The Infernal Sea/Old Corpse Road - Insidious Art And Serpentine Rites (Split 7")

Three Sword Records
2014

Limited to a mere 250 copies on orange vinyl, "Insidious Art And Serpentine Rites" is a spilt 7" featuring East England's The Infernal Sea (who are no strangers to splits having just released one back in 2013 with Belgium's Disinterred) and Darlington, Co Durham, N.E. England-based Old Corpse Road (same thing back in 2012 only with U.K. act The Meads of Asphodel). While I have previous experience with the first (having covered both their 2012 full-length output, "Call of the Augur" and their 2013 EP, "The Crypt Sessions") it sure seems as if this is/was my first taste of Old Corpse Road....and it was a good taste. More on that later though as let's start with The Infernal Sea. For those of you that don't know the name then let me be the first to introduce you to what is undoubtedly one of the more vile and evil black metal acts out there! The Infernal Sea, whose contribution "Tannis Root" takes it's sweet time building up the tension before finally kicking things off around the 2:04 mark(!), play (old-school, somewhat crusty) black metal with overtly satanic/demonic lyrics and an ear fine-tuned towards crushing riffs and grizzly vocals! At more then six minutes in length it's fairly unrelenting and most certainly unrepentant! Meanwhile Old Corpse Road, who come with the promise of  "folk metal leanings with epic tunes focusing on British folklore" waste no time at all with their number "The Sockburn Worm". Right from the start they end up bum-rushing the listener with UTTER-BRUTALITY disguised as music and while (as promised) there are moments of (somewhat) clarity in which folk metal comes into play, overall this is one NASTY piece of black metal violence! Of the two cuts it's most definitely the stand out number as it brings something different to the picture with it's inclusion of folk metal while simultaneously keeping the listener on edge thanks to the unnerving aspect of the song's construction! Kudos to Three Swords Records for having the initiative to stack (back-to-back) two very distinct black metal acts onto what will most certainly be a collectors item! Due to be released in April, and (as previously mentioned) on orange vinyl to boot, "Insidious Art And Serpentine Rites" is one split 7" that I will be looking to add to my own collection and one that I most certainly recommend to black metal enthusiasts!

http://threeswordsrecords.bigcartel.com/product/the-infernal-sea-old-corpse-road-split

