Dawnbringer - Night of the Hammer (2014)

Night of the Hammer is not a complete mellowing out of the style that Dawnbringer had explored with the two albums before it, but it's for sure a more comfortable and subdued slab of melodic heavy metal. The thing is, Chris and Scott brought the RIFFs with them, and this has a plethora of meaty, laid back chord and tasteful melodies that help to complement some of the best vocal structures and chorus lines they've had. The cover art here is quite different, just a photo of a guy staring out across some farmland or plain, with a silo or something off in the distance? With a hammer, of course. I often wondered if this is supposed to be the same figure from In Sickness and in Dreams, just captured from a different angle, with a weapon this time...perhaps a little bit of conceptual connection there.

In fact, this album has a heavy air of melancholy to it, which also begs that comparison, even though the style here is FAR removed from the surging melo-black/death of their formative years. Whereas the last two discs before this one were defined by ambition and redemption, Night of the Hammer is sad and self-reflective, with lyrics to match. It's got tasty, mid-paced rockers like "Alien", but also a lot of slower, sad heavy metal tunes like "Nobody There", "Hands of Death" and "Damn You", some of which, like the last, are definitely flirting more with a pure doom metal aesthetic, albeit unique with the little atmospheric guitars and Chris's vocal style. Speaking of which, he's dropped some of that gruffer edge for something more piercing and melodic, and it's pretty awesome since he's clearly becoming a more confident and effective singer (in this and other bands). The guitars sound smooth, some of the cleanest tone of the band's career, and most accessible; the drums as well. The songwriting in general is just as refined as Nucleus or Into the Lair of the Sun God, but the focus is much more grounded and personal...

That is, until the final three tracks of the album, which heard the band starting to 'fuck around' with a number of different style. These aren't deal breakers, but they definitely leech the record of some of its emotional weight. "Not Your Night" is a throwback to their more extreme metal days, with a blast beat and breathy, harsher vocals recalling In Sickness and in Dreams. "Funeral Child" is a Mercyful Fate and King Diamond tribute, and a pretty good one, but it's just something you don't expect at all in context with the rest of the new material here. The falsetto had me laughing, but I guess they had done the one song in the past that sounded like 80s/Painkiller Judas Priest, so I guess I can't be too shocked they could pull it off...and weirdly, the end of the tune goes right back into the style present on the rest of the record, which makes it even stranger. The finale, "Crawling Off to Die" does fit the record the most of these three but it's definitely got a feel of electrified folk balladry to it, and vocals that are more like a Pink Floyd vibe. None of these tunes are bad at all, in fact they're all catchy, but I just don't think they serve Night of the Hammer as a whole, and I always found them distracting. Otherwise, this is another compelling milestone on the band's journey, a shade of melancholy to disperse some of the Sun God's gleaming.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

Dawnbringer - Into the Lair of the Sun God (2012)

Into the Lair of the Sun God is a continuation of the sound Chris and Scott had found with Nucleus, only it sounds more refined and 'mature', as if the duo had really settled into this like some band having played around in it for decades. It's got another classy Christina Casperson cover like its predecessor, and I think both are the best in the whole Dawnbringer catalog at reeling a prospective listener into the journey that awaits them on the actual album, without giving away the content. Normally I'd look at these and think I might be bound for some dungeon synth or obscure black metal (which I'd be okay with in either case), but it's such a great pairing with this epic USPM sound. There should also be some kudos that Chris manages to explore this style without stepping on the toes of any of his other heavy metal projects, numerous of which were well active by this time, like High Spirits, Superchrist and the brilliant Pharaoh.

Sure, there are a few points of crossover, especially with Pharaoh (Matt Johnsen even pops in for some lead guitars here). A few vocals, a few of the busier guitar lines, but this is it's own thing, a classy and atmospheric conceptual heavy metal record eschewing song titles for Roman numerals. Pretty atypical for metal of this style, but it does actually help the listener roadmap the album as something to experience fully without worry about the 'hits', and that's a good thing, because Into the Lair of the Sun God is an extremely consistent 44 minutes of steady or galloping rhythms, well-layered leads, balanced tempos that shift between momentum and atmospheric reflection ("III" is a good example). The drums feel the best in the band's entire career, the bass lines thrive where in the past they were somewhat suppressed against the other instruments. The guitars are as bright as the title demands, which create a good contrast against Black's middle-ranged, hazier vocals which still remind me a bit of Lemmy, if the legend had been fronting something less lewd and rock & roll. There is a fair amount of complexity to some of the riffing, not so far as Helstar or Pharaoh maybe, but certainly in that region (as with "IV"). On the other hand, there are also a few pieces like "V" which is basically a straight up radio rock anthem, or the plodding and potent "VI".

I have to reiterate how well composed this music is...this might be the best 'songwriting' they have ever done, even if I'm nostalgically connected to Unbleed, which was quite different in style, that record does seem like chicken scratch compared to Sun God's calligraphy. This is not a record without precedent, there are many points here where you'll find parallels to Omen, Riot, Manilla Road or most of the other bands I mentioned before, but the way it's imbued with theme and pacing and consistency and the vocals make it all quite unique regardless. A pretty strong showing for a band that doesn't seem to spend too much time re-treading the same terrain, they hit little peaks and plateaus. Into the Lair of the Sun God shares this particular plateau with Nemesis, but it's further developed, catchier, with little moments of grace and power in each of its rhythmic arcs that better reward the listener. I think it's the pinnacle of this entire later phase of the band's career, a record I put up alongside the works of a Slough Feg or Hammers of Misfortune, two of my favorite peers when it comes to modern/throwback US heavy metal.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

Dawnbringer - Three Soldiers Standing/Night of the Sinner EP (2011)

This was a weird little ditty to drop between Dawnbringer's two epic heavy metal albums Nucleus and Into the Lair of the Sun God, since it's a pair of unreleased tunes from back in the days shortly after Unbleed was released. As such, you can expect a much rawer style, and in fact, the mix on these is so disheveled and demo-level that it makes that debut album sound like it was recorded in an AAA studio by comparison. That does also limit my enjoyment a little, since the beats sound like a couple cans being slapped, the bass is just present on the edge of perception, and the overall effect is a little cringe. However, the guitars do sound pretty damn good, you can hear the brightness of the leads against the bustle of rhythm guitars performing a hybrid of heavy, speed, and melodic black metal, and the vocals are nasty in a good way, creating their own contrast against the cleaner backups belting out the choruses. Hell, they sound better than they did on the Sacrament EP, although I think the mix on that was overall much cleaner than this.

As for the songs themselves, they're both pretty good. They're not as rustic or melodic sounding or escapist as Unbleed, these have a more urban, aggressive, violent feel to them, with a bigger influence from thrash metal twisting into the other styles from that record. Granted, there are moments like the breakout rhythm in "Three Soldiers Standing" where it would have fit right in, but these feel more like they were being developed for a more asphalt-tearing sophomore effort that never quite manifest. The mix holds me back from giving this a higher recommendation, but if you did enjoy Unbleed, or if you like a lot of old demos from the first few waves of melodic death and black metal, or maybe some of the bands coming out through Invasion records back in the mid to late 90s, then this digital/7" release could be worth a listen. It's an artifact, for sure, and I think the songs could actually benefit from a re-recording if the band ever went back to that style. However, for anyone else who hasn't already heard Dawnbringer, the three full-lengths I mentioned in this very review are the better starting points. 

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

Dawnbringer - Nucleus (2010)

Four years and one deal with the budding Profound Lore records later, and Dawnbringer returned with a much more professional, refined sound that leaned far deeper into their heavy metal influences. Granted, the melodies and harmonies were always there in the guitars, and you can certainly trace some of the content here back to the last three discs, but the song structures definitely seem more brazenly epic, inspired by a lot of the NWOBHM classics, but with the same urgency and speed they applied to a lot of their black metal stuff. I also hear some comparisons to the cult US heavy metal gods Manilla Road, there's a similar sense or adventure being told though the guitars, though the production here is probably a lot more accessible, and certainly better than In Sickness and In Dreams.

