GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY - Death Never Sleeps review

 

GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY - Death Never Sleeps

Transcending Obscurity Records

So after work I always stop at my favorite convenience store for a six pack of good beer (aka: IPAs) to finish the night off. At the store I always frequent they've got a new clerk who works two nights a week. On this one night the guy is wearing a Metal band shirt. So I'm like "So you're into Metal"? He was like yeah. Now while the transaction was going through I told him that I knew of the band on his T-shirt (it was WHITE CHAPEL ala Death Core). I then told him I'm not a fan of them. 

When I was leaving he told me to have a good night. To which I told em "well yeah I'm gonna drink this beer and listen to some fuckin Death Metal"! Then I threw him the horned fist salute and walked out the door. The DM band I ended up listening to that night was GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY and hell yeah it's some great stuff.

GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY are a five piece USDM act who hail from New York (I don't know if it's from the city or up state). They started out in 2017. Their debut full length, Ageless Violence, came out in 2020 on Translation Loss Records. By the way Translation Loss Records is a good label. I've got more than a handful of releases by bands on that label. But switching over to Transcending Obscurity Records is a good thing because, in my not so humble opinion, they're a great label that knows Death Metal. 

With that said Death Never Sleeps just starts off with a face ripping cut "Slaughter the Gerontocrats". That's right, no boring instro intros just a straight fucking DM attack that's old school NYDM as hell. What's really funny is that 3/5th's of this band was in a New Jersey BM act called WOE. While another band member spent time in New York's Blackened Death act MUTILATION RITES. There's no BM influences at all on here. 

Death Never Sleeps is a perfect nine track DM album that runs a few seconds over thirty four minutes. In that time span you've got cool brutal yet monster like vocals by Doug Moore. He also adds a few harsh blackened screams. Musically is where the DM fun erupts. The riffs diverge between crushing, headbanging fun to thrashy I wanna start a slam pit and hit somebody type of stuff. The guitar soloing is typical lightning dive bomb stuff which is classic. 

In the end overall this year I've listened to a bunch of DM acts who in the past I was a huge fan of. But in 2025 they bore me. GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY is a damm good sounding DM band. I mean play this release in the morning play it at night. Hell play it while you're fucking. Yeah this is one of the best DM releases of the year.

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://gloriousdepravity-label.bandcamp.com/album/death-never-sleeps

SULLY - Self Titled review

 

SULLY - Self Titled 

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

If you're a young person than this album will take a few listens to get into. But for older grindcore heads it's fuckin music to our ears. As I always try to point out histirically Grindcore started out from the late 1980's Hardcore scene. Metal picked it up right afterwards. And they've done a great job of expanding the extreme nature of the genre world-wide. But as much as I like the metal era of the genre I always go back to the beginning as a fan. Now not all the way because most of these new punk/HC Grind revival bands blow. But some....  

SULLY, who hail from Rochester New York and have a bunch of music veterans, are doing their best to remember the late 80s / early 90s Grind. Basically you've got guitarist Erik Burke (who use to play in BRUTAL TRUTH for six years). On vocals there's Adam Frappolli who use to be in this Tech-Core band called PSYOPUS. Filling out the rhythm section is Alex Perez on drums and Ed Jusko playing bass. 

Musically SULLY come across fairly interesting as something guitarist Erik Burke knows too well. So basically we're looking at BRUTAL TRUTH - lite. Now I say that because I'm a BRUTAL TRUTH fan at least from the early days. The first time I saw em was in the mid ninties and there was like thirty people in the audience. The second time I saw em there were less then that. The last time I saw em Erik Burke was in the band and there's was at least a hundred people in the audience but at a hall that could fit three hundred. 

And I have to say that the BRUTAL TRUTH releases Erik Burke was playing on were not my faves. So be that as it may this is basically Erik Burke's solo thing. Honestly it's a cool release with twelve cuts that could've been heard on a BRUTAL TRUTH release. The guy has a perfect rhythm section that does an amazing job. The vocals are cool. But it's all about the song structures and that, along with the riff package, which makes this pretty cool. 

But honestly I'm not keen on the name SULLY. I mean it reminds me of a mechanic's name from the 1980's. for example "Hey Sully there's an extra ten in it for ya if the Buick passes inspection, if you know what I mean". Or "Hey Sully I need you to check out my brakes. I almost hit some cocksucker the other day." Or "Hey Sully my tranny is still fuckin up, like my o'l lady. Could you check it out or I'm going down to that (racial slur) place and give him my fuckin business." 

