Category: Reviews

Disfiguring The Goddess – Sleeper

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.17, 2012

Disfiguring The Goddess

Sleeper

01. Sleeper
02. Queen Kingdom
03. Daughter of Depths
04. Lady Epicenter
05. Vines of Aftermath
06. Mountain
07. Ocean Tomb

[04/24/12]
[Self Released]

Slamming brutal death metal is probably the most hit or miss genre that one can come across in the realm of extreme music. Like deathcore pitch shifted down a handful of steps, the sonic experience of the genre is the aural equivalent of being hit in the side of the head with a hammer. The music is quite esoteric in general and it is certainly not for everyone, as the genre pushes the boundaries for how brutal death metal can ultimately go. The genre’s trademark gutteral vocal style and affinity for breakdowns leaves the door wide open for a lot of truly vapid music to come staggering through, as we’ve seen with the embarrassing Waking the Cadaver. However, there are artists out there who can swing low and still write memorable songs; when I first heard Abominable Putridity earlier this year, I thought they were as ridiculously catchy as slam could get. That is, until I heard Disfiguring the Goddess‘ latest offering, Sleeper.

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Tags: Abominable Putridity, big chocolate, cameron argon, Disfiguring The Goddess, Waking The Cadaver

Make Me Famous – It’s Now or Never

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.16, 2012

Make Me Famous

It’s Now Or Never

01. Blind Date 101
02. Make It Precious
03. It’s Now Or Never
04. Inception
05. This Song Is Blacker Than Black Metal
06. We Know It’s Real
07. In The Shadows Of You
08. Once You Killed a Cow, You Gotta Make a Burger
09. Stage On Fire
10. She Haunted Me
11. Ifyuocnaraedtihsmkaemeasnadwich
12. I Am a Traitor
13. Earth
14. Quit Sleeping! It’s Nothing But a Waste of Time

[03/27/12]
[Sumerian Records]

Sumerian Records are notorious for their attack-on-two-fronts line-up appealing to both the forward thinking and progressive crowd (The Tigris Roster) as well as Hot Topic scenesters and younger folk (The Euphrates Roster). This typically means that a Sumerian band is either incredibly popular or well received. There are cases where a band sits on the fence nicely but the contrast between the two factions — say The Faceless and Asking Alexandria, as an example — is staggering.

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Tags: above92, Asking Alexandria, It's Now or Never, katy perry, Make Me Famous, Protest the Hero, Sumerian Records, Sumeriancore, The Faceless, woe is me

Breakfast At Sulimay’s Review Goatwhore’s ‘Parasitic Scriptures Of The Sacred Word‘

Filed Under: lolwut, Reviews, Video

Apr.16, 2012

Skip to 4 minutes in for the section on Goatwhore.

Breakfast At Sulimay’s is, by far, one of my favourite music review series on the internet, containing real people giving real opinions on real music — which is obviously just the nice way of saying ‘they play intentionally obtuse music to the older generation, just to film the reaction’. So, it’s not really surprising that extreme metal has reared it’s ugly head a fair few times, with the cast taking on tunes from Harvey Milk, Marduk and even The Black Dahlia Murder. But it’s the most recent effort from blackened death metallers Goatwhore that gets the latest Sulimay treatment with some interesting results, making my review a moot point. I’ve included all the aforementioned episodes after the jump.

[-via Exalted Necrosis from Shreddit]

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Tags: Blood For The Master, Breakfast At Sulimay's, Goatwhore, Harvey Milk, Marduk, The Black Dahlia Murder

Skyharbor – Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.13, 2012

Skyharbor

Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos

Illusion

01. Dots
02. Order 66
03. Catharsis
04. Night
05. Aurora
06. Celestial
07. Maeva

Chaos

08. Trayus
09. Aphasia
10. Insurrection

[04/24/12]
[Basick Records]

Metal is and always has been a global community. No other genre of music is as encompassing as it is, and no other type of music has such a devoted following. Festivals like Download, Rock In Rio, and Sonisphere highlight this ideal by bringing metal acts from all over the world to perform on their stages in front of crowds that can exceed 100,000 people. There is just one problem; there appears to be less of a concentration of metal as far east as China, Japan, Indonesia, etc. You have Acrassicauda from Iraq, a fairly healthy scene in Australia, and even Ulcerate from New Zealand, but in between those places there has always been a large gap not filled by many bands.

