#57 www.metalbulletin.blogspot.com October 3rd, 2015 www.twitter.com/MetalBulletinZn www.fuglymaniacs.com (issues online, videos, …)

Sailing To Nowhere Vomit of Doom

Dogbane Lust of a Dying Breed

Ashes of Dagoth (free) Dawn of Dissolution

Blasphemic Cruelty Raglaia Allura’taq (free) (WA state)

— Metal Bulletin Zine P.O. Box 1339 Lake Stevens WA 98258 USA www.facebook.com/The-Metal-Bulletin-paper-zine-238441519609213 Metal Bulletin Zine #1-20: (2006-2009): Wisconsin #21-26: (2009-2010): Texas #27(2010)--now; Washington state All album reviews, news, updates below are by MMB, unless stated otherwise. -— metal programs (these are Pacific Times) Mosh Pit (Madison, WI): Monday night 9:30pm-12am WORT 89.9 fm www.wortfm.org Sweet Nightmares (Houston, TX): Thursday night 9pm-12am KPFT 90.1 fm www.kpft.org Excuse All the Blood (Olympia, WA): Friday night 11pm-1am www.kaosradio.org Metal Shop (Seattle, WA): Saturday 11pm-3am KISW 99.9fm www.kisw.com — SAILING TO NOWHERE To The Unknown Bakerteam Records Release: 16 October 2015 TRACKLIST 1.No Dreams In My Night 2.Fallen Angel 3.Big Fire 4.Lovers On Planet Earth 5.You Won’t Dare 6.Strange Dimension 7.Sailing To Nowhere 8.Sweet Rain 9.Left Outside Alone (Anastasia Cover) The band (from Facebook): MARCO PALAZZI: VOCALS VERONICA BULTRINI: VOCALS ANDREA LANZILLO: GUITAR

VALENTINA DE IULIIS: KEYBOARDS CARLO CRUCIANI: BASS GIOVANNI NOE': DRUMS Melodic metal group Sailing to Nowhere (Italy) began in 2013 with a focus on the major points of the genre: catchy songs, variety (power metal to ballads), professional recording and overall quality sharpened to carve out a space for itself in a very competitive field. The band combines male and female singing, very melodic guitar work and catchy choruses. The quality of the album is reflected by the fact that it flows very well, going through a variety of tempos, without needing to make one worry about individual tracks lowering the overall quality of the album. The moods and tempos change throughout the album, but the identity of the band stays intact throughout the changes.

Some people say that musicians have their whole life to make a great debut album. I don’t know if that is true or not, or whether it’s another meaningless cliché. It’s not meaningless in this case. The melodic metal bands from Italy work hard at bringing their best game, and Sailing to Nowhere is a fine, fine example of this tradition. The album is a very good representation of the different

3

facets of the band. The last song is a cover of a pop song, and it does sound a bit different from the rest of the album. At the same time, a lot of melodic metal is not too far from pop because the melodies often sound like pop music backed by guitar instead of dance beats. Sailing to Nowhere clearly has its sights set on reaching a mass market, and the combination of catchy melodies should in the long run be welcomed, especially in Europe, by the melodic and power metal public. www.facebook.com/pages/Sailing-To-Nowhere/654911297865936 www.twitter.com/Sailing1Nowhere www.sailingtonowhere.bandcamp.com/releases www.reverbnation.com/sailingtonowhere email: sailingtonowhereband@gmail.com ** Vomit of Doom Obey the Darkness August 16th, 2015 Satanath Records The band (from Facebook): Luciano Cortez Oscar Aranda Marcos Diego The band, according to Metal Archives: L. Warpig Venomous Abominator: drums, vocals (Abominablood, ex-Insultor, ex-Rictus Calices) Artillery Command: guitars Endless Malevolence: guitars (lead) (2013-present) discography: Satan's Vengeance Demo 2010 Fatal Assault Demo 2010 Death Thrash Genocide EP 2012

Southern Black Demon Compilation 2012 Diabolic Force (Satan Metal Congregation) Split 2014 Evoked Devastation (Vomit of Doom Promo 2014) Single 2014 Obey the Darkness EP 2014 Obey the Darkness Full-length 2015

