Morgue Supplier - Mastering the Disease (2026)

Driven by inhuman, mechanical blasting rhythms that collapse and contrast against its more meandering, atmospheric grooves, Mastering the Disease seems a fit evolution for the previous Morgue Supplier record, Inevitability and its subsequent single tracks. But where its stylistic frame is comparable, there's something even harsher and more 'checked out' sounding about some of this newest material. A collision of death, grind, industrial vibes, even some noticeable progressive elements in the structuring, they really swing for the fences. I'd liken it to a sort of 'cybergrind', only you replace almost all of the futuristic (or at this point, retro futurist) synths and sound effects with loads of dissonant, death metal guitars more central to that genre, and a gruesome vocal exhibition which is actually quite detailed and technical as it's laid out.

A good example of the varied carnage this band can create of its listeners would be "Pupils of Insularity", starting off with a pensive flow, cleaner melodic guitars and thick bass, almost Godflesh-like vibes, which escalates into a head-spinning, dissonant bender that feels like you're testing a drum machine to hear how fast it will go before exploding; all the while the other instruments crash along with abandon and Paul Gillis wretches and sneers and vomits all over the riffing. This is not for the faint of heart, anyone wearing a pacemaker, or anyone retaining a warm view of humanity. Other dizzying tracks include the psychotic "Annihilated Thinker" with its broken beats that descend into strange sampling and drugged, dissonant riffs that ooze around the meat of the distorted bass-lines. "Next World Consumes" is a harrowing endscape soundscape, oppression thicker than concrete, but by the time you hear that you're probably already either dead or suffering a severe headache.

Thankfully, if you DO survive that, the closer is a brilliant dark ambient track, "Indifferent Majesty", which is one of my favorites on the album, even though it's completely different to everything before it. Spacious but intense, it shows the flip side of what these creators are thinking but from an entirely different, non-percussionist perspective. The cover art here also reminds me a lot of the post-modern cyberpunk/body horror film Tetsuo: the Iron Man by Shinya Tsukamoto, and it unquestionably might serve as a sort of aural counterpart to that visual experience. This is the future, here, ugly as fuck, and not what we were hoping. While not as brilliantly riffy as the band's eponymous 2016 album, my favorite, and a little less sublime than Inevitability, Mastering the Disease is still very intense, with just enough devil in the details, especially the myriad abusive vocals and provocative bi-polar shifts between blasting and grooves that litter its debris-ridden labyrinth of noise.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075977500489

Craft - Total Soul Rape (2000)

Craft was such a cool band to see at the turn of the century because they were already playing this retro brand of necro black metal only a decade or less since the originals. The Darkthrone parallels were obvious here, from the black & white photography on the cover to the sound that was heavily reminiscent of Hellhammer and early Celtic Frost. That said, they've got plenty of personality unto themselves, with a few creative riffing ideas that they were adding to that legacy, some truly nasty vo-kills and an unapologetically dark and depressive attitude that is on full display throughout the lyrics. The debut Total Soul Rape was my first exposure, and while I enjoyed it to an extent, the years have definitely given me a greater appreciation for its brash charisma.

You've got that fuzzy rhythm guitar tone circa Hellhammer, the difference is that Craft will burst out into these tremolo picked evil riffs or blasted messes that were taken from the earlier second wave stuff. The stuff is pretty saturated, the drums rocking out with a nice crash and clutter to them as the bass lines just churn back and forth below. The vocals have this hideous presence front and center, as I think was the intention, but everything else is also pretty clear and loses no potency against Mikael's formidable rasp. Most of the tracks have this really memorable feature to them, also, like the frilly, whipping leads in "Death to Planet Earth", the climactic dissonant grooving riffs of "(Desolation) Death", or the doomy Hellhammer riffs in "Past, Present, Dead". The band might seem purposefully raw and unrefined on the surface, but they were good songwriters even from this earlier stage, even the debatable choices on this record like the weird wailed vocals that occasional appear seem deliberate and effective atmospherics.

Lyrically it's bleak; not in a 'bad' way (is there a good way?), but just about every song here is apocalyptic in scope, supremely nihilistic and misanthropic, whether it's teabagging Satan or not. So in other words, it's your average 90s black metal approach which earns the tile of 'grimness', and let's face it, when we gaze upon its Darkthrone-like title with the splash of red/orange in the logo/title, that is exactly what we would expect. Total Soul Rape is not my favorite release from them, but it's also got a lot more longevity to it than your typical newspaper-tone necro-black metal recording, of which there have been countless released since this one (and a lot before it too). This really holds up, and I had fun listening to it here in 2025 as much or more than ever in the past. It's like A Blaze in the Northern Sky if you turned off the air conditioner and cranked up the evil instead.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (purest noxious water)

https://www.facebook.com/craftblackmetal

Pyre - Where Obscurity Sways (2025)

When I look back at the metal albums that end up my favorites for a particular year, there's a pretty even division between those that are innovative and unique while staying catchy, and others that just do a great job doubling down on a pre-established sound and writing damn good songs. In the case of Where Obscurity Sways, the third full length from Russia's Pyre, it was the latter. The album's title is eerily prescient since I'm the only person I've even seen mentioning this one...perhaps it should be dubbed Where Obscurity Stays. But in 2025, this was the metal disc I returned to the most, like a death metal 'comfort food', because I enjoyed all of the songs a lot. It's also a great evolutionary stride for their own style, keeping consistent with its forebears while offering something new, something better for the band.

Pyre's still performing a sound rooted in the later 80s or early 90s, a perfect blend of Florida death metal like Obituary or Death, Dutch oldies from Pestilence and Asphyx, with a little bit of the Swedish style of an Entombed or Dismember, only with the guitar tone dialed back a little. You know it's still there, because there's a great chunkiness to the slower grooves, and a smooth roil when they pick up the pace. But it's nowhere near the gruesome or fleshy style they had on Human Hecatomb or the EP. The riff-lines and leads here are easily the best they've done to this point, whether it's the awesome verse grooves of "From the Stygian Depths" which recall Slowly We Rot, or "Murderous Transcendence" which is an amazing tune that hits pretty much all the bases, from sinister harmonies to flawless double kicks. The riffs in cuts like "Domains of the Nameless Rites" or "Pestilential Fumes" are just perfect throwback patterns, evil and memorable and set up against strong songwriting which emphasizes some variety at every turn.

