Death Metal – Page 133 – Wonderbox Metal

Temisto – Temisto (Review)

Temisto are from Sweden and this is their début album. They play Death Metal.

This is unusual Death Metal that falls somewhere between the primitive, atavistic side of the spectrum and the more exploratory, mystical side.

The band have some interesting riffs, as they are not afraid to let a bit of complexity and technicality sneak into the guitars. They also allow a bit of melody to appear here and there, resulting in songs that have a lot of different facets to them. It’s a welcome change of pace for something of this ilk, and the songs have a kind of morbid sophistication to them because of it.

The tracks are a beguiling combination of speed, atmosphere and darkly occult feelings. The atypical melodies and dynamic leads and solos really add spice to the songs and the band have a real talent for taking the foundations of the genre and warping them with foul black magics.

The singer’s feral howlings further cement the feeling of listening to something a bit special, as they too are just that little bit different to the norm for Death Metal, enough to add another dimension to the band and to give the songs a rather old-school feel.

This album is all about the guitars for me though, although clearly everything else plays a major role in helping this album to ascend to the higher, more rarefied Death Metal peaks; the riffs, melodies and interesting ideas just don’t stop, and I’ve really, really enjoyed this release.

It’s also quite rare for a Death Metal band to have a more considered and reflective side, so this is a nice touch on the album too.

Top marks. Looking for something a little different with your Death Metal? Check out Temisto.

Deformatory – Malediction (Review)

This is the second album from Canadian Death Metallers Deformatory.

Deformatory’s début In the Wake of Pestilence has been one of my more-played releases from 2013. Combining a smart sound with lashings of Technical Death Metal goodness, it remains a very enjoyable listen that I return to quite regularly.

So here we are a couple of years later, and it’s time for their second release. Have they lived up to their own high standards? Let’s find out.

Blasting out with a strong, clear and professional sound, it’s clear that Deformatory have upped their game in the sonic department even more. They sound huge!

Musically they remain a savage Technical Death Metal beast, with a great combination of brutality and complexity being showcased on these tracks.

The songs showcase interesting riffs and ideas, as well as boasting leads and solos that hint at their darker core while slamming into you with such barbed force as to rip you apart.

The vocals seem more prominent this time, and if anything they’re deeper than ever too. I’m not a huge fan of albums that have their vocals too high in the mix, especially Death Metal ones. As always this is a very subjective thing, but this is my chief concern with a lot of Behemoth’s later work and the same is true of Malediction, albeit to a slightly lesser extent. As with Behemoth though, it doesn’t stop Deformatory being a great band; it’s just a personal preference thing, as I’d rather the vocals were maybe a shade lower in the mix.

Minor quibbles aside, Deformatory have produced another top quality album of Technical Death Metal. I do still prefer their début, but this is largely down to the fact that I know it a lot better. After a few spins Malediction is already climbing and closing the gap between the two, so given a few more months and I’m confident I’ll judge it in the same league as their first.

So, to sum up – if you like powerful Death Metal, here’s one you should definitely pick up.

Third Sovereign – Perversion Swallowing Sanity (Review)

Third Sovereign are an Indian Death Metal band and this is their second album.

Third Sovereign play classic Death Metal that values a good riff. More than this though, they know how to stitch them together to achieve the end result they want.

Catchy, infectious guitars are the main feature of the tracks and they are done really well. It’s clear that Third Sovereign are not lacking for inspiration in this department. A nice thick guitar sound and overall good production lends strength to the songs too.

The singer has a different type of voice than I was expecting, which was that of a more cookie-monster styled delivery. What we actually get is a more distinctive, characterful series of growls and barks that sound surprisingly individual.

There’s a rhythmic muscularity to these songs, ripe with power and classic Death Metal chops. They have lots of energy and sound designed to be played live where I’m sure they can stir up the pit something fierce.

Perversion Swallowing Sanity is quality Death Metal. What more is there to say? Listen at full volume.

Enthrallment – Eugenic Wombs (Review)

This is the fifth album from Bulgarian Death Metal band Enthrallment.

After enjoying their fourth album The Voice of Human Perversity very much, the band now return with a new offering and 37 minutes of Death Metal to make your ears bleed.

Taking influence from the kind of twisted Death Metal that Immolation do so well, Enthrallment spend their time on this album fusing brutality with dark melody.

The album has a very clean, serpentine sound; lean and ready to strike. All instruments are clear, (including the bass), and everything is balanced and gets a chance to shine.

