AGE OF THE WOLF - Ouroboric Trances Aural Music If you are an aficionado on stoner rock, sludge metal and doom then you know that there's a band right now either performing it or recording in every part of the world. It's metal and it has no borders as far as appreciating a certain genre. Case in point, here we have a four piece act from Costa Rica who take things out of the traditional box in order to explore the boundaries a bit. Of course with a name like AGE OF THE WOLF how could I pass up this one. Secondly you rarely ever get some music which hails from Central America so this was cool. The band started out back in 2015, released a self named EP a year later and now finally put out a full length. Musically the band combines the whole stoner sludge package which at certain times on this release sounds familiar. It's the rare moments when they jump out of the norm which makes this interesting. The rare moments start with the opening track "Herald of Abyssos" which starts out with a SABBATH-ian groove. Then the psychotic screamed vocals kick in and then some stoner dude drops his bong in their lap. Fact is there's multiple vocals going on via chaotic screams, gruff vocals and slightly clean ones. As the release moves onward you get the feeling these guys have a way with atmosphere in the creation of these compositions. Instead of grooving you to the hilt or pummeling you to death. They invite you into some chaos. Music-wise I'll admit these guys have heard their share of early era MASTODON. There's no doubt to that in their overall sound and style. Still they find ways to branch off on their own whether it's a harmonic opening bridged with a duel guitar harmony. Or even a violin invitation to begin on the instrumental cut "Witches' Gallows" which gives things a folk metal approach. All in all this seems like 2000 all over again and maybe we need that. http://www.auralmusic.com/ https://ageofthewolf.bandcamp.com/album/ouroboric-trances https://www.facebook.com/ageofthewolf/
TEL - Lowlife Aural Music Wow stoner sludge music from Richmond, Virginia, go figure? Oh yeah and it's produced by the guitarist of WINDHAND. Well let me slit my wrists. OK all joking aside after giving this a listen I still wanted the jokes in but also give this a thumbs up. TEL do have a hippy dippy love affair with jazz, the 70's and some stoner rock aesthetics. It's when they let the devil in where I give em props. TEL is a four piece act which started out a few years ago. Prior to this the band released a demo and a self released single. Listening to these five cuts I get this impression of "Welcome to Spencer Gifts. The lava lamps are in the back where you'll also find the Anton Lavey black light posters." Be that as it may the band has some heavy touches paired with proggy moments lost in the fog. Give it up to their singer who is about as versatile as a pair of channel locks. Overall I think it comes down to their final cut on here "Stangers". It's probably the best representation of SABBATH's Volume Four worship I've heard in ahh a year. Be that as it may I'm guessing this band is way better live. An old oxymoron that it is but the truth here stands with a claustrophobic production style which holds this band back especially when the riffs go seismic, the vocals go vicious but the production holds it all in a cloudy atmosphere which is part of their atmosphere within cuts but still it's a yoke around their neck. http://www.auralmusic.com/ https://telrva.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.facebook.com/TelRVA/
Just for the record, a scryer is someone who uses a crystal ball or other such tool to predict the future. I don't need such tools because I can predict good things for this Louisville, Kentucky five piece act just by listening to this their debut full length. Now this came in tagged as stoner rock. While BLIND SCRYER do demonstrate some of that they should not be pigeonholed because they're much more as well as accessible to a wider metal audience. For starters BLIND SCRYER have a strong blues based metal sound. Their songs contain plenty of chunky chugging riffs. The heavy handed bass lines add plenty of groove. Plus the drum work is solid and has that flash of Bill Ward's style. The standout is the vocals which are cleanly sung and at a high timber. The guy reminds me of someone from the past but I'm not gonna name drop here. Musically the band does churn out some SABBATH influence which is strong on a few cuts. But mostly BLIND SCRYER's sound has a born on date from the early 90s. At a time when so many modern bands have over mined ever genre it's cool to hear one that found an old vein less touched. Personally I think it would be a crime for this band not to be heard by a wider audience because they got all it takes to be huge.
NOCTURNAL WITCH - A Thousand Pyres Evil Spell Records / Undercover Sometimes you just wanna here some old school black metal without the bullshit. Thank you to the brothers Baphomet who destroys on drums and Tyrant who's responsible for the filth vocals as well as guitars. Yes Germany you actually have a decent black metal act that does not have all the trappings of your brutal attitude. Instead this duo takes a few steps back to the days when Teutonic Thrash was blackened as well as threatening.
