“Now if there’s one thing I love more than needless pedantry, it’s death metal, and since this band knocked off the first without playing so much as a note, I’m particularly well-disposed towards Ruinous Ensoulment. But Gravewards hardly need the boost. The Greek trio’s winding riffs and gritty, old-school attitude makes Ruinous Ensoulment an engaging debut and earns them a respectable spot among this year’s bevy of solid underground death metal releases.” Death in Greece.
“Hailing from Austin, Texas, Morgengrau are another act to tow the classic death metal line, and while they don’t attempt to break boundaries per se, they do affect a few refreshing accents seemingly lost to the annals of death metal history, and second album, Blood Oracle, is all the more coherent for them.” Old death and blood magic.
“I won’t mince words: Necromancy Enthroned is the riffiest album I’ve ever heard. This album makes Master of Puppets look like Music for Airports. This album makes Sodom look like Sunn O))). This album is the reason why my socks remain unfolded while I stand over my bed playing air guitar.” The socks have been rocked.
“It’s easy to slip into Grinch mode as we hurtle towards the silly season. Unfortunately for many, before the Christmas and other holiday festivities hit full swing, there’s a shitload of commitments and deadlines to navigate before it’s time to kick back and relax. On top of these realities comes the nauseating Christmas commercialism that predictably takes over and gets jammed down throats, making me feel as if I’m going to start shitting elves any day now. Thankfully metal is here to keep sanity in check.” Death to commercialism!
“Maybe I’ve heard one too many shitty re-thrash bands but it’s easy to draw conclusions from the bold illustration and title of Biological Enslavement by Hemotoxin. I feared that simplistic chugs, an angsty vocalist and a Neanderthal’s lyrics would lie behind the spiky logo and alien landscape. Happily, Hemotoxin are marginally more refined than this.” Marginally refined rethrash could be a whole new genre.
“We live in a time where everything old is new again, and metal music is no exception. We have retro-stoner rock, retro-thrash, Scooby-Doobie Doom, and now… retro-tech-death? With the creation and success of Horrendous, many nimble-fingered, musically-acrobatic musicians are screaming bloody gore and exploring their more Human side to bring back a classic sound with all of the necessary upgrades to keep things somewhat fresh.” Tech-death like Death? That might just sell!
“I often gripe about the general state of the current thrash scene and how it’s stagnating with a lack of cutting edge innovators and general over reliance on rehashing the past. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, however, more often than not I find myself looking back to the past and grabbing an old favorite to get my thrash fix. Already in 2016 old school thrashers have been grinning from ear to ear with the return to form of Megadeth and Anthrax, along with the enduring space-age proggy thrash of the recent Voivod EP. Fortunately there’s a heap of room for new faces to emerge and make an impact on the current thrash scene and show that young pups can be as equally wily as old dogs.” Ready yourself for the latest in pup thrash!
“Speed metal wasn’t around long as a separate genre before it got absorbed into the more popular thrash bubble following the Bay Area explosion. Over the years the differences between the styles blurred, and while they’re slight, speed metal was always closer to classic metal in attitude with a greater emphasis on memorability and hooks. And that’s where Denmark’s Encyrcle come in.” Nobody saw this dose of old timey fury coming.
“Quality will always trump originality, and bands like TrenchRot and Crypt Sermon embody that truism; the former released the great “let’s play Asphyx and Bolt Thrower”-core monstrosity Necronomic Warfare last year, and the latter recently released an old-school doom album that met with high praises from Steel Druhm. What does this have to do with Unrest? Well, members of TrenchRot and Crypt Sermon (along with USBM band Woe) have decided to grace us with an album of Nasum worship.” Philadelphia may be in the midst of a multi-genre metal renaissance. Sound the Rocky theme and prepare for step running!
“Death-thrash is the ultimate extreme metal throwback, harkening to the days before death metal was death metal by re-investigating the genre’s roots and reinvigorating its gloominess and brutality through fast-paced, angry guitar abuse. It’s never going to push boundaries, but that’s not really the point – at this stage in its life, thrash has become ever more nostalgic for the days of yore, and what better way to tint one’s glasses rosy than to splatter them with blood. Memphis-based three-piece Shards of Humanity is ready to render those lenses opaque with their debut, Fractured Frequencies, a dirty, riff-obsessed tribute to the birth of death.” Man, old school tribute music really can hit the spot sometimes. But is this one of those times?
