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The 10 songs blaze and chug by in 35 high-octane minutes, and frontman ‘Kootoh’ has a wide array of screams and growls, forgoing any clean singing, so that’s good. While the songs certainly have some balls and bite, and when the likes of “DMZ” or the nu-metal stomp of “Draw the Line” kick in, I’m entertained and tap my foot/bang my head. It’s not quite as high energy as fellow thrashing countrymates Kause 4 Konflict, but there are plenty of mid-paced grooves that remind me of Machine Head (the aforementioned “Draw the Line,” “Improvisation 28”), and moments when the band is almost a full-on Arch Enemy-styled melodeath band (“Apollo Is Dead”).

It’s got a nice beefy guitar tone, some decent vocals, and high energy delivery, but ultimately it’s disposable.

So a perfect fit for Unspeakable Axe, Insanity is back after over 20 years since the debut album and sounds like they are still stuck in the late 80s/early 90s, which is a good thing. They are still playing that raw, formative death/thrash metal that was basically more aggressive thrash metal with harsher vocals  and darker themes and it sounds as dusty and primal as you’d expect without sounding like a forced retro band or a simple homage. These guys lived it and did it back then, and it shows.

Now I can’t say I’m completely enamored, and I’m not craving any of the 9 songs, but I can appreciate the sound for what it it. The guitars are nice and rough, the vocals are horse and gravelly, there’s no triggers or clicky drums, there’s no processed ultra brutal vocals, there’s nothing sterile and surgical. What there is, is a musty, shambling, fetid zombie that hasn’t quite fully rotted yet. Mummified even. And while I’m not clamoring to revisit the album, it works.

The likes of “Dread the Dawn”, ‘Tired”  and “Blind” have a certain, real raw energy that made the scene so honest back then. You can hear and feel the style that would be a stepping stone and transition to the likes of Death, Deicide and Morbid Angel  (especially in the solos), as the thrash backbone has a more technical, darker tone and delivery, not the more party vibe that thrash had in the 80s. So if that bygone era holds a special place in your heart, Insanity has come from there to the present and brought it with them very successfully.

You’d think I would have learned my lesson by now. When I got Nine Plagues in the mail, with a logo that looks like something I would have drawn on my 9th grade English folder, I set my expectation pretty low. However, as it turns out that the master mind behind Ashen Horde, one Trevor Portz, may not be a good graphic artist but he’s a pretty damn good musician and composer.This is his second effort under the Ashen Horde moniker, having served in underground acts Bite Wound and Fetal Hymen, and I have not heard any of them. And what we have here is some very competent progressive black death metal that would please the Behemoth crowd.

With a production that’s top notch, the 52 minute 9 song conceptual effort is an impressive effort from this one man project. It’s got a a black metal backbone, but a more authoritative, commanding death metal guitar tone and presence. The vocals are mid range rasp and the whole affair has a very tight, confident delivery. I get hues of Epoch of Unlight  and even  and other burlier  USBM acts  in some of the militant blackened guitar melodies and there’s also elements of thrash and heavy metal, thought the stated ‘progressive’ elements are pretty none existent. This is pretty straight forward blackened death metal. The only real ‘progressive’ element is that is isn’t a purely tremolo picked frost fest, the songs are pretty long and has some meatier death metal stutter and stagger thrown in.

Regardless, the theme of the albums nine plague concept is carried by the music though there’s no ebb and swell to tell a story in the actual music. The 9 tracks pretty much all deliver solid blackened death metal. It’s aggressive, yet technical but well crafted and with ample twists and turns. 9 minute opener “Desecration of the Sanctuary” is a well placed opening attention getter, setting the tone for the rest of the album. The tracks aren’t so much memorable or replayable, but a part of a larger whole that draws you in. That said, Portz can show you a wide range of moods and influences from a more pure black metal burst (starts of “The Stranger” and “Dissension”), to more patient, angular  almost tech death pace as heard on “Isolation” and another impressive 9 minute track “A Reversal of Misfortune”, which bookends the album rather well.

On the very minor down side, at 52 minutes, the album drags a bit, and I never got a sense of any story from the music. The 9 songs could have been about pig farming and I would have been none the wiser, as there was no emotional connection with any sort of story about a savage invasion of a village and the grim plagues that befall the survivors. But that does not take away from the music and musicianship itself which is top notch which as surprisingly good one man self released effort i did not expect.

Admittedly, new producer/mixer/masterer Jens Bogren ( Amorphis, Amon Amarth, At The Gates, Kreator, Katatonia and too many others to mention ) has to take some of the credit as he has removed much of the clinical, sterile aura that has plagued the band. Everything sounds much bigger, fuller and organic, and Fleshgod perhaps learning from what he did with the last Ne Oblivscaris album, sounds far better because of it. The drums have more oomph, the guitars have more depth and breath more and the orchestration and ample choirs are far more majestic and balanced.

That said, the band themselves have also seemed to have found a balance. While certainly a large part of the album is the expected Hour Of Penance type death metal drenched with full on Carmina Burana (O fortuna) styled orchestration, there’s a much larger sense of control, actual riffage and on King there is at least 3-4 what I would even term ‘slow’ songs. Also, like Agony which had “The Violation” and ‘The Betrayal”  and a couple of other solid tracks to carry it, King has a number of just killer, standout tracks, which Labyrinth lacked.

The album follows the rise and fall of Henry the VIII-ish said King as he ascends to the throne and eventually watches court and kingdom crumble around him amid madness treachery and greed. Opener “March Royale” signals the start of his king ship with ample pomp before “In Aeternum” delivers what I would call a typical Fleshgod track; bombastic, majestic and blisteringly fast, but there is a sense of regal control and pacing. Then you get the first of the ‘slow’ tracks as “Healing Through War” thunders with a deliberate chug and discordant underlying orchestral throb, and Bogren’s magic really allows the material to carry some weight.

The you get this albums equivalent of “The Violation with “The Fool”, a haughty, Renaissance -y, chamber music on crack  number that’s down right rambunctious. The fast/slow structure continues with the moody, dare I even say somber, “Cold as Perfection”, clearly a turning point in the name sake’s story and album concept. Then there is a couple of solid filler tracks in “Mithra”, a full on bombastic blaster and “Paramour (Die Leidenschaft Bringt Leiden)” a traditional, tragic German song sung with gusto by Veronica Bordacchini.

“An The Vulture Beholds” get back on track with arguably one of the most complete songs that band has written with a orchestral and choral refrain to die for, and some really nice lead work. Then, another slow burner “Gravity”, almost brings the album to a screeching halt, but it’s again, a engaging moment in the overarching album concept. “A Million Deaths” does a little of everything, with pounding war drums, furious blasts and a really nice solo as it sort of signals the peak and crescendo of the King’s madness and glory before it all falls apart.

The album closes with “Syphilis” a twisty, discordant track that matches the diseases insanity and slow, painful death adding the widow/Queen’s somber mourning, before “King” adds the album epilogue with a simple instrumental number and a fittingly austere eulogy.

I’m seeing more and more symphonics and orchestration in death metal (Lost Soul, Against the Plagues, Sarpanitum etc), but on King, Fleshgod Apocalypse, shown they are the absolute master of the style, having finally found the perfect blend of the two and a production that lets them both breath. King is a sure fire contender for one of my favorite albums of the year.

On a side note, if you still think the band’s style of death metal is soulless and forgetful, spring the extra 5 dollars and pick up the limited edition digipack version of the album and get a bonus CD of the just the orchestration and symphonic  versions of the albums tracks.

