FMA Reviews: Unburied: Murder 101

Originally reviewed here.

I like Obituary as much as the next metalhead. At least when they are doing something entertaining. Unfortunately at times, Obituary gets bogged down in a groove and refuses to let it go. The result is extremely tedious. At least having Ralph Santolla around to make things more interesting with a blazing guitar solo evens some of that out.

Now why in the hell did I open an Unburied album review with a discussion of Obituary? Because Unburied sound like Obituary. At their most ridiculously boring. That is not a good sign by the way. Imagine an entire album full of Obituary-stuck-in-a-groove with absolutely no release. Does not sound like much fun does it? After hearing this album I can attest that no, no it is not much fun. I happen to like death metal with a fair amount of groove (I love Jungle Rot), but Unburied really takes it way too far.

The real problem is the predictability. Unburied uses about one or two riffs per song and get stuck there. There are no guitar solos to add a little bit of color and the vocals are just the same grunt/growls all the way through. Once in awhile a sample from some movie or other will show up, but that is about it as far as interesting elements go. The rest of the album just sort of carries on with its grooving death metal riffs.

There is a lot of hardcore influence in the music as well. This does not bother me much, but neither does it really add anything to spice up the otherwise very ordinary proceedings.

This album is not really bad per se. It is just boring. And sometimes that is worse. I can listen to a bad album and be entertained by some of the bizarre attempts at creating something. And at least bad albums are often memorable for how bad they may be. When an album is boring, it quickly fades into obscurity.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 114

ARTIST:  Amorphis
ORIGIN:  Helsinki, Finland
TITLE:  Elegy
LABEL:  Relapse Records
YEAR:  1996
GENRE:  Folk/Death Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Against Widows"
NOTES:  I bought this one shortly before a family vacation.  It was due to my love of Tuonela that I bought this one.  I will say that this album is quite a bit different from that one, mostly due to the fact that it came out earlier and had more death metal elements, particularly in the vocal style.  The folk melodies used throughout the album are the real attraction.

Black Dawn: Age of Reason

I would have loved this album in college.  Actually it originally came out shortly after my college days, in 2004.  So I probably still would have loved it had I discovered it when it came out.  It is the kind of driving, aggressive, yet catchy and grooving kind of metal that I really enjoyed when I was younger.  My tastes have matured a bit since then, so while I recognize I would have loved it when I was younger, it is not as impressive now.

Black Dawn is a groove metal band from New York who were probably just a few years late in forming or they may have been able to capitalize on the market for bands that sounded like Pantera and Machine Head.  Those are the main points of reference for their sound.  They are very close to Supercharger-era Machine Head in particular.

The music is certainly energetic and typically fast-paced.  The reference points listed above probably would cause a lot of people to avoid the band, but if not, listeners would probably find something to enjoy here.  The band members are all competent musicians and the songwriting is pretty good.  The vocals are rough, yet emotional.  This is catchy and infectious music that is filled with a lot of angst.

There is still a market for this music.  Fans of the aformentioned Pantera and Machine Head will likely enjoy this one as well.  I have personally outgrown this style, but I could see myself listening to it again.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 113

ARTIST:  Testament
ORIGIN:  Oakland, CA (United States)
TITLE:  The Gathering
LABEL:  Spitfire Records
YEAR:  1999
GENRE:  Thrash/Death Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "True Believer"
NOTES:  I picked this CD up at the local music store.  Testament was in town for a concert and did a signing at the store.  I got the CD and an autographed poster (which I have since lost unfortunately).   The band was very nice and asked if my friend and I would be going to the concert.  Unfortunately since it was a 19 and over show and we were both 18, we could not go.  The band thought that was ridiculous.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 112

ARTIST:  Dissection
ORIGIN:  Stockholm, Sweden
TITLE:  Storm of the Light's Bane
LABEL:  Nuclear Blast
YEAR:  1995
GENRE:  Melodic Black/Death Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Thorns of Crimson Death"
NOTES:  I believe that I ordered this through Barnes and Noble in high school.  I remember searching for the most evil-looking album I could find, and this cover art grabbed me.  So I went ahead and ordered it.  I had not heard much like this at that time in my metal listening experience, but something about it really captured my attention.  This is one of my all time Top 5 albums, and for very good reason.  I love listening to this album.

