Daniel's Reviews
After a break of 21 years, German thrashers Wicca finally released their second full-length release. However I can't say it was worth the wait because there is absolutely nothing new on offer here. The whole album could've been released in 1987 really. Wicca's sound is along the lines of Exodus & Vio-lence. The vocals in particular remind me of Sean Killian (Vio-lence) which I know will impress my brother (Not!). The music is not that bad but it was done much better by the bands that influenced this album 20 years ago & tends to bore me.
Some fairly annoying symphonic metal with flashy guitar/keyboard solos. The rhythm guitar sound is pretty ordinary. I'm not really feeling the symphonic metal stuff. I understand what they are trying to do but the end product comes out to be about as heavy as Jerry Seinfeld.
WASP's self-titled debut & it’s accompanying non-album single “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)” had caused a fair bit of controversy back in 1984, which had led to the band receiving far more attention than the concerned authorities had probably bargained for. The general public had found WASP’s glam-focused image & simple yet anthemic hook-driven style of heavy metal to be very exciting & there was a general buzz building up around the band after some successful touring schedules that saw them infiltrating a new market & vastly increasing their fan base. I quite liked the WASP debut although I think it’s fair to say that it pushed me outside of my comfort zone a fair bit so it remained to be seen whether the band could retain that appeal over a longer period.
It had been made pretty clear that Blackie & co were nothing if not ambitious by this stage & with so many examples of LA bands whose careers had taken off after just the one hit single to use as inspiration, WASP decided that it would be prudent to engage a proven performer to assist them in the development of their sophomore album; 1985’s “The Last Command”. To be more precise, they wanted a producer that knew what it took to manufacture a hit record. And the producer in question would be a gentleman by the name of Spencer Proffer whose work on LA glam metal stars Quiet Riot’s third album “Mental Health” had seen them propelled onto the global stage off the back of the hit single “Cum On Feel The Noise”. In fact, “Mental Health” would go on to become the first metal record to hit number one on the US Billboard charts & this was exactly where Blackie saw WASP’s destiny.
Unfortunately he wouldn’t see “The Last Command” reaping the sort of rewards that Quiet Riot were enjoying, but it would certainly see the band reaching a new level of popularity by selling over a million copies & peaking at number 47 on the charts following the popularity of the video clip for the hit single taken “Blind In Texas”. In fact, it was actually that video that initiated my first encounter with WASP at just ten years of age when I stumbled across it on early morning TV. I can still remember finding Blackie’s vocals to be a major drawcard & fantasizing about the rock star lifestyle that the band must have led given the sex, drugs & rock ‘n’ roll lyrical themes of “Blind In Texas” & WASP’s image in general. This is interesting because original WASP drummer Tony Richards was fired from the band shortly after the release of the WASP debut & he’s since gone on to report that this was largely due to his indulgent lifestyle. He claims that Blackie’s image is all for show & that he’d had trouble coping with Tony’s partying antics which is a little disappointing if I’m honest. You want to believe that these rock stars are everything they claim to be but so often it’s found to be nothing more than a marketing ploy.
Blackie turned to former Steppenwolf & Keel drummer Steve Riley as a replacement but it wouldn’t make a noticeable difference to the resulting album as Steve takes a largely similar approach to Tony with the exception of a few more rolls & fills here & there. He keeps things very basic & pretty much sticks to the same formula on every track. Lawless handled the vast majority of the song-writing for “The Last Command” with some minor input from Riley, Proffer & guitarist Chris Holmes & we’re really starting to see that Riley’s statements about WASP being more of a Lawless solo project with the band leader behaving like a dictator of sorts are likely pretty close to the truth.
Proffer’s production sees WASP sounding slightly more accessible than the raw & exciting debut album. He’s sanded off some of the rough edges but given the bass & guitars more definition at the same time. They still play second fiddle to the drums & vocals though which is a trademark ploy when trying to achieve commercial radio success. He even brought in Carlos Cavazo & Chuck Wright from Quiet Riot to perform some backing vocals here which is again likely to be simply to draw attention towards WASP by capitalizing on the success of Quiet Riot. The result is a more focused & polished record & a slightly more melodic one too. It’s arguably the most stereotypically 80’s sounding WASP album & there’s a simple formula applied to almost every chorus with those big anthemic backing vocals tending to make everything sound so easy listening & more than a little samey at times but offering a tonne of appeal to the singalong arena-style audiences. It certainly showcases a slightly more restrained sounding WASP though as they rarely lay it all out there like they did previously & this makes for a less fun record. We even see Proffer employing the occasional use of some pretty dated sounding synthesizers here & there.
But on the positive side of things, there’s very little material that sounds like glam metal here. This is without question a heavy metal record even though there’s a hard rock attitude to a lot of the material with the hit single “Blind In Texas” unsurprisingly being the most rock oriented track. The guitar solos are noticeably improved from the debut with Chris Holmes & Randy Piper providing some very tasty legato runs throughout the album while the lyrics take a very familiar approach with the main themes being centered around sex, drugs & rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, revenge & living on the streets.
