Extreme metal – Page 31 – Wonderbox Metal

Cerebric Turmoil – Neural Net Meltdown (Review)

Cerebric Turmoil are a German Death Metal band and this is their début album.

Cerebric Turmoil are a Technical Death Metal band and then some. Mix in a nasty amount of brutality with the insanity and you get an album that screams its intentions from the top of its deliciously aggressive lungs, in ways you’ve probably never imagined before.

Think of a maniacal cross between Cephalic Carnage, Obscura, Wormed, Cryptopsy and Psycroptic. Yes, it’s time for unhinged, futuristic, alien-spawned TechDeath craziness!

I don’t like using words such as crazy to describe music, but this really is something special. It’s a controlled, well-thought out craziness, of course, but still; it’s a wild ride and you have to be a certain type of Extreme Metal fan not to get knocked over by it.

You’re never quite sure what’s going to happen next. It’s a chaotic mélange of brutality, technicality and free-form madness that nonetheless retains enough cohesiveness to not venture completely off the rails.

The production complements the band’s mayhem well, allowing every fully-utilised instrument to be heard throughout the crashing din. I love an album where you can not only hear the bass but it makes a valuable contribution, and on Neural Net Meltdown, (an apt name if ever there was one), the bass definitely has its own character and presence. The same of which can be said of every instrument.

And the vocals? Almost as varied as the music. We get shouted growls as the main form of assault, backed up by almost every other kind you an imagine – growls, pigsqueals, screams, and most things in between.

Songs like these are hard to describe, you just need to hear them really. It’s Death Metal technicality taken to a certain extreme. It’s remarkably individual and delightfully memorable; listening to Cerebric Turmoil means you know you’ve been listening to Cerebric Turmoil. This is not your average band.

Loved it. What’s more to say?

Xenosis – Sowing the Seeds of Destruction (Review)

This is the second album by Xenosis, a Progressive Death Metal band from the US.

Here we have a thoroughly modern take on Extreme Metal, incorporating state-of-the-art Death Metal, (à la The Faceless), the Progressive and Technical styles, as well as a bit of Djent, Deathcore and Melodic Death/Thrash Metal thrown in for good measure. It’s not as eclectic as it sounds though and it all gels together nicely to produce an album that has a lot going for it.

The combined impact of the above sub-genres is that Sowing the Seeds of Destruction features a lot of actual songs, as opposed to merely essays in technicality/brutality/speed/etc. All of these aspects are here, of course, but they’re all tempered by an overarching aesthetic that largely puts the song first over anything else. As such, this is a surprisingly catchy and memorable release from the off.

The vocals are mainly higher than you might expect, more in-line with the style employed by Carcass than your typical cookie-monster growls. Deeper grunts do appear, but these are less common than their higher counterparts. Clean vocals also make an appearance on one track, with these being delivered somewhere between those of The Faceless and Opeth.

This is a professional package that shows a band coming into their own and injecting their collective personality into the music. The songs are involved and intricate enough to have a lot of content within these 31 minutes and the playing time just flies by far too quickly. Lots of ideas are explored too, with the band thankfully unafraid to express themselves in whatever way they see fit.

I’m very impressed by this and I’m amazed they haven’t been snapped up hungrily by one of the more well-known Extreme Metal labels.

For now though, let’s just enjoy Sowing the Seeds of Destruction and the treasures that it offers.

Against the Plagues – Purified Through Devastation (Review)

Against the Plagues are a US Death Metal band and this is their third album.

Featuring a crushing and professional sound, Against the Plagues play Death Metal mixed with lashings of Melodic Black Metal.

Deep growls and higher screams are the singer’s weapons of choice, with both sounding feral and full of hatred.

The band manage to take the savagery of Death Metal and infuse it with the melodic poison of Black Metal’s dark soul. This mixture means that Purified Through Devastation contains a good deal of catchy and memorable content. It’s not all blasting and brutality, (although they’re quite adept at that too), and these songs have quite a bit of atmosphere when they want to. Think a combination of Immolation, Morbid Angel and The Kennedy Veil crossed with Dimmu Borgir.

