Jabladav - "Atta Vinter"

(U.S.A., Self released, Progressive/Ambient Black Metal, 2009)

North Carolina's Jabladav (actually now only one guy) put together a self released album with a different take on how (now) traditional elements of this extreme style of Metal music may articulate. Initialy openly paying tribute to Weakling, both atmospheric and raw, with ironic hints (and moments) that sometimes remembers me of Furze, Jabladav has rapidly evolved releasing recordings starting with 2006, despite existing since 1995. Suffice to mention just the four full length albums. The debut of Atta Vinter is intense, pounding, blasting and then enlarging the context with choral additions that doesn't flaw the lo-fi core, as so, the acoustic outro of which will see often here. Luna ends in a delicate chant magically propelled by discreet romantic strings.
The "Atta Vinter", "Blackest Friday", "Pisgah Forest Blizzard", "To Reach The Apex" section (tracks 3 to 6) looks like an elegantly and refined (imagine that) small collection of smart extreme Metal. There is here an inspired balance: raw, crude riffs (sometimes as feral as Ildjarn, that is as simple as Punk) atmospheric melodic expansions with diverse vocal lines, very often their dynamic climax being abruptly cut down by soft intimate passages. Also the vocals are so diverse ranging from demented yells, almost bombastic passages, to emotional whispering bringing again more diversity and nuance. "Vail" opens dramatic and atmospheric, (you're being prepared for the epic track that closes this album.) expanding doom rawness and than fastening with a riff carved abruptly like Pagan forest totems to temporarily finalize in Ambient notes. "With All I Have...I Will Make It So" is another short composition this time for dueling guitars, with melodies evoking Black Metal moments like the rusty Antichrist of Gorgoroth but in a more mellow/depressive manner. The acoustic passage of the end of this tune sets the stage for the 11 minutes "Atta Vinter II": calm introduction with soft guitars and whispered vocals that shortly became a demonic-reptilian slithering. The riff kicks in changing the but expanding wildly and triumphant, dramatic slowing and breaking down to another clean guitar passage followed by monstrously alienated riffs torturing and savagely mutualy smashing and in the end dieing in an conclusion that slowly descends in silence.
Recommended for those Black Metal fans who expect creativity.

Jesus Om - "Silent Cries (Freedom For Tibet)"

(Czech Republic, Self released, Crossover/Nu Metal, 2004)

I've discovered a very cool band last weekend as I visited the founder of Arcana Noctis in Romania. He gave me the CD as a gift, it was not meant for a review... I thought "Oh, thanks, another one for my big box full of CDs I never listen to..."
I didn't like name and the cover very much, but I wanted to hear it ...and it blew me away! I was very surprised how many different styles they've put in each song though they have an their own, very powerfull, intense and detailed.
This EP came out in 2004 and contains 5 tracks and a clip for for the titletrack, in which you can form an opinion about the band and their attitude. Jesus Om are from the Czech Republic and consist of 8 members, two very varied vocalists (male and female) two guitarists, a bassist, drummer and percussionist, and a didgeridoo player. This strange instrument is not used for intros only but for the background rhythm and it fits very well in this case. It's hard to describe the music of this band, I would say it's a mix of Korn, R.A.T.M. and Primus (?), sometimes a little Reggae, sometimes Hardcore but always straight to the point. Innovative riffing and structures, fresh vocal lines, something between singing and screaming, pretty intelligent lyrics too...
The homepage is in Czech unfortunately, so its hard to find more info, but you can buy the promo there. Check them out!

Jesus Om - "Demo 06"

(Czech Republic, Self released, Crossover/Nu Metal, 2006)

I've recieved a new two track demo from Jesus Om some time ago...
The first track sounds a little commercial in my opinion, nevertheless it's very well done, there are 50/50 male and female vocals in this one, kind of a harder ballad with some fast parts, can't compare it to anything I know... again :) Track two is heavy, great vocals/screams/raps (?), cool riffs, could be a small "hit". In every song this band manages to mix that much ideas, a lot of bands are not able to put in a whole album.
However, I liked the first demo more than this one, and I'm not much into that "political correct" lyrics but I can see a lot of potential in this band! I don't understand the fact that every cheap kiddie band gets a deal nowadays but nobody cares about real musicians... or maybe it's not "cool" to come from the Eastern Europe...
The music of Jesus Om comes straight from the heart, money is definitely not the reason why they are doing this. I wish I could help them more, if anybody with a serious label reads this review: This is your new hope! Feel free to contact them!

Jig-Ai - "Jig-Ai"

(Czech Republic, Bizarre Leprous Production, Grindcore, 2006)

Jig-Ai was founded as a project in 2005 by members of bands like Negligent Collateral Collapse and Ahumado Granujo: Buraak (bass, soprano), Brain (guitars, tenor) and Štefy on drums. The self titled debut was released some months after a 4 track promo in 2006.
This half an hour long album is a punch in the face! A damn raw and brutal production which lets you hear everything clearly though, some cool Grind'n'Roll riffs (among the main hyper speed ones) mixed with blast beats and all kinds of pitch-shifted vocals (including some of the sickest pig squeal growls I've ever heard) are the ingredients for the 18 songs here, which you can call almost catchy!
What I like is the fact that the album isn't filled with those thirty seconds long movie samples that were used a thousand times before in this genre. Here and there you can hear some construction machine sounds (the description of their style is "Bulldozer Commando Goregrind") or even something from the Happy Tree Friends animations (?) but in the main it's music, like it should be! From Cock And Ball Torture-like groovy rhythms to Death Metal passages you can enjoy a wide spectrum of intensive extreme Metal - which is not to be taken too seriously.
My favourites are the opener "Japanese Gut Cake", the groovy "HN-Islam" and the incredibly fierce "Ninja Gang-Bang". A Brujeria cover ("La Ley De Plomo") is also featured here but I didn't recognized it that easy ;) After I've listened to the original, I think Jig-Ai has definitely the better sound but the "bubble with water" vocals somehow destroy it... I personally can't stand too much of these vocals at once, I prefer to understand something here and there like in Haemorrhage's case for example... but this is the only thing I'm complaining about! Be sure to purchase the original CD (if you like the samples they've put online), it has a very well designed booklet which shows some slaughtered Manga girls as well as some gorgeous drawings of the jigai ritual.

Here's a description of that ritual (taken from Wikipedia): "Jigai was a traditional method of ritual suicide for women in Japan by the cutting of the jugular vein with a knife. Before committing jigai, a woman would often tie her ankles together so her body would be found in a dignified pose, despite the convulsions of Death. The act was often done to preserve one's honor if a military defeat was imminent, i.e. to prevent rape. Invading armies would often enter homes to find the lady of the house seated alone, facing away from the door. On approaching her, they would find that she had quietly ended her life long before they reached her. Furthermore, this would cause minimum disfigurement of the body..."