ViaOmega Magazine

04/08/2024

Review of Mayhemic's "Toba" on Sepulchral Voice Records, also at https://www.viaomega.com/post/mayhemic-review.

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MAYHEMIC - TOBA

At last, after anything but a full-length being in their discography, we have one from Chile's Mayhemic, and ode to the heyday of thrash in its most primal and heinous form. In an era where most of the thrash known to the rabble takes spoof and caricature to nauseating over the top levels, Mayhemic brings the palying field back to its violent primoridial roots and shows the clowns how to do it properly.

Sure, why not call your opening track something absolutely ridiculous like "Kollarbone Crushed Neanderthal"? Because it leads right into some rugged, unhinged riffs and cutthroat vocals to prepare you for the imminent onslaught (or at least try to!). After which "Extintion & Mystery" shows speed and thundering bass with some magnificently sloppy drums to make even early Tuetonic thrash blush hard. Released as a preview track well before the album's release, "Trimuph Portrait" did exactly what we needed it to do and left us thirsting for more, a pounding, earthshaking torture session of south of The Equator nastiness that oozes filth and rage. And what could be more thrash-sounding than "Hazardous Prowler" and it's not-so-subtle hints dropped to the thrash of yore and the fixation it had with the horror film culture and other Reagan-era staples as metal was making familes across the land repent for their souls? Finally with the title track (and also the longest) we do get some tempo changes and a few subtlties alluding to traditional heavy metal but this undoubtedly also means crushing riffs and dynamic drum bashing before sending you off to an afterlife of your own design. May your soul suffer throughout eternity as you well enough deserve!

Keeping the ancient spirit of raging South American extreme metal alive and well, Mayhemic are sure to bring forth a reckoning in the underground with their blasting thrash attack. A feast for sure, this is the quintessence of all things metal, dark and deadly and not for the faint of heart!

9/10

03/08/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: The latest release on the rising American label Blood and Crescent Productions, Fellwinter does had created another incredible work of keeping the true spirit of cold, minimalist black metal alive and well in a current state of many divides and shifts within a scene that truly needs more formulations such as this.

31/07/2024

at now on stage

31/07/2024

now on stage 🔥

31/07/2024

30/07/2024

New post featuring is now up on the website.
https://www.viaomega.com/post/galleri-fjalar-new-exhibition

27/07/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: With no shortage of one-person black metal acts taking a minimalist approach to sound, imagery, and ovetall presentation, it can often be a challenge to seperate the wheat from the chaff and find something that truly captures the interest of the listener. Taking a harsh and raw stance on orthodox black metal, Ravenbolt's "Dark Medieval Blood" debut unravels a grim and trance-inducing sound with terrifyingly tortured vocals to catapult the vision of the austere Forest Sentinel behind the project well above the modern-day pretenders running amok all over Creation.

19/07/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: After his fall from grace as frontman for one of the most influential acts ever Paul Di'Anno went on to create several other projects of varying quality and had many run-ins with the law along with ongoing health issues. Always persevering and now teaming up with member's of Croatian thrash band Rapid Strike, "Paul Di'Anno's Warhorse" debut is as high energy anthemic hard rock and heavy metal that only a bad boy of rock n' roll could delivery with his raspy punk-rock influenced vocals that still hold up after decades of volatility.

17/07/2024

Interview with black metal magicians Vimur's is now up at our site (link in bio).

16/07/2024

Destroying Texas Fest Day 2, 7/13/2004 at BFE Rock Club in Houston, Texas.

Necro Blade



(Hellvetron)

16/07/2024

Destroying Texas Fest Day 1, 7/12/2004 at BFE Rock Club in Houston, Texas.





Crucifier

13/07/2024

Review of Limbonic Art's "Opus Daemonical" on Kyrck Productions & Armour, also at https://www.viaomega.com/post/limbonic-art-review.

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LIMBONIC ART - OPUS DAEMONICAL

I have extremely fond memories of Limbonic Art's early work, from a time back when "Norwegian black metal" was a personality all of its own that was larger than life (or death). In particular their first two albums were for the time incredibly bombasitc, grandiose and extremely theatrical in nature and within the undeground metal scene there was hardly anything like them. Fast forward to well over twety years later and Limbonic Art is now the solo mission of Daemon and aggression alongside black metal orthodxy is more the order of the day than a cinematic hellscape journey of their much earlier output. So how well exactly does it withstand the test of time decades later?

