Archive for May 2023

Anonymous Bodies… has always been my least favourite Swans release. It is the live album that followed The Burning World, and contains tracks from that era as well as some rought outlines of stuff that would come soon after on White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity. Whilst it is interesting to get a view into how the stifled tracks from The Burning World unfolded in a more natural way on the live stage, one…

I’ve had a whole bunch of listens to this thing but it keeps sailing on by. I cannot get a grip on any of the songs, none of which are particularily bad by the way, but leave no trace after they are gone and the next one has started. Hell, the first time I played this the whole thing had looped through without me even realising it, which is not a good thing. I have…

I got drawn in by that sweet, sweet vapor artwork, but quickly it became apparent that this was not the trip I was looking for. Too many fuggen trap beats, for real. If you’re into that, please go ahead and get stuck in, otherwise, stay far away.

I saw Swans on every UK tour that they did between 2010 and the end of the “trilogy” line up in 2017 (or 2018 – I forget). I got a copy of every live album they did too off the back of these experiences (except Deliquescence, which had sold out by the time the tour date nearest me rolled around, goddamn it). You could easily argue that The Gate captures “peak Swans”, who are at…

Vacuous’ debut record expands on the band’s promising sound from demos (EPs?) such as Katabasis. The band have grown from a small unit into a fully fledged 5 piece and the sound has grown along with them. The artwork is fitting; such a messy, confusing maelstrom of what could be flesh but also otherworldly materials is the perfect artistic interpretation of Vacuous’ dense and brutal sound. I’m not going to give you any big brain…

I have a lot of time for Esham but this legitimately sounds like a Goblin-era Tyler outtake set to a stock beat that someone downloaded off Soundcloud. Not a strong start to the promo cycle for the new record, I’ll be honest.

Mysterious but rather hollow sounding four track record from fellow VVelsh countrymen. I think this “hollowness” can easily be attributed to the missing guitar; most of these lengthy pieces are devoid of guitar, instead being led by very loud drums and a backdrop of synthesiser moods. Coupled with the production style, Endless Fucking Winter therefore has a fairly unique sound, one that is cold and sparse and indeed living up to its name.

Solid, funk-influenced hardcore from a Cleveland, OH outfit that features some of the dudes from Mushroomhead, namely one-time vocalist Jason Popson and classic-era guitarist John Sekula (known to MRH fans as JJ Righteous). You can tell immediately upon firing this up that Sekula is playing; that dry, super thick guitar tone that immediately reminds me of M3 comes bursting out of the speakers. As far as the funk influences go I think these are held…

Gross, disgusting, beautiful, old school analogue death metal with grindcore elements. In fact, I hate the term “deathgrind” but to use it to describe bands like Impetigo or Blood is very fitting. Things do stray into Mortician territory here and there (as in, massive horror movie sample chunks are thrown in) but otherwise this is pure raw metal Armageddon. I love everything about this. Sick, pulsating production with thick drums and riffs, and barked or…

Stale, repetitive, uninspiring in just about every possible way. I’m sure there are people out there that listen to this stuff, and I suppose the production quality is pretty good, but my god it’s so bland I can’t even find the words to write about it. I just wish I could get the time back that I spent with this. Oh well. Live and learn.

Cool, calm yet complex jazz from one of the masters. Well, it’s credited to Coltrane in title but just take a look at the full credits – there are some incredible players on this thing. Please forgive my lack of jazz knowledge but Africa / Brass seems like a chilled mix between the bop worlds and the fusion worlds that would soon overtake in popularity. The songs are long and meandering but the backbones of…

For how incredible its album cover is, Savage Empire Of Death does not disappoint. Imagine black metal stylings crossed with sleazy doomy rock (Satan’s Satyrs, Mephistopheles etc.) and you wouldn’t be far off here. In fact, just imagine Black Magick SS with a little less keyboard and a lot less swastikas, and you’re bang on the money. The production is pretty nasty, but that lends much more to the atmosphere and vibe than what it…

A timeless classic of the “Dungeon Synth” genreI’ve found that Fodt Til A Herske has always filled me with a profound sadness; a sadness that once again fills me as I sit here late at night writing this review whilst this record plays. When I first got the CD at 15 years old it felt as sad then as it does now, but with the music pressing on different weights from life. I guess between…

Hmmmmmm that’s some tasty, tasty war metal. Love the sheer sonic obliteration that is the fucking SNARE DRUM alone. That’s my jam. But yeah, in all seriousness, this is heavy as shit. Which is what we want, right? At least from war metal, this is to be expected and I welcome it openly. Is there masses of variation and technical nuance? Perhaps not. Purifying Blade does have more going than your average 30-minutes-blur of a…

