Metallica

Death Magnetic Review

Rating 65%

They’re trying. Every song on Metallica’s newest album, Death Magnetic, will require Hetfield and Co. to concentrate in order to perform it live…and likely break a sweat. Of course a higher degree of technical difficulty does not mean that the songs actually warrant the furrowed brows and grimaces they will elicit from the band to pull off in the live arena, but the album is undeniably dense and filled with ideas. The production is arguably the best they’ve had since the blazing guitars sound of debut Kill ‘Em All: the guitars are rich and the drums are thick and roomy with a nice amount of distortion on the snare (kind of opposite the snare sound on the last one).

Assuming that everyone (intelligent) reading this magazine prefers 80s Metallica to the “stuff” that followed, the contrary thing to point out is that Hetfield has continually improved as a vocalist. Even though the Black Album, Load, Reload and St. Anger songs are composed of riffs that sound like reheated Danzig, Kid Rock or post-makeup Kiss, Hetfield continued to develop his voice. He became a crooner with a rich voice and often excellent inflection. (He had to do something while playing one riff for five minutes...) On Death Magnetic, Hetfield’s vocals sound good, but perhaps because of the complexity of the music— or maybe just a lack of good ideas— he comes up with far fewer memorable refrains than he did on St. Anger or the Black Album. His best singing is unquestionably in the album’s two most somber tunes, “The Unforgiven III” and the album zenith “The Day that Never Comes,” and he has other nice moments (“Broken, Beat & Scarred,” the bridge of “The Judas Kiss” and the chorus of “That Was Just Your Life”), but it is clear that this singer’s best ideas are when he is Sensitive Hetfield or Melodic Hetfield, not Tough Hetfield or Forcing-the-Idea-That-Doesn’t-Work-Ah! O-Yeah-ah-ah! Pirate Hetfield.

The album features the return of Lead Guitarist Kirk Hammett (as opposed to Standing-On-Stage-Bored-As-Hell Kirk Hammett), who was very missed on the St. Anger (and very needed). He does a fine job stomping his wah-wah/bluesy shredding when given his space, and his big solo in the later part of “The Judas Kiss” (around 6:00) takes a lot of very interesting and creative turns— it’s his best lead since “Dyer’s Eve.” Drummer Lars Ulrich continues with his expressive, deep groove, surprise-accent style of playing that—whether you think he’s a douche-bag or not— helped shape the genre. Though his playing has flaws (even after digital correction), like Carcass’ Ken Owen, I prefer his performance to many more perfect players: His instincts are great and he distinctively pulses the music without getting in the way (unlike that Tool drummer everybody loves who often makes their music stagnant by omitting necessary snare hits). Good, musical and thoughtful drumming throughout the album.

Unlike the other “return to the hard” album St. Anger, Death Magnetic focuses on the guitars: This is unquestionably the first time the band has put riffs first since …And Justice For All. Unfortunately, the riffs are largely okay groove, sludge, stoner and bar rock licks played with more distortion and the errant triplet or chugs to make them seem more active/metal. There are some genuinely good riffs— “The End of the Line” has one at 4:20, “My Apocalypse” has several (1:59, 2:58, and the bridges) “Broken, Beat and Scarred” has the best riff on the album at 1:00 and “The Day that Never Comes” has several good ones in the second half— but mediocre riffs outweigh the good ones by a big margin. This is the ultimate achievement and limitation of this album: Metallica metallicly puts the guitars in spotlight, but the ideas are not quite compelling enough to hold the stage. The vocals and synergistic details, and by this I mean stop-starts and drums/riff interplay, do help buoy things and make it functional metal.

Death Magnetic is a dense and way too long album that shows the boys can still play tough music well and passionately…even if the ideas are of varying caliber. “Cyanide” and “The Judas Kiss” are duds, “My Apocalypse” is a fun stab at “Damage, Inc.” but with a weak verse section, “Broken, Beat & Scarred” is quite good, “The Day that Never Comes” is almost great and the remainder of the album is pretty good— okay riffs bolstered by interesting arrangements, good details, synergy, strong performances and great production.

They’re trying…and succeeding to some extent.

The Day Everything Became Nothing

Brutal Review

Rating 68%

The album cover of Brutal is a pretty good indication of the album The Day Everything Became Nothing recorded. It is open. It is clear. It is sharp. And in the middle of it all is a little bit of ugly.

The music that this badly-named Australian band plays is clear, chugging goregrind (sans visual gore on this one) that has a deceptive simplicity and a steady--almost lulling--straight-ahead approach.  

Brutal is cleanly-recorded, crisp, downtuned music that is given it's place in the world of "extreme" music by the use of pitch-shifted vocals and occasional bits of metal drum activity. Had these vocals been swapped out for clean vocals, you'd have something not all that far from the early 90s album by Helmet called Meantime. Both albums are focused on tightly-controlled chug-centric riffs and the changing of rhythms. Neither contain very much guitar melody. Although I'm not a fan of Helmet (that went to the used CD store back in the 90s, so it might be more compelling than I remember), The Day Everything Became Nothing's Brutal has a far better vibe, because of the abstract vocals and uglier tuning. Also, there are some amazingly fluid explorations of odd meters (eg. rockin' the 9/8) that rival Rush's ability to move out of 4/4 and 6/8 without calling attention to technicality (Subdivisions, for instance).

