Hot winds of hell burns in my wake…

•January 16, 2013 • 11 Comments

Procrastination is the mother of invention! Indeed! Another week into this year finds us with our heads down and still cranking out the verbiage and literary despair! We still have some interviews on the back burner, but until then, reviews are the main course.

Regarding our upload days…. I have some rather huge things happening in my life here pretty soon which may prevent me personally from being a part of every single update, but once things smooth over, I’ll be back and stronger than ever. I’m not saying I’m going to be absent for a long period of time, but just sporadic and writing when I can find the time. Jim will be here and holding down the fort of course, kicking ass like only he can. We are still going to stick to the idea of Tuesday being our main day, but it could move one way or the other depending on the week.

So yes…. go with the flow Worm legions! We appreciate you all taking the time to peruse over this site! Spread the word! Share your playlists!

Jim Clifton Playlist
Ævangelist – De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis
Napalm Death – Utilitarian
Skepticism – Stormcrowfleet
Horrendous – The Chills
Derketa – In Death We Meet
Cruciamentum – Engulfed in Desolation
Cruciamentum – Convocation of Crawling Chaos
Drowing the Light – Oceans of Eternity
Neurosis – Souls at Zero
Neurosis – Enemy of the Sun

Marty Rytkonen Playlist
Derketa – In Death We Meet (wow… crushing death doom the old and GOOD way!)
Cruciamentum – Engulfed in Desolation
Cruciamentum – Convocation of Crawling Chaos
Weapons to Hunt – Blessed in Sin
Evocation – Illusions of Grandeur (Still trying to fit into this one. So far it rings disappointment)
Faustcoven – Hellfire and Funeral Bells
Funeral – S/T
Darkthrone – Hate Them
Slayer – Haunting the Chapel

S. Craig Zahler Playlist
Torsofuck/Lymphatic Phlegm – Split  (The first three Torsofuck tunes are sharp grinding slam– propulsive with cool rhythmic groupings.  Lympatic Phlegm the Moonblood of goregrind)
Lympatic Phlegm – Show Off Cadavers the Anatomy of Self-Display (A sharp cumulative album experience from the Moonblood of goregrind.)
Abominable Putridity – In The End of Human Existence
Blue Oyster Cult – The Columbia Albums Collection
Blasted Pancreas – Carcinoma (Great goregrind from Greece.  See my review)
Nasty Pig Dick – Flesh for the Worms (If it were a little better I could say, “Oinktastic.”  See my review.)
Saprogenic – The West Sound of Flesh on Concrete (Great vibe, evil riffs.  Creepy bdm with some slam sections.)
Carcass – Symphonies of Sickness
Carcass – Reek of Putrefaction
Vomit Remnants – Supreme Entity (Japanese slam in the hood.  Bizarre arrangements and some junky vocals, but mostly good, surprising stuff from ’99)
Argentum Lucha Y Memoria (Martial Industrial with good atmosphere and some fun, playful drum programming akin to Summoning)
Half good albums: Beheaded – Ominous Bloodline (tracks 1, 3, 7 & 9); Putrevore (first half.  Great sound but also some ugly chords and forced ideas);
Song: Bound and Gutted by the band Skewered.

Posted in PLAYLIST

Acrimonious – Sunyata

•January 16, 2013 • Leave a Comment

acrimoniousDefinitely not your typical Greek sounding band, Acrimonious embrace a ritualistic black metal aesthetic that is expansive and very skillfully developed. The Greek Pantheon of bands typically utilize twin guitar harmonies and just plain unique melodies to walk the line between the death and black realms of audial devil worship to create a style that is so much more advanced than the metal world surrounding them. Acrimonious do this as well, but their musical affinity is more black metal minded with dissonant riffs and that special ugly chord that twists with an unease often found whispering a chill of coldness down from the northern territories. Acrimonious’ Greek spirit for songwriting with airy riffs so full of movement as found on the superior “Lykaria Hecate”, the outpouring of melody is very atmospheric and almost playful in how the chord progressions move through this track (and the dark). “Adharma” feels more constricting to the listener as infinitely layered musical lines, several guitar parts, a fully audible bass line, and the embattled vocal desperation rile in a swarm of reverb to cause a mighty weight to press down and introduce a level of uncertainty and fear to this bands already adept equation. The mid section of this song in particular feels like a ritual gone out of control with smoke swirling, chanted evocations, and a drug induced hallucination that inspires/commands all the participants to fall upon their own blades. Such mental visions that arise from an album may sound cheesy on paper, but I take such things as pure talent, where a band can reach out with their music and actually paint a picture in ones mind. Bands like Summoning possess the power to do this with every note of their being, and though I’m not suggesting that Acrimonious are on the same lofty level of greatness as those 2 special Austrians, Sunyata effortlessly blurs the lines between inspired aggression, impressive instrumentation, powerful atmosphere, and a musical vocabulary that builds upon simple lines of sound with very mature movements and fearless melody. Bravo Acrimonious! You have taken an often tired form of black metal, made it your own, and recharged it with your intense lust for the void. Definitely an album to get lost in while wearing headphones. -Marty
Agonia Records

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Deceptor – Chains of Delusion (MCD)

