Incantation: Vanquish in Vengeance (2012)

Incantation is a legendary band in the death metal scene.  The Pennsylvanian (not to be confused with Transylvanian) band released one of the landmark albums in death metal history with the 1992 release Onward to Golgotha.  It took death metal into even more of an occult direction with eerie atmosphere, murky production and blasphemous lyrics.  It also led to a slew of imitators, bands trying hard to match that sound, but there is still just one Incantation.

The band has been steadily releasing material ever since their debut, though they have never been able to top that album.  The band is guitarist John McEntee's project at this point in time.  He was one of the founding members (other founding member Paul Ledney has split and formed Profanatica and Havohej) and has performed vocal duties since 2004.  This album was released after an uncharacteristic six-year gap since the previous album and sees the band coming back strong.

Guitar riffs still lurch and crawl throughout the album like an undead creature stalking its prey.  The croaking vocals are still suitably sepulchral.  The band is at its best when it is playing slower-paced songs.  The malevolence comes through that much clearer.  But their faster-paced material is no slouch either.  If I had to complain about one aspect, it would probably be the production.  This is a much more modern sound and it is very clear and crisp, but that is not necessarily what we are looking for from Incantation.  The murky riffs and grave subject matter require murkier production.  The riffs should feel more swampy and bogged-down. 

I quite like this release.  It still does stand up to Onward to Golgotha, but very few albums do.  But this is probably the second-best album I have yet heard from Incantation.

Brutality: Screams of Anguish (1993)

Brutality is something of an overlooked band rising out of the Tampa death metal scene in the late 1980's/early 1990's.  Despite forming in 1987 and being from the same area as legends like Death, Deicide, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Massacre and others, Brutality is not often mentioned when discussing death metal pioneers.  This is a shame because their first release is every bit as good as their contemporaries.

The band more than lives up to their name on this release, with bone-crushing riffs and some of the better death roars of the early death metal scene.  Yet for all of that brutality, the band still manages to surprise with some intricate melodic sections and some impressive technicality.  Take for example the instrumental interlude "Ceremonial Unearthing" with its piercing melody is nearly as impressive as Death's emotional shocker "Voice of the Soul".  And many of the solos present are top-notch and command attention.  But it is still the twisted and mangled riffs and off-kilter melodies that keep things fresh and interesting throughout. 

I will be honest.  I knew very little about this band before deciding to pick up this album.  I had heard of them, I think, but I had no idea about where they were from or their time period.  I am sure I could have guessed they were a death metal band by their name.  But it is a shame that Brutality is not better known.  They are easily on par with other death metal bands from their same scene.  Anyone who enjoys classic death metal should check out Brutality.

Grotesque: In the Embrace of Evil (1996)

This is the last of the three Swedish death metal hidden gems Darkness Shall Rise Productions unearthed last year.

Grotesque was an early Swedish death metal band that featured Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates), then known as Goatspell, on vocals.  It also featured members of Liers in Wait, neatly tying all three of the bands together, though Grotesque actually is the band from which the other two flowed, pre-dating both and actually being one of the first Swedish death metal bands. 

This is a compilation featuring most of the recorded output by Grotesque from 1988 through 1990.  Unfortunately the band would not stay together long enough to release a full-length album, just like fellow Swedish death pioneers Nihilist (who basically split into Entombed and Unleashed).  This stands as the best way to check out the works of this highly influential band.

The earlier material features a strong Possessed influence, what with the razor-sharp, high-octane riffing style.  Later tracks clearly start to show that they paved the way for the likes of Dismember, with buzzing guitar riffs and harsh, barked vocals.  Occasionally, a slower, more occult-sounding section takes center stage.  It is clear throughout this release that the band was attempting to find itself.  But one thing never changed: each song fucking slays.  This is absolutely one of the greatest Swedish death metal releases of all time, and I say that as a huge fan of the scene. 

It is a damn shame that Grotesque did not stick around to release a full-length.  They were an amazingly talented group with a lot of great ideas that were just starting to take shape.  Of the three releases I have covered recently, this one is by far my favorite.  And that is truly saying something. 

Liers in Wait: Spiritually Uncontrolled Art (1992)

This is the second of three posts dealing with pioneering Swedish melodeath reissues released by Darkness Shall Rise Productions.

I am trying really hard not to give this band crap about the misspelling of their name.  It is possible English is not their first language though, so I will give them a pass.  Liers in Wait formed when Grotesque broke up.  Grotesque will be covered tomorrow.  This is really a hidden gem in the world of Swedish melodeath.  The band released just this one EP, appeared on a Slayer tribute, and then split.  Some members went on to form the gothic/doom metal band Diabolique.  The lead vocals on this release were performed by Christofer Johnsson of Therion.  Guitarist Khristian Wåhlin later went on to fame as an artist, painting album covers for the likes of Dissection (Storm of the Light's Bane).

