Daniel's Reviews

Swedish death metallers Utumno may only have been around for a few short years yet they managed to achieve a level of notoriety that has only grown with each passing decade & mainly off the back of this excellent six-track E.P. which I was lucky enough to pick up through the tape trading scene at the time.  The Swedish death metal movement had peaked by this stage with its undeniable leaders Entombed having already started to move on to fresh creative endeavours however "Across the Horizon" offered diehard fans of the genre hope that all was not lost. I really enjoyed "Across the Horizon" as a teenager & have found myself returning to it quite often over the several decades since. It seems to have gained somewhat of a cult following in that time too which is not without merit & it's about time I exposed a few of our members to its charms.

"Across the Horizon" is an unapologetic celebration of the Swedish death metal scene. It doesn't try anything too different but Utumno's sound is still fresh enough to give them their own identity. The key ingredient here is energy as the production job offers a lovely balance between rawness & clarity & the compositions are all high on adrenaline. You certainly won't be surprised to discover that Utumno are Swedish as the guitar tone of guitarists Staffan Johansson & Denis Lindahl sits comfortably within the expected space without ever reaching for as many layers of distortion as some of the scenes main players. Drummer Johan Hallberg (also of thrash/speed metallers Cranium) can certainly blast away with the best of them but he picks his moments well which gives his blast-beats some added oomph when they do arrive. It's the psychotic vocals of Jonas Stålhammar (Abhoth/At the Gates/God Macabre/Macabre End/The Crown/The Lurking Fear) that puts the icing on the cake though & he often reminds me of Sadistik Exekution front man Rok in that he sounds genuinely unhinged which gives Utumno an additional edge.

The tracklisting is exceptionally strong with the vast majority of the material being very solid indeed. Both of the tracks that appeared on 1991's "The Light of Day" E.P. have been re-recorded for this release but I'm not familiar with the original so I can't say how they compare. I do find this version of "Saviour Reborn" to be the least impressive inclusion though & it sees the quality levels dipping just a touch. My favourite cuts are probably opener "The Light of Day", "I Cross the Horizons" & "Sunrise" although it's hard to pick between them as there isn't a genuine classic that stands out from the rest. Instead, we receive a consistent barrage of high-class death metal that should leave you feeling like Utumno have missed an opportunity in not continuing on past this release.

In the vast sea of Swedish death metal releases from the early 1990's, it's easy to see how a record like "Across the Horizon" might have been swallowed up, reliant on the long-term affection of the more committed underground followers to perpetuate its reputation. Time has seen it rising to the top though & I have to say that I'm glad because it's a very fine record in its own right. I may not be the biggest fan of the Swedish sound when compared to the more sophisticated US one but that doesn't stop me from appreciating the savagery that Utumno harness in battering their way through this collection of underappreciated death metal history.

For fans of Gorement, Uncanny & God Macabre.

After recently completing revisits to the first two early 90’s albums from Swedish death metallers Edge of Sanity, I decided that it’d be a good idea to give those reviews a little more perspective by filling in my obvious gap in the band’s early story with a reinvestigation of 1993’s “The Spectral Sorrows” third album, a record that represented a significant stepping stone for the band in their journey towards top tier notoriety. I have to admit that I’ve never found myself sitting amongst the bigger fans of these Swedes but have always had time for most of their releases & I found further evidence of that in my reassessments of 1991’s “Nothing But Dead Remains” & 1992’s “Unorthodox”, even going so far as to claim that the former is an underrated release that I actually enjoy more than Edge of Sanity’s more unanimously praised mid-90’s releases. I believe I picked up “The Spectral Sorrows” from one of my local Aussie tape traders & former Elysium band mates who held them up as being his absolute favourite band at the time but I don’t recall myself returning to it since the middle of that decade so it’s time to see where it sits in the Edge of Sanity back catalogue.

The one thing that's clear from the outset is that Edge of Sanity benefitted from their change in studio for the recording of their third album. As with their first two full-lengths, they’d engaged Börje Forsberg (the father of Bathory mastermind Quorthon) to produce the record but this time the outcome was fuller & more vibrant which gave Edge of Sanity a more professional edge & the opportunity to step up in class. The fairly basic musicianship that could be found on the first two records is still on display but it’s been given a shinier coat of paint that makes it a touch more palatable, even if the lead guitar work can seem a little simplistic at times. Bassist Anders Lindberg had been unavailable for the sessions due to military service which left guitarist Andreas Axelsson to handle his parts although this isn’t a significant factor in the grand scheme of things with the classic Swedish guitar crunch & Dan Swanö’s imposing death growl once again being the main drivers in the Edge of Sanity sound.

The most interesting difference from the first two Edge of Sanity albums is the added melody on display on “The Spectral Sorrows”. I don’ think it’s enough to be calling it a melodic death metal record like many people seem to as there’s really only a few songs that go the whole way but it’s evident on a large portion of the album nonetheless. It’s perhaps not all that surprising that my enthusiasm for Edge of Sanity’s third album is curtailed a little more than it is with other fans as I’ve never been the biggest fan of the melodeath subgenre. There are other differences here too though. Where “Unorthodox” saw Edge of Sanity starting to experiment more with their sound, “The Spectral Sorrows” sees them taking a few of unexpected cracks at some widely disparate genres & this can be a little jarring at times. The cover version of Manowar’s “Blood of My Enemies” was a strange selection to begin with but doing it with clean vocals seems like a poor option as Swanö was hardly going to be able to compete with the great Eric Adams from a vocal perspective & the track subsequently falls fairly flat. The inclusion of a gothic rock track in “Sacrificed” fairs better with the deeper clean vocals feeling more than appropriate but it does feel a little out of place on a death metal album nonetheless. The neoclassical darkwave closer “A Serenade For The Dead” is probably the best of the more experimental material & was an enjoyable way to close out the album. Of the more traditional material, there’s a fair bit to like about the majority of it but things rarely touch upon the more elite levels that we know that death metal can achieve. The short opening title track is a stellar way to build tension & crunch into the first proper song while the creative “Lost” is probably my pick of the more traditional inclusions. These high points are offset by a couple of obvious fillers in the highly melodic “The Masque” & the uneventful “On The Other Side”, both of which I really struggle with. There simply aren’t enough genuine highlights to cover material like this so, much like Edge of Sanity’s first two records, I find myself ending up in middle ground with this album. The wins clearly outweigh the losses but those wins are rarely emphatic victories & this fact alone sees my scoring being limited in how high it has the potential to go.

Yes, there’s no doubt that “The Spectral Sorrows” is another generally enjoyable Edge of Sanity record but it’s lack of focus & consistency has left me feeling like I want to place it behind the Swede’s first two records in their overall pecking order. I have no doubt that the added melody has played into that a little but I don’t think that’s the sole factor here as the best moments on “The Spectral Sorrows” often see the band failing to fully capitalize (see the outstanding half-time intro section to “Waiting to Die” which is more or less nullified by the lightweight period that follows it). It’s pretty clear that Edge of Sanity are never gonna be a favourite of mine at this point, particularly as I enjoyed their next couple of classics even less than I did this one, but I feel that I can recognise their appeal in all of this. I just can’t quite put myself into the same head space as the rest of the death metal community seem to be able to when describing them & “The Spectral Sorrows” is a pretty clear example of that.

For fans of Hypocrisy, Intestine Baalism & Godgory.

I've been quite a fan of New Orleans' sludge metallers Crowbar's 1990's releases since first investigating them around fifteen years ago now. None of them thoroughly blew me away but all five of the band's early full-lengths kept me more than interested, often just lacking a little bit more in the production department to reach their full potential. I recently revisited Crowbar's 1991 debut album "Obedience Thru Suffering" & found that I'd been underrating it all these years though which left me wondering whether I might have done something similar with the rest of those records too, particularly as I'm a much bigger fan of sludge metal than I was at the time of first hearing them. And that's brought me here, to my first revisit to Crowbar's 1993 self-titled sophomore album since that early discovery session.

"Crowbar" is another seriously heavy record from this mob & you'll rarely find a more oppressive release either to be honest. The guitars are heavily down-tuned but they haven't left much light at the end of the tunnel as they lack much in the way of brightness. This allows the grunted vocals of guitarist Kirk Windstein (Down/Kingdom of Sorrow) stand out very clearly in the mix & they aren't exactly gonna cheer you up either, particularly with song titles like "Existence Is Punishment" & "I Have Failed" being par for the course. The riffs fall into the classic Crowbar blueprint, all being very simple yet unanimously crushing. There's no place for flashy guitar solos here as Crowbar harness the hardcore punk blueprint of song construction, keeping things short but impactful. The hardcore edge that the band was so evident on "Obedience Thru Suffering" is still very clearly in effect here which keeps things firmly in the sludge metal camp rather than drifting off into doom territory, particularly in some of the more energetic riff work & in Kirk's vocal delivery which sounds like it's agonizing for him to spit his words out.

Much like the debut, "Crowbar" is a pretty consistent record when you look at it holistically. It doesn't contain any obvious duds & there are a couple of genuine highlights included too in the wonderful cover version of Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" (which works ridiculously well in a sludge metal format) & the devastatingly heavy "Existence Is Punishment". The album does start a little slowly though with the first three tracks being some of the least impressive & things don't really start to heat up until the middle of the album. The back end is particularly solid though & I find myself being drawn to the band's slower, doomier material more than I do their brief dalliances with a more up-tempo feel such as the very popular "All I Had (I Gave)".

"Crowbar" is another very solid record from the band & yet again I find myself feeling like I've underrated it in the past, perhaps not quite being able to relate to its suffocating production job as much as I do now that I've had a lot more exposure to the sludge metal sound. Like most people, I do think "Crowbar" is a better record than "Obedience Thru Suffering" but the difference in quality isn't as stark as some would have you believe. I think "Crowbar" just has more highlights which gives it a slight edge but neither album do too much wrong & both come highly recommended for all the battle-hardened sludgers out there.

For fans of Acid Bath, Eyehategod & Kingdom of Sorrow.

Italian progressive death metallers Sadist first came to my attention via the mid-90's tape trading scene & it was their excellent debut album "Above the Light" that was the source of my initial interest, a release that is arguably still the band's most well-known record to this day. I was heavily into the more expansive & technical varieties of extreme metal at the time so Sadist's sound fit very comfortably inside of my wheelhouse but the overall quality displayed on "Above the Light" has also seen me returning to it a number of times over the many years since.

Sadist's sound is really built around one individual in guitarist/keyboardist Tommy Talamanca. His flashy neoclassical lead guitar solos & progressive synthesizer work are essentially what makes Sadist unique. Listening back now, there's no question that Tommy was a talented axe-slinger & I love his note selection however he definitely lacks the finesse & class of the absolute elite shredders the scene had to offer. His keyboard work is quite up-front in the mix but is used with a level of sophistication that tends to keep it free of any claims to cheese. It's very clear that Talamanca was heavily influenced by thrash metal because the vast majority of the album is better described as progressive death/thrash than death metal in my opinion with bands like Kreator having been a major source of inspiration. The progressive elements are more above the atmosphere & arrangements than they are about structural complexity so don't be scared off if you struggle with the more fiddly diddly modern day tech death artists.

The tracklisting is extremely solid with nothing falling short of tier two status. The album could definitely have done with a couple more standout tracks though as the only song that I find to be a true classic is the band's highly symphonic title song "Sadist" which possesses hooks that have cut so deeply that I can easily recall every nuance of it today, particularly Talamanca's stunning outro guitar solo which is one of the high points of the record from a creative point of view. My picks of the remainder are probably "Breathin' Cancer" & "Sometimes They Come Back" but there's a lot to like about the whole record in all honesty.

Sadist have certainly had their hits & misses over the years but there can be no denying the quality of their first up effort which is still my pick of their back catalogue in 2024. If you're a devotee of the flashier end of the extreme metal spectrum & don't mind a bit of a spacier progressive feel then I'd thoroughly recommend "Above the Light" to you.

For fans of Hieronymus Bosch, Neglected Fields & Atheist.

Norwegian black metal legends Satyricon & I go way back. Way back to this, their 1993 debut album in fact. From the very first time I heard opening track "Walk the Path of Sorrow" on underground metal radio programming I was hooked on this band that would go on to become somewhat of an icon in a soon to be saturated Scandinavian black metal market. That experience would see me seeking out whatever material I could find from Satyricon in the tape trading scene & would subsequently lead to me purchasing Satyricon's next two CDs upon release. But... despite always finding Satyricon's music to be greatly enjoyable, I must admit that I've never regarded them as a tier one black metal player alongside the Burzum's & Darkthrone's. Instead, they've always seemed like one of the leading players in a very solid second tier & that's something that I intended to challenge when going into my first revisit of their first full-length "Dark Medieval Times" in a while, particularly after reading Ben's five-star review recently.

It's easy to forget that the early Second Wave of Black Metal days still saw a band like Satyricon being a deeply underground act & the original cover art that was utilized for "Dark Medieval Times" provides further proof of that fact with the image looking not too unlike a schoolboy's dodgy hand-drawn art project. This is a shame really because that image is not a good representation of the musical maturity the album contains within in my opinion. The record was self-produced by seventeen year old band leader Satyr too which is not only fairly surprising but provides even greater perspective on where the Norwegian scene was positioned at the time & just how quickly it would explode onto the world stage over the next twelve months. While no doubt sounding suitably primitive, Satyr's production job gives "Dark Medieval Times" the aura & atmosphere it required in order to create a dark fantasy world full of frostbitten landscapes & unholy gatherings.

Satyricon's lineup had changed a fair bit over the first couple of years of their existence with Satyr (Wongraven/Storm) now being the only full-time member remaining from the four-piece configuration that recorded their 1992 self-titled demo tape. Guitarist Lemarchand (Dold Vorde Ens Navn/Ulver) is still there although he's listed as a guest contributor rather than a full-time member. The addition of infamous drummer Frost (1349/Gorgoroth/Keep of Kalessin/Zyklon-B) at the expense of original skinsman Exhurtum (Aura Noir/Infernö/Ved Buens Ende/Cadaver/Dødheimsgard/Ulver/Virus) for the band's second demo tape "The Forest is My Throne" was a masterstroke & may well have been the turning point that saw that particular release taking a noticeable step up along with the tragectory of Satyricon's careers while original bassist Wargod didn't last too long & was long gone by that stage as well. It's this partnership of Satyr & Frost that would become the basis for Satyricon's sound for the remainder of their careers & also provides the clear highlights of "Dark Medieval Times" along with the contribution of session keyboardist Torden.

The band's first demo didn't exactly set the world on fire & it would be the "The Forest is My Throne" tape that would first see the underground scene's ears perking up. I recently revisited that early cassette (a release that I owned in a bootleg CD version during the middle of the 1990's) & found that it already offered enough of what made those early Satyricon albums so great to keep me interested. "Dark Medieval Times" would see Satyr & Frost taking the next logical step though & would represent a commanding show of strength for a group of musicians that were still so young with Frost being just twenty years of age at the time of release. Satyricon's debut full-length is a highly atmospheric release that beautifully captures the icy Norwegian Winter & it's spectacular landscapes in musical form, particularly during the more keyboard-heavy sections of the album. In fact, I think there's a reasonable case for a dual tagging with the more targetted atmospheric black metal subgenre here with the more effective song-writing largely pushing out into more atmospheric territory & a strong folk component being incorporated in some of the pieces. The four-&-a-half minute folk piece "Min hyllest til vinterland" is the only demo track included & I think it's benefited from the additional time in the studio as I tend to prefer the album version. The remaining six pieces see the band hitting on a more consistently impressive level of blackened creativity.

The tracklisting opens with comfortably the best piece on the album in the wonderful "Walk the Path of Sorrow", a song that still sits up there with my favourite Satyricon songs to this day. Satyr's evil vocals are a real highlight of not only this track but the album as a whole. It's been interesting to confirm my long-standing suspicion that the remainder of the record struggles to match its opening track though as I can't say that I find any of the other six pieces to be particularly classic. There are no doubt classic sections (such as the transcendental slow parts of closer "Taakeslottet") but I don't think Satyricon have managed to pull together another whole song that ticks all of my boxes here & that's largely why I've never rated "Dark Medieval Times" as highly as Ben has. The second & third tracks (i.e. the title track & "Skyggedans") see the quality level being brought right down to merely being acceptable after the brilliant start to the album & leave the remaining four tracks with the task of pushing my affection back up to four-star level. There's no doubt that the potential was there with the best parts of the album being nothing short of breathtaking but I can't deny that there are a few less mature periods where the band can't quite pull it all together in as professional a fashion.

