Death Metal – Page 137 – Wonderbox Metal

Never to Arise – Gore Whores on the Killing Floor (Review)

This is the second album from US Death Metallers Never to Arise.

Never to Arise play Death Metal that combines elements of Technical and Melodic Death Metal, producing an album that never strays too far in either direction.

The main focus is on utter brutality and evil, although this doesn’t mean blast beats all of the time; there are plenty of decent riffs and leads/solos included to satiate fans of Death Metal songs, and enough hooks and spikes to keep the blood flowing nicely.

This is a strange release in some ways, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. I suspect it has something to do with a combination of the vocals and guitars. Both sound a little off-kilter; a lot of the riffs are subtly atypical and the grunting vocals may be standard in many ways, but these too have an unusual edge to them, like they’re being filtered through something…something slightly out-of-sync with reality as we know it.

Now, whether or not any of this is a bad or a good thing will be down to the individual listener. In my case, it’s mostly a good thing as it marks Never to Arise as different from the Death Metal pack. Add to this songs that are actually pretty well-written and you have 41 minutes of enjoyable barbarity.

Classic Death Metal with a strange, unnatural sheen? Born from the underworld just for your ears? Very nice. Maybe Never to Arise’s band name will be proven false after all.

Vehemence – Forward Without Motion (Review)

Vehemence are a Death Metal band from the US. This is their fourth album.

This is the first release after their wonderfully classic third album Helping the World to See, released a mere 11 years earlier. I always loved that one, so now that this new release has reared its head, I’m a happy bunny.

Vehemence play interesting and inventive Death Metal that has a firm melodic slant and good songwriting. If you’re a fan of this kind of Death Metal then Vehemence are one of the best; they manage to play the Melodic style while still keeping the main emphasis on Death Metal.

Sharp, concise growls are the vocal delivery of choice, and it’s nice to hear the singer’s clipped tones back in rotation once more. As always, the growls are complemented with screams and other forms of aural assault, providing a wide range of vocals to match the variety of the music.

And what music it is! Vehemence are all about the songs, with the musicianship set at a very high level. These tracks are, on average, even longer than the ones on their previous release and it’s clear that the band haven’t been lacking in ideas or creativity over the last decade or so. This is an album with a lot to say, and I’m quite happy to listen.

Lethal speed and sharp, serrated melodies fly out all over the place, making Vehemence a dangerous proposition to those unused to such a rich palette being used in Death Metal.

The tracks don’t get boring. Repeated listens merely cement the songs in your mind and lock down the fact that this is infectious, impressive stuff. Quality riffs, melodies, leads and solos make for a luscious and textured tapestry of sounds designed to entice, peak interest and satisfy those hard-to-reach cravings that you have for melodic music that still has bite and nastiness.

Getting this is a bit of a no-brainer really; make sure that you do.

Avulsed – Altar of Disembowelment (Review)

Avulsed are a Death Metal band from Spain. This is their latest EP.

Avulsed are one of the best Death Metal bands in the world. Sorry, but that’s just a fact. Ever since I first got Stabwound Orgasm in 1999, I’ve been hooked, and that album still remains one of the best of the genre.

Their last album Ritual Zombi was full of gruesome goodies, and on this latest EP, we get a short 23 minutes of brutality, comprising 4 originals and a Black Sabbath cover.

The Avulsed seal of quality we’ve come to expect from these veterans is firmly stamped all over these tracks and the music is full of well-written songs that are catchy, memorable and filled with meaty Death Metal morsels.

Their venerated singer still sounds like the father of all Cookie Monsters and his voice, as usual, is cavernous with aggressive growls sounding larger than life and twice as deadly.

If you don’t know Avulsed, (tsk tsk), then just know that they play Classic Death Metal with plenty of catchy riffs, licks and brutal heaviness.

The production is heavy, clear and wrapped in an odour of entrails. The instruments all shine when they need to and everything is balanced and perfectly covered in blood.

Another top-quality release from Avulsed. Let’s hope they reign in bloody chunks for many years to come.

Gorod – A Maze of Recycled Creeds (Review)

Gorod are a Death Metal band from France and this is their fifth album.

The band play Technical Death Metal and play it pretty damn well. Over the course of their existence they have built up a rightfully-deserved reputation for quality and on this latest release it’s easy to see why.

Gorod have always been fond of atypical, unusual, Jazz-inflected riffs and on A Maze of Recycled Creeds there seems to be even more of these than usual, which, if you’re familiar with Gorod at all, is only ever a good thing.

Another, (one of many), good things about Gorod is their inclusion of a Progressive Metal element to their music, which allows the band to lock into some astoundingly good sections as the album tears along, mindful of not letting slip any moment for greatness. This is Technical Death Metal that values songs and recognises the need for good atmosphere and feeling among the Jazz/Funk craziness and experimental brutality.