This is the second full length by this duo who started out in 2009. What makes this release cool as fuck is that it does not have the present day cookie cutter blackened thrash sound. Obviously the producer let the band play out their own vision instead of his own. Name dropping will not be allowed here. NOCTURNAL WITCH might take you on a blackened path you've been on but then they jump off into the woods like hunters after prey.
Fuck give me, an old fucker, a shot at enjoying something modern that sounds like my past. I love the violent riffs paired with complimentary drum patterns. The soloing is old school adequate with some added icey tremolo picked touches. Vocals are a caustic char-coaled throat type of variety. All in all this is just fuckin amazing. I'm ready to strip off my clothes, jump out the window and run screaming down the street as professionals chase me.
SMOULDER - Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring Cruz del Sur Music Every once in a while within the framework of extreme metal something comes along that just hits all the right buttons. That's for me personally of course, others might think differently. This Canadian band has created a debut full length release that is the answer to what I wanna hear as well as look at. Yeah I rarely mention art work but when you look at the album cover your first thoughts would be CIRITH UNGOL. That's because the same artist, fantasy painter Michael Whelan, who did covers for them also did the cover for Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring. Onto the music we start with the vocals. Musically this is epic doom meets traditional heavy metal. You can have a great sound but if your vocals are weak (which happens) then the band dies. That's not the case here. Vocalist Sarah Ann (aka: Sarah Kitteringham of BANGER TV fame) is an amazing vocalist. She actually sings as opposed to gimmicky singing styles of doom which some women in the genre do. She's like a gutsy Valkyrie or a shield maiden singing from her heart and soul. Music wise there's six cuts on the full length. The songs are a mix of steady paced epic doom and slower numbers all based on the realm of sword and sorcery fantasy fiction. The riffs and rhythms are massive in style. The drum work is powerful as it needs to be. The lead work is tastefully done. The production is what all melds this together which gives it an old school feeling. The band is a labor of love for the classic metal sound. There are plenty of acts who can fake it. This band has it in their blood. Perfection lives here, nuff said.
CANDLEMASS - The Door to Doom Napalm Records Alright I've got a hell of a lot to say about this release. First and foremost I'm a huge CANDLEMASS fan. Albeit I can be objective in their case. So if you are a fan as well then you might had thought that Mats Leven, who replaced Robert Lowe years ago and did two recent EPs with the band, was going to be their permanent vocalist. He was on last year's House of Doom EP which was not that good but a new album was in the future. Then CANDLEMASS do what they are known for, other than play great epic sounding doom. They switch vocalists, as in Mats Leven is out and in returns Johan Langquist who sang on the band's 1986 debut Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. OK so not a real surprise there since over the past couple of years the band has invited Johan Langquist back to do shows performing Epicus Doomicus Metallicus live. Sorry I missed those performances. But of course you had to wonder after all of these decades how Langquist would sound now on a new CANDLEMASS record. Well after listening to the opening cut "Splendor Demon Majesty" I was floored on how well he, who is my age, could sing. Listening to the whole release, well I can say CANDLEMASS have brought the excitement back. It's been quite a while since I felt this way about a CANDLEMASS album. This is their twelfth full-length release and their first in seven freaking years. The last time I was excited by one of their releases was in 2007 with Robert Lowe's debut on King of the Grey Islands. Sure the albums which came after were good but you knew they were going to be that way. Listening to this one ya gotta ask band leader, songwriter and bass player Leif Edling where was he hiding these amazing riffs. Speaking of riffs the master himself, Tony Iommi, appears on here via the track "Astorolus (The Great Octopus)". He includes a solo which is great but I believe the lead guitar work by Lars Johansson on here exceeds much of what he's done over the past few releases. In the end this is a perfect album. It reminds me a lot of 2012's Psalms Of The Dead but taken to a higher level. This is DOOM done to perfection. Period, end of story for now. https://napalmrecords.com/deutsch/?SID=aps054r7hsr51nfohfd85c9cr6 https://candlemass.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/candlemass
LORD GORE - The Resickened Orgy Horror Pain Gore Death Productions So no shit there I was in bed after fucking this chick. She's up going through my CD stacks looking for some other music to play. She sees one and says; "Oh my god you like IMPETIGO? They're really fucking offensive." So I tell her, "(name withheld) you're half naked in my bedroom wearing a CANNIBAL CORPSE shirt you got tonight (for free by the way) at the show and you wanna judge? Pick a damm CD and get back into bed!" I mention IMPETIGO because LORD GORE are one of a small sick horde of acts who I refer to as The Children of IMPETIGO. For those of you who are out of the loop. LORD GORE are the sickest thing to ever come out of Portland, Oregon and that was the late 1990's. They did put out a couple of cool full lengths in the early 2000's much to many people's disgust. This release here is a double CD compilation of those first two albums (The Autophagous Orgy from 2002 and Resickened from 2004). Personally I believe this really needed to be put out. I've always liked LORD GORE's second album better because there's some cool thrashy / hardcore cuts that mix in with their gore-grind approach. Their first album was total IMPETIGO homage which is not a bad thing at all. The first album has more soundbites in-between songs where as the second album is the band coming into their own set of filth. To me it's great music. If you're listening to this release and do not have a sick grin on your face then YOU HAVE A PROBLEM and you're probably lonely.
