GRAVEBORNE - Pure Negativity CD review

GRAVEBORNE - Pure Negativity CD
Nykta Records
Genre: Black Metal
Rating: 5/5

When I think of Finnish Black Metal the words raw and necro come to mind. This five piece band from Helsinki, who's debut full length here came out on a Greek label ( Nykta Records' motto is Black Metal for the Late Hours), sounds closer to the more melodic tones (albeit aggressive) of their neighbors in Sweden. They will probably take that as an insult but in all honesty on this release GRAVEBORNE sound better than anything that has come out of Sweden as far as BM is concerned in a while. Yeah MARDUK had a decent EP but we're waiting on the long player and WATAIN's last full length wasn't worth all the hype unless you're a hipster retard. So it's up to these guys to fill a void in a sub genre which they do very well. GRAVEBORNE's BM sound falls into that mid 90's second wave era territory. They've got that fierce epic wall of blackened noise sound without having to rely on keyboards for filler. Two guitarists, bass, drums and a singer whose vocals are harsh in the high range and yes he can scream like a fuckin banshee.

Pure Negativity is not a release where you can just pick out a song or two for a reference. It's one of those unique start to finish releases where you push play and that's it. Forty some minutes later when it's finished you can get on with your life, for what it is. As far as their array of cuts go there's a lot of variety as the band moves about with intricate songs that draw you in and then spring a trap of intensity on your unsuspecting mind. Other times it's an aural attack that pulverizes you until bloody pulp streams from out your ears. The best factor of all is that the production on here is not shitty or polished to modern plasticine standards. I'll bet I could play this for some kvlt BM snob, say it's an obscure release from the mid 90's and they would believe it. That's the key to 99.9% of all Finnish Black Metal, authenticity. As many people know I harp on a lot about the greatness of Finnish Black Metal. Actually that's putting it lightly since I usually shove it in people's faces then scream "listen to this & die you fucks". (FYI; my ancestors came from Holland so I'm not being bias with past associations of national heritage) Be that as it may there's an undeniable truth in extreme music and that's when it comes to Black Metal, that nation has sirred some consistently great bands. Add GRAVEBORNE to that long list and die you fucks!

Label: http://www.nykta.gr/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/graveborne

ANCIENT OBLITERATION - A Menacing Reality CD review

ANCIENT OBLITERATION - A Menacing Reality CD
Self Released
Genre: Death Thrash
Rating: 5/5

The worst thing about this Canadian band's debut full length is that it originally came out close to a year ago (Dec. 2010 to be exact) and I'm just now hearing it. Other than that I think it's pretty cool. A Menacing Reality might be their debut but the band has been around for a few years now releasing a split with the band AUROCH also in 2010, an EP in 2009 and a live release in 2008 with the amusing title, Live, Wish We Were in Japan. Calling ANCIENT OBLITERATION just Death Thrash is a little misleading since they've obviously given the genre a good twist. Listening to this I'm thinking it's more schizo punk influenced than thrash. Imagine if KILLDOZER put out a an album heavily influenced by early Swedish death metal. I'm talking about non traditional DM vocals and bizarre lyrical themes over a distorted guitar crunch sounding as if someone was marching over millions of roaches. Strangely enough that's similar to what I thought about the first MASTODON years ago. Although this is the best thing I've enjoyed listening to from a Canadian band since 'Feed A Fetus' by the DAYGLO ABORTIONS.

OK that might be a stretch but musically these guys are serious fucks. The riffs are simple yet familiar even as dirty as they sound. The rhythm section runs to perfection. Sound wise you would think this was recorded at Sunlight Studios. It's when the vocals kick in I'm wondering if they're genius or just fucking with people (or both?). There's songs about colossal radiated ant lords; "Radiated Overlords" (reminds me of one of my favorite Big Bug movies from the 50's), the obligatory satanic messaging; "Professor of Black Magic" as well as "Pagan Rape" (although far from cheesy) and of course transcendation; "Hunted and Deranged In This Bleak Zone". Either way A Menacing Reality is exactly what it says.

Official: http://ancientobliteration.blogspot.com/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/ancientobliteration

MURDER IN THE FRONT ROW: Shots From the Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter book release

This is not a history book, but a heavy metal time machine, a time capsule jammed with moments that altered the course of music history. The 272-page full-color hardcover includes some of the earliest known pics of Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, Megadeth, Possessed, Legacy, Testament, Death Angel, Forbidden, and countless others. Plus writing by Harald Oimoen, Brian Lew, Ron Quintana (Metal Mania), Gary Holt (Exodus), Alex Skolnick (Legacy/Testament), and Robb Flynn (Vio-lence, Machine Head).