Don't get me wrong, "Dark Medieval Times" is still an essential release for anyone wanting to indulge in the Second Wave of Black Metal. It's doesn't, however, compete with the finest work to come out of Norway at the time & I feel that Satyricon's best work was yet to come on their next couple of albums. I intend on revisiting those over the course of the next few months so it'll be interesting to see if my pre-existing opinions on those two records have remained intact. As it stands though, "Dark Medieval Times" is an excellent example of the inspired creativity of a relatively small group of young individuals from a faraway land that managed to captivate the global extreme metal scene like few others before them.

For fans of Taake & early Emperor/Burzum.

Following on from this week's reassessment of Benediction's highly regarded 1993 third album "Transcend the Rubicon", I thought I'd better round out my coverage of the English death metallers' peak period by exploring their 1992 "Dark is the Season" E.P. as well, a release that I've always regarded as Benediction's finest work. It's perhaps not as widely recognized as the first three full-lengths but Benediction have never managed to convince me that they are anything more than a third-tier death metal act & "Dark is the Season" has traditionally been the record that saw me coming the closest to overcoming that issue, mainly due to the added level of consistency in its relatively short five-song tracklisting. I think it's fair to say that "Transcend the Rubicon" didn't exactly impress me like it has many of my peers this week. Let's see how time has treated this stop-gap E.P. that gave fans something to tide them over between Benediction's best two albums then.

"Dark is the Season" plays the classic role of the E.P. in many ways as it serves as a compilation of material that might not work all that well in an album format. There are two brand new songs in "Foetus Noose" & the title track, both which are mildly enjoyable but neither manage to maintain the quality of their best parts for the entire duration of the songs. Then we have an excellent cover version of Anvil's "Forged in Fire", a song that I'm very familiar with as it's one of the best tracks from a Canadian heavy metal band that I've always struggled with. Benediction give "Forged in Fire" more of a doom/death feel & the song-writing works very well in this context, not only doing justice to the 1983 original but also giving it a slightly different feel which sees it becoming one of the highlights of the release. Then we get a re-recording of a track from Benediction's 1990 debut album "Subconscious Terror" with original front man Mark "Barney" Greenway (Napalm Death) returning to the fold temporarily to perform the vocals. I don't mind "Experimental Stage" but the song-writing does sound a touch less mature than the other material which makes it the least enjoyable of the five songs on offer. And finally, we receive my favourite track from 1991's "The Grand Leveller" sophomore album in "Jumping at Shadows", this time the exact same version that was included on the album. So, as you can see, it's not hard to determine the label's intent with "Dark is the Season". It was clearly meant to keep Benediction's fanbase interested while they waited for the release of a new full-length.

Why do I consider "Dark is the Season" to be a touch more interesting than "The Grand Leveller" & "Transcend the Rubicon" & Benediction's finest work then? I think it comes down to the subtle differences in direction the band take with each release with "Transcend the Rubicon" showcasing a little bit more of a thrashy sound than the graveyard atmosphere I enjoyed on "The Grand Leveller". "Dark is the Season" sounds doomier than either of those releases & I think this is where Benediction are at their best because they were never going to impress me with their technical prowess or brutality. They're actually very good at slowing things down with their sound working brilliantly in that context. Dave Ingram's death growls are very powerful but also highly intelligible which sees them maximizing their impact over the more crushing slow sections. He does sound almost exactly like Barney though & you'll have that fact rammed down your throat once you discover that it's Barney performing on "Experimental Stage" as it's almost impossible to tell the difference. That song is the only one that keeps the tempo high for the duration & I don't think it's a coincidence that it results in the least impressive outcome.

The problem here is that Benediction never come close to executing a classic track, an obstacle they struggled to overcome throughout the peak period of their career & one that will see them forever remaining in the third tier for me personally. I don't enjoy the bouncier, thrashier or punkier beats they employ at times & they often have a tendency to see some of Benediction's best tracks being returned to also-rans. There were no duds included on "The Grand Leveller" but there were none that I regard as being exceptional either & I'm gonna have to say the same for "Dark is the Season" although it does contain as many of the band's more solid inclusions as that release, only across a shorter duration which gives it a slight edge. At the end of the day, "Dark is the Season" is another enjoyable yet inessential death metal record that may well be Benediction's best yet doesn't stand up to the better examples of the genre that were coming out of England at the time.

For fans of Bolt Thrower, Cancer & 1990's Napalm Death.

I spent a fair bit time with English death metallers Benediction’s 1991 sophomore album “The grand Leveller” after purchasing it on cassette shortly after release. In fact, I’d suggest that I probably spent a little more time than was warranted if I’m being honest, perhaps due to the fact that I’d parted ways with my hard-earned cash for it. I did quite like it though & felt that it was an improvement on their 1990 debut album “Subconscious Terror” which I also have some time for. In saying that though, I did still think of Benediction as a third tier death metal band & I’d suggest that this is the reason that I didn’t run out & buy their 1993 third album “Transcend the Rubicon” upon release, instead opting to seek it out through the tape trading scene as I had with their 1992 “Dark is the Season” EP. I remember “Transcend the Rubicon” quite fondly but I don’t think it changed my preconceived position on Benediction as an artist. I have seen a few people saying that it’s their best full-length recently though so I thought I’d give it another shot.

Benediction are the very definition of the meat-&-potatoes death metal band in my opinion. Their music is very simple yet goes to great lengths to maintain the genre’s trademark graveyard atmosphere. I’ve always thought that Benediction lacked the class & sophistication of the big names though & “Transcend the Rubicon” won’t change any of those impressions. What we receive here is pretty much “The Grand Leveller Part II” with few attempts being made at altering the band’s pre-existing formula. There are perhaps a few more thrashy parts included if you look closely, particularly on the unapologetic death/thrash number “Wrong Side of the Grave”, but the bulk of this material could just as easily have been found on Benediction’s previous album. I don’t think “Transcend the Rubicon” can boast as deathly an atmosphere as its predecessor though although I’d probably need to play the two records back-to-back to confirm that.

The only lineup change on “Transcend the Rubicon” is the addition of former Cerebral Fix/Sacrilege & future Memoriam bassist Frank Healy who comes in to replace another former Cerebral Fix member in Paul Adams who had departed after “The Grand Leveller”. This doesn’t make all that big an impact on the Benediction sound though & if you can imagine the simple song-writing & riff construction of Cancer performed with the heavy, uncluttered sound of Bolt Thrower & topped off with the vocal performance of 1990’s Napalm Death then you’ll come pretty close to understanding what’s in store for you. It’s really pretty uncanny how much front man & future Bolt Thrower & Hail of Bullets vocalist Dave Ingram sounds like Benediction’s former front man Mark “Barney” Greenway here & if I didn’t already know of Barney’s absence then I’d swear it was him. Ingram’s performance is admittedly one of the best parts of the album though so this isn’t in any way a negative thing.

The record kicks off with arguably it’s best song in the very solid “Unfound Mortality” but things rarely reach that level again with only the equally effective “Face Without Soul” competing for top honours. There aren’t any genuine classics to be found in this particular tracklisting but there are a few flat moments. Thankfully the wins outweigh the losses pretty comfortably which leaves us with another generally fun Benediction album that won’t change many lives but will rarely disappoint your average fan of the old-school death metal sound. I can’t agree with the general consensus that “Transcend the Rubicon” is Benediction’s best full-length though as I’ve found myself reaching for “The Grand Leveller” a bit more regularly over the years.

For fans of Bolt Thrower, Cancer & 1990's Napalm Death.

Greek black metal stalwarts Rotting Christ first came to my attention in the early 1990's via their 1991 "Passage to Arcturo" E.P. &, shortly afterwards, their 1993 debut album "Thy Mighty Contract" & 1989 demo tape "Satanas Tedeum". I have to admit that my initial experiences with Rotting Christ didn't quite live up to the hype though if I'm being honest & I'd have to wait until I bought their excellent 1994 sophomore album "Non serviam" on CD the following year to be fully convinced. But all of the recent discussion in the Metal Academy forums about the most "important" black metal releases in history has seen my interest being revivied which has resulted in me finally giving "Thy Mighty Contract" another chance to impress me all these years later.

To start the conversation, I'm gonna make a couple of big, bold statements. The first one is that, despite what you may read elsewhere, Rotting Christ's debut album isn't a melodic black metal record. It may often be touted as the very FIRST melodic black metal release but there is really very little to link it to what that niche subgenre would shortly become. You won't find any complex tapestries of guitar harmonies here with the melodic component being reserved for some fairly restrained single-guitar themes that have a lot more to do with Paradise Lost than they do with Dissection. In fact, there's not actually all that much material that I'd describe as being stereotypical black metal included at all really. There's just as much death metal, thrash metal, doom metal & heavy metal here in my opinion & that sees the album being much more closely aligned with the First Wave of Black Metal than it is with the notorious Norwegian Second Wave. The riffs remind me very much of Swiss black metallers Samael in that they're simply constructed with the tempo kept predominantly in the mid-range & a heavy emphasis being placed on palm-muted, down-picked chugging. The vocals aren't the most stereotypical you'll find in the black metal space either, sitting just as comfortably in the death metal space as they do the black metal one. Ultimately, I'd suggest that it's the band's clear allegiances to the occult that are the primary factors in early Rotting Christ's affiliation with metal's most evil genre, along with the atmospheres they're able to create through the occasional use of keyboards.

The tracklisting is a touch inconsistent with a couple of flat numbers included amongst the eight songs on offer. Neither of "Fgmenth, Thy Gift" or "His Sleeping Majesty" do much for me at all but these blemishes are made a little more impactful by the lack of genuine highlight tracks with only closer "The Fourth Knight of Revelation" delivering a standout performance. The rest of the material is all reasonably enjoyable but it rarely achieves anything like the peaks you'd generally expect from a seminal extreme metal recording & I feel that Rotting Christ were still very much a work in progress. "Thy Mighty Contract" certainly isn't a bad record & I feel that I've been overly critical of it in the past but I simply can't see it being all that important in the annals of black metal history, particularly given that it's borderline in its alignment to the genre to begin with.

For fans of Varathron, Thou Art Lord & Samael.

The 1993 "Sermon of Mockery" debut album from New York brutal death metal outfit Pyrexia first came to my attention at a time when I was desperately trying to identify more & more of the most extreme metal music on the planet & this record fit my requirements to a tee. Fellow New York brutal death metal godfathers Suffocation had changed my perspective on what death metal should be over the previous few years but my quest for similarly brutal releases was tough going with only a few artists managing to compete on the same sort of level. Pyrexia changed that by proving that it could be done &, in doing so, produced an album that was highly influential on me as an artist, perhaps not quite as influential as the great Suffocation releases but not all that far behind given how regularly I spun "Sermon of Mockery" throughout the middle of the 1990's. In saying that, I'm not sure I ever regarded it as a genuine death metal classic. It was more of a second tier release whose sound I could relate to on a deeper level than most of its peers which saw me returning to it more regularly than I would other releases of the same quality. The brutal death metal community have generally placed "Sermon of Mockery" up on a pedestal though so it's time to dig into the finer details of this seminal release.

The cover artwork is a major selling point for "Sermon of Mockery" as it's brutal as fuck with its image of zombified figures impaling mutilated human bodies suitably summing up the musical content you can expect to hear inside. It's a shame Pyrexia elected to accept such a tame font for the album title though as it's not nearly as imposing as it should be. The Jim Sabella production job is a real feature though with the heavily compressed guitar tone suiting this style of palm-muted savagery very nicely indeed. I didn't notice it so much back in the day but the drum sound is fairly disappointing with the kick drums in particular sounding thin & clicky which doesn't do drummer Mike Andrejko any favours. This would be Andrejko's only major release & you can see why as he struggles to compete with the accomplished death metal musicianship around him, his blast beats seeing him finding it difficult to keep his feet perfectly in time with his hands for any length of time. It's not anything too major in the grand scheme of things but it does detract from the overall effect just a touch.

There's very little doubt that the Pyrexia sound was built on the one that Suffocation had developed with their 1990 "Reincremated" demo tape three years earlier & had further refined on their first two classic 1991 releases "Human Waste" & "Effigy of the Forgotten". In fact, Pyrexia have limited their sound to a couple of different components of those records i.e. the faster tremolo-picked blast beat sections & the slower, heavily palm-muted slam parts. There's an element of technicality about early Pyrexia but it's not as overt as it is with Suffocation which is probably a good thing because Pyrexia simply weren't capable of it at the time. There are some genuinely great slam riffs included here though & that's ultimately what has made "Sermon of Mockery" such a pivotal release for the subgenre with the monstrous vocals of Darryl Wagner (another who would drift off into obscurity after this release) being a major highlight. Wagner had clearly been influenced by Frank Mullen's performance on the first two Suffocation records but pulls off his own ultra-gutteral delivery to just as great an effect here which further enhances the thick, chunky riffs of guitarists Guy Marchais (Internal Bleeding/Suffocation) & Tony Caravella & bassist Chris Basile.

"Sermon of Mockery"s other strength is its consistency as all eight tracks are of a very similar quality level, all being rock solid examples of their type. It's a little bit of a shame that none of them manage to reach the top tier though, perhaps being limited by the fairly restricted musical palate Pyrexia had chosen to create from. I feel that the compressed production probably emphasizes the similar feel of the material too but, looking on the positive side, if you like Pyrexia's sound then you're not gonna be disappointed by any of the eight tracks included here in what amounts to a very professionally composed & executed early example of the brutal death metal sound. All fans of the more extreme end of the death metal spectrum will definitely want to hear this album at some stage & I'd be surprised to discover that any of them didn't find plenty of enjoyment in it too.

For fans of Suffocation, Internal Bleeding & Dehumanized.

By the time 1993's "Hammer Smashed Face" E.P. was released in March 1993, Buffalo death metal phenomenon Cannibal Corpse had become nothing short of a staple in my life. These five notorious gore-merchants had first grabbed my attention with their 1990 debut album "Eaten Back to Life" before pulling the trigger on a couple of the more significant & influential releases in my childhood in 1991's "Butchered at Birth" & 1992's "Tomb of the Mutilated", both of which would play a major role in the musical direction of my own death metal band Neuropath. I even quite enjoyed Cannibal Corpse's 1989 demo tape so I think it's fair to say that I would have lapped up anything the band presented to me at the time & that's probably why I went about seeking out "Hammer Smashed Face" as soon as it hit the shelves, despite it only containing a couple of songs that I didn't already own. There's no doubt at all that it served as an excellent entry point to the band though given that it contained the best tracks from Cannibal Corpse's previous two records as well as one of the highlights from the debut.

The E.P. kicks off with the legendary title track, a death metal anthem that's held up as a signature for the entire death metal movement at times. Neuropath covered it in a live environment a couple of times, mainly out of necessity as our fan base used to request it quite often given how closely aligned the two band's sounds were. It still sounds fantastic today too & there's no doubt that it played a massive part in my life throughout the middle of that decade & for many years to come. But it was the opening track from "Butchered at Birth" that was the one that first saw me being genuinely convinced that Cannibal Corpse were the real deal & "Meathook Sodomy" is still arguably my favourite track from the band to this day. "Shredded Humans" has always been one of my picks from the debut too so these three songs were ideally suited to drawing in a market that was more open to being shocked than at any other time in history. The two cover versions are both worth hearing too though, particularly the excellent reenactment of Possessed's early death metal classic "The Exorcist" but also the groovier version of Black Sabbath's "Zero the Hero" with both managing to do justice to the originals. While Chris Barnes' ultra-gutteral vocal delivery may not be for everyone, I absolutely lapped up that shit & still seem to today to be honest. There's just something about him that sounds so bad ass & it's one of the great shames in extreme metal that he's descended so far in the decades since. At a guess, I'm wondering whether Cannibal Corpse's rendition of "Zero the Hero" might have been the catalyst actually as it certainly has a similar feel to some of the Six Feet Under material.

