Daniel's Forum Replies
Living Colour – “Wall” (from “Stain”, 1993)
Cruciform – “I, To The Heavens Shall Lift My Eyes” (from “Atavism”, 1993)
Samael – “I Love the Dead (666)” (from “Rebellion” E.P., 1995)
Disincarnate – “Immemorial Dream” (from “Dreams of the Carrion Kind”, 1993)
Decomposed – “Procession (of the Undertaker)” (from “Hope Finally Died…”, 1993)
Crowbar – “No Quarter” (from “Crowbar”, 1993)
Benediction – “Forged in Fire” (from “Dark is the Season” E.P., 1992)
Crowbar - "Crowbar" (1993)
I've been quite a fan of New Orleans' sludge metallers Crowbar's 1990's releases since first investigating them around fifteen years ago now. None of them thoroughly blew me away but all five of the band's early full-lengths kept me more than interested, often just lacking a little bit more in the production department to reach their full potential. I recently revisited Crowbar's 1991 debut album "Obedience Thru Suffering" & found that I'd been underrating it all these years though which left me wondering whether I might have done something similar with the rest of those records too, particularly as I'm a much bigger fan of sludge metal than I was at the time of first hearing them. And that's brought me here, to my first revisit to Crowbar's 1993 self-titled sophomore album since that early discovery session.
"Crowbar" is another seriously heavy record from this mob & you'll rarely find a more oppressive release either to be honest. The guitars are heavily down-tuned but they haven't left much light at the end of the tunnel as they lack much in the way of brightness. This allows the grunted vocals of guitarist Kirk Windstein (Down/Kingdom of Sorrow) stand out very clearly in the mix & they aren't exactly gonna cheer you up either, particularly with song titles like "Existence Is Punishment" & "I Have Failed" being par for the course. The riffs fall into the classic Crowbar blueprint, all being very simple yet unanimously crushing. There's no place for flashy guitar solos here as Crowbar harness the hardcore punk blueprint of song construction, keeping things short but impactful. The hardcore edge that the band was so evident on "Obedience Thru Suffering" is still very clearly in effect here which keeps things firmly in the sludge metal camp rather than drifting off into doom territory, particularly in some of the more energetic riff work & in Kirk's vocal delivery which sounds like it's agonizing for him to spit his words out.
Much like the debut, "Crowbar" is a pretty consistent record when you look at it holistically. It doesn't contain any obvious duds & there are a couple of genuine highlights included too in the wonderful cover version of Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" (which works ridiculously well in a sludge metal format) & the devastatingly heavy "Existence Is Punishment". The album does start a little slowly though with the first three tracks being some of the least impressive & things don't really start to heat up until the middle of the album. The back end is particularly solid though & I find myself being drawn to the band's slower, doomier material more than I do their brief dalliances with a more up-tempo feel such as the very popular "All I Had (I Gave)".
"Crowbar" is another very solid record from the band & yet again I find myself feeling like I've underrated it in the past, perhaps not quite being able to relate to its suffocating production job as much as I do now that I've had a lot more exposure to the sludge metal sound. Like most people, I do think "Crowbar" is a better record than "Obedience Thru Suffering" but the difference in quality isn't as stark as some would have you believe. I think "Crowbar" just has more highlights which gives it a slight edge but neither album do too much wrong & both come highly recommended for all the battle-hardened sludgers out there.
For fans of Acid Bath, Eyehategod & Kingdom of Sorrow.
4/5
Sadist - "Above the Light" (1993)
Italian progressive death metallers Sadist first came to my attention via the mid-90's tape trading scene & it was their excellent debut album "Above the Light" that was the source of my initial interest, a release that is arguably still the band's most well-known record to this day. I was heavily into the more expansive & technical varieties of extreme metal at the time so Sadist's sound fit very comfortably inside of my wheelhouse but the overall quality displayed on "Above the Light" has also seen me returning to it a number of times over the many years since.
Sadist's sound is really built around one individual in guitarist/keyboardist Tommy Talamanca. His flashy neoclassical lead guitar solos & progressive synthesizer work are essentially what makes Sadist unique. Listening back now, there's no question that Tommy was a talented axe-slinger & I love his note selection however he definitely lacks the finesse & class of the absolute elite shredders the scene had to offer. His keyboard work is quite up-front in the mix but is used with a level of sophistication that tends to keep it free of any claims to cheese. It's very clear that Talamanca was heavily influenced by thrash metal because the vast majority of the album is better described as progressive death/thrash than death metal in my opinion with bands like Kreator having been a major source of inspiration. The progressive elements are more above the atmosphere & arrangements than they are about structural complexity so don't be scared off if you struggle with the more fiddly diddly modern day tech death artists.
The tracklisting is extremely solid with nothing falling short of tier two status. The album could definitely have done with a couple more standout tracks though as the only song that I find to be a true classic is the band's highly symphonic title song "Sadist" which possesses hooks that have cut so deeply that I can easily recall every nuance of it today, particularly Talamanca's stunning outro guitar solo which is one of the high points of the record from a creative point of view. My picks of the remainder are probably "Breathin' Cancer" & "Sometimes They Come Back" but there's a lot to like about the whole record in all honesty.
Sadist have certainly had their hits & misses over the years but there can be no denying the quality of their first up effort which is still my pick of their back catalogue in 2024. If you're a devotee of the flashier end of the extreme metal spectrum & don't mind a bit of a spacier progressive feel then I'd thoroughly recommend "Above the Light" to you.
For fans of Hieronymus Bosch, Neglected Fields & Atheist.
4/5
Ben, please add Melbourne heavy metallers Light Force.
Satyricon - "Dark Medieval Times" (1993)
Norwegian black metal legends Satyricon & I go way back. Way back to this, their 1993 debut album in fact. From the very first time I heard opening track "Walk the Path of Sorrow" on underground metal radio programming I was hooked on this band that would go on to become somewhat of an icon in a soon to be saturated Scandinavian black metal market. That experience would see me seeking out whatever material I could find from Satyricon in the tape trading scene & would subsequently lead to me purchasing Satyricon's next two CDs upon release. But... despite always finding Satyricon's music to be greatly enjoyable, I must admit that I've never regarded them as a tier one black metal player alongside the Burzum's & Darkthrone's. Instead, they've always seemed like one of the leading players in a very solid second tier & that's something that I intended to challenge when going into my first revisit of their first full-length "Dark Medieval Times" in a while, particularly after reading Ben's five-star review recently.
It's easy to forget that the early Second Wave of Black Metal days still saw a band like Satyricon being a deeply underground act & the original cover art that was utilized for "Dark Medieval Times" provides further proof of that fact with the image looking not too unlike a schoolboy's dodgy hand-drawn art project. This is a shame really because that image is not a good representation of the musical maturity the album contains within in my opinion. The record was self-produced by seventeen year old band leader Satyr too which is not only fairly surprising but provides even greater perspective on where the Norwegian scene was positioned at the time & just how quickly it would explode onto the world stage over the next twelve months. While no doubt sounding suitably primitive, Satyr's production job gives "Dark Medieval Times" the aura & atmosphere it required in order to create a dark fantasy world full of frostbitten landscapes & unholy gatherings.
Satyricon's lineup had changed a fair bit over the first couple of years of their existence with Satyr (Wongraven/Storm) now being the only full-time member remaining from the four-piece configuration that recorded their 1992 self-titled demo tape. Guitarist Lemarchand (Dold Vorde Ens Navn/Ulver) is still there although he's listed as a guest contributor rather than a full-time member. The addition of infamous drummer Frost (1349/Gorgoroth/Keep of Kalessin/Zyklon-B) at the expense of original skinsman Exhurtum (Aura Noir/Infernö/Ved Buens Ende/Cadaver/Dødheimsgard/Ulver/Virus) for the band's second demo tape "The Forest is My Throne" was a masterstroke & may well have been the turning point that saw that particular release taking a noticeable step up along with the tragectory of Satyricon's careers while original bassist Wargod didn't last too long & was long gone by that stage as well. It's this partnership of Satyr & Frost that would become the basis for Satyricon's sound for the remainder of their careers & also provides the clear highlights of "Dark Medieval Times" along with the contribution of session keyboardist Torden.
