Vinny's Reviews

After the often chaotic and confusing sound of 'IX Equilibrium', Emperor managed to somehow refine that style and make it more cohesive on their follow-up 'Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise'.  Gone was the "bashing pots n' pans" percussive sounds of what came to pass 2 years earlier and we now had a solid, much more relevant performance from Trym that compliments both the faster and progressive parts of the album as opposed to feeling like the drums were in competition with everything on the last full length.

I should say at this stage that like others on here, although 'IX Equilibrium' was no 'Anthems2...' I still found the album perfectly listenable.  I would go as far as to say I actually enjoyed it, but for me the 2001 offering just cemented the direction better.  'Prometheus...' has more tangible edges and boundaries that whilst obvious, never feel restrictive.

The symphonic elements dropped away a little to my ears and the album relies more than ever on those soaring guitar melodies and the fable telling style of the vocals to raise the music up to the familiar levels of the grandiose and magnificent that we had become accustomed to from Emperor.  The tracks also benefit from having a real feeling of flow about them.  Yes the pace and timing changes regularly but the songs are strong, the arrangements feel like engine parts working in unison in some kind of well-oiled machine.

The depth of clarity towards the end of 'The Tongue of Fire' is resplendent, as are the bold keys and horns of 'In The Wordless Chamber' which is a fine use of the symphonic elements that the band are so well known for.  They drive this track forward like they are galloping on the back of some giant steed.

Although in so many ways 'Prometheus...' is one of the more accessible Emperor albums sound wise, the pompous, lofty and imperious nature of it makes for quite a complex record to consume in one sitting.  It took me a good few listens before the whole thing really clicked with me (at least 20) but it was more than worth the effort.  Interspersed with the progressive elements at times are the jarring riffs of a Gorguts record.  Whilst still recognisable as blackened (at least around the edges), the vocals benefit from King Diamond-esque clean passages too.  'Prometheus...' is a real celebration of metal in general if you listen carefully enough.

Whether you love or hate Cannibal Corpse, their penchant for churning out accessible, fun and consistent DM can't be denied. Yes when they suck they really do suck (Gallery of Suicide), but even if technically never more complicated than most Kinder egg toys there's always a familiarity to CC albums that appeals. I get those that hate that familiarity. If you prefer to become lost in a Portalesque vortex when enjoying your extreme metal then the obvious churn of CC won't be for you. However, for every complex and archaic DM record in my collection I like to have a fair amount of surety too (someone will be along in a minute to replace "surety" with "safety" no doubt) and "Red Before Black" is as familiar to me after a few listens as most of the band's previous output.

"Red Before Black" reinvents no wheels, either in terms of DM in general or the CC specific brand. It is naive to say it has no variety as this simply isn't true, the pace of "Remaimed" for example goes from a slight itch to a raging STD style of a rash. Opening track "Only One Will Die" comes for you like a deranged serial killer, devoid of any bizarre macabre master plan to use your body in some horrific piece of death art, just driven instead by the need to rip your head off and shit down your neck.

"Firestorm Vengeance" starts like a thrash track, chopping away at the bars like a lumberjack on LSD defacing a tree. The mastery of "Scavenger Consuming Death" is undeniable as it chugs away sitting imperiously glaring at you like some cocksure domestic pet who just shat in your sock drawer! Sonically, the album seems a little more developed than usual without ever dissolving into the territory of "guitar wankery". My only instrumentation grumble is the slightly soft edge to the drum sound which taps along instead pummelling in unison with the rest of the activity on display here.

Whilst still being relevant (and it has achieved this without becoming "core" orientated either) and it staying in my head a lot better than the last two Suffocation records (for example) it sets nothing alight. As solid a DM record as this is my face isn't torn off at any point, my ears aren't battered and my neck doesn't get sore due to some over-exuberant headbanging session. Most tracks do dip away unfortunately.

Let's take nothing away from the effort though. To not be producing shit metal at this stage in your career is an achievement in itself, I just start to question if motions are starting to just be gone through?

Like some journey whilst blindfolded and hogtied in the trunk of a kidnapper's car, you never quite know where you'll end up with Blut Aus Nord. The blend of near poetic melody contrasted with their harsh industrial leanings and complimentary darkest of ambience across their discography can leave the average metal head spinning on their metallic shoulders. Counter-intuitively you end up waiting for the next change, chop, turn or trick whenever you listen to anything new by BAN and this almost starts to detract from the experience as you wait like some cowering wreck for the sucker-punch to arrive.

Merciless though they are in the delivery of "Deus Salutis Meæ" (God of my Salvation) the twists and turns - although far from predictable - are as one would expect having heard anything by the band since "The Work Which Transforms God". Where "Deus..." differs slightly to my ears is the more obvious structure to proceedings, with obvious use of ambient tracks to pace the album over the full experience.

What occurs between these passages of dark reflection is just as chaotic and scary as you would expect it to be. There's little obvious "Memoria Vetusta" styling here but some of it is still present amidst the clashing percussion, churning bass and dense atmosphere of what sounds like a natural extension of the previously mentioned "The Work..." album. It is impossible to deny the power behind BAN's music and typically "Deus..." is a bashing of an affair. The thunderous opening of "Abisme" for example causes you to stop whatever you are doing and listen - like some industrial riffing dictator at some vast and menacing stage, addressing their crowd of loyal subjects. 

Never content with just pummelling the listener with percussion there's a fair amount of mesmerising repetition also, like some endless coiling snake or fathomless vortex encircling the listener, crushing the very soul from their shell. "Revalatio" fades away but the same intensity of the track just churns on and on as though still playing now in some parallel universe, long after the reels have stopped turning here in this one! The void that "Ex Tenebrae Lucis" drops you into has no friendly alien lifeforms present as it taunts you like some inter dimensional bully after your cyber lunch money.

Criticisms? It seems over and done with too quickly, which whilst never coming across as disjointed or fractured does leave you stumbling a bit as the record just ends really suddenly. You end up feeling like a sprint runner, expecting the finish line but then suddenly seeing a wall just after it and having to slam on the heel brakes. The longest track on here is five and a half minutes and it almost feels like the album needs a couple of seven minute numbers to vary the experience a little. That having been said, "Deus..." is a still a triumph for a band who despite switching genres more often than some people change their duds, still manage to produce challenging and though-provoking music. 

I call false album title. There's no doom on here folks. Any flare-wearing readers can stand down at this point of the review. I imagine the doom aspect of the title refers to the medieval threat of some Tolkien inspired fictitious army that Summoning have kindly recorded a soundtrack for. If you are familiar with Summoning there's little in the way of anything new here as the Austrians again bring their own brand of epic/atmospheric black metal to 2018.

The problem I have with "With Doom We Come" is that it doesn't really "go" anywhere. It could quite easily all be one track with seven pauses given the sound and structure varies very little from track to track. That is not to say it is a bad album, it just drips into the water without ever making a real "splosh" at any point. There's the usual gruff vocal style and occasional chanting over keys whilst the guitar just sits in the corner with a tea and some crossword books to bide the time one presumes.

Sarcasm aside, fans of the band will like this albeit without any truly remarkable moments to cement it as a stand out album. Usually, I can't sit and listen to Summoning without doing something else and this made a great accompaniment to some shelves I hung this morning, very rousing at times to the point of making me forget about my hangover altogether. The atmospheric magic never really finds any identifiable peak though, beautiful though the record is at times nothing really stands out overall.

Stumbling across a Yob CD on my shelves so soon after inducting myself into The Fallen clan seems a fitting place to undertake my first post-challenge review. I do not recall the exact moment (or indeed the exact reason) that I purchased Our Raw Heart, however based on my revisit of it this past week it had to be related to the variety of styles and pacing that are present on the record.

As I sit here now listening to the butt-fuck ugly riffing of the sludge-sodden, The Screen I sense that connection with that alienating guitar sound just as much as I do with the latent beauty of the title track or indeed sixteen minute epic, Beauty in Falling Leaves. Inherent also on the album is the near constant sense of life that is present. Ironic though that may seem considering Mike Scheidt nearly died the year before from diverticulitis, the album heralds the success of his (and the bands) survival. Our Raw Heart is a sensuous affair that sounds like a band that has seen the possible endpoint of time and has grown from the experience.

The constant construction and deconstruction of a track like In Reverie suggests a band that is willing to fuck about with time also and still provide atmosphere laden entertainment in the process. Touching on elements of psychedelia, death doom and stoner metal along the trajectory of the record, the trio are able to show the full range of their influences and abilities. In addition to this, you can hear all the component parts of the instruments as well as Mike’s vocals, the sum of all parts making a harmoniously clunky yet unified sound.

All that keeps this from top marks is the slightly too cumbersome Original Face that never quite grasps a hold of me quite like the rest of the track listing. Otherwise, Our Raw Heart is an absolute triumph of a record.

In terms of their discography, Immortal’s sophomore album represented a sudden peak in Black Metal mastery that they only ever really matched once more during their time with At the Heart of Winter.  What Pure Holocaust did was take the blastbeat frenzy of most BM of the time and wrap it in hypothermic riffs that chilled the very soul of the listener.  

