Altar of Plagues, Atavist, A Forest of Stars, Wraiths and Haar

Altar of Plagues www.myspace.com/altarofplagues Undoubtedly one of the best post black metal bands around just now. Amazing in both the live context and on record. Their debut full length "White Tomb" has been one of my favourite albums out this year. From Terrorizer..... "When you've been together barely 2 years and have already earned opening slots for Mayhem and Wolves in The Throne Room, not to mention a recording deal with one of the metal worlds coolest labels, then you must be doing something right, as as "White Tomb" proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, Altar of Plagues most definitley are. If you were lucky enough to catch the Irishmen at one of the aforementioned gigs or picked up a "Sol" EP last year, you'll know what to expect; bouts of furious, anguished black metal interspersed with epic, Isis-like work-outs in slow-burning tension, which inevitably boils over into more frothing bm. Despite the distant muted production, which dampens the dynamics and, the vivid contrast of the bands live sound, as well as some performance issues which suggest this was rushed out, "White Tomb" is a thrilling work, and one of the most promising debuts since "Diadem of 12 stars" A Forest of Stars www.myspace.com/aforestofstars Really excited to be getting these folk up from down south. They have only played one gig thus far, and this (unsurprisingly) will be their first north of the border. Not to be missed! From metalstorm.... A Forest Of Stars is not your average run-of-the-mill Black metal band. Coming from the UK, they have that typical British attitude with them of class, high-tea, bowler hats and walking-canes. Ok, that's probably stereotyping and generalizing too much, but if I'd have to give it a place in history I'd place it in the nineteenth century, in a scene similar to that described in for example "The Picture Of Dorian Gray", by Oscar Wilde. Take that and morph it into Black metal and you'll probably get A Forest Of Stars.Fans of Deinonychus, Bethlehem and the Peaceville Death/Doom trio will probably like this. As will everyone that likes his Black metal the experimentation/Avant-garde way. Do keep in mind the sound has a heavy violin-focus, if that instrument puts you off you may want to look somewhere else. Wraiths www.myspace.com/wraiths I reckon most of you are familiar with Wraiths. I don't reckon I can sum them up any better than they do, so in their own words... "Wraiths are the wretched sound of the plague-ridden, the unclean and the befouled. Wraiths are the dead in their lime-pits and the dying in their beds. Wraiths are the horror of infection." From Terrorizer Dark Ambient is usually synonymous with layers of massive sonic waves, crushing one after another on the dark shores of a forsaken and deserted planet. Yet, with Wraiths those once quiet and mournful soundscapes have become a furious storm of fire. 'Plaguebearer' is a 50-minute-long Endura-like ritual gone horribly wrong and possesed by the madness of Brighter Death Now. Messiah Complex www.myspace.com/noisemessiah From Aquarius... "...the slow low rumble builds and builds and builds eventually erupting into an awesomely caustic freakout, that almost sounds like THE heaviest part of a Neurosis song, where the vocals are howling the guitars are roaring, that single second stretched into a long blurred blast. It eventually peters out, but in its place surfaces some sort of post industrial metallic Whitehouse sound, huge corrosive shards of jagged sound, walls of feedback, shrieking, moaning tones, a harsh vocal howling over the top. Finally giving way to a roiling backdrop of distorted downtuned crumble, over which guitars drone and whit and buzz and throb, a murky dense stretch of washed out softnoise. Fans of stuff like SUNNO))) and other minimal heaviness might dig this, especially if they're looking for something a bit more harsh and intense, without losing any of its hypnotic droniness. " Haar www.myspace.com/haarsounds Atmospheric, post black metal from Edinburgh. Features members of Ix, Erowid, Seppuku and Vostok.