Now I know I might have sounded a little negative with some of these observations but that’s not really the case. I’ve simply been drawing your attention to some of the characteristics of the album & when taken as a whole they come together to achieve a result that’s of a very similar quality to the more widely celebrated debut. This is a more consistent record than “W.A.S.P.” was for mine. There’s certainly not as much filler but I’d also suggest that the highlights don’t quite reach the same heights & there aren’t quite as many of them either. They’ve unquestionably traded in some of their attitude for a chance at commercial success but I don’t think this move has been without some success. Fans of a band like Judas Priest have already seen their idols going through a similar process during the early 80’s thus far & there are a lot of similarities about what WASP have done here. In fact, people quite often claim that the main riff from “Jack Action” is a rip-off of Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” but it sounds a lot more like their 1978 cover version of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Green Manalishi” to my ears & that may well have been the creative source of the fan from “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” anyway.
Fans of Priest, Twisted Sister & Dokken should find plenty to enjoy here & if pushed I’d actually suggest that I favour “The Last Command” just slightly over the debut predominantly due to the greater consistency, the improved lead guitar performance & the more polished production.
1984’s highly successful & heavily influential “Rising Force” album had been somewhat of a solo project for Yngwie. Not only did he handle all of the guitar duties on the record but he doubled up with the bass work as well. Singer Jeff Scott Soto only contributed to two of the 8 tracks on the tracklisting with the rest being instrumental platforms for Yngwie to showcase his astounding technique & talent. Well 1985’s follow-up record “Marching Out” was released 18 months later in September 1985 & it sees Rising Force developing more of a band dynamic with drummer Barriemore Barlow being replaced with Anders Johansson (the brother of Yngwie’s keyboardist Jens Johansson) & Yngwie handing off the bass duties to new recruit Marcel Jacob. This results in a more focused release with a stronger reliance on quality song-writing & a bit less of the genre-hopping we heard on the debut.
As with the recording of the debut, we see future Primus bassist Les Claypool sitting behind the mixing desk but I can’t say that he’s done a terribly amazing job to be honest. The drums are far too loud in the mix & the rhythm guitars sound quite muffled for a supposed guitar shred release. But I won’t dwell on that too much because I can look past it & there are a number of subtle differentiators from the debut in terms of in style & technique that are worth discussing.
Firstly, the most obvious difference is that this is a predominantly song-based record with eight of the ten tracks containing vocals on this occasion. The two instrumentals are also the shortest tracks on the tracklisting too so this isn’t just an avenue for Yngwie to show off his ridiculous technical ability any more. It’s an actual band & not just a support act. I do miss the jazz/fusion influenced moments that Yngwie indulged in on “Rising Force” as there’s none of that on offer here, but on the positive side, there’s also not as much of the cheesy neoclassical work in the composition. Sure Yngwie inevitably utilizes classical themes in his solos, but there’s not too much of it in the rest of the song-writing which suits me better if I’m honest. Even today I struggle to comprehend the sheer talent that Yngwie showcases in his solos though. He’s got a wonderful technique & a well-defined & easily recognizable tone however it’s easy to see why he’d go on to be labelled as somewhat of a one-trick pony in years to come because he’s already starting to repeat himself here with several of his trademark licks being repeated across multiple tracks.
But for me, the biggest plus for the “Marching Out” record was front man Jeff Scott Soto’s performance behind the microphone because he delivers a vastly improved effort here over the debut where the vocal songs couldn’t overcome the substantial cheese factor. This time we hear him going for broke with his higher register screams soaring into the stratosphere. I like the use of harmonies too & there are several tracks that have become definite guilty pleasures for me over the course of my 30 year relationship with the album. Even the divisive “I Am A Viking” is one of my favourite tracks on the album. And you heard it here first…. Yngwie invented viking metal. He’s taken the Manowar blueprint & made it more melodic & less theatrical! It’s so cheesy but those familiar with it can inevitably sing along to every word which is a very good sign.
Whereas I suggested that the “Rising Force” record was the true origin of the neoclassical metal subgenre, I actually don’t think I can class “Marching Out” in the same way. I don’t think the neoclassical element is a strong enough factor in the majority of these songs to be resorting to that tag. The more traditional heavy metal one seems more appropriate this time with a stronger metal component & the neoclassical elements being used more as tools rather than the platform through which the song-writing is built on. There’s also a fair bit of power metal about this album & it’s not hard to imagine that it might have been an influence on the early European exponents of that particular subgenre.
It’s interesting that I always regarded the “Rising Force” record as Yngwie’s career highlight when I was younger but now I feel that perhaps I was blinded by the quality of his next-level musicianship which was more obviously showcased through the instrumental format because “Marching Out” seems to take a clear step up in terms of song-writing & maturity. There’s no doubt that there are still a few weaker numbers included but the greater quantity of highlights sees “Marching Out” easily managing to cater for them. It’s a really solid outing actually & I regard it as my second favourite Yngwie record behind 1988's "Odyssey" these days. It was certainly the strongest example of the traditional Swedish heavy metal sound we'd heard to the time.
