Krypts- Krypts EP(2011)

Krypts- Krypts

As insane as it sounds, I really was not enthralled with Krypts 2009 demo Open the Crypt. You may not know me that well, so let me explain how insane this is. I love Death/Doom and I love Finnish Death Metal. I worship the mighty disEMBOWELMENT and place Finland only behind The United States as the best scene in Death Metal history. Open the Crypt should have been like injecting sweet, sweet eggnog(I FUCKING LOVE EGGNOG) right into my veins. But I just could not get into it: something about the whole demo seemed lacking. Compared to acts like Hooded Menace and the sadly defunct Ascended, Krypts had the look of a second fiddle bandwagon jumper in a Finnish scene loaded with talent.

Still, my blood oath to listen to anything from Finland behooved me to give Krypts new s/t EP a serious listen. Not that this was hard: Krypts has only two tracks, while clocking in at a solid 12 minutes. Not a major investment of time or effort, and Krypts was worth it: I found this solid little release a major step up from the listless, carbon-copy demo. Krypts continue to invoke the Old Gods of Death/Doom: Autopsy, disEMBOWELMENT, Thergothon, early Demigod. Dense and highly polluted with crushing riffs and coffin crushing vocals, Krypts is a solid foreshadowing of the future for the young Fins. Some impressive leads also evoke fond memories of Transcendence Into The Peripheral ,which is always a wonderfully dreadful feeling and one I have not had since Ascended's Temple of Dark Offerings EP.

There is not a whole lot more to say about such a short and very straightforward offering. I still do not consider Krypts one of the elite: not even close. Two solid tracks, neither of which bring anything new to the table, is not enough to convince me this band is the next Hooded Menace. But Krypts has at least given me a window of some understanding into the incredible fanboyism the band has evoked so far in such a short career.

Rating: 7/10

Anti-Extreme Week Coming Up

To be honest, I have no idea if anyone is reading this thing or not. Regardless, a reminder that after this weekend is Anti-Extreme Week. I will be reviewing some of my favorite Non-Metal/Punk/Noise albums from this year. So be on the lookout for reviews of Iron and Wine, Bjork, St. Vincent, Feist, Fleet Foxes and all the other stuff.

Cheers,
Sharpy

Young And In The Way: V. Eternal Depression(2011)

Young And In The Way- V. Eternal Depression

Blackend Crust Punk is a relatively new phenomenon in Punk music right now, and one that is frankly spawning some of the best Punk on Earth. Hitting it's apex in popularity last year with Kvelertak's self-titled debut, the logical and natural mix of Crusty Swedish and American Punk with very early Second Wave Norwegian Black Metal is all the rage. I say logical and natural because one only needs to listen to Mayhem's legendary Deathcrush EP, or the recent work of Darkthrone to see how much Crust Punk and early Black Metal have in common. This correlation shines through even on recent, pure Black Metal releases(Ravencult's Morbid Blood is about as true to the early Norwegian sound as it gets, and I felt like skunking my way through most of the record and throwing Molotov love letters at cop cars.) Young And In The Way, a very young group from North Carolina, are firmly entrenched in this movement. Yet their most recent release, V. Eternal Depression, sounds like no BlackCrust I have ever heard.

With an obvious ode to Depressive Black Metal, V. Eternal Depression is a pitch black little LP. There are no rainbows, high school sweethearts or big eyed Golden Retrievers bringing light into your life. Instead, there are gnarled trees, dead birds being picked to pieces by armies of black ants and overcast skies foreshadowing an even bleaker tomorrow. The tortured shrieks of Kable Lyall do not evoke a desire to mosh and fuck shit up, but to hang out in the bathroom with a bottle of sleeping pills and some Sylvia Plath collections. The opening track, "Descending the White Mountain," never moves faster than a crawl, and ends with a somber piano piece. Right before exploding into the next track "Times Are Cold" with all the fury of a drug addled and depressed rage.

