Anaal Nathrakh - Vanitas (2012)

I'd hate to think of Birmingham's Anaal Nathrakh as a band that could ever stagnate. They've brought such intense moments into my life, from the utter annihilation of their debut The Codex Necro through the more melodic, mutated songwriting they achieved with In the Constellation of the Black Widow. This was once one of the most hopeful voices (or more accurately, barrages of sickened voices) in the spectrum of 'new extremity' that dawned with the 21st century, and their ability to mash up black, death, grind, noise and even some power-violence or extreme d-beat hardcore aesthetics has afforded them a level of nuance and creativity not too common in any of the parent genres. So then, why is Vanitas the least impressive album they've produced in years?

Simply put: because it's more or less a rerun of its two predecessors. Passion was hardly a record of heavy risk-taking itself, and merely a slightly better overall tweaking of Constellation, but this latest outing really seems to be scraping the bottom of the bone-mill in terms of its riffing selection. There are still a handful of moments in which the band flexes its knack for experimentation, like the techno drum breakdown in "To Spite the Face" or the nearly djent-ish, dirty grooves pummeling through the heart of "You Can't Save Me, So Stop Fucking Trying", but for the most part it 'plays it safe' with the streaming, tremolo savagery of post-millenial black metal they've been pursuing since the start. The duo excels at creating texture within their riffs, with a bright tone that lends itself well to both the sinistry and higher pitched, melodic phrasing, and they slather this with enough of their grunts, snarls and decaying screams that they certainly haven't lost that sense of tension; but for Anaal Nathrakh, it just seems like old hat, and not a particular fancy one you'd want to wear out at night while clubbin'.

Variation and competence aren't the issues here. Tracks like "A Metaphor for the Dead" and its howling, atmospheric vocals ensure us that the band are still messing with tempos, and have no interest in bombarding us with endless cycles of the same blast beats and stormy guitar progressions. But even there, much of the chugging groove is just too redolent of a thousand other metalcore-styled breakdowns that quickly pass from the memory; and this isn't the only instance on Vanitas, where often some brazen assault will be followed up with a banal palm muted passage that fails to impress beyond how it contrasts the surge. The programming of the drums is still quite intense without being intrusive, and Anaal are one of the best bands at handling this with an industrial sheen that never seems to overt or distracting for the conservative black metal audience. Not that it's ever been the highlight of their sound, but the bass lines here are quite indistinct, and the vocals seem redundant with those used on better Constellation tracks, only less catchy.

There are still plenty of things to admire about the duo, in particular the abusive poetry of their lyrics, which has a lot more in common with modern grind and artcore than traditional black metal and thus has more of a direct relevance to the cross-pollinated audience. Though my enjoyment of Vanitas has steadily diminished since I picked it up earlier in the Fall, I can't say it's because they lack energy and enthusiasm. This is voracious, frenzied music which continues to bastardize numerous niches into a contemporary fist-fight, but each time I listen through I feel like the songs pass on by without much lasting impact. First one, then another, and by the time a few memorable spikes of riffing arrive I'm already well deep into the 38 minute playtime. Hard to believe, yet this is a case of being 'overwhelming' and 'underwhelming' simultaneously. A flood of hostile songs that fail to stick. Not the first time I've felt the latter reaction towards an Anaal Nathrakh disc (their 2004 and 2007 albums also left me wanting), and I think this pretty much provides a 'conclusion' to the sound they've explored over the past few years. Looking forward to the next evolution.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.facebook.com/Anaalnathrakhofficial

Cattle Decapitation - Monolith of Inhumanity (2012)

San Diego's Cattle Decapitation is not a group I've ever been able to build much of a connection with in the past. This isn't simply because of my fundamental contradistinction to the dietary politics and anti-human ranting which informs most of their lyrical themes. Hell, if concurrence with the philosophies, religion, or ethical practices of musical creators was some mandatory qualification for my patronage, there would be painfully little music in my collection. No, most of their albums have always thrown up a purely musical barrier for me, since they originate from a tradition of grind and post-metalcore extremity which rarely seems to hinge on distinct, memorable songwriting or the multitude of noteworthy riffs I generally seek out in any metal niche. Oh, they've got them: a million fluttering, crashing and whizzing around each set of songs they've spawned, but most seem to blast past me with little fanfare, dangling off my earlobes for a few seconds and then plummeting into the food disposal like so much meat, bone, and gristle.

That said, it would be an injustice to ignore the band's enormous leaps forward in production, songwriting and musical ability over the last decade, since they've intensely refined and defined their skill set to the point at which they'll give just about any progressive or technical brutal death outfit a run for its money. That point is Monolith of Inhumanity, hands down the band's most impressive musical manifestation to date, and one that dwells upon the edge of the envelope in terms of its mechanical, meticulous attention to detail. Where this album succeeds is in its sheer, flesh-shearing variety. Callous, inhuman fits of celerity and aggression are surged against shores of slower, grooving bombardment, wherein all manner of modernized death/thrash outbreaks are stored to infect the listener before returning to the full-scale forward charge. The production here is as polished as you'll find anywhere in the current proliferation of brutal death/grind, but rather than gimp the extremity, it only serves to enhance it further. There are blast beats and double bass patterns on this record executed so precisely that your ears will bleed, but at the same time you can make out each of the inestimable guitar progressions, which range from lightning mute-streams to denser, shining, dissonant chords that function off influences as wide as black metal and jazz.