DRAGHKAR - Eternal Abyss Horror Pain Gore Death Productions I really do like compilations. I've got a shitload of em. I'm talking about comps by record labels, zines, burned CDs from friends and of course band comps. As far as band comps go I like ones that have a bunch of previously released small format releases (EPs and Splits) on em. Sometimes you really don't want to go on a collector spree. Besides you know you're gonna put all the tracks on one format anyway. What we have here is that last part I was talking about. DRAGHKAR is a death metal act from California. Eternal Abyss is a compilation of their previously recorded material. This consists of their tracks from their World Unraveled demo from 2017, various cuts from splits they've done as well as their The Endless Howling Abyss EP. Add to that are some live tracks which end the release. Musically DRAGHKAR are the incartnate of old school death metal. You've got cavernous emanating bestial vocals. Most of their riff package deals in simplistic yet in that low end bludgeoning style. Personally I actually like the World Unraveled demo tracks from 2017 better than their newer stuff. But hey I'm hoping they do rip out some newer stuff this year or the next. The band has the tools and direction now create something better. Great album cover by the way.
WALKING CORPSE - Self Titled EP Horror Pain Gore Death Productions You know those times while you're in a deep blissful sleep and your alarm clock goes off? That's what this release reminds me of. It's all quiet in the house except for the slight noise of the fan. Push play on this and it's like "Wake Up, Wake Up Motherfucker"! To be honest I always considered grindcore to be a style of music that does demand you wake the fuck up. This Swedish four piece know all about that scenario. On this their debut release the band puts outs four punishing tracks that are shock and awe to your senses. In a way this is not music at all. It's a secret war weapon that crosses the front lines at dawn and reeks havoc on a sleepy enemy. I believe these guys were previously all in death metal bands. Obviously one of em must have accidentally played a DISMEMBER album on 45 RPM one night and figured it sounded good enough to emulate. Then again they might've been playing some BRUTAL TRUTH. The four cuts on here, with a running time of less than eight minutes, showcase trudging bass-lines and maniacal blast beat drum patterns suited for grindcore. The tortured guitar sounds also have some technical death influence. The icing on this cake comes from vocalist Henrik Blomqvist who must be spitting blood after each performance after what he conjures up from his throat as far as singing / screaming goes. Yes Gothenburg, your latest non-mellow extreme act is a death grind powerhouse. http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/ https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/walking-corpse https://www.facebook.com/WalkingcorpseGbg/
CORROSIVE - Nourished By Blood Black Sunset / MDD Records
My criteria for writing about a release sent in for review is simple. I either like it or I find it interesting enough to write something about it so others out there can check it out. In this band's case it's the latter point. CORROSIVE are a death metal act hailing from Germany. Now lets be honest here, death metal outta Deutschland is not a big thing. Yes there are some fairly known acts but they're overshadowed by the nation's other metal genre stalwarts. So why write about CORROSIVE and this their third full length in a career that spans close to twenty five years? Well lets look at this band. Here you have an act that originally started out in 1995. In fact you have the original vocalist and bass player in this present day line-up. Also as far as the music goes on Nourished By Blood it's basically 90's era death metal to the hilt.
