Founder and vocalist/guitarist Jacob Lohrber and fellow six-stringer Greg Thomas lead the charge, names people might recognize from their work with noted hardcore bands Shai Hulud, Harlots and Trap Them .  Lohrber sounds almost identical to Architect frontman Keith Allen, so much so that I had to double check that they weren’t indeed the same.  Those familiar with Architect’s Ghost of the Saltwater Machines, Trap Them and Earth Crisis will feel right at home with this album.  The d-beat driven madness is spat forth by none other than Fall Out Boy drummer Andy Hurley, who shows he has some serious chops that will make people forgive his pop-metal roots(check out the double bass on display about halfway through “Fuck Today”).

This album is not trying to break the mold, but what they bring to the table is good for what it is.  You get the shouted, hateful vocals, and a fuzzy guitar tone to stir the pot.  You also get a bit of death metal-lite and obvious punk leanings tossed into the mix.  The title track opens with some Testament style groove and pacing before a quick dose of the album’s rare blast beats, while “They Live, We Sleep” sees the band slow things down a bit toward its latter half, and it’s a nice change.  They still bring the intensity, but 35 minutes of the same tempo would have gotten old real quick.

As it is the album definitely feels like they’re just going through the motions at times, and while Lohrber’s vocals aren’t bad, his shouted style can get a bit tiresome with repeated listens.  As mentioned earlier the lyrics are centered on society’s ills, criticisms, and rising up and doing your own thing.  This is a decent album, which fans of the aforementioned genres should enjoy spinning a few times.

Following a short opener, the first riff off of the second track, “Destined to Die”, I swear I had heard on Slayer’s World Painted Blood. Then the gruff shouted vocals kick-in, and Machine Head instantly came to mind as Brian Gamblin is almost a dead ringer for Robb Flynn. And a few minutes after that, you get some Shadows Fall style atmospheric clean vocals. You even have some Kreator sprinkled throughout, which about sums up this album: it’s a mixture of genres all blended up into one tasty little metal smoothie.

Despite being an eclectic mix, this album is firmly rooted in modern thrash with a hefty dose of groove. The pace varies, but never reaches into full death metal speeds. In addition to the lead vocals, Brian Gamblin and his brother Kyle handle the guitars, and there is some serious shredding going on here. Most tracks feature one or two solid solos, with a few standouts being the one halfway through the title track, and the opener to “Hollow Gods”. Casey Ory handles the percussion work, with pounding double bass and some creative fills adding to the fretwork going on.

Faults with this album are the way too long acoustic guitar instrumental, “A Wound That Never Heals”, that really helps to kill the momentum the band had built up during the first half of the album (when are bands ever going to realize these instrumentals almost NEVER add to the enjoyment of an album?). Also some of the lyrics, while well thought out overall, creep into hardcore territory and flirt dangerously with being cheesy (“Divided We Fall”). Those two minor gripes aside, there’s a lot to like with this one and should definitely be checked out by any metal fan as there’s something for everyone here. It’s been a very competitive year, but this one just might sneak its way onto my year end list. Hopefully these guys don’t remain unsigned for long.

When you can personify the genre so well, there’s little reason to change. The style is the same, but the band has some new faces in addition to the mainstays. Original vocalist Shane McLachlan provides the shrieks and growls, former Kill the Client drummer Bryan Fajardo handles the percussion and Calum Mackenzie provides the bass work. New to the fold are guitarists CC Loessin and Dorian Rainwater, who provide the stabbing, discordant riffs that deliver the awesomely painful experience grind lovers eat up. Scott Hull (Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Pig Destroyer) handled the production, and the album is that much better off for it. There is an awesome low-end punch that really adds meat to the maelstrom, so fans of recorded-in-a-garbage-can grindcore should probably stay away.

The whole album clocks in at 18 tracks and just under 20 minutes, again what you would expect from pioneers of the genre so going into a track-by-track analysis is pointless. It’s not all warp-speed, as third track “Submission Hold” sees the band slow down into a Dying Fetus-esque breakdown about halfway through, which really perked my ears up. But overall this band wants to get your blood pressure up, and keep it there as long as possible. There are also some humorous samples thrown in, of note the opener to “Let It Go”. They’re not overdone by any means, and add a nice touch the album as a whole. Like Napalm Death, Wormrot, etc? Then you’ll like this.

This is the fourth full length by the Tennessee sextet, and the lineup is virtually the same, save for new drummer Ben Harclerode (ex – Knights of the Abyss)taking over for Kevin Lane (who was phenomenal). He’s a worthy replacement, showing off great control and syncopation with the three-pronged axe attack. Whitechapel have been roundly criticized for featuring three guitarists since their inception, with many reviewers and listeners asking the question – “two guitarists could totally pull this off, what is the need for a third?”; and to a large degree it was true. This is where the new album really branches out, and though we got a taste on A New Era of Corruption, the guitar work is much improved on this LP. You get the first nice solo in the opening track, “Make It Bleed”, which helps to make an otherwise forgettable track much better. Then there’s the djent style guitar interplay of “I, Dementia” and “Dead Silence”, with its thrashy bridge, to the darting staccato riffing that peppers “Section 8”.

