TYR - Battle Ballads review

 

TYR - Battle Ballads

Metal Blade Records

OK bias alert, I'm a huge fan of TYR. I first got into em in 2006 with their Ragnarok full length. From that point onward I was buying older releases while keeping up with their new ones. I saw em twice over a decade ago when the whole Pagan Metal thing was a trend as far as tours go. I stood around at one show and talked with Heri Joensen for close to an hour. We had an amazing conversation which I promised was not an interview. 

Fast forward a few years and it was in the second decade of the 2000s where TYR shed the cliche Viking Metal tag and went full blown amazing. Some people wanna call it Power Metal while others say Progressive Folk. All I know is when I listened to 2019's Hel full length the cliche stuff was far over. Heri Joensen was always pushing the band to this standard and it works. 

So here we have Battle Ballads the band's 9th full length. To me as a fan this is the epitome of standing in Valhala. Yes it's Power Metal out the wazoo with a battle ready hammer wielding warrior ready to fight for the cause. The guitar work on here is exceptional as well as the vocals. The song structures on a couple of tunes are folksy as hell and headbanging. 

I have to say TYR's live album, A Night at the Nordic House, from 2022 has been one of my fave releases from them as in I only listen to that one for a while. But this new one is a magnum opus. But Battle Ballads goes beyond what they've done before as being a magnificent piece of work incorporating the folk, the Viking influenced ballads and the aggressive nature. They've reached their mountain top.   

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

LISTEN HERE:

https://tyrband.bandcamp.com/album/battle-ballads

HUMAN INFECTION - Gravesight review

 

HUMAN INFECTION - Gravesight 

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Here's another release that came out a few months ago which at first for some reason I wasn't into writing about. But going back to it I'm like holy shit this is cool. Now I'm wanna say this is a reissue because of the following. This album was originally recorded in 2017 but was de-laid and wasn't released until 2019. That was a self released CD by the band.This year Horror Pain Gore Death Productions decided to reissue it with extra tracks. So fuck it because it's new to me and it's damm good.

HUMAN INFECTION hail from Roanoke, Virginia and are old school death metal stalwarts. I've probably seen em at some Wednesday night show downtown years ago or the old local Death Fests (with 20 bands on the bill) back in 2010/2011 and I didn't get anything by em. The band started out in 2009 and has now three full lengths to their credit. Yep I probably missed em. 

Now there's plenty to like about this release by HUMAN INFECTION but I'll start with the over the top drum work by CJ Giles. This guy is a maniac behind the drum kit. And it's his musicianship that gives this band a different take on the old school style of the death metal genre. I'll go out on a limb and say they're a US version of VADER. 

HUMAN INFECTION has a lot more going for em along with drummer CJ Giles. But hey let's go for the combo of drum coordination with the riffs. And that brings in guitarist Andrew Mathews who rips out diabolical riffs all of the time. He does the dive bomb insane solos once in a while. But for me this is a riff master general. Whether it's head banging stuff or just mesmerizing riffs that have your mind saturated this guy does it.

Add to all of that you've got a evil bassist, Jeremiah Tuck, who joined a few years ago. The guy pushes the diabolical heaviness needed plus adds in some tech death bass leads which are cool. Finally there's vocalist Andrew Brown who has a maul baritone vocal as well as cool screams. 

In the end HUMAN INFECTION are like VADER meets CANNIBAL CORPSE in a back alley, has a fight and then decides to drink a few beers afterward. This is a great death metal album. 

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

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

DARKTHRONE – It Beckons Us All review

 

DARKTHRONE – It Beckons Us All

Peaceville Records

A few years back I said that DARKTHRONE's Astral  Fortress full length will be the last release I'll ever buy by em. I stuck with that promise because I'm streaming this new one for review. And hell yeah I'm saving money because this one blows as well as the last one. Now I say that because I've stuck with this Norwegian duo for so many years, great and not so good. 

