Metalhead Chronicles

Th End

2010-09-10T16:47:00.002+05:30

Everything that has a beginning comes with an end, and so does Metalhead Chronicles. Being a critic is not a hard job, its quite easy to shit-talk about someone else's creative work, and I've not been enjoying doing that of late.

Thank you for buying my opinions till the last review. And now dont ever come back looking for anymore here.

Good Bye and Good fucking luck.

Funerus - Festering Earth

2010-07-06T00:23:00.003+05:30

For starters Funerus is an old-school death metal hailing from the early nineties that flaunts some pretty wicked connections. 'The' Guitarist John McEntee hails from Incantation, while Kyle Severn handled the drums for Vital Remains and Acheron. Before you even start thinking that Funerus sounds close to the above bands, you better stop 'cause Funerus is very unlikely to beat away at the same frequency as Incantation or Remains. Playing a very mid-paced variation of death metal that trudges through your ear like bowel movements in your innards, Funerus play on-your-face no-nonsense death metal that melts your senses away with its gravelly bass lines and plucky, clearcut death metal riffs.

In fact the bass in Festering Earth, their only album till date in their 20 years of existence, mildly reminds you off the gargantuan bass sound of Rottrevore. The difference being in Festering Earth the bass sounds as though its sludging through the wayside waters of your neighborhood drain. Songs are structured in a way that the music seamlessly drifts from mid-tempo to high-tempo, walloping through the album showing their command over the music. All without getting too caustic. And credit for that must go to the drummer who pounds on the kit like a warlord waiting to slay lives to quench his blood thirst, without getting too flashy.

As you further proceed along the the album, the doom influences become all too clear when Stagnant Seas or Web of Deceit plays on the list, where the guitarist plays heavily influenced dense doomy riffs that kind of reverberates reminding you of Asphxy style playing as heard in Rack. Now if you are expecting any kind of rapidfire solos to tears your guts apart, then you would be severely mistaken to expect so, 'cause Funerus really masters in playing no-bullshitting groovy death metal without giving a damn to any of the technical wankeries. With most clocking over two and a half minutes, some of them ending rather abruptly, Festering Earth makes an interesting earth where you don't get a single chance to catch your breath.

Production is great in an album like Festering Earth striking the right chord by staying right in between. Higher quality would have killed all the delicate intricacies involved in those riff patterns or bass lines making it too pronounced. Going to the lower end would have make it come off like Rottrevore's Iniquitous whose production is nowhere near good. Festering Earth clearly shows that Funerus is, as I have rightly read somewhere is a clear paradigm of old school death metal: Deep muddy sound that permanently resides in your guts.

Deist - Demo

2010-06-14T00:59:00.004+05:30

Good lord its raining quality death metal on me for quite some time now! And I'm surely banging my head as Satan himself does in hell. Quite to my fortune this time it's Chicago based outfit Deist whose explosive demo has once again set my balls on fire with fiery brand of death metal and I certainly won't be sedated till I get my hands on their full length(Thinking about it now, its very unfortunate for me to satisfy myself with just two of their songs). Best part about their demo is that it's free. Yes, you read it right you hypocrite! It's free!

Quality over quantity seems to be their mindset. And I must add I've never seen anyone master this term more perfectly than the guys from Deist. With just two songs, clocking over 11 minutes from their demo, Deist have shown what they're capable of. At first hear, the unstoppable blasting amidst those mammoth riffs almost make them appear as Incantation worship band. But hang on, these guys aren't that shameless. They have their own tricks and the solo at 2.47 in Lost Aspiration almost forces you to die out of the orgasmic pleasure it gives. The demo showcases every ounce of their talent that hooks you up to a wild ecstasy that you only derive from when the dissonance of Immolation rhythm pattern meets otherwordly-kind-of dense bass sounds of Demilich and Gorguts.

Right now there's a resurgence of old school styled death metal as heard from Sinister, Vore, Excoriate, Revolting and Dead Congregation. And this is only a good thing, 'cause there has been enough of mass technical wankery of death metal for quite some time. Listening to the demo is like opening the floodgates of hell. And just like how the floodwaters gushes out strikingly in a cohesive flow, brutality and melody chart out their path hand in hand in the songs. Bloody good song structure is what I mean to say. Check out the demo and don't be surprised if you find the Grim Reaper himself headbanging beside you.

Hail The Resurgence!

This is Deist

Video: Abandoned Agony - Deformed

2010-06-13T16:29:00.004+05:30

That Abandoned Agony 'terrorize, brutalize and sodomize' their audience in their high octane live shows is a fact that every Bangalore metalhead will give a nod to with their horns raised high up in the air. They've already replicated that energy on their demo 'Infected Unborn' even though I still prefer their live performance over studio acts. And now these guys are out with their first video of their song - Deformed.

Treated in a very noir-esque way, the video is very much in the likes of Cannibal Corpse video were the protaganist is always portrayed with immense distress while the antagonist is curiously missing from the scene. The acting of their former guitarist Kiran is quite funny to be honest. But then hats off to the guys for coming out with a true death metal video in the domestic metal scene.

Life is One Big Chasm

2010-06-12T23:14:00.003+05:30

Hamano always had big words for Chasm. He almost seemed hysterical. Words of wild adulation flew out of his mouth as though he was possessed by an entity of another kind. I now envy that bastard for taking their first interview in over 5 years. Deathcult For Eternity : The Triumph. The album has finally showed me why Chasm turns your life upside down and changes your view on 'quality death metal acts'

There's no looking back for me now, I've already fallen into the Chasm.

Disma - The Vault Of Membros

2010-06-11T00:47:00.002+05:30

For starters, Disma is the new project of Incantation and Funebrarum members. Yes, you read that right. Incantation and Funebrarum. Is the music nastily heavy as fuck? Hell yeah! When Craig Pillard, Daryl Kahan and Shawn Eldridge come together to make music after finishing crates of beer, they dont make nonsense. They churn out some crushing, straightforward old school laced death metal to show that these guys are still the front-runners of the burgeoning death metal scenes and not followers.

The Vault of Membros is their first demo release and you certainly won't be satisfied by listening to just three songs on the demo. Cleverly combining Funebrarum styled structures with Incantation's all out energy, Disma makes a strong impact in just 16 minutes of its listing. Disma's music is mostly melodic leadlines riding upon American styled frantic(which sometime tends to get too hasty) rhythm riffage, which makes the album an interesting hear. At time's the music sounds quite dense like in doom metal which suddenly caves in to rapid death metal blasting, as heard in Vault of Membros. Vocals is an interesting mix of Craig Pillard's low guttural with black metal styled background growl.

However this shouldn't allow you to mistake the band as a blackened death outfit 'cause these guys draw a clear line between black metal and death metal. Sometimes the song repeats excessively before moving on, and thats's minor glitch in the demo. Clocking them below 4 minutes instead of long 6 minutes, could've helped them sort this out. Nevertheless the demo pretty much shows Disma are a force to reckon with in the new uprising of OSDM and you sure can expect a hell lot of more skull-crushing beats from these guys in the future. Till then Vault of Membros awaits your honour.

Infected - Crawlspace

2010-06-10T01:23:00.002+05:30

Yes, it sure is a mad world out there. Endless wars are being fought and endless lives are being lost, all without a greater reason. But then most of these people are victims of forces beyond their control. However the guys who chose to make music on these issues are not. Expressing all these thoughts in a unusual mix of industrial and death metal, Crawlspace is Aussie act Infected's remastered release of their second offering by the same name.

The hybrid of industrial and death elements in Crawlspace is unusual to a large extent. Mostly because the songwriting is not strong enough to incorporate industrial elements to a death metal structure. Also missing is the lack of direction in the album which is clearly evident when one notes the oddly timed tempo changes and cameo-role of guitar solos which come out of nowhere and leave without a trace as in tracks like Truthkill, Assimilate and Never. But as one proceeds in the album, one thing becomes clear Infected are pretty much in the vein of Fear Factory. Except the guys in Infected have a knack of playing at a milder pace than their well known counterparts.

First half of the album is played in a morbid style of death metal where the guitarist Mathew Jefferson belts out riff as though they're coming out of a maze without any sense of purpose and direction, aimlessly colliding with an equally raw sounding basslines from John Campbell. The keyboards and the clean vocals are definitely out of the place in the album which once again gives the feeling as though the whole purpose of the album;s existence seem out of place. Industrial element comes in the latter half of the album in Assimilate and Never and its very much like early Fear Factory. Needless to say the tracks are mostly listenable in their beginning until they complicate things by making things more technical and complex.

Lyrics are truly a strong point of the album and they almost have a poetic feel to it - 'Watch the honey drip from their tongues/It will turn to shit once they've won'. In fact the high sense of despair that carries along with the lyrics almost give it a very Kafkaesque edge to it. Sadly the music wasn't strong enough to guide in that direction and Infected have truly made a glorious asshole of themselves in the album. Approach it at your own risk.

Vishal J.Singh's Insight To Quantun Hack Code's Final Narration

2010-06-08T03:25:00.004+05:30

Bowing down to the chain of karma, Vishal J.Singh's gives a thought provoking insight to the concept of his next production 'Quantum Hack Code'. Living is not a futile effort where death is perceived as a final destination of its journey. Instead its a part of an already existing cosmic chain on a larger scale, where every action has a grander meaning. His music has never failed in delivering the just meaning of its composition as heard in his previous album. And I'm certainly sure he'll pretty much nail it in QHC too. Here is what he says

'There is a difference between the Sunrise and the Sunset. The one who loves the Sunrise knows there is a new mission everyday. The responsibilities aren't over yet. And the one who loves the Sunset knows that the end is near. The responsibilities are over and the Master is waiting to welcome you to another memory i.e Post-Life. As a living being, we call it "Salvation". :)'

As someone rightly said, he's a living genius. He shouldn't live any longer!

Aeon - Path of Fire

2010-06-01T15:45:00.002+05:30

For the last couple of weeks I had delved in so deep into Defeated Sanity and Masachist and grind, that I had totally forgotten that some of the greatest exponents of death metal practice their craft miles away in the icy lands of Sweden. And right now I'm speaking about Aeon's new album Path of Fire, that once again reminds you why Swedes are one of the megaliths of death metal foundry. Sure these guys have always walked on the anti-religious path like their Norwegian counterparts do in their thriving black metal scene. But its their aggressive arrangements and impressive changes it has employed in those structures that makes me raise my horns to their music.

Aeon knows to keep things interesting and in Path of Fire they clever set in changes in the whole atmosphere of listening to them by employing wide arrays of Nil's drumming techniques or Dahlstom's clever shifting from high pitched to low pitched growls and vice versa. Guitars used in the album tend to be tilting little bit on the melodic side with the riffs and the leads mildly reminding of NWOBHM bands. But its the devastating combination of Nil's ravenous blastbeats and piercing riffs that gives the album its punch. Sure there're a lot of lead guitar lines used sporadically in the album, but before you get used to them the band directs their music in a whole new direction. And this works greatly with me goes music needs to progress to new paths and not stagnate in the same old one.

Yes the Swedes do play some awesome death metal music, but these particular bunch of Swedes seems to be held in the awe of Vital Remains and Deicide, which becomes pretty evident by the time you cross over to the second half of the album where the fully charged assault on the instruments remind of the brutal music of Vital Remains and the likes. I think thats here the Finns stand out in their music, the Finnish death metal is unlike anything you have heard before. But the same cant be said for Aeon's sound. Nevertheless the brutality of their music manages to rub on you when tracks like Forgiveness Denied and Total Kristus Invertus take the seat. The trademark Aeon features of high velocity death metal with technically proficient arrangements are characterized in tracks like Suffer The Soul and Liar In The Name Of God.

The lyrical content as I said earlier is anti-religious but it comes as a surprise to me considering vocalist Dahlstom is a member of Jehovah's Witness. And though Dahlstom's delivery could have been more intense, the album never disappoints in the spirit of its conception as the guys have charged head on against the topic rather than playing along with it. Production of the album is the best considering Erik Rutan handled it. Overall Path of Fire is a slab of solid blasphemous death metal that punches your stomach with a pack of brutality and intensity. Expect more from Swedes in the future, till then rise on your Path of Fire.

Defeated Sanity - Chapters of Repugnance

2010-05-31T16:16:00.002+05:30

You dont speak. Not a single word. No utterance whatsoever. Not squeals or grunts or any such thing. You just listen. Silently. With patience. In awe. In amazement. You're held at the mercy of the creator's power. You dont move. You just follow. diligently. With reason and accordance.Without stopping for a pause. Yes, at times you ask yourself 'Why is this happening'? 'Is this reality?' or 'Have I stepped back in time?' And then when you're trying to search for the answer, only two words flashes through your mind - 'Defeated Sanity'. Irony.

Only once in this whole lifetime (from Big Bang till now), a Blue moon has been witnessed.Literally. Only once in this lifetime a more-than-classic death metal album gets released. Chapters of Repugnance. With a supertight song structure where every element falls into place like domino effect, it gives you the feeling as though you're re-living the classic death metal era when albums like 'And Time Begins' or 'Upon The Throne of Apocalypse' ruled the roost. But then you listen closer, and soon you notice the elements that make it more than classic. The hooks, the speed, unaccounted tempo shifts and the gravity of its complexity finally makes you realize the band has come full circle in Chapters of Repugnance. Intense.

Brutality in the album is unmatched by no other album as evident in tracks like 'Calculated Barbarity' and 'Lurid Assimilation' where all the right riffs and right drum patterns assimilate together in a perfect showcase of their brutality. Zenith of their capability. Needless to say the fusion drums are used once again by Lille Grubber and this time it sounds better than it did in Psalms or Prelude. Ex-Disgorge vox AJ Magana does the perfect vocals, shrouding the album in his guttural wails that adds up greatly to the instruments. The band have however not gone overboard with their inimitable style of technicality. And that has been an intelligent choice considering the brutal patterns in the structures are best heard without much of the technical wankery.

In all 'Chapters of Repugnance' is the only album that can safely and proudly claim the moniker 'Most brutal release' it displays on it cover. And not just that. Keeping in mind about every single element that counts in calling an album 'Death Metal', Defeated Sanity have made a magnum opus of death metal music in Chapters of Repugnance. Keeping in mind about the very fundamental essence of death metal, Defeated Sanity have set the bar high for other bands to follow. However I don't expect that to be broken in quite a long time. Like I said before, such things don't occur often, it happens once in a blue moon. And the next blue moon is pretty far away in the future, till then you have Chapters of Repugnance.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse

2010-05-28T15:45:00.003+05:30

Every dog has its day. With Agorapocalypse, Agoraphobic Nosebleed have finally made their presence felt with their ear-grabbing, arm ripping and putrefying style of grind which they were till now unable to reciprocate in Altered States of America and Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope. I say shit happens listening to their old stuff, cause Scott Hull and Co. have made a such a remarkable turnaround in the album that, Agoraphobic Nosebleed can now be rightfully termed 'an established act' in grindcore.

Forget their older 'fuck me for a dime' kinda styled songs that hardly reaches out to you other than giving you timely doses of programmed blastbeats and cave man styled noise rambling. Agorapocalypse has gone high up in my views of respect by incorporating thrash styled riffs and an additional vocals that lends a new dissonant sound to the album. Even more impressing is the point that the album is overtly simple and yet it crushes you under its sonical weight, over empowering your senses and assaulting you senses out and out under its notes. Scott Hull once again shows his knack for playing killer riffs and all this adds up perfectly with Randall's deranged shrieks while newbie Katz provides unnerving shrieks from a different angle. The vocals match up with each other in such an amazing manner that you cant help but feel agoraphobic listening to the album.

More than all this its the drumming that totally shook me down to the very bottom of my soul. Mind numbing drumbeats that keep on pounding on and on, play an a very effective role in a lending a new sound to the album. But it needs to be noted here that the drums are not programmed to play at lightning fast speeds anymore. Its more layered and less mindless thrashing is approached in Agorapocalypse, giving it more space to breathe. The programmed drumming in the album is smart, with clever breakdowns and blastbeats employed amidst various tempo changes through put the album.Songs are wonderfully structured as the musical elements do not repeat at all.And this is the best litmus test a band can take to prove whether they are playing good music or not. Needless to say the guys in Agoraphobic pass this one with an ace.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed have finally come of their age in this album. Forget the past, start the future with a new beginning seems to be the option they are pursuing at the moment and I totally agree with that after listening to this. And its not just the music that reflects this thought but also the album cover which has cleverly designed to depict a man dying of agoraphobia. Total madness is assured listening to this album. Long Live the new Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Hail grindcore.

Masachist - Death March Fury

2010-05-12T12:22:00.003+05:30

With the amount of filth piling up my neck, not every tom, dick and harry in a metal band that employs distorted guitars with blastbeats and deep growls call their music death metal. The music needs to portray the meaning behind its conception and hence its consequential existence amidst so many other albums floating in the market. Death March Fury is the debut album of Polish band, supergroup in reality - Masachist. Why supergroup? Well if Pig( ex- Decapitated), Daray( ex- Vader, Vesania and Dimmu Borgir), Thrufel(ex Azarath), Heinrich(Vesania) and Aro(Shadows Land, I've never heard this particular act though) play together, you call it a supergroup you miserable penishead. Just by the virtue of being supergroup, metalheads expect some ass-ripping music from them. Such is not the case when you listen to Contraband and Damnocracy, when you realize why their music classifies them so well to be called as faggots.

However, fear not! Masachist are no cum-shitting, ball sucking faggots. They play metal. Death Metal. Good. Real good. Death March Fury is a solid death metal album where Sauron and Co. unleash their fury over seminal themes of apocalypse, rage and death. Masachist furiously pounds your senses for a good 26 minutes like a closed, tightly packed tank division decimating its enemies through and out. With meaty riffs and blastbeats aplenty, Masachist cleverly succeeds in providing a musical portrait for death,fury and apocalypse. Brutality quotient is unquestionable in the album as the nonstop blastbeats amidst the abrupt halts ,during which slower, heavier riffs take overs the furious mood of the album to explode your sickening skull to bits.

The vocals are more on the raspy side of the death metal nature rather than stressing on the growls, which would have without a doubt sounded better. However having said that I must say I liked the vocals considering that it was done by none other than the legendary - Pig. Songs are superbly structured without bothering over complexity or long structures. And with that you are never allowed notice any mis-match of musical elements in any tracks. And there's no question in doubting their technical capabilities in handling the instruments. Stick to the point, on your face seems to be the approach the members took in Death March Fury. A very effective one too without a doubt.

Having come till here, I have nothing to complain about this album. A good mashup of god old Malevolent Creation, Deicide style death meta and European metal, Masachist have done well in their debut. Without any overt usage of production skills, the albums sounds just fine. Moreover when you look at the lineup, you expect them to deliver. And they have delivered in Death March Fury. Listen to it or you're truly a well deserved dickhead.

Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb

2010-04-18T00:15:00.005+05:30

Pig Destroyer! The name needs no introduction. Those familiar to it either swear by it or swear against it. Thats the kind of extreme response they get. And going by their music all I can say is that I pity the guy who swears against it. With such abundance of overflowing talent, the band always does justice to their skills in all their albums. And Phantom Limb is no such exception when it comes to that critical fact. Even greater is the fact that Pig Destroyer play superbly structured songs that can give most of the other grindcore bands a run for their balls.

The musical approach of the band in Phantom Limb is highly commendable as its a smart mix of their head smashing, progressive sounds in Prowler in the Yard and the equally fierce, niche sound in the Terrifyer. The subtlety of the brute force of their music is simply awe inspiring rather and not abrasively bland. And this a forte of a band solely due to its incredible song structures that're second to none. The songs have structured so well, that even the breakdowns added in their tracks(which always sound gay in other bands) are pretty much enjoyable.

Apart from that there's nothing much left to mention about Pig Destroyer's individual musical capabilities because they've already proven their mettle. With Phantom Limb, Scott Hull has once again hammers mashed our brains with his riffs. Coming up with layers of riffs for Harvey to follow while making up for the lack of bass in the band is very much interesting to hear. While Harvey's brutality in drumming follows up perfectly in sync with Scott's riffing, its JR Haye's animalistic screams and growls that brings the band together as one helluva tight unit. No matter how old these guys get as time passes by, you can always count on them to deliver some head pounding music.

Loathsome,Machete Twins, Jupiter's eye are some of the outstanding tracks in the album. The Girl in the Slayer Jacket displays the band's experimental side with oddly timed, bizzare technical riffs. Lyrics have a very poetic tint to it as its not all about gore, politics with an unrequited love story being the central theme. The production is chunky and focused and delivery is intense to the point. With Phantom Limb, Pig Destroyer have delivered another masterpiece, the third time in a row. Phantom Limb is a true grind magnum opus and if you have not heard then its simply because you lack the brains to understand true good music.

Nasum - Human 2.0

2010-04-17T23:19:00.003+05:30

Grindmeister Mieszko A. Talarczyk's unparalleled aggression continues into Nasum's second production Human 2.0. Overflowing with all the violence and antipathy from their previous,debut album Inhale/Exhale though not in its entirety, Human 2.0 is still a very destructive album. In spite of inclusion of more melodious presentation of their sounds with a considerably higher groove factor than their previous outing, Human 2.0 is still a very brutal,savage album from Nasum. Because end of the day you still get to hear those pissed-off growls from Mieszko with those equally malicious buzzsaw riffs.

