SACROFUCK - Swi​e​ta krew review

 

SACROFUCK - Swi​e​ta krew

Godz ov War Productions

Well with a name like SACROFUCK, what's not to like? Anyways the tagline on this is death metal. But after one listen you'll hear some grindcore and death thrash influences. I mean their drummer Soulreaper (aka: Jerzy Wojcik) has / is playing in some other thrash and grind acts. One of the guitarists plays in a thrash band. Everyone else has been involved in death metal or black metal for a while. 

But hey SACROFUCK hail from Poland so you would expect something wild from one of the greatest extreme metal scenes in Europe. The skinny on em is as follows. The band started out in 2006 and mainly put out demos and short form releases for many years. The mainman of the band is Paplakathor (aka: Michal Paplak) whose been the guitarist/vocalist since it's beginning. 

Over so many years the band finally got a cohesive line-up to put out their debut full length Ekstaza upodlenia in 2019. So this one here is it's follow-up. And just for starters when this album opens forth it's like someone grabbing you by the throat and holding ya as the torture issues. Yeah this is around thirty four minutes of Polish extreme metal punishment. 

You've got the almost painful assault of the snare drums via grindcore influences. The riffs are down right death metal psychotic. The guitar soloing is part dive bomb into your psyche and part surgically slicing away at your humanity. And the vocals come across as if the guy is tripping on acid while having been set on fire. 

SACROFUCK's Swi​e​ta krew is a hell bent on destruction release. As I mentioned in the beginning it's labeled as Death Metal but the grind influences are so evident as well as punishing that I have to say no. This is more great Polish grindcore and when this album ends you just push repeat so the pleasure of the pain continues on.

http://godzovwar.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/wi-ta-krew

SOULCARRION - Enthrone Death review

 

SOULCARRION - Enthrone Death

Godz ov War Productions

This is what I'd call perfect late night after work death metal. SOULCARRION, who hail from the great nation of Poland, have a sound which comes from the darkest pits of oblivion. We're talking about something which invokes Lovecraftian nightmares. The sound created is a abattoir atmosphere of filth and piles of death. Imagine a putrid smell from a slaughterhouse which hasn't been cleaned in years. 

This is the second album by this two piece act and I'll explain. SOULCARRION is basically Michal on guitars and bass plus Greg on lead guitar. The vocals (deep bestial growls) are provided by session singer Mateusz Sibila. The title track is sung by Vesper Locust. And the session drummer here is Darek Mlody. Hey guys ya got a band OK. Be that as it may there are times when you can hear an imbalance in the production. 

But hey all in all I'd rather hear two guys from Poland following what MORTICIAN did decades ago.  

http://godzovwar.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/enthrone-death

AARDVARK - Tough Love review

 

AARDVARK - Tough Love

Dying Victims Productions

Honestly I can't believe I'm writing about a band named AARDVARK (says the guy who owns the complete discography of ANAL VOMIT). Alright just for starters this band hails from Australia. There are no aardvarks in that country. Aardvarks live in Africa. They eat ants and are a remnant of prehistoric mammals. Which is a great segway into talking about this band. 

AARDVARK are a four piece act; two guitarists, one of em sings, plus a bass player and drummer. My previous mention of the word "prehistoric" fits in well with this act. Musically this band is a throwback to mid 70's hard fuckin rock. I'm talking 1975 to 1979 aka: just before the NWOBHM era kicked in. There are times when this release comes across like JUDAS PRIEST's Rocka Rolla. And guitarist / vocalist Ed Vaark does an early Halford vocal style well.

All in all Tough Love is an enjoyable album, says a guy who's 60. It's melodic hard rock from a time when bands like PRIEST, THIN LIZZY, UFO and SCORPIONS took listeners into something different in the mid 70's. I can't help but enjoy songs like "Destructor", "Fight Back" and the title cut. Yeah this is a perfect album for people who wanna go way back. 

https://dying-victims.de/

LISTEN HERE:

https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/tough-love

RIBSPREADER - Reap Humanity review

 

RIBSPREADER - Reap Humanity

Xtreem Music

How does a band creating a genre-centric sound/style of music (in this case Old School Swedish Death Metal) stay relevant after slightly over twenty years of existence? Well in this case you have mainman Rogga Johansson (vocals, guitars, bass) who has an unrelenting passion and conviction towards the music. It also helps to have some associates who care just as much as you in creating the music. 

