Daniel's Forum Replies

I don't think I've heard anything worth listening to from Venom since 2000's "Resurrection" album so I don't think I'd be all that enthused about the prospect of seeing that lineup live. I'd be more inclined to check out Venom Inc. as their last full-length (i.e. 2022's "There's Only Black") was actually pretty decent.

🤘Thanks very much for all of these excellent recommendations!🤘

You're most welcome Mike. Feel free to post your own recommendations, ratings & reviews because we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Just updated my Top Ten Dissonant Death Metal Releases of All Time list after reviewing Ulcerate's "Cutting the Throat of God" album last week & found that it's still heavily weighted towards the two clear subgenre leaders:

01. Ulcerate - "Stare Into Death & Be Still" (2020)

02. Ulcerate - "Cutting the Throat of God" (2024)

03. Gorguts - "Colored Sands" (2013)

04. Ulcerate - "Everything Is Fire" (2009)

05. Ad Nauseam - "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" (2021)

06. Gorguts - "From Wisdom to Hate" (2001)

07. Ulcerate - "The Destroyers of All" (2011)

08. Ulcerate - "Vermis" (2013)

09. Gorguts - "Obscura" (1998)

10. Ulcerate - "Shrines of Paralysis" (2016)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/181

What?! No dinosaur-themed European power metal bands out there?? The shame!!! Manowar already had a head-start on the costumes with "Into Glory Ride" too.

Those perceptions haven't really changed in the underground metal scene to be honest. Cradle of Filth certainly had their moments during the mid-to-late 1990's but there was a good decade or so when they seemed terribly water-down & disposable, almost a parody of the image they'd worked so hard to create. Some of their recent releases have been surprisingly decent but one gets the feeling that the damage had already been done as far as the band's credibility & lasting legacy is concerned.

I checked out Knocked Loose's "You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To" this week & found it to be a damn fine metalcore record that will be hard to beat for our The Revolution award. I'd suggest that it's a step up from 2021's "A Tear in the Fabric of Life" which was my only other experience with the band.

Exodus have once again parted ways with front man Steve Souza & have once again replaced him with Rob Dukes with the recording of the new album imminent

Nice! I didn't mind Barshasketh's last couple of albums but haven't gotten around to listening to their new one yet. I'll place it on my to-do list.

I took a detailed look at the new Defeated Sanity record I've been enjoying over the last couple of months yesterday & it's yet another extraordinarily overthetop release from the very consistent German brutal/technical death metal band. I don't think I could say that it's a classic though so it won't compete for my The Horde award. It's definitely worth exploring if you can handle extraordinarily technical, ADD-fueled brutality though.

Do you also hear a bit of an industrial sound here too, Daniel, particularly in the machine-like dehumanisation of tracks like the title track and "Ikikäärme"?

I do but I wouldn't say that it's worthy of aq secondary tag as it's not all that prominent in the overall direction of the album. The psychedelic side of the Oranssi Pazuzu sound has certainly been pushed to the back this time though, hasn't it? I'm gonna put up a Hall of Judgement poll to have the album put into The North at some stage today so make sure that you vote in that mate.

I just finished reviewing the latest Paysage d'Hiver album & it's another classic in my opinion. It honestly had the potential to be one of the all-time great black metal records if not for one flaw which I go into detail about but, as it stands, I'm gonna place it in second place for my The North award, slightly behind Oranssi Pazuzu (if we end up counting it here of course).

Here's my review:

Melbourne progressive metal outfit Taramis hold somewhat of a prestigious position in the story of Australian metal. They were arguably the first metal act of any note to start messing with progressive influences which gave them a distinct point of difference while still maintaining enough of a traditional heavy metal component to ensure that they didn't lose any of the old-schoolers along the way. I didn't become aware of them until their 1991 sophomore album "Stretch of the Imagination" which I regard as being their finest work however my recent investigations into the early roots of the Aussie metal scene have seen me finally exploring their 1985 "Blood and Honour" demo tape & 1987 debut album "Queen of Thieves", neither of which are as thrashy as the band would eventually become. The Prowler demo was a decent enough heavy metal release although it was a lot less expansive & more conventional than the Taramis releases. It was clear that there was some talent there though so I was interested to see how that would develop on "Queen of Thieves". It certainly has too as this is a far more sophisticated release than the demo ever aspired to be.

The impact of Taramis' debut album is a little restricted due to an overly raw production job that was fairly typical of underground releases of the time. It was recorded at Saturn Studios in Melbourne with unknown producer George Simak who isn't exactly a household name in the local metal scene. The results are pretty much as you would expect too with the guitars sounding tinny & far too far back in the mix while the vocals of operatic front man Shane Southby boom out over the top with no restraint whatsoever. It's a fairly unforgiving position for the theatrical Southby whose soaring, air-raid siren style, high-pitched voice often struggles for control, even spilling over into the pitchy & cringe-worthy on tracks like "The Chosen" where he completely ruins what was otherwise a very solid progressive metal number from an instrumental point of view. He's a lot more successful on other tracks though & I've found myself enjoying a good three quarters of the tracklisting with heavy metal closer "My Life" being the only other failure. Taramis are at their best when they're at their most adventurous & prove themselves to be highly capable musicians along the way. Iron Maiden have clearly been a major inspiration for them & you can easily pick up the influence of their more progressive mid-to-late 80's records on "Queen of Thieves", particularly on the basslines of Danny Komorr who forms a formidable partnership with former Nothing Sacred drummer Dave Browne. The guitar solos of Craig Robertson aren't the most polished or theoretically correct you'll find but they are always interesting & fit the purpose quite well. It's kinda hard to pigeon-hole Taramis' sound at this point though as they tend to jump around a bit but I think a progressive power metal tag is probably the best fit, despite the consistent presence of traditional heavy metal. I think Southby's vocal style simply points me in the direction of power metal every time I question myself & there's a similar feel to Manilla Road in the atmospheres at times too.

