Meliah Rage - Dead to the World (2011)

It's a miracle that a band like Meliah Rage presses on in the face of all the current neo-thrash, especially when they hail from my own neck of the woods, suburban Massachusetts. The region is essentially a hotbed for trendy hardcore, slam death, metalcore, and grind sounds with only a handful of bands performing in the traditional molds of speed, heavy and thrash, so something like Dead to the World is practically a treat by default. That said, I have found the band's catalog inconsistent in the past. Kill to Survive was a classic in the vein of Metallica, Megadeth and Lääz Rockit, and one of New England's best all-time thrash records, but I lost interest in their material as early as Solitary Solitude, only to find a rekindling on their 2009 album Masquerade (through local imprint Screaming Ferret).

It wasn't amazing, but it was a dynamic slab of traditional Meliah Rage with plenty of solid writing, variation and hooks and choruses that made a steady attempt to grab the listener. Dead to the World follows in much the same vein, a thrasher at heart but incredibly lucid in its grasp of melodic and progressive aesthetics. Mike Munro, their great original vocalist, has stepped aside once more, and the band have brought back Paul Souza, who has a sharper and more melodic voice, which is distinctly less Hetfield. This guy has an inherent spin on his tone that often feels as if you were combining Munro or Hetfield with, say, Mike Patton. But remarkably, he fits in with the band's dynamics seamlessly, whether that's the moody ballad-gone-crusher "Absolute Obedience" or the more flighty, 90s Flotsam & Jetsam-like material like "Up In Flames", "Valley of the Shadowless Souls", and "Cold Cruel Fate".

The band has never been afraid to incorporate clean or acoustic guitars into its writing, and they are balanced throughout the album like a vein pulsing beneath a metal skin, hugely responsible for most of the albums emotional peaks and valleys. They'll often throw out a tiny element of funk or some outside influence, but the most refreshing feature of the album would be the presence of dual melodies which hearkens back to the Master of Puppets era of Metallica. As a huge proponent of that album, I'm always happy to hear successful assertions of the style. The vocal chorus parts are still workable here, even if they're not mind-numbingly immortal or catchy enough to stick on the conscience for long. In the end, Dead to the World is about flush with its direct predecessor in terms of quality. The singer is changed, the sound has expanded, but the band slogs on without abandoning that classical 80s tint which put them on the map in the first place.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.meliahrage.com/

Bitter End - Have a Nice Death! (2011)

I'm not going to pull any punches and deceive the listener into the notion that Bitter End were anything more than an average thrash band for their day. They had a few chops, surely, and a refreshing level of energy and intensity which transfixed their Megadeth like riffing into the sincerity of their street level lyrical cred. But Harsh Realities, their sole full-length (1990) left quite a lot to be desired. It had the reek of potential if the band would have only wrought something less ultimately goofy. I'll still spin a handful of tracks from that disc when re-exploring my thrash collection, but the blunt and everyman vocals are something of a turn-off. Anyways, in abrupt consistency with most of the 80s underground, the Seattle group has decided to reform here and give it another shot.

Now, to be clear, Have a Nice Death! is NOT the long-awaited new Bitter End album you and a dozen other people might have been crossing fingers for. It's primarily an official pressing of a mini-album they recorded to follow up Harsh Realities, which had not previously seen the light of day. So the fact that it sounds so close to that debut makes a whole lotta sense. Tracks like "Tiny Minds" and "Burning Bridges" have that same hustle to them, with thin and spunky crisp guitars muting along in patterns redolent of Rust in Peace, only far simpler in construction. The vocals sound exactly the same here, sort of a half-way between Hetfield and Mustaine, and the individual guitars aren't bad as far as their level of aggression and consistency. The leads are actually decent throughout, in particular when they open "Tiny Minds". You can picture yourself in the late 80s banging heads to "Sludge" in between your Gothic Slam and M.O.D. records, but there's really just not more to it than that smiling breath of nostalgia...

However, while the core of this release is not even on par with Harsh Realities, the guys have decided to round out this package for the longstanding fans who remember and celebrate their once and future existence. They've incorporated the entire Meet Your Maker demo (1988) in its original form, even though the songs are comparable as they appeared on the full-length. And lastly, they've included a quartet of live tracks from a summer 1990 performance in Seattle. Three of the selections hail from the EP this release is based upon, but they also play "Profits of Doom" from the debut. The vocals sound a little choppy and muffled, the overall recording sort of airy and inconsistent, but you definitely do feel like you're in the back row at some retrofit garage club in the 80s, or perhaps listening from across a field. And what's more, the band should be lauded for releasing something this complete, even if its to such a limited niche of admirers.