Still a two-piece here, and Chris has converted his vocals more to that dirtier style he used on the last album, only here the intonation works better against the music, more of a humble blue collar bludgeon against the constant barrage of heavy metal melody. What if Lemmy fronted Iron Maiden. That sort of sound, and while his delivery is not going to win any prizes, it does tend to function within this context. But the songs are just more robust and striving, inspirational in places like "Swing Hard" and the glorious, moody, atmospheric "Pendulum" which ends off the record with some vocal lines that remind me of "Astronomy Domine". They try their hands at pure Sabbath-style doom in "Old Wizard", and it works, Chris using a little bit of a higher, more forceful pitch to match the weight of the riffs. "You Know Me" is jammy, proggy and Rush influenced, while the end of the bridge in "The Devil" brings them right back around to some of their most intense material off the older albums, the blasting drums used to create a pummeling atmosphere which supports the feedback-driven guitars vaulting over them.

A few of the tunes, "All I See" and "Like an Earthquake", might also come across as more melancholic alternatives to the style he'd use in High Spirits. Nucleus definitely messes around and explores, about as much as the prior album, so I did come away from this with the same sense of growing pains. However, it almost all works well within the milieu of this particular record, and what's more, the individual songs here are much better than they were on either In Sickness... or Catharsis Instinct. But this is the real 'flex point' where they became more of a heavy/epic metal band as their defining trait. With the Profound Lore visibility and all-around improvements, it's no wonder this was the record that put Dawnbringer on a lot of radars, and rightfully so; it's one of the first I'll reach for when I'm not in the mood for the rustic melo-black of Unbleed, and also one of the first I'd recommend to newcomers, or honestly any fans of heavy metal or heavy/prog metal.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

Dawnbringer - In Sickness and in Dreams (2006)

In Sickness and Dreams is somewhat of a continuation of Catharsis Instinct, but also somewhat of an identity crisis, one of the more unusual albums in the Dawnbringer catalogue. It's characterized by a lot of very short songs, few over two minutes in length, and though Chris and Scott still manage to pack in a lot of ideas, I rarely felt as if they were fleshed out enough to really grasp onto them. The core style here is still melodic black and death metal, perhaps leaning more towards the latter due to the vocals, but it's also got some cleaner vocals, soothing or even hypnotic in parts, and a few straight heavy metal leanings which will foreshadow where they'll be ending up down the road. The opening piece, "Scream and Run", seems to portend a proggier, psychedelic style, and that does appear a few times, but it's more of a tease for later records.

The production on this thing is dingy, and that's one of my biggest issues. Chris is using a more croaked, death metal vocal and it sort of disintegrates against some of the guitars, almost like he's not putting enough force into the inflection or it's just mixed terribly. Sometimes it comes across breathy, and when he's using the cleaner vocals it can almost sound like Lemmy ("There and Back") chilling out behind the guitars, or brought to mind the later Swedish band Bombus ("Under No Flag").. It's a strange contrast with the blazing, melodic guitars, which definitely prove highlights on the records with a lot of riffs that sent a lot of the trendier Swedish death-inspired US metalcore bands home on a stretcher. However, there are some weird sections where they just keep jamming on the same repetitive notes, like almost the whole shorter tune "You Get Nothing" or the end of "Hell is a Desert", strange choices that feel like they almost exist on the album solely to floss out the listener's brain or palate.

It gets weirder..."11:58" has Rob Halford style power vocals, sounding like some sort of mock tribute, and then morphing into faster acoustic guitars. "Death in Time" is a 16 second fugue with a little doom lick that shouldn't have even been bothered with. Both feel unnecessary. On the other hand, there are some fun tracks deeper into the list, like "Attack of the Spiders" with some great speedy NWOBHM licks, or "Endless Guilt" which is a catchy melo-death tune with some organs in there. Overall, the music is pretty solid, I just wish there had been less songs, more focus making the better ones more substantial, and a brighter mix that would have benefited them. Some of the vocals here are my second least favorite after the Sacrament EP, and while the whole album clocks in at 24 minutes, and you never get a chance to get bored, the overall production is just underwhelming. Like an experimental EP sending out feelers for where Dawnbringer would adventure next. Some great riffs keep it hovering just above the precipice of mediocrity, but it's not one of their better offerings.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

Dawnbringer - Catharsis Instinct (2000)

Three years later, Catharsis Instinct answers some of the production shortcomings of Unbleed, with a louder, fatter, more straightforward mix more representative of more mainstream extreme metal in its era, but musically this feels quite close to the debut. The emphasis is on the driving melodic, harmonized passages, lead breaks, shuffling if not terribly powerful drum beats, and black metal vocals. You can hear Chris Black getting a little more comfortable with the playing here as he busts out some more traditional heavy metal/hard rock leads, but there's no obnoxious wanking or showing off whatsoever, they always seem to service the song they are splashed over. The acoustics are also still pretty important as they create the biggest contrasts on the record, but I did not find them as tasty as those on the debut, even in their better moments like the "Bleeding City" interlude they are just a forgettable support for the melodies.

I think one issue this has it 12 songs, about half of them doing the same sort of style of the debut, and then the rest are headed off into more thrashing or death/metal territory, like "Halfman" or "Mudslicer" which occasionally border on a less brash At the Gates sound. They still have their moments mind you, or even "What Are You Running From?" which reminds me of In Flames at the turn of the millennium, maybe a little Edge of Sanity circa Purgatory Afterflow or Infernal. Chris had been joined by another guitarist for this one, longtime member Scott Hoffman, and the pair are certainly adept at exploring all these more trendy sounds, especially with their penchant for the melodies and leads, but I do feel as if part of this record is headed down the wrong direction, away from that blindingly melodic stuff that captured my imagination in the first place. Another thing is that I feel the vocals get sort of crushed by the guitars in a lot of places, they're a little deeper and less raspy than on the last album and I think, especially when the guitars get the most melodic, they are just drowned between them.

There are a few other new touches, like the cleaner howling vocals on "Cosmos Disease", a pretty cool tune with the proggy keys too, and this is obviously something Chris will explore a lot more in his other bands later. So it's unquestionable that this is a progression from Unbleed, a modernization of the style that keeps holding on to large chunks of its past, and though I like most of what's here, and certainly the production level is a welcome upgrade, the songs themselves are often a mixed bag, and maybe in an ironic twist, that cleaner sound might have sapped away some of the atmosphere that I found myself lost in. At any rate, Catharsis Instinct has its moments; it's one of my less favorite albums in their backlog, but there's plenty of creativity and evolution left in this band's future. Might just take a few tries.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

Dawnbringer - Unbleed (1997)

Full disclosure: Unbleed is my favorite Dawnbringer album, but that does come with a few caveats. The production here leaves a lot to be desired, and I realize that eventually their style drifts far away enough from this debut full-length to almost seem like an entirely different band, so some listeners that might never have heard it, and joined in on their more directly heavy-metal oriented efforts, might be surprised. But this is the first album I picked up in a bargain bin at the place my friends and I would grab import metal CDs, with its curious, idyllic nature scene and waterfall, and despite thinking the mix was thin even back in the 90s, I was instantly smitten by the passionate contrast of ear-bleeding riff melodicism, atmosphere, and rasping vocals. I remember sharing this with one of my bandmates from that era (also on guitars) and I think the playing here might even have rubbed off on both of us.