This is the first album this Canadian duo put out under their Gris moniker after having released their debut album “Neurasthénie” under the name of Niflheim the previous year. The twelve years since its release have seen “Il était une forêt...” go on to become one of the most celebrated records in the niche market that is the depressive black metal subgenre too with most devotees gushing about the unique performances & the wealth of emotions it draws from the listener but the tools being utilized here will not be to everyone’s taste for a number of reasons.
“Il était une forêt...” is made up of six lengthy tracks that incorporate not only a substantial amount of keyboards but also a number of additional instruments that you wouldn’t usually expect to find on a black metal record with the ten minute instrumental closer “La dryade” focusing entirely on folk orchestration. Some of it works & some doesn’t in my opinion but the instrumentation is all well composed throughout & this certainly helps to create a point of difference for Gris even if it can detract from the overall darkness the record is attempting to push. Some of the lead guitar & keyboard melodies can be pretty positive too actually & appear to be aiming at more of an ethereal sound than one of brutality & self-harm.
Stylistically, “Il était une forêt...” sits somewhere between the depressive & atmospheric black metal categories with a strong “Filosofem”-era Burzum influence being obvious throughout. The vocal performance is particularly tortured & miserable & it’s this aspect that has the record leaning harder towards the depressive side of the equation overall. Icare’s shrieking can be a little off-putting as he truly sounds suicidal at times so this is not the most easy-listening metal record you’ll find. That will be a big problem for those that can’t buy into his style because there’s very little doubt that his vocals are over-used here & the times when he’s not invading your ear space tend to be quite rare. But as I mentioned earlier, the instrumentation doesn’t always take a similarly depressive route. In fact, we often see it taking a more epic & melodic direction that counteracts the disconsolate vocals with a more uplifting atmosphere. I find this to be a bit strange to be honest. I mean I generally find the music to be pretty enjoyable but the contrasting lighter moments actually seem like a bit of a contradiction of the very ethos of the depressive black metal concept to me & it does make the overly melodramatic approach Gris take seem more than a little contrived at times. I guess I just find “Il était une forêt...” to sound a bit too melodic to be taken as a genuinely despairing piece of work. To be honest though, I think I have issues with the idea of a black metal vocalist wallowing in self-pity anyway. To me black metal has always been a vessel for empowerment & I like to see my front men possessing an undeniable confidence & strength.
Despite all of this, I do find myself enjoying “Il était une forêt...” for the most part & fans of artists like Xasthur & Strid will definitely find fulfillment in it. I just can’t justify it being place on a pedestal like most fans of the subgenre seem to do.
I decided to check out Vomitor after reading the 9/10 Album Of The Month review in Terrorizer magazine. I'm also Australian & was curious to see what type of band was flying our flag so strongly on the global metal market. What I got was not really what I expected. "Devil's Poison" shows Vomitor putting every effort in to sound like an early 80s underground death/thrash demo. I was a tape trader in the 80s so I am very familiar with this sound. "Devils Poison" reminds me very much of some of the early Brazilian underground death metal like Sepultura's "Bestial Devastation" & some of the early Sarcofago EPs as well as early thrash metal like Slayer's "Show No Mercy". However the production on show here is probably worse than any of those releases. The guitar sound is very thin indeed & the vocals are far too far back in the mix. The delay applied to the vocals is also way over the top & is pretty pointless in my opinion as it stops the listener from being able to pick up any of the lyrics. In fact, I'm sometimes left wondering if I'm hearing any vocals at all. The musicianship is absolutely atrocious! I've never heard a proper release where the band goes out of time as badly as Vomitor have here. It really sounds more like a rehearsal tape than an album but I figure this was probably intentional. I'm sure the band had fun making this album but I simply can't understand the praise it is receiving in the press. I don't think "Devil's Poison" would've made any major impact if it was released in 1984. Finally..... who really wants to be known as Vomitor?
Very simple & unsophisticated black metal without much appeal. Some obvious old school thrash influences.
Some fairly generic old school death metal similar to early Incantation. This release is ruined by an abysmal production & some average musicianship. People can tell themselves as much as they like that the band intended this album to sound this way but they are kidding themselves. There is no high end & the drums are hardly audible. I've heard better sounding rehearsal tapes. The slower sections are certainly more effective than the fast ones which simply sound like fuzz most of the time. There are some effective doomy sections though.
