Sacrilegion - From Which Nightmares Crawl (2022)

From Which Nightmares Crawl is a gem of a death metal record that must have passed me by initially; likely sitting in my promo folder and I just couldn't get around to it for a year or so after. The stunning cover art from John Quevedo Janssens heralds its opaque, abyssal sound quite well, and once into the music we're eviscerated by a choppy, semi-technical attack that seems to thread together inspiration from bands like Morbid Angel, Deicide and Vader, but never conforming too closely to any of them. I also felt like there was a dash of darker melodic death metal coursing through this, but rendered so diabolical that it would be unrecognizable from most of the Swedish precursors, and a pretty good comparison is Germany's Sulphur Aeon, although more on their death metal side.

Ultimately, though, this was a pretty damn good debut that clearly deserved more attention than it got, with a fully developed and advanced style that ticks a lot of boxes. Gruesome gutturals that are often punctuated or accented with snarls, sometimes a little overbearing as you'd hear in more modern death or deathcore stuff, but really well structured alongside the riffing. That, though, the riffing, is the star of the show for me...evil, clinical hybrid of surging death metal and slicing, saturated death/thrash tempos, churning and chopping constantly, from spurts of tremolo-picked madness to dissonance banks of chords that feel like you're undergoing surgery on the deepest layers of the conflagration. There's always some sort of darker harmony or twisted melodic death/thrash lick that emerges and gets your head nodding amidst all the more intense battery, which is anchored down by a thundering, turbulent, blasting drum performance. You can hear some bass curving beneath the riff-storm but it does blend in somewhat.

Sacrilegion also has some good lyrical qualities, even in song titles like "A Terrible Pilgrimage to Seek the Nighted Throne", "Transfixed in Spiral Ambiguity" or "The Hollow Blue Eyes of Yomi at Twilight", there's a little more intellectual sophistication than you might be expecting, and it translates well onto the music, which is practiced and certainly not primitive, but never overly technical or self-indulgent. The consistent breaks to more melodic riffs help balance out the choking darkness of the album's themes, especially in the depths of "Legacy of the Impaler" and From Which Nightmares Crawl just has that range and capacity to provided the well-rounded sort of death metal experience I am always seeking out. Intensity and restraint in equal measures, really listenable and I'm excited to hear whatever a sophomore album will sound like.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://sacrilegion.bandcamp.com/album/from-which-nightmares-crawl

Protector - Excessive Outburst of Depravity (2022)

By title, Excessive Outburst of Depravity might give you an impression that this is somehow going to be a leveling up of filth and aggression in Protector's reunion phase, but in fact it's a very good, controlled record that offers a little bit of a course correction from the ailing (but still decent) Summon the Hordes. The style hasn't moved an inch, but I thought the production here felt smoother and better captured all the vocals and instruments more than its predecessor, at the cost of not feeling quite so retrospective. Granted, the material here is still blazing thrash of an 80s Sodom variety, like a mix of Agent Orange and Better Off Dead, two of my faves from that band, but the balance and QOL improvements place it more within the 21st century spectrum. You won't miss out the nostalgic vibes this time around, but it takes the thrust and professionalism of Cursed and Coronated to another level, and it's my favorite of this 'MK II' era.

Bunch of tunes here feel like the boys are ammoed up, slinging on their ballistic helmets and headed for the battlefield, like "Open Skies and Endless Seas" with its well-paced intro, "Thirty Years of Perdition" with the same sort of setup but amazing verse riffs, or "Perpetual Blood Oath" which feels like a Bolt Thrower intro colliding into a vintage Destruction section. The rhythm section is incredibly tight, the leads are uniformly good without overindulging, and Martin Missy's vocals feel more brutal and full and charismatic than they were on the 2019 effort. You're still not getting anything highly unique here, this is all directly from the lexicon of German thrash with some seasonings of US flavor, but it's executed with skill, variation, and most importantly, songs that are memorable enough that you'll probably want to play them a few times in succession, which is really the hallmark of quality for most records. I'm not talking super sticky, infectious riffs, but more like a 'comfort food' for those who have been listening to this style for the last 3+ decades.

Even though this album came in the same three-year patterns and those leading up to it, it feels like all the interim time since Summon the Hordes had been better spent composing stronger material, and it never really lapses once throughout its 47+ minutes of existence. There's no goofy tail-end track for filler, "Morse Mania" here is a rager and commands the same respect as opener "Last Stand Hill". The production is from Robert Pehrsson (of Death Breath no less), the mix from Patrick Engel of a dozen German bands, and you can tell they both put a lot of love into making this sound like the de facto Protector album of the new century. This one ranks up there with A Shedding of Skin, The Heritage for me, and it's actually my favorite with Martin Missy's vocals, a blasphemous opinion perhaps, but here we are. Timeless and totally reliable Teutonic thrash from one of the first bands anyone should check out after they've opened the 'starter pack' and a few other brilliant outliers from the 80s era.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (All swords on the sacred stone)

https://www.facebook.com/Protector.666not777

Deströyer 666 - Never Surrender (2022)

If the biggest criticism I can level at Never Surrender is that it partly sounds like a couple of outtakes from Wildfire with some new ideas spliced in, then you know it's a pretty awesome time. And it is. I think nearly anything would have disappointed me after that masterpiece. The Call of the Wild EP left me a little dry, sure, but if Deströyer 666 had simply called it a day and hung up the bulletbelts, I would have had no cause for complaint, because they'd capped off a pretty strong career with a pinnacle of excellence and they'd only be headed back down the other side. To the great credit of K. K. Warslut and crew, they managed the descent with one scorcher of a follow-up that strikes a lot of the same nerves while revealing a couple new ones to bite into. 

The vocals aren't quite on the level of Wildfire, but they still sound pretty great, especially with the exciting gang shouts and the continued use of that reverb effect that makes him sound so sinister on the prior outing. Some of the speed metal elements here show a fraction more of a straight punk or hardcore feel to them, but at the same time there are tunes like "Andraste" where they even let a little of that old Hellhammer/Celtic Frost influence return. That track is actually a great example of some of the 'new' here, because they're using more of the ritual chant rhythms with cleaner vocals, and it contrasts very well with the harsher inflection and those tremolo-picked guitars. Some of the songs use a similar approach to the guitars but with a more mid-paced tempo, and it actually lends a darker and more epic vibe to the writing than even on Wildfire, but the shouts and the punk-laced riffs bring it right back to that exciting street level. There are some absolute banger riffs in tunes like "Guillotine", and "Grave Raiders", the latter of which sounds like almost a German heavy metal song via Grave Digger.

