Are you ready for an excellent album of Horror Metal set in mid-13th Century Eastern Europe that weaves an eerie and epic tale of witchery?
Labeling themselves as a Horror Metal concept band in which each recording is intended to be its own horror story, San Francisco, California-based Thrash/Death Metal act From Hell are unleashing upon humanity the second chapter in their horror anthology since their inception in 2010, the dark and sinister Rats & Ravens, an album set in mid-13th Century Eastern Europe that weaves an eerie and epic tale of witchery throughout its ten original tracks. Produced by Greg Wilkinson (High on Fire, Necrot, Autopsy) and mastered by Maor Appelbaum (Faith No More, Annihilator, Cynic), Rats & Ravens is not only the natural follow-up to their 2014 effort Ascent From Hell, but an evolutionary step in the career of the quartet currently comprised of the band’s mastermind and founder Aleister Sinn (also known as George Anderson) on vocals and guitar, Steve Smyth also on the guitar, Stephen Paul Goodwin on bass and Wes Anderson on drums. “The story is about a witch who desires children of her own and steals them from the villages nearby,” Aleister explains. “When she kills them, she traps the ravens who come for their souls. She keeps the children on this earth, reanimates their corpses with rats and calls them ‘Lilium.’”
Right after a short and sinister intro entitled Dark Heart, From Hell come crushing in the modern-day Thrash Metal tune They Come At Night, with its dark lyrics being manically vociferated by Aleister (“Running through the forest as daylight starts to dim / Following close behind I hear them closing in / Demons of the forest. Spirits in the wind. / Whispering in the darkness. Whispering, ‘She comes again!’”) while Stephen brings the groove with his wicked bass, followed by Lilium, a song about the proclamations from the witch as to what she has done, where the band blasts a thunderous fusion of Thrash and Groove Metal the likes of Lamb of God and Overkill, and with Aleister and Steve being merciless with their venomous riffs. And after a brilliant drum intro by Wes it’s time to slam into the pit together with From Hell in the infernal The Witch, an old school thrashing extravaganza showcasing fulminating riffs and rumbling bass punches, or in other words, the whole package diehard fans of the genre are always searching for.
Venturing through darker and more demonic lands, From Hell brings to our ears a mid-tempo, spine-chilling tune titled Don’t Cry For Help, led by the rhythmic beats by Wes while the band’s guitar duo kicks some serious ass with their riffs and solos; whereas Three And Nine is a ritualistic Thrash and Groove Metal chant where the entire band makes the skies darker and the fires form the netherworld stronger and brighter with their refined techniques, therefore keeping the level of horror in the album extremely high, and with Wes once again smashing his drums in great fashion from start to finish. Then in Forest Of The Screaming Trees a sinister, uncanny background is gradually accompanied by acoustic guitars before all hell breaks loose, morphing into a movie score-inspired Thrash Metal beast where Aleister, Steve and Stephen are in absolute sync with their hellish strings.
In the excellent Room For One those four metallers deliver a classic thrashing riffage together with vicious, pounding beats, generating the perfect ambience for Aleister and his high-pitched, devilish roars and, as a result, living up to the legacy of bands like Exodus and Testament. It’s a true headbanger, I might say, and it’s time to put the pedal to the metal and blast our ears and skulls with the frantic Body Rats, a classic Thrash Metal composition for the masses where Aleister leads his horde with his inhumane screeches while Stephen and Wes keep the earth trembling with their respective weapons. Lastly, there’s nothing better than a straightforward, in-your-face thrashing tune with some good amount of shredding, soaring screams and intricate beats like Am I Dead to properly close the album, with Wes being once again insane on drums, providing his bandmates all they need to darken our hearts and souls in the album’s climatic finale.
If you’re a fan of horror movies and at the same time a longtime admirer of Thrash and Death Metal, I highly recommend you go grab a copy of Rats & Ravens either by clicking HERE (where you can also stream it in full on Spotify) or by visiting the Scourge Records webstore, and don’t forget to follow the band on Facebook and on Instagram for an additional share of horror, blood and mystery by keeping up to date with their news, releases and tour dates. From Hell did a fantastic job uniting their scorching metal music with witchcraft in Rats & Ravens, an album that doesn’t get tiresome nor bland at any given moment; quite the contrary, this is how heavy music should always sound. Heavy, dark, intricate and, above all that, absolutely evil.
Best moments of the album: Lilium, The Witch and Room For One.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2020 Scourge Records
Track listing 1. Dark Heart 0:54
2. They Come At Night 5:49
3. Lilium 4:16
4. The Witch 5:50
5. Don’t Cry For Help 5:43
6. Three And Nine 5:29
7. Forest Of The Screaming Trees 5:49
8. Room For One 5:38
9. Body Rats 8:42
10. Am I Dead 6:56
Band members Aleister Sinn – vocals, lead guitar
Steve Smyth – lead guitar
Stephen Paul Goodwin – bass guitar
Wes Anderson – drums
As summer is just around the corner in the Northern Hemisphere, let’s take a trip to a place known not for its hot and warm weather, but for its wet and cool climate, which by the way has led to the growth of extensive forests featuring some of the largest trees in the world. I’m talking about the region known as the Pacific Northwest, in the United States, more specifically the city of Corvallis, located in central western Oregon and around 120km from the state’s largest city Portland, where our metal chick of the month, the unrelenting Malaysian-born vocalist Avienne Low, frontwoman for Progressive/Melodic Death/Black Metal unity Vintersea, has been embellishing the Pacific Northwestern airwaves with her powerful voice since moving from Penang, a state in northwest Malaysia, to pursue her studies in American soil. As you’ll be able to see, you’ll be absolutely stunned by Avienne with both her clean, delicate vocals and her infernal roars, showcasing all her vocal range and talent as the lead singer for Vintersea.
Married to a guy called Nick Kiuttu in Keizer, a city located in Marion County, Oregon, in 2016, which led her to use the name Avienne Kiuttu for a while (and because she switched back to Avienne Low I have absolutely no idea if she’s still married), Avienne started her life and career in music when she found an acoustic guitar in a box under her parents’ bed when she was 11 years old, and after having the guitar dusted and tuned, she discovered her passion for singing and performing while playing covers and originals for her family and friends. During her college years, her love for performing grew bigger as she joined an all-ladies a capella group named Divine, a small group of singers hand-picked from Oregon State University’s Bella Voce that began in 2003, with whom she stayed for about a year and a half before fully directing her focus on being the vocalist for Vintersea. Avienne also stated that “I absolutely love fronting the band, and my past experiences have cultivated my ongoing passion for singing, screaming, and performing.”
Regarding her career with Vintersea, as you might already know they are a female-fronted metal band from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, from the aforementioned city of Corvallis, born in 2016 from the ashes of a previous incarnation of the band itself when it was called Asterion, combining the essential elements of metal’s most revered sub-genres with memorable and anthemic song-writing sensibility, therefore crafting a unique brand of crushing Blackened Progressive Metal inspired by the dark skies of the Pacific Northwest and leading the band to share the stage with renowned acts the likes of Jinjer, Ne Obliviscaris and Arkona, among others.
