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I've always shown a keen interest in Dutch death metallers Gorefest, despite the fact that I don't regard any of their proper releases as being particularly essential. Their overall sound has just been something that appealed to me right from the first time I heard their debut album "Mindloss" back in the very early 1990's. That experience would see me following each successive full-length over their two-decade existence, as well as their excellent 1990 "Horrors in a Retarded Mind" demo tape which I really enjoyed. Gorefest's 1992 "False" sophomore album has always been the one that I've regarded as being the peak of their career though so it's strange that I haven't felt like revisiting it since the 1990's, even after finding their mid-to-late 2000's revival to be worth a listen. I've decided to rectify that this week though with Ben's extremely positive review giving me the final encouragement I needed to seek "Fales" out on Spotify a couple of days ago.

"False" doesn't muck around in placing its cards down on the table with an excellent Colin Richardson production job going a long way to maximizing the album's potential. The heavily down-tuned guitars work really well with the mainly mid-range tempos to create a unified & chunky death metal platform built on riffs that often offer more than a little groove. The occasional use of blast-beats from drummer Ed Warby (Ayreon/Vuur/Demiurg/Elegy/Hail of Bullets/The 11th Hour) is quite welcome but I feel that Gorefest are probably at their best when they slow things down during the doomier parts of the record. The instrumentation combines the up-tempo energy of Entombed & Grave with the more controlled heaviness of Bolt Thrower with bassist Jan-Chris de Koeijer's ultra-deep vocals representing the clear focal point of the Gorefest sound. I'd suggest that de Koeijer's delivery is more of a death bark than it is a death grunt or death growl actually. Strangely, his performance is a little inconsistent though as he seems to struggle to find his signature depth on "Second Face". It's the guitar solos of Boudewijn Bonebakker (Monomyth) & Frank Harthoorn (The 11th Hour) that are the real weakness for Gorefest though as neither are exactly virtuosos. Nor do they seem to have much of an idea of musical theory so often wander out of key, leaving me with more than the odd cringe on my face. I find that I can generally deal with this blemish though due to the solid riff-based platform the band have built around them.

The tracklisting is generally pretty consistent with only the flat "Get-a-Life" failing to hit the mark. The rest of the album varies from pretty decent to very solid with the highlights coming in the form of the pummeling opener "The Glorious Dead", the classy title track & the doom/death number "Infamous Existence". None of these songs reach classic status though & it's this absence of more elite examples of the death metal genre that sees the appeal of an album like "False" being capped a bit for me personally. Don't get me wrong, "False" is definitely worth a listen but it's not a record that I can see too many people placing at the top of their end of year lists, particularly not during the incredible creative peak the genre was experiencing at the time. In saying that, "False" wasn't all that far off being awarded a very solid four-star rating either & perhaps I would have gone that way if not for the lull that "Get-a-Life" brought during the middle of the album. Ben obviously feels that there's more in this record than I do with his 4.5 star rating surprising me a bit so maybe it's best if you give it a try for yourself but I can't see too many members of The Horde not getting something out of "False".

My initial exposure to Miami-based death/thrash outfit Solstice came through the tape trading scene of the early-to-mid 1990’s when I picked up a copy of their 1992 self-titled debut album from one of my trade contacts. From what I was hearing from the metal grapevine Solstice sounded like they’d be right up my alley & that certainly proved to be the case with the album becoming a mainstay on my Walkman over the next year or so. In fact, I’ve found myself returning to “Solstice” several times over the many years since as it’s become a proven performer when I feel like expending large amounts of energy in a short time period by thrashing my body around my loungeroom or car. For that reason, I’ve been very much looking forward to finally taking a detailed look at the album with the intent of awarding it a well-informed Metal Academy rating & review.

There’s no doubt at all that “Solstice” is the type of metal record that takes no prisoners & has no fucks whatsoever to give about it either. It’s full of energy & is violently aggressive in the way it approaches its task. The production job feels a little closer to a death metal one than your average thrash record while the use of blast-beats from drummer Alex Marquez (Brutality/Cephalic Carnage/Demolition Hammer/Hellwitch/Malevolent Creation/Resurrection) also draw the record towards that space along with the vicious vocals of guitarist Rob Barrett (Cannibal Corpse/Hateplow/Malevolent Creation) which sit somewhere between Death’s Chuck Schuldiner & Pantera’s Phil Anselmo. Despite the clear hints at death metal though, the majority of the instrumentation simply feels more closely aligned with thrash to me so I tend so think of “Solstice” as more of a brutal thrash record than I do a death/thrash one, particularly given that Barrett’s vocals possess a bit of an angry hardcore edge to them that does tend to lack a little in the sophistication department at times.

The tracklisting is very solid with only the silly decision to include a novelty crossover thrash track (i.e. “S.M.D.” aka “Suck My Dick”) tainting an otherwise extremely consistent record. With that said though, I can’t say that there are any genuine classics on offer with Solstice earning their stripes through their overall sound at the expense of any particularly memorable song-writing. They opt to give the listener a royal battering but you’ll rarely find yourself humming along to their riffs afterwards which is the difference between a record like “Solstice” & the heavy-weights of the brutal thrash game like “Epidemic of Violence” or “Idolatry”. Still… there’s something to be said for a bit of “good, friendly violent fun” & Solstice certainly deliver that in spades. It’s hard to deny the pedigree of a band like this one too with guitarist Dennis Munoz (Demolition Hammer) & bassist Mark van Erp (Monstrosity/Cynic/Malevolent Creation) having already spent some time with some household names of the extreme metal scene. Hell, we even get to enjoy the legendary James Murphy contributing guest guitar solos on a few of the tracks which brings some much needed additional melody to the table.

If brutal thrash is your bag then I’ll be surprised if you’re not already acquainted with this record but, if not, then try to picture a combination of the relentless thrash metal assault of Demolition Hammer & Exhorder & the thrashy death metal of early Malevolent Creation. Perhaps, “Solstice” won’t go on to become the classic release it had the potential to on paper but it’s a damn fine record nonetheless.

By the time Autopsy's 1992 "Fiend For Blood" E.P. was released I'd already been listening to them for a few years. I'd been lucky enough to discover the Californian death metal deviants through their 1989 debut album "Severed Survival" & had also investigated a couple of their 80's demo tapes but it was really Autopsy's excellent duo of 1991 releases that saw me standing up & paying attention, buoyed by their stronger focus on the band's doomier side which I found to be their most attractive (or repulsive if we're being entirely transparent) element. I purchased the band's sophomore album "Mental Funeral" on cassette immediately upon release & gave it a royal thrashing for many months which has not only seen it still residing at the very pinnacle of my Autopsy pile but also drove me to repeat the dosage by picking up a cassette copy of 1992's "Fiend For Blood" E.P. shortly after it hit the shelves. Much like Autopsy's 1991 releases, I remember finding it to possess a really unique sound that has rarely been captured or even attempted since & recall hired gun fretless bass virtuoso Steve DiGiorgio's contribution being one of the major drawcards so I've been busting to give it a revisit for some time, not only to recapture my enthusiasm for the record itself but also to see where it sits versus "Mental Funeral" & the very solid doom/death of 1991's "Retribution For The Dead" E.P.

"Fiend For Blood" is the very definition of the sick, serial-killer inspired, intentionally filthy death metal sound. Even the cover artwork is kept fairly simple with the production job being handled by the band themselves & resulting in a strangely bass-heavy mix that further highlights Autopsy's tendency to back the distortion off a bit in the interest of giving the release a less polished feel. Everything is MEANT to feel a little sloppy & grimy in order to further exacerbate Autopsy's imagery & it works a treat, providing a wonderful platform for the angular style of DiGiorgio (my favourite bass player) to work its magic & become a real highlight of the release. Even the strange discrepancies in where the guitar solos are positioned in the mix seems to buy into this idea while the absurdly over-the-top vocal delivery of drummer Chris Reifert (Static Abyss/Abscess/Death/The Ravenous) sounds almost appropriate when plonked down over this sickly orchestra of the damned.

The six tracks fly by in quick succession with the short twelve minute runtime seeming entirely appropriate as it leaves me wanting more which can't be a bad thing. A couple of those songs are very short with the opening title track & the outstandingly doomy "A Different Kind of Mindfuck" clocking in at under a minute. The other four songs see Autopsy consistently switching between their faster tremolo-picked, early Death inspired death metal riffs & their seriously dark doom metal sections, the faster parts not having nearly the same sort of impact on me as the masterful doom riffs. Autopsy seem to have this real knack for hitting on some particularly eerie atmospheres when they slow things down & this talent is rarely seen in a more effective format than it is here with the unique production job only providing them with further weight.

Perhaps "Fiend For Blood" isn't the most significant release in the grand scheme of the death metal genre but it's a damn enjoyable one nonetheless. There's no time for filler here with every one of the six tracks packing a punch but it's the atmospherics & sickening imagery that are the real drawcard as Autopsy successfully manage to make my skin creep once again. "Mental Funeral" is still the band's finest hour but "Fiend For Blood" should most certainly come into the discussion for runner-up in my opinion. In fact, I've actually been surprised to find that I may even place it slightly ahead of "Retribution For The Dead" these days so fans of Asphyx, Obituary & Abscess should definitely check it out.

4/5

Up until 1992, Birmingham grindcore godfathers Napalm Death had represented more of a novelty than a major player in my musical life. I'd happily purchased all three of their albums for that pleasure but found their two seminal 1980's grindcore full-lengths to be nothing more than a bit of fun. And while 1990's "Harmony Corruption" third record may have added some of my beloved death metal to the equation, it didn't exactly blow me away either. There had been a few pretty decent E.P.'s released between them too & I'd greedily lapped them all up, buoyed by the sheer extremity of it all, an attribute that I was actively seeking out in my music at the time (& no doubt still are). I have to admit though, nothing the band had done had quite stuck the landing up until that point with possible exception of their short 1988 "The Curse" single which I really dug. 1992 would mark somewhat of a new era for Napalm Death though with long-time drum legend Mick Harris having departed after 1991's "Mass Appeal Madness" E.P. & been replaced by Danny Herrera (Venomous Concept). This change probably would have had a few diehard fans on edge a little as Harris had played arguably the most major role in the creation of both Napalm Death & the grindcore sound in general. For me personally though, 1992's "Utopia Banished" album would be the first Napalm Death album that I'd purchase immediately upon release & it's arguably remained my favourite release from their entire back catalogue for all the years since so I think it's fair to say that Herrera's induction into Napalm Death was a rousing success.

Napalm Death's first two albums represent some of the purest & rawest examples of the grindcore genre you're likely to find so there was unsurprisingly a little bit of a mixed response when they incorporated some of the death metal sounds they were hearing around them on "Harmony Corruption". It wasn't, however, a clear-cut death metal record as such with grindcore still playing a strong enough role in the outcome to see me tagging it as deathgrind. "Utopia Banished" sees the grind component being drawn upon a little more than it was on its predecessor & resulting in a more extreme & relentlessly savage deathgrind record that's buoyed by a stellar production job from Colin Richardson. Everything simply sounds so in-your-face with the riffs maintaining definition under some of the most violent drumming the world had heard to the time & with the iconic Mark "Barney" Greenway (Benediction/Extreme Noise Terror) producing some his finest signature barking over the top. The sheer energy of this material saw it immediately grabbing my attention but it also possessed a class that we hadn't heard from a Napalm Death full-length before too. The riffs of Jesse Pintado (Brujeria/Lock Up/Terrorizer) & Mitch Harris (Defecation/Meathook Seed/Righteous Pigs) are more sophisticated & very capably executed while the song structures offer a touch more complexity. The blast beat sections are beautifully positioned to ensure maximum impact with Herrera producing a stellar performance in his own right &, in doing so, putting any fears that the loss of Mick Harris would derail the Napalm Death train to bed.

The cover art is some of Napalm Death's best with the striking red & blue image coming across as both rebellious & shocking at the same time. It brilliantly depicts what the band were all about at the time in my opinion with a collage of social injustices being layered in a way that presents the band as the leaders of the resistance. The tracklisting kicks off in emphatic style too with the industrial noise of "Discordance" proving to be the perfect aural equivalent of the image I just mentioned & when the band blast in with one of their finest works in "I Abstain" I find myself being delightedly crushed under the weight of sound being projected out of my speakers at extreme velocities. The brutal "Dementia Access" follows in quick succession & at this point I'm thinking that we might have a genuinely classic metal release on our hands but things do settle down a bit from there with only the spectacular "Upward & Uninterested" seeing those levels of quality revived. The remainder of the 15-track album is all very solid & unwaveringly consistent in its execution but I can't say that it reaches the same sort of euphoric levels as the tracks I've already mentioned. Each song contains a number of exciting sections but invariably has them offset by some more hardcore-inspired sections that offer me a little less appeal & that's always been a bit of an issue for me with grindcore as I can never quite get the best releases up into my top rating bracket due to my inability to get as excited about the bouncier punk beats. "Utopia Banished" is no doubt one of the stronger examples though as it doesn't present the listener with any real weaknesses, instead choosing to flex its muscles & embrace the sound that the band had been so instrumental in creating in the first place.

At the end of the day, "Utopia Banished" was a unanimous success in my opinion & it still feels like the record that best reflects Napalm Death's sound to me. I just wish that it had lived up to the potential that it hinted at from the commencement of the tracklisting as I really (& I mean REALLY) dig the violence & extremity but can't quite overcome my issues with grindcore's hardcore roots. If the band had opted for a shorter release that dropped that component & simply focused on the half-time, tremolo-picked death metal riffs & the ultra-brutal blast-beat grind sections then we'd probably have my ultimate extreme metal album but, as it is, "Utopia Banished" is still a very fine representation of what Napalm Death have brought to the world & fans of bands like Terrorizer, early Brutal Truth & mid-period Extreme Noise Terror should definitely stand up & pay attention.

It's been a few years since I was last interested in Septicflesh. But that's just my modern heavy side of metal talking. Sometimes I just want to focus on what my metal heart really wants. Right now, my heart is in the mood for melodeath and symphonic death metal. And with that Mayan album I've reviewed making me up for more of the latter subgenre than before, let's see what we got from revisiting Septicflesh's transition into their new era...

Septicflesh was originally formed with a slightly different name, Septic Flesh (with a space between the words). Their sound was originally death metal/death-doom with several orchestral suites. Soon they started combining those two separate sounds into one, and after a few-year hiatus, here we are in their comeback album Communion!

Introducing listeners to the band's new improved sound is "Lovecraft's Death". Not even the earlier heavier fans would fear the orchestration. "Anubis" is a more memorable track starting with clean guitar melody with its Egyptian vibe fitting with the mythology. The title track blasts through deathly chaos as ominous verses alternate with f***ing earth-shattering drumming and background choir. Though it's a little hard to take that seriously when it sounds like Meow Mix (thanks for pointing that out, Rex).

"Babel's Gate" carries the new formula further. Same with "We the Gods", though a bit half-baked while still good. In the next track "Sunlight/Moonlight", there's more positive atmosphere to break up the spookiness. That's what I enjoy here!

Next track "Persepolis" is the longest track of the album and one of the most enjoyable. However, it leads to the worst song here, "Sangreal". I enjoyed this track when I was still listening to this band a few years ago, but now, not so much. The lyrics in the chorus are so cringe, "Sangreal, how real..." It's just way too atrociously poppy when sung. The closing "Narcissus" also doesn't fit too well. It's just straight-up melodeath, which is fine, but not in this album, with only the midsection soloing being its saving grace.

If we can ignore those final two tracks, we have an album filled with emotional greatness that is Communion. Septicflesh have proven their place in the Greek metal league alongside Nightrage and Rotting Christ, and I would recommend this album for anyone up for a blend of epicness and heaviness. Or at least the first 7 tracks....

Favorites: "Lovecraft's Death", "Anubis", "Communion", "Sunlight/Moonlight", "Persepolis"

Earlier this week I went about the process of revisiting the 1992 sophomore album “Buried Secrets” from unusual New York avant-garde jazz metal trio PainKiller. It had literally been decades since I last heard the three PainKiller full-lengths but I was really surprised to find that their second album offered me a level of appeal that I’d not received from it before. I guess I’m just a lot more open-minded with my music these days. That’s not to say that it wasn’t inconsistent because it most certainly was with the short grindcore sections adding no value to anyone’s life whatsoever. It was the lengthier, more restrained & slightly less consciously abstract material that floated my boat with all of the more significant tracks hitting the mark. From memory, I think I devoured all of PainKiller’s albums within about a week & I recall them getting better with each release so I had visions of their 1991 debut album “Guts of a Virgin” being an absolute abomination (& not the good type either). Given my newly found positivity for “Buried Secrets” though, I thought I’d challenge myself by giving it a few spins too.

