Obituary - Dying of Everything (2023)

Dying of Everything might have received the most critical praise I've seen for an Obituary album in a very long time...at LEAST since the first few back in the late 80s/90s when they were sort of a shocking novelty based on the roiling guitar tone and John Tardye's sickened vocal style. It seemed like I couldn't avoid year's end lists, blogs and videos without this being mentioned, and having just skimmed over it upon release, I was looking forward to going back to it and hearing what I might have missed. This has led me only to confusion, for while this album does fire off a few very exciting tracks, the rest are quite dull and predictable, business as usual for one of Florida's least progressed death metal acts, and I don't mean that as any sort of insult, some groups stick to what they know, and this is one of them.

Now, "Barely Alive", the opener, is quite explosive and really gave me hope for this album when I first came in contact. It's not super catchy riff-wise, but the energy and leads are certainly palpable and it's hard not to get infected with it. But just as quickly, you get "The Wrong Time", which has a cool intro followed up by a pretty boring rock-ish riff, with maybe one decent groove later on. And that's the formula for many of the tunes, there's one undeniable ferocious part and then a bunch of filler riffing to surround it. Not for the first time, and hell even the better riffing sequences here just sound like slight variations on many others they've already released. Again, that just comes with the territory, there's just not much nuance or ambition to any of the material. You get a few hints of it, like the drawn out backing growls, and the bolder and brighter production than on a lot of their albums, but structurally, while this ticks all the boxes and does hurl out a half dozen admirable riffs which spark all my nostalgia for their first two, beloved records, it's rarely something special.

Now, admittedly, that production IS great...it sounds huge coming out the speakers, one of their better balanced mixes through the decades, grasping on where it can to modernity without losing the original plot, and the chugging, the lead guitars, the vocal and drums are all monstrous. There is certainly an audience for that alone, and I think that might be the main draw to this one, but anytime I'm really about to get into a track, they just spin off into some banal, uninventive material that doesn't impress me beyond the audio force alone. The Mariusz Lewandowski cover art does feel fresh for the band, and don't get me wrong, this record sends dreck like Darkest Day, The End Complete and Frozen in Time home on a stretcher, but I wouldn't mind hearing this same level of production used on material that's more evil, atmospheric, or even slightly dissonant and innovative within the riff choices themselves. It's a decent record, but like a lot of what they've put out, feels like jogging in place through the cemetery, where I'd rather they dug down a little deeper into the rot-choked soils, or broke into some of the sepulchers for some ideas.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://www.obituary.cc/

Obituary - Cause of Death: Live Infection (2022)

Like it's companion piece, Slowly We Rot: Live & Rotting, this is a full live presentation of one of Obituary's classic albums, and this one happens to be my favorite across their catalogue, so I was a fraction more juiced to check it out for those morbid, evil grooves and riffs that I clung to so much growing up. This one is also recorded in Tampa, so basically the band's home turf, and given the same extremely professional treatment, sounding just as good or better than when you're actually standing in front of the band at one of their gigs. The tunes on this album are slightly more controlled and I daresay catchier than on the debut, but at the same time they did feel slightly less carnage-strewn or extreme, but here on Live Infection, there is more of a consistency with Slowly We Rot, and as they start churning along, they get a few opportunities to measure up in extremity.

Again, they are played exactly in the order of the original, including the Celtic Frost cover of "Circle of the Tyrants", which sounds superior to the "Dethroned Emperor" they tossed onto the other record. The chords feel meaty and powerful, and since they're a little more spacious and measured than on the debut, the drums Donald's drumming feels even more powerful. Some of my favorite Obituary tunes like "Body Bag" and "Memories Remain" sound absolutely fantastic, and while John's doesn't always sound 1:1 for the studio versions, he's grotesque and intense as his throat splatters these lines all over the huge grooves. The leads sound a little better and more musical with the way their effects work in the live incarnation, and overall the first nine tracks of this brought so many great memories and turned out to be one of the better live albums I've come across in the last couple years. I realize it's trendy for all these bands to be playing their classics and some might consider it a cash grab, but the fact is a lot of these tunes probably left the set lists long ago, so it's good to have them back even in a limited capacity.

Like the Slowly We Rot live album, there are tracks added here which were not a part of the original, but a sprinkling from later in the career. "Straight to Hell" from the s/t doesn't do a ton for me, but "Threatening Skies" is exciting with its hardcore-meets-Obituary feel, and then you've got the dependable grooves of "By the Light" and while I'm no End Complete fan, I think "I'm in Pain" sounds much more explosive in this live setting than it did fronting that studio album. So in addition to me enjoying the core experience more, the add-ons are also slightly superior for me than those chosen for Live & Rotting. Having said that, I think both of these albums are better than their old 1998 live album Dead, which was actually decent in of itself, but lacks the strength that these have by focusing in on the best material the band has written still to this day. If you're a fan, or you just like really well-produced live death metal, both of these should earn a place on your shelf.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.obituary.cc/

Obituary - Slowly We Rot: Live & Rotting (2022)

Slowly We Rot: Live & Rotting is one in a pair of special concert presentations released on physical and digital media through Relapse records. Having seen Obituary a number of times through the years, I can attest that whatever inconsistency their studio output might have brought me, this is an arena in which they are quite good, translating their simplistic, evil old death metal into roiling entertainment, fit for a crossroads of extreme music audiences what with all the grooving and moshing potential. This live album, I am happy to say, captures the experience with a professional sound, without going too far into an over-mixed or over-polished territory. In fact, I'd take this over the vast majority of the studio albums they've put out across the decades beyond 1990.

The material is mostly presented in the order of the original album, with an ominous stage intro and then an extended title track at the end. The lineup is the same as it has been since Inked in Blood, with the three original members joined by scene veteran Terry Butler on bass, and second guitarist Kenny Andrews, but it might as well just be the whole original studio incarnation, because it does the debut album great justice. The guitars are soaked in distortion, making the rhythm crunch just as evil as it did 30+ years ago, while the leads sound like whipping, spontaneous serpents that scream out into the atmosphere over the tight performances of Butler and Donald Tardy, both of whom sound excellent. The bass is really thick and the drumming feels even more intensive than on the studio version, and it all ends up pretty much flawless. John also sounds great, his trademark growl might miss a syllable or two, or at least it felt that way, but it's still got the same gruesome sustain to helm the band whether they're blasting away or settling into one of their swampier grooves. It's difficult to pick a favorite among the main tracks here, because each is delivered with precision and care for an audience that must be psyched to see this.

