The Horde

Inanna - "Converging Ages" (2008)

Last year’s “Void of Unending Depths” album from Chilean progressive death metal outfit Inanna (my 2022 The Horde Release of the Year) tended to surprise a lot of metalheads as the band had drifted under most people’s radars for the vast majority of their sixteen year existence to the time. However, off the back of their much hyped third album’s success we’ve seen the underground becoming aware of Inanna’s earlier material too with their 2008 debut album “Converging Ages” being the recipient of just as much (if not more) praise & adoration. In fact, it’s currently sitting right at the top of RateYourMusic’s Top Melodic Death Metal Releases of All Time list which has left me intrigued as to whether the record has the goods to validate that bold title. Let’s have a look, shall we?

One thing that “Converging Ages” has going for it is its underground street credibility. Fans just love an unheralded gem in this scene, don’t they? And you’ll rarely find one that fits the bill better than this one with it’s production job being just the ticket given that it’s dirty enough to draw in the death metal purists but clear enough for all of the band’s intricacies to be fully discernible. Inanna have always been a talented bunch of dudes too as this is an ambitious debut by anyone’s standards with some very complex & lengthy arrangements covering a vast scope of musical ideas. It’s interesting that the album is unanimously tagged as being a progressive melodeath record though because I don’t buy it. There’s no doubt that it’s a progressive record & belongs in The Infinite but I don’t think it fits the bill for melodic death metal to be honest with only the eighteen minute closer fitting that description well. The rest of the album sits much better under the regular death metal banner that “Void of Unending Depths” also resides, a fact that has no doubt pleased me given my general apathy for most melodeath releases.

It's a bit of a shame that “Converging Ages” opens with its least ambitious & probably weakest track in “Doom of Mankind” which tries its best to harness both Morbid Angel & Slayer in what could only be described as a death/thrash outing that is reasonably entertaining but unfortunately doesn’t meet its potential due to some average drum beats & a general lack of suitability for the production job which works significantly better with the rest of the album. Things go from zero to one hundred very quickly afterwards though with the truly amazing “Gilgamesh” which is as good an example of the progressive death metal model as you’re ever likely to hear. The vocal delivery & atmosphere are nothing short of devastating. There are some other strong inclusions in the remaining six tracks too (particularly “Beyond Time & Memory” & “The Lighthouse”) but sadly Inanna don’t manage to meet those transcendent levels again, even though there are no real failures.

Thankfully, there’s enough class in Inanna’s delivery to keep me satisfied here though. “Converging Ages” isn’t quite as strong as “Void of Unending Depths” but it’s not far behind in terms of skill & execution. It frustrates me that people want to lump releases like this one into the melodeath camp along with any other releases that hint at melodic intellect. To my ears Inanna sound most like a slightly more progressive version of fellow South Americans The Chasm with the techy parts taking cues from Aussie tech deathsters StarGazer in that they never sound overly clinical, no doubt being helped in that endeavor by the dirtier production.

Is ”Converging Ages” the best melodic death metal release of all time? Definitely not but it’s a strong example of the progressive death metal sound nonetheless & will no doubt satisfy most fans of underground extreme metal.

4/5

My take is a bit different to Vinny's in that I've always thought of "Nihility" as a very high quality example of the tech death subgenre. There's plenty of technicality on offer but it's never at the expense of the song-writing & the riffs are always memorable. The performances are astounding for such a young group of dudes too, particularly the drumming & the beautifully composed guitar solos which are both highlights. There's obviously some strong Vader/Morbid Angel/Cannibal Corpse style classic death metal influences going on here but the technicality in the riff structures sees Decapitated playing more in the Nile or particularly Psycroptic space. The death growls are pretty standard but well executed & suitably aggressive. I know this album is often criticized for sounding too clinical due to the heavily triggered drum sounds & scooped 90's guitar tone but I think that's being very harsh as the whole thing just comes off as being a really classy extreme metal record to my ears. No complaints from me.

4/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=a43364d5583f4519

Tracklisting:

01. Bloodbath – “Like Fire” (from “Resurrection Through Carnage”, 2002) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. In Flames – “State of Slow Decay” (from “Foregone”, 2023)

03. Decapitated – “Babylon’s Pride” (from “Nihility”, 2002) [Submitted by Vinny]

04. An Abstract Illusion – “Tear Down This Holy Mountain” (from “Woe”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]

05. Memoriam – “Total War” (from “Rise To Power”, 2023)

06. Obituary – “Without A Conscience” (from “Dying of Everything”, 2023) [Submitted by Vinny]

07. Mithridatum – “Mournful Glow” (from “Harrowing”, 2023)

08. Intoxicated – “Watch You Burn” (from “Watch You Burn”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

09. Monstrosity – “Perpetual War” (from “In Dark Purity”, 1999) [Submitted by Daniel]

10. Qrixkuor – “Zoetrope (Psychospiritual Sparagmos)” (from “Zoetrope” E.P., 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]

11. Ulthar – “Saccades” (from “Anthronomicon”, 2023)

12. Artificial Brain – “A Lofty Grave” (from “Artificial Brain”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]

13. Corpsessed – “Profane Phlegm” (from “Succumb To Rot”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

14. Immolation – “Let The Darkness In” (from “Acts of God”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]

15. Nothingness – “Horrendous Incantation” (from “Supraliminal”, 2023)

16. Anachronism – “Meanders” (from “Meanders”, 2023)

17. Cannibal Corpse – “Pit of Zombies” (from “Gore Obsessed”, 2002) [Submitted by Vinny]

18. Conjureth – “Smothering Psalms” (from “The Parasitic Chambers”, 2023)

19. Cephalic Carnage – “Black Metal Sabbath” (from “Lucid Interval”, 2002)

20. Combatwoundedveteran – “My Spine! My Spine! My Spine!” (from “I Know A Girl Who Develops Crime Scene Photos”, 1999)

21. Sanguisugabogg – “Pissed” (from “Homicidal Ecstasy”, 2023)

22. Nile – “The Blessed Dead” (from “In Their Darkened Shrines”, 2002) [Submitted by Vinny]

Indeed it has, Daniel. That suffering experience made me realize what cybergrind really is, so I might vote YES in your Horde removal Hall entry for that Genghis Tron EP after all. Interestingly though, the one track in the EP to qualify as cybergrind, "Ride the Steambolt" is solid enough to be a highlight for me, and one of the bands I started listening to recently, The Red Chord has a technical mix of deathcore and deathgrind in their releases that I enjoy, especially their first couple albums. So while I do hate grindcore as a release's entire genre, if it's just for one or two tracks in a release, or if elements of the genre appear in an album with a different primary genre, whether or not a grindcore subgenre is also a primary genre for that release, then it is, for my taste, acceptable.

Well, The Ending Quest must be a specially kept secret of the death metal cognoscenti, because this sole full-length from Sweden's Gorement is an absolute classic of nineties death doom and it's various ingredients are like sonic vitamins that ensure the listener's mind and ears will grow strong enough to withstand the onslaught of extreme metal, yet I have never even heard of it before which is a shame because this is most definitely up my particular strasse and I am super-stoked to finally have made it's acquaintance, so thanks Daniel for nominating it. On reflection it is unfortunate that I dropped out of metal circles in the nineties because there was no end of underground-ish shit coming out that I would have lapped up if life had been a little kinder and this is absolutely one of those. It is an absolutely filthy-sounding record with some authentic sloppiness to the playing that reminds us we are listening to human beings and not machines which I always find far more endearing than absolute precision.

I agree that this feels more like a genuine death doom hybrid rather than a "death metal album with slow bits" from the likes of Autopsy and early Asphyx, rather it is more of a "death doom album with fast bits". They successfully combine the brutality of that Autopsy-like death metal with some really quite catchy doom-like melodies, but the primitive production never makes it actually feel that catchy, until you find yourself humming along to it that is!

Vocalist Jimmy Karlsson has a great line in sounding like an extremely irritated abyssal demon and the riffs are absolutely dripping with effluvium which is precisely the flavour I love in death doom metal and I will take it over that poncy, gothic-flavoured stuff any day. I joke of course and, in fact, there are times when this feels heavily influenced by Paradise Lost, such as on the excellent (but possibly too short) Silent Hymn (For the Dead). I know I am no death metal (or musical) expert and the genre has thrown out loads of precision-driven and technical masterpieces and I enjoy many of them, but this filthier, more primitive-sounding version of death metal is where I feel most comfortable and which fulfills something inside me that the more modern stuff doesn't touch.

Now I need to get my hands on one of those re-release copies. [Edit] Yay, Amazon have got if for £15, so should be arriving tomorrow!

