Archive for April 2021

Nymphetamine is a double-edged sword for me. I remember tuning into Scuzz TV at the time (I was an avid Cradle fan at this point, having started with Damnation… and worked my way backwards obsessing over the band’s spooky metal), and being enormously disappointed with the single version of the title track, namely “Nymphetamine (Fix)”. As a 14 year old meathead, I loudly proclaimed that I was done with Cradle at this point, and that…

Ah what the actual fuck! 52 (give or take) seconds of absolute blasting grindcore carnage! What an absolute belter. It’s over before you can even really think what the fuck is going on, but this is super cool. Super limited, super fun.

Chunky chunky chunky! Punishing hardcore-tinged dark metal from the kings of the style. God Is War is more of APMD’s perfect storm of a sonic recipe.

A later-career Nazarene offering which still manages to showcase the bands rabid thrashy black metal style. From the endless ocean of this genre, Impaled Nazarene do stand unique with their own frenzied sound. Pro Patria Finlandia had a clear and precise production job and is actually a lot longer than I remember, on a relisten. The CD comes in a cracking little digipak.

This bizarre project has been on my to-do list for a very long time. Today I finally listened, and was taken away on a wonderful musical experience. Chanelling aspects of both dungeon synth and vaporwave (my favourite niche electronic subgenres no less) and filtering them through the worship of an old RPG, we have some glorious low-key compositions that creep and crawl with the right amount of emotional leads over the top. Like, that sounds…

It feels almost wrong to complain about bad production when listening to obscure black metal, but so much is lost in the mud here that it’s almost unbearable. I find myself longing for a clear… well, anything. Otherwise, Anal Blasphemy tick all the boxes with this release. Its just a shame I can barely fucking hear them.

This is a strange one. On one hand, it is almost quite stale metal, on the other hand it is quite bizarre and unusual. There exists a strange duality between the two opposite ends of the musical spectrum, as it were. Surreal Overdose is thrashy, and more-metal-than-thou listeners will no doubt enjoy. But for me, dipping in like this, the production and general style is clumsy, and everything seems to be tripping and falling over…

Listening back now after all these years, I can more or less hear the youth oozing out of the speakers. Coming on like an acid-drenched Sabbath, Holy Mountain contains none of the bong-addled fuzz of later recordings, instead focuses on more concise and groove-led tracks. A classic of the doom and stoner genres whichever way you cut the cake.

Poo samples are perhaps to be expected, but I find myself shaking my head all the same. Disgusting death metal with a touch of goregrind sleaze is the order of the day. The downside is that Defecation Domination does not possess the same solid, fibrous and chunky production from the bands splits. In poo terms, the recordings here are much looser and fluid, and thinner in substance. However, there is still chunks and globs of…

Decent bit of war-tinged black metal. Songs about sluts and Satan and all that jazz, as I’m sure is evident by the cover art above. What is surprising however is the solid, dense production aesthetic which is almost unheard of for this kind of shit. It was a nice surprise. The only downer is that I listened to this back to back with a Revenge record, and it could absolutely not stand up to that.

Did anyone say Carcass worship? Pharmacist have to be some of the greatest goregrind in the old school style that I’ve heard in quite some time. Move on over County Medical Examiners! Pathologist also has someone giving them a run for their money at the moment. The sound is a little muddy but I feel that’s a trite complaint considering the genre. The lowdown is that this is fucking awesome, and is well worth checking…

When I started the Lines In Wax website in 2011, one of the first things I did was document my growing collection of the Slimewave series by Relapse. I don’t collect vinyl all that much anymore, but in line with the ten year anniversary of this site, and my seemingly never-ending mission to catch up on all the reviews I’ve been putting off for years, I figured it was high time to add the remaining…

Recieved the sad news that Alexi had passed away (edit: date of writing is 4th Jan 2021) so decided to spin up some older Children Of Bodom classics. I’ve never been the biggest fan, but there is something cathartic about COB’s sprightly music. Sitting in its own world between melodeath, metalcore and something altogether more Blind Guardian-esque, Hatebreeder is a polished collection of lightening fast tunes filled with youthful energy. RIP dude.

Summoning have always danced on the horizon of my musical periphery, mainly for being that black metal band with that horrendously awful logo. Granted, the more I think about it, the cooler I think that logo actually is, so there you go. Minas Morgul is fantastic. I’m no Tolkien nerd (yet, at least – I still need to get around to reading the books as an adult) but the vibes and atmospheres conjured here are…

A Haggus full length is just what the planet needed. Of course, it takes yours truly here a few years to actually get around to listening to it, but boy, was it worth the wait. Hard not to be derivative, but Haggus does what Haggus does best, with its mincing stomps and gut-churning watery vocals. I will mention however, that a lot of grindcore wonders that rise and fall on the international scenes, becoming golden…

Possibly one of the derpiest things that I have ever had the privilege of hearing. Mayhaps this means that I am not kvlt enough? That’s gotta be it, right? I am surely not kvlt enough for this insane tape recording. Nevertheless, I listened to the whole thing unironically, so this must mean I now ascent to a higher plain of obscurity. Cheers!

Winter are legendary in the world of slow and heavy music. I had the pleasure to catch them live at one of the early 2010’s era Roadburn festivals (I forget which), so it was nice to return to these guys after so many years of not listening to them. Into Darkness is a slow, dirgy romp through well crafted metal tunage. Sometimes you gotta go back to the classics for that decent hit of metallic…

Another one that has been on the to-do list for about six years. I can’t even remember where I picked this one up, maybe some sort of Vice end of year list? I forget. Either way, there is a lot of interesting instrumentation and electronic work here, but those are dragged down by a vocal performance which is interesting at its best and fucking irritating at its worst. Not for me.

The first half of Zeit is somewhat disappointing. There appears to be a prevalence of some sort of bending organ sound or even a theremin, and whilst that is cool for about 2 minute, its irritating after 15 or 20 minutes. Zeit however starts to form into another beast all of its own around the 40 minute mark, where bubbling samples evolve into pulsing electronic sounds and are augmented by gorgeous flourishes of synthesizers and…

A short but massively satisfying debut effort from the Californian version of the mighty Disgorge. Expect bowel-churning guitar tone, spastic drumming, vokillz-from-da-deepz and a production that will rattle your head until your brain turns to mush. Just lovely.