Death/grind is the new thrash metal, updated from around 1985, to now:
it's sophisticated in terms of musical structure, rapid key changes, and challenging melodic (riff) formations-- it's hard to play, yet blisteringly furious (i.e., aggressive and fast)... a great balance of savagery and technical ability: witness Danny Lilker's definition: technical and yet intense....
Death/Grind, as a genre, is useless played at anything less than loudest-sound-possible (194 Db) volume: that's where it's made to be.
Like extreme forms of free jazz, this music is meant to permeate you, to absolutely be your everything for the time you're listening to it-- or to be nothing.
This is the complete opposite of background music.
BUT: give it the chance, and this will OWN you. It's perfectly, ridiculously extreme in that Death/Grind way, but is also full of surprises and tiny evolutions and tempo, key and texture changes enough to keep your cerebellum interested, while your reptile brain writhes in ectothermic ecstasy....
There's sweep-picked solos, blast beats, breakdown (all while being respectably detuned), blah blah blah-- you like extreme metal?
Monolith of Humanity is worth your while.
--Horn
[Monolith of Inhumanity is released worldwide on Metal Blade records on May 8, 2012.]
I actually did send away for the "uncensored" cassette cover of Tomb of the Mutilated, i.e., the undead cunnilingus, and had the first three CC cassettes.
I'm not gonna lie-- for the most part I didn't get them, or death metal in general, as I've written about before. Beyond Cryptopsy and Asphyx, death metal usually seems trite to me, like the sort of things that an adolescent would write about "the world" before they'd ever actually been in it. Ben Ratliff, the music critic for the New York Times, once said, regarding Cannibal Corpse, that they had a fascination with gore and zombies that "bordered on sweet."
I've never been able to lose that comparison when listening to most modern death metal, particularly the "brutal" kind, versus "tech" death.
It really IS sweet. Like your kid brother who collected monster figurines. Like Mark Petrie from Salem's Lot (pre-vampire hunting) and his collection of Hammer horror figures.
There's a "manufactured" horror here, one they think real horror comprises, rather than what it actually contains. Henry Rollins screams about real horror. The disillusionment of genuine black metal, screaming about a "loss of faith and the hysterical fear and sadness it contains," (Ratliff again) sounds that horror. Even Bad Religion evoke a real freaking out in the face of modern life.
Most death metal, Torture included, is a parroting, an echo, of horror-- one sounded from the safe suburban zones that have managed thusfar to successfully avoid genuine agonizing friction with the "real world," as it were.
Is it bad?
No, not a bit. It's well-written, groovy death metal, from guys who've been doing it for many years.
It's just that it's got to be experienced with the same mindset you use when you see a horror movie that's well done.
You know it's fake as hell (as opposed to a drama or even a documentary), but it still gets under your skin. It still rocks you, as it were.
"Demented Aggression" roars out of the gate with blast beats (and shows other, newer, bands that having been around for decades doesn't mean you have to mellow-- this could've been recorded by 18-year-olds); "Scourge of Iron" and its initial open-chord chug stand out, as does the blistering "Encased in Concrete"....
"As Deep as the Knife Will Go," and "Followed Home, Then Killed," are comically personal to me: as a forensic psychologist for almost 15 years (and this in 7 medium- or maximum-security prisons in 6 states), about half of these song titles are the MOs of the vast majority of my former clients-- someone's been reading FBI Profiler John Douglas-- or watching a shitton of Law & Order: SVU and taking copious notes.
Anyway, it's Cannibal Corpse-- it's death metal at its best.
Sentenced to Life is pretty much an album of Entombed covering hardcore acts like Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Sick of It All, Discharge, and even Bad Religion. It's on Southern Lord.
For most of you reading this, that's pretty much all you need to know. I don't even need to make a judgment call here; you've already decided if this if this is for you.
For the rest of you, it's really. Goddamn. cool.
It's the detuned death metal Sunlight Sound from Sweden, interpreting the rage of NYHC.
Like Sons of Satan Praise the Lord (an Entombed covers album) or Slayer's Undisputed Attitude, in other words.
Opener "Feast of the Damned," is stupidly riff-tastic, and at 1:44 drops into a great sludge riff breakdown before taking off again....
This formula is maintained during the first four tunes, and is only broken on "Endless Corpse," with its slow-burning building up over "The Small Hours"-esque chords.
That is, until 1:38-- when shit just got real.
At this point, I actually feel bad for the drummer-- this shit has been flying, all-out, at redicu-fast tempos-- this guy's hands have got to be shredded by now.
Ah, and there it is-- about two minutes later we get the slow-down, into something like Overkill would've put on Horrorscope, particularly, well... "Horrorscope."
Of course, the next tune, "Mother Abyss" flies even harder and faster than anything before it, like they're suicidal geriatrics on a treadmill, determined to induce their own heart attack from sheer velocity... "Of Flesh" starts with a Left Hand Path-type trill riff that's fucking sweet....
ANyhoo, prolly top 10 of 2012. Take that as you will....
In anticipation of the release of their new album, Utilitarian , on February 27th in Europe and February 28th in North America, the legendary NAPALM DEATH is now giving fans the chance to listen to their grindcore masterpiece online in its entirety! To join the album listening party, head here:
Nephelium is a phenomenal band. They seamlessly blend new techniques with tried-and-true methods of classic death metal. Being labled as "Metal juggarnauts" suits Nephelium, the way they combine classic death metal growls with punishing guitars, and unmerciful drumming. Their newest album, Coils of Entropy harks back to classic death metal bands such as their influencers Death, and Suffocation.
They're not just brutal, but slam your head against the wall fantastic. With vocals that often break down to animalistic roars and screeches, punching guitar riffs backed by some of the best double bass this side of terrifying, Nephelium's sound has justly been described as, "Brutal, sludgy, precise, dark, atmospheric, and surprisingly catchy".
The whole band delivers loud, fast, dark metal that with natural talent and precision that'll basically just blow your brains out. I was surprised at the amount of skill these guys have. There's so many layers to the sound, with both guitarists holding their own as amazing, the drumming is just INSANE, and the vocals are rip-roaring magnificent. The new album sounds like spending a night in a creepy castle being chased by a murderer that's riding a werewolf. Paint quite a picture, don't I?
If you like really heavy, just brutally insane death metal, put down your computer, bookmark this page, and go get this album. Go ahead, I'll wait. ISN'T IT GREAT?! It is rip your face off and throw it across the room awesome.
With Coils of EntropyNephelium created an album that's fresh to the ears, and didn't stop at nailing it, they drove it straight through.
Y'ever watch True Blood or read the Sookie Stackhouse novels?
You say you're a heterosexual male... so no?