Look, many people will argue that the "Hammer Smashed Face" E.P. is an inessential release given that it doesn't contain much new material but, if I'm being honest, I actually listen to it more than any of Cannibal Corpse's earlier material these days & I think that tells us something i.e. when you forget where the individual tracks came from & simply focus on the quality of the material there's a case to say that this was Cannibal Corpse's stronger release to the time. That may not make it an essential purchase but it certainly makes it worthy of a strong rating & a healthy following within death metal circles.

For fans of Deicide, Cannabis Corpse & Monstrosity.

To this budding young shredder & death metal-obsessed teenager, hired gun guitar virtuoso James Murphy was very much an idol during the early 1990's. I first became aware of him through his stunning contribution to Death's 1990 "Spiritual Healing" album before being thoroughly blown away by his work on Obituary's "Cause of Death" & Cancer's "Death Shall Rise". So, when I got wind of Murphy's commitment to release a death metal project of his own called Disincarnate I was obviously very excited. This led me to pick the "Dreams of the Carrion Kind" album up on CD upon release & it certainly didn't leave me feeling disappointed. I've always held it in very high regard & return to it regularly. Somehow though, I've never gotten around to reviewing it & think it's about time I did given just how few of our regulars seem to be across it.

"Dreams of the Carrion Kind" is a pure death metal record for death metal enthusiasts only. There's no attempt to reinvent the wheel made here but the overall product is so well put together that this means very little in the grand scheme of things. Interestingly, it wasn't recorded in the United States, despite falling very comfortably into line with the US sound. It was actually recorded in Wales with well-known metal producer Colin Richardson doing a great job at harnessing both the brutality & the melodic sensibilities of Disincarnate's classy brand of extreme music. Murphy had put together a highly capable trio of support musicians for the project including vocalist Bryan Cegon, rhythm guitarist Jason Carman & future Acid Bath & Shrüm drummer Tomas Viator & I'm very pleased to say that the three combine well with Murphy to form a tight-knit band rather than being merely a support network for Murphy's undeniable chops. In fact, you'd never pick Disincarnate as being a solo act because it simply isn't one.

The strength in Disincarnate's music is their ability to balance out a savage attack with a clear sense of melody & a strong understanding of compositional techniques. Not all of the riffage is of an elite level but the song-writing all flows effortlessly which gives Murphy & co. an extra layer of professionalism that sees them standing out amongst the death metal crowd. Cegon's vocals stick largely in cookie monster territory but he always maintains a clear intelligibility which sees "Dreams of the Carrion Kind" sounding a touch more accessible than some of their peers. The rhythm guitar work is super-tight & exceptionally sophisticated as you would expect from a Murphy-fronted project with the use of guitar harmonies being a real highlight of the album, so much so that I can easily pickup the influence of this record in my own band Neuropath's 1996 demo tape "Desert of Excruciation" which has often been described by critics as "Suffocation meets Disincarnate". Given that these harmonies give Disincarnate their point of differentiation, I think drummer Viator does a great job at giving them the room they need to deliver their maximum appeal as never overdoes the blast-beats, instead keeping them up his sleeve for key moments which accentuates their impact.

The tracklisting is extremely consistent as there's nothing even remotely close to filler included here. The record kicks off in brilliant fashion with two of Disincarnate's finest songs appearing in quick succession. "Stench of Paradise Burning" is quite simply one of my all-time favourite death metal songs &, listening back now, I can easily see why I tried so hard to get my Neuropath band mates to cover it during the mid-1990's. "Beyond the Flesh" is almost is potent too so it's easy to understand why I might have been led into such enthusiasm during the early stages of my first listen as a snot-nosed, teenage death metal frother. The album settles in for a solid mid-section after that before exploding again during the back end of the tracklisting with a trio of classics in "Deadspawn", "Sea of Tears" & the stunningly atmospheric doom/death outro piece "Immemorial Dream" which comes the closest to challenging the brutal opener for top position. Murphy's guitar solos are a constant source of amazement as he seemed to know just how to layer his instantly recognizable technique over the riffs in a way that never highjacks proceedings, instead working to add additional colour & excitement to some beautifully executed transitions. I absolutely adore some of the tremolo-picked riffs that sit underneath his lead work actually. It reminds me of Gorguts' 1991 debut album "Considered Dead" as well as his former band Death at their very best which is in no small part to do with the super-tight & suitably restrained performance of Viator.

If it isn't already obvious, "Dreams of the Carrion Kind" is a special record for me, so much so that it's always surprised me that it's not talked about more often. Perhaps it helps that I was playing in a death metal band as a lead guitarist at the time which no doubt gives me a unique perspective on the way Disincarnate have created & structured their music but I still think this is a seriously underrated record. The way that Disincarnate effortlessly incorporate a wide array of tempos (including some of the most masterful harmonized doom metal material you'll find) is quite remarkable & there are very few who have pulled it off with such an air of professionalism. Despite Murphy's looming presence at the helm, one would have to imagine that all four band members must have possessed a very strong pedigree in the history of death metal, otherwise I can't see how they would have been able to pull off a record like this one which should be essential listening for all US death metal nuts.

For fans of Brutality, Demented Ted & Monstrosity.

My earliest memories of Sweden's Unanimated go back to the discovery of their debut album "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" while visiting Neuropath vocalist Mark Wangmann's house some time in 1993. I'd been following the early attempts at a more melodic brand of death metal for a little while by that point but this particular record was a little different in that it seemed to have a foot in black metal territory too. The idea appealed to me quite a bit so I ripped a copy of "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" for myself & gave it a fair few listens that year. My enjoyment of that release also saw me following Unanimated through their three subsequent full-lengths, all of which are worth hearing, particularly their 1995 sophomore album "Ancient God of Evil" which I'm a big fan of & tends to be my Unanimated release of choice these days. Perhaps that's the reason that I haven't returned to "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" since the 1990's but I remember it fondly & have been looking forward to seeing how it's aged for some time now. I've also been interested to see if it might prove to have been a significant player in the development of the melodic black metal scene as I remembered it being a lot more blackened than some websites would have you believe in the current day.

"In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" is a fairly raw affair although the compositions are professionally put together & have a certain class about them, particularly for the time. My recollections were spot on too in that this is most certainly a melodic black/death metal hybrid. In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest that there's more black metal included than there is death metal which is in direct contrast to the general consensus. A lot of this material sounds uncannily like Swedish melodic black metal godfathers Dissection as well, so much so that there are more than a few sections that border on plagiarism &, given that "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" was released in February 1993 & Dissection's legendary "The Somberlain" debut album was released in December 1993, I'm gonna have to throw a cat amongst the pigeons by suggesting that perhaps Dissection may have sounded a fair bit different if not for the influence of Unanimated.

The musicianship is pretty decent but was still clearly a work in progress, particularly the blast-beats of Peter Stjärnvind (Krux/Merciless/Black Trip/Entombed/Murder Squad/Nifelheim/Pest/Regurgitate) which were still fairly primitive in their execution. I enjoy the vocals of Micke Jansson & find them to sit further over into the black metal camp than they do the death metal one, often even hinting at a Darkthrone-ish croak. The consistent use of higher-register, tremolo-picked melodies from guitarists Jonas Mellberg (Therion) & Johan Bohlin (Desultory) is a real strength for Unanimated & is probably the best thing about the album with the more solid tracks like "Blackness of the Fallen Star", "Through The Gates", "Mournful Twilight" & the title track all being littered with memorable melodic hooks. Interestingly though, my favourite track is the short ambient interlude "Silence Ends" which kicks off the B side. I'm a big fan of ambient music & this example could easily have been stolen from a professionally produced ambient record. As is often the case, it's only one of the more popular songs that I struggle with in the Viking metal period Bathory inspired "Cold Northern Breeze" which I find to be pretty cheesy really. The choice to close out the album with a cover version of Venom's classic "Buried Alive" was a strange one too but thankfully the band pull it off pretty well, even if it's heavy metal style does sound a little out of place on an extreme metal release.

Overall, "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" was a pretty decent way for Unanimated to kick off their recording career. It was also fairly groundbreaking in the sound they'd developed for themselves, even at this early stage. The execution isn't perfect & the song-writing could have done with a bit of a polish but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying this entertaining (if inessential) Swedish release.

For fans of Dissection, Necrophobic & Gates of Ishtar.

The 1993 "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." debut album from Finnish black metallers Impaled Nazarene made a significant impact on me after I picked it up on CD shortly after release. It's blend of simple, catchy, yet still pretty evil sounding black/war metal was really well produced & executed which left me with the impression of an artist that was aware of its limitations & worked really hard at maximizing its strengths. I wasn't surprised that Impaled Nazarene's tongue-in-cheek approach got a few purists noses out of joint (I'm looking at you Ben) but I could manage to look past it in order to take "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." for what it is i.e. one of the more fun black metal releases of its time. So, when news of Impaled Nazarene's sophomore album hit my ears only ten months later, I found myself eagerly reaching into my pocket for another helping.

The "Ugra-Karma" album makes for a very good accompaniment for the band's debut actually as it possesses many of the same traits & qualities. It was recorded by the same lineup in the same recording studio with the same producer & only a short time later so I guess that was to be expected though, wasn't it? It's of a pretty similar quality too so if you liked "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." then you were probably always gonna like "Ugra-Karma" too. The production job is once again extremely solid, making the most of the simple, uncluttered arrangements by presenting them within a tight, rock-solid framework. The drum kit sounds particularly powerful while front man Mika Luttinen's grim black metal vocals are once again a highlight.

The twelve track, 38-minute tracklisting is generally pretty solid with only the misguided industrial black metal piece "Gott ist tot (Antichrist War Mix)" failing to hit the mark. In fact, that particular number fell well below the bar so I've struggled to justify its inclusion to be honest. There's less of the war metal sound that I enjoyed so much on the debut this time but we find Impaled Nazarene replacing it with a punk rock influence that we'd see them expanding on further on future releases. The wonderful "Hate" is by far the best track on the album in my opinion with its incorporation of synthesizers giving it more of a classic Norwegian feel than most of the other material. I also really enjoy the more aggressive & brutal tracks like "Coraxo", "Goatzied" & "Cyberchrist".

"Ugra-Karma" has gone on to become Impaled Nazarene's most highly regarded release over the years & it's not hard to see why as it showcases a flare for violence & brutality wrapped in an air of accessibility, a lethal combination when done just right. There's been very little attempt at any sort of sophistication & there's a place for that sort of record in my life given my history as an old-school tape trader. I do have to admit that I prefer the debut over "Ugra-Karma" though, mainly because I prefer war metal over punk rock by a considerable margin. I also miss the dark Mayhem-style power chord riffs that "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." delivered with such success. However, I've returned to "Ugra-Karma" many times over the years & will likely continue to for some time yet as there's no doubt that it's a very solid example of mid-90's European black metal.

For fans of Sadistik Exekution, Impiety & Belial.

Ballarat deathgrind outfit Damaged first came to my attention when one of the members of my death metal band Neuropath played me their debut album "Do Not Spit" some time in late 1993 but I have to admit that I wasn't convinced to begin with. It wasn't until I had the great pleasure of witnessing Damaged in a live environment shortly afterwards that I became a convert of this Aussie extreme metal establishment because they were a completely different prospect on stage. A lot of that had to do with their psychotic, hyperactive drummer Matt "Skitz" Sanders who is nothing short of metal royalty in these parts & rightly so too. During the mid-90's he was by far the best drummer in the local scene & taught a lot of people what was possible with extreme drumming. I can still vividly recall the guys from Morbid Angel being blown away by Skitz during Damaged's opening set on the Sydney leg of the tour for the Florida death metal gods' tour fourth album "Domination". In fact, they even went so far as to dedicate their set to him from memory. A lot of the development in drumming between Neuropath's first & second demoes also owes a lot to the impact of Skitz on our own skinsman Luke Burns. Anyway... back on topic.. it's fair to say that "Do Not Spit" never really connected with me like it did for a lot of Aussie metalheads & I wouldn't truly get onboard the Damaged train until 1995's excellent "Passive Backseat Demon Engines" E.P. which I purchased on CD at the time. I didn't remember much about "Do Not Spit" going into this revisit though & I wondered if it might all sound very familiar given how many times I'd seen Damaged play live back in the day.

Damaged always possessed their own unique sound & it's kinda hard to describe because there aren't that many artists that you can draw upon as close comparisons. The deathgrind tag is generally the fallback option as it's about as close as you're gonna find but it still doesn't feel like its 100% accurate to my ears. I can't come up with a better genre tag for this release right now though so let's go with that. There are definitely death metal & grindcore elements at play as well as some hardcore punk & groove metal ones on occasion. Some of the riffs have a clear Terrorizer feel to them too. Vocalist Jaymi Ludbrooke's delivery isn't exactly a death growl though. His aggressive assault feels a little more grindy hardcore than anything else. The instrumentation is completely devoid of melody for the most part too which gives Damaged their signature sound with its abrasive & predominantly rhythmic feel that's been built upon Skitz' drumming. The production job on "Do Not Spit" doesn't do Damaged any favours though to be fair. Skitz' drum kit sounds pretty weak with the kick drums being far too thin & clicky. I'd also suggest that his skills were yet to reach their peak as I don't hear anything as mind-blowing as I recall experiencing from him back in the day, although there are admittedly a couple of really creative blast-beat variations employed. I'm not such a fan of the bouncier beats & riffs that Damaged employ at times though.

Damaged would get a touch more serious & up the ante on their extremity over the next year or so which would see their sound offering me significantly more appeal than I've found on this revisit to "Do Not Spit". Still, there are no weak tracks here as such. Many of the eleven inclusions contain sections that aren't exactly my cup of tea though & I find myself craving the more relentlessly ballistic blasting parts over the groovier punk-infused moments. Interestingly, it's the slowest number on the album that I regard as the genuine classic here in the crushingly heavy industrial metal anthem "My Grain". I also really dig the short burst of grinding energy that is "Ultra-Mild" & wish that there were more courses of that sort of material included. The rest of the material sits on roughly the same level, a standard that I find to be enjoyable but rarely compelling. On the positive though, there's something of interest in every song so I find it hard to be too critical of Damaged's debut, even if I'm doubtful that I'll return to it in the future. It may be held in very high esteem by many Aussie metalheads but I'm afraid I can't quite see it personally.

For fans of Blood Duster, King Parrot & Fuck...I'm Dead.

P.S. Interestingly, I used to tape trade with a young kid that was a huge Neuropath fan. One day he sent me a letter to tell me that he'd joined Damaged as their new vocalist & totally blew my mind as I was already a big fan of them by that stage & this dude couldn't have been more than eighteen years old. I can't remember his name any more but I'm gonna suggest that it was Chris Wallace given the age & timing.

Let's be honest with ourselves, US thrash metal legends Testament had gone off the boil a bit during the first half of the 1990's. While records like 1990's "Souls of Black" & 1992's "The Ritual" where serviceable enough metal albums, they weren't really at the same class as the bands more highly regarded 80's releases so I'd imagine that Testament were feeling a little bit of pressure to revive their heyday. The fact that "The Ritual" also saw them watering their sound down a touch with a stronger heavy metal influence probably didn't help & I feel that Testament's sixth full-length "Low" is probably a bit of a reaction to the negative impressions they would have received from some sections of the thrash metal community as it sees Testament returning with arguably their heaviest release to the time. The success of Pantera & the groove metal genre was clearly not lost on the Californians as "Low" sees Testament dropping most of the more accessible heavy metal leanings of "The Ritual", down-tuning their guitars further than ever before (generally a step or a step & a half) & throwing in deeper, almost death metal growls from time to time. Now, that probably sounds like it should offer me a fair bit of appeal on paper but the reality is that I haven't returned to "Low" since the mid-90's so there's gotta be something in that, right? The decades since have seen me largely forgetting about this record so it's time for a revisit to see where it sits in Testament's prestigious back catalogue to the time.

Let's get one thing straight right from the offset, "Low" is still first & foremost a thrash metal record so I don't think too many diehard fans would have been turned off by the stylistic changes the band had opted for on their sixth full-length. It's just that it "feels" a little more like a groove metal record at times & the reason for that is the extra down-tuning which takes a little bit of the shred out of the more exciting riffs in hope that the extra bottom-end will appeal to the mid-90's market a little more. I'm not sure whether it did or not but I can certainly say that I prefer Testament's thrashier & more electric sound personally. Chuck Billy's attempts at a more guttural delivery aren't too bad though & I know that was something that excited me the first time Ben played me his CD copy of "Low" shortly after release. These stylistic changes see many of the twelve tracks falling into the space between thrash & groove metal which is the reason why many people seem to tag "Low" as such (me included).