4.5/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=e634bbd671294245

Tracklisting:

01. Atrocity – “Defiance” (from “Longing For Death”, 1992) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. Blood Stain Child – “Unlimited Alchemist” (from “Epsilon”, 2011) [Submitted by Daniel]

03. Pavor – “Total Warrior” (from “A Pale Debilitating Autumn”, 1994)

04. Blood Duster – “Metalasfuck” (from “Str8 Outta Northcote”, 1998)

05. Cenotaph – “Soul Profundis” (from “Riding Our Black Oceans”, 1994)

06. Fleshgod Apocalypse – “The Forsaking” (from “Agony”, 2011) [Submitted by Daniel]

07. Thotcrime – “There Will Come Soft Rains…” (from “D1G1T4L_DR1FT”, 2022)

08. Paradise Lost – “Drown In Darkness” (from “Drown In Darkness – The Early Demos”, 2009) [Submitted by Daniel]

09. Abnegation – “Hopes of Harmony” (from “Verses of the Bleeding”, 1998)

10. Equilibrium – “Final Tear” (from “Renegades”, 2019) [Submitted by Daniel]

11. Ulcerate – “Extinguished Light” (from “Shrines of Paralysis”, 2016) [Submitted by Daniel]

12. Monstrosity – “Manic” (from “Millenium”, 1996) [Submitted by Vinny]

13. Autophagia – “Postmortem Human Offal” (from “Postmortem Human Offal” E.P., 2003)

14. The Red Chord – “Dreaming In Dog Years” (from “Fused Together In Revolving Doors”, 2002)

15. Mortuous – “Defiled By Fire” (from “Upon Desolation”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Entombed – “Severe Burns” (from “Clandestine”, 1991) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Plasma – “Observed Observer” (from “Creeping! Crushing! Crawling!”, 2007)

18. Obituary – “Torn Apart” (from “Dying Of Everything”, 2023)

19. Abyssal – “Antechamber of the Wakeless Mind” (from “Tchornobog/Abyssal” split, 2022)

20. Archagathus – “Intoxicating Aroma” (from “Canadian Horse”, 2011)

21. Cattle Decapitation – “Chunk Blower” (from “To Serve Man”, 2002)

22. Sintury – “Disgorging The Dead” (from “Disgorging The Dead”, 1998)

23. Ὁπλίτης [Hoplites] – “Ὁ τῶν δακρύων ἄγγελος” (from “Ψευδομένη”, 2023)

24. Exocrine – “End Of Time” (from “The Hybrid Suns”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

25. Abnormity – “Shattered To The Bone” (from “Irreversible Disintegration”, 2011)

26. Scalp – “Endless Relapse” (from “Black Tar”, 2023)

So with the start of a new year it's once again time to have a look at the covers for all the releases for each clan. I personally like to rate a whole stack of covers all at once, rather than doing them one at a time throughout the year, as it allows me to get a better feel for where each cover sits in comparison to others. With that in mind, I've just rated every cover for releases in The Horde in 2022.

Here are the releases that are currently competing for the prestigious 2022 The Horde Cover of the Year Award (i.e. they have 3 or more ratings) :

Exocrine - The Hybrid Suns

Disma - Earthendium

Spectrum Mortis - Bit Meseri

Jungle Rot - A Call to Arms

Rejoice! The Light Has Come - Untitled EP

Abstract Illusion, An - Woe

Origin - Chaosmos

If you want to contribute and rate some covers, the easiest way is to go to The Gallery and select The Horde and 2022.

https://metal.academy/gallery?cid=4&type=overall_cover_rating&myRating=&fromYear=2022&toYear=2022&exclude=0

I look forward to seeing which release gets up for the win!

Monstrosity sort of passed me by in the 90's. I do not recall that I even heard anything by them until last year when I went through Millenium over a number weeks, purely because I had only just cottoned on to the fact that George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher started out in the band before he got in Cannibal Corpse. At the time of releasing In Dark Purity, three years had passed and George was gone having exited the band in late 1995. Replacement Jason Avery however was more than up to the job and I feel he filled the vocalist vacancy really well. His vocals bring Cannibal Corpse to mind a lot in all honesty which is ironic. Any fear of a lull in quality amongst fans of the band, having seen their long standing vocalist defect I would imagine were instantly quashed. Avery's bellows are just as demented as you like and accompany the horrifying backdrop of the instruments perfectly.

Musically, if you think of the fury of Deicide coupled with the sonic swarms of Morbid Angel, you could pitch In Dark Purity somewhere in between the two. Tony Norman certainly knew his way around the six strings he had slung around his shoulders, igniting tracks with an Azagthoth-esque sonic intensity whilst at the same time being able to give us a fair share of Hoffman-esque pacing and the riffing rhythm of a Jack Owen or Rob Rusay. The drumming of Lee Harrison is functional enough without him getting Pete Sandoval in ability at any point.

In Dark Purity is probably one of the most underrated death metal albums from the 90's. It is an improvement on Millenium, its predecessor, which is no mean feat and one that shows there was a lot more to Monstrosity than just their original vocalist. Whilst it may not be a lot different to most of what else already came out in the heyday of death metal it is well crafted and agile in its performance. There are occasional time changes and obscure signatures that herald the opening of a new section or sound that show this was a band with something extra in the tank to keep them slugging it out with the big shots of the scene. I would not go as far as to describe it as technical death metal but there is certainly some depth to it.

4.5/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=5304166f597a4ea3

Tracklisting:

01. Carcass – “Ruptured In Purulence” (from “Symphonies of Sickness”, 1989) [Submitted by Daniel]

02. Aeternam – “Beneath The Nightfall” (from “Heir of the Rising Sun”, 2022)

03. Miscreance – “Flame of Consciousness” (from “Convergence”, 2022)

04. Oppressor – “Seasons” (from “Solstice of Oppression”, 1994)

05. Soilent Green – “Her Unsober Ways” (from “Sewn Mouth Secrets”, 1998)

06. Autopsy – “Severed Survival” (from “Severed Survival”, 1989) [Submitted by Vinny]

07. Amorphis – “Vulgar Necrolatry”, (from The Karelian Isthmus”, 1992) [Submitted by Vinny]

08. Acephalix – “Postmortem Punishment” (from “Theothanatology”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

09. Edge of Sanity – “The Sinner & The Sadness” (from “Purgatory Afterglow”, 1994) [Submitted by Daniel]

10. Asphyx – “M.S. Bismark” (from “Last One on Earth”, 1992) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Gored – “Pathogenes & Symptoms” (from “Human”, 2008)

12. Tchornobog – “The Vomiting Choir” (from “Tchornobog/Abyssal” split, 2022)

13. Ulcerate – “Abrogation” (from “Shrines of Paralysis”, 2016) [Submitted by Vinny]

14. My Dying Bride – “God Is Alone” (from “Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium” E.P., 1992) [Submitted by Daniel]

15. Altarage – “Rift” (from “Endinghent”, 2017) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Pig Destroyer – “Frailty In Numbers” (from “Orchid/Pig Destroyer” split E.P., 1998)

17. Diocletian – “Antichrist Hammerfist” (from “Doom Cult”, 2009) [Submitted by Vinny]

18. Divtech – “Occupied Decolonized” (from “Stasis Confines, Action Conditions”, 2016)

19. Napalm Death – “The Icing On The Hate” (from “Order of the Leach”, 2002)

20. Exhumed – “Drained of Color” (from “To The Dead”, 2022)

21. Visceral Disgorge – “Skullfucking Neonatal Necrosis” (from “Ingesting Putridity”, 2011)

22. Pathology – “Dissected By Righteousness” (from “Awaken To The Suffering”, 2011)

23. Deranged – “Razor Divine” (from “High on Blood”, 1998)

24. Dying Fetus – “Killing On Adrenaline” (from “Killing On Adrenaline”, 1998) [Submitted by Daniel]

"Shrines of Paralysis" is (& was always going to be) another superbly composed & sublimely dense & complex piece of work from one of the true stars of the death metal stage. There's not a track included that doesn't remind you of their class & ambition. Unfortunately though, I can't quite seem to appreciate it as an album in the same way as I do some of their more revered works like "Stare Into Death and Be Still" or "Everything Is Fire" & there are a couple of reasons as to why that is. The first is that differentiating between the individual tracks is not as easily achieved as it was on those records as they have more of a tendency to sound quite similar, even after three or four active listens. The second (& most obvious) is the awful triggered snare drum sample which is totally over the top & sees me being frustrated during each blast beat section. When you have the world's best extreme metal drummer in your ranks & he's pulling off some truly sublime percussion work it would seem to be to be such a shame to taint his performance with such an over-powering snare that makes each blast-beat sound like your CD is skipping. Apart from those flaws though "Shrines of Paralysis" is an imposing & inaccessible piece of art whose complexities require your total attention in order to open up but will ultimately reward your efforts.

For fans of Gorguts, Portal & Baring Teeth.

4/5

I've been seeing that Pharmacist album everywhere for the past few months and finally decided to give it a shot. What a weird and funky sounding album. Definitely not my thing but I'm starting to understand the hype, the fact that they're able to weave some random Progressive Metal passages in with everything else is very impressive. I think the base is a little too "disgusting" sounding for me, as a lot of my complaints stem from the vocal performance, but all the grooves and riffs they're able to accomplish are really cool. Hopefully I'll get a few more listens out of it to see if it edges anything out on the list. If anything, this is definitely a more impressive album than something like Undeath's record this year, despite me probably preferring that record for casual listening over something like Pharmacist. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=c97439a4291545a2

Tracklisting:

01. Chaotian – “Gangrene Dream” (from “Effigies of Obsolescence”, 2022)

02. Desultory - "Life Shatters" (from "Bitterness", 1994)

03. Heaving Earth – “Flesh-Ridden Providence” (from “Darkness of God”, 2022)

04. Amorphis – “Moon and Sun Part II: North's Son” (from “Black Winter Day” E.P., 1994)

05. wecamewithbrokenteeth – “Crack Heads Run Into Wallz” (from “We’re Packing Are You?”, 2006)

06. Blind Equation – “:reconnect:” (from “Life Is Pain”, 2021)

07. Merciless – “The Land I Used To Walk” (from “Unbound”, 1994)

08. Coffin Mulch – “Septic Funeral” (from “Septic Funeral” E.P., 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

09. Ripped To Shreds – “Peregrination to the Unborn Eternal Mother” (from “劇變 (Jubian)”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

