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Aborted - Slaughter
and Apparatus: A Methodical Overture (Century Media) Review by
James Young |
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A wonderfully offensive band name doesn’t always mean that
musically a band will deliver the goods, but Aborted time and
time again show that they can manage both, and their new
concoction, Slaughter And Apparatus: A Methodical Overture is
absolutely no exception. These Belgians somehow manage to
blend the intensity of gore-grind with a melodic, almost
Gothenburg-like metal edge (that would make Gore-thenburg,
surely?) and blimey does it work. Imagine all the
non-irritating elements of In Flames in a head on collision
with the excitement of Dying Fetus, taking place in a
blood-spattered abattoir, and you’re still not even close to
the genius of this album. It’s the logical progression from
the previous platter, |
The
Archaic Abattoir, but whilst the last release took a groovier
form, this in-your-face assault on the senses is simply out to
destroy. How they managed to combine the crisp production of
melodic outfits such as Dark Tranquillity and Soilwork with the oppressive nastiness of
bands like Cryptopsy perhaps we’ll never know, but it works a
treat. In the same way as Dying Fetus (and let’s not make any
comparisons with the band names…), there are twin vocals,
shared between Sven De Caluwe and Sebastien Tuvi, one style a
gurgled grunt and the other a yelp which resembles the dark
Norwegian kings Dimmu Borgir. Extreme? You bet.
The headbanging masterclass begins with ‘The Chondrin Empire’,
and although no better or worse than what follows, sets the
tone perfectly for the rest of the album, with some catchy
hooks and Dying Fetus style insanity. The use of a
hardcore-style breakdown is absolutely brutal – don’t be
scared though, these guys don’t wear tights on their arms –
it’s all in the good name of violence rather than emulating
the metalcore masses. The melodic nectar of the solo fits
beautifully in the chaos, reminiscent of latter-day Carcass,
and all is finished off on a pinpointed grunt, followed by the
sound of a beating heart. The madness continues into ‘A
Methodical Overture’, with those sublime guitar squeaks giving
that death metal tinge we all know and love. The drumming of
David Haley is absolutely awesome throughout the album,
reaching inhuman proportions in ‘The Spaying Séance’, and the
lack of repetition in the patterns is praiseworthy. In
‘Ingenuity In Genocide’ and ‘Odious Emanation’, the only
drummer I can think of to rival such technical footwork is
Desecration’s Mic – absolutely jaw-dropping stuff. The
relentlessness of the double kick drums at points sometimes
reminded me of Zyklon at their hair-spinning best, especially
with the screamed vocals, such as in ‘Prolific Murder
Contrivance’, but the melodic solos always add yet another
dimension. These solos range from the duel harmonies of
‘Odious Emanation’ to the intricacy of ‘And Carnage Basked In
Its Ebullience’, making for a varied, and what’s more,
exciting listen. ‘Avenious’ could almost be mistaken for new
In Flames for the first minute, with its thrashy riffs and
expansive atmospheres, and although many people might see this
as a turn-off, the addition of blast-beats, grunts and
outstanding double kick patterns certainly makes for an
interesting listen.
Forget genres, this is ‘extreme metal’ at its absolute finest,
and it will take many a listen to appreciate the workmanship
that has gone into each song. Lying under the primitive
intensity of each song is a maze of subtle hooks and
intricacies, just waiting to be discovered. Let’s just say
that if you haven’t a-bought-it already (ahem), you should be
asking yourself why not.
www.centurymedia.com |
www.goremageddon.de
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Antarktis Utopia -
030550 (Self Release) Review by Steve Green |
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I love the concept for this album's artwork - a short
monologue about the band members being executed on completion
of this, Antarktis Utopia's debut album. And the statement is
backed up by a shot (pun intended) of the 4 band member having
been executed. A nice touch for a Death Metal album.
Calling Antarktis Utopia a Death Metal band is perhaps the
easy part. 030550 is a very busy album, with drums, vocals and
guitars firing in from all angles, it's not until halfway
through third cut Cold Front that the melody contained within
finally begins to settle down. The pulverizing Aeternum Vale
makes way for the lullaby intro for the impossibly tranquil |
(and it
has to be said, stunningly beautiful) Prelude To... and I'm
completely amazed at how these Finns have the nerve to fuck
with my head so much. As the majestic intro to Cleansing
breaks the spell, I gotta say I'm hooked on this album. 030550
doesn't follow any trend. It may have taken a hell of a long
time since the bands inception in 1997, but at least it's
given the band time to craft their own sound and identity.
Samples, spoken word passages, atmospherics etc.. have all
been used before, but I like the way Antarktis Utopia utilize
them and they way they keep the album feeling fresh as you
never know which direction it'll take next.
