Death Metal – Page 154 – Wonderbox Metal

Gory Blister – The Fifth Fury (Review)

Gory Blister are from Italy and as the name of the album suggests, this is their fifth album.

The band play Technical/Progressive Death Metal and take the listener on a whirlwind journey.

On The Fifth Fury we hear influences from bands like Carcass, Death and Morbid Angel. Gory Blister make these their own and use them throughout the 35 minutes playing time to create an album that is involving and complete.

The band manage to be sharp and aggressive in their assault whilst tempering this approach with restraint and more considered passages that show their Progressive Metal influences. Although they have plenty of Technical Death Metal in their sound the Progressive edge and the Carcass influence never let this side of the band get in the way of the songs themselves.

This is music that likes to explore itself. For a relatively short album there is plenty of variation around the central theme and lots of nice ideas scattered around to engage the listener such as the subtle synths that add further feeling to some of the tracks.

The riffs are largely inventive, with plenty of leads and solos to sink your teeth into. Melodies and Progressive tunes punctuate the brutality in a way that works with the flow of the songs rather than against them.

Serrated screamed vocals are the main mode of attack but satisfyingly deep growls are also used.

A strong sound and strong songwriting means this is a strong album. Strongly recommended.

Septycal Gorge – Scourge of the Formless Breed (Review)

Septycal Gorge are from Italy and play Technical Death Metal. This is their third album.

Ahh I love a good bit of Technical Death Metal. I mean, who doesn’t? The insane time changes, the technical wizardry, the fretboard workouts, the sheer, flattening hurricane of intricate chaos that such bands typically unleash.

Well, Septycal Gorge aren’t as brain-searingly chaotic as some bands in this genre but this is because they also have a firm love of all things utterly brutal. This is a devastatingly aggressive record which combines intricate technicality and pure heavy Death Metal into a scorcher of an album.

This album features satisfying brutality and technical depth which means that it’s a release to savour over multiple listens as you get to fully appreciate all the different things going on here. Yes it’s mind-numbingly brutal, but there’s more than just that.

These songs have what it takes to stand out in a sea of Technical Death Metal bands all struggling to get noticed. As this is their third album the band clearly know what they want to achieve and have the talent and know-how to do it.

Scourge of the Formless Breed owns a stellar production that allows both aspects of the band to shine. Whether the riffs are fast, slow, simple or complicated, the guitars never lose their bite and everything continues to sound on form.

The vocalist deserves a mention also; he has the kind of deep growl that is surprisingly expressive for someone who essentially sounds like he’s trying to vomit ghosts.

This is a top-rate, top-drawer, top quality Death Metal release. You should hunt this down and listen to it today. Go on. Now.

Innsmouth – The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Review)

Innsmouth are from Denmark and play Technical Death Metal. This is their début album.

This is Technical Death Metal with programmed drums and added subtle keyboard highlights.

Think bands like Nile, Necrophagist and Obscura and you’ll be in the right place.

The musicianship is impressive with shredding guitar solos peeling off all over the shop. The solos feel like an integral part of the band’s identity and they make a good impression.

The music is nicely varied with a healthy amount of brutality offsetting the technical capabilities of the band. Quality riffs and some good atmospheric sections rub shoulders with moments of chuggery and melodic leads. Inssmouth seem more than capable of keeping the listener interested and the songs on this album show a high degree of maturity of delivery and composition whilst simultaneously keeping things aggressive and direct.

The band have plenty of energy and show that they can use dynamics to good effect. These songs actually feel like songs rather than stitched together riffs, which is always a danger with the more technical side of Metal. Thankfully they seem to realise that the song comes first and everything else is just enhancement.

The vocals are quite daemonic and evil sounding, both deeper growls and higher screams.

The album’s production values are good and the music has a satisfying sound that hits the spot.

A most enjoyable release. This is Death Metal with interest, depth and a whole bucket-load of guitar shenanigans. I Like.

Bloodtruth – Obedience (Review)

Bloodtruth are from Italy and play Brutal Death Metal. This is their début album.

This is Brutal Death Metal played with passion and delivered with a storm. Crisp, crunchy riffs and blasting drums lead the charge with relentless growls and surgical strikes following up. Oh yes, and Gregorian chanting.

The band boast a crushing sound where everything sounds sharp and ready to maim. It’s heavy and it’s adrenalin soaked.

The singer has a gruff, satisfying growl that fits the music like a glove and he mainly spends his time shouting vicious diatribes and barking like a chained attack dog.

The songs are focused and brutal, with blast beats aplenty and light speed melodics and solos added in at all of the right places. The melodic guitar leads are nicely fused with the music so that they don’t detract from the brutality at all. Even though they frequently do use melodies in their songs this is not a band who would ever be described as Melodic Death Metal, and rightfully so. This is all about crushing, Brutal Death Metal and how they can demolish everything around them.

