When it comes to Metalcore, the Germans don’t give a fuck. They didn’t start doing it just because it was cool to, and they’re not going to stop doing it just because it isn’t cool anymore. Some would say they are the best at it and I have a hard time arguing that whenever I’m in the midst of an album like the new Six Reasons to Kill. Somehow it’s been eleven years since I last heard anything from these guys, but Architects of Perfection essentially picks up right where the impressive 2000 debut Kiss the Demon left off. It has everything a German Metalcore album should. The abrasive harshness and unrefined passion of Heaven Shall Burn, the brutal beatdowns of early Maroon, and the depressive melodies that bring back memories of a beautiful time when everyone was trying to out-sad Poison the Well. The clean vocals on “My Poison” threw me at first, but now it’s my favorite cut. It’s a pure anthem once you give it a chance. I can think of a lot more reasons to kill than six, but I couldn’t name you a better Metalcore album in 2011 so far.

It’s sad when bands just won’t go away. Two things I’ve never seen is a UFO and a person who gave a shit about Scar Symmetry. No disrespect to Roberth Karlsson; the man is a legend in the Swedish Death Metal scene and his resume speaks for itself. It’s not his fault that this album is muff cabbage. It’s the clean vocals of Lars Palmqvist that turns this into the kind of Metal that you’d hear in the opening/closing credits of a Saturday morning Anime cartoon. Throw in pure nonsense lyrics and melodies completely void of any trace of sadness and you have an album no one needs. Listen to Facebreaker instead.

The opening track, “Gravedigger Sacrifice,” is all that’s needed to guarantee a high rating for this NWOSDM band. The short intro of a shovel being pushed into the earth on a stormy night then the teeth spilling on the tombstone as the hand from the grave pulls you down musical assault that follows is brilliant. While the tempo of the nine tracks that follow doesn’t quite mirror the intensity of the opener (some songs have a doomier feel) Maim’s ability to craft classic sounding Swedish Death Metal, with genuine homage to the forefathers, is undeniable.

Holy fuck, what a team-up! Long have I been yearning for Haemorrhage’s forthcoming album, Hospital Carnage, and just when I thought that I could wait no longer to hear the Goregrind masters’ new O-Pus, I discovered this split with Mexico’s supreme sickos, Disgorge. It’s a depraved, diseased dream come true! At only 22 gore-soaked minutes, Morgue Metal is a quickie to be sure, but both bands deliver utterly devastating brand-new tracks (3 for Haemorrhage and 4 for Disgorge), and there is not a flaw to be found amid this memorable brutality. Obviously both groups worship Carcass, but have long since evolved unique sonic identities, following divergent paths, and the contrast of their styles and productions somehow works perfectly here, making this one of the greatest splits of all time.

One-man bands don’t often work out very well, because the lone artist has to be able to do literally everything himself. Even the very best songwriters can benefit from collaboration. So, with this in mind, Necronoclast’s Greg Edwards had an uphill battle from the very start, but he has had some time to practice, with three other full-length albums under his belt before Ashes. I do wish that over the years Greg would have realized that the more atmospheric parts of his compositions are the strongest, and in fact can be very impressive. Despite a well-programmed drum machine (no easy task in and of itself), the faster bits of the songs often seem more generically raw Black Metal, and lose quite a bit of the ominous, sorrowful feeling possessed by the slower segments. The title track is perhaps the best blend of speed and atmosphere. Greg’s throat-annihilating vocals are absolutely anguished and work perfectly with the music. Still, Ashes took a few spins (or whatever the fuck ones does with mp3s) for me to digest, and it could easily have been a mess without this imposing production gluing everything together in a way both raw and still somehow clear. As a side note, I think that this is cover-artist Gabriel Byrne’s best painting so far.