I have two main criticisms of Brutal, which make this album a moderate recommendation to most metalheads and higher one to goregrind enthusiasts.

My first complaint is that the first half of the album is better than the second half. This is partially owing to the undeniable similarity between songs ... and after five or six or seven very similar journeys, I'd like it to go some place a little bit less similar. Additionally, most of the best moments (ie. catchy syncopation and headbanging meter changes) are in the first five tracks, excepting track 7. (The song titles on this album are numbers--- this band isn't great with naming things, are they?).

My other gripe is the alternate voice that comes in on occasion----high screams that flirt with the hardcore side of grindcore I don't really like. They're not terrible, these screams, but they do disrupt the cruising, chugging, dark and most off all CONTROLLED atmosphere of this thing. Although this music is considered "extreme," it's not at all extreme--- it has a controlled aesthetic that doesn't line up well with the rebellious attitude of the high grindcore/screamo voice.

Clearly, I think The Day Everything Became Nothing could have done a little more here---even inside their tightly-defined parameters---but the album Brutal is a fun platter of rolling, fluid and disciplined goregrind. This is my first experience with their music, and it won't be my last.

Nasty Pig Dick

Flesh for the Worms Review

Rating 68%

It is easy to see why most people into metal, brutal death metal (slamming or otherwise) and even goregrind wouldn't care for the lowbrow buzzing assault that is known as Nasty Pig Dick. Simply put, this is not a refined album, nor a work that displays great (or even good) musicianship. This self-proclaimed slab of "Ultra Guttural Slamming Gore Grind" is wholly devoid of introspection and subtlety.

The Mexican export known as Nasty Pig Dick is a boiling pork assault ... and it's pretty good.

The overall Nasty Pig Dick aesthetic is closest to that of goregrind. The drums are programmed and the vocals are pitch-shifted (or at least distorted to the point where they sound like they are), but the style of the vocals is that of brutal death metal and the pounding & shuddering rhythms have an industrial flavor, like Anaal Nathrakh or maybe even Ministry. Every instrument has ludicrous amount of blow out, and the thick guitar often sounds like a bass guitar instead of a six string. Some of this music sounds a little bit out of tune, but yields interesting results--- the chugs in songs like "Cadaveric Internal Rot" seem like amplified pork snouts, inhaling and exhaling, looking for truffles. And the sustained chords in "Juicy Juice of Bowels" are pure sonic nausea.

The end result is something that doesn't really resemble grinders like (early) Carcass or Impetigo or Insect Warfare or Lymphatic Phlegm or any brutal death metal band I know of. If Mortician teamed up with Ildjarn, it might sound like this. Perhaps Cemetery Rapist is the closest comparison, a "band" (guy) that also straddles the bdm and goregrind/porngrind worlds, but the songs on this thing are better developed and have more culmination moments than do the CR tunes I've heard. Little bits of flavor---such as the trill added to the main hook in "Flesh on My Chainsaw"---shine brightly when they appear.

Distortion, blown out industrial beats and very chunky rhythm-oriented riffs are worked and reworked, and in the end, Nasty Pig Dick delivers in both genres (death & grind), though this happens in an extraordinarily simple way (often 2 or 3 riffs per song) that is not for most metalheads. Flesh for the Worms is overloaded, caustic and repetitive slamming goregrind that's surprisingly fun.

Underdark

I Am Above All Review

Rating 80%

Underdark’s accomplished album I Am Above All is one of the best instances of a band other than Mayhem developing the roiling Wolf’s Lair Abyss aesthetic. While the mode of attack for this Ukrainian onemanband varies from song to song, album opener “Basements of Consciousness” is informed by Wolf’s Lair Abyss much the same way that the second 1349 album was; full throttle shifting gears black metal at the edge of chaotic war metal, yet held together and regrouped in tight metric configurations. Simply put, in this cut Underdark blackly grinds (0:36), reorients (1:23), and decides upon another way to do the same thing— another way to achieve obliteration (1:29 & 3:03). Drummer-propelled black metal, deemphasizing vocals and emphasizing the churn. “Apotheosis of Insignificance” also proffers the roiling aesthetic (esp at 1:40 & 4:16) as well as the blitzkrieg maelstrom instrumental “Depth of Idea.”

Unlike Wolf’s Lair Abyss, I Am Above All often drops into mid-tempo sections, giving the album a more rocking feel than the deadly evil Mayhem release. Underdark proprietor Amorth Incubus Magnum clearly enjoys his material and at times playfully interacts with it. “Leaving,” undoubtedly the best song on the album, does not push the annihilation manifesto, but something heavier…and more confusing. A largely mid-tempo song of sluggish riffs, this tune is not played— it lurks. The combative interplay between the drums and lethargic riffs (from 3:10-end) is absolutely brilliant AND new— a weird and disorienting deconstruction of the dank soundworld. Bravo. This song- and in particular this section- is truly inspired.

