Author Archives: Nuclear Abominations

New Renaissance Records To Re-Release Soothsayer’s “Have A Good Time”

New Renaissance Records will re-release the 1989 debut album from Canadian thrashers SOOTHSAYER, May 15, 2008.Soothsayer’s debut, entitled HAVE A GOOD TIME, was released in 1989 in North America on COLOSSAL RECORDS and in Europe on NEW RENAISSANCE RECORDS.

Tracks include: 1. FREE VIOLENCE, 2. DIG, 3. BUZZ FLY, 4. THE GAME 1, 5. 101, 6. GO TEAM GO, 7. E.T., 8. THE GAME II, 9. PIMPLE SPRAYER, 10. TOGETHER TO MAKE A WORLD, 11. CHANGES, and 12. ROCK AND ROLL FOREVER.

DON KAYE once wrote in KERRANG MAGAZINE that Soothsayer has “obviously been to the SLAYER school of music, with side courses in VOI VOD and SACRIFICE.”

Soothsayer includes: DANIEL CLARET on drums, SIMON COHEST on bass, MARTIN CUR on guitars, and STEPHANE WHITTON on vocals. The band’s website is found at:
www.troopsofhate.com

An interview with singer Stephane Whitton appears in the January 2008 issue of METAL MANIACS. In 2007 Soothsayer reformed to play a reunion show in Canada and released their album TO BE A REAL TERRORIST on GALY RECORDS. A link to a video from a 2007 interview with the band is included below.

BLOOD RED THRONE (Nor): “Come Death” Cd 2007 Earache

Ok, I admit I overlooked Blood Red Throne on purpose for the last few years. There was just something inherently wrong between me and them, they gave me an impression of slick, glossy music which I personally detest – second rate death metal with lowercase “d” so to speak. Might be the fact they were on Hammerheart, the big reviews on national mags, or the hype given by the fact they are Norwegians with ex Satyricon and Emperor members. I always thought this was the kind of band that plays in the background while you’re paying for your ticket while arriving late at a show of a bigger name. But I have to admit this stuff is not bad at all. Surely a bit static, and I am pretty sure they’re much better on record than live – but definitely not too bad. The vocals are really powerful, and some riff recall late Skinless (song 2 and 4 are , Deranged or Centinex. We’re sure more into American ground composition- and sound-wise than other Scandinavian names – definitely Death Metal anyway. Also the production is cool, not too triggered, not too polished. I won’t say this is a powerhouse of energy but definitely more than decent, goes half a point over the average in my scale. I personally don’t think I would stand a third listen, some songs could really exists with their length cut in half,

BEYOND TERROR BEYOND GRACE (Aus): “Still Human Still Humane?” MCd 2005 Grindhead

This is Beyond Terror Beyond Grace‘s debut, a young band from Australia’s Blue Mountains, and it consist of four short tracks of a non-defined mix of extreme music styles. The opening riff is a total killer hyperfast blast of violence strongly influenced by Rotten Sound, Jigsore Terror, To Separate The Flesh From The Bones and the likes and made me hope for the best… if things were following that line all the time we could have had something real interesting if not overly complex or catchy. However there is a big flaw that I spotted almost immediately,and it’s that these songs are made up of riffs so eterogeneous that it feels like hearing Praxis or Mr Bungle (well not exactly to be honest but you get the point). While that opening blast was full of energy, the mid tempo Death Metal slam that follows close is among the most boring I have ever heard, kind of Internal Bleeding stripped down to play even more basic sloppy death. The vocals are a schizoid chamaleon which vary completely timbre from grunt to screams according to the underlying riff, and something weird happened when those got higher: a cold, pine smelling breeze entered my room and I could hear the penguins approaching from beyond the mist… Ah! No really they sound more new black metal than Grind, but that’s just a matter of perspective, I guess I could get used to them if we get over the bigger flaws. To tell the truth, I hate the Death Metal slam mid tempos in here, but the faster riffs range really from average to excellent. They should really drop the useless parts where the vocals become guttural and keep the faster parts only, or just try to improve songwriting of the slower bridges, becouse those are real lame. As it is, this is neither fish nor meat as they say here. The Cd has a very short duration, just like 9 minutes or so, but I guess it explores clearly what the intent of this band is. The guys look very young so we can expect some serious improvement I think. I hope the singer is just growing his hair, and not keeping that cut on purpose, though (ah ah, j/k). Nothing much to add to this, working a good layout when flames are involved is real though and well, it doesnt work in here either, but this is an Ep so things might have been made with some hurry. The cover depicts a man or a scarecrow shrouded in flames, and little else. At least the quality of the pics is sharp.

FUCKING GREAT!

