ANTI-GOTH 092
At the time Armour originally released the “Sonichouse Tapes” Demo, many approached the band with trepidation. Although Werwolf’s myriad musical projects already covered diverse terrain, the thought of the man behind Satanic Warmaster playing in a band that draws its influences primarily from bands like W.A.S.P., Accept, and even Motley Crue was somewhat difficult to grasp. Once the recording was proliferated, however, it became apparent that this band was more than a novelty. The music here is authentic and sincere and taps into the same reservoir of alcohol and lust that fueled the 1980’s heavy metal scene. NWN! was fortunate to release the U.S. CD version of this excellent demo and is now proud to present it as a limited picture disc version.
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Terrorama/Adorior split MLP
ANTI-GOTH 166
While Terrorama has been affiliated with NWN! for many years now, this split LP release pairs them with the highly regarded Adorior—a pairing which suits both bands particularly well. Both Adorior and Terrorama, arguably equally underrated, deliver genre-defying metal that cuts across the boundaries of black, death, and thrash. It is clear from this release as well as their previous work that neither band concerns itself with remaining inside the confines of the various subcategories of metal, but instead appropriate elements from each in order to summon something so malevolent, so impure that the use of such categories to describe these bands becomes trite and misguided. Adorior have long been producing some of the U.K.’s most demonic sounds. Despite the band’s limited output, each release shows them incorporated new styles and further refining their approach. A penchant for quality control is one of the characteristics that sets Adorior apart from so many of their contemporaries. The tracks on this split are certainly no exception to this general pattern. Here, Adorior reach deep into the depths of the abyssic realms of hell and spew forth demonic manifestations of their agonizing visions. Terrorama then carry the listener into ever increasing dimensions of darkness. Although frequently overlooked, Terrorama have spent the better part of the last decade producing some of the most evil blackened deathrash. Since the release of their excellent “Omnipotence” LP in 2008, Terrorama have remained silent. The material on this split, some of the best the band has recorded to date, breaks that silence with a deafening and bestial roar.
Did hard version includes two woven patches.
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Voor “Evil Metal” CD
ANTI-GOTH 171
CD version with tracks from the regular LP version.
1. Evil Metal
2. In The Hell
3. Creatures Of War
4. No Title
5. Bloodlust (Venom cover)
6. Crionics (Slayer cover)*
7. Evil Metal
8. In The Hell
9. No Title
10. Like A Snake
11. Evil Metal*
*March 1985 session outtakes. Scroll down to read the full description.
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Tudor “Ultra Black Metal” CD
ANTI-GOTH 027
Double CD version of the out of print release from 2004. Includes all tracks from the die hard version DLP+7″. Review of the original DLP taken from http://www.thecorroseum.com/rev/tudor2.htm :
Well, the days when we still marveled in wonder of how recordings like these could ever reach our ears are long gone, but I’m not bloody complaining. Still, the state of current Metal affairs begs the question: Is this particular “kvlt-reissue” warranted? Yes, it is. With only 2 tracks off their debut 7″ to go by, you can’t really scream “underrated gods!”-bloody-murder to the world and wonder why no-one listens. We - need - MORE, and who to give it to us but the highly revered Nuclear War Now label? NWNs releases has so far had the stamp of total dedication and professionalism and “Ultra Black Metal” is hardly an exception. Thank doG they got here first! The packaging is of course of pristine NWN-class. A beautiful fold-out cover with linernotes/bio and original demotape covers, innersleeves chock-full of awesome, east-euro-misery-oozing band pix and of course a lyric sheet for those awake at the high-school Czech class. This particular Die-hard edition comes on marbled vinyl, including a red vinyl reprint of the “Spalovna” 7″, a killer looking patch, obi and a Rock Idol poster to nail up next to Dee Snider and Blackie Lawless above your bed. “Ultra Black Metal” contains the band’s second and third full-length demos, “Zombie” from ‘90 and “Skeletor” from ‘91. Now, if you found your way to this review I’m guessing you’re not entirely unfamiliar with late 80’s/early 90’s East-Euro Black Thrash-sound. It’s stale, crude & awkward, just the way we want it, although the “Zombie” recordings may lean a tad too much in the crude direction. It’s hard to pick any particular standout moments, but thanks to the originality of those insane, oversimplistic choruses, the demo work nicely as a whole. The title track bears a haunting similarity to the DEATH SS song with the same name, although not in a rip-off kind of way. Song by song we speed up to Thrash-pace and things would have become a bit tedious if it weren’t for the immensely cool vocals. You simply cannot fail with Czech vocals in Metal! The “Skeletor”-session is where things get more interesting. The band is slowly moving upwards towards the songwriting class the of the outstanding 7″ A-side in songs like “Destrutce Mozku”, “Král Kanybal” (tango-beats!) and the pounding, must-hear “Excsorszit”, a worthy competitor to the unholiest of ROOT-compositions. There be studded leather, there be skulls, there be inverted crosses aplenty and TUDOR are more than worthy of these beastly medals. They may not have been the new old MASTER’S HAMMER, but the infernal noise engraved on these disks should be infernal enough for any and all jaded kult-metal fans. If it just sounds like poorly executed zero-budget Thrash sung in weird language to you, you were wrong to leave your comfy, western middle-class condo in the first place. This polluted concrete ghetto is not big enough for me, TUDOR and you. Look, new MEGADETH-album out now! Hurry hurry, “metal-dude”…
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Ares Kingdom “Incendiary” Woven Patch
About 3″x3″. Full color woven patch with fine details not possible with embroidered patches. Ready to be sown on to your metal vest.
