Thursday, July 30, 2009

Album Review


Cannibal Corpse - "Evisceration Plague"


The latest album from one of the OG's of death metal is one of its finest. Cannibal Corpse has consistently put out albums of high quality for 20 years and while many of their contemporaries have died out and had to make comebacks, CC have never wavered. This new album has the same brutal riffs and caustic vocals that we have all come to love. The title song, also the lead single, has a little bit of a slower tempo, which a few of the other songs contain as well. However, they are able to use the slower tempo to create a heaviness that still pummels the listener just as much as the faster songs. That was one of the first things I noticed about the album was that the tempos varied more than usual for a pure death metal album. This extra layer to their songwriting really made the songs stand out from each other as opposed to most of them blending together, which can happen a lot on death metal releases. However, that does not mean that CC have completely changed their sounds. They are still the same old CC that we have all grew up with. The lyrics are still the same brutal and disgusting verses that make them so amazing. "Beg for your life, you won't escape the knife Your fate was sealed today Disease has spread, you pray for death Evisceration plague." That lovely nugget comes from the title song and brilliantly displays the death and destruction that CC have always had. This album is great for the original fans that have always loved the band yet also should bring in new fans. This is a must have for all the classic fans of death metal.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Upcoming Shows

El Corazon:
August 2, 2009
Bison BC
Lazarus AD
Woe of Tyrants
Witchburn

Studio Seven:
August 2, 2009
Threat Signal
The Agonist
The Autumn Offering
No Living Witness

Neumos:
August 5, 2009
Sunn O)))
Trap Them
The Accused
Black Breath

August 6, 2009
Sunn O)))
Pelican
Eagle Twin

Showbox Sodo:
August 11, 2009
Down
The Melvins
Danava
Weedeater

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Pure Molten Metal

Today's rant is about one's interests in music. As I have grown up, my taste in music has grown as well. I have moved beyond the bland commercial rock that has inundated our musical airwaves. Nickelback, Three Days Grace, Rev Theory, and Breaking Benjamin are all bands that sound pretty much exactly the same and continue to put out watered-down rock the disguises itself as new. When I was in high school I was guilty of loving these types of bands. The Nu-Metal phase was in full effect and I was swept up into it. My first concert ever was Korn, Disturbed, and Trust Co. However, as time went on, I began to realize that I needed more from my music. Like a great deal of metalheads, I moved on from Nu-Metal to Metalcore to everything else. I started with Korn, then moved to Hatebreed then to Malevolent Creation. This was not a transistion that I made quickly. I had to start off my musical journey on my own, finding new and exciting bands without the aid of an older brother or friend down the street. I started off with music magazines and online news sites that gave me information on an insane amount of new bands. As of today, I am in possesion of hundreds of albums and still have barely cracked the surface of the spectrum of metal. Currently I am in the habit of buying older albums that every metalhead should own including album from Vader, Kreator, Aborted, and many many more. So my advice to everyone out there is to never stop searching for new bands and genres. One cannot simply be content to stay in one spot and not try new things. There are more bands out there than the first ones that one finds. Keep on truckin!

Album Review


Aborted - "Gormageddon"


This is an old album from the death metal stalwarts Aborted. "Goremageddon" came out in 2003 and these Belgian BDM heroes brought the pain with this intensly graphic album of brutal lyrics and even more brutal riffs. The album starts off with Meticulous Invagination, and the song is just as intense as the title suggests. The song is about a killer and how he actually kills, with graphic descriptions of his actions. With lyrical content such as this, the music has to be just as vehement, and it is. The double bass blast beats and the gruff vocals help push the album to extremes not seen by many of the band's contemporaries. The savagery of this album is just a pleasure to listen to. For those that are still listening to just metalcore or deathcore, this is a must listen to album. Some say that Aborted is a deathcore band but I see them as more of a band that lead to deathcore. It is not riddled with breakdowns and pig squeals, it is pure and simple brtual death metal. This is an album to get angry with in all its glory.

Future Disorder's First Show











This is the first show of the newly revamped lineup of Future Disorder. The show was at La Cantina in Downtown Seattle, the old Rainier Brewery. The place could onlyhold about 50 people, if no one walked or even moved. But nevertheless, it was one hell of a good time. With a great beer deal at the bar ($10 bucks and all you can drink PBR) and good friends around, the band put on a great show. They played a fairly short set but played classics such as "Deterioration" and "Critical Mass." The sound was great, the songs were played just like the album, and the band was able to entertain the whole crowd. Definitely look for more from this band as the are beginning to start the process of writing new songs.