THE SHORT STACK: Short reviews of releases that need not many words

SWALLOW THE SUN - When a Shadow Is Forced into the Light

Century Media Records

2009's New Moon album was this band's milestone as far as my not so humble opinion goes when Finnish death doom is concerned. And after that they just went to shit. Not only have their past two albums suffered but this one, after a four year wait, is the pinnacle of boredom. The title of this album speaks volumes towards the music. Imagine if you will the worst of OPETH (kinda hard to decide on that one?) paired with modern era KATATONIA. This ain't doom folks, it's goth and goodbye.


https://www.centurymedia.com/

NOISEM - Cease to Exist

20 Buck Spin


NOISEM is a band I learned about a few years back when I picked up a 7" split they were on with another band who will not be named because they sucked. Actually it was the band that sucked as to why I bought the damm thing. NOISEM was better but not by much. We're talking average sounding grindcore or moreover death grind. Still I followed them, buying their second full length Blossoming Decay and hoping for the best. Once again it was decent but while doing SFM666 as well as searching for good music I have come upon some great grindcore acts. So here we are with this new one. Congradulations to the band for scoring a record deal with 20 Buck Spin (remember when they were a doom label?) But Cease to Exist will not push your buttons let alone excite your cravings for skull numbing grind. But if you like average stuff then it's all yours.

https://www.20buckspin.com/

ELUVEITIE - Ategnatos

Nuclear Blast

Alright full disclosure on my part, yeah I got into this Swiss band early on via their second full length Slania which came out in 2008. A decade ago the whole Pagan Metal / Battle Metal thing was going on. Unlike some people I admit that I was into it. Musically it was basically melodic death metal with the addition of folk instruments as well as galloping song structures. As far as my attachment to ELUVEITIE, that went on for a few more albums until I started seeing them go pop Euro metal.


Ategnatos is their eighth full length so props to them as well as still being on Nuclear Blast. Most major metal labels have dropped that generation of Battle Metal acts. The biggest change is that newest female member, Fabienne Erni, takes on more singing portions in this line-up them previous incarnations of this band. Chrigel Glanzmann still is in the main growler / screamer vocal role. There's still plenty of fiddle playing, hurdy gurdy playing, tin whistles and flutes blowing, etc. I enjoyed it but chances are I'll forget about it. It's more for your festival crowd who can stand the pop female sung melodious cuts.

https://www.nuclearblast.de/en/shop/index.html

THE SHORT STACK

The SHORT STACK is a bunch of shorter than normal reviews of releases you don't need too much info on.

VIOLATION WOUND / SURGIKILL Split 7"

Selfmadegod Records





This one here is definitely for fans who collect everything from their fave bands. First off you have VIOLATION WOUND which is a punk side project by Chris Reifert of AUTOPSY. The song here "Resist! Deny! Defy!" is a fairly low fi punk tune. It's definitely something reminiscent of the early 80s. Good stuff even if it is simplistic.


Next up is SURGIKILL which is a supergroup who put out a killer full length out in 2016 titled Sanguinary Revelations. The band consists of Stevo from IMPETIGO, Ash Thomas from CRUCIFIED MORTALS, ESTUARY and the Metal Relics You Tube show. And speaking of ESTUARY their singer Zdenka Prado plays bass on here. Then there's the husband/wife team of Billy and Vanessa Nocera who not only are in great bands like WOODEN STAKE, VAULTWRAITH as well as some other past ones but also run Razorback Recordings.  


SURGIKILL's one cut is a slow methodical death metal dirge which part of the way through moves into a mid-paced groove. They worship at the altar of IMPETIGO (obviously) as well as AUTOPSY and INCANTATION. In other words they keep the old ways alive as well as sick. There's only 400 copies released and worth every penny if you're a fan.


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

https://selfmadegod.bandcamp.com/album/split-19

CARDIAC ARREST / SURGIKILL - Split 7"

Nero One Records




Another diamond in the sick abyss here for fans who collect everything. SURGIKILL as you should know is a death metal supergroup made up of members from IMPETIGO, CRUCIFIED MORTALS, ESTUARY, WOODEN STAKE and VAULTWRAITH. Their one cut here, "Embodiment of Sin and Obscenity", is a fast paced number that's almost death grind and will rip your face off.


Next up is Chicago's CARDIAC ARREST with "Blade Violent" which is the longer of the two cuts. Then again CARDIAC ARREST have been around a while crushing skulls with their brand of death metal brutality. The song is split between a crawling death doom dirge and finishes off in a mid-paced pummeling fashion.


https://surgikilldeathmetal.bandcamp.com/

CARDIAC ARREST - A Parallel Dimension of Despair

Memento Mori




With five full lengths and a bunch of short form releases under their belts, Chicago's ruling class in death metal depravity have returned with their sixth full length. Frankly this is a no-brainer for fans of, and I'm using the title of their first EP here as a description, heart stopping death rot.