The sad-victory song “I Am Above All” displays another Underdark mode: that of somber chord progressions. This doomy tune is a fluid and triumphant dirge-march with a hectic detour and a bit more of that very cool antagonistic drumming (3:30). The sped-up polka version of the doom lick is a bit silly/forced (4:16-4:42), but the song as a whole is a success. The two sonic eulogies that follow both work well to close out the album.

I Am Above All is a thoroughly impressive and varied release, half of which is obliteration manifesto and half of which is grooved and somnolent black metal. Highly recommended.

Dark Quarterer

Symbols Review

Rating 75%

Italy’s underdogs of epic metal return with a very long, largely good album of progressively-minded epic metal. Symbols is collection of tunes that each offer a view of different historical tyrants and/or leaders…and is another fine display of the weird, emotive, soaring, garbled-English vocals of Gianni Nepi.

Perhaps because of his excellent difficulties with a thing called English, or perhaps because of the truly surprising melodies he sings throughout the great catalogue of this great band, he is not recognized as one of metal’s premier vocalists, but he should be. With a range comparable to Rob Halford’s, and far less obvious melodic choices (he ain’t giving you “Loch Ness” or “Livin’ After Midnight,” that’s for sure), Nepi’s singing is a bewildering, occasionally comical, often beautiful thing to witness: Check out his awkward-brilliant finishing notes in “Lady Scolopendra” or his soto voce laments in “A Prayer for Mother Teresa of Calcutta” (both on the very recommended album War Tears).

It is to Nepi’s credit that all of Dark Quarterer’s albums are worth owning, despite the ever-changing guitarists, which brings us to Dark Quarterer’s newest, Symbols. This is the most progressive release they’ve yet done, oftentimes recalling (though not ripping-off) Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull. Nectar and all (good) things Blackmore. The disk is comprised of six songs, the shortest of which is just shy of nine minutes, and three of which surpass the thirteen minute mark. The question is: Are they inspired or are they just being indulgent?

Fortunately, Symbols is evidence of inspiration: All of the songs have good ideas, numerous time changes, memorable hooks and solos; keyboards nicely drape much of the music as well. Parallels to Manilla Road’s recent triumphs Gates of Fire and Voyager should be drawn: like those albums, Symbols is an epic work of long-toothed metal sages.

This is not to say that some Symbols songs don’t overstay their welcome (the “Ides of March” solo section drags, “Pyramid of Skulls” has a silly coda {13:30- the end} & “The Blind Church” plods in its final four minutes), but this album is clearly the work of a band that has the creativity to enthrall, captivate or at least keep things moving for six really-big-ass songs.

The first track and the last two are the highlights, but- as is necessary with an album of all GIANT songs- the cuts are all worthwhile and are surprising journeys. Nepi’s soto voce at the beginning of “Ides of March” (and the chorus), the amazing intro and time switches in “Shadows of the Night,” the key switch at 5:00 in “The Blind Church,” the emotional crescendo that concludes “Crazy White Race” (the best Native American metal song since Manowar’s “Spirit Horse of the Cherokee”) show a band with true creativity and emotional connectivity. Bravo.

Those unfamiliar with Dark Quarterer are recommended to check out The Etruscan Prophecy first, which is half as long and likely their best, but Symbols is another recommended release from Nepi, Ninci & Co., one that might possibly win them a few progressive rock fans as well.

Dysentery

Internal Devastation Review

Rating 80%

Internal Devastation is one of my favorite death metal albums of recent years, alongside the Hail of Bullets album On Divine Winds and Grave Damnation by Necros Christos. If I wanted to play somebody an album that would show the strengths of the often-derided subgenre of slamming death metal, Dysentery’s Internal Devastation is a shining example of the form. Although a band like Cephalotripsy adheres more strongly to the tenets of gurgling slowchug, and I applaud their narrow-minded approach, their full length has riffs that are so rhythmically uninteresting, it’s hard to remember the songs, and I am not yet a full believer. (Their newer 2011 material shows some real promise in the way of syncopation.)

Similarly slam-centric (though a bit more varied), Dysentery achieves on Internal Devastation what that Cepahlotripsy album did not— a simple, but continuously engaging slam-focused death metal album. Yes, the Dysentery band photo looks like three garage mechanics kidnapped a metalhead, but the music that this Massachusetts outfit plays is thoughtful and very, very, very well arranged death metal. Internal Devastation is simple, rocking and synergistic, with more chugs and chords than speed-picking, and other than the lyrical content, it’s not especially ‘brutal.’ Dysentery is easy to like the very first time you hear them.