These Argentinian mobsters are possessed by the bestial black thrashing mania commonly found in South America, where a known cause is said to be Sepultura’s “Bestial Devastation” and “Morbid Visions,”; Sarcófago’s “INRI,” and other such early carriers of the syndrome. After thinking about it for a long time, they must have decided to call themselves Vomit of Doom because once you choose the word vomit for your name, you know that this is the right way you announce your bestial black thrash. Plus, if you proudly call yourself vomit, certain metalheads will know that you are for them. It’s a code of metal for war metal, black metal, black thrash. I do have some unexpected news for you, though. You might not believe it, but within the primal chaos metal the band just cannot hide that the songs lend themselves to

4

memorability a lot more than you would expect. Vomit of Doom, try as they might, come up with some tasteful, catchy classic-style thrashing riffs in the U.S./German/Brazilian spirit of the early and mid 80s. Then, you have the vocals, and that’s a whole different story. Contrary to normal thrash and death metal vocals, Vomit of Doom’s vocalist is not just growling monotonously or punk-like screaming. He finds ways to channel vocals that have personality, like early Quorthon or Tom G. Warrior or early Cronos or the young Schmier or the young Tom Angelripper, so on and so forth. Well, what does that mean? Well, first of all, 99% of growling and 99.99 % of punk screaming sucks. Microphone cupping, monotone, faceless growling rarely sounds appealing to me because it’s a such a lazy, low-effort form of vocals and it sounds so mundane, like any talentless hack can do it, and any talentless hack is actually doing it, and nobody seems to say anything negative about it because it’s not nice to criticize and people want to be liked. Typical humans. When someone decides to take it upon themselves to do extreme metal vocals in the style of black thrash/war metal, it sounds a lot better than normal growling because the vocalist is not content to sound like Slayer/Pantera punk yelling or Cannibal Corpse/Suffocation stupid barking. Basically, war metal/black thrash vocals are a superior form of extreme metal vocals. These vocalists, including Vomit of Doom, probably hate the generic barking that passes for death metal vocals. Look into Vomit of Doom if black thrash, war metal and black metal are words that awake your interest. www.satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat124-vomit-of-doom-obey-the-darkness-2015 www.satanath.com www.facebook.com/vomitofdoomarg www.facebook.com/satanath666 email: Necro_command_zine@hotmail.com

** Dogbane When Karma Comes Calling Heaven and Hell Records Release: 16 April 2015 the band (from Facebook) Mitchell Allred- guitars Jerry Cloer- drums Kevin Davis- bass Jeff Neal- vocals Jeff Rinehart- guitars discography: Residual Alcatraz Full-length 2011 When Karma Comes Calling Full-length 2015

Dogbane’s music solves one of the most annoying aspects of doom in 2015: the knucklehead obsession with playing slow songs for its own sake. In particular, in 2015, metal is very much overcrowded with forms of doom. So many bands do not even have actual riffs; so many bands seem happy with

5

themselves playing any old chord that is slow and they might as well be playing the same chord for the entire album. Actually, that’s probably what’s happening in some instances: some of those bands could be cutting and pasting the same slow segment over and over for 20 minutes. They call that “epic.” Yeah, right. In contrast, Dogbane has songs and these songs rock. More precisely, Dogbane features a Sabbath/Trouble-inspired guitar sound, but the principle at work is that Dogbane’s doom is also traditional heavy metal. It is as if Dogbane loves Sabbath, Trouble, Pentagram, Candlemass, Saint Vitus, the foundational doom bands, but Dogbane cancels out the excessively boring, slow aspects of doom by employing the Judas Priest songwriting format: heavy metal should rock. Dogbane also has a very detectable classic rock lining, in the sense of Thin Lizzy or Blue Oyster Cult, which makes the songs way more fun than doom has the right to be. The band does not sound like classic rock per se; they’re too heavy for that; somehow, in little ways, they inject bits of classic rock and it does wonders for their sound. For instance, adding a bit of cowbell (I think that’s what that is), like on “Devil by the Horns,” makes the vibe more fun. The vocals and certain rhythms have a bit of that rock and roll, too. You can be sure that Dogbane is not trying to trick you. They got riffs. They got songs. They got the goods. I need to say it again: they also rock. This is not slow metal. Listen to Candlemass in general or Witchfinder General’s “Death Penalty” or Count Raven’s “Destruction of the Void” or Trouble’s “Trouble.” Those albums are not all slow music. They have rocking. I think that Dogbane is more in line with that tradition.