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Inquisition “Anxious Death/Forever Under” DLP Repress
Anti-Goth 042
At the time he began Inquisition, Dagon, the band’s founding member, was living in Colombia. He formed the band with other Colombian musicians and began to record and play shows there. The band’s first two releases, the 1990 “Anxious Death” MLP and the 1993 “Forever Under” demo were both recorded and released while the band was still located in Colombia and quickly became scarce as the band’s reputation grew. Upon moving back to the United States, Dagon recruited drummer Incubus and embarked on a very different sound that would help define U.S. Black Metal. The sound Inquisition is known for today differs markedly, however, from the one that characterized the band’s early recordings. Indeed, there is almost no resemblance between the recorded output of the band during these two phases of its history. When Inquisition began, the band solely played a primitive style of technical thrash with hints of death metal. Dagon’s vocals, although they have an evil, proto-Black Metal quality, sound nothing like the grim croaking emanations that appear on later Inquisition work. The music on these releases is spastic and unbridled, characteristics that are reinforced by the raw nature of the production. And, although distinct from the sound for which Inquisition would later become famous, these recordings stand on their own in terms of both the quality of the music as well as their historical significance.
Band bio written by Dagon.
Everything has a beginning, and, with this release you are able to witness mine…
While living in Colombia at a young age I was introduced to this art form and ideology most of us regard to as Metal. Once inspired by what some great bands were doing at the time and witnessing what our local scene was producing as well such as Reencarnacion and Parabellum I felt it was almost an obligation to initiate a band of my own and create a form of music few were doing at that time, not to mention only a handful of bands existed then.
To find the path that leads to the cult of Inquisition I must guide you to what few know.
In 19.88 I created Guillotine. No demos were ever recorded, no official releases surfaced yet there is a rehearsal that might surface into the underground one day and a videotaped show from 19.88 in which Guillotine was debuting live and opening for Nemesis and Reencarnacion. This is the time when truly, Inquisition is born.
Guillotine was the start for Inquisition because the only changes made were a name change which in 19.89 took place. I felt it necessary to give the cult a new name because I began hearing of more bands with the Guillotine name. I gave this some thought and finally found something that represented a dark time in history and was also an institution responsible for the extermination of many innocent people and jews long before our time and the irony of the entire thing is the fact it was done in name of God.
There are two releases here. The debut MLP was recorded in September of 19.90. The songs on it were written the year prior, 19.89, but due to a lack of money we could not go to the studio when we wanted to; the good thing however was we were able to improve our performance of these songs the entire time we were gathering funds to record until the year later.
The other songs are from the 19.93 demo “Forever Under”. Here you can witness a raw and even dark form of Thrash metal from an era that was beginning to see the “end” of the 80’s Thrash metal legacy due to the more powerful Death Metal rise and small but growing Black Metal circle up north.
The songs on the “Forever Under” demo were written between 19.90 and 19.92. A few of them were not included in the first recording due to the lack of money for sufficient studio time so we were basically forced to debut with a MLP and leave all the other songs out for a second demo; therefore some songs on “Forever Under” should have been recorded in the 19.90 session.
The MLP of 19.90 had a pressing order of 500 but because of imperfections at the pressing plant only a few over 400 came out.
The “Forever Under” demo has no number and I must mention that this demo was really never pressed. I had some covers made, 500 of them, and then I would go to a friends house who had 4 tape decks and would dub this demo onto blank tapes never keeping track of how many were sold.
Eventually a small label in Colombia made about 200 of these around the year 2.002, actual factory made cassettes but still hard to find.