The muscular sound backs up the innate strength of the songs and subtle keyboards add a nuanced juxtaposition against the bare brutality of the drums and aggressive riffs. Mood and feeling is created with melodic workouts and the band can get quite martial and epic in scope on occasion.

It’s a modern take on Blackened Death Metal that sees the band highlighting the glossier, state-of-the-art side of both genres, resulting in a well-polished album that is also very well crafted. The band clearly know what they do and do it well. As Extreme Metal goes in 2015, this is a definite winner in my book.

This is an album that spits venom and fire, one that I’m more than happy to visit again and again. I suggest you do too.

Temple of Baal – Mysterium (Review)

This is the fifth album from this French Black Metal band.

Their fourth album Verses of Fire was 61 minutes of top quality Extreme Metal and was a welcome experience that was a slight change of direction from their earlier, purer Black Metal approach. That album brought more Death Metal influences into the mix, although their Blackened side was still a huge component in their sound.

Fast-forward to 2015 and Mysterium relegates the Death Metal influences to the back seat and their Black Metal roots get to set the direction once more. This is not the more primitive Black/Thrash of their older work though; this is more refined, epic and gloriously sophisticated in its realisation. As such, the songs are generally longer and more involved than their previous averages, and the thick dark aura of the songs is cloying with its aggressive malevolence.

This release is full of Blackened riffs, blasting fury and evocative melodies. There’s a driving majesty that underpins each of the tracks on this album, so regardless of the particular style of music that makes up any given section it’s holistically all brought together by an iron will and a coherent vision. This shouldn’t give the impression of an album that’s “all-over-the-place” or struggling to find an identity as there’s none of that here. Rather, this is sophisticated Black Metal that still takes influences from Death and Thrash Metal, but they’re subsumed into the overarching Blackened style and whatever the band does with these influences is consistent and reasonable within the confines of their sound.

These songs are well-written advanced exemplars of the style and each one brings something extra to the table.

The vocals are dark growling screams, perfectly suited to the environment they find themselves in.

The production of the album is a strong one; it’s huge and powerful yet manages to maintain the feeling of raw, restrained chaos and fettered Blackened evil that the songs exude as easily as breathing.

I was a fan of Versus of Fire, but this is better. The progression of their sound is welcome and it seems that Temple of Baal are one of those bands that are always looking to better themselves and to see what they can do better or different next time. It’s not a massive change in style, of course, but it’s enough to make Mysterium into an extremely compelling and engaging listen.

Overall, this album is a triumph and really, really strong. However, there are times on this release when they really outdo themselves. Sometimes, when the drums are blasting, the rhythm guitars are full of emotive darkness and the leads are exotic and powerful…well…it’s just a hair-raising experience.

Great stuff. I’m very happy with Mysterium.

Evilheart – Quinquaginta (Review)

This is the third album from Mexican Blackened Death Metallers Evilheart.

Essentially evocative Death Metal with a Blackened twist, Evilheart impress with their vision of Extreme Metal on Quinquaginta.

Think of a cross between bands like Behemoth, Morbid Angel, Melechesh, Belphegor and Nile; bands that are at home combining heaviness and mood.

This is full of impressive riffs, leads and solos. The dark melodics and shining leads are richly textured against the harsh rhythms and pounding drums. It’s apparent that thought and practice has gone into this, and it’s an album that’s as precise as it is passionate.

The band work their magic though a mix sheer ferocity and bright melodics, knowing instinctively when to use one and when the other is more suitable. This results in a brutally atmospheric set of songs, allowing the band to choose the best tools for the job, whether that’s churning, seething ambience or straight-to-the-jugular blasting.

Quinquaginta is full of energy, dynamics and choice riffs. The songs are well-composed slabs of well-thought out and proficiently delivered Metal that have a good combination of instant appeal and depth for longevity.

At almost an hour in length this is an album that you can get absorbed in. There’s a lot to enjoy here and the song lengths allow the band to spread their dark wings and disseminate their message on their own terms and in their own time.

If you’re looking for some advanced Death Metal with a brutal atmosphere and professional delivery then Evilheart are here to provide you with what you seek. Very impressive.

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.

Immortal Bird – Empress/Abscess (Review)

Immortal Bird are an interesting Death Metal band from the US. This is their début album.

