Posted on Friday, March 31st, 2006 @ 2:15 pm I already ranted about how unbelievably lame the layout on this record is last week, so I m sticking with the overwhelmingly positive traits of the disc for today. The plain fact of the matter is that as the years go by, most death metal bands either tend to lose steam or simply stagnate and become less interesting.

Most anyone who s listened to this genre for a significant amount of time has experienced this firsthand and knows it to be true. The point being that very few death metal bands actually continue to grow and improve over the course of time, especially when that course of time crosses into three decades over more than 15 years. But much to my surprise (and, quite frankly, my great pleasure), Cannibal Corpse has in fact done so.

Kill is their impressive 10th full-length album on their longtime home of , and while I m not sure that I have a personal favorite from their back catalog, this material easily stands side by side with what are commonly viewed as their classics .
Now, part of the reason that I don t particularly have one favorite Cannibal Corpse album is because I don t own a good chunk of their work. I had their first three albums on cassette as a kid, but I never really only got into em until Tomb of the Mutilated , and for some reason I pretty much wrote them off not much later after The Bleeding – which is weird, because I was never a huge Chris Barnes fan at all, and in those early days I always liked the band s music way more than the vocals.

But the band came back and won me over in a major way a couple of years ago with The Wretched Spawn , which I bought shortly after hearing a promo copy, and I liked it so much that I actually bought Kill a couple of days after it hit the streets without having heard even one track. I haven t done that with a straight up death metal album in fucking years!
So anyway, I m still in the process of going back and revisiting the first half of the band s Corpsegrinder-era to see what I missed out on, but even having dwindled down to just two original members over the years, Cannibal Corpse has never altered their core approach in any way.

The writing has become increasingly technical, but curiously enough it s also increasingly based on feel and energy. The songs tend to be relatively short by death metal standards (averaging around three-and-a-half minutes apiece), and they keep things pretty memorable – so they ve basically just refined their delivery and honed in on their strengths, which is something that most bands simply fail to do.
Erik Rutan s production work seems to be improving as well, because this is a great sounding record, which certainly doesn t hurt.

The guitar tone is meaty as shit, totally perfect for this material, and that s what always does the trick for me. Alex Webster is a complete badass so I can t help but feel like his basslines ought to be mixed a little higher (after all, the dude writes the vast majority of the music and his playing is sick), but the overall tone of the album is thick yet crisp, which really lets the intricacies of the riffs be heard (I wish I could say the same thing for Tomb of the Mutilated !).

I realize that I haven t really said anything very specific about the music on this thing, but I don t give a fuck. It s god damn Cannibal Corpse, what do you expect it to sound like, you know? But seriously, I commend these guys wholeheartedly for somehow managing to actually kick more ass now than they did during the death metal boom of the 90 s.

It s kind of funny to think about the fact that I m pushing 30 and I m a bigger Cannibal Corpse fan now than I was when I was 15, ha, ha. Who would ve thought?
Those aren t my favorite tracks on the album, but they re two of the three that the label has pumped out for sampling purposes.

It doesn t really matter though, because every song s a keeper and there are loads of sick riffs and solos all around, so I m all for it. This thing sold something like 6,000 copies in its first week and I hope it sells just as many this week and the next. Buy or die or something metal like that.

You should be able to find this one pretty much anywhere:

The best nu-metal album of all time?

Posted on Thursday, March 30th, 2006 @ 11:16 am I wasn t familiar with Head Control System prior to receiving this disc, so it should come as no surprise that when Murder Nature showed up in the mail I was completely fucking horrified by how ridiculous the cover art is (though it s important to note that thankfully most of the rest of the layout actually looks quite nice). Seeing that it was released by did provide me with some small shred of hope since I ve been a longtime fan of the label, but let s face it: I was very much expecting the worst here.

But I was curious, so I immediately threw it in while I was driving to work and as soon as the vocals kicked in I was like, Wait a minute, is that fucking Garm? And sure enough, I learned that Head Control System is a Portuguese/Norwegian duo masterminded by Daniel Cardoso (formerly of Sirius and Re:aktor), who handled all of the music on this outing, with the help of none other than Kristoffer Garm Rygg (Formerly of Arcturus and Borknagar, but more importantly Ulver s main man. I mean, fucking Ulver, people!

), who took on the lyrics and vocals.
Now, of course this record is being promoted in part with the kind of tremendously misleading statements that I wholly despise, such as this absolute classic example: Fans looking for that in-your-face rock attitude of QOTSA and Alice in Chains and/or the mind-numbing drive of Tool or Faith No More look no further: Head Control System is your fix. And to that I say: Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, and bullshit.

First of all, Queens of the Stone Age fucking sucks and I simply cannot comprehend their inexplicable popularity, but whatever. On the other hand, I love Alice in Chains and Faith No More, and I can appreciate Tool in small doses, but Head Control System doesn t sound a god damn thing like any of these bands. Having written a few promotional statements for bands myself (which I m just not a fan of doing), I can understand the pain of trying to draw parallels to outside audiences strictly for the purposes of marketing , but it s a huge leap to compare this material to any of those bands, and I think everyone reading this will agree with me when they hear Head Control System for themselves.

So what does it sound like? While the band can t be so easily pinned down, at the most basic level they re very polished and definitely have a modern metal sound in terms of possessing plenty of groovy rhythms and a good balance of melodic tendencies. So, as if the title of this post didn t give it away: A lot of people are probably going to bemoan this as nu-metal .

And I m not gonna lie, there are definitely a number of instances where this album does indeed sound like flat out nu-metal (I can see the True Norwegian Nu-Metal marketing campaign taking shape now! Just kidding.), were it to somehow be delivered in an artistically respectable fashion, which Murder Nature is.

