Abyssal- Denouement(2012)

Abyssal- Denouement

The UK Death Metal scene is as rich with talent and innovation as it has ever been. The country of colonization and Big Ben has never been particularly well known for its expansive Death Metal scene: sure, everybody knows Bolt Thrower and Akercocke, and the well informed can name Benediction, Korpse and Cancer, but in comparison to say Sweden or Florida, the ol' Land of Limey's has never been at the forefront of Death Metal. But these last few years has seen an explosion of new talent in England's Death Metal scene, from Cruciamentum to Spearhead to Grave Miasma. And now Abyssal can be counted as another of these young, up-and-coming acts looking to make waves with their debut album Denouement.

Rich with texture and dissonance, Denouement fits in beautifully with the current trend in Technical Death Metal: using complexity to create dense, Occult atmospheres. Elements of Black and Doom Metal add layers to the listening experience, but Abyssal also toy with some of the more brutal elements of Death Metal throughout Denouement. A consistent guttural growl, sudden bursts of blast beats and palm-muted riffs bring elements to Denouement that other bands in this burgeoning sub-genre lack(often on purpose). Just as we saw Flourishing do on The Sum of All Fossils with Post-Hardcore and Gigan on Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes with Noise and Grindcore, Abyssal bring these Brutal Death Metal elements to the forefront to give Denouement a bit of distinction from the growing number of Ulcerate clones, though one should not expect too many breakdowns or pinch harmonics throughout Denouement(though the breakdown near the beginning of "Detritivore" is hard too miss).

There isn't a whole lot of fault with Denouement, but it never quite breaks through to the next level. The intensity and songwriting can be uneven, with less appealing sections of songs dragged out far too long. In fact, many of the tracks on Denouement could use some self-editing, particularly the final track "Swansong of a Dying Race," which could have used some of it's massive eleven minute run cut away. Bloated songs filled with too many unessecary concepts are the pratfalls of many a new group, and while Abyssal artfully dodge many other mistakes, they trip up in this regard.

Denouement is a brilliant start regardless of these minor mistakes. Abyssal have their own sound, a sound which I can honestly say I have never heard before, other than perhaps early Ulcerate before those New Zelander's dove head first into a sea of formless dissonance. All this band needs is time to develop their sound and their songwriting, and I have no doubt that Abyssal will be one of the bigger acts in progressive Death Metal in the near future.

Rating: 8/10

Abyssal are also among the more progressive bands in their distribution, as Denouement doesn't have any label support. The band are giving the album away through Bandcamp. If you are not familiar with Bandcamp, then this is the perfect opportunity to get acquainted with arguably the most important website in independent music today.

Download Denouement Free And Legally From The Band, Via Bandcamp

Plague Widow- Plague Widow(2012)

Plague Widow- Plague Widow

Slathered in suffering and darkness, Plage Widow's self titled debut EP is a powerful conceptual force, because while sounding thoroughly modern and extremely brutal, it is also rich and dense with atmosphere and musical complexity. Spawned from the sunny pits of Sacramento, California(My family is from there, which says something about the cities population...), Plague Widow have given us a small window into the future of Extreme Metal with this brilliant, caustic little noise abortion of an EP, one where the lines between modern brutality and old-school intensity are blurred completely.

Plague Widow is at it's heart a very modern sounding, ultra fast Deathgrind album with a strong Brutal Death Metal influence. From the moment the blistering drums and deep guttural growls of "Womb" kick in, the Circle of Dead Children and Deeds of Flesh influence becomes apparent. But as Plague Widow progresses, we see an attention to detail and atmosphere grow and become more enveloping. These disparate elements begin to twist and contort, forming a vortex of desolation few acts can match. "Void" blisters with elements of Adversarial and Portal, before ending on a breakdown Suffocation wish they could have written, while "Operating the Segmental Apparatus" is mixes in a heavy dose of atmospheric Black Metal between spouts of Deathgrind flame. Smart use of samples and atmospheric noise, like the intro to "Assimilated Subconscious," just adds to the bleak tension and monolithic blackness.