My criticisms are limited to the few blasting sections and drum rolls, which do not connect to the music as well as they should, and also a few vocal ideas. Mostly, the vocalist employs pulsed growls and gurgles with occasional forays into the swamp of boars, frogs and crickets, and although the singer largely goes his own way, he occasionally chooses some too obvious rhythmic lines (the sort of thing where every beat is accented). But these complaints are minor.

Overall, Dysentery shows how slamming death metal can be very catchy without resorting to cloying melody— a different way of achieving the same ultra-heavy and headbanging death metal groove that bands like Bolt Thrower, Demigod, Asphyx and Necros Christos achieve. And I sure prefer the concept of slam, which emphasizes abstract vocals, meaty chugs and heaviness, over the dull ‘Operation: Technical Obliteration’ of Necrophagist and Fleshgod Apocalypse. Yeah, I’m yawning at their arpeggios and additive meters. Every song on Internal Devastation has personality and purpose. Overall, it is sort of like a slower, less technical Putrid Pile (see the kidnapped metalhead’s shirt) or an update of Pyrexia’s classic, Sermon of Mockery, but with better riffs and more slam.

Seriously, seriously good lurching death metal comes in the form of ‘Entropic Putrefaction,’ ‘A World Apart,’ ‘In Remembrance of the Lifeless,’ ‘Genocidal God’ and ‘Bound By Disease.'

Get this.

Iced Earth

The Crucible of Man - Something Wicked Part 2 Review

Rating 65%

The Crucible of Man, a potential crucible for the band itself, stripped of the rather significant vocalist Tim Owens, shows what has become apparent in recent years: John Schaffer has matured as a songwriter.

Not that his staple triplet doesn’t appear, but Schaffer’s lush vocal arrangements, guitar stacking, melodic ideas and overall delivery of classy material are a far cry from the forced quasi-thrash of the Dark Saga and what came before it. Iced Earth’s marginalization of tired tough-guy histrionics and “aggressive” songs as they move towards bigger, panoramic anthems mirrors my interest in them (read: I dig Something Wicked This Way Comes onward). The reintegration of departed singer Mathew Barlow into the fold is seamless, and while I prefer Tim Owens’ voice, the melodies and harmonies on The Crucible of Man are better than what Barlow was singing ten years ago, and his improved upper register (which was really spectacular on Horror Show [esp. in “Dracula”]) is put to good use.

When comparing the two pieces of the Something Wicked duology, I favor the sequel. Framing Armageddon is a very top-heavy album (the only song in the last twenty-five minutes of that album that I fully like is “When Stars Collide”), but The Crucible of Man is always enjoyable, if unspectacular. Actually, the new album is the most consistently enjoyable album Iced Earth made (up until Dystopia), though it lacks the greatness found on The Glorious Burden (“The Devil to Pay,” “Hold At All Costs,” and “Declaration Day,” are still the bands three finest tunes) as well as that album’s tough guy duds (“Red Baron/Blue Max” and “Green Face,” both shitsmears).

Because of this qualitative consistency, and the elimination of any “aggressive” pretense, this album really flows like one giant song. Certain tunes stand ahead of the pack— “A Gift or A Curse?” and “Come What May” are the highlights— but the album is a huge, even, enjoyable and patient experience. With The Crucible of Man, Schaffer’s confidence and aplomb as a songwriter of simple material fleshed out with deep layering is further established and the switch in singers is instantly overcome, despite apprehensions.

Begging for Incest

Orgasmic Selfmutilation Review

Rating 65%

Begging for Incest’s Orgasmic Selfmutilation is an album loaded with the best slamming death metal riffs I’ve heard.

I'm not just talking about chugs with harmonic pinches—though when they do chugs with harmonic pinches, they are in idiosyncratic spots. Nobody is putting the pinches where these guys do. Additionally, the arrangements for most of the songs on this album are surprising, but still flow, and the overall sound is strong and uncommonly clear.

The main reason that this isn’t my flat out favorite in this sub-subgenre is that the vocals are too playful, and by this I mean they the vocalist Meik sometimes overdoes it with silly & oinky phrases in the pig style (see also Vulvectomy), especially during the second half of the album, where they become a bit tiresome and annoying. Like most metalheads, I prefer growling over pig noises, but if a vocalist is going to deliver a porcine performance, it needs to be dry and not as playful as it is on songs like Gutted like a Pig. I'd pay $100 for this album with vocals from an evil growler like Shawn from Insidious Decrepancy or the classic dutch devil, Van Drunen.

With better vocals and slightly more cohesive arrangements, I feel that Begging For Incest could deliver something that is the slamming brutal death metal equivalent of Carcass's Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious. But for them to do this, the vocals need to match the riffs in terms of thoughtfulness, restraint and creativity. Still, it is enjoyable as is.

