Dawnbringer - Nucleus (2010)

Four years and one deal with the budding Profound Lore records later, and Dawnbringer returned with a much more professional, refined sound that leaned far deeper into their heavy metal influences. Granted, the melodies and harmonies were always there in the guitars, and you can certainly trace some of the content here back to the last three discs, but the song structures definitely seem more brazenly epic, inspired by a lot of the NWOBHM classics, but with the same urgency and speed they applied to a lot of their black metal stuff. I also hear some comparisons to the cult US heavy metal gods Manilla Road, there's a similar sense or adventure being told though the guitars, though the production here is probably a lot more accessible, and certainly better than In Sickness and In Dreams.

Still a two-piece here, and Chris has converted his vocals more to that dirtier style he used on the last album, only here the intonation works better against the music, more of a humble blue collar bludgeon against the constant barrage of heavy metal melody. What if Lemmy fronted Iron Maiden. That sort of sound, and while his delivery is not going to win any prizes, it does tend to function within this context. But the songs are just more robust and striving, inspirational in places like "Swing Hard" and the glorious, moody, atmospheric "Pendulum" which ends off the record with some vocal lines that remind me of "Astronomy Domine". They try their hands at pure Sabbath-style doom in "Old Wizard", and it works, Chris using a little bit of a higher, more forceful pitch to match the weight of the riffs. "You Know Me" is jammy, proggy and Rush influenced, while the end of the bridge in "The Devil" brings them right back around to some of their most intense material off the older albums, the blasting drums used to create a pummeling atmosphere which supports the feedback-driven guitars vaulting over them.

A few of the tunes, "All I See" and "Like an Earthquake", might also come across as more melancholic alternatives to the style he'd use in High Spirits. Nucleus definitely messes around and explores, about as much as the prior album, so I did come away from this with the same sense of growing pains. However, it almost all works well within the milieu of this particular record, and what's more, the individual songs here are much better than they were on either In Sickness... or Catharsis Instinct. But this is the real 'flex point' where they became more of a heavy/epic metal band as their defining trait. With the Profound Lore visibility and all-around improvements, it's no wonder this was the record that put Dawnbringer on a lot of radars, and rightfully so; it's one of the first I'll reach for when I'm not in the mood for the rustic melo-black of Unbleed, and also one of the first I'd recommend to newcomers, or honestly any fans of heavy metal or heavy/prog metal.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

Annihilator - Annihilator (2010)

Once you've dubbed an album simply Metal, I suppose the only way you can reflect upon yourself any deeper is to finally drop that eponymous effort after two decades of existence. And Annihilator certainly works far more as s proof of concept, this is basically the Annihilator album I would have wanted directly after Never, Neverland, a complete tour de force of Jeff Water's thrash metal style, with loads of earworm rhythm guitars and blazing leads. If you love the trotting blitz of records like Master of Puppets or Alice in Hell, this thing is loaded with all the pent up energy that should have been brought a long time earlier, and I think if I were to judge Annihilator records on musicality, this would be top notch and top three. You could argue that in terms of sheer velocity and energy expended, this one often tramples the debut.

As for Dave Padden, he settles into his James Hetfield/Chuck Billy style and sounds pretty good at it here, with a few more melodic lines, but staying largely consistent along with the riffing and pure force on exhibition. I like the production of his voice, it's never too awkward or overbearing. The one aspect that drags it down is the lyrics, they are full of lazy cliches and often distract away from the phenomenal music, such as the mention of 'Hot Topic' in opener "The Trend", that sort of thing is usually pretty weak and attempts to permanently date what could otherwise become a timeless exercise in thrashing. However, the opening volley of melodies, and writing in that song overall, somehow compensate this lapse in good taste. There are also a few points at which the album veers away from its more pure thrashing for tunes like "Nowhere to Go" which have a slightly more modern rock vibe to them, but even here Jeff smothers it all with so much great melody and bluesy, burning lead work that it's almost on par with all the faster, and then they often go in the entirely opposite direction, like the blasting of "Death in Your Eyes".

Quite the scorcher of an album here, which stays out of its own way at almost any cost, and easily can put your neck in a brace if you succumb to its maniacal charms. The closer "Romeo Delight" is a Van Halen cover, similar to some of the original hard rock the band often lapsed into for fun on older records, and this tune could have been clipped, but there is still some excellent bass and guitar work in there and they certainly turbo-charge the thing with an energy to surpass the original. But I can skip that, and it's easy enough when you can just hit 'STOP' after "Payback". Is this album on tier with the debut in terms of overall memorable songwriting and chops? I don't think so, and though they've never had great lyrics, some of these remain a bit too plebeian and cringe, but in every other department Jeff Waters and crew are firing on all cylinders. I don't even mind the simple cover image of the zombie girl with the band name tattooed onto the forehead, I know it's a departure from the logo and a lot of eponymous albums try this sort of aesthetic shift, but at least it looks alright. Fun album, and I hope for a lot more like it as the band finally gets the fires burning again.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.annihilatormetal.com/

Helloween - Unarmed (2010)

I suppose I can give Helloween a little credit for holding off a quarter of a century into their career before slapping us with the lame, obligatory acoustic album, which I'm sure I've ranted on about before as a major pox within the hard rock and heavy metal scenes. To go a little further, the Germans didn't just decide to sit around and record your bland and typical 'campfire acoustic' sort or album, but to render a number of cuts throughout their career into soft rock tracks. Sure, you get the cleaner and milder guitars as expected, but there are beats, horns, and whatever the group can muster to make these heavy metal classics sound like they belonged on major lamestream radio channels in the 80s and 90s. There is always this tendency to feel like such adaptations help a band reveal its more touchy, feely, kid-friendly emotional side, but the real rub here is that Helloween has already possessed those qualities in spades, even when they were plugged in and cranked up in distorted bliss, howling and screaming along their brilliant, anthemic power metal.

So this is basically what Billy Joel, Meat Loaf or Miami Sound Machine might have sounded like recording a whole record of Helloween covers, but with Andi still singing. It just doesn't function on any appreciable level other than comedy that NOBODY ASKED FOR. The songs can't decide whether they want to really go for that lighter touch, or maintain the intensity, so you've got the drums still pounding along and very little of the mighty guitar power or momentum over them to matter. Hearing a sax solo in the center of "Dr. Stein" is goofy as all hell, or a version of "Future World" which sounds like its being performed for a Country jamboree warmup to a Christian Rock concert. Tunes like the throbby soft rock "If I Could Fly" and the folksy jig version of "Perfect Gentleman" lack all the punch required of those amazing riffs and choruses. Where they get really dramatic, like the purer piano balladry of this "Forever & One", it does seem a little more fitting as an alternate, but then "I Want Out" brings you back to the realization that this whole idea is unnecessary and unwated.

Just because you're a popular, veteran band with a bunch of record contracts doesn't mean you need to work yourself up to something like Unarmed. Just because you CAN, does not mean you SHOULD. I am not one to scoff entirely at every idea to trivialize and make heavy metal into an amusing form...if Helloween had sponsored, say, an 8-bit chip-tune covers album of their material, that might actually be awesome. But who needed this plastic pop rock castration? Find them and bring them forward, so we may stone or waterboard them or whatever torture seems appropriate that they relent. The bonus DVD with a couple videos, or the 1-2 tracks here that don't go completely belly-up in their translations just don't make up for all the rubbish you've got to rummage through to get to them. This nonsense makes Pink Bubbles Go Ape sound inspirational by comparison. Fortunately Helloween is such an excellent band on a normal basis that this doesn't really dull my perception of the band other than as some sort of unfortunate, ironic gag that didn't stick the landing.

