Rusty

Bauda – Euphoria …Of Flesh, Men and the Great Escape Review

By Rusty on September 7, 2012 in 2012, 3.5, ATMF, Reviews, Folk Metal, Progressive Rock, 0 comments

Describing music as ‘dreamy’ can put different people on different paths of imagination. One could go on the happy path of smiling young people and major chords while another one would think of the vast and ethereal expanses of post-rock but metal is not something that crosses the head. However, on Euphoria …Of Flesh, Men and the Great Escape, Bauda actually plays some metal and attempts to achieve this dreaminess through a delicate balance. I know it sounds odd but this is definitely the kind of record that you’ll be able to grasp after a couple of listens. It needs some time to grow on you. On some occasions, it sounds spot on but on some others, I was left with a feeling of uneasiness.

The Wretched End – Inroads Review

By Rusty on April 26, 2012 in 2012, 3.5, Candlelight, Death Metal, Norwegian Metal, Reviews, 1 comment

Some bands can easily blur the line separating thrash and death metal. You find yourself enjoying blast beats with screams, mid-tempo chugs with blistering solos, a trebly production with some deep throat growls. They are the elements we all love so much about those two very convincing reasons for man’s existence on this planet. But what do you actually call it? Is it Death metal? Thrash metal? Death/Thrash metal? And how about that ridiculous tag ‘deathrash’?

Dyscarnate – And So It Came to Pass Review

By Rusty on March 28, 2012 in 1.5, 2012, Death Metal, Deathcore, English Metal, Hardcore, Reviews, Siege of Amida Records, Death Metal, Hardcore, 11 comments

I’ve been thinking a lot about confidence lately. How it affects our behavior and how we react to those who project it. The entire confidence spectrum can be found in the metal world, but you just can’t dismiss how much confidence there is in hardcore.

Eluveite- Helvetios Review

By Rusty on February 7, 2012 in 2012, 3.5, Death Metal, Folk Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, 3 comments

So this is a review of an album by a Swiss band being written by an Egyptian guy living in Egypt and published on a website run by a guy living in Sweden. Don’t you just love the Internet? Anyway, Eluveitie is indeed a very Swiss band that draws its influences from the roots of the land; medieval Helvetian and Celtic history. Since I did not study European history or Anthropology at any level, I can’t verify the accuracy, relevance or truthfulness of the stories being told on Helvetios. What I can verify, though, is that the music is quite interesting; especially if you haven’t heard Eluveitie before. They use the standard metal gear of distorted guitars, drums and bass and they’ve added a multitude of native folk instruments to complement and emphasize that snapshot of medieval Europe they’re creating with their music.

Ram – Death Review

By Rusty on January 27, 2012 in 2.5, 2012, Metal Blade, Swedish Metal, Heavy Metal, 2 comments

You need a certain amount of courage to name your album Death in 2012, don’t you? I mean this is one of, if not the, most used words in the metal world altogether and it usually reminds lots of fans with Chuck Schuldiner’s seminal band with the same name. On the personal level, I still find myself a little baffled by Ram’s title of choice for their third studio album in thirteen years of making heavy metal. Then again, some may ask me “but what’s in a name?” and I find myself remembering some awesome and meaningful titles like Oblivion Beckons by Byzantine, The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A by Exodus or Mumakil’s Behold the Failure and realizing that there’s a lot in a name.

Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Immolation – Providence

By Rusty on January 8, 2012 in 2011, American Metal, Death Metal, Things You Might Have Missed 2011, Death Metal, 3 comments

Immolation has always been a band with a distinct sound. When you think about it, being all that authentic in a scene that is widely considered as the “standard” of death metal is quite a tricky feat. Given the necessary technical ability, any group of musicians can shell out a collection of highly down-tuned riffs, a procession of guttural shouts topped off with infinite double bass drumming, but that doesn’t sound too authentic now, does it? But when I think of Immolation, the word “punishing” always comes to mind. These guys have consistently delivered some of the most punishing down-tuned riffs, guttural vocals and pounding drums in the business and this is why they have been highly revered ever since their debut full-length Dawn of Possession came out 20 years ago.

Vile – Metamorphosis Review

By Rusty on January 6, 2012 in 2012, 3.0, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Willowtip, Death Metal, 1 comment

How far from reality would it be to argue that death metal has become a saturated genre with no room for improvement? I suddenly imagine a short chubby skinhead with a 50 cm long goatee screaming at my invalid premise which makes my argument seem quite farfetched. So we have now at our hands Metamorphosis which is the fourth full-length album by California’s Vile and it comes six years after 2005’s well received The New Age of Chaos, and that my fellow metal heads is a long time to put out a death metal album. Makes you wonder how the new one sounds like, doesn’t it? Well if you are familiar with their older works and the current worldwide vitals of death metal, you wouldn’t be really surprised by this record. This is an album that sounds quite contemporary as far as death metal goes and carries some obvious influences than can be traced to Deicide, Suffocation and 20th century Morbid Angel. Another thing I realized as soon as I saw the artwork is how much it reminded me of Atheist’s Jupiter, but I guess it would be impossible to scan the entire metal spectrum for cover art just to make sure what the artist you’re paying may or may not have copied.

Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Graveworm – Fragments of Death

By Rusty on December 13, 2011 in 2011, 3.5, Black Metal, Death Metal, Italian Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Things You Might Have Missed 2011, 3 comments

Fragments of Death was my first encounter with Graveworm. Even though I shouldn’t have, I was surprised before listening to the album that they were from Italy and I wasn’t really expecting an album that would impress me. Call me a metal bigot but metal isn’t really something that the Italians would proudly add to their plethora of cultural influences for the rest of the world to enjoy [Bigot! There are some great Italian death metal bands, not to mention Rhapsody! – AMG]. Having confessed my prejudice, Italy has already stunned me this year with the new Fleshgod Apocalypse album which definitely improved the scene’s name and now Graveworm release Fragments of Death to add to what their fellow countrymen did a few months earlier.

Textures – Dualism Review

By Rusty on September 21, 2011 in 2011, 4.0, Nuclear Blast, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Djent, 11 comments

The guys in Textures are smart guys and they make smart metal. Their brand of metal has a lot of technicality and there’s no tediousness in their approach to song writing. So if you’re a two-digit IQ kind of listener, please don’t bother us with any dim-witted comments you may have concerning how pretentious you think these Dutch fellows sound. Textures started to blossom as a unique band with their second album Drawing Circles and they cemented their sound quite impressively with 2008’s Silhouettes. Some line-up changes brought in a new vocalist and a new keyboardist which consequently had them take three years to put out album number four but it’s one that is definitely worth the wait