There isn't a lot of fan interaction, or noise, it's all pretty slick, and they've added a couple of later songs to lengthen out the set and release; they aren't really necessary, like "Redneck Stomp" from the crappy Frozen in Time album, which is just as dull here as the original, and "A Dying World", which was a single they put out as part of an [adult swim] series a few years before this. That's not an impressive tune either, but it's much more energetic and fun than "Redneck...", and it's cool that it was included due to its scarcity. The best of the bonus tunes, however, is their cover of Celtic Frost's "Dethroned Emperor", paying tribute to the band that is unquestionably the hugest influence upon their own sound. To be honest, though, I would have been satisfied with just the Slowly We Rot material, it seems that presentation and the accompanying Blu Ray would be enough here, and a few of those later tracks drag it down a little. Overall, though, this delivers what it promises, an ageless performance of what many consider their best album.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.obituary.cc/

Cannibal Corpse - Chaos Horrific (2023)

I'm going to say this up front: I like Vincent Locke's artwork, I like that the band is high on consistency, but would it kill Cannibal Corpse to explore some other color palettes once in awhile? It's not that the cover to Chaos Horrific is bad or unfitting whatsoever, but considering how the band is often criticized for some of the sameness of their death metal material, it might help a fraction to vary up the packaging. Other than that, though, I have few if any complaints about their 16th studio album, because their sound is not one I grow that weary of, and while it's got a lot of the predictable, hammering, gory elements, you can hear them occasionally trying to throw a few new hooks or patterns at you when they can spare the expansion. That said, if you're not a fan of the George Corpsegrinder era of the band, now the default at nearly three decades, if you're pining for those simpler times of the early 90s, Chaos Horrific is not going to change your mind.

This is the battering, clinical, darkly brutal death metal they've been releasing since Vile with few if many alterations other than who is in the lineup, what they can offer, and minor differences in production. I for one prefer this flurried, semi-technical style and I'm constantly exploring the substrate of gore for all the tasty, meaty little hooks, but there's no question that you could mix up a bunch of tracks off the last ten albums on a playlist and perhaps forget which album they came from beyond a few standouts. All of these tunes are almost obnoxiously consistent, packed with agile little palm-muted chops and evil tremolo picked rhythms that alternate against groovier, weighted hooks like those that set up "Blood Blind" and its roiling horror show. One thing that's great about Cannibal Corpse, you can almost always discern the thrash roots and propulsion through their material, where other bands in the more cavernous style seem to have distanced themselves more from those fundamentals, this feels like that genre armored up with more oozing entrails and a growling animal and set to non-stop headbanging. If only all our necks could endure this as much as George's can!

I wouldn't mind more leads to whirlwind about here, but with Erik Rutan in the fold, you know where they do appear they're going to kick ass, and they do, like the eerie harmonies and exchanges in the center of "Fracture and Refracture". Alex and Paul still mete out the rhythmic bottom end like players 20 years their junior, and Rob and Erik load every song up with too many chops to ever bore from, even if there is that slight monotonous sense that they're largely small alterations on past progressions. The album is totally ferocious, even where it breaks to let a guitar thrash out or slows into a cyclopean but loaded groove, there is no place for your heart to rest, you are going to be splattered for 40 minutes and you'd best be ready. Rutan's production is quite in line with other recent efforts, and there's no point at which my attention wavered when I was truly in the mood for this style. Favorites include "Pestilential Rictus" for its infectious death/thrashing opening and groovy verse, or the finale "Drain You Empty" for that cool atmospheric intro, but the whole thing smokes just as hard as a lot of their other output from the 2010s and beyond.

Is there still some fleshy masterpiece waiting on the slab, ready for carving? I think the band would have to endure a forced evolution into a more widely-written album, or perhaps a de-evolution to super catchy, simpler tunes with the same charm, but at this point, even if they make another half dozen LPs of this general pace, punishment and quality I'll be supplied with enough bruisings to last me the rest of my days. Nothing broken (except your bones), nothing to fix.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

Killing Addiction - Mind of a New God (2021)

The Shores of Oblivion EP and Killing Addiction's signing to XTreem Records seemed to be an incredibly positive direction for the unsung Florida death metal troupe, but unfortunately the band wasn't able to immediately capitalize on that with an album the following year. Fast forward half a decade, and it appears we had finally gotten that album with Mind of a New God, which if nothing else delivers on some of that potential, and firmly establishes that this new phase in their career is by far their best in terms of compositional strength. I mean even the worst track you'll find among these is superior to Omega Factor and all the material on their early EPs, and it's another effort like Shores of Oblivion which is just a pleasure to sit straight through without skipping any of the tracks...this is consistent, bludgeoning, death metal that understands how to sound like a threat and not just going through 'the motions', even when it is.

The style is largely built upon the back of that aforementioned EP, only the palette is more adventurous by far, with a slightly less trudging early UK vibe, and even more emphasis placed on the middle and upper registers of the guitars through clinical harmonies and leads. The production is a bit crisper although you'll get plenty of that lower ballast through the steady gutturals, however this also plays to the strength of the guitars which are for me the highlight of the album. Style-wise it sounds like a mash-up of elements from Brutality, Monstrosity, Benediction, Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation and even a bit of Pestilence in some of the more dissonant, interesting guitar parts, but I'm not citing that as some sort of limiting bracket of parameters, because there's a lot to work with in there, and Killing Addiction does. If you're thinking you'll miss out on some of the lower, knuckle-dragging death metal grooves, they've also got plenty of those in tunes like the end of the title track to sate your pit-punching needs. But really despite the commonalities of tone and structure between the tunes, they're all set up with a balance that continues to offer you a riff or two to take you off guard, which is the hallmark of good songwriting.

You've heard Mind of New God before through the band's backlog or its influences and peers, but that doesn't make this any less fun to listen through if you just want a dependable, entertaining death metal record that embraces the strengths of its genre. There is still plenty of good stuff coming out of those early Florida staples...for example the latest Cannibal Corpse and Cynic records are pretty good, and I even thought the latest from Deicide was a nice surprise, but the road to victory for Killing Addiction is much more redemptive since they've finally earned a spot at the table with an EP and album that should thrill a good cross-section of the death metal audience, between the more classic, atmospheric fans and those who were slightly more tech-savvy or into the brutal pioneers of the 90s out of New York or the Netherlands.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://killingaddiction.bandcamp.com/music

Killing Addiction - Shores of Oblivion EP (2016)

The first time I heard the Shores of Oblivion EP I almost did a double take. I'd had few expectations based on the previous output, and yet was pleasantly surprised by how much tighter this material was than anything they had put out to date (including Omega Factor). The songwriting is catchier, the leads are good, the little details they put into the tracks are appreciated, and it barrels forward with a confidence not unlike its primary influences, which I've hinted at before carry some similarities not only to their Florida fellows, of which Brutality is certainly an apt comparison, but British mainstays like Bolt Thrower or Benediction, super evident in the first cut "Engine of Ruin" which is pretty much pure tank tread death metal, 'slow grind' with the great gutturals that crumble with a cool decay every time they are sustained for even a few seconds.