This though, is mostly similar to the At the Gates demo reviewed yesterday.  It is a death metal release with a lot of melody.  It reminds me of a more melodic version of Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness.  The songs have something of an unrestrained, chaotic quality to them.  They are a whirlwind of riffs and drums with melodies flowing freely through them.  It is an almost ethereal yet nightmarish sound.   

It is a shame that this release is so short, being a five-song EP.  As I mentioned, this is all there is for this band.  There were a lot of interesting elements here and a full-length album would have been worthwhile.  But sometimes, we simply cannot get what we want.  And we will likely never see more output from Liers in Wait.

At the Gates: Gardens of Grief (1991)

Last year, Darkness Shall Rise Productions reissued three seminal works of Swedish death metal.  Each of the next three posts will cover those releases.

Demos are not normally supposed to sound this good.  The whole point of demos is that they are raw with low production.  The bands have not typically refined their sound.  And yet, we have this one, which arrived shortly before At the Gates released their debut album.  Honestly, this may be one of the best works At the Gates have ever done, and yes, I am including their landmark Slaughter of the Soul album.

Gardens is a simple, four-song demo clocking in at under 20 minutes.  But the ideas present paved the way for an entire subgenre of music, the Gothenburg melodeath sound.  Now, this demo bares little resemblance to the sound that the band later popularized.  This release is much more of a death metal sound that happens to have a fair amount of melody.  The band's songwriting ability and the performances of each of the musicians are all plainly evident here.  The lyrics are surprisingly insightful and the band displayed an ability to craft impressively progressive song structures.  The latter is unfortunately mostly characteristic of their earlier releases.  By Slaughter of the Soul they had streamlined everything in order to resonate more with wider audiences.  The result was reasonable commercial viability, but it sacrificed some of the soul of the band.

It is clear throughout this release that there was some room for the band to grow.  The vocals definitely improved over time to what they were on this release.  On the other hand, some things changed for the worse after this demo.  As I said before, this is likely one of the better recordings the band ever released.  I have not had it for a long time, so I am still assessing how I feel about it compared to Slaughter of the Soul, but it may be right up there.

Sadus: A Vision of Misery (1992)

Sadus is a band that one would think I would absolutely love.  They are a Bay Area thrash metal band with a lot of technical riffs that frequently straddles the line to death metal.  Yet for some reason, I just never really got into them.  I had their monstrous 1990 album Swallowed in Black, and quite like it, but I never really LOVED it.  And that really does not make much sense.

Over the last few months though I have been listening to Swallowed in Black more and more and finding out how much it fucking slays.  And so there came an opportunity recently to add another Sadus album, and just like Swallowed, it is also a massive steamroller of an album.  Sadus has never been known for their melodic sensibilities.  They are much more about pummeling drums and a whirlwind of riffs.  The band comes armed with terrific musicians, including Steve DiGiorgio, the greatest bassist in metal history.  I could seriously listen to DiGiorgio all day long, he has a knack for catching the attention of the listener, which is something of a rare quality in a bassist.  Darren Travis provides the psychotic, howling vocals and teams with Rob Moore to throw riff after riff at the listener, with no real reprieve.  Most of the songs on this album are high-octane and loud as hell.  Toward the middle things slow down a little bit, but the band remained as aggressive as ever, even during slow portions.

What makes this album even more surprising is the fact that it came when a great many of the other thrash metal bands were either softening their sound or trying to copy Pantera.  Sadus did neither of those things on this release, though their latter day material does show an effort to remain relevant in an ever-changing metal landscape.  But that was far from the case in 1992 when this album was released. 

I will definitely be making an effort to check out some of the rest of Sadus's material and will be listening to the two albums I have from the band, which are apparently their better ones anyway, a lot more often.  It took a long time, but I think that I am finally getting into Sadus.

Psycroptic: As the Kingdom Drowns (2018)

This is another album that, had I heard it just a couple months before, would have likely made it very high on my top albums list, possibly even in the top five.  It is that good.  First off, there is the amazing cover art, which is one of my favorite album covers in a long time.  I need to find a t-shirt.  Then, of course, there is the music.

I have long been somewhat critical of technical death metal.  I like the genre generally.  There are some great bands in the genre, such as the mighty Suffocation of course.  It got to a point though where a lot of bands starting getting technical just to get technical, throwing in crazy riffs, sweeps and scales seemingly at random, and forgetting how to actually write songs. 

