Obituary

90s Metal Weirdness: Testament – Low

By Dr. Fisting on October 11, 2012 in 90s Metal Weirdness, American Metal, Blog Posts, Thrash Metal, 19 comments

Cast your minds back to a time when metal music was not cool. Nay, indeed, a time when metal was anathema to all that was considered to be “chic” and “in.” A time when your favorite bands were actually encouraged by the music industry to play slower, cut their hair, and write sensitive lyrics about their childhoods. Yes, this unfortunately really happened.

Our new semi-irregular feature “90s Metal Weirdness” focuses on albums released between 1992 and 2001 and which we all probably would rather forget. But in the service of publicly shaming the musicians involved, we have pushed forward.

Deadly Remains – Severing Humanity Review

By Steel Druhm on August 11, 2012 in 2012, 3.0, American Metal, Death Metal, Deepsend Records, Progressive Death, Reviews, Death Metal, 2 comments

More tech-death you say? Maybe that’s the new re-thrash! Hmm, what kind of tank does one drive to support tech-death? It better be something brootal!

Horrendous – The Chills Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 2, 2012 in 2012, 3.0, American Metal, Dark Descent Records, Death Metal, Death Metal, 2 comments

In the last few years, old school death metal has seen a resurgence in the underground. Gone are the bands trying to blast their way into oblivion by copying the NYDM sound, no more does every death metal band in the scene want to sound like Origin or Hate Eternal. Instead, Entombed and Death have become the ideal and this revitalization has been welcome to these Angry Metal Ears. I find it distinctly more giving to listen to the crunchy riffs and the cavelike production values than what a lot of modern death metal has become. But as has been noted, like any trend these things start to get too saturated and the listener tends to cool a bit on the new material that’s coming out.

Denial Fiend – Horror Holocaust Review

By Steel Druhm on August 5, 2011 in 1.0, 2011, American Metal, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Ibex Moon Records, Reviews, Death Metal, 8 comments

Like a swift kick to the frank N’ beans, the new release by this death metal “super group” is shocking and very painful. I really loved Denial Fiend’s quirky 2007 debut They Rise. It merged nasty, old school American death metal and punk rock with a party atmosphere and although very tongue in cheek, it rocked and raged convincingly. To this day it remains in regular rotation at stately Steel Druhm manor. That debut featured some grizzled veterans of the old school scene like bassist Terry Butler (Death, Massacre, Six Feet Under, Obituary) and mega Cookie Monster Kam Lee (Death, Massacre) on vocals. What made They Rise work was the strong similarity to the classic Massacre sound (their From Beyond album is one of the all time best American death metal albums). The songs were savage and raw but also catchy and fun. Basically, it was a damn fine treat for death metal fans. When I heard a new Denial Fiend album was pending, I got giddy like a school girl. When I heard Kam Lee had taken his immense vocal talent elsewhere, I was sad but still hopeful. Well, hope is officially dead. Horror Holocaust features the “vocals” of Blaine Cook (The Accused) and he destroys everything as surely as cops destroy fun and work destroys free time. While there are some decent musical moments, he renders the bulk of the album unlistenable and there’s no denying that it sucks, bigtime.

Angrily Unreviewed: Decaying – Devastate

By Steel Druhm on July 30, 2011 in 2011, Angrily Unreviewed, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Hellthrasher Productions, Black Metal, Death Metal, 3 comments

Here’s a seriously under the radar piece of nasty, blackened death that seems to have been widely overlooked since its May release (including by us sadly). Devastate is the debut by Finland’s Decaying and it’s a real work of grim badassery. Available through Hellthrasher Productions, it features a scant six songs of brutal death but its not a short album since four of the tracks are over ten minutes long. That’s right, you get some lengthy, epic death metal tuneage with one song over fourteen minutes in length! That’s longer than “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and brutal and ugly all the way through. Honestly, not many bands can write death metal that remains interesting over so long a period of time. The reason why this album is getting space here is because Decaying can and did just that. Despite the length of the tracks, the writing and energy keeps things engaging until the bitter end.

Deicide – To Hell With God Review

By Steel Druhm on February 12, 2011 in 2.5, 2011, American Metal, Century Media, Death Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, 9 comments

The evil one is back. Yes, he of the upside down cross branded on his forehead. It’s every one’s favorite Christ hater Glenn Benton and his buddies in Deicide and they bring us album number ten, the unsubtly monikered To Hell With God. Now, I’m all about giving these guys their due props and concede their legendary status in the death metal universe. They, along with Morbid Angel and Obituary put the Florida death metal scene squarely on the map in the 90’s. That said, they’ve been wildly inconsistent in terms of quality studio output. You never know what Deicide is going to show up, the brutal and impressive or the brutally shitty (more often the latter making the appearance). Look no further than their past two releases for proof. 2006’s The Stench of Redemption was monstrous while 2008’s Til Death Do Us Part was a steaming heap of buffalo poo. So where does the new one fall, right or shite? Let’s discuss, then we can Deicide together (sorry, had to be done).