Desaster - Divine Blasphemies
If you like your Black Metal a bit heavy on the Thrash Metal side, Desaster is definitely something that will appeal to your taste buds. I’m tempted to say that Desaster is not really a Black Metal band at all because their last two releases have had more in common with the old German Thrash gods Sodom, Destruction and Kreator than with anything Bathory ever produced. The music is a bit on the speedy side, though never going overboard a-la Immortal. The riffs on this album, much as on their previous album, Tyrants of the Netherworld, are solid headbangers. They get your already damaged vertebrae grinding and snapping just like in the ’80s when the old Thrash masters were still in their prime. I enjoyed this album more for its energy and ability to capture the feeling of old German Thrash than because this was musically innovative or original. Divine Blasphemies, like Tyrants of the Netherworld, is an album that is solid and true to the genre without being overly derivative and boring.
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Deride - First Round Knockout
I’m just not sure what to think when a band would list Slipknot as an influence… I will, however, admit that this doesn’t seem to suck quite as much ass as did their previous album, Scars of Time.
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Demigod - Shadow Mechanics
After a decade of silence, Finland’s Demigod return from the grave with a new album. You know, one of the first Death Metal bands I got into was Demigod and I’ve never really forgotten them. When Death, Morbid Angel, Entombed and Unleashed first started kicking my ass, I went down to my local “cool” record store (the one that stocked import and independent bands of all sorts) and found a CD called Slumber of Sullen Eyes on Drowned Records. The logo looked cool and for whatever reason, I bought it. They promptly disappeared after that album. This album is their comeback effort and I have to say that though it’s good, it just isn’t the same Demigod that appears on Slumber of Sullen Eyes. Shadow Mechanics reminds me a lot of early Amorphis (before they started getting influenced by Finnish Folk music and ‘70s Hard Rock) mixed with some of the more modern “groove oriented” Death Metal. The music is a bit more melodic this time around and the style they’re playing is less concentrated on sounding brutal as all fucking hell. In a way, that change is good because it makes their songs more distinctive and memorable. Still, I miss the all-out skull-smashing mayhem of the first album. If they could have brought back some of that, this would have fucking ruled. As it is, it’s still a kick-ass album, but not the masterpiece that I was hoping for.
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Dee Snider - DeeVision (video)
I’m a big fan of Dee Snider, even though I haven’t exactly worshipped 100% of all the music he has recorded or been involved with. This disc, a somewhat updated version of the ‘97 videocassette, is a great biography of Dee and features many guest appearances (Lemmy!) and a ton of live footage of Dee’s Twisted Sister cover band, SMF. It’s really cool to hear all these old TS classics live, and all the interviews, with Dee himself and others, give an interesting history. Dee’s had quite a life, but I don’t know how interesting his story would be to non-fans, though. But for me, this kicked ass.
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December - The Lament Configuration
Fortunately I have not been forced to listen to this band’s earlier album, Praying, Hoping, Nothing, since I reviewed it. And I’ve been doing my best to try to drive all thoughts of it from my besieged brain. But still… I’ve got to think that this album is a lot better. Not that this is very good, but it’s decidedly not utterly horrible, which is what I was expecting. So, either these guys got their heads at least somewhat out of their asses and improved, or I was too mean to their earlier work. If I hadn’t shattered that CD into a billion pieces while playing backyard Tron, I might even consider giving it a second spin, just to be sure. Probably not, though.
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Decapitated - Nihility
As expected, this is intense Death Metal, and very well executed and constructed. But the production leaves a little to be desired, with the kick drums sounding more like snares. It’s… weird. Otherwise fine, though.
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Dead to Fall - Everything I Touch Falls to Pieces
I think I’m shock! Somebody help me pick up my jaw off the floor. The sheer simplicity and overwhelming brutality of this band’s Victory debut can only be compared to that of the Death Metal classics of the early ’90s. Without so much as a baby step outside the framework of the modern Metalcore formula, DtF has crafted a flawless album overflowing with teary-eyed rage and unparalleled bitterness. Take the mosh-pit tactics of Unearth and 18 Visions, the Euro-Metal melodies of Heaven Shall Burn, the big production of Diecast, and the bleeding-throat vocals, and you have an impenetrable forcefield of negative energy. Lyrically, I feel this band’s pain and you will, too, as their heart, passion, and fury go unmatched. Highest surges of adrenaline: “Eternal Gates of Hell,” “Graven Image,” and “Cost of a Good Impression.”
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Danzig - 777 I Luciferi
In what might be a first for Danzig, the song “Black Mass” has some limited (both artistically and in duration) double bass drum action! But don’t take that to mean that Glenn and company have super-heavied things, because they haven’t. In fact, the very next song, the embarrassingly titled “Wicked Pussycat,” is pretty lame. I guess this album is about covering as many bases as possible, with heavier moments, some goofy stuff, Industrial elements, and so on, encompassing the entire Danzig life-span, and in some ways sort of Samhain, too. I’m glad that the Evil Elvis is still at it, and there are still quite a few gems on here. Pretty good, but not exactly a career highlight.
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Curse (Iceland) - Dead Sun Rise
Taking considerably less time to record than the debut MCD, Iceland’s Curse returns with a full-length album’s worth of material. While the debut MCD (which contained only three songs recorded over a period of three years) had more of a Burzum-esque sound, Dead Sun Rise has more of an Emperor meets NWOBHM style that I found quite a bit more interesting. There are atmospheric keyboards, Traditional Metal riffs and even some fairly adept guitar solos mixed in with the standard Norse Black Metal sound. These things set Curse apart from the rest of the pack, though at the same time, they never actually split off entirely and become something completely unique. While Curse doesn’t chart any new territory, it does gain some identity sorely lacking on their debut MCD. Dead Sun Rise is definitely a step in the right direction for Curse. With Solstafir, Curse is well on their way to putting Iceland in the Metal atlas as a place to look for quality music.
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