The Tasmanian devils in Psycroptic though were always an exception.  They used their technical abilities to supplement their strong songwriting.  I have been a fan since I first heard them over a decade ago, but somehow I missed out on their last couple of albums.  When I saw the cover art of this release, I had to grab it.  The album cover did not let me down either as this is actually the best album I have yet heard by the band.  There are a ton of riffs, which is to be expected, but the songs are generally short and compact with great hooks.  There is a bit of a melodic sensibility that had been missing present here, particularly in the vocals.  The harmonization in "We Were the Keepers" and "Beyond the Black" in particular really grab the listener.  Beyond that, I loved the almost speed metal riff in "Deadlands". 

This is a terrific album by a band who has really managed to live up to their potential.  It would have been very high on my top albums of 2018 list.  And I want that damn t-shirt.

Classic Debuts Pt.1: Dark Tranquillity

SKYDANCER (1993)

This was an album that helped kick off the entire Gothenburg melodeath genre.  Dark Tranquillity came out of nowhere with a release that is still highly regarded and hugely influential to this day.  It is true that the sound was eventually bastardized into hundreds of imitators and eventually led to the maligned metalcore sound that dominated American metal in the early 2000's.  But at the time of its release, there was really not much else like it.

Skydancer sounds like a gothic horror movie put to music.  It has an incredibly dark and creepy atmosphere and the strained, growled vocals and tremolo guitar picking add to that atmosphere.  The vocals here are primarily handled by future In Flames frontman Anders Fridén.  DT main man Michael Stanne is present on this album, playing guitar and handling some of the clean vocals.  In a weird twist, Stanne actually is the primary vocalist on the In Flames debut Lunar Strain.  The vocals, while not technically impressive and nowhere near as good as Fridén later proved to be capable of, still match the music quite well.

It is the tremolo guitar picking and lead guitar lines that really make this album.  The leads are quite high in the mix, so the listener cannot help but hear them as they whirl and circle around the vocal lines and rhythm section.  This is an element often found in black metal during this time period, but DT uses it to great effect throughout this album. 

I have likely discussed this album on this blog a number of times, but it absolutely bears repeating how great this album is.  Unfortunately it really does not bear much resemblance to anything else DT would ever do, with the exception of the follow-up EP Of Chaos and Eternal Night.  The band would eventually smooth out the rough edges of the sound, beef up the bottom end and sound like a completely different band by the time the next full-length The Gallery came out.  But it is those rough edges and rawness that make this album so great.  This is still on the short list of my favorite melodeath albums of all time. 

Engulfed: Engulfed in Obscurity (2017)

One of the things I love most about listening to heavy metal is finding bands from unusual countries that one would not think would have a metal scene.  Metal has become such a worldwide phenomenon that scenes have sprung up in places like Africa and the Middle East among a ton of other places.  Here, we have Engulfed, the first band I have ever heard from Turkey.  Technically I have heard them before, I reviewed their 2012 EP several years ago, but this is the first physical release I have from a Turkish band and Engulfed was the first Turkish band I heard back then (somehow I have missed out on Cenotaph so far).  So now we have the band's first full-length.

I had to review my previous Engulfed review to refresh my memory a bit of the band.  Some time ago, the computer that I had that EP saved to crashed so I have not heard it for a long time.  I remember really liking it, which is why I decided to pick up the full-length.  One song appears on both, the ever-charming "Inseminated with Demon Seed". 

Engulfed takes on more of an old-school occult death metal sound.  The reference point I used in the last review and the one that is still the most fitting is Incantation.  The band pummels the listener with riffs and sledgehammer drumming.  The vocals are deep, demonic roars.  And engulfing (see what I did there?) everything is a hostile, hellish atmosphere. 

This is the band's debut full-length and it re-captures everything that made the EP so good, I'm pretty sure.  It has been awhile.  I am looking forward to hearing more from the band in the future. 

Varathron: Patriarchs of Evil (2018)

I mentioned a couple of days ago during my post on Kawir that there would be another album by a Greek black metal band soon.  Well here it is.  This is just the second release by Varathron in my collection and I really must have missed something.  The previous release I had was a compilation of the band's demos and it must not have clicked enough with me so I never picked anything else up.  I have missed a lot.

Varathron manages to perfectly capture the sound and atmosphere of Theogonia-era Rotting Christ here.  This is a perfect example of why I love the Hellenic black metal scene so much.  Varathron's riffs take influence from heavy, thrash and melodic death metal.  The production is terrific, making each instrument and riff clear.  The drumming in particular stands out, with intriguing fills in between keeping time.  There is never a dull moment or a bad track throughout and the band manages to keep things fresh and interesting by not falling into any sort of predictable patterns.  Between the energetic riffing style, dark atmosphere and the grunted vocals of Stefan Necroabyssious, the album really does sound like the Gods of Olympus are angry and taking their fury out on the world.

I am absolutely blown away by this album every time I put it on.  I have definitely missed out on something by not exploring this band more thoroughly.  This album definitely stands up well to the best albums by Rotting Christ.  If I had heard it just a few months ago, this would likely have finished very high on my best of 2018 list.

