DEAD METAL

Old Tower has been featured a number of times  previously . This Dutch dungeon synth/dark ambient artist never disappoints. Described as "a conceptual release" rather than an album, Portrait Of A Medieval Presence does lean more towards the ambient side of things. Eight tracks/thirty minutes of eerie soundscape, which comes with the following synopsis: heretics unjustly burned at the stake, the masses laughing at their despair, a new inquisition is on the rise... the cancer of civilization is circular, not linear. patterns repeat, the same portrait is painted every time. the canvas is dark, rotten, full of mold and stench. the painting a semblance of pain, knowledge and hate. we are the new dark age. You can preview it below, and purchase it here . Portrait Of A Medieval Presence by Old Tower

Hailing from Atlanta, Father Befouled have been active since 2006 and have an extensive back catalogue. Brought to us by Everlasting Spew, this new instalment is a little hard to review. The three main tracks are outstanding - circa 16.5 minutes of premium death-doom. These guys are often compared to  Incantation , which is fair but certainly no bad thing, and on this release they represent the most enjoyable side of that style and do so extremely well. Next we have a cover of  Morbid Angel 's Pain Divine, which is perfectly decent but doesn't fit all that well with the preceding material. Digital customers then also get a cover of Vulgar Necrolatry by Abhorrence, which probably fits better with core EP but has a very different production to the rest of the package. Essentially - we would recommend buying the three original tracks on  Bandcamp  and burning yourself a CD, assuming that you are a fan of consistency at least. On that basis, Immaculate Pain can is one of the year&#