I don’t think that I’ve ever listened to an entire album from this band before, but I have heard a little here and there, and thoroughly enjoyed their “Warmachine” video. (If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about.) Debauchery is an odd mix of Hard Rock and Death Metal, which I’ve heard described as “Death ‘n’ Roll.” Imagine a lot of repetition and the simple song structures of maybe AC/DC, along with a somewhat more Metal production, occasional Death Metal style drumming, and fairly easy to understand sort-of-growly, sometimes double-tracked, vocals courtesy of main-man Thomas “The Bloodbeast” Gurrath. And thank Satan that he’s German, because his accent makes his vocals sound a little better than they would without it. Honestly, Germany’s Next Death Metal is a bit too much Hard Rock and not enough Death Metal for me to completely endorse it, but that formula does make the songs pretty catchy. I think that taking this band too seriously is a mistake like trying to punch yourself in the taint. So, just enjoy this admittedly guilty pleasure, and let’s hope that Debauchery’s next release will be a live concert DVD, with all of their uncensored video clips as a bonus feature.
Favorite song: “School Shooter,” wherein The Bloodbeast seems to snarl, “I’m the psychopath. I’m Mr. Evil. Die motherfucker! I’m the Dallas dick sucker!” That’s so stupid it made me laugh.

The legendary Amon Amarth perfected melodic Death Metal with the band’s previous album, 2008’s sacrosanct masterpiece Twilight of the Thunder God. So what’s left after supremacy? A million years ago, Slayer switched gears after their ferocious magnum opus, Reign in Blood, and so its follow-up, South of Heaven, was a classic of another kind. Amon Amarth, however, have very much stuck to their established songwriting formula with the long-awaited Surtur Rising. And that is the furthest thing imaginable from a complaint. There is no need to change what works this well. It’s hardly surprising to say that this album is absolutely amazing from beginning to end, because that’s exactly what I expect from AA, and they always deliver. But maybe just one cool surprise (other than the iTunes-only bonus System of a Down cover song, “Aerials,” which is unexpectedly good) would have secured these Vikings something that is virtually unheard of: Two perfect albums in a row. This is, however, as close as it is gets, only held back from a ten by less than the thickness of Gleipnir. (Look it up!)
The CD comes with a DVD featuring all four of the live shows from Bochum, Germany, that were used for the bonus CDs that accompanied 2009’s reissues of AA’s first four full-length albums. There is also a deluxe version that comes with the DVD plus a small statue of the fire giant Surtur, as well as two bonus tracks (which I have not yet heard); covers of Accept (“Balls to the Wall”) and Kiss (“War Machine”). Oh, and then there’s the vinyl picture disc… I’m not thrilled that there are so many different versions of this album, but it’s not to be missed, whatever the format.

Motorhead is my all-time favorite band, and I have had the honor of meeting Lemmy himself twice. So it’s somewhat of an understatement to say that I had been greatly looking forward to seeing this documentary about the life and times of Motorhead’s main-man since the instant I learned it was being made. But I never stopped to consider who all would likely be interviewed, or how sparse the narrative would be. There is some of Lemmy’s history detailed here, but very little that any fan didn’t already know, and not much anyway, as we never get an in-depth interview with anyone, and often hardly more than a soundbite. There was no mention of Wendy O. Williams, Girlschool, or Lemmy’s acting career, to name a few glaring omissions. I suppose that it was good to see that Lemmy’s influence has been as far reaching as Billy Bob Thornton and Ice-T (which is perhaps not all that far, really, if you think about it), and of course there is an overdose of Metallica and Dave Grohl footage, as well as interesting snippets from Alice Cooper, Dee Snider, Jason Newsted, WWE wrestler Triple-H, Steve Vai, Lemmy’s son, and a few others. But almost all of the rest of the interviews are a torturous plethora of LA Butt Rock burn-outs. I could not possibly care less what C.C. Deville, Nikki Sixx or Kat Von D have to say about anything, even if they are talking about what a nice guy Lemmy is. And he has, personally and with Motorhead, influenced so many people and bands that I find it ridiculous that the scope of the people interviewed was not extended a bit more past the Rainbow and Sunset Strip. So, by the end, this was something of a mixed bag, with essentially no new ground having been covered and honestly quite a bit of annoying footage. However, close to the finish, the interviewer, backstage after a Motorhead performance, asked Lemmy if he had any regrets. Lemmy very quickly, but not exactly immediately, replied, “None,” but looked so monumentally sad saying it, and while the camera lingered for a second afterward, that I was sort of momentarily stunned. Throughout the movie, Lemmy was shown playing video games and slot machines, and watching Family Guy, as well as giving the documentary crew a tour of his small, cluttered apartment (he’s apparently a hoarder). He seemed to be fully alive only while performing (whether on stage or telling a joke), and this documentary felt like little more than a eulogy for a man not yet dead. I hate to not recommend anything involving my hero, but thanks to the sub-optimal execution, I don’t know if I can in this case.

Somehow I managed to lose track of Rudra, arguably Singapore’s greatest band, after 2003’s Kurukshetra album, and so I have foolishly missed the first two parts of the Brahmavidya trilogy, 2005’s Primordial I and 2009’s Transcendental I. I’m going to track those releases down as quickly as possible. Brahmavidya: Immortal I has a bit more of a Black Metal feel than I recall the band’s early work possessing, especially with the amazing drumming, which brings Behemoth to mind at times. But the base here is melodic Death Metal, as it has always been, with some of the most instantly memorable riffs you’ve ever heard. Just try to get “Vultures of Slavery” out of your mind, for example. You can’t do it! Nor would you want to. Occasionally Kathir uses variations on his raspy vocal style, and every now and then he even sings clean, but it’s always exactly what the song needs at that moment and, amazingly, never fails to impress. And that carries over to every aspect of Immortal I, which was stunning from the first listen and then continued to reveal more and more with each subsequent spin. That’s what elevates an album from “great” to “classic,” and Rudra makes this nearly impossible task seem like simplicity itself.