Shortly after entering the United States, Avienne found her home with Vintersea, with guitarists Riley Nix and Jorma Spaziano, drummer Jeremy Spencer and bassist Karl Whinnery rounding out their current lineup. The band was actually born in the summer of 2014 under its previous moniker Asterion when high school friends Riley and Jeremy put out an ad on Craigslist searching for the right musicians to form a new metal act, with Avienne and Jorma (who had moved to Oregon from the east coast, not even sure he was going to be in a band anymore) responding to their ad based on a few early demos. They quickly got together and started jamming out, and it felt like a really good fit right away, which led them to start working on music and playing a few shows as Asterion, which by the way was based on stars and constellations, leaning towards a modern and progressive side of music, almost to a Djent vibe, releasing that same year a five-track EP titled Constellations, which you can enjoy in its entirety HERE or HERE.
However, despite the high-quality of the music found in their debut EP, Riley, Avienne & Co. figured out pretty quick that the music by Asterion wasn’t exactly what they wanted to do. Heavily inspired by European Black Metal, Atmospheric Metal and Post-Metal, the band started playing a hybrid of Progressive and Melodic Metal types, making the collective decision to delve headfirst into that and develop their own sound and later changing their name to Vintersea, with “Vinter” being winter and “sea” because they are from the Pacific Northwest, as grey ocean waves are a heavy asthetic. After such significant changes, they released two official full-length albums, The Gravity of Fall, in 2017, and more recently Illuminated, in 2019, and you can enjoy several top-notch music videos for some of the best songs from both albums on YouTube, such as Illuminated, The Host, Skies Set Ablaze, Old Ones and Entities, as well as their official tour video for the song The Gravity of Fall, and you can also go to Spotify or BandCamp for more of their stylish creations. Furthermore, there are some great interviews with Avienne on YouTube where you can get to know more about her role with Vintersea, such as this one given to Metal Shop Steve where she talks about their 2019 album Illuminated and their music videos, and this one to Dani Zed Reviews where they talk about several topics including their albums, the feedback received on them and their live performances.
Avienne has already made it pretty clear in several interviews that she wants to be a great metal vocalist, not just ‘great for a female’ metal vocalist, as almost all of her main influences are male vocalists or bands with male vocalists, including Ghost Iris, Disentomb, Unprocessed, Logic, Devin Townsend, Ne Obliviscaris, Enslaved, Ihsahn, Between the Buried and Me, Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir, TesseracT and Skyharbor, to name a few, with her vocal idol being Chris Barretto, from bands such as Ever Forthright, Monuments, Periphery and Haunted Shores. In addition, when Avianne was asked about how she discovered metal music and which artists and bands caught her attention while she was growing up in Malaysia, our talented vocalist answered by saying that because she didn’t have access to online platforms like BandCamp almost all the music she listened to as a child was either from the radio or MTV, mentioning Linkin Park from their Hybrid Theory days as a huge influence when she was only around seven years old. During the following decade, she got obsessed with discovering new metal bands after listening to the 2010 album Long Live, by American Metalcore act The Chariot, with bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Between the Buried and Me and Converge fueling her obsession. As she didn’t play any sports nor go to the beach at that time, she spent hours and hours developing her taste for metal and finding lesser-known bands online. Also, when questioned about which song by any artist she wishes she could have written, Avienne mentioned Celestial Violence, from the 2016 album Arktis. by Norway’s own Ihsahn, as Vintersea were all listening to Arktis. a lot during the recording of The Gravity of Fall, and that song in particular spoke to all band members with its severe changes in dynamics and epic conclusion.
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Regarding her vocal style, Avienne said that learning how to do harsh vocals and finding the perfect formula to combine them with her clean singing wasn’t an easy task at first. She complemented by saying that she started doing harsh vocals because she wanted to scream along to her favorite bands at that time, and there was a lot of trial and error while she was developing her style, also saying that one of her main techniques was to record herself, study those recordings, and look for areas of improvement, becoming familiar and comfortable with her own screams and playing around with different tones and styles to see what worked best. She also said that it is not only important to be aware of how your body feels when learning to scream, but to be patient throughout the process, complementing by mentioning that she takes care of her voice by doing vocal warm-ups and relaxing a little before hitting the stage, and avoiding spicy food prior to any concert because it’s not a good feeling to jump around the stage with a “ball of fire” burning inside her stomach.
Her view of the music industry is also quite interesting, as she said that in many ways she thinks the music industry has never been healthier, with the power being concentrated in the hands of the fans, the small labels, writers and so on, with the big, faceless corporations having lost most of the power they once had, letting truly innovative and independent bands to reach a much broader audience due to the evolution and changes to internet distribution. As long as fans keep listening to Vintersea’s music, buying their merchandise and supporting them at their live performances, Avienne said she’ll continue to write beautiful and meaningful music together with her bandmates, which is exactly what we all desire, don’t you agree? And talking about touring and live concerts, Avienne said one of Vintersea’s most memorable shows was when they shared the stage with the talented female-fronted Graveshadow, Mindmaze, Sirenia and Arkona at the Bossanova Ballroom downtown Portland in 2017, also saying that there are countless other bands they would love to play shows with or tour with, but as they’re all hugely fond of the guys in Ne Obliviscaris, she thinks it would be simply fantastic to have the opportunity to spend time on the road with that level of talent.
As it happens with pretty much all women who decide to venture through the realms of metal music, Avienne has also been asked countless times about how she sees the importance and influence of women in a music genre that’s still considered sexist by many, and her answers couldn’t have been more spot-on. “My advice is to acknowledge that misogynists and sexists are there, but don’t give them any fuel to their hateful fire. Don’t turn their hate into your hate. Focus on what makes you happy. If you focus on yourself, not only you will be happier in the long run, but your happiness and success will annoy the haters. It’s a win-win situation,” said our stunning vocalist, also saying that in her opinion the metal scene has never had so many badass, powerful and brutal women like nowadays, with more and more metal bands with women fronting them or slaying an instrument coming to light, which is a very inspiring situation for her personally. The metal scene has been exclusionary of women in metal for years, which is why she believes it’s important that there is more women in metal not only because they represents a significant portion of the listeners, but mainly because there is an endless amount of skill and talent that women in metal bring that should definitely be recognized. Moreover, when asked about who she considers the most influential women in metal today, Avienne cited the unstoppable Tatiana Shmaylyuk from Jinjer and Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemy, saying it’s impressive what they can do with their vocals, and that they both have showed many people for the first time that women can bring endless energy and fire through harsh vocals.
When asked about her writing process (and of the entire band), Avienne said that before starting it they discuss as a band what the theme of the album should be, followed by determining each song’s theme and message, writing the music prior to the vocal parts and making sure each of their songs can be interpreted on multiple levels, from deeply personal to globally conceptual, all within the same framework. There are songs that can come together in a matter of days, but most of them take shape over a period of months with a lot of intense work, consideration and debate, with their collective vision usually coming together after a couple of weeks. There’s a lot of trust among the band members, and they have found that this dynamic and exciting process helps them produce their best results. Avienne also said that since the band’s inception she has developed and grown in both skill and style, helping her explore different facets of her voice and making the band’s songwriting more cohesive, mentioning the moment they started receiving messages from fans saying they were inspired by Vintersea or that their music helped them through tough times was a breakthrough moment for the band, making they proud of what they’ve accomplished so far. In addition, as an up-and-coming metal artist, Avienne said that the best advice she can give to new bands and musicians is that they shouldn’t be afraid to be who they are, saying people should find their own voice to be able to craft timeless music, instead of being a “one-hit wonder” molded by the industry, also saying we should never stop learning and never close our minds to new ideas. Well, I guess we couldn’t agree more with Avienne, wishing her and her bandmates from Vintersea a bright and healthy future in the world of heavy music, taking the band to new and unexplored lands in the coming years for our total delight.
