Vasaeleth - All Uproarious Darkness EP (2013)

What a title, what a cover, and what a level of expectations for creepiness this thing had set before I heard a single sound off it. All Uproarious Darkness is visually comparable to the Crypt Born & Tethered to Ruin album, but privately I had hoped it would expand Vasaeleth's sound upward and outward. Alright, maybe those are not the best terms to apply here, since the band's aesthetics are so deeply rooted beneath the dirt, but that's really an obstacle so many of these acolytes of the old Incantation, Autopsy and death/black war metal bands face: how to refine a template and deter potential monotony they might face from repeatedly dipping into the same, opaque waters...a hurdle that this duo does not quite leap, but at least tries to sneak around.

If anything, All Uproarious Darkness is uglier and more primitive than the full-length, a real racket of primordial tremolo picking and Neanderthal gutturals that seems like they stepped into some weird alternate reality in which Wells' Morlocks had taken over the planet, and paid bloody, black audio tributes to their pantheon of deformed deities. The drums and general pacing of half the material fit both the black and death metal paradigms, which reminds me a little of the ugly Canadian war metal outfits of the 90s, but over the top you've got these utterly barbaric tremolo picked riffs which eschew harmony and memorability for sheer Cyclopean force, while the gutturals just soak in the cavernous atmosphere much like they did on prior Vasaeleth records. Occasionally the beats will slow down to a death/doom step, but I found some of these sequences really vapid in structure and even less likely to create much of an impression than the rest...even some of the unexpected, clever chords they'd occasionally spat out on the full-length album seem to have gone the way of extinction here, and beyond a few of the lurking, eerie turns and patterns in "Fathomless Well of Ruin" and "Throat of the Grey Watcher", I found myself a little bored listening through this.

That's not a fault unique to Vasaeleth, of course; I feel like so many of these suffocatingly underdark death metal bands usually have about one album in them which sails by on atmosphere and all the best accumulated riffs they can muster, and then when it comes time for a successor they just tend to stay too snugly in their wheelhouses. Yeah, it's a little strange to call extremity like this 'snug', since it would freak most of the humanity the fuck out while they struggled to even identify it as music, but it just doesn't come across as if a lot of effort was placed into it. Crypt Born & Tethered to Ruin was an excellent control group from which the band could have branched out and summoned up something truly impressive, but I'll be the first to admit I don't want to hear 10 more albums just like it. This 5 track EP is not an exact duplicate, but sojourns along an even more crude course which thrives on loyalty to its gloomy designs rather than the composition of unforgettable, evil songs. Some might love it for that very reason, but I just wanted something more daring and horrifically adventurous.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10] 

https://www.facebook.com/Vasaeleth

Vasaeleth - Adorned & Iridescent EP (2010)

It's a curious thing to return to that leading edge of the cavernous death metal conglomeration so prevalent at the turn of the 20-teens, and Vasaeleth's Crypt Born & Tethered to Ruin was an effort I was somewhat fond of when it dropped in 2010 through Profound Lore. Adorned & Iridescent was a 7" 'preview' of sorts for that album, put out by Satanic Skinhead Propaganda and Blood Harvest Records, with two of the album tracks and a B-side which is, in retrospect, probably the only reason to check this out. This might lack that morbid, distinct color artwork by Antichrist Kramer that they used on their later releases, but the contrast of the band's superb logo against the black/white cemetery photo is still quite pleasing.

Adorned & Iridescent, like its full-length sibling, is essentially a paean to Incantation's earlier material, Immolation's debut and the churning, raw miasma of horror cultivated through the first few Autopsy albums, only this is seen through the lens of younger individuals who wanted to take those subterranean aesthetics and lavish them with a turbulent but modern, reverberating production which might lend it a better sense of 'setting'...if your setting is six feet beneath a sepulcher. You've got the roiling, tremolo picked guitars which feel like someone stirring your intestines with a ladle, with a few bridges towards death/doom territory with morbid, plodding chord progressions or even a few harmonics for eeriness. The guttural vocals are more like some caustic underground gas being blown across the ceiling of the caverns, than anything distinctive or easy to pick out from the music, and this is where that Craig Pillard influence comes in. The drums, on the other hand, seem sternly black metallic in focus, blasting nihilism which combined with the low end-ness of the whole recording almost grants it a coldness like the vast space between celestial bodies...