But there are definitely a few like the title track and "Rather Death" that would have fit right in on the previous album. Warslut does experiment with some even more Kreator-sounding vocals on the latter, and I'm half-convinced it's really Mille singing those parts. Elsewhere, he does some more pure trad BM rasps just because why the fuck not, and the closer "Batavia's Graveyard" even reminds me of a more twisted version of Rock'n'Rolf from Running Wild, with some of that epic Bathory Viking metal influence circa Hammerheart. It's these little nuances and tributes that prevent Never Surrender from sounding like a total unswerving sequel to Wildfire, and I appreciate them, because this is pretty powerful stuff and proves there is plenty of space left for them to explore and expand their overall sound. And maybe that's a deterrent for some who might have just wanted Phoenix rising or Unchain the Wolves, but to that I say: those albums haven't gone anywhere, you can still listen to them. I just love hearing an already good band hit a great stride decades into their career and if this record's any indicator, this trend is in no danger of slowing down. Phenomenal.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10]

https://www.destroyer666.uk/

Bloodbath - Survival of the Sickest (2022)

As a fan of both Nick Holmes AND Bloodbath, I was excited to hear what could be produced with them working together, especially since I had only been used to hearing his harsher death vocals over the earlier, slowest, death/doom Paradise Lost stuff. Grand Morbid Funeral sort of gave me what I wanted, but The Arrow of Satan is Drawn was a case of very diminishing returns, and frankly I felt like the band was trying to mold itself away from that well-produced, groovy death metal that put its all-star lineup on the map once again with another entity. Survival of the Sickest is a bit of a rebound from all that, and it's the collaboration I WANTED to hear once I knew Nick was joining the band, taking me back to the great, morbid fun riffing and production I enjoyed on discs like The Fathomless Mastery or Nightmares Made Flesh.

That's not to say it drops off the more atmospheric, filthy elements from the prior to records, it just takes them and places them sparingly into the core of what made Bloodbath so great to begin with. The Jonas Renkse bass here is super ruddy and filthy, and Anders and Tomas are just chopping the axes up between great old US or Swedish death metal riffing, tried and true with little flights of atmospheric leads that erupt at just the right time over some protracted Nick Holmes growl which he often layers above the syllabic grunting of the verses and chorus. Part of me had hoped Jonas and Anders would at least continue together in this band if not Katatonia...it seems unlikely, but if this is going to be their swan song, then it's well worthwhile. Not to diminish the contributions of the rest...Martin Axenrot's drumming is muscular, grooving and a perfect accompaniment to the churning, Morbid Angel-like grooves in "Dead Parade" or the whirlwind chaos assault of "Malignant Maggot Therapy". Tomas and Anders have more riffs and zippy evil leads than a shelf full of OSDM classics...

...and Nick has TRULY found his stride here, sounding just as awesome here as any of the older albums with Mikael or Peter singing. It's fun to hear those longer growls in faster-paced music, and if I had ever any question of him fitting in with this band that is now officially crushed, because he's fuckin' great. Survival of the Sickest isn't the catchiest death metal record of all time, but it's deliciously old school in all the best ways where that ancient sound had just started to convert to the brutality of the 90s and 00s. This is definitely not your stock Swedish overdrive sound circa Entombed, it's got a little bit of that inspiration but it's much more fun and groovy, with a guitar tone and writing style that don't necessarily place it so much geographically as it does chronologically. 45 minutes of fun that should satisfy anyone into Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Edge of Sanity, Hypocrisy, Vader, and death metal in general.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.bloodbath.biz/

Satyricon & Munch (2022)

You could see Satyricon & Munch as the second half of the experiment they started with Live at the Opera, but while the former was a direct interpretation of the band's black metal sound into some choral and grand, this is instead an attempt to translate the works of expressionist Norwegian painter Edvard Munch into a dark musical context. This is far less accessible, granted, though there are some parts with acoustics or other softer moments that make for perfectly acceptable background as you're browsing through the deceased collaborator's artwork. It's a curious mash-up of mediums reminiscent of Metallica's Lulu with Lou Reed, only this isn't so tragic, poetic and vocal, but rather minimalistic and sees Satyr and Frost branching out into new styles themselves.

LOTS of ambiance and noise here, and I can honestly say that they do a decent job getting their feet wet in that genre, and in fact some of those brooding moments are the most immersive of the experience. There are a few drones which grow obnoxious as drones do, and some light industrial-feeling percussion that often breaks out in the distance to cool effect. Orchestrated keys, slight dissonant or distorted guitars and rolling percussion often give the record some martial qualities, and there are also some very minimal, spacious synth parts which are quite absorbing when they arrive deeper into the track. Oh yes, this is just one track, almost an hour long, and I think that presents the biggest hurdle towards appreciation, since you have to take the more somber or soothing moments along with the bizarre and annoying all in a single sitting, but if I'm being completely honest with you, I'd say there are probably 30-40 minutes here which I found to be a pleasant or perturbing escape, and the rest is chaff that does little more than extent out the length of the album.

Of course, I'm not standing at a museum exhibit while hearing this in the background, I can only sift through online images of Munch's works, so the maximum impact might be one you had to witness at a particular time and place, and I can forgive the audio work that much. However, I can't at all find fault with the willingness of these longstanding black metal mavens to involve themselves in these sorts of cultural projects which not only open the minds of others who might have a dim view of black metal, but also can expand Satyricon's own portfolio of sounds they can integrate into their future material, and I hope to an extent they will. This might be the most 'outside' thing Satyr has worked on since he was in the folksy Storm, and though I can understand while few will enjoy it, and I myself even had a negative reaction the first few times I listened, it has a few moments of sublime impact like the art it is providing tribute to and accompaniment for. A very Ulver move, gentlemen, and if anyone was into Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell they might want to give this a try.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.satyricon.no/

Revocation - Netherheaven (2022)

It seems like such an eternity since I first got to meet and play with local stalwarts Revocation, they've now built up such an international respect though touring and eight studio albums that they're a household name, at least for any fan of contemporary death metal or deathcore. They also really fucking deserve it, because say what you will about any wavering quality from album to album, they maintain an intense level of studio canny, professionalism and musical proficiency that is never in doubt. I though the last two albums before Netherheaven, namely The Outer Ones and Great is Our Sin, were damned solid if not exceptional, and the opening handful of tracks off this new album do not disappoint. I'm not saying these are timelessly memorable tunes, mind you, I think that Revocation's true masterpiece might yet await us, but this is beyond workmanlike and at least the first piece, "Diabolica Majesty" is a scorcher.

