“While I love the scorched-earth pummeling of bands like Revenge and Bestial Warlust, I’ll be the first to admit the genre isn’t exactly known for its variety and memorability. To me the style needs some musicality to balance out the brutality, otherwise, I’d just be blasting Tetragrammacide all day and sending my entire paycheck to Hells Headbangers. Fortunately, this was something New Zealand quartet Heresiarch understood pretty well.” Tuneful war.
“Of all the metal sub-genres to come to prominence in the last decade or so, perhaps the most frustrating is the so-called “caverncore” style. We’ve heard it time and again: murky guitars, gurgly vocals, and an unabashed love for Incantation in both sound and artwork. While it’s proven a successful sonic palette for bands like Cruciamentum and Dead Congregation (not to mention the recent Cemetery Urn album), many of these groups simply mire themselves in a riff-less murk that makes even Alestorm seem appealing.” When the crevice calls.
“How do you like your Swede-death in the morning? I like mine with a kick. I like to gargle the shards of old-school chaos around my mouth with verve. Sometimes I take less pleasure from this, though. Sometimes the taste of old-school chaos can become a numbing experience. The thrill and energy can wear off as swarm after swarm of newer bands look to add polish to the dirty obscurity of the early 90s underground by bringing it to the unwashed masses of 2017. Ensnared are disciples of this old-school sound.” Olde school is never out for summer.
“When I’m not knee-deep in moonlight and grave-soil, espousing the charnel delights of death metal’s immortal old-school, I can be found belligerently vibrating in the eye of a thrash storm, armed with only the most hostile and confrontational of riffs. S. Vrath is a man that well knows my plight. Guitarist, vocalist, and sometimes bassist of Scythian and Craven Idolhere is an individual that understands the importance of a well-forged riff and the immediate implications for my beleaguered vertebrae.” If thine neck offends thee, thrash it out!
“Why, many reviewers often ask themselves, should I recommend or trash this record? I’ve asked this question of myself about Ascended Dead’s Abhorrent Manifestation repeatedly, and my truthful answer to that is “I have no idea.”’ Brootal music, confused reviewer.
“There are a few bands, of late, grasping abundances of classic death metal in one hand and, with a fistful of innovation in the other, slamming the two together like some kind of malignant Large Hadron Collider®, letting that resulting abomination billow into our collective unsuspecting consciousness. Finland’s Lantern are such augurs of unrest, mixing a witches brew of black and death metal to trouble the mind and fray the nerves.” Were you thinking of LeBron James instead of Hadron Collider? It’s okay.
“Gorephilia. Just the word, let alone the cover, should clue you in as to what genre this release belongs to. Like most people, it’s not a term that often finds itself in my daily vocabulary, heard only by local restaurant staff when instructing them as to how to cook my fucking cow. Turns out in Finland it means grim, Morbid Angel worshiping death metal.” Gore is hell. [Gorephilia. What else can we really add to that one? Rich man, gore man, Incantation man, die!]
“With the relative ease in which bands are able to record and self-release, on top of the multitude of established artists and independent labels on the scene, I’m pretty much constantly playing catch up and trying to absorb as much quality metal as I can get my grubby hands on. All the while trying in vain to siphon out the bullshit that inevitably pops up in the endless flood of artists emerging.” That siphon’s not gonna clean itself.
“For reasons I can’t quite pinpoint, the band’s solid debut didn’t wow me like it did others, leaving me a touch underwhelmed after diving headlong into the thick as a brick stew of churning riffs and unsettling atmosphere. Repeat listens after an extended break have been kind and my opinion of the album is a little more positive. So being a persistent trooper I jumped on Krypts follow-up platter, Remnants of Expansion, hopeful they could capitalize on their considerable potential.” Talk to the monster hand.
“The endless darkness, desolation, intriguing mystery and suffocating atmosphere of space pairs well with metal. Science fiction themes, dystopian futures and extra terrestrial shenanigans are all familiar sources of inspiration in the metal scene, however Colorado up and comers Blood Incantation do a particularly excellent job of nailing down the dense reality, claustrophobic atmosphere and otherworldly vibe of our mysterious universe on their hugely impressive full-length debut, Starspawn.” Space in your face.
