It’s been roughly seven or eight years since I last listened to Once Sent From The Golden Hall so my memory was a little hazy about this release so I began by giving the original disc a thorough listen.  After listening to the album I was quickly reminded why I became a fan of Amon Amarth to begin with; blackened death metal with deep booming vocals and catchy chugging riffs backed by a vicious percussive assault.  This album was written years before the band toned things down and began writing more melodic material, this is just straight forward in-your-face fist-pumping, head-banging blackened death metal.

Back in 1998 the music of Amon Amarth had a strong black metal vibe to the material, with higher-pitched guitars, deep raspy shrieks and more up-tempo material.  It wasn’t full-bore black metal, but it was definitely death metal with a big influence from the black metal that was popular in that era.  The song writing wasn’t quite at the band’s peak, but the material is all very catchy and easy to get into without being simplistic.  There’s plenty of decent riffs and solos spread throughout the album’s forty-four minute runtime and overall the disc is a very enjoyable slab of death metal, and a definite sign of things to come.

The mix on the original release was good and powerful although the bass and vocals were a little muffled.  Listening back to this release again it’s obvious the disc could have used a slightly cleaner tone to give the guitars, bass and vocals a bit more depth and to make the drums stand out a bit better.  Every little thing I could think of that could have been improved with the original mix has been polished up and then some with Once Sent From The Golden Hall (Bonus Edition).  The bass is much thicker than on the original, giving the music the mule kick of the Fate Of Norns and With Oden On Our Side-era Amon Amarth.  The vocals of Johan Hegg are much clearer on the reissue.  In some areas they’re a little too clear and stand out a bit, but for the most part the vocals sound much better.  The guitars, drums and bass all sound much more clear.  The original mix sounded a little muffled, but the reissue every instrument is clear.

As an added bonus, the band have included the track “Siegreicher Marsch”, a German-sung version of the track “Victorious March.” It’s a real trip listening to this familiar tune sung in German.  The production on this version is much different than the remastered version in English.  Much rougher with a really loud kick drum and really raw vocals and guitars.  I’m assuming this is just a rough mix.  Kind of a cool bonus, but not really necessary.

The second disc, as I mentioned earlier, is Once Sent From The Golden Hall performed live in it’s entirety in Bochum, Germany on December 28th, 2008.  The band starts off sounding a little rough at first, but early on they get into their groove and perform the album solidly.  It does take a track or two to warm up to the live recording, but once I did I was able to sit back and listen to the full recording in it’s entirety, which I don’t usually do with live recordings.  I was really blown away by the passion of the German fans for their music, the tracks people recognized the whole crowd would belt out the lyrics, it’s actually really cool and the live disc, on it’s own, is well worth a listen.

Combining a much better version of Once Sent From The Golden Hall with a bonus live disc was a stroke of genius and is definitely one of the best reissues I’ve heard to date.  That said, if you already own the original album, I don’t know if it’s really necessary to buy the reissue, unless you’re a die hard fan, but if you don’t already own it, it’s definitely worth picking up.  It’s not my favorite Amon Amarth disc, but I’m really pleased with the way this reissue turned out.  Recommended!

The material contained on Revelation IV (Rise Of The Nemesis) is exactly what you’d expect from a Brutal Bands release; guttural vocals that sound like someone gurgling in a toilet, crunchy chugging riffs in the vein of Devourment, Disgorge-style up tempo blasting and shredding all played with a catchy grooving brutal death metal style.

The vocals of front man Konstantin Lühring are decent, he lacks the guttural depth of the trio of gurglers Devourment have used, although his approach is a bit more varied as he goes really low, slightly higher and includes some inhaled burps.  Former Disgorge gurgler Matti Way makes an appearance on the album’s second track, “Victimize Their Idols” and flexes his windpipe, which makes Konstantin’s vocals just sound even weaker when you hear the two of them trading off.  The riffing of Mike Ernst and Jelle Hamstra and bass lines of Patrick Viol won’t make your jaw drop with their technical prowess, but they’re capable musicians and carry the music pretty well.  The drumming of Dirk Janßen is decent, he’s able to play competently at high and low speeds and does a good job.

The song writing on Revelation IV (Rise Of The Nemesis) is catchy with an even mix of slow paced chugging, up tempo blasting and shredding and enough tempo changes and breakdowns to keep things interesting throughout the album’s 38 minutes.  Unlike most brutal death metal releases, the mix on this disc is solid, everything is layered well so no single instrument overwhelms and everything is pretty clear.  The only drawback, and it’s a big one, is the lack of depth for the bass.  The material Despondency plays isn’t exactly groundbreaking material, it’s pretty straight forward, but as bands like Abominable Putridity and Cephalotripsy have proven, a really heavy bass tone can make a relatively generic album sound incredibly crushing with that extra bit of bass.

Overall Revelation IV (Rise Of The Nemesis) isn’t anything special and I likely won’t bother listening to it again, however, fans of slamming brutal death metal generally aren’t as picky when it comes to brutal death metal as I am, so I think this disc will appeal to those fans, but everyone else will hate Revelation IV (Rise Of The Nemesis).  It’s okay, but, like I said, with a heavier bass sound this album probably would have appealed to me a lot more than it does now.

From the alien invasion themes to the the inhuman vocals, this is the modern vision of brutal death metal that I enjoy so very fucking deeply.  Cristiano’s vocals are dredged, gurgled, yelled, and what-the-fucked as well as any I’ve heard in genre lately.  The drumming is relentless and captivating.  Beto gives every skin and cymbal a proper beatdown.  The bass and guitar exact their will in a very complementary way, locking into the neck, and then separating the bones of their chosen victim.  This isn’t mid-paced or full of breakdowns, Infested Blood get to the point and hold you their for just under 30 minutes.

