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Recent Posts
- Creature from the Haunted Sea (Legend Films)
- Paolini’s Gospel According to St. Matthew (Legend Films)
- Forbidden Zone (Legend Films)
- Blue City (Legend Films)
- Long Weekend (Synapse)
- Invasion USA (Synapse)
- Framed (Legend Films)
- H.G. Wells’ Things to Come in Color (Legend Films)
- She in Color (Legend Films)
- Killer Shrews / Giant Gila Monster Color Double Feature (Legend Films)
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Posts by Goran:
Warbeast Remains – Stronghold
March 15th, 2012
I’ve come across Warbeast now and again on internet fora, but I’ve never bothered listening to their music. I guess it was a miscalculation on my part: apart from this debut release, they’ve apparently done really well on some (competitive) gigs.So they’re not the next mediocre band fussing about locally. The artwork isn’t a selling point by any chance, but can be easily forgiven when the content is worthwile. The aural inspection is indeed promising, although a slight sting of disappointment is felt after the mood-setting intro. “Beyond Redemption” is largely comprised of basic riffing and nearly lost my attention for the album’s remainder. However, subsequent songs attempt to counter some of the sluggishness with Slayeresque dynamics, very enjoyable drumming and lead guitars, and thrashy grooves. Warbeast generally delivers hard, solid thrash, but it often lacks fullness and speed. Those “dead moments”, where every spark of inspiration seems alien, retain the album from being great instead of good. Very good for a debut even, and most importantly: it shows that there is much room for musical exploration – the band’s technically capable enough to make some really nasty metal in future years. The only thing for us to do is hold on, until Warbeast bests their own material one album at a time.
Panchrysia – Massa Damnata
February 16th, 2012
It’s been half a decade since I’ve heard Panchrysia. I’m glad to witness “Massa Damnata” – clearly, cold apatheia is still the catalyst for the band’s hymns. The style has remained unchanged in essence, with mid-tempo beats and riffs that convey nothing and everything at once. Yet a veil has fallen over the compositions: a veil which enhances our impressions and heightens the experience. It is that magic quality only possessed by compelling music. Read the rest of this entry “
Atrophy – Lexical Occultation 1,618: The veil from beyond
October 24th, 2011
After the mandatory acoustic prelude, the title track’s opening is strongly reminiscent of Iniquity’s “Poet of the trench” with its off-beat accents and distorted, spoken vocals. But it’s a brief deja-vu moment, because Atrophy descends into the catacombs of death metal. The cool thing is that Atrophy never seems to play a riff more than twice in a row – without letting the flow sound random. The songs are variegated patches of blunt aggression. Thanks to an effin’ snappy snare and a punchy overall production, the experience of “Lexical Occultation” is truly a dynamic one. It’s clear as crystal that Atrophy is an amalgam of incredibly conversant musicians. This slab of intelligent death metal is the irrefragable proof.
Human Parasite – Proud to build the insidious catastrophe
October 24th, 2011
Human Parasite is quite typical for SoulFlesh Collector’s roster, and then again it isn’t. I’m not dissing the band here, but SF usually has more unique bands (or rather, unique sounds) among their releases. Still, the album is the theoretical line-out of brutal death metal come to life. In other words, something we can all imagine perfectly because we’ve heard it hundreds of times before. Some reviewers completely dismiss albums for that. But I can always appreciate that same old recipe – it’s perhaps a bit aged, yet retaining most of its flavor when done properly. So yes, only if you’re open for releases containing your average (or predictable) death metal, you’ll want to invest in Human Parasite. I needn’t go into details for the reasons just stated, but to name a few: a snappy snare, deep gurgly grunts, etc. One cool thing about this band are the lyrics (“Toying with dead cocks” and “Addicted to rape” will undoubtedly put a smile on your faces). Surely not a bad album, but the generic approach puts it entirely at the mercy of the audience’s goodwill.
Ichor – Benthic Horizon
August 3rd, 2011
Ichor quickly made the jump to a first album since its inception, and less than two years after that: album number two is ready! “The Siege” was hectic and relentless, and now “Benthic Horizon” seems to be as impressive. The first two tracks are one flow of furious blast beats, and on the slower songs (Conquest Of Darkness) the high pace emerges anyway at one point. Ichor is out to brutalize, and that’s the band does. Despite the high allround quality, it soon becomes noticeable that the guitar riffs are fairly mundane. Sometimes very fucking heavy, or very fucking technical, yet I’ve got the feeling I’ve heard these constructions before (with the exception of amazing tracks like Among The Swarm). Some passages thus feel like old toys wrapped in new gift paper, but if death metal is your joy, that shouldn’t matter all too much. It’s really nice gift paper, you know, shiny and all.