Though they have musically experimented with their music, Nasum have stayed true to their grindcore roots employing heavily distorted guitars at high tempo alongside maniacal blastbeats. Vocally Mieszko once again balances evenly between his low growls and high pitched screams, that nevertheless to say goes perfect with the grinding chaos. Songs are structured in a more crispy manner than a technical one, as heard in Inhale/Exhale. And as stated earlier about the presence of melodic components, they all feature in the first half of the album.

However in second half, things get back to hell mode where the band once again unleashes its fury with all its grinding might. The production is a bit too over the notch in the album ,as in making it picture perfect the band's savagery has tad a reduced. If you don't get what I mean then give Inhale/Exhale a hear before checking Human 2.0. The latest album is a lot less dense and at times sound a bit atmospheric too. But these are not the details that would piss you off, as end of the day Nasum can still beat the shit out of any motherfucker who come on their way and leave them spastic with their malevolent sounds.Lyrically, the band still is politically aggravated and let out their frustration against the system in their songs.

Human 2.0 is still a classical grind album with plenty of a-song-a-minute moments. And with its unmatched brutality Nasum still decimates any other grind band's claim to 'the best ever'' tag no matter what changes they make - minor or major. At the end of the day you get your dose of grind as you expect it from these Swedish masters in Human 2.0. And you can let out all your frustration by simply headbanging to it. Its a tragedy that Mieszko was wiped off this face of earth in the tragic 2004 tsunami incident or we would have get to hear more grind from one of the best grindcore bands the planet has ever seen - Nasum.

Blotted Science - The Machinations Of Dementia

2010-04-14T00:44:00.003+05:30

Coming across this album is like finding a coin of gold in your shit. This might sound a bit exaggerated but then I cant help mentioning it because the album deserves applause from every single guy who calls himself metalhead. So apart from the kickass combination of Alex Webster, Ron Jarzombek and Charlie Zeleny, what makes this album worthy of such great amount of adulation is the simple fact that Blotted Science never go over the top in the album yet keeping their music flowing at a virtuous pace. And this a key point of the album as its very hard to find good technical metal albums who play their time worth the substance without approaching breakneck pace.

Ranging from slow to mid-tempo to even high tempo, Blotted Music plot a very progressive path for their music in The Machinations of Dementia. And I'm not just saying this going by the tempo changes and time signatures employed in the album but also by the incredible usage of such large and more importantly varied arsenal of riffs from Jarzombeck that explodes on your ears song after song with its effect inducing tones, making you feel lobotomized at his sheer musical capability. Amazement. Thats a word that is bound to enter your mind when you reach the a third way down the playlist.

Alex Webster is not far behind either. With his thumping basslines, Webster matches up pace to pace with Jarzombeck, at times matching notes with notes in a very harmonious way too. Charlie Zeleny's no hold barred approach with oddly timed percussion to blast beats amidst constant barrage of double bass hammering, shows his creative effort on the album too. Another important thing to be mentioned here is that the entire album is instrumental. No traces of cleans,growls or rasps shroud the album keeping the sounds very clean. In fact its better that way as I dont think the album would've sounded the way it sounds now. Asskicking it would've become than the kickass tag it carries proudly now.

Production on the album is phenomenal, making sure that you dont fail to register even a single note. That they manage to hold the listener's attention in a good 57 minutes while the album lasts is very commendable, considering their shit is all instrumental. With such truckloads of tremendously awesome musical skills thrown to our ears in Machinations Of Dementia, the album is sure to go down as a classic album both in instrumental as well as in a general metal category 30 years down the line. And if it fails to do so, then it would only be because they would have come up with an even better album.

Interview With Mathieu and Arnaud From Gorod

2010-04-09T17:40:00.010+05:30

Keeping aside all the exaggeration of the technical wankeries exhibited by droves of technical death metal bands these days in their neighbourhood garbage dumps, French tech-death band Gorod have walked tall amidst all the sub-par acts with their brand of death metal which draws quite a pull on the technical side, keeping their death metal roots intact and fist-packed. Here's an exclusive though a bit outdated interview with Mathieu and Arnaud of Gorod.

Hi! How are you guys doing at the moment?
Mat: Fine, thank you! Well, we're preparing the future shows, rehearsals, management,...we're pretty tired but it's a pleasure to take time to talk about us and the new album!

Your new album Process of new Decline sounds brilliant. How do you feel about it?
Mat: We're really proud of this album, and relieved that it's finally out, 3 years after "Leading Vision". It's the first album that will be promoted in Europe, US, and worlwide at the same time and in an efficient way by Willowtip and Listenable together.

What was the inspiration behind it?
Mat: Nothing in particular, I don't have a huge metal background, except 90's period maybe. Some riffage is inspired by Coroner style, technically. Rhythms and grooves are most inspired by the 70's music, jazz-funk, prog-rock, while melodies and chords progressions are directly borrowed to latin-jazz artists like Al di Meola or Chick Corea. I rarely realize that when I work on a new song, but it's something I hear later, when I listen to all of the songs. My purpose is only musical, I can't tell you I'm inspired by nature, birds, the darkness of the human spirit, satan or whatever...Music is the only thing that is important to me.

Is there anything you would like to change in the album?
Mat: Well, I wish we could have more time to work on the vocals maybe. Lyrics were written during the recording process so everything has been set up in a short period. We couldn't stand back and have an overall listen on them. I realize now that maybe there's too much voice...Anyway, things are set now and we can't roll back! Next time I hope we can anticipate and keep some time to get a more objective point of view on our songs.

How does it differ from your previous releases?
Mat : The new album is more direct and is a logical evolution of what we did with the two older albums, but it's also an improvement. Sound is more powerful, drums hit harder, music goes faster! Song structures are more direct, efficient, where the older maybe were too convoluted. I tried to get the songs immediately understandable, so that the listener shouldn't be lost at any moment. Of course, we haven't made any compromise or tried to follow the mainstream, this album is pure Gorod and we still do Death Metal. But sometimes when you hear DM, especially Tech DM, you can't bang your head and you have to be focused on the music to get it. Where is the pleasure? So we're done with asymetrical patterns and unremitting tempo changes. On the new album, there's way less riffs or parts, but they are more developed. The sound on this album is the best we ever had and the best I ever produced, it's very accurate and chirurgical but "wild" and natural at the same time.

A lot of technicality has gone into the making of your songs, how do you come up with he music?
Mat: Usually, I write the whole structure of the song (drums/guitars), with computer drums and an amp simulator, testing and exploring many possibilities to retain a few.If everyone is ok with that , we go forward. If not, we try to improve the structure, add or remove a part, etc... Then Benoit comes with his bass part, which we finalize together. As I said, lyrics are constantly written later, or at the studio. I'd like to tell you we spend a lot of time on rehearsals, but it's wrong. We try hard to play together once a week but it's difficult because of everyone's jobs, families etc...Everyone works on his parts at home with differents playbacks and when we meet, we just perform the whole set-list to be ready for shows.

How has your new drummer Sam fit into the lineup?
Mat: On July 2008, Sandrine announced to the band that she wanted to leave it because of her job as a psyhchologist. This job took her so much time, she didn't want to slow down the band. Also, she wasn't sure to be there for gigs, tours, etc...We spent this summer finding a new drummer. We wanted someone that would be excellent on drums and as a musician, available, and someone that we would know personally. Sam has recorded an album with Zubrowska on 2003 at our studio, he was already impressive at this time. So we contacted him by October 2008, and he rapidly accepted. During approximately 3 weeks we worked on the songs all day long, everyday, and then he recorded the album in only 4-5 days...wow! We're very happy to have met him. He's a solid drummer that plays many styles of music, but he's also a good guitarist, with a large rock background, not just a groovebox with two legs! I hope he will participate more on the future songs that he could do on POAND.

What hapened to Sandrine? What is she upto now?
Mat: Well, now she focuses on her job, maybe she will come back later with a new band, but now she hasn't enough time...We really thank her for this decade of drumming and friendship, she's still our friend and we sometimes play together for fun...

You just did a tour with Immolation recenty. How did it go?
Mat: Honestly, it was our very first real tour ever. And we really enjoyed it. Immolation are very cool guys, and the tour was a pleasure, even if it was quite short. Our music is aimed to be played Live, we are really into our music when we perform and always try to share our passion to/with the audience. Even if the sound looks a bit difficult to render, we can make it while moving crazy, giving the people what they come for. Of course, the conditions are sometimes not pretty good, bad sound, bad organization, static people, and that's what stressful for me. But most of the time things went well and I hope we can make bigger tours in the future.

What is your take on the current technical death scene?
Mat: Optimistic, I guess...There's many bands to come out these days and we are proud to be a part of this movement.

How do you get along with other metal bands from France?
Arno: The French metal scene is moving. There is many new young bands growing like Hacride or Trepalium which is preety cool! There also bands like Gojira of course or Scarve that we really like for years now.

As a death metal act, what would you prefer more - technicality or brutality?
Mat: Well, we don't do Brutal Death Metal. Agressiveness comes from vocals mainly but I try to feed it with high tempos, fast drumming and guitar techniques. My aim is not to be always brutal, cool and progressive parts are necessary to accentuate the hard ones. A whole brutal album is maybe too boring and linear in my opininon. You can't keep the attention of the listener beyond 3 or 4 intense songs. Sometimes, a groovy or memorable part, a cooler song, can ease the audition and helps the listener to keep the songs in mind. Some people told us that we could actually be an instrumental band, that vocals maybe being unecessary, but we still do Death Metal and to agree with you , I'd say that our music is better with strong vocals because they push the sound and make the structures of the songs clearer.

Is there any particular band/musician you would like to go on tour with or collaborate with?
Mat: I don't have a precise line up in mind. All I want is to tour with cool and kind people, whom I like the music or not, people with a regular ego and a some sense of teamwork. But a North American tour with Megadeth would be good too ;) Joking aside, the point is rather "where" we are playing than "with who" we are playing. Of course, it would be beneficial for us to share the stage with the great masters of technical death metal, like Necrophagist, Decrepit Birth, Cryptopsy or if they were still available Death and Decapitated. But we just want to make many good shows, no matter with whom.

Any chance of catching you guys in India?
Mat: I hope so! Your country is very far from here and I hope one day we can make a huge world tour, including india and East Asia, we know that we have many fans around there!

Any final words for your fans?
Mat: Thank you for the support and the questions!! I also want to thank all our indian fans that appreciate our sound and DeathMetal in general. That means a lot to us and demonstrates that Metal is worldwide and doesn't know physical or administrative borders!!

Grimness 69 - ill Heaven Hells

2010-03-22T00:07:00.003+05:30

Its always better to be jack of one trade than be a jack of all trades. Thats how the saying goes so. However it doesn't apply to Grimness 69 at all, considering the fact that they play a hybrid of death,grind and thrash. Managing to fuse the sounds of these genres brilliantly into a giant collosal grinding soundwave, Grimness have portrayed grindcore in a new light.

Their new album ill Heaven Hells rides on a groove that's maintained through out the album whcich at times aptly reminds you about Pungent Stench. Fascinating punk riffs and a technical yet rapid drumm battery are some the aspects of the album that can be held in high regards. Vocals are performed in form of growls, a good stomach-y growl minus the cookie monster feel. And inspite the use of distortions on voice, the growls remain clear and audible.yrically, the topics covered in the album are bizzare like angelwhores of which I have no clue about.

Melodic contents have been upped by Grimness in the album and this factor plys a spoilsport. And due to this it sometime makes you wonder that maybe the band would have sounded more brutal and gore-ish had the amount of melody put into the record been reduced exponentially. However there are tracks in ill Heaven Helss that churn your biles instantly giving you a solid headbanging experience like PostMortem Blues, The Infernal Dancefloor and Grimness Avenue 69, with the later being a bloody good instrumental track.

The album also packs some extra punches due to the good production quality, without which half the gut-wrenchinf feel would have been lost. And though the more-than-normal/usual-use of-melody-in-grind tick your consciousness off your mind, on the whole ill Heaven Hells is one solid grindcore album that manages to mix up the gastric and the pancretic juices in your belly/guts, satisfying your deepest gore needs.

Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough

2010-01-19T23:19:00.002+05:30

Not even in my darkest dreams had I ever imagined that some day I would listen to black metal combined with avante-garde style. However Mick Barr and Co, envisioned such a sound by thinking out of the box, and successfully succeeded in creating a more progressive style of black metal as heard in their band Krallice. And Dimensional Bleedthrough, their second studio effort is a perfect example of their anti-stereotypical, megalomaniacal style of handling instruments that simply leaves you in awe when you first hear them.

Lacking almost, all the customary undertones of Norwegian influenced black metal that sharply relied on blasting tremolo lines, Krallice incorporates elaborate song structures that are held together by their mind-bending riffs played at fast tempos. Inspite of breaking away from the usual black metal musical style, Krallice maintains a n atmospheric ambience through out the album like a buzz of primal fear and chaos waiting to envelope you within itself and plunge your persona into the void. Drums, however aren't all that different from their guitarist counterparts.Sticking to the same old hard hitting blast beats with regular breaks in the rhythm, the drummer doesn't take his performance over the top and plays just the right beat for the hypnotic surges of the guitar tones.

With so much bundles of creative talent in these members, Krallice have almost built themselves their little own corner in the black metal musical world. The songs in the album once again take a week long to end, however the sheer labyrinthine efforts gone into linking several equally complex riffs and patterns to create one large scorching track, makes listening the album a very different experience of the positive kind. Autochthon, the title track and Intraum are some of the tracks that clearly speaks in favor of the band's brilliant dexterous skills.

Nonetheless, had the tracks been composed for a shorter time, then maybe the understanding of the tracks of Dimensional would've been achieved much earlier. And to be brutally frank, at times you do lose touch with the epic feel of the guitar lines amidst the growls and blast beats. However these matters are very trivial, and the achievements of these top-notch musicians breaking frontiers in black metal genre with more progressive infusion definitely deserves proper praise. So listen to Krallice's new album to check out black metal with some unique flair.

Rottrevore - Iniquitous

2010-01-09T15:48:00.007+05:30

If I am ever asked, how I prefer my plate of death metal, brutal and crushed, the old school style, is what I would say. And thats exactly what Rottrevore delivers in their album Iniquitous. As soon as the album plays, it feels like a bulldozer treading waist deep over your guts, crushing your innards and what nots along with it. And play the album on the loudest volumes, only to let the humongous basslines in the album explode your brain right out through your eyesockets. And all this is achieved without the blastbeats,drum triggers and that truly shows that Rottrevore are truly, one wicked old school brutal death metal act.

Rottrevore may not be playing death metal, lightning fast pace, but they strike the right note with their brand of slow yet heavy,raw and dark music in Iniquitous. Also you get to hear the raw, primal energy of the band in its truest form through the not-so-great sound production of the early nineties era. And that works just perfect, as the album would have lost its appeal had it undergone a more modern treatment in the studios. The bass is a tad too high, as noted from the starting track Jesters of Recession where it thumps into your skull. In fact the bass is louder than the drums, and at certain times the drums are lost behind the basslines. However this particular point doesn't make much of a difference in the entire album.

Moving on to the vocals, one thing which is clearly distinct about it is, the growls are tremendously low-pitched and at times you lose hold of the lyrics. In fact the vocals are very similar to Immolation vocals, and on an offbeat mood you'll be surprised to note that the logo of Immolation was designed by none other than Mark Mastro who does the vocals for Rottrevore in this album. The riffs in the album too aren't anything great to rave about, as they are simple and no where in the album do the guitarists go over the top with their solos. Action For Loss and Unanimous Approval are some of the best tracks in the album.

To sum it up plainly, the guitarists stick to simple,easy riffs which happen gel perfectly with the basslines and drumming, to create the the perfect heavy ambience of an old school era of bygone times. Iniquitous is pretty much an example of the death metal albums of the early nineties era, when sound production was a rudimentary issue and the brutality in the music was amplified by the not-so-perfectly-mastered discs which in fact lend an extra dose of credibility to its crushing sound. So if you ever want to hear some brutal, crushing death metal minus the enhanced sound effects, checkout Rottrevore's Iniquitous.

Rat King - Larva

2010-01-09T12:57:00.008+05:30

Before starting the review I must add that I am a novice when it comes to listening avant-garde metal. With so many nuts and bolts spinning around death and black metal, I never bothered to check this relatively untouched genre till I came across Rat King. When I first heard Plague of Hamelin, I was visibly taken aback by the mixing of varied styles ranging from industrial to classical and even jazz to folk in the album. But the amalgamation of these varied choice created a perfect blend of ambience in the album, which left a dying urge in me to check their next album Larva.

If Plague of Hamelin was about a distorted version of the famous story Pied Piper of Hamelin, then Larva is about ''a man's unremitting dream and his crawling descent to his physical disintegration, through a series of horrifying phantasmagorias''. Sounds a bit too far fetched at first, but then it sure does leave a horrifying imprint in your mind when the opening track Egg's sonic burst of dark ambience ridden sounds sparsed with drumming fills your ears. And thats how the album proceeds over the next thirty five minutes. Larva is a very conceptual album as it lacks a vocal support just like their previous album, and yet they manage create a vocal impression with their dexterity in instrumentation, which clearly shows how clever the band are.

Drumming plays a very important role in the album, as the maniacal blast beats heard in Larva perfectly sums up the the frantic horror going through the man's mind. Guitaring too is cleverly done as heard in tracks like Hour of Wolf, where the guitarist cleverly changes gear from soft acoustic to a more industrial black metal side and in Wake, where there's a canny interaction between acoustics and electric guitars. All through these sounds, the orchestral elements play an equally effective role in maintaining the perfect dark ambience for the theme, through out the album just as though you're experiencing your worst nightmare.

In short, with Larva, Rat King have come out more matured than before with greater expertise in instrumentation and an even greater knack in songwriting that manages to conjure the perfect horror-imagery in mind which perfectly conforms to the album's storyline. And the fact that they have done this without lyrical support once again and yet adding to a good listening experience, deserves a commendable applause from the listener. So if you ever want to knowhow the soundtrack to your worst nightmare would be, then check out RatKing's Larva to get those shivery spine chills.

Deccan Rock Festival Featurng Amon Amarth and Textures

2009-12-22T02:24:00.002+05:30

'What the fuck' were the exact three words that came out of my mouth when i read in Nov issue of Rolling Stones that Amon Amarth and Textures were coming down to Bangalore somewhere during Nov. Now I had every reason to dismiss the piece of article as shit after the GnR fiasco, but then I agreed with it 'cos the word about Textures playing in Bangalore had been floating in air for quite a long time(from August, in fact).That they didn't play in Nov is a different thing, but then they DID play on Dec 5th which was one of the most ultra-epic event that the Indian metal scene ever witnessed. Cheapest too! After all watching these two bands for 450 bucks is a bargain that no one even dreams about.

Nevertheless, I reached the venue - a good hour before the opening of the gates(1.30 PM being the scheduled time for the opening), hoping to catch the thrill in the air right from the beginning. 'What the fuck' were the exact three words I blurted out once again when I reached the place, for going through a state of shock on seeing the arrangements of the venue. A marriage hall with bright decorations overshadowing the posters and banner of Deccan Rock Festival was something I never even expected in my worst nightmare about a concert of such great magnitude. My anticipation of seeing droves of crowds gathered near the venue were quashed too when all I noted was hundred odd bunch of people around the ticketing counter. Surely more metalheads would have turned up had the publicity campaign of the event been pursued with more vigor. Maiden's first concert saw anxious fans sleeping in Palace Grounds much before the opening. Not to mention thousands of them crowding the ticketing counter from noon itself. Even though the organizers - Orka Networks and Live Gig did bad on the publicity side, they scored some major hits on the sound console which sounded more than perfect that evening with soundman supreme Anupam Roy at the console.

Eccentric Pendulum, prog metal band from Bangalore kickstarted the show with tracks from from their EP- Sculptor of Negative Emotions with such exuberance that they clearly proved their worth of sharing the stage with the big guys. The little crowd that had gathered up got a bigger shot in the head when Inner Sanctum took to the stage next, ripped the place apart with their fiery brand of death/thrash music as Gaurav growled like a psychotic on loose while Chintan literally masturbated the fretboard with his display of awesome fret skills!. Although a point of mention added here would be that the 'moshpit' in there had a greater resemblance to a dance pit instead(blame it on the large quantity of weed that the crowd smoked up that day, as though in 'accordance' with the event's theme of fight against global warming), with pathetic posers jumping to such songs instead of headbanging like a nutter which should've been the usual case. Such would not have been the case had the tickets not been priced so low at Rs.450.

Nonetheless the show moved on and Undying Inc came on stage next, who were by far the best Indian act of that evening. It was the first time I had seen them live and by God I swear they instantly blew my ears to smithereens with their music that is hellish in every aspect. Vocals were screamed by Shashank at such incredible voice that Textures' member were actually stunned at his performance! Not to mention they were equally taken aback by the near-perfection handling of instruments by Undying member. So much were they impressed that Yuvi(Undying drummer) landed himself cymbal from Stef Brok's own kit! Bhayanak Maut were next and regardless to say the crowd went berserk over their rendition of deathcore music that comprised of tracks mainly from their new album that included Ungentle and Blasted Beyond Belief. In fact the first actual moshpit of the evening started to BM's setlist.

