Bloodsoaked: Sadistic Deeds...Grotesque Memories

I am always on the lookout for some new metal, particularly in the genres of death and thrash. Well, I did not exactly find this album through my own searching, it's more like I stumbled into it. Sort of. You see, I placed an order with Comatose Records, a label I order from occasionally when looking for brutal death metal, and one of the CDs that I ordered was out of stock. So, the label head, Steve Green from Atrocious Abnormality, called me personally to tell me this and offer to send something else instead. Since I was not currently at my computer, I asked for his recommendation and he recommended this, so I agreed. That's customer service, ladies and gentlemen.

All of that would have meant nothing though if the album was not good. But it is. In fact, this was one of my sleeper contenders for my favorite album of 2009. Bloodsoaked is an impressive band combining old school death metal influences with more modern brutal death influences, there are even a few slams in here. The music sounds fresh and really captures the listener's attention with its bludgeoning riffs and deep sickening grooves.

But here's the kicker, the quirk of this band. There is only one member. This is a one man death metal band. On the plus side, that means no artistic differences of opinion, unless he's suffering from multiple personality disorder. A fact of which I am not aware. But, he had to learn all of the instruments himself and try to track them together. I think that would be exceedingly difficult. But, Bloodsoaked pulls this off.

You can often tell when a black metal band is just one person. Something sounds off, some area of the music is not as well-written or comes across as well, but I do not think I would have felt this way about this album, had I not known about it. Everything sounds complete and well-written. This sounds like a four-man death metal band had recorded it. The drums are impressive, but are used mostly as background. There is not a lot of experimentation going on with them. The riffs sound brutal and intense. The vocals are delivered in a standard death metal growl and sound very much like those of Immolation.

As I stated before, there are old school death metal influences, such as Immolation and Morbid Angel, and even Obituary thrown into a modern death metal style. The jagged riffs and crushing grooves are evidence that Bloodsoaked know the genre well. These old school elements mesh well with the brutal death overall style.

I really enjoy this album. I will have to try to get personal recommendations from label heads more often. Thanks Steve.

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.

Initial Impressions: Pathology: Legacy of the Ancients

I've been in a slam death mood for a little while again. These phases come and go I guess. I have been trying to avoid placing too many online orders for albums so finding this CD at Hastings was a pleasant surprise. As far as slam death goes, this group is surprisingly accessible and definitely not as gore-obsessed or misogynistic as other bands. Which means they are probably not well-received by some of the more hardcore fans of the genre.

One other strange note before launching into the music. This band is now on Victory Records, a label heretofore known as more of a hardcore label with groups like Hawthorne Heights, Atreyu, Taking Back Sunday, and lots of other terrible bands. So seeing a slam death band on the label is pretty shocking. This kind of thing usually gets released on Sevared, Comatose, Amputated Vein or occasionally Relapse.

Anyway, things start off melodically and eerie with a string intro and then it launches directly into the first slam early in the second track. The production is extremely beefy with lots of bass. It's otherwise clear and you could almost make out the lyrics if not for the incredibly deep guttural vocals at work. Fairly typical for slam so no complaints here. This album sounds great, it is not nearly as raw as many other slam albums.

As I mentioned before, this is a bit more of an accessible slam album. The slams are all still there, but they are complemented by slightly technical riffing and leads. The musicians are all talented and play well. The songwriting is impressive and these songs are surprisingly memorable and don't blend in with each other, which has sometimes been the downfall of many slam bands.

Lyrically, the band deals with horror themes, as evidenced by the zombie cover art. They do not have the same gore obsession or irritating misogyny as other bands, which is a big plus. Sometimes that makes it extremely difficult to listen to this style.

If I had to point to a new album to look into to get into this genre, this album by Pathology would be the one. It does not possess many of the elements that make slam an intense genre and it sounds close enough to technical brutal death to be interesting. This is a good gateway album into the world of slam.

Wastelander: Wardrive

Wastelander came out of nowhere to produce one of the biggest surprise albums from 2008. The band features a sound that calls to mind groups like Motorhead, Venom, Hellhammer, and Sodom. They play a combination of styles including crust punk and thrash metal, all played with a blackened style. Their sound is raw, intense, violent, and downright filthy.

Wastelander's music is fairly simple, but that is to be expected as the band is playing a primitive style of metal. The riffs are straightforward and not terribly complex, but they are presented in a high-octane energetic manner. There are guitar solos but they are often played very fast and over as quickly as they began. The vocals are sometimes delivered in an early black metal shriek, but are oftentimes shouted. These occasional vocals are the only real black metal influence on the album, although the riffs have an early Hellhammer/Venom feel to them at times.

The band's sound is heavily rooted in early punk and thrash metal. The guitar and bass riffs are heavily distorted, having a sound very similar to a much more punk-influenced Hellhammer. Even the vocals occasionally have the Tom Warrior grunting quality to them.

The album is short, being just over 36 minutes long and most of the songs are similarly brief. The band keeps their energy level up throughout, playing infectious and even somewhat bouncy songs throughout. The whole album feels like the band is having a great time playing. This sense of fun comes across to the listener very well making a very enjoyable listening experience.

The lyrics mostly deal with the apocalypse and post-apocalyptic situations. They are clearly influenced by movies such as Mad Max and other post-apocalyptic b-movies. Despite these bleak lyrical themes, the album is definitely not a downer.

Wastelander's debut album is an energetic travel through time. It is a combination of old school styles of punk and metal combined into something that feels fresh. It's an intriguing take on styles we have all heard before, but Wastelander pulls them off very well. This is a great first album for the band and they have a promising future.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 46: Faith No More: King for a Day...Fool for a Lifetime

I am planning a longer post discussing the music of Faith No More's discography under the vocal theatrics of Mike Patton. It will probably be up next week some time, but here's a little precursor as I just listened to this cassette recently.

