Chris Dick

1. Opeth – Ghost Reveries
2. Rapture – Silent Stage
3. Arcturus – Sideshow Symphonies
4. Primordial – The Gathering Wilderness
5. Kamelot – The Black Halo
6. Dark Tranquillity – Character
7. Swallow the Sun – Ghosts of Loss
8. Slumber – Fallout
9. Bolt Thrower – Those Once Loyal
10. Akercocke – Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone

Erik Thomas

1. Between the Buried and Me, Alaska
2. Primordial, The Gathering Wilderness
3. Opeth, Ghost Reveries
4. Equlibrium, Turis Fratyr
5. Embrace the End, Counting Hallways to teh Left
6. Aes Dana, Formors
7. Neuraxis, Trilateral Progression
8. Despised Icon, The Healing Process
9. The Berzerker, World of Lies
10. Hiretsukan, End States

Apollyon

1. Nevermore, This Godless Endeavor
2. Primordial, The Gathering Wilderness
3. Gojira, From Mars to Sirius
4. Bolt Thrower, Those Once Loyal
5. Gorefest, La Muerte
6. Kingston Wall, Real Live Thing
7. Nile, Annihilation of the Wicked
8. Antimatter, Planetary Confinement
9. Rapture, Silent Stage
10. Amoral, Decrowning

Grimulfr

1. Horna, Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne
2. Satanic Warmaster, Carelian Satanist Madness
3. Belphegor, Goatreich- Fleshcult
4. Averse Sefira, Tetragrammatical Astygmata
5. Sargeist, Disciple of the Heinous Path
6. 1349, Hellfire
7. Aes Dana, Formors
8. Morrigan, Headcult
9. Brume d’Automne, Fiers et Victorieux
10. Primordial, The Gathering Wilderness

John Gnesin

1. Overmars, Affliction, Endocrine, Vertigo
2. Jesu, Jesu
3. Solefald, Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyessy
4. Bolt Thrower, Those Once Loyal
5. Horse the Band, The Mechanical Hand
6. Ulver, Blood Inside
7. Impure Wilhelmina, L’amore, l’morte, l’enfance Perdue
8. Modern Life is War, Witness
9. Antigama, Zeroland
10. Behold…The Arctopus, Nano-nucleonic Cyborg Summoning

Shawn Pelata

1. JOURNEY, Generations
2. KING’S X, Ogre Tones
3. TNT, All The Way To The Sun
4. STARBREAKER, Starbreaker
5. THE MOB, The Mob
6. KEITH URBAN, Be Here
7. NICKELBACK, All The Right Reasons
8. GOTTHARD, Lipservice
9. ALLEN LANDE, The Battle
10. BON JOVI, Have A Nice Day

Brent Mittelstadt

1. Rosetta, The Galilean Satellites
2. Opeth, Ghost Reveries
3. The Project Hate, Armageddon March Eternal
4. Buried Inside, Chronoclast
5. Avenged Sevenfold, City of Evil
6. Arsis, A Diamond for Disease
7. Enslaved, Isa
8. Strapping Young Lad, Alien
9. Bolt Thrower, Those Once Loyal
10. Moonsorrow, Verisakeet

Fred Phillips

1. Black Label Society, Mafia
2. Sentenced, The Funeral Album
3. God Forbid, IV: Constitution of Treason
4. Jon Oliva’s Pain, Tage Mahal
5. Soilwork, Stabbing the Drama
6. Opeth, Ghost Reveries
7. Nevermore, This Godless Endeavor
8. Kiuas, The Spirit of Ukko
9. Corrosion of Conformity, In the Arms of God
10. Bruce Dickinson, A Tyranny of Souls

Damien Boorman

1. Nevermore, This Godless Endeavour
2. Between the Buried and Me, Alaska
3. Watchmaker, Erased From the Memory of Man
4. Gojira, From Mars to Sirius
5. Opeth, Ghost Reveries
6. Despised Icon, The Healing Process
7. Porcupine Tree, Deadwing
8. Prostitute Disfigurement, Left in a Grisly Fashion
9. Neuraxis Trilateral Progression
10. Through the Eyes of the Dead, Bloodlust

A brief intro jumps right into “Frostnacht” which is mostly fast to start, with near whispered vocals during the slow parts and the bulk of the song is mid paced. “Unten und im Norden” is next and picks up right where the title track left off with sustained blastbeats and great snarled vocals. The guitar slowly fades out to end and “Bis die Seele gefriert” starts with some cool riffs and a slower pace kept up by the drumming. Showing that they are not afraid to go without vocals it is quite awhile before words are needed. Clean vocals are used well and guitars fill the role of synthesizers. The next track “Nachtfrost” is an acoustic interlude between the harsher related songs just ended and the more melancholic end of the album. “Neun Nachte” is an excellent long acoustic solo with whispered /spoken vocals.  “Alter als das Kreuz” starts off slow and doomy with bells. The drums pick up the pace a few minutes in. There are lots of time changes with the guitars really dominating this song, making for a more melodic epic feel to this saga music.

