Diabolus in Muzaka

If you're not into Live in Leipzig, you are not his friend.

Exterminated – The Genesis of Genocide Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on April 8, 2021 in Reviews, 17 comments

“Look, you know as well as I do that this is going to be brutal death metal. The cover, the band name, the label, and the album title all definitively point in that direction. No amount of clever misdirection can draw anyone who’s spent even twenty minutes listening to some “intro to brutal death metal” playlist astray from this fact. Even the biography of Exterminated – two members, one doing all the guitars and programming the drums, the other doing vocals – screams brutal death metal.” Generic genocide.

Sanguisugabogg – Tortured Whole Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on March 28, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, 33 comments

“Unlike what appeared to be three-quarters of death metal internet, I wasn’t truly amazed by Sanguisugabogg’s debut EP Pornographic Seizures. It sounded like brutal death metal with a penchant for thuggish “caveman riffs,” which is contemporary shorthand for “riffs which show an appreciation for Mortician.” Nevertheless, I’m a sucker for pageantry; when the ‘bogg premiered a music video produced by Troma I was firmly committed to hearing their debut full-length Tortured Whole.” Ecelectic Boggaloo.

The Crown – Royal Destroyer Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on March 22, 2021 in Reviews, 56 comments

“It brings me no joy to write that, to my ears, Royal Destroyer does not meet the high bar set by Cobra Speed Venom, one of The Crown’s finest efforts and 2018’s best record. With that bit of unpleasantry dealt with, I can thankfully write that Royal Destroyer is still a good record, and nowhere near the misstep Death is Not Dead was.” Crown Royal?

Yer Metal is Olde: Mortician – Hacked Up for Barbecue

By Diabolus in Muzaka on March 20, 2021 in Yer Metal Is Olde, 43 comments

2019 saw Holdeneye shock the world by asking the time-honored question we’ve all at least passively pondered: what’s the heaviest record of all time? Kronos, for his part, appeared to answer a short while later in his review for Devourment’s Obscene Majesty. If you asked New York death metal institution and heaviest band in the universe Mortician, the answer would hopefully be a Mortician record.” Brutal cue.

Korpse – Insufferable Violence Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on March 1, 2021 in Reviews, Slam, 35 comments

“For those who don’t know anything about brutal Dutch bruisers Korpse, the cover of their third full-length Insufferable Violence provides an interesting commentary. See, nobody except weirdos and fun-hating scolds take brutal death metal seriously, at least thematically. If you didn’t get into horror in high school, you probably won’t get it – and that’s fine. For those of us who did, we’ll pass by album covers with all manner of atrocity on them, thinking nothing of it. It’s not so much about being desensitized to real violence and death, but just the fake stuff.” Korpse grinding.

Significant Point – Into the Storm Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on February 25, 2021 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, 72 comments

“Significant Point. This band name has caused some amount of controversy around the AMG beer cooler for its apparent strangeness. Alternative band names such as Topic Sentence and Eminent Predicate were tossed around with mirth and glee, and the sniggering appeared to drown out the thunder in the east, but I still heard the distant rumblings. Significant Point exists to make a significant point potent statement: heavy metal never dies.” Point taken.

Yer Metal Is Olde: Sabre – On the Prowl

By Diabolus in Muzaka on February 13, 2021 in Yer Metal Is Olde, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, 16 comments

“As such, my hometown heroes are Bobnoxious, a stupendously fun hard rock band fronted by Bob Reid, whom you may recognize from Razor’s terrific records Shotgun Justice and Open Hostility, and the lesser Decibels. There was, however, another special band from London, Ontario. That band was the power trio known as Sabre, and they released only one record in On the Prowl.” Olde swords.

Kjeld – Ôfstân Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on February 8, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, 30 comments

“Many moons ago in the distant year of 2015, Kjeld barreled into my eardrums and then my top five with the outstanding Skym, which was and remains one of the most exciting modern black metal records I’ve heard since I started writing for this blog. Nearly six years and thirty-odd firings later, I get to write about Kjeld again.” Kjeld by death.

Evil – Possessed by Evil Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on February 4, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Speed Metal, 42 comments

“I’ve got a soft spot for Japanese metal, especially the old-school varieties. It should shock absolutely nobody that Evil come directly from the lineage of Abigail and Sabbat thematically, meaning that they take the “evil” schtick of classic Venom and Bulldozer so far that it exceeds parody and lands in a strange realm of charming innocence and naivete. Evil, on their second album Possessed by Evil, lands feet-first in this realm.” Possession is nine-tenths of witchlaw.

Wampyric Rites – The Eternal Melancholy of the Wampyre Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on February 2, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, 23 comments

“In the night they come, seeking wengeance. Nocturnal creatures bent on destruction, chaos, and wiolence. No matter how much wiolence and wengeance is wrought, they are never sated – they are always wery sad. Such is The Eternal Melancholy of the Wampyre. At least I think it is anyway, because at the risk of sounding like your mother when you showed her that cool new Carcass band with that Heartwork record you just downloaded from Limewire back when you were a teenager, I can’t understand a word of what’s being sung here; it just sounds like wordless screaming. That’s no matter though, as Wampyric Rites aren’t really about the lyrics in my estimation.” I’d gladly pay you Tuesday for a wampyre today.