Experiment Fear - Assuming the Godform
The intro sorts of sets the stage for a style more like that of King Diamond, so I was surprised to hear such an intense Death Metal assault following it. The excellent production comes courtesy of Wave Digital, which has been made famous by being the pet studio of Broken Hope. In fact, Broken Hope’s Joe Ptacek even lends his lungs to a pair of songs on this, but I like Phil’s vocals better. In fact, although they aren’t as heavy to be sure, I like pretty much everything about Experiment Fear a little better.
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Exit-13 - ...Just a Few More Hits
Well, I know that E13 front-man (and owner of Relapse), Bill Yurkiewicz, thinks Black Metal is stupid, but making fun of Venom’s Black Metal LP cover is bound to be a bad move. I’ll bet a lot of people won’t think that it’s very funny. I sure don’t. But on to the music. There’s an edited version of one of the songs from Ethos Musick, and the others were apparently recorded during those sessions. So am I to take that to mean that this was the stuff they thought wasn’t good enough for the album, or didn’t they have enough room for it? The production is pretty lacking, which was certainly not the case of Ethos…, so that’s strange. They do a 48 second Dead Kennedys cover, sample some porno stuff, and ramload two Doors songs together. At least all this is mastered at the correct level, although the 22 minute last track couldn’t have been any more inane at 3 times as loud. Maybe they could try smoking more dope next time. Upped a little for at least trying to cover DK.
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Evilution - Evilution
Well, these guys are certainly not doing anything new, but their crushing riffs, excellent playing, and powerful production make up for it. Even the vocals are as they should be: raw, but sort of understandable. But of course all bands where the bassist also sings are cool. The beginning of “Realm of Terror,” is awesomely heavy, and extremely memorable. If the entire demo were as monstrous as that section, or that song in general, I’d have to give it a 10. In fact, upon repeated listens, I find that the two songs which follow “Realm…” are nearly at its level. Evilution seem to have put their weakest song first, which is a fatal mistake. Not that “Night of Magic” is bad, just bland compared to the other three (expect for the guitar solo, which is an ass-kicker, but all the solos on this are). These guys have some damn serious potential. I’m anxious to see what they do next. I’d bet someone signs them.
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Ethereal - Om Santhi
Clocking in at just over 26 minutes, I was tempted to call this an EP, but any guys who cover Slaughter’s “Nocturnal Hell” can make a 26 minute LP if they want to. I must say that the songwriting on this album is very strong, and their drummer is very fast and exact. I’m a sucker for Thrashy Death with keyboards, and these guys really excel at it.
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Eterne - Still Dreaming
Sometimes resembling an electric guitar driven version of Dead Can Dance, these guys keep it pretty scary sounding. Sometimes slow, Doom-like; and others more up-tempo, but always with that ominous shadow behind everything. The drum machine is used really well, and the clean vocals somehow make the music all the more eerie, as they are sorta evil-sounding.
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Eternal Solstice - Horrible Within
This seems to be a really good combination of heaviness, speed, memorable riffs, great playing, and superb sound. Hey, I even like the vocals. Eternal Solstice have a winner here, that’s for sure. They experiment a little bit, but generally just go for the kill, combining fast parts with Doom riffs to really create their own style.
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Eternal Dirge - Khaos Magick
Damn! This is a hard one to review. Try to imagine a combination of Amorphis and Carcass if you can. There are atmospheric keyboards always present and a combination of melodic mid-paced riffage and diabolic amphetamine picking. And the patented Walker/Steer = raspy scream/big bad pitch shifted growl vocal combo. Some songs are more memorable than others. But any band who ends their CD with a track called “My Sweet Satan” couldn’t be too horrible, could they? A very different type of Death. Try it out.
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Erotic Funeral - Born Into Death
The music reminds me of The Misfits with some Black Sabbath thrown in. And while their singer is no “Evil Elvis,” I like his voice better than Mr. Osbourne’s. And speaking of the vocals: most of the time they’re sung clean, but every once in a while they turn into a sort of raspy Death Metalish growl, or even higher pitched Black Metal-like screeches. Erotic Funeral have certainly created an individual sound, and they’re worthy of your respect and support.
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Entrafis - To the Underneath
This demo only has two songs, but when they’re this good, two is all you need. Heavier than their Into Out demo, but still as complex, and with even better sound. The vocals are not as heavy, though, which I miss, but they are still sort of raw. The band seems to have realized that their previous songs could be more memorable, and they took care of that deficiency. An excellent release.
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