Random Metal Reviews

Ripchord - Thrashaholics (1988)

2009-07-19T21:49:00.002-04:00

Juvenile thrash metal from a bunch of high school kids. It has purile lyrics (e.g. "We Hate Jocks"), generic thrash riffs, and bad shouted vocals. In short, it's exactly what you'd expect a high school thrash demo from the late 80's to be. That said, the musicianship is at least competent, so while this might be utterly forgettable, at least it won't dwell in infamy.

Innersight - Meandering (2002)

2009-07-19T21:36:00.003-04:00

Yeah, Meandering is a good title for this. It's all over the map without any real regard to song flow. That said, despite its somewhat amateurish sound, the music is pretty good. In style, it's similar to Mytra, but not as high quality. The songs are basically heavy, largely instrumental prog metal, melodic but not hook-based and mostly guitar-driven with occasional use of keyboards. The guitar work isn't showy, but it is solid and handles a lot of different styles with ease. The drums seemed programmed, but are reasonably well done. The riffs don't really remind me of anyone in particular, though there aren't any riffs that I find excellent. The only real complaint I have is that the two songs have no organization. The shorter song, "Varazsceruza" is only five minutes long, but goes through three distinct unrelated sections, while the 25-minute title track goes through too many sections to count. That said, I'm looking forward to hearing their later efforts, as this is promising.

This is their third release, after Blue Shadow and I Have Seen the Future. All of their releases are available from their website.

Zindan - Depth (2009)

2009-07-18T20:19:00.003-04:00

Zindan are from Uzbekistan and play "Progressive Melodic Death Metal". I suppose that's a fair description, though it's progressive/power metal mixed with melodic death metal, not "progressive death metal", as I was hoping. The music is pretty substandard by Western standards. They use some interesting Asian-sounding ethnic music (Uzbek folk, I assume?) at times, but aside from that it's pretty disappointing. The funk bass parts (in "Facing One Another") in particular weren't a good idea. When they get heavier (the beginning of "In the Depth of Zindan"), they're much better than the typical prog/power metal sections. But in that track, then they degenerate into Metallica worship and a cheesy sing-along gang chorus. The playing is pretty solid, but not very challenging, and the guitar leads and solos are pretty amateurish. They use two different vocal styles: grunted vocals (which are okay) and clean vocals (which sound like Metallica). The production is decent, but at times could use more power and a crisper feel. Check this out if you need to hear some metal from Uzbekistan, but for the rest of us, this is pretty forgettable.

Their MySpace has one track from this album, "Truth Becomes a Lie", and two other tracks.

Led Astray - In Ways Unforeseen (2009)

2009-07-18T20:06:00.003-04:00

I have a similar reaction to this as I did to Daath -- it's competent and well produced, but not that memorable. Unlike Daath though, I actually have fond recollections of having liked it while I was listening to it. The music is somewhat technical, and the riffs are not so generic. I still can't identify any element of their music that is uniquely theirs, though. Thus, they're still a long way from the top tier, but this is a reasonable first offering.

Their MySpace page has two songs from this album and one from their demo.

Hybrid Heaven - The Textures of Spirit (2008)

2009-07-16T21:58:00.002-04:00

This is sloppy, tech thrash from Mexico. If they could actually play their instruments in time and in tune, this would be good. The music is technical and complex, somewhere between thrash and death metal, with lots of melodic parts and guitar leads. There's a lot of variety in the music and the songs flow reasonably well. The vocals are something between a shout and a black metal rasp, and are a weak point. The production doesn't add a lot of power to the music, but at least the instruments are clear, even the bass. Really the major problem I have with this is the playing, which is sloppy enough to make this unlistenable for me. If they could clean up their act, they could be a force in the tech-thrash scene.

Their MySpace page has four songs from this album.

Mercenary - Thunder March (1989)

2009-07-16T21:36:00.002-04:00

OMFG. This is possibly the worst demo I've heard yet. The vocalist reminds me of that old joke: "How do you tell when your lead singer is at the door? He can't find the key and doesn't know when to come in." Ha ha. It's funny because it's true, at least in this case. This guy has no timing; he comes in late and sings too long, then has to scramble to start the next line on time. But don't think that the vocals are the only bad part of this demo. The lyrics are juvenile as hell, the music is plodding and boring, the production is a horrible mess, the guitar solos are a joke, and the band are sloppy as all get-out. My high school metal band was better than this, and we sucked! Heck, I think I'd rather hear Deep Sunshine's cover of "The Final Countdown". They are slightly better than these guys, though.

Sadly, I don't have the cover art for this demo. I'm sure it's as craptacular as the music.

Katedra - Natus in Articulo Mortis (1992)

2009-07-16T21:30:00.003-04:00

This sounds a little like Voivod's Nothingface; it's speedy thrash with dissonant guitars. It's not outstanding, but decent. It's a little dated for 1992, but they're from Lithuania, so we'll let that slide... Unfortunately, the vocals are terrible; they're half-growled / half-sung without much range. The music really requires vocals that are more melodic. The guitar solos and leads are just okay. Sometimes they sound pretty amateurish and sloppy; other times they sound okay. The guitarists sometimes try to play above their ability levels; when they keep it simple, they do well. The bass playing and drumming are good but not really noteworthy.

Their MySpace page has four songs from their 2008 release, Ugnikalnis, which have an updated sound but some similarities to this disc.

The Arkitecht - Hyperstructure (2008)

2009-07-15T22:44:00.002-04:00

Uhhh... what the heck? This is like Awake-era Dream Theater mixed with pop, grunge, some Faith No More, some Pantera, some industrial-style death metal, some Symphony X, and even some jazz fusion. It tries to do everything and ends up doing nothing well. Now, it is impressive is that this is largely a one-man project, but that only goes so far. The production and playing are good. The guitarist in particular is actually quite impressive, at least for the few times he actually decides to play something interesting. The keyboards are well performed, but are in the typical cheesy progmetal style, and the guest vocals are okay but they have a noticable accent. However, none of that saves the unfocused songwriting. And even despite the variety of influences, I also don't hear much originality. A lot of the riffs in the whole album sounded similar to other riffs I've heard. Or perhaps I'm just getting old... Anyway, the last track, "Face Thief" is the best one here, but that seems a little over-long (32 minutes), and borrows heavily from Symphony X's much-superior "The Divine Wings of Tragedy".

Their MySpace page contains two songs from the album and two clips from "Face Thief".

Vehemence - January 1992 demo (1992)

2009-07-15T22:32:00.001-04:00

This isn't the same Vehemence from Phoenix who released God Was Created. These guys are from Los Angeles, and this 5 song demo is their only release. Given the quality, I can understand why. It's noisy thrash/hardcore. The vocals are standard hardcore-style shouting and the riffs are repetitive and simple thrash. The whole thing has a "punk" vibe to it. The production is really noisy, making it hard to hear exactly what's being played. This does absolutely nothing for me, and I doubt even crossover fans would be interested in it these days.

Pendulum - Atrocity Sin (1990)

2009-07-15T21:58:00.003-04:00

This is decent thrash from the late 80's San Antonio scene. It's relatively uneventful, but the riffs are faster and more involved than normal. Perhaps they were inspired by fellow Texans WatchTower and Helstar. The guitar solos are about average -- the style is pointless wankery, but they show some remarkable speed and skill. Unfortunately, the vocals are worse than average -- the singer has that goofy half-talked/half-sung-with-no-range style that was more common with punk bands of the time. In addition, the production is weak and the vocals are mixed way too loud, so sometimes it's hard to hear the guitars. The best song here is the 8-minute mostly-instrumental "Crown of Thorns" (vocals kick in about the 5:30 mark). The band apparently put out a demo/EP after this, so I'll be on the lookout for that as well, as this shows some potential.

Daath - The Concealers (2009)

2009-07-12T12:04:00.004-04:00

Ho hum. Another competently played, well-produced album of generic melodic death metal. It sounds like tons of other bands. I've listened to it twice, and I can barely remember anything about it -- none of the songs, none of the melodies, not even whether there were any particularly good or bad songs. Guys -- if you want to be one of the top tier, you need to have a unique sound and make music that people remember. This is eminently forgettable.

Their MySpace page contains three of these songs.

Random Mullet - Lifeless (2005)

2009-07-12T11:30:00.004-04:00

These guys are Finnish, and mix pop, tech metal, prog metal, and some other influences. I generally dislike bands that mix too many styles together, and this is no exception, even if the music is well-played. Focus, guys, focus! The music switches from happy sing-along choruses to dissonant tech metal back to melodic metal and then to Meshuggah-style amelodic, syncopated riffing. Even if you like all of the styles presented, the songs are so random that they have no flow to them. I could get over that if the riffs were exceptional, but there's nothing here that really impressed me, either in its execution or its originality. This is a quality product, and the band are skilled with their instruments, but their songwriting could use some work.

This demo is freely available from the band's website.