The riffs are alright, but occasionally they'll throw in a dissonance or unexpected left-hook chord which helps justify the largely predictable patterns they were producing (at least for anyone who had been around death metal in the late 80s/90s). What struck me about Vasaeleth was just the overall feeling you get when listening...some of the music is kid's stuff in terms of songwriting, but it most certainly felt like the raw breath of aeons being blown into your ears when you place it in context with what the duo of Antinom and O.A. were attempting to achieve. Unfortunately, for the EP itself, its little more than a footnote, since "Figures of Chained Spirits" and the title cut are better placed in among their six neighbors on Crypt Born.... "Unmanifest" has a more black metal current in the drums and chord choices, but I've also had that impression elsewhere in their catalog, and it's pretty flush with the two A-side tracks. At any rate, this was retroactively consigned to oblivion when the album dropped several weeks later, and it's ultimately useless to do much other than look at or listen to the third tune, decent if not mandatory; but it would not have been an unworthy introduction in 2010 if you couldn't grab a copy of Crypt Born, which just sounds better in general.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10] (call forth your name which mine becomes)

https://www.facebook.com/Vasaeleth

Disfigurement - Soul Rot EP (2013)

It's never a bad thing when I've listened through the first 3-5 minutes of a new death metal record and can't immediately lump it into one of the prevalent trends of either tech-brutality, cavern-core or Swedophilia. Atlanta's Disfigurement certainly cultivate some pretty popular old school influences from the 90s, but with their EP Soul Rot, they have the luxury of instantly seeming fresher than the majority of what's being churned out of the nostalgia factory 24/7. Nothing but pure death studied from the lexicon of artists like Morbid Angel and Vader, with faster and repulsive rhythms interspersed into roiling, atmospheric grooves and a raw but precise sense of atmosphere that generates an infernal level of energy and enthusiasm that is...to be blunt...infectious.

Nothing out of left field, and nothing extraordinary if you've been around this music the past 20+ years, but I'm reminded of other acts like Horrendous who have managed to take those inspirations and make them feel new again, or rather to make me feel like the mullet-sporting newspaper delivery dork who used to memorize every damn tremolo picked progression on every damn death metal cassette he could acquire at the ripe age of 15. Extra, extra, bleed all about it! Add to that the present day production capabilities and Disfigurement simply shattered my expectations, and maintained a consistent level of competence and quality for the 23 minutes and 5 songs this EP endures. Shrill, atmospheric leads writhe their way through a lattice of intense, churning, molten guitars that flirt with that classic overseas tone of the 90s, but settle for something robust and visceral without reaching that oversaturated level crunch. Drums are loud, proud and never sound particularly falsified or processed like a lot of drummers playing at this level in more technical outfits.

The vocalist is also quite a 'catch', he's got those bellowing Benton/Tucker depth growls that shake and resonate but also a bit of Corpsegrinder gutturality (new word, I swear) and then some raspier passages to develop variation in the lines. Bass is pretty potent; although the lines don't distinguish themselves from the rhythm tracks, you're never unaware of its presence. But ultimately, where the band succeeds the most is in structuring these songs...always leaping full force into some intense new battery, regardless of what tempo they have settled upon...think Domination meets Litany meets Once Upon the Cross and then foster that tryst with a fair ratio of memorable riffing, sporadic fits of extraworldly leads/melodies and then of course the resonance that front man brings to the entire affair. I'm not promising that this is 100% memorable fare, or that the riffs escape derivation often enough to generate a sense of nuance and wonder, but Soul Rot is another reminder that the old school sweatshop of the past 5-10 years is not necessarily played out to its fullest, and that with a little talent and focus on song structure the best could be yet to come...