The inclusion of a ballad had become somewhat of a formality for Testament over the course of the previous three records & here we see them pulling it off with aplomb as the emotive "Trail of Tears" is one of the clear highlights of the album. It's interesting that Testament had also opted to include two instrumentals here too, both of which see them taking the listener into some fresh stylistic space to varying levels of success. I particularly enjoy the contribution of bass player Greg Christian on those numbers with him showcasing a clear Geezer Butler influence on both occasions. The centrepiece of any Testament album is generally reserved for the lead guitar parts though & "Low" is no exception with hired gun virtuoso James Murphy having filled the vacant position left by wonderful shredder Alex Skolnick & pulling it off with ease too. I've always been a huge fan of Murphy & he delivers one of his more restrained & diverse performances here, giving the song-writing exactly the sort of colour & highlights it required.

The main issue that holds "Low" back from becoming a more significant Testament record than their previous two though, is the lack of any classics in the tracklisting. The song-writing is gernally pretty decent with the band maintaining a level of class & professionalism throughout but there really aren't any songs that can compete with Testament's best work. My favourite numbers are clearly the before-mentioned "Trail of Tears" & the unusual instrumental track "Urotsukidôji" but neither seem to reach above a very solid level. There are also a couple of tracks that do very little for me & could probably have been culled in the obvious groove metal number "Legions (In Hiding)" & the rhythmic "Shades of War", both which are sorely lacking in the hooks department. I've never been the biggest Chuck Billy fan but he's always gonna struggle with his limited vocal prowess when the hooks aren't strong enough to carry him.

At the end of the day though, "Low" is another decent Testament record that should keep fans of the band on the hook. It's unlikely to draw in too much of a new fanbase though in my opinion. I'd suggest that it's a better record than "Souls of Black" was but would probably favour "The Ritual" over it just slightly. There's no question that it's a clear step down from the trio of 1980's albums that came during Testament's peak period though & the days when I would look forward to every new release from the band had clearly sailed past by this point.

For fans of Overkill, Annihilator & Anthrax.

By 1995, Ben & I could count ourselves as being pretty big fans of Swiss black metallers Samael. We were both well across all three of Samael's albums to the time, all of which I consider to be essential listening for the black metal afficionado. I'd also gone so far as to secure myself dubbed copies of a couple of the band's early demo tapes through the tape trading scene in 1987's "Into the Infernal Storm of Evil" & 1988's "Medieval Prophecy", neither of which l'd say added much to my life if I'm being honest. But the point I'm trying to make is that there was a level of anticipation for Samael's next release after they'd improved on each & every recording to the time with 1994's "Ceremony of Opposites" third album being the finest work of the band's career still to this day. Coming off the back of such a successful effort, Ben & I went into 1995's stop-gap "Rebellion" E.P. with great confidence in the Swiss four-piece's ability to create a compelling musical soundscape so, when Ben brought home a CD copy of the brand-new E.P., we wasted no time in blasting it loudly from his bedroom stereo. Strangely though, I haven't given "Rebellion" much attention over the many years since which is a little bit telling. I wasn't able to remember exactly why though so I thought it was about time I gave it another crack.

"Rebellion" fits very much into your classic E.P. model as it's clearly a collection of disparate pieces that didn't fit into the full-length album concept. You get one brand new metal number in the title track, a couple of re-recordings of early works (see "After the Sepulture" & "Into the Pentagram"), a cover version of Alice Cooper's "I Love the Dead" & a few instrumental electro-industrial pieces, two of which are essentially the same with the exception of some German lyrics having been placed over the top of one. So, if you're looking for a cohesive & singular creative vision then you might want to look elsewhere. But what "Rebellion" does do successfully is create a transitional stepping-stone between the dark black metal of Samael's first three albums & their more industrially focused later material. It's here that you can first start to see Samael embracing the electronic component of the sound they're known for today although it's fair to say that it was still used a little more subtly which leaves the sound the band are pushing here in somewhat of a limbo between the two genres, not really feeling like either. It's mainly the use of spacey synthesizers that draws "Rebellion" into industrial metal territory although they're not over the top with a much greater emphasis being placed on that element for 1996's "Passage" album which pushed all the way out into fully-fledged symphonic metal territory.

The production job on "Rebellion" is thick & chunky & gives the material real clout, the riffs possessing a weight that comes more from the industrial metal side than the black metal one. The opening title track is the one that benefits the most from it with its groovy mid-paced riffage making it by far the most significant piece on the record. In fact, it's a little strange that it wasn't considered for inclusion on Samael's upcoming full-length albums to be honest as it's easily good enough & wouldn't have sounded out of place. The two re-recordings happen to be of my favourite tracks from each of Samael's first two albums which was a pleasant surprise but the reality is that neither can compete with the dark atmosphere of the originals, despite the heavier production techniques employed. I certainly enjoy both songs (particularly "After the Sepulture" which competes with "Rebellion" for the highlight of the E.P.) but neither added a lot to my life either to be fair. The rest of the E.P. feels more like filler than anything else in my opinion. I quite enjoy both versions of the six-minute electro-industrial piece "Static Journey" but can't see much reason for including both given that they're so similar to each other. Admittedly they do sound a little dated given the basic synthesized rhythms that have been employed. The three-minute outro piece utilizes the same creative platform but is unfortunately not as successful & I find it to be a little disappointing, as is the Alice Cooper cover version which feels more like a fairly accessible take on gothic metal than anything else & leaves me feeling like pressing the skip button a lot of the time although I've never been a skipper & likely never will be.

So, I feel that "Rebellion" was mildly successful in its quest to showcase a new sound that Samael would explore further across the remainder of their recording career but I would hardly say that it's essential listening for fans of the band. It's a professionally put together package & sounds bright & vibrant but I don't think it contains the depth that I enjoyed with Samael's first three albums.

For fans of Rotting Christ, The Kovenant & Moonspell.

In the early days of my death metal band Neuropath, the five of us thought we were kinda out on our own a lot of the time because the Australian extreme metal scene didn't really have anything like us at the time. Although there were other death metal bands scattered around the country, there didn't seem to be any that were dedicated to focusing on the more pure & overtly brutal end of the death metal spectrum in quite the same way that we were. My discovery of Brisbane five-piece Misery definitely threw a cat amongst the pigeons though as it showed us that it was possible for a local act to produce a full-length album that could compete with the Americans in terms of quality. They may not have fallen into that "brutal death metal" camp that we seemed to be so eagerly embraced by but their sound certainly sat right in the middle of the death metal pool in an unapologetic fashion that I found enormous appeal in. I hadn't heard of Misery prior to picking up their 1993 debut album "A Necessary Evil" on CD from my local record store shortly after release but they very quickly became a regular contributor to Neuropath gatherings. I can still vividly recall my first time seeing Misery play live at a tiny inner city venue actually, the five of us all stumbling out of the back of a bong smoke-filled van with Deicide music blaring. Misery were bloody good that night too & that experience would only work to drive our hunger to create a similar storyline with our own recording career. Since that time, I've always held "A Necessary Evil" in very high regard & have followed Misery across the course of their career, having headed back to their early 90's demo days & explored all of their subsequent albums & singles. I also think it would be fair to say that I experienced a sensation not unlike fanboyism when I discovered that Neuropath would be sharing the pages of the latest edition of "Devoured Death" 'zine with the band too & the pleasure I drew from that unexpected experience has led me to pull out Misery's debut for a long-overdue revisit.

The first thing worth mentioning in any discussion around "A Necessary Evil" is the excellent cover art which was likely the reason I first picked up the CD in the first place. The image & logo are extremely death metal & give the listener a pretty reasonable idea of what they can expect to hear inside. The ten tracks included were a collection of material that had been pulled together over the two-year period since the band's inception in 1991, six of which had appeared on Misery's early demo tapes "Sorting of the Insects" & "Astern Diabolus". In fact, the versions of "Septic Octopus" & "I Endure" (my personal favourite) that appear here were taken directly from the "Astern Diabolis" demo. The production job is thick & chunky & played a major role in highlighting all of the things that were great about Misery at the time. It also allowed them to be compared with the thriving international market because, unlike many Australian releases of the time, "A Necessary Evil" didn't sound inferior or demo-quality in any way. Front man Darren Goulding's vocal delivery was truly monstrous but didn't really sound like anyone else in particular either so, when combined with the weight of Misery's swampy down-tuned death metal riffage & eerie lead guitar melodics, Misery presented the listener sound that already owned its own unique identity.

One of the other strengths of "A Necessary Evil" was its consistency. There's not a dud to be found in this lot with the vast majority of the record sitting very much in the realm of the healthy second tier US death metal pool so it's a little disappointing that Misery never managed to break out of their home country a little more than they did. "Body Farm" (which was a re-recording of an early song from the "Sorting of the Insects" demo) sees things descending just a touch from the rest of the material but it's still an enjoyable inclusion nonetheless. The lack of any genuine death metal classics is probably the biggest reason that I never considered one of my more elite scores for "A Necessary Evil", despite the impact it may have had on me personally. Perhaps a touch more brutality might have seen that turning around as Misery generally steered clear of blast beats, focusing more on creating a graveyard atmosphere at mid-tempo which was a feat that they were no doubt very accomplished at.

I've really enjoyed my step back in time with this album this week. It's brought back some wonderful memories of an incredible time in my life which was full of musical discovery. Is "A Necessary Evil" worthy of its glorified position as an Aussie metal classic? Well, yeah... I think it is. I don't think it ever really reaches similar creative peaks to the Death's or Morbid Angel's of the world but the kudos it's earnt for opening up the local scene to the idea that an Aussie act can compete on an international level can't be denied. This record comes highly recommended from this ol' death metal tragic.

For fans of Innsmouth, Abramelin & Psychrist.

I believe Swedish doom/death duo Katatonia's earliest work was another one that I picked up from Neuropath vocalist Mark Wangmann during the very early stages of the band with me having borrowed Mark's CD copy of "Jhva Elohim Meth... the Revival" & ripping it for my own private listening. This likely would have been towards the back end of 1993 & I hadn't heard of Katatonia before. I recall finding the material to show a fair bit of promise although the performances were a little more primitive than I'd generally accept. I don't think I was aware of the fact that this release was only ever intended to be a demo until a couple of years later but there was definitely enough quality there to see me giving "Jhva Elohim Meth... the Revival" a few listens & returning to it on the odd occasion over the next couple of years too. I'd pick up a dubbed copy of Katatonia's debut album "Dance of December Souls" from the tape trading scene shortly afterwards & would find a similar level of enjoyment there, although it's fair to say that I never fully committed to Katatonia until I picked up their "For Funerals to Come..." E.P. on CD in 1995. Katatonia would go on to much bigger & brighter things after that & have released records that mean a lot to me over the years. It's been decades since I last heard their initial "Jhva Elohim Meth... the Revival" release though so I thought I'd see how it sounds a good half a lifetime later.

"Jhva Elohim Meth... the Revival" offers five tracks across a seventeen-minute run time with the two pieces that bookend the release being high quality folk & ambient intro/outro style numbers. I really enjoy these two tracks & feel that they actually feel a lot more professional than some of the metal tunes included here which has me wondering if they might have been produced from outside of the band but I can't see any evidence of it online so perhaps not. The three metal songs traverse a variety of quality levels & you can easily see Katatonia defining their sound from track to track. By far the most significant piece is the seven minute "Without God" which was re-recorded for the "Dance of December Souls" album shortly afterwards. Here we see guitarist/bassist Anders Nyström's (Bloodbath/Bewitched/Diabolical Masquerade) talent for creating wonderfully engaging guitar melodies & harmonies in full effect even though he was still only seventeen years of age at the time. This element would become Katatonia's calling card in the coming years but it's surprising just how well defined it already was on this early version of "Without God" & I think I actually prefer this more primitive version over the re-recorded one that can be found on the debut full-length. The other two proper songs are less significant with "Palace of Frost" failing to capture me & containing a few fairly cringy moments, particularly the drastically out of key melodic guitar section. "The Northern Silence" fairs much better & is a reasonably enjoyable (yet still pretty inessential) example of the early Katatonia sound. Renkse's drumming isn't the most accomplished you'll ever hear on this record & is arguably the weak point of the release with his timing leaving a little bit to be desired at times. Interestingly, legendary metal producer/musician Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity/Odyssey/Witherscape/Bloodbath/Infestdead/Karaboudjan/Pan.Thy.Monium/Ribspreader) contributes the keyboards & clean vocals on this record & is also responsible for the production job which is more than acceptable for a demo recording.

I don't believe I ever heard Katatonia's earlier rehearsal tapes, the first of which was reported to be a crude black metal affair. You can still easily hear the duo's black metal roots on "Jhva Elohim Meth... the Revival" too though, so much so that I'm tempted to label this E.P.'s sound as blackened doom/death as the black metal component seems to be significant enough to warrant it, particularly on "The Northern Silence". In fact, I'd probably go so far as to suggest that this release sounds like a combination of "Gothic"-period Paradise Lost & Rotting Christ's "Non serviam" sophomore album. The howled vocals of front man Jonas Renkse (later of Bloodbath & October Tide) definitely possess blackened elements while there are a number of genuine tremolo-picked black metal riffs included too. It's the doomier & more melodic parts of the E.P. that are the most engaging part of the release though & I'm not surprised that Katatonia ended up committing to that sound moving forwards.

To be open & transparent, I've never rated the "Dance of December Souls" album as highly as most doom/death fans seem to. I certainly find it to be pretty enjoyable but it's never seemed like anything particularly remarkable to me either & I actually don't see it as a noticeable step up from in quality from "Jhva Elohim Meth... the Revival". In fact, on the evidence of this revisit I'm going to suggest that I might even favour the E.P. just slightly over the debut album which I know will probably surprise a few people but neither record can compete with Katatonia's later material as far as I'm concerned. That's not to say that "Jhva Elohim Meth... the Revival" isn't worth a few listens for fans of the genre though because it certainly is. I'd just suggest keeping a little bit of perspective when going about it.

For fans of "Gothic"-era Paradise Lost, early Anathema & Rotting Christ's "Non serviam" album.

I've had a very long & stormy relationship with seminal Finnish black metal exponents Beherit's 1993's "Drawing Down The Moon" debut album over the years. It first came to my attention through the tape trading scene of the time (along with Beherit's three demo tapes & "Dawn of Satan's Millennium" E.P.) & I have to admit that I struggled with it initially. In fact, I can vividly recall conversations with Ben where we questioned the value of Beherit in general but recent months have seen me giving a second chance to many releases that I'd previously cast aside, often finding that their value became apparent with a little dedicated attention, & that's certainly been the case with this release which I now see as somewhat of an artistic triumph. Sure, Beherit may have some obvious failings that would have seen me tossing them in the "none of my business" bin with great vigor in my youth but closer attention has shown that the youngsters embraced those failings & have somehow managed to present them as positive characteristics of what is one of the more unique releases of its time.

Beherit's early demos & E.P.'s have gone on to be claimed as having been highly influential on the young war metal scene that had begun to boil away following the release of the Blasphemy records but its inaccurate to say that "Drawing Down The Moon" has much to do with war metal. This is more of an ultra-primitive take on black metal in my opinion with the lo-fi, demo-quality production job & loose performances seemingly having been intentionally embraced in order to contribute to a very deliberate result. There are certainly moments where the band take things too far & end up making a mess of things (see "Down There..." & "Werewolf, Semen & Blood") but when they manage to nail the sound they're going for it can honestly make for some of purest black metal you're likely to find.  Many of these moments involve repetition & a more restrained tempo that lures the listener into almost a trance-like state with simple First Wave-inspired riffs working to give the music an authenticity that I find hard to resist as an old-school extreme metal fan.