In my mind black metal with acoustic guitar begins with Frostmoon Eclipse in terms of quality and Helrunar is right up there. Acoustic guitars hold their own within the framework of “Minis Brunnr” never sounding like a gimmick and certainly not the weak link like with so many bands using acoustics because Ulver did. The closing solo to this song is excellent and so are the other acoustic breaks incorporated into “Minis Brunnr,” which gets my vote for favorite song. This is the pull it all together song with an acoustic opening followed by melodic electric guitar. The vocals are still with a snarl but the delivery speed is slowed to a casual tempo. Blastbeats precede an acoustic break with clearly spoken vocals. The pace remains slow for awhile before blastbeats again signal tempo change and moody melancholic guitars give way to a spectacular acoustic solo to end things. The cover artwork is hard to decipher at first glance. It is a snow covered excavated grave with a skeleton inside. Runes are drawn along the side of the grave.

After listening to this disc about two dozen times, no exaggeration,  in the past two weeks it is clear I would have made this a top ten pick of 2005, alas I didn’t get a copy until April 2006. I am also hoping skald Draugir sees fit to post English translations of the lyrics on their website. My pathetic grasp of German and an English/German dictionary didn’t do me much good while listening to the songs. The promo copy contains no lyric sheet, German, Norwegian or English. I placed an order for a copy of the Frostnacht digipack and I suggest you do the same.

1994’s “The Suckling” kicks things off, with the bottom-heavy rumble that fans have come to expect from Preston. “Algol” starts like an acoustic track from Neil Young’s Hawks & Doves but then degenerates into a phaser-induced bass solo. The Melvins-esque duo of “Reddleman” and “Coalsack” leads into the Queens of the Stone Age-like “Senex,” with Preston’s vocals run through a Kraftwerk-like vocoder. The Mellotron-driven “Silvery Colorado” plays like a warped forty-five, and “Epicus Doomicus Bumpitus” (a cool Candlemass pun) is a twisted tribute to a children’s TV show. “Simon Legree” smacks of the Fucking Champs prog-doom, and Preston’s Melvins tendencies rear up anew in “Obolus,” with a coda that includes chirping birds, blowing windscapes, a child’s xylophone, and cascading sheets of power-violence. “The Walk” is an ambient piece like Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells caught in a modulating force field, while “Mostos Algos” is reminiscent of the lumbering beauty of Harvey Milk.

The covers are even more extreme: The Residents’ “Easter Woman” and Rush’s “Oracle” (Part V of 2112) are quite tame compared to the comical spin of The Who’s “A Quick One.” However, Preston’s take on Blue Oyster Cult’s “Black Blade” sounds a lot like stoner rock in the vein of Powertrip-era Monster Magnet – very different from the rest of this album and very different from the Thrones oeuvre.

Day Late, Dollar Short doesn’t compile all of Thrones’ rarities, but it succeeds in offering enough gems to educate the uninitiated in Preston’s wild, wonderful music – bunny rabbits and all.

With nary a blast beat in site, Vore’s mid paced yet pummeling pace is graced by a superb production and powerful vocal clarity that simply outdoes about 80% of the death metal I have heard in the last year. From the he Nile-like, chant laden grooves of the opening title track, to the closing of “Fall Unto Chaos,” Maleficus left me grinning, slamming and grimacing with its controlled yet articulate throes of staggering, lurching death metal. The almost doom like gait isn’t too lethargic or drawn out, just perfectly balanced with menacing, churning, mid tempo salvos of force.

The thing is, it’s not just simple mid paced drivel like Jungle Rot, Vore exude a aura of titanic power and depth within their structures. Every song has some sort of neck snapping, fist clenching climactic groove that registers on some sort of personal musical Richter scale; from the precise, unflinching pace of “The Line That Divides,” the mammoth mid section of “Threshold of Empowerment,” the initially more urgent “Wrath Wrought Ruin” and the perfect closure of “Fall Unto Chaos,” Maleficus kept my attention throughout. Something not many modern death metal albums have done. And even with the album’s relatively singular pace, each song has its own personality and dynamics – a credit to Vore’s song writing skills. “Legions of the Martyr” and “Ashes” give brief, but rather needless interludes, but show Vore competence in other areas beside pummeling death metal. My only minor gripe would be the brevity of the songs and the album, I’d love to hear what Vore would do with an 11 minute epic or something.

I wholeheartedly recommend Maleficus to death fans AND labels alike….( Are you reading this Listenable?)

Now this is my first exposure to these lads, so I’m not sure how Black Northern Storm stands up to the previous two self released efforts, but I’m guessing the Marduk/Dark Funeral worship style hasn’t changed that much. The expected mix of razor sharp speed with a melodically seething undercurrent is prevalent in most of the songs and there are a few controlled moments of controlled menace. The guitar tone is nice and frosty without being to over produced or grating and the bass and especially the drums are audible.

Opening with the expected windswept sample, “Ravaging the Shores” begins the very Scandinavian assault with a nicely varied pace and pretty impressive delivery. “Immemorial” is a bit more immediately urgent and scathing with nice harmony line amid the vortex and early Ulver like bass lines. The rest of the album pretty much falls in line with what you’d expect from a Marduk/Immortal inspired album, with little deviation, and that maybe the only real downfall. That being said, they do it with aplomb and plenty of memorable riffs and conviction. “Weaving Time In Vain” has a nice slowdown, the title track has some nice time changes, “Ascendancy of the Boreal Wake” has a nice atmospheric introductory gait before exploding into a more typical black metal storm then more windswept (Vanquished like the wind apparently-it appears a few times) sampling and a synth outro, a tangent I would have like to have heard more of.

A good, solid no frills album that does the source material justice, maybe a little too much, but is still a enjoyable, well produced and executed listen.