This was the first Immortal record I ever owned.  I heard the debut around the same time but it didn’t stand up at all against this follow up and as I got familiar with the rest of the back catalogue it was soon apparent that not much of anything else could stand up either.  Whilst the aforementioned 1999 release was notable for its vast scope, robust structures and excellent storytelling, Pure Holocaust was almost the exact opposite.  It thrived on relentless aggression, merciless blasting and bone jarring turbulence.  There’s little in the way of variety here and whilst for some records that means an almost certain unmemorable death the sheer audacious nature of the delivery on this record just captivates me still to this day.

I can’t think of many more records that capture the grim and inaccessible nature of BM so perfectly.  There’s an audible arrogance to how Abbath and co deliver this release.  Completely unapologetic and full of unwavering menace and threat throughout, Pure Holocaust should be on the shelf of every Black Metal fan’s library for when their room temperature needs dropping a few degrees.

Slavonic Heathen Metal is how one write-up of Drudkh's seventh studio outing describes this highly atmospheric yet densely sad sound that permeates these six tracks.  It is probably safe to say that none of the regulars on this site have (knowingly) heard any Slavonic Heathen Metal before slapping on this absolute triumph of a record, however, on personal level, if this is what this made-up sub-genre of metal sounds like then I am more than happy to listen to more of this.  Microcosmos is my favourite Drudkh record and one that sits on my vinyl shelves across the room from where I sit to write these musings.  I have heard almost everything by the band since I first clapped my ears on Autumn Aurora many years ago and I went on a dotted journey of discovery flitting across their releases in no particular order following my discovery of their sophomore as my gateway release into the band.

By the time Drudkh had gotten around to 2009 they had arguably dropped a lot of their bm roots and then rediscovered them on 2007's Estrangement.  The harsh blast beats of that record once again cemented their repute as one of bm's finest if not more experimental artists and it came as no surprise to hear them add a different and more atmospheric direction to their follow-up album.  Microcosmos is an intensely rich and rewarding experience that embraces the familiar folk elements of their sound and drives the emotion of their themes with the trademark black metal harshness that we had all come to expect from Drudkh at this point.  However, we now got an aggressively expansive album with a lavish menu of emotionally-charged atmospherics to develop these themes.  The bass on most tracks here is so audible and is placed front and centre to give it real prominence in proceedings.  Whether it is within the slower sections to help with build or in the more intensely paced sections to underpin the guitars and percussion with a solid foundation, the strings of Krechet are a joy to behold.

Melodic without lacking power and aggressive without ever sounding one-dimensional, Microcosmos plays as virtually an instrumental album for large sections of its runtime.  Unafraid to let the instruments take the floor and lead, Drudkh are confident enough in their own ability to let soaring leads and solid percussion sections do the talking and build their tracks.  Memorable without trying to be catchy or hooky, this is an album that manages to really get under my skin as a listener and sticks with me for hours/days afterwards.  One of the few records that I still can consistently hold at full-marks year after year.

Coming three years after the success of their debut album, Phoenix Rising took the black/thrash of Unchain the Wolves and rammed it back down the throats of anyone foolish enough to be stood nearby with mouth agape.  In doing so, they didn't quite hit the heights of the previous album and whilst by no means a failure there's a sense of there being one or two fangs missing from the bite this time around.

Whilst still super-aggressive and as in your face as you'd like it to be, I find a sense of the record not quite delivering on some levels.  Oddly for this style of music, I miss the catchier elements of the debut.  These seem to have been replaced with more plodding/hum-drum/run of the mill type sections that don't really drive the message home with the same intensity as expected.

Even the obviously more memorable tracks such as I am the Wargod (Ode to the Battle Slain) lack a certain degree of punch to leave a lasting enough bruise to the brain.  Despite the intensity and the energy levels it doesn't appear to get the album anywhere near what came to pass on their debut.  

On the plus side, as a standalone blackened thrash record it is a solid enough a record in its own right.  Charging and rampant enough for any fan of the genre to enjoy, with grim and raspy vocals and a motoring rhythm section to boot.

The rabid death/thrash sound of the debut album from Pestilence Malleus Maleficarum was replaced by a more straight forward death metal sound on the sophomore record. Still a massively riffy affair, Consuming Impulse was the sound of extreme music delivered skillfully.

Patrick Mameli's dexterity on guitar knows no bounds on the band's sophomore release. He took simple riffing and elevated into a frenzied intensity that still had enough in the way of catchiness to make them memorable and repeatable, either in your head or on your own six string. On the same record there were still more complex passages that showed his range yet still they gave space to Van Drunen who set about his trademark unhinged, deranged and crazed vocal style to great effect on what was to be his final release with the band (very much a big loss as it turned out to be). 

This was all from a band several thousand of miles away from the developing US death metal scene, yet the Dutch band from Enschede, Overijssel dropped an album of such magnitude and presence that it could trade blows with the Morbid Angel's and Obituary's of the time and only narrowly lose out on points. 

In a rapidly developing scene the release of Consuming Impulse showed just how the spread of death metal could infect the European market as it went on to infect the world. This album acted like a super-spreader, taking all the good elements of the debut and marrying them up with an enhanced arsenal of riffs and howls. The rabid thrashing of the debut became the threat of greater devastation from a slightly more measured delivery on the follow up.  The maturity and adaptability displayed on only their second record to my ears drained the tank for the rest of the band's output as they have never topped Consuming Impulse.

Another gateway record for me.  The introduction to the medieval minimalism of Summoning was at first a stretch too far for my more traditional black metal tastes.  However, after sticking with it and giving it repeated listens it soon found some semblance of regular rotation and to this day is still my most visited and familiar release.

This is a tough sell for a lot of people and I get it, really I do.  Not only is this a very different take on black metal in terms of sound it is also structured on epic song lengths making the repetitive nature of the delivery a tad arduous.  Barring the opening instrumental your looking at six minutes plus here as your shortest track with more than a couple going over the nine minute mark.  I find some odd comfort in the album though in the sense that once I am tuned into the environment I don’t necessarily want to hear anything too different so I end drawn in to the record almost inevitably.

To say there’s fanfare here is an understatement.  Unlike other albums I have reviewed with symphonic elements riding roughshod over proceedings or trying to keep up unnecessarily with the more aggressive parts of the music, here the balance is great.  Despite the minimal style deployed there’s still a sense of depth to the record, like it is background music for some heinous Middle Ages banquet, complimenting the rich opulence of some of the guests whilst also giving a grim nod to the mire the servants move around in.

Whilst it might not be worthy of anymore than three stars, this record is as solid and consistent a release as you could hope to find and whilst it may bore the living daylights out of some listeners, I take great solace in every listen.

Listen back to "Pure Holocaust" or "Battles In The North" and you simply cannot deny the cold, harsh and blistering fury of the pace across those records. Relentlessly executed and delivered with real venom each time, they are quite rightly bona fide classics in any BM collection. What "At The Heart Of Winter" brought was a less frenzied, much more calculated assault. With it's immediate use of melody from virtually the word go (check out album opener "Withstand The Fall Of Time" from about 3 mins in for 30 seconds or so as a fine example of how things were going to pan out on this record), measured perfectly by those awesome riffs and thunder toms, man!

This was never a case of Immortal wimping (or selling) out. This album was a point in time for Immortal and at that point they were at the top of their game not just musically but also in the quality of the songwriting. Each track is an epic foray into Abbaths' nightmarish, frozen world only this time there is no searing, ice-cold wind stinging your eyes; instead you have Immortal as the fiery dragon scorching out of the blueish haze, standing proud and stoic over their realm.

The pace isn't doom by any stretch and that is one of the key successes of this album. It might be a change of sound but it is still so very obviously Immortal, Abbath is unmistakeable in his vocal delivery but this time the band are building structures around them. Take second track "Solarfall" and listen as it swoops in and out of fast paced riffs and more melodic passages that help build the imagery behind the song title brilliantly. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the "Tragedies Blows At Horizons", with it's measured development and well reined pace punctuated superbly by dreamy plucked strings and big, bold and plodding riffs.

Of course I am going to mention the artwork too. It's up there with Emperor "In The Nightside Eclipse" in terms of epic, fantasy artwork doing great justice to what lies beneath. It is one of those records that if ever owned on vinyl I could sit gawking at the cover for hours.

By the time you get to the oddly titled "Where Dark & Light Don't Differ" the sense of controlled aggression is all the more evident here with the thrashing riffs and astonishing drum work of Horgh combining perfectly. 

If you haven't figured out by now that the title track is going to be awesome then its opening foray of picked strings and haunting keys should be enough of a wake up call. It is a whole 2 minutes before that riff crashes in and Abbath's grim croak establishes itself. Again there is variety galore in terms of riffs, melody and drums on this one track alone. The track gallops along with riffs leaving horseshoe imprints on your forehead as the mighty Immortal beast thunders on.

By the time you reach "Years Of Silent Sorrow" you are still just as exhausted as you were at the end of "Pure Holocaust". Only this time your Immortalised brain has had to come to terms with a melodic style of BM that retains all the harsh, cold and scathing darkness of the genre yet it has been somehow packaged in a solid structure of accessible and thoughtful songwriting. 

Rotting Christ's brand of Hellenic black metal went into full on Gothic story telling mode on their 1996 release.  Balancing the Gothic and melodic elements whilst still retaining their charcteristic grim vocals and yet warm guitar tones, the album was the work of a band developing well.  I think this album shows a level of maturity and growth that was pivotal in getting the band to become almost household names in the world of black metal.