Here's a video preview

http://www.bazillionpoints.com/murder-in-the-front-row-by-brian-umlaut-lew-harald-o-oimoen/

SURACHAI - To No Avail LP review

SURACHAI - To No Avail LP
Handshake Inc
Genre: Experimental Black Metal
Rating: 3/5

After listening to this I got a black and white vision of some old man bent down on his knees licking the gutter of some filthy street in the inner city simply because he was thirsty. What else can I say, listening to experimental black metal gives me weird visions. Basically that's all I can do while sitting here listening to the music while waiting for something to inspire me to write down some pertinent information about it. Basically SURACHAI is a black metal act (one man in a basement?) out of Chicago and To No Avail is the second full length release. It's a vinyl-only release for the snobs but it's also available for digital download. If you've been reading the papers of late then you know that's the future for the music industry as far as distribution. Getting back to the music, To No Avail consists of two around ten-minute songs mysteriously labeled "Side •" and "Side ••". Musically SURACHAI takes some influence from the modern genre purveyors from France and the Ukraine. In essence it's one part tremolo picked black metal and two parts ambient drone with a minimal amount of harsh screamed vocals which makes well for back ground listening, aroma therapy or recreational drug use. For all of you people who are black metal challenged (and there are many of you) then I'd say this is twenty some minutes missing in your life. Get the vinyl copy that way you'll also achieve some sort of exercise routine going by flipping the thing over every ten minutes. Love the album cover, hopefully that's the room where this was recorded.

Label: http://www.handshakeinc.com/

Bandcamp: http://handshakeinc.bandcamp.com/album/to-no-avail

SORRY NO VIDEO FOR SURACHAI UNLESS YOU WANNA WATCH SOME CHI-COM TALK ABOUT THE RED SIAM POLICY.

THE LIVING FIELDS - Running Out Of Daylight CD review

THE LIVING FIELDS - Running Out Of Daylight CD
Candlelight Records
Genre: Progressive Doom
Rating: 1/5

Whenever I see a release tagged as 'progressive' prior to giving it a spin I'm thinking it's probably some ambitiously layered release that defies categorization. A more succinct term which long time music fans use would be 'kitchen sink metal'. After listening to this Chicago band's sophomore release a few times I believe the 'kitchen sink' is fairly accurate. Along with their predominant doom metal sound, which is in a similar vein of the English big three, THE LIVING FIELDS also use piano, violin, viola, cello, and acoustic guitar in the mix plus multiple vocalists of varying styles. This gives their sound an air of Euro Viking/Folk Metal influence. The combination does make this release interesting at first since they also channel everything from Power Metal to Black Metal along with the Death Doom elements. Like I said, at first, because over time you wonder is all of the added string instrumentation is just covering for average Euro Doom copying. It's been three years since their debut, which I found out was not far from what they're doing on here, so what might be considered 'epic' is really closer to being overkill. Then again a little fact-oid I discovered is that the band never recorded this in the same session. The members of THE LIVING FIELDS are scattered all over the fuckin place so this thing takes on the style of a FOLKEARTH type of recording. A basic track is laid down and afterwards the other musicians add to it.

Running Out Of Daylight is comprised of 8 tracks all clocking in at over the sixty minute mark. Even though the tracks do exhibit a cold Euro or better yet Scandinavian feel, they're not frozen enough to sound cohesion. The opener "Remnant" is fairly decent with it's use of the string instruments and timpani drums plus the vocal change ups using clean male vocals and black metal shrieks really brings out the Viking/Folk feel. This type of structure is used throughout along with varied tempo changes. “Perseverance" changes things as it starts off well with a galloping Power Metal vibe then breaks down into this slow melancholy doom theme until reviving the pace it started with. "From Miseries to Blood-Drenched Fields" is probably the best cut on here consisting of somber doom which kinda reminds me of more recent MY DYING BRIDE. Another act this band seems to like, as far as influences go, is AGALLOCH. "When the Walls Go Up" as well as "Bitterness" employ acoustic passages in a vary similar style. "Glacial Movements" is more pseudo Power Metal. "Intermissione" is a waste of time and the over sixteen minute closing title track brings the whole 'kitchen sink' idea together for one last blow. Running Out Of Daylight might be that perfect release for those into critically acclaimed vogue but as far as a listening experience I got bored after the second play. This brings us back to the that'll do term 'progressive' which gets thrown in front of traditional genre names in order to pique interest when in reality it's a cover word for overkill or more often pretentious.

