venom prison - primeval

i was fairly surprised when i learned that the singer of venom prison was the former singer of wolfdown. i really enjoyed those two early wolfdown 7"es and their debut full length. when she left the german based band, things went really downhill for wolfdown. not in terms of music but in terms of misogyny - but that's a different story.

i'm happy larissa stupar is back with this straight up death metal band. their distinctive hardcore punk edge is really refreshing and i'm looking forward to get more of their stuff. "primeval" is a re-recording of their first two e.p.'s from 2015 plus two new songs. nice colour-way limited 500 copies and released through prosthetic records.

depravity - grand malevolence

depravity from australia deliver fierce tech death that is too good to deny. probably they won't break genre boundaries but if you like this style of metal than there is no way around depravity. transcending obscurity from india done a great job on the packaging and vinyl presentation. the colour-way is insane and the metallic foil gatefold looks amazing. limited to 80 copies.

gatecreeper - an unexpected reality

wasn't overly impressed by the announcement of a new gatecreeper e.p. to be honest. found "deserted" quite overrated and was more into "sonoran depravation" because of the faster song material. when i listened to the e.p. digitally i was floored by how great the first part was. fast and snotty death metal the way i like it. by the time i ordered first press was already gone. love this purple splatter version out of 1.000 copies anyway. closed casket activities. 2021.

enfold darkness - adversary omnipotent

the last record of my the artisan era batch. enfold darkness is a symphonic technical death metal band and their shit is right up my alley. if you like dimmu borgir and have also a heart for bands like obscura or beyond creation than this is for you. pretty slick artwork and awesome vinyl pressing (sacred variant limited to 100 copies) round out the package.

a loathing requiem - acolytes eternal

when i grabbed a copy of the predecessor "psalms of misanthropy", i couldn't leave "acolytes eternal" sitting in the digital store. the follow-up came to life in 2015 and is not quite as goog as "psalms..." in my opinion. still a wild trip through death metal's extreme ends and if you like stuff on the artisan era in general, you won't be disappointed by "acolytes eternal". constellation variant limited to 100 copies.

a loathing requiem - psalms of misanthropy

actually never heard of this band before when i stumbled upon the vinyl editions over at the artisan era. found out that this is a one-man project by inferi guitarist malcolm pugh. he wrote this album in 2010 already and last year it saw the vinyl treatment. pretty good tech death which was too good to pass on it. nice colour-way (firestorm variant) too and limited to 100 copies.