Verdict: Fail [3.25/10]

https://www.helloween.org/

Rage - Strings to a Web (2010)

Strings to a Web arrives with a lot of technical finesse and modern studio gloss, thanks to Victor Smolski using the album as a sort of expose for his capacities as a performer. I mean, if you've got it, flaunt it, and this man clearly has it, but occasionally it seems like that level of flash is being committed to a rather hollow exercise, that every nook and cranny of some of these songs is to be filled up with some little fill lick that demonstrates the dexterity and ability without really enhancing the actual power of the track. Fortunately, it's not a total deal breaker across the entire album, because the guy comes up with a lot of of really cool progressions in there that also keep the listener's attention when the meat of the song might not. His rhythm guitar tracks are also fairly complex, so that the album overall feels like a more complex Unity, with all of the classic 90s motifs of their sound in place...the sort of warm, metropolitan vibe to their writing, the lack of higher pitched Peavy vocals which had been a sad state for quite some time leading up to this.

That said, when it comes to his lower range, Wagner sounds quite good in the mix, he's captured so clearly that you can make out all the grit under the syllables. Hilgers drumming here is no joke either, lots of detail to his fills and even just when he's laying out a simple rock beat below Smolski's bag of tricks. Strings to a Web exhibits a fairly wide range of tempos and dynamics, drawing upon all the influences of thrash, speed and power metal that had characterized the band's ascent through the prior decades. The songs are well written, even if there's a tendency to go a little overboard, and really the only thing they suffer from is not having those extremely catchy guitar and vocal hooks which were what drew me to the band in the first place in the 80s. Instead, this is a showier, arguably more progressive band keeping itself affixed to its contemporaries...say what you will, but this sounds like a Rage album coming out in the year 2010 and a band that hasn't yet run out of ideas, even if some of the feel of the vocals and riffs on this does recall a lot of Soundchaser, Unity, Missing Link, XIII etc, while adding just a fraction more hustle.

The "Empty Hollow" suite dominates the middle of the album, five tracks which incorporate some of the symphonics that they'd been using up to this point with their 'Lingua Mortis' concepts, and here there are some parts which recall the album Ghosts, only with the more technical guitar-slinging. Some of this is quite good, especially the track "Empty Hollow" itself or the shredding title track. But then they throw a pair of softer, moody pieces in there like "Connected" which didn't resonate much with me. Some of the most interesting tunes come after this section of the disc, like "Saviour of the Dead" with its groovier low-end riffs that at first seem a little cheesy but morph into some really catchy bits with Peavy using some low vocal effects. But they'll also throw out another weak ballad like "Through Ages" in amongst the more raging (haw haw) numbers. All told, it's a solid if not entirely consistent album which is a good flex of the chops but doesn't succeed in transforming them into the level of earworms that I had long associated with the band. I'll spin it to be impressed once in awhile but there aren't many playlist-worthy tunes among its 55 minutes of style-slightly-over-substance. The spidery Soundchaser on the cover is also a fun pairing with the album title.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.rage-official.com/

Borknagar - Universal (2010)

The sole Borknagar album not to appear on Century Media Records, they kept it in the family by putting this one out through the esteemed Indie Recordings, a label that has long served as both a harbor for veteran Norwegian bands and upcoming progressive acts in the black metal realm and beyond. But don't take this as any sign of mutation or perceived artistic freedom, Universal is does not far from the tree of its predecessors, to the point that I often get it confused with its 'heavy' predecessor Epic, ignoring the acoustic album that fell between them. Well into the Vintersorg era of the band, it doesn't distinguish itself much from albums before it, but just offers another marginal round of refinements and the same level of intricate, competent craftsmanship that had defined them.

Universal does suffer somewhat from redundancy, for as much work as they obviously put into their material, a number of the tracks present here flow into one another and previously released tunes to the point that they can be a little difficult to pick apart. There's still a strong backbone of melodic black metal, but constantly being complemented with acoustic segues, Hammond organs, synths and pianos so that there's rarely a moment of raw riff that isn't accompanied. The 'Viking' sound here is quite prevalent through Brun's chord constructions and that interplay of electrics and acoustics that feels like you're drifting along the winds and waters of some far North idyll, interwoven with the substantial vocal arrangements of Vintersorg and Lars Nedland, between raving rasps and some slick male choirs which help elevate it that much more above the mundane. The proggy keyboards are legion, and Borknagar had long since become one of the bands outside Finland's Amorphis to best incorporate them without coming off as overly atmospheric hacks.

Sprinkle on some bluesy, Pink Floyd-style lead guitars and you've got yourself another rich, detailed album you can adventure through numerous times with plenty of new patterns forming. The new drummer at the time, American David Kinkade added quite a lot to the aural canvas with his beats that effortlessly bounced between intensity and calmer rock grooves and fills, and there were a few moments where Tyr's bass playing also got pretty perky. For me this album really picks up with the trilogy of tracks "For a Thousand Years to Come", "Abrasion Tide" and "Fleshflower" which are the most exciting and interesting of the lot, some excellent vocal lines, jarring proggy guitars and boiling organs and other synthesizer lines frenzying out to kick some life into the occasionally bland tunes that came before them. And for a wonderful surprise you get a guest spot from none other than former (and future) vocalist I.C.S. Vortex on "My Domain" which is a great way to close this out and perhaps offer a little foreshadowing.

The digipak version I own comes with a bonus "Making of" DVD which is pretty typical of such things, and not all that interesting to where it offers me much more value. You get a good glimpse of their process and their wintry environments where the album is being recorded, but I'd have loved more of an intimate thing where someone could pick their brains a little more, maybe see them out about town in the midst of the hole thing. Unless you want to sit there watching guys record their instruments individually for songs that you know far better and like better on the whole, it's kind of a dud and not even shot particularly well, but then again it's not like they HAD to include it, they wanted to kick a little something extra to the audience and so be it. Not a mar upon an album that, while far from their best, still has plenty to recommend about it and for me trumps both Origin and Epic before it.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://borknagar.com/

Nailgun Massacre - Boned, Boxed and Buried (2015)

Going by the name and appearance of this album alone, you'd think Dutchmen Nailgun Massacre were probably a goregrind band, or at least a Cannibal Corpse-styled brutal death band. So when I spun their sophomore album Boned, Boxed and Buried, I was a little surprised to find that they play a very pure strain of late 80s death metal with primarily American influences. Slow to moderate  paced, using a voluminous production style and simpler riffing patterns that go straight for your jugular. While there's little to be said for any sort of originality here I'll have to give them some credit at taking something so familiar and them putting a fresh, bloodied stamp on it as if they could have released this back in 1989 and it would receive consideration among some classics.

Obituary is the closest reference I can make, simpler and grooving rhythm patterns that are potent nonetheless when splattered with the vocals. A little bit of a punkish attitude. Thread that influence with a little Swedish death & roll, and some well-crafted leads and evil melodies which recount classic Chuck Schuldiner. I'd also compare this to Six Feet Under, or rather, a Six Feet Under that didn't generally suck so much, because of that emphasis on rock-like rhythms, as well as one half of the vocals, which sound a lot like Chris Barnes grunts. The others that are often paired up with these are like a poor man's John Tardy of Obituary, and it's often quite hilarious what the two sound like in unison, an added layer of silliness that occasionally drags the album down a notch; especially when the Tardy-a-like seems to almost crack up at the end of a few lines. There's also a notable Autopsy influence, just in the massive, raw tones, the abrasion and ugliness that the record balls up like a cleaver-clenching fist and then beats on you before making some choice cuts.

