Death Metal – Page 193 – Wonderbox Metal

Unbreakable Hatred – Ruins (Review)

Unbreakable Hatred are a Death Metal band from Canada and this is their second album.

This is Technical Death Metal that’s as ferocious and brutal as the best of the genre while still having the technical flourishes that mean so much to fans of Tech Death’s dizzying heights. Even more impressive though is how Unbreakable Hatred have managed to retain a semblance of songs on these tracks so that they don’t disappear too far into their own world.

The band have a very clean and polished sound that allows the listener to hear everything that they do. As such, it’s easy to hear how proficient they are at their craft and it’s very easy to enjoy the carnage that they unleash.

The vocalist has a savage voice that’s crisp and neat, if such terms can be applied to aggressively barked growls. I find he manages to compress a lot of personality and feeling into these clipped outbursts and the band have a definite asset in his delivery.

While the songs are no doubt on the technical side of things, I also like the inclusion of simpler riffs and sections that help the songs to retain a catchier, more enjoyable edge.

Pounding drums, heavy riffs, frenzied vocals, lightning leads and solos…Unbreakable Hatred don’t mess around and they spend these short 30 minutes showing a finely balanced blend of professionalism and base aggression.

Listening to this it brings to mind Cryptopsy’s None So Vile; Ruins evokes similar feelings to that album and shares similarities to it in some ways. It’s not quite up to those lofty standards, of course, as None So Vile is pretty much The Ultimate Death Metal Album™, but it’s damn good company to keep at any rate.

This is definitely one of the elite. I think we can safely move Unbreakable Hatred to the top of the recent Technical Death Metal pile. All hail our new overlords!

Nightfell – Darkness Evermore (Review)

This is the second album from Nightfall, a US Death/Doom Metal band.

This is the follow up to their 2014 début album The Living Ever Mourn, which was a very enjoyable album of Death/Doom. Darkness Evermore continues their brand of Old-School Death Metal that has a large Doom influence, this time resulting in songs that are longer and more mournful than their first release.

The darkened atmosphere from their début has been expanded upon and fleshed out with more ambition in Darkness Evermore. The essential style of the band is the same, but the melodies are bolder, the emotions heightened, the Doom deeper and the darkness more palpable. This is The Living Ever Mourn 2.0, in the sense that they have improved upon and refined their original formula, which was already pretty damn good to begin with.

The riffs are highly emotive and continue to draw on the wellspring of fertile inspiration that bands such as Dismember, Sentenced, Paradise Lost, Amon Amarth, My Dying Bride, etc. have all drawn from for their powerful guitars and melodies.

These tracks are involving and paint a heady picture of a strange, underworld landscape for the listener to become entranced with.

The Death Metal base is complemented extremely well by the Doom influence, reminding me of the amazing début by Temple of Void; both bands know how to create emotive Metal atmospheres without losing their Death Metal core.

It’s not all slow dirges either, as there’s enough upbeat material here to provide good variety. These parts are still done in a gloomy way though, and they even have a Blackened feel on occasion; there’s a noticeably larger Black Metal influence in general on Darkness Evermore in fact.

Nightfell have successfully followed up their strong début album with an ever stronger second one. Check this out.

Amenthes – Destroyer of the Icon (Review)

Amenthes are a US Death Metal band and this is their début EP.

Amenthes play Modern Death Metal with a hint of Grind and even Black Metal.

Vocals are various growls with added screams. Duties are shared between the main singer and a guitarist/bassist; they’re ably done and not without personality.

The music is darkly brutal and there’s enough character and passion to the riffs to help Amenthes stand out from the pack.

On this release Classic Death Metal riffing has been combined with more modern chops to create a blend of the old and new. This is added to on occasion by a Grindcore influence that allows the band to let their focused assault slip off and get a bit more frenzied. Some of the riffs have a slight Black Metal flavour to them, lending the band a dark feeling to some of the parts of the songs.

I can hear shades of Cannibal Corpse, Martyr Defiled, Decapitated, All Shall Perish, Job for a Cowboy, Hiss from the Moat and others in their sound. It’s a good mixture that allows the band freedom to do what they want without losing the core brutality that all Death Metal has.

Blast beats and energetic riffs lead the way while the vocals snarl their way through the carnage. I enjoy a good solo and the band have got me covered in this respect too.

I like that there are a few different things going on here, with some nice ideas sharing space with the heavy Death Metal.

This is a very enjoyable release from a band who have real enthusiasm and the songs to match.

Highly recommended.

De Profundis – Kingdom of the Blind (Review)

This is the fourth album from UK Death Metallers De Profundis.

After 2014’s EP teaser Frequencies, (two tracks of which make an appearance on Kingdom of the Blind), this album fleshes out their Progressive/Technical Death Metal sound to a fuller 52 minutes.

