Death Metal – Page 143 – Wonderbox Metal

Ululate – Back to Cannibal World (Review)

Ululate is a one-man Chinese Death Metal band and this is his second album.

His take on Death Metal is one drenched in horror and cannibalism. It’s an Old-School brand that has lost none of its teeth despite its age.

Ululate play Death Metal as it was originally intended and infuses dark melodies with enough morbidity and graveyard rot that in some ways it’s hard to believe it’s 2015 when you listen to it.

Classic riffs and winding melodies work their way into your mind and soon the Metal is all that matters once more. There is some quality riffage on display here and the songwriting skills of the brain behind the band is highly polished, even if the music is not.

Back to Cannibal World combines a few different Old-School sub-genres into one thoroughly foetid release. It’s a difficult sound to pin down in some ways, as it incorporates elements of bands such as Immolation, Autopsy, Incantation and Cannibal Corpse.

Ultimately this is just a really good Death Metal album, regardless of how one chooses to classify or talk about it. It has a whole bunch of interesting riffs, flawlessly delivered deep growls and songs that hit the spot. When you want an Old-School Death Metal fix that sounds fresher than most, Back to Cannibal World is where it’s at.

Highly recommended.

Gutter Instinct – The Insurrection (Review)

Gutter Instinct are a Swedish Death Metal band and this is their début EP.

Upon pressing play you’re immediately confronted with a massive Swedish chainsaw sound and the band firmly set out their agenda for musical destruction in the first ten seconds.

This is authentic Swedish Death Metal and yes, I’m an absolute sucker for this style.

The band rage and roar along the 18 minutes playing time of this EP with all of the abandon of a giant running through a sea of delicate flowers. Or some other, more manly image. Whatever.

The vocals are a particular delight, as they’re utterly guttural, bestial and gruff in all of the best ways.

The guitars are heavy and have the tone all right. The band generally go for a little less macabre melody than a lot of Swedish Death Metal and instead opt for a more brutal approach; the melodies are still employed but the rhythms are the main stars of the show.

As an introduction to the band this is more than capable. Swedish Death Metal is a much maligned sub-genre in many ways, but as I’ve said before – what’s not to like here?

Check them out.

Creeping Flesh – Rising Terror (Review)

Creeping Flesh are from Sweden and play Death Metal. That’s right, it’s Swedish Death Metal time again! This is their latest EP.

Well, you just can’t keep a good sub-genre down, despite what some may wish. I have a bit of a fondness for this particular style of Death Metal so I was looking forward to checking this out.

War Metal. Swedish Death Metal. Old-School Death Metal. Whichever way you cut it, this is this stuff, right here.

Straight away the chainsaws are revved and the macabre melodies are introduced. Creeping Flesh waste no time in making their intentions known.

Heavy riffs are dropped like bombs and a deep growling bellowing is unleashed on an unsuspecting populace. Like all Swedish Death Metallers, Creeping Flesh recognise a good marching groove when they get themselves into one.

This EP boasts a strong recording and everything sounds crushing. More importantly, the band show themselves to have some good songwriting skills and the 5 tracks on Rising Terror hit the spot.

Dark melodies, chugging riffs and decent leads/solos mean this is a very satisfying way to spend 23 minutes and a very solid lump of Swedish Death Metal.

Highly recommended.

Killing Addiction – When Death Becomes an Art (Review)

Killing Addiction are a Death Metal band from the US. This is their latest EP.

This is a short, two track EP that lasts 8 minutes and showcases Killing Addiction’s brand of brutality.

They open up with the first song Promethean. The style is that of Old-School Death Metal and the band sound suitably heavy and gritty.

Deep, growling vocals share their time with higher, rasping screams, and both are performed well.

The rolling guitars and double bass lay a firm bedrock for the band to do their stuff. A few melodic leads poke out here and there and there’s a good solo about two thirds of the way through.

Top work for track one. What’s next?