The drums thunder along here, adding a lot of power to the simpler chugging rhythms, and the bass is also really enormous sounding and gives the whole affair a bowel-rumbling effect that is made even more fucking awesome when they cast out some simple, evil melody over the top as in the depths of "I Bury the Hatchet In Your Face". There are some screams and samples and narrations to further emphasize the themes in the lyrics, though once again they can feel a little too goofy if you just want your face flayed off by the great music, but not to the point they become a dealbreaker. Production is really great across the instruments, but I think perhaps the vocals are just a little too loud in general, and highlight some of those imperfections which in this case don't offer much positive charm.

As you can tell by the collage cover artwork these guys are huge on cult horror and exploitation flicks, so murderers and cannibals abound in the lyrics of Nailgun Massacre and that fits the mold well. Those who scoff at the simpler death metal of olde might not get much out of this, the leads and atmospheres created by the melodies are all very good, but otherwise the rhythms are so simplistic and bare-bones that they don't really offer any flashy surprises. Boned, Boxed and Buried channels film inspirations from the 70s and 80s through the death metal of the 80s and earlier 90s, and does a pretty cracking good job of it, with a handful of over the top moments that might have been snipped from the slasher reel.

Horror-meter: Seven out of...does your mom know you're up this late?

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] 

Seventh Xul - Qliphothic Rites of Death EP (2010)

A defunct project by a pair of musicians who between them are responsible for probably half of Greece's underground black metal recordings, Seventh Xul's lone EP recording is getting a reissue through Iron Bonehead on 7". Featuring a new cover treatment that seems to convey its cryptic, nihilistic aesthetic mood rather well, but perhaps not the production level, which is quite good here. If you follow this scene, or these pages closely, then you might recognize Acherontas from his maintay of the same name, or other bands he's played with like Acrimonious, Nocternity and Stutthof. Necro/Necrotormentor you might recognize from Burial Hordes and Enshadowed. Together, with beats provided by Fotis Bernardo, another musician heavily involved in that scene with credits in Septic Flesh, Necromantia, etc, the duo concocts a formidable enough mesh of black and death metal to warrant a second look, even within its two-track lifespan.

"Sitra Ahra" immediately grabs the attention with its repeated, evil melodic phrase and the punchy precision and bulk of the rhythm guitar used to accent it like percussion. Once the song develops further, it's composed of largely predictable tremolo picked death metal patterns redolent of old Deicide, accented with bold octave chords ala Morbid Angel, but while they honor these old, overt Floridian influences, there is also a tiny hint of ritualistic Greek black metal that you'd associate more with Thou Art Lord or Rotting Christ, only a lot of the fetchier melodies have been supplanted by pure sepulchral aggression. Granted, this is more often captured in some of the break riffs, where the drums drop out, and the meat of the thing is far more conservative to its inspirations, but there are moments of departure, especially in the 2nd track, that bring this native spirit to the fore. Bernardo's blasting and double bass have a mechanical nature to them which seems better suited to a pure brutal death experience, not that it doesn't work within the context of this material, but it also doesn't leave much up to the imagination.

In all, while I didn't really enjoy the two tracks enough to spin them more than a handful of times, there were some decent ideas here which were clearly the foundation of great potential. As mentioned, the production is really good, better than what you'd find on a number of albums by its constituents. I do wish the drums were a little less clinical, and more atmospheric in volume, but he was more or less serving as a studio player and I'm not sure how much attention he was able to give the project. Also, the majority of the riffs are just not as compelling as the intro to the first tune, or the choppier atmospheric breaks nestled into the trenches of either of them, and one wishes they had fleshed that out more to make this stand out against a wider variety of old school death metal acts, because this is clearly more in that subgenre than the blackness, which manifests through only a handful of riffs and themes. Still, Seventh Xul was quite competent, and Qliphothic Rites of Death has its moments. With more space allotted for their ideas to gestate, they could very well have climbed 'the ranks' and become more radar-worthy across the underground.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

Vietah - Smalisty žah (2010)

I'm as enamored of the winter landscape photo as many of the musicians who use them as album covers, but certainly the novelty of the practice is long since diminished from the 90s when it had started to become commonplace is in the fields of black and folk metal. This, coupled with the lukewarm reaction I had to the debut record, didn't exactly set expectations high for Vietah's sophomore outing, and yet I enjoyed this considerably more than Zorny maroz. Invigorated, better produced, better capable of fleshing out its more bulky song structures with solid riff choices that build anticipation for what will follow them. Coincidentally, this is a more varied record, and it's moments of instrumental beauty were quite nice touches to the raging but straightforward storm around them.

The comparison to Burzum retains a tenuous grip, but it's been supplanted by a more epic-tinged Bathory style, specifically from the Blood, Fire, Death and Hammerheart era, which is manifest through the synths and guitars when used in tandem, and the more corpulent beats used below them. Antarctis has also improved vocally, shifting from the suicidal, loud rasps of the debut to a deeper, harsh drawl which falls in comfortably between the black and death metal genres. It might not sound as unnerving, nor is it super unique, but it's mixed in with the music much better and never stands out too much for its own good. Otherwise, a lot of structural points here are similar to his earlier material...the wayward, repetitious guitar lines that are often given space to breathe where the percussion falls out, and the riffing is exceedingly simple, though he definitely rips out some more traditional mid-90s patterns that smack of the Scandinavian scene of the time (with the title track here in particular). Some early Enslaved, Immortal. But those spacious, drift-scapes of the first album still thrive on several pieces here, and come across as more poignant.

The guitar tone is bold with an underbelly of raw, especially on the slower grooves which trace their lineage back to Darkthrone and Hellhammer, but will also remind some of Satyricon's mid 00s black & roll style. The contrast of the substantial piano/keyboard interludes to the harder hitting cuts might be too jarring for some, but I had no problem with it, even though I could listen to the former by themselves in many situations without requiring the rest. Translations for the lyrics are once again included with this I Hate Records vinyl reissue, and they maintain the sturdy introspection of the debut, only this time they've got better music to accompany. Whereas I stretched out my listens of Zorny maroz over several days, not particularly inclined to marathon it repeatedly, Smalisty žah definitely had some moments that I immediately wanted to revisit. Vietah was still some distance from establishing a truly distinct or exceptional style here, but this is more than worthy of its predecessor and a clear sign of growth and maturity.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Vietah.Official

The Wakedead Gathering - Tenements of Ephemera (2010)

Tenements of Ephemera was a small run release making its way to only a limited audience, so one might have been forgiven in to have missed out on it amidst the slew of old school death metal being revitalized and released this decade. That said, Andrew Lampe's material showed promise even as early on as this full-length, which resurrected the origins of the form and then immediately put his own, distinct stamp upon it; not by completely rewriting the math, but by tampering the equation to incorporate the small atmospheric touches his material has been associated with ever since on the great Dark Circles EP and subsequent albums. Whereas the same riffs here might feel less imaginative or evocative in the hands of some trendster cycling though the dustbins of the genre for inspiration, they bloom across Tenements of Ephemera like the creeping fear one might experience when reading a really great proxy for a classic horror author.