All of the instruments are shockingly well-played and Gorod are one of those seemingly-rare bands that know not only how to use a bass guitar but also that you must be able to actually hear it for it to be truly utilised correctly.

Vocally the singer has a charismatic growl that’s largely blunt and ugly, yet still seemingly refined when compared to a lot of Death Metal vocalists. His voice is put to good use throughout the songs and he has enough variety in his delivery to keep interest while still having a consistency that helps anchor the music’s more extravagant tendencies.

This is a very impressive album from a talented band. The songs are well-written and performed by veterans who are at the height of their game. If you take bands as diverse as Gorguts, Between the Buried and Me, Soilent Green, Death and The Faceless, mash them all up and condense them into 46 minutes of controlled mayhem, you’ll end up with A Maze of Recycled Creeds.

Priceless.

Praise the Flame – Manifest Rebellion (Review)

Praise the Flame are a Death Metal band from Chile. This is their début album.

This is uncompromising Death Metal with both a Thrash Metal and a Black Metal edge. It’s a murky, Old-School affair that’s ferocious and brutal but still retains a cohesive songwriting aesthetic geared towards worshipping the old Metal gods.

Deathly growls are pitch-black and cavernous. The singer sounds rough and nasty.

The music’s Death Metal core is barbarous and it’s good to see the Thrash Metal influence ramp things up a notch in the energy levels of the songs. The Black Metal influence is a bit more subtle and manifests in the air of darkness and occult evil that the songs exude.

It pleases me that they’re not just a one-trick pony either, with a decent amount of variation and pacing in the songwriting.

Like something old and ancient dredged up from lost memories, Praise the Flame have created 45 minutes of music that sounds sinister and harsh.

Enjoyable and atavistic, Manifest Rebellion does its job nicely. Prepare to rebel.

The Ritual Aura – Laniakea (Review)

This is the début album from Australian Technical Death Metallers The Ritual Aura.

This is sci-fi themed Death Metal that takes the listener on a brutal and dizzying journey that may only last 26 minutes but is definitely worth the effort.

After an ominous piano intro, the first song Ectoplasm starts and it’s clear we’re in for a world of extreme technicality.

The Ritual Aura excel at combining hyperspeed wizardry with blazing melody and brutal inflections. Elements of bands such as Death and Necrophagist can be heard in their sound, as well as a much more modern style, such as can be found being played by bands like Rings of Saturn, The Faceless and Infant Annihilator.

This is imaginative music that takes its sci-fi theme and creatively incorporates this into the melodies, creating some quite unusual electronica/games-soundtrack-esque sounds that manage to avoid everything that’s usually wrong with bands when they try to do something like this. It sounds like a natural extension of the chaotic-yet-melodic music without sullying it with words like “novel” or “gimmick”.

Although it’s the music that is the central focal point here, the band would not be as enjoyable if they didn’t have vocals. The singer uses surgical growls and unhinged, savage screams. Although not as colourful as the music, (the human voice just isn’t capable), he does a great job of anchoring everything in place and providing a brutal linchpin while the music is off exploring unknown heights and realms. Clean vocals make a very brief appearance on Erased in the Purge, and these are a welcome addition to the mayhem.

Laniakea is short and to the point, resulting in an album that doesn’t outstay its welcome. In fact, I’m more than happy to have this around again to blow the cobwebs off the competition. There’s an energy level and an excitement factor to this music that makes a lot of more generic bands sound quite stale by comparison.

Great stuff. I can’t recommend this highly enough.

Never Again – Death Metal Tsunami (Review)

Never Again are a Death Metal band from Italy. This is their début EP.

This may be from Italy but here we have Swedish Death Metal, although not quite as we’ve come to expect it. It’s eleven and a half minutes of face-melting fire and revving chainsaws though, regardless.

Usually there’s not a lot to say about this style. Most of the time people either love it or they hate it. I’m always a sucker for the pure version of this type of music, but it’s nice to hear it shaken up a bit on this release, as Never Again have a more modern interpretation of this classic sub-genre than most.

Superficially we have Swedish Death Metal here, although once you look a bit closer there are a few things that mark Never Again as different from a lot of the Swedish clones.

The vocals are a bit raspier and wetter than is the norm, which does provide them with a bit of differentiation, and though the sound does have that chainsaw quality to it, it’s not quite as overtly done as the pure Swedish production style.

The main difference is the guitars; the riffs and melodies have a modern, New-School sheen to them. There’s definitely still a good amount of Old-School, of course, how could there not be? This is mixed with a fresher, newer take on things though, resulting in songs that sound vibrant and reinvigorated. It’s kind of Swedish Death Metal by-way-of Melodic Modern Metal. Don’t let that put you off though, as this means business.