Where Caelestia add something is a more Gothic metal vibe with the presence of Dimitra Vintsou, a far more operatic/soprano female vocal presence. But not in a good way,  as with Dysrider’s Joelle Graz, despite having some pipes, to these ears she is a little too heavily accented. But Graz grew on me where, Vintsou  unfortunately has not, being more and nasally and off key more often than not, making the interplay with Nikos Palivos’s gruff growls and shouts not quite as enjoyable as it could be. Which is a shame as I’m usually a sucker for beauty and the beast vocal duality.

Other than that minor quibble everything else is in place for an ‘OK’ melodeath record. Big crunchy guitars, galloping riffs, a few blasts, heavy use of synths and a general competence within the paradigms of the genre. If you can get around Vintsou’s singing there is a lot to like, and when she’s more lightly as a backdrop or layered with the male vocals (“The Grand Sublimation”, “Blessing of Tragedy”), it’s a pleasant angelic hue, but when shes used to carry a song or  chorus, I cringe a little. Just listen to “Gate of Shadows”, “Mi Ultima Vida”, “Secret Rite” or the title track.

“Lake of Decay” and “The Rise of the Hidden Nature” close out the album and at this point its equal Vintsou and Palivos and the songs start to get a bit stale, so while the album has it’s OK moments and certainly checks the boxes for the genre, it’s clear these guys have some development to make  and I’ll keep going back to the Dysrider record to get my fill of the style.

“Kingdom O” is stoner-fuzz overdrive that sounds like the noisy fuck you of Today is the Day and Hammerhead, the sneering punk of Black Flag, the generator party stoner of Kyuss, the Floridian swamp sludge of Cavity and the blood on the street bulldoze of Motörhead fighting to the death for bragging rights.  The riffing is filled with shove your ass down the stairs, barely contained fury that intersects with trippy desert heat sun-scorch in the form of super smooth, melodic guitar leads.  The drumming is often nose to the dirt, homed in punk rock bashing but soon gives way to mathematically precise, polyrhythmic heart attacks that will have you reaching for your nitroglycerin pills.  Ian keeps the vocal antics in a constant frenzy; using spitfire, auctioneer spoken word one minute before hollering his head off until his tongue falls flat on the floor.  Squelching feedback sets the tone for the cathartic, stained glass window blowin’ riffs of “Rainbow Dust” which has that insane “start with the climax/catharsis first” tactic that’s the calling card for the finest, heaviest Am-Rep bands.  Eventually a doom-y, stop/start riff churn channels Sabbath via The Melvins as the crusty, haggard downstrokes receive ample artillery support from Tom’s misshapen, tricky fill patterns and Robin’s pork fat bass lines.  Numerous melodic guitar leads scalpel their way into the muscle of this material and even the vocals pull back some of the blatant abrasiveness for catchy, shout-a-long melodies (“Shadows cloud my mind, darkness takes my soul.)”.  The dirty palm-muted riff-sleaze only further grimes up this schizo creep jam.

If Am-Rep noise-rock was added as a fusion element to High on Fire’s thrashing Surrounded by Thieves and the sheer trash punk assault of Black Flag’s My War, you’d have something similar to the metallic noise overload of “Trauma Yauma.”  Drunken, rehab ready sloth riffs take the track down some darker alleyways where robbery and rape wait around every corner, the madness finally settling on a staccato instrumental breakdown where sharp, jagged spoken word erupts in free-form expulsions of consciousness.  The unadulterated, brain-damaged Sabbath riff churls only add more meat to HAG’s skeletal structure with even the crying guitar solos reeking far more of the blues than anything else in the noise-rock canon.  Robin’s propulsive bass line intro to “Low,” is a veritable battering ram of infernal stoner cum noise-punk groove that bashes its way into the front door of a slobbering drunk punk rock party where booze is in short supply.  Thankfully, HAG brought its own supply of brew to the kegger.  Whenever Ian isn’t riffing with all of his earthen might, he dissects his chord usage into sweltering noise deviations hellbent on sending the listener to the deepest reaches of hell.  “Metal Detector” makes no bones about dropping an elephantine sludge dirge riff from the get go and it only gets catchier as it goes along utilizing superbly hook-y Iommian progression to conjure up an industrial strength blues-doom boogie.  Angular, jagged redirections send the track into bouts of DUI-deserving, punk rock road rage and skin scalding noise-spires.

Feeling off-beat, hideously atonal and filled with 101 proof bad attitude right from the start “White Lion” balances radiation mutated thrash riffs with cosmic tempo hurdles and teetering sludge density that’s like the Melvins after a few good sniffs of coke…even Ian’s burly, hurdy gurdy vocals nod to King Buzzo more often than not.  Earhole fucking noise-guitar solos are short and to the point at first but later become quite extensive, accentuating the madness without taking away from the busy bustle of the off-kilter percussive carnage and the pulverizing display of batshit riffage.  “Beaten at your own Game” is the result of getting Tom Hazelmeyer to come in and produce a metal symphony production of High on Fire, Black Sabbath and Saviours.  Sure, there are huge dips into crater deep, mid-tempo doom grooves and throttling speed shifts where the drumming turns to a wall of thrashing toms as the vocals shout away, but everything is done up in this NYC noise-rock package that brings the very best elements from several disparate genres together in perfect unison.  Closer, the tongue-in-cheekly titled “Wrong Bar” lays waste to a throbbing tom-tom build-up with sparse, doom-y noise-chords ratcheting up the terror with each passing measure.  The scrape n’ peel, Chris Spencer-esque noise guitar licks soon construct a temple of granite tough doom riffs filtered through scowling howls of shouting, white wash guitar squeal and pummeling rock n’ roll beats.  If Hammerhead distilled their caustic, rabid mouth-froth into a semblance of bong-burnt stoner grooves it might sound something like this.

HAG means business and the sheer amalgamation of heavy sound heard on the LP debut Fear of Man is guaranteed to drag your senses into the band’s hellish nightmare, kicking and screaming all of the way.  They’ve got the anxiety of a great noise-rock band, a solid foundation of 70s/90s blues riff bashing, the middle finger punk of 80s, the thrash till deaf aesthetic of the heaviest metal bands and everything and anything in between.  This is absolutely worth a dedicated listen!

6 songs, 55 minutes, a gritty, feedback laden, gravelly guitar tone and delivery despondent slower, crawling riffs and pained raspy screams will give this some appeal to the  Thou/Leviathan crowd as well as the eyehategod, Nux Vomica, Lord Mantis fans. A few bursts of blackened crust fury (end of “Šukės”) might even reel in the Celeste/Deluge gang. But for the most part  this is a crawling, depressive affair with a DIY tone and delivery that’s effective and honest.

It does not have the most powerful or cavernous guitar tone, but it’s raw and filthy and the vocal howls and shrieks certainly give everything a nastier feel. There’s a very tense atmosphere permeating everything as well, even the acoustic bridges in aforementioned standout 12 minute opener “Šukės”, give me a case of the willies, as they either build to a icky crawl of savage black metal outburst. “Nerminas” starts with more unsettling acoustics that segues into a bruising, sickly lope and “Sociapatas” starts with a ominous bass line before a crawling mess ends with a odd but pace breaking thrashing section.

Another standout, “Skaumasi” starts with a fairly traditional discordant sludge trudge, but at about 1;50 it takes a really haunting turn and delivers a quite nauseating crawl for its final 4 minutes. Its a sign that while relative unknown in the genre, they know their way around some really creepy sludge structures. “Krentu”, is the point in the album where I start to wander and get a bit exhausted with the tense atmosphere and shrieks, but it does change things up with a more weird, angular, crunchy pace.

