This is the début album by Swedish Metal band Aktaion.
This is sharp Melodic Metal that combines high-energy aggressive Melodic Death Metal with more restrained and emotive choruses. Elements of Thrash and Progressive Metal also raise their heads, (only to bang them all the harder). Continue reading “Aktaion – Throne (Review)”
This is the début album from Lebanese Black Metal band Hatecrowned.
This is an album that finds its origins in Old-School Raw Black Metal. The band take this base though and expand upon it, introducing some darker Death Metal influences and atmosphere.
Bleak melodies and leads occasionally break the Blackened surface, but for the most part this is an album that’s swamped in atmospheric distortion from the rhythm guitars. It’s like a fuzzed-up wall of grim auras, ready and willing to crush, smother and consume all in its path. There are also solos, which I approve of big-style.
This methodology works well for the band, and the songs on Newborn Serpent are compelling hymns to hatred and malevolence. The dark Death Metal elements are combined skilfully into the even darker Black Metal core of the band, resulting in songs that just seethe misanthropy.
Screamed vocals are complemented by deeper growls, providing the songs with enough tools to spread their sinister manifesto.
I like that the band don’t stick to just one way of writing throughout; there’s a good amount of variety here for the style. Some songs are pure Black Metal, while others let the Death Metal seep in. Some songs are all about the bile and venom, while others have more atmosphere or pacing. Fast/slow, long/short; the band don’t limit themselves to just one method of assault and should be roundly commended for this.
Very good, very good indeed. Hatecrowned have impressed.
This is the second album from Norwegian Brutal Death Metallers The Sickening.
This is Brutal Death Metal for fans of Deeds of Flesh, Severe Torture, Vile and the like. Indeed, the last song on here is a Vile cover.
Guttural growls lead the way, deep and dark atop the gore-drenched music. The singer is an accomplished grunter and leaves no doubt in your mind that you are firmly in his sights and may very well be on the menu.
The band have a slightly odd production in that everything sounds extremely sharp; whereas the average Death Metal band will happily pummel you to death with blunt objects, The Sickening prefer to use knives and bladed weapons.
The recording allows the band to make ample use of their bassist too, which is something I always enjoy in my Death Metal.
The songs have plenty of chug and groove in them, as well as the requisite blasting barbarity. This is a band that doesn’t understand the word subtle and is quite happy going straight for the kill in every one of these tracks.
When only Brutal Death Metal in its purest of forms will do, The Sickening are here for you.
Check them out.
Anal Fissure are a Brutal Death Metal band from the Philippines. This is their début album.
Here we have 32 minutes of Brutal Death Metal with a decent amount of groove and blast. Influences from the Slam style work their way into the mix here and there, but for the most part this is all about the tried-and-tested method of Brutal Death Metal carnage.
For some reason, the band name and album cover led me to believe that this was going to be a more primitive Grind-influenced offering than it actually is. I was wrong though and Mind of a Serial Killer is a very professional and polished collection of butcher’s songs; the album features a strong recording where everything is solid, thick and precise.
Blasting drums, heavy grooves and huge breakdowns provide plenty of meat to chew on. The riffs are ever-present and the band know how to play, whether they’re going full-speed ahead or slowing it down a notch to crush the listener with churning grooves. Whatever they’re doing, the songs are well-played, with everything sounding tight and focused.
The singer has a pretty gruesome near-pignoise growl that is perfectly executed for this style of carnage. No marks lost for his performance.
Sometimes you want ostentatious and flashy music, or something more experimental and unique to listen to. At other times, however, only Brutal Death Metal will do. For times like that, you have this.
Bloodily enjoyable.
Contrarian are a Progressive Death Metal band from the US. This is their début album.
Just take a look at the album cover – there’s a lot going on and this translates to the music on Polemic too. Contrarian play distinctly atypical Progressive/Technical Death Metal. It’s not your standard fare. which we are eternally grateful for. As a soundtrack to space battles, it works.
Elements of Death, Atheist and Cynic can be heard, as well as more modern influences. All of this is held together by a first-rate vocalist whose growls can only be described as monstrous.
The music twists and turns, taking the listener down all manner of interesting avenues before seemingly changing direction on a whim, returning to where it left off only to find that it’s not the same place after all.
So the band can play, that much is clear; you would expect no less considering the pedigree of some of the members, (Nile being the most notable). Interestingly though, even through all of the technicality and forensic playing they still somehow manage to fashion this chaotic landscape into a collection of songs.
There’s a good helping of otherworldly melodies and distorted atmospherics included in the mix too. These are a welcome addition to the band’s music, helping to create an additional sense of depth and longevity to the tracks. There are frequent calmer sections peppered throughout, as if the band are allowing themselves small moments of respite and self-reflection to replenish themselves for what’s to come.
