Death Metal – Page 147 – Wonderbox Metal

Bloodscribe – Prologue to the Apocalypse (Review)

Bloodscribe are from the US and this is their début album. They play Death Metal.

This is Brutal Death Metal that’s short, nasty, violent and infectious. At its core it has a purity of intent that’s a joy to hear.

The songs are a hearty mix of blast, chug and groove that’s guaranteed to get the blood pumping and the body slamming.

There are plenty of tasty riffs here as well as some squeals, breakdowns, and chug-fests. The band remind me of the older, Suffocation/Broken Hope style of Death Metal and they play it well.

At only 25 minutes in length the band get in, make a gloriously noisy mess and then exit again swiftly.

Bloodscribe have a hideously warm production that reeks of decaying organic matter whilst retaining a powerful presence.

The vocals are guttural delights; sickeningly deep without descending into ridiculous pignoise territory.

A very enjoyable way to spend almost half an hour. Gotta love groovy, heavy Death Metal.

Sarpanitum – Blessed Be My Brothers… (Review)

Sarpanitum are a UK Death Metal band and this is their second album.

Sarpanitum take a three-pronged approach to their Death Metal that combines traditional Death Metal, melodic atmospheres and a touch of Black Metal’s heart of darkness.

The band’s melodic edge is a sharp one and it’s incorporated directly into their heaviness rather than seeming like an addition to it as is frequently the case with other bands that combine brutality and melodics.

Added keyboard sounds subtly enhance this already keen melodic sensibility they have and I really like the sense of atmospheric brutality that they create. There’s a Middle Eastern feel to a lot of the melodies that adds an exotic touch to the songs, as well as no small amount of epic grandeur.

The vocals are as dark as night; thick, deep, malevolent growls that are so low as to be akin to rumbling thunder.

Blessed Be My Brothers… has a thick, dense sound that’s uncompromising and combined with the band’s complicated riffing is impenetrable to the casual listener. This is Death Metal for real Death Metal fans who want something a bit more interesting than the standard generic fare.

Fans of Nile, Mithras, Lelahell, Gorguts, Morbid Angel, Sidious and Dying Out Flame should love this.

Highly recommended.

Ingurgitating Oblivion – Continuum of Absence (Review)

This is the second album by this German Death Metal band.

Ingurgitating Oblivion is for lovers of dissonant, Doom-infected Death Metal replete with dark atmosphere and malevolent sounds. This is for fans of Gorguts, Morbid Angel, Immolation and other purveyors of interesting and atypical Death Metal.

That the band have talent and can play is apparent straight away. Add to this a production that settles nicely around the band like a foggy miasma and songwriting skills that have clearly been honed over time and you have an album that has all of the necessary ingredients for something truly special.

On first listen this is an album that gels together instantly and on repeated spins it merely settles deep into your conscious even more, like a welcome indoctrination. This, of course, assumes that this style of Death Metal is one that you can take; if not then there’s no hope for you really, and you’d be better off with something simpler and easier to absorb.

This is Progressive Death Metal without any trace of pretension. The songs exist not to satisfy the musings of the musicians but to satisfy themselves. They operate purely in their own right and owe nothing to anyone other than their own sense of internal aesthetics.

This really is a first-rate release. The songs have longevity and depth oozing out of them and you know this is going to be an album that you’ll keep returning to in the years to come.

I love music that is a bit different, has something extra to offer; Continuum of Absence definitely has this.

Fans of challenging and interesting Death Metal take note.

Dysnomia – Dysnomia (Review)

Dysnomia are a Spanish Melodic Death Metal band and this is their début album.

Featuring a strong sound and an unexpected level of aggressiveness, Dysnomia quickly make their presence felt.

Their sound has plenty of melodic leads and solos as well as a hearty keyboard accompaniment that adds another layer to their infectious sound.

All too frequently Melodic Death Metal simply means a watered down version of Death Metal, essentially a weakened version of the original. This is not the case with Dysnomia. It’s like they’ve taken the melodic aspect of the genre, wrapped it in some keyboards and catchy songs and somehow managed to retain the savagery of the original style. This gives their sound a very fresh, energetic sheen and I’ve really enjoyed listening to this.

