WOODEN STAKE - At The Stroke Of Midnight CD Compilation Razorback Records Genre: Doom
I predicted last year that WOODEN STAKE would put out a compilation of all of their EPs, actually I was hoping they would since most releases were out of print about the time I found out about em. So now one of the best Doom bands around, especially if you're into occult themes, has given fans as well as new comers a second chance. This release starts off with a new cut "Night of the Banshee" and from there contains the two tracks from 2011's Black Caped Carnivore” 7” EP ("Black Caped Carnivore" and "Curse of the Funeral Mistress"), their "In the Godless Moonlight" from their split release with DRUID LORD which also came out in 2011. Then there's the two cuts ( "Death Reads the Black Tarot" and "The Legend of Blood Castle") off of another split release from 2011 with BLIZARO. Then there's the two cuts ("Invoke the Ageless Witch" and "At the Stroke of Midnight / Howl of the Devil") off of 2010's Invoke the Ageless Witch 7” EP which was the release that really got me into this band as well as becoming a huge fan. This dink ends with the five cuts ("Sepulchral Awakening", "Stalking in the Shadowlands", "Condemned", "Forbidden Oath" and "A Passing Lament") from their debut Vampire Plague Exorcism. Now all you need, if you don't have it already, is their incredible full length from last year and you'll be squared away.
HUNTRESS - Spell Eater CD
Napalm Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
I learned about this act back in February, via a Napalm Records email update, promoting their "Eight of Swords" video. Obviously having a former Playboy model, Jill Janus, as a front woman didn't hurt this band at getting out of the clubs and onto a label, as well as getting features in major metal print publications. (check out the spread, pardon the pun, in Metal Hammer) But to be fair Jill Janus is a classically trained vocalist with a huge range so the eye candy factor really doesn't follow the cliche. Secondly HUNTRESS is a thrash meets power metal five piece from California who started out a few years back. They have a three song self released EP from 2010, Off With Her Head, under their belts. On this debut their two guitar attack by Blake Meahl and Ian Alden is reminiscent of many Teutonic acts of the power metal genre minus the orchestra leanings. Spell Eater combines a little of everything from galloping riff thrash to classic NWOBHM and melodic death to create a catchy batch of somewhat memorable cuts. Of course some out weigh the others and those are the ones which Janus really utilizes her vox. The opening title cut along with the video number "Eight of Swords" mentioned above plus "Children" and the closing number "The Tower" are all noteworthy. There are no ballads on here which is another cliche destroyed.
COP PROBLEM - Self Titled 7"
War Torn Records
Genre: Hardcore
Some friends of mine always ask why don't I review Hardcore releases. Well here's a new one by a Philadelphia four piece act who sound like Hardcore 1989. Now all of us out here who know history understand that Hardcore officially died by 1987. All who followed were just copying what had come before. Also by 1989 the so-called Hardcore scene was sort of a joke with various factions moving away from any affiliation with traditional punk rock and either going full on hippie anarcho punk, emo or metal. The three songs on here remind me of what was coming out of San Fran and DC back in 1989. You still had the caustic vocals, the speedy riffs and the politics but the music was partly more melodic (emo) and cleaner sounding (college rockers). Some idiot scribe from a hipster website actually called this crust. That just goes to show that metal is not the only genre which hipsters are clueless about. You can also throw in a heaping helping of revisionism since that's a hipster specialty. COP PROBLEM is fronted by a woman but you really can't tell by her vocals even when the band slows down to an emo pace on the third cut "Blinded by Power" and the singer (Deb Cohen) breaks into some spoken word lyrics (how anarcho punk, minus the shrill). COP PROBLEM are simply another boring political band with nothing new to scream about over twenty years later.
DISEIM - Holy Wrath CD
Abyss Records
Genre: Death Metal
The new OSDM (Old School Death Metal) trend has hit Latvia with this debut album from DISEIM. Instead of the slash and burn approach this band has opted for the death doom style made good by past bands like GRAVE and AUTOPSY albeit to less effectiveness. The greatest goal for all of these bands who revive the classic sounds of yesteryear is to not only capture that perfect niche but also to not sound like a retro act just playing by a template. These bands need to inject some original enthusiasm. For as much as DISEIM invokes a dreaded and dank atmosphere on Holy Wrath it just sounds too simplistic. While opener "Black" as well as the second cut "Holy Wrath" displayed promise with their inviting dark atmosphere as well as chugging riffs the rest of the release seemed to fall flat. DISEIM sound like a band trying, which is the key word here, to be old school death doom. They've left out key ingredients like a filthier sounding production which always works. The rhythms sound bored as if no one really cared to be aggressive. Would it kill this band to at least place a few fiery solos into some of these songs? I've rarely gotten drowsy listening to a death doom release but there's always a first time for everything and this was it.
SEPTEKH - The Seth Avalanche EP
Abyss Records
Genre: Thrash
First off that's the one of the worst looking drawings of a wolf, on the cover of this release, that I've ever seen. Look at those fuckin teddy bear ears? Artwork aside this Swedish act delivers a brand of thrash that's laced with chuggy death metal overtones (death thrash?) for part of this release like the aptly titled "Blunt Force to the Head". Other times they're ripping you a new asshole with opener "Fuckslut From Hell" and "Shoot Them All". There's six cuts on this EP leaving no room for screwing around with variety. SEPTEKH deal in trauma with the combined assault of raspy blackened punk vocals, as well as some gruff ones, and a battery of guitar fury which really doesn't sound retro. These Swedes need more than a little over twenty minutes to really impress.
ATER ERA - In Autumn's Solitary Decline CD
Mater Tenebrarum Records
Genre: Black Metal
In an era when you have some people wanting black metal to progress itself out of existence it's always good to hear something that hearkens to the genre's more primal past. ATER ERA hails from Slovenia and this debut release fits that prescription. In Autumn's Solitary Decline originally came out last Fall but you know how slow the Post Office is of late so I'm checking it out now. Yes that's a joke. Originally starting off as a solo project (I think they're a band now) the main architect behind ATER ERA is named S.S. The man's responsible for vocals, guitar and songwriting. Hopefully he was not involved with the drums which on here sound as if they were recorded in a cavern. Everything else sounds fairly good in a melodic yet still raw black metal way. The guitars have that crispy sound quality somewhere in-between bacon frying and a broken electrical cable sparking. Either way it's a menacing sound that greats you on opener "Vest". S.S.'s vocals have that ghastly horror quality that pairs well with the seminal epicness which is like a door that this act is banging upon. "Exanimus" displays that explanation perfectly with some variety in it's structure albeit a little eclectic. The final cut "Red Thorah" adds a little change from the monotony with surprise ambient passages within the crash and tremolo blasts. You could also consider it's closing somewhat psychedelic.
MEATSHANK - Scavengers CD
Self Released
Genre: Thrash
When I went to check this Kansas City, Missouri band's official website a pop up sponsor ad for Kobe Steaks came up. Coincidence? Whatever the case this release, their second full length, originally came out back in 2010. Obviously this is a second chance promotional push which happens quite a bit. Not only is the release two years old but the band's sound hearkens back to the time when the lines between thrash metal and crossover punk were blurred. I immediately realized that when opener "Meet your Maker" blasted out from my speakers and envisioned the slam pit action from my own past. Those were the days when spikey haired punks and long haired metal heads dropped their guards and partied as one. Yeah that really didn't last did it.
