Releases

Immortal Bird – Thrive on Neglect Review

By Kronos on July 2, 2019 in 20 Buck Spin, 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Grind, Releases, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, 41 comments

“Immortal Bird play a cankerous, grindy brand of death-thrash that’s now all but consumed by its nastier wounds. Thrive on Neglect nods its sagging neck towards late-era Revocation (“House of Anhedonia”) but its body sears and aches like the boiling pitch of Plebeian Grandstand (“Vestigial warnings”). Whatever you want to call the sound, there’s no doubt that it’s a logical continuation of sound from the band’s Empress/Abscess debut and a confirmation that the bird is at the very least not dead yet.” Fair or fowl?

The Odious – Vesica Piscis Review

By Kronos on June 19, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Djent, Progressive Death, Progressive Metal, Releases, Reviews, Self-released, Progressive Metal, 52 comments

“I didn’t know this album was coming. I thought The Odious had faded out of existence long ago, trapped behind an ever-thickening glass of ‘what-if’s’ that both magnifies and distorts the legacy of bands that disappear just as they reach their creative zenith. You’ve heard swansongs before, but never from as fluffy and yolk-drenched a cygnet as The Odious were, releasing a career’s worth of great ideas over the course of two years and two releases – 2012’s Joint Ventures LP preceded by the That Night a Forest Grew EP in 2011. Now reaching for an altogether opposite avian metaphor, the band have reformed.” From swansong to phoenix.

Inanimate Existence – Clockwork Review

By Kronos on May 9, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Releases, Reviews, The Artisan Era, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 74 comments

“Five albums in, California’s Inanimate Existence still find themselves in an ironic perpetual animation, racing through phrases song by song while never quite making headway. Since the band ditched the whole Nightwish goes tech moments of Calling from a Dream – a record that I, oddly enough, quite liked – the band have returned to the vivid progressive and technical death metal that they’ve more or less always peddled.” Existence is pain.

Venom Prison – Samsara Review

By Kronos on March 18, 2019 in 2019, Death Metal, English Metal, Grind, Prosthetic Records, Releases, Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 135 comments

“The band’s grindy, slammy death metal draws many parallels to Cattle Decaptitation, whether it’s their everything-but-the-kitchen sink approach to riffing, their sudden outbursts of groove, or their vicious takes on social injustice. Samsara has no dull edges, no safe entrances, and a complete lack of regard for your safety.” Limited safe spaces.

Joyless Euphoria – Dreaming in Ultraviolet Review

By Kronos on February 25, 2019 in 2019, Austrian Metal, Black Metal, Boersma Records, Reviews, Shoegaze, Black Metal, Shoegaze, 77 comments

“Even before Sunbather set off a scene-cred melee best likened in both intensity and contrivance to the Hedley Lamarr goons/Rock Ridge citizens brawl in Blazing Saddles, post-black metal was no spring chicken. James Kelley of Altar of Plagues suggested that the band’s change of direction on Teethed Glory and Injury was at least in part due to boredom with a stagnant scene and despite the downright bacterial rate at which post-black metal bands spawn, I can think of very few remarkable records in the style that have come out in recent years.” Blue light special.

Altarage – The Approaching Roar Review

By Kronos on January 25, 2019 in 2019, Avante Garde, Death Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist Underground Activists, Spanish Metal, Death Metal, 142 comments

“In their first two albums, Altarage began a career—and a successful one at that—by walking just a few steps behind Portal. Sure, Portal’s most avant-garde ideas never made it into Nihl or Endinghent, but the Australians’ influence on Altarage has always been as clear as either band’s music was murky.” Now THIS is Portal racing!

Vile Apparition – Depravity Ordained Review

By Kronos on January 21, 2019 in 2019, Australian Metal, Death Metal, Memento Mori, Reviews, Death Metal, 52 comments

“Abstract: Many recent investigations in the field of death metal have returned to classical techniques in order to reliably synthesize brutality. In recent years, authors have generated several novel formulations that draw from classic literature to generate new brutalities that fit modern needs but are still as effective as older formulas. Here I report on a recently discovered compound, formulated on a reliable basic structure, which exists at high purity with few residuals. This new product is applicable for research use and will be available in digital databases shortly after the publication of this article, with physical availability expected later in 2019.” SCIENCE!

Noctambulist – Atmospheres of Desolation Review

By Kronos on January 18, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Blood Harvest Records, Reviews, Technical Death Metal, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 49 comments

“No, Noctambulist do not sound like Blood Incantation, Sulphur Aeon, Immolation, or Gorguts. Or at least, they don’t sound more like Immolation or Gorguts than Ulcerate do. How the press kit missed Noctambulist’s most prominent and obvious influence—not to mention one of a much higher profile than either of the more modern bands mentioned—might never be known. Did Ulcerate become uncool? I doubt it on the grounds that (1) Noctambulist like them enough to try to sound almost exactly like them, and more importantly, (2) that I, as the sole arbiter of brutality both here and in the universe at large, am the only force with the power to decide if and when Ulcerate could ever become uncool.” Kronos knows.

Aseitas – Aseitas [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]

By Kronos on December 8, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Reviews, Simian Song Records, Things You Might Have Missed 2018, Death Metal, 55 comments

“The feeling that we’ve heard it all before has never been so persistent. A decade ago it was stagnant melodeath, then re-thrash, then retro doom, and now we’re in the middle of a burly old-school death metal revival. Where are the progressive bands willing to try something new and write the next chapter? The snarky answer: “ripping off Pink Floyd and Yes.” But there are others. One such contender, Portland’s Aseitas dropped one of the most puzzling death metal releases of the year with their self-titled debut.” New horizons, strange vistas.

Baring Teeth – Transitive Savagery

By Kronos on November 20, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Avante Garde, Death Metal, Reviews, Translation Loss, 58 comments

“I’m continuously anticipating new material from Baring Teeth. The Texan trio’s avant-garde and combative exercises in dissonance and unsettling atmosphere make up some of the most thought provoking material in the world of death metal, steadfastly refusing the accessible and the predictable. Few other bands can match the density and sheer shock of their experiments, and three albums in they’re still surprising me.” What bare teeth you have!