Faith No More is not an easy band to categorize, but they're not typically as difficult as they are on this album. The band has often used a variety of influences in their music, but they don't usually take over entire songs. Many songs on this album are from completely different genres, making this a bit of a shizophrenic listen. For instance, the band experiments with 1970's era R&B on "Evidence", country on "Take This Bottle", and big band funk on "Star A.D." Those are the two more outlandish examples. We even have saxophone solos on this thing.

However, the album is definitely based in metal. Half of the 14 songs are very clearly metal tracks. The band makes very good use of their always-present metal influences in presenting the metallic hardcore crunch of tracks like "Get Out" and "Digging the Grave". "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" features one hell of an opening thrash metal riff, and probably the greatest metal riff Faith No More has ever written. Even less metal tracks such as "Last to Know" and "Just a Man" feature strong metal elements. Some of these songs are the catchiest tracks Faith No More has ever written.

Guitarist Jim Martin, who was basically a thrash metal guitarist, is no longer with the band at this point, but Trey Spruance did an admirable job filling in and showed that he knew a thing or two about metal riffs as well. The metal tracks are much more straightforward this time around and are simpler riffs, but they are still energetic and get the blood pumping and the head banging.

How could we discuss a Faith No More album without mentioning Mike Patton? You were getting worried, right? Patton is easily one of the best and most interesting vocalists in rock music overall. He presents a wide variety of vocal styles on this album, from soulful crooning to blood-curdling screaming. His vocals can be calming and relaxing one minute and then filled with a terrifying malevolence the next. His screams are well-done and scary and his softer vocals show a range of talent that Patton has become well-known for over the years.

The only real issue I have with this album is its length. It is a very long album with 14 tracks. Some of these feel like filler, but I'm not sure if the album would have the same effect if any of them were taken away.

While this is not my favorite Faith No More album by any means, it is a very interesting album. It keeps the listener's attention even though it is a little long. The variety of styles keep the listener guessing as to what's going to be heard next. Faith No More is a very interesting band, and this album is just one example of this fact.

Initial Impressions: Eluveitie: Everything Remains as it Never Was

I had very high hopes for this album. After releasing what I considered to be one of the best albums of 2008 (in fact it was #2 on my ranking of albums that year), my expectations were very high for this follow-up. The band teased us when they released a completely folk album in 2009, an album I did not check out. This was their return to their normal sound. Unfortunately, I came away disappointed upon hearing this. The band did not take a step back, let me make that clear. This is still an enjoyable album. It's just that they didn't take a step forward either.

Bands who release the same album time after time after time, often are difficult to have very strong feelings about one way or the other. Slayer and Six Feet Under are two such bands, and while I consider Slayer to be a great band, their material after Seasons in the Abyss is not nearly as high-quality. Essentially, Eluveitie released Slania again this year. And that's a disappointment because I already love Slania. Having another Slania diminishes my love of the first Slania and I do not want that to be the case. I wanted something more, or at the worst something worse so that I can say "Eluveitie may not be a good band, but that Slania was amazing". I just did not want something exactly like Slania.

Despite all that, this is still a very solid release. It is still a combination of Gothenburg-styled melodic death metal mixed with Celtic folk elements, including some very traditional Celtic instruments. Eluveitie members play the fiddle, bagpipes, tin and low whistles, mandola, flute, and hurdy-gurdy. These traditional instruments are often played along with the melodic death guitar riffs, adding a full Celtic feel to the entire song. There are still moments when the metal is the only sound heard, but the other instruments occupy a larger role overall this time around.

There are two vocalists in the band. One male providing mostly rough vocals which are not full-on death metal growls, but are definitely not clean either. There is also a female vocalist who shines through every once in awhile. She has a very pretty voice which lightens things up when she sings.

The riffs draw a lot of inspiration from the Gothenburg scene as mentioned earlier. Mostly, they sound a lot like Dark Tranquillity. Unfortunately, if the band were to strip away the folk elements, this band would just be a Gothenburg copycat, on this album anyway. It is the folk elements that help this band stand out. That's what makes this band different. Unfortunately, if they do not improve, the folk elements will not be enough to ensure them of a long career.

All of this sounds like I am very down on the album. It's true that I'm disappointed that it's virtually the same album. Hell the lead-in "Isara" to "Kingdom Come Undone" sounds exactly like "Anagantios" leading into "Bloodstained Ground". However, this is a decent release. It just will not make my Top 10 again this year. And that's disappointing.

Rusty Eye: Possessor

Rusty Eye is a band that originally formed in Mexico City, Mexico in 1995 and later relocated to sunny Hollywood, CA. I was recently contacted by bassist and singer Mr. Rust to introduce me to his band. It's just the kind of DIY strategy that the band has been utilizing to get themselves notice over the last few years. Sometimes, in the underground metal scene, that's the only way to accomplish things. Well, I have been won over. This album, the band's fourth, is surprisingly original and creative. Why have I not heard this band before?

The band is very interested in horror movies and this influence shines through like a beacon. The entire atmosphere of the album gives off a 1960's or 1970's psychedelic horror movie vibe. Everything about it feels dingy and unclean. Even the packaging of the album gives off that feel, with the well-done cover art and the inside artwork. The cover is colorful and sinister and chaotic, all at once. The CD itself is made to look like a vinyl record. Another nice touch.