In all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if David McGraw were given some sort of 'drummer of the year' award for his performance here. It's nothing unique, perhaps, but that's the worst you could say of it, because the man is essentially a new model of the human metronome, his technique so fast and flawless that he's liable to discourage (or further inspire) a younger generation of skin bashers. Even through the album's most eloquent, atmospheric moments (the bridge of "Lifestalker" or "Kingdom of Tyrants", for example) he keeps the battery so harried and head-spinning that you really have to wonder if he's really just using the music of Cattle Decapitation as a front for his nefarious scheme to track down and murder a young incarnation of John Connor. The other hero of this outing is long-term stringer Josh Elmore who offers us a dexterous and dynamic sortie of licks that cover a pretty broad spectrum of death metal, grind, black metal, metalcore, groove and thrash chops. To be perfectly honest, only about half of these riffs are really any good, and the rest a pretty bland canvas of predictable and prepackaged formations you could find on many similar albums (or paraphrased from his own earlier tunes), but I definitely won't argue that he's come a long way in keeping a listener engaged for more than a choice few moments.

Elsewhere, the album wasn't so attractive to me. The vocals are a garden variety configuration of rasps, grunts and deeper gutturals you've heard countless times before, occasionally apprenticed by some earnest, grimy, dystopian cleaner tones that recall a band like Gojira or Darkane. Despite Elmore's quality as a player, the leads lack impact. The bass player is obviously great, but he's only given a few measures through the album in which he can really shine. His tone and technicality are spot on, yet he is simply buried by the exhilaration and momentum of the drumming and guitars. As I mentioned before, there are quite a number of patterns and riffs here which simply don't stand up across multiple exposures. I'd call out a lot of the accelerated bursts, honestly. I often felt like this album functioned more on a statistical sense of strength and finesse than emotional resonance. Not to the point where you feel its content is as robotic and disaffected as something like Brain Drill, but certainly it is borne on that same assumption that its audience is more interested in being impressed by the instrumentation than any enduring songwriting, which is why when the band lurches into a moody, atmospheric, apocalyptic piece like "The Monolith", it stands out so much from the remainder by virtue of its aesthetic differences.

In the end, while I was interested enough to go out and actually buy the album based on clips of what I'd heard and the recommendations (and requests) of a number of folks, I did not wind up thinking it the salvation of death and grind that several seem to espouse. Structurally, it's a technical marvel that one might appreciate like a work of impossible industrial artwork in some metropolitan courtyard, but beyond that my own reaction to the Cattle's music was lukewarm. Blindingly well-executed, and certainly a league past earlier albums like Humanure or Karma. Bloody. Karma. Loaded to overflow with lyrics of civilization's collapse due to its carnivorous consumer-culture. However, it almost unanimously lacks any facet of menace or evil in its construction that I so desire when listening to death metal of any stripes, old school or new, musically or lyrically. I just don't feel any more doomed or desperate here than I do listening to an Al Gore sermon. A taut, vice-like, acrobatic escalation from the band's backlog, but unlikely to compel many more spins from me in the coming months.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.cattledecapitation.com/

Chapel of Disease - Summoning Black Gods (2012)

Some part of me has to wonder: why all of this old school death metal lately? Do we fear the Mayan apocalypse so much that we must open a temporal gateway into those precious 1988-1993 moments and relive what for many of us must be the prime of our lives? Why not disco? Or West Coast gangsta rap? Okay, I might have gone a little too far. It's no surprise that Germans Chapel of Disease are yet another in a very long procession of acts to indulge their childhoods, and they do it with a very European flair, by which I mean they heavily channel the archaic sounds of Pestilence (and early Van Drunen-era Asphyx), Grave and Bolt Thrower into their compositions. Sure, you've also got a heavy dose of American elders Death, Possessed, Xecutioner/Obituary, Cianide and Autopsy which comes with the territory, but Summoning Black Gods more directly reminded me of an infernal conflagration between The Rack, Consuming Impulse, War Master and Into the Grave. And if that comparison just stirred up some excitement in your nether regions, well then...have at it.

Most of the techniques here are nothing special or inventive by any stretch of the imagination, but what the Germans do is inject a bit of vitality thanks to the rather raw production. This really feels like you've been zipped back to 1991 and saw that creepy looking metal tape in the window at the brick & mortar record shop and then counted your paper route profits in eager anticipation, only to be disappointed that that one other hardcore metal dude with the beat up Corvette and the mullet (who graduated a few years before you) already cleaned out the shop, with about ten others you might have wanted to purchase. The guitars are crunchy and clear but there is no attempt to overproduce anything. Summoning Black Gods is definitely attempting to evoke that narrow margin between thrash and death metal, so you've got some solid mid-paced violent antiquity in amongst the tremolo picked rhythms and slower, Bolt Thrower-styled, lamentation grooves and melodies. The riffs in the depths of "Descend to the Tomb" and "Hymns to the New Land" provide a living, breathing, wayback machine, and even when the band flirts with some death & roll rhythm ("Evocation of the Father"), etc, they do it with pretty good taste. In addition, the leads implemented on this debut are evil, airy and burst onto the scene like a luminous haunt flitting about a dark graveyard, not unlike old Entombed.