The raw production job does limit how far Taramis can take you to an extent but I've found more than enough appeal in "Queen of Thieves" to keep me interested. It's probably just lacking those couple of classic tracks to draw your attention away from its flaws with only the excellent progressive metal anthem "Doesn't Seem" pushing up into second tier territory. The rest of the album largely sits back in the third tier for this type of music but it was an admirable first-up effort for Taramis nonetheless. History has shown that it did just enough to afford them a rare status amongst a local scene that was still quite immature in terms of the more progressive end of metal so it deserves its place in Australian metal folklore.

For fans of Adramelch, Iron Maiden & Manilla Road.

3.5/5

Hmmm... the age old question. I thought the general consensus was that vocals alone don't contribute to genre selection. If an album has black metal "music" with clean vocals, it's still black metal. If an album has pop "music" with black metal vocals, it's still just pop. To move away from this logic creates all sorts of bad genre choices, particularly as death and black metal vocals appear across all sorts of subgenres these days.

Yes, that's generally been my stance over the years but this record isn't as straight-forward as that. You see, if you examine it in detail, you'll find that the vocals are the main thing tying this record to metal. The instrumentation is quite diverse & spends a fair bit more time outside of the metal scope so I don't think you could say that this is a straight-up "avant-garde metal" release as such. In fact, if you were to base your genre-tag solely on the instrumentation then this release may not even qualify for the Academy. The vocals are about as black metal as they come though & I don't think you'd find another metal release that's not tagged with at least a "blackened" prefix if they offered something similar. Given that the black metal component is the primary link to metal & it's prominent enough in the sound of the album to command a metal tag, I feel that an avant-garde black metal tag is the best fit for it. Have a listen for yourself though as I'm certainly open to other ideas if they're a better fit.

Many of you might disagree but I think the wonderfully grim black metal vocals that appear across the majority of the latest Oranssi Pazuzu album are enough to drag it into avant-garde black metal territory, despite the music clearly having been divorced from black metal a long time ago now. That puts "Muuntautuja" in front in the race for my The North Release of the Year too.

I've just finished reviewing the Oranssi Pazuzu album & it's another genuine classic in my opinion. It's easily my front runner for The Infinite now.

Revenge - "Violation.Strife.Abominate"

The seventh full-length album from these Canadian war metallers is due for release on 31st January & I'll definitely be checking it out as I always enjoy Revenge records, despite never regarding any of them as being essential.

Pentagram - "Lightning in a Bottle"

The US doom metal legends' ninth full-length album is due for release on 31st January & I'm sure Sonny will be all over it. I have to admit that my experiences with Pentagram are limited to their first couple of records & the "First Daze" compilations so I'm a bit out of the loop but I still return to their self-titled debut album quite regularly. I think I'll wait to hear what people think of this one before committing.

Turbo - "Blizny"

The Polish heavy metallers long-awaiting thirteenth full-length will finally be seeing the light of day a full twelve years after 2013's "Piąty żywioł" record. I haven't heard anything Turbo have done since 1992's "One Way" eighth album but I enjoyed some of their releases back in my tape trading days, particularly 1987's thrashtastic "Ostatni wojownik" fourth full-length which I've returned to quite often over the years. I believe these guys have returned to their heavy metal roots these days though so I'm not sure I'll get to this one unless it's found to be a belter by other members.

There's a new Vader E.P. called "Humanihility" coming out shortly followed by the recording of a new album later in the year.

Destruction - "Birth of Malice" E.P.

I can't say that I'm overly enthused about this one as Destruction's last couple of releases have been fairly lacklustre in my opinion.

In other news, Exodus are hitting the studio to record their new album early this year.

I'm gonna throw a cat amongst the pigeons by suggesting that Chat Pile's "Cool World" should be considered for our The Gateway award as I'd suggest there's even more alternative metal than there is sludge metal across the duration of the album with influences like Helmet, Primus & Korn being easily detectable. I've raised a Hall of Judgement poll around this idea so please contribute if you're able to.

I've just reviewed the Chat Pile album. It's another really solid effort too & I tend to prefer it over 2022's "God's Country" debut which I also really enjoyed. I think the Thou record is the better of the two though when it comes to the more popular sludge metal releases though.

Great review Sonny & vey much in line with my own feelings.  Tech thrash or not tech thrash?

Then we have Drudkh and Immortal too boot, again with tracks pulled from two great albums. 

Yeah, those Drudkh & Immortal tracks are both very solid, aren't they?  The whole "Autumn Aurora" album is too actually but I have to admit that I've never considered "Sons of Northern Darkness" to be anything more than decent. I think it's just a little more melodic & accessible than I'd like from Immortal to be honest. I certainly get some enjoyment out of it but I rarely feel like returning to it when I have their more aggressive material to turn to.

Could not get on with that Bathory track

I don't mind that track actually. In fact, I don't mind a good two-thirds of the songs on "Requiem" but the other third is bad enough to see me generally steering well clear.

The Slaughter Lord inclusion is probably my favourite song from them. Anyone that thinks that war metal came about through Blasphemy in 1989 should take a listen to that track & some of the early Sarcofago demo tapes in my opinion.

I was sceptical as to whether the Ulcerate album would appeal to me, but it is a genuine era-defining release and I too was blown away by it. It is also my AOTY and I could see it being the metal release of the decade, ultimately. Unfortunately I was unable to score a vinyl copy and the scalpers on Discogs are asking silly money, so I got my CD copy today instead.

It's actually cracked its way into my Top 100 Metal Releases of All Time list which is no small feat after nearly four decades of metal indulgence.

I've been a fan of Adorior since their first album back in the late 1990's Sonny. They're always very consistent, even if they're not particularly prolific. I've really enjoyed my couple of casual listens to the new record over the last few months too & it may even be their finest work to date. Hopefully I get the time to review it before the end of January but the list is pretty long at this point.

I just finished reviewing the new Ulcerate album & it's fair to say that I can't see it being beaten for my AOTY.

I've just finished reviewing the Blood Incantation record. It's certainly very solid but it won't be competing for my top spot with the likes of Civerous, Ulcerate & Carnophage. I slightly prefer their previous album "Hidden History of the Human Race” but there's very little between them.