Harvesters of Human Flesh as the title suggests isn't another
lullaby, and is probably as heavy as it gets on the album
(although Blood of a Thousand is a strong contender too) with
the dual vocal attack of Anssi and Hennka at it's most potent,
I think it just edges it. Just after the 3 minute mark,
another curveball is implemented with a stupendously melodic
guitar solo/passage that just comes out of nowhere. It's
presence is short-lived as the mayhem returns almost
immediately. Rounding the album off is a re-working of Shadow
In Beauty, which originally appeared on the bands 2002 demo
and a corking version of Sepultura's Territory, which I can't
believe was released 14 years ago!!!!
www.antarktisutopia.net |
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Dark Tranquillity -
Fiction (Century Media)
By: Joe Florez |
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While some people had objections to Projector several records
back (I loved it and that‘s where my interest in the band
began), the boys have been on track and have gotten better
since then. It’s now their seventh album into their career
and this is quite frankly their finest hour. “Nothing To No
One” is a meaty opener that contains the usual melodic, yet
twin guitar assaults from Niklas and Martin. The keyboards add
a nice touch of class to the chaos without drowning out the
sound. The drums are always on cue and even some blast beats
are subtly tossed in for a fresh sound and as far as Mike’s
voice goes, it’s in rare form as he continues to growl his way
through with great efficiency. It’s infectious as hell as |
| you have
come to expect, but it seems like the music is darker than
before and harder. And this my friends, is just the beginning.
“The Lesser Faith” still packs a punch when it wants to, but
with the way that the keyboards are utilized here it has a
romantic vibe. It’s interesting just how they are able to take
a song and morph it into many intriguing ways and holding your
interest. It would be on Terminus that they would manage to
encompass the future, present and the past ala The Gallery and
Mind’s I which has made them famous. The rhythmic patterns are
furious, yet having a touch of tribal feel thanks to the way
that Anders strikes his set during some of the breakdowns. As
we stroll along the disc with high impact energy songs, things
wind down with an interesting track “The Mundane And The
Magic.” It sort of has a gothic feel, but that’s because they
acquired a female singer to come in and do the clean parts. I
am not used to the band doing this, but it’s cool. It just
goes to show that DT can take risks and not be afraid. Fiction
really runs the gamut in terms of sounds as it manages to
incorporate many styles in each song which in the end provides
freshness and consistent entertainment. They went the distance
on this one pulling out all the stops and its paid off.
www.centurymedia.com
| www.darktranquillity.com |
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Dustsucker - Jack
Knife Rendezvous (LMP)
By: Joe Florez |
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The LMP label is mostly known for serving up power metal and
true metal discs to the public, but has branched out by
dabbling with the gothic genre and dirty rock and roll with
Gun Barrel. Now, they can add Dustsucker (cool name by the
way) to the roster. These Germans have a couple of discs
already to on their resume and now it’s time for a new
release. The supped up “Dead On Wheels” contains some high
octane guitar work that’s down n’ dirty and some slamming drum
work. The vocals of one Max Count Farmer are gritty and croony,
but highly unoriginal. It’s simple and right to the point. The
title track seems to have some racing gas injected into this
tune as it’s faster than the opener and |
| meaner.
Max screams his way through this one and it sounds forced.
After three rip roaring tracks that didn’t want to stop,
“Under The Hammer” is a more mid-paced track that has an intro
that will be tattooed in your brain for a while. What I like
about this is that this change up is needed, but the impact
never suffers. It’s still tough as nails. The problem with
this disc is that while it’s a fun high to be on for the first
ten minutes it gets monotonous after a while as Mr. Farmer
does nothing to change up his voice. It’s consistent, but
fails to travel different avenues if you catch my drift. Also,
the music does little to add a little spice in its life. It
pretty much follows a blueprint and never deviates from it.
This is in the vein of classic Hellacopters, Backyard Babies, Motorhead and such, but
does little to make their sound memorable. Sure, there is
nothing wrong with writing a simple record and it might not be
the most original thing either (I.E. Motorhead and AC/DC)
write the same thing over and over, but the difference is that
they try to tweak their tempos and signature sound just a tad
to keep things interesting. These guys really don’t and with
the countless artists trying their hardest to make you notice
them, very few of them make an impression and while I think
the music isn’t that bad, they need to do more in order to
survive because otherwise they are done. Decent stuff, but not
enough to make the grade.