There's a new drummer here, Oleg, and he's phenomenal, not that his predecessor was weak by any means, but I feel like the entire rhythm section, not just the percussion but also the bass mix, is way better balanced and creates a framework that could thrive independently, even without the awesome array of riffs that last the album's 35 minute duration. Where Obscurity Sways follows Chained to Ossuaries in having the smoother production than the older albums, but I can't imagine it any other way, the material is just suited to being mildly more accessible, and it's not like there is any commercialization or obnoxious level of polish...the music is still dark, mysterious, and classic in a way I just love my death metal records. I'm reminded a little of Necrovation's eponymous 2012 sophomore, not only because the aesthetics are similar, but also because it's just an awesome experience when I'm in the mood for the genre and want something well-written and balanced without being too ridiculous. I love this record. It's nothing new at all, but I would like for more people to get to experience it. My #1 for this last year.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10]

https://pyredeathmetal.bandcamp.com/

Pyre - Chained to Ossuaries (2020)

Chained to Ossuaries came after a six year period from Human Hecatomb, so it makes sense that there's been a little evolution in the Pyre sound. They weren't completely absent, having participated on a few split EPs with Chile's Corpsehammer and Sweden's Interment, and the changes here are no less old school than the raw tones they were emitting in their earlier works. In fact, the guitar tone is pretty much intact, but the mix of the record is a little darker and cleaner, so it's got a more controlled and clinical vibe to it. Nevertheless, they sound no less evil, because the riffs here are just cruise control, grim tremolo picking sequences that perfectly blossom into the dark chord patterns, with solid leads and melodies placed exactly where they need to be, and a lot more confidence that doesn't need to chainsaw your face like the last album.

That's not to say your face is safe, mind you, because this shit still delivers, just on a slightly deeper, more cerebral level. Where Human Hecatomb might resemble a zombie outbreak at your local potter's field, Chained to Ossuaries is more like a cabal of necromancers meeting there in the evenings. It's invariably old sounding death metal, without much nuance beyond the early 90s, so to that extent nobody familiar with the previous album is going to be disappointed. There's a bit more of early Death in a lot of the chord choices in places like "Ornaments of Bones" or "Wreath of Crucifix", but that fleshier and meatier guitar tone twists it into something different, but you could certainly envision breakdowns from Leprosy arriving at almost any juncture on a lot of these songs. The vocals are also a little different than before, he's got less of a skin shredding tone to him and a bit more blunt brutality, compacting those emphatic John Tardy-like growls to something meshed a little better into the dark tone of the instruments. Basically he's a little less out of control, and the riffing itself compensates with a lot bolder chords and melodies.

Another great album, just inching past Human Hecatomb, although if I wanted the grislier listen then I would happily trade them off. This is more of an escape, neither as ripping or brazen but a lot more mature, a direction that the band will continue forth in the future. Definitely good enough that the band should have appeared on a lot more radars, but this sort of meat & potatoes, well crafted death metal often struggles to get noticed since it's not as technical or progressive as others in the field. Never really a clone of anything, but wearing most of its influences on its sleeve, Chained to Ossuaries is just another fine example of its genre sitting among the dust, waiting to be discovered.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://pyredeathmetal.bandcamp.com/

Pyre - Human Hecatomb (2014)

Human Hecatomb feels like the obligatory full-length version of its predecessor, the Ravenous Decease EP, with the same sort of raw production and a lot of DNA from the same influences. Obviously it's got a lot more too it, and the mix of the instruments seems as if its gotten a little more under control, but if you're a fan of the more disheveled bands that have come out of that Swedish style throughout the last few decades, whether Repugnant or Bastard Priest or Katakomba or LIK, this one's going to sit well with you because it's very well done and sticks the landing on most of the tracks. That flesh-ripping guitar tone and the brash mix of the instruments don't hinder it whatsoever, but give it an eternal freshness, like grave-dirt that's being constantly flipped over with a shovel to expose new generations of worms.

Again, the music isn't just d-beat rock based, they love the huge, doomier, evil chord patterns you often encounter in death metal, and then to trade those off with some vile propulsion. There's a better sense of melody you'll hear on this album, with some cool leads or harmonies vaulting across the dense hostility of the rhythm guitars. Vocally it still sounds like someone spliced John Tardy's sustained gutturals together with the carrion tones of Martin van Drunen, but there's a ton of genuine pain and carnage in there so that it never sounds like some dull doppelganger. The guitars are pretty much Ravenous Decease with a bigger toolbox to work from, and they pull off a lot of great chugging patterns here which wouldn't sound out of place on Clandestine. That simple, immediate catchiness that has you headbanging and doesn't ever seem to let up, they just don't make poor choices when writing material. All the songs here are good, with a few personal favorites being the chuggy "Flesh to Poles", the perky "We Came to Spill Thy Blood" which is one of a couple with a more death & roll vibe, and "Possessed" with those evil, slower rhythms and narrative/samples and all.

All told, Human Hecatomb is a step up and forward, perhaps not the first example of this niche you're going to grab for, but an extremely reliable one if you're into the Swedish tones. I'd say musically this one has a little less of the US influence in the actual songwriting, but it's the vocals that bridge that Atlantic gap. It's a Russian Clandestine 20+ years later with a bit more unhinged mix and a vocalist yanked right from The Rack and Cause of Death. Fun songs, timeless production thanks to its lack of polish, and a focus on actually putting enough ideas into its material that it's never some dull, redundant slog. And to think, this is probably my least favorite of their full-lengths!

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://pyredeathmetal.bandcamp.com/

Pyre - Ravenous Decease EP (2012)

Pyre is a little-known Russian death metal band that almost nobody ever seems to talk about, despite having a killer upswing trajectory to their catalogue which has won me over several times. Their origins were as yet another of the bands honoring the Swedish legacy, with that speaker ripping guitar tone and a couple of tunes here that remind one a lot of Entombed, Grave, maybe a little of Holland's Asphyx. However, the material here on the Ravenous Decease EP definitely falls on the rougher side of that equation, raw and unhinged like a Repugnant or Maim. They also don't delve too far into the d-beat influences, you can hear it on a riff or two but it's more like they're transferring early US death metal into that Swedish guitar tone.