Take that bottom end and then glaze it with nice, creepy atmospheric guitar leads and you'd have what would be the best song in Killing Addiction's library, only the others here are just as good, like "Cult of Decay" with more good leads and a nice, loping groove that emerges deeper into the bridge, or "Into Shadow" which sets itself up with some nice, creepy cleaner guitars that ascend into electric melodies and some really nice, old school riffing circa 80s Death. Everything about this is just a step up, from the guitar work to the production, the rock steady drumming and most importantly, the ominous, dark but clean feel to the way the instruments are all mixed...certainly a bit more polished than the EP that had come two years before it that wasn't half this memorable. Shores of Oblivion is no reinvention of the wheel, and you could argue it's just quality, generic death metal, but it's also proof positive that persistence can really pay off, for however easy it might be write off some of their earlier material, this one is just 15 minutes of what you like in this genre...evil grooves, dark leads, well worthy of repeated listening.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://killingaddiction.bandcamp.com/music

Killing Addiction - When Death Becomes an Art EP (2014)

Killing Addiction might never have the hitting or staying power of so many of their better-known Floridian death metal peers, but the band has managed to survive the years with smaller transfusions of creativity that result in the long 28-year stretch of EPs between two proper full-length recordings. When Death Becomes an Art didn't arrive after a decade plus hiatus as its predecessor, Fall of the Archetypes, but at the same time it doesn't seem like much to advance the band, just a two-track offering of meat & potatoes death metal which channels the style they've always been more or less known for, with splashes of a Malevolent Creation or Morbid Angel, but not really the material to stand out. This was a self release at the time, digitally and with some limited CDs, so one would not maintain high expectations, but on the surface level there's nothing really wrong with this either...

It's straight up, rumbling death metal, perhaps a little more involved than an Obituary or Six Feet Under but not as wild or proficient as Corpsegrinder-era Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel. The band doesn't rely on any bedrock of cheap grooves, they actually incorporate a little grindier UK-sounding death that reminds me of an earlier Benediction or Napalm Death, and then a little bit of clinical precision along the level of the later Barnes years of Corpse. Deep, steady but average gutturals are accented by some snarls, and the whole mix keeps a very low-end sensibility, the band doesn't really go off to explore those frets until the lead sequences, which in "Promethean" are at least passable and offer another dimension to the ear clubbing sounds they offer. The band manages to sound exciting without actually playing riffs that bore into my memory, especially on that second track, so I'd have to say while this 8 minutes of content is nothing overly special, it at least gave me some hope that Killing Addiction might have a stronger future ahead of them than their past, which had peaked with 1993's JL America release of Omega Factor (which you're more likely to track down on it XTreem Music re-issue).

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

https://killingaddiction.bandcamp.com/music

Akatharta - Spiritus Immundus (2017)

The formidable Kam Lee is one of death metal's most prolific vocalists, and while not all of the projects he involves himself in are top shelf, his own contributions are chock-full of some of the broadest, beefiest and most sustained guttural growls you're ever going to hear, and they almost instantly catapult their surroundings into something more fearsome than they probably even deserve. Akatharta, on the other hand, proves more than worthy to handle that frightening load, because his staggering and horrific delivery throughout Spiritus Immundus is equaled by its crush of mesmerizing, eerie death/doom, creepy acoustics and the novel use of actual Electronic Voice Phenomena samples to grant it an entirely new level of supernatural atmosphere, and all of this combines into a truly harrowing experience which is, for me at least, the finest hour of one Kam Lee and a project that I hope continues even to the detriment of his many others!

Though Spiritus Immundus falls squarely into the funeral doom category, it's a lot busier than one might expect from that niche, perhaps like a Shape of Despair with a slightly wider dynamic range. The huge, chugging, monolithic rhythm guitars are glazed with diabolic harmonies and Kam's growls seem to wax and wane across the beefy cuts, peaks and valleys of guttural abuse that resemble a congregation of angry spirits trying to out-monstrify one another. There's a little repetition to some of the patterns, but it's never painfully so which I've experienced from other, drier acts in this style. The yawning intros and segues are often the most 'funeral' parts of this, and the effect is achieved more with the vocals and sample effects than just the droning guitars. Drums are cautious and steady as with other groups in this style, and the bass is exceedingly simple, roiling with just enough buzz to help the rhythm guitars crush-fuck your soul. I particularly love the little ululating guitar melodies which feed into and out of the other instruments like streams of bleeding agony, and some of the pure, basic chug riffs here like in "Possessione Diabolica" hit you like a concentrated dose of Hooded Menace.

Though they do their best to mesh in the cover of Celtic Frost's "Dethroned Emperor" with the originals, I will say I found that unnecessary and kind of breaks up the novelty of the album preceding it. His voice sounds great growling that one out, and they get into some noisy clamor, but it just doesn't strike with the same impact as the longer tunes. Lyrics are fairly simple, but cover a wide range of supernatural horror from the Eastern to the Western, and nothing too complex is needed there, since the growling itself becomes an instrument that transcends its own prose. The production on this thing is vast, you'll want to turn it up and attempt to make out the detail of the samples and reverbed vocals which are the looser elements of the compositions, anchored by the guitars and drums. This album is ridiculous and I'm ashamed I didn't pay more attention to it sooner, but any fan of the style who wants it as long on atmosphere as heaviness should mandate it to their collection pronto. Cyclopean, soul-crushing death doom.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://akatharta.bandcamp.com/

Cannibal Corpse - Violence Unimagined (2021)

Cannibal Corpse is one of those acts whose audience seems to always fluctuate between static appreciation and stagnant indifference, so it's curious to see the raised level of buzz concerning their first full-length proper with Erik Rutan on-board as a full-time guitarist and writer. A lot of the chatter revolves around the different sound he brings to the band, and I'll admit that there's one area in which he certainly contributes to a mildly different experience, but I think ultimately Violence Unimagined falls right in line with the style has been exploring since Corpsegrinder joined the band for Vile, and it's one that some might continue to find samey and repetitious in terms of its riffing portfolio, and that others like myself will just continue to admire with each seasoned recording...this is not a band that really ever makes mistakes or half-asses anything, there have been a few albums that don't quite past muster, but Violence Unimagined is not among them.