End to end the album has a real sense of flare.  Whilst never straying to the realm of being garish the panache for fluid and flowing melodies was in over drive on this release, cementing the bands sound alongside grown up songwriting that oozed class and captured the ear of the listener well.  Incorporating catchy riffs that are allowed to standout despite the thick production job, the album also builds great atmosphere to boot.  The weight of the production keeps the feel of everything being played through some dank fog but still gives key components space to thrive when needed, like swimming underwater without goggles and still being able to see aspects of the sea bed clearly.

The band had by this point in their career released numerous demos and two full lengths so if there was a time to expect them to "Kick on" a few levels then album number three was it.  Sakis, Themis and Jim all work together well to deliver a measured yet still very powerful feeling album.  There isn't a lot of power to the music here and it is better for it, the Gothic melancholy coats most of the music and shrouds it bleak and dreary tones whilst the melodic aspects lift the instrumentation, warming further the tone of the riffs and the stabbing leads.

Probably one of my preferred Rotting Christ releases so an absolute pleasure to be able to spend an hour with it earlier to relive it's dark, melodious glory.  In terms of its place in this list for the North Clan Challenge it is a particular standout record in comparison to the vast majority of the other albums listed.  Nobody else on the list sounds like Rotting Christ for sure and this only serves to fuel the fires of this being one of the standout releases here.

Blut Aus Nord’s “777” trilogy initially passed me by as being just “three more BAN records!” Foolish though my initial summary admittedly was there is no denying that taken as three sprawling soundscapes that explore the full dynamic range of one of black metal’s more experimental artists, this trilogy commands more than just a cursory listen. To truly unfold the ethereal and haunting and downright catastrophic tale they tell here requires time to be dedicated to the cause.

The theme (I suppose I could say the story at a push) behind the trilogy is essentially the death of mankind as we know it. Predictably perhaps, this does not happen in as simple a format as a nuclear war or even a deviant strain of some pandemic. BAN’s vision is much more terrible and is delivered with a real sense of there being a taunting applause reaching a steady crescendo, somewhere in the darkest corner of the universe.

Told in three parts, this macabre yet (increasingly) relevant scenario plays out with the upmost contempt for humanity that you can muster. Do not be fooled by the relatively tame artwork that adorns Sect(s). The bold silver and gold symbolism belies a cruelty without bounds. Capturing this vision of man being stripped of his belief systems, of his ideologies, of his very existence. Artist Daniel Valencia clearly understood the vision from his discussions with Vindsval. As the first third of the trilogy, Sect(s) sets out a bold undertaking in deconstructing the known foundations of life itself, pouring scorn on the selfish nature of humanity and assaulting the very principles of cultural, religious, and existential need.

“…there once was a star on which clever animals invented knowledge. That was the highest and most mendacious minute of 'world history' — yet only a minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths the star grew cold, and the clever animals had to die. One might invent such a fable and still not have illustrated sufficiently how wretched, how shadowy and flighty, how aimless and arbitrary, the human intellect appears in nature. There have been eternities when it did not exist; and when it is done for again, nothing will have happened.” Friedrich Nietzsche, On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense, (1873) – with thanks to Lurkersgrave.com for pointing me to this.

Nietzshce’s quote seems to be a perfect summary for the trajectory that Sect(s) starts us on for the rest of the “777” trilogy. It begins at a hopeless point of no return, without any reverse gear to select or handbrake to apply. This crude sense of inevitability that it flings the driver and all passengers head-first through the windshield is the opening act of a series of events on an unimaginable scale.

To deliver all this BAN simply dip into their armoury of tormented chords and deviant rhythms that disorientate the listener. It is an album that you can lose all sense of narrative in and for once I have no issue with this – it is after all exactly how it was intended to be done. This is not supposed to be an easy listen. The tracks are all entitled “Epitome” followed by the relevant numerical order, but this order is against the values of the song writing of course and as such I find it has little traction.

By and large the more aggressive of the three albums, Sect(s) will appeal to the more traditional bm fan whilst also clearly setting a tone for the imaginative and the alien aspects of the style also. The opening track flies straight out of the traps leaving the listener in no doubt as to what they are in for. Niggling riffs flit about the place before the track breaks into a much more looming prospect. As with a lot of tracks on the album, BAN have this art of making riffs taunt one another. Like tormented serpents writhing in some biblical pit of reckoning; just as one thinks it has the better of another its opponent snaps its head away, prolonging the anguish of the game.

As we have come to expect with BAN, the album also has more than its fair share of ambient ludes/sections, often they appear when we least expect them, causing a sudden change of pace or tempo. These moments seem to just be placed to emphasise the misery of the unfolding story and can equally lead to melancholic melodies just as easily as they can charges of ferocious black metal. At the same time though there are arty rock moments that shimmer in their avant-garde nature, delivering a sense of maturity and total consciousness to the horrific subject matter. This is truly the beginning of the end, and the auditory assault will not let you forget that.

For an album that I hold in such high regard (now that I have taken time to listen properly to it over many spins) it is hard to find fault as so much of what goes on here only has value when explored in the context of the whole trilogy. As such there is very little wrong with Sect(s), despite its obvious deviance from the norms of extreme metal. For any first-time listeners – what the hell are you doing starting out here? Go and start at Ultima Thulee and build yourself up to this stage of the bands career. For the uninitiated, this is a hellish soundscape to comprehend. The undulation of the riffs, the constant subtlety of the drums that frustrates and compliments at the same time, finalised by vocals that you are never quite sure if they are there or not make for a dizzying experience. I have heard the word hypnotising applied to reviews of this album and I have to say that this sums my experience up perfectly. I am so in tune with the album that I can track the mesmerising dissonance that haunts the experience from start to finish. I look upon Sect(s) as being a collection of six rituals that defy linear narrative and yet are just as interesting and enthralling as any story, legend or myth you could care to think of.

There's an intensity to Ulver's third full length that is as warming as it is abrasive.  Lot's of black metal records use the harsh tremolo of the riffing to push the extremity of their sound but on Nattens Madrigal... there's an edge to that corrosive fury that forms a structured layering to the chaos.  In that regard, you can feel each track building, evolving and taking on new form throughout.  Far be it from an unexpected trait but the intelligence behind this record is obvious and celebrated really well across all eight tracks.

I can't always put my finger on the true pulse of the album's more abrasive moments but that is not to say that it is lost as such; at it's core this album is pure black metal fury at its very finest.  But what appears to be a very fast or uptempo track actually feels more laboured upon closer listen, almost like the true dark heart of the record refuses to be suppressed by its own fiery rage and is constantly striving to thrive and make it's presence felt.

The album has it's share of sonics too.  Bold and blazing, not fully forward in the mix yet still so audible and virulent, they contextualise the refinement of the record perfectly.  At the same time there is still a definite sense of the album not suffering from any of the obvious poise and capability present.  Tracks start clumsily at times and can end suddenly in mid-full flow, the authenticity value of this as a trve black metal album is high.  The album is crudely melodic with only a handful of the more ambient/atmospheric passages present on the record.

It's hard to find fault with an album of such unadulterated and unbridled barbarity that at the same time offers such a depth in the sound whilst maintaining a familiar howling coldness.  Definite must have black metal right here.

"This is Armageddon!", he said.  Turns out his version of Armageddon is powerful as we all fear but is full of melody and enchantment.  The army it brings marches full of poise but is devoid of pomp; each confident footfall is firm holding the frame of each soldier stoic in their armour. When they charge, they blister the very earth itself as they scorch a black fire across the face of humanity, searing it's skin burning it's clothing and hair.  Back at marching pace they are vigilant, leaving no stone unturned, missing no opportunity to spread their disease far and wide, constantly expanding the invasion.

"This Armageddon!", he said.  This isn't a slaughter though, there's no hacking, no beheadings, no quick endings.  This is a torturous and vibrant parasite that dances on the air like some macabre firefly.  It kisses the oxygen gently, igniting it, teasing it's victims - forcing them to witness the performance.  Morbidly vivacious in their theatre, there is almost an air of enticement to its obvious yet alluring intent.  Not content to merely petrify with their looming atmospherics and siren-esque application of marauding melodies, when the swarm speaks it's tones are grim and ghastly.  The words are spat, mockingly into the faces of the terrified.  Their echoes, ring in the ears of all who he hear their utterance, carried on cold winds full of grit and darkness.

"This is Armageddon!", he said.  But this is actually a rebirth.  Once the addressing of the balance of power is done and darkness reigns supreme, it will learn to cast aside its ways of old.  It will show the vibrancy of evil's colour, the shades of black shall mix with the fiery orange of it's wrath, the deep crimson of its bloodlust, the burrowing green spread of the hellish micro-organisms it sweats from its very skin. 

"This is Armageddon!", he said.  It won't be quick, but nor will it outstay its welcome - the memory of it will not fade soon it knows.  As it clouds the skies, choking the life from the earth, the hordes play occasional folky melodies, aping the prey, letting it know the amusement this suffering brings.

"This is Armageddon!", he said.  Revel in its glory.

