Tag: aftermath music

Heavydeath – Sarcophagus in the Sky [2017; Aftermath Music, Flowing Downwards]

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On their third album, Heavydeath provide over an hour of violent doom metal with gothic grandiosity, strong riffs put through lengthy runs, and atmospherics that are effective without overwhelming the music.  The uncluttered instrumentation builds an impressively detailed and consistent mood, and while there is some repetition over the ~70 minutes, the band always seems aware of how much it’s showing up, and takes appropriate steps to subvert or celebrate it when it verges on excess.  For such a large album, the songs flow into each other surprisingly well, but the rises and falls of energy within the individual songs leads to the album having some unsteady momentum, with the ending arriving rather abruptly.  Outside of that, it’s excellent work, but not the best place for newcomers to start exploring the band’s catalog.

Nettlecarrier – Black Coffin Rites [2015; Aftermath Music]

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On their second album, the Norwegian group of Nettlecarrier deliver seven tracks of rugged black metal, with murky mixing swamping the battering percussion and keening guitar while the gurgling hisses spike into howls for the vocals.  Not much new is done with the style, but the group does a good job of building atmosphere and sound density before throwing in sharp turns or drops, and the rhythms retain a compelling force throughout the album.  Unfortunately, the mood, tempo, and song structuring are all fairly monotonous, with only minor touches of variation between them.  A few keyboard inserts would have gone a long way, while also being a neat little homage to early Norwegian black metal, but as it is, the album starts feeling stale enough to undermine its harshness about halfway through its run.