“Execration appears to be quite the popular name for death metal bands, so I’ll begin with a clarification: this review concerns the Norwegian death metal band Execration – not the Italian death metal band Execration or the Colorado death metal band Execration (who themselves are not to be confused with defunct Michigan death metal band Execration, nor with disbanded Arizona death metal band Execration).” Eh, what’s in a name anyway?
“One of the most frustrating trends in modern death metal is the influx of these so-called “cavernous” bands – groups that huddle together around the altar of Incantation, strumming buzzy nothing riffs over indecipherable grizzly bear vocals, apparently recording everything through two layers of drywall using microphones caked with dried mud. They’re all maniacally focused on conjuring a dark and otherworldly atmosphere, but utterly incapable of writing a single memorable song (I’m looking at you, Teitanblood).” Some people just don’t respect a good murk.
“Alright, enough of the goddamn “V” replacing the “U” in band and song names! It’s dumb, trite, annoying, I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore! Moving on, Lvcifyre is a blackened death outfit from the U.K. and Svn Eater (irritating isn’t it?) is their sophomore outing. Having never heard them before, I admit to being pleasantly surprised by what they’re offering here, which is a fascinating mix of Norwegian black metal circa 1993 and hyper-riffy, technical and mega-brootal death metal. In a nutshell, their sound is vicious-as-fuck, mean-as-hell and heavy-as-a-two-ton-heavy-thing. You can expect to hear traces of old Darkthrone, Behemoth, Nile, Immolation and Deathspell Omega in a SINGLE SONG, all stitched together with power of the almighty riff.”
In our first Angry Metal-Fi article, Alex pointed out exactly what’s wrong with Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Labyrinth — it’s compressed to within an inch of its life, ruining the music that the band worked so hard to create. It’s easy for us to sit and point fingers though and tell you how everyone is doing it wrong, (which they are). To really get a sense of what you’ve been missing, you need to hear some examples of bands and engineers that are doing it right. Once you’ve heard how good fully dynamic metal can sound, and how much better your favorite albums could have sounded had they been mastered with full dynamics, we hope that it will make you angry. You might even shed a tear for everything that’s been lost over the last 20 years, so many great albums ruined because of the insanity that is the Loudness War.
“Ulcerate’s emergence was rather inauspicious. Their first work, The Coming of Genocide, didn’t hold much promise. It was pretty standard for mid-aughts uber-blast brutality, assaultive to the point of redundancy. But there were some gnarly guitar squalls nestled in their amateurish blastfuckery, and on their first true album, Of Fracture and Failure, things started to get wild. Then, Everything is Fire happened, and things got real.” First Carcass and now this? It’s all big releases, all the time and and Jordan Campbell is on the job with his always insightful musings.
“Yes, this is a bit late, but we were so bitter, we just couldn’t rouse ourselves to do our AMG duty to you, the readers. You see, 2013 is fast becoming a remorseless factory of sadness, with major release after major release disappointing or underwhelming (and sometimes flat-out sucking). While this trend is alarming and disturbing, let not your heart be troubled, for even in the most rancid of compost heaps, treasures can be found if one digs deep enough (yuck). It seems we will be relying on the lesser known and in some cases, completely unheralded acts to bail our collective fat out of the proverbial fire this year, and no month demonstrates that better than May.” Better late than never, you wonks!
“New York’s own death metal juggernaut, Immolation have seen their stock rise steadily over their lengthy career, to the point where they’ve become one of the most consistent and impressive units in the field. Their ability to blend technical proficiency with savage and broootal, groove-based death has developed and blossomed through the years and rarely have they disappointed the metal masses with a dud of an opus…” Immolation is about as close to a sure thing as one gets in the metal world. Does Steel Druhm think their new ten ton opus is up to snuff or not quite enough? Only one way to find out….
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.
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.
It is a bit odd that I haven’t heard Sweden’s Nominom. They’ve been around since 1993, when I was just a wee metal lad, discovering the merits of Carcass, Brutal Truth, and their ilk. And while perhaps the name was heard in the venerable annals of metal, it is not recalled by this metallion. The ranks of metal run deep, however, so it is not a big surprise. Just in recent years I discovered the intense and ever-evolving Immolation, so there’s always a wealth of metal to discover, and new interpretations of heavy to be explored, to make me forget I have tinnitus before I go to sleep.