Graced by the flutes of Amorgen (of fellow French pagan metallers Bran Barr), acoustic flourishes and pipes, the fluid and seething black metal of Formors is given a brilliant Celtic sheen that gives their traditional black metal sound a simply hypnotic atmosphere of barbaric grandeur, painted men and a ragged beautiful wilderness. Not simply a gimmick, the Celtic/Folk based flute and pipe elements are intertwined within each song as a part of the whole, gracing blast beats, slow builds and acoustic sections alike with their lush tones.

The grim black metal, by itself it pretty good regardless, following a distinctly early 90’s Scandinavian approach, but when flocked with the Celtic flourishes, becomes something far more impressive. The overall sound is what I imagine In Extremo or Morgenstern would sound like if they played primal black metal. From the delicate opening bounce (which soon turns into a brittle black metal gash) of “Les Traces De La Branche Rouge” (yes, the song titles and lyrics are in French) through epic closer “Manannan Mac Lir”, Formor left me enthralled and bristling with Celtic energy. Each of the lengthy songs melds a competent form of rasping, staccato black metal with simply perfect injections of tempered, unobtrusive folk beauty. “Formors: Mer De Glaces Et D’Nombre” starts as a somber controlled ballad, before exploding into blacked fury and them into an addictive acoustic jig. “Formors: Exil” initially goes straight for the throat with no flutes of pipes, but soon settles into a mid paced, flute laden canter through the forest. The controlled Maypole dance meets Black metal gait of “Gwenardell” is simply a joy to listen too, while the warlike tones of “Le Combat Des Arbres” is rousing and blood pumping.

Not content to simply rely on their Celtic elements, “Les Griffes Des Oiseaux” lean more heavily on brusque black metal fervor to carry the song, though its Folk injections to add to an already impressive song. The reverse can be said of bouncy, jiggy tracks like “Ventres Noirs” and “Manannan Mac Lir”. The production is a fair balance between decently produced yet gritty black metal and the obvious Celtic overtures that are delivered with an earthy realism rather than over produced and dominant. Vidar (also of Industrial act Forge) has an adequate rasp, but personally a few more vocal variation (female, choir or something) in line with the Celtic instrumentation would have rounded Formor out nicely.

A superb album. My only question is why are the French doing so much Celtic/Pagan metal (Aes Dana, Bran Barr, Heol Telwen, Ancalagon, Furia, Hirilorn) , where are… well, the Celts?

Befitting of the music that preceded it, Zeroland ends on a strange note with some looped speech on psychology running over a symphonic ambient piece which ebbs and flows over the course of several minutes as the album fades out. Antigama has truly taken a daring creative step on their sophomore effort. Grindcore fans aren’t particularly known for their love of technical metal, and likewise, technical metal fans aren’t generally fans of grindcore. Zeroland forces these rival schools to meet in the middle, denying neither their just desserts, rather providing a ‘third way’ for grindcore to keep its relevance without losing its initial punch.

Now, don’t get me wrong, The New Age of Chaos isn’t redefining death metal, but it is making it energetic and far from rudimentary and dull. All the tracks deliver plenty of shredding, blasting, lumbering and lyrical barbs against today’s strife ridden religious and political climate all wrapped up in a typically professional and clean Unique Leader production and layout. Juan Urteaga has the now common place guttural growl/high pitch scream down pat, but is indistinguishable from hundreds of other death metal vocalists, but they do the job. Drummer Tyson Jupin, a new name to me, seems to have a Tim Yeung tightness to his style (further enhancing the Council of the Fallen comparison), and looks to be a bright young star in American percussive brutality.

From the blackish swirl of opener “Devour,” through the brutal vortex of “Suicide Warfare,” the neck snapping closure of “Sentenced to Live,” the smooth lumbering climax of “The Burning Shrines,” the rumbling “Ritual Decapitation,” smartly paced “Worldhunt” to ambient closer “Forlorn,” The New Age of Chaos is unpretentiously technical and suitably savage.

My only beef with this album is its generic competency; when listening to The New Age of Chaos and Divine Empire’s Method of Execution side by side, I found myself trying to figure out which band it was and only after a quick glance at my Ipod’s display screen was I able to discern to two. Still, that’s a minor gripe with a genre that isn’t striving for originality, just entertainment; and Vile again deliver the death metal goods.

The 22 tracks on disc 2 is less satisfying and more of a collectors item with a few early versions of tracks that appeared on The Process of…. John Gula seems a little less seething, but then again lacking the Steve Evetts production (Buried Alive, All Out War, Hatebreed), may have something to do with it. Though the Anchor tracks point to the effort that would eventually surface on The Process of… . Still, 22 essentially bonus tracks of burly, angry, rumbling metallic hardcore from a moderately legendary if short-lived and now returned band, along with a classic album is nothing to turn your nose up at.

I can’t wait for the new full length sometime in 2006. Nice work Abacus.

While most copycat metal rests on the laurels of the subject material, Kill The Client’s homage to Napalm Death (as well as Nasum it sounds like), is amply individual to keep them from being brainless clone. Even with the same subject matter (politics, religion, war, etc), Morgan’s Barny- esque shouts and roars, and scathing power chord laced bursts of scathing grind, KTC deliver just enough slight tweaks to make their sound their own.

