#Death Metal reviews

[idiotcoward]

Bolt Thrower - War Master

Jesus Christ bolt thrower’s albums are just so god damn fun. The whole thing feels so insanely epic. It has to be some of the best music to just hang out to and feel powerful. I myself have a toe that’s fucked up and am cramped to hell so I’m laying in bed and thinking about this absolutely insane album.

The riffs are just so over the top. I particularly like how they really do a great job at charging them forward almost march like. Like you get the feeling that some insane fantasy army would be marching to the beat of these riffs. On top of that the soloing is all over the place from more melodical epic and triumphant solos to one’s that feel like absolute chaos just hurtling up and down the fret board.

The vocals are also just so fucking powerful. Bolt Thrower albums always just feel like they’re the perfect thing to get yourself all hyped up. Definitely definitely definitely check out this record if you haven’t already.

[stylized-corpse]

This new Ghoul EP is pretty sick!

[iblasphemi-blog]

AMMO Support the underground has reviewed our release of Eye of the storm by Henere

[bragging-rights-band]

🚨 NEW ALBUM OUT THIS FRIDAY 🚨

[mastersofkaosrecords]

Listen/purchase: INSIDE THE DARKNESS (#32) (FREE ZINE AND DOWNLOAD) by MASTERS OF KAOS

[amber-lucca44]

Albums 8/26/24 💕

Hatebreed (Hatebreed), 8/10

Heartwork (Carcass), 9.5/10

Life Is Good (Nas), 7/10

Long Live (Atreyu), 7.5/10

Pardon My French (Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!), 8.5/10

Wires... And The Concept Of Breathing (A Skylit Drive), 9/10

[gbhbl]

Live Review: Frozen Soul with Creeping Death, Foreseen and Overthrow at The Underworld, Camden, London (12/02/2024)

Its a chilly Monday night in London and things are about to get a lot colder as we head to The Underworld to check out the icy death metal outfit, Frozen Soul. The Texas based band are a few dates into a huge European tour and this is the first of 5 shows here in the UK with Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham next in line before they head to mainland Europe. Well known for their…

[thisworldisablackhole]

Diphenylchloroarsine Subterranean Existential Warfare

FFO: BRUTAL DEATH METAL, DISGUSTING NEANDERTHAL MUSIC / LISTEN

The human era is almost over. Subterranean Existential Warfare takes place in a future twenty years after the nuclear collapse of mankind, where creatures mutated by radiation threaten the final vestiges of humanity which have been pushed underground and gridlocked into bloody warfare. This is an album of stunning thematic clarity and visceral terror which is tied together by voice samples and environmental soundscapes that fully immerse you in the narrative. It is also one of the most ignorant pieces of music I've ever heard. Let me explain. Brutal death metal has long been split into two camps, with some bands branching in a direction where brutality is achieved through a show of pure speed and technicality, and others devolving, breaking the genre down to it's most basic elements and then blending them into a thick slurry of intestines and cartilage. Snare go PANG, guitar go duunndunnn, bass go bluuurp, vocal go blurhhgugurggrg, job is done. Diphenylchloroarsine is in the latter camp, but this reductivist approach to death metal only plays in favour of the atmospheric lucidity.

For an entire hour, Subterranean Existential Warfare stomps, kicks and explodes out of a pure compulsion to degenerate. The entire recording sounds like it is decayed, rotten and blown out—pulled straight from the chest cavity of some bloodthirsty abomination. Sludgy mid paced riffs are dragged through a pool of human remains, dancing in tandem with a bass tuned so low that it registers as more of a threatening, extraterrestrial warble than a stringed instrument. Every hit of the drums feels like a surgical necessity, and they pull a heavy weight in supplying the album with some tempo deviation, often speeding up or slowing down as the goliath riffs and inhuman squeals remain steadfast in the wake of assault. Cinematic bass drops are commonplace in brutal death metal, and while I'll admit they are abused on this record, they are also thematically consistent with a violent subterranean war, and further aid in the immersion. It is easy to imagine the ceilings of defunct subway tunnels collapsing on the bodies of man and creature alike as your speakers crumble to the sound of nuclear explosions.

You could criticize this album for being one note and obnoxious, and I would not necessarily disagree. On a surface level, the actual music has a neanderthal charm at best, chugging it’s way through eleven tracks with the grace of an ape slamming a rock into another ape’s head. But somehow, despite the hour long runtime, this album almost always breezes by without feeling redundant or tedious. The aura of doom that emanates from every track, the haunting piano interlude of "Intermission 235", the nuclear bass drops, the collage of horror pieced together by the final voice transmissions of fallen soldiers, it all makes you feel like you're really living in the fictional world that Diphenylchloroarsine created. There are more than enough nuances in the songwriting department to be picked up on by the attentive and faithfully patient, but it's the hellish atmosphere—executed with a master's touch—that keeps me crawling back into the subterranean darkness.