The vocals are provided by the aforementioned Mr. Rust as well as drummer Miss Randall. Mr. Rust has a dirty, gravelly-sounding voice, which adds to the atmospheric tension of the overall sound. His extreme vocals could use a little work. They are not bad, just not as impressive as his full-throated snarls. His clean vocals on "The Serial Kind" sound like a demented Jim Morrison. Miss Randall provides backing vocals early in the album and as it progresses, she takes more and more of a lead vocal role. Miss Randall's vocals are typically delivered in femme fatale-esque sultry voice beckoning unwary men into danger.

Musically, it's not easy to pigeonhole Rusty Eye. Any given song may be different and a wide variety of musical styles are present on the album. The band seems to be rooted in a combination of thrash metal, progressive metal, and psychedelic rock. But again, this may be completely different from one song to the next.

The album opens up with an instrumental "At the House by the Cemetary" which builds into the uptempo "11.02 Day of the Dead" about the Mexican holiday. "Mondo Cane"'s opening riff sounds lifted from a garage band, but the song is fast and raw once it gets going. The pace is kept up until "The Serial Kind" which slows things down quite a bit and features Miss Randall on lead vocals. After that, the thrash attack comes crashing back through for a few more tracks before slowing down on the last two tracks.

As for the instrumentation, Rusty Eye features three very talented musicians. Miss Randall is an incredible drumming talent. Her fills and cadences capture the listener's attention and do not let go. Baron Murtland is a very talented guitarist and creates much of the atmosphere and soundscapes with his take on psychedelia-inspired metal. His solos sound as if they would be at home in any stoner doom metal band. Mr. Rust's bass talents are also on full display here as it rumbles along shaking the ground beneath.

The only disappointment I have with the album is its tendency to lose steam near the end. The songs are not as well-constructed after "Jerusalem Cricket Souffle" and lose the listener's attention a little bit. A strong album closer would have been a good way to end this album on a high point, but instead we have "Rituales de Sangre" which is more of a soundtrack to an old horror movie during a drug-induced ritual. It then descends into only an occasional ding. If the last song had been more of a barnburner, it may have awakened the listener, bringing them back more and more. That being said, the album as a whole is a quality listening experience.

This is a strong album by a band devoted to its craft and to making a name for themselves. The band certainly has a strong work ethic and a fierce desire to succeed. If the band keeps putting out albums like this one, they should be able to be successful. This is an overall very good album. It's varied and chaotic, but with enough of a common thread running through it so as not to completely lose any listeners. The whole thing feels dirty and grungy, but it's a good feeling.

Type O Negative: The Origin of the Feces

This is one of the most interesting, funniest albums I have heard. Type O Negative has always had a strange and twisted sense of humor. Nowhere is this more obvious than on this album. They have given us some strange liner notes at times, but this album really is the go-to point if you want to tell someone how weird this band is.

Let's start with the cover. This is allegedly a picture of vocalist Peter Steele's anus. Thankfully, people were angry and the cover was censored eventually. We do not need to really see Peter Steele's anus, thank you very much.

Now, the craziest part about this album is that it is supposed to be a live album. I say supposed to be because the band's label Roadrunner had it written in the contract that Type O Negative was to record a live album. However, the band allegedly took the money they were supposed to spend on producing the live album on cheap vodka instead. Realizing they needed to fulfill their contractual obligations, the band simply re-recorded their debut album Slow Deep and Hard, added a couple of songs and retitled some of the other songs and then added fake crowd noise.

But they did not stop there. It would be too easy to simply add in crowd noise. No, Type O Negative added in chants of "You Suck!" and improvised a fight between Steele and the fans with Steele yelling "You suck too" at one point in the album and then making fun of the crowd because he's getting paid to play and the crowd had to pay to get in. At about the midway point, the band claimed it had to stop playing because there was a bomb threat in the concert hall. After a few seconds of silence, they began playing again.

Beyond the insanity of the fake crowd, the music is very impressive and it does sound as if they are playing live. The first seven tracks are the fake concert and then the band adds in a very interesting cover of the Black Sabbath classic "Paranoid" for the final track. The musicianship is tight and is held together well despite the often changing tempos.

Type O Negative will never be mistaken for an incredibly musically talented act. But that is okay, because the band plays just well enough to sound fine playing the style of music they play. They have always been able to write long, multi-part epic songs and this has been their best musical quality. Here, for example, we have the fifteen minute opener "I Know You're Fucking Someone Else", which lays the groundwork for the rest of the album. The band's style is a form of gothic metal incorporating various influences such as Black Sabbath and The Beatles. They take those influences and slow them down and twist them to form a sound that is unlike any other band.

As for the instrumentation itself, the band has always relied quite a bit on the keyboards and vocals to drive the melodies home, in particular in the softer parts of the songs, of which there are many. This is true of this album as well. There is the occasional guitar solo and the riffs are plentiful, but they do not typically constitute the main melody of the song. The bass and guitar parts mostly lumber their way through the slower songs in a doom-laden dirge but are there to provide main support in the faster songs. The riffs drive the song forward, but it's the additional flourishes that shine through.

The major focus is on the vocals. Peter Steele has an extremely deep voice and it adds a haunting quality to the songs. Occasionally, Kenny Hickey or Josh Silver provide backing vocals to further emphasize the deepness of Steele's voice.

The songs themselves are mostly typical of Type O Negative: gloomy, dirge-like exercises in self-deprecation and depression. The songs deal with the betrayal of a cheating girlfriend and fantasies about killing her, and then actually going through with it. There are some other subjects too, but for the most part it details a relationship gone very wrong. The lyrics are often somewhat humorous despite the dark nature of the subject matter. This has become a well-known trait of the band that was in its infancy at the time of the release of this album.