This 28 minute salvo, consisting of 15 abusive tracks is ball pin hammer to the head for pretty much its entirety and really isn’t done justice by my mere words. From the raucous opening of “Defend”, the short lived opening lurch of “Worker Ant Syndrome”, sample fueled “In God We Trust”, the Righteous Pigs gait of “Bloodline”, the sheer Watchmaker like noise of “”Liberty or Death” and “Gridlock”, the grimy restraint of “Killing Fields” and “Negative One” (KTC’s equivalent of “Morale” from The Code is Red..?), to the ultra savage “Scene Queen”, the album pretty much smokes for its full 28 minutes, which is about a perfect length album considering its genre.

The production isn’t quite as clean as say Napalm Death or Nasum nor as grating as Watchmaker, but an unhealthy middle ground that’s acidically effective. The rend result is a bluecollar grindcore album that’s aware if its past and its future impact.

Produced at Sundi Coop (Ensiferum, Rapture, Finntroll, Shape of Despair, Norther, Moonsorrow) Noumena has the familiar Finnish crunch that most of the bands above have already mastered, so Noumena’s lush, thick sound is welcoming and warm. However, With the addition of clean female vocals from the angelic Hanna Leinonen and guest clean vocals on some of the tracks from Fall of the Leafe’s Tuomas Tuominen, there’s plenty of variety amid the mid-paced chugging as first evidenced on first standouts “Everlasting Word” and “Slain Memories”, where Tuominen and Leinonen inject some classy elegance amid Antti Haapanen typically gruff yet eloquent growls. As with their peers, there’s a solid mix of upbeat though still depressive numbers (“The First Drop”, “A Day to Depart”, “Prey of the Tempter”, “Here We Lie”, “All Veiled”) and more somber, balladic tracks that mostly feature the guest vocalists (“Everlasting Word”, “Slain Memories”, “The Dream and the Escape”, “The Great Anonymous Doom”). The slower, more varied tracks are the standouts as they break up the Rapture/Insomnium worship a bit with a little Fin-Goth appeal and because Tuomas Tuominen has such a unique voice.

Even with the heavy handed, obvious influences mentioned (Antti Haapanen is a little too much like ex-Amorphis/Shape of Despair’s Pasi Koskinen), Noumena still stands out as a classy, high end act that has room to improve and develop their own sound. I found them to display the perfect Finnish balance of beauty and bestial that will hold me over until the next Insomnium record and displace my slight disappointment at Rapture’s Silent Stage.

Reviewing Bolt Thrower at this point in their career is much akin to reviewing ACDC. I know whats coming, you know whats coming and I suppose the only ones who don’t get it are the young Johnny-got-his-gun-come-latelies for whom Bolt Thrower is often an overlooked classic band, not hailed quite as religiously as say Morbid Angel or Suffocation, but every bit as essential to truly understanding what pure death metal is. Bolt Thrower ’05 is a much matured beast, but no less a beast, delivering their ungodly heavy riffs with perhaps a little more spicing up in terms of guitar harmonies and easing the tempo’s down to a mid-pace on this album. Eyebrows might raise slighly at the Roots-era Sepultura groove of “The Killchain”, but the vast majority of tank-tread-tracks offered up here will be more than enough to make up for that, most notably the classic epic pacing of the title track, and the horn-raising solo in “Anti-Tank (Dead Armour)”. Besides those two specific moments, there is plenty of other classic (human) meat for all eras of the band’s fandom to sink their teeth into. The return of Karl Willets is quite welcome personally as he has always been in my mind the most fitting vocalist for the group, making up for a lack of rhythmic agility with a consistent and fierce growl that has aged quite well.

One thing that has constantly impressed me through the years is that despite the band’s left-ward leaning politics, they have never let outright condemnation of thier subject matter invade their lyric sheet, rather expressing their opposition by being objective and descriptive, rather than political and preachy about it. They prompt the listener not to accept or reject a specific message, but to meditate on war in both its horror and glory and come to their own conclusions about whether the use of force is a morally acceptable way to change the world. This neutral stance as it were is but one example of the integrity that will be just as large a part of this band’s legacy as their ability to make the most consistently unrelenting death metal that existed in the past or exists today. This needs no recommendation, number-score, or ‘for fans of’ nonsense. This is Bolt Thrower and thus, this means WAR. Own it or pose.

On this collection of demos, non-demos, live cuts, and any other recorded piece of aural terrorism fit for consumption, Total Fucking Destruction single mindedly deliver some of the most vitriolic, acidic grindcore this side of Cattle Decapitation. At just over 58 minutes long this monstrous slab of grind proves to be just slightly too long; as is the case with most grind, after a half hour the lack of variation becomes a source of tedium. Still, what’s here is undeniably hateful and terrifyingly effective, even if there is a bit too much of it for all but the most dedicated grindhead.

With a genre saturated by as many one man projects as Norway in winter, the question is whether or not Total Fucking Destruction are able to separate themselves from the pack. Short answer yes, long answer no; while the overly simplistic blasting and triple guitar assault that pad each song are undeniably appealing and fresh at first, the formula eventually wears thin over the course of the album. Like a bullet to the head Compact Disc Version 1 is a perfect quick fix for your sadistic grindcore addiction.

Closer “Endless” is a bit wishy washy for me, even on an atmospheric black metal album, but that doesn’t make this album any less enjoyable. And that maybe its ultimate downfall; Scent of A Dream is almost too nice of an album. It won’t appeal to black metal die hards, it isn’t quite Viking enough for the metal warriors and the atmospherics are slightly tempered.

