CRYPTS OF DESPAIR - All Light Swallowed review

 

CRYPTS OF DESPAIR - All Light Swallowed

Transcending Obscurity Records

If there's one thing I've learned by doing this blog (and there are many) it's always expect greatness when a band from the Baltic comes your way. CRYPTS OF DESPAIR is greatness from Lithuania and musically it's in the department of death metal. But even though they've got Poland to the south and Sweden to the west across the sea. This four piece act takes nothing from those DM scenes. 

Instead on this their second full length they've set forth on a blazed trail of their own. Musically this is blackened death doom taken to an unspeakable level of intensity. Seriously the first time I listened to this it left a mark. You want some heavy riffs, you've got em along with some brutal song structures. How bout some tremolo picked atmosphere as if acid is dripping upon your head? Yep you've got that here as well. 

Yes the nine cuts on here are a total mind-fuck of punishing speed and slow doom tempos which beat the living crap out of you. Strap your ass in because this is not a listening experience. It's a fuckin endurance. Do you like your vocals screaming and sick, gruff or how about monstrous? You get all three on here and I'm probably missing an extreme vocal description. How about caustic screams of agony and torment? 

What I get the most out of All Light Swallowed is how well this release, despite it's furious onslaught, is it's cold calculated direction. The musicianship is top notch and the song structures from track one to nine just flow along a river of blood, depression, sorrow and chaos. CRYPTS OF DESPAIR are literally a beast that devours your soul and haunts your consciences. This album has been marked by me as being a skin burner. Fuck Me Running!

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://cryptsofdespairdeath.bandcamp.com/album/all-light-swallowed-death-metal

WINTEREVE - October Dark review

 

WINTEREVE - October Dark

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Over the years I've come to know HPGD Productions as the go to label for bands who have no problem going too far when it comes to extreme music. Actually I like when bands go too far. But as it was said on Monty Python's Flying Circus so many times and years ago, "And now for something completely different." 

What we have here is the second full length by WINTEREVE, a five piece act from France. Musically they're a doom act with a female vocalist who has an interesting way of interpreting lyrics but more on that later. While I was listening to this release it was definitely a trip back to the early 90's. WINTEREVE's sound is pure gothic styled death doom. 

Yeah sure I'm all into the extreme filth but back a few decades ago bands like PARADISE LOST and MY DYING BRIDE were doing things musically which were far cooler than the 1990's mainstream crap. I'm also still a huge fan of those two acts as well as many others. 

So when I started listening to this release it was obvious where this band's influences come from. But then you have their vocalist, Marie Martinerie, who mixes up an operatic singing style with this deep baritone gruff vocal bark. Basically it's beauty and the beast from her as if PARADISE LOST'S Nick Holmes and former NIGHTWISH vocalist Tarja Turunen had a kid together. 

I like October Dark because it's late night metal for me to cool down with. The eight cuts on here convey a sense of dark beauty. I will say their take on the genre is more melodic as opposed to their heavier predecessors. There's also subtle hints of that symphonic metal era from a few decades back as well which at least stays in the dark realm. 

In the end I'm not going to say October Dark is a second coming sort of thing. There's some decent mix of melodic riffs, funeral dirge guitar soloing and of course plenty of atmospheric touches. I found myself latching onto cuts like "Forgotten", "Sea of Suffering" and the title song. Because of all that and Marie Martinerie's vocals then this here is a damm good release for gothic doom metal fans to check out.

http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/october-dark

HELL-BORN - Natas Liah review

HELL-BORN - Natas Liah

Odium Records

If you were a BEHEMOTH fan back in the 1990's then you might remember that two of their members went off and started a new band HELL-BORN. In the first decade of the 2000's this Polish act was fairly prolific as far as releasing music. From 2001 to 2008 they put out five full lengths. If you ask me I'd say yeah that's pretty damm good as far as producing new music goes.

Now of those five releases I only have one, Legacy of the Nephilim, from 2003. And in all honesty I didn't get it until a few years after it was released. Worse yet I bought it used but hey it's a damm good album. So how do you like me now? But anyways a few years after I finally got into HELL-BORN's music the band went silent. So when I learned that they were coming out with a new album after over a decade since their last album, Darkness from 2008. I was kinda excited. 

You know when most bands return after utter silence after a decade chances are it's not gonna be so good unless you like lying to yourself which I don't. Sure there are exceptions and this new one from HELL-BORN is one of em. Natas Liah is an examination on how to do old school blackened death metal. This one sounds far better than the one I have which came out 17 fuckin years ago. 

What we have here is gruesome and brutal sounding as only the Poles know how to do it blackened fuckin death metal. The vocals come across as sung by a upright and uptight corpse. There's tremolo picked melodies as well as, wait for it, crisp solos. The drum work is held back to more thunderous than pounding. And the overall song structures have these amazing strokes of melody which is shocking. 