The bottom line: if you worship Harsh Realities like the underground gem that it's not-exactly, then you will have absolutely no obstacle getting into this. If not, then your opinion is unlikely to sway, with the caveat that newcomers to Bitter End are better off checking out the debut, since there are better songs present. I've never been a big fan, really, but at least it's cool to note that they care enough about the music that they desire another round.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/bitterendmetal

Nergal - Absinthos (2006)

Having developed into what some would consider the 'poor man's' Rotting Christ or Varathron, Nergal had themselves a minor cult effort in their full-length debut The Wizard of Nerath. Sure, it left much to be desired in the long run, but clearly it was a statement of competence and potential. Alas, its qualities were not capitalized upon, and the band fell into torpor for more than a decade before the decision to summon once again their dark and ancient concerns into a fresh vortex of ritual pantomime. Absinthos still sounds a bit like a band standing in the considerable shadow of Rotting Christ, who had written its like several times with superior results, but I'd not say that this was an album to write off entirely: it knows its business, and provides a passable haunting.

With studio possibilities having come a long way in the ensuing decade, it would be no shock that Absinthos sounds far more polished than its predecessor. As clean as a golden apple, consistently sound in its variation and songwriting choices. The title track itself opens the proceedings with a wall of synthesizer, martial horns swelling up alongside manly narrative passages, often quite laughable but nonetheless entertaining. But then comes the strident, tremolo riff driven black metal content ("The Tearful Eyes of the Countess") kissed with sweetness of subtle synthesizers, solid and resonant rasping which helps rend aside the temporal boundaries into which these Greeks are reaching. They are clean in their transitions, and half-cracked at pulling off a riff or two, but I found that as the album grew faster and more ferocious ("Scream in the Forest" or "Live the Death"), it seemed to perk up, if only because there is more energy being discharged than the middling, medium paced compositions.

A lot of melodic mute-streams, which is one of the primary reasons I'm so reminded of the whole Rotting Christ approach (Thy Mighty Contract through their modern material). The only difference is that Nergal just don't build such entrancing patterns with their guitars, and thus the material feels less passionate and emotional. A song like "Deliverance by the Tyranny of Life" has all the components of what makes the Greek from appealing, but once I'm finished listening to it I simply can't evoke the desire to replay it. The dark chugging, heavily synthesized "Dark Prevalence" constructs a cheesy but compelling pomp, with some kinder piano passages strewn about, but even here, at the album's grandest deviation, the notes just aren't fixed into patterns that fondle the imagination. Nergal succeeds here in ridding themselves of a decade of empty, open air, but ultimately Absinthos is not so entertaining as their debut, and really not valuable unless one is seeking further examples of the style which reached its peak upon Thy Mighty Contract, The Wizard of Nerath, His Majesty at the Swamp and Eosforos. An honest try, but not enough to echo through the athenaeums of antiquity.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/nergalhellas

Riddle of Meander - End of All Life and Creation (2006)

Riddle of Meander is another member of the strictly by-the-book black metal movement, offering nothing above or beyond its peers or influences. But I'd be dishonest to neglect a few particulars about the Greeks that I do enjoy. For one, the band's name itself is curious and distinct among such a crowded field. I sort of like the sloppy, barbaric logo the band is sporting. The cover her is great, naught more than a lit candelabra imposed over ancient, creepy stone architecture. It all calls to the loneliness and impenetrable isolation of the 90s tradition, where empty castle walls, cathedrals and desolate wilderness locales gleaned at the listener, beckoning them into the emptiness and abandonment. To a degree, End of All Life and Creation even mirrors this aesthetic in its musical discourse.

That's not to imply anything out of ordinary, because what you're getting here is the same tried and tested, philistine nihilism inherent in hundreds of other bands to dawn into the 21st century beneath the swollen stalactites (and legacies) of their forebears. End of All Life and Creation does possess a particular clarity for this style of underground black metal. The guitars are clean and crisp, the drums tinny but efficient, and the bass curves lightly below the onrush of curves. The vocals are absolutely nothing special, but their bloody and pain-inflected enough to make their points. The songwriting here revolves largely around the mid to fast paced charging maneuvers typical of the Norse and Swedish-influenced followings, but you'll also get serving moments of slower, despotic grooves that follow in the mold of Hellhammer or old Darkthrone. Riddle of Meander feels somewhat less barren than a number of their contemporaries, in that they vary up the riffing enough within each individual track to maintain the audience's attention.