There are similarities & differences between PainKiller’s first two albums. They both contain the screeching alto saxophone of John Zorn over almost every track, there’s a grindcore component to many of the tracks that pops up & disappears as quickly as it came & the band explores a number of different styles & genres around those core elements. There’s no doubt that “Guts of a Virgin” is the more extreme of the two records though. It’s twelve songs clock in at just 24 minutes in duration with the grindcore elements being drawn upon a little more readily. I still wouldn’t call this a grindcore record though as the combined length of those sections is really quite short with the remainder of the album feeling better suited to a few alternate genre tags in avant-garde jazz, avant-garde & experimental rock, the last of which is a little different from “Buried Secrets” which tended to explore more metallic genres like sludge metal & industrial metal whereas “Guts of a Virgin” dips its toes into rockier & jazzier sounds at times. The debut also includes some psychotic vocal screams from former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris which are pretty harsh & abrasive on the ears to be frank. As with “Buried Secrets”, the album finishes with a pretty decent drone metal number too although this one sits quite a distance beneath the classic “The Toll” in terms of being a truly transcendental experience.

Both albums certainly contain their fair share of absolute rubbish. The difference between them is that “Buried Secrets” has a lot more meat on its bones & the crap on “Guts of a Virgin” tends to be… well… crappier. In fact, there are really only three songs that I enjoy here & I don’t think it’s any surprise to find them corresponding with the more traditional sounding pieces on the tracklisting because I’m simply not the guy for intentionally whacky music that offers more in the way of novelty value than it does from a musical standpoint. I really enjoyed Bill Laswell’s dubbier influence on a couple of tracks from “Buried Secrets” too but it’s nowhere to be found on “Guts of a Virgin”.

Perhaps I’m not the target audience for a record like this one but I have to ask… is there really one & are they actually music fans? Look… “Guts of a Virgin” is nowhere near as bad as I first thought it was but it’s a long way from an enjoyable listen either. In saying that, I get the distinct feeling that PainKiller’s third album “Execution Ground” might be the one to offer me the most appeal based purely on my past scores & its general genre-tagging which sees dark ambient & ambient dub playing a strong role at the expense of grindcore. Perhaps I should hook myself up with some of them apples shortly, huh?

Mayan is a side-project by Epica members Mark Jansen and Ariën van Weesenbeek. Many of the other members of the bands Jansen is in (including his former band After Forever) are as super talented as he is. Mayan has had a massive powerhouse of musicians of vocalists in their progressive/symphonic death metal albums. And after their starting duo of Quarterpast and Antagonise, here they are again in Dhyana (sounds like the name of someone I once knew)!

I had not followed Mayan since my big switch from epic melody to modern heaviness in my metal taste, and that switch happened just under a year before Dhyana came out. I just can't believe what I missed out until now! The band have sealed their balance between metal and orchestra without extra experimentation. The vocal department shines best from female vocalists Laura Macri and Marcela Bovio. The hauntingly beautiful soprano Laura was a session member for Quarterpast then joined the band full-time for Antagonise. The operatic energetic Stream of Passion vocalist Marcela was a session member for Antagonise then joined the band full-time for this album.

"The Rhythm of Freedom" is a glorious 7-minute opening track with different well-structured layers. Jansen and co. were reinventing the wheel and making it unbreakable. "Tornado of Thoughts (I Don't Think, Therefore I Am)" continues this powerful cauldron. "Saints Don't Die" throws back greatly to Quarterpast with the power metal vocals of Henning Basse, who was with the band since that album but left the band just before the release of Dhyana, while making a few guest appearances. The title track is an odd ballad. Despite being a interesting composition where the two female vocalists shine over classical/acoustic instrumentation, it doesn't seem that distinctive, rather being out of place in between the aggression of most other tracks. Still I like the uniqueness of that soft ballad.

"Rebirth from Despair" breaks the quietness with its soaring blast-beats and riff-wrath, complete with Marcela's serene vocal glory. One of the best and heaviest tracks here! "The Power Process" starts with the clean female singing duo who then rise into a duel with the deathly screamed vocals. Soon it leads to a calm piano bridge followed by a heavy talented guitar solo towards the end, all making things interesting. The 9-minute progressive epic "The Illusory Self" is the best way to summarize all this album has to offer, from the classic riffing to the epic choruses. This should've been the end of the album right there, but it's OK that it isn't, because there's more of the epicness to come...

Another ballad "Satori" consists mostly of just the expressive soprano vocals of Laura and mystical background orchestra. Then we moved into "Maya - The Veil Of Delusion" (I almost thought of that djenty deathcore band and the Cynic song they're named after). The boys just wanna have fun, as the all-male side of the vocal department shine in perfect intensity. Then "The Flaming Rage of God" has some more fury. Finally, "Set Me Free" ends the album as an excellent blazing anthem.

If there was anything that would renew my interest in the progressive/symphonic death metal of Mayan's first two albums, this is it. Dhyana has the best of what I once loved about those albums. I may be a more serious grown-up more interested in modern heaviness, but I'm slowly regaining memories of my epic melodic youth!

Favorites: "The Rhythm of Freedom", "Saints Don't Die", "Rebirth from Despair", "The Illusory Self", "Maya - The Veil Of Delusion", "Set Me Free"

As I try to get back in touch with music from the more epic and melodic metal bands I've been familiar is, Before the Dawn is another one of those bands. Recently, the band reformed along with his side-project Dawn of Solace after founder Tuomas Saukkonen spent some time with his own different band Wolfheart. Now let's look back at one of the albums from the initial run of Before the Dawn...

Soundscape of Silence continues the Dark Tranquillity-esque gothic melodeath sound that reached its height in the previous album Deadlight. The riffs, bass, and vocals fit in the cold production. Honestly, I prefer Saukkonen's harsh vocals more than the clean singing by bassist Lars Eikind. Saukkonen can really pull off his distinct rough voice.

"Dying Sun" would've been a good song, but Eikind's cleans sound awkward and more overly dramatic than melancholic. Deathstar Rising would have more of that before thankfully being absent in Rise of the Phoenix. Next song "Exile" continues that issue, sounding redundant when the guitar leads do their melodic work. "Silence" has better melodic riffing that isn't too far off from The Haunted and even 36 Crazyfists. "Dead Reflection" has some of that great Omnium Gatherum melody.

The more positive "Hide Me" has melodic Insomnium-like leads that would make the song shine well if not for Eikind's vocals. "Fabrication" has some of the crystalline yet heavy riffing melody of Crystal Lake. "Saviour" speeds things up while leaning a bit into Black Veil Brides in the metalcore-ish riffing.

The one song where Eikind sounds good is "Monsters" where he sings in more natural delivery in the soft verses, and it doesn't get in the way of the heavy guitar. "Cold" twists through speedy guitarwork that stir up catchy melody that I enjoy. Then it leads to the "Last Song", my favorite track here and one of the best by the band. The quite intro building up into harmonic guitars in a grand climax has the right sense of closure, without Eikind's poor vocals! The bonus track "Ignite" is a decent piece of melodeath.

After not hearing Before the Dawn in a few years, I made a rather iffy return via revisiting Soundscape of Silence. Saukkonen is the main star here, not Eikind. As interesting as it is to add gothic instrumentation/vocals to melodeath, not all of that aspect is enjoyable....

Favorites: "Silence", "Dead Reflection", "Monsters", "Cold", "Last Song"

Wintersun isn't the only band to make us wait around a decade for part 2 of an album series. Scar Symmetry have their ongoing The Singularity trilogy going on, and Phase II - Xenotaph came out 9 years after Phase I - Neohumanity. It was nice listening to Phase I almost a decade ago, but that's where my Scar Symmetry journey stopped after I began to explore less epic, heavier modern metal. So here's my great return to the world of Scar Symmetry, with a few crooked steps...

Xenotaph feels a lot more like an actual album with all tracks being full songs, twice the amount of full songs Neohumanity had alongside a couple interludes, all the more reason to consider that album the band's own Time I. As a result, Xenotaph's full length reaches almost an hour. Some tracks have wild speed, others have slow tranquility.

Heading straight into the heavy blasting action without an intro, "Chrononautilus" stuns me with the strength the band has maintained after their long hiatus, in the singles that lead up to this long-awaited album. Lars Palmqvist ascends like a neohuman angel with his enigmatic clean singing, in contrast to the demonic growls of Roberth Karlsson. Excellent! The other single "Scorched Quadrant" follows with a phenomenal sound like late 90s In Flames modernized and sci-fi-ed. I probably would've loved it perfectly if the chorus didn't sound too much like Madonna's "La Isla Bonita", along with the cleans not sounding too quiet. I still enjoy it! Then things lighten up in "Overworld", particularly in the chorus, to combat the otherwise negative atmosphere. Next track "Altergeist" has f***ing heavy blast beats.

My favorite track here is "Reichsfall". There's dynamic elegance in the intro before the usual heavy fight and melodic flight. The pace often slows down right before the chorus, losing a bit of dynamic while still sounding cool. The vocals are amazing, but I can't tell the higher notes are real or done with a vocoder similar to Cynic. Either way, that along with the guitar melodies spawn a pleasant Blind Guardian vibe. What a progressive adventure within an adventure! I can almost think of "Digiphrenia Dawn" as combining the modern heaviness of Fear Factory with the power metal of Powerwolf. "Hyperborean Plains" has some guitar fiddling that's almost like the 8-bit synths of HORSE the Band or Machinae Supremacy translated into electric guitar. "Gridworm" drives through the band's amazing talent without needing a break. That deathly gem is filled with some awesome hammering sh*t!

As amazing as "A Voyage with Tailed Meteors" sounds in the title and heavy instrumentation, the production seems a bit raw and empty. "Soulscanner" brings melody and speed up front, almost like Sonic Syndicate on steroids. That's quite wicked and will gear you up for the final epic... The 8-minute title closer concludes this part of the Singularity trilogy, blending their own usual sci-fi melodeath with the extreme progressiveness of Ne Obliviscaris. By the end of this epic, you'll be wanting more from this saga and hoping you'll get it from the upcoming third part.

With all that said, Scar Symmetry still have their strength in Xenotaph. Let's just hope things improve a bit before the 3rd and final part of the trilogy that will hopefully come by the end of this decade. And when it finally comes, maybe it will inspire Wintersun founder Jari Mäenpää to make Time III, but I'm already hoping for too much....

Favorites: "Chrononautilus", "Scorched Quadrant", "Reichsfall", "Gridworm", "Soulscanner", "Xenotaph"

"When all is fire and flaming air. When all is said and all is done. Beneath the ground, and man lies dead. When all the earth is a cold grave and no more brave." It is a quote to remember from this Edge of Sanity track that somehow didn't end up in this compilation despite sharing the same name...

Edge of Sanity is one of the leading bands of Swedish melodeath, though there's never as much credit for that band developing the genre as the Gothenburg trio (At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames). When All is Said compiles tracks from all major releases, two per album. The second disc has the two Crimson albums/suites that were shortened slightly to fit in the 80-minute CD limit. The edited versions would later be split into several tracks (not according to lyrical movements) for streaming services.

"Tales" starts the first disc and the song's original album Nothing but Death Remains with a spooky keyboard intro before progressing into raw death metal heaviness. The production is a bit poor, but the track is nice and decent. Something to note about the first minute of "Human Aberration" is how faulty volume control is in the production. The guitars and bass still please me despite the lack of proper delivery. The Unorthodox section kicks off with the diverse "Enigma", which introduces a melodic section complete with clean singing. "In the Veins/Darker than Black" starts slow with heavy riffing, then founder Dan Swano starts growling through the verse with fast drumming. The song keeps switching from melody and brutality before heading into groove/thrash metal followed by blasting black metal. More promising variety than "Enigma"!

"The Masque" has some melodic groove-ish verse riffing that springs to mind melodic death 'n' roll. The Spectral Sorrows is where Dan was really thinking outside the box with his deathly style. "Lost" has some catchy greatness in the structure. The title track of the EP Until Eternity Ends has nice dynamic melody. The gothic singing hinted in The Spectral Sorrows is quite interesting while staying in character with the sound. This different direction is tested out again in "Eternal Eclipse" with more rock-out melody. Having almost forgotten about Purgatory Afterglow after my last listen a few years ago, that album's opener "Twilight" almost caught me off-guard with its synth/vocal intro when checking out this compilation. There is catchy progressive action in the riffing with cool vocals. There's also a bit of death-doom to remind some of Novembers Doom. Then halfway through is a soft spoken passage. "Will we ever meet again?... NO!!!" Then we have "Black Tears", an interesting song relying on clean singing.

We skip ahead to Infernal with the song "15:36" in which Dan explores the bluesy tendencies of his other band Nightingale. One track that barely gets mentioned is "Hell is Where the Heart is" which takes on the usual sound of Edge of Sanity but more melodic. It just goes to straight to destructive riffing and growls without any keyboards or cleans. And d*mn, the soloing is quite killer! On the other hand, "Hell Written" isn't that strong. It's from the only Edge of Sanity album without Dan, Cryptic. Despite that, it twists into a softer Opeth-like bridge without having to be a 10+ minute epic. "Bleed You Dry" is an amazing track with the last bit of the band's strictly deathly achievements.

And now we get to the "Crimson" epics, starting with the first one. It starts slow and doomy in the first two minutes, then speeds up into the fast melodic main riff. Then it quiets down and builds back up in heaviness back and forth, with incredible doomy black metal-ish tremolo near the 8-minute mark. Then the switch from quite to heavy keeps coming until over the 13-minute point with a sinister melodic march, followed by rapid-fire blast-beats and another groove-ish section before f***ing catchy riffing melody close to the 16-minute mark. Now let's skip ahead through the rest of the greatness until 28 minutes in when a softer verse is abruptly cut by one of the greatest screams I've heard in death metal followed by one of the greatest guitar solos I've heard in death metal. After some more speed, once we reach 32 and a half minutes, there's a layered vocal acapella verse before returning to the suite's main riff and the last bit of the heaviness/melody before ending it all right at 40 minutes (originally). And finally we have the 43-minute "Crimson II". This is too massive for me to describe in words, though the best part for me is all that melody between the 3-minute and 6-minute mark.

Anyone new to Edge of Sanity can check this compilation out and explore the different eras of the band. The die-hard collectors might also want this release too. For me, it's a nice throwback to this band I listened to when I was still heavily into melodeath. A solid way to get into all that Dan Swano and co. have said and done.....

Favorites (one per original album): "Tales", "In the Veins/Darker than Black", "The Masque", "Until Eternity Ends", "Twilight", "Hell is Where the Heart is", "Bleed You Dry", "Crimson", "Crimson II"

I really feel like I'm losing my touch with the more epic and melodic metal bands out there. Despite finally gaining enough full-time interest in Amorphis last year and enjoying many of their releases, the enjoyment didn't last long and I ended up back in square one, likely because I'm still hellbent on the more modern heavy bands. I decided that the best way to revisit this band is through this album, Magic & Mayhem - Tales from the Early Years, a 20th anniversary re-recording of songs from their first 3 albums.

The weird yet cool artwork of a gigantic Moby Dick-sized fish (somehow writing that sounds a bit dirty) is a sign of how monstrous the band's earlier material is that has been re-recorded. The songs from their underground debut The Karelian Isthmus are in greater detail. The band stay faithful to the original songs while adding some more guitar soloing, keyboards, and longer sections. Also enhancing the spirit of those tracks is the band's skillful current vocalist Tomi Joutsen. I enjoy his clean singing as well as his powerful growls that allowed the band to revisit some of their roots when he joined the band. And this helps with the mostly solid songs the band has chosen...

The title track of the compilation, which is also the last track of its original album Tales from the Thousand Lakes, focuses a lot on keyboards while keeping the heavy riffing going, fitting well with the name. "Vulgar Necrolatry" was originally a bonus track from The Karelian Isthmus, stemming from pre-Amorphis band Abhorrence. It is one of the most brutal Amorphis songs ever, fueled up by the typical death metal themes of death and rotting in Hell after completing a life of fear. The more doomy parts a bit flawed, but it's set aside by the heavier faster sections. "Into Hiding" comes to mind as one of the strongest songs in Finnish metal, complete with memorable riffs, pounding drums, solid bass, and groovy keyboards. Those enchanting keyboards are displayed the best in "Black Winter Day", as the heaviness lightens up a bit.

"On Rich and Poor" from Elegy has cool melodies and occasional key changes, but it can get tiring after a while, and the vocals can't really keep up with the melodies at times. "Exile of the Sons of Uisliu" still remains my favorite song of the debut. The references to Irish folklore fit perfectly with the Iron Maiden-infused harmonic leads. "The Castaway" is a more unique song with an Egyptian folk vibe. The awesome catchy "Song of the Troubled One" has the best of Amorphis' earlier melodeath sound. You can't miss the dissonant soloing later on in the song.

"Sign from the North Side" is more mid-paced and the riffing doesn't hook you enough, but it still has a great sense of deathly action. Some more of the memorable riffing comes in "Drowned Maid". Then "Against Widows" levels up the diversity. However, listening to that song again, it seems to be missing something. This is fixed in the grand finale "My Kantele". The sorrowful lyrics really detail the emotional magic from the Finnish instrument in question ("Its strings gathered from torments, and its pegs from other ills. Truly they lie, they talk utter nonsense... So it will not play, will not rejoice at all. Music will not play to please.") The vocals work well with the guitars and keyboards. The track is basically extended into an epic as the heavy version is combined with the acoustic reprise for a memorable climax of harmonic leads. Beautiful!