In Staid Grace - Revelations (2009)

2009-07-11T14:54:00.002-04:00

This Pennsylvania band are supposed to play "Progressive black metal". That's not even close to an accurate description. What it sounds like to me is melodic Swedish doom/death metal, of the variety that was popular in the mid-90's. The vocals are more akin to death metal than black metal, and while there are some elements of black metal in the guitars, they more often than not have the tone and speed of Swedish bands like Miscreant and Katatonia. That said, this is pretty decent for that style, but not really exceptional. The production is clear at least, but doesn't really add a lot of power to the music. The playing is usually pretty decent, but there are some notable places where it sounds cheap and unprofessional, such as the reticent arpeggios at the end of "In Staid Grace" and the horrible solo guitar intro to "Lifestream". The band also has trouble putting together a consistent effort. My favorite part of the album is the intro to "Feast on the Weak", which features twin acoustic guitars overlayed with a Meshuggah-like rhythm. The song continues in their usual melodic death metal sound, but about halfway through, they switch to a more drab sound and add some very flat clean vocals, and end with a minute long passage of almost ambient music before the guitars kick back in and they overlay a horrible guitar solo on top. That said, there are some nice ideas here and they do show some potential, but I think they could use a re-focusing on what it is that they do well.

Their MySpace page has five songs from this album, including the aforementioned "Feast on the Weak". "Soulscythe" is also a typical sound for them.

Talon - 1987 demo

2009-07-11T09:02:00.003-04:00

Talon hailed from Texas and this was their only demo. After releasing it, they changed their name to Sedition and released a couple more demos, then disbanded. That's somewhat surprising, because while this demo isn't really very interesting, it is at least competent for the time. The music is pretty straightforward thrash with angry vocals (sounding like a heavier Bobby Blitz), fast riffs, and noisy guitar solos. The production is solid, with the bass coming through quite clearly. There are some interesting sections here and there -- mostly the acoustic sections and some of the melodic leads -- but for the most part, there's not a lot that I find worthwhile about it now. Still, this was decent for the time and I'm somewhat surprised that they never went on to sign a deal and record more than demos.

Ensoph - Rex Mundi X-Ile (2009)

2009-07-11T08:39:00.002-04:00

I've followed these guys since their 1998 debut, Les Confessions du Mat. This is certainly much different than the gloomy gothic metal of that EP, but it follows the tradition they started with 2001's Bleeding Womb of Annanke. They pull influences from gothic metal, techno/industrial, and black metal, and fuse them into a reasonably coherent style. Imagine a mix of Solefald with Assemblage 23 and you have a reasonable starting point. Somehow, it works to some degree for them; I guess it's because they're not trying to staple together dissonant styles -- their riffs seem to blend much better with the techno bits than Infravision's. They utilize a lot of different vocal styles -- male and female, distorted, shouted, screamed, spoken, and soprano, among others, and a variety of instrumentation types as well. Most of the music is a mix between guitar-driven and keyboard-driven. The production is surprisingly heavy too; it really helps their sound. Although this isn't really my style, I can appreciate this album for its uniqueness. I can't think of anyone who sounds a lot like this. Their cover of Alice in Chain's "Would" was an interesting touch, too.

Their MySpace page has some samples from the album.

Silent Scream - Demo (1989)

2009-07-09T21:23:00.004-04:00

This is a completely different Silent Scream than the first one I reviewed, and while these guys are better, they're still not very good. Each of the songs here is different -- "Gogmagog" is cheesy hair metal, "Tibet" sounds like a half-assed version of Fates Warning, and "Don't Play in the Dark" reminds me of Dio. The band is solid but the songs don't really have anything to say, they're just kinda going through the motions. I suppose this would have been an average demo for the time, but it certainly doesn't do anything for me now.

Abhorrence - Abhorrence (1990) and Vulgar Necrolatry (1990)

2009-07-09T21:14:00.004-04:00

Abhorrence is of course the pre-Amorphis project of Tomi Koivusaari. And it sounds like really early Amorphis: brutal death metal with deep growls and crushing riffs, with a few melodic bits like on The Karelian Isthmus. But mostly it's just not that interesting. Actually, I found the 7" really boring, while Vulgar Necrolatry was decent. The best song was the title track from VN, which I didn't find surprising considering that Amorphis covered it for the CD release of TKI. Even still, this was mostly a curiosity for me at this point. I had some nostalgic fun listening to VN, but neither demo is really something that I'm going to listen to again.

Both demos (and some other recordings) are available from the band's website.

Turulver - Turulver (2003)

2009-07-08T21:36:00.003-04:00

This is competent mid-paced black metal from Hungary. The bass work is pretty nice and the production is very good. Actually the songs are pretty good too, but this isn't really progressive or groundbreaking in any sense. Still, I found this somewhat enjoyable as it wore on. It's a quality product and has enough variability to keep it from the Marduk/Dark Funeral camp of complete drudgery. It also helps that the songs are short -- the longest is 4:39. And with an intro and an outro, this is only five songs lasting 23:15. It's still not a must-download, but fans of black metal could do much, much worse. Then again, if you're a fan of black metal, you have something like this already in your collection.

The band have made this EP and their follow-up full length freely available from their website.

Aggressor - Looking for a Label (1989)

2009-07-08T21:13:00.003-04:00

This Aggressor was from Boston and played some pretty decent thrash. It's well performed and produced. Their music isn't very melodic, but it's not completely amelodic either and there is some prominent bass work. Unfortunately, it's not really exceptional in any regard -- the vocals, lyrics, riffs, and guitar solos are just average. But it's a quality product and certainly equal to many of their peers at the time. I'm actually quite surprised that they never went anywhere -- they released one more demo four years later and never signed a record deal or went on to other bands. That's a shame because they coulda been a contender. Certainly many worse bands have gone on to record full-length albums...

Fatal Sin - Demo (1989)

2009-07-06T21:50:00.003-04:00

This is pretty standard late 80's thrash, but it's competently performed. The production is really good -- it's clear and powerful. Musically, they remind me of Nasty Savage and Nuclear Assault (esp. vocally). Fast and tight, this is actually a pretty good demo for the time. It doesn't do much for me now, as it's pretty light on melody, but they certainly had some playing ability and I'm surprised they never went anywhere.

Protected Illusion - Festering Fairytales (1990)

2009-07-06T21:29:00.002-04:00

This is some decent thrash from Finland. It's not top tier like WatchTower, Toxik, Deathrow or Helstar, but they have some good riffs and a few of the songs are pretty good. They're on par with their countrymen Rectum, but I don't find them as interesting as they focus more on straight-up fast thrash riffs than progressiveness. The vocals are of the typical screamed/shouted style that was common at the time, with perhaps a touch of Chuck Schuldiner in them. They do include one section of clean vocals in the last song, "Runk Opstrom". This was a bad idea, guys. The guitar solos are also pretty bad; thankfully, they're few and far between. Otherwise, the playing is pretty solid, though I wouldn't describe it as flashy. The production is pretty weak, but not worse than others at the time. This is mostly a novelty at this point, but there are some good songs, and fans of late 80's thrash might still enjoy it.

Their MySpace page has four of the songs from this album, though none of them are the best songs.

Helheim - Kaoskult (2008)

2009-07-05T07:23:00.001-04:00

Despite this being Helheim's sixth full-length album, I've never heard them before. And I must say that I'm pleasantly surprised. To me, it sounds like later Arcturus mixed with more standard black metal. It's not as avant-garde as Arcturus, but it has an experimental vibe that most black metal doesn't have. It also at times reminds me of Borknagar's underrated The Olden Domain. The songs are generally mid-paced and are driven by black metal guitars as well as clean guitars with a chorus effect. The chorus-effect guitars seem to be the main driver of the unique sound -- they're used everywhere: alone and under the distorted guitars. And it's such a simple thing, but they really help produce an atmosphere. Add to the guitars reasonably good drumming, good bass work, a light use of keyboards for atmosphere, raspy and clean Viking metal-style singing, and solid production, and you have a quality product.

Their MySpace page contains the first two songs from this album: "Det Norrone Alter" and "Northern Forces".

Infravision - This Epileptic Serenity (2008)

2009-07-05T06:50:00.001-04:00

Infravision hail from Greece and fuse industrial with death/thrash metal, utilizing keyboards heavily and adding a large dollop of techno. They use mostly grunted vocals, but occasionally switch to clean vocals (which are not very good). This yields a somewhat unfocused sound -- they switch back and forth between heavy and cheesy. They haven't yet mastered the art of blending the two styles into a seamless package. That said, they do have significant technical skill -- when they choose to show it -- and they do have some potential. I'm not sure that I'll ever like the mixing of techno with death metal, but this is at least somewhat original.

Their MySpace page has three songs from this album.

Brutality - Sadistic (1992)

2009-07-04T14:39:00.002-04:00

The year before Florida's Brutality released their classic debut, Screams of Anguish, they released this 7". Not surprisingly, it's much in the same style of technical death metal, but the melodic leads aren't as well done. The production could also use some work -- it's a little distorted and not as tight as it could be. The second track here, "Spawned Illusion" is the better track -- but it ended up being re-recorded on SoA, while the title track did not (it was included in the 2008 re-release though). Still, this is a good slab of classic Florida death metal, but as with Metamorphosis, it's mostly a curiosity now.

