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.

2012 Reissue of the Year

I am going with Xenomorph which has been reissued on vinyl and on CD.  The CD also includes the band's demo.  Xenomorph is from Nebraska, my home state.  This is a terrific death metal album that fans of the genre definitely need to check out.  I picked up the vinyl release.

Underrated Death Metal Albums Pt. 2 of 2

Picking up where I left off yesterday, here are the remaining underrated death metal albums.

PANZERCHRIST: BATTALION BEAST
Really, any Panzerchrist album is capable of being listed here. The Danish death metal band has virtually no exposure in the U.S. and their albums are incredibly tough to find and often expensive when you do. The U.S. is missing out on one of the most aggressive, rabid, and powerful death metal bands ever. The band incorporates some black metal influences (mostly vocal style but some music) into their death metal sound, but this is more of the blast beat-driven black metal style. If you're looking for subtlety, look somewhere else, this band is raw and brutal as fuck.

DEMILICH: NESPITHE
The Finnish death metal band is really weird. Featuring unconventional song structures and absolutely bizarre vocal styles (think croaking bullfrog), Demilich was truly and unusual band. Coming around at a time when there was not much experimentation in death metal, Demilich pushed the boundaries of the genre to places it had never seen before. If it were not for Demilich's 1993 album, we would not have groups like Portal. Unfortunately, this album remains buried deep within the metal underground. Those who have heard it though, sing its praises.

THE CHASM: THE SPELL OF RETRIBUTION
Yesterday I mentioned Cenotaph, well The Chasm is a band that features the absolutely insane Cenotaph vocalist Daniel Corchado as well as other members from the group. The band originated in Mexico and then relocated to Chicago. They play a much more progressive style of death metal with some remnants of the Cenotaph sound, but taking it in a myriad of directions. The band also has influences from other metal styles, including heavy doom influences. Their albums are all spell-binding, but this is my personal favorite.

DECEASED...: FEARLESS UNDEAD MACHINES
It would be possible to get Deceased... in both the death metal and thrash metal lists, but I will cut that back and only list them here. Deceased... started out as an early death metal band, incorporating death metal vocal styles and down-tuned, heavy riffs into their more traditional metal and thrash backgrounds. This is the band's masterpiece album, a concept album to the George Romero zombie movies. This band is criminally underrated, despite being clearly one of the most original bands in American death metal. They have in recent years gotten rid of most of their death metal influences, but on this album, they shined through.

XENOMORPH: EMPYREAL REGIMES
I just got this album recently and reviewed it in depth. I have to mention it again here, because this is just incredible. Progressive death metal that is still punishing and brutal is not always easy to find, but this isolated band from Nebraska did it in the early 1990's. Xenomorph is an extremely twisted death metal band, but their album was not widely released and they are just now beginning to get discovered. The label Blood Harvest has plans to re-release this. I can't wait. Hopefully they will get the attention they deserve.

Nebraska Metal Pt. 4: Xenomorph: Empyreal Regimes

Well, well, well. What do we have here? There's a couple of reasons I picked this up.
1) Old school progressive/technical death metal band that was recommended on the Metal Archives boards;
2) Picture of the Alien on the cover (and obviously the band is named after the Alien), my favorite movie monster; and
3) Band from my home state of Nebraska. Omaha, more particularly.

So, is it any good? Oh, hell yes. It's extremely hard to believe that this came from Nebraska in 1995. It's like finding a fully formed fish in rock dating back to the Precambrian age. Quite the nerdy analogy, true, but it's apt. There is absolutely no way that this could have evolved out of Nebraska, because the state has not really had anything like it, before or since. It is like it came out of nowhere.

This is technical and filthy death metal. The production quality is fantastic, with a beefy sound which emphasizes every sick riff and snarled vocal. It sounds absolutely great, yet again, completely out of nowhere because this was not released on a big label, or even a medium-sized one. It just has a great sound that cannot be readily explained.

The music owes a lot to groups like Morbid Angel, Death, and Immolation, with a little more of a technical riffing style and more progressive song structure. The guitar riffs have the same otherworldly feel to them as Morbid Angel's. The leads sound more like something the late Chuck Schuldiner would have produced, with a strong tone, they are like the only light in an otherwise dark and dank room. The album creeps along like some Lovecraftian horror, slimy and cold. The drumming is intense and powerful, the bass rumbling along at the pace of the guitars.

There are frequent samples, which consist mostly of clips from horror movies. They go very well with the general sound of the album. Each of the songs is generally a little long, none of them being less than five minutes, but with the intricate and ever-changing song structures, things never drag.

As for the vocals, they sound like a slightly more malevolent, but overall not as deep version of David Vincent's vocals from the first few Morbid Angel albums. The vocals sound seriously unhinged and psychotic.

Like a fully-formed fish found in Precambrian rock, this twisted slab of progressive/technical death metal that puts many other bands even from the same time period to shame emerged out of the metal wasteland of Omaha, Nebraska. It's really extraordinary. It's a shame this band was not able to stay around and that so few people have been exposed to it.