In just over fifteen minutes, Plague Widow delivers more death and Satan than most bands entire discography. One would be hard-pressed to find a more uncompromisingly dark and blasphemous slab of Grindcore and Death Metal than this masterful and dense piece of musical Sadism. Plague Widow have stumbled upon a sound that is as important as it is deadly: one that takes the decayed, evil spirit of the past and infuses it into the powerful, muscular frame of the present. This new creation, this new affront to God and Nature itself, could become unstoppable. For now, this small but bloody atrocity is a more than terrifying harbinger of things to come.

Rating: 9.5/10

Horrendous- The Chills(2012)

Horrendous- The Chills

Devoid of any original concepts or ideas, The Chills is yet another milestone in forgettable(and super hip) throwback Death Metal that is all the rage right now. Hailing from all across the US East Coast, Horrendous could not have picked a better time in Death Metal than right now... especially since they can't go back in time and release this in 1989, where it firmly belongs. Highly dated and inconsistently performed, The Chills feels old and tired right out of the gate, and although it picks up steam near the end, the album never escapes the miasma of "been there, done that, moved on."

Slow, ponderous Thrash beats lead this exhausted march through Death Metal's gloomy history. Horrendous drummer Jamie Knox deserves a medal for putting up with this affront to his ability as a musician. Or perhaps he lacks ability? Hard to say, but the soul crushing boredom he must have endured is worthy of legend. How many Thrash beats can you fit into a single album, and more importantly how do you convince a drummer to play almost nothing but them for an entire album? The Chills is ingloriously mid-paced for much of it's running time, and never reaches that sweet spot of tempo and aggression that makes for the best Death Metal. It just kind of plods from one riff to the next, held together with the bare minimum of connective tissue like so many horribly shredded arms caught in so many grinding gears. It doesn't help that most of the vocal delivery is firmly in the John Tardy school of mentally disabled yelping and grunting. Occasionally the band make use of a perfectly competent guttural growl that sounds powerful and deep, but never long enough.

This of course leaves the guitar and bass work, and in total fairness to The Chills, it is obvious from the beginning that this album was built as a guitar driven one. And at times the guitar work on The Chills is pretty impressive, particularly the solo work. At times channeling the early work of Chuck Schuldiner, the creepy, soaring guitar solos and leads on tracks like "The Somber(Desolate Winds)" and "Fatal Dreams" evoke the proper kind of nostalgia: namely, reflecting on that which was worth reflecting on. I have no problem admitting that for me, Death Metal did not exist until New York and Finland started making it. The early First Wave Death Metal bands from Florida and SwedDeath bands have never played a style of Death Metal that I prescribe to: too Thrash-y, too slow and too devoid of atmosphere. The Chills is firmly planted in this school of Death Metal... for the first half anyway.

The Chills takes a surprising turn when "The Ritual" kicks in. The Entombed and Obituary influence gives way to the crushing rhythms of Asphyx and Rippikoulu. All the postured darkness becomes actual evil, and the lessened presence of Thrash becomes a God-send. Doom infused and full of Hell, "The Ritual" is a massive highlight, and kicks off a much stronger second half of The Chills. It's as if the band realized the first half of the album was little more than toothless genre worship, and unleashed all of their inner hatred into a second half designed to blot out the first tracks as though they never actually existed. Too bad they did.

The Chills is not without charm, particularly with the albums strong second half picking up much of the slack, but it still feels tired and uninspired. A notch above pointless genre rehash like Morbus Chron and Misasmal, but well below the likes of Morbid Flesh or Execration, Horrendous have managed to keep themselves from drowning in a sea of imitators with The Chills. But the sea is rising, and those who cannot swim shall be swallowed up in the deluge. The Chills would not be my choice of flotation device.

Rating: 6/10

Desecravity- Implicit Obedience(2012)

Desecravity- Implict Obedience

Desecravity might just be the best Brutal Death Metal band on Earth right now. Of course that claim requires perspective, as Suffocation and Deeds of Flesh still rule this very brutal roost. What I mean is that in terms of debuts from young, up and coming Brutal Death Metal acts, Implicit Obedience is the best I have heard in a long, long time. Hailing from Japan, which has a fairly vibrant Brutal Death Metal scene, Desecravity pile on all the "brutalness" any fan could possibly ever hope for. They just do it while also having actual..um, riffs.