With all of that said I wanna hear their next album because this is a cool start heading in a good direction. SULLY are the future for any old BRUTAL TRUTH fan.

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

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

MALIGNANCY - Discontinued review

 

MALIGNANCY - Discontinued

Willowtip Records

I must admit that as far as this New York brutal tech death band goes I've never been on their bandwagon. Just for the record this band originally started out in 1993. Their debut album, after a bunch of demos, came out in 1999. The first thing I bought by MALIGNANCY was their Inhuman Grotesqueries full length from 2007. And I didn't get that until a few years after it was released plus I got it used. 

Now I like Inhuman Grotesqueries but as I've always said I'm not a fan of tech death. I've probably got as much tech death as I do melo-deth. OK maybe a slight bit more tech death but anyways on a recommendation from a friend I did get the band's 1999 debut full length Intrauterine Cannibalism some years ago which is good. Another recommendation was to get a compilation that's out with a bunch of early demo cuts. I haven't gotten that one yet. 

Be that as it may I've pretty much explained what MALIGNANCY is all about. So while listening to this new album, their fifth by the way, my whole reaction is exactly the same as I would when I listen to prog rock. I like some 70's prog (hey I grew up with that music) but I can't stand prog metal. So listening to this is as good as playing some very intricate sounding prog but it's death metal. 

Case in point, I think the rhythm section musicianship of drummer Mike Heller and bassist Alex Weber is dynamic. I mean sure guitarist Ron Kachnic is psychotic with his riff / solo structures. But over repeated listens it's the rhythm section that has this uncanny drive to this whole album. And once again Ron Kachnic you're probably the most under-ated song writer out there in extreme metal. Danny Nelson on vocals you do what you've got to do with this music. I mean whether its the deep vocal drawl or the screams it's basic as far as I'm into it. 

The bottom line here is yeah it's extreme, yeah it's tech death pushing some brutal signs and proggy that I'll listen to it six or more times in a row. Will I blast this more this year? No. So there you go.

http://www.willowtip.com/home.aspx

LISTEN HERE:

https://malignancy.bandcamp.com/album/discontinued

STRESS ANGEL - Punished by Nemesis review

 

STRESS ANGEL - Punished by Nemesis

Dying Victims Productions

This label puts out great stuff (thrash, traditional metal and NWOBHM) by bands from European nations. But here we have a band from Brooklyn, New York and they're playing Black Metal. Ladies & Gentleman (and you others) who read this blog (and frankly who doesn't) this release is pretty damm good and they're not hipsters. 

First and foremost the band name, STRESS ANGEL, is one I don't care for. Personally I think they need a better band name. The "they" are a two piece consisting of Manny Sores on vocals and drums. Plus there's Nicolai Orifice on guitar and keyboards. Musically this duo have a love of early black metal with some death metal touches. All combined it's some killer sounds. 

The early part of this album drags you into some blackened death metal style. To me it's totally old school. They give ya some thrash and filth then will add some up lifting moments which lead to total death metal punishment. And the album just doesn't stop from that magnitude. Nine songs of punishing blackened death which I like a lot and still I don't care for the band name.

"Punished by Nemesis", "Close to the Presence of Suffering" and "Ministerial Road" are my absolute favorite tracks from this album. Add to that Manny Sores has this cool screamed vocal style. Once again it reminds me of old school thrash. Musically this release is damm good but I don't care for the album cover either. The band logo is cool. Despite all of my artistic criticisms this is some great black metal. 

In a way it reminds me of some late 80's South American extreme stuff but with obviously better production. But all around this is cool as fuck.

https://dying-victims.de/

LISTEN HERE:

https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/punished-by-nemesis

SUFFOCATION - Hymns from the Apocrypha review

 

SUFFOCATION - Hymns from the Apocrypha

Nuclear Blast

Well it's been a while for me as far as checking out a new SUFFOCATION full length. How long you ask? Well I remember buying Blood Oath in 2009 and was borred to death with it. I remember seeing them on tour around that time as well. I thought they were mostly borring live as well.