But Garm s vocals are of course extremely unique, not to mention immensely impressive and powerful, so his presence really changes the overall dynamic of the material – which is already too textured and creative in its use of electronic smatterings and atypical vocal arrangements to simply be relegated to some kind of heavy rock or nu-metal tag or whatever. But it does have some really catchy moments – again due in large part to the vocal work – so they re certainly not shunning a certain element of simplicity as far as memorable songwriting is concerned.
So yeah, I actually find this to be an excellent CD.

It takes a few spins to start sinking in, and the album kind of ebbs and flows in terms of structural experimentation versus a more straightforward approach, but as you check out the tracks below, keep listening even if something rubs you the wrong way initially, because a lot of these songs have a tendency to switch it up out of nowhere and totally blow your mind. Kristoffer Rygg is a god damn genius in my book, and the vocal work during the chorus of It Hurts reminds me just what this cat s capable of. Fuckin nice.

I ve been wanting to post about this one for a few weeks now, but it won t be in stores until next week. It did just go up for sale online in the last few days, however, and since The End s webstore is generally my preferred first stop anyway, you d be silly to buy it anywhere else in my opinion. So if you dig it, I recommend doing so:
Posted on Wednesday, March 29th, 2006 @ 12:22 pm I could not for the life of me decide what to post today (a common problem), so I chose to go with something simple since it s a busy week.

Chain of Strength is certainly not an obscure straightedge hardcore band, but I ve had the song True Till Death stuck in my head like crazy this week (I think it started when I got in an empty elevator at work the other day and it reeked of cigarettes, go figure), so when I pulled out the disc last night I figured what the hell.
The band was from southern California and was only around for a little over three years, with members having played with Justice League and Hard Stance beforehand (they also shared members with Inside Out and No for an Answer at certain points, but I think there was some overlap with the existence of Chain of Strength there). They released their first 7 , True Till Death on Revelation Records in 1989, and their second, What Holds Us Apart , on Foundation Records in 1990.

Five or six years later Revelation re-released both 7 s and a previously unreleased track on a CD called The One Thing That Still Holds True . Perhaps an ironic title, as the band didn t really hold true even when they were around, creating much debate about their straightedge status even before they broke up by admitting in interviews to occasionally drink and later claiming that straightedge doesn t mean never . You can check out , weeks after the band s demise, for more on that.

Personally, I disagree with the interview s stance that sort of tosses off derogatory reactions to the band s not-exactly-straightedge reality as coming from militants , because regardless of what your opinions of straightedge are, militancy has nothing to do with it. It s just plain logic: If you occasionally drink , you re not straightedge. The end.

But all that crap aside, what really matters is that the material still totally kicks ass and is classic to this day as nothing more than good ol youth crew hardcore.
After the band called it quits, members later resurfaced most notably in Statue and Circle Storm, with guitarist Paul Frosty Hertz eventually joining Man Will Surrender for one album. For whatever reason I was never that big on Circle Storm, but I always loved Statue s Filter the Infection EP.

That s life.
The reissue is of course still in print, so if by chance there are any youngsters reading this who ve continually missed the boat, pick it up from the label s rather immense distro catalog:
Oddly enough, on the other end of the spectrum opposite straightedge, I was listening to Grimple in the car all morning and was reminded how awesome they were, so don t be surprised if they pop up here in the next week or so. Posted on Tuesday, March 28th, 2006 @ 12:22 pm so I m keeping these two quick.

After several EP s, Something Out of Nothing is the first full-length release from Sweden s own Imperial Leather, on . I never had a clue upon hearing one of the band s earlier releases, but they re apparently named after the brand of soap that UK punks generally use for their hairstyles or whatever; and their present lineup boasts current and former members of an insane amount of great bands such as Burning Kitchen, Dischange, Meanwhile, No Security, and the Spider Cunts (though two of the band s present members didn t perform on the actual record, including new bassist and general badass 138 from the mighty Demon System 13, Epileptic Terror Attack, Bruce Banner, and Suicide Blitz). What you ll find are 14 tracks of pure punk rock n roll in about 32 minutes.

It s pretty straightforward, really. No song hits three minutes, things are generally catchy and energetic with a slightly angrier attitude here and there, and so on. The quick little lead breaks and the feel of many of the chord progressions have more of a straight rock vibe, while the sneering male/female vocal tradeoffs and vocal arrangements definitely have more of a punk attack, and the end result does the trick for me.

I hate to keep it so brief, but this one s a pretty straight shot. Don t get the wrong idea or anything, it s not one of those albums where every song sounds the same by any means, but you probably get what I m saying. Just see what you think:
Like it?

Then buy it straight from the label s massive catalog (it s also available on LP for those who die for vinyl):
Posted on Monday, March 27th, 2006 @ 9:50 am It seems that is carrying on in their lean towards black metal (which I hope continues) with the release of Mord s Christendom Perished . I don t know much about this Norwegian duo, but I think this is their first full-length, and they crank out the style of raging black metal that I enjoy, so I m all for it. They add in a bit more of a buzzing bite to the guitar tone than a lot of the black metal I ve encountered lately (though somehow making it sound tolerable), and I d say they ve got a slightly crisper sounding mix as well.

From a writing standpoint these two tend to switch up the riffs a little more often than many bands of this nature, and it s been said there s a death metal influence going on here. I guess I could see that at times, but barely, and it d be the type of death metal that s generally fast anyway, so there s plenty of overlap that shouldn t strip them of their relatively true nature, if you know what I mean. The tracks segue into one another with quick little ambient/industrial soundscapes, and on rare occasion some of those clattering textures will seep into the songs themselves – adding a hint more to the chaotic edge of the material, which is generally driven more by the frenzied vocal performance than the speedy riffing.

The songs are titled simply Opus I through Opus IX (Which I m guessing should actually be Opus VIII since there are only eight tracks!?) and no lyrics are included, but one must assume from the album title that the lyrics cover the black metal standards they do, after all, make use of the obligatory pentagram and inverted cross in their logo, heh.