Paired with the ghastly Van Drunen impression that the vocalist here revels in, you've got yourself a genuine if derivative fright fest. His inflection is sort of a hybrid of what you'd remember from The Rack or Consuming Impulse, only with a little more echoing sustain that shadows the momentum of the churning guitars. The drums and bass have a loose but muscular feel to them, not all that interesting unto themselves but fully aligned with the retro feeling the album so desperately maintains. In terms of songwriting or individual riffs, there are not a lot here that reek of immortality, since they're just paying service to a long tradition of like sounding chords and notes, but there's no question Chapel of Disease love what they're doing, and the passion really turns what otherwise might feel like another spoke in the wheel of nostalgia to a full on haunted hot rod fuming spectral vapors and hemorrhaging hellfire in its wake. Summoning Black Gods is no marvel of greatness, but it knows and obeys its audience, so if you're the sort to keep his Autopsy and Asphyx vinyl dusted off and displayed, or you dig the recent efforts by groups like Horrendous, Skeletal Remains, Nocturnal Torment or Hail of Bullets, then I think you'll find that this belongs in your neck of the woods, like that old, foggy sepulcher that the local villagers feel strangely compelled to avoid...

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://chapel-of-disease.jimdo.com/

Anthem - Burning Oath (2012)

What's always so astonished me about Japanese entertainment is just how meticulous the country's artists are, across many mediums, at assimilating and regurgitating culture from abroad. That is not a gripe, because in many, many places they actively improve upon the subject matter and evolve it to another level. Metal is a great example of this process, and Anthem no exception. In the early 80s, they took their queues from Deep Purple, Judas Priest and later Ozzy Osbourne's solo records and really ran with the style, producing a long string of quality records that only took a dip through the 90s, when the band was largely inactive (thus avoiding most of the metal slump of that decade). When they returned in full force for the 21st century, their roots had eventually transformed them into a fusion of traditional/NWOBHM, power and party metal with something for nearly everyone, and since that point I can't recall a single outing which didn't have at least SOME great songs...peaking with the surprisingly excellent Black Empire in 2008.

If I've any complaint about the latest and 15th full-length Burning Oath, it's that to an extent Anthem are playing it safe here. A number of verse and chorus sequences and vocal melodies here stick pretty close to those we've heard before over the last decade, and there must have been 4-5 points on the record in which I felt my internal fanboy about to erupt into the chorus of "The Voices" or some other amazing tune they've written. It's not that note for note they adhere to the same blueprint, but they seem to flirt with such similar structures that a lot of the tunes' riffs and vocals could be interchanged with some previously released. That said, this is probably the ONLY complaint I've got with the new album, because in just about every other department the band excels with jaw dropping precision. Burning Oath is so bloody good that you have to wonder why Anthem is not a household name among traditional metal fanatics? Is it the language barrier which makes the lyrics a bit hard to swallow even when they're in English? Is is that they're just too damn polished and lack the characteristic flaws of cult recordings? Or is it that people seem to have settled into a limited array of popular artists and there's just no more 'room' left? Because I will say it here: Burning Oath, and really almost ANY Anthem record of the past decade has been exponentially more impressive than what Judas Priest or Iron Maiden have put out lately, even if they don't have the safety net of having 'been there first'.

In terms of pacing, production, and enthusiasm, you are not going to find a more professional outlet than this 30+ year veteran. In particular, I've got to point out the performance of axeslinger Akio Shimizu who is hands down one of the most prominent and skilled lead players the world over. His techniques are like a love triangle between Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Eddie Van Halen. Technically impressive, catchier than most of the rhythm licks, emotionally resonant and exciting. A beautiful balance of both classical and rock guitar fundamentals, spinning that old 80s verve into the present and future. But this is NOT a 'shred' album, because all of Akio's acrobatics complement the rhythm progressions, and they take center stage here with ample force. From the Judas Priest/Accept/Primal Fear power metal chugging in "Evil One" or "Life of Crime" to the more spacious chords and harmonies of something like "Unbroken Sign", you never get the hint that even one note is misplaced. Not to say that every riff sequence is dazzlingly memorable or innovative, but when you take a step back to look at the overall structure of the album, Anthem never bites off more than it can chew and this is yet another incessantly reliable set of songs.

Of course, Shimizu's playing doesn't carry the album by itself. He's got the support of one of long time bassist Naoto Shibata, and then drummer Hirotsugu Homma, who came into Anthem around the same time as Akio. The bass lines hear are nothing out of the ordinary, but the tone is muscular just like the best of that whole Teutonic, Priest-inspired scene, and it'll continuously clout you between the ears even if the note patterns don't stand out far from the guitars. It'd be hard to imagine a better drum mix for this super-polished style, but there aren't a load of crazy fills or anything, just strenuous rock and metal beats flush with the riffing. For not the first time, a number of orchestral synthesizers, strings and bells and such are incorporated here for atmosphere, usually in the intros to tunes like "Get Away". It's not a full-on 'symphonic' metal suite here, and the rock instruments take center stage, but there's certainly enough dressing for fans of the more epic power metal scene, without the cheesy competing guitar/key leads and others that generally transpire.