The band's first demo didn't exactly set the world on fire & it would be the "The Forest is My Throne" tape that would first see the underground scene's ears perking up. I recently revisited that early cassette (a release that I owned in a bootleg CD version during the middle of the 1990's) & found that it already offered enough of what made those early Satyricon albums so great to keep me interested. "Dark Medieval Times" would see Satyr & Frost taking the next logical step though & would represent a commanding show of strength for a group of musicians that were still so young with Frost being just twenty years of age at the time of release. Satyricon's debut full-length is a highly atmospheric release that beautifully captures the icy Norwegian Winter & it's spectacular landscapes in musical form, particularly during the more keyboard-heavy sections of the album. In fact, I think there's a reasonable case for a dual tagging with the more targetted atmospheric black metal subgenre here with the more effective song-writing largely pushing out into more atmospheric territory & a strong folk component being incorporated in some of the pieces. The four-&-a-half minute folk piece "Min hyllest til vinterland" is the only demo track included & I think it's benefited from the additional time in the studio as I tend to prefer the album version. The remaining six pieces see the band hitting on a more consistently impressive level of blackened creativity.
The tracklisting opens with comfortably the best piece on the album in the wonderful "Walk the Path of Sorrow", a song that still sits up there with my favourite Satyricon songs to this day. Satyr's evil vocals are a real highlight of not only this track but the album as a whole. It's been interesting to confirm my long-standing suspicion that the remainder of the record struggles to match its opening track though as I can't say that I find any of the other six pieces to be particularly classic. There are no doubt classic sections (such as the transcendental slow parts of closer "Taakeslottet") but I don't think Satyricon have managed to pull together another whole song that ticks all of my boxes here & that's largely why I've never rated "Dark Medieval Times" as highly as Ben has. The second & third tracks (i.e. the title track & "Skyggedans") see the quality level being brought right down to merely being acceptable after the brilliant start to the album & leave the remaining four tracks with the task of pushing my affection back up to four-star level. There's no doubt that the potential was there with the best parts of the album being nothing short of breathtaking but I can't deny that there are a few less mature periods where the band can't quite pull it all together in as professional a fashion.
Don't get me wrong, "Dark Medieval Times" is still an essential release for anyone wanting to indulge in the Second Wave of Black Metal. It's doesn't, however, compete with the finest work to come out of Norway at the time & I feel that Satyricon's best work was yet to come on their next couple of albums. I intend on revisiting those over the course of the next few months so it'll be interesting to see if my pre-existing opinions on those two records have remained intact. As it stands though, "Dark Medieval Times" is an excellent example of the inspired creativity of a relatively small group of young individuals from a faraway land that managed to captivate the global extreme metal scene like few others before them.
For fans of Taake & early Emperor/Burzum.
4/5
Benediction - "Dark is the Season" E.P. (1992)
Following on from this week's reassessment of Benediction's highly regarded 1993 third album "Transcend the Rubicon", I thought I'd better round out my coverage of the English death metallers' peak period by exploring their 1992 "Dark is the Season" E.P. as well, a release that I've always regarded as Benediction's finest work. It's perhaps not as widely recognized as the first three full-lengths but Benediction have never managed to convince me that they are anything more than a third-tier death metal act & "Dark is the Season" has traditionally been the record that saw me coming the closest to overcoming that issue, mainly due to the added level of consistency in its relatively short five-song tracklisting. I think it's fair to say that "Transcend the Rubicon" didn't exactly impress me like it has many of my peers this week. Let's see how time has treated this stop-gap E.P. that gave fans something to tide them over between Benediction's best two albums then.
"Dark is the Season" plays the classic role of the E.P. in many ways as it serves as a compilation of material that might not work all that well in an album format. There are two brand new songs in "Foetus Noose" & the title track, both which are mildly enjoyable but neither manage to maintain the quality of their best parts for the entire duration of the songs. Then we have an excellent cover version of Anvil's "Forged in Fire", a song that I'm very familiar with as it's one of the best tracks from a Canadian heavy metal band that I've always struggled with. Benediction give "Forged in Fire" more of a doom/death feel & the song-writing works very well in this context, not only doing justice to the 1983 original but also giving it a slightly different feel which sees it becoming one of the highlights of the release. Then we get a re-recording of a track from Benediction's 1990 debut album "Subconscious Terror" with original front man Mark "Barney" Greenway (Napalm Death) returning to the fold temporarily to perform the vocals. I don't mind "Experimental Stage" but the song-writing does sound a touch less mature than the other material which makes it the least enjoyable of the five songs on offer. And finally, we receive my favourite track from 1991's "The Grand Leveller" sophomore album in "Jumping at Shadows", this time the exact same version that was included on the album. So, as you can see, it's not hard to determine the label's intent with "Dark is the Season". It was clearly meant to keep Benediction's fanbase interested while they waited for the release of a new full-length.
Why do I consider "Dark is the Season" to be a touch more interesting than "The Grand Leveller" & "Transcend the Rubicon" & Benediction's finest work then? I think it comes down to the subtle differences in direction the band take with each release with "Transcend the Rubicon" showcasing a little bit more of a thrashy sound than the graveyard atmosphere I enjoyed on "The Grand Leveller". "Dark is the Season" sounds doomier than either of those releases & I think this is where Benediction are at their best because they were never going to impress me with their technical prowess or brutality. They're actually very good at slowing things down with their sound working brilliantly in that context. Dave Ingram's death growls are very powerful but also highly intelligible which sees them maximizing their impact over the more crushing slow sections. He does sound almost exactly like Barney though & you'll have that fact rammed down your throat once you discover that it's Barney performing on "Experimental Stage" as it's almost impossible to tell the difference. That song is the only one that keeps the tempo high for the duration & I don't think it's a coincidence that it results in the least impressive outcome.
The problem here is that Benediction never come close to executing a classic track, an obstacle they struggled to overcome throughout the peak period of their career & one that will see them forever remaining in the third tier for me personally. I don't enjoy the bouncier, thrashier or punkier beats they employ at times & they often have a tendency to see some of Benediction's best tracks being returned to also-rans. There were no duds included on "The Grand Leveller" but there were none that I regard as being exceptional either & I'm gonna have to say the same for "Dark is the Season" although it does contain as many of the band's more solid inclusions as that release, only across a shorter duration which gives it a slight edge. At the end of the day, "Dark is the Season" is another enjoyable yet inessential death metal record that may well be Benediction's best yet doesn't stand up to the better examples of the genre that were coming out of England at the time.
For fans of Bolt Thrower, Cancer & 1990's Napalm Death.
3.5/5
Snake - "Let the Music Begin" (1986)
The debut album from a little-known Sydney outfit that unapologetically pushed the signature crunchy Australian hard rock sound with a major AC/DC influence.
Does anyone have any other examples to recommend of the raw second wave sound I may not have heard, because revisiting this and the other early Darkthrone albums has reminded me just how much I really love this shit?!
Have you tried Judas Iscariot on for size Sonny? He had a similar sound to classic Darkthrone.
This one's an easy one for me. Slayer's run of "Reign in Blood" into "South of Heaven" into "Seasons in the Abyss" was comfortably the most life-changing run of metal albums in my life thus far.
Coroner - "Grin" (1993)
No need to write a new review for this one as my old one is still well & truly fit for purpose:
While I never felt that Coroner's 80's material quite reached the classic status that is inevitably heaped on it, 1991's "Mental Vortex" really blew me away so I was very much looking forward to their next release "Grin" when it was released two years later. As with many people my initial response was somewhat confused. It obviously champions a more stripped back sound & was very different to the band's previous material. The raw & technical thrash metal of their early days is replaced with a mid-tempo crunch that sounds a little more simple yet still offers plenty of complexity in the arrangements. With each repeat listen the songs open up more & more & I find myself becoming heavily engaged. The production is really quite brilliant in that it accentuates the cold (& almost industrial) atmosphere. This material is much more focused on song-writing than riffs so "Grin" tends to be a real grower. Every time I revisit it the songs take a couple of listens to reacquaint myself with but the effort is paid off tenfold. Ron Royce's vocals have rarely sounded this potent & the musicianship is absolutely top notch throughout. Tommy T Baron's guitar solos are nothing short of breath-taking here. His style is much more in sync with Joe Satriani than Yngwie Malmsteen these days & that can only be a good thing as far I'm concerned. I'd go so far as to say that this is one of the great lead guitar performances in extreme metal.
