REVIEW DRAFT - The Horde
Temple Nightside - The Hecatomb (2016)
Temple Nightside were completely unknown to me prior to picking The Hecatomb for this month's Horde Review Draft (apart from noting the great artwork on this album's cover while adding it to the site). I'm so very grateful for the introduction, as this is way up my alley. I'm most attracted to death metal when it's dark as fuck and sounds like it was created by demons in the bowels of hell. Well that's exactly what we have here! With a really organic sounding production (particularly the drums, which I love) and growled echoing vocals that feel like they're coming out of the music rather than being placed on top of it, I find myself reminded of the legendary disEMBOWELMENT, despite Temple Nightside leaning far more into the blasting death metal spectrum. If that comparison seems odd, given this is listed as a death / black metal album, I personally think it contains much more doom than black, and disEMBOWELMENT were one of the few death doom bands that actually contained legitimate death metal. The riffs on The Hecatomb are also incredibly dark and heavy, not to mention memorable and genuinely effective, making this album one of the finds of the year for me. The fact that Temple Nightside, like disEMBOWELMENT, hail from my home country, make it just a bit sadder that I haven't discovered them until now. It's exciting to see that they have three other albums and an EP to sink my teeth into.
4.5 stars
I'll tell the bassist Bjorn you like it. He's currently finishing the mastering of the Neuropath CD & is also the vocalist/guitarist/bassist from Grave Upheaval. He's just joined a Gold Coast band called Grotesque Bliss which includes one of the guys from Paramæcium too.
Time for another Review Draft for The Horde. This month's pick order will be as follows...
1. Ben
2. Vinny
The four albums to select from are... (drumroll)...
Since it's my first pick, I'll go for...hmmm...I'm really torn between Gorephilia and Corpsessed. The multiple mentions of Morbid Angel in reviews of the Gorephilia album have convinced me to take that path.
Gorephilia - In the Eye of Nothing it is!
Over to you Vinny...
Corpsessed for me - quite liked Abysmal Thresholds back in 2014 so will be good to get to grips with them again.
Corpsessed "Succumb to Rot" (2022)
Back in 2014 I stumbled across the distinctly Finnish yet still decidedly modern death metal of Corpsessed. It took me a while to forgive their stupid band name choice but thankfully their brand of death metal spoke to me a lot better than their moniker does. Back then, their debut, Abysmal Thresholds was a perfectly respectable slab of death metal that offered consistency in bundles if not suffering a little in terms of being able to standout from the pack. Fast forwards nearly a decade and it is clear these Finns have matured tenfold and they show throughout Succumb to Rot that they can hold their own against the likes of Krypts and Cruciamentum in the modern death metal arena. Whilst most certainly still borrowing from the Funebrarum and Incantation rule book, Corpsessed have developed their own sound.
Taking those textbook mining riffs and a keen ear for catchiness, this quintet have made a memorable and explosive album of raging death metal. At a shade over thirty-six minutes the album is delivered relentlessly and without any hope of mercy. Niko Matilainen's ghastly vocals alone are an unnerving focal point for the weighty tunes that land track after track. With the rhythm section of Jussi-Pekka Manner (drums) and Tuomas Kulmala (bass) superbly supporting the guitars of Jyri Lustig and Matti Mäkelä, Succumb to Rot soon starts to feel almost welcoming with its macabre embrace after only a few spins.
Accepting this is not ground-breaking stuff, this is so well done you won't really care that the leads and sonics are non-existent. You'll be far too busy get bludgeoned by the groovy riffs to care anyways. Strong and powerful from start to finish, Succumb to Rot gets your attention by smacking you aside the head constantly for eight tracks. The last decade may contain some further gems from Corpsessed and based on this experience a review of the past releases is definitely needed.
4/5
I didn't get a chance to write a proper review for Gorephilia this month. I will say that I enjoy it quite a bit though. It definitely has a lot of Morbid Angel while never quite being as good. I think a 4 star rating would be fitting.