•January 16, 2013 • 8 Comments

deceptorComing up in the age of Thrash Metal, I hold strong opinions about the authenticity or purpose of modern takes on the pre-cursor to Metal’s more Extreme bedfellows of Death and Black. That strong opinion is simply thus: most latter-day speedsters aren’t worth the effort it takes to press play. Not all of the throwaway nature of these upstarts can be blamed on ineptitude; part of said blame lies with TM’s forbears. As Worm Gear OG Marty has stated, while a good many Thrash bands were and are indispensable, even more had a paper-thin sincerity about Cold War-era politics and a ‘let’s just have fun and mosh’ aesthetic that just hasn’t aged well. But then Deceptor hits the promo list … and my jaded ears get boxed. With Chains of Delusion, these UK youths prove they understand what made the genre great. ‘Transmission I’ shatters the silence with a brief Mr Roboto voice a la the great Killing Technology, warning us that the constant specter of mankind being it’s own worst enemy ‘exists no longer’ (no topicality here, thank Jeebus), before plunging us into the great mid-ranged guitar gallop of of ‘To Know Infinity’. Think the punchiness of early Iron Maiden/late-80s Manilla Road with a great Dave Ellefson bass-clang and a reserved, less frenetic take on the precision rhythm playing of the ‘other Dave’. Deceptor’s finger-flexing dexterity is downplayed, however, in favor of memorable songwriting, a choice other youngsters with Thrash afros/mullets and high-tops may want to consider. And the vocals…well, if you’re not old enough to have had a Grim Reaper tape in the ’80s, then Paul Fulda’s style may be outside of your wheelhouse. Still, I recommend sticking with it. Fulda’s Agent Steel meets Overkill vocal warbling perfectly compliments the high-tone, bleach-clean guitar sound. The payoff – the desire to listen to the album again and again after this MCD’s eighteen minutes fly on by– is more than worth it.

With their controlled approach to riffery peppered with NWOBHM tenets and early Speed Metal subject matter, Chains of Delusion exudes enough tasteful technical display to remain interesting in part because of – not in spite of – the kind of over-the-top, slightly off-kilter singing that some Thrash Metal bands are known for. Deceptor holds the flag high for those still believing Metal can hit all the marks by being just ‘fast’ instead of ‘blast’. -Jim

Shadow Kingdom Records

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Head of the Demon – S/T

•January 16, 2013 • Leave a Comment

headofthedemonMore Lovecraft inspired metal, this time from Sweden. And why not? Lovecraft is one of literatures most inspired, bizarrely twisted and creative genius’ to have ever poured their dark thoughts so meticulously into a well of ink, then onto paper. Head of the Demon’s bio information tries to build them up as a musical enigma as their members are unknown. Sorry guys, but such a tactic isn’t going to usher you into a touring slot with Ghost anytime soon, nor is your musical content. “Head of the Demon” is one of those albums that begins and I find myself sitting in front of the speakers in anticipation for it to finally “kick in”. Sadly, it never does. A thin tone that produces zero bass response plagues this equally barren material. You know that common cliché… a tinny intro plinks through the opening notes, only for all the guitars and low end to blast in on that opening chord… again… I’m waiting for that triumphant strike to happen. Head of the Demon have combined bleak Hellhammer-isms both vocally and in the simplistic guitar lines, with a weird form of traditional doom that sounds like it was played on a tiny amp turned up to achieve a loud rattle (I won’t call it “distortion”). Though there are several, it sounds like only 1 guitar was turned up in the mix. The drums sound far off in the distance with a snare fashioned out of a wet cardboard box. The tracks “Phantasmagoria” and “The Man From Foreign Land” pick up the pace and interest a bit with more of a spirited movement in the main riff that resembles a bit of a Celtic Frost mixed with Sarke catchiness, but it is killed by visionless vocal lines and that dry demo tape tone. I will admit to the 2nd half of this album outshining the 1st as the band somehow gets in touch with their mystical side, but it’s not enough for me to want to invest the time needed to see past my complaints with this material. The cult card has been played by Head of the Demon and I do see folks out there that are drawn to the runt of the litter getting into this, but there is far too much boredom in this songwriting style that keeps the riffs from developing for me to get excited about what Head of the Demon is doing. Well…. the cover is cool at least! -Marty
The Ajna Offensive

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Infested Blood – Interplanar Decimation

•January 16, 2013 • 2 Comments

INFESTED-BLOODI’ve been listening to heavy metal since the eighties and extreme metal music for twenty years, and certain records were too much for me when I first heard them.  But as I spent time with Symphony of Sickness, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren Ka, Black Force Domain, Axis of Advance/Conqueror/Revenge, Panzer Division Marduk, World Downfall, Grind Virus, Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis, etc., I learned to appreciate and embrace what was going on, and my tastes developed to include music at a new level of extremity.  Eventually, with albums like these, I enjoyed … and I understood.
 
Such understanding will never come to me regarding the sonic insanity that is Interplanar Decimation, by the Brazilian band Infested Blood.
 
There is a real reason for this.  For the major part of this twenty-eight minute album Infested Blood DOES NOT PLAY IN A TIME SIGNATURE.  I’m not saying they change the meter a lot—a hundred wanker tech bands I dislike do that—I am saying that for most of this punishing album, THERE IS NO METER.  You cannot count the beats or even the time changes, because there is no beat underneath this whirling assault for you to count.  They are bananas.
 
