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Obituary - Xecutioner’s Return (Candlelight Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Where to begin? Florida- style death metal founding fathers
Obituary have been demolishing the metal audience since 1984,
when the Tardy brothers and Trevor Peres started Xecutioner.
Just prior to the release of “Slowly We Rot”, the band’s name
was changed to Obituary and the rest, so to speak, is history.
After a long hiatus, 2005 saw the band return with “Frozen In
Time”, and, now very notably, their last release on Roadrunner
Records, a label rather notorious for treating their more
extreme roster members poorly.
I say that “Frozen In Time” is notable in that, although I
gave the album a very positive review (deservedly so), the
band essentially put out an album to fulfil their commitment
to |
Roadrunner without quite delivering the album that they’re
more than capable of. I said at the end of that review that
their next release should be a monster. It is.
“Xecutioner’s Return” sees the band rejuvenated. Now on
Candlelight Records, whose promo material very much reflects a
label solidly in the band’s camp, the title of the record
obviously speaks of a rebirth, mostly in terms of focus and
songwriting, rather than a change in style (I mean, get real).
“Xecutioner’s Return” is bread and butter Obituary, a seamless
blend of “Cause Of Death” and “The End Complete”, arguably the
band’s finest albums. Bursting with riffs and variations in
tempo from the slow, crushing vibrations to bursts of non-blastbeat
speed, “Xecutioner’s Return” also features some of John
Tardy’s best vocals. His trademark howl has a certain power on
this release that, perhaps, had been lacking on the band’s
last few albums.
Perhaps the only impediment to Obituary’s rebirth with
“Xecutioner’s Return” is the continuing alcohol and legal woes
of Allen West. However, recent Deicide escapee Ralph Santolla
more than adequately steps in and provides hints of the liquid
solos that enhance Obituary’s sound as exemplified by James
Murphy’s contributions on “Cause Of Death”. Given that
Santolla stepped into the band just prior to the recording of
“Xecutioner’s Return”, the solos present on the album perhaps
only hint at what could follow on subsequent releases, should
Obituary choose to retain Santolla.
Death metal fans, rejoice! Obituary are back in a big way with
“Xecutioner’s Return”, an album that seems to get better with
each listen. Buy or fuckin’ die!
www.obituary.cc/
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www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
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Ravencult - Temples Of Torment (Dark Essence Records)
Review by Crin |
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Greek Black Metal has a heritage of equal merit to the
English, Swedish and in some respects, the Norwegians.
The very mention of Rotting Christ evokes the Greek scenes
very essence. Other Greek luminaries are Necomantia, Kawir, Varathron,
Flames, Thou Art Lord, to name the more known acts.
Ravencult are driven with a self assertiveness to plunder all
that has preceded them and regurgitate the spoils into
exciting and head thumping Black Metal.
Speed is not the driving force here, [and there is plenty of
it] rather melodic tracks that keep in tune to the Black Metal
ethos of their own culture oozes from the compositions. |
At times the sound reminds me of a modern Darkthrone at their
most melodic and Metalized, a dirty flamboyant Black Metal
entity of numerous faces.
Even the vocals are Fenris and Gaahl inspired. The band can
alternate from blistering, head fucking thrashing tracks to
head nodding slow burners. At this albums core resides the
residue of Bathory and Celtic Frost, a seething under current
that bleeds into the bands repertoire.
The way the tracks meander from raw, raging Black Metal into
pure retro moments, is also a very evident characteristic of
Norway’s Taake, the only other band that has mastered this
style of old and new fusion. Its still pretty primitive and
underground, so you purists don’t need to worry about any
polished production here.