When it comes to SUFFOCATION, for me that is, it's Terrance Hobbs' solo work and the band's first three albums. I'm not gonna mention em because if you're an extreme metal fan then you know about the greatness I'm talking about. But Terrance Hobbs is such a great guitarist and his influence as far as dive bomb solos is under rated to say the truth. 

Be that as it may this latest release by SUFFOCATION is average to say the least. I mean it's good but for the mainstream types who just get this release because they don't know there's a hundred or more bands out there doing the same thing. Big name label and great production with a name recognition where as a band playing a club down the street playing the same damm thing doesn't get any credit. 

Hymns from the Apocrypha sounds like a brutal death metal band just going through the motions. I'm shocked to say that I miss Frank Mullen who held down vocal duties forever. Hey at least he was a great frontman. The new guy, Ricky Myers, is fairly average in his vocal delivery. If you read this blog (and frankly who doesn't) then you know my respect for brutal death metal vocals.

Hymns from the Apocrypha is a brutal death metal album for the mainstream masses who don't know there's an underground who does it equal or better. I can't wait to see the average types hype this album not knowing there's better music of this style out there. 

https://www.nuclearblast.com/eu/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgO6vl_vzhM

IMMOLATION – Acts Of God review

 

IMMOLATION – Acts Of God 

Nuclear Blast

OK so just for the record I'm an IMMOLATION fan from their early days. Now moving on from that I have to say 2010's Majesty and Decay is my favorite by em. And of course 2017's Atonement definitely carries some greatness. Now that's not taking anything away from my appreciation of their early albums like the debut Dawn of Possession from 1991 or 2002's Unholy Cult. 

But let me be clear. Out of their whole full length catalog I think half are fuckin amazing and the other half are good. Which brings us to this new one Acts Of God. Yeah this came out back in February but I finally got my copy in June. So while I've been listening to this for like two months now. It's only been recently that I've actually been ready to write something about it. Hell it's been six years.

First off this is the band's longest album coming in at slightly over fifty minutes. There's a few instrumental tracks which to me is filler. But basically it has everything you want in a standard IMMOLATION album. Ross Dolan's brutal vocals are still fuckin amazing to hear. Robert Vigna's innovative riffs as well as off the wall solos are here. Steve Shalaty has become the premiere death metal drummer of the modern era. And Alex Bouks is in the band.

With that all said Acts Of God comes off like ten years of past ideas all put together into one new album. If you're a fan you can hear the repetition. There's very few cuts on here that actually stand out. Which to me is kinda bogus because over the past decade this band has been so good at defining amazing brutal as well as tech savvy DM. 

I give the musicianship a top notch but as far as excitement level this gets kicked down to the "good" level in their catalog. 

https://www.nuclearblast.com/eu/

LISTEN HERE:

https://immolation.bandcamp.com/

SANHEDRIN - Lights On review

 

SANHEDRIN - Lights On

Metal Blade Records

I've been listening to this on and off since it came out in early March. I pretty much put it on the back burner while I caught up with other stuff on the review list. But I can honestly say this has become a favorite album for me in 2022. If you like Metal that reminds ya of the 1980's, and not hair metal but true metal, then this is a band you'll love. 

SANHEDRIN are a three piece act from New York City. The band is made up of Erica Stoltz on bass/vocals, Jeremy Sosville on guitar/backing vocals and Nathan Honor on drums. The band has been around since 2015 and this is their third full length. 

I kinda hate myself for not knowing about this band earlier since their second album, The Poisoner from 2019, came out on Cruz del Sur records. Yeah how did I ignore that? But anyways Erica was once in two bands that I do know about. Those being AMBER ASYLUM and HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE. Guitarist Jeremy Sosville is supposedly still in BLACK ANVIL.  

Anyways this is total 80's worshiping Metal and it's just damm good. You've got some all out rockers like opener "Correction" which has a PRIEST touch to it. "Change Takes Forever" is also a rocker. Then there's a few melodic rockers like the title cut plus "Lost At Sea". But in all honesty this album is perfect from start to finish.   

https://www.metalblade.com/us/

LISTEN HERE:

https://thesanhedrin.bandcamp.com/

TOWER - Shock To The System review

 

TOWER - Shock To The System

Cruz del Sur Music

The "big thing" in metal for 2021 was legacy bands putting out new long awaited releases. Then this album drops and I'm like, really? After one listen to TOWER's second full length I pretty much forgot about the legacy's. TOWER, a five piece act who hail from New York, take their influences from early metal (late 70's/early 80's) and retrofit it with some modern energy.