Things didn't go smoothly for the last two Indian acts - Kryptos and Demonic Resurrection. Nolan Lewis, Kryptos frontman attempted an audacious act of wearing Liverpool scarf on stage which got half the crowd pissed off! A good deal of anti-Liverpool abuses were hurled at him. As if pissing the crowd off wasn't enough for them, then oddly the band sounded off-tune once they started their set. However they squared off well in the end by playing the final track Descension with absolute integrity. Last supporting act was DR who are one of my least fav band. It was the first time I witnessed them live too, and needless to say left a bad taste in my mouth after their act. Apocalyptic Dawn, Unrelenting Surge of Vengeance were among the few tracks they played and I oddly felt the keyboards were out of the place with Sahil's really bland vocals. By the time DR ended I at least expected to see the venue being jam packed but then didn't happen. By the time Textures took on state, the crowd haplessly numbered around 1000 which is significantly less for such concert.

But then I had better things to think about and I thanked god when DR ended their set after 3 tracks 'cause Textures were up next and boy! i couldn't wait any longer. Like true professionals, they took less than 20 minutes to do their soundcheck and right away started their set with the track One Eye For A Thousand. Swandive and Storm Warnings were next, with the band's take on the latter being impeccable.Awake was one track to which a good part of the crowd sang along too. Awake was preceded by Between Stream of Consciousness and The Sun's Architect. An improvised version of Laments of Icarus followed by final track Regenesis ended their setlist, which was enjoyable to every single moment they lasted on stage. And it was not just the crowd who enjoyed the performance, but the band members too enjoyed every bit of the response they received from us. Erik was powerful at the vocals, doing his clean vocals as good as the growls. Bassist Remko Tielemans seemed a bit more charged up than the rest as he jovially bounced on the stage. Stef Brok's polyrhythmic drumming with adept dexterity was unfortunately not visible to me clearly as for some weird reason the drum kits of all bands including Textures were placed in the corner most position of the stage with the sole exclusion being that of drum kit of Amarth kept at the centre.

Finally the moment of the day had arrived though pretty late at around 9.30, and Amon Amarth took to stage after quite a long sound check. With the mere sight of them on stage, adrenalin rush increased in my body pumping me up for the excitement that awaited once they started playing. With Twilight of The Thunder God, they couldn't have chosen a better track to open their performance. The crowd was gripped by a bout of headbanging, even though they seemed(including myself) tired after headbanging to Textures. An Amarth flag flew high all through this with a sense of pride up the holder's sleeve. Johan Hegg's incredible growls left me awestruck, leaving my spines chilled to the bones. Free Will Sacrifice and Asator came next. By then I was headbanging like an absolute psychopath in a drunken state just like how the Vikings would have done. Runes to My Memory and Guardians of Asgaard followed up next. Metal is the only way to live life, added Hegg before dropping the A bomb on the crowd with Live For The Kill. And then he dropped the H bomb by going full throttle with Death In Fire, which sadly happened to be their last track of the night. Hegg seemed stunned when the crowd sang the pre-song build up perfectly. When he added the show was over, I was hoping it would be some sort of gimmick of the usual kind which a band pulls to get an encore to play rest of the tracks. In this case I was clearly rooting for Pursuits of Vikings and Cry of Blackbirds after this stage enactment. But alas! That wasn't the case as B'lore's fucking cops always have the last laugh while killing our joys in such concert and Amarth members promptly exited the stage. The band members nonetheless kept the crowd happy by throwing all their plectrum, drum sticks and even beer cans!

In the end though I was pretty contented at having attended the concert, I was quite miffed at the organizers for shocking conditions of the overall event. It wasn't actually required to gather so many Indian acts for supporting, as everyone is clearly aware how long they would take to finish up their set, leading to delay of the headlining acts performance. And had they been more aware of Bangalore's infamous nightlife ban rules, Amon Amarth and Textures would've started earlier in the night and maybe played an extra half an hour each. Food and Beverages were overpriced inside too, with a pint of KF beer being sold at 100 fucking bucks! However in the end though everything wasn't picture perfect, I walked out of the venue satisfied thinking back about the epic time I spent in there witnessing Amon Amarth and Textures and wondering which big band will they get next

Hypocrisy - A Taste Of Extreme Divinity

2009-12-13T22:36:00.006+05:30

Pete Tagtren is one hell of an all rounder. The dude has played some absolute devastating death metal music with Hypocrisy and Bloodbath. And if that doesn't stand as an ode to his talents, then he's also the guy behind legendary Abyss Studios, where numerous big extreme metal acts such as Immortal, Dark Funeral and Celtic Frost to name a few have produced their albums with brilliant sound quality. And now after a 4 years hiatus, Tagtren has set the wheels in motion for Hypocrisy again with their eleventh album A Taste Of Extreme Divinity(produced at Abyss of course). And needless to say Hypocrisy hasn't lost any steam over the years and picks right up from where Virus left off.

The songs vary from fast blastbeat driven to mid tempo ones with amazing riffs catching your riffs right from the very first seconds of Valley of Damned. The songs on the albums are far away from the radio friendly melo death metal of the Arrival era and really aggressive without loosing a sense of melody. Hypocrisy are a very musical band and instead of making a any attempts at technical aspects of their music, they are very much implied about their song's harmonious nature and unlike the rest they don't rub it into your face. The content in the album is balanced perfectly, pitching intense against calm and atmospheric against chaotic nature. Like the title tack which has a very doomy start to it before the extreme blastbeats take hold of the song's mood.

If the blastbeats in the album reminds you of black metal, then don't be mistaken as the band's drummer Horgh after plays for Immortal too. And even after all these years, Tagtren's growls still manages to leave your spine chilled when you hear them, as they are still ear-piercing and monstrous in nature. High pitched too! And thats maybe to stay in touch with his alien theme. Some of the best tracks of the album are Quest and Tamed(Filled With Fear) where the former has a more groove to it whereas the latter is more in molds of melodic thrash. Sy Is Falling Down is another outstanding track with some sick guitar pickings.

Even though Hypocrisy are not as inexorable as they sounded before, their output has remained strong no matter what. With an excellent sound production and classic Hypocrisy lyrical theme of aliens and violence, there's not a single thing to point your finger out to this album. And needless to say, A Taste Of Extreme Divinity is one of the band's best releases with solid edge quality. Now so that you dont have to wait for another 5 years to wait for the next Hypocrisy album, check this one out - Taste of Extreme Divinity.

Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest

2009-12-13T20:42:00.004+05:30

Its been two years, since I last heard some original paralyzingly shitty Egyptian mumbo jumbo with some amazingly good brutal tech death metal. So I asked God give me more, and then bang in middle of November arrives Nile's album Those Whom The Gods Detest, where their vague obsession with Egyptian mythology continues with some astounding piece of death metal supremacy that makes me indulge in a flurry of neanderthal activities of chest thumping, jumping against the wall(you cant mosh by yourself all alone, can you?) and of course headbanging! Dont understand what I mean, then listen to the track 'Hittite Dung Incantations' and drool over how the chants of egyptian bullshit gives way to some absolute cruncher of riffs and beats the shit out of your sense!

Nile are one of the very few bands who have been able to combine brutality with technicality with a touch of natural flair. So much so, that not even once while listening to them, you feel that they consciously tell themselves to make their songs 'harder-faster-louder', its more like an underlying omnipresent compulsion for them to do so. And that's what you experience when you listen to their new album, though not in every single tracks. What makes Those Whom The Gods Detest standout from their earlier releases is the presence of tracks with slower than expected tempos like 4th Arra Of Dagon. Also the presence of more traditional Egyptian instruments makes the album more astute than ever.

Tracks like Permitting The Noble Dead To Ascend To The Underworld and Utterances of Crawling Dead ensure that they continue to maintain their stupefying spectacle of displaying their unrivaled death metal fireworks. And the brilliant sound production does absolute justice to such tracks. While Sanders and Toller Wade persist in belting out complex riffs after riffs at jaw-dropping tempo, Kollias ceaselessly plays the drums with precision matched to none. However not all's perfect in the album. Even though Sanders and Co play the the kind of music you expect Nile to play after listening to them over the years, somewhere in the album you do feel that parts of songs are reminiscent of their previous works. Eye of Ra and the title track stands as a testament to this unlikable detail.

Bass too is missing in action in the album, and this just makes me wonder how much more 'br00tal' the album would've sound if they had packed that extra punch of thumping bass! But nevertheless Those Whom The Gods Detest is a solid effort from Nile for their 5th studio venture. And though there are a couple of lows in it, none are big enough to make them appear like a bunch of rag dolls in the current death metal scene as they certainly hold more weight than other 'death metal' floating in the waters. So go break your neck listening to this album or you're certainly not worthy enough to call yourself a metalhead.

Demilich - Nespithe

2009-11-15T12:45:00.003+05:30

Demilich is one of the most obscure band that has ever propped up into the death metal scene. Coming from the far plains of Finland, Demilich seems even when wierd compared to the usual Finnish metal scene which has mostly given us power metal bands. However putting together an album, an incredibly bizzare and highly technical album Nespithe in their short span of existence, Demilich captured the notice of metalheads immidiately with this release. With loads of riffs that draws a thin line between the schizoid and constructive technicality, Nespithe enthralls you with its bizzare, tumultous sound that makes you think as though the music is coming from a cosmos of unknown origin.

The music in Nespithe can put you in to a great spot of confusion. If at one point it sounds atmospheric then the same might strike you as a technical piece of creation few moments later. And if you think the album sounds very anarchic, then it might appear to you as quite orderly few seconds later. The riffs in the album are very much dissonant with fairly high pitched sounds, which appears as though its sonic boom bouncing of walls. Guitars in short makes you feel lost in its unparalleled swirling sound that drowns your presence in its wierd essence. The bassist and the drummer too deserve applause for their sheer incredibilty. The bass doesn't mimic the guitar unlike most bassists in death metal acts and the drummer too covers up his part decently by playing some groovy beats and handling quick tempo shifts with ease.

Apart from the instrumentation, the song construction too gets a well mannered approach by Demilich. The unusual arangements in the song may seem uncoherent that creates a snse of chaos, but in the end it all seems very coherent and ordered. Nowhere in the album will you find a point, where they throw in random riffs just create an added sense of incoherence. Vocals used on the album are nothing but abnormally low growls sounding close to a belch. But that goes in perfect with their theme of exploration of the unknown and abstarct realm. Songs that makes your ear beed in the album are plenty but I personally pitch for Inherited Bowel Levitation - Reduced With Any Effort,The Sixteenth Six-Tooth Son of Fourteen Four-Regional Dimensions (Still Unnamed) and The Echo (Replacement).

In the end if you are still confused as to what Demilich might sound like, then play Evoken and Meshuggah side by side and then start headbanging to Demilich. With bizzare themes and song titles with equally abstart song structures and instrumentation, at some point the album begins to strike you as though the members have taken to HP Lovecraft's lore of bizzare mythos where every creature comes of an unknown dimension and unknown realm where no one else has ventured. But in the end you experience total nerve wrecking havoc from Nespithe just like equally horrifyng ends in Lovecraft's Cthlhu tales that you secretly enjoy. IF you are ever want to listen to technical death that's not in the veins of Necrophagist,Obscura or even Decapitated, then Demilich's Nespithe is just the album for you.

Great Indian Rock 2009 - Bangalore

2009-11-08T14:03:00.003+05:30

Finally the last week of October arrived. And with it came 2009 edition of Great Indian Rock in Bangalore. Frankly speaking I was really stunned when RSJ got Satyricon to play in last year's GIR edition that too for 150 bucks a ticket, which was a real huge cheap ass bargain any metalhead could lay their hands upon. And so I was naturally expecting RSJ to get another big name act in the line of Enslaved,Detonation,Satyricon they had got in their previous editions. But then I was surprised when I saw names like Slostate,Intronaut and Benea Reach glazing the posters of this year's GIR edition. No! Not surprised(surprised wouldn't be the right word), I was left in a very sour mood after seeing such pathetic names.

But nevertheless, like most hip urbane college going student who has a knack to wear a 'cool' black metal T shirt, of whom he hasn't heard a single song of, I had a knack of checking out firang bands playing live on stage. Luckily Inner Sanctum and Kryptos happened to accompany these firangs that day! And so I eagerly buy my ticket of GIR to watch these bands play. Now from my numerous gig experience I have realized one thing - the starting act is always the shittiest act. And Parachute XVI lived up to my expectation of being a shitty act playing the starting slot(last year SlingShot fulfilled that dubious nomination). And luckily my decision to smoke outside with my friends came helpful because none of us could bear to hear that pathetic rock piece of music they happened to play.

Next came Inner Sanctum, who as usual tore the place apart with their raw energy that brought droves of metalheads into the moshpit. Playing all their songs from their EP, Inner Sanctum were tight as ever with their primal energy radiating off the stage into the crowd unlike the very lethargic Parachute XVI. The crowd by now had started to trickle in and I too had walked at right at this juncture, straight into the moshpit. After all if you don't mosh to Sanctum, you don't do justice to their music. Sadly the time constraints(I still thought the organizers had ample of time on hand) had kicked in and after completing their set, Sanctum couldn't play to the encore which was resonating the arena(though there were only 300-450 people in a place that could pack in at least 5000 people). And then came Kryptos , the omnipresent Bangalore band which plays in each and every concert, Kryptos. Not that they are bad, but these guys get to play at so many gigs that sooner or later you start to get bored of them.

But nevertheless Kryptos played a good set though their bass was a tad too high. Nolan constantly asked the crowd to form the moshpit at their every alternate song, which I never understood why. Why would any single metalhead with little bit of sanity left in them, mosh to a band that plays thrash/doom mix? I dont know and I didn't mosh to. By now I happily walked to the back of the arena where I could hear Motherjane playing playing in the Octoberfest which was being held right next to GIR(it was more enjoyable,in fact). Apart from the usual tracks, Vulcan,Descension and Towers of Illusion being played Kryptos also played a new track Mask of Anubis which was quite a decent thrash effort.

Solstate who came as soon as I finished my last smoke and as soon as Kryptos ended their set, where a relatively new to my ears.(I got caught smoking my last ciggie by the organizers, those suckers couldn't catch me earlier!) I never moved my ass to check their myspace page 'cause I was never interested in hard rock and related act, that when they are from New Zealand of all the places. But they did sound good and got a pretty decent reception considering Bangalore metalheads abhor rock bands playing in metal concert(Rainbow Bridge got boooed real bad last time, but then I thought they got such a good response because they happen to be whites).

At the end of this, the charms of Octoberfest had succeeded in pulling me in to its net(Friday too they had dragged me in), and I walked into Octoberfest after Solstate ended their performance. However I must make myself honest over here, although I did walk into Octoberfest and got myself drunk in there, I did walk to the GIR/O'Fest border to check the next act that was Benea Reach - progressive mathcore act from Norway. As usual I never checked them out, but frankly speaking I was blown apart when those thumping beats registered in my ears across the fence. Though I didn't see them play, I did hear them play and that was more than enough to contend my gluttonous soul. The breakdowns, the drumbeats were simply unimaginable. And then I regretted for my gluttony that allowed me to neglect Benea Reach and drink in the 'Fest. And thats all I can say about them 'cause thats all I could remember from my drunken sojourn. As for the rest I cant remember anything and if I do recollect anything its irrelevant here. So thats all folks. Next time no matter what obscure act RSJ get for GIR I am definitely checking them out without getting drunk.

Revocation - Existence Is Futile

2009-11-08T12:45:00.004+05:30

Revocation! What a band! What a revelation! And indeed one amazing revelation it has been, the discovery of this awesome band called Revocation. When I first read the name under MetalUnderground's list of September month's upcoming metal releases, I instantly googled the name to find out more about them, only to be greeted by the words ''Next Big Metal Band'' which tagged the band name in almost each and every website they got themselves listed. Yeah right! Thats what I told myself when I read it; afterall which new band doesn't proclaim themselves as the next big act( Cyanide Serenity - ''next big thing in the UK metal scene'' were an absofuckinglutely piece of bullshit). But nevertheless the curious part in my brain registered the name Revocation and I eagerly waited to check the band out. And when that momentous time arrived to check them out, my brains literally disintegrated a..p.....a..........r...................t.

Existence Is Futile finally ended my personal futile search for 'the' next on-the-rise technical death outfit. As is the case of most new bands, which I shall repeat here once again, where the 'new' act pathetically sounds like a clone of another well established act, Revocation breaks free from all such pathetic incumbency with their unique on-the-face-melting riffs that totally leaves you gobsmacked as heard in tracks like Existence is Futile and Dismantle The Dictator. With a powerful and aggressive sound which is played with undeviating pace and intensity, Existence Is Futile holds your presence in its grip like clutched in iron-claws. The sheer quality of riffs along with those equally awesome hooks and catches being churned by their guitarist Dave Davidson is enough to rival other lesser act's discographies and maybe some bigger but now obscure acts too.

And its not just the guitars that hooks you up, but Dubois-Coyne equally adept skills behind the drums and Anthony Buda's rhythmic use of thumping bass guitar(which for a change from most albums, is being clearly heard on the sounds) that pushes the album's overall status to an almost godlike position. With their blanket of high precision instrument handling coupled with brilliant song structures, Revocation has ushered a new breed of extreme metal in their album Existence Is Futile. Brain Scramblers and Pestilence Reigns are some of the other tracks where Davidson drops an entire cauldron of riffs to carry an entire album. The sonic achievement which Revocation achieves in Existence Is Futile is sure to last long and it will surely lead them on path to greater things in the field of extreme metal.

Merging together elements of technical,death and to some extent even thrash, Revocation's Existence Is Futile appeals to whole broader spectrum of metal audience and not just a single specific group. As intense and interesting the album gets on the playlist, Existence Is Futile is sure to keep your puny head dizzy for a long, long time after some maniacal bouts of headbanging that's sure to follow after Davidson lets all his frustration loose on the guitars. Compiling melody with technicality and perfect song structuring, Existence Is Futile is quite a masterpiece in the field of extreme metal too and if you call yourself a die-hard fan of extreme metal(not the modern deathcore bullshit),then get your ear-drums ruptured and your necks snapped to Revocation's Existence Is Futile.

Cormorant - Metazoa

2009-11-04T15:06:00.003+05:30

October was a very boring when it came to new album releases. September was more fun, and so I shall continue to put up the reviews of some really amazing September albums this month. And so I shall start with Cormorant's latest album Metazoa which brings a fresh wind of change in the stagnating melodic death scene which has seen such a spurt in bands playing the Gothenburg sound that I almost started to get bugged of it. Yes, there are good bands like Insomnium, Ensiferum apart from much-hyped In Flames, At The Gates but then just 2 out of thousand is not enough to keep the scene going.

And this where Cormorant comes in kicks all the lame bands ass who ape other bands and call the sound their original creation. Cock shit to such fucking bands!The riffs in the album are mighty mighty good that crushes everything else to smithereens such as the starting riffs in Uneasy Lies The Head. One good thing about Cormorant's music is that though their music has several influences ranging from Opeth to Maiden, none are too rampant in a manner that their songs start to sound like them. And this is what sets the perfect mood for checking a new band out, bundles of creativity without widespread lifting of riffs. Metazoa is very well approached album where Cormorant interweaves folk elements with power metalsque moments with the much of its roots lying around in melodic death grounds.

Song structures in the album too gets a firm thumbs up alongside their good use of intelligent lyrics. Using loads of good, real good headbangable riffs their songs have progressive structure and thought they dont venture much into the technicality of their music, their songs nevertheless are very enjoyable. Some of the standout tracks in the album are Emigrant's Wake and Blood on The Cornfields where the riffs are very much in veins of Opeth in the former and the melodies remind of Maiden in the later. Hanging Gardens is another epic song from the album where the wah-wah simply blows your mind apart.

Metazoa is one album that's definitely worth checking out. Unlike so many other newer acts, Cormorant doesn't bore you to death in Metazoa where they have pumped a damned, solid effort. With the kind of effort they put into Metazoa, Cormorant can surely make it big in the future by doling out a more creative approach. Until their next album comes out, check Cormorant''s Metazoa.

Arch Enemy - Root of All Evil

2009-10-26T15:23:00.002+05:30

NO! Don't even think about it! Even if entire mankind is eradicated by zombie hordes and you happen to be the lone survivor who's a metalhead and finds this disc on his way to...well nowhere, then commit suicide, yes kill yourself, drive a knife through your chest or shoot through your head but dont listen to Arch Enemy's Root of All Evil. You will regret listening to it!

I've already wasted enough time thinking whether i should be listening to this or not after reading the customer reviews, and now I don't want to waste any more time elaborating what's not right with this hopelessly pathetic piece of compact disc Arch Enemy managed to name Root Of All Evil. Please go do something else now! I'm feeling mighty disgusted to even write about this worthless piece of shit!

Rock 'N India 2010 Date Announced

2009-10-14T17:16:00.003+05:30

Rock 'N India 2010 dates have been officially announced. The third edition of this epic music festival is scheduled to take place on 20th and 21st February, in B'lore(not B'luru- the name's not cool and we B'loreans dont like it either)? And No, I've not made a mistake in typing the dates! Its taking place over a 2 days period this time, which can only mean that more bigger bands are slated to play for the upcoming edition.