Interplanar Assault is a fast and frantic event of syncopation, airborne riffs and mania.  Shit just happens all over the place, loudly and angrily, and you can’t stop it.  Irregular riff fragments and long, winding hooks fly into the vacuum and the drummer accents things—lots of things, since ALMOST ALL OF THE ALBUM IS ACCENTS.  While this alien (or telepathic?) shredding and pummeling occurs, some guy gurgles and grunts whenever the hell wants to.  Why not?
 
So the reason I will only give this wild and brutal release an above-average recommendation is that it is a thing to witness and marvel at–truly–but it is such an unrelenting assault, such a maniacal beatdownclusterfuck, that I doubt I will ever really enjoy it.  And since it is ten-to-the-tenth-power of too much, it gets a bit monotonous after about four songs of chopped riffs, pounding accents and velocity cranking: Rarely does the listener get much in the way of culmination moments or gratification.
 
Interplanar Decimation is extreme by even the most extreme standards, a punishing, jackhammer assault in 360 degrees that shows that the members of Infested Blood have a shared madness… -S. Craig Zahler
Gormageddon Productions

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Minotauri – II

•January 16, 2013 • Leave a Comment

minotauriAri Honkonen, singer, guitarist and songwriter of Minotauri and Morningstar (and the main guy in Heathen Hoof) is perhaps the least appreciated top-tier singer/songwriter in heavy metal history, and this album, II, is one of the Finnish fellow’s finest achievements.

Minotauri music somewhat resembles the grungier, catchier side of Pentagram (Relentless) and the albums Mob Rules and Born Again by Black Sabbath.  The album II is economical in terms of song length and arrangements, and the reason it is remarkable is the amazing consistency of the ideas that are presented.  Here is an album of seven songs (not including the bonus cuts) in which all seven songs are very good.  Every single tune is strong enough to be the A side on a 45.

One of the main reasons that Minotauri is so successful is the personality of the lead singer, Honkonen.  He does not mimic the esoteric crooning and bravado of (the amazing) Albert Witchfinder, nor Ozzy, nor the neo-Ozzies in Count Raven, nor the drug-addled madness of Liebling, nor the bluesy introspection of Wino.  Honkonen is a Euro-Barbarian, a wandering Neanderthal who inhabits an oppressive, sad and dangerous land.  His heavily-accented English only compounds his disenfranchisement.  This kind of primitive and emotional singing is more often found in epic metal—bands like Ironsword, Brocas Helm and Hyborian Steel—and is one of the best and most distinguishing features of this band, as well as Honkonen’s other outfit, Morningstar (who became good in 2000 on Weight of the Hammer and then got even better).

Lush and dirty chords abound, such as in the great choruses of Kill to Live and Doom on Ice, providing a heavy, somber and rich mood.  The oppressive throb of the verse riff in War hammers the lyric home in the best and most obvious way, and it works 100%.   Storms of the World swaggers like Sabbath’s Country Girl and the middle elaborations on the breaking riff are perfect pounding simplicity along the lines of Manowar’s finest moments.  And the lyric change of the line “Some people think that I worship the devil…” in the climactic chorus of Under the Cross is more evidence of Honkonen’s brilliant, simple and instinctual approach to songwriting.  Give this guy a platinum medal.

It doesn’t require tons of parts or tons of singing to make great doom metal, just great ideas delivered at a slower pace by people with strong personalities … and that’s exactly what Minotauri do on this essential album. -S. Craig Zahler
Firebox Records

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Reek of Shits – Deface Mind

•January 16, 2013 • Leave a Comment

reekofshitsAlthough Reek of Shits is categorized by the Metal Archives as brutal death metal/grindcore, it would be easy to make an argument that they play goregrind on this album.  Likely, the band’s inclusion of a few too many punk riffs as well as their overall looseness pushed them into the core rather than gore category, despite the album’s imagery, tremolo riffing, and deep (mostly) abstract vocals, all of which are in keeping death metal/goregrind.
 
Deface Mind is a collection of fairly short grinding death metal songs–around 3 minutes on average–and it is clear that the band is having fun with material that they enjoy playing.  Lots of short 1 or 2 measure tremolo riffs yield to more interesting material, and ultimately the reason that this album is better than average (with 50 being dead average) is because Reek of Shits knows which riffs to emphasize, especially in tunes like Butchers Pinny and the slightly too punky Crippled Abortions.  (These titles also seem in a gore mode…)
 
The cover of Napalm Death’s Suffer the Children gives you an idea of their basic template and vocal style, though it was the black metal band Von Goat whom I thought of most often when listening to this album, since VG typically supplies one good hook per song and uses other simpler ideas and tempi to mix things up.
 