Time for another Review Draft for The Horde. This month's pick order will be as follows...
1. Vinny
2. Ben
The four albums to select from are... (drumroll)...
Vinny gets first pick...
Let's go with Aevangelist.
Over to you Ben.
I'll go with Xibalba.
Aevangelist - Omniquity (2015)
*Both Aevangelist and Esoterica perform on this split but I have only reviewed the Aevangelist contribution to this release (To the Dream Plateau of Hideous Revelation) - listed as being released in 2013 on MA which I believe to be wrong.
Aevangelist's brand of abysmal horror metal is known to me already. Refusing to simply dwell in one niche and continuously carve their own path has not always worked out for them in my opinion. Elements of blackened death metal coupled with atmospheric noise elements and spoken word interludes mid-track have not always been done with the best practice around arrangements in all honesty. This is not the case here thankfully and the single, twenty-two minute track works its way through a very dark and foreboding soundscape. It balances the aforementioned elements well and avoids any violent clashing of styles or sounds.
Omniquity, heaves and convulses with a real sense of torment that is never released even when the vile content comes spewing forth in its full and fetid flow. Safe to say, that even in the most chaotic of moments there is always something going on to draw your focus to here. Whether it is the never-ending agonised cries in the bottom of the mix, the haunting echo of the random horn section blowing its death call or the maelstrom of percussion that occupies most of the track, you are never going to get bored here.
Transcending a simple piece of sound to listen to, Omniquity showcases Aevangelist at their best giving the listener a truly horrific auditory experience. Grab your headphones/earphones, turn out the lights and hit play to truly grasp this one.
4/5
Xibalba - Años en infierno (2020)
This is my first experience with U.S. band Xibalba. They appear to have been a metalcore outfit at one point, but this latest album is very much a death metal release with a couple of doom metal tracks tacked onto the end. As that description suggests, the album has a strange flow to it, having a heavy pummelling death metal approach for the most part, before changing gears entirely for the rest. I actually the enjoy the production, and when I focus on individual moving parts, Años en infierno seems to have all the ingredients to be a rewarding experience. The issue is really in the songwriting though, with all the chopping and changing resulting in several tracks that lack any sort of identity. It's a bit sad when the most memorable tracks are an instrumental, that admittedly has very cool tribal drumming throughout, and a lengthy doom metal track that's somewhat tarnished by sub-par clean vocal sections. I have a feeling these guys could do something that really hits home, but they haven't got their crafting sensibilities in order at this point.
3 stars
Time for another Review Draft for The Horde. This month's pick order will be as follows...
1. Ben
2. Vinny
The four albums to select from are... (drumroll)...
I get first pick this month, so I'll go with...hmmmm...not a great line-up to be honest. I'll take the Stillborn album.
Over to you Vinny...
I bought that Altar album on CD as soon as it was released based on rave reviews that stated it was as evil as Deicide. Spoiler alert: I recall being very disappointed.
I bought that Altar album on CD as soon as it was released based on rave reviews that stated it was as evil as Deicide. Spoiler alert: I recall being very disappointed.
I recall you having it, but I don't think I ever listened to it.
Macabre all day long for me.
Macabre - Sinister Slaughter (1993)
As someone who normally shuns lyrics, I must confess that Macabre are not anywhere near as entertaining without their hilarious lyric sheet close at hand when listening to any of their records. For the uninitiated, Macabre write exclusively about serial killers/murderers and take a spoof stance on their song content. Example:
Mary Bell
In nineteen sixty-eight
An eleven year old girl named Mary Bell
Killed four year old Martin Brown
Two months later, strangled Brian Howe
Mary Bell, child from hell
Where are you now?
Are you doing well?
This simplistic (maybe childish to some) sense of humour appeals to me all day if I am honest and although I will not pretend to listen to Macabre all that often, they are a welcome reprise from the usual death metal content that although may have similar themes, they usually take them far more seriously. I view Macabre as something of very dark comedy palate cleanser from the usual worship of Satan or general political angst that dominates my usual listening habits.
