With Hadeon being the 8th full-length from Pestilence how does this stack up to the prior albums?? Pretty freaking killer, actually.  After a 2 minute intro, “Non Physical Existent”  comes in with a nice punchy sound, with a bass guitar heavy rhythm section.  Patrick’s vocals are killer and he gets into some lower gutturals and some killer quick blasting interwoven.  If you’ve been a fan of the newer records, which started with Resurrection Macabre, you will certainly enjoy this, very much so, but quite a lot of the sound is focused on more of the technique Pestilence were using with the classic Testimony of the Ancients time era, hence. Therefore, this will bring some of the older fans out of the woodwork a little more.  “Multi Dimensional” is up next and starts slow before erupting into a nice death thrash pace with some extraordinarily fast guitar riffing.  Quite a nice guitar solo afterwards and I enjoy Patrick growling the song title as the chorus.  Simple, yet effective.  “Oversoul” has an awesome beginning with some killer bass guitar lines and the slower, jazz parts are reminding me of the Spheres era, but mix in more of the newer Pestilence sound and punishing production.  This track is killer and Patrick is spitting forth some extra piss ‘n vinegar vocals.  The phase shifter, like vocal effects during the chorus part with the growls going in and out are creative and the guitar solos are ethereal and well done.  This song also has some monster crunch stylized guitar riffing.  Excellent song.

“Manifestations’” opening bass guitar is all over the place and is thumping and I love the bouncy feeling.  The song picks up to a classic death/thrash beat and the rhythm section is ultra-strong during the guitar solos and faster paced parts.  The mid-paced groove is so heavy and punishing.  It’s a real fun song with the bouncy rhythm and I would imagine this would be a real fun song to play live and see the crowd moving like a sea of mangled bodies, entangled with shards of sinewy bone shards exploding all over crowd.  “Discarnate Entity” begins with some spacey guitar soloing and then right into a classic 1991 death metal gallop with Patrick growling out the title track, which is something he has been doing since Resurrection Macabre, and there are some excellent drumming moments when the faster parts slows down to almost some poly-rhythm’s and wonderful usage of cymbals.  “Electro Magnetic” ends the album with an outstanding opening moment which goes into some quick blast beats and the groove swoops in to lop your head off from miles away before Pestilence is off to the races again with the faster section and quick blasting.   The 2.29 part is the Holy Shit section with the guitar solo ripping through your speakers and then the blasts coming in.  Fantastic.  The song trails off and then booya, Hadeon is over.

Hadeon’s production is crisp, clear, heavy and 100% Pestilence.  Patrick and I were in communication not too long ago and he stated the album really brings together elements of their newer records, as well as their past efforts.  The man was spot on.  It’s like 1991 and 2018 collided together to form the awesomeness, which is Hadeon.  A few quick observations.  Some douchebag had leaked the album some time ago and the original Hadeon artwork was scrapped and this is the newer cover, which is the perfect album cover for Hadeon, as it fits the tying in of the older and newer Pestilence.  The musicianship is terrific and Hammerheart are offering up a variety of package deals along with the format of your choice.  Pestilence are back, with hopefully no more hiatuses and this is a no brainer buy or die!

In my brief time listening to their discography, non-stop, I can say fans let down by The Wild Hunt, from 2013, will have their hopes lifted by this new Watain album. Although I am new to Watain, I actually do appreciate and love The Wild Hunt, which happens to be a very polarizing Watain album, due to the added melody, clean vocal patterns and a let-up on the gas pedal, if you will. When listening to their back catalog, up until now The Wild Hunt was actually a natural progression for the band. Watain had already experimented with more melody and slower arrangements, on the previous album, Lawless Darkness. The fans clamoring for the ruthless and ultra-brutal black metal return of the first 2 albums, Rabid Death’s Curse or Casus Luciferi, will be let down. Trident Wolf Eclipse is a bit of a mix of their finest album, Sworn to the Dark and Lawless Darkness, if you will.

One of the most impressive things I find throughout all of Watain’s discography, including this newest release, is how incredibly dense and strong their rhythm section happens to be. Black Metal is not always recognized for a heavy driving rhythm section where you can hear the bass heaviness, but Watain excels at this, and this is one of the reasons I really think they kick ass-they’re a heavy black metal band. Throughout their albums I notice strong Darkthrone influences and some early death metal influence-more in the Celtic Frost vein. Home run, especially with Frost. With that being said, maybe I should digress a little, with some of what I said earlier, but album opener “Nuclear Alchemy” does harken a little back to some of their earlier efforts with a beginning blast beat not heard played this fast in over 10 years. They return to this moment a little while later in the tune. There are also some more death metal leanings on certain fast passages and guitar melodies. Not enough to call them a blackened death metal band, though. “Sacred Damnation” is up next and Watain are really trying to drive home to the fans who said The Wild Hunt is best served as cat litter, as this track pulverizes, but has some melody with some acoustic, and fantastic guitar riffs, courtesy of P. E’s vocals are scathing, brutal and quite evil and his bass guitar thumps along on this track very strongly. H’s drum work on this track is lethal and he mixes some great parts and the floor toms and double bass from the 3.55 mark on, are deep, resonating and will strip your flesh from your soulless body. “A Throne Below” sounds like something Darkthrone would write, now, if they stayed pure black metal and we were still in the Transylvanian Hunger songwriting era. The guitar melodies at the 55 second part are demonic and downright haunting. The rhythm section at the 1.26 old school fast part is a thing of beauty. Just press rewind. This is one of the best songs Watain has written.

“Towards the Sanctuary” has a nice memorable feel to it and there are some leanings toward The Wild Hunt era, before the faster section picks up at the 1 minute passage. Some ass-kicking double bass to collapse chest cavities is also right around the corner. This version is the limited edition digipak version containing the bonus song: “Antikrists Mirakel” and this is the longest song at over 7 minutes. Best way to describe this is a black metal doom song. Slow, depressive, vocals-yes some cleans are used, but in more of a spoken word vein. Very haunting track, with some spectacular arrangements and an epic and excellent ending. By and large, Watain streamlined their song writing quite a bit on Trident Wolf Eclipse, as most of the songs are in the 4 minutes and some change category. A lot still going on with the time changes and again if you were left with a foul taste from The Wild Hunt, Trident Wolf Eclipse will erase that from your mouth. They have returned to more of their evil, demonic black metal ways.

The packaging is excellent with a thick digipak, which unfolds to a cross. Lyrics are included and the booklet is nicely done. The font Watain uses on the back of the digipak and in the lyrics are cool, but I can’t make out what the hell they say. Shit, I don’t wanna put on my goddamned readers to read black metal-make that shit legible for us older dudes, Watain, c’mon. Help a brother out! The album cover goes perfectly with the album name and the wolf mountains are super clever and creative. The production and mix is great. Heavy and pounding and those wonderful black metal melodies come searing through your speakers faster than I can say: “Timmy Tommy Two Times Turned a Turnbuckle into a Troublesome Toad”. Try that as a drinking game, saying that 10x. Watain have written and released one of their strongest albums and Trident Wolf Eclipse is a crushing way to start 2018. Buy or Die!

“Enter the Cellar” comes through with an eerie intro before the slow mid-paced crunch of the guitar squealing and the drums come through, as “Existence Dissolved” comes forth to destroy your limbs. You can feel the slow build-up until the nice blast comes in and smashes your teeth right down your gullet and Matt laying down some killer growls. The slow part comes back in with some killer guitar work, with the nice guitar slide. The mid-paced part I started upheaving houses across the block. This created monstrous ditches which I proceeded to throw my trash in and then cover up with some dirt. It looked like a huge body. The blast comes right back and then before you know it it’s over.

“Gruesome Procedure” is another ambient intro, before “Altar of Desecration” comes in with pounding drums and neat cymbals and another cool growl before a part which reminded me of Autopsy comes in. A plus in my book and a nice old-school feel to the death/thrash beat-it’s a classic moment. If you snooze you will miss the guitar solo at the 1.20 part and then more mid-pacing and more solos over the faster part-we’re off to the races. About a minute later the Autopsy doom death dirge comes in and a killer atmosphere to boot. Nice bass guitar passages as well and then it’s over.

