Review by Adam M on March 31, 2017.

Warbringer brings a thrash punch to the table that is very relevant.  There is an aggression present here that hasn’t been found this year yet.  The result is a very powerful album that has all the right riffs at the right places.  Playing to the harsher side of the genre is intelligent as there is more melody and old school vibe found in the latest records by Kreator and Overkill. 

The music here has a tough guy aspect that is different than many other bands and perhaps similar to Havok, who released an album this year.  The difference between band and other thrash acts lies in this harsh aspect that is brought about in the greatest manner possible.  It is not similar to the Bay Area style of thrash played by most bands that is more streamlined in nature.  The sound is instead very aggressive and based upon this aspect alone.  It is successful in bringing about influences from Slayer to the table in an effective manner.  Songs follow a similar template of viciousness and this makes for a very fun record to listen to.  There is always a passion found to the tracks that elevates them above simple thrash songs.  The overwhelming energy of the band can be seen from the tracks Divinity of Flesh and When the Guns Fell Silent.  The problem here is that there is nothing overtly different from thrash that has already been done in the past.  This leads to songs that sound very typical of the genre and don’t try to push boundaries much. 

There is still a great amount of power and chaos to be found that elevates these tracks to a new level.  Also, the songs are short and thus make their impact within a small time frame.  This is a very appropriate album for thrash genre because it fills in a hole that is nice to have.  This hole is for an abrasive thrash album, which Woe To The Vanquished delivers in spades.   

Rating: 7.6 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on February 15, 2024.

Although I have never really cared that much to check out blackened doom metal bands, I was lucky enough to stumble on a few examples which really had something interesting to offer and I do believe that there are still many other examples out there. One interesting recommendation I got was the Norwegian/Polish band Rites of Regress, which present themselves as “blackened sløøvv doom”. Their debut album Dust is set to be released on March 11th, 2024 via Third Eye Temple, and this album will be an exemplary release that demonstrates the kind of ideas which their aforementioned style suggests. 

Rites Of Regress displays a very somber but also teeth-grinding heavy blackened doom metal with a heavily distorted aura surrounding it, expressed through its doomy guitar riffs, slow but commanding and banging drums, and heavily distorted harsh vocals. The songs really have that ominous vibe which dictates the forthcoming darkest hour where nothing is real but death and horror, and only true fear knows what it awaits. Three out of four songs on this album are all in Polish language, with the only exception being the second track 'The Pentagram' which also contains the audio recording of Alister Crowley’s infamous Pentagram speech that is also the lyrics for the song, and it is definitely the gloomiest track on the entire album. Speaking of doom and gloom, that is what truly dominates on this album from one track to another, with each riff keeping the atmosphere strong, consistent and flowing from section to section. This musical flow is definitely one of the biggest highlights of this album, which succeeds at bringing the album to a powerful conclusion with the closing track 'Do Końca W Czerń', giving this whole experience a grand payoff. 

While the album for the most part feels a bit formulaic and doesn’t really offer a very dynamic songwriting, what saves it from being entirely generic or uninspiring is how each song conveys its own feeling with a different flavor of impending doom and horror to it. Funnily enough, this album is actually pretty short with its total of 4 tracks, but with the overall length of each track, it leads the album’s runtime to 29 minutes and 9 seconds, which for a doom metal album can feel a bit shorter than usual, but it naturally feels like 40 minutes. What also contributes a lot to the album’s overall shock and dread is the cover art that uses a picture of the infamous historic event of the LZ 129 Hindenburg zeppelin crash in 1937, which as we all know was previously used by Led Zeppelin for their self-titled debut album. While the depiction of the cover art doesn’t really have any connections to the misanthropic lyrical themes of the album, on the other hand, as a horrific piece of history it can truly be considered fitting for the musical output of Rites Of Regress and in some ways makes it almost. The album has a very standard modern-day doom metal sound production with the heavy fuzz overdriven guitar tone, distorted bass and vocals, which is still quite effective in delivering a more “black metal” fused approach. 

It's hard to summarize how I feel about this album, because on the one hand I liked it very much, but on the other hand I wished that we could have gotten a bit more out of it, with maybe just a couple more tracks that could have expanded the tracklist. Although some people might say things like “less is more” or similar just to disregard everything I’ve just said, I do believe that there are people who like me would crave for more just to get an additional dose of musical satisfaction. However, despite all that I have just said, that doesn’t mean that this album isn’t great on its own, because it certainly did a very good job at presenting an attractive piece of work that should definitely be carried over to the band’s future releases that could potentially offer more. If you like doom metal fused with some “black metal” styled vocals, you should definitely check out Dust by Rites Of Regress. 