The spotlight, according to the PR info, is that NERGAL from BEHEMOTH returns to help out his old friends on a song. That would be the final cut on the album "Blakk Metal". Personally that's not much of a selling point since this whole album is great in every way by this awesome three piece. Natas Liah invites you in, entertains you in a devious way and frankly never lets you go. Perfection in blackened death has been made by these Polish veterans of extreme metal.

http://www.odiumrex.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://odiumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hell-born-natas-liah

 

RAZOR - Armed and Dangerous EP (Reissue) review

 

RAZOR - Armed and Dangerous EP (Reissue)

Relapse Records

Everyone should know Canada's RAZOR by now. They're the band who showed the world there's cool thrash from the great white north. Once their debut full length Executioner's Song from 1985 hit the public. Soon to be heshers got infected with those cold riffs by Dave Carlo. Essentially the mid-80's out put by them (five album's worth) sealed the deal for their place in the genre's history. 

But prior to their second tier thrash metal fame the band released a 12" EP, Armed and Dangerous. It came out in 1984, had seven tracks with five of those eventually appearing on Executioner's Song. Musically it's basically demo cuts since the superior versions would be re-recorded a year later. But for completists / collectors it was something cool to own. Albeit you were not going to toss away your copy of their debut. Plus the cover art is damm good. 

The only problem I have with this reissue is that it's been done before multiple times. Hell, last year Germany's High Roller Records put out a 35th Anniversary Edition of it. But hey it's up to you to compare and see which is the better product for collecting reissue purposes. I don't know if they offered it in a t-shirt bundle but hey it's your money. 

https://store.relapse.com/

LISTEN HERE:

GISM - Detestation (Reissue) review

 

GISM - Detestation (Reissue)

Relapse Records

The greatest thing about this reissue is that the average lay-person will finally realize that this 1980's Japanese hardcore band was musically more average than legendary or groundbreaking. A little history for ya, by the late 80's early 90's you'd see people with a GISM patch on their jacket. But they never owned this album nor their second one. Plus their GISM merch was all from bootleg dealers anyway. If they were lucky then they might've had a cassette of the album from a tape trade. As far as certain stories about on stage incidents go in their history. Who cares, ever heard of G.G. Allin?

The fact is that GISM were just a Japanese Hardcore act that a few people here in the states knew about from their one song on a compilation album put out by a fanzine. Honestly they were bigger in England during the late 80's. Mainly since they were producing metal tinged hardcore early on. By 1990 people in the US caught on, especially in the anarcho punk scene or what revisionists call 'crust'. That's about the time when the bootlegs emerged, homemade band patches and t-shirts. 

By the time of the internet, aka: music sites, blogs, mainstream metal media and revisionist history scribes, is when the status of 'legendary' was attributed to GISM. Why you ask? I'm assuming you had hiptards wanting to seem cooler and authoritative than they actually were or deserved spouting bullshit. Seriously when hipsters start talking about the history of 80's punk / hardcore, run. too bad there's no fact check algorithm for them.

So three  paragraphs in and it's time to talk some truth about GISM's debut full length. Musically it's poorly recorded punk rock with some hard rock/metal influenced solos. The vocals fall under the psychotic ramblings category. Back in the day once you gave this a listen you thought OK and then pushed it somewhere to gather dust. There was plenty of better bands to listen to in the 80's anyway especially from the hardcore scene. 

I'm sure when people picked up that Determination compilation back in 2015 they felt the same way. There's only one saving grace for this reissue and that's the fact it's fully-authorized by the two remaining band members. So for once they'll see some yen come their way for their music. Then again aside from the bootleg vinyl copies you know every hiptard probably found this on a download site a decade ago. Plus the three bonus tracks also appear on the Determination comp. But hey you'll just buy a t-shirt so you can look cool. 

https://store.relapse.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://gismband.bandcamp.com/

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Transcending Obscurity Records 2021 label sampler

 

Regular readers of this blog, and frankly who isn't, will know that Transcending Obscurity Records has become one of my favorite extreme music labels of late. A half dozen of their 2020 releases where on my Best of the Year listings. They ended up as my favorite label for 2020. Even the releases of their's that didn't make it into my end of year favorites were in the running. So yeah I'm a fan.

According to the label:

"We're absolutely thrilled to announce this year's label sampler which we feel is the best one so far. All of the songs are brand new and have never been on any previous samplers. This a reflection of our current roster (even though there are many that haven't been able to contribute a new song for this) and what's coming your way in the foreseeable future. The massive 38-song sample is free-for-download and can be found on Bandcamp AT THIS LINK below:

https://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com/album/2021-label-sampler

So here we have the label's new sampler for 2021 and it's pretty cool. Of course there's some favorite acts, out of the 38 represented, who I'm a huge fan of already. Those of course are death metal acts PAGANIZER, HEADS FOR THE DEAD and REVULSION. But here's a full list of all the acts, where they're from and what genre they're part of.  

