Full Length Review: Blood Freak "Sleaze Merchants" (Extremely Rotten Productions) by Dave Wolff

Band: Blood Freak

Location: Portland, Oregon

Country: USA

Genre: Death/grindcore

Full length: Sleaze Merchants

Format: Digital album

Label: Extremely Rotten Productions

Originally released on CD by Razorback Records in 2003

Release date: October 31, 2025

When Maniac Neil formed Blood Freak in 2003, numerous death/grindcore bands had already taken us back to their love of splatter, cannibals, reanimated corpses, and demented slashers from the 70s and 80s. It all may sound like typical fare now, but on their debut album "Sleaze Merchants," the band tempered their songs with shades of rock, funk rock, and blues rock while retaining multiple gore-soaked vocals, whirlwind blast, blender bass, and movie samples.

Independent horror and gore films Blood Freak grew up with, films that couldn't be found anyplace other than Kim's Video, have maintained their fan bases since before "Scream" and "Saw." When they were released, they satisfied horror and gore aficionados with their grit and desire to go the extra mile. Same can be said for grindcore and goregrind, which constantly replenish their cult followings. This is most likely why old unsung albums are being re-released.

"Sleaze Merchants" combines riffs flavored with rock and funk, as well as bluesy solos, amid the insane, manic images and overlapping vocals clearly inspired by "Reek of Putrefaction" and "Symphonies of Sickness" by Carcass. This helps tighten the sweeping brutality, crossover hardcore riffs, and doomy breakdowns that inspired many bands from Exhumed and Ghoul to pick up instruments and capture the essence of grindcore and goregrind.

I read at Jill Girardi's Facebook profile that a number of albums originally released by Razorback Records from Long Island, New York, USA, are being re-issued for new grind enthusiasts to hear, including underground slabs by Fondlecorpse (Holland). Jill also says the reissue includes liner notes by Razorback's Billy Nocera and new artwork by French visual artist Pierre DePalmas from the goregrind band Blue Holcaust. I suppose it goes to prove that bands, no matter how obscure, can always attract new listeners.

Maniac Neil's diverse experience in death metal, thrash, grindcore, goregrind, and black metal had a hand in his writing breakdowns leaning toward doom and stoner metal. He recorded the Razorback release of "Sleaze Merchants" with an old 16-track. Lasse's efforts at remastering make it sound recorded with more sophisticated equipment while bringing the original’s rawness to light. The samples, for the most part, sound untouched and maintain the film's grungy vibe.

The balanced musicianship and sound are a push toward making the customary blast and brutality of grind accessible to a larger audience. What Maniac Neil does demonstrates that you don't have to be a purist or a gatekeeper to appreciate Blood Freak for what they are, or a poser to accept the other aspects he unashamedly brings into grind. –Dave Wolff

Track list:

1. Warning

2. Feast of the Undead

3. Blood, Blood, and more Blood

4. Grinding of the Dead

5. Bloodthirsty Butchers from Beyond

6. Flesheaters from Outerspace

7. The Gruesome Gorehounds

8. Infested with Worms

9. The Cult of the Cannibal Freaks

10. I Rip Your Flesh

11. Gobble up Your Guts

12. The Slaughterhouse

13. You are What We Eat

14. Werewolf A-Gore-Gore

15. Kill! Kill! Kill!

16. A Brutal Orgy of Ghastly Terror

17. Awakening the Beast

Full Length Review: Emperors & Angels "IIII" (Curtain Call Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Emperors & Angels

Country: USA

Genre: Rock, metal

Full Length: IIII

Format: Digital

Label: Curtain Call Records

Release date: 2025

Over the last five years, the close-knit friends comprising Emperors & Angels have cultivated a career by self-producing their albums, fueled by the internal gasoline they ignite to overcome obstacles and setbacks they face daily. Confronting personal demons stemming from interactions with others, they find strength sharing these experiences with each other and the listener. The extent to which their musical preferences are intertwined reflects their shared commitment and unity of purpose.