Till then watch this space as I sniff the air for any rumors of any big name act playing in the festival....oh wait, I think I just heard Napalm Death are gonna headline the show!

Exhumation Changes Line-Up

2009-10-13T13:03:00.004+05:30

Now some good news to follow up the tragic ones. Bombay based brutal death act Exhumation has made a major change in lineup following the exit of band's drummer Yash Pathak due to his personal reasons as said in their vocalist Aditya Pathak's blog. Following the exit, Demonstealer Makhija of Demonic Resurrection has moved in to the band to take up the bass duties? Yes, bass duties - Makhija sure is one talented bugger. The band are currently looking for a new drummer to fill in Pathak's seat at the moment.

Exhumation are set to release their next album Consider This at the end of the year. Till then watch this space, till Exhumation brews up another storm.

Anal Blast vox Don Decker Dead

2009-10-13T12:29:00.005+05:30

October has indeed been a tragic month for the metal community around the world. After the tragic death of Michael Alexnder, Evile bassist while on tour with Amon Amarth in Sweden, another blow strikes the metal scene in the form of Anal Blast vocalist, Don Decker's death.

Anal Blast's songs on sex, death or black humour were widely considered to have come out Don's mind. Making a firm footing on the deathgrind/porngrind genre, Anal Blast never got much grip on the mainstream scene due to Don's offensive yet humorous matter. Nevertheless the man whose insane stage acts that included bringing porn stars onstage during performance and much more ridiculous acts, will always live forever in his songs from Anal Blast.

For those of you wondering who are Anal Blast, well Joey Jordison, the Slipknot drummer and Paul Gray,bassist played for them before moving on to their current band.

Here's an excerpt of interview with Don Decker that shows his insane sense humour.

Amon Amarth Gig Postponed To December

2009-10-08T14:52:00.006+05:30

The Amon Amarth gig originally scheduled for November 8 has now been postponed to December for uncited reason according to sources.

Eitherways I'm praying real hard for this not to turn into another cat and mouse game, like the GnR incident. If Amarth do come down here, the much starved Indiam metalheads will get to see some much needed quality international metal being played on the domestic front minus the glam sham of so many other bands in the past.

Keeping fingers crossed till then.

Sanctification - Black Reign

2009-10-07T16:16:00.006+05:30

That there would be a Swedish band playing death metal is something I am familiar with. That there would be a Swedish band playing death metal trenched in American style, is something I am not familiar with. And thats' what I realised when I first SANCTIFICATION's ''Black Reign'' a hear. Instead of the buzzsaw tones from the heavily detuned guitars so commonly heard among the Swedish death bands, one could mostly hear that fast, distorted, down tuned riffs similar to American death metal bands like Hate Eternal, Deicide. However, this wasn't a point to reject their album. Black Reign is an absolute spine crusher that continuously drowns you in its unstoppable fury in the form of its pile-driving riffs and heart-stopping percussion beats.

With solid vocals that are delivered at a brutal precision akin to Corpsegrinder Fischer's style in Cannibal Corpse, the album is just like any of the numerous traditional death metal album. With ripping riffs playing in blast happy rhythms with accordance to fast, dynamic double bass beats which adds to the ferocity of the music, ''Black Reign'' is your classic death metal album. What packs an extra punch to its ferocity is the album super refined production values added by the inimitable Peter Tagtren and Tommy Tagtren. Due to this ,the tones are beefy which underscore's the album's brutal sounds without giving that unwanted sense of suffocation. And when you realise that Sanctification shares its members with Dark Funeral both in the past and in the present times, you dont stop admiring the fact that they are as much energetic and tight act like Funeral.

Magnus Broberg's (a.k.a Emperor Caligula) gutturals leave a devastating effect on your audio senses in songs such as ''Black Reign'' and ''Raw''. The guitars shred furiously alongside the frantic blasts at mid-tempo pace in ''Flesh,Skin and Bone'' before joining up the album's overall rhythm. Nils Fjellstorm's drumming is one of the strong point in the album. The drumming is pretty much in old school veins employing start-and-stop blasts which never impedes the guitar work at any single point which're handled masterfully by Tomas and Marcus, and this is best demonstrated in the starting track ''Thirst For Blood'' where guitars and drums go side by side without eating in to each other's rhythm.

On the whole the album is well done, and although SANCTIFICATION pretty much plays in the American style at points they do try to break away from it to fall back to their Swedish death roots. Amongst the many mediocre death metal albums that're available these days, ''Black Reign'' manages to stay above them. If its the classic death metal albums you crave for minus the cock and ball torture in modern death metal albums, then SANCTIFICATIION's ''Black Reign'' is just the right thing for you.

Narsil To Re-Group Again?

2009-10-07T14:42:00.003+05:30

If Shaswat Gupta's word are to be believed in his interview to headbangers.in, then Delhi based brutal death act Narsil has a good chance of hitting the stage again, when their guitarist Kshitij returns from Australia. Where each of their of their songs exemplifies demented brutality, Narsil are undoubtedly one of the best death metal acts in the country.

Hope to catch them live if they do reform again.

Till then catch their songs on their myspace page.

Amon Amarth and Textures in B'lore on Nov.8?

2009-10-06T11:50:00.004+05:30

I've been hearing a lot about Textures playing in India of late, with the members themselves saying they're working out a schedule to touch down India somewhere before the end of the year.

And now out of nowhere lands another big bomb that says Viking metal giants Amon Amarth are playing alongside Textures on Nov.8 at the Deccan RockOut festival in B'lore. Official announcement is supposed to be out by the mid-weeks of Oct.

Eitherways if Amon Amarth do come down, it'll be one epic gig of massive proportions as Amarth 's gig are considered to be highly highly energetic and crowd enthralling. No wonder they got awarded the best live act by Metal Hammer for the year 2009.

Read Rolling Stones Oct. issue for more.

Inner Sanctum Wins XXIV Edition of I-Rock

2009-10-06T11:41:00.003+05:30

I've always vouched for the band in every competition in each of their gigs and did the same for them in this year's I-Rock. And now they've decimated their opponents in I -Rock finals winning the competition's 24th edition.

Hail Sanctum!\m/

Pestilential Shadows - In Memoriam, Ill Omen

2009-10-05T15:36:00.008+05:30

Playing anti human plague black metal in In Memorium, Ill Omen, yes that's what the members of Pestilential Shadows call their music, the band convinces you that they are not the same act any more. Far more mature than their previous releases like Embrace to Death and Cursed which portrayed the afterlife in its most anarchic manner with their evil combination of vile riffs and vicious vocals. Moving over the era of low production quality that involved the same generic sounds, Pestilential Shadows have put in solid effort in creating their third album In Memorium,Ill Omen.

Every single second of the album resonates with evil that makes its presence felt in the atmosphere. The dry, cold sound of the album is every bit the perfect sound you would expect from any standout black metal band. The sound creates its best effect in the mid-tempo section where the effect is quite quelling with strong rhythms. The culmination of these sounds are best heard in tracks like Beautiful Demise and Sundered, where the tracks pack a powerful burst of energy. And its not just the production thats taken the front seat in these album, the songwriting too has seen a positive change from their previous release.

The songwriting has improved considerably enforcing the lyrical themes of death and genocide upon the earthlings alongside their futility for life with raspy, satan-styled vocals. Desolate and Zameth handle the guitars brilliantly packing that perfect double guitar punch to the music. The riffs create the perfect atmosphere for the album which is heard in tracks like With Serpents I Lay and Of Loss and Suffering Inherit that's vaguely reminds you of Wolves in Throne Room and Summoning. The instrumental track Ecclasia Moriendi captures the brilliance of the band's wonderful mastery over the instruments, all the while maintaining that atmospheric sound.

The distortions in the album are much more controlled than before, allowing more elements to be incorporated into the music. In short In Memorium,Ill Omen is a good album that pulls all the necessary strings required to make that perfect black metal album. And although there isn't much originality in the album, In Memorium,Ill Omen plays flawless cold,dark music.

Resurrection - Embalmed Existence

2009-10-05T15:20:00.007+05:30

If you thought only Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal, Deicide were the only Floridian bands that played ass ripping death metal music, then you're wrong. From the same region that gave us Death,Obituary comes another overlooked band Resurrection, who are equally adept in splitting your ears apart with their fiery brand of death metal that revolves around Paul Degoyler's wicked vocals and terrific guitar rhythms. The Dan Seagrave cover art and Alex Marquez's drumming , further goes on to fortify the album's stand as being one of Resurrection's best record till date.

''FUCK YEAH'', was what I screamed out loud as the starting track Disembodied played, packing rows of furious punches into my senses as I tried to get in term with the raw brutality of the music. Drum master's Marquez pummelling double bass beats at rapid pace will totally leave in awe at his skilful, precision drumming. Drums, in fact is the album's best instrument. The album is produced in such a way that each track owns the next as it builds the tempo harmonically. The riffs in the album are quite excellent too, though you cant call them as ingenious as the drums. But nevertheless the riffs are delivered in a ravishing manner with a precison next to Malevolent Creation's. Vocals too are well done, which gives you the feel that the lyrics are snarled upon the mic.

So the drums and guitars were handled pretty well, was the bass handled well too? My answer to that would be a firm no. The bass is very rarely heard throughout the record and the effect it creates is very minimal, which is a real let-down. An irritating point of Embalmed Existence is that almost every track opens with a narration or intro, which is totally not enjoyable and leaves you dumbfounded thinking what in the name of god made them add those parts. And if Resurrection had not come up with such crushing piece of death metal that follows it, the album would've totally deserved to be in your trash can. Pure Be Damned is the only track that lacks the annoying intros. Strictly speaking each track on the album is enjoyable( obviously minus the intros!) that lets you let your hair loose in the chaotic headbanging that goes along with every track playing, especially in Torture Chamber and the title track, Embalmed Existence.

In short, Resurrection's Embalmed existence is an album that any death metal purist would love to have. Bringing along the old school feel of the 90's the album is furious in its approach and will leave the listener decimated with their music. Resurrection's music makes up for their stupid venture into adding not-so-funny intros or else the album would've disastrous right from the start. If its pure death metal you want, then its pure death metal yo shall have in Resurrection's Embalmed Existence.

Unanimated -Ancient God of Evil

2009-10-01T17:13:00.009+05:30

Why is it the case that whenever melodic death gets mentioned people immediately gets to talking about In Flames, At The Gates, Soilwork and so on including bands that borrows heavily from the Gothenburg sound. Why is it that melo-death minus Gothenburg influences rarely gets a word of mention? Now i can never answer to that. But what I can do say is that Unanimated's music embodies the melodic Swedish sound even though there are hints of fusion between death metal and black metal. And this doesn't include the extensive use of guitar solos with clean vocals. Listening to them one realises that Unanimated indeed exemplifies the true old school melodic death style instead of being overtly melodic.

Sticking to death metal oriented sounds Unanimated shows how melodic death metal should sound - building melodies around death metal and not the other way around, keeping the death factor intact in their music.Featuring members of Entombed, Dismember, Therion; Unanimated's Ancient God of Evil is a polished yet intricately blended record where each song strikes an evil chord from its melodic notes. The beauty of the album comes from the fact that implacable melodic riffs from the lead guitarist is always emphasized by an equally competent second guitarist playing discerning metal riffs. The fast, distorted guitar riffs with the broken chords that move in a sequence inducing the melodic tone is best felt in the track Eye of The Greyhound.

This twin guitar attack coupled with the raspy vocals of the black metal style makes a pleasurable change from the far-more mainstream sounds of melodic-death scene.

That melodic death sounds can be created by such minimal use of keyboard is a fact well worth applause for the band who rarely make a good work from the keyboard in the album. Dead Calm and Mireille are among the few tracks where keyboards are used, particularly in the slower parts of Dead Calm where keyboards adds an ominous touch to the ambience. The melodies presented on the keyboard also gives a very sorrowful touch to the album's sounds. Drumming in Ancient God of Evil is nothing too extravagant, just drumming along with the riffs with occasional bursts of doublekicks to keep up with the riff progressions.

All in all presenting the album in one grand, majestic way all the while exploring the issues of nihilism and self-negation, Unanimated's Ancient God of Evil is one of the most under-rated melodic death albums of all time. With nominal use of keyboards, Unanimated creates melodies with a strong presence of death/black elements which is nowhere close to the Gothenburg sounds.The level of musicianship is practically unparalleled to this day , but every song is incredibly well crafted thus leading to the high praise. Listen to this album to know how the melodic death metal sounded before In Flames and At the Gates stormed the scene.

The Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite

2009-09-26T16:31:00.006+05:30

First things first. Ruins of Beverast are not a band. Ruins of Beverast is a one man project of ex- Nagelfar, (not Naglfar) drummer Alexander von Meilenwald. Taking a bohemian approach of combining unorthodox and traditional elements with complex atmospheric black metal sounds that lends a depressing tone to the music featuring variety of extreme vocals that leaves you totally drenched in the perverse melancholy of its sounds. One play, just one play of the album made me forget the world around me, hooking me to its gloomy sounds. Semen is a feat of absolute pain, agony and horror experienced by its creator, delivered piece by piece to its listener.

If you thought Rain Of Impure was a great album, then Semen is better. Better than a great album that was Rain of Impure. This album tends to draw parallels with acts like Verdunklen and Lunar Aurora, with the way the tracks all have an element of experimentation and contain all sorts of unorthodox bits and pieces thrown into songs, not to mention an interesting new focus on the death doom metal passages that were noticeable in the previous album and which sounded far better too. Plenty of long-doom passages in fact make the album great listening to, also making this the best album of Meilenwald.

That Semen is darker and more complex than his previous album is clearly understood form the track I Raise The Stone As A Ghastly Memorial that treads with doom like melodies amidst Meilenwald's deep chants. Amidst the long tracks in the album, there're several smaller interludes of chorus like Alu present that sets up longer features like God's Exsanguined Bestiaries that succeeds Alu. The track's a crushiong mix of blasting dilapidation with barking growls. Mount Sinai Moloch is another such smashing track that encompasses everything that's evil with its percussion and spine-chilling use of horns. In fact the album seems like the symphony of an ancient,mystical evil force like elder gods in Lovecraft mythology.

Yes, the album is slow and long. But Semen is an depressive black metal project with curious mixes of funeral doom passages. In fact this is exactly how the album should sound. As a one man project, Meilenwald produces another masterpiece album in the form of Foulest Semen of Sheltered Elite. The tones are mightly and lends a primeval feel to the atmosphere. Must hear for any atmospheric/depressive black metal act.

Bloodlines Video From Their New Album

2009-09-26T16:28:00.001+05:30

Watch and come hard headbanging to this video.

3 More Days And Then Let All Hell Loose Listening To Dethalbum II

2009-09-26T16:19:00.004+05:30

Dethalbum I was a product of such sheer awesomeness that even now metalheads go nuts listening to tracks like Murmaider and Awaken.

And now brace yourself to experience that awesome force that's Dethklok once again on 29th Sept. when Dethalbum II hits the stores.

Inner Sanctum wins I-Rock Bangalore.

2009-09-26T16:17:00.002+05:30

Inner Snactum has given has enough sore necks and broken backs in their numerous concerts. And now it looks like they have smashed their way to the top winning I Rock B'lore edition decimating the crowds with their high energized music alongside other competitors Eccentric Pendulum, Theorized and Crimson Wood.

Next stop is Bombay for these guys, where I am pretty sure they're gonna blast through the judges and audiences audio senses once again to win this year's I -Rock edition.

Ensiferum - From Afar

2009-09-24T12:05:00.003+05:30

That Ensiferum are an awesome band, is a fact well known. That From Afar is one hell of an ass-kicking album, is a fact that can only be believed by hearing it. Staying on top of the game, Ensiferum have made a brilliant album by infusing every element that goes into make that perfect Viking metal album. Victory Songs was a terrific album that put Ensiferum on top of the viking metal pack, but following it many other bands popped up with their music sounding like well what to say - like every other band in the genre. But with From Afar Ensiferum once again shows to every one that they are the leaders of this genre.

Packing all the classic Viking metal elements like haunting keyboard choirs, melodious flute notes, Nordic rhymes, rapid fire riffing at bolting rhythm, listening to the album makes one hell of an epic experience. Instrumental wise, the musicians do perfect justice to the album by playing with panache. The intro track By Dividing Stream contains a masterfully done acoustic piece, thanks to Markus. The towering riffs in Heathen Thrones along with the horns keeps your spirits high by making you headbang as hard as possible. The horns in fact are a part of their elaborate orchestra inclusion that builds around the band's core music. This can be noted in their songs like Elusive Reaches and Longest Journey.

Emmi Silvenoinen , the ban's new keyboardist keeps up to the expectations of the band by playing some fluid melodies in tracks like Smoking Ruins and Longest Journey. In fact the keyboard plays an essential role in keeping the glorious viking era atmosphere throughout the album. Their longer compositions like Heathen Throne, though boring in the end shows that the band is adept even at slower rhythms. Production of the album too is top-notch, due to efforts by their previous producers Janni Joutsenniemi.

Where Victory Songs is a straight forward album showcasingEnsiferum's mix of black, folk, and power metal elements; From Afartakes the song-writing to a different level and is therefore much more diverse in song structures and general pacing of the album. Although a few of the songs from the album do slip below the radar and the long songs are simply not as good as Victory Song,Ensiferum are once again showing the light for other bands to follow within this style. Ensiferum are a band that cannot disappoint

Nile and Textures To Tour India

2009-09-24T11:39:00.007+05:30

After the boring cat and mouse game played between the organisers and Guns And Roses came to an end, resulting in a declaration that Guns n Roses 'WILL NOT' be touring India, here's some good news for those waiting for some real adrenalin pumping action in form of an international act playing here.

No, GIR doesn't count as that. Not with Benea Reach, Intronaut and Solstate. I never considered deathcore/metalcore/post-metal music to be chest thumping fist shoving kind of music like BDM/ black metal

So here's the news, Nile had already confirmed they would be playing in India in this specified interview. I took with Karl Sanders for Chordvine.com, this is what I was told when asked whether Nile would be coming tdown to India for a show

''That’s absolutely wicked. So any plans of Nile playing in India after the next album come up?

You bet! Our management is working towards India, Thailand and China shows on the next Nile Tour when we cross the pacific this next time to do our usual Nile shows in Japan, Australia and New Zealand.''

Plus on a chat with one of the DNA organiser back in August, i was told that they planned to get Nile, Textures and another big-name metal act to play in the Bangalore in Oct. Hence confirming the Nile tour once again. For people refusing to believe this too, Nile once again state they are working on a schedule to play in India somewhere during mid-Oct. in the Sept. issue of Rolling Stones India.

As for Textures, flip through RSJ's latest issue where in their interview they state that they too are planning to come down to India for a show somewhere during this year-end.

All and all these are news to be celebrated, as for long time Indian metalheads have not banged their head to some quality international act. And no this doesn't include Maiden and Co., as they were too damn commercial.

Dying Fetus - Desend Into Depravity

2009-09-22T15:13:00.003+05:30

After some melodies from Insomnium, we have some brutality this month as well, thanks to Dying Fetus' Descend Into Depravity. Going by the album name, the album is every bit explosive as one would expect from Dying Fetus with frenzied pace and pile-driving riffs that invokes the beast within you to go take a leap into insanity. Combining brutality and technicality has been the forte of very few bands, and Dying 'fucking' Fetus achieves that with such flair that listening to it soon sends you to an unstoppable headbanging mania.

After their disappointing fare in War of Attrition and Stop At Nothing, Fetus find their groove back in this album, distantly reminding you of their classic Destroy The Opposition. With explosive riffs playing around sleek tempo that backs the Gallagher's explosive gutturals, Descend Into Depravity succeeds in clobbering your ears to nonexistance. The fact that whole band is so incredibly tight owing to their stable lineup since 01 except for Timlin's departure and Trey Williams arrival. in fact playing with the classic 3 man (Bdm/grindcore) lineup has lent a lot to Fetus' mindblasting sounds. Right from the starting track Your Treachery Will Die With You, the album feels like one big setup for an oncoming moshpit.

Full of blast beats and down-tuned fast riffs alongside growls, the album constantly batters your assault like in the track Atrocious By Nature or the title track that simply leaves you jaw-dropped amidst all that intense bout of headbanging due Gallagher's out-of-the-world riffing or in At What Expense where Beasly's basslines are equally appreciable. The dual vocals of Gallagher and Beasly works brilliantly too in tracks like Ethos of Coercion and Shepherd's Commandment. The songwriting is fluid as well speaking mostly about moral corruption of the society we live in, as is the classic Fetus known for their outspoken political views.

Descend Into Depravity is in short an awesome album that instantly pummels your senses, just like you would expect from any other BDM album. The songs are well written and the tightness of the band is nothing short of an achievement worth praise. Not leaving you poker-faced, Dying Fetus has reached the level where they succeed in delivering constant doses of brutality instead of vague experimentation, just like Autopsy, Nile, Aborted. After Descend Into Depravity one can surely expect more brutal savagery from the band in their next venture.

