Category Archives: Reviews by letter

MURDER INTENTIONS (Bel): “A Prelude to Total Decay” full-length Cd 2009 Soulflesh Collector

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Murder Intentions - A Prelude To Total DecayThis might not be the latest work by Murder Intentions from Belgium. According to what I read, they also released an EP last year even though it doesn’t sound radically different from this album, what I write here can also be said for this new work (but thank you Soulflesh Collector for the promo). I might be particularily uninspired today but even after a second listen, I can’t but state that… they sound to me likewise uninspired. The very first thing that blossoms in my mind right now is that these guys must probably be quite young, the kind of young that makes you consider Pantera a strongly influencing band for Death Metal, you know.

They certainly have a lot, and I mean a lot, of tempo changes and riffs and growls and screams and what have you, with a super-thick, massive sound which perfectly suits the crushing mid tempos and occasionals slam beats, yet they seem to be missing the non-stop barrage sound of more established names like famous neighbors Pyaemia or Disavowed). This is a band that probably focused its efforts on variety and complexity. and mind me, they are probably doing it properly too, but I am probably not going to pick this record up for the next car trip. This is the problem with 5th generation Death Metal: it might sound technically perfect,, but missing a spark of either energy, or utter brutality. The sound is thick and very metallic, with the distorted bass giving an extra layer of thickness to the overall heavy groove, almost Skinless-like when the singer growls during the heavies breakdowns. Yet, generally speaking sometimes less is more. In any case, good product, but won’t take place in my shelf.

Good work with the booklet, even though I have seen this layout of work ever since the times of Corpse Gristle and Ablated, maybe it is time to level up here as well? Lyrics are not written in the booklet, but generally deal with the complete unleashing of energy and fury into destructive force. It’s undeniable that Murder Intentions have a good deal of blasting energy, it just sometimes fall in unexpected directions.

MURDER INTENTIONS (Bel): “A Prelude to Total Decay” full-length Cd 2009 Soulflesh Collector

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Murder Intentions - A Prelude To Total DecayThis might not be the latest work by Murder Intentions from Belgium. According to what I read, they also released an EP last year even though it doesn’t sound radically different from this album, what I write here can also be said for this new work (but thank you Soulflesh Collector for the promo). I might be particularily uninspired today but even after a second listen, I can’t but state that… they sound to me likewise uninspired. The very first thing that blossoms in my mind right now is that these guys must probably be quite young, the kind of young that makes you consider Pantera a strongly influencing band for Death Metal, you know. They certainly have a lot, and I mean a lot, of tempo changes and riffs and growls and screams and what have you, with a super-thick, massive sound which perfectly suits the crushing mid tempos and occasionals slam beats, yet they seem to be missing the non-stop barrage sound of more established names like famous neighbors Pyaemia or Disavowed). This is a band that probably focused its efforts on variety and complexity. and mind me, they are probably doing it properly too, but I am probably not going to pick this record up for the next car trip. This is the problem with 5th generation Death Metal: it might sound technically perfect,, but missing a spark of either energy, or utter brutality. The sound is thick and very metallic, with the distorted bass giving an extra layer of thickness to the overall heavy groove, almost Skinless-like when the singer growls during the heavies breakdowns. Yet, generally speaking sometimes less is more. In any case, good product, but won’t take place in my shelf. Good work with the booklet, even though I have seen this layout of work ever since the times of Corpse Gristle and Ablated, maybe it is time to level up here as well? Lyrics are not written in the booklet, but generally deal with the complete unleashing of energy and fury into destructive force. It’s undeniable that Murder Intentions have a good deal of blasting energy, it just sometimes fall in unexpected directions.

MISERY INDEX (USA): “Ruling Class Canceled” split Cd with MUMAKIL 2007 Power It Up

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Misery Index Mumakil

Oh come on. Is that really an half skeletal corporate man with a bunch of oppressed black victims against an American flag on the cover? Don’t they really ever get tired of that stuff? I seriously think I got my full share with Brutal Truth‘s debut, and that was 20-something years ago. Seriously, the booklet is fine, but the lyrics here sucks worse than some teenager punk band from some obscure burg in the rocky center of Italy. Well that’s worth for Misery Index at least, as I can see no Mumakil lyrics in here. I’ll spare the suffering of discussing what the subjects of these lyrics are about, you can grab any Dead Kennedys record and get something a million times better written.

Contrary to Brutal Truth, however, which even on the first album had string grindcore influences, I can hear nothing I can call even fairly grind in Misery Index. I really wonder what the fuck everyone is listening at these days and dare to call grind fucking core. This band have the fattest motherfucking sound ever, so clean and crisp you can use it to cut pepperoni for your pizza. They even have some chunky reminiscences of Dying Fetus (well that cannot be considered a falut, I guess Jason probably contributed a little bit to his old band’s sound), grunts and all. All this rant says basically nothing so far, bit that’s just because I could not force myself to find anything remotely interesting in this recording. Average seems to be the fitting term here, superbly average fast, modern, American-styled Death Metal full of all those accelerations and barking. Not my cup of tea.

