Larvae is from Oakland, California and the members have all been around the local Metal scene for a while. The band contains members of Kuru and Elk, and unlike their other bands, Larvae is Doom/Death Metal with an emphasis on the Death Metal side. The music is generally slower, though the last track, “Cold Dead Face,” is fast and aggressive. The band’s attempts at Doom are strangely lacking in heaviness. It may be the production or the fact that Larvae doesn’t sound very down-tuned, but they aren’t nearly as crushingly heavy as I had hoped that they would be. Personally, when I hear of an East Bay Doom/Death band, I think of Asunder. They were brutal as fuck, intensely heavy and in possession of some of the darkest atmospheres this side of My Dying Bride. That’s my standard for Bay Area Doom/Death Metal. It’s a high one, but I’m fairly forgiving when it comes to demo recordings and debut albums these days. Larvae sounds as if a Death Metal band was playing at half-speed while being recorded by a guy that only knew how to do Necro Black Metal. This definitely needs more bass. Death Metal, and Doom/Death in particular, needs to be brutal by default. Having a lightweight production defeats the purpose. The songs themselves are fairly well executed. The speed varies from ploddingly slow to fast and furious. This usually changes within one song, going from slow to fast to slow again. The riffs and song structures flow reasonably well, seamlessly going from fast to slow and back again without any jarring or transition problems. With a competent studio engineer and a heavier sound, these guys could be a force to be reckoned with.

Wow, it has been a long time since I’ve heard a band so unashamedly go for the early Godflesh sound. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone wear Streetcleaner so blatantly on their sleeves since the early days of Pitch Shifter. This is my first time hearing The Amenta, and this single/EP may or may not be the best place to start. While it’s hard to gauge a band definitively on such a small —and ultimately varied— sample size, this recording has successfully piqued an interest formerly non-existent. It also leaves me with more questions than answers. The title track takes the dense, mechanical vibe of old Godflesh to more modern heights by infusing a stellar, immaculate production. If you’ve ever wondered what Streetcleaner would sound like had it been recorded by Peter Tagtgren at The Abyss, here you go. Whatever verdict one might reach on this band based on their lack of originality would at least have to acknowledge the gigantic sound quality they achieve. The guitars sound like an excavating crew demolishing your backyard, while the minimalist beats hit so hard you can feel them in your stomach. Just to eliminate any possible doubt as to where they’re coming from, up next is a spot-on cover of “Christbait Rising.” One flaw might be the vocals/vocal delivery. A decent-but-unremarkable raspy snarl of the Blackened Melodeath variety that almost sounds too lively atop these oppressive, cheerless dirges. Up next are two live cuts —”Sekem” and “Vermin”— and here’s where shit gets weird. The band sounds radically different in the live setting, like some speedy modern Thrash act with far more traditional structures, Death Metal drumming, and only a slight Industrial tinge. It’s a night and day contrast next to the studio material. To further confuse matters, the EP closes with a remix of “V01D” that plays like a Techno jam with the aforementioned Black/Death vocals. It’s fairly disposable, but what bonus remix hasn’t been? So, basically we have five songs that feel like three different bands. Won’t the real The Amenta please stand up? Whatever the case, I definitely dig the Streetcleaner-aping version of the group most. Quite possibly a sound so old it’s fresh again.

With two of Ereb Altor’s members also in a Doom band called Isole, it’s no surprise that there are Doom elements on this album. In fact, the best parts here are the Doom elements. There’s an abundance of atmosphere on Gastrike and I’m a sucker for that sort of thing. The downside of Ereb Altor’s music is that while it’s good, it sounds like Viking-era Bathory. Quorthon did all of this two decades or more ago with Hammerheart and Blood on Ice. Boss may want to go check on his archives of Quorthon’s music to see if some of it hasn’t been stolen because a lot of the sound effects and the “Viking choir” are suspiciously familiar. Still, if people held sounding like Bathory against every band that did something that Quorthon did first, the Black Metal scene of today would look vastly different and there would probably be no Viking or Folk Metal at all. The resemblance to Viking-era Bathory may be abundantly evident, but at least Ereb Altor is able to inject some of their own identity into this. The speedier tracks tend to be the most generic sounding. Where they truly differentiate themselves is in the slower stuff. As I said earlier, the Doom elements are what shine here. When these guys get heavy, this album starts rocking. Sadly, they don’t get heavy as often as I would have liked. These guys know how to do Doom well, but by keeping with standard conventions on Viking Metal, they’re really not playing to their strengths. This is a competently executed album with good sound and good songs. If you like Viking Metal, you’ll like Gastrike, which is on the cusp of being great. If they can play more to their strengths and spend less time sticking to conventions, their next album will be a fucking monster.