Here's my review:

There are many theories about where metal music originated from in my home country of Australia & there are a generally a few different names that tend to pop up in such discussions, from Ash to Buffalo, to Taste & Bengal Tigers. But the truth is that none of those artists managed to produce a significant enough release that consistently tapped into the metal sounds we’d been hearing from other parts of the world in the first decade of the heavy metal genres existence. There were certainly of few genuine metal songs included here & there (Hell, Ash’s 1971 “Midnight Witch/Warrant” single was basically stoner metal) but there wasn’t a full album or E.P. full of music that I would class as being predominantly metal. That is, until a Melbourne four-piece by the name of Storm appeared on the scene in 1981 with their live shows doing enough to convince renowned Melbourne record store Central Station Records & Tapes to release a four-song E.P. on 7” vinyl. It would be here that we’d find the earliest of the true metal releases to come out of this country.

Storm would enter York Street Studios in Melbourne late in the summer of 1981 to record the self-produced E.P. with Central Station Records owner Jo Palumbo overseeing the project as executive producer. During the sessions, it would be discovered that there could potentially be legal implications in continuing on under the Storm moniker which had been copyrighted overseas so the band elected to change their name to Taipan, a highly venomous & distinctly Australian snake that seemed entirely suitable for the band’s incisive sound. There are conflicting reports about when the E.P. would eventually be released though, some claiming that it was later in 1981 & others suggesting that the band would have to wait more than a full year until June 1982 to see the fruit of their efforts hitting the shelves. I tend to believe it was the latter but it’s of little consequence in the grand scheme of Australian metal folklore as that still gave Taipan at least a year’s head-start on their competition.

The self-titled Taipan E.P. (or “Breakout” as it would be retitled for the 1984 Bullet Records 12” vinyl reissue) certainly sounds pretty rough & ready by modern standards, instead tapping into the DIY aesthetic that most of the British NWOBHM scene was built on. It’s quite noisy & unceremoniously announces itself as a raucous racket that’s chock full of live rock ‘n’ roll electricity & the energy of youth. All of the instruments can comfortably be made out though & you can easily picture the various band members rocking out on the sweat-soaked stage of a small, smoky suburban pub while listening to it. Like the majority of the NWOBHM that the band were no doubt indulging themselves in at the time, there’s a clear hard rock influence to Taipan’s sound although the regular use of chuggy, palm-muted bottom-string pedal notes & upbeat tempos should leave you with no doubt as to Taipan’s metal credentials. The influence of the first Iron Maiden album is undeniable, particularly the impact of it’s opening song “Prowler” which I’d be very surprised if Taipan didn’t cover prior to this release given the similarities to many of their riff structures. Guitarist Dave Zerafa’s vocals present themselves with a similar punky vibe to Maiden front man Paul Dianno, perhaps with more of the naïve, snot-nosed arrogance of Tygers of Pan Tang’s Jess Cox or Holocaust’s Gary Lettice. Zerafa & Chuck Vandenbelt’s guitar solos come more from the bluesy Motorhead camp though & are really effective, proving both exponents to possess a clear understanding of what made 70’s hard rock so exciting even if neither are as accomplished as many of their overseas peers.

The tracklisting is very consistent, particularly for a debut release, with all four songs awarding the listener with the sort of energy hit that might see a younger audience using it as a backdrop for all sorts of ungodly mischief. The driving basslines & rhythms play a strong role in that effect as they command a physical response. I can’t say that Taipan’s sound is particularly my thing given that my roots lie in the latter part of the decade when metal had already dropped all of its bluesy hard rock influence but it’s pretty much impossible not to identify the appeal in this material nonetheless. In saying that, I’m not sure that I can say that my life would have been any worse off for not ever having experienced Taipan which is perhaps the main reason why I couldn’t muster a higher score than the 3.5 stars I’ve dished out here. Of the four songs included, I’d suggest that the first songs from each side (i.e. “Breakout” & “Tired of You”) are probably the strongest but there’s not much between all of them to be honest. Closer “The Cellar” feels a little different to the other three tracks, partially because bassist Emilio Sarpa handles the vocals on that one but possibly more because it’s comfortably the most metal track of the four, dropping the bluesy hard rock influence & focusing purely on chunky down-picked metal riffs. You know what? It also sounds very similar to Metallica’s “Seek & Destroy” which I always felt had been written as a variation on some of the ideas presented in Judas Priest’s “Victim of Changes” & Diamond Head’s “Dead Reckoning” but are now wondering whether Dave, Lars & James might also have heard Taipan’s debut at some stage too. Admittedly “The Cellar” sounds very much like Diamond Head too though & I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an influence there.

Look, I’m not sure too many of you will find the “Taipan” E.P. to offer terribly much that you haven’t already heard but it’s certainly a fun listen that provides a rewarding look into the roots of the Aussie metal scene. It’s a shame that Taipan didn’t go on with things after it’s release given that their next release (1985’s “1770” E.P.) didn’t arrive until several years afterwards & strangely showed Taipan to have dropped their metal sound altogether in favour of a more sophisticated progressive rock one. They would, however, reform in 2007 when they’d return to their heavy metal roots & I believe are still applying their craft today. I’d encourage all of our The Guardians members to check the band’s debut effort out though, if only to enjoy fifteen minutes of the sort of beer-fuelled, hard rock-infused heavy metal shenanigans that would no doubt have Lemmy smiling over his whiskey glass.

For fans of Black Jack, Trilogy & early Iron Maiden.