This is now Ezio's 10th album with Anthem, and he sounds pretty consistent with Immortal, Heraldic Vice of Black Empire. The guy's not a screamer on a Halford scale, but what he might lack for range he always makes up for in passion and closely knit melodic lines that are almost always catchy, even if they often seem redundant with past tracks. His inflection also holds up quite loudly for sustained notes, and I personally love the accent that always creeps through, it's one of the major reasons groups like this and Loudness are so distinct and timeless. I generally don't try too hard with the lyrics, because my Japanese is far from perfect and when I attempt to understand them in English the imagery doesn't always fit my Western sensibilities (a common issue in song translation between the two tongues); but at the very least songs like "Double Helix", "Struggle Action" and "Face the Core" seem pretty unique for this medium. Anthem is a band immersed in a modern world of social networking and technology. They're about as metrosexual as you're going to find in traditional heavy/power metal, so don't expect flowery songs about trolls and unicorns. Not that I have a problem with all of that, but I can ride the T in the morning with this stuff blasting from my headphones and feel like it's somewhat relevant to what's happening around me.

Just about every song here is good enough to sit through repeatedly, but particular favorites were "On and On" and "Face the Core" with their crispy, crunchy verse rhythms and uplifting chord escalation; "Ghost in the Flame" for its strange, pumping bass, bluesy swagger and atmosphere; and "Life and Crime" which brings out that German-loving banger within me and makes me want to flip over a car with my bare hands (though I admit that primary riff sequence isn't a hell of a lot different that several Primal Fear or U.D.O. have released). Also, every single fucking lead guitar sequence chokes me up with envy. The worst you can say for Burning Oath is that it's barking up the same tree as the last five albums, but all of you J-metal diehards into Loudness, E.Z.O., Blizard, Saber Tiger, X Japan (sans ballads), (old) Earthshaker or even the more symphonic outfits like Galneryus, Balflare and Concerto Moon should at least give this disc the opportunity to win you over. Low on originality perhaps, but Tokyo Tower-height in quality.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

http://www.universal-music.co.jp/anthem/

Tiamat - The Scarred People (2012)

Johan Edlund and Tiamat have always startled me with their ability to hurdle their musical shortcomings and produce unexpectedly delightful records, and The Scarred People is one such diamond in the rough. For all intensive purposes, the Swedes are flawed characters who make the very most of what most would consider a limited skill-set, and constantly reinvent and reinvigorate themselves through strong songwriting, crafty and somberly beautiful lyrics rather than sheer technical prowess or further progression through complexity. Though I'm certain a portion of their fans abandoned them past Wildhoney, the point at which they really started to tinker their death/doom roots into a more psychedelic, atmospheric contraption, they've put out some damn fine albums since, including the brilliant and trippy 1997 opus A Deeper Kind of Slumber which I still consider their magnum opus, or the amusing Skeleton Skeletron with its sultry, blunt vocal quips and rather dramatic spin on Gothic rock, a more muscular Sisters of Mercy.

The three albums since that time have all had their moments, but I actually didn't develop the same level of personal connection beyond a handful of songs. Through The Scarred People, I've really found myself returning to that same sense of immersion I once felt from their 1992-1999 material, and as a result I'm loving the hell out of nearly every moment on this disc. To best describe it would be to take a tour of the band's past 20 years of recordings. You've got a few of the sodden, simply doom riffs circa Wildhoney sauteed in the psychedelic escapism of A Deeper Kind of Slumber, synthesized symphonics redolent of Clouds and the driving Gothic metal of Skeleton Skeletal, and that opaque, cynical sense of humor which was abundant on more recent efforts like Judas Christ. The album also presents an aesthetic merger with Edlund's Lucyfire side project, not only by incorporating one of the tunes meant for that act ("Thunder & Lightning"), but through the pervasive 'Gothic cowboy' sentiment that courses through the pacing and structure of the music here. Guns at dusk, not dawn. As an individual who has always appreciated the anthems of the black mascara sect nearly as much as his fascination with harsher metallic climes, I'm admittedly part of that choir Edlund is preaching to...

Yet I feel that The Scarred People has something for everyone. It's grand, emotive, powerful and in truth accessible enough for your girlfriend or the non-metal crew you run with (if applicable); and we'll try not to hold that against it! Edlund's baritone prescription brings to bear the very best ingredients of a Nick Cave, Andrew Eldritch, Peter Steele or Fernando Ribeiro with astonishing humility, and his lyrics remain poignant and perceptive despite the stark simplicity of their architecture. Think of it as clever cafe-pop poesy through which a deeper layer of shadows grasp out at the acute reader, but the subject matter isn't rocket science: love, hate, drugs, and mythic deconstructions rendered into a shot of verbal vodka. Wherever necessary, Edlund's verses are complemented with a deeper, cavernous chorus ("The Scarred People"), or a higher pitched harmonic backup ("Winter Dawn"), or even some samples in the brief snippets of "Before Another Wilbury Dies". The voice is perfectly grafted to the deceptive minimalism of the music, and unlike a lot of albums I get regularly for review (or purchase), it's fascinating to explore the lyrics alongside the riffs.