Entrench: Through the Walls of Flesh (2017)

Even though I am a huge fan of thrash metal, for some reason the Swedish scene has mostly eluded me.  Oh sure, I have checked out The Crown and Carnal Forge, but I still need to hear quite a bit more.  The Swedish thrash scene is not as highly regarded as the German scene or the U.S. scenes, or even the black or death metal scenes from Sweden, but it does still have a following.  And so, I need to check out more Swedish thrash.

That brings us to Entrench, a newer band whose sound is mostly rooted in the German thrash metal scene.  The album cover calls to mind Sodom, and they seem to be the primary influence musically.  The music here is dirty, raw and fast.  It is the sound of warfare, of bullets flying, and bodies piling up.  On occasion, the band comes close to crossing the line between thrash metal and death metal, particularly on the track "Enter the Fray", which sounds like early Death.  The vocalist delivers his lines in a gruff bark, which calls to mind the early works of the German thrash masters Kreator and Sodom.

This is an excellent album that calls to mind early German thrash metal classics.  Yes, it is really nothing new and it is by no means a perfect album, but there is a reason that the early German thrash metal scene was so good and this album captures that.  Entrench has a couple of other albums out there and I will have to check them out.  I do not think the band is terribly representative of the Swedish thrash metal scene due to the heavy German influences, but it is still damn impressive.

Kawir: Πάτερ Ήλιε Μήτερ Σελάνα (2016)

Nope.  No clue what that means.  Not even sure what language it is in, though due to the band being from Greece, I can probably guess.  Readers who have been following me for awhile know how much I love Rotting Christ.  But even I can admit that since Theogonia, the band has been in a precipitous decline.  Luckily, there are a few other bands that play the kind of Hellenic black metal that Rotting Christ had perfected.  Kawir is one of those bands.  Another one will be covered shortly.

This is my third album by Kawir, and it is actually not their most recent release, which is one that I picked up some time last year.  I always thoroughly enjoy their music, but it has only been recently that I have realized just how much.  Part of that is likely due to fading quality of Rotting Christ material.

Kawir in the past has distinguished themselves from their peers by using Greek instrumentation and lilting Greek folk melodies in conjunction with typical Pagan black metal riffs.  But where once these elements were kept separate and often sounded like entirely different bands, Kawir has now figured out how to put the elements together, using rampaging riffs on top of the Greek folk elements.  Thus they have really come into their own on this release.  They built on this for the follow-up album.

The Hellenic black metal scene has been one of my favorites since I heard Rotting Christ for the first time and realized there were other bands like them.  This release shows Kawir reaching their full potential.  It is a very strong album with a number of memorable songs.  If the next album by Rotting Christ disappoints once more, at least I can look forward to more by Kawir.

Root: Kärgeräs - Return from Oblivion (2016)

Root is an odd band.  They can trace their roots back to 1987.  The Czech band is one of the earlier black metal bands and pre-date the Norwegian scene, often called the second wave.  Essentially, they took what Bathory had done before and further refined it.  The music is, for the most part, unabashedly black metal, though with more melodic heavy metal elements.  But what sets Root apart in a big way is the vocals.  Rather than being delivered in the typical raspy shriek common amongst black metal bands, vocalist Big Boss (that's him on the cover) mostly sings in a clean baritone, providing a haunting atmosphere that fits the music surprisingly well.  At times he will still use some sneering growling vocals, but for the most part he uses the clean tone throughout.

This is a concept album.  Not only that, it is a sequel to a concept album that Root released in 1996, titled simply Kärgeräs.  I have not completely figured out what the concept is, and it does not help that I have yet to hear the original, but I will likely explore the lyrical themes as I delve deeper into the album.  One thing done particularly well is that Big Boss uses different vocal styles to portray the different characters in the story. 

The music is incredibly interesting as well.  There are sections where the riffs fly by with incredible speed and precision and the band's early black metal inflections can be plainly heard.  And then there are others where the band manages to sound hauntingly melodic.  The drumming of Paul Dread in particular is amazing as he moves effortlessly from style to style.  But as is always the case for Root (at least on the three albums I have heard and I assume it to be true throughout their history), the vocals of Big Boss is the biggest highlight of the album.  He is an amazing vocalist and is truly underrated in the metal scene. 

The only complaint that I have about this album is that the second half tends to drag a little bit.  It is generally slower and more somber and brooding than the frantic intensity of the first half.  It is also much more emotional.  "Do You Think is it the End?" though perfectly brings closure to the album, slowly fading into nothingness as Big Boss chants the title over and over.

For some reason, Root simply never achieved the same kind of following that other early black metal pioneers like Bathory and Blasphemy did.  This is a very complex and moving album, as all albums by the band have been so far.  I will have to delve deeper into the story on this one and hopefully check out the original.  I need to hear more Root.

