WARBRINGER - War Without End CD Review

WARBRINGER - War Without End CD
Century Media Records

I first learned about this band after hearing their two scorching tracks on the Speed Kills Again Thrash Compilation from Heavy Artillery Records last year. I was immediately hooked and looked forward to the day when a full length was out. Well here it is and I've been blasting it for well over a month without even thinking about a review. It's just one of those releases that's hard to write about since it's so great, you don't know where to start. This is the CD which should be played for all of those detractors of the so-called "Thrash Revival". It's violent energetic Thrash Metal for people who still like to throw down to SLAYER or EXODUS. Also it's not a throwback to the past as some whiny post-metal losers in the Metal media would have you believe. Actually this is homage that stands up on it's own to the forebearers of the genre. I just can't see bands of the past looking down their noses and saying "Ah yeah we did all that before dude so stop". Instead I see em giving the horned fist in tribute as a passing of the proverbial torch. Think about this all of you anti-Thrash fucks. This was recorded, mixed and mastered by producer Bill Metoyer who has also worked with past legends like SLAYER, DARK ANGEL, DRI, COC,etc. Not only does that guy know the difference between pure aggression and rehash. I doubt that the guy would bother with something that's supposed to be a simple flash in the pan, short lived revival. WARBRINGER are just one of a handful of new California Thrash bands that are on the attack with a sound that's fresh and definitely needed now.

www.centurymedia.com

PROSTITUTE DISFIGUREMENT - Descendants of Depravity CD Review

PROSTITUTE DISFIGUREMENT - Descendants of Depravity CD
Neurotic Records

When it comes to Death Metal sometimes brutality is not enough. Now I know that such a statement will most likely ruffle a few feathers or worse it'll spark reprisals. So I wanna worn you now don't do nothing stupid because I'm armed. And the first sullen faced fuck I see lurking outside my house. I'm gonna let you have it with both barrels right in the gut. And don't try to bullshit me by saying you're here to read the gas meter. No one does that with a meat cleaver. OK back what I was saying, yeah brutality is great but decent bands within this genre have found longevity by adding more to the mix than just pummeling the listener. I know some people like to believe that great Death Metal is innovated and more extreme than what has been done before hand. But for me there's a fine line between brutality and listenability. It's one thing to be pounded down into mush. But it's better to be pounded in order to give you strength and rising up to bash back even harder. The great bands like SUFFOCATION and CANNIBAL CORPSE have been doing this for years. Tearing listeners down to pulp sized chunks and then building them back up. This is what modern day Death Metal should be about. And that's what PROSTITUTE DISFIGUREMENT does on this nine song CD. There's alot on Descendants of Depravity which will satisfy all of you brutality perverts. But there's much more than just blastbeats and growling. This Dutch band tosses in lot's of melody plus intense riffing and solos that'll send volts down your spine. The Dutch have a history when it comes to creating a brutal hostile environment while at the same time inviting in the listener to take part in the carnage. Although this is not for jaded video gamers hellbent on being mouth-fucked by their heroes.

www.neurotic-records.com/

The SEVENTH GATE - AOTTMLHDYETP? CD Review

The SEVENTH GATE - AOTTMLHDYETP? CD
Satan Rock Records

I picked this up at an ADMIRAL BROWNING show earlier this year. There were a bunch laid out on the club's bar for people to pick up along with a Satan Rock Records CD compilation. The SEVENTH GATE throw everything at you including a filthy bathroom sink from a crustie punk's squat house. The basic formula here is Powerviolence, extremely fast like a cheetah late for a meal. Or painfully slow like the current of a sludge filled river. But that's not to pigeonhole this band of psychos. There's also plenty of industrial blasts and progressive experimentation to keep one's attention excited. The vocals vary between Death Metal barks and growls to Hardcore tormented banshee screams. All of which is appropriately recorded at primitive levels in order to keep with authenticity of the genre. By the way this was mastered by some guy named Bill Wolf who's no relation to me. This dink wins for sheer audio extremism and it's something I would never have picked up on a whim. An over the top professional recording would ruin this. It's definitely a throwback to 1989/91 when the Powerviolence scene on the Left coast was running at full bore. Unfortunately this was released last year, no wonder they were given away for free at the show.

