The Latest News and Notes in Metal

A lot has been happening in the world of metal recently. An ever revolving door of introducing new bands and discarding others, bands losing members and others reuniting, and too many new releases to count; our little sub-culture has seen it fair share of turbulence and joy over the past few weeks. One of the biggest pieces of news was released yesterday on 11/11/11 that Black Sabbath was reuniting with their original singer, Ozzy Osbourne. Not only are they reuniting but they announced they will do a world tour AND put out a brand new album! The detractors are always going to be there but the immensity of this announcement is huge. Some are going to say that Ozzy can’t sing anymore and that this is just a money grab, but I try not to think like that. I simply see this as one of the originators, one of the greatest bands ever to grace this floating blue marble coming back to cement their legacy and give us some great new music. Truly this is some great news for all metalheads.

In other and much sadder news, GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot AKA Flattus Maximus was found dead on Thrusday November 3rd. While on tour with Every Time I Die, Ghoul, and Warbeast, the band found Cory unresponsive in his bunk while heading up to the Canadian border. The entire metal community is still reeling from this news and we here at NW MetalHead Productions wish our sincerest condolences to Cory’s family, band members, friends, and all the fans who he has touch through the years. The band decided to soldier on and finish the tour, which could not have been an easy decision nor one anybody wanted to make. RIP Cory Smoot.

In other terrible news, Metallica released an album with Lou Reed called Lulu, and it’s better to just not talk about it……………

And now a few choice bands that have released solid efforts over the last couple of weeks.

Gorematory - Zombie Slaughterfest

Gorematory – Zombie Slaughterfest

Here’s a recipe for you budding chefs out there, it’s called BrÜtal Stew. Throw in one part old school sounding death metal, a hint of thrash, add a dash of zombie inspired lyrics, and bake in a sweaty studio for a month and out comes a fresh batch of BrÜtal Stew. Many bands use this recipe over and over and very few of them create something groundbreaking.  Newer bands today have been listening to Cannibal Corpse, Dismember, Dark Angel, and Kreator for most of their musical lives and have taken parts of all of them and molded it into something very familiar. Familiar isn’t always bad, some bands turn it into something fresh and innovative, some bands make it sound stale and outdated, and others just pay homage to the originators and simply play some good old fashioned death metal. A newer band that definitely falls into the latter category is Gorematory from New Jersey. Their debut full length was released this year and is a solid helping of old school sounding modern death metal.  When listening to the album, one could be forgiven for thinking it came from Florida in 1993. Leading off the album is “Medical Execution,” a straight-forward death metal song suitable to start off a record. A driving rhythm kicks off the song and keeps it moving throughout until a headbangable breakdown creeps forward about 1:15 in.The song then transitions into that same driving rhythm until an extended instrumental kicks in and almost finishes the song where growls of “Execution! Execution!” are screamed over the original rhythm. The song sets the tone for the rest of the album as it continues on in much of the same fashion. Tracks like “Sadistic Slaughter” and “Mass Dismemberment” are particular highlights for this author, they drive with the same speedy rhythm followed by slow breakdown parts that make you bash your head against the stage. They have those archetypical death metal riffs with the ferocity of thrash mixed in for just the right amount of variety to not make it flat. However one track, “Crushed and Splattered,” does not do this very well, it becomes too repetitive and loses the attention of the audience. It starts off with a great slow groove but the song quickly becomes just the name of the song sung over and over and over again. Even with that low point, the overall sound of the album is great. It is not something innovative but for those of us that want a solid death metal groove, this is definitely a solid album. I look forward to hearing more from this band as they continue to grow their sound. They are not quite to the level of blowing up but there is potential behind these guys for the future.