Hear 'N Aid: An All-Star Album for Famine Relief (1985)

In the mid 1980's there were a number of benefit projects done in the music world to raise money for various causes, most notably famine relief in Africa.  Of course there was Live-Aid, a huge benefit concert including a number of famous bands.  Then there were the one-off projects like Band Aid ("Do They Know it's Christmas?") and USA for Africa ("We are the World").  A lesser known project was comprised of metal and hard rock musicians and was called Hear 'N Aid.

Hear 'N Aid recorded one song, a track called "Stars", which was written by Ronnie James Dio and his band members Vivian Campbell and Jimmy Bain.  The song features lead vocals from Dio, Eric Bloom (Blue Öyster Cult), Don Dokken, Kevin DuBrow (Quiet Riot), Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Dave Meniketti (Y&T), Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt) and Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche).  Backing vocals were provided by members from a number of bands from the time period including W.A.S.P., Night Ranger, Journey and really oddly, Spinal Tap.  Michael McKean and Harry Shearer appeared in character as David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls respectively. 

The song was a fairly generic straightforward rocker in the vein of Dio songs like "Rainbow in the Dark" and "Holy Diver".  The vocals are impressive enough given the talent involved, but the best part is absolutely the competing guitar solos provided by Campbell, Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot), Buck Dharma (Blue Öyster Cult), Brad Gillis (Night Ranger), Craig Goldy (Giuffria), George Lynch (Dokken), Yngwie Malmsteen, Eddie Ojeda (Twisted Sister) and Neal Schon (Journey).  The shredding solos are the highlight of the entire album, much less the song.  The rest of the music was performed by members of Dio, Iron Maiden and Quiet Riot.  I said it was generic, but that in no way means it is bad.  It is a decent song, but the most interesting aspect is definitely the back story, and not so much the song itself.

"Stars" was released in two formats: a single and a compilation album.  This is the compilation album.  Unfortunately, the rest of the compilation fails to live up to the song.  It is mostly a collection of live tracks from groups like Accept, Motörhead, Rush, Scorpions, Kiss and others.  But it is kind of an odd collection of tracks.  Most of them are lesser-known songs from the bands.  For instance, we have "Up to the Limit" from Accept and "On the Road" from Motörhead.  The only one that makes much sense is "The Zoo" from Scorpions, which is a classic track from the band, but was several years old at the time this album was released.  The Jimi Hendrix song makes even less sense as he had been dead for almost 20 years by the time this came out.

Ultimately, the album is worth checking out just for "Stars".  It might be better to just track down the single, if you are really interested, or just check out Youtube.

Bloodbath: The Arrow of Satan is Drawn (2018)

Here is an excellent album to be playing on Valentine's Day.

There are not too many metal supergroups that have been going as long as Bloodbath.  It is kind of the nature of supergroups to form, release an album, do a tour, and that's it.  But Bloodbath has kept going and going and going.  This is now the band's fifth full-length album among a couple of EPs, a live album, a split, and a couple of singles.  That is quite a lot for a supergroup.

There have been different iterations of the band over the years, though Jonas Renske and Anders Nyström (both from Katatonia) have been with the group from the beginning.  Currently the band is rounded out by Martin Axenrot (Opeth) on drums, Joakim Carlsson (Craft) on guitar and Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost) providing the death growls.  In the past, Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) and Peter Tagtren (Hypocrisy) have been the vocalists.  This is Holmes's second album with the band, but for some reason I completely missed the first one, so I had no idea he had been with the band before.  Holmes is kind of an interesting choice because Paradise Lost has not had any death metal elements since the early 1990's. 

Enough of the background though.  As has been the case since the beginning and was the original purpose of the band, Bloodbath plays old school death metal that is mostly derived from early Swedish bands like Grave and Entombed, with a little bit of Florida death metal thrown in for good measure (the band's name comes from a Cancer song).  It is not surprising then that the music of Bloodbath is generally faster-paced with buzzsaw guitar riffs and deep, roaring vocals.  There is a general dark and nasty tone present throughout that fits in well with the themes of blood, death, gore and warfare.

The most interesting song on the album is "Bloodicide" due to the guest musicians.  Karl Willetts (Bolt Thrower, Memoriam), Jeff Walker (Carcass), and John Walker (Cancer) all contribute vocals.  Although for those not terribly familiar with those singers, it may be somewhat difficult to tell. 

This is yet another impressive release by Bloodbath.  I still prefer Åkerfeldt's vocals over those of Holmes, but I enjoyed the riffs a little more on this one.  There is a bit more of the Dismember-style buzzsaw guitar tone on this release rather than the murkier tones of Grave.  That has always been one of my favorite aspects of the Swedish death metal and Bloodbath uses it to great effect on this release.  I have seen other reviews call this the weakest of Bloodbath's releases and while it is true that some of the songs are not quite as memorable as on albums past, it is still a damn impressive release.

