Vahrzaw – Twin Suns & Wolves’ Tongues

Vahrzaw brings us death metal from Australia, and despite this being only their second album, the band has been around since the early 90’s in some form. “Twin Suns & Wolves’ Tongues” is a solid offering of hatred, not unlike bands such as Deicide or Marduk. There is so much seething anger that the band has on this album. Over the course of 8 tracks and 32 minutes, they present an album that provides brutality, speed, aggression, and even some melody. In fact, it might be a bit of a misnomer to call them death metal. There is a lot of black metal influence here. From the spitting venom of vocalist George van Doorn, to the use of melodic leads, to even some of the tremolo-picking choices, there is certainly a lot of black metal influence on “Twin Suns & Wolves’ Tongues”. With that said, the reason death metal is an appropriate tag is largely because of the song structures. There are a lot of brutal riffs coming from the low end of the guitar. Additionally, the entire album consists of more than just blasting and shrieked vocals.

This album is filled with highlights and great moments. “…On The Shoulders of Giants” features the best guitar work on the album, as there is some serious shredding followed by some great leads. The very next track, “Endroom” brings us back to the Swedish black metal scene, as it quickly delivers some Dissection worship. The melody in this section, accompanied by the simplistic drumming (with plenty of abuse on the ride cymbal) is brilliant, and is by far my favourite sound in black metal. It doesn’t last too long, but it really gives the track a feel impending doom. The rest of the songs are relatively similar, and while there are still other enjoyable tracks, these two are definitely my favourite. On the whole, there is not a single weak moment to be found on the album; even when they are blasting away, there is purpose to it. The production is almost flawless. Just enough clarity to hear every instrument (bass included), but not too clear so as to ruin the atmosphere. The guitars are crunchy and heavy when they're playing riffs, yet incredibly smooth when soloing. The only weak spot in the production is that the bass drums are somewhat in the back. They're still easy to hear, but not quite as loud as one would hope for. Nevertheless, that is a small complaint considering how good the rest of the album sounds.

Vahrzaw has put together a really impressive extreme metal album. They’ve shed all of the bad elements of death and black metal, leaving only what makes those subgenres great. As a result, this album turns out to be a hate-filled experience of pure bliss. The riffs are brilliant; the drumming is even better, and the vocals will cause even the tamest individuals anger. This is certainly a unique combination of death and black metal, but it is one well worth hearing!

Be sure to check out and like Vahrzaw on Facebook!

Highlights

"...On The Shoulders of Giants"

"Endroom"

"Twin Suns & Wolves' Tongues"

Final Rating

4.3/5 or 86%. 

Written by Scott

Contaminated – Pestilential Decay

Historically Australia has brought us some of the most depraved, disgusting, and filth-ridden death metal in existence. For some reason, there’s a disproportionate abundance of disturbed songwriters living there. The next band in this style is Contaminated, a two-piece group formed only last year. “Pestilential Decay” is their first demo, and it is brought to us courtesy of Australian label Crawling Chaos Productions. This demo is truly a sickening creation, and if you crave abhorrent death metal, it is for you.

The first thing you’ll notice about “Pestilential Decay” is the atmosphere it creates. It is absolutely cavernous. The riffs are huge, and yet, they sound distant. There’s influence from all of the death metal greats. There are crushing harmonized guitars (see “Formless Wastes”) not unlike some used by a band like Autopsy. An Immolation-styled riff pops out of nowhere on “Forlorn and Desolate”, while the other tracks are littered with tremolo picked riffs in a mid-tempo fashion that recall bands like Depravity. There’s plenty of speed too. Blast beats are in good supply on this demo, but certainly not abused. Doomy riffs will also show up constantly, and are used to great effect on the title track. There is excellent attention to detail in terms of creating an aura of dread. This feeling is primarily derived from the production. The bass playing may be non-existent, but the drums and guitars get the job done. Both of them sound like they were recorded with the microphones 10 feet away. As a result, the production isn’t in your face. The grunts are low in the mix and completely indecipherable. Ultimately, it all comes together quite nicely to create a unique sound. 