Let me re-phrase.
Have a girlfriend/wife?
Y'ever passively listen while True Blood plays in the same room as the couch you're sitting on, while waiting for Anna Paquin to get naked again?
That's what I thought, you coy motherfucker.
In said world, "V" (vampire blood) is used as the ultimate psychedelic/ opiate/ steroid/ stimulant drug.
Impetuous Ritual and their full length, Relentless Execution of Ceremonial Excrescence, is like V--
but only if it came from Cthulu!
That's right-- Impetuous Ritual creates the suggestion of mainlining the very life fluid of the most ancient of the Old Ones.
More evidence of said controversial thesis:
One, it's like they're seriously trying (facetiously?) to out-complex-name Carcass and the 1000 death metal bands and their obsession with medical textbook terminology that followed in their wake (e.g., just dig that album title);
Two, if Portal weren't fucking weird enough for you;
Three, if you love Sunn O))) and their obsession with sound and its effects on the human body for their own sake (rather than as music);
Four, if you love that photo above (no shoes or shirt, big-ass 7-string string guitar, grizzly fuck-off beard, bloody face, wrist spikes);
Then THIS is the death/black metal/noise band for you.
Impetuous Ritual, Australian, formed from two members of Portal, released Relentless Execution of Ceremonial Excrescence (on Profound Lore) in late 2009; since then apparently it has been worming its way to me, presumably via the Pacific then Atlantic Oceans.
That's a creepy thought-- thought it somehow also makes me feel loved. Or at least attended to.
It's low-fi, noisy, blast-beat-ridden, shriek-filled, violent, menacing, incoherent fury that very nearly, if not altogether, transcends the normal functions of music as we know it.
Tracks:
"Convoluting Into Despondent Anachronism" blasts out of the gate and later drops into a sweet noise/doom riff at about 3:00; "Coalescence of Entropy" features some stupid-hard drums, both blast-beats and wildly high-metre 4/4 (I'm guessing around 350 bpm-- and the music-training programs I usually use to practice only go to 340); "Ceremonial Disembowelment," at about 0:50, lurches down into a great tremolo-picked doom riff before it takes off again periodically into blast beats; "Destitution" (instrumental, and my fave so far) is nearly all doom, with a a stupidly-detuned riff in what sounds like fourths (not the fifth of the power chord we all know and usually love); "Ritual of the Crypt" has a fucking cool vibrato'ed doom riff at about 0:50 (new favorite!), and the album closes out with the slow, dirgy "Dirge."
If you're in a mood that's open this type of sound (only scarcely a type of music-- though this isn't an insult)-- this is some cool shit.
Though in all honesty, if you consistently have this on, and love it-- you might seriously consider antipsychotics and/or antidepressants. No functioning human being should be in this mood all the time.
Growing up around metal as a child with my parents listening to Judas Priest, Motorhead, Sepultura and Mötley Crüe, it was a no-brainer that I was going to be into metal and all the forms of it. As I got older and somewhat wiser, in my opinion, I realized that more bands started to sound the same and nobody was really trademarking anything brand new. Thrash was a huge thing for me in my teens along with punk and the old-school death metal. As years passed I started to lose hope in the genres that I grew up on, drone, doom, sludge, stoner were weighing heavy on my heart so I had to let those genres in and quick. Up until recently, I let go of mostly everything thrash and punk, I wanted nothing to do with it and I was just completely bored with the majority of it. A couple weeks ago, Jon, bassist and vocalist for Bones, contacted me via Facebook and asked if I wanted to review the record they just released. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what I going to hear but I was up for the risk and challenge because I won’t ever turn down a free record.
Before I let this record spin for the first time, I literally shut everything off in my room except my laptop and speakers. I turned the light off and hit play on my winamp player then went lay on my soft, comfortable bed. Next thing I know, my eyes are open as wide as they can go and I’m shoving the blanket off of me in a very hectic state of confusion. I bring up the winamp player and realize that this is really Bones on my laptop. Suddenly an overwhelming rush of excitement filled my heart that I haven’t felt since I was nearly ten years old or so. Was I hearing what I thought? Were Bones really giving me everything I wanted in a death/thrash release? As the light shined down on me from the heavens, I realized that I have found the hope that I needed to love death/thrash again. Thrashing riffs and blistering drums that bulldozed the shit out of my whole body with speeds that I could only find from a jet in the sky. Prayers are answered! Well, mine are at least so don’t hate on me for being liked more than you by some higher power.
“Bones” provides nine tracks of full on battery for a solid thirty-five minutes with no pauses or let up so that you can catch your breath. From the second the first track, “March of the Dead”, begins, you realize that this ride will not be smooth nor clean. This energetic, overbearing grip that seems to choke you with insane structure and pure adrenaline, you would think running into on coming traffic would be similar to this record, right? Funny thing, you are actually a hundred percent correct in every way possible. Why didn’t someone tell me that Motorhead and Sepultura had a mastermind for a child? All the elements add up and they all make sense to me. Death/thrash is alive, breathing and very well in the eyes of this guy.
So, what happens when you lose all hope in a musical genre? A record gets thrown at your feet and you praise all things that are holy for receiving it and being able to blast it at high volumes until your neighbors call the police on you for a noise complaint. Life is great and I can start looking for some amazing death/thrash again. Bones – The one band that revived hope for me when I have nothing left in the tank.
--Nickoli
article originally appeared: http://bloodorlove.domesticgenocide.com/bones-bones/
Let me set the scene for you – As of today you’ll be locked inside of a house that is littered with human remains, dust and chemicals that could burn through your skin like acid. As you awaken from your slumber and look around, you begin to realize that you’re not in Kansas anymore. Where could you be and why would anyone place you in a room with all of these horrible things?
As you ponder on what you did last, at least from what you could remember, you begin to question your own brain. Was your brain actually playing pranks on you or were you just going bat shit crazy? Looking under the very thin crack under the door, trying to hear or see anything to help you understand where you might be, you begin to hear a conversation. Within that conversation between two males, you learn that the place you’ve held is just a holding cell and your real tomb awaits you.
So, as you may have already figured out, this is hell. Today, we’re covering Entrails’ new record that is set to release September 9th titled “The Tomb Awaits”. From the little intro that you just read, I hope you prepared for disgusting war, the smell of body parts being eating my creatures and unholy madness to the maximum level because that’s exactly what Entrails’ gives you on the new record. “The Tomb Awaits” is a twelve track follow up from their 2010 record “Tales From The Morgue”. I’ll say this, if any of you actually listened to “Tales From The Morgue”, you might want to armor up and place every ounce of metal you have in your house on you because “The Tomb Awaits” is a step up, plus more.