And of those riffs, there are very few misspent through the 50 minutes of disc. Nothing intensely original or complicated, but as I mentioned before, Tiamat simply don't need arpeggio noodling or rhythmic acrobatics to convey an effective mood. These are brazen, loud and highly atmospheric note choices which produce a potent, memorable girth. Whether it's the doomy "384 - Kteis" in which the downward, drudging chords are embellished with hellish funeral organs, pianos and random distortia; or the mammoth rocking grooves of "Winter Dawn" which wouldn't feel out of place on a Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam or Soundgarden record, Edlund and recent acquisition Roger Öjersson never give us anything more than what we need, and boldly, whether in an open chord pattern or a groove. But here again, The Scarred People is not without a few surprises. The wailing rock excess of the "Before Another Wilbury Dies" interlude isn't something I've heard before in the Swedes' canon. The intro sequence in "Love Terrorists" rekindles their Pink Floyd influence, and the cutesy and fragile melodic picking threaded through the verses of "Messinian Letter" would be a radio worthy hit in the hands of, say, Eric Clapton.

Perhaps the only guitar moment I wasn't taken in with is the "Tiznit" instrumental, a fusion of clear acoustic guitar and trilling bird songs, but it's nonetheless smooth as a river calm. Now, Tiamat's rock oriented music doesn't exactly lend itself to a lot of divergent experimentation through the rhythm section. With that said, I must laud Anders Iwers' bottom end strumming and Lars Skjöld's beats are about as fulfilling as the riffs will allow. The electronics coursing through the tunes are all very subtle and well spaced, usually to provide some added texture to a verse, and never overwhelming. There are moments of pure orchestrated bliss like the intro to "The Scarred People" which inaugurates the album, but they're succinct enough to flood the listener with their majesty and kindly cede to the guitars. In fact, they often grant the music a very 'upbeat' feel for Goth metal, and there are a number of tunes here like "Thunder & Lightning" or the title cut which seem like natural successors to the Sisters of Mercy's popular "Temple of Love" anthem. In other places, like "The Red of the Morning Sun" or "Radiant Star", Tiamat was channeling the slower material of  neighbors and countrymen Lake of Tears with these broad, doomy vistas of cold, dry twilight desert.

This is just one of those immediately timeless experiences which I find myself repeatedly returning to since picking it up a few months back, and it goes without saying that it will not disappoint those who have been digging on the band these last few decades sans interruption. I wouldn't qualify this as a full on Gothic metal effort, because in truth it's probably only around 40-50% metallic and the rest is heavy psychedelic rock, but this distinction is irrelevant to the overall quality, and the ratio of escape and enjoyment to moments of music breaks pretty even. It's one of the best albums I've heard all year, but not the sort which will bewilder you with dizzying fits of proficiency or originality. Warm in cold in equal rotation, sad and triumphant, addictive enough that I wish it had come with a Surgeon General's warning. I'd love to smoke this album on the corner while donning dark shades and leather, dreaming of caffeine, pale flesh and fishnet stockings.

"Fellow students. Over the past week there's been a lot of confusion, and so we've asked for this assembly to clarify the difference between goth kids and vampire kids. Let us make it abundantly clear: if you hate life, truly hate the sun and need to smoke and drink coffee, you are goth. If, however, you like dressing in black 'cause it's fun, enjoy putting sparkles on your cheeks and following the occult while avoiding things that are bad for your health, then you're most likely a d*uchebag vampire-wannabe-b*ner. Because anybody who thinks they are actually a vampire is freaking retarded." South Park (Season 12, Episode 14), 'The Ungroundable'

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] ('Cause even God loves darkness)

http://www.facebook.com/tiamat

Be'lakor - Of Breath and Bone (2012)

I might draw the line at describing Be'lakor's 2009 sophomore Stone's Reach as an iconic masterpiece for the ages, but there's no question I enjoyed the hell out of that thing, and found it one of the better examples of its class of post-Opeth, progressive-tinted, Scandinavian influenced melodic death metal in the past decade. The Australians more or less continue this theme through their latest, Of Breath and Bone, and once again it's festooned with a dichotomy of surging, triumphant moments and tranquil, almost folkish segues that invoke an adventurous landscape upon the listener. Granted, a lot of folks are pretty spent on this sort of hybrid, but Be'lakor performs it as well as just about anyone, and those seeking a more graceful, grandiloquent alternative to Finns Insomnium or Viking brutes Amon Amarth will find this a shore worth conquering.

