Malevolent Creation

Gruesome – Savage Land Review

Gruesome – Savage Land Review

“Now here’s a cannibal of a different color. Some may be aware of the Death To All tours that happened over the last few years, but for the unfamiliar, Death to All is a cover act paying homage to Death and the late, great Chuck Schuldiner by running through the greatest hits of the seminal band’s discography live. From that loving tribute tour, a loving side project was spawned. Savage Land is a new kind of tribute to Death, written to be an an album slotted between Leprosy and Spiritual Healing in the Death discography.” No individual thought patterns here, but hey, they’re only human.

Obituary – Inked In Blood Review

Obituary – Inked In Blood Review

“Way back when Obituary were big, they delivered the kind of ripping death metal that rivaled Florida peers Malevolent Creation, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel and Deicide. To say that they once peeled the skin from your face is no understatement… think back to the pungent stench of Slowly We Rot and Cause of Death. It was them along with Winter that first incorporated the Celtic Frost dirge element into death metal, and when combined with John Tardy’s lunatic vocals left you wondering whether music could get any heavier.” The old boys are back to kill once again, but are the tools still sharp enough?

Vader – Tibi Et Igni Review

Vader – Tibi Et Igni Review

Vader has more albums than I have old socks. They’re an institution in Polish death metal and they pretty much put their homeland on the map of extreme metal (Behemoth helped a little too). Tibi Et Igni is their twelfth opus of raging death metal and much like 2011s Welcome to the Morbid Reich, it’s a fast, furious and largely unhinged affair written by old time death metal purists, for old time death metal purists while also mixing in copious thrash influences as well.” Were you worried if this would be good or not? I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Vader – Welcome to the Morbid Reich Review

Vader – Welcome to the Morbid Reich Review

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.

Aeon – Path of Fire Review

Aeon – Path of Fire Review

Swedish death metal, I mean real Swedish death metal with the legacy of brutality that everyone can identify in the form of (insert your favorite Swedish death metal bands here) lives on in Aeon, a band that hails from Östersund a city in Jämtland (which is basically in the mountains and towards the Norwegian border). Astersund, while not known for its thriving metal scene, has indeed birthed one of Sweden’s current and most brutal death metal bands who were signed to Metal Blade and released an album a couple of years ago entitled Rise to Dominate which really excited fans of the tech and (more-or-less) brutal styles of death metal. I believe when I was introduced to them the words “fucking ridiculous” were definitely involved somewhere in that conversation.