Insomnium - Across The Dark

2009-09-22T13:14:00.004+05:30

If you were to expect anything new from Insomnium's latest album Across the Dark then it would be just the cover art and the lyrics. Save the music, everything else is different in the new album. On hitting the play button you will hear that same melodic leads with those same doom-ish riffs in an equally same despondent atmosphere that you have come across in all their previous albums. When you realise a band like Insomnium, a band that brought along fresh wave of change in the melo-death scene with their fluid melodies are coming out with a new feature you are bound to expect something new in their music. But alas, Across The Dark is no such proof of such statement.

Agreed that the melodies in the new album are best described mercurial and the songwriting has considerably improved, the music more or less feels like an extension of their last album Above The Weeping The World. The only few changes one notices are the addition of synth sounds, courtesy of Aleski Munter of Swallow The Sun that are fused in with most of the tracks to compensate the removal of layers of melodic leads. As a result the impact of the melodies are more forthright and consequently more enjoyable. The other change being inclusion of clean vocals, which have been incorporated into a smattering of songs. Only song where the clean singing makes a difference is in the epic Lay of Autumn, but over there as well it lasts for only a brief period.

The only thing that would appeal to fans would be the fact that its predictable. They can always look to expect some similar elements from their last albums. Some of the tracks that make a memorable listening experience would be fast wavering Into The Woods and Against The Hues. The melancholy of the band is most profoundly felt in Weighed Down By Sorrow. Instrumentally the guys in Insomnium have fared better than before. The bassline in Weighted Down with Sorrow is quite commendable.

Overall listening to Across The Dark is a worthwhile experience. The missing of a standout track like Killjoy is quite disappointing, though Down With Sun comes close to it. More disappointing is the fact that same music is played in the album, in fact the same type of music has been playing on since their debut album. This stereotyped music pretty much begins to bore you as its impact can hardly be said to be consequential. And though they could have incorporated a bit more of clean vocals, for reason I know not they refrained from doing so that only adds to my frustration of my Insomnium have not taken the music to the next level as many of us expected so. After this non-essential venture, I am hoping Insomnium will come up with something ''new'' in their next production.

Inner Sanctum - Provenance(EP)

2009-09-20T00:15:00.005+05:30

Inner Sanctum! That one name that instantly conjures up violent images of broken arms, bruised head and limp bodies from a delirious moshpit. Inner Sanctum! Now we've all witnessed the imposing force that is the band in its prime form in their live acts. Channeling their never-ending energy to one huge binding force that soon overwhelms the audience, gripping them in their control when all the while they are furiously headbanging to their thunderous beats; Inner Sanctum,Bangalore based tech death/thrash outfit are unarguably one of India's best death metal bands. They've always kept up to the audience's expectation giving power-packed performance in each of their single gigs, winning many of them all the while playing with an almost God-like stature.

While crowds drove in hordes( by Indian standards) to their gigs, there was a greater expectation to be met by the band for the headbangers out there. And they finally kept upto that likelihood when their debut EP Provenance released this month. Offering the same intensity of their live gigs, Inner Sanctum play a brilliant 4 track set, blowing your ears to smithereens. The production quality of the EP is by far one of the best in any Indian metal releases and this lends an extra credibility that Inner Sanctum are indeed a formidable act. And that's not it, unlike many other numerous Indian metal acts selling their 'original' stuff, Inner Sanctum's authentic sound rides high on the album aping no other acts. This is in fact is one of the many highs of the EP.

Now its not every time you get to hear a song that too a metal one on one of the most influential villains portrayed on screen- Dark Knight's Joker, however Sanctum go on to do just that playing a smashing mid-tempo track in Agent of Chaos. With soaring riffs and lofty double bass beats the track instantly sets up the mood for headbanging. The riffs in fact are razor sharp, slicing through the guitars thanks to their guitarists Chintan and Rajeev. Their pile driving riffs continue to assault your senses alongside Gaurav's guttural vocals in their next tracks Quarantine and Human Disregard. In fact the killer drumming by Abhinav in Quarantine, which was available for streaming on their MySpace/Bandcamp page for streaming, immediately sets you to the temper to mosh. Human Disregard is by far the best track on the EP that plays on a groovy note. The EP ends on a vehement note with the Eye of False that has some catchy riffs in its intro.

No point in the EP will you ever stop saying yourself. 'Wow', 'Incredibly tight' 'awesome' with horns raised in the air, 'cause that's what they actually are - an abrilliant tight act. There's not a single moment in the EP that leaves you disappointed except in the end where you are left standing exhausted from all that headbanging asking for more intense stuff from the band. But then you cant expect more tracks in an EP. The artwork by Gaurav is quite well done too. Overall Provenance is an excellent debut EP which's great to headbang to. After a brilliant venture like this, the band sure has more expectations to live upto in their next album. Till then grab yourself a copy of the EP and break your neck headbanging to it.

Headbang To Metal Mario

2009-09-19T23:28:00.002+05:30

Inner Sanctum Cover Art

2009-09-14T00:13:00.004+05:30

Two Words:

FUCKING AWESOME!

Gnr's India Tour Confirmed

2009-09-10T16:13:00.003+05:30

Ok now i agree that GnR is nowhere close to metal, but then who hasn't crooned to ''Sweet Child of Mine'' or ''Paradise City'' in their childhood/pre-teenage days!

What was perceived as a hoax in the beginning has been turned to a confirmation. About a week back the website www.rhapsodyinc.in claimed that GnR would be touring India and playing in Bangalore on 7th November.

And now the owner of the site Mr.Raj Sinha has confirmed the news in this specified news article in Deccan Chronicle.

And although we'll see a bunch of musician noobs (Slash,Izzy and mcKagab quit the band long ago) accompanying Axl Rose the sole founding member of the band, watching them live will be a dream come true for many fans of this legendary hard rock act.

Amogh Symphony - Abolishing The Obsolete System

2009-09-10T15:51:00.005+05:30

These days its very rare to find musicians who strive to take their music to the next dimension. Its even more rare when it comes to the modern technical Death genre, where every band sounds like every band, falling dreadfully into the pit of recurring sounds. But what makes this particular album in contention even more rare is the simple fact that its from India, a land where most bands are busy aping their western counterparts.

And this where Vishal J.Singh's Amogh Symphony enters the scene, bringing with him a brand of music that has changed the face of technical Death/Progressive Metal genre forever, leaving the listeners in a state of amazement with their jaws dropped. Vishal J.Singh is a musical genius handling all the instruments with adept skills in his first full-length release.The basslines heard in the album are possibly some of the best you can ever come across and not forget the his skillful drumming which simply establishes him as a drumming virtuoso. The riffs heard in the album including the acoustic ones heard in the closing track ''Post War Symphony'' also go on to prove nothing but Vishal's a guitar wizard too. And its not just the instruments which he handles so well, the album's wonderful sound production is all due to Vishal's fantastic efforts again.

What makes the album so different from other acts of this genre is the simple fact that Vishal plays an intricate style of technical Death Metal in the album fusing Jazz elements wonderfully alongside Indian classical music influences as well as techno-synth sounds as heard in tracks like Cyborg Activation and Abolishing The Obsolete System. And its the inclusion of such structures that soon engulfs the listener in a cosmic atmosphere, making him anticipate each track with such a zeal that pretty soon he may find his head banging to the beats of the album.

The whole album unquestionably sounds like one great song where every track sounds like a part of a greater track, with every track maintaining it's own unique identity. And this is where lies Amogh Symphony's beauty. Single masterpieces joining together in greater harmony to form a larger magnum opus. So far as vocals are concerned, they are a scarce commodity in album except in Swallowing The Infected Sun' where its performed by Ramki (vocalist of Chicago based Prog Death outfit Noesis) and in ''Greenhouse Effect'' by Prashant Vadhyar.

And even without all the growling/throaty vocals one expects in a Tech-Death Metal album, "Abolishing The Obsolete System" carries the Tech-Death Metal vibe. In fact the album manages to sound pretty neat minus the vocals. All in all Amogh Symphony pulls off a brilliant masterpiece in his new album without any flaws worth mentioning. The magic Vishal spins with his skills is simply awe-inspiring and I just cant stop imagining how his next album might sound like after his latest venture that was Abolishing The Obsolete System.

Porcupine Tree in India

2009-09-05T03:08:00.004+05:30

Veteran British prog rockers Porcupine Tree are slated to play their first ever gig in India on 21st December in Mood Indigo festival in IIT,Bombay.

After getting Finnish melo-death metallers Ensiferum to headline their fest last year, the nerds supremo at IIT have managed to pull in another heavyweight in their own genre in the form of Porcupine Tree. But then the Ensiferum gig was apparently a big fuck-up considering the negative audience response( that was bound to happen, afterall when free passes are handed out then even your next door neighbour's father is bound to end up in a show, be it even a metal one) and seeing that I am now wondering if the Porcupine Tree gig too is headed in the same direction.

However their Chennai counterparts did a better job in in hosting Opeth, which witnessed a huge turnout and the response too was on a larger and positive note.

Eitherways I am even more perplexed by the fact that bands of such status actually come down to India to play in college fests on invitation rather than performing in their own tours or any music festivals. In short this is another disappointing sign that metal music is heading the commercial way with bands coming here only for the money!

Vader - Necropolis

2009-09-04T23:22:00.005+05:30

A band generally closes its door when almost all its members walk away maybe leaving behind only a single guy back. But sometimes that one guy is more than enough to carry on the band's legacy. And thats exactly what frontman and founding member of Vader Piotr '' Peter'' Wiwczarek did when everyone quit the band, move on. With new recruits in form of Vogg from Decapitated taking over the guitars,Reyash of Incantation managing the bass and Pawel Jaroszewicz of Hell-Born fame handling the drums, Peter's Vader has delivered another power-packed performance in his 8th full length release, Necropolis. The fact that they have come up with the album within a year of Peter losing his entire backing band makes the album even the more worth giving a hear.

Even after a complete revamp of the lineup, the band manages to retain the same old Vader-ish sounds as seen outright from the starting track Devilizer that contains those usual pile-driving riffs and the throaty vocals alongside the thunderous double bass beats, which had first got Vader noticed. With plenty of furious riffing at chugging fast pace and throaty,dry vocals Vader sound every bit like a polished war machine obliterating everything in its path. Blastbeats too are plenty inducing the perfect mosh atmosphere in tracks like Impure alongwith equally mosh inducing riffs. An interesting aspect about the album is that there are more solos than previous releases and each of these solos are executed with such focus that has been the trademark of the band that it makes you pump your fists against the wall in the pure adrenalin rush you get listening to it.

Also the album is shorter than usual, clocking just over thirty minutes mark. However this does not piss me off as long as tracks like Blast and Anger provide the infuriating moments of headbanging experience. We Are Horde and Rise Of The Dead are some of the tracks that showcases everything that is Vader. There are also some un-Vader points in the album in tracks like Impressions In Blood and XXV where keyboards outline the compositions. Also the band takes a more traditional heavy metal path in the closing track When The Sun Drowns In Dark, also its the only track that clocks over seven minutes. Venom's Black Metal and Metallica's Fight Fire With Fire are executed in pure Vader style in the end after all their own compositions are completed.

Although you would be done through with all the headbanging & moshing listening to Necropolis, in the end you might find yourself asking more from the band. Just over half hour, the album could have expanded more over Vader's style. But nevertheless Vader produces a top notch album in Necropolis without losing any grounds that once again goes on to show why Poland's Vader are still considered as death metal gods.

Metal Priest

2009-09-04T23:11:00.004+05:30

Now everytime we talk about metal, some jackass always screws the conversation up calling it to be anti-religious , against the god and blah blah blah. Agreed black metal has always moved on the left hand path, but that doesn't mean all genres of metal are deemed anti-God.

This video basically trashes all such concept as we see an Italian monk taking up frontman duties for his heavy metal band Fratello Metallo

RSJ Announce Their GIR 2009 Headliners

2009-09-03T23:46:00.004+05:30

Rock Street Journal have announced the international headline acts for the forthcoming Great Indian Rock fest.

US based sludge/prog metallers Intronaut and Norwegian metalcore act Benea Reach are scheduled to headline GIR this time.

The mag has also told they would announce more headlining acts in the forthcoming weeks.

Meanwhile festival dates have been announced as well.

The festival dates and venues are as follows:
PUNE - fri, 23rd Oct - OASIS
DELHI - Sat 24th and sun 25th Oct - Hamsadwhani, Pragati Maidan
KOLKATA - Sat 24th - NAZRUL MANCH
BANGALORE - Sun 25th Oct, Palace Grounds

CLUB DATES: Manipal, Hyderabad, Mumbai - TBA

On a personal note I am really disappointed as of now after reading that some relatively unknown band is performing in GIR this time. That too a sludge and a mallcore one!After seeing them bring along established black metal acts like Satyricon and Enslaved, RSJ have let us down by going commercial and bringing metalcore acts, something that has not been in RSJ's soup before.

For the other acts, I am really hoping they are some extreme ones.

Keeping fingers crossed till then.

Slayer Finally Announces World Painted Blood's Official Release Date

2009-09-03T15:07:00.006+05:30

Finally Slayer have officially announced the launch date of their forthcoming album ''World Painted Blood''

November 3 is the official US release date, while its November 2 every where else.

The release also tells us that there will be “a limited edition CD with multiple CD covers, a deluxe edition CD/DVD, and a high-quality, 180-gram vinyl edition.”

This is exciting stuff from the band who have delaying the launch of this album for almost 4 months now!

Its Official : Monkeys Like Metal

2009-09-03T14:51:00.002+05:30

Its official now. Monkeys listen to metal. And if you think this is big bluff then there's scientist reports to back iy up as well.

According to the article posted in today's TOI edition

Scientists played a selection of music to a group of cotton-top tamarin monkeys but the only tunes that got a reaction were from the heavy metal band Metallica. They were seemingly disinterested in Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis and Bach, but after the dulcet tones of Master of Puppets by Metallica was played the tamarins calmed down.

"Monkeys interpret rising and falling tones differently than humans. Oddly, their only response to several samples of human music was a calming response to the heavy-metal band Metallica," said Professor Charles Snowdon, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Rather than making them agitated or aggressive, the heavy metal tracks had a soothing effect.

And if thats not it, then this particular monkey even resembles a black metal frontman sporting corpse paint!

Mid September is the date For Inner Sanctum's EP Launch

2009-09-02T15:52:00.005+05:30

Now back to the Indian front and Inner Sanctum have revealed that their EP will be available somewhere around mid-September.

And that's not it, as Sahil Makhija of DSR has announced that the EP shall be sold for Rs.100 in all their Furtados outlet.

In any case, you are out for a brutal treat when the EP hits the store. Hail Sanctum.\m/

Dimmu Fires Bassist and Keyboard Player

2009-09-02T15:35:00.002+05:30

More news from the black metal scene, and this time its from Dimmu Borgir. Borgir have apparently shown the door to their bassist/clean vocalist ICS Vortex and keyboard player Mustis over the weekend. However this wasn't a mutual decision as seen from the post in Blabbermouth.net

Gaahl Announces Retirement

2009-09-02T15:18:00.004+05:30

Former Gorgoroth and God Seed frontman has dropped a bomb in the black metal scene by announcing his retirement from the scene after playing just 2 shows with his current band God Seed. As a result things have been put to hold in the band by their bassist King ov Hell.

Municipal Waste - Massive Aggressive

2009-08-31T00:28:00.003+05:30

Finally some in-your-face thrash after a long time. And thats what you get in Municipal Waste's latest release Massive Aggressive which slams out thirteen blistering tracks under a period of half hour. But then who's gonna complain about it when the genre in question is crossover thrash. For quite some time now Municpal Waste have been leading the thrash revival, and they do so with style as seen in this album. Incorporating punk charcteristics with thrash syles while letting out an array of mosh riffs, Waste pay tribute to Nuclear Assault and Exodus whose influence is clearly seen through the record.

With more crisper riffs and catchier choruses in the album, Massive Aggressive clearly shows that the band's music has matured considerably since their previous outing in Art of Partying which is still considered their seminal piece. And its not just the music that has evolved, but the lyrical quality has gone up too in the album as heard in tracks like Upside Down Church. The band in fact triumphs in maintaining the aggression through the album.

Ryan Waste tears the fretboard apart with his killer riffs in songs like Shredded Offering. The efforts over the bass and drums are pretty commendable as well.Tony Foresta is in the top of his form as he lets go of his vocal prowess in tracks like Massive Aggressive and Wolves of Chernobyl. One of the highlighting track of the album is Wrong Answer that features some of the catchiest riffs of the record while shifting pace from frenzied stampede to a moderate groove. Mech - Cannibal and Relentless Threat are other killer tracks from this album.

Massive Agressive is a standard crossover fare that includes upbeat musicianship alongwith quality song writing. The album once again proves why they are leading the resurgence of thrash movement with out any doubt. And after this amazing fare, I wonder what comes next from Municipal Waste

Amogh Symphony's Latest Track

2009-08-29T05:48:00.003+05:30

Vectorscan, the latest single from Vishal J.Singh's Amogh Symphony is out for streaming on his MySpace site. As per his blog, the new track is all about differeneces and similarities between corrupt human mind and viruses.

Ok, now i have no idea what made him choose such an absurd topic to base his song upon, but I do have fair idea of how the track might turn after his path breaking previous album Abolishing The Obsolete System. Who knows maybe this could turn out to a song from his side project with Luke Jaeger?
Visit his MySpace page to give the track a hear.

Vishal J.Singh and Luke Jaeger's New Project.

2009-08-28T17:14:00.003+05:30

Vishal J.Singh, the one man supremo behind Amogh Symphony pathbreaking sounds has teamed up with Luke Jaeger of Sleep Terror fame to form a new project.

Amogh Symphony's Vishal J. Singh has taken upon himself the weight to take technical death/progressive metal scene to a new dimension as heard in his debut album '' Abolishing The Obsolete System''. And now one can only wonder what more unexpected sounds we would get to hear from this project.

Anticipate Inner Sanctum's Chaotic EP This September

2009-08-28T16:45:00.002+05:30

Just few days back Inner Sanctum released official images bearing the words ' Anticipate Chaos' without revealing what its all about.

But now sources have revealed that it could be if not necessarily be the name of their forthcoming EP. Clearly this a huge step taken forward for the band that gets undisputed accolades wherever they perform. The track 'Quarantine' which for long has been the opening track at their live gigs is up for streaming at their site.

Click here to give it a hear.

Gig Review: One Last Time - 15th Aug

2009-08-27T16:29:00.003+05:30

15th August, 2009 was India's 62nd Independence Day . 15th August 2009 was the day when Bangalore's two of the best metal acts MyndSnare and Extinct Reflections played 'one last' gig. Yes, after so many years of existence, MyndSnare and Extinct Reflections played their last gig as KP,Sandesh and Yasmin from MyndSnare will soon be leaving for the States to pursue a year and a half course in LA based Musician's Institute. Sandesh's departure also spelt the end of Extinct Reflections of which he was the lead guitarist. With the vocalist Prasad of ER out of the band as well, ER's days with their best line up are over.

Originally scheduled to be held at Xtreme Sportz Bar, B'ghatta Rd(Bangalore) the venue got shifed to B-FLat, Indiranagar(Bangalore) at the last moment. But either ways both the places cannot be ideally considered for a metal gig as the acoustics were just above average. Yet, 200 strong crowd turned up( limted number of tickets were for sale) to witness these bands one last time. Stranglehold, a side project comprising MyndSnare, ER and Inner Sanctum band members kickstarted the set playing only one original track and few covers including a Lamb of God's Laid to Rest. Quite a lot of us in the crowd were left stunned seeing them play such unusuually high numbers of cover till Gaurav(vox- Inner Sanctum) the vocalist added that the band re-grouped on a short notice of four days prior the gig.

Next came Extinct Reflections who played all their six original compositions including their best track 'Recognise Analyze'. They also played other crowd favourites ' Swallowed into Silence' and ' In Praise of Your Shadows'. Sandesh's work around the guitar was mind-blowing, beyond any words of excellence and so was Kishan's furious drumming. But what again took the crowd by surprise was to see Gaurav handle the vocals again for ER. And soon ER departed and up came much awaited MyndSnare.

Playing all their original tracks including 'Alter Ego' , 'Layers of Hypocrisy' for almost an hour, MyndSnare showcased their skills in the peak of their form clearly showing showing why they are considered one of the best metal acts in the country. Sandesh's talent over the bass was pretty neat. But top of the form were KP's excellent riffs along with his raspy vocals and drummeress supremo Yasmin's razorshar double bass drumming. In the end every one's desire of seeing these bands for the final time were fulfilled though on a sorry note, as one has no idea where they will stand in the next one and a half years after the completion of the course.

Gig Review : Freedom Jam 2009

2009-08-27T15:55:00.002+05:30

For long Freedom Jam has been showcasing some of Bangalore's upcoming musicians on the block with their original compositions. In fact most of the bands have played their first gigs in Freedom Jam. Previously held in Palace Grounds , with the event spanning over 3 stages and covering 50 bands, Freedom Jam 2009 was organized on a much smaller scale than before, amidst all the rumours of the jam not happening at all. Held in Alliance Francaise, the venue (a small auditorium) was just not the right place for a gig of such magnitude.