Interplanar Decimation is simply sick and dirty.  Although there are ties to Deeds Of Flesh, you won’t get the same level of technicality dropped on Of What’s To Come, or the clinical production.  On Infested Blood’s third full-length, they dish out an engorgement of blasting and devastation only your twisted uncle would understand.  This is what brutal sounds like.  When bands get too wanky with endless arpeggiation and Necrophagist worship, it loses the darkness and evil that brutal death metal should be.  It’s not mindless, it’s not a big boring blur, it’s the real god damn deal.  Has the word “brutal” appeared enough yet?  I couldn’t find a better adjective for these fret grinding instrument abusers from the land of abundant honey-skinned hotties.  Add this disc to your arsenal and pull the trigger on Big Butt Brazilian Orgy while you’re shopping.  Tell them Silky sent you.

Peace, Love and Total Fucking Destruction has Rich Hoak and company throw in a bunch of non-grind genres to see if anything works. This approach works less than half the time. Zen and the Art of Total Fucking Destruction at least had its goofy bits cast off to one side, while Peace, Love and Total Fucking Destruction is a glorious mess by design.

The punky sound of Compact Disc Version 1.0 has steadily given way to a heavier, more aggressive approach. TFD’s riffs are still basic, which isn’t a bad thing. The tri-vocal assault still stands, Hoak still shrieking in his easily identifiable way. Hoak’s drums are beyond annoying on Peace, Love and Total Fucking Destruction, so heavy are they in the mix.

The album starts off with yet another version of “Bio-Satanic Terroristic Attack,” since Total Fucking Destruction love variations on a theme. It’s a completely different arrangement than on Compact Disc Version 1.0, but it’s a worthy opener. I am not a fan of TFD’s reusing old songs, but that’s their thing, I can live with it.

Peace, Love and Total Fucking Destruction threatens incoherency at times – “Last Night I Dreamed We Destroyed The World” reminds me too much of Jello Biafra’s post-Dead Kennedys rants, which isn’t a good thing. Based on the reviews I’ve read, Peace, Love and Total Fucking Destruction cribs much from Rush, although I heard part of the chorus from Kris Kristofferson’s “Me And Bobby McGee” in “Doublespeaker.” I’d hate to see what happens if TFD ever crib from Max Bygraves and Bert Kaempfert, as that would be the extinction event for good music.

I don’t know what to make of Peace, Love and Total Fucking Destruction. The band’s core sound is still there, with a bunch of unrelated genres glued poorly onto the side. If you hate Total Fucking Destruction, this album will keep your prejudices intact and stronger. Fans will either love this or be confused. In any case, I don’t think Rich Hoak gives a shit. He hasn’t before, so why would he start now?

Chilean death metallers Thornafire unveil details of their new full length

Chilean death metallers Thornafire have announced details for their upcoming full length offering, Vorex Deconstrucción, due out on Ibex Moon Records later this month.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Hacia La Ruina Del Agartha
02. Sucubación
03. Deconstrucción
04. Otredad
05. Confesión
06. En El Eon De Las Falacias
07. Por El Delirio
08. Conflagracóin Del Monoteismo
09. De La Destrucción Al Trono

Their Ibex Moon Records debut, Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation ( review ), was a pretty solid slab of dark death metal.  The album had some questionable song-writing, but there’s no denying the band’s ability to write quality material.  Hopefully this new effort is even better than the last.  A widget containing material from the band’s two Ibex Moon Records releases is available below.

Norwegian blackened thrash grinders Amok have begun writing new full length

Blabbermouth reports Norwegian blackened thrash grinders Amok have begun the writing process for the band’s second full length album.

Norwegian death/thrash outfit Amok is currently writing material for a new studio album, Exodus Reversal Hex, which it hopes to begin recording this fall. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include “Remembered With Uttermost Hatred”, “East Of The River Where Life Is Drunk”, “Triangular Corridors”, “Speak Up Your Sins, ‘Cause The Winds Are Howling From The Sea” and “A Glimpse Of His Splendor”.

Exodus Reversal Hex will mark the recording debut of Amok’s new vocalist, Kybermensch (Tri-Function Million, Cemetary Droids).

Amok is currently unsigned and seeking a new label home. Serious record companies can get in contact with the band by writing to amoklava@gmail.com.

I’m pretty stoked about this news.  Their debut, Necrospiritual Deathcore ( review ), was a huge surprise and one of my favorite releases of 2006.  If the new material is even half as good as Necrospiritual Deathcore, I’ll be pleased.  You can check out some samples over at their MySpace page.

Scottish death grinders Man Must Die add second guitarist, preview clip for new album

Scottish death grinders Man Must Die have announced the addition of a new guitarist to the band’s ranks as well as posted a new audio sample from the band’s upcoming third full length effort, No Tolerance for Imperfection on the band’s MySpace page;

Well today we posted a second song from the new album which comes out on Aug 10th, the song is called “This Day is Black”, we hope you like it.

Also Man Must Die are delighted to announce that we have just recruited a second guitarist. After meeting and playing together on a recent European tour, we are proud to have on board Renne Hauffe, from German grinders Japanische Kampfhörspiele.

Renne brings a wealth of experience to Man Must Die along with a ferocious playing style and live performance. Alan McFarland says, “Renne just slotted right in, he’s a real fast learner and a super cool guy. He was able to play with us during some of the recent dates in Europe, learning the tunes in the back of the tourbus!”

We are all really excited about our new future, it will make a huge difference to Man Must Die’s live performance and we can’t wait to get out with our new line-up and play the new songs!

Renne is currenlty learning the new set for the forthcoming tours.

Based off of the two samples I’ve heard, I can’t say I’m impressed or looking forward to this release at all.  Hopefully the full album is better than the two sample tracks, but I rather doubt it.