This is some super cool shit. I love the mix of melody and absolutely atrocious production – now that my friends, is something to live for. It’s like all the hideously racist shit that comes out of the Finnish scene only without, y’know, any of the hideous racism. Instead we have a pure (lol) distillation of melodic black metal, and it sounds fucking class. Friendship, Love and War is a long album too, clocking in…

Charming and lovely and an absolute pleasure to listen to, but also rather uneventful and not boundary pushing in any way shape or form. I feel like I have fallen into some sort of vaporwave mall / backrooms nightmare, or I’m stuck playing SimCity2000 for the rest of my life – which could be a good vibe if that’s what you are after. Take this on face value and enjoy the smooth tunes, but don’t…

Listening to the Sepultura albums chronologically, I was initially surprised by how Against held it’s own – especially after how much I’d read the first transition to a Max-less world (lol) was recieved. Against held its own, allowing the band to continue as a three-piece but also begin flexing their new 4th member. I expected Nation to be more of this, but unfortunately it doesn’t even compare. Nation is just bad nu metal to the…

One look at that cover art and I had to check this out, even more so when I saw the associated artists for this project were Pussies and Hooded Menace, two bands I would have never put in the same sentence. Hail Conjurer have a ton of recordings but this is the first that I have come across and after a few listens now I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it. The…

Cool, calm and clean, Ethereal Tomb first comes on like a fucking Symphony X record or something, until you quickly realise that you are listening to a death metal record, just recorded and presented with a prog-style production. It is a far cry from the muddy yet gratifying CHONK of albums like The Key or Thresholds, but I found Ethereal Tomb to be a very rewarding listen, especially with repeat visits. The drumming in particular,…

Messy, nasty, horrible metal cranked up to 11. You can feel the youthful energy of this thing overflowing throughout the whole record; be it in the raspy vocals, the crazy guitars or the sloppy, scattered drums. This is like combining early Possessed and early Venom in that machine from The Fly and turning it up to 666%. I.N.R.I. almost sounds to me like the accidental template for “war metal” (stuff like Beherit, Blasphemy and more…

Something that I initially wrote off as a pointless odds-and-ends collection does actually turn out to contain some interesting moments. All the cover songs at the beginning are well worth a listen, and for the sheer oddity of it, as are the tracks that guest Mike Patton and even Jonathan Davis from Korn. But that’s it, really. One for the die-hards and completionists.

An album that failed to resonate with me on every possible level. I love Max, I love nu metal, I love Ross Robinson, but this just does absolutely nothing for me. It’s hard to decide who was floundering more at this point, Sepultura with Against, or Max and Soulfly with this new project. I respect both artists for continuing in their own direction, but I don’t think either direction really paid off. Against by Sepulutra…

You know the score by now – absurdly technical, down-tuned and blurry death metal that is intricately composed yet verging on the possibility of completely falling apart and sounding like completely pointless mush. It is indeed a fine line to walk, and such a constant barrage of Egyptian-theme barbarity can grate on the ears, with or without decent production (Black Seeds… is somewhere in the middle). However, if you are in the mood for have…

The Underground Resistance was something that I really disliked when it first came out, because I had an mp3 rip of this thing that had the tracks listed backwards, and the opening moments of “Leave No Cross Unturned” that had those King Diamond kinda worshipping vocals immediately had me checking the fuck out of there. Of course, in hindsight, this is hilarious as “Leave No Cross Unturned” is easily the best song on this entire…

Absolutely, catagorically, not only one of my favourite black metal albums of all time but one of my favourtie albums of all time from any band in any genre. I’ve put off reviewing this for the 13 years or so that I have been writing about music, because what can be said about such a revered classic? But as I’ve polished off and opined on the remainder of the Darkthrone catalogue, I’ve now been forced…

I’ve had this CD for donkey’s years but broke it out recently after the annoucement of the track listing for the new 2022 Swans album, The Beggar. The CD version of this album contains the apparent third part of the Body Lovers’ trilogy (part 2 being the “Look At Me Go” suite on disc 2 of My Father… from 2010 – which I also need to revisit). I’ve never been that hot on The Body…

1998 was a bad year if you were a die-hard fan of the old Sepultura stuff. In Against, Sepulutra released Roots MK2, but this time with a new vocalist. Disheartened fans may have flocked to Max’s new project Soulfly, only to find Roots MK3 featuring Fred Durst and the guy from Deftones lol. If you were a thrash head in 1998, things were tough. Changing up tack and returning with a new vocalist in the…