The production job is obviously an obstacle for many metalheads but I find it to be kinda endearing these days to be honest. Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance's guitars are clearly too low in the mix but this failing is made up for by Black Jesus' huge bass sound that might as well be a heavily down-tuned guitar & when the two combine for a doomy Celtic Frost-influenced riff I find myself struggling not to jump on the train. I can easily see the influence that Beherit have had on countryment Archgoat in that respect actually. Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance's whispery vocal delivery is also a major talking point for some punters & there's no doubt that they're too high in the mix but I don't agree that they sound childish or immature. To my ears, they sound positively evil most of the time & are one of the highlights of the album. There's an unbridled insanity to them that really gets to me & it suits the primitive instrumentation really well. Are the performances loose? Sure, but it's not as extreme as it's made out to be. I mean, these guys were almost virtuosos compared to early Sodom & no one seems to mind with records like "In the Sign of Evil", do they?

At the end of the day, a record like "Drawing Down The Moon" will always be divisive but I get the impression that it was always intended to be. It was made for a limited demographic of hardcore extreme metal fans that are obsessed with the more underground side of the scene & I'm pleased to see that I can still play in that space after all these years. The ritualistic aspect of the album offers me genuine appeal too with the ambient interludes (like the wonderful "Nuclear Girl" which I utterly adore) playing a major role in the overall package & the artistic component being more important than any level of precision or structure. The brilliant closer "Lord of Shadows & Goldenwood" is a clear example of this & sits amongst my very favourite metal tracks of the period with its trio of different atmospheres combining to create a transcendent ending to a record that can be described as much more of an "experience" than your average black metal release. Love it or hate it, every fan of underground black metal owes it to themselves to at least have an awareness of "Drawing Down The Moon".

For fans of Archgoat, Von & Mystifier.

When I recently took a detailed look at the 1993 releases I needed to fill historical rating gaps for, the debut album from New York black metallers Havohej was definitely one of the less appealing records to appear in the list. It was the release that first made me aware of the US solo act shortly after it was released but I could vaguely recall finding it to be a pretty flat experience at the time & I honestly haven't felt the need to revisit it since, despite having investigated a few of Havohej's subsequent releases over the years. "Dethrone the Son of God" seems to have developed somewhat of a cult following over the years though so I thought it was worth taking another look at it, if only to satisfy my obsessive urge for completism.

Havohej (or "Jehovah" backwards) is the solo project of Profanatica front man & drummer Paul Ledney (also formerly of US death metal legends Incantation) who handles all of the instruments on this release with the help of Profanatica guitarist John Gelso. The cover artwork is the first obstacle that you'll need to overcome as it challenges for the worst in black metal history. The music contained within is certainly better than the artwork would have you believe but is still nothing to write home about. It's a very short album with its fifteen tracks racing past in just 28 minutes. There's a strong death metal influence evident with some songs containing what are essentially death metal riffs but Ledney's blackened snarl invariably sees me wanting to tie the record to black metal nonetheless. The level of musicianship isn't fantastic but then I don't think that's the point of a release like this one which seems to be targeted more at your kvlt black metal elitist demographic than anyone else. In fact, the beginning & end of some of the tracks leave the impression of a tape recorder having been triggered to start recording a track in mid performance, not unlike some of Darkthrone's recording techniques at the time.

"Dethrone the Son of God" kicks off in reasonable fashion with the first few tracks all being more than acceptable but the quality levels start to become pretty inconsistent from that point on. I wouldn't say that any of the metal numbers are terrible but there are four or five that sound pretty flat & do very little for me. I enjoy the sections of the album that see Havohej slowing things down a bit to create an eerie atmosphere that's similar to Mayhem's more down-tempo passages like the legendary climax of "Freezing Moon". The big elephant in the room is the closing title track though which sees Ledney screaming a succession of immature blasphemic obscenities in acapella, a task that leaves him sounding incredibly naive & silly, even for a still very young US black metal scene. It kinda sums up Havohej's debut really as there's not an ounce of sophistication about it. It's all very obvious & purely surface level which leaves the listener with the option to simply take it or leave it. Personally, I think I'm gonna have to go with the latter but can appreciate the dark atmosphere of the stronger material (see "Raping of Angels Part II" & album highlight "Fucking of Sacred Assholes" which literally only uses a single note but manages to draw me in through some well placed rhythmic variations).

For fans of Profanatica, Demoncy & Bestial Summoning.

I picked up the 1993 debut album from Florida death metallers Resurrection very early in my tape trading days & it made a pretty big impact on me too, triggering many return visits over the years & a general fondness that's seen me often wondering why these guys didn't amount to more than they did. "Embalmed Existence" is a rip-roaring extreme metal record of high-quality with Resurrection presenting a very professional & appealing sound that's benefitted from a trademark Scott Burns production job at the legendary Morrisound Studios as well as a typically dark & eerie Dan Seagrave album cover. So, why didn't it manage to achieve a stronger level of notoriety than it did? Well, I think some of that comes down to the inclusion of many spoken-word interludes that I personally find to add something to the album but many people simply find to be annoying. I can't understand it to be honest. I think they give "Embalmed Existence" its own unique character.

While Resurrection may not be the most brutal of US death metal bands, there's a cohesion to their attack that easily makes up for the lack of blast-beats. I particularly enjoy the contribution of drummer Alex Marquez (Solstice/Cephalic Carnage/Demolition Hammer/Malevolent Creation) who ties the instrumentation together with great precision, giving some of the simpler sections a little more meat than they might otherwise have had. Resurrection's weakness is definitely in the vocal department though with front man Paul Degoyler's whispery death growls lacking a bit of depth. While revisiting the album this week I got the distinct feeling that Degoyler was one of the guitarists because it seemed like all of his vocal parts were strategically positioned over some pretty simple riff structures, giving me the impression that he wasn't the most skilled of multi-taskers. I was surprised to discover later on that Paul is a dedicated grunter as it seemed so obvious to me but I guess I shouldn't make assumptions.

"Embalmed Existence" kicks off in stellar fashion with opener "Disembodied" being a classic example of the Florida death metal sound. My personal favourite "Pure Be Damned" comes a lot later in the piece & sees Resurrection playing in spaces that only the very top tier of the genre have any right to be. The remainder of the tracklisting is generally very solid with only the seriously misguided cover version of KISS' "War Machine" that ends the record being a throwaway. Resurrection tend to take two very clearly defined directions here. On the one hand you have the more brutal influence of Malevolent Creation which is probably where I see most of the stronger moments residing & on the other you have the more crushing & slower tempo power chords riffs of Obituary. Perhaps those influences are a little too blatant at times but I'm a big fan of both bands & there are enough unique elements to Resurrection's sound to give them their own identity regardless, particularly those interesting interludes which never overstay their welcome.

This revisit has once again proven to me that Resurrection were very unlucky not to receive a lot more attention than they did. Perhaps the slightly weaker vocal contribution is the main reason for that? it's hard to say but they were a more than capable band with a classy sound that fits right inside my wheelhouse & was probably a bit of an influence of the early Neuropath material too given how much time I spent with "Embalmed Existence". I think most of our The Horde members should find a fair bit to like here.

For fans of Malevolent Creation, Obituary & Morta Skuld.

I found myself in an interesting position after revisiting the 1991 "Nothing But Death Remains" debut album from Swedish death metallers Edge of Sanity last week. It probably shouldn't have been all that much of a surprise given my well-documented struggles with the more melodic end of the extreme metal spectrum but I discovered that I slightly preferred Edge of Sanity's rawer & more traditional first-up death metal effort over their more highly celebrated classics like 1994's "Purgatory Afterglow" & 1996's "Crimson", a position that puts me largely out on my own from what I've seen over the years. This left me wondering whether perhaps some of the albums in between might challenge for top honours though as I'd certainly been across all of the Edge of Sanity back catalogue during my tape trading days & remember those releases quite fondly too. One of my old tape traders (who also happened to be the bassist in Aussie doom/death band Elysium who I spent some time with) held the Swedes up as his very favourite band so I was always kept abreast of where Edge of Sanity were at, sometimes to the extent of force-feeding me if I'm being honest. Perhaps this has something to do with me not having returned to 1992's generally well received "Unorthodox" sophomore album since the late 1990's but it's time to fill the glaring gap in my ratings for what has gone on to become one of the more important bands in the whole Swedish death metal phenomenon.

Rightly or wrongly, "Nothing But Death Remains" hadn't exactly set the world on fire from a critical or commercial point of view but Edge of Sanity didn't lose hope, returning to the same studio they'd become comfortable with during the recording of their debut full-length (i.e. Montezuma Recordings in Stockholm) to knock out their second full-length effort. This time though, it seems that the band &/or executive producer Börje Forsberg (the father of black metal legend Quorthon) decided that Edge of Sanity would be best served by giving in to the lure of the popular BOSS HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal worshipping sound that bands like Entombed & Dismember had made Sweden's calling card over the previous couple of years. Personally, I can't say that I've ever favoured that sound over the one popularized by the Americans but I can't deny that it works for Edge of Sanity here, giving them a brighter & more vibrant sound that better highlights the slightly more melodic & expansive arrangements we find on "Unorthodox".

Once again, I feel that Dan Swanö's powerful death growls are probably the best thing about this record as he regularly reminds me of Morbid Angel's Dave Vincent with his tone losing none of its menace despite maintaining clear intelligibility. Where "Nothing But Death Remains" generally traversed some fairly commonly taken creative routes though, "Unorthodox" sees Edge of Sanity starting to take a few risks by expanding their repertoire & even hinting at the progressive edge of the two "Crimson" releases. Does it all work? Well, yeah it does but, by the same account, it rarely finds me reaching for superlatives. There's no doubt that "Unorthodox" is a slightly more consistent record than the debut was with none of the ambitious fourteen tracks failing to offer some level of appeal but I can't say that too many of them really get my blood pumping either. It's only really the one-off attempt at doom/death in excellent closer "When All Is Said" that sees me placing Edge of Sanity into that second tier space with the rest of the album simply coming across as a decent example of the signature Swedish death metal sound more than anything else. The generous 57-minute run time was perhaps a little ambitious for a conventional death metal release too & I think Edge of Sanity might have needed to have taken the progressive component further still if they were to maintain my full attention for that sort of period.

Despite its musical direction moving a little further away from my wheelhouse than that of "Nothing But Death Remains", I'd still suggest that "Unorthodox" has a slight advantage over its elder sibling as its class & consistency see me placing just above the debut in the band's overall pecking order. As scandalous as this might sound, this also sees it sitting above Edge of Sanity's more highly regarded mid-90's albums too which likely has more to do with my struggles with the melodic death metal subgenre than it is anything to do with the quality contained on each release. This does beg the question as to where the Swede's 1993 third album "The Spectral Sorrows" sits in the grand scheme of things & I intend to answer that question in the coming weeks. Until then though, I can't see "Unorthodox" disappointing too many fans of the classic Swedish death metal sound but I'd be surprised to see it topping too many charts all the same.

For fans of Dismember, Entombed & Bloodbath.

Unlike Believer's 1990 "Sanity Obscure" album which I reviewed a couple of days ago, I definitely know that I first discovered Los Angeles thrash metallers Tourniquet through a copy of their 1991 sophomore album "Psycho Surgery" which Ben had borrowed from one of his Christian mates who was trying to prove to him that Christians could be metal too. I think it's fair to say that I was skeptical about the whole concept initially but, by the time I'd gotten through my first spin of this high-quality thrash metal record, I had to admit to myself that I'd been converted (to Tourniquet, not to religious fairy tales). I don't think I told Ben at the time because, you know... I was a dark & evil death metal master & all... but the experience saw me secretly seeking out Tourniquet's equally impressive debut album "Stop The Bleeding" & following them on to their third record "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance" which wasn't too bad either. I've even gone so far as to investigate a couple of their releases from the 21st Century since my return to metal in 2009 & this all stems from the impression left that day in Ben's bedroom all those years ago. I've actually returned to Tourniquet's first two albums quite often over the years but have never given any of Tourniquet's releases the dedicated attention required to justify a Metal Academy review until now & I've been interested to see how "Psycho Surgery" would stack up in the modern day.

It's always baffled me that Tourniquet didn't manage to break out of the underground a little more as they were clearly a very talented bunch of dudes & you can easily hear that on "Psycho Surgery". I can only guess that it's the religious aspect that's turned people off a bit & I can understand that as the lyrics do get a bit preachy at times. Thankfully I'm able to switch that element off because I've never been one to place too much emphasis on lyrical themes. The musicianship is the real highlight here though with the lead guitar work of Gary Lenaire being the standout performance. This dude has some major chops & knows just how to use them too. In fact, he could stand toe to toe with some of the elite performers of his craft if I'm being honest & never fails to impress me. The vocals of Guy Ritter are pretty cool too as he has quite a versatile range of tones & deliveries, sometimes sounding a fair bit like Overkill's Bobby Ellsworth & then running very close to Dave Mustaine territory during some of the spoken word-ish sections. The production job can sound a little wishy washy during some parts of the album but the instrumentation maintains a level of class throughout & never sits still for too long with Tourniquet showing off a wide array of influences.

"Psycho Surgery" kicks off in classic thrash metal form with a couple of mosh pit friendly numbers but things get a little more interesting when progressive metal outing "Viento Borrascoso (Devastating Wind)" enters the fold. It's a sound that Tourniquet do very well & would explore further on records like "Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm" & "Antiseptic Bloodbath" later in their career. "Broken Chromosomes" also explores that more progressive direction & does a reasonable job at it too. Rap metal experiment "Spineless" is probably the track that stands out the most in the tracklisting & not in a good way either but monster doom metal closer "Officium Defunctorum" more than makes up for that creative failure & challenges the wonderfully catchy thrash metal anthem "Dysfunctional Domicile" for my favourite song on the album. The forty minute run time is well suited to Tourniquet's sound & I think the plethora of different sounds keeps things really interesting with even "Spineless" conatining a couple of great riffs.

Don't let the whole Christian thing turn you off because Tourniquet are worthy of any diehard thrasher's attention in my opinion & if you do happen to be a Christian then "Psycho Surgery" should be considered to be essential listening. I'm not across their entire back catalogue but "Psycho Surgery" is one of the better releases from the five that I've heard with all of them being at least worth a few listens. It's been a while since I heard it now but I think the debut "Stop the Bleeding" might just slightly pip "Psycho Surgery" for my favourite Tourniquet release overall but there's very little between their first three & I'm yet to experience a Tourniquet release that was likely to disappoint.

For fans of Deliverance, Believer & Megadeth.

Swedish melodic death metal establishment Edge of Sanity first came to my attention through metal radio programming back in the very early 1990's off the back of their 1991 debut album "Nothing But Death Remains" which is a very different prospect to the one that saw them completely blowing up off the back of their 1996 fifth album "Crimson". You see, Edge of Sanity began life in much the same way as many of their Swedish peers i.e. as a far more conventional death metal band that took its earliest steps over ground that was already well trodden. Not being much of melodeath fan myself, I have to admit that this idea holds a stronger appeal for me than it may to many others so this week's revisit of "Nothing But Death Remains" has only proven something that I already strongly suspected. Yep, I actually prefer Edge of Sanity's rawer early works over their widely celebrated mid-1990's material.

While "Nothing But Death Remains" may have a fairly tinny production job by today's standards, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for a young band at the time & there was already a class to Edge of Sanity's compositions that defied this record's status as an early 90's debut. The boys hadn't adopted the signature BOSS HM-2 pedal driven Entombed/Dismember wall of sound as yet but they certainly sounded like they had already spent a bit of time paying their dues as the musicianship is all solid & the song-writing offers enough variation to keep me interested. The tracklisting is quite consistent with only the disappointing second track "Human Aberration" failing to meet an acceptable standard. I really enjoy the use of guitar harmonies but the Dave Vincent-ish vocals of band leader Dan Swanö are probably the highlight of the record for me personally. There's a graveyard atmosphere that Edge of Sanity rarely achieved again here &, despite the fact that "Nothing But Death Remains" is hardly essential listening for the average death metal listener, it's far from the misfire that many fans of the Swede's later material would have you believe it is.

For fans of Bloodbath, Uncanny & early Hypocrisy.