“I love singing about things that can make a person think about things differently, and I love exposing things that are poignant yet not talked about or thought of enough. I view music as another mode about storytelling, and I know I’m on the right path if I can feel the emotions rising from deep within my body.” – Avienne Low
Focusing on struggling with the pain of loss, the new album by this Maryland-based metal band reflects all the dynamism and difficulties faced during all stages of grief.
Originally formed as an instrumental and acoustic solo project by vocalist and guitarist Alden Bradstock (Seventh Seal) in 2014, Westminster, Maryland-based Melodic Death Metal act Senescere grew into a full band with the addition of three new members in 2016, Nathan Heavel on bass, Andy Stark on drums and Josh Clark on additional vocals (all from bands such as Seventh Seal and Vestascension), allowing Alden to expand the band’s musical reach to a more aggressive and abrasive sound in their brand new opus Alive But Somewhere Else. Produced by Alden and Josh themselves, engineered and mixed by Josh at Dark Hollow Studio, mastered by Scott Atkins at Grindstone Studio, and featuring a stylish cover photograph by Mandy Martz Chappell, the album focuses on struggling with grief, turning to unhealthy sources of comfort and creating a false sense of happiness to deal with a loss. As stated by Alden himself, “loss and aging have been the central theme of this project since the beginning. I think I’ll always find some inspiration there, and new ways of looking at the pain and struggles it can bring. There are all kinds of faces and stages of grief. It’s dynamic, it isn’t always dark and miserable. It’s deceptive and difficult to categorize. I wanted the music to reflect this somehow, and I think that’s why I enjoy mixing multiple styles and varying intensity in the songwriting. It’s allowed to be extra melodic and catchy at times, just as it’s allowed to dive into blasting drums and tremolo picking if the song calls for it.”
And the smooth guitar lines by Alden ignite the atmospheric intro Freezing Of The Hillside, setting the stage for the band to stun us all in Lost In The Cold, where Alden’s deep guttural roars walk hand in hand with the classic beats by Andy, blending elements from Groove and Progressive Metal with their trademark Melodic Death Metal. Then speeding things up and enhancing their rage the quartet blasts the thrilling The Low Clouds, bringing forward dark and pensive lyrics (“Here I, as a loner / Do feel the texture of the edge / Tracing paths for days on end / A crisp and jagged line / So easy to step over / So welcoming to fall from”) and the usual strength and fury from Scandinavian metal, followed by Alive, clearly inspired by the modern and melodic metal music played by bands like Insomnium and Amorphis, with Alden growling with tons of anguish while Nathan and Andy give a lesson in groove and intricacy with their respective instruments, not to mention Josh’s spot on backing vocals.
After such powerful display of metal music, simply sit down, relax and let the enfolding lines from the instrumental piece Melted penetrate deep inside your mind before a wall of sounds smashes your senses in the fantastic Resonate, where Alden’s crisp riffs are beautifully complemented by the low-tuned bass by Nathan, exhaling progressiveness and feeling and all spiced by Alden’s piercing guitar solo; whereas Alden and Josh make a fantastic vocal duet in Aging Affinity, blending the visceral and violent sounds of classic Death Metal with the harmony and complexity of more modern styles, ending in a cryptic and atmospheric way. Heartspace is perfect for slamming into the circle pit while at the same time enjoying the sharp and intricate beats by Andy and the thunderous bass lines by Nathan, resulting in another ode to contemporary Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal that ends up warming up our senses for almost ten minutes of Senescere’s wicked music in Moon And Sun, where the band’s razor-edged riffs, pounding drums and obscure vocals invite the listener to an exciting metal voyage in what’s by far the most progressive and detailed of all songs, even bringing hints of Black Metal and putting an introspective and climatic ending to the album.
Highly recommended for fans of the melodic and pensive heavy music played by renowned acts the likes of Dark Tranquillity, Amorphis, Opeth, Katatonia and Insomnium, among several others, Alive But Somewhere Else can be appreciated in its entirety on YouTube and on Spotify, but of course in order to show your true support to Alden and his henchmen you should definitely purchase a copy of the album from their own BandCamp page, as well as from Apple Music and Amazon. Also, don’t forget to follow them on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for news, tour dates and more of their classy music, helping you cope with loss and pain to the sound of our beloved Heavy Metal and, therefore, keeping Alden and his Senescere beyond inspired to create more of their multi-layered and meaningful music for many years to come.
Best moments of the album: Lost In The Cold, The Low Clouds and Resonate.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2020 Independent
Track listing 1. Freezing Of The Hillside 2:54
2. Lost In The Cold 4:12
3. The Low Clouds 5:36
4. Alive 3:36
5. Melted 2:13
6. Resonate 3:54
7. Aging Affinity 4:26
8. Heartspace 3:55
9. Moon And Sun 9:34
Band members Alden Bradstock – guitars, vocals
Nathan Heavel – bass
Andy Stark – drums
Josh Clark – additional vocals
Bring out your dead to the sound of the post-apocalyptic Industrial Metal by this Portland, Oregon-based army of freaks.
The Sweet Meats Slaughterhouse, founded in 1895 by Wilhelm Schröder, was internationally known for their advances in industrialized butchery, producing around 30% of the meats consumed in the United States at that time. In 1915 a tragedy struck the small town Wilhelm called home when all the livestock took some unexplained fatal disease, and the ever resourceful Wilhelm turned to the only available meat, the townsfolk. When they discovered the terrible truth they enacted their own form of justice, feeding the once prolific Mr. Schröder to his own machines. The Sweet Meats Slaughterhouse remained eerily quiet and vacant, until one night horrible noises resembling music emanated from the dank hallways, resulting in the birth of Portland, Oregon-based Down N’ Dirty Industrial Metal outfit Dead Animal Assembly Plant. Founded in 2007 by frontman Zach Wager, the band currently formed by Zach and his bandmates Eric ‘Zerø’ Bergen and Rebecca ‘Buzz’ Wager on the guitars, Nick ‘Nix’ Snyder on bass and Jason ‘Skorn’ Moore on drums is set to release their fourth full-length opus titled Bring Out The Dead, effectively combining elements of rock, metal and industrial from the 90’s until the present day. Mixed by Fernando Ruiz Jr. at Primal Recording Studio, mastered by Kevin Hahn at Opal Recording Studio, and with photography by Mothmeister, Bring Out The Dead is highly recommended for fans of Nine inch Nails, KMFDM, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Ministry and Rob Zombie, among others, bringing strong post-apocalyptic and horror influences to give it an extra touch of insanity.
