Tag Archives: death metal

Album Review – Sectesy / The Shreds Of Oblivion (2014)

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Good old school raw Death Metal from Czech Republic that fans of the genre will surely enjoy.

Rating5

sectesy_sooThere’s nothing like enjoying a good beer while listening to Heavy Metal, don’t you think? And if you’re in the Czech Republic (or anywhere else in the world, of course) and would like a rawer Death Metal to go together with your delicious Pilsner Urquell, I recommend you take a listen at The Shreds Of Oblivion, the debut album from Czech Death Metal band Sectesy.

It’s nice to listen to a professionally recorded album like this that didn’t lose that necessary rawness of Death Metal during the process, and although the overall result lacks some more creativity, the first impression of what this Kolín-based band formed in 2011 can produce was very good. While listening to The Shreds Of Oblivion, you’ll notice a lot of influences from very traditional Death Metal bands such as Dismember, Unleashed, Death, among others, with the difference that all songs are a bit longer than what we usually get with this type of music, with a few tracks even going over the 6-minute mark. Maybe that’s due to some influence from Thrash Metal masters Exodus, especially from their latest albums, who knows? Thrash and Death Metal, despite being different genres, have lots of characteristics in common, and navigating from one to another is always healthy for any band.

The opening track also seems to be the one Sectesy are using to promote their album: after a short but fun intro (“Oh, shit!”), the band offers us a havoc named Blood Red Path, a traditional Death Metal song with no modern shit added to it, only pure fuckin’ old school with excellent guttural by singer Roman “Bárny” Tygl, good guitar solos, and to make things even more fun they recorded a music video for it full of one of the most trendy topics worldwide, zombies, including the band itself as living dead corpses. It’s not the best music video in the world, but it’s pretty decent for a new band like that.

Homicidal Premotions, which starts with some kind of choir intro, is heavier but slower than the previous song, with really nice drumming and guitar solo. By the way, pretty much all guitar solos in the album seem to have an extra purpose of not letting the songs get tiring after a while (most probably because of the length of the songs), which also happens in the following song, Soul Erosion, with lots of good shredding and riffs, and vocals that remind me of some of the stuff recorded by Death Metal icon Glen Benton with his band Deicide.

sectesyWe then have the excellent Crushing Humanity, one of the best tracks of the album with an interesting acoustic intro that evolves to a clean but brutal riff, and even deeper guttural that perfectly blends with the guitar solo and the acoustic guitar parts; and the powerful Inside of Red Anger, another track with an atmospheric and smooth intro that after 3 minutes turns into pure traditional Death Metal. It’s another one of the top moments in The Shreds Of Oblivion, and I’m sure it will work even better when played live.

Finally, the last part of the album is composed by Self-Deterioration, a direct heavy track that lacks more originality; Beyond the Gates of Doom, with its drums, riffs and vocals functioning very well together, plus another interesting clean solo halfway to the end; and In the Blazing River, a cover version for one of the the oldest Czech Death Metal band of all, Krabathor, which ends up working more like a tribute than just a cover song. Moreover, if you listen to the original version of it, you’ll see how good the job done in the new version by drummer Václav Paštyka was in keeping all that awesome groove from the original drums.

The album art couldn’t be more traditional or more Death Metal than that, and even the band logo is old school. In summary, we have another good Death Metal band from Eastern Europe in the market, and consequently another good option to bang our heads and get into some crazy circle pits with our friends while having a beer. Sectesy are definitely not trying to be innovative nor modern with The Shreds Of Oblivion (which can be purchased HERE): all they want to do is play some good old Death Metal for the fans, and if they keep working hard and being honest with what they do, they will go places indeed.

Best moments of the album: Blood Red Path, Crushing Humanity and Inside of Red Anger.

Worst moments of the album: Homicidal Premotions and Self-Deterioration.

Released in 2014 Nice to Eat You Records/Blast Head Records

Track listing
1. Blood Red Path 5:02
2. Homicidal Premotions 6:40
3. Soul Erosion 5:09
4. Crushing Humanity 4:54
5. Inside of Red Anger 5:23
6. Self-Deterioration 5:04
7. Beyond the Gates of Doom 6:05
8. In the Blazing River (Krabathor cover) 5:32

Band members
Roman “Bárny” Tygl – vocals
Ladislav Zahradník – guitars
David “Dejvy” Krédl – guitars
Ondrek “Rip” Helar – bass
Václav Paštyka – drums

 

Album Review – Cauldron Black Ram / Stalagmire (2014)

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The music from Down Under has never been so obscure and devilish.