Another classic release that I get to review for my clan challenge.  Like my review for Filosofem this is another mechanised affair that takes some real close attention to get the best from.   The album is interspersed with ambient interludes that I normally don't get on with and see as a usual obstacle to the flow of a record but here they work seamlessly.  They allow tracks to breathe in and out of the listing either side of them, setting atmosphere perfectly and allowing for subtle infusion of dissonance that is another big factor in the sound of this album.

The whole album gives me the imagery of some giant part-humanoid/part-mechanised beast lumbering, stumbling and stuttering around some cavernous realm.  Partially blind but still so very in tune with its surroundings on some other near extra-sensory level.  Multiple limbs or feelers bashing against metallic and stone structures, sometimes chaotic as it thrashes around in it's trap giving a more traditional BM feel to the sound, whereas on other occasions much more subtle and measured in the awareness of the surroundings and able to translate this into the more dissonant and ambient parts of the record.

There's variety here to the sound, with more aggressive moments like Axis and The Supreme Abstract bashing and blasting their way through shorter bursts of energy.  At the same time the structure and poise to other tracks allow for an atmospheric and reflective build up using all the discordant, inharmonious and atonal tricks in the book to create fractious and unruly forms that follow no common structure.

This is an album to truly get lost in.  There's unexpected pace, time and tone changes that still catch me off-guard despite me having listened to the record on multiple occasions over the years.  The sum of all the moving parts is somehow tangible in form and reasoning despite the albums seemingly conscious attempts to be as incongruous as possible.  Album closer Procession of the Dead Clowns is one of my all time favourite closing rites to a record, dark, repetitive and smothering at the same time.  Brilliant album.

As it turns out, doing these album reviews not only puts me onto new records that I have never gotten around to listening to but also it seems it is highlighting former favourites that aren't perhaps ageing as well.   Anthems... falls into the latter unfortunately.  For the first time today, I noticed how confusing the whole experience of the album was.  All of sudden the sweeping keys and the grandiose swagger of the symphonic elements seemed hurriedly put together.  The once well-formed maelstrom of sound came across as being more a wall of noise nowadays.  

Maybe my ageing brain is the part of the equation that is all out of fluster here, musical tastes do change after all over time.  But, as per my review of Dimmu Borgir's Enthrone Darkness Triumphant there really is a sense of their being an utter rejection of the concepts and notions of coupling poise and calm with direct and driving pace to give a more clear vision of what the direction an album is taking.

With more traditional BM the journey is much easier of course.  The raw, lo-fi ethics of the music lends itself well to repetition and sustained attack.  When Anthems...  applies the same ethos with symphonic elements to boot it loses sight of the need to temper one or the other.  It is like a pack of racehorses, neck and neck for the whole race, resulting in no clear winner.  Imagine a whole day at the races where every race was like that, where nothing was clearly putting daylight between itself and the rest of the pack.  This is how the track listing feels to me now as I listen back.  Everything kind of becomes one.   Just a singular charging mass that allows nothing to really standout or for any leader position to change hands over the course of what soon becomes a slog.

I am not a fan of Nevermore.  There's a positive and non-judgemental start to a review if ever I saw one.  I find them to be reminiscent of high school metalheads the majority of whom liked thrash metal and one who wanted to be in a power metal band.  Warrel Dane's fantastic vocal ability was an abrasive clash too far me, it just did not fit alongside the equally superb guitar work of Loomis.  As good as they both were in their own way, they should never have been in a band together.

What The Politics of Ecstasy lacks in coherence it makes up for in effort.  There's nothing forced here, the performances are juxtaposed to me yes, but at the same time they are of a sufficiently high standard to entertain me as they espouse quality musicianship delivered with obvious passion.  Unfortunately there's just no me getting over the opposing styles.  This is one of the most frustrating metal albums I have perhaps ever had to review.

There's lots of Pantera like lead work here and very similar rhythms also, with this prevalent to the point of me being constantly reminded of Cowboys from Hell throughout the record.  I suppose we could argue that the vocals are what really set the sound apart from Anselmo and company, but again it is just too harsh a contrast even for that sake.  Even in the album's more enjoyable moments there's still a cringey moment lurking around the corner somewhere to jump out and make me pull a distasteful face as some vocal passage seems to be completely out of sync with the rest of the arrangement.

Overall, this album just doesn't work for me even with the many offerings of rope it throws me, i just can't get on with it.

Album number three for Megadeth was always going to be a challenge after the success of their sophomore.  "Peace Sells..." was a solid (if not a tad overrated) affair that cemented Mustaine's band firmly in the genre.  To open up your next release with a racing instrumental piece is a big call but they do manage to pull it off as 'Into The Lungs of Hell' immediately peaks the interest.  The big build up to 'Set The World Afire' continues this big feel to the opening of the record, however once the track starts proper it soon falters and feels like it is getting weaker, barely making midway through before the dip occurs to my ears.

Quite why 'Anarchy In The U.K.' made it onto the track listing remains one of my long standing strokey beard moments.  I actually saw it on the rear of the album for the first time and thought it would suit Mustaine's style of vocals perfectly and it kind of does but although I acknowledge they are essentially key to Megadeth's sound, I don't actually rate Dave's vocals all that highly.  The relevance of them on this cover is that they are the strongest part of the track.  To say I prefer the original version tells you how much I rate the rest of the band's contribution here (I hate the Sex Pistols).  Dave attests to listening to a lot of punk rock at the time of making this record so it does all make some sense.

'Mary Jane' again offers a strong build and injects a variety into the structure stakes along the way.  Thankfully, the strong start continues into the full length of the track as it rages and rants its way through four minutes plus of prime Megadeth.  '502' doesn't start well, I find it confusing and bashy, but it does settle down soon enough into a sufficiently angry little number to start the second half of the album.

Although I get the sentiment behind 'In My Darkest Hour' it just feels like it could have been so much more.  Structurally it is all there, I just can't get over my dislike for Mustaine's vocal delivery.  The rabid and meandering lead work fits the subject matter perfectly but somehow the whole song still falls short.  'Liar' is another classic, mocking and sneering Megadeth track with its sonics, chopping riffs and rumbling bass line.  This is the stuff that Dave's vocals were made for, give me 8 tracks of this and I am a happy fucker.

If not obvious from my review thus far, I find "So Far, So Good...So What!" frustrating because it is just so inconsistent.  'Hook in Mouth' just about sees to it that the record finishes on much higher a note than it started with (proper).  The reason it gets 3 stars is because although it fumbles it a bit, the record never drops the ball and still makes the end zone with it's head held high.

The version of the CD that I have includes unreleased bonus tracks because the band wanted to try and share the power that was present on this record so Paul Lani's mixes of 'Into the Lungs of Hell', 'Set the World Afire', 'Mary Jane' and 'In My Darkest Hour' make this version of the release up to 12 tracks.  They do sound fuller and less restrained than their final cut incarnations but they only really would have impact if they had made the final cut in this mix.  I just end up with a real sense of "look at what you could have won!" with these bonus tracks.

In three decades of line up changes, drug abuse, fallouts and increasing political awareness Megadeth have always still remained for me on the fringes of my thrash metal tastes. After the first 3 albums which I enjoyed immensely, I was totally bemused then (and still am now) by the worship for "Rust In Peace" in 1990. "Countdown To Extinction" fared better in these ears but still that was my last Megadeth album purchase. Nothing happened release wise for me until I stumbled across "Endgame" in 2009 which I actually thoroughly enjoyed, with its showy guitar antics and solid song structures it kept me entertained.

It's fair to say that Megadeth are a different band to the duo that first came together back in 83, however "Dystopia" instantly captures something that was lacking in the bands two previous releases. Energy. Four tracks in and the racing plod of "Death From Within" will have you thinking that you are listening to a Testament record because this album has a dark energy in it, a heaviness not always present with Megadeth releases of old. Mustaine's vocals are definitive and identifiable still but somehow are different (whether this is entirely down to the production or his age is a point for debate however). The comparison to latter Chuck Billy performances isn't a million miles away as a reference point at least.

Prevalent throughout are the excellent lead exchanges (the work on "Bullet to the Brain" being of particular note) which are tempered superbly by that familiar solid riff work, rigid in structure and firm in delivery. You can't help but listen to "Post American World" without thinking it is 1985 and Mustaine and co are just chopping away like the young thrash maniacs they were back then, it is moments like this that Anthrax should sit up and take note of. Far from the predictable and at times dull "For All Kings", Megadeth have released a very solid thrash metal album here.

There's a life to each track on "Dystopia". Taken as a whole the album has a clear influence of old school thrash yet has a spectrum of melody and variety coupled with clever orchestration and superb musicianship. Loureiro is superb and sounds like he's been duelling with Mustaine for all 33 years of the bands existence and Adler supports the whole structure perfectly with Ellefson dispatching his bass duties with assured calmness throughout.

"Dystopia" is charged. It is explosive, searing and heavy to boot. There is a real sense of a return to form most definitely. Listen to instrumental "Conquer or Die" and hear that choppy riff rumbling along to the bass perfectly whilst Mustaine and Loureiro scorch blistering leads everywhere effortlessly. Even the cover of hardcore heroes Fear's "Foreign Policy" is carried off with enough aplomb to work a treat! 

