Iron Bonehead Productions

Things You Might Have Missed 2013: Bolzer – Aura

Things You Might Have Missed 2013: Bolzer – Aura

“This year produced a great deal of excellent EP releases, but the Swiss duo Bölzer’s mini-LP Aura managed not only to be the best of the bunch, but also beat out most full-lengths with three tracks and 23 minutes of some truly next-level occult black/death metal. The record features perhaps one of the best riffs of 2013 in “Entranced by the Wolfshook,” which marries a Blut Aus Nord-ian guitar tone with pseudo-Wagnerian orchestral synths and an absolutely bangin’ main riff that you can’t help but meet with a shit-eating grin and grimace. Seriously – it’s the kind of metal-as-all-hell lick that an appreciation of which should serve as a litmus test to expose the false amongst our ranks.” JF Williams draws your attention to an EP you might have missed which may or may not feature the Riff of the Year! I like riffs. Do you?

Sheol – Sepulchral Ruins Below The Temple Review

Sheol – Sepulchral Ruins Below The Temple Review

“What’s old is new again. Many new bands are ravaging old graveyards to exhume rotting corpses of bands and styles long since past their sell-by date. 70’s proto-doom, 80’s retro-thrash, and now, 90’s fuzzy Swedeath are the templates that bands are utilizing to create their own legacies. UK’s Sheol are the newest duo to bring out the rotting, zombified corpses of early Dismember and Darkthrone into the sunlight (studios) with their debut EP, Sepulchral Ruins Below The Temple.” 2013 winds down as it cranked up – with loads of old school Swedish death. Do you have room for just a little more?

Cult of Fire – मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान (Ascetic Meditation of Death)

Cult of Fire – मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान (Ascetic Meditation of Death)

“A divine mother to the enlightened and a ferocious killer to those fearful of death, the Hindu goddess Kali is a figure of reverence and terror alike – a being that is by all accounts complex, mystical and arcane. What better genre to pay tribute to the Divine Mother than the fearsome majesty and ritual violence of black metal? Cult of Fire, hailing from the Czech Republic, move away from done-to-death “orthodox” Satanism obnoxiousness on their second album मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान (Ascetic Meditation of Death) in favor of focussing on Hindi mythology, creating an album that is entirely dedicated to this most fearsome of Hindi goddesses.” Czech black metal dealing with Hindu concepts? What could be more American??

Abyssous – …Smouldering Review

Abyssous – …Smouldering Review

“Hailing from the Saxony region of Germany, death metallers Abyssous first appeared on the scene with a sodden, bone-breaking crunch with 2012’s …Smouldering demo. The raw, cavernous quality of those tracks attracted the attention of Iron Bonehead Productions, who have released the demo as a full-length with the addition of two new tracks. The LP version of …Smouldering is every bit as dank as the original release, but the additional tracks do more than pad out the length of the record. There is a sense of a more complete narrative arc and a fuller musical construction that improves the album as a whole.” Old school death is plenty good, but when you add in some old timey Morgoth influence, then it deserves real attention!

Ancient Crypts – Devoured by Serpents Review

Ancient Crypts – Devoured by Serpents Review

“It’s common knowledge that some of the most raging metal music today is coming from South America. Countries like Peru, Chilé and Colombia are producing what seems like hundreds of awesomely raw death and black metal bands. They are insanely passionate about old-school metal, their love for Satan is strong, and they release ridiculously obscure demos that are always fun to chase down. Case in point: Chilean death metal duo Ancient Crypts, who have released a cassette-only death metal monstrosity entitled Devoured by Serpents.” South American death metal is like a fine steak. It’s bloody, but delicious. Join Mr. Fisting as he takes us on a trip to the crypts!