Well, after that we’re onto the final track Legacies of Terror. This song is shorter than the first and starts off with some nice drumming before launching into its mid-paced assault.

The higher screams start us off and some thunderous chugging follows soon after. The deep growls once more sound quite cavernous and do a good job of sounding rough and gruff.

Overall both of these songs are solid slabs of Death Metal and hold a lot of promise for the future.

Nice work!

Austerymn – Sepulcrum Viventium (Review)

Austerymn are a UK Death Metal band and this is their début album.

This may be a UK band but there’s a definite whiff of Sweden about them; it’s Old-School Swedish Death Metal in the familiar style and with a roaring sound.

I’ve said this before, but your tolerance for this sub-genre will essentially dictate your response to Austerymn. Had enough? Then move along. Can’t get enough? Lap this up.

This is such a faithful recreation of the classic style that you almost have to double-check who you’re actually listening to and what year it was released in.

Dark melodies that are a hallmark of the style are peeled off with ease and the crushing rhythms are equally effortless. The harsh, molten-metal vocals seem born for the music.

The songs on the album have a strictly no-frills approach and concentrate on being heavy while creating macabre atmospheres with the melodic guitars.

Fat chugging and aggressive drumming make for songs that have an edge to them and the general structuring of the tracks mean that they’re surprisingly memorable and enjoyable affairs.

If you can’t get enough of the sound espoused by the old days of Entombed, Dismember and the like, then Austerymn are here to sate your bloodlust.

Unleashed – Dawn of the Nine (Review)

This is the twelfth album from these Swedish Death Metal warriors.

Unleashed should need no introduction. Instrumental in birthing the Swedish Death Metal scene and sound, Unleashed’s place in Metal history is cemented.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Swedish Death Metal recently, as played by different bands all over the world. Now, however, it’s time to return to the source and pay homage to the kings.

Unleashed are on fine form here. Songs, aggression and Vikings are the themes of this album and Unleashed are at the top of their game.

The vocals are expressive and charismatic, managing to exemplify an older strain of Death Metal while remaining individual and as accessible as anything like this is going to be.

When listening to Dawn of the Nine it’s easy to be reminded of the debt that a whole raft of other bands owe Unleashed, and not just those that play Swedish Death Metal either.

Quality riffs abound on this release and there’s a good mixture of faster and slower tracks. Each song has its own personality and it’s always nice to hear an album where each track can be identified in it’s own right. There is no filler.

After all these years Unleashed know themselves perfectly and Dawn of the Nine is the kind of highly proficient and polished Death Metal release that you’d expect from such a veteran band.

But do you know what? Do you know what’s really important? The music itself. Legacy, expectations, reputation, etc. aside; all that matters, all that ever matters, is the music.

Unleashed deliver and Dawn of the Nine is a great listen. This is a band with a future, as well as a past.

Braineater – Reclusive (Review)

Braineater are from the US and play Death Metal/Deathgrind.

Braineater’s Deathgrind mixes Death Metal and Grindcore with an emphasis on the Death Metal side of the equation. They take the loose Punk-style of Grind and the brutal nature of Death Metal, merging the two with a Thrash sensibility.

Deep grunts are a matter of course for this kind of thing, but it’s the higher vocals that make a real impression. They have a lot of personality and wouldn’t be out of place on an 80’s surf-inspired Thrash album.

There are only 5 tracks here but it’s a good 19 minutes of music. The fact that it’s biased towards Death and Thrash Metal means that these are not your one minute marathons that some Grind is made up of, (with track 3, One Nation Under Gunpoint, being the exception). Instead we get enjoyable Death Metal with elements of Thrash and Grind at a decent length and with plenty of bloodshed and brain eating to go around.

This is a very encouraging EP. It shows a band who are putting a slightly different spin on a well-worn sound, and one that has a lot of character and personality to boot.

Check them out.