[cherylprime]

Roadburn Festival 2024 // In Review // Vol.II

The second part of my Roadburn Festival coverage - featuring good bands, my words, and more questionable photography.

Thank you, to those who read the first part of this review. For those still with me, here is the second. Saturday Saturday begins with the most ridiculous transport problem I’ve had since I moved out of London and I arrive to Knoll two minutes before they start. The room is lit only by a handful of table lamps at strategic points on the stage which sets the tone for the grindcore/noise band to…

[doomedandstoned]

VIGIL Offer Roaring Catharsis on EP ‘...And The Void Stared Back’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Nothing is worse than the emotional burden of hurt, loss, betrayal, and grief. It is often overwhelming, consuming thoughts and giving rise to depression and physical distress that can last for months, years, even a lifetime. Music comes as a welcome respite, as it not only identifies with our pain but offers an outlet for mourning, insight, perhaps even healing.

Thus, death-doom was born, a melding of death metal with doom metal that began with groundbreaking acts such as Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Katatonia, and Draconian in the 1990s and continues strong well into the second decade of the new century. A hallmark of this style is slowed down tempos, gruff vocals, double kick drumming, and plaintive guitars, with the genre expanding into melodic realms as well. To onlookers it may seem harsh, morose, even distasteful. However, to those in the throes of misery it can come as a welcome salve to the soul.

Today, we introduce you to the grim New Hampshire blackened death-doom crew VIGIL, which rose from the ashes of another Kingston area band: Onera.

Justin Christian (bass, guitar) and Craig Simas (guitar, synth) have aimed not only for a heavier direction than their previous project, but also something "beautiful and emotional." Dave Petillo (vox), Joe Davis (bass), and Brandon Phinney (drums) round out the formidable ensemble on the band's debut EP, '...And The Void Stared Back' (2024), which Doomed & Stoned is premiering.

"One of the original building blocks of Vigil was to be as heavy as we could," the band says, "This led to the decision to have two bass players. As the songs started to take shape and each member was putting their own touches to the arrangements, we realized quickly that we succeeded in our goal. Combining that with our love for post-rock, thrash, and progressive metal, Vigil is a showpiece for all our influences filtered through our ears, hands, and emotions. We take the listener down a dark road of sorrow and anger."

The four-track affair begins strong with one of my favorites of the record, "Descend To Extinction" -- a song that puts our mortality into perspective.

You must all face The truth of life We end in spite Of our strife All must pay A toll sometime Let our being Be a moment in time

A sanguine guitar lead greets, interlaced with dire growls personifying our great common enemy: Death. Juxtaposed to this is a melodic chorus with appealing vocal harmonies that address the cold, hard reality of human suffering. At 4:22 there is some arresting riffwork that harkens back to the metal glory days of the '80s. It feels as if the rushing winds of Fate are sweeping us away. The song closes with a return to the dissonant rhythms and the bittersweet riff of the start.

Next comes the "Words of a Dying Man". Rainy repeated chords set the stage and are soon contrasted with contemplative picking, spacey synthesizer, and dark octaves on the piano. This is accompanied by gnarling vocals and that both snarl and whisper. Emphatic bass and drums shake us awake from this dream state, and downtuned guitars embrace a return to reality.

After this, we're visited by "Erosion of the Soul". Gut-wrenching black metal vocals are reminscent of Enslaved and the tension increases with strumming chord progressions, tremeloes, and aggressive drumming. You can really feel the rumble of the dual basses here.

The pain you gave me rots inside I cannot tell you I can't believe The hatred still living blind I can't let it breed inside Spirits live fighting Right inside my head

"Convulse Ways From A World Beyond" finishes us off with a wild hailstorm of drumming, chugging groove rhythms, and flashes of dissonance, interrupted by some doomy moments on guitar that are genuinely moving. Twin guitars offer sorrowful strains that intersect and contrast. Solitary bass lines usher us to the EP's closing moments.

Vigil's ...And The Void Stared Back is available on compact disc, with singles available for download (get 'em here). Stick it on a playlist with Serpentine Path, Heavy Death, and Hooded Menace, and Marche Funèbre.

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[swangtup6]

Demo Review: Mütiilation - Rites through the Twilight of Hell (1992)

Mütiilation is a band that, for the "initiated" (god that's corny), needs no introduction. The most famous band in the notorious French black metal circle, Les Legiones Noires, I honestly don't care for most of their releases. However, I have a weakness for their '92-'95 demo run, with the band's very first release, this demo, being my favorite. How good was this legendary band's first musical venture from a (semi) objective perspective? Let's discuss.