And that's because, in addition to the modern death and thrash elements, I almost caught a whiff of melodic 90s death or black metal in this one that integrated very well with the chugging breakdowns of clinical melodies that the band are well known for. It's a fresh approach that really pays off once that mid-paced thrashing erupts and puts you back in familiar territory. Other highlights here were "Strange and Eternal" with some interesting breaks in between the furious barrage, and "Galleries of Morbid Artistry" with its moody escalation and some great melodies woven through the carnage of the chorus. It's almost like you took a few of the cooler Revocation albums prior to this and wound in a bit of Dissection or At the Gates and it feels fresh, whereas some of their earlier efforts could often get formulaic. You've still got plenty of technicality to gawk at, and shouldn't be disappointed if you've followed them up to now, but this album seems like it justifies itself a lot and offers in-roads to further progression or side-gression.

The band can still play the shit out of everything, with Ash & Brett forming a flawless rhythm section into which David Davidson can inject all of his ideas, which are considerable. The leads might not be the most immortal you've heard, but they're consistently catchy and atmospheric, and never show off to the detriment of the rest of their aggression. Vocally I've often thought there was something lacking, or rather the delivery was a bit stock for death metal or metalcore, but I actually found hid vocals on Netherheaven to be some of the strongest or heaviest he's done, not that there's a lot of variety in the intonation or meter of the lines, but it pretty well suits the intensity of the instruments. Recording is courtesy of Jens Bogren who has worked with a lot of European greats, like the recent At the Gates post-reunion records, and it's as slick and clear as you'd wish without becoming too poppy. Artwork is great, the prolific Paolo Girardi and frankly one of his more cohesive offerings of late, encapsulating the tightness and effectiveness of Revocation's style. I think this one sits right alongside The Outer Ones, even it it doesn't set a new standard, it's a fun enough listen.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://revocationband.com/

Rebel Souls - Dawn of Depravity (2022)

The sophomore Rebel Souls outing sees the German/Spanish act digging deeper into that aggressive balance they struck on their 2017 debut The Forces of Darkness, falling somewhere between the brutal and technical edges of the death metal spectrum, capable of both extremes but never diving too far off either cliff. Instead, we get that same songwriting emphasis we hear from many of the acts in the Polish scene, a comparison I've drawn before in this particular case, that holds even truer here than the previous disc. This is a band that shows a love and knowledge of their genre and executes that with an expertly wrought amalgamation of evil riffing, intense drumming, over-the-top leads and enough variation that you'll never get bored listening through this, even if there's nothing about it that stands out as strikingly original.

The production here is mint, perfectly clear but allowing for an ample impact of the crunching mid paced riffs as they vault back and forth with the outbursts of blasting and tremolo-picked madness. I liken them a lot to Vader, one of my favorite bands, but a lot of the riffing structures throughout tunes like "Poisoner of the Harvest" and "Sea of Crises" definitely recall American bands like Deicide, Malevolent Creation and Morbid Angel. The bass lines are fat and agile enough to stand out from the rhythm guitar brickwork while never intruding upon the endless barrage of riffs, and the drumming of Arnau Martí is as patently absurd as it is professional; the footwork and blasts are worthy of almost any of his peers, but he's always got some nice beats and fills to help support the breakdowns and grooves so they're never mired down in tedious repetition. Stefan Hielscher's vocals definitely have a bit of the guttural Glen Benton/David Vincent style to them, but they layer them up with some solid backups or multi-tracking to once again hover above the din of monotony or predictability.

There isn't a large dynamic in song quality, most of them flow around the same level: exciting, with all-around admirable musicianship and breakout leads that bore them a little deeper into your memory. I wouldn't say it's always the catchiest material riff-for-riff, but just an overall sort of package which you can depend on for the full 42 minutes of its existence. I'm actually going to nudge Dawn of Depravity slightly past The Forces of Darkness, it's a little more 'veteran', polished and extreme and confident, but at the same time I wouldn't say it's that much of a songwriting leap beyond its predecessor. Easily recommendable to fans of Polish acts like Vader or Behemoth, or the Floridian forebears that I mentioned earlier. No bullshit, no gimmicks, non-trendy death metal which earns its marks in all the important departments for this style, timeless blunt force ear-to-brain flossing with enough musicality to endure.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/rebelsouls.deathmetal/

Toxik - Dis Morta (2022)

 Finally, after 33 years, the third Toxik full-length had arrived, and yes, while I realize there had been enough material across the various works that comprised the III Works compilation, which I have separated out to review individually, this was a brand new joint entirely. When I first spun this Dis Morta, I wasn't sure what to think...I couldn't comprehend that the band could still sound this fresh and relevant. I thought it was quite an impressive line drawn in the sand, but I shelved it for months, probably just because I was flooded with so much else and my mind was not ready to process an album like this. Yes, Dis Morta is the screaming, blazing, technical maelstrom of controlled chaos you knew Toxik was capable of producing, and 44 minutes of it, no slim picking like the last crop of reunion releases.

The production here deserves mention, because while it had been impactful and clear on the recordings leading up to this, it has so much more dimension for what's going on. The album sounds vast, without losing any of the myriad of frenetic components in all that expanse of sound. Ron Iglesias totally steps it up here, while Kinetic Composure was his attempt to fit the shoes of his predecessors, here he BECOMES a sparkling brand new pair of that footwear in the same line. His mid-range here is just fucking awesome, and I love when he layers it together with Halford-like screams for something really wild. At the same time, his shrill, pure high delivery is the perfect complement to what Sabin and Sanders had screamed out in the past, and he solidifies himself as the perfect successor. The combo of James DeMaria and Shane Boulos hasn't had to evolved much from the EP/demo material, and they can handle whatever the freak Josh Christian throws their way, a bedrock for all the psychotic picking, melodies, and flurries of schizo leads that are flying all over the material. They've also added another rhythm guitar for some punch, and that might be why this just sounds like it has more layers to peel back than the EPs.