Their MySpace page has the title track from this 7".

Purulence / Amaymon - split (1993)

2009-07-04T14:34:00.003-04:00

Amaymon is pretty generic death metal. Competent but uninteresting. The production is pretty bad, but it doesn't seem that there's much going on in the music, so we're not missing much.

Purulence is moderately technical, and their music is much more varied and interesting. There are plenty of tempo and style changes, but the songs strike a good balance between variety and cohesive songwriting. However, the excessive pinch harmonics kind of annoy me. Also notable is the closing number, "Sinking Into Transparency", which is similar to Gorguts' "Condemned to Obscurity" in that it foreshadows Gorguts' groundbreaking Obscura five years later. I'm kind of surprised that Purulence never went anywhere after this split CD. Of course, Steeve Hurdle went on to play in Gorguts, but it seems Purulence could've really gone somewhere.

Two of Purulence's songs from this split ("Sinking Into Transparency" and "Inhaling the Souls") are available on their MySpace page.

Eternal Torment - Demo (1992)

2009-07-04T14:30:00.002-04:00

Boring as shit generic death metal from Buffalo, NY. No redeeming qualities whatsoever, except perhaps that it's only 14 minutes long.

Three of the four songs from this demo are available on their MySpace page. See for yourself if you don't believe me.

Rosebourg - Deathly Silence (2002)

2009-07-03T10:04:00.003-04:00

I figured this Bulgarian band would be bad when I saw the following description on their webpage: "The boys are creative and how wonderful - full of fantasy!". And I was right. This is cheesy "progressive"/power metal, mid-tempo with melodic vocals and weak guitars. It reminds me of a slower version of the mid-90's Italian bands (Labyrinth, e.g.). The focus is more on hooks and vocals than on instrumental prowess. As such, the playing is very restrained. It's solid but even the guitar solos are conservative. And neither the vocals nor the songs are really strong enough, so this just comes off as watered-down. I'll call it "power metal without the power".

This demo is freely available from the band's website.

Mordab - Darker Than Grave (2008)

2009-07-03T09:25:00.003-04:00

This demo starts out promising, with some nice acoustic guitars that get layered with some distorted guitars and drums. Then it sort of degrades into generic melodic death metal -- competently played and reasonably good, but it doesn't really make an impression, aside from two exceptions. The first is the terrible "Psychotic Depression". This is a pop song, with acoustic guitars and melodic vocals. It's even worse than a hair metal "power ballad". Bad, bad, bad. The second is the closer, "Ascenssion" (sic) which is a melodic doom number, akin to Swallow the Sun, and my favorite track here. They do a good job of creating and maintaining an atmosphere. I do have to give them some credit though -- they're from Iran. I hope they can continue to release music, as there is some potential here.

This release and their previous demo are available from their website.

Innersight - Blue Shadow (1998) and I Have Seen the Future (1999)

2009-07-03T08:34:00.004-04:00

Innersight is a strange band from Hungary whose sound has changed dramatically over the years. These are their first two demos, which are described as "post-rock". I'm not really sure what that's supposed to be, but to me they sound like Joe Satriani's "Midnight" (from SwtA) and "Day at the Beach" (from FiaBD): solo clean guitar (though clearly not acoustic) with heavy reverb and lots of delays. The guitarist uses a variety of strumming and picking techniques to provide a little variety, but it's not enough. There are no other instruments here: no drums, no bass, no keys, no singing. Now, I actually like the two Satriani songs, but they're only 2 minutes each. These two demos clock in at 71 minutes between the two of them. That's an awful long time for the same shtick. About the only bright spot after the first few minutes was the cover of "My Friend of Misery". It took me a while to figure out what song it was, since I haven't listened to the Black album in probably 18 years. Anyway, Innersight's next couple of releases are supposed to be progressive death metal. I'll review them in the near future.

This release and all of their releases are freely available from their website.

Hell-Born - Cursed Infernal Steel (2006)

2009-07-02T07:31:00.002-04:00

This is the follow up to Hell-Born's 2003 offering Legacy of the Nephilim. I was expecting it would have improved on that pile of garbage. I was wrong. This is possibly the worst death metal album I've ever heard. Utterly and completely boring, horribly over-distorted production, generic dead-simple riffs repeated over and over, generic vocals, juvenile lyrics, and no hint of originality. This is the kind of music that gives death metal a bad name.

Manic Depression - It's a Wonder We Aren't All Screaming Like Madmen In Our Sleep (1990)

2009-06-28T08:47:00.003-04:00

Yeah, now this is what I expect when I think of punk: a low-fi recording with dead-simple guitar riffs, silly talked/shouted vocals punctuated by lots of shouting, political lyrics, and lots of attitude but little musical ability. Ugh... 45 minutes of this is hard to take.

Exoteracy - demo (1989)

2009-06-28T08:38:00.004-04:00

This is punk, but it's actually pretty decent for punk. The songs are pretty fast and the guitars and drums are about as good as or better than some of the thrash demos I've been reviewing. The vocals are very punk -- mostly talking with a little bit of melody. The guitars are somewhere between punk and thrash -- the parts are more complex than average for punk and played with reasonable skill. The production is adequate -- everything is clear but lacks any real power. Owing to their punk roots, the songs are short -- although the demo is 10 songs, it's only 14 minutes, with the longest song being 2:02. Ultimately, this isn't a great demo, but it was good enough to get them signed for a full-length (in 1990).

Tardive Dyskinesia - Distorting Point of View (2006)

2009-06-28T08:32:00.002-04:00

Boring, Meshuggah-inspired metalcore. They're supposed to be "metal/progressive/hardcore", but I think they forgot the "progressive". Sure, the playing is solid and the production is really good. But the band has nothing novel to say, so why bother? I suppose it's worth noting that they're from Greece, which means that fans of the style in that country can now see a quality live performance on a regular basis. But for the rest of us, this is nothing special.

Their MySpace page has four songs from this album.

Scourge - Crucifixion Contradiction (2009)

2009-06-27T10:13:00.002-04:00

This is boring Swedish groove metal/thrash. It sounds dated, and doesn't really sound Swedish -- it sounds more American to me. Anyway, the production is great, but that's about the best thing I can say about this. The songs are mid-paced and generic, the guitar solos are pointless wankery, and the vocals are hoarse-shouted without a lot of feeling. There isn't a lot of melody here, it's mostly groovy chuggah-chuggah riffs. I suppose there's a market for this kind of music, but it doesn't seem exceptional to me in any sense; it's just another also-ran in a crowded field.

Their MySpace page has all five songs from this demo, plus the two from their previous demo.

The Collins/Wardingham Project - Interactive (2006)

2009-06-27T09:17:00.003-04:00

Somehow this instrumental fusion/metal project found its way to my mp3 player. I'm not a big fan of jazz or fusion, but I've been acquainted with it ever since my guitar teacher in the late 80's introduced me to Gambale and Holdsworth. And this project reminds me of those two, plus some mid-90's MacAlpine. But aside from the inherent lack of direction in the songs, it's well played and produced and an enjoyable listen. They also deserve credit for making each song unique -- although most of the songs remind me of someone I've heard in the past, they don't seem to mix influences within songs. This strikes the right balance between having enough diversity that the songs don't all sound the same and having too much diversity so that the songs don't have any character of their own. If I have a complaint about this record, it's that there isn't really any bass. The focus is on the guitars and keys, and they take turns taking the spotlight, but there seems to be a notable absence of bass. The songs also seem a little long sometimes -- the average song is nearly six minutes long, but three of the nine are over nine minutes each.

Their MySpace page has a good variety of tracks from the album.

Pestilence - Infected (1988)

2009-06-27T09:13:00.002-04:00

This is pretty generic thrash in the West Coast style. It's competently performed and has decent production, but doesn't really stand out from the others at the time. In particular, the guitar solos are uninspired and the riffs and vocals are just plain boring. This isn't really noteworthy other than that the band later became Horde of Torment, and one of the guitarists went on to play in Machine Head for a few years. Other than that, you're not missing much if you never hear this.

Laniena Mentis - Turn Into a Man (2003)

2009-06-22T20:42:00.003-04:00

Decent death metal from the Czech Republic. It's moderately technical and they have some decent riffs. The production is top notch and the playing is solid. Vocals are standard guttural grunts, while the riffs tend to focus more on speed and dexterity than brutality, though this is certainly death metal more than thrash. There really isn't a standout song here, at least in a good way. The last two tracks are dance/industrial songs (are they remixes?) that are out of place and simply horrible. Other than that, the album is full of average songs played with better-than-average aplomb.

This album and all of their demos are available from their website.

