Exciter - Death Machine

Unlike my previous long winded rants that read like overstuffed versions of “War & Peace”, this is less a review of Canadian speed metal band EXCITER’s new album “Death Machine” and more of a tribute to the band itself.  You see, unbeknownst to some, EXCITER is a pioneer and founding father of the speed metal sub-genre movement, as well as being influential in the North American thrash movement in the early 1980’s.  It’s a salute to their pioneering spirit, their ability to break new creative ground and help forge new sonic paths, their tenacity, longevity and focus on staying true.  This is a tribute to their pummeling musical legacy.  This is EXCITER.

Exciter got their early start way back in 1978 originally as the band Hell Razor.  Hailing from Ottawa, Ontario Canada they came barrelassing out of the woodwork laying down a new brand of sonic mayhem the likes of which the world had barely seen.  “Having sold nearly 2.3 million units in the USA and racked up total sales of 10 million units worldwide they are widely considered to be one of the first speed metal bands on the planet and a seminal influence in thrash.”

Sure they’ve had more members over the years than you can count on Hindu god Durga’s many hands (14 to be exact, but who’s counting?... band members, not arms).  And they circulated through the band faster than the revolving door at Macy’s the week before Christmas.  But to the band’s credit, they can brag that they’ve toured with everyone from fellow Canuck metal heads Anvil to RATM to Flotsam and Jetsam to Motorhead to Manowar to Anthrax to Accept to Megadeth to Mercyful Fate to Steel Attack and played every Eurometalfest  from the Tradate Iron Fest in Italy to Bang Your Head!!! in Balingen and Keep It True VI in Lauda-Königshofen, Germany to Metalcamp in Tolmin, Slovenia and the Atarfe Vega Rock Festival in Granada, Spain plus a few more stops in between on their home turf and south of the border.  Not many bands can say that, especially in one breath. 

Exciter has cranked out no less than 11 albums with somewhat varying approaches and feels between 1983 and 2010 as well as a live album, a compilation album and an EP and have been on no less than 7 labels including Megaforce and Shrapnel.  In that time, they’ve “garnered numerous positive reviews from many Euro fanzines”.  At one point in their long career, they even worked with Motörhead producer Guy Bidmead.

The new album?  ELECTRIC!... with all the intensity you’d expect from a first class speed/thrash record.  It delivers nine head bashing tracks of pure unadulterated mayhem.  Veteran Exciter Producer Manfred Leidecker was behind the helm once again and steered the band through their trademark grinding rhythms at a crackling pace that bespeaks the band's name as “one of the most classic speed metal bands ever”.  Lyrically the theme of the album addresses “sadistic unforgiving torture and the demented individuals who deliver such horrific pain and suffering onto others.”  OK!... anybody up for a rousing game of Rumoli?

Of note, the title track DEATH MACHINE pays homage to and momentarily smacks of Judas Priest’s “Rapid Fire” and POWER AND DOMINATION has a driving, knuckle dragging beast of a head banging Accept feel to it.  If shrill, screaming, guttural Orc-like vocals, great musicianship, obsessive bloodied chainsaw guitar tones, tight pummeling instrumentation run amok at a breakneck, racehorse pace riddled with rip snare solos galore is what flicks your Bic, then you’ve come to the right place.  Exciter isn’t really breaking any new ground here musically, but what they do within the framework of their sound they do well.  Any speed metal fan worthy of their stripes should have more than one Exciter album in his or her collection, including this one.

EXCITER (currently)is transplanted Brooklyn, New York native Kenny "Metal Mouth" Winter on vocals, mastermind and founding member John Ricci on guitars, Robert "Clammy" Cohen on bass and Richard "Rik" Charron on drums.

--Teeder

http://listen.to/exciter

http://www.myspace.com/exciterofficial

MAAX – Unholy Rock N Roll

The press release that came along with this album says, “Maax can only be described as pure, old school, alcoholic heavy metal hellfire scathing the night with buzzsaw riffage of fist-banging, slutfucking black thrash n' roll to haunting passages of Luciferian menace.”  So I guess if that’s the only way it can be described, my work here is done.  Adios!

Just kidding.   Although there is a lot of truth in that press release, I can elaborate a little.  This is definitely an album with an old school feel.  The production values feel a lot more like a black metal release, especially the vocals.  And there is also that Motorhead-like, take no prisoners, vibe.  The first track smacks you right in the mouth and the hits just keep coming.  For an American band they sure have nailed the European metal style, and I certainly mean that in a good way.  From reading their bio it appears that they have an issue with revolving door band members and if they could stabilize their lineup I think this band could make some serious noise in the metal world.

I guess if you are going to use the phrase “slut fucking” in the description of your music, it goes without saying that you refer to women as sluts in your lyrics, and have lots of songs about fucking and drinking.  And fighting.  And Satan.  And lyrics like “Rot and roll, we are the new breed, Fuck you, this is our new creed”.  Good thing these guys came along now instead of the days of the PMRC.

There is actually an impressive variety of music on this album.  The first 6 tracks are along the lines of what you could call black n’ roll, mostly with an emphasis on just some solid rocking.  “Do What Thou Wilt” has that kind of punky, Motley Crue feel, like something from their first 2 albums, before they went all hair metal.   “Purge of Depravity” and “Overthrone” veer off into black metal territory.  “Black Thrash Em All” has a nice, thrashy feel, hence the name.  I tell ya, you don’t have to be a genius to write these things.

MAAX has 2 previous releases and based on what I heard here I will seek them out and see what they sounded like.   This is definitely a band that you want to file away in your memory and keep an eye on.   They are not a carbon copy of anything else that I am familiar with and take several elements of metal and combine them in their own way.  Metal is a genre that needs some originality and these guys have it.  Next time I go out on a Saturday night for some drinking, fighting and slut fucking, this is my soundtrack.

-- ODIN

SkeletonWitch - Forever Abomination

 
This is one of the blurbs that came with the advance of Skeletonwitch's Forever Abomination:

Skeletonwitch has been called every name in the fucking book: death metal, black metal, thrash metal, speed metal, heavy metal, epic viking blackened thrash ‘n’ roll, and so on. It seems the only description everyone can agree on is metal.