Another 12 minute track, “Ramybės”, ends the album and it reels me back in with more slow burning, harrowing blackened sludge lopes. I just wish it had peaked or climaxed rather than deliver the same riff over and over to close and otherwise pretty darn good album and a strong example of the genre from a surprising source.

With song title like “Bayonet Penetration”, “Ceasefire”, “Iron Sights” and “Nazi Face Melter”, there’s no mistaking the band’s stylings and the music does a decent job of portraying the warring themes. The music is a nastier form of Teutonic thrash (Sodom, Kreator etc), not the happier bay Area sound, or a forced retro sound and there is just a light flick of black metal my way of some raspier vocals and some of the more aggressive blasts. But this is mostly a thrash record, and pretty good one at that.

Hitting the 43 minute sweet spot, the aptly named Bedlam drops 11 actual songs, no intros , ballads or interludes of tight, high octane, sneering riffs and militant marches, all without the ususal black thrash cheese, beer ‘n’ satan ‘n’ spikes visage. No partying or drinking anthems, just solid riffs, lots of solos and a no nonsense approach.  I can’t say that I’m entirely enamored, but the album has certainly kept my attention more than some of the retro thrash or black thrash out there recently. Tracks like “Coup D’Etat”, “Thy Flesh Consumed”, “Bayonet Penetration”, “Nazi Face Melter”  and favorites “Pyrophoric Blood”  and “Ironsights’ certainly got my neck snapping a little bit. The production helps being modern and crisp but with  little old school bite.

A solid release and Suppressive Fire would a perfect fit for a label like Unspeakable Axe (Dark Descent’s old school sub label) where they would reside next to the likes of Sadistic Ritual, Trenchrot and Insanity.

The multi-instrumentalist Kris Force and her spacey juggernaut, vapor trail institution Amber Asylum has over 20 years in the music world and stints on known labels such as Relapse, Neurot and Profound Lore for a reason.  Never once in the group’s career have they compromised their vision.  While the “band’s” line-up is often changing, the players are always the perfect set for the task at hand.  On the Asylum’s latest opus Sin Eater patience will be tested and rewarded, short attention spans will be crushed into a putty-like substance and only those with a mindset for intricate, deeply layered psychedelia will make it out through the other side alive.  This is not a track skipping album.  Sin Eater is a record that you listen to from the first note to the last…tripped out fans that can behind the work of Jarboe, Swans, Jesu, 27 and Subarachnoid Space should understand exactly what Force and company bring to the table.

Daunting, 11+ minute opening cut “Perfect Calm” refuses to rush its reveal of the music’s most precious of diamond sharp treasures.  Haunted house drones are eerie and brooding as keyboards and a supremely low-mixed cello makes its impact known.  The haunting ebb tide slowly cascades to shore with subtle strokes of the violin as cello and synthetic gleam cast light upon an atmosphere of ultimate foreboding darkness.  Chanted vocals whispered from the depths of a mausoleum provide additional instrumentation as opposed to acting as a lead verbal element.  This is music to get lost in the forest on while load on 7 grams of mushrooms.  The volume of the drone rises to a deliberate, gothic funeral procession where druid carry a coffin into the woods backed by a rising tide of violins, dirge-like percussion and small swells of instrumental texture.  When speaking of the climax, the crashing plunder is almost Neurosisian in scope but it’s much more downplayed and elegant than anything that the atmospheric thundermakers every tinker with.

“Beast Star” develops a plummeting, morphine-drip beat early on in the proceedings while the string mini-orchestra enriches the progressive atmosphere in sorrowful violins and abyssal cellos.  Force’s vocals are a more prominent feature this time around, crafting a genuinely gorgeously melody around the multi-tracked instruments, throbbing bass notes and overwhelming textures.  There are so many atmospheric nuances going for the ears to sink into at any one time that it’s sometimes quite difficult to decide on which to follow (hence the necessitation of multiple listens).  Dueling violins summon a harmonic effect that builds to a solo moment that sets up the entire band to come in with percussive bombast, dominant keyboards and even some guitar to round things out.  Keep in mind that the sound is so hallucinatory that I could very well be botching a descriptive element or two, so please don’t hang me at the gallows!  The pastoral flavors and field wandering ending remind me of Harvestman’s work only from a different psychedelic dominion.  “TOT” enters on the haunches of a disgustingly thick, sludgy bass line before the crystalline strings make their presence known.

The drumming in this piece is also booming (beginning as a battlefield drum march) and goes for more apocalyptic decimation than any of the previous cuts.  Kris’ voice is rife with passion, lush in depth and hitting every rise n’ fall with masterful, mountain-high dynamics.  If there was ever such a thing as a symphony or orchestra that played end of the world doom-metal, “TOT” may very well be the only living example of such.  This sucker really knows how to pile on the bombast and that bass tone alone gets props for maintaining such a swampy, lurching foundation.  Distortion is either applied to the guitar or the violin for a fucked-up, freaked-out atmosphere akin to psychedelic psycho 60s freaks High Tide and whenever the song launches into a full-speed, aggressive onslaught with pummeling drums and reckless tempos, I get even further flavors of 60s psyche accumulating in the juice of my mouth (watch the jokes, sickos!).  For my money this piece is unstoppable and the best thing I’ve heard from Amber Asylum to date; the kind of track where you grab a friend and say “Shut up and listen to this shit!”

A lengthy, autumnal drone kicks off “Harvester” which is one of the slowest building tracks on the record.  A good minute and a half passes before formless, wordless vocal chants glide gently against minimalist cellos and violins.  Call n’ response vocals echo and delay back and forth conjuring an ethereal incantation that takes shape over as little music possible; a leaden beat kicks in lockstep but never pushes things further than a deathbed pulse.  This one casts subdued, heavily-layered, arcane magic throughout but manages to pick up into a hearty gallop before the curtain draws to a close.  Thundering, cyclic drum patterns and buoyant bass thickness anchor the majority of the succinct “Paean” while the cellos, violins and mystical textures entrench the brain waves in a hypnotic jam that never strays far from its beaten path.  Spending nearly 6 shrieking minutes of broken keyboards, de-strung violins/cellos and an overall sheen of piercing noise, “Executioner” belligerently fights its instinct to become an outright song for quite a long period of time.  Even when the vocals come seeping in through the haze, the musicality stays unstructured and obtuse before a surging, ship-sinking plunder of grumbling bass, tidal instrumental layers and violent post-rock swallows the crew whole.  The title track caps the album off and it’s pure drone from fathoms deep, whether investing itself in bass-y, buzzing textures that hint at melody or bleeding eardrums with some of the record’s highest, most eardrum penetrating frequencies it finds a way to get into your head and stay there.

Amber Asylum’s Sin Eater is 100% not for everybody but fans that have followed the band since their inception should find some of their finest work here.  As for newcomers looking for experimental malice, angular beauty or slow-motion psychedelia, Sin Eater will deliver everything you want and more.  Simply put, I can’t name a record that sounds like this and it makes for a great listen late at night with a fuckin’ killer set of headphones.

As per the album title,  and tracks like “Child of Frost” and “For My Iced Angel” there’s a general frosty, icy vibe to the material, but that does not remove any of the tinkling, warm keyboards, memorable hooks and more upbeat riffage. Juhani Merkkiniemi has a requisite higher range blackened rasp and all the other elements are par for the course.