www.facebook.com/Dogbane www.dogbaneband.com www.twitter.com/dogbaneband ** Lust of a Dying Breed This is a new band for me. I have not been able to find much information about this band from Kenya. I can tell you that they have the following songs on ReverbNation: 1.Divine Design 2.Soundcheck 3.Rebirth 4.Fearless 5.Cat Of Nine Tails 6.Denoument I will give my opinion about the music in a minute, but before doing so, I’d like for you to see the bio as it is given on ReverbNation: “The Lust of a Dying Breed concept came about in June of 2010, with Vocalist Martin Kanja and Bassist Timothy Opiko deciding to make the idea a reality. Over the span of a year, the band grew in number and in talent with the acquisition of Drummer Larry Kim, Lead guitar player, Samuel Kiranga and Rhythm guitar player, Khalid Issa.

All band members listen to varying genres of

6

metal, from death metal/death core to technical deathcore to metal core to thrash metal; all over the damn place. So there's no particular limit to how creative the music making process can get and we don't limit ourselves to any particular genre. Currently the band is in studio, recording it's first album which is to be released later in the year 2012. The band has also played in a number of small shows but most significantly was the 2011 Nairobi Rockfest as one of 5 acts.” On Facebook the band calls itself death metal, and they certainly have an affinity for the sounds of modern growling, downtuned metal. Perhaps we could say that the band works with death metal, melodic growl metal and deathcore. The deathcore elements are not dominant, and that’s good. I hope that they continue exploring the heavier sound, in the style of metal music, and get further away from hardcore. I know very little about metal music from Kenya. I am familiar with music from modern death metallers Absence of Light, also some from Mortal Soul, and from In Oath. However, I don’t have a good grasp of the metal scene in the country. From what I have read, the bands are all young and are finding their way. It seems like they are going into uncharted territory in terms of music in Kenya. It is positive to hear Lust of a Dying Breed make it this far. Here’s hoping they keeping going and get more metal in the process. Check out their music. www.reverbnation.com/lustofadyingbreed www.twitter.com/LOADBmetal

www.facebook.com/LUST-OF-A-DYING-BREED-129730253730682 ** Ashes of Dagoth (Germany) free recording of symphonic black metal (free; when last checked October 3rd, 2015) In terms of self-description, the band writes: "Ashes of Dagoth is a german Symphonic/Melodic Blackmetal Project founded by Florian (Moonforest, Empiric) and Christian in 2013. Inspired by bands like Carach Angren, Advent Sorrow or Dimmu Borgir and by the fascinating universe of the Elder Scrolls-Series they decided to start a new project...Ashes of Dagoth."

Florian takes care of vocals, guitars, songwriting and drums (I assume it means drum programming). Christian does the orchestration, as well as songwriting. The band says that its influences are: Carach Angren, Dimmu Borgir, Advent Sorrow, Septic Flesh, Bal Sagoth, Chthonic, Emperor, Al Namrood, Ovid's Withering. The music, I would say, leans heavily towards the melancholic/dark/gothic side of the symphonic sound. There are traits of sad melodies that are emphasized and they