Now don’t assume that this is a riff-fest, which it isn’t, or worse yet that they have forgotten how to bring the hefty breakdowns. These guys have always been among the breakdown elite, but absent is the chug-breakdown-chug formula that plagues many of the repeats in this genre. Most every song features one or two, but they are used as additions instead of substitutions for good song writing. Adding to the guitars, Phil Bozeman punishes the microphone with one of the best death growls in all of metal, even mixing in some higher register vocals on “The Night Remains”, a medium-fast track that is easily one of the best songs in their catalog.

That track leads into instrumental “Devoid”, bringing back the pianos that were first seen at the beginning of track one. It’s an interesting effect, and one that shows up for the final time during the outro section of the final song. It’s an odd musical choice but one that somehow works, and the brevity that is shown with its usage adds much more to its enjoyment; too much would have killed the momentum of the album.

The album is mastered by Alan Douches (Converge, Mastodon), which is always a good choice, and comes packaged in a sharp looking, textured digipak. Whitechapel won’t win over the deathcore haters, but this album is much more death than core and shouldn’t be dismissed without at least an objective look. It’s not perfect, and they still have a lot of growth potential in the guitar department, but there is much more depth and emotion in this latest endeavor. As my colleague Erik Thomas wrote in his new Dying Fetus review, will anyone remember this album in 20 years? Maybe not, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable right now.

None of it is bad mind you, there’s just not much to get excited about. I found myself incredibly bored with this album the more I listened to it. The riffs are relatively stale with the occasional solo thrown in, and the monotone vocals really start to blend together after a while. The trigger-less drumming has a very organic sound to it, but never really gives you any reason to sit up and take notice. It’s worth pointing out that longtime drummer Jim “Grindhead” Deabenderfer, who played on the band’s first three full-lengths, left before this album. Nick Gallichio replaced him, and the other 3 members have been the same since the beginning.

One area where the album did show promise, and what drew me to their second album, Cadaverous Presence, is when they slow things down to a sludge/doom pace and really let the guitar tone create the mood. The beginning to “Depths of Despair” is the best example of this. Unfortunately it’s not used enough, and the album just plods along during its nearly 50 minute run time, which is easily about 20-25 minutes more than it should have been. If they trim the fat and focus their sound, these guys could put out a much better next album. Recommended for serious fans only, and those who pass won’t be missing much.

What is so interesting about this band and what has kept their sound fresh is the mixture of styles they put on display.  You get the ambient technicality of Cephalic Carnage, the death/grind elements of Aborted, the spastic nature of Phobia, and the death metal influence and groove of Kataklysm.  Put in a blender and shake at 280 beats per minute and this is what you’ll get.  But these guys never seem to ape one style and it would be criminal to call them copycats.  Part of their unique sound can undoubtedly be credited to vocalist Travis Ryan, who displays an incredible array of pitches and growls on this album.  The most notable being the almost childish female sounding vocals on “A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat”.  They are probably pitch-shifted and show up at a few other points in the album and add an odd, if interesting, touch.  I most enjoy his full on brutal death growl, which can’t help but make the fans of all things brootal grin like they do when watching the torture scenes in Saw II for the 63^rd time.

Drummer David McGraw is relentless on this album, highlighted by the insane gravity blast on opener “The Carbon Stampede”; they also fortunately show up later on.  He probably went through about 15 pairs of sticks tracking this album as his drums take an insane level of punishment on this album.  Josh Elmore varies things nicely, moving from sweeps to solos to the wall-shaking breakdown that ends the best track on the album, “Forced Gender Reassignment”.  The best part of the album is the thought and varied structures that went into each track, allowing each one to stand on its own yet as a whole come together into nearly 45 trauma-inducing minutes.

On a more cerebral level and something followers of this band well know, all four members are vegans and very pro-animal in their ideology.  On the flipside they loathe human beings as a whole and their lyrics reflect those themes unabashedly.  Maybe it fuels the furnace of destruction on this album, and if so then hate all you want because the extreme metal genre as a whole are the beneficiary.  Evolving one’s sound in the death metal realm can be quite challenging, but I can only hope Cattle Decapitation continue to pump out albums like this one.  Early front-runner for top death/grind album of the year.

After a throwaway intro, you’re smacked upside the head with the realization that these native Coloradans haven’t missed a beat.  They still have the same corrosive, blistering grind sound not unlike Phobia, Kill the Client, and Rotten Sound.  And that’s one reason why I think I like these guys so much, is I hear a lot of Rotten Sound in their style.  That comparison is most obvious in the filthy, chainsaw guitar sound that is pure grind through and through.   They also know when to slow down into a nice chord driven groove to let the pit slow down for a bit, before jumping back into a blast riddled noise-fest that makes you want to start kicking over speaker towers.