Briefly taking us to barren frozen landscapes, "Ad Astra Et Abyssos" then blasts off with otherworldly howls and buzzing riffs as Limbonic Art has always been known to masterfully handle. "Deify The Master" gets adepts drum fills accompanying a sort of leitmotif guitar attack to hyptonize the enthralled audience. "Vir Triumphalis" has multilayered chants throughout calling the horde forth into battle with a soaring display of wrath that Daemon dare not stifle, presumably for our sake. With "The Wrath Of Storms" giving slight respite with a short ambient passage to start before Daemon explodes with chilling riffs and plenty of rage to accomplish his nefarious endgame riding those aforementioned storms. Finally "Ars Diavoli" is something to be behled by the ears, drum battery in full force as if The Devil himself is in control and vocals on different wavelengths entirely, Daemon showing us again that he is truly indefatigable after a generation and that The Chronicles Of Limbo shall continues to be written and sealed for ages yet to come.

Indeed, with the lineup now being a single tyrant and the diffrent direction everything has gone, this stalwart act continues to maintain a legacy unvarnished by any grab for stardom and the amount of compromise and lack of integrity that comes along with that, unlike many of their contemporaries. Indeed, things are as fierce and pessimistic as ever, and the essence of true black metal remains eternal. In limbo shall you forever be!
8.5/10

11/07/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: From the rather untapped underground scene of Bosnia and Herzegovina comes Trjumf with a sound taking elements of both raw and melodic black metal and giving both a militant aspect heralding the strife of their homeland with pride and honor that is their birthright and their duty to their homeland and culture, the essence and core of black metal having been bestowed upon us here in truly the most captivating way.

05/07/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: The mastermind behind several projects, Holland's Fír at last has at last released a full-length of his solo act and with it comes an emotional outpouring of raw and misanthropic black metal that's mostly midpaced and rather compelling in its mystic and morose approach to personal vindication from these earthly bonds. Indeed a very bleak and despondent approach to the madness that is black metal and the only way that it should be handled!
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29/06/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: The main project of musical mastermind Mateon Thorn, Ævangelist's "ΧΑΡΙΣΜΑΤΑ" takes their eldritch and otherworldly approach to blackened death metal and lays on so much atmosphere to create something even more sinister and hideous than before. With so much happening all at once to pound the listener's body and spirit into the farthest reaches of oblivion, this is one gallery of forsaken flesh worth taking a journey unto!
official

26/06/2024

A mighty true war metal tyrant has suddenly left the mortal realm but his contributions to the art of war shall forever remain. Rest In Peace Fernando "Ugly" Barg/Virrugus Apocali!

21/06/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: One of several projects from controversial Québécois firebrand Finian Patraic, Gulguhk's "Pillé, vendu et trahi" is raw yeah oftentimes melodic, riff-heavy, and emotionally-driven black metal from the cold vastlands of The Great White North sung with pride and conviction and in the true fashion of all things Patraic, no compromise of any kind.

15/06/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Featuring international talent from the masterminds behind revered acts such as Whoredom Rife, Almyrkvi, Wormlust, Suffering Hour, and others, the debut from Parfaxitas gives new direction to their talents all coming together as one unit to deliver sinister, sharp, and seductive black metal in all the right ways. And if this is any measure of ghastly greatness then it's surely indicative of much more diabolical diatribes on the horizon! Be forewarned!

08/06/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: The second release from the one-man mission of Azken, Germany's Azketem's self-titled latest is a gloomy, bleak goth and deathrock-tinged harrowing foray into the madness of black metal, eight finely honed despondent and depressing passages leading to a slow descent into hopelessness and despair.

05/06/2024

Interview with an Italian artist and a tattoo legend, is now up! Viaomega.com

05/06/2024

Extensive interview with Awarded, Published worldwide, and infamous in the metal art world, Welt, of Yama Tattoo Studio!

A couple months back, when in Italy, I've met up with Welt at his studio - Yama Tattoo. Published and awarded countless times artist, in his extremely busy schedule, between commissions for metal bands, exhibition pieces for galleries, and of course - tattooing every day in the heart of Rome, he fou...

05/06/2024

Review of Adversarial's "Solitude with the Eternal" on Dark Descent Records, also at https://www.viaomega.com/post/adversarial-review.

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ADVERSARIAL - SOLITUDE WITH THE ETERNAL

The wait for new material from bloodthirsty Canadian troglodytes Adversarial has neared a long and arduous decade, so we finally have "Solitude with the Eternal" to smash that silence and slake our grueling thirst. And those of us who had been pining away for so long, were our expectations met? Without a doubt, and it's even safe to say that they were shattered on top of that.