Genuine death metal, setup with a dark ambient/synthesizer and then punching through into fleshy walls of roiling, Incantation-like tremolo patterns with Lampe's ominous guttural, but before long... you're treated to your first taste of what makes this 'different', a series of varied, lurching, segments which imply both dissonant and eerie melodies to the cemetery soil beneath. Vocals are often layered between several growls to create a grotesque chorus. Individual tracks exhibit plenty of internal variation and never wear out their welcome with swollen durations replete with exhausting repetition. The Wakedead Gathering doesn't exactly tread on 'experimental', but Lampe is fully willing to flip his own script, as in "The Black Foundry", "Permutation" and other points where the progressions take on a very doom death blend, whether imbuing that into a faster paced series of riffs or cut off into an instrumental all its own like the guitar-warped "In the Offing". The beats are laid out with a lot of double bass patterns and tinny cymbal sounds, and would probably prove the least compelling element of the composition apart from the fact that they just fit the riffs perfectly.

To be clear, Tenements of Ephemera is not going to blow your roof off, or your speakers out, but it's a more subliminal, reined-in brand of pure death metal which uses its lack of complexity to create a morbid, intimate atmosphere with an almost claustrophobic cinema feel. And I admire the approach, not so much a deconstruction of the genre's foundations but a slightly alien vibe to it that is purely the purview of its author and not some prevailing trend everyone is doing, even if Wakedead can easily cross over to fans of all the Asphyx, Death and Incantation throwbacks we've been inundated with for years (and some to our great benefit, to be sure). As someone who used to originally imagine that this style of music had been envisioned by the minds of aberrations, who in turn transmitted it through the limited lens of squishy human brains, it feels otherworldly even though it's half-rooted firmly in death metal conventions. Dark Circles and The Gate and the Key were both improvements in that the songwriting became more distinct, the atmospheric licks more memorable, but this was already a great project going forward, and the gap in quality is minimal.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.facebook.com/thewakedeadgathering

Blizaro - City of the Living Nightmare (2010)

It's not uncommon for a band to specialize and excel in one area, but New York's Blizaro not only specializes in two, but wedges them up against one another in a union so strangely symmetrical that one wonders why they were ever separate? And if you think about it, they really weren't...Italian prog pioneers Goblin were always able to engage in either psychedelic grooves or harder rocking mayhem, and their countryman Paul Chain made a rather overlooked but extensive career out of taking Black Sabbath's doom metal foundation and then applying it to all manner of cinematic, atmospheric aesthetics cultivated from the 60s through the 80s, anything from Hammer Horror to the giallo to the more contemporary synthesizers used in fright films further West. Without sounding quite the same, Blizaro could be viewed as a successor to such hybridized traditions, and a damn fine one. They were also one of the more interesting acts to land at Razorback Recordings, a label long associated with cult and camp horror, but previously pigeonholed into the death and grind genres; having a band like Blizaro on the books was a chance to redefine that thematic relationship, to freshen up a roster which was sorta samey, if not exactly stagnant.

You'll notice immediately with the title track that this is perhaps not the most polished, professional production, but that this does not at all serve as any sort of detriment. More importantly, you'll hear that John Gallo's riffing is the polar opposite of lazy doom composition, a crutch that I readily admit I find with a lot of groups on the lower half of this niche. Melodic, inventive, never restricted to mere dime-a-dozen stoner rock chord progressions, he seems to season the material with influences from a broader spectrum of heavy/speed metal, progressive rock, and even the kitchen sink if it suits him. As a result, each of his recordings is a journey with a lot of left turns and no real discernible ending. Cuts like "Midnight Lurkers" and "Eyes in the Casket" directly channel the Cream, Iron Butterfly, and  Sabbath blues/metal tradition, while others take us on a further tour through the sub-genre's evolution through Pentagram, Cirith Ungol, Trouble and Candlemass. The mix is on the murkier end of clear, with down to earth rhythm guitar tones, porky bass lines and slowly grooving drums that create a live vibe to the process. The leads and melodies always soar well above the din, making for interesting prog sequences that stand aloft from the myriad synthesizers and choirs sounds that evoke a purple, psychedelic/Gothic Limbo...

And as much as I like the 'metal' aspect of the music, it's those very organs and synthesizers that really put this over the top for me, and even provide most of the record's most memorable moments, especially where they blend with Gallo's everyman, Osbourne-like croon. They range from very solemn and simple lines to orchestral elevations (as in the depths of "Mental Disease Overture") and simultaneously conjure up Carpenter, Tangerine Dream, and just about every horror score you've ever stayed up late at night with and become hypnotized by. This isn't complex, dissonant, or even highly experimental stuff, it just has a very hazy, theatrical vibe to it which makes you want to spin it over and over. The cover of Goblin's Suspiria theme is a nice touch, and while it seems an obvious choice, Blizaro screws with it just enough that it becomes more of a seamless component of City of the Living Nightmare itself rather than a superficial grab for credibility. At just over 60 minutes, this really wraps up into an experience I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys any comparison I've made throughout the review, and then I'd extend that to the Strange Doorways compilation (2013) or the John Gallow debut Violet Dreams (2014) which are this good and better. Vivid, morbid, flavorful, freaky, and fun. Third eyes open at all times.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Blizaro-164692483566639/

Watchtower - The Size of Matter [single] (2010)

I almost forgot this thing had come out, which is most likely a progposeur crime of monstrous proportions considering how much of a proponent I've been for Watchtower's sophomore Control and Resistance this last quarter-century. Yet as I was digging through some random files in some random, abandoned folder, there it was, staring at me straight in the face, taunting me to listen through it once more, and it's not an act I regret, because if nothing else, "The Size of Matter" has me salivating for the next 'proposed' chapter in the Towerverse, the long elusive new album Mathematics, which I'm not honestly sure is even a thing anymore, but when I go to their official website, I find nothing but four years of crickets...way to keep up on that, folks.

Anyway, the song itself was something to get temporarily excited over, for with the exception that it is bolstered by a meatier mix of guitars than ever Control or the debut was, and Alan Tecchio's shriek ability somewhat more restrained through either age or wear (or both), this links pretty directly to the material they were writing before the dawn of the 90s. Schizophrenic progressive thrash written with an astounding level of musicianship, and just as much attention paid to detail. The bass and guitars here are specifically both pretty nasty, pretending as if the last few decades hadn't existed and they were continuing forth with the previous direction, only feeling even more up front and in the face. Jarzombek's drums are still quite electronic in context, a good fit for the surgical, jazzy leads that punctuate the bridge in the tune, which are easily my favorite bit in the song, but obviously the guy is such a damn brilliant timekeeper that it wouldn't make much of a difference if they were mixed and recorded with a more acoustic aesthetic in mind. Some of the fills and tempo changes are fantastic.

Tecchio does branch out into his high range with a lower, conversational harmony at one point, but I do rather enjoy the mix of his performance, it definitely carves straight into the listener and drives home the lyrics. The one area where this does fall behind Control & Resistance is that, as proficient as the musicians remain, as technical the discourse of their instruments, I did not feel as if I was being catapulted into some alien-to-me tragedy or situation like I felt back in 1989. The riffs and vocals, while impressive and consistent, aren't necessarily as memorable or on the level as the older material, but I can't lie: if they could finally get that long-anticipated post-reunion full-length out, and it was at least this quality or better, I doubt you'd hear many complaints among their fanbase...least of all from myself. As Heathen, Paradox and several other melodic tech-thrashers have already proven, the Old Guard are perfectly willing to step up into the boots of the New Guard if nobody (apart from Vektor) wants the job. Hope more something comes of this, the tune is on point.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://ra.lunarservers.com/~agura3/watchtowerband.net/

Vasaeleth - Adorned & Iridescent EP (2010)

It's a curious thing to return to that leading edge of the cavernous death metal conglomeration so prevalent at the turn of the 20-teens, and Vasaeleth's Crypt Born & Tethered to Ruin was an effort I was somewhat fond of when it dropped in 2010 through Profound Lore. Adorned & Iridescent was a 7" 'preview' of sorts for that album, put out by Satanic Skinhead Propaganda and Blood Harvest Records, with two of the album tracks and a B-side which is, in retrospect, probably the only reason to check this out. This might lack that morbid, distinct color artwork by Antichrist Kramer that they used on their later releases, but the contrast of the band's superb logo against the black/white cemetery photo is still quite pleasing.