The 8 track, 42 minute album is a pleasing, pure listen with a honest, throwback vibe that isn’t forced or self indulgent. The fact the band has existed since 2005 shows on the album’s confidence and delivery . Tracks like “Child of Frost”, or the more emotive personal favorite “Enclosing Me” and all have satisfying, solid hooks with crystalline, light keys and shreddage without being too noodly or cheesy. It’s not all high octane either as tracks like “King Pikes” and bring things down to a mid paced, controlled jaunt while the 7 minute “It Means” brings the full on windswept ballad.

The album closes out with another standout “Embrace”, a return to faster realms after two pretty laid back tracks, though it does end abruptly. Frostrealm certainly isn’t a ground breaking album but it’s a nice little throwback in a different style in a time of HM boss saturation or Immolation worship.

Well a mere two years later Satan returns to prove Life Sentence was no fluke with follow-up album, Atom By Atom. Although perhaps less immediately gratifying as its predecessor, Atom By Atom is nevertheless another triumphant album brimming with youthful exuberance, exhilarating guitar work and hooks aplenty across 10 galloping nuggets of classic metal gold. Part of the Satan appeal for me resides in the excellent vocals of Brian Ross. The dude possesses a rich and powerful set of pipes that sidestep the off-putting and cheesier vocal styling’s that often turns me off similarly minded bands.  And once again he delivers in a big way.

Of course a standout vocalist and some catchy choruses will only take an artist so far, but thankfully Ross is backed up by the electrifying axework of Russ Tippins and Steve Ramsay. The formidable duo are on top of their game here, ripping out engaging riff after engaging riff, along with textured dual guitar harmonies and slashing solos. Not to be outdone, bassist Graeme English and hard-hitting drummer Sean Taylor hold down a very solid and energetic foundation, rippling with their own individual nuances. Overall the musicianship and chemistry Satan’s band members share is top shelf stuff and when coupled with versatile and memorable songwriting, the combination is a surefire winner.

Opener “Farewell Evolution” kicks into gear on the back of one of Ross’ ear-splitting screams, galloping ahead with the kind of riffy spark and authentic old school bombast that defined much of the brilliant Life Sentence. Although speed plays a strong part in the album’s foundation, Satan’s dynamic songcraft and first class guitar work keeps things fresh and interesting. The technical aspects of the superb musicianship and vaguely progressive undercurrent snaking through parts of the album add to Satan’s multi-pronged offensive. “Fallen Saviour” and “Atom By Atom” are just a couple of prime examples of the incredibly hooky, riff-laden heavy metal Satan play so well, with the trade-off solos and anthemic choruses in particular burying themselves deep into the memory bank.

There’s little in the way of notable issues weighing Atom By Atom down. The album length is perfect and although songwise Life Sentence perhaps holds the slightest edge, by contrast Atom By Atom never drops the ball and maintains a high standard from start to finish. Production is top notch as well, sounding bright and punchy, with each instrument clearly defined whilst retaining Satan’s organic and endearingly retro crunch.

With Atom By Atom Satan’s remarkable resurgence shows no signs of slowing down. The band’s energy is contagious and they hammer out classic heavy metal tunes effortlessly, retaining their traditional old school values while striding confidently into the modern metal arena.

Opener “Riddles of Wind and Time” is a temple built to the almighty riff, cycling distant grooves buried deep in the background for a simultaneously ambient and foreboding sound.  Adam’s vocals are mantra-like chants parked between sung and spoken as they float atop of Meghan’s flowing, traditional rock beats.  The music presents a distinct Jekyll and Hyde persona.  Whereas the song begins as a soothing, tranquil river of groove, it soon becomes a tempest of soul-drowning, tidal, percussive fills (heavy on the tautly tuned snares), demonic riffs that give Blue Cheer a run for their money in the LOUD department and screaming vocals aimed on splitting skulls wide open for the thrilling sight of brain matter.  It’s a familiar vibe done up with a decidedly unique and original flair.  Fuzz-blasted, lowdown and bluesier, the intricately lathed and thickly cut blues of “When all you’ve got is a Hammer” is a sonic bluster of delicious, doom-y riffing that practices restraint in terms of its quavering, hurdy gurdy vocals, stripped down bass licks and locked on beats.

This is 70s blues rock right down to the marrow of the lyrics involving “a long walk with stones in my shoes,” only that vintage sound is done up in a different package.  The volume swells are located in all of the right places with the vocals getting loud and husky like a cross-pollination of Jared Warren and Leslie West.  Even the music itself sounds like someone found the perfect stride between Head for the Shallow and Climbing!  Adam’s powerhouse vocals belt out some mean ass lyrical statements that really stuck in my craw with sentiments like, “All I’ve got is this hammer, everything looks like nails to me,” you know that this stuff is low to the terra firma.  The instrumental breaks work up a good level of Am-Rep twitch that will have your lips smacking with the taste of salt and your own blood.

“Giants in the Ice” begins with an austere drone of bass feedback and amp-scorch that quickly settles into a downtrodden, detuned lumberjack stomp.  The vocals stay strictly in a grumbling, fault-line cracking growl throughout with the riff/beat shakedown dropping a steady thunder that’s old school blues rock throughout.  Some of the higher-end melodies work in place of guitar leads, giving Killimade plenty of chances to pepper the groove with punchy trick beats outside of her usual pocket.  Some of the riff-y lurches are big bluesters that match anything Sleep’s ever unleashed on the public.  Closer “The Serpent the Smiler” is a mess of loops and pedal FX made lively by a rolling tom-tom heavy tribal pattern.  Here the duo sneaks back into those hymnal vocals and melody-centered psychedelia.  There’s a loose, jam room feel to this track with no set plan or pattern holding things down.  Earthless toys with similar formless ideas, although Bedroom Rehab Corporation punctuates their sentence with a ball-busting, bong-blasted Am-Rep riff and a punk-addled beat shift as the record comes to a close.

I didn’t know what to expect with Fortunate Some but I got way more than I bargained for.  Structure-wise, the album is an authentic nod to the biggest and ballsiest bands that the 70s had on offer, yet tonally they are something completely different…acerbic and coarse like sandpaper in the fine tradition of many noise-rock greats.  Anyone into heavy, old school rock n’ metal that is up for a band challenging the format as much as they adhere to it should absolutely check out Bedroom Rehab Corporation.  This is some badass shit!

There’s no wasted sound, no intros, no interludes, and while the drums sound more obviously programmed than Spellbook, it’s not distracting from the no nonsense 32 minutes.  The 9 tracks, each named after a demon, blaze by with mechanical precision, that come close to The Berzerker type assault, that might not be intended.The guitars shred and dart with no wasted tones and even some clever layering and melodies lurk behind the krieg.

A few slower moments break things up very briefly such as moments of “Azyr” or most varied and longest closing number “Xhadex”, , but for the most part its the likes of opener “Syth”,  “Narzon”, “Sarxas”, “Corloch” and “Nergion”, which are all as pretty interchangeable as their demonic monikers. There’s nothing more to be said here. There’s 32 minutes of tight, blistering full on death thrash, take it or leave it.

The first interesting thing I noticed about the album is the great album cover artwork.  At first I actually thought it was a cover for some Hooded Menace album.  The booklet is layed out nicely with lyrics too.  The song “Preventio” features some very nifty guitar soloing and the production of the guitars retains the bands trademark sound, but taking into further, heavier and denser territory.  I love how the song begins with a blast beat, and then hits that groove and the guitar tone is like a razor wire lopping your head clean off your pathetic shoulders.  Killer old school guitar melodies at the 1 minute mark that literally took me back, like over 2 decades, before erupting into the furious blast, then back to the killer old school groove.

