Mamiffer & Circle – Enharmonic Intervals (for Paschen Organ) Review

Mamiffer & Circle – Enharmonic Intervals (for Paschen Organ) Review

“There is a tendency, among music critics, to emphasize anything even vaguely related to experimentalism. For them, any album that smacks of avant-garde is either ‘a step forward’ or simply ‘beyond’. The trajectory, the direction and what boundaries the sound has allegedly trespassed are details that are almost always left undisclosed. The end result is that there is no critique, but instead an endless succession of attributes, excerpts and frustration.” Alex indicts the entire music reviewing industry as he digs into the interesting release by Mamiffer & Circle. Give us Hell, Alex!!

Pestilence – Obsideo Review

Pestilence – Obsideo Review

“Nothing burns with the same intensity as hate born of a once great love. While I worshipped early Pestilence albums like Consuming Impulse and Testimony of the Ancients, I hated their Doctrine release with the white-hot passion of a scorned fanboy. The dramatic back story to this epic tale of spurned love is a simple one. Pestilence began life as a primitive, old school death outfit and really had a lot going for them, but they rapidly evolved into a weird, proggy entity, freely dabbling in jazz-fusion. I didn’t care for the paradigm shift and neither did many of their original fans. When the band reformed after 16 years in the ground, I hoped they would return to their roots…” Who doesn’t dig a good story about love turned to hate? But can that hate turn back to love? How about love peppered with hate?

Gehenna – Unravel Review

Gehenna – Unravel Review

“With a hefty eight years under their bullet belts since the release of WW, Gehenna make their long-awaited return with their latest funeral doom offering… uh no wait, scratch that! It’s most definitely snow-capped, Norwegian, black metal following in the same general direction as say Taake or Urgehal. With a hulking eight year wait, I was holding my breath in expectation of a funereal dirge at the very least…” Madam X thought these cats were long dead and buried and since she loves listening to funeral music, she’s a bit put out that they’ve come back from the Great Beyond. Regardless, she’s a professional so she does her job and gives some grim analysis.

Toxic Holocaust – Chemistry of Consciousness Review

Toxic Holocaust – Chemistry of Consciousness Review

“Well slap my ass and call me Skippy, the premier name in super-mega, old school, retro, throwback thrash (rethrash for short) is back to teach another post-grad lesson in violence. For those not in the know, that means a new album from Joel Grind’s Toxic Holocaust. Yes folks, things don’t get more painfully stuck in the 80s than the speed churned out by Mr. Grind and if there was ever a man born too late, it’s him. You see, Joel was meant to exist during that original wave of thrash, releasing revolutionary new music to shock the world alongside the likes of Slayer and Exodus. Alas, the Fates turned a mean skein and he was cast forward to this cruel future, where all his best thrashing and bashing is considered tired, recycled and irrelevant by many. Tis quite the shame too, since the man has a true gift for penning genuine 80s thrash and his stuff always has an aura of authenticity that’s lacking in most rethrash.” When I say rethrash, you say Grind!! That was fun, right? But is this album fun? Steel Druhm, a veteran of the rethrash wars, will chime in.

Inquisition – Obscure Verses for the Multiverse Review

Inquisition – Obscure Verses for the Multiverse Review

This post was removed due to Dagon’s involvement in a number of explicitly Nazi projects and events. If you were unaware of this, now you know. Armed with that information, I encourage you to not support Inquisition or any Nazi band. The reason this is important is because financial support for Neo-Nazi groups often comes via the white power punk and metal music scenes and, therefore, cutting off financial support to these bands may be a meaningful way to counteract the ability to organize.