Scalpal - 1990 demo

2009-06-22T20:39:00.001-04:00

This is surprisingly not as bad as I was expecting. But it's still not good. It's generic thrash with horrible production. It's competently played but the songs are pretty boring. The vocals are half-talked/half-shouted and mixed low, so you can barely hear them at times. On the other hand, the bass is mixed pretty loud, so that's a good thing. Strangely enough, the final track -- the instrumental "Living Inferno" -- showed some potential before it faded out. Why they decided to fade it out after just over a minute baffles me. But other than that, this 7 minute demo is really just a curiosity at this point; there's nothing here really notable.

Mutilus Mucous - Don't Wipe It Off On Me (1988)

2009-06-21T19:10:00.004-04:00

This is pretty generic thrash from northern California. You really already know what this sounds like, so I won't spend too much time on that, except to say that it's competently performed but the production could use some work -- it's so trebley that it's hard to really hear the guitars well. What's remarkable about this demo are the vocals: they're horrible. But I'll give the band credit for being honest -- the credits list main man Manny Bravo with "guitars, bass & 'I can't sing but I'll sing' vocals". Manny: you're right -- you can't sing. That's why the best song here is the six-and-a-half minute instrumental "Fee Fie Phobia". But that's still really not worth listening to -- it's really just a pointless collection of thrash riffs with even more pointless soloing.

Leviathan - Leviathan (1992)

2009-06-21T18:36:00.004-04:00

This is the demo from Colorado's Leviathan, who later went on to release Deepest Secrets Beneath in 1994 and a few other albums. I liked DSB, but the others didn't do much for me. Thankfully, this demo is in much the same style as DSB and is of roughly the same quality. The music is progressive/power metal, not overly technical but not overly hook-heavy either. The playing is pretty good and I find the riffs interesting and varied. Even the solos are tasteful and appropriate. I also like the singer's voice -- he's melodic without being whiny like James LaBrie can be. This is just a quality product all around. None of the five songs here are on DSB, so if you like that album, track this demo down.

Naked Lunch - El Terror De La Asfixia and The Illuminati (1994)

2009-06-21T17:45:00.006-04:00

This is a pair of demos from a band mixing industrial with metal and a slight touch of goth. The music is repetitive and simplistic, with heavy use of sampling (the ones I recognized were mostly lines from movies). But like Ministry's Psalm 69, they liberally use metal riffs giving this more of a crossover feel than just straight metal or industrial. The singing is a mix of clean and distorted styles, with the clean vocals having a slight hint of Type O Negative in them. Both demos are of similar style and quality -- I couldn't tell them apart. I somewhat enjoyed these, even though it's not really my cup of tea. It's performed well, and was probably one of the earlier bands doing the metal/industrial crossover. That said, I'm probably not going to ever listen to them again.

Pitbulls in the Nursery - Impact (2001)

2009-06-20T14:46:00.005-04:00

This is supposed to be technical/progressive death metal, and while it does have a semi-technical bent to it, I don't think it really qualifies for either the "technical" or "progressive" tags. That said, it isn't bad. It's pretty decent mid-paced death metal, with standard guttural vocals and brutal riffs performed with surgical precision. It doesn't really stand out to me as having a distinctive style, but then again it doesn't really sound like anyone either. They remind me a little of Canada's Augury (without the female vocals). Anyway, this is decent and shows some potential, but I'd like to see the songs a little more involved -- they seem some good riffs but seem to get bogged down repeating boring riffs more than they should. But the playing is solid and the production is excellent, so this is an enjoyable listen even as it is.

This demo is freely available from the band's website.

Caustic - Caustic (1992)

2009-06-20T14:37:00.003-04:00

This 4 song EP was released before their 1993 full-length Malicious, and it's in much the same style. To my ears, it sounds like a Slayer ripoff, though competently performed for the most part. If you're into late 80's Slayer, you should enjoy this, but there's not much else to recommend it.

Charnel House - Prophesies of Terror (1991)

2009-06-20T14:20:00.002-04:00

This is really, really bad. I've reviewed a lot of bad demos over the last couple of months. But this one might be the worst yet. The riffs are generic, the vocalist sucks, the playing is sloppy and the songs are boring. But what makes this demo so awful are the guitar solos. They are simply incompetent. The guy has no idea how to put together a solo, cutting in and out behind the background music. And when he does play, he misses notes. Finally, his tone is possibly the weakest solo tone I've ever heard. Simply dreadful, and painful to listen to. What makes this even more amazing is that it's from 1991. This could be excused if it was from 1985, but six years later there's no excuse.

FWIW, the band apparently went on to a reasonable career, eventually releasing a full-length album 10 years later. So they deserve some credit for sticking to it, because this demo is horrible.

Resistance - And Denied was their Future (1989)

2009-06-17T21:27:00.002-04:00

This is technical but sloppy thrash. I can hear what they're trying to do, and if they could actually execute it, this would be great. Unfortunately, the riffs are too complex for them, and they're trying to play above their abilities. Their style is possibly best described as "a less chaotic and more American-sounding version of Sieges Even's LifeCycle". The riffs are technical and the songs are complex, with multiple riffs, time changes, and start/stop action. However, there are other weaknesses aside from the playing. The vocals are also weak -- they're more talked/shouted than really sung, and the guitar solos are pretty lame. It's a shame, because if this had been competently played, I'd be tempted to consider it a must-have tech-thrash demo. I would like to hear this re-recorded when they got better at their instruments.

The Regime - Dead Serious (1987)

2009-06-17T20:58:00.003-04:00

This is a pretty odd demo. It's a mix of semi-technical thrash, neo-classical, and hair metal. Perhaps something like a mix of Motley Crue and Toxik with a Shrapnel-style guitarist. The vocalist sounds a lot like Vince Neil, but the music is more complex, even though the songs remain hook-heavy. The guitar work is really the highlight here. Sometimes his riffs are pedestrian and the songs are predictable, but usually they're a little more involved than was typical of the time. He really cuts loose during the solos, though. Unfortunately, this means that the solos don't fit the music at all. The best songs here are the 1.5 minute "The Reign" (thrash with guitar heroics at the end) and the neo-classical 1.5 minute "Etude #1", though both are more impressive technically than aesthetically. Surprisingly, I found the guitar solos better than the instrumentals. I probably would've loved this in 1987, but thankfully I'm a little wiser now.

Postscript: I listened to this before looking up the band's history. To my surprise, I already knew the lead guitarist -- Todd Salmonson (a.k.a. Todd Duane), who contributed one song to the awesome 1991 Shrapnel comp Ominous Guitarists from the Unknown.

Their MySpace page has two songs from this demo: "Ain't So Fuckin' Bad" and "Dead Serious".

Undamaged - Die Before Seeing the Light (1991)

2009-06-15T21:41:00.002-04:00

Wow, this is awful. It's boring thrash with crappy tough-guy vocals. It has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The songs are boring and repetitive, the production sucks, the guitar solos suck, etc. I could give this some credit if it were released in the mid-80's, but this was released in 1991, so there's no excuse.

Zombie Corpse Autopsy - The Great Chain of Slaughter (2007)

2009-06-14T10:45:00.002-04:00

With a name like Zombie Corpse Autopsy, I was expecting something more like straight-up grindcore or death/grind. But this is more melodic death -- reminding me somewhat of At the Gates' amazing TRitSiO -- with a combination of hardcore-singing and death grunts. As it wears on, the songs seem to get less melodic and more death/grind, and therefore less interesting to me. Even at their best (the 2 minute instrumental intro "Cascades of Carrion") they're not anything you haven't heard before.

This EP is freely available from the band's MySpace page.

Mechanism - Inspired Horrific (2009)

2009-06-14T09:44:00.004-04:00

This is some interesting prog death metal from Vancouver, BC, featuring Gene Hoglan on drums, and Chris Valagoa (Zimmer's Hole) on vocals. It has an odd mix of vocal styles (grunts, shrieks, and harmonized melodic parts) and a hodge-podge of quickly changing riff styles. Some of it is moderately technical, but that really isn't the focus. Actually I'm not sure what the focus is, and that's my main complaint. There's some really good stuff here, but the quickly-changing styles never produces a smooth flow (as for example, Spawn of Possession do). The individual riffs and styles aren't particularly original, but the combination seems novel. I'm also not too convinced about the vocals. The grunts and shrieks are of course fine (how can you screw up grunts?), but some of the vocal melodies sound awkward and seem somewhat out of place. Personally, I'd like some more focus on the tech or progressive side. There are too many boring parts interspersed with the cool stuff. "Lord and Thief" is a good example: too much focus on the chuggah-chuggah. It's hard for me to believe that some label hasn't picked these guys up... though perhaps they're releasing independently by choice.

Check out their MySpace page for two representative songs from this album.

Restless Breed - After the Holocaust (1987)

2009-06-14T09:36:00.002-04:00

Boring, generic thrash from 1987. The riffs are generic (with a few exceptions), the singing is of the standard high-pitched style, and the production is average. About the only thing remarkable about this demo are the horrible guitar solos. They're pointless and derivative, especially the solo from "The Real World", which borrows heavily from Randy Rhoads among others. With so little redeeming about this demo, it's easy to see why they released another demo and then split-up.

