Review by Felix on June 18, 2025.

Death metal sounds only occasionally roar through my living room, but when it does, it's often Dutch bands. Asphyx, Thanatos and Graceless are formations that are able to make my day and so I am happy that the latter have released their fourth album called "Icons Of Ruin". I really like the quartet because of their down-to-earth, credible demeanour, and some real hits made it even easier for me to sympathise with the guys. Therefore I hate to say that the new full-length does not fully meet my expectations. The band seems to be infected by a malignant doom metal virus which results in some sluggish, almost phlegmatic tracks. This phenomenon could also be observed on Asphyx's last disc. This new plague seems to be even nastier than the corona virus, which hasn't been around for a while now.

But let's start with the opener and put the spot light on the positive aspects of this release – there are a lot of them. The first two tracks kick off the album in a pretty thunderous way. No signs of lethargy so far! "Lash Me To My Painful Death" marks the first excursion into the doomy regions of slowness, but its unholy undertone, the clever arrangement and the passionate conjuration of Hecate feed the song with a lot of strength. The riffing of "Night Of The Slain", a vehement mid-tempo hammer, evokes very positive associations with "Here Be Dragons", one of the best songs in the four-piece's back catalogue. Despite the fact that it presents an almost tragically sounding break and a melodic solo, the song does not suffer from a lack of vitality or brutality.

"Hardening Of The Heart" – here we have reached the most surprising title of the album. Maybe there is already something like death pop. If not, I hereby declare Graceless to be the inventor of this style. Not because of the dreamy intro, but in view of the conservative song structure, the easily consumable guitar lines, the lyrics which are full of dark romanticism ("To a world without you I'll never return / Your voice a whisper in the howling storm…" and so on), the emotional solo and the general vibes of the song. Yes, there is also a double bass carpet, the guitars are low-tuned as always and the voice of David Kreft sounds almost as demonic as always. Nevertheless, the track presents a different atmosphere and despite its pop appeal, it is simply a fantastic number. And no, I am not freshly in love or something like that. I really enjoy this piece.

The problematic part begins after this song. The following tracks present standardized death metal sections in slow motion. Maybe with the exception of the powerless "Beneath Starless Skies", none of them is a real downer. But the overall impression they leave cannot be described as thrilling or agile. I regret that the guys haven't recorded a worthy successor for their death 'n' roll number "Giants", the opener of "Chants From Purgatory". Instead, just about manage to climb over the abyss of boredom without falling off. At least that's something. By the way, the professional, appropriately sinister production plays its part in this. Graceless know how a death metal record has to sound and they have given the material what it needs to reveal its full force.

As if to make amends for the previous crawls, "Resurrection Of The Graveless" once again strikes a livelier note and storms forwards in a straightforward and unstoppable manner. Too bad that the band did not give one or two songs more a similar pattern. They should fight their lethargy whenever it wants to take possession of them... But be that as it may, Graceless have written another good yet unfortunately not flawless work. I am sure that their creative potential more in store for them and moreover I am an optimist: the next album will show that this statement is not just a thesis, but a fact.

Rating: 7.4 out of 10

Review by Felix on March 12, 2025.

"Scheusal" is a nice German word for an ugly, brutal creature, something between monster, beast and notorious criminal. It is almost outdated, but now an upright Teutonic warrior is giving this term new life. He has selected this term for his black metal project. Urwahn marks the first proof of his work mania. Ten tracks, 34 minutes, and none of the songs reaches the four minutes mark; this configuration already indexes the content – no sprawling, large-format songs with meticulously arranged contours await the listener, but compact, relatively primitive pieces. From time to time they reveal a certain affinity for sinisterly thrashing guitars, but the endless black metal forests are still the territory where one can find Scheusal.

The general approach awakens in me memories of Mephisto from Canada. The pretty chunky guitar sound leaves not much room for nuances, if at all, and the guitar lines themselves love to hammer constantly against the listener's head. Due to the fact that the album needs no introduction, "Der Giftler" opens the wild, daring hunt without any warning. The song takes off immediately and moves on the preliminary stage to hysteria. Its straight lines grab the listener at the collar and the traw, distorted voice plays its part effectively as well. Drums and bass are no significant component in this fast-paced track and to be honest, this fact does not change during the entire album. But the artist varies his vocals a lot and he is able to express different moods such as insanity, horror and tragedy. He also has an eye on tempo changes. Urwahn is by no means lame, but it also does not deliver high speed and nothing else. A side effect of this approach is that Scheusal are able to present some more or less catchy moments. Okay, it is catchy in the context of black metal – if you are a follower of bands like Def Leppard or Kiss, you will ask what the hell does this reviewer mean by the term "catchy". But then I may ask why the hell are you reading a review for Scheusal. With all due respect, maybe the time is now to concentrate on another review, those for Twisted Sister surely want to be read right now.

Scheusal's lyrics are comparable with those of labelmates Mavorim. In Germany, everyone seems to nurse their traumas in public, as a glance at parliament proves. The totally cynical nature of Eisenkult, on the other hand, is largely absent. Music-wise, Scheusal's material does not lie in close proximity to these formations. The musical vision is much less unorthodox. The homogeneous density of the guitar lines create a typical black metal experience with the few aforementioned (black) thrash elements. Anyway, this new project sounds fresh and vibrant and the fact that there is no downer among the ten tracks make it easy to consume the debut from the beginning to the end. Ominous guitar tones like those which introduce the raging "Der Nachtmahr" should be given more space and a few overly simple lines ("Der Tod Im Gehölz") should be rejected the next time, but this alone does not hurt the very welcome overall impression. Urwahn, no doubt about it, can grant a 34-minute, intensive black metal session. Its almost melancholic yet violent ending called "Der Spiegel Im Abgrund" marks the final feature which whets the appetite for more material of Scheusal, because albums such as this one are never outdated – no matter under which archaic name they are released.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10