Yes, you might hear a little bit of the Hate Eternal and Ripping Corpse bleed into Cannibal's forceful, thrash-inspired brutality, but I'd have to say that if not for some of his spurious leads, which bear a degree of distinction in the death metal community, most wouldn't really be able to glean a difference. And that's because, for all the time Erik has spent producing, touring and helping out with this band, he's gotten a complete grasp of what they're all about, and by no means is he out to step on any toes. This is business as usual, with the one exception that you might find a few of the rhythm guitar patterns a little more clinical, and the leads here to just be more epically fleshed and rounded out. He and Barrett remain just as synced as Rob was with Pat, but occasionally you get a dissonant, weirder, bouncier or atmospheric riff that feels more akin to what Erik would insert into his mainstay. But with Alex and Paul plugging and battering along beneath them, and George giving plastering his trademark, agile, syllabic guttural attack on top, you could probably mix and match some of these tunes in with anything from Kill to A Skeletal Domain to Gore Obsessed and be none the wiser, other than  perhaps a few production details.

And I have no problem with that whatsoever, because this band remains the posterchild for the planned, professional death metal assault which I can depend on year in, year out. Vince Locke's gruesome cover artwork is just as edge-worthy as its ever been, and the band supports that with loads of riff-intensive maiming and bludgeoning which I promise will never put you to sleep. There are some slight variations as always within the actual guitar structures, but all fall within a similar lexicon to what you've heard from the band post-The Bleeding, with just enough freshness to keep this one engaging even if you had been a little plagued with redundant feelings for some of its more recent predecessors. Now I'm not going to say this one has a load of absolutely unforgettable riffs; many are just permutations of their predictable, punishing backlog, but the chugging and feral thrashing that has clung with the band since its origins blend into some eerie tremolo picked patterns that will put you in carnage heaven. Paul's performance here is monstrous, the fills intensifying everything around them, and you don't need yet another of my reminders of how Alex is one of the best ever...I don't know that this style works without his swift and malevolent anchoring presence below the hacking higher pitched axes.

Persistence pays off again, and much of this material is set-ready to blend in with their other 100+ choice cuts dating back to the mid-90s. I did find the production a little dry, and like I said there isn't really a particular hit single here which stands out for me far above its surroundings, but rather the whole 43-minute experience had me shit-kicking my office and experiencing daymares of rending flesh, horrifying killers and apocalypses brought to you by the undead. And that earns my money. Every. Single. Time.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

Six Feet Under - Nightmares of the Decomposed (2020)

Like most of you folks, I heard the first (or one of the first) singles off this record, "Zodiac", and was immediately taken aback at how poorly Chris Barnes' vocals sounded, and over such a miserable selection of riffs that shouldn't have made it past the band's own quality control despite the wealth of mediocrity they've produced since the 90s and his split with Cannibal Corpse. Now, how it got past Brian Slagel is a mystery we might never have answered, I'd like to think he stares at himself in the mirror and repeats, over and over, like a mantra 'It was only for the money...just the money." When I got around to finally listening to Nightmares of the Decomposed in its entirety, I was somewhat relieved that not all the material was quite so pathetic, at least on the riffing front. The cover art is pretty cheesy, but in a fun way it almost reminds me of something Primus might have done 25-30 years ago if they had been writing death metal instead of alterna-funk.

I think the main issue with this 17th (unbelievable!) studio effort is that we're clearly experiencing the nadir of Chris's throat-ational ability. Not like I was ever truly impressed by it, I'm more of a George Corpsegrinder guy, but clearly his presence was a huge factor on the success of those early Cannibal Corpse records and bringing a lot of fans into the genre. Here his throat sounds like it's decayed, or maybe congested from smoking too much of the good stuff that he's always been vocal about. Whether you put some kind of filter on that or not, it's quite obvious this is the worst album he's ever recorded with that particular instrument, and a huge setback. Whether it's something he can bounce back from or not we'll see, it wouldn't be the first time Six Feet Under has surprised me, like that time in 2012 when they actually wrote a really fun album called Undead.  But even when he sounds the most 'normal' here, the vox are truly lacking behind even the laziest riff selections that populate tunes like "Zodiac" and "Death Will Follow" with their humdrum groove metal and chugging.

On the other hand, tracks like the opener "Amputator" have a springy, evil old school selection of rhythm guitars which, with a better vocal performance, might have been pretty juicy. Jack Owen and Ray Suhy manage to keep it together, and it's even got an exciting lead. "Blood of the Zombie", a track which relies heavy on its creepy muting patterns, is also passable, and "Self Imposed Death Sentence" and "Dead Girls Don't Scream" also have some potential, with a few points where his vocals are almost at their usual painstakingly average. Wherever this album gets slower and groovier, it gets extremely dull, almost like they couldn't spend 10 minutes writing these fucking songs and just laid out the first patterns that came into mind. There are also a few inconsistencies with the mix on some of the songs where some sound to me a little thinner than others, and it overall lacks a level of polish to to the mix which might have smoothed out the reaction. Overall, there might be 3-4 tunes here that, with better production and entirely different vocals, could have passed for a reasonable death metal EP.

But let's be frank: since the anomalous, uncharacteristic Undead, 6FU's trajectory has been steadily downward. It took a few records to stink just like the old days, but once they dropped that Unburied EP in 2018, which was just chaff from the Undead and Unborn sessions, you could kind of tell that they back to the same old string of garbage that defined the band from around 1997-2010. Nightmares of the Decomposed feels like they were rolling down this slope and then just plummeted off a steep decline, an album worthy of trash like Warpath, Bringer of Blood and TRVE Carnage, another nail in the coffin of one of the most unshakeable, overrated musicians this genre has ever known. I think Chris himself sums it up best with the lyrics to track #8, if you'd like to do some digging yourself.

Verdict: Fail [3/10]

https://sixfeetunder.bandcamp.com/

Satans Taint - Destruction Ritual (2019)

If the cover to Destruction Ritual is any indicator, Gustafson wasn't about to deviate far from the Satans Taint debut album, possibly diving a little further into the generic Viking theme pasted on to the project, or at least its artwork and typography. This was a slightly higher profile album than the first, since it seemed to get a limited CD release through the rekindled Megaforce imprint, and Bobby decided to work with a couple of the same musicians, so I went into this expecting some cohesion and improvements. Unfortunately, there is still a bit of the stylistic inconsistency and disconnect that dominated its predecessor, with the two vocalists flipping back and forth between a higher pitched, almost Joey Belladonna style vocal with Halford screams and then the harsher, biting THRASH vocals. Neither of these guys is a slouch for his respective style, mind you, but the album just never seems to settle into anything and it almost constantly feels more like a 'recording project'.