A few years ago I said that RIBSPREADER is Rogga Johansson and anyone else he can get to play the other instruments. On this tenth studio album it's Rogga still singing, doing the guitar riffs and playing bass. Along for the ride is still Jeramie Kling on drums (formerly of VENOM INC. and did drum duties in that last line-up of MASSACRE.) Add to that you've got guitarist Taylor Nordberg from DEICIDE (who was also amongst that last MASSACRE line-up. 

So with one Swede and two Americans playing death metal in 2024 what would you expect. Well for me it's like Rogga Johansson takes over MORBID ANGEL and shows em how to play death metal again. Obviously when Rogga was doing the whole MASSACRE thing a few years back he was taking notes. One basic principle he got was a good mix of atmosphere, brutality and fuckin speed. Reap Humanity is all of that. I wish that I was standing in the audience watching the band play this album in full. I could see the crowd going apeshit crazy. 

Musically this is full on slam pit action whether just moshing along or hell bent violent pit action. You've got nine songs in thirty six minutes which is perfect for attention time. Every song grabs your attention to the hilt. Rogga, as always, relies on a mix of DM vocal styles whether it's the brutal grunts, the hate filled baritone screams or the diabolical almost spoken wordings. Of course his guitar riffs are powerful, sick as well as twisted. 

Add to that Jeramie Kling's drum work on here is amazing. Then again I thought that when he was pounding for WOMBBATH as well as VENOM INC. I might've said it before but it bares repeating. Jeramie Kling is one of the most versatile drummers in Metal today. Now as far as the lead guitar work goes, Taylor Nordberg (who's in DEICIDE now) lays down some lines which are more of a background atmospheric take. While other times he's firing on along side with the rhythms or adding some wicked solos that add to the sinister sound. 

All in all as much as I like what RIBSPREADER has done in the past. I really like this album a lot. It's one of those albums that ten years from now you're gonna still wanna blast till the neighbors call the cops on ya. Hell Fuckin Yeah!

https://shop.xtreemmusic.com/english.main.index.php

LISTEN HERE:

https://xtreemmusic.bandcamp.com/album/reap-humanity

CORPSEVORE - Feed The Plague EP review

 

CORPSEVORE - Feed The Plague EP

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Here's my irony check for the month. Let me explain, every month I dedicate time to blasting old stuff with a specific topic. January has been all about old demos mostly death metal stuff. So of course I was listening to demos by NECROVORE and ROTTREVORE. So here we have another "vore" band. Actually I'm surprised the name hasn't been used before but anyways.

So here we have the debut release by CORPSEVORE which in their own words (from the Facebook page) is "Vegan grinding death metal from France". From what I can gather this is a side project by one of the guitarists from the French death doom band WINTEREVE. 

Musically it's got the crunch of early Swede Death with a decent grindcore head-bang. Think NIHILIST's Premature Autopsy gets into a head to head collision with CARCASS's Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment. If you're a grind head who likes some DM brutality then you'll like it. 

Personally I don't get into much of the lyrical content of bands but with this one it needs to be said. If you're part of that "meat is murder' crowd then this is right up your alley. As for me I don't care about anyone's dietary habits or convictions. Just don't tell me I can't eat a cheese steak. 

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/feed-the-plague

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Transcending Obscurity Records 2024 Label Sampler

 

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Transcending Obscurity Records 2024 Label Sampler

Transcending Obscurity Records

As any reader of this blog knows (and frankly who isn't) I am a big fan of Transcending Obscurity Records. Does that make me bias when it comes to writing about their releases? Well maybe, when it comes to this label I really like their straight up death metal and grindcore releases the most. In my end of year favorite forty albums of 2023 I had three of their releases in my top ten. Nine altogether in the top forty so there you go. 

