Review by Dominik on January 23, 2025.

Much like a forest troll stirring only under a blood-red moon, Darkmoon Warrior has crawled back into the spotlight with Graveyard Planet, their fifth full-length album in nearly 30 years of existence. Five years since their last sonic belch, the lazy bunch of misanthropes reminds us they still exist, which is no small feat considering their staggering release pace of one album every half-decade.

That said, there's something admirable about their consistency. Not in productivity, mind you, but from their inception, the band has adhered strictly to their trademark sound—a middle finger raised to the world in the form of black metal, spiced occasionally with black thrash elements. To no one's surprise, Graveyard Planet sticks to the Darkmoon Warrior formula like duct tape on a leaking bucket, while offering a few welcome improvements over its predecessor, which was, frankly, more rumble than roar. In fact, this album feels like a return to the sharper, more focused chaos of Nuke 'Em All, which is cause for optimism. This trajectory almost gives one hope for the next album—if we live to see it in 2029.

Lyrical "grace" (or lack thereof): Darkmoon Warrior's lyrics take an interesting turn here. While the themes remain dark and confrontational, the satanic overtures are spiked with sarcastic, social critical "considerations". Tracks like "SM 70" (a directional fragmentation antipersonnel mine) reckon with the brutal fortifications of the German-German border during the Cold War, while "Age Of Decomposition" casts the planet as a self-dug graveyard, spiraling into inevitable decay, humanity´s DIY apocalypse. It is often less about Satan and accomplices, but rather a reflection of the bands attitude towards the world. This nihilistic perspective ("we don't give a fuck" in bold, capital letters) pervades the entire record, most explicitly on tracks like "Burn Down All".

While this scathing attitude is admittedly fitting for a genre like black metal, a touch of restraint might have added more weight to their message. But then again, Darkmoon Warrior isn't here to write sociopolitical essays or win over the unconverted.

The music: a two-pronged attack. For those who like some structure to their sonic assaults, Graveyard Planet can be roughly divided into two halves. The first leans more into black thrash influences, while the second delivers a more straightforward black metal barrage.

"Thy Satarnachists" opens the album with a compelling blend of black and thrash with just enough melody to lull you into a false sense of security, setting the tone for the first half of the record. "SM 70", positioned at the thrashier end of the spectrum, sounds like an angrier version of early Sodom (if that is even possible) or the German wrecking crew Panzer Squad with its fiery riffing and venomous delivery. On the other end lies "By The Sound Of Hell", a pure black metal assault that lives up to its name and stands as the album's strongest track.

The track "Magna Matris Mortem" confuses with Latin titles but delivers blistering, German-lyric-driven black metal brutality. As always, subtlety and empathy are nowhere to be found in this aural battlefield, a fact hammered home by the closing track "Sadomajestic Hatefukk"—a two-minute tirade that is as elegant as its title suggests and as subtle as a bunch of renegade soldiers dancing on the graves of some ISIS extremists.

The performances on Graveyard Planet are solid across the board, with each member delivering exactly what is expected: raw, unrelenting ferocity with no room for surprises or unnecessary embellishments. The band's message remains clear: they don't care about anyone or anything. And why should they? If everyone just looks out for themselves, then surely all will be well… right? Everyone is being taken care of.

What is my final take? Graveyard Planet is a solid return for Darkmoon Warrior. The album isn't here to reinvent the wheel. It's here to douse it in kerosene, set it ablaze, and roll it through your backyard. It doesn't reinvent their sound, nor does it try to. But in sticking to their formula without polishing its edges, the band delivers an album that is aggressive, unapologetic, and at times even thought-provoking (at least if you're into kitchen philosophy).

Rating: 7.9 out of 10 - because anything higher might imply the band actually cares about accolades, and we can't have that, can we?

Review by Raphaël on May 16, 2022.