3.5/5

Here's my updated Top Ten Brutal Death Metal Releases of All Time list after absolutely loving this month's The Horde feature release from Turkey's Carnophage:

01. Suffocation – “Pierced From Within” (1995)

02. Suffocation – “Despise The Sun” E.P. (1998)

03. Suffocation – “Effigy Of The Forgotten” (1991)

04. Suffocation – “Human Waste” E.P. (1991)

05. Hour Of Penance – “The Vile Conception” (2008)

06. Hour Of Penance – “Paradogma” (2010)

07. Carnophage - "Matter of a Darker Nature" (2024)

08. Suffocation – “Pinnacle Of Bedlam” (2013)

09. Suffocation – “Suffocation” (2006)

10. Deadly Remains – “Severing Humanity” (2012)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/144

Here's my review:

Don’t you fucking love it when someone recommends you an artist that you’ve never heard of before & they then proceed to rip you a new asshole? Well, that’s exactly what’s happened for me with Karl’s feature release nomination of Turkish brutal/technical death metal five-piece Carnophage this week & they've left me well & truly pondering over why I’d not been exposed to them before. As most of you would no doubt already be aware, I’m somewhat of a brutal death metal tragic, having been heavily involved in the scene myself through my own mid-90’s death metal band Neuropath so I generally keep track of virtually everything that’s worth hearing from the niche subgenre, even if I may only rarely commit to reviewing a lot of the releases it contains. So, imagine my surprise when an unknown Turkish act steps up to the plate & lays waste to my expectations &, in doing so, manages to create a sound that is perfectly suited to my unique personal taste profile, at least for a fair portion of its runtime. Let’s take a look at how they did it then.

Carnophage don’t seem to be the most prolific of bands, this being only their third full-length album with a massive eight-year gap between each. But on the strength of “Matter of a Darker Nature”, I’d have to suggest that they’ve used that time wisely, even if I’m not across their previous work (yet). This particular record is the band’s first for Indian label Transcending Obscurity Records & saw Carnophage returning with a freshly bolstered lineup from the one that created 2016’s “Monument” album which sported a more streamlined four-piece arrangement. The change is the return of bass player Bengi Öztürk who played a role in 2008’s “Deformed Future//Genetic Nightmare” debut album but was strangely absent from “Monument” with guitarists Mert Kaya & Serhat Kaya (Cenotaph) handling the basslines on top of their main instruments. It’s unclear as to who is responsible for the production of “Matter of a Darker Nature” which is a shame as its sound is simply so in tune with my death metal preferences that I was always gonna be balls deep in this record within seconds of it hitting my ear drums. It features a super-compressed & ridiculously heavy mix that highlights the incredibly intense drumming of Onur Özçelik (where in the actual fuck has this dude been hiding?), the highly technical riffage of the guitar duo & the ultra-deep death growls of front man Oral Akyol. If I was being picky, I might suggest that the lead guitar work could have been brought a little further forward in the mix but it’s obviously a little tough when everything is so in-your-face & challenging for the battering rights of your poor cranium. It’s a credit to the whole team that produced this record that you can hear everything as clearly as you can when there’s simply so much going on at the same time.

Carnophage come squarely from the Suffocation school of technically-challenging brutal death metal which just so happens to be my favourite style of metal & one that’s rarely pulled off to the same level of success as the New York champions of the sound. The thing that gives Suffocation a clear edge over the mass of copy-cats that have flooded the underground scene over the years is their uncanny ability to know exactly how technically complex they can make their song & riff structures without having a detrimental impact on the incredibly brutal sound they’re pushing & this is a talent that is extremely rare in the modern scene i.e. the lost art of memorability. Carnophage don’t quite get that equation exactly right with a little over half of this material being a little too clever for its own good but never dipping below a very solid level of quality & enjoyment. However, there are a few songs included here where everything simply falls into place & they utterly slay me while dipping their toes into a rarely touched sound that I consider to be perfectly tailored to my personal taste profile &, for that reason, I was always gonna be dishing out a very high score. To be fair, the best two of those three incredible tracks are the only ones that I’d suggest don’t fall into the tech death camp with “Eventually They Will Die” being arguably the best example of the brutal death metal sound I’ve heard this decade & one of the most relentlessly savage tracks in metal history. The lower tempo “The Day We Avenge On” which follows immediately afterwards is almost as impressive, showcasing a slightly more restrained approach to song structure & giving the listener a much needed rest as it’s not quite as brutal as the vast majority of the other material. Opener “In My Bones” is the exception to the rule in that it well & truly indulges itself as far as technicality goes but also manages to pull it off in a fashion that doesn’t reduce the impact of Carnophage’s massive wall of sound.

Now let me indulge myself in some gushing about the performances here because they’re worth highlighting. I’m really struggling to understand how I can not have heard of drummer Onur Özçelik before because he’s an absolute phenomenon. The incredibly tight, fast & relentless blasting that he undertakes is further highlighted by a clear knack for nuance & it’s his contribution more than any other that makes Carnophage the beast that they are. I know I’ve got a history of talking up bands with exceptional extreme drummers but this guy sits right up their with the leaders in the field. I also love the vocals of Oral Akyol, particularly given how intelligible they are while always remaining undeniably brutal in their delivery. Intelligibility is an underrated trait in the brutal death metal scene & one that I’ve always valued, even if I can easily look past it if the instrumentation is savage enough to warrant it. I’m also a big fan of the hints at modern dissonance that pop up at key moments across the tracklisting which gives Carnophage a little bit of differentiation from the wealth of Suffocation clones out there. To be fair, these guys get the balance just right as far as being able to pay clear homage to the gods of the past while offering something of their own at the same time.

I know, I know…. this all sounds like a very positive review for a release that’s hardly raised an eyebrow in terms of commercial success over the last year but I’m afraid that’s somehow how it works in the current scene as, despite what people may tell you, the vast majority of metalheads still struggle with music of this sort of unrelenting intensity so the responses will always being middling at best. As someone that generally embraces the most extreme bands on the planet, Carnophage have come as a breath of fresh air for a dude that has long been searching for an act that can compete with my all-time favourite. Let me give you the tip that Carnophage can & do. In fact, I’m gonna place “Matter of a Darker Nature” behind only Suffocation’s most elite four records & my two Hour of Penance albums of choice in terms of the brutal death metal subgenre as a whole which is really saying something. If Neuropath had have continued down the path we were going towards the end of our time then I tend to think that we would have ended up sounding very similar to this record so it’s been a very rewarding experience for me indeed.