Track listing -

PAGANIZER (Sweden) - Down The Path of Decay (Death Metal) 

HEADS FOR THE DEAD (International) - Maniac (Horror Death Metal) 

FERAL (Sweden) - From the Ancient Tombs (Death Metal) 

DISKORD (Norway) - Abnegations (Death Metal) 

HELLFROST AND FIRE (International) - Legion of Hellfrost And Fire (Death Metal) 

LEPER COLONY (Sweden/Germany) - The Human Paradox (Death Metal) 

ABYSSUS (Greece) - The Beast Within (Death Metal) 

CRYPTS OF DESPAIR (Lithuania) - Anguished Exhale (Death Metal) 

REVULSION (Finland) - Lihaan Sidottu Kirja (Death Metal) 

MORGUE SUPPLIER (US) - Closing In (Death Metal/Grindcore) 

NASTY SURGEONS (Spain) - Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (Death Metal/Grindcore) 

NECROPHAGOUS (Sweden) - Order of the Lion (Death Metal) 

HATCHET (Sweden) - By Inferno's Light (Death Metal) 

BIZARRE (Spain) - The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Death Metal)

DEFECT DESIGNER (Norway) - Wrinkles (Death Metal) 

VAHRZAW (Australia) - Waiting with the Wolves (Black/Death Metal) 

ABSCESSION (Sweden/Germany) - Rat King Crawl (Death Metal) 

DAEMONICUS (Sweden) - To Poison Everything (Death Metal) 

VIANDE (France) - La Tombe Avide (Dark Death Metal)

0N0 (Slovakia) - Shattering (Experimental Death Metal) 

SARCASTIC OBEDIENCE (Greece) - Cataclysmic (Death Metal) 

WORLD IN RUINS (Sweden) - In Misery (Crust/Grind/Death Metal)

GODLESS TRUTH (Czech Republic) - Breathe Fire (Technical Death Metal) 

CUTTERRED FLESH (Czech Republic) - Where Only Old Flesh Stinks (Brutal Death Metal) 

THE LAST OF LUCY (US) - The Demiurge (Technical Death Metal) 

SUPREME CONCEPTION (Czech Republic) - Transgression I (Technical Death Metal) 

ARKHETH (Australia) - Kundalini (Experimental/Jazz Black Metal) 

THE FUROR (Australia) - Necrorebellion (Black/Death Metal) 

ASHEN HORDE (US) - The Throes of Agony (Black/Death Metal) 

VORGA (Germany) - Starless Sky (Atmospheric Black Metal) 

NOLTEM (US) - Illusions in the Wake (Black Metal) 

SARCOPTES (US) - Spanish Flu (Black Metal) 

DECIPHER (Greece) - Chants of the Unholy (Black Metal) 

EREMIT (Germany) - Secret Powers Entrenched in an Ancient Artefact (Sludge/Doom Metal) 

ARCHE (Finland) - Reverential Silence (Atmospheric Doom Metal) 

71TONMAN (Poland) - Plague (Sludge/Doom Metal) 

BØG (Australia) - Thoracic Helm (Sludge/Doom Metal) 

SOLEMN ECHOES (US) - A Worthless Disgrace (Atmospheric Doom Metal)

THE MAYWOOD in Memorium

 

Back in December when I put out my Best of 2020 list as always I include at the end of it The Worst in Metal for the year. For 2020 that was the lock-downs over the Wuhan Corona 19 Virus. Of course that was a crapper for bands and labels. But it was worse for the small venues who took a huge financial hit by being closed for so long. With that said I just found out that a favorite local venue of mine, The Maywood, is closing down for good over this bullshit.

According to the venue's Facebook page announcement:

"I'm sorry to announce The Maywood is closing its doors for good. 

I held on as long as I could, but I just don't see the light. I want to thank everyone that has contributed to our music scene over the years as in bands, patrons, promoters, and of course the staff. We couldn't have done it without you. I especially want to thank all of the people that helped donate and participate with the fundraisers, as in gofundme and The Maywood Mayhem. Keep on Rockin' and Metal Rules!!!"

For those of you who don't know, The Maywood was a 200+ capacity venue located just south of downtown Raleigh, NC. It use to be called Volume 11. I have been to many great shows at that club since they were the only ones who primarily had local, regional and national Metal/Hard Rock touring bands play there. There's too many great acts I've seen there over the years. In fact I saw bands play there that I never thought I'd get to see since they were usually on big stadium package tours. But hey I saw em and remember em fondly.

The Maywood also was the home venue for two major local events. It hosted the Raleigh Death Fest in recent years and KIFFmas each year for a long time. Add to that in the back of the venue the place rented band practice spaces. A ton of local bands called The Maywood their home. And last year in order to give back to the venue those bands contributed to a benefit compilation with proceeds going to the club.

You can listen to and order the comp. below:

https://maywoodmayhem.bandcamp.com/releases?fbclid=IwAR0YiqtXexkQgS5NWPDRYcwnW28DrFIl2PCB6DjVoCxOklqSiumFVJgN1_Q

The Maywood / Volume 11 was the place where if you went to a show you would see plenty of your friends there. And I cannot emphasize it more, sure there are other venues in town that will have cool shows. But The Maywood was 99.9% metal and hard rock with some punk/hardcore thrown in as well. As of now my outlook is that no other existing venues will pick up that slack. 