This split 7-inch features a very apropos pairing of two scene giants in steadfast decline. Despite a rabid fanbase of loyal diehards who would vehemently disagree, Converge haven’t put out a truly great record since 2001’s Jane Doe. Meanwhile, Grindcore legends Napalm Death have been methodically releasing the same solid-but-forgettable album for too many moons to count (save for this year’s Utiliatarian which was downright awkward). Still, a part of me wants to get excited about this team-up. Perhaps this little piece of wax will ignite the return to glory for both of these hard-working, boundary-pushing bands? No. No it won’t. It’s just a stopgap between stopgaps. Each band offers two tracks, Hardcore stalwarts Converge opening with 50 seconds of absolutely meaningless noise (“No Light Escapes”). This song would be filler on their all-filler anthology box set. Their cover of Entombed’s “Wolverine Blues” is at least interesting. Sure they butcher the song by injecting their own tight-sphinctered, spastic tension into it, robbing the original’s free-and-easy Death ‘n’ Roll bravado, but it is fun to listen to the bevy of guest vocalists —Aaron Turner (ex-Isis), Tompa Lindberg, Kevin Baker (The Hope Conspiracy/All Pigs Must Die), and Brian Izzi (Trap Them)— trade lines on the classic. I do have to wonder how many Converge scenesters who adore the band solely for Jacob Bannon’s totally bitchin’ neck tattoo will know/give a fuck who Entombed is. As for Napalm Death’s half… god damn! Somebody make Barney some tea. At least get him a throat lozenge or something. His voice is done. Finito. Muerte. He and the band sound like a shell of their former selves, and the EP’s intentionally lo-fi production isn’t helping. Their two cuts are as memorable as random binary code. The binary code is not red… please stop the code. Both of these innovative bands will always be well-respected and beloved by many an underground minion, and deservedly so. But recent efforts as well as this pointless split suggest that their respective primes faded into the rearview long ago. Neck tattoos notwithstanding.

I’ve followed Marduk for almost as long as they’ve been around. My first exposure to them was with Dark Endless and I’ve pretty much heard everything they’ve ever released. The evolution of Marduk from the blackened Death Metal of Dark Endless to the blisteringly fast and chaotic sounds of Panzer Division Marduk to the varied speeds but still dark and evil style of today has encompassed twenty odd years. Throughout that time, Marduk has been consistently pumping out extreme music. The only variation in their musical quality was in the production department. Some of their old stuff, particularly Opus Nocturne, was marred by among the most horrid production ever. Serpent Sermon, their latest release, is definitely a mixed bag of songs - and I mean that in a good way. While each one is different, they all sound like Marduk. They go from fast and furious to slow and heavy, sometimes in the same track. The songs that I like the most were slower and heavier. I’m a sucker for atmosphere and those are the ones that stood out as the darkest and most evil sounding tracks on the album. My favorite has to be the “closer,” “World of Blades.” I use the word “closer” in quotes because there is a bonus track called “Coram Satanae” that comes after it on the limited edition media book version. “Coram Satanae” has kind of strange air to it. It has a riff in it that is prominent in the beginning and near the end that I could swear that I’ve heard before on a Graveland album. I don’t know if that was intentionally done to sound like Slavic Folk or not (or I’ve been listening to far too much Graveland to have noticed it) but it stuck out to me. The song itself brings a slightly disruptive element with it because it comes in after the closer track and takes away from the “finality” that “World of Blades” brings. I’m not going to deduct any points for this because unless you pony up for the special edition, this track won’t even be on the version you get. Even with “Coram Satanae,” Serpent Sermon is a very solid and enjoyable album. If you’re a fan of Marduk, you’ll find something on here that you’ll like.

This Finnish OSDM crew just can’t catch a break! Despite writing some of the catchiest Death Metal since the Tardy brothers started jamming, this group has toiled in obscurity for a decade. Since all major Metal critics have a deeply-embedded subconscious fantasy of giving dual handjobs to Joe Perry and Steve Vai while blowing Richie Sambora and being sodomized by Slash, none of them have the tolerance for a band so brutally basic they make Six Feet Under sound like Wormed. Okay, maybe Torture Killer aren’t that simple, but they did start out as a 6FU cover band. And speaking of which, try to imagine getting megastar frontman Chris Barnes —vocalist for not one but two of the best-selling Death Metal bands ever— to do vocals for your band’s whole album… and nobody bats an eyelash. I’m talking last song ends, cue chirping crickets. It has been a revolving door of vocalists for these guys since day one. Their 2003 debut, Maggots to Devour, featured Matti Liuke. Possibly their best overall growler, basic and brutal just like the tunes. Barnes did the 2006 follow-up Swarm, then for 2009’s Sewers —a record that saw a little suicidal melody introduced to the fold— they re-recruited Juri Sallinen (who also sang on the essential ‘05 split with Sotajumala). Sallinen did a more than serviceable job, but probably, much like Liuke, had to leave to find better-paying work (like dancing with a sign in front of a Little Caesars and/or cash-for-gold establishment). Now with this 3-song EP, we have another new frontman: Pessi Haltsonen of Chainsaw Dismemberment fame. Hate to say it, but I’m not really feeling Haltsonen or I Chose Death all that much. The riffs are still thankfully no-frills, but come off a bit Thrashier than usual. Still headbangable, just less heavy, less heart, no real punch, and those melodies are gone. Pessi’s relatively thin, gargly roar seems somewhat punchless as well, although he and the band do step it up considerably on the title track, which easily comes closest to hinting at past greatness. The bottom line is that music this blunt has to be instantly likable, and I Chose Death feels more like an entry-level demo phase then an offering from 10-year vets. Perhaps a new full-length, and possibly yet another new vocalist, will yield better results. I certainly don’t want Torture Killer to go out like this.