As a dial back to Think This, the tracks are often set up with topical social/political/religious samples, newscasts and such, and so you still get the impression you're in that screen-filled control chamber, witnessing the utter calamity of early 21st century civilization. This works best in "Hyper Reality", with the cool of the verses and choruses, wavering back and forth to actually place you best inside the subject, and choppy as fuck with the erupting technical thrash. After spending over a year with the album, I don't really think there are many weak points, even where the band hurls in a djentish rhythm ("Creating the Abyss") or a ethereal ballad intro ("Devil in the Mirror") it all ties in perfectly to the greater structure of the album, and let's the members play around with ideas that Toxik hasn't been able to delve too far into in its past. This is not necessarily the gold standard that Think This was in 1989, but it's a superb modernization and has confidently grown into my second favorite of their catalogue, even though all three of them are well worth possessing. The cover art's a little on-the-nose, but they all were, and its symmetry is a fit symbol for how tight this damn band is.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://toxikmetal.net/

Xentrix - Seven Words (2022)

Xentrix was another of what I'd dub the 'two and done' metal acts of the 80s to early 90s. You know, a solid debut thrash effort, a more promising sophomore (sometimes it goes in reverse), and then either they spend the majority of that latter decade in oblivion or diminishing returns. It's sad enough that the British band got a lot of its attention from a cheesy cover of Ray Parker Jr.'s theme to Ghostbusters, but they also put out some really weak records later on that all declined to resonate with me nearly as much as their first two. When they released Bury the Pain after their 2010s reunion, that was admittedly a decent offering, their best since 1990, and now Seven Words hopes to capitalize on the newfound energy and buzz, a new era 'sophomore' that could hopefully further reestablish some good will against the burgeoning scene of oldies and newbies.

It's a bunch of stuff we've heard before, of course. Initially the band had a lot of comparisons to Metallica, they were one that sort of broke out in the wake of your Master of Puppets or ...And Justice for All, but I think here "Behind the Walls of Treachery" or throughout the title track, I'm reminded a lot more of Testament, only a blander Testament which can't quite cultivate the excitement of that band on some of their more recent albums. Don't get me wrong, I don't cite this similarity as some major flaw of the band, I'm into the style, and Xentrix perform it with some maturity and dynamic ideas, but the lion's share of this record is just modern, meaty everyman's thrash which doesn't sound like it took a terribly long time to devise. They add just enough mood through the leads, and there is certainly a core Xentrix sound here which is carried forward from the early years, but if not for that scant melodic flavor, most of this would go in one ear and out the other because it's been done so much before...

This style of thrash doesn't quite have that immortal, hellish youth of the more blackened speed thrash niche, so it's really gotta go long on the songwriting, and there is just not much here to remember. Jay Walsh, who also did vocals/guitars on the previous album, does his best to sound like the earlier years, with a bit of added Chuck Billy heft, and the leads and more surgical riffs and melodies spice it up. The bass has a nice fat tone, the drums play it a little too safe, although that's in keeping with the older material I suppose. In the end, I simply would not be able to pick most of this stuff out of a lineup. They don't fuck around with the classic Xentrix formula, and so that's a plus for people who really want more of that, and I certainly banged my head to a few tunes like "My War" and closer "Anything but the Truth", but ultimately so little stands out in the crowd. If you're looking for an English response to Titans of Creation, slam it, but otherwise it had little impact on me.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.xentrix.co.uk/

Witchery - Nightside (2022)

Restless & Dead was one of my favorite metal albums of the later 90s, an absolute blitz of memorable songs performed in a legit hybrid of thrash, speed and black metal that I was completely in love with. They held it down to an extent with Dead, Hot and Ready, and have had a few reasonable full-lengths in the ensuing decades, but like their sister act The Haunted, I feel like a lot of the songwriting, particularly the riffs seem like they're just drawn from a grab bag of average fare, tucked into songs, slathered with whatever vocalist they can find at the time who sounds louder than Toxine but doesn't have the benefit of good tunes to back him up. The fire and energy have often just felt absent from the band, like it's an obligation that they just occasionally revisit when they remember there's still a fan base out there.

I'd love to report that Nightside is some return to form, but for most of its running length it's bog standard black & roll with a series of riffs that sound utterly uninspired and effortless, drawn from the good old legacy of Venom and the 'head, sometimes flowing more in a pure black/thrash direction like the "Storm of the Unborn" intro. Most of the momentum can only be provided by the drums or background choir ambiance even there, or the appreciably fat bass tone of Victor Brandt, because the rhythm guitars just don't do much for me. A squirrely, atmospheric lead, maybe, but otherwise it can become fairly vapid material. When the band is cranking out as much force as it can, in one of the singles, "Popecrusher", or the similar "Churchburner", it nearly reaches the levels of yesteryear, but then again you just keep waiting for some great breakdown or melody or something to rise above the din, and it only 'nearly' gets there every time. The vocalist, Anders Norder, who is on his third Witchery record, has the style they've always been using, a growlier spin on the black/thrash rasp, but he often comes off a little overbearing than the riffs, making them fade a bit into the undercurrent.

Production is fine, and the album is overall packed with enough heat not to feel completely phoned in, but the songs just don't stand out to memory as much as I'd want. "Crucifix and Candle" with its more moderate rocking swagger, is a slight departure, but even that doesn't throw me any surprises that would elevate the experience, and the closer, "Nightside", which alternates between slower, doomy grooves and sparse atmospheric parts with whispered guest vocals, is my favorite track here. "A Forest of Burning Coffins" has a great title but goes too over the top to provide a brutal thrasher with only a slight melodic payoff. In the end, this one just ranks between its two predecessors for me, still a crooked mile away from the inspiring works of the band's formation, but never quite sucking either, it's just there are literally dozens of black & roll, black/thrash/speed or whatever groups in this subgenre that do it all so much better nowadays. Compare this to the latest from Hellripper, or Knife, or Cruel Force, or Antichrist...Nightside keeps the Swedes on the tracks, but the engine continues to sputter along with only brief surges of quality mileage. The cover art...I get it, but kind of an eyesore.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/officialwitchery

Thou Art Lord - Daemoniorum EP (2022)

The Magus has really been on a tear in the last couple years, offering up fiery revivals of some of his popular bands, and even forming a new solo project which has plenty to offer the Hellenic black metal advocate. In 2022 he laid Necromantia to rest with a brilliant tribute album to the late Baron Blood which was one of my favorites of that year, even if it eschewed that project's bass-driven roots for something more overtly symphonic and accessible. There was also a new EP release for Thou Art Lord, and like the aforementioned, it takes on a slightly more polished and contemporary sound without betraying a 30 year legacy. Having Necromayhem (Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ) and drummer J. Maelstrom back on board doesn't hurt, and the three blaze what must be the fastest trail this Greek act has ever cleared.