I have really been looking forward to this release, and hearing last month’s pre-album “teaser” EP, Leatherhead, only made me more impatient for it. I’m a huge fan of U.D.O. main-man Udo “Bastard!!” Dirkschneider, and his old band, Accept, and have been since I was a kid, listening to I’m a Rebel and Breaker. Rev-Raptor, which is apparently named after a toy robotic dinosaur, is every bit as good as I was expecting it to be. Some people -assholes, I call them- might not like how… let’s say, consistent, Udo’s music always is. But the man with the metal heart knows to not fuck up a good thing, and this means that you can always count on him to deliver memorable Metal. In fact, just try to not sing along with “Leatherhead” or the amazing “Fairy Tales of Victory” (which is probably the best song on an album chock-full of ass-kickery)! One listen and you’ll be banging your head and singing along with Udo! And that brings me to the only real flaw I can find with Rev-Raptor: You don’t get all the songs on the regular jewel-case CD. The digipak version has two bonus tracks, plus two videos (“Leatherhead” and “I Give As Good As I Get”). The Japanese version has two different bonus tracks. (There is a super-limited edition version, too, which has the digipak version in it, but even then you still don’t get the Japanese bonus tracks.) If “I Give As Good As I Get” is released as a single, or EP, as “Leatherhead” was, perhaps it will have the Japan-only tracks on there, but I’m not holding my breath for that. So, those of us who care are left with the option of not having all the songs, or tracking down not only the digipak version, since the US is, of course, only getting the stripped-down jewel-case edition, but also somehow the Japanese version. That feels suspiciously like AFM is fucking me with no lube, and I didn’t even get dinner first! I’m sure that it’s not Dirkschneider’s fault, but it’s still frustrating, and that’s exactly what I don’t need when listening to music I like. I wanted to give this album much closer to a 10, but holy hell, the band recorded 17 songs and I’ve only heard 13 of them. I’m missing about a quarter of the music, and the rating reflects it. By the way, AFM, and all other record labels out there, if you ever wonder why people illegally download your releases, it’s in part due to not wanting to buy multiple versions of the same album just to get all the songs.

Mitochondrion hail from Vancouver, British Columbia and have ties to the Ross Bay cemetery. Unlike their Cult brethren, they play monumental Death Metal steeped in the musical philosophy espoused by Ross Dolan of Immolation. However, their wall of sound is inoculated with the foreboding atmosphere reminiscent of Disembowelment. The growth that results is an atypical album within the Canadian Death Metal scene, yet containing all the required components: guttural vocals, thick technical riffs, and blast beats that rival “old” Cryptopsy and Katalysm. What makes it unique is how the dueling vocals are infused with the instrumentation, augmenting the tempo changes, coupled with the lyrics that forsake this mortal coil. Complimented by a massive booklet with occult artwork, this is one release you must own. The impact that Disembowelment’s Transcendence into the Peripheral had almost two decades ago has finally been replicated by Parasignosis.

Considering that all the members of this Australian Black Metal band are also in Nazxul, I naturally expected Depths to be amazing. And of course it is. The memorable, mournful riffs are perfectly blended with occasional bursts of speed and absolutely agonized vocals. The excellent production leaves the guitars raw and noisy, but allows the other instruments to be clearly heard, which is greatly appreciated. There are rare times when the repetition within the songs starts to work against the band, such as the first half of “Choirs Beyond the Blackened Stars,” but usually PM know exactly how best to achieve maximum suffering. And I mean that in the best way possible.

When I first reviewed this album as a brand-new release, in Metal Curse #4, back in 1990/1991 (for those who don’t know, Metal Curse started publication in early 1990), I really didn’t like it. The glacial tempos can make the riffs difficult to sit through without passing out. When Winter speeds up to let’s say the slowest that Celtic Frost ever played, things get a little more interesting. Since this album was initially released, some other super-slow Death/Doom bands have emerged as Funeral Doom, and the cream of that lethargic crop incorporate many layers and sounds into their compositions to keep the listener interested, and in the very best cases, entranced. Winter is too simplistic, but was breaking new ground at the time. I haven’t listened to Into Darkness very often in the past twenty years, but I think that I appreciate it now more than I did then, and it’s good to see this (very limited edition!) Southern Lord reissue, even if it does not seem to have been remastered or include the bonus tracks (the Eternal Frost EP) from Metal Mind’s 2008 edition.