If they write a longer song ("Superior Black Flame", "Immortal Hate") you can expect a number of dynamics, from streaks of windier, icier desperation to bleak and tranquil segues of cleaner tones guitars that offer a momentary pause from the storm of sadism. In fact, these cleans are used to provide much of the 'ambiance' of the overall album, in place of the traditional synthetic pipe organs and choirs. Samples of bells or breezes are also used conservatively, so you really do feel that you're lost within the morbid, archaic edifice hinted at by the cover, and this is truly the selling point of the record. Huge riffs, memorable levels of torture and atmosphere are not to be found very often throughout the debut, but if you're simply seeking something to channel your imagination from the belly of monotonous, urban/suburban decay into the alcoves of Satanic tyranny and oppression, End of All Life and Creation makes a feasible attempt to live up to its title.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://users.cjb.net/riddleofmeander/index.html

Mortuus Caelum - Macto Interitum Mundi (2006)

Macto Interitum Mundi is one of those bustling, business-as-usual black metal efforts which is likely to appeal only to those who aren't tired to death with the underlying concepts of the genre. As often as not, the formula seems to suffice, and while I can't credit Mortuus Caelum with having created some cult conquest upon their debut, the Greeks seem simple and sincere enough that fans of the lesser produced, tremolo driven grimness might seek not to let it slip their attentions. There is definitely an encompassing of the atmospheres so potent in Transilvanian Hunger, De Mysteriis dom Sathanas, and Det Some Engang Var: the riffs drive the music, the drums and hoarse rasping are kept very level in the mix, and you get this overall mid-frequency through its organic, crashing tumult.

A suitable dark ambient intro ("Uncreated Existence") and a more harrowing, ambient interlude complete with percussion and screaming ("Deep Nostalgia") are pretty much the only breaks in the grimy, blasphemous action. The rest of the record moves at a streamlined, blasting pace that relies heavily on its guitars to produce both momentum and memorable patterns. Some of the songs succeed in this endeavor far more than others. "Segregate World", for example, operates through a straightforward tremolo rhythm which seems like one of the first things anyone would produce when first delving into the medium on the instrument; but it functions, where other pieces like "Holocaust Divine", "Burning the Astral Winds" and "Under the Crown of Sin" all seem to blend together into a mosaic of conventions. Not that they're necessarily bad, any of them, but it's just so much easier to pick out "The Glorious Battalion" or the swaggering intro gait of "Genitive Loathing" for at least getting the blood up for a moment or so.

It's exactly what you expect when you pick up an underground black metal album, from it's black and white imagery of a crumbling fortification wall, standard if cool looking logo and title font to the actual breadth of the music. The vocals are mediocre if efficient, never quite that evil, but totally within the confines of the form. I mentioned that the mix of the instruments was very level here, and I actually do admire that the band were able to get consistent results from what is a pretty lo-fi recording. You won't be tearing out your ears listening to this, but it feels as if it could be entirely reproduced by listening in on a rehearsal session (nothing wrong with that). In the end, though, Macto Interitum Mundi's Latin-scripted debut is neither paradigm shifting or foundation shaking enough to forgive its admittedly average writing for its sense of purism. I've heard far worse. I've heard far better.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

Northern Breeze - Sailing to the North (2006)

Perhaps I'm just a jaded purist, but I'm always taken aback when I experience a 'Viking' or Norse themed metal band that isn't actually hailing from the geographic clime (or region) of its affectations. That said, Northern Breeze are at least from Greece, a component of the Eurasian continent where such cultures and their raiders are likely to have sacked and spread at an early Age, or at least woven their wars and legacy into the fabric of history. Sailing to the North was one of the few albums released through the rare Candarian Demon imprint, and the band has been silent since, but they offer a fair counterpart to their obvious Norwegian influences, Immortal and Enslaved of the later 90s.

Sailing to the North is a dynamically versed record which stops at nothing to capture the frigid winds and battles of its idealized subject matter. Taut, thrashing rhythms are threaded through brighter, melodic streams of chords. Not a band highly devoted to the black metal aesthetic of vile dissonance, they nonetheless craft some degree of barbarism and passion for the fight in tracks like the opener "Legacy of Hatred" or their namesake "Northern Breeze". But this is not their sole trick, as they conjure sturdy components of melody in the finale of "Dream Valley" or the fjord-treading "Father of All Times". Acoustic passages are wrought through a number of pieces to add that folksy flair so common to the Viking/Norse fanatics, but they are far from sissies, with tracks like "The World at War" and "Night Breed" ripping out forth from the school of Frost and Battles in the North.