Anyways MEATSHANK are one part crossover and one part traditional thrash. While this three piece can bust out blazing riffs in that DRI, CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER type vein (including the higher pitch caustic vocals) on a few cuts they can also tap into some METALLICA stylings ala "Sweet Release" or a more modern melodic death thrashing rage on "Symbiotic Annihilation". Actually this whole release is a variety of surprises that comprise of a cross pollination of the past while still sounding fresh today. MUNICIPAL WASTE comes to mind as a similar band who, while obviously borrowing from the past, created a sound that found a niche with modern ears. If there ever was a release that needed a second push it's Scavengers. Even better would be to see them signed to a decent label in order to get this into stores.
Belgium's oppressive death metallers, EMPTINESS, featuring members of Enthroned, have released a video for the track "It and I," taken from their newest full-length Error. The video, which was shot in the band's own Blackout Studios, can be viewed below:
Error is now available for order through Dark Descent Records. Brooding and venomous, progressive and blackened, EMPTINESS' Error is a journey into descending madness. Forward-thinking black-doom insanity wrapped in a groove-laden burl of off-kilter rhythms and disharmonic melody collide with a poisonous tongue; Phorgath's agonizing spoken rasp claws at the mind and fuels the nightmare within. Embrace sorrowed oblivion. Error delivers nine new tracks of killer death/black noise with a layout (done by Brussels-based Blackout Media) featuring a four-panel digipak on upgraded matte finish card stock with an eight page booklet.
MARES OF THRACE - The Pilgrimage CD
Sonic Unyon Metal
Genre: Sludge
This release is a perfect example on how a decent producer can turn an average sounding band into something decent albeit formulated. On their 2010 debut, The Moulting, this Calgary noisy doomish duo sounded like a crusty band trying to jump on the second wave NEU-ISIS sludge bandwagon. My own not so humble opinion aside it supposedly garnered critical acclaimed, more on that one later. Now the same band goes into the studio with producer Sanford Parker, gets slightly cleaned up and heavily built up to create this sophomore release. The fact is that The Pilgrimage is a much better release by far. On a whole it's a sludgey pummeling paired up with fierce ambiance that holds your attention as well as balances the release out until you realize you've heard this (aka: two piece sludge bands) plenty of times in the past three to four years. I constantly read opinions by interweb scribes (aka: the critics) on how they see certain genres stagnating by the sheer amount of repetition as opposed to progressiveness. Almost all of their targets fall in with bands in the black metal, death metal and thrash genres. Technically that's fine because it's just their opinion and the opposite feeling is that fans tend to relate better with familiar sounds. I'm part of the latter opinion. One thing you don't see is the same critical balance when it comes to sludge rock. In this band's case their sound and style is as familiar to me as the back of my hand and I review 90% of the same releases as the major interweb critics.
Now before I go even further with that last point lets give MARES OF THRACE the credit they at least deserve. You just can't ignore the coolness of Therese Lanz's vocals especially when that feral feline type shriek, like on "The Gallwasp", "The Goat Thief" and "The Perpetrator", erupts forth. Most of the time she's screaming in a deep gruff pitch or adding clean haunting vocals. As far as this duo's sound goes having a modified baritone guitar with an added bass pickup gives Lanz's' playing an extra violent kick of heaviness as well as a darker tone when strumming melodically. Drummer Stef MacKichan's playing is a cross between follow Lanz's lead and pound away to more of a jazz inspired playing when given room to do so. The release itself is split into three distinct parts and based on a dirty biblical story (aka: from the bible, a book I'm sure you've heard about) of King David and Bathsheba. The first part is the heavy section with the second expanding to more diverse noise accents. It's the third part on here where the duo breaks into more noise doom dissidence like on "The Three-Legged Courtesan" and the over eight minute closer.
Overall I think The Pilgrimage is a decent sludge band release simply because I listened to it half a dozen times and didn't pay attention to their promo photos. Now we're getting back to my earlier point which will result in emails from wussies who hate when I editorialize in a review. I got this in to review right when it was released although I did have the pleasure of reading plenty of promos which included quotes from individual print and interweb scribes. I also checked out two interviews, one print and the other radio podcast. I just can't get away from the suspicion that some people in the music media, especially the indie rockers who now like metal contingent, base their praise more on this duo's looks than the music. Just looking at some of the hype you would think there's a collective genuflect going on. Granted most hipsters are used to the vintage clothing dressed, femi-nazi, hairy armpit-ed barrista look when it comes to the women they hang around with or see on stage. Along comes MARES OF THRACE and their objectivity falls by the waist side, literally. Personally I think this band deserves better than that. It is 2012 and this ain't high school. Nuff Said.
DEADBORN - Mayhem Maniac Machine CD
Apostasy Records
Genre: Death Metal
This is the second release by Germany’s DEADBORN who not only have in their membership two former (short stint) NECROPHAGIST members (vocalist Mario Petrovic and drummer extraordinaire Slavek Foltyn) but also have a sound not too far from them. I never heard their debut Stigma Eternal which came out back in 2007 but just going by hearing this these Germans are sticking with tradition. Yeah if you can hear NECROPHAGIST you can also hear OBSCURA, slightly. Let me be the first to pose the question. Is this part of some new 1990's German tech death revival? Yes I know the penalty for that comment but I don't have a Luger to make it honorable so I'll just keep going on.
Although these guys hold true to their homeland's genre tradition they also toss in plenty of thrash elements to the arrangements. That formula makes this kinda less tech bland. On a few cuts like "Insane Motor Cortex" their packaging of influences works well with energetic riffage and Slavek Foltyn pounding away like a machine. There's also some blackened touches thrown in for good measure. "Profanatic Reanimation" is a massive attack of thick riff aggression and once again Foltyn leads the charge as a technician. The soloing throughout is kept at bay in lieu of emphasising the riffs. That's also the problem here since there's not much variety going on. Plus Mario, albeit a gruff throaty vocalist, has only one level when singing and after a few cuts it's annoying. Still with those slights Mayhem Maniac Machine is a decent release. It's the kinda thing for people who wanna grow up from the "core" but are not ready for the true guitar pyrotechnics.
MONOLITHE - Interlude Second EP
Self Released
Genre: Doom
The French doom act MONOLITHE was never much on impressive titles (it a pattern that kinda runs with many French extreme bands). While waiting to put together their third opus of dark atmospheric doom Monolithe III, which will come out on Debemur Morti Productions maybe later this year, the band created two in-between EPs. The first was Interlude Premier released in 2007. This is obviously the second part which is two long, mostly instrumental with some vocals, cuts, titled Harmony of Null Matter - Section 1 and Section 2, to fill your mind with thoughts of misery and gloom. Some people like to call MONOLITHE's sound funeral doom. Personally I don't think the patient has red lined just yet. In fact it's still comatose but the mind is in the throes of dying definitely. This is the kind of music you listen to late at night when you're curled up in bed with a Lovecraft book and a spider.
