InnerSphere - News
The Week In Metal - Week Of Sep 9 - 15, 2019
I'm just going straight to the point today. Last week releases simply crush and suffocate with the aim of turning the listener into senseless corpse following the blasphemous sounds of the underground. It's heavy, punishing and relentless. I don't think there's anything on that list that gives your eardrums a breather, or protects your psyche from traveling to the darkest corners of the human mind. But last time I checked that's exactly how we like our music (and coffee) - black, raw and unsweetened. So, enjoy this little piece of the sonic netherworld and let me know if I've missed any pieces of metal savagery that was unleashed without my knowledge.
Till next week...
Black metal from Denmark: Nupta Cadavera - Nupta Cadavera (Nuclear War Now! Productions)
Doom, melodic, death metal from Italy: (Echo) - Below The Cover Of Clouds (Solitude Productions)
Metalcore from United States: Absence Of Despair - Desolate (Independent)
Black metal from International band: Asagraum - Dawn Of Infinite Fire (Edged Circle Productions)
Doom, heavy, epic metal from Germany: Atlantean Kodex - The Course Of Empire (Ván Records)
Metalcore from France: Betraying The Martyrs - Rapture (Sumerian Records)
Death metal from Norway: Blood Red Throne - Fit To Kill (Mighty Music)
Doom metal from Chile: Capilla Ardiente - The Siege (High Roller Records)
Death metal from Spain: Come Back From The Dead - The Rise Of The Blind Ones (Transcending Obscurity Records)
Doom metal from United States: Crypt Sermon - The Ruins Of Fading Light (Dark Descent Records)
Black, death metal from Poland: Devilish Impressions - Postmortem Whispering Crows (Non Serviam Records)
Black metal from Norway: Dold Vorde Ens Navn - Gjengangere I Hjertets Mørke (Soulseller Records)
Death metal from Germany: Endseeker - The Harvest (Metal Blade Records)
Thrash, heavy metal from United Kingdom: Eradikator - Obscura (Divebomb Records)
Death, technical, deathcore from United States: Eschaton - Death Obsession (Unique Leader Records)
Black metal from Norway: Eternity - To Become The Great Beast (Soulseller Records)
Black metal from United Kingdom: Formicarius - Rending The Veil Of Flesh (Schwarzdorn Production)
Black, death metal from France: Mithridatic - Tetanos Mystique (XenoKorp)
Doom, heavy metal from United States: Mourn The Light - Oxblood Forge / Mourn The Light (Independent)
Melodic, death, metalcore from United States: Nemesis Alpha - Eternal Machines (Sliptrick Records)
Black, doom, death metal from United States: Nightfell - A Sanity Deranged (20 Buck Spin)
Thrash, death metal from Sweden: One Hour Hell - Voidwalker (ViciSolum Productions)
Death metal from United States: Phobophilic - Undimensioned Identities (Blood Harvest)
Heavy metal from Sweden: Ram - The Throne Within (Metal Blade Records)
Thrash, crossover metal from United States: Smash Potater - Suburban Legends (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions)
Atmospheric, black metal from Canada: The Ember, The Ash - Consciousness Torn From The Void (Avantgarde Music)
Brutal, death metal from United States: Visceral Disgorge - Slithering Evisceration (Agonia Records)
Doom, stoner metal from United States: Void King - Barren Dominion (Off The Record Label)
Grindcore from United States: Woundvac - The Road Ahead (Corpse Flower Records)
Death metal from Germany: Abythic - Conjuring The Obscure (Xtreem Music)
Black metal from Belarus: Downcross - What Light Covers Not (Independent)
Death, grindcore from Italy: Abbinormal - 1996 (Sliptrick Records)
Atmospheric, doom metal from Ukraine: Raventale - Morphine Dead Gardens (Ashen Dominion)
Nupta Cadavera, (Echo), Absence Of Despair, Asagraum, Atlantean Kodex, Betraying The Martyrs, Blood Red Throne, Capilla Ardiente, Come Back From The Dead, Crypt Sermon, Devilish Impressions, Dold Vorde Ens Navn, Endseeker, Eradikator, Eschaton, Eternity, Formicarius, Mithridatic, Mourn The Light, Nemesis Alpha, Nightfell, One Hour Hell, Phobophilic, Ram, Smash Potater, The Ember, The Ash, Visceral Disgorge, Void King, Woundvac, Abythic, Downcross, Abbinormal, Raventale
Entered: 9/16/2019 8:21:36 PM
900
MB Premiere and Review: INNERSPHERE - 'Omfalos' full album stream
In the recent death metal landscape most people rave about the whole "old school" revival, but seem to ignore that the other subgenres within death metal are trying unique and different approaches, and one such case is the Czech melo-death-doom outfit INNERSPHERE. The band first came to light in 2015 and have made a name for themselves in the Eastern Europe metal scene, and are now releasing their sophomore record, "Omfalos" through Slovak Metal Army on February 25th, 2021.
While I can admit I didn't know about this band before checking this particular album, I must say that I was easily missing out. In a nutshell, what INNERSPHERE are doing here is taking the melodic death metal formula, adding elements of death-doom, and then filter it through the weird musical grandiosity and sense of scale you'd hear in bands like 1914. In INNERSPHERE's case this is heard in their thrash inspired riffs, their complex and somewhat folkish melodies and an epic atmosphere that gets progressive in some areas, particularly with how the band employs keyboards and a piano to enhance said atmosphere. The influence of Swedish melo-death forefathers like Dark Tranquility and At The Gates is noticeable but the band aren't relying on those bands' sound. The music is much heavier and dark, the doomier parts are noticeable in the mid-paced tracks at the half way point like 'Wisdom' and the title track. The music feels overwhelming in a good way, like being awed by a massive tower.
Furthermore the band also successfully make good use of the speed and brutality that death metal requires, but again, they add their own twist in how melody driven it is. In some songs it reminded me of bands like Dream Theater but filtered through death metal. Make no mistake though, these guys aren't a progressive metal band, what they do is balance that technicality with intensity, and indeed each performance feels passionate, the music benefits from each member bringing their A game and the end result is head bang inducing as heard in the first half of the album on tracks like 'The Darkest Hour' and 'Fire'.
INNERSPHERE did something interesting here, and my only real complaint is just how the album sounds (not the actual music), but how it was produced. It sounds a bit too polished for my taste, but then again the band has a clear vision with their music, and the modern production serves them well in highlighting their more complex tendencies.
Overall, INNERSPHERE are doing something truly refreshing in death metal by trying to push the genre forward instead of just recapturing an older sound.
Full review of INNERSPHERE - Omfalos can be found here.
INNERSPHERE is:
Míra Litomerický - vocals, guitars, samples
Lukáš Mai - guitars
Marek Hubocký - bass, backing vocals
Filip Wintr - drums
MORE INFO AND PRE-ORDERS:
https://inner-sphere.com/
https://www.facebook.com/innerspheremetal
https://www.slovakmetalarmy.sk/
https://www.facebook.com/slovakmetalarmy
https://slovakmetalarmy.bandcamp.com/
Entered: 2/23/2021 12:01:37 AM
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