Something you might need to know here:

The blurbs that come with advance copies of albums are RIDICULOUSLY hyperbolic-- "this band will take your virginity, change your gender and make you smart enough to build a trans-dimensional teleporter to visit God himself-- and then bitch-slap him in the face! (Also you'll lose weight and gain lean muscle.)"

They're almost an art form of intentional, nay, Voltaire-esque, excursions into world-bending parody. They're so far over the top that their children never even knew there was a top to be over.

Have I made my point?

This in mind, the above Skeletonwitch quote is actually completely spot on: "epic viking blackened thrash ‘n’ roll" is a great description of the SW sound-- as is "metal."

"This Horrifying Force (The Desire to Kill)" the album opener, starts with (old-school thrash style) the acoustic intro, segues into a very cool bay-area thrash breakdown riff at about 2:00, then fires off Maiden/Priest style dual-leads.... 

"Reduced to the Failure of Prayer" (great title) starts with particularly effective roaring from vocalist Chance Garnett (who I normally find a bit underwhelming) over Testament-like riffs and solos....

...and in all the songs you can not only hear the bass, but it's usually playing a part separate from the leads-- which illustrates the level of songwriting (or at least riff writing) here...

Track 3, "Of Ash and Torment" has a great melody at 1:00, and overall the best hooks on the album-- comparable to "Within My Blood" and "Crushed Beyond Dust," to me the highlights of their first two albums. This track also illustrates the second, and arguably best, illustration of SW's songwriting skill--

These songs are short.

Not Grind/ punk short, but rarely over 3 minutes. They get in, they rock out, they get out. The songs are usually over before you realize it-- and makes me wish SW would hold a workshop for doom/sludge bands (my true love) about how to write short songs. Yeah, sometimes length is the point, but more often than not a good doom song could be made great by being half as long, amirite?

All the tracks, particularly "Shredding Sacred Flesh" and "Cleaver of Souls" are unapologetically metal (i.e., awesomely ridiculous/ ridiculously awesome), and as the songs unfurl all the melodies sound something  like Maiden's "Flash of the Blade" (not a bad thing at all) and the guitars have that Gibson-straight-into-Marshall sound from Kill 'em All.

In fact, that's the best description of Skeletonwitch as heard on Forever Abomination: 1982 Metallica covering Iron Maiden with Cronos singing.

Not original at all, but excepting that-- perfect.

 

--Horn

Revocation - Chaos of Forms

Holy. Shit.

When's the last time an album made you say that while you're hearing it? I can't remember, myself. I remember loving albums, or thinking riffs were great, or just grooving off something, but actually saying, out loud, "holy shit?"

Chaos of Forms is fucking awesome. Easily on track for my album of the year. And it's not even sludge, or doom, or stoner, or ambient. (And as you know, the Hornmeister loves his de-tuned down tempo sounds.)

It's heavy, it's fast, it constantly changes (and I mean constantly), but never feels forced or show-offy (okay, occasionally, but it's still cool, and it still changes before you get bored).

Revocation is thrash/death/prog/math/ power/ etc. metal. The nearest band comparisons I can make are all old-school west coast metal bands (though Revocation are from Boston): Forced Entry, Toxik (minus the operatic vocals), Last Crack and Sadus. If these names mean anything to you, they'll give you some idea of what Chaos of Forms sounds like.

Full disclosure: I didn't like their previous record, Existence Is Futile: too proggy, too show-offy.

I guess their deal with the devil went through.

Souls well spent, fellas. Souls well spent.

They kept their proggy aspects, while at the same time making these tunes as hooky as a Hellraiser remake starring the major Peter Pan characters.

Tracks in particular:

"No Funeral" makes me happy: it's Candlemass' "Into the Unfathomed Tower" with vocals. There's ridiculous shredding going on, but nearly every minute of it is hummable and loaded with hooks.

"The Watchers" has both a horn (ha!) section and an organ section, and may be one of a handful of times those things actually work (however briefly) on an extreme metal album (and this from someone who loves jazz and has played it for years).

Every musician is STUPID good: the drums are tight and as athletic as Mia Hamm and Jack Johnson's illicit love child, the guitars are consistently spewing finger-mangling riffs.... wow.

Frankly, I don't know what the fuck happened between this album and the previous... but if this evolution continues at this rate through subsequent albums... they'll be founding religions around future Revocation releases.

Chaos of Forms is really that good.

--Horn

Toxic Holocaust - Conjure and Command

Portland, Oregon’s Thrash Masters, Toxic Holocaust are at it again! For three years I have been waiting for the follow up to 2008's An Overdose of Death. I must say, it was well worth the wait. Toxic Holocaust give an epic thrash album in Conjure and Command. My thrash loving brethren: take notice, this ain't your daddies thrash.

Damn Waiveriders, the album is fucking rad. If the Zombie Apocalypse, World War 3 or some other totally fucked up End of The World type situation went down, Toxic Holocaust would be my soundtrack. Every song is pure thrash aggression.

“Judgment Awaits You” is the lead off track. It's 1:57 of pure thrash bliss. Thrash purists will love the aggressive guitars and vocals. Instantly this song starts off with a full on wall of sound. The furious drums, aggressive guitars and Joel Grind's vocals are top notch. “Judgment Awaits You” leads us into the song, “Agony of the Damned”. This song starts off with a drum beat that is very doom like. This doom feel soon ends as the tempo rises and bam!, the wall of thrash hits you.

My personal favorite track on the album is “Bitch” . This song starts off with a nice mid tempo d-beat. Anyone who is big on awesome riffage will love “Bitch”. From the opening guitar lick they keep the onslaught going throughout the entire tack. Grind's vocal delivery is intense to say the least.

Some other awesome tracks on Conjure and Command include: “I Am Disease”, “In The Depths (Of Your Mind)”. Let's stop right there for a moment, “In The Depths (Of Your Mind)” is fucking awesome. This is truly a stand out track and deserves to be talked about. This is to me a very classic thrash song. The guitar work is insane! It so fast and the solo work is amazing. I'm not even a big fan of solos but damn, Toxic Holocaust does it well. The vocals are aggressive but you understand every word. When I first heard this song it seriously lit a fire under me and I wanted to punch something. It's easily one of the big head banging jams.