I started listening to "Dystopia" very much of the opinion that I wasn't going to like it. Maybe influenced by peer pressure or the poor effort from Anthrax from earlier the same year, I had pretty much decided that Megadeth's best days were well and truly behind them. It is nice to be proved wrong sometimes though and also nice to see veterans of the metal genre be able to pop up and drop an amazing record in today's market that pound for pound matches almost anything else I have heard from bands a lot younger and fresher than Megadeth.

I can't sign off without mentioning the artwork. It is not my cup of tea at all, CGI concocted nonsense for nonsense's sake to me but thank Satan that what lies beneath is light years better than the packaging suggests.

I have never really got on all that well with any Anthrax release.  Whether it is the debut, the much lauded Among The Living or their live output, I just find everything to be lacking somewhat overall.  Their best release has to be Spreading the Disease but even then the world doesn't get bathed in flames for me.  I think that fundamentally I have never enjoyed any of the vocalists over the years.  Whether it has been Turbin, Bush or Belladonna things have always felt underwhelming and decidedly weak on the vocal front.  Whether it has been to please a younger audience (or maybe just a more accessible one) I have found the output in recent years to be weak overall and lacking in any real power.

1990's Persistence of Time was by all accounts disappointing.  Two singles released from the album had been given mixed response.  The cover of Joe Jackson's Got The Time being less well received than the more anthemic In My World and this is probably the story of the album overall, a mish-mash of some good ideas and some real filler thrown in to permeate the cracks.

The album does take a while to get going, the first three tracks - despite being memorable enough - just don't really make me feel like this is a positive start to an album.  Time feels clunky and cumbersome in both structure and delivery, Blood comes off as quite immature from a songwriting perspective and likewise Keep It In The Family lacks any real bite despite seemingly trying to say a lot.

It is the aforementioned single, In My World that kicks things off proper for me.  It feels authentic and angry like a thrash metal album should do.  Seething with despair and crippled by hatred for mankind it is one of the few real gems of the many songs that Anthrax have written.  Unfortunately, the next few tracks just pass me by and without the record playing I could not recall any context of how they sounded at all.  Only Belly of the Beast provides some glimmer of well constructed thrash metal but it is not until the penultimate track One Man Stands that things get back on course, albeit fleeting before the horror of Discharge closing the album.

I hadn't quite realised just how much I disliked this record until I sat down to write this review, I even neglected to notice I owed a copy on CD which I have no recollection of picking up.  Sorry Anthrax fans, after 30 years of listening to metal I doubt much is going to change in the way of my low opinion of Anthrax.

In case anybody still hasn't realised yet, I like my thrash metal as vicious as possible.  The very essence that attracted me to thrash metal in the first place was the more primitive and aggressive end of the spectrum.  Raging energy, lightning fast delivery and unapologetic attitude tick virtually all my boxes and float my boat to kingdom come.

Epidemic of Violence has all of the above highlighted characteristics in abundance.  Whether it is the scathing vocals of Steve Reynolds, the pounding drums of the late Vinny Daze or the chugging riffs and warped leads of James Reilly and Derek Sykes, I am literally spoilt for choice on here.  For the whole album there's a real sense of authenticity for the aggressive art form the band have chosen to pursue.  Track by track things just get layered up with more riffs, sharper leads and blindingly paced rhythm sections.

A lot of people prefer the debut to this but I think the sophomore more than edges it.  It takes the primeval style of the debut and adds some elements of refinement to make the assault seem more calculated this time around. It is just as terrifying as the first time around with the lyrical content being just as blunt and uncompromising as the crude utterances were on the debut.  If you take a listen to the 2008 remaster you get hear these vocals in the live setting on four bonus tracks that underline the prowess on display on this record already. 

Whichever version you have the pleasure of listening to, Epidemic of Violence is an absolute tour de force from start to finish and their finest offering over a discography of just three albums.          

In the grander scheme of things, despite a career spanning nearly forty years and with my metal listening years fast approaching thirty, I only really started to get on with Overkill from about 2014.  White Devil Armory received enough praise amongst peers for me to give it a whirl when previous attempts to engage with the band had been unsuccessful due to me not instantly getting along with Bobby's vocal style.  Slowly but surely I began to unravel their vast and varied discography, picking my favourites and dismissing the less appealing releases over the past five or six years.

Horrorscope  sits atop the pile of favourites.  I find it one of the most consistent thrash metal albums in my collection if I am honest, perhaps even the most consistent of all.  Surprisingly for me it is not an album that goes near the extremity of my preferred end of the thrash spectrum.  The album is surprisingly accessible and catchy to find in my collection (considering that the likes of Condor and Sadus adorn my shelves as regular plays).  I am a sucker for real chuggin' riffs and that motor engine like efficiency to the riffs on this album just pull me right in.

In terms of the aforementioned consistency they maintain this for eleven tracks which is no mean feat.  Even the cover track doesn't trip the record up.  It just feels full of running still even as it draws to a close.  This was the final album before the groove elements started to creep into the band's sound and to be fair if you manage to achieve a great album like this then it is forgivable to try something new on future releases, although it wasn't as successful admittedly.  I hear melody on Horrorscope as opposed to any real groove influence entering the fray and it is on these more obvious melodic moments such as New Machine that the record loses a bit of entertainment unfortunately.  Not devastating but enough to keep the record away from a full five stars at least.

Life outside of the Big 4 of thrash metal isn't always as constant a struggle as you may be forgiven for believing.  By the time their debut full-length dropped in 1987 Testament were sailing into very well-known waters for the average thrash metal fan.  By this stage we had heard three Metallica albums, a multitude of Slayer albums including the much lauded Reign In Blood, a couple of solid releases from Mustaine and co and Anthrax had just dropped Among The Living a month earlier.  The Legacy therefore had to land with a real splash to make any impact.   Even though I wasn't around the metal scene then, it is clear from spinning the record some 30 years after it was released that it could hold its own against any of the aforementioned artists and their key albums to this point.

Whilst it wasn't as extreme as Reign In Blood or as accomplished as Master of Puppets, Testament had a major asset over everyone else in the ballpark at the time and his name was Chuck Billy and he gave The Legacy a unique edge over almost anything that thrash metal had heard before.  I feel he is often overlooked as one of the most challenging of vocalists in thrash metal, with a gruff style that is more domineering than James Hetfield yet equally as racing as Tom Araya with the high-end shriek being another obvious if not obligatory thrash trait that he also had in the bag.  As Testament grew, his style became more bellowing and boisterous but on the debut he found his feet quickly and established himself well in an already established scene.

The other thing that strikes me about The Legacy is how good the lead work is with Skolnick and Peterson doing energetic and well-paced solos on an album that isn't all that well produced to be fair (the mix leaves a fair bit to be desired in my book at least).  There was also a real team effort on the songwriting front, with everyone barring Chuck putting in a shift and this shows certainly with the two guitarists (the chief songwriters) who sound cohesive and slick.  Tracks like Alone In The Dark stick in your head for a lifetime after one listen and the energy throughout the whole thing is consistent.  It never gets to Slayer-like speed yet still has a burning intensity akin to the aforementioned band, it just feels a tad more subtle in delivery.

Whilst obviously held back on the production/mixing job for me, The Legacy is still a great thrash metal record that deserves more credit than it often gets.  The bits that shine - the vocals and guitars - are blinding.  There are better debut albums yes but there aren't many of those bands with those better debuts still around building their own legacy like Testament still are.

One of the reasons why I enjoy Metallica’s debut album is the level of sheer, unadulterated pleasure that the band sound like they are having in delivering the album. That raw energy perfectly transposes into entertainment value and really captivates my interest some near forty years after it was released. One of the few other debut album releases that matches my experience of Kill ‘Em All is Slayer’s Show No Mercy, both in terms of that raw energy (which I find to be less cutting on SNM in all honesty) but also in how it encapsulates how fun it must be to be in a metal band.

The reason why I say this is because Slayer wear a lot of influences on their sleeve throughout SNM. NWOBHM is a big influence here which should come as no surprise given the year was 1983, however they did not merely copy these influences, verbatim. Instead, they used them as a solid foundation on which to progress the vibrant speed and thrash metal elements that dominated their sound. Whether it is the Maiden or Priest influences that are dashing through on the tracks or the cruder Venom-like moments, they are all being represented on Slayer’s terms.

I can excuse the poor production, in fact it is part of the charm of SNM, but I do find elements of the performances lacking still. Araya’s vocals show all the hallmarks of a conventional 80’s speed metal shriek but they do fall short in some places. He lacks the gruffness of Hetfield and places his inflections in the wrong place on more than one occasion. Equally, again with production aside, Lombardo just appears to go through the motions for most tracks. In terms of ability, it is only the relentless riffing that I find consistent here and it is this, alongside the astute use of influences that keeps the album at a four-star experience.

Although not on a par with Kill ‘Em All in terms of perfection, SNM still stands up as a defining album for The Pit clan since it explores the early niches of extremity that Slayer would come to represent within three years of this release. Whilst flawed in places, none of these are fatal to the success of the album and SNM did a fine job of doing enough to whet the appetite for what was to follow.

Always a pleasure to review virtually anything by Kreator up to 1990.  In terms of Teutonic thrash metal they had a solid enough first five years.  Their first five albums adorn the "k" section of my CD shelves and all get regular plays.  After Pleasure to Kill (my gateway record into the band) the most played is probably Coma of Souls albeit for very different reasons to the sophomore.  The rawness of their early days has not disappeared by this point it has been honed and transformed into structured and calculated attacks instead of wild stabbing frenzy and lashing out of limbs.