Rating: 8.3 out of 10

Review by Adam M on December 14, 2015.

Dystophy performs an oddly tuned form of death metal that provides dissonance to a large extent. This is a form of death metal that hasn’t been investigated that much and is thus a nice breath of fresh air for the death metal genre. In fact I believe that it is this band’s desire to explore the weirder sides of death metal that makes this album one hop previous material.

Despite focusing on the left-field side of things, the music remains focused and driven. It is sometimes brutal, but always maintains an aggressive approach. However, this is somewhat brought into different territories by the very unusual style of the outfit. The use of the dissonance in the guitar makes for a wired death metal experience. Still, there are influences from the likes of standards like Morbid Angel and others to be found within the riffs of the outfit. Thus, there is a backbone to the music, though it verges in stranger directions. That leads to this album’s biggest problem. It sometimes gets too odd for its own good and loses the listener’s interest in the process. Also, the catchiness of the music is affected by the off kilter approach to the band and the album forgoes repeated listens. What this leads to is a solid death metal album that is surpassed by greater entries in the genre. It gets overshadowed by the likes of Rivers of Nihil and Sulphur Aeon easily from this year.

Still, I do believe this album is a small improvement over The Chains of Hyprocrisy even if only by a small amount. Yet, it seems to be stuck in the same position of being overtaken by superior metal releases in a similar manner to that album. With good, yet unspectacular riffs and drumming, this album gets a mild recommendation and nothing more. Wretched Host is a fairly solid death metal album.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Adam M on December 14, 2015.

Dystophy performs an oddly tuned form of death metal that provides dissonance to a large extent. This is a form of death metal that hasn’t been investigated that much and is thus a nice breath of fresh air for the death metal genre. In fact I believe that it is this band’s desire to explore the weirder sides of death metal that makes this album one hop previous material.

Despite focusing on the left-field side of things, the music remains focused and driven. It is sometimes brutal, but always maintains an aggressive approach. However, this is somewhat brought into different territories by the very unusual style of the outfit. The use of the dissonance in the guitar makes for a wired death metal experience. Still, there are influences from the likes of standards like Morbid Angel and others to be found within the riffs of the outfit. Thus, there is a backbone to the music, though it verges in stranger directions. That leads to this album’s biggest problem. It sometimes gets too odd for its own good and loses the listener’s interest in the process. Also, the catchiness of the music is affected by the off kilter approach to the band and the album forgoes repeated listens. What this leads to is a solid death metal album that is surpassed by greater entries in the genre. It gets overshadowed by the likes of Rivers of Nihil and Sulphur Aeon easily from this year.

Still, I do believe this album is a small improvement over The Chains of Hyprocrisy even if only by a small amount. Yet, it seems to be stuck in the same position of being overtaken by superior metal releases in a similar manner to that album. With good, yet unspectacular riffs and drumming, this album gets a mild recommendation and nothing more. Wretched Host is a fairly solid death metal album.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Adam M on December 14, 2015.

Dystophy performs an oddly tuned form of death metal that provides dissonance to a large extent. This is a form of death metal that hasn’t been investigated that much and is thus a nice breath of fresh air for the death metal genre. In fact I believe that it is this band’s desire to explore the weirder sides of death metal that makes this album one hop previous material.

Despite focusing on the left-field side of things, the music remains focused and driven. It is sometimes brutal, but always maintains an aggressive approach. However, this is somewhat brought into different territories by the very unusual style of the outfit. The use of the dissonance in the guitar makes for a wired death metal experience. Still, there are influences from the likes of standards like Morbid Angel and others to be found within the riffs of the outfit. Thus, there is a backbone to the music, though it verges in stranger directions. That leads to this album’s biggest problem. It sometimes gets too odd for its own good and loses the listener’s interest in the process. Also, the catchiness of the music is affected by the off kilter approach to the band and the album forgoes repeated listens. What this leads to is a solid death metal album that is surpassed by greater entries in the genre. It gets overshadowed by the likes of Rivers of Nihil and Sulphur Aeon easily from this year.

Still, I do believe this album is a small improvement over The Chains of Hyprocrisy even if only by a small amount. Yet, it seems to be stuck in the same position of being overtaken by superior metal releases in a similar manner to that album. With good, yet unspectacular riffs and drumming, this album gets a mild recommendation and nothing more. Wretched Host is a fairly solid death metal album.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10