This year Freedom Jam strictly themed the gig around originality, asking registered artistes to play only original compositions. But when the gig finally took place, the story happened to have a different plot altogether. With most bands playing covers of usual international metal acts of Metallica and Lamb of God that too in the most bleakish way possible, the most fundamental theme of Freedom Jam i.e. originality was corrupted right from the beginning. The gig started with a bunch of 13 year old school boys calling themselves 'Original Fakes' playing an eclectic mix of Coldplay and Green Day covers. And they were not the only band playing covers as there was another band named Metalhead, covering Metallica and Lamb of God in a pathetic manner.

There were such large numbers of covers playing bands, that I can go on ranting about them. In fact I think I would mention the exceptional acts now. Swine Blue, an alternative act were one such band who played some catchy compositions. And so were another alternative act, Plunge who deserve a mention here for their orignal tracks. But the artist worth mentioning here would be American Idol finalist Sean Michels who played some of the most heart-warmimg blues compositions one can ever hear. The guy also knows his way around the guitar too play some of the most melodious riffs heard in a long time. Metal acts Alternate Paradox were another top notch act with some gut wrenching growls providing the headbanging factor for the gig.

Inspite of these original performances I was dispappinted not to see any known metal acts from the city. But it turned out later that due to the organizer's poor slot allocation, most metal acts refused to turn up for the gig . Some of those acts were brutal death metallers Abandoned Agony and tech death outfit Inner Sanctum, of whom the organizer apparently had never heard of! Over all Freedom Jam 2009 was a gig best forgotten. With very few memorable moments, Freedom Jam was not the gig that once captured the glory of the city's live music scene.

Mr.Big Touring India

2009-08-27T15:42:00.003+05:30

Yet another big name commercial act is touring India and this time its US based hard rock/heavy metal group Mr.Big.

Agreed that the band has one of the most talented musicians in their respective fields in the form of Billy Sheehan excelling in bass and Paul Gilbert in guitar and that their songs have always made their way to the Billboard charts, one must also agree that that they are here to perform for the sake of the money.

Their era has for long been forgotten and making quick bucks by touring 'international gigs starved developing countries' seems to be viable option not just for the artistes but also for the organizers. Its high time we get to see some real extreme metal act. No more Iron Maiden or Deep Purple, we need more bands like Satyricon ( thanks RSJ) touring India.

For Mr.Big tour details in India, click here

Inner Santum Anticipating Chaos

2009-08-26T04:56:00.003+05:30

Bangalore based technical death metal band Inner Sanctum has recently released this picture displaying the words 'Anticipate Chaos' in the foreground, on their MySpace page without revealing much about it.

Whether its the name of their debut album/EP or something much bigger is still unclear as of the moment. With nothing clearly revealed, all we can do is just wait and watch till September arrives.

GWAR - Lust In Space

2009-08-21T17:05:00.003+05:30

Its been just 3 years since Beyond Hell had released and now men in costumes are back with a big bang! 43 billion years old Oderus Urungus and his band of scumdogs have once again succeded in decimating the listeners with their juicy riffs and delectable choice of wrong lyrics in Lust In Space. With this release, Gwar paints the town red with its musical debauchery and and terifyingly good serving of daft themed heavy metal.

Despite losing some of its best members like Sexecutioner, Slymenstra Hymen and tEchno Destructo, Gwar have produced their most solid record till date in Lust In Space barring the classic Scumdogs of Universe of course. After the hit-and-miss contents of its previous albums, Gwar has brough back the raunchy shenanigans making you chuckle as you listen to tracks like Where Is Zog and Make A Child Cry. Another thing worth mentioning would be that the band has clearly moved on from its 80's base punk sound into a more hardcore influenced crossover thrash saving them from stagnation.

And this is best noticed in the title track where the incorporation of breakdowns and harmonies are clearly observed. Moreover the overall musical skill of the band as a whole seems to have gone up as well, with BalSac and Flattus churning out cauldrons of ass-kicking guitar solos that are nothing short of fretboard masturbation. Apart from the usual retarded tracks that Gwar usually come up with, there are faster and meatier tracks too in the album like in Lords and Masters. Hoever the highlight of the album is when the track Release The Flies comes up the playlist, as this is where you'll hear the most funkiest structure Gwar has ever come up with.

Overall Lust In Space puts Gwar back in the spotlight that had first got them noticed, after their disappointing ventures in their previous albums. More importantly humor isn't lacking in the album, or else the album would have turned out be another puff. Blending retarded lyrics with the killer riffs is something that only Gwar has been capable of, and that's exactly what you get when you play this album. So if you are looking for an oppurtunity to let your hair down to some utterly meaningless yet funny shit , then Lust InSpace is just meant for you.

Bhayanak Maut

2009-08-20T22:37:00.001+05:30

Sheer sonic assault - these words best describes the brand of music that Bhayanak Maut has come to be associated with over the years of their existence. And this is exactly what you experience the moment you hit the play button in your music player containing the latest full length untitled album from Bhayanak Maut - an onslaught of furious thrashing and gut-wrenching vocals. Chugging along with maniacal aggression along with neatly placed riffs and thunderous percussion beats that constantly accompanies the sick vocals from Vinay And Sunny, Bhayanak Maut pulls out all stops in their latest album.

Expansion is the term that best sums up the new album’s difference from the band’s previous release, and its the addition of a second vocalist Sunny of Amidst The Chaos fame that makes a profound impact to the band’s music this time. The two vocalist concept adds an extra depth in the band that was previously unseen in any other Indian band. In form guitarists Venky and Adithya hammer out solid riffs after riffs keeping things simple and uncomplicated. And these mammoth riffs accompany the groove-laced drums by Rahul that makes him one of the best drummers around the country. Where as Vinit Bharucha is steady as ever and definitely knows his way around the bass guitar. The production of the album is also pretty solid giving the band a nice, meaty sound. The bass sometimes get hidden behind the roaring guitar but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The album starts on a high note with pummeling beats of Habemus Papum, with the intro sounding similar to a regular Lamb of God track. By the time the track ends, I find myself growling along with the music into the fist with my head bobbing up and down in response to the manic atmosphere that the album succeeds in creating. And this pretty much sums up the kind of experience the album provides to the listeners. The maniacal sonic frenzy from the opening track continues along to the next ones keeping the listeners busy banging their heads. Ungentle, one of the albums best and grooviest tracks buffets the ears with sheets of steel. Other songs like Becoming, Violate, MNS Messenger are high on the headbanging and mosh factor as well, providing a solid listening experience. The frenzied screams along with the neatly placed riffs also make Blasted Beyond Relief another excellent track.

The only thing that lets you down in the album is that, after a certain point things tend to get monotonous. Except in the penultimate track where the odd soundtrack played by the band at a much slower tempo provides a break from the humdrum before thrashing its way to the end at a higher tempo again. However a minor glitch as that shouldn’t stand in your way to buying the album. The new avatar of the band after Sunny’s inclusion is nothing short of monstrous. And the new album must be bought to believe their latest incarnation. Bhayanak Maut have created a serious ass kicking behemoth in their new album, and if this is what they can do now, I shudder at how powerful they might grow in a few years.

Randy Blythe In A Horror Flick

2009-08-14T06:19:00.002+05:30

Randy Blythe(here billed as D Randall Blythe), is apparently so jobless after the release of his last album with the band Lamb of God that he is making a brief appearance in the upcoming horror movie 'The Graves'.

However hot the chicks might look in the trailer with their cleavage, the movie is quite pathetic when it comes to the scare factor.

Hope Randy had a good time playing the 'dead man walking' in the movie.

For more click here

'Those Whom The Gods Detest' Is What The New Nile Album Shall Be Called

2009-08-14T06:04:00.004+05:30

American technical death metal group have named their upcoming album as 'Those Whom The Gods Detest'. One of the biggest names around in the death metal scene today, Nile plans to release their much anticipated sixth album in November 2009.

Behemoth - Evangelion

2009-08-10T01:10:00.003+05:30

After the snoozefest that was Behemoth's last full length release Apostasy, it seemed that the band would not be able to create the same diabolical atmosphere that they had once did in 2005's seminal Demigod. And that disappointment is met with firm amendments in the shape of their latest full-length studio release Evangelion. Having said that, it does not mean that they have reached that pinnacle point again. But they certainly seem to be back on that track with their new album Evangelion.

Musically there's nothing new about Evangelion, as at times things tend to get repetitive. To be precise the riffs heard on most of the tracks are same as any of the riffs you've heard before. However with a new label (Metal Blade Records) and a new producer( Colin Richardson), the band have definitely avoided the horrid overproduction of their sounds that marred their previous work. As a result you get to hear a single layer of furious growls from Nergal, which is far better than ten of them. So much so that you can even make out the lyrics clearly. The sounds of the instruments are also far more natural unlike being played on computers. And speaking of the drums, Inferno's drumming is quite controlled and varied enough though inhuman at times, its much better than starting off with a straight double bass and playing blastbeats for the rest of the tracks as noted in previous release.

The album makes an apocalyptic beginning with Daimonos which starts with an audio scene of what sounds like hell on earth before jumping into a flurry of mixed percussion. Shemhamforash that comes next is the album's most chaotic and fastest track with creative leads. Ov Fire And The Void may be the defining track for the band and their want to further thrust their music into the mainstream. Catchy, melodically sound like few other tracks of theirs, it sticks in your head rather quickly. But from here on rest of the tracks seem to have been placed to just fill the place till the closing track Lucifer which is an excellent attempt of the band at an epic, doing its job without droning on too long.

Although Evangelion is an excellent album, nothing in the album makes you pop your eyes out or grab your attention like Pazuzu or Conquer All did from prior works. With the same riffs being played on most of the tracks, you would expect Behemoth to come up with something more on their part.While Evangelion is a step in the right direction, Behemoth have not yet taken their music to the next level as you would have come to expect from a band of such stature. Easily better than some of their albums, but nowhere near as good as others, it is a middle-of-the-road release for a band who should by all rights do better.

Freedom Jam 2009

2009-08-06T15:46:00.005+05:30

Its August again and Freedom Jam is back.
And this time strictly promoting originality, the organizers plan to make the bigger than before with upto 50 bands covering 3 stages.

The gig will be held on August 14th at Alliance Francaise. (View the way to Alliance here )

Interested bands/artistes can send their profiles to freedomjamindia@gmail.com.

Swashbuckle - Back To The Noose

2009-08-06T04:27:00.003+05:30

If Captain Jack Sparrow was to ever create his own metal tracks cruising along the Caribbean shores, then this is what it must have sounded like. Swashbuckle's second full length offering Back To Noose is a very fascinating, enjoyable album with sporadic thrash influences taking precedences over affable pirate references. And surely no one hates the pirates?

The album is curious blend of thrash sounds with slews of wry humor. Brawny and furious as hell the album at times is heavy and full of aggression. Whereas at other times, the album crosses path with hearty interludes laden acoustic driven Caribbean rhythms. However in spite of the jolly good mood these random acoustic intervals create, at times you wonder no matter how pleasing the random interludes sound to the ears, they are much better off in other albums and not in a thrash album. And as the album progresses the inevitable strikes and and all the comedic interjections loses its shine.

The band takes us on a trip across the high sea, naturally beginning by Hoisting The Mainsail, downing Rounds on Rum, dropping the anchor for Splash N Thrash, before ending the voyage with Sharkbait. Amidst all these brutal merry-making, Swashbuckle does more than the standard pirate metal operation as well. Rime of the Haggard Mariner features a squeaky pirate babbling for a bit, some bagpipes, and then the sounds of pirates attacking a ship. This leads into Cruise Ship Terror which is, of course, about the previous pirate attack on the cruise ship. Back To The Noose certainly has some marvellously funny track-titles to gnaw on and the diverse nature of the music on offer is a nice surprise.

Back To The Noose is not genre defining by any stretch of the means but it does fit comfortably within the framework of the thrash metal umbrella and if that is your cup of tea, you will absolutely enjoy this. The pirate themes and thrash play off each other well, with neither dominating and there are enough pirate-themed lyrics and jokes to keep the album light and fun. Overall Back To The Noose provides a refreshing break from hard-stomping thrash metal territories with its gentle yet brutal approach.

Throwing Horns In Turkey Can Land You In Jail

2009-08-02T01:36:00.004+05:30

No this is not about ex-President Bush Jr. throwing horns in Turkey and getting jailed abroad.

Rather it involves five unfortunate Turkish metalheads who got more than what they bargained for, when they made the devil's sign at a passing political convoy.

For the original report in Irish Times click here.

Kerim “Krimh” Lechner Is The New Decapitated Drummer

2009-08-02T00:48:00.002+05:30

The news of Witold “Vitek” Kieltyka death in a car collision in 2007 was certainly tragic. Since then the question remained whether Decapitated will come back, considering that their vocalist Adrian “Covan” Kowanek too sustained serious injuries from which he is still recuperating.

Now as per a posting on their MySpace blog, Decapitated have named Kerim “Krimh” Lechner from Thorns of Ivy as their new drummer. And this news is certainly exciting considering I cant wait to hear new Decapitated album with ''Krimh'' behind the drums.

Here's a video of Krimh playing. The guy has the chops and its certainly going to be a difficult task to shrug off the memory of Vitek

Augury - Fragmentary Evidence

2009-07-31T05:24:00.003+05:30

Augury's breakthrough debut album Concealed was so ferocious in its sound, that it could almost be described as unhuman. Appealing to extreme metal lovers all over Concealed was a solid technical death album, combining brutality with prog-leaning melodies. Now with their second album Fragmentary Evidence, Augury rains hell upon everything uninspiring and bland. And to keep themselves away from the dreadful pit filled with numerous monotonous sounding tech death bands that are rising alarmigly these days, Augury delves upon celestial themes to keep things alongwith their brutallly good music.

Additionally the overall tightness of the band since their previous work has increased, allowing them to push their abilities further and dig deeper to create complex yet perfect tracks. The music presented on this fine silver platter is amazing. Every single note appears to belong to the great whole, to the consistency of this album. Everything from Patrick's growls to Mathieu's killer riffs seem perfect. Moreover its the master skills of Dominic over the bass that gives he album a whole new technical dimension to place them upon. The basslines on Jupiter to Ignite and Oversee the Rebirth are some of the best you can come across in recent tech death albums.

Whereas tracks such as Simian Cattle and Orphans of Living, gives you a very strange fell but nevertheless the musicianship on these tracks are commendable. Besides theses vocally it goes from screams to death grunts and in Brownstone Landscapes bleak female vocals come around. But all these elements simply adds up to their terrific prowess and their music just wont allow you to nod in disapproval. Overall, the album is a curious, playful peak at the stars, a journey into the unknown, a metaphysical attempt to capture many different abstract feelings.

From Concealed to Fragmentary Evidence hasn't been a long journey but Augury have already started to prove themselves as the leaders of modern technical death scene. There's a certain indescribable appeal to the band that comes with them like no one else and yet not going ut of their way to be different. The album is so neat that it's likely to be the Traced in Air of this year but not recognised as such for years. Untill the next amazingly innovative sounding tech death album comes up amidst those many similar sounding mediocre bands, Augury's Fragmentary Evidence should keep you busy till then.

Most Brutal Moshpit Ever!

2009-07-31T05:11:00.005+05:30

So you think these people are moshing? That too brutally?

Then check this video out. Probably the most brutal and dangerous moshpit ever, these metalheads can seriously give their peers moshing in Wacken a run for their balls!( Pun Intended!)

Zakk Wylde Goes On A Ranting Rampage About Ozzy

2009-07-31T04:00:00.001+05:30

So Ozzy showed his lead guitarist Zakk Wylde the door, but our man here hasn't taken this too lightly. Staying relatively calm in the beginning about the news, Zakk finally explodes in the end, going on to say''You gonna fucking treat me like a dick? Fuck you.” while talking to a radio station about his expulsion.

Now if he has been expelled without getting contacted by Ozzy, then his frustration is totally understood. But with this recording now, there doesn't seem the slightest chance of Zakk going back to the band and guess he must be going back to his Black Label society days. And if things aren't worse already for Zakk, then have a say at this - Ozzy Osbourne is the godfather of Zakk's child!

Check out the conversation here.

Another reason to stay away from metalcore

2009-07-31T02:38:00.000+05:30

Apparently the DJ in the above pic, DJ Troublemaker played a remix of Mastodong's Oblivion. Now thats' something disgraceful for a metal band, but if one's into mallcore stuff like that is bound to happen!

Head over to Metal Insider to listen to the remix and just try to headbang to it, if you can

Hail Of Bullets - Warsaw Rising EP

2009-07-31T01:43:00.004+05:30

Its been just a year since Hail of Bullets came out with their debut album Of Frost and War, that they are back again with their latest piece of work Warsaw Rising EP. With Warsaw Rising, this Dutch death metal supergroup have delivered an EP in the same format favored by many established bands. Featuring two new tracks, a cover and three live recordings, Warsaw Rising is hardly an essential, but nevertheless it provides a solid headbanging experience amidst there terrific live prowesss.

With the guitarists from Thanatos, bassist from Houwitser, drummer from Gorefest and the indomitable Martin van Drunen (ex- Pestilence, Bolt Thrower) behind the mic; Hail of Bullets is completely in the likes of Autopsy and Bolt Thrower, churning out lofty war-themed death metal in the old school style. To be more precise, musically the band operates within mid-tempo confines, rolling out some major crunches on Warsaw Rising. However those looking forward to those moments of brilliance displayed in their debut album( in tracks like Ordered Eastward,Berlin) may be left disappointed on a high note.

Although Warsaw Rising features no such moment, their two new tracks Warsaw Rising and Liberators, both achieve par for Hail of Bullets' crater packed course. And eventhough both these tracks invokes the listener to headbanging and fist pumping action with their massive chug-along guitar tones, none of these tracks depict the fine majesty that characterises the band's finest tracks. On the other hand its the live recordings Nachthexen, Red Wolves of Stalin and The Crucial Offensive; that most effectively brings out the true atmosphere of the band's music by singing about war, soldier and weapons.

In fact these live tracks convey the band's on-stage energy so accurately, that you might feel like rushing onto the stage and getting your ears explode to their sounds yourself. The high expectations that followed Hail of Bullets post-Of Frost and War were not exactly fulfilled in this EP. With just two new tracks, more things are left to be desired from the band. HoweverWarsaw Rising is definitely worth your time if you are eager for some new down-tuned and crushing death metal.

Fleshgod Apocalypse - Oracles

2009-07-31T01:43:00.001+05:30

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Most people are of the view that Italy is a highly unlikely place for death metal bands to originate and such bands only come from Scandinivia, England or Germany.And though Ephel Duath and Lacuna Coil might have come from Italy, they can hardly be said to have played death metal. But in the end Fleshgod Apocalypse simply squashed that notion with their high quality brutal death metal interspersed with classical orchestral elements in their songs, which simply leaves the listener in a sense of awe making him to desire more from the album. Oracles is a promising debut and solid first attempt by the band at combining brutal death elements with finer aspects of classical music. And doing so they have clearly steered past the risk of sounding unmemorable and avoided the trap of sounding like other mediocre bands in the genre.

On Oracles, the band plays intricate yet brutal form of death metal that many of the established bands of this genre have perfected and Fleshgod Apocalypse are certainly as good as other well known bands like Hour of Penance, Ulcerate, Obsura. But what sets them apart from these bands is the inclusion of more neo-classically inspired structures which creates a strange sense of anticipation to kick in. The introduction of these classical elements may seem like a musical gimmick to create their own niche in the genre. But as you progress deeper into the album, you soon realize that the classical elements are more than just a gimmick. In addition to the piano pieces used in various interludes, the songs are structured in a classical aspect , progressing in complete steps before peaking. The rest of the bands sound revolve around standard technical death riffs which are consistently backed by solid rhythm section of death metal drumming of rapid fire double bass and blastbeats. However the bass falls short on audibility and is rarely headr in few choice moments.

The combinatin of technical death influence with classical elements, mainly orchestral piano elements are best noted in As Tyrants Fall and Embodied Deception. With the latter featuring rapid piano run abruptly intervened by guitar riffs and brief spurts of audible bass work. Inspite of their all out classical approach to the album, there are moments of total sonic destruction with majestic overtones, like in Requiem in SJ Minore. Similar parts appear on other tracks as well, in the rest of the album, but most remarkable of them all is the title track. With a nearly two minute piano piece towards the end of the album, the track clearly speaks for everything the album had to say for itself. That being said the bulk of the material is still absolutely breathtaking, in both savagery and complexity and likely as good as anything you will ever hear.

Although the vocal delivery was getting monotonous towards the end, Fleshgod Apocalypse have marked a promising beginning with Oracles. Striking a nice balance between death and classical pieces, Fleshgod Apocalypse have shown that the combination of these two elements can strike a perfect chord.With enough variety to keep them interested for the full 40 minutes, as well as containing enough nuances and memorable parts to warrant decent replay value.

Destroyer 666 - Defiance

2009-07-31T01:42:00.002+05:30

Six years after Terror Abraxas, black metallers from down under Destroyer 666 are back with a bang with their new album Defiance.The album is quite an accomplishment for the band, a defining slab of black metal that somewhat maintains the quality of previous records, not as good as some of their heralded material, but still packs a cruel punch to the gonads of Christianity.The epic feel of 2000’s Phoenix Rising and the urgency of the rousing 2002’s Cold Steel For an Iron Age are present but do not dominate, Defiance is a record to push on with their attack rather than reminisce about past glories.

