All reviews below are written and executed by Drako
Impure Faith – Infected By Evil Manifestation
Some Brutal Death that actually rips!
Now, as some may know that Brutal Death isn’t my favourite of the sub-genres, primarily because of some of the vocal styles associated with it and I rarely come back to it. Anyways, here’s a band that made a strong impression on me; this is the band Impure Faith and this band formed in Colombia in 2006 and this is the band’s sophomore full length overall and is titled: “Infected By Evil Manifestation” and this has an intro track that’s comprised of violins and a deep choir and it’s got a heart rate monitor in the background before some organs come into it that reminds me of Castlevania and we’ll get to more of that later. Then, you have absolutely quick fire riffs with pummelling blast beats behind them, before they add some slight groove before diving back into the aggression. Catchy chunky riffs appear with pinched harmonics in them and the double kicks here are insane and machine gun-like in speed; then, some sinister Morbid Angel style tremolos appear next on this. A breakdown appears that’s chunky and nasty, next, they slow this down too before they isolate the bass for a short time; the drummer, Gerson does some groovy fills, not just some absolutely monstrous double kicks.
You get a few stop-start rhythmic sections and when they go for the throat, they put in aggressive tremolo harmonies, pick raking and some of the tremolos are groovy too before more slower breakdowns hit. Clean diminished guitar passages that sound creepy come in before some absolutely mean chugs come at you before they let the riffs breathe a bit and let them ring out absolutely fast paced riffs come at you and they add in some killer stompy rhythms in addition to the grooves. That tone is sinister and filthy when they let the riffs ring out and then, some slam style breakdowns hit as well alongside the other ones on this killer offering.
This is FFO: Devourment, Disgorge (USA) and add elements of Vulvectomy too.
There’s plenty of delicious fast moving catchiness on this and there’s some slight bits of Immolation added in with the pinch harmonics and the lower Ross Dolan style of vocals before Ricardo goes back to his burpy gutturals; you have a few tapped riffs that are catchy and work as hooky sections before the band harmonises them. They then let a big note ring out before the guitars come back in isolated and with groovy sections, next, a few soundbites come in on track six ‘The Necromancer’s Torment Call’ and the guy who talks first in it sounds like Godrick from Elden Ring. Anyways, a lower darker voice talks back to him before isolated tremolos fade in and there’s a couple of quick fire trills going on. At times, you can hear the bass in the mix too clunking away, then, some nasty string bends come in before and these sound sick; some fast crawling disgusting sections show up for a short time and a couple of eerie synths appear as an outro. My favourite song on this killer full length is called: “Malignant Subjugation By Malignant Demigods” and this track has fast riffs, nasty grooves, breakdown sections, stop-start rhythms, pummelling blast beats and double kicks and it has tapping runs and trem sections too. The solos that are on this are mid-paced and are slightly melodic with some tapping parts too and then, more synths are added. Then, the outro on this is the blue fang scene in the church, the conversation between the priest and him. All in all, this is such a killer Brutal Death offering that’s got lots of savagery, riffs and groovy as hell breakdowns, definitely check this out!
Rating: 8.3/10
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The Bleeding – Godless Communion
British Cannibal Corpse worship, plain and simple, but it slams!
UK Review Diary 3: Up next that I have for you all is this OSDM band that’s named The Bleeding and they’re released their brand new fourth full length offering overall and this is called: “Godless Communion” and this band formed in 2010 in London and this full length features the likes of a quick soundbite of chains breaking before they open with tremolo riffs and blasts, it’s highly aggressive from the get go and then they add grooves in-between these too and some of these are bouncy in nature and these will get you to bang your head and they transition to fast palm-muting and these sound huge, they go back into the tremolos once more and they then add some eerie sounding trills onto this and then catchy power chords come in and some fast gallops are included too and these sound really eerie. Fast drawn out riffs appear when they slow things down and then some slight crust elements show up and quite catchy power chords are on this and a few dive bombs are added in a few tracks on this full length.
This is FFO: Cannibal Corpse, Vader and there’s hints from the likes of Sinister Official as well.
