Angry Metal Guy

Vile // Metamorphosis
Rating: 3.0/5.0  — Could have used an actual metamorphosis
Label: Willowtip Records
Website: vilestench.com
Release dates: US: 11.15.2011 | EU: 2012.01.10

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 20^th 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.

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You know, maybe the idea for this column wasn’t one of my best. It certainly isn’t self serving to continually call ourselves out for what we missed. It Kind of makes us look like jackasses and dullards. Be that as it may, our international staff of two just can’t know all or hear all. So, as unflattering as this is, here is yet another release we missed! Supreme Pain is a brutal death metal act hailing from Holland and Divine Incarnation is their third full length (available via Massacre Records). This is my first experience hearing them and I am quite impressed. They certainly live up to their name and bring you some serious pain. Their approach is in line with the classic Florida death style pioneered (and subsequently abandoned) by Morbid Angel and this sounds a lot like the classic albums of the formerly Morbid ones. There are also hints of Deicide and the occasional flash of Immolation to be found slithering around here and there. With a list of influences like that, you pretty much know you’ll be hammered into pancaked shit over the course of the nine tracks herein and they do it with flare, style and technical finesse. Continue reading

Vader // Welcome to the Morbid Reich
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — They’ve got the reich stuff!
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Websites: www.vader.pl | myspace.com/vader
Release Dates:  EU: 13.08.2011 | US: 09.13.2011

When one thinks of Polish death metal, the names Vader and Behemoth immediately spring to mind as the standard bearers. Both gained enormous exposure and both have been pretty consistent in output over the years. While I admit that not every Vader release has blown me away, more often than not they delivered heavy, satisfying death to the unhinged masses. 2009′s Necropolis was a one of their better albums and found them sounding hungry and hostile. Now, along comes Welcome to the Morbid Reich to steamroll it in short order. Featuring an overhauled, revamped lineup including a new guitarist and bassist, Vader seems to have a large chip on their collective shoulder and aim to prove they’re the one true lord of Pol-death. This is a WAY faster, heavier album than Necropolis, with way more blasting and pummeling. Its almost uniformly played at blistering speeds and aggressive to the point of exhaustion. In fact, its pretty much a companion piece to the new Hate Eternal album with a lot of similarities in style. There’s also some stylistic nods to countrymen Behemoth and even some throwbacks to old Deicide and Malevolent Creation. Its real nasty business from start to finish and its gives out way more of a ferocious beating than I expected. Continue reading

Hate Eternal // Phoenix Amongst the Ashes
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Erik Rutan destroys the universe
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: hateeternal.com | myspace.com/haeteternal
Release Dates:  EU: 2011.05.09 | US: 05.10.2011

Holy sheeeit man! I know the world sucks, times are hard and most people are dicks but whatever is pissing Erik Rutan off must be way worse than anything I’ve ever put up with. The clearly enraged Mr. Rutan and crew are back with another Hate Eternal platter of overly brutal death metal and this one’s a real doozy folks. While Hate Eternal always used and abused the basic Florida death metal sound pioneered by the mighty Morbid Angel (Erik contributed on some of their prime albums) and Deicide, Phoenix Amongst the Ashes is in a whole different league of sonic blight. This is some profoundly heavy, blasting, pummeling death played at light speed with very bad intentions.  Offering little in the way of melody, catchiness or human compassion, you get nine songs akin to an aural carpet bombing. To say this is merely brutal is to do it a great disservice. This is enormously brutal and bordering on unlistenable. Even some die-hard death fans may throw up their hands at this album and say enough! It’s that crazy. Continue reading

Deicide // To Hell With God
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — God bless this average mess
Label: Century Media Records
Websites: myspace.com/theofficialdeicidemyspacepage
Release Dates: EU: 21.02.2011 | US: 02.21.2011

The evil one is back. Yes, he of the upside down cross branded on his forehead. It’s every one’s favorite Christ hater Glenn Benton and his buddies in Deicide and they bring us album number ten, the unsubtly monikered To Hell With God. Now, I’m all about giving these guys their due props and concede their legendary status in the death metal universe. They, along with Morbid Angel and Obituary put the Florida death metal scene squarely on the map in the 90′s. That said, they’ve been wildly inconsistent in terms of quality studio output. You never know what Deicide is going to show up, the brutal and impressive or the brutally shitty (more often the latter making the appearance). Look no further than their past two releases for proof. 2006′s The Stench of Redemption was monstrous while 2008′s Til Death Do Us Part was a steaming heap of buffalo poo. So where does the new one fall, right or shite?  Let’s discuss, then we can Deicide together (sorry, had to be done). Continue reading