Armed For Apocalypse sign with Metal Blade Records imprint Ironclad Recordings

California-based death/sludge metallers Armed For Apocalypse have signed with Metal Blade Records imprint Ironclad Recordings and Siege Of Ameda Records.

Hello to anybody that pays attention to us as people or musicians. Today is a very cool day in the lives of the guys in Armed For Apocalypse. I don’t know how many times we have collectively bought, listened to, and loved CD’s that had the Metal Blade Records logo on the back, and thought how cool it must be to be in one of those bands. Well now, thanks to Trevor Phipps (vocalist for the almighty Unearth) we will have the opportunity to be one of them.

We are very happy to announce today that we have signed to Trevor’s imprint on Metal Blade called Iron Clad Recordings to release our debut record Defeat, which we now know will come out on September 15th in the United States and Canada.

We are very proud of this record and can’t wait for everyone to hear it in its entirety. We aren’t the type to toot our own horn or say how good we are, so all we can honestly say is that it’s heavy, and there are some riffs on it that will bring a smile to your face if you are in to heavy music.

We have simultaneously signed with Siege of Amida, or SOAR as they are commonly known, for the UK and Europe.

If you’re unfamiliar with Armed For Apocalypse, and chances are you’ve never heard of them before now, they’re a death/sludge band featuring members of The Abominable Iron Sloth, Will Haven and Ghostride.  The press release from Ironclad Recordings describes it as “a racket akin to the gates of hell opening; mixing the sludgy, down-tuned heavy riffs of Crowbar and Eyehategod with the white noise assault of Cursed, and the death metal groove of Entombed.”

I checked out the two tracks on the band’s MySpace page and was intrigued by what I heard.  It likely won’t appeal to all fans of “extreme” metal, but if you like sludgy death metal, it’s definitely worth a listen.  I’m interested to hear what the full length sounds like.

Swedish death metallers Spawn of Possession complete new line-up

Swedish technical death metallers Spawn Of Possession have finally rounded out their line-up for the band’s upcoming full length effort;

Two very talented and competent musicians has recently joined Spawn Of Possession. Matthew Chalk (ex-Psycroptic) is going to handle the vocal and lyric writing. Christian Münzner (Obscura, ex-Necrophagist) is going to do the lead guitar part and unleash his madness into the multicolored and distorted universe of Spawn Of Possession.

The songwriting process has been going quite well these last few months and five new songs are now complete. Seven other songs are in the works.

Quick recap.  Everyone but founding guitarist Jonas Bryssling quit in the past year or two, so pretty much the entire line-up, minus Bryssling, has changed since 2006’s Noctambulant.  It’s looking more like Spawn Of Possession will be a part-time band, rather than full-time, with members scattered throughout Europe and Australia, but still, with the current line-up of Bryssling, Chalk, Münzner, Erlend Caspersen and Richard Schill, I still have high hopes for their next studio effort as the band clearly isn’t lacking in musical talent despite the many departures/replacements.

Sarcolytic, featuring Jon Zig on vocals, set to release Unique Leader debut

Texas-based brutal death metallers Sarcolytic, featuring death metal cover artist / tattoo artist Jon Zig on vocals, fellow Images Of Violence members Mark Denton and Steven Watkins and Disgorge (US) drummer Ricky Myers, have completed work on the band’s debut full length offering, Thee Arcane Progeny, set for an August 25th release on Unique Leader Records.

The band have posted a track from the new effort, titled “The Seed Of All Beginnings” on the band’s MySpace page.

The material doesn’t sound particularly thrilling, pretty straight forward brutal death metal. It might be good, but probably not. I guess we’ll find out for sure in August.

Gorgoroth complete recording new studio effort, Pest records over Gaahl's vocals for live album

Norwegian black metallers Gorgoroth have announced they’ve recently completed work on their ninth studio effort, titled Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt, due out October 21st in Europe and November 11th in the US via Regain Records.

The CD was recorded at Tomas Asklund’s Monolith Studio and features Infernus on guitar, Frank Watkins (Obituary) on bass, Pest on vocals and Tomas Asklund on drums.

Since Infernus wrote all the music for the album and extensive rehearsals and a pre-production recording had also been completed before second guitarist Tormentor rejoined the band last year, it was decided that it would be more convenient for Infernus to record all the guitars on the LP.

Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt was produced by Infernus and co-produced/engineered by Tomas Asklund. It will be mastered at the Cutting Room in Stockholm later this month.

Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt tentative track listing:

01. Introibo ad Alatare Satanas
02. Aneuthanasia
03. Building a Man
04. Prayer
05. Rebirth
06. Cleansing Fire
07. New Breed
08. Human Sacrifice
09. Satan-Prometheus

In addition to completing the new full length effort, Gorgoroth have also revealed that vocalist Pest has re-recorded the vocals for True Norwegian Black Metal – Live in Grieghallen, released last year on Regain Records.

Gorgoroth has recently spent time at Threeman Recordings in Stockholm with Nico Elgstrand (Entombed), where, among other things, Pest has successfully replaced the vocals for the True Norwegian Black Metal – Live in Grieghallen album. Infernus has already consulted legal representatives regarding this album, and is prepared to support Regain Records in the label’s ongoing legal conflict with two of the band’s ex-members, if any such support is needed.

The “live” album is actually a studio effort that was recorded with the “old” Gorgoroth line-up which consisted of Infernus, King ov Hell, Gaahl, session guitarist Teloch and session drummer Garghuf.  Infernus already re-recorded King ov Hell’s bass lines and now with Pest replacing Gaahl’s vocalst it looks like the album may finally be properly released without the legal cat fighting started by Gaahl and King ov Hell.

Sound stupid?  Yeah… it is… it’s Norwegian black metal, what do you expect?