The songs stick mainly to the short bursts of fury in classic grind style, with the whole album clocking in at just under 30 minutes.  One thing I feel sets Catheter apart from run-of-the-mill grind is their use of a tri, and sometimes quad vocal attack.  They use a standard death growl, raspy scream, and then one style that can only be likened to an 85 year old lifetime smoker yelling at you to get off his lawn.  It’s a hollow yell that’s hard to describe but is 100% Catheter, and it works; you’ll just need to listen to the album to see what I mean.  Check out the beginning of “Bullshit Business” for the best example.  You’ll also at times hear a kind of mid-range yell, and maybe even a fifth or sixth style.  Hell with all that’s going on it’s hard to count, but the best part is it all fits together extremely well.

The final track, “In This Moment”, is by far the longest at 5 minutes and really ends the album on a high note.  You get an impressive drum driven intro before a doomy pace leads to some spoken vocals, and a hefty lurching close that brings it all full circle.  A solid album overall and a must listen for fans of no frills, relentless grindcore.  Let the beatings commence.

And that is where something with this album just didn’t seem to grab me. Don’t get me wrong the album is phenomenal, and the technical ability is second to none. I’m not sure if it’s the length of the album, or the whirlwind of activity, or the fact that you feel like after you’ve heard one track you’ve heard the whole album. The songs dart all over the place, and while not as disjointed as the new Beneath the Massacre, I just don’t see myself going back to this album much. The songs are incredibly dense, and nearly everything is thrown into each track. You get melodic slowdowns, frenetic arpeggio solos coming from all sides, and former Unmoored drummer Henrik Schonstrom keeping this bucking bronco tied together with his deft footwork and blistering fills and accents. As far as I can tell Erlend Caspersen keeps the bass portion skillfully wrapped up, but I honestly wouldn’t know good bass work if it walked up and punched me in the nuts. I’ve tried repeatedly, but have just never developed the ear or the ability to pick out good bass work with all that goes on in extreme metal. The aforementioned Rondum keeps a pretty straight forward death growl that doesn’t change much, but it’s obvious he’s not the main show here with all the talent surrounding him. They even mix in some organs and keyboards on album closer “Apparition” that shows a Fleshgod Apocalypse-style touch to their sound.

It’s also worth noting that the album art is also cool as hell, just as it was on Noctambulant. If you’re a tech-death fan this is a must listen album, and make sure to spin it a few times to let it all soak in. It’s nearly an hour, so set aside a good chunk of time. With the new Gorod album on the horizon, it’s turning out to be a heavyweight fight for tech-death album of the year.

Thankfully foregoing a pointless intro, the album starts out with a nice blast beat to get the mood started, and when George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher muscles in with his unmistakable growl you feel like an old friend has come back to visit. Well… maybe a friend who would like to cut off your limbs and stick your head on a post in their front yard. But I digress. In my opinion, the first two tracks are merely a build up to the third – “Scourge of Iron”. The mid-paced, doomy, massive lurching riff that drives this audible sledgehammer is just glorious. Hands down the best song on Torture and easily one of the catchiest, most headbang-worthy tracks in their lengthy history. Trust me here: if you plan on listening to it more than once, make an appointment with your chiropractor right now.

And that is where I feel this album truly excels: despite an almost 45 minute runtime, it avoids sounding samey or feel like it’s overstaying its welcome. It’s not just mindless chugs and blast beats. You get the thrashy feel of “Rabid”. The gargantuan groove of the aforementioned “Scourge of Iron”. The double bass pounding and shredding solo of “Crucifier Avenged”. If there was one track that I didn’t care much for, it was “Encased in Concrete”. Not a bad song, but if it was left off the album I wouldn’t have missed it. In a bloody, mangled nutshell, it’s all the Corpse you have grown to love over the past few decades.

The album is once again produced by Erik Rutan, so the sound is phenomenal and each instrument is allowed its own space to breathe. It is worth noting that drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz left the triggers at home, and that mixed with Rutan’s skill really helps to give an organic feel to the percussion side of things. Mainstay Alex Webster brings the bass, and Rob Barrett and Pat O’Brien crank out the riffs o’ plenty. Corpsegrinder is fairly decipherable throughout the whole offering, leaving the choruses of “As Deep as the Knife Will Go” and “Followed Home Then Killed” dancing around in that now-scrambled brain of yours long after the final track has faded out.

The album as a whole just feels cohesive, which is an obvious testament to how long these five have been playing together. They definitely still bring the in your face aggression, but also know when to slow down and let a riff or solo take its rightful place in a track; age has led to further evolution. The album is not flawless, and they are obviously not re-inventing the death wheel or mixing in some clean singing to attract the radio crowd. But even if you haven’t liked the last few albums, give Torture an open ear and you just might come away pleased.

So what more is there to be said? Why are you still reading? Okay maybe because this is an album review site and you came here for more than one paragraph, but it amply sums up yet another behemoth addition to the grind legends’ extensive catalog. Trying to review one of their albums is akin to writing a new spin on Reign in Blood, as these Brits are so consistently good one runs out of superlatives to describe them.