What classification, then, works for "IIII"? Is it pop punk? Is it late 80s metal? Is it alternative rock? Is it grunge? Is it blues rock? Is it emo? Is it funk rock? Is it nu metal? Or a blend of all these? Specific labels start to seem trivial as the band’s unapologetic boldness becomes more apparent. Regardless of what influences you hear in their songwriting, the anguish of betrayal and the determination to move forward are vividly expressed in every drum hit, every guitar and bass note and every vocal line.

Emotive, gritty and anthemic, "IIII" comes across as a seamless outpouring of edginess. Emperors and Angels create appealing assaults that flow through your eardrums and into your brain. Sometimes evoking Lenny Kravitz, sometimes Soundgarden, sometimes Coheed and Cambria, they appear to have an instinctive wavelength to reach fans of Candlebox, Five Finger Death Punch, Anthrax, and Alice Cooper, whom they opened for, or more likely an understanding that music is music and a rejection of labels.

What binds their personal tastes together is not only a sense of diversity, but also a sense of solidarity and mutual respect for the contributions each member makes to the writing process. This proves the value of forming a band with people you're friends with and feel comfortable being informal and having beers with. Spending this kind of time together, eventually picking up instruments to create music together, will flow naturally through your stereo, and the results will easily speak to you.

The guitar lines, bass lines, lead guitars, and verses blend together to create multifaceted pieces contrasting just enough to add multiple textures without negating the catchiness they aim to express. This arrangement, in its own way, draws more emphasis to lyrics phrased with the intensity and melody nu metal and pop punk fans expect. While the lyrics are intended to reflect personal experience, this arrangement also helps them to be relevant on an equally personal level.

As varied as the music is, the message presented to you is enhanced by how they support the lyrics. This as much as the band expresses their thoughts without taking down to you. After the lines and verses resonate with you, those whose resolve is bolstered by failure or disappointment will find something to relate to. Emperors & Angels will always be able to connect to their listeners, regardless of how much recognition they attain. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Matthew Nevitt” Vocals

Bela McKnight: Guitar

Jason Hedrick: Bass

Brett Huntley: Drums

Track list:

1. Here’s to Now

2. Only Way to Be

3. Someone Anyone

4. Welcome to the Show

5. What Kills

6. It’s Like That

7. Lifeline

8. Dark Skies

9. Dangerous

10. Bury the Hatchet

11. Worry Bout Me!

Full Length Review: Them "Psychedelic Enigma" (Steamhammer) by Dave Wolff

Band: Them

Country: USA, Germany

Genre: Progressive thrash/power metal

Full length: Psychedelic Enigma

Format: Digital album

Label: Steamhammer

Release date: October 24, 2025

It has been a long time since I listened to Them's "Sweet Hollow" and "Manor of the Seventeen Gables," and I wanted to see what they've been up to lately, see how far they'd come since they released those landmarks of underground metal.

Them was founded in 2008 by KK Fossor aka Troy Norr (also of Coldsteel) as a King Diamond tribute band, gradually moved away from emulating King's stage show to write original songs. Keeping what inspired them about King's horror elements, crossing over classic metal, thrash, symphonic metal, and some prog metal. They also developed a conceptual narrative spanning more than one full length. One of the more ambitious metal bands to emerge this century, Them continues to establish themselves as the next step in metal’s evolution. It’s been a slow, steady ride with no signs of stopping soon.

Searching their catalogue at Bandcamp, I found "Fear City," an album they released in 2022 that continues the epic story depicted on "Sweet Hollow," "Manor of the Seventeen Gables," and "Return to Hemmersmoor." Offering a unique spin on that storyline. "Fear City" takes place over a century later in modern-day New York, complete with crime and general ugliness. The characters are descended from the main characters of the trilogy mentioned above. One of the lead characters here is Peter Thompson, a televangelist who descended from The Witchhunter from the previous albums.