FISTHAMMER - Devour All You See CD
Horror Pain Gore Death Productions
Genre: Death Metal
It's always good to listen to a band whose music is a direct representation of their name. FISTHAMMER is a four piece act that hails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or what they refer to as Killadelphia. I still call it Hostile City USA but the sentiment is the same. Devour All You See is their debut which is basically tech death but not in the ADD range which I can handle. Think back to the early days of tech death when bands first started copying DEATH's signature influences and then pushing it to another level albeit not jazz or progressive. FISTHAMMER follows that template fairly easy. When I saw song titles like "Bullet Rape", "Zombocalypse" as well as "Kull the Conquerer" I thought this was going to be brutal as in brutal for brutality's sake. On the contrary Devour All You See is actually more melodic with fluid soloing as well riffs that bite most of the time with some flesh ripping here and there for flash. Vocals are mostly gruff with some moments of banshee like screaming. The songs also keep within a dark atmospheric fog of desolation and despair kinda like Philadelphia which I always thought was an smelly armpit aka: Filthadelphia. This is a pretty cool debut although it kinda follows the pattern of what I predicted late last year. Since OSDM (aka: Old School Death Metal) was the rage for a few years sooner or later the roots of tech death would surface (or something to that effect).
SPAWN OF POSSESSION - Incurso CD
Relapse Records
Genre: Death Metal
Just from the press / promo for this release you would think Tech Death fans were in withdrawals for the past six years which probably is a horrible sight to witness. Well your wait is over you attention deficit disorder freaks. SPAWN OF POSSESSION return with the revamped line-up and this new release. As regular readers of SFM666 know I have very little passion or patience for tech death. I see most of it as jazz noodling without any serious song craft at work. With that said I think there are some bands who really push the envelope on sheer greatness as well as create interesting compositions which don't give me a fuckin headache. SPAWN OF POSSESSION is one of those bands at least that's what I thought about their last release, Noctambulant, from 2006. This latest one, their first for Relapse, surpasses what they've done before. Incurso introduces Christian Munzner of NECROPHAGIST and OBSCURA fame joining Jonas Bryssling on guitar which brings about even more of a formidable tech death riffage display throughout. Munzner handles all of the soloing on here which should come to no surprise. Also added to the line-up is new bassist Erlend Caspersen whose playing on here takes on a larger presence than their former plucker.
Right after the opening intro you'll notice in this new version of SPAWN OF POSSESSION that Munzner has brought more to this band than just his guitar and talent. There's an obvious OBSCURA feel to these songs via melody flowing throughout the jazz infused insanity. Vocalist Dennis Rondum is the only one not contributing to the tech wizardry at work on here since giving up the drums to Henrik Schonstrom in order to do full time frontman duties. His vocals on here are standard fair but worthy of the musicianship at work around him. As far as Schonstrom is concerned his talents are all over these cuts. One of the many reasons why this is a damm good tech death release (in my not so humble non tech death liking opinion) is that this band is jelled to perfection. While the musicians push the meter on standout performances there's no one who stands above the rest not even Munzner in the mix. I'm not going to single out any particular cuts since the whole release is an amazing composition from start to end with some progressive styled surprises. As far as I'm concerned Incurso is now the new standard in Tech Death.
OLD HEAD - Maximum Rock CD
At War with False Noise Records
Genre: Thrash
Obviously Richard Hoak doesn't have enough on his plate with BRUTAL TRUTH and TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION that he now has this new project. OLD HEAD (what a fuckin band name?) is not another grind band but instead is some cool sounding thrash, melodic punk and 70's metal. Along for the fun is RUMPELSTILTSKIN GRINDER guitarist Ryan Moll, bassist Dan O'Hare and the amazing vocals are performed by Dan Tumulo aka MegaDan Tumulo. Maximum Rock is more maximum MEGADETH worship or tribute with plenty of screwing around which sounds pretty good. Whoever came up with the idea to cover JETHRO TULL's "Fat Man" as an opener and strain it through MEGADETH riffage is a genius. There's also a punked out cover of SABBATH's "Rock And Roll Doctor" which I thought was also pretty cool although obviously it will piss off some people. They also do "I Almost Cut My Hair" from CROSBY, STILLS & NASH in a punk rock parody / funk way which, except for Ryan Moll's excellent guitar work, is ok. The cover tune savagery is just the novelties on here. The real meat comes in with the band's original material which shows how calling OLD HEAD a super group is not an understatement. Songs like "Bleeder", "Libertine", "Kill Kill Kill" and "Stoner Grind" all showcase the amazing talent of these individuals. There's a couple of lackluster tunes on here but otherwise it's simply a superb performance by all involved.
And now it's time for SFM666's annual Hopscotch Hipster Fest Preview.
Like in 2011 this year's "spit before you leave the stall" Fest in Downtown Raleigh has it's usual suspects when it comes to the band line-up. You have your typical array of bad indie pop / alt. country acts who are all friends or family members of the Independent staff or are simply owed a favor from previous one night stand liaisons that someone does not want made public. You also have the politically correct quota amount of hip hop artists which is as close to a person of color these hipster / indie rock / liberals will get plus they can wear their Obama 2012 shirts if they're worried about getting beat up. Yes people obviously the stiff-est thing at this year's Hopscotch is again the $165 price tag. But supposedly there's Metal, Punk and extreme sounds??? Let's take a look.
One of the headliners this year is THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN. Here is a band that's sucked for so long they make the hoovers at the Independent look like amateurs. Then there's BUILT TO SPILL, a classic 1990's college radio indie rock loser band. They're the nostalgia act of the fest which will bring back memories of those college days for the thirty something crowd of losers. Memories like cramming in the dorms at night, on weekends, alone and I'm not talking about tests either. Call maintenance the door knob is broke again. Also there's YO LA TANGO a typical Cats Cradle act that Hopscotch always seems to have a quota of.
As far as some good stuff there's one of NC's greatest bands on the bill, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY. The hoovers at the Independent need to be congratulated for choosing COC this year, even after 20 years of not even writing about em let alone acknowledging their existence. One must give the staff of the Independent's music dept a break since they've only learned about extreme music recently thanks to trolling websites that ca-tor to hipsters. Let's be honest here, if it wasn't for Pitchfork or Brooklyn Vegan the music staff at the Independent would still be sitting around playing smell my finger while listening to LIMP BISCUIT and saying "dude these guys are way better than MOTORHEAD or SABBATH." As far as other well known local Metal bands on this year's line-up there's, ah I'll get back to you on that one later.
As far as the other bands go there's the drone sounds of SUNN O))) who despite not having released anything new in years and just live on reputation than creativity are definitely worth the smoke machine bath you'll take seeing their performance. Wear interesting shoes because you'll be staring at them most of the time. BARONESS returns to Raleigh for the beard metal hipster fans which is all they have now since their credibility was shot after their Blue album was judged as great a few years ago which fans of real music laughed at. I do recommend seeing PALLBEARER since when their first demo release came out in 2010 only two Doom metal websites and Scumfeast Metal 666 (according to Google search results at that time) had written about them in a review. The word spread and this year they have a full length debut, Sorrow and Extinction, which is not as good. ONEIDA are horrible. NAILS are pretty good metallic post HC. ALTAR OF PLAGUES, from Ireland, had a great full length White Tomb in 2009. In fact I had it in the top black metal albums that year. They were riding that line of black metal / shoegazer. But their last release Mammal from 2011 was mostly shoegazer which the ignorant hipster scribes liked because it had no balls. The only time hipsters like balls is when they're getting teabagged.