To me, the first track here "Sumbel" was a decent power/thrash style song and I wouldn't have been put out if the whole album continued along this thread, but as soon as it launches into the meatier thrash of "Sorry You Were Ever Born" I was already feeling that thread unravel. It's not a terrible song, but wants very badly to be 90s-00s Overkill with a different vocalist. The keyboards in the chorus were a surprise, but they too feel at odds with the rest of the track. And then, to capitalize on its downward spiral, it launches into an awful, Pantera-like groove metal track, and there are a number of others which also fit this bill, immediately turning me off; don't get me wrong, I'm not some hater for the original, but unfortunately so many of their bar-level knockoffs are less than compelling and can't really match the attitude. Amusingly enough, there's a "Skullkrusher II" track here which mirrors the doom vibe of the Overkill original, from Bobby's last studio album with the band, and it's actually a half-decent one which is better than most of the other songs you'll find here, not unlike how "Gothic Serpent" stood out on the debut. Had Satans Taint been a doom metal band with the same singer, I think you'd hear a lot more about it, because it's fairly tight...

Instead, we get a lot more of the ho-hum Viking thrash, which isn't lacking for some energy and keeps a pretty professional style, but just feels like a lot of other throwaway 'modern' thrash circa the later 90s or early 00s when it wasn't exactly taboo to return to the form, but bands still peppered it with a lotta unwelcome groove metal elements from the past decade. Rhythm section is solid over the course of the album, and Bobby's tone has that same saturated bite you remember from the 80s, only a fraction more modernized, like Germany's Destruction through the last 20 years. It actually sounds great when an actual decent riff happens, but they are in scarce supply throughout Destruction Ritual and a lot of the banal chugging is just sleep-inducing. In fact a lot of these riffs would have cured insomnia back in the 80s. I know I'm being harsh here, but this sophomore is yet another record which doesn't play to its strengths. It's poundingly heavy, but fleshed out with too many effortless filler rhythm guitars. Bobby's a very good guitarist, hell he played on my favorite Overkill album Taking Over, but this just doesn't have that magic. I did read somewhere that he recently started playing with Vio-lence, and his tone and style are an amazing fit for their style, especially Eternal Nightmare and Oppressing the Masses, so I'm a lot more hopeful for what might come of that. Destruction Ritual isn't awful by any means, but I found it a small step below even Axe to the Head of My Enemies.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10]

Satans Taint - Axe to the Head of My Enemies (2017)

Gotta be honest...I don't know what Satan has to do with Vikings, so the name itself of former Overkill guitarist Bobby Gustafson's solo project already bears a bit of incongruence with the title font, symbology and lyrics that adorn it. This was excusable back in the day, I mean 'Elizabeth Bathory' doesn't have much to do with the Vikings either but I was 100% okay when Quorthon went down that path in the late 80s. I suppose we could assume that 'Satans Taint' could be a Christian perspective on what fueled their Scandinavian assailants, so I'm willing to look past it, but then I become distracted again because I don't know if the 'Taint' refers to the influence upon their black hearts or the devil's package. It all matters little to the musical content, just throwing it out there that it was a bit off-putting right up front, and I'm probably also being a bit of a dick...and maybe not for the last time as I cover these solo efforts.

Axe to the Head of My Enemies starts off quite well, with some deep synthesized choirs brooding over some melodies before Bobby's trademark thrashing begins. You can definitely trace a line from his work in Overkill straight to how some of these songs are composed, as they often riff back and forth between mid-paced neck jerking rhythms and faster charges, reminiscent of a meatier version of those 80s albums he participated on like Under the Influence or The Years of Decay. The guitars are heavily distorted to really churn out a mosh-worthy thrash tone, but still pretty clear, even a bit of a clinical feel to them when he breaks out into some more melodic note progressions that reminded me of groups like Germany's Paradox in a few spots. Vocally, his two guests use a pretty harsh style, nasty and quite good for the style, which they round out with some growling, often full-bodied like a Chuck Billy as they bark out the chorus to the opener "Asatru". In other areas like "Killing Spree" you can tell they're going for a Bobby Blitz like formula where you've got a heightened, energetic series of lines that stand out with that same frenzied energy, although they're obviously not nearly as striking as his former singer. All in all, I'd say the vocals are handled well enough considering their disparate styles.

But then the album sort of shits the bed with another Overkill parallel, the groove metal of "He Who Wore the Crown" which is similar to the slower, Sabbath-like material his alma mater also started to explore right around the time Bobby exited that band. I guess if you really enjoy banal bluesy metal in the vein of Black Label Society this might interest you, but I find it dull as a board, with no new twists on the riffing to make it memorable. The vocals do still sound solid, but Satans Taint is no Trouble, I'm a' leave it there. Unfortunately this kind of swagger infects a little bit more of the taint than I'd have liked. "Gothic Serpent", where he channels Solitude Aeternus and Candlemass, is actually a decent tune. He also dips his mead horn into the death metal realm a little in "Gutpile" and "Battle of Bravalla", where the guitar tone sounds good, and there's nothing necessarily wrong, but it further dilutes the focus of the album, almost like Gustafson is just trying his hand at a number of styles to see what sticks. He's not at all 'bad' at any of them, but there are some really weak, boring tracks here like "All Out War" which feel like dumb tough guy death/thrash metal, predictable chugging riffs, and they sort of diminish their neighbors. There are a few guests loaning lead guitars here, including James Murphy, but most of them are forgettable.

I think there was probably a decent EP of consistent material here..."Asatru", "Battle of Bravalla", the instrumental and "The Hammer of the Cross" which could have thrived as more of a thrash variation on the Amon Amarth 'Vikings for Beginners' aesthetic; and also I thought "Gothic Serpent" was a good avenue to explore, but I don't think this debut quite gelled for me overall. It's an independent release, so it's quite likely this was a feeler to gauge reactions before settling on a more particular sound, but I'm not not hearing a lot of memorable content beyond its mere competence. Axe to the Head of My Enemies seems a little half-formed, but not lacking for some professionalism.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

Brutality - Antecedent Offerings EP (2018)

Antecedent Offerings is essentially a limited run, 500 copy 7" collectors' item in which 3/4ths of Brutality's 'classic' lineup revisiti a track each from their seminal offerings Screams of Anguish and When the Sky Turns Black and re-record them to see how they can be performed with over two decades' accrued experience and proficiency. Perhaps even a dash of contemporary studio 'wizardry', which has presumably also come some ways since the 90s (in either a positive or negative direction, depending who you might ask). As such, it's not like the band has fully committed to remaking a lot of their catalog, they just hand-picked two cuts which I'd assume are ones fans might want to hear in this context, and had at them.