I'll have to catch up on "Fear City" another time, however, as we're talking about their most recent album released last month. "Psychedelic Enigma" is a conceptual horror story presented with another twist, focusing on a core protagonist and building a plot comparable to turn-of-the-century supernatural classics such as "The Sixth Sense" and "The Ohers," and developing mystery and tension until the epic conclusion arrives. This is all Them chooses to reveal about "Psychedelic Enigma" at their Bandcamp link. You get a little more from the lyric videos released to promote the album.

Whereas Them's previous albums incorporated symphonic and progressive metal, the songs on this album are thrashier, more abrasive, sharp and energetic, and more inventive than I remember Classic thrash's execution and its spirit, are recaptured here. The increasing emphasis on thrash doesn’t make "Psychedelic Enigma" less progressive. The composition and musicianship are more experimental, with more hooks to pull you in, and a range of keyboards written to portray the intended mood and make you experience the oddities here, as well as the occasional blast to underline the point.

Randy Burns, who has engineered sound for Megadeth, Death, Possessed, and Dark Angel, achieves an impresssive job of bringing these qualities to the forefront in "Catatonia," "Silent Room," "Psychonautic State," "The Scarlett Remains," "Electric Church," and "Echoes of the Forgotten Realm." KK Fossor's vocals have his distinctive blend of melody and ferocity, similar to old-school power metal vocals, with clear phrasing and a tendency to fluctuate and provide emphasis for the emotionality here.

The album becomes more expressive and dramatic with each song, with the musicianship telling the story as convincingly as the lyrics, and the payoff at the finale is well worth the wait, seriously rivaling horror classics like "Rosemary's Baby," "The Omen," and "The Changeling" in terms of suspense and visceral enjoyment. "Psychedelic Enigma" celebrates the spirit of metal while pushing the ingredients that make classic horror films memorable for years after their screenings. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

KK Fossor: Vocals

Markus Ullrich: Guitars

Markus Johansson: Guitars

Alexander Palma: Bass

Richie Seibel: Keyboards

Steve Bolognese: Drums

(Session drums by David De Liniers)

Track list:

1. Ad Rem

2. Catatonia

3. An Evil Deed

4. Reverie

5. Remember To Die

6. Silent Room

7. Psychonautic State

8. The Scarlett Remains

9. Electric Church

10. Echoes Of The Forgotten Realm

11. Troubled Minds

12. Delirium

EP Review: Dan Sindel "They Only Love You When You're Winning" (Independent) by Dave Wolff

Artist: Dan Sindel

Location: Los Angeles, California Country: USA

Genre: Rock, progressive rock

EP: They Only Love You When You're Winning

Format: Digital album

Label: Independent

Release date: May 28, 2025

After thirty years as a performer and music instructor, Dan Sindel developed a method of recording involving multi-tracked electric and acoustic guitars and symphonic arrangements. His bio emphasizes the recognition it earned him, and the recognition he received opening for Saxon, King Diamond, Wendy O. Williams, Accept, Metal Church, Armored Saint, Flotsam & Jetsam, and Grim Reaper among others. Sindel’s bio also mentions that he hopes to encourage future musicians to develop their abilities.
Sindel’s website bio page doesn't provide much information about his performance experience, instructional background or recording technique. At least, the profile doesn't tell me as much as I’d have liked to after listening to his second EP. If you seek more, there are interview links, news and information about his videos and a music section on his site (it may interest you that his devotion began with Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains the Same”), plus information about streaming his recordings on Bandcamp.
Besides showcasing the wall of sound he built at maximum level, “They Only Love You When You're Winning” provides the range of the heavy rock Sindel was exposed to during his long musical career, spanning the 1960s to the 1980s to the present. There's much to be found here if you grew up with the Beatles, Beach Boys and psychedelia like Pink Floyd and progressive rock like Yes. The mix is technically proficient but not flowery; the psychedelic complexity doesn’t allow for too many pleasantries.
I've listened to Little Steven's Underground Garage, a weekly show that traces punk rock's origins back to the fifties. It shows the early roots of punk in many groundbreaking artists, and given that Sindel and Steven Van Zandt share similar roots, I was surprised by how well Sindel's work suits Van Zandt's format. For its experimentation, "They Only Love You…" is as hard, uncompromising and not-radio-friendly as anything by musicians who aimed to write something more exciting than the traditional pop of the time..
Besides the origins and progression of rock music, Sindel draws on John Philip Souza's military music to create the wall of sound features. He draws heavily on jazz, blues, and r&b for complexity. These influences are apparent behind the harder elements, as do faint elements of rockabilly and psychobilly. One more significant contribution is Sindel’s early training in French horn and trombone. This combination upends everything, removing rock from its linear cruise control.
In the same way the Sex Pistols were the culmination of their influences and created something raw and exciting, Dan Sindel combines everything he learned during his musical education, binding it together by his love of the medium, feeling its energy as any fan would, and expressing it through the originality and creativity he brings to the table. Check out this EP and his website. –Dave Wolff