Ravencult are not obviously Greek in sound, instead the band
are unashamedly feeding from a Nordic root source. The band
have honed their sound and fashioned this albums material from
numerous live outings with the likes of Mayhem, Carpathian
Forest, Rotting Christ, Behemoth, Arcturus, Ancient, and many
others.
www.darkessencerecords.no |
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Ride The Sky - New Protection (Nuclear Blast)
By: Joe Florez |
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I heard about this project brewing for quite some time thanks
to the internet news. This was something concocted by ex-Masterplan
and ex-Helloween drummer Uli Kusch. Other folks involved in
this super band include members or exes of Beyond Twilight,
Tears Of Anger, Stormwind (sounds Manowarish, but I like it),
Dionysus and Xsavior. Taking the name from a Helloween song,
you would guess that this would be straight up traditional
German power metal with unrelenting double bass drumming. Boy,
was I in for a surprise. In the intro to the title track that
revs things up, you get these crisp and clean drum strikes
that have a progressive feel and the bells are chiming in and
one would guess that this would |
lead to something heavy, but no. Things stop and Tears Of
Anger vocalist Bjorn Jansson sings
solo and then everyone gets plugged in, but the music goes
more for a heavied up AOR/metal lite sound. The keyboards
brought on board provide more of an electro/atmospheric feel
and the guitars are melodic and easy going. Don’t get me
wrong, you won’t fall asleep, but it’s not earth shattering as
one would expect. It’s mid tempo, has enough energy to keep
you wide awake and in the end it’s enjoyable. As we move
along, “A Smile From Heaven’s Eye” has these very happy and
upbeat keyboards complete with more ambience thrown into the
mix and light double bass drumming. The composition seems to
have some sort of string arrangement thrown in here. It’s not
as noticeable, but if you listen closely you can hear it.
There are some moments when this track picks up, but it’s
pretty safe and there is some shredding, but it’s very
minimal. After taking it easy for the first three tracks, “The
Prince Of Darkness” kicks it into high gear just like I would
have expected. It does have a Helloweenesque to the song, but
they do their own thing as it goes into fifth gear with a
faster paced double bass drumming and the tempo vibe is kicked
up a few notches. Bjorn’s vocals are also a bit more gruffy
and stand out a bit more. The black and white keys have a
slight Dream Theater touch as they are fancy, but not breathtaking. No new ground is broken here, but power metal fans
that like it simple and straightforward should eat this up
with no problem. The songs are pretty much consistent from top
to bottom with more of the songs getting a little spiced up at
the quarter mark.
This is a mature debut by five artists that
I could see more on a Frontiers label rather than Nuclear
Blast because for the simple fact that it’s not a rip-roarer
that is usually on the NB roster. I think fans of any of the
bands mentioned above will flock to Uli and this product with
no problem. I just think that this is a little underwhelming
and while it’s not a bad first time go at this thing, I am
just not jumping out of my seat and dying to get this before
the release date. It’s not bad, but we kind of heard it
before. www.ridethesky.eu
| www.nuclearblast.de
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Severance - Suffering In Humanity (Goregiastic Records) Review
by James Young |
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A few brutal death metal acts spring to mind when I think of
Texas - there’s Belligerent, Devourment and Insidious
Decrepancy to name but a few, but the name Severance has never
really come my way, which is surprising as the band have been
together since 1989. Suffering In Humanity is a good enough
album, along the lines of Suffocation and Monstrosity, with
heavy blasting patches, and chugging passages elsewhere.
Unsurprisingly, there’s very little originality on display,
but the band do what they do very well. The production is
certainly well-executed, lacking the polish of an established
band, which actually suits the brutal slamming riffs on offer
here. The biscuit tin drums and down-tuned |
guitars aren’t always well-balanced, but for such an extreme
sound, it doesn’t really matter. One gripe with the album
would be its overly long running length - heck yes, it’s value
for money with twelve songs lasting fifty minutes, but who on
earth can withstand such an onslaught for that amount of time?
A more selective track list may have left one wanting more at
the end rather than wondering when it was going to end,
especially with the average running time of four to five
minutes per song. The latter point never really mattered too
much, because the song-writing is generally first class, with
well-placed double bass drumming from Jaime Perez beefing up
the crushing passages, mingled with excellent blasts and
slamming riffs and the occasional mindblowing solo (take ‘Hatred Within’ for
instance). The abundance of tracks is therefore the main
problem with the album, which makes each song, as unique as
they are, rather ‘unspecial’.