Diabolic // Excisions of Exorcisms
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Sub-prime evil located, keep digging!
Label: Deathgasm Records
Websites: diabolic-deathmetal.com | myspace.com/diabolic666
Release Dates: Out Now!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, no matter how immersed one becomes in a specific music scene, you simply can’t be aware of every band in that scene and part of the fun in life is discovering new bands and eagerly delving into their discography. I was unfamiliar with the work of Diabolic although they have been cranking out extreme death metal since 1998 in relative obscurity. Around that timeframe, I was in my “all death is good death” stage so I’m surprised these guys got under the radar, but so be it. After a four year absence since their last platter, Diabolic now unleashes their fifth album, Excisions of Exorcisms and with this album, I’m getting onboard the Diabolic bandwagon, although not necessarily due to this album. Allow me to explain. Continue reading

Severe Torture // Slaughtered
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Severe torture, unless you like it ugly and brutal.
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: severetorture.com | myspace.com/severetorture
Release Dates: EU: 28.06.2010 | US: 06.29.2010

I have to admit right up front that I wasn’t overly familiar with Severe Torture and their cadaver of work prior to getting tasked with this review. I had heard bits and pieces of previous albums but nothing about them ever really grabbed my attention or made me feel the need to track down their material. So as I got familiar with Slaughtered, this Dutch death metal band’s fifth platter (or should I say splatter), I was pretty shocked by the quality of the material on display. Maybe I simply missed the boat on their earlier stuff but this is a solid enough release that I plan to go back to investigate much more carefully in the near future. Continue reading

Order of Ennead // An Examination of Being
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Enjoyable
Label: Earache
Websites: myspace.com/orderofennead
Release Dates: EU: 19.04.2010 | US: 05.04.2010 (Import?)

Order of Ennead is the side project of the venerable Steve Asheim, better known as the drummer and primary writer of death metal legends Deicide. While it’s hard to a review like this, particularly on a newer project like this, without referencing the guy’s older work, the responsible reviewer in me thinks that one should probably draw a line here. Instead, I’d like to focus on the content and quality of An Examination of Being, the second record from these Floridians blackened death metallers without taking cheap shots at Glen Benton. So I’ll just take one: Order of Ennead is better because Glen Benton isn’t in it.

Order of Ennead is, indeed, a blackened death metal band. They sound like the kind of thing that could easily be signed to Regain Records these days. A mix of death metal brutality, black metal trem picking and blasting, and the very At The Gates kind of vocal approach that one wouldn’t expect so much from Florida death metal, but instead from the coast of Sweden.  However, unlike some of the misfires in this area over the past few years, An Examination of Being feels extreme and honest while still appealing to individuals who like a bit of melody in their metal with solid hooks and excellent guitar work.

The writing here isn’t revolutionary by any extent of the imagination. This doesn’t necessarily make the album any less enjoyable. Songs like “Conduits to Eternity” and “Lies Upon the Lips of Judas” showcase the groove-based death metal that can still be seen at the root of the music, while “…In the Mirror” and “A Portal to Rapture” sound like they wouldn’t be out of place on a 1349 or Ragnarok CD. These pieces are very well tied together in the best of songs, and sometimes they feel a bit foreign in the same arena, but this is very few and far between. Particularly the piece tying these things together is the guitar work of one John Li who is a highly competent guitar player who litters most tracks with phenomenal solos.

While Order of Ennead does a very strong job of building dark, entrancing songs this record does feel a tad repetitive and long. The problem with that critique is that An Examination of Being clocks in at 39 minutes long. This speaks for itself, I think. After hearing the first few tracks and really liking them, it wasn’t until the final song on the album “A Betrayal of Self” that I  felt really engaged in what was going on again (there’s a really great solo in a clean part that I really liked). Structurally this lull kind of kills the album for me, slipping in one ear and out the other.

So, I have mixed feelings about Order of Ennead, while I certainly like it better than later Deicide, this lands nowhere near the territory of a band like Dissection or Necrophobic. I suspect that these guys could definitely get better, particularly given the obvious skills of the band involved. But if you check out this record and you can’t get over the feeling that you’ve heard this all before and you can’t quite place it, don’t be surprised.