7

create the certain spirit that the band seeks to set. These slow moments are kept in check with uptempo and also some blasting black metal speed. The vocals are gruff black metal growling, with deep death metal growling thrown in for variety. The band explores a bit of chanting vocals, which also sounds good. It seems to me that the keyboards are more dominant and the guitars play the role of supplement. The drumming sounds like drum programming. The recording is not yet the professional level that the band would like, such as Dimmu Borgir's "Death Cult Armageddon," but it is a worthwhile recording for supporters of symphonic black metal that keep up with bands that up and coming. The recording is called "The Awakening" and it was released on October 2nd, 2015. 1. The Fate of the Dwemer 02:54 2. Akulakhan 05:22 3. Kagrenacs Greed 05:40 4. Nightfall in Morrowind 02:46 5. Dreams of Flesh and Blood 05:08 6. Dagoth Ur 05:40 total time 27:30 www.ashesofdagoth.bandcamp.com/releases email: ashesofdagoth@gmail.com www.facebook.com/ashesofdagoth ** Dawn of Dissolution free recording of fast, melodic symphonic extreme metal (free; last checked on October 3rd, 2015) Dawn of Dissolution is from Texas, U.S., but the band has rejected all that mediocre, no-talent Pantera/gore/slam/brutal metal that is associated with the Lone Star State. Instead of the chugga-chugga groove thug metal so

commonly found in Texas, this band prefers guitars with riffs, hooks and melodies because they have the skills and they are not afraid to use them. Do any young metal guitar players spend any time learning the instrument anymore? Instead of wasting so much time on social media, do young metal guitarists dedicate themselves to the art of shredding? Dawn of Dissolution does! The band has high standards and it shows.

They are a new band, but they hate mediocre and laziness in metal and all you have to do is listen to the music and you will immediately hear the difference of Dawn of Dissolution. The recording is not yet the professional level that they want, but it sounds good and it is very, very promising. The band says that their influences are: Wintersun, Ensiferum, Catamenia, Amon Amarth, Opeth, Belphegor, Finntroll, Children Of Bodom, Behemoth, Kalmah, Insomnium, Lost Horizon, Moonsorrow, Equilibrium. Thus, if they name Moonsorrow, Wintersun and Lost Horizon in the same sentence, then you know that some great music is the objective of the band. Dawn of Dissolution has a lot of courage naming all those bands because this is how you know that Dawn of Dissolution absolutely hates mediocrity. That's something worth supporting, don't you think? A young band with high standards, big hopes and major objectives. Let's hope that this is just the beginning!

8

The band has two recordings: Demo 2015 Nightfrost EP 2015 The EP is: 1. Awakening of a New Horizon 02:17 2. Bloodshot at Dawn 04:50 3. Frozen Conquest 09:51 4. Twilight 02:06 5. Nightfrost 10:42 total time 29:46 The Facebook bio explains: "Dawn Of Dissolution was formed late 2014 in Houston TX by Joseph Marduk and Andrew Amon. The purpose for the music itself is to incorporate elements of Melodic Death, Black, Folk, and Power Metal by adding symphonic, ambiance, and finally inspirations of traditional Northern European and East Asian cultures. By late May, it was confirmed that Adrian Socaciu has taken the position as lead vocalist benefiting us to have the first EP 'Nightfrost' to be finally recorded and released. By mid July, Cole Jones was confirmed to be positioned as drummer for Dawn Of Dissolution, taking us to the next step. Dawn Of Dissolution has two releases so far in the discography." The band is: Joseph Marduk - guitars, all Instruments, orchestrations, lyricist, programming. Andrew Amon - guitars, orchestrations, lyricist, programming ???? - bass Cole Jones - Drums, Percussion Adrian Socaciu - vocals, lyricist. ???? - keyboards

www.dawnofdissolution.bandcamp.com/album www.facebook.com/Dawn-Of-Dissolution-874073255969102 ** Blasphemic Cruelty Blasphemic Cruelty is blasting death thrash (or black thrash or war metal) from Florida, U.S. This band features underground metal veterans with high, professional standards. It’s music for supporters of masterful black, death and thrash metal, for those that demand excellence, experience, skillful songwriting and execution. The heritage encompassed by the band is worth underlining. The bassists/vocalist is Alex Blume, from Ares Kingdom (which has former members of the cult Order from Chaos). Gina Ambrosio (ex-Angelcorpse) smashes the drums. The guitars are the responsibility of one Gene Palubicki, whose résumé includes Perdition Temple, Angelcorpse, amongst other names.