Like a true infernal assembly line, the intro Cemetery Slums opens the gates of the underworld to the raw and industrialized A Violent Breed, showcasing austere lyrics dealing with everything that’s wrong with the human mind (“I am a violent breed / Programmed to be obscene / These hands praise ignorance / The blame becomes routine / My mind is a dirty bomb / Full of pettiness and virgin blood / With scriptures burned inside my head / Peddled and preached by empty men”), while Eric and Rebecca extract venomous, razor-edged sounds from their axes, sounding at times like a more metalized version of the already heavy-as-hell music by NIN. Then we have The Ghost of Friedrich Nietzsche, which by the way carries a great title for a modern and atmospheric Industrial Metal extavaganza, led by the robot-like drums by Jason while Zach madly vociferates the song’s wicked words, resulting in an amazing choice for a dark and goth party soudtrack, whereas Colors Under Attack couldn’t have started in a heavier and more thrilling way. This is old school Industrial Metal and Rock blending the sonic havoc blasted by icons like Rammstein, Ministry and KMFDM, with Nick and Jason generating a rumbling atmosphere with their respective weapons nonstop.
In the eerie and absolutely grim Somewhere Else, Zac’s vocals walk hand in hand with Eric’s and Rebecca’s metallic riffs, remaining obscure until the very last second and building an instant bridge with Sacred Disgrace, featuring the stunning New York City-based violinist and violist Lulu Black as a guest musician. Uniting the heaviness and groove of Industrial Metal and Neue Deutsche Härte with the finesse of Lulu’s violin, the song also offers an interesting paradox between her delicate sounds and Nick’s low-tuned bass jabs, reminding me of some of the best creations by the one and only Marilyn Manson. And the atmospheric and instrumental bridge Ghost Transmissions sets the stage for Behold the Righteous Plague, sounding heavier and more Rock N’ Roll than its predecessors but still bringing the band’s trademark Industrial Metal for our total delight, with Zach being utterly demented on vocals accompanied by the slashing riffage by the band’s guitar duo and Jason’s blast beats. Do the Inferno is probably the most fun of all songs, feeling like their personal “tribute” to NIN but also presenting a Misfits-inspired vibe, with Nick adding endless groove and thunder to their musicality (and the final result couldn’t have been more awesome, of course), and last but not least more of their classic industrialized sounds will penetrate deep inside our minds in The End of You, showcasing an amazing job done by both Eric and Rebecca on the guitars while Zach continues to lead his horde of freaks with his enraged vocals.
The release date of this excellent album of Industrial Metal might still be unknown due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, but I’m sure sooner than later we’ll all be able to purchase a copy of Bring Out The Dead, which is by the way a very suggestive title for such nasty period the entire world is facing, from the band’s own BandCamp page or from the Armalyte Industries’ BandCamp page, as well as form other retailers like Apple Music and Amazon. In the meantime, you can support the mechanized freaks from DAAP by following them on Facebook and on Instagram for news, tour dates and other nice-to-know details about the band, and subscribe to their YouTube channel or search from them on Spotify to listen to more of their acid and industrialized creations. As the end of the human race draws near based on all the madness and evil things happening pretty much everywhere right now, I personally suggest you add Bring Out The Dead to your post-apocalyptic playlist, banging your head to the first-class Industrial Metal played by DAAP while our putrid and corrupt society goes straight to hell.
Best moments of the album: A Violent Breed, Colors Under Attack, Behold the Righteous Plague and Do the Inferno.
Worst moments of the album:Somewhere Else.
Released in 2020 Armalyte Industries
Track listing 1. Cemetery Slums 1:42
2. A Violent Breed 4:10
3. The Ghost of Friedrich Nietzsche 4:26
4. Colors Under Attack 4:02
5. Somewhere Else 3:00
6. Sacred Disgrace 4:41
7. Ghost Transmissions 2:22
8. Behold the Righteous Plague 4:14
9. Do the Inferno 3:34
10. The End of You 4:15
Band members Zach Wager – vocals
Eric ‘Zerø’ Bergen – guitars
Rebecca ‘Buzz’ Wager – guitars
Nick ‘Nix’ Snyder – bass
Jason ‘Skorn’ Moore – drums
Guest musicians Lulu Black – violin on “Sacred Disgrace”
Regulo Junior – additional guitars on “Behold the Righteous Plague”
It’s time to listen to what these four (un)dead men from Orlando, Florida have to say in their thrilling new opus.
Three years after the release of the excellent The Sin and the Sentence, the unrelenting Matt Heafy on lead vocals and guitar, Corey Beaulieu on guitar and backing vocals, Paolo Gregoletto on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Alex Bent on drums and percussion, collectively known as Orlando, Florida-based Heavy Metal unity Trivium, return with another round of their always cohesive and breathtaking heavy music in What The Dead Men Say, the ninth studio album and another awesome addition to their undisputed career. Recorded at Studio 606 West in Northridge, Los Angeles, California, engineered, mixed and produced by Josh Wilbur, and mastered by Ted Jensen, What The Dead Men Say brings forward a myriad of styles and sounds that will please fans of all phases of the band, from Melodic Death Metal to Progressive Metal, Black Metal, Thrash Metal and Deathcore. “We’ve found a really great place to exist in this world. We love Melodic Death Metal, we love Death and Black Metal, and we love Hardcore. What the Dead Men Say is everything we do on one record,” commented Matt about their newborn spawn.
Furthermore, like The Sin and the Sentence, the lyrical content on What The Dead Men Say was inspired by modern aspects of life, with the album’s title being taken from a science fiction novella of the same name written by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in Worlds of Tomorrow magazine in June 1964. For instance, “Catastrophist” deals with the theme of humanity in a crisis, “Amongst the Shadows & the Stones” is about the horrors of war, “The Defiant” was inspired by R. Kelly’s documentary and abuse-enabling, “Bending the Arc to Fear” talks about the surveillance aspect of modern society, and so on, with the closing song “The Ones We Leave Behind” being about “running over” people to succeed in life, delivering a powerful message and portraying a whole new meaning in the wake of the 2019–2020 COVID-19 pandemic. With that said, it was more than obvious that the fusion of a precise and powerful music with meaningful lyrics would result in another future classic by Trivium, leaving us eager for more of their always-evolving and never-repetitive music in the years yet to come.
As soon as you hit play, the cinematic instrumental intro IX (a clear reference to the fact that What The Dead Men Say is their ninth full-length album) sets the stage for Matt & Co. to kick some ass with the title-track What the Dead Men Say, where Alex begins crushing his drums with tons of precision and fury accompanied by the scorching riffs by Matt and Corey. Bringing elements from the Progressive and Groove Metal by bands like Lamb Of God added to their core musicality, this is indeed an excellent way to start their new opus, followed by Catastrophist, one of the previously released singles of the album, keeping the groove and electricity flowing from start to finish. Moreover, its razor-edged riffs remind me of some of their compositions from their 2013 album Vengeance Falls, while Paolo makes the earth tremble with his sick bass jabs.
