Live 4 Metal - Reviews

Believer - Gabriel (Metal Blade) By: Joe Florez
	This has got to be one of the most underrated and best Christian bands out there ever. The best part about this Pennsylvania band was that they never shoved their messages down anyone’s throat like Stryper. This was a thinking man’s band that was considered technical thrash. The band’s career never really took off and it was short lived. It lasted from 1989 to 1993 and ended on a high note with Dimensions. Well, I’m more than stoked to find out that the guys got back together and lead screamer Howard Jones from Killswitch Engage signed the guys to his label Cespool Recordings and got it to Metal Blade for distro. Enough about the past history and onto the music.
There are two original members left here. Lead vocalist/guitarist Kurt Bachman and ultra tight and technical drummer Joey Daub and quite frankly they were/are the nucleus of the band. “Medwton” is first up and it does have a Voivodian feel with the abrasive riffs, catchy bass lines, hard driven drumming and tortured screams. I will tell you right now that this music isn’t an easy pill to swallow as it’s not as melodic as some of the other bands out there nor was it ever. It was always considered an acquired taste. If you hung in there long enough, the rewards were great. Sorry for the digression, as for the lead track the pacing does go all over the place and the solos are quite awkward. The flow will drag you down and then give you a swift kick in the pants when you aren’t expecting it. This is definitely not a paint by numbers thrash band. “A Moment In Prime” starts out with some massive licks and seems like it’s gonna be a fast number, but it slows down, but manages to punish your ears. Also, there’s a lot of nuances going on here that seem rather out of place. Things continue to get weirder and weirder as they tack on a jazz like piece at the tail end of the song that was rocking ever so hard. The single “Focused Lethality” is probably the most straight forward composition on here. The guitar work is more structured and consistent and the rhythm section is merciless. “The Brave” is a more melodic and melancholy song that has it’s moments and Howard Jones joins the gang on here. Here he starts out with his superbly clean voice that is actually quite appealing, but then things head for the heavy in the chorus joining Kurt with supremely agonizing screams from the depths of the abyss. Once again in my eyes, the gang has put out another quality product that will challenge you mentally especially if you are a musician. Because they have never played by the rules, Believer has come up with something that was always original and special. They were ahead of the game here as were artists like Death and Athiest and Cynic who broke new ground and challenged fans to think a little deeper musically and break out from the clones. If you can handle the abrasiveness, unusual musical structure/time changes and the horrifying screams, then you are in for a real treat here. Basically, if you like Spiral Architect and the bands mentioned above, then you are ready for this. Now, buy and support the economy. www.metalblade.com \| www.believerband.net

Coram Lethe - ... A Splendid Chaos (Punishment 18) Review by Steve Green
	... A Splendid Chaos is the third album from Italian rockers Coram Lethe and it's the first to feature their new singer, Erica P. Now before you form the opinion that this is yet another Gothic band from Italy, let me put you straight on the facts. Erica has a voice that's a cross between Angela Gossow and Italian chanteuse Cadaveria. This lady knows how to whip up a storm, as do her fellow band mates as musically this is Melodic Death/ Thrash, with a few interesting Progressive twists thrown in for good measure. Coram Lethe also throw plenty of groove into the mix, so you can either bang your head in time, (if you are fast enough), to the rhythm section, or you can bang your fist along with the razor sharp
riffing. Either way, you cannot sit still to this beauty. And the fact that many elements are included in the bands sound, keep this fresh and interesting throughout. The pace is varied, as is the songwriting, something I think a lot of Italian bands generally fall short on and the faults are very hard to spot. Erica's vocals vary from Deathly to Blackened and even an over-accented pronunciation of "Mystical Pentagram", which does raise a gentle smile from yours truly, cannot be singled out as the only valid criticism on the album. Admittedly, Coram Lethe aren't doing anything that you haven't heard before, but what they do, they do very well indeed. Recommended listening. www.myspace.com/coramlethe