The band continue with their technical Death-worship and have created an album that’s a comprehensive overview of their Death Metal worldview. Like their heroes, De Profundis make sure that the song is never lost within the technical framework and have the talent necessary to play such ambitious music. Like the wonderful Execration, they are doing their best to keep the spirit of Death alive while putting infusing the style with their own personality and spin.

De Profundis like their songs technical and involving, with plenty of syncopation and off-kilter ideas amidst the blast beats. The songs are all around the 5-minute mark, or longer, giving the band ample time to show off what they can do. The performance levels are high and the entire package is very accomplished. I must also mention the bass, especially; I really like what the bassist contributes to these songs.

The deep vocals are like thunder claps and punctuate the songs like bruises. These help to provide a different identity for the band than if they had opted for higher, more Death-esque vocals, and act as a blunt counterpoint to the sharpness of the music.

Kingdom of the Blind is an impressive release from a band who are not content to be average.

Highly recommended.

My Silent Wake – Damnatio Memoriae (Review)

This is the eighth album from the UK’s My Silent Wake. They play Doom Metal.

This is Atmospheric Doom that takes elements of bands such as, (older), My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost and works them into its own melancholic, gloomy soundscape. There’s a Gothic component to their style, as well as some Old-School Death Metal elements wrapped up in their sound.

Although they have their share of slower sections, for the most part this is not agonisingly slow Doom that crawls along at a minimal speed. No, this is Doom Metal with plenty of groove, mid-paced momentum and Metal riffs, and the Death Metal influence helps the band keep things moving.

Screamed/rasped vocals are the main mode of lyrical delivery, although the odd clean and semi-clean does appear here and there. They’re performed in a really engaging manner, and their real strength is in how they work with the guitars to seamlessly ensure that the songs are greater than the sum of their individual parts.

There are a lot of really tasty, captivating riffs on this release. Combined with the interesting vocal delivery and vocal patterns the two work together to hook and snare the listener. Before you know it you’re nodding along and getting into it quite easily.

The music is enhanced by keyboards and effects that add to the atmosphere, although these are quite subtle and the main show is carried off via the interplay between guitars and vocals.

My Silent Wake’s latest album is full of top quality Doom that harkens back to the early 90s without wallowing in nostalgia or backwoods glancing; it’s simply a sound of the era, impressively realised in 2015.

Have a listen and let the band work their dark magic.

Sarpentra – Supernova (Review)

This is the début album from Russian Death Metal band Sarpentra.

If you think of bands such as Nile, Behemoth, Melechesh and Septic Flesh you’ll be on the right lines. This is aggressive, atmospheric and dark Death Metal that’s further enhanced by choirs, orchestration and operatic vocals.

The core of the band is fast and brutal, with deep growls and blast beats leading the way. This is tempered by the atmospheric side of the band, which reins in the brutality, (or tries to), so that the band’s grander and more cinematic side can come to the fore.

The technical brutality of the band blurs by as they indulge their atmospheric side and the two taken together merge into something really special. They may not be the first band to play this style but they sound like they’re doing it on steroids. While some Death Metal bands dabble in their Classical components, here they’ve been taken to the nth degree. It’s as if Therion had created reinterpretations of Nile songs and then asked Behemoth to perform them.

These are songs that have real presence to them. It’s undeniable. There are so many stand-out moments on this album that it’s hard to credit. The lightning-speed playing combined with the exotic melodies and the orchestral bombast…it’s a heady mixture and Supernova is nothing if not ambitious.

A lot of hard work has clearly gone into writing and recording these songs and it’s all paid off handsomely. This is an album that feels like a tour of a strange new land, one that’s ripe with danger but worth exploring nonetheless.

Very impressive and very, very good. Make this a high priority listen.

Estuarine – Lucid/Entheogen (Review)

Estuarine is a one-man band that’s currently based in Sweden. This is the second album from his project.

This is Extreme Metal that’s rooted in differing elements of Death Metal with a pinch of Black Metal to produce a concept album that deals in the subject of psychoactive substances. The first 6 tracks are regarding their modern use, while the last 4 tracks deal with their traditional usage.

The music is a mix of Progressive and Technical Death Metal with a subtle modern Black Metal influence. If you think of Extreme Metal bands such as Zyklon, Between the Buried and Me, (minus clean singing), and Mithras then you’ll have an idea of the kind of landscape that Lucid/Entheogen inhabits.

On the first half of the album the songs have a delightfully brutal method of attack that sees the Technical Death Metal aspect take the lead, with the Progressive Death Metal aspect coming second. Slower/lighter introspective parts, occasionally bordering on Post-Metal territory, add flavour and depth to the music, although the extremity is never far behind.