The band had started to go down this more mature route with the underwhelming Extreme Aggression some two years earlier.  Although deft enough musicians to deliver it by this point, it felt that the energy and fury of the band's sound had been sacrificed somewhat; the follow up album got the recipe very much bang on for the most part thankfully.  Coma of Souls is a really full sounding record, stacked high with riffs, crashing and bashing drums, drubbing bass tone and of course demented and deranged vocals.

Underpinning this fullness is a real sense of energy and spontaneity.  Despite being the most mature and established sounding album of their career at the time, the basic musings of tracks like People of the Lie work brilliantly and keep a real sense of flow to proceedings.  Over ten tracks the band vary the pace here and there keeping things fresh and interesting throughout.  In the same way though, I do find ten tracks to be a bit of a stretch and do switch off towards the last throes of the album.  A couple of tracks less and we'd have five stars up there folks.

Kreator’s fourth full-length starts off strong enough with the title track bashing and dashing its way across an opening four minutes plus of the kind of rabid thrash metal that I always associate with Kreator. This opening salvo sounds like the raw Kreator I fell in love with back with Pleasure to Kill and Endless Pain before it. The drums sound prominent yet not dominating and Mille’s vocals are full of that familiar demented edge. The guitars by way of contrast feel further back in the mix when the song is in full flow, yet their presence is still obvious and key to proceedings.

My previous review of this album had oddly seen me having troubles with the record when I wrote a piece for another site about all the Kreator full-lengths from the 80’s. I guess having done an end-to-end of all their albums in that decade in the space of a couple of days had left me a little tired towards the end and so I think I had written this album off certainly by way of comparison to the others. The fact is though that Extreme Aggression fucking rips. The standalone riffing of Love Us or Hate Us is testimony to just how full of attitude this record is; more than proving its worth at the second time of reviewing.

I understand that this album started to be recorded in a studio in Berlin, but producer Randy Burns had concerns over the set up of the studio and although they tried, mid-recording of Mille’s vocals one day, Burns pulled the plug, and the band took themselves over to the States a few months to re-record the album and do it better justice. One of the instruments that benefited here was the drums. Recorded in the same studio that saw Phil Collins deliver In The Air Tonight, Ventor’s skins sound fucking amazing on Extreme Aggression and as mentioned before this was not to the detriment of any other parts of the Kreator machine either.

With guitarist Jörg Tritze still not comfortable in the studio Mille was left to all guitar duties (as per the previous album) and the energy that flows from both the riffs and the sonic leads sounds like there were more than one of him the studio. His riffs being borderline as beastly as his vocals the two talents of Mille Petrozza combine well to deliver and exciting and memorable performance. The pace and vitriol of Betrayer is extraordinary as it toys and teases with the tempo like a video game character hitting power-ups at various points in the song and then settling back down momentarily before they hit another one.

Extreme Aggression is an incredibly tight thrash metal record that operates within boundaries set out from the very start. As such, its intensity does feel like it detracts from the overall quality of the album as it is a little too consistent for its own good and it kind of needs a brooding number dropped in around the halfway point to mix it up a little. However, for the die-hard Kreator fan there’s so much here to love that I am not sure many of them would care.

I can't quite think of any other band in the thrash metal genre that has the flow of Coroner?  Certainly without any elements of groove metal being incorporated at least?  The technical yet scathing delivery of Mental Vortex is both entertaining and innovative in equal measure.  Progressive structures, catchy riffs, grim and gnarly vocals and deft musicianship all tick boxes on this release.  Whist not my favourite Coroner release, Mental Vortex gets fair amount of air time on Radio Macabre over the course of a year.

I think its popularity with me is largely around the accessibility and energy of it.  The riffs feel like they have real meaning and feel behind them, the leads exude passion and emotion and yet at the same time the whole thing just comes across as so sensible.  There's an order to proceedings here that allows all individual elements to breathe without ever becoming showy or flashy.  They even do a decent job of covering The Beatles  I Want You (She's So Heavy).  The restraint shown is down to the professionalism of the artists involved.  That knowledge of when to let rip and when to hold back and nurture a track is rare and the maturity really shines through on this their fourth full length offering.

Prior to this the band had built a solid discography, developing their technical and memorable sound since the early eighties.  By the time 1991 came around Mental Vortex realised all the experience and maturity you would expect in a band that has been releasing material for nearly a decade.

My only quirks with it are that it feels like a bit of slog to start, with both the first two tracks touching the seven minute mark I do drift a bit initially.  Overall though it is a fine example of a band hitting their stride and the music showing this.

Let's start with some context here.  By the time 1989 rolled around Sodom had been around for eight years.  In that time they had already treated us to their particular brand of blackened speed metal on In The Sign of Evil before hitting a more conventional thrash metal sound on Obsessed By Cruelty and their second full-length Persecution Mania.  With Expurse of Sodomy bridging the gap between the debut and the sophomore the band had already set themselves a reputation for delivering some ripping thrash metal with real menace and danger behind it.  By the time we got to album number three things really had taken off for the band with a live album and video (remember those?) already released.  

Agent Orange is the crowning glory of the bands (near) first decade of existence and for me their career as a whole.  For all of its obvious maturity and great structure it retained all of the raw energy that we had enjoyed on previous releases and honed this into a more consistent and robust form.  The opening and title track shows this perfectly, probably one of the best opening tracks I have ever heard, setting the tone and tempo for the majority of the album with a chopping riff from the word go.  By the time we get to Remember the Fallen we get a cool groovy riff running through the track which breaks up the pace of the record really nicely at the halfway point.

Throughout the album the guitar sits front and centre, with Frank Blackfire's riffs at the forefront of the mix and his leads similarly high in the proceedings also.  Angelripper's vocals sit perfectly just underneath the guitar in the mix with his bass audible enough to be a rumbling thunder that never quite cracks into a distraction to take away from anything else.  Tracks like Magic Dragon are a great example of the tightness of the band with all parts clear in the sound but none of them dominating proceedings to negative effect, the bass fills the lower stratosphere perfectly allowing the vocals, drums and guitar to occupy the upper realms and sound fully supported.

I think there's an argument to say that Tom's vocals would always give the band a blackened edge even at this developed stage of their career but the sound overall here is absolute classic thrash as the tempo changes between cutting riffs and galloping rhythms to give a real sense of variety whilst maintaining that thrash metal authenticity.  The performance of the sadly missed Chris Witchunter on the skins is superb, fully of energy and deft technique.

The punky vibes to Ausgebombt is catchy as fuck and on my CD version which is a reissue it is on CD2 twice as a live track and also as a studio German version so that track is never leaving my head in 2021 at least now.  My version also has a cover of Tank's Don't Walk Away which is a superb edition to the album at the end and I would say improves it even more than I first thought possible.

This album for me is pivotal in Sodom's career, firstly because I don't believe they have ever come close to topping it in terms of quality, intensity and variety.  Secondly the timing of this perfect record was so important for the growth of the band as I believe without Agent Orange Sodom would not be as important as they are today in the realms of their legendary status in thrash metal.  Better Off Dead which is the album that followed this is a pale effort in comparison and I have little memory of Tapping The Vein be anywhere near this record.  A simply essential thrash metal record that should be in every fan of the genres collection.

I have never understood the praise and lauding of this record.  I will go on record at this early stage of my review as stating that I do not feel it a bad record, just a very overrated one.  Four records into their career Megadeth had certainly progressed from their 1985 debut and five years showed well on their fourth outing, the album is very mature with well developed structures for sure.  The main issue I have always had with Rust In Peace isn't actually much to do with the record itself.  More the fact that the attention it receives bills a far more exceptional record than you actually get.

As a Megadeth record, in comparison with the rest of the their discography it is most certainly the band at their peak.  With a superb combination of Mustaine, Ellefson, Menza and Friedman there was little excuse for the band to make Rust In Peace anything other than the jewel in their collection of gems over the years.  As a unit they all do their share to make the likes of Hangar 18 an absolute triumph with the musicianship and talent being obvious throughout all five minutes and fifteen seconds of the track.

Unfortunately this is where the album peaks far too early.  From track three onward we are firmly on a downward spiral with this record.  Somehow managing to not lose any of the attack of the album the song quality deteriorates track by track, rendering the opening two tracks as distant memories of the real promise of this album.  I repeat, it never gets terrible or even particularly bad though, it is just not worthy of the adoration and adulation afforded it in seemingly every review or conversation with peers about it. 

There's all the consistency in terms of talent shining through for virtually all the album but it is not frequent enough to get the blood continuously pumping through these veins.  There's also some very odd decisions been taken during the writing of tracks like Five Magics with its dreary and drab chorus and annoying spoken word repetitions of the sung vocals.  Then there's the suspenseful build of the drama for Poison Was The Cure which ends up in a clumsy and clunky track with little in the way of direction or memorability.

I know I am in the minority here in not heaping shovel loads of admiration on this record but to my ears it is just an average thrash album with a couple of standout tracks.

