MELTING EYES - My Final Resting Place EP review

 

MELTING EYES - My Final Resting Place EP

Self Released

For those of you who are regular readers of this blog (and frankly who isn't) then you know my affinity towards Dutch death metal. My heritage is Dutch on my father's side and even though his ancestors came to America quite a long, long time ago. I still hold true to that part of me. 

So when death metal came around and I started hearing all of these cool bands from the Netherlands back in the day (aka: ASPHYX, PESTILENCE and many others but of course one of my favorites is PROSTITUTE DISFIGUREMENT.) Well I'm always on the lookout for new bands that fit into the whole Dutch extreme metal aesthetic. 

This new band here, MELTING EYES, fit in perfectly with this their debut EP. But first off the four members of this band are not youngsters. They're all scene vets. One of their guitarists was in a DM act from years ago that I know about called WARMASTER. Musically MELTING EYES are your basic OSDM sounding act. But what's cool about this EP is how fresh it all sounds. 

First off you've got some brutal filth ridden vocals which are definitely up front in the mix. The six cuts on here are in that 4 to 5 minute range except for one. So the band has room to allow an expanse to their range which includes some doomish elements. The songs have a decent guitar crunch as well as some choice leads. In the end you want more so hey I'll be looking forward to a full length.

Listen & Buy Here:

https://meltingeyes.bandcamp.com/

ASPHYX – Necroceros review

ASPHYX – Necroceros 

Century Media

This is the tenth album by these Dutch death metal veterans. You've gotta give credit to a an extreme metal band with that type of accomplishment on their resume. Especially one which has gone through some major changes over the years. But still has consistently put out great music. Oh yeah and they're one of my favorite death metal bands. So yeah the bias alert is in effect.

Necroceros starts off in similar fashion as they've done over the past dozen years as far as their newer full lengths go. The recipe follows as in open with a speedy death thrash type of cut, on here it's "The Sole Cure is Death". Then follow that one with an uptempo death doom number, "Molten Black Earth". Next up it's something with a little of both. On here it's "Mount Skull" which is a fuckin amazing track. Keep that style while also peppering in a few long epics.

Yeah if you're a long time fan you know the formula well and it works. But not so much for their last album, 2016's Incoming Death. I liked it even though it sounded like the band were just going through the motions. Necroceros is like a comeback album of sorts that reminds you of the band's whole career. We're talking some cool odes to the early days as well as some points to the future. 

The two long songs on here, "Three Years of Famine" and the title cut, are amazing. Then again I think every song on here is great. The guitar tone and riffs by Paul Baayens are super crunchy. He even tosses in some halfway decent lead work. Martin van Drunen's vocals are still caustic as ever. The rhythm section keeps the heaviness flowing. I'm finally appreciating Stefan Huskens's drum work since taking over for Bob Bagchus in 2014.

All in all not only is this one of my favorite albums so far this year but it's the absolute best ASPHYX has sounded in a long time. I mean everything just clicks on here. Baayens and bassist Alwin Zuur are keeping the riffs thunderous. Huskens, from Germany, has found a new home with the Dutch. And Martin van Drunen sounds just as good as he did in the nineties.

https://www.centurymedia.com/

 

GOD DETHRONED – Illuminati review

GOD DETHRONED – Illuminati

Metal Blade Records




If there's a comeback of the year award then Henri Sattler and his band would be my nominee. Of course that deserves a back story. I've been a fan of GOD DETHRONED for a while. They're Dutch death metal vets, technically since only Sattler (guitar & vocals) is the lone original band member since starting out in the early nineties. 


I finally joined the fan base in 2001 with their Ravenous full length, which was their fourth one by that time. I always thought they were a decent band. Then in 2009 to me they became a great band when Sattler and crew released Passiondale, a concept album based on the horrors of World War One encased in the saga of one battle. A year later they followed it up with Under the Sign of the Iron Cross, their second part WW1 themed concept album.


When the new decade moved on we the fans were promised part three of the band's war metal saga. But those promises were dashed when Sattler announced in 2011 that the band would be splitting up again. Then in 2014 Sattler revived the war weary corpse of GOD DETHRONED. Still it wasn't until 2017, that's three years longer than the war itself, when the war trilogy came to a close with The World Ablaze. That release wasn't a bad piece of work but definitely paint by the numbers mediocre. Like most trilogy concepts it felt like alright let's end this fucker and move on. 


Which brings me to this new one Illuminati, the band's eleventh full length release. After one listen I was thinking comeback but from where is an important point. Since they're back to the anti-religious themes then I'd say there's inspiration from the early days circa the late 90's. There's plenty of blackened melodic moments with the addition of keyboards used as a backdrop. The opening title cut expresses that style perfectly. 


On a whole the rest of the album is split between fast head ripping cuts paired with the more melodic pieces. All of which has this majestic quality especially when they employ choir like shouted chorus'. It's part old GOD DETHRONED meets modern metal audience expectations. Obviously that's a gimme considering along with mainman Henri Sattle on guitars & vocals you've Michiel van der Plicht who's been playing drums with the band since 2009. Jeroen Pomper who came on board in 2014 is still on bass. The new blood is Dave Meester who's taken over the lead guitar spot since last year.


For me GOD DETHRONED were a consistent band for years then reached the summit for a little while only to come crashing down. Illuminati is a good comeback. Henri Sattle delivers a great harsh vocal performance. There's some good soloing by Meester, hopefully he won't be part of the revolving door history of lead guitarists this band has had. In the end it's damm good.


https://www.indiemerch.com/metalbladerecords

https://goddethroned.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/goddethronedofficial

ABRUPT DEMISE - The Pleasure to Kill and Grind review

ABRUPT DEMISE - The Pleasure to Kill and Grind

Raw Skull Recordz




Sure I have some room in my fandom for some new Dutch death metal. Especially since I'm always hyping the greatness of PROSTITUTE DISFIGUREMENT as well as ASPHYX. Although I won't place ABRUPT DEMISE in that league as those two mentioned are huge favorites of mine. This band still has an abrasive feel to em in order to warrant a write up. 


ABRUPT DEMISE are a five piece act from the Netherlands who are made up with some extreme metal scene veterans. They started out in 2010, released a three track EP in 2013 and abruptly fell silent for a while until this new full length dropped.


What's cool about ABRUPT DEMISE is that their sound is brutal death metal done in a way that's surgical in song structure. You take a song like "Mutual Mutilation" which has an almost machine like precision to it's butchery. Hard pounding riffs with accented percussion weave a tight tech savvy aura. 


Of course the standards are all here. You've got your rotting filth style vocals, rapid fire drum work as well as machine like or if you prefer industrial strength riffs. The guitar soloing takes a back seat squeal or trudging countenance to the basic riffs. Basically this release is brutal, slightly tech death and totally enjoyable with plenty of interesting sound bites in between the cuts.


https://rawskullrecordz.com/en/

https://rawskullrecordz.bandcamp.com/album/the-pleasure-to-kill-and-grind

https://www.facebook.com/AbruptDemise