INFERNAL WAR "Redesekration, The Gospel Of Hatred....."

I love speed and chaos. I have always liked controlled chaos, it started with Slayer, Nuclear Assault, Holy Terror and a couple of other bands in the eighties. It continued with bands like Morbid Angel, Immolation and Deicide. These days the limits of what is human possible to play have moved forward, even before the last century ended we had Marduk releasing "Panzer Division Marduk" one of the most extreme albums of all time. It is very hard to impress me today, but Polands Infernal War is a band I am a big fan of. They play that kind of "war black metal" that is almost impossible to not like if you like extreme intensity with a good amount of talent involved. They not only play fast and with extreme precision, they also make great songs with a good portion of catchiness while it still is brutal as hell. They have a really good mix of total annihilation parts and some very headbangable slower parts (Not really slow, just slower) which let you catch your breath for a short period until the next attack of relentless grinding begins. Their vocalist "Herr Warcrimer" is a man who knows how to sound totally possessed by all that´s evil. Yes this is some evil sounding black metal with a pretty crunchy production. So if you like primitive, badly produced old fashioned black metal, stay away from this. Otherwise, let yourself be devoured by this beast.

9/10

SUFFOCATION "As Grace Descends"

New York death metal legends Suffocation will be back in January with their new album entitled "Pinnacle of Bedlam". This track are among the ones you will be able to hear. What we have come to expect from these veterans are top notch musicianship and well done death metal with a lot things happening, without being technical just for the sake of it. The brutality has never got lost along the way just to impress the listeners, the punch and total heaviness is always there.This time around the drum phantom Dave Culross will do his best to destroy your ears and make you headbang relentlessly. He has returned from a long hiatus from this band and of course he is tight as hell as assumed. The song they let us "pre-listen" to is in the good old fashioned Suffocation way. The song is quite catchy , it contains of two mainriffs, one pummeling chord progression and the other riff is based on powerchords. As usual a lot is happening musically but the thread is never lost and the force and the incredible "slap in the face" riffing  is always present . You got the typical grind parts, the heavy parts and the great soloing. Frank Mullen does a good job, he has a deep growl but you can hear the lyrics if you listen carefully. Some people complained about the last record, they said it was a bit overproduced. I think they nailed it pretty good with this one quite clear but not crystalclear (and boring), though the bass isn´t that audible, you can hear it when you wear headphones but if you listen to the song in regular speakers I guess you won´t recognize it a lot. Well Derek Boyer is as you know a beast of the bass but I guess they wanted another soundscape this time. Maybe he will be more audible on the other songs. The other instruments sound good , I especially like the drums, their sound is nothing short of greatness empowered by one of the greatest drummers in death metal.
 https://www.facebook.com/suffocation

8/10

GAZA "No Absolutes In Human Suffering"

A band named after one of the most violent areas on earth, you think it´s gonna be a peaceful ride? No I didn´t think so either. I guess most people categorize this as some kind of "core", if it´s hardcore, noisecore with grind parts or something in between is up to you to decide. This music is for sure violent and dissonant all over and you can actually feel their agony through their music. I bet they are not some happy dudes having pool parties, probably they are members of some kind of gerilla squad fighting for human rights desperately. The sound of this music is so desperate, so dark and so massive at the same time. If you´re feeling down, depressed and lonely maybe you shouldn´t let this album rotate in your player, but if you´re in the mood of destroying something or upset your stupid neighbours put this on. It will work just fine.The music on this record sounds like something between the noiseheroes Converge and the  not so well known guys, the apocalyptic maniacs in Goatsblood, a bloody and pissed punch in solar plexus. You will get a mix of fast fury and gruesome slow passages, on top of that you get their vocalist who spits, screams and tells us he hates a lot in this rotten world. The production fits the music pretty well, it´s distorted and a bit muddy but nothing that feels out of place. The drumming is everywhere, typical for this kind of music. The guitars sound heavy but you don´t get the typical in your face metal tone, more like a distant thunder attacking you.
myspace.com/gaza

 7,5/10

WEAPONS TO HUNT "Blessed In Sin"

Aad Kloosterwaard is one of Holland´s hardest working men among the death metal elite. This is the contuniation of  the band formerly known as Infinted Hate. I liked the old name a bit more than this one, maybe it takes a while to get used to it. If you´ve heard these guys other bands Sinister, Supreme Pain and Houwitser to mention a few,  I think you know what this is gonna sound like. Well, it´s nothing we haven´t heard before from Aad and friends. But he is a strong force within the dutch scene, and as usual he and his bandmates rarely releases a bad album. The guitars follows kind of the same formula as in his other bands, the same kind of fretting and riffs but as always the end result is always at least decent. The drumming is good and has a lot of pounding and fast rhythms. This debut album has a load of great riffs and the whole record is very entertaining. I am a total death metal worshipper and this album doesn´t make me bored at all. I guess that´s a good sign, since I´ve heard thousands of records through the years. What I really like about this is when we talk about members of dutch quality old school death metal bands you know you´ll never get any trendy stuff or supermega triggered drums, you get quality death metal with no intentions to be honeyed, too melodic or having clean sung parts. You can always hear Aad´s distinct voice as the outstanding part of the music, he has a quite unique voice, dry and harsh. Death metal this entertaining is a real treat. Listen and enjoy relentlessly.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Weapons-to-Hunt/124969717612834