Track list:

1. Ambition

2. America! America!

3. Blindsided

4. Burning Bridges

5. Freedom

6. Spellcaster

Full Length Review: Internal Bleeding "Settle All Scores" (Maggot Stomp) by Dave Wolff

Band: Internal Bleeding

Location: New York

Country: USA

Genre: Slam death metal

Full length: Settle All Scores

Format: Digital, cassette

Label: Maggot Stomp (California, USA)

Release date: October 17, 2025

Internal Bleeding has never whitewashed their derision toward pretenses of decency masking hidden agendas. Their observations of unscrupulousness and acquiescence is as vigorous as it was when they contributed to the start of slam death metal, pushing the genre forward just when it was taking shape.

In those days, death metal was a raw, exposed wound, a brazen declaration of independence from mediocrity. It saw greed, corruption, and hatred everywhere and confronted them without mincing words or softening the blow. Thrash metal stated "this is wrong," death metal stated "fuck you" to everything they saw wrong in the world.

The world is changing, and criticism of government, media, and the religious right is considered almost a matter of course. In those days that criticism caused much more of a stir. Do you remember when Sinead O'Connor was blacklisted for tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II on "Saturday Night Live"? While being cancelled remains an issue today, independent media provides more opportunities to voice similar sentiments.

Internal Bleeding sounds like an appropriate name for the band as the raw, open wound is on the inside, in the heart, never fully healing but driving their determination not to be defined by setbacks. They remind you there’s a reason those wounds exist, and a reason for the anger and nihilism.

"Settle All Scores" can be considered social critique, devoid of the journalistic civility associated with it. The band's appraisal of standards and judgment of what’s acceptable in society has always been dismissive, astringent and full of disdain, as they firmly placed themselves outside the norm with no desire to become part of it.

It's been about seven years since their last full-length album; the question is if their relevance can match their longevity after they helped shape slam and NYDM. Age frequently plays a role in bands discovering new methods to refine themselves or running out of new ideas.

Here they establish their crossing of DM, hardcore, and groove/hip-hop from the outset, bludgeoning you with the sonic impact of a Neanderthal caving in your skull with a massive club. The modern-ish production contains bottom, significantly contributing to the band's long-standing reputation for sluggish heftiness and abrupt start-stop time changes.

The carefully written riffs, persistent double kick drumming, systematic delivery, and quick transitions maintain their sense of freshness; it’s still a good representation of the spontaneity and effort that goes into their writing. In addition to placing greater emphasis on bass heaviness the band occasionally adds more melody, dissonant notes and dissonant chords.

The vocals overlap with some subtlety, occasionally mixing guttural vocals with more of a metalcore vocal style, demonstrating an effort to cover new ground while keeping to what set them apart. Above all, "Settle All Scores" makes no secret of the band being straight shooters, showing enhanced capacity of channeling awareness of deceit and exploitation that permeates our daily lives and utter refusal to be taken in.