In the final analysis, it all results in a highly-textured release that is a very enjoyable listen.
Highly recommended.
This is the latest EP from Polish Blackened Death Metallers Nomad.
Here we have 4 songs, 16 minutes of music; a glimpse into the world of Nomad. This world is brutal and ugly, but surprisingly nuanced and with an interestingly Blackened Sheen. The songs seems to barge out of the darkness to commit heinous, blasphemous acts before disappearing back into the night once more.
This is solid Death Metal, corrupted by Black Metal influences to tinge the riffs a shade darker than they would normally be and infusing the songs with dark atmospheres and an occult presence. They kind of remind me of a band like Blood Red Throne if they were more of a Blackened Death Metal proposition and were mixed with a band like Zyklon.
Nomad’s songs seem to be less about the individual riffs or parts and more about holistic atmosphere and feeling. This is an approach more commonly used by Black Metal bands than Death Metal ones, and thus befits their hybrid status. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t some choice riffs on display here though; there are, and the overall impression that Tetramorph makes is extremely positive.
Dark growls that are more emotive than the norm for this style are combined with sickly screams and all kinds of other incantations to produce a focal point for these Blackened hymns.
Having never heard Nomad before, this is not what I was actually expecting. It’s always nice to be surprised and hear Blackened Death Metal done well, especially when the two styles are blurred so well like they are here.
Recommended.
This is the fourth album from Finnish Doom-laden Death Metallers Hooded Menace.
Hooded Menace are well-known for playing Death Metal that’s heavy on the Doom influence, and just heavy in general. On this latest release this is taken to its logical conclusion, and the four songs on Darkness Drips Forth really blur the line between Death and Doom Metal, so much so that this is equally for fans of Incantation as it is for Esoteric.
The shortest song here is just under 10 minutes in length, with all tracks being stretched out to their maximum capacity for crawling, sinister, evil Metal.
Dark melodies creep into the thick, crushing music so that the band really foster the ancient Death/Doom influences that sit at the core of music like this. It’s not as overpowering or centralised as some who play similar styles though, allowing the heaviness and pure dirt of a band like this to remain at the fore. Old-school Anathema/Paradise Lost/My Dying Bride fans will be proud.
The singer’s cavernous growls are slow and drawn out, keeping pace with the unhurried music and reminding everyone that ultimately this isn’t pretty music; this wants to drag you down into the murk and consume your soul.
When they’re not playing at a snail’s pace the band have a rhythmic quality to them that’s almost Rocking, albeit one that’s coated in filth and grim intent.
These songs are veritable slabs of monolithic Metal, seemingly passed down through the ages in sealed tomes of forbidden lore, only to be discovered and unleashed by Hooded Menace. Each one is an impressive foray into Doom/Death, only much more malignant and nasty than a lot of the style normally is.
Highly recommended for both Doom and Death Metal fans alike.
Necrocosm are a Death Metal band from the US. This is their début album.
Necrocosm play Melodic Death Metal with plenty of riffs, licks and shredding leads. The music is fast, furious and has bite. Think a more modern spin on the style, à la The Black Dahlia Murder, mixed with a bit of Aborted and even some Dying Fetus.
The band have a strong sound and the guitars sound nicely meaty for a band of this style. Everything sounds slick, professional and honed to a killing edge.
The vocals follow the style of a band like Aborted; deep growls backed up with more of a shouted bark and the odd scream.
These songs have been written with high-energy in mind and manage to keep the aggression and intensity up for these 45 minutes. I like fast music with a sharp melodic edge and Necrocosm have certainly produced an album that does what it sets out to do very nicely indeed.
Who said Melodic Death Metal had to be weak and wishy-washy? Anyone? No, that’s right.
Highly recommended.
Haiduk is a one-man Black Metal project from Canada. This is his second album.
This is an album full of distorted blasting and hate-fuelled invective. It’s Black Metal with a pinch of Death Metal added for good measure. Although you could call this Blackened Death Metal, Black Metal is very much the main star of the show.
The Death Metal influence raises its ugly head in the added brutality and forcefulness of some of the riffs, as well as, more blatantly, the growled vocals.
The music is fast, well-constructed and hits the spot like a knife hitting its target. The riffs are full of Blackened melodies and harsher rhythms. Energetic and not afraid to add streaks of colour to its grimness, the music pummels and lacerates the listener at the same time.
The songs still manage to create atmosphere on occasion, so it’s not all a one-dimensional assault. This is the exception rather than the rule though, and to be honest, it’s good enough and well-played enough not to matter, regardless.
