Dog Faced Gods - Random Chaos Theory in Action

Posted on Friday, November 05, 2010

If you’re into the newer Fear Factory sort of abrasive start/stop “New Thrash” crap, then you will want to check out DFG, as they do it about a billion times better, are way more aggressive, and don’t have all the queer “sweet” courses and that shit that FF do. When they let go and just get down to solidly kicking ass, this is great, but they spend a lot of time with the “chug chug, pause, chug chug, pause” sort of thing, and I can’t stand that. But the production is so awesome, and the vocals so pissed off, that I’m tempted to like this anyway. But those half of the riffs that are dorky just kill it for me.

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Divine Empire - Redemption

Posted on Friday, November 05, 2010

It’s not too surprising that this band sounds like Malevolent Creation, since everyone in Divine Empire was at one time or another in MC. But that’s about as far away from being a detraction as things get. I have been a huge Malevolent Creation fan for about a decade, and although their sound has changed over the years, I think that their only completely flawless album so far (and keep in mind that I’ve not yet heard The Fine Art of Murder as I type this) was In Cold Blood, which featured the brutally perfect vocals of Jason Blachowicz, now the front man for Divine Empire. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Redemption is as completely perfect as is the aforementioned In Cold Blood, it’s close, and certainly an awesome debut. The songs are kept to short, intense, memorable assaults, and Jason’s vocals are in fine form. That’s an unbeatable combination.

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Distorted Reality - The Escape

Posted on Friday, November 05, 2010

Well, the songs are probably pretty cool Thrashy Death Metal, but the “production” here is so bad it’s hard to tell. The vox are so loud as to nearly obliterate everything else whenever they’re present. I’m sure a live release seemed like a good idea to the band, but this must be is a bad representation of what they sound like.

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Dissent - Hybrid

Posted on Friday, November 05, 2010

For once a press release is accurate. I think that describing Dissent as “Progressive Hardcore” is about as accurate as you could be. There are some riffs on here that I don’t like, but far more that I do, and the playing is always impressive, sometimes very much so. The super thick production is cool, too, and a great idea.

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Disgorge (Mexico) - Chronic Corpora Infest

Posted on Wednesday, November 03, 2010

I reviewed this last issue (so check there for more about this excellent album), but it has been re-released by the very cool people at American Line. Extreme Death/Grind. ‘Nuff said.

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Discern - Revive and Rebuke

Posted on Saturday, October 30, 2010

Ghouls, attack the church! Crush the holy priest! Turning the cross towards Hell, writhe in Satan’s flames. Crush the priest! The feeble church! Dead - your god is dead. Fools, your god is dead. Useless prayers of lies. Behold Satan’s rise. Crush the priest! The feeble church! The family of dog. Lust upon the altar. Demons, attack with hate! Satan, in the fires of Hell, awaits. Death against you all! God, hear my death call.

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Dimmu Borgir - Godless Savage Garden

Posted on Saturday, October 30, 2010

A lot of people whose opinions I respect have a problem with these blasphemers, due to that they supposedly have a “Rock Star” attitude. Well, any band that covers Accept’s “Metal Heart” is okay with me. In fact, this whole CD is great! Sure they have some “sweet” new wave Black Metal keyboards, but I don’t have a problem with that, and all the songs (a couple new ones, a couple old ones redone, the Accept cover, and 3 live cuts) are memorable and really pretty intense.

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Dies Irae (Mexico) - Etherial

Posted on Saturday, October 30, 2010

Starts out pretty mellow, and then evolves into a Doomy melancholy with Black Metalish vocals. Sometimes this is a great combination, but all too often it’s just way too wimpy, complete with ultra sappy, cleanly whined vocals, as in the song “Epidermal Macabre” (which would mean, what “scary skin”?). Dies Irae are excellent musicians, but all the skill in the world, and even the occasional moments of greatness, can’t save this. The weak parts are too many and pull it down too far.

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Diabolic - Supreme Evil

Posted on Friday, October 29, 2010

Brutal, yet memorable, evil Death Metal, which is helped by its outstanding production.

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