There is also a Black Metal influence to their sound, with the keyboards essentially meaning that they have somewhat of a Symphonic Black Metal slant sometimes. It’s more of an enhancement to their core sound though than a true Blackened Death Metal merging of the two and it plays its part in what I like about the band.

This is a top quality listen. If high octane Melodic Death Metal is your thing then Dysnomia will definitely hit the spot for you.

Ara – Devourer of Worlds (Review)

This is the début album from Technical Death Metal band Ara.

This is Technical Death Metal with plenty of brutality. They may have the required complexity of a band playing this style but they’re not above just lashing out and shredding either.

A good sound means that everything is clear and you can appreciate the tightness of the band. The musicianship is a pleasure to listen to, especially when it’s wrapped up in such a destructive Death Metal package.

The singer has an expressive roar that reminds me of a mix of the singers of Malevolent Creation and Vader. He provides a charismatic focal point for the glistening, polished music.

Complicated riffs seem to lurk just behind the omnipresent drums, winding and striking with impunity. This might not be music that you can easily hum along to but it gets inside your skull regardless. Who knows what damage it’s doing in there?

Even when they take their collective feet off the accelerator they still write interesting riffs that refuse to sit still.

If you yearn for the kind of Technical Death Metal that the likes of Iniquity used to churn out then Ara will be right up your street.

Highly recommended.

Xibalba – Tierra Y Libertad (Review)

Xibalba are a Death Metal band from the US and this is their third album.

This is heavy, brutal Death Metal that takes Hardcore and Sludge influences to make a monster of an album.

Imagine a Metalcore band that played Death Metal…yes I know that this implies Deathcore, but Xibalba are not a Deathcore band. Xibalba don’t have an easy to categorise sound. Deathcore should cover it, but no; this is a merger of 90’s Hardcore and 90’s Death Metal where Morbid Angel and Madball meet.

Classic Metal songwriting merges with Hardcore fury and Death Metal aggression. These songs really hit the spot for me as they take me back to the mid/late 90’s but translated to the modern day with a crushingly heavy production.

The band’s sound is Hellishly aggressive and recalls lost greats like Merauder and Konkhra if they got their hands on some Obituary and Crowbar riffs.

The vocals are predominantly harsh shouts that straddle the line between Hardcore and Metal, successfully merging the two styles into a vitriolic whole.

Xibalba have a meaty, beefy guitar tone that can squash a tank at 1000 metres. The punishing music perfectly captures the feeling of rolling demolition and hate-fuelled terror. Little snatches of melody appear merely to offset the heavy rhythms so that when these moments of light disappear again the riffs sound even louder and heavier than ever before.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Heaving Earth – Denouncing the Holy Throne (Review)

Heaving Earth are from the Czech Republic and this is their second album.

Now this is the stuff! Just take a look at the album cover and tell me you’re not sold on that alone. Class.

When you press play all Hell breaks loose. It’s like the essence of Death Metal just floods out of the speakers and everything is okay with the world again.

If you like Hate Eternal, Immolation, Morbid Angel and Gorguts then I feel pretty confident in recommending Heaving Earth to you. And recommend them I do, whole heartedly.

The singer has the perfect kind of Death Metal voice; it sounds like he’s chewing granite and he’s got that deeply satisfying style of growling that really hits you where it counts. It’s guttural but still expressive.

The music has a quality production that allows you to hear everything that’s going on without giving it too much of a polish.

Angry riffs and boatloads of leads make for songs that are both brutal and emotive in the way that bands like Immolation do so well. The songs on Denouncing the Holy Throne are well written, well played and just plain rule. As well as the ripping and the tearing there’s no shortage of atmosphere either.

There’s a good degree of interest and variety here, (within the genre confines obviously), and lots of good ideas are explored. A malevolent aura hangs over the entire album pulling everything together so it all sounds very complete.

Well this is just great. Top marks for Heaving Earth. What are you waiting for? Get out there and hunt this down now!

Inharmonic – Flesh Inferno (Review)

This is the second EP from Finnish Death Metallers Inharmonic.