Cool demo. The red cassette is packaged nicely with lyrics. The production is not as good as the album, but as a pro-demo, it does sound great, even with the added rawness. Since the Echoes of Dismemberment album was released not quite 2 years ago, it could be this or next year before a new album is released from Scorched. In the meantime, head on over to their FB or Bandcamp page and pick up the demo. While you’re at it, buy the cd and a shirt. Hymns From The Cellar is a nice little precursor to the next Scorched full-length.

Anyway, their prior album Honourable Discharge was one of their strongest efforts and had the best production the band had ever had. No Escape has a rawer feel to it and at times this hinders the power of the songs. “Void and Violation” begins with a nice isolated guitar riff, before the cymbals come in. Once the slow rhythm hits I am noticing the bottom heaviness, which makes Humiliation so crushing, is missing. Bear Bee sounds good, throaty and raspy, and the mid-paced rumbling is pretty ass-kicking. The middle section will have pits going wild. “Crusade in Sungai Manik” is a ferocious track. Featuring one of the fastest parts Humiliation has ever written. It’s almost like a primitive blast beat, from the mid-80’s era death metal time era. It’s really cool and then the mid-paced rumbling comes in with some strong guitar riffing and the fast parts picks up at the 1.55 mark once again with Bear barking and berating us all, over this section. The track meanders towards a little doom at the end.

“Line of Defense” begins with a real nice guitar part and once the mid-paced rumbling comes in with the double bass, I am missing that bottom end heaviness quite a lot. Then the real fast part comes in and the bottom-heaviness is sadly missing. It would have added a lot more depth and power to this section, as this part comes out very trebly sounding. Still, the track is a strong song. “Impending Death” is an exploding cannon, brutal, house smashing song. Once the groove hits again at the 1.05 section, Jason “Slips-Majinsky” and yours truly were just bashing each other ‘s head’s in with bloody fists again and again and again. A slower passage comes in and then back to the Bolt Thrower rumbling heaviness, reminding me of The IVth Crusade. 9 track in 41 minutes.

The packaging is excellent with lyrics and photos. No Escape has some faster moments, missing from past Humiliation releases and I really enjoy the faster moments. I would like to see the production values returned to that of the prior album. Overall this is a good Humiliation album and if you enjoy Bolt Thrower/Hail of Bullets, get on the Humiliation death metal tank and buy all their albums and shirts.

The formula is the same; well executed Dismember meets  war mongering, Hail of Bullets of styled Swedish death metal, so don’t go looking for anything but. The guitar tone is crisp and amply ‘Swedish’, so there is plenty of buzz and hum. The vocals are standard genre growl, and everything is compact and catchy and delivered in a no frills 9 song 34 minute salvo.

The mid/late era Dismember influence is clear in groovy tracks like “Suffer in Terror”, “Cause/Effect” and  “World Funeral”  (recalling Massive Killing Capacity), while the more urgent tracks like the two minute burst of “Extinction”,  “Original Sin”, “Empty Shell’ and excellent “Anger Overdrive” (which has a little of everything)  deliver a raucous Stockholm romp and gallop. The album ending duo of ‘”Frozen Hell” and “Deranged Humanity”  put a exclamation pint on the album with the former having a really nice march and the latter having a nice trundle and blasting d beat fury.

After a solid end to 2017 with Endseeker, Ophis, Discreation and Lifeless, FDA records is off to a great start in 2018 with this , Decaying’s To Cross the Line and Revolting’s Monolith of Madness and those are only the label’s January releases!

Several years ago, Morta Skuld signed with Peaceville Records and Dave was a man with a plan.  Dying Remains was reissued to a stunning remaster 4 years ago and As Humanity Fades and For All Eternity receiving facelifts as well, in 2016.  Excellent sounds and it was killer I was able to buy them from Dave at the Baltimore show, recently.  Well, they sold out of As Humanity Fades, but nothing that Ebay couldn’t fix for me and I scored a copy within 10 minutes of the show ending.  Morta Skuld are still in the process of getting 1997’s Surface remastered, and it has proven to be an arduous task with the layout.  This sucks.  Maybe I need to find out where the graphic artist is and pay him a visit.  Anyway, I snoozed and failed to realize the band released a brand new album, Wounds Deeper Than Time.  Yes-please everyone needs to start the public shaming of Frank.  Well I picked up a copy at the show and I am truly upset at myself.  Here is why.  I handed in my best of, for 2017, kinda early, due to the holidays and taking the family on a vacation.  Had I waited longer this album would have made my list.  If we do our supplemental piece, Fillings and Cavities, this mutha effer will be on it, without a doubt.  Yes, this is one of the best albums of 2017.

The band actually opened the show I saw them at with the album opener, “Breathe in the Black”.  Not only a perfect album opener, but a fantastic way to start a live show.   The heavy crunch of the guitar and the windmilling blast beats, not only capture the essence of what initially made Morta Skuld great 25 years ago, but ups the ante, by way of upgraded production values, the strongest song-writing in the bands career and a true commitment as to why Dave decided to reform the band in 2012.  Dave’s vocals sound deeper and angrier and the guitar playing is top notch.  Scott Willecke plays guitar, as well and he kicks ass live.  A nice dude, as well.  It’s also cool that both he and Dave do guitar solos.  Eric House, smashes the drums, because quite frankly-he wants to.  The way he pummels you with the double bass and then the song picks up speed.  Quick little blast, before going into a more powerful blast and then right back into the groove.  Aj kills it with his powerful bass guitar playing and the added heaviness adds to the strongest rhythm section, the band has ever had.  And if you thought the band would let up on the gas pedal-then crawl back under that rock and never leave.  “Hating Life” [no-not a Grave cover song], is brutal, with blasts and some well done guitar soloing at the 1.49 section.  Dave also sings a little clearer in certain sections and also let’s us know he still has the brutality, with some well placed vicious growls and higher register growl/screams.  The mid-paced pounding brutality also will collapse chest cavities worldwide.  And while your chest is collapsing, and you’re choking to death and cities are falling into sinkholes, all around you, you will continue to say: “I Will Get Through This, I’m Hating Life”, over and over and over again until death comes to wisk you away.    Rest of the album- this good??  Hell yes.  How about “Devour the Chaos” with the evil guitar melodies and riffing and yes I caught some vintage pinch harmonics in there.  I started swinging once I heard ‘em.  The tune has a classic death thrash beat and mid paced rumbling heaviness which will pummel you and “Scars Within”-Oh Lordy, Lordy, Lordy.  Monster blasting, vocals, ethereal guitar soloing and some monster riffing at the 3.35 part.

The production is top-notch, all instruments sound great, nothing buried.  When a guitar solo needs to be lifted in the mix, it’s never obnoxious, and is in line with the rest of the production.  Every song drips: catchiness, class, brutality, melody and well-written and well-thought out songs.  No filler-only killer.  And christ almighty-good to see Peaceville throwing some coin at Morta Skuld.  The layout is one of the best I’ve seen.  Interesting and visually striking album cover, with an enormous booklet.  24-panel booklet with photos, pics, and killer graphics.  All housed in a great digipak.  Morta Skuld are the fuck back, either step the fuck away or come closer and join ’em.  Wounds Deeper Than Time is a godly album.  Buy or Die!

End of Day, does not take a while to get going, the opposite in fact, as the first two tracks, the title track and “The Blood Mill” go straight for the goddamn throat right out of the gate with more urgent and snarling sound than I recalled for Procreation, but it peters out a bit. There is still a pretty heavy Vader meets Hypocrisy influence but it seems like the intensity has been upped a tad overall.

That said, third track “Dark Possession” seems to be a bit a of a step back with a more twisty thrash gait and 5 and a half minute run time, though the blackened blast beat that arises a couple of times is nice. “Let’s Watch the World Burn” is a slower, more controlled lumberer with some semi spoken growls that really start to derail things a bit but it does finish with a bang. “El Magico” returns to the speedy, slashing pace but “Invisible Front” is a forgetful, by the numbers death metal number.”The Pentagram” thankfully brings the album back with a fierce Amon Amarth-ish rumble mixed with blackened slice ‘n’ dice and the album ends with the thunderous, but melodic closer “Where All Hope Has Been Silenced”, another track that imbues Amon Amarth.

Discreation is never going to make any year end lists  and no one will probably recall their surprisingly lengthy discography in 5 years, but they are good at what they do and a jack of all trades in the realms of death metal and that’s OK.