Admittedly, I find both of these renditions a little dull, lacking the crushing potency of the original incarnations. The mix is quite consistent, the riffs performed well, perhaps even more 'balanced' across the speakers, but as soon as I go back to the brighter, album version of "Crushed", it just emotionally and sonically violates this new version, sounding like the genuine Florida death metal that put the band on the map in that 'second string' of bands beneath the legends like Morbid Angel or Death. The older version does feel a lot more youthful, maybe even disjointed in a few of the transition areas, and the remake is smoother in that area, I'll grant it, but the overall mix just has nowhere near the same level of energy for me. This is doubly the case for "Artistic Butchery" which also seems like a more lifeless version, and I get that it's 'death metal' haw haw haw but really there is no point to hearing the new over the original. The one thing that does remain very consistent between the two eras is the vocals, which sound almost identical on a good number of their lines.

So while this is only intended as a limited edition collectible and nothing to take so seriously, I have to say it doesn't do much for me whatsoever. The one positive is that it made me listen through those first two records again, which are slightly underappreciated gems from the 90s era, but I wouldn't go out of my way to hear either of these again. They don't suck in terms of production, but lack the personality in 2018 that their forebears had in 1993-1994. Skip it and listen to those albums, or even their last record Sea of Ignorance, which is much more exciting with its newer material.

Verdict: Fail [4/10]

http://brutalitytheband.com/

Malevolent Creation - The 13th Beast (2019)

I can only imagine the amount of  hard work Malevolent Creation mainstay and guitarist Phil Fasciana had to put into The 13th Beast to make it manifest. Not only did original growler Brett Hoffman pass away tragically to cancer, but the rest of the lineup had also changed since 2015's well executed effort Dead Man's Path. So as I'm sitting here listening to this record it's a real testament to the Fort Lauderdale band's professionalism and resolve. I say that as one who has always followed the band for their importance as one of the Florida scene's enduring, guttural voices in the death metal medium, but also one that's never been terribly taken with a lot of their material, which falls into the 'passable' zone a lot more than the 'memorable' one. With the exception of the weird Joe Black EP back in 1996, Malevolent Creation has never failed at kicking you firmly in the posterior, even if they don't always do it with sticky, timeless songwriting and dynamic range.

The 13th Beast is a bit more brutal and monotonous than its predecessor, bouncing between their usual bootstrapped blast beatings and roiling Bolt Thrower/Brutality-like mid-tempo material. The footwork is intense as usual, the guitars fast and true to the form, or moodier when they slow down and feel reminiscent of stuff you might hear off an album like The IVth Crusade. Leads warp in and out with ease, often adding some genuine thrill to what can otherwise be a duller rhythm riff set, and the bass and drums sound like they need to for an intense battery such as this. Unfortunately, while there are a good number of riffing progressions flying around, too many of theme seem run of the mill and forgettable when assimilated into Malevolent's body of work as a whole. I mean a tune like "Mandatory Butchery" really goes for the throat, giving the listener the entire range of their style, but even then the guitars feel sort of familiar and unsurprising. The rhythm section performance feels slightly more of a mechanical thing, competent and in lockstep but not adding much personality.

As for the new vocalist/guitarist, South African-born Lee Wollenschlaeger, he's got some pretty huge shoes to fill. While his straight brutal vocal is competent and not unlike Hoffman's, there is likewise a bit less charisma in how he delivers it, with far less variety. Gone are a lot of the shifts between snarls and gutturals, here you just feel like you're being beaten repeatedly with a dull hammer. Not that his predecessor was the most unique in the genre, but these feel as if they could have been replaced by any number of other 90s-style death metal vocalists and there wouldn't be a huge difference; whereas experience had really sharpened Hoffman's delivery. Still, Lee's a competent player and growler, fits right into the mold here and with after settling a bit more into the material, should turn out fine. I'll ultimately liken this record to Cannibal Corpse's Vile, a new album from a heavily entrenched death metal band with a new vocalist, which doesn't quite live up to the material just before it, but is not at all much of a dip from the stuff Malevolent Creation has been consistently churning out for nearly three decades. If you're a big fan of Invidious Dominion or Doomsday X then I don't think you'll be too disappointed with this, but I'm unlikely to return to it much.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] 

https://www.facebook.com/malevolentcreation

Malevolent Creation - Dead Man's Path (2015)

Dead Man's Path is likely to go down as a fond remembrance as the last Malevolent Creation record fronted by the band's late growler adept Brett Hoffman, but it should also go down as being one of their better offerings, reaching far into the past for the pummeling death thrash of The Ten Commandments, but also taking a few chances on something a little outside their typical wheelhouse. In full disclosure, while this a band I've long respected since their inception on the burgeoning Florida scene decades past, they've never quite been a favorite. I largely consider the 1991 debut to be their best, but then again they've put out a pretty long string of albums that turn out 'decently' if not really inspiring beyond the violent moshing primacy that they espouse.

Dead Man's Path is that and a fraction more. You're still getting the same, machine gun battery driven blend of roiling blasts and breakdowns, smothered in Hoffman's sustained snarls and growls, but I find something mildly more atmospheric than their norm. Perhaps this is anchored by the opening title track, a slow, doomed build which uses strange narrated vocals which almost sound like the guy has some sort of strange accent...ascending into these atonal, but memorable guitar harmonies. But it's also through the confidence and certainty with which they execute the heavier shit through the rest of the proceedings. Few if any of these riffs are of the variety you've never heard before, and they're just as predictable as you might believe, but the production and balance of speed and groove here are very well managed, and it remains pretty exciting throughout. Tracks like "Corporate Weaponry" are able to develop strong lead guitars, melodies in the verse and chorus riffing as well as a nihilistic, warlike atmosphere somewhere between Bolt Thrower and their own Warkult.

Hoffman effortlessly shifts between a number of different harsh vocal timbres, without ever coming off as too overbearing or jarring in their transitions. It sounds exactly like a bunch of psychos having a board meeting over the apocalypse should sound, and he dials it back often to let those guitars breathe their necrotic tremolo picked nightmares. The bass has just the right level of bombast and swerve to it to carry the rhythms, and Justin DiPinto puts on an almost untouchable performance behind the kit, one that would probably still be fun to listen to if you muted the other instruments. It's almost a pinnacle of Malevolent Creation professionalism, an exhibition of their better qualities across a quarter century of writing, recording and touring. Don't get me wrong, this album is still pit ready enough to sate the barbaric lusts of the hardcore and 2nd tier death metal fanatics looking for a fight, but as the closure to such a massive chapter of the band's history, it's worthwhile, and their best material in at least the decade leading up to it.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (dark souls shuffle by)

https://www.facebook.com/malevolentcreation

Deicide - Overtures of Blasphemy (2018)

I've long been a picky listener of Deicide, appreciating the 'shock value' and importance they've brought to the death metal genre, but only rarely desiring to listen to much of their discography. Apart from the first two, which I listen to largely for nostalgia reasons (and not for the production, which I'm not terribly fond of), the record I turn to most often is The Stench of Redemption from back in 2006. This was an album that took the stock Deicide formula and gave it new dimensions through more melodic dynamics and the quality leads of the late Ralph Santolla, something appreciated in a catalog that largely featured dull, blunt riffing and the dual snarl and growl of Glen Benton, with little interesting songwriting to be had...