Blasted Pancreas

Carcinoma Review

Rating 85%

Grindcore and goregrind are usually not the genres I go to if I want memorable and atmospheric music, but Carcinoma, the debut full length by Greek gorehounds Blasted Pancreas is exactly that: memorable and atmospheric goregrind. To some extent, Blasted Pancreas is the progeny of Lymphatic Phlegm, a great goregrind outfit from Brazil, but there are some discrepancies between the two bands and Blasted Pancreas definitely have their own identity.

An overall difference between Blasted Pancreas and their mucusoid progenitors is that Lymphatic Phlegm are remote and detached, and Blasted Pancreas kick ass on occasion. The Greeks play lots of creepy tremolo Fulci stuff, but they also fling meaty riffs and employ (slightly) longer arrangements. These augmentations to the LymPh sound facilitate more headbanging, bigger developments and sharper musical peaks. I imagine Judas Priest would approve of the heavy metal riff revving in the middle of "Lymphoblast," and the break 40 seconds in "Lymphangiosarcoma" slams like Kraanium. Black metal bands like Horna and Moonblood could make several albums with the creepy hooks all over Carcinoma, and although I really, really like Lymphatic Phlegm, I am not sure that they have a single song that's as powerful as "Hemangiosarcoma." (Though admittedly, LymPh is more about the cumulative album experience.)

My only real criticism of Carcinoma (other than my continual advocacy for real drums in all metal) is how often the two vocalists follow the contour of the riffs. In this pitch-shifted and abstract gurgling style, it usually works--- I would just prefer some different musical ideas than 'follow the riff.'

Unfortunately for fans of creepy, gurgling goregrind, this debut is also their swangsong: Pedolover, who was responsible for the guitars AND bass AND drum programming, passed away in 2012.

Perhaps the clearest testament to the quality of this release is that there is a Lymphatic Phlegm cover tune at the end ("Resection of Upper Gastrointestinal Malignancy") and in it, Blasted Pancreas actually recreates the distant tone of the original song. The surprising thing is that this cover song is not even one of the top five songs on this album--- the Blasted Pancreas originals are THAT good.

Carcinoma is an album of fetid putrefaction to relish.

Abominable Putridity

In the End of Human Existence Review

Rating 70%

Both full Abominable Putridity full lengths are cool, though they are very, very different. I have learned to favor this earlier release over their newer, significantly more technical stuff. The mood of In the End of Human Existence is rich and the logic is remote.

This debut LP, which is repeatedly shat upon on this site, has many hidden charms and takes some real effort to appreciate. It is very controlled music and worth spending the time to understand, though it’s easy to see how people could listen a couple of times and write it off as boring. 

These chugging slamming death metal songs lurch and shift, fluidly, but inscrutably, with what seems like little regard for entertainment or the rock foundation of metal. But this is clearly the design of its authors, not a flaw. There is so much muted chugging and rhythmic shifting that whenever a slightly catchy riff or a sustained chord appears, it feels like a luxurious anomaly compared to its bleak, relentless surroundings. A lot of these tunes yield one really memorable hook, such as those heard in the concluding portions of album highlights, “Blindfold Surgery” and “Sphacelated Nerves,” either of which are perfect examples of the slamming death metal aesthetic, though they are not as accessible as most of the bands I dig in this style.

My appreciation of Anomalies of an Artifical Origin remains containable, but the obscure logic, dark mood and slow power of In the End of Human Existence makes a more lasting impression to me and likley to people who are willing to do some work to understand it. It has a serious-and perhaps unknowable--purpose and is in some ways is a death metal equivalent of something like Mayhem superb Wolf's Lair Abyss in that it seems wholly uninterested in rock or fun or whether you like it or not. It is the result of another type of thought process.

Patient fans of death metal should investigate this well-recorded and obtuse effort. Just don’t it expect it to grab you straight away.

Urogenital Macrophage

Perversion and Sickness Destroy the Human Race Review

Rating 80%

After listening to scores and scores of slamming death metal albums, none engaged me more than this debut offering by the Chilean band Urogenital Macrophage, which is called Perversion and Sickness Destroy the Human Race.

I would like to have been at the band meeting when these Chileans decided upon the name Urogenital Macrophage, and I wonder at what other names were in competition with Urogenital Macrophage and lost out to the name Urogenital Macrophage (though I actually like this name more than something like Afflictive Emasculation or Begging for Incest which don’t even create a solid mental image).

If you can get past the drumming that somehow sounds too fake to be real (eg. the cymbals) and too clunky to be fake (eg. the bass drums), this album is at the very top of the slam pile. The vibe is dirty—Goatlord dirty—something that is arguably enhanced by the loose drumming—but as with all slam bands I like, these guys can write distinct riffs (not just pinches and chugs), musical vocal refrains and most importantly, songs that go somewhere.