Rating5

CoverIt’s time to visit our friends from Down Under in search for some well-executed heavy music. However, this time our focus is not the traditional Hard Rock from AC/DC or Airbourne, but the extreme music from Australian Black/Death Metal band Cauldron Black Ram and their new album, the 100% evil Stalagmire.

The band has been on the road for quite a while, more specifically since 1996, having already released a couple of demos and full-length albums, but of course due to their raw, unpolished and gruesome musicality, it was pretty hard for them to reach a bigger and more diversified audience in the past. At least the Internet has evolved a lot in the past few years  and nowadays even headbangers from the other side of the world (like here in Canada) are able to enjoy the music from bands like this obscure Australian crew.

The opening track is a very good sample of what Cauldron Black Ram are capable of doing:  Fork Through Pitch is a diabolic mix of Death and Doom Metal, with traditional instrumental and harsh vocals that will please all fans of extreme music, especially because of the band’s previously mentioned rough production. The following track, Maw, goes on with the obscurity with its melancholic intro, good old-style riffs and vocals even more devilish than the previous song, while Discarded Death is a more Black Metal tune, where the good pace of drums and the deeper growling make it pure evil.

A Litany of Sailors Sins is a really slow-paced and dark tune, sometimes so macabre and heavy that I think people who are not really into Death and Black Metal will feel bad after listening to it. Well, that’s one of the main objectives of this type of music, right? Anyway, the nice guitar solo mixed with fast drumming by the end of the song gives it an extra dose of energy, which ends up preparing us for Bats, the fastest track of the album, full of awesome screaming and twisted riffs heavier than hell, and in my humble opinion one of the best songs of Stalagmire.

Cauldron-Black-RamCavern Fever is pretty decent instrumental track similar to Cannibal Corpse’s “Relentless Beating”, showcasing the talent of the musicians, while From Whence the Old Skull Came should be chosen as the perfect soundtrack to apocalypse: it might have a very simple and repetitive riff, but it’s at the same time extremely effective in sending the message desired by the band.

Finally, we have another extremely rudimentary track, The Devil’s Trotters, which not only sounds like the Devil himself is singing in it, but it also has some excellent rude bass lines that make it stand out from all other tracks of the album; and the obscure Speliogenesis, a song that could easily summarize pain, agony, sadness and despair in music if someone asked you to do that. Moreover, its pure Doom Metal vocals and extremely dense riffs help closing the album in the most demonic way possible.

The album art is as primitive as their music, and besides that, one interesting characteristic I could notice in their music was the addition of many elements from Stoner Metal the likes of Down and Crowbar, and even some hints of the Doom Metal played by Danzig and Black Sabbath, which in the end is undoubtedly healthful for the band and its future in heavy music.

In short, if you enjoy “evil” music, Stalagmire is a very good option to invest your hard-earned money, which can be done at the 20 Buck Spin official webshop (both the CD and the LP versions of the album are available there) or you can stream it and download it at the 20 Buck Spin Bandcamp page.

Best moments of the album: Fork Through Pitch, Bats and The Devil’s Trotters.

Worst moments of the album: Maw and Discarded Death.

Released in 2014 20 Buck Spin

Track listing
1. Fork Through Pitch 3:19
2. Maw 3:20
3. Discarded Death 4:07
4. A Litany of Sailors Sins 4:16
5. Bats 3:37
6. Cavern Fever 2:35
7. From Whence the Old Skull Came 3:13
8. The Devil’s Trotters 4:13
9. Speliogenesis 4:23

Band members
Esh – drums, vocals
Alim – guitar, vocals
Ben Newsome – vocals, bass

Album Review – Bjarm / Imminence (2014)

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This new Symphonic Black Metal band from Russia has what it takes to conquer the world of heavy music.

Rating4

bjarm_imminenceAlthough the Winter Olympics 2014 are over, let’s stay in Russia and enjoy the obscure Imminence, the debut album from Symphonic Black Metal band Bjarm. Formed in 2009 and based in the city of Severodvinsk, in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, the name of the band was not chosen in vain: Bjarmaland (also spelled Bjarmland or Bjarmia) was a territory mentioned in Norse sagas up to the Viking Age, and it usually referred to the southern shores of the White Sea and the basin of the Northern Dvina River, which today comprise a part of the Arkhangelsk Oblast of Russia. In other words, the band has a very creative and strong name, but what about their music?

