Review by Fernando on June 23, 2022.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the OSDM trend while having many good bands, certainly got old fast due to the overabundance and saturation of early 90’s inspired bands, but at the same time, the death metal underground managed to thrive and expand in more unique ways. Thanks to underground stalwarts Invictus Productions, we have the debut album of Irish cult Coscradh, titled Nahanagan Stadial coming out August 5th, 2022.

Coscradh (which is old Irish for roughly, ‘triumph in slaughter’ according to Metallum) are indeed a death metal band but with very bestial and blackened leanings, and unlike many other bands, their lyrical themes are rooted in Irish ancestry, to the point where they actually sing in Old Irish, which definitely grants them a layer of incaccesibility, to boot with their punishing style of black/death metal. After a couple of EPs released through Invictus, the band have finally released their debut and what a debut album it is. The band definitely qualifies for the black/death label but this album is beyond labels.

For starters, the record leans more into death metal extremity, the murky and thick atmosphere of the strings, the pounding and reverb tinged drums, and the maniacal death growls will please any fan of the extreme, but the biggest takeaway of this record is how old school yet off-kilter the music is. What do I mean by that? In a track like ‘Plagues Of Knowth’ the band manage to perfectly blend Blasphemy inspired brutality and speed, with old school death metal riffs, furthermore, aside from the bouts of pure extreme metal, the band also manage to experiment to dissonant noise soundscapes as a way to create ambiance and atmosphere, setting the mood or as a bridge between songs. The opening title track ‘Nahanagan Stadial’ succeeds in creating an eerie sense of dread before bursting into pure metal.

Overall where the band succeed the most is in using death and black metal as a foundation; while adding, bending and mixing various disparate elements and sounds to create an utterly demented opus to the darkest and most chaotic corners of Irish history and prehistory, and I definitely have to praise all the members as a dense and chaotic record like this, that is also a cohesive whole in the sum of its widely varied parts. Guitarists Ciarán Ó Críodáin and Jason Keane are the obvious standouts in terms of first impressions as their chaotic shredding carries the album in its entirety, but I also have to give major props to drummer Boban Bubnjar and Hick O Aodha as it is the percussions and low end what truly make this album sound so boundless and immense. The sense of overwhelming darkness and terror is the accomplishment of the band as a unit, but the vocals of Ciarán Ó Críodáin, (as well as the backing vocals of Hick O Aodha and Jason Keane) in some twisted and bizarre way, manage to make sense of this whole cacophonous symphony, which is ironic since his vocals are dry gutturals and unhinged wails in Old Irish. The final track, ‘Feallaire Dóite’ in particular works as a perfect encapsulation of the entire album, and it closes with the album in a supremely chaotic and disturbing fashion. My only minor critique is how all the tracks are tied together, and as such, this is an album that needs to be listened with attention, as it won’t wait a second for the listener to catch up, not to detract anything from the band, but it is something worth noticing all the same.

In conclusion, Coscradh are an Eldritch entity that made the best record they possibly could as their debut and in many ways, it feels like the precipice of extreme metal and they’re just getting started. However, be warned, as this album is purposely inaccessible for the uninitiated, while I do highly recommend it, if you’re not familiar with the murky and dissonant style of death metal, nor the extremity of bestial black metal, this album will decimate you in an onslaught of sonic terror.

Best tracks: 'Nahanagan Stadial', 'Plagues Of Knowth', 'Feallaire Dóite'

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review by Carl on April 11, 2020.

Slovakia's Dementor had already been around for quite a while when they dropped this one. Playing in the same ballpark where you can also find the likes of Behemoth, Nile and Belphegor, the band churn out a similar sort of blackened death metal with an occult edge to it. I heard that in later years they switched to brutal death metal, a step that's not hard to imagine. It's not that far removed from what they present here.

