ACT OF IMPALEMENT - Infernal Ordinance review

 

ACT OF IMPALEMENT - Infernal Ordinance

Caligari Records

I've said it before but it always needs to repeated. You never know where great extreme metal will pop up. Especially when that band puts out music which is familiar as well as taking a cool direction which cements themselves as being worthwhile. 

Case in point here we have ACT OF IMPALEMENT who are a three piece band from Nashville, TN. who started out in 2012. As far as their history goes they've put out a handful of demos, short form releases and a full length in 2018 titled Perdition Cult. Here were a few years later with their second full length and I'm liking what I hear. 

Musically ACT OF IMPALEMENT are into old school death metal with some cool influences to back their material. Think of ENTOMBED's death n roll era meets classic BOLT THROWER. Yeah that's not much of a stretch these days but the punishment this trio does is damm good. 

I mean this is pure filth riffage. It's a grotesque mangling of the classics complete with sick melodic soloing dive bombing in. And yeah how could I not love a song titled "In Wolflight". We're talking about headbanging worship as well as slam pit educing action with every song on the release. A helluva lot on "Creeping Barrage", "Atomic Hecatomb" and fuckin "Blasphemies Rebirth". When was the last time you heard a release that could deliver that? 

Of course the vocals are a mix of blast furnace versus real guy screams. Both of which are cool as fuck. Yeah out of nowhere this fuckin album becomes one of my favorites of the year by far. More proof that wherever you are in this world. There's probably a cool extreme metal band right around the corner.  

http://www.caligarirecords.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://actofimpalement.bandcamp.com/album/infernal-ordinance

NOISECULT - Seraphic Wizard review

 

NOISECULT - Seraphic Wizard

Metal Assault Records

This release came in under the pretense of being stoner rock. I was like cool, pass the bong I think I'm Ozzy. Then after hearing a couple of songs I was like forget the bong, pass me the Jim Beam. So NOISECULT is a four piece act that hails from Nashville, Tennessee. I've got a younger brother who lives there. I sent him a message asking about this band. 

But anyways after a few listens I really like this band. I can imagine em pulling up to a club, all four band members on Harleys followed by a pick up truck with a Uhaul trailer full of their equipment. Yeah there needs to be a video of that. I mean look at these guys. 

The audience of some out of the way club, like one I worked at years ago, would think oh cool they're gonna be Southern Rock but instead it's Southern SABBATH. And yeah it's that and also a cool dose of 80's metal. NOISECULT can do the whole SAB 4 thing well but add some MAIDEN-esque touches on a cut or two. 

For me it's what this band does not do which is what I like. I know that sounds crazy (it might be the Jim Beam) but bare with me. The guitarist has a Iomni style but is not a copycat. The vocals come off as whiskey soaked. The rhythm section is total Master of Reality in sync. Yeah in the end this is damm good.

https://metalassaultrecords.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://noisecult.bandcamp.com/album/seraphic-wizard

SEASON OF ARROWS - Give it to the Mountain review

SEASON OF ARROWS - Give it to the Mountain

Argonauta Records





Can I just say this is one of the best releases of 2017 and be done? Ah, I guess not. Alright so what we have here is a stoner rock act that adds plenty of psych and sludge to their sound. Oh yeah and their vocalist is a woman. Yeah I know you've heard it, seen it and read about it all before. But what makes my extreme interest in SEASON OF ARROWS is how much they are not typical. For starters the band hails from Nashville, Tennessee, not Athens, GA or Richmond, VA or England or from Europe. If you look at a band photo you won't see a bunch of hipsters or goth types. Actually they look like my friends, kinda rough. And then there's the music which is also off the typical template.

When you have bands putting out this style of doom and with female singers they tend to do two things. They mix the vocals back into the mix so the singer sounds like a ghost which means their masking a bad singer. Or they place the vocals way out front in order to focus attention on the singer and less on the boring music. With SEASON OF ARROWS you have front-woman Stormie Wakefield's vocals on equal footing with the music. Maybe that's because she can sing and has a versatile range perfectly compatible with this type of music. You get that early with the opener "Farewell to the Horseman" which starts out with a folk laden intro until sludge kicks in and Wakefield's scorching and powerful vocal delivery hits. 

Sound wise speaking the band besides Stormie Wakefield (guitarists Brandon Shepard and Dave Gates, bassist Shawn Van Dusen and Brad Lawson on drums) perform a sound compariable to something inbetween COUGH and KYLESA but stretched out in order to allow the songs room to grow or better yet, carry you along. They don't drag things along to the point where you have to check your pulse after five minutes. On songs like "Evening Lord", "Bellow" or the mournful "Autumn Wings" the band as a whole have you holding on to every note every verse. 

Whenever someone writes about the thing they admire there's always going to be the assumption of hyperbole on the reader's part. Please don't even think that here. Whether it's the song craft or the cool vocal performance clearly SEASON OF ARROWS are standouts and my opening comment is secure. This is truly a great release.

http://www.argonautarecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/seasonofarrows