10. Cloud Rat – “12-22-09” (from “Threshold”, 2022)

11. Faceless Burial – “Dehiscent” (from “At the Foothills of Deliration”, 2022)

12. Necrot – “The Blade” (from “Blood Offerings”, 2017) [Submitted by Vinny]

13. Gigan – “Still Image Symphony” (from “The Order of the False Eye”, 2008)

14. Pharmacist – “Cadaveric Osseous Stalactite” (from “Forensic Pathology Jurisprudence”, 2020)

15. Phobophilic – “Nauseating Despair” (from “Enveloping Absurdity”, 2022)

16. Ulcerate – “There Is No Horizon” (from “Staring Into Death & Be Still”, 2020) [Submitted by Daniel]

17. Morbid Angel – “Thy Kingdom Come” (from “Blessed Are The Sick”, 1992) [Submitted by Vinny]

18. Triumvir Foul – “Presage” (from “Onslaught to Seraphim”, 2022)

19. Vacuous – “Voluntary Immurement” (from “Katabasis” E.P., 2020) [Submitted by Vinny]

20. Mortuous – “Carve” (from “Upon Desolation”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

21. Haggus – “Plastic Mince” (from “Straight From The Slaughterhaus”, 2020)

22. Sepsism – “Surgical Atrocity” (from “Purulent Decomposition”, 1998)

23. Deicide – “Revocate The Agitator” (from “Legion”, 1992) [Submitted by Daniel]

24. Misery Index – “Manufacturing Greed” (from “Overthrow” E.P., 2001)

25. Skinless – “Tampon Lollipops” (from “Progression Towards Evil”, 1998)

26. Phyllomedusa – “Postmortal Cophixalus (Choking on Super Worms)” (from “Molesting The Frog Eater”, 2010)

27. Vulvectomy – “Gangrenous Testicular Deformity” (from “Post-Abortion Slut-Fuck”, 2010)

28. Cryptopsy – “Carrionshine” (from “Once Was Not”, 2005) [Submitted by Daniel]

29. Abaddon Incarnate – “I Will Nail You In” (from “Nadir”, 2001)

30. Antigama – “Debt Pool” (from “Whiteout”, 2022)

Here's my review:

For someone that’s built such a long & passionate history with the death metal genre, I have to say that my relationship with Swedish melodic death metal outfit Edge of Sanity has never been anywhere near as strong as that of most of my extreme metal loving peers. I first became aware of them very early on in their recording career through their 1991 debut album “Nothing But Death Remains” & continued to be kept up to date as they continued on their musical journey via an Aussie tape trading colleague of mine who was utterly obsessed with the Swedish death metal phenomenon. Edge of Sanity’s 1996 fifth full-length “Crimson” (a forty minute single track progressive affair) would obviously become their pièce de resistance & I do have some time for that particular release but I still can’t say that I regard it as anything particularly special so I think it’s fair to say that Edge of Sanity’s true value has always managed to elude me, even though I’m across pretty much their entire back-catalogue to some extent. I was reminded of this fact a couple of weeks ago while contributing to a conversation with a couple of very enthusiastic fans on Twitter & that encounter got me wondering if it might be time to take another crack at Edge of Sanity’s highly regarded 1994 fourth album “Purgatory Afterglow” as it certainly seems to have grown in stature over the years & I can’t say that I’ve listened to much from the band in the last decade or so outside of “Crimson”. This month’s The Horde feature release seemed like a good way to open up some healthy discussion with listeners who will inevitably have differing opinions too so here we are.

The production job on “Purgatory Afterglow” is full & bright which gives the album every chance to impress the listener right from the offset. It’s interesting that Bathory mastermind Quorthon’s father Börje Forsberg is credited as the executive producer & it begs the question as to whether band leader Dan Swanö took any significant learnings away from his time with Börje given the long & illustrious production career that Dan's created for himself since. The sound of the album is quintessentially Swedish as it straddles the two major strands of death metal the country is known for with the melodic death metal sound of At The Gates & Hypocrisy being offset by glimpses of the classic Dismember/Entombed crunch. The use of clean vocals seems to draw influence from gothic rock legends Sisters of Mercy in their phrasing (although admittedly nowhere near as deep) while there are several rockier beats employed across the tracklisting. We even see the band tackling an alternative metalcore sound on closer “Song of Sirens”. Despite the attempts at creative variation, I’m not sure I hear too many signs of the progressive direction that Edge of Sanity would employ in the near future although I've admittedly been known to question how progressive a record like "Crimson" really is at times.

As with so many melodic death metal records, I unfortunately find myself struggling with the more melodically inclined & accessible material included here. I’m kinda used to this with the melodeath subgenre after all these years & it’s no surprise at all that I find the most popular tracks like “Twilight” & “Black Tears” to offer the least appeal while the songs that steer closer to the conventional death metal model (see “Of Darksome Origin” or album highlight “The Sinner & the Sadness”) got my ears pricking up the most. The better melodic moments offer hints at the quality of a record like Amorphis' classic "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" album from the same year but these glimmers of hope are sadly nowhere near as consistent as the Fins were able to achieve. The length of the album seems appropriate at 44 minutes & there’s definitely enough variety on offer to see the individual songs owning their own unique character but the whole thing just seems to feel a little bit short of the final product due to a lack of focus & perhaps the subsequent existence of “Crimson” has proven that statement to be true. It doesn’t explain the significant following that “Purgatory Afterglow” seems to enjoy these days though & I have to wonder whether that would be the case if “Crimson” had never eventuated. I suspect not but then this album was always going to see me being dragged from my musical comfort zone kicking & screaming so what would I know.

For fans of Hypocrisy, At The Gates & “Tales From The Thousand Lakes”-era Amorphis.

3/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=c97439a4291545a2

Tracklisting:

01. Deathsiege – “Throne Of Heresy” (from “Throne Of Heresy”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. At The Gates – “The Swarm” (from “Terminal Spirit Disease”, 1994)

03. Nocturnus – “Possess The Priest” (from “Nocturnus” E.P., 1993)

04. Brujeria – “Marijuana” (from “Marijuana” E.P., 1997)

05. Cynic – “Celestial Voyage” (from “Focus”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

06. Genghis Tron – “Thing Don’t Look Good” (from “Board Up The House”, 2008)

07. An Abstract Illusion – “In The Heavens Above, You Will Become A Monster” (from “Woe”, 2022)

08. Autopsy – “Stab The Brain” (from “Morbidity Triumphant”, 2022)

09. Drumcorps – “Botch Up & Die” (from “Grist”, 2006)

10. Pharmacist – “Gardening On Human Soils” (from “Medical Renditions Of Grinding Decomposition”, 2020)

11. Demilich – “When The Sun Drank The Weight Of Water” (from “Nespithe”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

12. Rotten Sound – “Dominion” (from “Under Pressure”, 1997)

13. Hypocrisy – “Reborn” (from “The Fourth Dimension”, 1994)

14. Rectal Smegma – “Hitler Only Had One Ball” (from “Keep On Smiling”, 2009)

15. Metrorrhagia – “Animalistic Defecation of Partially Digested Human Remains” (from “Metrorrhagia”, 2020)

16. Tribal Gaze – “And How They Wept For Eternity” (from “The Nine Choirs”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Celestial Sanctuary – “Trapped Within The Rank Membrane” (from “Perilaxe Occlusion/Fumes/Celestial Sanctuary/Thorn” split E.P., 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

18. Portal – “Omnipotent Crawling Chaos” (from “Outre”, 2007)

19. Negativa – “Chaos In Motion” (from “Negativa” E.P., 2006)

20. Houkago Grind Time – “Bakyunsified (Moe To The Gore)“ (from “Bakyunsified (Moe To The Gore)”, 2020)

21. Mortuous – “Graveyard Rain” (from “Upon Desolation”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

22. Short Bus Pile Up – “Ball-Peen Beating” (from “Repulsive Display Of Human Upholstery”, 2010)

23. Brutal Truth – “Stench of Prophet” (from “Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses”, 1992) [Submitted by Daniel]

24. 1 Body 6 Graves – “Cleaved In Half” (from “1 Body 6 Graves” E.P., 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

25. Dying Fetus – “Ideological Subjugation” (from “Wrong One To Fuck With”, 2017) [Submitted by Daniel]

26. Pathology – “Code Injection” (from “Legacy Of The Ancients”, 2010)

27. Mortician – “Zombie Apocalypse” (from “Zombie Apocalypse” E.P., 1998)

28. Deeds of Flesh – “Feeding Time” (from “Inbreeding The Anthropophagi”, 1998)

29. Extreme Noise Terror – “One Truth, One Hate” (from “Being & Nothing”, 2001)

30. Inhume – “Gargling Guts” (from “Decomposing From Inside”, 2000)

31. Nails – “No Surrender” (from “Abandon All Life”, 2013) [Submitted by Daniel]

32. Fluids – “Hounded” (from “Nunslaughter/Fluids” split E.P., 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

Okay so this is an album that I appreciate more than I flat out love. For starters, the technicality that is on display is robust and calculated; a place where much technical music loses me so much. Almost every piece of this record is included in order to compliment previous and future sections which allows even the albums longer tracks to feel cohesive instead of a hodgepodge of smaller ideas laced together to extend runtime.

That being said, it has already been pointed out by both Daniel and Xephyr that Void of Unending Depths can be too much of a good thing at times. Extended runtimes only intend to highlight how much weaker the slower and atmospheric tracks feel in comparison to "Mind Surgery", which is the albums best track. And the attempts to capture atmospherics as Blut Aus Nord did on Disharmonium earlier this year fall by the wayside very quickly. I would not even say that these tracks are bad; they just take me out of the experience when the technical death stuff is this good. Perhaps this is a backhanded compliment, but this record could have a stronger emphasis on the tech-death. As someone who does not partake in this style of death metal very often, I would have liked to hear more of it.