You can check out their MySpace page, which has all of the songs from their second demo, or this page, which has four songs from this demo.

In Line - Demo (1993) and Show No Shame (1994)

2009-06-13T09:31:00.004-04:00

This starts out okay for the first minute, then it devolves into "tough guy" metal/hardcore. It has the requisite shouted angry vocals about being tough, fighting, never giving up, etc., and the necessary simplistic riffs. It's competently performed, but so what? It's boooooring. The self-titled demo is only three songs (really four, but two run right into each other) and is thankfully only 14 minutes. Show No Shame is four songs in only 13.5 minutes and is pretty similar in production and style. It does feature some more diverse (but not any better...) vocal stylings. About the only thing worthwhile about this demo is the bass playing. When they focus on the bass, I find it much more tolerable. But they'd need a complete overhaul to make these demos anything I'd listen to on a regular basis.

Gagas - All This World (2006)

2009-06-13T09:04:00.006-04:00

Gagas hail from Slovakia and play a blend of rock, fusion, and metal. The closest comparison for me is an obscure Italian band called Ledel, who released a few demos and an EP in the late 90's. Encyclopedia Metallum says their style "is reminiscent of Gordian Knot", but this is really stretching it, in my opinion. Hematovore might be a better comparison point, but Gagas are much lighter and jazz-influenced. Their style really fuses jazz/fusion, rock, metal, and classical (they quote Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, for example), with a few other influences like techno thrown in at times. It's hard to classify as "metal", but then again it's not really rock or fusion either. The playing is unfortunately a little sloppy, especially the guitarist's pull-off technique. It would help them a lot if he could get that smooth and even. As it is, he's trying to play above his ability level and it shows. Ultimately, I enjoyed this, partly because I didn't know what was coming next. The band did a good job of mixing in a lot of different influences, but still keeping each song unique and relatively focused. Highlights for me included "The Oceans" (very much like Ledel), "Zooloo", and "The World of Kids" (the heavier tracks).

All of the songs are available free from the band's website.

Equinox - Auf Wiedersehen (1989)

2009-06-13T07:41:00.003-04:00

Not to be confused with the Florida band, these guys hailed from Norway, and put out four albums in the late 80's - mid 90's. This is their debut full-length. Basically, it's pretty average thrash. It's not groundbreaking, but it's competent in the late 80's style. However, the vocals are horrible -- they're just monotonous shouting, both in tone and rhythm. Imagine James Hetfield with even less range... Moreover, the lyrics are trite and simplistic, and the guitar solos are pretty pointless too. There are a few good riffs here and there, but mostly this has been done by better bands. I did somewhat enjoy the instrumental "Violins", though it's not nearly of the quality of something like Deathrow's "Triocton".

Their MySpace page contains a few songs from this album -- "Stop!", the title track, and "Dead By Dawn".

Coprofago - Unorthodox Creative Criteria (2005)

2009-05-27T22:12:00.002-04:00

A long time ago, I got some mp3's from Coprofago's 1997 release Images of Despair. It was moderately technical thrash, reminding me a little of bands like Red Tide, and although it wasn't great, it showed some potential. Unfortunately, that potential is now gone, as the first half of this album is pure Meshuggah worship and the second half is aimless, meandering jazz fusion. I can't figure out what they were trying to do here. Instead of merging jazz with metal as Cynic did over a decade ago, they just tried to clone Meshuggah and staple a jazz fusion album to the end of it. They're undeniably good musicians, but like Tandjent, they waste their time ripping off another band's style. I have no desire to listen to any of these songs again -- I've heard it all before. What a shame.

Their MySpace page has a few tracks from each half of this album.

In Battle - Welcome to the Battlefield (2004)

2009-05-27T21:20:00.003-04:00

In Battle's Rage of the Northmen (1998) is an under-appreciated black metal album IMO, but their debut (1996) does nothing for me. This, their third full-length album, sees them moving away from black metal and towards death metal, but it retains some elements of their previous works. The music is still fast and brutal, with just enough melody to avoid being a boring Marduk/Dark Funeral clone. The playing is tight and the production is crystal clear. And there are a few standout tracks, my favorites being "Eldjättar" and "The Blood Divine", which incorporate more than average melody and some intricate guitar work. But a lot of the songs are somewhat boring; fast and aggressive yes, but nothing that's really noteworthy or memorable. So ultimately, I see this as a step backwards for them.

Their MySpace page has one song from this album ("sworld", a.k.a. "Scorched World"), and the best song from Rage of the Northmen -- "The Destroyer of Souls".

Orgone - The Goliath (2007)

2009-05-25T22:06:00.003-04:00

A band describing themselves as "Experimental / Progressive / Metal" should be right up my alley. Unfortunately, despite an impressive list of influences (Penderecki, Xenakis, Abigor, Gorguts, King Crimson, Neurosis, etc.) and some good musicianship, this album mostly just annoys me. The band I'm most reminded of is Psyopus, who they seem to copy quite efficiently. But at other times, they focus on a post-metal sound that serves as a nice balance for the over-the-top technical sections. However, these sections don't seem to be their forte, so this is basically a mix of a sound that annoys me and a sound I sometimes like but isn't done that well. That said, I find the mid-paced sections the strongest -- this is really where the band find an original style. Focusing on these sections would be a great improvement as far as I'm concerned. Sadly, I don't hold out much hope for this on their next album.

Their MySpace page has one of the more subdued (and better) songs, "Vomited Hyacinths" from this album.

Desecrator - Demo (1998)

2009-05-25T17:23:00.003-04:00

This is billed by the band as "melodic progressive death thrash... from Jamestown, NY", and I suppose it's partly true. I'll take them at their word that they really are from Jamestown, NY. But melodic? Not really. Death/thrash? Well, more like late 80's thrash with gruff death-lite vocals on the first and last track, and punky clean vocals on the second track. And progressive? Aw hell naw; not even close. This is about 10 years too late to be relevant, and even then it would have been sub-par. Strangely, it seems the band are still active, and released their first full-length album in 2004. Based upon this demo, I have zero interest in checking that one out.

Requiem - Demo (1994)

2009-05-25T17:01:00.003-04:00

There have been many different bands named Requiem over the years. This one is from upstate NY and as far as I know, this demo was all they ever put out. That's a shame, because it's actually pretty decent. It's traditional heavy/prog metal, with good use of keyboards, standard galloping riffs, melodic guitar solos, and melodic vocals. The main problems I have with this demo are that it's missing something that would really make it stand out. For example, the vocals are relatively boring, as the singer has a pretty limited range. He does okay with what he's got, but he seems to be limiting their music. In addition, aside from a few faster instrumental passages, most of the music is pretty laid-back and quickly forgettable. The playing and production are competent, but again not exceptional. Ultimately, this demo isn't great but it shows some promise, and I'm disappointed that they never seemed to go anywhere after releasing it.

Somnus - To Return the Crimson Skies (1997)

2009-05-23T21:39:00.004-04:00

This is a decent demo of black/gothic metal, similar to Cradle of Filth's TPoEMF. However, it isn't as well done in several respects. First, the songs are a little simplistic and repetitive, and I haven't heard any riffs that really impress me. The production is also a little raw, especially the guitar tone. And the playing is sloppy at times, but this can be forgiven somewhat as this is a demo. That said, I did enjoy this. I'm generally a fan of the style, as long as it avoids being overly theatrical and schlocky, as this does (and CoF haven't done since Vempire). Also, the vocals are well done (especially the female vocals) and their style isn't a complete clone of CoF. In addition, the latter songs (especially the title track) are much better than the earlier tracks. I'm not sure that I'll ever listen to it again though.

Conquest - Demo (1988)

2009-05-23T21:22:00.004-04:00

This is pretty ordinary thrash from 1988. Decent for back in the day, but doesn't hold a lot of interest for me now. The singing is pretty typical of the time, with mostly snarled lyrics punctuated by the occasional high-pitched shriek. The riffs are pretty standard and repetitive, and the guitar solos are fast but pointless. The production is above average, though.

What's really notable about the band is that they're still around and producing music. They had another demo after this one, and have since released five full-lengths and two EPs. Who know you could make a career of being mediocre? Some samples of their newer stuff is available from their MySpace page.

Paralysis - Architecture of the Imagination (2000)

2009-05-19T19:57:00.002-04:00

This sounds like Nevermore. A lot. Everything from the guitar work to the vocals is a very close copy of the first couple Nevermore discs, but a little "less". The production is less heavy, the guitars are less technical and flashy, and the vocals are less polished. It's a decent disc, and there are some good riffs and cool passages, but it's really hard for me to recommend it when it steals so heavily from another band.