Honestly, it’s very difficult to find anything from Russian Heavy Metal bands on the web and even harder at any music store (at least here in Canada), so I didn’t know what to expect from Bjarm. I personally don’t remember listening to or reading about any bands from Russia except for Symphonic Power Metal band Арктида (Arktida) and Epic Pagan Metal band Аркона (Arkona), and even in those two cases the information is usually very scarce. However, I went to a Helloween concert during my vacation last year in Saint Petersburg and was able to see how passionate Russian fans are for heavy music, so in my mind I started to imagine their music as something at least full of passion and feeling.

And for my total happiness, I was not wrong: the final result in Imminence outdid all my expectations in terms of creativity, intensity and professionalism. Bjarm might be essentially a Black Metal band, but by adding many elements from Symphonic Metal and Death Metal in their music they were able to create a more complex musicality than just some raw generic Black Metal. Not only that, the fact that Imminence was mixed at a good studio such as Stone Oil Studio and mastered by Tony Lindgren (who has already worked with great bands like Paradise Lost and Kreator) at Fascination Street Studios, provided the album a very good and professional sound quality too.

The imposing intro Approaching Of The Close opens the album in a way that would make the guys from Cradle of Filth very proud, as it reminds me of their famous intros from the albums Dusk and Her Embrace and Cruelty and the Beast, followed by the dark and heavy Knowledge Of Doom, a pure Black Metal song with amazing female vocals and atmospheric keyboards, and without any doubt one of the best tracks in Imminence. The obscurity goes on with Ominous Dreams, with highlights to the deep growling by Andrey and the extremely heavy riffs mixed with some more strong keyboard notes.

The next track, The Nine Worlds, is one of the fastest of all (if not the fastest) especially due to the Death Metal elements found in it; it’s not less symphonic, though, as the keyboards are always there to give it that Black Metal touch. Fire Lord’s Torment sounds like if it was extracted from a horror movie soundtrack, with a beautiful piano in the beginning that works as an intro to a very heavy and dense sequence, while the title-track, Imminence, is an instrumental song very well-executed by all band members, especially the keyboards by the gorgeous Anastasiya. By the way, what’s the secret with the girls in Russia? I’ve never seen a single Russian girl that is not pretty!

bjarmGetting back to the music in Imminence, the next track, Oracle, is very melancholic and evil, and has lots of elements from Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir in it, especially the diabolic vocals by Andrey that seem to be really inspired by Shagrath, while Secret Of The Immortals gets back to a more symphonic sonority with total focus on the sound of the keyboards together with the rhythmic drums.

The last part of Imminence is composed by the song The Highest Hall, another evil track that sounds a lot like some old Dimmu Borgir songs with a pretty decent job done by drummer Vitaliy, and Tree On The Bones, a truly grim track that, although not as creative as the rest of the album, ends it in a way that will let all listeners with a very good impression of the work done by the band, eager for more of Bjarm’s Symphonic Black Metal and to see them recreating all that dark atmosphere in a live concert.

The album art, designed by artist Al.Ex, from the Mayhem Project, is also very professional, and of course, dense and obscure as expected, increasing the overall quality of Imminence even more. I’m pretty sure all band members are extremely proud of their “child”, and let’s hope new good bands like Bjarm keep coming from Russia or any other countries to provide us metalheads more unique and interesting music like what’s found in Imminence.

Best moments of the album: Knowledge Of Doom, Ominous Dreams and Oracle.

Worst moments of the album: Fire Lord’s Torment and Tree On The Bones.

Released in 2014 Fono Ltd.

Track listing
1. Approaching Of The Close 3:32
2. Knowledge Of Doom 6:33
3. Ominous Dreams 6:23
4. The Nine Worlds 5:55
5. Fire Lord’s Torment 6:04
6. Imminence 3:46
7. Oracle 3:47
8. Secret Of The Immortals 4:33
9. The Highest Hall 4:13
10. Tree On The Bones 5:30

Band members
Andrey – Vocal
Egor – Guitar
Anastasiya – Keyboards
Aleksey – Guitar
Mikhail – Bass
Vitaliy – Drums

Album Review – Behemoth / The Satanist (2014)

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Vile, obscure and impressive: these are just a few words that can be used to describe  the new album by Poland’s most influential Heavy Metal band of all time.