After a doom-tinged instrumental intro track that features some digitized audio for effect, Barney’s trademark vocals kick in on “Errors in the Signals”, and boy does dude sound pissed. I am still amazed at how he can sound MORE pissed off album after album. Does age or time ever catch up with this guy? He sounds as pissed off as Rick Santorum if you tried to convert him to Hinduism. He spits that audible venom from start to finish, and demonstrates once again what has always allowed me to pick out a Napalm Death song above all other grind bands. You could seriously put my whole grind collection on shuffle and ask me to name that tune, and I would know instantly when a Napalm Death song came on.

Of course Barney doesn’t do it all alone, as the usual cast is present to once again grind your eardrums into dust. Mitch Harris cranks out the nasty guitar tone. Shane Embury summons the four strings of the apocalypse, something it seems likes he’s been doing since Kennedy was in office, and Danny Herrera skanks and blasts his way squarely into your bottomless metal soul. Saxophonist John Zorn makes an appearance on “Everyday Pox”, and yes he is playing the saxophone in said track. At first listen it sounded like a high squeal guitar tone, but after re-listening and paying close attention I was able to identify the difference. Zorn is no stranger to the metal scene and might sound familiar to readers as he has collaborated in the past with Napalm Death, namely former member Mick Harris.

Besides having an extremely catchy chorus, “The Wolf I Feed” features guitarist Mitch Harris handling lead vocals and Greenway backing him up. I can’t say I enjoy Harris’ vocal style, but it’s by no means a deal breaker. You also get the Burton C. Bell-ish ambient clean vocals on “Wolf” that further add to the variety and show the band determined not to let their sound go stale. “Quarantined” and “Blank Look About Face” both feature choruses you might find yourself shouting randomly (while drawing odd looks from others), and it’s worth noting that taking some time with the lyrics booklet is quite rewarding as Greenway intelligently touches on everything from politics and society’s ills to morality and one’s personal struggles.

The CD I picked up here in the USA finishes with the bonus track “Everything in Mono”, and closes another chapter in the book of a band that continues to get better and refine their aural attack with each offering. There are also bonus tracks “Aim Without an Aim” and “Standardization”, the latter of which only appears on the vinyl edition and the former I am not sure where it appears but found it mentioned in a few different places. Whichever version you choose, Utilitarian is a raging bull that fittingly arrives 25 years after the band’s ground-breaking debut Scum. If you’re still unsure what to do, refer once again to the first paragraph.

Anyone who is familiar with their first two full lengths will know that Beneath the Massacre definitely has all bases covered in the musical talent realm. From the second the album starts you get one of their trademarks guitar sweeps, and oh do we have plenty of sweeps with this one. We’re talking more sweeps than a broom closet here folks. Guitarist Chris Bradley is incredible, and might want to explore pulling off a few bank robberies because there is no way he has any fingerprints left. Drummer Justin Rousselle somehow manages to keep up with him, showing off John Longstreth-level ability to stop and start more times than Houston rush hour traffic. Elliot Desgagnés’ vocals stay around a fast, low-pitched death growl throughout the whole album. They get a little monotonous, but I personally will take them over raspy screams any day.

The songs keep pretty much the same elements: head-spinning guitar sweep, quick slowdown, blast-beat backed sweep part two, slower guitar solo; put it all in a blender and see what happens. However, the structures are varied nicely and don’t follow the same pattern track after track. The first half of the album is light-speed, and after the instrumental “Incongruous” they slow things down (relatively speaking) on the following two tracks – “Pedestal” and “Grief”. These tracks creep into faster deathcore territory, but don’t be scared off by the ‘d’ word as it’s a loose comparison. If nothing else it’s a nice break and a chance to see them let the afterburners cool off a bit.

Following those tracks it’s back to business as usual. I went through the album multiple times, and while impressed, am not sure how many times I would go back to it. Few parts stood out or were memorable, which is not meant in any way to imply a lack of talent. It’s just that after you get done you feel like you’ve been on one hell of a trip and you know it was good, but most of the details are still pretty hazy and you’re trying to figure out what to tell your friends. The question for Beneath the Massacre now is where to go with their sound? They have the face-melting part down, so how do they evolve from there? It’s worth exploring as I can see album after album like this start to wear out its welcome quite quickly.

Anytime old school death is brought up, comparisons to the usual suspects are almost inevitable: Entombed, Obituary, early Cannibal Corpse, etc. Over the past year or two Razorback Records has hit some home runs in that realm with bands such as Revolting, Skeletal Spectre and Decrepitaph, among others. What you have in Zombie Inc. is a cast that is no stranger to the extreme metal scene, starting with former Pungent Stench vocalist Martin Shirenc. Guitarist Wolfgang Rothbauer (Disbelief, Eisblut, In Slumber) and drummer Tomasz Janiszewski (Belphegor, Fleshcrawl, Debauchery) add further experience to the ranks.

What these horror movie inspired freaks bring to the party is definitely along the more “modern” classic death sound, and they mix things up wonderfully on this album. From “Grim Brutality”, which opens up with one of the album’s catchiest mid-pace riffs and finishes with an impressive solo, to full-on death metal speed title track “A Dreadful Decease”, this album brings a little bit of everything to the table. You get blast beats, chugs, and wall-shaking double bass. The whole experience is punctuated by a gloriously filthy guitar tone, and a heavy mastering job by Dan Swano that adds weight to this beast. Add in a strong dose of groove to the whole recipe, and while it won’t be called original, it’s hard not to like what you’re being served.