It's still the same style as the Sacrament EP, which I only encountered 25 years after this, with passages of driving melodic black metal interspersed with flourishes of classical acoustic guitars, and this time out they dropped the stupid, boxed off vocal effects, for a more effective and traditional black metal rasp, and added in some tasteful touches of organ in tunes like "Waterbreath" that really elevate them. I'll say this now, if it had a slightly bulkier mix and some actual visibility, Unbleed might have been a record that fans of vintage In Flames or Dark Tranquillity would have attached to immediately, possibly Dissection, and I'd even wonder if later groups like the excellent Obsequiae had ever heard this, because there is that same sense for centralized melodicism in both, even though the execution isn't quite the same. Now, the mix isn't even really that bad, the guitars, beats and organs all mingle seamlessly, the acoustics tasteful and elegant. The bass isn't super standout here (neither on the EP) but you can hear it cruising below like a faster take on Steve Harris, simply subordinate to the bristling melodies in tunes like "Witness", which ironically also have a strong Iron Maiden influence.

But it's all a little narrow in tone, so some of the depth to the songwriting and guitar tone has to come in through the listener's imagination, which it does, but had this been beefed up then it might have wound up in a lot more stereos and headphones. Also, though the vocals are improved, when you listen up closely they still don't seem to be recorded perfectly, and they can come off a little overbearing next to the instruments, but nowhere soiling my admiration for this disc. It's not entirely a one-man show this time, I believe Chris had picked up another guitarist, and they work well in tandem, and it's really this excellent little US melodic black metal gem that I'm not sure many have even listened to. It seems like that whole scene was ushered over to the States by all the hardcore/metalcore bands that heard Slaughter of the Soul and then changed their styles to match, but in fact we already had Dawnbringer and a few others at the vanguard (and frankly, a lot better). You'll note that I love a lot of this band's output, but Unbleed has that personal connection which maintains the top spot for me.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

Dawnbringer - Sacrament EP (1996)

Before deciding to run through Dawnbringer's catalog and offer some thoughts, I'd never even heard the Sacrament EP. I wasn't even aware that it existed. But here it is, one of (if not THE) first releases from the prolific Chris Black, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist that would go on to at least a half dozen excellent bands including Aktor, Superchrist, High Spirits and even a stint in Pharaoh. Dawnbringer would clearly be seen as one of the more extreme projects in his canon, a sort of heavy and black metal fusion which wasn't too out of place with a lot of the Scandinavian melodic black or death metal acts of the mid-90s. This initial EP is a strange one, as it mixes some fairly well produced riffs with shoddy, effects-ridden vocals and lots of acoustic guitars.

The last of those excel out of the starting gates in the opening instrumental, relished with some weird ambient sounds and pianos. Then we're treated some driving melodic riffs that were probably pretty tasty for melo-death/black fans at that time, and barking, semi-BM vocals which have an unfortunate effect on them that feels like it was ported over from a telephone call or tape recorded, and they kind of spoil the rest of the mix which is admittedly smooth. The acoustics are lush, the drums are well executed though if they're a machine or not it fools me, and the bass is present if not a major factor. It's really those faster electric guitars which are the highlight here and setup for what was to come later. I'm assuming that Chris plays ALL the instruments on this, I know at least two of the three band pseudonyms are attributed to him and having heard his guitar work later, that's probably him too, but regardless, this EP is really only compelling to me as a historical artifact establishing the excellence that would follow. "Sacrament" and "In a Handful of Dust" have some strong riffing material, shredding and atmosphere but still feel a bit 'demo' or incomplete due to the beats and vocals.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

Pharaoh - The Powers That Be (2021)

Upon first hearing Pharaoh's latest opus this summer, I remember thinking that based on its riffing strength alone, it was one of the strongest releases of the year, and after several more months I hold to that perspective. As with the Pennsylvanians' progressive power masterpiece Be Gone in 2008, arguably one of my favorite melodic metal records to ever hail from the States, this is not and has never been an act that rested on any of its genre's laurels. There is no predicting what riff is going to follow the next, this is one of the few groups of its kind that feels as if its treading new ground rather than attempting to emulate Dream Theater, or the flowery, trite Euro power anthems, or the sort of generic screeching throwbacks you'll hear in KK Downing's new band. The ground level is not nostalgia, but innovation.

Sure, internally there are similarities in production and riff patterns across this band's own discography, it's Matt Johnsen's sandbox after all, but even there you can tell they're pulling out all the stops to create new progressions. This is arguably the band's most technical outing, with a gajillion melodic riffs hitting you in each track, the vast majority of which are well-structured and would be impressive even if you turned the rest of the band off in the mix...only you'll never want to do that, because Chris Black's drumming is just intense across this thing, fills all over yet complementing the rhythm guitars, and Chris Kerns' bass-lines are also formidable, and really lock down that lower end so Johnsen's playing can just shimmer all over the place. The leads are tasteful, occasionally flirting with a shredding velocity but never beyond the point where they complement the rest of the instrumentation. There are some cleaner guitars, as used in the folksy "Waiting to Drown" or the intro to "When the World Was Mine", but these didn't quite excite me as much as the electrics, although they do function alongside the moodier vocal style Aymar uses in the former.

Speaking of which, Tim's voice didn't quite score with me the first few listens through this one, for some reason I thought he'd lost a little steam from Be Gone or Bury the Light, but now going back through it I realize I was just being foolish, he sounds perfectly fine and continues to possess one of the more unique voices in USPM, or really metal at large. He's like a David Wayne, an Udo or a Flemming Rasmussen (on the earlier Artillery records); he's just got this burlier, angry edge to his intonations that in no way diminishes their melodic impact. You can just instantly place the voice once you hear it. All of this is captured in a super clean mix which isn't terribly different than the last two albums, but allows all of the players some distinction from one another without feeling insanely polished and neutered. To some degree this feels like Be Gone: Advanced Class, an album that is nearly as catchy, but even more proficient, and while it might not just have instantly ingrained itself into my ears, it's extremely rewarding, highly re-listenable and propels Pharaoh even further into a class of its own.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10]

https://pharaohmetal.bandcamp.com/

Coffin Dust - Everything is Dead (2016)

Coffin Dust unquestionable hails from that same death/thrash tradition pioneered by Carcass as they distanced themselves away from their goregrind origins. More recently that mantle was taken up by the family of bands that includes Exhumed, Impaled and then Ghoul, who have been running with it since well before the British butchers reformed. Yes, that was sarcasm. There's at least one member here who has played live with Exhumed, and the roster and ex-members of this group have a pretty vast repertoire between them which encompasses a number of sub-genres. Put it all together and you've got what I might dub a more 'organic' sounding proxy to Matt Harvey's deathgrinding flagship, one that differs in production and also in some of the songwriting nuances.

I enjoy that the record is book-ended with a pair of swollen, dark synth parts that set up the vintage horror aesthetic, but I'm not sure the rest of the material here really matches it other than the themes running across the lyrics. Instead, this is a very crisp, spry blend of tremolo-picked death metal lines, faster 80s thrashing progressions and even a good chunk of crossover/hardcore when the band wants to barrel roll into something more straightforward. The rhythm guitar tones are quite natural feeling, not as heavily saturated as, say, Exhumed, and this lends itself to a lot of slick, speedy little guitar licks which were quite consistently catchy throughout the six originals here. Even better, there are a lot of interesting little lead guitar blitzes that give the whole experience a bit more depth than I had expected, and these two are dispersed throughout the origins and helped hold my interest even in the few sections where I wasn't on board with the rhythm passages. Hooks for days, not that you haven't heard their like before, but performed with some engaging energy.

