INTO COFFIN - Doom death from Germany/ Video review

INTO COFFIN
I just posted a video review of the german doom death/ Death metal band. I switched of video software, it offers me more possibilites
Hear/ Read/ Putrefy!

METAL FANZINES: Last arrivals

A quick look at the metal fanzines I received lately.

VULTUR (Gre) Vulture's beak Demo tape. 2016. WAR Productions.

When your Hifi system is damaged and only one of the two speakers delivers sound, it can bring a more old school experience: The fact of listening to music in MONO!
It's more old school, because in the 70's some vynil players only had a speaker and didn't deliver the whole spectrum... It can become quite surprising if you try it with albums you know very well: Sometimes you expect a guitar riff on the left, and there's nothing, just drum breaks AhAh
hopefully for my reviewing needs the music of the Greek metal band VULTUR isn't particularly full of guitar polyphonies or strange things happening in stereo. This is old school death metal, or should I say a mix between old "satanic" death in a quite brutal 90's manner and the Floridian style of once.
By moments the music can seriously remember of early DEICIDE (Especially the first one "Deicide" and "Once upon the cross"), with a bit of ENCABULOS ("Abandoning the flesh" MCD), some old SINISTER, perhaps old ALTARS (Hol/ That might be due to the drum sound mostly), with a good dose of 90's Floridian Death metal à la old RESURRECTION or MORTA SKULD.
Sometimes the music is fast and blasting, sometimes it's more mid-paced, sometimes it uses the old thrash DM beat, so globally it's quite varied rhythmically.
The production is quite good in a 90's style, not to the level of a 90's/ 00's album, but for a demo it's good enough.
Some riffs are quite cool, some parts are quite kicking, while some are less interesting (I'm not so fond of all the more mid-paced parts); The band can come up with cool (Or even very cool) riffs and nice guitars while some parts are a little too common.
Globally it's a quite good Death metal demo that could please fans of 90 death between the "satanic" and more US styles. https://vultur.bandcamp.com

WOLF SERMON (Uk) Demo 2016 MCD. Self-released.

An age of legends and fear, a time now so distant.
Pagan fears, the past is alive.

This quite new English band comes with a first demo and plays a style located between old Death metal, death doom and semi melodic death.
The music is influenced by old albums, I think it might have been composed in the mid to later 90's (And it's not a problem).
During the listening, you can hear some old HYPOCRISY (Third or fourth albums, when they were becoming less brutal and more "doomy"), early DISMEMBER (First Lp for some kicks and "melodies"), some ASPHYX, some heavy BOLT THROWER (Minus the epic riffs), perhaps some old NECROPHOBIC, or even maybe SOLOTHUS from Finland (For some doom).
The music is equally balanced between the slow, the mid-paced and the faster.
The band calls their music "Melodic death doom" but the melodic riffs don't take that much of importance (It doesn't sound like the mellow-dick gothenburp stuffs, but tastes closer to some old black/ death from Scandinavia, with some mystery), and the production is quite massive/ raw so it can't be mellow.
The guitar production is very overdriven, but it doesn't really sound Swedish, might be closer to early ASPHYX ("The rack") or perhaps the first ILLDISPOSED album.
Globally the feelings I could gather from this recording were rather fresh, cold, quite sorrowful and darkened. There are also some energy and some aggression in some fast parts, but it's not the main point.
It's not really a mixture of styles I usually listen to, but "Pagan skin" sounds like a pretty nice demo. Those who like the heavier kinds of Death metal in the old way, with some "melodies" and quite seriously overdriven guitars might find here a cool underground band to support. https://wolfsermonmetal.bandcamp.com

VALGRIND (Ita) Seal of phobos MCD. 2017. Everlasting spew recs.

I enjoyed a lot the first album of this Italian Death metal band, because of all the moods, old school atmospheres it contained, and the early IMMOLATION influences.
Then they released a second album which was different, more brutal and influenced by old MORBID ANGEL, but I wasn't able to really dissect the content because of musical overload :-)
Now the band is back with a new MCD that roughly follows the same path.
This is death metal very influenced by old MORBID ANGEL, early HATE ETERNAL (First album), with something a bit more technical from here and there that might remember of old BRUTALITY or perhaps old EMPEROR ("IX Equilibrium" minus the synths), some EULOGY (Usa) or maybe old PESTILENCE when it gets a bit more thrashy.
The BRUTALITY influence might be a bit more important than what I pointed out, sometimes the riffs coming with a little touch of "melody" and some great sounding riffs that also take some "melody" (And don't sound like the chaotic hell of old Trey Azagtoth for example) bring an interesting plus of "beauty" into the whole.
Some peoples might also hear similarities with FLESHTIZED (Especially the demo from 2006) or perhaps some older releases of AURORA BOREALIS (Usa).
This is pretty neat, with well-built songs; Some leads are great and it's a solid sounding MCD, but I still prefer the first album "Morning will come no more" because of the atmospheres (But I think it's logical since this a part of this said album was composed of old songs written in the 90's). A quite good recording. 
https://valgrindband.bandcamp.com

BANEFUL STORM (Fra) Invocations Ep. 2017. Digital. Self-released.

This is a new Death metal project from France that sounds very inspired by early MORBID ANGEL ("Altars of madness").
While some bands that also followed the path of old Azagtoth mostly took the extreme/ blasting side (For example of CENTURIAN), this french one-musician project took the style in all its variety: The different kinds of beats, different kinds of riffs, the same kind of vocals, the same kind of rasp production... (Perhaps there aren't that much of two-guitar polyphonies tough). This is clearly influenced by old MORBID ANGE, to the point of worship, but there's also some intensity and energy in the songs, which isn't always the case of worshippers or "clone" bands.
I also hear some early DEICIDE in the riffs (First album or AMON days) and some guitars have a little more thrash metal/ black thrash approach (Think about SODOM "Persecution mania" for example), but the whole still sounds like satanic death. The leads can sound great and nicely chaotic.
I believe the drums are actually a drum machine, Metal-archives says there's only one musician but the drums don't sound so mechanic or clinical, so I have a doubt.
Well, this isn't as great and emotionally intense as "Altars" (Not a real surprise here), but it's a quite good recording.
Now a shame the beginning of the third song sounds so much like an ANGEL CORPSE track from the second album. (Very close riff, same beat, same kind of break... Oups), the last song sounds a little more common, and perhaps the whole is a bit too close to "Altars" to totally kick the ass?
Anyway, this is a quite good recording and worshippers of old Satanic Death metal à là early MORBID ANGEL/ early DEICIDE/ AMON wouldn't have problems to swallow it up.https://banefulstorm.bandcamp.com