Corruption, damnation, fun loving thrills of being mangled to death by throbbing bass lines and groovy riffs, it’s all here on “The Tomb Awaits”. The different endings are completely up in the air while you listen to this record. On one end, you could be praising a false priest that believes in nothing except revenge or you could be dangling high above a million humans waiting to humiliate you and rip you apart as if you were a lamb at a slaughter.
So, final verdict? Entrails’ “The Tomb Awaits” may not be the missing piece that we’ve missed in death metal but it is a very much appreciated record, in my opinion. Although it may not hit you head on, this record will smack you pretty hard in the end and if it doesn’t, a doctor might want to called because you are far from human.
“It was given out that the animals there practiced cannibalism, tortured one another with red-hot horseshoes, and had their females in common. This was what came of rebelling against the laws of Nature, Frederick and Pilkington said." - George Orwell, Animal Farm, Ch. 4
The year is 2031, I have traveled many miles in my search of human contact. Many have fallen in the fight against them. This new being of animal. A much smarter one than the fluffy or edible one from my youth. I have found myself in the now barren wasteland once known as Massachusetts. There are bodies everywhere. Torn to shreds by what looks to be ravishing pigs. Severed heads and random body parts now fill this once people filled state. The smell of rotting human flesh is overwhelming. I must trek along and find human life. Armed with only my machete and a 12 gauge shotgun I roam in search of human life. After traveling what seems like for days I see a sign. It simply reads, “ALL PIGS MUST DIE!”. “People!”, I scream in my head as to not give attention to the animals near by. I follow along a path to a rural cabin. The once putrid smell of rotting flesh has now been overtaken by the smell of bacon. I enter the cabin....
Okay, so while All Pigs Must Die's latest album God Is War is probably not about animals taking over the world it's still one brutal as fuck album. All Pigs Must Die is a four piece punk metal hardcore powerviolence mash of sickness. All things I love in a band. This mixture of all that is musically awesome makes a sound almost like no other. I hybrid of music unlike anything I have heard in quite sometime.
We start thing off with “Death Dealer”. All Pigs Must Die instantly turn on the brutality. This is a very violent song. It flows seamlessly into the non stop rampage of a song entitled, “Pulverization”. Just as the title says it is pulverizing. It's a musical onslaught of blackened hardcore with a d-beat outer shell.
What? You're saying your neck can't withstand the constant headbanging. Well, God Is War does offer up some melodic riffage. For instance, the song “Third World Genocide” begins with an awesome drum beat that leads into some equally great guitar work. Soon though the rage begins as the vocals kick in a literally kick your head off in the process. Let the headbanging commence.
All Pigs Must Die are a band to look out for. You can really tell they love hardcore and brutal music. The combination of the many different styles of music give All Pigs Must Die a sound all there own.
Pick up your copy of God Is War. Oh, and keep a neck brace handy....you're gonna need it.
All Pigs Must Die goes good with: Celtic Frost, Entombed, Nihilist, Negative Approach, Sodom, Darkthrone, Integrity, Leviathan, Burzum, Amebix, Samhain, Discharge, Napalm Death, Chuck Biscuits, Disfear, Craft, Watain, Carnivore, Motorhead, Venom, Harm's Way, Weekend Nachos, Wiccans
Entrenched are your general issue death metal-- except for some tiny but interesting details: they're pretty much brand new compared to vets Exhumed; they're just two guys; they're too metal to use Pro Tools; and they love what they do.
Witness--
I remember an interview with Venom's Mantas talking about the recording of Welcome to Hell. In it, he was laughing about the lack of synchronizing music recording software, and (at that time) even a lack of click tracks (i.e., no mechanical back-up plan to guarantee the same tempo is maintained during the whole song). He said you could put on the record at the beginning, listen, and then pick up the needle and move right to the end of the same song, which would have gotten noticeably faster.
Entrenched are all over the tempo map, often within the same song. Songs speed up, and up, and up....
This is not a dig: this is fucking cool as all hell....
I'm no expert, but I would bet this was recorded in their basement, live, with the cheapest recording devices they could find. This atmosphere, not unlike 5am jam sessions recorded on a tape player with Coltrane and Monk (Live at the Five Spot, i.e.), lends the whole thing an true air of ...sorry, TR00 air... of enthusiasm and passion. These guys in Entrenched love playing old school death metal and it's obvious. The songs aren't as well-written as Exhumed, they're not as well recorded or engineered, their musicianship isn't as obvious--
--but when "Bred to Kill" or "Burnt and Destroyed" are blazing along burning everything in their path you won't remember that.
Preemptive Strike, both lyrically and musically is Sodom and Kreator meet Hail of Bullets. That's the short version....
Oh: and like Guinness needing to stand 2 minutes after a draught pour, Preemptive Strike is 100 times better loud as shit with a ton of bass (even more than most metal).
Secondly we have Book of Black Earth and The Cold Testament. They've tuned up (to Db, Black Sabbath and Howl's preferred tuning) from the much lower B tuning on previous LP Horoskopus, and they manage to sound even heavier, following a similar sound evolution to Behemoth-- the songs aren't as muddy and previously, and the guitars sound like they evolved from giant boulder catapults to mortars-- smaller and streamlined, but much more dangerous.
"Road Dogs from Hell" is an awesome death metal answer to songs like Metallica's "Whiplash" or Motorhead's "We Are the Road Crew," a cheeky punkish peon to life on the road-- you know, like "Wanted Dead or Alive." "Weight of the World" is a stock rager, but awesome... and album closer "I See Demons" is a slow burner, almost doomy at times.
Thank you, I've been Horn, and that's my time. Tip your waitresses, please. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow. Good night, and good luck. Satan be with you.
I was never a huge death metal fan; I started with power/speed metal, then to thrash, then somehow skipped over death's emergence with Death, Morbid Angel, Obituary, Pestilence, etc., and went straight to black metal (with doom in the background the whole time, natch).
But Exhumed here were so much fun (and had some distinct thrash elements, like Sodom or Kreator) that I keep listening over and over.
They try to say they're "no genre" in the downloads, but whatfuckingever-- it's old school "brutal" death metal.
Does that mean something to you? If if does-- this is AWESOME.
It's utterly generic, but done as well as humanly possible-- really cool, fun stuff. It's actually the most fun I've had listening to death metal since the last Hail of Bullets album.
Unless I indicate otherwise below, assume every track on All Guts, No Glory follows this blueprint-- simple, three- or four-chord riffs with atonal, whammy-heavy solos, detuned riffs (way down to B, a fifth below standard, the home of Pelican and --mai oui!-- Hail of Bullets), also screamed vocals....