Then it’s time to go absolutely mental to the sound of Amongst the Shadows & the Stones, by far my favorite of all songs, presenting their trademark riffage and solos, intricate beats, tons of breaks and variations and an endless amount of violence in a hybrid of Groove, Heavy and Thrash Metal, with Matt rabidly roaring the song’s lyrics (“Bloodied corpses, broken bones reveal / A throng of clashes crushed, our nightmare sealed / Amongst the shadows and the stones”), whereas the semi-ballad Bleed Into Me, despite the solidness of the instrumental pieces (in special Paolo’s somber bass lines), doesn’t really click and falls flat after a while, but there’s nothing to worry about as this is the only low (or maybe I should say less intense) point of the entire album. And back to their usual high-octane mode the quartet fires the also amazing The Defiant, showcasing Iron Maiden-inspired guitars walking hand in hand with the vicious beats by Alex while at the same time presenting a great balance between Matt’s clean vocals and harsh screams. As a matter of fact, could this be an “alternate” version or a sequel to their classic “The Deceived” due to the sonic similarity between both songs? That’s a question only Matt, Corey, Paolo and Alex can answer, of course.
In the top-of-the-line Sickness Unto You a mellow and melancholic start gradually morphs into a violent metal feast by Trivium, with sheer rage flowing form Matt’s vocals while he and Corey demolish our ears with their razor-edged riffs, both supported by the always thunderous bass by Paolo, whereas Scattering the Ashes can be considered a good example of how diverse their new album is by blending the music from Silence In The Snow with In Waves, once again presenting a solid instrumental and spot-on backing vocals overflowing pure anguish. Then we’re treated to more of their always cryptic lyrics (“A strain of vigilance / Deep roots that all connect / We wait so diligent / Watching you / Watching you”) in Bending the Arc to Fear, starting in a Black and Thrash Metal-ish vibe and sounding perfect for slamming into the pit to the sound of the bestial drums by Alex. On a side note, I personally love the strident and metallic sound of their stringed axes throughout the entire album, enhanced by its crisp and polished overall production. Lastly, closing the album the quartet offers us all the melodic and vibrant The Ones We Left Behind, featuring the rumbling bass by Paolo accompanied by the stunning beats and fills by Alex while Matt and Corey give a lesson in riffs and feeling, concluding the album in a powerful and effective manner.
After listening to What The Dead Men Say in its entirety for a few times, you’ll quickly notice how not only the band’s technique and professionalism, but also their synchronicity, have been growing stronger and stronger through the years, pointing to an even brighter future for Matt and his bandmates in a near future and, therefore, positioning Trivium as one of the driving forces of modern-day metal music, never sounding tiresome nor predictable at all with each one of their releases. Hence, go check what the boys are up to on Facebook and on Instagram (especially because they’re all very active users of most social media platforms), subscribe to their YouTube channel, and above all that, grab your copy of such entertaining album from the Warner Music webstore or click HERE for all locations where you can buy or stream the album (and if you have some extra money go for the Japanese Edition of the album, as it contains two very special acoustic versions for the songs “Bleed Into Me” and “Scattering the Ashes”), raising your horns, banging your head and listening to what the (un)dead men from Trivium have to say through their unparalleled music.
Best moments of the album: Amongst the Shadows & the Stones, The Defiant, Sickness Unto You and The Ones We Left Behind.
Worst moments of the album:Bleed Into Me.
Released in 2020 Roadrunner Records
Track listing 1. IX 1:59
2. What the Dead Men Say 4:45
3. Catastrophist 6:28
4. Amongst the Shadows & the Stones 5:40
5. Bleed Into Me 3:49
6. The Defiant 4:29
7. Sickness Unto You 6:14
8. Scattering the Ashes 3:25
9. Bending the Arc to Fear 4:46
10. The Ones We Left Behind 4:57
Japanese Edition bonus tracks 11. Bleed Into Me (Acoustic version) 3:45
12. Scattering the Ashes (Acoustic version) 3:04
Band members Matt Heafy – lead vocals, guitar
Corey Beaulieu – guitar, backing vocals
Paolo Gregoletto – bass guitar, backing vocals
Alex Bent – drums, percussion
The Heavy Metal beasts from Pittsburgh return with another sensational round of soaring vocals, incendiary riffs and classic drums in their fourth full-length opus.
After hundreds of concerts, festivals, tours, three full-length albums, one EP and one compilation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Heavy Metal machine Lady Beast is more than ready to celebrate over 10 years kicking ass and spreading their fulminating music all over the world with their fourth full-length opus entitled The Vulture’s Amulet, an ode to all things metal highly inspired by behemoths the likes of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio, Mercyful Fate and Motörhead. Featuring a beyond stylish and sexy artwork by American artist Adam Burke (Nightjar Illustration), The Vulture’s Amulet has everything it takes to conquer the hearts of any diehard metalhead, from soaring vocals to breathtaking riffs and blast beats, showcasing all the talent, energy and passion flowing from frontwoman Deborah Levine, guitarists Andy Ramage and Chris Tritschler, bassist Greg Colaizzi (who has just left the band, being replaced by Amy Bianco) and drummer Adam Ramage and, above all, proving once again heavy music is still alive and kicking inside our hearts forever and ever.
Classic, razor-edged riffs ignite the frantic and electrifying ode to heavy music titled Metal Machine, filling every single space in the air with electricity and rage before Deborah comes ripping with her powerful and piercing vocals, or in other words, an 80’s classic metal hymn released a few decades later, in 2020. And get ready for another metal storm led by Andy and Chris with their incendiary riffage in Runes of Rust, a Judas Priest-inspired hymn where Adam smashes his drums with tons of precision and groove, sounding as old school as it can be; while the sick bass lines by Greg generate a thunderous atmosphere perfect for the band’s guitar duo to pierce our ears with their riffs in The Gift, a beautiful fusion of the music by renowned Teutonic bands like Grave Digger, Running Wild and Accept, giving you all you need to bang your head like there’s no tomorrow.
Then phantasmagorical guitars à la Mercyful Fate are one of the main ingredients in Sacrifice to the Unseen, while Deborah continues to kick us in the head with her feminine and ferocious vocal lines, also bringing the most electrifying elements from classic Hard Rock to the overall result, followed by the even more metallic and inspiring Betrayer, reminding me of some of the best songs from Judas Priest’s 1978 classic album Killing Machine (or Hell Bent For Leather), with Deborah being simply fantastic on vocals accompanied by the NWOBHM-like riffs by Andy and Chris. And drinking from the same fountain as Iron Maiden in their instrumental classics “Losfer Words (Big ‘Orra)” and “Transylvania”, but of course with Deborah’s ass-kicking vocals embellishing the airwaves, we have The Champion, an epic Heavy Metal anthem filling our hearts with hope, fire and, of course, Heavy Metal.
It’s time to put the pedal to the (heavy) metal in the absolutely furious, high-octane tune entitled Transcend the Blade, this time a fully instrumental track with Andy and Chris spearheading their sonic onrush, firing beautiful riffs and solos for our total delight, whereas slowing things down a bit (while at the same time getting darker) the band offers us all the title-track The Vulture’s Amulet, a mid-tempo tune where Greg and Adam are ruthless with their thunderous bass and drums, respectively, with Deborah returning in full force declaiming the song’s stylish lyrics. and last but not least, the closing tune Vow of the Valkyrie is an exciting and flammable feast of old school riffs and solos, blast beats and the always killer vocals by Deborah, resulting in a true born-to-be-an-underground-metal-classic bringing forward an amazing guitar “duel” by Andy and Chris tailored for lovers of the seven-stringed ax.