Two songs are covers. The track "Hey Peter" is a rearranging of the Jimi Hendrix song "Hey Joe" about a jealous lover ready to kill his cheating girlfriend. Here Peter Steele replaces the gun with an axe. The last track is a morosely slow adaptation of the Black Sabbath classic "Paranoid". Somehow the band stretches it out more than twice as long as the original.

The production on the album is crisp and clean. It's the first real sign that this was not actually a live album. Most live recordings are not as clear as this album. That's fine though as it allows the music to be heard very well.

Overall, this is a very fun listen. The humor involved keeps things light and interesting, despite the very dark subject matter. Type O Negative never did record a real live album.

Dawn of Azazel: Relentless

I have been waiting for this for quite awhile. Since the band is no longer on Ibex Moon Records and it was quite a while before they made a new record label announcement, I had to keep an eye on their Myspace for news about the impending release. Now that I have the album, I have just one thing to say: The title of the album is apt.

Relentless has always been one of the best terms to describe this New Zealand trio. The band is not as ferocious this time around, substituting some of their raw power for a more refined, but nevertheless, still earth-shaking approach. The underrated blackened death/thrash band brings the fury on this eleven track powerhouse of an album. The album should contend for inclusion on any year-end lists of the best metal albums, of course it probably will not due to the under-the-radar nature of the band.

The riffs are still razor-sharp and fast as hell. The drumming has gotten more technical and steady with the inclusion of Jeremy Suckling behind the kit (drums have been one of the weaker points in the band's history). The band has always used a variety of time signature changes and tempo shifts in their music. As such, a good drummer is essential to the band's sound. This time around, they have a really good one. Of course, Rigel Walshe's manic screams and shrieks are back at the forefront of the band's sound.

A couple of other things have been added to the band's sound this time around. First of all is a clean production. This has had the effect of taking some of that raw hostility out of the sound. The production is perhaps a little too clean. With this kind of metal, it is always preferable to have a dirty production and not smooth out or neutralize any of the band's innate aggression.

Another addition to the sound is the use of some surprisingly impressive guitar solos. Dawn of Azazel has stayed away from guitar solos quite a bit in the past, but some of these solos are almost Slayer-esque. Joe Bonnett has improved his playing significantly.

As for the songs, Dawn of Azazel did appear to make a concerted effort to write full songs. That was occasionally a problem with the band in the past as well, many of their songs did not have a clear direction and were simply exercises in aggressive riffing. The band clearly focused on their songwriting abilities this time around and there is therefore no filler on this album.

Dawn of Azazel smoothed out a few problems with their previous albums on this, their third full length release, and improved their sound noticeably. No, it does not have the same dirty production or raw thunder that the band has developed over the years, but it is nevertheless the first great full album the band has put out. This album should help propel the band into the genre's elite.

Inner Thought: Perspectives

This one is a little weird. I first heard this band on a Celtic Frost tribute album, playing "Morbid Tales". Their song was frenzied and violent but a little strange due to the use of a drum machine. I assumed this was due to not being able to find a drummer in time to record the song. Apparently not, as the drum machine is back on this album.

Inner Thought is a band founded by guitarist Bobby Sadzak, formerly of Slaughter (the good Canadian band, not the shitty American band), although the band does not bear much of a resemblance at all to his previous one. Inner Thought plays crunchy, choppy death metal with some interesting industrial metal moments. The drum machine is only one part of this. The drum machine is obvious in that the drums sound too perfect and sterile, not at all human and organic. The album also features some keyboard flourishes and other elements giving the overall sound a kind of mechanical vibe. The band sounds a little like Demanufacture-era Fear Factory, but with more of a pronounced death metal influence. The album basically feels like being inside a steel factory where all of the tasks are being performed by machines and robots. It's kind of an eerie feel.

The vocals for the most part are fairly typical of earlier death metal: deep, low-pitched growls, although there is the occasional blackened shriek from the vocalist, particularly on the second track "Sanctioned Situations". These unexpected moments serve to snatch the listener's attention before returning to the robotic riffs. They also incorporate some random female vocals which feature some heavy effects to give the music an occasional glimpse of light in the otherwise dank factory. The real "what the fuck?" moment comes in the sixth track with what sounds like a rapper contributing. I am not a big fan of the inclusion of rapping in metal, so this is kind of a turnoff for me.

The riffs are heavy, with a deep bottom end. The songs are mostly short, with the entire album clocking in at only about 34 minutes. That's pretty nice actually. If there's one thing Fear Factory could have improved on, it's shortening their albums and not meandering so much. There is the occasional moment where the only thing heard is a lilting guitar solo, but it will quickly revert to the mechanized riffing once again. The production is also clean, emphasizing the sterile environment forged by the riffs and drum machine. The album does not sound like anything humans could create.

The beginning half of the album is filled with decent songs and heavy riffs. The latter half tends to lag just a bit, which is the major thing keeping this from being rated more favorably. There is also the above mentioned rap part in the sixth song "Autodogmatic". This is made up for in the barn burner follow-up "Rack of Lethargy" which features a fast thrash riff underneath some keyboard noodling and frequent samples. The last song, the title track, then slowly fades out.

This album has a definite science fiction feel to it, again similar to the aforementioned Fear Factory. Inner Thought's factory is lot more fearsome though than the boys from California. And this is coming from someone who was a huge fan of the band in his formative years as a metalhead. Unfortunately, there just is not enough here to really grab hold of the listener and cause them to come back frequently. It's an interesting listen, just not essential.