Very promising. I wonder how their sound will develop in the future?

Holocausto Canibal/Desecration – Intravisceral Necropsia – Split

Holocausto Canibal are a Portugese Deathgrind band who have teamed up with Desecration, a Death Metal band from the UK, for this short-but-bloody split.

Desecration are a band who I’ve been a big fan of for years, although I must confess I haven’t heard their newer material. As such, I was looking forward to hearing them again on this split. Desecration have always been one of the absolute best Death Metal bands not just in the UK but in the world, and this seemed like the ideal time to get reacquainted with them.

Here they offer us a new song – Intravisceral Exhibition – combined with a remix of Grave Secrets off their Cemetery Sickness album.

Well, as usual, they don’t disappoint. Straight off the bat it’s blasting Death Metal mayhem, with the vocals sounding harsher and more vicious than ever. The band retain the ability to be extreme and, (relatively), catchy at the same time, with the music and vocals working well together rather than off doing their own things, as seems to be the case with a lot of bands.

In addition to speed they always manage to throw in a decent amount of heavy grooving, which is always good to have a bit of a bounce along too, if you’re so inclined.

I’m very happy with their contribution to this split, and in my mind it merely cements their status as a legendary Death Metal band, one of the best in the business.

Holocausto Canibal are up next. Unlike Desecration, I haven’t heard these Portugese veterans before. They offer up one song – Necropsia Cadaverina – and it makes a good impression.

Deep growls and sickened screams herald the onset of something ugly and rotten. They’re not quite as polished as Desecration, nor do they need to be. This is visceral music for bloody-minded people.

This song is a Death Metal-infused, gore-soaked few minutes and the dark rhythms, chugging heaviness and intense riffs make for a most enjoyable track. Proceeding with the intensity of an inhuman killer, utterly focused on its task, Necropsia Cadaverina is a worthwhile introduction for me to the band and definitely makes me happy enough to want to check out their other work.

A top quality split, showcasing two veteran bands that sound as fresh as a dead body. A must-have release.

Horrendous – Anareta (Review)

Horrendous are a US Death Metal band and this is their third album.

Playing Old-School/Traditional Death Metal, this is the follow-up to 2014’s impressive Ecdysis.

Following on from this previous release, Horrendous continue to offer a well-rounded Death Metal package, full of interesting riffs, decent melodies, intricate solos and actual well-thought-out songs.

Their approach to the material is refreshing, even given the Old-School nature of the music; it’s recognisable as instantly Old-School Death Metal but it doesn’t sound dated at all. Horrendous are one of the few bands that play this style who are trying to move it forwards rather than just wallowing in what was released decades ago.

There’s something deeply satisfying about this music. It demonstrates a band who are able to compose songs that have a lot of depth and atmosphere without ever devolving into filler-esque extremity or retro-parody. Horrendous have well and truly stamped their own personality and vision on a well-worn style.

Once again, the recording is warm and seems to pulsate with life. One of the things I enjoyed on Ecdysis was that you could hear the bass and on Anareta this is still the case.

The singer’s voice is still a pleasing mix of Obituary/Morbid Angel and he spends his time on Anareta providing a compelling focal point for the music.

On this latest album Horrendous demonstrate why they are quite rightly lauded as one of the best when it comes to this type of Death Metal. As much as I enjoyed Ecdysis I think on this latest album they’ve upped their game even more.

Impressive and essential.

Analepsy – Dehumanization by Supremacy (Review)

This is the début EP by Portuguese Brutal Death Metallers Analepsy.

This is a Slam Death Metal release that may only last 22 minutes but makes its presence known in no uncertain terms.

Deep pignoise vocals are the order of business, with the singer squealing and growling for his life.

The music is largely devoid of blast beats, (although not completely), but what they lack in speed they more than make up for in heaviness and intensity. These are short, violent tracks that feature a crushing collection of riffs rather than sped-up extremity for the sake of it. Heavy and brutal it may be, but it also teeters on the atmospheric on occasion, which is unexpected and great to hear.

There is some good writing on this short release, with some interesting ideas. Due to this, the band largely avoid becoming just Devourment/Dying Fetus clones and instead create songs that actually have a bit of longevity to them, which is saying a lot for many bands, never mind one of this style.

There’s a vibrant immediacy to these tracks that can’t be denied, and fans of Brutal Death Metal full of breakdowns and chugging heaviness should take note. If you can’t get enough of bands such as Coprocephalic and Infecting the Swarm then Analepsy should be another one who are high on your must-have list.

By God, this is enjoyable! It’s hard to form cogent thoughts when all you want to do is bounce around to their high energy carnage. Slick, professional and boasting an album cover that’s very striking, Analepsy have found a definite fan in me.

You should definitely get this one.