So, Toxic Holocaust, Conjure and Command...buy it now! You won't regret it. While you're at it pick up their other albums...all of 'em! You won't be disappointed. There aren't a lot of new pure thrash band out there. Toxic Holocaust definitely rank highly among the best of a dying breed.

Toxic Holocaust goes good with: Warbringer, Suicidal Tendencies, Municipal Waste, early Metallica, Death Angel and of course Slayer.

--Cic
Buy here: Conjure & Command
Buy here mp3: Conjure and Command
Buy here vinyl: Conjure & Command

Inevitable End - The Oculus

 

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.

-Cicatriz

Buy here: Oculus
Buy here mp3: The Oculus

Ghost - Opus Eponymous

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.


--Woody


Buy here: Opus Eponymous



www.myspace.com/thebandghost

 

Damaura – Fall Before Me . . . Leave No One

There are several ways to smash my skull.

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.

A self-produced project that sounds anything but.

Metal for skull bashing.

In many different ways.

--Racer

Buy here mp3: Fall Before Me (Leave No One) [Explicit]

www.damaura.com

Havok’s Time Is Up & Helstar’s Glory of Chaos: A new version of classic, and a classic version of new

Havok are bay area thrash throwbacks/ revivers, i.e., youngsters playing the old stuff: Helstar are old-school power/thrash metal: their new album's out now.

Both Havok's Time Is Up and Helstar's Glory of Chaos have wonderful production: clear, powerful without clipping.... Both have great overall musicianship; speaking as a 25-year guitarist weaned on bay-area thrash metal, thrash can be very difficult shit to play, especially as a group. Both bands do well here, and seemingly easily.

First up: the newbies from Denver, Havok, and their second LP (after 2009's Burn), produced by James Murphy: Time Is Up drops March 29.

Havok have (the requisite?) generic song titles: for example, "Prepare For Attack," It doesn't matter, though:  generic or not, it launches out of the gate with a chorus riff difficult to forget, something like "Motorbreath." It's furious, articulate shit.

"Fatal intervention" (see with the titles?) parades some nice double kicks, further showcasing the obviously-athletic musicianship.

"No Amnesty" has a cool Djent riff and is a furious song overall, much like "Scumbag in Disguise" (which also has a nice pre-solo break around 2:00), sounding like Forbidden's "Chalice Of Blood." I've listened to it over and over-- it causes air drums every time. You know what I'm talking about.

"D.O.A."(with its Tom Araya scream at 2:45) has a chorus sounds like something off Vio-lence's Eternal Nightmare, and "The Cleric" has an "Am I Evil?"-ish flatted fifth intro. "Scumbag in Disguise" is simply great: furious, technical, groovy-- everything you could ask for in thrash metal. They're experts at near-homage: they're clearly heavily influenced by bay-area thrash (specifically second generation, like Testament or Forbidden), who were heavily influenced by the NWOBHM.

Downside: they've got the fairly typical thrash singer: raspy intense talking rather than singing. Think Sean Killian.

Highlights: "The Cleric" (which is somewhat unique musically) and "No Amnesty" (which is totally generic but rocks as hard as anything Testament or Forbidden ever did).

(Also: album cover is perfectly Ed Repka-ish and utterly Metal.)

Next up: Helstar.

For those not in the know, they formed in Texas in 1982. They featured at one time Mike Howe, who went on to front Metal Church, and in return briefly had David Wayne as frontman (who came from Metal Church).

Point: they've been around forever, and were at the beginnings of 80s metal. They're old.

Greatest part: there is no way you could goddamn tell that they're old: Glory of Chaos rocks like it was 1987. More importantly, Helstar have that something, that uuuh!that Havok don't.

Havok rock (and they do rock) like they're great students of the Thrash Metal Experience.

Helstar, however, are the Thrash Metal Experience.

"Alma Negra" (black soul) is fucking awesome, and worth getting if you ignore everything else I've written here. A 10 out of 10 power/ thrash metal song. If you're still interested get "Summer of Hate" and "Monarch of Bloodshed" too.

Metallica: THIS is how you age well. Goddamn.

Singer James Rivery sounds uncannily like Sanctuary/ Nevermore's Warrel Dane but with more aggression. It's Rivera that truly makes the album: he can really, completely sing, in all senses of the word, and his articulate voice highlights and accentuates the riffs on Glory of Chaos-- when he's screaming on "Alma Negra" it sounds almost upsetting, like he's so angry he's shredding his talented voice to make a point.

Either way, with either album, you're Golden.

--Horn
 
Buy here: Time Is Up

Buy here: Glory of Chaos
Buy here mp3: Glory Of Chaos

Ektomorf – Redemption

Every barroom brawl should be so lucky.

When barstools go flying through the air, bodies topple over beer laden tables, and wild haymakers are thrown at lunkheads who think themselves man enough to take the eventual blow, one doesn’t want to hear the dreaded drawling croon of a country western singer. No . . . barroom brawlers don’t want to get down in their funky violent way with a soundtrack more suited for drinking whiskey, bedding livestock, or hanging oneself. Barroom brawlers want to break shit and break shit good! And what music is better fit for such revelry? Anything from the catalog of Ektomorf. Go back to my review from August of 2009 in regards to the bands album What Doesn’t Kill Me, get into some fisticuffs and tell me that didn’t feel right. Now, I have something possibly even better . . . the latest from Ektomorf, a sonic dance of malevolence called Redemption.

Folks, Redemption is one brutal piece of music. Sitting in a darkened office, brooding about a new diet fueled by lack of funds, spinning this new disc . . . I found by blood pressure build beat after beat, measure after measure, venom infused vocal line after another, until I was in the foulest of mood and ready to shut that kid up from across the street once and for all. I mentioned in a past review that I could feel this bands bitterness, their anger, their injustices as if they were my own, which is a truly rare quality in music. Nothing has changed in that regard. Redemption is jam packed with violent tones, dense guitars forming the walls to Farkas Zoltan’s foundation of pain and hatred. And within all of this bitterness, there’s a message of strength overcoming the bullshit and getting through life scarred, in multiple pieces, but still alive.