It’s worth noting that Shirenc’s decipherable growl adds the final twisted touch, allowing you to pick out such heartwarming lyrics as ‘Tearing the flesh/eat your nipples’ (“We Must Eat!”). Some of the lyrics are obviously delivered with tongue firmly planted in cheek, and confirms that these five Austrians must have had a blast putting this solid album together.

One thing you notice immediately about this album is how damn catchy it is. The lyrics are a gruff shout, and pretty easily decipherable which can make for an enjoyable listen depending on your personal tastes. What that gives you are choruses like the ones found in “Your Rotten Life”, “Hatebomb”, and the anthemic “Old Times, Good Times”. Just try to listen to that track once and not walk away humming it to yourself. While the lyrics aren’t philosophical or groundbreaking by any means, they will worm their way into your brain and hang out there for a while.

The band keeps a pretty steady mid-pace overall, but mix things up by slowing down to a chug to close out title-track “Katharsis”, and wearing their thrash influence on their sleeve with “Vicious Assault”. “The One” sees the band take their closest foray into the death metal realm, sounding like a slower Kataklysm. The drumming is solid, with plenty of skank and d-beats to keep your head bobbing. The guitar work is mostly straight-forward, with a few solos thrown in but they don’t crop up very often. This album is all about groove, and if you don’t come to it expecting too much then it’s worth a spin or two to take a break from all the great death metal that is coming out the first part of this year.

Hailing from the same country as the math metal legends themselves, Vildhjarta is a seven (seven?!) piece band that formed in 2005. They created a tremendous amount of buzz with their 2-song EP Omnislash in 2009 and rare live performances in Europe in 2010. What we have in their full-length is a cutting, darting, absolutely razor-sharp album that has to be one of the most impressive debuts in recent memory.

The album starts out with an ominously slow, acoustic guitar tone until just past the 40 second mark where you’re greeted with the first staccato-picked, iron-heavy, rhythm-guitar layered riff that is downright glorious in its execution. It jarringly sets the stage for the maelstrom that is to follow. The mid-toned, barely decipherable yelled/growled vocals come in shortly past the one-minute mark, and dance perfectly among the three-pronged guitar attack. The first three songs really help the band to establish a presence, jockeying between smacking you upside the head with an enjoyably dissonant wall of guitars, only to cut off sharply with some acoustic solo or ambient noise before the next round of fretwork lays waste to you and your neighbor’s sanity.

The aural battery reaches a crescendo with track six, “Traces”, that starts out with a fast, thrash-style riff before coming to the album’s first clean vocals around the 2 minute mark. They are very well placed, and add an element of temporary order to the chaos and allow the band to let the song and their audience breathe for a bit. But then the house caves in again, and I found myself asking the same thing the first time I heard Chaosphere – “How the hell do these guys play together and make this stuff somehow work?” I don’t know what the answer is and really don’t care, I just enjoy the result.

The album has a 51 minute run time, but it never gets old or stale. With dual vocals, titanic chords, pinch harmonics and brutal riffs coming at you from all sides, part of the fun is never knowing where this album will hit you from next. If I had one criticism I would say the album does slow down and go acoustic/instrumental a tad too often, but that’s a very minor gripe. It’s also worth noting that octopus-limbed drummer David Lindkvist definitely channels his inner Thomas Haake on this album. He keeps the band locked down tighter than the porn collection you keep hidden from your girlfriend, showing off phenomenal stop-start control and polyrhythmic beats that would be a real treat to behold live.

Lyrically the band has said that this is a concept album told as a fairy tale story. Interesting choice, but at least it’s a break from the normal throwaway extreme metal concepts of death, gore, etc. Also look closely at the artwork, as you will see more hidden creatures/things the longer you study it. So top all this off with a production by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Devin Townsend) that lets each instrument stand on its own, and you have an absolute monster on your hands. It came late, but I can already confirm that I have found my album of the year. And it isn’t even a contest.

Right out of the gate that premonition proved to be correct, with sweeping riffs and scale runs dominating the first few tracks. With solid double-bass backing the guitars, it is easy to see that these guys still have the chops to get it done in the speed and technicality realm, and each song features a good to really good guitar solo that shows that founding member Colin Davis still has the ability to dance around the fretboard. The songs do somewhat tend to blend together, with a verse-chorus-verse-guitar solo structure that lends a sense of sameness to the album. The album is not all light-speed though, as tracks like “Wolf at Your Door” and “As One” shows the band slowing down a bit and letting the riffs breathe without rushing by before you know what hit you.

One of the weak points of the album is new vocalist Mike Hrubovcak (Abraxas, Monstrosity) who takes over for Juan Urteaga. Now Hrubovcak isn’t bad, but I preferred the lower-register growl of Urteaga on the last album to Hrubovcak’s mid-level vocals. Check out the oddly-placed spoken section in “I Am Alive” that makes Hrubovcak sounds like he’s straining. But his vocals don’t distract from the music even though they don’t vary much outside of said spoken part.