With absolutely no mercy given, "Beware The Howling Darkness On Thine Left Shoulder" is a smoldering diatribe of pure audial terror, the fury coming straight out Hell to let the mortal realm know that Adversarial is back with a vengeance. "Hatred Kiln Of Vengenace" then continues the endless onslaught of vile butchery and highlights a bloodcurdling dual vocal attack as it ends. As if offering only a brief reprieve, "Crushed Into the Kingdom of Darkness" may slow things down just a bit at first but nonetheless cultivates an atmosphere of perpetual dread that the trio had perfected. With nothing short of total aggression and disgust comes "Fanes At The Engur" and a drum battery pounding like endless artillery to add to some serious despondency, not to mention the vocals are beyond unhinged here as well. Finally, brace yourself for "Endless Maze of Blackest Dominion" is something to behold, mercilessly plowing through fields of rotten remains of human fertlizer, never letting up and tying things together perfectly, seamlessly, and last but certainly not least, unforgivingly!

The most terrifying form of malevolence conjured up only the best of ways, "Solitude with the Eternal" ushers in a new era of death metal from an act with a good amount of history that kept themselves quiet only to utterly annihilate all of Creation with all of the powers unleahsed out of Hell. With death metal being around for a generations already, it's good to see bands focusing on the basic trope that helped form the genre; violence, misanthropy, and war. And Adversarial prove once again that they are masters of summoning only the most extreme forms of those expressions. Bow down!
9/10

03/06/2024

20 damn years since we’ve lost him …. Keep reigning in chaos, Quorthon. 🔥 Your legacy continues to grow stronger.

02/06/2024

Gorgoroth with Hoest raging on vocal duty at Steelfest 2024, continuing their long legacy of larger than life personalities on vocal barrage.

Photo by .

01/06/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Even if we are getting a massive influx of solo black metal acts engaging in raw production with seemingly minimalist presentation, many get lost among the many and only so few manage to truly stand out. Along came Grundhyrde (courtesy of the busy mad mastermind of one Sceadugenga who has created several other projects) with a debut full-length after several splits with other venerable acts. Cold, fast, emotional, and utterly misanthropic, "Spellbinding Mysticism" is truly a savage and hateful start that's shaping up to manifest into something extraordinary!

29/05/2024

now live at while on tour with .worship and

29/05/2024

.worship live now in Chicago while on tour with and .

26/05/2024

Review of Sotherion's "Vermine" on World Terror Committee, also at https://www.viaomega.com/post/sotherion-review.

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SOTHERION - VERMINE

After a demo that had only two tracks of misanthropic black metal still manged to reverberate within the underground regardless of its short length, Sotherion's much anticipated full-length has finally landed, and with it a whole new chapter of seething black rage and wrath is upon us. Indeed, it is a feast for the ears that feels like the aftermath of nuclear fallout flattening the charred Earth in its wake. May the hills tremble!

Thus it at begins with a brief dirgey intro called "Shemyaza" before a blazing fast endeavor that is "La Mort Pour Empagnon" arrives, casting raw, rather thrashy riffs all around with growled otherworldly vocals. And what better way to introduce the ferocious diatribe "Word Made Death" than with a short set of chants first before razor-sharp riffing swallows you whole? Buzzing guitars overlayed by heaps of distortion lay everything to waste within the layers of "Famished King" that leads right into "Blood Prophet", epotomizing all things back metal in a tour de force of speed and rage. Finishing off this solo mission of madness is "Shrine Of The Chosen", also the longest track on this bloodsoaked benediction and as hypnotic as it is compelling for you to want more from this egregious act of heinous hatred.

We have observed what is surely to be a rising sensation in the underground as far as caustic blackdeath goes, and with more and more solo acts manifesting its easy to get lost in the mix of so many that appear to come and go. Sotherion are here to conquer so it's a sure bet that plenty more will come to teach us all a hard lesson in capitulation. Until that moment arises...

9/10

25/05/2024

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: From seemingly out of nowhere and without any known demo or EP or prior split with any other act, Grave Heresy recently emerged from Sweden and dropped a megaton of thermonuclear war-obsessed death metal hell-bent on nothing short of annihilating... everything. Violent as can be, faster than anyone can imagine and overall something truly terrifying, "Incineration Victory" heralds not just the demise of humankind, but false death metal as well!

23/05/2024

Mysticum's otherworldly bizarre black metal beheld at Steelfest 2024.

Photo by .