Ironically, Overtures of Blasphemy isn't some unique, transitional milestone for the Floridian Christian crushers, but it's a record that incorporates a little of that Stench of Redemption vibe, while at the same time reducing the riffing down to its bare basics, tremolo picked patterns and a whole lot of brute force chugging. Despite this, I've quite enjoyed it, because the riffs are tight and energetic enough, the songs so compact in their 2-3 minute formats, that each feels like an infernal burst of genre purity straight to the dome. Benton only uses his growl for most of the duration, competently executed, with only a couple lines where he'll break out a goofy snarl. Rhythmically, the band is a flawless machine. Asheim's kick drums sound like anti-aircraft machine gunnery, felling squadrons of angels at a time, while he can blast off effortlessly where the band wants to transform the mood away from the moderately paced churning and grooving. Glen's bass sounds about as fantastic as you're going to get when you're following the rhythm guitar so closely, with a meaty tone that feels like it can clog any of the diminutive air-holes between the chugs and chords.

Fine-tuned, hellish brickwork being laid out at unholy speeds, so when the lead guitars erupt they are always striking an excellent balance against the fury below them. These aren't always quite so catchy or explosive as on Stench of Redemption, and there aren't a whole ton of them, but they work very well where they exist and really round off the whole album. In terms of riff strength, there might be a lot here you'll feel like you've heard from this or another band in the past, but the production is just so spot on, the tracks so skintight that they feel like they're exactly what the songs required to remain kinetic and entertaining. One of Jason Suecof's best recordings to date, just honest and punishing and yet clear enough to let the smaller details through. The lyrics are about exactly what you think they are, and yet they are rather well done this time out, providing some memorable imagery along with the typical blasphemy. I'd also like to point out that Zbigniew M. Bielak's cover artwork on this one is astonishingly good, for me easily the best Deicide have ever had, and that really wraps this package up into something worthwhile. After a few spins, I was quick to promote this to one of my favorite albums the band has ever released, even if it's nothing novel or unique by any stretch.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (there's nothing worth saving)

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialDeicide/

Six Feet Under - Unburied (2018)

Six Feet Under doesn't have the best track record when it comes to the compilation format. Barnes and his various crews have hardly spammed the market with label-born 'best of' nonsense, to their credit, other than a shitty iTunes comp and the elaborate box set A Decade in the Grave, which, while not worthwhile, at least gives the fans a massive amount of content, some new to it. But they have have continued to push the long-suffering Graveyard Classics cover series, which to this day has yet to produce anything that justifies its existence and seems like a no-win situation unless there is some massive, hidden legion of 6FU fans out there I am unaware of that snap the things off the record store shelves like piranha assaulting some bloody, meaty haunch thrown into the river.

If you've been following this band at all, you'll recognize the cover here as a sort of amalgamation of the albums Undead and Unborn...mostly the latter; and as the title implies, this is a compilation of 'rare' or unreleased tunes that were recorded during the sessions for those albums and scrapped due to...wait for it...probably not being good enough for those albums. Now, 'good enough' is a relative phrase with regards to Barne's enduring, uneven career, but I was at least a little bit interested in this due to Undead's status as being the sole Six Feet Under full-length that I hold on to, a shocker that seemed to come out of left field with a volley of catchy riffing, slightly less simplicity than on the many albums before it, and an excellent balance of intensity and grooves. They haven't exactly recaptured the quality there with its successors (including Unborn), but 2012 was clearly a sea change in the band's potential to kick ass with the write mix of songwriting and band members, and in fact Unborn and Crypt of the Devil were competent follow-ups until they once again started to slump with last year's forgettable Torment (and a few of the unreleased cuts here are also from that one).

Unfortunately, since these tunes were drawn from a couple different album sessions, there's straight up an unevenness in the production values and style. Half of the nine tracks are incredibly dull and straightforward groove offs in the vein of much of the tripe they were emitting in the 90s and earlier 'oughts. Something like "Violent Blood Eruption" had potential as a 'lost track' from those better albums, but even then the production is pretty weak and it would have to be mastered and mixed better to even consider it. Same goes for something like "Re-Animated", which is brute and minimal like a lot of their weaker albums, but seems constructed well enough otherwise to get your blood flowing and head banging at its adorable simplicity...even the lead here would be excited if you could hear it, but it just doesn't feel throughout Unburied like there was a concern to master all the material so it would level off with itself and feel like an album unto itself. I get that the intent is to present a bunch of rough cuts largely as they were, but some further care and attention could have transformed this selection into an album on par with or at least more formidable than a bunch of the past stinkers.

As it stands, Unburied is an inconsistent mess trading off some truly middling tunes with a few that could have proven worthwhile if allowed to gestate in Barnes' imagination, or on the mixing board. Die hards will discover a couple hooks hidden here or there, but as they weren't really 'good enough' for the albums they were originally written for, it's hard to think they've somehow snowballed into better Six Feet Under songs in the interim. Hard pass for me.

Verdict: Fail [4.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/sixfeetunder

Cannibal Corpse - Red Before Black (2017)

How much is too much of a good thing? For years I've wondered when Cannibal Corpse would finally strike my threshold for redundancy, since they don't exactly offer a lot of variation between studio releases in terms of production, presentation or songwriting. For many, I'd imagine they've already collided into such a barrier years ago, with people still touting their nostalgia for the 'classic' Chris Barnes era recordings, and very little chatter about much that they've put out over the last couple decades, despite a string of consistency and excellence that encompasses works like Gallery of Suicide, Bloodthirst, and several more recent efforts. After hearing the first advance track, "Code of the Slashers", watching the cheesy video and then catching a glimpse of the rather mediocre Vincent Locke artwork here, Corpse's most uninspired cover outside of Kill and Evisceration Plague (both of which I enjoyed a great deal anyway), I did not have high expectations for full-length #14.

As it turns out, I shouldn't have doubted them, because just about every song on this disc is another brutal and energetic exercise in what the band does best. Mid to fast-paced barbarity rooted firmly in the death/thrash of the group's origins, piled on with tireless proficiency by one of the most seasoned acts in the genre. That's not to say there's anything truly fresh or exciting anywhere to be had on Red Before Black, it's hardly an encyclopedia of their most memorable riffs, but once in awhile they'll pull off a few note progressions I can't recall them using before ("Shedding My Human Skin", etc) which fuse perfectly to the alternations between chugging grooves, sinister tremolo picked patterns and the roiling lead and bridge riff pairings that offer up all the album's most atmospheric and engrossing moments, which is how it should be since the mauling momentum of the verses builds up so well towards them. You've heard all these performance levels before from these five individuals, and they never exactly surpass themselves on any of the 12 tunes here, but for a band to be this far along in their career, limb advancing in natural atrophy, it's a marvel that they still hit so fucking hard, the thrashier rhythm guitars like punches to the mid-section, the quicker material evoking sheer carnage.