Philip H. Anselmo/Warbeast: War of the Gargantuas

This is probably one of the most heavily anticipated splits in quite a long time.  Phil Anselmo, the once-controversial vocalist of Pantera and Down has decided to create his own project.  The split features two songs from Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals and two songs from dirty-thrash metallers Warbeast.

Anselmo has been rehabilitating his image quite a bit in the eyes of metalheads these days.  Pantera was very popular with the more mainstream crowd, but significantly less so in the eyes of the underground.  His feud with the Abbott brothers also raised some eyebrows, particularly after the death of Dimebag.  But he has since been heavily involved with Down as well as a host of other extreme metal projects such as Arson Anthem, Christ Inversion, Necrophagia, Viking Crown, and more, many of which he takes a supporting role in.  He also recently started Housecore Records which is responsible for Warbest and haarp among other bands.

This is Anselmo's first solo recording.  There are only two tracks here so there is not a lot to go by to determine if the solo project will be worthwhile or not, but the two tracks present here are certainly interesting.  They are growers definitely.  I was not as impressed by them the first time I heard them.  Anselmo utilizes his trademark hardcore shouted vocals throughout, often alternating tone within the same breath.  That has always been Anselmo's strength.  The songs are fairly typical sludgy groove/thrash metal with some seriously heavy riffs.

Warbeast created one of the best thrash metal albums of the last few years with Krush the Enemy.  This is their first recorded output since their 2010 debut and it does everything that made that album so terrific.  It flies by like a runaway truck, crushing everything.  The blazing guitar solos and shouted vocals are the highlights on their tracks, as well as their take-no-prisoners approach to thrash metal.

I still prefer Warbeast to the Anselmo project and am much more likely to pick up their new album, but I will probably give Anselmo a shot.

FMA Reviews: Eliminator: Krieg Thrash

Originally reviewed here.

I may be in the minority here but I never tire of retro German thrash. And no, I am not being sarcastic. Yes, the old masters Kreator, Sodom, and Destruction did it better. But I love it when a band decides to play music clearly influenced by that old bestial, neck-wrecking style.

Eliminator is one of the better new bands that play a style similar to the German Big Three. In fact, with the vocals and musical style, they sound like a slightly more-refined Kreator in their early days when Ventor provided the vocals instead of Mille Petrozza. It is slightly more-refined due the fact that this band sounds like it has had a bit more practice, tightening things up than Kreator in those days. It is not as raw and unpredictable. Eliminator is maniacally fast. This is definitely not the same fluid style as Metallica or the other Bay Area bands. It is nasty and hyperactive thrash that is full of aggression and anger.


The only real complaint I have about this album is that the speed almost never wavers. Eliminator is a rampaging beast, and I certainly like that fact but there is not a lot to separate one song from another. In addition, Eliminator does not really do anything that a lot of other bands have already done. Not a problem for me but people looking for something fresh and new probably need not bother with Eliminator.

I quite like this album. It is even more impressive that it is Eliminator's debut album.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 111

ARTIST:  Amorphis
ORIGIN:  Helsinki, Finland
TITLE:  Tuonela
LABEL:  Relapse Records
YEAR:  1999
GENRE:  Progressive Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Nightfall"
NOTES:  I heard "Divinity" for the first time on some MTV special looking at smaller labels.  The song was incredible.  I went out the next day to seek out this album.  It captured my attention immediately and Amorphis became one of my favorite bands.  I especially liked the fact that the band used wind instruments in several songs.  As a saxophone player myself, those parts were my favorite.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 110

ARTIST:  Fear Factory
ORIGIN:  Los Angeles, CA (United States)
TITLE:  Obsolete
LABEL:  Roardrunner Records
YEAR:  1998
GENRE:  Groove Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Edgecrusher"
NOTES:  This one was a bit more stripped-down than Fear Factory's prior album.  It has taken out more of the death metal elements that were present in the band's sound when they first came out.  At this point they were almost solely a groove metal band with some industrial influences.  Nevertheless, I still like this album quite a bit.  Burton Bell's clean vocals sound terrific mixed with his rougher style.  I still come back to this one occasionally.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 109