Rating3

Behemoth_TheSatanistIf anyone asked me “what’s the darkest and most obscure Heavy Metal band in activity today?”, I would probably point to the infamous Polish Blackened Death Metal band Behemoth. And with the release of their new album, The Satanist, they totally corroborate my opinion: from their Black Metal back in 1991 when they started in Gdańsk, Poland, until their current Blackened Death Metal, it’s easy to see their evolution to a more devilish music approach, which makes me think we should call it an “evil-lution”.

The Satanist is Behemoth’s tenth studio album, and the first after the band’s mastermind Adam “Nergal” Darski was diagnosed with leukemia in August 2010. It’s amazing to see how well he has been recovering from this fearful disease and how he was able to canalize all the pain and suffering into Behemoth’s music, proving to ignorant people he’s not being “punished by God” or any other stupidity like that just because he plays extreme music, but that he’s only a normal human being, a talented musician that had to fight for his life. Besides, if you were one of those people that got “happy” to see him being “punished” with leukemia just because of the type of art he creates, well, you’re A LOT worse than the creature you think Nergal is.

Anyway, let’s get back to the music, which is what really matters here. If you have a weak stomach or suffer from any heart disease, do not even begin listening to this album: The Satanist starts with the extremely heavy song Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel, with its brutal lyrics (“I saw the virgin’s cunt spawning forth the snake / I witnessed tribes ov Judah reduced to ruin / I watched disciples twelve dissolved by flame / Looked down on son ov god snuffed in vain”) and creepy pace. In case you love horror movies like I do, you must take a look at their music video for this song: it reminds me of some great movies such as The Omen, Hellraiser and especially The Ring. You can check the censored version at the end of this review, or the uncensored one HERE, but let me just inform you that the only difference I noticed between both are the girl’s blurred nipples in the censored version, nothing else.

behemothThe next track, Furor Divinus, is more Black Metal, especially the drums by Inferno, while Messe Noire gets back to their later Death Metal with some amazing guitar solos at the end. The second single extracted from the album, Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer, is another tenebrous fast track perfect for live performances, with great riffs and an excellent job done by Nergal on vocals. Amen is as heavy as hell, an evil sonic massacre that fans will love, while the title-track The Satanist doesn’t reach the same level as the previous tracks, despite having an interesting atmosphere.

The album continues with Ben Sahar, an average track with good drums and riffs, and In the Absence Ov Light, another heavy track where Inferno pounds his drums mercilessly. The last track of the album, O Father O Satan O Sun!, is the perfect soundtrack for a horror movie, with its strong lyrics, frightful atmosphere, and the “speech” in the final two minutes of this song are more than amazing.

I guess I don’t need to say anything about the controversial lyrics, or about the superb album art by Russian artist Denis Forkas Kostromitin. Those are “extras” to a great work done by Nergal and his band, which becomes even more impressive due to the thin line we all know that exists between being awesome or totally ridiculous in the world of Black Metal. Let’s hope Behemoth continues on the awesome side, and that their evil empire of music keeps blowing our minds for many years to come.

Best moments of the album: Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel, O Father O Satan O Sun!, Amen and Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer.

Worst moments of the album: The Satanist and Ben Sahar.

Released in 2014 Nuclear Blast Records

Track listing
1. Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel 4:25
2. Furor Divinus 3:06
3. Messe Noire 4:04
4. Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer 5:35
5. Amen 3:49
6. The Satanist 5:33
7. Ben Sahar 5:34
8. In the Absence Ov Light 4:58
9. O Father O Satan O Sun! 7:13

Australian/Japanese edition bonus tracks
10. Ludzie Wschodu (Siekiera cover) 4:11
11. Chant for Ezkaton 2000 E.V. (Japanese version only) 5:10
12. Qadosh (Japanese version only) 5:00

Band members
Adam “Nergal” Darski – lead vocals, guitars
Tomasz “Orion” Wróblewski – bass guitar
Zbigniew Robert “Inferno” Promiński – drums and percussion
Patryk Dominik “Seth” Sztyber – guitars

Additional musicians
Krzysztof “Siegmar” Oloś (Vesania) – samples
Michał Łapaj (Riverside) – Hammond organ

Metal Chick of the Month – Doris Yeh

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Set Fire to the Island, Doris!

There’s nothing better than starting this year with a special post about the charming musician and activist Doris Yeh. Born in Taipei (or Taipei City), Taiwan on September 19, 1976 (at least, this is the date I found after a lot of effort!) and nicknamed “Thunder Tears” in her band Chthonic, this Taiwanese beauty is a good example of how music and imagery walk hand in hand on the path to success nowadays. Her exotic Asian traces, together with the powerful heavy music played by Chthonic, are leading her and the band to stardom not only in the East, but in the whole world of music.