In general, the tunes are well put together, they just don't stand out against the expansive range of similar artists from numerous continents spouting the same, derivative jargon. The lyrics feel like a mash of Thyrfing, Immortal and Einherjar, and the riffs, if tightly wed to the solid, machine-like rhythm section, never evoke those moments of climax and passion that make you want to split someone's head open with your battle axe. But that is not to say that the band do not provide a few layers of depth in their composition, and certainly Sailing to the North has the components of a competent debut, in both musical proficiency and cleanliness. None of the tracks are needlessly bloated, usually ranging in the 4-6 minute range, and they all incorporate a mild degree of variation to keep hold of the listener's ear. While it cuts the water of its passing with effective enough oars, this longship sadly leaves precious little conquest in its wake.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10] (the ashes for your frustration)

http://www.inner-breeze.cjb.net/

Goregast - Desechos Humanos (2011)

Don't be misled by the Spanish used in their album and song titles. This is not Brujeria Mk. II, but a group of German bastards who play a strain of crushing old school death metal with thick and fibrous strains of grindcore threaded into a concrete matrix of bone snapping brutality. Desechos Humanos is their third album, and while it's not amazing enough to wrench your neck from its socket, it would be difficult to conceived not at least having a partial good time to its raucous charms. Bands like Nasum, Haemorrhage, Neuropathia, Dead Infection and General Surgery all come to mind as far as its construction, but despite the huge guitar tone, there's not much Swedish happening here.

Goregast do know how to mix it up, and you'll encounter songs of varying tempos and lengths that do not necessarily preclude their content. For example, "Necrophagic Pathologist" and "Puerco de Dinero" are both under two minutes in length, but they vary the riffing from faster paced blasts to grimy grooves and back again. The downside is that there are some clear winners to be found here, and then a bunch of other tracks that amount to barely amusing filler. "Honor the Dead" and "The Boozer", for instance, rage off and rip your face off with bruising if simple patterns, but others like "Corta la Coleta" and "Capa" feel too predictable to punish. For the most moshing per minute, you might jet straight to the back of the bus here for "Unslave Yourself", which is all sledgehammer mentality that fades out into the same, strange ambiance that begins the record.

What the band might lack in pure riffing quality, they do somewhat compensate for with the enormous production of the record. Bold, bright, and beautiful enough to take even the most minimally constructed rhythms to the next level of notice. Rico Unglaube's vocals are loud and moody whether they're in Spanish or not, and the grunts are often affixed by snarls in the fine tradition running back to early Carcass. But I must say, that overall, Desechos Humanos does fall into the trap of the familiar, 'fun in the moment' effort, which just doesn't remain on the conscience long after it stops dealing you uppercuts with amputated zombie limbs. I've got very little negative to say about it, but in the long run it's not something I'd listen to over Nasum, Coldworker, Napalm Death, or various other groups in the field, and I do wish there were more memorable guitar riffs to latch on to.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://goregast.jimdo.com/

Mordbrand - Necropsychotic EP (2011)

As a newish death metal project hailing from Sweden, Mordbrand immediately brings to fruition the unshakable stereotype that haunts anyone emerging into such an inflated scene. However, while they certainly cull a few of the practiced characteristics of the genre, in particular a core of punk-driven d-beat death & roll, they manage to derail expectations through a superior songwriting ability. These guys have some roots playing 'fun' punk and thrash outfits (the musicians are from The Law), but joined with Swedish growling legend Per Boder of God Macabre, their material takes on a more dour and appreciably serious dimension. Variation and melodic sensibility ensure that the listener is getting into something more than the average barrage of Nihilist, Dismember and Entombed worship.

The face rocking begins immediately, as Mordbrand whip up a mystic, almost Arabesque into to "Eaters of the Void" that propels right into a riff that would have fans of Skitsystem, Trap Them, Rotten Sound and Entombed windmilling the shit out of their limbs. But quickly, before casting themselves fully to the predictable, they initiate dual melodies and a melancholic tinged bridge that deliver in spades, while Boder grumbles over the top of the bone pile like a mutant mortician. "Graveyard Revisited" opens with a huge groove before its own acceleration into melodic death-punk, and "The Fall of Flesh" rolls out a more clinical, melodic swagger. There is a not a song among these which fails to balance itself nicely, even the cutting and drying of the closer "Deliverance" upholds the standard of spring-loaded groove and versatility.

