Death Metal – Page 139 – Wonderbox Metal

Corpse Garden – Entheogen (Review)

This is the second album from Costa Rican Death Metallers Corpse Garden.

Dark and brutal, Corpse Garden deliver 62 minutes of blistering and intelligent Death Metal on Entheogen. This is intricate Death Metal with a good dollop of the Technical and Progressive sub-styles incorporated into their sound.

Guttural vocals are growled out from the shadows and all manner of other vocalisations accompany them, although the deep grunts are the main focus.

The music is complex and savage, with all of the instruments having a major part to play, even the oft-forgotten bass. I love it when the bass is used intelligently and as its own instrument, rather than just for the sake of having a bassist, as most band seem to do. On Entheogen, it adds a lot to the music.

The longer-than-normal length of the songs allows the band to really spread their wings and include some good ideas in the music. The tracks feature a mix of simple riffs and melodies alongside much more complex playing; this combination of both gives the songs great power as there are moments when straightforward chugging guitars are the best choice, moments when complicated Death-esque Progressive/Technical sections are the order of the day, and yet other moments when the band go all atmospheric with added synths and other sounds.

For all of this creativity though they still remember the importance of a good song. The tracks on this album all revolve around this, preventing the Technical Death Metal elements from becoming too overpowering or detrimental to their cause.

Corpse Garden are clearly an ambitious band, as Entheogen is not your standard, run-of-the-mill brutal blaster. There’s a lot more going on here than the average Death Metal band attempt and this is entirely to Corpse Garden’s credit.

This is a garden that I heartily recommend spending some time visiting.

Unbreakable Hatred – Ruins (Review)

Unbreakable Hatred are a Death Metal band from Canada and this is their second album.

This is Technical Death Metal that’s as ferocious and brutal as the best of the genre while still having the technical flourishes that mean so much to fans of Tech Death’s dizzying heights. Even more impressive though is how Unbreakable Hatred have managed to retain a semblance of songs on these tracks so that they don’t disappear too far into their own world.

The band have a very clean and polished sound that allows the listener to hear everything that they do. As such, it’s easy to hear how proficient they are at their craft and it’s very easy to enjoy the carnage that they unleash.

The vocalist has a savage voice that’s crisp and neat, if such terms can be applied to aggressively barked growls. I find he manages to compress a lot of personality and feeling into these clipped outbursts and the band have a definite asset in his delivery.

While the songs are no doubt on the technical side of things, I also like the inclusion of simpler riffs and sections that help the songs to retain a catchier, more enjoyable edge.

Pounding drums, heavy riffs, frenzied vocals, lightning leads and solos…Unbreakable Hatred don’t mess around and they spend these short 30 minutes showing a finely balanced blend of professionalism and base aggression.

Listening to this it brings to mind Cryptopsy’s None So Vile; Ruins evokes similar feelings to that album and shares similarities to it in some ways. It’s not quite up to those lofty standards, of course, as None So Vile is pretty much The Ultimate Death Metal Album™, but it’s damn good company to keep at any rate.

This is definitely one of the elite. I think we can safely move Unbreakable Hatred to the top of the recent Technical Death Metal pile. All hail our new overlords!

Nightfell – Darkness Evermore (Review)

This is the second album from Nightfall, a US Death/Doom Metal band.

This is the follow up to their 2014 début album The Living Ever Mourn, which was a very enjoyable album of Death/Doom. Darkness Evermore continues their brand of Old-School Death Metal that has a large Doom influence, this time resulting in songs that are longer and more mournful than their first release.

The darkened atmosphere from their début has been expanded upon and fleshed out with more ambition in Darkness Evermore. The essential style of the band is the same, but the melodies are bolder, the emotions heightened, the Doom deeper and the darkness more palpable. This is The Living Ever Mourn 2.0, in the sense that they have improved upon and refined their original formula, which was already pretty damn good to begin with.

The riffs are highly emotive and continue to draw on the wellspring of fertile inspiration that bands such as Dismember, Sentenced, Paradise Lost, Amon Amarth, My Dying Bride, etc. have all drawn from for their powerful guitars and melodies.

These tracks are involving and paint a heady picture of a strange, underworld landscape for the listener to become entranced with.

The Death Metal base is complemented extremely well by the Doom influence, reminding me of the amazing début by Temple of Void; both bands know how to create emotive Metal atmospheres without losing their Death Metal core.

It’s not all slow dirges either, as there’s enough upbeat material here to provide good variety. These parts are still done in a gloomy way though, and they even have a Blackened feel on occasion; there’s a noticeably larger Black Metal influence in general on Darkness Evermore in fact.

Nightfell have successfully followed up their strong début album with an ever stronger second one. Check this out.

Amenthes – Destroyer of the Icon (Review)

Amenthes are a US Death Metal band and this is their début EP.

Amenthes play Modern Death Metal with a hint of Grind and even Black Metal.

Vocals are various growls with added screams. Duties are shared between the main singer and a guitarist/bassist; they’re ably done and not without personality.