The album opener is a bit more ambitious and longer than most UM songs, and it’s also the only one that loses my interest—I think they tried too hard here and (in what seems like the Devourment mode) and just packed too much stuff in an effort to impress, rather than do what they do best—pummel, pinch, rock and develop strong main ideas. Still, the song Aberrant Hemophilical Menstruation proves them capable of navigating multiple ideas and tempos—including a brief foray into rather chaotic blastbeats—while keeping things cohesive and grooved, though they shine most with simpler tunes like Colitis Cocktail, which culminates in deep-pocket headbanging (excuse me…slamming) glory at its end. Singer Hector Medina is one of the most musical vocalists I’ve heard in this style, not because he changes things up from growls to croaks to squeals, which he does quite capably, but because his ideas are musically interesting—rhythmically and in terms of timbre and pitch—and he don’t smother the music, as do so many of these guttural guys. Take note, Bodysnatch and Human Rejection vocalists: Respect the riffs.

Overall, the vibe here is somewhere between recent Kraanium and the aforementioned Goatlord. At least half of the album is devoted to slams, midpaced and fairly slow, though UM mostly refrains from the super slow stuff, and the album opener is the only song that isn't solid on the entire disc. If you don't mind a little bit of sloppiness, investigate this top-tier, filthy, headbanging, slamming death metal excretion.

Nifelheim

Envoy of Lucifer Review

Rating 65%

First off, let me say the obvious: if you like the previous Nifelheim albums, you will like this one too, as do I. If you dug the others, here’s another for you. That said, I will admit to being a bit disappointed.

Let me tell you why I’m not totally thrilled with this one. Nifelheim, like Motorhead or Inquisition, is a band that sets and stays its course, so there is no cause for alarm for the shit and puke-smeared Satanic legionaries that follow this dirty little band from Sweden, yet each of Nifelheim’s previous studio efforts served the lord Mr. Satan in a slightly different way. The eponymous debut was the balls-out crazy bonkers Nifelheim album with no finesse. The second album, Devil’s Force, was the first that broadly exhibited the Twins’ (Hellbutcher & Tyrant) fascination with Iron Maiden; they structured their creepy, dirty black thrash in more intricate Harris-style arrangements with timing changes, twin leads, open spots, etc. (albeit all ugly, nasty, and tortured). The album that followed was largely (and correctly) considered their best: Servants of Darkness. SoD had a few bonkers tunes and then shitloads of creepy, more memorable material than previously proffered by the band - still nuts, vomitblackthrash Nifelheim, but bigger, scarier, and more thought out.

That brings us to "Envoy of Lucifer", which seems largely to be in the style of the first album's full-on bonkers black thrash with a couple of exceptions. “Gates of Damnation” has a cool proggy break (2:20) and the King Crimson chords lodged in “Fuck Off” also stand out as a something strange, as does that song’s deep pocket chorus (the only open section to rival the SoD developments). And there’s a fun nod to Iron Maiden’s “No More Lies” in the chorus of the similarly-titled “No More Life”. With these and a handful of other exceptions, the jam at the end of the album and the great bass lines/harmonies in “Storm of the Reaper”, this is a manic, chaotic record, the coldest recording they’ve done, especially when set against the warmth of the previous two, sounding almost as caustic as an Impiety record, which is not a compliment.

The drummer doesn't help things. He regularly chases the songs and occasionally plays things that have no bearing on the actual tempo (the blast in the title cut is troubled and the ride in “Raging Flame” is from another planet), sometimes pushing this release into war metal territory of reined abstraction. All in all, it holds together, but would be more punishing and more exciting if the band were more unified. Kind of like Trym’s performance on Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, the drums fit into the space, but never seem as if they are the skeleton or motor of the song.

Let me say this again: I enjoy this record, but when considering the more singular/repetitive compositions, the colder/less appealing sonics and the troubled drumming, I know that when I’m in the mood for Swedish vomitblackthrashfilth, this is the album of Nifelheim’s I will reach for least often.

Neophytes are recommended to begin with their stellar Servants of Darkness and work backwards until you arrive here, covered in the tarry, fetid shit of Beelzebub.

Chordotomy

The Precious Ideal Review

Rating 65%

Chordotomy’s album The Precious Ideal has a generous amount of sinister tremolo riffs that recall Swedes like Dismember and England’s glorious Bolt Thrower (listen to the tune “Human Derangement” for an example of the latter), but their slamming sections are mediocre without exception. The album and this band are a mixed bag, but overall, good enough to investigate.

The sampled intro, which is a montage of new clips, is just way, way, way too long even the first time you hear it. It's an off putting way to begin the album. Also, for the most part, each song is too long, though I do like that they're at least trying to make bigger, more expansive songs in this genre. And then there's the sound itself, which is quite muddy-- a lot of clogged up midrange where the layers of guitar don’t fully line up, which further aggravates things. So it's got some real problems.

Despite all of this, The Precious Ideal works to a modest degree and might appeal to classic death metal fans who generally don't go for slam, because this outfit seems like an old school death metal band that uses guttural vocals and plays in a contemporary slamming style, despite their natural old school tendencies and talents.

I expect that Chordotomy will get better—maybe even become top notch—since they have a very good sense of sinister melody and write more patient music than a lot of these bands, but the slam aspect of Chordotomy seems like an add-on at this stage and not as good as their classic death metal material. I'll save this one, hoping for a better realized follow-up.