Dies Irae - The Art of Endless Creation (Metal Mind) Review by Chris Davison
	Dies Irae will probably be forever thought of as the “side band” of Vader, having first recorded their demo back in 1996, though not releasing their “Immolated” debut until 2001. I bought this in Poland that very year, along with some Yattering and sundry other Polish metal delicacies. Basically the brain-child of long time Vader guitarist Mauser, along with the now-departed drumming leviathan that was Doc, Novy (ex-of Devilyn and about a trillion other death metal outfits) and Hiro from Sceptic. Their three albums were all of similar quality, but varied quite a bit – with Immolated being the most “Old-school” death metal, “The Sin War” being the most influenced by thrash and “Sculpture of Stone” being the brutal Vader album that “Revelations” and “The Beast” both threatened to be, but weren't. The four piece wrecking crew are now sadly on indefinite hiatus, with Doc having died
tragically young not so long back. This live concert, albeit somewhat slender at just eight tracks, was recorded at the Metalmania festival, Poland, back in 2005. The first thing that grabs you (aside from the usual superlative quality of the audio and visuals, courtesy of those fiends at Metal Mind), is that this is a band that seems to be having a blast out there on a big stage. Vader is principally the property of Peter, so it must have been a real relief for the boys out there to be able to cut their own path, and it shows in the performance. Novy casts the usual imposing figure on the boards, his all-black attire, windmilling hair and slap-bass being a focal point throughout. Mauser also seems to be revelling in the spotlight, his guitar solos scything through the supplicant crowd. Doc plays the drums with not only a remarkable, almost inhuman amount of dexterity, but also with a burning calm. Hiro plays the grey man, less of a showman than his compatriots, but quietly competent. Though this is a short set, comprised of their most essential cuts from all three albums, but Metal Mind being the philanthropists of extremity that they are have kindly sweetened the deal somewhat. The original Dies Irae demo is made available here – and badly produced though it is, it makes a nice addition to the DI completists out there. The couple of promo videos are nice, if somewhat less essential given that I had seen them quite some time ago on Youtube – though perhaps the real peaches here are on the live bootleg concert from 2001, which is raw in the extreme, and the inclusion of a bonus CD with 2004's “Sculpture of Stone” in its entirety. Given that the whole package will retail at around the same price as that CD on its own, this should really be the perfect gift for anyone with even a passing interest in the Polish death metal scene. www.metalmind.com.pl/index.php?dzial=wydawnictwa&more=1514

General Surgery - Corpus In Extremis: Analysing Necrocriticism (Listenable Records) By: Dave Schalek
	Just what the mortician ordered! An over the top, gore soaked death metal album to finally fill the throne left vacant by Carcass once and for all. Legendary gore metal masters General Surgery from Sweden vaulted back into metal’s collective consciousness with their 2006 debut full-length, after 17 long years as an on again off again band, “Left Hand Pathology” on Listenable Records. Obviously drawing from a “Necroticism…”-era Carcass as a starting point with huge amounts of Sunlight Studios sound, General Surgery brought a certain degree of power to the sound that may have been missing from some of Carcass’ work; that is, by mostly ramping up the speed and brutality, and unashamedly
injecting a huge amount of all out blasts into the mix. Some probably viewed the album as a bit of a clone, but I saw the album as taking Carcass’ template one step further, although General Surgery are certainly not the first to do so (well, in terms of a released album anyway, considering that General Surgery have been around in one form or another since 1989 or so). Needless to say, I thought that “Left Hand Pathology” kicked ass. General Surgery now release their second full-length, entitled “Corpus In Extremis: Analysing Necrocriticism” on Listenable Records, and the album picks right up where “Left Hand Pathology” left off, so to speak. Take all of the masterful songwriting, brutality, add huge amounts of groove, boost it all with a powerful production, and you have an instant classic. To finish it all off, the musicianship of General Surgery is top notch, as well, as “Corpus In Extremis…” rapidly rises upwards into the upper echelons of this year’s top ten albums list (which I find myself already thinking about). Ultimately, though, there are no great surprises on “Corpus In Extremis…”, as the album is essentially straightforward gore/ death metal, but is an excellent example of the genre, no less. Yep, buy or die! www.myspace.com/generalsurgery \| www.listenable.net

