Reviews – Page 589 – Wonderbox Metal

King Parrot – Bite Your Head Off (Review)

King Parrot are from Australia and play a combination of Thrash Metal and Grindcore.

Harsh and energetic; this is the sound that greets you upon pressing play and the first song Bozo rips itself out of the speakers. Kind of like a more Thrash Metal-influenced Pig Destroyer; the songs are short, 2 minute-ish slabs of spiky riffs and throat-damaging screams.

Speaking of the screaming vocals – they’re demented, chaotic and absolutely insane; the perfect counterpoint to the focused assault of the music.

There’s no denying the sheer exuberance on display here. The band are no one-trick ponies however; they have a fair amount of ideas and relative variety within these 17 tracks and the high-octane ride is fuelled by a powerful rhythm section that propels the songs along at frenetic velocities.

They know a good riff when they shred one; mixing crunchy Thrash attacks with melodic licks and chuggathons the band have a firm grasp of dynamics and make the utmost of their short playing time to get the most out of each song.

35 minutes of Thrashgrind nirvana.

Frozen Dawn – Those of the Cursed Light (Review)

Frozen Dawn are a Spanish Black Metal band with a penchant for all things Swedish.

The band are influenced by bands such as Watain, Naglfar and Dissection, and as such the guitars are scything and icy, with the vocals as sharp as a barb and a solid rhythmic underpinning.

Frozen Dawn have a good grasp of melodics and the tunes melt through the hands like thawing snow.

A lot of these songs are surprisingly catchy; tracks like Blackened March have infections guitar riffs and Blackened grooves to die for. This is a theme repeated throughout the 53 minutes of this enjoyable album.

The band ably create the atmosphere of a Blackened winter’s day, with ice crystals as far as the horizon.

A good album, and recommended. Give them a listen.

Deformatory – In The Wake of Pestilence (Review)

In The Wake of Pestilence is the début album from Canada’s Deformatory.

Deformatory play Technical Death Metal and they play it well.

The songs are heavy and blur by in a dazzle of intricate technicality and blasting drums. They don’t forgo a decent bit of melody when necessary either though, although other times the emphasis is firmly on pure fretboard brutality.

These Canadians have taken the blueprint drawn up by bands like Cryptopsy and Yattering and from these plans created their own castle of Death Metal impenetrability.

The musicianship is first rate and the playing may be technical but it doesn’t smother the soul of the band; the songs have intricate but involving structures. The band know when to simplify things as well, as sometimes you just need to feel the guitars!

The vocalist is a guttural joy to listen to; deeply satisfying and deeply bowel-loosening. He has a very impressive voice.

This is an excellent example of Technical Death Metal done right. Listen to Deformatory.

Helmsplitter – Enraptured by Suffering (Review)

Helmsplitter are from the US and play a filthy blend of Black and Death Metal.

Boasting a powerful sound the band waste no time in attacking everything around them with fierce blasting and razor sharp Blackened riffs.

The band’s songs combine many different aspects of Metal; predominantly Black and Death, but also elements of Sludge, Thrash and Crust. This means that we end up with a very dark, dank album that has the darkness of Black Metal, the brutality of Death Metal and the songsmithing of classic Metal.

There are catches and hooks aplenty in these songs, all delivered wrapped in barbed wire and with snarling vocals. The band know how to write an enjoyable song and vary tempos, styles and delivery to suit their nefarious needs.

There are stand-out moments in pretty much every song. Some examples; Panzram is the shortest song on the album and has blasting and belligerence written into its DNA; Aura of Suicide has a Hellishly good groove-based Darkthrone-esque riff that’s enough to blow away all-comers; The Ground Bleeds Sorrow piledrives along before splitting off into rumbling psudo-Southern groove; the list could esily be expanded to all 11 tracks here.

44 minutes of quality, well-written Metal; enraptured by Helmsplitter.

Gamma Ray – Empire of the Undead (Review)

Germany’s Gamma Ray are somewhat of a Power Metal institution. This is the band’s 11th album and I must confess I’ve been looking forward to it.

As soon as I noticed that the first track Avalon was the rather epic length of 9:22 I was excited, and the song is exactly what I was hoping it would be. Epic, stirring and memorable in all of the right ways.

After more than two decades of creating quality Metal, it’s great to see that Gamma Ray are not wanting for ideas or passion. They still have the hunger and devotion to Metal that is not commonly present in bands who have been around for half this amount of time.

So what do we get then? State-of-the-art sound? Yes. Rousing anthems? Yes. Guitar wizardry and fretmanship? Yes. Catchy and memorable hooks and melodies? Yes. Sing-along choruses? Yes. Riffs to pound chests to? Yes. Keyboards that enhance but don’t overpower? Yes.

The band spend time emphasising their Speed Metal aspect on some of the tracks, with Hellbent in particular showing a Judas Priest influence. The next song Pale Rider has an almost AC/DC feel to it, albeit heavier and with a distinctly non-AC/DC chorus. Time for Deliverance is more in the power ballad territory, with even somewhat of a revival feeling to it in places.

These are good demonstrations of the fact that Gamma Ray may have a distinct style but within this they vary things and keep things interesting so that they’re not simply playing what is effectively the same song over and over again.

The best songs are the bookends of the album – Avalon and I Will Return. This doesn’t invalidate anything in the middle of course, as taken holistically this is a thoroughly enjoyable slab of Heavy Metal.

How many other bands are on their 11th album and still capable of shredding with the best of them? Not many.

Gamma Ray still have a lot to offer the world. Empire of the Undead is the latest, and a top listen at that.