“The Savage Covenant” feels more like a traditional Swedish black metal track from with a memorable mid paced styled tremolo riff over blistering double kick drum patterns.  These guys do an excellent job mixing up the death and black metal elements.  There is enough variety going and I cannot say that there are any tracks on this that are not catchy. “Crown of Fire” is one of the more technical tracks on the album and has more of a chaotic old school Morbid Angel feel. The breakdown towards the end sounds like it could have come right off Blessed Are the Sick. “Devil Spawn” is probably my favorite track on the album.  The opening riff is banger and might be the catchiest riff on the album.  Again, the old Morbid Angel influence is on point.  I like that Degial don’t really mess around with frilly, intricate guitar solos.  There definitely are some but in the vein of old school Slayer and Possessed.  Degial remind me a bit of Iron Bonehead Recording artists Ritualization. Ritualization also released an amazing album this year, Sacraments of the Sons of the Abyss.  If you are into Angel Corpse my take is you will like both bands greatly

“Hellstorm” has a bevy of tremolo dives with wah effects ((Eat your heart out Trey Azagthoth and Kerry King).  If there is one track on this album that is the most death metal sounding it would definitely be this one as it sounds like it could have come from numerous different influences.  Degial does an excellent job of mixing up all of the essential Black Death elements while retaining a cold vibe at times. “Annihilation Banner” opens with a cool drum section followed by more trashiness. It appears these guys are going to be touring the west coast in March as direct support for Watain and Destroyer 666.  I could only imagine what that would look and smell like. If you get the chance to see the tour message me and let me know how it is!

Production wise, all instrumentation is very clear and balanced for how evil this is supposed to be. One thing is for sure this album rips and I encourage all of you to check out this elite beast. ”Clangor of Subjugation” which just so happens to be the longest track of the album.  There is no shortage of catchy riffs to finish up Predator Reign. The album then slows down to a very nice layered outro. Both guitarists are doing their own thing while building and building into a unique finish.  Just when I think I am done reviewing 2017 albums i keep finding winners. Horns way up for this.

Corrosive isn’t quite on par with Entrails yet, but they are only 2 albums into their revival (I have not heard 2004s Wrath of the Ungod), but if Lucifer gave Us the Faith is any indication, they will be nipping at their heels shortly.

The guitar tone, while definitely Stockholm inspired,  isn’t quite a full on Swedish buzz, being more latter Grave, and having some Danish chunk akin to Dawn of Demise, Illdisposed (the vocals are similar too) and such,  as does some of the song writing, but these guys deliver tons of fun in the form of some great. groovy mid paced death metal. If you want to hear the Entrails comparison go straight to opener “Taste the Pain” with its massive opening groove and riff at 3:25  and tell me that it could not have been culled from any Entrails album. same goes for opening riff of second track “At the Devil’s Door”.

The rest of the tracks deliver top notch pummeling heft that fans of any bands I’ve mentioned so far will lap up with glee. They can deliver urgent galloping blasts like “Crown of Bones”  controlled moments like in like “Dead Hate Living” and even a little mood and melody like “My Eternal Hatred” or closing title track, but for the most part this is pure fucking bludgeoning heft and groove.  The boys appear to have  sense of humor too as you can see from the above video for “Leftovers” no warehouse an strobe lights here.

A damn solid release that hit that end of 2017 rush that was too late for me to really consider for my year end list, but certainly a really good album and a band I will be looking out for in the future.

Anyway, the summer of 2017 was special to Tuska Open Air Metal Festival as the premium metal festival in Helsinki, Finland celebrated its 20th Anniversary. The small festival, born from beer driven ideas, has grown throughout the years while witnessing heavy metal history in the making. Tuska was there when Finnish metal really started to pick up with the likes of Children of Bodom, HIM and Nightwish (fun fact, the success of Offspring’s Smash made it possible for Spinefarm to put the Finnish metal revolution into proper gear.) Tuska was there when Finnish sung metal became normal with the likes of Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus, Kotiteollisuus, Mokoma and many others. Throughout the years, Tuska has invited a bunch of metal’s legends to rock out (say, Bruce Dickinson headlining in 2002) — some which have since gone from here to eternity, such as Type O Negative‘s Peter Steele in 2003. The festival built a gym to the backstage area just for him. Tuska has seen the culmination of mainstream success with Lordi winning the Eurovision in 2006 and the ‘fall’ that came after. Yet. Metal is still here. Tuska is still here, showcasing the current leaders, classics, followers and upcoming talent. The festival has seen the world’s ups and downs, all the while making the heavy metal crowd a visible part of Helsinki during the summer. Needless to say, no matter what one thinks of the line-ups or the festival in general, Tuska Open Air is an institution and a huge part of Finnish heavy metal legacy.

And for that, we tip our hats.

But let’s get down to the dirty basics and figure out what went on as our two-man team recollects end of June and the beginning of July 2017.

FRIDAY

Once we got through the formalities, we were greeted by Brother Firetribe on the main stage strutting its radio heavy rock. The biggest selling point is that they can plaster those rounded stickers on their CDs saying how Emppu Vuorinen of Nightwish-fame is in the band. They’re an inoffensive band, doing textbook AOR for all to enjoy, but since we didn’t want to judge them from the middle of their set, we headed towards the second stage where Anneke Van Giersberger’s Vuur were to play next.

Vuur

[MK] I hadn’t heard of Anneke’s new band before, but that’s not too surprising considering they’ve only got a single song out on Youtube. Yet once Anneke and her band took stage, it turned out to be actually somewhat promising if not even surprisingly heavy at times. Anneke herself seemed to be enjoying playing live a lot, constantly radiating positivity. Not only did they showcase the group’s material, Anneke also threw a few uppercuts by ‘covering’ The Gathering’s “On most Surfaces“ and “Strange Machines “.

[MM] As a long time listener of The Gathering, as well as a general Anneke fanboy, Vuur was one of the gigs that I was amped up about. The gig delivered. Vuur’s general sound is arguably heaviest of all the bands and projects Anneke has been part of since her time in The Gathering. While the setlist included songs like “Days Go By” that carry a similar tonal melancholy as older The Gathering songs, the musical palette was much more varied. The tempo seemed faster too. Out of their own set of songs, “The Storm” took the highlight spot in my book; built around a relentless main riff, sounding in part like something that Nightwish might have toyed around with, bombastic and operatic. It’s a sound that I don’t normally care much about but Vuur pulled it off in such a way that even I could appreciate it.

Anneke’s singing was in top form and flawless in tone as one would expect. The songwriting in Vuur clearly made use of her wide vocal range. While it quickly became very apparent that the rest of the band also consisted of well-above average musicians, one who specifically stood out from the group was the guitarist Jord Otto. Whether it came into pulling out heavy riffs, solos or laying some technical patchwork behind the beat, you could feel a somewhat unique sound in his guitar play.

• MK: “The Storm” nostalgically showed me those early Year 2000 -albums where bands combined all sorts of metal with classical. Made me remember that Hollenthon actually existed.

Wintersun’s Mäenpää didn’t carry a guitar

[MK] Wintersun has had a hell of a year. They held new albums hostage on Indiegogo (in what is now known as ‘Saunagate’) and were able to get a measly sum of 464,000 euros in ransom — exceeding the original asking price by over 310,000 euros, much to the dismay of some well established (and now jealous) bands that have to ship their own cardboard promos to some dickweed bloggers in Arkansas. The thing that surprises me with Wintersun is that for a band that’s quite ‘marginal’ in the daily street view, Jari Mäenpää’s merry band sure has a shitloads of fans that you never come across in any other place. It’s like a huge, worldwide underground cult or something.

“Fuck Trump” said Brujeria

The festival’s Mexican population rose from zero to a handful and a half, as the ‘Mexican drug lords’ Brujeria took the second stage with machetes and intimidation. Due to the recent events, the band has new found relevance and the group didn’t shy away from that at all as they spat their anti-Trump sentiment loud, proud and on a constant basis in between songs. “FUCK TRUMP” the tent echoed — it became perfectly clear we weren’t in a GOP meeting extravaganza with a Ted Nugent cover band. Brujeria pummelled the audience into a chaotic frenzy, preparing them for Suicidal Tendencies on the main stage.

