Initial Impressions: Brutal Truth Flexi-Disc

Yesterday, I received my latest issue of Decibel in the mail and there was a surprise: a free flexi-disc featuring two songs off of Brutal Truth's latest album. I was not totally familiar with the band. I have heard of them of course, but since grindcore is not really my thing, outside of a few exceptions, I had never really heard them.

Well, I am definitely impressed with the band's sound. They're loud, brutal, and fast. Of course all of that could be expected, they are a grindcore band after all. There is enough metal influences here to keep me interested though. The band sounds like more recent Napalm Death, a group that I have grown to really enjoy.

This is just a small sample of the band's material, and I have to say that it has piqued my interest enough to seek out more of the band's stuff. I will have to start with the new album. Thanks Decibel.

What I've Been Listening To

I have not been keeping very good track of things during my hiatus from posting on this blog. But, here's a rough idea of some of the stuff I have been listening to:

Unleashed
Amon Amarth
Deceased...
Darkthrone
Lightning Swords of Death
Vomit Remnants
Razor of Occam
Brain Drill
Woe of Tyrants

I was on a big Deceased... kick last week and listened to all of my albums by them, and I do have quite a few. I have not bought anything new in a long time. Most of my money has been going to trying to get my law firm off the ground. I do have four criminal court appointments going right now. I think the most challenging part of this will be trying to get clients. Advertising is a must.

I do want to thank the individuals who commented for their support as well as my fiancee for hers. I will probably be writing reviews here shortly. As I mentioned I do not have any new albums, although there are quite a few that I want. Lots of good stuff has been coming out. My wantlist includes the new albums (and some older ones) from the following:

Cradle of Filth (bit of a guilty pleasure, but they're better than Dimmu Borgir these days)
The Crown
Sacrifice
Heathen
Forbidden
Atheist
Hail of Bullets
Sodom
Grand Magus
Kamelot
Vektor
Voivod
Fleshgod Apocalypse

Update 2

I have made the decision to start up my own firm. I will keep you all up to date. Next week, I intend to get back to posting regularly. Thank you for your patience.

Update

As of today I am unemployed. I am not going to go into reasons or what happened. I have some time to get things figured out. My fiancee is being incredibly supportive and I want to publicly thank her for that. Once again, I ask you to stay with me, I will get back to posting regularly soon. Thank you.

Weekly Recap: 10/31-11/6

Well last Sunday was Halloween. My fiancee decided this year to dress up the rabbit, a checkered giant named Genghis. She decided to dress him as a dragon this year. We just kind of hung around the house for the holiday and carved pumpkins.

My trial date has been set for November 16. I will not be quite as active until that trial is over. It's kind of a stressful one.

I did finally get the new Melechesh album on Friday, and already posted my impressions on it.

Amon Amarth: Once Sent from the Golden Hall
At the Gates: Slaughter of the Soul
At the Gates: The Red in the Sky is Ours
Blind Guardian: Imaginations from the Other Side
Cathedral: Carnival Bizarre
Cauldron: Chained to the Nite
Cradle of Filth: Cruelty and the Beast
Cradle of Filth: Middian
Dark Funeral: Attera Totus Sanctus
Dark Funeral: Secrets of the Black Arts
Dark Tranquillity: The Gallery
Death: Symbolic
Drawn and Quartered: Merciless Hammer of Lucifer
Emperor: In the Nightside Eclipse
God Dethroned: Passiondale
Immolation: Dawn of Possession
Immolation: Failures for Gods
Immolation: Majesty and Decay
Immolation: Shadows in the Light
Incantation: Diabolical Possession
Incantation: Onward to Golgotha
King Diamond: "Them"
Lion's Share: Dark Hours
Melechesh: Sphynx
Melechesh: The Epigenesis
My Dying Bride: For Lies I Sire
My Dying Bride: The Angel and the Dark River
Necrodeath: Into the Macabre
Panzerchrist: Soul Collector
Satyricon: Dark Medieval Times
Unleashed: As Yggdrasil Trembles
Unleashed: Hammer Battalion

Initial Impressions: Melechesh: The Epigenesis

I was at a Continuing Legal Education seminar in Omaha yesterday, just six blocks away from Homer's, so you know I had to run over there. It's been several weeks since I bought anything new, and I had a list 18 CDs long that I wanted to find. Well, apparently Homer's is scaling down their selection, I only found one CD there from my list. But man, is it a good one.

Melechesh has been one of my favorite bands ever since I discovered Emissaries a few years ago. This is also the band's first album since that one released. Melechesh's sound, a blend of thrash and black metal, with Middle Eastern rhythms and melodies, is truly original and sounds amazing. Their vocalist Ashmedi is very strong and their songwriting skills are top notch. These strengths are evident in full force once more on this album.

