It was 1994... I was a young 17 years old. I was looking for the foulest and cruelest sounding music I could. We had a local record store called Manifest Discs and Tapes (Yes, kids, this was back when they sold cassettes :) ). I went there every week to check out new releases and, luckily for me, the owner actually had a ridiculous amount of underground music. That's when I heard Grief for the first time. It was the "Come to Grief" record and it brought to my attention a rotten and disgusting world of DARK doom that some reviewers were calling sludge because it really didn't sound like Saint Vitus... I didn't look back for a looooooong time.
I began to look away in the early 2000's... Sludge began to be used for music I thought had no business being called "sludge". Sludge, to me, was always typified by Eyehategod, Grief and 13. It was a style broiled with rage and hate and churned out some of the sickest and most disturbing music of my youth and then... well, it just.. stopped...
The bands that started using the descriptor sounded different than I wanted them to. They sounded more like Explosions in the Sky then Noothgrush and they left behind the rage for an "indie rock" atmosphere, for lack of a better term. It just wasn't interesting to me. I wondered away from "Sludge"... drifting back occasionally hoping only to have my hopes dashed on the "post metal" rocks. It was a sad time for me, as far "sludge" is concerned. There were a few bands that got it but not many... which is why I was so excited to learn about Come to Grief.
Come to Grief is ex members of Grief with a couple of other guys jamming to make horrible noise again. I was excited! I thought that maybe they would create music that I would understand as "Sludge"... and they did!
This ep is a glorious return to form. The riffs are pounding and nasty roiling over the drums and rotted bass riffs. The music and lyrics are a montage of depression and horror. The vocals are roared out as if from a murderous killer is running at you. It is filled with pain, loss and rage and it is so cathartic and perfect... I have a hard time not listening to it... My wonderful "sludge" has reemerged and is as rotted and festered as ever.
The only complaint (and it is a minor complaint) is that this is just an ep! Its only four songs; all of which are spectacular! The whole ep will fly by in a heart beat, a terrible and beautiful harrowing heartbeat! I hope they go into the studio soon and give us a full length of this magnitude... This is another contender for record of the year!
I've just heard Iron Monkey are ready to release a new album and the first song is strong! A rotted, vicious breath of fresh air!
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Monday, August 14, 2017
Venom, Inc- Ave
Venom... Certainly a household name for many metalheads. Obviously innovators and polarizers. I mean, let's face it you either really like Venom or you think they're hacks- There is no inbetween. And, as far as Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon goes, that's exactly how it should be... Love it or fuck off and die.
I happen to be in the former camp. As a child Venom scared the fuck out of me. They came dressed in black leather and spikes surrounded by weapons fire and blood... and let's be honest that what scares us fascinates us.
As a young teenager, I ran across "Black Metal" and was instantly in love. It was loud, crude and violent sounding. It certainly made the hair metal I was so used to sound like Barbra Streisand... it was a revelation or a revolution, either way, I was hooked.
This hit me about the same time I dyed my hair green, shaved it into a mohawk and began listening to hard core. Yeah, my parents began questioning their child rearing techniques and there are NO photos of me from that time period... but I digress...
Needless to say Venom led me on a path to all sorts of horrid musical expressions (I count my love for sludgecore and black metal as their fault). And I have hardly deviated from that path. I was so glad to see them reactivate in 2000. I breathlessly waited for the record and was... disappointed. I have been disappointed ever since by the output of Cronos' Venom...Enter Abaddon and Mantas' Venom, Inc.
Apparently reforming with Demolition Man and basically recreating the Prime Evil formula, Venom, Inc comes to try to set blaze to the Venom name... but do they succeed?