Venom Prison is a truly interesting band that I’ve been loosely following since 2019. If you look them up, they are generally classified as a death metal band mixed with hardcore, which fits them well but can be misleading. Normally, you see death metal and hardcore and you automatically think, ok. So basically, is it a deathcore band then? But no, it is definitely not deathcore! Their sound is much closer to straight death metal, but with a big emphasis on the politically charged lyrics and no, it isn’t grindcore either. So, Erebos is the band’s fourth album and first album on a big label, Century Media Records. For their first album in the big leagues, they greatly expanded their sound while still fitting in the death metal/hardcore box. It’s just that, now, the box is much much larger.

First of all, let’s quickly talk about the line up. It remained the same since the first release, except for newcomer Joe Bills on drums. Completing the line up is Ash Gray and Ben Thomas on guitars, Mike Jefferies on bass and the star, for me at least, Larissa Stupar providing vocals and lyrics. The vocals are the first thing you notice on this record. Larissa is one of the best modern death metal vocalists out there. Her range has definitely expanded on Erebos. She still mainly uses her traditional shouted growls which are still completely devastating and fit the lyrics so well, but sometimes she adds deeper, guttural growls, high pitched screams and even some soft, ethereal cleans. All that makes for a varied and never boring experience.

Speaking of varied and never boring, I think it’s a very apt description of the entire album, for the vocals as much as the music. You can take random bits of the album and convince anybody It’s anything, from a melodeath record, to deathcore, to techdeath or straight up old school death metal. All of that is perfectly blended and does not feel like a compilation of different styles, but a completely cohesive experience. For example, on 'Judges Of The Underworld', it starts as a straight forward death metal song with hint of hardcore, but then evolves, slowing down, incorporating quiet cleans and ending with furious breakdowns. 'Nemesis' has a truly bouncy, headbanging riff with the line: "I am the damaged one, you deserve all damage done", repeated over and over. Guaranteed to be stuck in your head! But then, the song slows down into a calm and spacey part and goes straight back into heavy territory. One of the most unique songs on the album, and all of Venom Prison’s discography to be honest, is 'Pain Of Oizys'. Starting with a moody, ambient, electronic passage completed with piano and clean vocals. It then slowly builds up with bluesy guitars and ends with a heavier sounding part. 'Comfort Of Complicity' is also very interesting. Sounding almost like At The Gates in the beginning, but with blast beats and breakdowns sprinkled tastefully here and there. Around the midway of the song, it shifts to this positive, almost upbeat melody. It’s kind of weird, but it totally works. The last song I’ll talk about is the album closer, 'Technologies Of Death'. This song showcases everything the band has to offer: headbanging riffs, traditional death metal tremolo picking, quieter, melodic and emotional riffs, blazing and technical solos, high pitched screams and heavy, low growls. Plus, it ends with melodic and epic sounding strings, closing the album perfectly.

Another essential part of this album are the lyrics. It’s a rare occurrence, in the world of death metal at least, to have the lyrical content so intertwined with the music. I mean, you could just listen to the music and still have a wonderful experience, but it would not be complete. The music makes more sense with the lyrics. I might be a bit biased because I’ve always gravitated around a militant environment, so the political and sociological themes tackled on Erebos really spoke to me. Larissa talks about big issues, such as; victim blaming: “Victimised. Oppressed. Criminalized. When society chooses to be selectively blind, Trapped in a cycle of a manic mind hypnosis, Schizophrenia. Misdiagnosis. Trapped in a cycle of a manic mind hypnosis, Who is to blame? The crimes contested”. She also describes the more general state of society: “Bear witness, To the great divide of humanity, Fuelled by illiteracy and stupidity”. Larissa truly shows what a talented artist she is.

So, to conclude, Erebos is truly an amazing experience. The band realized their full potential as songwriters and found their sound. I think I heard somewhere that Erebos is the band’s "Heartwork". It’s a great comparison and just like Carcass, I hope they continue to perfect this sound for many many years, but hopefully with less of a big gap in between albums!

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Raphaël on May 16, 2022.