"Enforced Compliance" is one of the heaviest and most relentless songs on the album, while "Deliberate Desecration" begins with a brief acoustic section before transitioning into melody and brutality. In short, there's enough here to justify Internal Bleeding's importance in death metal. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Steve Worley: Vocals

Chris Pervelis: Guitars

Chris McCarthy: Guitars, backing vocals

Ryan Giordano: Bass

Kyle Eddy: Drums

Track list:

1. Intangible Pact

2. Settle All Scores

3. Prophet of Deceit (Featuring Sherwood Webber)

4. Enforced Compliance

5. Crown of Insignificance

6. Empire of Terror (Featuring Joe Marchese)

7. Glorify the Oppressor (Featuring Jay Lowe)

8. Deliberate Desecration (Featuring Mikey Petroski and Frank Rini)

EP Review: Tidals "When a Silence Comes" (Curtain Call Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Tidals

Location: Detroit, Michigan

Country: USA

Genre: Nu metal

EP: When a Silence Comes

Format: Digital album

Label: Curtain Call Records

Release date: October 17, 2025

Tidals, having gained exposure through significant events like the Vans Warped Tour, is working hard to establish this EP in the nu metal and rap metal genres. With the usual combination of aggressiveness and melody, the five tracks they recorded for "When a Silence Comes" have a significant push toward more heartfelt passion and vehemence. Imagine Limp Biskit or Sevendust on steroids, with a wider range in talent and ability to write accessible heaviness.

Tidals practices a technique of genre-bending significantly more subtle and engrained in their songwriting, but the results are greatly enhanced by the subtlety. This, along with a persistent repetition, appears to be calculated to instigate brutal activity in the pit when they’re onstage. The band members’ experience working in Chronic Groove and Camp Element has given them an intuitive urge to switch between their bellicose and canorous traits, depending on what works for each track.

The band chose "When Heroes Speak," the EP's hardest and most reiterative song, as its initial impression on new listeners. This single was most likely chosen to demonstrate their preference for grinding rhythms, turbulent chord progressions, and sharp, rough-edged vocals, with plenty of rumbling bass to back the cacophony. The guitars sound downtuned while allowing room for the distorted bass to accompany them and not taking too long before the vocals begin.

It's here where the subtle diversification Tidals planned for this EP begins. "Gone Silent" takes a different turn as an expansion of their sound, beginning with echo and ambience and progressing to heavy nu metal riffs delivered in a brighter tone. As the gruff vocals from the previous track move to the background, an alternative rock feel is joined by cleaner vocals, rap metal diction and an emotive chorus that reminded me a little of Linkin Park, and a little of Pink Floyd.
A brief overview of the last three tracks: "Burn the Sails" alters the mood once more, as nu metal merges with dissonant progressions evoking black and industrial metal. "Clover" showcases an enchanting melody, a live-in-studio drum sound, and vocals reminiscent of Type O Negative on "Life is Killing Me," followed by an unforeseen middle section that recalls Sepultura. "Pilots of Design" concludes the EP on an intense note, now reflecting the weighty characteristics of deathcore.

As much as "When a Silence Comes" showcased a variety of styles, the songs were generally too short for me to let them sink in as much as I would have preferred to. Still, the production effectively highlighted everything Tidals brought to the table, allowing them to shine beautifully. –Dave Wolff

Track list:

1. When Heroes Speak

2. Gone Silent

3. Burn the Sails

4. Clover

5. Pilots of Design

Full Length Review: Sonohara "Sonohara" (Independent) by Dave Wolff

Project: Sonohara

Location: Fredericksburg, Virginia

Country: USA

Genre: Experimental

Full length: Sonohara

Format: Digital album

Label: Independent

Release date: December 27, 2024

Sonohara's latest effort is an eccentric mishmash of metalcore, alternative, goth, post-hardcore, new wave, electronica and ambient I appreciate immensely. From its gender-neutral vocals and tendency to make metal-oriented riffs robotic or atmospheric when needed, the effort put into redefining musical parameters and setting it apart is obvious.

