Putrid Blood - Absolute Profit (2012)

The chance of having some thrash renaissance to rival the latter half of the 80s is just about nil at this point, with so many modern practitioners pursuing mere tributes to their immortal precursors, but innovation and originality are not always achieved by swinging wide and far and hoping the blows still hit your opponent. No, some bands, like Serbia's Putrid Blood, just prefer to push directly through you. Roll over you. Break every bone in your worthless body. In doing so, they manage to infuse the core aesthetics of the genre with further extremes, and inevitably you are so busy fending off the punches that you won't care that the music is not some brilliant evolution of the medium. Absolute Profit is a drop kick of an album from a region I don't normally associate with thrash, but after sitting through this a number of times, and counting the ensuing bruises, I can only imagine that their geographical location might be the sole factor in curbing this infection. Fortunately, I got to stand straight in harm's way this time...

Though you'll hear picking progressions redolent of both West Coast US and Teutonic classics, like Slayer and Kreator, Absolute Profit is not exactly a nostalgia trip. It's got a modern potency that brought to mind bands like Dew-Scented, Demiricous, the early 'oughts records by The Haunted, newer Onslaught, or maybe the past few Slayer discs of the 21st century (in riffing structure alone, like the opener "Vulture"). A rich, ballistic rhythm guitar tone rains down thousands of tiny punches upon the ears, but keeps itself crisp and capable enough to hold together through the lighting rounds, when the picking comes fast and furious. The leads are wild, energetic and fun, often with a bit of bluesy wailing and wah to them which helps them stand out against the more straightforward violence of the rhythm guitar. Often, they will break out into these straight, punkish based chords that recall the angriest of NYHC, and occasionally you'll get a flight of death metal tremolo notes, a surgery ward thrash escalation, or a more black metal based, dissonant chord construction (bridge of "Re-Animator"); but for the most part, this is meaty, take no prisoners thrash which goes straight for your gut with a pair of brass knuckles. The only downside is that a few of the note configurations, like in "Kontraudar" or "For God's Sake", aren't distinct enough from hundreds or thousands of thrash, hardcore or brutal groove metal bands from the past.

That said, they've got some variation here to help break down the level of easy predictability. Not afraid to show their softer side (as on the clean guitar intro to "Re-Animator"), and within each track you'll find that the riffs tend to mix it up between speedier clips and mid-paced, neckbrace-inducing thrash sequences fit for any headbanger's ball. The drums and bass guitar are tighter than a pair of fists, with really snappy sounding snares and a good loud kick tone. Vocals are a monstrous mixture of angry thrash-core barks and death grunts with some slightly higher pitched black metal rasps and a few well-placed backing gang shouts which added a bit of a Slayer meets Hatebreed sensation. They're performed in a mix of English and Serbian, but either way you're still getting the message: these boots are about to kick you in the ass. The lyrics dabble in an array of traditional horror subjects like individuality, rebellion and horror themes, or at least those I could read; wisely avoiding the 'We're a thrash band dudes!' pizza-thrash flag-waving bullshit. This is not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, folks, but an urbane Serbian riot squad with beat-sticks ready to club anyone who gets out of line. Absolute Profit might not be the most unique or memorable album of its class, but its charm lies in the conviction and consistency of its aggressive architecture. Fun!

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/putridblood

Bane - The Acausal Fire (2012)

The first thing that struck me about The Acausal Fire, much like Bane's prior album Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness, is just how Scandinavian an approach they take to their atmospheric, semi-symphonic brand of deathly black metal. The majestic progressions present in their tremolo bursts are redolent of groups like Dissection, Dark Funeral, Marduk and Lord Belial, the vile dissonance of the eerier minor chords was pretty much the standard in the formative works of Norse and Swedish acts through the 90s and beyond, and they're not the sort to shy away from using higher, cleaner production standards than the primordial swamp of grime and wretchedness that inspired them.

However, despite its obvious level of competence and polish, I didn't take much away from their debut. A decent album, sure, but nothing to write home in blood about when there were hundreds of other, similar options through the prior two decades which had already marked out the territory. The Acausal Fire is a superior use of the band's arsenal in just about every department (save maybe the vocals). The Serbians have made better use of their twisting tremolo progressions, and loads of eloquent dual harmonies that create a necessary contrast against the gruesome dual guttural-rasp vocals. Needless to say, there are effortless blasts coursing beneath the rush of the guitars, and the band lean on the faster side of composition, but The Acausal Fire takes plenty of moments to breathe here, and the riff selections are in general far better than those of the prior album. Symphonic elements used in spots like the 'intro' and 'outro' are lavish, moody, orchestral and engrossing, while the gleaming melodies of tunes like "As Chaos Rises" will instantly settle themselves into your memory without much concentration.