Machetazo - Mundo Cripta (No Escape) Review by James Young
	Possibly the worst aspects of horror-inspired deathy grind are overused samples and a multitude of songs which sound the same due to a repetitive song structure. Machetazo have managed to break free of these constraints by using very few samples (thank goodness because they’re all in Spanish anyway), and varying their sound as much as any grindcore band possibly can. The blatant horror-worshipping nature of this noisy trio can be seen in the bloody cartoonish album art, and although the song titles aren’t in English, names such as ‘Exorcismo’ and ‘Altares De Lo Macabro’ pretty much give you a clue as to what this band are about. As far as lyrics go, the language barrier isn’t a problem
because the words (although I’m not sure if they even use words…) are spluttered so incoherently and bestially by Jose "Dopi" Dopico that you can only be impressed that the din is actually coming from a human being. The production drips with gore, in its static, grinding nature, and I’m sure it takes a lot of effort to make it sound this downright messy. You can even hear the bass, which is a breath of fresh air in the genre, and it even has standalone parts like in ‘Totem (de restos humanos)’. A great aspect of Machetazo is that they seriously know how to vary their songs - unlike some grind outfits where there’s a sole tempo change which characterises a song, these boys pull out every trick in the book to keep you guessing. There are fifteen tracks spanning forty minutes here, which shows that quality has been given priority over quantity. You never know when you’ll pull a song with the churning death metal onslaught of ‘Exoricismo’ or ‘Alucinaciones Blasfemas’, which clearly drew inspiration from the old-school likes of Autopsy and Repulsion. Then again, you could hit an up-tempo punky grind number like ‘Muerte Helada’ and ‘Atormentado por Bestias Resucitadas’, which sound more akin to later Napalm Death or the band’s countrymates Gruesome Stuff Relish. The most effective songs on this album are those which mix these two constituents; ‘Éxtasis Nauseabundo’ for instance sees a number of tempos being interlinked with various guitar leads, unleashing a torrent of audio-violence. Another major plus of this band is the riffing of Rober Bustabad, which never fails to disappoint, whether playing fast chords or nice technical licks which work wonderfully when placed alongside each other. If this wasn’t enough to mix things up for you, we even have the addition of Alonso Urbanos as a special guest, who provides some interesting noise sampling, bringing a slightly electronic edge to a couple of songs including the breakneck Berzerker-like ‘Estigma Licántropo’. Whilst this doesn’t necessarily add anything new to the grind genre, it pretty much surpasses ninety-nine percent of it with its sharp blend of brutality and heaviness. Vive la grind! www.machetazo.org \| www.myspace.com/bandamachetazo \| www.noescaperecords.com

Mordhell - Grim, Old and Evil (Fallen Angel Records) Review by Crin
	You don’t get more underground than this. Darkthrone meets Venom in a sweat stinking gig hall somewhere in 1988. This is a simple yet effective Black ‘N’ roll feast of NWOBHM riffs ripped through a 3 chord guitar attack. Think, Gospel of the Horns in a thrashing blackened frenzy at a mid-tempo velocity and you’ll get the picture here. Your head will nod without instruction, and the air will be filed with those classic lyrical expletive wonders like, FUCK YOU!!, FUCK THIS!! and FUCK YEAH!!!! I suppose with tracks titled, Total Fucking Terror’ and ‘Absolute Fucking Annihilation’, it's not that surprising. Black Metal with melody and a punk like backbone oozes from a low fi fuzz
and spits its venomous rage with an enjoyment factor in full deployment. Mordhell will not change the face of Black Metal, but they most certainly bolster its foundations with kick ass music even though it is still very much low budget, primitive and smeared in the flavour of the TRUE underground. To put it simply, this is fantastic muggy Polish Black Metal born from the festering pancreas of Satan. [or there abouts] www.myspace.com/mordfromhell

Nashville Pussy - From Hell To Texas (Steamhammer/SPV) Review by Metal Mark
	Recorded at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studios, Nashville Pussy's new release isn’t going to bring in a horde of new fans. If you are not already a fan of the seared throat, full steam chugging rockers then likely this release is not going to change your mind about this band. However, if you love the southern-fried cow punk they have been cranking out for years, then you will take to this album. This one is complete with various cowboy related sound effects between each track and that’s a good compliment to the spaghetti western themed cover of this disc. I hear some Motorhead, Ted Nugent and other influences here and
there through out the course of “From Hell to Texas”. They explore topics like sex, drinking, drugs, religion and more. So not any new ground for them, but their semi-shocking lyrics have always a big part of what has defined this act over the years. Nashville Pussy pushes and pulls their way through with little down time or hang-ups. Quite a decent outing even if most of it is very familiar to most people.