“Waiting to Be Free”, features some stunning doom/death metal moments not too far removed from Asphyx and even Hooded Menace.  Doomy, depressing and most of all heavy as a mother effer.  Vocals are brutally deep, understandable and pained groans to varying degrees on this track.  Close to the 2 minute mark we are greeted with a slower funeral dirge moment that then picks up into a galloping rhythm.  This part is the perfect part to hold up your horns and realize how amazing this part is, in its old school brutality.  “Kaaos on Kanssamme” (Chaos Is with Us) is the perfect album ender.  Fast, slow and heavy.  The 1 minute mark has a killer part and the guitar part for some reason reminds me of Sarcofago’s tune “Christ’s Death”.  The 2.40 part has more of the killer doom death beat and this part slays.  This beat eventually trails off and the album ends.  11 songs in 46 minutes.

Purtenance’s …to Spread the Flame of the Ancients is one of the heaviest albums for 2015 and the song writing is stronger than ever.  This is true and brutal death metal.  No tomfoolery, just plain ass kicking death metal from start to finish.  Killer!!!

So it’s 2016 and finally the new album is here. It seems like it’s been years since the album has been started or supposed to be released. How does it feel to finally have it out?

It feels really good to have it out finally for our fans!

What were some of the hang ups in getting it done? It feels like the reunion has been on and off again since about 2007.

We have tried to get back together a few times since 2002 but it never felt right with the line ups so it never went very far. Releasing the album on our own wasn’t easy plus the line up was changing while we were writing so when we got the final line up for recording it went really smooth.

The album is being released on Repulsive Echo and the band’s own label, Ceremonial Records, even after an EP on Mighty Music last year. Why the self-released route? I get the sense you guys are sick of label bullshit?

We had offers from bigger labels but we wanted to keep the rights of our music and labels want to own your music! Us doing it on our own gives us the rights to do what we please.

In a time where reunions are a dime a dozen, are you surprised someone like Nuclear Blast didn’t jump all over you guys? Any contact with them?

We still have contact with them for past business but otherwise they nor us are interested in working together again.

The reunion is 3 of the original Brutality guys, how important was it to have the reunion not be just Jeff Acres and some guys, but you and Fernandez at least back in the fold — especially seeing as your distinctive voice was so pivotal back then?

When the whole getting back together, Jeff and I wanted to have Jay, Don and Jim back as the Screams line up.

Was there any interest from other original or early members Jim Coker and Don Gates? Has the reunion been amicable between former and past members?

Actually in 2012 the screams line up with Don and Jim reunited to play a benefit show Metal Mowlisha for Donald Tardy and his wife’s Cat Rescue. After the show we decided to write a few songs to see what would happen “Ruins of Humans was born. 2013 we played a Reunion show where we played “Screams of Anguish” in full.

Your reunion seemed pretty low key. You guys have sat back and watched all these reunions from bands you guys came up with. How difficult or frustrating was it to see happen , while you guys could not seem to get it fully realized until now?

We don’t have tons of fans like some of the other band reuniting. This album is for our fans that got our attention through social media.

Do you feel Brutality got the recognition they deserved back in the ’90s, or do you still feel they were a little overlooked, especially in the then crazy good Floridian scene? Or are you happy with the band’s legacy from the ’90s?

I think we were overlooked since we were not signed until after some of the now more known FL bands. All in, all we are happy with what we’ve done for the Metal scene in our last 30 yrs of being a band.

Is the new album unfinished business from In Mourning, which was not as critically revered as the first two albums, and frankly saw the band fizzle a bit before disbanding? Or are you happy with how than band left things with In Mourning?

During “In Mourning” we had new guitarists the writing process went a little differently from the past records. After its release we didn’t see any push from the label so after a few U.S. shows we decided to just part ways with thoughts of possibly one day rejoining to do another album.

What did you do between In Mourning and the Brutality reunion? Did you do any musical endeavors?

Well I got married and divorced [laughs]. I did some guest vocals, but for me it was Brutality or nothing, so those don’t count.

The new album is definitely Brutality. Songs like “End of Days” and “Perpetual Resolution” are unmistakably Brutality. How did you balance trying to capture the old sound without simply being rehashed and tired while still being relevant in death metal in 2016?

We haven’t been writing regurgitated album over the last 20 years so when getting together to write this album it came pretty much came together naturally as to being relevant we think this album shows our fans what were all about.

The cover of Bathory’s Shores in Flames is one of the boldest cover choices I’ve heard, especially from a death metal band. What prompted that choice? Who did the clean vocals? You?

I didn’t do the clean vocals,  that is Jay, and Jeff as always did the sick darker vocal line in the middle verses of the song. As far as choosing it we are and always have been since we were teens in the 80’s huge Bathory fans and we felt this song would fit our style not to mention be a honor to cover such a godly song.

Is Brutality in 2016 a more socially aware than 1991 Brutality, Sea of  Ignorance seems to be so.

We’ve always had songs about the everyday reality about how brutal real life is which is way more scary than fairy tales!

Was there any temptation to redo any of the classics such as “Crushed” or “Cryptorium”?

No those are classics of ours. They are timeless.

What is the time frame of the music on the new album? How much is old music from the last few years and how much is ‘new’ music?

Some of the riffs are from older stuff we worked on years ago but as far as the songs they are all new written for this album in the past few years.

Jarrett Pritchard nailed the production keeping your original sound intact. How did he come to the fray? Was there any temptation to go back to Morrisound?

Morrisound sold their studio a few years back to TSO and haven’t got a new one built yet to record in so we had to look elsewhere to record. Jarrett has been a life long friend we started playing music together when we where 16 so it was a no brainer when we needed a new engineer to continue the raw Brutality sound, we think he nailed it he’s a great sound guy live or in the studio.

What is the sample that starts 48 to 52? From a zombie film I take it?

‘No zombies” I’m afraid. it’s from a BBC documentary about the Black Plague in Europe during 1348 to 1352.

So is this reunion a one time thing or do you have further plans? Are you charging forward with tours and possible future albums?

We are just going to see how the release does at this point we have no plans for another album or any long tours. This is for our fans we hope on some interest from some of the festivals so we have the opportunity to let our fans see us live.

Thanks so much. It’s an honor and a pleasure to have you on the site.

Thank you and all of our fans worldwide this is for you guys without you we are nothing. Stay Brutal.

www.brutalitytheband.com

www.facebook.com/BrutalityTheBand

www.ceremonialrecords.com

However, despite a real, honest attempt at early 90s European symphonic black metal, the album falls a bit short but only due to the actual song writing.  However, the atmospheres, delivery and overall presentation certainly imbues the likes of Emperor, Arthemesia, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and such in their formative more, raw stages.

The guitar tone is primal and frosty, the bass is distant, the vocals are a harsh rasp with a few bellows  and there is some moments of brief restraint and ambiance, but main element of the music is the sweeping, often overbearing keyboards . Now, more often than not, I love keyboards and symphonic black metal is one of my favorite genres….. when done right. Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus comes close, but there is a weird dichotomy between a more chaotic, raw first wave sound and the over blown symphonics and theatrics  of a more lavish style, and they don’t quite jive together.

Don’t get me wrong, the album is not bad, it just does not seem to fully click, and this is from someone who generally gushes over anything with keyboards. They sometimes have a more  subtle, sweeping majestic aura such as the close out of “Feast of the North Farm”, but more often than not they have a more chaotic, ‘there for the sake of being there’ presence such as following track “Amidst the Waves” or opener “Wondrous Sampo” . Plus there’s just a very ….synthetic, plastic atmosphere to the whole sound, I imagine, a by product of a two man international project with some session musicians helping out. For example, the drums sound programmed, though are not and the synths are just a bit too Casio-ish for me.