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.facebook.com/DisfigurementMetal

Encoffination - O' Hell, Shine in Thy Whited Sepulchres (2011)

One of the more 'serious' projects in the vast lexicon of US musicians Ghoat (Justin Stubbs) and Elektrokutioner (Wayne Sarantopolous), Encoffination was formed with the intention of bridging the gaps between crushing, funereal doom and the nostalgic death metal that the duo gestates in their other collaborations Father Befouled and Festered. I say 'serious' because often with various of their works you can clearly grasp the endearing, tongue in cheek horror concepts, but O' Hell, Shine is Thy Whited Sepulchres could never be mistaken for anything even bordering on funny, unless you've got the sickest sense of humor this side of dead baby jokes. Brooding, somnolent, and oppressive, this sophomore strives to function almost solely on its atmosphere: you don't turn to Encoffination for riffs, they are merely means to an end. Your end.

Unfortunately, I almost wish they HAD preened the guitars just an inkling further when writing this material, because much of it feels rushed out the door, or about as rushed as this sort of sluggish molasses could allow. There are numerous strengths to the album, for instance the great intro "Sacrum Profanum Processionali" with its bells, atmosphere and incantations. The massive guttural devotions of Ghoat, which swell to the ceilings and arches of its emotional catacombs. The epic contrast of the drums, between its tinny hi hats/cymbals and enormously thundering deep end, the latter of which is moving enough to empty your bowels alone. For myself, though, I found the riffs in which the down-tuned tremolo guitar lines were joined by these curving, hypnotic bass lines to be the most memorable on the album, like the opening sequence of "Crypt of His Communal Devourment" or the drudgery of the verses in "Pall of Unrequited Blood". Sadly, the guitar lines themselves are not exactly evocative, just strings of notes that make sense for the style but fail to cling to the depressive mental nodes the album draws to the fore.

Encoffination recognizes the limitations of the medium, and thus some credit can be given for their implementation of atmospherics like low, brooding organs or haunted bells, but no matter how hard they season some of these riffs with funereal textures, they still often feel like tedious, disposable death/doom derivative of early 90s artists like Asphyx, Thergothon, Sorrow, Skepticism, Unholy, Disembowelment, etc. It's too bad, because where this album works, it works fairly well, and I enjoy a few of the other bands these guys are involved in. They've evinced mightier tones from their equipment here than on the more subdued, somber Ritual Ascension Beyond Flesh from 2010, but then it's not quite so engrossing either, since that album had this palpable distance to it which felt like you were experiencing it through some Cyclopean, forgotten subterranean temple in which you were soon to be sacrificed. O' Hell is far more up front and in the listener's face, and appreciably depressing, but I wish the metallic components had been up to snuff with its pacing and atmosphere.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.myspace.com/encoffination

Hallows Eve - Tales of Terror (1985)

While the formative first wave of Bay Area and German thrashers were developing their chops with a vicious certainty, their influence was already being felt elsewhere around the globe. Taking up the reigns out of Atlanta, Georgia was a young band called Hallows Eve who would follow Slayer onto the early Metal Blade roster with a comparable sound combining lethal speed, aggressive vocals and a no frills attitude towards wild lead work and raw, ripping punk attitude. Now, they didn't sound PRECISELY like those Californian icons, and were not on the same songwriting plane as Show No Mercy or Hell Awaits, but aesthetically speaking, their songs certainly reeked of the brutal disposition framed in a "Chemical Warfare" or "Captor of Sin".

This is especially so for the first track on their debut, Tales of Terror: "Plunging to Megadeath", one of the band's cult classics, which just grinds along with a simplistic, tremolo riff pattern very similar to "Chemical Warfare". The bass is potent and pronounced, and the solo, while not as random and logic defying as a Hanneman/King staple, seems reliably uncouth. Vocalist Stace Andersen also created a similar contrast to Tom Araya, ranging from a barked, pissed mid-range as he uses on "Plunging..." to the screaming escalation found on other tracks. However, Andersen also has a pretty blue collar pitch on tracks like "Outer Limits", where he's howling along to replicate the guitars, or "The Mansion", where he sounds half like he's coaching orders at a football team in the fourth quarter, and half like a banshee let lose upon the material plane. Regardless, he's got a character to him that you all too rarely hear in bands anymore...even if he's at times a little loud in the mix here (a symptom of 80s production).