Young And In The Way clearly have a higher, more somber purpose for their music. Not that there is anything wrong with the Kvelertak or Martydod method of mosh pits and 30 packs of domestic brews: an admirable mission if ever there was one, I assure you. But Young And In The Way are seeking to push an already fairly new and only recently popular genre in new directions. I never thought the words would cross my lips, let alone be typed on my keyboard, but Young And In The Way have managed something incredible: an atmospheric, multi-dimensional and layered Punk Rock album.

This is a tremendous feat no doubt, and V. Eternal Depression has become one of my favorite albums of this year. Everything about it is finely crafted and perfectly tuned: each track flows into the other, creating a constant flow of sadness and carnage few albums can compete with. How unfortunate it ends so quickly: the whole album is over in 23 minutes, with an incredible 11 minutes taken up by the last song. True, this is the bands second major full-length this year(the other titled I Am Not What I Am, which I have not heard yet.), but the whole thing ends too quickly. The last track, "The Gathering," is mostly ambient noise and drumming, and although it is sufficiently atmospheric and fits the album, I can't shake the feeling that the band could have delivered a few more tracks here.

Length aside, V. Eternal Depression is a must own album. What these young, obviously unhappy North Carolina natives have accomplished here needs to be heard by any fan of music period. No album this year has taken me to such dark places, places sealed in the confines of the mind, as this fantastic LP. You will be touched: the question is, how will you react to it?

Rating: 9.5/10

Antediluvian- Revelations In Excrement EP(2011)

Antediluvian- Revelations In Excrement

As if there was never another Death Metal band to ever exist in the genres history, Incantation have become the most imitated band in Death Metal over the past few years. Spewed forth form the mighty loins of a New York scene in the early 90's that also spawned to more infamous -ations, Incantation were doing something just a little bit different from their peers in 1992 when they unleashed their magnum opus Onward to Golgotha: excruciatingly thick with distortion, choked into Doom-laden grooves and crusty with blackend, blasphemous filth, Onward to Golgotha was for its time the most extreme Metal album ever. While Suffocation mastered their brutality and Immolation implemented the discordant, Incantation sought only to drown you in suffering and death. This aesthetic has been the driving force behind the Old School Death Metal Revival that stared around 2005-06 and kicked into high gear in 2009, with Incantation, or more accurately their various immitators(and a few innovators), have been the flag-bearer of this movement.

Antediluvian are another in an increasingly large group of Golgotha's, or newer artists adhearing to the sounds of Incantation, who are making waves in the Death Metal scene. Last years compilation CD Watcher's Reign got the hype train rolling for these corrupted Canadian cadavers, whose aesthetic(this has been coming up a lot lately) is spot on and whose sound is a dead ringer for Golgotha style Incantation. Revelations In Excrement is the bands new EP, and it is 3 tracks of Antediluvian doing what they do: play Incantation.

Revelations In Excrememnt is short, no non-sense worship of New York's reviled blasphemers, as well a less than subtle wink-and-a-nods to earlier purveyours of the sound before it became popular, like Dominus Xul and Molested(one of the few classic bands who were able to match Incantation atrocity for atrocity without mindlessly imitating them). Cavernous, demonic ritual Death Metal with hints of Doom Metal groove and Black Metal imagery, textbook style for a soild A+ on the grading scale. If the scale was merely getting the sound and style right anyway. Revelations In Excrement is, for lack of a better phrase, well worn and played out. These tracks have the smell of "been-there, heard-that," delivered with a deadly serious attitude and as little joy or exploration as possible. With bands like Mitochondrion, Witchrist and Adversarial doing so much with the basic concepts and expanding them into something new and exciting, it is hard to get up and feel the evil here. There are only so many cavernous, Lovecraftian static-fests with Craig Pillard impersonators one can absorb before the whole thing grows a bit stale.