Still, there is some promise here, and occasionally Mage hits on something that gets my attention such as the shorter title track or less chaotic “Väinämöinen” and the album’s brevity hits a sweet spot. I get the sense Mage is passionate and driven, and won’t let negative reviews get him down, so I actually look forward to his next efforts to see if he can deliver some symphonic black metal more worthy of his heritage.

First and foremost the band has undergone quite a significant transformation since the debut. While the label ‘progressive sludge’ still applies, New World Order is a very different beast compared to the debut. Whereas the knotty exploratory song structures of Tales were underpinned by a more straightforward stoner metal punch and groove, New World Order features a sharper, edgier mode of attack which finds Void of Sleep ramping-up their proggy and psych doom tendencies into a darker and grittier sound. The adjustment in sound was initially a touch jarring, but the quality of the song-writing and the band’s confident stride forward with their music has thankfully won me over.

New World Order is razor sharp in most respects. The compositions are tighter and more complex and fluid; built upon a restlessly inventive drum and bass rhythm combo and fleshed out by the intricate and textured guitar work which hits a sweet spot of melody, adventure and groove. And although the guitar work takes on a more unpredictable and psychedelic path, those bulldozing bluesy doom riffs that were such a joy on Tales are rarely in short supply here. Spindly guitar melodies, probing basslines and off kilter rhythms collide with dreary vocal hooks on the edgy and melancholic opener ‘The Devil’s Conjuration”. It’s a solid start to the album that reinforces the slight stylistic tweaks and harder hitting execution on this second LP. “Hidden Revelations” takes a livelier turn and is a potent and emotive slice of angular prog and meatier sludge metal force. The song takes some interesting twists and turns without ever losing its structure.

Burdo’s vocals lend a strong melodic sensibility and accessible slant to the band’s psych-prog jams. His versatile vocals were a standout on the debut and here the dude lifts his game to another level. Both his predominant cleans and heavier vocal styles sound more confident and refined, to the point where he almost sounds like a different singer compared with his performance on the debut. Fear not however as just like the previous offering his vocals are a clear strength to the Void of Sleep formula. His confident phrasing and emotive melodic hooks are scattered generously throughout the album, counteracting the less immediate and challenging musical aspects with engaging vocal melodies. The band stays on the front foot on powerhouse, signature Void of Sleep tunes like “Slaves will Serve”, ensuring the song-writing doesn’t veer too alarmingly off course. Void of Sleep closes out the album with the complex proggy stoner jam of 14 minute epic “Ending Theme’, which manages to grip from start to finish despite its mammoth length.

Aside from a disposable interlude New World Order is a fairly consistent, rocking affair, even if the hooks don’t quite sink as deep as the debut. Production has been improved as well, sounding crisper and more refined while still featuring a solid bottom heavy punch, with the prominent presence of the bass a clear standout.

As solid and confident an album as New World Order is, I must admit the element of surprise and the more instantly memorable and hooky material from the debut certainly created a greater impact. Nevertheless, Void of Sleep has shown a willingness to push forward into a challenging and exciting new dimension and with this they mostly succeed with a solid and adventurous sophomore album.

The next track, “Singularity”, picks up the pace a bit, and is a decent contrast from the first track.  But from there, the album as a whole just seemed to run together for me.  The next 6 tracks consist basically of doomy part-fast semi-tech part-back to sludgy doomy part.  And it pains me greatly because I really, REALLY wanted to like this album even after multiple spins, especially after the opening track that grabbed me so forcefully.

Most of the songs, in the typical style of the aforementioned Ulcerate, are in the 5-6 minute range, with the closer going over 9 minutes and the whole album clocking in at just over 48.  In that time you get a lot of material, it just feels like the band needs to tighten up the style and the overall goal/feel of the album.  Part of the issues is the vocals don’t vary much, which I am fine with and don’t necessarily care for or expected the “let’s throw 5 different vocal styles on our album” school of thought either.  They just weren’t quite up to par to carry an album of this length, and in fact the instrumental sections of the songs are actually some of the most enjoyable parts of the whole album.

As mentioned earlier, this band was unsigned when I first grabbed the album to review, and have since been signed to SelfMadeGod Records.  It makes sense, because there is a strong album here simmering right below the surface and Wretched Host has the ingredients of a band what will put out an absolutely killer sophomore or junior album.  Definitely one to keep an eye on, and a must listen for fans of the bands mentioned before as this very likely might grab you from beginning to end more than it did me.

Imagine taking the staple Unique Leader sound and melding it with a heavy dose of classic Floridian death metal, i.e. Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Deicide, and Malevolent Creation, and mixing in a tad of early Psycroptic, and you won’t be far off of Serial Butcher’s attack on Brute Force Lobotomy. Picking an album highlight is really a tough chore, as all 47 minutes of this ten track affair brought a smile to my face and a crick to my neck, and that, in my book, proves Brute Force Lobotomy to be a winner. My biggest, pleasant surprise came in the form of an underlying melody in much of the song’s riffs and movements within the songs. This is represented superbly, on “Born on a Chopping Block”, where melodic riffing builds in a simple progression, with a sound sample of a saw buzzing and a baby crying, underneath the guitars, that is just flat out awesome.

Whether it’s the Cannibal Corpse meets Suffocation slams of “Hypovolemic Shock”, the slow picking intro, leading to fat brutal grooves in “Fresh Frozen Females”, the Schuldiner-esque influence in the interplay of “Worm Buffet”, or the depth achieved with the various tempos and ideas played out in “Facialized by a Flamethrower”, Serial Butcher does a fantastic job at showcasing the band’s knack of knowing when to lurch, and when to lunge. The one drawback I find in Brute Force Lobotomy is the standard, done to death (pun intended) gore infused lyrics. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some good stab, hack, slash, kill prose as much as the next guy, but truth be told, this material really deserves better and screams (no pun intended) for something with more lyrical depth.

All in all, as far as brutal death metal albums go, Brute Force Lobotomy has everything going for it. With a heavy, yet clean production, a great guitar tone, stellar musicianship with well-defined riffs that result in memorable songs with catchy, brutal grooves, and vocals with the low/high growls and screams that compliments the material much like Glen Benton’s vocals did on the earlier Deicide releases, and sometimes brings to mind Matthew Chalky (Mephistopheles/Psycroptic), and it’s clear to see that Serial Butcher have really brought their  game on Brute Force Lobotomy, and crafted one fine brutal death metal album.

While the early Death influence is certainly strong, the band also heavily recalls Morgoth and early Pestilence, mostly due to Chris Monroy, who nails a Marc Grewe and Martin van Drunen wail and howl, and in part to a more primal, raw approach. Sure, there are some clever nods to Schuldiner’s work (i.e. the neat solo in “Euphoric Bloodfeast”) but the overall tone is dirtier and thrasher, and less cerebral that Death’s mid era/latter work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M40ZhVoyJmk

Unlike Gruesome’s Savage Land and even the band’s debut, Condemned to Misery does not rely completely on blatant, clear cut comparisons to their peers’ songs (though the aforementioned “Euphoric Bloodfeast” comes really close to “Spiritual Healing”), and make you play ‘name that tune’, but rather develop tier own songs with a clear  and obvious influence in mind. To these ears, the production seems to be a little more raw and analog than the debut, further cementing the old school vibe, which is also then aided by some classic 90s keyboards here and there (“…Still Suffering”).

That all said, while a kickass old school death metal album from start to finish, there’s no ‘wow’ moments or truly memorable riffs or songs that make my blood curdle and command that I hit play again and again. The two tracks I already mentioned and ‘Ethereal Illusion” come close, but still I’m feeling that Condemned to Misery no more than a solid album of  well done, musty old school death metal and might actually even be s slight step back from the debut.

