Friday, September 28, 2007
Sarcolytic NEW SONG
"Manus Obscurus" has officially been posted on Sarcolytic's Myspace. This shows some nice compositional change from the previous demo songs, which were much more straightforward. Zig's vocals are a guttural style not unlike Cenotaph's, which will please some fans of theirs. The song structuring tends towards the progressive with some acoustic parts thrown in among the quick riffing. Drumming is cymbal heavy and abrasive, with kick drums being very loud as is usual in the style. I'm interested to see where this will lead (to a full-length?)...go check out the new song!
Inveracity - Extermination of Millions (Unique Leader; 2007)
I have to admit before I listened to Extermination of Millions I had never heard any Inveracity before. I had heard they were good, if derivative, but I was completely turned off by the terrible cover art of their previous album. However with much encouragement from Andy I decided to get their Unique Leader debut.
This is a superb CD. It has all the hallmarks of a (good) Unique Leader release: professional, well produced, well packaged and nice art. From the very beginning to the very end this album pulses with absolutely epic riffs that really feel heavy and brutal. Check out the beginning of Before the Uncreation, it's huge. The two bands that immediately come to mind while listening are Deeds of Flesh and Kronos. There is the alternation of melody and chugs that Deeds of Flesh use so effectively combined with the larger than life melodies that Kronos uses. This mixes to give us some fabulous and memorable riffs and songs. It makes you feel like you are one of the millions being fucking exterminated.
This is primarily riff oriented Brutal Death, but the drums, bass and vocals are all audible and well done. Vocals are not particularly guttural, just deep powerful roars. The bass is not terribly loud, but gets a few solos to add its input. Drums are what you'd expect but again, well produced and well done. Another things that I like is that the songs never overstay their welcome. Most are under 3 minutes, which allows the riffs to hit you and do maximum damage without getting tiresome.
Seriously, this is a fabulous album. If Infernal Revulsion hadn't released their album this year, Extermination of Millions may have been my number one Brutal Death release of 07. Either way it is a mandatory pickup.
This is a superb CD. It has all the hallmarks of a (good) Unique Leader release: professional, well produced, well packaged and nice art. From the very beginning to the very end this album pulses with absolutely epic riffs that really feel heavy and brutal. Check out the beginning of Before the Uncreation, it's huge. The two bands that immediately come to mind while listening are Deeds of Flesh and Kronos. There is the alternation of melody and chugs that Deeds of Flesh use so effectively combined with the larger than life melodies that Kronos uses. This mixes to give us some fabulous and memorable riffs and songs. It makes you feel like you are one of the millions being fucking exterminated.
This is primarily riff oriented Brutal Death, but the drums, bass and vocals are all audible and well done. Vocals are not particularly guttural, just deep powerful roars. The bass is not terribly loud, but gets a few solos to add its input. Drums are what you'd expect but again, well produced and well done. Another things that I like is that the songs never overstay their welcome. Most are under 3 minutes, which allows the riffs to hit you and do maximum damage without getting tiresome.
Seriously, this is a fabulous album. If Infernal Revulsion hadn't released their album this year, Extermination of Millions may have been my number one Brutal Death release of 07. Either way it is a mandatory pickup.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Fetal Mutilation - Filipino Slam Masters
Nick has been telling me that slam death from the Phillipines is on the rise...and after a few more counts of battery on my ears from bands from that region, I think I'm convinced. But this is one of the more impressive acts...and what impresses me (and, yeah, also disturbs me and causes me to rethink why we even let labels exist if they won't put out awesome albums by bands like this) is that these guys are super, SUPER, BEYOND epic (riffs, breakdowns, technical parts, even the fucking vocals are better than 99% of slam bands...I mean, fuck!) yet, like I just mentioned, they don't have a CD out and apparently aren't releasing one anytime soon...
Barrett/Sevared should really listen to us here and sign this fucking band...he's got the ultra-brutal Down From The Wound putting out a CD soon (we'll have a review and interview from them soon right here!), the split between Human Mastication/Flesh Disgorged (both from overlooked Asian scenes; super kudos to the label for the attention to this part of the world...but seriously, sign Fetal Mutilation...now!!)...but...man, the rest of the world is missing out.
If you like your slams HUGE, your riffs BIGGER, your breakdowns EXTRA HEAVY, and your vocals sicker than your grandmother with tuberculosis...fuck, listen to this band. A demo review may be forthcoming...
Fetal Mutilation @ Myspace
Barrett/Sevared should really listen to us here and sign this fucking band...he's got the ultra-brutal Down From The Wound putting out a CD soon (we'll have a review and interview from them soon right here!), the split between Human Mastication/Flesh Disgorged (both from overlooked Asian scenes; super kudos to the label for the attention to this part of the world...but seriously, sign Fetal Mutilation...now!!)...but...man, the rest of the world is missing out.
If you like your slams HUGE, your riffs BIGGER, your breakdowns EXTRA HEAVY, and your vocals sicker than your grandmother with tuberculosis...fuck, listen to this band. A demo review may be forthcoming...
Fetal Mutilation @ Myspace
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Two Signings and a Rerelease
Here's a few news tidbits for you
Prophecy (TX, USA) has been signed by Grindethic records. Grindethic is from the UK and has recently released a slew of bands, including Defeated Sanity. This will be Prophecy's third full length and first in a while. It is to be entitled "Don't Fuckin' Mess With Texas".
Kronos (France) has signed with Neurotic Records and expects to release their next album sometime in 2009.