Adorned & Iridescent, like its full-length sibling, is essentially a paean to Incantation's earlier material, Immolation's debut and the churning, raw miasma of horror cultivated through the first few Autopsy albums, only this is seen through the lens of younger individuals who wanted to take those subterranean aesthetics and lavish them with a turbulent but modern, reverberating production which might lend it a better sense of 'setting'...if your setting is six feet beneath a sepulcher. You've got the roiling, tremolo picked guitars which feel like someone stirring your intestines with a ladle, with a few bridges towards death/doom territory with morbid, plodding chord progressions or even a few harmonics for eeriness. The guttural vocals are more like some caustic underground gas being blown across the ceiling of the caverns, than anything distinctive or easy to pick out from the music, and this is where that Craig Pillard influence comes in. The drums, on the other hand, seem sternly black metallic in focus, blasting nihilism which combined with the low end-ness of the whole recording almost grants it a coldness like the vast space between celestial bodies...

The riffs are alright, but occasionally they'll throw in a dissonance or unexpected left-hook chord which helps justify the largely predictable patterns they were producing (at least for anyone who had been around death metal in the late 80s/90s). What struck me about Vasaeleth was just the overall feeling you get when listening...some of the music is kid's stuff in terms of songwriting, but it most certainly felt like the raw breath of aeons being blown into your ears when you place it in context with what the duo of Antinom and O.A. were attempting to achieve. Unfortunately, for the EP itself, its little more than a footnote, since "Figures of Chained Spirits" and the title cut are better placed in among their six neighbors on Crypt Born.... "Unmanifest" has a more black metal current in the drums and chord choices, but I've also had that impression elsewhere in their catalog, and it's pretty flush with the two A-side tracks. At any rate, this was retroactively consigned to oblivion when the album dropped several weeks later, and it's ultimately useless to do much other than look at or listen to the third tune, decent if not mandatory; but it would not have been an unworthy introduction in 2010 if you couldn't grab a copy of Crypt Born, which just sounds better in general.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10] (call forth your name which mine becomes)

https://www.facebook.com/Vasaeleth

Sarcomancy - DEMO (2010)

Sarcomancy is a name unknown to many who don't play black in Magic: The Gathering, but also a fairy obscure black metal band out of Massachusetts who I have a feeling we'll be hearing a lot more of in the future. This 2010 demo is only a three-tracker, traded directly from the band on a blank cassette (I even cheated and turned the logo into a faux cover), upon which they wasted no space, adding a mix of hard rock and metal tunes to fill out the tape! It's been a long time since anything like that has crossed my doorway. But all that is beside the point, because the original material here is strong enough to be counted among the gradually burgeoning New England black metal scene alongside groups like Infera Bruo and Autolatry; with a few aesthetic distinctions that hint at a greater ambition than merely cutting and pasting from the Scandinavian standards.

This is relatively dextrous black metal with a more prominent bass presence than the norm, courtesy of Josh Staples, who I'm sure I've likened to the 'Alex Webster' of Massachusetts, but if I haven't: well, consider it done. The guy has a strong death metal background, having played with a number of locals (currently Abnormality who kick all manner of ass). His lines here are fast, fluid and slightly higher in pitch than what you might expect from a lot of bottom feeders, but it adds a nice, almost classic heavy metal (Steve Harris-on-amphetamines) texture which lends some vibrancy and pulse to the streaming chords. The blasting feels a little thin and/or tinny, but it might have just been the old hunk of junk deck I was experiencing the tape on, and it's certainly adequate enough to drive the riffing selection and seat the filthy rasping vitriol being spit over the proceedings. As for riffs, they're generally pretty melodic in structure, giving it a very mid-90s appeal in how they contrast against the vocals, but I'd also point out that the leads and bridge elements here possess a semi-speed/heavy metal charisma to them which works rather successfully; in fact it was this and the bass that made me wish there were a lot more material to listen through.

In terms of overall aesthetics, I feel like the fell Romanticism inherent to Quebecois black metal is infused with a more savage Norse or Swedish convention; glorious but tainted. If you could imagine a hybrid of Bathory or Marduk with old Deathspell Omega and Forteresse, this might fall somewhere along that axis. Atmospheric, but largely just through the core riffing elements rather than any of the additional layers. The production is a bit disparate across the three tunes, but just because they're essentially basement recordings that were either recorded or mixed at different times, and this is all clearly outlined on the notes I was given (along with some amusing historical notes). The sound levels could be better, and obviously the packaging, but it's not as if this was presented as something it wasn't, and if you're unable to pick this up through a trade, there should hopefully be some manner of reissue in the feature (there are a few live YouTube videos available). As of this moment, these guys are actually bigger than the britches of this recording would have you believe, having performed up North at some fests with some overseas talent, and there is ample evidence of the conviction and darkness to go much further.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/sarcomancyblackmetal

Asphyx - Live Death Doom (2010)

I've been ruminating a lot lately over the relevance of the live album in the 21st century, or how it pertains to my own life in particular. With the advent of high definition live content (DVDs, Blu-Rays, Netflix, etc) so readily available, and such a massive collection of studio music to listen through, with hundreds of new bands/albums each year, I find that I'm just not as capable of making the time for the audio-only experience. Back in the day, I loved me some Live After Death, Unleashed in the East, Live Without Sense, or KISS' Alive when cruising around in my teenage cars, or delivering newspapers while I would dream of being somewhere else; but having that visual stimulation is such a component of going to a gig that I'm not sure I want to do without it any more. Yeah, that's right, I no longer buy the things (unless they come as a package with the DVDs), but for the purpose of writing up discographies I'll still sit through and include them where applicable.

Live Death Doom was Asphyx' first foray into the medium, and they did not fuck around, with two discs and two hours of material recorded in Germany just after Death...the Brutal Way had been released. So we're talking Marvin van Drunen and Bob Bagchus back in the lineup together, the band finding its 'second wind', more accurately their fourth or fifth wind after all the brief breakups and reunions of the nineties and 'oughts. The time was really right, a period of celebration for the band's renewed productivity and dedication and just having issued the first studio album in nearly a decade (and a good one to boot), so why not? This wasn't some hack investment early on into their career, they had existed on the consciences of death metal maniacs for two decades, and I'm sure some fraction of them were pining over a package like this. Granted, we're once again faced with the realization that the audio-only release has nothing on the DVDs, where you are getting not only the live footage but some documentary/interview content that ultimately appreciates the value (if DVDs ultimately have any), a more fulfilling interface for the diehard audience. So if you're gonna spend the money, do it on that version, the Hordes of Disgust documentary being the most fascinating since they go into a little detail about the earlier years of the band in the late 80s.