But think back, if you were alive in 1995 that is, to what was going on in the death metal genre back then. One of my favorite releases of all time, Storm of the Light's Bane by DISSECTION, came out (which is really blackened death). DEATH's worst release ever, Symbolic, came out. And of course the iconic melodic Swede Deth release which lanched a hundred copycats, Slaughter of the Soul by AT THE GATES, was released. But with all of that these Germans persisted. Now like I said this is the band's third full length. Actually they got things rolling in 2004 with their debut full length, Wrath of the Ungod. Prior to that they only put out a few demos which I really wanna hear. Next came this really long period of silence until 2016 when the band released a four song EP, Killing Room. Again, I really wanna hear that. Afterwards vocalist Andy Konnerth and bassist Sascha Schekanski finally had a line-up to help create a long awaited vision. That would be 2017's Lucifer Gave the Faith full length.
Which brings us to this release and after a half dozen plays I come up with the same scenario. I feel like I've just watch SUFFOCATION and VADER play a venue in Copenhagen while indulging in way too many cans of Faxe Extra Strong, because it's only a lager and I think I can handle it. Nope I can't but anyway yeah this is death metal circa 1990's and may I say unabashed 1990's style. Years ago I figured this would happen and hey I was right. CORROSIVE bring the pain as far as chunky beat you down style riffs. Toss in some tech salvo teasing as well as a few melodic DM moments that are far from boring. The guitar soloing is not impressive but give it up for the vocals. Andy Konnerth gives a intense gruff barked vocal while bassist Sascha Schekanski accompanies with a seething harsh blackened snarl. Worthwhile for all of that.
Reaper Metal Productions Not my first time writing about Scotland's HELLRIPPER, a one man blackened thrash/speed metal act created by James McBain. Back in 2017 I checked out the HELLRIPPER debut full length, Coagulating Darkness. That was a decent self released effort. One thing to note is that McBain is a prolific short form release guy. Prior to the full length McBain just did an EP and three split releases. All of which can be found on the HELLRIPPER Complete and Total Fucking Mayhem compilation. Since the full length McBain has continued in his old ways by returning to the short release format. Last year he was involved on two split releases. Now this year it's an EP, four cuts if you get the vinyl. Five if you get the CD where he covers "Iron Heads" by RUNNING WILD. As far as this goes musically it's your typical blackened thrashing speed metal stuff that's been making the rounds over the past decade. McBain is Scotland's version of Joel Grind of TOXIC HOLOCAUST or maybe Athenar from MIDNIGHT. I like the four originals on here a lot. Of course the riffs are furious as are the drum beats. McBain has a harsh blast furnace vocal style. And his lead work gives way to some exciting solos. The first cut, "All Hail the Goat" reminds me of Florida's HOT GRAVES. It's obviously my favorite on here. The title cut adds some Scottish folk song structure flavor. The other cuts are good as well. If you're getting into HELLRIPPER now then this is a great place to start. Get the full length next and definitely pick up the Complete and Total Fucking Mayhem compilation. http://reapermetalproductions.com/ https://hellripper.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Hellripper1
SAINT VITUS - Self Titled Season of Mist One of the highlights of my life in recent years was finally seeing SAINT VITUS fronted by Scott Reagers. It was a few years back at a local club downtown. The band played all of their early stuff from the Reagers' era, although nothing from Die Healing, and they tossed in "Born Too Late" as an encore. Great show of course and ever since then I've wondered if Reagers would stick around and the line-up would record a new album. Well 2012's Lillie: F-65 might've been the band's comeback with Wino but this is a comeback as well to me. Along with Reagers on vocals and the amazing riff master Dave Chandler on guitar, Henry Vasquez returns on drums. Another new addition is bassist Pat Bruders (DOWN) who takes over for Mark Adams who had to leave the band due to health reasons. Bruders does a good job filling in and on these cuts he sounds like a perfect fit. As far as the release goes musically well just like on Lillie: F-65 the band has one foot in the past and the other one standing on experimental ground. Not that SAINT