You know the drill. If you like the tunes, buy the damn disc:
Posted on Friday, March 24th, 2006 @ 10:51 am As I ve mentioned in the past, has become one of my favorite hardcore labels these days, having released totally killer material from bands like Another Breath, Allegiance, and Go it Alone – the latter of which returns on this excellent split CD with Blue Monday. Both of the bands are from Canada (Vancouver, to be precise) and each offers up two new tracks plus a cover of Reserve 34 (a defunct Vancouver band that featured a mutual friend of the bands and apparently sounded rather similar) – totaling a mere 11 or so minutes of material.

Go it Alone picks up right where they left off on The Only Blood Between Us with speedy picking patterns and the kind of slick melodic accents that catch my hear 100%, and I m a massive fan of their amazing songwriting skills. Meanwhile, Blue Monday s tracks are a bit more energetic than their Bridge Nine full-length, sounding a bit closer to Go it Alone s style than before in terms of utilizing those dissonant melodic tinges more consistently while still retaining an air of traditional hardcore. They also make great use of their basslines, which definitely adds depth to the material on several levels.

In my opinion neither of the following two tracks are the best on the disc, but the EP is so fucking short I ll go with what the label s got out there all six songs kick ass anyway:
$10 admittedly seems pricey to me for an 11-minute CD EP, but the songs rule so hard that I d pay it without a complaint. This is definitely my favorite style of hardcore. Period.

It s available on 7 for those more vinyl-inclined individuals out there, too:
I need to look into grabbing some Reserve 34 material now as well. I m curious I m not sure it s an informal series or whatnot, but also just released a raging six-song split between two other related bands in the form of Champion and Betrayed (who features members of Champion as well as Carry On). Champion has gotten way better over the years, going from a relatively typical old school sounding hardcore band to taking that classic hardcore sound and injecting just the right amount of faint melody and modern punch, so I m definitely a fan these days.

And while Betrayed s EP on Bridge Nine was damn good, the guitar tone drove me insane, so thankfully they ve maintained that same vibe on these three tracks but the guitars sound significantly better. I really love this band s riffs and energy, and in a lot of ways they sound like a more pissed off and hardcore oriented Dag Nasty (Dave Smalley era), which basically rules. This band could easily become a massive favorite of mine, so I m really looking forward to hearing more from em.

Another awesome split.
This one s the same price, of course, though it is about four minutes longer than the Go it Alone/Blue Monday split. It s also the same story in terms of being available on vinyl as well:
And an unrelated Friday rant: Okay, the new Cannibal Corpse CD.

It rules. I ll post about it within the next couple of weeks. But what the fuck is up with that layout?

Seriously, Cannibal Corpse is the ultimate death metal band. They ve been around for like 20 years, and Kill is, what, their 10th full-length!?

So how the hell is it possible in the year 2006 for a band of that stature on a label the size of Metal Blade to put out a record that looks as utterly weak as this one? Seriously, that is one of the worst and most boring record covers of all time. I literally thought I was (regrettably) buying a censored cover until I got back to work and looked around online.

Sure enough, all I see is that truly uninteresting logo/splatter/title lettering combo. And that s pretty much it. There s an equally lame and shittily reproduced painting or something under the tray, an excruciatingly poorly reproduced band photo in the center spread I mean, it s a total hack job.

I m just stunned. I don t get it. I guess it s not that big of a deal, because the tunes absolutely shred, but it s still kind of a damn shame, and it definitely makes no sense whatsoever.

Fuck the waffles, this is where it s at!

Posted on Thursday, March 23rd, 2006 @ 11:55 am I was first exposed to Belgian metalcore act The Setup through the Nine Kinds of Pain 7 some time ago, which was basically a rather impressive demo that got the chance to see a proper EP pressing. Well, their debut full-length, The Pretense of Normality , has been out for awhile now via (formerly known as Gangstyle Records, and I can t get their website to work so I m using a dreaded MySpace link), but I just got the chance to hear it earlier this week – thus reminding me why Gangstyle has been one of my favorite European labels for years, and that I need to stop slacking and throw down some dough for their latest releases.

Now, I know the term metalcore is a pretty nasty item these days, so I want to make it clear that in this case metalcore actually refers to a pretty wide – yet equally balanced – range of influences spanning both the metal and hardcore genres, from chugging power chord density and dissonantly layered post-hardcore textures to energetic bursts of more basic rhythm arrangements or a few slightly more melodic attributes – all the while fronted by hoarse screaming. Helping things along is the fact that every song is less than three or four minutes long, which keeps the listen flowing and makes for some surprisingly energetic moments – which is something that I tend to feel is missing from a great deal of this type of material. And that s not to say that The Setup has a commonplace sound, because they don t, but at the same time despite such a wide span of influences and a certain sense of identity, it s a general niche that will be familiar for many listeners.

I will say, though: The recording on this thing is working overtime in the band s favor, and I fuckin love it. The bass tone alone is dead on and pulses away in the center of the mix at all times, which really thickens the blow. Any number of bands could learn from such a move, but the fact that everything else sounds crisp and warm is certainly an important factor.

I m not being descriptive enough to do this one justice, but I don t consider these write-ups to be actual reviews per so, and that s the beauty of it: Listen for your damn selves and figure it out!
This is a really quality record, and there s not a great deal out there right now that falls into this particular niche of metalcore , making this one that much more of a recommended purchase. More proof that people in the US need to look to Europe for the goods more often:
I have one very important suggestion to stress to Rise and Fall (also from Belgium): Thicker, heavier guitar tones!