There really isn't a weak song on "Grin". In fact, it's arguably Coroner's most consistent record, despite the fact that I slightly prefer the wonderful "Mental Vortex" for Coroner overall. "Internal Conflicts" & "Paralyzed, Mesmerized" are perfect examples of what the band was trying to achieve & are my personal favourites but "The Lethargic Age" & "Status: Still Thinking" aren't far behind. Strangely, the popular "Grin (Nails Hurt)" is probably the song that appeals to me the least but it's in no way poor. This is ultra-professional & highly mature progressive metal that sounds amazingly fresh even today. "Grin" is a stunning achievement & I've always considered it to be a fitting finale for the band although it seems that more material is on the way after their recent reformation. If it's anywhere near the quality of "Grin" then I'll be very pleased.
For fans of Gojira, Tool & Nevermore.
4.5/5
Benediction - "Transcend the Rubicon" (1993)
I spent a fair bit time with English death metallers Benediction’s 1991 sophomore album “The grand Leveller” after purchasing it on cassette shortly after release. In fact, I’d suggest that I probably spent a little more time than was warranted if I’m being honest, perhaps due to the fact that I’d parted ways with my hard-earned cash for it. I did quite like it though & felt that it was an improvement on their 1990 debut album “Subconscious Terror” which I also have some time for. In saying that though, I did still think of Benediction as a third tier death metal band & I’d suggest that this is the reason that I didn’t run out & buy their 1993 third album “Transcend the Rubicon” upon release, instead opting to seek it out through the tape trading scene as I had with their 1992 “Dark is the Season” EP. I remember “Transcend the Rubicon” quite fondly but I don’t think it changed my preconceived position on Benediction as an artist. I have seen a few people saying that it’s their best full-length recently though so I thought I’d give it another shot.
Benediction are the very definition of the meat-&-potatoes death metal band in my opinion. Their music is very simple yet goes to great lengths to maintain the genre’s trademark graveyard atmosphere. I’ve always thought that Benediction lacked the class & sophistication of the big names though & “Transcend the Rubicon” won’t change any of those impressions. What we receive here is pretty much “The Grand Leveller Part II” with few attempts being made at altering the band’s pre-existing formula. There are perhaps a few more thrashy parts included if you look closely, particularly on the unapologetic death/thrash number “Wrong Side of the Grave”, but the bulk of this material could just as easily have been found on Benediction’s previous album. I don’t think “Transcend the Rubicon” can boast as deathly an atmosphere as its predecessor though although I’d probably need to play the two records back-to-back to confirm that.
The only lineup change on “Transcend the Rubicon” is the addition of former Cerebral Fix/Sacrilege & future Memoriam bassist Frank Healy who comes in to replace another former Cerebral Fix member in Paul Adams who had departed after “The Grand Leveller”. This doesn’t make all that big an impact on the Benediction sound though & if you can imagine the simple song-writing & riff construction of Cancer performed with the heavy, uncluttered sound of Bolt Thrower & topped off with the vocal performance of 1990’s Napalm Death then you’ll come pretty close to understanding what’s in store for you. It’s really pretty uncanny how much front man & future Bolt Thrower & Hail of Bullets vocalist Dave Ingram sounds like Benediction’s former front man Mark “Barney” Greenway here & if I didn’t already know of Barney’s absence then I’d swear it was him. Ingram’s performance is admittedly one of the best parts of the album though so this isn’t in any way a negative thing.
The record kicks off with arguably it’s best song in the very solid “Unfound Mortality” but things rarely reach that level again with only the equally effective “Face Without Soul” competing for top honours. There aren’t any genuine classics to be found in this particular tracklisting but there are a few flat moments. Thankfully the wins outweigh the losses pretty comfortably which leaves us with another generally fun Benediction album that won’t change many lives but will rarely disappoint your average fan of the old-school death metal sound. I can’t agree with the general consensus that “Transcend the Rubicon” is Benediction’s best full-length though as I’ve found myself reaching for “The Grand Leveller” a bit more regularly over the years.
For fans of Bolt Thrower, Cancer & 1990's Napalm Death.
3.5/5
Decomposed - "Hope Finally Died..." (1993)
Short-lived London doom/death outfit Decomposed & I enjoyed a brief but rewarding dalliance during the early part of the 1990's & one that's seen me maitaining my relationship with their 1993 debut full-length "Hope Finally Died..." over the many years since. They first came to my attention through their 1992 "The Funeral Obsession" E.P., a release which I quite liked & thought exuded a fair bit of potential, but it wasn't until their more accomplished album that I'd find myself to be fully engaged & I've discovered that it's lost very little of its appeal since those first naive experiences.
I don't think there would be too many punters that would claim that Decomposed were doing anything drastically different to the more widely celebrated doom/death outfits that had come before them. They were very clearly created in the wake of the Peaceville Three & rarely deviated from the tried & tested formula set by those early groundbreakers. They do, however, do it extremely well & clearly have a strong understanding of what made those classic bands so great to begin with. The death metal component is certainly pretty significant on "Hope Finally Died..." with bands like Autopsy & Benediction having clearly played a role in their development but never to the extent that I find myself questioning Decomposed's doom/death credentials as the influence of the early Anathema releases is quite obvious at times & that can't be a bad thing where I'm concerned. The strong death growls of bassist Harry Armstrong help to promote an imposing graveyard atmosphere while the use of harmonies within the riffs adds a lot of interest & gives Decomposed some added class. If I'm being overly critical I might suggest that the guitar solos of James Ogawa are a little basic but they aren't a major distraction.
The production job is spot on for this type of music with the down-tuned guitars reverberating nicely & giving the record a lovely dark feel. The tracklisting is very consistent too with no weak tracks included which leaves the listener wondering why Decomposed aren't a little more well-known throughout the extreme metal scene. Perhaps they simply weren't around for long enough? One would have to think that's the case because "Hope Finally Died..." is an excellent example of the subgenre & deserves a lot more attention than it's received over the years.
For fans of Ceremonium, Gorement & Crimson Relic.
4/5
Rotting Christ - "Thy Mighty Contract" (1993)
Greek black metal stalwarts Rotting Christ first came to my attention in the early 1990's via their 1991 "Passage to Arcturo" E.P. &, shortly afterwards, their 1993 debut album "Thy Mighty Contract" & 1989 demo tape "Satanas Tedeum". I have to admit that my initial experiences with Rotting Christ didn't quite live up to the hype though if I'm being honest & I'd have to wait until I bought their excellent 1994 sophomore album "Non serviam" on CD the following year to be fully convinced. But all of the recent discussion in the Metal Academy forums about the most "important" black metal releases in history has seen my interest being revived which has resulted in me finally giving "Thy Mighty Contract" another chance to impress me all these years later.
To start the conversation, I'm gonna make a couple of big, bold statements. The first one is that, despite what you may read elsewhere, Rotting Christ's debut album isn't a melodic black metal record. It may often be touted as the very FIRST melodic black metal release but there is very really little to link it to what that niche subgenre would shortly become. You won't find any complex tapestries of guitar harmonies here with the melodic component being reserved for some fairly restrained single-guitar themes that have a lot more to do with Paradise Lost than they do with Dissection. In fact, there's not actually all that much material that I'd describe as being stereotypical black metal included at all really. There's just as much death metal, thrash metal, doom metal & heavy metal here in my opinion & that sees the album being much more closely aligned with the First Wave of Black Metal than it is with the notorious Norwegian Second Wave. The riffs remind me very much of Swiss black metallers Samael in that they're simply constructed with the tempo kept predominantly in the mid-range & a heavy emphasis being placed on palm-muted, down-picked chugging. The vocals aren't the most stereotypical you'll find in the black metal space either, sitting just as comfortably in the death metal space as they do the black metal one. Ultimately, I'd suggest that it's the band's clear allegiances to the occult that are the primary factors in early Rotting Christ's affiliation with metal's most evil genre, along with the atmospheres they're able to create through the occasional use of keyboards.