The vocals are your standard cookie-monster affair, with Joe
Vasquez sounding as evil and aggressive as Suffocation’s Frank
Mullen in his prime, along with some evil screeched vocals
such as on ‘Consumed’, which sounds like a record being played
backwards. Being an impossible task to dissect the album, it’s
probably best to take its standout elements - one of the best
songs on the album which is lost amongst the general clutter
is ‘Detri-mental’, which truly lives up to its name. Apart
from the mesmerising riffs and excellent vocals, the breakdown
is as heavy as hell and full of squeaking guitars and precise
double kick drumming, making for a memorable track. The
general mood to the rest of the album is one of sheer
brutality, which is why fifty minutes is simply too long,
especially with the atmospheric interlude of ‘Suffering’, as
interesting as it is, and the outro ‘Inhumanity’, which uses
acoustic guitars and strings to give the album an epic element
which it doesn’t particularly need. A Pentagram cover is not
as doomy as one would expect, but still as chunky as the rest
of the album, which begs the question of how necessary the
song actually is. A bonus video of ‘Consumed’ is another
unwelcome addition to the album, with its horrendously bad
slideshow formula and amateur gig footage, which looks worse
than some of the fan-footage I’ve seen on YouTube.
All of this would make it seem that this album was a flop, but
in the end it just appears that too much went into this album
- there was a five year gap since their last release, and
perhaps they were overcompensating. The music itself is rather
excellent, if unoriginal, but there’s simply a little too much
of it.
www.severancemetal.com |
www.myspace.com/severancemetal |
www.goregiasticrecords.com
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Sikfuk - Teabagged At Birth (Goregiastic Records) Review by
James Young |
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Fully aware that this band could quite easily be eaten up by
the kiddies wanting to scare their parents with offensive
names (take ‘Snowballed By Grandma’ for instance’), Sikfuk are
actually one of the most entertaining and original death metal
acts I’ve come across in a long time, and deserve praise not
so much for their over-the-top name or song titles, but their
ability to create music that is genuinely ‘sick’. This, the
two-piece’s second full-length album, is laced with samples,
one introducing each of the seven songs which last less than
half an hour in total. Quality is far greater than quantity
though, and it is far from being your standard Mortician ‘once
song fits all’ fare. Nik Blanton’s riffs are nauseating, but
not |
necessarily fast, creating a stomach-churning feeling. Take
opener ‘Tits Covered In Dickhole Sores’ - the winding
central riff is the equivalent of being teleported into the
mind of a serial killer on a murder rampage, perfectly
befitting the sketchy and hectic album art. Occasionally there
are flyaway guitar squeaks amongst the general onslaught,
including on ‘The Fowl Mishappenings Of Dr. Nutcheese’, which
add another dimension to the band’s sound.
Vocally, this is as extreme as music gets, with Blanton
literally spewing into a microphone. Apparently there are no
lyrics, but numbered vocal patterns are used. This works
fantastically well, giving them the quality of a musical
instrument, akin to the likes of Romerprop. In some cases,
such as on ‘Deadhooker Double Penetration’ and ‘Fucked With A
Dildo Bong’, he literally oinks in time to the guitar and
drums. The drumming of Jake LeMay is a mighty combination of
slow breakdowns, fast double bass drums, blasts, and even
faster gravity blasts, but never does the technical playing of
each instrument lose the other, with an almost telepathic
quality between Blanton and LeMay, making this a very
technical brand of brutal death metal. Never do you feel like
the drumming repeats itself in the whole album, which is
exactly how it should be. The most obvious feature missing
from the band is a bassist, but with such an intense sound
with just the guitar, drums and guttural grunts, you won’t be
missing one.