So few Brutal Death Metal bands seem to have them nowadays, it come as a shock. Implicit Obedience has honest-to-God riffs, and is not just a mish-mash of breakdowns, sweeps and pinch harmonics. It has all of those elements no doubt, but tempers the sheer insanity of it all with powerful, brutal guitar riffs that just make all the other insanity that much more satisfying. Compared to sheer stupidity of some of acts in the genre, Desecravity are like a bunch of Asian Motzart's, though I imagine Motzart could never muster a more inhuman guttural growl than Yujiro Suzuki. Mr. Suzuki has some of the most impressive pipes you will find in Death Metal today, and his performance is one of many highlights found through-out Implicit Obedience.

Thoroughly modern sounding, nothing about Implicit Obedience is likely to change die-hard haters opinions on this genre. But for those of us who can appreciate a good breakdown and some serious guitar acrobatics, Implict Obedience delivers on all accounts. The aforementioned guitar acrobatics are met with equally impressive(and modern sounding) bass work and the furious blasting drums(fully triggered) that one comes to expect from the genre. Again, it just comes down to the riffs: those are what set Implicit Obedience apart from contemporary Brutal Death Metal albums. Halfway through "Enthralled in Decimation," the track unleashes one of many head-banging, blistering riffs that do a fantastic job of keeping the "stupid-but-awesome" brutality in check. At times, these riff heavy sections bring to mind Incantation, Immolation and even Bolt Thrower, although they rarely last too long before the weedely-weedely kicks back in like a furious cyclone of virtuosity.

And as a fan of quality Brutal Death Metal, I would not have it any other way. Implicit Obedience is great because it finds that fine line between utter, incomprehensible brutality and competent Death Metal songwriting that so few in the genre ever seem to obtain. But when that sweet spot is hit right between the eyes like it is here, it becomes something pretty fucking awesome. What sweet brutality Desecravity have unleashed on us. Just sit back and be reduced to base atomic particles.

Rating: 9/10

Wreck And Reference - Black Cassette (2011)

Note: This review was originally posted at Court In The Act, and any reference made to any facets of a blog is linked to that blog.

Due to technology, this EP (released on cassette – hence the name – through Music Ruins Lives) has been sitting in my inbox unnoticed for several months. For that, I apologize. From the name of the band, one might guess that they played post-something, and you’d be sort of right – the influence which jumps out instantly to me is Jesu, in the shimmering semi-industrial shoegazey sense. Jesu are always better on EPs due to their albums becoming boring over their full duration, and I suppose this is the same.

                                 

The aforementioned elements create quite a haunting ambient effect – but despite wholly miserable lyrics, the music is uplifting to some degree; consider the musical form of being haunted by a nice ghost who sings melodically rather than attempting to scare people. However, at times the raw production makes it somewhat difficult to discern individual melodies, particularly when notes used are chromatically close to each other. Although this rawness gives a warm feeling – like that of an LP – overall it probably strays far enough to slightly detract from the music. That said, it’s a cassette release, and therefore one should not expect outstanding production.

A point of particular similarity with Jesu in particular as opposed to many other practitioners of this kind of music is the choice to use something roughly resembling popular structure (verse-chorus-verse or variations thereon), particularly on the pleasing opener ‘All The Ships Have Been Abandoned’. The vocal approach, however, which is integral to the quality of the music, as many of the instrumental patterns are a little uninspired, is more similar to that utilised by SubRosa (although from my guess the vocalist here is male). Unfortunately, for the most part they sound a little frail – and in a way that is more weak than ‘woe is me’, something which is particularly evident when they are brought to the forefront of the music by quieter instrumentation.

Speaking of the instrumentation, the email from the band, as well as the label’s website, informed me that no guitars were used in the creation of this, which they are still calling ‘rock music’ (a tag that I would loosely agree with). To be honest, I really don’t see the point in bringing this to our attention. The timbre of one of the instruments used (presumably one of the synthesisers mentioned) sounds so much like an electric guitar (a matter that the mucky production aids little to clear up) that it may as well be one. I’m not criticizing the use of alternate instruments, more so the particular highlighting of this factor which has so little effect it ultimately amounts to little more than a gimmick.