Judging from this LP, Reeks of Shits isn’t a remarkable grind outfit like Squash Bowels or Carcass or Insect Warfare or Lymphatic Phlegm or Blasted Pancreas or Dead Infection.  Reek of Shits is simple and competent grinding death that has a good sound (the same could be said for Gruesome Stuff Relish and Skullhog) and they give you just enough good material to make the listening experience worthwhile. -S. Craig Zahler
Bizarre Leprous Productions

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Refusal – Grasp (demo)

•January 16, 2013 • Leave a Comment

grasp_refusalAs I’ve said before on these (web)pages, an inordinate amount of the Extreme music I enjoy these days hails from Finland, with bands like Maveth, Desolate Shrine, Azaghal, and Rotten Sound constantly reappearing in my cue. Case in point: the roiling Death/grind of Finns Refusal. Harmony Corruption-era Napalm Death-chug collides with the breaks and nod-factor of Nasum’s ‘slower’ moments, leaving enough blood and steel on the roadside to crane even the most desensitized of necks. And while blood and steel themselves warrant a schadenfreude-stare by the casualty vampire living in all of us, Refusal have more to offer than just seatbeltless skull-cracking via instruments. The Barney Greenway-inspired barks of vocalist Niika Lius coupled with the horrified slit-throat backing screams of bassist Timo Pirhonen have a hate-fueled force that, when yoked together as one, drag the mostly mid-paced attack of guitars and drums across the music-scape like sharpened claws through flesh. Refusal’s perspective is the antithesis of say, the aforementioned/recently-reviewed Rotten Sound, as even the blast-beats have a left-too-long-in-the-sun-LP spin to them that, whether intentional or not, adds to the grime of the grind on display here. Sticking points lie solely with the odd ‘Girls! Girls!’ Girls!’ death-chant on ‘Cleaning the Waste’ (unless it’s meant to parody Motley Crue…?) and with the placement of ‘Grip’ as the second track. ‘Grip”s more Thrash-tinged axework would have fared better as a closer, its early inclusion slowing things down a bit much for the album’s intent. Not that you’ll really give a damn anyway, for Timo’s DD Verni-esque bass rankle keeps things appropriately aggressive throughout the carnage even more so on that particular song than elsewhere on the four-song collection. If you like your Death Metal more murky than hammer-smashing and your grindcore more gut-churning than bonesnapping, download your free copy here http://refusalband.com/releases.htm , there’s no excuse not to. Don’t rush, though. Refusal’s last Grasp will hardly be their final one. -Jim

http://www.facebook.com/refusalband

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Ruins – Place of No Pity

•January 16, 2013 • 4 Comments

Ruins_Place (200x200)Down Under-hailing duo Ruins, by blending intricate DM drumwork, early Satyricon six-string serendipity, and the mighty Tom G. Warrior’s vokills, have risen far above a mostly stale stack of submissions this week with something sorta-Black and sorta-Death but is, refreshingly, not really either. Finally, a band has deduced what you would think is well known, but judging by the millionth Second Wave BM regurgitators and billionth Swedeath d-Beaters, is anything but: ways to honor your heroes and not just ape them still exist. Place of No Pity is not a complete reimagining of the Black and Death Metal tenets, but, hell, it may as well be; with this record, Ruins have taken three great elements of both genres and brought them together in a way no other band I’ve heard lately has. Guitarist/vocalist Alex Pope has taken the epic snarl of Celtic Frost voicings and added both clarity and his own interpretation of Into the Pandemonium’s vigor in its conveyance. And his employment of Satyr’s smudgeless guitar tone is also an ode and not a ripoff; with his own distortion thickened and front and center, Pope’s every chord is played with candor in favor of calamity. The choice to forego ‘Necro’ production remains a wise one amongst Place of No Pity ‘s movements that, while compelling the listener to actually pay attention to the notes spewing forth with fervor, further separates them from the growing glut of unoriginal panda-faced sheep clogging the bandcamps. And it will come as a shock to no one with even a passing knowledge of Psycroptic that the drums of David Haley exemplify a deeper wisdom of the kit than most modern players are willing to give. Though his Death Metal technicality rears now and again, especially with the talented kick-playing and fast rolls, he understands that less is often more when forming something that will linger and feel new. Alternating speed and slow with a deftness, Haley’s artful attack underwrites each song, accentuating the aggression when necessary and just as easily devolving it when Pope’s rare but finessed melodic moments surface. The interplay succeeds perfectly in the push and pull of ‘Winter’s Will’, a song letterbombing the listener at its onset, then giving the victim’s ears a mercy-killing with a sullen, anthemic outro that dissolves out as any ongoing epic should. Not that Ruins can’t simply rock when called upon; ‘Let them Perish’ recalls the stomp and power of later Taake with a reverence that stays on the correct side of worship. Never leaving the fray are, again, Pope’s Warriorisms, shouldering the weight of an album destined to inspires sighs of relief as to the state of Metal. Alright, I’ve said enough. Go find your own Place of No Pity , trust you are the better for it, and stay until the light fades. -Jim