DARKTHRONE's last great album is 2007's F.O.A.D. period end of story. They carried on with the whole blackened speed metal / hardcore thing for a while which was decent. But after that they went on this tangent of we're DARKTHRONE and we don't know where we're going but who cares? Which led us through a bunch of albums that were boring.

  

Nocturno Culto and Fenriz just go through the motions on here much like they've done on their past few albums. There's a couple of catchy tracks and then the rest is filler. I could put together a bunch of cool DARKTHRONE album tracks from 2013's The Underground Resistance to this new one and still not fill up a CD. 

DARKTHRONE have given their fans a big fuck you so I say let's give it back. Fuck You!

https://peaceville.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://peaceville.bandcamp.com/album/it-beckons-us-all

HACAVITZ - Muerte review

 

HACAVITZ - Muerte

Moribund Records

Just for the record HACAVITZ, a blackened death metal act from Mexico, are a band I learned about years ago from this label. Yeah I've got more Moribund Records releases then you've got (choose something stupid because I'm not in the mood). Now with that said the PR report on this release states that this is "the triumphant return of the #1 Hispanic Black / Death Metal band!!!" Well I wouldn't go that far.

HACAVITZ are/were a cool band to blast some Mexican blasphemy across borders. I thought their 2007 full length, Katun, was fuckin amazing. But everything since that one has been decent to say the least. You also have to remember that mainman Antimo Buonnano (vocals, guitars & bass) and Cesar Sanchez on drums have been the true creative duo over all of these years.

So with that said what we have here is the band's sixth full length. Their last one, Nex Nihil, came out in 2017. Now as far as this one goes Muerte does deliver on the band's past style of blackened fury, creepy late night atmosphere and thunderous riffs. Unfortunately the production on here is muted or better yet muddied. 

What made me a fan of HACAVITZ years ago was that their sound was raw with a devastating attack whether it was the the guitar riffs or the vocals. In other words it was alive and screamed in your fuckin face. To me I can hardly like this with it's muddled sound. I mean it's 2024 so you can have a decent sound while still being cool blackened something or other. 

In the end I'm not happy with this return.

https://www.moribundcult.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hacavitz.bandcamp.com/album/muerte

ORANGE GOBLIN - Science, Not Fiction review

 

ORANGE GOBLIN - Science, Not Fiction

Peaceville Records

England's ORANGE GOBLIN has come a long way from just being a "stoner rock" band. Now in all honesty my favorite album by em has always been their second full length Time Travelling Blues from 1998. I mean that's a stoner rock classic. But as time passed the band didn't play repeat with ever other album, like some of their peers, ahem? Instead ORANGE GOBLIN has been one of the few bands from that English Doom sub genre that actually showed progression as well as integrity with every new full length. That's why they can hold the sub genre close to their vest but then go crazy with it. 

Here we have the band's tenth full length since starting out back in 1997. Of course what makes things great is keeping a creative line-up together. And on here you still have original members Ben Ward on vocals, guitarist Joe Hoare and drummer Chris Turner. Their newest member is bassist Harry Armstrong who joined in 2021. With this line-up ORANGE GOBLIN has put out another damm good release. 

Musically this full length is a continuation of the band's sonic journey over the past decade. We;re not talking stoner generic doom. Instead yeah there's plenty of groove laden riffs but not in a peace love dope sense. It's more punch you in the face. Ben Ward still has that roaring baritone vocal. Joe Hoare still comes up with head banging & fist pumping riffs while also crawling into the psych landscape. To me the guy is one of the best guitarists in English doom.

Ya know when I first gave this latest album a listen I was like OK it's cool. Then I think it was a week later where I was playing some of their previous releases. I was getting hyped up on ORANGE GOBLIN's previous releases. So I listened to this one again a few times in a row. You could tell how the band took all of what they did previously and amp-ted it up a thousand fold. ORANGE GOBLIN ain't a stoner rock act. They're Hard Fuckin Rock and Metal. And they're one of the best out there.

https://peaceville.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://peaceville.bandcamp.com/album/science-not-fiction

BRED FOR SLAUGHTER - Kill for Satan EP review

 

BRED FOR SLAUGHTER - Kill for Satan EP

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

After listening to this I have to say, before the cops come because a neighbor complained about the noise, this might be my second favorite release by this label in 2024. Now a little history, this is the second EP by BRED FOR SLAUGHTER. There first one, Here You​'re Born​ Here You Die, came out last year. So you are damm right I liked that one. 