I would say that they do... What they end up with is a slightly modern black/ speed metal formula. It sounds a lot like Venom meets Motorhead. Each track has that mid paced Venom atmosphere but supercharges it with a rock n roll feel that Venom couldn't always grasp. Every track is soaked in that atmosphere and cult-like menace that the other Venom hasn't had in a while. "Ave Satanas" rips into a mid paced rage that continues through most of the record. That fire burns through "Metal We Bleed" through "Blood Stained" into the really rocking "Preacher Man" and ending it all with the manifesto "Black n Roll". It batters you with razor sharp guitar riffs and pounding drums. Demolition Man sounds as menacing as ever and each line burns with an implicit threat. Every member of the band is in fine form actually with Mantas ripping out great riffs and Abaddon pounding some really tasteful rhythms... All in all a great record.
The only really issue is "Dein Flesch" which is just out of place. Its not a terrible song and I never skip over it but its too modern and is a glaring misstep in an otherwise spectacular record that will definitely be in my top ten list and may end up as my record of the year.
Go get this and I doubt you'll be disappointed.
Alright first new review in the can. New review will be up to tomorrow! Keep banging those heads!
I happen to be in the former camp. As a child Venom scared the fuck out of me. They came dressed in black leather and spikes surrounded by weapons fire and blood... and let's be honest that what scares us fascinates us.
As a young teenager, I ran across "Black Metal" and was instantly in love. It was loud, crude and violent sounding. It certainly made the hair metal I was so used to sound like Barbra Streisand... it was a revelation or a revolution, either way, I was hooked.
This hit me about the same time I dyed my hair green, shaved it into a mohawk and began listening to hard core. Yeah, my parents began questioning their child rearing techniques and there are NO photos of me from that time period... but I digress...
Needless to say Venom led me on a path to all sorts of horrid musical expressions (I count my love for sludgecore and black metal as their fault). And I have hardly deviated from that path. I was so glad to see them reactivate in 2000. I breathlessly waited for the record and was... disappointed. I have been disappointed ever since by the output of Cronos' Venom...Enter Abaddon and Mantas' Venom, Inc.
Apparently reforming with Demolition Man and basically recreating the Prime Evil formula, Venom, Inc comes to try to set blaze to the Venom name... but do they succeed?
I would say that they do... What they end up with is a slightly modern black/ speed metal formula. It sounds a lot like Venom meets Motorhead. Each track has that mid paced Venom atmosphere but supercharges it with a rock n roll feel that Venom couldn't always grasp. Every track is soaked in that atmosphere and cult-like menace that the other Venom hasn't had in a while. "Ave Satanas" rips into a mid paced rage that continues through most of the record. That fire burns through "Metal We Bleed" through "Blood Stained" into the really rocking "Preacher Man" and ending it all with the manifesto "Black n Roll". It batters you with razor sharp guitar riffs and pounding drums. Demolition Man sounds as menacing as ever and each line burns with an implicit threat. Every member of the band is in fine form actually with Mantas ripping out great riffs and Abaddon pounding some really tasteful rhythms... All in all a great record.
The only really issue is "Dein Flesch" which is just out of place. Its not a terrible song and I never skip over it but its too modern and is a glaring misstep in an otherwise spectacular record that will definitely be in my top ten list and may end up as my record of the year.
Go get this and I doubt you'll be disappointed.
Alright first new review in the can. New review will be up to tomorrow! Keep banging those heads!
Sunday, August 13, 2017
...And we're back... again!!!
So this has been a crazy and hectic 2 years... I've been running like a chicken with my head cutoff...
However, I have missed this blog and putting out my own view point on modern metal, so I am, yet again, back. I hope to sustain more than a month or two and my schedule is deliberately less hectic.
The focus of this blog will be the same... I will highlight more underground releases I want to bring to the foreground. Also I am going to review more popular releases both that I like and dislike on purpose to give an idea of what I like and don't.
Tomorrow I will do a new review every day for the week(Monday- Friday) and I hope to sustain that for a good long while.
If you have been following this blog, I really thank you... I like doing this and appreciate anyone who is interested in what I do and say. Thank you for reading!
Tomorrow we start with Venom, Inc. And move from there.
I hope you enjoy the blog and continue to read...
Hail metal and keep banging the head that doesn't bang!
