The time that most metal concentrated on the edges of our tiny Dutch country seem to be gone, judging from the many bands that currently reside in the bigger cities like Utrecht. Utrecht is slowly becoming the Black Metal Capital of the Netherlands, with Wrang, Terzij de Horde, Laster, Muorgal and Wesenwille. Wesenwille, created by R. Schmidt, may be a little more niche. They play progressive black metal. Heavy riffs, layers upon layers, atmospheric breaks, deep grunts, and overall, a really massive, but melodic sound. The band has been around a while as this is their 3rd album already.
Take 50 years of Hard Rock, Metal, Southern Rock and a bit of Progressive Rock; Diggeth will digest it and will spew out their mix of all these genres in songs with hooks, heaviness and groove!” (from their bio)
The Diggeth trio plays oldschool heavy music and create a big and heavy sound which is exceptional for a 3-piece band. Founded in Dinxperlo, a small town in Gelderland with just 7000 inhabitants, Diggeth is a world-class band that has been able to play with the legends of old like Megadeth, Slayer, Phill Campbell and His Bastard Sons and Sacred Reich. That’s quite the achievement for any band, let alone a trio from the Netherlands. In 2019 they released ‘Gringos Galacticos’ which had been the turning point for the band. And while their USA tour had to be postponed because of Covid, they ‘kept on Diggin’. They’ve just released their 4th album ‘Zero Hour in Doomtown’. Let’s ‘dig’ into it!
O.L.T.A.S. (which stands for Our Light Tells A Story) is a doom metal band with some death metal influences from Friesland, the Netherlands. They have been around a while and released their first EP ‘Illusion of Control’ last year (2021). Since we weren’t back in action at that time, we will gladly give this album a listen now for these guys.
Muorgal, a 2-man black metal project from Utrecht, just released a 2-track EP, called Under graoa himila. Judging from the spelling it’s written in old-Dutch and translates to ‘under grey skies’. And as true black metal demands, even thoug it’s a 2-track EP, it has over 20 minutes of intense music.
Under graoa himila
Under graoa himila tells the story of a lost traveler wandering alone through haunted moors, where the spirits of the dead dwell, long ago sacrificed and offered to the bog. As they wander deeper into the fog and lose their way, the dead, and even the bog itself, speak to them; and they demand blood.
Both tracks follow each other seamlessly. Different layers of instruments make for a deep and rich sound, and the heavy grunts blend in nicely. Every instrument has its place and the mix is done very well. I can’t find any info on who recorded/produced this EP, so my guess would be that this is a home-recording. Extra credits to the band if this is true, because it sounds very well done. More on the melodic side of the black-metal spectrum, I enjoyed listening to these two tracks. The music flows well and is well written, with interesting riffs and a nice mix of heavy blastbeats and more atmospheric breaks to give us some breathing space. The whispers in the background tie in nicely with the story of this EP.
I’ll be looking out for more releases by these guys!
Tracklisting:
Under graoa himila (09:58) Sia forteron bluot (12.15
Epistulum released their debut album ‘From the Dead Masses’ last month with an epic release show in Den Haag, but we at MetalFromNL learned about this album only last week. What a shame I didn’t know about this album sooner! Because from the first tones of Black Dawn Above, I’ve had a smile on my face that hasn’t faded since. What an masterpiece! I might be prejudiced since this is the genre I love the most: Melodic Death Metal with lots of synths, but these guys are definately in the same league as major bands like Children of Bodom, Norther and Omnium Gatherum. Lets dive into this band and see what the rest of this album is all about!
Darkness Within is a Dutch Doom band inspired by oldschool bands from the 80’s and 90’s. They released their 3-track single Dion at the end of last month. Lets dive into this melodical piece of heavyness.
About the songs
Dion starts off with the track Growing Strong. The clean, clear bass and guitar riff accompanied by the clean vocal melodies do indeed remind me of the oldies from ages past. It’s mainly the vocals and the way the vocal lines are written that take this track to the 80’s heavy kinda sound. The doom-aspect of the track is in the slower bpm, but to me it would fit the heavy-metal genre too. All in all a pleasant opening track, but nothing too special.
Bad Dreams is the second track and this track has a bit more groove too it with the bass bringing the the rythm. The backing vocals for this track are so different than the main vocals that I’m not sure it is a good fit, but that might also be the mix. I wonder how this track translate to a live stage. Bad Dreams is a confusing track though. After a minute the song changes to a more straightforward and almost classic heavy metal chordprogression (besides the fact that it’s all really low), only to halt at 2:15 and change to another part of the song. Then at about 3 minutes another change. It doesnt help that the words ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ feel dragged out too much over this piece. At 3.35 there is a bridge part, for some reason in a major scale, which takes away from the Doom-vibe completely.
