Back To Bandcamp: March 19, 2016

Sanguine Relic - III - The Vampyre Weeps In Secrecy Of The Night
(https://defiledlight.bandcamp.com/album/iii-the-vampyre-weeps-in-secrecy-of-the-night)

Despite a few definite misses (see my review of Atel/Bastard of Majesty Sin's split), Defiled Light have a solid record of mysterious, atmospheric lofi black metal releases with indistinguishable cover art. Sanguine Relic, an anonymous black metal project from some unknown location with a vampire obsession (all good signs), are behind the label's latest release, III - The Vampyre Weeps In Secrecy Of The Night, a collection of simple, lofi, chaotic black metal tunes. The material point: if you like the rest of Defiled Light's catalog, you'll probably like Sanguine Relic's latest release as well. The noted standout of III's otherwise numeral tracklisting is a cover of "The Anchor Song," the closer of Bjork's Debut. The barely-recognizable re-imagining transforms the warm saxophone melodies of the original into chilling black metal tremolo riffs. It's a highly unintuitive cover that nonetheless incorporates Sanguine Relic's strongest elements: jagged howls, traditional black metal minimalism, and a touch of the experimental.

Recommended.

Heretic Rites - In Satan's Claws
(https://hereticrites.bandcamp.com/album/in-satans-claws)

Considering "Ratkovo" is about the most metal-sounding name for a city I've ever heard, it's no surprise these Serbian doom-rockers know what they're about. Heretic Rites, perhaps best described as Uncle Acid's pentagram-obsessed brother-in-law, have great riffs, creepy vocal melodies, and a raw production aesthetic—the perfect formula for occult metal. There's also plenty of variety in the band's songwriting: "Boot Knife Sacrifice" and "Return to the Castle" break up their plodding doom with passages of old-school heavy metal speed, while "Holy Place" combines the band's creepy aesthetic with up-tempo hard rock. In a market increasingly overcrowded with indifferent Ghost and Uncle Acid knockoffs, don't miss this trio of Serbians that do occult rock right.

Highly Recommended.

Black Mantra - From The Grave of Madness
(https://black-mantra.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-graves-of-madness-ep)

Typical stoner-doom bands build their songs around enormous, filthy riffs and leave the other instruments to unobtrusively fill up the remaining space. It's pure guitar music through and through—the unabashed worship of the distorted riffs to which all other instrumentation, including the vocals, must submit. Brazil's Black Mantra, by contrast, presents a fascinating inversion of stoner/doom minimalism, with the band's guitars merely undergirding a cacophony of organs and electric keyboards. Not that Black Mantra can't do a big, tasty riff—"Stillborn" and "The Left-Handed" certainly prove that they can—but the spooky doom act focuses instead on gothic atmospheres, a kitschy B-movie aesthetic, and the slow, creepy melodies that some metal fans call "processional." Imagine if the hippie cultists of Menace Ruine exhumed and reanimated Peter Steele as their new frontman and you'll get an idea of what Black Mantra are doing here—deep, vampiric vocals and all.

Highly Recommended.