SPASTICUS - Fuck Me Before I Die review

 

SPASTICUS - Fuck Me Before I Die EP

Horror Pain Gore Death

This is probably the best EP you will hear in 2021. Sure I'm guilty of hyperbole once in a great while, yeah that's funny. But seriously I ain't shitting ya on this one. Now if you remember a time when metal and hardcore kinda had their lines blurred. I'm not talking crossover because that was a joke created by label people to promote and make cash off of the young crowds.

No I am talking about some underground bands who would play the your local clubs and tour on a demo or 7"er circa late 80's/early 90's. This band hails from Palermo, Italy so I'm sure they're into RAW POWER. The genre tagline on em is death thrash but I disagree. This is total metal/hardcore madness at it's best. 

You've got five cuts that showcase total riff insanity, groove and slam pit inducing chaos. Their vocalist is perfect with his mix of caustic screams, Tom G. grunts and radical banter. The drum work is pounding in a grind way but the bass playing is thunderous hardcore/metal thumping.

I'd absolutely kill to see this band play in a local club today. I believe this was the band's original demo from last year. So thanks to Horror Pain Gore Death for unleashing this upon an unsuspecting and honestly an unworthy world. If young people today were listening to this then maybe they wouldn't be a bunch of wet shit, butt pissing, woke bunches of crybabies. 

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/fuck-me-before-i-die

EXSANGUINATION - Spectral Hymns review

 

EXSANGUINATION - Spectral Hymns

Horror Pain Gore Death 

This band is covered in the Boss HM-2 pedal Swedish death metal sound of old like the blood on Satan's claw. Which by the way is the title of a great movie. But anyways here we have a four piece death metal act (more on that later) from Massachusetts who have nailed a sound, a style and a feeling from the old days which goes far beyond what I've heard previous acts try to do. 

First off sound-wise Spectral Hymns is an explosive piece of work. That's another way of saying the production is great. No low-fi, wanna sound like a 1987 demo quality here. Of course musically the ten cuts on here fit into a small time period niche years ago when melodic death metal and harsh blackened death metal met.

You've got these venomous vocals which could peel paint. Add to that the classic Swede Death crunch guitar rhythms and some mighty tremolo picked rhythms and melodic leads which are spice to an amazing sauce. I could name drop my way to tomorrow as far as influences go but why disrespect these Massholes (and I mean that, "Massholes", in a good way).

EXSANGUINATION as far as what they're doing on here is something which I always thought is needed. They're taking an old style and giving a fresh take on it as opposed to simply covering another band's left handed path. That's why this is cool as fuck.

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/spectral-hymns

NECRONEMESIS - Some Things Should Stay Underground review

 

NECRONEMESIS - Some Things Should Stay Underground

Horror Pain Gore Death

So the first time I checked this release out it was after work at around 3 AM in the morning. Just to let you know I had the volume up just a little too much. But in all seriousness this is a release you have to blast. Which I will get into further along. 

This band is totally new to me but have been around for a while. NECRONEMESIS is a four piece death metal act hailing from Puerto Rico. Now in all honesty I can't say I've heard a lot of metal from that island nation. I'm sure they have a metal scene, who doesn't? But it must have been a decade ago since I've written about a Puerto Rican metal act and I think that was a thrash band.

But anyways there are a lot of cool things about this debut full length. It's basically old school death metal in style and form but with a ton of extras. First off what's up with the vocals? The guy's name is Angel David, yeah right. His basic singing style is that deep GRAVE sounding style. But then there's these harsh witch screams which come in and it's like spine tingling. I'd also say blood curdling.

Next up music wise the songs on here do have an early tech death style as well as straight up brutal DM quality. There's also a few sick solos going on throughout this seven song release. supposedly Rick Rozz of DEATH and MASSACRE fame plays guitar on here. Are those his solos which jet through? I don't know but hey they're good and so is this album. 

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/some-things-should-stay-underground

GOREGANG - Long Live The Grime EP review

 

GOREGANG - Long Live The Grime EP

Listenable Insanity Records

GOREGANG is a little o'l death metal band from Florida who I heard about back in 2019 with their debut full length Neon Graves. The band features Jeramie Kling on vocals and guitars plus Taylor Nordberg on drums. Both of em are alumni in Sweden's Rogga Johansson's musical enclave. Check out the releases of RIBSPREADER and EYE OF PURGATORY. Jeramie Kling also plays drums in VENOM INC. (aka: We Hate Cronos).