It almost stuns me how effortless these gentlemen imbue the surges of chords with constant, meandering melodies, almost as if they were just cutting their wrists and letting it flow out naturally. They generally favor pretty long tracks, around 8-10 minutes, and there's quite a lot of composition in each, to the extent that I'm impressed they can keep all of these melodies in their memories for performance. I'm not normally a staunch proponent for such excess, and Be'lakor might be better served in clipping off some of the appendages, but overall they do a decent job of not boring the listener throughout each excursion. The folksy, classically inspired pieces are well written and provide a welcome counterbalance to the harder passages, though they don't always forge themselves into memorable terrain. The instrumental interlude "To Stir the Sea" is a good example, with flutes, acoustics and synthesizers that are cutesy but hardly hypnotic in structure. No, the Australians are far better when meting out miles of moody melancholy through a duality of chords and ringing melodic architecture which is well on par with their Swedish and Finnish forebears.

Though I enjoy the clean production of the rhythm section, and don't find the pair lacking in terms of their prowess, I do feel like they're constantly being outclassed by the guitar progressions, pianos and other atmospheric glints peppered about the corpulent 56 minute run time. Considering the band's sheer sense of extravagance, it'd be a positive to let these two experiment more, because as it stands I felt like I was too reliant on the guitar's melodies to really rip through my memory, which only happened about half the time I was listening through them. The guttural vocals are quite a contrast to the music, because they lack the sense of intricacy and overpower you with a gruff inflection quite familiar to those who enjoy Johan Hegg, Taneli Jarva (from his later Sentenced recordings) or Niilo Sevänen, and while this is not a huge problem, they're often too similar to other bands to really hold their own for long. The lyrics are quite good though, with a surplus of thoughtful, introspective imagery aligned to the sad emotions of the guitars.

There wasn't a song among these eight without something interesting happening somewhere; but I'd point out "Fraught", with its Amon Amarth-like melodic death/thrashing tensions, and "The Dream and the Waking" with its triumphant, twilight haze of guitar harmonies as particular standouts here. They definitely have a Scandinavian sensibility inherent to their more exotic note sequences, though I would say that they should attempt to branch out a little further, because there is some degree of predictability to how these bloated pieces play out. Of Breath and Bone is a very consistent album, with oodles of riffs through its course, but they tend to remain within a certain safety zone. Added dissonance, wilder percussion, or a more alien architecture threaded through the melodies, would contribute greatly to some of the melodic choices and provoke something far more than a Melbourne mirror to Northern Europe. All told, Of Breath or Bone hung a little lower on my attention span than its predecessor, but it's still worth hearing if you've held out hope for this niche, or if you crave more along the lines of Across the Dark, One for Sorrow, Twilight of the Thunder God, Morningrise or even mid-to-late 90s Katatonia.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (all is frayed)

http://belakorband.com/

The Forsaken - Beyond Redemption (2012)

Despite the high visibility of their presence on Century Media Records, and an admirably high level of productivity through 2001-2003 (with three albums in consecutive years), The Forsaken never seemed to break through that ceiling of popularity that would rank them among the A-listers of their chosen niche. To understand their sound is to really travel back to that mid-to-late 90s era when melodic Swedish death metal and modern death/thrash hybrids helped spawn a revival of interest in their medium. Love or hate At the Gates, In Flames, Hypocrisy or Dark Tranquillity, their adopted integration of accessible melodies, grooves and balanced songwriting helped drag 'extreme' metal out of its 90s murk, and they set up a gateway through which part of the genre's audience could return to harsher sounds deeper into the 'oughts.

With efforts like Arts of Desolation, The Forsaken set themselves up for potential success in the field, and I can recall a bit of a buzz surrounding their records, and also picking them up for myself, being readily available at my local brick & mortar audio shop. Unfortunately, what the Swedes' seemed to lack for was truly distinct songwriting capabilities, and the result was a reliable if ultimately forgettable mesh of melodic death metal aesthetics with an undercurrent of harder thrash and death metal. I'd be hard-pressed to recall particular tracks from those earlier works, though I've got no issues with their sound, a bridge between the aesthetics of faster paced Hypocrisy, At the Gates and Holland's God Dethroned. Nine years after their third and final effort for Century Media, Traces of the Past, the group has found resurrection through the Massacre imprint, and produced what is possibly their tightest and most effective effort to date, even if it's not exactly remarkable or compelling enough to break a sweat over. These guys are clearly seasoned for this style, with most of the members involved in the earlier recordings still intact, but there's a certain level of playing it safe here which remains targeted at those fans who pine over that crucial 1995-2003 period.

Production and instrumentation are top notch here, provided you've got no aversion to the level of polish mandatory in most such recordings of this sub-genre. Harried guitar melodies gleam with a Damage Done era Dark Tranquillity tint, while the undertow of aggression rivals that of Hypocrisy's more accessible content like Virus or A Taste of Extreme Divinity. The guitar tone almost entirely dominates here, from the punchy, brawling death/thrash maneuvers that anchor pieces like "There is No God" to the unbridled spikes of dual tremolo melodies.When the Swedes are performing at a slow to mid pace, the chords and mutes definitely take on a balance of groove/thrash aesthetics that might seem a turnoff for some. However, there is some level of atmosphere here, certain hints of progressive metal influence through a handful of the intro and bridge riffing sequences. Perhaps nothing you've not heard in the past, but The Forsaken clearly don't wish to limit themselves 100% to the constraints of the medium, and in this way they remind me of Darkane. Leads are in general quite tastefully chosen and amend that dire necessity for an added dimension to offset the concrete flow of the rhythm section.