Listenable Records

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Skineater – Dermal Harvest

•January 16, 2013 • Leave a Comment

skineaterThey sound Swedish because they are Swedish. Simple as that? Containing members that have served time in the bands Wombbath, In Thy Dreams, Dark Funeral, Carnal Forge, and Defleshed, I guess I was expecting more innovation and less of the same old reanimated melodic riffs and harmonies. Skineater take me back to the late 90’s when there was a glut of bands arising from Sweden that all shared that melody bloated, d-beat driven, emotional death metal flow that burped out of the nether regions of Thomas Lindberg and crew. Though Dermal Harvest does dig in with an aggressive blast of grinding intensity, the formulamatic alternation between the harsh and the soaring melodies gets tired really quick. When the track “Made of Godsick” arrives, the main riff to this song is almost note for note “Where the Slime Live”. Whether this was meant as a tribute to Morbid Angel, or one of those happy (eh?) accidents, it is annoying and distracting to be honest. The Morbid Angel-isms don’t stop there, for the following track “Through the Empire” mirrors a similar bizarre chord progression that one could experience on “Covenant”, but Skineater just come off as a lesser band for the Trey emulation. Add an intense and burnt to the core, mid-guttural screaming style that never strays away from the delivery or the guitar riffs, and this plays out as another element that could have benefited from a hint of variation. For fans of this style of modernized (the production is top notch and slick) melodideath, Dermal Harvest will impress due to the obvious musical talent on display, but if you were present during this era of Sweden’s quick overpopulation of talent, the style will grate on your nerves. I can take this type of death metal, IF the songs stand out as something special… unfortunately Skineater is all flash and very little creative spark. -Marty
Pulverised Records

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The Day Everything Became Nothing – Brutal

•January 16, 2013 • 3 Comments

thedayeverythingbecamenothingThe album cover of Brutal is a pretty good indication of the actual album of music that The Day Everything Became Nothing recorded.  It is open.  It is clear.  It is sharp.  And in the middle of it all is a little bit of ugly.

The music that this badly-named Australian band plays is clear, chugging goregrind (sans visual gore on this one) that has a deceptive simplicity and a steady–almost lulling–straight-ahead approach. 

Brutal is cleanly-recorded, crisp, downtuned music that is given it’s place in the world of “extreme” music by the use of pitch-shifted vocals and occasional bits of metal drum activity.  Had these vocals been swapped out for clean vocals, you’d have something not all that far from the early 90s album by Helmet called Meantime.  Both albums are focused on tightly-controlled chug-centric riffs and the changing of rhythms.  Neither contain very much guitar melody.  Although I’m not a fan of Helmet (that went to the used CD store back in the 90s, so it might be more compelling than I remember), The Day Everything Became Nothing’s Brutal has a far better vibe, because of the abstract vocals and uglier tuning.  Also, there are some amazingly fluid explorations of odd meters (eg. rockin’ the 9/8) that rival Rush’s ability to move out of 4/4 and 6/8 without calling attention to technicality (Subdivisions, for instance).

I have two main criticisms of Brutal, which make this album a moderate recommendation to most metalheads and higher one to goregrind enthusiasts.

My first complaint is that the first half of the album is better than the second half.  This is partially owing to the undeniable similarity between songs … and after five or six or seven very similar journeys, I’d like it to go some place a little bit less similar.  Additionally, most of the best moments (ie. catchy syncopation and headbanging meter changes) are in the first five tracks, excepting track 7.  (The song titles on this album are numbers— this band isn’t great with naming things, are they?)

My other gripe is the alternate voice that comes in on occasion—-high screams that flirt with the hardcore side of grindcore that I don’t really like.  They’re not terrible, these screams, but they do disrupt the cruising, chugging, dark and most off all CONTROLLED atmosphere of this thing.  Although this music is considered “extreme,” it’s not at all extreme— it has a controlled aesthetic that doesn’t line up well with the rebellious attitude of the high grindcore/screamo voice.

Clearly, I think The Day Everything Became Nothing could have done a little more here—even inside their tightly-defined parameters—but the album Brutal is a fun platter of rolling, fluid and disciplined goregrind.  This is my first experience with their music, and it won’t be my last. -S. Craig Zahler
No Escape Records

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Forgive me not …This knowledge makes me strong …

•January 8, 2013 • 15 Comments

From the melting snow-wastes of Northern Michigan (damn this above-freezing weather) comes a full-swath of review remonstrances, courtesy the Rytkonen/Clifton/sometimes-Zahler triumvirate you’ve come to know and loathe. Last week’s posts generated quite a few responses, branching off in discussions varying in tone from raves to rants and everything in between … and we love it. So, thank you all, and keep finger-pumping those keyboards with your thoughts, curses, playlists, discoveries, theories, and chaotic meanderings. Promise your friends free beer for stopping by the ‘Gear. If not, fine, we promise not to call the padded wagon or take your meds. Onward!

Marty Rytkonen:

Sepultura – Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation
Bolt Thrower – …For Victory
Vex – Memorious
Sarcasm – A Touch of the Burning Red Sunset
Canis Dirus – Anden Om Norr
Pan.Thy.Monium – Khaooohs
Eucharist – Demo1
Doomsday News – The New Generation of Heavy Metal Comp
Paradise Lost – Tragic Idol
Drowning the Light – Oceans of Eternity

Jim Clifton:

Manilla Road – Mystification
Trenchgrinder – Demo 2011
Cryptopsy – None So Vile
Pact – The Dragon Lineage of Satan
Denouncement Pyre – Almighty Arcanum
Burzum – Det Som Engang Var
Pentagram – Turn to Stone
Carcass – Reek of Putrefaction
Beherit – Drawing Dawn the Moon
Venom – Welcome to Hell

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Abominable Carnivore – Light Devours Our Lust (demo)