If we ignore the bizarre stinker cover of The Doors' "Light My Fire", we have a special album made for Amorphis fans curious about what their earlier material would sound like in the new era. The original charm can't be totally restored but they've done well in revisiting the earlier glory. Anyone new to the band can check this album out to see if they feel up to exploring their first 3 albums including what I once thought was the perfect duo Tales from the Thousand Lakes and Elegy. The die-hard collectors might also want this release too. For me, it's a nice throwback to their young wonder years. Not essential enough to fully return to listening to this band, yet something magical....

Favorites (two per original album): "Into Hiding", "Exile of the Sons of Uisliu", "Song of the Troubled One", "Sign from the North Side", "Drowned Maid", "My Kantele"

There are times in the life of any committed metalhead when they discover a release that leaves them truly bewildered as to how it's managed to slip under the radar of the rest of the metal community. When they realise that they've maintained a life-long love affair with a record that others simply don't seem to place as much value on. When they feel like they're privy to a wonderful secret that no one else on Earth is allowed to know. That, ladies & gentlemen, is how I've felt about the 1992 debut album from Swedish death metallers Seance since way back in the early 1990's. You see, at a time when death metal was at its absolute peak, "Fornever Laid To Rest" sat up on a pedestal alongside the true greats of the genre with a pre-internet world not giving me the opportunity to find out that not everyone felt the same way that I did. I gave the album a heavy thrashing for a number of years there & it represented a pretty a big influence on my own band Neuropath as a result too but I often forget about it myself these days due to the fact that no one really talks about it. Looking back on it now though, the magic that "Fornever Laid To Rest" conatins has all come rushing back to me again & left me just as baffled as I was as a youngster back in the early 1990's.

Seance may have been from Sweden but "Fornever Laid To Rest" is nothing like the releases that were exploding out of that country at the time, sounding much more similar to the US scene that I maintained a much stronger affiliation with. It's about as death metal as they come in its approach with the five band members proving themselves to have a great pedigree & being more than capable as musicians. There's a slightly technical edge to Seance's song-writing style however they never really approach the borders that sit between your more conventional death metal & the more expansive tech death crowd. Instead, they use their more complex rhythmic moments to create additional interest which sees them stepping up in class from your average meat-&-potatoes death metal outfit. They're never too clinical in their execution though either. In fact, it could be argued that the performances could have been tightened up a little bit with some extra time & attention & that's probably the album's only weakness. It's funny because all of the individuals seem to be highly capable at their chosen craft however they don't quite bring it together in as tight a fashion as they potentially could have at times with drummer Micke Pettersson (Witchery) being the one that most often seems to find himself most challenged simply to keep up with everyone else. I do think that this element gives "Fornever Laid To Rest" a bit of additional street credibility though, in a similar way to that which Immolation were able to consistently create.

The production is spot on for this style of music as it presents all of the key elements that any self-respecting death metal fan looks out for. Everything is right up in your face with an enormous amount of energy on display but it's never difficult to decipher what's going on, even when Seance really put their foot down. The deep, aggressive vocals of front man Johan Larsson are utterly devastating & remind me of Deicide's Glen Benton at his very best. In fact, I'd suggest that Deicide was likely the primary source of influence for Seance however "Fornever Laid To Rest" is a significantly stronger effort than Deicide's highly regarded "Legion" sophomore album that hit the shelves just the day after Seance's debut in my opinion. I also find myself drawing comparisons to Gorguts' 1991 debut album "Considered Dead" quite regularly & if you combined those two releases then you wouldn't be far from imagining Seance's early sound.

The tracklisting is wonderfully consistent with most of the record managing to qualify for my prestigious Hall of Metal Glory category. The highlights come thick & fast with the title track being very hard to go past for the pick of the bunch. Opener "Who Will Not Be Dead", "The Blessing of Death", "Sin", "Haunter", the Cannibal Corpse-ish "Necronomicon" & closer "Inferna Cabbala" are all stunning in their scope & execution too though so how could I not be awarding an elite score to a release that boasts such an amazing array of elite-level death metal. This record is unapologetically right up my creative alley & it's lost none of its lustre with the passing years. If bands like Malevolent Creation & Monstrosity really float your boat then I'd hazard to suggest that you're in for a real treat with Seance too. Their 1993 follow-up record "Saltrubbed Eyes" may not have been quite as unanimous in its efficient carving up of my musical psyche but it was still a pretty decent death metal record too just quietly & is equally as over-looked. It's a totally uninhibited "Fuck yeah!" from this ol' extreme metal fanatic on this occasion guys.

My initiation to bizarre New York free jazz/grindcore hybrid act PainKiller came through late-night underground metal radio programming back in the early 1990's with one show in particular seeming to take quite a shining to them. At the time I found the material to be grating at best as I had no points of reference for this sort of thing. I found myself to be more than a little bit fascinated though so would end up exploring all of PainKiller's full-lengths over the next few years. Admittedly, I really struggled with all of three of them but I did find myself liking them more with each successive release. Whether that was because I was slowly coming around to the whole concept & expanding my musical repertoire or not is probably a question that needs to be asked but I also wonder whether I ever gave myself the time & attention required to see me gaining any real sort of understanding of what was going on with records like these. You see, they're just so different to anything else I'd heard to the time but I feel a little better equipped to handle an album like PainKiller's 1992 sophomore record "Buried Secrets" now so I thought I'd challenge myself this week.

PainKiller were a side project of avant-garde jazz legend John Zorn of Naked City fame, ambient dub stalwart bass guitarist Bill Laswell & our much beloved blast-beat master Mick Harris who you'll no doubt be familiar with from his time with artists like Napalm Death, Scorn, Extreme Noise Terror & Unseen Terror. Sound like a strange combination? Well, it sure fucking is. The trio go about their craft with a reckless abandon that sees the stylistic approaches changing rapidly between songs but with the one consistent element being Zorn's psychotic free jazz alto saxophone assault. If you've ever heard Naked City before then you'll have some idea of what to expect from Zorn as his contribution is fairly similar with his penchant for making loud, obnoxious honks & squeals taking priority over anything of genuine musical merit. Laswell & Harris provide an assortment of backing tracks that range from very short, lightspeed grindcore blasts to a more measured & heavy sludge metal cesspool to deep, warm & trippy dub excursions. You'll even find some Godfleshy industrial metal on the title track while the lengthy closer & album highlight "The Toll" is nothing a short of drone metal masterpiece. When you combine all of these disparate sounds together it creates an entirely new world that borders on not being music at all at times & that I'd suggest fits best under the avant-garde jazz metal tag. It's certainly a little short-sighted to call "Buried Secrets" a grindcore album because the grind component takes up only a very small percentage of the overall run time.

The quality of the record as a single piece of art is open for interpretation as I find it to be very inconsistent in its ability to successfully keep me engaged but thankfully the highlights come in the form of the longer pieces while the silly novelty tracks only make up a relatively small portion of the release. In fact, I'd suggest that I can do without all of the grindcore & avant-garde metal material because it contains next to no musical value. The true gold to be found on "Buried Secrets" comes in the form of the remainder of the album with the Laswell-inspired dub tracks "Blackhole Dub" & "Black Chamber" containing lush, trance-inducing bass lines, the title track creating scenes of a cold industrial wasteland & "One-Eyed Pessary" taking me down into a pit of angry & abrasive sludge. "The Toll" has struck me with the power of a thousand atom bombs too & leaves me feeling nothing short of devastated at its completion. These moments are both intriguing & musically rewarding, despite the inevitably spasmodic contribution of Zorn, & I've ended up finding myself strangely attracted to the whole experience even if I'm not sure I'll ever feel the need to return to it again.

So where does "Buried Secrets" sit in the grand scheme of PainKiller's back catalogue then? Well, it's a little hard to remember the other releases now given how little time I gave them to win me over back in the day & the fact that my feelings on this record have changed so dramatically since my first experiences with it tell me that they're likely to do the same with 1991's "Guts of a Virgin" debut album & 1994's "Execution Ground" third record. Perhaps it's time that I revisited those two releases so as to give myself a little more of a grounded opinion on the matter. In the meantime though, you're right to feel a little suspicious about "Buried Secrets" as it certainly isn't for everyone but those with an open mind & an adventurous heart may find themselves being taken to some of the more interesting & unusual places known to man.

I'm far more of a music listener and a reviewer than a musician and composer. I've been listening to metal music for over a decade now. I've first encountered Wintersun a few years after the release of the long-awaited Time I, and that album I used to think was one of the most epic metal albums I've heard, despite its short "incomplete" length. As I grew older though, I've realized that my true metal heart lies in modern heaviness rather than melodic epicness. I switched to a more mature appealing path for me...

So what does all that mean? It means my enjoyment for Wintersun is still around, but not as much as in the past. This live album, released on the same day as The Forest Seasons, consists of almost the entire Time I album plus a few tracks from their 2004 debut album. Does all this epic diversity still stand out for me well? Let's find out!

The intro of both Time I and Live at Tuska Festival 2013 is the 4-minute "When Time Fades Away". It is an atmospheric Eastern-style instrumental that sounds quite beautiful. The first full song, "Sons of Winter and Stars" is perhaps one of the most epic-sounding songs in all of metal, to guide you through a complex battle of metal and orchestra. At least I used to think about how epic it is, but listening to this now, it still has grand potential, but it's not as put together smoothly as I once thought it was. Still I can't argue with anyone with saying that's the very definition of epic metal. Nowadays, I consider "Land of Snow and Sorrow" my favorite track from Time I with melodic beauty in the riffing and orchestration. It can please metalheads with its swaying melancholy, and the vocals are in full effect especially in a highly memorable chorus.

Finally getting into the songs from the debut, "Winter Madness" once again pushes the boundaries of blackened melodeath that shouldn't be any problem with the heavier metalheads. "Beautiful Death" has the most of the black metal influences here.

The title track of the Time series, "Time" rounds off Time I quite well. Although not as developed in complexity as "Sons of Winter and Stars", this other epic has more stable structure complete with soloing and epic melodies more tolerable for the present-day me. Yeah, I like it more than "Sons of Winter and Stars" today. Then we have the progressive multi-part "Starchild". Although I enjoyed this a lot when I was younger, it now suffers the same problem as Star One's "Starchild" epic; a bit annoying and pompous, and the song ends better than it began. Probably the weakest track here, but still a suitable ending to the show.

Live at Tuska Festival 2013 is a release I don't enjoy as much as I had when I was a young fan of epic metal. The songs from Time I sound quite epic, but they're not that appealing to the more modern/heavy-focused side of me. And this release would've been better if the songs they performed from their debut aren't the weakest ones from there. Still I don't consider any of this a criminal atrocity. This is bombastic symphonic melodeath/power metal for anyone wanting to hear metal at its most epic....

Favorites: "Land of Snow and Sorrow", "Winter Madness", "Time"

There’s absolutely no doubt that my relationship with Swedish death metal gods Entombed was at its peak during the 1991-92 period which was mainly off the back of their 1991 sophomore album “Clandestine” which I regard as being their only genuinely classic release. I first became aware of Entombed through their legendary 1990 debut album “Left Hand Path” & would go on to investigate their earlier demo work shortly afterwards (under both the Nihilist & Entombed monikers) but none of that material had as lasting an impact on me as their more sophisticated & professional second full-length which saw me standing up & paying attention in no uncertain terms. Shortly after the release of “Clandestine” though, we’d receive a couple of short EP’s in quick succession. One was the “Crawl” EP which featured Nirvana 2002 vocalist Orvar Safstrom behind the mike. It was a decent enough record but wasn’t quite as strong as I’d hoped. 1992’s “Stranger Aeons” EP was a more lucrative undertaking for me though as it sounded very much like “Clandestine”. I picked it up as a part of the Earache Records “Gods of Grind” compilation which also included EP’s from Cathedral, Carcass & Confessor.

The ”Stranger Aeons” EP is a short three-song affair that includes one track taken from the “Clandestine” album (i.e. the title track) as well as two new songs that were recorded in a separate single-night session at Sunlight Studios by just vocalist/drummer Nicke Anderson & guitarist/bassist Ulf Cederlund. I wouldn’t say that “Stranger Aeons” is one of the true classics from “Clandestine” but it’s certainly a very solid death metal tune in its own right & doesn’t disappoint here either. The other two songs sound very similar in style & benefit from maintaining a similar vocal delivery too given that Anderson continues to deliver his barking style of death growl here. Nicke’s vocal performance on “Clandestine” has always been highly divisive but I sit firmly on the side that favours him over the much loved L-G Petrov who would return the fold shortly afterwards.

The production job on all three tracks is excellent & the two sessions don’t sound noticeably different which allows “Dusk” & “Shreds of Flesh” (a re-recording of a track from Entombed’s 1989 “But Life Goes On” demo tape) a level of continuity with the title track. I simply love Nicke’s drum sound & performance here & he’s always been the true focal point of Entombed for mine. The crunchy guitar tone is quite possibly the perfect example of the Swedish BOSS HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal sound too. There’s absolutely no drop-off in quality from the title track to “Dusk” & I feel it would have fit into “Clandestine” just fine while “Shreds of Flesh” is clearly the weaker of the three songs but is given some additional appeal by the fresh coat of paint.

“Stranger Aeons” may feel like a pretty insignificant release given the limited scope & duration but it’s interesting that I find it to offer me more enjoyment than I receive from any other Entombed release outside of “Clandestine”. It’s simply more consistent in ticking my musical boxes & it frustrates me a bit that the band elected to move away from this sound when they’d only just reached their creative peak. I think any diehard fan of Swedish death metal bands like Dismember, Grave or Carnage owes it to themselves to explore it.

The story of Wintersun is a legendary one. After this stunning self-titled debut album, the founder of the band, Jari Mäenpää decided to make an album so epic and complex that it can be considered the "Chinese Democracy" of epic metal in terms of development. And while the first part Time I was released in 2012, it wasn't until this year (2024) that Time II is finally finished and will be released later this year (2024), plus a massive boxset that includes demos for a planned multi-album series. And it shall continue this diverse blend of the power metal of Rhapsody of Fire, the viking metal of Bathory, the melodeath of Children of Bodom, and the folk metal of Equilibrium!

As ambitious as this blend sounds, it doesn't have true originality. I still enjoy this, don't get me wrong, but as I grow older and my music taste matures, the spark from these kinds of bands is long gone from me, and it is a bit overwhelming hearing so many elements in one plate that I once enjoyed 10 years before this review. Despite the lack of coherence, there's still brilliant creativity. The epic narratives and melodeath rage work well in their respective places when they don't clash heavily into each other.

I like how the song lengths ascend from the shortest to the longest throughout the album, starting with the short yet heavily diverse "Beyond the Dark Sun". There's so much going on in just two and a half minutes in contrast to their longer songs lasting more than 5 minutes. The power metal riffing, neoclassical keyboards, epic narration, deathly vocals, and folky atmosphere are all in here! It's so catchy and will get you prepared for this solid journey that would end with a 10-minute epic. Next song "Winter Madness" once again pushes the boundaries of blackened melodeath that shouldn't be any problem with the heavier metalheads.

Taking a break from the aggression is "Sleeping Stars" which has slower beauty. Kicking off "Battle Against Time" is a two-minute blasting intro. The song itself is suitable for an epic winter battle. "Death and the Healing" shines with melancholic guitar melody in an epic ballad, once again showing a different side of the band as opposed to the fast fury of most of the previous songs.

Then we have the progressive multi-part "Starchild". Although I enjoyed this a lot when I was younger, it now suffers the same problem as Star One's "Starchild" epic; a bit annoying and pompous, and the song ends better than it began. Probably the weakest track here, but strong enough to maintain the 4-star rating for this album. "Beautiful Death" has the most of the black metal influences here. The journey finally reaches its climax in the exceptional "Sadness and Hate" with epic majesty in the music and lyrics. This solidifies the album following the perfect metal storm of beginning and ending with the best tracks. And there are more epics like this to come in subsequent albums...

All in all, there's so much ambitious creativity in this album, but this epicness I don't enjoy as much as I did when I was a young teen due to how overwhelming I find some passages nowadays. As catchy as some songs can be, they could've been better structured. I just hope the time spent on completing the Time series will all be worth it. I'm sure anyone who enjoys the epic power/melodeath/folk metal of Alestorm, Battlelore, and Eluveitie will dig this as much as I did in the past but much more than I do now....

Favorites: "Beyond the Dark Sun", "Battle Against Time", "Death and the Healing", "Sadness and Hate"

People seem to start their journey through the music of Becoming the Archetype with their debut album Terminate Damnation. I, on the other hand, have just started with their second album The Physics of Fire that covers a progressive melodeath sound. And this might just be a newfound favorite of mine!

As you can hear in The Physics of Fire, the band can really put their talents forward and show what they do best. Around then, the band entered the deathly progressive metal realms where Opeth is the ruler, and BTA have something different that is their metalcore influences. Fast technical soloing sears in grace, played by then-lead guitarist Alex Snow. Count Seth Hecox has some pounding guitar rhythms. Bassist/vocalist Jason Wisdom is steady on his unique vocals. Brett Duckett keeps his drumming pace tight.