The aforementioned lead in cut is packed from head to toe with riffs that really get on the hustle whenever they’re not sinking into a quicksand pit of sucking sonic groove.  The duo of Jade Morgan and Gianni keep the riffage rife with powerhouse double-stacked riffs and catchy harmonies that have a serious knack for the old school.  Drummer Tyler Wielgosz is a lot busier than he has any right to be; sticking to headmaster strict rock beats whenever Morgan’s catapulting vocals are the center of the show and driving hard on the snare fill cum tom roll transitions whenever the riffs are peddling a harder, uglier plunge.  Nick Olson’s bass holds it all together with liberal sniffs of the Elmer’s glue bottle for maximum cohesiveness and a little dementia on the side.  While this is hardly anything we haven’t heard before, it’s easily as good as anybody else doing it right now.  The extra kick is in the songwriting which crafts numerous poignant vocal melodies with some killer two-part and three-part harmonies really hammering the point home.

“White Devil’s” intro riff is a descending chord doozy that would have Bobby Liebling sneering and stroking his mustache in devilish delight.  The low-end lays down a prominent groove that doesn’t get pushed out by the guitars with props due to a natural, organic production job placing emphasis on each piece of the band’s sound.  Sometimes the guitars drop out entirely leaving the bass to build the groove, setting the stage for dusky riffs to return and hang you at the gallows whenever dawn cracks its first light.  A rushing, percussive thrust piles on the metal when “Temptress” comes barreling into the fray.  Tyler uses both hands and feet to create a vintage metal polyrhythm that sets the stage for a fuzzy, blood-drooling groove in the key of “Fast” Eddie.  They wire their metallic explosives to a C-4 doom bomb that sounds like Pentagram’s Relentless with a stronger grip of studio bells and whistles.  Don’t mistake that sentiment for Dead Temple pushing a slick or overproduced sound for they give you the clarity and the filth in an equally balanced fistful.  The chorus is a real arena shaker with Jade giving it all she’s got and this song even features a tasteful, skirt lifting solo lick perfectly suited to the frenetic mayhem going on.  Thanks to some killer tempo mastery, the band knows when to lay off the throttle and settle into a bludgeoning doom riff that’s stuffed to the gills with Pentagram’s blues-based incantations.

Thrashing riff builds and palm-muted madness give “Black Death” an aggro bent right off the bat.  This is unadulterated doom set to an up-tempo 70s metal swing.  They drop the groove down into some cutthroat, sludgy churns where every chord drips with blues and the fills lean towards the extra beats and complexity of Ward’s seminal work with the Birmingham bruisers.  A couple of the sections even charge forth with a sort of double-bass pummeling, though I think Tyler’s work is all done with a single pedal…somebody correct if I’m wrong.  Monstrous, deep dipping Maryland doom grooves spill out over the top of the cup in the song’s second half and the vocals turn into a multi-tracked, messianic cacophony of harmonized melodies, manic speaking and other forms of oblique narration.  An atmospheric riff sets off “Sisterhood of the Snake,” giving way to a restrained open groove that places emphasis on the vocals.  There’s another chorus to die for here and it’s buttressed by pillars of marble-hewn doom riffage, Eastern guitar/sitar FX and effortless, jazzy drum fill/roll shake-ups.  Olson’s bass plunges and lunges like a beast with blood on its mind and its only goal to open up your throat.  Slightly more uplifting than its predecessors in terms of the aridness of the arrangements and limber grooves, “Loved by Death” reminds me of smooth Ohio classic doomers Abdullah, and that’s a good fuckin’ thing indeed.  This is classic rock with just enough metal overload to really put you down on the ground and kick another hole in your ass.

Easily the album’s heaviest track “Virgin Blood” digs its claws into a stinkin’ sludgy chord progression that blacks the sun right out of the sky.  Eventually exclamatory vocal proclamations, crying blues riffs with big bent chords and locomotive rhythms provide a bit of breathing room, but this motherfucker isn’t afraid to get a damn mean knuckledrag going even during its catchiest moments.  The title track finds Morgan reading a Morrison-esque poem obsessed with the occult over a pounding beat and sparse riffs.  She receives support from vocalists Olivia Stone and Nadia Kontogiannis, who are actually staples of the entire recording, but here they have the most impact.  Once the atmosphere is properly put in context, the mescaline-dosed bluesy riffs duel with nuclear classic metal playing which lands this tune smack dab between Pentagram and Priest.  The track ends with the dirtiest, doom-fucked riff on the entire album; a real son of a bitch that’s sure to drive you into the tomb.  Closer “Hestia’s Hymn” makes the most of a lengthy acoustic beginning, flirting with country, blues and folk influences.  This track pours on the lysergia and psychedelia with distant tones and trippy vocals cutting through smoky doom riffs.  It’s a track that manages to evoke heaviness without actually being all that heavy, although the band plays hard throughout.

Dead Temple is damn good and this is a great album.  They’ve got something else going on that sets them apart from a large influx of doom bands with lady singers.  Their whole vibe really puts you in a mood, which made me refrain from calling too much attention to the female aspect of the band until the outro paragraph.  Don’t judge Cult of Acid against the work of peer bands but rather weigh it as a work unto itself.  This is a fuckin’ airtight, rock solid album with killer writing, playing, arranging and production.  They’ve really got it going on and any fans of doom and old school classic metal should give it a check and hopefully a pick-up!

Dawn of Chaos play a fairly standard form of death metal that pays tribute to a host of others before them. Behemoth circa Zos Kia Cultus, a touch of Barnes era Cannibal Corpse and of course Bolt Thrower. And gosh darn it! But am I hearing a bit of Deathrune? (Remain Forever Entangled is prime USDM…look for it) Lyrically they range the gamut of different subjects from the death and gore, political and even a touch of humor. (Well maybe more so on earlier releases from them)

Musically it’s all done well and production gives them a great sound for the most part and listening to them can be fun. Granted they can be a bit generic, but at 37mins in playtime, you can appreciate the energy and not get too bored with it. Like stated musically things are frenetic and get the head banging. Drummer Ian Finley, should be noted, with his fills and blasting, creates a variety of tempos and puts in a great performance, all the while keeping things interesting. You hear the Behemoth moments in some of the vocals and the varied approach vocalist Paul Hartburn has and with the more grandiose moments with the guitars. While speaking of the guitarists, they are not sitting on their hind ends either and while not being tech metal by any means they offer not only variety in their riffing, but to satisfy those with plenty of chugs and squeals and slayer-esque soloing. The title track, “The Need To Feed “is a good example of what to expect and other tracks of note, “Engineering Atrocities” and “Butchered”.

So all in all not a bad release, good to satisfy the moment and to get that death metal fix, again while not ground breaking by any means, it is a good diversion when you want to hear the those aforementioned influential bands. One thing to take note and maybe confuse matters, but this album is being reviewed as Dawn of Chaos – The Need to Feed in 2015 but the band changed their name to Vacivus in 2013 and to complicate the issue further they released this album earlier as Vacivus – Dawn of Chaos in 2014 with same artwork and track list (?!!?) I am not sure if there is a typo or misinformation somewhere in the pipeline, I’m just following/citing what I see on the Metal Archives. So band info given will be for Vacivus, since essentially you are getting this album and the selfsame band.