Swallow the Sun - Plague of Butterflies (2008)

2009-05-19T19:43:00.003-04:00

I found out about these guys from a radio sampler a friend of mine sent me. It had a bunch of crap on it like Motorhead and Clutch, so I wasn't expecting much, but I listened to it all, and Swallow the Sun's "Losing the Sunsets" from this album really impressed me. So when I saw this 60-minute EP for $9 while getting birthday gifts for my wife (Lacuna Coil and UnSun), I picked it up. I've listened to it a few times, and I'm not as impressed as I was, but it's still a pretty good disc.

This album consists of 1new 35-minute track (broken into three parts) and an unreleased demo from 2003. The new song is much more impressive, reminding me most of Shape of Despair, but faster and mixing some almost black metal elements in. Their demo is a little rawer, more in the style of mid-90's doom/death like Crematory, and reminding me of the slow sections of Amorphis' The Karelian Isthmus. It's a pretty decent offering, but I'm pleased with the direction they've taken.

You can check out the title track from the demo and an edit of the title track of the EP on their MySpace page.

Pestilence - Resurrection Macabre (2009)

2009-05-17T08:39:00.002-04:00

I didn't expect to really like this album, given that the only previous Pestilence album I like is Spheres, and I'd heard they weren't going for that kind of sound again. Well, I wasn't surprised. This seems to be more like their early albums, with simple straightforward riffing and song structures. About the only bright spot for me are Mameli's guitar solos, which may not be that appropriate at times, but at least provide some interesting melodic ideas. I would have preferred some of the more abstract/creepy/experimental sections a la Spheres incorporated into the riffs, but oh well...

Tactics - The Master Plan (1987)

2009-05-17T08:23:00.002-04:00

This is a pretty average thrash demo from back in the day. I didn't really find anything exceptional about it -- the riffs were pretty generic, the singing was decent but typical, and the playing was solid but unexciting. For 1987, it would have been a pretty good demo, and I'm somewhat surprised that they were never signed. But it doesn't hold much to interest me now, save for their cover of Deep Purple's "Burn", which I enjoy for nostalgic reasons (though they do a decent job of covering it).

Loincloth - Demo (2003)

2009-05-08T21:34:00.003-04:00

Formed from the ashes of NC's Confessor, Loincloth are an interesting band. Their style is all instrumental metal, mostly focused on mid-tempo syncopated rhythms and stop/start riffs. Although I hear a little Confessor, I'm most reminded of Virginia's Actual Time. The playing is solid but not very challenging; most of the complexity is in the arrangement and the individual parts aren't very technical. The last track, "Noise International", is my favorite, as it's the heaviest and fastest track, and therefore the most distinctive. Unfortunately, there isn't enough diversity here to really make this a great demo. It's also a little short (just shy of 12 minutes), but I suppose it's better to be too short than too long).

Black Mass of Absu - Demo (1995)

2009-05-07T21:15:00.002-04:00

This is an interesting demo. It's described as "Atmospheric Black/Doom Metal", but it reminds me most of Portal's Seepia and Outre, which I've seen described as "Lovecraftian horror". I think that's about right. They don't really have guitar riffs, just a twisted jumble of guitars, drums, and screamed/growled vocals. BMoA are doing much the same thing, but include keyboards in their sound and are somewhat more coherent. Oh, and they did it eight years earlier. Obviously, the playing here isn't really an issue -- this is all about aesthetic and atmosphere. And the demo-style production really helps produce an evil sounding atmosphere. Although this isn't really the kind of thing I usually like, I did enjoy listening to it, though at almost 50 minutes, it is about 20 minutes too long.

The band is probably broken up by now, but you can find one of the songs from this demo ("Strangled By the Tail of Lucifer") at a MySpace fan page.

Distemper - Pure Ugliness (1990)

2009-05-07T21:10:00.003-04:00

Distemper hailed from Atlanta, GA and played a pretty standard blend of metal mixed with hardcore, reminding me a lot of Nuclear Assault (especially in the vocal department). There's not a lot to say about this -- it's pretty generic and standard and the production is what you'd expect from a demo. Given that this was released in 1990, it's a little dated even for the time and doesn't offer much for metal fans today.

You can check out four of the five songs here on their MySpace page.

Cornucopia of Death - Demo (1990) and Nip It in the Bud (1991)

2009-05-06T19:05:00.005-04:00

This is an interesting pair of demos. There are a number of really terrible aspects to them, and yet they have a few good qualities as well. First, the bad. The lyrics are probably the worst aspect. They're embarrassingly juvenile, featuring song titles like "Enema Nurse" (which the singer mispronounces as "emena") and "Suck My Floppy Disk", and references to "doo-doo" and "pee-pee". The singer is equally bad; his style is more talking than singing. And the guitar solos are terrible -- seemingly just scales as fast as the guitarists can play them mixed with blues licks. Most of the music is pretty standard thrash for the time: simple and repetitive, which constrasts oddly with the more punk style of the singer, lyrics, and guitar solos. And then, just when you have it pegged as worthless, the guitarists throw out some novel riffs with progressive touches and harmonized guitar parts. If they could concentrate on these parts and make a serious demo, it would have been pretty good, though not exceptional for 1991.

Nip It in the Bud is the better demo as the playing has improved and it seems a little more serious, though the production is a little rougher and too trebly. I'd like to know what the two guitarists (Joe Smith and Scott McEllhiney) went on to do. It wouldn't surprise me if they found other projects, as they weren't bad.

Longings Past - Meadows of Maseilya (1993)

2009-05-06T18:48:00.003-04:00

Longings Past were a band from Michigan, and released a couple of full-length albums in the early 90's. This one is their first album. Their music is described as "epic heavy metal", which isn't really my style. I'm reminded of Fates Warning's No Exit, but they never really go in a progressive direction, instead preferring instead to keep the music simple and light. This places a lot of focus on the vocalist, which unfortunately isn't a good decision as he isn't good enough to carry the album by himself. To make things worse, they try to cram too many words in each stanza, leading the vocalist to sing at almost a rap tempo, which doesn't really fit with the music at all. I suppose their might be a market for this, but I find it completely uninspired.

Artmania - stART (2007)

2009-05-03T14:23:00.003-04:00

So this was billed as "Progressive/Gothic Metal", which piqued my interest. But I should have paid attention to their website's URL: art-band.ru. Then I probably would've figured out that by "progressive" they mean artsy-fartsy instead of what I would consider "progressive": adventurous and complex. But the base of their sound is "gothic metal", which really should be interpreted as "female-fronted metal", most similar to Nightwish. This isn't really bad per se, and fans of the style might find something to enjoy (if they aren't bothered that everything is sung in Russian). But there's nothing here that's even remotely interesting to me.

This album is freely available from their website.

Crionic - Different (1993)

2009-05-03T12:00:00.003-04:00

This is some really good melodic/progressive thrash from the Czech Republic. At times they're pretty straightforward thrash/speed metal but they throw in a lot of melodic and progressive sections to keep it interesting. The production is excellent, with even the bass having a prominent part. The singing is of the atonal shouting style that was in vogue at the time. It's not great, but it doesn't detract that much from the music either. On the other hand, the guitar solos are a weak point -- they're not very well thought-out and are mostly blues-lick based and therefore not very appropriate for the music.

The best song is the instrumental "Irritating Inertia", but the whole thing is good. Why they heck didn't these get signed? For 1993, this would've been awesome. Heck, even now it's pretty cool. With some better guitar solos this could'a been a contender.

It's available as a free download from the band's website, along with most of the rest of their discography, which I will undoubtedly be reviewing in the future.

Enslaved (Ger) - Where is the Meaning? (1994)

2009-05-01T21:44:00.004-04:00

This is not the same Enslaved that I reviewed three weeks ago. These guys were from Germany and played uh... well, generic mid-90's thrash/death metal. If it weren't for sharing their moniker with a much more famous band, they would probably already have been forgotten. There's not much that's remarkable about this batch of slow-to-mid-paced death metal, and I'd rate it as somewhat below average even for the time.

Suidakra - Crogacht (2009)

2009-04-28T21:30:00.002-04:00

About ten years ago, I got Suidakra's Auld Lang Syne in an eBay lot. I thought it was okay, but it never really got much play in my CD player, and I promptly forgot about the band. So this weekend, when a friend of mine offered to let me borrow his copy of their latest offering, I was curious to hear how they'd progressed. Sadly, I didn't hear much on this offering to interest me either. Really, this is pretty standard folk-influenced melodic death metal. There are a lot of bands doing this style, and Suidakra are certainly compentent at it (after 10+ years, I'd hope so!). But to be honest, I've never understood how happy folk melodies fit into death metal, so perhaps I'm not the right audience for this.

Their MySpace page has some songs from their previous albums, which sound a lot like their latest.

Tandjent - No One Will Hear Us (2005)

2009-04-28T21:22:00.003-04:00

I haven't kept up with Meshuggah's work since 1998's Chaosphere, so if someone told me that this was their latest album, I would believe it. It turns out that this is actually an American 2-man band from Illinois. But they've clearly worked hard on nailing Meshuggah's sound, because it's all here: from the syncopated polyrhythmic riffs to the shouted vocals to the avant-garde, jazzy guitar solos. It's really well done: the playing is solid and the production is powerful. But I kept waiting for them to do something interesting, so I could say "it's like Meshuggah, but with ...". But they never did. It seems that they're just interested in cloning Meshuggah's sound. And with their obvious talent, that's a real shame.

