Archive for March 2023

I’ll listen to anything by Kevin Martin or Justin Broadrick, so put them together we are absolutely cooking on gas. Having thusfar made it to 2023 without ever hearing Ice, my first layman’s impression of them is that the vibe and sound here is very similar to the latter Bullen-era Scorn; spacey, acid-head dirges consisting of sub-bass, electronic beats and wailing guitars, all lead by dead-pan, haunting vocals. This record is a monster; all the…

Mor Eressea is a project of one Morgan James, from it seems the Swansea area which isn’t too far from me, actually. There’s a bunch of stuff out from this project but the one I gave a full listen to all the way through was Haunted Shores and Coasts, where it seems both the history of and beautiful landscapes of The Gower has inspired multiple tracks of dense atmospheric black metal. I’ve spent a lot…

One of the first comments I ever read about this WAD was that it’s absolutely perfect if you have a lot of time on your hands. That rings true, with the 6 fecking episodes that are on display here. It kinda plays like Eviternity on steroids, if only a little more inconsistent. Personally, I loved Doom The Way id Did, although I never truly felt it “truly” did Doom the way id did (lol), I…

Sporting probably some of the hammiest cover art and band photos in the history of time, Odium is best not judged on its visual accompaniments. Musically, the band is not a million miles away from early Dimmu or Welkin-era Emperor, but with its own unique harshness and brutality. Tidy. Even for the crowd who don’t like keyboards in metal, this should probably get a pass.

Before CKY, there was Oil. CKY have a rich and varied history, but the band Oil was basically CKY in all but name. Granted, this is pre-Ginsburg, but by listening to this 1997 release (also known as The Gold Tape) you are listening to an old CKY demo, rather than material from another band the guys were in beforehand. A lot of these tracks never made it in the future, but this demo contains one…

Admittedly, at the time of writing I’ve not actually seen Creepshow. However, through a combination of Waxworks releases being really awesome to look at, and John Harrison doing the blinder of an OST for Day Of The Dead, I ended up checking this out anyway. If anything, it’ll be a sweet little primer for when I finally do get around to watching the film. I was going to say that perhaps this isn’t as iconic…

Pressing the random band button on Metal Archives is currently my new favourite thing to do. This interesting little ditty is a 2 track demo from an absolutely abysmal war metal band. Like, this is noisecore at best. You can’t hear a single thing that’s happening, and it’s all over the shop. The best compliment I can give this is to say it sounds a bit like Gorgonized Dorks.

Gruesome Stuff Relish are probably one of the most under-rated “goregrind” bands. Nowadays, Carcass-worshipping muddy death metal / goregrind is all the rage again, but Gruesome Stuff Relish have always been doing it. This 2013 effort is a good a place to start as any for your fix of giallo and exploitation fuelled grinding gore.

My first impressions of Dark Quarterer were that of a poor man’s Messiah-era Candlemass. But, I gave this record a chance and damn, did it grow on me. What an interesting display of sounds. The production is garbage, the vocals are just… weird and the overall vibe is of classic or occult rock but after few grams too many in the pot whilst making the mushroom tea. It’s like, aliens observing from space saw rock…

I have no idea where I picked these lot up from but this is a bizarre mix. Like… its almost hardcore, or post-hardcore even, as much as it is black metal or even folk or dare I say dungeon synth in parts. When you think of hardcore and black metal mixed together you either think of the crusty side of things, or the dark hardcore trend of the 00s and 10s, or you think of…

This has to be one of the stupidest and creepiest things I’ve ever heard. From the album cover, to the recurring themes of Satan and, weirdly, drunk people in there songs, to the creepy ass delivery of the vocalist who comes in on the choruses (I’m not sure which brother it is). Honestly, everything about this is fucked but musically it’s pretty fun. Oh, I also now know where the “Hell is a real place”…

Venom Prison is a band that is fairly local to me and one that has blown up massively and has continued to rise for what is not long coming up to a decade, give or take. Animus is an older album of theirs (how the time flies), and one I missed at the time for various reasons. One of the main things that stands out to me about this on a first listen is the…

With a name like Cosmic Putrefaction I had high hopes but unfortunately this one isn’t for me. Imagine, idk, Disembowelment meets Blood Incantation (again, a sentence to get the blood flowing, no doubt) but with a dark and misty production that obfuscates as much as it bolsters the sound. I can’t put my finger on this one.

