Utopia Platafórmica

  Gurthang “Martyrium” (Immortal Frost Productions, 2024) Another release by Belgium label Immortal Frost Productions, a label mostly associated with Black Metal in its ancestral – although contemporary at times – form, that has the courage to risk outside the “defined” lines of what is, and what is not, Black Metal. This time we have the pleasure to listen to Gurthang, a band that is not new to the scene, but new to me. From Poland they come, and since 2010 they have been blasting their way through the Underground with their blend of Black Metal with Doom and almost Drony moments. A detail that I quite appreciate on the band’s work is their ability to balance melodic and delicate guitar parts with aggressive atmosphere, giving it this dynamic and enthusiastic sonic experience. It is quite interesting that they work the vocals as a very present instrument. Do not get me wrong, as I do know how this works, but I truly enjoyed their approach, and it does give the music a darker and h

  ThanatoSchizO “Turbulence” (Misdeed Records, 2004) I have always looked at this band as the flagbearers of Heavy Metal up North, in Trás-os-Montes, as the sign that our region was not dead! Well, a lot more band live up North: Insalubre, Eremites, Preeminência, are just 3 examples that are close to the genre I listen to, but a lot more have come and gone, giving the region a very solid background in terms of Heavy Metal. And of course… Eerie Litanies, from Bragança! Back to ThanatoSchizo. The band started out in 1997 as a Death Metal band, slowly evolving into a more complex and elaborate outfit, adding Doom and Progressive details to its previously well-structured machine! From this point on, the progressive side of the band grew… a lot… too much, in my opinion. Their previous album, “Insomnious NightLift”, already showed moments where you could see the band wanting to depart – a bit more – from their Death Metal persona, to a more Floydian one (risking it all by mentioning Pink