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Tags: Acrassicauda, Amogh Symphony, Animals As Leaders, Basick Records, Cloudkicker, Daniel Tompkins, djent, Hydrodjent, marty friedman, Megadeth, Skyharbor, TesseracT, Ulcerate

Meshuggah, Animals As Leaders and We Are Knuckledragger – April 12th, 2012 @ O2 Academy, Bristol, UK

Filed Under: Live, Reviews

Apr.13, 2012

Bristol has to be one of my favourite places in the UK — a bastion of civilisation in the otherwise barren South West of England. So while you may need to keep an eye on your keys and your kidneys in certain parts of the city, most importantly it’s normally the home of any worthwhile metal gig that dares to venture beyond the standard English tour circuit of London, Manchester and Nottingham. The O2 Academy, for instance, has recently played host to a whole selection of great gigs including Mastodon, Opeth, Cannibal Corpse and now even everybody’s favourite tech-chug merchants Meshuggah. And for good reason. The entire venue is a Tardis style surprise, tucked neatly away into the back streets of the city center — complete with all the mod-cons that seem to have eluded some larger venues including a fully functioning air condition system(!?). Good to know those ridiculous drink prices are being put to good use!

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Tags: Animals As Leaders, Cannibal Corpse, Harvey Milk, Helmet, Mastodon, Meshuggah, Opeth, Rod Stewart, We Are Knuckledragger, ZZ Top

Elysian – Wires of Creation

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.12, 2012

Elysian

Wires of Creation

01. Mans Design
02. Sigma
03. The Climb From Fear
04. Eternal Breath
05. Sense Offender
06. The Gate
07. Play The Hand
08. Calming The Storm
09. Conquest
10. Machine
11. A Cry From The Helpless

[03/26/12]
[Self-released]

I had a really hard time trying to figure out how to write this review. I have so much to say about this Australian melo-death quintet, so let me get a few things out of the way. First off, Wires of Creation is amazing. I urge you to listen to it regardless of what kind of metal you are into. I’m sure even the most close minded Metallica fan will find some redeeming qualities here. Secondly, if you are going through anything in your life that involves emotion whether it be anger, depression or just plain ol’ euphoria, I implore you to let this album take hold of you and feel it. This album is more emotive and atmospheric than one would guess and despite this, it even remains heavier then its contemporaries. It is a majestic beast of an album; something you can befriend and something to scare the monsters away much like the tangible heroes of your childhood. This album is alive and you can feel it. It transcends the organic production and progressive song structure and instead opts to breathe and live on its own merits.

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Tags: Elysian, Lamb of God, Metallica, Pallbearer, Randy blythe

High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.11, 2012

High On Fire

De Vermis Mysteriis

01. Serums Of Liao
02. Bloody Knuckle
03. Fertile Green
04. Madness Of An Architect
05. Samsara
06. Spiritual Rites
07. King Of Days
08. De Vermis Mysteriis
09. Romulus And Remus
10. Warhorn

[04/03/12]
[eOne Music]

I swear, by Matt Pike’s sweaty shirtless body, that High On Fire get better with every album. Whilst there’s nothing that glaringly new about their sound, you’d be hard pushed to argue that it wasn’t at least distinct and over the course of six studio albums the band has refined their mix of high octane riffs, pummeling percussion and Motorhead sensibilities to a sharpened point. De Vermis Mysteriis sees the band attempting to top their incredibly well received Snakes For The Divine with a concept album about Jesus’ time travelling twin brother Liao who goes on to to learn about the destructive influence his brother had on mankind before jumping off the deep end and getting involved in witch burning and baby sacrifice. Yeah.

