One of the most unusual Extreme Metal acts from Finland are Funerary Bell, formed in 2007 and creators of some pretty obscure and weird stuff in the past (amongst which a split with Blood Red Fog and a first full length, called The Coven, released in 2011 via the great German label Undercover Records). Last year Funerary Bell self-released the four-track cassette Horrific TransCosmic Overture, which apparently was sold out very quickly.
German duo Ewigeis (meaning something like ‘eternal ice’ but beautifully (and that’s my honest opinion) written in incorrect German language) started in 2008, and they self-released a demo in 2009, Wolfsmond, (‘mouth of the wolf’), and one in 2011, Abgrund (‘abyss’).
Dråpsnatt are a Swedish act that were formed almost one decade ago out of the ashes of Maleficium, i.e. by Narstrand (also in e.g. Sangre / Blodritual and Nivlhel) and Vinterfader. They recorded five albums in mean time, but the first two haven’t been released.
Following the -in mean time legendary- Brethren. Bound Of Blood.-series (a series of split-EP’s with cult-act Amenra and one of the other projects involved within the Church Of Ra-alliance), it was time to create another highlight, going further than the four former splits. As a matter of fact, this is not just a split with individual material from the collaborators, but rather a unique project of magical proportions.
I have to admit that I had not heard of this Russian act before, but apparently Bastion were formed more than a decade ago in order to pay tribute to the cultural and historical roots of their nation. In the earliest years, they seemed to perform a catchy mixture of Heavy and Power Metal, injected with elements from Folk, but as a natural process their sound evolved into a rather Pagan-Folk-oriented one.
One of the most influential Death Metal bands from Spain is this one: Avulsed, formed more than two decades ago by David ‘Rotten’ Sanchez Gonzalez, owner of Xtreem Music (formerly Drowned Productions, then Repulse Records).
Swedish combo Aniara were formed in 2011 as Oak. Because of more bands or projects with that moniker, they decided to change their name into Aniara in 2013. However, soon after the band split up and most members went on with their other bands or projects.
Amezarak (aka Ame3apak) were formed by Viktor ‘Lord Dead’ Medvedev in 2010 in the city of Zlatoust (close to the border with Kazakhstan), after the activities in Barathron came to an end.
Lower Silesian Stronghold, one of the strongest upcoming Black Metal labels from Poland, make me happy once again by giving me the opportunity to listen (and, by consequence, to review; but it’s my pleasure!) to Winterfront’s debut full length album, released two and a half years after the independently released EP Of Iron And Blood. Two tracks of that mini-album, by the way, have been re-recorded for this full album.
The very young Tampere, Finland-based label Saturnal Records suddenly came out of the blue with three highly interesting releases; Hellspirit with Dawn Under Curse and On Death’s Wings by Blood Red Fog were the first releases, available as from May 26th 2014 on; check out the reviews I did, posted respectively on August 16th and July 18th 2014.