One-man Black Metal bands frequently take the less aggressive route, but Haiduk has proven that there’s no real reason for this to be the case. Demonicon is ugly, nasty and has enough quality riffs and dark melodies to be a dangerous proposition.
Like being hunted down in the dark and lashed at with razor-whips; this album somehow makes this prospect appealing.
Recommended.
Biopsy’s début EP Fractals of Derangement is a solid slab of USDM-style Brutal Death Metal that has enough ugly surgical scars to cause the staunchest of Death Metal fans to take note. Curious to learn more about them, I caught up with their vocalist in his operating theatre…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
Hi, I’m Shomeresh, vocalist of the band. I’ll be answering your questions today, most of our opinions about the band and the industry are rather unanimous so I’m quite confident I can do justice to do this interview by myself. Well, let’s get into it.
We’re Biopsy, a brutal death metal band from Bombay. We started off as three teenagers with a passion for this genre of music and that eventually evolved into us jamming, then composing our own music and finally recording an EP.
Give us a bit of history to Biopsy
The three of us met back in 2010, Keshav (drums) and Akshay (guitars) were already jamming with each other a few others, I (Shomeresh – vocals) came into the picture a few months later and joined the lads for a jam session and we really seemed to connect on a musical level. We initially began covering and composing music as a death metal act but over the years our musical interests shifted towards brutal death metal. The sheer aggression, intensity and versatility of the genre is something that appealed to us and we then decided to stick with this genre and began composing several tracks out of which a few of them made the cut to what is now called ‘Fractals of Derangement’ our EP.
What are your influences?
Our musical influences come from a variety of genres. We love listening to music outside of just metal or even rock. So to answer this question I would like to say our influences come from the entire music eco-system as a whole, which would include genres like drum & bass, psychedelic trance, electro-house, rock, post-rock, classic rock, metal, funk, techno etc. Pretty much any track that sounds good, we don’t like limiting our musical tastes to the genre our band plays – that’s like restricting yourself from enjoying all this amazing talent out there. When it comes to Biopsy’s influences in particular, I’d say bands like Disgorge, Defeated Sanity, Gorgasm, Cephalotripsy, Dying Fetus, etc. helped us shape our sound into what it is today.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
Well, I can’t speak for the rest of the guys on this one but personally I have been listening to a lot of hip-hop of late (best music for the drive to work), along with that I’ve always been a passionate lover of electronic music (psychedelic trance, electro-house, glitch, trap etc.) and metal of course. Among the metal bands on my current playlist, Betraying the Martyrs and Of Mice & Men are two bands that feature more often than not.
As this is your début EP, is there anything you would do differently if you had to do it all over again?
Not really, we’re really happy with how it sounds and the way it’s been accepted and appreciated by peers and professionals around the world. If anything we’d probably like to change my profile picture in the EP booklet, according to the guys I look like a queer ‘Persian prince’.
What’s your favourite song on your EP and why?
We each have different favourites, because each track has different levels of contribution from the various individuals in the band. My favourite would have to be ‘Surgical Symmetry’ as I deeply enjoy the extremely synchronised synergy between guitar and vocal lines throughout the track. There were several segments of the track where the vocal lines fit so well with the guitar lines that the three instantly knew we would never find a better alternative. It was one of those tracks where everything just seemed to come together, and we probably brainstormed the least on vocal, guitar and drum lines for this one and I love it when that happens, because otherwise you’re constantly second-guessing your decisions.
What are the subjects/themes of the songs?
The theme of the band is a deranged surgeon killing individuals who he deems unworthy of existence. People with contagious diseases or tainted characters. A quick read of the booklet in our EP case should explain this in elaborate detail.
Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process.
The song-writing process for this EP consisted of Keshav and Akshay sitting together and ironing out the instrumentals, then sending over the track to me after which we’d brainstorm on appropriate vocal lines which was followed by me penning down lyrics and selecting a good title for the song. Sounds really simple when I lay it out like this, but there are several complications that come up along the way which you have to deal with on the fly, but I suppose that’s the journey every set of artists go through while composing something as a group, there are always individual preferences and tastes it’s about how you can best accommodate everyone’s opinions without compromising on the integrity of the final output.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
A. Given the fact that we’re currently in different countries, I’m in UAE (Dubai), Akshay is in Michigan (USA) and Keshav is back home in India (Bombay) composing music is quite the challenge, but we plan to exchange stuff over the internet and try to put together a few more tracks then hit the studio and record another EP in the near future.
Thanks a lot for this great interview! We enjoyed it very much!
Biopsy Bandcamp – https://transcendingobscurityindia.bandcamp.com/album/fractals-of-derangement-brutal-death-metal
Biopsy Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/biopsyband
Transcending Obscurity Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/transcendingobscurity
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