Sarah Westervelt does more than blur lines; she erases them, making no distinctions between what inspires her. If she can successfully mix new wave, electronica and jazz, or write keyboard pieces that rival the "Exorcist" theme, as on her album "Shadows," she can find the intersection of almost any genre that piques her interest. After all, someone has to do it first.

Albums like "Nervous Wreck" and "Pleasantville" cross over genres to the point of their being indistinguishable, creating a completely new genre where none existed. This combination of organic and electronic instruments sets her work apart even more, defying categorization and leaving you to wonder what thoughts are running through her mind while she’s writing.

Collaborating with Irrenoid on mixing and mastering, Westervelt focused intently on seeing every influence was clear. The resulting sound doesn’t sound bigger than metalcore bands; it’s broader, capable of integrating all the instruments involved, with just enough distortion to be noticeable without being too gritty.

For example, the track "Kaori" starts with a vibe evoking vintage Mortiis, Vond, and Fata Morgana, while mixing metalcore, ambience and drum programming. Like most metalcore, the vocals shift between melodic and harsh, but the melodic vocals are presented with monotonic anguish as a counterbalance to the song’s electronic and atmospheric aspects.

The prolific lyrical content describes in detail the uncertainty and self-doubt people face throughout their mortal lives. She has no trouble with the impact of drama, conflict and betrayal on the human soul, confronting it rather than avoiding or denying it, and expressing how it can change us for the worse. It sounds more honest than empty lyrics about making the world a better place.

If you're interested, I recommend not only listening to this album but also exploring Sonohara's back catalogue, as each of Westervelt's recordings are examples of a desire on her part to play what she feels and to take completely different routes on each of her albums. She's one of the more spontaneous musicians and songwriters out there, and you never know what to expect from her next. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Sarah Westervelt: Vocals, programming, writing, production, mixing, mastering

Track list:

1. Sin

2. Alleviator

3. Control

4. Monster

5. Nothing But A Rage

6. Kaori

7. Fight Like Hell (feat. Haley Valentine)

8. Staring the End

9. Elevator

10. I Swear I'll Change

Full Length Review: Primordial "Live in New York City" (Metal Blade) by Dave Wolff

Band: Primordial

Location: Dublin

Country: Ireland

Genre: Pagan metal

Full length: Live in New York City

Format: Digital album

Label: Metal Blade

Release date: November 7, 2025

Primordial's latest live album “Live in New York City” encapsulates the passage of time from their inception to the recent live show they captured on audio and video. Primordial seems to have embraced the phrase "you're never too old," as the moment they caught for posterity exists in a suspended state, a timeless realm where age gives way to love for their medium.

Recorded this year at TV Eye, a club in Ridgewood, “Live in New York City” showcases Primordial's resilience and enduring grassroots appeal, which allowed them to cultivate a cult following since their 1991 inception. In all that time they demonstrated a steadfast ability to showcase the Celtic pagan/black metal they helped originate, delivering it with the ferocity consistently exhibited in the studio.

Having balanced black metal, war metal, and Celtic music in their songwriting and temperament, Primordial deepened and enriched their technique of acquainting their audience with their pagan past. The traditional Celtic rhythms and meticulous musicianship are enveloped in controlled rawness and atmosphere, with a passionate intent to connect with the fans who saw their show that evening. The energy this generates has the impression of standing right by the stage while their set is well underway.

On November 7, a video was released to promote the album. Despite being middle-aged and playing for a typical nightclub audience, they show tight clarity combined with the energy of a band of twenty-somethings demonstrating their skill in a much larger venue as they plow through a repertoire taken from “Spirit The Earth Aflame,” “The Gathering Wilderness,” “To The Nameless Dead,” “Redemption At The Puritan's Hand,” “Exile Amongst The Ruins” and “How It Ends.”