For what is essentially a demo though, Thurisaz show tons of professionalism and promise for the future. A great fit on Napalm Records I reckon.

Xasthur, on first listen I thought kind of boring and after awhile I looked up at the cd player because the music finally caught my attention and it was track seven, the Katatonia cover song, “Palace of Frost” just starting, sorry Malefic. The Xasthur music is mellow, with a very slow pace with occasionally slightly faster drumming. Any harshness is achieved with distortion and guitar noise and vocals. I would classify myself as not a fan yet I still have ten Xasthur releases, though splits were always because of the other bands, as is the case here. Nocturnal Poisoning started it for me based on the cover art. I’m not sure why I am always willing to give him another chance (besides getting them in the mail to review that is). My favorite release remains the re-recorded corrected version of A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors, Malefic’s early work is what keeps me going, “powerful, grim, hateful and misery induced.” He earned my respect and I can’t start dismissing his music as crap now, that would be letting myself off easy. After a dozen listens, interspersed with other Xasthur discs, I’m enjoying it a lot more. “Keeper of Sharpened Blades” is good, though I still think the drum sound is weak. The vocals are nicely twisted again. Though as usual, his music does not send me spiraling out of control into fits of depression or give me suicidal thoughts, nor does it rile me up in a fit of anger. It is pleasant background music for the drudgery of day-to-day existence. There is a difference between minimalist drumming and simplistic drumming. Leviathan is minimalist, Xasthur simplistic, though it wasn’t always so. Think back to “Cursed be the Memory of Light” for example for a good Philthy Animal Taylor impersonation. The anemic drumming on display on this split is more like Rick Allen. Listening to the Katatonia cover, which goes way back to before they became the Discouraging Ones, is very enjoyable and Malefic does his best to entice me to pull out my disc and listen to the original, something I have not done for more than a decade, but I doubt I will like it as much as this version, well done.

Leviathan, I’ve been a fan since MisanthropicNecroBlasphemy, which I ordered based only on a mail order description so I could make shipping costs more enticing from Europe. Wrest has gone a bit too much ambient for my tastes of late but he is one of the true tortured souls, he is not faking it for a stage gimmick, and it is that authenticity that makes his music enticing. A true fan would have the entire collection, I have 12, what does that make me? Whether he deems me qualified to review or not I consider Wrest one of the top talents in black metal today. He offers two lengthy new songs of ten and a half and eight and a half minutes. Drums have a minimal presence and the pace is slow with plenty of synthesizer music to provide the twists and turns, but this time he never gets totally lost in ambient soundscapes. The vocals are as anguished as always, once again putting the young Varg to shame. The music is not a maelstrom. There is some melody and lots of subtlety, the pace alters frequently and songs flow beautifully. The third song is Judas Iscariot’s “Where the Winter Beats Incessant” from the Distant in Solitary Night disc, as the bonus track and the original ten and a half minute opus is now an extended 12 minute Wrest epic. What is it that inspires Iscariot cover songs? Usually cover songs pale in comparison to the original artist’s vision but bands covering Judas Iscariot go all out, true devotion. No one ever covered an Emperor song with such conviction.

The top three songs on disc are “The Remotest Cipher” “Where The Winter Beats Incessant” and “Unfailing Fall Into Naught.” All three happen to be Leviathan, Sorry Malefic but you had some pretty tough competition on this split. Xasthur has put me back on the fence ready to jump onto the passing bandwagon with an inspired offering that took awhile to get into but was worth the effort. A great release, a great split.

Though I don’t usually comment of CD packaging, it should be noted that King of Stars-Bearer of Dark comes in a beautiful gatefold digipack, laden with solid fantasy art (read; dragons, swords and boobies) that contributes to the overall quality of the release.

For a grind album, First of All… holds my attention rather well, and its not on the sheer forceful level of the likes of Nasum or Napalm Death, it’s because its varied without being too quirky, humorous without being overly comical and detracting from the music and atypically produced and written for the genre. Vocalist Josh has a primal, unobtrusive, unaltered roar that reminded me of Martin Van Drunen (Pestilence) crossed with Martin Schirenc.(Pungent Stench) and the 16 songs are prefectly timed and structured to keep the album entertaining but not to brisk. The lumbering ‘Larry the Cripple/Death’ rounds the album up nicely with nice death metal lurch.

Fun, grinding shit for stoned couch potatoes.

I’ll tell you right away, La Muerte slides in musically right between the styles of False and Erase. It has False’s distinctly European urgent death metal gait for the most part, but contains some of the death ‘n’ roll groove of Erase but without sounding so ‘clean’. Even the artwork is a mix of False and the GF logo from Erase. Tue Madsen’s (where you were for Erase?) mastering gives the album a modern but ultimately Gorefest sound. Jan C’s vocals are his latter era growl, with plenty of “Rooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrr’s” but he is still as distinct as ever while retaining a powerful presence.

Right of the get go, well placed album opener “For The Masses” is the ultimate comeback song if I ever heard one, a gloriously over the top epic “Were Back!” to kick things of much the way “The Glorious Dead” kicked off False. In fact, astute Gorefest fans will notice that many of the tracks have a familiar feel or lineage to many classic Gorefest tracks; “For the Masses” = “The Glorious Dead”, “Malicious Intent/ “Man to Fall” = “Piece of Paper/ “To Hell and Back”, “Exorcism” = “Soul Survivor”, “Rogue State” = “Reality-When You Die” , “Of Death and Chaos” = “False”, “The Call” = “Chapter 13”, “The New Gods” = “Electric Poet”, “‘Til Fingers Bleed” = “Horrors in a Retarded Mind” and so on and so forth. That alone should put tentative Gorefest fans at ease.