The vocals are abusive, sounding like their at a crossroads between John Tardy of Obituary, Martin van Drunen of Asphyx/Pestilence and L-G Petrov of Entombed. The guitars are really abrasive, sounding like a noisy live performance of this tone, and occasionally going a little too far so it seems as if you're eardrums are going to collapse. I mean, you could replace steel wool with these things to clean off your pots & pans, but they have a nice punch during the choppier, rocking riffs ("Insanity") or the tremolo picked, writhing evil at a faster pace. The rhythm section sounds like thunder being filtered through an old radio microphone, and the songs feature enough variety even across the 20 minutes of this EP that you won't become bored. There's nothing unique, truly, Ravenous Decease is just a gestalt of elements you like from other death metal acts, and this sort of throwback style was already plentiful, but some things just don't grow old on me, and I like several of these songs like "Insanity" and "Dark Sorcery". It doesn't hold up to their full-length albums, but it's a firm foundation upon which they would build.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://pyredeathmetal.bandcamp.com/

Protector - Excessive Outburst of Depravity (2022)

By title, Excessive Outburst of Depravity might give you an impression that this is somehow going to be a leveling up of filth and aggression in Protector's reunion phase, but in fact it's a very good, controlled record that offers a little bit of a course correction from the ailing (but still decent) Summon the Hordes. The style hasn't moved an inch, but I thought the production here felt smoother and better captured all the vocals and instruments more than its predecessor, at the cost of not feeling quite so retrospective. Granted, the material here is still blazing thrash of an 80s Sodom variety, like a mix of Agent Orange and Better Off Dead, two of my faves from that band, but the balance and QOL improvements place it more within the 21st century spectrum. You won't miss out the nostalgic vibes this time around, but it takes the thrust and professionalism of Cursed and Coronated to another level, and it's my favorite of this 'MK II' era.

Bunch of tunes here feel like the boys are ammoed up, slinging on their ballistic helmets and headed for the battlefield, like "Open Skies and Endless Seas" with its well-paced intro, "Thirty Years of Perdition" with the same sort of setup but amazing verse riffs, or "Perpetual Blood Oath" which feels like a Bolt Thrower intro colliding into a vintage Destruction section. The rhythm section is incredibly tight, the leads are uniformly good without overindulging, and Martin Missy's vocals feel more brutal and full and charismatic than they were on the 2019 effort. You're still not getting anything highly unique here, this is all directly from the lexicon of German thrash with some seasonings of US flavor, but it's executed with skill, variation, and most importantly, songs that are memorable enough that you'll probably want to play them a few times in succession, which is really the hallmark of quality for most records. I'm not talking super sticky, infectious riffs, but more like a 'comfort food' for those who have been listening to this style for the last 3+ decades.

Even though this album came in the same three-year patterns and those leading up to it, it feels like all the interim time since Summon the Hordes had been better spent composing stronger material, and it never really lapses once throughout its 47+ minutes of existence. There's no goofy tail-end track for filler, "Morse Mania" here is a rager and commands the same respect as opener "Last Stand Hill". The production is from Robert Pehrsson (of Death Breath no less), the mix from Patrick Engel of a dozen German bands, and you can tell they both put a lot of love into making this sound like the de facto Protector album of the new century. This one ranks up there with A Shedding of Skin, The Heritage for me, and it's actually my favorite with Martin Missy's vocals, a blasphemous opinion perhaps, but here we are. Timeless and totally reliable Teutonic thrash from one of the first bands anyone should check out after they've opened the 'starter pack' and a few other brilliant outliers from the 80s era.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (All swords on the sacred stone)

https://www.facebook.com/Protector.666not777

Protector - Summon the Hordes (2019)

Summon the Hordes arrives right on queue, at another 3-year interval which seems to be the efficient standard Protector is maintaining for this newer phase of their career. Which I like: they're taking their time between each release, they're not burning themselves out or spamming my CD rack. On the other hand, I wish I could report some evolution in style or quality, but this record is much like those before it. the cover is a bit more cliche and cheesy with the crossed guitars and skull, and the production here seems a little more primitive, almost like they were trying to emulate Golem's mix a little more directly rather than having a more modern, ironclad take on that formative sound. I felt like Missy's vocals here were also a little less vibrant or inspired, he's spitting out some monotonous snarls and growls on numerous tunes and it's just not helping to elevate a bevy of pretty average riffs that you'll always feel you've heard before, whether in this and's own backlog or the style in general.

So this all adds up to what is my least favorite Protector full-length of the revival period, but it's telling that even the worst album from this band is still actually pretty solid. There continues to be a bit of Destruction in a lot of the riffing, in fact if you took out the difference between Missy and Schmier, there's a feel like this album is Sentence of Death Evolved, it just has those dexterous riffing patterns and a much more demo/basement level authenticity to the mix. The guitars are raw, the vocals have no bells and whistles either. Having said that, there's a decent variety to the songs, from the measured cruising thrash of "The Celtic Hammer" to the frenzied hustle of "Steel Caravan" or the title track. Once more, the death metal influence is explored strictly through Martin's vocals, the music itself never really delves into that territory, remaining upbeat and peppy and bristling with 80s mosh pit energy. Not for the first time, there's also one of those shorter, goofier tracks to close out the album, "Glove of Love", which was also the very 80s thing to do, kind of like a thrash tribute to punk or grindcore, the 'super quick' song that you'd laugh about with your mates.

