Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Album Review



Leng Tch’e


Hypomanic


The newest offering from Belgian death grindsters Leng Tch’e is a heaping dose of loud aggressive death metal with varying hints of grind and hardcore. The album starts off with Wirehead Imbeciles, a track that begins with a typical fade in intro that segues into some fast death metal but quickly turns into a basically hardcore chorus. The guitars slow down to a metalcore chug with breakdown worthy double bass kicks. It really did not start off well with me. Track number two, A.Men, starts to get closer to the grind that I had been looking for but about halfway through the less than 2 minute long song the same type of core-ish breakdown appears that eventually leads into more death stylings. Track number three continues in the same fashion but breaks it up in the middle with a riff that seems like it would fit better on a thrash album. It is a great sounding riff that leads into some great death/grind that makes the song much better than the previous two tracks.


What I have noticed with the first few songs is that the band seems to try to be everything to everyone without fully honing their skills in any one genre. I, for one, love the sub-genre melting pot that is metal these days. Blackened thrash, blackened death, folk/black; there are any number of ways to integrate different sub-genres into a band’s sound and make it sound amazing. And one of the most important parts of mixing genres is making the normally different sounds complement each other and weave seamlessly together. What Leng Tch’e have done here is bring together death, grind, and hardcore and just put several different passages into each song. Bringing together these different genres and making it sound great is possible, Misery Index is a great example of a band that is able to accomplish this. What didn’t work for me was that each sound was separate and almost made each song have different tracks within themselves. Death then grind then hardcore then death, next track. This carries on for the entire album. Not even having Barney Greenway contribute guest vocals can make this a must have album. All in all I can call this a decent but not great album.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Pure Molten Metal

One of the great facets of metal music is that there is practically no end to the amount of bands that you can find. Every day there are new bands forming from scratch, side projects being formed, collaborations coming together, and bands reuniting. That makes this art form pretty special because there are limitless options when you want to listen to something new. One of the main options that one has is to listen to the local bands from your area. Granted, you will probably find more bands that are subpar than ones that you will continue to listen to for many years, but it is your chance to discover new talent that the majority of the metal listeners in the world have not yet heard. Small bars, clubs, and even house parties are great ways to find these bands. One of the best ways to see them when bigger bands come to town and local bands get to open up for them. This is where I have discovered several great local bands.

Living in the Seattle area is great because there is no end to the amount of bands around. This area has birthed such amazing bands as Nevermore, Himsa, Wolves in the Throne Room, Book of Black Earth, and Queensryche. They are started with humble beginnings and rose to incredible heights. There was some point in all of these bands’ careers that they were simply a really good local band. It is from this foundation that they ascended to the top of the game. Many times people discover new bands from their area and hope that they become these impressive stars that the above mentioned bands did. Below I have listed some great bands from the Seattle area that I believe have the ability to climb those heights. They have all played big shows in town, opened for bigger bands, and played local festivals. Soon many of them could land higher profile tours, get big record contracts, and become household names, in the extreme metal world. Feel free to give them a listen and check them out so that they can become bigger stars. Feel free to share some of your favorite local bands so that other can become fans as well.

Shaded Enmity (http://www.myspace.com/shadedenmity)

Dying to Bleed (http://www.myspace.com/dyingtobleed)

Funeral Age (http://www.myspace.com/funeralage)

Gravenloch (http://www.myspace.com/gravenloch)

No Living Witness (http://www.myspace.com/nolivingwitnessmusic)

Beltfed Weapon (http://www.myspace.com/beltfedweapon)

Drakul (http://www.myspace.com/drakulwa)

Future Disorder (http://www.myspace.com/futuredisorder)

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Album Review



Blasphemophagher


…For Chaos, Obscurity, and Desolation…




Evil, demented, loves Jesus: guess which one of these does not apply to the new Blasphemophagher album. If you guess “loves Jesus” you would be correct, congratulations!!! Here we are with a new blast of blackened death brutality from one of the best bands to come out of Italy. Ten tracks of unrelenting pummeling that will send you into a pit of destruction against anything and everything in your path. This is truly an album to destroy the world to. The album starts off with the slow building “Intro / Descending into Extermination,” which climaxes into utter madness. The song ascends to chaos which sets the tone for the rest of the album. “Perverse Multiverse of Damnation” is the third track and it is the epitome of brutality as the drums seem to be taken over by a machine and not a man. Necrovomiterror sets the rhythm for the song by beating the bass drums like a madman and creates a speed with which not many bands can keep up with for short bursts much less a whole song or even an album. In the middle of the song, a nice little guitar solo breaks up the brutality to show that the band want to create more than just a loud mix of pure madness. It is a short burst but nonetheless shows that the band does have great musicianship. The album never lets up and shows what makes death/black metal such an amazing force. If you are new to the genre make sure to check out this album!!!


Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Album Review



Immolation


Majesty and Decay



It is always a big deal when one of the leaders of the death metal community comes out with a new album. I believe metalheads are always looking forward to these albums because they love to hear their favorite bands come out with new material and hope that it still carries the same qualities that drew them in when they first heard the band. Immolation is one of those legendary bands that can create a huge buzz simply by putting out new material. And their new album, Majesty and Decay, lives up to Immolation’s illustrious career.


The album starts off with “Intro,” an eerie mix of screams and atmospheric effects that gives the listener chills when listening for the first time. Then without any warning, “The Purge” kicks in and pummels you into submission. Bludgeoning double bass kicks capable of giving the listener a concussion starts the song off and gives you a hint of the journey to come. The drums rarely stop even when the guitars slow down, creating a devastating impression of pure doom and dread. Next up is “A Token of Malice,” a short but brutal track with intense lyrics. “Cast the fire, scorch the earth / Punish them and rip the ground away / Storm with vengeance, leveled plains / Leave them nothing and lay the land to waste.” The following track is the namesake of the album, “Majesty and Decay.” The song epitomizes the entire album by showing brutally fast riffs and solos (majesty) as well as the slower, incredibly intense passages (decay.) When Ross Dolan growls over these evil sounds one can be forgiven if they think that devil is actually being invoked through their speakers.


The album continues on to completely obliterate most of the death metal albums that have come out this year. Immolation continue to further their legacy of being one of the greatest death metal bands of all time. With an uncompromisingly heavy sound, Immolation maintain their tradition of writing great albums while proving that death metal is a true art form when done the right way.