Mayhem

Ordo ad Chao Review

Rating 55%

Though I am a long-standing champion of Blasphemer-era Mayhem as THE worthwhile incarnation of the band, I cannot fully recommend their latest platter Ordo Ad Chao.

Unquestionably their ugliest record since Deathcrush, the production of Ordo Ad Chao sucks and unfortunately obscures what made the last three Mayhem releases great: Blasphemer’s riffs. Wolf’s Lair Abyss stands as the best produced of the Blasphemer-era- that thing sounds rich, sharp but also dirty and evil- but even the too-clear triggered sonics of Grand Declaration of War and the pristine darkness of Chimera (both fucking brilliant albums) better suit the barbed wire and alien logic of Blasphemer’s songwriting than the murky, drum-and-vocal-dominated mix of Ordo Ad Chao.

I’ll not spend all of my review on this superficial choice, but not in recent memory can I recall an album so injured by its production— it’s like getting a Dio album with the vocals barely audible. Not cool & creepy like all those lo-fi bands I like (Horna, Moonblood, Clandestine Blaze, etc.) Ordo Ad Chao sounds like a badly mixed club show. I mean seriously, parts of “Wall of Water” & “Great Work of Ages” sound like the drummer and singer are rehearsing before the guitarist even arrived. Drum legend Hellhammer is in fine form (love that purposely klutzy drum fill at 4:15 in “Wall of Water”), but any time he blastbeats, his snare hits covers up everything else—giving the proceedings a slightly industrial vibe.

On Ordo Ad Chao we have the return of Attila Csihar to the microphone and the results are mixed. Although he is a unique vocalist- and in many ways superior to Maniac (see Attila’s career highlight work for Keep of Kalessin)- his persona oddly pushes the world of Mayhem in an infantile direction. While Maniac’s work on Chimera was unspectacular compared to his daring Grand Declaration efforts, he never distracted from the material; Attila’s antics distract as often as they enhance Ordo. Though I prefer the quality of Atilla’s screeching voice to Maniac’s, his performance here varies from creepy to playful, that latter an unwanted element in Mayhem music. Also distracting is the outrageously flanged bass guitar, which is cool for a moment…but after forty BWOWS! loses its charm (as it continually covers up guitar).

A bigger issue with this album- in direct opposition to the minimalist Chimera- is that the songs are overworked, too intellectual and contain superfluous parts; see also Emperor’s Prometheus. While every single song displays moments of Blasphemer’s songwriting brilliance, every song has a section (or two or three or more) that is sub-par, doesn’t flow or seems just plain irrelevant. The first minute of “Deconsecrate,” the last portion of “Great Work of Ages” a shitload of the middle of “Illuminate Eliminate” should simply not be.

Unfocused, badly mixed, erratic, but occasionally brilliant, the new Mayhem features an ugly sound that works against the backbone of the band: the riffing constructs of visionary guitarist Blasphemer. I wanted to love this album like the last three- all of which are completely different experiences- but I don’t.

Satyricon

The Age of Nero Review

Rating 70%

A fine albums made by the ever-simplifying Satyricon, The Age of Nero is a beautifully-produced, smartly-written album of full-on stadium black metal. Comprised of eight mid-paced songs of riff-centric heavy metal with harmonies hearkening to their black metal roots (and very often Thorns’ stellar debut), Satyricon again shows their aplomb at writing and performing truly memorable songs. I recall (vocalist/guitarist/overlord) Satyr once pretentiously going on about how challenging his music was when compared to Cradle of Filth (never been a fan myself), though his grandstanding was undermined at the time (1999) because his songs didn’t quite work and- though I’ve never been a CoF fan- a lot of CoF’s music is pretty complex/challenging (just ruined by dumb vocals and dainty keyboards and shitty arrangements). Now, quite undeniably, Satyricon is making music that is far simpler than CoF (or even old Satyricon), but this new music is significantly better: it has a passion and vision.

Like Enslaved did on Below the Lights and Immortal with At the Heart of Winter, these Norwegians defined their modern and superior identity on Volcano, the first album where most of the songs flowed, progressed and worked. While occasionally “a-ton-of- cool-riffs-thrown-together” can work (eg. Satyricon’s “Tied in Bronze Chains” & Carcass’ Necroticism), that haphazard approach to songwriting usually yields inferior product to songs with a core emotional identity. The upward trajectory of Satyricon directly correlates to the simplification of their material: though The Age of Nero and the previous two albums are not Venom/Sodom simple, most songs (like classic heavy metal songs) have three or four main parts that are developed with production details, additional voices, harmony guitar, different drum beats & orchestral stuff. Moreover, the riffs have gotten better and better over the years. On The Age of Nero, the chilly blitz conclusion of “Commando,” the latter portions of “Last Man Standing” and “Die By My Hand” (“Creeping Death” anyone?) are all standouts. And the gigantic riffs (and orchestral adornments) of “Den Siste” also create cyclopean visuals.