Doom 64 was a game that I never thought I would get around to playing, but with the recent remaster and re-release, I was able to get it on Xbox Live. Which is great, because I was never going to buy an N64 or sort out an emulator, let us be honest. Doom 64 is markedly different from the other Doom offerings from the 90s, but is a canonical release and continues the loose story…

Necromantia have an unique and really cool sound. It’s not often you hear the bass so forward in the black metal scenes. Don’t get me wrong, Scarlet Evil Witching Black is not as unusual or unique as later efforts such as, say, The Sound Of Lucifer Storming Heaven, but its still a great record. Personally, I prefer the aesthetic of this record as well as the sound, even if the drums are a little quiet…

This is considered a classic I know, and I decided upon reading a feature length magazine article on the album’s creation that I would check it out. The record also got its 40th birthday during the COVID lockdown endtimes of 2020, which put it on my radar. Yeah, I’ve heard the hits over and over, but I’ve never really given this the time of day. As with the other Ozzy solo stuff I’ve heard –…

Anything with “brethren” in the title gets immediate chuckles from me for reasons I can’t be bothered to explain, but also because its such a stupid and hammy word. Truly, it is the only reason I checked out this early demo from Apostasy. All in all, this is some decent, cavernous old school death. These guys were very obviously worshipping at the altar that was Napalm Death’s transition from grind to death, but all in…

So this is the first time I’ve sat down with a Lustmord record. Honestly, I got bored very quickly. This was nowhere near as crushing or as oppressive in its weight as I was expecting. Then again, what was I expecting? I don’t think I know and perhaps this is part of the problem. This record just came across like a standard movie soundtrack with nothing that really stood out. I guess if I return…

Debodified play busy, chaotic death metal in the school of Cryptopsy and the like. On the Utopia In The Eyes Of The Banished record, and no doubt any other album to their name, the band employ scatterbrain drumming of the frantic blast’n’fill variety, layering on equally jumpy and technical riffage, not to mention globs of disgusting vocals. The band are not afraid to dive into a chugging section every now and then, but endlessly complicated…

Blut Aus Nord is a name that I have seen tossed around for decades. It is probably about time then, to check them out. I assumed that this was the debut record, but that honour seems to go to 1995’s Ultima Thulée. Memoria Vetusta I still has that frosty mid-90s vibe however, reminded me of stuff like Enslaved’s Frost or the Kampfar record with the melting icecaps on the front of it (Mellom Skogkledde Aaser,…

Random listen is random! If I could be so bold this artist immediately reminded me of Lurleen Lumpkin from The Simpsons (I’ve probably spelt that wrong). Hazel Dickens makes workin’ class country music for the workin’ man (or woman). Songs are about the struggles of life and low wage employment, relationships and other difficulties us proles face whilst running the gauntlet of existing and trying to stay alive. All of this is delivered with an…

I was pleasantly surprised to find that a second Jazz Sabbath album has come out. These are very well handled and excellently played interpretations of Sabbath songs that take on more of a life of their own rather than mimic the originals, which is always a sign of a good cover song. It’s easy to say that Jazz Sabbath kinda transcends “covering” songs, though. Check out “N.I.B.” to see what I mean.

Punishing old school death metal for the masses! I was lured in by the candid sleeve art and the related name (lol), and I stayed for the brutal assault. For an early 90s death metal demo tape, this is incredibly well put together, and the production is very clear too. What I love most about Bloodclot’s* songs is the frequent descent into all-out blasting chaos. It reminds me of Harmony Corruption / Utopia Banished era…

You can always count on Mumakil for delivering the breakneck high speed, high gloss polished grindcore. There are many that would say “polished” and “grindcore” shouldn’t exist in the same sentence, and you may possibly even be right, but a market for this kind of stuff does exist (cheers Nasum!). Thankfully however, Mumakil are fantastic and whilst it is initially rather difficult to ascertain the differences between a lot of the songs in this session,…