Deep (I can’t help but think of The Boys’ character of the same name!) sounds more like a compilation than a unified full length, with a variety of sessions and sounds. Every time a new gorenoise blast comes in, it sounds like its a different recording from a different band or session – it’s all very disjointed. But this is gorenoise motherfuckers, so I doubt most if any people would be at all concerned with…

Man this shit is some groovy fuckin’ metal. Like, damn. I’ve jammed this record about four times over the weekend alone. I love Igor’s drum sound on this. Shit is fucking fat, and shit is fucking tight. Just like the riffs, which are huge, and the bass. The vocals are angry as fuck. I’m not sure what it is about Chaos A.D. that makes Max sound so pissed off with the world, but it works…

I got a bit excited during my multiple re-listens ahead of this review and for a moment thought I was coming here to write that Dark Thrones And Black Flags is my absolute favourite of the “punk”-era Darkthrone. But no, now I think on it, and digest the songs more, whilst it definitely has the coolest name (and thankfully no King Diamond vocals), it’s probably on par with F.O.A.D., and not quite as good as…

Intense, non-stop grindcore with blasting, head-crushing production. The drums alone are enough to cave your skull in. The 6 minutes are over before you know it but yeah, you can just play this thing through again a few more times haha Honestly, super savage and as far as I know, under-rated grindcore. Need to check out some more of their splits.

I’ve heard the cassette version of this, rather than the 7″ (both are by Twisted Truth), and there seems to be a longer tracklist, specifically on the AGx part. AGx bring the live material to a split once more, but thankfully it is of excellent quality and you can really get a sense for how these guys just absolutely rip it live (seen them a few times, can confirm). Rotocles are noisy as fuck, which…

Well into the “Darkthrone with attitude” era (lol), came Circle The Wagons. Interestingly, from the Cult Is Alive onwards, the band transitioned from blackened crust punk to blackened heavy metal. This record doesn’t have the absurd falsetto vocals that its follow-up has, but it’s still pretty much raw heavy metal right down to the bone. This either works or doesn’t, depending on the individual track, but either way I respect Darkthrone for just y’know, doing…

Judgment Day is probably my least favourite of the early Esham records, but that’s moreso because the other stuff just beyond kills it, rather than Judgement Day being particularily awful or anything like that. Hey, releasing a double album as your second record is a bold move especially when you consider how fast and loose Boomin’ Words From Hell is. Judgement Day is a step forward to the man’s known signature acid rap sound, but…

I tend to see Judgement Day as one whole album, as a modern listener that’s how it’s presented to us on streaming services, so its hard to appreciate the split between the two records. I’d love to get some of this wicked shit on CD but the prices are just absurd, even for the remasters that happened recently. Anyway, part 2, “night”, is choc full of fucking amazing rap tunes. The opening track is awesome,…

UGH. On Hate Them, Darkthrone seems to channel a bunch of Tom G Warrior droning riff energy (moreso than usual) into their perfected turn of the millenium sound (such as on Plaguewielder and Ravishing Grimness). One could argue however that Hate Them lives up to it’s name, and hits a bit harder than the previous albums in this style. The songs just seem all that more angrier, with songs like “Fucked Up And Ready To…

On GWAR’s 7th studio album (8th if you count the soundtrack stuff they did), it would be easy to accuse them of going astray from their true sound. I think however, that would be an ignorant thing to say. Sure, it looks that way on the surface, but if you think about the Death Piggy days, and even the debut Hell-O, punk has always been a part of GWAR’s ethos. Sure, 90s-to-the-core “punk rock” stuff…

Holy Diver was an excellent way to kick off the “solo” effort of Ronnie James Dio, riding hot off the success of both Sabbath records, Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules. Dio Sabbath isn’t my favourite thing in the world, but I heavily appreciate the work that the group did together with Dio (and not to mentioned, Dehumanizer is awesome and under-rated!). With Vinny Appice being onboard this doesn’t sound a hundred miles away from…

I love this album and return to it quite frequently. It isn’t something I would ever have found on my own; I have their annoucement for Roadburn festival about 11/12 years ago to thank for forcing me to check out their records. But, I’m glad to be here. At first, when the opening riff of “Freelance Fiend” comes forth from the speakers, it sounds kinda weird and hollow, and you may be forgiven for thinking…

This split is the first I’d heard of either of these bands, and I gotta say, it was as uncompromising and as headache-inducing as I expected it to be. I don’t have a physical copy so it’s hard for me to tell where one band ends and the other begins (lol) but if absurdly abrasive audible hell is somewhere in your wheelhouse, you should enjoy this. As someone who “came up through” the cybergrind/digigrind online…