It's quite refreshing to hear a black metal band incorporating other influences as well as Twilight have done here. The sludgier elements don't seem out of place or take away from the darkness of the sound. "Monument To Time End" provides me with great hope for the next Twilight release because although all of the ideas here didn't hit the nail on the head, the ones that did were spot on. I was blown away by the quality of tracks like "The Cryptic Ascension", "Fall Behind Eternity" & "Red Fields" which display depth & maturity as well as brutality. I'm a big fan of N Imperial's vocals which are as searing & aggressive as any on the planet. Unfortunately I found the faster tracks like "8,000 Years" & "Convulsions In Wells Of Fever" to be very sloppy, generic & ineffective. The vocals are also far too low in the mix on these tracks. I'm willing to bet that these tracks are the older ones & the brilliant opening tracks are the newer ones which incorporate newer influences. I'll be very interested to see what Twilight offer us in the future.
After reading some extremely mixed reviews of "Archetype Of Chaos" I had very few expectations on my first listen but goddamn I was pleasantly surprised. This is death metal of the absolute highest quality & I have no idea where the negative reviews come from. I can only assume it's a matter of taste or a backlash against the groovier riffs which are still crushingly heavy & beautifully executed. Trauma's sound is simply fantastic. The production is nothing short of outstanding & the performance tight as hell. The drum sound in particular is perfect for this style of music & drummer Arkadiusz "Mały" Sinica is an amazing talent. Although he can blast away with the best of them he doesn't rely on a constant barrage to keep the listener entertained. There are so many great changeups & drum rolls throughout the album. Vocalist Artur "Chudy" Chudewniak has a really deep but aggressive style that I really get into & Jarosław "Mister" Misterkiewicz's searing guitar solos are both melodic & entertaining. The Polish death metal sound of bands like Vader is evident. As are the Morbid Angel & Meshuggah influences but overall Trauma sound fresh & energetic. There's a great deal of energy in all the tracks & also a tonne of cool little production ideas like the melodic guitar parts in the back of the mix during otherwise intense sections. It's clear that Trauma have learnt a lot over the course of recording six previous albums. The middle trio of tracks ("War Machine", "The Slime" & "The Truth Murder") are particularly effective & I am left wondering why I've never heard of these guys when they formed way back in 1992. It's these kind of releases that keep me interested in the death metal scene after all these years. If you like extreme metal of any sort this album will kick your arse.
This CD is fucking awesome! Death metal in it's purest form with all the brutality & aggression you could want. The production is excellent here with even the most blasting sections are audible. The musicianship is also very good. Jonny Burgan's vocal aggression is downright scary & the shredding guitar solos really get me going. Intense blasting drums are in abundance & the mid-tempo stuff is absolutely on the money. If you're a death metal fan then you will definitely need this release because metal doesn't come much more muscular.
Some fairly basic black metal along the lines of Darkthrone. There's a little bit of atmosphere but not enough to maintain much interest. There's also plenty of riffs taken straight out of "My First Black Metal Riff" & "Black Metal For Dummies" but there is some authenticity to their sound at times (usually through the half time sections). "Into The Cryosphere" is lacking a bit of class.
Very noisy early-Napalm Death influenced UK grindcore. Most of the riffs are indecipherable. Vocals are simply screamed repeatedly over the top of pure chaos. I find this very difficult to get into. It's hard to say any more than that as I have absolutely no idea of what is going on most of the time.
A decent mixture of progressive rock & gothic metal which is let down by a muddy production. It features both clean vocals (which remind me of Burton C Bell of Fear Factory at times) and some unnecessary death growls. There are some really nice tracks here with catchy vocal hooks & big anthemic choruses however there are also a few really weak tracks (such as "Soft Whispers Of The Chemical Sun") which take away from the overall feel. I'd check out the next album as they show some promise.
Not a bad technical death metal album from these Swedes. They're some seriously talented musicians with the guitar solos being particularly inventive. However I feel that Soreption fall into the trap of overdoing the technicality to the detriment of the songs at times. I'll be interested to see what they can do with an increased level of production in future as they show some promise.
Dutch band Severe Torture have released a really impressive album of intense, energetic death metal which sits somewhere between the classic 90's Florida sound of bands like Morbid Angel & Death & the blasting brutality of Cannibal Corpse & Suffocation. Don't let the band name or album cover fool you as there is a lot more on offer here than your average splatter/gore merchants are capable of. The production is excellent & all of the performances are well executed. The thing that sets Severe Torture apart from the rest of the field is their ability to include plenty of melody without losing any of the modern brutality. They don't go overboard with the technicality like most of the modern death metal scene seem to do & consequently there is more reliance on the strength of the riffs which is very refreshing. The guitar leads are certainly reminiscent of 1990s Death. There is also plenty of variety in tempo to keep the listener interested. This is nothing dramatically new or original but that's not necessarily a problem when the death metal is of such a high quality. "Slaughtered" should appeal to anyone with an interest in modern death metal.