• MM: While POTUS did not get much love from the band, the crowd gave plenty of love to the band. Language barrier be damned. Salsa dancing, luchador masks, a scent of reefer madness, chest pounding and general mayhem. What’s there not to like?
• MK: Yeah. And their bassist had the same hair-do as Napalm Death‘s Shane Embury!
• MM: …

Mike Muir & Suicidal Tendencies were inducted in the Skateboarding Hall of Fame

[MM] While Suicidal Tendencies was a clear crowd magnet, I took a leave of absence to find some food and to enjoy some pricy beverages that the festival area had to offer. When I got back, Mike Muir was ending it big by calling all the “Suicidal Psychos” from the crowd onto the stage. The security guys were in a state of distress, as clearly not all of the officials had received the memo about letting the fans hop over the front barricade. After the initial confusion, the stage featured a record amount of people, at least as far as Tuska Festival is concerned. Both Suicidal Tendencies and their fans on stage seemed to have a blast jumping around and chanting “ST” in unison. After the show there was a lot of sweaty hugs offered and received within the happy and exhausted crowd.

• Mike Muir commented on getting old: “Dont fucking forget. When you’re young you fight with your fists — when you’re old, you fight with yer mind.” Still, he seemed to have a bit of a fight in him. And was that Dave Lombardo on drums, by the way?

Insomnium

[MM] I’ve never really listened to any Insomnium record but I’ve seen them live at least five times and this was the first time I actually took notice. In fact, they sounded kinda great. For me the band has sounded somewhat derived and forgettable; they play well but sound dull. This time, however the impression I got was much more positive.

[MK] It’s funny. Seems like Insomnium is a band that takes a while to pick up for some reason. Anyway, after I’d gotten my fix, I figured I’d take a peek at Barathrum who were playing inside the boiler room on the third stage. Walking towards the area felt like descending upon madness, away from the glitter of the main areas. Wading through masses of people, I only got to the entrance lobby — the building was packed with little space to breathe and since I didn’t want to cover my elbows in blood, I came to the conclusion that there was no point in looking at people’s neckbeards. So I turned around. Seems like Barathrum were quite popular.

[MM] From what I saw, the only two bands that got the boiler room stuffed during the whole weekend were Barathrum and Oranssi Pazuzu. Outside these two acts it usually felt pretty spacy, but no so with those two. My visit to the venue fell short as it really became uncomfortable because of being in a hot, humid human sardine can. I decided to squeeze out of the place before completely turning into rotten mush. As I somehow pressurized myself out, behind me echoed the lead singer Demonos Sova’s raspy voice. Between songs he had decided to give a lecture about health benefits by spraying hydrogen peroxide into your eyes: “Everybody should try it!” It was the last thing that caught my ear.

Anneke + Devin

“I’m pissed off because my need for validation is steeped in your ambivalence.”
– Devin Townsend, Tuska 2017

[MK] The audience failed Devin Townsend who, together with Anneke Van Giersbergen, had just stopped performing a lustful rendition of “Ih Ah”. The crowd hadn’t picked up the cues to sing along, denying Devin from his quest for a “Scorpions moment where the whole world would assemble together”.

Devin himself didn’t fail, as his show seemed a lot more cohesive and balanced this time around, at least when compared to his 2011’s Tuska set. Then again, his albums back then were Ki, Addicted, Deconstruction and Ghost — whereas the newest one (and a damn fine album too), Transcendence is much closer home with Accelerated Evolution. And if someone was still in doubt, the show solidified his status, again, as one of the best vocalists in the world going from depths of hell to the highest and clearest of squeals in an instant with finesse and clarity. Seeing him on top of his game and Anneke on hers was a joy to say the least. In fact, it was downright vocal pornography at times, seeing the two feed off of each other in such a way that it actually made someone’s boner visible to Devin.

Dave Young seemed to enjoy playing on Tuska’s stage again

[MM] Last time when DTP was headlining Tuska back in 2011, I felt their gig was dragging along with the setlist being a goulash of too many thematic albums. This time around the set was more streamlined and emotionally coherent. Dev was clearly on a more chatty mood and upheld constant banter with the crowd. The end came way too early and could have used a longer set this time around, but apparently festivals have these mainly one hour time slots. Songs from the latest Transcendence record played great live. Hearing the show ending “Higher” live was a totally different experience from what I got from the recorded version. Harked from the record the song felt a bit too slow and disjointed, but live it became a monolithic structure.

I also managed to catch the last twenty minutes of Trap Them playing to a very thin crowd in the boiler room. I would have thought that Trap Them had more name recognition and pull. Mainly the audience consisted of guys in their teens and mid-twenties, all throwing their bones around in the front of the stage. From my understanding of a narrow perspective, these newer hardcore acts seem to go a tad unnoticed at Tuska. In Finland there is still some line-crossing going around, where bands like this are more in sync with fans that are not your typical Finnish metal enthusiast or annual Tuska goers. A club setting or more “hipsterish” summer festival, where you can see something like Yeezus and Morrisey, would probably have a more optimized crowd for a band like Trap Them — as funny as it sounds.

Even though the turnout was not the biggest, Trap Them played with good spirits and recognized the crowd both during and between songs. They also had the option to call it short, but decided to come back: “This is not what we do. We do not do encores, but let’s play a few more.” While the band has only flashed my peripheral vision as I basically know them by name, selected songs like “Revival Spines” from their last album Crown Feral got me nodding and tapping my foot during their set.

Mayhem had technical difficulties

[MK] Where Devin Townsend’s humor serves a purpose and comes off as a natural extension of his personality, Mayhem isn’t as well known as a humorous act. Yet before the show an overly dramatic, pre-recorded message from the band started playing where they asked for people to avoid using cellphones and flashlights in order to not disturb the ‘atmosphere’ of the show. Unfortunately, Mayhem who were playing De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas in full, started off with a set of technical difficulties; first tune sounded like garbled up, distorted feedback (more than it should) and Attila Csihar’s mic didn’t work either for half a song or more. Things started to look up after the fact, but by the time things got back into form, I was already totally out of it and elsewhere.

[MM] While the songs were enjoyable for the most part it was the latter part of the stage performance that hijacked my senses. Past mid-part I ended up laughing out loud at the cartoonish theatrics that were put on display. Candles for the small ritual table, which seemed to be a standard Ikea build, were lit and Attila in his robes and plague ridden facemask, plodded through the dimly lit stage behind the table to pose ominously for the ritualistic setup. Then a death knell chimed and Attila began to fondle a skull while mumbling the dark mystical transcript which were embedded on the red table cloth. The large side screens gave a bit too detailed look into this cheap decor. The whole scene became quite ridiculous and unintentionally funny — with all perceived seriousness attached making it even more so.

Sabaton and pyrotechnics

[MK] Friday’s headlining tasks fell upon Sabaton, who, according to some calculations, have had something like 13 shows in Finland in the past three years alone — if not more. I got into the game with their Art of War release and have enjoyed the cheese and crackers throughout the years. While the band performs with genuine dedication,putting on a good, entertaining show, certain formulaic tendencies have crept up the past few years and the latest offerings have been somewhat uninspired on the whole — despite always offering catchy choruses. They played a few not too good songs too (“Swedish Pagans”), instead of completely relying on surefire hits. I think the setlist needed at least “Cliffs of Gallipolli”.

• MK: They skipped “Final Solution” again!
• MM: Why do you wanna hear it so bad?
• MK: There’s just something morbidly morose about seeing a happy-ass band singalong about one of humanity’s darkest moments with a crowd that’s so devout they don’t even stop to question what’s going on.
• MM: Do they have songs about the US elections?

And say what thou wilt about the band, but they’ve found a goldmine with their pattern of producing easy to pick up songs about each nation, their tragedies and unsung war heroes. It ticks all the right parts in people’s brains; “THEY’RE SINGING ABOUT US! FINALLY RECOGNITION!” Yet, as much as I was entertained and Sabaton were doing the right things on stage, the show did leave me a tad cold. They’re starting to do things a bit ‘too right’ despite the ever changing banter. I hope they tighten their tactics slightly in the near future and maybe mix things up a bit too. Of course they can’t go too apeshit in fear of alienating their core fanbase. Yet, to me, they’re walking a thin line. One just has to hope they do not cross it and become like, for example, what Manowar did on God of War back in 2007. One could argue that their line was crossed almost what, 20 years earlier after or before The Triumph of Steel, but fuck you, 2002’s Warriors of the World was still a proper record and not just a Best of -collection of intros, interludes and outros.

You’d would have no idea these guys were from India once you hit play, as the band culls from a plethora of brutal influences from all over the world. Mainly American but you can hear Cryptopsy, Gorgasm, Benighted (especially vocally), Suffocation and many others in the band’s groovy, brutality.