Still, the songs stand on their own merit as well as harken to the past. And more importantly, each track has its own pace, character and dynamics, something that was lacking on Chapter 13, even with the similar length, (Chapter 13 was waaaaaaay to long). Gone is the Hammond (which I actually enjoyed) and psychedelic 70’s experimentation of Soul Survivor and the pseudo rock posturing of Chapter 13, this is Gorefest at their base level, most straight forward, rocking out hardest. There are a few odd vocal change ups that hint towards Chapter 13’s ill placed clean vocals, (“You Could Make me Kill”, “Rogue State”) but thankfully they are infrequent and never fully fleshed out. The only track that seems to be a new development for Gorefest is the 10-minute instrumental closing title track. A fine track in itself, but a little overwrought and may have been better placed as an poignant mid album breather as it lacks the album ending, satisfying punch that “‘Til Fingers Bleed” has.

I was truly worried about how Gorefest would fare after eight years away, but Jan, Boudewijn, Ed and Frank have returned hungrier and eager to make up for Chapter 13 (and to some Soul Survivor, though personally I think it’s a great album). Boudewijn seems particularly rejuvinated with lots of superb solos, and drummer Ed Warby squeezes out some surprising blast beats.

In an era of continual blast beats and technical overkill, Gorefest have shown not only what real songwriting can do, they’ve shown the young guns how they did it back then, and how to do it nowadays. I tried really hard not to come across as a biased fanboy for this album, and I would have been quick to critisize La Muerte had it failed (like Obituary) but I failed miserably because frankly this is what a comeback album should fucking sound like, regardless of my affinity for the band.

Welcome the fuck back.

Power & Traditional Metal is the theme of Disc 2. On this CD, we’re treated to bands ranging from Dio to Nevermore, from Motorhead to Mystic Prophecy and from Brainstorm to Feinstein. Both of Dio’s performances here, “Holy Diver” and “Don’t Talk To Strangers” are stellar! “In The Land Of The Dead” from Mystic Prophecy, Blaze Bayley’s solo take on Iron Maiden’s “Fear Of The Dark,” and Feinstein’s “Rebelution” are among the highlights of this disc.

We’re treated to some lesser known bands on Disc 3, labeled “Underground.” Bands include Hobbs Angel Of Death, Griffin, Raunchy, Zodiac Mindwarp & Gun Barrel, as well as even lesser known acts such as Gutbucket, Thora and Reckless Tide. Nope, I’ve never heard of them either. This makes for a nice cross-section of bands ranging from Traditional Metal to Thrash to Gothic Metal. Good to have if you’re into digging deep into the dirt of the Metal Underground.

The sound quality here is superb, and judging by the occasional out of key vocal, I’d say none of it is overdubbed. There is a lot of crowd participation and energy to boot. Plus, with each CD offering a taste of a different genre, this is one no collector of Heavy Metal can be without.

Certainly this style of music is not known for its flashy guitar work or intricate musicianship. In fact, it doesn’t matter at all if the songs sometimes come off a bit sloppy. It’s all about cutting loose and having fun, and Tokyo Dragons do that as well as anybody. Though Steve Lomax and Mal Bruk will not likely ever be considered guitar gods, they do offer up some catchy melodies. (Then again, you never know. Look how many guitar careers were spawned by Ace Frehley, and he’s certainly no virtuoso). Lomax’s vocals are perfect for this blast of 70s sound, and the rhythm section of Mathias Stady and and Phil Martini offer up a good, upbeat base. That’s really about all you can ask.

The only real criticism here is that some of the songs tend to run together on the album. While all generally start with an easily recognizable and catchy riff, they sometimes tromp into the same or similar-sounding territory in the middle of the songs. When they avoid that, though, as on “Teenage Screamers” and “Rockin’ the Stew,” they offer up a potent rock ‘n’ roll potion.

If you’re looking for virtuosity, substance and heaviness look elsewhere. But if you’re heading out on the highway for a joyride and need some high octane party rock to blast out of the speakers, check out Give Me the Fear.

Let me tell you, the 13 minute center piece of this criminally teasing EP was written to accompany the Ballet Deviare is a dizzying display is melodic extremity, stunningly symphonic artful dissection and flat out fucking sickening skill. It’s a pity the rest of the EP is a bit of a let down (a cover of Alice Cooper’s ‘Roses on White Lace’, and the splendid but short ‘The Promise of Never’), but for ‘A Diamond for Disease’ alone, this is a worthy purchase.

The Wagnerian approach to the guitar work is beyond the usual melodic death metal frivolity making even the chaotic yet epic Epoch of Unlight and the most urgent early melodics of Dark Tranquility look like Crowbar on barbiturates. It has to be heard to be believed. James Malone’s progressive yet slicing riffage is Dream Theater on Meth while listening to Human. Its so goddamned sonorous yet biting hat the whole 13 minutes I’m left enraptured and enthralled as the vortex of skill swirls about me. It’s not pretentious or showy either, as each angle and note has purpose and place within the framework of the song’s epic majesty. The pace and genius is also kept up for the entire 13 minutes with delicate shifts in structure and pacing while the guitar work all while shimmers with operatic confidence. Even at its restrained later stages the wind in the hair, atop a mountain solo work is breathtaking. The track left me awestruck.