Septycal Gorge's second full-length "Erase The Insignificant" is pretty much exactly what you would expect from a modern Italian brutal death metal band. It's ultra-brutal, ultra-technical & not very high on originality. In fact, it's pretty much an exact replica of the faster early Suffocation material. Having said that, this is not necessarily a bad thing in a genre where brutality & technique is far more important than innovation. The production could've done with a bit of work. The kick drum is seriously over-clicky & the snare sounds like an upside-down ice-cream container. The guitars come off a little muddy too but overall you can hear all of the riffs which is pretty amazing given the incredible technicality of the arrangements. There are no guitar solos on show here. Just pounding, slamming death metal of the most extreme nature. The vocals are super-deep & remind me of "Tomb Of The Mutilated"-era Chris Barnes (Cannibal Corpse). Not a bad effort but could do with some more originality & a bit better production next time.
Psycroptic's debut album "The Isle Of Disenchantment" was a promising start & a pretty enjoyable listen but they really upped the ante with the follow-up. All of my criticisms of the previous album had been improved upon & the result is a far more polished & engaging package. A stronger Coroner influence in the riffs is enhanced by a much thicker guitar sound than the debuts which was substantially weaker. The vocal performance is more varied & convincing too. Dave Haley's drumming was the highlight of the debut but it's even more impressive on this occasion. He effortlessly switches between ferocity & subtlety & is comfortably the main focal point of the band.
Overall this is a much more brutal record than "The Isle Of Disenchantment" but it's also much more complex & technical. The balance they've achieved is quite impressive. There are no weak tracks which makes for a very consistent listening experience. Opener "The Colour Of Sleep" is probably my favourite song but it can be difficult to differentiate between tracks given that there is so much going on & very little repetition. That's certainly not a criticism though as my interest rarely wanes. There's always something interesting going on & at any moment you know that you are only moments away from another exciting Dave Haley blast beat barrage. This is comfortably the best thing I've heard from Psycroptic.
While I generally liked the last couple of albums from these Tasmanian tech deathsters, they never quite captured me completely. The talent was clearly there but they tended to sound a bit samey & the vocals weren't terribly wonderful. Their debut album "The Isle Of Disenchantment" sounds a bit different from those records. The inclusion of original vocalist Matthew 'Chalky' Chalk is positive as he's certainly more varied in his delivery than current vocalist Jason Peppiatt although there's still plenty of room for improvement. The guitar sound is a bit raw & could definitely have been a bit thicker. It's nice that the bass lines are so clear & easily heard though. I quite like the drum sounds too. The cymbals in particular sound quite fresh & vibrant. In fact, Dave Haley's drumming performance is the clear highlight of the album. He adds plenty of great fills & cymbal work which make for a much more interesting listen. Psycroptic don't overdo the technicality in the riffs themselves. It's the song structures that are quite technical as there is very little repetition going on.
The album gets off to a great start as opening track "Carnival Of Vulgarity" is real stormer & is easily the pick of the bunch. I also really like "Condemned By Discontent". Other than that, most tracks promise a lot but don't quite give you that payoff. "Netherworld Reality" is probably the weakest moment but there's a pretty obvious rip-off of Deicide's "Sacrificial Suicide" going on at the start of the title track too. The band is at their best when they just go for it in my opinion. There's more consistency in their more brutal moments than their fiddly ones. Overall this is another Psycroptic record that is quite enjoyable without really demanding your attention.
French outfit Remembrance's third full-length release "Fall, Obsidian Night" is everything you want from a funeral doom album. It's a seriously deep, emotive & captivating piece of metal music. Matthieu's death vocals are deep & brooding. The drums are slow & hypnotic. The melodies are devastating & the riffs are crushing. This is the type of album that reveals more of itself with each listen & envelopes the listener once they allow themselves to become involved. Opening track "Ageless Fever" is particularly engaging & is the highlight of the album in my opinion. However "Fall, Obsidian Night" is not perfect. There are small sections that don't entirely work such as the acoustic guitar overlay towards the end of "Winter Tides". Closer "Obsidian" is probably the weakest point of the album which was a little bit of a let-down. I'd also like to see the band work on better ways to end their tracks as some of them just seem to... well... end. Regardless, all fans of funeral doom will love this CD & I expect the next Remembrance release to be a cranker.
The first thing presented to the listener when confronted by this sixth album from Italian death metallers Sadist is the extraordinary front cover. Who the hell thought an evil snowman was a good idea? I cannot comprehend this but let's see if I can let the music do the talking. I have not heard anything from Sadist for a number of years now but I am not really surprised by the musical direction they have taken with "Season In Silence". As usual their sound is based around techniciality with the musical prowess fairly obvious right from the start. I have always felt that Sadist lacked a bit of balls & that is again the case here. I feel that this release will probably appeal more to the progressive fans more than the death metal fans for that reason. Everything is very well put together with a very strong Atheist & Dream Theater influence throughout. Not a bad release but tends to drift past fairly uneventfully without the drive necessary to really get me going.
This release features a well-produced combination of Dream Theater style progressive metal & death metal. The song-writing & musicianship is excellent. The shredding guitar solos are a definite highlight. However I find that the Dream Theater influence is far too obvious at times (particularly in “The Past Within” which displays some sections that are direct rip-offs) & the bands sound is a bit too light for my taste. Not technical enough to dazzle me with technique & not heavy enough to kick my arse. Not bad though.