Seriously, this band writes some great material and has loads and loads of potential, but both of their records that I ve heard falter just enough in the guitar tone department to bum me out just a touch, because I can imagine the material with a harder hitting sound – especially some of the darker riffing on this particular outing ( Into Oblivion , their second full-length and first release for the mighty ) – and holy shit could some of this tear faces off with a hint more polishing up. This time out the gritty guitar tone combined with the occasionally rocked out lead bursts and a few other minor riffing tendencies give me the impression that they re almost going for sort of a crusty punk meets Integrity-styled metallic hardcore approach, and from a songwriting standpoint it certainly works. Make no mistake, it sounds pretty good too, I like the record and enjoy listening to it, but I mean, for example: Would His Hero is Gone have been half as powerful as they were if their guitar tones had sounded like, say Discharge?

That s a stretched parallel here, but I think you ll know what I m getting at, right?
While, as mentioned, I definitely hear a Cleveland-esque influence at work here (more Ringworm than Integrity), I wouldn t really throw the holy terror tag at Rise and Fall (though some have), nor would I align their actual songwriting with what most people think of as Belgium s overtly metal-based H8000 sound (though the band is associated with that whole scene, even appearing on a compilation 7 named for it). Some of the imagery and lyrics lean a little more in that direction, but the music strikes me as a slightly more diverse and open-ended take on traditional metallic hardcore – that is to say it doesn t come across as that over the top, you know?

It s just good, solid, in your face material. No frills, really, but enough of an edge to keep from sounding like everything else that s out there, which is always a plus.
People who can afford to buy CD s but download records for free instead are shitwads.

Don t be a shitwad. Spend your money wisely and buy more music that is not utter crap:

Dan Swanö is the fucking king.

Posted on Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 @ 12:42 pm In the early stages of my worship of master Swedish musician Dan Swanö, that is to say around eight years ago, I discovered Nightingale via their second (and best) full-length, The Closing Chronicles , which had been released a few years prior in 1996.

At that time I had only heard some Edge of Sanity (1996 s Crimson is another outright classic, buy it immediately – that must have been an amazing year for Swanö) and Dan s Moontower solo album, so little did I know that this particular CD would throw my Swanö obsession into overdrive – much less remain one of my favorite Dan Swanö-related releases. Hell, it might be the favorite, I can t quite decide!
More so than other Nightingale releases, for some reason I ve always looked at The Closing Chronicles as kind of a darker version of Journey.

It doesn t really sound like Journey at all, what with those darker atmospheres and its conceptual sort of progressive rock-esque underbelly, so I m not sure why I think of it that way, but it must have something to do with the album feeling big and epic in terms of just fucking rocking. I really don t know, but I m fucking telling you, people this fucker is jam packed with impeccable songwriting and killer vocal harmonies all around. It s amazingly catchy, really, and with no lack of musical aptitude, which isn t always the case with memorable tunes.

And I never realized how long some of these damn songs are before, either! It must be all that rocking, but several of the cuts top seven to nine minutes, and with only seven tracks in all it s a 42-minute record nonetheless.
I just fuckin love this guy.

I m consistently floored by how amazing and diverse his talents are in terms of various genres of songwriting as well as handling numerous instruments and vocal styles. It s worth noting that this entire record was created by Dan Swanö and his brother, Tom Nouga (a.k.

a. Dag Swanö, which is not the least bit confusing, ha) – where Dan took on guitars, keyboards, drums, all of the vocals, and wrote 90% of the music and lyrics. Nouga, on the other hand, contributed bass, some rhythm and lead guitars, and wrote rest of the music.

Nouga produced, Swanö engineered and mixed. Impressive.
It s incredibly hard to decide which two songs to post from this one, too.

There are so many amazing tracks. Just when I was sure that I d include Thoughts From a Stolen Soul , I realized it was nine minutes long and then So Long (Still I Wonder) kicked in and I remembered how much I love its vocal performance and lead work. Decisions, decisions.

Nightingale has since released three more records and they all kick ass, so in my longstanding haze of Swanö infatuation I recommend each wholeheartedly. The band s debut is the only Nightingale release that s a little boring to me, but regardless pretty much anything Dan Swanö s a part of tends to interest me. If you don t like this shit then I must regretfully inform you that your taste in music is simply that of ass.

So buy it and drastically improve the quality of your collection:
Posted on Tuesday, March 21st, 2006 @ 3:46 pm Fuuuck am I ever kicking myself on this one. This god damn CD (About the Fire s Six Anthems From the Comfortably Jaded , released by ) has been sitting in a pile on my floor for like three months, maybe more, but it somehow got lost in the shuffle and I didn t even listen to it for the first time until this weekend. I had no idea what to expect, but let s be honest, I was anticipating boring metalcore, because there s more boring metalcore out there than anything else lately, and for some reason people seem to think I want to hear it.

Thankfully About the Fire offers nothing of the sort, instead cranking out something kind of like a crunchy melodic hardcore/punk style that has elements of pop-punk and metal going on in terms of catchy songwriting and energetic performances alongside occasionally dissonant riffs or dual guitar parts. Not what you d expect from a band that has at various points in time featured current and ex-members of Burn it Down, Harakiri, and Upheaval! But perhaps that s why this stuff is way meatier than your usual dose of pop-punk or melodic hardcore?

And just check out those gruff vocals! Totally fuckin killer, I mean I was sold on this shit within 30 seconds or less. I could stand for the recording to pull things in a little closer together (the vocals seem a smidge separated), but the songwriting is fucking great, and there s something about those vocals that kicks ass.

My sincerest apologies to both the band and the label for fucking up and letting this one slip past me for so long! I m gonna have to look into their prior full-length as well. If you dig the track above, and you damn well should, pick this shit up and keep your eyes peeled for more:

Starting the week on a lighter note sort of.

Posted on Monday, March 20th, 2006 @ 9:45 am I foolishly slept on buying this one until the very end of last year when it had already been out for three months or so, and it took me another three months to finally get around to posting about it. Of course, very sadly the band had already called it quits when this EP hit the streets thanks to , but that doesn t change the fact that it s an excellent piece of work.
The Moirai was from New Jersey and 3/4 of their lineup had come from the incredible Penfold (who I posted about some time ago).