One final note, since the late 80's when I decided to call Raleigh, NC my home. I've seen at least a dozen local venues, that I use to see shows at, shut their doors for one reason or another. So yeah seeing The Maywood shut down is sad. But it's certainly not the death of extreme music in our town. The local music scene history shows that whenever a void is open it will soon or later be filled by something else. 

Now like I've said the presently remaining venues which do have a similar capacity will not take up the mantle. The people involved in those enterprises are too hipster, too caught up in social issues and not true fans of metal. I found out last year that one local venue's future plans is to book bands by committee in order to be inclusive. In other words nothing extreme with a drinking crowd but plenty of safe, sedate crap. Yeah well good luck with that. 

But anyways as the past has shown sooner or later someone will open a venue which will cater to us, the fans of METAL and HARD FUCKIN ROCK. But for now we mourn the passing of a friend. Thanks to The Maywood for all the great times. You will always be missed and remembered. 

WITCHTIT - Intoxicating Lethargy review

 

WITCHTIT - Intoxicating Lethargy

Self-Released

Here's one of the many bands I called a standout on the Maywood Mayhem Vol. 11 compilation from last year. WITCHTIT is a five piece act hailing from my home residence of  Raleigh, North Carolina. Hey support your local metal! Anyways I could swear I saw show ads back in 2019 which they were on the bill for a small club downtown. Unfortunately and probably because of work scheduling I missed out. 

Nevertheless here we have the debut full length by this local five piece act. Musically this is decent sounding doom. Their five songs on here cover a style which is part SABBATH-ian, part gothic, some cool rockin parts and of course a little sludgey. That latter point is obvious since a couple of the individuals in this band play in a cool local sludge act called NOCTOMB. 

As far as the vocals go the singer behind the microphone is named Reign. The best way I could describe her vocal singing sound/style is imagining Dinah Cancer from 45 GRAVE meets Elizabeth Blackwell from CASTLE. Yeah she's gutsy, bluesy and a touch towards old death punk from the 80's. What's very cool is how the the music works in perfectly with her vocal style or visa versa. 

Obviously female vocalists in doom acts these days is a given. But I remember a time when you had some really cool sounding bands and then all the copycats came along. WITCHTIT are not like those copycat acts and they do remind me of a new crop of bands out across the world like Australia's DEVIL ELECTRIC or Germany's WITCH RITUAL who I've written about in recent years. 

Basically we're talking about some cool sounding stuff here were the artists take classic influences and rework em with their own personality. No cloning required. In their case it's damm good and since this is a self release ya hope it will be heard by someone in the metal label world. Then maybe this Raleigh doom act could be heard by millions. I hope so.

LISTEN AND ORDER HERE:

https://witchtit.bandcamp.com/releases

DAYGLO MOURNING - Dead Star review

 

DAYGLO MOURNING - Dead Star

Black Doomba Records

Just to be honest here (hey I'm as honest as the day is long) when I saw this release was by a stoner rock band I had my misgivings. Personally I'm fairly stoned out when it comes to this sub-genre of doom. I've been thinking that for a dozen years now aka: since the last time it had a revival that lasted a bit. Since then I'll hear at least twenty stoner rock band releases a year for review purposes. Usually one will standout from the generic crowd and really be fuckin cool. This one here is a standout.

DAYGLO MOURNING is a three piece act from Atlanta, Georgia. They've been around for just a couple of years, 2017 to be exact. So far they have one self titled full length album plus a split EP they did with another Atlanta doom band, BLUDY GYRES. Both of those releases came out in 2018. Now as far as this one goes let me just say yeah this band has a grasp of the stoner rock basics. In other words yes they know the fundamentals of SABBATH's Master of Reality heavy groove. 

What stands out is how they inject some amazing early 70's hard rock/blues guitar soloing. To me that's so fuckin cool to hear since I grew up with that stuff. And if you hit the wah wah pedal you win me the fuck over. Something else interesting is that the riffs used here sound familiar but in a good way. It's like yeah I heard that one before but I really like how you do it as well. The vocals are not your standard fair as well. At times there's this evil low toned singing as well as some deep baritone. 

While I was listening to this I kept thinking this is not a band trying to expand the boundaries of a worn thin genre. Instead they incorporate ideas which are part of the genre's not so SABBATH influences which is basic 70's hard rock. Very cool album here and hopefully, if things in the touring world get back to normal this year, maybe they'll come up my way for a show.

https://www.blackdoombarecords.co/

LISTEN HERE:

https://dayglomourning2.bandcamp.com/album/dead-star-2

SEROTONIN LEAKAGE / CHARCUTERIE - Split EP review

 

SEROTONIN LEAKAGE / CHARCUTERIE - Split EP

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Ladies & Gentlemen, and the rest of you who are still drawing lots. I believe this is the most disgusting release I've ever heard in my life. Now that's probably a good selling point for sure. Plus this is not a judgement on taste because there's plenty of things I don't care for musically out there. And honestly I kinda like it. So maybe it's more of a judgement on me and my appreciation for bands who will go that far or in this case that low. 