Just to point out the obvious, Shock To The System is a perfect title. From the onset of this album and over all of it's ten tracks, this is high energy stuff. Let me add to that. This is kick ass fuckin metal. We're talking full on anger, power and aggression that has long been missed in modern day metal of this type. 

First off you've vocalist Sarabeth Linden who's singing style is akin to a gutsy screamer. The truth is she can wail like a fuckin banshee. Add to that the twin guitar team of Zak Penley and James Danzo who pretty much tear things up via great old school riffs and dynamite solos. Finally there's the newer rhythm section of bassist Jack Florio and drummer James Jones. Both of these guys seem to have melded well into this band and bring the force of the past to the present.

So with a force of talent, a feel for rage and ability to write impressive songs it's obvious TOWER's second album has to be one of the best metal albums of 2021. Aside from everything I've mentioned there's cuts with galloping rhythms, some pure speed metal anthems and some melodic numbers which grab hold of your psyche. From start to finish this album is perfect.

https://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com/blog/

LISTEN HERE:

https://towernyc.bandcamp.com/releases

OXALATE - Infatuating Sickness EP review

 

OXALATE - Infatuating Sickness EP

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Can I just say that 2020 sucks. Now I don't mean on the whole extent of it although I have been pissed for months now. But even on the music front it's been kind of a boring year. I've listen to so much stuff that a year or two ago I would've been excited about. But compared to the lock-downs and other bullshit going on, I've just been bored.

Then something like this falls through the depressive cracks and I'm psyched. OXALATE is a four piece act from the New York/New Jersey area. To me that location proximity is strange because I grew up in NJ years ago and we hated New York as well as New Yorkers. And they hated us as well. But hey times have changed with one exception, OXALATE play some cool sounding Northeast death metal. 

There's just four songs on here but they all come at you with this raw intensity and bite. Part of it lingers in death doom sewers of old while other times it's thrash pit intensity in a local club with heshers going apeshit. Give this band a full length because they've got the death chops.

http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/infatuating-sickness

HYPOXIA - Abhorrent Disease review

HYPOXIA - Abhorrent Disease

Selfmadegod Records




Took a few listens for this one to break me out of my Winter (yeah it's fuckin Winter now despite what the calendar says) slumber. Like I needed another death metal act from New York in my life. But on a whole this four piece delivers everything you would want in a bleak bludgeoning release. 


HYPOXIA are technically not a new band. They started out back in 2011. After releasing a demo that year plus an EP in 2013 the band went through some line-up changes. By 2015 they finally secured a steady line-up with which to put out their debut full length, Despondent Death. Part of that steady line-up is vocalist Mike Hrubovcak from MONSTROSITY.


Musically HYPOXIA come off as a hybrid of everything NYDM is known for. Parts of Abhorrent Disease does remind me of early SUFFOCATION which to me is fine since that band's more recent material has left me bored.  On here the superb drumming matched with the chunky riffs as well as some technical guitar soloing are the stars of this show. Much like their main influence this band knows how to balance the brutality and technical aspects of the genre. 


As far as Hrubovcak's vocals go, he snarls, growls and shrieks like one of the best. He's pretty much the icing on this DM cake. Which makes HYPOXIA's Abhorrent Disease a damm good release that's not overly old school generic nor excessive tech death noise.



https://selfmadegod.com/shop/en_US/index

https://selfmadegod.bandcamp.com/album/abhorrent-disease

https://www.facebook.com/Hypoxia-137971356260153/

WITCHKISS - The Austere Curtains of Our Eyes review

WITCHKISS - The Austere Curtains of Our Eyes

Self Released




Here is something I'd expect Sludgelord Records to hit me up with. I mean this band, who are three piece act from Beacon, New York which is up state technically but not a long drive from New York City, are obscure yet carry some generic doom sounds of present day acts. Argonauta Records, a great label in their own right, released a single of a song on here as well.


WITCHKISS's brand of doom is a mix of controlled sonic power mixed with subtle engagement on a folk level. Their use of duel vocals (male & female) gives things a cool texture which easily draws you in on the quieter tunes as well as entry points to the heavy cuts. The band knows how to draw a fine line between the melodic and the pounding thud.


