No Colours Records

Inquisition's fifth full length of devoted Satanic black metal is what anyone should expect of the band, while not sounding at all derivative of past works. The production is crisp and clear, without falling into a betraying, modern sound unfit for such music. They've achieved an almost perfect sound on this release, with a full, dynamic range and powerful clarity for every instrument while managing to retain the feel of black cosmic voids. The guitar tone is Dagon's own monolithic, perfectly crafted distortion, owing to a firm understanding of the importance of the instrument's sound when playing black metal of this caliber, in this style. Too often black metal bands with a production value on the higher end of the scale will sacrifice the harshness and severity of tone for a cleaner, compressed, and pitifully "modern" sounding lifeless quality. It should be no surprise that Inquisition have not made such a sacrifice. 

Dagon's riffs carry the violent thrash of the past, quickly blasting chords in magnificent patterns and orderings that reach beyond the predictible stylings of much thrash to a higher level of ritualistic execution aided by Incubus's rapid drum-storm, but also move into the threatening, slow, ambience-creating density and melodic subtlety designed for maximum occult soundscapes that demonstrate excellent use of dynamics. The riffing is incredibly intelligent and streamlined, though sometimes moving into a complexity not familiar to black metal or thrash, with each transition and change of pace fluidly executed to precision. The irregular leads act as mediums for cosmic exploration rather than as spotlight stealing attention grabbers as they do in thrash or heavy metal. His mesmerizing chants and raspy-throated atonal voice invoke images of ancient, obscure cults conducting unknown business under moonlight in the forests, not veering far from the style that continues to work in this context, though sometimes, encouragingly, exploring a different form of wickedness that  reminds one of plenty of other black metal vocalists. On occasion, the mind-raping string bends during the slower moments, like those found on the bleak and mystical "Desolate Funeral Chant", not something new for Inquisition, remind the listener who they're listening to as if there was ever any question. This effect continues to be extraordinarily powerful. A couple passages may briefly remind one of a section of music from Blut Aus Nord, although the overall atmosphere of both bands differ greatly. 

Mordgrimm Records

Dragged Into Sunlight, a British death/doom quartet from Liverpool, demonstrate their proficient sludgy death metal chops on their debut, Hatred for Mankind. It's not immediately derivative of anything else and actually comes off as something close to original, and appropriately heavy. The most stand-out thing about this album up front is the artwork by the exceptional artist Justin Bartlett. It doesn't require any words of description, since looking at it will tell you all you'd ever need to know.

The entire album is a goliath mixture of death metal and sludge, with a focus primarily on death, incorporating a huge, powerful sound that the production did a competent job of highlighting. No polishing and overproduction tricks will be found here, with enough muddy tones to give it a dirty feel, especially when the diluge of crawling, bulldozing sludge takes over (this happens frequently). When I said this was proficient I meant exactly that. There are no technical flaws nor is there obvious lacking in the musicianship to note, and these British boys have a decent grasp of dynamics insofar as dynamics can really be used in a hybrid of sludge and death metal. But it doesn't go beyond that. The album is heavy and dark, and the riffs often simple, sometimes familiar, and it fails to really leave a mark.