Track 2, "As Hammer to Anvil" rivals pretty much anyone else in terms of fury and speed (even though the riff is basically just the open string picked as fast as possible, with an occasional pinch harmonic)... about half way through we get the normal death metal breakdown, lead-in to solo-- but: so well done it's distinct.
"Through Cadaver Eyes" so fast and mean you'll want to listen again and again... (unless you're in more of a Sara Bareilles mood, I guess)... and despite being so brutal, the instrumentation is also agile and able to turn on a time without disappearing up its own butt, Ã la some progressive death metal....
Possible highlight "Death Knell" is blistering, breakneck-paced thrash/death, with a melodic solo like Sadus... then, at 3 minutes hits that sweet spot of death metal with a simple five-chord outro, complete with tolling bells... it only competes with:
"I Rot Within," all fury, even faster than the above tracks, even angrier... catchy, and overall probably the best track here, and:
"Necrotized," which flirts with tech death for a second, but is quickly back to old school-death-bordering-on-thrash (like Sodom)....
Great stuff. Furious-yet-considered, intricate-yet-simple, funny-yet-serious....
Like death metal? You will enjoy this. It's "fun" death metal: stupid but intense, the musical equivalent of a movie like Shoot 'em up or Drive Angry.
Bonus Points: final track, "So let it be rotten, so let it be done" a death-metally pun on the refrain from Metallica's "Creeping Death."
Sam, Bradley and I winked back into existence in the middle of my basement. After the transit disorientation faded I took inventory of myself and happily discovered that I was one hundred percent intact. It was exactly one week since we had travelled in time back to the year 2010 on our mission to alter musical history. Personally, after discovering Ghostfog, I viewed our first foray into the past as a smashing success! I firmly believed that when we returned to our own time the landscape of popular music would be wholly changed.
“Phillip where are you?” “I’m over here on the couch Penfold.” “Ah, yes. I see that now.” “How was your trip?” “Oh Phillip, it was great! We accomplished so much, or at least I think we did. Tell me the name of the biggest black metal band in the world. I need to know!” “Ummmm, there really isn’t one.” “What?!?” “Yeah, people don’t really listen to black metal in 2150. Penfold, you know good and well that the four of us are the only real black metal fans left in the world. Why rub it in? As far as I can tell, you guys did not accomplish much of anything back in the past.”
In my haste I had forgotten that Phillip, having not gone back in time with the rest of us, would change along with the rest of the world based on our manipulations of the past. Of course he would not observe any differences in the world around him. Only Bradley, Sam and I would be able to spot changes but I was too impatient at the moment to explain anything. I needed information!
“Phillip. Quickly, tell me when black metal began to decline in popularity.” “Is this some kind of test Penfold?” “Not really Phillip, but you have a knack for remembering such things and I’m feeling awfully forgetful at the moment.” “Ha! You’re right about that. I do have a good memory. Well, in the early part of 2011 there was this big electro/black metal dance craze that swept the dancehalls of Germany and spread quickly to the rest of the world. Unfortunately the craze died off after a year or so, and the wave of popularity black metal was enjoying dissipated.” “Say no more Phillip. Bradley! Sam! We’ve got more work to do!”
I walked over to the time machine, set the destination dial to June 14, 2011, and told Phillip to hit the ‘go’ button. A few moments later Sam, Bradley, and I once again blinked out of existence. My goal for this second trip was twofold. One, I wanted to extend this dancehall craze that Phillip told us about. And two, I wanted to find a band or artist who would excite people outside of those dancehall fans. Thankfully, no sooner had we arrived than we stumbled upon exactly the right band for the job.
Of Wrath And Ruin Conquering Oblivion
Oftentimes I wonder. Would black metal vocals fit well on top of whatever music that I’m currently enjoying? Sometimes my answer is yes, and sometimes my answer is no. With these thoughts running through my mind, it was a happy coincidence that I came across Of Wrath And Ruin. This is a band that clearly asked themselves the same question, and had the wherewithal to follow through musically to discover the answer. What we waveriders end up with is one enticing metal concoction.
First of all, let’s discuss what kind of music functions as the baseline for this experiment. Of Wrath And Ruin play a nice mixture of traditional heavy, power, and progressive metal. Listening to their songs I’m often reminded of Iron Maiden and Dream Theater. You have frenetic dueling guitars coupled with propulsive drumming. Add to that the highly emotive, powerful, clean female vocals of Laura Tyburski and you have an enjoyable offering. But wait. This band decided to make one important addition that would make them distinct. That’s right waverders…black metal vocals. This music takes on an entirely different character with the impassioned growling from lead vocalist Pat Brose. It’s different, and it’s good!
“Forever Unseen” sets the stage for what’s to come getting the blood pumping with intricate guitar lines, structured yet frantic drum fills, and keyboard flourishes to help set the proggy mood. The black metal vocals may take a minute to get used to in this context, but trust me, they fit right in. The other songs on the album are all solid but my personal favorites are the chug-tastic “Shame Is The End”, and the seemingly bipolar “Waters Of The Corrupt”. Also if you need a break from the speedy metal, try on one of the two beautiful instrumentals, “Sapphire Sea” or “To Walk Alone”.
Very nice. Very nice, indeed. All of you waveriders seeking something a bit different from the progressive/black metal norm need look no further. Of Wrath And Ruin has arrived.
Sweden has always been know as a hotbed for really good metal. Sweden’s Inevitable End are no different. These Swedes offer up brand new album entitled The Oculus. Known on previous albums as being more of a straight forward Death Metal and Thrash act.Inevitable End takes a different musical spin on The Oculus, combing a more frantic and aggressive style.
This album hits you like a freight train! The first track on the album, “Tell us, Parasites” . The track is almost The Locust like. Combining frantic drums and guitars. Vocals on this track are top notch. Both frantic and aggressive with an underling Death Metalish guttural.
“Zen” the third tack off The Oculus is awesome. The intro is a weird guitar riff then boom, drums and vocals kick in. This song is all over the place, mixing Death, Thrash, and Noise seamlessly. My favorite track on the album is called “The Oculus” which by now you know is the name of the album. The song again is frantic, making you want to bang your head and do a some moshing.
“Vergelmer” is a Southern Metal inspired instrumental (maybe they are from Southern Sweden) that leads into the track “Chamber of Apathy”. If you like breakdowns, this song has a great one. A hard hitting double bass and blast beats make this song stand out.
All in all Inevitable End’s The Oculus is a solid metal album. However you take you’re metal, (I’ll take mine with three Grinds and a dash of Power Violence please) you will find a track if not all of them that you dig.
Inevitable End goes great with: The Locust, Through The Eyes of The Dead, old Norma Jean, and countless other Grind, Death and Thrash bands. Be sure to check out Inevitable End’s The Oculus. It hit shelves and digital downloads on May 24th.