Had this record come out even in 1985-1986, I still doubt it'd have the legs to stand on other than it's legacy and chronological placement, and might end up in a similar category to Necronomicon from Germany. As it was, it felt more like a proper 'throwback' in production and not just songwriting, to the band's yesteryears. They likely wanted to go more 'retro' which is honestly all the rage with a lot of the newer black/thrash/speed bands who are themselves influenced by the German scene along with a Slayer or Possessed. I think Summon the Hordes has that sort of appeal, only a bit more of the torn denim and hi-top sneakers feel than the spikes and leather. It's solid stuff, with a few tunes like the opener "Stillwell Avenue" or "Realm of Crime" that I occasionally spin, but for me it's the Protector full-length I'm least likely to revisit.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (See the posters, see the pentagram)

https://www.facebook.com/Protector.666not777

World of Shit - Bleeding the Rats EP (2025)

World of Shit is a project which has existed in the shadows for over two decades, finally coming to full fruition with this new EP Bleeding the Rats that sees an escalation in volume and intensity. It's essentially death metal or death/grind adjacent, but not to be pigeonholed, the material has an industrial sheen to its backbone, and a lot of weird dissonance and rhythmic dynamism which wouldn't feel out of place in some extreme mathcore or industrial death metal outfit. The production is dense and suffocating, there's a lot going on between the beats and the riffs, and if that weren't enough, Morgue Supplier's Paul Gillis has been brought on board to saturate our ears with a gruesome exhibition of vocals that I'd place somewhere between Alain Jourgensen and Martin van Drunen, but also prone to grinding out into a higher, nastier pitch too. If you've heard Paul on his other projects, you'll know things are about to get very uncomfortable, and considering that he and one of this project's architects, Eric Bauer, have worked together in both Rabid Beast and Morgue Supplier before, you'll also know that you are about to be leveled by the aural artillery.

Strangely, as pummeling and rhythmic as this is, it's got a slight warmth to it created through the mix, or perhaps some of the more dissonant, noisy patches create this feeling in spite of themselves. It's so loud and larger than life, I was reminded of Strapping Young Lad if they were being flogged by Gorguts. A soundscape with something interesting happening in every corner, a really powerful guitar tone, brutal drum programming. Some of the riffs feel like you're implanting an intense post-hardcore dissonance straight into a vortex of chugging, churning grooves, and it's a really interesting hybrid. The 'leads' are more a thing of atmosphere, tremolo licks spitting melodies that are heavily dowsed in effects, but they are a perfect fit to the apocalyptic post-modernism of the rhythmic aesthetics. Sometimes it can grow a little TOO intense, but thankfully you're only being murdered for about 13 minutes with this. With a longer track list and some more variety to explore these dilapidated landscapes, with calmer calms, hints of melody more melodic, and more extreme extremes, connected through the tendons of such kinetic musicianship as this guy metes out, I think you could have a pretty frightening, unique voice for death metal here.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://worldofshit1.bandcamp.com/music

Protector - The Heritage (1993)

If A Shedding of Skin was my favorite of the earlier Protector catalog, The Heritage was directly on its heels, and in fact some days I might actually reverse the decision. This is clearly the best produced of that run, and the most intense and exciting in terms of how so many of its tight, fast, thrashing tunes are executed. By 1993, it might have felt dated against the emergence of more brutal and technical strains of death metal, with grunge and black and nu metal and all that starting to explode, but you can't accuse the Germans of not trying to keep pace, because The Heritage feels like faster Sepultura, Sadist and mid 80s Dark Angel in a three-way slugfest, and even 33 years later you can press Play and it's violent, infectious, and still has the more matured songwriting which embodied its predecessor.

There's some new blood here to help Olly Wiebel will all that heavy lifting, including drummer Marco Pape who would try and keep the band alive through all its later hiatus. He and bassist Matze help add a level of professionalism here, and I don't mean that in a bad way. But what's even more impressive is how Wiebel has managed to balance off the spiked, thrashing attacks with some more moody, atmospheric and melancholic progressions. The slower bridges and leads in songs like "Lost Properties" feel so much more composed, and through the album there's a level of restraint which helps make its explosive cuts like "Scars Bleed Life Long" all the more memorable by contrast. Marco's drums were clearly the caliber that could land him any gig in a death metal act of the day, propulsive kick drums and flawless snares which add loads of pep and energy to Olly's riffs. Bass also sounds pretty fleshed out here compared to A Shedding of Skin, and the production just blows straight out my speakers, especially some of the howled vocal effects on "Protective Unconsciousness" or the escalating acoustic intro to "Palpitation".

The frenzied little instrumentals "Paralizer" and "Outro" might have been better served by expanding them into proper songs, they seem a bit incomplete, but otherwise all the tunes are ragers, and The Heritage is an album I'd easily recommend to fans of early 90s thrash and death metal and all the combinations thereof. Sadist, Defiance, Malevolent Creation, Deicide, or even the stuff some of the band's German peers were up to that that very time, any fans of that would do well to have this record sitting in their collections. As I said, it's right on par with its predecessor with me, but a lot of that is just nostalgia, the personal memories I attach with A Shedding of Skin. In so many ways, The Heritage is better sounding, more refined, and its dynamic range more impactful. The lyrics have gotten a little more socially and environmentally conscious, which isn't what I always demand in thrash since they get a little too obvious and tacky, but it fits the sound here at least. This 1991-1993 era is my favorite of the band, as much as I enjoyed the first two releases, they certainly felt like they upped the ante right before their (debatable) 20-year slumber, and left (but didn't) us on a high note at that time.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (You dare not to speak)

https://www.facebook.com/Protector.666not777

Protector - A Shedding of Skin (1991)

While it still imports a lot of the ballistic thrash of previous Protector recordings, A Shedding of Skin felt like a matured album risen up to meet the growingly extreme scene surrounding it. While this is still mostly thrash metal (almost all their catalogue is), this could certainly be heard as a more committed blend of that and its death metal offspring. A lot of vocal and guitar queues reminiscent of what Deicide, Cannibal Corpse and Sepultura were spitting out around the same time, and I also hear some parallels to Texans Devastation. The material is easily intense enough to have held the attention of extreme metal fans during that transition from 80s to 90s, and I can only attribute its lack of success to a lack of proper international distribution and the fact that thrash was just about to fall off a cliff outside of its primary practitioners.