What we have here is a split release between two bands from the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania. Yes I use to live in that state and still call Philly, Hostile City, USA. I still have family and friends up there as well. They all have my condolences over this release. I have a nephew up there. Years ago I found out he liked NILE so I sent him links to various brutal death metal acts I was listening to at the time. His reply was "Thanks Uncle John, Dad told me you were never right ever since you came back from the war." Just kidding.

But anyways as far as this release goes it starts off with four tracks by the one man band SEROTONIN LEAKAGE. The one man is Doc Dank who's responsible for all instruments and vocals. There's no titles to his tracks on here but then again why bother. It all sounds like someone blasting away on guitar and drums while someone else is recording a cancer patient trying to weaze through their oxygen max to sing while in their hospital bed. 

After that it's CHARCUTERIE with six cuts and there's vocals plus inbetween song sound clips. CHARCUTERIE, who are a two piece act, are actually the most accessible sounding on here. That's if you consider gore grind to be accessible. Well at least I do. This band is filthy, funny, bestial and down right offensive. Out of the two acts I kinda like their stuff. Rumor has it that when the lockdowns end. Both of these acts will set forth on a tour of hospices nationwide. Supposedly people are dying to see em live.   

http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/split-11

PARANORM - Empyrean review

 

PARANORM - Empyrean

Redefining Darkness Records

Alright real quick, name a bunch of Swedish thrash bands? Yeah I hit a blank. So I went behind me to the walls of CDs and to the thrash bookcase. OK duh, the CROWN (albeit they're partially melo-deth) and all the way down by the floor there's WITCHERY. I always wanted a t-shirt with the Dead, Hot and Ready album cover on it. Every fuckin time I look at that cover I fuckin smile. Then again their first couple of releases all had cool covers.

But anyways I'm probably missing a few that I should know. Maybe I past over em when they first came out. The bottom line is that Sweden isn't your go to scene for thrash. Maybe that's why this band here is such a shocker and could be an amazing standout. For the record I'm not a technical thrash fan but this band has it's merits.

PARANORM is a four piece act who've been around for a while but this is their debut full length. Maybe they spent all those years, starting in 2010, rehearsing. Well if that's the case then it shows on here. Empyrean is an eight song release. Upon first listening to it the first two cuts didn't thrill me. Then the third cut "Edge of the Horizon" kicked in with it's tranquil opening which proceeded to some killer thrash riff onslaught. The song is a nine plus minute opus with some decent guitar solo shredding. 

From that point on I just kicked back and relaxed as this release just pumped out decent sounding thrash with some accessable tech moments. As far as the basics go these guys play some chunky sounding and kinda familiar riffs. The vocals are serpentine blackened in style. The rhythm section does a standard job although the bassist gets a few Cliff Burton lead moments.

But for me I really like guitar work by Fredrik Kjellgren on here. I like how he can elevate a song like "Intelligence Explosion" with some fluid leads which kinda reminds me of some power metal guitarists. Of course he can slice and dice ya as is evident on other cuts. And he's not shy about tossing in an Yngwie tweak here and there. The title cut is fucking amazing with it's MAIDEN-esque galloping solo run.

So I guess the bottom line here is that yes Sweden you have an actual thrash contender that's not death metal related, blackened or has some other shtick. This is good thrash with some tech and proggy moments tossed in to enhance but not overwhelm. 

http://www.redefiningdarkness.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://paranorm-se.bandcamp.com/album/empyrean

ALEXI LAIHO in memoriam

 

ALEXI LAIHO in memoriam

By now most of you know that guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho from Finland's CHILDREN OF BODOM passed away a little over a week ago. He was in some other acts of course but for me my connection to him was through the releases I have from CHILDREN OF BODOM. I think it is a tremendous loss since he was only 41. He had so much talent that you knew his career of creativity would last for a long time. Unfortunately that was not to be.

I'm not going to lie and say I was a huge fan CHILDREN OF BODOM. I also got into em around the middle of the band's career. But over the years what I heard was cool and the releases I eventually bought are memorable. But I'll have to go back to the beginning. Sometime in the mid-2000's I read an interview with Alexi Laiho in a metal magazine. At that time I just knew the band name but not any music. But the interview was cool to read and Alexi seemed like a troubled soul. And as we all know, troubled souls make great music.

So sometime later I was in a local record store and as usual I go straight over to the Metal section of the used CDs. That's where I found CHILDREN OF BODOM's Chaos Ridden Years Stockholm Knockout Live 2xCD. It was also at a great price. Someone screwed up on that one, even the guy at the counter questioned it.

 

But this was my introduction to a band who incorporated thrash, power metal as well as some melodic death metal into their overall sound. It also showed that Alexi Laiho was a shredder on guitar. After that I'd pick up another CD by the band every once in a while. I started with the early ones like Hatebreeder from 1999 and 2000's Follow the Reaper. Personally they're my favorites amongst the band's catalog. 

As far as the more modern stuff I got 2008's Blooddrunk and Halo of Blood from 2013. Unfortunately that's where I stopped. The band did play a show nearby some years ago but I fucking missed it. So the closest to seeing Alexi Laiho and company light a stage on fire is by watching a live performance DVD. Prior to writing this I decided to re-watch it and was like damm this guy had talent oozing out of em. Damm sad loss to extreme metal and that's all I have to say.