The tracklisting is a touch inconsistent with a couple of flat numbers included amongst the eight songs on offer. Neither of "Fgmenth, Thy Gift" or "His Sleeping Majesty" do much for me at all but these blemishes are made a little more impactful by the lack of genuine highlight tracks with only closer "The Fourth Knight of Revelation" delivering a standout performance. The rest of the material is all reasonably enjoyable but it rarely achieves anything like the peaks you'd generally expect from a seminal extreme metal recording & I feel that Rotting Christ were still very much a work in progress. "Thy Mighty Contract" certainly isn't a bad record & I feel that I've been overly critical of it in the past but I simply can't see it being all that important in the annals of black metal history, particularly given that it's borderline in its alignment to the genre to begin with.
For fans of Varathron, Thou Art Lord & Samael.
3.5/5
Ben, please add the 1986 “Fight For Paradise” debut album from Adelaide-based Christian heavy metallers Jacob’s Well.
Pyrexia - "Sermon of Mockery" (1993)
The 1993 "Sermon of Mockery" debut album from New York brutal death metal outfit Pyrexia first came to my attention at a time when I was desperately trying to identify more & more of the most extreme metal music on the planet & this record fit my requirements to a tee. Fellow New York brutal death metal godfathers Suffocation had changed my perspective on what death metal should be over the previous few years but my quest for similarly brutal releases was tough going with only a few artists managing to compete on the same sort of level. Pyrexia changed that by proving that it could be done &, in doing so, produced an album that was highly influential on me as an artist, perhaps not quite as influential as the great Suffocation releases but not all that far behind given how regularly I spun "Sermon of Mockery" throughout the middle of the 1990's. In saying that, I'm not sure I ever regarded it as a genuine death metal classic. It was more of a second tier release whose sound I could relate to on a deeper level than most of its peers which saw me returning to it more regularly than I would other releases of the same quality. The brutal death metal community have generally placed "Sermon of Mockery" up on a pedestal though so it's time to dig into the finer details of this seminal release.
The cover artwork is a major selling point for "Sermon of Mockery" as it's brutal as fuck with its image of zombified figures impaling mutilated human bodies suitably summing up the musical content you can expect to hear inside. It's a shame Pyrexia elected to accept such a tame font for the album title though as it's not nearly as imposing as it should be. The Jim Sabella production job is a real feature though with the heavily compressed guitar tone suiting this style of palm-muted savagery very nicely indeed. I didn't notice it so much back in the day but the drum sound is fairly disappointing with the kick drums in particular sounding thin & clicky which doesn't do drummer Mike Andrejko any favours. This would be Andrejko's only major release & you can see why as he struggles to compete with the accomplished death metal musicianship around him, his blast beats seeing him finding it difficult to keep his feet perfectly in time with his hands for any length of time. It's not anything too major in the grand scheme of things but it does detract from the overall effect just a touch.
There's very little doubt that the Pyrexia sound was built on the one that Suffocation had developed with their 1990 "Reincremated" demo tape three years earlier & had further refined on their first two classic 1991 releases "Human Waste" & "Effigy of the Forgotten". In fact, Pyrexia have limited their sound to a couple of different components of those records i.e. the faster tremolo-picked blast beat sections & the slower, heavily palm-muted slam parts. There's an element of technicality about early Pyrexia but it's not as overt as it is with Suffocation which is probably a good thing because Pyrexia simply weren't capable of it at the time. There are some genuinely great slam riffs included here though & that's ultimately what has made "Sermon of Mockery" such a pivotal release for the subgenre with the monstrous vocals of Darryl Wagner (another who would drift off into obscurity after this release) being a major highlight. Wagner had clearly been influenced by Frank Mullen's performance on the first two Suffocation records but pulls off his own ultra-gutteral delivery to just as great an effect here which further enhances the thick, chunky riffs of guitarists Guy Marchais (Internal Bleeding/Suffocation) & Tony Caravella & bassist Chris Basile.
"Sermon of Mockery"s other strength is its consistency as all eight tracks are of a very similar quality level, all being rock solid examples of their type. It's a little bit of a shame that none of them manage to reach the top tier though, perhaps being limited by the fairly restricted musical palate Pyrexia had chosen to create from. I feel that the compressed production probably emphasizes the similar feel of the material too but, looking on the positive side, if you like Pyrexia's sound then you're not gonna be disappointed by any of the eight tracks included here in what amounts to a very professionally composed & executed early example of the brutal death metal sound. All fans of the more extreme end of the death metal spectrum will definitely want to hear this album at some stage & I'd be surprised to discover that any of them didn't find plenty of enjoyment in it too.
For fans of Suffocation, Internal Bleeding & Dehumanized.
4/5
Charley Browne - "Power Palace" (1985)
The debut album from a Melbourne hard rock outfit that are often linked to metal. There are a few metal tunes here but not enough to warrant a primary tag in my opinion.
My updated Top Ten Melodic Death Metal Releases of All Time list with Amorphis' "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" dropping out:
01. At The Gates – “Slaughter Of The Soul” (1995)
02. Stortregn - "Finitude" (2023)
03. Carcass – “Heartwork” (1993)
04. Dark Tranquillity – “The Gallery” (1995)
05. Merciless – “Unbound” (1994)
06. Sentenced – “North From Here” (1993)
07. In Mourning – “The Weight Of Oceans” (2012)
08. The Breathing Process - “Odyssey (un)Dead” (2010)
09. Unanimated - "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" (1993)
10. Amorphis - "The Karelian Isthmus" (1992)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/147
My updated Top Ten Deathgrind Releases of All Time list with Napalm Death's "Mentally Murdered" E.P. dropping out to make way for Damaged's "Do Not Spit" album:
01. Napalm Death - "Utopia Banished" (1992)
02. Cattle Decapitation - "Monolith of Inhumanity" (2012)
03. Brutal Truth - "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" (1992)
04. Full of Hell - "Weeping Choirs" (2019)
05. Lock Up - "Necropolis Transparent" (2011)
06. Cephalic Carnage - "Misled by Certainty" (2010)
07. Damaged - "Passive Backseat Demon Engines" E.P. (1995)
08. Napalm Death - "Harmony Corruption" (1990)
09. Damaged - "Do Not Spit" (1993)
10. Assück - "Anticapital" (1992)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/223
Ben, please add the 1985 "Australia, Australia" E.P. from Melbourne outfit Depression under crossover thrash.
Cannibal Corpse - "Hammer Smashed Face" E.P. (1993)
By the time 1993's "Hammer Smashed Face" E.P. was released in March 1993, Buffalo death metal phenomenon Cannibal Corpse had become nothing short of a staple in my life. These five notorious gore-merchants had first grabbed my attention with their 1990 debut album "Eaten Back to Life" before pulling the trigger on a couple of the more significant & influential releases in my childhood in 1991's "Butchered at Birth" & 1992's "Tomb of the Mutilated", both of which would play a major role in the musical direction of my own death metal band Neuropath. I even quite enjoyed Cannibal Corpse's 1989 demo tape so I think it's fair to say that I would have lapped up anything the band presented to me at the time & that's probably why I went about seeking out "Hammer Smashed Face" as soon as it hit the shelves, despite it only containing a couple of songs that I didn't already own. There's no doubt at all that it served as an excellent entry point to the band though given that it contained the best tracks from Cannibal Corpse's previous two records as well as one of the highlights from the debut.