9/10

MASTER "The New Elite"

Paul Speckman, the mastermind of this band has been around forever, or at least 30 years in this band with some on and offs so to speak. He has been a member of several death and thrash bands through the years and released hundreds of albums, well not hundreds but a lot. I guess he doesn´t like USA very much, since he has immigrated to Czech Republic and continued to run his band with two guys coming from the same country. I guess they have great beer there. Well anyway, Paul is soon to be 50(!) and releases a album which shows no signs of getting ol´and tired. This death/thrash album with Paul´s rusty and harsh voice is a good example of not letting something stupid like age stopping you from being lethal and violent. The music on this one is very old school sounding, very organic. Full of wild leads everywhere and a sound that reminds me of rotten flesh, tormented bodies and going for the throat thrash metal spiced up with death metal in some parts. Most of the songs follows quite the same formula, but that is not a bad thing here since the material kicks some serious ass.
As I just mentioned the sound of this record is far from sounding "Pro Tools", you can here that these fellas play this music like it was the only thing that meant anything to them in life. Paul Speckman is a fucking legend in his game, unfortunately not many have discovered that yet. Give this good collection of songs some listening and maybe you change your view.  Horns Up!
https://www.facebook.com/master.abomination

8,5/10

CRASHDIET "Cocaine Cowboys" 

They say sleaze is dead. Well, I don´t agree on that. The bands that have built up a strong reputation hasn´t died and withered. This first taste, the (cd)-single "Cocaine Cowboys" of Crashdiet´s new record, coming next year is a natural progression of their last record "Generation Wild". Massive production, strong choruses and well performed sleaze/hair metal/glam or whatever you wanna call it. Their "half-new" vocalist Simon Cruz has a solid voice, he fits this band perfectly with his often melodic voice and sometimes a bit rougher edge to it. I guess this will appeal to both guys and girls as usual. It´s  melodic, but with a "middle-finger-in-the-air" approach which I like. Both dirt and really great melodies. If this is what the rest of the record is gonna sound like, they still got the ability to write good songs with a lot of great body movin´ riffs and good sounding choirs. They give you exactly what you need to get your fix of modern melodic sleaze with a punch.
http://www.crashdiet.org/
https://www.facebook.com/realcrashdiet

8/10

FATHER BEFOULED "Revulsion of Seraphic Grace"

I guess you´ve heard of Incantion if you read my reviews at this website. And I will talk about them quite a lot in this review. Father Befouled started their short career in 2008 and have this far released three albums, with this their latest as the natural continuation of their blasphemous death metal in the vein of, yes you guessed it Incantation. I guess this band have Incantation posters all over their walls and worship before the altar of their records. Now you maybe will think that this band is just a bad copycat, but that´s not the case here. These guys not only worship Incantation, they pass on their legacy in the best way possible. Father Befouled have done everything right to not just become a clone of the clone. The production, the sound, the guitars, the voice of the vocalist and the song titles with names you never remember, they are all there. The slow and doomy passages too. But even with all these similarites this band have some kind of rarely seen ability to make this music sound like they almost invented this sound. The whole record is just pure professionalism and total dedication to the sound of deprevation and misery. One thing I will complain about though is their ugly logo. Change that logo guys, even with my hardened gaze your logo looks like something I vomited  out the night before. And that is not meant in a good way.
https://www.facebook.com/FatherBefouled

8,5/10

PROFANATICA "Sickened by the holy host/The Grand Masters"

This is actually an EP, but it contains a lot of songs, from two different periods. This is some great rotten blackened death metal with a brutally sick twist. I´ve seen that most people call this black metal, but the riffing has as much in common with dm as it has with bm. It´s very raw sounding guitars with the bass very upfront in the mix which makes them sound a bit different than other bands in the same territory. The riffing is like a unholy and great mixture of Autopsy, Incantation and Father Befouled. Plenty of monotony which in this case is a good thing. The production is dirty but clear. On top of that you have the sickest voice I´ve heard in a while. Paul Ledney has a voice like if you would hear the dead screaming at you in your blackest nightmares, more filthy death metal growls than black metal shrieks. Or maybe Paul Ledney is the devil. As I mentioned before the music is based on death metal riffs, tremolopicking riffs and some power chords that sound very much death metal. Well, I could discuss this forever, but to me this is some putrid, raw, filthy death metal and not so much black metal. It has a black metal feeling though, cause it´s very primitive and unadorned.  The whole record is like a trip to the deepest pits of hell, and I enjoy the ride. Get your fix of unholy and totally twisted music. Get in to the world of Paul Ledney.