For fans of Odious Mortem, Severed Savior & Decimation.

4.5/5

Here's my review:

My earliest encounters with Danish thrashers Invocator came way back in my tape trading days. I’ve always been a huge fan of the more brutal end of the thrash metal spectrum & I was hearing that I needed to check out Invocator’s 1991 debut album “Excursion Demise” as there were comparisons floating around with all of the bands that I was loving at the time. Those comparisons were certainly warranted too with the four-piece outfit's first proper release proving to offer a sound that was right up my alley. Admittedly, I don’t remember placing it on the same sort of pedestal as the bands I would instinctively reach for whenever I needed a brutal thrash fix but I recall it being a very solid second-tier record that ticked all of the right boxes. That experience would subsequently see me checking out Invocator’s 1993 sophomore record “Weave the Apocalypse” which I’d find to be a little less relentless & a touch more groovy. There's no doubt that it's an enjoyable enough record but it didn’t command as many repeat listens & I haven’t returned to it since. Perhaps that’s why I’ve never given 1995’s “Dying to Live” third album a chance but I did check out Invocator’s 2003 comeback album “Through the Flesh to the Soul” shortly after I returned to metal in 2009 & found myself really struggling to connect with it in the same way as I had the Danes' earlier material. It’s been many years since I’ve thought about Invocator now but I have to say that I’ve been really looking forward to revisiting what I consider to be their finest work ever since Ben reminded me of its existence by nominating it as this month’s feature release.

Invocator first formed way back in 1986 at the height of the thrash movement. They’d release a few largely overlooked demo tapes (none of which I’ve heard) before signing with the brand-new extreme metal label that Bathory mastermind Quorthon had created in Black Mark Records. This would see Invocator venturing into Montezuma Studio in Stockholm, Sweden in June 1991 to record their debut full-length under the guidance of Quorthon’s father, an experienced metal producer by the name of Börje Forsberg (or Boss as he was widely known). The result of those sessions was a very raw record that could have been a lot better with a more appropriate production job in my opinion. The rhythm guitar tone is the main issue I have with it as it’s noticeably tinny & thin which limits the heights with which the album has the potential to go.

Invocator had clearly come from a very similar musical background to myself which certainly helps their cause. The material included on “Excursion Demise” sits very comfortably in the same space as brutal thrash titans like Dark Angel, Sadus, Demolition Hammer & Exhorder although the thing that differs from those artists is the ability to create their own sound. You see, Invocator simply sound so much like those acts that it’s hard not to reach for the plagiarism card at times, particularly when it comes to “Darkness Descends” & “Leave Scars” era Dark Angel which Invocator seem to have meticulously modelled their sound on. The claims that “Excursion Demise” is a technical thrash metal record are largely misguided though. There are techy moments here & there but they’re nowhere near as consistent as is required for a tech thrash tag. Neither does the inclusion of the occasional tremolo-picked death metal riff warrant a death/thrash tag. This is straight down the line brutal thrash that doesn’t test the waters in any previously untouched creative space but still does the job very well indeed. I will say that this is likely the reason why I was championing the cause of the other bands I mentioned with Ben & my mates over Invocator as they simply felt like they belonged predominantly in the second tier.

There’s a similarity to a lot of this material with the tempos remaining high throughout & the riff structures regularly drawing upon the same Dark Angel riffs for inspiration. “Forsaken Ones” is probably the track that stands out a little as it is likely the source of those tech thrash associations given that it presents similar attributes to bands like Atheist & Sadus. The guitar solos of front man Jacob Hansen (Anubis Gate/Beyond Twilight/Maceration/Pyramaze) & Jakob Schultz (Maceration) come very much from the Kerry King/Jeff Hannemann & Trey Azagthoth school of showmanship in that there is very little attention given to composing memorable melodies. Instead, the duo simply go for broke with the light-speed shredding & it works really well for them too as Invocator clearly understand how to make a solo into an intensity peak for each track, a crescendo of sorts that sees everything coming together in a chaotic release of energy. Hansen’s aggressive vocals are certainly fit for purpose, siting somewhere between Dark Angel’s Don Doty & Exhorder’s Kyle Thomas, but it’s the drumming of Per Möller Jensen (Artillery/Konkhra/The Haunted) that’s the real highlight here with his relentless, yet controlled, rhythmic barrage keeping things tight & finely honed throughout.

The tracklisting is generally without blemish but the thing that stands out to me the most is that Invocator have chosen poorly when constructing the order of the tracks. You see, the first three pieces are clearly the least impressive of the ten on offer in my opinion & this has perhaps led to me feeling like Invocator were more of a step down from the top tier exponents of their craft than was actually the case. Things pick up very quickly from there though with “The Persistence From Memorial Chasm” & bonus track “Alterations” being genuine brutal thrash classics. I’ll also mention “Inner Contrarieties” as the back end of the album is really very strong which only amplifies the reduced impact of earlier songs like the title track & the previously mentioned “Forsaken Ones”.

Look, if brutal thrash is your thing then you should definitely be checking out “Excursion Demise” as there’s no doubt at all that you’ll get a lot out of it. It could definitely do with a little more originality & variation but if you’re like me then those things are not in any way deal breakers in whether you can appreciate a record like this one. It certainly helps that there’s not nearly enough high-quality brutal thrash in the market to choose from so I’ll always be able to appreciate a release like this one.

For fans of Dead Head, Dark Angel & Sadus.

4/5

Here's my review:

My initiation with London-based black metal five-piece Code came at around the time I returned to the metal scene in 2009. I was doing my best to catch up on & indulge myself in as much of the new extreme metal as I could get my hands on which saw Code’s brand-new sophomore record “Resplendent Grotesque” venturing onto my radar. I quite enjoyed it too with it’s forward-thinking & progressive take on the black metal sound showing the band to have a clear talent in both musicality & creativity. The experience saw me checking out Code’s earlier debut album “Nouveau Gloaming” from 2005 shortly afterwards, a record that I ended up slightly favouring over its younger sibling & one that I would ultimately become my Code release of choice over the decade & a half since. Admittedly, I haven’t really gotten into the later Code material I’ve heard to date much although I can’t recall ever checking out their 2015 “Mut” record which is supposedly more of a progressive rock release than it is metal. Regardless, I’ve been very pleased to revisit “Nouveau Gloaming” this week & it’s ultimately led to me discovering that my affection for the album has only grown in the many years since its release. I mean, Ben can occasionally be right about these things but don’t let him know that I said that, OK?