The E.P. kicks off with the legendary title track, a death metal anthem that's held up as a signature for the entire death metal movement at times. Neuropath covered it in a live environment a couple of times, mainly out of necessity as our fan base used to request it quite often given how closely aligned the two band's sounds were. It still sounds fantastic today too & there's no doubt that it played a massive part in my life throughout the middle of that decade & for many years to come. But it was the opening track from "Butchered at Birth" that was the one that first saw me being genuinely convinced that Cannibal Corpse were the real deal & "Meathook Sodomy" is still arguably my favourite track from the band to this day. "Shredded Humans" has always been one of my picks from the debut too so these three songs were ideally suited to drawing in a market that was more open to being shocked than at any other time in history. The two cover versions are both worth hearing too though, particularly the excellent reenactment of Possessed's early death metal classic "The Exorcist" but also the groovier version of Black Sabbath's "Zero the Hero" with both managing to do justice to the originals. While Chris Barnes' ultra-gutteral vocal delivery may not be for everyone, I absolutely lapped up that shit & still seem to today to be honest. There's just something about him that sounds so bad ass & it's one of the great shames in extreme metal that he's descended so far in the decades since. At a guess, I'm wondering whether Cannibal Corpse's rendition of "Zero the Hero" might have been the catalyst actually as it certainly has a similar feel to some of the Six Feet Under material.
Look, many people will argue that the "Hammer Smashed Face" E.P. is an inessential release given that it doesn't contain much new material but, if I'm being honest, I actually listen to it more than any of Cannibal Corpse's earlier material these days & I think that tells us something i.e. when you forget where the individual tracks came from & simply focus on the quality of the material there's a case to say that this was Cannibal Corpse's stronger release to the time. That may not make it an essential purchase but it certainly makes it worthy of a strong rating & a healthy following within death metal circles.
For fans of Deicide, Cannabis Corpse & Monstrosity.
4/5
Here's my review:
It's always exciting when one of our more well-educated members nominates a feature release from an artist that I'm completely unaware of, particularly when they also announce that it's somewhat of a favourite of theirs & that's been the case with the 1987 debut album & sole release from Los Angeles four-piece Commander. One look at the sword-adorned cover artwork gave me a fair indication that "The High 'n' Mighty" might play in the more epic US power metal space too & that's generally my sweet spot when it comes to The Guardians so I thought I'd take a step outside of my comfort zone by reviewing a The Guardians feature release for the first time in a while. I'm glad I did too as I got some enjoyment out of this record, even if it may not be enough to see me returning to it in the future.
Commander's debut sports a production job that suits the material very well. It's got a raw, mid-80's edge to it that I'd suggest fits nicely within the vinyl format but it also contains a powerful guitar sound that is really effective for this brand of metal which sees these Americans attempting a combination of US power metal & traditional heavy metal sounds, thankfully never touching on the European power metal sound that I struggle so much with at times. There's no doubt that Commander were consciously going for an epic feel on some of this material & they pull it off quite well for the most part. The guitar work of Dave Macias is excellent & is the major drawcard here in my opinion. He doesn't try for anything particularly original but pulls off everything he attempts with confidence as he was clearly an accomplished musician. He needed to be too because he had some ground to catch up given the patchy performance from operatic front man Jon Natisch whose soaring higher register delivery openly showcases his vocal flaws with a number of pitchy moments scattered across the tracklisting, Sure, he can pull off some ear-piercing screams at times but he can also make me feel like someone's running their fingernails down a chalkboard at others. It's kinda weird that his performance is perfectly fine on some tracks yet we see him virtually ruining others so I can only guess that the limited budget the band had to work with didn't allow them the time to hide Natisch's inconsistencies.
Upon first listen, I have to say that I really struggled & the reason for that is the strange way that Commander have ordered their tracklisting. I'm conscious that Karl mentioned that opening track "Knights of the Round Table" is one of his all-time favourites but I found it to be almost unlistenable personally & easily the weakest track of the nine included so I guess it comes down to personal taste. It was a bad way to start the album as it saw me getting my guard up early which likely resulted in me not picking up on the increased quality over the next couple of tracks. There's a flat period through the middle of the album too with neither of "We're Ready" or "Terror" doing a lot for me. Thankfully though, the back end of the tracklisting saw me starting to see some promise in "The High 'n' Mighty" & by the time I'd given the record a couple more listens I felt that I was better able to distinguish its strengths & weaknesses.
As you can probably tell from my previous statements, it's pretty clear that I find "The High 'n' Mighty" to be an inconsistent release with the quality levels spanning the full width of my ratings profile. The high point is utterly devastating in the incredibly epic US power metal classic "Die By The Sword" which is honestly one of the best examples of the movement I've ever encountered & saw me replaying that song in isolation a number of times. The title track & an excellent cover version of Rainbow's widely praised "Kill the King" are also of a very high quality, the more metallic format actually seeing me preferring the latter over the legendary original. "Wizard", "Return of the Goths" & "The Blade Shines On" are all pretty decent too but the three weaker numbers that I previously mentioned ensured that my overall score was never going to ascend as high as Commander would have intended. Unfortunately, it's Natisch that's largely responsible for Commander's shortcomings as I don't think there's anything wrong with the weaker tracks from an instrumental perspective.
Look, if US power metal is your absolute favourite brand of metal then you'll probably want to hear "The High 'n' Mighty" at some point but I think it's also pretty clear as to why I hadn't heard of Commander before because their shortcomings leave them struggling to break out of the third tier for the most part. This is a little disappointing when you take into consideration the obvious potential in this band had with the stronger material being a clear indication that Commander could well have produced the full package with a little more time. As it stands though, "The High 'n' Mighty" will remain a predominantly enjoyable release that's limited by an inconsistent tracklisting & vocal performance.
For fans of Heir Apparent, Hittman & Fifth Angel.
3.5/5
Ben, please add the 1985 “Daddy’s Little Girl” E.P. from Brisbane heavy metallers Vice.
Ben, please add the 1985 "Life on Earth" debut album from Aussie heavy metallers Trilogy.
Taipan - "1770" E.P. (1985)
This Melbourne outfit began life as a NWOBHM-style heavy metal act but in the four years between their self-titled debut E.P. & this second release they'd transformed themselves into more of a progressive rock act.
Disincarnate - "Dreams of the Carrion Kind" (1993)
To this budding young shredder & death metal-obsessed teenager, hired gun guitar virtuoso James Murphy was very much an idol during the early 1990's. I first became aware of him through his stunning contribution to Death's 1990 "Spiritual Healing" album before being thoroughly blown away by his work on Obituary's "Cause of Death" & Cancer's "Death Shall Rise". So, when I got wind of Murphy's commitment to release a death metal project of his own called Disincarnate I was obviously very excited. This led me to pick the "Dreams of the Carrion Kind" album up on CD upon release & it certainly didn't leave me feeling disappointed. I've always held it in very high regard & return to it regularly. Somehow though, I've never gotten around to reviewing it & think it's about time I did given just how few of our regulars seem to be across it.
"Dreams of the Carrion Kind" is a pure death metal record for death metal enthusiasts only. There's no attempt to reinvent the wheel made here but the overall product is so well put together that this means very little in the grand scheme of things. Interestingly, it wasn't recorded in the United States, despite falling very comfortably into line with the US sound. It was actually recorded in Wales with well-known metal producer Colin Richardson doing a great job at harnessing both the brutality & the melodic sensibilities of Disincarnate's classy brand of extreme music. Murphy had put together a highly capable trio of support musicians for the project including vocalist Bryan Cegon, rhythm guitarist Jason Carman & future Acid Bath & Shrüm drummer Tomas Viator & I'm very pleased to say that the three combine well with Murphy to form a tight-knit band rather than being merely a support network for Murphy's undeniable chops. In fact, you'd never pick Disincarnate as being a solo act because it simply isn't one.