Yes people if you thought 2014's And Death Shall Set You Free was the epitome of what this band could come out with then you were wrong. What we have here is the act that shares a death metal brotherhood with CIANIDE and MORTICIAN. Nuff Said.


http://www.memento-mori.es/store.php?fbclid=IwAR2xza4SMesxPOOUyL87ihrKGLAGbaSKU2XriWTZbxoUseoLTtadZQ_-vCY

THE SHORT STACK

GRUESOME - Twisted Prayers

Relapse Records

Look I like Matt Harvey. I always liked EXHUMED, even their latter albums. He helped revive REPULSION for the hipsters but hey we liked it too. As far as this DEATH wanna-be sound-alike tribute band goes well it's not needed. I've got the originals so I really don't need this to remind me more of why I won't listen to anything after Leprosy. There are a lot of young bands out there from shithole countries influenced by DEATH as well as other Floridian death metal acts. You, Matt Harvey, are a great guitarist/vocalist who people in the extreme metal community like. Let the kids have the fun. We want something cool from EXHUMED.

https://store.relapse.com/

THY FEEBLE SAVIOUR - And Darkness Fell

Hells Headbangers Records


This is for collectors with a cult status fetish. THY FEEBLE SAVIOUR originally was a one man blackened death metal act created by Francisco Pulido in 2004. Francisco put out a demo and a split release before shelving the project in 2006. Fast forward to 2015, Francisco revives the project with the help of drummer Matt Heffner. This actual band releases another demo followed by a split release. What we have here is the long awaited debut full length. Musically it's typical old school blackened death with sacrilegious overtones. It's loud, chaotic and down right impressive.

https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/

CRAFT - White Noise and Black Metal

Season of Mist

Eighteen years ago CRAFT came out of nowhere (well Sweden actually) with their debut full length Total Soul Rape. The release was well received (I personally like it). The band was herald as saviors of true Scandinavian black metal as well as being called the new DARKTHRONE (even though they're Swedish). Then they disappeared. Two years go by and then they release a new album, Terror Propaganda. Once again the same acolytes are placed upon them. Don't get me wrong they are well earned (except for that new DARKTHRONE thing).


CRAFT would go on to continue this pattern. Release something good then disappear for a few years. Their last recorded output was in 2011. Since then they've appeared live at various music fests (a first for them). So finally after seven years we have this new one. What we have here is CRAFT with a new coat of paint (black of course). Still grimness and frosty but the clones of DARKTHRONE won't be tossed about anymore. The sound is good, there's some actual groove going on. Might I say it reminds me of SATYRICON? 

http://www.season-of-mist.com/

DIMMU BORGIR - Eonian 

Nuclear Blast


Honestly I haven't listened to a DIMMU BORGIR full length (yes I own a few) in ages. With the exception of some of their songs being on my old BM playlists I haven't listened to em at all. Years ago I had written them off after hearing and writing about 2010's Abrahadabra. So here we are eight years later and you'd like to hope that Shagrath and company would maybe get back to the BM side of metal and not the Goth which was all over their last one. 

Well I was wrong. Over the fifty four minute plus time-span of Eonian you get orchestral goth and some symphonic BM which sounds like what they were doing eleven years ago on In Sorte Diaboli. Look people I've written about other bands doing some cool things in the symphonic black metal genre. Check them out. As far as this goes, leave it to the fans.


https://www.nuclearblast.de/en/shop/index.html

THE SHORT STACK

The SHORT STACK is short reviews of releases that I wanna say something about but not too much.

OF FEATHER AND BONE - Bestial Hymns of Perversion

Profound Lore Records


On first listen this sounds like a newer hardcore band trying their hand at death metal in the formula of PORTAL, AUTOPSY and INCANTATION. Basically it's that whole death doom concept with cavernous vocals and occasional furious grind bursts. The basic influences are fine and there's plenty of acts doing it well.


Unfortunately OF FEATHER AND BONE are not one of em. Upon learning more about this Denver act it seems they are/were a powerviolence band. They do well on a few cuts but for the most part this is weak. I'll give em props on the perfect cavernous vocals but the riffs are not exciting, the drum work is horrible and the song structures are badly rehashed versions of the real thing. 

http://www.profoundlorerecords.com/

MOURNFUL CONGREGATION - The Incubus of Karma

Osmose Productions


To say Australia's MOURNFUL CONGREGATION are icons of funeral doom is an understatement. I got into them with their 1999 debut full length, Tears from a Grieving Heart, a few years after it's release. Yeah I admit I was in the back of the funeral procession. I liked their second album, The Monad of Creation, which came out years later as well. After that, well I moved on but actually they moved onto a progression path which I did check out but lost a connection with. 