However, I have missed this blog and putting out my own view point on modern metal, so I am, yet again, back. I hope to sustain more than a month or two and my schedule is deliberately less hectic.
The focus of this blog will be the same... I will highlight more underground releases I want to bring to the foreground. Also I am going to review more popular releases both that I like and dislike on purpose to give an idea of what I like and don't.
Tomorrow I will do a new review every day for the week(Monday- Friday) and I hope to sustain that for a good long while.
If you have been following this blog, I really thank you... I like doing this and appreciate anyone who is interested in what I do and say. Thank you for reading!
Tomorrow we start with Venom, Inc. And move from there.
I hope you enjoy the blog and continue to read...
Hail metal and keep banging the head that doesn't bang!
Friday, June 5, 2015
Acid Age- Drone Shark Ethics
Wow! Two posts in one day! Aren't you guys just so lucky? What can I say? I'm feeling productive today.
So the last three reviews (including this one) are catch up reviews for last year. I said that in the first one but did not mention it during the last one so i wanted to make that clear... because I like clarity... yeah...
Have I mentioned that I love thrash? Yes? What about my fondness for Witches Brew? Oh, okay... Well, than this review will come as no surprise to anyone...
My first impression after listening to this is, "What the hell did I just listen to?" I know that sounds negative but I mean that in the best way possible. There is something so over-the-top, so bizarrely ridiculous, so wonderfully gonzo about this thrash record that it can't help to put a smile on your face even as its shredding it...
Anyone who knows me or has read this blog knows my disdain for "party thrash". I personally prefer something a bit darker, heavier and, honestly, more evil sounding. There are, however, exceptions to every rule... Gama Bomb being the only one, really. But now there is a second! Acid Age!
From the start this album slows down maybe once in "F.T.P.L.(Fuck The Poor Legislation)". Its a rip ride through serial killers, female antichrists, drone sharks and robot archers(1000 of them, in fact) that keeps the speed on til the records ends in a tasteless(in the best way possible) cover of Elvis Presley's "Hound dog". Every second of this bizarro crossover masterpiece is full throttle and makes you want to get up and mosh something to death... a fellow metaller, a poser, a kitten... you know, whatever's in reach...
It splays through these 13 tracks never letting up, never letting anyone take a breath until, in a blink of an eye, its over and you're a little sad and thirsting for blood. You need to hear this to believe it. Its the fastest record I've ever heard and that's saying something. The only (very minor) quibble is that I feel some of the songs are a hair too long therefore killing some of the immediacy of the speed riffing. Still, past that its a rip ride of amazing thrash!
Highlights: Hyper Thrash, Drone Shark Ethics, Hound Dog
http://www.witchesbrewthrashes.eu/shop/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/witchesbrew.org/
So the last three reviews (including this one) are catch up reviews for last year. I said that in the first one but did not mention it during the last one so i wanted to make that clear... because I like clarity... yeah...
Have I mentioned that I love thrash? Yes? What about my fondness for Witches Brew? Oh, okay... Well, than this review will come as no surprise to anyone...
My first impression after listening to this is, "What the hell did I just listen to?" I know that sounds negative but I mean that in the best way possible. There is something so over-the-top, so bizarrely ridiculous, so wonderfully gonzo about this thrash record that it can't help to put a smile on your face even as its shredding it...
Anyone who knows me or has read this blog knows my disdain for "party thrash". I personally prefer something a bit darker, heavier and, honestly, more evil sounding. There are, however, exceptions to every rule... Gama Bomb being the only one, really. But now there is a second! Acid Age!
From the start this album slows down maybe once in "F.T.P.L.(Fuck The Poor Legislation)". Its a rip ride through serial killers, female antichrists, drone sharks and robot archers(1000 of them, in fact) that keeps the speed on til the records ends in a tasteless(in the best way possible) cover of Elvis Presley's "Hound dog". Every second of this bizarro crossover masterpiece is full throttle and makes you want to get up and mosh something to death... a fellow metaller, a poser, a kitten... you know, whatever's in reach...