The music is catchy in the spirit of Angelcorpse’s highly regarded “Exterminate” album. This is Gene Palubicki doing what he does best, unleashing a barrage of classic-style, compact, tight riffs along thrash/black lineage. The drumming on this EP is elegant,

9

hyperspeed Sandovalian blasting that you will remember after the music stops, which is a trait of the songs in general, too. Whether you worship classic Angelcorpse, or black thrash, war metal, classic Possessed/Dark Angel/Morbid Angel, black metal or Sarcófago/Sodom, I can tell you only the truth as I hear it: this Blasphemic Cruelty EP breathes life and fire big time. I have been listening to it a lot. A lot. Between the music of Blasphemic Cruelty and Gene’s other squad Perdition Temple (which has Immolation and former Angelcorpse guitarist Bill Taylor, and Black Witchery vocalist Impurath) and its 2015 album “The Tempter’s Victorious,” things should be pretty good for the Angelcorpse fanatic in 2015. Anyway, Blasphemic Cruelty’s “Crucible of the Infernum” EP was released on July 20th, 2015 and it has the following songs. 1. Imperium of the Lawless One 05:36 2. Icons of Revolt 05:04 3. From Crypts of Bloodlust 05:52 4. The Crippler (Sodom cover) 04:06 total time 20:38 Go here to listen to the EP. www.facebook.com/Blasphemic-Cruelty-209892552380438 www.hellsheadbangers.com ** Raglaia Raglaia (Japan) is a heavy/modern metal band fronted by Rami, who is known for her time with Aldious from about 2008-2012, during the time that Aldious played speedy power/melodic metal.

This is Rami’s return to action. Raglaia is uptempo modern, melodic metal that keeps the energy up. Rami supporters should be happy with Raglaia in 2015. The two EPs sound great. This new band has two singles, as follows. "Breaking Dawn" (April 8th, 2015) 1.Forlorn? 05:34 2.Outer Dark 04:39 3.Cross 04:56 4.Forlorn? 05:36 instrumental total time 20:45 "Promises" (August 12th, 2015) 1.Aching Memories 04:47 2.Promises 04:50 3.Strings of Fate 05:35 4.Aching Memories 04:46 instrumental 5.Promises 04:51 instrumental total time 24:49 Metal Archives gives the lineup as: Ery: bass (2015-present) Youth-K!!!: drums (2015-present) K-A-Z: guitars (2015-present) Rami: vocals (2015-present)

The past few of days I have been listening to the music. Even though I don’t feel comfortable going into much detail yet, I can tell you that I like where this band is going. I basically just found out about the band the other day and bought the two releases. We’ll see if an album is on the way soon. These two singles suggest that something good could be

10

coming. www.facebook.com/raglaia.official www.raglaia.com www.twitter.com/Raglaia_info ** Allura'taq Free recording of black metal from the state of Washington, U.S. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about this band. I just found out about the album and when I checked today, the 3rd of October, 2015, the album is still free/name your price. It is a full-length album. They do some shorter songs and some longer pieces that are more exploratory in nature and that ask a bit more from the listener. On Bandcamp the band says: “The name Allura'taq is a conglomeration of several Alutiiq words, among them 'stranger' and 'singer'. Allura'taq captures the deep, manic energy that stems from nature and the celestial. Melodic and sometimes chaotic, Allura'taq is continually influenced by European Metal made in late 80's and 90's to produce music that is powerful, dark and exhilarating.” Metal Archives gives the following information. Jeff Kastelic (Devilry, ex-Full Frontal Assault, ex-Leatherhorn) Bobby Lind (Devilry, ex-Full Frontal Assault, ex-No Utopia) The album is called “Unearthly Inversion” (September 23rd, 2015) 1.Conjuring Mutation 05:41 2.Deaths Stalking Spectre 04:47 3.Black Sea of Trees 06:08

4.Luminous Collapse 07:30 5.Inward Sacrament 09:17 6.Ascendant in Ruin 06:08 7.Beheading 07:28 8.Circle of Curses 12:31 total time 59:30

Given that it is a new album, my general impression is that the music and quality reflect a serious endeavor on the part of the two musicians. This is not a garage demo, for your information. Listeners into black metal and into extreme metal from the state of Washington now have a new album to get acquainted with. Go here: www.allurataq.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/Allurataq-311491889052874 www.allurataq.wix.com October 3, 2015