•January 8, 2013 • 2 Comments

Abom_CarnWith rage from the East comes Abominable Carnivore, an earnest entry into the more putrid side of the Black/Death genre. Guitars are appropriately ugly and match the guttural/squeal vocal interplay well, with a likable squalor straddling the line into War Metal. Opener ‘Nazara’, after a fairly typical start, explodes into chaos with enough tempo-switching color to implore you to listen on if – and yes, I’m aware this is a demo – you can get past the insanely loud snare drum that consistently buries Light Devours Our Lust’s quality riff regurgitations. Every other instrument and sonic spectrum choice on the five-song offering (excluding intro/outro) remains satisfyingly within the lower register, but the highly-eq’d/highly-mixed pop of the snare feels like someone’s poking your eardrum with a stick. Pull that sound down where it belongs (and they may have since, as I know they’ve subsequently done a split), and what you have left is an extremely promising start with mold-covered riffs snaking and snarling with a relentlessness that won’t fade easily. Production values aside, I’ve the sense we’ll soon have more to appreciate from these Bangladeshi bruisers. -Jim

http://www.facebook.com/abominablecarnivore

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Ajana – Home In Decay (demo)

•January 8, 2013 • Leave a Comment

CSinger/keyboardist Ajana describes her music as primarily Doom Metal, but I mainly hear very different sounds on Home In Decay – and that’s actually okay. The German’s second album deals more often in post- and somewhat mainstream Metal guitar lines that ride on the cloud-high vocal melodicism permeating her voice, but slower-paced Doom riffs do arise on the fourth track “Grey” and the excellent “Hollow Bliss”, showing up sporadically elsewhere. Even so, the “rock-n-roll” pace of the drums keeps what I perceive as the intended sadness at bay – though the playing is solid, the melancholy would be far more discernible and poignant with slower timings. Her keyboard work is varied, ranging from occult-rock warbles to major/minor-key jangle that wouldn’t be entirely out of place on a jazz/alternative album. Ajana’s voice soothes, but has an off-kilter quality that keeps the sweetness tolerable, all the while beckoning the guitars to follow. Tenets of folk and gothic march together on ‘Not to be’, and though this isn’t the type of album I’d listen to often (or of a genre Worm Gear would typically cover), the professionalism of these two styles and others performed remains strong. Some songs threaten to enter a symphonic territory a la Nightwish, but reign themselves in before becoming overbearing. If female-fronted, elaborate Metal is in your wheelhouse, you could certainly do worse. -Jim
http://www.facebook.com/ajanaofficial

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Blasted Pancreas – Carcinoma

•January 8, 2013 • 1 Comment

blastedpancreasGrindcore and goregrind are usually not the genres I go to if I want memorable and atmospheric music, but Carcinoma, the debut full length by Greek gorehounds Blasted Pancreas is exactly that: memorable and atmospheric goregrind.  To some extent, Blasted Pancreas is the progeny of Lymphatic Phlegm, a great goregrind outfit from Brazil, but there are some discrepancies between the two bands and Blasted Pancreas definitely have their own identity.

An overall difference between Blasted Pancreas and their mucusoid progenitors is that Lymphatic Phlegm are remote and detached, and Blasted Pancreas kick ass on occasion.  The Greeks play lots of creepy tremolo Fulci stuff, but they also fling meaty riffs and employ (slightly) longer arrangements.  These augmentations to the LymPh sound by Blasted Pancreas facilitate more headbanging, bigger developments and sharper musical peaks.  I imagine Judas Priest would approve of the heavy metal riff revving in the middle of “Lymphoblast,” and the break 40 seconds in “Lymphangiosarcoma” slams like Kraanium.  Black metal bands like Horna and Moonblood could make several albums with the creepy hooks all over Carcinoma, and although I really, really like Lymphatic Phlegm, I am not sure that they have a single song that’s as powerful as “Hemangiosarcoma.”  (Though admittedly, LymPh is more about the cumulative album experience.)

My only real criticism of Carcinoma (other than my continual advocacy for real drums in all metal) is how often the two vocalists follow the contour of the riffs.  In this pitch-shifted and abstract gurgling style, it usually works— I would just prefer some different musical ideas than ‘follow the riff.’

Unfortunately for fans of creepy, gurgling goregrind, this debut full length is also their swangsong: Pedolover, who was responsible for the guitars AND bass AND drum programming, passed away in 2012.

Perhaps the clearest testament to the quality of this release is that there is a Lymphatic Phlegm cover tune at the end (“Resection of Upper Gastrointestinal Malignancy”) and in it, Blasted Pancreas actually recreates the distant tone of the original song.  The surprising thing is that this cover song is not even one of the top five songs on this album— the Blasted Pancreas originals are THAT good.