www.satanrock.com

VARIOUS ARTISTS - This Comp Kills Fascists Volume One CD Review

VARIOUS ARTISTS - This Comp Kills Fascists Volume One CD
Relapse Records

Normally I would never comment on the themed artwork of an Extreme Metal release but on this one I must make an exception. I have nothing against people who have political/social opinions different than mine, as long as they're based on reasonable facts and not fiction. The fact about Fascism is that it's an ideology based on state control. An ideology which in the past hundred years of history has been embraced by the far left-wing and taken on new names like Socialism, Nazism, Communism and of course Liberalism. It has also recently been embraced by certain religious denominations in particular radical Islamists. Therefore to equate the U.S. or the Bush administration Fascist is completely ignorant of the facts. But here in America you have the right to be ignorant. Now with that said let's talk about the music.

This dink was compiled and produced by Scott Hull, guitarist of the band PIG DESTROYER. Seeing that their Phantom Limb release from 2007 turned up on every one's "best of" lists, including mine. And it probably sold more units than any other of their label's releases. So I'm sure Relapse Records would allow Scott Hull to do any fucking thing he wanted. Even taking a dump at Relapse Records corporate office. Thankfully this compilation of Extreme music is not a dump. Music wise the bands comprise of a who's who in the Underground Grind genre with some twists. Obviously some people don't wanna be confined to just one genre. There's 14 bands and 51 tracks in all. Yeah I couldn't handle all of it but there were plenty of standouts to satisfy.

KILL THE CLIENT do that on here with their three cuts of pure hate filled gore-grind. Very good but too bad you have to wade through two other bands to get to their good shit. Yeah the bands AGENTS OF SATAN and WEEKEND NACHOS bored me. SPOONFUL OF VICODIN are old school power-violence. They even garnered six cuts on here. But they run through them faster than a crustie running from a shower. MARUTA are fuckin death grind who at times made me think the fuckin CD was scratched and the damm thing was skipping. But that only happens when I put a CD on and then fall asleep to it. Then I wake up maybe four hours later to it skipping. Yeah my neighbors hate me. MARUTA's two cut contribution is definitely unhinged brutality.

One of the highlights for me at least are the cuts by INSECT WARFARE. At the present time they are the hottest name in the underground grindcore genre. Although their sound and style varies from grindcore to 1980's hardcore crust. The heavy stuff that sparks of relentless violence like mid-period NAPALM DEATH. And since we're talking old school then that's what the band SHITSTORM are all about. Their six tracks on here are untamed, chaotic and fast like they stepped out of the past. MAN WILL DESTROY HIMSELF are local veterans of the Raleigh, NC underground music scene and lean more towards insane hardcore than the other bands on here. They contribute two songs where their singer, Earthworm, sounds like someone going through the ravages of rabies. While the rest of the band blasts out an aggressive sonic barrage. I've seen them live a handful of times and I just get more impressed by them with each show. TOTAL FUCKIN DESTRUCTION, who I think are great live, were a disappointment on here. Way to much jazz for my tastes as if NOMEANSNO were a grind band. Still Rick Hoak is an exceptional drummer to watch live. By the way that's a stab to all the fuckers who missed them earlier this year at Volume 11 Tavern. Also the BRUTAL TRUTH contributions also with Rick Hoak are much better. CHAINSAW TO THE FACE, now that's a great band name, are specialists in simple death grind which is very punishing to say the least. MAGRUDERGRIND were much in the same vein.

All in all yeah this is a great compilation for anyone into Grind shock and awe. Which means those idiots, who've been getting arrested for destroying property during the Republican National Convention, will hate it. Relapse Records are a evil corporate entity. Everyone knows that.

www.relapse.com

TERROR - The Damned, the Shamed CD Review

TERROR - The Damned, the Shamed CD
Century Media

After listening to this their fourth full length. I can see that there's quite a few things scary about TERROR. The first and foremost is that they believe themselves to be Hardcore. Pardon me but when I think of old school Hardcore I'm thinking of bands like POISON IDEA, BATTALION OF SAINTS, BLACK FLAG, etc. As far as new bands there's the DESPISED, DOUBLE NEGATIVE and MAN WILL DESTROY HIMSELF. What this reminds me of is all those shaved headed thug bands from Victory and Revelation Records in the late 80s and early 90s. They all had this generic sound which came with a wanna be tough guy attitude. Some of those bands were into straightedge too. Who in their right mind would think to call this hardcore? Oh yeah, really ignorant people who were not around during Hardcore's heyday from 1980 to 1987. After that things got boring which is why this CD by these Los Angeles bunch reminds me when Hardcore took a nose dive into the crapper.Actually, like Punk, it branched out into sub-genres. Some bands just called it quits. While others saw the future and dived into the Metal mainstream. Still other bands continued on either by staying true to their cause or expanding on it. So for anyone to call this old style Hardcore simply means that whenever they got into the genre they failed to investigate all of it. Instead they just took what they saw at face value. Obviously the good stuff is going to be hard to find and deep into the pile and not up at the top. Always remember shit floats.