Call it gore-grind, porn-grind or death metal, whether
technical, brutal or both, this is possibly the best album of
its field I’ve ever heard. It may be short, but if you
appreciate this kind of insanity for the right reasons, you
have to check it out.
www.myspace.com/sikfukband |
www.sikfuk.net |
www.goregiasticrecords.com |
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The Absence - Riders of the Plague (Metal Blade Records)
Reviewed by Nathan Ward |
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The Absence is a four piece band from Tampa Bay Florida,
formed in 2001 by guitarist Patrick Pintavalle and vocalist
Jamie Stewart. ‘Riders of the Plague’ is The Absence’s second
album; their first being ‘From Your Grave’ released April
2005, it is full of Scandinavian style melodic metal, a mix of
Arch Enemy, In Flames and recent Testament. The album is 12
tracks long, with one track being 4 seconds of silence;
apparently it’s a joke from the band, a bit of an unusual joke
though.
The opening track of the album is also the title track; it
starts off with a strong heavy riff, a roar from Jamie
Stewart; which grabs your attention from the moment it starts,
followed by |
an intro solo. There are a few lead guitar parts throughout
the song with the main guitar solo towards the end of the
song. Next up is‘Dead and Gone’, it has a lot of guitar
melodic guitar harmonies before going into the guitar solo
about half way through the track. ‘The Murder’, starts off
with a Spanish style acoustic intro before breaking into heavy
riffs. The lead guitar work in ‘The Murder’ has a slight
Arabian or Middle Eastern feel to them. Three guitar solos on
this track, one near the start and the other two towards the
end of the track. ‘Echos’ starts off with a short drum intro
followed by guitar work. It’s seems to be one of the slower
paced tacks of the album. The rest of the album follows this
formula, with the exception of 4 tracks.
Track 6 is an instrumental called ‘Prosperity’, which adds a
nice break halfway through the album. The joke track is track
7, why is it there? Who knows, maybe The Absence thought it
would be a laugh; it is their album after all. There is a
cover of Testament’s ‘Into the Pit’ taking its place as track
10. This is a great cover, The Absence add their own take on
this classic; the guitars sound heavier and Jamie Stewart’s
growling works perfectly. The final track on the album is the
suitably named ‘Outro’. It sounds similar to Arch Enemy’s
‘Anthem’ from ‘Anthems of Rebellion’, the track is about 3
minutes of lead guitar work over the top of a drumbeat that
adds a nice pace to the instrumental.
‘Riders of the Plague’ is an impressive album from start to
finish, great lead and rhythm guitars, drums that add the
right pace for each of the songs, bass and vocals. It captures
the sound of Scandinavian melodic metal and delivers it with a
slight American thrash edge. If you like Arch Enemy, In
Flames, Testament or just melodic metal in general, give this
album a listen.
www.myspace.com/theabsence
| www.metalblade.de |
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The Red Chord - Prey For Eyes (Metal
Blade) Review by Steve Green |
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Genius? Or total bonkers? I can't make my mind up about The
Red Chord. At times this is an incredibly hard piece of music
to absorb in one sitting. The opening double salvo of Film Critiques And
Militia Men and Dread Prevailed, the latter featuring Job For
A Cowboys Johnny Davy sharing the vocal duties, is about as
brutal and intense as it gets. Grinding and battering the
listener senseless is an afterthought as The Red Chord sets
out its agenda from the start
It seems as if each number gets progressively heavier,
particular on Responsibles which sounds like a grind version
of Pantera. And again on Tread On The Necks Of Kings as the
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Pantera theme continues, this time with a more brutal Death
Metal edge with a side serving of Hardcore thrown in for good
measure. All of this brutality and intensity counts for
nothing as track nine, It Came From Over There, throws a huge
fucking curveball as a mixture of Space Rock, Prog and a
smattering of guitar hero histrionics come gliding gently from
your speakers. It's a great song in its own right, but is a
bit of a jaw-dropper because it is so out of place on this
album.
For an album that is so heavy, it is remarkably easy to get
into. The more "difficult" moments are there I'm sure to keep
your attention completely focused on the music. And remain
focussed is exactly what you do when listening to Prey For
Eyes. For the style that it is, this is an extremely enjoyable
slice of brutality.
www.theredchord.com |
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