Death Metal – Page 219 – Wonderbox Metal

Skinfather – None Will Mourn (Review)

This is the début album from US Death Metal band Skinfather.

They may come from the US but their style of Death Metal is more Swedish than anything else. They are also named after a Dismember song, so you get the idea.

However, they are not just about the hero-worship, they also add some more contemporary influences into their sound – a bit of Entombed here, a bit of Crust/Hardcore there. It all adds up to a riveting listen.

That chainsaw sound is plastered all over every song and this gives proceedings a hefty amount of muscular backbone. The riffs are powerful and the band clearly passionate about their songs, which is obviously a good thing. Also; there are some seriously good riffs on here…

The vocals are halfway between the Death Metal standard and a more Crusty gurning, although when needed the growls do come out in their full bestial glory.

A very satisfying listen. Unlike a lot of bands who try this style Skinfather have managed to stamp their own mark on the Swedish Death Metal template, which is no mean feat.

Listen up – there’s a new pack leader in town.

https://soundcloud.com/earsplit/skinfather-ordeal-by-fire?in=earsplit/sets/skinfather-none-will-mourn

Bokluk – Taphonomy (Review)

Bokluk are from Spain and play Death Metal. This is their début album.

Primitive, atavistic Death Metal with a healthy Crust influence oozes out of the speakers and all over the floor. You try to run, try to hide, but to no effect. The gloopy, sinister ooze is already on you, infecting your brain and slowly turning you into itself. Soon it will have taken you over completely, and then there will only be Bokluk.

This is Old-School Death Metal mixed with the most filthy Punk/Crust influence imaginable.

The production is raw and unpolished, lending the songs real bite and an authentic aura of dirt.

Vocals are deep, guttural and indecipherable; a relentless battering of growls and grunts.

Whether playing fast or slow they have some tasty riffs, and the Metal keeps on flowing.

Play loud.

Eskhaton – Worship Death (Review)

This is the latest album from Australia’s Eskhaton.

The band play Blackened Death Metal and don’t waste any time introducing the listener to their thick, filthy sound.

The reverberating vocals sound like they are being howled out of a void and the music similarly evokes images of warp storms and dimension-ripping tornadoes.

This is savage, bestial and relentless. Like some form of primeval Death Metal ritual, swathed in the occult and daring you to lock stares with it. I wonder who will blink first?

Raging guitar assaults compete with inhuman drumming which always seems just one step away from the drummer losing all control and just beating his kit into a pile of rubbish.

It’s only on the fourth track, (and title track), where we start to see the first signs of let up in the hyper-extreme blasting, with a mid-paced section easing us into the song. At least for 30 seconds or so, after which it’s back to the mayhem as chaos and unholy cacophonies are unleashed once more.

Eskhaton epitomise brutal, Extreme Metal with some lightning flashes of Blackened melody striking out from the maelstrom. Are you brave enough to risk getting caught in their way?

Decembre Noir – A Discouraged Believer (Review)

Decembre Noir are from Germany and play Depressive/Doom/Death Metal.

This is a release dripping with emotion, raw and bloody. The songs are instantly recognisable as carriers for the dark disease of misery and hopelessness.

They take their cues from bands such as early Opeth, Katatonia, Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. They build on this classic template by injecting their own vital sense of songwriting into the mix and effectively breathe life into a subgenre that can easily become stale and overdone in the wrong hands.

Decembre Noir know what they’re doing though. The crisp and powerful production meshed with the emotive riffs and the highly accomplished growled vocals mean that this is no amateur piece of work.

The tracks summon up their negative energies and deliver them with a strong Metal wrapping that can easily hold its own.

And just when you think you’ve got them down, the last song Escape to the Sun throws up some gorgeous clean male/female vocals in a gloriously luxurious section. It’s brief, and all the more special for it.

The band take the listener on a journey through melancholy conveyed via the medium of Metal, and what a trip it is.

Decembre Noir have that certain special something that the bands mentioned above all have/had in abundance. Get your ears around this one, it’s a keeper.

Zoldier Noiz – Regression Process (Review)

Zoldier Noiz are a French band who play primitive Death/Thrash/Crossover Metal.

This is ugly Death Metal from back alleys and drunken brawls. Ultra-primitive, belligerent Metal that combines the raw underbelly of Punk and Crust into a Crossover whole that melds Thrash to a primordial Death Metal.

The songs are short and violent, but that doesn’t mean the band are without talent; not just anyone can get away with playing this style of music and not have it come off as an uninteresting mess. Zoldier Noiz make up for what they lack in sophistication with raw passion and will.

A speed punk feeling underlies these songs with the band sometimes seemingly rushing to finish as soon as they’ve started. It makes for an energetic listen.

A functional-but-that’s-about-it recording emphasizes the barbaric nature of the band and unintelligibly grunted pseudo-vocals are barked like challenges to all and sundry.

If a band like Motorhead released a primitive Death Metal album, they it would probably sound a lot like Zoldier Noiz.

Morbid Flesh – Embedded In The Ossuary (Review)

Morbid Flesh are a Death Metal band from Spain, and this is their latest EP.

It starts off with an atmospheric instrumental track Entrance to the Ossuary which whets the appetite with its Bolt Thrower-esque melodies and build up. After this we’re into the thick of it with Charnel House and it’s clear that the band are channelling the greats of Swedish Death Metal for their primal sound.