The singer’s deep growls are very effective and are really well performed. Although it’s impossible to discern what he’s saying, they have an emotive quality to them nonetheless that works well with the darkly expressive music.

Enthrallment have written a collection of songs that go further than the pure brutality of a lot of their peers. Frequent usage of interesting leads, solos and snatches of warped melodies make for tracks that have a lot of depth and nuance to them. There are also some very tasty, (and sometimes quite atypical), riffs here too. Just check out Last Judgment Waltz for a great example of this.

Very enjoyable stuff – five albums in and Enthrallment have their style nailed down.

Spinebreaker – Ice Grave (Review)

This is the début album from Spinebreaker, a Death Metal band from the US.

This is ugly Old-School Death Metal born bloody and ragged from the Hardcore scene. This means that the band combine the purity of their Death Metal heritage with the fire and energy of their Hardcore bloodline.

My, what a sound they have! Boasting a Swedish Death Metal guitar tone that their spiritual forefathers would be proud of, this is presented in a filthed-up package that fuses the feel of the era and style with a Hardcore edge and a touch of At the Gates and Carcass in the vocal department.

The end result is a savage demonstration of the fact that A) you don’t need to be Swedish to wield a chainsaw and B) there’s life in Old-School Swedish Death Metal yet; it’s not necessary for a band to simply rehash past glories.

Spinebreaker manage to successfully inject vitality and vibrancy into a rather stale, (but still very enjoyable), sub-genre. The inclusion of a Hardcore edge to some of the riffs adds a blood-pumping energy and the harsh screaming growls are a thing of gory beauty.

Whether ripping out giant grooves or pounding heaviness, Spinebreaker make everything sound dark, nightmarish and nasty, just as it should be. The spectre of At the Gates looms over the faster sections, (prompted for me by the vocals, but bleeding into the guitars too), and it’s a joy to hear this encapsulated by such a dirty Swedish delivery.

A very enjoyable 38 minutes.

Fall – The Insatiable Weakness (Review)

This is the début album from US Progressive/Melodic Death Metallers Fall.

Featuring a strong sound, this is an album full of emotive Melodic Death Metal that is enhanced by keyboards and Progressive Metal tendencies.

There’s a bit of everything on here, from highly melodic guitars, to blasting drums, to liquid guitar solos, to introspective refrains, to Modern Thrash workouts.

The vocals vary from shouted growls to soaring cleans. Both are performed extremely well and very professionally.

With a beguiling mix of heaviness and catchiness, The Insatiable Weakness combines the hooks and passion of the European Metal scene with the heavy delivery and modern sheen of the American, resulting in an album that takes equal parts from both.

Fall make the type of music that bands like In Flames, Soilwork, (whose drummer features on this album), Darkane, Dark Tranquillity, et al, are so well-known for and add a Progressive/darker Extreme Metal edge to it. For anyone that enjoys the more commercial side of Melodic Death Metal, but favours more heaviness and extremity in their music, then The Insatiable Weakness is for you.

Highly recommended.

Inner Sanctum – Legions Awake (Review)

Inner Sanctum are an Indian Thrash/Groove Metal band and this is their début album.

After a rather cinematic opener, Inner Sanctum reveal themselves in their full glory as Thrash/Groove Metal with some Death Metal influences included for added impact. Think the mid-00s-type NWOAHM, only with a darker, more classically Death Metal side to it that emphasises the European Melodic Death Metal heritage of the American style.

The album boasts a sexy, professional sound that’s polished and strong.

The singer has a gruff voice that shouts out with the best of them, occasionally including some semi-cleans that remind me of some of Darkane’s work in places.

The songs are well-written and it’s clear that these tracks have been constructed with care and enthusiasm. The Thrash and Groove influences never take over or embrace the mediocre side of both styles; Inner Sanctum play their brand of heaviness with vibrancy and passion. They deliver everything on here with skill and it’s clear that the band have the talent to succeed.

Legions Awake is a strong collection of songs that make a good impression and showcase a band who really know what they’re doing. If they were American and picked up by a large music label then they would get very far indeed, I think. Unfortunately that isn’t the case, so make sure you support them – bands like this deserve it.

For fans of – Pantera, Lamb of God, Chimaira, Shadows Fall, Darkest Hour, Legion of the Damned, Kreator, Arch Enemy, Testament, etc.

