donkey balls. Bands like Belgium's Liar, Congress and Regression did this waaaay better.

Just leave this for what it is and better check out Stampin' Ground's An Expression of Repressed Violence, where they offer up ballsy metalcore but without the pretension of being a thrash metal band. Suits them a lot better.

Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Review by Carl on September 2, 2020.

I remember the hype surrounding this album before it was released, it was touted as being the release that would usher in the renaissance of thrash metal. It was going to be the album that was going to go up there with the likes of "Reign in Blood", "Darkness Descends" (hence the title probably) and "Ride the Lightning". When it was released and I finally got to hear it, I wasn't thinking of any of those classics, no, all that this brought to my mind was the old Public Enemy classic "Don't Believe the Hype", and I'm not talking music here.

To be fair to them, the second track 'Don't Need a Reason to Hate' is a decent thrash metal banger with some pretty raucous riffing and neat percussive work, but after this one the party's mostly over. As the band switches over to their style of metalcore with groove metal influences the tempo takes a nose dive too, with the band working through a set of coma-inducing almost-songs that do nothing but go from mid-tempo yawn fests to breakdown and back again. Perhaps that this would have done way better in the period of 96 - 99 but then again, bands like Pissing Razors, Torque and Hostility have done this way more convincing. In 'Bear the Scars' the band pick up the pace again but even then the song peters out into another mid tempo dirge. Throughout I hear NYHC influences popping up in the music and the vocals, bringing to mind bands like Madball or 25 ta Life, except they do it better than Stampin' Ground. And speaking of the vocals: they are nothing out of the ordinary either, just your generic metalcore bark that recalls vocalists in the line of Karl from Earth Crisis with some hints of Agnostic Front's Roger Miret in execution. There are some occasional faster parts and thrash riffs here and there but they don't change the fact that this album is a pretty generic and boring metalcore record. This fact is not helped either by the squeaky clean, sterile production job.

It was probably very unfortunate for the band that in the previous years we had thrash bands that had their shit together way better than Stampin' Ground, just think of stuff like Darkane's "Rusted Angel", Hypnosia's "Extreme Hatred" or Dead Head's "Kill Division". Even oldies like Sodom and Agent Steel dropped way more memorable stuff than this in the form of "Code Red" and "Omega Conspiracy". Compared to the releases mentioned, A New Darkness upon Us is just bland and boring and utterly forgettable at that. Even if you look at it as a strict metalcore release this still sucks big fat donkey balls. Bands like Belgium's Liar, Congress and Regression did this waaaay better.

Just leave this for what it is and better check out Stampin' Ground's An Expression of Repressed Violence, where they offer up ballsy metalcore but without the pretension of being a thrash metal band. Suits them a lot better.

Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Review by Adam on March 6, 2004.

Stampin' Ground is your basic riff-based hardcore metal band and what is offered on "A New Darkness Upon Us" is nothing short of predictable and lackluster.

The vocals don't stray from the usual macho man bark and become increasingly annoying with each song. This is throw down pit music after all and the rest of the instruments follow accordingly. Andy Sneap's production is crystal clear which shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone. However, just because it sounds good does not mean that it is anything special. I am normally someone who can deal with over-saturation in metal to a certain extent, but as far as hardcore metal goes, I am slightly less tolerant.

If you are a hardcore metal fan, then I am sure you will dig "A New Darkness Upon Us." Stampin' Ground has the sound of a good live band, but on record, they fall short of any kind of glory. As it goes on, the monotony increases until it is almost unbearable. The songs themselves lack any individuality but for the genre I expected that. "A New Darkness Upon Us" may sound good but it doesn't contain anything that hasn't been done already. I'm not impressed.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 9
Originality: 2
Overall: 4

Rating: 5.6 out of 10

Review by Adam on March 6, 2004.

Stampin' Ground is your basic riff-based hardcore metal band and what is offered on "A New Darkness Upon Us" is nothing short of predictable and lackluster.

The vocals don't stray from the usual macho man bark and become increasingly annoying with each song. This is throw down pit music after all and the rest of the instruments follow accordingly. Andy Sneap's production is crystal clear which shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone. However, just because it sounds good does not mean that it is anything special. I am normally someone who can deal with over-saturation in metal to a certain extent, but as far as hardcore metal goes, I am slightly less tolerant.