The strength in Disincarnate's music is their ability to balance out a savage attack with a clear sense of melody & a strong understanding of compositional techniques. Not all of the riffage is of an elite level but the song-writing all flows effortlessly which gives Murphy & co. an extra layer of professionalism that sees them standing out amongst the death metal crowd. Cegon's vocals stick largely in cookie monster territory but he always maintains a clear intelligibility which sees "Dreams of the Carrion Kind" sounding a touch more accessible than some of their peers. The rhythm guitar work is super-tight & exceptionally sophisticated as you would expect from a Murphy-fronted project with the use of guitar harmonies being a real highlight of the album, so much so that I can easily pickup the influence of this record in my own band Neuropath's 1996 demo tape "Desert of Excruciation" which has often been described by critics as "Suffocation meets Disincarnate". Given that these harmonies give Disincarnate their point of differentiation, I think drummer Viator does a great job at giving them the room they need to deliver their maximum appeal as never overdoes the blast-beats, instead keeping them up his sleeve for key moments which accentuates their impact.
The tracklisting is extremely consistent as there's nothing even remotely close to filler included here. The record kicks off in brilliant fashion with two of Disincarnate's finest songs appearing in quick succession. "Stench of Paradise Burning" is quite simply one of my all-time favourite death metal songs &, listening back now, I can easily see why I tried so hard to get my Neuropath band mates to cover it during the mid-1990's. "Beyond the Flesh" is almost is potent too so it's easy to understand why I might have been led into such enthusiasm during the early stages of my first listen as a snot-nosed, teenage death metal frother. The album settles in for a solid mid-section after that before exploding again during the back end of the tracklisting with a trio of classics in "Deadspawn", "Sea of Tears" & the stunningly atmospheric doom/death outro piece "Immemorial Dream" which comes the closest to challenging the brutal opener for top position. Murphy's guitar solos are a constant source of amazement as he seemed to know just how to layer his instantly recognizable technique over the riffs in a way that never highjacks proceedings, instead working to add additional colour & excitement to some beautifully executed transitions. I absolutely adore some of the tremolo-picked riffs that sit underneath his lead work actually. It reminds me of Gorguts' 1991 debut album "Considered Dead" as well as his former band Death at their very best which is in no small part to do with the super-tight & suitably restrained performance of Viator.
If it isn't already obvious, "Dreams of the Carrion Kind" is a special record for me, so much so that it's always surprised me that it's not talked about more often. Perhaps it helps that I was playing in a death metal band as a lead guitarist at the time which no doubt gives me a unique perspective on the way Disincarnate have created & structured their music but I still think this is a seriously underrated record. The way that Disincarnate effortlessly incorporate a wide array of tempos (including some of the most masterful harmonized doom metal material you'll find) is quite remarkable & there are very few who have pulled it off with such an air of professionalism. Despite Murphy's looming presence at the helm, one would have to imagine that all four band members must have possessed a very strong pedigree in the history of death metal, otherwise I can't see how they would have been able to pull off a record like this one which should be essential listening for all US death metal nuts.
For fans of Brutality, Demented Ted & Monstrosity.
4.5/5
Ben, please add the 1985 "Love to Rock 'n' Roll" E.P. from Melbourne heavy metallers Fair Warning.
Depression - "Depression" (1985)
The debut album from this seminal Melbourne hardcore punk outfit.
Ben, please add the 1985 self-titled E.P. from Melbourne's Axatak & Black Jack’s 1985 “Five Pieces of Eight” E.P., both under heavy metal.
Ben, please add these too:
Surrender - "Surrender" (1984)
Tyrant - "Never Too Loud" E.P. (1984)
Ben, please add Black Alice's "No Warning" E.P. from 1984 under Heavy Metal.
Boss - "Step on It" (1984)
The only full-length album from Adelaide-based glam metallers Boss who would change their name to BB Steal shortly afterwards.
A couple of brand-new releases I'll be keeping an eye on in August:
Andrew Hulshult - "IDKFA"
Uniform - "American Standard"
The brand new sixth album "Living Chaos" from Chicago deathcore outfit Oceano is hitting the shelves this month.
Here's a few brand new releases that I'll be following in August:
Trhä/Coffret de Bijoux - "di najb tu natálja ibajnma ëct/lämèàen'th" split album
Trhä - "∫um'ad∂ejja cavvaj"
Glorior Belli - "Glorior Belli"
Spectral Wound - "Songs of Blood & Mire"
The new Leprous album "Melodies of Atonement" hits the streets in late August.
There's a number of new releases of interest for me in August:
Blind Guardian have also released a live rendition of the "Somewhere Far Beyond" album in the last couple of weeks. I might give it a run at some point as I quite like the original studio version of the album.
Japanese alternative metallers Dir en Grey have a brand new live video coming out this month called "Tour22-23 Phalaris" which was recorded across multiple shows during 2022/23. I quite liked their 2008 album "Uroboros" so I might give this one a sneaky run at some point,
The new "Pray for the HOLLOW Sun" release from Japanese sludge/doom/drone metallers Corrupted hit the streets yesterday & will be one that I'll likely check out as I've invariably enjoyed the couple of other releases I've heard from them, particularly 1999's "Llenandose de gusanos" which was a really big record for me. This one is an archival release that includes material recorded between 2010-2014.
US stoner metallers Elder also have a brand-new live album coming out later this month in "Live at BBC Maida Vale Studios" which was recorded last year. The trio of Elder records that fell between 2011-2017 were all pretty big for me so I'm pretty keen for this one too.
Dying Fetus - "Bathe in Entrails" demo (1993)
Dying Fetus' first demo tape was an important influence on me & the musical direction I would take with my own band Neuropath during the mid-1990's. Listening back now, it's easy to be critical of the terrible drumming of main man John Gallagher but his guitar work is very accomplished (particularly the James Murphy-ish solos which are surprisingly proficient for such a young dude) & the multiple-vocal attack is as gutteral as all fuck so it can't be all bad now, can it? It's interesting that Dying Fetus really haven't changed their sound all that much at all over the 31 years since this demo which says a lot about why I found it so appealing as a young fella. Dying Fetus would certainly get better & I tend to dig their albums a bit more than this early tape these days but I can't deny that I still get a fair bit of nostalgic enjoyment out of a good half of the six songs included here. The others simply suffer a bit too much from Gallagher's inability to play double kick in time.
For fans of Suffocation, Skinless & early Cannibal Corpse.
3.5/5
Unanimated - "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" (1993)
My earliest memories of Sweden's Unanimated go back to the discovery of their debut album "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" while visiting Neuropath vocalist Mark Wangmann's house some time in 1993. I'd been following the early attempts at a more melodic brand of death metal for a little while by that point but this particular record was a little different in that it seemed to have a foot in black metal territory too. The idea appealed to me quite a bit so I ripped a copy of "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" for myself & gave it a fair few listens that year. My enjoyment of that release also saw me following Unanimated through their three subsequent full-lengths, all of which are worth hearing, particularly their 1995 sophomore album "Ancient God of Evil" which I'm a big fan of & tends to be my Unanimated release of choice these days. Perhaps that's the reason that I haven't returned to "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" since the 1990's but I remember it fondly & have been looking forward to seeing how it's aged for some time now. I've also been interested to see if it might prove to have been a significant player in the development of the melodic black metal scene as I remembered it being a lot more blackened than some websites would have you believe in the current day.
"In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" is a fairly raw affair although the compositions are professionally put together & have a certain class about them, particularly for the time. My recollections were spot on too in that this is most certainly a melodic black/death metal hybrid. In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest that there's more black metal included than there is death metal which is in direct contrast to the general consensus. A lot of this material sounds uncannily like Swedish melodic black metal godfathers Dissection as well, so much so that there are more than a few sections that border on plagiarism &, given that "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" was released in February 1993 & Dissection's legendary "The Somberlain" debut album was released in December 1993, I'm gonna have to throw a cat amongst the pigeons by suggesting that perhaps Dissection may have sounded a fair bit different if not for the influence of Unanimated.