The Dead Goats – Don’t Go in the Tomb (Review)

The Dead Goats are a Death Metal band from Poland and this is their latest EP.

This short sub-12 minite EP features two original songs and a Repulsion cover.

As you can probably tell from the band logo, this is Death Metal of the definite Swedish variety.

Sporting a proper chainsaw sound, The Dead Goats proceed to impress with their mastery of this particular sub-genre.

Their take on the style is one that has a nice filthy Punk undertone and vocals that are slightly higher than the norm but still as nasty as Hell.

This is high-energy, high-excitement Swedish Death Metal that relies less on macabre melodies and groove than it does belligerent attitude and steamroller aggression.

Like all Swedish-styled Death Metal though the emphasis is on songs, and songs we get; simple but catchy, professionally performed, yet still reeking of the crypt.

The higher vocals and general elevated-aggression of these songs does mark them as a little different from the standard Swedish Death Metal band and all-in-all this is firmly in their favour.

This is a very impressive little EP. Make sure you get your hands on this and support the underground.

Eschaton – Sentinel Apocalypse (Review)

Eschaton are from the US and play Death Metal. This is their début album.

Eschaton play Technical Death Metal with roots that are firmly rooted in the New-School, Modern Death Metal camp.

Insane riffs and time signature changes merge with utterly inhuman drumming for a listening experience that’s as brutal as it is compelling. You’ve gotta love this kind of mayhem.

Things do slow down enough for the band to have some good old-fashioned chug-n-groove-n-squeal sections as well as more modern, rhythmical riffing. Even these are firmly embedded in a wider framework of frenzied musical exploration, however.

Leads and solos abound, all centred around the ridiculously surgical drumming. I feel like the drummer should be given a medal for his services to tub-thumping, or something. But then, when he’s a veteran of bands such as Incinerate, Pillory, Arsis and Vile, to name but a few, it’s no wonder he sounds like a serious player in the drumming world.

The rest of the musicians seem to be highly proficient in their trade too though. There’s the guitars of course, so many that we just seem to get extra guitars on top of guitars! In actuality there were only three members to Eschaton during this recording but the sound they make could easily lead you to believe this was a six-piece band.

We mustn’t forget the vocalist either. He has a throaty, guttural roar that focuses the chaos of the music as it rages around him. His voice is versatile enough to fit in with the extremity of the rest of the band and the consistency he provides acts as a grounding point to the swirling maelstrom of Eschaton’s delivery. He also branches out into high screams territory, and these are performed as equally well as the growls.

This is brutal, extreme music for fans of proper Technical Modern Death Metal. When confronted with music like this, most will falter. Will that be your fate, or will you be one of the elite and embrace Eschaton?

Destiny awaits.

Spawned from Hate – Accelerated Butchery (Review)

Spawned from Hate are a UK Death Metal band. This is their latest EP.

This is raw, evil Death Metal with an Old-School sound and enough brutality to kill 1000 pigs. (Poor pigs).

But the piggy sacrifice has at least resulted in some Death Metal capable of waking you up in the morning.

This may be from the UK but it has a distinct USDM feeling circa the mid 90’s.

I particularly enjoy the vocals, as they have the kind of ultra-deep growl that’s incredibly satisfying. It just sounds so prototypical and pleasing.

The archaic melodies and riffs may be rooted in an older pedigree but they’re delivered with a modern passion and lust for blood. This is such a pure stain of Death Metal, you can’t really go wrong with it.

If you’ve become jaded with the Death Metal scene then it’s unlikely that Accelerated Butchery will set your world fire. For the rest of us though who still love Death Metal in all of its wonderful, myriad forms, Spawned from Hate play a timeless Death Metal style and it’s hard not to enjoy it.

This is a very gratifying release and promises good things for the band in the future. If they can capitalise on this EP then I look forward to what their début album will bring.

For fans of Suffocation, Deeds of Flesh, Dying Fetus, Devourment, etc.