We finally got some HATE MAIL!
This is a recent comment on the Hipermenorrea CD! I know I am supposed to be dead but this one deserved to be pulished!
“This is just sick, who would post some shit like this? Are you all sadistic freaks jacking off to the photograph of a poor HUMAN BEING who at the very least will never be able to enjoy life like others. You do not deserve your mouths and faces as nothing good comes of them but rather just sick and perverted scenes of grotesque violence. In my humble and unbiased opinion i believe it is because of people like you sick fucks that these kinds of scenes of gore and violence exist in our world. You deserve to be cut apart piece by piece… slowly and painfully starting with each knuckle of your fingers leading up to the hand… but you should be put on IV’s of plasma so that you do not bleed to death but rather live long enough for the incisions to completely cut off your limbs and let the last scene your eyes see before losing conscientiousness is your heart being ripped out of your chest and shoved into that fucking hole you call a face.
You…you are the scum of the earth, adding nothing to society but grief and suffering. You deserve to rot in hell you sick son of a bitch, as anyone who finds enjoyment in these types of images deserves to die a horrible and painful death. All of you sadists and masochists sit around your computers comparing pictures of violent injuries which were either induced by others or self-inflicted. ANY OF YOU MOTHER FUCKERS WHO HAVE THE BALLS TO STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU ENJOY IN THESE IMAGES (assuming you haven’t cut them off) FEEL FREE TO REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE.
P.S. the authorities have been notified and this website will be brought under federal investigation, under which it may be banned in the United States. Good luck with your sick obsessions as this is not the first or last website you sick fucks will be banned from. I will not give up, i will not cease to find where you fester like a cancer on this society. I will see to it that each and every site like this or others pertaining to the same subject matter WILL BE STOPPED.”

Thank you erjohnsonfuhs@yahoo.com, we need support like this!

Not dead yet… (premature burial!)

It is really touching to see there are still over 50 views each day on this website despite the fact I haven’t updated it in eight months. I promise this webzine is not dead, but I am just trying to recollect some of the enthusiasm I had when I started it. The whole musical scene is so incredibly different today and I just feel so out of place… it is so funny but what really makes me feel like this has been this huge old-school revival. The bands, most of them at least, are so damn good. Yet there is something out of place… In any case I have a box full of promo material that WILL be reviewed as soon as I find some motivation.

Death Metal Eternal.

BATHTUB SHITTER (Jap): “Shitter at Salzgitter” live Cd 2008 Power It Up

phpthumbphpFrom my point of view, after years and years passed listening to Metal and Core, the sum of all the live recordings that deserve to be bought easily stays in the finger of a hand. And I am pretty much afraid this live 2004 isn’t in that list. Honestly, I like Bathtub Shitter, I really do… I have bought all their 7″ and listened to all of them a few times, but my narrow Doberman cranial box struggles to understand why I should listen to these songs with a broken sound and crowd shouts in the middle. I am probably the last person in the world to ask about live recordings, and well, I assume for a live it is good quality after all, but I just find live recordings completely useless.

The Cd looks pro, it has a color booklet, lyrics, photos collage and all the routine stuff in its place, but I really find it difficult to recommend something like this. You know Bathtub Shitter, right? Noisy at times, musically proficient at others, with that little touch of Japanese madness. If you’re a record collector and find challenged by this band’s huge list of releases here it is, get in touch with Power It Up.

BLOODRED BACTERIA (Ger): “Kiss the Goat” compilation Cd 2008 Power It Up

blobaOkay, this time I prefer not to read anything about this new release before actually hearing it from start to finish. I remember this is the band who also released a split with Abscess some years ago and according to Power It Up‘s info sheet it’s a collection of Bloodred Bacteria singles. I am not hugely versed on this kind of  new grind core, but it seems to be a genre immensely popular in Germany, eastern European countries and in the far north. I personally never got big into it, and according to the sales of my shop back in the days, it doesn’t seem to stick very much in Italy. Maybe I didn’t push it enough… whatever.

The label is doing a good job with reissues in general, starting from a nice packaging with full lyrics and a couple of meaningless drawings, to a careful re mixing of these old songs for an even, better balanced sound. I lost myself halfway in the lyrics, some sort of generic rant that goes from moaning about how liberalism is bad and generic fun stuff. This definitely not the kind of lyrics that stick in the head like Fugazi‘s or Minor Threat if I must be honest. Also I would consider them a little more if they came from a Chilean band, instead of Germany.

From the musical standpoint, the Cd starts out a bit slow. Mostly that boring brand of run of the mill grind you can find on that big box of 7″ with nonsense covers you always find in average punk gigs. You know, the one sold by that guy with the army cap with Warsore patches, yellowish vegan skin and that brand new Driller Killer shirt. However even with the worst cynicism I admit there is good shit in the remaining half of this collection, though. The band seems to have gained some awareness somewhere in 2003-2004 starting out with the Swarrm split (that one is a great band by the way). The vocals are kinda strange, they are not particularly extreme, but their use of multi-layered recordings make them quite personal. The guitarwork has become more contorted without falling in that mathcore shit, but also not purely derivative of Discharge either. I must say there is some personality in this work. What seems to lack however is a good punch. The chemistry seems to have stalled to good levels, but none of these songs gave me even a fair shake. Mostly fast chugs and repetitive shouting. Could be a good choice for those into generic grind, I personally found it quite avoidable.