7/10

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=cb56889115e74ea5

Tracklisting:

01. Bloodbath – “Zombie Inferno” (from “Survival of the Sickest”, 2022)

02. Soilwork – “Övergivenheten” (from “Övergivenheten”, 2022)

03. Revocation – “Diabolical Majesty” (from “Netherheaven”, 2022)

04. Xysma – “I Feel Like Lou Reed” (from “Deluxe”, 1994)

05. The Chasm – “Vault To The Voyage” (from “Farseeing The Paranormal Abysm”, 2009) [Submitted by Daniel]

06. In Flames – “Behind Space” (from “Lunar Strain”, 1994)

07. Gorguts – “Nostalgia” (from “Obscura”, 1998) [Submitted by Daniel]

08. Miasmatic Necrosis – “The Putridarium” (from “Apex Profane”, 2020)

09. Master – “Pledge of Allegiance” (from “Master”, 1990) [Submitted by Vinny]

10. Jungle Rot – “A Burning Cinder” (from “Jungle Rot”, 2018) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Sedimentum – “Krypto chronique II” (from “Suppuration morphogénésiaque”, 2022)

12. Consumption – “Suffering Divine” (from “Necrotic Lust”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

13. Portal – “Sunken” (from “Seepia”, 2002) [Submitted by Daniel]

14. Carnal Diafragma – “Human Monster” (from “Space Symphony Around Us”, 2006)

15. The Zenith Passage – “Deus Deceptor” (from “Solipsist”, 2016) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Cephalic Carnage – “Hybrid” (from “Exploiting Dysfunction”, 2000)

17. Fallujah – “Embrace Oblivion” (from “Empyrean”, 2022)

18. Belphegor – “Blackest Sabbath 1997” (from “The Devils”, 2022)

19. Hissing – “Meltdown” (from “Hypervirulence Architecture”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

20. Fleshgrind – “Burning Your World” (from “Destined For Defilement”, 1997)

21. ZOMBIESHARK! – “Keyboards For Insects” (from “I Will Destroy You, Myself, and Everything I've Ever Loved.”, 2020)

22. Exhumed – “Necromaniac” (from “Gore Metal”, 1998) [Submitted by Vinny]

23. Cryptopsy – “Emaciate” (from “Whisper Supremacy”, 1998) [Submitted by Daniel]

24. Amputated – “Slam Pig” (from “Wading Through Rancid Offal”, 2009)

25. Waking The Cadaver – “Beyond Cops” (from “Beyond Cops. Beyond God.”, 2010)

26. Aborted – “Drag Me To Hell” (from “ManiaCult”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

27. Vermin Womb – “Rot In Hell” (from “Retaliation”, 2022)

28. Nails – “Friend To All” (from “You Will Never Be One Of Us”, 2016) [Submitted by Daniel]

29. Atka – “2xs{:777ll.}4xs{/:\}5xs{:j7::}4xs{ll}3xs{//}” (from “Untitled Album 1”, 2018) [Submitted by Daniel]

Here's a review I wrote over 10 years ago. I really should check the album out again to see if I'm still this passionate about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was.

I can't say I like grindcore all that much (or deathgrind for that matter), but this is plain awesome! Brutal Truth managed what so many other grindcore bands have failed to achieve, and they did it way back in 1992. They made a consistently interesting album filled with variety in a genre known for being fairly one dimensional. Of course, there are heaps of grindcore clichés all over the place, with combined guttural and screaming vocals, tracks that go for about 5 seconds, lyrics about politics etc. etc. But then there are also stacks of great doomy riffs and tracks like Time, which contains 6 minutes of extremely well-structured song-writing as opposed to endless blasting.

Brutal Truth know exactly how to get you pumped up. They're happy to dwell in the dark and heavy depths before pumping into full on battering chaos. Kevin Sharp's vocals are perfect for this style with his death growls being the epitome of awesomeness. Scott Lewis' drumming is just about inhuman. But it's Brent McCarthy's riffs that really float my boat. Check out Birth of Ignorance, Denial of Existence, Time, Walking Corpse and Wilt for simply cracking deathgrind. If you're even slightly interested in the more extreme side of metal, go get this album. You won't regret it!

4.5 stars

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=dff7c6023810495a

Tracklisting:

01. Immolation – “Noose of Thorns” (from “Acts Of God”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. The Halo Effect – “Shadowminds” (from “Days Of The Lost”, 2022)

03. Pestilence – “Soul Search” (from “Spheres”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

04. Xysma – “One More Time” (from “First & Magical”, 1993)

05. Desultory – “Silent Suffering” (from “Swallow The Snake”, 1996)

06. Alien Fucker – “Arabic UFO Party” (from “The First Rape In Space”, 2014)

07. Amon Amarth – “The Serpent’s Trail” (from “The Great Heathen Army”, 2022)

08. Suffering Hour – “Crawling Embers” (from “Time’s Withering Shadow”, 2022)

09. Duma – “Angels & Abysses” (from “Duma”, 2020)

10. The Chasm – “Travelling Through Chaos (I, The Pastfinder II)” (from “Conjuration of the Spectral Empire”, 2002) [Submitted by Daniel]

11. Torture Killer – “Forever Dead” (from “Swarm!”, 2006) [Submitted by Vinny]

12. Arch Enemy – “Deceiver, Deceiver” (from “Deceivers”, 2022)

13. Psycroptic – “A Fragile Existence” (from “Divine Council”, 2022)

14. Imperial Triumphant – “Merkurius Gilded” (from “Spirit of Ecstasy”, 2022)

15. Asphyx – “Forerunners of the Apocalypse” (from “Incoming Death”, 2016) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Katakomba – “Embalmed in Concrete” (from “Katakomba”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Brutal Truth – “Birth of Ignorance” (from “Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses”, 1992) [Submitted by Vinny]

18. Jarhead Fertilizer – “Product Of My Environment” (from “Product Of My Environment”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

19. Bölzer – “The Great Unifier” (from “Aura” E.P., 2013) [Submitted by Daniel]

20. Go-Zen – “Goronyaaaan” (from “Hitoshizuku”, 2012)

21. Internal Bleeding – “Prevaricate” (from “The Extinction of Benevolence”, 1997)

22. Suffocation – “Anomalistic Offerings” (from “Breeding The Spawn”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

23. First Days Of Humanity – “Fashioning Weapons Out Of Bones & Sinew” (from “Caves” E.P., 2019)

24. Phyllomedusa – “Gulf Inertia” (from “Fijian Fantasies”, 2019)

25. Nasum – “Scoop” (from “Helvete”, 2003) [Submitted by Daniel]

26. Terrorizer – “Storm of Stress” (from “World Downfall”, 1989) [Submitted by Vinny]

27. Wormrot – “Hatred Transcending” (from “Hiss”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]

28. Knoll – “Callus of the Maw” (from “Interstice”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

29. Cerebral Incubation – “Gastrointestinal Rape” (from “Asphyxiating On Excrement”, 2009)

30. Devourment – “Unleash The Carnivores” (from “Unleash The Carnivore”, 2009)

Not a million miles away from Daniel's description here.

On paper there is a fair old bit for me not to like on this record. A heavy instrumental stake in proceedings, all manner of influences from progressive through to black metal incorporated into tracks that rarely drop below six and a half minutes in length and a not always very tidy performance either. Most of these things in isolation can kill an album for me. Give me consistently long tracks and you must keep them interesting, but at the same time do not just throw shit everywhere that comes as influences from multiple sources just to mix it up especially if you do not have the necessary ability with your instruments to carry it off.

Fact is though, that for the most part at least, I enjoy Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm a fair old bit. There is an undeniable charm to the rough edges that are so obviously on show. Whether this is a conscious effort or not I would not be able to even guess but they give the album a feel of a band showing true heart in trying to expand their horizons beyond their current prowess as musicians. Admirable though this is, I can see how this is a curse to the ears of some listeners as it is a gift to mine.

Although not normally my bag the instrumentals here do bristle with energy and create a tangible sense of texture. They do not stray into the realm of being simply “showy” or grandiose (the limits to the artistry sorts that) they feel more robust and vaguely mechanical. This description probably does not do them sufficient justice as they are most definitely not boring, they are too charged with spirit for that, but they are almost like captures from a rehearsal or jam session thus giving them organic appeal.

As such I do not see the album as a regular release. It plays more like a compilation with some similarly themed tracks slotted besides each other that did not make the cut on previous releases. Not being the biggest fan of compilations, this again is a risk that somehow pays off here as I can comfortably sit through the album in one sitting. It is an album that carelessly arrives at success despite a few stumbles along the way (what the fuck is that title track about?) and the shifts of tempo on occasion sounding more like lurches. Structure of the Séance, ironically, lack’s structure and just feels like a relentless gallop with several time-changes thrown in. They might not have been the most capable musicians at this stage in their career but the gusto with which they approached this album is worth at least a nod of recognition, even if the overall product has more than obvious flaws.

3.5/5

I had an unusually quiet Monday at work and so I got to listen to the whole The Horde playlist today.  Highlights for me were undoubtedly those tracks from Nightfall and The Chasm.  Had been unimpressed by the initial listens to the new The Chasm album but this track really grabbed me.  The same can be said for that Altars track as I had dismissed that album also but the track here has made me rethink and revisit.  Other standouts were the tracks from Origin, Skinless and Entombed A.D.

Less enamoured with the Six Feet Under track (WTF, Chirs Barnes - what has happened to your throat??) and Imperial Circus Dead Decadence were too melodic for my tastes.  Not feeling new Esoctrilihum either I am afraid.

i managed to get through the playlists this month for all 3 of my clans, finally getting onto The Horde playlist today.  Highlights were Blood Incantation, Haunter and Decapitated (considering I hated the other track I heard from the new album).  Always good to have some Obituary and Dying Fetus on here although I really could not get on with that track from The Chasm.