Like I said above though, this is not a band I go to in order to wonder at their technical prowess and sonic wizardry. I mean this guys are not prehistoric in their playing ability by any means (check out that proggy passage in Vampire of Dusseldorf) but I am not here to score them on musicianship. Generally, one sitting of any Macabre release is enough for a while. After 40+ minutes of this release I was ready to get back to my regular fodder and there being 21 tracks made it feel a lot longer than it actually is. At about the halfway point I stopped reading the lyrics and just let them trio bash and grind their way through the remaining tracks.
For entertainment value alone, Macabre are in the higher end of the scores but if we consolidate that into the content then the longevity soon becomes questionable. Worth checking out if you have never heard of them and like me have a dark sense of humour but if you like your death metal/death grind taken seriously then you probably want to look elsewhere for your kicks.
3.5/5
Time for another Review Draft for The Horde. This month's pick order will be as follows...
1. Vinny
2. Ben
The four albums to select from are... (drumroll)...
Vinny gets first pick this month...
Pig Destroyer is the pick for me.
Over to you Ben.
I'll go with Impious, but not with any confidence.
Pig Destroyer - Explosions in Ward 6 (1998)
For no valid reason I have never previously sat down with a Pig Destroyer release. Coming into this month's Review Draft I decided it was time to rectify that and where better to start with their debut full-length offering from 1998? After four years of Agoraphobic Nosebleed material guitarist Scott Hull decided to treat the world to what "grindcore should be" with eighteen tracks of spazzing chaos that only ever really lets up for the most punky of vibes to bounce through.
No bass guitar is used at all here (that was still some fifteen years off for Pig Destroyer at this point) yet the guitar tone is so full and powerful and backed by a superb drum sound also that you do not miss the bass at all. When you add J.R. Hayes' vocals into the mix then I personally find myself in my complete element with this record. A succinct nineteen minutes and twenty seconds of eighteen individually clear explosions as the album title promises. Complete with a Melvins' cover also for additional variety.
Closing track, Pixie is a monstrous six minutes in length and is by far the slowest paced affair on the whole album. However, it still retains that air of primal violence that threatens to burst out across the track as Hayes' trademark vocals make no effort to change slant or angle despite the whole slowing down of proceedings to close out the album.
4/5
Impious - Death Domination (2009)
When I saw that Impious are from Sweden and that Death Domination, their sixth and seemingly final album, is listed as melodic death metal, I immediately assumed I was about to experience just another band from the In Flames / Soilwork school. This expectation was very quickly obliterated though, as this album gets off to a much more brutal start than those bands ever attempted, with the first couple of tracks ripping along with more typical death metal ferocity. Vocalist Martin Åkesson barks his vocals out with a heap of aggression, and drummer Mikke Norén puts the pedal to the metal, with regular blast beats and a generally high level of energy. There are definitely moments on the album that sit more comfortably beside the aforementioned bands, and the melodic death metal tag isn't unwarranted, but don't be put off if Swedish melodic death metal isn't normally your thing.
All this said, I have to admit that I enjoy the mid section of the album the most, particularly And the Empire Shall Fall and Hate Killing Project, where the band change things up and slow things down. The majority of the album relies heavily on intense vocal rhythms and intense battery, with the riffs often taking the runners up position in the race. When the band take the time to concentrate on writing more varied song structures, things become much more interesting and memorable for me. As things are, this album just isn't all that compelling, and my feelings for it are generally as lukewarm as the middling reception this band tends to get online.
3 stars
Time for another Review Draft for The Horde. This month's pick order will be as follows...
1. Ben
2. Vinny
The four albums to select from are... (drumroll)...
I get first pick this month, so I'll take the Zealotry album.
Over to you Vinny...
I will go with General Surgery