Suffocation

Defeated Sanity – Disposal of the Dead // Dharmata Review

Defeated Sanity – Disposal of the Dead // Dharmata Review

“Most people can’t, for one reason or another, split their talents and passions into two separate wholes. The pizza place near my home in Ontario makes good wings, but they’re not great enough to start up a separate wing business and succeed, so they just do both at once. Some folks are terrible salespeople, so they invite you over to their place to eat some pizza and have a “party” while they try to pitch you an energy drink-based pyramid scheme; the free pizza is supposed to make up for the fact that they couldn’t sell icewater in the Sahara Desert, I guess. Germany’s Defeated Sanity are not most people. They happen to like ultra-brutal death metal and the old Florida proggy death scene, so instead of just combining the two they up and did a split with themselves.” Schizoids are never alone.

Despised Icon – Beast Review

Despised Icon – Beast Review

“The state of deathcore in 2016 isn’t an enviable one. It’s not quite old enough yet to spur on needlessly salty debates about the best MySpace pages, and it’s not fashionable or ubiquitous enough anymore to act as a gateway to further extremity as it once did for so many. Suicide Silence was never that good to begin with, but their records have noticeably declined in quality since their debut. Job for a Cowboy has been a boring modern death metal band since Genesis. All Shall Perish hasn’t released an album since 2011, let alone a good one since 2008; the list goes on. Enter the best-known Canadian deathcore band that’s not Cryptopsy in 2008: Despised Icon.” Deathcore in da house!

Yer Metal Is Olde: Morbid Angel – Blessed Are the Sick

Yer Metal Is Olde: Morbid Angel – Blessed Are the Sick

“Let’s go ahead and acknowledge this up front: of all the big-name old school death metal bands, Morbid Angel has arguably fared the worst. Sure, they had a few stumbles over the years – 1995’s Domination had some serious clunkers, and 2003’s Heretic was supposedly singlehandedly responsible for getting the group dropped from Earache – but the real deathblow came in 2011, with a little record called Illud Divinum Insanus.” Are you still morbid?

Burn the Mankind – To Beyond Review

Burn the Mankind – To Beyond Review

“Death metal, at least in its most modernistic and stereotypical actualization, largely eschews the cerebral in favor of the visceral, crafting violent soundscapes that reinforce instead of juxtapose the narratives of disfigurement, annihilation, and warfare that accompany the music. And…cut.” Fancy words from a pretentious man.

Skinless – Only the Ruthless Remain Review

Skinless – Only the Ruthless Remain Review

“For years I’ve tried to figure out why I can’t stand Suffocation and the only reason I can come up is that they are from New York. Which gets me thinking about Skinless. Which makes me sad that they haven’t put anything out since 2006’s crushing Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead. Then it dawns on me that the real issue I have with the whole bru/oo/00tal death scene is that I just miss Skinless.” Flay it again, Sam.

Dehuman – Graveyard of Eden Review

Dehuman – Graveyard of Eden Review

“I’m not a big lasagna guy. It’s weird, because while each of the main ingredients are great in other dishes, I just could never fully get behind that big cheesy rectangle, even though I really should enjoy it. But alas, the appeal has eluded me and if I was given a choice of what to make at home or order at a restaurant, it’s safe to say that it would never be lasagna. What does this have to do with metal and/or angry-ness?” Good question, and who the hell doesn’t like lasagna?

Gorelust – We Are the Undead Review

Gorelust – We Are the Undead Review

“One of the most interesting consequences of the old-school death metal revival is the chance to hear what we all missed the first time around via myriad re-releases of rotting relics buried by time and dust. Naturally there are weak links that should’ve stayed forgotten, but Quebecois death metal band Gorelust’s 1995 debut Reign of Lunacy deserved its ungentle exhumation.” Back from the dead and still French-Canadian.

Mr. Fisting Comments: Evolve or Die

Mr. Fisting Comments: Evolve or Die

“As someone who entered the world of metal during the mid-1990s, I quickly got used to bands evolving and changing established formulas. We never knew if someone’s next album was going to go techno, or go punk rock, or invent new subgenres entirely. Granted, a lot of these “experiments” had commercial motives behind them, and oftentimes the results straight-up sucked. But still, there’s something to be said for being surprised.” Mr. Fisting is tired of metal bands playing it safe and he’s pissed at metal fans too. Give us hell, Fisting!

I Killed Everyone – Necrospire Review

I Killed Everyone – Necrospire Review

“Part of the description that accompanied the promotional material for this Chicago deathcore quintet’s debut full-length album is as follows: ‘Unlike most bands of their genre, I Killed Everyone is influenced by classic death metal bands from the 90’s such as Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, and Morbid Angel. The band incorporates many of these influences to form a unique sound of modern deathcore with undeniable classic death metal overtones.’ Needless to say, Happy Metal Guy scoffed at these words and nearly choked to death on his alphabet soup. Is there really a need to say that so-and-so deathcore band is influenced by the classic death metal bands Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel? Duh!” Happy Metal Guy isn’t a big fan of promo kit language, but does he like deathcore? He just might be crazy enough to say yes.