It splays through these 13 tracks never letting up, never letting anyone take a breath until, in a blink of an eye, its over and you're a little sad and thirsting for blood. You need to hear this to believe it. Its the fastest record I've ever heard and that's saying something. The only (very minor) quibble is that I feel some of the songs are a hair too long therefore killing some of the immediacy of the speed riffing. Still, past that its a rip ride of amazing thrash!
Highlights: Hyper Thrash, Drone Shark Ethics, Hound Dog
http://www.witchesbrewthrashes.eu/shop/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/witchesbrew.org/
Pyoveli- Still Underground
Thrash!!! I love thrash! I've listened to Thrash since I was a young metaller in the late 1980's... Whoah! That's a bit of time. I have not stopped listening to thrash this whole time. No matter what you young'uns from 2008 onward seem to think. Thrash never went anywhere. It changed a little here and there. Took on some death here and some black there. A little power on the side. But it never actually disappeared. It just kept moving forward.
Another person who understands this is the brewmistress at Witches Brew, While we both agree that thrash never went anywhere we also agree that it has been largely ignored until just recently. She was so into it that she formed a label and started releasing fantastic thrash albums from the start. Just so you young'uns know, this is the label that gave you Toxic Holocaust, Gama Bomb and Deathhammer. Without her I doubt any of those bands would have rose in prominence. You should really check out the label if you call yourself a thrasher... really...
Another band that she has released several albums before is Pyoveli a Finnish speed/thrash beast. Like Gama Bomb and Deathhammer, I knew from the first sample I was going to love these guys... apparently in this case I was alone or close to it.
If you call yourself a self respecting thrasher you need to check out this album. The best way to describe this album is imagine Razor, Exciter and Iron Angel had a drunken and crazed child that somehow grew up in Finland... That's all you need to know... This is a fantastic violent, nuts, fast and turbulent thrash experience. This is what thrash should sound like. Too many of the more upper "underground" bands have no idea how to play thrash... This gets it... every time!
Highlights: Speed Metal Attack, Rebel Racer and Heavy Thrasher... but this whole record is spectacular from start to finish...
http://www.witchesbrewthrashes.eu/shop/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/witchesbrew.org/
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Warhorde- Kiss The Goat
Yo! Four written pieces in as many days?!?! What the hell is wrong with me?!?! I don't know but I... MUST... REVIEW...
The next couple of releases are from last year but they are really great records and I want to make sure they get heard... So, without further adieu, HERE WE GO!
Warhorde gained a special place in my heart after their first album. Their jagged rough and tumble style was just what the doctor ordered at the time. I reveled in the fluid combo of black/death/thrash metal. It was a great and terrible mess of razor edged violence. Death Rattle came next and upped the ante by smoothing out some of the rough edges in songwriting but added a desperate punk nihilism to the whole thing.
How does "Kiss the Goat" measure up? Do they go dubstep? No and Hell No!!! This mess of drunken violence is dripping with all the threat of a obviously mentally ill homeless person following you down the street on a cold, dark night. You never know what's going to happen next but your sure it can't end well. This bum has a broken bottle of Jack and a spiked maul and hates you for... well, being.
This record tears off your face and laughs as you try to pick the remaining flesh off the ground. It drunkenly laughs as you beg for mercy. It hits you again and again, never enough to end the pain but just enough to make you want more.
Normally I would go into highlights, but there are only seven songs listed on the sleeve. There are 13 tracks on the record. It is a glorious ride through nasty black metal, rough and tumble speed/thrash and pissed as hell punk rock. Enjoy!
http://www.witchesbrewthrashes.eu/shop/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/barbarianwrath/
The next couple of releases are from last year but they are really great records and I want to make sure they get heard... So, without further adieu, HERE WE GO!
Warhorde gained a special place in my heart after their first album. Their jagged rough and tumble style was just what the doctor ordered at the time. I reveled in the fluid combo of black/death/thrash metal. It was a great and terrible mess of razor edged violence. Death Rattle came next and upped the ante by smoothing out some of the rough edges in songwriting but added a desperate punk nihilism to the whole thing.
