When I pick up an LP called “Atomic Death Metal,” I expect it to be explosive. I expect brutality, I expect aggression, and I most of all, I expect neck-snapping Death Fucking Metal. This isn’t exactly aggressive or explosive. Germany’s Atomwinter has a sound that is more reminiscent of old Incantation or the latest release by Texas Black/Death Metal stalwarts Imprecation. Even when they’re playing fast, Atomwinter still sounds like they’re playing Doom/Death Metal. It’s definitely heavy and brutal, but calling this explosive is a vast overstatement. The rather plodding nature of this kind of music has a serious downside in that while an individual song might be good, the LP as a whole lacks diversity. Imprecation was able to get around that by incorporating ideas from Norse Black Metal. Other bands (such as Origin or Necrophagist) have added increasing levels of technicality to the Brutal Death Metal style with some success. Atomwinter, though, hasn’t figured a way around that yet. Since this is their debut LP, I’m going to be lenient with them on that point. This is a fairly solid, though safe, collection of songs. There aren’t any glaring technical errors or songs that straight-out suck. It’s just unadventurous. What the band really needs is something that brings some diversity to their songs. If they can find that, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

I don’t know if this self-titled release can be rightly considered an LP or not. There are only two songs, but the whole thing clocks in at over 35 minutes in length. That’s longer than your average Deicide LP. The first track, “Tidi Kjem Aldri Att,” is an instrumental, and the other, “Dei Absolutte Krav Og Den Absolutte Nade,” has vocals. Of the two, I found the first song to be more interesting because while it was fairly repetitive in nature, it had a bleakness about it that was almost mesmerizing. I kept imagining abandoned buildings and factories (Detroit, essentially…) while listening to it. The last time I had visions like that in my head was when I first heard Streatcleaner by Godflesh. Altaar may not be as mechanized or as heavy as Godflesh was on that album, but the two have a shared atmosphere of bleakness and despair. “Dei Absolutte Krav Og Den Absolutte Nade,” while not as bleak as “Tidi Kjem Aldri Att,” is still pretty dark and tortured. It starts off on the Ambient side with minimalistic spacey keyboards but eventually evolves into some pretty punishing Black/Doom Metal. If I have one complaint about this LP, it’s that it isn’t long enough. I would have liked to have maybe one more song, even if it was another instrumental track, because when “Dei Absolutte Krav Og Den Absolutte Nade” ended, I was disappointed that it was over. I guess I’m going to have to wait for the next release by Altaar to come out so that I can string things together.

Writing reviews for Chthonic albums is always a tough thing for me. I imagine that they’d be a hell of a lot easier to write if I just based my reviews on how hot I thought bassist Doris Yeh looked in the band’s promo photographs. Of course, if I wanted to review albums based on how hot one or more of the group’s female members are, I’d work for a K-Pop website and all I would review would be releases by 4Minute, G.Na or Girl’s Generation. Chthonic is more than just Doris and their music isn’t brainless Pop bullshit. I hate doing reviews of their albums because it’s so fucking hard for me not to give them a perfect score. I’ve already done it twice. I loved Takasago Army because it kicked my ass in all the ways I wanted it to. I even loved the live DVD/CD, Final Battle at Sing Ling Temple, not because it was flawless, but because it had flaws that I associate with a legitimate live recording. How many of us have gone to a concert where everything went off perfectly and nothing had to be adjusted? The flaws in the live release told me that they didn’t go into the studio and rerecord anything. That was how they sounded that night and it was a great concert. In a rather roundabout way, this brings us to the new Chthonic album, Bu-Tik. Chthonic has always been the Asian version of Cradle of Filth/Dimmu Borgir, but they’ve been emphasizing the Asian aspects of their music. They aren’t Tengger Cavalry, but they do deliver a substantial level of Asian musical elements into their Symphonic Black Metal. I like it when bands bring something different to the table. I’d much rather hear a band bring their own perspective to the genre as opposed to blatantly aping another scene’s style. If you’ve been listening to Metal for any length of time, you’re sure to have heard groups from South America playing Viking Metal, or Norse-style Black Metal played by dudes from Malaysia. What Chthonic does is integrate European Symphonic Black Metal with traditional Chinese Folk music to produce some truly epic stuff. The atmospheric element that is usually present in Chthonic’s music is a bit blunted by the fact that the band decided to focus more on the guitars this time around. Bu-Tik is primarily a guitar-based album. The keyboards are more in the background and while this reins in their symphonic parts a bit, it does more to increase their ass-kicking factor. And this album does kick your ass. Aside from the brief atmospheric interludes, this is as brutal of a stomping as they’ve ever delivered. It’s a reminder that they’re a Metal band, and that you, the listener, shouldn’t forget that - despite the intricate and atmospheric keyboards or the symphonic elements that are present. There is one flaw, though, in their otherwise perfect armor. The production in places is such that the drums sometimes overpower even the guitars. With the keyboards pushed further into the background, the two dominant instruments are the guitars and the drums. When drummer Dani Wang is in full blast mode, he rides that snare like a Kennedy on a cheap hooker. The net result is that Jesse Liu’s guitar gymnastics are lost underneath the sound of Dani pounding his snare like it owes him money. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen very often. It’s enough to call attention to itself, but I don’t consider this a serious detraction. It keeps this from being flawless, but Chthonic is still a highly recommended band and this is still a highly recommended album.