So yeah this is two crazy guys playing traditional old school death metal on four new tracks. They cover a WHITE ZOMBIE track for the fith cut. After that it's four live cuts. Like I said about their previous release, sound-wise the band comes off as Swede Death n roll. Fun stuff in an era of crap.

LISTEN TO & BUY IT HERE:

https://goregang.bandcamp.com/

DARKTHRONE - Eternal Hails review

 

DARKTHRONE - Eternal Hails

Peaceville Records

 

So the last time I said something incredibly good about DARKTHRONE was back in 2007 with their F.O.A.D. album. I thought it was a great hardcore release. Unfortunately Fenriz, via an email, explained to me it was actually a speed metal record and I was totally wrong. So two more decent "speed metal" influenced releases go by and in typical DARKTHRONE form they move on to something else.

So next up we got The Underground Resistance in 2013 which is still boring as fuck. They followed that up by an even worse one called Arctic Thunder from 2016. And then came 2019's Old Star and all I can say to that is am I the only idiot fan who bought that? I mean I'm a DARKTHRONE fan. But seriously I didn't even know that one was out at the time. I was in the music store one day and saw it in the CD racks, marked down off course. 

So look yeah I'm a fan. I still love their first album, then their black metal era was amazing. The stuff that came out afterwards was interesting and I already mentioned their "speed metal" foray. But what they (aka: Nocturno Culto and Fenriz) have done since has literally been a tough sale. So now I listen to this latest one and think are DARKTHRONE finished. When I heard the song Peaceville leaked it was like oh they're trying to do the doom thing again.

Eternal Hails is a release that after a few listens you start to feel sympathy for. I mean especially if you're a fan of them as well as what they're doing here. Basically this is another homage to 80's underground metal strained through the band's limited capabilities. In other words you get taken in thinking alright this is cool and then the boredom comes in. Which is kind of fucked up because for decades DARKTHRONE made boredom (aka: repetitive riffing) exciting. 

In the end this is DARKTHRONE wanting to be SABBATH, CELTIC FROST and maybe SAINT VITUS, hell maybe a few others. I'll give em props for the low fi production which is a given. But they're just not in the league of who they wanna pretend to sound like. The riffs are boring and the drum work is basic plus Nocturno's vocals are pushed way back in the mix. I've got a buck that say's next time they go death doom. As far as this one goes it's eternal fails.

http://www.peaceville.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iboBawOFhi0

NECROGOD - In Extremis review

 

NECROGOD - In Extremis 

Transcending Obscurity Records

This one took a while to grasp to say the least. I had to first go back for some history. Anyways a few years ago Rogga Johansson, who is Sweden's most prolific death metal practitioner (and in PAGANIZER as well as many more cool bands) hooked up with a guy from Costa Rica who goes by the name of "The Master Butcher". 

The Master Butcher is a vocalist who's in such bands as MORBID STENCH and INSEPULTO. Their collaboration took shape with an EP, The Inexorable Death Reign, from 2015. Obviously both individuals were happy with the results so they continued onward. So here we have the first full length from this collaboration. 

For starters I've gotta say this is some of the most intense shit I've heard from Rogga Johansson. The man is literally on fire with these blazing riffs. Then the solos come in like flaming meteors crashing into the earth. And then he throws in some decent melodic touches as well. Anyone who had their doubts about Rogga, as far as him simply being just Swede Death, can go stand in the corner. 

Now as far as the vocals by The Master Butcher go, this guy's a demon. He's got that blackened death hoarse pitch to his vocals. It's as if he's coughing up blood with every verse. I love that kind of singing style. Hell yeah not only is this an amazing album but it's a perfect album. 

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://necrogod.bandcamp.com/album/in-extremis-death-metal

HIGH N' HEAVY - V review

 

HIGH N' HEAVY - V

Electric Valley Records

I've said it before but it bares repeating. The lame-stream mainstream can pile you in polished turds which they call great releases. And then have the audacity to question your attitude for not liking em. But me doing this little o'l blog has discovered some killer fuckin music over the years by unknown bands on small yet cool and dedicated to their craft type of labels.

