Author Archives: Nuclear Abominations

GAURITHOTH (Fin): “Huoravasara” 7″ Ep 2004 Fudgeworthy

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Fudgeworthy records from Massachusetts (label of Charlie Infection of Psycho and Gonkulator fame) released a couple black metal Eps in the past one of which being this grey marble colored 4 track by Finish band Gaurithoth. Considering the proclaims of playing extreme Satanic Latex Perverse Metal, I was expecting some fucking bomb lacerating the whole fucking house I live in. As already happened with its previous release Pest however, I admit this is really not up to my expectations. I haven’t heard the recent full length, but this demo material has two big flaws: too much melody and strident witchlike vocals. Personally I don’t even Like Grand Belial’s Key for their over excess of heavy metal harmonies, and this time the problem is similar. Mid tempo ballad-like riffs with a couple harmonic “cold” tremolo chords are not really my cup of tea when we talk about Black Metal. Some riffs are outright happy hunting choirs – brr, no thank you. The vocals are randomly scattered on the recording, with little or no punch at all, and well, they don’t even sound evil to me. The only thing I appreciate is that the recording is excellent (rough but not thin), ad the drums filthy and crude as they must be in this genre. Huoravasara contains the same tracks of their 2002 demo, plus one unreleased song cut just for the vinyl version. This stuff might appeal fans of all things called Black Metal from Finland. Since a few years however, I decided to be a little bit more selective.

News

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  • Antaeus/Aosoth out now on Battlesk’rs productions. Includes some rare tracks from Antaeus including live shit.
  • Power It Up released a collection of old Haemorrhage singles (see review), also from the same label out soon a double Cd from Mesrine, 16 tracks with real lyrics (the band just barfed nonsense before this album) plus 21 tracks taken from a live performance at the “Giants of Grind” gig.
  • Abacinate/God Rot split Cd from New York ad New Jersey out now on Epitomite productions.

FURBOWL (Swe): “Those Shredded Dreams” Cd 1992 Step One

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The almost unknown label Step One from Uppsala released in 1992 the first full-length of a very interesting band. Furbowl was born a few years after Joahn Axelsson left Carnage (he was on “The Day Man Lost”). Far from the grindcore sonorities of early Carnage, Liiva composed with Furbowl one of the most interesting and underrated albums of the entire old Swedish Death Metal movement. The guitar sound is the one we know: pure “Pieces”/”Left Hand Path” mush, down tuned , loose and obscure. Composition-wise, however, Furbowl never pointed much towards aggression alone (thanks god we had Grave for that!), even if some songs have actually a good number of killer riffs (“Sharkheaven” for one). The songs are really well thought, and apart from some attempts at trying to experiment beyond their abilities (the Typo’0’Negative vocals on “Razorblades” are definitely useless), you get here a real brilliant chunk of elaborate Swedish Death, with excellent hateful vocals, disturbing harmonies, and a dose of heavy R’n’R groove far beyond its time. It has to be noted that this band was made up of only two members – Liiva was doing all vocals, bass and guitar, while Max Thornell was responsible of percussions and a bunch of extremely well arranged keyboards. Sometimes the music becomes somewhat symphonic, but in a Pan-Thy-Monium / Master’s Hammer way, not mellow – the sick element is always present. Furbowl was a band able to blend an excellent selection of aggressive riffs, rocking and rolling grooves and the classical Swedish evocative melodies. I also liked the lyrics, introspective and choked with depression and anger. Michael Amott from Carcass was guest for two solos on this album, and was also the one who produced the Cd. Could be fun to know that the band changed name to Devourment, for a while…

MARDUK (Swe): “Dark Endless” Cd 1992 No Fashion

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Naming the band after a Babylonian god and talking about blasphemy of the Judeo/Christian religion might sound a bit weird, but after all that’s the Morbid Angel way. The first thing that kicks ass in this album is the killer cover art by no one else than Dani Vala, guitarist and singer of the band I reviewed yesterday, Obscurity. Why this guy didn’t do more of these splendid works is beyond me. This painting is really “evil”, and grotesque.

Several of the best bands that turned into pure Black Metal in the nineties have common roots in the Death Metal scene (not that I think there is so much difference between the genres after all anyway). Marduk‘s first album “Dark Endless” has all the great elements of the classic Swedish Death Metal sound. Dan Swano did a good job at fiding the right sound for this recording – the obese trademark crushing sound of the Swedish axe permeates all songs, with a good balance of mid tempo, Bolt Thrower reminiscent riffs, hints of melodies in the vein of old Crematory, and even a sporadic use of keyboards a la Thou Shalt Suffer towards the end. While the album closes with an epic, elaborate and evocative guitarwork, the first songs, while generally faster, have their good share of sluggish, almost symphonic bridges. All of this has been obviously cooked with the classic Swedish receipt of sickness – none of this sounds mellow. My only regret is the vocals are a bit too raspy and high. I guess how killer this would have sounded with a real singer like Rogga of Merciless or a young Matti Karki. The main theme on this album could be misanthropy and obscurity, elements that were lost with time. I admit I like this stuff, but also their newer albums. This might not be an album that can be credited as legendary in the Death Metal world, but it’s a good compromise of Swedish Death Metal, crushing heaviness, misanthropy and a pinch of classic Scandinavian taste for dark melodies.