Tribune – Tales Review

Tribune – Tales Review

““Progressive death metal” is a phrase full of lush semantic promise for me. Those three words hold the suggestion of an interesting and diverse palette of sound, with enough nuance to be respectable and enough hard-hitting and energetic release to satiate my almost masochistic desire to headbang. Sadly, the suggestion is all too often a bit misleading – as bands fail to deliver compelling songs amidst the interwoven forest of off-kilter rhythms and odd, but uninspiring tonalities. The very promise of difference all too often homogenizes the genre through an arms race for musical novelty and this prevents artists from forming a distinct identity. Identity is something Vancouver’s Tribune certainly isn’t lacking in; they’re decidedly not a copycat and their second album Tales is one of the most distinctive records I’ve heard this year.” Promises, promises, promises, that’s what tech-death means to our man Kronos. But can Tribune live up to their promises (and promise)?

Hail of Bullets – III The Rommel Chronicles Review

Hail of Bullets – III The Rommel Chronicles Review

“While the mighty Bolt Thrower lies in their house at R’lyeh, dead but dreaming, Dutch super group Hail of Bullets have become the undisputed champions of war-themed death metal. Featuring the likes of Ed Warby (The 11th Hour, Demiurg) and the immortal Martin van Drunen (Asphyx, ex-Pestilence, ex-Bolt Thrower), these grizzled veterans have made a name for themselves by adopting a winning Bolt Thrower meets Asphyx meets more Bolt Thrower schtik and they’ve churned out some truly tank-busting, old school death over their short but nasty career. Their albums always feature a fantastic mix of classic death grooves and monstrously oppressive doom riffs (especially on On Divine Winds) and they remind me of long forgotten Winter and the dirgey glory of vintage Celtic Frost and Hellhammer. III The Rommel Chronicles doesn’t upset the ammunition cart and the band delivers another broootal, throwback album with little in the way of finesse.” Old school death metal about war and battle. That shit just sells itself, don’t it? Yes it does!

Gorguts – Colored Sands Review

Gorguts – Colored Sands Review

“Let me know if you can find a metal band that utilizes dissonance and technicality to a large degree that doesn’t cite Gorgut’s masterful work as an influence. I’ll probably be waiting a long time so I’ll bring a good book – it’s called “The Band That Pioneered Dissonance and Technicality in Death Metal” and it has the word ‘Gorguts’ repeated over and over. But it’s that huge sense of respect for the band and the enormous anticipation for this release that made it such a tricky one for the legendary act. 12 years is not only a long time for hype to build around a record, but it also gives newcomers and pretenders a chance to overtake the legends should they prove unable to live up to their own mammoth legacy. After all, a lot of bands are remembered for their creative peak, even when they can’t maintain that level indefinitely. So perhaps Obscura and From Wisdom to Hate era was their peak and all they’ll really conjure up this time is a solid record, right?” And here is the other neglected gem we wanted to get to, but didn’t until now. You’re welcome!

Revocation – Revocation Review

Revocation – Revocation Review

At this point in their career, Revocation should certainly know what they’re good at, and fans should know what to expect out of the group’s consistently inventive and engaging brand of thrashy tech-death. A self-titled album then seems an appropriate fourth release for Davidson and Co., but topping the perfection of previous albums, especially the most recent thriller Chaos of Forms, is a tall order. Revocation, for the most part, delivers exactly what fans look for in a Revocation album; exciting, technical and catchy songs with all the heft and energy of a freight train.” Ladies and gentlemen, today is Tech-Death Albums We Missed Reviewing Day!! First up on the tardy list is the thrashy goodness of Revocation and doing the honors is our brand new probationary scribe, Kronos! New writer, long awaited review, what more can you ask for, you divas!!

Death Toll Rising – Infection Legacy Review

Death Toll Rising – Infection Legacy Review

“Monty Python’s Life of Brian had a tagline that said something to the effect of: “See the movie that’s controversial, sacrilegious, and blasphemous. But if that’s not playing, see The Life of Brian.” Remove the satire and replace Life of Brian with Infection Legacy from Canadian death/thrashers Death Toll Rising, and you’ll have a fairly good idea of what you’re getting into here on their follow up to their embarrassingly titled Defecation Suffocation.” A super obscure death/thrash act that’s comparable to a Monty Python classic? If that doesn’t tickle your curiosity bone, you must’ve had it removed.