There’s isolated palm-muted grooves and a breakdown also happens on this, then, these get more bouncy towards the end, they include a couple more tremolo harmonies next. There’s some creepy isolated high screams and some blast beats appear and this is a more thrashy track, which is track four ‘Praise of The Succubi’ it has the hallmarks of a Kreator song, as the high screams sounds a lot like Mille; there’s a lot of faster trems in this one and this full length has lots of trills and filthy chuggy riffs and my favourite song on this album is the title track “Godless Communion” as it has groove, fast tremolo sections, palm-muted goodness, start-stop transitions, audible bass in a couple of sections and pinched harmonics too; some tremolo harmonies show up here and there in addition to the riffs as well. There’s lots of Death/Thrash influence all over this and these harmonies sounds ugly and they rip; they add in power chords which are chunky with palm-mutes in-between them to make this even more aggressive and nasty sounding. They even isolate some of these riffs and there’s even female choirs included too towards the back-half of this album and there’s an interlude of acoustic guitars and the guitar solos on this are mostly shreddy and chaotic with tapping and dive bombs being added in some of them. There’s even a pretty sick Cannibal Corpse cover on this, which is ‘Born In A Casket’ this is a filthy and ripping OSDM offering to check out!
Rating: 8.6/10
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Hanging Garden – Dream Death
Avant-garde Prog Death that’s a mind-boggling trip!
Next up that I have here is this Avant-garde/Progressive Death Metal act that’s based in New York, US and is the one man project of Dylan Cruz and this project of his is named Hanging Garden and this is his project’s sophomore full length overall and it’s named “Dream Death” and this offering has the likes of grooves right out the gate with palm-muted chugs being done in the middle and then, Dylan puts in harmonic palm-muted chugs over some synths and these are groovy in nature too and you have a few diminished harmonies going on as well. Diminished clean passages that sounds pleasant appears for a time before more riffs comes at you and he puts in bouncy riffs with pinch harmonics in them and then, some pleasant melodies appear and then, there’s some droning riffs happening in-between these harmonies. Some string bends happen in here too and then, there’s more bouncy grooves going on; my favourite song on this album is named: “Ondine” it has bouncy grooves that sounds proggy and you have arpeggio chords added that sounds dissonant that appears before tremolo harmonies and crushing blast beats. The double kicks are pulverising and some of the tremolos are groovy as well on here. They isolate diminished passages on this as well and some tremoloed string bends goes on that Dylan adds too.
This is FFO: Ulcerate, Gorguts and then there’s hints of later Death as well.
You get a few guitar effects, like he’s pulling the lead out slightly before diving back into the harmonies even faster this time. Track three ‘Dreamwoven’ has some chunky palm-mutes and this is straight up OSDM goodness with more dissonant harmonies added in before Dylan includes a nasty sounding breakdown on here and there’s fast tappy bursts that he does before some rhythmic start-stop riffs come in for a short time and a couple of trills happen now and again on this. A chunky palm-muted breakdown comes in again and some absolutely thrashy sections show up once more with tremolos and blast beats before going straight into more doomier sections and then, Dylan puts in faster harmonies and some groovy ones come in after these. Some acoustic guitar passages are in here occasionally as well, then, the solos on this are shreddy and technical with tapping and the occasional sweep pick happening. Dylan’s vocals are mostly deep growls, but he does a few high screams, whispers and brutal death style burps now and again too. Fast chugs appear in this too at points and this album is packed with dissonant and diminished harmonies and atmosphere; some solos are mid-paced too. This is packed with dissonant and diminished harmonies like I said, it’s also got guitar effects, synths, fast and doomier grooves and a wide variety of vocals, if you’re into Proggy and Avant-garde stuff, then this will be right up your street, check it out!
Rating: 8.35/10
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SATHANAS – Hand of Armageddon
One of the upcoming double albums from this Satanic Death Metal act!