A couple songs are on their MySpace page.

Flaming Anger - Biosphere II (1997)

2009-04-26T21:34:00.003-04:00

This is some pretty decent German thrash. I'm not so fond of the vocalist -- he doesn't have enough range -- but the music is pretty good. It's technical to a point and somewhat progressive at times; at other times, it's just straight-up speed metal. The solos are even pretty decent. To be sure, this isn't a great album. There's some very good material here, but the vocalist and the amount of generic filler riffs bring it down a notch.

It's a shame that this is the band's only album, I would have liked to have seen how they developed. Their members did mostly go on to other projects, however.

Abomination - demo (1989)

2009-04-24T21:56:00.003-04:00

Abomination features Paul Speckmann and the drummer who later was in Experiment. But despite the pedigree, this is actually quite boring thrash. One big problem is the mix -- the guitars are way too low and are drowned out by the drums. That means any intricacy of the guitar parts is lost and you're left with the rhythmic aspects of the drums. And while the music is well-played, the drums can't carry it by themselves. It probably doesn't help that I don't like Speckmann's hoarse-shouted vocals either. After a close listen, I can say that even with a better mix, this wouldn't be a great demo, though there are some decent riffs here and there.

Check out their MySpace for two of the tracks on here ("Reformation", "Over the Edge").

Second Skin - Into Whole (1993)

2009-04-24T21:46:00.002-04:00

I wasn't familiar with these guys before hearing this old demo. Their MySpace page lists them as "grunge", which I suppose is accurate. The music is pretty average "dirty rock", not really reminding me of anyone in particular but not sounding very unique either. Nothing really stands out in the music except for the horrible vocals. His timing is terrible, his melodic vocals have no range, and even the shouted parts suck. How can you screw up shouted vocals? I have no idea, but this guy does it. I couldn't even get through listening to this.

Gollum - The Core (2009)

2009-04-21T21:19:00.002-04:00

This is pretty boring. I hear mostly hardcore mixed with hard rock, and a few tracks that dabble in post-metal. Unfortunately, the riffs are simplistic and repetitive and the vocals are generic hardcore-style. The playing is actually pretty tight for the most part, but not particularly challenging. Also of note is the one time I can remember that they tried a guitar solo ("Schadenfreude"): simply dreadful. This doesn't really leave me with much of an impression. Nothing here is novel or really original, it's just bland and banal.

Simulacra - Towards Rapture? (2000)

2009-04-21T21:01:00.002-04:00

This demo from a Greek band was supposed to be technical thrash metal. Not quite. It kind of reminds me in style of Pax Mortis' 1992 demo -- it's melodic thrash with some progressive elements, but nothing that really stands out. It's almost like a tech/prog thrash band put together an album with all of the technical parts removed. It sounds like any minute it's going to take another step up in the technicality or progressiveness, but it never does. The vocals here are terrible -- they're mostly atonal shouts with a hint of scream and don't really add anything to the music. For this type of music, a more dynamic vocal approach is necessary. Ultimately, this demo would be decent for the early 90's, but being released in 2000 drags my opinion of it down. Moreover, it hasn't aged very well (though nor has Pax Mortis).

Experiment - The Edge of Within (1991)

2009-04-20T20:39:00.005-04:00

I've been looking for this demo for close to 16 years, after reading a review in Metal Curse #7 that claimed they combined "the technical sides of such bands as DEATH, ATHEIST, CYNIC and OBLIVEON, with the brutality of the likes of GRAVE, DEICIDE and GOREFEST". So when doing my review of Experiment Fear, I did a search for them on Encyclopedia Metallum, which led me to their MySpace, where I finally found a link to download the whole demo.

So does it live up to Ray's hype? Not even close; but it's not bad. I don't hear Death, Atheist, or Cynic at all. The band I'm most reminded of is actually Metallica, circa RtL through AJFA, though there are some progressive touches and some nice guitar leads here and there, which remind me of Despair's Beyond All Reason. Experiment's sound certainly isn't exceptional for the time. It's not bad, and I probably would have enjoyed it back in the day, but its time has passed.

Llaxsay - The Suffering of Nature (2008)

2009-04-19T21:17:00.005-04:00

I'm not usually much for bands with female vocalists (that's really my wife's thing), but I kinda like these guys. I'd describe their sound as a mix between Lacuna Coil and Opeth, with some use of traditional folk instruments. The combination is a unique sound, even if the individual pieces are not very original. The playing and production are clean, if unextraordinary.

All three songs of this EP ("Suffering of Nature" (the strongest track), "Newen Mapu", and "Traje Desastre") are available from the band's MySpace page.

Believer - Gabriel (2009)

2009-04-19T08:18:00.003-04:00

I had moderately high hopes for this album, considering that Believer's 1993 offering Dimensions was one of my favorites back in the day. Unfortunately, this album is not very interesting. It still sounds like Believer, but on the whole it sounds uninspired. The riffs and vocals still have their distinctive sound, but a lot of the riffs and vocals phrasings sound like too similar to what they've already done. Most of the album is mid-paced and not very aggressive, and the weak production doesn't help this. The few times they did try to venture into new territory (with clean vocals and spacey keyboards) were largely unsuccessful. I didn't figure they'd come up with something as impressive as the well-before-its-time "Trilogy of Knowledge" from Dimensions, but I was expecting something better than this.

Psyopus - Odd Senses (2009)

2009-04-17T20:06:00.007-04:00

Wow. This one really surprised me. I was a fan of (guitarist) Arp's Strangefuck project and Psyopus' demo, but was let down a little bit by their first album Ideas of Reference. Our Puzzling Encounters Considered didn't leave much of an impression on me, but this one sure did. A really bad impression. On the surface, this should be something that I like. It's technical and crazy, with a unique sound, similar in some ways to Gorguts' extraordinary Obscura. And the first real song, "Medusa", at least shows some promise. But after that, the album devolves, with the riffs getting more simplistic and repetitive and relying too much on either the standard dissonant hardcore sound or their signature "whoopie whistle" guitar riffs. The jazz-influenced "X and Y" offers some respite, but the later half of the album is just more of the same and became a chore to listen to. I couldn't even get through the bonus track (a.k.a. "One way ticket to hell").

It's a shame, because these guys are undeniably talented and capable of so much more than this, but they waste their time writing this pointless crap.

Year Zero - Timedemo (2006)

2009-04-16T20:44:00.003-04:00

Time Zero are from Latvia, and play a kind of doom metal, mixed with progmetal, pop, psychadelic, and other influences. Musically, it's not too bad, though their numerous influences can be irritating. For example, they'll spend a few minutes creating an slow, depressive atmosphere and then speed it up and switch to a more progmetal sound. But the vocals are the weakest point for me. They fit the music okay, but I find them over-expressive and cheesy. Still, this is professionally done and original, and I could see where there would be a market for this. It's just not for me.

Available free from their website.

Experiment Fear - Choir Invisible (1991)

2009-04-15T21:40:00.003-04:00

Experiment Fear is of course one of the early bands of Jeff Loomis from Nevermore. And it shows. Most of the music is semi-technical death metal with solid guitarwork and showy solos. The production isn't great, but it's adequate. The guitar work is clearly the most interesting aspect of the music. Some of the later songs move away from straight up death metal and incorporate some melody into the riffs, reminding me at times of Brutality's excellent Screams of Anguish. Of course, this is not as good as Brutality, but it's still a pretty decent listen, regardless of the fact that Loomis went on to Nevermore and the rest of the band put out a decent full-length album four years later.

By the way, all of the tracks here are available from Loomis' website.

Caustic - Malicious (1993)

2009-04-15T21:13:00.003-04:00

Well, this is a rather uneventful thrash disc. Overall, it reminds me a lot of Slayer, circa Seasons in the Abyss and earlier. The guitar riffs, the majority of the vocals, and even some of the vocal phrasing are direct rip-offs from Slayer. The guitar solos are thankfully not in the King/Hanneman style, but they're not good either -- they're overly bluesy, pointless, and sloppy at times. In addition to the seven Slayer-influenced songs, there are three others. One is a cover of Faith No More's "Surprise, You're Dead", which is actually kinda cool. Then there are "Sweet Dreams 1", a piano instrumental, and "Sweet Dreams 2", which is a nine minute long country/rock tune. WTF were they thinking? Anyway, you don't need this.

Infernal Execrator - Antichrist Execration (2008)

2009-04-14T21:10:00.002-04:00

Well this was a waste of time. It's black metal with some death metal influence, and not particularly well done. At their best (when they slow it down), they sound a little like Dissection. But those places are few and far between. More typically, they're fast black metal with hyperspeed drumming and tremolo-picked guitars. And at their worst, they're sloppy, noisy, and out of tune. I didn't find anything redeeming about this EP. Even if you like the style, there are better bands out there to listen to.