Impetigo: Horror of the Zombies

Sick, twisted, and absolutely fucked up. Impetigo's Horror of the Zombies is one of the most fun albums to listen to when in the mood for horror and gore. This is easily the band's best album, and unfortunately the band chose not to try to follow this up to date. The band broke up after it was released and although they have reformed for some anniversary shows, have not put out another full length album.

Impetigo blends death metal and grindcore beautifully into one of the sickest sounds ever. The riffs are not fast but are groove-laden and catchy. The bass rumbles along underneath the riffs providing more earth shaking tremors. The drums are possibly the best musical attribute on the album. They are some of the most interesting patterns in extreme metal. The drums are not played particularly fast, but they are technically very impressive. They are constantly present and blend with the music extremely well.

The vocals sound as if zombies were actually recorded. There are some vocal effects that are used to great effect, enhancing the listening experience that much more. The vocals are double-tracked and are often deep, decayed growls that sound as if they are coming from the grave. Every once in awhile vocalist Scott Dobbins will unleash a blood curdling shriek or do something else unexpected which further adds to the horror of the music.

Lyrically, Impetigo deals with gore, horror, and more horror. The band incorporates several clips from horror movies into the album. I recognize Wizard of Gore and Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, but there are others along the way. This further adds to the storytelling aspect of the songs. The band references these obscure horror movies and provides clips to go with the references.

The production on the album is incredible. It is thick and dirty sounding, yet clean enough to hear everything that is happening on the album. If all grindcore sounded like this, I would probably enjoy the genre a little better.

This album is a ton of fun. If only Impetigo had stuck around a little longer to follow it up. The band is a cult favorite, but they could have gotten much more acclaim had they kept at it. As it is, this is a great, somewhat obscure album.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 36: Besatt: Hail Lucifer

Very subtle. Besatt is a black metal band from Poland, which is a surprising hotbed for extreme metal. The band takes influences from second wave Norwegian black metal and first wave black metal bands such as Celtic Frost and Bathory. The band's sound is an unholy combination of its influences.

Besatt's riffs are delivered in a buzzing, tremolo style, befitting the genre. There are often only one or two riffs per song. Again, fairly typical for the cult style of the music. The drums are almost solely blast beats buried underneath the buzzsaw guitar sounds. The bass cannot be heard at all. The production is extremely lo-fi.

The vocals on the album are delivered in a typical black metal shriek. The lyrics are about Satanism, the occult, and Anti-Christianity.

As for the songs themselves, "War" is probably the best track. It features samples of medieval warfare throughout the entire song while the music is playing. It gives the overall effect of absolute, massive chaos. Hearing people screaming and sword clashes throughout the music somehow fits the style. It really must be heard.

All of this basically means that this album is representative of its style. It could also mean that the album is very cliche. It all depends on the listener and their enjoyment of this particular style of black metal. I happen to enjoy the style, and this is an underrated, unknown gem.

Metallattorney's Top Album of the 21st Century So Far: Destroyer 666: Cold Steel...For an Iron Age

Cold Steel is pretty much a perfect album. It is fast, intense, and aggressive and most of all, incredibly infectious. Destroyer 666 really outdid themselves on this album and they created an album that should go down as a classic in the heavy metal genre if there were any justice in the world. This album is amazing from beginning to end, but it does not get the respect it deserves because of the relative obscurity of this band. It’s a shame.

Destroyer 666 started out as a side project for K.K. Warslut of Bestial Warlust. It quickly evolved into its own entity, crushing everything in its path along the way. The band started as a relatively straightforward black metal band with occasional death metal influences. In other words, fairly similar to Warslut’s main band at the time and fellow Australian countrymen Abominator. As the band continued, more and more death metal influences began to show through, then even later strong thrash elements also presented themselves. Each D666 album is a little different from the previous one and this album is by far the band’s thrashiest, while still retaining some of their death and black metal influences.

This album features Destroyer 666 at their most stripped-down, aggressive, and razor-sharp. Everything about the album is tight and punchy and powerful. The band has discarded much of their grandiose, epic black metal in favor of a more simple thrash attack. Each of the individual elements are spectacular in their own way, but collectively, they add up to one extremely powerful listening experience.

Of course, the guitars are the most important aspect of the band. Shrapnel and Warslut play razor-sharp, jagged thrash metal riffs with the occasional tremolo line. The riffs come at the listener in a blinding fury. The blazing leads and solos coming out of nowhere are the true highlight of the album. The music will be very loud and workmanlike, when all of a sudden, a Slayer-esque solo will reach out and grab the listener’s attention. The leads on "Cold Steel" are particularly interesting, providing all of the melody, which is almost spine-tingling in the otherwise dark song. The riffs on "Raped" are very interesting, they have an unsettling feel, as if the composition of the riff is not quite right. It fits well with the song’s topic.

Warslut’s vocals mostly consist of a black metal rasp, although he has a couple of different pitches. He has a more high pitched rasp and a deeper, huskier growling rasp. The gang shouts that appear in some places further add to the dark and evil atmosphere of the music, while also making it seem a little more fun, particularly the spooky harmonic vocals on "The Calling". The lyrics are fairly simple, standard Satanic, anti-Christian, and warfare themes. The band does not feature great lyrics, with a couple of exceptions: "The Calling" and "Savage Pitch", but that’s not really the point of D666.

Mersus’s drumming is very prevalent in the mix. He is frequently pounding away, keeping the beat, but occasionally provides some nice fills when the riffs are repeating, especially on "Sons of Perdition". The drums are most interesting on "Cold Steel" where they really drive the song, pounding away and providing the energetic backbone of the powerful track. Berserker’s bass is audible, but for the most part he is playing the same riffs as the guitarists.

