Darkest Hate Warfront
– The Aftermath
Violent, blasting, and thrashy black metal from the Amazon.
Who knew the Yanomamö were so necro? This is a good follow-up to SAK, better in fact, and delivers a
healthy dose of unrestrained, screaming ferocity in the vein of Marduk,
Gorgoroth, etc. Now don’t get it into your thick head that this is anything
like Panzer Division because it’s far
more raw, revealing, and riffy, even bordering on crusty at times. If the
speedier, angrier side of black metal is your preference, this is worth
checking out. Pretty savage vocals, too.
Paganized
the cheesiest of folky melodies. The sad part is that some of the riffing is
actually pretty groovy and cool, complemented by a sweet guitar sound and
musicianship that you wouldn’t expect from such an underground outfit. Inevitably, all is ruined by the sudden
tooting of some of the more ridiculous synth flutes and hokey piping I’ve ever
come across. The folk elements just don’t fit here— they’re corny, and coupled
with vocals that would make Abbath jealous, the whole album becomes more of a
merry black metal comedy than anything resembling sinister. Somehow, though,
I’m still finding it hard not to frolic along to this.
Vreid – I Krig
fan should be aware of. While I’m not sure I like it more than Pitch Black Brigade, Vreid mix it up a
bit more this time around, particularly with the pummeling Vaepna Lengsil. On that note, they’re starting to remind me a bit
of Tulus, which is generally a good thing. There’s really not much else to say.
If you like simple, no-nonsense, mid-tempo black metal, this pretty much fucking rocks.
– Manifest
is a return to the proper ass-raping, amp-blowing, urethra-shredding sado metal
that we’ve all come to expect from Impaled Nazarene. This is easily their
sickest and most punk-infused release to date. Relentlessly punishing from
start to finish, each song cuts a fat rail of meth-addled mania for the brain
to fry in. Hell, I’ll go as far as to say it’s their best because we all know
Imp Naz suck when they’re on the comedown.
Demiurg – Breath
of the Demiurg
How many bands will Dan Swanö be in before he kicks? The good part about Danny
being involved is that you can expect the production to be good, if not great
most of the time. Unlike, say, Bloodbath, Demiurg weave a more old school vibe
through the music. And unlike, say, Evocation, Demiurg doesn’t completely suck
shit-collared cock. But unlike, say, Comecon, Demiurg didn’t employ the
services of Martin van Drunen, which is a shame because Rogge sounds like Åkerfeldt
with a cold. The guitar certainly bears remnants of the classic Swedish style
but there’s no direct and shameless Entombed or early Grave buttgobbling here,
just solid death metal with a Scando twist.
to Society
can. I’ve never been a big fan of Master due mainly to Speckmann’s vocals.
Let’s face it, they’re sort of constipated and lame, and I suppose they’ve just
never really sat well with me. The lyrics have always been awful to boot. For
some reason I’m not minding the vox as much on Slaves to Society, which is a terribly unimaginative album title by
the way. The cover art is atrocious as well. This is the same old Master but Slaves
feels like a throwback, which is probably why I sort of like it. Then again,
it’s faster and more fluid than Four More
Years. Ok, nevermind, get rid of Speckmann and you’ve got a pretty cool
death/thrash album. Whatever. It’s fucking Master, dude. Who cares?
Cycles
5 crust/grind albums of all time. Exit
was mediocre and Murderworks, apart
from the rad drumming, was fairly standard death metal in the end. With Cycles we hear plenty of insanely fast
blasting with a good mix of UP-style
crust riffing sprinkled in. This is still a grindcore album, by all means, as
most of the songs don’t eclipse the two minute mark. With 18 of them, though, I
don’t really feel short changed. The good thing about Cycles is that it should appeal to fans across the grind spectrum,
from Nasum worshipers to Regurgitate fanatics. This kicks a lot of ass.
of the Tyrant
years and I’ve not been a fan of one of them. Sure, guitar work, uh huh, Angela sucks unless she is topless
too.
Devil Driver – The Last Kind Words
only riding Dezzie’s coattails, but this is unspeakably, unforgivably horrid
shit. A reason for Dez to expunge his inner demons? You guys should be ashamed
of yourselves, selling your souls to tour with the likes of Dimmu? I wish
nothing but annual Rocklahoma gigs
for you in the next twenty years.
Disfear – Live The Storm
death n’ roll brainchild rules. It’s not as crusty as Misanthropic Generation but the production is crystal clear, the
vocals are way sicker, and every song is headbangingly catchy. We’ve got
sing-along choruses, twangy solos, bludgeoning Uffe Cederland groove riffs, skull-splitting
drums, furious vocals, and, well basically the soundtrack to a good, drunken
street brawl. Come December, this will surely go down as one of the best metal
albums of 2008. I wish I lived in
because they’re playing some gigs with Rotten Sound in February. Mandatory listening.
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