An unusual, but effective, use is made of the juxtaposition of what, at the end of the day, is inherently catchy music (although one would struggle to call any of the motifs and melodies used strictly ‘poppy’, they lean that way at times) with industrial (we’re talking Throbbing Gristle, not Combichrist here) and noise elements in middle eight sections. This blends smoothly rather than clashes awkwardly as one would expect – a true success on their behalf, and something that’s not really been done before (no, Merzbeat doesn’t count).

There is a fine line to be trod between suffocating emotion and tedium in music, and Wreck And Reference manage to trample haphazardly on both sides of that line with roughly equal proportion. Where their style works, it moves towards ‘stunning’, but there are simply too many sections of the EP where I’m looking at the second hand on the clock to justify too much positivity about the good parts. The same feeling comes from some of the odd diversions they go on in the EP – they’re of decidedly mixed quality, and some leave a jarring effect and hamper the continuity of the individual piece or the EP as a whole.

A good last track on a release is probably more conducive to wishes to listen to it again than any other track – that last impression is a lasting one, and fortunately the closer here, ‘A Lament’, is the standout track. The drones and synths bring a shimmering quality to it, and the vocals come across as sufficiently strained to introduce some real heart-ripping emotion to it. This may be so, but many other sections of the EP go through the mind as though it were a sieve, and although this EP shows promise, and future Wreck And Reference releases could be something indeed, to those with a busy listening schedule it’s definitely one that can be passed on with no harm done.

Charon- Sulfur Seraph(The Archon Principle) (2012)

Charon- Sulfur Seraph(The Archon Principle)

Standing firmly on the precipice of chaotic, Satanic orgy yet never quite diving into the blood and semen, Sulfur Seraph(The Archon Principle) achieves an unbelievable level of intensity and destruction while remaining thought-out and self-controlled. This is a rare feat in Metal today, as bands either ape older acts for their ideas or become so lost in creativity as to lose purpose. Germany's Charon have delivered something truly wicked and evil with this album, yet also something purposeful and driven. The maturity of the song-writing here is incredibly impressive, and without a doubt Sulfur Seraph is the first great album of 2012.

What makes Sulfur Seraph so great is how dense with ideas it is without ever feeling over-wrought or directionless. At just under forty minutes, this album packs more murder and madness per minute than just about any album I have heard. Moving effortlessly from Black Thrash to Bestial Black Metal and Occult Death Metal, Charon wield their ideas like finely crafted blades. Each track flows into the other, creating a thick atmosphere that is surprisingly varied. Charon display the ability to drown you in death ala Incantation, before exploding into a Thrash blitzkrieg that would make Sarcofago proud. Even the vocal attack is varied, coming at your from all directions with vicious shrieks, cavernous gutturals, madden chants, tortured screams and demonic whispers.

Sulfur Seraph provides so much, yet asks so little from the listener, another rarity in today's underground Metal scene were reverb and static rule supreme. The production is appropriately raw, but also even and competent: this was not recorded at the bottom of the ocean. And there is something oddly accessible about this album, despite it's density. At times, Charon bring to mind early Belphegor(although Charon are much Thrashier and more occult) in how they present such brutal and blistering ideas in ways that don't come off as forced or purposely unappealing. Song-writing just doesn't get much better than this.

The year has just barely begun, but already a surefire contender for album of the year has emerged. Sulfur Seraph(The Archon Principle) is one of those rare albums that hits all the marks for greatness. Bestial, brutal, dark, atmospheric, creative, inventive and accessible. The complete package if there ever was one.

Rating: 10/10

Better Late Than Never...

The Top 50 Albums of 2011

Better luck this year...

Upcoming Releases To Get Horny About: It Begins...

Anyone hear the new Rottrevore tracks? Were you as disappointed as I was? Fear not, for Denmark's Undergang are here to sate your hunger for primitive, static choked Death Metal. An early favorite for Album of the Year, no doubt.

Some seriously hateful Bestial Black Metal here from one of the best in the business, Spain's Proclamation. The trvest static you will ever listen to.

