Extreme metal – Page 34 – Wonderbox Metal

Hiss From The Moat – Misanthropy (Review)

Hiss From The Moat play a modern brand of Blackened Death Metal.

After a perfunctory intro we’re straight into the action with Conquering Christianity which is full of solid blasting and evil mayhem. If you think of a band like Goatwhore and have them take their cues from the New-School rather than the Old-School you’ll be in the right ball-park for Hiss From The Moat.

Deep, guttural vocals and higher rasps steer the songs towards their logical conclusions, while well-played, hyperspeed drums anchor everything and allow the guitars to concentrate on the ultra-brutality or blackened rhythms, depending on how the mood takes them. Additional orchestration heightens the atmosphere in select places, and is strategically used for surgical strikes rather than mass slaughter.

Depth and carnage are the watchwords, for the songs stick around long after they have stopped playing, filling you with the urge to experience their nihilistic bludgeoning once more.

The riffs seem to flow like pulsating tar through veins of blackened darkness and spewed out into the unsuspecting light to corrupt and infect everything they touch. The songs offer nothing but hatred and want nothing in return but your demise. Misanthropy in more than just title.

The album is 30 minutes of extremity wrapped in malevolence and served up by a talented group of individuals and guests who know how they like their Extreme Metal, and I heartily agree with their obvious good taste.

Top marks for a top band. More please.

Suffering Hour – Foreseeing Exemptions to a Dismal Beyond (Review)

Suffering Hour are from the US and play high-energy Old-School Death Metal with elements of Thrash and even a tiny bit of Black Metal straight out of the Venom school.

Immediately from the first song Truths of the Unknown it’s clear that the band give their all to the music and they have plenty of ideas they want to include in their songs as well.

The riffs and melodies used are interesting and not simply genre-rehashing; and the variety of musical influences, (Vader, Morbid Angel, to name just two), that can be heard mean the songs hold interest with ease and before you know it the 29 minute running time is over.

The songs are written well with a good grasp of structure and pace. The tracks vary in length from the relatively short to the longer 8:35 of Enthralled in Lunacy Abyss, which shows that Suffering Hour are not afraid to do what they want and play the kind of Death Metal that pleases them without pandering to anyone else. As it should be.

The vocals are top quality and range from screams to deep growls, with plenty of range shown between the two.

They also have an instrumental song named Prog Thrashing Death which does exactly what it says on the tin.

The production is generally competent and has a very organic sound, however I feel it’s slightly uneven in places and could do with being slightly stronger for their next release. This is only a minor quibble though as it does the job well enough.

The quality and breadth of content in these songs should be envied by most Metal bands and this EP is a huge success for me. For such a young band to have found their musical footing so early on and produced a quality EP with such personality and individuality is a wonderful thing.

This really is fantastic. Support this band as they could go far in the world of Extreme Metal.

Ævangelist – Omen Ex Simulacra (Review)

Ævangelist are from the US and play a Death/Black Metal hybridised sound. They should probably just be referred to as Extreme Metal as the starting points are Death/Black but these two genres have long ago been corrupted by the taint of Ævangelist and turned to their own purposes.

Indeed, the stench of corruption and a deep-seated malignance is strong with this album. It starts off slow and quiet, gradually building in disconcerting sounds and sinister effects before the Hellish guitars and drums kick in.

The evil sounding effects and noises never stop. It’s like having your sanity eroded slowly over 64 minutes, culminating in the final track Abysscape at which point you’re well and truly lost and without hope.

On paper this is essentially Extreme Metal forged of Death and Black, with added electronics and Industrial effects, however on album this translates into a horrific beast that’s surely the aural equivalent of damnation. Ævangelist create tortured sounds and daemonic vocals so well one begins to wonder if they know something the rest of us don’t…

There are many subtleties and nuances buried beneath this avalanche of twisted sound, and repeated listens are required to fully extract the hidden messages contained in this burning maelstrom of nightmare sounds. Do you have the stomach for it?