Tales of Terror also benefits from a good degree of variation in the songwriting, from the brief punk volatility of "There Are No Rules" or "Horror Show" to the more sharpened brutality of "Metal Merchants" or the aforementioned "Plunging to Megadeath". They'll imbue the muddy rhythm guitar tone with spikes of airy, eerie melodies for the opening of "The Mansion", or build a bluesy rocking selection of notes to "Outer Limits". There's a bit of Maiden in the brief instrumental "Valley of the Dolls", and the Georgians even make an attempt at a bonafide 'epic' here with their namesake "Hallow's Eve", over 8 minute of dynamically shifting speed metal with several mighty vocal sequences that remind me quite a lot of Manowar from the same time. It often feels that the album is a fraction too diverse for its own good, but not so much that it can overpower the crude charms of the individual compositions.

That said, Hallows Eve were not writing exemplary guitar riffs in general here, and there's a good reason they weren't rewarded with the same level of hype and momentum that others in the field were enjoying. Even at its best ("Plunging to Megadeath") you get the feeling it could always be just that much better. On the other hand, Tales of Terror is an album which hasn't lost a lot of luster in the ensuing 26 years. It's as raw, punishing and fun now as it was back then, paving the roads of nostalgia with broken bones, and sure to appeal to fans who like other raw old speed/thrash efforts like Tankard's Zombie Attack, Exodus's Bonded by Blood or the old material from Possessed and Slayer, especially those into campy horror lyrics about aliens, hauntings and so forth. Hallows Eve would refine their formula for their sophomore and career peak Death & Insanity, but this surely made for an entertaining introduction.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (I lost reality long ago)

http://www.myspace.com/hallowsevemusic

Mastodon - The Hunter (2011)

Mastodon are one of those bands that have achieved such a high level of visibility and success that they can do no wrong in the eyes of some, and do no right for the ears of others. To their enormous, rabid installed fan base, they are considered geniuses, the 'salvation of extreme music'. And frankly, were they to release an album of syncopated projectile vomiting, these folks might still revel in it. On the other hand, to their detractors, they're the prime suspect in the whole 'hipster' crowd, i.e. metal for people who don't like metal. Some of this is the typical rebellion against all things popular which has always been a staple of the underground, and some is just the xenophobic whining of emos in hesher clothing who seem terribly convinced of their own purity when they can be bothered to stop sniffing their own bodily fumes. Others really just don't like the music Mastodon writes. Hey, it happens.

Personally, I have enjoyed the band to this point. In particular their 2006 opus Blood Mountain, an album I found brilliant to the degree that it remains in regular rotation in my car stereo five years later. A hybrid of groove and progressive metal, hardcore and the unique leanings of acts like Voivod, F.U.C.T., D.B.C., Today is the Day wrapped up in the flesh of rustic folklore and prehistoric fascination? Sign me up. Their earlier, progressive sludge stuff like Leviathan and Remission was perhaps not so revelatory, but nonetheless good. As for Crack the Skye, I had a more mixed reaction. The album felt as if the band were attempting to capture a fragment of Blood Mountain's more progressive rock leanings and then extend it out into a full conceptual piece which was far less exhilarating, and I've only rarely summoned up the urge to experience it further.

Two years later, they've come back with The Hunter, their most user friendly and commercially accessible jaunt to date. Many have drawn a parallel between this and Metallica's 'dumbing down' on The Black Album, which is an apt comparison, if not entirely accurate. Things have changed, in that the band are writing obvious, layered melodic chorus vocals, and occasionally simpler guitar rhythms. Yet others haven't. One trait here that really ties this record into the past few is Brann Dailor's excellent drumming, which remains nearly as busy as Crack the Skye, if never so much that it outpaces or outdistances the musical plot. In general, the musicianship is still cracking throughout, the varied tempos functional in keeping the ears glued through both the sparse bouts of manic intensity and the glistening vocal candy. And this is one area, perhaps, in which The Hunter deviates from past patterns.