The drumming already crashes in with the crushing opening track "Epoch of War". Interestingly, it is considered the 3rd part of the album's title suite. "Immolation" has pretty great cleans. The higher-quality "Autopsy" (second track in a row to have the same name as a death metal band) is my favorite here. The lyrics seem to follow the simple yet intriguing Christian theme of faith vs. fire. Although I'm not Christian, those kinds of lyrics are the best for me. "The Great Fall" is the actual first part of the title suite, and it's up to the listeners to decipher the lyrical story based on the arrangement of parts. That's the kind of challenge I like!

"Nocturne" is a nice instrumental intermission. Even when starting with piano and clean guitar, the heaviness that follows can still show the album's sound that combines the epic melodeath of Insomnium and Eternal Tears of Sorrow with the modern progressiveness of Tesseract and The Human Abstract. "The Monolith" has a nice clean jazzy guitar island in the sea of metal. My only major complaint for this song and the entire album is how that clean section abruptly switches back to usual hardcore progressive death sound without a proper warning. I really enjoy hearing a lot of ideas. There's more prominent keyboard usage in "Construct and Collapse", particularly in the intro. The riffing shines the most in "Endure" despite the song's short length.

"Fire Made Flesh", the actual second part of the title suite, has a bit of broken flow in the keyboards, but it still fits better when you hear piano instead of synths. "Second Death" is an excellent track with great potential in the vocals, working well with the brief turn into gothic doom in the intro. The 4th and final part of the title suite, "The Balance of Eternity" perfectly summarizes the lyrical theme of faith vs. fire, connecting well with this progressive epic to bring this glorious offering to a fantastic close.

Now this is the kind of metal sound I need in my life. And it's more than one sound, it's a sound of many sounds! Each song is unique in their own way, thereby proving the amazing talents these guys have. Yet another band has proven that Christian extreme metal is a thing. A fascinating heavy experience!

Favorites: "Autopsy", "The Great Fall", "Nocturne", "Endure", "Second Death", "The Balance of Eternity"

It's no mistake that Hatebreeder (not to be confused with metal/hardcore band Hatebreed) is considered a shining breakthrough for Children of Bodom. Their mighty blend of melodeath and power metal has been put together in place after the incoherent building blocks of their debut Something Wild. That's the kind of sound I enjoyed when I was younger and up to revisiting. The intensity and variation are arranged together for the classic sound of Bodom!

Some might say that the melody doesn't reach its full height until Follow the Reaper, and while that's true, Hatebreeder greatly displays the well-structured interplay of guitars and synths. The devastating drumming and distorted guitars are in almost perfect form for the album's uniqueness.

Sparks fly in rapid fire with "Warheart", a chaotic blast of an opening track that already solidifies where the band stand in the Finnish metal throne alongside Nightwish. "Silent Night, Bodom Night" has a riff that sounds almost like something from the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, and the rest of the song is so distinctly unique. The title track is actually a bit restrained in the vocals and keyboards. Nonetheless, the keyboard ambience and soloing are what makes this sound so unique.

The guitars and keyboards perfectly duel with each other in "Bed of Razors". It's the most melodic song here to get you hooked from the keyboard intro to the catchy chorus, and even some cool surprises in the verses. The melodic instruments really take the spotlight, especially when the keyboard has orchestra-like ambience and killer soloing. Perhaps one of the most memorable songs here, and one I still remember for so long! "Towards Dead End" has an Eastern vibe in the guitars and keyboards, and towards the end, a stroll through an oriental garden turns into a magical battle during the soloing duel. I would've considered "Black Widow" perfect if not for the out-of-nowhere F-bomb.

Then we have the thrashy "Wrath Within", hinting at the band's later direction. The band's own theme "Children of Bodom", re-recorded from an earlier single, has some of the most exciting soloing from this album and band. The harpsichord leading the guitar melody might remind some of King Diamond before unleashing some more complex hooks. Anyone new to this kind of sound needs to concentrate well to hear all the different elements, so you can enjoy it all at its fullest. The melodic "Downfall" shall be appreciated as kick-starting the band's atmospheric side that they had displayed ever since. The deluxe edition comes with two covers, the first being "No Commands" by Stone, a band featuring later Bodom guitarist Roope Latvala. The cover of Iron Maiden's "Aces High" is quite fun, despite the vocals sounding unfitting.

Hatebreeder is a fun album to revisit in an attempt to bring back a bit of melodeath/power metal back into my taste. I can probably also do the same with Follow the Reaper sometime in the future. For now, let's appreciate this innovative addition to the melodeath realm from this band led by the late great Alexi Laiho! RIP

Favorites: "Warheart", "Silent Night, Bodom Night", "Bed of Razors", "Children of Bodom", "Downfall", "Aces High" (Iron Maiden cover)

I gotta say, this is one of the most melodic melodeath albums I've heard, and I still think so after not hearing this album for a few years. Fans of the band's earlier heavier melodeath might put it down, but this self-titled 3rd album is the transition between their heavier melodeath and the experimental alt-metal of their subsequent albums...

In other words, this album isn't one you can consider purely melodeath. It's a h*ll of a lot more than that! You can hear those deathly growls and screams, while a lot more clean singing has entered the picture. And with riffing that's much more melodic than dissonant, it marks the beginning of their alt-metal side. Though if you wish to hear just full-on melodeath, it covers a lot of the second half. By letting your mind open up a bit, you can find a f***-ton of greatness hidden in the shadows.

The first track "Queen of Blades" is a great start as it soars through the metal riffing and anthemic choruses. "The Great Pretender" can almost be consider death 'n' roll, but it sounds closer to me like one of the wackier PAIN tracks without any industrial tendencies. Next up, "Shattered Wings" is a smooth alt-metal song with a melodic solo.

"Reload" might remind some of that Metallica album Reload in the rock-on riffing, though the higher screaming and singing might say otherwise. Continuing the alt-metal direction is "Out of Our Minds" with technical guitar fiddling in the intro that then leads to a softer verse. It's a better and listenable song in the alt-metal side. "Deeper Down" once again takes things further into the alt-metal of Dir En Grey and Waltari, and to a lesser extent, Code Orange and Fear Factory de-industrialized. After that, we have "Revolution of Two", a true melodeath anthem that also includes a clean chorus and atmospheric bridge.

"Roadkill" is another killer rocker, though a bit tiring at this point. The two-minute "Pigf***er" has the most aggression here and the shortest length too. The earlier Avatar fans might dig the sh*t out of that one. The perfect melodeath finale is the 8-minute epic "Lullaby (Death All Over)". It is my favorite song in this album and a glorious conclusion to the band's earlier melodeath era.

So the music in Avatar's self-titled 3rd album marks the beginning of the end of their pure melodeath years. The album is quite great, though a few songs could have some kinks worked out here and there. As long as death metal doesn't fully plague your mind, this release is worth good listening and appreciation....

Favorites: "Queen of Blades", "Shattered Wings", "Out of Our Minds", "Revolution of Two", "Lullaby (Death All Over)"

If you don't fit into two unique categories of extreme metal fan then you're probably a little unlikely to have heard much of South Australia's Mortification. The first would you see being a committed member of the Christian faith which isn't all that common in the metal community, at least not in my homeland. The second would see you sporting an Australian passport which I'm lucky enough to be able to boast. You see, Adelaide-based death metallers Mortification have pretty much built their music careers around the extraordinary contradiction that sees them being influenced by some of the most evil artists known to man but then openly pushing the exact opposite lyrical agenda. I've never had any time for organized religion as a rule but the very fact that Mortification were a local band who appeared to be building somewhat of a reputation for themselves on a global scale saw me inclined to check them out back in the early 1990's & I'd end up investigating all of their first four full-length releases before giving them a miss for good following 1994's awful "Blood World" album. Mortification seem to have released about a kazillion records since that time with approximately zero people seeming to give a shit so the concept of addressing my gaps in their back catalogue has never even crossed my mind but 1992's "Scrolls of the Megilloth" was certainly my favourite of the releases I do know & it's time to see how it's held up over the decades since I last visited it.

Mortification's 1991 self-titled debut album wasn't too bad an Aussie death/thrash record actually & I quite enjoyed spinning it a few times back in the day. The band were signed to a US Christian metal label called Intense Records at that time & would stay with them for the follow-up album "Scrolls of the Megilloth" which saw the light of day a year later. "Scrolls of the Megilloth" saw Mortification dropping most of the underlying thrash metal influences that perpetuated the debut with their second album being more inclined to stay in its death metal lane the majority of the time. I wouldn't suggest that "Scrolls of the Megilloth" offers anything drastically different to any other death metal release of its era but it doesn't sound exactly like anyone in particular either with the clear defining factor (& arguably the reason that any of you have even heard of Mortification before) being the use of blatantly Christian lyrical themes. Other than that element though, one could mistake "Scrolls of the Megilloth" for yet another run-of-the-mill death metal record, although it isn't a bad one it has to be said.

The elephant in the room with a record like this one is the production job as it's far from ideal. The awful rhythm guitar tone is the main culprit & gives the whole release a DIY feel. The more mid-paced material is where it's the most difficult to overcome with the faster or doomier passages allowing the flaw a little more leniency. Drummer Jayson Sherlock (Horde/Paramæcium/Deliverance) sports some pretty decent blast-beats which add a lot to the record in my opinion. I'd suggest that he'd spent a fair amount of time worshipping at the altar of Morbid Angel legend drum god Pete Sandoval actually because he gives the riffs a similar feel to the more brutal end of that band's early work. Band leader & front man Steve Rowe's bass guitar is very easy decipherable throughout which isn't always my preference during the more brutal parts but he proves himself to be more than capable nonetheless. He also possesses a pretty guttural death grunt for a God-fearing Christian too just quietly, a gift that he takes full advantage of in delivering his much less imposing message.

The tracklisting is a little up & down to be fair. It doesn't really get going until the middle of the album with the one-two punch of the title track & "Death Requiem" seeing my ears pricking up significantly & lengthy doom/death closer "Ancient Prophesy" allowing things to be closed out in very solid fashion too. There are a couple of clear duds included too though with "Raise The Chalice" & "Inflamed" both falling short of the mark (particularly the former) while the rest of the material is mildly enjoyable, if fairly uneventful, which sees me finishing up with a fairly middling impression of the record overall. There's no doubt that it offers some very solid moments but can't produce them consistently enough to see me wanting to make return visits in the future. Is it Mortification's best record? Well, from those that I'm acquainted with I'd say so but there's a massive wealth of material that I'm never likely to traverse, at least not in this lifetime. Perhaps some of our Christian members might feel the urge to scale that mountain at some point so that they can enlighten us as to its true value. In the meantime though, I'd suggest that "Scrolls of the Megilloth" is unlikely to repulse too many death metal fans, particularly those that get into the religious themes of early 90's Living Sacrifice, the fairly straight-forward old-school death metal of Florida's Massacre or some of the more prominent Australian death metal acts of the time like Canberra's Armoured Angel.

Finnish death metallers Amorphis first came to my attention when I borrowed a cassette copy of their debut album "The Karelian Isthmus" from Neuropath front man Mark Wangmann back in early 1993. I absolutely loved the cover artwork which drew me in & simply commanded me to check out what this brand new band was all about. I was a massive death metal fan at the time (& still are of course) so I was hungrily lapping up anything & everything that I could find in that space but I think it's fair to say that "The Karelian Isthmus" commanded a level of patience from me as it sounds a little bit different to most of the other material I was listening to at the time. Thankfully though, that patience would be rewarded & I'd eventually come around to Amorphis' more melody-centric brand of death metal. The band would blow up in a major way off the back of their 1994 sophomore album "Tales From the Thousand Lakes" shortly afterwards & my brother Ben would become deeply involved with them at the time so they were never far from my ears but "The Karelian Isthmus" seems to have been forced into the annuls of time for the most part, overawed by the fandom around it's more illustrious follow-up. My taste profile has drifted further away from the melodic death metal subgenre over the years though so I've often wondered whether Amorphis' debut might have reduced the gap between itself & the two records that followed it.

While "The Karelian Isthmus" is generally thought of as a more traditional death metal record when compared to later material, I immediately found myself questioning that position upon it hitting my ears for the first time in decades. There's much more to Amorphis' debut than being yet another Scandinavian death metal record. There's already a clear focus on melody that we'd rarely seen in the underground death metal community to the time with the Swedish melodeath explosion still yet to eventuate. In fact, I'd go so far as to claim that "The Karelian Isthmus" is a transitional record that saw Amorphis sitting midway between the more conventional death metal of their disappointing 1991 "Disment of Soul " demo & very solid retrospectively-released "Privilege of Evil" E.P. (originally recorded in 1991 too) & the more obviously melodic "Tales From the Thousand Lakes" with a dual tag of death metal & melodic death metal seeming far more appropriate to me than simply leaving the album standing out like a sore thumb next to the Morbid Angel's & Obituary's. In many respects "The Karelian Isthmus" sits right in a three-way battle between the Swedish death metal sound of Entombed, the early developments in the melodic death metal scene & the doom/death of the Peaceville Three with the doom metal elements being quite regular but never feeling like they're deserving of equal standing with the first two tags. One of the best tracks on the record is a pure doom/death outing though in the excellent "The Lost Name of God" which seems to obviously draw upon Anathema's early recordings for inspiration, particularly their legendary anthem to general despondency "They Die".

The vocals of front man Tomi Koivusaari (Abhorrence/Ajattara) were pretty par for the course for lesser-known death metal outfits of the time & are probably the weakest link for Amorphis here as they're not very interesting to be honest. I also prefer the slower, doomier & more atmospheric moments more than the faster Swedish-inspired stuff which sounds a little bouncy for my taste. "The Pilgrimage" is a really good example of when Amorphis get things right & is the best of the death metal numbers for mine. There are not any weak tracks included here though which is was a big positive in Amorphis' chances of winning me over with time. The cheesier numbers that cancelled out some of the clear highlights on later albums are nowhere to be found here & this has seen the debut simply feeling a little more consistent in its appeal to my personal taste profile. 

You know what? I've never rated "Tales From the Thousand Lakes" as highly as most seem to do. It's always felt like a fairly original record that I mildly enjoy more than one that is vital in my metal journey. I actually rate 2015's "Under the Red Cloud" over it these days to be honest but this week's experiences with "The Karelian Isthmus" have surprisingly seen me placing it above both. I still think 1996's "Elegy" might be Amorphis' best work but it's been so long since I've heard it now that I might need to revisit it in order to firm up that suspicion. In the meantime though, "The Karelian Isthmus" has certainly hit a few runs in the more melodic/atmospheric Finnish death metal space that the earlier efforts from bands like Sentenced played in. Early Swedish death metal acts like Tiamat & Gorement also come to mind as decent points of reference.

Florida death metal heavy-weights Obituary played a very strong role in not only my conversion from thrash metal to the more extreme death metal genre in 1989 but also in the consolidation of extreme metal as my life-long obsession. They did so off the back of their first three albums which are generally regarded as being Obituary's creative peak & one that they've consistently attempted to emulate over the many years since. I purchased 1989's "Slowly We Rot" on cassette shortly after discovering the band & found it be a very solid death metal release indeed, if one that saw them still developing their signature sound with the thrash influences of their earlier days still being well in effect. 1990's "Cause of Death" sophomore album (once again purchased on cassette) utterly blew me away though & I still place it up on a pedestal with the true greats of the genre. Hired gun guitar virtuoso James Murphy had made a significant contribution to Obituary's sound & the focus on a  doomier & more controlled sound had been nothing short of a master stroke. Legendary front man John Tardy's vocals had become as monstrous as we've heard in metal music & are still the benchmark for me personally. So, when 1992's "The End Complete" third album rolled around I was well & truly onboard, hook, line & sinker. I purchased the CD on the day of release & excitedly raced home to whack it into my player, buoyed by the magnificently glossy cover artwork & the most intense marketing campaign death metal had seen to the time. I loved what I heard too just quietly, certainly not as much as "Cause of Death" but I felt that it was a better record than "Slowly We Rot" at the time. My affiliations with the debut album have only grown over the years though so I feel that it's a good time to see where "The End Complete" fits into the grand scheme of Obituary's back catalogue.

"The End Complete" showcases a band that absolutely knew their sound & has filed it down to a sharp point by this stage of their recording careers. James Murphy had moved on with "Slowly We Rot" lead guitarist Allen West having returned to the band, a prospect that I wasn't so keen on given how just much of a difference Murphy had made on "Cause of Death". I thought of West as a fairly limited whammy-bar bandit at the time too so I was prepared for a significant drop in quality in the solos department. I certainly got it too but listening back now it seems to me that West had taken some influence from Murphy's contribution & made a genuine attempt at some more melodic lead work which is most welcome. The rest of the band are completely united in their quest for the chunkiest & most memorable death metal riffs imaginable though, keeping things very simple in order for maximum ear-worm potential. It works a treat too, particularly when they stay in the slow-to-mid tempo range. The faster, bouncier riffs lose a little bit of that deathly atmosphere in my opinion but it's John Tardy that's predictably the star of the show with his incredible growl being both instantly recognizable & unanimously effective. I became nothing short of obsessed with him during these early death metal years & "The End Complete" only accentuated that obsession.