Defeated Sanity add former Disgorge vocalist AJ Magana

German technical brutal death metallers Defeated Sanity have announced the addition of vocalist AJ Magana (ex-Disgorge (US) & Deprecated) to the band’s ranks.

Recording line up for Chapters Of Repugnance confirmed:

Aj Magana
Christian Kuehn
Jacob Schmidt
Lille Gruber

This line up will also play the late August UK tour so get your asses out there!”

The band are currently working on their Willowtip Records debut, Chapters Of Repugnance.  Their last studio effort, 2007’s Psalms Of The Moribund, received an “Excellent” rating from Necro-tron.  I haven’t checked them out, but looks like I’m missing out.  I’ll have to pick that up soon!

Italian death metallers Hour Of Penance rejoined by guitarist Enrico, work on new full length offering

Italian death metallers Hour Of Penance recently announced that they’ve been rejoined by founding guitarist Enrico Schettino and are currently working on their fourth full length studio effort.

The band is now back as a quintet and will perform for the first time with the renowned lineup at the Armageddon In The Park festival on August 1. Join us there!

Their Unique Leader Records debut, The Vile Conception, was released last year.  I own it, but haven’t gotten around to listening to it yet, although from what I’m hearing from a lot of people is it’s definitely an album that will appeal to fans of Unique Leader Records-flavored technical brutal death metal.

Before getting into reviewing the album itself, let me clear up a few misconceptions about gay men.  The first, and most major, misconception is that gay men are sissies who put streaks in their hair, call women “girlfriend” and act more effeminate than their mothers.  While it’s true a large amount of gay men are very flamboyant, the overwhelming majority of us are just regular guys who you wouldn’t assume was gay at all unless you walked in on us attempting to dock on the kitchen table.

Many of us enjoy metal and pro sports (including hockey, boxing and mixed martial arts) and probably know more pointless metal and sports trivia than you can possibly imagine.  When I say we enjoy it, sure, there are a few guys who are “hot” who we fantasize about wrestling naked with in a pool of baby oil, but we’re really just fans, and unlike your girlfriend who wears a Sidney Crosby jersey because “he’s cute”, we proudly wear our Daniel Carcillo jersey to the rink because that bad motherfucker will smash your teeth in.  We play violent video games, we like our steaks rare, we hunt, we go to war, we fight for you to be free to be homophobic douchebags in your redneck states.  Bottom line, for the most part, gay men are just like straight guys who just happen to enjoy fucking men instead of women.  Hey, at least we get to fuck every day of the month, while you get your girlfriend bitching and griping for a week every month because she’s bleeding like a stuck pig and bloated, but I digress.

Another misconception is that all gay men take it up the ass.  Not so fast!  While the overwhelming majority of gay men are bottoms (as in, they’re on the bottom taking it up the butt), there is a minority, myself included, that are tops, which means, we do the fucking, we don’t take anything up our butt.  It’s not because it’s painful, but, I’ve seen more than one prolapsed anus in my day and the thought of having my farts turned into an inaudible whisper from the gaping hole that was once my tight puckered hole does not appeal to me.  I enjoy loud rippers caused from a steady diet of meat and dairy products from my tight puckered butthole that cause the dog to flee the room in terror.  There are a lot of guys who are switches, which means sometimes they’re on top and sometimes they’re on the bottom, because, honestly, if you’re gay, someone needs to do the fucking, otherwise you may as well just jerk off while sitting on a dildo.

Teufel often makes references to bands being “gay” or their music is “gay” or listening to their music will “make you gay.”  This simply isn’t true.  It’s like the whole misconception about AIDS in the 80s.  You can’t get AIDS by sitting on a toilet seat used by someone who has AIDS and you aren’t going to get an immediate urge to suck dick by listening to Dragonforce.  Like the hilarious “public service announcements” featuring Hillary Duff and Wanda Sykes of late, when he says something is “gay” he actually means “it’s terrible.”  Except for Cradle Of Filth, because I’ve seen a lot of really effeminate Dani Filth-wanna bes at fetish clubs.  Very scary, Count Cockula.

This brings me, finally, to Mastodon’s Crack The Skye.  While he implies it’s “gay”, what he really means is “it’s terrible” and after listening to this album several times, I’m inclined to agree with him.  The music itself is not metal.  Why it’s turning up in reviews of metal zines, I’m not quite sure, but I think it’s mostly because these guys were on Relapse Records at one point and they’re renown for releasing metal and grindcore, except those cheesy Amorphis rock albums, what the hell was that all about?  How do you go from being the most evil death metal band on the planet to playing what is essentially Europe?

Crack The Skye is progressive grooving’ rock from the 60s and 70s with a modern twist.  While I’m a big fan of The Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple and the like, the music of Mastodon just honestly isn’t very good by comparison.  Unfortunately, with the emergence of bands like Queens Of The Stone Age, that old retro rock sound has gained in popularity once again, the only difference is these modern bands are just copying old acts, while back then those bands did a lot of acid and mushrooms to create some truly inventive and original material.

That’s not to say the music on Crack The Skye is uninventive, it is a pretty unique blend of Black Sabbath-y doom rock, modern sludge and 70s hard rock, but the songs just aren’t very memorable.  When sparking up a J and grooving to some old Zeppelin or Floyd, you float away to a different time and place, it’s all-consuming material.  Crack The Skye is simply not a release that’ll transport you anywhere, except maybe to the fridge because the music on this effort simply does not satisfy.