The riffs are good choices and the drums are a powerful backbone keeping everything on track. Rather than adhereing strictly to the blueprint laid down by the Swedish masters however, the band are not afraid to add a bit of atmospherics to their sound and they excel at all of the wailing, screaming solos.

So, a nice bit of Grave and Dismember, with a little bit of a Death influence added.

The vocalist is adept at his calling, with some deep growls to accompany the chainsaw-assault and the melodic outbreaks.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I appear to have a soft spot for this kind of Death Metal. But honestly, what’s not to like?

Listen for yourself.

Sabbatory – Endless Asphyxiating Gloom (Review)

Sabbatory are from Canada and play Death Metal. This is their début album.

Sabbatory have an Old-School sound that recalls Celtic Frost if they were a Death Metal band.

The production has that classic timeless feeling and the songs maximise this, playing their morbid Metal with enthusiasm and intensity.

The vocals are deep and disturbed, but remain legible for the most part. They have character and are instantly differentiated from most modern Death Metal vocals by this and by borrowing some Old-School quirkiness from the likes of Celtic Frost and Venom.

Each song has its own identity. There are only 7 of them but they each have a role to play in making up the 33 minutes playing time. There is not a filler in sight.

Like the best of the classic Death Metal bands Sabbatory are interested in songs and know how to write a good tune. They play the riffs well and even push out the odd solo. I hear a healthy Death influence here and there.

Recommended listening. After all, this is Death Metal through and through, what’s not to like?

Human Infection – Curvatures In Time (Review)

Human Infection are from the US and play Death Metal.

And what an album cover! Now that’s what a Death Metal cover should look like…

The music doesn’t disappoint. After a perfunctory intro it’s straight into the USDM-style blasting with the nicely named Celestial.

The vocals instantly jump out at you with their character and are more Malevolent Creation than the cookie monster-standard.

This harks back to earlier times circa the 90’s, with short, brutal songs that could have come out of the Cannibal Corpse stable or the Floridian swamps; the band have the USDM blasting down to a nostalgic art, and the mid-paced assaults are authentic and rousing. There is even a subtle Thrash element to some of the riffs. It’s not a huge influence, but it’s there, adding its bite to the attack.

Human Infection also drag the songwriting skills of the bands from this earlier era into their work. These tracks are not merely a collection of riffs; thought has gone into the ebb and flow of the songs, as well as to making them catchy and loading them with hooks.

Like Morbid Angel and Suffocation conspired to produce a bastard offspring; Curvatures In Time is a worthy heir to the throne.

Ferium – Reflections (Review)

This is the début album from Ferium who come from Israel and play Death/Groove Metal with a slight Metalcore-style influence.

This is rabble-rousing groove Metal with a firm Death Metal basis and only a little bit of -core influence added in. A case could be made for calling them Deathcore I suppose, but they don’t share a lot of common ground with most Deathcore bands, (more emphasis on melody and less on breakdowns, etc.), and thus I feel this would be doing them somewhat of a disservice. Genre label quibbles aside, the emphasis is on the Metal, as it should be.

I suppose if you take a cross of, say Lamb of God and Arch Enemy and add more of classic Death Metal influence you’d be in the right area. Or conversely if you take some older bands such as Lipid and Konkhra and add a modern influence you’d end up in similar territory.

The songs are growers; they have an initial impact certainly, but require time to fully appreciate as they are the kind of songs that are unhurried, secure in the knowledge that they’re capable and worthy of repeat visitations.

This is at least partly to do with the fact that a lot of the riffs used here are midway between melodic and brutal, making them stand out and peak the curiosity. The band flirt with Melodic Death Metal but always pull back to heavier climes before fully embracing this destination. It’s an interesting listen.

The vocalist has quite the range, whether it’s deep growls or terror-inducing screams. He has the rhythmic patterns of a modern Metal shouter and the lungs of a Behemoth.

Ferium have produced a quality listen with enough longevity to keep things lively. Let’s see where this band end up as they have a lot to offer the discerning metal fan.

Fisthammer – Infallible (Review)

This is the second album from US group Fisthammer, who must surely have one of the best names ever.

Fisthammer deliver us Death Metal with a lot of different influences at play throughout the 10 tracks on this album.

Sometimes it’s a bit of a Blackened influence on some of the riffs; sometimes they play something from the Technical Death Metal genre; sometimes they have a Progressive tendency; sometimes an Old-School vibe creeps into proceedings; sometimes a melodic section uplifts and inspires; sometimes a furiously modern breakdown/riff rears its head; sometimes an acoustic/softer passage relaxes things…I could go on but suffice to say Fisthammer are no one-trick pony.

All of these diverse elements are woven around a thoroughly brutal Death Metal core and swathed in a filthy yet powerful production and drenched in unholy blasphemy. Such a range of ideas and quirks could lead to a lesser band sounding a bit sloppy or unnatural, but Fisthammer give a coherent performance throughout and consistently deliver exceptional songs.

And exceptional songs they are – there are simply so many highlights it’s just silly. It’s hard to identify a favourite, although at this precise moment, (and it changes quite frequently), I favour Automation of Flesh as it’s just got an absolutely amazing riff in it. Listen to it. You’ll know the one I’m talking about.

Calling your album Infallible is a risk in some ways, as it opens up the band to easy attack had they released something sub-par. However, as they have released what will probably be referred to as a Death Metal classic in years to come, it instead gives people like me an easy way to compliment the band. Yes; this album is Infallible in both name and nature.

Overall this is inventive, interesting and basically incredible.

Get. This. Now.