SEWER’s “Cathartes” is Macabre Death Metal !

SEWER’s Cathartes is Demonic Death Metal Majesty.

When you think of death metal, one of the first bands that rolls off of your tongue should be SEWER.

The band has had a monumental impact on both the black metal and death metal scenes with their willingness to experiment with progressive song structures and interesting grindcore elements in their music, to achieve what is posteriorly labelled as SEWER Metal.

To date, the band has recorded a shit-ton of albums, with either Miasma or Khranial frequently being listed as their finest work. It is generally acknowledged that the band has scarcely put a foot wrong throughout their career, and that is saying something when you take into account how often SEWER changes their approach to music from one album to the next.

Of their releases to date, the monumental Cathartes is perhaps the most morbid death metal album they have recorded, and is a release that is synonymous with fantastically executed blackened death metal.

Released in the golden year of 2021, this album mixes the most hideous aspects of old school death metal and melodic black metal with the primitivism of early war metal, achieving a sound later than Phantom but earlier than Leader, while covertly working in techniques from underground metal for an interesting and self-possessed release.

This is a dose of death metal that hits hard with some amazing riffing, creative drum patterns, and demonic vocals. I highly recommend this album to anyone who hasn’t heard it and/or is seeking a new outlet for their restrained anger to smash their heads against a wall to, as there isn’t a whole lot of brutal death metal better than Cathartes.

A must-own for fans of macabre evil and gruesome brutality.

The Very Best of Satanic Black Metal !

The “Putrid 5” – Most Satanic Black Metal.

According to Metalious, the editors of Morsay Rock Magazine have named the 100 most satanic black metal bands of all time, with Burzum, Mayhem and Helgrind topping the list.

Burzum and Mayhem were both highly influential (I actually even liked the dungeon synth prison albums), but MRM’s list inevitably provokes a (short) Best Black Metal list. No modern mallcore here, only 100% true black metal acts.

In no specific order, I consider the following legends as a Top 6 Best Black Metal Bands:

Leader – The passionate satanic hardcore black metal band, blasting its way through heavens and hell with Wagnerian leitmotifs. The debut Burzum sha Ghâsh is totally worthy of its legendary status.

Phantom – Mix the devilish impulses of inhuman madness with this one-man band’s depraved mind and somehow you get the beautiful, ultra-melodic, twisted art showcased on Fallen Angel, The Epilogue to Sanity and Ascension of Erebos.

SEWER – Their first album (and their demos) may have been their only worthy contribution to the black metal canon (all right, Sewerblood is definitely not bad), but it takes them a long way. Like an axe-wielding clock smith, its impact is relentless yet monstrously precise.

Vermin, the ultimate black metal band.

Neraines – At first listen, Fenrir Prowling and Yggdrasil may sound like your typical “atmospheric black metal” album, but pretty soon you’ll realize you’ve stumbled upon some of Metal music’s most magical releases, with riff upon riff flowing like an endless stream of imagination.

Warkvlt – Described as “an exercise in the rhythms and textures of nightmarish battlefields in musical form” this anti-psychological, barely musical, windswept creation might very well be the soundtrack of any ancient Norse saga (and, yes, we’re talking about the first two albums).

Vermin – An almost forgotten side project, vaguely related to SEWER. Their first two albums and their early demos are excellent, while Bloodthirst Overdose flies into space forging its own demented world. Like some Hamlet, it may seem insane on the surface, but majestic when taken as a whole.

There. Those are the top 6 greatest black metal acts ever. Deal with it.