The musicianship is pretty decent but was still clearly a work in progress, particularly the blast-beats of Peter Stjärnvind (Krux/Merciless/Black Trip/Entombed/Murder Squad/Nifelheim/Pest/Regurgitate) which were still fairly primitive in their execution. I enjoy the vocals of Micke Jansson & find them to sit further over into the black metal camp than they do the death metal one, often even hinting at a Darkthrone-ish croak. The consistent use of higher-register, tremolo-picked melodies from guitarists Jonas Mellberg (Therion) & Johan Bohlin (Desultory) is a real strength for Unanimated & is probably the best thing about the album with the more solid tracks like "Blackness of the Fallen Star", "Through The Gates", "Mournful Twilight" & the title track all being littered with memorable melodic hooks. Interestingly though, my favourite track is the short ambient interlude "Silence Ends" which kicks off the B side. I'm a big fan of ambient music & this example could easily have been stolen from a professionally produced ambient record. As is often the case, it's only one of the more popular songs that I struggle with in the Viking metal period Bathory inspired "Cold Northern Breeze" which I find to be pretty cheesy really. The choice to close out the album with a cover version of Venom's classic "Buried Alive" was a strange one too but thankfully the band pull it off pretty well, even if it's heavy metal style does sound a little out of place on an extreme metal release.
Overall, "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" was a pretty decent way for Unanimated to kick off their recording career. It was also fairly groundbreaking in the sound they'd developed for themselves, even at this early stage. The execution isn't perfect & the song-writing could have done with a bit of a polish but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying this entertaining (if inessential) Swedish release.
For fans of Dissection, Necrophobic & Gates of Ishtar.
3.5/5
Here's my review:
The 1993 "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." debut album from Finnish black metallers Impaled Nazarene made a significant impact on me after I picked it up on CD shortly after release. It's blend of simple, catchy, yet still pretty evil sounding black/war metal was really well produced & executed which left me with the impression of an artist that was aware of its limitations & worked really hard at maximizing its strengths. I wasn't surprised that Impaled Nazarene's tongue-in-cheek approach got a few purists noses out of joint (I'm looking at you Ben) but I could manage to look past it in order to take "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." for what it is i.e. one of the more fun black metal releases of its time. So, when news of Impaled Nazarene's sophomore album hit my ears only ten months later, I found myself eagerly reaching into my pocket for another helping.
The "Ugra-Karma" album makes for a very good accompaniment for the band's debut actually as it possesses many of the same traits & qualities. It was recorded by the same lineup in the same recording studio with the same producer & only a short time later so I guess that was to be expected though, wasn't it? It's of a pretty similar quality too so if you liked "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." then you were probably always gonna like "Ugra-Karma" too. The production job is once again extremely solid, making the most of the simple, uncluttered arrangements by presenting them within a tight, rock-solid framework. The drum kit sounds particularly powerful while front man Mika Luttinen's grim black metal vocals are once again a highlight.
The twelve track, 38-minute tracklisting is generally pretty solid with only the misguided industrial black metal piece "Gott ist tot (Antichrist War Mix)" failing to hit the mark. In fact, that particular number fell well below the bar so I've struggled to justify its inclusion to be honest. There's less of the war metal sound that I enjoyed so much on the debut this time but we find Impaled Nazarene replacing it with a punk rock influence that we'd see them expanding on further on future releases. The wonderful "Hate" is by far the best track on the album in my opinion with its incorporation of synthesizers giving it more of a classic Norwegian feel than most of the other material. I also really enjoy the more aggressive & brutal tracks like "Coraxo", "Goatzied" & "Cyberchrist".
"Ugra-Karma" has gone on to become Impaled Nazarene's most highly regarded release over the years & it's not hard to see why as it showcases a flare for violence & brutality wrapped in an air of accessibility, a lethal combination when done just right. There's been very little attempt at any sort of sophistication & there's a place for that sort of record in my life given my history as an old-school tape trader. I do have to admit that I prefer the debut over "Ugra-Karma" though, mainly because I prefer war metal over punk rock by a considerable margin. I also miss the dark Mayhem-style power chord riffs that "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." delivered with such success. However, I've returned to "Ugra-Karma" many times over the years & will likely continue to for some time yet as there's no doubt that it's a very solid example of mid-90's European black metal.
For fans of Sadistik Exekution, Impiety & Belial.
4/5
I don’t look at them Ben.
Here's my review:
Ballarat deathgrind outfit Damaged first came to my attention when one of the members of my death metal band Neuropath played me their debut album "Do Not Spit" some time in late 1993 but I have to admit that I wasn't convinced to begin with. It wasn't until I had the great pleasure of witnessing Damaged in a live environment shortly afterwards that I became a convert of this Aussie extreme metal establishment because they were a completely different prospect on stage. A lot of that had to do with their psychotic, hyperactive drummer Matt "Skitz" Sanders who is nothing short of metal royalty in these parts & rightly so too. During the mid-90's he was by far the best drummer in the local scene & taught a lot of people what was possible with extreme drumming. I can still vividly recall the guys from Morbid Angel being blown away by Skitz during Damaged's opening set on the Sydney leg of the tour for the Florida death metal gods' tour fourth album "Domination". In fact, they even went so far as to dedicate their set to him from memory. A lot of the development in drumming between Neuropath's first & second demoes also owes a lot to the impact of Skitz on our own skinsman Luke Burns. Anyway... back on topic.. it's fair to say that "Do Not Spit" never really connected with me like it did for a lot of Aussie metalheads & I wouldn't truly get onboard the Damaged train until 1995's excellent "Passive Backseat Demon Engines" E.P. which I purchased on CD at the time. I didn't remember much about "Do Not Spit" going into this revisit though & I wondered if it might all sound very familiar given how many times I'd seen Damaged play live back in the day.
Damaged always possessed their own unique sound & it's kinda hard to describe because there aren't that many artists that you can draw upon as close comparisons. The deathgrind tag is generally the fallback option as it's about as close as you're gonna find but it still doesn't feel like its 100% accurate to my ears. I can't come up with a better genre tag for this release right now though so let's go with that. There are definitely death metal & grindcore elements at play as well as some hardcore punk & groove metal ones on occasion. Some of the riffs have a clear Terrorizer feel to them too. Vocalist Jaymi Ludbrooke's delivery isn't exactly a death growl though. His aggressive assault feels a little more grindy hardcore than anything else. The instrumentation is completely devoid of melody for the most part too which gives Damaged their signature sound with its abrasive & predominantly rhythmic feel that's been built upon Skitz' drumming. The production job on "Do Not Spit" doesn't do Damaged any favours though to be fair. Skitz' drum kit sounds pretty weak with the kick drums being far too thin & clicky. I'd also suggest that his skills were yet to reach their peak as I don't hear anything as mind-blowing as I recall experiencing from him back in the day, although there are admittedly a couple of really creative blast-beat variations employed. I'm not such a fan of the bouncier beats & riffs that Damaged employ at times though.
Damaged would get a touch more serious & up the ante on their extremity over the next year or so which would see their sound offering me significantly more appeal than I've found on this revisit to "Do Not Spit". Still, there are no weak tracks here as such. Many of the eleven inclusions contain sections that aren't exactly my cup of tea though & I find myself craving the more relentlessly ballistic blasting parts over the groovier punk-infused moments. Interestingly, it's the slowest number on the album that I regard as the genuine classic here in the crushingly heavy industrial metal anthem "My Grain". I also really dig the short burst of grinding energy that is "Ultra-Mild" & wish that there were more courses of that sort of material included. The rest of the material sits on roughly the same level, a standard that I find to be enjoyable but rarely compelling. On the positive though, there's something of interest in every song so I find it hard to be too critical of Damaged's debut, even if I'm doubtful that I'll return to it in the future. It may be held in very high esteem by many Aussie metalheads but I'm afraid I can't quite see it personally.
For fans of Blood Duster, King Parrot & Fuck...I'm Dead.
3.5/5
P.S. Interestingly, I used to tape trade with a young kid that was a huge Neuropath fan. One day he sent me a letter to tell me that he'd joined Damaged as their new vocalist & totally blew my mind as I was already a big fan of them by that stage & this dude couldn't have been more than eighteen years old. I can't remember his name any more but I'm gonna suggest that it was Chris Wallace given the age & timing.
