Rude – Remnants… (Review)

RudeThis is the second album from US death metallers Rude.

2014’s Soul Recall was a thoroughly enjoyable slab of old-school death metal. The band have now returned with a new album, ready to crush all those that would oppose their classic death metal onslaught. Continue reading “Rude – Remnants… (Review)”

Church of Disgust – Veneration of Filth (Review)

Church of DisgustThis is the second album from Church of Disgust, a US death metal band.

I really enjoyed 2013’s Unworldly Summoning. Here was an album that was just over half an hour of filthy, old-school death metal that was so ugly, hostile and evil that it was a depraved joy to experience.

Three years later and they have finally emerged from their crypt. On Veneration of Filth the band do exactly what it says on the tin and offer up 40 minutes of corpse-fresh filthy death metal, reeking of the old-school and ripe with pustulent rot. Continue reading “Church of Disgust – Veneration of Filth (Review)”

Gatecreeper – Sonoran Depravation (Review)

GatecreeperThis is the debut album from this US death metal band.

Gatecreeper play old-school death metal with an authentic and passionate delivery. It’s heavy, with a crushing atmosphere and songs that are more memorable than they probably have a right to be. Continue reading “Gatecreeper – Sonoran Depravation (Review)”

Echelon – The Brimstone Aggrandizement (Review)

EchelonEchelon are an international death metal supergroup. This is their second album.

With a lineup that contains a huge amount of experience; like the recently released Stench Price, (which shares personnel), I’m just going to list the various members below from the press blurb for ease of clarity –

Dave Ingram (Hail of Bullets, ex-Bolt Thrower, ex-Benediction)
Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Demiurg, Putrevore)
Johan Berglund (Ribspreader, The Grotesquery)
Kjetil Lynghaug (Johansson & Speckmann, Paganizer)
Travis Ruvo (Akatharta, Cropsy Maniac)

As you can see. These guys know a thing or two about death metal. Continue reading “Echelon – The Brimstone Aggrandizement (Review)”

Obituary – Ten Thousand Ways to Die (Review)

ObituaryObituary are a legendary death metal band from the US and this is their latest release.

Featuring two brand new studio songs and 12 live tracks recorded during their 2015 Inked in Blood world tour, this is a Continue reading “Obituary – Ten Thousand Ways to Die (Review)”

Asphyx – Incoming Death (Review)

AsphyxHailing from The Netherlands, this is the ninth album from legendary death metallers Asphyx.

Asphyx are a well-known band for a reason and new material from them is always welcome.

Incoming Death contains 48 minutes of colossal death metal, with huge riffs and drums that drop like bombs.

War-themed and crushingly heavy, this is an album that sweeps you away as soon as you start playing it. Sure, there are Continue reading “Asphyx – Incoming Death (Review)”

Inherit Disease – Ephemeral (Review)

Inherit DiseaseInherit Disease are a US Death Metal band. This is their third album.

Combining some technicality and lots of brutality, Inherit Disease play a classic USDM style that allows them to showcase their love of the genre and all things brutal.

The music on Ephemeral combines speedy aggression with some chunky slam riffs, producing 39 minutes of utterly depraved brutality.

The singer’s vocals are sickeningly deep, stopping just short of descending into the kind of ridiculous pignoise burping that tends to ruin bands. His voice is as ugly and as gruesome as the music.

Ephemeral is unrelenting and harsh, rarely stopping for breath as it chops, hacks and carves its way through the tracks. There’s something very satisfying about this kind of music. It’s just so timelessly appealing; despite what other musical trends and moods might take you, Death Metal will always be there. Waiting. Lurking. Ready to strike.

I like that the more you listen to this, the more you enjoy it. It’s an unstoppable juggernaut of groove and blasting, easily absorbed by anyone who has a taste for bands like Deeds of Flesh, Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, Severe Torture, Dying Fetus, Defeated Sanity, etc.

For a solid fix of heavy brutality and death-dealing, Inherit Disease have got you covered.

Check them out.

Strangulate – Catacombs of Decay (Review)

StrangulateStrangulate are an Indian Death Metal band, this is their début album.

Strangulate’s Death Metal is raw and brutal, going straight for the throat with their direct assault.

The gruesome riffs and bloody vocals sound like they were recorded about 20 years ago and then sealed in a crypt and forgotten about. Until now. It seems that some hapless victim has stumbled upon these ancient recordings and unleashed them on the world.

The band’s ugly approach to Death Metal is not polished, not state-of-the-art, not technical and not precise, and once they have you in their grip you wouldn’t want it any other way. This is 33 minutes of murderous, nasty music that knows a thing or two about how best to go about causing as much damage as possible.

Music like this is very honest and the passion of the band comes through in the delivery. The songs may be raw and unyielding, but they play the classic style well and the songwriting is on point. There’s a pleasing mix of blast beats and the mid-paced, with plenty of tasty riffs along the way that are catchier than you might think, too.

I hear elements of bands like Cannibal Corpse, (old) Hypocrisy, Gorerotted, Incantation, Severe Torture, Suffocation and a host of others in their sound. They pick and choose their influences with care and Catacombs of Decay is enriched by the band’s knowledge of their Death Metal heritage.

I mustn’t neglect to mention the singer, either. His clipped barking growls are performed flawlessly, perfectly capturing the essence of the style.

Mixing the old-school and classic styles of Death Metal to provide us with a great combination of blasting brutality and well-thought out riffs, Strangulate’s début is a winner and definitely rough and fierce enough to scrape your skin off.

Highly recommended.

Cult of Lilith – Arkanum (Review)

Cult of LilithCult of Lilith are a Death Metal band from Iceland. This is their début EP.

Cult of Lilith play their Death Metal with muscularity, power and no little technical flair. Their style combines influences from both classic Death Metal and the more modern variants; this has equal respect for Death as it does The Faceless.

Melodic influences raise their heads in places, done in a thoroughly modern style, (not a million miles away from that of The Faceless). There’s even a touch of a Black Metal influence here and there, as well as a decent amount of technicality that both Gorguts and Death fans would be pleased with.

Deep growling shouts are the singer’s weapon of choice, although these are backed up with some quite savage screams where necessary.

These are quite involved songs that have a fair bit going on, but the band still know when to ease off the complexity and just go straight for the throat with a blasting assault when they need to. There’s a lot of good ideas and interesting added extras on these tracks and it’s clear that Cult of Lilith have high ambition for themselves.

A very promising start for this new band. I look forward to what they do next.

Third Sovereign – Perversion Swallowing Sanity (Review)

Third SovereignThird Sovereign are an Indian Death Metal band and this is their second album.

Third Sovereign play classic Death Metal that values a good riff. More than this though, they know how to stitch them together to achieve the end result they want.

Catchy, infectious guitars are the main feature of the tracks and they are done really well. It’s clear that Third Sovereign are not lacking for inspiration in this department. A nice thick guitar sound and overall good production lends strength to the songs too.

The singer has a different type of voice than I was expecting, which was that of a more cookie-monster styled delivery. What we actually get is a more distinctive, characterful series of growls and barks that sound surprisingly individual.

There’s a rhythmic muscularity to these songs, ripe with power and classic Death Metal chops. They have lots of energy and sound designed to be played live where I’m sure they can stir up the pit something fierce.

Perversion Swallowing Sanity is quality Death Metal. What more is there to say? Listen at full volume.