The bass throbs along the low end, occasionally walking off on its own groove, but I also wanted to compliment the drumming here, which is quite solid, with some cool little shuffling beats used to perk up sections of tuns like the titular finale. The vocals are a satisfactory guttural for the most part, well fit to all the sub-styles being blended into the record, and actually helping mold them into one whole, and there are also a lot of snarl/growl dual vocal parts which is par for the course with just about any band in this niche. The cover of Slayer's "Metal Storm/Face the Slayer" is quite well done, and fits in fluidly with the original tunes, revealing its obvious influence on the thrash side of this Pennsylvanian newcomer. All told, the album is a compact 35 minutes, I was never lulled into any sort of boredom. A few of the more hardcore styled riffs didn't do a lot for me, but these were easily compensated by all the quirkier little melodies and speed/thrash licks. So if you're looking for a band in the vein of Exhumed, Ghoul, Frightmare, or Ex Dementia, but with a slightly less blood & guts production style, this is well worth a listen.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/CoffinDust

Horrendous - Ecdysis (2014)

I have a tendency to lavish incredibly huge expectations upon the sophomore outings of promising newcomers in the thrash, death and black metal mediums, which is probably not the fairest way to approach them...so when I saw the cover and read the buzz for the second Horrendous full-length, the high bar they had set with The Chills became an ever looming presence. Easily one of the better of the retro death metal records hailing from the States in the past decade, that album took everything I loved about luminaries like Death, Pestilence and Obituary and re-engineered the formula just enough that it could feel fresh again, while standing out against the hordes of Swedish sound-a-likes and overhyped cavern core elite that had been well on their way to exhausting me by 2012...not that both crowds didn't produce their own brilliant offspring, but they just never gave me the same amount of hope that this reach back to the roots of the genre was much more than mere idol worship; no, this was retracing death metal in order that it might strike out on a path where the songs mattered a lot more than the aesthetics.

Ecdysis is a symbolic title, since it represents a shedding of exoskeleton and 'skin', something the trio have clearly done for this new material. It's not that Horrendous have flipped the script to the point of becoming unrecognizable from the earlier work, but the sophomore is imbued with this dynamic, death & roll sensibility that fully represents their ability to harmonize the melodies and bust out the beautifully tempered leads, against a backdrop that is slightly more groovy and rocking than the more death/thrash foundation upon which the former full-length was built. Again, the production is given a rawer than expected treatment, with the guitar tones slightly reminiscent of the Swedish school but disparate due to how Herring and Knox compose the riffs together. I know the comparison might elude some, but try imagine if you were to mix a more melodic analog of Clandestine with the eloquent, emotional soloing of Andy La Rocque during the King Diamond hot streak of the late 80s, and then a bit of that clinical progressive Death which took off the following decade, especially the bass playing and meandering but adventurous nature of some of the rhythm guitar progressions. Only unlike Schuldiner's work, this doesn't go for that absurd level of production polish. Anyway, if you can imagine that mashup, you'll arrive at what this album creates. Does that sound fucking great?

Well it is, not to the degree that it trumped The Chills for me, but established Horrendous as a persistent forerunner in the 'real death metal' category that also includes bands like Tribulation, Morbus Chron, Binah, Lantern, The Wakedead Gathering and Necrovation, songwriters all, driven by where the music is going just as much as where it's been (which too many like-minded bands get hung up on). While they're by no means 'technical death' as the term implies in today's market, the level of proficiency here never falters behind the morbidity of the medium, these guys can play and they let you know through the sheer versatility of rhythms being fired out in any given tune. The vocals are still a more resonant, rasp-heavy and gruesome product of Chuck Schuldiner and Martin van Drunen influence, and the bass guitars also warrant added attention, since they don't just follow along subserviently to the rhythm guitar notes. The drums are slappy, snappy and natural, and what's more, they don't shy away from throwing you a very 80s' sort of curve ball like the wonderful acoustics of "The Vermillion" or the more speed/heavy metal licks of the second instrumental, "When the Walls Fell", which took me entirely by surprise amongst its more malevolent neighbors while sharing that subsistence on strong lead work and RIFFS FUCKING FIRST.

If The Chills didn't put Horrendous on everyone's map, then I really hope this Ecdysis will not only serve that function but encourage those that missed the debut to explore that too; it was a little more 'evil' sounding to me than this follow-up, but the tradeoff is that this material seems a little more adventurous and busy, even though the two share a level of accessibility you won't get with the more subterranean, clamorous strain of death metal molded in the image of Incantation and Immolation. Great album, I've been revisiting it regularly since the press promo started circulating and I can't see myself stopping anytime soon.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/HorrendousDeathMetal

Chaos Moon - Resurrection Extract (2014)

The fly-haloed, shambling revenant cuts a stark contrast against the chalky mountains and white sky behind it, and possibly an even greater heterogeneity to the actual musical content of Resurrection Extract itself, which is in a word: lovely. Not that the distinction comes without a price, for this is loveliness born only from a most twisted and disagreeable heart, pumping out staggering amounts of blood and suffering alongside its warmer emotional tsunami. I just feel I should put it out there: looking upon this album, and hearing it, are two entirely different things, and the one did not really prepare me for the other...the breaking waves of crescendo and nothingness in flux throughout the hour-long experience.

If you've run into Chaos Moon before, you'll know this is Alex Poole's brainchild, aka Esoterica, aka he-of-a-number-of-bands you might know...most recently, doing a sting with Neil and Krieg. The last time he gifted us with a full-length (or a pair of them) was in 2007: Languor into Echoes, Beyond, which was honestly worth a few listens. Resurrection Extract is a one man show, which is likely to be considered by many a part of the 'blackgaze' movement due to its heavy reliance on warm, melodic tremolo picked guitars that are sent aloft into the distance of the recording, arching progressions that serve as asymmetrical peaks beyond the gnarled, throat-rending vocals and mechanical batteries of drums. Usually there are numerous layers of harmonies, one lower and more dissonant to feed into the sense of desperation that so many of the melodies manifest. This does tend to run monotonous through large swaths of the albums, and one might accuse Esoterica of spending longer measures of time to reach the conclusions of riffing passages that many bands would gladly abbreviate, but then you wouldn't have the same sense of overwhelming immersion as you find here...

It's not all sameness, because numerous tracks are permeated with these drifting, ambient sequences where calm swells ("Dreams Scattered Over an Infinite Mirror") or ringing, cleaner guitar tones ("Asemic Weakness") grant some dissimilitude to the more tumultuous, wrenching moments in which the guitars and vocals are on full time suicide watch; and I can't exaggerate how critical those points are to preventing some level of ennui from setting in. To be fair, I think that's part of the intention to a record like this, but I did find the construction of much of this oeuvre redundant to what you hear in the first couple of songs, so it was a good thing to take a few breaks from that approach. Otherwise, you will not hear much complaining from my end, because even if it has a few traits which lack much individuality (the heavier rasps and occasional Burzum-esque shrieks), Resurrection Extract roils in genuine frustration, repugnant beauty and there are certainly songs here that will swallow you whole and then spit out the physical remains. Fans of other I, Voidhanger acts like Lorn, Spectral Lore and Midnight Odyssey should take heed of this, as well as the advocates of bands like An Autumn for Crippled Children, ColdWorld and Lantlos.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chaos-Moon/111626415515769

Incantation - Dirges of Elysium (2014)

Godless, primal death metal mavens are having a veritable feast of late, with new records from bands like Teitanblood, Autopsy and Dead Congregation; yet I find myself drawn slightly more strongly towards the latest offering from another scene veteran, John McEntee and his fellow lords of gloom, Incantation. Coming off Vanquished in Vengeance in 2012, an incredibly strong re-affirmation record which saw the Pennsylvanians ramp up their production values and songwriting to a marginally more accessible tier, without losing any of what made them so important back in the 90s (even if fans at the time wouldn't know it yet). Enter Dirges of Elysium, a new effort which adheres to the same potent level of sound and variation, only venturing slightly further into the death/doom well which they've always inhabited, and I cannot say I'm disappointed in the least...this is one effective, oppressive, spiritually cumbersome beast which compensates for a lack of innovation with really well-written songs, and largely winning riffs.