This album is a solid one, and if the band tightens and varies up their song structure they could put together something really good. It is nice though to see them branching out and adding European death metal and even some black metal nuances to the songs. One of the best tracks on the album is actually the instrumental closer “The Redemption”, with one of the catchiest solos of the album coming before the one-minute mark. But the tech-death pool is getting crowded fast, and to stand out you really have to bring the goods. The potential is there for Vile, they just need a little more work.

Falloch is the work of just two men – Andy Marshall, who handles the bass, guitar and vocals, and Scott McLean, who handles the drums and keyboards. Both men teamed up earlier with a band called Concept of Time, and Marshall gained some notoriety for his previous work with Askival.

The first track starts out with a slow acoustic guitar intro, setting the tone before the percussion kicks in after about twenty seconds. The clean vocals start shortly after that, and I have to say Marshall has a pretty damn good voice on him. His vocals have a presence that really adds to the epic feeling of the album. The vocals drop off about halfway through, and we get more acoustic guitar before the outro that ups the tempo and actually features some blast beats. These are not death metal blasts, but this first track really sets the stage for the rest of the album.

Track two starts right off the bat with some faster double bass, and here we get the first taste of what sounds like a tin whistle which I have to say is incredibly well placed. It shows its face here and on the first instrumental, “Horizons”, and it adds such a presence and sense of ambiance to the music I would have liked to have seen it used more often. We also see Marshall taking an Opeth-ian turn with some harsh vocals, which are use here and very sparingly throughout some of the other tracks on the album. His versatility is displayed quite impressively here.

Following the aforementioned instrumental is “Where We Believe”, a ten minute monster of a track that really brings all of Falloch’s elements together in one cohesive unit. You get the slow guitars and percussion, tempo changes, harsh/clean vocals, and the blast beats which show up again towards the end of the track. It’s easy to see why this is the one track they chose to put up on their Myspace page.

The album closes out with a keyboard instrumental, which is a fitting end to an album like this. At a little over 50 minutes, it’s easy to say this album is truly an experience and one that you will want to listen to when you can truly focus your attention on it. It features many different elements and genres all put together, and are pulled off with precision that an album like this demands. The way the vocals and the instruments intertwine and play off of each other is fascinating to behold and makes for one hell of a debut album. It will be interesting to see what they explore with their sophomore effort.

The album starts off with ‘Walk That Path Alone’, and it’s a thrash-inspired kick in the gut that gets things started off on the right foot.  In a video interview Jamey talked about the lyrics for this track and its basis is how people sometimes need to break away from negativity in their lives and go their own way.  The next two tracks, ‘Mourn the Illusion’ and ‘Screams from the Sanctuary’, see Jasta’s Kingdom of Sorrow background come strongly to the forefront.  ‘Illusion’ has a much more doomy feel, but both tracks’ influences are pretty obvious.

The next two tracks, ‘Nothing They Say’ and ‘Anthem of the Freedom Fighter’, are where the lyrics get a little cheesy.  Though both tracks have catchy choruses, they don’t seem as inspired and thought-provoking as I have found a lot of Jasta’s work to be.  But I would encourage you to listen all the way through to the end of ‘Nothing They Say’, because it features probably the sickest breakdown on the whole album.

‘Something You Should Know’ sees Jasta taking a stab at some clean vocals, and he actually pulls them off quite well.  It doesn’t hurt that he is helped on this track by one of metalcore’s best all-around vocalists, All That Remains’ Phil Labonte.  This is actually the first track with a guest vocalist, with other notable ones on the album being Lamb of God’s Randall Blythe and and As I Lay Dying’s Tim Lambesis.  Zakk Wylde shows up in track ten, ‘The Fearless Must Endure’, and adds a bit of shred to the otherwise metalcore-standard guitar playing.  Professional skateboarder Mike Vallely (who I had never heard of until this review), shows up on the weakest track of the album – ‘Heart of a Warrior’.  Vallely’s vocals are awful, and the lyrics are way too “bro-coreish” if you will.  This track never should have seen the light of day.

There is a special edition of this album with 2 extra tracks, ‘Bury Me With My Beliefs’ and a super riff-tastic re-recording of ‘The Fearless Must Endure’.  ‘Bury’ is worth it and could have been substituted for one of the weaker tracks on this album, but the re-do of ‘Fearless’ feels like an add-on to justify said “special edition”.

This album is a mixed bag for fans of the genre, with much more to like than not.  Production-wise the album is solid, with plenty of bottom end to help with the breakdowns and add heft to a genre that lives off it.  From what I have heard Hatebreed is working on a new album, and it will be interesting to see how much of the varied aspects of this project carry over to Jasta’s flagship band.

These guys reside on the label FDA Rekotz, which is also home to such bands as Entrails and Revolting, so you know you’re in for the throwback sound that has become quite popular over the past few years. These guys have actually been around since 2004 under the name Goregast (formerly Distress), with a demo and this current release, which is their third full-length. One thing I found interesting is that though they are from Germany, as far as I can tell the bulk of the lyrics are in Spanish. An interesting choice to say the least but one that doesn’t really seem to distract from the album as a whole.