Orchid: The Mouths of Madness (2013)

For some reason I never reviewed this album when I first obtained a digital copy of it.  Now that I have a physical copy I figured it was time to do so.

Orchid is named after a Black Sabbath song and they wear that influence on their sleeve.  It is extraordinarily obvious that this band's primary influence is the pioneering metal band from the moment the album begins.  It is obvious in the artwork on the cover, the band photos, the production, and of course the music.  There is really nothing inherently wrong with being highly influenced by a band and attempting to sound somewhat like them.  Orchid though takes it to a new level.  

Each of the songs on this album is essentially a deconstruction of Black Sabbath songs.  I am not going to go through track by track but some highlights are "Mountains of Steel", which is essentially "A National Acrobat" and the opening riff from "Leaving it All Behind" is absolutely taken from "After Forever" while the song basically morphs into "Killing Yourself to Live" later on.  I have read a number of reviews of this album that talk about it being influenced by Sabbath, however no one really has touched on the fact that this is basically a Black Sabbath tribute.  The songs really are that close.

I will give the band credit that they are quite convincing at this.  The music sounds authentic and genuine.  Vocalist Theo Mindell does a great Ozzy impression and Mark Thomas Baker nails the down-tuned riffs of Tony Iommi.  I do thoroughly enjoy listening to the songs on this album.  They are catchy and I find myself singing along to them.  I would not have bothered tracking down a physical copy if I did not enjoy the album.  I just wish Orchid had a little more originality on this release.

Decayed: Ataque Infernal (2000)

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I would be covering my favorite Portuguese black metal band today.  Well, here it is.  I do not know a lot about Portuguese black metal, but it would appear that Decayed is one of the longest tenured, if not the very first such band.  Their first release was way back in 1990.

This is now the fifth release I have picked up by Decayed, and it is one of the earlier ones.  Their sound has always been incredibly raw and hateful, but it was particularly so on this one.  This is not a full-length album, it is essentially two small releases put together.  The first side is mostly new material, consisting of an intro, two short barn-burners and a longer track.  The second side is a collection of covers of clear influences for the band.  There are songs here originally released by Kreator, Violent Force, Bathory and Sodom. 

Decayed is a black metal band whose sound much more resembles a cross between early German thrash metal in the vein of the aforementioned Sodom and Kreator, Swedish black metal such as Marduk and Dark Funeral, and South American groups like Sarcofagó.  In other words, it is raw, ugly, relentless, hateful, crushing and evil.  There are not a lot of dynamic moments throughout the original material and it is over a little too quickly.  The covers are done quite well though. 

I do not want to give any sort of negative impression here, because I really do like it, as I do all of the stuff I have heard from the band to date.  It is simply that this is not a particularly essential release by the band (personally I prefer Into the Depths of Hell).  It is a nice short introduction of what to expect from the band.  Decayed has a massive discography and typically put out several releases a year, though they have slowed a bit lately.  Figuring out where to start is not an easy thing to do.  This is not a bad choice, but it would not be one of my recommendations. 

Wømb: Perceptions of Sightlessness (2013)

Last year, about this exact same time of year, I purchased the physical copy of a split that had been previously emailed to me by the record label for a review.  It was a split that I enjoyed and I decided to try to track down a physical copy of it.  Unfortunately, the seller indicated that he was having some difficulty in finding it and then never got back to me.  I got my money back, but not the split.  And so, I decided to keep my eyes open for the physical copy of the split, but purchase what I could of the two bands involved.  Several months ago, I picked up the Hellcharge demo.  And just recently, I received this demo by Portuguese black metal band Wømb.

Wømb is the much more raw and chaotic of the two bands featured on the This Knot... split.  Their sound has a lot of punk elements and call back to the early days when black metal was being formed out of speed, thrash, and punk.  The production is incredibly lo-fi and murky as hell, making it sometimes difficult to fully grasp what is being done musically.  But, let's be honest here, the band is really just making a lot of noise.  There is no real melodies, just riffs and pounding drums with shrieked vocals.  The songs are all very short, with one song just barely longer than three and a half minutes.  So that makes this a very quick and hostile listen.

There is not much information that I can find about Wømb.  Members are not named anywhere.  I get the impression there are two of them, based on very fuzzy pictures.  The band is fairly active releasing mostly demos and splits, no full-length releases.  It is not likely they are seeking fame of any sort based on all of this.

I think the Portuguese black metal scene is somewhat underrated personally.  I quite enjoy this band's chaotic take on black metal and I liked Hellcharge a bit too, though not quite as much.  My favorite band though will be looked at in the next post.