Speaking of which, the drummer here, Nicke Grabowski, is definitely one of the most muscular, machine-like hitters I've heard. When he charges his batteries for a blast-beat or dextrous double bass, and fixes his feet and arms to support those pummeling tremolo rhythms, the band lays you out like a stampede of ten ton iron bulls. In terms of technique and fills, the performance is nothing too distinct, but this guy could easily back just about any modern extremity with effortless precision, and his work here really promotes the power and prowess this type of death metal once inspired in metal fans worldwide. Bass is fluid and thick, perhaps not always the most interesting in terms of the lines, but I think the sound of it really matches this sort of dense, panicked, scathing dystopian environment The Forsaken manifests. Vocals are largely in favor of a broad, pummeling guttural inflection, but you'll also get a lot of those Lindberg/Tägtgren rasps that flesh out the sound and help alleviate some of the potential monotony. Overall though, there is just nothing in this specific department of the band that you haven't already heard a million other times.

The lyrics are also a little bland here, with a pervasive pessimism and atheistic nature that, in all fairness, does match the mechanistic aggression of the music; a couple of strong lines and images, though, and certainly I've read far worse. In the end, Beyond Redemption actually proves that The Forsaken are not beyond redemption, and it's probably the most enjoyment I've gotten out of any one of their recordings. If you're weathered and wasted on the whole melodeath scene, and you hate the latest records by bands like Hypocrisy, Zonaria, The Crown, and so forth, then you won't wanna bother with it. But tracks like "Blessed with Wrath" and "No Dawn Awaits" are packed with intense moments, and there is a refreshing excitement through the entire 41 minutes that is sure to win the affections of those who still hold Slaughter of the Soul and its peers in high regard. Hardly an exemplar of memorable songwriting, but well past solid in structure and delivery.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (the gashes deepen)

http://www.facebook.com/TheForsakenSweden

Nuclear Assault - Atomic Waste: Demos & Rehearsals (2012)

The storied career of a thrash titan like Nuclear Assault might naturally have lent itself to dozens of cash-in compilations or other mandatory corporate wetwork upon the fans, but let's give some credit that they've been relatively mum on this sort of release throughout their career. There was a 'greatest hits' type of package in the late 90s, and I believe there were some self-released demos, but High Roller records and the Nukes have put together quite a comprehensive package for Atomic Waste, and one that is well-suited to the long term fan who wants the band's legacy treated with some measure of respect. The caveat is that, even though many will no doubt prefer the acquisition of its vinyl version, the CD is actually the better deal, with a lot more tracks (10 in fact) and some material you're very unlikely to have heard...

Atomic Waste kicks off with the band's 1984-85 demos presented in reverse order, the latter of which sounds a lot better than the first, since it actually boasts a decent studio production and the tunes do not sound entirely different than their later incarnations on the full-lengths and EPs. On the other hand, I cannot so much vouch for the '84 tape, simply because the sound has decayed and it interferes with appreciation of the very uncouth, wild approach to vocals being taken there, or the frenetic tendencies of the noodling leads. More or less what you'd expect if resurrecting a thrash band's old demo tape from the early 80s and then transferring its flaws to a digital medium, something I've attempted to do in the past to a sound card and then given up on (since other people re-released them in superior format). That said, there's a sordid authenticity that diehards of misanthropic crossover/thrash violence and primitive recordings would sing praises for, and in the name of completeness, I'm glad to have both the demos in one location.

The aforementioned added tracks are a collection of instrumental rehearsals which benefit from a decent, if raw production standard. The guitars are a little bulky and crunchy and possibly even mildly out of tune in a few sequences, but hell if you wanted to karaoke "Brainwashed" in as vulgar a manner as possibly, why the fuck not use this one as your background music? Sure to scatter the poseurs in multiple directions. Same could be said of "Survive", "Technology" or "Rise from the Ashes", but of particular interest to me about this bonus material was the inclusion of a trio of unreleased tunes which are admittedly quite solid and would not have done a disservice to the Game Over or Survive era if they'd been flesh out with lyrics and better leads (the 1st and 3rd of these cuts are pretty sweet). Like the other, better known cuts, the guitars are raw but viable, the drums potent and really all that's missing is the grating anguish of John Connelly.

Atomic Waste is not going to win the band any new fans, of course, and in every case, the later recordings of this roster of tunes (where they appear) are superior, so there's a dearth of value if you're seeking out rare vocal gems, a covers album or other such compilations. This is really meant specifically for the completist, and to that extent it's not a disappointment. Perhaps a bonus disc compiling their singles might have made for a better bargain, but as it stands this is solid enough for what it represents. My only hope is that Nuclear Assault will listen back through this material themselves, reexamine their gifts as songwriters from the 85-89 period and reembark on a tour of asskicking that will help me flush that execrable comeback Third World Genocide from my guts forever.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

http://www.facebook.com/NuclearAssaultOfficial

Hic Iacet - Prophecy of Doom EP (2012)

On its surface, Hic Iacet's Prophecy of Doom 7" seems to be tapping the same well of creativity that a lot of the current, cavernous old school death metal devotees are drawing upon, but there is some consolation that the Spaniards incorporate a slightly more black-tinged atmosphere through the use of raw, grooving rhythms and cutting, distant distortion that really lays into the thudding, thumping tone of the bass drums. Also the vocals really are a hybrid between the ominous subterranean growl so commonplace and then a more rasping, venom-tinted edge which maintains a crepitating distance alongside the tinniness of the cymbal crashes. But, for the most part, it's pretty solidly death-driven and in a few moments, where the chords lurch along like somnolent titans, it even takes on a death/doom dimension.