Normally I put a lot of emphasis on the quality of songwriting in a release, but Contaminated plays a style of music that has no business creating memorable songwriting. If there are hooks here, they haven’t quite done their job. Still, even if you don’t like this style of death metal, the atmosphere is a huge redeeming factor. The other one is the plethora of influences that are drawn from. There is no one band that you can say Contaminated sounds like, mainly because they pay homage to a ton of legendary bands. When all is said and done, this is a demo worth owning because it manages to be unique and interesting in a style that is very hard to stand out in.

Be sure to check out and like Contaminated on Facebook!

Highlights

All of it

Final Rating

3.75/5 or 75%. 

Written by Scott

Interview with Wayde Martin (Owner of Crawling Chaos Productions)

If you're man enough to read on after seeing that mugshot up there, than you are a brave soul. I recently interviewed the man above about his new mail order/distribution/label Crawling Chaos Productions. If you like crude and punishing death metal of the ugliest kind, than this a label you should be following. Actually, you should follow them even if you like other shit, because he's got it. Maybe. 

SFM -  G'day cunt, now let's get started with the generic background info questions. Where ya from? How long has Crawling Chaos been going? What are some of the releases you currently have out? What genres of metal do you specialize in?

Wayde - Hey fuckwit! I’m from Australia, hiding a couple of hours south of Sydney. 

I started up Crawling Chaos mid-2013 when the Coffins Slave closed down. It was a matter of sheer opportunity since I had been helping to keep TCS afloat since mid-2012 but ultimately things went downhill due to a lot of factors, which I won’t discuss here, and the controls were handed over to me. 

I currently have two releases out; the first one is “Ritual Obscuration” by Brisbane black/death maniacs VILIFIER and the second, which just came out this week, is long-running Melbourne blackened death metal band VAHRZAW’S second full length album “Twin Suns and Wolves’ Tongues”.

I prefer to work within the realms of death and black metal, as these are my two favourite subgenres of metal, but I would also be willing to work with other styles of metal if a band catches my attention!

SFM - What are your goals with this label both professionally and personally? How far do you want to see this label go, and what do you think it can be in the future? 

Wayde - My goal is to work with killer bands to release awesome material and contribute as much as I can to the underground metal scene. 

I’m not too fussed on making the label “big”, so to speak, but, I would like to see it receive recognition in the future. I’ve always had a lot of respect for people who work their arses off to keep the underground alive and hope to one day be deserving of such respect from others.

Ideally I’d like it to pay my bills, but, that’s a tad unrealistic! Haha. 

SFM - Now I know you're a diehard metalhead, as you've spent some years running the Witching Metal Webzine, but there's quite a jump from running a blog on the internet, to running a mail order/distribution/record label. Has anyone helped you get this going and has it been difficult at all trying to run Crawling Chaos? 

Wayde - I had a lot of help from Hushy (former owner of the Coffins Slave, he now runs a screen-printing business called Two Headed Dog, check it out if you want merch made up for your band!), he taught me a lot about how to run things and what not to do. I’ve also received plenty of advice from other label owners. The most difficult part for me was building the website; everything else was pretty straight forward.

SFM - What are some of the current projects that you have in the works?

Wayde - Well now that the VAHRZAW CD is out, my next release will be a demo tape from CONTAMINATED, a crushing death metal band from Melbourne! Think Incantation, Convulse, Cianide and so on for influences.

SFM - Even with all of the awesome talent that's brewing down under, I'm sure you can't help but feel the need to work with killer bands across the globe. When you look to work with a band, do you specifically go through certain country's scenes, or do you just get in contact with any random band that you like?

Wayde - I would be more than happy to work with bands from overseas. For me, the main requirement is that I like their sound. If it doesn’t catch my ear, everything else is completely irrelevant. I don’t search through scenes, I just keep my eyes and ears open.

SFM - If you could work with any 3 "newer" bands going today, who would they be and why? What bands would be that much more awesome with "Crawling Chaos Productions" slapped on their CDs/Vinyls?