While something like Blood Mountain was as a general rule heavy, with only a few moments of bliss ("Pendulous Skin", or the wondrous climb of melodies in "Sleeping Giant"), this is a much more 'even' balance of the two poles. You've got dreamy, mesmeric pieces here like finale "The Sparrow" over which the vocals sooth and soar like a lost Pink Floyd ballad, or "Creature Lives", my least favorite track here which uses a lot of the open air choral vocals you might hear in Fleet Foxes, The Arcade Fire or the moodier Beach Boys tunes. This experimentation isn't by default bad, I just found the guitars and the overall structure of the song pretty bland, predictable and empty. Then there's the song which is basically a straight up stoner rock piece, "Curl of the Burl", redolent of Corrosion of Conformity or Monster Magnet but with a lame chorus: It's just the curl of the burl/that's just the way of the world/it's just the curl of the burl. Really? Or how about the unfortunate "Blasteroid", which sounds like a Southern inflected Foo Fighters until it grows some balls for the spastic dissonant snarling metalcore of the bridge.

But all is far from lost, and there are a handful of tracks here which I'd consider genuinely appealing. Opener "Black Tongue" has some solid, escalating riffs and somewhat of a black, space rock atmosphere to it, and reminds me quite a lot of Blood Mountain. "Spectrelight" stands out to me for how the angst-ridden vocals slice straight through the thick, muddy grooves of the guitar. And "Bedazzled Fingernails" is a compelling pastiche of clean, jangling and swerving guitars with more of the psychedelic, layered vocals that stand to memory long after the song fades. I would be remiss to not also mention "Octopus Has No Friends" or "All the Heavy Lifting", which are both fairly interesting forays that bridge together the heavy, melodic rock influence with a lot of adventurous guitars courtesy of Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher.

A band like Mastodon can afford to make their album sound crystalline and huge in accordance with pop and mainstream rock standards, and so it's only natural that The Hunter is prim and proper enough to allow all its instruments to breathe. There is no question that the quartet has put an enormous amount of effort into the arrangements, in particular the vocals, which all the band members contribute towards. They're still technically inclined and 'progressive' without ever coming off showy or overly indulgent, but regardless this is a safer album geared partially towards a wider rock audience, and thus some of the tracks are vapid and unmemorable to the point that they feel as if they soil the rest. 5-6 of these would have made for one hell of an EP, but I could do without the padding, and I found the lyrics here far less poignant and stunning in their imagery, loaded with cliches and nonsense that I simply don't expect from this band.

In the end, while I 'like' The Hunter, and it's not nearly the disaster it might have been or that some might claim, it does not hold up to their earlier full-lengths. Never before have I felt the urge to actually skip songs on a Mastodon release (I don't visit Crack the Skye often, but when I do, I plunge straight through it), but it's all too easy to cut something like "Creature Lives", "Stargasm" or "Dry Bone Valley" out of the play list altogether. At the very least, I hope they've shaken some of the chinks out of their armor with this album and will turn the ignition key for the future. And write some fucking LYRICS next time.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (given to the ones I've known)

http://www.mastodonrocks.com/

Theocracy - Mirror of Souls (2008)

You don't hear power metal hailing from Georgia very often, and after hearing the sophomore effort of Theocracy, I can only be thankful.

It's flighty, Christian power metal, of course. If you're not into the idea of a band singing to you about God and the glory of serving in His name and, angels, or whatever the fuck nonsense people are still being brainwashed about these days, then just stop here.

If you love Jesus and kiss the sky and want some spirituality in your metal, there are other reasons to pass on this. The music is very well produced but lacks any real staying power, even when the band manages to create a decent charging riff and great vocal lines like those of "Absolution Day", they fail to capitalize on it because they lapse into the typical 'anthem' sound that plagues so many boring, 2nd rate European bands of this style. And I consider this by far the best song on the album.

Take a band like Freedom Call, or Heavenly. Now strip those bands of everything bordering on excitement or memorable riffing (for Freedom Call you don't have far to fall). Add the preachy Christian lyrics, and voila, you have Theocracy. Does this sound exciting to you? Yeah, it wasn't for me either. I will make note that the band can play their instruments well, the singer is decent, if all the tracks were of the quality of "Absolution Day" I might favor it a little more. Die hard fans of the bands I've mentioned here, or maybe Helloween, who REALLY love Jesus, will probably be in Heaven here. Pun intended. "For Christ alone is worthy, to pay the price to set our sinners free!"

Thanks for that lesson.

Verdict: Fail [4/10]

http://www.theocracymusic.com/