I can't say I'm a huge fan of either band, but it's nice to see the scene be healthy and bands getting signed.
On the rerelease front, Sevared Records has rereleased Septycal Gorge's (Italy) Growing Seeds of Decay and added on a few bonus tracks. This was one of my favorites from last year and if you don't have it yet, you no longer have an excuse. Get this album quick. The fact that it was rereleased after only a a year should show you how good it is!
Prophecy (TX, USA) has been signed by Grindethic records. Grindethic is from the UK and has recently released a slew of bands, including Defeated Sanity. This will be Prophecy's third full length and first in a while. It is to be entitled "Don't Fuckin' Mess With Texas".
Kronos (France) has signed with Neurotic Records and expects to release their next album sometime in 2009.
I can't say I'm a huge fan of either band, but it's nice to see the scene be healthy and bands getting signed.
On the rerelease front, Sevared Records has rereleased Septycal Gorge's (Italy) Growing Seeds of Decay and added on a few bonus tracks. This was one of my favorites from last year and if you don't have it yet, you no longer have an excuse. Get this album quick. The fact that it was rereleased after only a a year should show you how good it is!
Friday, September 21, 2007
Carnivore Diprosopus - Madhouse's Macabre Acts (Dan's Crypt; 2006)
Here we have the sophomore album by Colombian slammers Carnivore Diprosopus. Starting the album off is a very well-placed and well-chosen sample of a woman allowing a man entry to what she deems "the madhouse" which is "housing for potential murderers." Pretty fitting given the title. Immediately, the music begins after meshing nicely with the intro and we are treated to ultra-bassy slams with a lot of depth when listened to on headphones. The breakdowns are extremely well-written with good pinch harmonic sections right off the bat. The vocals aren't super guttural, but rather stay in kind of a mid-range guttural sound. So, in essence they're not as brutal as they could be, but I personally like this sound. Halfway in, we get the real treat; another sample, this time one of someone being zapped to a crisp, and we go right back into great slams with almost "gang"-like vocal sections.
I'm honestly quite impressed with this band. This is mature slam done in the traditional Colombian style (straightforward, high tuned snare sound, nice variation in slams like countrymen Suppuration if they were, well, better, to put it quite simply). This far surpasses a lot of the more old-style Colombian brutal death metal. All around you get extremely nice grooves complimented by subtle flourishes of melody all wrapped in a package of great slamming songwriting with nice change-ups from fast to slow and everything in between. Another positive note is the tasteful drumming; Sander knows how to put in the right amount of snare and hi-hat flourishes, and that's a virtue among common brutal death where, often, a drummer will randomly bang on things because he can, or otherwise completely overdo it. None of that here, everything the man does is for a reason, and the reason fits in with the concept of the individual songs.
The entire concept of the album is very good. We will forgive the band for their broken English on some song titles and such just because their slams and general sound are THAT damn good. "Nurse In Cannibals Orgy" begins with just the most kickass fucking slam section I've heard in quite a long time...I love blasting that, seriously...so primitive, so efficient, so damn quality. Some of the samples are kind of off-putting, such as the beginning of "Dancing With My Son's Corpse," which is also coincidentally kind of a weak/weird song title. But it's quickly remedied as they go right into a pulsing section of guitar grooves and fast double kick drumming. The last track, "Apocalyptic Crucifixion" has a very static sounding guitar part in the beginning, sounding almost black metal due to the tremolo style, but not as raw or high pitched; the band always opts for bass-style guitar playing and simplistic chords which sometimes burst with spontaneous technicality similar to the much-loved countrymen Amputated Genitals. And once you get a comparison to them, the review is pretty much over and everyone who wanted to hear something good about the band has just heard it. If you like Colombian death metal and don't have this in some form or another...I think you need to be commited to the madhouse!
-Andy
I'm honestly quite impressed with this band. This is mature slam done in the traditional Colombian style (straightforward, high tuned snare sound, nice variation in slams like countrymen Suppuration if they were, well, better, to put it quite simply). This far surpasses a lot of the more old-style Colombian brutal death metal. All around you get extremely nice grooves complimented by subtle flourishes of melody all wrapped in a package of great slamming songwriting with nice change-ups from fast to slow and everything in between. Another positive note is the tasteful drumming; Sander knows how to put in the right amount of snare and hi-hat flourishes, and that's a virtue among common brutal death where, often, a drummer will randomly bang on things because he can, or otherwise completely overdo it. None of that here, everything the man does is for a reason, and the reason fits in with the concept of the individual songs.
The entire concept of the album is very good. We will forgive the band for their broken English on some song titles and such just because their slams and general sound are THAT damn good. "Nurse In Cannibals Orgy" begins with just the most kickass fucking slam section I've heard in quite a long time...I love blasting that, seriously...so primitive, so efficient, so damn quality. Some of the samples are kind of off-putting, such as the beginning of "Dancing With My Son's Corpse," which is also coincidentally kind of a weak/weird song title. But it's quickly remedied as they go right into a pulsing section of guitar grooves and fast double kick drumming. The last track, "Apocalyptic Crucifixion" has a very static sounding guitar part in the beginning, sounding almost black metal due to the tremolo style, but not as raw or high pitched; the band always opts for bass-style guitar playing and simplistic chords which sometimes burst with spontaneous technicality similar to the much-loved countrymen Amputated Genitals. And once you get a comparison to them, the review is pretty much over and everyone who wanted to hear something good about the band has just heard it. If you like Colombian death metal and don't have this in some form or another...I think you need to be commited to the madhouse!
-Andy
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