Naturally, the opening track acts as a lead track should. It gets the listeners attention by socking them in the face, and then once the listener is distracted by the circling birdies, the band socks them once again. “Last Fight” is a detuned beast that chugs and grooves its way into the blood stream, infecting the listener with its destructive disease, making said listener convulse with this otherworldly possession until they too become a being of ultra-violence. And here’s the wrinkle . . . Ektomorf slip in interesting little passages this time around to break up the one-dimensionality of the last record. Kudos on this point. No more a mindless beatdown, now things become more thought out and premeditated, which is always good for an extended stay in the local prison system.

The title track and “I’m In Hate” follow suit, throbbing, pulsating groove metal numbers that continue the barroom brawl to the point where the little fillies are busting glass mugs over the heads of the combatants. But it’s “God Will Cut You Down” that acts as the culmination of all the ill will that has been growing from the first three tracks. All of three minutes long and I feel like I’ve lived a full life of violence! This tune is flat out brutal . . . heavy as a Sherman tank, dense as a wall of lead, immediate and intense, I think I found the perfect track to usher in the apocalypse. And it’s not just all of these traits that make this song so absolute . . . it’s what Ektomorf do with the dynamics. A small break at the 1:24 mark where the instruments drop out of the mix and we’re left the chugging drive of the ultra-distorted guitars, and Zoltan’s “Ugh” propel this song through the air like a jet fueled warhead aimed for the soul.

And this intensity doesn’t stop as we drop directly into “Stay Away.” Redemption is brought to you by the letters F, U, C, and K as these letters in corresponding order happen to be used in every song, and generally multiple times in every song. Image if you will, being so angry that no other word will suffice. I’m sure Zoltan could have worked in words that had more poetry, more intellect to them, but no word conveys the emotion quite like “fuck”. We’ve all been fuckin’ pissed, wanted the world to fuck themselves, and to fuck shit up . . . see? Good word. There’s no question that there’s an emotion being conveyed here.

Ready for some more brutality? “The One” is an up tempo gem that barrels down a narrow street in Pamplona, sliding, skidding, and goring itself into red sashed wearing listeners. Warning though, we have another wrinkle from the band as they inject a healthy dose of melody in the chorus and it works perfectly to break up the sonic shellacking that we’ve undergone up to this point. Channeling some of that nu-metal sway and groove, using hefty doses of thrash and speed, and all held in place by the mortar of raw emotion, “The One” may be the song that defines Redemption as an album. Not to say that you don’t need to hear the rest of the album, just that if you only have time to hear one song and need to know what Redemption is all about “The One” is . . . er, the one.

Redemption has no crossover appeal to the mainstream and it’s not supposed. The album would suck ass if it did. This record is purely meant to be a cathartic exercise for both band and listener. What impresses me the most, besides the improved musical approach of the band, is that Ektomorf can retain this type of emotional intensity album after album. Most would have burned out after one. Even more would have collapsed or killed themselves after the second. Ektomorf? Nah, these cats have made a career of being pissed off at anyone who even thinks something partially negative about them. Rock it, brothers! Don’t change a thing. I need to know that in a year and half . . . maybe two years, a new Ektomorf album will keep me busy patching holes in my drywall and out of jail for moronicide (murder of morons  . . . for those who couldn’t figure that out).

--Pope

buy here: Redemption

http://www.myspace.com/ektomorf

http://www.ektomorf.com/

Running Wild – Branded and Exiled

During one of our recent phone conversations, Racer made mention that he played Armored Saint’s Delirious Nomad and was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t steer him wrong with said recommendation. As the conversation progressed, he asked me about Running Wild and all the jolly pirate shenanigans that were encapsulated within their swarthy and swaggering tunes, to which I had to plead the fifth . . . for, I hadn’t spent much time aboard that musical sailing vessel bearing plundered goods from across the Seven Seas. However, I was aware of Running Wild just prior to them embarking on this journey through the ruffled shirt realms of metaldom. So, with the little reminder from my writing mate, I practically fell over myself to dig Branded and Exiled out of my collection for a long deserved spinning.

Running Wild through Branded and Exiled was a power metal/thrash group from Germany that played a darker version of Accept-styled metal or Destruction. This album came along just before Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, et al made thrash metal the popular movement that it became. Once again, we have a fringe band that really didn’t achieve any success away from the underground during that pivotal mid to late 80’s time period. The production on this album is great in that the recording captured sounds raw and aggressive, maybe on par with the early Venom recordings. The mix is a little crazy . . . the guitars are way up front, the drums sound huge and the echo is turned heavily to the right, and the vocals have been baked in a casserole of reverb and garnished with distortion, which gives them a heavier, more menacing tone to them. It’s like Running Wild was flirting with the demonic spectrum of heavy metal, kinda’ like they were peering into the abyss of early death metal, intrigued long enough to put their thoughts to tape, and then ran away screaming in the opposite direction. It was all of these great little elements that made Branded and Exiled one of my cherished childhood memories.

Branded and Exiled opens with a monstrous guitar riff akin to Judas Priest and then with the sound of a gong, the whole band drops in and rolls into a classic anthemic metal, quasi-thrash, headbanging beast. The speed of the tune is mid tempo by today’s standards, but back in the day, this had an immediacy to it that definitely got the listeners attention. The little double bass drum flourishes are nice pieces of added texture, and the heaviness of the guitars, the palm muted chug-a-lug of power chords, creates a welcome sense of brutality to an otherwise potentially cheesy riff. The lyrics are all about the hordes of metalheads banded together, unified by their cause and alienated from society’s norms. Yeah, the kind of lyrics that the teenage kids at that time ate up like those special brownies passed around that one dude’s party.

“Realm of Shades” is actually a proto-thrash tune that stands up remarkably well twenty five years later. Remember, in 1985, thrash hadn’t quite become what it would, and the power chord was the most powerful chord of them all. Running Wild captured a great sense of dark and dastardly emotion on this one. As the song opens, that guitar riff is accented nicely by the cymbal crashes and short burst of distorted guitars. The song has a good flow to it, from verse to bridge to chorus and back again, the band did a great job of keeping the song moving. It has that terrific emotional build up in the music and the tension breaks at the perfect moments, getting a physical reaction from the listener to start rocking out with flailed arms and upraised knees. It has a mosh-able quality to it though there is no drastic tempo shift or disconnected riff to power the song in that way.