Although they’re generally claimed by the English, Code were somewhat of an international act which brought together members from not only Britain but also aboard. Lead vocalist Kvohst (Beastmilk/Dødheimsgard/Void/Grave Pleasures/Hexvessel/The Deathrip) & guitarist Aort (Hexvessel/Indesinence) are both English while second guitarist Vyttra was American & bassist Vicotnik (Manes/Naer Mataron/Dødheimsgard/Doedsmaghird/Dold Vorde Ens Navn/Strid/Ved Buens Ende…..) & drummer Aiwarikiar (Ulver/Uruk-Hai) were both Norwegian. As you can see, most of these individuals came from a strong metal pedigree & you can easily hear that in the class with which they go about their craft on this debut album as it’s a beautifully realised piece of work from a purely artistic point of view. The album was recorded in Savonlinna, Finland with Vicotnik handling the production duties himself. He’d already gotten a taste for production while co-producing Dødheimsgard’s 1999 “666 International” album & does an excellent job here too with the band’s sound achieving an imposingly dark atmosphere while also maintaining a level of precision in the performances. All of the instruments can be easily identified in the mix & I particularly enjoy the layers of bright, trebly guitars & the competently executed drums which cut through the mix extremely well. The way the clean vocals are presented is nothing short of splendid too & creates somewhat of a transcendental feel.

Code are often referred to as a progressive black metal band & those claims are not without merit when examining their later material either but I don’t feel that those sort of labels are appropriate when describing “Nouveau Gloaming” as it’s a bit more conventional, even though it certainly doesn’t stick to the tried & tested black metal mould. The majority of this material still clearly sits in the black metal space but it’s the clean vocals I mentioned earlier that give Code’s debut its unique character. I can only imagine that these were influenced by the presence of Vicotnik as they sound very similar to those from his highly acclaimed avant-garde metal project Ved Buens Ende….. & I find them to be just as impressive & powerful here too. Despite my feeling that “Nouveau Gloaming” sits best under a conventional black metal tag, there are a few tracks that see Code taking their creative endeavours a little further & it’s perhaps no surprise that the band would eventually go on to explore a more expansive sound in the future as these three songs are the clear standouts of the album. “Brass Dogs” sees them opting for more of an atmospheric black metal approach while “A Cloud Formed Teardrop” is perhaps the inclusion that best hints at what was to come for Code as I’d describe it as a genuinely progressive black metal piece. It’s closer “Ghost Formula” that is the most emphatic creative statement of the eight on offer though & I absolutely love its wall of melodic guitar dissonance & tension-filled post-atmospheric black metal format.

“Nouveau Gloaming” has really surprised me this week. I’ve always really enjoyed it but have rarely thought of it when reaching for the more elite examples of the genre. I think I’ve under-estimated it though as the base quality level is invariably very solid & the highlight pieces are significant enough to drag it up into modern-day classic territory in my opinion. Sadly, I’m not sure that Code would ever manage to equal their debut in terms of impact, at least not with the three subsequent full-lengths I’m across. There is, of course, another album as well as a number of E.P.’s that I’m yet to explore though so perhaps I need to pencil those in for future investigation.

For fans of Aenaon, Ved Buens Ende….. & Dødheimsgard.

4.5/5

Nice review Sonny. I'm glad you're finally seeing the light too. Here's my review from a while ago:

Being an Australian extreme metal fanatic from way back in the late 1980's, it was perhaps inevitable that I'd possess a strong passion for arguably our most significant metal export (at least from purely an influential & creative sense) in Melbourne's masters of the doom/death sound diSEMBOWELMENT. I'd suggest that very few diehard fans suffer from as complete an infatuation as I do with this band though. I simply worship the ground they walk on & back in the early 1990's I thought of them as being a lot more than mere humans. Without actually knowing the band members, it was very hard for me to envisage them as being every-day people given the remarkably dark, unique & generally foreign sounds they managed to conjure up. I was talking to Bjorn from Grave Upheaval, Grotesque Bliss & Temple Nightside about them the other day & he shares my infatuation to a similar scale so it's not just me. diSEMBOWELMENT had a way of encapsulating everything that was so wonderful about the early 90's extreme metal scene &, to make things even more intense for a young Aussie, they were also from my home country which was a rarity for the elite metal artists in the world at the time. While there's no doubt at all that 1993's "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" album was a game-changer for the global doom/death scene though, for Bjorn & I it was diSEMBOWELMENT's 1992 E.P. "Dusk" that first saw that door opening & I've never felt that it received the respect it deserved because it's a remarkable release in its own right, particularly when you consider that it was the band's first proper release & that there was nothing out there that sounded anything like it at the time.

I was lucky enough to pick up an original copy of the "Dusk" E.P. as well as diSEMBOWELMENT's second demo tape "Deep Sensory Procession Into Aural Fate" by sending cash to the band in the mail. I can't quite remember the timeline for that taking place in respect to "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" but I think it's fair to say that all three releases would be placed on their own individual pedestals in my teenage bedroom from the time they first hit my ears. I even sought out the band's early 1990 "Mourning September" demo tape through the tape trading scene, a release that I found to be pretty decent without ever hinting at the same levels of euphoria as I'd received from diSEMBOWELMENT's subsequent efforts. It's interesting that, despite the clear crossover of material between the three most significant releases, I still think that both of the proper releases should be considered to be essential as they each bring something a little different to the table in terms of timbre & texture. None of them are particularly polished (which I strongly suspect was intentional) but there's definitely enough variation to keep things interesting.

