BESTIAL HORDES "Nuclear Metal Lust"

BESTIAL HORDES "Nuclear Metal Lust" (Evil Dead Production)

My second experience with these perverted psychos finally, and not sure whether it's a good sign or the opposite, I find "Nuclear Metal Lust" to be notches better than that split with HEREAFTER. One look at the cover and you will know what to expect, rightly deserving to say that it complements the release to the dot. Here are 5 tracks of rabid black thrashing Metal madness, and I emphasize on the word 'rabid' thoughtfully. These guys sound like they are in a hurry to bulldoze everything, or anything in front of them, ready to charge with nothing to spare. This sense of urgency is prevalent throughout the entire length, a union of souls focused on nothing else than bashing up some fucked up black thrash Metal fury. What about the drumming here then? Apparently it's way better than those on the split, thankfully, yet some kind of sloppiness are there to be heard on releases like these, which doesn't bother with tightness much apart from measuring the opening of the labias. Unlikely to find those fixated on the South American sounds to run away from this, seriously.

www.evildeadprod.com
http://bestialhordes.blogspot.com

NEFTARAKA "Eternal Harsh"

NEFTARAKA "Eternal Harsh" (Apocalypse Venomous Recs.)

You be damned. You and I. The new NEFTARAKA is dawning upon us. "Eternal Harsh" did kept me anticipating. The rawness of "Law Ist Law" still lingers to say the very least, nothing unexpected if I did prepare with some sort of blueprint, readying for what is to be unfolded as "Eternal Harsh". Meticulously considered, this is what I could bestow upon as the most 'hearfelt' (a romanticised?) collective of NEFTARAKA opus so far. The compositions are, while still retaining that certain rawness, have now developed into some sort of dark melancholia deeply embedded within those blackening structures. This, amidst flirting a little with their straight-forward purpose, succeeded in making them driven more deeply into the listening senses, and this; the knack of identifying significant verses and manipulating it for that maximum impact, has been promised in onw way or another on their previous outputs. Those reached a new height in "Eternal Harsh", bare witness with those hateful yet sorrowfilled endeavours. NEFTARAKA could be one of Malaysia's most potent Metal exports, and with a weapon like "Eternal Harsh", nobody needs further arguing. A single wrong track-listing aside, this nicely done cassette tape release deserves your utmost attention. It shouldn't be limited to 150, and should be made available in various formats. All hail "Eternal Harsh", it could be the only Metal album of black arts from the local scene you'll ever need this 2010.

myspace.com/avenomousrecords

myspace.com/necroneftaraka

SINGHASARI "Promo 02/10"

SINGHASARI "Promo 02/10"
Nationalists bands are everywhere, even in Malaysia. But that's not the topic of discussion here, my reviews are; always. On the music itself, this 3-track promo is what I would refer to as Eastern black Metal, in and out. You should look no further than AS SAHAR (again) for inspiration. Listen to the guitars, they're such a norm in the local scene, or to some extent the primitive-inclined Southeast Asia sounds. SINGHASARI displays the elements that possibly only the eastern bands will proudly call their own, and there's no intention of straying into other territories at all. They stand comfortably in and within the realm, so much that I think that's their intention anyway, coupled with the Malay-lyrics and such. This promo is not for sale apparently, and is limited to 30 copies. Enquiries are to be forwarded to these addresses.
antichristwar666@yahoo.com
myspace.com/singhasari

DARAH & MARUAH PST

DARAH & MARUAH PST Compilation CD-R

A compilation of the bands within the Darah & Maruah PST (sorry, I know shit about it, so don't ask). Again, this is a promotional compilation and is not for sale. Six bands all in all, namely VETIS, DEXEKRATORS, STEEL CRESCENT, WRAITH, MARUAH, and CHAINS. Ok, the bad sound will affect my review nevertheless, it's important to not that. I found DEXEKRATORS, VETIS sound a bit similar to each other, VETIS being more 'thrash' while DEXEKRATORS has this 'bestial' vibe going on. STEEL CRESCENT is a heavy Metal band that stays generic and ordinary-sounding. MARUAH is a kind of punk/oi! band with penchant for heavy Metal-ness. CHAINS are blessed with the better production here, and they're thrash as predictable as it could be. WRAITH presents a cover song, so I couldn't be assuming just by that, isn't it? It takes more that this Promo for me to make a properly thorough listening. This is not enough for now.

antichristwar666@yahoo.com

MANTAK "Diabolical Psycholust"

MANTAK "Diabolical Psycholust" (Chalice of Blood Angel)