The music is darkly brutal and there’s enough character and passion to the riffs to help Amenthes stand out from the pack.

On this release Classic Death Metal riffing has been combined with more modern chops to create a blend of the old and new. This is added to on occasion by a Grindcore influence that allows the band to let their focused assault slip off and get a bit more frenzied. Some of the riffs have a slight Black Metal flavour to them, lending the band a dark feeling to some of the parts of the songs.

I can hear shades of Cannibal Corpse, Martyr Defiled, Decapitated, All Shall Perish, Job for a Cowboy, Hiss from the Moat and others in their sound. It’s a good mixture that allows the band freedom to do what they want without losing the core brutality that all Death Metal has.

Blast beats and energetic riffs lead the way while the vocals snarl their way through the carnage. I enjoy a good solo and the band have got me covered in this respect too.

I like that there are a few different things going on here, with some nice ideas sharing space with the heavy Death Metal.

This is a very enjoyable release from a band who have real enthusiasm and the songs to match.

Highly recommended.

De Profundis – Kingdom of the Blind (Review)

This is the fourth album from UK Death Metallers De Profundis.

After 2014’s EP teaser Frequencies, (two tracks of which make an appearance on Kingdom of the Blind), this album fleshes out their Progressive/Technical Death Metal sound to a fuller 52 minutes.

The band continue with their technical Death-worship and have created an album that’s a comprehensive overview of their Death Metal worldview. Like their heroes, De Profundis make sure that the song is never lost within the technical framework and have the talent necessary to play such ambitious music. Like the wonderful Execration, they are doing their best to keep the spirit of Death alive while putting infusing the style with their own personality and spin.

De Profundis like their songs technical and involving, with plenty of syncopation and off-kilter ideas amidst the blast beats. The songs are all around the 5-minute mark, or longer, giving the band ample time to show off what they can do. The performance levels are high and the entire package is very accomplished. I must also mention the bass, especially; I really like what the bassist contributes to these songs.

The deep vocals are like thunder claps and punctuate the songs like bruises. These help to provide a different identity for the band than if they had opted for higher, more Death-esque vocals, and act as a blunt counterpoint to the sharpness of the music.

Kingdom of the Blind is an impressive release from a band who are not content to be average.

Highly recommended.

Sarpentra – Supernova (Review)

This is the début album from Russian Death Metal band Sarpentra.

If you think of bands such as Nile, Behemoth, Melechesh and Septic Flesh you’ll be on the right lines. This is aggressive, atmospheric and dark Death Metal that’s further enhanced by choirs, orchestration and operatic vocals.

The core of the band is fast and brutal, with deep growls and blast beats leading the way. This is tempered by the atmospheric side of the band, which reins in the brutality, (or tries to), so that the band’s grander and more cinematic side can come to the fore.

The technical brutality of the band blurs by as they indulge their atmospheric side and the two taken together merge into something really special. They may not be the first band to play this style but they sound like they’re doing it on steroids. While some Death Metal bands dabble in their Classical components, here they’ve been taken to the nth degree. It’s as if Therion had created reinterpretations of Nile songs and then asked Behemoth to perform them.

These are songs that have real presence to them. It’s undeniable. There are so many stand-out moments on this album that it’s hard to credit. The lightning-speed playing combined with the exotic melodies and the orchestral bombast…it’s a heady mixture and Supernova is nothing if not ambitious.

A lot of hard work has clearly gone into writing and recording these songs and it’s all paid off handsomely. This is an album that feels like a tour of a strange new land, one that’s ripe with danger but worth exploring nonetheless.

Very impressive and very, very good. Make this a high priority listen.

Estuarine – Lucid/Entheogen (Review)

Estuarine is a one-man band that’s currently based in Sweden. This is the second album from his project.

This is Extreme Metal that’s rooted in differing elements of Death Metal with a pinch of Black Metal to produce a concept album that deals in the subject of psychoactive substances. The first 6 tracks are regarding their modern use, while the last 4 tracks deal with their traditional usage.

The music is a mix of Progressive and Technical Death Metal with a subtle modern Black Metal influence. If you think of Extreme Metal bands such as Zyklon, Between the Buried and Me, (minus clean singing), and Mithras then you’ll have an idea of the kind of landscape that Lucid/Entheogen inhabits.

On the first half of the album the songs have a delightfully brutal method of attack that sees the Technical Death Metal aspect take the lead, with the Progressive Death Metal aspect coming second. Slower/lighter introspective parts, occasionally bordering on Post-Metal territory, add flavour and depth to the music, although the extremity is never far behind.

On the second half the roles are reversed somewhat, with the Progressive Metal aspects shifting to the fore and the Technical mayhem relegated to a close second place. It’s a subtle shift in many ways, but it is noticeable and results in songs that are longer, more expansive and a bit less brutal, (although this is relative as everything here is still highly aggressive and technical overall).

The vocals alternate between growls and screams. The growls are convincing enough, but it’s the screams that sound particularly good to me.