I am a huge Incantation fan, and the inherent enjoyment I get from that sound rubs off on me with Revelations In Excrement. Despite my somewhat tired stance, I still got up for this one and still found some primal comfort in the bands brutal and primitive style. If you are a hardcore fan of this sound, I would recommend Revelations In Excrement to you in a flash. The rest may be better off with the original, while we of less discerning taste deploy our cookie cutters and shape our own little piece of Golgotha.

Rating: 6.5/10

Altar of Plagues- Mammal(2011)

Altar of Plagues- Mammal

A full disclaimer: I am not really all that familiar with the whole "Blackgaze" or "Hipster Black Metal" or whatever the fuck it is called. Weakling and Wolves In The Throne Room are the only acts connected to this scene I have ever listened to(and very much enjoyed), and beyond the whole Hunter Hunt-Hendrix debacle that was impossible to ignore as it exploded across the internet at speeds that make celebrity sex tapes jealous, I was largely unfamiliar with the players. But this whole review blog thing kind of forces you to open up your musical world a bit, so I thought I would dive into the scene with an album that has been getting a lot of buzz, Mammal, from Ireland based Altar of Plagues. I really had no idea what to expect going in.

Color me impressed... and confused. Confused because I don't hear any Black Metal here.

Mammal consists of four tracks, and all are finely crafted, musically adventurous mixes of Doom, Sludge and Math Rock. The guitars have an eerily distant and dissonant quality; in fact, all the instruments sound slightly away from the listener, creating a unique effect of distance without being too soft or sounding terrible. All of the instruments are also expertly played, with a nice attention to detail that is greatly appreciated. There are also some wonderful, and often times beautiful, ambient sounds and noises that add to a dark, foreboding atmosphere.

None of this praise equates to Black Metal however, and I continue to struggle with this: I just don't hear any fucking Black Metal here. Not in the guitar tone or the riffs. Not in the drumming style, nor in the song composition. And certainly not in the vocals, which are more akin to the Post-Sludge screams of acts like Isis than Varg or Atilla. In fact, when listening to Altar of Plagues, I hear far more Isis than Emperor, and much more Neurosis than Burzum. This does not detract from the album in any real way, but leads me to question whether Black Metal suddenly left me behind and evolved into something completely different from what I understood it to be.

Mammal is not perfect. The first song, "Neptune is Dead" drags on near the end, and the vocals never elicit the level of emotion of depth that they seem to be attempting. By far my favorite track "When The Sun Drowns in the Ocean," features several female vocalist singing in a languages I don't recognize, while the yells of vocalist Dave Condon are absent. And while Mammal is certainly impressive and inventive, not all of the various ideas mesh or gel the way the band intended and some fall rather flat.

My confusion will persist for now, as Mammal is both very good and yet devoid of any discernible Black Metal aspects. The sheer vitriolic hate that some in the Black Metal community have for bands of this ilk is quite hilarious and alarming, but from my time with this album, may in fact be severely misplaced onto a band not deserving of it as well. Perhaps Altar of Plagues claimed some affiliation with Black Metal in the past, or toured with Liturgy or something. Regardless, as an inventive progressive Metal record, Mammal has the goods.

Rating: 8/10

Bastard Priest- Ghouls of Endless Night(2011)

Bastard Priest- Ghouls of Endless Night

Everything about Bastard Priest screams "credibility." The Entombed inspired logo, the perfectly blasphemous and anti-everything song titles, the horror-inspired cover art. The bands moniker? A slightly immature fuck you to Gods and The Man. Even the bands photos are appropriately black and white, grainy, and the band are decked in more scuzzy leather than a biker bar hooker. In an era of Death Metal hungry for a return to the late 80's, Bastard Priest can generate hype and cause uncontrollable salivating from sheer aesthetic alone. Not that the music diverges in any way from the look and feel of it: Bastard Priest are old school, extolling the virtues of buzz saw guitar tone and a time when blast beats were not a part of the formula. This is all an equation for mega-hype, and Ghouls of Endless Night(more of the damn aesthetic) was a wish-list topper for a large portion of the Death Metal community.