www.dustsucker.de
| www.limb.music.de |
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Ektomorf - Outcast (Nuclear Blast)
By: Joe Florez |
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This band has irked me for the longest time. Ektomorf has
always sounded like a carbon copy of Soulfly. Everything about
this group oozes of the Brazilian artist. The vocals , the
sounds, the whole package about these Hungarians reek of their
influence to the point of plagiarizing. They are now seven
records into their career and they dish out constant
repetitiveness. This outfit to their credit has some cool
rhythms and I like the way that they incorporate their native
influences. You can hear this on the title cut. It’s vicious
and unrelenting, but far from original. Lead screamer Farkas
growls his way through to the point that it sounds like he’s
constipated. The rhythm section does rock the foundation and
it’s |
awesome
as hell, but it quickly sinks back into Max Cavalera territory thanks to the dying voice. What’s sad is
that I can pick any tune on here, “I Choke”, “I’m Against” and
so forth and it’s the same thing. Ok, maybe they will slip
some chuga chuga riffs ala nu-metal style into the mix. What
sucks is that I have heard potential on all the releases that
I have received for some originality, but the ball bounces
every time and reverts back to their stubborn ways. I hate to
be harsh about some bands and I know that Farkas gets
constantly upset when he hears about the comparisons, but it
can’t be denied. I will give the band props on “Who Can I
Trust (Prayer)” because it’s one of the rare songs that is
slow. Its acoustic guitars are colorful and somber with a
simpler drum pattern, but the screaming remains and their
ethnic influences are injected. This is what I would like to
hear more of…a pattern not completely taken by their mentors.
Bottom line is that there are numerous bands trying to infect
your ears with the same rubbish that has already been
perfected. Hey, find a new direction and run with it.
Honestly, this isn’t worth the time or effort. There are too
many artists vying for your attention and this one doesn’t
need it.
www.ektomorf.com
| www.nuclearblast.de
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Followed by Silence
- Self-titled (Fist Music) Review by Frank Allain |
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What the hell is going on here? The name and misguided
pseudonyms alone should have set the alarm bells ringing but
it’s only upon actually encountering the music of this outfit
that the real problem becomes startlingly evident. Y’see,
despite drenching the record sleeve in pentagrams and frequent
references to ‘snow and Satan’ in the lyrics, these boys quite
clearly know very little indeed about black metal. In fact, as
the stop-start polyrhythms and jagged riffs of opening track
‘Disgust is Relative’ assault the ears, it becomes quite clear
that what we have here is a group of metalcore devotees who
have seemingly just got their mitts on a copy of Dissection’s
‘Storm of the Light’s Bane’ and want in on the action. |
Nothing about this record makes any sense whatsoever – the
music may be accomplished in its technical execution but the
seemingly random collision of melodic black metal, death metal
and jagged ‘mathcore’ makes for uneasy listening. The
relentlessly double-tracked vocals begin to grate almost
instantaneously (after five minutes of them, you’ll wish your
ears had never been born) whilst the bone-dry production
imparts about as much atmosphere as one would encounter in a
trip to Tesco’s. The whole affair is just stunningly
ill-considered – ‘Beaten to Death’ spouts easily-deciphered
and violent lyrics (choice cut ‘I pulped your fucking skull!’)
over some of the album’s most reflective and melodic moments.
Why? Later on the song ‘Snow Falls on the Forest’ leads in to
subsonic brutality and again, I have to question this
seemingly random allocation of titles to song-styles.
Throughout the album, we are assaulted again and again by
stop-start breakdowns and unnecessary ‘pseudo-tech’ guitar
lines which, far from adding a sense of inspired intrigue to
proceedings, come across as unnecessary and forced. Nope, the
band have left me well and truly scratching my head with this
one and I really cannot see what they are trying to achieve
with this unappetising mish-mish of sonic concepts. Sadly, the
silence that followed ‘Followed by Silence’ was perhaps the
most enjoyable aspect of the experience.
www.followedbysilence.com
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www.myspace.com/followedbysilence |
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Forget Cassettes -
Salt (Tangled Up/One Little Indian) Review by Steve Green |
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I know we are broadening our horizons here at Live 4 Metal
towers, but the female vocals at the start of Venison were so
fragile, I thought we'd been sent this as a joke. Thankfully,
Beth Cameron moves swiftly through the gears, the intensity
builds and builds and I'm able to breathe a huge sigh of
relief. Quiero, Quieres is much easier to get into and is in
fact a lot heavier than some of the mainstream Metal releases
we get sent. The Catch hits it's groove straight away and Beth
Cameron's emotional display shows there's more to life than
Courtney Love when it comes to the grittier side of Girl
Rock/Feminist Punk (I'm at odds to use the term Riot Grrrl) |
| Whether it's revealing her more angst ridden side (Nicholas)
or her softer side (My Maraschino, Lonely Does It and the
autobiographical Patience, Beth (reprise) which is hauntingly
beautiful), Beth Cameron has a captivating voice. Obviously
not in the vein of Metals operatic chanteuses, which makes a
nice change, despite my love of such styles. Away from my more
metallic tastes, I do like to listen to Kristin Hersch, which
isn't that far removed from Salt's more mellow moments. Again,
not your normal L4M fare, but those of an interest for female
fronted bands such as Babes In Toyland, L7 and Hole are going
to like this. I most definitely did.
www.forgetcassettes.com |
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Furze - UTD (Candlelight Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Take equal parts Darkthrone, Sargeist, and Beherit. Add a dash
of Black Funeral and Black Crucifixion. Blend at high speed
with a thinned out production. After 45 minutes or so, you
will have eight servings of the latest from yet another one
man Norwegian raw black metal project called Furze. The sole
creation of Woe Reaper, Furze’s latest full-length is entitled
“UTD: Beneath The Odd-Edge Sounds To The Twilight Contract Of
The Black Fascist/The Wealth Of The Penetration In The
Abstract Paradigmas Of Satan”. If you can figure out what the
Hell this means, please email me.