Now nine releases means nothing to a label that released more than that. As always if I like something then I really like it. If I don't care for it then I just move on. I'm not into the "do the slag" bullshit. So with that said Transcending Obscurity Records puts out a sampler compilation each year to let fans know what's coming out in that year. As well as include something you might've missed the year before. 

This year's sampler is amazing as you can see here:

1. DISKORD (Norway) - Shivering, As We Shed Our Hides  

2. REPLICANT (US) - Orgasm Of Bereavement  

3. CARNOPHAGE (Turkey) - Underneath The Horrendous One  

4. BYONOISEGENERATOR (Russia) - 5mgInspiredVibes  

5. RESIN TOMB (Australia) - Putrescence 

6. MAERE (Germany) - Think Of Me As Fire  

7. DEVENIAL VERDICT (Finland) - I Have Become The Sun

8. VORGA (Germany) - Magical Thinking  

9. MALCONFORT (UK) - Rage  

10. HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE (Canada) - Fates 

11. TYPHONIAN (Germany) - The Gatekeeper 

12. PAGANIZER (Sweden) - Flesh Requiem 

13. CRAWL (Sweden) - Until They Crawl 

14. FERAL (Sweden) - Phantoms of Antiquity  

15. BARON (Finland) - Primordial Possession  

16. SHRIEKING DEMONS (Italy) - Apostasy, Sodomy And Sacrilege 

17. MONUMENT OF MISANTHROPY (Austria) - A Nice Beheading For MoM 

18. CUTTERRED FLESH (Czech Republic) - Descent Into Torment Of Abyssal Whispers  

19. THE LAST OF LUCY (US) - Shedim Seance  

20. CONSTRUCT OF LETHE (US) - Denial In Abstraction  

21. PHASMA (International) - Shoggoth Bell Gate 

22. EVILYN (International) - Penance 

23. HIERARCHIES (US) - Complexity Parallels  

24. FATHOMLESS RITUAL (Canada) - Gelatinous Being Of Countless Forms  

25. ATVM (UK) - Cancer 

26. DEFECT DESIGNER (Norway) - Certainty After The Kafkaesque Twist 

27. SWELLING REPULSION (International) - Fatally Misguided  

28. FEBRUUS (Sweden) - The Price of Enterprice

29. MISANTHROPY (US) - The All-Devouring 

There's some bands on here that I'm interested in hearing more from as well as some I'll pass on. But that's the way these comps are all about. Freedom of choice is the thing and it's a free compilation. So check it out.

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com/album/2024-label-sampler

MASTER - Saints Dispelled review

 

MASTER - Saints Dispelled

Hammerheart Records

First off I need to give a shout out to Hammerheart Records because over the past couple of years they've rejuvenated the careers of many old school bands. And now here we have MASTER from way back when. Ironically I was blasting the DEATH STRIKE CD two weeks ago. This is the first MASTER full length in quite a while. In all honesty I haven't kept up with the band in many years. Now I do like the death metal releases Paul Speckmann was doing with Rogga Johansson (aka: Johansson & Speckmann). But hey let's dive in.

As far as performances go on here I have to say Paul Speckmann sounds sick as fuck as ever on vocals. Guitarist Alex Nejezchleba is absolutely amazing with his riffs as well as dive bomb solos. And fuckin drummer Peter Bajci is phenomenal behind the kit. The musicianship is amazing but the music? Saints Dispelled sounds more like a band doing a wanna-be late 80's hardcore release. What death thrash sounds, of which MASTER was known for, are minimal. Most of the songs on here are hardcore. 

Now sure I wasn't expecting something exactly old school MASTER. But hey my last album by em, "An Epiphany of Hate" from 2016, was still great death thrash. Be that as it may I'm sure young people will like this one a lot. "Dude it's like old school hardcore" spoken by someone who was born in the 2000's and thinks GREEN DAY is punk rock. 

Personally the best song on this release is the bonus track "Alienation of Insanity". That's the MASTER I know albeit some death n roll but it's still good. 

https://www.hammerheart.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://master.bandcamp.com/album/saints-dispelled