In terms of production, the sound here fell a little flat for me...once the band is firing on all cylinders, it seemed to me like some of the dynamics get lost in the performance...I guess for 2009-2010 I was just expecting something a little more high-tech. You can certainly feel the fuzz and power in the music when there are some punctuated starts/stops, intros of particular songs, etc, but very often the instrumentation all kind of runs together, and considering that I was never the biggest fan of the group in the first place, so too do the tunes. But that's not to say it's an uninspired performance: the crowd seems to really get into it, chanting and/or howling along in response to cuts like "Asphyx II". The drums are really raw, but you can make out all the higher and lower end signals of the kit evenly, while the guitars seem to dominate, reducing the bass-lines to a mere puddle of groove or depth that hangs on the edge of perception. Lots of feedback and fiber to the riffs does give one the impression of being at a gig, which is fine, but I've just heard far better mixes on live recordings that feel more stereophonic, panned or coming at me from all angles, where this doesn't. Van Drunen sounds gruesome, and the band plays tightly through both the older and newer content, but I don't know...maybe an additional guitar would have made it more powerful, this seems a little dry despite all the saturation in tone.

Track-wise, this isn't a selection the fans are like to scoff at; Asphyx reaches back to oldies like "The Krusher", "M.S. Bismarck", "Vermin", "Rite of Shades", and even a full version of "The Rack" itself. No "Crush the Cenotaph", somewhat surprising, but it's available (another German performance) on the DVD version. The "Abomination Echoes" instrumental is present in the set, from the eponymous 1994 album, also surprising since I don't think any of these guys were in that lineup. Thankfully they omit material from the God Cries disc, which they apparently liked about as much as I did, but I was not so thrilled by the lack of On the Wings of Inferno material. One of their better albums, why ignore it when picking the set list? So then there's a whopping seven tracks from their new release (for the time) Death...the Brutal Way. Yes, 40 fucking minutes of material from an album that had dropped about a month before this was recorded/filmed, they might as well have played it from front to back! Honestly, wouldn't have minded dropping 2-3 of these out and including "For They Ascend..." or "The Scent of Obscurity" or something. Hell, Wayne and Bob are still in the lineup. At any rate, those 1994-2000 albums weren't popular whatsoever, so if they're playing to an audience stoked on hearing the 'classic Asphyx' it would make sense to leave those off (if any), since Death...the Brutal Way was more or less Last One on Earth II: Still on Earth.

Live Death Doom doesn't leave much of an impression on me in this audio format, primarily due to the production/mix. I didn't get as much value as the studio albums (On the Wings of Inferno, Death...the Brutal Way, etc). If someone had given me the choice to 'be there' or own these CDs for the rest of my life, I'd prefer the former. But for German/European fans in the crowd, it was an opportunity to catch up on a band many might not have seen in a very long time, and have most of the sacred slaughter-songs performed with 2/3rds of the classic roster that many hold above any other in the group's history. Don't pay money for this if you can also get the DVD, it's worth the difference (and consider my score for that package either a full point or 10% higher), but certainly this wasn't a 'cheap and easy' live recording. They took their time getting one out when they might have padded their earlier contract with one in the 90s, and thus it seemed inevitably better worth the cash when it did arrive.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.asphyx.nl/

The Grotesquery - Tales of the Coffin Born (2010)

The Grotesquery, along with the more primitive Bloodgut, is one of the more conceptual projects assembled with the prolific Swedish death metal personality Rogga Johansson, who handles the guitars here. He is joined by a number of longtime collaborators (bassist Johan Bergland and drummer Brynjar Helgetun), but the real draw to this is probably the involvement of death metal 'royalty' in vocalist Kam Lee, who most will recognize from Massacre, but has himself featured in a number of other projects since that time. In fact, this isn't even his first dance with Rogga, the two having put out the Bone Gnawer debut Feast of Flesh the year prior to this, which featured a more brutal and churning style of death metal. Not that Tales of the Coffin Born lacks some punches of its own, being pure throwback death metal, but the inclusion of the atmospheres and story elements curb it from being a total zombie-mosh slug-fest. Actually, outside of some of the Putrevore, Revolting, Ribspreader and Paganizer material, which I'm quite partial to, The Grotesquery is one of Johansson's strongest acts.

Now, I'm on record as never having been the biggest Massacre advocate, finding them average at best even when their style was a novelty. Far less interesting songwriters than Death, Pestilence or Obituary of the time, with an air of 'me too' written about them in the miasma of early Earache, Metal Blade and Nuclear Blast signings. They were also later responsible for Promise, one of the worst fucking records ever recorded by a death metal band in history, or ANY metal band, for that matter (I've certainly scored that abomination lower than every studio record other than the Hellyeah debut). Yeah, I know it's an anomaly and half the band either denies taking part in it or wants very badly for us all to forget it out of existence, but you can imagine I just don't approach a Kam project with a lot of high expectations. To be fair, it's not because of 'Master' K. Lee's vocal prowess (with that one exception). He was fine on the first Massacre disc as well as his stint in Denial Fiend, and in truth his personality is a large part of what makes Tales of the Coffin Born an enjoyable experience. Ghastly guttural growls with a lot of gut-saturated sustain, balanced off against a higher pitched snarling voice that very often felt like Deicide if not so closely conjoined. He's also got a gruffness that resembles Rogga himself in some of the bands he has growled for.

Musically, this is a total old school hybrid of American thrash-influenced songwriting aesthetics reminiscent of bands like Massacre, Malevolent Creation and Deicide with the meatier Swedish tone inspired by the usual suspects who influenced many of Johansson's other projects. Brynjar's bullet train double bass builds an undertow beneath the largely mid-paced material comprised of a lot of primitive tremolo picked riffs, palm muted chuggery and few craftily carved open chord sequences. A few of the grooves felt like faster Bolt Thrower, but the major difference is all the sampling and 'narrative' stuff used in the songs, from faint industrial clanking to cheesy intro monologs that set up the tunes proper. Although I mostly enjoy this, there are absolutely a number of pretty generic rhythm guitar progressions like the lazy groove in "This Morbid Child" that simply feel too familiar to stand behind. The Lovecraftian horror which spurs on the lyrics isn't exactly represented with a lot of interesting musical ideas, though I'd say Rogga gets into it in a more complex, varied manner than many of his bands, with a goodly number of riff shifts, and a badly needed bit of lead and melody work.

The bass lines sound tight with a plodding tone, some squirmy fills, and as mentioned, the drums are executed with robotic accuracy, but not in a bad way... they simply sound flawless and voluminous in both the kick and snare-work. Like the recent outings of Paganizer or Ribspreader, The Grotesquery really goes for a deeper end effect that stirs your entrails as if by a spoon in a cauldron, but there's also a lot of studio clarity here that won't turn off fans of more contemporary, technical death metal who don't require it to sound as if it was recorded in a cave in 1993. Tales of the Coffin Born isn't terribly eerie or compulsory like its lyrical subject matter, so don't expect the slowly building terror of a Lovecraft tale to translate itself meaningfully into the song structures. It's more of a brutal and clinical sort of old school modernization that just happens to target a more eloquent brand of horror than the usual misogynistic gut-spilling. Aesthetically there have been dozens of other records on which the music and lyrics fit better together, but just on its riffing, vocals, and production alone, Tales of the Coffin Born is a really solid effort that holds up across a number of listens. You might not remember the album long after spinning it, but when engaged in the neck straining experience itself it won't let you down, especially if you're a sucker for old Massacre, Cancer, Bolt Thrower, Jungle Rot, and the like.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/THEGROTESQUERY?ref=ts&sk=wall

Besieged - Victims Beyond All Help (2010)

Victims Beyond All Help was originally self-released and passed around the underground a few years back, but is seeing an official CD issue through Unspeakable Axe, a new sub label of Dark Descent that focuses on thrash, crossover and other niches the parent imprint doesn't generally deal in. Canadians Besieged are naturally a good fit for the family, since they mete out a hybrid of traditional 80s extreme thrash and proto-death metal we have only rarely heard outside its initial surge, and is likely to appeal to purists seeking something more vicious than your standard crop of  West/Coast Bay Area worshipers or pizza thrash dorks. Not that the former doesn't play into Besieged's sound in a big way, but they push the parameters a bit more than, say, Warbringer.

