Category Archives: Death Metal

ROADSIDE BURIAL (Aus): “Such Is Life” split Cd with EXHIBIT-A (Aus) 2008 Grindhead

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Roadside Burial is ex-Volatile, a rather unknown band, at least here in Europe, who supposedly played grindcore. Personally I have never heard Volatile, even if the name is so fucking cool…(1, 2, 3)… NOT! A two men band with a terrible sounding drum machine isn’t exactly what usually stirs interest in me but considering how many times I have been wrong by judging Cds by the cover lately, I swear I am putting myself in trancelike state while listening to this record so I can be as objective as possible.

Let me see… the vocals are cool, of the two-layered kind you know. The riffs are little more than crust core a la Discharge lus some metal added. These drums are unbearable so let’s skip them for once. Well to say this stuff is unremarkable would be a desperately honest judgment. If this band was from Czech republic and had Bizarre Leprous routine 2 second shit cover I would have already thrown it in the “average death metal” heap. Being a Australian band with a 15 year background, I want to convince there is more here than a bunch of riffs written after a dope party over a totally anonymous drum machine program. No – really – this is not bad stuff, but so incredibly average I would barely recommend it unless you have 5 euros in your pocket after a bad show in a local squat and need to go home with something new. There are still good bands around that have to be exploited (since we talk Australian ground, get the latest Cemetery Urn album – pure gold), I see no need to go with this, not to mention the artwork on cover is really routine too. Good guitar sound, cool vocals, if nothing else.

RAICES TORCIDAS (Slv): “Digital Metal Flesh” Lp Cd 2007 American Line

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Even admitting that science fiction is not my favorite metal topic (it wasn’t even with Nocturnus or Hawkwind), I must say this Cd comes in a surprisingly deluxe format. Sci-fi is a strong concept here: futuristic post apocalyptic machine wars a la The Terminator appera on lyrics, cover, layout and all. The package contains a double disc that includes a DVD containing a detailed footage on the recording of the album. A huge folding digipack with thick glossy booklet and slick digital art: things have been done seriously here, with tons of computer graphics and a very accurate layout. I still prefer black and white, but things here have been done quite well. I just plainly don’t like computer graphics, be it Lust of Decay or Putrid Pile.

I had to make some research on the band, whose name I never heard of before. Raices Torcidas is from El Salvador, and comprises some members that also swapped lines with Kabak as well (great band – this one I knew!). I was surprised to read that this is their THIRD full-length, I must be very ignorant on the El Salvador metal scene.

I was pretty afraid that with all this advanced technological stuff all over and the terrible opening aggro riff I was in for some Fear Factory-like modern metal monstrosity. Well, I was quite wrong. Their sound is not sick or grisly but they play pretty good, decent Brutal Death anyway, with an excellent if uneven production, swine vocals, distorted guitar and all the rest. This band sounds pro and powerful, with tons of those tremolo riffing so dear to late Cannibal Corpse, Putrilage and Enthrallment. I liked much their multi-layered vocal approach, even though in the end we’re not listening to anything impossibly brutal or memorable. Good and honest Brooootal Death Metal of new generation but played with passion. Good and very focused in the end. Something to appreciate.

But I still prefer gore.

SPEARHEAD (Eng): “Deathless Steel Command” Lp Cd 2006 Invictus

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I want to set things straight from the beginning: my opinion on this record is sandwiched somewhere between “terrible” and “mediocre”. One of the weirdest thing on this album is that the majority of these guitar riffs seem just pointless. Some are just variation of a single one in different speeds. Only the solos are maybe not that bad. The production too, is not raw, (one thing I would highly appreciate) but just completely unbalanced – bass lines disappear and vocals get completely splattered in this forceless “mid-range only” guitar sound. The worse thing of all is the vocals, completely devoid of strength and pressure, just like a flaccid, pierced tire. I honestly don’t understand why someone could possibly consider this album “classic”, “violent”, “a perfect blend of thrash and black metal”, or riminiscent of Bolt Thrower (I have read all of these comments). There is even a terrible Norwegian theme on the song “The Glorious Dead” which just made my head shook all the time. I was expecting something powerful in the vein of Allfather or Axis of Advance, or even some more classic Australian-like stuff like Destroyer 666, but instead I got my hands of nothing but “War Metal” hype. It’s this “we’re all brothers of denim and million colored patches” scene which I just find hard to understand. These songs are plainly unmemorable, and just make you think “why should I listen to this while I have a million obscure Thrash Metal records from the eighties just out there to be listened and finally get all the powerful Metal sound tat bands like this want to recreate? No really, I pass this on. Too bad becouse there are some blasts and some good parts, but all these mid tempos and gay vocals just kill all the good that could be said. The work behind the lyrics is interesting – though: one big concept on war that blends with a superb cover and brilliant b/w layout work, one of the best I have seen in grayscale actually. What i don’t understand is how can evoke images of war desolation and bombardments by imitating Gargamel’s vocals. Maybe the war they’re talking about is between smurfs tribes?