High on Fire Wins the Grammy

I'm a little shocked by this.  High on Fire, a legitimate metal band that is not way past their prime won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance.  I still have not had a chance to listen to their latest album, but if it is anything like their last few, and I assume it is, I'm sure it was great.  I have been a fan of the band for about ten years now.

High on Fire was up against Trivium, Between the Buried and Me, Underoath, and Deafheaven.  I'll be honest, I'm shocked Deafheaven did not get it as they seem to be very popular with the Pitchfork set.  High on Fire was by far my preference as I don't care much for BTBAM or Deafheaven and I can't stand Underoath.  So anyway, congrats to High on Fire.

"Hair Metal" That Does Not Suck

This is a post that I have been thinking about doing for a long time actually.  My wife has really gotten into 1980's hard rock/metal over the last couple of years, so it is the primary thing playing in her car when we go out of town, which is fairly frequently.  Now, I was obviously very aware of the genres for a long time, having grown up in the 1980's.  And for the most part, it is not a genre I care all that much for, though I definitely prefer it to pop, rap and country.  There are definitely a few great bands mixed in there though.  A lot of bands got kind of lumped into the "hair band" category due to it being such a popular form of music at the time, and a lot of those bands did not really qualify.  Basically, if you played rock music and had long hair, you were a "hair band".

Below are some of the better 1980's metal bands that were lumped into the "hair band" genre:

Xenomorph: Subspecies (1993)

Over the last couple of years, I have been keeping an eye out for a few select demos.  I managed to recently add the first demo by Dawn of Azazel, something I have been watching for for almost a decade.  I also picked up a demo by Melechesh, though I suspect it may have been a bootlegged copy, and the demo from Innsmouth, which I previously reviewed.  But none of those demos were as exciting to track down as this one. 

I have talked at great length about the metal scene in my home state of Nebraska, and though it is improving greatly due to groups like Garoted, it still leaves much to be desired.  My personal pick for the best album of all time from a Nebraska metal band is Empyreal Regimes by Xenomorph.  And I am not sure there is really another contender out there.  Unfortunately, due to the obscurity of the band, it is hard to come across any of their recorded output, though Blood Harvest Records re-released their full-length a few years back.  I grabbed it as soon as it was available.  I managed to find an original copy of the band's demo just a few weeks ago for a reasonable price and snagged it as well.

Predictably low production value notwithstanding, this is a very high quality demo that presents the band mostly as they would sound on their upcoming full-length.  Interestingly, none of the songs present on this demo would appear on the full-length released just two years later.  The murky, technical riffing style that the band used to great effect on the full-length is present, as well as late singer Pappshammer's psychotic growl.  The drumming is incredibly interesting, performing an almost endless number of fills among the complex rhythms.  Drummer Chris Haley simply never finds time to slow down and relax.  

The playing on this release was still somewhat raw and there was a little more growth and maturity that occurred prior to Xenomorph releasing their debut, but this band still is very close to the one on the full-length.  Xenomorph remains a curiosity.  I think they could have been a very strong death metal band, unfortunately the untimely death of Pappshammer in 1996 ended the band.  It's too bad, they were really onto something.

Gospel of the Horns Box Set

Over the past year, I have picked up a number of box sets, whether complete or only partial.  The bands have ranged from incredibly obscure (Nuclear Death, Treblinka (who eventually became Tiamat)) to the more well-known, at least in metal circles (Primordial, Cirith Ungol, Possessed).  This one falls in the former category, though it is a band with whom I am well familiar.

As longtime readers of this blog know, and there may be a few of those still out there somewhere, I am a big fan of the Australian blackened thrash metal scene, often known as "war metal".  Gospel of the Horns fits in well with that scene and, as is common in these bands, features members who have played with Destroyer 666, among others.  Howitzer remains the only member of the band that has been a constant in the band's lineup, and he played drums for D666 on Unchain the Wolves. 

This is a mostly complete box set of the Gospel of the Horns material.  It consists of three tapes, and includes both of the band's full-length releases and one album features their 1998 and 2012 EPs.  The only other material out there is another EP and a couple of demos, so this comes close to being the complete Gospel of the Horns experience.  I previously owned both of the full-lengths, so only the two EPs on the first tape were new to me. 

One thing that becomes clear upon listening to all of the material in this set is that Gospel of the Horns has never changed their sound.  The earliest material still has the same thrash-infused black metal sound as any of the later material.  It is still delivered in a blistering crunch and Howitzer's vocals have always sounded like he is gargling with battery acid. 

I can not find any information about Gospel of the Horns breaking up, but they have not released anything new since the 2012 EP Ceremonial Conjuration, included herein.  If they have broken up, this is a relatively cheap and easy way to access all of their vital material.  It would be nice to see something else from them again though. 

*Image was taken from the Invictus website.