Black Sun Aeon - Blacklight Deliverance

You know those days when nothing can make you go outside, those dreary rain-soaked days when it feels good to sit around and do nothing but contemplate one’s own mortality? Of course you do, we all have those days. And just in time for the upcoming winter, Finland’s Black Sun Aeon have come out with a brand new record to coat the cold souls of the damned. Blacklight Deliverance is the third full length put out by this melodic doom/death band and is one dense piece of writing. Black Sun Aeon is the brain child of Tuomas Saukkonen (Before the Dawn, The Final Harvest), a man who writes and records all the music, with the help of some live and studio musicians for select pieces, and rarely plays live. When the music is written and recorded all by the same man, you know his vision is going to come through in a clear fashion.  From the first track, “Brothers,” you get that sense of despair that Saukkonen really tries to get the listener to feel, from the death growls that seem to glide over the top of the thunderous riffs and moody atmosphere to the keyboards that paint the background. At the end of the track comes a soft acoustic passage with clean female vocals sung by Janica Lönn, a beautiful end to such a heavy track. “Solitude” is another standout track that starts off with Lönn’s vocals and features Mikko Heikkila singing clean vocals as well. This exceedingly melodic track shows the range of Saukkonen’s abilities as he sings his death metal growls underneath the clean singing of the other two vocalists all the while maintaining his signature heavy doom riffing and haunting keyboards.  The entire record screams with emotion that can darken even the brightest soul, evoking emotions of dread that can overtake one’s entire being. It’s music like this that brings you to metal because it is so encompassing that you find something new about it with every spin of the record. This is music to turn up loud while turning the lights off,and completely digesting the sound that bleeds from your speakers.

Double Standards in Music Do Not Work

It has never been a hidden fact to the world that in the United States metal has been relegated to the back alley venues and footnotes of the annals of music. It is chastised when someone that has the smallest bit of relation to the music does something wrong and is never given credit for the good it does, both socially and musically. For every nutbag like Varg Vikernes (crazy Nazi/arsonist/murderer/douchebag) there are several groups like Riffs Not Riots who generally promote good vibes through harsh music. The strange thing is that when looking at mainstream music, the “artists” that are most popular tend to do some pretty awful stuff all the time and the masses seem to only care for a short period of time then welcome them back with open arms. Take for example Chris Brown, a generic R&B singer who beat his girlfriend to a bloody pulp but still is loved by thousands of people, mainly women!! In today’s society it is absolutely horrific that someone can display that type of behavior and not be vilified for life. But that double standard does not work for metal musicians. If a genuinely talented person who plays metal music does something that is against the social norms of the general populace, they are slandered. And this is mainly because metal music and its participants are labeled as degenerates, as lowlifes not worthy of praise.

New Defeatist Video

While this may sound like grindcore group Defeatist have released a new video to support their latest effort Tyranny of Decay it's actually just the latest video we have put up on the NW MetalHead Youtube page. Check out the death/grind beauty that is Defeatist as well as the rest of the mindblowing metal available to view \m/

Nergal and Behemoth are back!

Following a long bout with leukemia, frontman and guitarist Nergal is back on stage with Polish blackened death metal legends Behemoth. The band is about to play 6 dates in Poland and have released a new video for the song "Lucifer" off their latest album Evangelion. A haunting epic that is decidedly evil, the video shows exactly who Behemoth are and demonstrate that no disease can bring down these titans. We are all happy that Nergal is getting better and ready to kick the asses of heathens all over the world. Check out the video below.

Behemoth "Lucifer" (OFFICIAL VIDEO | Uncensored) from Metal Blade Records on Vimeo.

Russian Metal Bands Playlist

Recently, the most hits that we here at NW MetalHead Productions have been getting from outside the United States has been from the other side of the world, Russia. While not a country on the forefront of the metal world, there are many diamonds in the proverbial rough. Being such a large country, the landscapes of the region can vastly differ from each other, bringing forth many different types of metal. Whether they are from the bustling big cities like Moscow or from the dreary depths of Siberia, metal is coming from all parts and is in all forms. Here are a select few that span the genres, from folk to doom to prog to black, it’s all here.

