“I love getting debut records to review, partially because debuts are usually where bands try to bring something new to the table, and partially because it means I have a lot less contextualization to do before I write about the album. But then there are sometimes cases in which I’m actually familiar with a band prior to their release, and in this instance I have The Zenith Passage covered.” Hey Kronos, you gonna pick up all those names you just dropped?
“Coming hot off the tail of a rough early summer between myself and Unique Leader records, Omnihility’s last album, Deathscapes of the Subconscious, quite impressed me with a mix of inventive and impossibly demanding riffing and a sleeve full of compositional tricks. Indeed, some of its riding embedded itself in me, and I find myself recalling the title track’s modulated theme again and again, even as I listen to the wealth of new shred that Dominion of Misery presents.” The struggle is real (and trve).
“One of the longer-running bands in the seemingly boundless Southern California tech-death scene, Arkaik are coming up on ten years now, with Lucid Dawn as their fourth full-length in eight years.” Even in this sluggish economy, the tech sector is going strong.
“While other bands focus on heavy hits and constant pummeling, Gorod have made themselves the Muhammad Ali of death metal: light on their feet and surgically precise, and incredibly fun to bear witness to.” But will this be a Thrilla in Manilla or fall flat on its face? Anything can happen in a fight.” Kronos vs. Tech-death. FIGHT!
“No amount of misdirecting ledes or rhetorical flourishes can hide the fact that you already know Belgium’s Serial Butcher is a death metal band and Brute Force Lobotomy is a death metal record.” Thus endith the lesson.
“Before I progress further, I want to make something clear: I’ve long held the belief that the letter “V” is not a vowel. Yes, I know, look at my screen name, but bear with me here. Call it being stubborn from years of having it drilled into my head in elementary school, but when I see it used in words like “kvlt” or “trve,” I cringe. Or if it’s used in place of an “f”, I also shudder. Case in point: Cali tech-deathsters WRVTH. How do you even pronounce that? “Ruhth?” “Rooth?” “Rivith?”” Spelling is fun.
“Longtime readers will have gleaned of my general distaste for the post–The Faceless tech death scene of modern times. While there are still a lot of cool acts out there producing great tech death that doesn’t stray into the territory of the growing dissonant/experimental death scene (more on this later), such as Origin and Archspire, there are even more bands jumping aboard the proverbial white fifteen-passenger van and opening up their very own, cash-only, cut-rate ramen emporiums.” Kronos is unhappy and somebody has to pay.
“Oh math, how I hate you. Next to physics (which ruined my day with its so-called “gravity” as I scaled my childhood tree fort and refuses me the privilege to smoothly glide around corners in my front-wheel-drive Pontiac Vibe), math straight-up pisses me off. You’re probably asking yourself, what does Dr. Grier’s Rant of the Day have to do with Continuum’s debut release?” You may or may not get an answer to that over all this loudness. Sweet Fallujah!
“I want one thing to be perfectly clear in your mind before you begin reading the body of this review: I hate Rings of Saturn. The band is the antithesis of everything I like about heavy music: they’re popular, smug, and have a fanbase largely made up of teenagers with gauged earlobes and fitted caps. Their guitar tone is incredibly clean, their drums make St. Anger look like The Destroyers of All, they have no bassist, and they throw around breakdowns as often as they throw around new age/horror sci-fi horseshit lyrics.” Kronos has a deeply conflicted relationship with this band. Please support him as he works through his issues.
“Internal Bleeding helped to pioneer the much maligned (but somewhat loved) ‘slam’ death metal genre over 20 years ago, and are by most accounts the first band to use the term. As the premiere slam band alongside Suffocation, they’ve been divisive since day one.” Love em or hate em, they’re back to get all Strong Island on your ass.