Carcinoma is an album of fetid putrefaction to relish. -S. Craig Zahler
No Label Records/Sevared Records

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Convulse – Inner Evil EP

•January 8, 2013 • Leave a Comment

convulseThe past 5 years have witnessed the upheaval of the lifeless… the true zombie apocalypse if you will, where the once dead and buried bands have clawed their way out of their graves to walk amongst the living. Instead of brains, these glistening corpses crave the riffs of long forgotten songs they never had the chance to play. As cheesy as it sounds, it’s true, from washed up and irrelevant thrash bands like Defiance (did they really need to come back?), to an endless list of death metal acts seemingly encouraged and inspired once again by the Swedish Death metal book and its popularity, it’s like they are getting a new lease on life… a chance to relive the glory days killed too soon by an exploding black metal scene. Finland’s Convulse are among the living and have returned to see if round 2 exhumes a few more folks that care. Featuring the original singer, guitarist and bassist, it’s good to see that these guys have retained a solid core of their founding members, which ensures that the old spirit just may indeed live on. It has been a long time since I have spun their full-length debut, “World Without God”, so for comparison, I toggled between the music on that album and the 2 songs on this EP. To my amazement, the new material thankfully sounds just like the old, just with a more lively production. The riff styles are the same. Quick, though blast beat-less tempos. The singer sounds like he never lost a step vocally with his hollowed out and guttural growling style. To make this an even more saluted return to form, there were no pro-tools tricks or patchwork recording techniques used to capture the 2 tracks on this soon to be unveiled vinyl/CD/Digital release. The band sounds tight in the studio and ready for another go after 18 years of hibernation. I never did hear their “Reflections” album due to some negative reviews in the press when it came out, but “Inner Evil” ignites with a uniquely Finnish, and very dark death atmosphere where creeping riffs lurch out of deep chord progressions, into tremolo melodies that are as memorable as they are fierce. Among the rounded off death tones that dominate both of these tracks, “God is Delusion” on occasion dips into an energetic thrash pace and feel in the guitar work to truly show the age of the guys behind the songwriting process who wear their influences on their sleeves. Even though the vocal/lyrical placement can be a bit too glued to the verse riffs they are embellishing, this is a common beef of mine when it comes to vocalists who also play guitar. It’s hard to split your brain to belt out vocal “harmonies” (this is death metal after all) independent from the music. Knowing this, I make note of my minor annoyance, and quickly not let it bother me further. Like any good band and EP, Inner Evil acts as a fine teaser to a more substantial album which is hopefully in the works. Convulse are a good band worthy of closer inspection and I hope their expectations aren’t set too high, for times have changed greatly since the early 90’s. It has come down to bands getting their payment in the love of creating and performing their art for all who choose to enjoy it. If they seek fame and fortune, they might as well slink back to Finland and check the oil in their wives minivans. -Marty
Svart Records

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Nasty Pig Dick – Flesh for the Worms

•January 8, 2013 • 2 Comments

nastypigdickIt is easy to see why most people into metal, brutal death metal (slamming or otherwise) and even goregrind wouldn’t care for the lowbrow buzzing assault that is known as Nasty Pig Dick.   Simply put, this is not a refined album, nor a work that displays great (or even good) musicianship. This self-proclaimed slab of “Ultra Guttural Slamming Gore Grind” is wholly devoid of introspection and subtlety.

The Mexican export known as Nasty Pig Dick is a boiling pork assault … and it’s pretty good.

The overall Nasty Pig Dick aesthetic is closest to that of goregrind.  The drums are programmed and the vocals are pitch-shifted (or at least distorted to the point where they sound like they are), but the style of the vocals is that of brutal death metal and the pounding & shuddering rhythms have an industrial flavor, like Anaal Nathrakh or maybe even Ministry.  Every instrument has ludicrous amount of blow out, and the thick guitar often sounds like a bass guitar instead of a six string.  Some of this music sounds a little bit out of tune, but yields interesting results— the chugs in songs like “Cadaveric Internal Rot” seem like amplified pork snouts, inhaling and exhaling, looking for truffles.   And the sustained chords in “Juicy Juice of Bowels” are pure sonic nausea.

The end result is something that doesn’t really resemble grinders like (early) Carcass or Impetigo or Insect Warfare or Lymphatic Phlegm or any brutal death metal band I know of.  If Mortician teamed up with Ildjarn, it might sound like this.  Perhaps Cemetery Rapist is the closest comparison, a “band” (guy) that also straddles the bdm and goregrind/porngrind worlds, but the songs on this thing are better developed and have more culmination moments than do the CR tunes I’ve heard.   Little bits of flavor—such as the trill added to the main hook in “Flesh on My Chainsaw”—shine brightly when they appear.

Distortion, blown out industrial beats and very chunky rhythm-oriented riffs are worked and reworked, and in the end, Nasty Pig Dick delivers in both genres (death & grind), though this happens in an extraordinarily simple way (often 2 or 3 riffs per song) that is not for most metalheads.  Flesh for the Worms is overloaded, caustic and repetitive slamming goregrind that’s surprisingly fun. -S. Craig Zahler
Goretomb Records and DFL Productions

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Rage Nucléaire – Unrelenting Fucking Hatred