VITUS hasn't tried to expand from their patented doom style before. Go back and listen to COD for that. So on here Reagers' vocals are amazing. It's as if he just stepped out of a time machine from the year 1984. And on songs like the doomy blues of "Hour Glass" or the homage of their past "Last Breath", he breaks from his typical vocal range. There's some really cool fast cuts on here like closer "Useless" which is a nod to BLACK FLAG. "Bloodshed" also picks up the pace well. Opener "Remains" starts off with the same riff from G.G. Allin's "I Hate People" then slides into typical VITUS slow groove. Of course ya gotta give it up to guitarist Dave Chandler who has the ability to create freshness from familiar sounding riffs. Then he cranks out a solo to hypnotize you or cut your head off. All in all SAINT VITUS do a good job on this their ninth full length. The majority of the cuts follow along with their patented style of doom without sounding rehashed. You wanna hear a band from way back when add some freshness. I wasn't too keen on the experimental cuts; "A Prelude to" and the creepy "City Park". But then again I wasn't expecting a remake of past efforts. http://www.season-of-mist.com/ https://saintvitus.bandcamp.com/album/saint-vitus https://www.facebook.com/saintvitusofficial
VULCANODON PHAZER - Cretaceous Skull Bud Metal Records With so much stoner rock out there which follows the same syrupy SAB-4 recipe. It is a fun welcome to hear a band like VULCANODON PHAZER take the genre in another direction. This Canadian two piece act is not reinventing here. Instead they're taking us back a few decades when spacing out was all part of the genre exploration. The seven cuts on this their debut full length take you on a serene and contemplative journey. Now with the heaviness of doom the duo invokes plenty of psych damage and effects into the instrumentation. There's definitely a late 60s/early 70's influence when the synths and theremin are applied. On one of their instrumental cuts, "THC Speedwagon", the band is channeling psych era PINK FLOYD from the interstellar void. The song which follows, "Valkyrian Love", comes off like HAWKWIND driven through some distorted sludgey much. Most of their other cuts combine everything above mentioned with a bevy of 90's era Southern California stoner rock. Welcome to some heavy duty jamming and no tie dye shirts allowed. https://budmetalrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vulcanodon-phazer-cretaceous-skull
SWALLOW THE SUN - When a Shadow Is Forced into the Light Century Media Records 2009's New Moon album was this band's milestone as far as my not so humble opinion goes when Finnish death doom is concerned. And after that they just went to shit. Not only have their past two albums suffered but this one, after a four year wait, is the pinnacle of boredom. The title of this album speaks volumes towards the music. Imagine if you will the worst of OPETH (kinda hard to decide on that one?) paired with modern era KATATONIA. This ain't doom folks, it's goth and goodbye. https://www.centurymedia.com/
NOISEM - Cease to Exist 20 Buck Spin NOISEM is a band I learned about a few years back when I picked up a 7" split they were on with another band who will not be named because they sucked. Actually it was the band that sucked as to why I bought the damm thing. NOISEM was better but not by much. We're talking average sounding grindcore or moreover death grind. Still I followed them, buying their second full length Blossoming Decay and hoping for the best. Once again it was decent but while doing SFM666 as well as searching for good music I have come upon some great grindcore acts. So here we are with this new one. Congradulations to the band for scoring a record deal with 20 Buck Spin (remember when they were a doom label?) But Cease to Exist will not push your buttons let alone excite your cravings for skull numbing grind. But if you like average stuff then it's all yours. https://www.20buckspin.com/