As for Mumakil, things get a litytle bit more complex. They have some extra layers of screams and grunts, probably some less refinement in their songwriting which I can’t but appreciate, yet they still sound as uninteresting as a band can be. Considering they take the name from a Middle Earth creature, share the same cover as Misery Index, and print no lyrics, their music is all I can rely on to identify what the personality of the band is. And at the third listen, I still cannot distinguish this stuff from a billion other records. Sure, they seriously kicked Misery Index ass on this split, but we’re still far from being memorable even for a single second.

I cannot say anything band about this split, but I can’t say anything good either. 7″s are cool however, and this Cd has been pressed on wax of different color. Does that count?

G.O.R.E. (Cze): “Stand up sexy ladies, the Boogie Band is here!” full-length Cd 2013 Khaaranus

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gore-standup

Among the various albums I got for review lately this must certainly be the absolute worse. Basically everything in this album is wrong in my agenda, everything. Once I recovered from the shock of seeing this is not the Brazilian Gore (as I expected, my hopes were crushed by the cover art the very second I picked the Cd out of the envelope) it took me just a few seconds to stare at the Cd, a digipack so glossy it looks oily. You got a scattering of pictures about sexual perversion scattered on the layout going from dildos, latex-wrapped whores, blasphemous images of Jesus, streaks of blood and so on. Not only however the Cd doesn’t come with lyrics but the very titles of the songs are in broken English.

While the overall layout is harmonic and certainly a result of some professional designer  it is the music that is just tragically bad. G.O.R.E. plays a disastrous patchwork of death/grind with among the worse vocals I have ever heard since Caninus or Anael (eheh). The growls are little more than dog barks, and in a pitiful attempt to quote Macabre they even manage to make it worse with Mickey Mouse choruses. The songs themselves have some decent groove in them sometimes (remind me a bit of late Neuropathia) but just as some good massive riff comes in another sloppy one intrudes and then those terrible, terrible vocals just spoil everything. I will not mention the last track, some sort of disco-remix that probably will make someone laugh. But – me – I personally think I just lost some minutes of my life.

How could a band like this get signed is really beyond me. If they ever managed to somehow kick out the vocalist(s?) and truncate all these shitty moshpit chugs in between, something good could be harvested from this shit, but I have little hope in that. Sorry, it was a pity since the label has been producing good stuff in the past, and this is probably the only updated review you are seeing in a long time. But stay away from this stuff, very FAR.

DAWN OF DEMISE (Dnk): “…and Blood Will Flow” demo Cd 2006 s/p

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dawnofdemise-andthebloodwillflow

Uhuh! So Jacob Hansen owns a recording studio now? Is it the same guy behind Invocator and Maceration? if we’re talking about the same guy, he did a pretty decent job with this band at the recording console.

From a broad perspective there is nothing wrong with Dawn of Demise. The band plays solid, chunky brutal Death Metal with very deep vocals and an american imprint. Even when the songs speed up there is a sense of intrinsic staticness which the band probably looked after to make the whole sound even more granitic, think of a moderate version of late Deranged or mid Meshuggah (death metal version). My point however is that once you want to make everything as solid and as compressed as possible with constant palm muting chugs and so on, you could as well push through it to the end as Deranged does. Danish bands historically lacked “it” even when the crunch was pretty decent (except maybe, Infernal Torment?) and I am afraid we’re not far from that situation with this 3-track as well. Don’t misunderstand me – this is honest, well written stuff with a great emphasis on the groove, and it might be good stuff to hear at 4pm in some late night after show in any Germanic country, yet I believe the music fits the crispy recording and the heavily CGI-elaborated cover art: they’re neat but a little bit lacking of “sickness”. I can’t say I don’t like deep growls, power chords, or bloodstained knives, but all of this sounds a little bit polished for my tastes, and I just can’t force myself to like the mosh-pit grooves, although I know somebody else is looking for exactly this stuff.

Bear with me now: my number one rule for great Death Metal, is “if you can dance at it, it can’t be good”.

LEGIONS OF ASTAROTH (USA): “The Moon Bleeds Red Upon the Earth” split Cd-r with HELLGOAT 2005 Vile Art

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hellgoat / Legions of Astaroth

I was not hugely impressed by Hellgoat and by jove, I am underwhelmed by Legions of Astaroth as well. Like I said before fuzzy sound is by no means a turn down for me, but the kind of music this band is playing definitely could gain some points with something better than a bedroom rehearsal sound. We have some sloppy galloping here too, but as with Hellgoat they’re kept to a minimum and maybe, if we could hear the guitars, they could be not terribly bothering. Like with the other band in the split, I find the vocals the best element in the mix, as the drums do what they’re supposed to do in a good black metal band, that is blasting. Can’t say much more as it’s quite difficult to hear what they are pretending to be playing here.

And that’s it, I don’t have much more to add, as it is it sounds like some ordinary bestial death/black metal band. I guess Astaroth didn’t inspire very much the band.