One thing that is hard to pick out on this album is if these guys are going for death, grind or even doom. You have the short skank/blast-driven tracks like ‘Puerco de Dinero’ and ‘Necrophagic Pathologist’, to longer ones such as ‘Nice Guy Next Door’ and the doom-inspired opening track. You can also tell these guys don’t take themselves too seriously, as ‘The Boozer’ contains the words “cigarettes and beer” which can be easily understood and are chanted over and over again throughout the song. ‘Capa’ is easily the weakest track on the album, as the repeatedly sung song title gets old very quickly. The vocals stay at a deep yell throughout most of the album, and the heavy guitar and bass lines provide most of the bottom-end heft.

If you like that filthy guitar-tone, non-over-produced sound to your metal, then give this album a shot. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, this album is definitely one that is not boring due to the varied song styles and contains something for just about every metal fan.

The first few tracks lay the foundation for Svarttjern’s very groove heavy brand of black metal, which will also appeal to fans of death metal.  The guitars are handled by Haan and Fjellnord, with Terror on bass and Grimdun manning the skins (what is it with black metal’s penchant for members with only one name?)  The riffs, while solid, consist mainly of scale runs, palm mutes and mid-paced chugs.  I don’t listen to a whole lot of black metal, but some icy, soaring guitar solos are one thing about this genre that I felt has always added to its appeal.  None of those really stuck out on this album.  Terror’s bass is mixed very well, and helps to add a lot to the bottom-end heaviness of the album.  Grimdun is solid but unspectacular, with plenty of double bass runs backing up the guitar riffs quite nicely.

The groove in this album will get your head moving, that’s for sure, but after a few spins I was left with a sense of sameness with this album.  A track-by-track breakdown of this album would be kind of redundant as there is not a whole lot of variation in this one.  But if I did have to pick one standout, it would be “I Am the Path Part II”.  The track starts out with a solid mid-paced guitar riff before the vocals come in; some blast-based tempo changes, then things are brought full circle by ending with the opening scale run.  This track nicely packages up all the elements of Svarttjern’s brand of black metal.

The production is solid on this album so it might not appeal to fans of raw, kvlt black metal.  But there is plenty of blasphemy to be enjoyed here and these guys have put together a solid–if a bit unmoving–sophomore record.

Chelsea Grin made quite a stir with their first album, Desolation of Eden, which rocketed up the Billboard heatseekers chart and brought the Salt Lake City natives quite a bit of notoriety in the ever-crowded deathcore pack. They are a six-piece act featuring three guitar players, a la Whitechapel. Though where Whitechapel at times seems to under-use their multiple guitars, these guys do mix in some solid leads to break up the skull-crushing. A good example is the solo that shows up at the 2:15 mark of the first track, and though they don’t hang around long on this album they are still a nice touch.

However, most deathcore fans don’t come to the genre for the virtuoso guitar playing but for the heaviness and the breakdowns, of which there are plenty on this album. Each song has at least one or two (or 15), but the final thirty-seconds of “My Damnation” is one breakdown that sticks out of the many that litter the album. The breakdowns are helped out by a production that is crisp and solid, with plenty of low end punch.

But instead of just heaving and lurching through 30+ minutes of open note chugs, these guys take some stylistic chances that work out very well. I already mentioned the well-placed solos, but one part that really made my ears perk up was the opening to “Oblivion.” It starts out with a very Meshuggah-esque djent style riff that I felt was definitely one of the highlights of the album. This riff is cut painfully short, but shows up again about halfway through the song. I would definitely like to see them expound on this idea as it could further help them to carve out their own sound and break up the sameness that permeates in deathcore.

From what I can tell the dual growled/raspy vocals are handled by only one guy, front man Alex Koehler. I would encourage him to take a page from Whitechapel’s Phil Bozeman, who guest vocals on the final track – dump the god-awful screams and lean towards more death metal vocals. It would fit their heaviness much better. Until then give me Defiler, Colossus, Calmed by the Tides of Rain or even the new Emmure. Chelsea Grin has got the heavy part down, and that’s a good thing. But heaviness alone just doesn’t cut it anymore if your vocal style makes me want to jam a screwdriver through my eardrums.

These guys play a hard-charging straight ahead modern death metal sound, similar to The Cleansing or Syn:Drom. The album starts out with an intro that actually has a purpose – instead of being some over-used horror movie sample or pointless ambient noise, it begins with a solid instrumental that really helps to set the stage for what is to come. The intro to the new Hate Eternal is an excellent comparison. Not having to hit the skip button on the first track is a welcome change and endeared me to the album before it even began.