8,5/10

DISFIGURED "Amputated Gorewhore"

Holy crap, their last record was a great showcase of death metal. But this new one, with a new vocalist is not that good. The music on this one is pretty similar compared to their debut, but the lyrics. Hey, what the fuck did you morons think about when you did this. I know there are some bands  writing shit about abusing women, but if you´re not deranged you can´t possibly like lyrics like that. Not if you are just a BIT mature and have some kind of sensible mind. "Raping a retard" for example has a intro when you can hear a woman getting raped. What the fuck is cool with that???? It makes me sick and I feel terribly bad when listening to that shit. There are also some other RETARDED intros in songs like "Vomit creampie surprise" (Yeah pretty "funny" songtitle, but nevertheless a sick and demented intro in a bad way). How can you mess up some quite well done death metal with such idiotic attitude guys?? Death metal should be about violence, violent lyrics are a part of death metal of course, as long as it doesn´t feel too much like the guys who writes the music are psychiatric patients in a mental hospital. It can also incorporate lyrics about satanic stuff like old Morbid Angel and the gruesome stuff  Cannibal Corpse writes about. But if there are just pathetic lyrics about abusing women all over the record, spit on that fucking band. Except this band I just spit on bands like Artery Eruption and Diminshed. They make me puke. Call me a feminist, I don´t care. I like death metal, not bad jokes like this.

2,5/10

BEHEADED "Never To Dawn"

Malta´s premiere death metal band is back! 7 years after the highly appreciated "Ominous Bloodline" they hit us all with an intense offering with a little new influences. This time I can hear traces from bands like Gorgasm, Incinerate and even the german band Disbelief in some parts. You can also hear some melodies here and there, but these melodies aren´t "melodic" as in "weak sounding" if you get the point. Have they developed their sound? Yes, I would say that without a doubt. But without losing the brutality. For brutal it is. And it´s technical, a bit more than last time I guess. Death metal this brutal yet technical rarely has the intention to be very catchy, but impressive and headbangable. The songs are very complex and a bit hard "to swallow" the first times you listen to the cd. I have listened to it for a few days now, and it´s hard to pinpoint any direct flaws. It may take a while to really appreciate all this well arranged madness but what really got me this time is the production which is a lot better than their other records (more crunch and less mud) and their new vocalist Frank Calleja has a much better voice than the guy who did the cookie monster vocals on their previous record. I talked about the band Disbelief in the beginning, and if you listen to the song "Towards an abducted Sun" you will hear the similarities. You can also hear this in "Descent Into Sanguianary Seas". The last song "The Ancient Acumen" is very complex and you can hear they have  a slightly different approach on this one. Well worth waiting for this one. Excellent mix of brutality and complexity.

8,5/10

DEAD BY APRIL "Incomparable"

What? I am reviewing Dead By April? Yes, I wanted to review this album because they have become ridiculously big in my homecountry and they claim themselves to be a metal band. The have been participating in a music contest called "Melodifestivalen" in Sweden, and their popularity has reached to levels I can´t understand. Almost every trendy kid with cool clothes and trendy haircuts listen to this lame computerized music with a small amount of guitar riffs included. Do they even play their instruments themselves? Ok, maybe their drummer does, that is a bit hard to fake. Prove me wrong. I would never mock a band that hasn´t got an audience or hadn´t sold some records, but this band has, quite a lot also. And their concerts are full of girls screaming their lungs out.  Well, they got one guy who sings clean, lame clean singing. And a guy who screams randomly, just for effect no purpose. They are all tattooed and having that "cool attitude" except the sweet guy behind the microphone who sings "lovely". This band was and is made just to get the attention from teenagers with no reason to seek music with soul and mind, but just music which is on the charts for some odd reason and tries to be "rough" .I guess they call it metal.... How on earth can this music be this popular? Well, I can´t find any reason at all actually. I don´t have anything against the guys personally but the music they play is soulless crap. This is not a vendetta, this is a true fact. I give them one point for having the perseverance to record this at all.

1/10

FLESHRED "Bloodtorn"

Finland has a pretty great plethora of good grind and death metal bands, and this finnish band make their kind of death metal with a moderate part of grind. The foundation of their sound is based in the typical "Stockholm" or "swedish" sound. The tremolo picking technique, mixed with power chords you´re all aware of, with a lot of distortion in the production. Grave´s latest record sound quite the same as this one. I think it sounds quite fresh and not some bland copy of the copy. The grinding is a nice adding to their sound as it adds more brutality, yet they have lots of catchy riffs in almost every song. They don´t  need to grind to "cover" they can´t write good songs. I was a bit surprised I haven´t heard of them until 2 months ago. But you can´t hear them all, can you? What really got me into their music was their ability to make good songs and never lose the edge to the music. There is always a good hook or a nice heavy part. The guys in the band are good at what they do, I guess they don´t intend to play any kind of Yngwie leads or Flo Mounier stuff on the drums. They play death metal, not music from outer space. Right? I appreciate technical music, but there is always a place in my dark heart for classic death metal with no "look at me, I am the greatest fretboard athlete" tendencies.

7,5/10