Death Metal – Page 199 – Wonderbox Metal

Xibalba – Tierra Y Libertad (Review)

Xibalba are a Death Metal band from the US and this is their third album.

This is heavy, brutal Death Metal that takes Hardcore and Sludge influences to make a monster of an album.

Imagine a Metalcore band that played Death Metal…yes I know that this implies Deathcore, but Xibalba are not a Deathcore band. Xibalba don’t have an easy to categorise sound. Deathcore should cover it, but no; this is a merger of 90’s Hardcore and 90’s Death Metal where Morbid Angel and Madball meet.

Classic Metal songwriting merges with Hardcore fury and Death Metal aggression. These songs really hit the spot for me as they take me back to the mid/late 90’s but translated to the modern day with a crushingly heavy production.

The band’s sound is Hellishly aggressive and recalls lost greats like Merauder and Konkhra if they got their hands on some Obituary and Crowbar riffs.

The vocals are predominantly harsh shouts that straddle the line between Hardcore and Metal, successfully merging the two styles into a vitriolic whole.

Xibalba have a meaty, beefy guitar tone that can squash a tank at 1000 metres. The punishing music perfectly captures the feeling of rolling demolition and hate-fuelled terror. Little snatches of melody appear merely to offset the heavy rhythms so that when these moments of light disappear again the riffs sound even louder and heavier than ever before.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Heaving Earth – Denouncing the Holy Throne (Review)

Heaving Earth are from the Czech Republic and this is their second album.

Now this is the stuff! Just take a look at the album cover and tell me you’re not sold on that alone. Class.

When you press play all Hell breaks loose. It’s like the essence of Death Metal just floods out of the speakers and everything is okay with the world again.

If you like Hate Eternal, Immolation, Morbid Angel and Gorguts then I feel pretty confident in recommending Heaving Earth to you. And recommend them I do, whole heartedly.

The singer has the perfect kind of Death Metal voice; it sounds like he’s chewing granite and he’s got that deeply satisfying style of growling that really hits you where it counts. It’s guttural but still expressive.

The music has a quality production that allows you to hear everything that’s going on without giving it too much of a polish.

Angry riffs and boatloads of leads make for songs that are both brutal and emotive in the way that bands like Immolation do so well. The songs on Denouncing the Holy Throne are well written, well played and just plain rule. As well as the ripping and the tearing there’s no shortage of atmosphere either.

There’s a good degree of interest and variety here, (within the genre confines obviously), and lots of good ideas are explored. A malevolent aura hangs over the entire album pulling everything together so it all sounds very complete.

Well this is just great. Top marks for Heaving Earth. What are you waiting for? Get out there and hunt this down now!

Inharmonic – Flesh Inferno (Review)

This is the second EP from Finnish Death Metallers Inharmonic.

Inharmonic play Death Metal with a classic 90’s feel via a very modern production. It’s a brutal and traditional style that recalls Deicide or Decapitated’s catchy simplicity.

The band do have a modern sheen characterised by the strong production and the razor-sharp riffing.

Some nice winding leads appear to enhance their core brutality. Solos also appear but for me the real star of this recording is the rhythm guitars as they’re both memorable and infectious.

The crisp sound makes the punishing rhythms almost crash out of the speakers and the band take full advantage of this to pummel the listener into submission.

Flesh Inferno is an effective Death Metal war machine designed to tear through the weak like a carefully honed weapon. It’s surgical, precise and deadly.

I look forward to their first album; if Flesh Inferno is anything to go by it’ll be a right fiery treat.

Good stuff.

Holotropic – Permeate (Review)

Holotropic are from Slovakia and play Progressive Technical Extreme Metal. This is their début album.

I wasn’t sure what this was going to sound like and was afraid it was going to be some wishy-washy, formless nonsense. I’m not sure why. This was all dispelled shortly into the first song; what I expected to be some throwaway intro track turns out to be masterful Extreme Metal that wouldn’t be out of place on an album by Between the Buried and Me or The Faceless.

More fool me.

No, cynical me has taken a firm beating and I’m very glad too. Permeate is a very impressive album.

Holotropic mix brutality, progressive sections, melodic parts, piano interludes, Jazz, heavy riffs and chaotic rhythms together into a cohesive whole that they’ve then weaved into their comprehensive Extreme Metal tapestry. This is either a Progressive Metal band that have taken Death Metal as their own, or a Death Metal band who have learned the value of expansive variety. Which it is doesn’t really matter.