On the second half the roles are reversed somewhat, with the Progressive Metal aspects shifting to the fore and the Technical mayhem relegated to a close second place. It’s a subtle shift in many ways, but it is noticeable and results in songs that are longer, more expansive and a bit less brutal, (although this is relative as everything here is still highly aggressive and technical overall).

The vocals alternate between growls and screams. The growls are convincing enough, but it’s the screams that sound particularly good to me.

The recording is a good one and everything sounds solid and in your face. Sometimes the production on one-man projects can sound a bit flat or one dimensional, but this is certainly not the case here.

Although by no means perfect, this is still better than most. Ambitious, forward-thinking and brutally proficient; Lucid/Entheogen is an impressive accomplishment and anyone who has a penchant for interesting and individualistic Extreme Metal should make a beeline for it as a priority.

Really, really enjoyable and extremely highly recommended.

Favourite Track: Towards Infinite Kaleidoscopic Dimensions.

Barrows – Swine Race (Review)

Barrows are a Canadian Grindcore band and this is their début album.

This is sophisticated-yet-ugly Grindcore that’s added to and fleshed out by Brutal Death Metal elements, resulting in savage Deathgrind the likes of which will be too extreme for most.

The songs combine rhythmic, pulsing mayhem with blasting carnage and insane guitar torture. There actually is occasional melody involved in their assault too, albeit of a twisted, warped variety.

There’s a lot going on in these songs as the band chug, Grind, blast, groove and rip their way through the 29 minutes on this album with vicious glee and crazed enthusiasm. It’s all about the brutality, but with a surprisingly varied attack. The point is, Barrows are a multi-dimensional band with many different facets to their offensive rather than just playing ferociously fast.

The vocals are a fierce collection of grunts, screams and pig-noises that are enough to scare away all but the most hardened of Extreme Metal fans. The singer’s performance is not to be faulted and he frequently sounds like about 100 maniacs all at the same time, which is no mean feat.

Sort of like a cross between Cattle Decapitation, Pig Destroyer and Circle of Dead Children; Barrows have produced quite a stunner of an album, which is up there with the latest Maruta release as a prime example of quality Deathgrind.

Essential listening for all fans of Grindcore extremity.

Cattle Decapitation – The Anthropocene Extinction (Review)

This is the eighth album from veteran US Death metal band Cattle Decapitation.

Based on the concept of humanity dying out due to its own actions, Cattle Decapitation return once more to show that Death Metal can be savage and intelligent at the same time.

Cattle Decapitation’s take on Death Metal is an ever-developing one that seems to only improve over time. Pretty much a Progressive Death Metal band at this point, they still have a core of Brutal Death Metal with a touch of Grindcore, but this has been expanded upon and augmented by Progressive and melodic components, all without sacrificing the essential extremity of the band.

The vocals are impressively delivered and the singer proves he has a versatile and vicious palette of vocalisations to work from, be that grunting nastiness, utter pignoise, hateful screams or strange, mutant, melodic semi-cleans that sound like a strangled Devin Townsend. This latter statement may not sound very complimentary but it is; they’re very emotive in an inhuman way.

The music ranges from the ultra-brutal, to the meaningfully melodic, to the Progressively expansive, to the dynamically riff-heavy, to the atmospherically apocalyptic. It’s a multifaceted and interesting sound that manages to surprisingly accomplish two very important and hard-to-do-tasks – the first is that it manages to remain extreme, regardless of all of these other additions and excursions; the second is that it manges to do this while having an emotional depth that is simply lacking in a lot of bands, never mind Death Metal ones. These are songs that can actually cause an emotional response from the listener, as well as simply being great to bang your head and stamp along to.

This is 46 minutes of quality Death Metal that’s not afraid to do its own thing. Cattle Decapitation are one of those rare bands that really do just get better with age.

An essential listen.

Fully Consumed – Incendium (Review)

Fully Consumed are a Death Metal band from the US and this is their second album.

This is Technical Death Metal that also features a good amount of syncopated groove, resulting in an album that is weighted towards the former but still maintains a good balance between technical mayhem and head-banging bounce.

Blast beats and time changes work alongside mid-paced bruisers to create an album that contains a huge amount of speed and brutality but also knows when to slow it down a notch to really drive things home.

Vocals consist of dark growls and slithering screams that play second fiddle to the music but would still definitely be missed if they weren’t present.

The band have some good ideas in the songs and these tracks deliver a satisfying hit of chaotic violence. It’s an unrelenting assault and the band don’t show any signs of fatigue throughout these 37 minutes. Even the mid-paced sections are quickly swallowed up in a tide of blasting or technicality and the band are nothing if not persistent in their quest for carnage.

This album was originally released in 2014, but as the band felt the original recording did not do it justice they have now remastered and reissued it in 2015. I don’t know what the original sounded like but this has a solid sound that allows the band to show off what they can do.

Recommended for all Technical Death Metal fans.