Three tracks, all around 2-3 minutes, totally less than 10 minutes, and just blowing the listener the fuck away with memorable melodic guitar lines, perfectly rasped vocals, and snappy drums. Sakis must have wanted to get this stuff out of his system for a long time, it's absolutely written with the Hellenic style in mind, but really faster than you'd expect from most of his stuff, almost like it was a later Rotting Christ record which someone set at the wrong speed on a turntable (especially the opener "Hades"). There's a slight atmosphere of choir on the excellent "The Black Halo", and "Fire, Chaos and Doom" has a bit of a speed metal/punk propulsion to it which is quite a cool balance against the more epic feel of the other two tracks. Production is likewise awesome, just airy and clear without sounding digital or poppy, it conducts this EP like a trio of winds howling at you from high on an ancient temple, Gods and mischief, sacrifices and fornication splayed out below your gaze and grasp. If they do follow this one up with another full length, I hope it's got a bit more dynamic variation, for that is the one flaw here, but as it stands I think you can pick these tunes up on a reissue of DV8 if you don't want the download or the 7". Exciting stuff.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/thouartlordofficial/

Septicflesh - Modern Primitive (2022)

Modern Primitive is now the sixth album in this heavily symphonic, modern phase of Septicflesh's career, which has never produced a single stinker, and yet for all the quality, I can't help but feel a little tired of the whole affair. Granted, when I want a giant orchestrated blast to the face, I will happily mend my ways and turn back to the Greek juggernaut's unparalleled commitment to this style, but I do from time to time miss the 'innocence', or maybe that's not the right word, but the more subtle mysticism of their older recordings, and wish they might find a bridge between the two. What I can say for this album is that it has a mildly more organic feel to its production values...it doesn't feel quite so large and stunning, as if you're standing in some modern museum, but this one almost has a live vibe going on that I appreciate, even though they are still collaborating with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Otherwise, it does feel a lot like a Codex Omega II. Loping grooves that occasionally shift into the harmonic melodies or dissonant chords, enormous percussion between the actual drummer, Krimh, and the orchestra timpani and other drums that crash along. The songwriting actually feels a margin more intricate than the prior album or two, but it's somewhat interchangeable do to the constant, rolling chugs. Spiros' vocals are your usual massive guttural but often affixed with some snarls to create an additional depth, and I think this more natural production also makes him sound a little more ominous. The songs often have a more sporadic and progressive feel to them, like the crazy and chaotic "Coming Storm", but that's not to say they're always interesting, just swinging more for the fences where Codex Omega might have come off a little more conservative to the strengths of the albums before it. The chemistry between tracks is still just as potent, but I have a few hear that I could escape into more than others, such as "A Desert Throne" and "Self-Eater" with their eerie or glorious atmospheric sequences. "Psychohistory" is another one that benefits a lot from the symphonics, erupting blast beats and dreamy, carried-away vibe.

I'll still give the nod to Codex Omega over this, and this one doesn't have me howling in ecstasy quite like The Great Mass, which was a simpler affair but for me the one that best exemplified this style with the catchiest tracks of the era. If you're not exhausted yet with this phase in their career, then I can't imagine this one is going to turn you off...it brings the goods, and tries to submerge them in a fresher audio space, but there might not be quite enough to expand them into new horizons. I feel like this is probably the point where the band would take a hiatus, Spiros and Sotiros and company plotting out a more nuanced and compulsory evolution forward, but for all I know we'll get another half dozen of these records with their deformed, statuesque cover beings and the same sort of grandiloquent, symphonic aesthetics that their material has transformed into exclusively. And of course I'll be there if I still draw breath, but the shine is starting to wane a bit.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.septicflesh.com/  

Ribspreader - Crypt World (2022)

When it comes to Rogga and his thousand death metal projects, I've long since lost the pulse. And who could blame me, because while I was fully on board and interested back when there were just a dozen, I don't think I ever expected the 'central' bands like Paganizer and Ribspreader to remain so prolific through all these years, while so many others were spawned. Yet here we are, with the 9th full-length offering from the latter, and I'm not sure I can properly distinguish it from others by Revolting or whatever else is still kicking around, it's just such an onslaught of middling-to-decent material that I feel like certain chunks could be intermingled, interchanged and none would be the wiser. The rub is that the guy knows his aesthetics damn well, and on almost any album across his career, you can find yourself nodding along or outright headbanging to the finer riffs and leads, and isn't that what matters?

Crypt World has the cool cover artwork that brings you back to the 90s classics, an image that transports you into some cosmic horror/Lovecraftian otherverse where the brutality is the twisted architecture, and sky is grim and you are hopeless flesh to be twisted into the annals of death metal history. The mix is fully competent, with the crunch and burn of the guitars out front, not entirely embracing a typical Swedish HM-2 pedal style tone, but certainly amenable to those seeking that. The riffs range between your fun, flexing d-beat style and then more structured thrashing or Floridian evil. His vocals are gruesome and ugly gutturals, but not too low-pitched, and frankly they feel a little repetitive and underproduced although he does hit some sustain on certain lines and tries not to grow terribly monotonous. I think it's a weakness of this and numerous other efforts, and a bit more time mixing them against the snarls or the thicker riffs would do wonders to make this more memorable. Drums are workmanlike, bass almost never matters through the nine tracks, used only as some concrete reinforcement to the sum battery of the style. The slight industrial metal feel to first verse of "Good Hatchet Fun" is a cute surprise, but not that elaborate.

Quality of riffing itself is solid, nothing too unique or progressive, but there's variation between more open, doomy chords (in "The Bone Church" chorus) and writhing tremolo-picked bits, and some of them sound appropriately menacing and evil despite the factory-churned feel of the production. The leads are a highlight here, whipping and frenzied and often brief, but ramping up the atmosphere that the meat & potatoes death metal lacks elsewhere. Lyrics and song titles are pretty sweet, though they seem like they're pulled from some Rogga AI-generation because of the similarity to so many others, but as I hinted above, the guy just has such a handle on this style that inspired him that he's one of its most ardent emulators and participants. Any time I think I might fall asleep, he knows how to slightly perk my attention with some cutting riff, but as I have thought so many times in the past, what if he merged some of these projects together, took more time refining the best of his ideas, forging the best goddamn throwback death metal the world over? I think he might just do that if he wasn't Rib-spreading himself so thin, and though Crypt World is an effective enough disc, fun for a couple spins, it just can't be more because it feels so slated into a schedule.

Verdict: Win [7/10]
 
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044948155884

Tenebro - L'inizio di un incubo (2022)

Spawned forth from the same death metal primacy that brought us bands like Fulci or Scolopendra, Italy's Tenebro hope to pay tribute to their rich history of horror cinema, or horror themes at large, with some of the most repulsive tones and vocals they can muster. Another comparison might be Denmark's Undergang in that they stick with their native tongue for the lyrics, and have that utter, guttural sort of approach to the songwriting, though I found L'inizio di un incubo a little simpler and more thuggishly chugged out. Of course, I don't think you can avoid the semblance to Mortician, for the same reason, especially how they switch between the slower chugging and squeals to blasted grind parts in tracks like "Ultima Tomba"; this record occasionally musters more of an atmosphere than some of the NY legends' works, but the bottom end has much of the same disconcerting, unforgivingly brutal effect upon the listener.