ARTIST:  Testament
ORIGIN:  Oakland, CA (United States)
TITLE:  Live at the Fillmore
LABEL:  Burnt Offerings
YEAR:  1995
GENRE:  Thrash Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Return to Serenity"
NOTES:  Despite the fact that this album was released in 1995, I did not see it for a couple of years.  As I have said before, I am not the biggest fan of live albums, but this one is one of my favorites.  Testament sounds amazing throughout the live portion of the album.  It is mostly a package of songs covering the band's debut through Low.  So it is definitely covering the band's most productive period.  Then the final three songs are acoustic versions of the band's ballads.  This version of "Return to Serenity" is perhaps my favorite.

FMA Reviews: Weapons to Hunt: Blessed in Sin

Originally reviewed here.

The first time I heard this album I thought they were probably Swedish. Then I listened to them a couple more times and determined that was most likely not the case. I began to detect the subtle hints of a more Dutch sound, shades of Hail of Bullets really. Then I actually did some damn research and that set everything straight for me.

Sure enough, Weapons to Hunt is a Dutch death/thrash metal similar in sound to Thanatos and Asphyx among other groups. This is the first album for Weapons to Hunt, though three of the four members were in the previous incarnation of the band called Infinited Hate. Someone somewhere along the way probably pointed out that "infinite" is not a verb and you cannot "infinite" or previously "infinite" so the band name did not make sense.

Weapons to Hunt is particularly interesting to me because all of the members have previously been involved with Sinister in some capacity or other, a band for whom I am becoming a big fan. And this band definitely has that Sinister sound. It is a dark and heavy death metal album utilizing thrash metal riffs at times. The album is mostly mid-paced with crunching riffs and some impressive Van Drunen-esque vocals. It definitely has a Swedeath sound to it, without overtly using the buzzsaw guitar tone that the scene was best known for.

The album is a juggernaut. Once it gets going, it rarely lets up. There are a few slower parts, but Weapons to Hunt always kick it back into high gear soon thereafter. The problem with this is that everything tends to run together when it does not slow down. The band is a destructive force, that is for sure. But it leaves you reeling at the end wondering what happened.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 108

ARTIST:  Metallica
ORIGIN:  San Francisco, CA (United States)
TITLE:  Garage Inc.
LABEL:  Vertigo Records
YEAR:  1998
GENRE:  Thrash Metal/Heavy Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Blitzkrieg"
NOTES:  This is the double album of covers that Metallica put out.  The first disc is new recordings of songs by artists as diverse as Diamond Head, Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Blue Oyster Cult.  There were a couple of very good tracks there and it lead to me checking out Misfits, Diamond Head, and Mercyful Fate. Of course the second disc is the highlight here with the covers Metallica had recorded over the course of their career to that point.  The music was generally more raw and faster.

Chaos Synopsis: The Art of Killing

It does not surprise me at all that Chaos Synopsis is Brazilian.  I did not know this fact when I started listening to the album.  I immediately thought that they sounded like a cross between Arise-era Sepultura and Krisiun.  Both Brazilian bands.  So when I looked into the band a little bit and saw that they were from Brazil, it all clicked.

The album immediately captured my attention with a very impressive opening riff.  From there, they refused to let go, building into an infectious groove quickly.  This turned out to be a surprisingly good album all the way through, with some genuinely unexpected moments just to keep the listener on his toes.  

Chaos Synopsis blends death metal and thrash metal into a caustic mix.  The drumming is done in much more of a thrash metal style.  It is oftentimes incredibly fast, with a lot of double bass and some well-done fills.  I do not usually pay a lot of attention to the drums.  They are often lost in the music and are not typically noteworthy unless they are very good or very bad.  In the case of Chaos Synopsis, they are very good.

The guitar tone is very crisp which allows the riffs to really bite.  They do throw in some tremolo riffs on occasion and some riffs with a lot of picking.  The band even delves a little into more of a brutal death metal sound, particularly on the beginning moments to "Bay Harbor Butcher".  Much of the guitar work sounds a lot like the earlier comparison that I made to early 90's Sepultura and Krisiun.  It is a highly energetic style that manages to keep the energy going throughout much of the album.

