The Temple of Sharkuel

If you aren't aware of how metal concerts work here in Portugal, well let me break it up to you right out of the bat: - We only get mostly mainstream bands here - We have festivals that are backed by large companies that use the fests to promote themselves - Here in Portugal people are mostly Thrashers and Deathmetal heads, therefore the Black Metal scene here is pretty slim. So when we have the True Mayhem visit twice on the same year our small patch of land near the Atlantic, then this is "godsend". We have a major festiva here that is more "Underground" called SWR Barroselas. It is a festival that I go quite often since it attends to my musical taste. It has a great atmosphere and aura to it, since it happens in the middle of a forest in the northest reaches of Portugal. Makes sense that Mayhem would come here to celebrate it's 20th edition, even though they had their name mentioned before in previous editions of the festival where they ...

Hilarious cover art vs Serious black metal 100% I will start this review with a honest observation from my part. The cover art of this album is quite something different. When I saw this, I though it was a meme. Then I saw this in the black metal hipster channel, where they made fun of this. But since they aren't a credible channel for music review (considering the hate that is around both Myrkur and Deafheaven, such hate highly promoted by them), I went to the guy's bandcamp and gave a listen. Boy was I blown away. This record starts hard and fast, with "Cleave the Alicorn" blasting away. It is quite fast tempo, and the heavily distortion and reverb gives the whole sound scape a unique character. I also love the vocals. They invoque a particular pain that goes in great contrast with the album cover, since he looks so chilled and smiling. Perhaps that's the gimmick. The second track keeps up the same pounding rhythm, until it slows down to Eternal...