Doris herself doesn’t like to define Chthonic’s music style as Extreme, Death or Black Metal. In fact, she prefers calling what their band does as “Orient Metal”, especially because the Western definition of heavy music is not the same as the one in Asian countries. We have to agree with her and the rest of the band that what Chthonic do is totally different from the traditional North American and European Thrash/Death Metal, because despite being heavy music they add many different elements (like the interesting instrument Erhu) and have a unique way to express themselves visually.

In one of her interviews, Doris said she used to play the piano when she was a child, and kept playing it for about 10 years before starting playing bass. She then joined Chthonic in 1999, replacing bassist Xiao-Yu, recording her first album with the band, 9th Empyrean. After that, she recorded the albums Relentless Recurrence (2002), Seediq Bale (2005) and Mirror of Retribution (2009), but her best albums with Chthonic are without any doubt Takasago Army (2011) and their most recent album, Bú-Tik (2013), where it’s easy to notice her improvement as a musican and her growing importance to the band’s current success.

Giants like Iron Maiden, Nine Inch Nails and Slayer, and more obscure bands such as Emperor and At The Gates, are among her biggest influences in music, and when asked about a great female bass player she enjoys, Doris mentioned the American alternative rock musician Kim Gordon, showing she’s not only connected to heavy music in her life.

Doris Yeh’s onstage performance is always amazing, not only due to her talent as a musician but also because of her beauty and energy. I had the privilege to see Chthonic live in Toronto during Arch Enemy’s North American Khaos Tour 2011, which also had DevilDriver and Skeletonwitch as opening acts, and I was impressed by her nonstop headbanging and total commitment to the band’s music and to the fans.

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After a couple of years with Chthonic, Doris became the band’s official spokesperson and business manager, taking over the responsibilities from the band’s founder and lead singer Freddy Lim. She is also seen as a sex symbol (surprise, surprise!) and often works as a top model too, appearing on the cover of different magazines in Taiwan and in the rest of the world, like Body Magazine, Revolver Magazine and FHM Magazine. Not only that, Doris also joins her Metal friends Angela Gossow and Alissa White-Gluz in the world of activism by supporting the Awakening Foundation, a Taiwanese organization founded in 1982 which main goal is promoting women’s rights and self-awareness.

In October 2012, Chthonic released a very special 96-page book of sexy photos of Doris taken at the Green Island in Taiwan, entitled Set Fire to the Island, which also includes a single that according to the band is a “symphony with piano, strings, and wind music, so that you may enjoy it not only with your eyes, but also with your ears.” Well, I still prefer Chthonic’s regular music, but I must admit that those astonishing pictures of Doris together with some good symphonic music are a delight for any fan of Chthonic’s unique bassist.

Equipment
Bass: ESP – Andromeda (5-string signature bass)
Amp – head : Ampeg SVT 450
Amp – cab : Ampeg SVT 410HLF
Effects: MXR M80 BASS DI

Doris Yeh’s Official Facebook page
Doris Yeh’s Official Twitter

“‘Dream big’ won’t make you a great person, ‘Do it’ will.” – Doris Yeh

Album Review – Skeletonwitch / Serpents Unleashed (2013)

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The ‘Witch returns with 31 minutes of pure destruction.

Rating4

Serpents_UnleashedThe first time I saw or listened to Skeletonwitch was back in 2011 when they were one of the opening acts for Arch Enemy here in Toronto (the other opening acts were DevilDriver and Chthonic, just so you can imagine how awesome that night was), and since then I’ve become really interested in their brutal music. Now this band from Ohio is back with another extremely heavy album, Serpents Unleashed, which is already being considered by many the best Thrash/Death Metal album of 2013 (you can listen to the entire album here) . And after listening to it, I kind of agree with that.

The opening track (and also the title-track) Serpents Unleashed is Hell on Earth! What a ferocious and intense massacre! Moreover, I like the fact they usually add many Black Metal elements to their music without sounding like a Black Metal band, which is already clear from the very beginning of the song. Beneath Dead Leaves keeps up with the devastation with its insane drums, pretty good riffs and crazy solos, while I Am of Death (Hell Has Arrived) is heavy, fast and has all the elements the fans of the band love in it. I saw the video for it a while ago and I have to say that it wouldn’t have been so great with a different song; it’s the best song of the album in my opinion.