The music is often slow and droning with an obvious purpose to give the music a psychedelic vibe.  One look at the album cover and it’s obvious these guys are a bunch of hipsters.  The music is “retro” and as we all know retro is “hip” again, so there’s no doubting why this is popular.  The song structures are a little eerie, but remind me more of a heavier sludge version of The Tea Party or companion to QOTSA than a modern Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath.  The music is definitely hard rock, but lack the bite of modern doom-rock classics, the material is created to appeal to a much broader audience which, while it’ll help the band appeal to a greater crowd, by doing so the band have essentially cut off their balls.  The only time the band even attempt to show they’re heavy is for roughly 10 seconds on the title track.  $10+ for 10 seconds of heaviness just isn’t worth it in my humble opinion.

The musicians themselves are all relatively talented, but they certainly don’t go to any lengths to put their abilities on display.  The guitar playing is solid, with a few decent riffs played throughout the album’s roughly 50 minute running time.  The drumming is competent, but hardly the kind of stuff that would make John Bonham or Keith Moon wake from the dead with an unstoppable urge to blast.  The vocals are rather annoying though, lots of whining that remind me more of Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes than, Ozzy Osbourne.

On the whole, Teufel was right when he asked me to review this album, referring to it as “gay,” especially when you think of “gay” as being boring.  “Gay” meaning flamboyant, kitschy, fun and memorable, Crack The Skye certainly is not.  While this album will appeal to the masses, it won’t appeal to fans of true metal music or modern doom metal.  I’m sure this album will sell millions of copies world-wide, and many of the fans of this band, and this album, will find this review and rip it to shreds claiming I’m just a “cock sucking faggot,” but I’d rather suck cock than listen to this boring band and their over hyped music.  Literally.  If you want some good modern sludge/doom/metal check out Yob’s The Great Cessation, so much better than anything Mastodon have ever released.

If Job For A Cowboy were once a deathcore outfit, you wouldn’t know it listening to this effort.  Ruination is 40 minutes of Vader, Decapitated, Nile and Morbid Angel-flavored death metal spread out over ten mid-to-slow-paced tracks.

The riffing on Ruination is pretty much straight forward Vader and Decapitated, played at half speed with half the technical proficiency.  After giving the album several full listens it’s pretty obvious that the music of Vader plays an especially large influence for Job For A Cowboy.  Despite a few Nile-worshiping riffs, and a couple of breakdowns, spread out here and there, the song structures are very similar to Vader’s late 90s outputs (especially Black To The Blind), only much slower in tempo.

The triggered-to-fuck drumming of Jon Rice only makes the Vader and Decapitated comparisons more evident.  He’s nowhere near as fast nor technical as the late Doc or Vitek, but it’s pretty obvious these guys aren’t trying very hard to be an original death metal outfit.  Add to all of that the vocals of Piotr Wiwczarek… no, sorry, make that Jonny Davy, and you have, in essence, exactly as I’ve described countless times already… Vader at half speed!  Granted Jonny tosses in a few high pitched shrieks here and there, but for the most part he sticks the vocal staccato of Piotr pretty accurately.

To be honest, I always found the music of Vader to be among the most boring, predictable and unimaginative in death metal.  After hearing Vader’s songs copied nearly note for note and played at half the speed with half the technical proficiency on Job For A Cowboy’s Ruination, I think I’ve uncovered the new band to hold the crown of “Most Unimaginative And Boring Death Metal Act.”  Granted, Job For A Cowboy playing death metal is probably a lot better than Job For A Cowboy playing deathcore, but that doesn’t mean this album is any good, it just sucks less than it could have.  I’ve listened to Ruination, beginning to end, on several occasions and after each listen I couldn’t tell you anything about the album that stood out to me.  Not once did I feel compelled to bang my head, nor tap my foot.  The songs are so unmemorable I can’t even remember any single song segment after the album stops.

Over the next few weeks reviews will pour in from major publications who will claim this is an “instant classic of modern death metal.”  This is typical of major publications whose knowledge of extreme music is limited to a handful of albums released on the major metal labels.  You should also take note of the size and number advertisements in their magazine.  Magazines need advertising money to stay afloat, so they’re much more eager to suck up to the major labels when the major labels are pushing specific releases hard.  They may consider lowering the amount of advertising next month if you say the album they’re pushing hard is boring, so, as always, the discs getting the big push always get the big scores, even if they’re totally undeserving of the praise and attention.

Believe me, I’ve been dropped from more promotional lists than anyone else covering extreme music.  I’ve actually been added, and dropped, by Metal Blade Records no less than four times in the past 13 years!  I don’t buy into the hype, I listen to the music and review it based on it’s own merits and really don’t care what the press release says or anyone else has to say about it.  If it’s good, it’s good, if it sucks, it sucks.  Period.  Record labels really don’t like that attitude, it hurts album sales.  It probably doesn’t help that I tend to question the band, the label, and their fans’, sexuality when an album is really terrible.  In this instance, however, Job For A Cowboy aren’t “gay”, they’re just really unimaginative and boring.

I always encourage people to listen to the music rather than listening to the hype.  There have been countless underground death metal releases far superior to this that won’t sell anywhere near as much simply because they aren’t getting the big label push that Job For A Cowboy are.  These releases, while amazing, receive little to no media attention simply because they aren’t backed by a major label who have deep pockets to spend on magazine advertisements or get them added to bigger tours.  Seek out these “underground” gems and avoid Ruination like the fucking plague.  It’s really not worth the time, money or effort.

It’s not one of my proudest admissions, but other than Scum, my familiarity with Napalm Death is pretty much nonexistent.   Aside from spending my money on numerous death and black metal albums, beer and the occasional cheap hooker or two, Napalm Death kind of fell off my radar screen.

Most likely then, readers will know more about Napalm Death then I do.   Aside from Scum I can’t claim to have listened to them very much.   After receiving a copy of Time Waits For No Slave, that’s going to fucking change quickly.

Not having a deep familiarity with Napalm Death does have its advantages, as I can avoid the temptation to compare  Time Waits For No Slave to their previous work.   I do know that like many bands who have been around for a long time, their style has evolved somewhat.   Regardless, they sound pretty fucking good to me.