That's right, there isn't necessarily a single damned thing on Dirges that you've not encountered before, from either this band, Autopsy or others of their ilk, yet Incantation pull it off remarkably, as if the whole medium were fresh and had just been invented yesterday. Not every individual riffing thread is victorious, perhaps, but the slower tremolo picked sequences feel morbid and cavernous, the downtrodden harmonies enough to churn the clouds and grey the sky, and both the leads and rhythm guitars covering a broader scope of tempos than much of the band's backlog. If this were some brand new head on the chopping block, it might feel entirely too derivative of McEntee's legacy, and yet this is the fucking genuine article, an ablution of sickness, suffering and depravity which takes its sweet time crushing your head. In fact, paired up with its predecessor Vanquished in Vengeance, I'm going to have to say that this has been my favorite epoch of the band since the first two records. They just have that much more of an impact on me as I'm listening...not the most memorable works in their field by a very long shot, but prime examples of seasoned mortuary-craft which possess a metric ton of replay value. Dirges is slower, sure, and that's not always my thing, but I was rarely bored here (perhaps in 1-2 songs top). Incantation continues to spew the gene-seed that still runs in the veins of so many of their followers...

McEntee's vocals remain a selling and life-quelling point, rumbling like boulders being shifted about the Underworld to participate in Sisyphean tortures, fully evocative of the darkness beneath that this band has always called home. Rhythm guitars retain that robust flesh, alternately murky and dextrous despite the largely simplistic chord and note progressions the band champions. Bass lines are fitful, creepy and adventurous. Drums: clear but crash-tested. Nothing technical anywhere, but where Incantation succeed and so many others fail is in how perfectly level they can measure off atmosphere against finesse, opacity against clarity, the static and the kinetic, the dying and the fucking dead. I'm not saying these are the sorts of riffs to die for that we'll be recounting for the next 20 years, like the ones we first dug up 20 years ago through the most seminal of works, but this is just a very dependable, believable form of escapism into the subterranean haze. The intro is good, the faster riffs sound evil, and even the more bloated compositions manage not to induce the 'snooze setting' because they feel epic rather than meandering or directionless.

Oh, the grandeur of the gruesome! Dirges of Elysium beats with the same rotten heart that started pumping a quarter century past, and yet the ichor-choked arteries seem to have undergone some refinement. Friendlier, maybe, but in the way it's more congenial to be eaten alive directly than to be toyed with over a long, bloody hunt.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://incantation.com/

Pact - The Infernal Hierarchies, Penetrating the Threshold of Night (2014)

Once these particular birds of prey have discovered the proper tactic to tear out your throat, they don't seem very keen on changing strategies; so you can expect that this Pact sophomore The Infernal Hierarchies, Penetrating the Threshold of Night leaves much the same carnage behind it as did their debut The Dragon Lineage of Satan back in 2012. That's both a good and bad thing, because while they join the ranks of the dependable and devil-driven, one might have hoped for some degree of evolution, variation and atmosphere to shape their sound towards the future. Painfully little of that, this is just a lot more paving of the road to Hell with ill intentions, and unfortunately the riff selection here just sort of wafted through one ear and out the other, leaving a sufficient beating but nothing extraordinarily memorable behind that I would deign to recollect very often.

That's not to detract from the confidence and competence here, the monstrous chords threaded with minor dissonant open string pickings, war-march drum cadences suffused with spleen-rupturing blast beats and double kick storms. Thick, present bass-lines, and a little bit of muddier chugging when a song calls to beef up that bottom end. A singer that continues to use a bit more guttural timber than the rasps generally associated with his genre, but they also thread in a number of those for support, to sound like a convocation of abyssal spirits. I definitely feel this retains that redolence of Bathory, Mayhem and Marduk if they had in turn pledged their unholy allegiances more directly to the war metal throne of groups like Blasphemy and Bestial Warlust, but with the added boon of a more fulfilling, modern production style. Other more recent  comparisons might be made towards Averse Sefira or Denouncement Pyre. Still, while a busy and incendiary album by all accounts, The Infernal Hierarchies... does lack the subtleties and advancements I might have hoped from the first record, an issue I might not take if I could find a few more riffs here that interested me for more than a handful of passing listens...

Really, Pact is for those who want a rush of fuel and absolutely no forgiveness, a vision of the Underworld as as the domain of tyrants who clutch their gauntlets in steel might and let the blood run down their cheeks and chins while they sup on the souls of those that pass through the Leviathan's gates. Its suited to a war against Heaven's host, where you're so locked into the combat mentality that all the dying and flailing of angels and fiends around you blends into this one, cohesive blast of fear and fate, and it just doesn't concern itself with anything innovative or, ultimately, interesting. That's not to say there isn't an acceptable level of deviation with the more mid-paced floods like the opening of "Pactmaker Lucifuge", or a number of bridges over which the baleful, minimal behemoth leads wail into the frenzy, but it felt like such a stock black metal experience this time around that I couldn't get much out of it. Lots of aggression, a fiery production, and very little else in the shadow of these horns, possibly worthwhile to purists that enjoy the faster European style (Dark Funeral, Watain, Belphegor, Marduk) but I felt like that first album was bloodier and catchier.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

Rottrevore - Hung by the Eyesockets EP (2013)

While I've always enjoyed Rottrevore well enough, I can't say that I am or was ever immune to the opinion that they were a bit of an 'also ran' to that OTHER Pennsylvanian death metal juggernaut. You know the one, and if you don't then you're probably not reading this to begin with. Now don't get me wrong: Iniquitous was never quite so ominous, malignant and claustrophobic as an Onward to Golgotha...the album seemed so slightly more straightforward and I daresay 'brighter' than its better known peer, which I'm not shy in admitting used to scare the fuck out of me when I was younger. But on the level of technical merit, the two were comparable and both have retained a lot of their timeless, oppressive quality even after the span of two decades. So, when first listening to Hung by the Eyesockets, I was taken aback by how little had changed for Rottrevore in 20 years...

I guess it makes sense: there haven't really been any releases in the interim to make those evolutionary baby steps that mark a band's passage through the aeons. For example, if you were to listen through Vanquish in Vengeance and then compare it back to Mortal Throne of Nazarene, there would be some disparity in performance and theme which come naturally with such a lengthy progression (though Incantation has never entirely deviated from its Relapse Records roots). But apart from a few production tweaks, Hung by the Eyesockets sounds exactly like the three songs stepped out from the Iniquitous recording sessions, went out to a bar and got so drunk and hungover that they couldn't make it back the next morning. Now their night of debauchery is revealed! The tone of the guitars is indeed more rank and voluptuous, and in fact I'd say it sounded a fraction more 'Swedish' than the bulky Autopsy crunch of the debut album, but it largely recaptures the more hellish grinding and groovier moments of the ancient full-length like flies in amber.

I did feel like the drums on this thing were a level or so too loud in the mix, to the point that they can clutter up my appreciation of the guitars. Funnily enough, this is a trait I'd also attribute to Putrevore, the amazing Spanish/Swedish collaboration which seems in part like a tribute to this very band (or at least the Penn State inspired brand of death metal subterranea). In the end, though, I could make out most of the riffs, and while they were nothing extraordinary in terms of Rottrevore's past, they're convincing enough. The leads are quite clamorous and murky but then this isn't Eddie Van fucking Halen to begin with, so the dissonance and chaos implied seem to at least prove a fit to the rhythmic structure. Bass tone is a bit too smooth, I would have preferred something more dissonant to stand out against those repulsive guitars; the intensity of the playing here ensures that it is less noticeable than on Iniquitous, but the whole experience is just so low end and brutal that you won't notice the difference unless you're specifically listening for that. Most importantly, Chris Weber's nihilistic guttural sounds fantastic...I always thought he was the logical competitor to Craig Pillard, and comparing him to the vocals on the Disma debut...