Alexi Laiho  8 April 8th 1979 – late December 2020 

REVULSION - Self Titled review

 

REVULSION - Self Titled  

Transcending Obscurity Records

Over the years I've enjoyed sharing my thoughts with others about the greatness of bands from the Finnish metal scene. For the most part it's particularly from the black metal or doom genres. But whenever death metal comes into play from that great nation. You know it's always going to be good as well as memorable. 

It's beginning to be a fixture that every year one or two death metal releases from Finnish bands ends up on genre fans' plate of favorites. Whether this self titled release by REVULSION ends up the same way is too early to tell at this time of the year. But after giving it a few listens I'd say it's completely worthy of a spot.

Just learning about this band's history was enough to believe perseverance always achieves greatness as an end result. REVULSION actually started out in 2005, put out a demo in 2010 and followed that up with an EP a year later. From that point the band was quiet until 2016 when they released a two song single. Once again the band was quiet for a while until this full length release. 

The album starts out with "Last Echoes of Life" a song which was on their 2016 single. From the onset you realize this one is gonna be an ugly, dirty dragged out affair. Throughout the release there's plenty of heavy handed riffs, powerfully executed bass lines as well as rapid fire drumming. In other words REVULSION checks all the boxes when it comes to death metal 101 class. Vocals are of the deep growl variety. 

Some standouts for me at least were "Walls" with it's infectious headbanging groove. "Wastelands" has a cool fast/medium groove tempo which is perfect for a crowd to get moving to. "Last Echoes of Life" definitely invites the listener into a realm of death metal hostility. "Unravel" has an epic style going for it. Plenty of grandiose riffing fill the song accompanied with a mighty blast-beated pummeling. Overall REVULSION's debut album is damm good from beginning to end. 

 

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://revulsiondeath.bandcamp.com/album/self-titled-death-metal

MARASMUS - Necrotic Overlord review

 

MARASMUS - Necrotic Overlord 

Transcending Obscurity Records

I'm sure people will debate this one but just for this moment's sake. Let's say death metal started thirty four years ago. So looking at the genre today I think it's obvious that death metal has reached it's boundaries. In fact it's been pressing against the walls for a while now. That's not a knock against the genre because I'm a fan. If you go beyond it's template then you're gonna dilute it which is what hiptards did with black metal for a while. 

So for us fans we're left to picking out what we like in the death metal genre because there's gonna be some generic stuff. Obviously if you're a fan of this blog (and obviously who isn't?). Then you know I'm a 100% OSDM fan. Following that I really like bands who can balance the genre's brutality with some precise technical excitement. MARASMUS is definitely the type of DM band that fits perfectly into that category.

Here we have the third full length by Kansas City, Missouri's MARASMUS. This is also their first release since 2015. It's also my first time hearing them, sorry about that. But anyways this band here reminds me of what Polish death metal acts have been doing for decades now. I'm not saying they're copying the Poles. Instead this band takes that ferocious attitude and technical prowess into themselves to create a powerful sounding release. 

The title cut on here speaks volumes to my point exactly. It's heavy sounding with jackhammer drum work, deep baritone like commanding vocals and of course riffs plus solos all over the place. That's what I want in modern death metal. The band also likes to fool you with some atmospheric touches then crashes through the walls to surprise the fuck out of ya. Check out "Voices of the Wailing Deceased" for a perfect example.  

Necrotic Overlord is overall an evil sounding piece of chaotic torment. The band throws so many twists at you that you need to repeat listen in order to recapture the surprise you were hit with. Midwest US death metal has a legacy. MARASMUS are the perfect band to hand the torch over to.

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://marasmusdeath.bandcamp.com/album/necrotic-overlord-death-metal

WOLVES ATTACK!! - Rest In Piss EP review

 

WOLVES ATTACK!! - Rest In Piss EP

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Philadelphians into hardcore, drinking and violence. That's what WOLVES ATTACK!! are all about. And you wonder why people call their home Hostile City, USA. Here's the follow-up to the band's Piss on Everything full length from a few years ago. 

Rest in Piss is a six song EP containing five originals and a cover of the MISFITS' "We Bite". The band's version of the cover is pretty straight forward. As far as their originals go it's punch drunk hardcore. It's loud, angry and enjoyable in a humorous way.  

http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/rest-in-piss

WEHRMACHT - Biermacht Reissue review

 

WEHRMACHT - Biermacht Reissue

Hammerheart Records

Here's a second fucking trip down memory lane for yours truly. For those of you who were not around back then. WEHRMACHT were a late 80's five piece hardcore act out of Portland, Oregon. They put out one important demo and two proper full lengths before essentially calling it a career. In other words they changed their name, started a side project and fell into obscurity up until thrash and speed metal made a resurgence back in 2006.

Biermacht was their second album which came out in 1989 on the New Renaissance Records. While their debut full length, Shark Attack, was fast and chaotic. Beirmacht is their fun album as well as being an obvious influence on future thrash bands who specialized in partying songs. It's shorter than their first album as well with a run time of only twenty six plus minutes. The musicianship quality is a step up from their first album as well. 