The album’s succinct 28 minute, no frills (save a couple of samples), punishing output recalls Whisper Supremacy, but slightly less complex and more bulldozing and straightforwardly broodle. The production is outstanding, with a heavy, but crystal clear tone that allows the music to punish with clarity, especially the throbbing bass. The vocals of new frontman Kaushal LS cover all the bases from deep growls to mid range rasps and pig squeals, bringing a bit of a grindcore vice to the proceedings.

The band appears to have matured an moved on from song titles like “Circumcised from a Chainsaw”  and “Pustulated Phallic Enthrallment” to more torturous, execution themes like  “Blood Eagle”, “Brazen Bull”, “Brodequin” and “Scaphism”. No matter- all are face pummeling numbers with equal parts blasting and lurching.  Almost 6 minute Closer “Death Hammer” even shows the band can reign it in just a tad when they chose, though it’s not very often.

The music combined with the killer Eliran Kantor (Archspire, Atheist, Crowbar, Fleshgod Apocalypse)  artwork makes for a killer, nasty little package of brutality that is almost surpasses this years Henry Kane effort as Transcending Obscurity’s most vicious and savage release to date.

From album opener, “Seal the Hex”, to title track and closer, “Vicious Breed”, Lady Beast provide some quality fist banging and horn throwing moments that really show their knack for songwriting, though a lot of the time they wear their influences a little too strongly. Literlly, damn near every track reminds me of one of the aforementioned influences, usually all of them within each track. While this isn’t really a bad thing, if you’re going to remind one of other bands, you might as well remind them of some of the best ones in the ‘biz, it is slightly detrimental  to Lady Beast‘s overall product. In reality this shouldn’t really matter, as there are complete genres of metal built solely on emulation of a band and/or scene.

Every song stands shoulder to shoulder with each other on Vicious Breed, with none of the eight tracks eclipsing the other in terms of power or appeal. Frontwoman, Deborah Levine, really does a fantastic job and complements the material perfectly. She has a great dominant mid-range, smooth and clean with a smidge of sultriness that keeps things full on metal, never falling into an opreatic cliché of what some expect out of a frontwoman. The rest of the band ain’t too damn shabby either, as drummer, Adam Ramage, bassist, Greg Colaizzi, and guitarist, Chris Tritschler, the meat and potatoes, aka the rhythm section, of Lady Beast are tight and concise, wonderfully melding a triple-M (‘Maiden, Motorhead, & Manowar) attack throughout much of the album’s material. Lead guitarist, Andy Ramage also gets two horned fists of approval as his solo work is traditionally classy and tasteful, as well as ripping and tearing, with a clean strong tone and some great harmonies to boot.

Wrap all of this up in some very cool artwork and a superb production job that captures every instrument’s nuances perfectly, and what you wind up with is quite a sweet little gem of some classic metal. Sure it’s not the most original, I doubt the band would even argue that point, but who cares? Original or not, Vicious Breed is an album that the majority of metal fans, without a stick up their ass, will be able to enjoy. If not, well, that’s really your problem, not Lady Beast‘s. Now if only something could be done about that name.

In my older and wiser years I have opened up to more genres of metal including power metal and traditional heavy/doom metal discovering and enjoying acts like Argus, Atlantean Kodex, Sorcerer, Pentagram, Ereb Altor, Horn of the Rhino, Pallbearer and such. One act I have enjoyed from the beginning though is the UKs Solstice, whose New Dark Age, remains a pinnacle of the genre, and it’s no coincidence I enjoy this effort, as  this band and release has ties to Solstice, sharing bassist Ian Buxton.

The sound is similar, clean sung epic doom/heavy metal but it brings with it a crushing, heavy guitar tone suited for a heavier, stonier genre, buzzing with a thick, resonant tone. The vocals, which are usually the sticking point for me in the genre, are not too falsetto or croony, and are even buried in the mix to allow the rich, fuzzed out riffs to be the focus of attention.

The 7 song, 42 minute run time is perfect, with no real over wrought 10 minute tracks or intros and such. The 9 songs each have plenty of riff and chorus based highlights like opener “Disconnection Syndrome” with its slight choral injection, the title track with its crushing, melancholic opening riff and huge subsequent groove, despondent crawl of “King of All That Is Lost”, more urgent “Sympathy for the Living”, heaving lurch of “Complicit Own your won Abuse” and rending closer “Death Means Nothing”.

In all a pretty darn good album, and it must be for me to like something in this genre. And it will certainly hold me over until Solstice’s White Horse Hill drops later this year.

On the first few listens, the sound seemed to be a bit more folk inspired, “The Darkness of Eternity”, being a prime example. This song has that guitar melody that is catchy as hell, with vocalist Nekhrid, shouting in a dark roar in a sort of anti melodic contrast to the guitar. Those melodic guitar riffs permeate the album at different times and it’s these, that  gave me that initial thought. The song, “Deathless Serpent”, is where the Watain light shines the brightest, maybe a bit too much tho, you could be forgiven to think it was a hidden track off Lawless Darkness.

As I listened further, delving more and more into the songs, I began to get a sense of the darkness and the overall black energy that is also part of the band, together with their more melodic epicness that is very much part of them also. “Decretion At Eschaton” has that Ragnarok vibe I mentioned with the more pummeling drums and some air raids sirens thrown in the mix but at about the final ¾ of the song this background chanting gives back that epic feel again. The song “Rite of Repugnant Fury”, really has a cool quasi epic Bathory aura, with the chants and the general dynamic of the song.

The band is definitely not shy about their music, with this being the sixth release since their formation in 2013 and with the running time being a hour a long it could be a bit daunting to some. They really pack in the riffs and maybe a bit of tightening of the song structure to be more concise and thus give more of a razor cut, than the overall bludgeon of the hammer that is their current sound. The songs are not boring by any means and each song offers different moods and tempos, mini epics in their own rights. Although some songs convey this better than others.

Great Production, good musicianship from all members, a nod to the drummer Cosmarul for giving a interesting performance and although vocalist Nekhrid is a bit one dimensional, his style does fit the songs, also like the interplay between the guitars. Non Serviam Records always have some quality and a tad different releases and this is no different.

Like a phoenix Celtic Frost rose from the ashes of Hellhammer.  I bought Morbid Tales on vinyl and it came with a poster in 1984.  I would later get it on cassette, cd, cd reissue and now this beautiful mediabook edition.  The original album cover is back adorning the cover with the original logo, all missing from past reissues.  A perfect blend of angry and aggressive early death metal.  So brutal.  Every song catchier than the last.   The extra bonus musical content is a demo CF recorded before unleashing Morbid Tales. It’s awesome to hear and the remastering and it reduces the hiss to non-existent.  The booklet is swamped with lyrics, pictures and original pictures I remember from all those years ago.

I remember picking up To Mega Therion in 1985 on tape and double gate fold vinyl.  Such a classic album with one of the greatest guitar tones to ever be recorded.  I was really sick in 1985, catching some flu bug that knocked me on my ass for over a week.  I remember the go to cassettes I brought in my parents room, to crank up:  Trouble–Psalm 9, Savatage–Sirens and Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion.  I think I even had a Weird Al cassette too.  To Mega Therion took brutality to a whole new height adding in some avante-garde like sounds and it’s just a punishing album.  Previous reissues dropped the ball with including The Emperor’s Return demo and not the official ep from 1985.  Tom made sure that was corrected.  The official ep is so much more powerful and better played.  To have it hear on the remaster is incredible, but it also includes “Journey into Fear”.  It was recorded during the ep session but never released.  The song is punishing.  Super-fast and aggressive.  Guess the band felt it was not strong enough, but sandwiched between “Visual Aggression” and “Suicidal Winds” would have been awesome.  So happy to have this track, finally.  There’s also the “Visual Aggression” 1988 remix on here, which is super cool, but I much prefer the original.  The mediabook is stocked with lyrics, pictures and original artwork.

