This is the third album from US Melodic Black Metallers Withering Soul.
The band play Melodic Black Metal that has speed and melody in abundance yet knows the value of restraint on occasion.
The vocals are a kind of chanted scream-shout (?) of the Dimmu Borgir variety. Clean vocals are also used sparingly and effectively.
The music is cleanly recorded with just enough dirt left in to prevent them being described as polished.
The band have some low-key symphonic influences to their sound and I quite like how these are used on the album.
These tracks are mainly fast and sharp, with razor riffs and burning leads. The subtle atmospheric backing keyboards add a surprising amount to the songs and help differentiate from others playing this style.
An enjoyable way to spend 40-odd minutes. Have a listen for yourself.
Hogslayer are a Sludge band from the UK. This is their second album.
This is hateful, heavy Sludge Metal that sometimes it seems only the UK can do so well. Yes, you have the entire American/NOLA Sludge thing which started everything with Eyehategod, etc. but the UK has its own distinctive underground full of festering filth and misery that grows only in this specific environment. Hogslayer were born to such surroundings.
This is crushingly heavy. I mean really, really heavy. Like, ultra-heavy or something. You get the idea.
The feral, underground darkness that bred Hogslayer didn’t just select for the nastiest traits either. The band understand, in their own warped way, the need for riffs to be catchy, vocals to have character and songs to be memorable. Of course, you have to understand that this is all from a Sludge Metal/Doom perspective, as no-one will accuse Hogslayer of threatening the radio-friendly unit-shifters any time soon.
Oh, but there’s something about this kind of relentlessly heavy, riff-oriented Sludge. When the band lock into a heavy groove and repeat it just the right amount of times…it really hits the spot.
The vocals, as mentioned previously, are charismatic and buried within the distortion just enough to work with the music without dominating it but aren’t too low in the mix so that they’re lost in the colossal bass/guitar riffs, as can sometimes be the case with some Sludge bands.
Hogslayer will be a firm favourite of mine moving forward. Their brand of gritty, well-done Sludge is just what the Metal Doctor ordered.
Defacer is a feast of distortion, feedback and negativity. Eat up.
Braineater are from the US and play Death Metal/Deathgrind.
Braineater’s Deathgrind mixes Death Metal and Grindcore with an emphasis on the Death Metal side of the equation. They take the loose Punk-style of Grind and the brutal nature of Death Metal, merging the two with a Thrash sensibility.
Deep grunts are a matter of course for this kind of thing, but it’s the higher vocals that make a real impression. They have a lot of personality and wouldn’t be out of place on an 80’s surf-inspired Thrash album.
There are only 5 tracks here but it’s a good 19 minutes of music. The fact that it’s biased towards Death and Thrash Metal means that these are not your one minute marathons that some Grind is made up of, (with track 3, One Nation Under Gunpoint, being the exception). Instead we get enjoyable Death Metal with elements of Thrash and Grind at a decent length and with plenty of bloodshed and brain eating to go around.
This is a very encouraging EP. It shows a band who are putting a slightly different spin on a well-worn sound, and one that has a lot of character and personality to boot.
The Dead Goats are a Death Metal band from Poland and this is their latest EP.
This short sub-12 minite EP features two original songs and a Repulsion cover.
As you can probably tell from the band logo, this is Death Metal of the definite Swedish variety.
Sporting a proper chainsaw sound, The Dead Goats proceed to impress with their mastery of this particular sub-genre.
Their take on the style is one that has a nice filthy Punk undertone and vocals that are slightly higher than the norm but still as nasty as Hell.
This is high-energy, high-excitement Swedish Death Metal that relies less on macabre melodies and groove than it does belligerent attitude and steamroller aggression.
Like all Swedish-styled Death Metal though the emphasis is on songs, and songs we get; simple but catchy, professionally performed, yet still reeking of the crypt.
The higher vocals and general elevated-aggression of these songs does mark them as a little different from the standard Swedish Death Metal band and all-in-all this is firmly in their favour.
This is a very impressive little EP. Make sure you get your hands on this and support the underground.
Eschaton are from the US and play Death Metal. This is their début album.
Eschaton play Technical Death Metal with roots that are firmly rooted in the New-School, Modern Death Metal camp.
Insane riffs and time signature changes merge with utterly inhuman drumming for a listening experience that’s as brutal as it is compelling. You’ve gotta love this kind of mayhem.
Things do slow down enough for the band to have some good old-fashioned chug-n-groove-n-squeal sections as well as more modern, rhythmical riffing. Even these are firmly embedded in a wider framework of frenzied musical exploration, however.
Leads and solos abound, all centred around the ridiculously surgical drumming. I feel like the drummer should be given a medal for his services to tub-thumping, or something. But then, when he’s a veteran of bands such as Incinerate, Pillory, Arsis and Vile, to name but a few, it’s no wonder he sounds like a serious player in the drumming world.
The rest of the musicians seem to be highly proficient in their trade too though. There’s the guitars of course, so many that we just seem to get extra guitars on top of guitars! In actuality there were only three members to Eschaton during this recording but the sound they make could easily lead you to believe this was a six-piece band.
We mustn’t forget the vocalist either. He has a throaty, guttural roar that focuses the chaos of the music as it rages around him. His voice is versatile enough to fit in with the extremity of the rest of the band and the consistency he provides acts as a grounding point to the swirling maelstrom of Eschaton’s delivery. He also branches out into high screams territory, and these are performed as equally well as the growls.
This is brutal, extreme music for fans of proper Technical Modern Death Metal. When confronted with music like this, most will falter. Will that be your fate, or will you be one of the elite and embrace Eschaton?