Some of the songs stand out for varying reasons. "Black City-Black Fire" opens up the album with a bang and sets the intensity level for the rest of the album. The band’s energy level never really wavers from this. "Cold Steel" slows things down at first, but keeps the intensity high. "Sons of Perdition" immediately speeds things back up after the cold, dark atmosphere of the previous track. "Raped" is a little more of a straightforward thrash metal song, with very few, if any, black metal influences. "The Calling" is perhaps the best song on the album. It also starts out slowly, building into a frightening frenzy. Once it does, it features the best leads, drums and vocals on the album, as well as the best interplay between the elements. "Savage Pitch" once again picks the pace back up, and the band does not relent until the end of the album, pausing only to provide unsettling vocal samples to close out the song "Witch Hunter". The band then works itself into a frenzy before fading out to end the album on "Shadow".

As for the flaws: there really are not any, other than things that have little or nothing to do with what is present on the album. The cover art is not very good, but reportedly the band did not approve it before the record company put it out, so they had no say in it. The album is a little on the short side, clocking in at barely over 35 minutes, but this is perfect length for such an album. It should not be too long and it should not be too short, and this album is just about right.

I bought this album after having heard the band’s name thrown around quite a bit on the Encyclopedia Metallum forums as a band to check out. I found this album at a used music store for fairly cheap. Not having actually heard the band, I decided to check them out anyway. It ranks as one of my best all time buys. This album quickly became one of my absolute favorites and I have checked out virtually everything else by this band I can find. None of the rest of their albums have quite the same explosiveness and power as this album. This truly should be a classic, not just for the band, not just for the scene, but the metal genre as a whole.

Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know Review

Heaven & Hell is, of course, the lineup of Black Sabbath from when Ronnie James Dio was the singer. Or at least, most of the time, as Bill Ward was still Black Sabbath’s drummer on Heaven and Hell and was later replaced by Vinnie Appice who drums on this album. The band took the name Heaven & Hell in order to respect Black Sabbath who had recently been inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. Tony Iommi, who at this time, owned the rights to the name "Black Sabbath" decided that this band should have its own identity and fans should not expect to hear "Paranoid" or "Iron Man" at a Heaven & Hell show. So thus, Heaven & Hell was born.

Prior to the name change, the lineup had gotten together for a tour and recorded three new songs for a Best Of compilation for the Dio-era Black Sabbath. These three new tracks laid the groundwork for the upcoming new album. But first, the band changed its name.

The album The Devil You Know is the first album of new songs recorded by the band, and is the first album of new songs recorded by any form of Black Sabbath. It was one of the most highly-anticipated albums of 2009 and for good reason. There had not been a new album from Tony Iommi since 2005 and from Ronnie James Dio since 2004. Knowing that these two icons had gotten back together and recorded new material was enough to send metalheads into a frenzy. When the new album artwork was posted, again fans were abuzz.

So, how is the new album?

Honestly, it’s something of a letdown. It is a perfectly good album, but it was a victim of its own hype. The interest in the album had risen to a fever pitch and very few albums could have adequately lived up to that hype. That is not to suggest that it was a bad album, very far from it. It just was not as good as everyone hoped it would be.

The band fits very neatly into the traditional doom genre. This was to be expected as Black Sabbath had been the purveyors of the doom metal sound. When Dio came on board, the band perfected that sound. Heaven & Hell is slow and extremely heavy and somber. There are some faster songs on the album, but even those still easily fit within the doom genre. The album does have a more traditional metal flavor to it as well, to go along with the doom elements. The album would not have been out of place coming out immediately after the Dehumanizer album, which also had Dio fronting Black Sabbath. It sounds that true to the style.

The music, as implied, is often very slow with lumbering riffs, and heavy bass. The bass is audible and is some of Geezer Butler’s best work in years. It is the driving force of the rhythms behind the riffs. Tony Iommi has not lost a step in his age. He is still very capable of writing some amazing riffs, and does so many times. It makes the album interesting to listen to and many of the riffs are infectious, getting stuck in the head and not leaving for days. Iommi also provides some great guitar solos, with a clean tone and good technique, particularly the solo on "Fear". The drumming is efficient but definitely not one of the major features of the band. It is there for rhythm only and filling in where needed, and while there are some interesting drum parts, it mostly takes a back seat for the riffs and vocals.

The music is mostly played in minor keys, obviously to take advantage of the natural tendency to sound more imposing. The band does do a decent job of staying away from standard verse-chorus-verse structure. This makes the individual songs stand out more and keeps the album from running together. Unfortunately, many of the songs do tend to stay at one speed. Some tempo changes would serve to make the songs stand out even more.

Ronnie James Dio is one of the all time great vocalists in metal, and perhaps any genre of rock music for that matter. His vocals are still great, despite his advancing age. He is still able to reach that awe-inspiring, rich tenor tone that he has become known for over the years, and his ability to continue to do so is one of the highlights of this album. His vocals also fit seemlessly with the music. He does not sound at all out of place as his higher vocals balance out the deep bottom end of the music. If anything, this interplay makes the music even doomier.

Lyrically, this is definitely similar to a Black Sabbath album. Many of the themes are dark. The only song that seems to have bad lyrics is "Rock and Roll Angel", which would have been a perfectly acceptable song in the 1980's but sounds pretty cheesy now.

The better songs on the album are "Bible Black" and "Eating the Cannibals". "Bible Black" starts out with a powerful, solitary guitar solo and the vocals of Dio. It then slowly builds upon this loneliness into a heavy power chord progression. The song is very similar to classic tracks like "Heaven and Hell" and "The Mob Rules". "Eating the Cannibals" is the fastest song on the album and is exactly the kind of song that fans expected out of the reunited lineup. It is a straight-ahead, classic metal track.