And if effort, attitude and style was enough to carry your record, than Bastard Priest would be the greatest Death Metal band on Earth, and Ghouls of Endless Night would be a once in a lifetime masterpiece for the ages. As it is, this is merely competent early Entombed fellatio with a few d-beats. Short and to the point, Ghouls of Endless Night waits for no man or beast. Or idea for that matter, as good riffs are either ditched in an effort to speed up the process or mercilessly hammered home to the point of diminishing returns, while weak, breathless and monotone vocals grunt their exhaustion over the tracks(and struggling to keep up with the songs). While sloppily hammering neckbeards in a mosh pit with 10 beers in your gut would make any of this a moot point, in the wrong setting(ie, not doing what I just described), Ghouls of Endless Night feels like well tread territory.

Which is not to say that this album is a complete waste of time. At times, like on the self titled track or "Last Scream," the old phrase "when it works, it works" comes to mind. Ghouls of Endless Night is also short and filthy, with the standard production all the kids love today: no triggers, no pitch-shifters, no fluff. And I have no doubts that Bastard Priest live is a whirlwind of destruction and beer unlike any other. But since my only experience with Ghouls of Endless Night is sitting in my home or heading to work, the feel of sweat and cheap domestics elude me.

It should be noted that the level of enjoyment one would get from Ghouls of Endless Night hinges largely on how much you love Swedish Death Metal. If Left Hand Path, Like an Everflowing Stream and Into Your Grave are your top 3 favorite Death Metal albums, in any order, than stop reading this now and purchase Ghouls of Endless Night right away. My bloviating on the band will mean jack shit, and my complaints will fall on deaf ears. For the rest, Ghouls of Endless Night is not without redeemable qualities and fails not from a lack of effort, but from a lack of ideas. And with bands like Trap Them playing a similar sound, only with far more brutality, creativity and adventure, Bastard Priest remains the cool kid that is only cool because he copies the other cool kids. Who are not so cool anymore.

Rating: 6.5/10

Archgoat- Heavenly Vulva(Christ's Last Rites)

Archgoat- Heavenly Vulvua(Christ's Last Rites)

To describe my excitement for Archgoat's new EP Heavenly Vulva(Christ's Last Rites) as unbearable might be an understatement: I will openly admit to being a huge fan of these Finnish blasphemers. They were, like many, my first Bestial Black Metal band, and along with Blasphemy and Beherit, helped breed my demonic fascination with bands who play this style of crusty, inhuman and Death Metal-influenced Black Metal. So I will admit right now, that being objective about Heavenly Vulva was not easy for me. But after spending plenty of time with this EP, I can safely say that not only have Archgoat settled on a sound that allows them to stand out amongst the crowded scene of Bestial Black Metal(or War Metal as some of you might refer to it),they have mastered it with satanic purpose.

Archgoat, unlike many of their peers, were never one to mindlessly ape Blasphemy(who we can credit for creating this fusion of Death Metal, Black Metal and Grindcore that is Bestial Black Metal) at every turn to fill a CD: this band had a unique purpose and have always delivered, and whether it was their brilliant Angelcunt(Tales of Desecration) EP or their first full length Whore of Bethlehem, Archgoat sought to separate themselves from the legendary Canadians. But starting with the unbelievable Light Devouring Darkness(their first full length after a long split), Archgoat set out to create a sound that was uniquely theirs, to decidedly mixed reviews. The addition of unique, Demilich-style vocals and a heavy emphasis on mid-paced, groove-laden songs turned the historically fast Bestial Black Metal genre on it's head. Heavenly Vulva is a continuation of this sound, and a further refining of its madness.