In a nutshell, as already mentioned, The Vulture’s Amulet has everything one might ask for in traditional Heavy Metal, plus of course the mesmerizing touch added by Deborah with her she-wolf vocals, and if you want to show Lady Beast your true support you can buy the album directly from their BandCamp page, from the Reaper Metal Productions webstore (in both vinyl and cassette formats), from Apple Music or from Amazon, as well as stream it in full on YouTube and on Spotify. Also, don’t forget to follow the band on Facebook and on Instagram and to subscribe to their YouTube channel, proving to Deborah and her henchmen you’re worth joining their metal den and with The Vulture’s Amulet being the perfect soundtrack for enjoying a cold beer deep down there together with those heavy music beasts.
Best moments of the album: Metal Machine, The Gift, Betrayer and Vow of the Valkyrie.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2020 Reaper Metal Productions
Track listing
1. Metal Machine 3:15
2. Runes of Rust 4:26
3. The Gift 5:09
4. Sacrifice to the Unseen 5:09
5. Betrayer 3:29
6. The Champion 5:24
7. Transcend the Blade 3:42
8. The Vulture’s Amulet 5:14
9. Vow of the Valkyrie 5:03
Band members
Deborah Levine – vocals
Andy Ramage – lead guitar
Chris Tritschler – rhythm guitar
Greg Colaizzi – bass
Adam Ramage – drums
Seasoning their psych-doom cauldron with tribal percussion and prog rock arrangements, this American trinity is ready to cast a spell on us with their excellent new album.
Convoking crushing riffs drenched with lush harmonies and hypnotic eastern themes, Los Angeles-based Doom Metal trinity High Priestess was formed in 2016 by bassist and vocalist Mariana Fiel when she recruited Katie Gilchrest on guitar and vocals and Megan Mullins on drums, crafting a sound that echoes both past and future incarnations of doom and psychedelia since then. After the release of their highly-acclaimed self-titled debut album in 2018, it’s time for High Priestess to captivate our senses once again with their sophomore opus Casting The Circle, featuring a dark and sexy artwork by Jill Colbert at Manfish Inc. and seasoning their psych-doom cauldron with keyboards, tribal percussion, signature harmonies and grandiose prog rock arrangements. “After playing these songs live for many months, we are pleased to have captured them in their definitive recorded versions for the whole world. We honor gods and goddesses, ancestors and spirits from the past, present and future and sing songs of misfortune,” commented Katie Gilchrest herself about the band’s amazing new album.
A tribal, dark mass is about to start in the deep and embracing Casting the Circle, led by Megan’s ritualistic beats while Katie and Mariana begin blasting their enthralling vocal lines in a true psychedelic and doomed manner. Put differently, it’s absolutely impossible not to get hypnotized by their music, which is also the case in the fabulous Erebus, where the trio leans towards the most obscure side of iconic acts like Black Sabbath and Candlemass, but with a delicious feminine touch added to the overall result. It’s almost ten minutes of enfolding passages, crisp riffs and the sluggish beats by Megan, all spiced up by Katie’s astounding, piercing guitar solos, whereas The Hourglass is a Psychedelic and Progressive Rock extravaganza blending the trademark sound from the 70’s with the band’s more contemporary doom, with Katie’s stunning riffs being complemented by the low-tuned bass by Mariana and the classic drums by Megan, not to mention the song’s fiery vocal lines.
Then it’s time to surrender to the most Stygian side of life in Invocation, offering our avid ears over 17 minutes of ethereal and somber passages led by Katie’s primeval, mesmerizing riffs while Mariana and Megan dictate the rhythm with their thunderous but delicate instruments, summoning the prince of darkness with their scorching Doom Metal. Flowing like an arrow on fire through the night and getting heavier and more imposing halfway through it, the song remains tribal and dense until its demolishing grand finale, with Katie heightening our senses with her cryptic organ keys. And lastly we have Ave Satanas, an ethereal and obscure outro by the trio where their somber vocalizations will drag you into their sinister lair in the name of Satan (which in the case of High Priestess is a beyond awesome opportunity for any metalhead, of course).
The circle of what the band itself likes to call “Heavy-Psych Doom” has been cast by Katie, Mariana and Megan in their newborn opus, and in order to join those three undeniably talented women in their quest for such unique style of heavy music simply follow them on Facebook and on Instagram, and grab your copy of Casting The Circle from Ripple Music’s BandCamp page or webstore (US and Europe), as well as from Amazon. The high priestesses of heavy and lustful Doom Metal are among us to stay, and as they conjure each and every one of us to become part of their devilish kingdom, there’s only one question left, and it’s indeed a very simple one. Who are we to say no to such distinguished and dexterous triumvirate of doom?
Best moments of the album: Erebus and The Hourglass.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2020 Ripple Music
Track listing 1. Casting the Circle 5:10
2. Erebus 9:37
3. The Hourglass 6:46
4. Invocation 17:22
5. Ave Satanas 3:26
Band members
Katie Gilchrest – vocals, guitars, organ
Mariana Fiel – bass, vocals
Megan Mullins – drums, percussion
A raw, multi-layered fusion of noise, sludge and grunge by three old men from Chicago who still like to play rock music.
Describing themselves as “three old men who still like to play rock music“, Chicago, Illinois-based three-piece outfit Escape Is Not Freedom definitely knows how to combine elements of rock, noise, sludge and grunge in their creations, resulting is a feast of catchy and melodic sounds reminiscent of Nirvana, Soundgarden and The Melvins, to name a few. After the releases of their debut EP The Truants, in 2015, and their first full-length albums Goldsmith, in 2017, it’s time for Mike Gussis on vocals and guitar, Josh Parlette (from Soul Attrition, whose album Vashon Rain was reviewed at The Headbanging Moose not a long time ago) also on vocals and on bass and Darrin Wolf on drums to blast more of their first-class Sludge and Noise with their sophomore full-length effort, titled Surrounded By The Great Nothing. Produced by Shane Hochstetler at Howl Street Recordings and mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering, Surrounded By The Great Nothing continues to blend the band’s personal experiences with their dark humor and, of course, with an endless amount of distortions and noise, cementing the trio as one of the most interesting names of the genre not only in their hometown but also in the international scene.
And eerie, distorted noises already permeate the air in the opening track Brick, a modern-day Sludge and Stoner Metal tune with Mike kicking ass with his enraged riffs and deranged vocals while Josh and Darrin keep the atmosphere as thunderous as possible with their rumbling instruments, resulting in a thrilling welcome card by the band for newcomers to their musical world. Their powerful exhibit of madness and distortions goes on in Boomslang, with Darrin dictating the pace with his classic beats, alternating between more obscure, heavier moments and serene and melancholic passages; followed by Freezer Burn, where the band ventures through more contemporary styles such as Post-Metal and Indie Rock. Moreover, Mike continues to bark and roar rabidly while Josh blasts sheer heaviness through his bass punches, getting darker and more piercing as the music progresses.
Portraying a truly austere name, Drinking Bleach is a slashing and crisp song where the insanity flowing from Mike’s screams is effectively complemented by his dirty riffs and Darrin’s crushing beats, turning it into one of the most incendiary songs of the album, whereas Leonard is another solid display of Sludge and Post-Metal featuring the scorching guitars by Mike and the ominous bass punches by Josh, recommended for fans of the most aggressive side of Nirvana and going on for over eight minutes with all band members putting us on some sort of grim trance. Then, as opposed to its predecessor, Ruined Ground brings a more serene and introspective vibe, with Josh darkly declaiming its lyrics while Darrin smashes his drums slowly and steadily, bringing a good amount of distress to our hearts.