These words from me to you are for giving you some insight as to what the early Inquisition days were about. To me they represent a learning era and one of growing not only musically but also evolving ideologically into what it is now.
If you listen close enough you can actually hear the roots of what has influenced the present style of the ancient cult.
This was the beginning of the path upon I walk… welcome to the Cult.
Hail Satan,
Dagon
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Voor “Evil Metal” LP and Die Hard DLP
ANTI-GOTH 171
Voor is among the many bands that emerged in the 1980’s, released a handful of tracks, and disappeared leaving behind them just two demos which, although nearly perfect, have been relegated to obscurity for the past 25 years. Many of these classic “demo-only” bands have been discovered and reissued long before now, but Voor has remained hidden despite the cult status that their work has attained. After several years of searching for the band members in order to gain permission to disinter the remains of these mysterious recordings, NWN! has at last unearthed the wretched carcass of Voor. Despite their limited output and the untimely demise of the band, Voor have been worshipped and revered by fans of evil Death/Speed Metal ever since the tape trading days. While Voor began in roughly the same time and place (early 1980’s, Quebec), they never achieved the notoriety of their comrades in Voivod (see Away’s liner notes in this release). Instead, although a European tour was in the works and numerous labels were approaching the band based on the rabid interest generated by their demos, their drummer quit unexpectedly and the band quickly dissolved. A quarter century later, however, the remnants of this savage militia’s violent rampage still evoke the most unholy bloodlust. The first demo, released in 1985, was a live rehearsal recording with no overdubs. The live nature of this demo enhances the malicious effect of Voor’s attack by accentuating the band’s steadfast reliance on primitive and sinister aggression as their morbid trademark. The following year, Voor entered a local studio to record their second demo. Simply (and accurately) titled “Evil Metal,” this tape featured re-recorded versions of three of the tracks on the first demo as well as one new song. The guitars on these recordings cut like shrapnel across the churning mechanized death sounds of the rhythm section resulting in a recording of unmatched devastation and cruelty. The vocals, caustic and raw, tear across the rotten fabric of the songs with an added bestial harshness that lends the tracks a proto-Black Metal character. In truth, these recordings should be widely praised as among the earliest and most powerful of the first wave of Death Metal. Indeed, so potent are the songs on these demos that Voor’s relative obscurity through the years appears now as an incomprehensible injustice. Accordingly, the purpose of this release is to provide Voor a formal vinyl and CD reissue so that their work can be properly appreciated. The regular version of this LP compiles the two Voor demos, both remastered for vinyl by James Plotkin. The “Evil Metal” tracks were mastered directly from the original master tapes, while the source for the 1985 demo was a well-kept master cassette provided by the band. The Die Hard edition includes a second LP containing additional Voor outtake tracks as well as the Roswell demo recorded in 1992. (Roswell was a post-Voor project featuring guitarist Sylvian Gilbert and bassist Steve Lessard. More eccentric and punk-influenced, the Roswell recording provides a suitable epilogue to the history of this early period of Voor).
Regular version. (Gatefold jacket, printed innersleeve, black vinyl LP, and A2 poster)
Die hard version. (Gatefold jacket, printed innersleeve, red vinyl LPs, and A2 poster, separate LP jacket for bonus LP, slipcase cover modeled after the actual 7″ analog reel box, two woven patches, and vinyl sticker)
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Blasphemophagher “Return to Nuclear Hell” LP
ANTI-GOTH 167
“Return to Nuclear Hell” is a new collection of hymns to the radioactive apocalypse by Italy’s most heinous nuclear horde, Blasphemophagher. With the exception of one new track, the tracks on this LP were recorded between 2004 and 2008 and were previously only available on CD format. This LP contains all of the Blasphemophagher tracks featured on the “Cult of Nuclear Hell” split CD with Bestial Raids as well as the three tracks featured on the three way “Tyrannous Mutations of Sathanas” split. With the release of this LP, the entire Blasphemophagher catalog is now available on vinyl. In addition to these previously released tracks, this LP also contains one new hymn of destruction entitled, “Lord of Death Continuum.” Raw Death Black sounds, fleshripping guitar riffs, pounding radioactive drums, bestial bass detonations and mayhemic vomits are the trademarks of Blasphemophagher and this compilation finds the band performing in the best nuclear tradition.