This is old school death grind led by a man who fuckin knows it. Mike Beams on vocals is formerly of EXHUMED as well as REPULSION reunited 2.0. He fronts this four piece from California (of course) which also consists of former NOTHING LEFT members Jon Nedbal on guitar and drummer Brian Glover. Dusty Wall also on guitar finalizes these four horse-men of death grind. 

So I'm listening to this five song EP which is all about, lyrically, hate. If you partake in your city's public transit system then here ya go for a sound track between stops. Hell if you are just sick of viewing humanity's pathetic endeavors witnessed every fuckin day then here ya go.

Kill for Satan is a mandatory extreme metal fan's medication. Sure we can all go back and listen to Gore Metal or Horrified but these days time is short. It's a really fucked up world and time is priceless especially for me because I'm old. So I'd rather blast this before I face the public. I say that because everyone is a douche-bag except me. And hate is the handshake I give to the world. In other words you need to get this EP.  

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/kill-for-satan

MASTER OF BLASPHEMY - Bloodred Realm review

 

MASTER OF BLASPHEMY - Bloodred Realm

Kvlt und Kaos Productions

And the gates of Hell were opened and a thing was released which erupted out of the German nation. And black metal fans rejoiced by saying "well it's about fuckin time". Ah yeah since I'm a huge fan of German BM bands like ENDSTILLE, KATHARSIS, NAGELFAR, THE RUINS OF BEVERAST and MOONBLOOD then yes it's about time for some great German black fuckin metal. 

I mean over the years there's been a few decent BM bands out of Germany but they tend to show homage and influences towards either Norway or Sweden. Now I'm not saying MASTER OF BLASPHEMY are perfect as far as BM heritage goes but this their debut is one of the best BM releases from a German band that I've heard in a while. 

I mean when you listen to a song like "Flame of Frenzy" or "Cult of Black Light" you think they're demons surrounding your house. Hey forget about that whole atmosphere shit. If I've got demons trying to break into the house then I've got the shotgun waiting for em. So yes this, the band's full length debut is a stand out to say the least. MASTER OF BLASPHEMY is a two piece act consisting of Atrox who performs all of the instruments and the vocals are performed by Apostat.

Musically the way I look at this is imagine KATHARSIS and MOONBLOOD were parents and had children who combined the influences to meat in the middle. I'm talking not a lot of atmosphere and subtle on the brutality. Plus it's not overly influenced by foreign sources. Well OK I'll toss in maybe MARDUK. But as everyone knows Germany's ENDSTILLE was their nation's MARDUK. 

I like the sound throughout this full length. Each cut has a twisted riff style that captures the listener into various modes. Atrox is an amazing musician and song writer. Sure it's black metal and you're gonna hear some familiar touches throughout Bloodred Realm. But if you're a fan then it's like a moth drawn to a flame. Or like bats flying over my neighbor's house tonight going after the mosquitoes. 

As far as the vocals go Apostat gives a quality performance. Once again he sounds like someone I know in another band(s). He mixes up the harsh screams with sinister vomit spilling guttural hate. You get the feeling that he means what he's singing. Also he knows how to enhance his position vocally while Atrox is providing an amazing catchy riff structure. 

All in all this debut album by Germany's MASTER OF BLASPHEMY is a standout. I mean it's a quality listen. It holds the listener, makes for repeated listens in a sitting and of course ends in sick psychotic as well as horror-esque way. In an era when we have great black metal, crappy still wanna-be hipster black metal and the OK stuff. I think this is one of the best releases you should get your hands on in 2024. 

 

https://www.kvltundkaosproductions.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://kvltundkaosproductions.bandcamp.com/album/bloodred-realm