Nihil – Nights of Silence (Review)

Nihil are from Spain and play Technical Progressive Death Metal.

The band give us a collection of relatively long tracks with a good sound and some twisting riffs to help propel the songs along.

Although undeniably heavy, brutality is not the main focus of Nihil’s assault. Instead they attack a bit slower, and from unexpected directions. Some of the riffs betray a slight Black Metal influence, while others are just nicely restrained, content to let the melodies do the talking.

It’s an approach that is freshly creative and frees the band up from a lot of standard genre restrictions that they might otherwise be plagued by.

Frozen Hope, the second longest song on the album, is a good example of this. It starts out quite brutal with a sound not unlike Behemoth but progresses into other heavy soundscapes, including parts that remind of Gorguts and Opeth on occasion.

Good musicianship helps the songs live up to their potential, and all of the various parts deliver as they should.

A quality release from a talented band that need support. Add them to your playlists today.

Invertia – Another Scheme of the Wicked (Review)

Invertia are from the US and play Industrial Black Metal.

This is a release of two halves – the first five tracks are the album songs, and then the second five tracks are the album songs remixed. Side A and a Side B if you like, with Side B being longer than the first.

This is inventive and oppressive as only the best of Black Metal can be.

As extreme as this is they still know how to write songs. As warped and twisted as they are, and also know a good hook when they hear one.

The heavy effects, samples and noise conspire with the Black Metal core to create a claustrophobic and dense listening experience that coils around your brain and won’t let go until you have sworn blind fealty and obedience.

The tracks offer a bruising Industrial pounding with their blackened atmosphere, and there is a fair amount of variety on these tracks that it almost seems like different bands playing sometimes. It certainly seems like they have about five vocalists. Don’t mistake this as criticism though, this is a top release.

And all this is even before we get to Side B; the remixes.

I’m not normally a fan of remixes, as they are rarely done well, (in my experience). Here is an exception though as these reinterpretations of the originals feel like a continuance of the album and a further exploration into the dark psyche of the band, rather than being some novelty just tacked onto the end of a release, as is so often the case.

Intriguing, harsh and exciting; this is an album to keep returning to.

Banisher – Scarcity (Review)

Banisher are from Poland and play Death Metal with a good deal of variety and interest.

This is Progressive/Technical/Experimental Death Metal.

I have enjoyed their previous full length, (Slaughterhouse), and was looking forward to hearing what the band have got up to on this, their second album.

They don’t disappoint. Death Metal played fast and hard but with some nice experimentation and technical flourishes thrown in for good measure. The band can certainly play and they know their way around the instruments. Crucially though they can also do simplicity very well and sometimes the riffs just crush!

The band may be heavy and brutal but they also incorporate some melody and atmosphere into the songs to keep things interesting. There are plenty of these moments scattered around the songs and mean that Banisher have a good amount of variety and longevity baked into these tracks.

A strong, clear sound means you can hear everything that the instruments are doing, (even the bass), and allows you to fully appreciate the various things that the band are putting into their songs.

This is catchy, extreme, brutal, technical, atmospheric and engaging in all of the right places. A lot of other death metal bands sound one-dimensional in comparison to this.

And the Benny Hill cover at the end of the album? Pure genius.

Twitch of the Death Nerve – A New Code of Morality (Review)

This is the debut album from UK Death Metallers Twitch of the Death Nerve.

As a calling card the album cover doesn’t let the side down and makes me immediately excited to hear what kind of racket they make.

The band play the kind of ultra-brutal pig-noise Death Metal that can frighten off pseudo-Metal fans at a thousand paces. This is the real deal when it comes to extremity and absolute wanton slaughter.

The drums have a slightly tinny sound but after the first couple of blasts all is forgotten as you’re beaten and battered into a semi-coherent stupor by the combination of ultra-blast and chugathon that the band effortlessly juggle.

The vocals are guttural pig-noise emanations that steer just the right side of ridiculous and instead sound demented. They match the barbarous music to a tee and together Brutal Death Metal magic is made.

The songs fly by, each one as heavy and as demolishing as the last. Each track contains excitable riffs that want to crush and destroy everything, and whether they’re playing fast and sharp or slow and blunt they seek to inflict maximum damage.

If you’re wondering how you’re going to muster up the energy to destroy entire continents today, then wonder no longer! Twitch of the Death Nerve are here to empower you with callous misanthropy and effortless barbarity.

Embalmed – Brutal Delivery of Vengeance (Review)

This is Brutal Death Metal from this US veteran band, although after all their years this is actually their début album.

Embalmed are a riff-heavy, song-focused band, which immediately means that this album has the potential to be very good indeed. It all depends if the songwriting is up to par of course. Thankfully the band have had plenty of time to refine their songcraft and the results are satisfying to say the least.

This is classic Death Metal. I hesitate to label this Old-School, as although it is, (if only by virtue of not belonging to the New-School), the Old-School label can imply to some people a dredging up of past glories, etc., whereas this is more resolutely timeless and still very relevant. Think Cannibal Corpse USDM.

The songs rampage along with the right amount of belligerence and restraint, content to smash enemies apart but then moving on to the next with brutal efficiency.

Embalmed have a selection of good riffs in every song, and know how to lock into a good groove when the need arises. In addition to the standard blast beats and the more mid-paced sections, they can also be quite dynamic and inventive with the drum beats; they have the same kind of infectious hooks to some of the songs that bands such as Konkhra and Avulsed do so well.

This is a quality USDM album that any Death Metal fan should be able to get on board with.