Nebiros - Komando666 (Fallen Angel Records) Review by Crin
	Germanic Blackened filth with Polish lyrics to really confuse the arse off you. The bands debut, Kurwa Satana [2008] on No Colours was a fast and dirty paint by numbers affair, and this is no different. For those of you with knowledge of the genre you will be force fed similarities of other bands during the 11 tracks here. Glimpses of early Maniac Butcher, Marduk, Blasphemy, and Impaled Nazarene will frequently occur and it makes you wonder if the riffs were borrowed or they are just that common to be unintentionally weaved into the Nebrios sound anyway. Still, this band pumps out a Blackened deathly dirge that will awaken any corpse.
Nebrios have nothing remotely new to offer. That said they do maintain an unusually thick sound for this icy form of Black metal and add a fine melody to the compositions. For underground enthusiasts only. www.myspace.com/nebiros666

Psyopus - Odd Senses (Metal Blade) by Robert Cheesewright
	Psyopus are from New York and they are clearly a few screws loose. Last month I described The Faceless as mental. I was wrong, the Faceless’ sound is easy listening compared to this release. Pysopus are a mix of tech/math-metal and grindcore, mixing low end guitar work intricately with bizarrely arranged screams and exceptionally technical shredding from Limp Bizkit competition winning guitarist, Arpmandude. Arp himself admits that many listeners will label this album as mere noise – the thing is - much of the album is just noise. There are lots of good things to say about the album. It is incredibly technical, jazz inspired
fare, with anyone who likes frenetic music bound to be in awe of the musicianship. The vocals are intense too, and fit in well with the sheer madness of the tracks. The problem, though, is that this is not enough. It’s technical for the sake of being so and therefore any attempt to make the songs sound good is minimal. I get the feeling that the band had meetings in which one member came up with something good and then the others set about making it chaotic. I’m convinced that even the most daring of metal-lovers will end up turning off Odd Senses and reaching for the headache pills, before reaching the album’s end. The most aggravating aspect of the album is the incessant splicing in of sound clips of people talking in horridly annoying accents. This is common in track 6, Boogeyman, which as a result, is terrible. But it’s at its worst in track 8, Chocker’s Chain, with a woman constantly repeating banal phrases every 30 seconds or so during the track. As yet I’ve only been able to hear that track the whole way through once, and that was a massive chore. I have no idea why Psyopus have tried to make there album so hard to listen to, but it's depressing that they have done so, as much of the album is good and technically stunning. www.metalblade.de

Wolves In The Throne Room - Black Cascade (Southern Lord) By: Dave Schalek
	Frankly, it would be hard to top “Two Hunters”, Wolves In The Throne Room’s last full-length, a transformative black metal album that vaulted Wolves in The Throne Room to the top of the avant-garde black metal heap in 2007. Not surprisingly, the album garnered the number one spot on my top ten list for that year. “Two Hunters” is a mesmerizing kaleidoscopic display of the true epic nature that can be achieved within black metal, but is exceedingly difficult to reach and is attained by only very few bands, and then not very consistently at that.
Somewhat unfairly, the expectations become enormous for a band that is able to attain greatness with an album. Most bands realize this and noticeably shift gears after setting the bar so high, but with usually mixed results. “Black Cascade”, the latest full-length from Wolves In The Throne Room on Southern Lord Records, represents such a shift. On “Black Cascade”, Wolves In The Throne Room adopt a much more straightforward approach to black metal. The calm moments of introspection and clean female vocal harmonies that were such an integral part of “Two Hunters” and, to a lesser extent, “Diadem of 12 Stars” have largely been excised. Instead, a much more traditional approach to black metal has been adopted with plenty of blasts, loud rasps from Nathan Weaver, fast chord progression riffs, and, to some extent, the typical song structures of raw black metal. The huge harmonies that wash over the listener are still present, as is the slow build to a crescendo on very long songs (the album contains four tracks), but “Black Cascade” does not propel the genre forward as “Two Hunters” most certainly did. I suppose that I should digress here and briefly mention “Malevolent Grain”, a two song, vinyl release only EP that has just appeared from the band, as well. The two songs present on “Malevolent Grain” reside much more firmly in the realm of the avant-garde than those found on “Black Cascade”, and still show the band as experimenting with sounds outside of the typical genre elements of black metal. At any rate, the end result of “Black Cascade” is a solid album within black metal that is still, undoubtedly, a release from Wolves In The Throne Room. Would I characterize the album as transformative? Probably not, and for that reason, probably unfairly, I would describe my reaction as one of mild disappointment. Do I still highly recommend the album to both devotees of Wolves In The Throne Room and to the casual listener? Absolutely. www.myspace.com/wolvesinthethroneroom \| www.southernlord.com