Spawned from Hate are a UK Death Metal band. This is their latest EP.
This is raw, evil Death Metal with an Old-School sound and enough brutality to kill 1000 pigs. (Poor pigs).
But the piggy sacrifice has at least resulted in some Death Metal capable of waking you up in the morning.
This may be from the UK but it has a distinct USDM feeling circa the mid 90’s.
I particularly enjoy the vocals, as they have the kind of ultra-deep growl that’s incredibly satisfying. It just sounds so prototypical and pleasing.
The archaic melodies and riffs may be rooted in an older pedigree but they’re delivered with a modern passion and lust for blood. This is such a pure stain of Death Metal, you can’t really go wrong with it.
If you’ve become jaded with the Death Metal scene then it’s unlikely that Accelerated Butchery will set your world fire. For the rest of us though who still love Death Metal in all of its wonderful, myriad forms, Spawned from Hate play a timeless Death Metal style and it’s hard not to enjoy it.
This is a very gratifying release and promises good things for the band in the future. If they can capitalise on this EP then I look forward to what their début album will bring.
For fans of Suffocation, Deeds of Flesh, Dying Fetus, Devourment, etc.
Disloyal are a Death Metal band from Poland. This is their fourth album.
Disloyal have a sound that’s nice and thick with the guitars sounding hard enough to break bones.
The riffs are brutal and groovy with enough speed to run their victims down and completely bulldoze them into nothing.
The songs are well-written and have some unexpected elements of interest here and there; a good example appears early on in the first song – a brief addition of subtle and effective keyboards to create an epic atmosphere.
The vocals are deep, dark growls that have a lot of character for the style. With the impressive nature of the music a genre-standard growl would only be disappointing, so the fact that they have a singer who injects his deathgrunts with a bit of charisma is most welcome.
Well this is very good. Songs, heaviness, brutality and intelligent delivery. Top class.
Disloyal have managed to produce what is essentially a Brutal Death Metal album but with personality and some added enhancements that lift them well above the mediocre.
This is the third album by this Death Metal supergroup, featuring members and ex-members of Massacre, Death, Edge of Sanity, Mantas, Bone Gnawer, Paganizer, Ribspreader, Liklukt and This Haven.
First off, I want to acknowledge the album title – now that’s a Metal album title. Top work!
But anyway…onto the music. Here we have some Old-School Death Metal with plenty of groove and mid-paced heaviness. This is 90’s-style Death Metal from an era when songs still mattered and each track was thought of in a holistic manner.
As such, the songwriting here befits the music and the Metal flows nicely from track to track. Or interlude, as the case may be. This is a Horror-themed release so there are numerous interludes to progress the story.
The guitar riffs are appropriate to the style, of course, but the melodies and riffs chosen also seem to further the atmosphere as espoused by the narrative. The result is not just a trip down Death Metal memory lane but an immersive experience into the realms of Horror Metal.
Good sound, good Metal. Here’s to The Grotesquery.
Hailing from Belarus, Irreversible Mechanism play Progressive/Technical Death Metal and this is their début album.
Here we have some super-sexy Technical Death Metal with equal parts Progressive and Modern Death Metal as well as elements of Melodic/Symphonic Death/Black Metal. If that sounds quite intimidating then don’t let it be; Irreversible Mechanism have the talent to bring it all together and make it work.
The band have a lot of technical ability and there’s no shortage of fretboard wizardry on display here.
Lots of solos and leads as well as time signature changes are included and although they are the norm for Technical Death Metal, here the Progressive elements of the band and their songwriting skills stop things from becoming overbearing in this regard.
Irreversible Mechanism may be ambitious with their songs, as well they should be, but they always remember that the needs of the song come first and it’s not just enough to string riffs together. Dynamics, pacing, energy and composition are all important and these songs are surprisingly memorable.
Heavy use is made of synthesizers to add extra layers of feelings to the tracks. Do you know what? It works. These sounds add to the overall atmosphere of the album and adds a strong melodic edge to the band’s assault.
Vocally the singer shifts between traditional growling and higher screams. The screams in particular are notable as, combined with the hyperspeed music and symphonic elements, they lend the music a Blackened edge on occasion.
Infinite Fields is a very impressive release. Kind of like a Technical Death Metal version of Dimmu Borgir; the grandeur and the violence.
Definitely be sure to check this out, you won’t be disappointed.
This is the début album from Apophys. They are from the Netherlands and play Death Metal.
I enjoy an album that has no pointless intro and starts off as it means to go on – brutal and direct. It’s uncompromising, harsh, and just how I like my Death Metal in the morning.
This is professionally played Death Metal that knows a thing or two about the genre, (featuring members and ex-members of a whole slew of other bands), and sets out from the start to blast and batter you into the ground.
The riffs are dark and brutal and the drums form a constantly aggressive backdrop. It’s largely high-energy, high-hostility stuff, and you wouldn’t want to get caught standing in front of it when it’s at full speed.
There are some nicely melodic solos included which flow like liquid gold through the jaggedly brutal riffs of the rhythm guitars.
The style is predominantly a US-influenced one, (think Morbid Angel-esque), mixed with a bit of a modern groove for some additional flavour. It works a treat and the songs sit well on their throne of xenos skulls.
At just under 40 minutes in length this is an enjoyable and satisfying blast of Death Metal that should fill that need for violent carnage that I know you have deep down. Turn this up and watch everything around you wilt and die under Apophys’ relentless assault.
This is the third album from US Melodic Black Metallers Withering Soul.
Wonderbox Metal 