On the local front there's BLACK SKIES whose last release sounded like the WHITE STRIPES playing stoner rock. Obviously they're on the bill because their bass player is a show booker and has a reputation (from what I've been told) as being queen of the harpies with her shrill unprofessional rock star attitude. THE ATLAS MOTH are boring and more of a critics band pic. CHEATER SLICKS are an old garage punk band from the late 80s / early 90s who I haven't listened to for a while but pre-dated all of the other blues punk bands that later crawled out of no where. I recommend their Destination Lonely and Whiskey LPs from the early 90's. WITHERED are a progressive blackened death act out of Atlanta. I've seen em twice and still can't hear what makes critics like em. Their last album from 2010, Dualitas, was not that exciting.
There are a few more names I recognize on this year's Independent blowfest but they're all third tier local acts which you could catch on a weekend show in Raleigh. So as far as SFM666 is concerned I recommend COC, NAILS, SUNN O))), CHEATER SLICKS and PALLBEARER out of the all. That shouldn't be a surprise since I hold the music dept of the Independent in such low esteem that toe nail fungus thinks they're peons. Be that as it may at least the downtown business community will do good. They can use the cash. I also know that this preview will make people at the Independent as well as the silly hipsters throw a hissy fit but they would complain for just about anything. The bottom line is that Hopscotch has little to offer to fans of extreme metal. What's really sad is that in a state that has a minimum of a dozen world renown extreme music bands the people at the Independent only know of one to represent at Hobanob fest. That's like having a music fest in Stockholm, Sweden and only having one death metal act on the bill.
North Carolina's CORROSION OF CONFORMITY has announced their addition to this year’s Hopscotch Music Fest. The three-day event, which has also been called "Hipster-Fest",
will take place on September 6 – 8, 2012 in Raleigh, NC. Hopscotch is known as a second rate SXSW which is the creation of the local free liberal weekly, The Independent, which in recent years has learned that metal as well as punk rock and hardcore actually exists after years of ignoring it in lieu of indie rock, alternative country, hip hop and bad politically correct jangle pop.
This revelation comes in part by the Independent's music editor Jason Currin who learned of Metal's existence from the website Pitchfork and follows their lead when it comes to Metal bands that indie rockers / hipsters can approve of. Jason is a well known figure in the local music scene. He's known to be seen wearing his Hot Topic purchased unofficial MAYHEM t-shirt at clubs during performances of Independent Weekly / Pitchfork approved bands. The addition of CORROSION OF CONFORMITY to this year's hipster fest marks the first time the Independent has acknowledged the band's existence, other than a passing name drop, in twenty years.
Comments guitarist Woody Weatherman:"I always enjoy playing these festivals with such a diverse collection of bands; it's awesome this time it is in our hometown."
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY will return to the road this June on a previously announced stretch of West Coast and Canadian headlining dates. Sponsored by Thrasher Magazine, the tour will commence on June 1 in Charlotte, North Carolina and include a spot on the Ink-N-Iron Festival in Long Beach, California with Suicidal Tendencies, TSOL, Pennywise and more. Support will come from Torche, Black Cobra and Gaza. Tickets are on sale now through all major ticket outlets.
related news, the band recently released a video for “Psychic Vampire.” Presented exclusively by Scion AV, the production was directed by Charles Cardello of Bifocal Media and is viewable below:
DOPE FLOOD - A Planet On Four Legs EP
Self Released
Genre: Hard Rock
Since coming back from my so-called vacation I have had to do a lot of purging of material sent in for review that built up over the month I was away. One of the reasons why I don't review everything that gets sent into Scumfeast Metal 666 is that certain releases don't fit into the music criteria I've set for this site. That's basically a nice way of saying I don't like your style of music. What bands always need to remember (although some don't) just because I don't care for something doesn't mean it's not worth while to millions of other people. So every once in a while I'll let one slip through the vise jaws that's at least interesting. Take this Greek band DOPE FLOOD and their three song EP which originally came out in 2011. If this band's goal was to sound just like (if not better) the lion's share of American top 40 radio rock bands well then they've achieved that goal. Now when I use the term "radio rock" I'm talking about the mix of modern southern rock / metal meets Seattle mainstream grunge from years ago.
This band is like if PEARL JAM came from Georgia with an Eddie Vedder type wearing a straw cowboy hat. You've got your sludgy riffs distorted out the max, slow tempos with melodies that start off soft then kick in hard and heavy. This band has the formula down but like I pertained to earlier DOPE FLOOD have something going for them which is better than the typical. First and foremost the guitar tone of the riffs sounds rough and meaty as if Jack Endino had his hand in producing this. Secondly the clean and sharp soloing sounds a whole helluva lot better than the usual radio rock. I know this because a few weeks ago I had to ride around with a friend all day and she was playing top 40 radio rock the whole time. Yeah I was in hell but it was a learning experience and DOPE FLOOD is equal to, if not better, than all of what I heard that day. What would seal the deal would be for them to have a Confederate Flag back drop on their stage set up as well as their singer sipping from a Jack Daniels bottle (filled with iced tea of course) during performances.
3/5
VORTEX OF CLUTTER - The Ghosts Of A New Generation EP
Self Released
Genre: Death Thrash
This is the second Turkish extreme metal band I've reviewed a release from this month. The other one was more "core" influenced. VORTEX OF CLUTTER from Istanbul are on the melodic side of the death metal genre but their thrash tempos are gritty. They're also very versatile in their song structures thereby making all of these four cuts fairly interesting. Songs like "Cocktail" and "Abdal" (my favorite tracks) are perfect examples of the band showing off skilled dynamic song craft in which they pair up mild melodies with neck snapping riffs. The vocals are mainly gruff standard with these off kilter multi track harmonies which adds a new twist to the genre as well as making VORTEX OF CLUTTER stand out. These guys are not new at all either. They started out back in 2008 and since then have an EP and a full length under their belts as well as this release.
The SELF MADE MONSTERS were a punk rock band from Charlotte, North Carolina. They were heavily influenced by the STOOGES, G.G. ALLIN and various sixties garage punk. Their frontman Eddie Monster was larger than life and fearless. He had no problem verbally antagonizing audience members even going so far as literally attacking them. At one particular show I watched him jump off stage, run to the fuse ball table (where two guys were playing)take the fuse ball, put it in his mouth then ran back on stage. Obviously he wanted complete attention in the club focused on their performance. Another time he pulled off his belt and began whipping a guy he dared to come up on stage. I had the pleasure of seeing the SELF MADE MONSTERS a half dozen times. Each time something crazy happened. Check out the SELF MADE MONSTERS live at the Caboose Garner NC 8-14-98 at Scumfest.