ELUVEITIE - Ategnatos Nuclear Blast Alright full disclosure on my part, yeah I got into this Swiss band early on via their second full length Slania which came out in 2008. A decade ago the whole Pagan Metal / Battle Metal thing was going on. Unlike some people I admit that I was into it. Musically it was basically melodic death metal with the addition of folk instruments as well as galloping song structures. As far as my attachment to ELUVEITIE, that went on for a few more albums until I started seeing them go pop Euro metal. Ategnatos is their eighth full length so props to them as well as still being on Nuclear Blast. Most major metal labels have dropped that generation of Battle Metal acts. The biggest change is that newest female member, Fabienne Erni, takes on more singing portions in this line-up them previous incarnations of this band. Chrigel Glanzmann still is in the main growler / screamer vocal role. There's still plenty of fiddle playing, hurdy gurdy playing, tin whistles and flutes blowing, etc. I enjoyed it but chances are I'll forget about it. It's more for your festival crowd who can stand the pop female sung melodious cuts. https://www.nuclearblast.de/en/shop/index.html
POSSESSED - Revelations of Oblivion Nuclear Blast Years ago when I saw that Jeff Becerra was out doing festival gigs with his new version of POSSESSED (basically Jeff and SADISTIC INTENT as his back up band). I kinda figured (actually hoped) that a new album was on the horizon. Yeah well that didn't happen so I figured nostalgia is better at making money then creating something new. Then again let me be honest here. I never was one who fell in for the whole legacy thing involved with POSSESSED. Sure Seven Churches is a great album. The follow up was OK and the EP, well who fuckin cares. Seriously if you're gonna stick around in the extreme metal scene then you can't live off of your past laurels. Which brings us to this new full length which I will say is fuckin great. Obviously Jeff Becerra took his sweet time to produce something worthy of his past. Of course it takes a good lineup to produce something this cool. On drums there's old SADISTIC INTENT holdout Emilio Marquez. Keeping the rhythm section friendly is bassist Robert Cardenas who played with Marquez in COFFIN TEXTS. Next up are the guitarist's extraordinaire Daniel Gonzalez and Claudeous Creamer. Yes Becerra got a cadre to help create his vision which is surprisingly not a repeat of the past. Revelations of Oblivion is a decent modern death metal release. It's obviously old school DM with a fresh modern attack. The old school point is Jeff Becerra who not only provides all the lyrics but his vocals are still cool as fuck. I mean he's sitting there, no offense, and telling tales of hellish abandonment. The songs on here give off the feeling of Seven Churches on steroids. Yes that's a good thing. Now except for the opening intro "Chant of Oblivion" and the outro "Temple of Samael", this turned out to be much better than I expected. If Jeff doesn't open a show with "No More Room in Hell" than he's nuts. It's just a blistering death thrash ripper with some amazing guitar soloing. Most of the rest follows suit especially songs like "Abandoned" and "Shadowcult". Other cuts just rock out like slam dance anthems like "Omen" and I'll also toss in "Demon". In the end three decades was worth the wait to get it right. This is definitely one of my favorite releases of 2019. https://www.nuclearblast.de/en/shop/index.html https://www.facebook.com/possessedofficial/ https://possessedofficial.com/?fbclid=IwAR3rK98a-DV7nDBM1AUgjmXh_SK7VMj9NmDEABYQvApiUkw41-sVTvrWgYY
ANTISEEN - Live in Japan Mystery School Records Well in November 2018 the Boys From Brutalsville, the Kings of Extreme, ANTISEEN flew over to Japan for the first time in their long career. From all the reports I've read the Fearsome Foursome from my state, North Carolina, were welcomed as heroes. Their shows were huge as in that they were bigger then the King of Monsters. That's right. For a few days last November in Japan, ANTISEEN made Godzilla look like the Geiko Geko. But to me that's not surprising since I've been an ANTISEEN fan for 30 fuckin years now. WOOOOOOOOO!!!!! OK so why is this such a great release? Alright if you're an ANTISEEN fan (and frankly who isn't?) then of course you must own everything they put out. But to be honest this is a live document of not only the band's set over in Japan but of their 2018 era. The line up then was Jeff Clayton on vocals, Russ Ward on guitar, Sir Barry Hannibal on bass and now former member The Gooch on drums. I've seen this line up of ANTISEEN multiple times and of course they never disappointed.
Now since they've been around for 35 years ANTISEEN has a huge, better yet HUGE, catalog of songs to choose from for a set list. Alright Tokyo this is what you got. For old fucks like me they pull out "Up All Night" (from the great Blood of Freaks 7"er) plus "Nothing's Cool" (ANTISEEN does Doom) and a great oldie "She's Part of the Scene". Then there's some Southern Hostility LP favorites like "Kill the Business", "My God Can Beat Up Your God" and they open their set with "Death Train Comin".