Having never heard an Alice Cooper song in my life, I can’t comment on the cover track, but it seems jazzed up with Malone’s mind numbing guitar work. ‘The Promise of Never’, a re-recorded demo track, is along the lines of the material on A Celebration of Guilt but is over virtually after it begins, leaving the EP’s title track as the only truly dynamic song on this release. As with A Celebration of Guilt the James Murphy mastering is crystal clear, if slightly baseless, but it allows the guitars to air out and cut a swathe of precision through the swarming, controlled chaos.

The question is can Arsis deliver yet another 8-10 song album of this type of intensity and graceful savagery? I can’t wait to find out.

Trust me kids, this is good. Damn good, and it should elevate Killing The Dream into the hardcore elite as it does everything perfectly; The razor sharp production of Kurt Ballou, the truly rabid screams of vocalist Elijah Horner (Horner never lets up as his shredded larynx delivers spiteful and often meaningful diatribes of triumph and failure and loss), the blisteringly paced, soaring harmonies that verge on metalcore with Tourettes, the violent yet vibrant nature of the song structures. It all just comes together for a truly emotional record. This is what the painfully playful With Honor should sound like.

The start of “Rough Draft (An Explanation)” is almost a misleading lull compared to rest of the album’s continual intensity. Each of the 12 tracks is a short sharp, tear inducing jab to the face with no respite other than the eventual album ending comedown off “Four Years Too Late”. Free from forced hardcore machismo or overt metalcore woe, Killing the Dream’s riotous sound is of unbridled, old school hardcore intensity with just a pinch of metalcore’s sense of somber harmony. No fucking emo, no clean segues, no acoustics, no poppy structures, and no simplistic breakdowns; Just sheer fucking sonic wreckage. Of course, most of the tracks bleed into each other with a seamless sense of purpose but the restrained vigor of “Where the Heart Is” and the vitriolic chorus of “We’re All Dead Ends”, the dramatic opening of “Ante Up”, the sheer force of “Writer’s Block” stand out amid the sonorous chaos. All the tracks though, no matter how short and visceral contain delicate strums of harmony that give the abrasion some silver lining (esp. “Post Script”, “Sick of Sleeping”, “Past The Stars” and “39th % Glisan”). That being said, it’s too fucking short.

This is such a good, vein bursting hardcore record, it hurts and if Bane’s The Note let you down, this is the album to pick you back up. And then kick you in the balls.

Until Now.

With Immortal’s Horgh replacing long time drummer Lars Szöke and the addition of second guitarist Andreas Holma Virus is a complete return to form, sounding like The Fourth Dimension mixed with their recent sci-fi melodics and the added polish of 12 years of practice. Maybe Tägtgren’s time in Bloodbath sparked a flame, as his voice is meaner and leaner and the material is more intense, heck even the artwork is more intense. Just go straight to tracks five and six, “Craving for Another Killing” and “Let the Knife Do the Talking” to validate the band’s reinvigorated, menacing death metal snarl.

On your way to those stellar (definitely Bloodbath inspired) tracks, be sure to check out the album opening bitch slap of “Warpath”- a blazing melodic death metal track that has a hearty “We’re fucking back” feel to it. “Scrutinized” is a more tempered mix of Hypocrisy’s latter sci-fi gait and their early crunch, while “Fearless” and “Thousand Lies are the requisite slow, atmospheric numbers but sound more like “The Fourth Dimension” or “Apocalypse” rather than “Request Denied”. The lumbering “Incised Before I’ve Ceased” while arguably the albums weakest track, still destroys anything from the last two albums and is essentially wiped out by the blast beat laden, sheer force of “Blood Drenched”; more Bloodbath influenced savagery. “Compulsive Psychosis” is the most modern sounding track on the album, while the now expected epic, atmospheric album closer “Living to Die” with clean vocals and a larger synth presence wraps things nicely with a familiar feel even if it’s a slightly underwhelming climax to a pretty balls out album.

As you can tell from the song titles, the Government cover-up, Sci-fi theme has been lessened in favor of more visceral death metal topics but Tägtgren’s production is incredible and still has that futuristic bite to it without relying on keyboards or lyrics to give everything a chromatic sheen.

Virus is easily Hypocrisy’s best album in the last decade; it’s an robust yet intelligently scathing death metal triumph that shows Tägtgren has some fuel left in the tank yet.

Apt opening to start the album as “At The Entrance to Hells Unholy Fire” kicks off album number four from this legitimate Swedish super group comprised of Lord K Philipson (House of Usher, Leukemia, Dark Funeral, God Among Insects), Jörgen Sandström (ex-Grave, ex-Entombed, ex- Krux, Vicious Art), Petter S. Freed (2 Ton Predator), Michael Hakansson (Evergrey) and rounded out by the darkly angelic voice of Jo Enkell, now fully established in replacing Mia Ståhl. If that wasn’t enough talent and big name allure, Armageddon March Eternal also has a whole host of guests performing back vocals that’s reads like a who’s who of Swedish death metal including Gustaf Jorde (Defleshed), Jonas Granvik (Without Grief), Morten Hansen, Linus Ekström, Peter Andersson, Anders Eriksson, Lalle Levin, Tobben Sillman, Jocke Widfeldt, Matti Mäkelä, Insulter of Jesus Christ!, Jonas Torndal (Grave), Anders Schultz (Unleashed) and Björn Åkesson.