How does "Kiss the Goat" measure up? Do they go dubstep? No and Hell No!!! This mess of drunken violence is dripping with all the threat of a obviously mentally ill homeless person following you down the street on a cold, dark night. You never know what's going to happen next but your sure it can't end well. This bum has a broken bottle of Jack and a spiked maul and hates you for... well, being.
This record tears off your face and laughs as you try to pick the remaining flesh off the ground. It drunkenly laughs as you beg for mercy. It hits you again and again, never enough to end the pain but just enough to make you want more.
Normally I would go into highlights, but there are only seven songs listed on the sleeve. There are 13 tracks on the record. It is a glorious ride through nasty black metal, rough and tumble speed/thrash and pissed as hell punk rock. Enjoy!
http://www.witchesbrewthrashes.eu/shop/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/barbarianwrath/
Monday, June 1, 2015
Deathhammer- Evil Power
Sometimes a band "progresses" and all that that really means is they start to suck. Did I say sometimes? I meant 99% of the time. Its really hard to keep that fire in your belly as you "mature" or "grow up" but its so important to hold onto for metal that it can ruin later albums if you lose it. Almost every time you hear a band talk about "progression", that means they've lost it. They've become "better than metal". As far as I'm concerned those bands can go die in a fire.
Once in a while a band quietly progresses their sound and still holds on to that thing that made the earlier albums so special. When you find a band that can do both... Well, you've got something special! You need to hold onto those bands tightly, for they are the actual future of our metal music.
And so we come to Deathhammer. If any of you remember this blog from a few years ago, you might remember the glowing review I gave these guys. In fact, They made it to the end of the year list that year. So here we are again. Time to thrash my brains!
The first thing to notice about this album is the introduction of more melody to the formula. Some of the melody reminds me of golden age Judas Priest or mid period Accept. The melody adds more to the formula helping Deathhammer stand on their own two feet even more than they did before. Allowing them to progress their sound. Now I know... The next question is, "Does it suck?"
MOST ASSUREDLY NOT! They have kept their speed at fever pitch. They sound ready to burn the world with a lopsided grin. From "Warriors of Evil" to "Omen of the Beast", They sound like the heralds of the Apocalypse, come to bring the fall of man, the four horsemen and the fire at the end. The end has come... FOR YOU!
This album allows additions to an amazing formula only to make it stronger and more ferocious! Ladies and gentlemen, Deathhammer has caught lightning in a bottle and they know how to distill it into violent metal madness... And we are all the luckier to have them in our genre!
HIghlights: Total Metal, Satan's Back, Omen of the Beast
Once in a while a band quietly progresses their sound and still holds on to that thing that made the earlier albums so special. When you find a band that can do both... Well, you've got something special! You need to hold onto those bands tightly, for they are the actual future of our metal music.
And so we come to Deathhammer. If any of you remember this blog from a few years ago, you might remember the glowing review I gave these guys. In fact, They made it to the end of the year list that year. So here we are again. Time to thrash my brains!
The first thing to notice about this album is the introduction of more melody to the formula. Some of the melody reminds me of golden age Judas Priest or mid period Accept. The melody adds more to the formula helping Deathhammer stand on their own two feet even more than they did before. Allowing them to progress their sound. Now I know... The next question is, "Does it suck?"
MOST ASSUREDLY NOT! They have kept their speed at fever pitch. They sound ready to burn the world with a lopsided grin. From "Warriors of Evil" to "Omen of the Beast", They sound like the heralds of the Apocalypse, come to bring the fall of man, the four horsemen and the fire at the end. The end has come... FOR YOU!
This album allows additions to an amazing formula only to make it stronger and more ferocious! Ladies and gentlemen, Deathhammer has caught lightning in a bottle and they know how to distill it into violent metal madness... And we are all the luckier to have them in our genre!
HIghlights: Total Metal, Satan's Back, Omen of the Beast
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