There are some surprising moments at times.  The band cuts the speed down considerably and goes into a more melodic interlude, then just as quickly reverts to the high speed riffing that makes up the bulk of the album.  Solos are generally done pretty well.  The use of the slide guitar on "B.T.K." and the title track also stands out as a unique moment.  It comes across quite well actually, giving the tracks a bit of a Southern swagger.

I was not familiar with Chaos Synopsis prior to being contacted to review the band, but I do have to say that I was surprised.  While they are not recreating the wheel here, this is some decent stuff.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt 107

ARTIST:  Slayer
ORIGIN:  Huntington Park, CA (United States)
TITLE:  Seasons in the Abyss
LABEL:  Def American
YEAR:  1990
GENRE:  Thrash Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Seasons in the Abyss"
NOTES:  This was my first Slayer album.  I figured I was about due at this point and I chose this one because I already had the title track on a compilation album.  And I liked it quite a bit.  I don't think I was prepared for how different Slayer's typical songs were.  Slayer is all about speed.  And that definitely shows on this album.  It took a little while, but it really grew on me.

Newsted: Metal

It has been a popular source of debate among fans that Metallica may have sounded differently had they allowed bassist Jason Newsted more creative input when he joined the band.  ...And Justice for All worked out fine, other than the fact that the bass could not be heard very well.  But from that point on, Metallica began a full-court press towards mainstream popularity.  Newsted received a few songwriting credits here and there, but overall did not have a lot of input.  That was a large reason behind his eventual leaving of the band.  He then joined Voivod for a couple of albums then just bounced around a bit with his own projects.

Well here we have Jason Newsted's new band, oddly enough called Newsted.  On this short EP, Newsted, the person not the band, performs the vocals and bass work.  He has brought in a couple of other individuals to play guitar and drums.  Newsted also writes all of the songs.

This is undoubtedly heavier than much of Metallica's recent output, sounding closest to a mix between later era Pantera and Death Magnetic-era Metallica.  It is not quite what fans debated that Metallica could have sounded like if Newsted had more control.  It is not a full-blown thrash metal EP.  Instead it settles somewhere on the border between groove and thrash metal with mostly mid-paced, crunching riffs.

Newsted's bass is of course very apparent throughout the EP.  His vocals are decent, but not really anything to get very excited about.  I always liked him fairly well as a backup vocalist and that is probably where his vocals would be best-served.  The only real issue I have with this EP is that the songs are somewhat lengthy. This has been a problem for Metallica in recent years as well, so it is not horribly shocking that three of the four songs are more than five minutes in length.

It is impossible to talk about this EP without a lengthy discussion of Metallica as well.  I do think this is a pretty decent starting point for Newsted to become recognized more for his own individual talents than his work as part of a cohesive unit.  There is some decent stuff here.  I look forward to more.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 106

ARTIST:  King's X
ORIGIN:  Springfield, MO (United States)
TITLE:  Dogman
LABEL:  Atlantic Records
YEAR:  1994
GENRE:  Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
FAVORITE SONG:  "Dogman"
NOTES:  I had always heard a lot of great things about King's X.  The couple of songs I had heard from soundtracks to that point certainly had not done anything to change that impression.  Unfortunately I have always found this album a little underwhelming.  There is certainly nothing musically wrong with it.  The trio are terrific musicians.  However some of the songs just fall a little flat.  There are some damn good songs here and the performances are very impressive.  It just seems that the sum of the parts is not as great as the individual parts.

Iron Dogs: Cold Bitch

I would be lying if I said that the cover art for this release did not capture my attention.  So I am not going to say that.  It is pretty damn cheesy, yes, but then there is a naked woman on the cover, holding a sword, covered in blood, and flanked by a couple of wolves.  How much more metal can you get?

There have been a lot of bands from Canada recently that play 1980's style true metal.  And what could you expect from a country that gave us Slaughter, Sacrifice, Anvil, Razor, and Exciter, among others?  Canada has a rich metal history.  And it would appear that Iron Dogs is very much aware of that and paying tribute to it, while also pushing forward.