The second scary part of this dink is that it sounds forced as if time requirements ruined any chance at creativity. The opener "Voice of the Damned" is so predictable in it's tough guy "core" style. All the songs follow the same pattern afterwards, with a few exceptions like on "Betrayer". They actually switch speeds for a whole twenty seconds and get melodic. They do the same thing on "March to Redemption". But for the most part this is as exciting as watching paint dry. Thirteen songs all dealing with themes like betrayal, suffering, pain, and getting screwed over. All emotionally and pathetically screamed by Scott Vogel. I know how the guy feels too since all this phony mosh pit music leaves me feeling betrayed. It's like I'm getting screwed over by listening to this bullshit. Actually "Voice of the Damned" is a halfway decent cut and belongs on the A-side of a 7"er. Yeah this band should just be putting out singles with two or four songs on them.

Finally the third scary part of this is that there are people out in the world who will eat this up. You've see them at some Metal shows wearing those over sized hoodies, over sized sport team shirts, shorts, baseball caps, etc. I think they're called juggaloes. But don't mistake them for thrashers. Yeah all of this music is geared towards pissed off youthful misanthropes who need to get laid but can't. (I'm betting that almost all of their Myspace friends are guys.) Songs like "Crush What's Weak" and "Still Believe" carry that attitude to the hilt. Hey I have nothing against violent themed music, just look at all the Extreme stuff I like. But this is almost a silly joke to be honest with you. Oh you poor sad fucks. You're in pain. You feel betrayed. Stop your whining pussy! Why don't you grow a pair of balls and stop crying like a little baby. And if you don't stop it then I will give you something to cry about, losers.

www.centurymedia.com

UNLEASHED - Hammer Battalion CD Review

UNLEASHED - Hammer Battalion CD
SPV Records

Here we have the latest from the Viking Warriors of Swedish Death Metal. And after all these years they still sound like a barbaric horde rampaging across the planet. Just look at the fucking title? Anyways this is what the Death Metal genre is all about, pummeling. If the opening cut "The Greatest of All Lies" does not knock you into the next room then your volume control is turned down too low. Turn it up because this band was one of a handful long ago to forge what we know today as Scandinavian Death Metal. And they are as important and powerful today as they were some twenty years ago. Don't even think that this is going to be some mediocre release by another bunch of oldsters trying to cash in on the genre's new found popularity. This is better than what alot of the new school bands are doing these days. Especially ones that try too hard to be intricate and meticulous, aka: Tech Death.

UNLEASHED stick to their brand of antisocial noise, diving head first into the Death Metal meat grinder. Yes the energy on this dink is incredible that even when the band does slow down to plod through a cut like "Carved in Stone". They still push the wattage meter up. Don't be put off by the excellent production either. And bassist/vocalist Johnny Hedlund can still pull off a guttural growl. I'd say that this will be on alot of people's end of the year best of 2008 lists.

www.spv.de

TIAMET - Amanethes CD Review

TIAMET - Amanethes CD
Nuclear Blast Records

Uber Goth and gloom is what TIAMET are all about nowadays. When their rhythm section is brutally pummeling and the synth sounds hit you like ice then they are a decent listen. But that's too far and too few many times for me. The bad stuff just over powers throughout. The opening cut, "The Temple of the Crescent Moon" is a drone with vocals that sound like mine in the morning if I smoked a carton of Marlboros. By the way, I don't. "Until the Hellhounds Sleep Again" sounds like something PARADISE LOST threw away. "Lucienne" is just so damm slow and we're not talking Doom here. There's just no fuckin excitement coming from TIAMENT overall. Songs like "Equinox of the Gods" and "Misantropolis" show some spark amongst the sleep inducing other cuts. I had to keep poking myself with a lit cigarette to stay awake.

www.nuclearblastusa.com
www.churchoftiamet.com