(In my best Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson voice) Finally!! The Black Dahlia Murder!! has come back...to your stereo!! Yes Waiveriders, The Black Dahlia Murder is back! Detroit's resident death metal superstars bring you their new album Ritual. I've been waiting to get my hands on this album for months and now it is finally in my possession. Excited, yes I am!! Ritual is the 5th studio album from The Black Dahlia Murder and damn it is epic as fuck!
Before we get to the awesome music, let's touch on the awesome cover art. Back in the day, (when I purchased cd's every week) I would stumble into my local record store and buy metal albums based on how “cool” the album art was. If I was 16 again and saw Ritual on the shelf I would definitely be picking it based on cover alone. The amazingly talented Valnoir Mortsonge is the man behind the epic artwork. Some of you may recognize his work on passed Watain, Morbid Angel and Ulver albums. The cover to Ritual is made to look like a demonic book. Complete with Satan himself and your fair share of pentagrams and other demonic imagery. Awesome!
Now on to the music. “A Shrine to Madness” gets the death metal party started. “A Shrine to Madness” starts off very melodic. At the 53 second mark you are hit with the opening guitar lick and soon follows Trevor Strnad's unmistakable vocal structure, a combination of black, death and guttural vocals. Overall a great opening track.“A Shrine to Madness” flow seamlessly into “Moonlight Equilibrium”. “Moonlight Equilibrium has by far the most “classic” feel to it. It is very reminiscent of their early work but you can hear former Arsis axeman Ryan Knight's contributions clearly.
“Conspiring With the Damned” is by far my favorite track on Ritual. When Trevor screams, “CONSPIRING WITH THE DAMNED!!!”, it instantly sends chills down your spine. This song clocks in at just under 4 minutes. If you get a chance to listen to just a few tracks of this album, “Conspiring With the Damned” has to be one of them. This song has it all. Trevor's amazing vocal presence, Shannon Lucas' unrelenting drums, Ryan (Don't Call Me Bart ) Williams' signature bass style and Ryan Knight and Brian Eschbach's dueling guitars.
There is something about the 7th track on albums. The theory I have is it's always one of the best tracks on album. I don't know, listen to any of your favorite albums, I'm sure number 7 doesn't suck. “Den of the Picquerist” is no different. This song is awesome, it's almost punk like in how short it is. Clocking in under a mere 2 minutes. It has the urgency of a punk song with all the melodic death metal tendencies you would expect from the band.
The Black Dahlia Murder have been around for quite a few years now. It seems as though they are constantly one -upping themselves in terms of musicianship. They progressively get better and better with each album they put out. Always trying new things. Ritual is very much all of those things. Musically it's a great album, and there are lots of new things on the album. One, the much higher screams Trevor hits and Two, the addition of Ryan Knight. You really get the feeling they put there all into the album and it shows on all 12 tracks. If you are an old Dahlia fan or this is your first time hearing about them, you should definitely pick up Ritual.
This is an awesome year for metal! Ritual is one of the many great albums being produced this year. I'm personally looking forward to the new The Faceless album and The HAARP Machine. Get excited! Oh and go check out this years Summer Slaughter Tour, a bunch of great bands will be on it. Including: The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, Darkest Hour, Six Feet Under, Dying Fetus, As Blood Runs Black, Oceano, Power Glove, and Fleshgod Apocalypse...shit's gonna be sick!
Begin the ritual: get some time to yourself, put on a good stereo or good headphones, and put the volume up slightly louder than you would normally.
Then wait--
It starts, and continues, with a bass-heavy air raid siren-- when the blast beats start, a London blitzkrieg later, you (seriously) might mistake them for machine gun fire.
So much bass on this; very cool and a nice improvement to the (already good) sounds of previous LP Wormwood.
Mortuus' vocals, unlike Watain's (rageful, exultant) or Nefarium's (just rageful), sound like he's rasping out his unfiltered, genuine hatred-- because he's being strangled to death.
He's dying, and he's got no reason to lie to you.
And Mortuus HATES you.
I love the plain cover, barely an image, but a powerful nearly-monotone one, with an Old English font title and the band's name as legible as can be-- old confidence for a black metal band. And for some reason, adding the "by" in by Marduk makes for seemingly subtle modesty, which makes them seem supremely confident, and is the crowning moment of awesome for the cover.
Track one, "Warschau II-- Headhunter Halfmoon," with it's bombastic five-tone riff, Track two, "Wacht Am Rhein Drumbeats of Death," culminates in what may be wolf howls, and--
Three, "Prochorovka - Blood and Sunflowers," is the "ballad"-- Marduk playing sludge/doom-- and it is fucking awesome. A combination of Marduk, Earth and Winter. I've read about this track being considered "filler," and while it is different from most other Marduk stuff, if it was in fact intended as filler, they should do that more often. I really dug this song.
Iron Dawn is three songs, and it's the perfect length: enough to blow you away, not enough to desensitize you.
Speaking of which, fun Iron Dawn story:
I had been listening to an LP and reading. For some reason on my stereo the LPs have to be turned up more loudly than do CDs, so the volume was way up. A storm front was passing through, and it knocked out the power for about a nanosecond-- just enough to turn the stereo off and back on.
Now, if the stereo does in fact cut off, for whatever reason, it autoplays whatever CD is in it. At whatever volume it was on.
The record had finished a while ago, and I didn't even notice that the stereo had reset...
...until, at jet engine fucking volume, "Warschau II-- Headhunter Halfmoon" started playing (it intros, remember, with air raid sirens) and scared the HOLY LIVING JESUS SHIT out of me.
Ear-splitting air-raid sirens, just after a power outage, during a storm...?
I'm pretty proud I didn't piss myself.
The point IS-- Iron Dawn, three songs or not, is a mighty record.
This three song promo found it’s way onto my hard drive and into my heart just the other day.
That band is the technical death metal band After Oblivion. These dudes are based out of Tuzla, Bosnia & Herzegovina…try and say that three times fast. I am a fan of all things metal…especially good death metal. That being said, I am very skeptical of new death bands. It seems as though nothing has hit my tastes buds and made me want more. After Oblivion is a different story.
Their new Ep, Vultures is everything an up and comer in the death scene needs to be. Fast and thrashy yet not relying heavily on meaningless guitar solos. Their singer Adnan has an epic approach to his vocal stylings, which are very reminiscent of Death singer, Chuck Schuldiner. Almost as if he has risen from the dead. Could Adnan be the long lost love child of Chuck Schuldiner…possibly conceived during a late 90’s tour of Bosnia?? Maybe. The band itself reminds me of a 90’s tech death band. Again, you can hear their influences from the band, Death.