The recording is a good one and everything sounds solid and in your face. Sometimes the production on one-man projects can sound a bit flat or one dimensional, but this is certainly not the case here.

Although by no means perfect, this is still better than most. Ambitious, forward-thinking and brutally proficient; Lucid/Entheogen is an impressive accomplishment and anyone who has a penchant for interesting and individualistic Extreme Metal should make a beeline for it as a priority.

Really, really enjoyable and extremely highly recommended.

Favourite Track: Towards Infinite Kaleidoscopic Dimensions.

Cattle Decapitation – The Anthropocene Extinction (Review)

This is the eighth album from veteran US Death metal band Cattle Decapitation.

Based on the concept of humanity dying out due to its own actions, Cattle Decapitation return once more to show that Death Metal can be savage and intelligent at the same time.

Cattle Decapitation’s take on Death Metal is an ever-developing one that seems to only improve over time. Pretty much a Progressive Death Metal band at this point, they still have a core of Brutal Death Metal with a touch of Grindcore, but this has been expanded upon and augmented by Progressive and melodic components, all without sacrificing the essential extremity of the band.

The vocals are impressively delivered and the singer proves he has a versatile and vicious palette of vocalisations to work from, be that grunting nastiness, utter pignoise, hateful screams or strange, mutant, melodic semi-cleans that sound like a strangled Devin Townsend. This latter statement may not sound very complimentary but it is; they’re very emotive in an inhuman way.

The music ranges from the ultra-brutal, to the meaningfully melodic, to the Progressively expansive, to the dynamically riff-heavy, to the atmospherically apocalyptic. It’s a multifaceted and interesting sound that manages to surprisingly accomplish two very important and hard-to-do-tasks – the first is that it manages to remain extreme, regardless of all of these other additions and excursions; the second is that it manges to do this while having an emotional depth that is simply lacking in a lot of bands, never mind Death Metal ones. These are songs that can actually cause an emotional response from the listener, as well as simply being great to bang your head and stamp along to.

This is 46 minutes of quality Death Metal that’s not afraid to do its own thing. Cattle Decapitation are one of those rare bands that really do just get better with age.

An essential listen.

Fully Consumed – Incendium (Review)

Fully Consumed are a Death Metal band from the US and this is their second album.

This is Technical Death Metal that also features a good amount of syncopated groove, resulting in an album that is weighted towards the former but still maintains a good balance between technical mayhem and head-banging bounce.

Blast beats and time changes work alongside mid-paced bruisers to create an album that contains a huge amount of speed and brutality but also knows when to slow it down a notch to really drive things home.

Vocals consist of dark growls and slithering screams that play second fiddle to the music but would still definitely be missed if they weren’t present.

The band have some good ideas in the songs and these tracks deliver a satisfying hit of chaotic violence. It’s an unrelenting assault and the band don’t show any signs of fatigue throughout these 37 minutes. Even the mid-paced sections are quickly swallowed up in a tide of blasting or technicality and the band are nothing if not persistent in their quest for carnage.

This album was originally released in 2014, but as the band felt the original recording did not do it justice they have now remastered and reissued it in 2015. I don’t know what the original sounded like but this has a solid sound that allows the band to show off what they can do.

Recommended for all Technical Death Metal fans.

Ogotay – Dead God’s Prophet (Review)

Ogotay are a Death Metal band from Poland and this is their second album.

This is muscular Death Metal that has a touch of the mystical and the mysterious about it. There’s an occult vibe that hangs around the tracks like a dark aura, infusing them with the feeling that there’s more going on here than just mere music.

The songs share some elements of fellow Polish band Behemoth, as well as, (to a lesser extent), Vader and non-Poles Nile. There’s brutality and extremity on display but Ogotay also manage to foster those occult atmospheres, as mentioned previously, and these lend the tracks an extra level than if they were purely standard Death Metal; like something feral restrained by ritual.

Bands like Behemoth, Nile, Immolation, Morbid Angel, etc. are a huge influence in the Death Metal world because they are doing something a bit different with the style and do it very well indeed. Due to this, when bands are influenced by them this can easily be to their detriment as it usually ends up coming too close to the original.

What I like about Ogotay is the fact that while they are reminiscent of bands like these genre-leaders they have enough of their own personality and character to step from out of the shadows and into the light on their own merits. Yes, there may be shades of other bands in their style, (as with all bands), but they are definitely their own beast.

To this end, Dead God’s Prophet is full of interesting ideas and well-developed themes and concepts. The band understand what’s needed to write a good song and use this within the Death Metal framework to unleash eight quality tracks in 37 minutes. Each song is identifiable as its own entity and holistically the album flows and fits together very nicely.

I also like the way that they manage to flip between a riff-based approach and a more emotive, atmospheric one, yet they still retain that core of brutality that we demand from the best death Metal.

I’ve been very impressed with this release. Ogotay have managed to stamp their own personality and identity onto the Polish Death Metal scene seemingly effortlessly.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from this band in the future, as Dead God’s Prophet is strong enough to easily fight its way to the top of the pile.

Essential listening.