Obedience has a good pace to it and the guitars alternate between heavy chugs and ultra-blasting speed assaults in a way that flows naturally from one riff to the next. Each track is an enjoyable ride through mayhem and carnage as the band deal out punishment and pain with every precise turn through the Death Metal landscape.

If you like punchy Death Metal played with sheer brutality and clinical precision then there’s nothing not to like here.

Listen. Destroy. Obey.

Execration – Morbid Dimensions (Review)

This is the third album from Norwegian Death Metallers Execration.

So what do we have here then? This is a bit different to what I was expecting. The name certainly implies straightforward Death Metal, but the album cover looks more Black Metal to me. And when you press play…you get a straight up Doom Metal Black Sabbath riff. So far so interesting…

Execration are not your typical Death Metal band. Theirs is the sound of a band experimenting with their chosen medium and pushing the envelope.

They have included elements of Doom, Black Metal and even a bit of Post-Metal into their repertoire. This is Progressive Death Metal that spiritually leaves off where Death ended and builds on the firm foundation left by the masters.

The music on this album is carefully crafted and considered Metal that makes it clear that the band are no longer interested in the old genre restrictions and are more than willing to incorporate whatever Metal influences they feel like to get the sound they want. And more power to them for this.

These songs are very impressive and finely realised. This is atmospheric Death Metal that still has the power of the style but has a firm Progressive edge to it that allows them to ably tread new territory with ease. Blackened riffs, technical solos, blasting drums, slow and building Doom, Post-Metal atmospherics, Progressive meanderings; it’s all here and it’s all done remarkably well.

The mixing of styles never sounds forced and each track sees the band develop their sound into a force to be reckoned with.

Mixing bits of bands like Death, Cynic, Atheist, Enslaved, Morbid Angel, Gorguts; this album is a firm winner.

I highly recommend this album. Seek it out now and prepare to be impressed.

7 H.Target – 0.00 Apocalypse (Review)

This is the third album from Russia’s 7 H.Target. They play Brutal Death Metal.

This is modern Sci-fi themed Death Metal with enough brutality to leave you bruised.

The band are rhythmically aggressive and technically devastating. Their fury is unrestrained and each track sounds like it’s going straight for the jugular to rip it out and replace it with complex cybernetics.

There’s a healthy Slam component to their sound only this is not quite as blatant as some purveyors of the style. It’s a strong influence nonetheless but it’s tempered by the sheer brutality of the band. It’s not just heavy groove; there’s some serious blasting and grinding going on here.

Add to this the rather more interesting and inventive touches to the music; odd moments of technicality and Industrial Sci-fi influences and this is more than just “another Slam band”.

The sound is heavy, thick and serpentine like a robotic snake, twisting and coiling around its victims before tightening slowly. 0.00 Apocalypse sounds immense and it’s the perfect aural vehicle for their inventive brand of mayhem.

The vocals are guttural nightmares drawn from the bowels of a festering pit of dying servitors. Enough said.

This is a truly extreme work of Brutal Death Metal cyber-art and the songs on this album need to be heard, preferably at ear-bleeding noise levels.

If you’ve a taste for cutting edge brutality then this is a must.

Dying Out Flame – Shiva Rudrastakam (Review)

Dying Out Flame are from Nepal and play Death Metal.

This band are somewhat of a unique proposition as they combine the raw, brute force of Death Metal with traditional Nepalese music, instruments, female singing and influences. This lends the band a distinctly exotic edge.

What’s important here though is the sheer quality of the songs on this release. In the hands of a lesser band this combination of styles could easily sound mismatched and ill-judged, but Dying Out Flame have the talent to merge the two disparate worlds quite seamlessly. It sounds natural and it sounds good. Bloody good.

The traditional instrumentation enhances and adds to the ferocity and pure elemental force of the Death Metal parts. And boy when the Death Metal kicks in it sure does so hard.

The sound and fury of the band is first-rate and the deep growls of the singer are delivered at the perfect pitch. The Nepalese music doesn’t detract from the bite of the Metal at all; in fact it works exceptionally well with it to create atmospheres and moods quite in keeping with the epic and ferocious music.

If you’re a fan of Death/Extreme Metal that experiments with influences that are not typically found in the realm of Metal then this is for you. Think bands like Nile, Orphaned Land, Rudra, Therion, Markradonn, Panopticon, etc. – all quite different but all incorporating wider influences into their Metal sound. Dying Out Flame can safely be added to their ranks.