Wayde - This is a very difficult question to answer as I don't think I could narrow it down to just 3! So, I'm gonna be a cunt and not answer it. Ha! 

SFM - What do you look for in bands that you want to work with? Is there a specific sound, or is it just something that has to be metal and has to be good enough to catch your ear?  

Wayde - As mentioned above, I prefer to work within my personal favourite genres and the music has to be good enough to catch my ear. I'm not looking to put out hundreds of releases, just stuff that stands out to me. 

SFM - Well, that's the end of the interview. The floor is your's my smelly, Avssie amigo. 

Wayde - Thanks for the interview. Everyone reading should take the time to browse my store and buy some records at www.crawlingchaosproductions.com! Support underground labels! 

Vilifier Interview

I recently flew out to Australia in my private jet to interview N.B. of the Aussie death metal savages, Vilifier. If you like your death metal ugly, heavy and dark, than do yourself a favor and hit up Crawling Chaos Productions to get your hands on Vilifier's "Ritual Obscuration" EP. 

SFM - Greetings! Now for those reading this that don't know who you are (I'm gonna guess that's most of 'em) can you educate them on everything Vilifier. Where ya from? What sound can they expect? Who are your major influences?

NB - Gday mate, Where to start.... In a nutshell Vilifier started one night in 2007 under an old queenslander house after one too many beers and bongs, Incantation on the stereo and a direct lack of musical ability. At this stage the culprits involved were myself N.B (Lustration) Witchripper (ex Lustration, Demonreich maniac!) and Helveticunt (Abysm, Kingdom Of Decay). This was nothing more than an excuse to channel the ancient ones through alcoholic and narcotic ritual with feedback and distortion acting as the beacons towards the void, Turn the clock forward 4 years later and we are all in the same state again and have at our disposal a new drummer called Masokist (Blasmer, Ex Chemical Cascades) as Witchripper was off chasing women or something if my mind recalls correctly, At this time we had a ritual chamber/rehearsal room we shared with Lustration so we had access to recording gear (a broken 4 track) and equipment so with about 4 rehearsals we came up with 4 songs, 3 of them appeared on Rehearsal MMXI, recorded mainly to document the levels of our deprivation at the time until STI inquired about the project and after hearing the demo tracks signed the contract in blood to release the ancients unto the earth once more. That year we also recorded the two tracks that appeared on the split with Lustration.

Fast forward another year, I was then living in another state (Sydney) but the horde was kept alive by Masokist with the help of S.K (ex demonreich), J.Godkiller (ex demonreich, ex Lustration) and A.K (Abysm, Kingdom Of Decay) this lineup appeared on the Live Onslaught MMXII tape and is a recording of our set from Evil Invaders III where we played alongside Inquisition, Vomitor, Hobbs Angel Of Death, Assaulter and a heap of other death dealers and doom bringers from around Aus, This lineup minus A.K recorded the Ritual Obscuration release that was set to be released by STI until the closure of the label as I'm sure most people are aware of, this is where Wayde came to the rescue and on his label "Crawling Chaos Productions" released the first run of CDs for us, the new pressing was done by "Forgotten Wisdom Productions" in a much larger pressing but we are still in debt to Wayde for putting his money where his mouth is and releasing our shit!

Influences, in the beginning it was utter inebriation, incantation, goat molestor and my early stages of delving into the occult, these days it's less about a sound, and more about tapping that primal sound hidden deep within our subconscious and a call to arms for the guardians of the void.

SFM - Your most recent release is the demo "Ritual Obscuration," which is killer by the way, but what took the band 2 years to release proper, non-live recordings of these wicked tracks?

NB - Laziness for a start I guess, main reason was not having a stable lineup as we don't really have any full time members in the group, it's basically whoever is available and keen gets a spot, also recordings, bar budget 4track recordings haven't been a priority for us until recently as it is still a purely selfish affair the band. Ritual Obscuration for the most part was recorded whilst I was MIA down south, so I only laid vocals down on my return to Brisbane almost 2 years ago....