Nary a chink in the armor, with the exception of the aforementioned "Code of the Slashers", a rather dull piece until its own mid-section, and even some of the most simplistic progressions like the bite of the guitars that open "Firestorm Vengeance" just make you want to punt someone's head clean off their neck-stump. Red Before Black is every bit as pit-ready as their classics, without eschewing the slightly clinical technicality that musicians like Webster, Barrett and O'Brien seamlessly integrate so as not to bore themselves with too much repetition. Corpesgrinder's Target shopping excursions have certainly given him some focus and relaxation, so when it comes time to belch out the latest round of lyrics he still has the same level of flailing, ogreish presence that he's brought to the group since Vile. The violence invoked through the prose isn't highly distinct from a lot of Corpse past, but tunes like "Heads Shoveled Off" still conjure up some grisly amusement as they yet again expand their lexicon of serial killers, body horrors and other outcomes that are not exactly optimistic. In short, you know what this sounds like, and while it's hardly one of their best studio efforts, you are getting what you pay for, a pound for pound visceral onslaught by a guild of veteran executioners.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (dead beyond dead)

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

Obituary - Obituary (2017)

Apart from the first two records, both excellent, I've been fairly ruthless with the Obituary catalog. There have been occasional tracks of note permeating the last 27 years of material, but so much of it felt phoned in, lazy and lacking in the menace and savagery of Slowly We Rot or its groovier, more minimalist and memorable follow up Cause of Death. The band experimented with a more hardcore, mosh oriented sound and audience at one point, which had mixed results, but have since come back around to exploring their roots in detail, trying to figure out what made those early records stick as classics. I'm surprised to say that the eponymous 10th album has done a better job of that than the last seven, by reaching right back to that wretchedness of their formative years and supplementing with something I just didn't expect, a more pure 'heavy metal' sense of melody and structure to several of the riffs, in particular the bridge and lead sections.

So rather than some dissonant, whipping frenzy of a solo, they'll break out something a little more blues based or accessible sounding, and stunningly, it works rather well. That's not to say it's the first time they've crossed that line, but here it actually complements the more ruthless and ripping rhythm guitar tracks throughout the verses, most of which are more or less paraphrased from the band's huge backlog with an emphasis on the earliest material. A few chords are tweaked here or there, but you'll pretty quickly identify where a lot of the note progressions or grooves are hailing from. Only, because I've felt so long parched for Obituary that I enjoy, I'm a little more forgiving here, especially with how angry and vicious John sounds with these vocals in cuts like "Kneel Before Me" or swaggering "Lesson in Vengeance". He's not belching out anything out of the ordinary, but there's a caustic and mean balance between how his voice is mixed here and the sheer might of the rhythm guitars which totally overpowered my speakers and had me rictus grinning from cheek to cheek.

Granted, it doesn't hurt that cuts like "It Lives" feel like they were taken from the Cause of Death sessions, my favorite record from the band, but this has never been a band that flaunted a lot of progression or originality once they had first made their mark with a more gruesome if simple brand of thrash-infused death metal that their statesmen like Death first created. You're still hearing a few of those meaty, Hellhammer-style groove breaks and fat, oozing bass lines, but a lot of the material here is just this wall of mortuary flesh strengthened by the double kick batteries and the cruel symbiosis of Tardy's grating growls and the murderous bent of his lyrics (love that sustained growl that opens "Turned to Stone"). Obituary isn't a total success for all its retread ground and a few tracks seeming staler than others, but it's for sure the first time in a great many years where I have been so thoroughly entertained by one of their releases, and I've already listened through the thing like a dozen times without getting tired of it. Beyond that, it's got enough of an internal variation that it should sate both fans of the more ripping, faster material or the gym-busting bro-groove. Cool.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.obituary.cc/

Six Feet Under - Torment (2017)

Despite it's Bleeding-era, trilly little fakeout riff, "Sacrificial Kill" is hands down one of the dullest album openers I've had sitting on my review pile in quite some time, and although it tries to pick itself up with a hustling end section, the riffs being meted out are the kind of low caliber, Six Feet Under material that one would all too quickly delegate to the dustbin as soon as possible, the boredom that at least half this band's albums in the past have choked themselves to death on. Thankfully, elsewhere, Torment gets a little peppier, marginally more ambitious, in that it offers up some more energetic simpleton death metal infused with some groove and nu- metal sequences, but the songwriting overall is just not on the level that they hit with their rare gem Undead or the previous full-length, Crypt of the Devil, which was solid if only because of the temporary roster involved with it.

Speaking of interesting guests, I was interested to hear that ex-Brain Drill bassist was contributing more here than he did on the last one, and once more impressed that he was able to chill out and maintain such a level of restraint throughout the mind numbingly boring half of this disc which is comprised of about 3-4 songs where the idea is to contrast repetitive, barebones primal mugging death metal riffs with the slightly more tech side revealed on Crypt. He doesn't get nearly as flashy as he would in his alma mater, of course, this music couldn't support it, but unfortunately I felt like the content of Torment is just so dry and lacking in real inspiration that it's all for nothing. While a good chunk of this album is far from bumbling or incompetent, I could narrow it's finer moments down to just a couple tracks, like "Schizomaniac" which has some nice thrashing carved out through it's death acrobatics, or the straight neck-jerking base-level death/thrash in "Slaughtered As They Slept", which functions despite how 'heard before' the whole thing plays out. Other than that, there weren't many tracks I enjoyed through and through.

Chris sounds better here than on the previous year's Graveyard Classics IV compilation, where he did an abysmal job of covering Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson with his grunting. Here the battering, bludgeoning timbre of his voice cedes itself to the concussive drumming and viler riff selection a lot more than when he's trying to front such classic riffs; and there are more than a few stylistic nods here to The Bleeding, his finest moment in Cannibal Corpse, but infused with the stoned groove style of riffs that dominated early 6FU recordings like Haunted or Warpath. The mix of the album is quite straightforward, a little dry and doesn't really lend itself well to atmosphere unless Hughell is filling in the blanks with some busier bass lines, but this is par for the course for much of the band's career, and in the end you've got a product here which is the least composed or interesting of their post 2010- works, an era in which they finally seem to most closely have flirted with and even dated some level of quality. Undead, Crypt of the Devil or even Unborn would be more worth your time, but it's not a complete dropping of the ball, just a near-fumble.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/sixfeetunder