The next tracks are From a Cloudless Sky, which has a nice intro and captivating riffs, and I can imagine how crazy the circle pits are going to be when it’s played live;  Burned from Bone, another fast tempo song with some more Black Metal elements (especially the riffs); and Unending, Everliving, a song that starts slowly if compared to the previous tracks, but then resumes the accelerated speed of the album.

SkeletonwitchThe second half of the album begins with Blade on the Flesh, Blood on My Hands, an intense song full of non-stop drums and riffs and a good chorus. It’s definitely another recommended track for some good mosh pits if played live. Then comes This Evil Embrace, which reminds me a little of some old Slayer songs, with a chorus that is pure Black Metal and the best guitar solo of the whole album. The worst song of Serpents Unleashed is Unwept: despite not actually being a bad song, it sounds too generic for me and lacks some creativity. The following track has the coolest name of all, Born of the Light That Does Not Shine, and delivers some more musical brutality for the delight of all Skeletonwitch fans. The album ends with its longest song More Cruel Than Weak (the only one with over 4 minutes), which provides us some high quality riffs and drums, and of course, a lot of violence.

The lyrics are gruesome as usual, but I guess you’re not expecting them to start singing about butterflies and unicorns, right? And finally, the album has an astonishing front cover: it looks like they hired a very talented Gothic artist from the 15th century to paint it! I love when the album art is not some generic computer-based image and adds a lot to the whole concept of the album, like what happens with Serpents Unleashed.

In summary, the ‘Witch proves again why they’re considered one of the best bands of the Thrash/Death Metal scene, with Chance Garnette doing an exceptional job with his unique guttural vocals. That guy sings like the most evil and hideous witch in the history of mankind, something that became a trademark in Skeletonwitch’s music. One might say the songs are too short, but remember that’s how Slayer has always released their albums, and all songs in Serpents Unleashed are as heavy as they can be. It’s just a matter of quality over quantity.

One final interesting fact about Serpents Unleash is that the band is even selling a pretty cool cassette tape version of it, just when we thought those types of media were long gone. Well, a lot of people thought heavy music was dead and gone years ago, but as you can see with bands like Skeletonwitch pulverizing everything, they were fuckin’ wrong.

Best moments of the album: Serpents Unleashed, I Am of Death (Hell Has Arrived) and This Evil Embrace.

Worst moments of the album: Unending, Everliving and Unwept.

Released in 2013 Prosthetic Records

Track listing
1. Serpents Unleashed 2:11
2. Beneath Dead Leaves 3:07
3. I Am of Death (Hell Has Arrived) 2:47
4. From a Cloudless Sky 2:48
5. Burned from Bone 2:39
6. Unending, Everliving 3:03
7. Blade on the Flesh, Blood on My Hands 2:26
8. This Evil Embrace 3:39
9. Unwept 2:25
10. Born of the Light That Does Not Shine 2:18
11. More Cruel Than Weak 4:18

Band members
Chance Garnette – lead vocals
Nate “N8 Feet Under” Garnette – guitars
Scott “Scunty D.” Hedrick – guitars
Evan “Loosh” Linger – bass
Dustin Boltjes – drums

Album Review – Cannibal Corpse / Vile (1996)

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Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Mr. George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher.

Rating3

VilecannibalcorpseThe year of 1996 was excellent for heavy music fans, with bands like Sepultura, Slayer, Pantera, In Flames and Stratovarius launching some unique albums, and of course we also had the ferocious Vile from Death Metal icons Cannibal Corpse, this time with a fresh new singer, George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher. Although some old diehard fans didn’t enjoy the change, in my opinion Chris Barnes always sounded like a desperate gorilla choking on his own vomit screaming for help, while Corpsegrinder added more dynamism and creativity to the band’s music.

Devoured By Vermin opens this musical massacre at a very high level, showing what to expect from the rest of the album. This quickly became my top Cannibal Corpse song of all time, even better than their most acclaimed classic Hammer Smashed Face, and even after listening to what was going to be the original version before Barnes left I still prefer the official one the band re-recorded with Corpsegrinder on vocals.

cannibalcorpse1996promophoto1The following three songs keep on “destroying” our necks and bodies: Mummified in Barbed Wire, Perverse Suffering and Disfigured, especially this last one, are perfect for any circle-pits or for a heavy workout at the gym after a stressful day at school or work. With Bloodlands the band seems to give a break to all the insanity with a heavy but slow song, just to get back as fast and destructible as possible with the amazing Puncture Wound Massacre and the instrumental Relentless Beating. The album continues with another great song for a horror movie soundtrack, Absolute Hatred, the violent Eaten from Inside (which has some awesome riffs and solos), and the short but complex Orgasm Through Torture (what a beautiful name). The last song, Monolith, is nice but sounds too generic compared to the rest of the album. Nothing that makes Vile less amazing, though.