This is the non-Geoff Tate incarnation of Queensryche, for those keeping track of all of the drama surrounding the band(s). For those in the dark about it, longtime vocalist Geoff Tate split and started up another band using the Queensryche name. The remaining three original members, Eddie Jackson (bass), Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Michael Wilton (guitar) are also still using the Queensryche name. The reality is that both current incarnations of Queensryche don’t sound all that much like the original lineup. Without Chris DeGarmo, they really don’t have the same technical prowess and Progressive Metal style. This self-titled LP is more straight-forward Hard Rock/Heavy Metal without a lot of frills. The riffing is solid and the songs are pretty rocking, but without DeGarmo’s influence, it sounds kind of generic. I thought that Alpha Tiger (also on Century Media) would have trouble differentiating themselves from Queensryche because their vocalist sounded a lot like Geoff Tate, but now that I’ve listened to this album, I’m having a hard time telling the two bands apart. Queensryche went the “Ripper Owens” route and got ex-Crimson Glory vocalist, Todd La Torre, who is also a Geoff Tate clone. La Torre sounds so much like Geoff Tate that if you didn’t know better, you’d swear that it was him. I know that you need someone with the same range as Geoff to pull off their early material. The fans want to hear the good stuff and someone without the right range wouldn’t do the early Queensryche songs justice. Todd La Torre really doesn’t bring anything to the table that wasn’t already there, though. Neither does the rest of the band. Todd is content to be Geoff Tate Lite and Queensryche, the band as a whole, is content to go through the motions. Face it, this isn’t the same band that did Operation: Mindcrime. It was a masterwork. I’m not expecting that kind of greatness. That album caught lightning in a bottle and they were never able to replicate the success it had or even come close to being as musically awesome after that. Still, I expected at least something different and interesting from them. This isn’t the abomination that Geoff Tate’s Kings & Thieves LP was, though, which is something that I’m profoundly thankful for. I don’t think I could handle another shitty album like that. Maybe these guys should go back to calling themselves The Mob because without Chris DeGarmo and Geoff Tate, it’s almost like listening to Judas Priest without Rob Halford and K.K. Downing or Black Sabbath without Ozzy (or Dio) and Tony Iommi. While this LP is unadventurous, it doesn’t suck. It’s good Rock & Roll but it just doesn’t feel like Queensryche anymore.

Ah, Space Doom. You don’t see too much of this out there. Musically, it has a lot in common with other disciples of Black Sabbath, but there is a strong “deep space” vibe going on with this band. The impression that I got was that they were going in a psychedelic direction already, but one day the guys decided to trip balls on LSD and somehow ended up watching a marathon of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos at the same time. It’s kind of like a reinterpretation of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon by Black Sabbath. The music flows very much in the same way as Dark Side of the Moon and the vocals even have a similarly “spaced out” feel. Naturally, the lyrics are all about esoteric scientific stuff like fractals and space/time. One thing that struck me was how “retro” this LP sounded. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that this was from the ’70s. Maybe it’s the Hammond organ sound that they’re using that does it. I kind of wish I heard this band three or four months ago when I was on my ’70s Hard Rock kick. I was listening to bands like Pink Floyd, Rainbow, Elf and Ozzy-era Sabbath almost every day (when not reviewing stuff for Metal Curse, of course) so it would have fit in perfectly. A note to fans of this band’s earlier work: Necrocosmos is nothing like any of their previous releases. These guys used to play Funeral Doom, but they’ve changed directions and sound like a completely different band now. If you go in expecting something in the same vein as Ego Sum Censore Deuum, you’re in for a shock. I liked this LP for what it was, mostly because I’m a fan of good Doom and old Hard Rock, but I have to admit that I liked their older stuff better. It was heavier, for one thing. I also tend to like Funeral Doom more than Psychedelic Doom. The psychedelic stuff is a bit weird and it takes a lot longer to get into it without the necessary drugs. If you like Pink Floyd, and Dark Side of the Moon in particular, you will probably like this LP. If you wanted more of what Gallileous was doing before, this will likely disappoint you.