The Warriors of Metal, Inc. is privileged to announce that all the fans who will attend the 5th year anniversary of Warriors of Metal Fest Open Air this year on June 29th and 30th at Frontier Ranch in Pataskala, Ohio will receive a special 2012 Double CD Fest Compilation album which is in pressing right now. Additionally, thanks to the generous efforts of the WOM Fest European Street Team, 2000 of the Keep It True XV Festival attendees this year will also receive this compilation for free. This 158 minute Metal Monster was funded by all 36 participating bands from 5 different continents, mixed by the WOM Fest promoter Datis Alaee, and mastered by Thord Klarstrom at the 7th Gate Studio in Arvika, Sweden. The layout and arrangement of the accompanying 16 page full color booklet was done by the WOM Fest organizer Lea Alaee. All the artwork for this official Fest release was done by Dragonfyre Studios' Wayne Smith and Frank Parr in Defiance, Ohio who also designed the soon to be revealed Fest poster and Fest T-shirt designs.
The 17 tracks on Disc 1 contain bands from USA, Australia (Taberah), Greece (Power Crue), Sweden (Gallows End) and Brazil (Machinage) and include exclusive pre-release tracks from: Power Crue (Lighten The Underground from Greece), Gallows End (Independent from Sweden) and American bands: Mystic-Force (Siegen Records), and Power Theory & Fiakra (Pure Steel Records).
The 19 tracks on Disc 2 contain bands from USA, Brazil (Woslom) & Jordan (Dragonrider) and include exclusive pre-release tracks from Seax & Iron Will from Massachusetts, Lady Beast from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The Last Alliance from Queens, New York, and Banshee from Kansas City, Kansas.
Tickets for the festival are on sale at the Fest website at http://www.blogger.com/www.%20warriorsofmetalfest.com! Weekend passes for adults (17 and up) are just $50 and Weekend 4-Packs for adults (groups of 4 people) are only $40 per person. Adult single day tickets are $30 for each day and $25 per person in a 4-Pack for a single day ticket. Teenager tickets (11-16) are only $15 for the whole weekend, Friday only or Saturday only. Kids under 11 get in for free. Camping is free and ticket buyers can also pre-order their Fest t-shirts at the time of their ticket purchase.
One-Man Army of Death Peter Hasselbrack has now made his complete BLOODSOAKED discography available for streaming at http://www.blogger.com/www.bloodsoaked.stereokiller.com. Included are 2007's Brutally Butchered, 2009's Sadistic Deeds...Grotesque Memories, and 2011's The Death of Hope, all of which are available through Comatose Music. The albums continue to be available at http://www.blogger.com/www.bloodsoaked.bandcamp.comas well.
Considered one of the world's premier one-man death metal acts, North Carolina's BLOODSOAKED reached a new level of critical acclaim with the release of The Death of Hope, Ten songs of unholy Death Metal taking you back to the early 90s and reminiscent of legends like Obituary, Death, Malevolent Creation and Pestilence. On offer is pure old school brutality and addictive riffing with a crisp, modern production for 30 minutes of Pure Death Metal madness. Guest guitar solos by the iconic shredder James Murphy!
Check out "No God" from The Death of Hope:
In other news, BLOODSOAKED has the following shows and festival appearances scheduled for the coming months. Stay tuned for more announcements!
April 26-30 - Portugal (SWR Fest)
May 12 - Raleigh, NC (Volume 11)
July 12-14 - Czech Republic (Obscene Extreme Fest)
Check out "Infestation"; from the album "The Death of Hope"
BLOODSOAKED INFO
North Carolina (USA) based Death Metal band BLOODSOAKED concentrates on purely old school, no frills, straight forward, skull crushing Death Metal in the most raw and primitive form! There are no "slam till you can't slam no more breakdowns," no pig squeals, no arpeggios; simply classic Death Metal; nothing more, nothing less.
BLOODSOAKED was formed in 2006 by Peter Hasselbrack who recorded the "Brutally Butchered" CD that was limited to 100 copies. "Brutally Butchered" was well received in the underground Death Metal scene and caught the attention of Comatose Music who released the CD in early 2007 to a world wide audience and helped BLOODSOAKED get shows with Suffocation, Vital Remains, Incantation, Dying Fetus, Skinless and two successful (Slaughtering The South I & II) tours and an ever growing fan base.
In 2008 BLOODSOAKED began writing songs for the second CD "Sadistic Deeds...Grotesque Memories" that was also released on Comatose Music. This time around BLOODSOAKED hired Shane McFee to be the producer, engineer and drum programmer for the album and the result was a massive assault of Death Metal! "Sadistic Deeds...Grotesque Memories" is a 10 song album that was released in April 2009 and has been crushing fans since its release.
In May of 2009 BLOODSOAKED had another successful 18 show (Slaughtering The South III) tour that ran through 10 states and left fans wanting more. In June of 2009 BLOODSOAKED played for the first time out-side the USA and went to Mexico for 2 insane shows. 2009 also saw the first professional video for the song "Rotting In Filth", the video has received great exposure and feedback. The video has been available on Comcast Cable On-Demand, Havoc TV, Fuse On-Demand and many other regional Metal video TV shows. In June 2009 BLOODSOAKED broke into the Top 40 CMJ Loud Rock charts at number 39 and peaked at number 36.
In October 2009 BLOODSOAKED filmed his second and third professional videos for the songs "Suicide" and "Unborn Horror" once again with director Blake Faucette. In November of 2009 BLOODSOAKED played his second show outside the USA and this time it was in Bogota, Colombia for the Bogota Death Grind Fest VIII.
On January 19, 2010 the video for "Rotting In Filth" aired on MTV's Headbangers Ball. This was a HUGE victory and a dream come true for Bloodsoaked to be on such a legendary show such as Headbangers Ball. 2010 continued to be a busy year for BLOODSOAKED playing many festivals in the USA as well as Germany (NRW Deathfest) and back again to Colombia (South America) for two shows.
2011 started very big for BLOODSOAKED flying to Venezuela (South America) to play the Extreme Gore Fest in February and then flying all the way to Mumbai, India to play the Meat Feast. In June 2011 BLOODSOAKED flew back to Germany to play the Death Feast Open Air and then in July the released "The Death of Hope" the third BLOODSOAKED album. The album featured two guest solos from Death Metal legend James Murphy (Obituary/Death/Testament/Disincaranate/Cancer).
BLOODSOAKED will continue crushing the world with his style of Death Metal and winning fans over one at a time, Death Metal will live forever!
OM have announced the follow up to 2009's God is Good, a five song suite entitled Advaitic Songs, will be issued via Drag City on July 23rd, 2012. Where God is Good was the first step in a more ornate and sophisticated direction for Om, Advaitic Songs achieves a level of composition that would've been impossible to foresee.
Advaitic Songs maintains the singularity of purpose that informs the core sound of OM, yet every element reaches further than before. Whatever drone-doom genre that had been hoisted on the duo in years past has been decimated by the sheer imagination, expansive quality, and meticulously detailed arrangements of this new album.
For a band that has continually followed its own course, and stood alone in its sound and approach, Advaitic Songs for certain, is the band's most focused, progressive document.
Here's some live footage of OM at Roadburn this year.