Vocals are quite varied here, with the aforementioned grunts and rasps used throughout most of the metallic sequences, backed by excellent, cleaner choirs or the occasional surge into some salacious snarl not unlike you'd have heard from Ihsahn or Dani Filth in their primes. The mix is incredibly, almost surgically pristine, so those who want a lot of mud, reverb and noise in their black metal will not desire to slop from this trough, but personally I'm a fan of both sides of the coin, and have no problem with either when the music's good. And this music IS pretty damn good. Not perfect, surely not unique in the slightest, but very well executed black metal that furthers the Serbians and songwriters. The inclusion of the cover of Dissection's "Night's Blood" is a fitting bonus, not only because that's a great song, but because Bane knows exactly what to do with it; the Swedes were unmistakably one of this band's most fundamental influences. Apart from being brighter, though, it's hardly an unusual re-interpretation. But it doesn't need to be, because the rest of this album leading up to it is quite spectacular of its own right.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://baneband.com/

Exorcised - Reflections of Horror DEMO (2012)

Exorcised is a relatively new Serbian act, fresh out of the grinder, which pursues a commitment to the death metal ideals of the later 80s through early 90s. As such, the focus is on simplistic riffing progressions and a tinge of the doom and thrash inherent to several of their influences like Asphyx, (old) Pestilence and Autopsy, and to this they add a truly grisly production value which honestly hinges on being a pure rehearsal demo. The guitars are incredibly crunchy and raw, the vocals ominous and massive, the drums very tinny due to the cymbal crashing, and the bass low, lumbering along in step with the various old school tremolo lines (circa Death) and thrash/chug sequences. And yet, I have to hand it to them: whilst nothing here is remotely unique, the trio has some heart to it.

Granted, like any of these retrospective death metal bands emerging in the past decade, they've got a lot of familiarity to their riffs, derivations from a vast legacy (now going on about 25 years) of bands who once tread or are now retreading the same graveyard dirt. These four tracks are all tombs whose gates lie wide open, the dust of human decay whorled about their stone edifices and the restless spirits within having long moved on. But Exorcised sound like a group of guys who are having genuinely fun living out their inspirations, and there is plenty of variation on the 20 minutes of this demo to keep the more nostalgic advocate of brutality on the edge of his or her seat. Dour, death/thrash breakdowns, well constructed leads ("Oppressed by Unreal"), varied pacing which often devolves into malevolent death/doom (on the title track) and a knack for faster paced guitar hooks that, despite their lack of nuance, really sink in.

For instance, the lick that accelerates after the groove in "Unholy Awakening" around 2:20 might sound like you've heard it a hundred times, but the style never fails to be effective and I found myself headbanging along. Reflections of Horror is simply littered with such moments, and thus it overcomes the work cut out for it and entertains. It will be interesting to hear how the band sounds with a better production, since the only atmosphere really generated here comes through the very live sound, but the complaints are few. Perhaps the leads could be tweaked a little louder so the details would become more clear, and it wouldn't kill Exorcised (or any other band in this field) to be a little more creative in the riff construction, or to vary up the vocals mildly more than they already are. But for a first attempt this is a decent demo with an legitimate streak to it that should be interesting to hear develop into as the band continues along. Enthusiasts of antiquated evil take notice.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.facebook.com/ExorcisedOfficial

Bane - Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness (2010)

You wouldn't think of Serbia as a hotbed for metal acts quite yet, but in fact there are a hundred or so bands hailing from the area, one of whom I present to you here. Bane, not at all to be confused with the popular US hardcore band, performs a mix of black and death metal with strong production and an intense focus on the riffing over sheer vitriolic speed, their debut Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness a decent if familiar work that may indeed appeal to fans of numerous genres. The 'death metal' portion of the album manifests largely through some of the chugging riff patterns and about 50% of the vocals, which are splayed out in guttural excess, while the remainder consists of streaming, cutting chords and rampant snarling.