So, I have got five brand new reviews for you guys here and first up on my list is this upcoming double album from SATHANAS, they have already released their first of the two, which I’ll get to later on. Anyways, this outfit formed in Pennsylvania, US and is a Blackened Death band that formed in 1992, before this, they were known as Bathym from 1988-1992 and I would lump these guys in with NECROPHOBIC, Belphegor and Dissection who developed the sound. Onto the music, this offering has sound effects of lighting and running water, then an acoustic guitar comes in that sounds kinda eerie; then this bursts into groovy power chord riffs with alternate picked sections being done in them. It’s groovy to start with throughout and these keep going, they harmonise the power chords too in this; they then add a creepy harmonic note before more grooves come at you and they throw in catchy chords that are hooky, like a couple of chorus lines and they include the classic diminished arpeggio chords that’s so common in black metal/blackened death. The drums on this have an echoed ride at times and this album is very groove oriented this time around.
This is FFO: NunSlaughter, GOATWHORE and of course, some hints from Acheron as well.
There’s bouncy power chord rhythms all over this and the harmonies come in quite catchy too and the snare follows them, then, some tremolos come in, in terms of riffs and harmonies and these are mid-paced in speed and they also include faster tremolos too and a few are isolated. They isolate the ride cymbals for a few seconds before they transition to these catchy stop-start riffs; more harmonies come in that occasionally sounds bleak. Then, they harmonise some alternate picked sections and my favourite track on this upcoming album is named “Blood Revelations” and it’s once again full of groove and it has haunting harmonies in it too. There’s also a few slides put in this and you have a few palm-muted chugs and goodness thrown in and the guitar solos that are in here aren’t in every single song, but what I heard was mid-paced and occasionally shreddy. There’s a few galloping harmonies happening on occasion and this upcoming offering is titled “Hand of Armageddon” and this will drop on the 27th of November. Absolutely add this solid, groovy ass album to your lists!
Rating: 8.3/10
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Oskaal – (A) live
Intriguing Blackened Death from black metal’s birthplace:
Alright, so, I have got four brand new reviews for you all here today and I’m kicking things off with this Blackened Death act from Norway that’s called Oskaal and these dudes have put out a debut full length that’s done in a live setting and this full length is titled: “(A) live” and it features a lead right at the start that’s melodic and it slightly picks up speed, then, these bouncy grooves come in along with tremolos. These riffs appear that they let ring out, before they dive into thrashy riffs and fast accentuated pull-offs and hammer-ons, then, they decide to put in tremolo harmonies and you can hear the bass in the mix quite audibly too. They put in some nasty grooves too of course and then, they transition to these stop-start melodies and we’re already at my favourite track on this full length and it is named: “Slaughter The Divine” and it’s got plenty of bouncy rhythms with pinch harmonics added between these and you get a couple of whammy bar dive bombs and squeals, before some sweeps come in. Some absolutely killer grooves comes straight at you that’s thrashy once more; some disgusting sounding string bends show up on this song too.
This is FFO: Demon King, Vale of Pnath and add a bit of The Black Dahlia Murder also.
They add a bit of tasteful fretless bass and you get some outright thrashy bangers on this too. Palm-muted chugs are added into the album next with several gallops and more melodic harmonies come back in with a few more dive bombs and there’s thrashy gallops all over this. Very blazingly quick tremolos are then included as well, next, they add in more artificial pinches; the drums are doing slow tong hits, thrashy accents and blasts throughout and there’s more palm-muted chugging with power chords being played in-between them and then, there’s a couple of pick rakes being done. Diminished harmonies make an appearance on this at times between the riffs and they return to more groove in here; more diminished passages come into this and the solos on here are chaotic, shreddy and there’s one or two that sounds melodic and pleasant on occasion. There’s around two tracks that are artillery-like and one is definitely “Annihilation” chunky riffs then go straight for you; all in all, if you love Blackened Death that has lots of technicality and thrash, then definitely check this one out!
Rating: 8.6/10
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(Psychoparalysis) – Spectrum of Suffering
Slimy and disgusting Prog Death with a hint of OSDM brutality!