Necropsychotic even sound good, while eschewing the standard tone used on so many of these Swedish-style records for something with more purposeful rock clarity. Fans of Entombed's Wolverine Blues or Desultory's Swallow the Snake will be right at home here, though this is a more genuinely death-starved, sepulcher-crashing affair with old school death metal lyrics. It's never a bad thing that a band refreshes its influences without ripping them off, and this trio has done damn well to mix it up. These six tracks might not be the stuff of legend, but they're flexible and entertaining enough to anticipate what a full-length of similar quality might offer.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/mordbranddeath

Cryptborn - In the Grasp of the Starving Dead EP (2011)

Old school death metal continues its dominance well into the 2nd decade of the 21st century, as scores of younger bands emerge to venerate both the Swedish and US scenes that dawned in the 90s. Cryptborn is yet another Finnish entrant into the field, and while you'd think they might aesthetically mirror the traits of local heroes like Demilich, Demigod and Convulse, they actually bear a lot in common with the primordial power behind Entombed's legendary debut Left Hand Path. Only one should take the overbearing breadth of that familiar guitar tone and imagine it cranked to overdrive, thick as body parts in a zombie-infested shopping mall during peak hours of business.

A lot of slow, potent grooves dominate the song-scape, with pretty standard d-beat drumming used to drive the burden of the guitars. Vocalist 'Christbutcher' has an expansive, ominous tone to him which brings to mind the peak years of Martin van Drunen, only more butchered and abrasively guttural. That said, it did take me a few tracks before finding something I liked here, as the intro "A Feast for the Grave" and the ensuing "Gift of Rotten Flesh" have an unfortunate dearth of memorable riffing. Once the juicy, pummeling grooves of the title track emerge, you are transported back to the crunching, effective simplicity of Clandestine, and the burgeoning rhythms of "A Nebulous Parting" and "Never Perfect When You Die" also deliver a neck banging bombardment of soil-shifting riffs that feel adequately carnal and comprehensible. The leads used on the album are basic and not compelling, but they do rekindle their intended nostalgia.

And that's really the name of the game here. Cryptborn bring nothing new to the formula, but their obvious reverence for the style they emulate is delivered with genuine abuse. That doesn't make In the Grasp of the Starving Dead an item one should go out of his way to acquire, but those devoted to the influences are unlikely to find themselves underwhelmed or disappointed by what transpires here. The EP is short (under a half-hour), brutal, tonally appropriate, and as dark as the cemetery scenery which inspired it. I dug about half the tracks, and the other half seemed competent but forgettable, gruesome graveyard shovel-ware. However, the release is expertly produced for the style, throwing the guitars right up front, and those who missed its original cassette incarnation will be able to grab the CD through Dark Descent this fall.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/cryptborn

Heptameron - Grand Master of the Final Harvest (2006)

Another Hellenic cult wrought of the 21st century, Heptameron takes a distinctly grimy and thrash-influenced approach to the black metal genre. In fact, were it not for the spacious, reverb laden rasp of the guitarist/vocalist 'Kleanthis Necrofiend', it might not assimilate into that genre entirely, but parallels are neatly drawn to the brute 80s sounds of Possessed, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Kreator, Sodom and Slayer, with a sliver of a younger Samael. While I admit that I actually quite like the crude, stripped to basics sound of this recording, and the resonance inherent to the vocals, Grand Master of the Final Harvest does not quite deliver on all fronts. There is a predictability to the riffs and rhythms that never seems to capitalize on the thrill-seeking of its influences.

There is enough dynamic variation that it's never all that dull, but the quality of tracks is highly inconsistent. For example, the instrumental opener "Lord of Silence and Strength" is a shoddy collection of dirty thrash riffs that fail to provide decent transitions into one another, where the following "Vonpho Vovina" is a razing solid that gets the ears retro'd up for some sheer proto black metal blasphemy. "Necrofiend 9th (Vessel of Iniquity)" and "Legions of the 9th Angle" both focus in on slower or mid-paced crunch rhythms, but the riffs are hellishly bland to behold; yet, when the band thrusts ahead on pure adrenaline, like the raging title track, "Barbaric Assault of the Rebel Angels", or in the more noodly broth of "Altar of the Living Flame", they're at least moderately entertaining. They also keep most of the tracks appreciably brief, hovering around the 2-3 minute mark, with the few exceptions being 4-4 1/2 (in which you can tell they are already starting to strain their welcome).

A certain niche of the metal market exists out there to gobble this up, and I'm referring to the diehards of labels like Nuclear War Now! or Hell's Headbangers who devour anything redolent of those dawning abomination years, when the genres of extreme metal were first emerging in a cross-stream of puke, pus and vitriol. Heptameron certainly vie for that crude and cryptic authenticity: old t-shirts, bullet belts, spiked armbands, chains and Satan. If you're heavily into that scene and take no exception to material with inconsistent riffing and subpar songwriting, then Grand Master of the Final Harvest might be worth a try. For myself, I guess I'd rather just listen to Beyond the Gates, Welcome to Hell, The Return, or Worship Him, because the songs here just don't possess that same, unforgettable charisma.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]