This is an innovative and creative release with lots of personality and high quality levels. Definitely make sure you check this out.

Noctem – Exilium (Review)

Noctem are from Spain and this is their third album.

The band play Blackened Death Metal with a bit of pomp and plenty of bite.

After a symphonic intro the first track proper Apsu Dethroned wastes no time introducing you to the band’s particular brand of blasting and heaviness. What is not quite as expected, however, is the orchestral accompaniment that forms a nice link to the intro.

It’s a great touch that precedes the actual singer who belches out occult growls with the fervour of the possessed. His is an unrelenting, uncompromising style that gives no quarter and knows no mercy.

The rest of the album continues the theme of a Death Metal band with Blackened influences that incorporates plenty of interesting ideas and sounds into their Extreme Metal repertoire.

The brutality and blast beats of their core Death Metal sound share space with more melodic riffs and a healthy dose of Black Metal influences. The orchestral sounds/choirs/keyboards add a deeper layer to Noctem’s identity and are embedded well rather than just sounding tacked on.

The musicianship is first rate, with the drumming being a precision assault and guitar solos and leads flashing by like lightning. It’s all wrapped up in a stellar production job that allows everything to shine and just sounds crushing.

None of this would have any longevity of course if it wasn’t for the songs themselves. The band show quite capably that they can write a good tune and Exilium is full of them.

If you take elements of bands like Behemoth, Nile, Atrocity and Septic Flesh, mix them in a blender and make a tasty hate-filled frothy shake then Noctem would be the cream.

A high quality, ambitious release; Noctem have proven they have what it takes to become forerunners in the Extreme Metal world.

Watch them go.

Deathronation – Hallow the Dead (Review)

Deathronation are from Germany and this is their début album. They play Death Metal.

This is morbid Old-School Death Metal with dark malevolent feelings rubbing shoulders with some nice graveyard tunes.

Their brand of Death Metal has a few influences from the Doom, Black and Thrash Metal genres mixed in with their Deathly attack, which makes for a nice, well rounded album that has good pace and variety.

Doom? Some of the riffs are superbly downbeat, slow and mournful. These sections typically don’t last long but they’re there and they sound good.

Black? A slight Blackened tinge to some of the guitar licks and leads lends a slightly Old-School Blackened feel to the songs on occasion. It’s not overly blatant but it gives the band an extra depth than just employing pure Death Metal influences.

Thrash? This part is apparent in some of the riffs; sometimes they just Thrash out and an older, crusty vibe is brought to the fore.

All of these are worked around an Old-School Death Metal base that places songs, heavy riffs and horror-fuelled melodies firmly in the limelight.

Hallow the Dead is an impressive collection of tracks that remind the listener that it’s not all about the hyper-blast or the Slamming grooves; the most important thing about Death Metal is the songs themselves and the feelings they invoke.

It seems Deathronation have made a great start to their career. It’s definitely worth checking this out.

Ævangelist – Writhes in the Murk (Review)

Ævangelist are from the US and this is their third album. They play Death/Black Metal, of sorts…

Following on from their horrifically terrifying second album Omen Ex Simulacra, Ævangelist waste no time with the first track Hosanna establishing and that this new album follows on from the first in a suitably Hellish and hideous manner.

As I stated about their previous album; Ævangelist are not for the weak of stomach. This is music that tests the limits of what the human mind can endure.

Writhes in the Murk is a suitable title for this collection of horrors as the songs seem wrapped in the murk and writhe as if alive.

Everything seems lower in the mix this time with the exception of the dark noises and sinister effects that blanket everything like a deathly fog. The growling vocals are almost unrecognisable from the ambient levels of darkened atmospherics, although they’re now joined by cleaner vocals as well more akin to Black than Death Metal.

There’s more of a Black Metal influence on this release in general. The atmospheres that Ævangelist create have always had more in common with Black than Death Metal, but this time the guitars, vocal experimentation and overall vibe seems Blacker than ever.

The riffs, when they raise their heads above the sea of nightmares, are sinuous and evil, recalling the dark practices of Axis of Perdition and Blut Aus Nord at their most sinister. The entire thing feels alive and squirming, like something is struggling to be born in the darkest reaches of a pitch-black pit of suffering and desolation.

The band don’t write songs, they create experiences of tormented soundscapes; environments of pure terror, dread and disgust seep out of the speakers as if made flesh.

Holy crap. This album is almost a full hour of punishing music but if feels almost ten times that; time seems to lose all meaning as the music pulls you into its dark, sickeningly warm embrace to lose yourself in the cloying smell of a million forgotten corpses condemned to suffer for all eternity…

This is not for the casual listener. However, if you think you have the fortitude then delve right in. Ævangelist have such sights to show you…