This is heavy and speed metal that definitely and defiantly calls to mind the above-named bands.  It is not just the music that sounds like a 1980's band.  The production is done in such a way as to accurately capture the sound of those bands.  The vocals sound like a cross between early 1980's metal and Misfits-style punk.  It is another aspect of the sound of Iron Dogs that sounds like an homage to their countrymen.  This is a very short, but very fun record, clocking in at just over 30 minutes.

Of course Iron Dogs is doing something that other bands have done before.  Not only older bands whose sounds Iron Dogs obviously build upon, but newer bands as well.  Cauldron still stands at the front of the pack of Canadian retro metal bands.  But Iron Dogs is definitely making waves.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 105

ARTIST:  Machine Head
ORIGIN:  Oakland, CA (United States)
TITLE:  Burn My Eyes
LABEL:  Roadrunner Records
YEAR:  1994
GENRE:  Groove Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Davidian"
NOTES:  I have picked up three Machine Head albums over the years.  This was the first one and is of course the band's debut album.  This was one of the albums that helped signal the onslaught of groove metal in 1994, along with Pantera's album.  There are some pretty good songs on here, but it became pretty apparent later on that Machine Head was a trend-hopping band.

FMA Reviews: Aeon: Aeons Black

Originally reviewed here.

Aeon is a Swedish death metal band. Now when I say that, many people will have a certain sound in mind for what they think that the band will sound like. They would be wrong in this case. You see when I say that Aeon is a Swedish death metal band, what I mean is that Aeon is a death metal band that happens to be from Sweden. Their sound owes far more to the early New York death metal scene than to the Swedish scene. Think Immolation, Suffocation, and Incantation. There is a little bit of technicality, but that is more along the same lines as saying that Cannibal Corpse is technical.

Aeon's music deals with anti-Christianity, which is certainly nothing new in the genre. So the music is of course dark and heavy. Unfortunately this is all just more of the same from Aeon who have been doing this type of death metal for years now. Most of their albums sound basically the same as well. This one added a little bit to the mix, mainly short acoustic tracks to break up the monotony of the pounding riffs.

I have been somewhat impressed by Aeon in the past. In particular I enjoyed Rise to Dominate but even then I felt that Aeon did not really have much to offer that was new and different from virtually any other death metal band. That is the same impression I have of the band on this release. While their music is certainly interesting while listening to it, it does not leave enough of an impression after it is over. The music is predictable and formulaic without really doing anything to distinguish Aeon from anyone else.

None of this is to suggest that I disliked this album. There is certainly a market for old-school leaning death metal, especially groups that sound like Immolation, but people looking for something new and innovative probably should look elsewhere. Aeon is good at what they do, but they are not terribly original.

Lucifer's Legion: Abominations

One of the results of sites like Myspace and Bandcamp, as well as the fact that recording software is easy to get, is that a lot of people are now able to get their music recorded and available to anyone at any time.  Of course the result of this is that there is a proliferation of music out there of any and all types.  One man black metal bands have become increasingly visible.

Lucifer's Legion is a one-man black metal band from Australia.  Brad Dillon handles all aspects of the band, which is listed in the liner notes as "guitars, keyboards, programming bass, vocals, custom percussion".  That explains most of the necessary information right there.  The drums are programmed, the bass is not real, and there are a lot of keyboards.

Lucifer's Legion is a very ambitious band.  Dillon definitely has a lot of ideas.  The style of the music is somewhat of a symphonic black metal band in the vein of Ancient and early Dimmu Borgir.  The keyboards are often performed in a way to sound like a symphony, or at the very least some wind instruments such as the oboe.

The real issue with this album is that, though Dillon has a lot of ideas and some technical skill, he has a difficult time putting things together.  The keyboards are especially problematic because they are playing something completely different than the guitars.  At times it sounds as if there are two completely different songs playing at the same time.  This could have been alleviated somewhat if the keyboards were not as loud.

I will give Lucifer's Legion credit for being ambitious.  There are some decent parts here and there.  I think the band has some talent.  Hopefully with time the songwriting will improve.