This is the first of four trailers for Watain's "Opus Diaboli".
A journey into the heart of a unique band and their work, intermingled with concert footage of the 13 year anniversary performance.
Swedish black metal heathens WATAIN are set to unleash a new DVD upon the masses. Titled Opus Diaboli, the production commemorates the band’s 13 years of chaos by providing a visual and audio documentation of their ceremonial anniversary concert performance in Stockholm and the long years of physical, intellectual and spiritual work leading up to it. Opus Diaboli is an epic 90-minute journey into the forbidden realms of wild-hearted Satanic metal and the manifestation of a unique band that has truly chosen a path few have ever dared to tread upon.
Comments the band in a collective statement: “This movie was first meant to be the recording of our 13-year anniversary concert, but as everything with WATAIN, it took on a life of its own and become one of our most ambitious projects to date. It is a very personal and emotional piece of work and is certainly not for the faint of heart. But for those who wish to explore the glimmering abyss of WATAIN further, this will be a rewarding release for sure. The box version of Opus Diaboli [available exclusively through the band’s own WOLFWEAR.NET http://www.wolfwear.net/sv/ contains an exclusive photobook. It was an overwhelming experience going through the massive archives in search of photos that best sum up the storm of passionate turmoil that has marked the WATAIN journey, especially since we wanted to stay away from live photos and focus more on moments off stage. The results were however very satisfying and offer a rare and spicy mixture of photos of which most have never been published previously. We are also proud to announce that this will be the first release on our own label ‘His Master’s Noise,’ a name originating from Bathory who had it in mind for their own label back in the early 1980s. Just like with our merch store WOLFWEAR.NET from which the limited box set will be available, this time we have chosen to stand by our own and do things our way.”
Opus Diaboli DVD: A four-panel digipack including the DVD, two audio CDs featuring the full concert plus a 16-page booklet with historical photos and flyers. Opus Diaboli Box: Limited 12” box including the DVD, two audio CDs and two LPs featuring the full concert plus an exclusive 64-page booklet with historical photos and flyers.
Opus Diaboli will be unleashed in North America on June 5, 2012.
CHAPEL OF DISEASE - Death Evoked Demo Cass.
FDA REKOTZ
Genre: Death Metal
This one is limited to 166 hand numbered copies so if you miss out then just remember their name and wait for a full length or an EP. Germany's CHAPEL OF DISEASE are on a death metal path that sees them bringing along elements of early 80's hardcore (people today call it d-beat or crust) on this four song release. How old school of them to say the least. Yeah why let just the Yanks and Swedes have all the fun reviving 1988 / 89. It's about time Germany got into the act. Their cuts on here also have a ASPHYX flair to the tempos. The coolest thing about Death Evoked is that you could play this for someone, tell em it's from back in the day and they would believe you from the production alone. It's decent and I'll look forward to hearing them, especially tracks like "The Loved Dead" and "Summoning Black Gods", on a future full length.
DEMONIC SLAUGHTER - Dark Essence EP
Hellthrasher Productions
Genre: Black Metal
DEMONIC SLAUGHTER are definitely one of the more prolific acts from the Polish black metal scene. Since starting out back in 2006 they've managed to unleash two EPs and three full lengths prior to this latest EP. On Dark Essence the band sounds like they're on a second wave Norwegian black metal trip. Imagine, if you will, mid period DARKTHRONE being fronted by a younger Atilla Csihar. One listen to “Inner-Self Transfiguration" will freak you out since the resemblance in sound and vocal style is uncanny. The rawness of the track will have you thinking this is actually from the early nineties instead of today. The same can be said for other tracks like “Descending Towards Oblivion” and "Blades of Decay" but that's not all of what Dark Essence showcases. Other tracks like “Vampyr” and “Black Storm Invocation" add haunting ambiance with slithering vocal invocations to this platter. It's not far away from what 1349 has done with their last two releases and it adds a break from the old school thrashing. Be that as it may this release is fairly simplistic. There's nothing really impressive enough to make this stand out amongst so many other BM artists.
Rating: 3/5
INTESTINAL - The Rottening CD
Hellthrasher Productions
Genre: Death Metal
Alright this is good and as always brings a sick sadistic grin to my face. INTESTINAL is another in a ever growing line of new bands from Sweden playing OSDM (Old School Death Metal). Yes I know what some of you jaded types are thinking. When is this OSDM revival gonna end? Well frankly I don't care if it ever ends. Unlike the jaded types out there in the metal music media who hate this stuff (because it takes attention away from the shitty pussy ass bands they're trying to push) I love it because I'm still pure scum at heart. Also as long as bands like INTESTINAL are pushing the GRAVE meets AUTOPSY in a slaughter house prior to destroying the world or at least decimating the population a bit template then I won't be out kicking hipster poser asses at clubs. I'm old but still mean and my work keeps me in shape also I'm listening to stuff like this so beware.
Speaking of which the first time I played this I was banging my head and I slammed it into the monitor. It didn't phase me a bit but blood started pouring down my face and onto the keyboard. Actually it enhanced the listening pleasure. But anyway INTESTINAL are not really that new of a band. They've been around since the late 2000's and this is their sophomore effort. Granted when their opener on here, "Flesh for Living", commenced I was not so excited. After three straight years of new OSDM bands it's obviously time to curb the herd. But from the next cut, "Vaginal Vomination" and all that comes after it kicked in then I was immediately impressed as well as enthused. Their front cover album artwork is also impressive as hell. I bet it gets banned in Germany like all of the original early CANNIBAL CORPSE albums did.
Late last year I predicted that the new school OSDM band phenomena would continue but in order to stay interesting the bands would have to up the ante a bit. Sure sounding like a demo tape from 1989 is cool but you can only go it for one or two releases. The original purveyors of the genre knew that and on here the same can be said for INTESTINAL. The production on The Rottening is more in line with 1991. It's crisp and clean but still ugly as well as threatening. The riffage is fierce, vocals are zombified and the rhythm section is murderously heavy. INTESTINAL's songs for the most part are up tempo but they do throw in some death doomish nightmare cuts. All in all a great DM release from the nation that has produced the very best. Now I'd better clean up all the blood. Rating: 5/5
The self-titled debut studio album from UNISONIC — the band featuring former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske and guitarist Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray, ex-Helloween) alongside guitarist Mandy Meyer (Asia, Gotthard and Krokus), bassist Dennis Ward and drummer Kosta Zafiriou (both of Germany's Pink Cream 69) — will be released in North America on May 22, 2012 via Eagle Rock imprint Armoury Records.
Unisonic was recorded at ICP Studios in Brussels, Belgium. The offering features 11 tracks, plus a bonus live version of Helloween classic “I Want Out” only available on the domestic edition, cover art by Martin Häusler (Meat Loaf, Gotthard, Helloween, Motörhead)and marks the first musical union between Kiske and Hansen in 23 years!
Unisonic Track Listing: 1. Unisonic
2. Souls Alive
3. Never Too Late
4. I’ve Tried
5. Star Rider
6. Never Change Me
7. Renegade
8. My Sanctuary
9. King For A Day
10. We Rise
11. No One Ever Sees Me
12. I Want Out (Live)
Check out the band’s video for album opener/anthem "Unisonic". The clip was directed by Häusler in Heidelberg, Germany.