Metal Church: Damned if You Do (2018)

I have never understood why Metal Church is not more popular.  Sure, the band's first couple of albums are generally considered classics, by those that have heard them, but there are not nearly enough of them.  After those two, Metal Church managed to continue putting out solid to excellent releases for the next thirty years and counting.

Part of the problem with Metal Church not being better regarded is the fact that the band has changed singers several times.  David Wayne was the frontman on those first two classic albums but Mike Howe has probably been with the band the longest.  Howe has an incredible voice of his own, but is not quite as talented as Wayne.  But since most of the albums I own have Howe on vocals, he is the voice I associate with the band.

Well, enough of that.  This is actually the first Metal Church album I have heard since 2008's This Present Wasteland, which was a tad disappointing due to the presence of neither Wayne nor Howe on vocals.  After I saw them live a year or so ago, I was impressed enough that I considered checking them out again, so when this album dropped, I decided to take a chance.  I may have to revisit some stuff because this album is, by and large, fantastic.  Every song on the album is full of great riffs and catchy hooks.  Of particular note are the anthemic "Revolution Underway" and the title track.

Guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof remains the driving force behind the band, and has become an accomplished songwriter.  Most of the songs here have standard structure, but that only aids in the infectious quality of the songs.  Lead guitarist Rick Van Zandt has come into his own as well, playing well-placed solos and leads that add variety to Vanderhoof's crunchy riffs.  Howe's vocals complete the melodic trio.

Damned if You Do is proof that good old-fashioned melodic heavy metal still exists.

Cattle Decapitation: Medium Rarities (2018)

One thing you can always count on from Cattle Decapitation is that their album covers are never boring.  Everyone's favorite vegetarian death/grind sickos have been going for quite some time now, mostly spreading their message of animal supremacy over human rights and capturing an interesting niche following.  It also helps that their music is generally fantastic.

As the title suggests, this is a compilation of some rare tracks from the group's history, several of which are actually previously unreleased.  There is stuff here from a split the band did with Caninus, unreleased demos, Japanese bonus tracks, a song they did for the Carcass tribute album, and one they did for the Decibel flexi series.  It is actually quite a lot of material, but Cattle Decapitation being who they are, still manage to get through all 23 tracks in under 40 minutes.

So what do we have here?  And is it worth it?  Well, it depends on what you are looking for.  I prefer some of the more death metal-oriented work the band has been churning out lately.  My favorite part of the Cattle Decapitation sound is the extreme vocal harmonizing that the band has worked out to perfection over the last few albums.  Some of that is present here, but by and large the primary material featured on this album shows the band in its infancy or generally very early.  Many of the songs, particularly in the first half, are very raw and chaotic, with little regard for anything other than making noise.  As the album progresses though, the songs become more recent and one can actually hear the band's sound take shape and the musicians refine their abilities.  So, at least from that perspective, the release is interesting.  Unfortunately, unless one is a Cattle Decapitation completist, this is not an essential release. 

Hellwitch: Omnipotent Convocation (2009)

Yes, this album is already several years old.  I just recently picked it up though and that does not stop me from reviewing it now.  Especially since Hellwitch is a band that more people should be aware of.

Hellwitch's debut album Syzygial Miscreancy is revered as an underground metal classic.  Unfortunately, the band split up before they were able to release a worthy successor.  For a while anyway.  The band re-formed, sort of, a few years later, but it still took until 2009 before the follow-up to their debut was finally released.  Only singer/guitarist Patrick Ranieri has remained with the band throughout its history, with a bit of a revolving door of other musicians.  So it is probably fair to say that the band is his brainchild.

The sound of Hellwitch is rooted in the technical thrash that was emerging in the late 1980's/early 1990's with groups like Atheist, Heathen, Sadus, and the like.  But Hellwitch is more extreme with more of a death metal leaning through the heavier riffing style and the rougher vocal style.  Think a thrashier Death on Individual Thought Patterns, and you have a pretty good idea.  But where Death started heading in that direction after releasing a few standard death metal releases, Hellwitch was always on that track.  It seems almost backwards then that Hellwitch covers the Death classic "Infernal Death".

Hellwitch is damn fast, with blindingly fast riffs, pounding drums, and throbbing bass.  The vocals are delivered in an aggressive sneer that Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth would be proud of.  The band keeps things interesting by employing frequent time signature changes, tempo changes, and even the occasional out-of-left-field passage that sounds like an entirely different band.  All of this results in one hell of a good listen.  My personal favorite track on the album is "Epitome of Disgrace" which seems to be the best example of all of the technicality and brutality coming together for one perfect song.  Everything Hellwitch was working towards throughout the album came together with perfect clarity here.

As I said before, Hellwitch should be a more well-known band.  They remain legends in the Florida metal scene for good reason, but they are criminally overlooked elsewhere.  It has already been ten years since this album was released without much new material from them.  Hopefully something else drops soon.