Up next on my list that I’ve got for you all is this Progressive Death Metal act that’s based out of Finland and this is (Psychoparalysis) with their upcoming sophomore offering and their first one for 13 years! This outfit formed in 2009 and their upcoming album that drops on the 20th of November is called: “Spectrum of Suffering” and this upcoming album features groovy palm-muted chugs right out of the gate and then in-between these, some diminished parts comes in and some trills go on too and they slow things down to include haunting harmonies and they add in these big, drawn out riffs and this was the intro track. Next, some blasty tremolos and blast beats come in; some palm-muting is included next and the harmonies sounds sinister when they come in also. Some more trills come in and you will be able to hear the bass behind the mix slightly and then, some diminished clean passages are incorporated into this; catchy harmonies are added in at times too here and there. Tremolo riffs and palm-muted ones are added in this and then a few more diminished passages come back in that sounds colder than the others earlier.
The bass gets added back into the mix and it has an effect on it where it fades in and out and then these ascending and descending catchy riffs come in before they descend into chaos with more thrashy melodic and diminished tremolo harmonies with crushing blasts behind them. Hooks are on this when they add in catchy melodies and you have some straight up thrashy riffs on occasion and then, proggy and diminished riffs with atonal and ugly passages happen and it reminds me of something Ad Nauseam would do. Palm-muting with power chords in-between would make you headbang on here and then, catchy tremolo harmonies and riffs appear for a short time and this is on my favourite track on this upcoming ripper: “Alethophobia” and there’s groovy isolated bass riffs on this!
This is FFO: Atheist, Obscura and I’d add some of Coroner in here too.
The vocalist, Anssi sounds like David Vincent, mixed a bit with Martin Van Drunen and his growls sound so sick and wretched, kinda like Rogga Johansson too. More grooves are added that are bouncy and they’ll definitely get you to bang your head; the harmonies get more aggressive and catchy and a few eerie melodic notes breaks these up for a time and when they briefly slow down to groove, it’s so nasty. There’s a riff on this absolutely awesome upcoming full length that sounds like one of the main riffs to Sepultura’s Arise that also sounds awesome; the guitars do these synchronised riffs and harmonies on the longest track on here: “Voracious (Continuum)” some sliding trem harmonies appear and a few are even isolated. Some atonal harmonies come in with a couple of crushing blasts again too and the interlude has clean dissonant and diminished passages in it and the guitar solos in here are shreddy and fast, they also appear more than once in a single song and that’s awesome. This is some absolutely crushing Proggy Death with some OSDM influences, absolutely add it to your watch lists!
Rating: 8.75/10
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Revel In Flesh – Flesh For The Kult of Death
Feral German HM2 goodness!
Up next on my list that I have is this German based OSDM band that’s named Revel In Flesh and these guys formed in 2011 and they’ve released their sixth full length offering overall and I have heard about this band briefly and this new offering is called: “Flesh for the Kult of Death” and this has the nasty, filthy and mighty gorgeous HM2 throughout it and it starts off with groovy with palm-muted chugs and power chords, there’s a few thrashy tremolo bursts in-between these until they slow the riffs down slightly and then, some haunting harmonies come into this. Some start-stop rhythms happen with more chugs in them and the drums are syncopated with these as well; they do a few string bends and trills as well at times, then, there’s the sound of the guitars being plugged in and they go to doing bouncy rhythms once more. These will get you banging your head and syncopated chugs keep appearing on this absolutely ripping album and they absolutely don’t let up on the groove. They kind of isolate the bass a few times under these slower doomier riffs and then, they isolate the harmonies too; tremolo harmonies slows down a bit and there’s a few whammy squeals and dives too.
This is FFO: Fleshcrawl, LIK – Sthlm and don’t forget Dismember Sweden either.
They add in these slower riffs that are doomy and also catchy as fvck too, then, you have a few Bolt Thrower style stomps and galloping chugs happening and the harmonies on here sounds sinister at all times and they’re somewhat melodic at points as well, but they’re definitely not pretty, as they sound ugly and melodic, like diminished. On the track “Pool of Blood” there’s the sound of a chainsaw and this is a straight up Death/Thrash track, lots of fast tremolos and quick fire galloping rhythms and there’s a few d-beat sections on occasion. The drumming is blast beat forward, but of course, Erik does slow things down to do groovy accents and atmospheric, doomy hits and guitar wise, there’s some atmospheric groovy sections added also. The bass comes back into the mix and there’s evil atmospheric riffs and melodies on track six and there’s a couple of extremely fast sections that includes fast tremolos and blast beats and these moments come on occasion throughout the album.