The production job on "The End Complete" is a major factor in one's enjoyment of the album. There'd obviously been a bit of investment in Obituary by their label R/C Records which was clearly intended to make them into the biggest death metal band in the world & it worked for a period too it has to be said. Trevor Peres' rhythm guitars are so well entwined with the rhythm section of bassist Frank Watkins & drummer Donald Tardy that it's hard to even think of them as separate individuals. They create a thick, dense wall of Celtic Frost-inspired grooves that you'll struggle to keep your head from banging along to. I'm a really big fan of the thick, heavily down-tuned, humming guitar tone but, listening back with modern-day ears, I'm a little skeptical about the brighter drum sound, particularly the light-weight snare drum which sounds very similar to a small stick being broken in half & isn't nearly heavy enough to match the chunky darkness being drawn upon by the stringsmen. Overall though, "The End Complete" presented Obituary as one of the classier acts in a scene that was just about to peak.

The tracklisting on "The End Complete" is extremely consistent with nothing that dips below a very solid level. It doesn't possess the continuous wall of classics that confronted me when I first heard "Cause of Death" though so it took a few listens to come to terms with that & accept that this simply wasn't going to be as classic a record. There are, however, a few classic tracks amongst this lot though with "Dead Silence", "Corrosive" & the dark majesty of closer "Rotting Ways" playing a major role in my teenage years & ensuring that they're very unlikely to ever be forgotten. The best moments unanimously appear when Obituary keep things in the lower end of the tempo band as they highlight that wonderful graveyard atmosphere that the band played such a huge part in creating in the first place. The faster tracks simply aren't capable of achieving those sorts of feelings & a large part of that is due to the fact that John Tardy's maniacal howls are far better suited to the slower material.

I think some people are a little too hard on "The End Complete" at times, perhaps spending too much time comparing it to its older sibling rather than judging it on its own merit. I still feel that it's a better record than Obituary's widely acclaimed debut album "Slowly We Rot" but not by as big a margin as I once would have stated. They're both high-quality & seriously enjoyable death metal records that may pale in comparison to the looming darkness between them but shouldn't be discounted as a result. Fans of bands like Autopsy, Jungle Rot & Asphyx will no doubt appreciate this material as it presents a similarly doomy graveyard soundtrack to that which those bands have built their craft on & does it with a professionalism that those acts have rarely achieved (or even wanted to to be fair). I have to admit that I'm relieved by the result of this revisit as it's proven to me that my childhood feelings were well justified & that the album still has plenty to offer the modern-day death metal crowd.

Florida technical death metallers Nocturnus were a fairly big player in our household from very early on in their recording career. I was lucky enough to discover their 1990 debut album “The Key” shortly after it was released & purchased a copy on cassette. It showcased a highly ambitious band of talented musicians that were looking to push the envelope when it came to both atmospherics, imagery & technique & I found it to be a very solid release indeed. Perhaps not the undeniable classic that many death metal fans will have you believe it is but a worthy purchase that has commanded consistent revisits over the years. 1992’s follow-up album “Thresholds” simply wasn’t in the same caliber from what I remember of it although it was certainly worth a listen at the time & didn’t discourage me from picking up this month’s The Horde feature release (i.e. Nocturnus’ self-titled 7” from 1993) on vinyl immediately after it was released. I don’t remember much about it now to be honest & have no idea what happened to the record I owned but I do recall being a touch underwhelmed even if I certainly found entertainment in it. I’m interested to see how those recollections stack up now actually as I recently revisited “The Key” & it’s renewed my interest.

The ”Nocturnus” 7” is nothing more than a two-song single but includes two previously unreleased non-album tracks intended to showcase the band’s brand new lineup. Bassist Emo Mowery had now filled the empty position that was filled by session musician Chris Anderson on the “Thresholds” album while James Marcinek had now joined the fold at the expense of founding member & band leader Mike Browning (Morbid Angel/Acheron) who had been controversially axed. The two songs take a similar stylistic approach to the one found on “The Key” but there are a few notable differences & characteristics that are worth pointing out.

The first & most obvious thing you’ll notice about this release is the shocking production job which is extremely rough & sees Nocturnus’ trademark flashy guitars being largely nullified. It’s a real shame because this flaw goes a long way to ensuring that the record was never going to have much of an impact, even if you absolutely loved the song-writing. Front man Dan Izzo had been brought in for the “Thresholds” album to enable Browning to focus purely on his drum kit. Here we see him trying awfully hard to sound like notorious Deicide vocalist Glen Benton & doing a reasonable job of it too. In fact, I’d have to suggest that it was a good move to swap him in for Browning as his more angry & aggressive delivery would seem to me to be a better fit for a death metal band. So would the drumming of Marcinek actually, at least I’d take it over the simplistic contribution that Browning gave us on “The Key”. The keyboards of Louis Panzer are still on show but don’t play as prominent a role in these compositions which was an interesting move given that this was one of the major drawcards that was seeing people flocking to Nocturnus. The other was the consistent layers of ultra-shredding guitar solos that were a majorly exciting prospect for this budding young lead guitarist but, once again, the solos have been toned down significantly here which I find to be a really strange decision. Perhaps that’s why we’ve seen these two tracks isolated on a dedicated single? I dunno but it was pretty annoying that Nocturnus had dropped a good chunk of their signature features.

When taken for what they are though, these two songs aren’t too bad & certainly offer enough to keep me interested & entertained. The lengthier “Possess The Priest” has a slight edge over the more aggressive “Mummified” but there’s not a lot between them as they’re both decent enough examples of the technical death metal subgenre. I’ve often seen people trying to utilize the progressive metal tag with this record but I don’t think that’s appropriate as this material is far more consciously technical than it is conceptually expansive. The riffs can sometimes be quite thrashy but I never feel that I’m listening to anything other than a death metal artist at any stage.

So, it would seem that the “Nocturnus” 7” single is bit of a mixture of positives & negatives overall, isn’t it? The production is arguably the most unfortunate & release-defining element but I’m pleased that Nocturnus possessed enough class to overcome that failure to give us a reasonable record nonetheless. Sadly, I can’t see it being enough to draw me back to the single at any point in the future but I don’t think your average Death. Atheist or Pestilence fan will find it to be too repulsive, even if it’s not on the same level as the universally worshipped releases that those bands were dishing out during that period. But then, I’m not sure I ever saw Nocturnus on the same level as those artists in the first place. Not many are though to be fair.

Nocturnus are a band it took me a little while to get in to, but once I got to grips with their debut, The Key, I enjoyed it enormously. Nocturnus is a 7" EP from three years later and following some drama around the departure of founder member, drummer and vocalist on The Key, Mike Browning. Firstly, where you listen to it could make a difference to your opinion. I first found it on YouTube, but the sound is terrible, demo quality and muffled to hell, but the version on Spotify (which is listed as a 2001 release, so may be a remastered version) is much clearer-sounding and definitely superior to the YT version.

There are two tracks on offer here, totalling ten and a half minutes runtime. the "A" side is "Possess the Priest", which is a six-minute slab of glorious Morbid Angel-worshipping OSDM and is my favourite of the two tracks with the transitions from the slower sections to the quicker and vice-versa getting my fists pumping and blood rushing in a good, old-fashioned adrenaline surge. The keyboards are still very much present but, as with The Key, they are quite thin-sounding and merely act as atmospheric support for the riffs. "B"-side "Mummified" sounds a bit like Death during their transition phase from conventional death metal to to prog-tech-death gods and, songwriting-wise, pushes a little bit too far into tech death territory for my preference and, without Chuch Schuldiner's songwriting prowess, it ends up sounding too disjointed for me. Still, it doesn't outstay it's welcome and when coupled with such a great "A"-side the release as a whole works very well as a short EP.

Coffins are one of those bands who are treated with contempt by a vast swathe of the metal-buying (or more accurately, metal-streaming) public for adhering to a formula they are comfortable with and which they replicate throughout their career as the primary means for expressing their artistic intentions. Bands like Coffins' refusal to continually push the envelope and experiment with new modes of expression seems to rub a significant number of people up the wrong way, but you know what, fuck 'em, I love the determination of these guys to populate the world with soul-crushing, cavernous and guttural OSDM, so if you are one of those people, then you know where you can shove your contempt because neither I nor Uchino and the guys could give a shit.

The riffs are thick and meaty with a crunchy, yet unctuous guitar sound that is derived from such purveyors of old-school, cavernous death metal as Autopsy and Asphyx, although it's more modern and cleaner production does actually downplay the echoing quality of older releases, even so, Coffins' riffs still hit like a punch to the lower gut region. As is usual, they walk the tightrope between conventional death metal and death doom, not being shy in slowing down the tempo to ominously hulking and doom-ridden, yet changing up to faster, d-beat-driven moshpit-frenzy fare at the flick of a metaphorical switch. There is no flashiness from these guys, they don't try to embellish their sound or push the envelope in any way, everything they do is effectively functional, with a set vision that requires a particular, some may say basic, style of playing which they have perfected over the years to the degree where few can pull off this particular style better - maybe more skillfully, but rarely as effectively. Uchino's vocals are crusty and uber-gutteral, as if he is trying to replicate the sound Godzilla would produce if he was the vocalist with a death metal band rather than a world-saving (or destroying) prehistoric throwback.

At the end of the day, this is nothing more or less than "don't fuck with us" old-school, doomy death metal originally dragged from the pits of hell at the dawn of the 1990s and if that is your bag, then give this a listen, if it isn't then don't because there is no reason why this would change your mind, although how any death metal fan can't be fired-up by a track like "Domains of Black Miasma" is well beyong my capability to understand.

I stumbled over the debut album from Texas' Embodyment around 15 years ago while desperately trying to catch up on all of the great death metal releases I'd missed out on during my self-imposed, decade-long hiatus from the metal scene. "Embrace The Eternal" was reasonably well thought of in death metal circles at the time but Embodyment's remaining back catalogue seemed to be frowned upon for reasons I was unaware of so I went into the album with an open mind. I was also unaware of the links with Christianity & the early deathcore scene that now permeate the release & I honestly don't recall thinking I'd discovered the building blocks of a new genre with that experience either so this month's feature release nomination represents a good chance to reassess that position, particularly given the strong statements from our resident The Revolution devotee Andi.

"Embrace The Eternal" is a well-produced & executed record from a band that were already well in control of their chosen instruments. In fact, they can occasionally be guilty of being a little TOO precise to be honest as the weaker moments on the album do tend to sound like they're in autopilot & lacking a bit of electricity. The clinical production is led by a particularly clicky kick-drum so if that element is something you usually struggle with then I'd perhaps give this release a wide birth. In saying that though, current Living Sacrifice drummer Mark Garza is arguably the highlight of the record with his super-precise performance giving Embodyment a particularly solid platform to work off. I mean, clicky kick drums can be very unforgiving at times but here we see Garza pulling everything off effortlessly. Front man Kris McCaddon's contribution isn't your average deep death metal or deathcore growl though. Instead, we see him sporting a screamier approach that sits right at the mid-point between Carcass' Jeff Walker & the classic metalcore delivery. He tends to be a bit of a one-trick pony on the evidence here too as he really does stick to the one thing the whole way through the album's duration.

Now for the elephant in the room... Despite "Embrace The Eternal" being claimed as one of the founding releases for the deathcore genre, I have to question that consensus. You see, there is nothing terribly unusual or original here from an instrumental point of view. This is purely a death metal record from that perspective with Suffocation being the primary source of inspiration. As someone that absolutely worshipped (& at times sought to emulate) that wonderful band, it's really obvious that Embodyment were also bowing down at the altar of "Effigy of the Forgotten", even if they do tend to shy away from Suffocation's more technical side & aren't nearly as brutal. The regular use of breakdowns is certainly worth mentioning but they don't seem to be drawn from the hardcore scene as far as I can tell, instead being borrowed from the early slam death metal one. Unlike Suffocation though, Embodyment's death metal sound has as much to do with your classic old-school death metal model as it does with the brutal death metal one & you should be able to pick up the influence of bands like Morbid Angel at times too. Then during the second half of the album we start to see some more diverse influences seeping in with the odd Fear Factory groove or jumpy Korn-style nu metal section appearing. While that idea might not sound all that appealing on paper, Embodyment seem to have the class to pull it off nonetheless. It's really just the vocals that draw upon hardcore for inspiration though as the instrumentation can basically be summarized under the death metal banner &, even then, McCaddon's tone isn't even close to the super-gutteral, ultra-deep death growl employed by most deathcore front men these days. Therefore, I struggle to see how "Embrace The Eternal" is a seminal deathcore release to be honest. If it's just the vocals that draw it into that space then Carcass' "Heartwork" would surely suffer the same fate & that idea certainly isn't on the table.

With that said, "Embrace The Eternal" is a very solid extreme metal album in its own right with no weak tracks included. There's a clear consistency to the ten songs & the Christian lyrical content will have absolutely no impact on you unless you go out of your way to investigate what McCaddon is going on about. I personally choose not to & are much better off for it given my strong feelings about organised religion in general. I'd recommend that our The Horde members leave any preconceived notions at the door & give "Embrace The Eternal" a chance to win them over because it's really a very solid first-up effort & one that will have you pondering over how Embodyment's next record could possibly fall into the realm of our The Gateway clan.

I remember checking out Convulsing a while back to get myself some more black death metal under my belt.  Their debut Errata was a pretty good one which didn't really say anything good or bad about their future, but their second album was a vast improvement which told me there was a good possibility the third ones gonna be a modern classic.  Was I gonna be right and this would be one of the better death albums of the decade, or was that hope false?

I had just finished the Hoplites catalog before hearing this, so I already had an example of a brilliant extreme metal atmosphere to compare this to.  I found that while the atmosphere of the whole album was deceit and effective, it still felt pretty standard.  It's like watching a sci-fi horror movie about a weird creature attacking a ship or a base.  These might be good movies if Alien didn't exist.  But the compositions had definite promise.  Among the technicality of it all is an eternal mix of anger and sadness that remains convincing all the way up to the Porcupine Tree cover at the end.  

I'm glad the Convulsing release a third album early this year, and it's worth listening to if you're a fan of the band, but there's hardly a difference between this album and the debut.  So I'm gonna give this tertiary release a bare minimum rating for four stars: 75.

At just two tracks and ten minutes in length, Nocturnus' self-titled EP from some two decades ago makes for a concise feature release.  Coming six years before what was to prove to be their final full length release (Ethereal Tomb), this single/EP captures the band at their technical best.  Pressing their urgent and interesting style of death metal on the listener, those signature synths are in fine form adding symphonic flourishes to the otherwise scathing tech-death on show here.

The rabid gallop of the riffs coupled with the bold pace changes and mesmirising leads are examples of a band in fine form.  Sad that they decided to split not long after this release as the potential over these two tracks is really promising, capturing the best bits of The Key and Thresholds.  With Mike Browning fired from the band and the band name trademarked by the remaining members this was the only release to feature James Marcinek on the drums.  A combination of some less than satisfactory production work and the fact that James was no Mike Browning ensured that the drum work sort of just sat in the background whilst everything else drove the music forward. 

There is a sense of disconnect with the instrumentation at certain points during Mummified for me with those snths sounding a tad wayward in places.  However, Possess the Priest is a fine slab of tech-death presented with a real sense of direction.  It is hard to score this at much more than a three however given the short runtime and the fact that one of the two tracks is clearly inferior to the other.

Two years after the release of an underwhelming extended play, Liu Zhenyang as Hoplites produces the first studio album under that name, and shows a dramatic improvement that pretty much cements him as an inventive and worthwhile black death artist.  In the short 37 minutes are a bunch of interesting compositions that fit a perfect balance between black and death, and making some room for experimentation with the tempos and structures, oftentimes being quite intriguing.  The one thing about the album that's mastered is the atmosphere.  There's an excellent level of brutality and aggression that any aspiring extreme metal artist needs to get right, proving that Zhenyang was fully aware of the mistakes of the EP.  It's exceptionally noisy and crystal clear at the same time.  My problem with the album is that despite all it's trying to achieve, all of the songs pretty much have the same tone of guitars and emotional core, meaning that the songs aren't as varied as the diversified genre-tagging would have you believe.  Otherwise, this is a fun 38 minutes and it makes me eager to see how much more Hoplites will improve.

So Hoplites, also known as Liu Zhenyang, is supposed to be a modern legend in the black metal and death metal worlds, right?  Well, not every legend starts out that way.  Ignoring his other aliases, this early Hoplites EP doesn't do his legend any favors.  My battle plan for attacking his discography was to go from start to finish, ending it with the 2024 album RYM loves.  This, however, is nothing but the most generic kind of black death you can find.  The audio quality is very poor, damaging the overall brutality of an otherwise brutal sound to the point that it loses its kick, and each of these songs pretty much sound exactly the same now matter how different the track times get.  OK, there are some decent compositions and fairly proggy moments, but I've heard all of those before.  Really, this isn't an album you should check out unless you're a fan of the Hoplites studio albums and you're curious.