This is very environmental music, so not something to expect much intricacy from in terms of the notes and technicality of the playing. You get pretty simple chords that reek of progressions from late 80s/early 90s death metal like Autopsy or the earlier Death records, and stripped down, moderate tremolo picked sequences that evoke a similar evil. The difference is how this is produced, without the riffs up front, but settled equidistantly against the vocals and drums. I found the higher percussion a little too splashy and noisy in contrast to the lower, rumbling, and all the instruments combined configure into an ungodly mess, but one that has some measure of control through the steady pace of the riffing. The title track, "Prophecy of Doom" is mildly denser and more memorable in terms of how the chords are structured, but stylistically balanced with the first ritual "Elevation of Sun" to provide a cohesive discourse through the Spaniards' nightmares. There are a few periods of droning, spacious dissonance as well which really weight this down into a sodden, chilling mire of aggression that takes its time crawling up your spine.

In total, I quite liked the group's pervasive atmosphere, I only wish the actual guitar riffs were a little more memorable in where they let the imagination wander. Hic Iacet ('here lies') do not dally around too long with individual patterns, they alternate enough chugging force with a barrage of mild acceleration redolent of mid paced black metal, but whenever I deconstruct the notes I just couldn't find them all that interesting. A few more spikes of haunted melodies might have contributed quite a lot to the rhythm guitars, but then again I do believe that purists for filthy, disgusting sounding old school death and black metal like some congregation of Beherit, Autopsy, Muknal, Slugathor and Gorgoroth might actually admire the band's simplistic consistency. Aurally, there are numerous dimensions to Prophecy of Doom in the concentrated disparity of the instrument sounds in the recording, but the riffs really didn't stick to me in alignment with the reverb and echoing, abrasive vocals. Dug the sound a bit more than the structure.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

Children of Technology - Mayhemic Speed Anarchy EP (2012)

Though never the most reticent of metal bands, Italy's Children of Technology really wear their hearts on their sleeves so boldly that the bloodstains will never come off in the wash, no matter what super strength detergent used in the purge. A colored chrome logo proudly transforms the group's logo into something belonging to the past, giving impressions of Razor or other such 80s blitzers, and the 7" EP's title of Mayhemic Speed Anarchy provides a blunt summary for those not yet in the know about their retro pandering style. This is a band courting a hybrid of punk, speed and thrash metal aesthetics which has generated a healthy chainsaw buzz through the underground in the past few years, and the tracks here are in no rush to break the mold whatsoever, which is business as usual, and what many are no doubt looking for in their sound.

"Mayhemic Speed Anarchy" is thus pretty standard fare for the Italians, a wall of forceful, brazen punk chords pumped up to early 80s metallic acceleration and woven through with crazy fits of lead work and corrosive gutter bark vocals redolent of the crossover splatter titans of the past, complete with screams that recall old Razor or Slayer in their petulant sense of infectiousness. The drums and bass are simplified and streamlined to accompany the narrow selection of riffing, but I enjoyed the pumping low end tone and the rather thrown-together, authentic feel of the beats nonetheless. Problem is there just isn't all that much here, and the main guitar progressions feel as if they've just been paraphrased from numerous crossover/punk influences and barely spiced up beyond the leads. This is energetic, propulsive stuff fit for a circle pit, but it never really goes beyond that, and I found it inferior to a number of tracks from It's Time to Face the Doomsday, their first proper full-length from 2010 which was pretty good. I definitely derived an aesthetic appeasement from the tune, but it's not catchy enough for many replays.

The B-side is better, but that comes with a caveat that it's a cover of Swedish punks' "Computer World" (from their 1989 album Faces of Death). The riffs are again pretty straight punk rock, but there's a bit of natural dissonance to the chords which gives it an almost archaic Teutonic aggression. I also really dug that unhinged wildness of DeathLörd Astwülf's pavement scraping growls and grunts here, and the band's frivolous solo work complements the momentum of the original rhythm guitars. Of course, I was already a fan of this original tune, so I'm probably a bit biased in its favor, but Children of Technology manage to have some fun with this and make it their own due to the vocal variation. All told, Mayhemic Speed Anarchy isn't a bad little 7" if you're in the mood for a collectable, or if you enjoy C.O.T. for their past works, but with just around 7 minutes of content, it wouldn't be a great starting place for newcomers, who could make a b-line for It's Time to Face the Doomsday or the Chaosmutant Hordes EP.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.facebook.com/COTofficial