My favourite track on this absolutely crushing album is named: “Death Kult Maniacs” and this is the most melodic track with early At The Gates tremolo harmonies, with more guitar harmonies with a wah effect on them; this then goes into catchy riffs, tremolos and bouncy melodies too. More drawn out riffs happen where they let that disgusting buzzsaw tone breathe before they dive back into more palm-muted goodness. The guitar solos on this are atmospheric, eerie, melodic and are sometimes shreddy too; more melody comes in and towards the back half of this banger, you have more hooks on it. Stompy harmonies come in before more melodic hooks show up and more moments are added that will make you bang your head and some of these are with more catchy tremolos and lastly, some diminished passages rarely happen between riffs, but they’re there. This is some absolutely badass buzzsaw OSDM from Germany and if you love groovy, thrashy, atmospheric and aggressive death metal, then definitely add this to your lists!
Rating: 8.65/10
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Commotion – The Eldrich Tales
Absolutely outstanding and stellar debut from these Canadian Death/Thrashers!
Last up that I have for you guys is this absolutely outstanding and stellar debut full length by this Canadian Death/Thrash band that’s named Commotion and these guys have released their debut offering that is titled: “The Eldrich Tales” and it starts out with my favourite track and the title track right out in front: “The Eldrich Tales” and it has bass to start it off and when the guitars kick in, they’re chunky and there’s plenty of chugging going on with big power chords in the middle of them and bouncy riffs come into this and you have a few diminished passages and bass hidden behind these riffs too. Then, thrashy tremolos kick in with blast beats and you will hear quick riff transitions after these before more groove assaults your ears; some sick harmonies comes in between the absolutely crushing chugs on here. There’s some soundbites of people shouting, horses galloping, swords being drawn and horses neighing before thrashy tremolo gallops comes in with quick fire trills and blast beats. Some palm-muted melodies comes in too and some more drawn out riffs appear before they isolate the bass again; there’s a build-up with the sounds of winds and eerie synths into track three.
Thrashy riffs that gallop with mid-tempo drums behind them and then, some really fast tremolos are added on here and they show no mercy on your ears and head. They isolate these next and it’s absolutely filthy and you have some rhythmic palm-muted gallops that are practically all over this and some slides happen now and again on here as well. Diminished passages return in-between riffs and the vocalist sounds like Mameli from Pestilence and Julien does an evil laugh that sounds sinister; some black metal tropes appears on the track “Deciever” before going into blasty tremolos and drums.
This is FFO: Jungle Rot, Pestilence (official) and there’s influences of Obituary too.
More filthy chugging comes through with palm-muted harmonic gallops and they do a couple of speedy diminished runs, there’s definitely hints of technicality in there. There’s lots of Slayer vibes all over this pretty much and you can hear that bass snarl in the background; there’s some really sinister sounding power chords added in and some of these power chords are layered in a ton of groove as well. The riff sequence in the middle of “Those Whom The Living Dead” is sick as fvck! There’s isolated power chords and palm-mutes before they stop briefly and they come back in; the drums are full of thrashy turnovers, blasts and double kick fury and when they harmonise that riff when they return to it from the middle point of the song, the harmony is delicious and nasty. There’s a couple of pinched harmonics in here too and some eerie harmonies show back up on the interlude in the album that features a mid-paced and atmospheric solo and it fades out with tapping. The rest of the solos are shreddy, mid-paced and atmospheric, next, there’s sounds of rushing water and the bass snarls slightly before coming in again in another intro and they put in some sliding guitar effects over more bass riffs. This is absolutely one of the heaviest albums that I’ve heard in a while, every track is aggressive, nasty and every song is a banger, definitely don’t sleep on this masterpiece, a definite AOTY for me!