This is short, fast as fuck, and completely to the point, musically and vocally reminded me of Dark Angel's Darkness Descends if it were ramped up into a current studio production scheme and peppered with some death metal influence circa Morbid Angel (Altars of Madness) and Ripping Corpse (Dreaming of the Dead), or perhaps even more accurately, Morbid Saint's Spectrum of Death. Riffing progressions are often reminiscent of records like Slayer's Reign in Blood, Sepultura's Schizophrenia and Beneath the Remains, Razor's Violent Restitution and Kreator's Extreme Aggression, yet explosive enough to scratch that 'hyper-thrash' itch one might feel for a band like Japan's Fastkill. To be honest, when broken down into individual patterns, the rhythm guitars aren't particularly interesting or catchy, largely comprised of chords or mutes in sequences you've likely experienced before, but they'll add just enough of a melodic texture in there to keep the fists flying and the punches effective and balanced (as in "Buried Alive").

The writing is in general frenetic and more concerned with reaching and exceeding the speed limit more so than sticking on the brain, and thus the compositions are rarely as evil sounding as their influences, but I think there's certainly room for this sort of sheer abuse, and enough variety with some mid-paced breakdown neck wrenching rhythms that it doesn't grow too stale or monotonous. Vocals are barked roughly in the vein of Don Doty or an earlier Max Cavalera, occasionally with a sustained, faintly guttural growl. Drums have a pretty natural mix with the snares at the forefront, typical for this sort of thrash. Leads are rampant and efficient but not dowsed in excess effects, so they can seem a bit arbitrary and dry as opposed to giving the tunes an extra boost in atmosphere, but then again I could not imagine this style without them, and there is clearly enough technique being applied. Probably my only gripe with the production was the lack of really notable bass, it's just sort of weaving and hurtling along with the rhythm guitar and doesn't stand out.

Did I enjoy Victims Beyond All Help? As a sort of high intensity therapy, or a brain-flossing of frustrations in my daily grind, I'd say it was fun in small spurts, but didn't leave a huge impression on me in terms of the mix, the songwriting or the vocals. The playing is tight, the aggression is there in spades, but thrash for me has always been about writing those massive hooks that carry the day, and Besieged does not have many such instances through this exhibition of ferocity, and part of that is just because I've heard a thousand similar riffs over the decades. I did find myself temporarily raging along to a few of the tunes like "Internal Suffering" and "Trapped Inside", the latter of which is like a fusion between Vio-lence and Dark Angel, but even these started to run off of exhaust after a few cycles of repetition. But, as I hinted at above, there are not a lot of bands occupying this specific niche, so if a composite of the influences I listed earlier sounds appealing to you, then this is a no-bullshit, no-gimmick emission of pavement-tearing testosterone.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Besiegedthrash?filter=1

Horde Casket - Slab of Infinite Butchery (2010)

Slab of Infinite Butchery lands Horse of Casket firmly in the company of many of its gruesome peers in the 21st century: visually, aesthetically and aurally brutal enough to draw the eyes and ears of those on the prowl for more of that pummeling intensity that bands like Suffocation, Deeds of Flesh, Cryptopsy, Dying Fetus, Internal Bleeding and Cannibal Corpse made manifest through the 90s. Once again, the band has a great album title that immediately begs attention, and they recruited the inimical Jon Zig to create one of his better cover images, a plaza of ghastly impalement that seems as if you're staring into one of the public works of the Abyss, or the Nine Hells themselves! Relevant to my own interests, and no doubt to the scads of salivating gore mongers who devour Sevared offerings such as this, like slices at an afternoon pizza buffet.

At the cost of alienating some minority who enjoyed the drier early 90s din of Landscape of Cadavers, this is a work of hostile clarity. The bass drums are quite deep and fulfilling, and you can really feel the pump of the bass guitar lines racing along the underside of the harried, spurious rhythm guitar. The broad, guttural breadth of the vocal creates a more ominous narrator into this torture porn underworld, and they've got a little more of the toilet bowl swish that is so rampantly popular. But most importantly, the whip-like passes of lead guitar are brighter and more audible than on the debut (one of my major complaints there), and the overt increase in dynamic range among the riffs is far more demanding of a listener's attention, without sacrificing the overall brevity of the album (excluding the bonus demo tracks). Slower, chugging sequences are far more gut churning and slammable (if not at all unique), and the pinches and squeals spike straight into the ear. The blasts here, while also not incredibly distinctive in a field of comparable acts, are steamrollers against which the winding labyrinth of guitars pop and smear.

Not that all the whirlwind athletics of the instruments manifest into truly memorable progressions, but I can say I wasn't bored whatsoever through the half an hour or more of newer material. A lot of the riffs could truthfully be interchanged between tracks, and though the song duration runs from a briefer 2 minute burst ("Nemesis Delivered to the Parallel Crypts") to a voluptuous five minutes ("Cardiopulmonary Regurgitation") there isn't a massive difference in direction. That said, they've given themselves more room to play around in, and Horde Casket is nothing if not immediate and exciting. They don't hover around into the later rounds waiting to wear you out; they present you with a flurry of fists straight away, going for the TKO. Clearly there are some parallels to the sounds of West Coast acts like Severed Savior, Sepsism, Inherit Disease, Pathology and so forth, in just how ruthless and contemporary Slab of Infinite Butchery comes across, but at the same time it remains loyal to the 90s forefathers. Pretty cool, but primarily targeted at an audience used to such a relentless architecture.

The aforementioned bonus tracks hail from their 2008 promo disc, and are largely redundant with the debut album, but they fit in well enough and many people picking up Slab of Infinite Butchery are unlikely to have even heard Landscape of Cadavers; but as one might expect, they're not the equal of the busier, better joints they'd written for the sophomore. All told, this is a solid step forward for Horde Casket, even if it does still lack the incredibly sticky songwriting or the virtuoso-level progressive elements present in other acts like Decrepit Birth or The Faceless. Fans of Abnormality, Deeds of Flesh, and anything else I listed above should at least check the album out, and if they continue this steady inclination for their third full-length we could be in for a teeth-hammering, brain-mulching treat.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Horde-Casket/292253097454914

Stribog - U Okovima Vječnosti (2010)

Pagan/black or folk/black metal is not something I cover often enough here, a situation I'll one day hope to rectify, because I'm constantly being surprised at how well that scene in general has progressed from its rustic roots. Where once I found a lot of production flaws and inconsistency in the strength of the 'metal' element to such acts, recent years have seen a wealth of better riff material to balance off against the acoustic guitars, female guest vocals, flutes, and other ingredients often incorporated to the formula. Stribog is a pretty good example of how Europe has become a hotbed for this aesthetic, as they've got most of the strengths and none of the weaknesses associated with this niche. U Okovima Vječnosti, their first (and thus far) only full-length, might seem a little 'garden variety' in execution, but its damn solid and has a lot to offer whether your tastes run towards an Arkona, Nokturnal Mortum, Finntroll or Temnozor.