My copy, on No Fashion, has no lyrics on it, but I guess the new version has a better booklet. For sure the titles themselves follow the music perfectly: they are all about departure, funerals, damnation…

Small turn

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I have realized that for the most part, I am so slow at writing reviews becouse most of the albums I have in queue are either terribly ordinary – or worse. Of course having a fanzine has its own share of fun, but also some responsabilities. I cannot just thrash all the mediocre stuff and review only the coolest. But yet I decided to give it a small turn. When I am not in a mood for new music, I’ll just review some old item from the past. After all there are plenty of forums and webzines around if you need informations on a recently released album. Of course I will still do my hoeworks and give a shot at all the promo material I have, but since there are so many good releases and bands around today – why not listening to them instead of *insert name of a random east-european grindcore band with Czech name here*.

Let’s face it, the “old school Death Metal” trend is just that, a trend. But a trend that is giving birth to a lot of extremely cool bands, like the new Tribulation, Degial, Vomination, Crucifire etc. Just like the Sarcofago/Hellhammer trend of 6-7 years ago brought us Goat Semen, Rites of thy Degringolade or Levifer. These are trends I support eh eh.

Back on us, more old school shit to follow, and at last some interviews as well. Let’s give this fanzine a REAL face.

MACERATION (Dnk): “A Serenade Of Agony” Cd 1992 Progress

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Not many good bands ever spun from Denmark that I can remember. Apart from my first Metal band ever Mercyful Fate and some 80’s stuff like Artillery, Samhain and Desexult, on top of my head I can only name the first Invocator, the Autopsy worshipping Corpse Vomit, early Illdisposed, late war Metal Exmortem, the first brutal Infernal Torment full-length, the 2 egregious while absolutely symphonic Autumn Leaves albums, and maybe a bunch of other minor names  that barely escaped the demo bounds (I did some shopping in Copenaghen in 1994 looking for demos). Let’s put Sadomator/Sadogoat as well, and even Denial Of God if you wish (although I have not much sympathy for this band).  But that’s really it. Yesterday while sweeping the floor in my apartment, I put on this nice Cd from 1992. If my memory doesn’t fail me, this was one of the very first releases by Progress. I already knew the label when it was named Regress, since they had this really nice fanzine that covered both music and tattoos. The label subsequenttly folded in the mildly impressive Die Hard.

I remember Maceration was not an amazingly original band (and the logo was quite anonymous), but in a time of sadness like the one we’re living in , I admit I enjoyed listening to it so much I spinned it four times. Dan Swano used to sing on this album under false name and admittedly, these are the best growls I have heard from him among his countless (mostly terrible) projects. The music itself is definitely old school, but not incredibly dark or eerie. It reminds me mostly of Loudblast, Morgoth and Asphyx, with distinct structures and even some sparkles of Bolt Thrower-ish melodies (so to speak). While mostly midtempo, the album gets faster towards the end (probably older songs). While no masterpiece, I reccomend this album to those who already have the essential discography of the aforementioned bands. It usually goes for very cheap in 2nd hand bins, possibly 5 euros or less.

INCANTATION (USA-Ny): “Primordial Domination” Cd 2007 Listenable

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I think we all would agree if I dare to say that John McEntee has listened to a LOT of Autopsy before writing “Primordial Domination”, which is fine by me since it was the best band ever in the Death Metal universe. I still write New York is the base for this band although they have moved to Cleveland several years ago – and then NJ or Johnstown or Grove City, I lost track there are three different addresses here. The asset is the same that gave us the previous masterpieces of old School Metal of Death: John at the guitar and Kyle on drums plus random bassist (this time the big guy called Joe Lombard which also writes the majority of lyrics) – and their adopted fifth member the producer Bill Korecky. This is not the first Incantation album with John on vocals but it’s the first one I manage to listen and dissect carefully. I haven’t really listened much to “Decimate Christendom” or the horribly looking “Blasphemy”. I can surely say the vocals are absolutely okay, not as deep as Pillard’s or Rhamer’s but more in the vein of Corchado, still more than okay in the studios even if not impossibly dark (but they are very weak on stage). Everything however really falls in the background in importance when this guy works his magic on the guitar. He’s the best motherfucking guitar player around when it comes to spewing Death Metal anthems. I have the obsessive malignant vibes of “Mortal Throne of Nazarene” and “Diabolical Summoning” still chilling my skin every time I think about those albums, even if it’s probably over one year I haven’t listened to them. I have to say however that while theoretically perfect, and chock full of killer riffs and spells of unholiness, not to mention Autopsy worshiping moments, this album is not as majestic and eerie as it could be. It’s a bit like when “Infernal Storm” came out, an album which I cannot say I dislike, but I cannot say I love either. It’s just so difficult to challenge those two albums I mentioned before that things sometimes just don’t manage to reach the same level of intensity. I love this album anyway, but I cannot define it a masterpiece. All the good Incantation elements are present here, and not only in the line up: unholy growls and pure Death Metal riffs with that minimal dose of evil doom, you cannot really make a mistake when it comes to Incantation. Yet I will still rotate the first three albums in my Cd player. Listenable is doing a good thing with packaging – the artwork is by the excellent Jacek Wisniewski (I still prefer Miran Kim, tho) and there is a cool DVD extra in the case with a show from France. It’s appalling to hear how terrible John’s vocals sound live, they really lack any punch… too bad becouse the picture is killer.