A God or an Other – Towers of Silence (Review)

An epic, sprawling album of Progressive Black Metal. It seems that a lot of thought has gone into the composition of this album and it has certainly paid off as this is a release that the term Supreme Black Metal Art could have been coined for.

The Black Metal they play is far-reaching, without ever sounding sloppy or ill-conceived, and absorbs the listener in a trip to the underworld and back. Sometimes frightening, sometimes enlightening, always essential.

This is an album for people who are not afraid to take their time and get to know it. Yes there is plenty here to like on first, cursory listen, but it’s only on repeated listens that it gives up its secrets. A riff here, a melody there. Music to grow to and grow into.

I highly recommend this album. It twists and turns and takes the best that Black Metal has to offer and wraps it in a Progressive sheen and a sound that’s as sharp as betrayal. You must listen. You must submit.

Hybrid Nightmares – Hybrid Nightmares (Review)

Hybrid Nightmares are an Australian Extreme Metal band with Black Metal and Progressive leanings.

This band are clearly talented at what they do, and what they do is craft Extreme Metal songs. These songs have a solid foundation in Black Metal but have embraced Progressive Metal tendencies that lift the tracks outside of the original genre and into a wider arena. In fact the main thing that’s Black Metal about them is the vocals and logo really.

The Second track Upon the Cursed Wings is a perfect example of this. It starts with a Metal, almost rocky swagger before slowing down to a nice groove with the Black Metal vocals kicking in. The double-bass sections, solid melodies and nice chuggy riffs reveal a real knack for songcraft. Bands like Septic Flesh, Agathodaimon, certain bits of Dimmu Borgir, (sans orchestration), and even Amon Amarth spring to mind.

The recording is as good as anything out there at the moment – everything sounds crystal clear and full of life. There’s been no slacking in this department, or any other. This is a consummately professional release in every way. This doesn’t leave the music sounding soulless and clinical however. Actually the opposite is true as the songs are presented in an appropriate format that allows the listener to take in everything that is going on, and that’s quite a bit. Special mention should indeed go to the riffs – there are some stormers here! Ashes of an Astral Winter is a veritable riff-fest of top Metal calibre.

A really good EP. If they get their foot in the door of the international stage they could go far.

Mortal Decay – The Blueprint for Blood Spatter (Review)

Mortal Decay are veterans of the USDM scene having been birthed in 1991. This is their 4th album and their first in 8 years. And it’s good. Very good.

Blasting USDM in the classic mould with plenty of brutality, blastbeats and harmonics to satisfy even the most jaded Metal fan. Quite simply this album dares you not to bang that head and just destroys anyone foolish enough to get in the way of this juggernaut. This is Death Metal for Death Metal fans, pure and unadulterated.

They deal in precise, choppy songs filled with blasting and gore-soaked vocals professionally delivered and wrapped in skin. The stench of the last victim still present as they rip, tear and shred their way through the next one.

If you’re a fan of Death Metal then you can’t go wrong with this.

Corrupt Moral Altar – Whiskey Sierra (Review)

UK based Corrupt Moral Altar play dirty sludgey Grindcore with lashings of filth and passion. This is ugly music for people who know what they like and couldn’t care less what the latest trends are.

The first song blasts out of the speakers like a ferocious angry animal; all teeth, claws and invective. It’s only three minutes long but it’s amazing how much content they cram into it.

Blasting, mid paced, sludge, atmospherics – all raise their bruised heads and have their time in the sun. It’s amazing that they find the time to slow down and inject quality Doom and sludge into their sound – this band are certainly not a one-trick blast pony.

Throughout these four songs the vocals lash and rage in high-pitched screams, as well as deeper shouts and even a nice bit of pig-noise depending on the whims of the Grindcore muse.

Ten minutes is all we get, but ten minutes of highly-inventive grinding extreme Metal that manages to pack more ideas into its short running time than a lot of bands do in a career. If you like Grind or just top quality extreme Metal then this is as near to essential a ten minutes as you’re going to find anywhere.