Their style on this album is, as stated, the sort of death/black metal that was at the same time also employed by the likes of Belphegor and Behemoth, but in the riffing there are some other influences to be found as well. I sometimes hear Nile popping up and the guitar leads have an undeniable Morbid Angel feel. There is a difference however, the bands mentioned know when to take the foot of the accelerator to allow for dark atmospherics to permeate in their music. Dementor, however, just keep plowing away at top speed, bringing to mind Brazilian speed monsters like Abhorrence, Rebaelliun or Nephasth, but less memorable. I can't really put my finger on it, but where the Brazilians succeed in creating a vortex of highly volatile menace, Dementor fail to stay interesting for the whole run of the album. It all sounds massive (thanks to the Andy Classen production job) and the unrelenting barrage of hammering percussion and raging riff work smack you around without mercy but after 4 or 5 tracks I pretty much had it. It just begins to sound like one long song, not just because of the constant barrage of speed but also because the individual tracks all sound the same. Halfway through the album i started thinking "here they go again" and that can't be the intention here.

I admit that this isn't a bad album in any way. It sounds great, has energy coming out of the wazoo and has the adrenaline pumping through your system like mad but when I reach the middle of this piece, I've had it. Basically, it's a great album, to be consumed in bite-sized bits to avoid losing interest and yawning in general.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Carl on April 11, 2020.

Slovakia's Dementor had already been around for quite a while when they dropped this one. Playing in the same ballpark where you can also find the likes of Behemoth, Nile and Belphegor, the band churn out a similar sort of blackened death metal with an occult edge to it. I heard that in later years they switched to brutal death metal, a step that's not hard to imagine. It's not that far removed from what they present here.

Their style on this album is, as stated, the sort of death/black metal that was at the same time also employed by the likes of Belphegor and Behemoth, but in the riffing there are some other influences to be found as well. I sometimes hear Nile popping up and the guitar leads have an undeniable Morbid Angel feel. There is a difference however, the bands mentioned know when to take the foot of the accelerator to allow for dark atmospherics to permeate in their music. Dementor, however, just keep plowing away at top speed, bringing to mind Brazilian speed monsters like Abhorrence, Rebaelliun or Nephasth, but less memorable. I can't really put my finger on it, but where the Brazilians succeed in creating a vortex of highly volatile menace, Dementor fail to stay interesting for the whole run of the album. It all sounds massive (thanks to the Andy Classen production job) and the unrelenting barrage of hammering percussion and raging riff work smack you around without mercy but after 4 or 5 tracks I pretty much had it. It just begins to sound like one long song, not just because of the constant barrage of speed but also because the individual tracks all sound the same. Halfway through the album i started thinking "here they go again" and that can't be the intention here.

I admit that this isn't a bad album in any way. It sounds great, has energy coming out of the wazoo and has the adrenaline pumping through your system like mad but when I reach the middle of this piece, I've had it. Basically, it's a great album, to be consumed in bite-sized bits to avoid losing interest and yawning in general.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Carl on April 11, 2020.

Slovakia's Dementor had already been around for quite a while when they dropped this one. Playing in the same ballpark where you can also find the likes of Behemoth, Nile and Belphegor, the band churn out a similar sort of blackened death metal with an occult edge to it. I heard that in later years they switched to brutal death metal, a step that's not hard to imagine. It's not that far removed from what they present here.

Their style on this album is, as stated, the sort of death/black metal that was at the same time also employed by the likes of Belphegor and Behemoth, but in the riffing there are some other influences to be found as well. I sometimes hear Nile popping up and the guitar leads have an undeniable Morbid Angel feel. There is a difference however, the bands mentioned know when to take the foot of the accelerator to allow for dark atmospherics to permeate in their music. Dementor, however, just keep plowing away at top speed, bringing to mind Brazilian speed monsters like Abhorrence, Rebaelliun or Nephasth, but less memorable. I can't really put my finger on it, but where the Brazilians succeed in creating a vortex of highly volatile menace, Dementor fail to stay interesting for the whole run of the album. It all sounds massive (thanks to the Andy Classen production job) and the unrelenting barrage of hammering percussion and raging riff work smack you around without mercy but after 4 or 5 tracks I pretty much had it. It just begins to sound like one long song, not just because of the constant barrage of speed but also because the individual tracks all sound the same. Halfway through the album i started thinking "here they go again" and that can't be the intention here.

I admit that this isn't a bad album in any way. It sounds great, has energy coming out of the wazoo and has the adrenaline pumping through your system like mad but when I reach the middle of this piece, I've had it. Basically, it's a great album, to be consumed in bite-sized bits to avoid losing interest and yawning in general.

Rating: 7 out of 10