Destroyer 666’s music has historically been best described as nihilistic, even to the point they’ve even been accused of conjuring up white supremacy issues in the past. However, Defiance somehow comes off far less shocking than any of Destroyer 666’s previous efforts and honestly, it is all to the good this time. Although the sounds of the album are gritty and raw, it's a lot more polished than the average black metal band due to the thrash and death influences the band have garnered. With Warslut's bellowing rasps and the random breakaway tempos set at vengeance’s pace—largely the album focuses more on finding proper grooves and dark melody to make it Destroyer 666’s most mature recording to date.

Agreed there's nothing mature to a guy named Warslut, but the way the band builds around Human All Too Human only shows the band's resolve to grow more artistic instead remaining downright dirty. Also the elegiac A Sermon To Dead is so epically structured, that Warslut's belching in those trancy doom tempo clearly depicts the band's biggest improvement till date.Having curtain-call guitar solos abound on this album courtesy of Shrapnel is even more exciting than the focused aggression of Weapons of Conquest or the alacrity assisting the snidely I Am Not Deceived.

There are countless moments on Defiance that remind you why you loved Destroyer 666 in the first place. Whether it be the delectable lead lines and squealing solos, or the sudden switch to groovy moshing thrash, the metallers of Oz have triumphed again. Defiance is also a testament to the power to overcome band problems in the interim between this and the last album that led Destroyer 666 to A Stand Defiant.

Novembers Doom - Into Night’s Requiem Infernal

2009-07-31T01:42:00.001+05:30

Novembers Doom have been on the pinnacle of doom/death genre since 1995. After staying along so long, one would believe they would lose their spark and go dull. With some bands this may be the case, but with Novembers Doom its not. Novembers Doom knows it’s savvier to work outside-the-box numbers into their bludgeoning death metal infrastructure instead of dedicating whole albums to said risk. With Into Night’s Requiem Infernal, they satisfy both the headbanger’s ravenous lust as well as their own voraciousness for dark sensuality.

Musically Novembers Doom is slow-burning, gloomy, riff-driven and heavy as hell. And the eye-catching part of their new album is the vocals. Paul Kuhr's fairly deep growls with a twinge of soaring clean vocals make the atmosphere so gloomy that may make you want to cry. Cleans are mostly used in the choruses with depressing lyrics which gives a very epic feel to the album. However the Sasha Horn's work behind the drums are forgettable but even then it manages to blend in with other elements that make up the band's sound. Also the intelligent guitar work of Vito and Lawrence utilizing heavily distorted sounds amidst those clean rites passage ensure that the album dodges the dreadful draggy sound that many bands in the genre fall prey to.

The title track is one of the densest songs Novembers Doom has yet penned and it doesn’t cease from there. Empathy’s Greed, The Harlot’s Lie and the stamping Lazarus Regret will provoke rhythmic noggin nods with sinewy riffs, alt-psych tucks and raging vocals from mastermind Paul Kuhr. And when they want to go a bit offbeat,they succeed admirably with the sensual quietude of The Fifth Day of March. And similarly they end the albumwith When Desperation Fills the Void, which wails into a crowning snarl in a taciturn manner.

The depth and the variety on Into Night's Requiem Infernal is worth checking out. It is heavy, but still manages to offer more than just speed and distortion. Barring few lyrical hiccups , as it tends to get tedious and weak drumming, Novembers Doom latest release is their magnum opus or whatever else you may want to call it.

Candlemass - Death Magic Doom

2009-07-31T01:41:00.001+05:30

In the doom metal word today, Candlemass might be king. It is true, doom metal is a bit of a dying breed, but if one band has the ability to change that, Candlemass would be the one. This album is not as much tradition doom/epic doom as their past releases – they have incorporated a lot more elements of standard heavy metal. And this is most definitely not a bad thing. Through the simple addition of more heavy metal styles their music gained so much more power.Since Robert Lowe stepped in at vocals, it seems, the band has taken a bit heavier sound. It’s unclear whether this is because of Lowe, or because Leif Edling has decided to simply write heavier music. The only problem is that with the heavier writing, they have forgone some of the more doom sounds, and the music has a less dramatically depressed sound. But one thing is clear for sure and that is this album is the beginning of a new era for Candlemass.

King Of The Grey Islands showed great promise for the new lineup of the band, but something was lacking. The songs were solid, the production was heavy, and Lowe delivered a great performance behind the mic. All of the elements were there, but the album still seemed to lack the spark that would make it a classic. Hearing Death Magic Doom, the first album written specifically for Lowe makes it clear what was wrong before.Death Magic Doom does not suffer from any of these problems. As soon as the first riff sets in, it is clear that this is a band rejuvenated by the new blood Lowe brings. The production is massive, as a thundering riff pounds out a tempo faster than anything Candlemass has ever tried before. In fact Lowe towers over the wall of sound, his vocals more powerful than even the darkest doom.

The album kicks off with the uptempo If I Ever Die, that's packed with hooks and really memorable riffs. That segues into the more traditional and aptly named Hammer Of Doom, which is slow and alternates crushing riffs with lighter moments. Demon of the Deep turns another doom song on its head, ending with a melodic section that sounds as hard rock as doom metal. Likewise, Dead Angel bounces along with a chorus that is the closest doom metal will ever come to pop, while My Funeral Dreams is able to fuse all of these elements into a five-minute blueprint of everything Candlemass can be if they want to.

Death Magic Doom surpasses the Messiah reunion record and harkens to the era of the first three albums. An impressive release, all the more so with new vocalist Robert Lowe. Its simply marvellous how he fits right in the riffs instead of on top of them, whether the tune's mid-paced or slow. Candlemass has been around for a long time and has released some of the definitive and pioneering albums in the doom metal genre, so expectations are always high for any new release. Death Magic Doom lives up to those lofty expectations.

Anaal Nathrakh - In the Constellation of the Black Widow

2009-07-31T01:40:00.002+05:30

Just the mere mention of the name Anaal Nathrakh is enough to make you run for cover as the fearsome Brit duo load, lock and take aim once again with brand spanking new album In the Constellation of the Black Widow. Paving the way for a new extreme that gravitates far beyond the usual metal clichés, this new album smashes down yet more boundaries serving up a raw as shit plate of insanely brutal black, death and grind that is by far the most distinguished and complete sounding Anaal Nathrakh album to date.

Expansion is the word that can best describe how In the Constellation of the Black Widow differs from their previous releases, still able to make listeners ears fold in on themselves while including healthy doses of well-placed melody that even with VITRIOL’s maniac screams remain wholly digestible. Both him and Mick Kenney ( have hardly deviated from the course initially plotted on their 2001 debut, The Codex Necro. However, they have gradually added new layers of rigid extremity that are somehow digestible amidst the massive sonic boom that is struck from the get-go. Seriously, who wouldn’t run for cover once the strands of the title track and go-for-broke “More of Fire Than Blood” take aim and open fire?

After a brief intro, the opening track In The Constellation Of The Black Widow launches like a punch to the gut, vaulting out of the gate at lightning speed with frenetic drums and a wall of extremity. Throat ripping screams and growls are tempered by brief melodic vocals. The melodic vocals get more of a showcase on songs like More Of Fire Than Blood, which has plenty of intensity, but also eases up from time to time.Terror In The Mind Of God blends majestic black metal atmosphere with misanthropic guitars and a amazingly catchy melody while The Lucifer Effect has some downright groovy moments amongst the brutality. The closing track Blood Eagles Carved On The Back Of Innocents brings things to a crushing close with distorted vocals and nonstop blast beats.

After all this massive heart-stopping effort from these guys, the only thing that leaves you disappointed is the lack of any surprise element in the album. Still, if you're looking for music that's guaranteed to scare the shit out of your neighbors or need an appropriate soundtrack for that nuclear war the news media keeps hinting at in the not too distant future, this class act have raised the bar well beyond the reach of practically every extreme metal outfit in existence.

Gutslit & Pulmonary Fibrosis - Contorted Mutation Split

2009-07-31T01:40:00.001+05:30

In the two thrashing years they've been around, Bombay's Gutslit have come up as one of the best grind outfit in the domestic metal scene. And Contorted Mutation their debut split CD on Cataleptic Remains Productions(Europe) alongside French grinders Pulmonary Fibrosis stands as a solid proof of that. With each vocalist Nikhil's, guitarist Dynell, bassist Gurdip and drummer Abhishek's mind tuned to brutality, the deadly growls amidst heavily distorted riffs and blastbeats at a high speed tempo create a perfect setup to raise hell in the listener's atmosphere. And eventhough Pulmonary Fibrosis play a similar role in the beginning of the disc, its the bad sound quality of their tracks that fails to create the virulent environ which Gutslit succeed in doing in their half of the CD.

As mentioned Pulmonary Fibrosis starts the brutal assault with Rancid Corpophagous Blists which in its unrelenting blastbeats and spine-chilling growls of Adrien create the perfect gore atmosphere. The carnage carries on to the next two tracks as well with regular on-mike vomits by Guyome, who also happens to be the drummer. And finally things end on a bloody note with grinding sounds of Rectal Spinal Boiling Slaughter, leaving the listener in a macabre state of mind.

However Gutslit starts on a different note compared to their French counterparts, with its intro carrying chaotic screams and noises, sounding similar to that of a victim getting slaughtered by a psychopath. In fact every track in their segment start with such gruesome narration of an unspeakable act of crime, that one may start to think as though the devil himself is behind all this. But this wicked act only adds up to the brilliant savage mood their side of the disc creates. Right from Boiling in Bile to Eviscerating The Stillborn and the Catherine Wheel, Abhishek blasts through the tracks amidst those vile, distorted riffs minus any fancy pickings or wild solos that would make Six Feet Under appear as guitar heroes. Moreover a word of appreciation must be given to Nikhil for his extremely wide ranging vocal capabilities, which only adds another layer to their music.

Overall its a brilliant effort by both the bands, though Gutslit overshadows its peer. The production is also pretty muffled up with the sound quality ending up on a good side for Gutslit only and not for Fibrosis. Contorted Mutation is sheer brutality and carnage right from the start and a must for every grind lover's collection. And if things stay in the right track for Gutslit, who knows maybe they could be the next big thing in the metal scene in a shortwhile

Gorod - Process Of A New Decline

2009-07-31T01:38:00.000+05:30

France has been putting out some great death metal for some time. Gojira has risen far past my expectations, but upon discovering Bordeaux’s Gorod, my outlook on Europe’s impact on tech death changed immediately. Their prior albums Nuerotripsicks and Leading Vision are incredible, but the sheer immense of the new material simply shatters its previous achievements. The States has always dominated technical death scene with Atheist and Cynic, and now with such bands as Arsis, Dying Fetus, Decrepit Birth and Sickening Horror. But now, Gorod and Germany’s Necrophagist help prove that the other hemisphere can hack it too.

All the problems with modern technical death metal are pretty much eschewed and forgotten about on here, and replaced with a hungry, bloodthirsty and insanely complex template that resembles something like a truck slamming into you at 100 mph. There is not a wasted note on this album, and leaving exaggeration aside - every second of Process Of A New Decline is spent thoroughly on mind-blowingly technical riff/lead layering executed by Mathieu and Arnaud with a furious, blistering intensity that will singe your eyebrows off within the first couple of songs. And they never let up, through eleven songs and fifty minutes of winding, twisted insanity, of completely relentless mathematical fury. Most death metal albums get tiring around that point, but not Gorod; these guys know what they're doing. They have more focus, anger and intelligence in one guitar string than some bands have in their entire arsenal.

The guitars beautifully harmonize in Disavow your Gods, playing off into each other into the song's end. And when the playlist reaches Programmers of Decline, the track barrels through the gates firing on all cylinders with a careening tempo that will leaved you pumped up like you just drank a bucketloads of Red Bull.And thats not the end toof their unimaginable possession of envying bundles of musical skills as evident on Rebirth of Senses where they successfully pull off a slow burner brilliantly. The band is always doing something to constantly enthrall the listener ,providing a lively, ear-pleasing jolt to the senses. Even on the more melodic notes, calculated Watershed would leave you dazzled as it ends.

Process Of A New Decline plays as a soundtrack to the merciless hacking and total destruction of a mainframe computer database, a mechanical and impartial Armageddon upon the whims of humanity's technological follies. Nobody ever thought technical death could sound this good after Cynic. And this clearly seems to be their very purpose of staying in the scene - never do Gorod stop sounding like they have a mission to accomplish. Gorod have created a serious ass-kicking beast here, and if this is what they can do now, I shudder at how powerful they might grow in a few more years.

Suffocation - Blood Oath

2009-07-31T01:37:00.001+05:30

If it was the sheer brutality of Effigy of Forgotten that
got Suffocation recognised as the brutal death pioneers,
then Breeding The Spawn only cemented that fact.
And when questions were raised on their musicianship as they returned to the scene after a 11 year hiatus, Souls To Deny promptly answered them with its trademark unrelenting sounds. So where does Blood Oath stand against all this one may ask? And the reply to that would be that Blood Oath is still a very Suffocation album, like a giant trodding down a brute path crushing everything in its way.

Blood Oath is everything about metal that can possibly be extreme. Mullen's growls and screams are top notch and so are the monstrous yet technical riffs from Terrance and Marchais. But more surprisingly its Derek's sick bassline that gets along perfectly with Mike Smith's maniacal drumming in a superb precise manner. And yet somewhere down the line one starts feeling that things start to get repetitive inspite of the numerous tempo shifts they come up with. But this doesn't deny the listener the brutal headbangaing experience Suffocation have always provided in all their other works, and listening to it will catapult you into the vicious atmosphere they create in the album.

The album wastes no time, kicking off with the title track, and the onslaught of chug chug guitars and double-bass drums blast out of the speakers and quickly Frank Mullen's guttural roar takes hold and doesn't let go untill and unless you have started headbanging furiously to its beats. And the grinding sonic assault continues into the album, although its best depicted in Dismal Dreams.There’s plenty of other decent mosh moments throughout the album, such as portions of Cataclysmic Purification and Undeserving, but the masterpiece of this record can be found on Provoking The Disturbed. Right from the onset, this song is beating your face into the pavement, and it manages to keep it up at regular intervals throughout the track. By the time you hear the bass solo, you know it’s time to either don body armor or vacate the premises.

Overall Blood Oath is a well done slab of death metal from Suffocation. Although the first two tracks feels like a composite of the rest of the album, no where down the line you feel like lifting your head from the maniacal headbanging you would be indulging in listening to the album. And with this Suffocation have delivered another dose of brutality in Blood Oath.

Devourment - Unleash The Carnivore

2009-07-31T01:35:00.001+05:30

Far too many people complain that brutal death bands are no different from death metal bands, and all they do is blast and thrash along to the sounds of unreasonable growls and squeals from the vocalist. Some even go on to think that the sound rather resembles gurgles! What they don't seem to get is that that's the entire point of being a brutal death outfit at a first place. After all brutal death is a very primordial genre that doesn’t revolve around the most technical riffs or the gentle melodies one can come with. In fact all it demands is to create compositions which upon listening would compel us to brutal, mindless, chest thumping behavior comparable to that of cavemen and neandrathals, which is otherwise unexplainable to others not into it.

Devourment's Unleash The Carnivore is one such album that follows all those unwritten rules of creating a true brutal death album. The album brings a new lease of life to the band after their somewhat disappointing previous work Butcher The Weak. They succeed at taking the abstracts of death metal out of the comfortable mind and violently throwing them into a primal and nasty environment. There is nothing to illuminate on regarding the riffs, percussion, or gutturals (although Mike Majewski and un-jailed Ruben Rosas deliver truly destructive vocal performances), but that is the point. There is not much to distract from the streamlined agenda of churning brutal slamming sounds these eight tracks propagate.

Right from the track Unleash The Carnivore to Fed To The Pigs, the unrelenting environment the album creates is very clearly visible. Just listening to the tracks provokes you to let out an extremely visceral physical response, implying the purposeful use of the brutality by the band. Deflesh The Abducted carries the signature growling grooves amidst the constant hi-hat rolls, making it a very phenomenal piece of composition. The gorifying frenzy of the blastbeats with deadly riffs continues on till the abominable Over Her Dead Body, where it takes a rather weird diversion although a likeable one. The breakdown in the song has almost no transition yet feels totally natural and the spastic parts are oddly effective despite seeming random to the ears. And yet the album ends on a vicious manner, marking the return of brutal form that is Devourment.

Unleash The Carnivore is not meant for that bunch of metalcore fans who are always sticking their point of brutal death being the most pointless genre into their butt. Right from the word go, Devourment’s latest offering is a dream come true for all those brutal death fans, who pray for that golden album amidst all that mediocre works other bands come up with in the name of brutal death. It’s insanely heavy amidst all those brutal gurgles and growls, surpassing its entire previous works in every regards. And if things still don’t stand brutal enough then the artwork by the legendary Dan Seagrave is sure to drive the point to your brain.

Drudkh - Microcosmos

2009-07-31T01:31:00.002+05:30

When I first hit the play button, I was getting myself ready to headbang to the crushing blastbeats one comes to expect from a black metal band. But what followed next was a totally new experience, after all the music emerging out of the speakers was very much tinged in folk melodies amidst black metal sound. Thats when I realised that Drudkh had struck a very inspiring balance between aggressive, textured guitar work and organic melodies, along with tighter songwriting. Microcosmos is one of those very select albums where incorporating folk melodies to metal hasn't resulted in a queasy lame sound unlike other mediocre outfits. Although the sound of this album is nowhere close to its previous seminal work Blood In Our Wells, Drudkh retains a certain appeal to its latest work Microcosmos that forces you to lend your ears to it.

The album starts on a very gentle note with a short folk instrumental piece that succeeds in creating a sense of aura around the album which succeeds in pulling into the very plaintive atmosphere it creates. And needless to say the album also ends on the same note, with a similar instrumental piece for the prologue. And also not to forget the four tracks in between, are combinations of aggressive riffing and threnodial melodies, along with the added delicateness that is Drudkh. 'Distant Cries Of the Cranes' is a song laden with variations throughout that includes the bass line leading the way in a deconstructed interluding end; which clearly makes you feel the melancholic atmosphere it presents.

And this melancholy continues into 'Decadence' and 'Ars Poetica' with a touch of debility although 'Ars Poetica' gives a very cracker-barrel feel. 'Everything Unsaid Before' once again exemplifies the band's exceptionally tight songwriting interwining with its textured leads without any minor glitch. Not a single moment listening to the album makes you think that Microcosmos is slipping into the mundane of musical conveyance, whether its the sorrowful 'Decadence' or the unrelenting nature of ' Everything Unsaid Before'. In fact it would also be a very harrowing experience to choose the best song from the album. Although the signature drone sound of the band is slightly diminished in the album, the tranquil and hypnotic feel that has come to define Drudkh's music still reckons here with a hammering force.

Microcosm is heavy in every sense of the word. In both style and substance, the album recalls struggles of an almost universal order (hence the title), pushing the individual to purge their self-concern in light of higher and more mysterious powers. Seen in light of their previous work, Microcosmos encapsulates the best aesthetic touches Drudkh has developed over the years, condensing folkloric atmosphere, climatic guitar solos and passionate vocals into a poetic whole.

Amorphis - Skyforger

2009-07-31T01:30:00.001+05:30

When Amorphis’ opening song on Silent Waters began with a roar and continued by displaying the best of the band’s prog and metal sides, it set the tone for an album that ended up being near flawless. So, when SkyforgerFar From the Sun, failing miserably, and it seemed that the band were poised to repeat those mistakes. Fortunately, a complete run-through of Skyforger alleviated concerns of another Far From the Sun fiasco, but initial listens can be deceiving.

Preliminary listens confirmed that the band was trying their hand at a more prog-oriented album, but it also appeared that they had pulled it off. It seemed that they had learned from their past mistakes and had retained the strong melodies, death growls and stylish keyboard accompaniment of the past but had integrated those elements into prog rock structures that pushed the clean vocals and choruses to the forefront. This blend of strong guitar melodies and catchy choruses resulted in an album that’s instantly appealing and enjoyable. Due to this outcome, it didn’t seem to matter that the death growls had been relegated mostly to a support role or that heavier sections were few. Unfortunately, the immediate nature of the songs and the focus on moderately paced prog also results in a quick decline in replay value that will ultimately be the album’s undoing.

After a handful of listens a lot of negative elements that might not originally be apparent start to become more evident. The main problem is that the choruses are very similar to each other due to the limited vocal range of Tomi Joutsen and the similar tempo that almost every song utilizes. Also, the guitar melodies that initially seemed to be so strong start to feel redundant and in some cases recycled. This recycling of melodies is no more apparent than on “Sky is Mine” which is almost a direct copy of the faster section on “Under a Soil and Black Stone” from Eclipse. These repetitive elements weigh heavily on the album as a whole and cause the songs to blend together into one giant mid-paced rock song. The underlying riffs that often sound generic and bland, as if they were only an afterthought, only worsen this monotonous experience.

The only thing that saves this album from being a complete disappointment is the strength of the band’s song writing skills. So, while these songs will ultimately be seen as redundant, they’re still enjoyable enough to listen to once in a great while. It just seems that the band can’t pull off the prog rock album that they’ve now tried for twice. Both attempts have seen the band develop a tunnel vision that forces the songs to conform to a very limited set of ideas that ultimately creates a very dull, repetitive album. While this attempt is better than Far From the Sun due to its instantly catchy songs, it’s a weak hook that loses its edge fast. Unfortunately, as enjoyable as this album is initially, within a few weeks of having it there is absolutely no incentive to replay this instead of delving into the band’s back catalog. started with a simple piano melody before segueing into laid-back prog, it caused a little concern.