There's a bit of a gap in my ability to remember how I first came across Pennsylvania technical thrash metallers Believer. I've always been of the belief that they were brought to my attention by my brother Ben after he borrowed a copy of Believer's 1990 sophomore album "Sanity Obscure" from one of his Christian mates but Ben has recently denied having any exposure to the band so I suspect that I might have picked up a dubbed copy from one of the kids in the year above me at school. Regardless of how it came about though, I remember being pleasantly surprised by what I heard as the idea of a Christian extreme metal band seemed like somewhat of a contradiction but Believer appeared to be a seriously capable outfit. The experience would see me going back & checking out Believer's 1989 debut album "Extraction From Mortality" & following them with interest in the future although I think that appeal tailed off a bit after their 2009 comeback album "Gabriel" failed to connect with me & I haven't as yet given their 2011 follow-up an airing. There's little doubt that "Sanity Obscure" was some of the band's best material though so please join me as I revisit it for the first time since the 1990's.

The first thing you'll notice about "Sanity Obscure" is the savage, metal-as-fuck production job which really appeals to me. I simply adore the ultra-distorted guitar tone which gives the riffs additional incisiveness & weight. It reminds me very much of Exodus & Exhorder, both whose guitar tones play a major role in their appeal for me personally. The song-writing on the early part of the album is super-complex though too, making Believer a band that's genuinely deserving of the tech thrash tag. That complexity does tail off a little as the album progresses though so I feel that a dual tag with conventional thrash metal is probably more accurate on this occasion. The vocals & instrumentation both showcase a clear Coroner influence which can't be a bad thing but the album is noticeably top-heavy so the quality level starts to become very inconsistent across the back end of the record. "Dies Irae (Day of Wrath)" sees Believer incorporating orchestral instrumentation & classical female vocals in what can only be described as a highly ambitious attempt at symphonic thrash metal. It doesn't work in my opinion which is a real shame after such a strong A side that included a genuine progressive/technical thrash classic in the brilliant "Nonpoint". Things get worse though with closing number "Like A Song" being a terribly misguided attempt at a heavy metal/US power metal anthem that sees guitarist & front man Kurt Bachman making a real meal of some more emotive vocals. These two creative failures leave an unfortunate stain on what is otherwise a very high-quality tech thrash effort.

Look, there's still a lot to like about "Sanity Obscure" & I can definitely see why I found it so appealing in the first place. It's just that it makes for a far better source for playlist inclusions than a full album as there's such a drastic disparity in quality between those two duds & the remainder of the album which is all very solid indeed. Unfortunately, "Sanity Obscure" isn't even available on Spotify so I don't even have the option to include the better songs in our playlists available to me. Sadly, I feel like this was a missed opportunity for Believer as all of the components were here to create a timeless record but they've somehow managed to let their own ambitions get the better of them. Still... anyone who harbors any doubts about the validity of the Christian metal band need only listen to a large chunk of this record & I can assure you that you'll have your position swiftly turned around. Sure... there are some preachy lyrics on offer here but I find that I can easily ignore them & get with listening to a particularly classy & technically accomplished group of young thrashers.

For fans of Coroner, Extol & Seventh Angel.

I first became exposed to Swedish death metallers Hypocrisy through their 1992 debut album "Penetralia" after noticing a cassette copy floating around Neuropath front man Mark Wangmann's house in early 1993 & I have to admit that I quite enjoyed it too although I wouldn't suggest that it's essential listening by any means. My recent revisit to that particular record has proven that I probably gave it a little more attention than it deserved at the time though because I seemed to recall most of the song-writing pretty vividly. I'd subsequently pick up a dubbed copy of Hypocrisy's sophomore album "Osculum Obscenum" through one of my metal connections shortly afterwards & found it to offer a very similar level of reward although I can't say that I can recall this material anywhere near as much as "Penetralia" which is an indicator that I moved on from it fairly quickly. This is perhaps not all that surprising when you consider that "Osculum Obscenum" is basically more of the same brand of meat-&-potatoes death metal that Hypocrisy had dished up on their earlier effort with the limited technical skills that tainted my view of "Penetralia" still being on full display here. The riff construction is pretty standard for a third tier death metal player while the drumming & lead guitar work showcase a level of naivety that the band was still yet to overcome. I find the poorly executed blast beats to be a bit of a distraction as poor old Lars Szöke simply can't keep them in time for more than a couple of bars so they end up resembling a train crash by the end of those sections due to his lack of endurance. There's no doubt that Hypocrisy knew a good hook when they heard one though so there's still plenty to enjoy here.

Although "Osculum Obscenum" is of a pretty similar standard to "Penetralia", I do tend to favour the debut just slightly over it. "Penetralia" definitely contained a couple more highlight tracks than "Osculum Obscenum" but it also fell flat a little more regularly so there's a bit of give & take there. At the end of the day though, the fact that I can recall the songs from "Penetralia" more vividly than those from their follow-up is the telling factor in me placing "Osculum Obscenum" slightly behind "Penetralia" in respect to the overall Hypocrisy back catalogue. The band would go on to produce better records than both of these crude early works but I'd suggest that both are still worth a few spins for the any self-respecting Swedish death metal devotee.

For fans of Bloodbath, Dismember & early Edge of Sanity.

Colorado four-piece Skeleton of God are another band that I sought out back in my tape trading days in my quest for ever more extreme forms of metal with their debut E.P. "Urine Garden" receiving quite a few plays back in the day. The Skeleton of God sound could be described as a quite technical, avant-garde & progressive take on the brutal death metal model although these guys were clearly still finding their sound so some tracks are definitely more unusual than others. You can't deny the ambition from such a young group of dudes but I do have to admit that I prefer the conventional material like highlight track "10 Second Infinity" over the more intentionally weird inclusions (see the opening title track for example). The way Skeleton of God construct their riffs is quite unique though & this attribute gives the band their edge, along with the gutteral vocals of guitarist Jeff Kahn which are very effective. It's a real shame that the production job isn't adequate for this type of release though as I feel it may have picked up more of an underground reputation with a cleaner & more powerful sound.

For fans of Human Remains, Wicked Innocence & Embrionic Death.

The early Finnish black metal scene was a particularly dark place to be back in the early 1990's. For one reason or another they had a habit of producing some of the most raw & evil examples of the black metal type known to man at the time with artists like Beherit, Archgoat, Belial, The Lord Diabolus & Black Crucifixion all pushing a darker & more blasphemous sound than that of their neighbours. Impaled Nazarene fit into that environment very comfortably & arguably could only have come about because of the activity around them. I first picked up a copy of their debut album "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." in a tiny record store called Rock 'n' Roll Warehouse which was located in the famous George Street Cinema complex in the Sydney CBD very shortly after it was released. I had a close relationship with the guy that worked behind the counter & he generally kept me abreast of releases that would fit my taste profile. On this occasion he implored me to purchase Impaled Nazarene's debut album, saying that it was one of the most savage example of the black metal sound he'd yet had the pleasure of hearing. I eagerly complied with his request & ran home to find that he wasn't wrong. It was hard to take the Fins seriously though as it seemed on the surface that much of their image was tongue-in-cheek & that element always saw me struggling to fully commit, despite seeing a lot of positives in the Impaled Nazarene sound. It wouldn't stop me from purchasing their next two full-lengths on release though & I've continued to keep abreast of each subsequent record over the years, if only to see my curiosity being kept in check.

The week saw me giving "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." a few spins for the first time in years & finding that I could still recall almost the entire run time which is a strong sign that I gave it thrashing back in the day. Looking back now, I find it hard to understand why Impaled Nazarene weren't dragged in under the war metal banner that so many of their countrymen were because there's as much war metal on offer as their is genuine black metal in my opinion. You've got the gratuitous Satanic references, the grindcore influence, the death metal production... Hell, you've even got a three minute orgy of demonic bestiality & if that's not a war metal trait then I don't know what is. If you put aside the blatant attempts to stir up attention through obviously antagonistic lyrical content & imagery though, there's actually a lot to like about the band's sound. While it may be very basic, it's also super-tight with the performances all being spot on. I particularly enjoy the solid drumming of Kimmo Luttinen as they offer an impressive amount of power & control while the vocals of his brother Mika are viciously confronting.

"Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." kicks off in very strong form but unfortunately the B side sees the quality levels dropping a touch. That flaw wasn't enough to see my dropping my rating below an impressive four star rating though & I feel that the Impaled Nazarene sound is probably a little better suited to my current taste profile than it was the one I was still building as a seventeen year old when I first encountered it. This has left me wondering whether I might see some of their other early releases like "Ugra-Karma" achieving similar scores so a revisit is certainly on the cards there. If you're able to accept a black metal release that doesn't take itself overly seriously yet still manages to conjure up a bestial blasphemy of blasting blackened war metal then you may want to give "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..." a few spins. Just don't expect to find anything terribly deep as the Impaled Nazarene model is similar to the classic punk rock aesthetic they're influenced by i.e. it's simple, in-your-face & a little immature & snotty.

For fans of Sadistik Exekution, Impiety & Belial.

Ben & I had been pretty big fans of Californian thrash metallers Testament for a good four years by the time this six-track live release hit the streets in 1993. I'd enjoyed all of their records up until that time but the last couple had seen the impressive quality levels of the first three Testament albums dipping a touch so I wouldn't say that I was busting to get my hands on their next record but I still found myself parting ways with my hard-earned cash for this little live release as soon as I noticed it's ball-tearing cover artwork sitting on the record store shelf. "Return to the Apocalyptic City" offers four live tracks which were recorded at a recent show at the Los Angeles Palladium as well as a studio cut from the sessions for 1988's "The New Order" album & a shortened version of "Return To Serenity" from Testament's latest record "The Ritual". All of this material is entertaining, particularly the live versions of "Over the Wall", "So Many Lies" & "Disciples of the Watch". My favourite inclusion is the studio cut "Reign of Terror" though which is the fastest & thrashiest number on offer & had been popping up in Testament live sets since way back in 1984 when they were still known as Legacy. The performances are all strong, particularly the guitar solos of Glen Alvelais & Alex Skolnick which are a real highlight. The production is also much better than the awful sound quality Testament had to contend with on their only previous live release in 1987's "Live at Eindhoven" E.P. which gives "Return to the Apocalyptic City" a clear edge over that record in my opinion. This one should definitely interest most Bay Area thrash fans, even if its format makes it fairly inessential in the grand scheme of things.

For fans of Metallica, Exodus & Megadeth.

I picked up the 1993 "Amputator" debut album from Russian death metal outfit Mortem through the mid-90's tape trading scene &, looking back now, probably gave it a little more attention than it warranted at the time, mainly because I was thoroughly obsessed with the early brutal death metal sound & had a tendency to lap up anything that fell into that space. The first few albums from US death metal legends Cannibal Corpse were a pretty major influence on the early work of my own death metal band Neuropath & it's very obvious that they were on Mortem too as "Amputator" is nothing short of complete plagiarism in many regards. The production job is pretty awful but the song-writing is extremely consistent which allows the music to overcome that flaw, at least for those of us that were used to listening to ultra-raw demos at the time. The musicianship is pretty good with all of the arrangements being reasonably accomplished for such a young band but it's the ultra-deep death growls that are the highlight of this super-underground record that's largely been lost in time. The shredding guitar solos are also one of the better elements & I'd suggest showcase a bit of a Deicide influence too. I've enjoyed this revisit but I can't say that "Amputator" should be essential listening. I'd also suggest that the brutal death metal tags are a little ambitious as this sounds more like conventional death metal to my ears, at least by today's standards.

For fans of Cannibal Corpse, Mortal Decay & Disastrous Murmur.

The debut release from a legendary Melbourne band that I saw play live many times back in the 1990's. It includes 25 tracks across 19 minutes, eight of them being hilarious intros that have been borrowed from D grade horror films like "Bad Taste". This music is not meant to be taken too seriously but boy is it entertaining. Early Blood Duster offered a well-constructed & produced sound that took the blast-beat driven goregrind of early Carcass & combined it with the groovy death 'n' roll riffs of post-1991 Pungent Stench. The use of double-kick in the blast-beats leaves a little bit to be desired by today's standards but we didn't notice it all that much back in the day. The song-titles & lyrics are as over the top as you'd expect from a goregrind act with ditties like "Vulgar Taste (Of A Rotten Cunt)", "Knee Deep in Menstrual Blood (The Bleeding Bitch Returns)" & "Blood Fart" being some of the better ones. Throw this one on a drunken party with your mates & press the "repeat" button cause it's all over in a flash.

For fans of Macabre, Pungent Stench & early Carcass.

The early 90's was a terrifying time to be a classic thrash band. By 1993, the grunge scene had unceremoniously stripped thrash metal's audience with some of the remainder being carried away by the death/black metal boom so many of the major bands were all fighting for a smaller market share. Pantera had also hit on a key niche of the market with their fresh new groove metal sound that had taken the metal scene by storm &, in order to survive in that environment, many artists simply chose to jump onboard the grunge or groove metal bandwagons with mixed results it has to be said. Big Four member Anthrax was one such act with their 1993 sixth album "Sound of White Noise" seeing the five-piece transitioning away from their thrash metal roots for a sound that took an each-way bet on the grunge & groove metal movements. Many fans would immediately jump off the train but the inclusion of talented Armored Saint front man John Bush in place of classic Anthrax singer Joey Belladonna had certainly peaked my interest, particularly given that I was a huge fan of Bush's work on the Saint's 1991 fourth album "Symbol of Salvation". Ben would purchase "Sound of White Noise" on CD upon release & we'd both spend some time adjusting to the new Anthrax direction. Interestingly, I recall both of us really enjoying it & nothing much has changed there either.

Although "Sound of White Noise" is generally regarded as a groove metal release, I would argue that there's actually a lot more alternative metal here, easily enough for a dual primary tag with thrash metal being the lone secondary influence. To say that "Sound of White Noise" sounds like a different band to the one we heard on classic thrash records like "Among The Living" or "Spreading the Disease" is not entirely accurate though. You can still clearly hear a lot of the techniques the band had made their calling cards but they're used more sporadically here. Tracks like "Potters Field", "Invisible", "C₁₁ H₁₇ N₂ O₂ S Na" & "Burst" would have comfortably fit on earlier Anthrax records though so this isn't a completely foreign environment for extreme metal fans. Bush's more masculine vocals are certainly a little different from Belladonna's but not to the point that you couldn't easily imagine him singing the earlier classics pretty successfully. I personally gravitate more to the Bush tone anyway so this change was always gonna appeal to me. He doesn't nail everything in front of him here but, after a few listens, I can't imagine too many punters feeling like he'd rained on the Anthrax parade.

The eleven-song tracklisting doesn't tend to unveil all of its charms upon first listen & repeat listens definitely see it opening up progressively more. There are a couple of genuine Anthrax classics on show if you're open to discovering them. The obvious highlight of the record is the anthemic single "Only" which possesses an absolute belter of a chorus hook & is the best reference for the skill set that Bush brought to the band you're likely to find. High-octave, energetic alternative thrasher "C₁₁ H₁₇ N₂ O₂ S Na"  is also an underrated gem & I've found that it's dug its talons into my flesh to ever greater depths over the last week. The rest of the tracklisting ranges from pretty decent to very solid with only the lackluster alternative metal number "Hy Pro Glo" failing to offer me any level of appeal. Perhaps there aren't enough tier one inclusions to see "Sound of White Noise" pressing for Album Of The Year honors but it certainly had enough about it for Ben & I to remember it very fondly amongst our childhood memories.

So, where does "Sound of White Noise" sit in the prestigious Anthrax back catalogue then? Well, it might surprise a few people to hear that I actually rate it somewhere in the middle rather than towards the bottom rungs. I'd comfortably take it over the legendary New York thrash metal establishment's 1984 debut album "Fistful of Metal" & also feel that it's a more consistently interesting record than 1988's "State of Euphoria" fourth album which was more acceptable than it was impressive. Many people seem to try to tarnish this record with a harshly-worded groove metal brush but that's not a true reflection of the quality of the song-writing or the professionalism in the performances. Anthrax were a high-quality metal act who have produced another high-quality metal record here in my opinion but there's no doubt that it requires thrash fans to go into it with an open mind.

For fans of Acid Drinkers, Prong, Sepultura.