Label: http://candlelightrecordsusa.com/site/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thelivingfields

THE STONE - Golet CD review

THE STONE - Golet CD
Folter Records
Genre: Black Metal
Rating: 3/5

This is my first time hearing something from this Serbian Black Metal act (yes I know big surprise) who have been around for a little over a decade. They're fairly prolific to say the least with an abundance of material out including five full lengths with Golet being their fifth. Since this is Slavonic Black Metal I was expecting the typical harshness from the pagan vast-lands. Although there's plenty of that on hand, for example "Pred licem novog boga" is over nine minutes of eastern blackened bliss, THE STONE do have a surprise or two in store. They have a penchant for neck snapping tempo changes, plenty of technical musicianship and adding epic NWOBHM melodies throughout all of their songs. Basically the Serbs take the traditional and amp it up without running off the template. "Nikad bliži smrti" is a perfect example of where it all works out well especially when the vocals are sung in the band's native language. Unfortunately everything is not all perfect. There are times when listening to Golet where some cuts have a tendency of being too excessive in length. Still it's a decent listen.

Label: http://www.folter666.de/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thestonehorde

DEATH SS - All the Colors of the Dark CD Compilation review

DEATH SS - All the Colors of the Dark CD Compilation
Under Fire Records
Genre: Metal
Rating: 4/5

Hailed as being the very first Italian Metal band DEATH SS have gotten a new type of revival treatment of late. For the past few years some people in the modern Doom scene have been resurrecting the memories of past metal acts by calling them Doom even if those bands where around long before the term was coined. Well whatever the motivation behind it some bands could use the notoriety and DEATH SS certainly deserve some recognition. All the Colors of the Dark is a two disc best of collection spanning this Italian band's career. So far there has been five previously released best of DEATH SS compilations already and a couple of box sets. As far as this collection goes it was done up right spanning the band's long career with a 16 page full color booklet and extensive notes written by singer Steve Sylvester. His initials are where the 'SS' comes into play in the band name if you didn't know. Hopefully you didn't and I've just ruined your faux flirtation with what you thought was nazism. Fact is this band has caught shit for years from people who thought just that. Strangely enough they never caught shit for going Industrial but more on that latter.

The reason why modern Doom-ophiles include DEATH SS into the Doom genre is because of their early material from the original line-up which along with singer Steve Sylvester also included guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Paul Chain (along with a cast of revolving door bassists and drummers). Their sound was basically fuzzed out late 70's Heavy Metal with a gothic/occult theme. The band dressed up as movie monsters as well aka: The Mummy, The Vampire, The Dead, The Werewolf and The Zombie. Between 1977 and 1984 is when that line-up released what I consider their best material which consisted of their two demos, three singles and the 'Evil Metal" EP. On this best of release the demo material is not on here but that period is represented by the songs "The Night of the Witch", "Profanation", "Spiritualist Sense" and "Buried Alive". Unfortunately the band broke up with Paul Chain leaving to pursue a solo career. After a few years Steve Sylvester continued on leading the band with a revolving door of new musicians over the years. It was in this period where DEATH SS become more of a gothic metal act starting in 1988 with the 'In Death of Steve Sylvester' full length followed by the 'Black Mass' LP in 1989. This was the era of DEATH SS I first heard back in the day since their sound was similar to many US Horror Punk bands of the eighties I was into. The better cuts on here from then are "Terror", "Vampire", "Horrible Eyes" and "Cursed Mama". "Kings of Evil" and "In the Darkness" from the 'Black Mass' album also appear on here but in their single versions.

The first CD closes with material from the band's Heavy Demons LP from 1991 and a few singles from the early nineties. DEATH SS had changed again with this era of the band sounding more mainstream MTV metal-ish. For me this is when the band started on it's downward spiral. Some nineties lovin metal heads will still enjoy a few cuts here with the title track of Heavy Demons single version represented plus from the album there's "Where Have You Gone", "Baphomet" and "Inquisitor". The last two cuts are re-recorded songs from their early days, "Chains of Death" and "Black and Violet". Those two cuts came out together on a single in 1996. The second CD starts out alright with the title cut from the band's Straight to Hell EP from 1995 which was pretty standard metal. From here on out we're treated to the band's pseudo industrial goth metal period starting with a few songs from 1997's Do What Thou Wilt LP. Thoses cuts being "Baron Samedi", "Guardian Angel" and "Scarlet Woman" and more suited for the black wig and nail polish set if you know what I mean. Also included here is a cover of BLACK WIDOW's "Come to the Sabbath". From here there's tracks from their 2000 release 'Panic", another goth type release which did contain the rave hit "Hi-tech Jesus". Afterwhich it continues with more of the band's goth material even including the never before released "Revived" which could've stayed in a box. Be that as it may All the Colors of the Dark is thirty two cuts worth of DEATH SS musical history. Worth it for the first disc at least.

Label: http://www.under-fire.com.mx/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/deathss