If you are a hardcore metal fan, then I am sure you will dig "A New Darkness Upon Us." Stampin' Ground has the sound of a good live band, but on record, they fall short of any kind of glory. As it goes on, the monotony increases until it is almost unbearable. The songs themselves lack any individuality but for the genre I expected that. "A New Darkness Upon Us" may sound good but it doesn't contain anything that hasn't been done already. I'm not impressed.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 9
Originality: 2
Overall: 4

Rating: 5.6 out of 10

Review by Carl on September 2, 2020.

I remember the hype surrounding this album before it was released, it was touted as being the release that would usher in the renaissance of thrash metal. It was going to be the album that was going to go up there with the likes of "Reign in Blood", "Darkness Descends" (hence the title probably) and "Ride the Lightning". When it was released and I finally got to hear it, I wasn't thinking of any of those classics, no, all that this brought to my mind was the old Public Enemy classic "Don't Believe the Hype", and I'm not talking music here.

To be fair to them, the second track 'Don't Need a Reason to Hate' is a decent thrash metal banger with some pretty raucous riffing and neat percussive work, but after this one the party's mostly over. As the band switches over to their style of metalcore with groove metal influences the tempo takes a nose dive too, with the band working through a set of coma-inducing almost-songs that do nothing but go from mid-tempo yawn fests to breakdown and back again. Perhaps that this would have done way better in the period of 96 - 99 but then again, bands like Pissing Razors, Torque and Hostility have done this way more convincing. In 'Bear the Scars' the band pick up the pace again but even then the song peters out into another mid tempo dirge. Throughout I hear NYHC influences popping up in the music and the vocals, bringing to mind bands like Madball or 25 ta Life, except they do it better than Stampin' Ground. And speaking of the vocals: they are nothing out of the ordinary either, just your generic metalcore bark that recalls vocalists in the line of Karl from Earth Crisis with some hints of Agnostic Front's Roger Miret in execution. There are some occasional faster parts and thrash riffs here and there but they don't change the fact that this album is a pretty generic and boring metalcore record. This fact is not helped either by the squeaky clean, sterile production job.

It was probably very unfortunate for the band that in the previous years we had thrash bands that had their shit together way better than Stampin' Ground, just think of stuff like Darkane's "Rusted Angel", Hypnosia's "Extreme Hatred" or Dead Head's "Kill Division". Even oldies like Sodom and Agent Steel dropped way more memorable stuff than this in the form of "Code Red" and "Omega Conspiracy". Compared to the releases mentioned, A New Darkness upon Us is just bland and boring and utterly forgettable at that. Even if you look at it as a strict metalcore release this still sucks big fat donkey balls. Bands like Belgium's Liar, Congress and Regression did this waaaay better.

Just leave this for what it is and better check out Stampin' Ground's An Expression of Repressed Violence, where they offer up ballsy metalcore but without the pretension of being a thrash metal band. Suits them a lot better.

Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Review by Adam on March 6, 2004.

Stampin' Ground is your basic riff-based hardcore metal band and what is offered on "A New Darkness Upon Us" is nothing short of predictable and lackluster.

The vocals don't stray from the usual macho man bark and become increasingly annoying with each song. This is throw down pit music after all and the rest of the instruments follow accordingly. Andy Sneap's production is crystal clear which shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone. However, just because it sounds good does not mean that it is anything special. I am normally someone who can deal with over-saturation in metal to a certain extent, but as far as hardcore metal goes, I am slightly less tolerant.

If you are a hardcore metal fan, then I am sure you will dig "A New Darkness Upon Us." Stampin' Ground has the sound of a good live band, but on record, they fall short of any kind of glory. As it goes on, the monotony increases until it is almost unbearable. The songs themselves lack any individuality but for the genre I expected that. "A New Darkness Upon Us" may sound good but it doesn't contain anything that hasn't been done already. I'm not impressed.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 9
Originality: 2
Overall: 4

Rating: 5.6 out of 10