Sweet, sweet weedely-weedley-screech. Oh how I missed you. I love wank, and I love Spawn of Possession. Sure waited long enough for this, and my expectations are through the roof.

Martin Van Duren is the worst vocalist I have ever heard, but fuck if Asphyx don't have riffs. The riffs are so good, I can ignore Duren's retard grunts.

Spearhead- Theomachia(2011)

Spearhead- Theomachia

A blistering whirlwind of Blackened Death Metal hate, Theomachia takes square aim at both originality and your cranium and pulverizes them to dust and chunks. Their patron god Angelcorpse would be highly impressed with this dominating, jack-hammer Death Metal, and so am I. I might have heard this album before, or three times to be exact, but damn it all if Theomachia doesn't beat me to a joyous death every time I listen to it.

A powerful new player in England's suddenly burgeoning Death Metal scene, Spearhead make no bones about their Angelcorpse influence, but over-come their creative short comings through sheer inhuman intensity. Drummer Torturer(what a fitting name) embodies the war machine, hammering your senses like a trench is hammered by artillery fire, again and again and again. His performace behind the skins(no doubt crafted from the flesh of his fallen enemies) is the highlight of this monstrous slab of pure death. Everything else follows suit: the guitar work is fucking fast, the low-end rumbles and the vocals are mad with anger and fury. Theomachia moves like clockwork from start to finish, delivering the goods in classic all-killer-no-filler style. It's hard not to step back and listen in awe to how tight, purposeful and violent Theomachia really is. A better crafted piece of worship you will not find.

Worship, however, is all there is to be found on Theomachia. With the exception of the final track, this album follows the well obliterated path of Angelcorpse most of the way. "Aftermath," the purely instrumental final track, has Spearhead toying with melody and dissonance, but as the title of the track explains, this is only after the war is over and the corpses have been piled so high as to block out the Sun. And what a glorious mountain of corpses it is, even if I have seen more than a few in my day.

Rating: 8.5/10

Teitanblood- Purging Tongues(2011)

Teitanblood- Purging Tongues

Slithering from the bottomless pits of Hades, Purging Tongues is the sound of corruption itself. Busy, blasphemous and relentless, Teitanblood have adopted a take-no-prisoners approach to songwriting with their newest EP, the bands first new material since their brilliant Seven Chalices LP from 2009. Seven Chalices established these Spaniards as one of front-runners in Occult-themed Black/Death Metal, but it really doesn't compare to Purging Tongues in terms of sheer misanthropy. This EP flat out hates your guts, and makes no concessions.

A single track spanning fifteen minutes, Purging Tongues sees an already chaotic and atmospheric band devolve into pure chaos noise and Satanic incantation. The music flows like sacrificial blood down a slopping altar, moving from unhinged noise and devilish chanting to bursts of Blasphemy-meets-Incantation grinding and back again, never giving the listener one second to even comprehend the machinations at work. None of the individual elements are particularly surprising or new for Teitanblood: Seven Chalices featured all the same insane sounds. It's the density of the composition that makes Purging Tongues that much more inhuman.

This density is also as much a curse as a blessing. Purging Tongues has Teitanblood entering Portal territory here, for better or worse. Following individual song elements becomes very difficult in this blistering haze, and it's pretty much impossible to pick out any individual riffs or sections as highlights. Purging Tongues must be taken as a whole or not at all, and at times the whole affair feels over-wrought and directionless. It doesn't help that the production is so uneven: the bass, drums and vocals are very loud in the mix, and they almost completely drown out the weak guitars that grasp for any hold they can find beneath crushing reverb. And holy hell, talk about reverb. The vocals echo for miles and the bass sounds like clattering bones, which while charming in their own way also destroy any hope for the guitars to have a real impact.

Purging Tongues is a ten-tone slab of pure inaccessibility. Just getting your arms around this clusterfuck is an endeavor worthy of legend, but burrowing into this solid black husk will be the real challenge, one perhaps not worth undertaking. Purging Tongues does not lack for ambition, but the busy and bloated compositions left me somewhat cold in comparison to the much more subdued and thought out Seven Chalices. Tetianblood are perched on the edge of Chaos, and hopefully they avoid the temptation to leap into the abyss.

Rating: 7.5/10