A to Z Runner Up: Bravura

Band:  Bravura
Song:  Burst
Album:  Battle Of The Suns (2017)
Genre:  Blackened Death Metal

Welcome to the first runner up on the 2018 A to Z!

First thing I have to address, I love this album cover.  It's just so good, I can't see how anybody would dislike it (as a Metal album at least).  Secondly, I can't pass these dudes up, cause I happen to know the singer.  My dude Steve is fantastic at what he does, which among other things is screaming in such a way that I'm sure he's gonna blow out his voice, but he doesn't.  Like, seriously.  I don't know how he does it, but he's got a psychotic rasp to his voice that just pains me every time I've tried to replicate it.

Then the music.  Bravura is a band that's just filled with incredibly talented musicians.  It's absurd really, since Erie is filled with a lot of kinda sloppy Hardcore bands I don't always remember that a lot of really technical musicians around here.  Bravura managed to snag 5 of them though, and it really comes to light with their music.  They put on a great live show too.  They had one just last night that I unfortunately missed, but they were playing their music while a horror movie played on a screen behind them.  Now that's pretty nifty if you ask me.

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Week Of Evil Day 5: Behemoth - Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer

Band:  Behemoth
Song:  Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer
Album:  The Satanist (2014)
Genre:  Blackened Death Metal

Honestly, I love quotable people who commit to their art.  If the frontman of Behemoth, Nergal, is anything, he is quotable.  Other than getting me in some trouble with people who need to mind their own business, the man has done a pile of interesting things.  Unlike Watain who actually spray pigs blood on people as their shows go on, Behemoth takes a more artistic step.

Full costume is one thing they manage to do well.  While corpse paint is a very traditional move in the Black Metal community, other things are not so much.  Robes, face paint, and stage names?  Good deal Behemoth.

Then there's the stage show.  While they may not have crucified people on stage like Gorgoroth, and they don't douse the crowd with blood, they have ripped up a bible on stage while on stage in Poland while calling the catholic church "The most murderous cult on the planet".  So yeah, not too cool, eh?

Firstly, I wanna point out that this is a free speech thing.  I feel it was in poor taste, but I don't feel it should have hit courts like it did.  That's just me though, feel free to hold your own opinion.

But yeah, that's the tip of the iceberg for our good buddy Nergal.  Outside of saying things like "Satan is the only important thing in my life (paraphrased)" and other such things, he's actually a cancer survivor as well.  You know how some people get cured from some horrific disease and they find faith or something?  Well Nergal doesn't seem to feel that way.

"Satanism is about life and liberation and love for freedom. I have Satan in me, flowing through my veins and through my music." - Nergal

Enough of me making assumptions about people's personal life, let's stick to the music.

Behemoth started out as a heavily pagan metal band.  That was their thing, and honestly I don't really care for the sound of their old music.  Thing is though, they switched over to a satanic theme and I can't be sure that they didn't switch it up because of money.  Satan is huge in Metal, not so much general paganism.

I dunno, maybe I'm off there too.  Regardless, they talk a good game, so I hope you dig the song.  The title is Latin for "Pray For Us Lucifer", cause everything is more evil if you say it in Latin.

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Bravura - Battle Of The Suns

Band:  Bravura
Song:  Battle Of The Suns
Album:  Battle Of The Suns
Genre:  Blackened Death Metal
Bandcamp:  bravurabandofficial.bandcamp.com

Yo, my dudes in Bravura dropped a music video on Saturday!

These guys released a fantastic album a month or so ago that I really loved.  I was gonna post some stuff from it, but I figured I'd wait till they released a music video cause I knew it was coming sooner than later.

So first off, the video is great.  It's honestly really freaking good.  I loved it.

Second.  The song is amazing.  The guitar leads are freaking tight and the whole band clearly works well together.  I've got huge bass player envy for their bassist too, he plays way too fast and I'm never gonna be able to match that.

Then there's Steve's vocals.  This isn't the best example of what I'm about to say, but you can buy the album for cheap or stream it to check what I mean.  But his vocal work just sounds straight up painful.  Like, I don't know what he does to himself, but he just rips out this horrendous raspy wonderful noise and can still talk like a normal human outside of the band.  Mad respect my man, that's intense.

Check it guys, and check the rest of the album too, it's solid work.

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Sinsaenum - Army Of Chaos

Band:  Sinsaenum
Genre:  Blackened Death Metal

So if you follow Metal news in the half assed way I do then you probably are wondering what ever happened to Joey Jordison of Slipknot.

Well if you're like that then let me fill you in.

