Immolation, for me, was one of those bands that I didn’t like at first. I thought their sound was a big noisy mess and I just didn’t give them much of a chance. It wasn’t until the late ’90s, hanging out at a friend’s house where Here in After had just been popped in, that I grasped just what this overwhelmingly brutal, anti-Christian trio actually brings to the table. Since then I’ve been hooked, and speaking of Here in After, that album’s formula has been the foundation for the band’s last two releases and Unholy Cult is no different. Mind-boggling guitar playing, sick and twisted time changes, inhumanly intense drumming, demonic vocals bestial enough to trick the Richter scale, and the lyrics of a man disgusted and appalled at Christianity’s influence on the weak minds of our society. Not to say that this band isn’t doing anything new (I’ll be damned if the closing riff of “Bring Them Down” isn’t the most melodic thing Immolation have ever attempted… dare I marvel at the birth of Immo-emo?), but their sound has achieved the level of trademark over the past few years, and you just don’t fuck with that.

In a way, Graveland has evolved into something that more resembles a movie soundtrack score than a Black Metal band. These days, Rob Darken (the sole remaining member of Graveland) is composing songs that are powerful, epic in scope and atmospheric as all fucking Hell. The only band that is really doing something comparable to this kind of style is Summoning, though Summoning has more of a Western European style. Graveland’s medieval influences are much more in line with Slavic Folk music than the grand, bombastic stuff that Summoning incorporates. This gives Graveland lots of memorable hooks, interesting breaks, and adds a certain ethnic flavoring to the whole thing that no other band really has to this degree. Add to this a good, solid production and good packaging, you certainly get your money’s worth and then some.

Rumors had it that this was going to be the Nu-Metal sellout album by Hypocrisy. Well, I don’t know if it is a complete sellout or not but this has a lot more in common with Slipknot that it does to the band that released such godly albums as Penetralia and Abducted. I must have listened to this album a dozen times before I’ve come to the conclusion that if Hypocrisy ever released a dud album, this is it. The first couple songs are just crap. They have great production but when it comes to great songwriting, this is below par. The second half of the album is a bit more listenable, as far as I’m concerned. The tracks here have more in common with the more atmospheric stuff that these guys did back on Abducted mixed with Pain’s Techno/Industrial Metal fusion style. These tracks are definitely better, but the bulk of this album is just not what I like listening to. I avoid Slipknot for a reason. I hate them. Granted, they’re almost like listening to half-assed Death Metal, but I don’t want to listen to half-assed Death Metal. The real deal is always better! This is almost as sad as seeing Slayer ape Pantera. There are some cool songs on this album, but the shit always seems to stand out more.

This is a sad day in the Metal world. After a decade of Swedish Death Metal rule, the almighty Hypocrisy has finally fallen off. The cause of Peter’s insanity? Overexposure to people! “A Public Puppet” consists of a lame Slipknot riff, some Crusty filler, and some mid-paced filler. Then there are songs like “Edge of Madness” which still contain a few good melodies but are desecrated by weak vocal experimentation. This whole album caters to the short attention span of poseurs which solidifies my overexposure to people theory. For a band just starting out, not totally sure how they want to sound, this would be a mediocre effort. But by Hypocrisy standards, this album just completely sucks shit from the dicks of homosexual rapist lepers.

Another Haunted album, another 40 minutes of the same fast drum beat and the same god damn song structure this criminally overrated band has used for every song they’ve ever written. How sad the drummer’s snare must be, for it was not its purpose in life to induce my slumber. The Haunted, I implore you! Stop making records. Don’t do it for me… do it for the snare.

After the disappointing return of my old friends, Unleashed, I was worried about hearing anything new from this other legendary Swedish Death Metal band, Grave, especially considering that the band’s last studio recording, 1996’s Hating Life, was far from their finest work. But I had little to worry about, really. This new album isn’t exactly Into the Grave 2, but it is pretty damn good, and sounds as if it could have come out right after Soulless. This is well done, old-style Death Metal, and while not as perfected as that of label-mates Bloodbath (but what could be?), it’s nice to hear. I remember the first time I saw Grave live. It was the band’s first US tour, in support of Into the Grave, and I went with some friends of mine to the legendary Medusa’s, in Chicago. Sadly that venue is long gone now, replaced with an apartment building, I think. And I thought that Grave was long gone, too. I am very happy to report that I was wrong about that.
It’s my understanding that the real version of this is a 2-CD set, with the second disc crammed full of early demos, which would be a worthy purchase all by itself.

I really miss doing a zine [Jack used to publish Portrait of Defiance zine. - Editor]. Sure, it was a lot of hard work, it was expensive, a lot of dealing with fucking morons and having to wade through landfills of unsigned garbage, but every once in a while you’d come across that demo-CD that stood out from the sea of poopy. You’d get that virgin peak at a gem not yet stained by the masses’ grubby fingers. Listening to Gloria Morti, I am reliving that old feeling. This self-financed disc contains two tracks of flawlessly executed melodic Black Metal in the vein of Cradle of Filth and Hecate Enthroned. The playing, the production, the vocals, it’s all top notch. Okay, so they draw a pretty hefty influence from the aforementioned bands, but I can sacrifice a little originality when it sounds this professional and feels this good. If these guys just keep at it, and do add their own unique spin on the style they’ve apparently already mastered, their future looks pretty god damn bright. Reserve your bandwagon seat now.

Do not be fooled. While the packaging, song titles, lyrics, and image of this band may lead you to believe this is some kind of fuck-around joke band, it is not, I repeat, it is not!! Think Exhumed’s Gore Metal album meets Carcass’ Tools of the Trade era, with subtle influences taken from the ’80s Thrash movement. Influences that become less and less subtle with every repeated spin of their masterful cover of Megadeth’s “Skull Beneath the Skin.” I can’t describe the shockingly awesome surprise it was to discover the extreme grinding, thrashing heaviness that was hidden within my unsuspecting Ghoul disc. I love Ghoul! Ghoul rocks my fucking world!

The Moribund Cult strikes again, this time with raw, hateful Black Fucking Metal provided by Genocide Kommando. This band could probably be classified as NSBM simply from the pictures of a burning synagogue and a pile of dead bodies (a photo I know was taken at a Nazi death camp), though they claim to support only our Lord and Master SATAN (!!!) and the complete genocide of the human species. Musically, Genocide Kommando sounds a lot like older Darkthrone, probably circa the Under a Funeral Moon or Transylvanian Hunger albums, but with much better production. One thing that is consistent with releases by the Moribund Cult is the fact that the sound is generally superior to other releases in their category - be it Death Metal, Black Metal or Grind. Genocide Kommando surprised me by being less chaotic and more melodic than I expected them to be. I expected something rawer and harder on the ears, though this by no means is a wimpy album. Black Metal Supremacy doesn’t break any new ground, but at the same time what is done on this album is done well. The playing is tight, the music is memorable and it gives me a bad case of whiplash every time I throw it in my CD player. I don’t normally mention cover art in a review but I really like the cover photo for this disc. It’s a picture of riot police shooting rubber bullets into an unseen crowd. Each of the policemen in this photo sports a pentagram insignia on his uniform, something I thought lent a dose of cold, hard, realism to a genre that is usually much more fantasy oriented.