First, there is the presence of these intense and justifiably blaring female vocals which sound superb wherever they manifest through the track list. Somewhere between Arkona and Dalriada in delivery, but never without a sequence of notes that carve out your brain and make you wish you were somewhere else, somewhere ancient, beholden to nature as beautiful as this woman's inflection. These are often meted out into a sensual whisper ("Morana") or joined to a more ominous male tone, but without a doubt they provide an intrinsic, vibrant energy through the debut that is essential to its success. Otherwise, you've got an amalgam of blackened/thrash metal with a lot of bone crushing force to the lower-end muted progression, and then a more wide open vista of glaring, atmospheric melody that is usually affixed to the female vocals. As for the male parts, it's a petulant, carnal black rasp, not so unique in of itself but effectively loud and raucous. The bass thunders along with a clear traditional heavy metal influence circa Iron Maiden, while the drums, if rarely interesting, give the riffing that added discharge of momentum.

As with many such albums, you'll experience periods of calm that both rise and fall from the faster, hostile movements, but U Okovima Vječnosti is up to the task of keeping it all in line. Flutes, ringing piano keys, waves, synths, and brooding, glorious backing choirs are all spliced into the mix to create the larger-than-life atmospheres, and you'll never pass a moment without some sort of ear candy carrying you off to a distant land. Lyrics paint paeans to the band's Slavic forebears and the majesty of nature, but a few of the tunes ("Follow the Silver Path", "Remember With Pride") are also in English. They wear their inspiration on their sleeves a bit much, but nothing too corny. Perhaps my least favorite part of the album would be the guitar progressions; as lively, appropriate and energized as they tend to be, the structure of the riffs very often just seems a vehicle for the atmospheric flourishes, a smattering of power, black and thrash metal sequences which are all similar to those we've heard before. But fortunately, they're not alone here, and all the elements in unison do create a grand, fun and at times memorable experience. Worth a spin if you're into the folksy bands I named earlier, the recent Skyforger material or Switzerland's Eluveitie.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/StriboG/109004042472158

Ortega - 1634 (2010)

I'm not sure where my inherent aversion to a lot of sludge metal began, but down through the years I've been turned off by releases in that field far more often than not. There are, truthfully, a few dozen albums of the style that appeal to me, some greatly so, but on the other hand, a lot of the trawling Neurosis/Isis knockoffs and post-Sabbath/Buzzoven riff matrices that occupy both sides of this all too narrow spectrum feel so intrinsically bland to my ears that even with a blackened crust on top they simply lack the nuance and writing to stick with me. I say this because Ortega, a Dutch outfit seeing their 2010 debut reissued through Aesthetic Death this year, strikes such a rare balance between melody and potency that they took very little time in catching my attention and overcoming the mental hurdles I've faced in this category.

1634 is a maritime conceptual album, or as they dub themselves, 'ocean doom', and I feel that the musical content does a pretty job of living up to that handle. Passages of clean, ringing guitars are fused into a greater whole of drudging-doom riffs, but all are produced with a lot of weight and clarity. The rhythm guitar riffs are not necessarily innovative or nuanced, but the configurations of chords are strong enough that they keep the listener engaged through 6-7 minute track lengths. What really ties this all together, though, are the soaring and eloquent melodies that seem like slowed, subdued sea shanty paeans that are balanced expertly against the crash of the chords in the backdrop. You'll hear some of the better of these in pieces like "Shipwrecked" and "Octagon", but they are present throughout most of the disc, measuring off well against the subtler clean breaks and powering doom rhythms. As if they were some glorious tide enforcing the group's refusal to devolve into the ennui I often associate with the style and themes. The drums vary between the hard hitting grooves necessary for the sludge sequences and the slow, tribal climbs redolent of Neurosis (like the intro to "The Siren"), and the bass is thuggish and thumping enough to make its presence known here.

In addition, the band incorporate some beautiful, atmospheric relishes to the standard formula instruments, like a soft glaze of moody synthesizers or a guest violin player that really escalates the emotional narrative of "The Siren" and "Octagon". Vocals are a more rasped and tormented play on the traditional Neurosis bark, but there are also soothing, cleaner inflections to steer softer moments on the record. Altogether, the varied instruments and dynamics here succeed in as starved, semi-captivating journey across the waves. There were a few moments in which I didn't think the transitions worked, like the instrumental intro "Still" which could really just be any random bunch of dreamy stoner or indie-rockers leading up to the far more resonant "Into the Waves", but even to that piece you can develop a solid, internal vision of sitting by some ocean docks while the early boat traffic arrives and departs, a solitary gull wheeling off in the distance. Though the style of 1634 is not quite the same, I'd say the record has a load of crossover appeal for fans of maritime proponents like Germans Ahab or Mastodon's Leviathan, or a snug weekend affair with Coleridge's Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, but without a doubt those that like airier doom with a lot of musicality, or progressive sludge pundits like Cult of Luna or Isis (Oceanic) will weigh this anchor and hoist its sails proudly.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (this sinking cage is pulling us down)

https://www.facebook.com/ortegadoom

Human Filleted - Blunt Force Embludgeonment (2010)

Though I thought the earlier Human Filleted records were decent in their own right, certain flaws in production and the fact that they weren't really lavishing anything distinct or interesting on the brutal death metal spectrum held me back from further admiration. More or less the same lyrics, song titles, gruesome imagery and sound we'd heard from about a  hundred other USDM acts through the 90s and earlier 21st century, and no sign of surpassing their peers in either songwriting or extremity. Both Hideous Sculptures of the Dead in 2008, and the belated Packaged Human Meat were nothing special, if nothing too shabby either. With their third record, the vile Indiana quartet decided to beat on us with what is perhaps their most accessible and entertaining album overall.

Blunt Force Embludgeonment doesn't entirely up the ante, but it both looks and sounds better than its predecessor, its gruesome and colorful cannibalistic ghoul scenery provided by the prolific Italian Marco Hasmann, whose credits include cover art for groups like Fleshgod Apocalypse, Beyond Creation, Vomit the Soul, and his own band, Blasphemer. This is a very percussive album, with a bucket tone to the kick and snare that isn't exemplary, but still better overall than Packaged Human Meat. Hyper pummeling crunch mutes are delivered at high velocity, lapsing in and out of old school tremolo passages, and the level of precision and polish here give me that 'live autopsy' feeling of punctuality and menace that some love and others hate in most modern, brutal tech/death. Human Filleted doesn't perform anything too perplex in terms of rhythmic dynamics, they just keep the riffs flowing below the guttural chug of vocalist Kyle Christman (also of Gorgasm). The punching bass lines are unfortunately not much of a selling point here, and the drop of a dime rhythmic transitions don't allow for much depth or dimension the music, but some of the faster old school riffs are definitely sinister and incendiary.

As for its production, this is not a massive leap forward, and still sounds quite amateurish when you consider just how processed and polished many other bands in this niche are, in particular that burgeoning California scene with groups like Pathology, Inherit Disease, Severed Savior and so forth. Those who hate that sort of modernist sound sculpting might see this as a boon in general, but probably not in this case, since the guitar tones have a fraction too much buzz, the clap-can drums lack character and there just isn't much of a robust low end to Human Filleted which allows the listener to really dig into the breakdown grooves. Christman's vox also border on the mundane and monotonous, so it was a good decision to feature guests like Damian of Gorgasm and Shaun from Putrid Pile to help vary it up like some Serial Killers Anonymous meeting. In the end, though, while Blunt Force Embludgeonment might inch past its predecessors and offer a few thrills for fans of Deeds of Flesh, Lividity and later 90s Cannibal Corpse, the lyrics and music of Blunt Force Embludgeonment are derivative of better albums, and it lacks the atmosphere, composition and engineering to make much of an enduring impact beyond its grisly exterior.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (nothing left to recognize)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Human-Filleted/198594526443?sk=wall