Case in point, here we have the four piece act HIGH N' HEAVY from New Bedford, Massachusetts. Now for any of you would be musicians out there let me say this. If anyone ever tells ya that "smoking pot and listening to that Ozzy guy will get you nowhere". You tell em that's bullshit. This band here has five fuckin albums. I'm sure their whole career has been based on 70's SABBATH and copious bong hits.

But anyways this is the fifth full length album by these SAB-4 loving mass-holes. Unfortunately this is my first time hearing em But I gotta say I love every second of it. Aside from the obvious stoner rock homage in the groove parts. You've got some actual original sections whether it's a speedy fuckin rocker like "Death in the Unknown" or the breaks from the formula as on "Gather Flame".

Of course for me what is really cool about this band, and nothing against the other three guys, is the vocals. Kris Fortin's singing style is best described as caustic bluesy. He puts in the emotion when needed that accents the riffs excellently. And speaking of which the guitar work and rhythm section here are flawless in their delivery. They know their heavy and their singer delivers the highs.

Let me honest with ya. I'd say over the past five or so years I've been bored with stoner rock. Then again who hasn't? There's so much repetitive copycat bullshit out there. On an average year doing this blog I'll hear twenty to twenty-five releases from bands in this sub genre. And in recent years I've only considered maybe one or two to be actually good. This album here is a good one. It's one of the best you'll hear in 2021.

https://www.electricvalleyrecords.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://highnheavy.bandcamp.com/album/v

VETTER - Av Sublim Natur review

 

VETTER - Av Sublim Natur

Duplicate Records

VETTER is a one man black metal act from Norway. Yeah that's a plus but when I saw that this guy, Havard Tveito, once played in FOLKEARTH back in 2007/2008 I got interested. The genre tagline on VETTER was blackened folk. Well there might be some on here but it ain't WARDRUNA, who I'm going to see this Fall. But to be honest VETTER is a lot of black metal from the old ways. 

For starters Havard Tveito plays all the instruments. Secondly on this, his second album but first since 2012, these five cuts are all unique. I'm not going to go through each song because I hate that. I'll just say that musically Havard runs the gambit on what we fans like about black metal. I mean there's times where he's going low-fi wannabe majestic pagan folk which is cool. There's atmospheric stuff, full blown old school Norwegian BM and rip your face off thrash moments.

In the end I think if you are a real black metal fan (yeah I know, kvlt or whatever) then this is something you really wanna seek out. The first time I listened to Av Sublim Natur was late at night and it was cool. Second time was in the mid-afternoon and it was even better. Third time was at dinner and frankly you don't listen to black metal when you're eating.  

https://duplicaterecords.no/

LISTEN HERE:

https://duplicaterecords.bandcamp.com/album/av-sublim-natur

SOLARIUM -Ruled By The Cruel review

 

SOLANUM -Ruled By The Cruel

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Listening to this reminds me of a time in the late 80's/early 90's. I'd be at a band's practice space which was at one of those rental storage units. Not only was I there to check out the band for my zine. But I was old enough to buy beer for the people there as well as having money to buy beer. Fun times and usually someone in the band called that practice space home. 

So yeah SOLANUM are that inbetween of hardcore and thrash as far as their sound goes. And pardon me but it all sounds like it was recorded in a practice space in 1989-1992. Now that's not a knock against em. For me it's a personal preference to hear a band who's playing a style of music from the past to actually sound as if it was recorded back in the day. 

SOLANUM hail from Winnipeg, Manitoba which of late seems like an cool area in Canada that has some very extreme music emanating out of. So yeah I'd kill a moose to see this band live. Just for the record I spent two years in Alaska so don't give me shit about that moose comment. But anyways musically there's a lot of cool things going on here. 

First off I love the maniacal hardcore drum work. Their singer, who sports a Mohawk like I did a long time ago, has that caustic vocal style which is reminiscent of some past greats. The guitars are perfect on the riffs. But the leads which dive in every once in a while give it that "whoa" factor. Like I said earlier, it's the production. Sure this sounds like something out of the long ago past. But not as a copycat act or a homage. This sounds like an unearthed gem that no one knew about before. and now you know.

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/ruled-by-the-cruel