In 1987, I was still writing for my school paper and panned Into the Pandemonium.  I hated it, although it was catchy, I did not get the genius of this album.  I bought the double gatefold vinyl and was super confused as to the slower tone the band took, experimental passages and the avante-garde metal was all over the place.  While in college, some years later I came back from a break in 1992 and threw the record on my turntable because I had been humming “Mexican Radio” and “Sorrows of the Moon” in my head.  Maybe I grew up, got some college in me and while becoming more intelligent finally understood Into the Pandemonium.  I recorded it on a blank tape and took it back to college, when my winter break ended and from that point on this record became one of my favorite metal albums of all time.  Pure genius.  Unreal heaviness and I always loved the snare sound.  Tom’s experimental pained vocals are emotive and moving and work alongside the heavy music and some of his classic Warrior vocals.  The mediabook contains lyrics, pictures, and is awesome.  Unfortunately, other than changing around certain numbered tracks all the bonus songs are the same as the 1999 reissue, which are all great, with “The Inevitable Factor” and “In the Chapel in the Moonlight” cover, and others, but nothing else.

After the hairspray poser Cold Lake release Tom picked himself up by his bootstraps and in 1990 took Steve Priestly from the Morbid Tales days and said you’re drumming for us or else I’ll bite your head off.  Tom was not singing in his classic Warrior voice, but was still kind of aggressive.  I have never owned this album, but heard it in the past, glad to have it now.  Tom brought back Celtic Frost riffs, but the album is geared more towards a thrash audience with its clearer sound and no more avante-garde sounds.  But songs like “Wine in My Hand (Third From the Sun)” and “A Kiss or a Whisper” brought back a speed factor not heard since the To Mega Therion days.  Pretty kick ass, I guess the best way to sum Vanity/Nemesis is Celtic Frost gone thrash.  There are some slow songs and still experimental passages.  Tom tried to get Celtic Frost back in the hardcore metal fans good graces, but I believe fans did not welcome them back because of Cold Lake.  Regardless Vanity/Nemesis is a great album and glad the heaviness was brought back, although it was different.  We would not be greeted with another album until the Celtic Frost 2006 reformation album, Monotheist, crushed me and the world into oblivion.  The Vanity/Nemesis reissue contains the same bonus content as the ’99 reissue.  This mediabook is awesome with the pictures, lyrics and is again well put together.

So as you all can see, especially if you have the ’99 reissues, maybe some of the bonus content is negligible for you to buy again.  At least consider the sound is enhanced even more.  Long time Celtic Frost member bassist Martin E. Ain suddenly had a heart attack and passed away in October 2017.  So goddamned sad.  He was taken from us too soon.  RIP brother.

I half expected these guys to be from the UK seeing as the band name and a song name is based on Britain’s  3rd most notorious serial killer, Dennis Nilsen, who killed least 12 men between 1978 and 1983 and had me and my family as well as the whole country glued to the news. An interesting choice considering the US’s much more virile serial killer history.

After intro “Muswell Hill”, details Nilsen’s activities, you  then get 6 more tracks of solid American deathcore. It’s got all the genre requisites to go along with the interesting concept; dual growled/screamed vocals (including a few guests I’m not super familiar with), down tuned guitars, pummeling breakdowns and Black Dahlia Murder ish dual melodies. But it all comes together competently and with energy, as tracks like “History of a Drowning Boy”, “Rapture” and closer “The Challenger”  check all the deathcore boxes with aplomb. The production is big and beefy and the breakdowns carry plenty of weight, as you’d want and expect from the genre. They avoid some of the genre pitfalls too like acoustic bits or clean vocals. Though the moody “Carry the Earth” comes close. They Just bring the mosh.

In all, a pretty solid EP  of American deathcore that stands toe to toe with their peers mentioned in the opening paragraph and based on the linear notes and thanks list, these guys poured their heart and soul into this EP and it shows.

“Fortuity of the Deceived” begins with a brutal blast and we are reminded why Mike Smith is still one of the strongest death metal drummers around.  He seems extra angry on this ep as he is literally bashing the crap out of the drums.  The 1 minute groove mark is so catchy and disgustingly brutal I literally went outside and grew 400 ft, and became Godzilla. I proceeded to cause sinkholes and vaporize towns from my atomic breath, because this part is so heavy.  I then began to swing my tail around and I believe and don’t quote me, but I think I took out 20 city blocks in one fell swoop.  Sorry people.  Closing track, “Oracle of Repugnance” has an awesome opening blast with some killer guitar melodies.

Adrie is vomiting forth scathing vocals that are tearing off heads all over the place.  The 1.17 part is a bit of atmospheric slow melody and female spoken vocals.  Really took me by surprise and nice thumping bass guitar.  Guitar riff comes back with vocals and this part screams epic!!  Hold up your horns and bow to Voracious Scourge.  Nice killer double bass, over the blast and more epic like qualities.  I would imagine these moments would be expanded upon on a full length album.  Monstrous drum fills by Smith and more of the guitar melodies over the blast.  This may be the most adventurous song Jason McIntyre has written.

The production is great and powerful.  These were shared files, so I imagine once I get the physical cd they will sound even better.  This is one of the strongest ep’s I have heard and was upset it was over so quickly.  The cover for Voracious Scourge’s ...Our Demise is one of the most spectacular and eye-catching covers I have ever seen.  This needs to be on a long sleeve. Monstrous release.  Buy or Die!

Culling their sound from the early works of the second wave of Scandinavian black metal, i.e., Emperor, Ancient, Dark Funeral, Naglfar, etc. and even fellow American acts such as Noctuary and December Wolves, Mortum combine tremolo picked riffs, with just a slight melodic overall presence to them, with straight forward, mostly blasting drumwork in a not quite lo-fi production, but nowhere close to a polished commercialism. Raw enough for the “trve kvlt” crowd, but still decent enough quality for picky, pretencious assholes, like myself. Though I found something I liked in each of Eheieh Chaos‘ tracks, the album as a whole tends to come off as one long tremolo filled song.

Whether blasting fast or more slower and subdued, the tracks somehow seem to be stuck in the same gear/pace. Album closer, “Pitch Black Waters” comes off as the closet thing to the album’s highlight. The song is simply more interesting right from the start, conjuring up a bit of melancholic sadness or even romanticism in its riffs, though never overtly or in a sappy way, and never strays from being balls out black metal. The 3:11 to 4:53 mark showing a bit of transient spaciouness in the song’s change-up, adding a simple use of dynamics.

If I was to give Mortum any actual constructive criticism, it would be this: the guitars need some leads/solos, the bass needs to utilize some walking lines behind the tremolo madness, the drums need a bit more flair and fills, and a more dynamic or robust production would help out as well. And just maybe add some keys/synths here and there. Sure, it probably goes against Mortum‘s more raw, primal, and “pure” black metal aesthetic, and I get and even respect that, but overall there’s a reason the second wave originators eventually went this route. Having said all that, there are some solid ideas on Eheieh Chaos, and I really do believe that these guys could take their material to a higher plane. If this was 1993-96, I’d say “look out for these guys”, though here in 2017, almost ’18, as Mortum currently is, there’s not  too much to really offer someone other than the black metal die-hards and/or elitists.

Spires of dizzying noise, feedback and power electronics scream to life alongside a military snare march and Chris Dugay’s fluid, crystal clear bass lines on powerhouse opener, “Uniform Shitshow.”  Monstrous, mid-paced hardcore grind riffs adopt a dense, concrete bustin’ lurch while Kerch’s sick screams, drill sergeant barks and deathly growls swallow up everything on Earth.  The violent political lyrics are a scathing attack on society while handling the jagged barbs with enough prose to really sink into the skin.  “Dollar Sign Suicide” goes for an all-out blast campaign with Tony Petrocelly’s machine gun snare, James Shaw’s lightspeed punk riffs and Dugay’s fortified bass groove really piling on the hatred and sticking it to the universal corruption in a frenzied “fuck you” grind apocalypse.  Shades of Phobia cut through the mustard gas and Steve’s sick vocal bile teeters between death metal dementia and full on crust punk roaring.  It’s fuckin’ good stuff with a short ass fuse.  As soon as you flick the lighter, this bomb just blows your goddamn face off…  “The Mouth that Doesn’t Open” kicks off with a vintage, punk rock bass solo before going into another minute long round of blasting madness with some thicker, slower descending riff runs that take no prisoners creeping their way to the forefront.