Enough good things cannot be said about drummer Frost, who is one of the most consistently great drummers in extreme metal, alongside Inferno (Behemoth) and Hellhammer. Frost’s wild work on Keep of Kalessin’s stellar Reclaim EP (that band’s high water mark for sure), his inhuman propulsion and surprising shifts in 1349 (his work on Beyond the Apocalypse is historic) and his deep groove, beautifully-written drum parts on the last three Satyricon albums are ample proof that in terms of creativity, quality, delivery and versatility, Frost currently has no equal (though Inferno of Behemoth is a close second). On The Age of Nero Frost writes excellent drum parts that chisel and empower the riffs as well as anything Lombardo did at his best (South of Heaven), and there is no other drummer working who would come up with these parts, yet his playing here is never showy (as was Lombardo’s). The vacillation of double bass speeds in “Commando,” the tom-tom tour de force in “Black Crow on a Tombstone,” and the deep pocket switch (2:13) on the “Wolfpack” are but three tasty choices of his, though every single song has brilliant stuff by this guy. For the last three albums, half of the success of this band stems from Frost’s masterfully written and passionately performed drum parts.

The vocals haven’t changed as much as every other aspect of Satyricon, except that we get less of the forced refrains that don’t quite work— sorry, but the choruses of “Mother North,” “Filthgrinder,” “Havoc Vulture,” “Suffering the Tyrant,” and “Delirium” are all really, really annoying. The Age of Nero is the first album Satyricon has made where all of the refrains are good (or at least not annoying). The approach and voice of Satry behind the mic is pretty much the same and perhaps the last area for this band to improve in the future.

Overall the album is a bit too repetitious, and a slight step down from Now, Diabolical, but it is good and will keep if not grow Satyricon’s fanbase. And because this is big, anthemic stadium black metal, unlike a lot of black metal, it would work well in the live environment.

The Wandering Midget

I Am the Gate Review

Rating 85%

It is with great pleasure and highest praise that I recommend The Wandering Midget’s I Am the Gate, an original old school doom metal platter that is not a Black Sabbath casserole, but an immediately distinct release and perhaps the best album of its kind to come along since the the works of other Fins, Reverend Bizarre and Minotauri.

Comprised of two demos with technical flaws and a relatively thin sound stage (often one guitar when there should be two {or more}), I Am the Gate is an album that is a complete success because of quality songwriting and great singing. A couple of flubs and an overlong closer in the plodding, spacious doom style of Reverend Bizarre (read: seventeen minutes of heaviness centered on a few simple ideas) hardly diminish my enthusiasm over what is one the most necessary slabs of doom I’ve ever heard. The riffs are solid hooks in Epic Metal, New Wave of British Heavy Metal and seventies modes, but typically function in a secondary role beneath the singing.

Much credit should be laid at the feet of the incredible and unique vocalist Samuel Wormius. This vocalist’s odd inflection, disjunct note leaps and great fucking voice bring to mind the clean singing of Simen (Borknagar and Arcturus) with maybe a touch of the wizard-stylings of Mark Shelton (Manilla Road). Wormius is not at all an Ozzy clone, but a serious and emotive vocalist with a journeyman’s dramatic flair and excellent, excellent ideas. The chorus for “I Am the Gate” and “The Wandering Midget” are instantly and effortlessly memorable (read: not forced) and the searching vocal melodies throughout “Black Figure Follows the Burial Company” are totally inspired.

Their follow-up, The Serpent Coven, was a mess, but this release is highly recommend.

Katalepsy

Musick Brings Injuries Review

Rating 50%

Katalepsy's Musick Brings Injuries initially presents a huge, heavy death metal sound stage wherein live the various critters of the swamp (boars, toads and crickets). The music is aggressive and strange slamming death metal, that lurches and has seizures, and for the first two cuts, it is quite engaging. But the amazing thing about this "album"—something no reviewers I've read seem to notice or care about—is that this "album" quickly veers into novelty terrain after the first three songs. Track four is a nonsensical Mortician cover, and then tracks five and six are both dismal rehearsal-caliber demo tracks with terrible, terrible sound and a really inferior vocal approach. After track three, which is decent, this thing just falls off a cliff in terms of quality.

Here’s a loud request to bands like Katalepsy: Please DO NOT include demo level tracks as part of your finished album. Make these inferior recordings “bonus tracks” or put them online or on a split or in a stopgap compilation, but please, don’t put awful recordings alongside polished stuff and call the sum “An Album.”  

In total, Musick Brings Injuries is two good songs, a sort of interesting one, a bad cover, two awful demos and a weird, sort of interesting reconstruction of Megadeth's Symphonies of Destruction. It is a short EP that should have been a single was unfortunately padded out to (almost) full length with inferior material. But the good stuff is good. “Gialo” is truly top notch slamming death metal as is Sluggish Cranial Grinding. I’d like a full album or EP of stuff like that. A real album.