Ferocity – The Sovereign (Review)

Hailing from Denmark, Ferocity play Death Metal with style and skill. This is contemporary Death Metal that combines intricacy, brutality, melody and controlled aggression to get its message across.

There are blastbeats aplenty, but also mid-paced and slower sections showing off The Chug and other assorted riffs that make this album instantly familiar but also most welcome. Relatively diverse, (within the Death Metal genre of course), Ferocity display influences from various different sub-genres of Death Metal without ever being confined to just one of them. Here and there you’ll find elements of modern, US, brutal, technical, mid-paced and hyperblast Death Metal all sharing the same album, and even the same song. In my book this can only be a good thing, especially as in the case of Ferocity it works and doesn’t sound just mashed together.

There are some very nice riffs on this release and some good moments in the songs – a welcome grasp of dynamics by the band of when to go melodic, when to go full throttle, when to ease off, when a solo is required, etc. all within a solid Death Metal framework.

Ferocity live up to their name but are not limited to it – there is more than just blind brutality here and that makes The Sovereign a better album. Recommended.

Colosso – Abrasive Peace (Review)

The music is state-of-the-art bleeding-edge Extreme Metal, but the vocals are pure Death Metal; powerful and going straight for the throat. Colosso combine the best parts of bands like Behemoth and Nile, add a sprinkling of cyber-Metal akin to Fear Factory at their heaviest, and cap it off with focused brutality.

The songs tear themselves out of the speakers with razor sharp claws and venomous fangs ready to slay everyone in sight. This is music not to be messed with. The album boasts a thoroughly modern production and sound, and all of the benefits that 21st century technology can offer. In fact this is a perfectly judged combination of technological and traditional Metal – rather than swamping the metal with bleeps and break-beats to create some hybrid that is neither techno nor Metal, here the cyber-Metal influences serve to merely accentuate the relevant parts of the songs, while the very Metal guitars, drums and vocals take centre stage.

Eight tracks of thundering Metal later and the album is done. Oh, apart from the obligatory throwaway techno-Metal remix track of course, which does somewhat dilute the essence of the main album by being a rather poor closure after the last track proper has faded away. Nonetheless, this is a minor quibble in what is otherwise an exemplary album and a perfect example of what modern Extreme/Death Metal should sound like in 2013.

As a side-note there is also an instrumental version of this album out there named Peaceful Abrasiveness. That should tell you a lot about the quality of the music here and its ability to stand alone. And with the vocals added…well, that just makes it even better.

Warmaster – The End of Humanity (Review)

Warmaster play old-school Death Metal in the style of Bolt Thrower, Obituary and the like. This style comes from an era when playing as fast/technical as you possibly can just wasn’t necessary and this really shows in the songs, as songs is exactly what we get. Unconcerned with these added-on extras to the Death metal repertoire, Warmaster play Death Metal as it originally was intended – with menace and skill.

Vocals are measured, good quality and are in the classic Death Metal vein. The drums hammer a steady beat to the relentless riffing and punishment metered out by the guitars. The odd solo or two also adds a splash of colour to proceedings while not sounding out of place. The songs are generally mid-paced with the occasional faster bit, but there is enough quality and variety of riffing to keep you engaged throughout the album.

Challenging all who hear them not to be carried away in a rapture of calls to war and destruction; I can imagine that these songs would translate extremely well into the live environment. Groove, melody and heaviness combining to make the foot tap, fist clench and head bang. And that’s just in the privacy of your own speakers. The more volume the better! Listening to this album it’s easy to get carried away with it. The End of Humanity is a respectable length at just under 47 minutes long bit it seems shorter than this as it passes by in such an agreeable way that I could, (and did), quite happily start it again from the beginning upon completion.

There’s more to Death Metal than just blasting. Discover the banner of Warmaster and let them lead you to victory.