Olly Wiebel, who had joined the band only recently for the Leviathan's Desire EP, had pretty much been given the reins here, performing everything other than the drums of Michael Hasse, for whom this would be the last Protector recording (he left afterwards and sadly passed away in 1994). To Wiebel's credit, he did not attempt to completely transform the band into his own image, but took the direction they were already headed with the newer EP material and made it angrier. Stylistically, this is nothing out of the ordinary for 1991, but it definitely feels evolved from its predecessors. The riffs hammering, sinister and have the most slicing distortion yet, with an array of faster, blasting riffs that alternate with your Exodus-style palm muted moshing fare. Wiebel's vocals are ghastly, with a protracted guttural that he can flesh out with more snarled lines or 'hwah' throat-clearings. They are a little blunt at times, and don't offer a lot of interesting syllabic patterns, but he can be forgiven for the amount of effort he's putting into everything else. I think the bass guitar also falls behind a little here, more than any prior offering, but the crunch of those riffs and the volatile, ripping leads compensate.

Lots of good tracks here, from "A Shedding of Skin" which sounds like a German response to something off The Bleeding, or "Doomed to Failure" which has a cool West Coast thrashing foundation reminiscent of Vio-Lence but with guttural vocals. "Whom Gods Destroy" has that cool lead snaking out against the caustic thrashing, and "Tantalus" is a pit crusher which manages to convey the doomed after-existence of its titular character. While consistent, A Shedding of Skin does follow in the band's legacy of providing enough variety that you won't grow bored, so the pacing is evenly distributed throughout, and the acoustic "Intro" and interlude "Necropolis" provide some breathing room, in particular the latter which its cool, synth-driven mystique and guitar effects that sound like scarabs or spiders creeping through a tomb. There is definitely a 'dryness' to the mix which resonates with other stuff by Harris Johns (who produced this with a few engineers), perhaps a similarity could be drawn to the masterwork Mallevs Maleficarvm by Pestilence, thought the composition and clinical feel here is nowhere near that level.

1991 was a strange year where a number of bands won huge success off albums I felt were somewhat lacking, whether for production or musical direction, and something like A Shedding of Skin appealed to me much more than Blessed Are the Sick or Arise. Although I can appreciate and even concur why some fans' hearts would remain back with the earlier Martin Missy era, Misanthropy and Golem having a sense of timelessness about them, this one is actually my favorite full-length of that earlier Protector run. It doesn't build up anything new upon the components which influenced it, but it still feels vile and aggressive even today, and some of the songs just resonate with me the most. Add that it's the unlikely product of just the drummer and the new guy who had to deliver on several instruments, and I think it punched well above its potential.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (Strip away the garments of sin)

https://www.facebook.com/Protector.666not777

Protector - Leviathan's Desire EP (1990)

Leviathan's Desire has another of those evocative covers where you've got this dad-bod troll or goblin hanging out at at some sort of bathhouse in an evil castle, incense pouring out of a jeweled goblet nearby, and then for whatever reason some ugly cat or wolf or something leaping up behind the title. It's absolutely ridiculous and yet intriguing because it reminds us that Protector must be evil nerds, kind of like Tankard with the drunken alien mascot on so many of their efforts. This is a shorter clocking EP than Misanthropy from 1987, includes one extended version of a tune from that ("Kain & Abel"), and then a trio of newer tracks. I believe that there's also another version where you are getting more of Misanthropy included as a bonus, and that would ramp up the value a little, but here it's just the basic intro + four.

Right away, the new material sounds more scathing and sinister than on Urm the Mad, like a volatile and ballistic parallel to Sodom in the later half of the 80s, only maintaining the growls from that last full-length. Only this time, it's a new vocalist, Olly Wiebel, taking them into an even more carnal direction than Martin Missy had; he's also got more of that snarl and guttural exchange, not to the extent of Glen Benton or Carcass, but it helps keep this material sounding deadly. The riffs are far from exceptional, but they buzz and bludgeon along with more confidence than they had on the last outing, and the drums and bass anchor down and control all the intensity. You really feel like you're on a knife's edge with a "Mortal Passion" or "Subordinate", they are rooted it some of that vicious thrash circa Darkness Descends or Bonded by Blood, only more Sodom-like in note choices. The lead guitars are really messy and zippy throughout, but help capture that reckless atmosphere which is really the goal. And for those who want to headbang, they trot out some of those mid-paced sequences for you to strain your neck, and you really feel them against the faster sequences.

As for "Kain & Abel", this is almost two minutes longer and Olly's vocals make it feel more fresh and vile, although clearly not as Teutonic or thrashy as Martin's originals. I don't know that this was in any way necessary over including another new tune, but it does sound good and streamlined with this other material and assumedly future direction. All told, Leviathan's Desire is a treat for the 15 or so minutes it exists, content with tearing your face off and then eating it before a good scented bath. For 1990 it also felt fairly orthodox since so many other genre bands were trying to evolve towards the soon-shifting landscape. This is pretty much 1986-1987 all over again with few bells or whistles.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (The burnt magicians prophecy)

https://www.facebook.com/Protector.666not777

Protector - Urm the Mad (1989)

Urm the Mad was the first Protector album I managed to come across out in the wild, and I recall being thrown off a little at the beginning moment of "Capitascism". A horror synth transmutes into a plodding hard rock riff, which was way less intense than I was expecting. That soon changes as they roll out some thicker, darker rhythms and a blast beat, or whatever the equivalent of a blast beat was for 1989 in what was still largely a thrash metal band. We were off to the races, but I certainly struggled at being impressed with most of this at first. This is absolutely where the death metal vocals become dominant, which sounded great over the simpler neck-jerking thrash rhythms; Martin just had this brutal sustain which created an impact with ever lyric he barked out, but the music itself isn't anywhere near what a Death or Pestilence was up to at the same time, and it's still written in a ballistic mesh of Teutonic, West Coast and the Arizona-like thrash I mentioned I heard on parts of Golem.

The dynamics remain intact, as the band will shift between a plodding, almost thrash/doom vibe in a tune like "Nothing Has Changed" with its swaying rhythm and slightly spongy distortion circa Hellhammer, to the more mid-paced rhythms which remind me more of Sacred Reich, Exorcist or Hallows Eve, and then lastly the faster barrages where the riffs can almost resemble a bit of vintage grindcore. Not a lot of riffs stand out individually, even for 1989 they didn't sound too unique, and there still exists some traces of their earliest work where they let the end of riffs ring out before transitioning into a burst or vice versa. On the other, the drumming is damn tight, with a speed and intensity to the blasts that was somewhat rare for its day, and the leads are really good, whether they're more melodic and structured or just being used as wild sound effects to create a windy hostility that blows across all the workmanlike rhythm guitars. I felt the bass on this record didn't stand out as much as Golem, it's audible and functional but doesn't poke out as much as it did there.