Sloppily played, raw black metal is the name of the game here,
folks, but it is played with |
such a
manic glee and enthusiasm that the musical shortcomings of Woe
Reaper can be overlooked. Consisting of fuzzed out guitar riffing rife with mistakes
combined with some strange solos thrown in as an afterthought,
Furze somehow manages to pull together a rather horrid mess
into an enjoyable listen with a degree of originality. Some
frenetic, almost gleeful, drumming with simple patterns,
rolls, and fills supports the grimy guitars, and some rasped
vocals reminiscent of, say, Beherit or Black Crucifixion adds
a layer of atmosphere. In addition, there are a few great
moments late in the album with some interesting bass lines
(which is rather prominent throughout the entire affair)
interlaced with some crunchy, almost catchy, guitars. This is
where Furze is at its best and most original and you find
yourself sitting up and taking notice.
Now, some of you may be saying, “Hey, didn’t he just more or
less pan Striborg for playing basically the same style?” Well,
the fine line between great and poor raw black metal may be
sometimes hard to find. I found that to be the case with this
release, but it all more or less boils down to a gut reaction
sometimes. Furze is sloppy, yes, but there’s some originality
here to prop up the poor musicianship. In addition, as noted,
Woe Reaper’s enthusiasm shines through on this release,
ultimately preventing a boring and tiresome exercise. This
description may be vague, but it does fit Furze’s “UTD”.
Recommended.
www.furze.net
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www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
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Gama Bomb - Survival
Of The Fastest (Witches Brew) Reviewed by Marco Gaminara |
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From the non-digital artwork on the cover and the layout of
the booklet, I was immediately taken back to the late 80's
thrash albums where things were just done for the hell of it
and to be as loud and as fast as possible. Popping in the CD,
which sadly has a nasty crack in it owing to the postal
service I'll bet, reaffirms that summation. While not sounding
anywhere as whiney as John Connelly, Philly Byrne's vocals
fall squarely into the thrash category of love 'em or hate 'em.
Kevy Canavan fills any available space with leads over Luke
Graham and Joe McGuigan's rhythm and bass guitars and Paul
Caffrey pounding away on the drums. Opener "Zombie Creeping
Flesh", starts things off really well letting you know that |
there's
going to be no respite to the frenzied riffs and old school
wails. Yes, the lyrics are completely mundane, but really
funny as “Steel Teeth (The Metal Jaw)” prove, but it also
shows that this band is all about fun and metal, not at all to
be taken seriously. Back to the undead with "Zombie
Kommand" where they "scream for metal", or is that mercy?
Reading like the plotline to a B Grade horror movie,
"Atomizer" chugs along at the unrelenting pace the rest of the
album shall maintain, but Kevy's lead on this song is
particularly impressive. When listening to "Fortified Zone"
which has all the flair an H-Team song, I can only think "was
the stuff I listened to in the 80's really this cheesy" to
which the answer is "Damned right it was". But on the other
hand there were just as many pertinent topics covered, as Gama
Bomb does with "Racists!" and "Scientists?". Littered with
screams, and also the point where the crack in the CD becomes
very evident cos the song skips like a scratched record, man I
used to hate having that happen to my vinyl, but thank fully
MySpace also happens to have "Hell Trucker" up, so I could
listen to it there. "Nuke The Skeets" is 14 seconds long on my disc,
but it definitely gets the message across, and thankfully they
have a definition for skeet, which is the Irish equivalent for
a chav, so the sentiment is approved. Another skipping song,
but having nothing to do with 'A Nightmare Before Christmas' "Skellington
Crew" is pretty much unlistenable on my copy, so I move on to
another MySpace tune, as the CD stops playing at this point,
but "Bullet Belt" is possibly the fastest track on the CD and
as they say "it's time to trash like it's '86", but I disagree
with the comment that all reformed 80's thrash bands released
drivel this century, only some.
My copy of the CD also contains the EP 'The Fatal Mission',
however the 2 bonus tracks "The Survival Option" and "M.A.D."
don't play at all owing to the aforementioned crack, but I'm
guessing they're probably along similar lines to the rest.
www.gamabomb.tk
| www.witches-brew.org
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