The second side of the album gets really anthemic with songs like “Fight the Oppression” and “Chains & Leather.” The former is straight up speed metal made popular by Motorhead. In fact, listen real close and you’ll hear the influence of “Ace of Spades” littered throughout this track. The speed of the tempo, for certain, harkens back to the godfathers, but the guitar riff sounds like it came from the hands of Fast Eddie himself. Despite these similar characteristics, the song has a great palm muted, hyper picked break before dropping into the guitar solo, and the guitar harmonies with the double bass flourishes coming out of the solo are an excellent NWOBHM touch. Throw in the high pitched vocal screams and you’ve got a heavy metal classic!

“Evil Spirit” is a slow, chugging, doom laden beast that may have been an early catalyst to Running Wild becoming the champions of buccaneers young and old. The riff has that early metal galloping quality, and oddly enough, it sounds detuned to embrace the darker, heavier tones and the guitar solo isn’t flashy or all that technically brilliant, but the tones and string bends are tasteful and make the piece shine. The lyrics have something to do with a gnome riding a sailing ship or something, though the subject matter may be lost in translation. In all the song is freaking awesome!

The final track, “Chains & Leather” is . . . really silly, but I can’t help but love this track! Running Wild is just singing the praises of metal garb and there’s nothing wrong with that. Good for them! The blue ribbon winning line from this track is, “Even Satan wears leather, our souls to it forever!”  C’mon! How good is that!?!?!?! The song is a pretty steady mid-tempo number and doesn’t deviate its pace . . . it just cruises along as the ode to all metalheads around the world. Chains and leather forever, indeed!

After Branded and Exiled, Running Wild simply got too campy for me, not that all of the music was bad . . . I just wasn’t interested in hearing about pirates buried booty in my metal. Branded and Exiled was one of those albums that I stumbled on and picked up without ever hearing a note, a completely blind purchase, and remarkably, the album has remained in my collection for all of this time. I like this album because of its darkened qualities and overall unpolished and rough sound . . . any cleaner sounding and there’s no way that it could be taken serious, any rougher and it becomes unlistenable. I would never call this a perfect album, but it’s a good example of the fringe, proto-thrash underground that was clamoring for fresh ears to assail. Now, I gotta’ dig through my collection and see what other mid-80’s gems are lingering around here . . .

Pope

Buy here: Branded & Exiled
Buy here mp3: Branded and Exiled
Buy here vinyl: Branded and Exiled

Annihilator - Total Annihilation

0510 hours.  Near total darkness only broken when the low lying clouds part enough to allow a sliver of moonlight.  My combat team is currently reconnoitering any activity on the other side of the US/Canadian border from a fortified position located in Peace Arch State Park outside of Blaine, Washington.  Our mission is simple.  We are to prevent any incursion on US soil by enemy combatants intent on capturing the hearts and minds of our citizenry.  I lay my night vision goggles down to receive a new scouting report over my secure radio.

“Lieutenant Penfold, do you copy sir?”
“This is Penfold.  Did you see anything Sergeant?”
“No sir, it’s as quiet as a tomb out here.  I think we’re in the wrong spot.”
“Stow that talk Sergeant!  We know that they’re out there.  Keep on your toes.  They’ll make their presence felt soon enough.”
“Yes sir.”

Outside of my men themselves, two other battlefield monitoring systems were being utilized to ensure that we would not be taken by surprise.  Highly sensitive motion and noise detectors were staked out in a line along the border.  Also a predator drone circled in orbit high above our position ready to relay real-time visuals at a moments notice.  This is our turf, and we’re not giving it up without a fight.

Hold on a second.  You’re probably wondering what led to the deployment of troops along a previously peaceful border.  Understandable.  Exactly one week ago Intelligence discovered a download code included in a disturbingly titled email sent to hundreds, if not thousands, of unsuspecting Americans.  The email was ominously titled ‘Your Annihilation is Coming!’ and the included code provided access to a greatest hits package by the Canadian band Annihilator called Total Annihilation.  Upon listening to the contents of this music download, our highly trained intelligence specialists immediately understood the havoc these songs would wreak if let loose among this country’s metal loving population.  The President was briefed on the situation, the overall alert level was raised to Defcon 2, and my combat team was assembled and airlifted to the most likely combat zone; Washington state (the band calls neighboring Vancouver home).

Annihilator is a thrash metal band.  Wait, scratch that.  Annihilator is an exceptional thrash metal band.  When I first listened to Total Annihilation I was impressed by the variety of songs on offer.  While it is true that there were no ballads, indeed nothing even close (and would that really be appropriate for a band named Annihilator?), the song structures were different enough to easily tell the songs apart (something other thrash bands I’ve come across can’t claim).  More impressive however was the fact that I found myself fondly humming a couple of the tunes in my head after only two listens.  Yes sir, they certainly know how to churn out a memorable little ditty.

The album begins with two songs off of the band’s most recent album.  “The Trend” starts things off in the right way with an intricate instrumental introduction complete with ripping guitar solo that leads into the song proper.  “Ambush” on the other hand wastes no time before going for the jugular, with the band immediately hitting the hyper speed riffing button.  This song reminds of Slayer in all the right ways.  Other lightning fast songs such as “Battered”, “Ultra-Motion”, and “Ultraparanoia” that arrive later on in the compilation are guaranteed to give you whiplash with the fantastic guitar dexterity delivering all you can ask for in the notes per minute department.

If pure speed is not your thing however, fear not.  Annihilator also has a strong complement of songs that while also fast, don’t rely on that aspect to be memorable.  Take “Refresh the Demon” for instance.  Someone off the street would be forgiven if they thought they were listening to a lost Primus recording for the first thirty seconds before the thrash element kicks in.  “Back to the Palace” punctuates its modern thrash with passages that sound like they belong on a classic NWOBHM album.  Plumbing the same vein, “Second to None” at times sounds like an Iron Maiden recording.  “The Ritual”, perhaps my overall favorite song here, is built around the strongest groove on the album and features a fantastic sing-along chorus.