This is a very rough attempt at atmospheric black metal with acoustic interludes. The acoustic guitar stuff is well performed & sounds quite nice but the black metal sections are very amateurish indeed. The production is no better than a rehearsal tape & the drum machines sound overly mechanical (especially on the opening track "Dryad (I Make My Home)"). There is no real flow between the clean & intense parts. They're just pasted together. A very average release.
This debut EP from Melbourne-based melodic death metallers Orpheus Omega sounds very much like "Slaughter Of The Soul"-era At The Gates. So much so that it's pretty close to plagiarism. They even use a sneaky "Let's go!" as the opening track kicks into gear. Admittedly they do it pretty well though. The riffs are nice & chunky & the production is very good too. The main point of difference here is the extensive use of keyboards. Unfortunately this element takes an otherwise pretty heavy melodic death metal sound & adds just enough cheese to taint the overall atmosphere for me. I appreciate that they tried something a bit different but it's not really to my taste.
Comprised of a single track cut into three parts, "A Collapse Of Faith" is a fairly uneventful example of the folk/black metal movement. These guys have obviously spent a fair bit of time listening to albums like Ulver's "Bergtatt", Katatonia's "Dance Of December Souls" & Opeth's "Morningrise" & present their ideas in similar ways but the outcome is not nearly as interesting. The riffs are just not as memorable & the atmosphere fails to capture me on an emotional level. Everything is just a bit too friendly for my liking & I find my interest waning fairly quickly. The production is OK although the kickdrum is almost non-existant. I actually find the classical/folk sections to be the most entertaining parts of the album. I am sure this will appeal to a lot of people but unfortunately I find it overly melancholic & a bit dull. Gimme more evil!
This album starts out fairly promisingly but I soon found myself becoming distracted. I think a lot of this is due to the fact that I struggle with the authenticity of their black metal sound. This was a problem that I had with a lot of the US black metal bands back in the 1990s but many seem to have overcome this now. Order Of Ennead just don't seem to create much of a dark atmosphere. One of the reasons for this would be John Li's guitar solos. John is a very good lead guitarist but I don't think his Yngwie Malmsteen-meets-Eric Johnson style guitar solos really do the atmosphere much good. They are just too melodic & are not aggressive enough. Steve Asheim sounds like he is trying to break the world record for the clickiest kick drums too. This is not a bad record by any stretch but I don't find much here that is likely to draw me back in for repeat listens.
This CD is a blast from the past. It's pure 1980s thrash metal of the European variety. Kreator's "Extreme Aggression" & early Coroner immediately spring to mind. I find this more interesting than most of the bigger US thrash releases I've heard in recent years as I've always enjoyed the more intense Euro thrash sound more than the US stuff. Although it's a pretty fun listen, you probably won't come back for too many repeat listens. It's more likely that it'll entice you to bust out your old favourites instead as this is just not quite on the same level. *Goes to cupboard to pull out "Flag Of Hate".*
French black metallers Nyseius show quite a bit of promise on this release but really fail to fully deliver due to a lack of originality. Considering the amount of experimentation I've heard out of the French black metal scene over the past decade or so it's surprising just how generic this EP(?) is. The first & last tracks are ambient mood pieces which are pretty effective but nothing to write home about. The other four tracks are strictly in the classic 1990s Norwegian black metal sound. There is a nice dark & aggressive atmosphere throughout but there's nothing you haven't heard many times before. The musicianship is OK without being anything special & the vocals are mixed in a way that they occasionally mask the guitars behind them. I'm not a huge fan of the drumming. I've always liked this style of black metal & therefore I don't mind this release but I can't see myself listening to it regularly as there is much better examples of this style of black metal.
A very good black/death metal hybrid with some excellent musicianship on display. Martriden's sound is based more on the black metal model with death metal riffs used within the black metal context & plenty of melodic content. The drumming is very interesting & well done & the vocals follow a typically aggressive black metal style. There is definitely a progressive metal influence which is especially obvious in the 10 minute instrumental epic "Death & Transfiguration" which closes the album. The production is very good & allows Martriden's complexities to flourish. This album should appeal to a wide cross-section of the metal community.
A really professional & powerful album of post metal sludgy stuff. Great crushing riffs. The drumming is outstanding & definitely pushes each track to greater energy levels. Vocalist Reno's gruffness really suits the Kruger sound & the performance is tight as hell. Very good stuff!
"Colossal Titan Strife" is a very well produced & executed example of modern death metal. It's difficult to categorize Kronos' sound as it sits somewhere between a few different sub-genres. It features the blasting intensity of brutal death metal but with a much greater sense of melody within both the riffs & the songwriting. It's quite refreshing in a way & I feel that this melodic element has contributed to Kronos becoming a more accessible artist than your average slamming brutality merchant. The musicianship & production quality are exceptional although the bass guitar certainly lost out in the battle behind the mixing desk. I enjoyed this CD all the more because the riffs sound so precise & well-executed & I can hear everything so clearly. I was a bit disappointed with the vocal delivery as it's so one-dimensional & unintelligible that there may as well not be any lyrics (or vocals for that matter). The guitar solos are very nice indeed with plenty of melodic sweep-picked arpeggios.