Contrary to how it usually goes these days, Bury Yourself is billed as EP, yet its eight tracks clock in at 40 minutes total!? Go figure.

But this material continues in a very similar direction to that of Penfold, though not quite as musically dynamic, so the brilliantly emotional vocal performance really does an amazing job of carrying the bulk of the material. Make no mistake, there s definitely some wonderful music that ebbs and flows back and forth, but for the most part the instrumentation tends to dwell much more on the relaxed and somber side of things, with an emphasis on clean guitars and tactful smatterings of keyboards in spacious passages that have a lot of breathing room. On the other hand, the singing fluctuates much more drastically throughout the tracks, and totally nails it in the process, so I m quite fond of the vocals here.

But I knew this would be a winner, and at their best these guys create some incredibly moving compositions.
Fitting lyrics, as well:
Hold on, hold on to everything you have. Hold on, hold on to anything, I m begging you.

And somehow we re still living in the same space and lying awake at night. I m dying to tell you, you gave up.
In the end, The Moirai only existed for two years, and this was their only release.

I m not sure what any of the former members are doing right now, but these bastards are just too god damn talented not to continue making music in some manner or another. Regardless, the EP is only $8 and I highly recommend it, so go get it:
I m not entirely sure why this just showed up in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago, because I think this record has been out for almost a year at this point, but while I wasn t sure what to expect, for some reason I figured I d enjoy it (perhaps it was the handsomely designed packaging on matte stock, I don t know), and indeed that is the case. A Northern Chorus hails from Canada, and Bitter Hands Resign is their third full-length (released by ), though despite the name being familiar I believe this is the first time I ve heard them.

For the most part these folks seem to go with kind of a soft/softer/softest kind of thing that ll start to surge forth on rare occasion, but while such styles seem to be rapidly increasing in popularity these days, thankfully this band stays away from the Explosions in the Sky method of bursting out with increased volume/heaviness and droning effects over intense picking patterns. Don t get me wrong, I love that stuff sometimes, but there are just way too many bands falling back on that kind of thing right now, so while there are admittedly a couple of areas herein that hint at that stuff, the way it s handled fits the tone of the compositions and really works well with the vocals and some of the noisier lead work that rears its head during a few special circumstances. Overall, though, the album tends to stick with laidback atmospheres and lush layering while still keeping things warm and natural – allowing plenty of space for each element to be heard.

What buildups do exist are pretty gradual, so there s none of that jarring volume contrast or anything going on. The songs regularly top six minutes, and the eight tracks total just about 50 minutes when all is said and done, so it can start to feel a little slow paced as it presses on – to the point where I wouldn t mind a smidge more balance coming from the louder end of the spectrum, but this is a really relaxing listen that has a brooding undercurrent that carries over into the lyrics as well (though not without a hopeful sort of twist):
Hang on to everything dear. Keep what s yours near.

Trust do not fear. Angels are on their way out, they re on their way out. They ll lead us through the darkness to the right place.

Good stuff. As always, if this is something you enjoy, purchase a copy for yourself:
And last but not least, we have the rather impressive self-released debut from Mississippi s , Dividing the Tide . The band formed in 2001, and I have to say, not only is it rare for a band to wait over four years to release an album these days, but I m shocked that these guys haven t gotten signed yet, because this is quite a strong offering that seems like it could do very well for any number of labels at the moment.

Apparently the band has garnered comparisons to everyone from Refused and Faith No More to Isis and At the Drive-In, but personally I d have to argue with pretty much all of those claims. Okay, they use a lot of keyboards and they use them well, so I guess you could stretch that into an extremely distant Faith No More tie-in. And there are a couple of quirky, hip sounding moments that, if you wanted to, you could probably parallel with Refused.

And when some of those hip elements get more angular and indie-ish, ehhh, maybe a little At the Drive-In. And I guess since there are some heavy moments maybe uninformed indie rock kids would jump towards Isis for that? I don t know, but the point is that none of those comparisons are accurate at all.

I wouldn t really compare them to anyone, because there s a ton going on, and they pull it off in a way that actually maintains an energetic delivery without sounding jumbled or overly chaotic. There s some sweet jazziness to a lot of the drumming, the guitars are all over the map from dissonant metalcore and thicker power chords to emo-ish melodies and rocked out indie flare, the bass kind of bounces back and forth between it all to maintain prominence, and the vocals are about as schizophrenic as the guitars in terms of flying from singing to shouting or screaming without a second thought. But I love the vocals, and the songwriting is generally pretty damn interesting, too.

Hell, even the keyboards work for me, and my ears are dangerously picky when it comes to certain types of keyboard work, so I don t know how these cats pull it off.
Since there is such a great deal happening here, the recording does lose some detail on occasion, but it still sounds very solid for a self-released effort of this nature. I m certainly able to imagine the band sounding pretty incredible were they able to secure a nice recording budget to really iron this stuff out, but even still, they re doing a great job.

Assuming they re looking for label support, if they don t get scooped up within the year then most record labels are indeed fucking idiots that have no idea what good music sounds like anymore. Give these guys a listen even if you don t think you ll like it, you might really be surprised:
If you dig it, help these guys out and pick up a CD for $10, alright? This is quite a creative disc
Posted on Friday, March 17th, 2006 @ 10:41 am Alright, so before I get down to business today, the always maniacal James Edward Raggi IV from the consistently interesting (not to mention dedicated) and heavily opinionated Lamentations of the Flame Princess zine has come up with this new thing where he sends a massive onslaught of 100 or more interview questions about heavy metal to various subjects involved with the genre, and .

It just went online today, so if even half of 100 people read it I guess I didn t waste all that time. Apparently the end result contains somewhere in the neighborhood of 16,000 words. Yes, I am a wordy bastard.

I m sure varying occurrences of faithful standbys like shit , fuck , and dude are painfully common. Take a half-hour and give it a read if you re bored. And remember, Impact is Imminent is fucking better than Bonded by Blood , god damnit!