The "Dusk" E.P. is a half-hour long affair that includes what were arguably diSEMBOWELMENT's finest three tracks so how could it not be a completely mind-blowing experience? It opens with the band's calling card in "The Tree of Life & Death", a nine-minute piece that begins with one of diSEMBOWELMENT's more brutal & blasting death metal passages before descending into the mire with some of the darkest extreme doom metal we'd heard to the time. It's a clear indication of the thick, oppressive atmosphere this band was capable of creating even at such an early point in their recording careers. The version we have here is remarkably similar to the one we receive on the debut full-length in September of 1993 too, despite being the same recording that was first birthed on 1991's classic "Deep Sensory Procession Into Aural Fate" demo. This is followed by the epic twelve-minute "Burial at Ornans", another song that was borrowed from the second demo tape & a piece which I feel still had a bit of work to do before reaching its most complete realization on "Transcendence Into the Peripheral". This is the reason for me not being able to reach full marks for "Dusk" actually as "Burial at Ornans" simply feels a little less complete than it would in the near future with some of the less doomy sections not maintaining such an elite level & the track lacking some of the atmospherics that it would gain on the album version. Eight-minute closer "Cerulean Transience of All My Imagined Shores" is another story altogether though & brings with it the most transcendental aura, transporting me to wonderfully dark & obscure places that I'd never imagined existed before. Although I do feel that the album version is a little more polished & complete, this doesn't diminish the impact of what is undeniably one of the earlier examples of the funeral doom metal genre to hit a proper release. The sum of these three classic works leaves me succumbing to pure devastation & infatuation, very much in awe of my elder countrymen.

While "Dusk" may not quite be as fully realized as "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" was, all of the ingredients were already there to see the global metal scene receiving one of the true greats at their chosen craft. I mean, if this had ended up being the only diSEMBOWELMENT release then one gets the feeling that it would have received far more attention & be referenced by a wealth of extreme doom bands as being highly influential. As it stands though, I can't recommend "Dusk" enough. The monstrous vocals of guitarist Renato Gallina are as scary as you'll ever find in music & the instrumentation around them brings to mind the feeling of being a young child lost in the darkest of forests in the blackest of midnights with drummer Paul Mazziotta's blast-beats being used over the slowest, doomiest riffs imaginable in such a fashion that was completely unheard of at the time. The production is absolutely spot-on too, leaving layers of filth & decay in the guitar tone that works to further accentuate the sheer weight on the diSEMBOWELMENT sound. Perhaps I'm biased given my personal interactions with the band at such a young age (even if it was by mail) but I feel that I'm mature enough to be able to see the forest through the trees these days so I implore anyone who thinks bands like Spectral Voice, Winter or diSEMBOWELMENT's younger sibling Inverloch are where it's at to seek out "Dusk" as I have no doubt that you'll be dazzled by what the true masters of the doom/death genre had to offer way back in 1992.

4.5/5

Innocence - "Belief" (1990)

Smooth London downtempo with soulful female vocals.

I haven't given any 2024 The Sphere releases a full review as yet but I have spent some casual listening time with a couple of records from Shum & Stagnant Waters. I'm afraid I don't think I'm gonna get the time to contribute much in this space before February.

I haven't completed a full review of any 2024 The Revolution releases as yet but have spent some casual listening time with records from artists like Pyrrhon, Admiral Angry, Nails, Hereisaropegoodluck, Umbra Vitae, Alluvial, Vomit Forth & Cognitive. I still intend on giving the Knocked Loose album my full attention this month.

Of the releases I've completed a full review for, the Hemotoxin record is currently in front followed by Cavalera's "Schizophrenia" & the Critical Defiance album. I haven't spent enough time with Mayhemic's "Toba" to fully understand where it should sit as yet but intend on changing that this month.

Of the releases I've afforded a full review to, Ætheria Conscientia's "The Blossoming" is the current leader but I have a bunch of releases that I've spent some casual listening time with that I need to firm up this month including the Paysage d'Hiver, Aara, Trhä, Conifère, Panzerfaust & Hoplites releases.

Of those that I've rated, the Ætheria Conscientia record is the current leader but I'd suggest that the Hemotoxin album should be in The Infinite & would place it slightly ahead of "The Blossoming". There are a fair few releases that I've given casual attention to & intend on giving a full investigation in January though with the Blood Incantation, Oranssi Pazuzu, Orgone, Frail Body & Hoplites records all appearing on that list.

I've obviously spent a crap-load of time listening to The Horde releases over the past year. Of those that I've given a full review, the Civerous album is the one that I rate the most highly. I fully intend on giving a whole bunch of the other standouts from my casual listening sessions a more detailed examination this month though, including the Blood Incantation, Ulcerate, Defeated Sanity, Gigan, Viscera Infest & Carnophage records.

Yeah, I tend to agree from my experiences thus far Sonny. I've given the latest Inconcessus Lux Lucis, Ryujin, Rotting Christ & Markgraf records some casual listening time over the past year but haven't committed to a full investigation of any 2024 The Guardians releases as yet & can't see that changing before the end of January.

I know I'm likely not the most cultured when it comes to Fallen album releases in 2024, but The Flight of Sleipnir album alluded to by Sonny was a solid release.

My year end catchup also introduced me to fantastic releases by Grey Skies Fallen (Molded by Broken Hands) and Counting Hours (The Wishing Tomb). 

And of course, I would be remised to not include the stunning Pallbearer album, Mind Burns Alive.

I wasn't as big on the Counting Hours record from my admittedly fairly casual listening thus far. Perhaps I need to give it a more active listen.

Ataraxie's "Le déclin" is an absolute must for any fan of funeral doom and was shaping up to be my AOTY until I crossed paths with "Cutting the Throat of God".

Monolithe's death doom concept album, "Black Hole District" is also excellent and Scald's "Ancient Doom Metal" is where to turn for your epic doom fix of 2024.

Mourning Dawn's "The Foam of Despair" is my top-rated atmospheric sludge album of the year and The Flight of Sleipnir's "Nature's Cadence" is definitely worth a listen, as is Ponte del Diavolo's "Fire Blades From the Tomb".