There's also another throwaway short track, the noisy grind explosion of "Molotow Cocktail" which is less than a minute, just some chaos that doesn't wrap up the disc in any memorable or meaningful way. So my first impressions of Protector weren't the highest accolades. The cover art was cool, the logo stood out to me from other thrash or early death metal acts, the title is awesome (again with that dark fantastical vibe), the vocals were gruesome enough to warrant the death/thrash tag, and there's a purity and atmosphere to the material which is synonymous with its era. Over the years, I've come to appreciate it for what it was, but truth be told it's the record I'm least likely to revisit of their earlier 1987-1993 run and it's just eviscerated by so many of the other beasts of '89 like Consuming Impulse, Altars of Madness, Leave Scars, Realm of Chaos, etc. If you love the production and construction of extreme metal at the tail end of the 80s, maybe a prelude to the style Sodom would explore on Tapping the Vein, then this one's worth a listen for sure.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (The cloven one will rule)

https://www.facebook.com/Protector.666not777

Protector - Golem (1988)

One of the things I always enjoyed about Protector was the fantastical whimsy on some of their earlier cover arts, and in the lyrics, starting with the debut full-length Golem. While I was usually forced to admire them from the pages of some magazine or catalogue, there was this sense of camaraderie, like these guys were a thrash band but also huge D&D/fantasy/horror nerds, just as I was (and remain). I can't promise that these concepts always translate much into the music (they certainly do on the title track here), but they help spark up the imagination on first glance or listen. Golem doesn't stray too far from Misanthropy, but there are some subtle differences, one being that they're incorporating a little bit more complexity and variation in the riffing and structures.

Still a huge Sodom influence throughout this one, shadowing Agent Orange, but it struck me that this album also had a more American influence through it. "Delirium Tremens" reminds me a lot of the Arizona bands, the faster riffing circa Atrophy's Socialized Hate while the slower, meaty mosh part was very Sacred Reich. Likely more of a case of parallel musical evolution, but still notable as I think fans of those groups would go bananas over this. You get some gang shouts, a little bit of Speak English or Die era S.O.D. in some of the slower riffs, but then when they burst out into the faster stuff, it's got a lot more of that Sodom style. The guitars aren't always the catchiest, but they know how to succeed dynamically between the different tempos, atmospheric wails and leads that keep it from ever being boring. This record is where a lot more of the sustained death metal growls rear up, especially in the lumbering title track, which is one of its true highlights, loads of great weird guitar work in there, bedrock grooves in the verses and probably the best written lead they'd done yet, if brief.

The rhythm guitars definitely have a boxier tone to them, not as brash or violent sounding as the earlier EP, but still will club your brains into mush, especially on those slower moments ("Germanophobe", "Golem", etc). The distortion always gave me an ever-so-slight off-tune vibe, but whether that's just me being mental or the reality of the recording, it works regardless, and I enjoy the frenzied bursts into the choppier riffs like in "Germanophobe" where the riff resembles Possessed. The bass is more present here and they're doing some whacky sound effects to keep the tunes entertainment, which is one of the band's sure strong points, that they might be rolling along in the treads of others, but they're certainly testing the limits of those tracks. It's not the best of the Protector albums...a few riffs get samey with one another, the "Space Cake" outro, which shifts from acoustics to what feels like a mere portion of another song, and has really goofy vocals made even sillier when they go into the gang vocals before the fadeout. But there is really no questioning the craft and personality they were bringing to their scene, and easily deserve recognition alongside other acts like Holy Moses, Vendetta, Iron Angel, and that second strata of German thrash acts who were just shy of international potential.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (Muscles filled with life)

https://www.facebook.com/Protector.666not777

Deceased - Ghostly White (2018)

Deceased have become one of our most enduring US death metal bands; granted they temper that genre with a lot of speed, thrash and traditional metal elements and have done so for the last 30+ years, but when it comes to their mainline releases, they've become synonymous with quality since Fearless Undead Machines and arguably even earlier than that. Ghostly White is another ambitious record where songwriting and pacing are key, structures and riffs are paired up alongside the lyrics and narrative of the themes, and there's absolutely no wanking or nonsense that doesn't serve the band's consistent style. The songs can pop off in 3-4 minutes or be blown out to over 13 and you don't get any noticeable dip in quality, everything is as it needs to be written.

To some extent, it might lack some of the 'surprise' from albums like Supernatural Addiction and Surreal Overdose, since we're so used to them writing in this style. It's honestly hard to even dub this proper 'death metal', outside of King's harsh vocals, but in a way, that's kind of why it is, like Root is to black metal, these guys are an outlier in their genre who think for themselves and rarely sound like anyone else outside of some of their original 80s peers. But if we're analyzing the music directly, it's a mix of thrash, speed and heavy metal which is enriched with creepy melodies and leads and that hoarse and unmistakable tone of the vocals. There's a rawness about the mix, more so than a few of the other albums, which renders this thing perfectly timeless, with brash rhythm guitars and wild leads that almost always sound awesome and well-rendered into the ghastly atmosphere that their productions always deliver.