This album sounds a little bit more polished than prior releases. Perhaps this is due to the band's increasing visibility on the international metal scene. It's also a little less chaotic than past albums. Neither of these two things really detract at all from this album as Melechesh again puts out a fantastic album. I do not like it quite as much as their last album, at least initially, but it could easily grow on me. I have only heard it once so far.

Year in Metal: 1995

As I mentioned earlier, for the next few weeks, posts will be less frequent. Please bear with me. I have a major trial coming up soon that I am spending the majority of my time preparing for.

AT THE GATES: SLAUGHTER OF THE SOUL
Who's honestly surprised to see this one here? This was a massively imfluential album for the melodeath genre and is the album most people think of when they think of that style. Oddly At the Gates streamlined their sound quite a bit. Their earlier material sounds little like this one. The album is hard-hitting, aggressive, and fast. For good reason, it is an absolute classic. Unfortunately, At the Gates broke up afterwards.

BLIND GUARDIAN: IMAGINATIONS FROM THE OTHER SIDE
This is probably my favorite Blind Guardian album. It is still reasonably aggressive, for Blind Guardian anyway, with an excellent sense of melody. The German power metal has never sounded as good as they do on this release. It is a darker sound than some of their earlier albums, which adds to the mystique of this release. Blind Guardian would become overly complicated on later releases, this was the last album where they were wholly concentrated on putting out quality songs.

DARK TRANQUILLITY: THE GALLERY
I am a huge Dark Tranquillity fan, and this is their finest album. This was before the band became too reliant on electronic elements and their last that was pure Swedish melodic death metal, plain and simple. Along with the above At the Gates album, this is one of the hallmarks of the Gothenburg style of melodic death, with dual leads and gruff vocals driving the music. The reissue is a must as it has the band covering tracks from Metallica, Iron Maiden, Kreator, Mercyful Fate, and Sacred Reich.

DEATH: SYMBOLIC
This is probably my favorite album by Death, as it combines the band's earlier death metal sound with the more progressive sound exhibited by the band's final album. Chuck Schuldiner's vocals are different, higher and more melodic, than they were on the band's earlier material. The razor-sharp riffs remain and Schuldiner's keen sense of songwriting is definitely still present. Some of these songs, such as "Crystal Mountain" are absolute classics.

PARADISE LOST: DRACONIAN TIMES
I had a hard time between this album and My Dying Bride's 1995 release, but I ultimately chose Paradise Lost because it was an early favorite album. This was one of my formative albums. Paradise Lost's sound was in a state of flux at this point, they were not really playing doom metal or gothic metal, but more of a traditional metal with gothic and doom influences. I have loved this album ever since I first heard it. The dynamics are incredible and the riffs are amazing. The vocals are incredibly powerful as well. This is just a great album, and an overlooked classic.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Alice in Chains: Alice in Chains, Cathedral: The Carnival Bizarre, Faith No More: King for a Day...Fool for a Lifetime, Fear Factory: Demanufacture, Immortal: Battles in the North, King Diamond: The Spider's Lullabye, Moonspell: Wolfheart, My Dying Bride: The Angel and the Dark River, Opeth: Orchid, Trouble: Plastic Green Head, White Zombie: Astro Creep: 2000.

BANDS THAT FORMED IN 1995: Borknagar, Ensiferum, Shadows Fall, Xasthur.

Weekly Recap: 10/24-10/30

I'm getting ready for a couple of trials in November, which is why my posting has not been as frequent lately. Hopefully, things will pick back up once these are out of the way. My fiancee and I went back to our home town for the weekend. I took her to the pumpkin patch on Saturday as one of our Halloween rituals. My dad and I went to the Nebraska football game on Saturday. Other than that, not much to report.

Abigail Williams: Legend
Acid Bath: When the Kite Strong Pops
Benediction: Killing Music
Blind Guardian: At the Edge of Time
Coldworker: Rotting Paradise
Corrosion of Conformity: Deliverance
Cradle of Filth: Bitter Suites to Succubi
Cradle of Filth: Cruelty and the Beast
Cradle of Filth: Dusk and Her Embrace
Cradle of Filth: Lovecraft and Witch Hearts
Cradle of Filth: Nymphetamine
Cradle of Filth: Thornography
Darkane: Insanity
Enslaved: Axioma Ethica Odini
Exodus: Fabulous Disaster
Hammerfall: Threshold
In Flames: Lunar Strain
Kataklysm: Heaven's Venom
Mantic Ritual: Executioner
Mayhem: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Metal Church: This Present Wasteland
Pro-Pain: Foul Taste of Freedom
Seance: Awakening of the Gods
Testament: Low
The Absence: Enemy Unbound
Tribulation: The Horror
Voivod: Negatron
Voivod: Nothingface
Wastelander: Wardrive
Wolfpack Unleashed: Anthems of Resistance