Hhhmmm... I've only casually checked out the Ataraxie release from those you mentioned Sonny so I still have a fair amount of work to do in January. Most of my The Fallen new release time was spent in the doom/death & funeral doom metal space last year but the Thou album is still the only release that I've given the dedicated attention required for an informed review so that leaves me with all of my eggs in that basket at this point. I haven't heard the Chat Pile sophomore record as yet though & I really dug their 2022 debut full-length so I have high hopes for that one.

For the record, I intentionally overlooked the Civerous record for the Fallen because I don't believe it belongs there.

Interestingly, I didn't check out a single new release from The Gateway last year which is likely a reflection of my modern taste profile.

Should the Darkthrone record be considered for The Guardians award guys or do you think it’s a stretch to call it a heavy metal release?

Here's my review:

As some of you have probably realized over the last year or so, my taste in the more conventional brand of metalcore tends to lean quite heavily towards the 1990's as I'm firmly of the belief that the metalcore scene has largely lost its direction in more recent times with most of the hardcore influence that defined the genre having now been lost, rendering the genre title almost completely redundant at this point. I mean, I can't honestly believe that many hardened punks get all that much out of the modern-day melodic metalcore record with its crisp production & technically precise performances, not to mention the generic, cookie-cutter vocals that sound virtually indistinguishable from the last metalcore record you listened to. I'm not saying that people shouldn't enjoy that stuff as it certainly has its positives. What I'm trying to say is that, outside of the vocal style, it has very little to do with hardcore punk which is kinda the point now, isn't it? Anyway... that's the reason that most of my time in The Revolution clan is spent seeking out unheralded gems from the early scene &, to be fair, it's been a fairly rewarding exercise of late. Over the last few months my attentions have been directed towards the earlier examples of the metalcore sound to come out of my home country of Australia, partially because I was in & around the live metal scene at the time & had some exposure to some of the bands it contained. One artist whose name I saw floating around the Melbourne scene at the time was Callous, a band that was partially formed by past & current members of some of the more extreme Melbourne metal bands I was listening to at the time, namely Christian death metallers Mortification & underrated doom/death exponents Paramæcium. On paper that idea has always seen my curiosity being tweaked so I've had Callous' sole 1997 album "In the Memory of..." on my list for many years now & it's time to finally see what these guys have to offer.

"In the Memory of..." was one of the very first full-length metalcore albums recorded in Australia but you'd never know it as it's a very professionally composed & executed piece of art in its own right. The production is excellent for a self-released debut with the accomplished song-writing benefiting from a bright & attractive production job. The guitars are right upfront in the mix & hit you across the face in just the right way while the rhythm section offers plenty of bottom-end depth. The vocals are suitably vicious too which is a big drawcard for Callous, even if you will have to overcome one obvious obstacle if you're to fully appreciate this record. That's right, it's the unapologetically Christian lyrics which can sound pretty preachy at times. Thankfully, I've never been one to worry too much about what a band is going on about in my metal music but even I found myself struggling to hold back a cringe through a few of the tracks from the B side so if that's a real deal-breaker for you then don't say I didn't warn you.

The Callous sound is made up of a few different components but I think it's fair to say that it mainly sits somewhere between metalcore & hardcore punk so the use of the metallic hardcore tag I see being used across the internet these days is just about spot on. This record sounds a little bit more flashy than your average hardcore record with the guitars have a cleaner & more metallic sound but many of these songs are built around what are more or less open-string hardcore riffs. There's a little more melody included than you'd generally expect from hardcore too though with tracks like "Lost Hope" & "Twice Begun" feeling as much like alternative metal as metalcore to tell you the truth. Through the back half of the album you'll also notice the band taking a little more creative license with their arrangements by veering over towards post-hardcore for brief periods. I appreciate the effort but feel that Callous are at their best when they're at their nastiest so I tend to gravitate towards the more traditional hardcore-based numbers, even more so than the chuggier metalcore material.

The tracklisting is very consistent & one gets the impression that the various band members that made up Callous had already paid their dues over a number of years because there's a class to their delivery that I find quite attractive & which leaves me of the belief that they were probably incapable of producing anything that was noticeably subpar at this point. In saying that, the tracklisting does seem to look like an inverted bell curve when you look at it in fine detail. The best material is loaded towards the front & end of the album with the first four songs getting things off to an excellent start. The weaker material is still pretty decent though so it's not a major big deal but you'll certainly notice when things pick up again for closer "No Apologies" & the excellent hidden track which should definitely have been better highlighted by inclusion in the proper tracklisting given that it's one of my favourite songs overall.

While "In the Memory of..." may not be the most memorable metalcore record you'll ever hear, it was certainly a fine way to kick off a recording career, particularly given that it was self-released. It's a shame that Callous didn't go on to much in the future. To be honest, this album was very close to a four-star rating & it was only the slight drop in quality through the middle of the album that saw it falling just short. Still... it's a travesty of justice that this release has seen so little publicity over the years because I'd take it over some of the more widely acknowledged 90's metalcore records like Earth Crisis' "All Out War", Converge's "Petitioning The Empty Sky" or Arkangel's "Prayers Upon Deaf Ears", not to mention Aussie metalcore godfathers Mindsnare's 1995 debut E.P. "Under Fire". I can only think that it was Callous' religious messaging that cost them greater commercial success which is a real shame & yet another blemish on the record of the Christian faith.

For fans of Mindsnare, Day of Contempt & Ultimatum.

3.5/5

Exhumed - "Limb from Limb" (from "Gore Metal", 1998)

I've already nominated an Exhumed track Vinny. Do you want to choose something else mate?

if you enjoy technical thrash metal with death metal leanings (yes Daniel, that's you), you owe it to yourself to devote some time to this release.

To clarify, I enjoy melodic Kawaii thrash with trance metal & melodic metalcore influences exclusively.

Ben, please add Brisbane industrial thrash metallers Soundsurgery.