I don't think "Mrs. Allardyce" is the best track on the record as an opener, I don't really start getting drawn into this one until "To Serve the Insane" with its descending, mournful chorus melody, or "The Shivers" which is another nice speed/heavy metal rager with a great, simplistic melody that pokes out into the night. The aforementioned 13+ minute opus "Germ of Distorted Lore" is quite good, having Deceased play with some slower, almost martial sounding sections to break up the thrashing outbreaks, and "Pale Surroundings" stands out as another catchier tune later in the track list with some eerie female spoken word parts. That said, there isn't actually a weak song here, it's just not putting its best foot forward, but drawing you deeper into its web before you get to the truly memorable moments, and that's often the calling card of a well-written record. Which this is, and it's another victory for one of our finest USDM institutions, and probably mandatory for horror metal fanatics the world over.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/deceasedofficial/

Disastrous Murmur - Rhapsodies in Red (1992)

Another of the earlier Austrian death metal acts alongside Pungent Stench, I remember Disastrous Murmur largely for their hilarious, distinct band moniker as well as the gruesome and cheesy cover art on Rhapsodies in Red, their debut. These guys had a sound that, at the time, I found very UN-European. Sure, there were some parallels in that scene, like the earlier Atrocity records, but for the most part the sound developed here reminds me a little of Cannibal Corpse or Malevolent Creation evolving on a slightly separate path. Certainly more Florida or New York than Sweden, Finland, Holland or England. It's chuggy, ugly, and walks that borderline between the OSDM and brutality emerging through the 90s, with a guitar tone that sounds quite thrashy and choppy, and a few riffs to match, definitely giving off a slightly Eaten Back to Life vibe though I don't really think the bands honestly sound that close together.

This is very agile stuff with a lot of shifting tempos and gory, guttural vocals, but I find that the mix on this one has always detracted for me. In the way a lot of very archaic death metal records did, especially in the first half of the 90s. The guitar is sometimes too crunchy for its own good, and rarely is spitting out riff progressions that stick in my memory. The drum performance is good, but the levels feel off, with the kicks drowning out other stuff, making the guitars seem a little thinner. Also, while the vocals definitely have a pretty extreme sound, they weren't very distinct, just bludgeoning along with the dexterity of the death/thrashing rhythms and not leaving much more of an impression beyond their brutality. The bass here is audible, kind of bouncy and fat and blends in a lot with the lower drums, but I know there's always been a market for this style...I think Malignancy is an example where they took something similar to this and got a lot further with the creativity and songwriting.

I don't mean to sound totally down on this, because it definitely has some effort and intensity behind it and feels like a record that would have been more impressive for me had I been listening to it back when I first encountered Suffocation, Deicide, etc. Sometimes they get a rhythm guitar going which reminds me a bit of Death, Obituary or Pestilence and I dig those, but they will usually change it up too quickly before it can settle in. The occasional keyboards are kind of cool but they sometimes feel too obscure in the mix, except the intro to "Into the Dungeon" which rules. The lyrics are appropriately gross for the image that the band was conveying, and probably on the more shocking side for 1992, but musically this is an album I have to listen to more for its bludgeoning than the music value. It often sounds calamitous as if the young band was just trying to force rhythm after rhythm down your throat, and it just doesn't always stick the landing. But for 1992, it gets some lenience and is by no means bad.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://disastrousmurmur.bandcamp.com/

Bloodbath - Survival of the Sickest (2022)

As a fan of both Nick Holmes AND Bloodbath, I was excited to hear what could be produced with them working together, especially since I had only been used to hearing his harsher death vocals over the earlier, slowest, death/doom Paradise Lost stuff. Grand Morbid Funeral sort of gave me what I wanted, but The Arrow of Satan is Drawn was a case of very diminishing returns, and frankly I felt like the band was trying to mold itself away from that well-produced, groovy death metal that put its all-star lineup on the map once again with another entity. Survival of the Sickest is a bit of a rebound from all that, and it's the collaboration I WANTED to hear once I knew Nick was joining the band, taking me back to the great, morbid fun riffing and production I enjoyed on discs like The Fathomless Mastery or Nightmares Made Flesh.

That's not to say it drops off the more atmospheric, filthy elements from the prior to records, it just takes them and places them sparingly into the core of what made Bloodbath so great to begin with. The Jonas Renkse bass here is super ruddy and filthy, and Anders and Tomas are just chopping the axes up between great old US or Swedish death metal riffing, tried and true with little flights of atmospheric leads that erupt at just the right time over some protracted Nick Holmes growl which he often layers above the syllabic grunting of the verses and chorus. Part of me had hoped Jonas and Anders would at least continue together in this band if not Katatonia...it seems unlikely, but if this is going to be their swan song, then it's well worthwhile. Not to diminish the contributions of the rest...Martin Axenrot's drumming is muscular, grooving and a perfect accompaniment to the churning, Morbid Angel-like grooves in "Dead Parade" or the whirlwind chaos assault of "Malignant Maggot Therapy". Tomas and Anders have more riffs and zippy evil leads than a shelf full of OSDM classics...

...and Nick has TRULY found his stride here, sounding just as awesome here as any of the older albums with Mikael or Peter singing. It's fun to hear those longer growls in faster-paced music, and if I had ever any question of him fitting in with this band that is now officially crushed, because he's fuckin' great. Survival of the Sickest isn't the catchiest death metal record of all time, but it's deliciously old school in all the best ways where that ancient sound had just started to convert to the brutality of the 90s and 00s. This is definitely not your stock Swedish overdrive sound circa Entombed, it's got a little bit of that inspiration but it's much more fun and groovy, with a guitar tone and writing style that don't necessarily place it so much geographically as it does chronologically. 45 minutes of fun that should satisfy anyone into Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Edge of Sanity, Hypocrisy, Vader, and death metal in general.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.bloodbath.biz/

Dawnbringer - In Sickness and in Dreams (2006)

In Sickness and Dreams is somewhat of a continuation of Catharsis Instinct, but also somewhat of an identity crisis, one of the more unusual albums in the Dawnbringer catalogue. It's characterized by a lot of very short songs, few over two minutes in length, and though Chris and Scott still manage to pack in a lot of ideas, I rarely felt as if they were fleshed out enough to really grasp onto them. The core style here is still melodic black and death metal, perhaps leaning more towards the latter due to the vocals, but it's also got some cleaner vocals, soothing or even hypnotic in parts, and a few straight heavy metal leanings which will foreshadow where they'll be ending up down the road. The opening piece, "Scream and Run", seems to portend a proggier, psychedelic style, and that does appear a few times, but it's more of a tease for later records.