Dugay’s jangling bullet-ricochet bass licks are the star of “A Sheep just like the Rest.”  Again they lay right on the throttle, are impeccably mixed, completely buoyant in their mingling with the other instruments and hit the curves at 120 mph.  Tumbling, dissonant riffs concoct some sludgy, death metal Molotov cocktails with vocals to match and some of Kerch’s screams are goddamn sickeningly destroyed, higher ranged and just total fuckin’ insanity.  A lengthy feedback outro drags this demon down to its grave, paving the way for “Tropicamide” to level buildings in a shriek of last stand hate grind.  “Starvation Cockhard” has a nasty intro riff clamping down a filthy, sludgy doom stomp that’s beaten into place by lockstep drumming and oily skinned bass grooves.  The ear-bleeding guitar noise carnage drops more than a few nods to the Am-Rep sound but the tempos eventually heighten to freakish Enemy Soil-styled intensity.  Kerch’s vocal atrocities are the stuff of serial murder dreams and I’ve seen the dude do it in person.  He’s got not a merciful bone in him up on that stage.

At 35 seconds in length, you’d hardly think “Driving Back the Occupier” would have time to even establish a groove yet toxic, noxious blasts are interspersed with knuckle-dragging, murky sludge churls.  “A Need for Violence” stuffs a vintage punk d-beat in the middle of a 24 second assault n’ battery, capping off a killer speedy duo of tunes that are sickeningly offset with the lengthy “The Void and all its Temptations.”  Crumbling, pavement cracking bass grooves reek of Unsane on amphetamines as the doom-y, feedback spewing riffs and stumbling drunk pacing goes into some unrelenting grind that could give a shit about your well-being.  “Decommissioned Oppression State” barrels over the Washington Monument with a mulekick of belligerent grind chaos that’s juxtaposed to perfection by “When Integrity Means Death” and its ripping hardcore/sludge churns careening into barely human speed thrills.

The desolate, depression riffs that lead in “It doesn’t know what else to do” apply a methodical Grief/Noothgrush like pressure to the cerebral cortex; giving the listener some head-nodding respite until they smash your head in with maximum grind overload.  Closer “Barcode and By-Products” utilizes some open, atonal guitar chords that ring with esoteric, minor-key noise melody while the bass bludgeons hopelessly and the bubbling toms/kick drum thump propels this beast forth on bloody haunches.  At a massive 6 minutes in length it’s easily a show stealer ranging from bastardized noise, retching punk, head sick filth sludge, murderous death/grind and human shearing noise rock.  Kerch growls, screams, shouts, spits and chokes out line after line of putrid pestilence making for one of his best performances to date.  Everything about this tune just hammers the message home.

Pain Tank should really shake up grind maniacs.  This is a fantastic debut that’s upper echelon in my book when it comes to this style; it feels simultaneously fresh and classic.  There’s variety too and the mixture of faster and slower parts make the songs memorable and keep you guessing as to how they’re gonna fuck you up next.  All in all this stands as one of my favorite grind discs of 2017 and it’s going up against some serious competition.

If you enjoy any of these band members other projects you will dig this. It’s a mid paced , groovy doom death affair with oodles of thunderous, trundling riffs that imbue a little Bolt Thrower in the overall pacing, but has a distinct sharper, Dutch guitar tone.

The 9 songs are simple but effective. They are riff driven with a few solos, but the pace rarely get over a steady rumble (i.e. “Legions of the Fallen”, “Heroin Filled Veins”, “Die on Demand”). All 9 songs are damn solid but a couple of standouts like the album’s longest cut “When the Last Light Fades”, “We Will be Gods” and “Iron Tears” have the most memorable riffs and solos, and even some moody atmospherics. The vocals are pretty standard deep bellows, not too intelligible but full of menace and power.

Fans of Temple of Void, Humiliation, Goldepyre, Jungle Rot, Asphyx, Sinister and others should take note as this is no frills, chug-fest full of great, heavy riffs  to bang your head to. Also, new comer Raw Skullz Records is starting to make some noise as a solid old school death metal label, and will one to watch as they continue to develop the roster with bands like this.

This 6 song album has long songs, like their past release and the album clocks in at 46 minutes.  “A Heart to Judge” is the longest track, at 8.43 and the song gets into a mid-paced moment with scathing vocals before going into a dark and cold blasting section which takes no prisoners.  The guitar tone is frighteningly evil.  The 3.20 slower moment has some beautiful guitar melodies over the monstrous double bass.  Killer blast section afterwards and some real nice drum work at the 6.40 mark.

The title track begins slow and super heavy.  Almost at a monolith doomy, dirgy pace with vicious vocals and more killer drums.  There are some slow down moments and the guitar melodies just embed in your brain, right before the blast comes in and destroys your soul and the pounding ending is brilliant.  It’s heavy and hate-filled with so much evil dripping from all sides of this sucker.  “Silver Dagger and the Breathless Smile” ends the album and at over 8 minutes is a perfect ending, especially with the epic intro with the cymbals, guitar riff and then the vocals coming forth. Then the fastest blasts the band has ever done erupts for a brief few seconds and goes into a pounding mid-paced part with so much coldness to the guitar tone.  The isolated guitar moment is the Holy Shit moment.  It goes into a killer early 90’s beat with berating vocals over this section and then into that super-fast blast moment again.  It’s delightfully evil and sinister.  More unholiness awaits as the slower passage comes in and is so depressing and emotive it actually brought a huge grin to me.  The vocals are pained and anguished and vicious.  The brutal blast comes in again and the song trails off in a mid-paced rollicking sort of way, then picks up some speed, going faster and faster and then it’s Over.

Aosoth have unleashed a demonic and monstrous album, yet again.  It screams creativity and originality and V: The Inside Scriptures is one of the elite albums of 2017.  It also has one of the best album covers and each song is excellent.  Aosoth have once again reminded the world why they are the kings of Black Metal.  Again some death metal drippings here and there, but not as much.  There are sections that have passages similar to Finland’s Desolate Shrine.  It’s mainly in the dark, evil and cold guitar and blasting moments.  Really spectacular music.  Aosoth should be damn proud of this monstrous spawn.  Buy or Die!

Seems like every year I say what a great year it was, and 2017 was no different. Despite all the bullshit going on in the world, metal stayed true and was there for me and all of its fans. This year, you’ll notice something that has never happened before on my list. Amid the usual Swedish Death metal, tech death metal, chaotic death metal and black metal, there are 3 power metal albums. Yes, THREE!!!!!! And one in the goddamn top 10! However, death metal was still the story of 2017, as the year saw the US old guard return with a vengeance. Immolation, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Dying Fetus,  Obituary, Morbid Angel and Broken Hope  all delivered excellent records. Tech death was a particularly strong genre as well, with Gigan, Origin, Inanimate Existence, and Decrepit Birth all returning to the fray. It’s not just about the familiar names, though – a lot of new acts have also found their way to my list to knock those perennial veterans out.

1. Bell Witch – Mirror Reaper (Profound Lore Records). Such a profoundly despondent 83 minute descent into misery.
2. Redemptor – Arthaneum (Selfmadegod). A late find, but a brilliant, cavernous,  otherwordly take on tech death metal.
3. Falls of Rauros – Vigilance Perennial (Bindrune Recordings). An early 2017 release that stayed on my radar, which is a testament to its quality.
4. Dyscarnate – With All Their Might (Unique Leader). Sheer unadulterated power.
5. Altarage – Endighent (Season of Mist). 2017’s most discordant, monstrous release.
6. Dreadnought – A Wake in Sacred Waves (Sailor Records). 2017’s most enthralling and captivating release.
7. Epoch – Sacrosanct (Lavadome Records). Lavadome did well to pick up this excellent Belgian independent death metal monster from 2015.
8. Ne Obliviscaris – Urn (Season of Mist). These Aussies could fart on a microphone and it would be brilliant.
9. Wind Rose – Stonehymn (Inner Wound Recordings). Epic, catchy, and brilliant Italian dwarven-themed power metal. Hooo Haaa!
10. Dying Fetus – Wrong One to Fuck With (Relapse Records). Still killing it on their 8th studio album. Their best since Destroy the Opposition.
11. Wormwood – Ghostlands: Wounds from a Bleeding Earth (Non Serviam). The best melodic black metal album of the last few years.
12. Ghost Bath – Starmourner (Nuclear Blast Records). Fuck the haters. “Thrones” is one of the best songs of the year.
13. Noumena – Myrrs (Haunted Zoo). The love child of Insomnium and Amorphis continues to be overlooked.
14. Entrails – World Inferno (Metal Blade). Back on the year-end list where they should be.
15. Havukruunu – Kelle Surut Soi . (Naturmacht Productions). Literally a last minute addition after seeing it on so many peers’ lists and finally checking it out. A less long-winded Moonsorrow.
16. Archspire – Relentless Mutation ( Season of Mist). The techiest of 2017’s tech death.
17. Beneath –  Ephemeris (Unique Leader). A vast improvement over the debut.
18. Impureza – La Caída de Tonatiuh (Season of Mist). Flamenco death metal brilliance.
19. Desolate Shrine – Deliverance from the Godless Void (Dark Descent). The label’s best effort in another strong year.
20. Sign of Cain –  To Drown and to be Drawn (Apostasy Records). Way better than Lindberg’s other 2017 project, The Lurking Fear.
21. Temple of Void – Lords of Death (Shadow Kingdom Records). Pure fucking groove.
22. Wolves in the Throne Room – Thrice Woven (Artemesia Records). A much needed return after the widely panned experiment of Celestite.
23. Antropofagus – M.O.R.T.E. (Comatose Music). Italy’s burliest and best death metal record in a year of excellent ones.
24. Alestorm – No Grave But the Sea (Napalm Records). “Fucked with an Anchor” is a contender for song of the year.
25. Khazaddum – Plagues of Arda (Self-Released). Tolkien, death metal, and keyboards – say no more.
26. Fin – Arrows of a Dying Age (Folter Records). Great, gritty-but-melodic war/black metal from Chicago.
27. Beheaded – Beast Incarnate (Comatose Music). A long-awaited follow up that delivered.
28. Rings of Saturn – Ultu Ulla. (Nuclear Blast). A more mature and melodic album from this divisive band.
29. Orden Ogan – Gunmen (AFM). “Gunman” and “Fields of Sorrow” were in constant rotation in my house and car.
30. Lör – In Forgotten Sleep – (Self Released). A sprawling, epic prog/power metal record.