The album as a whole is a strong release and will probably be one of the better traditional metal albums released this year. However, it does not possess enough new and original ideas to match the hype that was built up for it. It is a very good, sometimes great album, that is a victim to its own impossible expectations.

Explanation for the Reviews

As I mentioned previously, last week I knocked out a ton of reviews. They have all been posted now so I will get back to normal posting. Last week on the Metal Archives, there was a contest to see if they could get a bunch of albums reviewed that had not been reviewed previously. I came in a very distant fifth place. The top four were all over 70 or so, my 24 (with two splits that counted as two reviews each) was way behind. Still though, I am glad I was able to help with the project and review some worthy albums. As you can see, some of the reviews were very positive such as Devastator, Cauldron, and Apophis, three albums I love. Others were not so positive such as Pitchshifter. Enough full reviews for now.

Devastator: Nuclear Proliferation Review

Devastator is a blackened thrash metal band from the United States that sounds like they would fit easily with the Australian “war metal” scene. They play quickly and precisely, almost mechanically. They sound like an industrial machine moreso than a thrash metal band. There are few tempo changes within a song keeping this almost inhuman precision going at all times.

The guitar riffs have the same sort of buzzsaw tone that has become a staple of Swedish death. However, they are not playing death metal riffs, but rather thrash riffs inspired by bands like early German thrash bands and Sepultura. The band frequently finds one particular riff on each track and plays the hell out of it for the full song, sometimes as much as eight minutes long. They do occasionally switch riffs but for the most part they stick to one main riff per song. There are guitar solos that crop up once in awhile, but the tone is not fully fleshed out, sounding more like an electrical short in keeping with the industrial machinery feel of the rest of the album.

The rhythm section plugs away as precisely as the guitars forming the backbone to the sound. The drums are often not doing anything terribly fancy, an occasional roll or fill, but for the most part the drums are there to keep time and keep the guitars on track. The bass drum is struck with force in places the band is trying to emphasize, bringing to mind the image of cannon blasts and explosions. The bass plays many of the same riffs as the guitars providing a full, bottom-heavy attack on the senses.

Vocalist Wulfnoth delivers his lines in a constant rasping growl. He does not waver from this approach, except for the occasional shriek which still maintains the raspy quality of his other vocals.

Lyrically, Devastator is all about war. Song titles like “Brothers in Arms”, “Bombardment” (an incredibly fitting name), and “Into Battle” keep these images active while listening.

Despite the use of the same riff over and over within each song, each song sounds distinct and not like the one previous to it. This is enough to keep the listener involved throughout the album.

The band is not as chaotic-sounding as the Australian bands like Destroyer 666, instead choosing precision and constant bombardment to chaos and destruction. However, the effect is the same. This band pummels the listener with a force and fury that is hard to fathom. The songs are long but never get tiring because they maintain their ferocity all the way through to the end. This is a great album and Devastator lives up to their name, completely wiping out the listener by the time the album is through.

Dreaming Dead: Within One Review

At one time, having a female in a metal band was a novelty. Later on, this started to wear off but there were still not many females in extreme metal bands. It was this novelty that lead the Angela Gossow-lead Arch Enemy into a huge amount of success for such an extreme metal band. There have been more and more extreme metal bands with female singers an it appears that some of these bands have been accepted and praised more for the musical talents than the fact that there is a woman singing. Estuary is one of these bands and now, with their 2009 release on Ibex Moon Records, Dreaming Dead joins those ranks.

Dreaming Dead formed in 2006 under the name Manslaughter. They released an EP under that name and then later changed it along with adding a couple additional members. They released their first full length album early in 2009. The hype machine really has not discovered the band yet despite the presence of Elizabeth Schall, a beautiful woman, fronting the band. Thus far, they have garnered attention mostly on behalf of their versatile musicianship. This is a step in the right direction for the metal community.

The band’s influences are pulled from death metal, melodic death metal, thrash metal, and black metal. The music is quick-paced and intense. It owes more to thrash than the other forms although it is a little more bottom-heavy than thrash. The bass is audible adding to the thunder at the bottom of the music. The drumming is fast and loud. There are the occasional blastbeats and some other times where the drummer truly shines, but for the most part he stays in the background.

The guitar riffs bear some similarities to those of Dissection, occasional tremolo riffs swirling around the increasingly pounding drums. Other times, the riffs are more similar to death metal or even to thrash metal. The band switches styles effortlessly from one subgenre to another making them difficult to classify. Every once in awhile the band slows things down with a somber melodic interlude. This changes the pace a little bit and keeps the interest of the listener.

Elizabeth Schall does sound a little like Angela Gossow, but she has a little more rasp to her vocals, seemingly more influenced by black metal style vocals. It is often difficult to tell that this is a woman singing, she does a fine job.

All in all, this is a good debut album for this up and coming band. It will be interesting to see how the band follows it up.

Defleshed: Death...The High Cost of Living Review

This is a live album from Swedish death metal band Defleshed. They certainly seem to have done their homework on what Swedish death should sound like, throwing all of the typical ingredients together to form their sound which is very fast and brutal.

Defleshed actually started around the same time, just a couple of years later in fact, as many other Swedish death metal bands. However, where Entombed, Dismember, and Grave were able to get a full length album out and capitalize fairly quickly, it took Defleshed several more years to get their first full length out, which is perhaps why they remained mired in the underground, unknown except to people who are obsessed with Swedish death.