Inharmonic play Death Metal with a classic 90’s feel via a very modern production. It’s a brutal and traditional style that recalls Deicide or Decapitated’s catchy simplicity.

The band do have a modern sheen characterised by the strong production and the razor-sharp riffing.

Some nice winding leads appear to enhance their core brutality. Solos also appear but for me the real star of this recording is the rhythm guitars as they’re both memorable and infectious.

The crisp sound makes the punishing rhythms almost crash out of the speakers and the band take full advantage of this to pummel the listener into submission.

Flesh Inferno is an effective Death Metal war machine designed to tear through the weak like a carefully honed weapon. It’s surgical, precise and deadly.

I look forward to their first album; if Flesh Inferno is anything to go by it’ll be a right fiery treat.

Good stuff.

Holotropic – Permeate (Review)

Holotropic are from Slovakia and play Progressive Technical Extreme Metal. This is their début album.

I wasn’t sure what this was going to sound like and was afraid it was going to be some wishy-washy, formless nonsense. I’m not sure why. This was all dispelled shortly into the first song; what I expected to be some throwaway intro track turns out to be masterful Extreme Metal that wouldn’t be out of place on an album by Between the Buried and Me or The Faceless.

More fool me.

No, cynical me has taken a firm beating and I’m very glad too. Permeate is a very impressive album.

Holotropic mix brutality, progressive sections, melodic parts, piano interludes, Jazz, heavy riffs and chaotic rhythms together into a cohesive whole that they’ve then weaved into their comprehensive Extreme Metal tapestry. This is either a Progressive Metal band that have taken Death Metal as their own, or a Death Metal band who have learned the value of expansive variety. Which it is doesn’t really matter.

Death Metal is an apt genre, but the nature of the riffs, the modern cadence, the exploratory nature of the music…it’s simply more than most Death Metal bands get up to. Again the comparisons to the aforementioned Between the Buried and Me and The Faceless come to mind, as this is Extreme Metal that has a modern Progressive slant.

The band can play very well and there’s a boat-load of technicality on display here too. As Technical Death Metal goes it can give most a run for their money.

For all the variety and interesting ideas of the music, the vocals are mainly pitch-black growls. It works well though as it provides a central anchor for the band’s extremity and musical meanderings. They sound great too. Occasional cleans appear sparingly and are professionally done.

Permeate is a varied and interesting début from an extremely promising band. I insist you take note of Holotropic and get your hands on this. They have a bright future ahead of them.

Highly recommended.

Dehumanize/Nihilism – Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed – Split (Review)

Dehumanize and Nihilism are both French Death Metal bands. They’ve conspired together to unleash this split on the world and have clearly given it some thought rather than just chucking some old songs together; each band has contributed two new songs, a new version of an old song and a cover of one of the other’s. As ideas for splits go it’s better than most.

We start off with Dehumanize, who offer us 16 minutes of sharp Death Metal.

Dehumanize have a good amount of both savagery and brutal melody in their sound. Solos and leads are used well and there’s lots of meaty guitar action.

Their style incorporates an Old-School feeling as well as some Thrash influences in the riff department.

This is an interesting collection of tracks and, for whatever reason, I enjoy each one more than the previous. This culminates in their final song Don’t Be Scared with it’s driving rhythm guitar and subtle melodies that combine with some brutal thrashing and an emotive vocal performance. It’s almost as if you’re watching the band warm up – the start of their side is good but it definitely improves as it goes along.

After Dehumanize, Nihilism have 20 minutes to show their stuff.

Nhilism’s Death Metal is rhythmic and Old-School. It’s primitive and atavistic with an underground sound and vocals that sound like they’re issuing forth from a daemonic cavern. Interestingly though, the band aren’t above using semi-clean vocals when they need to; this, coupled with some nice melodic/atmospheric work, lends them an air of early Amorphis/Anathema/Sentenced on occasion.

The songs have a fuzzed up bounce to them and a rotten energy that’s undeniable. The Old-School is strong with these, and the more interesting elements of atmosphere and harmonies make the band even more compelling than if there were just playing Old-School Death Metal alone.

An enjoyable split from both bands.