“Intro” is a traditional noise-ambient piece living up to its name before the record starts proper with “Enslaved Possession’s” deranged, ice-blasted tremolo riffs, chest-rattling double-bass and lung-scraping vocal screams.  This is the avenue of black metal I’m gladly willing to strut down; the kind with a high melodic sensibility in terms of its riffing and shape-shifting arrangements but with a complete lack of silly symphony shit.  Instead of an orchestra you get focused, feral raw aggression with zero bullshit.  Hell, you can even hear Devan’s bass lines!  They hardly steal the show from Jesse Nyboe and Don Atkinson’s serpentine, dual guitar twists but they provide enough depth to avoid the dreaded non-existence which is often where black metal low-end falls, even delving into a few complex leaps that only adds to the massacre.  Cody Emms alters his nascent vocal screeches with some gruff, vomiting lows but mainly prowls the higher register of his vocal range during this cut.

The recording is just right for the genre and each instrument is the equivalent to a fat side of beef.  Most of the tempos retain a forceful, mid-tempo rape but drummer Aaron Panich pushes the material with deceitful blasts and molten double-bass which in turn whips the riffs into a frenzy of death metal progressions that nimbly ascend and descend the fretboards at will.  Thrashing, staccato chugs lend even more girth and give these boys a formidable sack as riffs appear and disappear beneath a sky ablaze with the Northern Lights and falling comets bent on Earth’s destruction.  At 7+ minutes the material runs the risk of boredom but never succumbs to it with a cathartic finale of malicious blasting and lobotomizing guitar surgery.

A flashy beat gives way to pure death metal, double bass/blast ballast and technical riffage in the early goings of “Reich of Evil.”  The thickness of the riffage and the lightning fast chord changes reeks far more of Floridian death metal rather than strict Norwegian stuff with the vocals adopting a mucous-riddled puke to further accentuate the atmosphere.  Soon the guitars drown beneath ice-encrusted waters and shrill treble frequencies that take over nearly the entirety of the onslaught.  Gravity blasts instigated by the fancy footwork rattle your trap, gleefully breaking your jaw as the riffs, vocals and bass lines spew atrocities that barely maintain their catchy melodic composure.  These guys are really touching on the perfect blend of black/death influences with concrete tough thrashing riffs evaporating into cryogenic tremolo and ripping Darkthrone style venom.  Though the lo-fi stuff is damn cool and I’m a big fan, it’s nice to hear this type of music done up with a production that really gives it some lard in all of the right spots.  Muscular, grinding mayhem spirals “Desecration through Blasphemy” into the nether of insanity where dirty death metal riffage is riddled with machine gun holes thanks to one blast after another.

The filthy retching saunters into freshly thawed, mid-tempo riff groove again unveiled in rushing tremolo patterns backed by some buoyant basslines that literally hop all over the fuckin’ place.  A sludgy, Celtic Frost-ed riff groove transforms the atmosphere into something altogether dingier and dirtier; a much needed change proving these lunatics have a grasp of dynamics in their songwriting.  There’s an equal trading of blows venturing from black metal into death/grind territory where technical progressions rule the day and fatten up the bony, high-end damage with dirge-y death metal prowess as the vocals get lower and slower with every passing movement.

“The Infernal Siege” sees Panich working some off-time beat jazz into an introductory drum solo before plucky, finger-picked bass lines and frigid, noisy scrapes of blackened debauchery crush the music into an angular mid-tempo.  Sharp juxtapositions provided by the constant beating of the drums sicken and thicken up the mix with some serious busyness as the riffs pool like blood beneath a winter sky.  Devan’s low-end consistently protrudes from the guitar lines, playing in tandem with the guitars one moment and then jumping out from their shadow the next.  I can see Dissection fans getting behind this, although this is even more aggressive than the work of the landmark Swedish legends.  Black, death and grind collide in the lecherous speed riffs and blast beat curmudgeon of “Incantation of Torment.”  Doom-y riffs occasionally undercut the frantic desperation with touches of melody providing only momentary respite from the next torrent of bowel-turning horror.  The complexity of the band’s sundering grind when stacked up against their brute force death metal malignancy is like a merger of Lethargy, Sulaco, Obituary and Deicide all in one blast.  “Sermons of Anguish” and “Ritualistic Inquisition” are cut from the same cloth placing death/grind’s schizophrenic change-ups first and foremost while delegating blackened melodies and fetid doom stink to the background.

The title track reverts to perverted blackened chaos that melds the best of the American scene with the European forefathers like a sex tape where the first two Goatwhore albums are given a steamer from Dissection, Marduk and Hyadningar.  Closer “Morbid Tales of Bloodshed” halts the pacing for stark mid-tempo gruel where open chords and ringing melodies call forth a diseased atmosphere straight from the grave.  Riffs are tangible throughout with an emphasis on tunefulness as the vocals expel deep, death-y diatribes (with some piercing shrieks) and the drumming refuses to turn its head on the slamming double-bass.  The structure here is the band’s most ambitious on the record and at 10+ minutes of playtime you can bet your ass they use every stylistic weapon in their arsenal.

Bestial Invocation is a great album with a shitload of elements in tow and a lot going on.  It’s the perfect split of black, death and grindcore with some slower doomier riffs and technical crescendos rounding things out.  There’s never a dull amount with the playing set at such a high-standard and each song packs in a plethora of memorable riffs, changes and parts.  Vile Insignia never lets up across these 10 tracks and in the process they won over a new fan right here.  Hopefully they’ll win you over too because this is a goddamn great album!

Baroness virtually abandoned their metal roots with their at times patchy but frequently excellent 2012 double album, Yellow & Green. Perhaps it lost some of the less open-minded factions of their fanbase, but for others it was a much needed step in their evolution following the disappointing Blue Record. Purple continues in a similar vein to its immediate predecessor, fusing muscular heavy rock with psychedelic flourishes and playful prog.  Wisely Baroness have trimmed the fat and released a far more potent and concise album. There’s once again a keen focus on crafting huge, addictive choruses and anthemic grooves, but the heavier riff driven punch of their earlier work is more present, delivering a finely honed balance between their past strengths and the accessible hookiness that worked so well during the best parts of Yellow & Green.

“Morningstar” opens the album with raucous energy, with the catchy crunch of the main riff sounding as though it could have been lifted from the Red Album. From here onwards Baroness deliver nugget after nugget of song-writing gold, from the anthemic charge and emotive pop hooks of “Shock Me”, to the high octane, sludgy prog-rock energy of “Kerosene”,  and tender, nerve-poking edge of “Chlorine and Wine”. There’s a defiance and urgency within these songs, many of which resonate strongly on an emotional level, yet bristle with hopeful optimism and the brimming positivity which can sometimes follow tragedy. Vocally Baizley sounds more confident than ever with his burly and melodic delivery sensibly staying within the confines of his vocal limitations. Meanwhile Baizley and Adams steer the ship with their textured guitar work, affecting melodies and rugged riffs incorporating shades of psych, prog, sludge and classic rock, occasionally complimented by the tasteful use of keyboards.

As good an album as Purple is, and make no mistake this is some of the band’s best work to date, unfortunately it’s marred by a subpar and at times infuriating production job. The mastering is atrocious, smashing the dynamics and creating an unnecessarily compressed and claustrophobic effect that seriously dulls the album’s impact. To top it off, the drums sound canned and lifeless, adding further insult to injury. In the end Purple is too damn good to be swallowed by its production flaws, but it is a massive hindrance to the album and a real downer to an otherwise superb release.

Purple is a kaleidoscopic sprawl of dynamic and emotional heavy rock and masterful song-writing, continuing the ongoing evolution of the Baroness sound and marking a powerful statement of intent and unity which should catapult the band further into stardom.