Back to a more vicious sonority, the trio offers the melodic and mesmerizing Underwater Birth, where Mike and Josh are in absolute sync with their metallic strings, resulting in an amazing option for banging your head alone in the dark and letting their Sludge Metal penetrate deep inside your mind, while in Slowly Falling off a Cliff it’s time to slam into the circle pit to the crushing metal music blasted by those three rockers, again fluctuating between demented sounds and ethereal moments and, consequently, elevating the album’s aggressiveness and wickedness to a whole new level, all spiced up by Mike’s flammable riffs. The second to last song from the album, Acid Blood, sounds like a more obscure version of Alice In Chains infused with Sludge Metal nuances, with Josh adding tons of groove to the music with his bass, not to mention this is perhaps the song where he delivers his most personal vocal performance. And lastly acoustic guitars ignite the closing tune entitled Rhea, evolving into a dense and melancholic extravaganza where Josh and Darrin bring forward a precise balance between heaviness and finesse.
In a nutshell, although Escape Is Not Freedom might not be considered a pure metal band, I personally believe they have what it takes to conquer the hearts of most metalheads from all over the world with their heavier-than-usual rock and grunge, with Surrounded By The Great Nothing being the perfect depiction of what they’re capable of and what we can expect in their future releases. Hence, don’t forget to follow Mike, Josh and Darrin on Facebook, and to buy Surrounded By The Great Nothing from their own BandCamp page, where you can by the way find all of their previous albums for sale as well. As the name of the band states, escaping from someone or something doesn’t necessarily mean freedom, but at least the music found in Surrounded By The Great Nothing can provide you a very entertaining escape from your daily struggles.
Best moments of the album: Drinking Bleach, Underwater Birth and Slowly Falling off a Cliff.
Band members
Mike Gussis – vocals on “Brick”, “Freezer Burn”, “Drinking Bleach”, “Leonard” and “Underwater Birth”, guitar
Josh Parlette – vocals on “Boomslang”, “Ruined Ground”, “Slowly Falling off a Cliff”, “Acid Blood” and “Rhea”, bass
Darrin Wolf – drums
The titans of Thrash Metal are back in action with another technical, melodic and absolutely pulverizing album of extreme music.
Since the release of the brilliant The Formation Of Damnation in 2008, every single time American Thrash Metal masters Testament release a new album, you can see a huge smile on the faces of all fans of our beloved Bay Area Thrash, including myself. It was like that with their following albums, those being Dark Roots Of Earth, released in 2012, Brotherhood Of The Snake, released in 2016, and now four years later the same can be said about the bold, multi-layered opus Titans Of Creation, the thirteenth studio album in their undisputed career. Produced by Jamaican musician and producer Juan Urteaga, who had recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered their previous two studio albums, mixed and mastered by Andy Sneap, and featuring a hellish artwork by their longtime friend Eliran Kantor, who coincidentally has taken care of all of their art since The Formation of Damnation, Titans Of Creation will crush you like an insect from start to finish, proving once and for all why frontman Chuck Billy, guitarists Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick, bassist Steve Di Giorgio and drummer Gene Hoglan are undoubtedly among the best, most demonic and most talented teams in the world of heavy music.
And the entire band comes ripping in the opening track Children of the Next Level, a classic avalanche of Thrash Metal with their trademark insane beats and flammable riffs, not to mention the fun and wicked lyrics vociferated by Chuck (“In trans-human state / It’s time to evacuate / Waiting for a ride to take them to the gate / Await the siren call / More phenobarbital / Pour it down the hatch, ingest it all / Children of the next level / They’re chillin’ with the Devil / Children of the next level / Here they come!”). After such demented start to the album, Gene takes the lead in the high-octane, thrilling tune WWIII, while Alex and Eric show everything they got with their sick riffs and solos. Put differently, this is old school Testament without sounding outdated at all, and needless to say Chuck is once again marvelous with his enraged roars. Then we have Dream Deceiver, more melodic and rhythmic than the previous songs, where Gene’s beats will smash your senses so intricate and precise they are, supported by the always thunderous bass lines by Steve and, therefore, keeping the album at a high level of adrenaline and rage.
The violent Night of the Witch reminds me of the early days of the band, but even more ferocious that that (if that’s something possible), bringing to our ears first-class Thrash Metal in honor of all witches of the world, with the vicious words barked by Chuck (and Eric) being the icing on the cake (“Conjuring in darkness, desecrate their will / The dead of night has taken flight, assassinate them all / Show them the face of terror / Show them the grace of Hell / Black magic of the witch / Shall never break the spell”). Slowing down things a bit but still venomous and heavy-as-hell, Testament offer us all the sinister City of Angels, alternating between more aggressive, thrashing moments and serene, dark passages, despite going on for a little too long; whereas in Ishtar’s Gate the sound of the guitars by both Eric and Alex is insanely heavy and captivating, while Steve keeps pounding his bass cords in great fashion, adding an extra metallic touch to the musicality together with Chuck’s characteristic deep roars. And showing no mercy for our necks the band blasts the excellent Symptoms, inspiring us to headbang like true metalheads. Furthermore, Gene sounds fantastic as usual, it doesn’t matter the song’s speed, and in this case we can enjoy sheer groove and heaviness flowing form his beats.
Titans Of Creation Limited Edition Boxset
Back to a more berserk and frantic sonority, Chuck and his henchmen fire the classic False Prophet, and if you love some brutal headbanging Gene offers you exactly what you need in this awesome chant, also bringing Alex and Eric’s razor-edged riffage beautifully complemented by Steve’s in-your-face bass punches, while incendiary riffs ignite the Thrash Metal party titled The Healers, presenting a mix of heavy beats and demonic growls intertwined with the complex and smashing drums by Gene and the always perfect solos by the band’s ruthless guitar duo. Then a groovy and dark bass intro by Steve quickly morphs into a demolishing hurricane of Thrash Metal by Testament entitled Code of Hammurabi, presenting the most entertaining, violent and melodic side of the band. Put differently, it’s simply impossible not to slam into the circle pit to the sound of this infernal anthem, and they still have a lot of fuel to burn in the breathtaking, pulverizing Curse of Osiris, where the Stygian backing vocals by Eric add a welcome touch of evil to the overall result. Moreover, Gene showcases once again all his dexterity and fury on drums, resulting in a lesson in devastation in the name of Bay Area Thrash full of demented solos and with endless electricity flowing from all instruments, before the cinematic and climatic outro Catacombs put an end to another bestial spawn of metal music by Testament.
You can purchase your desired version of Titans Of Creation from several different locations, such as the ass-kicking boxset (limited to 1,500 copies worldwide) from the Nuclear Blast webstore, including a 24-page booklet with exclusive band photos and liner notes, a 3D lenticular, a CD and an Earth Element Edition Vinyl, or save it on your favorite streaming service by clicking HERE. As already mentioned, Testament showed us all everything they got once again with Titans Of Creation, keeping the flames of old school Thrash Metal burning bright and, consequently, positioning them as one of the top bands of the genre hands down. In other words, if you thought Thrash Metal was dead and gone after Slayer’s retirement, here come Testament to prove you wrong and to decimate you as the merciless titans of Thrash Metal that they have always been.
