Band's List Symphonic Death Black Toscrew Antiego

Antiego is Toscrew’s debut album and second studio release which comprises of 8 tracks. This album was released in 2011, and wasn’t produced by any recording label. These guys have labelled this album as being blackend death doom metal, and I wouldn’t disagree because It features practically all of those elements in their music with an emphasis on the death and black metal elements. So in short these guys are basically an extreme metal band.

These guys have taken three extreme metal genres and have tried to manipulate all of them into their sound. I have to say, they have done quite an impressive job at this. The first and most obvious genre that has influenced these guys would have to be death metal. Almost all extreme metal bands nowadays that create hybrid genres have elements of death metal in their sound, and Toscrew are no exception. This album features death metal style riffs, and a pace that a typical death metal band would normally play at. There is also a strong death metal vibe in their music, I’m not exactly sure what it is about the drumming, but it seems to have distinctive death metal influences. Also, the song structure of most of the tracks seems to be a death give away of the death metal roots involved as well.

The next primary influence in their music would definitely have to be black metal, no doubt about it. Sometimes they appear to have similar feelings and atmospheres as a regular black metal band. From what I can tell, they have utilized two different styles of atmosphere which are 99% of the time present in black metal. The first style to mention is the style you would normally find in bands such as Darkthrone, it’s fairly dark and eerie but it doesn’t exactly sound sad. For some reason, this adds a sense of rawness to their music and makes it sound quite abrasive, hey what do you know, this is also another trait extreme metal bands have. The next atmosphere that has been created is also something that is also commonly found in black metal as well. But it’s more from the brutal side of things and almost all “brutal” black metal bands have this which includes bands such as; Marduk and Endstille. The primary cause of this would have to be the guitar work and tuning/distortion of them.

I think that the vocals sound rather black metalish as well, the vocalist utilizes are extremely high shrieks of despair rather than a typical black metal shriek. When I mean despair, I really mean sheiks of despair that are commonly found in many depressive suicidal black metal bands across the board. But I believe that this has as much to do with the next extreme metal element which is in their music. These guys do have a strong doom metal influence in them, which is just the thing these guys need to wrap their music up. The music even sounds quite depressive at times, this EP probably has one of the heaviest atmospheres I have ever heard and is maintained throughout the whole thing. But they have also maintained their brutality on a level that is unlike anything I’ve heard.

Musically these guys are pretty decent as well. All of the band members have seemed to pull their weight for the creation of this album. There might be a few glitches here and there but that’s made up by the overwhelming power of the rest of the music.

The vocals, like I’ve mentioned before sound very much like shrieks of despair commonly found in black metal bands. They are extremely raspy and very high pitch as well, at times the vocalist might slide up to a higher pitch to add a little variety but most of the times he just uses the same style. But, for whatever reason, the only connection I can make with other vocalists would have to be Burzum. The vocals on here sound just like a turned down version of Varg’s style of vocals on Det Som Engang Var. Sure, they might not be as high pitch or as powerful, but they do have a very similar tone to them.

Now the guitars have a very strong sound and edge to them. There are times where it can get to the point when it can even seem overwhelmingly powerful (in a positive way). This is most likely because of the distortion of the guitars, the distortion they have used is extremely harsh. They basically scream extreme metal at you when listening to this. I also think that the guitarist has done a great job of utilizing this to make sure that the music sounds filling at all times because after all, this is a three man band. So I’m guessing that leaving holes in the music could be an issue for the band. But luckily there aren’t any holes that I can pick out and I think that this is mainly due to the guitar work.

In terms of variety, I have to admit that these guys actually have very little in here. Sure they might differ in speed and feeling at times, but they all seem to have the same base line. This is only an eight track album so it doesn’t really matter that much. The opening track is titled Semmibe születés and it’s a musical track. This is basically the depressive musical that you normally find in extreme metal, especially in black metal and doom metal is the perfect intro to start something like this. The next track is Id?b?l and it is probably the track that summarises what this band is all about when it somes to the black/death metal department. The riffs are played in a black metal style and the drumming is of a death metal style. But these are times where the guitars sounds like the riffs are from neither genre, there are times, where it almost sound like alternative rock. It’s a very modern twist to and otherwise classic realm of metal. I guess that Id?b?l is the only track really worth mentioning, it’s not because the rest is bad, it’s just that this track summarises the whole release.

Overall, this is not a bad way to go about releasing a debut album. The music is fairly clean and solid, and thank god that these guys have chosen to record this is high quality, it would have been horrible in crappy quality. I really like the way they have integrated three genres into one to create something that can only be described as extreme metal. Toscrew basically shouts extreme metal into the listener’s ears. But this album isn’t exactly perfect though, there are times where the music can sound a little loose, especially with the drumming. Also, there is little variety in terms of style and atmosphere. Almost all of the tracks have the exact same musical styles and vibe to them. That’s why I’m going to only recommend one track. I recommend the track Id?b?l because it will give you a good indication of what this band is about. So if you like it or you think that these guys might have something new to offer, try the rest of the album because it won’t kill you. Overall, I think this would make a nice little addition to any extreme metal fans collection because these guys would fit right in. I give Toscrew’s Antiego a 14/20.