maligner

Initial Descent: November 27 – December 3, 2016

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Ash Borer
Ash Borer

We’ve officially breached December which means Christmas is right around the corner and I assume you’ve gotten your Abbath snow globe? WHAT…no? Do it. A new month and another week of great metal here on Initial Descent. And if you’ve been paying attention we have had almost a years worth of stacked releases each week. Which should make this years round of best of lists very interesting. Anyway, on to this week which has Ash Borer back with the ridiculously good Irrepassable Gate and honestly what this band does with black metal is jaw dropping, Maligner gives us a thrashingly good time on Demon, Obscure Evil is still plying their massive death metal chops on Void Fumes, progressive metallers Arriver bend time and ears on Emeritus, and Flidais fly the flag for power metal on Kazador. If that was all we had it would be a huge week but we have so much more for you to dive into and dissect so hop to it, after the jump. Continue reading →

Second Circle: Maligner and Obscure Evil

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Second Circle of Hell

In Dante’s Inferno, the second circle begins the proper punishment of Hell, a place where “no thing gleams.” It is reserved for those overcome with Lust, where carnal appetites hold sway over reason. In Nine Circles, it’s where we do shorter reviews of new albums that share a common theme.

Was it really more than 10 years ago everyone started proclaiming thrash was back? When Municipal Waste blasted out with Hazardous Mutation ¹ (which you can argue is more Crossover than Thrash ²) and unleashed a glut of Exodus and Testament clones, most of which weren’t old enough to remember the dirt glory that was the 80s? I admit I may have reinforced some of the more questionable aspects of the movement (though I’ll never apologize for Toxic Holocaust and S.S.S.) but the reality is the genre never really went away — just ask Overkill. And despite being claimed “dead” by a number of online sites and magazines look across the border and things look just fine, particularly when you look at two great releases coming out this week from Maligner and Obscure Evil. Continue reading →