The final track to this single is To Eternity. This track feels the most dark of them all. It opens with an interesting guitar melody and a low/slow riff. This is also the track that named the single, since it’s about ‘my best friend Dion’. The track progresses in the same, slow tempo until it reaches a bridge part of about a minute of instrumental music. It helps that the main vocals are very pleasant to listen too, ’cause the songs in itself isn’t that captivating.
Verdict
Dion has two tracks that are pleasant to listen too, but nothing too special (yet). If you’re into oldschool metal, this is definately right up your alley. The vocalist has a great voice and really carries the music. And while some of the riffs are interesting, the songs don’t really speak to me. To Eternity would be my favorite track of this single, because of the mainriff and the fact that it’s the most dark/heavy track of the three.
Dutch thrash/death metalband Infantry has released their second album last week, Terminal Society. And we are thrilled to give it a listen! Infantry is known for uptempo thrash and getting the party going. The release of their first album ‘Make war not love’ was allready 5 years ago, so it was definately time for some new tracks. The band previously released Terminal Society as a single, but now they are back with over half an hour of brootal music. Let’s dive into it!
Traanbaard contacted me to review the re-release of their 2015 EP ‘De Schaal Van Hardheid’. Of course we love to comply with that request. Traanbaard is an Amsterdam-based thrash/deathmetal band who distinquish themselves from other acts by having Dutch-only vocals. De Schaal Van Hardheid was the first EP by the band and after releasing their debut album ‘Doodziek’ they decided to update the artwork and release the EP again. Let’s give this redux album a listen.
Elan Vital is the debut album of Anchillys, a one-man project by Andy Wit. There aren’t that many artists that are talented enough to create and record an entire album on their own, but Andy has certainly managed to do exceptionally well. Judging by the more than 1000 streams the album has got allready in the first week after the release, the metal community agrees. Anchillys is a project to watch. Andy took his time creating his debut: apperantly he spent the past 10 years in a bunker trying to come up with brutal riffs and groweling lyrics. However he did it, it is an impressive feat.
Bloid, despite their name, play energetic Death Metal. Bloid is Frisian for ‘happy’, and judging by their album cover these guy are pretty ‘Bloid’. They’ve just released a new EP, ‘The Perfect Machine’ and I’ve been enjoying it for a few hours now. Their answer on facebook as to why there are geese on their album cover was ‘why not’. I guess the guys have been playing ‘untitled goose game’ too much during lockdown. That, or there is a pack of killer geese on the loose in Alkmaar that we don’t know about.
The Perfect Machine (EP)
The Perfect Machine is a 6-track EP released early July of 2022. The whole EP is recorded, mixed and mastered during one of many lockdowns by the band members themselves and we are glad they did. It makes this EP feel like you are with these guys in the studio and they are playing these tracks live.
Inspiration and breakdowns
The Perfect Machine is this EP’s title track and the band released a hilarious video to it, that shows these guys probably don’t take themselves too seriously. Severed is the fastest track and I can feel the circle pit building up in the first 15 seconds of the song. Leech is more on the heavier and slower side, and starts with a melodic bass intro that gives us a nice rest before the heaviness starts again with a typical death metal twin kick riff. However, there is some Gojira-like vibe to this track that makes me wonder what bands these guys are inspired by. Also; in line with the ‘Bloid’ theme, the breakdown that starts at 2:48 sounds like the Dutch kids song ‘alle eendjes zwemmen in het water’ would fit over that perfectly, so maybe the band needs to record a version of that to accompany the Geese video they made for the track ‘The Perfect Machine’ 🤣.
Rorschach is probably my favourite track of this EP and I imagine this being a crowd pleaser live. It has the best guitar solo of the EP as well. Speaking of solo’s, at the end of the next song ‘I Am’, there is a bass solo that almost makes the song feel like a rock ballad, which is a big contrast to the fast heavy riffs in the beginning of the song. The final song, Insomnia takes it right back to the heavier side of things, with the growls of frontman Mike in full force again.
One point of critique: of course they aren’t robots and it won’t be flawless all the time. There is a little stutter in the first track (ironically, called ‘The Perfect Machine’) and while normally this wouldn’t really bother me, because it’s the first track it really stood out to me. Luckily the rest of the tracks sound pretty solid.
Verdict
All in all: The Perfect Machine is overall an uptempo, headbangable circle-pit-in-the-living room kinda release, with blast beats, heavy riffs and death metal rage in the vocals. An enjoyable record to listen to, and a hilarious video that I would definitely recommend 🙂