For a nightclub show, the sound is boosted to excessive levels. Not exactly grandiose, but made to resonate with the primal, fierce spirit within man. Each track is a grand anthem celebrating warfare and ultimate triumph. Each percussive beat is like the sound of war drums reverberating across the landscape. Each growled vocal is like a battle cry, resonating for everyone to hear. Each bass line is the thunderous sound of horses galloping on the earth.

The guitars are like sharpened swords that could sever your head, only to have it crushed beneath the feet of Celtic warriors. These elements are presented to elicit the most fervent audience reaction. In essence, the energy propelling pagan and Viking metal is reinforced with every ounce of conviction a musician can exert. Combined with the excitement, eagerness and relentless force of a metal show, it makes for an album that mimics the live experience as close as you can get.

Moreover, with Primordial, you gain some understanding of Celtic history and folklore. One example is “To Hell or the Hangman” which narrates the historical tale of Walter Lynch, a notorious character from ancient Ireland. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

A.A. Nemtheanga: Vocals

Ciarán MacUilliam: Guitar

Pól MacAmlaigh: Bass

Simon O'Laoghaire: Drums

Track list:

1. As Rome Burns

2. No Grave Deep Enough

3. The Golden Spiral

4. How It Ends

5. To Hell Or The Hangman

6. Lain With The Wolf

7. Gods To The Godless

8. Gallows Hymn

9. Bloodied Yet Unbowed

10. The Coffin Ships

11. Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is an Orphan

12. Empire Falls

13. Heathen Tribes

EP Review: Arbe-Dieu "Nuit Noire" (Bitume Prods) by Dave Wolff

Project: Arbe-Dieu

County: France

Genre: Occult black metal

EP: Nuit Noire

Format: CD digipack, digital EP

Label: Bitume Prods

Release date: December 21, 2025

Adunakhor Z., a French vocalist/instrumentalist, has been involved in a number of solo projects since 2006, including Thy Apokalypse, Abfall, Reflecting the Light, Kaamosmasennus, Eternité du Chaos, and Salaman Isku, where he typically lends lead vocals and multiple instruments to create the appropriate atmosphere. This December, he'll be revealing his freshman release for Arbe-Dieu, quite possibly his most extreme vision to date.

Arbe-Dieu is named after a card drawn from the Tarot of Marseille, a deck of cards created in northern Italy in the early fifteenth century, brought to France and Switzerland, and still produced today. This deck's creation also gave rise to the esoteric practice of Tarot readings. The Maison-Dieu card, The Tower, (loosely) represents a startling disruptive revelation and possibly catastrophic transformation that leads to new beginnings, self-discovery, and greater learning.

Adunakhor Z's debut effort for Arbe-Dieu, “Nuit Noire,” is a subjective voyage through this disruptive transformation, making its presence known unexpectedly and without warning and unleashing a full-fledged attack on your senses. Going beyond raw black metal and in the opposite direction of virtuosity and grandiosity, it dives into a primordial, almost animalistic realm pulsating with occult ritualism, carefully planned to reach the core source of mortal uneasiness, dread, and final terror.

To describe this EP as furious and tumultuous is an understatement. As a means of communicating a narrative of violent upheaval and eventual rebirth, they appear to be born of chaos and disorder, radiating chaos and disorder from their moment of conception. Despite the intensity poured through the almost impossibly expedient blast and tremolo picking, a ritualized, ceremonial perception cuts through the bedlam, pulling everything together to communicate a purpose of tearing down and rebuilding again. I read Adunakhor Z. worked on this for three years, which suggests careful planning was made to create the appropriate ambiance.