So it turns out Joey suffers from Transverse Myelitis which, long story short, means he can't really feel his legs too much.  This obviously hurt his playing with Slipknot since his double kick playing is kinda a staple, so he got kicked from the group.

I'm not too sure how he plays in this group because his recovery chance from this disease is very low, but apparently he's one of either the 33% that fully recovers or the 33% that partially recovers.  Good for him either way.

Music wise this is a pretty catchy tune that makes me want to hear more.  It's not often you get a Death Metal supergroup together so this is a bit of a special thing.  You've got people from all over the place on here, but I feel the most important to note would be Attila Csihar, vocalist of Mayhem and guest vocalist for Sunn O))).  He's a rather big deal in the Black Metal community so landing him to be one of the vocalists is a big deal.  He's the one with corpse paint in the right of the picture above.

I'm not sure what's with the heavy Nazi undertone in the video, but my suspicion is that considering some of the people they brought in it's one of two things.  1.  They give support to the NSBM movement.  2.  They're just going for the shock value.

Either way the song is actually rather good, so if you're down with Blackened Death Metal then check it out.

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Title Track Tuesdays: Behemoth - The Satanist

Band:  Behemoth
Genre:  Black Metal, Blackened Death Metal
Content:  Some Blasphemy.  Ya know.

I wasn't originally going to kick off my nre Tuesday idea with something like this, but dude, it's post 666.  I've been waiting for this post to swing around for almost two years and I almost missed it like a putz.

So I'll give a quick run down of the concept here.  I'm going to post a song on Tuesdays that was the title track of an album.  It stands to reason that if you've got a track that you're naming after the album (or vise versa) that it's gonna be really good.  I'm going to judge that.  I will give you my opinion on whether it actually measures up to the hype I've assigned it or not.  It's gonna be a blast.

Ok, Behemoth.

I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but these guys were detained in Russia a few months back for being "too evil".  Like, their Russian tour was canceled due to this and they were detained by the authorities.

So this is their most recent album, The Satanist.  It had a lot of hype going into it because the vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the band, Nergal, was diagnosed with leukemia.  It was really up in the air whether the band would actually continue because of this.  Well he apparently got better, because they're touring again.

So let's compare this track to the rest of the album.  I personally think it represents it quite well.  They didn't try to make in a contemplative track that stands at odds with the rest of the album, they didn't try to make it the intro to the album, they just let it be it's own song.  If you were to pick this song to try and figure out what the album sounds like, it's honestly a good bet.  I can't honestly recommend listening to the band because they're a little iffy, but my personal opinion is that this song represents the album and, just as importantly, conveys the message of the album.

Boom, first TTT done and knocked out.  Enjoy!

Dark Sermon - Rat King

Band:  Dark Sermon
Genre:  Blackened Death Metal, Deathcore

Yo man, got through that A to Z like it was nothing, right?

Ok, not really.  Wasn't as prepared this year so it was rough.  Hey though, I delivered and that's all you can ask, right?

So I decided to change up my usual hum drum one job straight to the other thing I've been doing and go do something fun today.  I'm going to see a pile of Deathcore bands live and it's gonna be awesome.

There's this show which should be sweet, and another one in a couple weeks that, in my opinion, will make this month about a million times better than last month.

I've never seen Dark Sermon before, but my brother says they put on a fantastic show so I've got high hopes.  Good times and all that cause live music is always good.

For real.  I really don't like Country music but I don't mind seeing it live, ya know?  Even if it's stuff I really don't like the live aspect is always something I can get behind.  And I like this, so that'll make it better.

Behemoth - Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel

Now I'm gonna throw this out there.  This is a horrible song.  This is dark, vulgar, and the video has satanic imagery and mild nudity.  Ok then, here goes.  You have been warned.

Behemoth is the band.  They are considered to be the most evil band out there right now by a good many people, and for good reason.

Forming in 1991, their themes ranged mostly on paganism, though in recent years they have turned toward satanic content (as that is what's "in" right now).

They were also one of the first (or the first) band(s) to be banned from Russia.

The lead singer and guitarist Nergal did almost die of leukemia in 2010, but did manage to make a full recovery though his doctors told him he was beyond healing.  A bone marrow transplant and many other such procedures later, Nergal went home in January of 2011, and by summer was up and going again.

One actually funny thing about the bad is that their corpse paint is just toothpaste.  That is all that the base of it is.  There is some black around the edges as well, but seriously, who is ingenious enough to use toothpaste?  It's literally everywhere too, so it's not like their gonna run out.

As much as it pains me to admit it, I really like the sound these guys have.  They have good solid musical talent and a really good sound.  Still, It's just a little too much for me to take a lot of the time.

On a side note, Nuclear Blast records has some of the best bands I've heard in a while.