The success of the first three tracks on Spheres is their ability to constantly apply layers atop of each other for a real tense death metal experience. Although upon first listen, the stabs of synths were not a popular inclusion, they soon cemented their relevance on repeated listens. Likewise, the undulating leads need some attitude adjustment also to understand the relevance of them.

Multiple Beings has an almost jaunty tempo with enough jazzy interludes and atmospheric keys to keep things interesting. Blooping and looping leads over an audible bass line truly mark an album highlight. Vocally, the record is a total match for Schuldiner and there are a lot of comparisons to drawn with Death overall across Spheres. The synths add a level of majesty that is not present on Death’s Human or Individual Thought Patterns though. The depths they plunge proceedings to is a really refreshing angle on most progressive death metal of the time.

The tracks have a great sense of space to them, like a conscious effort has been applied to ensure that all parts have the room to contribute. Although there are many things going on at any given time things never sound muddled or conflicted. Unfortunately, after the first three tracks I start to get problems with Spheres. I am not a fan of interludes on most albums in all honesty and although there is an argument to say that the interludes on here are far from out of place, they just break up any sense of cohesion for me.

The arrangement of Soul Search is not the best to my ears either and for the first time those synths are starting to grate a bit. The palette-cleanser that is Personal Energy, is an interesting if not altogether enjoyable concept. By far the most jazz-influenced of all the tracks, this brooding piece deploys some odd chanting vocals alongside the raspy death metal ones whilst fully exploring the bands repertoire of musical talent. Clearly, there is some effort by use of the interlude that precedes and then follow Personal Energy to make a statement on Spheres. In all honesty, I am not sure what the intention was, but it ruins the album for me.

After the middle section I sense a dip in quality and the synth solo on the title track – the standout moment on an otherwise very dull track – is a push too far me. Penultimate track Changing Perspective (final track proper) is a relevant title for how I feel about this album from track four onwards. It starts so strongly but fades away quickly.

2.5/5

The crashing and bashing tendencies of some death metal bands is not something that is always done to a reasonably high enough standard. When I hold such bands as Gorguts in the highest of regard then the bar is already set pretty high for avant-garde death metal. I will go on record as saying that Flourishing never hit the dizzy heights of Obscura on The Sum of All Fossils yet at the same time they do make a thoroughly entertaining record in the process. The urgency of the tempo that is set by album opener Thimble's Worth manages to set out a consistent taster for what is to come across the rest of their 2011 offering. What the band do particularly well is vary the pacing and tempo to give the album a real sense of dexterity.

The post-hardcore elements do not always work I admit and can lead to a sense of confusion or a rush of ideas all coming to a head in one place in particular. That being said I do get a real sense of there being a lot of thought behind the album, like time has been taken in the main to measure content and space it really well in terms of the arrangements as opposed to always pile tings on top of one another. The production job both helps and hinders this I feel. For the majority of the record there is a sense of a thin layer of murk just suppressing the content a little and not perhaps letting everything breathe as organically as the band may like based on their arrangements but at the same time the slower parts are given lots of room to build and present their more subtle nuances.

Flourishing could play though and there is very little on here not to get your head around as the band vary things up more than enough. It is not exceptionally technical overall and in fact relies on some quite simplistic repetition to provide build and crescendo in all honesty. Their playing just contains a solid amount of consistency that avoids sloppiness without ever becoming overly impressive. Whilst there are no weak tracks, there are many tracks that end up at the same place making track-blur a real problem. For an album that is weighted with the opportunity to rip up the rulebook to some degree it seems to somehow set its own limitations still on far they can actually take things. In so many ways I am torn between the comfort of the familiarity of it but also the lack of full-on bat-shit-crazy, spazzing that they never quite hit. The guitar flurries that open Momentary Senses are intriguing but do not play a big enough part in the track overall to realise that initial promise. Bits of The Sum of All Fossils tend to dominate other parts all too easily and those vocals cannot always keep up with everything that is going on, despite the measured approach and the obvious sense of arrangement there is still work to be done here. Interesting but not essential.

3.5/5

Six Feet Under - "Graveyard Classics IV: The Number of the Priest" (2016)

Former Cannibal Corpse frontman Chris Barnes seems to cop an awful lot of flack on social media & not without due cause either because the dude is clearly an ignorant, immature, uneducated dickhead. There's really no question about that. But do his band Six Feet Under really deserve to be labelled as one of the worst death metal bands of all time? Hhhmmmm.... if you trust the general consensus on some of his more recent releases then you would have to think so, wouldn't you? Well after seeing him inexplicably posting a very embarrassing & concerning selfie of him holding a gun on Facebook this week I decided  to see if the band's poor reputation was warranted or not so I reached for Six Feet Under's most universally ridiculed release in 2016's "Graveyard Classics IV: The Number of the Priest" (a collection of eleven Judas Priest & Iron Maiden cover versions) to see what all the fuss was about.

The first thing you'll notice with this record is that there's been very little attempt to vary the instrumental approach from the originals. The session musicians Chris has recruited for the project are all more than competent (particularly the shredding lead guitarist) & in truth they pull off some pretty decent replications of these heavy metal classics but I have to question what the point of it all is if you're not going to give it your own slant. The production job is somewhat confusing too in that it seems to consciously steer the guitars to the back of the mix which makes the whole thing sound a lot like a karaoke version of these tracks. The rhythm section generally tend to dominate the guitars which is hardly what these great metal tunes are all about but I suspect the reason for this is to ensure that Chris' monotonous death growls are highlighted as the focal point at all times. That's a real shame because Chris' vocals don't suit the vast majority of these tracks in any way, shape or form. In fact, he really does manage to butcher tracks like "Invader", "Never Satisfied", "Flash Of The Blade" & "The Evil That Men Do" where the higher register vocal melodies were a major drawcard for the originals. He's a lot more successful on the more rocking tracks (the Paul Dianno-fronted Maiden tracks for example) but I'd suggest that only Judas Priest's "Genocide" reaches any sort of consistent level of enjoyment. Chris sounds completely disinterested a lot of the time to be honest, kinda like he's phoned this recording in simply to fulfill a label obligation & it's this reason that the album is so universally panned.

In saying all that though, I can't help but get some form of enjoyment out of the instrumental aspects of the album as I've grown up with these songs from such a young age. I even have to admit that I quite enjoy the version of "Genocide" I mentioned earlier & find it to be a pretty decent example of the death 'n' roll subgenre. Unfortunately though, it's impossible to deny the big elephant in the room & his filthy dreadlocks. I can't say that this record is anything like the 0.5/5 that almost all critics seem to tag it with because there are way worse bands out there that can't even play their instruments. I did have to have a good hard think about whether I could justify the score I've gone with though as this is a completely redundant & unnecessary release if I've ever heard one.

2.5/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=c9d4403fb9594f56

Tracklisting:

01. The Chasm – “Conquerer & Warlord” (from “The Spell Of Retribution”, 2004) [Submitted by Daniel]

02. Eucharist – “Greeting Immortality” (from “A Velvet Creation”, 1993)

03. Nocturnus – “Arctic Crypt” (from “Thresholds”, 1992)

04. Entombed A.D. – “Digitus Medius” (from “Back To The Front”, 2014)

05. Artificial Brain – “Celestial Cyst” (from “Artificial Brain”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

06. Brutal Truth – “Dementia” (from “Kill Trend Suicide”, 1996)

07. Nihilist – “Severe Burns” (from “Drowned” demo, 1989) [Submitted by Vinny]

08. Unanimated – “Fire Storm” (from “In The Forest Of The Dreaming Dead”, 1993)

09. Massacra – “Enjoy The Violence” (from “Enjoy The Violence”, 1991) [Submitted by Vinny]

10. Inhuman Condition – “Recycled Hate” (from “Fearsick”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Malignant Monster – “Old Corpus Delecti” (from “Foul Play”, 2005) [Submitted by Daniel]

12. Massacre – “Eldritch Prophecy” (from “Resurgence”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

13. Corpsessed – “Relentless Entropy” (from “Succumb To Rot”, 2022)

14. Cephalic Carnage – “Jihad” (from “Conforming To Abnormality”, 1998)

15. The County Medical Examiners – “Casper’s Dictum” (from “Olidous Operettas”, 2007)

16. Undeath – “Necrobionics” (from “It’s Time… To Rise From The Grave”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Focusrights – “Next Level Cheating Whore” (from “Ew, Music!”, 2020)

18. Behemoth – “Furor Divinus” (from “The Satanist”, 2014) [Submitted by Daniel]

19. Exhumed – “Deathmask” (from “Gore Metal”, 1998)

20. Cosmic Putrefaction – “Sol’s Upheaval Debris” (from “Crepuscular Dirge for the Blessed Ones”, 2022)

21. Pharmacist – “Accelerating Suppuration” (from “Flourishing Extremities on Unspoiled Mental Grounds”, 2022)

22. Mortician – “Necrocannibal” (from “Hacked Up For Barbecue”, 1996)

23. Wormrot – “Behind Closed Doors” (from “Hiss”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

24. Dying Fetus – “Beaten Into Submission” (from “Purification Through Violence”, 1996)

25. Decapitated – “Day 69” (from “Organic Hallucinosis”, 2006) [Submitted by Daniel]

26. Cannibal Corpse – “Dead Human Collection” (from “Bloodthirst”, 1999) [Submitted by Daniel]

27. Sinister – “Diabolical Summoning” (from “Diabolical Summoning”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

28. Analepsy – “Locus Of Dawning” (from “Quiescence”, 2022)

29. The Amenta – “Erebus” (from “Occasus”, 2004) [Submitted by Daniel]

I'm no expert on the Polish death metal scene and I'm not sure if it has a sound all of it's own, but I am quite well-disposed to both Vader and Behemoth without being an out-and-out fanboy and I hear a lot of similarity to both bands here. There's the same dense guitar tone and faintly militaristic rhythms and the vocals are very similar to both Nergal and Piotr Wiwczarek. It looks like the careers of all three bands run adjacently so I don't suppose that there is any plagiarism involved they have just developed similar styles within a common scene. I think I probably sit on the fence a bit with this one, I do like it quite a bit, but after four or five listens it hasn't really got it's hooks into me like The Satanist or Back to the Blind did and whilst it's great while it's on, after it's over I have trouble recalling any of the songs in much detail and they certainly aren't running through my backbrain for half the day. As we have established previously, I still have much to learn about death metal and the band do sound incredibly accomplished to me, it's just that the tracks don't have that memorability to drag me back for repeated listens.