Despite making a massive contribution to the birth of metal, the UK hasn't been overly blessed with important acts in the more extreme sub-genres. There were, of course, the twin grindcore godfathers, Napalm Death and Carcass and a few notables in the doom metal arena, but otherwise it has been the US and Europe that have led the way since the early 1980s. The sole exception and lone british banner fluttering among the death metal hordes, was Coventry's Bolt Thrower. War Master was the Midlanders' third album, following the rough and ready, crust and grind-influenced debut, In Battle There Is No Law! and it's much more professional sounding follow-up, Realm of Chaos, which had heralded a direction-change with the band moving into more conventional death metal territory. War Master saw Bolt Thrower heading further in that direction, ditching the grind element altogether in favour of a slower, mid-tempo, more cavernous sound that has more in common with Autopsy than fellow Brits like Carcass.

I must be honest at this point and admit that, for me, Realm of Chaos marks the band's highpoint, striking a perfect balance between the crusty grind of the debut and their later, conventional death metal sound, but that doesn't mean that War Master is any great drop-off in quality, in fact, quite the opposite as it is still one hell of a great record. The riffs on War Master are fantastic, possessing an inherent level of brutality, whilst still exhibiting a degree of melodicism which renders them instantly memorable. The songwriting is very good, and although most of the riffs stay within the mid-tempo range, the band don't shy away from either slowing down further to hulking, death doom pacing, or putting their foot down and letting rip. Karl Willetts has a great death metal growl, almost stripping paint as he barks out the lyrics which deal almost exclusively with the terrors of war, that puts him near the top of my list of favourite death metal vocalists. Production-wise War Master is a step up from Realm of Chaos with a chunkier, more bass-heavy sound that allows Jo Bench's four-string performance to shine and which is more conducive to this type of slower-paced, war-ridden death metal.

The solos are mostly of the brief, squealing style favoured by many death metal stalwarts since they were introduced by Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman back in the day and whilst they are perfectly functional and fit well within the song structures, they aren't on anything like the same level as the riffs. Despite seeing criticism of it elsewhere, I actually really like Andy Whale's drumming on here as it has tons of energy and some nice touches, such as the military tattoo-like beats at the end of Afterlife.

War Master saw Bolt Thrower finally getting near to a sound they were striving for and, as a result, they have often been accused of regurgitating the same material over and over again for the rest of their career, which is a bit harsh and personally I think is bullshit. When a band has hit on what they see as a signature sound, however, I am sure there is a temptation to plough the same furrow again on subsequent releases, and although BT never strayed far from the template they established on War Master, such is the quality of their material that only the most demanding or churlish of death metal fans could complain at the results. Evidently, this is a full-throated roar of challenge from a band in full command of their abilities, producing one of the best albums of their career and spearheading the British fightback against the scandinavian and american death metal hordes.

Swedish extreme metal establishment Hypocrisy have generally built their reputation within the more melodic death metal circles over the years but some may not be aware that they originally began life as a more conventional death metal band back in the early 1990's. In fact, I still kinda think of them in more traditional terms if I'm being honest because we have a very long relationship. Hypocrisy & I first crossed paths when I noticed a cassette copy of their 1992 debut album "Penetralia" on one of my early visits to Neuropath vocalist Mark Wangmann's house in early 1993. I'd ask to borrow it so that I could make my own copy & it'd receive a fair few spins in my Walkman that year. Interestingly though, I never really thought of "Penetralia" as being anything too special, instead treating it as a fairly uneventful meat-&-potatoes death metal release that didn't bring anything new to the table but ticked many of my boxes from a sound point of view. For that reason, I haven't found myself returning to "Penetralia" since the 1990's but my recent period of nostalgia for that period has seen me tempted into a much overdue revisit.

Look, I certainly wasn't wrong with my assessment back in the day because "Penetralia" is every bit your standard early-90's death metal offering. Despite coming from the powerful Swedish scene of the time though, it doesn't take on the wall-of-noise production format that peers like Entombed & Dismember built their entire sounds on, even if there are many similarly structured riffs & punky one-two beats included. Here we find Hypocrisy taking an each-way bet with the US death metal model playing just as big a role in the outcome as their fellow countrymen which is not really all that surprising when you consider that multi-instrumentalist band leader Peter Tägtgren (Pain/Bloodbath/Lock Up/The Abyss/War) had spent a fair bit of time in the United States prior to forming Hypocrisy which was originally intended to be a solo project. "Penetralia" sees Tägtgren performing not only guitar but also all of the keyboards, most of the drums & some of the vocals so "Penetralia" would seem to be very much Peter's pet project. The drumming is admittedly very basic with the simple beats of Tägtgren & Lars Szöke (The Abyss/War) playing a purely supportive role & clearly pushing their limited technical abilities right to the brink of collapse although I do have to admit to enjoying the blast beats sections, despite the fact that they're not the most precise you'll find. The deep death growls of front man Masse Broberg (Dark Funeral/Witchery/Demonoid) are certainly very effective but are also pretty generic which only adds to Hypocrisy feeling more like an also-ran than a leader of the burgeoning young death metal scene.

"Penetralia" offers ten tracks across its 42-minute run time & begins in very solid fashion with two of the best few songs kicking off proceedings (see "Impotent God" & "Suffering Souls"). Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn't manage to live up to that potential with only the more brutal "God Is A..." competing with those two early highlight cuts. That's not to say that there are all that many disasters along the way though with only a couple of flat tracks ("Jesus Fall" & "To Escape Is to Die") spoiling Hypocrisy's party. Deicide would appear to have been a pretty big influence on Tägtgren as you should be able to identify a number of riffs & beats that appear to have been borrowed from Florida's most notorious Satanists while the lyrics are clearly an attempt to emulate the sheer evil that Glen Benton & co. were able to muster on their 1990 self-titled debut album. Unfortunately for Hypocrisy though, their lyrical efforts come across as extremely immature in comparison & are possibly their most significant weakness when you consider that the vocals are generally pretty easily deciphered too.

There's no doubt that "Penetralia" was an acceptable release for the time & I doubt there would be too many genuine old-school death metal fans that would complain about it much after a blind purchase as it certainly ticks most of the required boxes. It just doesn't do that with a high-quality pen if you know what I mean with "Penetralia" coming across as decidedly third tier when compared to the wealth of classic releases the genre was dishing out to its rabid audience at the time. I have to admit that it does remind me quite a bit of the early Neuropath material though which is perhaps more of an indication that Tägtgren & I come from similar musical backgrounds than it is any indication of any sort of influence. If the idea of an early 90's US/Swedish death metal hybrid sees your ears pricking up then perhaps give "Penetralia" a few spins but I wouldn't expect anything too original or life-changing.

In my never ending journey to find extreme metal that resonates with me, I recently discovered locals in the band Apogean and their debut, full length LP, Cyberstrictive. After hearing the bands EP, Into Madness, I was surprised by the quality of the musicianship and production for such a fresh face in this sphere. So after finally getting to this new record, I was even more surprised to hear how much this band has already grown in such a short period of time, with very little preemptive material to compare it to.

This is technical death metal with a melodic intent. Don't get the intentions of this album confused with one another; the sheer intensity of the death metal on "Thousand-Yard Glare" and "Polybius" are magnificent and give the album the sort of malicious intent that such a genre tag would imply. But these aspects are complimentary to the melodic leads, which are provided by some great guitar leads and the occasional repeated vocal motif. And what makes Cyberstrictive stand out amongst its peers is how well these two sides coexist together. I never felt like the melodic/progressive elements were getting in the way of the pummeling guitar riffing and blast beat percussion, or vice-versa.

The album has such a clean sound to it as well. It reminds me quite a bit of the prim and proper production of a recent Dying Fetus album in that regard. The album is filled with guitar solos that sound great, especially since they are not always of the face melting variety. The vocals are also not an afterthought. The low gutturals of Mac Smith are intense and match the ferocity of the music. The screeching highs however are a more hit-and-miss. They can sound good, but on occasion, they suffer from the Will Ramos effect of recent Lorna Shore albums where the highs are condensed so hard into the back of the mix. If these vocals were just embellishment (like on an Unreqvited album), this would not bother me as much, but since these vocals also have lyrics associated with them (i.e. "With Which Ear You'll Listen"), it does dampen their effect.

Beyond some minor nitpicks, I really enjoyed the debut album from Apogean. It shows a lot of potential for a debut and takes technical death metal to spaces that I rarely come across. It's brutal, but also melodic. It has straightforward and infectious riffage, but also isn't afraid to spread its progressive wings. A very solid recommendation from me, and certainly if you're into the tech-death stylings of Wormhole and Tomb Mold.

Best Songs: Thousand-Yard Glare, With Which Ear You'll Listen, Hueman (The Pleasure of Burn), Polybius

Cabinet, also known as Sxuperion since 2014 and member of Oreamnos since 2023, is garnering favor among underground metal fans as one of the most unsettling metal musicians of all time due to a perfectly healthy sense of texture.  His album Claustrophobic Dysentery is my current pick for the best war metal album of all time for its masterful use of noise and ambient as frightening textural instruments while the black and death metal guitars reached extremities unheard of before.  I wasn't going to listen to a lot of metal albums for a while sine I want to get some more albums of other genres in my top 1000, but for Cabinet I will maliciously and gleefully break that rule like a Kitkat bar.

On "Masticated Inurnment of Dysphagiactic Soils," We start with an oddly dissonant death take on black noise which intentionally varies in production quality going from too noisy to proper to totally atmospheric, and we see the shifts just like this through the entire album.  it's like a fucking Neurosis track.  This is the typical genre-shifting behavior I expect from Cabinet, but they're clearly more focused on the black noise atmosphere taking a stronger, fuzzier charge than what was seen on previous albums.  The four minutes here masterfully shift from one place to another, while its noise also creates an industrial atmosphere that gives it an almost science fiction approach.  The way I see it, this has to be classified as an avant-garde metal album, as its experimentation is heavy and unrelenting.  Just listen to track 9, Worms Squirming Into Your Occiput / Turning To Mush, and tell me this does not qualify as an experimental album.

For the best example, the title track shows no hesitation in delivering weird and wild collections of black noise and dark ambient teaming together to create unsettling Blut Aus Nord style atmospheres.  This is the slowest track so far, and definitely the most disturbing, as there is less of a mechanic feel to it and is more traditional in the vein of general extreme metal.  This welcome addition to both the diversity and flow of this ever so unpredictable with a singular strong persence throughout really displays Cabinet's unwavering willingness to fuck around and just creep you out to the point of vomiting.

Some of these songs, however, are pure experiments in texture.  While these two minute songs will be packed with shifts from one general sound to another, these songs still feel too short in the end, especially since four of these songs take up the entire middle section.  This is a similar criticism I give to several songs on Low by David freakin' Bowie.  Although, the progression of these songs was nice, and almost akin to the variety of the so-called "melody" that took up much of side B of Abbey Road.  The nature recordings at the end of track 7 were especially welcome.  Even within the two minute songs, we never know what robotic or ghostly sirens will overtake any noisy, industrial guitar rhythms or when the next tidal wave of pure black noise will assault us.  However, it should be said that, while "Worms Squirming Into Your Occiput / Turning To Mush" is a fine example of this experimentation, its second half is too long and a little unwelcome.

Well, I'm once again very happy with the direction Cabinet took.  I've been eagerly awaiting another Cabinet ever since I discovered them, and I was hoping this would end up just as experimental as ever.  This is a finer example of what trying to be creative with an otherwise lacking genre can do.  Bestial black metal needs more bands like Cabinet, and along with Claustrophobic Dysentery, this is proof.  Even though this album has some flaws stemming from lengths, this is a weird and unique black metal album and one that I highly recommend.

New York four-piece Sorrow are an act that was first brought to my attention back in my 1990's tape trading days with their debut album "Hatred & Disgust" entering & exiting from my life relatively quickly. I didn't find a lot to grab onto as far as I can remember so I don't recall giving Sorrow a lot of time before placing them firmly into the "none of my business" basket. My recent explorations of my youth have seen me wondering if I might have been a little harsh on "Hatred & Disgust" though, particularly given the points of comparison that are most regularly raised when discussing the album, so I decided to give it another chance this week & boy am I glad that I did too.

I'd describe the sound that Sorrow go for on "Hatred & Disgust" as a particularly doomy example of the old-school death metal model with the production possessing that classic graveyard feel. The album is often tagged as doom/death which isn't all that far off the mark but I feel that this is a little too strong in the death metal component to warrant dual primaries. The musicianship is fairly primitive but Sorrow's sound is well-defined & maximizes the limited skill sets of the individual contributors quite nicely. The lead guitar work of Billy Rogan & Brett Clarin is probably the only area that I'd criticize with their solos generally representing the weaker moments on the album. It's the vocals of bassist Andy Marchione that are the main focal point though with his tone sitting somewhere between a less powerful "Blessed Are The Sick"-era Dave Vincent (Morbid Angel) & the whispery delivery of Revenant's Henry Veggian. Marchione's phrasing & accent is heavily influenced by Death's Chuck Schuldiner though & you can also pickup the impact of that band in some of the tremolo-picked riffs & more complex rhythms on "Hatred & Disgust".

The tracklisting kicks off beautifully with doom/death opener "Insatiable" being the clear highlight & the only genuine classic of the six cuts on offer. Death metal stomper "Forced Repression" & epic closer "Unjustified Reluctance" are also very strong & provide great support. "Separative Adjectives" is a bit disappointing but it's not enough to taint what I've found to be a thoroughly rewarding forty-minute death metal experience that fans of Cianide, Cruciform & early Paradise Lost should consider to be required listening. I honestly have no fucking idea why I couldn't see the appeal in this stuff back in the day & would have to suggest that "Hatred & Disgust" is one of the more underrated releases from death metal's heyday.

I am unfamiliar with californian death metallers, Skeletal Remains, but a quick glance at the ratings for their five albums on RYM reveals that they must be quite a consistent band, certainly in respect to their recorded output. The opening track is titled "Relentless Appetite" and you'd better have one for brutal-sounding, aggressive old-school death metal worship because that is what you get here, unapologetic and unrelenting, in-your-face death metal, torn straight from '90's Florida and dropped onto the opposite coast thirty years later.

There is little subtlety or innovation here, but I found myself swept along on a tidal wave of relentlessly pummelling riffs with no time (or inclination) to ponder anything deeper than just hanging on for the ride. Chris Monroy's vocals are of the excoriating, sand-blasting kind, the solos are energetic and chaotic and drummer Pierce Williams is a busy man behind the kit, all of which contribute to the dynamism and sensation of being actively propelled through the album rather than being a passive spectator. It is the riffs that are king here, however, and they come thick and fast in a dizzying maelstrom of thundering power, boosted by a meaty production that gives them an unstoppable forward momentum.

Skeletal Remains are obviously influenced by the older death metal stalwarts and are equally obviously uninterested in the modern tendency in death metal towards pushing the envelope ever further with greater technicality, dissonance or whatever is flavour of the season, but instead their only desire seems to be to lay down brutal riffs that promote the lost art of headbanging, rather than the modern obsession with chin-stroking artisitic micro-analysis. It may not be the most artistically demanding, but this is exactly my kind of death metal - aggressive, thick-sounding, heavy as fuck, no-nonsense, unpretentious old-school worship that will leave you with a stiff neck and a feeling of having had a good forty-five minute workout.

I first came across Swedish death metallers Comecon at Neuropath vocalist Mark Wangmann's house way back in 1993 when I noticed a cassette copy of their debut album "Megatrends in Brutality" sitting on his bedroom side table. Upon questioning him about it I was advised that the album featured Entombed/Nihilist/Firespawn/Morbid legend L-G Petrov behind the microphone which tweaked my interest & I ended up borrowing the tape so that I could create a dubbed copy for myself. Upon getting home & whacking it into my tape deck I found that Comecon offered a crust punk-infused brand of death metal that was built around the guitars of band leaders Pelle Ström (also of Swedish thrashers Agony) & Rasmus Ekman with the drums appearing to have been programmed. It sounded OK but wasn't something that offered me a lot of long-term appeal so it didn't receive too many return visits after the first few days. We're now over thirty years down the track & I just noticed that the "Megatrends in Brutality" is still yet to receive a rating at the Academy so I've committed to breaking that drought with my first revisit since I was just a teenager.

The production job on "Megatrends in Brutality" isn't too bad which gives the riffs enough weight to offer full value for money. I will say that the drum machine sounds come across as pretty clicky & primitive though which does detract from the enjoyment a bit, particularly given that the programming itself isn't exactly the most sophisticated you'll find with fills & rolls being kept fairly minimal. Blast beats are utilized sporadically across the tracklisting & usually match up with the more hardcore influenced riffs of which there are plenty on offer, so much so that I feel that the album is deserving of a dual tag with deathgrind. I can't say that I've ever thought that Petrov's vocal delivery was anything particularly special but he does a reasonable job here without ever really threatening to create anything worthy of a highlight reel.