The lead off track to Vultures is a song called “Septic Mind“. A very cool song that starts off with a very epic thrashy intro. Which leads into Adnan’s screeching vocals. Thrashy breakdowns and an awesome guitar solo make this one a keeper. I could see this band opening up for Amon Amarth or maybe even The Faceless.
Hopefully soon we will be graced with new full length album soon from the boys in After Oblivion. My musical taste buds cannot wait.
A 3-song EP/ 7" (though essentially 2, since middle track "Helter Skeletor" is a minute instrumental), Montreal's The Great Sabatini and their self-titled 7" are a Lo-Pan-ish mix of rock with doom and stoner features.
They get big lyric points for so many diverse references in three songs (Rafael Sabatini, Vincent Lugosi/ Charles Manson, Jon Heder, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), even though the lyrics are screamed into incoherence-- and the music is just as cheeky and surprisingly innovative: "Napoleon Sodomite" pounds along with a nice detuned-yet-nimble single-minded riff and "Trap Sequence" use a cool sequence of octaves to make things more heavy (rather than the ubiquitous power/fifth chord) and, even though it's instrumental is the best and most interesting track on here, eventually speeding up and into oblivion.
Kudos for writing catchy yet short doom songs. They get in and out cleanly and well.
Also there's banjo.
Nothing terribly unique, but fun stuff. Makes me wanna hear a full-length from these guys; if they can hold their penchant for being cute down to a dull roar (letting it enhance their music and not define it), should be very cool.
These days you gotta have a gimmick. And Ghost, a new band from Sweden, has a lot of them. They wear robes, pope hats and face paint (even the drummer when they play live). Their lyrics are Satanic but sound like they picked up most of their occult knowledge from King Diamond interviews. There are rumors that under the costumes there are well known musicians from other metal bands. They’ve also received negative attention because there’s already a long-running Japanese band with the same band name. All of this has resulted in strong opinions in the metal world about this band. Some say it’s all hype, others say Ghost are the best new band in years. Like most cases where opinions are so polarized there’s a bit of truth on both sides.
Whoever is in the band or not, Ghost’s debut album Opus Eponymous is a nice change of pace in the heavy music world. Most underground bands are either working the doom Black Sabbath angle or are part of the speed/thrash/grind brigade. Ghost’s sound is about 60% Blue Oyster Cult (especially Agents Of Fortune), 20% Mercyful Fate and 20% other ingredients (mainly 70’s Priest/Scorps/UFO and Angelwitch).
The funeral organ instrumental “Deus Culpa” starts the album off on a somber tone before being taken over by the fast “Con Clavi Con Dio.” The verses are fast and sinister but the chorus is very melodic and would probably get some commercial radio play if it wasn’t praising Lucifer. The single “Ritual” really sounds like if BOC time traveled from 1976 to 1984 to steal some riffs from Mercyful Fate’s “A Dangerous Meeting” to use in “Don’t Fear The Reaper.”
“Elizabeth” is full on Mercyful Fate “Melissa” worship, down to the Herman Rarebell/Les Binks metal oompah beat. The vocalist (no names credited in the liner notes) bears a resemblance to Buck Dharma and occasionally drifts into Queen Rhinestone territory but doesn’t resort to screeching for vengeance. The presence of keyboards add some nice texture and are rarely overbearing. The guitars sound like they might even be in standard tuning and have crunch but not full on metal distortion. “Stand By Him” is another strongly BOC influenced moody song with a Thin Lizzy-ish guitar solo (“Thunder and Lighning?”) in the middle.
“Prime Mover” has some nice bass fills and good Stained Class style chugga-chugga riffs. Album closing “Genesis” brings the keyboards to the front and sounds more like The Alan Parsons Project than Genesis and has an acoustic guitar interlude. Back in the 70’s rock radio stations used to love songs like these as background music while reading the local concert calendar. Get your local paper and try it out yourself.
Despite the hype I really like this album. The Satanic lyrics and costumes are a little corny but the music is solid.
You could use pure power. Stick my head inside a howitzer cannon, load it with powder, insert the shell, pull the chord, and explode fragments of my skull into the atmosphere.
You could use blunt force and bash it to pieces, pulverizing my cranial bones with the hyperbeat destructive force of a jackhammer.
Or you could use finesse, offer me a glass of a fine Zinfandel, get me tipsy, then slip a Mickey into my drink, wait for me to pass out and crush my cranium with a repeatedly bludgeoning sledgehammer.
Or, if you’re Damaura, you do it with a combination of all three.
Leaving a path of destruction throughout the San Francisco, East Bay, Damaura are a heavy metal act that have somehow managed to find that distillation of pure power, sledgehammer-thrash intensity, and neo-prog gentleness and mix it all into one defiantly lethal, skull-crushing combination. I could go on and on about how they bring in thrash elements here, pure black metal destruction there, touches of NWOBHM riffing, and quasi-Opethian ambiance, and try and sound impressive identifying all their metal influences and roots. But fuck that. Damaura are metal. That’s all you need to know. Call it thrash, black, or whatever. It doesn’t matter. What we got is metal through and through. All the way to its savory, rusted core.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m not usually the one to be reviewing extreme metal. Usually, I’d pass that task onto the Pope, or Horn, or Pen, or now Cicatriz. Dish them the metal and pick up some warped guitar garage fuzz for my own listening. That’s the standard plan. But not this time. With their multitude of influences, technical skill, and totally warped approaches to bashing out my brains, Damaura have put an armlock on my inner ear and I just wasn’t going to pass this disc along to anyone. Call me a prisoner waiting my execution. It’d be fair.
Starting from the very first explosive second, Damaura come out all cannons blazing. Chris Black and Bernt Strom tear through a thrash riff with enough speed and power that it leaves me breathless. Meanwhile, Dan Cutt trogs through the bass in sweeping runs and Mike Davi punishes the drums with more force than Brock Lesnar taking on Justin Bieber in a UFC Championship match. Super technical riffing and time work is augmented by some searing metal guitar and the vocal attack of a hoard of demons released from the bowels of hell. But listen closely. This isn’t pure punishment and disembowelment here. When the song explodes into the chorus, there’s an actual melody there. A damn-if-you-can’t-sing-along-with it melody. Sure, you’d be singing in your epithelial cell tearing larynx, but damn if you couldn’t sing along. Powerful and punishing for sure, but embed with that extra something that really makes it click.