Cephalic Impurity – Unique Brute Revival
July 7th, 2011
The artwork says more than a thousand words. It’s the slick, alienesque style that some technical/brutal bands use – absolute world class stuff. On “Unique Brute Revival”, Cephalic Impurity gave it their best shot to match the cover art. While not overly technical (at least not in the listener’s perception), the band is superbly skilled when it comes to brutal chops. Lots of their chords are in a small range, which makes it sound like slam riffs sped up five times. The quick pace is providing dense and gripping songs, but it feels like all instruments (vocals included) converge on a certain frequency range. Either that, or me not having slept enough, makes this album drain my focus, like an alcoholic who’s just gotten into the ad fundum phase empties his beer. Really though, the production is a heavy son of a bitch. The kickdrums sound like muffled gunshots: low and thick but still overpowering the rest. This disc truly isn’t for the faint of, err, ears. Wow. Heavy, heavy, heavy. Heavy.
Inallsenses – Hysterical Psychosis
June 20th, 2011
Now, labels often stick the most excessive genre tags to their bands – it sounds good and sets you in the right mood. If you expect something specific, your mind is biased to actually interpret it as such. Of course, there are boundaries, and with Inallsenses, they’ve been crossed.Upon reading “psychotic death metal”, I rubbed my hands for what might possibly be an album in the vein of Spawn of Possession, Necrophagist, or the likes. My sweet expectations quickly turned bitter when “Hysterical psychosis” revealed itself to be melodic thrash. A bit of ‘core’ and otherwise a varied thrash approach constitute the majority of the album. The band does a fairly good job, though. The production is screwed tight, and the dry distortions are a perfect channel for the melodic tunes. A few songs into the album, I’ve gotten over my disappointment and started getting into the grooves that Inallsenses laid out – especially in the sporadic stoner-inspired riffs, the rhythmic drive is strong.All in all, the band’s second full album is musically a moderate success: clean, slick, technical in places but with a well-judged focus on solid songwriting. The blend of thrash and modern (metal)core licks just might appeal to variety of fans.
Bloodattack – Rotten Leaders
May 30th, 2011
The screams opening the album build up a wavering tension, that ultimately explodes when the music kicks in. Most impressive from the start is vocalist Daniel: spoken lyrics, clean singing (in a forced ‘core’ way), powerful ‘screamo’ screams, gargly screams, and grunts. You name it, it’s on the album. The band’s metalcore is a bit gruffly produced – perhaps it’s the very acoustic and authentic sounding kickdrum that feels odd, compared to triggered or highly modified samples. It provides punch, but it’s lack of prominence in the mix gives less purchase for feeling the drive. Other than that, Bloodattack’s songs are pretty solid but nothing extraordinary: most of the riffs are covered in vocals, and it’s those screams that keep everything in motion, alive and interesting. “Rotten Leaders” is a cool album of thrashy metalcore, especially if you’re not too hung up on hypermodern productions.
Northland – Northland
May 9th, 2011
It’s a bit awkward to hear a southern band play tunes typically associated with other regions (or that’s my perception, perhaps with most major folk bands being Scandinavian – and the moniker is deceptive by itself in that regard). Still, Spanish formation Northland does so with aptitude – their folk metal is as convincing as their French neighbour’s, i.e. the veterans from Aes Dana. Northland’s debut is one big chunk of canorousness, thanks to the tireless violin and keyboards which launch one folky tune after another. If the tunes been a even more snappy and vivid, they could easily match the boisterous booze-songs from Korpiklaani. Jolly songs like “The Old Town’s Inn” deserve to be on every metal party’s playlist. Read the rest of this entry “
Ash And Coal – Ash And Coal
April 25th, 2011
This remarkable debut is written entirely by a certain Viktor Klint, with all instruments either played by himself or by a guest musician. “Ash and coal” is so remarkable because it so fluently intertwines different genres – or just shatters the boundaries between them, even if they’re not adjacent. Blues, stoner/groove, doom/sludge and blackened metal have all joined forces in Viktor’s compositions. The vocals are some sort of semi-melodic, semi-grunted crudity which aren’t any help when defining “Ash and coal” (although they do play a major role in the atmospheric presence). The riffs on practically every song are craving for your attention, especially the sinister melodies with a boomingly full bass beneath them. The drummer might be a hard-hitting chap, but the heavy hi-hat and cymbal work gets tiresome after a while – the production might have cut a bit on the sizzling and sibilance. (It also might be the production in its entirety, probably a mysterious frequency annoying the hell out of my brains.)Apart from the production issue, this stuff is really, really solid and enjoyable. I’m curious where this will go once a label picks it up and gets a promotional ball rolling. Just don’t wait until then to check “Ash and coal” out!