The production on this thing is dingy, and that's one of my biggest issues. Chris is using a more croaked, death metal vocal and it sort of disintegrates against some of the guitars, almost like he's not putting enough force into the inflection or it's just mixed terribly. Sometimes it comes across breathy, and when he's using the cleaner vocals it can almost sound like Lemmy ("There and Back") chilling out behind the guitars, or brought to mind the later Swedish band Bombus ("Under No Flag").. It's a strange contrast with the blazing, melodic guitars, which definitely prove highlights on the records with a lot of riffs that sent a lot of the trendier Swedish death-inspired US metalcore bands home on a stretcher. However, there are some weird sections where they just keep jamming on the same repetitive notes, like almost the whole shorter tune "You Get Nothing" or the end of "Hell is a Desert", strange choices that feel like they almost exist on the album solely to floss out the listener's brain or palate.

It gets weirder..."11:58" has Rob Halford style power vocals, sounding like some sort of mock tribute, and then morphing into faster acoustic guitars. "Death in Time" is a 16 second fugue with a little doom lick that shouldn't have even been bothered with. Both feel unnecessary. On the other hand, there are some fun tracks deeper into the list, like "Attack of the Spiders" with some great speedy NWOBHM licks, or "Endless Guilt" which is a catchy melo-death tune with some organs in there. Overall, the music is pretty solid, I just wish there had been less songs, more focus making the better ones more substantial, and a brighter mix that would have benefited them. Some of the vocals here are my second least favorite after the Sacrament EP, and while the whole album clocks in at 24 minutes, and you never get a chance to get bored, the overall production is just underwhelming. Like an experimental EP sending out feelers for where Dawnbringer would adventure next. Some great riffs keep it hovering just above the precipice of mediocrity, but it's not one of their better offerings.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

Creeping Fear - Realm of the Impaled (2025)

I wasn't super familiar with Creeping Fear going into this third album. I recognized the demonic mascot, perhaps I'd sampled an earlier song or two in the past, but Realm of the Impaled is probably my first complete exposure, and they struck me for having a sound that, on the surface might be meat & potatoes death metal, but reminds me a lot of USDM stuff emerging in the 90s, particularly Immolation. Maybe not like those New Yorkers at their most rhythmically weird or extreme, but more like where they started to transition to that after Dawn of Possession. You've got the fundamentals here like the guttural vocals, chugging and chunky death metal foundation, and then lots of slightly adventurous little twists  and turns through the guitar-work, while the drumming is just pretty sick all around and helps meaty the whole production up.

I suppose there are also a lot of monolithic grooves here reminiscent of Morbid Angel as well, like in "Demonic Ascent" when that more atmospheric intro just erupts into a chugging wall of force, or "Torture Wheel" which might have felt at home on Domination; but it's really the details of how the guitars are being played that piqued my interest, lots of pinches and squeals that create a canvas of extremity to accompany the concussion of the tireless drummer. The vocals have a pretty standard nihilistic sustain to the growling, not highly interesting but certainly function, especially where he belts out a growl over the more complex structure of the riffing, or where a lead guitar starts to spit out, and these are also handled tastefully. Weird and jazzy and alien just like the rhythm-work. The riffs are multitude, I can't promise that many of them catchy as opposed to functional, but there is no shortage of them throughout this abusive, 35 minute discourse, it's jam-packed for that playtime and at the very least I can say you'll never be bored.

Does this stand out with the greats? Perhaps not yet, but Creeping Fear have all the ingredients that would be required, they just need more exposure and to continue their course, layering in even more musicality and some more memorable individual riffs would go a long way. But they've got the drumming, the primal vocal savagery, the endless array of guitars, rhythmic versatility in spades, killer leads (especially in "Et ils se couvrirent de gloire"), and most importantly, a good atmosphere, all settled into a great production that lets you capture the whole experience. I don't focus in on French death metal as much as I do the black, but these guys are easily one of the stronger I've heard, and we're not talking Gojira but highly Florida/NY-influenced stuff, maybe a little earlier Gorguts with that Immolation, lots of effort and a reliable spin.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://creepingfear.bandcamp.com/

Chapel of Disease - Echoes of Light (2024)

I'd hate to repeat a comparison I've already made over my last couple Chapel of Disease reviews, but Echoes of Light once again walks a parallel course to Swedes Tribulation in pursuing a more accessible, moody and atmospheric sound quite farm removed from their death metal roots, while retaining the harsh vocals for their contrast value against the more ear-pleasing riffs. They had already mastered this with the last time out, and this album doesn't show quite as much a transition as that between its two predecessors, so there is a little bit of a vibe that the band were really feeling out where to go here. It's a bit shorter, still at six songs, and seems to focus on fleshing out some of same ideas while giving them some more breathing room.

None of this is 'experimental', but the way the songs are composed aren't reduced to the most basic verse chorus structures, they will fuel any melodic inkling at any time and pursue that to a glorious end, and those are honestly the better parts of this record in tunes like the titular opener or "A Death Through No Loss". The album is heavily leaning on bluesy leads, hard rock or classic heavy metal riffing patterns as well as some soothing acoustic sequences, and through all of this, the bass guitar is able to stick out more than ever, with some simpler and steadier grooves than the last record, but they really anchor all the adventurous noodling. But if you heard those calmer sections of "A Death Through No Loss" and then went back to listen through 2012's Summoning Black Gods, you wouldn't recognize the Germans as the same band. Even further, they are starting to implement some clean singing here ("Shallow Nights", "Gold/Dust") to go along with some of the bluesy, emotional moments. They don't seem too confident in that respect, however, and they wind up a little bit shoegaze, but they're not bad.

The production is glinting and clear, a little more bold than ...and As We Have Seen the Storm... and there are still lots of great guitar licks throughout, while the holdover of the harsh vocals definitely continues to make this feel like Tribulation if they had gone for a more classic hard rock basis rather than the Gothic (although a few sections here also give off that impression). All told, this one doesn't feel like a step back in vision so much, but quality for sure. The cleaner vocals don't really sell me yet, the cover art choice seems a little dull after a similar, swirly look on the last record, and I don't know that I enjoy the continued progress into lighter rock fare, perhaps because it's just not always catchy enough to justify that. On the other hand, it still has plenty of wondrous moments through the riffing, good bass, and it's not at all a chore to listen through. Growing pains, maybe, but still enjoyable.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/ChapelOfDisease