Having been a longtime fan of Daylight Dies since their debut EP (inexplicably released by predominantly mediocre metalcore label Tribunal Records), I ve been waiting all too long for the release of their sophomore full-length, Dismantling Devotion . The band is yet again on a new label ( ), though this time they seem to be getting a larger push, and I sincerely hope it pays off, because this is without a doubt the band s finest work to date.
Now, it s possible that these guys will always draw comparisons to earlier Katatonia, mid-period Paradise Lost, and that whole branch of melodic midpaced metal that utilizes loads of lead harmonies over a backbone of doomy power chords that tends to thrive on brooding atmospheres and emotionally wrenching tonalities.

But in my book that s damn fine company to be in, and while I would absolutely not limit Daylight Dies to such confines, I do agree that such associations exist, and fans of such artists should look into this band immediately with zero hesitation. Lineup changes have certainly fared well for the band as this record boasts one of the most powerful vocal performances I ve encountered from such an act in quite some time, in terms of both the sparse appearances of singing and the dominant presence of snarled growls. Let s be honest, oftentimes aggressively growled vocals simply don t possess a great deal of actual feeling, but the vocals on this record absolutely communicate the type of pain and anxiety that the lyrics and music are building here.

I m impressed. And musically speaking this is a more focused effort that delivers eight tracks in nearly an hour without feeling particularly overbearing, and it s also consistent without lacking color – for instance there are some gorgeous appearances of acoustic guitars, and a number of more intricately layered riffs that deal with added levels of tactful dissonance or droning swells that add impact to the already forcefully rhythmic spine of the album. Hell, even the instrumental title track that closes the disc is absolutely awesome, and perhaps one of the finest moments herein.

Great artwork and photography, spectacular production (truly fucking flawless, I m stunned) this one s all set. Seriously, I m perhaps irresponsibly glossing over the recording aspects of the disc, but there s nothing to bother mentioning because it sounds pristinely perfect to my ears. I can only imagine if Brave Murder Day or Shades of God were lucky enough to sound this massive and clear!

I d like to post another song as there are a number of high points, but they re so long that I ll stick with what the band and label are putting out there. This one doesn t seem to have hit the distros yet, but I ordered mine straight from the band and had it within three or four days, so I encourage you to do the same if you enjoy the material:
Posted on Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 @ 2:27 pm For some reason I had never even heard of Beowülf until yesterday, but I was thrilled to learn that the mid- to late-80 s Venice, CA act was down with the whole Suicidal Tendencies crew, having released both their self-titled 1986 debut and the 1988 follow-up, Lost My Head , on Suicidal Records. Apparently, like many of those early Suicidal Records classics (Ahem, when the fuck is the No Mercy LP finally going to come out on CD!

?), neither Beowülf album was ever available beyond the realm of vinyl (or possibly cassette), but thankfully has just issued both LP s on one handy disc titled The Re-releases (which was apparently also originally released as an LP on Suicidal Records in 1988) for all of us to enjoy.
Well, the band kicks ass, that s for sure.

However, they don t really sound anything like their Venice contemporaries of the time. Not the metal-tinged hardcore/punk of Suicidal Tendencies or No Mercy, not the crossover thrash of Excel, etc. No, let s just say the umlaut in their band name is more than a fitting ode, because they basically sound almost identical to Motörhead - just with a little more consistency and a zippier metallic edge that does kind of have a thrashy ring to it.

But yeah, for the most part, total Motörhead worship, but in the best possible way, as it s rocked out but has the more aggressive edge that a lot of younger listeners probably found Motörhead to be lacking at the time (Let s face it, most of us who grew up in the 80 s didn t really appreciate Motörhead until a little later on, did we?). These fuckers wrote some badass tunes, though, and some of this shit is so catchy it s unbelievable.

I m way into it, and here are two tracks from each LP:
The only gripes I have with this collection, and they re fairly minor ones, are that the original album covers only appear as small images underneath the CD tray, as opposed to getting full pages in order to show more detail. But more importantly, the only liner notes included are a brief page from one of the members of the Dutch hardcore band Right Direction, who happens to be a huge Beowülf fan. That s all fine and dandy, but that doesn t provide anyone with any actual information on the band – be it where they are today or what was going on back when they were actually around, you know?

Lyrics are included, which is awesome, but I d rather have seen some liner notes written by the band or about their history though, again, it s not that big a deal.
I think this is one of the first releases for I Scream s American division, so it should start making its way out there a little more soon (it just came out Tuesday), but for now you can still grab it at Revelation Records. So cut the shit and get on it, cause you know you missed the boat on this the first time around, just like I did:
I can t stop listening to the new Katatonia single.

The last song, Dissolving Bonds , is without a doubt one of the band s greatest songs ever, so of course they re fucking insane for not including it on the new full-length (Why do bands do that?). I swear, the single was worth the price for this song alone.

God damn
Confusion has reunited and is playing a show at CBGB s in May. Check out their for a couple of tracks that weren t posted with my write-up awhile back. Storm the Walls rules.

Alan Dubin emailed me yesterday and confirmed my suspicions that the Old Lady Drivers CD I posted about some time ago is in fact a bootleg. However, contrary to what some people have stated, the band is currently talking to a number of labels to work out an official re-release of the material. Good stuff.

The current trend of people talking about the new In Flames album like it s some kind of masterpiece while bashing the hell out of Soundtrack to Your Escape is fucking dumb. If you think Soundtrack to Your Escape is any worse than Clayman , Reroute to Remain , or Come Clarity you re a jackass. I m sorry.

The Quiet Place is a better song than anything on the new disc, so get your ears cleaned, because it wasn t a bad record and it wasn t all that different. Neither is the new one, folks.
I was starting to get pretty well caught up (sort of) in terms of not having a massive backlog of stuff to post about, but I ve been getting a surprising amount of good shit in the mail lately, so I m back to being behind, as always.