These myriad reunions always generate some natural controversy, since it seems the bands only reform when the style of music they once helped pioneer has appreciated in audience (thanks, internet), and at a time when bands like Convulse and Purtenance are also pinching off new loaves of loathsome, ugly death metal on the Finnish side of the pond, why not Rottrevore? Has Abhorrence re...yes, yes they have. What about Demilich? Eh, Nespithe is perfect enough that I don't need another. Ultimately, wehen we're dealing with this very inaccessible side of the genre-spectrum, though, it's difficult to believe that the groups are in it for anything more than nostalgia. Autopsy might be able to afford a tour bus, but Rottrevore will not be moving up to the top floors of Trump Tower, or purchasing a Fiji island anytime soon. So, yeah, if you did enjoy Iniquitous and sought more of the same in the ensuing decades, I cannot imagine the squamous slaughter present throughut Hung by the Eyesockets will deeply offend you. It's certainly nothing amazing, but it IS pretty intense, and while it was originally only available as a digital release last year (called Blind Sided Attack), a proper MCD has been pressed by XTreem Records, allowing Dave Rotten (who by no coincidence is the vocalist for Putrevore, in addition to Avulsed) to keep his heroes in-house.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (running chainsaws with their teeth)

http://www.rottrevoreusa.com/

Chainsaw Dissection - Zombie Decimation (2005)

I've only run into a few of Bob Egler's albums in the decade since he started churning them out so systematically, and my reaction has rarely been one of positivity, but despite that, I have to say I maintain a very healthy respect for his perseverance. After all, Egler (aka Bob Macabre) is an undisputed champion of extremity at its raunchiest. He's doing what he wants, consistently, with a level of proliferation that puts even death metal pundits like Rogga Johansson and Elektrokutioner to shame, and I admire the ability of one individual to essentially create an entire musical scene out of himself. Granted, most of Bob's projects tend to come off as aesthetic doppelgangers of his various influences...you'll only find variation and divergence in that he has quite a number of said influences, ranging from dirty old school black metal to filthy goregrind, brutal 90s death metal and other particular epochs on the nastier end of the spectrum. But still, even though I readily admit I don't care for about 90% of what I've heard of his stuff, this man is no hack. He cares about what he's doing, and he's practically an institution in American metal, even if that institution is a mental asylum with a severely limited audience.

Among the (I'm guessing) hundred plus efforts he's released, in dozens of projects, Chainsaw Dissection is his 'baby'. The most prolific of the bunch, and the one he's most commonly recognized for, with Psychotic Homicidal Dismemberment and Satanic Impalement taking the silver and bronze. He's put out at least 18 full-lengths for this band, not to mention various other splits and demos, and they run the gamut from completely amateurish and unhinged to borderline professional in terms of production and presentation. Just out of sheer practice and willpower, across his many musical personas, the guy has developed as a musician and lyricist, but never to the extent that he forsakes the old school intentions or cult horror/exploitation films that so inspired him. Zombie Decimation is the second in this unending sequence of aural abominations, the first of EIGHT full-lengths he issued in 2005, and it boasts one of the better looking cover images in his entire discography; a savage and misogynistic masterpiece of gore courtesy of the illustrious vocalist/artist Mike Hrubovcak (Divine Rapture, Vile, Monstrosity, etc). Not at all comfortable for the squeamish, the appearance of the Chainsaw Dissection sophomore gives us an honest estimation of how it's going to sound, only I have a hard time discerning just which is uglier...the music, or the undead gruesome feast.

That's not to imply that 'ugliness' is a positive in this disc's favor, but its brutality is never in question. The most obvious way to describe Zombie Decimation would be as a poor man's Mortician. Yes, I realize some people would use that very cliche to define Will Rahmer's vehicle itself, as a 'poor man's substitute for death metal', but I do not share the sentiment for that particular New York establishment, and in fact enjoy quite a number of their records for what they are: utter approximations of morbid horror encased in what must be the most nihilistic wall of goregrinding flesh possible. Guitars that sound like lubricated chainsaws almost impossible to decipher as they carve into the innards of convention. Broad, apocryphal gutturals that exhibit less remorse than the most distant and inhuman serial killers. Mechanical beats programmed at a level of extremity that can rival the most intense human players, even though they might lack some of that organic variation that comes with a living being and his choice in fills and distribution of striking energy. But there are actually a number of differences on this album that divide Egler from Rahmer and Beaujard. The first is that where Mortician is heavily driven by the intestine-rupturing bass-lines, this focuses more on the bludgeoning fiber of the downtuned, muddy rhythm guitars which feel like gallstones being expunged from some diseased bladder.

This leads to the other disparity: Mortician, whether you love them or hate them, have a lot of depth to their sound, provided by anything from the movie samples to the contrast between Will's bass lines and the drums. They've got pretty good production standards for music so obtuse and obscene, but Zombie Decimation is sadly not cut from that same cerecloth. It's more like a Mortician demo with the bass turned down (or off), and little ability to create that same, enveloping atmosphere. Not that Bob's influences offer a great degree of variation in their own songwriting, but here in Chainsaw Dissection it's pretty difficult to distinguish much of the track list from one another, and with 15 tunes and 50 minutes of material, you can imagine the monotony sets in before long. To be fair, there are tracks centered around the slower, Realm of Chaos-like chugging sequences ("Fiend" is an example) you find in a lot of goregrind, and others that really hone in on the blast, beats and a juicier pattern of distraught chords, but the songs are pretty dry on ideas. In fact, there were numerous cases here where I felt like just one evil ass screaming melody or lead would have really intensified the experience, or some better fills, or a bass groove...but it's all too straightforward and dry.

As such, the music really lacks the substance and depth to let its lyrical inspiration rise to the fore. It works only on a purely visceral level, without even the droves of samples used to play upon the listener's moral fiber and cultivate that 'icky' response which later transforms into entertainment. Basically, Zombie Decimation devolves into a mental picture of some elephantine, psychotic cannibal beating a sack with some living victim inside against the nearest wall, over and over without any variation or interesting turns of events.You're to get at most 3-4 minor riffing/drumming variations over the course of a 3-4 minute track, and it's just not enough to maintain my interest, not even close. The drums are soulless droids incapable of diverging from their prime functions. I've definitely got my sick side, and I enjoy a lot of metal so brutal that most of my friends and family can barely comprehend it as music and not construction equipment, but Zombie Decimation seems to play to the negative stereotypes of the style, and not in a positive way. 50+ minutes of disposable sameness that feel like a substantial heap of corpses being ground into fertilizer. Retch-worthy to start, but it rapidly becomes too tedious and commonplace, like a boring day on the job...if that was, like...your job. Corpsegrinding. Probably beats McDonald's, but doesn't make for a great soundtrack when you've got an hour to kill.

Ultimately, though it's the last thing you might suspect when looking at the cover, Zombie Decimation fails because it's simply too damn 'safe'. Establishes a formula, and never deviates from it. There can't be any 'highlights', because all the songs more or less are the same, so it would be 'all or nothing'. Nothing. Fuck, I wouldn't have minded an armpit-farting orchestra, a zombie orgasm, a ukelele or kazoo to help break this up. Anything. Blast, drudge, blast, drudge. Even Bob's vocals, as gut-drenched and gut-borne as they are, don't grace us with any surprises...not even the growl/snarl dichotomy so favored in the usual brutal death/grindcore circles. I doubt the guy had any delusion that he was reinventing or innovating in the field, but Chainsaw Dissection is so fucking monotonous on this outing that it devolves from 'underwhelming' status to outright futile and frustrating. I am glad that there are sick fucks like Bob Macabre making music, as much of it as they can muster. All the power to him, but just because you drag me over to a blood bucket doesn't mean I'm going to tear my shirt off, dump it all over myself and run lunatic. You've also got to put the knife in my hand, and implant the psychotic motivation, subliminal or otherwise. Zombie Decimation is more like an undead typewriter with a stuck key thumping over and over on the same flesh. In sounding so sick, it really isn't... Egler can do better.