UNISONIC released its debut EP, Ignition earlier this year. After the addition of Hansen to the group's lineup in early 2011, UNISONIC continued the songwriting process for its debut release, incorporating Kai's talent for writing great anthemic rock songs into its existing material. Hardly Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 3, the UNISONIC collective effortlessly fuse the many sides of heavy music they know and love. The band's music is versatile and takes a broad approach to heavy rock without sacrificing the power and strong, catchy melodies that characterized the band members' previous projects.
UNISONIC: Michael Kiske - Vocals Mandy Meyer - Guitar Kai Hansen - Guitar Dennis Ward - Bass Kosta Zafiriou – Drums
YOUR KID'S ON FIRE - Chainsaw Devil CD Haunted Hotel Records Genre: Grindcore
Ya know I don't get much grindcore sent in for review as I use to (was it something I said?). So when this band's release popped in I kinda felt honored then I listened to it and was floored. YOUR KID'S ON FIRE are a two piece band of sick grind maniacs. Their take on the genre is total old school as well as sick and twisted which just so happens to be the type of grind I like. They also add plenty of choice movie samples including one of the best scenes from the Charles Bronson flick from 1983, 10 to Midnight, on the second cut in. When I looked over at this Tennessee band's Facecrack page I was greeted with the words; "YKOF is the illest grind band in the south USA. When you hear YKOF for the first time, you'll stab someone in the neck with a butter knife ... just cuz." Yeah a sense of humor is also essential in my opinion. Unfortunately there's no one else here with me now to stab in the neck. So I went over to a neighbor's house and slashed the tires on their SUV. I also left a note on the windshield which read "Courtesy of YKOF".
Chainsaw Devil is this band's second full length since first starting out back in 1996 when they (aka: Doctor Butcher - bass / vocals and Kill Moe Dee - drums / guitar / vocals) intended YKOF to be just a two man studio project. I give em credit for their diligence. In 2006 they released their debut Aught Six: A Necrodyssy and now there's this opus of depravity that contains thirty three cuts. A handful of those are covers including two from NAPALM DEATH - "Stalemate" and "Prison Without Walls", two from DEATH - "Corpsegrinder" and "Mutilation", plus UNSEEN TERROR's "Divisions" and MORTICIAN's "Drilling for Brains". From their taste in songs to cover you should get a good idea what their originals sound like. The titles actually look like they were taken from a friend of mine's horror DVD collection for example "Driller Killer", "She-Wolf of the S.S.", "I Spit On Your Grave" and "The Bicycle Rapist" just to name a few. I bet these guys drive around their home town in a big black rape van with a bumper sticker on the back that says; Don't Laugh, Your Daughter Could Be Bound & Gagged Inside Listening To Grindcore. Nuff Said. Rating: 5/5
SAINT VITUS - Lillie: F-65 CD
Season of Mist
Genre: Doom
Back around the end of March I caught part of a review for this (by chance in a promo email) the first new release for SAINT VITUS in seventeen years as well as being the first studio album since 1990's V to feature Wino (aka: Scott Weinrich) on vocals. I didn't bother trying to read the whole review (obviously I didn't want to taint my own opinion of it) which was written by some anonymous interweb scribe on a well known Doom site. All I do know is that the writer had a few complaints which to me read like over hype let down syndrome. That's when some interweb scribe starts believing his own over hyped horseshit analysis of a band that he's written tons of creative writing crap about and not the actual truth which is always in order to favor the writer and not the artist. And now after confronted with reality lashes out at said band complaining that they are not worthy to stand upon the pedestal he imaginary created for them. Also it's impossible for said interweb scribe to write a glowing review in order to highlight himself and not the band. In other words the writer who gave this the lackluster review I saw is a disappointed hipster bitch.
Actually the best pre-release opinion I heard came from a lady friend of mine who upon hearing a stream of the new SAINT VITUS song "Let Them Fall" she posted on her Facebook page "Middle Finger High! You can't mess with the VITUS mofos." After I told her about someone already writing a lackluster review for Lillie: F-65 her reaction was "It's VITUS! (It) sounds killer!" In other words she gets it where other's (aka: Internet snobbish scribes) don't. If you don't like Lillie: F-65 then maybe you don't really like SAINT VITUS and you have been in denial (hipster denial) which is not a river in Egypt. To like SAINT VITUS you must be comfortable with minimalism which is what this band is all about. Lillie: F-65, which is the name of a barbiturate or downer to you young people, is SAINT VITUS at their simplistic usual selves through and through. On here you've got Dave Chandler cranking out his Tony Iommi inspired riffs which are as heavy and slow like trying to drag a dead bull across the desert. His soloing work is about as wild and frizzy as his hair if he took the bandanna off. As far as Wino, well he's Wino and the rhythm section of bassist Mark Adams and drummer Henry Vasquez (who replaced Armando Acosta, who died in 2010) just keep time right.
With the exception of Vasquez on drums (who follows in the drumming style of Acosta perfectly), all of the key ingredients which made albums like V, Mornful Cries and Born to Late (aka: the Wino era albums) are here. Obviously it's Chandler who leads the way for the sound and style since he's the main songwriter of all this band's material. Wino's role is his unique voice which is always gutsy, powerful as well as soulful. Also the more I listen to Chandler's riff work on here the more I see him as the master with peers copying him nowadays. Now as far as the songs go well it's the patented SAINT VITUS album formula at work as well as the pattern. In other words there's some memorable songs which fall right in with their great stuff from the past and then there's some ok tracks which you'll pass up after a while. As for the good stuff well opener “Let Them Fall” is magnificent. The next one, “The Bleeding Ground” sounds like “Let Them Fall” part two but with a more psych damaged solo. After the instrumental "Vertigo", which does break the monotony the next cut “Blessed Night” delivers some needed speed. As far as the latter three cuts go the song "Dependence", which is the longest cut on here, is the band's signature bleak cut for this release.
So that's pretty much it. After a seventeen year wait you get seven new tracks with two being instrumentals and only three out of the five other cuts being great in my not so fuckin humble opinion. Actually that comes out to be right if you consider their past releases. Some people (aka: losers) will complain that this is a short release. So fuckin what? I'd rather have a handful of good tracks than a bunch of filler. Besides Chandler knows that this new era of SAINT VITUS is not forever and you people should feel lucky that you got something new at all. Out of everyone in the band Wino has shown than he can do whatever he wants and do it well so he's not beholden to this outfit. Secondly this band's best material is always going to be their earlier stuff. When they first reunited the fans at the shows wanted to hear material off of V and Born to Late. That's just the way it is people. Lillie: F-65 is not a incredible comeback album which will launch SAINT VITUS into a new era. It doesn't break away from their tried and true formula thankfully. It's these guys doing what they do best and if you don't like it fuck off.
Rating: 3/5
Czech death metallers BRUTALLY DECEASED kick into 2012 with a vinyl release of debut album entitled Dead Lovers' Guide. Originally released on CD via Lavadome 17 months ago, the album represents an immense death metal outburst in the best, old school Swedish tradition.