Heavenly Vulva is loaded with plenty of fast, Blasphemy-esque sections of insanity, but continues to showcase the bands ultimate strength: mid-paced, head banging riffs that create a dense and demonic atmosphere. These mid-paced sections are the highlights of the album, and on songs like "Goddess of the Abyss of Graves" they are short, sudden shifts in between the blistering speed riffs that adds a level of depth to the music. This is helped greatly by the production: this is the most balanced and heavy sounding production Archgoat have ever received. Heavenly Vulva is thickly produced, with rumbling bass and a nasty kick drum keeping things low and dark. The vocals are also more powerful and inhuman than on Light Devouring Darkness, which will please many. Heavenly Vulva is by far the bands most full sounding, powerful and brutal release so far, a big compliment considering the bands formidable back catalog of some seriously vile material.

About the only problem with this EP is the length: including a frankly worthless intro, Heavenly Vulva last only 16 minutes, and considering it has been a while since the bands last release, there was hope for more content to this long awaited new EP. The whole thing is over so quickly, it leaves you wanting more, something no album should do. I know that EP's are rarely as long as LP's, but 16 minutes of Archgoat is frankly not enough, and left me disappointed.

Despite its short running time, Heavenly Vulva is still one of the finest Black Metal releases of this year, and certainly my favorite EP released in 2011. Archgoat have never sounded so evil, so vile, so disgusting as they do on this short, not-so-sweet EP. The future is pitch fucking black for Archgoat, and hopefully we won't have to wait long for more.

Rating: 9/10

A Hill To Die Upon- Omens(2011)

A HA Hill To Die Upon- Omens

Let's just go ahead and get this out of the way first: Illinois Black/Death band A Hill To Die Upon are indeed a Christian band. For the most part, it is not hammered down your throat, but it becomes pretty obvious quickly(a song titled "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down" pretty much spells it out for you).

This is me not giving a fuck.

Anyway, Omens is the new full length from AHTDU, and it is surprisingly solid, if mostly forgettable. The band, which consists of brothers Adam and Michael Cook and whoever else they can get, have gone through various and massive sound changes throughout a very difficult career, before finally settling on technical Blackend Death Metal with their first full-length Infinite Titanic Immortal in 2009. Omens is a continuation of this sound: technical, dissonant riffs that remind one of Deathspell Omega with bursts of Angelcorpse and Bolt Thrower type speed. These riffs are complex and interesting enough to hold your attention, and the solid production has everything sounding good.

There is nothing I would describe as "life-changing" here: this band is not doing anything you have never heard before, and they are not doing anything better than anyone else. The talent and desire is obvious, but the execution is lacking to an extent. Omens has the needed pieces to be something special, but the bands inexperience with this style of music shows in the rather lackluster moments when picking out specific riffs or concepts becomes difficult.

If you can deal with the whole "Jesus" thing, I would still recommend giving Omens a listen. There is nothing here for the die-hard or elite, but for everyone else, Omens provides a mildly entertaining listen for a few spins, and puts A Hill To Die Upon on my list of bands to watch out for in the future.

6.5/10

Jungle Rot- Kill On Command(2011)

Jungle Rot- Kill On Command

I am not sure I would have ever considered Wisconsin Groove Death purveyors Jungle Rot to be "legendary." They are certainly old enough and certainly prolific enough to garner such praise, as many old bands do(often without deserving it). But Jungle Rot were never one of those "must listen" acts that changed the face of Death Metal forever. But damn it all if they were not fun as hell: punishing grooves, vicious vocals and catchy rhythms have been Jungle Rot's M.O. for a long time, and they always delivered.

Which is why the knuckle-dragging idiocy of Kill on Command is so fucking baffling.

True, Jungle Rot have never been the smartest band in Death Metal, but Kill on Command is completely devoid of brain cells: a night of binge drinking has produced more intellectual results. Take the absolutely stunning lyrical prowess of "I Predict a Riot":

"bodies flailing round, human flesh surrounds
abyss, torture bound, beaten to the ground
violence without fear, getting quite severe
distress offered, learn to persevere

I predict a riot

raging is your goal, you jump in the hole
furious, darkened soul, losing self control
savage, fists held high, take one in the eye
victims, weak they lie, you cannot deny

twisting, turning
dervish whirling
vortex taking
souls consuming

tramples, best shake it off
broken, weak brittle bones
crushed by the weight of human walls
down in the pit, you can't escape

assault, no constraint, and make no complaing
savage, not a saint showing no restraint
rampage, storming through, skin is black and blue
brutal fucking zoo, what'd I get into"

I posted the entire thing, since bits and pieces don't quite do this song, or this album, the justice it so deserves. A "brutal fucking zoo" indeed, only the chimps are running the show it seems.