The bass is so thick you could like a sewer full of syrup and other goo, and against that the guitars are flexed out with a grotesque tone that carves into the depths. Like their aforementioned counterparts from the Big Apple, they use drum programming here, and while it's good enough to give you an idea of how the tempos are supported, I found it fairly wimpy and completely overpowered by the other instruments and Il Becchino's monstrous gutturals that are almost impossible to trace beyond blunt syllables. The faster it goes, the more it gets lost to me, though there are a few places throughout, like the intro to "L'Imbalsamazione Dell'Amore" and it's weird, almost Godflesh atmosphere where they enter the attention span a little louder, almost like a tribal pacing before the roiling and spleen-rupturing. I'd also add that I enjoy this album more when they pack on some more layers, like higher pitched tremolo guitar lines to accompany the nasty murk. Samples and screams and such are placed in a few strategic places, sometimes effective and others not, and bits like the organ that opens the album are quite cool and I wouldn't mind more of them.

However, those atmospherics often contrast a little strongly against the revolting crush of the metal riffing, and the entire album suffers from an unevenness including the drum machine quips I had already mentioned. It's like the mix just can't carry it when the guitars and bass are fully liquifying your speakers. Some of the uglier atmospheric effects just become obnoxious rather than horrifying (such as the outro), and when it comes to the construction of rhythm guitar riffs, these don't exactly go anywhere interesting. And that might not be the point of L'inizio di un incubo, but I long to explore bands like this that can concoct some more evasive or compelling material that helps define and enrich the basic bludgeoning. That said, the Matt Carr artwork here is excellent, evocative and does somewhat prepare you for the sound, and if you're just seeking out extremity without regards for much form over function, a combination of the band's I compared them to, then this is for sure fucking ugly death metal that creates a foundation the Italians can expand much further, and spoiler alert: they do exactly that with some of their later EPs and superior sophomore full-length.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://tenebro666.bandcamp.com/

Xorsist - Deadly Possession (2022)

It's 1991. You've got Left Hand Path and Like an Everflowing Stream. You are hooked. You want more. Sifting through the demos and tape trades, you might come across something quite akin to what Xorsist recorded for their first full-length Deadly Possession, albeit the general levels of loudness and production that mark it as a more contemporary release. This is one of the gloomier bands I've come across using the sound, not only in obvious places like the "Gold Beneath the Sand" intro with its eerie clean guitars, bells and drums, but across the whole of its production. Xorsist seems like an attempt to take that prototypical Swedish style manifest by Nihilist, Carnage, and the aforementioned and then sink it a few feet deeper into that old bog that now doubles as a graveyard.

Does it work? In some ways, I can say that the band pays an adequate homage to their countrymen and forebears. Once the speed picks up and the guitars are roiling around, there are strong Left Hand Path vibes, only with a riff-set that feels derivative and uninteresting. Cast into this murky, impenetrable night that they've chosen for the production aesthetics, I hear a lot of potential, it stirs up the same sorts of feelings that I got back at the turn of the 80s-90s decade when I first encountered the sound. But in terms of writing tracks that are exciting or memorable, they fall behind. The transitions on the album feel a bit sloppy in places, whether by design or not, I never felt like they were capitalizing on the shifts between the blast beats or the loping, primordial grooves. Chord choice is probably also at fault, so much of the material doesn't stick, and though the primitive leads are appreciated when they appear, they too don't cultivate a lot of compelling or eerie atmosphere; like they've clamped on to the correct placement but not yet thought the patterns or squealing effects through.

The bass is voluminous and dense, and the drums have a good natural clatter to them, but they've got little of quality to drive forward and also have a few jarring fills and transitions. Vocals are a nihilistic (ha!) bark that suits the material but doesn't ever feel quite psychotic enough. In terms of the weighted gloom of the production, though, I do rather like that, it definitely matches the spooky horror mood of the album's themes even though the music itself isn't the greatest. There are a few moments where Deadly Possession does actually together, like the lead roaring out into the atmosphere of "Alive", or the punky, thundering energy of the verse to "Cranial Nails", or the title track, which is tucked back at the end of the track list, but warbles between some brighter, grind vibes and ripping death metal, with some cool vocals on the grooves, only the transitions on this one also feel a bit underdeveloped

Does this tide you over in 1991 while you're waiting for the next drops from your Swedish faves? It might, honestly, but considering that we're multiple decades into this niche, the album just doesn't come across as strongly as something like the Katakomba s/t debut I was drooling over recently. Deadly Possession has its black, rotting heart in the right place. Cool cover art, logo, even the band name really brings you back, reminiscent of pre-Obituary. This also has that swampy, frightening atmosphere going for it, through which some lonely wandering soul might not know what could approach behind any gravestone, any withered tree, but the songs and instruments are inconsistent, something they'll actually work on for their sophomore At the Somber Steps of Serenity, without dropping the rawness and ugliness that defines their take on the style. Deadly Possession isn't a bust, exactly, if you want your death metal rough around the edges, putrid, evil and gut-wrenching, but the songs themselves just don't bring as much enjoyment as the atmosphere created around them.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://www.instagram.com/xorsistofficial/

Blood Incantation -Timewave Zero (2022)

Timewave Zero was met with an understandably divisive reaction as it went on to more fully explore Blood Incantation's ambient influences, which to this point had only been manifest in parts of a few instrumentals or interludes on their albums. To an extent, I can sympathize with the naysayers...the logo is the same, and it's such a massive shift that it might as well be another band entirely, but it's not as if this was the first time in history some extreme metal acts took 180 turns. Hell, look at Beherit or Burzum, or many others who embarked on ambient or electronic or dungeon synth paths away from the blasting and growling. I'm all for bands evolving, in fact some of my favorites like Enslaved or Voivod have made careers of it, but this could certainly be seen as a bridge too far...