Best moments of the album: WWIII, Night of the Witch, Code of Hammurabi and Curse of Osiris.
Worst moments of the album:City of Angels.
Released in 2020 Nuclear Blast
Track listing
1. Children of the Next Level 6:13
2. WWIII 4:48
3. Dream Deceiver 4:58
4. Night of the Witch 6:32
5. City of Angels 6:43
6. Ishtar’s Gate 5:09
7. Symptoms 4:37
8. False Prophet 4:54
9. The Healers 4:23
10. Code of Hammurabi 4:52
11. Curse of Osiris 3:24
12. Catacombs 2:01
Band members
Chuck Billy – vocals
Eric Peterson – guitar
Alex Skolnick – guitar
Steve Di Giorgio – bass
Gene Hoglan – drums
A sickening, slamming and brutal album of Death Metal from the always fertile breeding ground of Texas, courtesy of an up-and-coming band ready to unleash hell upon humanity.
Texas has always been a fertile breeding ground for the most brutal extremes of Death Metal, and Houston’s own Architectural Genocide have been proving themselves a match for all the illustrious, gore-soaked names who have gone before them since their inception in 2017, unleashing hell upon humanity with their debut full-length opus entitled Cordyceptic Anthropomorph, the sound of sheer brute force within a maelstrom of violence and pulverized flesh. Mixed and mastered by renowned Italian drummer Davide “BrutalDave” Billia (Beheaded, Antropofagus, Hour Of Penance), and featuring a brutal and Stygian artwork by American musician and designer Jon Zig (Images of Violence, Deeds of Flesh, Relics of Humanity, Viral Load), Cordyceptic Anthropomorph is highly recommended for fans of the absolute chaos blasted by bands like Disentomb, Gorgasm and Visceral Disgorge, showcasing all the undeniable talented of lead singer Daniel Brockway, guitarist Jonathan Blake, bassist Matt Day and drummer Nat Conner, and of course their deep passion for what people like to call “Brutal Texan Death Metal”.
It’s time to slam into the circle pit like there’s no tomorrow to the sound of the opening track Spires of Mangled Tissue, bringing to our ears brutal devastation from the very first second, with Nat sounding infernal with his blast beats and fills while Daniel barks like a rabid beast, resulting in a freaking heavy extravaganza from start to finish. Then in Hallucinogenic Demise an ominous intro led by Jonathan’s wicked guitar lines and Matt’s low-tuned bass evolves into modern and furious Death Metal with Daniel’s inhuman screeches adding a touch of dementia to the overall result, with Nat once again crushing his drums manically; and they continue their onrush of dark and hellish sounds in Dominate and Proliferate, where Jonathan extracts sheer violence from his stringed axe in great Brutal Slamming Death Metal fashion. And the title-track Cordydeptic Anthropomorph lives up to the legacy of both old school and modern-day Death Metal, sounding and feeling as brutal and technical as it can be thanks to the amazing job done by the band’s stringed duo, not to mention Nat’s demented and intricate beats.
And the boys from Architectural Genocide keep smashing our skulls and spinal cords with the visceral and infuriated Gorge on Deceased, the perfect depiction of how vile but at the same time melodic and technical the quartet can be, offering a few interesting breaks and variations while Daniel’s deep guttural roars continue to reverberate in the air. Then Nat takes the lead once again in the berserk Pleasure Induced by Agony, sounding like a stone crusher on drums in what’s perhaps the heavier and most vicious of all songs from the album, with Jonathan and Matt showing no mercy for their strings (nor for our necks, of course). The second to last blast of malevolent Death Metal by this skillful four-piece horde comes in the form of Abolishment of Human Existence, where Matt and Nat are in absolute sync with their respective bass punches and demonic beats and fills, providing Daniel all he needs to shine with his deep vociferations, whereas Burgeoning Necrosis is a fantastic and pulverizing closing tune, or in other words, the epitome of everything the band stands for, showcasing the classic, hammering drums by Nat and the always brutal shredding by Jonathan.
If you have what it takes to face the Brutal Texan Death Metal assault fired by Architectural Genocide in their debut installment, all you have to do is go to Comatose Music’s BandCamp or webstore, as well as to Discogs, to put your hands on such ruthless album of extreme music. Hence, don’t forget to show your true support to the guys from Architectural Genocide by following them on Facebook and on Instagram, and by listening to their music on Spotify. The architect of genocide is among us to bring us all a whole new level of sickening, slamming and brutality with Cordyceptic Anthropomorph, proving once again why the underground is and will always be the dark lair (and consequently our endless source) for ass-kicking Death Metal, and if you’re in Texas then the awesomeness coming from that is even higher, no doubt about that.
Best moments of the album: Hallucinogenic Demise, Cordydeptic Anthropomorph and Pleasure Induced by Agony.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2020 Comatose Music
Track listing
1. Spires of Mangled Tissue 4:51
2. Hallucinogenic Demise 5:48
3. Dominate and Proliferate 4:21
4. Cordydeptic Anthropomorph 5:06
5. Gorge on Deceased 3:56
6. Pleasure Induced by Agony 5:42
7. Abolishment of Human Existence 5:19
8. Burgeoning Necrosis 5:03
Band members Daniel Brockway – vocals
Jonathan Blake – guitar
Matt Day – bass
Nat Conner – drums
Labeling themselves as a Horror Metal concept band in which each recording is intended to be its own horror story, San Francisco, California-based Thrash/Death Metal act From Hell are unleashing upon humanity the second chapter in their horror anthology since their inception in 2010, the dark and sinister Rats & Ravens, an album set in mid-13th Century Eastern Europe that weaves an eerie and epic tale of witchery throughout its ten original tracks. Produced by Greg Wilkinson (High on Fire, Necrot, Autopsy) and mastered by Maor Appelbaum (Faith No More, Annihilator, Cynic), Rats & Ravens is not only the natural follow-up to their 2014 effort Ascent From Hell, but an evolutionary step in the career of the quartet currently comprised of the band’s mastermind and founder Aleister Sinn (also known as George Anderson) on vocals and guitar, Steve Smyth also on the guitar, Stephen Paul Goodwin on bass and Wes Anderson on drums. “The story is about a witch who desires children of her own and steals them from the villages nearby,” Aleister explains. “When she kills them, she traps the ravens who come for their souls. She keeps the children on this earth, reanimates their corpses with rats and calls them ‘Lilium.’”
In the excellent Room For One those four metallers deliver a classic thrashing riffage together with vicious, pounding beats, generating the perfect ambience for Aleister and his high-pitched, devilish roars and, as a result, living up to the legacy of bands like Exodus and Testament. It’s a true headbanger, I might say, and it’s time to put the pedal to the metal and blast our ears and skulls with the frantic Body Rats, a classic Thrash Metal composition for the masses where Aleister leads his horde with his inhumane screeches while Stephen and Wes keep the earth trembling with their respective weapons. Lastly, there’s nothing better than a straightforward, in-your-face thrashing tune with some good amount of shredding, soaring screams and intricate beats like Am I Dead to properly close the album, with Wes being once again insane on drums, providing his bandmates all they need to darken our hearts and souls in the album’s climatic finale.
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 