This is my first time hearing Italy’s Azrath-11, and my first impression of the band is that they love old Morbid Angel and Behemoth. I know this is kind of redundant because Behemoth pretty much worships at that old Morbid Angel altar, too. Face it, early Morbid Angel is still some of the most brutal, soul-tearing Black/Death Metal ever created, and though it’s been ages since Altars of Madness and Blessed Are the Sick, those two albums still run circles around most of the releases out there to this day. As for the Behemoth aspect of this band’s sound, that mostly comes through in the production. Ov Tentacles and Spirals has that Vader/Behemoth sound with powerful, driving guitars and somewhat artificial triggered drums. The way that Azrath-11 tries to differentiate themselves from the hordes of Behemoth clones is by going back to the source and incorporating more old-school Floridian Death Metal into their riffing. That helps them a little bit, but the net effect is that they sound like Behemoth doing Morbid Angel songs, and in fact Azrath-11 does cover “God of Emptiness,” slightly retitled, ov course. I know that the Vader/Behemoth sound is really, really good, but if Azrath-11 wants to stand apart from the clones, they have to find something new. Maybe a different studio or a different engineer might make the difference. Their music is pretty good, and while not wholly original, it does kick some ass. They just need to find a sound that is uniquely their own.

This band was one of the founders of the Bay Area Thrash scene, having formed back in the very early ’80s. Geoff Thorpe has continued to record and release albums with a veritable who’s who of the scene contributing. Still, even with all of that talent lending their support, Vicious Rumors has never achieved the kind of success they theoretically should have had. Electric Punishment, much like previous recordings, is a pretty solid Thrash album. It isn’t a great Thrash album, but it doesn’t suck, either. That’s essentially the story of Vicious Rumors in a nutshell. They’ve gotten to a respectable status around here, headlining shows at the locals clubs and maintaining a respectable following, but they’ve never broken through to the next level. Their albums are good, but none of them are legitimately great, let alone legendary. Even with top-notch players in Vicious Rumors (Thaen Rasmussen of Anvil Chorus plays guitar on this album, other past luminaries include ex-Heathen guitarist Ira Black and current Death Angel drummer Will Carroll, among many others), the band’s output hasn’t surpassed the sum of its parts, or even equaled them. I guess the generic answer to the problems Vicious Rumors has breaking out of their rut is to bring some new blood into the song writing team. Electric Punishment will satisfy longtime fans, but I doubt that they’ll win many new converts. It’s Geoff Thorpe doing what he does best, but ultimately, that’s just not enough to write home about.

Even within the realms of Death/Grind, a compilation CD of all of a band’s work that is only eight songs and twenty-two minutes in length is an oddity. A band that plays more on the Death Metal side of things would have a longer playing time, and a band that was more on the Grind side would have way more songs. The U.K.’s Black Mass is somewhere in the middle, playing a form of stripped-down Death/Grind that sounds more than a little bit like old Dismember. The best way to describe Black Mass is to say that they’re just like Dismember, but without any frills. There are no guitar solos, melodic riffs, breakdowns or technical parts. It’s just in-your-face Death/Grind that pulls no punches and it’s about as pretty as getting beaten to death by a steel pipe-wielding psycho. Of First and Last Things hits you hard and it hits you fast. It’s a maelstrom of blasting drums, brutal riffs and corrosive vocals. There are times when I don’t want to dwell on anything other than Metal music that kicks my ass. During those times, something like Of First and Last Things is ideal. It isn’t original or groundbreaking. It doesn’t try to be anything different or unique. It just beats the shit out of you for twenty-two minutes and then leaves.

Back in the late ’80s, I heard about Vulcano through a friend of mine who was a tape trader. In those days, there weren’t too many brutal Thrash (proto-Death/Thrash) bands out there, and Vulcano was one of them. They were quite possibly the only one out of Brazil at the time. Remember, these guys were around pre-Sepultura and Sarcofago. While they were decidedly second-tier underneath bands like Slayer and Exodus, they still caused enough havoc to gain a cult status, especially amongst the developing Death and Black Metal scenes in Europe and North America. Fast forward to 2013. Vulcano is back again with a new album, and while things sound cleaner, the music is definitely old-school. This is some fire-breathing, high-velocity Thrash Metal that doesn’t dwell on technicality but just exists to kick your ass and snap your neck. It still sounds lower-tier, though. Even after almost thirty years, they still lag behind the legendary bands. This isn’t to say that the music on The Man, the Key, the Beast doesn’t get your head banging. It does. It just doesn’t hold a candle to Reign in Blood, Infernal Overkill, Kill ‘em All or Bonded by Blood. It sort of has the same appeal that bands like Dekapitator or Nocturnal Breed have. It pays homage to the greats, but as hard as they try, they can’t best the legends. I would love to see Vulcano live, though. The music on this LP is sure to cause some serious carnage at any venue they happen to be playing at. It’s the kind of Thrash that is sure to whip a crowd into a frenzy and damage necks and skulls all over the place. It isn’t horribly original or different, but it does get the blood moving and the adrenaline burning in your veins the way good Thrash should.