Venom Prison is a truly interesting band that I’ve been loosely following since 2019. If you look them up, they are generally classified as a death metal band mixed with hardcore, which fits them well but can be misleading. Normally, you see death metal and hardcore and you automatically think, ok. So basically, is it a deathcore band then? But no, it is definitely not deathcore! Their sound is much closer to straight death metal, but with a big emphasis on the politically charged lyrics and no, it isn’t grindcore either. So, Erebos is the band’s fourth album and first album on a big label, Century Media Records. For their first album in the big leagues, they greatly expanded their sound while still fitting in the death metal/hardcore box. It’s just that, now, the box is much much larger.

First of all, let’s quickly talk about the line up. It remained the same since the first release, except for newcomer Joe Bills on drums. Completing the line up is Ash Gray and Ben Thomas on guitars, Mike Jefferies on bass and the star, for me at least, Larissa Stupar providing vocals and lyrics. The vocals are the first thing you notice on this record. Larissa is one of the best modern death metal vocalists out there. Her range has definitely expanded on Erebos. She still mainly uses her traditional shouted growls which are still completely devastating and fit the lyrics so well, but sometimes she adds deeper, guttural growls, high pitched screams and even some soft, ethereal cleans. All that makes for a varied and never boring experience.

Speaking of varied and never boring, I think it’s a very apt description of the entire album, for the vocals as much as the music. You can take random bits of the album and convince anybody It’s anything, from a melodeath record, to deathcore, to techdeath or straight up old school death metal. All of that is perfectly blended and does not feel like a compilation of different styles, but a completely cohesive experience. For example, on 'Judges Of The Underworld', it starts as a straight forward death metal song with hint of hardcore, but then evolves, slowing down, incorporating quiet cleans and ending with furious breakdowns. 'Nemesis' has a truly bouncy, headbanging riff with the line: "I am the damaged one, you deserve all damage done", repeated over and over. Guaranteed to be stuck in your head! But then, the song slows down into a calm and spacey part and goes straight back into heavy territory. One of the most unique songs on the album, and all of Venom Prison’s discography to be honest, is 'Pain Of Oizys'. Starting with a moody, ambient, electronic passage completed with piano and clean vocals. It then slowly builds up with bluesy guitars and ends with a heavier sounding part. 'Comfort Of Complicity' is also very interesting. Sounding almost like At The Gates in the beginning, but with blast beats and breakdowns sprinkled tastefully here and there. Around the midway of the song, it shifts to this positive, almost upbeat melody. It’s kind of weird, but it totally works. The last song I’ll talk about is the album closer, 'Technologies Of Death'. This song showcases everything the band has to offer: headbanging riffs, traditional death metal tremolo picking, quieter, melodic and emotional riffs, blazing and technical solos, high pitched screams and heavy, low growls. Plus, it ends with melodic and epic sounding strings, closing the album perfectly.

Another essential part of this album are the lyrics. It’s a rare occurrence, in the world of death metal at least, to have the lyrical content so intertwined with the music. I mean, you could just listen to the music and still have a wonderful experience, but it would not be complete. The music makes more sense with the lyrics. I might be a bit biased because I’ve always gravitated around a militant environment, so the political and sociological themes tackled on Erebos really spoke to me. Larissa talks about big issues, such as; victim blaming: “Victimised. Oppressed. Criminalized. When society chooses to be selectively blind, Trapped in a cycle of a manic mind hypnosis, Schizophrenia. Misdiagnosis. Trapped in a cycle of a manic mind hypnosis, Who is to blame? The crimes contested”. She also describes the more general state of society: “Bear witness, To the great divide of humanity, Fuelled by illiteracy and stupidity”. Larissa truly shows what a talented artist she is.

So, to conclude, Erebos is truly an amazing experience. The band realized their full potential as songwriters and found their sound. I think I heard somewhere that Erebos is the band’s "Heartwork". It’s a great comparison and just like Carcass, I hope they continue to perfect this sound for many many years, but hopefully with less of a big gap in between albums!

Rating: 9 out of 10