The first thing I want to talk about is the first thing in the demo; the intro. This is atypical for me, but I specifically want to talk about the intro because I really don't like it. It's the length of a full track (over two minutes!) but Is largely boring, annoying, shitty guitar playing, with dumb sounding "occult noises" that drags on and wastes time. 2 minutes isn't a lot of time, but it's still unecessary and hurts the overall quality of the release. Overall, it's a lame start.

The next thing has to be the guitars, as they're BY FAR the primary instrument on this release. The guitars are wayyyy too loud (in a good way) in the mix, and kinda drown everything else out. The riffing is very simple and reminds me a little of early Absurd, except played a bit more confidently. The riffs often drag on for most of a song, repeating over and over again in a style remniscent of early Burzum tracks, and are mostly mid-paced and headbang-y. Overall, I really like the guitarwork on this demo quite a bit, I think it's pretty unique and enjoyable to listen to, even with somewhat pathetic leads/solos (again, very remniscent of Absurd).

There is no audible bass.

The drumming is probably the weakest part of this demo in my opinion. All of the beats are very simple like the guitar, however, they are also painfully offbeat to the point where they don't even matter or need to be there, especially considering how low they are in this mix. They pretty much only detract from the music, except for the moments where they magickally align with the rest of the song for like 30 seconds and it's like "ah this is nice" and then they go back to being off beat. I do give the drummer, credited as "Dark Wizzard of Silence", some grace though, because if he was the same age as Mey'nach (credited as "Willy" on this release) when this was made, he probably only had a year or two of experience and could still pull off some semi-decent blasts.

Onto the vocals, these are another high point of this demo in my opinion. Willy used a very different technique when recording this than he did later on. Instead of a higher rasp, he SCREAMS his lungs out for the majority of the 30 minute runtime. They're somewhat buried in the mix, but the vocals have a very shouty quality to them that benefits the headbangy, midpaced sound that this demo has.

The final specific quality of this demo I would like to talk about is the production. I've touched briefly on the production in each of the previous paragraphs, but it warrants its own. This is on the cleaner end of raw black metal, in my opinion. Just about everything is audible (except the bass but it's black metal, there's almost never bass), and due to the minimal number of instruments, the mix isn't too completely full of 482098290208 different guitar tracks and 9278352385032708 vocal layers or really any synths or shit like that. The production is stripped, minimal, and rough. The guitar is the centerpoint, being so loud in the mix it almost has a shoegaze-y quality, reducing all other instruments and at times itself to textures layered on top of one another, rather than any kind of real rhythmic or melodic sounds. The production sounds full and isn't muddy for the most part. Most riffs are distinguishable, as are vocals and drumming. However, it's still pretty harsh and distorted, so it isn't too clean but it's not super duper dirty like Witchmoon or Lampir or early Grausamkeit.

Overall, this is a spectacularly amateur demo, in the best way possible. It has pathetically played lead guitars, but they have a charm to them. It has off-beat drums, but that just makes it more trve kvlt. It sounds like it was recorded on a broken 4 track player and it probably was. This is a bunch of highschoolers fucking around and making fun, pretty good music, especially for a first release. I love how this demo sounds, and a "good" recording of the same songs wouldn't be anywhere near as great (probably why I don't like Mütiilation's later material). I think it's fantastic, personally. However, I also want to be as objective as possible while giving my subjective opinion on this piece of music. Similarly to A Funeral of Light, while this is a charming demo that I hold dearly, I can't score it as high as I want to due to it having some pretty glaring flaws.

6/10

Standout track: Born in Malediction

[xombiriot]

TOP 3 Metal Albums I Didn’t Enjoy from 2023

I don’t listen to albums I know I’ll hate. If I can’t listen to an album in good faith, I don’t listen to it. My ethos has always been to find things I like, discover new stuff I’ll enjoy and celebrate that music rather than listen to shit I’ll hate just to have an opinion on why I hate it. That being said there were some albums I hoped to enjoy or hoped would pleasantly surprise me but ended up not liking. These are the top 3.

3. Remember… You Must Die - Suicide Silence

I loved Suicide Silence. Ask me who my favourite deathcore band was in 2010 and there’s a good chance I would’ve said Suicide Silence. I also would’ve put All Shall Perish on the list, and although it isn’t perfect ASP’s 2008 album Awaken the Dreamers hit me at the right time and “Stabbing to Purge Dissimulation” is still one of my favourite deathcore songs. So when Eddie took over vocals after Mitch died I was optimistic. The results have been middling. And that’s what makes Remember… You Must Die so disappointing. It’s generic deathcore without any innovation by one of the genre’s biggest acts, sees Suicide Silence really coasting and resting on their laurels, and Eddie’s vocals are difficult to listen to, especially when you listen to how energetic and brutal they were in the past like on “Stabbing to Purge Dissimulation”.

