Review by Felix on October 9, 2023.

The world hasn’t seen a new Svartsyn long-player since 2020. Okay, let’s administrate this deficit and have a look at an older work of Mr. Ornias. “Destruction of Man” celebrates its 20th anniversary since its release this year. I cannot say that I listened to it again and again since then, because I needed all my capacities to follow all the interesting new releases from all over the world. (And of course, I also did not want to forget to listen to some old, real classics as well from time to… “Fight till Death”, “Countess Bathory”, “Necromantical Screams” and so on.)

However, let’s get back to “Destruction of Man”. I don’t think that Ornias won a lot of new fans with it. Not because it is bad, but it marks a very typical Svartsyn album. This means we get a pretty undifferentiated production where the drum has to struggle in order to be heard. Ornias’ voice is demonic as always and the guitar sound prevails. Its a thick and sick noise that the guitars create. Their melodies, and here we have the next typical detail, are somehow embraced by an opaque fog. It needs therefore time to decode their more or less enigmatic force. Okay, not all of them add value to the album. The overly hectic beginning of “Enemies from Beyond” does not convince me, but as the song progresses, it gets better and reaches a solid level. Finally, the album holds a third feature which is characteristic for Svartsyn’s art in general. The songs generate an infernal atmosphere. Welcome to a world where foul “values” like humanity or empathy do not play a role at all. Or to say it with Ornias: “civilization is earth’s cancer”. Good to know, one never stops learning.

The table that lists the similar artists does not lie. “Destruction of Man” sounds very well comparable with the early works of Arckanum. Only the shamanic components are missing. That's what happens when a few brainwaves don't go crazy in time. Anyway, the aforementioned similarity is the reason why that the full-length sounds very homogeneous. Just like Shamaatae, Ornias has put the focus on a constantly swirling sea of dark tones. As a consequence, he presents almost 42 minutes of uninterrupted rumbling, restless, menacing and intense black metal without significant ups and downs in terms of quality and, of course, without identifiable differences concerning the general appearance of the single tracks. Maybe some of them have a better flow than the rest. I guess that’s the reason why the centre of the album marks my favourite part. Despite their raw and unleashed appearance, “Demons Walking on Earth”, “Towards Chaos” (highlight!) and “Devil’s Image” boast with nearly smooth structures. But to avoid misunderstanding, there are more good songs to find here. “Children of Plague”, for instance, also delivers a wild ride through the abysses of the artist’s soul.

In its best moments, for example in some segments of “Towards Chaos”, the material generates a remarkable degree of depth. Ornias seems to love weird harmonies, but they reveal their might more and more with every new listening session. Therefore every fan of pure and nasty black metal can lend an ear here, but beware! If you do so, it will probably whet your appetite for a new Svartsyn release, but there is nothing to find in the “upcoming albums” section. Hopefully our creative friend Ornias knows what he has to do pretty soon.

Rating: 7.8 out of 10

Review by Carl on January 9, 2024.

You've got to hand it to this dapper young gentleman called Brendan Dean, he chose a moniker for his one man project that is as fitting as it is awesome. Pukewraith, the mental images it conjures alone, it leaves me shuddering just to think of it.

Brendan, AKA Pukewraith, operates in the field of dank and mouldy death metal, located in that aural swamp where Autopsy, Impetigo, Necrophagia and Repulsion once used to roam. At it's fastest, Pukewraith unleashes it's wrath in the form of bludgeoning riffing that brings to mind Repulsion and the more uptempo parts of Autopsy, while being underpinned by uptempo percussive savagery, keeping proceedings straigth forward and blunt in execution. These primitive battering sections are interspersed with slowly crawling, heavy parts, like a bloated early Black Sabbath lurching forth. Some of the denser parts have these twisted guitar almost-melodies played over them, adding a haunting edge to the heavy death metal on offer. The addition of stomping midtempo heaviness allows for an extra dose of variety to creep in, and as a final stab to the abdomen, there are the excellent guitar leads, that at times even remind me of the kamikaze leads of Rick Rozz from Massacre, as well as what the Hoffman brothers used to do when they still were in Deicide. As a combining factor we have the gruff and growling deep vocals, establishing that dirty early underground vibe immediately, neatly combining all the elements present into a slimy and grimy package of old school death metal delight, heavy on stomp and sonic assault.

The soundmix fits this chunk of bloodsoaked gristle like a surgical glove. It's loud and heavy, but it's also balanced out more than adequate. Okay, perhaps that the vocals could've been fitted into the mix a bit more subtle, but the way the razor sharp guitars and clearly discernable bass have gotten their place in here more than make up for that. Even the programmed drums aren't all too shabby, in all honesty. Especially the way they plow their way through the double kick driven parts of tracks like 'Mire Stench' and 'Mucklord', that gets my blood pumping, alright. Pumping hard enough to make me forget that they do sound a tad lifeless, at least. All in all, this is the perfect production for a grimy old school death metal album like this Banquet Of Scum.

These days, we have more than enough bands that are playing this style of old school death metal, that's just a sober fact, but Pukewraith does it a little better as most of them do. This alone makes this full length more than worth the effort, and together with like-minded units such as Cryptivore, Torture Rack, Caustic Wound and Galvanizer, Pukewraith surely belongs to the vanguard of the new old school in my opinion.

Rating: 8 out of 10