Centinex - Hellbrigade
It’s always a good day when a new Centinex album arrives. Hellbrigade sees the band speeding through nine tracks of what might be called somewhat more Black Metal influenced compositions. Nothing really groundbreaking to be found here, but it’s all extremely well executed and produced.
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Cathedral - In Memoriam
Here we have the re-release of this legendary demo, with five live bonus tracks. While you wouldn’t know it from listening to them these days, but back in 1990 (when the studio tracks were recorded - the live stuff is from ‘91) Cathedral’s Doom was fairly “groove-less” and much slower and heavier than it is today. In other words, it was better. I consider their first album, Forest of Equilibrium, to be not only their best, but an all time classic. This demo recording sees them at virtually the same peak, and with the addition of the live material (although not exactly flawlessly recorded), this is close to perfection.
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Catasexual Urge Motivation - The Encyclopedia of Serial Murders
I reviewed the original release of this album (on Deliria Records) back in issue #10. This reissue features new packaging, but no extra music, so if you already have the first version, there’s no need to get this one. However, if you don’t already own this and you’re a fan of super-brutal and super-sick Death/Grind (including a great Impetigo cover), in this case from Japan, you’d be well advised to check this out.
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Carpathian Forest - Strange Old Brew
These Norse Black Metal freaks obviously like bondage and domination, a lyrical topic they tackled in their previous release, Black Shining Leather. Well, that love hasn’t diminished at all, and songs like “Mask of the Slave” and the rather humorous “The Good Old Enema Treatment” are testimonies to how much fun they think it is. The rest of the songs are more in the vein of traditional Black Metal of the Norse sort with lyrics about death, destruction and general all-around evilness. The production on this album is a bit lacking in the guitar department as the bass and drums are quite prominent but the six-string is a little thin. A heavier guitar tone or louder volume would have helped make the riffs a bit more distinguishable. The faster parts particularly suffer from this as the guitars degenerate into what sounds like a chainsaw. When Carpathian Forest slows down and gets heavy, things definitely get better. The song “Cloak of Midnight” in particular is really good. When they slow down, their Celtic Frost influences really show through, and though there are a few blatantly Frost riffs on this, they don’t really hurt the band all that much. Strange Old Brew is a solid album that only adds to Carpathian Forest’s status as one of the leading bands from Norway.
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Carnal Forge - Firedemon
Is this Kreator? I mean, is this what Kreator should sound like now? Maybe, and maybe not… This Death/Thrash is intense enough, no doubt about that, but the aforementioned Kreator always did their best to make sure that in addition to that, their songs were memorable. And, for whatever else is this, memorable it isn’t. It’s not bad, though.
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Capitol Eye - Mood Swingz
Rap-Core from the Limp Bizkit school of cock-sucking. This is a pathetic excuse for music, and I shit on any band that plays this garbage!
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Canvas - Lost in Rock
Good grief. Imagine John Zorn’s schizophrenic musical juxtapositions, but without his vision (or should I say “genius”) or real extremity. As you might guess, this tries really hard to be avant-garde, or at least interesting, but in reality, it’s just horrible and unlistenable.
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Cannibal Corpse - Live Cannibalism
I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of an album being recorded live in Indiana (okay, only 5 out of 18 tracks were recorded here, in my home state, but that’s plenty for me to mention it), but leave it to these sickos to make that happen. Obviously, this is pretty much for fans only, but the sonic quality of the recording (the majority of which is from Milwaukee, at the Rave) is excellent, and they do most of the songs I’d have been yelling at them to do, had I the foresight to have attended. For example, they start with “Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead,” and end with the monstrous “Hammer Smashed Face,” hitting classics along the way, like “Stripped, Raped and Strangled,” “Fucked with a Knife” (introduced with “This next song goes out to all the fucking women out there”), “Devoured by Vermin,” and “Skull Full of Maggots.” As I mentioned, 18 songs in all, for well over an hour of sheer brutality. It’s of course also pretty cool to hear Corpsegrinder singing the older stuff, and generally he does a commendable job, but not surprisingly is the best on the songs on which he initially sang. In fact, the only complaint I can manage is about the packaging. It’s almost nonexistent. I mean, the usual Vincent Locke cover art is excellent, but that’s all you get. There is no booklet to speak of, with the cover consisting of one double-sided sheet of paper. I’m not really sure what to make of that, but it seems like a really cheap-assed way to go to me. And that’s enough to keep this from perfection. But make no mistake, as far as live albums go (especially for Death Metal), this is a classic.
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Cage - Astrology
Cage crank out sharp ’80s-style Heavy Metal on their latest effort, Astrology. This release contains some seriously energized tunes delivered by a highly talented group of guys who obviously love to play. Sean Peck’s vocal-performance is powerful-as-hell. He pours strength and emotion into every note he hits. What really stands out is the playing-ability of guitarists Eric Horton and Dave Garcia. These guys have a solid chemistry and tear it up with some wicked riffs and intense solos. I’m slightly disappointed with the bass-sound, though. It is almost buried in the mix. I’m sure they’ll iron this out the next time around. Minor complaints aside, this is great album. Cage is carrying the banner of Heavy Metal with well-deserved pride.
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