3.5/5

I've taken my new, growing confidence with death metal and dared the rigours of an entire Horde playlist for the first time and I've got to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I must admit that there are probably some tracks that work better for me within the context of a varied playlist, whereas I am not sure if I would enjoy a whole album of said style, but as a short burst they work very well. Those fitting into this category include Orbit Culture, Haemorrhage, Disgorge, Enemy Soil, Golgothan Remains and Dying Fetus.

Oldies but goodies: Napalm Death, Akercocke, Sarcofago and I'm obviously familiar with the Vastum track which I enjoyed from their Horde March feature and the Desolate Shrine album which I gave a few spins to recently.

There were quite a few new discoveries for me, particularly Rotten Tomb and Aeviterne which were real standouts, also Sentenced, Astral Tomb, Cryptworm and Infernal Coil were great.
However, if the Thotcrime track is cybergrind then it is obvious that that sub-genre isn't for me as that was horrible and was the only track I really didn't like at all, although the grunting pig vocals of Waking the Cadaver and Katalepsy are a tough ask for me too. I guess these are slam death are they?

As for Macabre - what the fuck is going on there? A song about a child murderer with a chorus that sounds like it's the theme song to a Saturday morning kid's adventure show!

Another early death-doom album! Just like the Sempiternal Deathreign album, it has mostly the best examples of death-doom but not without a couple duds. My thoughts:

For the sole album from Delirium, Zzooouhh (wow, that wacky title sounds like some kind of snore), we have the smashing guitar, growls, and groove of death metal that then collapses into the slow monstrous doom metal, a captivating mix also done by Winter the same year. It's strange how this style barely caught on as much as other genres like thrash metal. With that said, Delirium's Zzooouhh sounds so fresh and inspiring, with the harsh guitar, riff variation, and tempo changes pleasing heavier metalheads who want more. It's obvious how much the fast-doom ratio has been influenced from other bands like Celtic Frost and Death. The later tracks (from track #5 onward) are prime examples of early death-doom, but a couple ones (track 4 and before), range from slow and doomy to fast and furious, but do not have the same potential as the other category. Still this is essential death-doom for fans of the subgenre and Celtic Frost. Pretty neat if you just start at track 5 and not think too much of the strange album title....

4/5

After one more important early death-doom album that only resides in The Fallen, tomorrow I'm going to continue my rediscovery journey in a much different genre that I know more of and wish to know the most (NOT doom). You can probably guess, but now...that's all in my rediscovery of death metal thread, folks!

Maybe it's because I've been listening to a lot more melodic, cleaner stuff like the new Hath, Immolation, or Allegaeon for my Death Metal recently, but this was the exact kick in the teeth I needed to break up the monotony. Diabolical Summoning is one of those Death Metal records that knows how to keep the energy going for the entire runtime and, at the same time, keeping the runtime short enough to not run out of steam. As has been already said, the riffing is great, the drum production is some of the punchiest I've heard and sits right in my preferred middle ground of being just chaotic enough to keep the listener guessing while still laying down the necessary double bass rhythms to keep the guitars moving. The other attribute I'm starting to pick up on for my favored Death Metal releases is the effortlessness of all the transitions, and wow are there a lot of them in this record. Each track is bursting with all kinds of different riffs and sections that chaotically flow together seamlessly in a way I can't really explain. It's a bit barebones for me to give it absolutely massive praise, but this is definitely an overlooked one, as everyone else has said.

4/5

Thanks Daniel, they all sound like perfectly feasible reasons. Strange how strict drinking laws are in The States, which could have been a factor as you say, not just the opening hours restrictions (they were still very strict here in the UK at that time), but also age restrictions. Don't you have to be 21 to buy booze in a lot of states (or at least had to be back then)? Plus, in most of Europe when the cops came to break up a rave they just chased people off and maybe gave them a slap ot two, they didn't turn up fully armed looking for a Waco-style shoot-out, as seems to be the MO of a lot of police forces in the US!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=247d95020fd04eaa

Tracklisting:

01. Kanonenfieber – “Die Schlacht bei Tannenberg” (from “Menschenmühle”, 2021)

02. Before The Dawn – “Fear Me” (from “Deadlight”, 2007) [Submitted by Ben]

03. Allegaeon – “Into Embers” (from “Damnum”, 2022) [Submitted by Ben]

04. Damaged – “Token Remedies Research” (from “Token Remedies Research”, 1997)

05. Schizophrenia – “Cranial Disintegration” (from “Recollections Of The Insane”, 2022)

06. 7 Horns 7 Eyes – “Divine Amnesty” (from “Throes Of Absolution”, 2012) [Submitted by Daniel]

07. Napalm Death – “Narcissus” (from “Resentment Is Always Seismic - A Final Throw of Throes” E.P., 2022)

08. Mortiferum – “Incubus Of Bloodstained Visions” (from “Preserved In Torment”, 2021)

09. Ritual Necromancy – “Enter The Depths” (from “Ritual Necromancy/Fossilization” split E.P., 2022) [Submitted by Ben]

10. Earth Rot – “Towards A Godless Shrine” (from “Black Tides Of Obscurity”, 2020) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Immolation – “Into Everlasting Fire” (from “Dawn Of Possession”, 1991) [Submitted by Vinny]

12. Corpsegrinder – “On Wings Of Carnage” (from “Corpsegrinder”, 2022)

13. Nile – “The Black Flame” (from “Black Seeds Of Vengeance”, 2000) [Submitted by Daniel]

14. Tribulation – “Sacrilegious Darkness” (from “The Horror”, 2009) [Submitted by Vinny]

15. Aeon – “Aeons Black” (from “Aeons Black”, 2012) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Morbid Angel – “Garden Of Disdain” (from “Kingdoms Disdained”, 2017) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Ulcerate – “We Are Nil” (from “Everything Is Fire”, 2009) [Submitted by Vinny]

18. Hath – “All That Was Promised” (from “All That Was Promised”, 2022) [Submitted by Ben]

19. The Amenta – “Mictlan” (from “Mictlan” E.P., 2002) [Submitted by Daniel]

20. Cannibal Corpse – “Compelled To Lacerate” (from “Gore Obsessed”, 2002) [Submitted by Daniel]

21. Blood Red Throne – “Altered Genesis” (from “Altered Genesis”, 2005) [Submitted by Daniel]

22. Suffocation – “Surgery Of Impalement” (from “Souls To Deny”, 2004) [Submitted by Daniel]

23. Abominable Putridity – “Intracranial Parasite” (from “In The End Of Human Existence”, 2007)

Glad you guys enjoyed it.  I do not have a lot to add to my existing review. I picked up on Vastum with their debut release back in 2011 and got to a point where I picked up most of what they put out right up until I heard Orificial Purge and just got bored by it really.  Hole Below was their last great release for me and I found Patricidal Lust a bit lacing in terms of comparison with the debut.  I toyed with dropping the debut as my featured release but I went for this in the end as a more modern reference.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=758eb6d6637341d9

Tracklisting:

01. 200 Stab Wounds – “Path To Carnage” (from “Slave To The Scalpel”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. Shadow Of Intent – “From Ruin… We Rise” (from “Elegy”, 2022)

03. Atræ Bilis – “Bacterium Abloom” (from “Apexapien”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

04. In Mourning – “At The Behest Of Night” (from “The Bleeding Veil”, 2021)

05. Entombed – “Serpent Saints” (from “Serpent Saints - The Ten Amendments”, 2007)

06. Venom Prison – “Comfort Of Complicity” (from “Erebos”, 2022)

07. Psycroptic – “The Colour Of Sleep” (from “The Scepter Of The Ancients”, 2003) [Submitted by Daniel]

08. Begravement – “Valley Of Everlasting Darkness” (from “The Anaphylaxis Demo” demo, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

09. Angelcorpse – “Wolflust” (from “The Inexorable”, 1999) [Submitted by Vinny]

10. Unleashed – “Blood Of Lies” (from “Midvinterblot”, 2006) [Submitted by Ben]

11. Gorguts – “Disincarnated” (from “Considered Dead”, 1991) [Submitted by Ben]

12. Nekrovault – “Eremitorium” (from “Totenzug: Festering Peregrination”, 2020) [Submitted by Ben]

13. Rot – “Fatality?” (from “Cruel Face Of Life”, 1994)

14. Mörser – Doom (The Divine Gift)“” (from “Two Hours Of Doom”, 1997)

15. Malignant Altar – “Belial Rebirth (Metempsychosis)” (from “Realms of Exquisite Morbidity”, 2021) [Submitted by Daniel]

16. Deicide – “Lunatic Of God’s Creation” (from “Deicide”, 1990) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Morbid Angel – “Cleansed In Pestilence (Blade Of Elohim)” (from “Heretic”, 2003) [Submitted by Daniel]