Track two hits you right in the throat and the album never lets up from there. Mixing groove and heft in a glorious mixture, from start to finish this album just works. Vocalist Stefano Manera has a low, indecipherable growl that fits the music perfectly, while guitarists John Murphy (ex-Vomit Remnants) and Steve Watson man the axes. They even mix in some Beneath the Massacre/Neuraxis style technical leanings which help to add an interesting element to an already tight sound. The highlight of the album, however, is drummer Johnny Macri. The band mixes tempos quite often, and the start-stop syncopation between the drums and guitars heard in almost every track is masterful in its precision. Macri can stop and start on a dime as well as bring the pain with some warp speed double bass work. Think Raymond Herrera and early Fear Factory.

The longest track on the album, “Pieces”, is where the band really shines in mixing all its strengths into one. Lurching from fast to slow and mixing in some raspy vocals at the start, two minutes in you get a solid breakdown/slam part that is bound to drive the pit crazy. More tempo changes follow before leading to a solid solo at the three minute mark which takes the foot off the gas just a bit. Then back to pure death metal destruction. The album washes, rinses and repeats this formula throughout its thirty-five minute duration, but it never seems to wear thin when it’s pulled off this well.

For an unsigned band the production is rock-solid. The vocals, drums and guitars are clear and sharp, and the bass is definitely there but doesn’t jump out at you. A little research turned up that the album was produced, mixed and mastered by Greg Dawson of B.W.C. Studios in Brampton, Ontario. I’m not familiar with him, but he should have plenty of work on his plate if this album is any indication of his skill. Between four re-recorded tracks from their 2008 EP and seven new ones, overall this is one hell of a debut full length. Any labels looking to add some death metal strength to their lineup should definitely keep an eye on The Unborn Dead.

The trademark of Whitehorse’s most recent full-length is the slow, plodding pace. But I’m not talking normal plodding here – I’m talking wading-through-waist-deep-mud-while-dragging-a-sled-full-of-300 pound weights style plodding. Fans of Eyehategod, Dopethrone, and similar bands will feel right at home here. Four of the five tracks clock in at over six minutes, which really helps to drive home their brooding, almost painfully heavy sound. It’s like a gorilla sitting on your chest, but one you really don’t want to tell to go away anytime soon.

They do switch up the pace just a little with track four – “Control, Annihilate.” At four minutes it’s the shortest track and a relatively faster one, but don’t worry there is nary a blast beat or double-time riff to be found. It’s a good track to break up the album, but not straying too far stylistically turns out to be a good choice. These Australians know their foundation is slow riffs, thick bass lines and drums that seem to take an eternity to go from beat-to-beat.

The vocals range from a hollow death growl to a mid-range, black metal-style rasp. The death growl further adds to the heavy nature of this disc and luckily the rasp never reaches that ultra high pitched grating sound. But as a whole the vocals are used in a minimalistic sense, which really helps to let the music breathe and the almost depressive effect of their style come through much more powerfully.

So if you want a change from the break-neck pace of the new Hate Eternal or Origin, grab a scotch and a cigar and kick back and chill with this album. Just make sure it’s on a day where you don’t have a long to-do list, as you won’t feel like doing any of it after being crushed by Progression.

Thankfully the album foregoes a worthless instrumental opener and kicks right into gear. The first thing that jumps out at you is vocalist Trevor Phipps. He seems extremely motivated on this album and it shows through from the get-go. Dude was probably munching throat drops like Skittles following the recording of this album. But then almost three minutes in you get… what is this? Clean vocals?!? They seem out of place, and to put it bluntly downright whiny. They show up again in track three and those are even worse. It does show these guys willing to expand a little bit, but thankfully they don’t show up too often or hang around too long so it doesn’t threaten to sink an otherwise solid ship.

They get back on track with “Ruination of the Lost”, and continue to pummel in true Unearth style. In addition to their ever present heft, one impressive thing that jumped out listening to this album is that almost every song contained a very well done guitar solo. Like ones that make you double check who you’re listening to. The solo that kicks in at the 2:10 mark of “Last Wish” would be right at home on a Slayer album. There is some seriously good fretwork going on that adds another dimension to their songwriting and further helps to keep genre haters at bay.

And the breakdowns? Oh yes kids, they haven’t forgotten a trademark of the genre they themselves have put a huge stamp on. Besides well placed, but not overdone, mid-song breakdowns, one thing Unearth seems to do better than anyone else is what I can only refer to as the ‘breakdown closer’. A lot of bands will close with a breakdown of about ten or fifteen seconds, but these guys have become masters at stretching one out for thirty seconds or more. Check the ending half-minute to the track “Eyes of Black”. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, if that doesn’t get your head bobbing then you’re probably paralyzed from the neck down.

The album closes in blistering, pissed-off fashion with “Disillusion.” It starts out showing the solid double bass work of drummer Justin Foley (Killswitch Engage) before Phipps and company jump in to really take things up another level. Add in a catchy chorus and a killer breakdown halfway through, and it just tosses gasoline onto an already roaring fire.

Overall this is a very solid addition to the Unearth lineup. Those of you who don’t like the genre won’t jump on the bandwagon now, but if you appreciate those who started it there is a lot to like here. Unearth is not going to make a Morbid Angel-style genre bender – they do what they do best, and they do it better than about ninety percent of their competitors. In my opinion these guys are welcome to show up whenever they want. If anybody’s earned it, they have.