Rivalry Records rules and is quite possibly my favorite modern hardcore label. Their two latest split EP s are fucking awesome. I ll post about em soon.

Posted on Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 @ 11:32 am I have to say, I m not exactly surprised that I had never heard of The Idoru until recently since it s not exactly common to stumble upon bands from Budapest, Hungary all that often here in the US, but it s an unfortunate fact, because their latest EP on the Slovakian label , Hopeless Illusions , is fucking amazing. And furthermore, there s no doubt in my mind that if these guys happened to have grown up in New York or California as opposed to Budapest, they would be an extremely successful band in the States considering the climate of what s able to achieve significant levels of popularity right now. The key difference being that the band s lyrics are more sincere and expressive than the kind of crap you re going to get from most any American band of a comparable nature, and their music is a bit more technical and inventive as well – it s just that the songs are very melodic and catchy, with loads of soaring vocal harmonies all over the place.

But the singer s got a very unique sounding voice that helps differentiate the band s overall sound quite a bit, and despite the almost constant presence of melody there are still a good number of chunky riffs and cool little layered guitar parts that mess with some metallic flare. Even the recording is almost shockingly crisp and professional. This is just a great EP, and this band really needs to be exposed to more listeners.

If the band s prior work sounds this strong then I definitely need to do some digging. Unfortunately I m not seeing Deadbutcher s releases in any distros in the US, so for the time being if you re interested in picking this one up. Posted on Monday, March 13th, 2006 @ 10:30 am From the very minute I first heard Poland s Decapitated six years ago they secured a place as one of the best contemporary death metal bands out there, and I still feel the same way today.

Much of the talk surrounding their latest release, Organic Hallucinosis , is around the fact that it s their first album with a new vocalist, but while the vocal performance is noticeably different this time around, I think the musical shift is of much greater importance. And that s not to suggest that things have taken a turn for the worse, as I m not entirely sure, but I think this might be my favorite Decapitated record to date.
Decapitated s key strength has always been scorchingly badass riffs that benefit from perfectly churning guitar tones, and thankfully that strength dominates this effort as well – albeit the riffs, in general, are a touch more midpaced and dissonant.

There s a little bit more of a Meshuggah-esque chug to a lot of the rhythm patterns, but rather than provide too much space the picking patterns still shred with that always chunky Decapitated swing that you should all know and love. Something I ve noticed on the band s past records, however, is that there s generally one song per album that just totally crushes everything else – hooking you right from the start and tending to practically overshadow the rest of the album. While there s no such song on Organic Hallucinosis , I m pleased to report that the songwriting as a whole, while fairly consistent, is a little more dynamic and interesting all around, so there s more of a balance going on within all of the individual compositions in terms of tempo changes and lots of interesting chord phrasings that are really getting into some fucked up discordance (not quite at a Gorguts level or anything like that, but they re getting there – while still keeping things memorable).

And never fear, there s still plenty of speed and a few blazing leads as well, so it s not like they re trying to completely progress out of the straight ahead death metal realm or anything.
Also, despite the rigidity of the drums initially concerning me (I was almost fearing another bout of insanely obnoxious Nihility production), I really enjoy the recording on this one. True, it takes a little getting used to since the thickness of the guitars lets the drums and vocals take over some added centrality, but overall I m not sure where my initial concern stemmed from, because now everything sounds pretty damn tight to me.

If they could take this approach and inch the guitars up a little more but still figure out how to make the basslines slightly clearer they d be in a perfect spot. Good stuff.
This isn t one of the best tracks on the album in my opinion, but it is the one the label seems to have been providing as a sample track, and since Earache s all into selling mp3 s at their Metal Tracks website now I don t want to piss anyone off by posting a stronger example of what the album has to offer, so just know that there are a number of songs on the record that are even better than the example below:
There are only seven tracks on the record for some odd reason (totaling around 32 minutes), but trust me when I say that there are some real keepers on this thing.

Day 69 is a good song and all, but there are so many better examples of how increasingly awesome this band is becoming. So look into this one and definitely pick it up. Since these cats got started so young they should still have a long and prosperous run ahead of em:
In a similar, though certainly less drastic move, Krisiun, Brazil s most diehard death metal band, has also accelerated the gradual course of change that they ve been undergoing for the last several years on their sixth full-length, Assassination , of course released by .

Now, if there s one thing you can count on from Krisiun, it s that they re going to stay true to what they do, and what they do is play fast death metal. But the thing that I ve always loved about these guys is their complete and total sincere dedication to their music, so I ve always been a huge fan of theirs even when some of their records didn t quite do it for me. Thankfully, Assassination does hit the spot, and from a production standpoint is the band s best sounding record to date.

While you still won t pick out much of a bass presence, the guitars and drums are finally efficiently balanced, and for the first time in as long as I can remember I m actually able to listen to Krisiun without letting my ears adjust to clinically rigid and unnaturally clicky drum tones so, if nothing else, I hope they stick with this recording approach from now on!
As far as the actual songwriting goes, it s not a huge leap or anything, but the band is writing with more of a feel as opposed to strictly focusing on record-breaking (and endurance-testing) speeds, which definitely pays off for the listening experience. Yes, it s still quite fast, and yes, it s extremely tightly performed.

It s still Krisiun through and through, but you d be surprised what a difference a wider range of tempos can make. And the solos are really starting to sound more developed now (there s a great example of this in the brief instrumental Doomed ), whereas in the earliest days of the band s work many of the leads came across more like blindingly fast scales and repetitious patterns. Since that s a part of the Krisiun sound you re still going to hear those wild sweeps and chaotic bursts, but like I said, it s more about feel now, not just speed.

And that goes for the drumming too, which is awesome. Max Kolesne s an insane drummer, but now he s starting to get a little more creative with his fills and cymbal work, so rather than simply stupefying everyone with his seemingly effortless high-speed blasts, he s adding more color to the material as well.
As always, pick it up if you dig it.