18. Cannibal Corpse – “Unleashing The Bloodthirsty” (from “Bloodthirst”, 1999) [Submitted by Daniel]

19. Shapeshifter – “Black Liquid” (from “Dark Ritual”, 2022)

20. ZONΞ ΞATΞR vs §E▲ ▓F D▓G§ - “It Swallows” (from “ZONΞ ΞATΞR vs. §E▲ ▓F D▓G§”, 2017)

21. Gruesome Malady – “Malodorous Ejaculation” (from “Infected With Virulent Seed”, 2003)

22. Virum – “Tentacles Of The Sun” (from “Illuminance”, 2016) [Submitted by Ben]

23. Internal Bleeding – “Despoilment Of Rotting Flesh” (from “Voracious Contempt”, 1995)

24. Putrid Pile – “Drenched In Gasoline” (from “Collection Of Butchery”, 2003) [Submitted by Daniel]

25. Immolation – “Apostle” (from “The Age Of No Light”, 2022) [Submitted by Ben]

26. Deeds Of Flesh – “Three Minute Crawlspace” (from “Gradually Melted” E.P., 1995)

27. The Amenta – “Flesh Is Heir” (from “Flesh Is Heir”, 2013) [Submitted by Daniel]

28. Lock Up – “Feeding On the Opiate” (from “Hate Breeds Suffering”, 2002) [Submitted by Daniel]

29. Infected Malignity – “Revenge To Capitalism” (from “The Malignity Born From Despair”, 2006)

30. Concrete Winds – “Nerve Butcherer” (from “Nerve Butcherer”, 2021)

Is that really two Christian death metal bands featured in the same month?

7 Horns 7 Eyes brand of progressive death metal is heavily doom influenced, groovy and melodic. Perhaps it is to the album disadvantage then that I expected this to hit with a little bit more force. As I discussed in my brief review of the Revolution featured album for the month, deathcore was not my scene during my formative years, but all my friends were getting into it. I was exploring the world of Djent at the time and The Contortionist was one of the few acts that I could honestly enjoy bridging the gap for. Breakdown sections during songs like "Phumis: The Falsehood of Affliction", "A Finite Grasp of Infinite Disillusion" and "Delusions" sound as if they were borrowed right out of The Contortionist playbook. The later of those two songs contains a very elaborate guitar solo during its second half over a death doom instrumental in an attempt to appeal to the guitar elitists. 

I think it becomes the most apparent to me as the album is coming to its conclusion, from around "The Winnowing" through "Regeneration". Nothing in the death metal playbook says that it has to be blistering fast tempos 100% of the time. But here's the thing: I started losing interest as the album was just going to play it safe the rest of the way. There are no deviances from the formula displayed on the first seven tracks: no extended breakdowns, no atomic drops, no blast beats. And it infuriated me further as I went back and listened to the album again and noticed that the rest of the album felt exactly the same! "The Winnowing" plays such a tease during its bridge, then returns right back to the same paint by numbers formula as before.

But the album's closer "Regeneration" set it in stone: this is a guitar wank album. Not that there is anything wrong with guitar wank albums; they can be done incredibly well if given the proper focus. And I still do like this; I fall into a similar position as Xephyr when it comes to the kind of technical/progressive death metal we prefer. And hearing what is essentially Swallow The Sun/My Dying Bride with uncommon time signatures and quasi Djent breakdown passages is pretty damn cool. But it fails to keep me engrossed for its entire runtime. Another fine example of "great in moments, but not as a full album" I'm afraid.

7/10

Altarage's "Succumb" album just pipped "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" at the post for my The Horde release of the year but that doesn't stop it from being a deserved winner nonetheless. The class & ambition of that record are nothing short of astounding.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=9486cc7ebc7f452d

Tracklisting:

01. Krisiun – “The Will To Potency” (from “The Great Execution”, 2011) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. Dungeon Serpent – “Necroscope” (from “World of Sorrows” E.P., 2021)

03. Voidceremony – “Entropic Reflections Continuum” (from “At The Periphery Of Human Realms” E.P., 2022)

04. Dark Tranquillity – “Insanity’s Crescendo” (from “The Mind’s I”, 1997) [Submitted by Daniel]

05. Edge Of Sanity – “Enigma” (from “Unorthodox”, 1992) [Submitted by Ben]

06. Devoid Of Thought – “Sidereal Necrosis” (from “Outer World Graves”, 2021)

07. Revocation – “The Outer Ones” (from “The Outer Ones”, 2018) [Submitted by Ben]

08. Hypocrisy – “Worship” (from “Worship”, 2021)

09. Autopsy – “In The Grip Of Winter” (from “Retribution For The Dead” E.P., 1991) [Submitted by Vinny]

10. Carcass – “Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II” (from “Tools Of The Trade” E.P., 1992) [Submitted by Daniel]

11. Undergang – “Hjerternes Tid” (from “Cadaveric Incubator/Undergang” split E.P., 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

12. Cadaveric Fumes – “The Stirring Unknown” (from “Echoing Chambers Of Soul”, 2021) [Submitted by Ben]

13. Genocide Pact – “Led To Extinction” (from “Genocide Pact”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

14. Shadow Of Intent – “Gravesinger” (from “Melacholy”, 2019) [Submitted by Ben]

15. Hyperdontia – “Lacerated & Bursting” (from “Hideous Entity”, 2021)

16. Anachronism – “Orogeny” (from “Orogeny”, 2018) [Submitted by Ben]

17. Cannibal Corpse – “Devoured By Vermin” (from “Vile”, 1996) [Submitted by Daniel]

18. Succumb – “Maenad” (from “XXI”, 2021)

19. Abysmal Dawn – “In Service Of Time” (from “Leveling The Plane Of Existence”, 2011) [Submitted by Vinny]

20. Aborted – “Skullfuck Crescendo” (from “Engineering The Dead”, 2001 [Submitted by Daniel]

21. Cretin – “Freakery” (from “Stranger”, 2014) [Submitted by Daniel]

22. Cryptopsy – “Defenestration” (from “Blasphemy Made Flesh”, 1994) [Submitted by Daniel]

23. Putridity – “Conceived Through Vermination” (from “Ignominious Atonement”, 2015) [Submitted by Ben]

24. Abominable Putridity – “A Burial For The Abandoned” (from “The Anomalies Of Artificial Origin”, 2012) [Submitted by Daniel]

25. Cannabis Corpse – “Mummified In Bong Water” (from “Tube Of The Resinated”, 2008) [Submitted by Vinny]

Altarage's "Succumb" (I assume that's what you were referring to Vinny) was my AOTY too until this morning when the Fange record saw me changing my tune late in the game.

Correct.  Raging toothache at present so heavily dosed on ibuprofen  and not typing to my best.

Malignant Altar are already familiar to me with their second demo from 2019 already adorning my music library. I recall picking them up around the time that Maggot Stomp started to make waves in the underground, with MA being one of the many OSDM bands that inhabited that filthy roster of theirs.

Retaining the same line up as the first two demo sees the band able to build on the promise of the more crawling and cavernous death metal nicely. This sounds like a band who have played together for a while; showcased nicely on the flowing opening to Usurping the Pantheon Crown which feels tight. The track itself then shifts through various stages of nefarious death metal, replete with some Morbid Angel-like sonics thrown in casually like Trey Azagthoth just did a drive-by sonic shooting through the studio almost randomly as they recorded the track.

With comparisons with the style of Azagthoth and co almost inevitable, it is only fair to point out that there is more to the Malignant Altar palette than just some benign old school worship. You will get hits of Cianide, Incantation, Dead Congregation as well as more modern references like Tomb Mold and Cerebral Rot thrown into the mix. As such Malignant Altar are a band who seem to know very much where they sit in the death metal spectrum; able to nod to their influences and their peers alike in a very assured acknowledgement of their surroundings.

The ghastly vocals of Wilson P are reminiscent of Craig Pillard and are the perfect accompaniment to those huge riffs. These gargantuan slabs of death metal riffing are underpinned by an agonising melodic wail at times (Ceremonial Decapitator) that coat proceeding in a desperate atmosphere of anxiety and hopelessness. I do not really care that the album does not change that much in terms of its formula, I find there are enough subtle nuances from track to track that I pick up on with repeated listens to keep me entertained and coming back for more. In some regards, its appeal is not always as obvious as I first thought, and it is one of those records that rewards with repeated listens.

Realms of Exquisite Morbidity is a fantastic celebration of death metal that commemorates what has come before it whilst saluting the modern scene also. No fucking frills death metal is alive and well and living in Houston, Texas.

4.5/5

This months list was another fine cross-sectional representation of The Horde I thought.  Particular highlights for me were Brujeria, Pestilence, Gorement, Bloodbath, Cannibal Corpse, Nile, Dead Congregation and Devourment.

The technical stuff didn't work too well for me.  First Fragment are an excitable bunch aren't they?  Neo-Classical metal and technical death metal are two genre tags that didn't fill me with much hope but I lasted until the funky bass slapping section and then got the hell out of there.  At near 18 minutes I would need a power-nap after that.

I believe that was one of the "enhanced interrogation" techniques employed at Guantanamo Bay up until it's abolition by the Geneva Convention!

I first heard Cretin as part of a forum "tape swap" we did years ago on the now defunct Terrorizer forums. I was not that into their particular blend of death metal and grindcore and so found the couple of tracks from the album Freakery to be a bit too much for my listening tastes at the time. Over time, as my tastes have gotten more extreme I actually find them to be one of the more structured grindcore bands out there based on their albeit limited output over the years. I prefer them to the Brutal Truths of this world for example and benchmark their style to being more akin to Repulsion style grindcore as opposed to a Carcass style for example (indeed vocalist/guitarist Marissa was guitarist in Repulsion 2011 - 2013). Somehow Cretin manage to walk that fine line between an all out auditory assault and still giving you enough form to nod your head along to appreciatively (in years gone by that statement would have read "bang your head along to", but those days are long gone for me - oldie alert!)