The tracklisting begins quite well with three of the stronger inclusions kicking off proceedings before things start to go down hill through the middle of the album. There are a couple of decent numbers towards the back end of the record (particularly album highlight "Omnivorous Excess") but it's not quite enough to save "Megatrends in Brutality" from the abyss as it simply doesn't deliver consistently enough to be worthy of a mention in a period when death metal was at its absolute peak, both creatively & commercially. There's nothing too awful included but one feels that if not for Petrov's contribution then Comecon would likely not have registered the slightest blip on the extreme metal radar. As a result, I'd suggest that "Megatrends in Brutality" is for Entombed superfans only.

Imagine what Fear Factory would sound like if they kept their industrial death metal sound going after Soul of a New Machine. I could practically say that about any band mixing together industrial metal and death metal, but this is for real! Flesh is Heir has the best you can find from this combination these days.

A journey through a band's discography often starts from their latest or first album. It's not usually right in the middle unless you find it out of the blue, whether it pops up or gets recommended to you. Upon discovering The Amenta via their 3rd album, my mind was blown by how perfectly the band could reinvent the industrial death metal of Fear Factory's debut. Other bands have tried it and didn't catch on, but with Flesh is Heir, you know you're in for a mind-f***ing brutal attack.

Bleak doom-ish tremolo melody opens the title track that then blasts off into deathly chaos. "Ego Ergo Sum" has more ethereal yet brutal rhythm haunting like a ghost. "Teeth" takes the industrial vibes of 3TEETH and gives it the Gojira prog-death treatment. Then things quiet down in the interlude "A Womb Tone".

"Obliterate’s Prayer" has gigantic hooks to obliterate anything in the song's path. "Sewer", at some moments, makes me think of Winds of Plague if the symphonic elements where replaced with industrial ones. "The Argument" has more Godflesh influences, particularly in the chorus. "Cell" is a slower track with spooky-a** ambience. But of course, there are still some riff bombs set to f***ing blow you apart.

There's more sorrow in the still chaotic "Disintegrate". Then "A Palimpsest" is one more ominous interlude. "Tabula Rasa" can slice through you like a razorblade in brutal hellfire. A twisted addictive way to head out! And once the chaos stops, you might just feel up to replaying these killer 45 minutes.

Barely anyone can listen to Flesh is Heir everyday, but it can be easy for me to do so. It's pure twisted rage from the deathly depths of Hell that lets you think of the bleak state of humanity. The album flows so well and even the highlights can fit well with one another. It's so heavy that you can feel it like a nuclear asteroid explosion and still live. One of the most brutal offerings in extreme industrial metal!

Favorites: "Flesh is Heir", "Teeth", "Obliterate’s Prayer", "The Argument", "Disintegrate", "Tabula Rasa"

I first became acquainted with legendary California death metallers Autopsy through their 1989 debut album "Severed Survival" after hearing some of the more popular songs on late-night metal radio programming in the very early 1990's. I was madly indulging in anything I could find in the way of death metal at the time which saw me seeking out a dubbed copy of the album shortly afterwards but if I'm being completely honest I'd have to suggest that I never quite understood the novelty that led to "Severed Survival" being held up on such a pedestal by most death metal fans. I certainly got enjoyment out of it but found it to be far from the classic it was so often touted as. However, it wouldn't take me all that long to get on the Autopsy train with 1991 spawning my two favourite Autopsy releases in the "Retribution For The Dead" E.P. & their career-defining sophomore album "Mental Funeral" which is still my pick of the bunch. "Mental Funeral" is deservedly the record that most people talk about when referring to Autopsy's legacy but I've always felt that "Retribution For The Dead" served as a great indulgence into a particular element of Autopsy's sound & it's about time that I explored it in a more critical manner so that I can submit a well-informed Metal Academy rating.

"Severed Survival" was very much the prototype for filthy, gore-soaked death metal that didn't take itself too seriously & valued atmosphere & imagery over precision musicality but "Retribution For The Dead" was something altogether different in that it took the doomier elements that were hinted at on the debut & made them the focal point of the three-song affair, so much so in fact that it's left me questioning whether there's even any reason to have the E.P. attached to the death metal genre at all given that it so clearly seems to fit in with the definition of the doom/death one that resides solely in The Fallen. Autopsy have always been at their best when they're at their doomiest so this approach was welcomed with open arms by this particular death metal nut. The up-tempo one-two beats still pop up on occasion but they're kept to a minimum this time which suits me down to the ground.

The production job is interesting here & would be a defining component of both of Autopsy's excellent 1991 releases. The guitar tone has had a little distortion sliced off the top which gives things a completely different feel to most death metal. It's somehow more twisted & repulsive which is kinda genius if you think about it because I wouldn't have guessed that would be the result of such a venture. The song structures are also pretty loose & veer well away from the traditional verse-chorus concept with an anything-goes type of arrangement being adopted instead. The vocals of drummer Chris Reifert (Static Abyss/Abscess/Death/The Ravenous) can tend to cross the line into pure silliness at times which has been a common observation over the years but that's kinda in line with Autopsy's whole tongue-in-cheek image & mentality so can be forgiven for the most part.

The opening title track is mildly entertaining but is clearly the weaker of the three tracks on offer with the two songs that would later appear in a re-recorded format on "Mental Funeral" (i.e. "Destined To Fester" & "In The Grip Of Winter") being the more impressive examples of the early 90's Autopsy sound. I definitely prefer the album version of "In Tne Grip Of Winter" but that's not too much of a criticism as "Retribution For The Dead" had already left its mark on me by the time I purchased "Mental Funeral" on cassette shortly after its release & a couple of months after the E.P. hit the shelves. If you're a big Autopsy fan then you owe it to yourself to explore this record as it's deserving of its place amongst the band's finest works while Asphyx, Winter & Coffins fans should also be placing it in their to-do lists.

The debut album from these New York death metal legends would not only represent my introduction to the band but would also be a pretty big record for me at the time, particularly given that this was the period when death metal was completely taking over my life. That dark & dense Immolation sound is already well in effect here with the most notable component being the unusual rhythmic complexity that I've always found to be very exciting. The performances aren't super-precise but then that was never really Immolation's bag, instead going for a swampier sound that benefits from a bit of looseness in the musicianship. The drumming has always been Immolation's weak spot but here we see Craig Smilowski (Disma/Goreaphobia) putting in much better performance than we'd hear from later Immolation drummers & arguably being the MVP from an instrumental point of view. There's a truckload of Morbid Angel influence on display here which can only be a good thing, particularly when combined with bass player Ross Dolan's monstrously devastating death growls which are some of my favourite in the entire genre. I'm often reminded of Incantation & Gorguts' debut album "Considered Dead" in the way Immolation go about their craft too.

So, if all of the ingredients are here for an elite death metal experience then why haven't I scored "Dawn of Possession" any higher than I have? Well, it comes down to consistency. The A side is most certainly pretty classic, particularly the three-track run of "Despondent Souls" into the title track into "Those Left Behind" which is the album highlight & one of Immolation's very finest works. However, the B side simply offers a very solid run of death metal tracks without any genuine classics amongst the five songs on offer. In saying that, I do regard "Dawn of Possession" more highly than some of the band's more widely celebrated releases like "Here In After" & "Unholy Cult" & it's still my second favourite Immolation release behind the magnificent "Close To A World Below" which is a top five death metal record for me overall. I can't see too many fans of the classic death metal sound not getting some seriously jollies out of this album to be honest as it simply ticks all of the boxes.

English death metal establishment Bolt Thrower quickly became a key player in my youth after I discovered their 1989 sophomore album "Realm of Chaos" through late-night underground metal radio programming during the very early 1990s. Tracks like "World Eater", "Eternal War" & "All The Remains" received regular air-time during that period & I was instantly attracted to their dark, war-worshipping tone. I'd subsequently purchase the album on cassette & it's a record that I still think of with fond memories to this day although I wouldn't say that I've ever regarded it as a classic. It would certainly impress me enough for me to not only explore Bolt Thrower's 1987 "Concession of Pain" demo tape, 1988 "Peel Sessions" recordings & debut album "In Battle There Is No Law!" (the latter two of which I enjoyed) but also to race out & purchase their 1991 third album "War Master" upon release. I'd already been given a taster a month earlier through the "Cenotaph" E.P. which was centered around arguably the best track from the album so I was well up for what was in store for me by the time the full-length CD hit my player. "War Master" would receive many listens from me that year & has commanded regular revisits ever since but, despite it being held up as a genuine death metal classic by many death metal fans, I've never seen it as the equal of the two albums that followed it which is where my Bolt Thrower sweet spot is. It's time I gave "War Master" the time to find out why that is.

"War Master" would very much represent the next step in Bolt Thrower's evolution following two full-lengths that still maintained an element of dirt & grit. It would see the band cleaning up their sound a bit & going for a more professionally presented death metal package that placed a higher value on production & precision. The grindcore component that was still quite evident on "Realm of Chaos" is considerably less prominent on "War Master" which is focused on a slightly more melodic death metal sound with blast-beats being used less regularly. You can still hear elements of the thrash metal influence that was evident in their early works in the guitar solo sections which are pretty clearly inspired by the Kerry King/Jeff Hannemann model. Despite that though, "War Master" would be the record that would define the classic Bolt Thrower sound & style, a model that they'd rarely veer away from for too long over the course of their five subsequent albums.

The glossy album cover is a pretty good representation of where Bolt Thrower were at in their musical evolution too actually. It's brighter & more colourful than the "Realm of Chaos" artwork was, even though they're built around similar "Warhammer" role-playing-game inspired themes. The performances of the five individuals seem more controlled & restrained with a stronger focus on cohesion & precision than sheer extremity. Jo Bench's immense bass tone plays a key role in allowing guitarists Gavin Ward & Barry Thompson the room to explore increasingly more melodic riff structures without losing anything in the way of bottom end. Drummer Andrew Whale does struggle a bit with the increased visibility afforded to him by the cleaner production with his clicky kick drum work coming across as a little sloppy, particularly when compared to the precision performances he would contribute in the near future. I'd also suggest that Ward & Thompson's guitar solos are pretty disposable a lot of the time as neither were exactly virtuosos or, on the evidence here, had a lot to say with their lead work from a creative viewpoint either.

The tracklisting is seriously consistent though with all ten songs achieving a very solid song-writing standard that ensures that the listener knows they're listening to one of the leading players in the scene. There's admittedly starting to be a hint of the formulaic about this collection of tunes but you can easily accept that when the formula is so fresh & appealing. The one-two punch of "Cenotaph" & the title track are the clear classics of this collection &, once you hear those two, it's a little hard to see "War Master" as the classic it's reported to be as the other material is so clearly less emphatic in achieving its goal. There needed to be a couple more tracks of that caliber included for "War Master" to reach a more elite death metal stature with me personally. "Cenotaph" is notable for being the sequel of the best track from "Realm of Chaos" too as it begins by fading in where "World Eater" faded out. "Spearhead" from the next album "The IVth Crusade" would continue that journey. 

You won't find a hint of anything less than high quality death metal amongst this collection of tunes as it's an impressively composed, produced & executed record all round, marginally pipping out "Realm of Chaos" for Bolt Thrower's best work to the time. I feel that the band needed another crack in order to fully capitalize on their new vision though with 1992's "The IVth Crusade" being the true benchmark of their career & 1994's "...For Victory" not being too far behind. There can be no denying the relevance of "War Master" at a time when the death metal scene was starting to really explode on a global basis though & it has its main competitors covered pretty comfortably with bands like Benediction, Asphyx & Hail of Bullets having to satisfy themselves with being also-rans rather than genuine competition.

Well I must admit up front that this one has been a bit of a head-scratcher for me. Big fan as I am of the chilean metal scene, I have never encountered Unaussprechlichen Kulten before, despite their 25+ years on the scene, so I am unable to comment as to how typical a release for the band this is.

Häxan Sabaoth takes a long-established style of death metal and incorporates a number of other styles within that framework to construct something a little beyond the norm. The most striking aspect of the album is the lead guitar work, which often has a jangling, chiming tone and which leaps off into shred-like guitar soloing at the drop of a hat. There are certainly some killer riffs, such as the very first one you hear after the occult-sounding intro ends, which is an absolute beauty that serves to draw you into the album's meatgrinder of mayhem. This mayhem and chaotic atmosphere is where those almost demented-sounding guitar leads come in. The neo-classical-adjacent excesses of the soloing when laid down over the archetypal death metal riffs has a similar effect to my ears as disso-death, with the leads sounding out of kilter and at odds with the riffing and blasting that is going on down below. The guitars are certainly the main event here with the deeply growled vocals and, to a certain extent, the drums, being pushed down into the mix where they feel like they are acting merely as support to the six-string depravity going on in the upper echelons of the mixing board.

I have detailed the challenges I face with a lot of dissonant metal and the same issues rear their head here again in this slightly different context, making it an uncomfortable listen at times as I struggle to reconcile the lead and rhythm work. That said, this does seem to be an interesting way to insert some dissonance into a standard death metal framework, although, due to my limited knowledge of death metal, I am unsure of how rare this approach is and I would be interested to hear what true disso-death fans think of it. It could be that a release like this needs more time devoted to it than I feel able to commit to, but for me this is an album where I respect the intentions more than I enjoy the result. Don't get me wrong, it occasionally drops into a riff I can really get a hold of and then it is a really cool blast, with the later tracks such as "Dho hna formula" and "Die teufelsbucher" being the ones where this happens most often and as such providing an album that I personally feel is back-loaded.

I wish I had dived into Mercenary's discography a little earlier. They've made a lot of stupendous classics before a 10-year gap. Did the band make a massive comeback in their new album Soundtrack for the End Times (nice title, though far too relatable)?...

Well, the band still have their signature epic melodeath sound with background keyboards. However, they seem to be moving farther away from their 2000s power metal influences, in favor of more modern pieces of groove/metalcore. You might expect that from the fact that the band no longer have half of their classic lineup. The vocals by Rene Pederson make the band sound a little more Linkin Park than power metal. Although everything's a little more simplistic, they do it all with the strength they still have.

"Burning in Reverse" starts the album OK. It shows that melodeath can be bright and modern instead of as dark and doomy as Hinayana. I would definitely want more of the next track "Heart of the Numb" and its guest appearance by Matt Heafy of Trivium. Then comes a true highlight, "Where Darkened Souls Belong". Wow, this another song I can consider the best of Mercenary even after just a week of diving into the band's material. Nothing different, but this 7-minute track is well-structured. From the keyboard intro onwards, you get everything including mighty grooves, the best harmonic soloing here, and a perfect catchy double-chorus. I'll definitely continue playing this as many times as I want, it really strikes like lightning! "Through This Blackened Hatred" sounds as heavy as The Haunted while having a subpar catchy chorus.

"Anthem for the Anxious" is an anthemic standout that is certainly worth your time. "A Darker Path" has a dark blend of heaviness and melody, though it sounds closer to the melodic metalcore of Miss May I, Bury Tomorrow, and Parkway Drive. "Become the Flame" is a more Trivium-like standout, so much so that Matt Heafy should've made a guest appearance here as well, maybe also Devin Townsend. "From the Ashes of the Fallen" sounds like something Atreyu could've done, though it doesn't have any problems despite sounding less impressive in every listen.

"Black Heart, Dead Tissue" is one more beautiful highlight, practically blending together the melody of Unearth, the darkness of Insomnium, and a bit of heavy technicality from Within the Ruins. Then we switch to the thrashy melodeath of At the Gates in "Black Blood Soil", which sounds cool but doesn't add a lot. There's some epic-sounding orchestra in "Beyond the Waves" but it just doesn't match the quality of that other 7-minute epic.

So their new album Soundtrack for the End Times really kicks up the band's modern influences. If you don't mind a bit of the aforementioned bands like Linkin Park, The Haunted, Trivium, and At the Gates, you have good moments to enjoy there. But if you prefer to stick strictly with Mercenary's 2000s classics, you might wanna stay away....

Favorites: "Heart of the Numb", "Where Darkened Souls Belong", "Anthem for the Anxious", "Become the Flame", "Black Heart, Dead Tissue"

Mercenary's 7th album Through Our Darkest Days is another continuation of the band's grand melodeath sound with power metal elements. Apart from the more modern influences the band has been adding since Metamorphosis that seems to reduce a bit of the quality, not much changed. The melodeath riffing has a power metal tone without any of the brutality of their debut First Breath. The heaviness comes from the fast thrash that make the best contrast with the epic melody. More of the addictive melody comes from the superb keyboards of atmospheric majesty that can almost turn their power metal influences into symphonic power metal. And it's fun hearing the melody appearing in both the guitars and keyboards because of how well melodeath bands from other Northern European countries use that aspect. However, unlike those bands that focus mainly on death growls, the band adds in clean singing in perfect balance with the growls, at the cost of bit of the aggression.

Through Our Darkest Days is not their best album but not a bad one either. Their style has a lot of potential, but how they've been using it lately might cause minor damage to what makes them spectacular. Although most of the songs are strong and energetic, the idea of modernizing their power metal-ish melodeath can stir up some conflict in their attempt on staying cohesive. With great strength comes great responsibility, and some differences can be pop up noticeably as the album goes on. The grand epic atmosphere can actually be found in later songs and flows easier than the first few. No matter which songs have better flow, this album shall mark another adventurous addition to their long tremendous career...