Numerous EPs and splits aside, I'm really sure that this is only the third full length of Borneo overlords MANTAK. To put "Diabolical..."side-by-side, say, with the first long player "Polymorphous Perversion", stark enhancements can easily be found. But if you follow them close enough with those EPs and such, you get the scenario quite well. "Polymorphous..." is thick with eastern extreme Metal characteristics, "Diabolical..." is the continuation of the direction shown in its predecessor the "666" MCD/EP. A harsher, faster, hornier, to-the-point MANTAK without so much of the alienating, mechanised drive of "Sabahell's Blasphemer", their second album. In "Diabolical...", it can also be seen as some sort of a MANTAK grab-bag. There are some reworkings of old songs, thus a blurred polarity between the present sound and the not too distant past are bridged. I do find the production a bit tame compared to "666", it's a bit controlled so to speak. No mistake it's MANTAK in and out though, the sexually-driven extreme Metal perverts from Sabah, Malaysia. That cover of BLACK SABBATH 'Paranoid' is unbearable. Old Cemetery Records for the CD version, Chalice of Blood Angel Records for the LP, and Evildead Production for the tape.

http://mantakhz.com/

http://oldcemetery.org/

http://chaliceofbloodangel.free.fr/

www.myspace.com/deadevil666

EASTERN DAMNATION

EASTERN DAMNATION 4-way split CD (Eternia Recs.)
Split releases are good. They give you the chance to discover more than a band in a single release. And most of the time they're full of surprises. Bands that you've never cared about suddenly became the one to watch. Or the other way around. "Eastern Damnation" gathers four black Metal-insinuated bands, two each from Malaysia and Singapore respectively. NEFTARAKA initiated the damning , and rightly so they deliver. NEFTARAKA is the unofficial 'budak jahat' of Malaysian black Metal at the moment. One of the few bands able to infuse the rawness and eastern nuances effortlessly. These enormous capabilities, however, is dampened by the 'oh-so-obvious' low-bitrate compressed MP3 sounding of the tracks. I'm pretty sure the master-audio source for NEFTARAKA's part is in MP3 format of the lowest bit, and no matter how hard you try to salvage, whatever has been compressed is not going to come back. It's a real pity, all three tracks of them here show what NEFTARAKA is capable of. It's a pain to hear such fine song as 'The Knoll' being badly bruised by this MP3-to-cd audio format banality. EIBON is up next, and let's just be clear that this is not 'The Garden of Theoprastus' part two, all over these years EIBON has transformed into a different beast altogether. It is still black Metal, prevailently on the more personal side. It's like a mix-and-match of their various influences into one. Obviously more aggressive than before, a bit dreamy and drifting in places, with the synths very much in use, EIBON is somewhat of an acquired taste these days. They did it alright, just. 'Damnation (Heart Whisper)' is not a song though. A slightly different looking NEFARIOUS AZARAK comes next, they're way into the blackthrash realm nowadays, hardly the NEFARIOUS AZARAK in their earlier releases. And as before, you know that they can pull it off, as the way it is before; but the somewhat weak production prohibits them to destroy you into pieces. Well-executed production is somewhat vital for 'thrashing' it all out, if you know what I mean. 'Enslaved by Satan's Reign' rips. Last on the line is the veterans AS SAHAR, and these years of experiences show in the three tracks here. If you're familiar with them, it's still the typical AS SAHAR minus 'Baku Karama', especially the trademarked guitars sound. It is quite positive to see AS SAHAR on the path discovered once again with the last album "Tir", it might be possible sooner or later classics like 'Tinggam', or 'Depressive Moonsoon' will surely be reincarnated in another form. "Eastern Damnation" is presented in a nice digipak format with 12-pages booklet, typical Kompgraphner graphic arts (think HAYAGRIVA's "Red Heaven"), and a poster for the first few hundreds.

deathrone777@gmail.com

REBELLION "Perjuangan"

REBELLION “Perjuangan” (Nusantarajim Prod.)
Shocked. REBELLION managed to slap me hard in the face just from the ‘shocking elements’ of it. This is not my usual feedings for the ears. Although formed by some of the guys from KREMATION, a death Metal band, this is nothing like it. This is some kind of free-flowing, art-rock music. If you’re locals I can easily says this: “macam band Indonesia yang selalu kita dengar kat radio”. I bluff you not, songs like “Harus Setia” in this humble release can easily give those Indonesian pop-rock bands a run for their money. Play this to your woman, you might get laid in no time. It is that good, in that, err; tearjerking, soppy nature of it that is. Approach this with an open mind. I did just that and guess what I’ve found? Those couple of strong tracks in their own sense, that is. Go commercial, REBELLION; and show them what the underground musicians are capable of if they ever to get astray as ‘extreme’ as this.
puterajm@yahoo.com
ask_whatra666@yahoo.com