Considering the musicianship and strong distortion, the material is remarkably clear and gives plenty of intricacies. “Graines De La Folie” begins with a steady, mesmeric industrial vibe, as if setting a tone for the bleak, repetitive emotion that follows, with bass pushing the material from behind and beneath the guitars. The track that follows, “Tourbillon Chaotique,” contains so much blast and so much bottom holding the musicianship up it assume a distinct industrial vibe all its own.

From the Immortal/Burzum-esque triplet feel of “La Vieille Femme Et Le Soleil Pâle” to the slower-paced theme of “Mort Et Renaissance,” there's something about “Nuit Noire” that becomes more concrete and orderly, as if fresh wisdom is emerging from the destruction established before. I can envision what this EP would be like if it was recorded a full-length album, and I can't help but wonder where Adunakhor Z. will go with it. –Dave Wolff

Track list:

1. Graines De La Folie

2. Tourbillon Chaotique

3. La Vieille Femme Et Le Soleil Pâle

4. Mort Et Renaissance’.

EP Review: Chain "New Alcatraz" (The Triad Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Chain

Country: Italy

Genre: Electronic industrial metal

EP: New Alcatraz

Format: Digital

Label: The Triad Records

Release date: April 17, 2025

Imagine, if you will, being imprisoned in a computer matrix, with no knowledge of how you arrived there, meeting an AI doppelganger of yourself with whom you’re inexorably drawn until you merge and become one with it. This is what you get from Chain's "New Alcatraz," which fuses organic metal and electro-industrial sounds at the genetic level, spawning a mechanized human-cyborg hybrid to turn loose upon the world.

Although the premise of "New Alcatraz" is somewhat similar to films like "The Terminator," "I, Robot," "Ex Machina," and "The Matrix," it’s far more intricate and personal. It would likely be as` unconventional and incisive as "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" were in their respective eras if it was reimagined as a film. It would be a subject of debate for years to come.

This human-cyborg hybrid, according to the Triad Records, is home to an ancient creature of some sort that has a single-minded, near-pathological urge to exact revenge on humanity for past transgressions. To remind us that we as a species are motivated by a similar, deeply rooted urge that’s part of our psyches from conception, this concept of vengeance is channeled with a raw, spontaneous energy.

When other bands carefully and meticulously take time to establish themselves through their songs, Chain is constantly on the point of overtaking and overwhelming the listener with an instantaneous, demanding shove forward. In less than a quarter hour, you’re assaulted by inexorable waves of sound that seem to converge on you from every direction, piercing your head with a thousand needles hooked to robotic snakelike appendages before erupting from within.

From a distance, you hear what sounds like the beating of an artificial heart powering a huge city—possibly the city shown in Simone Trausi's cover art—as if alerting you to the impending chaos. The album's antihero, probably reborn from this very city, reappears almost immediately after that brief introduction. The powerful electronic sounds and discordant synthesizers telling the story are arranged to create musical rhythm, much like Devo had when they helped redefine new wave.

That was the song "Dark & Bass." Starting with "Bloody Hell/Out of Control," the powerful electronic rhythms are accompanied by guitars, bass, and acoustic percussion. Each song presents the organic elements with greater emphasis, signifying the antihero's personal battle to escape his cybernetic shell. The lyrics, which emphasize his desire to subjugate and subject humanity to his vengeance with greater ferocity, are presented in a harsh, frenzied, manic style.

Chain significantly enhances the connection between traditional music and futuretech, taking the sophisticated violence pioneered by Godflesh, Fear Factory, KMFDM, Pitchshifter, and Skinny Puppy into new stomping grounds. The frenzied intensity of the production and mixing lends all the instruments a bright vitality in addition to thinning the lines between the string and keyboard instruments. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Lorenzo Schiavo: Chain

Massimo Lombardo: Faxe

Dj Giuseppe Caccetta: Illegal B

Track list:

1. Dark & Bass

2. Bloody Hell (Out of Control)

3. Kalashnikov

4. New Alcatraz

5. Bohemian Party

6. Neon Predators