SFM - When I think of the Australian underground, I typically think of many of the bands who've been emulating their forefathers in Bestial Warlust, playing as punishing and fast as possible, but you guys have slowed things down a bit. Was it your intentions to sort of steer away from what a lot of the scene has been doing, or were you guys just really drunk listening to diSEMBOWELMENT one night? Both? 

NB - You hit the nail on the head right there mate, past and current members do have an attachment to Bestial Warlust in some regard, but I tire easily of playing those kind of riffs as it doesn't hold my attention or give me the same feeling as a diSEMBOWELMENT style riff does, sound wise I guess we do have a similar sound to the current Brisbane death metal scene (Impetuous Ritual, Grave Upheaval, Dungeons of Blood etc..) but it's far from what we aimed for, a nice surprise really haha... If at the time I could play guitar faster I would imagine the material being different and more savage, but I was playing guitar for 2 months before recording the demo... 

SFM - What do you want live viewers of the band to take away from the ideal Vilfiier live experience? Should they feel violated? Ripped off? Or should they not feel anything due to alcohol poisoning? 

NB - All 3 would be ideal. In essence, the live show consists of stupid amounts of alcohol, incense burning in offering to the skulls adorning the stage in effigy of the forgotten spirits, a wall of feedback and thunder of the ancients awakening all coming together in a crescendo to bring upon the end times. 

SFM - How did the partnership with Crawling Chaos come about? Did Wayde have to bribe you to agree to release "Ritual Obscuration?" 

NB - Drunken handjob I do believe. Nah, as mentioned earlier, our old label got closed down by the Gestapo, and Wayde was looking for a first release, and as our komrade in Germany had done all the layouts already, it was perfect timing. Hail to Wayde Martin... Never stop the madness! 

SFM - Is there any new material being conjured up for a future release yet? If so, when could fans expect some new, putrid offerings?

NB - Working on some new tracks for a split and a new EP, other than that nothing else is planned at this stage. 

SFM - Well, that's the end of the interview, thank you for your time. Do you have any words for your fans, old and new?

NB - Buy us a beer ya kunts! For those chasing the EP, hit up Forgotten Wisdom Productions in France, also soon we will have shirts available. Contact vilifiercult@gmail.com for info. 

Vilifier – Ritual Obscuration

Our good friends at Crawling Chaos Productions have managed to spew forth the first EP from Vilifier, a death metal band from the land down under. “Ritual Obscuration” is not for the faint of heart. In fact, despite being death metal, the production is much more suited for black metal. As the drums smash away, there is the feeling that the mics were left intentionally far away from the drums to create an echoing sound, not unlike many rawer black metal bands. The vocals have a similar effect to them. Both instruments tend to stay in the background in favour of putting forth the guitars, and that was really the correct choice on “Ritual Obscuration” because the guitar tone is lethal. When you think of a buzzsaw guitar tone, Razor or Destruction probably rightfully come to mind, but Vilifier has created something even more deadly on this release. It is never more evident than in the first track, which spends much of its time tremolo picking, and it sounds like each note that is picked is literally about to snap the strings of the neck of the guitar. 

As you may have noticed, I’ve spent most of this review on production so far, and that’s because it is what rules “Ritual Obscuration”. These four tracks are not among the most memorable, but that’s not an issue for Vilifier because they still mix it up. The entirety of the EP isn’t spent blasting, nor is it solely tremolo picking (though there is a lot of that). Sometimes the band can slow it down, and though the drums may be distant, they use a variety of different beats and fills. You won’t really find much, if any melody beyond the lower rumbling riffs, but the end result is a cavernous sounding filth-ridden release, and given Australia’s history of war metal and black/death/thrash metal bands, it really shouldn’t be any other way. Vilifier is sure to appeal to all fans of truly putrid death metal, so this is one release you don't want to miss out on. 

Be sure to check out and like Vilifer on Facebook!

Highlights

All of it

Final Rating

4.0/5 or 80%. 

Written by Scott