When the jump from Gorerotted to The Rotted originally happened, I wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of the decision. After seeing the band live in The Rotted form in either 2009 or 2010, that opinion quickly changed and I got myself this CD. It is, to be fair, a really fun listen if you like your metal injected with the usual energy and bile you would get on a hardcore punk record. The opening one-two…

Type O Negative is one of my favourite bands of all time, and Peter Steele is one of the most unique artists of all time. Therefore, every bone in my body wanted to like this, for the cover art, for the vibe, for the flat out Type O worship, but alas, it’s just not very good. “Windows” is by far the best track (and its not as good as people are making out) but the…

I just love that cover art – I’m not even entirely sure what exactly it is supposed to be, but I love it regardless. I’m not sure if it accurately describes the sound of Sepultura on this record, but that’s by the by. Arise is another solid early-career release from the group, obviously with Max still leading the way. Chunky, very well crafted songs meets chunky, very well crafted production techniques from the absolute hero…

Dark Medieval Times is one of those weird albums that I really love despite having no personal stand-out tracks. It just flows so well, and the production and / or atmosphere are absolutely on point. In fact, I’d even go as far as saying that the recent remaster of this thing (despite having sub par artwork) goes a long way in evening out some of the feel that this record is cobbled together from various…

My vocabulary when it comes to reviewing jazz is noticeably stunted. I don’t know enough about the genre (at least as not as much as I do about grind, death metal and black metal lol) in order to be fully comfortable when describing what I hear, but what I do know is that I thoroughly enjoy what I hear, and Soultrane is another one of those records that I’ve really enjoyed recently. As I noted…

The 6 year gap between The Grudge and Perfectly Defect had me completely checked out from the world of Mortiis. Granted, through the MySpace days I kept up to date on the hefty touring he was doing with his full band, and I even saw them myself in I think 2005, and they were great. The Grudge wasn’t my favourite thing in the world, but I really enjoyed the remixes on Some Kind Of Heroin….

Decent 7″ record from early Nocturnus. It’s not as great as The Key or the stuff that followed, and it’s really similar to a Morbid Angel kinda vibe, but despite this its actually pretty good. I don’t have a ton to say as it’s only two tracks, but its well worth checking out.

It’s a rare thing to find war metal stuff with such a strong production. The sound on Sepulchral Chants… is crystal clear, but the band lose none of their bite for it. Expect balls to the wall, non-stop, suffocating brutality that hits a lot of genre tropes but also has it’s own sound and presence. For those who like their black metal uncompromising and disgusting as absolute fuck, look no further.

You could argue that once you’ve heard one Revenge album then you’ve heard them all. But, I disagree. This shit is fucking incredible from the word “go” until it’s end about half hour later. Sure, the style doesn’t change much from the album before it, but even at the end of this I’m left salivating for more (give or take a bit of ear fatigue after letting it run through twice). Do I have any…

I’ve kind of been here before, twice before lol, but that’s OK. When your band is called Destructive Explosion Of Anal Garland, you do not need to be completely innovative and progressive. That is not to say the sound hasn’t improved over the trilogy of albums thusfar, mind you. But yeah, what I’m trying to say is that some times, you just want to put your trousers on your head and dance around in a…

This is a very nice black metal album. I mean that in a way that is, well, just a pleasure to listen to. It is still harsh and cold, and not overly melodic, but retains that overarching atmospheric quality that stuff like Burzum pioneered, and what hundreds of bands strive for and often completely miss. Songs about Ukranian nationalism or not, this is a solid black metal release. It is the first I’ve heard from…

Fear Factory hit quite the stride over the last decade or two. Unsure if you would class it as a second wind as such, but there has definitely been elements of revival and invigoration in the band’s sound. Of course, Burton is now gone, but that’s another story for another time. On Aggression Continuum, things have a very real danger of becoming stale, but despite that threat being ever-present, generally this is pretty solid and…

I love this earlier style of artwork that adorned many of the band’s releases in the beginning. Proper creepy shit. I’d be lying if it truly represented the sound however, at least here on Deathwish, which is bubbling with energy and completely alive, rather than spooky and ethereal and ghostly. Those elements would come later, even so, in this proto-post-punk stage, or form, Christian Death’s music was still very odd – charmingly so, of course.

I was quite the fan of With No Human Intervention in my teenage years, but I never really gelled all that well with the later Aborym stuff. Generator is far from a bad album, and it certainly seems unfair to rank it lower than a 3.5/5 or something like that. However, the more polished elements here just have me pining for the harsh industrail coldness of the previous record. I will commend Aborym for their…