The Inferna Sea-The Crypt Sessions

Self-Release/Independent
2013

Whatever hope that I had of covering this EP sooner was crushed when my computer flipped out and went all psycho on me. Could it be that it was scared of what awaited it when I wrote about The Infernal Sea's new 6-track EP? Quite possibly. Or maybe I just need to face the facts that's it's time that I finally look at getting a new computer. I think the answer is to be found somewhere in between. For you see it's all rather sinister how things went down when I first tried to do a write-up for "The Crypt Sessions". Here it was that "Into The Unknown" (the EP's last track which runs over 15 minutes long!) had just wrapped up and, before doing the write-up, I took a break to go refill my wine glass. When I returned to my computer I went to log on to my Google blogger account. Not so fast. First it went and froze up on me like it had been hit with a cold blast of winter's chill and the next thing I know every thing's going to hell! When I tried to do a write-up of the EP my computer reacted like it was possessed! An hour or so later I gave up, powered down the computer and decided to return to this EP another time. The whole ordeal was rather odd. If anything though it did mean that I would get to put aside time listen to the EP a second time to refresh my memory for this write-up. That was a good thing as I'm almost thinking that I prefer this 6-track EP over the band's full-length release (which I happened to really like!). It's a close race though kind of neck and neck. If you couldn't figure it out from the EP's title then this 6-track release was recorded at the Crypt rehearsal studios (hence the title!) in England. Simple enough. Or is it? As it is noted on The Infernal Sea's bandcamp page (link below) the recording took place "on a cold winters eve in Jan 2013".  That could have a lot to do with the overall chilly vibe this EP gives off (not to mention the way in which my computer froze up all to hell the first time around). Anyway, the band hit the studio with Christopher Majewicz handling production for this new release. Or, if you will, he just hit "record" as this EP was (essentially) recorded live with only a few overdubs taking place afterwards. That was "in order to capture the true sound of the group". The beautiful thing is that you do get the feeling that this is how The Infernal Seas sounds like when you see them life, but with benefit of a fairly smooth and clean recording and some extra "sound effects". It should be said then that if this is what the band sounds like live then don't walk, but RUN to their next show as these guys know how to throw down some simply nasty metal!  Of the six cuts presented here three tracks are pretty much sound effects tacked on to help with the overall feeling of dread. Otherwise the other three "real" songs are sick and nasty metal! They are more then effective at putting a chill down your spine. "Into The Unknown" is by far the longest, the most sinister and the most epic of the three "real" cuts. "Skinwalker" opens the EP up and is 5:00 minutes of almost raw, blackened thrash. As is "The Circle Closes". Both of these cuts flow out almost seamlessly, but give off this bone-chilling vibe. While the last album was somewhat black/death in nature there seems to be even more of this emphasis on chilling out while at the same time beating the crap out of their instruments! For you see with some primitive thrash riffs sandwiched between the overall death/black vibe of these songs you get this raw, gritty blast of mean metal. At the Crypt rehearsal studio it almost sounds as if the guys let down their hair (so to speak) and took aim at crafting simple, yet clearly well-thought out, old-school death/thrash. Somehow they pulled off a sound that is laid back and yet perfectly lethal. Its mid-paced metal, but there's plenty of crunchy riffs and gritty vocals to give this a ghoulish polishing.  It's different then their debut, but different can be good and this EP sure is good. Check out the links below for details.

Get the EP here:
http://theinfernalsea.bandcamp.com/album/the-crypt-sessions

 Review of "Call of the Augur", the band's 2012 debut album
 http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-infernal-sea-call-of-augur.html

The Infernal Sea-Call of the Augur

Self-Release/Independent
2012

Debut-releases can be hit or miss to begin with, but when you're talking about black metal/death metal bands? Well, that's a whole different game you're talking about. It always seems to me as if they're really good or really awful. And, more often then not, when it comes to black metal self-releases, well, let's just say I've heard some stuff that no one, not even you're worse enemy, should be forced to endure. Let's all bless the creatures of the night that this 4-piece UK not only know what they're doing, but they do it well. The band was formed in 2009 with it's members (vocals-Dean Lettice, guitar- Jonathan Egmore, bass- Geoff Taha and drums- James Burke) having come from UK acts like The Argent Dawn, Raise the Dead and Middenhelm. from various. Not only did these four come from other successful OK acts (hence the skill-level here), the group has shared the stage with the likes of Napalm Death, Anaal Nathrakh, 1349, Vreid, Martyr Defiled, Romeo Must Die, Gorath and Annotations of an Autopsy.  Not too shabby at all. Interestingly enough, this very evening (February 27th, 2013), the band is set to release their new EP, "The Crypt Sessions", digitally. A very limited run of cassettes will be available for that one (30!) and, by the time this goes to print, I wouldn't be all that surprised to find them sold-out! I've review that EP in a day or two (time allowing), but for now let's turn our attention back to the band's debut-album. Rumor has it that this release is already on its second print run which, again, comes as no real surprise considering how solid The Infernal Sea is. What I like best about these 7 tracks is that while it's blackened death metal there's elements of melodic death and even some doom to be found here. I'm not suggesting this is "slow me down black metal as I'm falling madly in love with Black Sabbath" style doom/death. Nope. It's more this feeling of overall doom you get as you struggle to come to gripes with the fact that misery can sound so mature and melodic, and yet decidedly and old-school, from a band less then a decade old! Whether these guys make it or break it depends on exposure as black/death metal, like metalcore in years past, is flooded with imitators and wannabes. My curiosity is peaked now for their new EP so it looks like I'll have to clear my schedule some for this UK 4-piece! 

http://theinfernalsea.bandcamp.com/album/call-of-the-augur