The Number 12 Looks Like You - Worse Than Alone (2009)

2009-04-13T20:40:00.002-04:00

Number 12's latest full length album is my first experience with them, and I have to say that I'm not very impressed. Their sound is a hodgepodge of styles, mostly focused on hardcore, but they also frequently add other styles, including pop punk, progrock/metal, jazz, and lounge. I'm usually not impressed by bands that try the "kitchen sink" approach, and this album is no different. There doesn't seem to be any method to their madness -- their use of style changes seems random and po-mo ("weird for the sake of weird") to me. Aside from stylistic concerns, this isn't really bad -- the playing is fine (and even a little challenging at times) and the production is appropriate. There are even a few cool parts here and there, but this album is so hit-or-miss that I doubt I'll listen to it again.

Enslaved - Vertebrae (2008)

2009-04-12T09:27:00.002-04:00

I haven't kept up with the career of Enslaved lately, though I did like three of the songs from their 2003 offering Below the Lights. But this album is different. I hear a lot of influence from 70's prog/psychadelia, most notably Pink Floyd. There are also some other influences: a little trance, some post-metal, and even a straight-up 80's rock riff that would make Huey Lewis proud (in "Reflections"). None of it really melds that well with their base "prog black metal" sound, leaving this disjointed and rather boring. There are some bright spots (such as the end of "Reflections"), but they never put it all together for even a single good song here, and there's way too much filler to call this a good album.

Their MySpace page has two songs from this album as well as the best song from Below the Lights, "As Fire Swept Clean the Earth".

Hell-Born - Legacy of the Nephilim (2003)

2009-04-12T09:18:00.003-04:00

This band is mis-named. They should have called themselves "Hella-Boring", because that's what this album is. I suppose they're going for the title of "heaviest death metal band", and in that they somewhat succeed -- the production is powerful and the songs are heavy. But in order to achieve this, they've eschewed anything that could make this album interesting or memorable. Nearly all of the riffs are mid-paced, simplistic chugga-chugga death metal, repeated ad nauseum. I couldn't detect any kind of structure to their songs, because each riff was just as generic as the last. And the instrumentation doesn't help either -- it's standard death metal guitars with a generic death metal vocalist grunting along.

Their MySpace page has two songs from their 2008 offering, Darkness. Those songs are a lot better than these, if only because of the guitar solos and the addition of some dynamics. Legacy can be safely skipped by all death metal fans.

World of Lies - Thorns (2007)

2009-04-08T22:28:00.003-04:00

This is an EP of crusty death metal. The sound is very dirty and the songs are simple. Although it's relatively high energy and comptently performed, there's nothing here that's really novel or interesting. Too bad, because I actually thought the intro to "Wrong Tools for the Trade" had some promise. But after about 30 seconds, they reverted back to their straightforward sound and I lost all interest.

Check out their MySpace for the best song on here.

Traumatic Voyage - Cogito Ergo Sum (2008)

2009-04-08T22:11:00.002-04:00

This album was recorded back in 1996 and is only now seeing the light of day. Sadly, the world is really no better off now that it's been released. The first track is not what you'd expect: it's a techno/dance number. But from track two on, it's raw black metal, with the requisite noisy production and monotonous, droning riffs. I suppose the "avant-garde" description comes from the horrible off-key, warbling clean vocals and the mixing of goth rock and black metal. I suppose for 1996, it was moderately innovative, but there's not much to redeem it after all these years.

Anagnorisis - Alpha and Omega (2009)

2009-04-06T20:40:00.006-04:00

Anagnorisis play a fast brand of symphonic death/black metal. Not exactly what you'd expect from a band out of Kentucky. But they've studied the style and done a good job at fitting into it without sounding completely derivative. Their music is faster and tighter than I was expecting and it includes a more melody than I'm used to. Even the guitar solos are pretty well done (and I usually hate guitar solos in black metal). This isn't something that I'm probably going to feel like listening to a whole lot, but it's not bad. I hope the band can extend their sound into something more original in the future, since they certainly have the technical ability.

The band have made this release freely available from their website.

Mirror of Dead Faces - Lamentation (2008)

2009-04-06T20:33:00.003-04:00

Ho hum. Another band doing melodic death metal in the vein of At the Gates. Nothing about this really stands out to me, aside from a few rather derivative but none-the-less flashy solos. It's certainly well executed, but its lack of originality for a style that's already more than a dozen years old is a real drawback.

Maelstrom - This Battle to Make History, Yet History Never Comes (1991)

2009-04-05T09:15:00.008-04:00

I've been a big fan of Jon Modell's work (including Spooge and Carbomb), and have found his work consistently innovative. So when I learned a few years ago that he and Joe Lodes (also later in Spooge) were involved in this demo, I was really eager to hear it. While I'm a little disappointed, I think it lives up to any reasonable expectations I should have had.

The best comparison I can give for this demo is Watchtower's Energetic Disassembly, though Maelstrom are less technical overall. But that's not to say that this is bland -- in fact, far from it. The music is basically chaotic tech thrash with a diverse set of tempos and melodic styles. The vocals are a weak point to me, as they don't really mesh that well with the music -- again similar to ED. But overall I'm glad I tracked this down. Time has reduced its impact to some degree, but it's still an interesting listen.

The band have recently reformed, and put out a 3 song EP which is available from their MySpace page. The new songs are similar in style (in fact, they've re-recorded "A Futile Crusade" from this demo) and well worth checking out.

Taake - Taake (2008)

2009-04-05T09:05:00.003-04:00

I had high hopes for this after having heard the first track from Hordalands Doedskvad a few years ago. Unfortunately, after the reasonably good opener, "Atternatt", this goes downhill quickly. Tracks two through six on this seven song offering fall stylistically into the more rock'n'roll/punk style of black metal popularized by Darkthrone. Personally, I find nothing redeeming in such a style -- the riffs are simplistic and repetitive and atmosphere and melody are negligible. The last track, "Velg Bort Livet" picks up a little bit, but not enough to save this album as a whole. Based upon the potential of a few tracks here, I'm going to make an effort to track down Hordalands Doedskvad, but this album is forgettable.

Advent - Remove the Earth (2008)

2009-04-01T20:24:00.001-04:00

This is pretty decent metalcore, but unfortunately it really adds nothing new to the genre. The production and playing are solid, and the songs have lots of energy, but there's nothing here that you haven't heard before. Even when they step outside their usual style -- on the post-metal song "Three Seasons" -- my verdict is still the same: well done, but not very original. I guess if you only listen to Christian bands, then you'll love this, but otherwise it's an also-ran in an already crowded field.

Ikuinen Kaamos - Closure (2008)

2009-03-28T16:54:00.002-04:00

Ikuinen Kaamos are from Finland and play melodic death metal. This freely available EP has three tracks. The title track and "Your Gallows" are both very derivative of Opeth, though they are quite well done. The last track, the 12-minute "The Absence", is more original, reminding me a little of Novembre's Classica. Given that I like both Novembre and Opeth, it should come as no surprise that I like these guys too. The playing is very solid and the production is crystal clear -- this is a top-quality product all around. I'll have to check out their previous release, The Forlorn, and I'll eagerly wait their next recording. With a little more originality, they could be great.

Trizna - Out of Step (1995)

2009-03-28T15:31:00.004-04:00

After the first track, the awesomely titled instrumental "Flash In A.S.S.", I had high hopes for this, figuring it would be melodic, semi-technical, mid-90's thrash. Unfortunately, after that point, it devolves into something halfway between thrash and glam metal, perhaps like the bastard son of Deathrow and Warrant. Occasionally, they also throw in some jazzier bits, sounding at times like Steps-era Sieges Even. If you're a fan of cheese metal, you'll probably like this, as it's well-played and moderately diverse. But for me, the first track is the only thing worthwhile.

Interestingly enough, these guys went on to form Faktor Straha, whose 2008 release Tvoy Idealniy Mir has some similarities to this album.

T3h Shred Boiz - LOL (2006)

2009-03-28T08:12:00.003-04:00

These guys have quite possibly the stupidest image ever. It's a mix of corpse-painted black metal, shred, and internet geekiness. So who's it supposed to appeal to? Well, people like me I guess. But I'm sure as hell not laughing. This 2006 demo contains three songs, each horrible in its own unique way. It starts off with "Grim Skiez" -- a three minute hyperblast noise fest. Any song that features references to the band playing it automatically sucks, and this one is no exception ("T3h Shred Boiz are in the house"?). Next is "Dead Sky Dawningz", the best track on here, which is a four minute melodic instrumental. It sounds like it would be the backing music for a shred piece, but there's not actually any shredding. Snore. Finally, we have the twelve minute "Grim and Frosbitten Necrophallus", which pointlessly switches between ambient black metal, raw black metal, and acoustic passages.

You can download this demo free from the band's MySpace, if for some reason you are feeling masochistic today.