Goatwhore - Carving Out the Eyes Of God

2009-07-31T01:28:00.000+05:30

Goatwhore is probably the coolest name a metal band can think of and that too when they call themselves a blackened-death metal band, you really cant help but ask yourself if they really sound as good as their name or is it really worth my time listening to them. And one listen out of their songs is all you need to tell yourself that Ben Falgoust and Co are not a bunch of metal poseurs and they deserve to be stamped with the KVLT tag. Coming from New Orleans, a place not too familiar with metal, Goatwhore pulls all string together, to once again put together an album which stays true to the basics of metal and provides a very headbangable experience to the listener.

Goatwhore is one classy band that genuinely love metal and don't just want to play it. And it is their this attitude that has made them a forefront in their genre since their start in 1997 and kept them going ever since without any major fallout.Keeping things just as dark and evil as ever before, Goatwhore have added to their collection of blackened death metal albums Carving Out the Eyes of God in their forth studio release.Carving out the Eyes of God is nefariously black and sadistically thrashing in a way that is uniquely Goatwhore, perhaps more so than any previous album, which is saying a lot considering the greatness achieved right from the start.Many bands take years to get their signature sound and once they do get that ,they move on to an altogether new dimension as seen with 1349's The Revelation Of The Black Flames . This is quite a disturbing trend that has led many bands to their downfall.But what Goatwhore have done in Carving Out The Eyes Of God is remarkable in the sense that they have build up the entire album around their signature speed and heaviness of Sammy Duet and Ben's throat wrenching screams that first got people talking about them.

Right from track one “Apocalyptic Havoc”, guitarist Sammy Duet shows his abilities to play the speed and heaviness that got people listening to Goatwhore. Sammy’s technicality has been increased with each album allowing him to make each song different from the last. It is a compact track , with thrashing fist to the face feeling.The band's trademark grab-you-by-throat riff/rhythm moments are heard with even more intensity this time around. Listening to the hard left turns on "The All-Destroying" one gets reminiscent about the latter featuring an introductory riff straight from the book of vintage MOTÖRHEAD.The beginning of ''Carving Out The Eyes of God'' starts off encompassing a more death metal sound, with the brutal blast beats and vehement vocals. Throughout the song we have slower more melodic sounding interludes between the relentless savageries, which give you a refreshing break.

The next song on the album "Shadow of a Rising Knife", we’re thrust back into a faster pace again, with the vocals, guitars and drums all following suit. ''Provoking the Ritual of Death'' and ''In Legions,I am Wars of Wrath'' again seem to go back and embody this slower measure,yet keeping things black and diabolic. ''Reckoning of the Soul Made Godless'',''This Passing into the Power of Demons'' and ''Razor Flesh Devoured'' brings things back to a grinding,spine crunching pace that gives the album a more heavy and thunderous atmosphere - an affectionate and sincere tribute to the old school that has so vividly influenced them, with enough twists thrown in along the way to call the material their own. Album closer "To Mourn and Forever Wander through Forgotten Doorways" offers another twist with its eerie atmospherics that begin with a chilling bass line introduction and vocals from Falgoust that are spoken for the duration. Probably the most sinister and invigorating track of the album, it clearly suggest that Goatwhore are on the threshold of stepping into something even more spectacular.

The fact that the same lineup has remained unchanged since 2006's "A Haunting Curse" has contributed to the tightness of the effort. It is also the band's second production under Erik Rutan's demanding yet productive glare.These two elements have done wonders for the act's unbelievably aggressive attack and overall sound. Simmons' drumming alone must be heard to be believed; his blasts will cause irregular heartbeats, while his rhythmic shifts may very well knock the earth off its axis when the album is played at maximum volume.That Goatwhore has brought its game is not surprising. That the band has done so while reaching new heights of sonic decimation is what's so damn impressive. "Carving out the Eyes of God" is pure fucking metal; as pure as it gets.

Obituary - Darkest Day

2009-07-31T01:27:00.001+05:30

For year after year Obituary have churned out riffs and beats like there is no tomorrow.It clearly seemed like these guys want to bring out their best in every production albums before their own obituary features in the newspaper columns. And things did seem to head that way, till Allen West's fateful departure left behind a very consequential void in the band in 2005. But the resilience the band showed after Ralph Santolla's arrival, has clearly led them back to their resurgence. And this impact has been very visible from their last album ''Xecutioners Return'' to their latest platter ''Darkest Day''.

Certainly you cant deny that Ralph Santolla's is due for a major slice of credit for powering Obituary's resurgence in their second homecoming.After all he is the same guy who has made our ears bleed with his endless swift leads and smacking licks playing alongside another death metal biggie- Deicide. The way he has meshed in with the efforts of Frank Watkins or Trevor Peres is absolutely commendable and if you dont raise up the horns to this guy ,then you are probably deserve a hard smack on your face with knuckle brass.Although Darkest Day has also shown impalpable undertones of classic rock and heavy metal that, it takes time to realise that these are the kind of subtle tints that make the album more enjoyable or rather more headbangable.

Across its first six tracks,Darkest Day appears to be on a par with its predecessor. "List of Dead" is a sensational opener, its aggression pronounced tenfold thanks to some obscenely effective drumming courtesy of Donald Tardy.To a misguided listener it might sound more like a bad production piece , but it turns out to be a subtle joke to misguide the listener. "Blood to Give" is Obituary doing a surprisingly successful impersonation of Black Sabbath, the disc's sometimes absurdly sludgy production giving the song's driving riffage additional bite. "Outside My Head" follows suit, its grinding pace proving once again that death metal can be devastating without the need to resort to constant blasting. But it's the gripping title track that will really make you sit up and take notice. Doom-laden and as deliberately measured in its build-up as it is generous in its pay-off, it boasts as much atmosphere and bad intentions as any of the Florida quartet's most timeless classics. Big riffs abound of th Ektic FrostVariety on '' Payback'' could be Trevor's best riff action sice The End Complete..Santolla and Peres come together in" Fields of Pain'' to show both the lighting fast shredding and the pure raw heaviness of death metal to create something new but familiar to Obituary.

After such an impressive start, only few would be able to keep the momentum going, and unfortunately Obituary show increasing signs of treading water as the clock ticks on.''See Me Now'' is more of a patchwork quilt of all the past Obituary songs at its best.The stunning fashion in which the album ends with 'Truth Be Told'', simly firms your stance that Obituary are considered the pioneers of death metal for no shit reason.Outside of Morbid Angel and Deicide, no Floridian death metal band has been as consistent and relevant. There’s lots of gas left in this tank…the possibilities for new, but not really new riffage must be coming out of the woodwork. Darkest Day most certainly has more variety and staying power than 2005’s Frozen In Time and 2007’s Xecutioner’s Return. Keep it coming, Obituary.

Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave

2009-07-31T01:25:00.000+05:30

If a person was to ever point at a band deemed as an extreme metal institution,then doubtlessly it has to be Napalm Death. With outstanding albums like Scum,FromEnslavement to Obliteration, Harmony Corruption and Enemy of the Music Business,the band has every right to rest on their laurels and record a giveaway album, at which no one will complain. But Barney and his troopers are not your average indijoes who rest on their past accomplishments, and father toddlers.But insted they are mighty beings who bring us another epic of colossal proportions in form of their 14th studio production'' Time Waits For No Slave''.

27 years of grindcore ultra-violence, 27 years of being one of the hardest working, hardest touring bands on this miserable planet, Napalm Death's conviction, energy and belief in outspoken yet extreme music is far from being watered down. With their new album “Time Waits For No Slave” the legendary grinders return stronger than ever! Napalm Death have been on a roll with their last few albums, and this release is no exception. All the trademark NAPALM qualities are included -Barney’s barking, Mitch’s high pitched squeals,Shane’s ferocious bass attack, Danny’s immaculate drumming, and of course the political lyrics that actually make you think with your brain, instead of being just a mindless metal clone.

''Strong Arm” punishes the listener immediately and the classic Barney/Mitch Harris dual vocal combo infiltrates your audio senses. The chaos of all the instruments mesh together perfectly, as ”Diktat” exemplifies the word “extreme.” Unlike any Mortician release, Napalm’s songwriting ability proves that their songs are not just a wall of noise with no thought put into it. The band sometimes writes extremely simple but catchy riffs, such as with “On the Brink of Extinction,” but the simplicity is enjoyable and sticks in your head. A few parts ofTime Waits for No Slave are reminiscent of the underrated Diatribes album, especially on tracks such as “Procrastination on the Empty Vessel.”

Time Waits for No Slave is relentless, and the title track is an absolute standout track, with memorable breakdowns and grind riffs that grind purists will drool over. “Downbeat Clique” provides an instant classic headbanging riff, and only solidifies the great entity known as Napalm death. The new Napalm sound is perfectly illustrated on “Fallacy Dominion,” as Danny’s grinding compliments the vocals and slower discordant riffs. “De-evolution Ad Nauseum” continues to pummel your skull until this 50 minute grind filled album comes to a deafening halt, and all is silent.

If anything was going to betray Napalm's two-and-a-half decade existence, it would be the return of their much maligned experimental flair, which is well accounted for on tracks like "On the Brink of Extinction" and "Fallacy Dominion". This time round however, they're employed with the sort of confident pugnacity that makes each tracksound even more brutal.This is still one of the top albums of 2009, and is definitely still EXTREME music and not for the faint-hearted.

1349 - Revelations Of The Black Flames

2009-07-31T01:24:00.001+05:30

The blitzkrieg that was 2005’s “Hellfire” was something of a wake-up call for the suffocated black metal scene, welding together lightning fast tempos and almost Mayhem-ic sense of atmosphere to truly spellbinding effect.Anything with Frost behind the drums seems to reflect the extent of the Norwegian's raw pace and vast experience in the field, but what stands out on the new 1349 album is the influence of the sludgier side of co-mixer Tom Gabriel Fischer.Cutting to the point this album- Revelations of the Black Flame is not the 1349 that you may be accustomed to. Lurching uncomfortably between sub death-metal and ambient styles this makes for an excruciating listening non-experience.

The new direction yields interesting moments, but the end result is uneven. There seems to be a conscious effort to move away from what made 1349 one of the best bands in second wave of Norwegian black metal.Black metal acts known for a certain sound can change direction. The best example of this is Satyricon. On “Now, Diabolical,” frontman Satyr introduced a new style detractors claimed was perilously close to arena rock. Perhaps the biggest issue of Revelations is that 1349 doesn’t sound like the same band. The band plays bracing black metal in the classic Norwegian template and does it better than most contemporaries. Does this mean they can’t experiment and change their style? Of course not. But it’s hard to find 1349 here outside of a few tracks like. “Maggot Fetus, Teeth of Thorns,” which is uncompromising and fast as hell.

To put it plainly, Revelations of the Black Flame is a terrible album. Only half of it is music, and only half of that is good. It didn't take long for me to wish for the 1349 of old. It may have been bland but it wasn't....it wasn't this. Much of the album is marred by pointless, meandering tracks such as “Misanthropy” – a track that begins with a piano riff before descending into a blur of incoherent guitar chords and random piano plinking – and “Horns”, which is 3 minutes of wind noises and little else. Even when the band threatens to play an actual song the listener is often left sitting through minutes of throwaway “ambience” to get there “Invocation” fills three of its first six minutes with pointless yelping and wind noises and “Serpentine Sibilance” plods around aimlessly for three minutes before wasting its final sixty seconds on a nonsequitur, punk-infused mess.That being said, neither track is particularly enticing, they're just welcome alternatives to what follows: an unnecessary Pink Floyd cover (Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun), three and a half more minutes of disposable “ambiance” (this time in the form of crackles and droning guitars) and “At the Gate...”, 7 minutes of buzzing, whispering and the occasional bout of half-assed Root plagiarism. “Maggot Fetus…Teeth Like Thorns” and “Uncreation” are the album's undisputed highlights, the former carrying a heavy retro-thrash influence and the latter a sprawling, mid-paced 7 minute track that surprisingly employs little to no synthesized throwaways.

Clearly the first 10 minutes might make you seriously considering the option of downing somehard liquor before proceeding on with the album. With Tom Fischer, 1349 totally let go of their massive blitzkrieg on which they have build their stance upon. Focusing more on ambience has clearly led off to to a different a rather unwanted direction. After this all you can hope is to keep your finger gods and pray to your demon that they dont come out with another parody like this in their next album.

Slipknot - All Hope Is Gone

2009-07-31T01:22:00.000+05:30

4 years had passed since Slipknot's last album Vol3: The Subliminal Verses,with hardly any press release, people had almost given up hope that another Slipknot album was to come. People had started going back to Lordi and GWAR days, where they could get as much blows on the head you could get listening to some brutal music from veiled but very vile musicians! By now they were convinced that Slipknot might have decided to hang up their grotesque mutated masks in their living hall! But no, all hope had still not gone for bang in 2008 lands Slipknot's 4th studio production All Hope Is Gone ! With their latest album Slipknot has once again declare an all out brutal sonic assault on the listeners' ears keeping their infamous wicked mutilated veils on.

Extremely hard to categorize, Slipknot continues to foray deeper into the metal territory much unlike its 1st album where it started off with playing nu-metal tracks. But this is clearly a good sign as soon one begins to notice that the frantic abrasive riffs with Paul Gray's brutal bass assaults' are as good as any mainstream metal band. Insanely heavy and as ugly as as the sickest of sins, All Hope is Gone is stuffed to the gills with gruesome churning riffs maliciously interweaving with bowel churning vocals of wicked intents.

Put simply, All Hope Is Gone’s 12 songs pursue all the different ways in which life sucks. Instead of delving into specifics, Slipknot, led by frontman Corey Taylor, prefer an all-encompassing lyrical gloom that perhaps feels more universal but can also come across as lazy. The album kicks off in ominous, epic fashion with ".execute." Taylor sounds possessed as he spews apocalyptic rhetoric about the failure of government, religion and the human race. It's creepy, and it takes hold like a silent killer in the dead of night.The real fun begins on "Gematria." It's one of the band's fiercest songs to date. Stretching past the six-minute mark, Jim Root and Mick Thomson's sharp thrash riffs cut through a din of Joey Jordison's propulsive double bass drumming. Jordison's work behind the kit has become even more calculated and violent. Time changes abound, and his drums fuel this rollercoaster.

You may have already heard the first single from the album, “Psychosocial,” which is at it's best during the intro with it's chugging guitars and pinch harmonics. While the track does have radio appeal, there are tracks on All Hope Is Gone that do take the band’s sound to a much more aggressive level.Of course the other heavy tracks declare all-out war on the world. "This Cold Black," "Wherein Lies Continue" and "Vendetta" are diverse, snaky and unpredictable sonic powder kegs primed to blow. Each one showcases different facets of Slipknot's aural psychosis. Beginning with some polyrhythmic riff-and-drum bludgeoning, "Butcher's Hook" stands out. It highlights the band's mastery of the loud-soft switch. Another song to do that is the first single "Psychosocial"—which becomes a bouncy and brutal romp. The title track, and album closer, "All Hope Is Gone" functions as Slipknot's 2008 mission statement. From the black metal breakdowns to Root and Thomson's fret-burning solos, it's pure metal mastery.

"Sulfur" simmers with a Satanically catchy chorus with Taylor oscillating like a guillotine between a guttural, piercing growl and gorgeously hypnotic melodies. "Dead Memories" brandishes all of Slipknot's best elements. One of the album's creepiest moments comes in the middle of that song. The guitar riffs break into a clean acoustic melody seamlessly in true Zeppelin style. Taylor's voice takes over, and it's eerily powerful.

Slipknot still surprises on the slower fare. Much like "Prosthetics," "Gently," "Purity" and "Danger – Keep Away," "Gehenna" takes the listener into the heart of darkness—the heart of Iowa. It's a long, slow burner that employs a pained, ethereal chorus a la Alice In Chains. The song traverses an entire spectrum of emotions, and it sees all nine members venturing into the dark. The album's one acoustic track, "Snuff" is especially poignant. The song spins a tale of love lost that anyone whose experienced relationship woes can relate to. As the acoustic rhythms resound, Taylor's vivid lyrics resonate.

Given the fact that so many of the tracks on the album are filled with menacing guitars and vocal growls, you might expect Slipknot to have a little venom in their lyrics. While All Hope Is Gone does features lyrics you do follow that line of thinking, you’ll also find that the band focuses it's anger on not just abstract ideas. The title track points it's finger at the Bush administration with lyrics like, “Fifty seconds, a hundred murders; The Bill of Rights is a bill of sale; What will you do when the war is over? What will you do when your systems fail?” But this is more than just a political album, and apparently Taylor stated in an interview that All Hope Is Gone was a good avenue for “bitching about what’s wrong in life.”

Clearly at the end of the album you would have realised one thing for sure- expect the unexpected.Given the fact that Slipknot’s 4th album marked a few different milestones , it’s perhaps not shocking that the end result would mark a musical change in direction as well. They take things to the next level in terms of both aggression and balladry. It’s definitely a trip to hear Slipknot go from the melodic, laid-back “Snuff” to double bass extravaganza that is “All Hope Is Gone.” The band certainly explored various extremes on the new album, and they deserve credit for not maintaining the status quo.And by the time the album ends the listeners were firm into believing all hopes had not gone with Slipknot's lattest fare.

Workshop - Khuni Murga

2009-07-31T01:21:00.000+05:30

Now this album is not meant for the faint hearted, or you might end up getting a heart attack from the amount of laughing you would have done reaching up to the album's end. Yes, this is what you get when four talented goatish musicians in a very wanton mood decide to record their songs on masturbation and jerk offs and so on in to their debut album. To all those who thought 'Bhenchod Sutta' or Devang Patel's pee-pee gimmicks are the coolest and most laughable song ever,then shove a stick up your ass for Workshop's Khooni Murga is here to drive them out.Workshop 's debut album Khooni Murga strikes the perfect chord though in a very randy way right from the word go ,which immediately sums up to the listeners choice!

Workshop opens up a whole new- untouched genre of Indian metal scene- comedy metal which till now might have considered a bit too lewd by others!('Cause people know that it aint funny if it aint randy)!With The Demonstealer (Sahil Makhija-vocals,rhythm guitar- of Demonic Resurrection,Reptillian Death), The Rijunator (Riju Dasgupta-bass,- ofOld Monks), The Hamzoid (Hamza Kazi-drums- of Eggless Love Cakes) and The Rajbot (Rajarshi Bhattacharya-lead guitar), Workshop cleverly steers the listener to a whole new level of metal music.

Khooni Murga starts of with 'She Folked Up My Jazz' a hard rock piece about a jazz musician getting dumped by his folk loving girlfriend!Aa good start to the album, the opening track marks the beginning of more roller-coaster tracks to come down the play list.'Pudhe Sarka' (marathi for 'aage khisakh') is a blazing thrash metal track acknowledging the unfortunate commuter's dilemna on a BEST bus due to no chnage!'I Came' the next song is one song that every male listener will relate to as it beholds the glorifying moments of the the 1st time a boy masturbated! With cheeky lyrics like 'Here I am with a loaded gun,it's pointed at you baby here I cum', you are sure to drop dead rolling on the floor laughing!Best of all it ends with 'and I'm all out of sperm'.

'Chati ke Saath Panga' is a song which makes a very somber attempt on dark humour- much about a certain daaku Kamala Devi who uses her agonizingly long breasts to torment people.The song sounds funny only due to its comical lyricls and vocal melody or else you would be forgiven for mistaking it to be a black metal track.'Garba Gandu' is about a Gujju looking hopefully to find a 'bangable' chick on a Garba night. Hamza's ratta-ta-ta-ta snare that sounds like dandiya drumming marks the pinnacle moment of the song giving it a very Meshuggah feel!Next up is the very funky recipe 'How to Make a Demonic Omelet' With crushing riffs, it 'instructs' you to make an omelet when you are in a very demonic mood.Next one, one of my fav,'Kothai Doro Cho' pokes at a Bong who feels urge to deposit what cannot be digested at a social gathering, and is running around looking for a place to do so. The deadly E-major barrage makes the track sound somewhat like a Gojira track

'Bunty aur mallika Sherawat' is more of a Bunty aur Babli spoof with our beloved hero getting swayed over by Mallika Sherawat's boobs.Cookie Monster', a pop-punk ballad about fighting a losing battle against sleep while chatting with a female e-pal/pussy hopeful. It has the distinction of being called 'cool' by none other than metal's master of innovation, Mathias Eklundh of Freak Kitchen & Soilwork.Khooni Murga finally ends with the death metal sounding title track, providing this hillarious journey of listening to the album a well suited end.

Workshop-the latest achiever of KVLT status, clearly seems like a band that has taken upon themself the oath to deliver the most offensively funny songs they can come across even if it means peppering the album with zillions of cliched metaphors for penis or breasts or what-so-ever other perverted digs they may come up with.With each member harmoniuosly integrating in every inch possible, horns must raised in the the most upright manner to honour them with the distinction they so well deserve for producing the most funniest songs in metal in the coolest style possible!