Arkona

Hieronymus Bosch

Abstract Spirit

The Sullen Route

Mactep aka Master

Alkonost

Metal Festivals in the US

As the summer of 2011 comes to an end, we realize all of the fun we’ve had going to shows, buying new records, hanging out with friends and listening to tunes, and simply enjoying the sun. That is life in the United States in the summer. Life in Europe seems to be a little different because they don’t just get the chance to see a few big acts come through every once in a while, they get the chance to see festival after festival after festival. One of the biggest things I admire about Europe is they truly embrace metal and give fans the chance to see as many bands as possible in huge settings that are usually saved for pop acts. Hellfest, Wacken, Sonisphere, Reading, Download, MetalCamp, Damnation; these are just a few of the many festivals that people on that side of the blue marble get a chance to witness every year. In addition to the amazing experiences of seeing so many different bands, huge underground acts that reunite or rarely perform live generally save these festivals as their few chances to play. That is why I probably will never get the chance to see Bloodbath live, as they have only performed a handful of times and it always at European festivals. There is only one good festival in the US and that is Maryland Death Fest, but as a result of the huge distance across the United States, many people cannot afford to make the trip over there. And the rest of us are forced to deal with touring festivals, which are generally filled with talentless trend hoppers and just one or two decent bands (see 2011 Summer Slaughter). Those of us stuck up here in the Pacific Northwest might not ever get a chance to see one of the huge, underground metal festivals, and that is a complete shame. One day, we here at NW MetalHead Productions would love to put on a metal festival here in the great Northwest, one with huge touring acts and not just a couple local acts. However, I would love to put local acts in with the bigger acts in order to give them more exposure and show that our roots come from the local front. And there would need to be a variety of bands so that the audience doesn’t get bored. Whenever there is a show and 4 bands in a row sound exactly the same, the concert can get very tedious.  So here is one lineup we would love to have at our Northwest Metal Festival (official name tbd):

Gravenloch

Fueled By Fire

Carnal Forge

Ceremonial Castings

Melechesh

Municipal Waste

Grave

Nevermore

Hail of Bullets

Bloodbath

NW MetalHead Productions Facebook Page

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Exhumed - All Guts No Glory Review

Exhumed – All Guts, No Glory

I remember my days back in college when I didn’t know any better and tried downloading anything and everything under the sun. Anytime I even so much as heard a band’s name I typed in it the file sharing program that everyone on campus used and found as much music as I could ever imagine. I found a great deal of average one hit wonder bands, I found more than a few horrid bands, and I luckily discovered several bands I still love to this day. And on one magical day I came upon a band more intense and brutal than anything I had ever heard, one that truly sounded like a serial killer indiscriminately murdering entire neighborhoods of people. “Limb From Limb” by California based brutal beasts Exhumed was that intense song for this young listener. And ever since then I have been a big fan of their take on death metal and grind. After 8 years of waiting the world is finally bestowed a fresh batch of gory riffs and hellacious blast beats. Matt Harvey’s vokills (I hate using this term but there really is no other way to describe his voice) are as disgusting and throat rippingly brutal as ever. This album certainly does not disappoint.

Track number 7 entitled “I Rot Within” is one of the standout songs on the album. From the moment the song starts it is as vicious as anything I have ever heard. Harvey’s scream about 10 seconds into the track set forth a pace that many bands cannot even dream of keeping. When the dual vocals kick in, a certain sense of sickness is plagued upon the listener, one that mere mortals could never stand to listen to for more than a few moments. Soon after a blistering guitar solo entrances the audience into a state of bliss that is soon destroyed by more screams. All in all it is one brutal track that set the plane for the rest of the album. The first track the eponymous track and it is all instrumental, but not in a calm, showy fashion. It shows brutality from the get go. Track 2 “As Hammer to Anvil” keeps that feeling going and pushes it a little further. The lyrics showcase Exhumed’s love of gore and inhumaneness.  “I smash your brittle bones to powder/Screams crescendo ever louder/Your shattered torso now gone to bits/A puzzle of pieces that no longer fits.” The entire album continues in the same fashion with such hits as “Your Funeral My Feast,” “Necrotized,” and “So Let it be Rotten… So Let it be Done,” each song more intense and ferocious than the last. From beginning to end the band barely lets the listener breathe for more than a brief moment before inundating them with more blood soaked carnage. Put this one on whenever you really want to piss off your neighbors.