Bane certainly sounds like a great deal of other bands, in particular Norse bands like Emperor in collision with Swedish bands like Dark Funeral or Hypocrisy, but I'd say they cast a wide enough net that you don't feel the material is too derivative of any one school of fish. Perhaps the strongest point of this full-length debut is that the band pace themselves well, offering some variety through the track list that keeps the listener engaged, though not exactly glued. The "Awakening of the Evil Spirits" intro is a nice synthesized classical overture breached by the hammering of "The True Insomnia", a piece that quite evenly divides its time between the two constituent genres, while "Pandemonium" writhes along at a brisk, mid pace through which the thunder of the rhythms is glazed over in chorus shouts, double bass and brisk flights of increased speed. After this is an acoustic piece, "Lost Shadows", and then a fairly brutal onslaught called "Abhorrence".

No two songs sound quite the same, and each delivers at least 1-2 quality riffs, my personal favorites coming in the melodic swagger of "The Haunting Presence" or the callous, blasting abandon of "The Dawn No More Rises". There's a nice ambient interlude piece deeper in the album titled "Dysthymia" which further cements the band's ability to vary up their content that the witness remain allured, but I wouldn't say that this was necessarily a great record, if only because there aren't enough tracks that you'll want to revisit constantly. Fans of bigger budget Swedish or Norse melodic black metal might very well find this their cup of blood tea, because the mix itself is quite enormous, and the compositions are never boring, but they're not blazing any new trails through the conscience. So, what we're ultimately left with is a debut that shows the talent and reach of a batch of individuals (all of whom also perform in other acts), but does little to bore itself beyond the upper layers of memory.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/baneband

Obscured - When Darkness Comes [DEMO] (2009)

Serbia's Obscured are the aural equivalent of a blunt instrument striking you repeatedly, very primal and bare boned death metal which occasionally veers off into a pure thrashing rhythm. They are simple in the way that a band like Six Feet Under approaches the material, yet the use of both death and black metal vocals, grind and thrash gives them an expansive sound.

That being said, the three tracks on the When Darkness Comes demo/promo did not blow me away. "Apocalypse" opens with about 30 seconds of thrash before the gutturals of Khargash enter the fray and the track transforms into this moshing, old school death metal rhythm, broken by some grinding bridges with blacker vocals. I liked the band's use of the filtered guitar fill in the verse, but otherwise it wasn't very memorable. "When Darkness Comes" is slower, with some creepy atmosphere behind the big opening chords, and then some simple, grooving guitars. The track has some eerier, sludge-like segments with snarled vocals, and some quicker death/thrash. "Witness of the Last Crucifiction" is anchored by some slower grooves and squeals, you can picture people getting clobbered to this track, but again, it wasn't exactly a standout, though I did like the brief 'march' part near the end.

When Darkness Comes is a great sounding promo, vibrant and bloodletting without excess polish. The band has a varied attack incorporating a number of genres into a simplistic, sledgehammer sound, but the songs on this release didn't quite gel with me aside from a few riffs. Maybe next time.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.myspace.com/obscuredsound

May Result - Slava Smrti (2008)

The 6th album from Serbian black metal warriors May Result is a vicious and centered assault which recalls the more aggressive Swedish and Norwegian styles, as well as some of the recent, faster Polish black metal.

After a windy, percussive intro, the slaughter begins with "Hold This Earth in the Hands of Sulphur", an interesting title. This is a decent track, but I preferred "Eternal Eulogies" with its great riffs, Glad's excellent vocal barks and just the right amount of synth in there to provide a fulfilling atmosphere. "Velika bela pricina" begins with an almost Viking/pagan feel to it, and a slower, thrash riff dominates much of the verse. The band has a sense of glory about them, provided in some of the chord progressions and the keyboards. "At the Cursed Heights of Prokletije" is another rager, and "Slava Smrti" has a few familiar intro keys before raging with one of the most epic tracks on the album. The band also closes the album with a cover of Impaled Nazarene's "The Horny and the Horned".

I'm not aware of many Serbian black metal bands of quality. May Result certainly helps to fill that niche, and they've produced some decent albums in the past so if you enjoy this you might want to track them down. This isn't the grimmest black metal band, they're not particularly evil sounding, but if you don't mind some keyboard atmospheres and pagan/folk vibe to your riffs then this is a good choice. It's certainly a good album.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.mayresult.net/