Sanzu – Heavy over the Home (Review)

This is the début album from Australian Modern Progressive Death Metallers Sanzu.

We’ve met Sanzu’s Gojira/Morbid Angel-inspired work before on their Painless EP, where they proved themselves to be an energetic and highly-promising addition to the world of Extreme Metal.

On Heavy over the Home Sanzu continue to develop their influences into something even more personable than previously. Although you can still readily identify the Gojira in their sound, for example, they’ve taken ownership of this even more than on their EP and Heavy over the Home is a force to be reckoned with.

It’s also a heavy force, as I suspect this word is used deliberately in the album title. Sanzu do heavy very well indeed. It’s hard to do your own thing when heavily influenced, (pun intended…), by such a recognisably distinctive band such as Gojira, but Sanzu have risen to the challenge by embracing their Morbid Angel-esque Death Metal side even further on this release, meaning that we end up with a kind of Gojira-gone-Death-Metal sort of album. This accomplishes two things; it allows the band to go their own way and make their sound much more their own, and also it sounds absolutely great.

Twisting, rolling rhythms and punishing grooves seem to trample and flatten from above, and the band’s melodic sensibilities, developed though they are, seem utterly incapable of blunting this crushing heaviosity. We wouldn’t have it any other way, of course.

The 45 minutes of music on this album allow the band to spread their wings and develop much further than on their first EP, and it’s very pleasing to see Sanzu metamorphosing into something more than their influences, something they can be proud to call their own.

In an utterly crushing display of super-heavy Death Metal, Sanzu destroy the opposition with ease and leave us with a top-quality album to enjoy in the smouldering ruins of what came before.

I’ll be playing this on heavy rotation from now on, that’s for sure. I advise you do too.

Pronostic – An Atomic Decision (Review)

Pronostic are a Canadian Death Metal band and this is their début album.

Pronostic’s take on Death Metal features elements of both the Technical and Melodic styles, resulting in an album of precise drumming, exact guitars and clipped, brutal vocals, all wrapped up in emotive riffs and serrated melodies.

With two members taking care of the vocals, we get an interesting and busy mix of growls and screams, working together and competing for space to tear your face off.

The songs have enough technicality and widdling solos to please fans of the crazy extremity that TechDeath offers, but this is restrained by the melodic sensibilities that remember that it’s also important to have this set to the framework of an actual song. There are plenty of good riffs too, and the band know an emotive lead when they hear one.

With good ideas, enough skill to carry them off and a nice chunky sound, this is a very enjoyable release. There’s a lot of content and the delivery is high-powered and energetic. The best way I can think to describe them is to imagine All Shall Perish without any of the Deathcore.

Pronostic have impressed. Give this one a spin.

Cerebric Turmoil – Neural Net Meltdown (Review)

Cerebric Turmoil are a German Death Metal band and this is their début album.

Cerebric Turmoil are a Technical Death Metal band and then some. Mix in a nasty amount of brutality with the insanity and you get an album that screams its intentions from the top of its deliciously aggressive lungs, in ways you’ve probably never imagined before.

Think of a maniacal cross between Cephalic Carnage, Obscura, Wormed, Cryptopsy and Psycroptic. Yes, it’s time for unhinged, futuristic, alien-spawned TechDeath craziness!

I don’t like using words such as crazy to describe music, but this really is something special. It’s a controlled, well-thought out craziness, of course, but still; it’s a wild ride and you have to be a certain type of Extreme Metal fan not to get knocked over by it.

You’re never quite sure what’s going to happen next. It’s a chaotic mélange of brutality, technicality and free-form madness that nonetheless retains enough cohesiveness to not venture completely off the rails.

The production complements the band’s mayhem well, allowing every fully-utilised instrument to be heard throughout the crashing din. I love an album where you can not only hear the bass but it makes a valuable contribution, and on Neural Net Meltdown, (an apt name if ever there was one), the bass definitely has its own character and presence. The same of which can be said of every instrument.

And the vocals? Almost as varied as the music. We get shouted growls as the main form of assault, backed up by almost every other kind you an imagine – growls, pigsqueals, screams, and most things in between.

Songs like these are hard to describe, you just need to hear them really. It’s Death Metal technicality taken to a certain extreme. It’s remarkably individual and delightfully memorable; listening to Cerebric Turmoil means you know you’ve been listening to Cerebric Turmoil. This is not your average band.

Loved it. What’s more to say?