As soon as you hit ‘play,’ this stuff will rip your face off.   “Strongarm” starts the album off with an intensity that never lets up.   The songs are all fast-paced but have their own uniqueness, which to me is vital because I tend to get bored quickly.   Each song is up-tempo but has a different structure from the others to keep things interesting.   For example, “Work To Rule” starts as pure grind but adds some thrash elements, “Time Waits For No Slave” has an almost melodic chorus (NO, NOT THAT!!!!), and “Passive Tense” just thrashes.

Like I said, unless you know even less about Napalm Death than I do you don’t need me to tell you to get this album.   I now have to get busy getting caught up on the rest of Napalm’s catalog, which makes me feel like a 13 year-old boy coming downstairs on Christmas morning with a big boner that he can’t control in his Transformer PJs.   It’s a little bit confusing, but it’s pretty goddamn exciting at the same time.   My only regret is having to divert some money out of Baby Pile Driver’s college fund to get myself caught up with these guys.   Fortunately, I’ve only done that a couple of times as far as you know.

This is easily a contender for my 2009 top-10 list, and may very well be a finalist for album of the year.

What turns me away from The Dillinger Escape Plan is the idea that if I don’t like them, I’m too stupid to get their music. It doesn’t matter how playing mathematically-inspired polyrhythms doesn’t mean an ass in a high hat if the songs are boring. No, I just don’t get it. I clearly lack the knowledge of music theory necessary to comprehend how great The Dillinger Escape Plan are and how singer Greg Puciato beats up Sturgeon’s Revelation with his cock alone.

The only “experimental” elements I hear on Ire Works (GET IT!?! IT’S A PUN) are some glitch noise on some songs, plus a few commercially-oriented tracks like “Black Bubblegum,” “Dead As History” and “Milk Lizard.”

Since when is becoming Faith No More and adding electronic music to mathy hardcore experimental? Farting into a microphone for twelve minutes and shouting names from the phone book would prompt cries of “MY GOD! THIS IS A DARING, INTROSPECTIVE WORK OF GENIUS!” from the more easily led Dillinger Escape Plan fans. Bait, cast, hook. They’ll follow the band anywhere.

The Dillinger Escape Plan do have some worth as a gateway band. If they eventually turn people on to Carbonized and Pan.Thy.Monium, that’s good. All the same, Ire Works is hardly worthy of such deafening, can’t-do-anything-wrong hype. Hey, DEP are on “top ten of 2007″ lists, so what do I know? Those lists surely aren’t influenced by advertising dollars and scenesterism! BAA! BAA!

I happened to stumble across of copy of Resurrection’s Embalmed Existence in between a short ride on the bang-bus to 8th Street (some of you will get that). Bad logo, Dan Seagrave art, Alex Marquez on the drumkit, Scott Burns production, Morrisound, Florida, 1993 – sounds like a winner already to me. And indeed it is. Like taking a wiffle-ball bat filled with wet newspapers to the trout, Resurrection absolutely dominate on this album.

I am going to go out on a limb and make a statement that may make some drop their granola bars and/or rice cakes – this album should have been Malevolent Creation’s follow-up to Retribution. Please, before you begin spouting some kind of nonsense, take a moment to ingest what I said and think about Stillborn and what a monstrosity it was and still is. Malevolent Creation’s Retribution is a monster of an album and the step from this to Stillborn could be considered one of the worst album transitions ever. They had Marquez, Florida, the good years of death metal, Seagrave art…But apparently, according to the Metal-Archives (truth? – but makes sense), Roadrunner did not want to foot the bill for Burns and Morrisound. Instead, we were left with a soft stool sample of an album. Here is where Resurrection come in. My theory is that they were so pissed off about Stillborn, they decided to release the album that should have followed Retribution. If you look at their discography, you can see this is the only album they released until 2008. Conspiracy no…delicious yes.

Let me begin by stating that this album is an exact 50/50 mix of Malevolent Creation’s Retribution and Obituary’s The End Complete. It has that thick thrash element, throaty growled vocals, thumping drums, and precise riffing of Malevolent Creation with the slower, prodding interludes of Obituary. To be honest, the drums sound identical to those on Retribution, from the actual production sound to the use of interesting double bass patterns without a reliance on blast beats. There are elements of melody that permeate each song which makes this album a bit more versatile than Obituary and Malevolent Creation – Check out the mellow riffing at the 1:15 mark of “Disembodied.” I would spend more time explaining the album but I have made such strong parallels that I do not think anything else needs to be said.

There are some minor things worth noting. This album was recently re-released but it differs quite a bit from the original release from 16 years ago. Massacre Records has added the 1991 and 1992 demos along with a few “spoken word” pieces (to be explained). In addition, the cover of “War Machine” by Kiss is deleted from this 2009 edition. So unless you really care about Kiss cover songs, find the talentless antics of Gene Simmons amusing, or like to pour Cherry Dr. Pepper on your coinpurse because you are an honorary member of the Kiss Army, then its omission is a blessing.

Before I sign off, I must mention the tremendous error made on the part of Resurrection when making this cd. Most of the songs begin with this horrible voice, much like the one from the Tales from the Crypt show, spouting some nonsense that must have been some sort of inside joke. It is annoying and is the weakest attempt at humor that I have seen and heard, rivaling such things as Everybody Loves Raymond and Larry the Cable Guy. It is a minor glitch in what is a monster of an album that needs to be heralded. If you are not satisfied with this product, are tired of reading that this album is Retribution II (the opening riff to “Rage Within” – come on!), and refuse to believe the hype, I will send you an autographed picture of Manny Ramirez’s bitch-tits.