Regular version. (Black vinyl LP, foil stamped jacket, 12″x12″ insert and A2 poster)
Die hard version. (Splatter vinyl LP, foil stamped jacket, 12″x12″ insert, A2 poster, woven patch and sticker)
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Vanhelgd “Praise the Serpent” 12″ EP
ANTI-GOTH 170
The “Praise the Serpent” EP consists of two old Ceremonial Execution songs that have been disinterred, molested and dismembered by Vanhelgd. The songs were originally intended for the “Church of Death” album but were taken out due to lack of space on the record. The first song “Praise the Serpent” includes Robert Kardell from Ceremonial Execution on vocals and winds its way slowly into the dark stinking swamps of the human mind. The second song, “the Triumph of Death” is an examination of the intersection point between life and death, the absence hope and an excavation of the mass graves of the battlefield.
Limited to 250 copies; all on black vinyl with woven patch. I am sold out of my copioes. Iron Bonehead has the last remaining copies in his distro. Contact them at: info@ironbonehead.de
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Root “The Revelation” Double LP
ANTI-GOTH 172
Root’s “The Revelation” is unquestionably one of the most mysterious releases in this enigmatic band’s catalog. Although it was originally never intended to be officially released, it was eventually unearthed and released on CD. That CD, however, does no justice to the music it contains and was not even acknowledged as an official release by some band members. The details surrounding the recording of “The Revelation” are nearly as obscure as the music itself. Root’s debut album, “Zjeveni,” was released in 1990 and was recorded entirely in Czech. When Root began recording their second album they chose to present the lyrics in English in order to spread their message of darkness even further. At the same time, the idea was presented to also re-record the “Zjeveni” album with English vocals. Because it was never intended for actual release, this version appears only in a raw, unmixed form. In many ways, this primitive sound is more akin to Root’s sound on their demos than to that of their early albums. Another curious element of “The Revelation” is the inclusion of additional intros recorded and added to the album that are not present on “Zjeveni.” Virtually nothing else is known about how this particular recording was made or discovered. It does, however, deserve a formal place alongside the many other classic Root releases and this proper issue of “The Revelation” should ensure that it achieves its rightful status.
Regular version. (Double black vinyl, gatefold jacket printed on foil paper, A2 poster, and 16 page booklet)
Die hard version. (Double splatter vinyl, gatefold jacket printed on foil paper, A2 poster, 16 page booklet, woven patch and sticker)
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Dead Congregation “Graves of the Archangels” LP Repress
ANTI-GOTH 080
Repress of the modern classic death metal album. First 100 orders will receive the limited clear vinyl version.
Culled from the darkest corridors of abyssic ruins comes the first full length release by Greek death metal demons, Dead Congregation. Not only does this album live up to the high expectations that were set for this band following the release of their excellent 2005 mini album, Purifying Consecrated Ground, this album sets a new standard for metal in general. Originally having released a handful of recordings under the name, Nuclear Winter, Dead Congregation have since evolved into one of the most innovative and powerful bands in the underground. Refusing to be confined to a narrow conception of death metal, Dead Congregation delve into obscure recesses to conjure up a sound that is unique and yet still adheres to the fundamental pillars of death metal songwriting. While Dead Congregation draw most heavily on brooding and evil North American and Finnish style death metal such as Immolation, Demigod, and Incantation, they also incorporate other extraneous influences to produce a sound that cannot be directly attributed to any of their predecessors. Listen, for instance, to the monumental last track in which they deftly and subtly employ elements of 1990’s Swedish black metal to accentuate the climax of the album. With this album, Dead Congregation have taken chances by experimenting somewhat with the death metal format. However, this album is not an “experimental” metal album. Dead Congregation do not besmirch the history of death metal with any sort of pretentious artistic vision. Instead they find themselves merely tweaking the formula just enough to produce novel results. Ultimately, Graves of the Archangels is nearly unrivaled by any death metal album released in the past decade and few bands in the history of metal have ever produced such a profound combination of technical agility and emotional depth. Listening to this album it is clear that its creation provided a cathartic channel for the release of an obscure malevolence and darkness that possesses the members of Dead Congregation.
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Embrace of Thorns “Atonement Ritual” CD Repress
ANTI-GOTH 121
Taken from their site: EMBRACE OF THORNS were formed in 1999 under the monicker of REQUIEM,and switched only few months later to the current band name. Despite the line-up changes the founding member devilpig continues towards damnation with the precious contribution of herald of demonic pestilence and with the help of session drummers. Inspired by the real forces of demonic,morbid and obscure black/death metal EMBRACE OF THORNS create their own soundscapes of chaos and destruction. Bestial, desecrating, menacing and malicious. There is no room left for weak,soft melodies in our cosmos… ONLY fatal, asphyxiating blackness… SCORN & PRIDE DEVOTION, BLASPHEMY, INTOLERANCE
