Fuck… I’m Dead - Bring on the Dead
This Grind assault is intensity personified, but despite what the press release tries to tell me, there isn’t a single “catchy riff” on here. In fact, almost everything is buried beneath the unrelenting onslaught of the inhumanly fast, machine drumming (isn’t it “cheating” for a Grind band to use a drum machine?). I’ve got to give this band points for sheer sonic brutality, but as evidenced by virtually every band on the Czech Republic’s Obscene Productions label (and quite a few others), it is possible to be this brutal and also “catchy” at the same time.
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Frostmoon Eclipse - Gathering the Dark
This album, their debut for ISO666, is their second overall. I get the feeling that this band listens to a lot of Hades Almighty as the songs kind have that feeling. The song structures are similar to Hades Almighty and their use of acoustic guitar and keyboard parts to make their songs more interesting calls that band to mind when I listen to them. The use of Death growls mixed in with the raspy Black Metal shrieks adds to the musical diversity which, when added to the acoustics, makes for a more interesting listen. There are only two major gripes I had with this album and they were that 1. The production isn’t the best, as the guitars are too low and too thin, something that hurts when they bump up the speed; and 2. Even though this is their second album, the songs don’t really show all that much maturity. There are parts that don’t flow well and transitions that aren’t very good - things that could have been worked out in rehearsal but weren’t. The good news is that their song structure problems don’t pop up too often and the bulk of this album is only marred by the drumming drowning out the guitars. I get the feeling that Frostmoon Eclipse works best in the mid-paced realms of speed, and when they go fast, things just get generic and their thin guitar sound hurts them more.
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Frost - Invoking the Aeon of Satan
This is the “true” Frost - at least according to the words on the back of their CD - and they play “Extreme Black Sodomizing Metal.” I don’t know if there are any “fake” bands out there called Frost, but I do know that what they play is essentially Darkthrone-influenced “grim” Black Metal. In a way, this band reminds me a bit of NSBM stalwarts Absurd, in that their Black Metal assault is tinged with a bit of the Oi! style. There are a lot of hooks in their music that makes the songs on Invoking the Aeon of Satan a bit more memorable and a whole lot easier to headbang to. If anything, the fact that the music on this album is so easy to get into helps Frost a lot. The sound on this album is also a cut above your average “grim” band as well. It’s rare to hear a band like this have audible bass and a guitar sound this clear. Between Frost and Bestial Mockery, they’re going to add a level of quality that this particular sub-genre of Black Metal sorely needs.
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From Zero - One Nation Under
Checking the press release, I see that these “New Metal” poseurs are from Chicago. They must never go out in public, or I’m sure that Cianide or someone would have executed them by now.
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Freedom Call - Crystal Empire
More “new wave” Power Metal. At least these guys are from Germany. As you would expect, this is well played, and superbly recorded, but this kind of lighter-than-helium Rock/Metal really has to be awesome for me to even take notice anymore…
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The Forsaken - Manifest of Hate
Recorded at the legendary Abyss studio, this fast, Thrashy Swedish Death Metal has the expected clear, powerful modern sound.
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Flotsam and Jetsam - My God
Well, I’m sick today - I have the flu - so if this review (or any other I write under the influence of NyQuil) sucks or makes no sense, that could be why. Hey, I can’t just skip a day! I’ve got a job to do here, and Metal Curse isn’t one of those fag zines that only has a handful of reviews each issue. Anyway, for as much as I respect the efforts of F&J, this is just not an album that I like all that much. “But you like their other shit, right?” Yeah, I do. Most of it anyway. But something about this just doesn’t do it for me. The repetition in the lyrics isn’t helping, and neither are the occasional weird riffs. I have long since grown used to Eric A.K.’s vocals (except when they’re a little overdriven, such as at the beginning of the somewhat Industrial-sounding “Camera Eye”), so that’s not it. This isn’t the first time that things have not 100% come together for these guys, though, so I have faith (no pun intended) that they can fix things and come back with a great album next time. But that’s all we get for now: hope that the next one will be better.
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Fleshtized - Here Among Thorns
I was really impressed with the Divide and Conquer demo, so I was a little psyched for this release, but as it is with many things in life, alas I am disappointed. A lot less memorable, a lot more speed, funny how those factors often coincide. Still, this isn’t terrible. These guys have always been great musicians, and they have finally achieved a decent production, but perhaps they are just one of those Death Metal bands doomed to always have “something missing.” Hopefully their next album will prove me wrong. At least they fixed up their gay logo a little.
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Fishbone - Critical Times: Fishbone’s Hen House Sessions (video)
I like Fishbone, but this is just weird, even for them. This DVD contains a documentary of the band recording at a free studio. I sure wish that there were such things as “free studios” around here! It’s interesting, I guess, to see behind the scenes of this band’s recording process, but this is for only the most hardcore of Fishbone fans.
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