Here we have their fifth full length and it's far more melancholy, more intricate with beauty at it's base. Yes the sadness beckons but only for people into not really a lot of  crushing riffs or thorn in the paw of a lion vocals. This is more bleak whining then sobbing sadness at the grave site. If you thought 2014's Concrescence of the Sophia was great then this is a repeat in fuller bloom.

http://www.osmoseproductions.com/

TRIBULATION - Down Below

Century Media Records


Yes I am "THAT PERSON". I believe this band's 2009 debut, The Horror, was not only a great fuckin death metal masterpiece but it ushered in the new wave of bands appreciating and performing old school sounding death metal whether the influence was Sweden or the US. Then they changed into a Halloween-esque Goth Rock band on their second album and out the door I went.


So here is their fourth full length overall, third as a Goth Rock act or is it blackened hard rock? Kinda reminds me of when SATYRICON went full on hard rock with The Age of Nero. Be that as it may I won't begrudge them for their artistic choices. Honestly they do the Goth Rock thing well and I don't know but is that Goth movement still around? Because if it is then those kids are digging this one. As for me no thanks. I'll stick with The Horror and forget this stuff exists.


http://www.centurymedia.com/

JUDAS PRIEST - Firepower

Columbia Records


OK lets get the obligatory stuff out of the way quickly. I first saw PRIEST during their Hell Bent For Leather tour. I've been a fan since then. That's the soapbox from which I'm standing and speaking from. Now in my not so humble opinion not only is this a great classic metal album but it's a damm good PRIEST album. Now I say that because unlike some detractors of this release I don't view it through 1980's glasses. I think it's foolish to expect PRIEST to be exactly the same as they were thirty to forty years ago. And I don't want them to be.


So when I listen to this I judge it in comparison to the releases this band has put out since Rob Halford rejoined the band. Therefore this is obviously way better then their last three albums. Firepower is a mixed bag of old and new. There's some cuts on here that would feel at home on Defenders of the Faith. There's also some stuff that reminds me of Rob's solo work with HALFORD. In the end I'd call this one of the best releases of 2018.

http://www.columbiarecords.com/

THE SHORT STACK

THE SHORT STACK
Too Many Releases, So Little Time, No Need To Write A lot About Em

NECROVOROUS - Plains of Decay 

Dark Descent Records


Here's a three piece death metal act from Greece who channel Sweden circa 1988/89, oh fuck it lets go 1990 as well. This is ENTOMBED worship with bestial vocals. Actually this sounds a hellava lot better than that ENTOMBED AD release from a few years ago. It's also on Dark Descent so you know it's quality. Every nation needs their own old school Swedish death metal.

http://www.darkdescentrecords.com/



NOVEMBERS DOOM – Hamartia 

The End Records

I was surprised by this latest one by Chicago's long time doom outfit. I'm am a fan of NOVEMBERS DOOM, got a few of their releases: Amid Its Hallowed Mirth, Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers, The Pale Haunt Departure and Into Night's Requiem Infernal, They're all great releases over their almost twenty five year career. I do consider them US Doom hierarchy. But Hamartia comes off sounding lite as in less death / doom and more ahhh mainstream appeal. Much of it was forgettable after a listen or two. 

http://theendrecords.com/



BELL WITCH - Mirror Reaper

Profound Lore Records

Ya know I gave this band credit back in 2011 for their demo. Then a year later they became (or maybe they always were) hipster darlings who put out lackluster funeral doom. So a few more releases under their belt, this Seattle duo unleashes this two CD one track, broken down into two parts, over an hour's worth of slow crap. Self indulgence might be fine if you have talent and an ability to actually write cohesive songs. But it the case of BELL WITCH this sounds like noodling around in their practice space and they suckered someone to record it. I give them the finger. 

http://www.profoundlorerecords.com/


EXTREMITY – Extremely Fucking Dead 

20 Buck Spin

Soon to be featured in Decibal Magazine's LGBQT metal issue. Dan Martinez use to play guitar in CRETIN, play live with EXHUMED and the reformed REPULSION. Now he's transformed into Marissa Martinez-Hoadley and with this sorta left coast second tier super group he's put out a new five song EP (with an intro track) of extremely fucking rehashed West Coast death grind which at this point in time lacks balls.

https://www.20buckspin.com/


VALLENFYRE – Fear Those Who Fear Him

Century Media Records

Here's the third installment (full length that is) of Gregor Mackintosh's (PARADISE LOST) and Hamish Hamilton Glencross (former MY DYING BRIDE) side project where they get their old school death metal rocks off. Ah yeah this is great especially if you like modern day channeling of DISMEMBER and BOLT THROWER. Of course this time around they add more death/doom feel then previously. And they even toss in a few cues to their day jobs.

https://www.cmdistro.de/