The most interesting aspect of this album is that it is a live album. It sounds like they’re playing a bar with maybe five to ten people in the audience. It’s actually kind of amusing to listen and hear everyone yelp, whistle, and cheer and be able to make out distinct voices.

The songs are very short and go by lightning-fast. If one is not paying attention, you could conceivably miss an entire song. The crowd probably would be a tip off that the song ended, but that’s it.

The music consists of standard Swedish death metal riffs with some hints of thrash thrown in for good measure. The guitars sound like chainsaws ripping through flesh. Unfortunately, in a live setting, sometimes its difficult to clearly hear the riffs and that is kind of the problem here as well. There are few, if any, solos, and they could not be heard very well anyway. The drummer is very entertaining as he is adding fills throughout the songs while still being able to keep time. The bass cannot be heard at all.

The singer sounds like he is trying to scream through a mouthful of blood. He has a voice that sounds desiccated and decayed as if he just crawled out of the grave. It’s rather amusing to hear him continue to use this voice as he announces the next song.

The production value is not very good. As mentioned earlier, the guitars sound a little muddy at times and the vocalist can not be heard well at all. The bass cannot be heard at all.

Still, this remains an interesting pickup of an underground Swedish death metal band. It is entertaining and a fast listen. Recommended for major fans of the scene and for completists. Anyone looking to get into the band should try their full lengths first.

Final Breath: Flash Burnt Crucifixes Review

Final Breath is a band from Germany that plays death/thrash metal in a similar style to Darkane, The Crown and other Swedish bands. Their death metal influences seem to be more on the Swedish side of things, bands like Dismember and Grave can be heard through their music. Their thrash metal influences are more likely their German countrymen like Sodom, Kreator, and Destruction. It is a volatile mix of extreme metal bands and yet it is seemless.

This is Final Breath’s debut full length album after forming in 1993 and releasing one demo and one EP. It is pretty obvious that this is their debut and they have had limited experience. The song titles are a little odd and show a limited grasp on the English language, or they’re jokes, tough to say which. Just look at these titles: “Going Hellbound”, “Sociopathetically Insane”, and “Bloodred Sky”. The album cover and band logo are obviously amateur but none of these things affect the music.

The guitar riffs have a little bit of the typical Swedish tone, but are delivered in a riffing style that has more in common with the German thrash scene. The riffs are not delivered at the same breakneck speed as the German thrash of the 1980's , but they are nowhere near groove metal speeds either, more of some healthy medium.

The drums are recorded pretty high in the mix. They are easily heard. They are often used more for keeping time than for doing much else, although there are quite a few interesting fills thrown in between guitar riffs. They are played very fast with a major emphasis on the snare drum as opposed to the rest of the kit.

The vocals are mostly shouted and gruff bringing to mind mid-era Grave. They do not change much, which is not that unusual for the style of music being played.

There really is not much original going on here. This style of music has been played before and probably played better, this is not a lost gem or anything like that and is by no means essential. However, the album is competent and interesting. It’s not a bad release by any means.

The band essentially sounds like Hating Life-era Ola Lindgren fronting a slowed-down Kreator. Not a bad mix whatsoever, as the band pulls it off quite well. As stated before, this is a decent album, just not original or essential.

Cauldron: Chained to the Nite Review

This is the first full length album by Canadian heavy/thrash metal band Cauldron. Cauldron formed when the doom metal band Goat Horn broke up. They play a more traditional style of metal, sounding like a thrashier version of Iron Maiden or other NWOBHM bands. They released one EP prior to this album. This is definitely in the run for metal album of the year for me. The album is fast, fun, and catchy as hell.

Traditional metal has been on the upswing for the last several years. Cauldron joins a growing list of bands that play traditional metal that includes The Gates of Slumber, Grand Magus, Twisted Tower Dire, Wolf, and Icarus Witch. Cauldron's reference points are bands from the NWOBHM and early thrash metal bands like Slayer or Overkill.

The band plays short, choppy, staccato guitar riffs that call to mind Iced Earth's Jon Schaffer, over a galloping bass line, very similar to the style of Iron Maiden's Steve Harris, bringing the best of both styles together into a very well-done whole. The bass can always be heard very well in the mix, which is a good thing on this album because it is a major highlight. The guitar solos are incendiary, yet another influence from Maiden and their ilk. The drums are done capably but are not an outstanding feature of the music. They are played well, but the real focus of the band is on the riffing and the vocals.

Jason Decay provides the vocals for the band and, while he is not one of the better metal vocalists out there, his vocal style seems to fit reasonably well with the music. Decay's vocals bring to mind early Dokken, which is a bit of an unusual style. They are higher with a little bit of a whine to them. This is not a bad thing by any stretch, but they are something of a grower.

The lyrics are a little cheezy, the band certainly seems to have an affinity for chains. The album is titled "Chained to the Nite" and there are songs called "Chained Up in Chains" and "Chains Around Heaven". It's something of a theme. Despite the repetitiveness, the vocals are fun and do not detract from the music at all. The songs are extremely catchy and can easily become lodged in the brain for days at a time. Once again, that's not a bad thing.

The only complaint I really have is that my version comes with a bonus disk with just two songs on it. I am a little torn between liking and disliking that idea. On the one hand, the complete album is there and available to be listened to as the band intended. On the other hand, this is a short album, so why not include the bonus tracks at the end of the album? I guess ultimately I would prefer to have the bonus tracks at the end of the album instead of a separate disk. Just personal preference.

This album is fun and very catchy. The band sounds like they had a great time doing it which is communicated well to the listener. I look forward to seeing what the band does from here. This album is highly recommended to people looking for new metal bands that play the traditional genre the right way.