Fortunately, Timewave Zero is quite good. 2-3 epic length ambient tracks, (depending on which version you've acquired), moody and mesmerizing, and at the very least, featuring contributions from all the death metal band members. So even though this might come off as a vanity project that extends the earlier hints of this style, it's all hands on deck as they surf further along the radiance of quasars and emptiness of the vacuum between worlds. The textures are obvious but also subtle, with a couple different synth-lines layered together, some repetitious and others more celestial and spacious, but it's mostly quite smoothed-over, you don't get into the abrasive droning or noisy sounds that a lot of darker ambient projects explore, at least not in "Io" or "Ea". As most you feel the atmosphere of alien worlds through a few sweltering crescendos of what might feel like colossal elder beings stretching their galaxy-wide limb, or really a cinematic feel that will trigger nostalgia for old sci fi films in which the synthesizer-based composers really earned their scratch.

There's also a little touch of acoustic guitar deep into the experience which is a nice bridge back to the familiar, and this is perhaps my favorite part, when the little synths play off against this. If you've got the version with "Chronophagia", this is a much darker, improvised and longer tune where a lot of those more droning aspects come into effect, with some moody synth lines out in the astral murk that really impress as another of the highlight. My CD copy does not have this track and it kind of pisses me off, I didn't do my research but I HIGHLY recommend you get that version with the CD + Blu Ray or the multiple records, because it definitely adds a lot of value to the release and then it really becomes more of a full-length than an EP as the band states.

Now, admittedly I don't have a ton of knowledge when it comes to this genre...I do have hundreds of ambient, dark ambient, New Age, dungeon synth, space synth and other releases digitally, and also a bunch in physical form. I love the stuff. I dig my Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Jean-Michael Jarre, Fenriz' Neptune Towers, and many more, but I don't know that I can precisely pinpoint the influences that Riedl and company most lean on for this. But it's clearly fluent in that spacey style, immersive and just as easy to get lost in as any of their death metal material, though I think this is obviously a lot simpler and probably easier to put together. I think it would work better as a spin-off, or perhaps integrated into their heavier side, but ultimately what matters is the quality of what's on the disc, and this is enjoyable if not revolutionary for its style.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.facebook.com/BloodIncantationOfficial/

Satan - Earth Infernal (2022)

If this were any other band, I might say that Cruel Magic would be a tough act to follow, but I was 100% confident that whatever Satan put out following that wouldn't disappoint, for the simple reason that they never have. And would you know it? Earth Infernal is another absolute killer of a record from one of the heavy metal bands on Earth that gives you the most for your money. A smart, scorching effort with all the speed and ambition of their other post-reunion works, and a potent mix that recaptures the roomy clarity and warmth of the three that preceded it. Dave Curle, who had engineered their last batch of albums as well as some of Blitzkrieg's modern output is still on board, so it's in the same wheelhouse even though Dario Mollo doesn't seem to have been involved this time around.

Other differences are that there's a slightly more occult focus on the lyrics here, though just as sharp and interesting as what they'd been writing for a decade before it. Musically it's still in the camp of the slick, rapid-fire rhythm licks contrasted against Brian's soothing and cautionary timbre, leading off with a couple absolute killers in "Ascendancy" and "Burning Portrait", and not taking a breather until the mid-paced rager "Mercury's Shadow" with a psychedelic and acoustic intro, and not for the last time on the album ("Luciferic"). There are no shortage of standout tracks, and some of the favorites are nestled deep in the roster like "Poison Elegy" which has some 70s epic hard rock vibes, or the ritualist crushing finale "Earth We Bequeath". But whether the band are gunning along at a maximum clip or taking their time with some moodier track, it's another album with nothing you'd really want to skip, there are compelling guitars all over the place, epic vocals, and one of the best rhythm duos in the business.

Satan has almost gotten so good that it's frustrating, and if there's any flaw here, it's that Earth Infernal doesn't really advance the sound at all beyond the albums before it. Make no mistake, it's still excellent, performed as well if not better than the other reunion albums, but it does arrive at a junction where you might expect them to branch out a little more, as they did when returning from their decades-old slumber. Not that it's necessary for them to evolve one iota, but you don't want your style to become too monotonous, and while Earth Infernal is too good to fall into that trap, another couple albums in the same vein as these last ones might push them in that direction. There are subtle differences in writing and production, and even a dip or two back towards older hard rock/metal that poke through, but I'd be fully on board with the Brits taking a few more risks to fatten the envelope of what they have to offer. A minor quip, though, because if you've enjoyed the band up to this point, then I'm sure you will find Earth Infernal utterly fucking awesome. Because it is.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

https://www.satanmusic.com/

Blind Guardian - The God Machine (2022)

I consider myself a punctual person in general. I get the kids to the bus on time, I pick them up on time. If I'm coming for you, I'll be there on time. If you're picking ME up, I'm already waiting when you drive up to the curb. It's likely an obsessive compulsive thing for me, and just something I feel shows the proper amount of respect to other people, be they family or friends or acquaintances. I tell you this because Blind Guardian's 11th proper studio album The God Machine made me late for work. I'd heard a track or two in advance, of course, who hadn't? But I got the CD in the post before a shift, fired it up en route, and when I arrived at the parking lot, I just could not stop listening. I could not get up out of my seat, and promptly forgot where I was until I happened to see a customer wave to me out the rear view mirror. It was then I realized that, through the miracle of technology, I could actually stream the album OUTSIDE of my car and CD player.

But yeah, The God Machine is THAT fucking good. It totally encapsulated me with the charging fury of the unique Teutonic power metal machine, in a way that hadn't really happened for me since the 90s. Now, mind you, I like EVERY album that the band has ever produced, and there's nothing necessarily novel about this one if you've heard the rest, but it just kicked my ass over and over again and I felt a magic to the musicianship that might have been in slightly shorter supply on A Twist in the Myth, At the Edge of Time and Beyond the Red Mirror. The amazing Peter Mohrbacher artwork seemed to hint that there's a song here based on possibly kaiju or Evangelion or something, and even though that doesn't seem to the be the case, there are plenty of subjects here to nerd out about...Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive gets a tune. Great series. The Witcher novels. Good stuff! Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Fantastic. The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss...well, that one started out pretty good until it devolved into the author's self-insert fantasies about shagging a fairy queen and a village of hot ninjas.

But I digress. It's all here...André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen's riffs are more inspired than they have been in forever, and what's more, they've's got a great, heavy tone on the rhythm tracks that really drives it all home, while you still get a lot of those popping, squealing little processed melodies, they just blend in better with the overall force of the production. Frederik's drumming is also fire, he's definitely one of those modern power metal drummers who can bring to bear the muscle of extreme metal, but also helps fill in all the gaps. Hansi doesn't sound he's aged a single day since the 90s, his throat still delivers that grittier personality which sounds like absolutely nobody else in his field. The leads are intense, the Queen-like choruses are as involved in their arrangement as you've always loved (another of their distinct features), and this is a 51 one minute album across which I skip absolutely nothing. All nine tracks have something to offer, whether it's the lyrical approach to their varied subjects, or the hooks around every corner, the tasty riffs waiting in the depths, or the freakout leads that catapult its magnificence into the stratosphere.