Look, I’ll be totally honest.  I’ve been listening to a lot of thrash metal recently, some of which quite frankly has been great.  Annihilator is the best band of the bunch, hands down.  Discovering bands like Annihilator that I was previously unaware of is the best and worst part of being associated with The Ripple Effect.  It’s the best in that I have found a new band I can be enthused about.  It’s the worst in that I am upset with myself for not knowing about this band till now.  Ah, well.  Time to order some albums.

0625 hours.  The light of dawn is just beginning to disseminate through the rural landscape.  Although the arrival of sunlight generally brings some measure of comfort with it, today was different.  An increasing sense of dread and paranoia falls over my team to go along with the increased visibility granted by the light.  At this point the message we were waiting for comes over the radio.  “Team Penfold, be advised.  The enemy is advancing on your position.  Estimate two minutes to first contact.”

One tense minute passes.  Something is very wrong.  The predator drone can not detect any incoming heat sources indicating an advancing human enemy.  A low din begins to build in the air.  My team and I see the tops of trees in the distance being ruffled as if by heavy vehicles brushing them aside while they pass.  Still no actual visuals and nothing from the drone feed.  The din grows louder.  What is happening?  Ear-piercing alarms begin going off on each and every detector.

“Lieutenant Penfold, what is this sir?  They should be right on top of us!”

Near panic sets in as I realize what is actually happening.  “Dear God, it’s riffs.  They’re attacking with a wall of riffs!?!?  Everybody get down!  Cover your ears!”

Unfortunately my orders did not reach everyone in time.  Too many good soldiers became Annihilator fans that day.  Too many.  If you think you can resist the allure of Total Annihilation, point your browser to http://www.earache.com/totalannihilation/ and download the album for free.  Good luck citizen.



-- Penfold

CircleDown – Mobius EP

It’s a subtle thing, really, but it’s those subtle things that separate the pretenders from the contenders.  What I’m talking about here, oh waverider, is texture.  Having the confidence in the music and the playing to mix things up a bit.  Bring in contrast.  Nuance. 

You can pummel me all you want with screamo growls, chugging guitars, piledriver drums and anger.  It won’t impress me.  The louder you scream the wider my mouth will gape in a bored yawn.  But drop out the guitar, ride a bass riff, allow the noise to settle into an ambient dream, bring back the scream, counter it with a real melody, I mean a real, honest-to-goodness, sing-along melody, and suddenly you have my ear.

And to that regard, this 4 song EP captured my ear, tied it up, and is still holding it for ransom.

Following in a post-Linkin Park world of nu-metal riffs, synth textures, clean and angry vocals, CircleDown look primed to capture that throne that Linkin Park vacated long ago.  And they do it their own way.  While the Linkin Park reference is the best place to start with these guys, it’s in no way where they end.  Heavier than LP ever was, CircleDown toss some serious metal into the fray, along with their tight-as-nails songwriting.

“Halfstep,” brings the contrasting edges of CircleDown to the front right off the bat.  Gentle acoustic guitars, ambient textures lead us, guiding us gently, or rather misguiding us to the huge frenetic burst of crashing guitars and assailing beats.  Vocals interplay clean and harsh, the occasional rap, with a solid gold melody keeping the whole thing hanging together.   And when I say these guys rock harder than LP, I mean HARDER.  Mid song breakdown is pure metallic frenzy, which works deliciously with the contrast of the return to the sweet melody.  Contrast baby.  Texture.  It works.

As good as that first track is, “Ashes Falling,” is even better.  This baby launches off with a metallic riff just stolen from the glory days of the NWOBHM.  A real neckbreaking headbanger, revved up and amped up.  The dirty vocals wails off in some personal hellish torment while the clean vocals keep that always present melody anchoring the song.  “Crash,” begins with an almost Floyd-ish electro-passage, keys percolating in the foreground while the metal rises underneath.  Nice touch, as is the dropout of the riff and the rise of the bass line carrying the verse.  The drummer adopts an extra arm or two during this song, finding those extra limbs necessary to fill out some of those beats.   “ReConstitute,” launches off all industrial-fury, grinding into a riff that could weld steel together.  By this time, the band’s surrises aren’t surprising.  I’m expecting a melody about as infectious as metal will allow, some serious chops, a big, soaring chorus, and a nifty instrumental breakdown.  The boys never fail to deliver.

What I’ve discussed are just the barebones of this impressive EP.  I’ve said nothing of the frankly beautiful, freak-jazz breakdown in “Ashes Falling,” or the muted, ambient stutter stop in “HalfStep.”  But then sometimes it’s best to leave something for you waveriders to discover on your own. 

If you’ve been wondering what is pop metal will be like in the post LP years.  Here it is.  Violent and aggressive with the heart of a metal beast and the brain of a tunesmith.   Jump in without fear. 

--Racer

http://www.circledown.com/

Necronomicon - The Return of the Witch

I’m not quite sure what it is that the guys at Napalm Records are feeding their artists, but don’t start rationing now! Canadian black metallers, Necronomicon have just released their latest album entitled The Return of the Witch and, much like the majority of the stuff I’ve been hearing from Napalm Records, this album made me take pause, stare long and hard at the music player, and immediately lose myself in the sonic splendor of the music. Not for the faint of heart, not for the weak, not for the people who like to start their mornings with a tip-toe through the tulips, Necronomicon is a blastbeat away from cardiac arrest. The music is sheer metallic chaos, darkened and brackish, venom pumping through the veins rather than blood, and it’s performed with an intensity and uniqueness that has made me replay this album three times in a row. The music is nasty, has a dangerous edge to it, but here’s the kicker . . . there’s some melody and musical proficiency thrown in to separate these guys from the bottom feeders of the genre. In fact, I’d start thinking of Necronomicon in the same frame of mind as other black metal genre benders Enslaved, Behemoth, 1349, and even Arcturus, to some degree.