Ultimately "Colossal Titan Strife" is just missing a bit of that elusive "X" factor. It's all very nicely written & presented but at times I'm left feeling a little numb. To be honest I'm more into the brutal side of death metal than the melodic & I think the extra melody prevents me from appreciating this more. Regardless, it will appeal to a large cross-section of the extreme metal audience.
Some fairly intense black metal which doesn't really make a huge impression due to it's generic nature & lack of variety. The vocals remind me of Darkthrone. Each of the four tracks is full of blast beats & screams. Could be tightened up a bit.
This album comprises of some seriously raw & dirty sludge & noise with a female singer who screams her bloody head off. She sounds like my a redneck version of your mother on a comedown ... and it's that time of month... & she's got Tourettes.... & she's possessed by demons. The album doesn't really flow as the production varies quite a lot between tracks. The really slow sludgy parts are quite effective but the rest is just far too underproduced. There are no guitar overdubs & all of the mistakes are left in. The album would've been so much heavier had they simply doubled the guitars like every other band in the world. It sounds like a live bootleg. I'm sure they'd be entertaining live but it doesn't work as an album release. Not much to interest me here.
Sweden's Istapp have given us some of the worst black metal of 2010 with this second full-length release. The guitar sound is very thin & the melodies are almost cheesy for the most part. Don't even start to think about a dark atmosphere here as "Blekinge" sounds more like a walk in the park on a summers day than any nocturnal forest experience. Quite a few of the riffs sound like late 70s Judas Priest to me. The rest is pretty much generic black metal fodder. Ignore this one.
I was pretty keen to hear this after reading some good things online but I ended up being very disappointed. Introrectalgestation's combination of brutal death metal & grindcore is simply awful. This is partially due to the horrible production & also the complete disregard for any form of song structure. Everything finishes up sounding like a complete shambles & I really struggle to keep track of what's going on. Tempo changes are sudden & intrusive & the guitar sound is particularly dirty which causes the riffs to sound sloppy. You can tell there is some technical ability in there somewhere but it's hidden beneath the mess. The vocals don't help matters either. They might as well be some kind of wild animal as they never come even close to sounding like words. This could be the worst brutal death metal release of 2010.
This album shows some real promise and it wouldn't take much for this band to step up alongside the big boys. There are some really nice atmospheric moments here. The band include quite a few lighter interludes which (although well-written & performed & lovely on the ears) kinda lose the dark atmosphere that a black metal band is generally after. They're probably a little long too. The more traditional black metal is mid-paced & mature along the lines of Burzum. I think the drumming is far too basic & could be a lot more aggressive. This reduces the intensity a bit. Needs a bit more evil.
Upon listening to the opening track from The Grotesquery's debut album "Tales Of The Coffin Born", I became very excited about this release. "Coffin Birth" is everything I love about death metal. A seriously raw & crunching guitar sound with powerful mid-paced riffs. Former Massacre front man Kam Lee's vocals were sounding as aggressive as ever & I love the sound overall. However as the album continues the song-writing begins to get weaker & weaker. The rhythm guitars are very sloppy for a band of this stature & there are quite a few obvious mistakes that have been left in. I'm not a fan of concept albums in general & (although I actually quite enjoy the twisted interludes between each track) I find the lyrics to be fairly immature. There are some really fantastic riffs on here that are let down by some very ordinary ones & some poor musicianship.
Thrash metal was still only a young pup in 1984 having first appeared on the scene only two years earlier in 1982 through a couple of groundbreaking underground demos from the likes of Metallica & Sodom. 1983 had seen the first proper album releases taking shape & they were to make an immediate impact on the underground metal scene with Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All” & Slayer’s “Show No Mercy” getting thrash metal off to rollicking start & putting the rest of the world on notice that they’d have to step up their game if they wanted to compete with the new levels of extremity the Americans were dishing out. It would seem that their close neighbours in Canada were paying attention though because over the next couple of years we’d see several high quality & long-term Canadians thrash metal institutions making their initial forays into recorded music.
The first & arguably most important of these bands was the unusual Quebec four-piece known as Voivod who released an album-length demo entitled “Anachronism” in 1983. It was actually a live recording of the band’s very first live gig from the 25th June 1983 & the tracklisting was made up of five originals & 17 cover versions from bands like Judas Priest, Tank, Sweet Savage, Raven, A II Z, Budgie, Venom & Motorhead. Voivod would soon release some more original material though in the form of another album-length demo; this time a studio outing going by the name of “To The Death” which was released in January 1984. This grabbed the attention of Metal Blade Records head Brian Slagel & the label agreed to release the first Voivod studio record shortly afterwards. The resulting “War & Pain” album was released on 10th August 1984 & it perfectly showcases Voivod’s sound at that time through a raw & energetic production job full of electricity. To my ears it sounds very much like a live performance as it manages to harness the incredible urgency that the music emits when these musicians come together. Personally, I think it was the perfect production for early Voivod although it may not suit a more straight-forward & traditional thrash band.