Now with that said I've heard this all before when indie rockers were going doom / sludge back in 2008/2009. It's non-offensive or extreme stuff. I'm surprised they're not opening for SLEEP at this year's Hipsterscotch in downtown Raleigh. Their drummer/female vocalist even pulls off some wispy Dorthia Cottrell (of WINDHAND) vocals. Toss in a lot of acoustic guitar which was also a staple of that last WINDHAND album.


For those of you in the new then you'll probably love this because you were listening to hip hop ten years ago and are in denile. As for me I liked the start off of the release. Then as it went on I found so much generic structures to the genre that I got bored. It's easy listening music, as in AM, to a lot of beardo losers, whose girlfriends have better taste in doom.  


https://witchkiss.bandcamp.com/album/the-austere-curtains-of-our-eyes

https://www.facebook.com/witchkissband/

HUSH - Untitled II review

HUSH - Untitled II

Sludgelord Records





So when I first saw this I was thinking hmmm HUSH, I wonder if they're gonna sound like DEEP PURPLE? Of course when I played it ah no it was not. Instead I was greeted by slow music with a guy screaming as if he was caught in a bear trap behind my house. Hey I don't like strangers walking in the woods behind my house. But anyway after one listen I decided another pot of coffee was in order.


HUSH is a five piece act outta Albany, New York. So while I'm listening to this I'm reminded of years ago when a lot of hardcore records were recorded at 45 rpm. But normally if it was a LP you played it at 33 1/3 speed. So you hear it slow and once in a while you'd be partying and play it slow for your friends at the house just for the hell of it. Then some asshole would show up and be like "Dude I love the MELVINS, I mean Gluey Porch Treatments rules. Ah hey can I get a beer?"


HUSH is a band that I've seen many times over the decades albeit they had different names. In other words HUSH are slow as in dragging more ass than an alligator. The vocals are pain ridden, deep vocal cries from (choose one: a post apocalyptic nightmare, a hellish abyss of torture or my ex-wife's bedroom). Actually this is sludge from the early days which is cool and then the band hits up with a grandiose revival of explosiveness.


HUSH reminds me of a time in 1989. I was at a local club and there was this band from Boston playing this same slow brand of music. Now like I said it was 1989 and the term sludge metal wasn't coined to the whole public lexicon. So this band was playing slow and the crowd of punks in the pit didn't know what to do. At times it was like they were high on ludes trudging through mud.


This is HUSH's fourth release overall. They've put out two EPs and a full length prior to this one. Honestly anything that has a old school sound, is punishing in riffs and pounding bass plus pain ridden vocals is a winner in my book.


https://thesludgelord.bandcamp.com/album/untitled-ii

https://www.facebook.com/hushdoom

NECROLYTIC GOAT CONVERTER - Isolated Evolution review

NECROLYTIC GOAT CONVERTER - Isolated Evolution

Self Released




Whether it's technology or talent this year's crop of one man black metal acts I've listened to has been pretty damm good. I think the days when Varg Jr. waited for his parents to leave the house so he could record his four song depressive black metal opus from the sanctuary of his bedroom are past us.

Case in point, here we have a guy named Chris Voss from Long Island, NY. It seems, according to the promo info that I'm paraphrasing, that this guy had been a black metal fan for years and finally got off his ass to record something. The result was a nine song demo titled Demo MMXVI released in 2016. Also that year he put out a single, "Have a Necroytic Birthday" as well as doing a split release with Canadian one man BM act DOMESTIKWOM. 

Obviously Chris Voss is enjoying life because this, his official full length debut, is a worthwhile release. I was expecting the typical depressive black metal scenario, I mean come on he lives in Long Island. But no I was treated to mostly old school sounding Scandinavian second wave BM sounds. Most of the cuts are melodic upbeat BM plus there's some added nuisances that push a subtle originality. For example the keyboards in "Strange Symbols" or the straight up metal riffage of "The Dark Within" and of course his take on ALCEST / MBV ala "The Calamity of Not Knowing".

With NECROLYTIC GOAT CONVERTER Chris Voss shows that the DIY ethic definitely works well but he also shows that anyone can create black metal regardless. Kinda takes the wind out of the sails of those self described artists out there.  

https://necrogoatconverter.bandcamp.com/album/isolated-evolution

https://www.facebook.com/necrolyticgoatconverter/