immanifest - macrobial

the artisan era has a great roster. bands such as inferi and inanimate existence and their releases are constant guests on my turntable. so everytime they put out something new, i check it out. when i heard the first tunes of florida based immanifest i was sold right away.

they play that brand of tech death which is almost typical for the artisan era but there is more to it. especially the keyboards remind me heaps of "spiritial black dimensions" and "puritanical euphoric misanthropia" era dimmu borgir. if you like symphonic death metal, then you should give it a try at least. 300 copies made as "spirit" variant. the artisan era. 2019.

blood incantation - hidden history of the human race

the ancient deities whom i called upon did finally here my prayers and brought me this re-press of blood incantation's celebrated sophomore release, called "hidden history of the human race". that one is a bit of an oddball for century media europe. usually they don't re-pressings that soon and they usually press mono colour vinyl.

in this i can only say that i'm happy that the label strayed from their path. the orbital haze looks slick and i finally can listen to that sucker on vinyl without giving an arm and a leg for a copy. musically this is breathtaking sci-fi prog death metal. check them out, is my advise. 500 copies made. century media. 2019/2020.

blood incantation - starspawn

a force of nature (or force of universe?). blood incantation destroys my turntable as of late. these guys never crossed paths with me until their latest album "hidden history of the human race" was released last year. so of course i missed out on all previous pressings of their debut "starspawn" from 2016. i saw the announcement for this pressing by dark descent records and as they are u.s.a. based, i didn't plan on ordering a copy because of the fucked up shipping rates.

the more i was surprised that high roller records from germany had copies in stock the other day. i ordered in an instant and when my copy arrived, i was delighted to see that i got a copy with less black in the mix. so you can see that it's actually a colour copy without holding it against a light source. a brilliant record that still lacks a bit of finesse, though. but maybe that's just because i listened to "hhothr" prior to "starspawn". anyway, love the album! period. dark descent records. 2016/2020.

the ocean - precambrian

another page in my personal book of bands i ignored way too long. heard about the ocean and especially about this album before (mostly because of similarities to mastodon) but never bothered to check them out.

when i was in the evil greed online store ordering the latest acacia strain record, i was looking to add sonething to safe on shipping. they still had colour copies left of "precambrian", even though this re-press came out last year already.

must have been their last copy because it was sold the next day. musically this albums rips. a wild trip in the beginning - matching the lava eruptions and inhospitable weather chaos in the early precambrian - and well balanced last two-thirds based on the forming of first life.

a masterpiece which spans over 80 minutes and is spread among six sides of vinyl. a top notch presentation. glossy die-cut gatefold and three different colour blobs inside of crystal clear vinyl. the vinyl feels a bit flimsy but sounds super silent. beautiful record all around. 250 copies as lava pool edition. metal blade records/. 2008/2019.

the acacia strain - it comes in waves

wow, the acacia strain are back with a vengeance. three years since "gravebloom" and the band brings a significant change of sound to the table. reminds me of "death is the only mortal" which also felt different to the rest of the band's catalogue.

dark and bleak as always but almost no hardcore elements anymore. a mix of death metal and post metal as far as i feel about it. at first i wasn't sure if i like it, but with repeated spins it grows on me more and more. the presentation is outstanding. sturdy stoughton tip-on gatefold sleeve, smashing artwork, invisible ink and sharp white/black merge vinyl. 700 copies made. closed casket activities. 2020.

nightbearer - tales of sorcery and death

another testimony records release. this time the debut record by german death metal squad nightbearer. i came across the cover art in the shop and was intrigued by it.

they came up with a solid old school death metal record with some keyboards here and there. the tolkien themed songs are the best on the record, so a full album of that next time? 100 copies made. testimony records. 2019.

beyond creation - algorythm (blue marble edition)

i am usually not much of a fanboy. i do like a little chat with band members when it's appropriate but i don't run after them or chase for guitar picks. in this case though, beyond creation stole my heart. i went to see them play the faces of death tour with decapitated and a few others last saturday in hamburg.

when i entered the venue i had already missed the three supporting bands because of construction sites and traffic jam. beyond creation started right away and i stood in awe because of the precise musicianship and energy they brought across. after that, decapitated were fantastic as well but to me the canadians took the cake.

after the show i went to the merch table and guitarist kevin chartré took care of it. we had a little chit-chat, i bought a shirt and another vinyl version of "algorythm" and because i let him keep the change, he gave me a poster. he seemed like a real nice dude. guitarist/vocalist simon girard and him did also sign my copy.

love the shade of blue and the marble effect. the embossed gatefold sleeve is a piece of art, too. 500 copies made. season of mist records. 2018.

sentient horror - morbid realms

by chance i stumbled upon german old school death metal label testimony records from hamburg. being on a little osdm kick as of late, i couldn't avoid to recognise how good their release by a band called sentient horror was. i didn't hesitate to order a vinyl copy of "morbid realms" on this nice black/yellow merge variant. 150 copies made. 2019.