Opening track "A New Dawn" charges through with catchy yet heavy groove/thrash riffing and beautiful atmosphere. However, the clean vocals in the verses sound a bit robotic and out of place. Don't worry though, the cleans will sound better later. "Welcome the Sickness" welcomes you to the heavier death growls and blast beats, mixed perfectly with clean singing and riffs of epic atmosphere, ending with wonderful soloing. The title track has more melodic riffing to take you on a melodeath/power metal adventure. With that effective cleans/growls blend, we have another strong highlight.

"Dreamstate Machine" lightens things up with some more of the clean riffing atmosphere. The more brutal riffing and growling is only used for the verses. Similarly, "A Moment of Clarity" is kind of a clean groove track that relaxes on most of the heavy energy while having atmospheric soloing. The album's consistent side kicks in with "Beyond This Night", though the mid-paced melody and atmospheric riffing isn't that great and can't keep up with the strength of later tracks.

The highlight "Starving Eyes" soars through with clean singing and keyboards, as the melodic riffing gives the song the epic power it needs. One of my favorite songs here! "Generation Hate" charges through with a devastating deathly intro complete with bass and drums pummeling through. Despite being cut short for the power metal-ish chorus, that chorus soars along for a solid blend of cleans, riffs, and keyboards. "Forever the Unknown" closes the album as a long epic with the best keyboard atmosphere and riffing as an adventurous end to this great experience. The bonus track "Holding On to Serenity" is OK, though sounding close to early Shadows Fall.

7 albums in and the band is still standing strong. This album may not be their best one, but there are still some memorable songs to enjoy that help them continue this style that not many bands still have today. The power metal elements from the keyboards and cleans help the sound stand out in strong glory with their melodeath side that has all the vicious riffs and growls. Though the more modernized sound cause a bit of an issue, with the lighter moments not shining well. The more deathly metalheads might has some trouble getting the appeal when it comes to the sound going from one place to the other. Nonetheless, if you're up for adventure packed with more melody than brutality, you've come to the right place. Even the darkest days have some light....

Favorites: "Welcome the Sickness", "Through Our Darkest Days", "Dreamstate Machine", "Starving Eyes", "Forever the Unknown"

I am the kind of metalhead who enjoys albums from bands that experiment with changing their sound in each release, except when one of those albums is non-metal. Take for example two gothic metal bands I used to listen to, Paradise Lost and Tiamat. They both started off as death-doom flirting with both sides of the genre in early 90s, switched to gothic metal in the mid-90s, discarded their metal in late 90s, and started bringing it back throughout the 2000s and early 2010s.

Throughout those years leading up to that point, Mercenary made a thrashy melodeath album in 1998 and a string of 4 epic power metal-ish melodeath offerings. The early 2010s is when the band began to take their modern influences to the next level in Metamorphosis. It's pretty great, though it can never beat their earlier discography...

Kicking things off is "Through the Eyes of the Devil", with an intro where the metal instrumentation is really building up. René Pedersen typically performs a more hardcore style of harsh vocals, but he can still do the shrieking and growling expected in melodeath. The chorus is when he starts to sing. Former clean vocalist Mikkel Sandager was a total master of melodic singing when he was with the band, and fans were concerned about if Rene's harsh vocal style would be all that's left in the vocal department. Fortunately, he can sing, almost as greatly as Mikkel. And that's what I enjoy about that track. "The Follower" is good but not really the best. There are nice moments but nothing so interesting. "In a River of Madness" throws back to the band's 2000s awesomeness with haunting symphonics.

"Memoria" is worth lots of listens. Rene once again proves his amazing talent to perform clean and harsh vocals, as bands like Scar Symmetry would. It's quite impressive, considering he can also play the bass at the same time. A melodic standout with nice pace! Mixing heaviness with emotion is "Velvet Lies" with nice melancholy. "In Bloodred Shades" has more of the clean/harsh vocal mix worth listening to. "Shades of Gray" sounds too poppy, especially since it has solely clean singing, common in melodeath albums but considered a sin by fans of the genre. With no aggression, it's just a lame song that would be better suited as a standalone radio single instead of on this album.

"On The Edge of Sanity" can strikes back as one of my favorite songs here. Rene's vocal ability is in mighty display. And even though the chorus is a bit a repetitive, that awesome catchy song can't be put down. "The Black Brigade" has lyrics about how love can prevent suicide. For a love song, I really like that one. The US edition comes with a bonus track, "Incorporate Your Demons", my overall favorite here that should've been in the standard edition. Wonderful All That Remains vibes in that chorus!

Far from their epic 2000s throne but still pretty great, Metamorphosis has a lot of expected and unexpected turns. The lineup can stand strong despite being much different. While some might hate this more commercial sound, I don't mind it. As the open-minded metalhead I am, I take no sh*t....

Favorites: "Through the Eyes of the Devil", "In a River of Madness", "Memoria", "On The Edge of Sanity", "Incorporate Your Demons"

I'd like to once again say that I wasn't fully interested in Mercenary until just a week before this review, despite having heard of this band for many years. I'm not sure why. But no matter the reason, I'm grateful to find some metal classics from this band, such as the fantastic The Hours That Remain. Will they continue to impress in their next album?

Their 5th album Architect of Lies is a sign of a different era. René "Renegade" Pedersen became the new bassist/death growler, and modern influences have started making their way to the usual power metal-infused melodeath sound. And this is the kind of style that should interest my brother who likes the more modern rock/metal bands. Many metalheads take a couple months to completely the greatness of an album into their minds, but me? It only took a quick but thorough week!

"New Desire" begins the album with the band's signature blending of heavy riffing and atmospheric keyboards. The verses are when you hear them use more alt-sounding riffing for the first time, which might turn off metal purists but lure in anyone who can handle modern variety (such as myself). "Bloodsong" has one of the best bridge sections in the album, in which the impressive soloing by lead guitarist Martin Buus will blow your mind and stay in there. At first listen of "Embrace the Nothing", all I can hear is some of the most fascinating work Mercenary has done. It almost sounds like an unused track from The Hours That Remain sessions, with melody of awesome wonders. A superb track that marks my favorite here. "This Black and Endless Never" is where Mikkel sings his best in the destructive heaviness without wasting any time.

I certainly approve of the godly soloing in "Isolation (The Loneliness in December)". That, along with the rest of the track, greatly pleases me. The guitars and keyboards have splendid harmony in "The Endless Fall". In the limited edition, that track segues into the bonus track "Death Connection". If you have that edition, consider yourself lucky. It's a must-have if you want more of the sound the album has to offer. And it actually works well in the middle of the album instead of the end where bonus tracks typically go. The next track "Black Hollow" is another highlight with more of the atmospheric keyboard melody.

Another song, "Execution Style" has killer heaviness while still mastering the pop-ish hooks appearing every now and then. "I Am Lies" has more of the modern riffing that has already caught in other melodeath bands like Scar Symmetry. "Public Failure Number One" has more thrashy variety. Then it ends the album with the last of the keyboards by Morten Sandager before he, his brother clean vocalist Mikkel, and drummer Mike Park all left the band the following year.

With Architect of Lies being the last album for those 3 albums and the first with René Pedersen, it is a transitional album between their earlier epic era and their recent modern era. And that's an awesome blend for anyone wanting both something old and new. Another amazing album any diverse metalhead should get!

Favorites: "Bloodsong", "Embrace the Nothing", "Isolation (The Loneliness in December)", "Death Connection", "Black Hollow", "I Am Lies"

4th album in, and Mercenary is still going strong. Their albums are quite remarkable in the metal community. Pretty much everything is in high quality. And their sound never ceases to progress! Their unique sound has stirred up another perfect masterpiece. Mercenary continues to be the respectable ensemble they are with this gem that is The Hours That Remain. The music also shines with its production that allows easy clarity for the instruments. Everything's perfectly produced and your mind can focus on the music without any troubling thing.

Once again, the band are incredible masters of melodeath with progressive/power metal tendencies. The vocals are quite unique here. Kral left the band right before the album was to be recorded, and while producer Jacob Hansen took over on bass, clean vocalist Mikkel Sandager decided to test out his growling/screaming abilities. His harsh vocals are so perfectly kick-A that I wish he could do them full-time, though I also enjoy his beautiful singing voice and I don't want that to get strained.

Harsh vocals help define the band's sound in "Redefine Me", though just so Mikkel can still have his clean falsetto, the harsh vocal role is given to Björn "Speed" Strid of Soilwork just for that song. "Year of the Plague" is where Mikkel starts doing the harsh vocals on his own. "My World is Ending" is one of my favorite songs from this band and album, which is interesting because it's more focused on clean singing and adding a fair amount of keyboard melody. Another one of the best songs here is "This Eternal Instant", an instant classic in the heavier side of melodeath.

Next song, the 8-minute "Lost Reality" has nice keyboard atmosphere. Same with "Soul Decision", another great heavy highlight with some more harsh vocals. And again in "Simplicity Demand", though a little more simplistic.

"Obscure Indiscretion" is another song with much less harsh vocals. "My Secret Window" is another total standout, with relentless greatness striking the listener in every direction. The closing title track has some zesty synths and piano within the heavier instrumentation. The track is 7-minutes long, but it is followed by a hidden one-minute outro with the last bit of piano and singing.

The success is still going! The stellar sound has slightly improved from 11 Dreams and is able to maintain the perfect glory of Everblack. They continue to level up their greatness that would decrease in later releases while staying strong. Any metalhead should get The Hours That Remain. A fantastic confident offering of epic melodeath!

Favorites: "Redefine Me", "My World is Ending", "This Eternal Instant", "Soul Decision", "My Secret Window"

After a well-done thrashy debut First Breath, their second album Everblack is a masterpiece in which power metal elements are seamlessly added to their dominant sound of melodeath. Epic and extreme can truly fit well together! They would continue the sound in their subsequent albums though with more modern influences later on. And one of those albums show that the band never cease to amaze their fans...

11 Dreams, like the rest of the band's discography, has been with me for about a week, and I'm already hooked for some more listening to come. A lot of this album is f***ing kick-A! Barely any song here is in bad shape, all in top-notch quality.

The intro "Into the Sea of Dark Desires" has haunting keyboards sounding straight out of a fantasy/horror movie. Then "World Hate Center" unleashes heavy anger that will live in your mind in a week, which I've experienced after hearing it for the first time. Great riffing worth moshing and headbanging to, along with total vocal rage, "Now do you feel respectable on the cross?!" The title track is another great track, though different from the first song. The greatness reaches its highest point right in the middle with a searing solo. "reDestructDead" blends together the brutal melodeath of the first full song with the pieces of symphonic power metal from the second. Another solo appears in the middle in a faster tempo, one of the many things making that song another highlight.

The next track "Firesoul" is quite a ride. Serene female singing appears during the last couple minutes, performed by Monika Pedersen who would later join Sirenia for one their albums. Lots of great piano melody too. Then we have a good memorable standout in "Sharpen the Edges". Lots of creepy drama from the piano and lyrics that wouldn't sound too far off from Misfits. The slow riffing stays heavy and twisted all the way through. Another memorable track "Supremacy v2.0", is filled with kick-A melodeath and a sequel to a song from their 1996 EP. Some more of the slow riffing has great synergy between the two vocalists. A well-constructed epic worth repeated listens!

After that, we have "Music No Stop", a cover of the song by Swedish pop rock band Kent. Metal purists might think "What the f***?!?" when hearing this cover, but the truth is, they turned a pop sh*t-hit into a real metal song. And that's how I like these kinds of covers! "Falling" swings into fast groove/thrash while having more of Mikkel's vocals and another guest appearance by Monika Pedersen in the background. "Times Without Changes" is a 3-minute piano ballad, and the only song in this album to feel even slightly out of place. It segues to the mind-blowing finale "Loneliness". Right from first listen, it's my favorite track of the album. The guitarwork is unbelievable. The drums have a steady pace. And the vocals sound so perfect! I can actually sing and growl quite well, but while I can imitate Kral, I can't quite reach the range of Mikkel. I might still have a fun time covering this song with some of the best lyrics in metal. I highly suggest listening to that glorious song of PURE METAL POWER!!!

I think it's clear that the band is spicing up melodeath with some bits of Stratovarius-like power metal coming from clean vocals and keyboards performed from the heart. Whether or not you're a fan of melodeath, you're bound to enjoy the h*ll out of this album. 11 Dreams is every metalhead's dream!

Favorites: "World Hate Center", "reDestructDead", "Sharpen the Edges", "Supremacy v2.0", "Loneliness"

Not many bands can reach enjoyable perfection at just the second album, but Mercenary has done just that! Everblack knocked their debut First Breath off the throne, having switched from a thrashy melodeath band to melodeath with power metal influences. Giving the band that melodic boost is brothers Mikkel and Morten Sandager. Mikkel has some of the most skillful clean singing I've heard, and Morten is talented with his dark keyboard work.

As for the rest of the lineup, Kral can handle the bass well and perform death growls clear enough for you to hear the lyrics. Guitarist Jakob Mølbjerg has riff-tastic skills. One-time guitarist guitarist Signar Petersen shreds all the way with his soloing. And drummer Rasmus Jacobsen... Well, although he has the potential to crash and blast like any other aggressive drummer, he rarely does that. His more rock-ish technique is quite great but unfitting, subtracting a percentage point away from total perfection. Maybe it has something to do with his lack of commitment with the band that got him fired after this album and replaced by the more passion-powered Mike Park Nielsen.

The album starts with a short spooky intro to get anyone pumped, though it seems to consider the September 11 attacks the start of "World War III". Then it launches into the thrashy title track where you can hear the Sandager brothers' power metal-ish contributions for the first time. "Seize the Night" has a bit of hardcore groove which, combined with the usual melodeath, sounds like Shadows Fall at that time. The epic "Screaming from the Heavens" has the best of the album's sound.

"Dead.com" rocks out with some of the best melodeath that you can also find from bands like Kalmah, Dethklok, and Sylosis. Some of the greatest soloing can be found in "Darkspeed". Though it's not as dark as "Bloodrush". And even darker still is "A Darker Shade of Black".

Kral's growls and Mikkel's cleans shine the most together in "Bulletblues", especially in fantastic vocal duels. I also love its ending guitar solo. "Rescue Me" has melodic riffing that might've planted a seed for modern metalcore bands like August Burns Red and Demon Hunter. "Alliance" is one more thrash song before ending with a spooky outro. "Nothing's What It Seems" is a bonus epic that's quite awesome except when it abruptly cuts off at the end. That's fixed in the remastered version by fading out.

All in all, Everblack is an epic recommendation for open-minded metalheads like myself. It's actually not until their next album 11 Dreams, when the band is signed to Century Media, that they become more popular. Still, Everblack is the true start to the Mercenary we know, and any metal fan should get it for pure metal glory!

Favorites: "Everblack", "Screaming from the Heavens", "Dead.com", "Darkspeed", "Bulletblues", "Nothing's What It Seems" (remastered)

Formed in 1991 and having released 3 demos throughout the decade, melodeath fans get to witness the FIRST BREATH of Mercenary with their debut album. Unlike their later power metal-influenced albums, First Breath takes on a more thrashy melodeath sound. The band didn't have a full-time keyboardist and clean vocalist yet, and Henrik "Kral" Andersen (bass, growls) led this deathly quartet. The raw sound adds to this album's superb uniqueness!

What you can expect in this album includes brutal death growls, melodic thrashy guitar, and decent drum blasts. Kral sounds like a monstrous menace, and that's a compliment for death growlers. The music sounds darker and more violent than any of their subsequent releases.

"Symbiotic" kicks off the album with a more melodic take on old-school Death. "World Wide Weep" has more of a hardcore groove, but one you can really headbang to. Next song "Horizon" is a wonderful 8-minute epic. You can hear beautiful vocals by Irene Poulsen and mystical keyboards by Jakob Sivsgård, almost foreshadowing what the band would add from their next album onward. "Master Game" has impressive bass and soloing.

"Perceptive" has a similar vibe to late 80s Pestilence but more melodic. "Graveart" has some beautiful melodeath that Omnium Gatherum would later have, then ends with battle sounds similar to Braveheart. "Next to Nothing" has more of that impressive soloing. "Demon8" sounds more haunting in some places, and has some more keyboards.

"Watching Me" almost reminds me a bit of Dethklok. "Alternative Ways" has some slight alt-metal before becoming thrashy. "Sister Jane" is a lovely soft ballad to end the album, and it has more of the clean vocals Irene Poulsen, as well as Kral attempting to do his own singing in the duet. After 45 seconds of silence, we have the bonus track "Supremacy" from the band's 1996 EP. Although this is melodeath, the harmonics sound like they could've been used by Machine Head or Nevermore. That said, I like it.

All in all, First Breath is a brutal powerful start to Mercenary's journey. There's no way an exceptional album like this can be recreated by the band after the lineup and sound changed a lot, with only rhythm guitarist Jakob Mølbjerg still around. Any melodeath fan should start with this album before the rest. A near-perfect raw classic!

Favorites: "Horizon", "Master Game", "Graveart", "Next to Nothing", "Sister Jane", "Supremacy"