Even the slow jam, "Let It Be No More", which only gets heavy for a few seconds, is engrossing, with the scintillating acoustic guitars, backing vocals and a little of the orchestration left over from Hansi's total 2019 nerdfest Legacy of the Dark Lands. It's all as well-plotted as any of their previous albums, and Charlie Bauerfeind and company make sure to make this sound like one of the slickest power metal recordings this side of the millennium shift. This thing just explodes out of my car speakers, my PC speakers, my tinny little iPhone, and the surge of energy in "Blood of the Elves", "Deliver us From Evil", and "Damnation" takes complete control of me. The God Machine is not the most progressive of their albums, and it might not be the most ambitious either, but in 2022 when I heard this, it was exactly what I needed, and dozens of spins later I am proud to say it's become one of my favorites in the band's catalogue along with Imaginations and Nightfall in Middle-Earth. Worth being late for work, even, but just make sure you've got an alternate excuse when your boss listens to Taylor Swift and 90s butt rock and doesn't know the Guardian.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10]

https://www.blind-guardian.com/

Autopsy - Morbidity Triumphant (2022)

I've gotten a little slack from friends in the past for stating Autopsy has never been one of absolute go-to acts in the death metal field, but I think it gets taken out of context. I've always liked the band, especially those first two albums, and appreciated the uglier, less filtered vision they brought to death metal, which has proven quite important in how many great bands it has influenced. In fact, apart from Shitfun, I think I've liked all of their studio albums, and since their resurgence with The Tomb Within EP, they've maintained one of the more consistent reunion streaks in all of the genre. In the 2020s, we're reaching a point where I'm actually starting to enjoy the material almost as much as the classics, and keep it in mind that this is happening while Chris and other members are busy with various other projects, like Static Abyss, which I might even enjoy more than the output of their mainstay!

Morbidity Triumphant is an aptly named, fun album which captures a lot of the magic of that late 90s to early 90s era, shifting between the gruesome traditional death metal and the passages of groovier riffs that fall more in line with doom or stoner metal. It genuinely feels like a sequel to Mental Funeral, down to how the songs are composed, the vocals are delivered, and to an extent the production, though Autopsy isn't about to turn its collective nose at the few studio advancements that help in its presentation, so it's a little bulkier sounding, with a solid heft to the rhythm guitars that sounds nice and gross when they throw in some more dissonant chords, and an honest, stripped lead tone that really helps deliver the burning and bluesy solos that often vomit forth from the twisted mass below. The drums are fairly simple, but again they have a nice, sincere mix and power to them that helps support the meat of the guitars, and Chris is obviously just as focused on the delivery of the vocals, which is second to none. He's always been one of the most distinct in the field because he understands the suffering and horror that should be inherent in immortalizing this style of music...no overbearing, generic deathcore barking anywhere to be found.

The individual songs don't always blow me away, but there are a few memorable choices like the super groove of "The Voracious Ones", the dreary doom harmonies that inaugurate "Flesh Strewn Temple", or the incendiary grinding deathpunk of "Knife Slice, Axe Chop" which reminds me a lot of some of the stuff they'd been recording for their punkier EPs in recent years. "Skin by Skin" is another standout with that funereal, crawling doom intro that erupts into grinding, blasting death. It's a pretty good variety for Autopsy, one that the layman might ignore, but scratches most of the itches I'm feeling when I'm in the mood to crank one of their albums. Wes Benscoter's cover art is fucking awesome, that robe of stitched faces on the skeleton with the bleeding skull and thorny crown is unforgettable, and I lvoe how one of the guys with the removed face is actually helping stitching it, while another is defleshing more victims! A lot of sick though goes into something like this, and the fact it's in some graveyard and there's a tree upon which other victims are strung is just icing on the flesh-baked cake. He's been doing great for this band for most of their reunion period releases and this is no exception. A good album, right on the border of a great one, and I've probably spun this more than anything since Mental Funeral.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100050176223094

Obituary - Slowly We Rot: Live & Rotting (2022)

Slowly We Rot: Live & Rotting is one in a pair of special concert presentations released on physical and digital media through Relapse records. Having seen Obituary a number of times through the years, I can attest that whatever inconsistency their studio output might have brought me, this is an arena in which they are quite good, translating their simplistic, evil old death metal into roiling entertainment, fit for a crossroads of extreme music audiences what with all the grooving and moshing potential. This live album, I am happy to say, captures the experience with a professional sound, without going too far into an over-mixed or over-polished territory. In fact, I'd take this over the vast majority of the studio albums they've put out across the decades beyond 1990.

The material is mostly presented in the order of the original album, with an ominous stage intro and then an extended title track at the end. The lineup is the same as it has been since Inked in Blood, with the three original members joined by scene veteran Terry Butler on bass, and second guitarist Kenny Andrews, but it might as well just be the whole original studio incarnation, because it does the debut album great justice. The guitars are soaked in distortion, making the rhythm crunch just as evil as it did 30+ years ago, while the leads sound like whipping, spontaneous serpents that scream out into the atmosphere over the tight performances of Butler and Donald Tardy, both of whom sound excellent. The bass is really thick and the drumming feels even more intensive than on the studio version, and it all ends up pretty much flawless. John also sounds great, his trademark growl might miss a syllable or two, or at least it felt that way, but it's still got the same gruesome sustain to helm the band whether they're blasting away or settling into one of their swampier grooves. It's difficult to pick a favorite among the main tracks here, because each is delivered with precision and care for an audience that must be psyched to see this.

There isn't a lot of fan interaction, or noise, it's all pretty slick, and they've added a couple of later songs to lengthen out the set and release; they aren't really necessary, like "Redneck Stomp" from the crappy Frozen in Time album, which is just as dull here as the original, and "A Dying World", which was a single they put out as part of an [adult swim] series a few years before this. That's not an impressive tune either, but it's much more energetic and fun than "Redneck...", and it's cool that it was included due to its scarcity. The best of the bonus tunes, however, is their cover of Celtic Frost's "Dethroned Emperor", paying tribute to the band that is unquestionably the hugest influence upon their own sound. To be honest, though, I would have been satisfied with just the Slowly We Rot material, it seems that presentation and the accompanying Blu Ray would be enough here, and a few of those later tracks drag it down a little. Overall, though, this delivers what it promises, an ageless performance of what many consider their best album.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.obituary.cc/