The band's typical lyrical content of perversions and humorous characters continues on Stranger with tracks such as Sandwich for the Attic Angel (a woman's dead husband turns out to be living in the walls of her house), Mr Frye, Janitor Guy (one seriously pissed off and suicidal, turd-collecting Janitor) and We Live in a Cave (pretty self-explanatory - I mean it is not a tribute to Fraggle Rock) all highlighting the bizarre and dark comedy of the band perfectly. Musically the band are tight and relentlessly savage in their delivery of one of extreme music's most primitive formats. Considering Elizabeth Schall (who joins Marissa on guitar duties) is from well-established melodic death metal band Dreaming Dead, she puts in a rowdy and abrasive performance here backed up the core percussive unit of founding member Matt Widener on bass and former Repulsion and Exhumed drummer Col Jones who together create a swarming backdrop of beats and unearthly rumbles that gets punctuated by wild sonics through a wall of solid as fuck riffs.

Always sporadic with their output (the band have been around since 1992 but only released a demo in 2003 after disbanding in 1996 so Widener could join the Marines), Stranger is only the bands second full-length and this was seven years ago now so we are long overdue further nuggets of joy from the guys who are still considered to be active. Despite the gap since the release of the album, it has aged well and is just as in your fucking face today as it was back in 2014. The world needs more Cretin please.

4/5

Nile and I have a rough history. Back when I was first exploring the more extreme parts of Metal they inevitably came up on whatever search I was doing and man, did I not like it. After a few years of trudging through more and more Metal subgenres, I wonder how things have changed for me? 

...somehow, someway, nothing's changed. There's just something about Nile's sound that is so uninteresting and bland to me that, after reading all the praise from the seasoned Horde members, I really tried my best to get into this album the best I could. Sadly there's something about the vocal style, the chaotic riff structure, or just the songwriting in general that just doesn't jive with me. I don't get invested in hardly any of the riffs, the bombastic orchestral breaks are just dull...I think it's safe to say that this is a me problem and not an everyone else problem, considering I have quite a few technically impressive Death Metal albums I thoroughly enjoy. My 3 or so old score, disappointingly, still stands. 

3/5

Well, better late than never, here I am to praise another superb playlist for The Horde this month.  Bubblegum fucking Octopus aside, there was not a lot not to love here.  Anything from Repulsion is a sure fire winner for me and dropping Cryptopsy, Pestilence and Naplam Death in here made me smile muchly.

My most impressive "finds" of the list are Sermon of Flames and Defacement and I will be checking out more from both acts imminently.

OK, so please don't get mad any of you Necrophagist fans out there, but after the vocals kicked in on opener Stabwound I just burst out laughing. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, but I've been feeling in a strange mood today and as I thought I'd better get through the features, I decided to listen to Epitaph this evening. At the aforementioned point in the album, I just pictured the band playing with extremely frowny faces and thought bubbles saying something like "shit, we are SO intense, man" and the inherent ridiculousness of the human condition must have overwhelmed me. I have no axe to gring with Necrophagist, I've never listened to them before, but they just painted such a vivid picture for me that I couldn't help myself. And before anyone points out the fact, I include myself in the being ridiculously intense about metal camp. How could I not with all the utter bollocks I write about music?!

Anyway, as for the music in question - it really isn't my thing unfortunately. I find overtly technical death metal never really "get's going", it just sounds too stutter-step to me and as such I can't get into it. 

Apologies all round, I don't know what's got into me today at all.

Here's my updated list:

01. Morbid Angel - "Altars of Madness" (1989)

02. Death - "Human" (1991)

03. Suffocation - "Pierced From Within" (1995)

04. Immolation - "Close To A World Below" (2000)

05. Dragged Into Sunlight - "Hatred For Mankind" (2009)

06. Suffocation - "Despise The Sun" E.P. (1998)

07. Carcass - "Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious" (1991)

08. Dead Congregation - "Promulgation Of The Fall" (2014)

09. Morbid Angel - "Blessed Are The Sick" (1991)

10. Death - "Individual Thought Patterns" (1993)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/125

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0R0a3qxSe1XkOMxBN6gkwi?si=69764d6abe0644e9

Tracklisting:

01. Altarage – “Altars” (from “Nihl”, 2016) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. Carcass – “Flesh Ripping Torment Limited” (from “Torn Arteries”, 2021)

03. Acausal Intrusion – “Transcending The Veil” (from “Nulitas”, 2021)

04. White Stones – “Chain Of Command” (from “Dancing Into Oblivion”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

05. Arch Enemy – “Nemesis” (from “Doomsday Machine”, 2005) [Submitted by Ben]

06. Runemagick – “Dethrone The Flesh” (from “Enter The Realm Of Death”, 1999) [Submitted by Ben]

07. Unbounded Terror – “Dreamlord” (from “Nest Of Affliction”, 1992) [Submitted by Vinny]

08. Funebrarum – “Perish Beneath” (from “The Sleep Of Morbid Dreams”, 2009) [Submitted by Ben]

09. Canker – “Hand of God” (from “Earthquake”, 2017) [Submitted by Vinny]

10. Teitanblood – “Whore Mass” (from “Seven Chalices”, 2009) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Avulsed – “Sweet Lobotomy” (from “Eminence In Putrescence”, 1996) [Submitted by Vinny]

12. Diskord – “The Endless Spiral” (from “Degenerations”, 2021)

13. Dipygus – “Plasmoidal Mass (Slime Mold)” (from “Bushmeat”, 2021) [Submitted by Daniel]

14. Haemorrhage – “Traumaggedon” (from “Hospital Carnage”, 2011) [Submitted by Vinny]

15. Qrixkuor – “Serpentine Susurrus - Mother's Abomination” (from “Poison Palinopsia”, 2021) [Submitted by Daniel]

16. Vital Remains – “Dechristianize” (from “Dechristianize”, 2003) [Submitted by Ben]

17. Drumcorps – “Better Days” (from “Better Days” E.P., 2021)

18. Antediluvian – “Obscene Pornography Manifests in the Divine Universal Consciousness” (from “The Divine Punishment”, 2021)

19. Socioclast – “Surveillance/Normalization/Examination” (from “Socioclast”, 2021) [Submitted by Daniel]

20. Machetazo – “Revientas” (from “Ruin”, 2013) [Submitted by Vinny]

21. Effluence – “Unholy Liquid” (from “Ballistic Bloodspray” E.P., 2021)

22. Wormed – “Tautochrone” (from “Exodromos”, 2013) [Submitted by Vinny]

23. Nile – “In The Name Of Amun” (from “What Should Not Be Unearthed”, 2015) [Submitted by Ben]

Well then, this thing is a beast, isn't it? You'd think I'd have the same reaction as Saxy and Sonny considering my disposition towards the more brutal, suffocating, and fiery styles of Death Metal, but this one caught me off guard. Although some of the more ruthless sections didn't exactly keep my attention past the first listen, I personally think this is a very complete album in what it tries to do. There's a ton of depth and massiveness to the production that absolutely sound messy and chaotic, but I found that to be a positive at the end of the day in the context of Succumb. The lack of clarity really helps the standout riffs to pop out of the mayhem in cool ways. It's sort of a shame that the vocals are completely lost behind everything else, serving as another slightly different layer than actual vocals. The drumming is in the perfect spot for me too, being powerful enough to be felt but not being absolutely piercing like so many other albums like this. 

Compositionally Altarage nails it because while the 21-minute closer is admittedly a bit of a snooze-fest after the first listen, Succumb sets up for it extremely well with tracks like "Foregone", "Lavath", and "Vour Concession" containing hints of the coming Drone Metal excursion. Those slight hints do a ton to have the eventual transition feels like it fits in with the rest of the album. Even though I'm capable of giving a ton of praise to this one, I can't say that I'm in a rush to go back and listen to it though. It's one of the more captivating brutal walls of chaos I've listened to, but I don't think I'd be able to get any extra enjoyment out of it past the 3 or 4 listens I've given it. So although this started out as a 4/5 for me, I feel like I can't keep basing my rating off of my first experience with it alone. 

3.5/5

Molested - "Blod-draum" (1995)

OK, so here's a release where I've never really understood the appeal. 1995's "Blod-draum" debut album from Norwegian death metallers Molested seems to be regarded as somewhat of an underground classic these days but it all sounds like a bit of a mess to me. The band have certainly achieved a genuine graveyard atmosphere here however the song structures & arrangements are so chaotic & the performances so loose that I struggle to make much sense of it all. The super deep Incantation style death growls of front man Øystein G. Brun (also of Borknagar) are great & the guitar tone is superb for this style of extreme metal however this only makes it easier to hear how sloppily executed everything is. Then you've got the use of traditional folk music here & there which fails dismally on the atrocity that is the three minute title track. What a surprise that an instrumental folk piece doesn't sound amazing when smothered in poorly executed blast beats! Whoever would have guessed? On paper Molested should be right up my alley but I'm sorry to say that the reality is a little bit underwhelming. There are some really brutal & decidedly unusual moments on "Blod-draum" but they're unfortunately weighed down too heavily by it's failings. 

For fans of Incantation, Miasma & Portal.

3/5

A few choice cuts this month.  Loving the Deicide and Bolt Thrower inclusions and some 90's bands that I need to check out more including Skeleton of God and Blood.  I still can't get on with Messiah no matter how much I try and Hate just don't float my boat unfortunately.  The new Blood Red Throne has loads of promise though and I do need to properly check out the latest Grave Miasma as it keeps slipping down my to do list.