The only proper release from Sydney-based doom/death metal exponents Cruciform came to my attention at a time that I regard as being amongst the more exciting in my life to date. 1993 saw me forming the first iteration of my own death metal band Neuropath (still under our early moniker of Coprophagia) with four younger kids from the local area & we had every right to think that we might be the only metalheads in the entire Northern Beaches region that were clued up on the thriving death metal phenomenon that had taken off in the underground metal scene a couple of years earlier. One day one of us came back from the local record store Sandy's Music with a copy of the "Atavism" CD & shared it with the rest of the band who all enjoyed its filthy brand of death metal-infused doom. The music was simple enough for us to compare to our own early works but sophisticated enough to exude a strong pedigree in an underground scene that was currently thriving off the back of the tape trading concept. It wouldn't be long before we'd learn that Cruciform were actually located fairly close in proximity to us &, even more impressive, were also one of the senior players in the Sydney extreme metal scene at the time, being signed to the infamous Warhead Records label that was responsible for several key releases in the annuls of Australian metal history & would go on to release Neuropath's 1996 "Desert of Excruciation" demo too. This added additional appeal to the CD & would see us analyzing "Atavism" in greater detail. Opening track "Sanctuary" would become somewhat of a band favourite & we'd go about covering that song at all of our early live shows. At one Lewisham Hotel gig in 1994 we'd be approached by the sound guy after our set, only to find that we had just played a Cruciform cover to the band's new vocalist/keyboardist Simon Gruer which was terribly exciting. Shortly afterwards we'd realize that the long-haired gentleman behind the counter at Sandy's Music that had sold many of the local kids their copies of "Atavism" was in fact guitarist Leon Kelly too & I'd build up somewhat of a familiarity with him over the next couple of years. I wouldn't go so far as to say that he was an idol but I certainly looked up to him & listened to what he said with great interest.

Cruciform would go on to develop & mature very quickly after the release of "Atavism", culminating in the amazing "Paradox" demo tape in 1995 which saw them poised to break out of the local scene with a new deal with legendary English extreme metal label Earache Records in the works. We were heading to all of the band's live shows (well... the ones we could get in to as most of the other band members were still under the age of 18) which had become immeasurably more epic off the back of Gruer's inclusion & the strength of the new material. But just when Cruciform's light was about to shine at its brightest, the band spilt up & were lost from the Sydney scene, seemingly overnight. They'd reform many years later in 2012 & are still playing shows now but have not released any new recorded material that I'm aware of up until now. That's obviously quite a story but was "Atavism" really as good as my young ears thought it was at the time? Or was I simply dazzled by the idea of some local brothers in arms that were older than me & had achieved things that I was still yet to attempt? Well, I think the answer is a bit of both looking at it with modern-day ears.

"Atavism" was a six song release that we actually regarded as being an E.P. back in the day given its relatively short 32-minute duration. It opens with a lengthy three-minute neoclassical darkwave synthesizer piece that hasn't stood the test of time very well & sounds fairly cheesy these days. The remaining five pieces are made up of extreme metal tunes that had all become staples of the Cruciform live sets & are all worth hearing too, some more than others though it has to be said. The production job has a lovely layer of underground dirt caked on it that gives the music some additional authenticity while the musicianship was still fairly basic at this time with several examples of timing issues being plainly visible in the recordings that were clearly produced under tight financial constraints.

The early Cruciform sound is often touted as sitting somewhere between the doom/death sound that had taken the global scene by storm off the back of the Peaceville Three a couple of years earlier & a more conventional death metal one. You can certainly see why on the evidence here but the doom/death component plays a much stronger role than the death metal one so I don't think there's much reason for a dual tagging personally. "Reduced to Dust" is really the only straight-up death metal tune included with "Proboscis" being more of a hybrid & I'd suggest that those two tracks are probably the least impressive of the five proper songs anyway. Those pieces often remind me of My Dying Bride's early death metal efforts actually. The doomier material is where the real guts of Cruciform's notoriety was formed though with the two songs that bookend the release ("Sanctuary" & "I, to the Heavens Shall Lift My Eyes") being the clear standouts in my opinion.  The band was still a four-piece at the time but utilized a three-pronged vocal attack that adds a great deal of interest to their sound. I particularly enjoy the ultra-deep death growl that reminds me of "Symphonies of Sickness" era Carcass although the occasional use of a higher register approach comes across as a little weak & gurgly.

Early Cruciform already possessed an uncanny knack for melody, particularly for such a young band. The way they allow their better compositions to build over time showed a good understanding of dynamics, even if the technical capabilities of the various band members still seemed to be a little immature at the time. Listening back now, I can easily pick up some sections of tracks like "Proboscis" & "I, to the Heavens Shall Lift My Eyes" that have been reworked into some of the more brilliant parts of the "Paradox" demo that I still regard as one of the finest I've ever heard to this day. Unfortunately though, I don't think any of these pieces compare all that well to the two epic numbers that make up that incredibly underappreciated release & this leaves "Atavism" as very much the entree to the "Paradox" main course. It's hard for me to think of it as anything else after all the years of solitary bedroom worship for Cruciform's later material but "Atavism" is still worth seeking out for early doom/death enthusiasts as there weren't too many artists exploring these creative avenues at the time. "Paradox" would see Cruciform pushing a sound that was wwaayy ahead of its time & could well have had a major impact on the global scene if it was given the right production & exposure in my opinion. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be though & we're left with only these limited recording to enjoy which in many ways pre-empted my own musical journey with Neuropath.

For fans of Hearse, Sorrow & Asphyx.

I have to admit that the trend to re-record previously released material with modern-day technology is not one that I'm particularly fond of. Rarely does it see the desired results being achieved by bringing something fresh & different to an album that's generally already got its own loyal following so the idea of the Cavalera brothers having another crack at Sepultura's highly regarded 1987 sophomore album "Schizophrenia" wasn't one that immediately filled me with anticipation. Their recent re-recordings of Sepultura's more primitive earlier releases "Bestial Devastation" & "Morbid Visions" had certainly been reasonably successful but "Schizophrenia" was a much more sophisticated record & I struggled to see a reason to want to give it a new coat of paint when the old one was still in pretty good nick. You see, I've always been a big fan of the original version of "Schizophrenia". I picked it up on cassette when I was still a youngster, shortly after becoming completely infatuated with Sepultura's classic 1989 "Beneath the Remains" album. It was an immediate hit in my household & has received many revisits over the years so I can't say that I wasn't pleased that Ben gave me a reason to investigate the revitalized version by nominating it as this month's "The Pit" clan feature release. I just wasn't expecting to be wowed in the process.

The band that the Cavalera brothers assembled for the task is a little different to the one they went with for their previous re-recorded efforts. Max's son Igor Cavalera Jr. (Go Ahead & Die) is still there on bass guitar but the lead guitar slot that was previously being filled by Gruesome/Possessed/Proscriptor McGovern's Apsû axeman Daniel Gonzalez is now being owned by Igor Jr.'s former Healing Magic & Lody Kong bandmate Travis Stone (Noisem/Pig Destroyer) on this occasion. I have to say that I haven't been majorly impressed with Stone's work here though as he lacks the polish of the very capable Andreas Kisser which leaves the guitar solos seeming like less of an emphatic statement than they were on the original.

So... how is the production job that is largely the reason for conducting this exercise in the first place then? Weeeellll... it certainly sounds a lot cleaner, brighter & more in your face than the original did but it's not without its issues either. The drenching of Max's vocals & Igor's toms in reverb was a strange decision & does tend to annoy me a little if I'm being honest. I'd suggest that Max's vocals simply aren't as strong any more so the decision was made to hide his deficiencies a little through studio trickery but it hasn't really worked because it's still as plain as day if you ask me & I much prefer his gruntier contribution on the original version. That's not to say that I get nothing out of this glossier model though because that's not the reality at all. As most people will probably do as some point, I decided to whack on the 1987 version immediately after my third spin of the revamped one in order to see the differences & they were far more stark than I realised previously. In fact, the original version sounds a lot like a demo recording in that context & I was surprised by just how deficient it appeared to be in retrospect because I've never had too much of a problem with it in the past. Perhaps there was a good reason that Cavalera's decided to give another crack after all then.

The tracklisting is unsurprisingly impeccable with no weak numbers being included. Opener "From the Past Comes the Storms" is still my pick of the bunch but I feel that the lengthy instrumental "Inquisition Symphony" also really shines here & gives it a run for its money. "To The Wall", "Escape to the Void" & "Septic Schizo" are perhaps not quite as classic in this environment as I remember them being back in the day which is interesting. The two intros/interludes have been recreated in slightly different forms but I wouldn't say that either are as effective as they once were so perhaps they would have been off simply remastering the originals. The inclusion of an Igor Jr. penned new original in "Nightmares of Delirium" is probably the most significant point of interest here but I'd suggest that it's also the weaker of the proper metal songs on offer, even if it's still worth a few listens. So overall we have more losses than wins but it's nothing drastic as the album is still highly entertaining, mainly because "Schizophrenia" is a total riff-fest & nothing has changed there.

Was it really worth the effort to re-record this old classic? Perhaps. I mean it certainly contains more energy & vitality than the original mix did but I'd have to argue that I still enjoy the 1987 version a little more. I can't deny that I had a good ol' headbang to this one on the way to & from work on Friday though as this is some pretty premium thrash metal after all. It's probably not terribly essential if you already own a copy of Sepultura's version from back in the day though. Let sleeping dogs lie I say. So, why have I awarded the release such a good score you may ask? Well, I choose to treat every release on its own merit when creating reviews & this is still a fine example of South American thrash in my opinion so it'd be inaccurate for me to suggest otherwise with a reduced rating simply because I like it a touch less than Sepultura's version.

For fans of Sepultura, Slayer & Sodom.

It's great to see a young band growing with each release & that's exactly what we've seen with French progressive black metallers Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa. I struggled to get into their 2018 debut album "Tales From Hydhradh" when I first came across the band however their 2021 follow-up "Corrupted Pillars of Vanity" showed promise & we're now seeing that promise coming to fruition with their latest release "The Blossoming" which is a genuinely intriguing listen. Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa's black metal roots would appear to be almost secondary concern at this point & it wouldn't surprise me if they were done away with altogether in the quest for ever more unique musical explorations in the future. Their modern sound uses black metal more as a platform for them to experiment over in some fairly unusual ways although I would say that they ever quite dive into the waters of the truly avant-garde on "The Blossoming", potentially only because of just how well they've integrated the experimental components into their arrangements which leaves the quirkier components still sounding reasonably fluid. The use of saxophone is beautifully executed & brings to mind fellow experimental black metallers White Ward. Not all of it works so well but the failures are comfortably outweighed by the successes.

It's worth noting that "The Blossoming" does have an unusual characteristic in that I feel all three of the tracks on the A side are noticeably weaker than those on the B side which is where the real meat is located. This has a tendency to leave an initial impression that isn't exactly accurate of the release as a whole & it took me a couple of listens to realise that this was a more significant outing than "Corrupted Pillars of Vanity" was. The track that most grabbed me was also the one that contained the least black metal in "Daimu Kadasdra Ko Antall" which utilizes psychedelic bongos & gothic atmospherics that bring to mind Tiamat's classic "Wildhoney" album to create a beautifully lush soundscape. "Endless Cycle" & the title track (particularly the second half of it) are the pick of the black metal-based material.

This sort of release is often a little too weird for me to score as highly as I have here but Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa have managed to pull it off with a professionalism & maturity that I've been unable to resist. I wouldn't suggest that this is a record for black metal fans only either as there's a lot more to it than that, even in the extreme metal sections. The album contains a few doomier sections that make up some of the more effective parts of the record while the vocals aren't exactly your typical black metal shriek either, often veering off into deeper territories usually traversed only by the death metal brigade. If I could provide any advice to the band, I'd suggest that they focus a little more on the psychedelic angles that I enjoy so much but that's probably just a reflection of my personal taste as "The Blossoming" is still a very solid release in its own right.

For fans of Alchemist, White Ward & Pan.Thy.Monium.

Sweden's In Mourning would make my acquaintance fairly early on in their recording career off the back of this month's The Horde feature release "Shrouded Divine" which represents their initial foray into the full-length album format. The record had been floating around for roughly a year by the time I revitalized my interest in metal & began progressively exploring every new extreme metal release of any significance, at which time I discovered that In Mourning had a bit about them which would ultimately prove to be enough to see me investigating each of In Mourning's five subsequent albums as they came to fruition. There have certainly been some that appealed to me more than others as I wasn't much of a fan of 2010's "Monolith" sophomore record yet regard its 2012 follow-up "The Weight of Oceans" as one of the better melodic death metal records I've ever heard but there are few that would deny the class that these artists exude in the way they go about things. Interestingly though, I don't think I've returned to "Shrouded Divine" in the fifteen years since I first wrapped my ears around it & I was wondering whether that might be a telling fact going into this week's revisit. Let's find out.

If I'm being completely transparent then I'll have to admit that "Shrouded Divine" took me a bit of time to warm up to on this occasion, perhaps due to the fact that my first listen came immediately after the very strong Blut aus Nord The North clan feature release "Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars" which resides much further within my wheelhouse. In Mourning simply sounded a little lightweight in comparison but subsequent listens saw the album starting to open up a bit for me & by the end of my third spin I could clearly see the appeal in this professionally produced & executed extreme metal record. Despite the consistent labelling of In Mourning as a melodic death metal band, "Shrouded Divine" doesn't offer much in the way of death metal at all to be honest. In fact, I'd suggest that the ties with the melodeath sound are tenuous at best given that the tag is intended to draw together releases that share a complex harmony-driven sound. In Mourning's early sound was much more in line with the progressive metal of Opeth & if you take away the very deep & gutteral vocals of guitarist Tobias Netzell (formerly of Swedish doom/death act October Tide & progressive rock/metal outfit Thenighttimeproject) then you'll find that In Mourning have a lot more in common with Dream Theater than they do At The Gates so the album is best suited to an "extreme progressive metal" tag in my opinion. I feel that the tendency to want to find a death metal subgenre to associate with the album is mainly to differentiate it from the Fates Warnings & Queensryches more than it is to throw In Mourning in with the Dark Tranquillitys & In Flames'.

In Mourning have pulled their sound together very nicely when you consider that this was their first studio effort. The musicianship is all of a high quality & there's an impressive level of cohesion that sees the sum of the various parts amounting to significantly more than they may have in isolation. There are a couple of elements that don't sit as well with me though to be fair. The occasional use of blast-beats from drummer Christian Netzell is largely nullified by his drum sound which leaves them sounding like he's tapping away on a matchbox. The use of screamier vocals for a bit of variety was a nice idea in theory but these ones sound like they would have fit very comfortably on a generic deathcore record. Unlike Ben though, I actually think the clean vocals are a nice touch & provide some welcome variation. Despite being a progressive band, In Mourning aren't the most complex example you'll find & they don't take too many other risks either with many off their riffs sounding fairly familiar. You won't struggle to recall the signature Opeth octave chords or the rhythmic bottom-string djent riffs that were so popular at the time while listening to "Shrouded Divine". Thankfully though, In Mourning pull it all off with aplomb in what is generally a very tight, finely-honed debut effort.

Most progressive metal fans should find the tracklisting on "Shrouded Divine" to be pretty consistent once they've given the record the time to sink its teeth in a bit. In fact, I don't think there's a weak track included as such. There aren't really enough genuine highlights to see me feeling like returning to the album all that often though either & that's perhaps the record's biggest detractor for me personally. It certainly sounds very pleasant & quite accessible for an extreme metal release. It doesn't get my blood pumping all that often though & that's the difference between a release that draws me back time & time again & one that I maintain a fondness for without ever really feeling the urge to return to. "Amnesia", "By Others Considered" & (my personal favourite) closer "Past October Skies (The Black Lodge Revisited)" are my pick of the bunch & are all very solid examples of their type but I'd question whether any of them should be granted access into my Hall of Metal Glory for all eternity. They're certainly nothing to be scoffed at though & I can very easily see why a record like this one might appeal to my brother much more than it might to my blackened soul.

At the end of the day, "Shrouded Divine" was a pretty good way to kick off a recording career as it provided a solid platform for In Mourning to build & improve on over the many years since. It's perhaps been relegated to the reserve bench a bit since I heard 2012's "The Weight of Oceans" a few years later but I don't think many fans of extreme progressive metal will struggle to find the appeal in a record like this one & I'd suggest that it still sits in the top half of the band's back catalogue overall.

For fans of Barren Earth, In Vain & Persefone.

