Godz Ov War Productions – Album Review Round-Up!

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Gods Ov War Productions have been busy of late and with a raft of extreme metal albums already released and a few up their sleeves, it was high time we had a round-up!

So, here’s some reviews…..

KINGDOM – Sepulchral Psalms from the Abyss of Torment

Release date: 28.10.2016
Country: Poland
Genre: Blackened Death Metal

A crushing tirade of pure DEATH METAL awaits those who wallow in Kingdom’s Sepulchral Psalms from the Abyss of Torment. Elements of black metal do seep in – check out the dark heart of “Kaplica Ducha Zgniàego” for an icy blast of black metal – but really and truly this is an old-school death metal release; tormented, tortured and totally committed to crushing all-comers!

Channeling the early work of Morbid Angel, Demilich and Darkthrone (incidentally, the album finishes with a damn fine cover of Darkthrone’s “Cromlech”), the intensity of Kingdom’s delivery is commendable and the variety of songwriting is more than praiseworthy.

A great album from the tail end of last year that’s well worth seeking out! 8/10

WARFIST – Metal to the Bone

Release date: 04.11.2016
Country: Poland
Genere: Blackened Thrash Metal

Here’s a blast from the blackened thrash past with Poland’s Warfist grabbing the early works of Destruction, Sodom etc by the scruff of the neck and wringing seven shades of lightning-speed shit out of it!

This is METAL, an explosive tirade of breathless, bullet-belt adorned brutality. If you love 80’s metal, you’ll love Warfist as these guys are true purveyors of the sounds that dominated the underground of the greatest decade in metal history.

Metal. To. The. Bone. 8/10 

MISANTHROPIC RAGE – Gates No Longer Shut

Release date: 18 November 2016
Country: Poland
Genre: Avant-garde Black Metal

Misanthropic Rage delivered a progressive, avant-garde black metal masterclass back in November of last year when Gates No Longer Shut turned out to be a varied, ambitious and highly rewarding experience.

With vocals ranging from clean, Ozzy-esque wailing to all manner of guttural manifestations, they expertly aid Misanthropic Rage in conjuring all manner of dark delusions as the band journey down ever more disorientating pathways. Avant-garde is the description but only because it’s damn near impossible to accurately describe all the contrasting elements displayed here.

Misanthropic Rage’s penchant for challenging preconceptions was writ large on debut EP Qualia but the sheer diversity of sound and mood delivered on Gates No Longer Shut is uniformly stunning.

Outstanding. 9/10

MORBID MESSIAH – In the Name of True Death Metal

Release date: 31 January 2017
Country: Mexico
Genre: Death Metal

In the name of true death metal, here lies Morbid Messiah.

Who? Mexican fuckin’ death metal nutcases who revel in inhuman gutturals and just one tempo; the sound of all hell breaking loose, that’s who!

“This is fucking death metal!!!” growls the scary dude on closing track “Legions Of Death” and who are we to argue. It certainly sounded like, filthy, evil, demonic, gore-obsessed death metal from the very bowels of Satan’s underpants to us!

Suitably nasty. 7/10

RITUAL LAIR – Mother Of Misery And All Repugnance

Release date: 10 February 2017
Country: Poland
Genre: Blackened Death Metal

Like blackened death ‘n’ roll disciples of the devil himself, these putrid purveyors of self-proclaimed “necro morbid metal of death” (make of that what you will) certainly know how to make a racket!

You know what to expect, right? Satanic blasphemous belligerence backed by the screams of a thousand tortured souls burning in hell? That’ll do it! And, if the black and crusty likes of Hellhammer, Necrophobic and Abominator still get you excited, then Ritual Lair’s Mother Of Misery And All Repugnance is the retro – and necro – blast of filth your body so desires!

These six tracks, conveniently titled track I to VI and lasting a mere 13 minutes tells you all you need to know….no fucking around, this is hell on earth (and conveniently on your playlist if you choose it to be). 8/10

HEREZA – I Become Death

Release date: 13 February 2017
Country: Croatia
Genre: Death Metal

Check this shit out!

Hereza’s I Become Death is simply 10 tracks of ferocious, Swedish death metal inspired carnage of the highest order. Unremitting and utterly convincing in its old-school fury, Hereza may well have released one of the death metal albums of the year if this brute of an album is anything to go by.

Canny enough to throw in some melodic death metal leads every now and then – check out “Full Moon Slaughter” for some Carcass inspired interplay – it’s actually the heads down lashing of the majority of the songs on I Become Death that lingers longest.

So what if Entombed, Dismember and the usual suspects spring to mind when listening to the chainsaw riffs that anchor this release? Hereza are the real fuckin’ deal and that’s all that counts.

One listen to this monster and we all become death (metal)! 9/10

INEXORABLE – Sea of Dead Consciousness

Release date: 20 February 2017
Country: Germany
Genre: Death Metal

Maniacally messy, Inexorable spew forth all manner of muck on Sea Of Dead Consciousness, an album that ditches clarity for an all-consuming onslaught of atonal noise and shittily produced blasts of tuneless violence.

Sea Of Dead Consciousness is certainly challenging – which is no bad thing – but it’s also a bit of a chore to sit though. The odd use of soundbites (from movies we presume) adds abstract layers – as do the fleeting use of acoustic guitars – but it all eventually merges into complete disorder.

Cover versions of “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” (Mayhem), “I Feel Nothing” (Immolation) and “Black Magic Mushrooms” (Mysticum) also offer precious little as these defining songs are so ingrained in extreme metal culture to render their inclusion here as moot.

Perhaps this is too avant-garde even for our adventurous ears?! 5/10

HELL’S CORONATION – Antichristian Devotion

Release date: 20 March 2017
Country: Poland
Genre: Black Metal

The four tracks found on Antichristian Devotion largely consist of droning, necro dirge – via surprisingly languid rhythms – that suffocate rather than excite and you find yourself wishing for a deluge of typical tremolo riffs and unholy levels of speed. Instead, this is more like blackened doom metal and performs no better function than lulling you off to sleep with it’s repetitive patterns and hacking vocals.

So, it turns out that just under half an hour with Hell’s Coronation is almost as painful as sitting through an episode of bloody Coronation Street….and equates to the same level of drama as well! For the narcoleptic and black metal completist only. 4/10