Andi, the "Dethroned Emperor" cover version wasn't a part of the album as far as I recall. I'd suggest that it's a bonus track that's been added in more modern times. I completely agree that there's no deathcore on offer here though.
Here's my review:
Let's be honest with ourselves, US thrash metal legends Testament had gone off the boil a bit during the first half of the 1990's. While records like 1990's "Souls of Black" & 1992's "The Ritual" where serviceable enough metal albums, they weren't really at the same class as the bands more highly regarded 80's releases so I'd imagine that Testament were feeling a little bit of pressure to revive their heyday. The fact that "The Ritual" also saw them watering their sound down a touch with a stronger heavy metal influence probably didn't help & I feel that Testament's sixth full-length "Low" is probably a bit of a reaction to the negative impressions they would have received from some sections of the thrash metal community as it sees Testament returning with arguably their heaviest release to the time. The success of Pantera & the groove metal genre was clearly not lost on the Californians as "Low" sees Testament dropping most of the more accessible heavy metal leanings of "The Ritual", down-tuning their guitars further than ever before (generally a step or a step & a half) & throwing in deeper, almost death metal growls from time to time. Now, that probably sounds like it should offer me a fair bit of appeal on paper but the reality is that I haven't returned to "Low" since the mid-90's so there's gotta be something in that, right? The decades since have seen me largely forgetting about this record so it's time for a revisit to see where it sits in Testament's prestigious back catalogue to the time.
Let's get one thing straight right from the offset, "Low" is still first & foremost a thrash metal record so I don't think too many diehard fans would have been turned off by the stylistic changes the band had opted for on their sixth full-length. It's just that it "feels" a little more like a groove metal record at times & the reason for that is the extra down-tuning which takes a little bit of the shred out of the more exciting riffs in hope that the extra bottom-end will appeal to the mid-90's market a little more. I'm not sure whether it did or not but I can certainly say that I prefer Testament's thrashier & more electric sound personally. Chuck Billy's attempts at a more guttural delivery aren't too bad though & I know that was something that excited me the first time Ben played me his CD copy of "Low" shortly after release. These stylistic changes see many of the twelve tracks falling into the space between thrash & groove metal which is the reason why many people seem to tag "Low" as such (me included).
The inclusion of a ballad had become somewhat of a formality for Testament over the course of the previous three records & here we see them pulling it off with aplomb as the emotive "Trail of Tears" is one of the clear highlights of the album. It's interesting that Testament had also opted to include two instrumentals here too, both of which see them taking the listener into some fresh stylistic space to varying levels of success. I particularly enjoy the contribution of bass player Greg Christian on those numbers with him showcasing a clear Geezer Butler influence on both occasions. The centrepiece of any Testament album is generally reserved for the lead guitar parts though & "Low" is no exception with hired gun virtuoso James Murphy having filled the vacant position left by wonderful shredder Alex Skolnick & pulling it off with ease too. I've always been a huge fan of Murphy & he delivers one of his more restrained & diverse performances here, giving the song-writing exactly the sort of colour & highlights it required.
The main issue that holds "Low" back from becoming a more significant Testament record than their previous two though, is the lack of any classics in the tracklisting. The song-writing is gernally pretty decent with the band maintaining a level of class & professionalism throughout but there really aren't any songs that can compete with Testament's best work. My favourite numbers are clearly the before-mentioned "Trail of Tears" & the unusual instrumental track "Urotsukidôji" but neither seem to reach above a very solid level. There are also a couple of tracks that do very little for me & could probably have been culled in the obvious groove metal number "Legions (In Hiding)" & the rhythmic "Shades of War", both which are sorely lacking in the hooks department. I've never been the biggest Chuck Billy fan but he's always gonna struggle with his limited vocal prowess when the hooks aren't strong enough to carry him.
At the end of the day though, "Low" is another decent Testament record that should keep fans of the band on the hook. It's unlikely to draw in too much of a new fanbase though in my opinion. I'd suggest that it's a better record than "Souls of Black" was but would probably favour "The Ritual" over it just slightly. There's no question that it's a clear step down from the trio of 1980's albums that came during Testament's peak period though & the days when I would look forward to every new release from the band had clearly sailed past by this point.
For fans of Overkill, Annihilator & Anthrax.
3.5/5
Here's my review:
By 1995, Ben & I could count ourselves as being pretty big fans of Swiss black metallers Samael. We were both well across all three of Samael's albums to the time, all of which I consider to be essential listening for the black metal afficionado. I'd also gone so far as to secure myself dubbed copies of a couple of the band's early demo tapes through the tape trading scene in 1987's "Into the Infernal Storm of Evil" & 1988's "Medieval Prophecy", neither of which l'd say added much to my life if I'm being honest. But the point I'm trying to make is that there was a level of anticipation for Samael's next release after they'd improved on each & every recording to the time with 1994's "Ceremony of Opposites" third album being the finest work of the band's career still to this day. Coming off the back of such a successful effort, Ben & I went into 1995's stop-gap "Rebellion" E.P. with great confidence in the Swiss four-piece's ability to create a compelling musical soundscape so, when Ben brought home a CD copy of the brand-new E.P., we wasted no time in blasting it loudly from his bedroom stereo. Strangely though, I haven't given "Rebellion" much attention over the many years since which is a little bit telling. I wasn't able to remember exactly why though so I thought it was about time I gave it another crack.
"Rebellion" fits very much into your classic E.P. model as it's clearly a collection of disparate pieces that didn't fit into the full-length album concept. You get one brand new metal number in the title track, a couple of re-recordings of early works (see "After the Sepulture" & "Into the Pentagram"), a cover version of Alice Cooper's "I Love the Dead" & a few instrumental electro-industrial pieces, two of which are essentially the same with the exception of some German lyrics having been placed over the top of one. So, if you're looking for a cohesive & singular creative vision then you might want to look elsewhere. But what "Rebellion" does do successfully is create a transitional stepping-stone between the dark black metal of Samael's first three albums & their more industrially focused later material. It's here that you can first start to see Samael embracing the electronic component of the sound they're known for today although it's fair to say that it was still used a little more subtly which leaves the sound the band are pushing here in somewhat of a limbo between the two genres, not really feeling like either. It's mainly the use of spacey synthesizers that draws "Rebellion" into industrial metal territory although they're not over the top with a much greater emphasis being placed on that element for 1996's "Passage" album which pushed all the way out into fully-fledged symphonic metal territory.
The production job on "Rebellion" is thick & chunky & gives the material real clout, the riffs possessing a weight that comes more from the industrial metal side than the black metal one. The opening title track is the one that benefits the most from it with its groovy mid-paced riffage making it by far the most significant piece on the record. In fact, it's a little strange that it wasn't considered for inclusion on Samael's upcoming full-length albums to be honest as it's easily good enough & wouldn't have sounded out of place. The two re-recordings happen to be of my favourite tracks from each of Samael's first two albums which was a pleasant surprise but the reality is that neither can compete with the dark atmosphere of the originals, despite the heavier production techniques employed. I certainly enjoy both songs (particularly "After the Sepulture" which competes with "Rebellion" for the highlight of the E.P.) but neither added a lot to my life either to be fair. The rest of the E.P. feels more like filler than anything else in my opinion. I quite enjoy both versions of the six-minute electro-industrial piece "Static Journey" but can't see much reason for including both given that they're so similar to each other. Admittedly they do sound a little dated given the basic synthesized rhythms that have been employed. The three-minute outro piece utilizes the same creative platform but is unfortunately not as successful & I find it to be a little disappointing, as is the Alice Cooper cover version which feels more like a fairly accessible take on gothic metal than anything else & leaves me feeling like pressing the skip button a lot of the time although I've never been a skipper & likely never will be.
So, I feel that "Rebellion" was mildly successful in its quest to showcase a new sound that Samael would explore further across the remainder of their recording career but I would hardly say that it's essential listening for fans of the band. It's a professionally put together package & sounds bright & vibrant but I don't think it contains the depth that I enjoyed with Samael's first three albums.
For fans of Rotting Christ, The Kovenant & Moonspell.
3.5/5