Showing posts with label putrid pile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label putrid pile. Show all posts

Saturday, May 26, 2012

5 More Favorite Slam Albums

During Slam Week Pt. 1, I listed my five favorite slam albums, which included releases from Wormed, Devourment, Sarcolytic, Defeated Sanity, and Dying Fetus.  Since I have added a bunch of slam albums since then, I figured I would update that post with some more.

ABOMINABLE PUTRIDITY: IN THE END OF HUMAN EXISTENCE
Abominable Putridity is a Russian slam death metal band that has had a number of different vocalists over the years, including well-known grunters like Big Chocolate and Matti Way.  This album features the much less well-known Vladimir, but nevertheless was one of my favorite slam albums early on.  There is not much to say here, it is just typical slam, but it is performed highly competently.  There is a reason Abominable Putridity is one of the first bands recommended when getting into the genre.  It is a very good gateway.

BODYSNATCH: INSIGHTS OF A ROTTEN THEATRE
I have not had this one very long but it made an immediate impression on me.  This is a truly original album by a slam death metal band with a variety of other influences and some highly unusual moments thrown in.  Part of the reason behind the odd moments is the fact that two of the members were previously in Stream of Consciousness, a progressive metal band.  I am not really sure what the decision-making process of going from progressive metal to slam death metal was like, but I have absolutely no complaints.  This is one of the best slam death metal albums in years.

INTERNAL BLEEDING: VORACIOUS CONTEMPT
This album is one of the very early roots of slam death metal.  It came out in 1995, after the beginnings of the genre were carved out by Suffocation and Pyrexia.  Internal Bleeding took some of those ideas and built upon them, which eventually lead to the basic sound of slam death metal as we know it.  Devourment then took the ideas from Internal Bleeding and kept improving on them.  This though is one of the early true slam death metal albums.  This was a hugely influential album on the beginnings of the slam death genre.  The music itself is fairly simple and it is clear that Suffocation was the band's major influence, but Internal Bleeding did not have the technical mastery that Suffocation had, which helped lead them into the slam genre.

PUTRID PILE: HOUSE OF DEMENTIA
A one-man slam/brutal death metal band, Putrid Pile is still an extremely powerful and extremely loud band.  The band is Shaun LaCanne who performs all of the vocals and guitar and bass parts and programs the drum machine.  The drum machine is barely noticeable as the rest of the music is done so well.  This is a very impressive album which shows the ability to make slam death sound fresh and interesting.  This is a much faster-paced album than some other albums from the genre and the speed of the riffs is probably its best quality.  I am also very impressed with the Deicide-esque layered vocals.

VOMIT REMNANTS: SUPREME VEHEMENCE
This is kind of cheating.  This album from Japan's Vomit Remnants is actually a compilation of the band's Supreme Entity full-length from 1999 and the Indefensible Vehemence EP from 2001.  So it is actually one and a half albums, but I am still counting it because I absolutely love it.  Vomit Remnants bring an almost machine-like precision to slam death metal.  There are parts that are almost industrial metal-esque.  Japan has been blessed with a number of very good slam death metal bands, Vomit Remnants is probably one of the best.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Infernal Revulsion: An Epic Conviction vs. Putrid Pile: House of Dementia

For Slam Week, I revisited my Now That's What I Call Slam compilation and found my two favorite tracks. I then checked out both of the bands: Infernal Revulsion for "Rot in Peace" and Putrid Pile for "Dead".

INFERNAL REVULSION: AN EPIC CONVICTION
This is a compilation made up of each of the band's two previous full-length albums. As such it is a little on the long side, so those of you who can not put up with this for very long should be wary.

Infernal Revulsion is another Japanese slam band. Japan seems to have a lot of good slam death bands, with Rest in Gore, Gorevent, and Vomit Remnants being other good examples. As with other Japanese slam bands, Infernal Revulsion has a slightly different take on their genre of choice.

Infernal Revulsion keeps listeners on their toes by throwing in the occasional thrash metal or tremolo riff. Pretty unique for this style of metal. They are also typically faster-paced with some somewhat bouncy riffs and impressive guitar solos thrown in occasionally. The vocals are very deep and froglike, occasionally sounding like Demilich's vocalist.

This is pretty impressive stuff. Infernal Revulsion avoids a lot of the traps that other slam bands tend to fall into. Their music sounds fresh and original.

PUTRID PILE: HOUSE OF DEMENTIA
The melodic intro sounds like the kind of thing Air Supply would have done, but then it kicks into the frenzied brutality of "Dead", which is one hell of a song, let me tell you. It is extremely heavy with the opening riff reminding me of some of Gojira's work. The heaviness continues throughout the album. Putrid Pile do the Deicide-style layered vocals quite a bit, to great effect.

Making things even more impressive is that Putrid Pile is the work of just one person: Shaun LaCanne, who provides all of the instruments and vocals, as well as the programming. This is one talented individual. Putrid Pile is one of the best slam/brutal death metal bands I have heard in awhile.

This is an extremely impressive album. I will definitely be keeping an eye on Putrid Pile.

CONCLUSION
I preferred the Putrid Pile album personally, though Infernal Revulsion was also great.