Hellcrawler/Wölfe: The End of Humanity (2014)

Do other forms of music even do splits?  It seems like the only splits I ever hear about are in extreme metal and related genres.  Seriously, are there splits in rap music?  Pop music?  

Anyway, this is a split between two obviously extreme metal bands.  You don't get a name like Hellcrawler in the pop music realm.  Each band contributed about ten minutes worth of music, which does a surprisingly good job of introducing the band to someone like myself who is not familiar with either group.

Hellcrawler has taken the Entombed death 'n roll sound and run with it.  The Slovenien group (that's right, Slovenian) has one full length album under their belt before this split.  Their side of the split is three tracks of dirty, filthy death metal with some surprisingly catchy hooks.  Third track "Green Machine" is a cover of one of the greatest Kyuss songs.  They do a decent job putting their own spin on it.  

Wölfe is definitely extreme.  An odd mix of grindcore and blackened thrash.  The band apparently does not actually name their songs, titling them with Roman numerals only.  The production values leave a little to be desired as the sound is a little too high-pitched and grating.  The drums have that certain St. Anger quality.  The vocals are pretty terrible as well.  I will likely not be revisiting Wölfe.

So, two sides, one really good and the other really bad.  I will definitely be trying to track down some more Hellcrawler.

Teleport: Stellar Damnation (2013)

A lot of Slovenian bands have found me lately.  The latest is this thrash metal band that owes a lot of their sound to bands like Voivod, Vektor, Coroner, and other technical bands.

This is a short, three-song demo, Teleport's third such release since 2010.  The first track is simply an introductory instrumental track that builds up into the second song, which is far more representative of what to expect from Teleport.  The sound is definitely a much more progressive and technical one, with mechanical-sounding riffs and frequent time signature changes.  The sound is one which would have been at home in the late 1980's when technical thrash was becoming more commonplace.  It is truly a whirlwind of riffs and once one settles in for awhile, it quickly changes to something else.

The lyrics deal with a lot of science-fiction and Lovecraftian themes, furthering the comparison to Voivod and Vektor.  The vocals are delivered in a raspy shriek that calls to mind early blackened/death metal bands.  It fits in reasonably well with the music and lyrics but may not be the most appropriate style.

The only real issue I had with this is that some of the riff and time-signature changes seemed a little jarring.  This has the effect of feeling like multiple recorded sessions that were thrown together in editing.  This is a young band though and the chances are pretty good that they will be able to write more fluid songs in time.

I was impressed by this demo.  I like the style of metal, there are just a couple of minor things to work out, and I hope that they do.  I will be watching for a full-length.

Metal Briefs: Slovenian Bands

This is another catch-up post in which I put several bands together in one post.  These bands were all sent to me by the same promoter and they have one thing in common: they are all from Slovenia.  Slovenia is not exactly a metal hotbed.  According to Metal Archives, there are 217 documented metal bands from Slovenia.  Here are three of them:

ARMAROTH: FALSE VISION (2013)

Here we have a fairly young death metal band, releasing their first EP in 2013.  Armaroth plays a somewhat unique combination of slow and fast death metal.  At times, the riffs plod along at a snail's pace, but they often complement that with some surprisingly fast sections.  The slower parts are fairly typical for modern death metal, heavy, down-tuned riffs, and deep, grunted vocals.  The faster parts that connect verses or choruses to verses are often the most interesting parts musically.  The band is able to shift tempos fairly seemlessly, and do so quite often.  "Labyrinth of Greed" is the standout here, with its generally faster pace and rampaging riffs, along with an impressive solo.  This is a solid death metal EP from a rising group.

MIST: DEMO (2013)

Mist is a group of five Slovenian women playing doom metal in the vein of Black Sabbath, Candlemass, and other masters of the genre.  This is the band's first release, a demo of two songs.  Mist play real doom metal, the way that it was played when the genre was conceived.  It is slow and heavy, but with a lack of distortion so that the riffs really shine through.  The vocals of singer Nina Spruk are clean and haunting, adding to the occult feel of the songs.  This is an extremely impressive first recording.  I am anxious to see what else this band can do.

MOTHERMOUND: THE BURDEN OF TOMORROW (2013)

Mothermound was previously known as Expulsion and were active from 1995 to 2005.  In that time period, they only released on full-length.  After a hiatus, the band re-formed in 2009 under the name Mothermound.  Reference points for the band's sound start with the early bands at the forefront of combining doom metal and death metal, groups like Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, with a little bit of progressive metal thrown in a la Opeth.  The band kicks things off with the epic length "Aurora Awaken", which is a little unusual.  Typically the epics come at the end of the album, so right away it is clear that Mothermound thinks a little outside the box.  The band typically utilizes clean riffs, with the occasional acoustic section, very much like Opeth.  The band does not follow the typical verse-chorus-verse progression, another similarity to Opeth and the other aforementioned bands.  Vocals are alternated between a gravelly growl and a clean wail which sounds very much like Layne Staley at times.  Not a bad album, although it does tend to drag a little at times, which is not unusual with this brand of metal.