Verdict: Fail [3.5/10]

https://myspace.com/chainsawdissection

Masada - Hideous Rot EP (2013)

Hideous Rot was ultimately a frustrating listen, because while I might appreciate that a band wants to present its material in the most primitive and 'honest' form, the songwriting here simply deserved better. I can only imagine how good these same tunes would have sounded with a budget to them! Old school, clinical and evil sounding riffs with hints at anything from Gorguts to Suffocation to old Pestilence Malleus Maleficarum era stuff due to the surgical, sinister harmonies slicing up a cut like the opener "Hideous Cerebral Pulp". What's worse, Masada is a sort of US underground death metal supergroup, with members of Crucifier, Rellik, and even Craig Smilowki (ex-Immolation, Goreaphobia) on the drums here, so I think they could have put a little more care into the production...as it stands, I'd hardly even qualify Hideous Rot as a decent demo level in sound, it's more like a couple of rehearsal sessions strung together. Now, granted, this sort of raw, stripped down sound can be done well (like Macabra's Blood-Nurtured Nature), but not this time I'm afraid.

How they managed to get Clive Jones of psychedelic/prog rockers Black Widow to throw a freak out flute instrumental on this thing is bizarre, but the placement (second track) is a little strange and I'm not sure it really added to the recording in any appreciable way. I'd rather hear the guy jamming the wind instrument into one of the death metal tunes. Wouldn't that be something? Is this eclectic? Sure, and it felt like something Cadaver would have done in their early years, but the band's original material here is far more involving, threaded with precision riffs and grooves that snatched me back through time to records like Effigy of the Forgotten, Spiritual Healing, Testimony of the Ancients, etc. Nasty little harmonies create plenty of otherworldly, morbid atmosphere, a sense that one is watching one of those sped-up film reels of animal or human flesh decaying and sprouting with maggots and rot, the bass and drums are in general pretty tight, but the rawness of the guitar tone and dryness of the bass on the first few cuts is distracting. Other tunes like "Suffer Mental Decay" are a little meatier, but this creates an inconsistently on an already finite track list which involves only four tracks to begin with, and I guess I felt like I was only being fed scraps of the band when they're capable of a five-course meal.

Vocally, there's nothing here you hadn't already experienced from a Ross Dolan, Glen Benton or Craig Pillard, deep and nihilistic gutturals accented by occasional snarls, but I will admit I enjoyed the more morbid, echoing, cavernous tone on "Toxic Unreality" more than the drier lines elsewhere. The tunes are busy, but complex only in the context of the early to mid 90s, when a band like Death was considered progressive or technical. Tempos are generally mid-paced, especially the guitars, while the drums only burst in a rare,  measured blast like the beginning of the EP. Occasionally I felt like the drum mix was shoddy, or that all the instruments weren't being recording in the same room/session, but it's listenable to the extent that you can make out most of the notes and individual drums. In the end, while there are good players and ideas present, and Masada are more than capable of honoring the nostalgia from which their music is born, I just felt like sending the songs back and begging for a remix or a full-on studio incarnation with higher (or at least more consistent) production values. Hopefully we'll get that with future material, because Masada the band is simply superior to the raunchy, unpolished disposition here.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/masadadasam

Gaschamber - Gaschamber (2002)

With a provocative name like Gaschamber, you've really got your work cut out for you in sonically living up to it, something that this Pennsylvania trio did with their eponymous, obscure debut back in 2002. Granted, the album is little more than glorified Slayer worship, with song structures, vocals and even production choices eerily reminiscent of the masterpiece Reign in Blood, not to mention the faster elements present on South of Heaven and its successor Seasons in the Abyss, but if you're going to borrow...do it from the best, right? And I'd definitely point out that while there were always a handful of throwback bands in the 90s and early 'oughts who were also quite derivative in keeping the fire burning for the nearly defunct genre, Gaschamber was well ahead of the trending rethrash that has blown up over the last 6-7 years. It had been done before, but this was violence, speed, cruelty and an absolute lack of apologies...without the goofiness or image obsession that seems to make light of a genre that, apart from a few retarded gimmicks from bands like M.O.D. or Anthrax, was not in league with the irony some youngsters seem to believe.

Gaschamber is short and wastes no time getting to the point, with eight tracks in 24 minutes, a technique its mentor Reign in Blood mastered in the mid-80s. The songs are ALL fast without being excessively samey, and you're not going to have to suck up some ballad or worry about any experimentation. The guitars are a bit juicier than King and Hanneman on that iconic release, but they definitely cultivate that same sense of dry authenticity, not too harsh or distorted, but vibrant and thick enough that you can perceive all the acrobatic speed metal-inflections of the rhythm tracks ripping and racing all over one another. The vocal timbre and meter in many of the tracks (like "Defeating the Gods" or "Death in the Gaschamber") is highly reminiscent of Tom Araya, but this guy Karl Mitchell definitely sounds a bit more youthful and petulant, with a splash of more splatter- or crossover thrash frontmanship in there. But, clearly he's barking up that same tree, and a lot of the lyrical themes of genocide and warfare will naturally recount classics like "Angel of Death" in more ways than one; though something like "Trenchcoat Justice" helps update the topics to incorporate the social strife and mayhem of the early 21st century. Samples and vocal effects are used sparsely but tastefully, and I definitely never grew bored on any of the eight tunes, despite the glaring sense of familiarity.

The bass guitars are thick and quick but rarely stand forth from the rhythm riffs, though with Mitchell already performing vocals and other guitars, one can sort of forgive that lack of attention. At least you can hear them cleanly enough in the manic and pestilent thrashing of a "Hurricane of Blood" or "Raped to Death", and certainly there is more personality than a number of 80s discs I could think of, especially the punk/hardcore attitude they're given on the intro to "Civil War". Drums, on the other hand, sound pretty claptrap, organic but there's just something about the boxy snare that tends to distract me, and the tom fills can occasionally feel a bit too bulky. But you can't really fault the level of enthusiasm or energy there, and the beats are all fairly standard explosions of earlier Dave Lombardo which don't rely too heavily on the extreme metal drumming techniques (blasting and endless double bass) that Slayer helped pioneer. The leads are just as rough and frenzied as their spiritual successors on Reign in Blood, without wiring in a lot of cohesion or classical/scale influence, but they don't emotionally stand out from the supporting rhythm guitars too often, and internally rely on a lot of the same tremolo repetitions of notes, not taking much of an opportunity to rifle off the spurts of screaming, incendiary wizardry one might hope for.

Ultimately, the album is not a particularly great or memorable one, but it functions because of the timeless alternations between tight picking/sheer velocity and those gnarly, evil ascending or descending break riffs that Slayer or Destruction made immortal on tunes like "Raining Blood" or "Mad Butcher". These just don't get old, even if I have to give Gaschamber low marks for innovation or originality, and never feel compelled to listen to it over the genuine articles that inspired it. I'm loathe to call it a 'ripoff', since note for note it is not, but they were more than wearing their influence on their sleeves, and enjoyment of this lone album in their career will really depend on whether or not one wants to hear the 'magic' of 80s Slayer (post-Show No Mercy) resurrected, repackaged and force fed down your ears with a mallet. If the answer is yes, then try and locate a sample of this disc. Gaschamber, at the very least, had great taste, even if we'll never hear what they might later evolve that into. At least this album is blissfully void of the 'HEY U GUYS LOOK WE R SO THRASH' strike-a-pose bullshit that's due to send this excellent genre back into a state of hibernation for another 15 years.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

Azure Emote - The Gravity of Impermanence (2013)

When first looking over the glorious presentation of this album, I felt the pangs of familiarity, then realizing that I had actually listened to the first, cleverly titled Azure Emote effort Chronicles of an Aging Mammal a few years back. This is essentially a project of the inestimable Mike Hrubovcak, growl god with a resume that includes Monstrosity, Vile, Divine Rapture and XXX Maniak. Joined here by drummer Mike Heller (Fear Factory, Malignancy, etc) and guitarist/bassist Ryan Moll (Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, Divine Rapture, Total Fucking Destruction), the goal is an avant-garde fusion of techno/industrial music, death metal and symphonic ingredients that are provided by a host of guest vocalists, synthesizers, and eclectic instrumentation. Very often, I felt like the actual ambition of The Gravity of Impermanence outdistanced its grasp, but the amount of effort lavished upon its construction and production is inarguable...