VV.AA. (Jap): “DDDH – doomed to death, damned in hell” compilation Cd 2007 Grindmind

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Well. Even if I have an inborn intolerance for 3 way splits (nothing more annoying to place in your collection cabinet… I am always undecided whether to open a new row for 3 way splits or just place them among other compilations… not to mention how to write them in a list! Ah these are real problems-…ah ah!) this might as well be the best release of the year. All three bands from japan, all three playing personal variations of totally ground digging hyper-deep doom death a la Winter, Disembowelment and Autopsy. Starting out with Japan’s best band today Anatomia, with their unparalleled class, elegance and flawless ability to weave webs of dark terror and freezing cold asphyxiation. Pure classic Death Metal, played so fucking good I got thrown back 20 years, as I could feel all the vibrating magic this stuff used to have at the beginning of the genre. Everything is just perfect with Anatomia: all songs are classics with immense riffs, crushing guitar sound, powerful and sick vocals, you just have it all, I really cannot add anything to that. They just have “it”. Grudge could have easily stood the hardy test of following such a powerful band, if it was playing strictly instrumental tracks. There is little space for vocals in these tracks, but this little that gets through is really disastrous. The idiot that sings on these tracks sounds as if he got an emphysema. These are possibly among the worse vocals that ever existed. Seems like hearing Dave Ingram in “The Dreams You Dread” or Barney in “Diatribes”, but after a throat surgery. So incredibly ludicrous… what the fuck?? Despite this weak spit however these riffs are really crushing, and luckily take up 98% of the running time. Grudge has a damn dirty sound, which sounds perfectly fitting with these crudely carved riffs of ton-heavy saturated death. I have a few 7″ by them (mostly for the bands they shared splits with I admit) but didn’t remember they sounded so good. Coffins have also been a recent addition to the celestial bureaucracy of Japanese Death Metal, but they have already established a name in my playlist as one of the best bands around today. They sound like a less refined and perfected version of Anatomia, with crude, tape-like sound but still overly bass-saturated sound which is good for this stuff, damn yesh, definitely good. Dark and deep, a vortex of black sludge swallowing the light of the sun. If we replaced Grudge with Catasexual Urge Motivation this could maybe have been the ultimate 3 way.

I am not impressed by the cover art and layout 100% but no shit – this is super professional and original. Easily not only the best Grindmind release so far (this label is getting better and better each month, watch out for its world conquest!) but definitely one of the 5 best releases of the last year. Amazing.

PS: Someone shot Grudge‘s singer in the face please!

EVILHEART (Mex): “Storm of Annihilation” Lp Cd 2007 s/p

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Goddamn! How comes today so many superfluous bands got signed by the dozen and other excellent ones like this Evilheart (from Culiacán, Mexico) have to self release an album on their own? I have honestly to say that I never heard of them before, even if they already released a full length Lp in 2006, but bet I will do my best to recover the old one.

The pure brand of Death Metal played by these guys is definitely old fashioned without sounding derivatively “old-school”. There is no Swedish darkness or horribly down tuned sounds, or hyper blasting accelerations, but a genuine emotionality that is lacking in a lot of today’s products. Many of the riffs remind me of early Pestilence, if without their characteristic vocals, or other earlier 90’s American Death Metal demos (the period before the huge brutal slam shit happened). These guys seem really transplanted from the first half of the nineties, complete with some good solos as well to solidify the structure of the songs.

Good things are running free among the plains of Mexico, and the taste for honest Death Metal seems to be well solidified too. I might not be into 100% of the riffs and bridges, but on the average I have enjoyed this record pretty much. Vocals which are not overly deep in favor of clarity, well defined song structures and all the good ingredients of pure Death Metal without frills are all arranged with competence. Do yourself a favor and buy this record from the band, it might not be impossibly brutal, but definitely cleans off the palate after a endless series of mediocre releases one hears during the day. Very good.

The cover too, is professional and definitely cool, with a thick old school booklet with lyrics, photos, thank lists and all the package. I would have indulged a bit less on the glow but cool shit anyway!

EMBALMING THEATRE (che): “D-Composition” split Cd with HACKSAW SURGERY (aus) 2008 Grindhead

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I still believe the best thing coming out of Embalming Theatre is their vocals. deep, grotesque, powerful… real piece of cake. However I am not really into their hybrid form of grind/gore, as there is a touch of melody mellowing the whole receipt in a way I don’t really understand. It’s not about the mischievous harmonies of early Swedish Death Metal, but more about an effortless display of DeathMetal with no aim. Sometimes they are capable of putting together a bunch of powerful riffs, but then shortly afterwards they manage to ruin it all with some tremendously routine chugs and cheap happy guitar leaks (let’s not talk about the last track on their side… it’s fucking terrible). I don’t really want to put another nail in the rotting coffin of this review, but songs, too, are surprisingly alike… 60% of this album is decent death metal without special praise, the remaining 40% scores slightly below however…

EBOLIE (aus): “Fuck Ya Ears and Drink Ya Beers” split Cd with MAXIMUM PERVERSION (aus) 2008 Grindhead

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Ok, Ebolie’s at the same time better and worse than Maximum Perversion for my ears. That happens when a band is so varied. I have appreciated the goreripping bursts of energy and these guys definitely know how to maintain the same level of quality all through the record, but sometimes the funky bass slapping and small in-song talk get a bit annoying. But I guess you cannot do anything for that, when one artist feels like inserting this shit in a song to create variety you have to give up ah ah!
Honestly speaking Ebolie has gotten better and better with time, with some arrangements and ideas that are nicely unpredictable. Lots of different stuff going on, but with some serious chemistry. Influences from drone to math-grind just stain the whole songwriting all across the tracks. I am not one to appreciate innovation but these guys know how to do that in a very un-trendy way. Their former lack of punch finally solidified in something more than concrete – tenacity finally rewarded Ebolie. Pretty much interesting stuff.