Some will say I am being too hard on Jungle Rot. I mean, they are Jungle Rot, not Ulcerate. This is not thinking mans Death Metal. This is music meant to be experienced live, in the mosh pit, while smashing into some large drunk Metalheads. Too bad Kill on Command lacks any of the fantastic grooves that made Dead and Buried or Fueled By Hate such rock solid releases. This album is barely coherent: a few solid Death/Thrash riffs lost in a mass of chugs, "motherfuckers" and crystal clear production that robs any visceral edge the music might have had when the band actually wrote the damn album. If they even wrote it: to be entirely honest, a drunken jam session at the local practice space comes up with similar results. The whole thing reeks of amateurism that one would never expect from such a long running, professional act.

My first instinct is to somehow blame Victory Records for this mess, but the record label had no impact on Pathology, so sadly Victory are a poor scapegoat. In truth, the fault must lie with the band: Jungle Rot have flat out mailed this one in, something they have never done in the past. Maybe they lack passion for what they are doing. Maybe they are out of ideas. One thing is for sure though: Kill on Command is a disaster.

Rating: 2/10

Pathology- Awken the Suffering(2011)

Pathology- Awaken the Suffering

Although I grew up in the hay-day of Brutal Death Metal, I was never a fan of Slam Death Metal. I preferred the blast-heavy, guttural machinations that Deeds of Flesh and Krisiun spewed out than the chunky, snail paced gurggle non-sense of Devourment. There have been a few exceptions: the Space-Slam-Jazz-Grind of Wormed is nothing short of perfect, and Technical Slam Acts like Embryonic Devourment and Dripping have been good. But bands like Cephalotripsy, Katalepsy and Abominable Puridity do very little for me, and at its worst(Waking the Cadaver) it crosses over into War Crime territory.

Pathology, a younger band who are coming in during the Old School Death Metal resurgence(they released their first LP in 2006, near the end of Brutal and Technical Death Metal's reign over Death Metal as a whole), are intriguing though. Although firmly rooted in the realm of Slam Death Metal, Pathology do some cool things: melodic and technical riffs pop in from time to time, and the band write riffs with meat on the bones, while the vocals have actual power, unlike many inhale vocals that sound pathetic and wimpy. These Slam butchers are not the light squishing of bowels, but closer to a chainsaw slicing through a torso. They may still hem to closely to Slam Death for me to ever love them, in small doses Pathology deliver more than most Slam acts not named Wormed.

Awaken the Suffering is another rock solid release from the band, and by now they have mastered their sound: Tech Death riffing with a heavy dose of chunky breakdowns and the occasional moment of melody. There has been very little deviation from this sound over the bands 5 LP's(and impressive number in 5 years). And it works: this is far from the finest composition or most masterful stroke of genius, but in the right situation, Pathology hit hard and with purpose. The production is thoroughly modern: the click click click of drum triggers, the silky smooth guitar tones and the perfectly pitch shifted(slightly, thankfully) vocals are all present, but at least the bass is audible, a nice plus. It is still over-produced, but at least not maddeningly song.

Haters need not apply: there is nothing for die-hard haters of Slam Death, who at the very possibility that a breakdown MIGHT have been played will instantly begin bashing and bashing until they are blue in the face. Pathology might play this style with more authority, talent and song writing skill than most, this is Slam Fucking Death, and it offers few compromises.

I was plenty entertained by Awaken the Suffering. I admit, I am not as picky about my genre's as others might be, but I know shit when I smell it. This is not shit. This is rock solid, fun Death Metal that entertains, not amazes.

Rating: 7/10