“Just one look at the cover of Cut Up’s Forensic Nightmares will tell you pretty much everything there is to know about the music hidden beneath it. What else could a cool depiction of a disassembled human body represent other than some cool, old school death metal?” Cover o’ the Year? Maybe.
Torture Division is what some would call a “supergroup,” made up of Lord K. Philipson (The Project Hate, ex-God Among Insects), Jörgen Sandström (Krux, The Project Hate, ex-Grave, ex-Putrefaction), and Tobias Gustafsson (Vomitory, The Project Hate). And let’s just say that these guys play a mean fiddle.
In our new monthly feature, which will show up here on the 15th of every month and run over the next few days, I (Angry Metal Guy) will select 5 bands at random (usually those who have followed my directions and have bandcamp accounts) to get blurbed by every member of the AMG staff. The idea is to do at least a bit of our part to point out that the metal underground is still an important part of the world of metal. While we simply don’t have the manpower to produce regular reviews of unsigned bands, this is my attempt at a minor mea culpa if nothing else. So enjoy Angry Metal Guy’s Unsigned Band Rodeo and our fourth entry for April 2013: Infested!
“I’ve noticed that the face of Norwegian black metal is a changing, it’s becoming more adventurous, more rock infused, more progressive and God forbid, more accessible [well, it can’t get LESS accessible — Steel Druhm]. I can confirm however, that while they’re not just all about the evil any longer, they definitely haven’t lost sight or forgotten about the mighty Dark Lord Satan! Breath people, all is still right in the world.” How does Koldbrann fit in to this new movement? Follow Madam X on her trend analysis.
Tech death is a fickle mistress. Madam X is our less fickle mistress of evil, debasement and death. Join her as she examines the techy, deathy strew cooked up by Kamikabe. It doesn’t sound all that appetizing, does it?
If one thing has become clear lately, its that Madam X loves zombies, gore, death and dark stuff. Since Zombified is all about these things, who can be surprised she loves their Grave worshipping brand of nasty death metal.
I’d been holding off on writing this review because, well, to be frank I’m no grind expert. While I have a working knowledge of most genres and pretty deep knowledge in a several, grind is not one of them. In full disclosure, I’ve not listened to the classics (except Carcass and Napalm Death and Nasum), and I’m probably even fucking up genres when I have discussions about what I think the classics are. So, to pretend to be authoritative on the subject would be disingenuous at best. Against my better judgement, when I got Aborted’s Global Flatline I decided that I should review it anyway. But after listening to it about 10 times I realized I wasn’t quite sure how to put what I thought of it, which is kind of my.. job. So, that’s kind of awkward. I went back and listened to the band’s older material
For me 2011 was a year devoid of a death metal record that really knocked it out of the park. While Vomitory produced a pretty damn solid album, and Diocletian and Ulcerate were really good, but they didn’t exactly get me writhing around on the ground in ecstasy like a lot of other people seemed to have experienced it. So when I was digging through my unopened promos, I stumbled upon Nader Sadek’s debut record which came out in 2011 from Season of Mist Records. And let me just say that I wasn’t even mildly prepared for what I was going to get. I’ll give you a hint though: it was 100% win.
This has been the year of death metal. Evidence is very much apparent if you look at the bulk of releases so far. Try to forget Morbid Angel and Decapitated for a moment. Quality albums from the likes of Hate Eternal, Vomitory, Supreme Pain, and Vader, even Autopsy – have made the genre stronger than ever in 2011. Sophomore album The Tomb Awaits is an attempt from these Swedish veterans of gritty old-school death metal to join those hallowed ranks.
Amidst the sea of breakdowns, pig squeals, and all things core, comes a band that’s traditional and non-conforming. Bodyfarm, named from the institutions that examine and study the deceased and decomposition of dead flesh, is a straight up no BS death metal project with pure energy and substance. Along the same lines as Vader, Vomitory, or Cannibal Corpse in that there sound is stripped away aggressive death metal. No Gimmicks so to speak, just the music free from the pressures of mediocre innovations and the rising deathcore movement. I’m pleased to say these guys might have accidentally stumbled upon something refreshing.