Fearless hails from Shanghai, China, which is a first for me. I’ve heard bands from Hong Kong and Taiwan, but getting a chance to hear one from mainland China is rare. Lord of Twilight is a strange beast because it covers several different areas of Metal. The most predominant form on display is Power Metal. Though there are prominent Black and Melodic Death Metal influences, the guitar playing is pure Power Metal. Lord of Twilight is both melodic and technical. Seriously, these guys know how to shred and shred they do. I’m not a huge fan of virtuoso guitar playing (mostly because it tends to degenerate into guitar wankery), but the musicianship here is exceptional. The incorporation of atmospheric keyboard playing and Asian musical structures is also handled very well. Much like Chthonic did on Takasago Army, the keyboards and Asian musical elements are seamlessly incorporated into their songs. Some bands might tack these things on to give their songs identity, but it never feels that way on Lord of Twilight. The riffing is always melodic and even though the songs are complex, everything flows very well. Every track on this album had my head banging, and by the time the final one, “Darkness Swallowed,” was over, I was actually disappointed that there wasn’t another song. If there’s a flaw in this, it’s in the lack of diversity in the vocal style. The rest of the music is dynamic and it goes all over the place. The vocals, though, remain firmly entrenched in the raspy Black Metal style. It isn’t a serious detraction, but it does keep this album from being absolutely awesome. Hopefully, Lord of Twilight will get this group some more exposure, because I think it is well deserved. Fearless is definitely a band that I recommend.

Back in 2010, Indiana’s The Contortionist really, really wanted to be the thinking man’s Acacia Strain. But that was two years —nearly four generations— ago. To put it in perspective, think of what smart phone you were using back then. OMG! Now you can relate to your grandparents’ walking-10-miles-to-school-uphill-in-8-feet-of snow stories. Facebook didn’t even have Timeline back then! FML! How did we survive? So, considering how much this quintet has matured as a band in that relative lifetime (and seeing as how Metalcore is soo 2010), on album number two, The Contortionist really, really wants to be Between the Buried and Me. I can’t hold it against them. Any Indiana resident with an IQ above 60 (so, approximately 20-35 people) wants to be someone/anyone, somewhere/anywhere, something/anything else. The difference is most of us don’t get record deals. (Skeletonwitch doesn’t count. I said over 60.) I’ll give these young Prog Metallers props, they have the tools and talent to reach whatever that week’s goal is. Album opener “Holomovement” begins this metaphysics course with expansive melodic flourishes, spacious noodling, and a brief burst of brutal fury. Above all, I think they will succeed simply because Jonathan Carpenter’s voice is all-pro. He has the dreamy clean singing to effectively carry the meandering space travel, and the bestial roar to accentuate the heavy parts. Intrinsic’s biggest flaw is that it never seems to take off, and doesn’t much care to. Beauty and beast alternate sporadically, leaving the album to wander aimlessly for what feels like an extraordinarily long 45 minutes. When one delves so deeply into the psyche, one should not forget to bring the hooks. As impressive as randomly disjointed moments of this album sound, it ultimately feels like a band lost in transition. My guess would be, next stop: Dream Theater.

With a name like Wargoatcult, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to have a good idea what kind of music this band plays. If you guessed Black Metal in the Blasphemy style, you’re correct. If you’re expecting something unique and adventurous, you’re going to be disappointed. Pentaprotokhaos is by the books Blasphemy worship, but not in the good way. This may be album number two (there is also a veritable sea of splits and demo recordings by this band as well) but Cum Mortuis, the sole member of Wargoatcult, really needs to work on his songwriting. Everything literally sounds the same. It may have a lot to do with the fact that the drumming consists of Cum Mortuis constantly riding the snare, which sounds like a trashcan lid. The guitars are akin to someone revving a chainsaw, with little variation between songs. Seriously, this whole album could be nine different versions of the same track. I’m not expecting Dream Theater level songwriting, but if this is all we’re going to get, you really only need one EP to get the full Wargoatcult experience. To say that this band is one-dimensional is a vast overstatement.