Exhumed are a US death metal band and this is their sixth album.
I’ve had a huge, (wet, mushy, bloody), soft spot for Exhumed from the first time I heard Gore Metal way back when it came out, and ever since I’ve been a fan. I mention this only because Death Revenge is being released almost 20 years after their legendary debut, but demonstrates a band that have probably never sounded better.
This is the seventh album from legendary Spanish goregrinders Haemorrhage.
This is 35 minutes of unhinged medical mayhem. However, the band also know the virtue of restraint when necessary, as sometimes the applied force of a surgical strike is more effective than a chainsaw to the guts. Continue reading “Haemorrhage – We Are the Gore (Review)”
Expulsion are a US grindcore band and this is their debut release.
Consisting of members of bands such as Exhumed and Repulsion, (presumably where the name Expulsion came from?), as well as Gruesome, Intronaut, Phobia, and Lightning Swords of Death, it’s safe to say that there’s a wealth of experience that’s gone into this release.
Gruesome are a Death Metal band from the US. This is their latest EP.
Gruesome are a supergroup of sorts, made up of members who have a large amount of extreme metal experience and count many different bands as their current and ex-projects, including Exhumed, Possessed and Malevolent Creation.
After the massively enjoyable slab of Death-worship that was Savage Land, Gruesome return with Continue reading “Gruesome – Dimensions of Horror (Review)”
Gorepunch are from the US and this is their début album. They play Death Metal.
Comprised of members and ex-members from veteran groups such as Fear Factory, Aborted, System Divide and Malignancy, Gorepunch already have a lot of experience. Give ‘Em Hell makes the most of this and wastes no time in getting to the heart of the matter – blood, guts and blasting brutality. Remember, the quickest way to the heart is through the ribcage.
Their album has an interesting approach to Death Metal that takes some influence from Grindcore but largely adopts a split between Technical Death Metal and a state-of-the-art modern approach, resulting in an album that’s just at home slaying you with a direct approach or flaying you alive with an off-centre complicated attack. It’s a formula that results in a Modern Death Metal album with its putrid fingers in enough different pies to keep you happy and focused throughout the 26 minutes playing time.
The songs are like an enjoyable beating and feature good playing, pummelling riffs and savage vocals. The band use enough melodics to keep things engaging, but don’t allow them to go overboard and detract from the brutality.
A really engaging release that satisfies those cravings for a short, sharp blast of aural carnage that still has some substance to the barbarity.
For fans of Aborted, Job for a Cowboy, The Kennedy Veil, Prostitute Disfigurement, Wormed, Alterbeast, Exhumed, Ichor, etc.
This is the début album by US Death Metal band Gruesome.
This is a supergroup of sorts, featuring members of Exhumed, Possessed, Malevolent Creation and Derketa. Gruesome exist purely to pay homage to Old-School Floridian Death Metal, with specific reference to the early work of Death.
It’s clear from the very start that they have everything in place to achieve this.
The sound is an authentic Morrisound one, only polished up a bit and without actually being recorded there.
The music is straight out of the Old-School Death handbook, complete with galloping drums, sharp riffs and leads/solos aplenty.
Savage Land excels in the songs though; without good songs this album would fall flat as being rather pointless. Thankfully though, listening to all of those Death Metal albums from an early age has done wonders for the band and this is a really enjoyable album that almost seems to reanimate the corpse of Death, if only for a little while.
In fact the spirit of Death is felt strongly throughout these 36 minutes. It seems to be lurking wherever you look, the riffs, the drums, the solos, the vocals, the choruses, everything really; deeply infused into the songs.
In another band this might be seen as a bad thing, but in Gruesome it’s so honest, so pure, so well-realised that Savage Land just comes off as a triumph.
Turn the volume up and give this a listen. If you’ve ever been a fan of early Death then I defy you not to enjoy this.
This is Polish Brutal Death Metal band Incarnated’s third album.
Incarnated are all about the pure brutality and the sickening smashing and blasting. They are the kind of band that revel in gore and gruesome, still-living dissections.
This is heavy and fast. The drums show no mercy and the vocals are deeper than a well of blood.
The guitarists play like their life depends on it. Rather unusually for Brutal Death metal of this style they pretty much have the Swedish Death Metal sound to their guitars; all chainsaw sounding but mangled by the non-Swedish styled riffing. It sounds great don’t get me wrong, just a little incongruous at first; like Dismember playing Goregrind/Exhumed/Aborted covers almost. It’s a good way to differentiate themselves from the bloody masses however, and it gets my vote.
The songs are relentless and continuously march forwards propelled by the untiring efforts of the superhuman drummer. Occasional spurts of melody or solos leak out of the mashed up corpse only to be stemmed quickly and efficiently lest the victim expire too soon.
I must say I’m enjoying this. The songs are satisfyingly extreme and they hit that sweet spot reserved for quality Metal only.
If you like Brutal Death Metal then you should eat this up. Open wide.
This is veteran Czech band Isacaarum’s seventh album of filthy Blackened Deathgrind.
Inhabiting the same degraded, run-down pay-by-the-hour hotel as The Meatfückers; Isacaarum are more at the Grind/Death end of the spectrum than the aforementioned band, but no less seedy and porn-obsessed for it.
The 9 songs that span this 30 minutes of depraved Metal never get stuck in a rut. In fact, for the genre this is a surprisingly varied release with even some melodic moments raising their rubber-clad heads at appropriate intervals.
The vocals alternate between higher and lower shrieks/grunts, (in a similar vein to, say, Exhumed), with the deep growls in particular being very well done.
A strong production with a heavy sound accentuates all of the questionable fluids that the band excrete and allows their songs to breathe and enjoy themselves while being mindful of the safety word at all times.
I have enjoyed this album immensely; the band have an ear for a good song and the album doesn’t get stale. This is the first time I’ve encountered Isacaarum and I’m very glad I have. I’ll be visiting them at their seedy hotel more often in the future.
Wonderbox Metal 