There’s not much to say about the totally brutal and gruesome lyrics, or about the insanely evil front cover (if you’re a pussy, go for the censored version of it). Those are trademarks of one of the heaviest bands on Earth and make the final material even better. The guitar players do an excellent job and I’ve already said what I think about Corpsegrinder, but let me focus on Paul Mazurkiewicz and Alex Webster. Paul is not a simple drummer, he’s a ruthless human jackhammer, while Alex is a beast that makes anyone completely forget about Cliff Burton after listening to his demented and unmatched bass lines.

You can say whatever you want about the band with Barnes or Corpsegrinder on vocals, as each fan of the band has their own reasons to prefer this or that guttural style, but one thing is certain: Cannibal Corpse’s Vile kicks some serious fuckin’ ass and is mandatory in the collection of anyone who appreciates some brutal and extremely technical high-quality Death Metal.

Best moments of the album: Devoured By Vermin, Disfigured and Puncture Wound Massacre.

Worst moments of the album: Bloodlands and Monolith.

Released in 1996 Metal Blade Records

Track listing
1. Devoured by Vermin 3:13
2. Mummified in Barbed Wire 3:09
3. Perverse Suffering 4:14
4. Disfigured 3:48
5. Bloodlands 4:20
6. Puncture Wound Massacre 1:41
7. Relentless Beating 2:14
8. Absolute Hatred 3:05
9. Eaten from Inside 3:43
10. Orgasm Through Torture 3:41
11. Monolith 4:24

Band members
George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher – vocals
Rob Barrett – guitar
Jack Owen – guitar
Alex Webster – bass
Paul Mazurkiewicz – drums

Metal Chick of the Month – Angela Gossow

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angela01

Be As Free As You Can Be!

Every month from now on I’ll try to add a special post about an important woman in the world of Heavy Metal. Although we live in a very sexist world, I want to focus on the importance of each selected girl to heavy music, not only on their beauty. Well, most of them end up being very pretty, but let’s say that’s just a bonus to their talent, right?

The first one is in fact one of the heaviest and most eloquent of all: Angela Gossow is a beast (I would say she’s the personification of Megadeth’s She-Wolf), and at the same time a role model to many girls that are taking their chances in the world of Metal or to the ones that decided to become more engaged in social projects for human or animal rights.

Angela Nathalie Gossow was born on November 5, 1974 in Cologne, Germany, and she’s been on the road since 1991, beginning with the cool band Asmodina, then with Mistress and finally with one of my favorite bands in recent years, the Swedish Death Metal band Arch Enemy. I personally don’t think she will ever leave Arch Enemy and start a solo career, especially because she’s married to band’s guitar and founder, Michael Amott, and became some kind of leader of the group.

Her greatest strength is, of course, her unmatched guttural voice. I’ve seen Arch Enemy live once in Toronto, and it’s impressive how she can recreate on stage exactly what you listen to in their studio versions during the entire concert. Some Heavy Metal giants are among her biggest influences, as for example Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Chuck Billy (Testament) and Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), and what’s really interesting here is that it’s possible to notice nuances from each of these guys in her style and technique, even from a non-guttural singer like Halford.

Another extremely relevant point that must be taken into account in her entire career is her mighty on-stage performance. She sings, screams, bangs her head non-stop and interacts with the crowd all the time, making the experience of seeing Arch Enemy live even more delightful. There are so many Metal guys that consider themselves as being “the toughest men on Earth”, but that in fact do not deliver on stage not even 10% of what Angela does, and that’s a very good reason to respect this woman even more as an artist and a performer.

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On the other hand, as a lyricist she still has a long way to go. I’m not saying that I don’t like the band’s most recent albums (I love the musicality in Rise of the Tyrant and Khaos Legions), but the problem here is that since she started having more decision-making power in the band, despite the important messages she’s been trying to send to everybody about animal rights, religion or anarchism, all lyrics became too repetitive. She can keep on talking about those topics in her songs, but she needs to try doing that in a more creative way. If she refines her writing style, Arch Enemy will grow even more.