Now on a personal note, even though Biermacht was a fun album originally. There was always an elephant in the room which kinda took up space. I think about half of the songs on here were also on their 1986 demo Beermacht. Also these versions are polished up. Decades ago when I finally got the album (via a tape trade again) and compared it to the 86 demo which I had it was really like night and day. 

The 1986 demo had that same raw chaotic sound and fury which was on their debut. The versions on the Biermacht LP are decent and are probably comfortable to listeners who can't handle lo-fi recordings. But the fact is that in my not so humble opinion the demo was better. Still you're not going to find the demo reissued on CD, not that I know of. 

Still with all of that said this Biermacht reissue is a must have for anyone into those late 80's hardcore sounds which would also be part of thrash's fun band styles. Honestly MUNICIPAL WASTE must have been listening to this, as well as THE ACCUSED and SOD, when starting out. So once again a great reissue thanks to Hammerheart Records.  

https://www.hammerheart.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0naCl03EXRk

WEHRMACHT - Shark Attack Reissue review

 

WEHRMACHT - Shark Attack Reissue

Hammerheart Records

Well this is a fucking trip down memory lane for yours truly. For those of you who were not around back then. WEHRMACHT were a late 80's five piece hardcore act out of Portland, Oregon. They put out one important demo and two proper full lengths. Shark Attack was their debut full length which originally came out in 1987 on New Renaissance Records. That's the basics alright.

Now as far as personal history goes, I never had an original copy of this on vinyl back in the day. I do have it on CD, a reissue, now. But decades ago I had this (still do) on a cassette via a tape trade. Another cool band from back then ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT are on one side of the tape and WEHRMACHT on the flip. I also had the demo, Beermacht, from 1986 but that was a bootleg. I think I gave it to someone or the tape broke. I forget it's been a while. What's crazy is that I once saw this release in a used record store with a price tag way to fuckin high. 

Musically WEHRMACHT relied on pure unadulterated speed and chaos plus they weren't too bad at musicianship. Their guitar tone was like banging on sheet metal. But their song structures were simple hardcore stuff with the vocals hidden behind the music and they also had a comedic sense to boot. Their songs were all on the not so serious side as well. 

Now historical revisionism as it is has placed this band into the crossover or crossover thrash genre tag line. As I've said for years, crossover is a term coined by the major labels who signed hardcore acts (just a few by the way) who also appealed to metal fans. You're average music fan at the time didn't say crossover to describe a fast sounding band. It was either hardcore or metal (thrash). 

Another important note, if WEHRMACHT's debut album was influential in any way it was towards a burgeoning music scene back then which we would eventually call grindcore. With that said this reissue is a damm good release to pick up if you're into these old sounds. Why pay a huge sum of money for something sticker-ed "rare crossover thrash" when you just want the music. So this is probably one of the more important reissues of 2021 thanks to Hammerheart Records.

https://www.hammerheart.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg0g1roUH1g

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Collection II (2021 Repose Records Sampler) review

 

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Collection II (2021 Repose Records Sampler)

Repose Records 

It's the fourth day of the new year. Add to that it's cold, wet and thoroughly miserable outside. In other words it's another perfect Winter day to play some black metal. This is the month when labels put out samplers to get you all excited about upcoming releases or some things you might've missed out on the year before. 

Repose Records is a label out of England who specialize in bands producing black metal of various sub genre styles. I'm familiar with two acts on their roster. Those would be ELFFOR and SORGELIG, both of whom have tracks on here. Collection II contains twenty bands each contributing one cut each. What's cool is that there's variety on here. And I do have some favorite tracks.

For starters there's RULUM from England whose nine plus minute track "Rul" is ambient/proggy influenced. NIMBIFER is a two piece act from Germany whose cut on here, "Am Boden", definitely has a cruel and frosty feel to it. Add to that their sound is of that old school rawness which German black metal use to have a flair for. 

REIGN is a one man BM project out of England whose track on here is ambient, proggy with some angst ridden and harshly screamed vocals. I kinda knew the SORGELIG track on here was gonna be good. I've been a fan of the Greek BM act for a few years now. Their song on here, "A Thousand Skies To Drown In", is damm good and also appears on their album We The Oblivious which originally came out in 2019. This label is reissuing it on vinyl.

Another great track on here is "Old Wizards Cavern" by Spain's one man black metal institution ELFFOR. I sat institution since this act as been around since the late 90's. The sound on this cut comes as no surprise. It's got the ambient synth opening with an epic BM atmospheric soundscape. For decades now ELFFOR creates black metal which is harsh and yet beautiful.

Some other acts with cool tracks of note are MURMUR's "Die Endlosung". MURMUR is a US atmospheric black metal act from the midwest who had a short lived career around a decade ago. It seems this label will be reissuing their 2010 debut, Mainlining The Lugubrious, later this year. KUKA'ILIMOU is also an interesting act to learn about since it's black metal from Hawaii. All in all this is a great black metal comp that like I said earlier leans more to the whole atmospheric / ambient ways of the genre.