2. Terrasite - Cattle Decapitation

Cattle Decap are a band I should like. They’re music is fantastic, falling into a tech-deathy sort of place I really like. I’ve listened to Terrasite several times but really have issues with its lyrical themes. I don’t know if Travis Ryan realizes it or not and I don’t know if he believes what he’s saying but his lyrics have an eco-fascism to them that I can’t get over and wouldn’t even if I could. The whole “the human race is a disease we need to cure” line of thinking is shitty and Cattle Decap’s delivery lacks the artfulness of Cannibal Corpse’s violent imagery that is very much presented as over-the-top gory fantasy.

1. Life is But a Dream… - Avenged Sevenfold

Sorry to their fans but A7X’s Life is But a Dream… is an awful piece of shit. I started listening to A7X in eighth grade with Waking the Fallen. I mourned the loss of The Rev. I tried to find the good in the subsequent albums I didn’t like as much—both Hail to the King (which felt like hero worship and like they didn’t have their own identity) and The Stage (which tried)—but there is nothing good about this new joint. M. Shadows sings in a key that sounds like he’s screeching. The industrial elements are generic and synths sound amateurish, and like with Hail to the King it sounds like they’re copying their heroes (this time Mike Patton) and doing a piss poor job of aping better bands, the experimentation unexciting and not all that experimental. At this point I don’t think I’m a fan anymore. I’m just listening to their albums out of nostalgia for who they used to be.

[stylized-corpse]

The new Ritual Warfare EP is sick!

[mywifeleftme]

255: Amorphis // Elegy

Elegy Amorphis 1996, Spinefarm

A woman I was sleeping with once asked me while we were lying in bed in the darkness if there was any poetry I could recite from memory. Reader, I had nothing, so I ended up sleepily intoning these words:

Truly they lie, they talk utter nonsense. Those who sing music Reckon that the kantele Was fashioned by a god Out of a great pike’s shoulders, From a water dog’s hooked bones… It was molded from sorrow. Its belly out of hard days, Its soundboard from endless woes, Its strings gathered from torments And its pegs from other ills. Truly they lie, they talk utter nonsense.

Then she wept. I’d mentioned the words came from the Kanteletar, a Finnish collection of traditional folk poems collected in 1840, but I wonder if the reaction might’ve been different if I’d gone on to say that I’d learnt them from “My Kantele,” a song from idiosyncratic death metal band Amorphis’s third album Elegy. (Possibly not; she was the sensitive type.)

Amorphis is probably my favourite metal band of the ‘90s, moving over the course of four albums and a coupla EPs from a hoarse death-doom croak to an uncategorizable psychedelic smear of folk, prog, melodic death, and goth rock. Their adolescent fascination with fantasy warfare led them to the deeper well of folklore in all its silliness and strange wisdom; they infused their wintry stomp with the druggy Orientalist prog rave-ups of fellow Finns Kingston Wall. It always seemed like those moments when they found themselves in the zeitgeist were not the result of chasing trends but a happy accident of their own path briefly intersecting the moment, as when Elegy’s bold embrace of keyboards and alternating clean and growled vocals anticipated the Gothenburg melodic death sound that was about to take over the extreme metal scene.

Elegy crunches (“Against Widows”) and Elegy thrashes (“On Rich and Poor”), but mostly it swirls, with new addition Kim Rantala's watery keys and lead guitarist Esa Holopainen’s increasingly Floydian selection of tones lapping over the album’s burly architecture. The selected Kanteletar poems that serve as lyrics tend toward mournfulness, and both growler Tomi Koivusaari and debuting clean vocalist Pasi Koskinen give appropriately panged readings, but as with a lot of genuine folk songs most of the musical settings have a playful zest. It’s an album rife with lengthy, dramatic outros (“The Orphan,” “Weeper on the Shore,” “Elegy”), the band finding a stirring melody and riding it to satisfaction, and if their sudden fascination with Eastern scales and the sitar is geographically inexplicable (why not a kantele on a song called “My Kantele”?) the songs that go that way generally rip.

There’s a fair amount of cheese to be found on Elegy, but even nearly 20 years since I first heard it as a teen, I find I’m able to take most of it in the spirit it was intended. Elegy’s still kind of way out there on its own as metal goes, doing its magic on a frozen stream that sparkles under the stars.

255/365

[bragging-rights-band]

…cosmonaut…

[album-a-day-project]

9/20/23

Tomb Mold

The Enduring Spirit

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Toronto death metal. There is some great breaks in some of these tracks to really structured guitar solos. I haven't heard that in a pure death metal band in a long time. They really are setting themselves apart from the rest of the pack with this one.

8/10