Regarding being a role model to many Metal or non-Metal girls, the fact that she’s an anarchist, an atheist, a vegan and a Death Metal singer, all at the same time, makes her unique and helps her influence a lot any woman that is pursuing a career in different areas ruled by men in our society, including heavy music. Angela and the rest of the band are huge supporters of non-profit organizations like Amnesty International and peta2 (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), sometimes even mixing their music with those institutions either by participating in some of their events or by allowing them to sell merchandise with the band’s name on it.

And lastly, let’s reflect about an insightful thought from Angela about religion and atheism. What do you think about it? Do you agree with her?

“To me, human rights go hand in hand with atheism. Atheists cannot hold some insane religious tradition responsible for their horrible deeds against mankind. We are fully responsible for everything we do. Until this does not apply to all religions on a world-wide basis I feel that religion is indeed the root of all evil.” – Angela Gossow

Album Review – Sepultura / The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart (2013)

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Another good album from the most important Brazilian Metal band of all time.

Rating5

Sepultura_-_The_Mediator_Between_Head_and_Hands_Must_Be_the_Heart_artworkIf there’s one thing that can be considered a true innovation in the new Sepultura album is its name: The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart is by far their most complex and longest album name ever. Take a look at their discography (if you’ve never seen it) and you’ll notice all albums have very short and direct names, such as Arise, Roots, Against, Nation, Roorback and Kairos. However, despite its creative name, the album doesn’t really bring anything new to the world of heavy music. It’s a good album with some interesting moments, but nothing that can be considered “above and beyond”.

I enjoyed a lot the opening track, Trauma of War. In my opinion, it has an excellent intro and reminds me of some insane 80’s Thrash Metal! The Vatican, the second track of the album, also has a cool intro, strong lyrics and sounds like classic Death Metal in most of its 6 minutes. Then that’s when the problems start with The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart: all the other songs sound very similar to each other. Impending Doom is one of the closest tracks to what Sepultura has been doing in the past few years, but it becomes quite boring after 2 minutes. Manipulation of Tragedy has the same problem as the previous track, while Tsunami might remind me a little of the old “Chaos A.D./Roots” days but this doesn’t make the song remarkable. The next track,The Bliss of Ignorants, has very “Roots” intro and riffs and this could have evolved to something more interesting. And Grief starts with a very clean guitar that goes on for about 2 minutes, then it becomes Doom Metal-like and that’s it, nothing special.

sepulturaThe last three songs raise the bar a little: The Age of the Atheist (the first single of the album) has awesome drums and it’s a perfect representation of Sepultura post-Roots; Obsessed has the best Metal drummer in the world, Mr. Dave Lombardo, as a special guest, and of course he adds a lot of feeling to the song with his unique technique; and the last track of the album, called Da Lama ao Caos, is a superb version for a song from a non-Metal Brazilian group called Chico Science & Nação Zumbi (it’s way better than the original song, by the way).

Regarding the job done by each band member, Derrick keeps singing like a caveman inside a cave fighting with a saber tooth (or vice-versa). Although his voice will never be as good as Max Cavalera’s, it works well for what the band needs nowadays. Eloy Casagrande is improving his drumming technique year after year, becoming faster and more violent, Paulo does a consistent job on bass, and Andreas shows why he’s the best Brazilian guitar player of all time.

The cover art matches perfectly with the album name, and maybe this is the best thing in its entirety. I’m not saying it’s a bad album, not at all. It’s pretty straight forward Heavy Metal material and I do love all music from Sepultura. It’s just that I know those guys can do better than this.

Best moments of the album: Trauma of War, The Vatican and Da Lama ao Caos.

Worst moments of the album: Impending Doom, Manipulation of Tragedy and Grief.

Released in 2013 Nuclear Blast

Track listing
1. Trauma of War 3:45
2. The Vatican 6:33
3. Impending Doom 4:15
4. Manipulation of Tragedy 4:16
5. Tsunami 5:10
6. The Bliss of Ignorants 4:51
7. Grief 5:34
8. The Age of the Atheist 4:19
9. Obsessed (feat. Dave Lombardo) 3:53
10. Da Lama ao Caos (Chico Science & Nação Zumbi cover) 4:28

Band members
Derrick Green − lead vocals
Andreas Kisser − guitars, vocals on “Da Lama ao Caos”
Paulo Jr. − bass guitar
Eloy Casagrande – drums