Now, I don’t claim to be some black metal aficionado. Truth is, a lot of BM is too noisy and discordant to keep my attention for longer than it takes them to yell “Blaaarrrghhh!” But I do like the black metal acts that create mood or a sound that is exotic and in contrast to the chaotic blastbeat furies . . . y’know, when a band experiments with tones and ambience and time signatures. Black metal purists will probably hate Necronomicon because this band incorporates some truly excellent thrash moments, as well as slowed down piano passages, and vocal choirs . . . all the elements that I’ve always found fascinating about the genre! On top of all that, the production on The Return of the Witch is one part pristine, which makes the music sound huge . . . the other part very D.I.Y. and raw, as if they were trying to give this recording a live and organic feel. Some might think this combination wouldn’t work, but much like the contrast in sounds and tones from the performances, the contrast in production styles makes this album a stunning piece of ear candy.

I was sold on The Return of the Witch after listening to the open track. There is so much going on in this song that it’s ridiculous. “Into the Fire” is a five minute explosion of blastbeat tirades, thrashing breakdowns, double bass beat downs, demonic vocal narrations, and angelic vocal choirs. The musicianship in this song is phenomenal, I’m loving how they break the riffs down, do these great chord progressions, don’t rush the song to be complete and just expand on the ideas that they start putting down. You can almost hear how this song came together. It’s as if the three musicians came together to write this tune, found a cool riff in the bag of tricks, then decided to speed it up . . . and then slow it down, and then throw in a cool break . . . and then thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to throw in some heavenly vocals to break up the darkness?’ and then did so.

“The Time Is Now” is the first single and you should be able to view the video below. As you’ll note, the song starts off in a very typical black metal fashion . . . aggressive, heavily distorted, guttural vocals that sound like a dog hacking up a bone, a flurry of drum beats zipping this way and that, but check out the tempo shift right around the 1:13 mark. Notice how the double bass drums lay down this rumbling layer of sound and completely changes the complexion of the riff. Now, to make things even more interesting, listen for the subtle stop in the middle of the riff. WHAM! It’s so jarring and so sudden, yet feels so rhythmically natural. That half second of silence says more than most bands playing a million notes in a ten minute epic. Fucking astounding!

The seven minute epic “The Order of the Moon” is a blistering sonic tonic that goes from immediate and devastating to ambient and liltingly ethereal. The riffs in this song are all over the place and accent well with great drum work. Of particular note, as the song breaks from its initial double bass driven riff and suddenly grooves into the thrashing riff, check out the subtle cymbal accents at the end of the measures. This groove has that the headbanging power to it; heavy, crunching, and laced with a soulful rhythm and swagger. The piano break and haunting sound effects the hover in the background gives this song a massive dynamic quality, the kind of sound and mood swing that lets the imagination wander to fog enshrouded fens and swampland, deep dark places that haunt the soul, haunt the mind. As Necronomicon work their way back into the heaviness, the sounds become oppressive and overwhelming, as if we’re lugging around the weight of our worldly sins, searching in vain to relieve our selves of the remorse.

“The Return of the Witch” and album closer, “Seven” are black metal classic’s with a touch of thrash-y sludge mixed to dirty things up. These tracks may be less dynamic than much of the rest of the album, but they’re no less intense or technically magnificent. Searing guitar leads that seamlessly shift to rhythmic groove and harmonic trickery make up the greater portions of these songs. Throughout these tracks, I can’t help but feel the need to sit in a rune encircled pentagram. They’re just brimming with a dark and evil energy, and I’m certain a small part of my soul is blackening the more and more I listen to this. But, it’s just like porn, you just can’t seem to ever get enough!

The Return of the Witch is black metal just the way I like it . . . playing just outside of the rules that have been previously established. It’s menacing music, but it’s dynamic and filled with intriguing moments of technical brilliance, and Necronomicon injects just enough melody to make things memorable. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about melodies that will have you humming all the live long day, but dancing through the din of darkness and oppressive tones, the band work in melodies that act as a guiding light of hope. Experimental to some degree, but not to the point that they’re shoving their heads up their collective asses. Necronomicon push the envelope on their expressive nature and they forge some new ground that I’ve found beyond interesting, hell . . . I find it addictive!  -  Pope JTE

Buy here:  Return of the Witch

www.myspace.com/necronomiconmetal

www.napalmrecords.com

A Sunday Conversation with Truth Corroded

When we heard Upon The Warlords Crawl, we all sat back with mouth agape, shaking our heads in awe as we listened to the sonic devastation blast from our speakers. At that moment, we had to know more about these guys . . . so, we wrote a few letters, made a few phones calls, unleashed a horde of carrier pigeon in an all out effort to contact Truth Corroded. Fortunately, the band heard our call and were more than accommodating with their time. Sit for a spell and read up on what bassist Greg Shaw has to say on how Truth Corroded is more than just a musical outlet, but a way of life!

Every musician is influenced by those who came before them, but what were your major musical epiphanies that inspired you to create music? What major musical moments helped define you as musicians?

For me personally - Metallica - it is no doubt a common starting point for many my age, but to this day, the R.T.L to A.J.F.A period was a major part of my life and was my major musical moment. However, for the original members of the band - Jason, Mark and myself - Sepultura was a very major influence, and our musical bonding, as the three of us started out together as a Sepultura cover band.

Our major influences are mostly from that era - late 80's / early 90's thrash and death metal - bands such as Dark Angel, Slayer, Forbidden, Kreator, Violence, Testament, Exodus - and later early Malevolent Creation, Entombed, Atheist, Pestilence. Many of these bands are creating some incredible albums to this day - maybe their best ever - and that is inspiring.

From the era of our roots to this day, there have been some other major musical moments for us - in particular Neurosis. But also Napalm Death, Gojira, Behemoth, Burnt By The Sun, Mastodon, Lamb Of God, Isis, Cult Of Luna - all of these bands have provided inspiration.

With so many heavy metal and extreme metal acts toiling around in obscurity, how do you feel Truth Corroded separates itself from the rest of the world?

I think we are no better than any of the many great bands that are in the same level of obscurity as us - I think we are all just looking to find the right set of ears to help take it to the next step.

But, while I do not think we are particularly different, or offering an innovation - ultimately we are best termed an extreme thrash metal band, and that is the style we are hungry to play. What sets our sound maybe a part though is that we use our influences and shape songs that are the sum of our influences, and not just a particular movement. We are thrash but we are looking to build on that sound. 