These guys were all very accomplished musicians even at this very early stage & it’s hard not to think that they must have spent a significant amount of time paying their dues as they certainly sound like well-seasoned veterans here. Away’s drums have an organic quality to them that’s a long way from sounding mechanical like so many of his peers were starting to. His style is very much rooted in hardcore punk & this is a major contributor to Voivod’s raw velocity & aggression. Blacky’s bass sound is a filthy beast & he fills a very similar niche to Motorhead’s Lemmy Killmeister here in that you can almost consider him to be a second guitarist & that helps to allow the single guitarist more freedom & room to move. Front man Snake gives us a gnarly vocal delivery that sits somewhere between the punky gravel-throated approach of Tank’s Algy Ward & the raspier attack of some of Germany’s thrash metal elite. His lyrics are also a very important component of the Voivod package & have always been highly literary & intelligent with strong roots in science fiction. On this occasion he presents the vision of a dark post-apocalyptic world in the wake of nuclear war. But it’s guitarist Piggy that’s the real star here. His rhythm guitar style certainly emulates the bluesy but dangerous attack of Motorhead’s Fast Eddie Clarke to an extent however Piggy’s significant technical skills enable him to create something altogether new as he weaves psychotic lead solos into the songs at unusual moments with the raw aggression of early Tank springing to mind quite often.
As was the case with his Canadian counterparts Exciter, Piggy doesn’t employ much palm-muting in his riffs; instead preferring an approach that’s much more in line with the hardcore punk model than the more rhythmic thrash metal one. But there’s also a little more going on here than that with many of the song structures showing hints of the progressive rock influence that Voivod would expand on with future releases. In fact, some of the solos are given a noticeably psychedelic quality through the intelligent use of effects. This is incredibly violent music that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat & you get the distinct feeling that almost anything could happen. To be honest, Voivod make an awful racket for a single guitar band too. At times they can make some wildly chaotic music that gives you the feeling that the whole band were suffering from ADD & were simply incapable of sitting still although those that truly understand Voivod’s vision will find their experimentation to be both intriguing & inspired.
But please be warned, “War & Pain” is not the sort of record that will give you a quick fix. It can sound pretty cold & inaccessible to the first-time listener & taking it all in over a short period is a daunting task. The industrial landscapes we’re presented with here require many listens to dig their teeth in & I have to admit that I wasn’t always onboard. Some of that is undoubtedly due to the fact that despite the widespread reports to contrary… this isn’t actually a thrash metal record. In truth there is very little legitimate thrash on offer here. To my ears it’s a speed metal album with a strong hardcore punk core & an overarching prog rock attitude. I’ve never understood how anyone could confuse it with thrash to be honest because it doesn’t employ any of the signature techniques that the genre has built its reputation on. I mean if you can show me more than a couple of thrash riffs on “War & Pain” you’ll be doing well. Sure.. there’s a strong NWOBHM influence on display but it comes entirely from the more bad-assed & punk-driven side of the movement. Certainly not the Iron Maidens, Saxons & Def Leppards. If I had to describe Voivod’s sound I’d suggest that it’s a combination of the grimy heavy metal of Motorhead, Tank & Venom & the full-throttle energy of hardcore punk bands like Discharge & GBH with a little bit of the ambition of prog rockers like King Crimson & Rush thrown in for good measure. There’s also the odd touch of Killing Joke & Hawkwind there too.
It’s a really interesting listen but there’s a limit to how much I can commit. I don’t think that I ever find myself going absolutely nuts over any of these songs despite finding almost all of them to be enjoyable. I’m just not sure that I can relate to this sound enough for it to be a real favourite. Instead I’ll continue to come back to it every now & then in the hope that I can break down the remaining barriers that are stopping me from placing it on the sort of pedestal that some diehard fans do.
Legendary US black metallers Nightbringer's second full-length release "Apocalypse Sun" is like one long wall of sound for the most part with the guitarists showing no restraint. Pure blasting black metal in the vein of Dark Funeral/Marduk that is full of intensity. The tremolo-picked melodies are not exactly ground-breaking but they're effective nonetheless (even though the higher pitched stuff sounds a little out of tune at times). The kick & snare sounds could certainly be less clicky as they tend to make the impressive drumming sound a bit artificial. At 66 minutes in duration, "Apocalypse Sun" is a challenging listen (especially when the huge wall-of-sound production tends to make the tracks a little indistinguishable from each other) but I'm a big fan of pure evil black metal & this album is full of it. Not for the faint hearted.