1990 was a good year for metal.  Perhaps one of the more memorable ones for my time listening to metal over the past 30 years.  I spent hours as a teenager with this record and it remained my only exposure to Slayer for the best part of 3 years.  As such, its an album that holds massive nostalgic value for me and whilst it will never rival South of Heaven or Reign In Blood as my overall favourites from the discography it does offer some quality tracks and is one of the few albums I can play through track by track in my head.

As has been alluded to in other reviews, this was probably the last great Slayer record.  It it still had all the epic speed and intensity that had by now become standard offering for the group but it also offered real shows of maturity in terms of songwriting with a couple of tracks in particular standing out as picks from the record.  To start with, opening track War Ensemble is a classic Slayer track, full of rampant urgency and pressing persistence.  From the opening riff there's little time to draw breath and by the time it is over the doggedness of Blood Red continues the album's relentless opening salvo.  To open an album with such a sense of cruciality is bold as there is no intro, no building of atmosphere, just straight up head off and shit down your neck intensity.

Things take a more atmospheric turn with the brilliant fifth track Dead Skin Mask, with it's spoken word dialogue uttered over a molesting and mauling riff.  The child calling out towards the end of the track scared the living shite out of me as a teenager as the track played out a grisly homage to serial killer Ed Gein superbly.  It remains one of my favourite Slayer tracks to this day for its fine mix of atmospheric horror and macabre storytelling.

Things get right back to the weapon's grade levels of intensity with the barnstorming Hallowed Point with riffs literally crashing in and taking the face off anyone in striking distance.  For me though, after the catchy Skeletons of Society the album does go a little off the boil with Temptation feeling a tad clumsy in comparison to the rest of the tracks.  After the evilness of Born of Fire we get to the crowning glory of the album as the title track makes for a momentous closing to the record with six and a half minutes of well constructed thrash metal that builds like a doom track to start before going off into a vast and familiar Slayer soundscape.  

It really only is the small lull towards the end of the record that keeps that remaining half star off the rating here, otherwise this is a perfectly constructed and masterful thrash record that sometimes gets unnecessary bad press.

Like Seasons In The Abyss, the fourth full length from Sepultura offers a very nostalgic and important point in my metal evolution. As with my review for the aforementioned Slayer release, playing this whilst I type the review brings back many fond memories of thrashing around my bedroom like a fucking maniac, being interrupted every five minutes by my parents telling me to "turn that shit down". Similarly to Slayer's album one year before this, I don't think Arise was ever bettered and most certainly was the last great release by the band. I found follow up Chaos AD to be very patchy and by the time the "world music" celebration of Roots came alongI had detached altogether from the band.

The album's that preceded Arise made for an excellent golden run of constant improvement and development of the band's sound, from the raw and chaotic Morbid Visions to the more refined and robust Schizophrenia and Beneath the Remains there was an obvious enhancement to the playing skill and songwriting prowess of the band. With a stable line-up for some three studio albums (including this one) the band were very much hitting their stride by album number four.

The title track opens proceedings with it's mechanical clattering giving way to a barking riff and thundering drums, setting the scene perfectly for the cultivated thrash metal to come over the next eight tracks.. Again, this is another album I can comfortably play through in my head track by track as I have played it so many times. The current copy of the album I have is a remaster with the Orgasmatron cover and three bonus tracks but to be honest apart from the cover of the Motorhead track, the additions bring nothing to the table.

The album stalwarts are all that's required here as the legendary Dead Embryonic Cells kicks in with its powerful lyrics and timeless riffing before the anthemic Desperate Cry ups the memorability stakes even further .  At this point the album starts to lose that half a star to keep it off full marks for me as I don't find Murder or Subtraction to be on the same par as the rest of the racks on the record.  Thankfully the lull is only temporary and pretty soon things are back on course with the atmospheric build of Altered State creating drama and suspense that is fully realised the instance that huge fucking riff drops.  The track fully embraces the free-flowing and well organised thrash metal that is so well established by now on the record.  Despite the obvious accomplishment of the album there remains some primitive feel also which lurks beneath the surface all the time.  It could be Igor's thundering and tribal drumming or Max's powerful and angry vocal style but you are never far away from the real murk of the band that they came from.

Track number seven utilises the same format as the prior one, Under Siege (Regnum Irae) starts with an atmospheric string pick before breaking into ethereal spoken word vocals.  Again, it is not long before we are back in the kingdom of the faster tempo but the track does retain an excellent structure using all explored pacing well.  The catchy and memorable Meaningless Movements sets up the album closer perfectly as Infected Voice brings things to a close with it's smashed cymbal sound to back up Max's gruff vocal delivery.

It does make itch a little bit that I can't give this five stars due to the importance of this record to me but the honest appraisal is that regardless of the missing half mark there's still so much to enjoy here and is an album that fully stands the test of time.

I am a big fan of what I term to be "golden runs" of albums. A series of albums by the same band that show continued development and progress on each release, often taking what starts as a very raw and primitive sound that can rely on little more than attitude to carry it through a debut release and then watch that grow into a more refined yet by no means less threatening prospect.

An example of such a band is Sepultura. Their releases from 1985 through 1991 are a consistent and incremental improvement with each release. From the crudity and vulgarity of Bestial Devastation to the rabid and and yet systematic assault of Arise, the band's sound, stature and reputation grew steadily. By the time 1989 rolled around they had a record deal, a fledgling Scott Burns sat in the producer's chair and a hastily written album to deliver.

They missed their first recording deadline for this record. They simply did not have enough material written by the time Roadrunner had signed off on the deal. Despite years of waiting for the big contract to become a reality, Sepultura weren't actually ready when the time came.

This could so easily have been a disaster. Running late on the timeline, with a producer who had never done the job solo before (let alone outside of Morrisound Studios back home in Florida) all with a language barrier to overcome to boot. The fact that anything got recorded at all is a real feat in itself.

Beneath The Remains sent Sepultura into the upper stratosphere of not just thrash metal but metal in general. Hailed as a rival to Reign In Blood at the time (it isn't to my ears btw) the raw brutality of the riffing style of the band came alive in the hands of a good producer in a decent studio. The fury and range of the vocal and rhythmic abilities of the Cavalera brothers were captured superbly and the excellence of their songwriting shone for the first time.

The essence of many albums on that land on "best of" lists is that they not only represent landmark releases for the year for me but also landmark releases for the bands also. Sepultura had one more trick up their sleeve when they released Arise some two years later, an album which was the very pinnacle of their powers. But Beneath The Remains wiped the floor with all other thrash releases in 1989 and was a release from a band truly hitting their stride.

Varg's last recording before imprisonment is an unrivalled success in an at times patchy and inconsistent discography (during and post-imprisonment most definitely).  By no means an easy listen, the album is as vast as it is inaccessible, as raw as it is mechanised and as simplistic as it is emotionally intense.  The album strikes a very dark chord in me that sort of lures me in and captivates my full attention from the off.  There's no half measures here in my experience, I am either in it for the full duration of the record or I needn't bother.  The almost trance-like state that it induces demands my whole attention, craves it almost.

The minimalism of the delivery is striking.  The rawness of the sound, although abrasive, feels ritualistic and shrouded in some mythical practice that is centuries old.  Oddly the overarching memory I have of Filosofem is that the record chimes to me, each chime being the point in time whereby I was dragged deeper into the bleak and denuded soundscape, stripped of all my wares and left to drown in the misery that floats thick in the air.

I find the mechanical character of the guitar equally as captivating.  More immediate than the rest of the component parts around it, there's a perfect juxtapose to the raw energy it exudes that absorbs into the more ambient atmospheres that form around around it.  The riffs drive the intensity of the album whilst the other instrumentation measures it and blends peril and outright threat into the mix to produce an almost anxiety inducing level of consistency.  The repetition almost acts to soothe over time.

There's no low point for me on here, hence the full marks the record gets.  As I mention earlier on in my review, it is not an album that makes for good background or driving music.  You need a dark room and an open mind so you can just sit there and let it unfold the madness in you. 

After the abomination that was Breeding the Spawn Suffocation took all the sick death metal that was smothered under Bagin's terrible production job and simply took it to a whole new level of brutality when it came to Pierced From Within.  In all honesty I swing between this and Effigy of the Forgotten whenever I am asked to name my favourite Suffocation record as both are auditory assaults on the senses that leave scars and bruises aplenty.  Having recently purchased this album on CD (vinyl shortages continue to force me into my second preferred choice of physical format) I found myself rediscovering the calculated and utterly devastating attack of these seven new and two re-recorded tracks from the Human Waste and Breeding the Spawn releases. 

This album is a very tangible experience; certainly when you consider the utter revulsion that is intended to be delivered within this sub-genre of death metal.  Despite not holding back with the horrific lyrical content and relentless delivery, Pierced from Within plays as one of the most accessible pieces of extreme music ever committed to tape.  Driving forwards in the same lane that was wide enough to accommodate Cannibal Corpse and Cryptopsy, Suffocation stole a march on the competition with this release, matching pound for pound the extremity of either of the two aforementioned bands whilst also structuring all of it in a format that hits as a complete experience.  Measuring some of Cryptopsy's technical prowess without straying too far down the intricate route, Suffocation simply deploy changeups and a variety of pacing to get their point across.  