LISTEN TO and ORDER HERE:

https://reposerecords.bandcamp.com/album/collection-ii-2021-sampler

BELUSHI SPEED BALL - Stella 1 and Stella 2 (Double EP) review

 

BELUSHI SPEED BALL - Stella 1 and Stella 2 (Double EP)

sonaBLAST! Records

OK so for me there's three types of thrash metal. There's basic thrash, then Teutonic thrash and finally blackened thrash. I never liked fun thrash as in "thrash therefore I am" or the skater baseball hat turned backward type of stuff. I've got my tastes and there you go. But I don't mind a band that has a shtick and invites the audience to play along. 

So when I was reading this band's bio and saw a video of there's. I was like hell yeah this looks cool. Then I listened to their release and was like oh yeah this is really fuckin good. I mean after the video and this release, here's a band I'd want to see perform at a local club.

BELUSHI SPEED BALL are a four piece act out of Louisville, Kentucky. Their genre tag is thrash and when they get serious about playing without the shtick comedy part they remind me of DRI. In fact their vocalist sounds a little bit like Kurt Brecht. So let's just say we're in old hardcore territory as far as musical influences go. 

Maybe that's why they add all the comedy as well as a tongue and cheek cut "We Aren’t Thrashers, We Are Hipster Posers". This double 7"er is the band's six release since starting out back in 2013. In unhappy times which these are a little humor doesn't hurt.

http://www.sonablast.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://belushispeedball.bandcamp.com/

COFFINS - Defilements 2xCD Compilation review

 

COFFINS - Defilements  2xCD Compilation

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

So can I just say this is going to be the best compilation of 2021? I mean instead of watching some depressing ball drop at midnight of December 31st, 2020. I was blasting this while taking sips of West Virginia moonshine that a friend gave me the other day for a Christmas present. Yeah I'm easy to buy gifts for. Strangely enough here I am listening to this latest COFFINS release. And yet I still haven't received my copy of the COFFINS/DEPRESSION Split CD which I was hoping would come before today. Oh well maybe next week / next year unless some prick stole it while it was sitting on the front porch.

But anyways here we have something that any COFFINS fan should go apeshit over. Personally I'm an average fan of this Japanese death doom act. I think a couple of their full lengths are cool as fuck. They've been around for over twenty years, with a few line-up changes, banging out their Japanese brand of guttural down-tuned death. But in all honesty they're more into short form releases. I have a few of those but there's just too many out there to keep up with. That's why Defilements is a must have if you're just into the music as opposed to having the product for collecting purposes. I'm one of those types too. I love compilations and reissues with extra tracks. 

So what you have here on Defilements is around two hours of COFFINS' death doom on two CDs. Basically it's all previously released EP material. Supposedly these EPs are all out of print. The first batch of songs are from the band's Craving To Eternal Slumber EP which originally came out on Hammerheart Records five, whoops I mean six years ago. I forgot it's 2021. I'll be screwing up dates a lot now. But what's cool on here for me is that there's a song called "Tyrant" which is also on a COFFINS/ILSA split 12"er I have which came out on Relapse Records in 2016. Trust me "Tyrant" is an OK cut but the rest of the songs are fuckin killer especially "Stairway to Torment" and "An Obscure Pain". It's total CIANIDE worship as in filth ridden death doom.  

Next up you got the cuts from their Noise Room Sessions 2014 7"er which came out in 2016 on the Heavy Metal Vomit Party label. Yeah they're two raw recorded songs and it sounds like it was recorded at someone's basement. It's definitely more of a scum punk style going on here. No wonder it's fuckin rare. After that it's time to head back a few years to their March Of Despair EP from 2012 which was another Hammerheart Records release. These songs are cool because it's like COFFINS are re-invoking CELTIC FROST with a hell of a lot of distortion and a good head banging sludgey feel. One huge highlight is their cover of DEATH's "Corpsegrinder" which is really a destruction of the song. I kinda like it.  

From there it's the band's Sewage Sludgecore Treatment EP from 2012 and originally came out on Bones Brigade Records. This one is an all covers EP although I think in this case butchering is a better term to use then cover. Basically COFFINS stomps the fuck out of songs originally recorded by BUZZOVEN, EYEHATEGOD twice and one's a live version, NOOTHGRUSH (I got the 12" split COFFINS did with them), GRIEF and IRON MONKEY. Personally I look at this as hey let's beat the shit out of our influences. But hey I'm cool with that.

Finally it's their part in the four band compilation Live At Asakusa Deathfest 2016 EP. It's OK stuff but I'd want this since the original EP also has SKELETAL REMAINS on it as well as two other bands. Either way it's a cool sounding set of four familiar tracks (ie: "Here Comes Perdition", "Under the Stench" "Decapitated Crawl" and "Tyrant".) Decent stuff and you wish you were there. In the end like I said opening this write up. Best compilation of 2021, well maybe, it's January and we don't know what's coming next. Like I said earlier if your a COFFINS  fan then you need this one. Uchino, the last original member of the band, has approved of this compilation so there you go.

http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/defilements