•January 8, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Rage_Nucleaire (200x200)One can always count on the ever-outspoken Lord Worm to lay down a quotable quote in discourse, never fearing to comment on anyone or anything with eloquence and zeal. Of course, it’s his application of those same wordsmith skills upon Death Metal albums like former band Cryptopsy’s None So Vile that matter most, and with classics like that behind him, it’s easy to wonder if there’s anything left in the English teacher’s twisted mind to scream and share. My friends, there is plenty. Rage Nucléaire’s devastating debut, Unrelenting Fucking Hatred, is both a construction of highest-quality extremity and an audio murder weapon of the highest potency. The album’s miasma of Under A Funeral Moon buzz-style guitars, appropriately evil and unsettling samples, and flat-out amazing drumwork will sodden the parched with thirst and dying fields of Black Metal. But wait, there’s more! Much more. For years, many have tried to reintroduce keyboards into their BM blends with an In the Nightside Eclipse balance of atmosphere and skill without falling into latter-day Dimmu Borgir territory. Few have succeeded, many have failed, so allow me to introduce (for those unfamiliar with Frozen Shadows) Alvater, the one mastermind to slay them all. Responsible for enlisting Lord Worm and amassing the group, Alvater’s musicianship and skills behind the mixing board have not just helped create the best full-range Black Metal record to come along in some time. His deranged genius has allowed him to stumble upon the yep-there’s-synths-but-this-shit-aint-symphonic X factor. A Heavy Metal high-five is in order, people. Rage Nucléaire remind you that you don’t have to employe ’60s-’70s era occultisms and organs to color Black Metal anew. On Unrelenting Fucking Hatred, tastefully done ivory-tickling in the classical vein still dominates, fuck you very much. But how this ensemble of talent took all the greatest elements of the Second Wave’s seminal albums and twisted them into something fresh isn’t even the most perplexing element of the record’s success; the greatest mystery is how this welcome eardrum-abomination gestated in the first place. Hey ‘Bub, if you’re reading this and are real after all, did you have a hand in this…?

New paragraph, and this one belongs to Lord Worm. Alvater’s mastery of the Old Ways needed a voice with skill enough to raise hackles and eyebrows, and an ability to deliver that comes only with age and experience. A hailed and hated throat from Death Metal’s gloried past surprisingly fits the bill and more – Lord Worm’s churning, bile-filled delivery that’s herein somehow high and low all at once, uncompromisingly cuts above and through the malaise in a way that only a man who penned the lyrics to Blasphemy Made Flesh can. His is a voice inspiring terror, a blood-curdler that will have you flinging your headphones off of your head in fear. Would that more modern Black Metal vocalists could achieve the same power. If you like your BM early-nineties without being a carbon copy, throw this on your long-player and hide under your desk like you’ve been taught. As with any Weapon of Mass Destruction, Unrelenting Fucking Hatred will destroy you anyway. -Jim

Season of Mist

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Rotten Sound – Species at War EP

•January 8, 2013 • 1 Comment

Rotten_Sound_speciesatwarPure fuckin’ grind from Finland, Rotten Sound’s latest EP Species at War eye-punches the uninitiated with a six-song socket violation bent on making you a believer in whatever the hell they choose to rail about. With a Scandinavian “Rotten” (heh) guitar sound that has RS’s own unique crusty branding burned into it, this album, like it predecessors, is nothing short of a knife to carve up this world. Spacing out the woodpecker-on-crack snare blasts and charred lung vocal delivery are the band’s malevolent Doom-infected riffs that are neither a respite nor meant to be; each exists as just another vessel for Rotten Sound’s cavalcade of molten decimation to dissolve you. ‘Peace’ has an ultra-brief half-time moment sure to please any diehard Nasum fan, and stand-out track ‘War’ shocks with a Meshuggah-esque syncopation, but delivered with a force those time-signature shysters have lacked since Destroy Erase Improve. Closer ‘Salvation’ ties the knot in the noose of this suicide with the best slime-filled ride-riff this side of ‘Wolverine Blues’ (yes, I do in fact like that song). Intended as an amuse-bouche for their next full-length, rest assured that this EP is far from filler. Species at War is the most grind-fun you’re likely to find in under ten minutes. -Jim

Relapse Records

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The Solemn Curse – Gateways to Eternity EP

•January 8, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Solemn_CurseThe skilled drummer behind Binah (a personal favorite) has brought forth The Solemn Curse, and new band in which all music springs from his mind alone. The latter band’s six-song EP Gateways to Eternity eschews the wall-of-noise aesthetic of the former, opting instead for a wind-swept, polished sound that still has that sought-after cold embrace. Extreme Metal of a Blackened Death Metal ilk is the order of the day, but with the BM-chording rolling in and out of the Death Metal along each track, the approach most often strives for an epic affectation in place of brute force. Not that the brick-laying isn’t there; the onslaught of ‘Visible Light’ will certainly inspire a dashboard pound or three. Amongst the carnage and dissonance, interesting layers of guitars lines arrive with tremolo-picked fifths and thirds – Anil Carrier clearly doesn’t just dabble in his riffmaker; his six-string is played with the same adherence to detail as his drums. Overall, the sound could benefit from a murkier-style production to roughen things up, with perhaps an employment of the sonic equivalent of extra course sandpaper, though I sense the opposite choice was made to further distance the band from Anil’s other commitments and/or allow exploration of a different aural path. No matter; the sheen lessens a little with subsequent spins by way of the album’s thick riffery. As for vocals, Shadie Carrier’s barks are of the Karl Willett’s variety with some high-screech embellishments, adequately leading the charge of each track, but generally staying out of the way of the music. And that music is one of of both rage and reservation, as the Carriers have built an album of musicianship and effect suggesting skill, but more importantly, a desire for that skill to be the foundation and not the focus of the album.

Gateways to Eternity is exactly that; a gateway to the duo’s future in Extreme Metal, allowing a glimpse of what will follow from them, but letting enough of their development and originality escape outward to be enjoyed in the now. Step on through. -Jim

Mordgrimm Records

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