We render unto you what is still yours …
This week WG looks back at the band Sacred Reich with Marty’s essay ‘Is Nothing Sacred …?’, a fan’s account of a promising start and a disappointing end, and how an overly-inclusive musical aim can water down an established potency. Also, back from the warm winds of the South, Cliftonium returns to Up North living and writing with three reviews of four bands, warts and all, for your consideration, replete with healthy doses of Prog, Doom and Black Metal, all dripping forth from a filthy tap just for you. An interview with the legendary NWOBHM Satan should arrive in the coming weeks, so until then, stay thrashy my friends, and submit your lists of love and hate in the comments below. Oh and f*ck late April snow. Just sayin’.
Marty Rytkonen Playlist:
Summoning – Stronghold (I can assure you the track A Distant Flame Before the Sun is better than just about any whole album you have spun all week)
Summoning – Let Mortal Heroes Sing your Fame
Arch/Matheos – Sympathetic Resonance
John Arch – A Twist of Fate
King Carnage – Ounce of Mercy, Pound of Flesh
Coroner – Mental Vortex
Niden Div. 187 – Impergium
Panopticon – Kentucky
Kampfar – Mellom Skogkledde Aaser
Joel Grind – The Yellow Goat Sessions
Jim Clifton Playlist:
Anathema – Serenades
Obituary – The End Complete
Hooded Menace – Effigies of Evil
Sacramentum – Far Away From the Sun
Anthrax – Spreading the Disease
Hellhammer – Demon Entrails (compilation)
Morbid Angel – Domination
Iron Maiden – S/T
Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast
Bell Witch – Longing
Worm Gear 
A condensed version of a playlist:
Rotting Christ – Ade’s Winds Demo
Spektr – Cypher
Valborg – Nekrodepression
Owl – Owl
Vatican Shadow – Kneel Before Religious Icons
Undergang – Indhentet Af Doden
Lawless – Nite of the Wolf Demo
Necrot – Demo 1
The Chasm – Procession of the Infraworld
Immolation – Here in After & Unholy Cult
Eisenvater – II
Wormridden – Demo
Oblong Box – Demo
With Burning Comtempt – Red Visions (the bomb!) Thx Jim
Portal – Vexovoid (liking this the more and more i hear it, but only on my stereo system, playing on other smaller systems just sounds cluttered and drowned, i think their intention)
Field Rotation – Fatalist
Old Forgotten Lands – Primal
Sacriphyx – The Western Front
Rhinocervs – RH-15
Ash Borer – Bloodlands
Cultes Des Ghoules – Häxan
Cultes Des Ghoules – Spectres Over Transylvania
Cultes Des Ghoules/Szron split
Fell Voices – Regnum Saturni
Lamia Vox – Sigillum Diaboli
Merzbow vs. Nordvargr – Partikel I and II
Merzbow – Takahe Collage
Merzbow – Uzu Me Ku
Merzbow and Oren Ambarchi – Cat’s Squirrel
Svartsyn – Black Testament
The Meads of Asphodel – Sonderkommando
Manilla Road – Crystal Logic
I need to check out that Cultes Des Ghoules. Thanks for reminding me UA!
The newest one? Yes, definitely listen to it, it’s very good.
All of them. Never listened to them before
Pretty cool. Is this their new one? Seems a bit like crusty Black Metal with a tad of an Impaled Nazarene edge to it (at least old school I.N.)
Ah, I see. The new one released on HHB. I’ll be buying this. Very cool indeed! They are streaming the whole album on the HHB store site. Thanks again!
Last week’s heavenly hellish noise:
Skyclad – Wayward Sons of Mother Earth
Skyclad – Jonah’s Ark
Forlorn Chambers – Unborn and Hollow demo
Blood of Kingu – Sun in the House of the Scorpio
Clutch – Earth Rocker
Death – Symbolic
Suffocation – Pinnacle of Bedlam
Gentle Giant – Gentle Giant
…and some Wino worship:
Saint Vitus – Born Too Late
Wino – Punctuated Equilibrium
The Hidden Hand – Devoid of Colour
The Hidden Hand – The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote
Spirit Caravan – The Last Embrace
…and after last week’s Nevermore recommendations I found a batch of their albums used and ultra cheapo which I purchased on impulse…
Nevermore – Nevermore
Nevermore – Dead Heart in a Dead World
Nevermore – This Godless Endeavor
…and damn, post-sanctuary Loomis and Dane are growing on me. What’s to dislike when the singer is that fucking great eh?! Plus the detuned riffery is definitely not as “Nu-metal” sounding as I had in mind. Solid!
Jim> \m/ Spreading the Disease \m/ Fuck yeah, classic! Armed and Dangerous man!
Looking forward to reading the Sacred Reich article.
Freek – how is the new Suffocation?
It’s very good. Standard Suffocation fare, nothing new, but very good. Same quality as Blood Oath. The brutal death metal field is very crowded but there still is only one Suffocation (up there with Incantation and Immolation in my opinion).
They have a new drummer (Mike Smith has left, David Culross has re-entered the band) but I can’t say I hear much difference.
k, thanks. new immolation sounds good, not sure if it will top Majesty and Decay, which is one of my personal favorites, then Unholy Cult and Harnessing Ruin. So many great albums from them. They are one of the kings of DM in my mind.
You know what the say … ‘It’s a Madhouse!’
Hails back at you for Death’s Symbolic. I love that entire record. The Spanish acoustic guitar over Gene’s crazed drumming at the end of ‘Crystal Mountain’ gets me every time \m/
Wow, Summoning and Arch/Matheos, sounds like a good idea to me!
Jim> Yeah! And then after that part slowly fades that blazing opening riff of Misanthrope, wow… I love Symbolic for its progressive edge, just like Individual Thought Patterns. But hell, I love all Death albums!