By this point, hearing orchestration or techno keys nudged up alongside traditional death metal riffing is hardly novel, but if I can say something for Azure Emote, they totally throw themselves into it. Often when I here such an admixture I feel like its too heavily balanced towards the one end or the other, but here the Mikes and company experiment with genres somewhat evenly. The death metal riffing, for example in the opener "Epoch of De-Devolution", is the major constant through the 60+ minutes of material, but moored in earlier, melodic 90s playing with some slightly catchy tremolo riffs, grooves, or thrashing chug rhythms that serve as a seat to all the flighty atmospherics. There is a sense of virtuosity through the guitar solos (some provided by guests), and the affair as a whole creates a meandering, pompous vibe; as if Beethoven were alive, hanging outside a rave peddling ecstasy tabs while blasting Disincarnate (or similar) from his van; but I have to admire just how quickly these gentlemen are to throw all rules out the window, culminating in some of the truly weird moments of this experience...like the saxophones adjoining the operatic female vocals and arpeggios in "The Living Spiral"...violins, organs, video-game like keyboard runs...industrial hip hop jump up passages?!? ("Obsessive Time Directive"). Samples galore.

It's as hilarious as it is fucked, and produced with incredibly clarity. The bass guitars were probably the only letdown, since they seem like an afterthought, but the bright contrast between soaring, clean male vocals, the ethereal presence of Melissa 'Missy' Ferlaak Koch and Sandra Laureano (both of whom have been involved in a number of other metallic projects in the past), and the growls and rasps of Hrubovcak is well handled and engagingly dynamic. The guitars are crisp and rich, the drums effortlessly cast between blast beats and more experimental, subdued rock segments, and the keyboards run a massive range of sounds, some of which are appreciably cheesy and 70s/80s new wave, some given a more ambient din, and others trying to represent a mythic organ hall. Rarely will Azure Emote retread a particular rhythm or tempo, and even though there are 14 tracks here, none of them feels quite precisely the same. That they can pull off such a rhythmic and conceptual disparity is to their credit, even when the components and sections clash together without much of a natural, transitive flow to them.

Ultimately, though, I came away from this as an album of 'moments' rather than a truly consistent, engrossing experience. I have no question that there are brilliant ideas dispersed throughout the considerable playtime, but it often feels disjointed. Few of the rhythm guitar riffs are all that memorable on their own, and when they are (like in the first song), they are often beaten to death (pun intended). Amazing atmospheric segues will often erupt into some pretty bland, choppy Morbid Angel death metal blast beats and riffs with proggy synth sounds that don't really go anywhere other than to keep the material busy and eclectic. All the vocals are handled well, but the brutal levity of Mike's voice is often gimped by the fruitier instruments surrounding him. There are some very calculated, intense pieces here like "The Color of Blood", "The Living Spiral" and "Marching Forth" with its amazing instrumentation, but I'd say the composition is about 2/3rds inspired and then the last third is spent filling in the blanks.  

Azure Emote is fearless, and the sophomore approaches its electro-symphonic-metal theatrical symbiosis differently than, say, Dimmu Borgir or Sigh, Septic Flesh or Aborym; but it's just that sometimes the spurts of brilliance are too brief and disappear beneath the impetus to keep the riffs flying, varied, busy, and slightly schizophrenic. Contemporary to a fault. Unabashedly 'now'. The poetic lyrics deal heavily in the concepts of the aging and passing of civilizations and individuals, as hinted by the title, and do so intelligently enough. In other words, its relevant stuff and not moored in gore. A good album from individuals who, with just a little more refinement, could have written an amazing album. But you won't hear much else like it this year, and that's saying something.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (cringing scars do tell their tale)

http://www.azureemote.com/

The Beyond - Frostbitepanzerfuck (2013)

It's pretty obvious on the surface that Pennsylvania's The Beyond have an immediate sense of humor, for the title of their debut full-length alone, Frostbitepanzerfuck brings with it all manner of comic black metal expectations, a goofy, passing nod to Marduk or perhaps to the Boston area's own Panzerfaust. A pretty humble, gore-drenched logo font, a picture of a guy and a tank, it's all quite primitive and you can expect that these guys are going for gags. However, when you actually listen through the music, it's surprisingly built off some very sadistic, misogynistic lyric concepts that one would generally equate to the brutal death/gore, or one of the band's readily apparent influences, G.G. Allin (whom they even offer up a tribute to with "Cunt Sucking Cannibal"). Let's just say the language these guys spit through the lyrics of tunes like "Roto-Cunt" would not do a Susan B. Anthony or a Hillary Clinton proud, but if you're a sick bastard looking for sick expression... The Beyond has your number on speed dial. Even I, a very disaffected, six-foot plus draconian brute approaching middle age had a few chances to squeal 'eww' like a little girl.

Musically, too, this band is casting a broader net than just the black metal expectations. Tracks such as "Goat Sodomizer", "The Splatterhouse Maniacs" or "Frostbitepanzerfuck" all exhibit a mash of Norse and Swedish aesthetics, blast beats and chord progressions that carry an inherent level of melody; but there are also sequences where they adopt a more black/thrash metal bastardization redolent of bands like Impaled Nazarene or Aura Noir, vicious little licks paced out at abusive speeds. Several of the tracks are outright punk/speed metal, like the opener "Roto-Cunt", while you've also got some pretty straight thrash on a tune like "Necro Overload", or fragments of "Attack of the Zombie Brigade". Hell, they even slow to a black doom post-Hellhammer groove on the closing cut "Exterminate Humanity". The range of styles on parade often created a sense of inconsistency to the album as a whole, but in The Beyond's defense, none of them are performed with any degree of incompetence. They know their shit, they just choose to excrete it into a number of slightly disparate bathrooms. The question then becomes one of whether they are carving out memorable compositions into any of these fields, and that is one I simply can't answer with a hearty affirmative.

I found the mix of aggressive splatter-punk vocals with a blacker rasp pretty interesting, almost as if you had a D.R.I. or The Accüsed colliding with a Transilvanian Hunger or Pure Holocaust. However, rhythm guitar riffs here are all pretty plain, familiar and offer little in terms of durable substance or nuance. Granted, these are not traits one often extracts from such a ghastly fun-oriented source of extremity, but the fact that I could detect where each pattern of notes was headed almost as soon as it arrived, over both the black and punk cross-sections of the album, left me underwhelmed. The leads are pretty basic, often based around some tremolo melodies, and there are some spikes of black metal dissonance along with the more chromatic chunks of chords, but neither proves an entirely interesting embellishment. A handful of the tracks are decent fun, such as "Attack of the Zombie Brigade", which reminded me of other deep US underground fare like Dissector or Bitchslicer, but there just weren't a lot of tunes that cried out 'replay me, now, you dog'.

The production was a step above my expectations, with a crisp and fluent guitar tone, deep if not compelling bass lines, and a fresh, crashing balance of snares and cymbals and no shortage of fill; all managed pretty well alongside the vocals, and giving the album a clear 'we do actually give a shit out how we sound' feel. The issue for me was really just the songwriting, but those who might be interested in a mix of something like Speedwolf/Superchrist with some unruly punk rock and roots Scandinavian black metal are not treated with many options. The Beyond is one of them, and their over-the-top, disturbing, unapologetic lyrics and fairly unique rationing of styles are sure to find an audience somewhere. No shortage of sleazy violation here.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

http://www.facebook.com/thebeyond666