Dedicated to the memory of the late Mieszko Talarczyk, who helped produce the last album Armageddon March Eternal (Symphonies of Slit Wrists) is simply put, a The Project Hate album. For the uninitiated, that means a healthy does of anti Christian, down tuned lumbering Swedish death metal a la Grave (of course), mixed with some techno/trip hop, ambient electronica and ethereal female vocals. It’s a unique mix, which TPH has pretty much perfected now and basically continues to purvey with little meddling from the formula of the last three albums. With Lord K himself and Dan Swanö producing, the album retains its crushing Swedish girth and attentive listeners will notice a slight upping in the electronica, with even an entire song (“Loveless, Godless, Flawless”) being dedicated to the tribal beats and Jo Enkell’s voice alone.

The songs are still pretty lengthy, to the point of overdrawn, as in my opinion they could all be condensed to 5 or six minutes instead of the standard eight, but that is part and parcels of TPH’s shtick. Truthfully, the opening track “At The Entrance to Hells Unholy Fire” lacks attention gripping initial punch beyond the opening vocal line, but the nine minute monster “The Bleeding Eyes of a Breeding Whore” brings the pain with a deadly crunch and far more haunting beats and interludes that creep and slither with far more menace than the opener. Ms Enkell’s with the aid of a vocal coach, has elevated her game and is now part of the assault, not just female compliment, as her voice is supine yet deviantly sensual, like a fire eyed succubus tempting the innocent. “I See Nothing But Flesh” has tough acts to follow, but lumbers along more directly as the piano tinkers under the massive riffs. “Resurrected For Massive Torture” starts with delicate Enigma like beats before delivering arguably TPH’s most melodic, atmospheric and hauntingly controlled track that even features an extended solo followed by an insanely heavy groove.

While “Godslaughtering Murder Machine” has a nice violin segue and some surprisingly somber riffage and “Symphony of The Deceived” is a higher octane, ominous, punisher, to be honest other than the hypnotic “Loveless, Godless, Flawless”, the rest of the album has trouble retaining the early high quality, more so due to the long track length, but partly due to the fact that TPH’s sound is pretty much the same theme for each track. That’s not a real negative per say and it’s certainly not limited to this album as honestly you could put all four albums on a random CD player an be hard pressed to identify what tracks came from what albums; But at the same time be utterly blown away. If anything, TPH are consistent, you know exactly what kind of beating you are going to get with a TPH album.

All the traits of a fine TPH album are reliably here; monstrous production, painfully heavy riffs, darkly elegant synths and female vocals all littered with well-placed industrial/techno elements. That being said, TPH is an acquired, coppery taste that requires the acceptance of techno dance beats and a pretty rigid and lengthy approach to song structures. Still though, personally, TPH enthrall me with virtually every note and every release and Armageddon March Eternal (Symphonies of Slit Wrists) is a fitting addition to their Christ raping techno death anthology.

This being the New Millennium and not “Happy Days” with Richie Cunningham banging Becky from behind, the band dwells not without some bonus elements instead of just crying for what once was. And besides, Richie was the king of teenage sorrow some 20 years before Sabbath even was on the map of mainstream knowledge anyway… that rascal. But as I was babbling, you could say that the mainly-traditional, very rock’n’rollish doom takes a detour every now and then to more modern variations of the genre.

I had my doubts for the actual music when the first track, carrying the title of the album, was far from ending. Just when I thought that this was going to be a long ride, the band threw a surprise move and spiced things up a bit. The theatrically tormented, carrying voice of Mr. Tubbesing suddenly took a plunge to deeper growls. While the song is probably the weakest on the album, the move does come at a proper time, setting the mood for the rest of the album and actually raising the interest of the listener. In a way, I was slightly intrigued to hear what other surprises there might be. Of course, it didn’t take long for the man to climb back to the more traditional presentation, but that’s ok, as later on the songs improve quite a lot. The rest of the band also changes its pace accordingly; sometimes slowing things down to match the speed of a Finnish Funeral march, or take a slab at nostalgia, and bang their instruments like Steve Harris and co. back in the early 80s. We also get to hear some stringed instruments (“Entities from an Unknown Plane”), German (“Lass Mich Gehen”) and a bunch of other stuff as well (that brings My Dying Bride/early Anathema etc. to my mind).

I Taste Your Fucking Tears of Sorrow is a bit like a kebab. The bones of the music (i.e. the traditional aspect) tastes “ok” alone, but without the extra sauce (i.e. the varying details) it really wouldn’t have grasped my attention as well as it did. Still, a kebab is far from being the king of foods. So while I’m definitely not thoroughly satisfied, this is an album that shows that behind it all is a band that might be onto something. There are some rugged edges still present, but I’ll give the band the benefit of the doubt, in hopes that they have enough self-criticism and quality control when it’s time for their next endeavors. If all goes well, the next sacrificial offering should be a more balanced, thicker (the album sounds a bit bland as it is, but considering the do-it-yourself -nature of it, it’s to be expected) and most of all, ten times more indulging record.

As I won’t go out and recommend the album to everyone, I’m still going to say that doom enthusiasts (that aren’t completely glued to the old) should at least take a look. Perhaps the rest (of us) will hear about the band later on… burp.