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Tags: Black Sabbath, Black Tusk, Converge, De Vermis Mysteriis, death is this communion, e1 records, High On Fire, Kurt Ballou, Mastodon, matt pike, Motorhead, Serums Of Liao, Sleep, snakes for the divine, Warhorn

The Safety Fire – Grind The Ocean

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.10, 2012

The Safety Fire

Grind The Ocean

01. Huge Hammers
02. Floods of Colour
03. DMP (FDP)
04. Anomolous Materials
05. Animal King
06. Circassian Beauties
07. Sections
08. Seagraves
09. Grind The Ocean

[04/10/12]
[InsideOut]

When I first heard London’s The Safety Fire, I was completely blown away. Of course, I’m talking about the opener of the album, ‘Huge Hammers’. It’s a very unique and memorable song that is quite technical and overall awesome — but let me take a step back; The Safety Fire perform what I’d call technical/progressive alternative metal. They sound like a mixture of Sikth and Mudvayne and Tides of Man, but with a lot more technicality and jazz influences thrown in. Grind The Ocean is their debut album; a flurry of mind-bending riffs, enchanting vocals and memorable licks. But the main question is: Does it all come together?

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Tags: Grind The Ocean, Mudvayne, Sikth, The Safety Fire

16 – Deep Cuts From Dark Clouds

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.09, 2012

16 Deep Cuts From Dark Clouds

01. Theme From ‘Pillpopper’
02. Parasite
03. Her Little ‘Accident’
04. The Sad Clown
05. Ants In My Bloodstream
06. Broom Pusher
07. Opium Hook
08. Bowels Of A Baby Killer
09. Beyond Fixable
10. Only Photographs Remain

[04/24/12]
[Relapse Records]

When I was much younger, I had a friend who was a little bit ‘off’ — a genuinely nice guy through and through, but over the short time I knew him, he provided some of the more memorable and repressed parts of my childhood. One day, upon receiving a pen knife and his first round of responsibility, he turned to me with a wry grin and said:

‘Hey, do you wanna see something cool?‘

With no hesitation at all, he proceeded to dig the knife into his skin and carve out a wart that had chosen to adorn itself on his forearm. To be entirely fair, it was a pretty precise job considering how dull the blade was but the whole time I had my eyes fixated on the gruesome display out of some weird morbid curiosity. I’m not that squeamish, but a few moments later he held up his grisly flesh trophy and waves of nausea ran through my gut. Deep Cuts From Dark Clouds takes me back directly to that moment, dredging up that exact uneasy feeling I got from watching his gleeful self-mutilation.

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Tags: 16, Acid Bath, Alice In Chains, Big Business, Cavity, Deep Cuts From Dark Clouds, Eyehategod, Relapse Records

Emmure – Slave to the Game

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.06, 2012

Emmure

Slave to the Game

01. Insert Coin
02. Protoman
03. She Gave Her Heart To Deadpool
04. I Am Onslaught
05. Bison Diaries
06. Poltergeist
07. Cross Over Attack
08. Umar Dumps Dormammu
09. Blackheart Reigns
10. MDMA
11. War Begins With You
12. A.I.

[04/10/12]
[Victory Records]

At this point in Emmure‘s career (and our ‘career’ as bloggers), reviewing an Emmure record is more or less just an exercise in patience and finding as many ways as possible to eloquently express our distaste. Morbid curiosity got the better of me, I suppose. As progressive metal fans, we go into a record like Slave to the Game with tongue firmly in cheek and expecting to despise every second. While this isn’t entirely untrue (some people will hate Emmure no matter what they do, and with valid reason), when compared to Emmure’s previous work, Slave to the Game is relatively inoffensive. Say it ain’t so!

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Tags: Emmure, Last Chance To Reason, Meshuggah, Slave To The Game, Victory Records