Many bands over the past decade have found a sound that is regarded by music media as cutting edge and then just emulated that sound - and many labels market around that as well - with advertising stating 'if you like this band....then this is what you want! They sound and look the same!

 You will hear the influence of particular bands in our sound, it will be a broad range of bands spanning many years of heavy music. But the song itself is written to be Truth Corroded.

What do you see as being the biggest obstacle in getting your music heard in some of the more major markets, such as the U.S.?

I think it is that we are an Australian band trying to enter a market ( such as the U.S and Europe ) that is already very competitive, with many great domestic level bands seeking an audience or market support. So, it comes down to publicity and touring - get over there and show the bands capacity, or get it heard where you can. Doing this interview is a step forward, and we are grateful to people like yourself who help the band get out there, or for the support we have received in building the bridge for such an opportunity.

However, to get out of Australia is hard as well - it is far and expensive to hit the places we need to. Truth Corroded have also looked to our region and toured through Asia - and the bands from there also face the same difficulties.

“Despair Your Black Earth” is one of the most eerie, emotionally charged, heavy ass, post-apocalyptic epic songs I’ve heard in a great while, filled with great hopeless imagery and, I feel, a definite high point on the album, if not the bands catalog. What piece of your music are you particularly proud of?

That song was conceptualized to complete the album, and we are working on building an end to the next album that will also take the listener to such a place as 'Despair' did. It was a song that crunched up against an album that was quite extreme in pace, and demonstrated another aspect of the bands’ sound and what we are looking to create.

For me, I am proud of many of the songs on that album, it was our best written and sounding album and we are looking to build on that with the next one. Once again we will be working with Jonas from Scar Symmetry, and I think that working relationship will produce yet again the sound we are seeking.

In terms of particular songs, 'Crown The Apocalypse' - ' Buried Alive By Demons' - 'The Disfiguring' and ' We Are Failed'. But there are two other songs from our previous album ' Our Enemy Is The Weapon' that I think also stand out - ' Sky Laden With Flies ' ( a song we originally wrote with our ex-drummer Adam Milburn who passed away ) and ' Resonance Of The Coming Fire '

It’s been a few years since the release of your last album, Upon the Warlord Crawl. What are the plans for a follow up? Any new wrinkles to the Truth Corroded sound that we can expect?

We enter the studio to track the songs in our home state of Adelaide in July, and then send the recording over to Jonas Kjellgren from Scar Symmetry in Sweden to mix and master the album. So far there are 12 songs written. Some of the songs are the fastest we have written, but I think the new songs also have - without a doubt - some of the most crushing heavy riffs we have written. All up I think there is a good balance to the songs, and will show the progress of the band from the last album.

What was the mindset going into writing and recording Upon the Warlord Crawl? Was there a particular message that your were trying to get across to the world?

Lyrically there was a lot of reaction to the war on terror and the many faces to that war. It is an anti - war album, and the message implied in the title is a warning for the way forward. War has reached its conclusion - the next step is termination.

However, Mark also confronted other concerns, such as politics within our own country and environmental politics.

As music, it was also a reactionary album, we wanted to destroy. And on the next album, we want to annihilate what survived the last album haha

The business of music is a brutal place. Changes in technology have made it easier than ever for bands to get their music out, but harder than ever to make a living? What are your plans to move the band forward? How do you stay motivated in this brutal business?

We are next looking to open the doors to Europe and the U.S - we have established a foundation for South East Asia, China and Japan, but the next step is the U.S / Eur.

It is easier to get your music out there, and it has changed how bands market themselves and release music. But this has enabled Truth Corroded to build contacts and bridges to reach new audiences. I think for us it is looking at how you can find opportunities - that can be on many levels, online sourcing, networking the local and overseas industry, and particularly for us, looking at opportunities available from the government to help build your global profile. We are motivated by the opportunity to build our profile outside Australia and the chance of performing overseas in new places.

Heavy metal is as much an attitude as it is a lifestyle, but we all have financial responsibilities and bills to pay and there are no immediate riches in the music business. What keeps you driven? What force gets you to wipe the sleep out of your eyes and attack each new day?

What drives us is the music. We are still avid about the genre, and always looking for new inspiration, or finding it in the work of our established influences. It is a very significant part of our lives, we all work day jobs, pay off houses or loans, some members have children, but there is still the hunger to create and vent through metal music. Getting together to create a song, rip it out on stage and tour is a fulfilling experience, and a part of what makes us the people we are as much as a band.

Since 2007, we have had the opportunity to tour overseas, and each year since then, that opportunity and scope grows, and it is very inspiring. We have had some incredible experiences, played some incredible shows, met some incredible people and played alongside some awesome bands. We have also had the chance to play alongside bands such as Lamb Of God, Behemoth (in China!), Sepultura, Arch Enemy, In Flames, God Forbid, Death Angel and Chimaira. We have gone from being an Australian band with a national following, to an Australian band with an international following. A few years ago we would not have thought it was ever going to be possible. As a band we will never be able to live off being a band or be the next big thing, but we will take the journey as far as it goes, and I look forward to each step along the way.

On a personal level, what do the band members do in their spare time? How do you clear your heads and relieve any tension or boredom when away from the music?

I don’t get spare time bro! Haha. I work full time, go to University part time, me and the singer Jason run a record label and book a venue, and I manage the band. Our guitarist Mark works full time, but is avid about soccer and coaches his kids’ team, and Darren is busy running his own business.

For us, the band is how we detach from our 9-5 work lives and responsibilities. The social side to being in a band, getting to tour together, and with friends, drinking and partying after a show . . . that is how we unwind.

Greg, rumor has it that you have an authentic Australian curry recipe that the world needs to know about. What, if anything, can be told about that? Are there other recipes that you've got under your hat that we don’t know about?

Hahaha - Alex! Yeah - I do. I really like cooking, and curry is my specialty. But it would not be very metal to offer the reader a recipe hahaha

Finally, what words of wisdom or warning can you offer to our readers?

If you have not heard the band then please check out our music on www.truthcorroded.com - if you like thrash metal and bands such as Testament, Slayer, or new bands such as Lamb Of God, then Truth Corroded will get you thrashing. We have a new album coming out soon, please check it out, make some noise and get Truth Corroded over to America in 2011!