The only knowledge I had of this Long Island Deathcore unit prior to having to review it was that all the major Metal print media (Decibel, Terrorizer, etc…) REALLY hated it. One publication even gave it a 0/10! I don’t know about you, but if Kevin Stewart-Panko & Co. don’t like something that much I figure it must be good. At the very least it makes me want to check it out. It’s immediately apparent halfway through the second track, “Fire Crotch,” why said douchebags don’t like it. While it is heavy and brutal, it’s essentially party music. And there’s nothing more sinister and tainted than the word “party” to a human being who’s only companion in life is the searing glare of his/her computer screen. I think Slander is a good time, granted I have had sex, and while this band clearly don’t take themselves too seriously, they never become more joke than band. The humor doesn’t destroy the listening process. Musically it’s standard Bury Your Dead-style Metalcore with heavy breakdowns, which I still like and probably always will because I’m not a trendfucker who stops liking something just because everyone else has. I’ll tell you, if this band wanted to shed just a little of their “fucking around” vibe, like the Cock Rock bullshit on “Cocaine Avalanche” or the queer intro riff to “Slampig (…and Then the Bitch)” to name a couple, they would really be fucking dangerous. But for the most part I like what they’re doing. The Earth Crisis-style screams work well with the Whitechapel-style growls, the lyrics are hilarious in an evil way, and the release overall for lack of a better word is fun. I’ll take this over whatever everyone’s favorite Neurosis clone is this month any day of the week.

The catastrophes in Japan seem almost beyond imagining, and it’s difficult to even know what to say in the face of such tragedy.
Hopefully the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster can be brought under control quickly, and the nation can begin to recover and rebuild.
Our thoughts are with the survivors in this difficult time.

Please consider donating whatever you can afford to the relief efforts.
You can easily donate $10 to the American Red Cross by texting REDCROSS to 90999.
Or click here to go the American Red Cross website to donate any amount.

There are some bands, when you receive their newest work, there can be no hesitation. You have to listen to it immediately. There is no putting it off, the rest of the world can just hold its fucking horses for a half hour. Finland’s Rotten Sound are one of those bands, and let’s face it, quite possibly the only Grindcore band going today worthy of putting the rest of the world on hold for. Simply put, Rotten Sound is Nasum fistfucking Entombed’s planet. Cursed (great title, by the way) continues and perfects the slight stylistic change the band underwent with 2006’s Consume to Contaminate EP, that is the addition of breakneck groove and piledriver breakdowns amidst the sea of machine-gun speed and pummeling heaviness. Not that they need it, but Cursed boasts a somewhat all-star selection of guest performances, topped by vocal contributions from none other than LG Petrov and Misery Index’s Jason Netherton (ex-Dying Fetus). This album is nearly perfect. The brutality can be enjoyed from beginning to end as if it were one 27-minute long, fucking awesome song. And honestly from these guys, I expect nothing less. I just hope no one at Relapse gets canned for signing a band that isn’t a 10th rate Photoshopped version of Sleep.

I hate to admit to liking anything on Southern Lord, but Earth isn’t too bad. This slow-motion… I guess I’ll say “Rock,” because I really don’t know what else to call it… is so mellow and sparse that it’s almost Ambient. Thankfully it is also all instrumental. I’ve never heard this band before, but I understand that they used to have a singer, and I’m a little morbidly curious about what vocal styles were tried with this music. But it’s probably better that I don’t know. A few minutes into the first song, I thought that Angels of Darkness… might quickly become boring, but despite the droning pace and repetition, or perhaps because of it, the music sort of melts into the background and provides an interesting soundtrack. It’s not anything I would want to listen to all the time, and when I’m looking for background music, I generally want something more ominous and dark, but if the right mood ever does strike, I think that Earth might be the only option.

I don’t remember why anymore, but for some reason, I was really looking forward to checking out V01D, even though I’d never heard of The Amenta before. Maybe I had hoped that these Aussies would sound like The Project Hate MCMXCIX. As usual, no such luck. The title track is apparently the only new song on this nearly 59-minute “EP,” and is a good example of melodic Death Metal, and quite enjoyable for its duration. Hopefully this is indicative of the future direction of the band, because almost all of the other songs (taken from the previous albums) sound like a blast-beat drum machine programming seminar (even though The Amenta’s drummer is human, but the drums are processed as fuck) in the conference room right next to the “annoying riffs” symposium. Except for the Ambient parts. And the “remixes.” And, thankfully, the cover of Armoured Angel’s “Enigmatize,” which is, along with the song “V01D,” really the only reason to ever listen to this. Seriously, the other tracks don’t even sound like the same band. It’s absolutely weird. And frustrating, because The Amenta has a tendency to be really impressive for a few seconds at a time, before trying something goofy like overdriving the otherwise excellent vocals, or the aforementioned stupid-riff/drumming-masturbation-frenzy combo. I do, however, possess fast-forward and next-track technology, so it’s easy enough to convert V01D from a disappointing, confusing hour, to an amazing 13 minutes. Sometimes less really is more.