Aside of all expectations, the material on Dead Lovers' Guide catapulted BRUTALLY DECEASED into one of the most promising underground acts paying homage to Swedish death metal and the band has received great responses from fans and metal media from all over the world. The music captured on Dead Lovers' Guide is harsh and vigorous with an occasional thrilling melody or a solo just the way Swedish Death Metal should be - no gimmicks, no fakes.
Prepare to embrace the old school in its purest form!
The vinyl edition - matte laminated cover, matte coated sleeve, inside black prints, 140g wax - is limited to 500 copies and can be obtained from Lavadome store at store.lavadome.org.
The label and the band have also decided to make Dead Lovers' Guide available for free download (e-mail required) from their respective bandcamp sites:
DESULTOR - Masters of Hate CD Abyss Records Genre: Thrash
During my so-called vacation I had a chance to hear a song from this Swedish band's debut to get a taste for what was to come. My initial reaction was "ahhh" because of the clean power metal style vocals on that particular song. Musically DESULTOR are an intense modern thrash duo featuring Markus Joha on guitar and vocals plus drummer Ibrahim Strahlman. (There's a guest bassist but you can't hear him) Once I gave Masters of Hate a proper listen I found it to be a thoroughly interesting as well as intensely sounding release. The release starts off slow and proggy with the opening instrumental "Chapter 1: New Era" as if it's the soundtrack for a new outer space flick. After that point on all hell breaks loose with "Black Monday" then this thing sheds it's skin to expose the raw meat. Markus Joha is a virtuoso on guitar and his vocals are pure power metal but in an aggressive style as opposed to operatic. Ibrahim Strahlman relies mainly on triggers but throws enough fills into the mix, combined with the clean production values, to come across sounding like a machine-like octopus behind the kit.
The first part (or Chapter) of this release is incredible. Along with the the previously mentioned "Black Monday" what follows, "Another World" and "Denied', adds a sense of melody within some punishing death metal riffs. After a few listens Markus Joha's higher range vocals / wails / sinister whispers complements the aggressiveness. The greatness continues on after another spacy instrumental "Chapter 2: The Phoenix" designating part two of this infusion of thrash, death and power metal. Songs like "The Luxury of Pain" and "Caged" are superb with the former being a majestic beauty while the later a full on rage. The title track would fit perfect as the closer for their live shows. DESULTOR are two guys with a sound like a five piece act. If they can pull this off in a live setting then the crowds at those European Metal festivals will go apeshit. Masters of Hate is outstanding and definitely fits right into my end of year list as one of the best releases for 2012. Rating: 5/5
FESTER - A Celebration of Death CD
Abyss Records
Genre: Blackened Death and Doom
As I always point out old bands who reunite after a long hiatus are like ghosts from the past. They can either haunt you or comfort you. In the case of FESTER it's been eighteen years since their last full length. That one was Silence which was aptly titled for what was to come after it's release in 1994. I was not familiar with them in their early 90's heyday so this is an introduction to them for me. This reunited version only contains one original member from their last recording and that's guitarist Bjorn Matisen. Good o'l Bjorn had probably seen a few shows by some newcomers and figured he'd unearth FESTER from it's grave since his other project SINCERA wasn't going anywhere. Along for the ride he's enlisted fellow SINCERA member Thomas Andresen on vocals, Jon Bakker on bass (he replaces former bassist Jorgen Skjoldenwho died in 2000) and on drums there's a guy named Jotho.
This modern version of FESTER relies heavily on the death doom aesthetic leaving plenty of room for ambiance with blackened highlights especially with Andresen's tortured vocal delivery. Their sound overall is like a brooding repetitious march through a burnt out forest. The crunch of charcoaled wood under foot. The acrid smell of soot overwhelming your nose and watering your eyes. Everything around is dead as you trudge along with the faint whispers of ghosts lingering in the air. That's definitely a good description of the title cut as well as half of the material on here. When he's not pounding out the militaristic marching riffs Bjorn toys with melancholy patterns and minor soloing which gives off a grandiose effect. The opening cut "Rites of Ceres" is actually a beautiful sounding number if agony is your pleasure. Much of the rest sounds like a medieval nightmare including the clashing of swords, battle hymns and warrior funerals.
Even with all of that happy go lucky fun stuff previously mentioned FESTER tends to fester (for lack of a better word)on the industrial strength repetition which can get boring. During one particular listening venture for A Celebration of Death I dosed off and dreamt that I was in the dungeon of the black tower being tortured with a hot poker. I suddenly woke up to realize I had fell asleep with a cigarette in my hand and the burning butt was in my lap. Actually that's not as bad as the time when I fell asleep listening to BURZUM and woke up to find the room was on fire with the stereo still playing. But anyway I won't bury Bjorn and company under the ground that so many others have tread over since the last time FESTER put out an album. I'll even forgive him for the goth disco closer "Rites of Mortiis". Next time shorten the songs or at least include a few amphetamines with each release.
Rating: 3/5
OUTCAST - Awaken the Reason CD
Listenable Records
Genre: Death Thrash
When it comes to French extreme metal my appreciation for their black metal scene is well known especially from doing SFM666. Also in the past few years I've come to like their more abrasive and caustic post rock underground acts. But when it comes to their tech death or progressive material like this well I'd rather be stuck on a French Foreign Legion post on movie night. I'll just get this out of the way quickly and state for the record that I hate MESHUGGAH and all bands similar to their style. OUTCAST falls into that category but for the purposes of a review I'll forget my bias and give a run down.
On this, the French band's third full length, you will be greeted and pummeled by jazzy mathcore grooves, chugging breakdowns (there's hardly any soloing), barked gruff and semi clean vocals, plenty of progressive tempos which flow into melodies suitable for shoegazing (big surprise there) plus a piano ditty "Awaken the Reason" which seeped into PINK FLOYD territory. I wanted to slit my wrists right around that time which was the fourth song in. Even though I find this abysmal there's no dismissing their creativeness as well as talent in laying down aggressive neck snapping beats. Someone out there likes this stuff.
Rating: 3/5
CHOPSTICK SUICIDE - Lost Fathers and Sons CD
Peyote Müzik
Genre: Mathcore
Well so far this year (and it's only April) I've heard black metal from Iraq, pagan viking metal from Argentina, classic heavy metal from Chapel Hill, NC not played by hipster retards (now that was strange) so hearing mathcore from Turkey doesn't surprise me at all. (I'm still holding out for death metal played by North Pole Inuits). I'm personally not a fan of the genre but I give these guys props for their take on the whole DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, EVERYTIME I DIE, etc. thing. The world is definitely a smaller place when four guys from Istanbul can bust out jazz inspired grooves, tech savoy guitar lines and the tag teamed gruff and harmonic vocals just like their influences. I wouldn't be surprised if this band was already being praised by those bed heads at a certain US metal publication. (they do like their fair share of "core") Lost Fathers and Sons is CHOPSTICK SUICIDE's second full-length of riff chugging intensity. While listening to this I did not feel the need to get up and do that funky ADD dance which the kids do these days. Your reaction might differ and I'm guessing that the Summer Slaughter Tour won't be hitting Turkey any time soon.
Rating: 3/5