The one thing that gives me the most trouble with extreme metal is the vocals. The constant spleen-venting death growl just irritates me after a few minutes. I keep wanting to scream back to the bands that (in my mind) the death growl works best as a texture, a contrast, not as the only vocal. Burst it out, growl and spit. I’m good, but mix it up a bit. Give me some clean singing, some rough singing, toss in the growl for emphasis and emotion and you’ll have so much more power than a constant growling roar. Damaura know this. Through these 8 tracks, not only do we get a mixture of metal styles, all mashed into one pulse-exploding whole, but we also get a virtual distillation of all metal vocals: clean, rough, and growled. Chris Black gets most of the credit, having enough touch and finesse to mix up his vocals for different passages, and the band as a whole shares in this by bringing in Jeremy Heatherington to add some cleaner vocals on some tracks. The result is some of the most dynamically diverse metal I’d heard in a while.
“The Catastrophie Ending,” epitomizes this perfectly. Beginning with what can only be described as pure thrash-death, Damaura tear through detuned riffs, monstrous arpeggios, feedback harmonics, and pure menacing technicality, all buried inside the growling moan of a demon unleashed. When the verse kicks in, the riffing solidifies into some pure on solid melodically intense punishment with a rough, but cleaner vocal. By the time the chorus comes, we got not only some cleaner vocal, but even some counter and harmony vocals, and another fuck-if-I-can’t-sing-it melody. This is whiplash inducing destructo-metal of the highest order and tears through these elements with precision and ease. Killer stuff. If real metal were ever to be played on top 40 radio, this would be the hit song of the week.
But there’s more to the band than that. For a metal band to really destroy, not only do they need the vocals and guitar work of a rampaging Hun army, they also need a drummer to slaughter the weak. Do any of you remember the old Spiderman comic book, around issue 100, when Peter Parker mutated and grew 4 extra limbs? Suddenly, he was a truly monstrous 8-limbed spider man. In the comic, this hideous creature was cured and written out, but in reality, the 8-limbed beast lived on, picked up some drum sticks, changed his name to Mike Davi and joined the band. There’s no other explanation for the 4-footed bass drum work and four-armed tom, snare, and cymbal attack. Mike Davi is a mutant. A mutated-insect drumming superhero.
“Vendetta” brings some tasty gang vocals into the mix to break up the song. “Min Mardrom” is infused with mind-numbing runs of NWOBHM-thrash riffery of epic proportions. Then, just when you think you got the band figured out, following a truly beautiful, clean vocal passage, the bottom drops out, and the boys become . . . pretty? Is that jazz? Is that a near-ambient passage lost amidst the chaos and pain? Is there dimension and nuance here? Nicely done.
Then, as if to show that the gentler side wasn’t an aberration, “Son of Anubis” percolates out fully prog-laced and middle eastern in flavor. Don’t worry, the metal is here, dark and deathly, precise and technical, but so is something else. Cleaner vocal passages contrast with the cryptic gasps. Slowed down riffs clash against the hyper-tension. Melody surfaces to the light almost in spite of the band’s efforts to bludgeon. Thrash intense middle bridge. The best guitar soloing on the disc. Middle eastern drumming and gentle guitar. It’s all here and it’s a delicious contrast to the fury.
The rest of the album throws these changes at you. From the brutish pummeling of “The Gift of Desire,” to the radical time changes of “Dispatch” to the full-on post-jazz ambiance of “Ghosts” Damaura keep me on the edge. Waiting. Wondering. Anticipating what will come next.
Gods . . . it seems like forever since I’ve had to use a seemingly lethal dose of heavy metal to get my ass roused out of bed, especially on a Monday morning (I love Mondays!) But nevertheless, this particular Monday morning, the bones were a little more stiff . . . the muscles that much more achier . . . the head crammed with more cobwebs than usual . . . it was a morning that just seemed best fit for the aggressive crunch of guitars set to hyper-distortion, drums cranked up to four times faster than the standard rock fair, and vocals so possessed by the devil that the smell of brimstone permeates from the speakers. Either album will get the blood flowing, and both played back to back is a concoction akin to a 5-hour energy, two tall cans of Monster, a case of Red Bull, and a venti latte with a couple of espresso shots. WHAM! See the colors rush back into your world!
Psycho – Pain Addict Pigs
With song titles like “Meat Slit Grinder”, “Dr. Satan”, and “Lords of Slaughter”, one would think I would have be better prepared for the aural assault that I was about to undergo. No . . . no . . . I casually pushed play on my listening device of choice without a care in the world, almost as if I was expecting silence to continue coming out of my speakers. The first sound that came seeping out, however, was creepy wind sound effects and a few backward voices uttering something incoherent, yet in tones that were undeniably dastardly and filled with ill will. In classic metal fashion, as soon as those voices faded back into the gloom, the music burst out and the bludgeoning began in earnest. But rather than casually stumbling into a crossfire of blastbeats, I found myself in the midst of a circle pit, elbows up to protect my fragile noggin from the miscellaneous haymakers and randomly hurtled shoes. The double bass drums were thumping like the heartbeat of America’s disenfranchised youth and the groove quickly had me rushing in time, high stepping my way to oblivion with my metal cohorts of destruction. The title track from this album has less to do with the black metal that we’ve all come to know and love/hate, but more to do with the crossover thrash of the mid to late 80’s. Yeah, it’s dark and fast and heavy and demonic, but the typical black metal elements are lacking . . . and honestly, I’m okay with that. I’ve always gravitated to the groove more than screeching hypersonic ministrations of Satan’s minions anyway, so Pain Addict Pigs is a welcome change of pace!
Most of the tracks on this album are mid-tempo moshers with bursts of speedy destruction, and the intensity that this Singapore outfits brings to the mix feels authentic enough and not like these guys are trying to fit into some scene that they read about in a local ‘zine. The dynamic shifts in the music are great, key into “All Are Dead” and bob along with me to the next track. Psycho are heavy and murderous, but inject just enough class that you are forced to take them more serious that you might have thought on the outset of this journey. Listen to the guitar work . . . great solos, not just in execution and production, but also in creativity. Yeah . . . the more I listen to this album, the more it sinks into my being.
Further highlights on this gem are the aforementioned “Meat Slit Grinder” and “Lords of Slaughter,” the former track with its diabolical intro and mid-tempo sludgery, outstanding guitar solo, and esophagus rupturing vocal attack, serves as notice to the metal world that there’s a new cast of bastards ready to bust skulls. The sinister “Lords of Slaughter” opens as an out of control rolling war machine bent on the destruction of all living beings and then shifts into a bouncing moshable ode to murder that will have you retching from the constant torque you’re putting your body through. Don’t even get me started on “Mater Lachrymarum . . . Mother of Tears.” Fucking brilliant! As I listen to this beast over and over again, I keep looking for similarities to others and I can only find a few . . . Lamb of God, Gollum, Lair of the Minotaur . . . all bands that I’ve come to adore for their complete and utter disregard for human safety in the creation of the music. High marks for Pain Addict Pigs!