Those looping and blooping leads are perfectly placed in tracks, retaining memorability alongside the punishing tempos in which they appear.  Mullen's vocals are still like he is regurgitating demons that he ate for breakfast but are somehow more focused and easier to trace.  Meanwhile Bohn's drums are just insane and Richard's bass work is just so tight it defies belief at times.  I do not say it very often but I cannot find fault with Pierced from Within. Yes I accept that it is a lot to take in and that this is not an album you will understand after just a couple of listens but that is the beauty of it.  As an experience it rewards with every visit.  Continuing the intensity that was born on Effigy the Forgotten was always going to be difficult but to be able to do that of the back of a complete turkey of a release in between is nothing short of phenomenal.

This record is an odd one for me.  I enjoyed the debut by Suicidal Tendencies enough but Join The Army and How Will I Laugh... lit no fires for me and so when their 1990 offering came around I had little excitement at the prospect.  What the band did have though was excitement in abundance and it came across well in the maniacal vocals of Mike Muir, the gritty chops of Rocky George, the rumbling four strings of Robert Trujillo and the strong stick performance of R.J.Herrera.

As with most of their releases there was a mix of comedic elements that sat atop of a very critical and dark commentary of society, politics and culture of the time and this tongue in cheek element did not sit well with everyone.  I thought though that Lights..., balanced this the best out of all of their albums to that point.  This felt modern, somehow refreshed and still stayed true to the core of the band's sound to breathe the necessary amount of familiarity for the fan base.

The hi-octane opening track and MTV favourite You Can't Bring Me Down started things off in the manner required, bursting with angst and energy.  After the opening track the album does lose its way a little for me and only really picks up again from Give It Revolution onwards.  Tracks 2 through 4 just stand out as being to dissimilar to the rest of the thrashy style to the record and therefore feel out of place.  I am not sure of how they would fit in but surely the option to spread them out throughout the record would have made more sense, if not still run the risk of disrupting the overall flow more obviously.

Despite being something of a mixed bag the lyrical commentary on here remains smart and sarcastic in equal amounts and the band use the music well to enforce their dark comedy and make a real point without ever feeling like they are labouring it. 

At whatever point in their discography you personally feel Metallica "lost it" (and I haven't got the time nor the inclination to debate it here), few would argue that during the 80s Metallica were still straight up thrash metal with no interest in commercial or mainstream success. Having delivered two hungry and energetic records already - with a marked improvement in sound and maturity already evident - their third effort was again a step up in the progress and development of the band. Whilst we had speed galore from the likes of Slayer, Metallica offered a more technical edge to their musicianship which although far from flawless was still skilled enough to stand out from the crowd.

It is hard to sit here decades after the event and not consider "Master Of Puppets" a landmark record in both Metallica's discography and thrash metal's evolution also. The hard hitting force of tracks like "Battery" and "Damage Inc" still hold punch today whilst the structure and composition on the title track and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" in particular stand as tall today as they did nearly 30+ years ago.

Whilst I am never sure of the longevity of tracks like "Leper Messiah" and "Disposable Heroes" there is no denying that both still chug and chop like true thrash machines. I have always been of the opinion that you have to work your way through an entire album to truly appreciate the overall quality of all parts. Sometimes you have to sit through a couple of sub-par tracks (like the aforementioned) in order to be rewarded with the stellar output that lies beyond. The final two tracks on the album are varied in comparison to each other and offer the most memorable combination - that underpins the whole record - of solid composition and structure as well as heavy as hell thrash, delivered with a real sense of aggression and fury.

There's a mountain of reviews online that reason this to be the start of the decline of Metallica or "the last great" Metallica release. One review I read picks up on a "lack of thrash" on "Master.." which is ridiculous, if anything you won't find a better example of blending composition and thought with the immediacy and familiarity of riffs recognisable as being as 80s thrash as it gets.

"One man's insanity is another man's genius and from these altars of madness the heretic rejoices in things unseen"

According to Trey Azagthoth there was no more fitting a title for their debut album than Altars of Madness. Anyone who has heard it would be hard pushed to disagree. The classic line-up of the aforementioned Azagthoth, fellow guitarist Richard Brunelle (R.I.P 2019), drummer Pete Sandoval and bassist/vocalist David Vincent conjured a mind-bending and horrific opus back in 1989 that to this day retains every last drop of the nefarious intent behind its commital to tape.

Altars of Madness is a timeless release. It will still be as relevant in 60 years time as it is at just over 30 years. The true essence of death metal sits within the very grooves of the vinyl that sits on my shelf today. It is extreme, it is full of menace and shock and yet is skillfully balanced as a full-length. The intensity it generates never rages out of control, even in the more horrific moments, due in no small part to the proficiency of guitarists to cast sonic spells in the midst of tempestuous and violent tides of riffs that temper and add depth at the same time. 

The riffs on opener Immortal Rites mine the very depths of the earth via the speakers from which their hellish sound emits. The sonics score and scorch the air around them as they fire as brief licks that stoke the flames. 

By his own admission, Trey's non-conformity with certain keys or scales made this the music of pure chaos in the face of known foundational order. The album was his opportunity to challenge the norms he so despised and to commit this distaste to record regardless of the confusion that it spread as a result. 

The performance of Pete Sandoval is a masterclass in blastbeats, a show stopping performance in hyperspeed rhythms and calculated auditory punishment. David Vincent meanwhile sits astride of the engine, reving it with his ghastly vocals, dropping in guttural frequency that could reverberate from the bowels of hades themselves. 

Morbid Angel's debut is a complete experience. It is replete with the finest death metal you could hope to hear and is firmly sat in the top ten death metal albums of all time.  For two albums, Morbid Angel were untouchable. Unique in their sound with that cavernous edge to the riffs that seemed to defy the laws of distance and space and utterly devoted to their task of delivering piercing and racking death metal. 

After their debut, Michael Akerfeldt decided to pay more attention to Opeth and left the group, paving the way for Hypocrisy's Peter Tägtgren to join the band for their sophomore release.  He did a good enough job for sure.  Nightmares... is my preferred Bloodbath release and the vocals are particularly of note, blackened and scathing against the crunchy riffs and hacking chops of the guitars they mold perfectly around the instrumentation.

Sonically the record is superb to, Swanö, Renkse and Nyström weave evil tapestries from their nefarious finger tips giving a real impression of acute wickedness and impending hell.  There are subtleties also that you might miss upon first listen.  The haunting ring of the melodies that accompany the verses on Outnumbering the Day for example add a real edge to the track putting a harrowing sense of melancholy in place.  Listen also to the duelling melancholy on Draped In Disease.

The drumming also deserves mention here.  We all know Axenrot to be a talented artist and he continues to provide that assured yet integrated performance here, letting the drums breathe with the rest of the instruments whilst still doing a superb job of being a real lynch pin throughout.  You can even hear the bass motoring long on most tracks (particularly on Year of the Cadaver Race). As predicted with a collection of such established musicians the whole album sounds like it is performed by a cohesive unit.  Although arguably a substantial loss, Akerfeldt's absence largely goes unrecognised.  Jens Bergen's production job is clear enough without damaging the intensity of the record.  It feels raging and racing when it needs to yet atmospheric when required also.

My only criticism is that although it is only forty five minutes long, the record does feel a tad lengthy at twelve tracks and would benefit from a bit of a trim.  Otherwise this nightmare is more than ample fresh flesh for the listener's consumption.

I have never liked "The Rack".  There I said it.  Thankfully, the Dutch death/doom mob got better immediately with "Last One On Earth" which still remains one of my favourite albums of all time to this day, and although I openly admit that they are guilty of a lack of consistency I found the last two Asphyx albums reasonably entertaining. "Death...The Brutal Way" and "Deathhammer" both receive regular plays still and the latter even made my "end of year list" for 2012.

"Incoming Death" picks up more or less where "Deathhammer" signed off. There's no major shift in sound or style to report and there's no major ball dropping to report (thankfully) either. The bulk of what I have to say about Asphyx's ninth full length is how familiar it is. Opening track "Candiru" blasts off proceedings as in the outer stratosphere before you can blink. Track three, "Wardroid" is where the more doom edge of proceedings comes into play with its rumbling bass and slow crunching riffs over Martin's familiar demented growl.

Only three tracks in though and the album starts to feel like a B-side to "Deathhammer" which is a shame since although I enjoyed the previous outing I do feel a bit more distance needs to be put between releases soundwise. That having been said the almost foot tapping chug of "The Feeder" does breathe some new life into the Asphyx cadaver. Also though I note a little bit of a sterile sound to some of the guitar work here which is a shame as the crunch of the Asphyx riffs have always been a big draw for me.

There's the dreaded "filler" on the album unfortunately. "It Came From The Skies" should have been left flying about up in the ether really and there's some evidence of Van Drunen struggling on "The Grand Denial" which is one of the slower tracks. I also get the sense of a hint of the timings on the riffs being slightly off on this track in places too.

Thankfully though there are positives to balance the record out. The title track is a raging fucking monster that turns the screw nicely as it progresses without ever losing impact and "Forerunners Of The Apocalypse" is a galloping romp of a track to follow up with. The final track too is a great closer, and whilst I don't enjoy "Incoming Death" as much as I did it's predecessor it is by no means a shit record. It could be planned better and perhaps a long look at the production technique wouldn't go amiss, but it is a perfectly acceptable piece of death/doom. I just expect more than merely "acceptable" from a band with the stature of Asphyx.