My earliest experiences with French black metal stars Blut aus Nord came through the tape trading scene of the mid-to-late 1990’s when I became exposed to their first two albums, both of which I really enjoyed. My self-imposed hiatus from the metal scene for pretty much the entirety of the 2000’s saw me almost completely forgetting about this band though & it wasn’t until Ben encouraged me to investigate their classic 2003 fourth album “The Work Which Transforms God” upon my return to metal in 2009 that my passion for Blut aus Nord was reignited & boy it was an exhilarating experience too. That record possesses a purity of darkness that few in the black metal scene can touch & it affected me on a deep enough level to see me flogging the album for months to come. Since that time though, I’ve found Blut aus Nord to be a little hit & miss with some of their releases falling a little flat & others reaching the higher stratospheres of the black metal air space. 2009’s seventh album “Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With The Stars” has always been one that I’ve taken very positively though, even if it perhaps doesn’t sit amongst my favourite Blut aus Nord records overall. I’ve returned to it several times over the years but have never afforded it the dedicated attention required for a well-informed review until now. Let’s take a look at what it’s all about.

Blut aus Nord releases inevitably possess their own unique characters & “Memoria Vetusta II” is no different in that regard. It contains some really big positives that drive its appeal but it also presents us with a couple of weaknesses that prevent the album from becoming the true classic it seems to have the potential to be on the surface. Unlike some of Blut aus Nord’s more experimental or avant-garde efforts, “Memoria Vetusta II” is noticeably more accessible & is unquestionably an atmospheric black metal record. It’s a lot more about producing ethereal soundscapes than it is about battering or intimidating the listener with its tone creating a calmer & more contemplative view of the world than a record like “The Work Which Transforms God” which was significantly darker. There’s a strong focus on melody here with the stunning guitar riffs combining with some subtly incorporated, almost angelic synthesizers to wonderful effect. In fact, the keyboard work sometimes reminds me of German ambient producer Gas with its soft, organic timbre beautifully intertwining with the guitar work to produce some quite vivid visuals. This is the real strength of “Memoria Vetusta II” as there’s an undeniable class about the way Vindsval creates his guitar parts & I find this element of the record to be infinitely impressive.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of things that detract a little from the strength of those components though. Firstly, the programmed drums sound weak & obviously artificial which goes against the more organic nature of the rest of the instrumentation. There are certainly those more industrially-tinged Blut aus Nord releases where the drum machine plays an intrinsic role in the atmosphere but here I find that it lacks the required cohesion with the rest of the instrumentation, a flaw that is only further highlighted by the fact that the bass guitar is so low in the mix that it’s almost redundant. Similarly, Vindsval’s grim black metal vocals reside quite a bit further back in the mix than I’d ideally like to see them sitting. This technique works really well for many of your more lo-fi & noisy black metal artists but here I find myself consistently wishing they were a little further towards the front so that they could compliment the clear strength in the guitar work. Sadly, this was not to be & I’ll have to take “Memoria Vetusta II” for what it is. Let’s not sit here dwelling on what-if’s though because this is still a damn fine black metal record in its own right.

The nine-song tracklisting is a wonderfully consistent collection of material that flows very nicely together, despite containing a few interesting deviations from the standard atmospheric black metal model. My pick of the bunch is actually the ambient/dungeon synth intro piece “Acceptance (Aske)” which puts me into a lovely warm & meditative state before the black metal assault firmly jolts me to attention. The more traditional black metal numbers are all very solid with "....The Meditant (Dialogue With the Stars)" & "Antithesis of the Flesh (...And Then Arises a New Essence)" being the most significant compositions in my opinion. The well-executed clean folk guitar piece “Translucent Body of Air (Sutta Anapanasati)“ works very well to break up the album while instrumental closer “Elevation” is also worth mentioning as it's comfortably my favourite of the metal tracks. I love the way that it manages to transcend the black metal genre through the use of repetitive, melodic motifs which wash over the listener. It’s a stunning way to finish what was already a highly rewarding hour of black metal. 

Look, perhaps “Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With The Stars” isn’t the career-defining masterpiece that so many black metal fans seem to claim it as these days but it is a damn fine record nonetheless & one that I can’t see disappointing too many extreme metalheads, at least once they’ve given it a few spins & accepted the initially distracting drum programming. I have to admit that this was an obstacle for me on each occasion that I’ve revisited “Memoria Vetusta II” over the years but those feelings of hesitation inevitably fade once I became reacquainted with the obvious quality in the guitar hooks. There are three or four Blut aus Nord releases that I’d reach for before “Memoria Vetusta II” when I feel like a fix of high-class French black metal but there’s no doubt that it’s a record of substance that needs to be heard in an underground scene that’s so chock full of followers. These guys clearly fit into the category of leaders & their influence on not only their local scene but the international one is beyond question.

For fans of The Ruins of Beverast, Akhlys & The Eye.

I’ve been meaning to get around to checking out San Diego metalcore outfit Unbroken for a long time now. I don’t mind me a bit of 1990’s metalcore on occasion & these guys seem to be known as one of the more prominent examples of that sound so I had a funny feeling that they might be something I’d dig. Their 1993 debut album “Ritual” seems to receive generally positive feedback but it’s Unbroken’s classic 1994 sophomore album “Life. Love. Regret.” that receives the bulk of the attention so let’s see if it warrants the lofty praise that is inevitably heaped upon it then.

 Unlike many of the more widely celebrated metalcore releases, “Life. Love. Regret.” doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, instead taking a tried & tested direction that lives or dies by its attitude & authenticity. Thankfully though, it has both of those attributes in spades which has no doubt pleased the hardcore purists to no end. The relatively short 35 minute album doesn’t try to be anything that any good hardcore band shouldn't aspire to be. The production job is fairly raw but is still chunky & heavy while the performances are left pretty loose with no attempt having been made to clean up any timing concerns. Those things simply don’t matter all that much when it comes to hardcore music. It’s a more about the visceral urges they inspire in the listener & a general lack of fucks being given.

From a musical point of view, “Life. Love. Regret.” might as well be a guidebook for new players on what 90’s metalcore was all about really. Simple yet crunchy power chord-driven riffs? CHECK! Mosh-worthy breakdowns? CHECK! Angry & aggressive screamed vocals? CHECK! Occasional post-hardcore experimentation? CHECK! In saying that though, there’s an honesty & integrity about this music that places it above the sum of those tick boxes. There’s a purity in Unbroken’s sound that I find to be really easy to buy into. It didn’t quite sink in on first listen but I found myself liking this record more & more with each revisit & that has a lot to do with its consistency as the quality of the song-writing as it rarely dips below the really solid platform that’s set right from the offset with only “Blanket” feeling a little less essential even if it still generally enjoyable.

The two elements that drive this album are its clear points of strength. The riffs are the first of those components with Unbroken seemingly rewriting the manual on metallic hardcore crunch. I can easily imagine how intense this band would have been live because these anger-fuelled guitar parts seem to have been born for mosh pit mayhem. As a guitar nut myself, I found it hard not to buy into Unbroken’s selling point in that regard as I live for the sort of amplifier reverberation they possess in spades, even if the riffs are kinda basic a lot of the time & aren’t exactly performed with precision. The other major highlight can be found in the vocals of front man Dave Claibourn who steers away from that gurgly hardcore tone that I’ve always found to be a little weak by giving himself a little more of a natural sound. It gives his stories of life on the streets some added believability & he does a fantastic job at drawing the listener in through sheer fire & vitriol. In fact, it’s hard to deny that he’s the major calling card for the album overall & I’d suggest that he’d have to one of the more appealing hardcore vocalists out there.

A four-star rating was always on the cards from the first second I pressed play on “Life. Love. Regret.” to be honest as it stays predominantly at that level throughout its nine songs. While “Blanket” may have seen the quality curve dipping just a touch, the biggest talking point for the album comes in the form of a total game-changer that sits right at the end of the tracklisting. The nine-minute epic “Curtain” is nothing short of a devastating, tension-building beast of a track that I’d suggest should rightfully sit amongst the absolute elite examples of the metalcore genre. Its use of repetition & dynamics to draw the listener in from both a physical & cerebral perspective is astounding & I’ve found it hard not to allow my passion for this one piece to dictate my feelings on the holistic package to tell you the truth. I genuinely feel sorry for people that don't have the patience to connect with a piece like this one.

Despite the lengthy classic that dominates the B side though, I still can’t see “Life. Love. Regret.” as a classic release. Essential? Oh definitely, particularly if you’re a die-hard metalcore or hardcore fan. But I don’t think the majority of the album is different enough for it to command the loftier scores in my ratings system. Perhaps I’ve simply come to it a little late in the game but I can’t help but feel that “Life. Love. Regret.” doesn’t really do anything terribly different to a lot of metalcore release. Perhaps Unbroken are the source of all of that in the first place though? I dunno but what I can say is that I’ve rarely heard a better example of this type of music than this record & I can easily see why those metalheads with a stronger affiliation with the metalcore genre than I would tend to gush over it as I’ve been surprised at just how much I've enjoyed the experience.

For fans of Rorschach, Starkweather & Racetraitor.

If you follow my reviews fairly religiously then you're probably aware that I recently reinvigorated my deep passion for Swedish death metallers Seance through their 1992 debut album "Fornever Laid to Rest", a record that I've always regarded as being nothing short of an undiscovered classic. "Fornever Laid to Rest" played a really big role in my teenage years. In fact, the title of that album is fairly reflective of my interactions with my dubbed cassette copy of the album back in 1992/93 so it's fair to say that I was royally pumped when I heard news of a second Seance full-length shortly afterwards. I quickly sought it out through my tape trading network before giving it a good ol' thrashing, convinced that it would see the Swedes reaching unparallelled heights. Sadly though, it never quite managed to achieve the sort of adoration I'd heaped on its predecessor, somehow failing to captivate me in quite the same way even if I'd maintain my respect for what was undeniably a classy outfit. I've returned to "Saltrubbed Eyes" quite often over the years which is a clear indication of its quality but, for one reason or another, I've still felt that it should rightfully reside in the shadows of its more relentless & shackle-free predecessor. This week I decided to uncover just why that is &, in doing so, see where Seance's second album sits in terms of the early 90's death metal explosion overall.

"Saltrubbed Eyes" is the product of a mature & capable group of musicians who clearly knew their shit when it came to the underground extreme metal scene. The level of musicianship & the sophistication in the compositional work is top notch which marked Seance as a band that had the potential to reside in the top tier of the genre for an extended period. The band were obviously satisfied with the results of their first studio effort as they opted to return to Malmö's Berno Studios for another session with producer Berno Paulsson who was still fairly unknown at the time but would go on to a long career off the back of his work with Seance. Rightly so too as "Saltrubbed Eyes" sounds really good with each instrument jumping out of the speakers with rare ferocity, particularly the bass guitar which has benefited from one of the most powerful bass tones I've heard in many a year. The arrangements are also very well constructed, this time offering noticeably more variation than "Fornever Laid to Rest" which rarely took its foot off the accelerator.

For those listeners that are already well acquainted with Seance's debut, it shouldn't take you long to realise that "Saltrubbed Eyes" is clearly not "Fornever Laid to Rest II". While there's still plenty on offer for those that were converted by the unbridled savagery of Seance's earlier work, the Swede's sophomore effort has added some additional components to the mix which gives it a noticeably different feel & also sees it creating its own well-defined identity. The faster material ("Soulerosion", "Skinless", etc.) still holds plenty of reward for old school fans & will undoubtedly command a similarly primal response but "Saltrubbed Eyes" contains a lot more in the way of dynamics & is a little more measured in its assault on the senses. I've always felt that "Fornever Laid to Rest" was largely built on the influence of the American death metal scene which was a little unusual for a Swedish band given the huge impact of the Entombeds & Dismembers that were making such enormous inroads into the global metal market at the time. "Saltrubbed Eyes" sees Seance adopting some of that crunchier Swedish sound & combining it with the American one in a best of both worlds approach that seems to work for them for the most part. But that's not the only new addition as there are quite a few simpler, groovier & more rhythmically inclined death metal riffs included on the album which sometimes sees me making comparisons with a band like Gorefest. The influence of "Reign in Blood"-era Slayer is very easy to identify during the higher tempo passages, particularly in the guitar solos of Tony Kampner & Patrik Jensen who at times border on Kerry King/Jeff Hannemann fanboyism. As with the debut, the monstrous & ultra-gutteral death growls of Johan Larsson are one of the highlights of the album & I'd definitely suggest that he was one of the better exponents in the scene at the time.

You can't really fault Seance in terms of consistency as "Saltrubbed Eyes" maintains a really solid level of quality right across its nine-song tracklisting. It's perhaps no surprise that the groovier title track does a little less for me than the rest of the material but it's still an entertaining listen, mainly because I'll always have time for a professionally produced & executed product like this one. The album is clearly missing the genuine highlights of its older sibling though with even the best material falling short of achieving classic status. As is often the way with me, it's the more aggressive & high velocity inclusions that hit me the hardest with the barbaric cacophony of "Skinless" coming the closest to reaching my Hall of Metal Glory. There's always something missing here though & I've struggled to put my finger on exactly what it is which has left me accepting that it's probably just that the songwriting isn't quite as engaging as the more youthful & care-free collection of death metal tunes I enjoyed so much only a month ago. I'd also suggest that I'm not quite as into the stylistic changes that Seance have taken, preferring the more consistently high-tempo & physically battering approach of "Fornever Laid to Rest". Please don't take these thoughts as a negative impression of "Saltrubbed Eyes" though because it's still a high-quality death metal record in its own right & one that has given me a lot of enjoyment over the last few days.

I honestly can't see "Saltrubbed Eyes" disappointing too many open-minded death metal fans even if it doesn't quite meet the same lofty standards set by its predecessor. If you can imagine a record that combines the vicious US death metal of Deicide, the hard-hitting, crunchy Swedish death metal of Grave, the mid-tempo grooves of Gorefest & the blistering shredding of Slayer then you'll get a fairly accurate image of what to expect & the reality is as good as that sounds on paper too. There's no doubt at all that Seance should have been much bigger than they were which has always baffled me. If anything that only provides an added incentive to jump onboard with a high-quality underground release like this one though, doesn't it?

For fans of Deicide, Malevolent Creation & Grave.

This extremely underground split release is one that I picked up through the tape trading scene back in the day but have rarely heard mentioned since. I was recently reminded of it when I stumbled over it on another website where it was having large amounts of praise heaped on it but I found that I couldn’t remember anything terribly positive about it so I thought I’d revisit it to see what the fuss was all about. The record was released by Dutch label Sicktone Records & features two three-piece artists, neither of which had achieved a full-length album yet or would amount to much afterwards either. The two bands sound quite different from each other but some of that is due to the vastly different production jobs as they share many of the same influences. Let’s take a look at the release in a little more detail.

Exulceration were a Swiss goregrind band that specialized in a sound that seems to have been borrowed from Carcass’ “Reek of Putrefaction” & the early Xysma releases. The production job on their "Infernal Disgust" E.P. is pretty thin & weak which doesn’t help the band’s cause but they don’t really possess the skills to pull this material off anyway in my opinion. The poor drumming doesn’t help much at all as it leaves everything sounding very messy & those vocoded vocals simply make the whole thing sound a little bit childish too but then… I generally feel the same way about most goregrind releases to be fair. The side made up of French deathgrind outfit Putrid Offal's "Premature Necropsy" E.P. is a different story altogether as the filthy & noticeably thicker production job really suits the band’s sound which is similar to “Symphonies of Sickness”-period Carcass & Sweden’s Necrony. I absolutely love the guitar tone for this style of music as it gives it that graveyard atmosphere that I generally look for. The riffs & vocals are both of a very decent standard &, once again, it’s only the fairly incompetent drumming that lets Putrid Offal down a bit here. Thankfully though, they have a little more about them than Exulceration did which allows me to see past that flaw & to gain a fair bit of enjoyment out of the B side overall.

Look, I’m not sure if it’s just a taste thing or not but I can’t see that this split release is in any way essential, despite quite liking the Putrid Offal material. In fact, I wouldn’t even call the B side essential listening so I can’t say that I’m surprised that this record has stayed largely in the underground. It may appeal to those that get off on an ultra-primitive, DYI style of grindcore but I think this will be the last time our paths cross to be brutally honest.

For fans of Carcass, Xysma & Necrony.