Ripper: Sensory Stagnation (2019)

Last October I covered the 2016 album from Chilean thrashers Ripper, Experiment of Existence.  I was blown away by that album and so when the opportunity to pick up their 2019 EP arose, I jumped on it. 

On my first listen to this album, I recall being somewhat disappointed with it.  It did not have quite the same raw savagery that the previous album I heard had.  But repeated listens led to me discovering more and more about the EP and falling for it.  It is different than the prior release I heard, but that is not such a bad thing.

The primary thing I noticed is that there is a bit more technicality to this album.  That is especially obvious in the rather impressive bass parts which bear a strong resemblance to such tech thrash luminaries like Heathen and Atheist.  But the guitar riffs seem pulled straight from the Kreator catalog, fast and intense.  The vocals too have that Mille Petrozza snarl to them.  The result is a release that blends aspects of German thrash, South American death and American technical thrash.  That is quite the mix.

As I said, this release did not jump out at me on the first listen, but repeated listens have my attention.  I still do not think I like it quite as much as the previous album, but it is damn good in its own right.

Slaughtbbath: Alchemical Warfare (2019)

I am not really sure what this band name means.  It appears to be a combination of the words "Slaughter" and "Sabbath".  Maybe it is a reference to the Canadian thrash metal band Slaughter and metal founders Black Sabbath.  I really have no idea.  What I do know is that South America has a long history of producing exceptional extreme metal since the mid 1980's when Sepultura formed.  And Slaughtbbath hails from Chile, a country that has given us Thornafire, Ripper, Apostasy and others. 

Slaughtbbath have been around for nearly 20 years, but this is only the band's second full-length album.  They have a lot of splits, demos and EPs out there though and tend to release something new almost every year.  No idea why the full-lengths are so rare then.

The album's title also seems to reference another potential influence: Slayer.  The band's sound is rooted in the primitive black/death metal of groups like the aforementioned Slayer and Sepultura (Morbid Visions and Bestial Devastation only) and Sarcófago.  It is an extremely hateful and angry sound, filled with monstrous riffs, battering blast beats and demonic vocals.  It is filthy, vile, extremely fast and I fucking love it.

Slaughtbbath is not exactly the most original band out there, owing a lot to their South American forebears.  But that is not that important when the music is this good.  This narrowly missed my top ten list from last year.

Communion: Demo II (2013)

I am not sure why I am doing a review of a one-song demo.  Especially when that song is just over four minutes in length, making this an extremely short release and a likewise short review.  But then, this demo has been sent to me twice now, once as a mini-CD (no joke, the thing is about three inches in diameter) and then as a cassette.  So here we are.

Communion is a Chilean black/thrash metal band.  Chile has produced some damn good metal bands, such as Thornafire and Apostasy.  So at least I had a pretty good feeling about what they would sound like.  The music here is incredibly fast and intense, with speed-picking tremolo riffs and blast-beating drumming.  The vocals are harsh.  Overall, the band sounds very similar to a combination of early Sabbat and early Deströyer 666, complete with blazing solo. 

Unfortunately, as I said, there is just one song on this release, so while it is an impressive song, it is much too short to get much out of.  I may have to check out one of the longer releases. 

Sins of the Damned: Striking the Bell of Death (2019)

Well, that name is a mouthful.  Not to be confused with gothic metal band The Sins of Thy Beloved, Sins of the Damned is a relatively new band out of Chile who plays tried and true speed metal with blackened metal vocals. 

The album starts off with some ominous bell-ringing, that most likely being the titular "Bell of Death".  It then kicks off into "They Fall and Never Rise Again", one of the better songs on the album.  Most of the song titles are a little lengthy, just like the album title and the band's name.  The songs are also a little long, with only two songs being less than five minutes, and one of those is the intro track (also the title track). 

The music is mostly fast-paced, as is normal in speed metal.  The band seems to take some major influence from the likes of Helloween, among other bands, playing traditional speed metal with a barrage of riffs and drums.  The high speed riffs often repeat ad nauseam and are mostly clean, stopping just short of edgier riffs that would take the music into thrash metal territory. 

The main element that distinguishes this band from so many other traditional-minded speed metal bands is the harsh vocals.  They often veer into black metal-style rasping and growling, adding a threatening tone to the otherwise mostly melodic metal.  It is a unique idea, somewhat similar to the blackened power metal of Satan's Host, but it never quite works as well.

This is an interesting album with some off-kilter elements, but it never quite comes together.  Granted, this is the band's debut album and there is plenty of time to flesh out the ideas.  This is a fun album to listen to, but it never really grabs the listener's attention as much as an album of this style should.

Ripper: Experiment of Existence (2016)

I have explained my affinity for extreme metal from South America several times here.  I think it bears repeating.  For some reason, there is just some terrific thrash, black and death metal coming from South America.  Whether that be due to the political climate down there, I am not sure.  I am sure there is someone out there more qualified than me to figure that out.  There is though more of a savage intensity in the music. 

Chile is not a country that has produced a lot of metal bands to my knowledge.  Thornafire and Apostacy have gotten my attention in the past.  And now, a third band has entered the mix.  This is Ripper, a thrash/death metal band from Talagante.

This album is terrific.  Ripper take influence in some of the biggest names in German thrash, Bay Area thrash, early U.S. death metal and Swedish death metal, throw them all into a blender and have unleashed the results in the studio.  There are some damn great riffs in this and the vocals call to mind the early material by Possessed.  Solos shine through, giving some impressive melody.  And the bass is fucking awesome.  The songs are all fast-paced and powerful, with a barrage of riffs. 

Ripper is a band that more people should know about.  This is absolutely killer death/thrash that holds up well to the classics in the genres.  Check it out.

Apostasy: The Sign of Darkness (2018)

Apostasy can trace their origins back to the late 1980's.  The band formed in Chile, which has birthed a few metal bands I thoroughly enjoy, including the terrific Thornafire.  Apostasy released just one full-length album, Sunset of the End, before disbanding.  Guitarist Cris Profaner recently reformed the band, this time taking on bass duties, and this is their first full-length since that reformation.

As a fan of thrash metal worldwide, I was all over an opportunity to hear some good South American-style thrash metal and Apostasy definitely delivers.  This album has the feel of classic Sepultura mixed with some Slayer to it.  The first song definitely has a tempo and style similar to pre-Reign in Blood Slayer.  It is fast, with razor sharp riffs, and often air raid siren vocals.  I kept waiting for him to shriek "Hell Awaits".  The entire album possesses a dark, raw and evil atmosphere carried forward by the sinister riffs and hellish wailing vocals.  Even when they slow things down, there is still a sense of unease building, a sense that nothing is entirely safe.

Apostasy builds on that early promise throughout the album.  This is truly a callback to a time when Slayer was still playing Venom riffs as fast as possible and Sepultura was still shedding their blackened death metal sound.  As that is my favorite era of Slayer's music in particular, I am fully onboard with Apostasy. 

I love this album.  I was always a little more partial to this type of thrash, barely skirting the surface of black metal.  This is exactly the kind of sound I was looking for.

My Favorite Metal Band from Chile

South American countries produce a lot of surprisingly good death metal bands and Chile is no exception. Thornafire is a terrific death metal band that blends some of the old school dark and occult death metal bands like Immolation, Incantation, and Morbid Angel together to form their own sound. What results is a twisted, writhing mass of riffs and occult darkness. Far from rehashing old influences though, Thornafire puts a new spin on the old style with some modern influences.