Death Metal is an apt genre, but the nature of the riffs, the modern cadence, the exploratory nature of the music…it’s simply more than most Death Metal bands get up to. Again the comparisons to the aforementioned Between the Buried and Me and The Faceless come to mind, as this is Extreme Metal that has a modern Progressive slant.

The band can play very well and there’s a boat-load of technicality on display here too. As Technical Death Metal goes it can give most a run for their money.

For all the variety and interesting ideas of the music, the vocals are mainly pitch-black growls. It works well though as it provides a central anchor for the band’s extremity and musical meanderings. They sound great too. Occasional cleans appear sparingly and are professionally done.

Permeate is a varied and interesting début from an extremely promising band. I insist you take note of Holotropic and get your hands on this. They have a bright future ahead of them.

Highly recommended.

Dehumanize/Nihilism – Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed – Split (Review)

Dehumanize and Nihilism are both French Death Metal bands. They’ve conspired together to unleash this split on the world and have clearly given it some thought rather than just chucking some old songs together; each band has contributed two new songs, a new version of an old song and a cover of one of the other’s. As ideas for splits go it’s better than most.

We start off with Dehumanize, who offer us 16 minutes of sharp Death Metal.

Dehumanize have a good amount of both savagery and brutal melody in their sound. Solos and leads are used well and there’s lots of meaty guitar action.

Their style incorporates an Old-School feeling as well as some Thrash influences in the riff department.

This is an interesting collection of tracks and, for whatever reason, I enjoy each one more than the previous. This culminates in their final song Don’t Be Scared with it’s driving rhythm guitar and subtle melodies that combine with some brutal thrashing and an emotive vocal performance. It’s almost as if you’re watching the band warm up – the start of their side is good but it definitely improves as it goes along.

After Dehumanize, Nihilism have 20 minutes to show their stuff.

Nhilism’s Death Metal is rhythmic and Old-School. It’s primitive and atavistic with an underground sound and vocals that sound like they’re issuing forth from a daemonic cavern. Interestingly though, the band aren’t above using semi-clean vocals when they need to; this, coupled with some nice melodic/atmospheric work, lends them an air of early Amorphis/Anathema/Sentenced on occasion.

The songs have a fuzzed up bounce to them and a rotten energy that’s undeniable. The Old-School is strong with these, and the more interesting elements of atmosphere and harmonies make the band even more compelling than if there were just playing Old-School Death Metal alone.

An enjoyable split from both bands.

Voices – London (Review)

This is the second album from UK group Voices. They play Progressive Blackened Death Metal.

Featuring former members of Akercocke, this is an album full of promise from the start as Akercocke were one of the best and most individual bands that the UK had to offer.

As soon as the dark acoustic opener Suicide Note starts I’m instantly hit with the feeling that Akercocke gave me in their more restrained moments. Then Music for the Recently Bereaved blasts out of the speakers and I feel warm and fuzzy inside and out.

If voices aren’t the heirs to Akercocke then I don’t know who is. They’re definitely their own entity but they channel the same primordial power and majesty that Akercocke did so well.

Blasting Death Metal, scathing Black Metal, Progressive Metal, Avant-Garde and everything in between make up these tracks. Progressive Blackened Death Metal is as good a term as any, but it seems so small. Voices are just bigger than that and have a whole lot more on offer than that mouthful of a genre tag implies.

The songs here are varied and full of interesting ideas and avenues for exploration. The band essentially just do what they want and I’m incredibly glad of this as it has resulted in a top quality album full of modern Extreme Metal that stands alone.

Growls, screams, cleans; the band do it all with style. It’s like Akercocke, Arcturus, Opeth and Emperor were crushed up together, digested and vomited up as a slick, professional, fully formed Extreme Metal machine. It’s classy and in a class of its own.

I love it when bands do their own thing and inject their art with personality and character. It’s even better when they do this with obvious talent and a passionate hunger. London is all of these things and more.

This is ambitious and hugely impressive. For a snapshot of everything that Extreme Metal should be these days then London is flawless.

In fact that’s all I need to say really; London is flawless.

Archgoat – The Apocalyptic Triumphator (Review)

This is the third album from Finnish Blackened Death Metallers Archgoat.