In the vein of Kill The Client, Phobia, and Magrundergrind come vicious deliveries.  They are not quite as angry sounding as Nasum, and who is, yet they get the job done without question.  There is the occasional melodic bit like on “Fuck…I’m Drunk” and some extremely short lived grooves.  The grooves appear on “Lost Swines”, “Good Times”, “Overgrown Asshole”, and “Shitlack” to give a bit of dynamic.  Every musician is piling on in their own way.  There are no weak links.  The guitar brings a heaping pile of crushing riffs and spicy hot flavor without any overdubs.  The drummer is consistently abominable while delivering back-up vocals at the same time.  The primary vocals are right up there with anything I’ve heard in grind lately.  This release goes beyond the enjoyable listen.  This is traditional grind at its finest.

Taking a primarily political directive, Wormrot keep it real so to speak.  Lyrically,  political shit just bores me in the end. Wormrot blend in the humor subtly and let you know that  you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously.  Being pissed is cool, but happiness is what allows you to live a life worth living (see Cephalic Carnage).  I know it’s not very hardcore to embrace happiness, but you can go get fucked!  There is a Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover called “Rich” which would maybe add to the hilarity if I knew who they were and had some reference to the song.  They seem to put on a killer live show (thanks youtube) and are touring Europe as I write…

You know what grind is, and you know there’s been a shitload of great grind lately.  Wormrot keep it rolling.  In fact, this is my favorite traditional grind album since Insect Warfare.  I didn’t stutter, this is the best straight up grind I’ve heard in almost two years.  Go get it!

Their vocal approach, which is the first element that stands out,  incorporates healthy doses of yelling the hardcore way.  Usually this would be a problem for me when it comes to grind vocals.  Pigsty pull it off effortlessly.  One track entitled “It’s Too Easy” certainly rings true for their absolute decimation through ten tracks.  There are pissed screams and gutteral growls, but the hardcore vocals are dominant.  Also, it sounds and appears as though the entire group add to the vocal mix.  Their primary vocalist does not play any instruments live that I have seen from their exstensive live shots.  The other thing that these guys do to fuck with grind’s boundaries is to throw in moments of effect-laden guitars, one guitar and one bass, to change up the grind dynamic.  “Demon Alcohol” is a brilliant example of this.  In the midst of geothermal grinding they break into a cleaned up chorusy, reverbed, slightly phasered moment only the trippiest hippie could dream up.  It is nothing to do with the plight of Georgian metal, it is absolutely killer.  This interlude comes in throughout the song and never gets old.  Although this is the most pronounced moment of “fun with effect pedals”, the album has just enough of this sonic fuckery to keep the album fresh without becoming schticky.

At the heart of Pigsty’s The Planet Of The Pigs lies some of the catchiest and fun, yes fun, grinding and song writing I’ve heard from anything steeped in grind for years.  They really have developed a unique sound in this world of plastic clones. How refreshing is that?  It’s retorical.  And in case you’re wondering about the pig thing…  Apparently, the humans that evolved only from monkeys are simply not that intelligent.  These grinders claim to have been evolved through monkey and “universe pig” which helps explain why they are so damn bitchin’.  I had never heard of Pigsty until this release.  They have an extensive discography though.  From what I’ve read, the present vocal approach isn’t quite what their older stuff sounded like.  In any event, I’m sure some backtracking is certainly in order.  Do the world a favor, pick this up, roll the windows down, and let your shitty car stereo disintegrate by way of Pigsty.  Then get a real stereo worthy of them.

Kylesa follow in the footsteps of fellow boredom inducing Georgia metallers Mastodon, playing psychedelic-flavored sludge “doom” filled with “rockin” melodies, distorted vocals, fuzzy guitar tones and a thick bass sound.  There are some aggressive segments of a few songs that almost fools you into believing these guys are a sludge doom band, but with all of the psychedelic elements it just comes across as shitty stoner sludge rock for the most part.

An interesting aspect about Kylesa is the fact they have two drummers.  The only reason this is interesting is because other than a few seconds spread out throughout the album’s 40+ minutes you’d never even guess or notice that the band has more than one drummer.  Seriously, what the fuck is the point of having two drummers if they play the exact same patterns and beats throughout 39 minutes of the album’s 40 minutes?  It’s not like it adds anything noticeable to the music, you wouldn’t even be able to tell they had two drummers without looking up the band bio.  They’d be better off just getting one of these fucking retards to stand around banging on a cowbell, rather than wasting the stage and studio space on two drum sets.

The riffing on this album is easily the most boring shit ever recorded.  The droning and repetitive psychedelic rock riffs get old 30 seconds into the album but continue for another 39 and a half minutes.  The only brief glimpses of hope are the very rare moments when the band stick to playing traditional heavy doom sludge, but these moments are few and far between and interrupted quickly by some “groovy” melodies.

The vocals are among the shittiest I’ve heard in a long time.  For whatever reason the band employ studio trickery to distort the vocals and give them that fading yell sound that’s been done to death over the years.  The only time the stupid fading vocals aren’t used is when female guitarist Laura Pleasants does the near spoken drone vocals, and occasional backing yell.

After listening to Kylesa’s Static Tensions enough to slip into a boredom induced coma, I can honestly say this band fucking sucks, and this style of droning psychedelic stoner sludge doom is easily the worst thing to happen to metal since the invention of metalcore.  My only hope is, while on tour, Kylesa’s van gets a leak in the exhaust that causes the vehicle’s interior to fill with deadly carbon monoxide, causing the driver to lose consciousness and swerve and crash into Mastodon’s tour bus, killing them all and putting an end to this horrible style of music.  Hopefully Minsk and Genghis Tron will be passengers in both buses.  The only way this could end any better would be if both buses crashed into a crowd of their fans, thereby instantly raising the overall quality of the world’s taste in music.  Fuck this band and fuck you for liking this and encouraging more shitty bands like this to exist.  If you want good sludge metal, listen to Clitorture, Weedeater, The Abominable Iron Sloth or Goatsblood.  FUCK GEORGIA “METAL!”