I own everything Krisiun has done since Black Force Domain and I don t see myself stopping until they do! Get to it:

Finally, more signs of hope for thrash in the new millennium!

Posted on Friday, March 10th, 2006 @ 9:47 am I had been seeing a number of reviews and ads touting the thrashiness of Fear in a Handful of Dust that were making me curious, even though Hurtlocker s name and logo throw up some red flags on my radar (I guess the name does have a ring to it, I ll give em that), but I must admit, the claims are accurate: This is some damn good thrash metal.

Chicago had some great thrash bands during the 80 s/early-90 s, and I d be surprised if Hurtlocker didn t grow up on em, because, despite boasting an understandably more modern tinge, the band s riffs and writing tactics certainly draw inspiration from decades past, and the end result sort of reminds me of Epidemic with dashes of Stampin Ground (once they started to go total thrash) and minor little leanings towards death metal here and there (in the best possible way – think hints of Malevolent Creation s Retribution , for example). There s somewhat more of a sneer to the vocals than the old days, but they definitely don t have that forced contemporary edge that I dislike so much, so I m in full support of the performance. And this is some memorable songwriting too, which is not an easy task when it comes to shooting for an old school thrash vibe.

But they tend to stick with two- to three-minute tracks chock full of meaty picking patterns and well executed tempo variations, so I m sold. I do find myself wishing the recording was a little more fluid (those drums are testing my clicky limits), but I can absolutely live with it. Just imagine, though, if these songs had the oomph of, say, The Haunted s first record or something like that the results would be truly fucking badass.

How a band like this ends up on is beyond me, as this is without a doubt one of the only good releases on the label that I can think of, and I m guessing these cats are also among the manliest bands on a label that has always struck me as being dominated by silly dramatic metal bands with penchants for keyboards and pomp. But check this shit out, fans of thrash s heyday should certainly approve:
Hurtlocker s one of the better thrash bands I ve heard in recent years, so if you dig the tunes, pick up a copy of the CD for yourself and spread the word. These guys are definitely getting out there, but I d say they re still facing somewhat of an uphill battle in terms of really reaching the audience that I think will appreciate them the most.

This is damn good stuff:
Next up is another shockingly ripping example of old school thrash in the modern age with the Lethal Legacy EP from Canada s Mastery, on . This fucker is jam packed with scorching Bay Area thrash riffs the likes of which you re almost never lucky enough to stumble upon these days, and the band bears two things in common with Metallica: 1. solos that at times have a rocked out Kirk Hammett flare, and 2.

the fact that you can barely hear an ounce of bass on the entire EP! So I definitely think the recording needs a little more balance (the drums feel dominant to me right now), but once again I can live with it.
Apparently it wasn t the band s intention to be an instrumental act from the onset, and while I certainly have no quarrels with their decision, I d love it if they continued the search for the right vocalist.

It wouldn t be an easy task, but their songwriting is so dead on that it d be a shame to lose the added catchiness and power that a strong vocal performance could provide. You see, unlike most instrumental bands, Mastery basically seems to write straightforward songs that simply exhibit the absence of vocals – that is to say that we re not talking about seven- or eight-minute epics with tradeoff leads and significant dynamic shifts all over the place or anything like that at all, it s just a set of textbook thrash tracks without vocals. And that s actually pretty damn cool, so I guess my point is just that if someone were to play this for you and say, Check out our new demo, but we haven t laid down the vocals yet.

You d reply, Holy shit, this sounds great. I can t wait to hear it once the vocals are done! Know what I mean?

I can t believe they sprung for a die-cut booklet on this thing, though. Sure, it s a nice touch, but the layout blows, man. There are way too many almost-tactful-but-still-really-obnoxious Photoshop textures and shit like that all over it, and Mastery definitely deserves a far stronger and more appropriate visual representation to accompany such impressive tunes.

I m not seeing this one around at many stops in the US, so unfortunately the prices on this thing can get fuckin brutal for an EP ($16 at Amazon.com? I don t fuckin think so, you know?

), so a little over $8 plus shipping (I m guessing that s another $3 or so, but I m not sure) from the label seems to be the best route for the time being. Hopefully it ll start creeping into more distros as the positive reviews keep pouring in. Keep an eye on these guys for sure
Posted on Thursday, March 9th, 2006 @ 9:21 am This one s for a dude in South Africa that I email back and forth with who s never had the chance to hear Both Worlds, the band formed in the mid-90 s by former Cro-Mags frontman John Joseph, as well as AJ Novello and Pokey from Leeway.

Opinions seem to be mixed on this band, and I guess I can understand fans of the Cro-Mags and Leeway being somewhat let down if they were expecting something heavier or more traditional, but if you ask me Both Worlds was totally fuckin solid, and I wish they d continued on a bit longer. Their debut 1996 EP, Beyond Zero Gravity , is somewhat of an unnecessary release when all is said and done, since they re-recorded two of the best songs for their sole Roadrunner full-length in 1998, but Memory Rendered Visible is quite a strong slab of heavy, rocked out post-hardcore. And come on, pretty much anything Joseph or Novello are involved with is gonna be worth a shot.

I won t lie, there are definitely a couple of tracks on this record that tend to wander a little too far out into pseudo grunge territory to really leave a mark, but I wouldn t really tag anything as being bad per se, and when the band s sort of Quicksand-ish, at times Helmet-esque brand of chunky rhythms and dissonant melody hits the mark, it results in some awesome tracks that are generally pretty damn catchy and energetic. Plus, loose comparisons aside, these guys did have their own niche happening. Musical similarities to some of what was going on around them at the time are somewhat unavoidable, but Joseph s vocals are of course inimitable, and Novello s always been one for writing sick riffs of all varieties.

The recording s pretty damn slick as well, and that always helps. I don t know.