Where Psycho comes across as a hyper, out of control adolescent simply reacting to the world in an organic and natural manner, Danish metal outfit Horned Almighty are more focused in their assault on our senses. Necro Spirituals is as irreverent an album (and Horned Almighty a band) that I’ve heard in awhile, incorporating thrash-y elements with big waves of blackened death. Again, no massive flurry of blastbeats, but dense walls of double bass drums, a steady barrage of guitars, and phlegm hurtling vocals . . . so, with all of that, I’m having a hard time resting these cats next to the black metal legends, but I’m okay with that. Horned Almighty immediately reminded me of Norway’s Khold because of the pure heaviness of the music and the mid-tempo pace they use opposed to the breakneck race so many seem to go through to get their message across.
“The Age of Scorn” is a great example of how Horned Almighty weave so many different elements from so many different sub-genres of metal . . . and this morsel is only three minutes long! It opens in a flurry of chaos, kinda’ blastbeat-ish, but more staggered and technical, the guitars shift from super speedy to monstrously chunky with every tempo shift . . . and then the song moves along in an up-tempo fashion, rolling along like a stampeding herd of cattle, decimating everything in its path . . . then breaking down to a heavily distorted bass groove before kicking into high gear again. Then, midway through the tune, they shift gears again, pushing the guitar more into the front of the mix to give the track a more death n’ roll vibe, and then back once again to the stampeding frenzy. Damn . . . steamroller!
Curse my foolishness! One moment I am perfectly safe loitering at midday in a public square. The next moment, I once again let my weak resolve regarding a beautiful member of the opposite sex lead me to rash action. A thoroughly enchanting temptress caught my eye and beckoned me to follow her into an alleyway. Any common sense abandoned me in a rush of elation, and I quickly jogged toward the periphery of the square. The object of my chase disappeared around the corner of the building forming the right hand side of the alley. Unfortunately when I myself hurriedly rounded the corner, instead of being face to face with the aforementioned lady I blindly ran into (or through as the case may be) a shimmering black energy field the size of a large door.
Now I find myself in a strange twilight lit cityscape that somewhat resembles the modern times of which I’m familiar, but with several important differences. For one I look up to the sky to behold two different moons, one that is full and another showing only a waning crescent. I drop my gaze to rooftop level and perceive illuminating lamps that are neither electrical, with no wiring or bulb in evidence, nor gas powered, as there is not a standard flame providing light. I can only surmise that the white light emanating from inside the glass enclosures must be alchemical in nature. As my gaze falls still further I finally observe the people surrounding me.
The astounding assortment that greets my eyes would have easily stunned me to silence if I had been in the middle of speaking. Fortunately I was able to keep my mouth from hanging open. While there were humans of entirely normal proportions there were also tall pointy eared Elves, squat formidably built Dwarves, as well as diminutive hairy Halflings. To my further amazement there was even what appeared to be a small animatronic tree selling wares at a kiosk to passersby! If I had not been a fan of fantasy fiction I believe I would be overwhelmed to the point of incomprehension. As it was, I barely had enough sense to recognize the small mob of young humanoid beings rushing towards me with blazing torches held high.
“The Orcs are coming! The Orcs are coming! Come on stranger, join us.” “Are we in danger?” I hesitantly asked the ringleader. “Yeah we’re in danger. We’re in serious danger of not being right in front of A Band of Orcs when they appear!” “Hold on. You actually want to be on the front lines when fighting erupts with some orcs?” I tried not to sound incredulous, but I’m sure I failed miserably. “Fighting? What are you talking about? A Band of Orcs is a band, and they’re playing at the amphitheater in the middle of town.” “So they’re not actually Orcs?” “Of course they’re Orcs! Jeez, where have you been stranger? Look, do you like heavy metal music?” “I love heavy metal!” That was one of the only things I was sure of at this point. “Good, then take this torch and follow me.” He handed me his torch and turned to address the others in the mob. “Let’s go everybody!”
Together we ran several blocks to the amphitheater, extinguished our torches at the entrance, and made our way collectively to the front of the venue just as the band was taking the stage. A Band of Orcs, not surprisingly, plays death metal. It seems obvious that Orcs would play a brand of music as off-putting and humorless as their race’s visage. What is somewhat surprising however is that these five Orcs appear to have shunned their historical predilections towards immediate bloody gratification in favor of practicing their craft. Therefore no matter what kind of axe these Orcs use, their chops are guaranteed to slay their targets.
Make no mistake dear reader. The music unleashed by this band is aimed squarely at making the listener either submit or be trampled underfoot by the onrushing horde. This is meat and potatoes death metal made by infantrymen for the pleasure of other front line blood letters. Granted you won’t find any real progressive elements within these six songs, but that is more than all right. I’ve learned that Orcs don’t put on airs well, and if they try whoever is unfortunate enough to be with them inevitably gets hurt…badly.
The band’s EP, entitled Warchiefs of the Apocalypse, was played straight through in it’s entirety during the concert. "I, Gogog" started things off with a bang bumping the energy level from one to a hundred in short order. The next two songs, "Warchiefs of the Apocalypse" and "Bring Out Your Dead", continue the onslaught of rapid fire riffs, manic double bass drumming, and demented guttural growls. Things change up a little bit with the cover of Celtic Frost’s "Procreation (of the Wicked)," a song with a slower tempo anchored around a monstrous guitar part. "Disassembly Line", an instrumental, follows next and toys with the listener by evolving from an ultra fast start to a short, slow melodic passage one minute and forty five seconds in before jumping once again through a warp gate for the remainder of the song. The finale to the EP is the epic "Into the Maelstrom", the strongest track on offer, and a fitting finale to the live performance.
After the concert had triumphantly concluded, my newfound friends and I were slapping each other on the back and across the shoulders with heartfelt joy over the whole experience. While this was going on I glanced at the side of the stage and lo and behold, the very same temptress that brought me to this land was again staring at me. She signaled that I should come hither, and in my pseudo-intoxicated state brought on by the great music I walked over without hesitation. When I drew near not a word was exchanged. She leaned towards me and kissed me on the cheek.
I opened my eyes and found myself back in the public square where this whole escapade began. Seemingly no time had elapsed. The people with distinctive characteristics I could remember observing earlier were exactly where I last remembered seeing them. Surely I did not hallucinate everything?!? No…I looked down at my feet and saw a CD lying on the ground. Picking the jewel case up revealed it to be A Band of Orcs Warchiefs of the Apocalypse EP and I could see my reflection in the mirror like surface. There was lipstick on my cheek.