Neaera are a German quintet who play a pretty heavy brand of modern melodic death metal with some black metal and hardcore influences.  The riffing seems to be heavily influenced by Swedish acts like Amon Amarth, with an emphasis on being both extremely heavy, but with enough melody to keep the songs from being too one-dimensional.  The band weave in and out of styles effortlessly throughout the album’s ten tracks, going from brutal death metal, to melodic death metal, to black metal, to plodding dark death metal, to deathcore and back.  Each song is crafted in a manner that no one style is used too much for too long and the band change things up fairly frequently which makes it a pretty easy album to listen to.

The musicianship on this effort is pretty solid.  The guitarists are capable of playing multiple styles very competently, the bass playing is solid and the drummer is very capable.  The vocals of frontman Benjamin Hilleke are surprisingly varied, as he grunts, barks, growls and shrieks his way through the album’s ten tracks.  Even the production is very clean and every instrument is clearly audible, which is nice for a change.

So with a solid base of capable musicians and varied musical approach, what sets Neaera apart from other modern melodic death metallers?  Not much.  By no means are Neaera pushing any boundaries with this effort, it’s a pretty safe album that follows the basic guidelines of modern melodic death metal.  While they play their material extremely well and it sounds great, the songwriting is pretty standard as the band refuse to take risks and try to blaze their own path rather than just following what others have done before them.

Omnicide – Creation Unleashed is by no means a bad album, in fact, for modern melodic death metal, it’s a pretty good one, however, having heard these same riffs and song structures played the same way by countless other bands over the past decade leaves me craving something with a bit more individuality.  Overall, the album has solid musicians playing pretty standard material very well.  Not a classic, but still worth a listen or two if you’re a melodic death metal fan.

Lividity announce upcoming album, touring plans

Brutal death metallers Lividity have announced they’re working on a new full length album, titled To Desecrate And Defile, set to be released in October on War Anthem Records & Epitomite Productions, a new live split with Warpath as well as upcoming touring plans.

New Album: We are in the process of completing the studio sessions at Mercenary Digital Studios in Zion, Illinois for the upcoming album To Desecrate And Defile. The songs have a mix of all the Lividity you have grown accustomed to the past 15 years with the grooves and grinds every metal head would appreciate. You will find the flavors of Fetish For The Sick, The Age Of Clitoral Decay, Til Only The Sick Remain & Used, Abused And Left For Dead. This promises to be the most trecherous and disturbing Lividity to date with precision razor like grinds, textures and fist pounding fury. Holding the flag of metal high in the air for the old school meets modern chaos. Triple vocal threat with Von Young inhaled gutturals, Dave Kibler painful screams and Jake Lahniers demonic gutturals / alien screams. Garrett “The Man-lan” Scanlan providing the beats of hell to pummel every bitch in his path. This album will be released October 2009 through War Anthem Records (Germany) with a limited addition (1000 pieces) CD/DVD combo digi pack of our performance from Party.San Open Air Festival (Germany) 2008. Epitomite Productions will release the USA version of the CD in October as well.

Festivals: We will embark and terrorize Europe once again July 16th & 17th, 2009 at the mighty Obscene Extreme Open Air festival (Czech Republic) & Kaltenbach Open Air Festival (Austria) with some the most intense and raging metal acts to crush the death metal world. With the likes of… OEF: Napalm Death, Machetazo, Desecration, Hail Of Bullets, Venomous Concept, Necrovile, Dead Infection, Fleshless, Blood Duster, Jig-Ai and more / Kaltenbach: Amon Amarth, Dying Fetus, Malechesh, Absu, Dark Tranquility, Vomitory, Evocation and more… Both festivals are 3 days of booze, boobs & brutality. Hope to see you there.

We will rage the stage in Urbana, Illinois August 1st, 2009 at the Central Illinois Metal Fest with the likes of Immolation, Waco Jesus, Putrid Pile, Master, Vital Remains, Daath, Goreaphobia, Blasphemer, Fuck The Facts, Malignancy and more… 2 days of musical destruction.

Canadian Tour: Be prepared to get a stiff rod in the ass while we set out to destroy east Canada on a mini tour through October 2009. Thanx to the organizers Brent & Maxime of Leafburner Booking and to the support acts Mortify & Blastomycosis for this exciting opportunity. See you sickos in Canada.

Live Album: New Live CD Alive And Split Open with the mighty Warpath from Ireland. This is available now through the bands and released by Underground Movement record label in Ireland. This contains a live set from both bands Lividity gig in Germany from 2007 Europe Tour / Warpath gig in Ireland 2008 Thanx Ian… Warpath had the opportunity to play 16 dates through Europe with us this past April 2009. They are very awesome brutal death metal band that should not go unheard. Young band with a lot of fire. Check ‘em out!!! Yeahhhh Booiiii

These guys have more live albums than they do studio efforts.  Can’t say I’m a fan, but they are significantly better since adding Von Young from Deaden.

Fan footage from France's Hellfest, featuring Amon Amarth and Aborted, posted online

Downlord vocalist Dave Ingham has added several video clips from multiple bands from last weekend’s Hellfest in Clisson, France.  Here are some of the highlights;

Entombed “Revel In Flesh”

Repulsion “Schizo” (Venom cover)

Vader “Silent Empire”

Aborted “Sanguine Verses” (complete with choreographed moshpit)

Amon Amarth “Guardians Of Asgaard”

Looks like it was a pretty fun weekend. To see more footage, head over to Dave Ingham’s YouTube page.