The band brings out one Eat More Possum era cut on here, "Star Whore". As far as wrestling songs go, which ANTISEEN is famous for, there's great versions of "Funk U" and "Sabu". Those are crowd singalong songs, trust me on that one. Biggest surprise here is "Burning Money" which is the third song on here. I've heard em once play this one before live so a huge surprise for me. Of course they end their set with "Fuck All Ya'll" but they get help from some local friends on vocals. Obviously the time of their lives singing on stage with ANTISEEN. Alright Tokyo! https://mysteryschoolrecords.bigcartel.com/ https://www.facebook.com/ANTiSEEN-82559392576/ https://www.antiseen.com/
VIGILANCE - Enter the Endless Abyss Dying Victims Productions Frankly I am not one to want another damm musical genre to be invented on a whim. But seriously people it's been over forty years so I believe it's time to create a metal genre called MAIDEN Metal. Yes and to be included in this new metal genre is simple. All you have to do is sound like IRON MAIDEN. Hell I can think of a dozen bands I've known over the years that would fall into the category. Half of the Dying Victims Productions catalog would fit as well, OK maybe a quarter of em would fit. Now some fucker will say "just call it NWOBHM". Ah no because not all of those bands sounded like MAIDEN. Now I've gone over the top with this suggestion because I'm listening to one of Slovenia's finest acts, VIGILANCE. This is their fourth full length and they take the MAIDEN influence to the hilt but with some cool originality thrown in. Aside from the wonderfully heavy and forceful galloping bass plus the dual guitar harmonies which is all part and parcel. It's the vocals which give VIGILANCE their first edge. Gilian Adam (vocals & guitars) has an amazing blast furnace voice. He can't be Paul Di'Anno or Bruce Dickinson (or that Blaze guy) so he takes it on as a cool yet filthy fucking harsh natural style. Reminds me of some old 80's British hardcore vocalists. There's some keyboards thrown in on here as well. That was totally out of the ordinary. But on the whole the eight tracks on here are absolutely fantastic. https://www.dying-victims.de/ https://vigilanceofficial.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/VigilanceAdelsberg/
BLOOD FEAST - Chopped, Sliced and Diced EP Hells Headbangers Records BLOOD FEAST, a band that denizens of old school thrash remember well from the late 80's. Later on it was connoisseurs of the old ways generated by the thrash revival in the late 2000's who caught on to these New Jersey legends. The band, which called it quits in 1989, resurfaced in 2007 with last original member guitarist Adam Tranquilli. Since then this thrash beast from the northeast has found ways to stick around. The culmination of dedication came in 2017 with the comeback full length The Future State of Wicked.
Here we are a few years later with a follow up EP. Back in the day I thought of this band as the East Coast version of EXODUS with some SLAYER influence. Nowadays with the newer lineup they're cranking out, on here, re-recorded material from early releases. Most of the cuts are from 1989's Chopping Block Blues full length. The vinyl version has four cuts. The CD has six, one of which is a live version of "By the Slice", so get em both. On a whole BLOOD FEAST have stuck to their old thrash ways. Chris Natalini's vocals remind me of Tom Araya's on the first couple of SLAYER albums. He has this harsh electric delivery which is far different then his predecessor Gary Markovitch. Musically this is blazing fast thrash that snap the necks of those young ins who are of the revival sort. It's rare that'll I'll be kind to a re-recording of old songs by a new band lineup (hello EXODUS). But as far as this goes it's great stuff. https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/ https://blood-feast.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/bloodfeastlegions
WELCOME TO EXTREME METAL MANIAC OR WHAT i LIKE TO CALL THE HOME OF EXTREME METAL.
Attention
In Jan. 2020 some not so nice person(s), who obviously don't care for Metal, decided to complain to a social media platform about something I posted. That got me banned from posting links there under the former blog title Scumfeast Metal 666. Fine I just changed the name to what you see now. Hey I'm still here and, under our present day situation, will be more extreme then before.
Editor/Creator: Usurper of Eternal Condemnation and Inverted Opinions
Formerly SCUMFEAST METAL 666 and now EXTREME METAL MANIAC Blog
Info Articles Opinions & Reviews
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created and maintained by mr. wolf:
band or label inquiries about a review can contact me via email. All those inquiries will definitely be checked out. No guarantees of course. I only write about what interests me. You can also contact me through the Facebook page on the link or use my email address mr.wolf69@yahoo.com
Extreme Metal or Music is generally a form which is accepted by 1% of all of the music loving public. It is elitist in every way and that's important to those of us who call ourselves fans. The 99% of people who will not like it are Not Supposed To. The music wasn't made for them, "the masses". It's music that's for those who take things to that "other" level. There is nothing hip or fad about it. In fact I treat those two notions very harshly.