Best Comeback: Morbid Angel – Kingdoms of Disdain. Was there any doubt Steve Tucker would save the day?

Best Concept album: Squalus The Great Fish. (Translation Loss). Former members of The Giant Squid and Peter Benchley’s Jaws?-Perfect.

Best Production:  Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black. Erik Rutan said fuck it, turned everything to 11.

Best Cover Art: Bell Witch – Mirror Reaper, Gutslit –Amputheatre.

Biggest Surprises: Myrkur – Mareridt. Amalie Bruun delivered a wonderful, electronic, trance-rock black metal opus to the mouth-breathing black metal fans who made her life miserable.   In The Woods –  Pure. Who would have thought 17 years later, the singer from Jaldaboath would join In the Woods and they not miss  a beat in one of 2017s more overlooked returns?

Disappointments: . Deepsend Records and Blast Head Records calling it a day.

Best Label:  Despite strong years from previous sinners Unique Leader and Dark Descent, this year it’s Season of Mist. As well as all of the releases above, they had killer releases from the likes of Carach Angren,  Virvum, Ulsect, Dodecahedron, Impure Wilhemina, Nightbringer, Necrowretch and Benighted. A few of these were on and off the above list many times.

Most anticipated for 2018: Dalriada – Nyaruto Solstice (UK) – White Horse Hill (Dark Descent), Summoning –With Doom We Come. Full length album from Kull, new project of Bal Sagoth‘s Maulding brothers.

Guilty Pleasure: Grimgotts – Lions of the Sea (Self Released). Slaughter to Prevail- Misery Sermon (Sumerian)

An international collaboration founded (way back in 1999)  by Tomer Hasenfratz from Israeli act Viscera Trail, and guys from lesser known acts like The Sin, Fuzzgod and Equilibrium, Sign of Cain‘s long awaited debut is a moody sometimes doomy take on crusty, melodic death metal and occasionally throws in a well used violin segment , recalling At The Gates early works.

The more doomy or violin flocked tracks  like personal favorites “Thunders Never Followed” and the title track , as well as “Path of the Feeble” and “Again I Shed” , are the the album’s standouts, but all 10 tracks are damn solid. From opener “Sign of Cain” (with a couple of nice moody bridges) to the almost 8 minute closing title track, the guitar tone is rough and raw, with a slight Swedeath/crust edge, as are many of the riffs such as “The Earth Collapses Behind” and “Empires Ablaze with Unrest” . An expected At The Gates influence can also be heard here and there such as “Path of the Feeble” , “Scatter” and blatantly in “Bearing Eyes”. Occasionally, I also get a bit of a Liers In Wait vibe with some of the more off kilter riffs like “‘Again I Shed”. There is even a nice, somber instrumental, “Remembrance and Pain”, that breaks up the album nicely.

Tompa is what you’d expect, delivering his instantly recognizable, gravelly rasps  and he definitely didn’t phone in this appearance, whether he is just a guest of a fully fledged member. He is as venomous as he is on anything he has appeared on and shows no signs of letting up. Hasenfratz jumps in occasionally with some deeper backing vocals, which add to the whole affair.

To Be Drawn and To Drown is going to be a little known gem for 2017/2018 depending on if you live in Europe or the US, as it’s release date is either October of 2017 or January 2018 depending on where you live. Either way, this could end up on either year’s year end list for me.

Well, these guys like Neurosis that’s for sure.

Along with Hugo Santo’s gruff Scott Von Till shout, the almost band’s tribal, deliberate often repetitive pulse and steady pace and builds is a dead ringer for many Neurosis sounds. The bass heavy, throbbing production carries a heavy, brooding Godlfesh (“Servant”, “Black Earth”, “Feral Ground”) influence  and  a Gojira ish hefty stammer those come together for a solid if unoriginal album of heavier than normal post rock/sludge that’s a mood based listen.

I say that because the  6 track, 42 minute album has a more bleak undercurrent that some brighter, more shimmery post rock, but that results in a pretty impressive level of heft. The atmospherics are kept to a minimum with little to no ambient builds or delicate intros. Other than “Feral Ground”, All 6  tracks  get right to the feedback drenched lopes, and often it’s truly heavy as hell as heard mid way through the title track or closer “Hoax”, which are suffocatingly heavy and dense.

This band’s  shift from more 90s death/doom on their debut, to today’s massive crumbling tone is an erstwhile transition, and I’ll  be looking forward to future releases when in need of a dose of pure, deliberate, desolate bulldozing music.

A spectrum of technical influence and talent is indeed to be found within the album’s nine tracks. A myriad of expression truly running the gamut of progressive tech-death the likes of which fans who cut and bleed for acts such as Beyond Creation, Spawn of Possession, Atheist, Gorod, The Faceless, and Obscura will lap up like a dog parched from the desert sun. There’s no real stand out track on Esoteric Entity, as the true highlight is the band’s musical prowess. In fact, an album such as this is going to be based on the listener’s personal affiliation of emotions when it comes to picking highlights or favorite tracks, as Esoteric Entity is chock full of twirling riffs, serpentine bass play, and change-ups around every imaginable corner showcasing some truly great melodious fretboard antics. All while the the drums drive in such a tasteful complimentary way, never falling flat and tired and never stealing the show or stepping on instrumental toes.

Whether it be the nice tech-grooved beginnings of “Reverie” and its slower divine manifestations that crop up within the tracks pulsing technical aspects, or the split personalities of “Mixotrophy” achieving a wonderful refined edge between chaos and finesse, or the saxophone solo that rises in “Ruler of Cruel” that hearkens to the likes of Candiria, if only for mere seconds, there is a bounty of progressive extremism to gluttonly feast upon. As I stated earlier, all of Esoteric Entity‘s tracks stand shoulder to shoulder with one another, though personally, it’s “Dead Weight” that really does it for me. The track achieving genuine fugues of counterpoint melding with harmony and melody in a blissful, twisting intellectual awareness that would make Bach himself proud and impressed.

Besides a couple of tracks that suffer from a too abrupt/clipped/unnatural closing, the true bummer of this album is the fact that Esoteric Entity will more than likely go unheard  and unnoticed by so many in the extreme metal realm. Even worse, is that I’d imagine that a number of those who do hear the album will pass it off as a heard it before/been done before type of affair. Those that would perceive this would not necessarily be wrong, but boy, would they not only be missing out, they’d be missing the point to and of Spectrum of Delusion‘s creativity and output. This is some extremely well crafted, well played, and clearly thought out death metal. If SoD doesn’t get picked up by a damn reputable label in the near future, I can only assume that it is by their own  choice and accord, but if you, the sagacious death metal lovers out there, pass up on Spectrum of Delusion and Esoteric Enitity, I can only assume it is from a severe case of cranial rectosis.