This is not a typical Death Metal album. In fact it’s only Death Metal in the loosest sense really. Elements of Black Metal’s darkness and Grind’s chaos infuse it like diseases, while the brutal core only gets stronger and stronger due to these infections.

The singer has an absolutely scathing voice and her vocals seem to lash out of the venomous music like angry barbs.

The songs are an extremely impressive collection of styles and sub-genres. Fusing the atypical Death Metal of Gorguts, the emotive Grind of Cloud Rat, the Hardcore fury and aural inventiveness of Converge, the classic-style aura of Death and the Blackened taint of Ludicra – this is a real merging of different aspects of Extreme Metal, underpinned by a Death Metal core, resulting in an album that really is an incredibly impressive release.

As well as having a certain soft spot for some well-worn and classic genres/sub-genres, I also absolutely love it when you encounter a band that are doing something a bit different. Immortal Bird are the perfect kind of band for this, and I love that they throw so many Extreme Metal influences into their melting pot. The important thing, though, is that they’re doing it extremely well. This release is well-realised and sounds completely natural and unforced. The songs are just that well-written.

These tracks have it all, from blasting to angularity to atmosphere to melody to high-energy. For all the extremity on display here they still manage to throw in some hooks and the entire thing is actually very memorable, quite quickly.

This is the kind of music that causes you to take a sharp intake of breath and say to yourself, “holy shit”.

What more is there to say? You absolutely need Immortal Bird in your life.

This is going in my end of year list, make no mistake.

Mindful of Pripyat – …And Deeper I Drown in Doom… (Review)

Mindful of Pripyat are an Italian Grindcore band and this is their début EP.

This is Old-School Deathgrind with a devastating sound that’s heavy enough to crush a tank.

Mindful of Pripyat are all about the brutality. Blast beats and energetic fast-paced mayhem is the order of business and business is good.

The vocals are a three pronged approach, consisting of deathgrunts, pignoise belching and serrated screams. All are performed well with the main growls sounding especially brutal.

The music is short and to-the-point, as you would expect from the style. The guitars are half-way between Death Metal and Hardcore which lends the album a vitality that can sometimes be lacking in some Grind.

Like the best Extreme Metal, Mindful of Pripyat are just plain satisfying. Everything about their music from the overpowering sound to the merciless riffing to the barbarous vocals just appeals to my sense of what savage music should sound like.

Like a mash-up of Napalm Death, Terrorizer and Misery Index, Mindful of Pripyat have unleashed a storming first release here, and one can only imagine what they will get up to in the future. If they can retain this level of production value and songwriting skill then they can only go from strength to strength.

If well-produced Deathgrind is your thing then Mindful of Pripyat have got you covered. This really is quite an exceptional release; not because there’s anything ground breaking or innovative here, but purely because of the strength of the music alone. …And Deeper I Drown in Doom… is invigorating and like a welcome, painful shot of adrenaline right through the skull.

Quality Grindcore can never be kept down.

Ambassador Gun – Tomb of Broken Sleep (Review)

This is the third album from US Grinders Ambassador Gun.

Ambassador Gun play their music with harsh melody, Hardcore abandon and Grinding brutality. On paper their Grindcore is no different to many others’, but in reality the riffs and melodies used are quite atypical and interesting.

The band are upbeat and have their blasting moments, but this is more about the songs having an energy about them rather than speed for the sake of it.

The tracks are somewhat of a cross between the Hardcore d-beat of a band like Martyrdöd, the experimental, unusual Grind of Cloud Rat, the insectile mayhem of Discordance Axis and the Sludge edge of Colombian Necktie.

There’s lots of dynamics on display here and these are songs that are built to last. The band use melody well, but not in a melodic way; I know this sounds almost contradictory, but this is not a melodic band in the obvious sense. However, they achieve it in a muted, angry way and their songs have their own internal colour and sparkle because of this, despite the abrasive, serrated veneer.

This really is an exceptionally enjoyable release with enough bluster and brutality to have an instant appeal, yet with enough nuance and depth to be long lasting once the initial appeal of the violence and carnage has faded.

This is 26 minutes of exciting, visceral Extreme Metal. Highly recommended.