Thrash Metal Playlist

Quite possibly my favorite of all the metal subgenres, thrash is the subject of this week’s playlist. Blazingly fast, extremely technical, and completely pure. Generating from punk and NWOBHM, thrash has been around for decades and will surely be around for many more to come.

Angelus Apatrida – Room 237

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Tj8SQhFDM

Coroner – Masked Jackal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzrOlKDIs28&feature=related

Ouroboros (formerly Dred) – Absent From Entity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvO-jzjhTvQ

Mantic Ritual – One By One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6qDKtFAI6Y

Demolition Hammer – Gelid Remains

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5FxtlPGIF8&feature=related

Razor – The Marshall Arts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gO2G21Ucqk

Sepultura – Stronger Than Hate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UbS7puncnk&feature=related

Skeletonwitch – Crushed Beyond Dust

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SCL7Pja5zs

Toxic Holocaust – Wild Dogs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQTAFs7wicY

Gama Bomb – Zombie Blood Nightmare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d47rb5HGaVo&feature=related

Witchery - Witchkrieg

The newest offering from this Swedish super-group has come forth to utterly destroy any other thrash album that has come out this year. Bringing together members of The Haunted, Opeth, Merciful Fate, and Marduk gives a new background to this outstanding release. One of the biggest headlines for this album was new vocalist Legion joining the band. Tony Kampner had been with the band since its inception and has long been one of the strongest factions of their sound. A lot of people were very nervous that having a black metal singer might change their thrash sound that we have all come to know and love. I was one of the cautious many about this big change as well. However, when I first heard the song “Witchkrieg” all of my worries were soon forgotten. When Legion belts out “SATAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!” to start the song, my blood gets pumping and adrenaline courses through my body. His vocals lead to the great blending of death metal into their sound now. Sometimes, Witchery sound almost like a pure death metal band on the album, which is fine by me because the band comes from a great lineage of death metal.

One facet that Witchery does on this new album is something that can be seen as a desperate attempt to draw in listeners, which is bringing in multiple guests on half their songs. However, it does not come off as desperate because these guest guitarists bring extra layers of greatness that only add to their newer sound. Being able to bring on guest stars Kerry King, Hank Shermann, Gary Holt, Lee Altus, Andy LaRocque, and Jim Durkan shows the band’s credibility which only adds to this entertaining album. It is hard to tell if these tracks are just the strongest tracks on the album or if they are the strongest tracks as a result of these stars. Either way, these songs completely shred and help carry the album to even greater heights.

Overall, this album is one of the best releases I have heard this year. I have been a Witchery fan for years and was very excited when I heard they were coming out with a new album. And they sure delivered with one hell of an album. With strong tracks like “The God Who Fell From Earth” and “Conqueror’s Return” this album is sure to please any metal fan that gives it a full listen rather than a cursory glance.

Death Metal Playlist

Here we are with my new playlist, this week concentrating on the most brutal of all genres, Death Metal!!! Get ready for some relentless, blood soaked, evisceration!!

Aborted – Meticulous Invagination

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RNO3YLQZd8

Demilich – The Echo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WLPvzGgWs0

Diabolic – From Astral Plane…Entwined With Infinity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pQDUahjBLE

Fleshgod Apocalypse – Thru Our Scars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2EbqLtaB6Q

Nominon – Mountain of Hate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRDpJGywgSo&feature=related

Resurrection – Embalmed Existence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBzgkAt0gdw

Ares Kingdom – Fear Itself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-Oc3Y0xjHw

Funebrarum – Incineration of Mortal Flesh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAnLp2slKbo

Anasarca – Scorn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rICqI4V-F_U

Hour of Penance – Paradogma

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW5yNOxrS9Q

Melodic Death Metal Playlist

With my new playlist, I am going to start a series based on genres. Today, I’m starting with melo-death. There are some well known ones and some you may not have heard before. Hopefully you all enjoy the music!!

Auberon – The White Ship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNh1XgYlZow

Shaded Enmity – Like Prayers on Deaf Ears

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pICE0Obz2Y4

Destroy Destroy Destroy – Gods of War and Open Sores

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-xQZ7K84jk

Hypocrisy – Weed Out the Weak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxEim1Li6ZY

The Absence – Dead and Gone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYIj7eDz8X0

Kalmah – The Groan of Wind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqBexdo1CME

Amon Amarth – Twilight of the Thunder God

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQVrl7wRcNg

Sons of Azrael – Turn that Crown Upside Down

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE0V6GTh0UU

Wintersun – Beyond the Dark Sun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnhdJVh9iIY

The Haunted – 99

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cneqJa-4s64&feature=related

Misery Index - Heirs to Thievery

My last post here at NWMetalhead was a review of deathgrindsters Leng Tch’e’s latest effort, which failed to completely enthrall me. So it is almost fitting that with my next review I discuss a band that does deathgrind extremely well. Misery Index is a band that goes unnoticed all too often, which is a shame because they utterly destroy on all their records as well as in the live experience. If you see them coming to your town, do all that is possible to witness their sonic brutality. Heirs to Thievery is the follow-up to 2008’s incredible Traitors. That was an album that is difficult to live up to but HtT is up to the task and may even surpass its predecessor. Starting off the album is the crushing “Embracing Extinction.” This track is a pure grind song which does not stop the pummeling for the entire duration of the song. It sets the tone for the rest of the album showing that it will not let up with only few mid paced moments that only lets you catch your breath before finishing the obliteration. “Sleeping Giants” is one of the standout tracks in my opinion. What makes this track so great is that it basically brings the band full circle. The band started out with former members of death metal giants Dying Fetus and the song features guest vocals from John Gallagher of Dying Fetus. When his guttural growls hit the song almost turns into a DF song, which is not a bad thing at all. His distinct style of “singing” brings an extra layer of heaviness that makes the track one of my favorite Misery Index tracks ever.

What makes this album so great is that there is not a throw away track to be found. From start to finish every song is very good, which we see less often these days. A lot of bands seem to have albums with a few tracks made to be singles and some other decent songs to fill out the album. HtT is one that is an entire album of great songs. The drums stand out to me as they are brutally fast and rarely let up. They create a low end that drive the songs but do not overpower the guitars or vocals. The production is set up perfectly for their deathgrind sound. Grind is supposed to be a gritty, raw sound but when combined with their version that incorporates death, the clear production really emphasizes their sound. Overall this has ended up being one of the best releases of the year so far. It is definitely one you should all check out.

www.myspace.com/miseryindex

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.

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)

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!!!

Playlist

Dark Faith – Desecrated Silence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVpzb2jBv20&feature=related

Valdur – Blodhevn / Vendetta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT41kE8poDY

Lightning Swords of Death – Let This Knife Lead You To US

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjW9rS7ylVY&feature=related

Angelcorpse – Stormclouds Unbound

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuhTh_4MmTQ&feature=related

Overkill – Horrorscope

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnbkooM9CM8

Arkona –Ot Serdsta K Nebu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvWjn4zBBPs&feature=related

Thy Majestie – Maiden of Steel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCnXO1ovNR8

Lockup – A Life After Purgatory

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK0xHGoqOHE

Severe Dementia – Howls of Murshidabad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ1WneBeS4c

SSS – Thrash With A Mustache

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHxOW6N0N98

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.