This is raw, underground music filled with a horrific vibe and lashings of brutality. Blackened Death Metal, for the most part, usually means a Death Metal band with some Blackened influences. Archgoat have found that rare middle ground though that straddles both genres equally.

The Black Metal influence lends the songs a grim atmosphere and the Death Metal influence provides the aggression and ugliness.

Archgoat have created a very good listen with this album. Each song blurs the line between the two parent genres and we’re left with something that most people would just abort, but not Archgoat; they love, nurture and sculpt this malignant offspring into something worthy and deadly.

The deep growls seem to belch out malevolent black smoke and they seem to erupt out of the guitars like cancerous evil.

The riffs are captivating as they combine that Black Metal groove with Death Metal attack. It’s a winning combination.

Overall verdict? A great listen.

Triumvir Foul – An Oath of Blood and Fire (Review)

Triumvir Foul are a Death Metal band from the US, and this is their début demo.

At just under 16 minutes in length this is a decent taster for the band that comprises 3 original songs and an Autopsy cover.

This is blistering Old-School Death Metal with a filthy disposition and vocals that sound like Satan gargling acid.

The putrid riffs and disgusting vocals combine to ensure that these tracks deliver the goods and at the end of the playing time you’re left wondering what just happened and why you feel soiled and sullied.

Grime-ridden guitar leads and solos are included for that extra bit of rotten flavour and the band successfully create a miasma of pestilence and sickness wherever they go.

It’s only a demo, and even though the sound could do with a few sonic tweaks here and there it’s still a great representation of a band who clearly know their style and intend to dominate it.

One to check out for sure.

Masochist – Condemned to Grovel (Review)

This is the latest EP from Masochist, who are a Brutal Death Metal band from the UK.

The intro track Prologue to Prolapse is nicely heavy and really clears the cobwebs away. Phew. It’s enough to crush a rhino. Not that you’d want to, but if you did this would do it.

From here the rest of the EP picks up the pace but is no less heavy, with thick guitars raging and blaring out.

This is Brutal Death Metal with the modern, heavy sound of Deathcore. To be clear, I’m talking the aural feeling and production of a modern Deathcore band, not the style; Masochist are firmly in the Brutal Death Metal camp. Yes there’s a lot of crossover of course but Masochist’s Death Metal comes from an older lineage than Deathcore’s relatively young one.

The vocals are deeply satisfying. Or satisfyingly deep. Both actually. They’re added to with high screams that aren’t too far away from static.

The music pounds, batters, rips, tears and destroys; these and other similar words. It all adds up to the fact that these songs are not only Hellishly brutal but Hellishly brutal in a way that says “Masochist know how to knock you down whilst writing top songs that hold attention and reach down deep into your stomach into your happy place and grab hold hard”. It’s a bit of a mouthful but that’s what they certainly do say, yes sir.

Oh but this is too good. Masochist are spoiling us. If they can keep their songwriting skills up and replicate this crushing, heavy sound on their début full length then the UK will have a real player on its hands.

I can’t recommend this highly enough. Top work. Now if I could only find a rhino…

My Shameful – Hollow (Review)

This is the sixth album from Finnish Funeral Doom/Death Metallers My Shameful.

My Shameful craft dark and atmospheric Funeral Doom containing elements of Death Metal that are completely bent and broken to Doom’s single-minded will. Even the faster sections carry an aura of depressive longing and tragic woe that no amount of blast beats can erase.

The songs slowly build in intensity and atmosphere using textured guitars and eerie melodies. The band do a great job of stamping their own identity on the Doom/Death template and although it’s obviously recognisable as the genre it is, My Shameful don’t sound generic or stale at all. Kudos to them.

One of the key things about this band which sets them apart from others in the genre is the guitars; Rather than settle for the ever-familiar heavy rhythms with winding leads approach that so many go for, My Shameful have rhythms and riffs that are more nuanced and subtle than the norm for this style. Add some spectral effects and otherworldly sounds, mix in the expressive vocals and wrap it all up in some quality songwriting and Hollow is an album to savour.

This is haunting, strangely beautiful music that fosters a morbidly oppressive mood. Even the vocals, which are brutally evil growls, add to this feeling of ethereal heaviosity where the band seem to strike the right balance between darkness and light. It’s certainly not an equal balance, probably 85/15, but it’s one that allows them to work their Doom Metal magic.

As far as Doom/Death goes it doesn’t get much better than this.