God damn their chick guitarist is hot! I don’t get Stoner Doom. I just don’t understand it one bit. Especially the Sabbath-worship variety in a post-Osbournes society. I’m sick of the critics saying how heavy the guitars are. Fuck that! Funeral’s From These Wounds has a heavy guitar sound. This is just downtuned. And the vocal style is executed and produced like a guy singing in the shower, possibly some Obsessed songs, I can’t tell. I’ve smoked weed for 14 years, I’ve never been high enough to where this would sound cool. God damn their guitarist is hot!

Not sure if this is a reissue to be honest [it wasn’t -Editor], but it was in a big stack of them, all from Arctic, so it’s a possibility. For those that don’t know, this is a side project from none other than Malevolent Creation frontman, Bret Hoffman. Well, don’t expect the speed and brutality of Malevolent Creation, but it is at least heavy. Musically, an amalgam of Death, Thrash, Hardcore, and for lack of a better description, Nu-Metal. But fear not, there’s nothing here that will make you lose your lunch. In fact, its good to hear Hoffman’s raspy bark atop a different style. One cannot deny the headbangability of these mammoth grooves.

Okay, so I was halfheartedly interested to hear what the departed Fear Factory guitarist and spokesman for the morbidly obese, Dino Cazares, was up to these days. Sue me. What he’s up to is musically tight, at least. Aggressive Thrash with the super polished modern sound his former band helped to usher in. Tim Yeung (Hate Eternal, Vital Remains), it should be noted, brings the fucking blast on this album like you wouldn’t believe. It’s the vocals that ruin any chance of complete enjoyment here. The screams sound a lot like Phil Anselmo, who we should all know by now is the biggest piece of poser shit alive, and I liked this clean vocal style better when Howard Jones did it fifteen radio-ready clones ago. These guys pose for the camera tough, but their offering of Extreme Metal is actually very safe and quite harmless.

This was rightfully praised as a Death Metal masterpiece upon its initial release back in 1993 (and originally reviewed way back in Metal Curse #8), and is no less so now. The legendary James Murphy (Death, Obituary, Cancer, Testament…) perfectly blended his mind-melting guitar leads with the brutal, complex riffs, drumming, and thoroughly raw, yet understandable vox, to produce songs that may never be matched in terms of intensity and how they get into the listener’s head and stay there. Dreams of the Carrion Kind is an all-time classic that has truly stood the test of time and remains as vital now as the day it was first released. This reissue, as with the previous US reissue, has the three songs from the band’s 1992 Soul Erosion demo as bonus tracks.

For those of you unaware, as I was at first, this is Legion’s new band. The former (and sorely missed) Marduk vocalist has gone down a new path of creativity. Don’t expect the lightning fast Black Metal assault of Marduk, as Devian (which also features ex-Marduk drummer Emil Dragutinovic) are a much more Old School affair. Blending Thrash and melodic Death in a very impressive and anthemic manner, accompanied by Legion’s trademark blasphemous snarl, Devian don’t exactly break new ground, but hold their own as well as anyone to ever attempt this style. And that goes for the elder gods as well. Speaking of which, the echoes of Slayer, Possessed, and Venom are found throughout Ninewinged Serpent, but this is no half-ass, retro-throwback cash-in. It’s as modern as it is vintage. Think along the lines of Dissection’s swansong LP or even a much-improved take on the Immortal spin-off, I. Attempts to pigeonhole this album are futile and irrelevant. If you can’t take a catchy Death/Thrash approach featuring one of the most timeless Black Metal voices of the last decade for what it is, you’re hopeless anyway. Bleak lyrics and no-bullshit riffs make for a release that’s about a thousand times more memorable than anything Marduk’s done lately.

A nearly flawless fusion of bludgeoning Death Metal and breakdown-fueled Metalcore. This Canadian sextet are the real deal, musically and lyrically, and have come so far from Consumed by Your Poison it’s ridiculous. Grinding, grooving, slamming, pounding, yet somehow poignant, with a two-vocalist attack (screamer/guttural growler) that is instantly recognizable. A fierce display of musical passion capable of being embraced by enthusiasts of any style of Extreme Metal. It would be hard to find anyone with good musical taste who would have enough restraint to not bob their heads during a summer drive with this in the stereo. If you liked The Healing Process, you’ll enjoy this equally if not more.

Boasted as “Horror/Metal featuring members of Six Feet Under, Massacre, Death, Mantas, Nasty Savage, Lowbrow, Down by Law, and Pseudo Heroes.” That’s a pretty wide spectrum of staff. I have no idea which members those are or what they do in this band, but it is true that the style is Death/Thrash with a Horror Punk vibe, complete with gang vocals. This may very well start a good pit or two, but I doubt any jaws are going to seriously drop. There are good riffs, but not great ones, and an overdone lyrical concept that goes stale by mid-album. Pretty middle-of-the-road as far as supergroups go.

A testament to the trivial, yet all too real fact that all the really good band names are already taken. This Finnish 5-piece attack with a heavy, mid-pace Death Metal assault not unlike Cianide and Avulsion. There are also touches of Thrash and Deathcore throughout these three tracks. Although not as memorable as Death Metal of this variety needs to be, I did enjoy this small sample of what could be better things to come. My only advice would be to use more of the guttural vocals and less of the weak screaming.

Self-described as “Technological Death Metal hate,” Italy’s DXT do successfully accomplish sounding Old School and modern simultaneously. “Liquefied Emotions” has an old Deicide vibe to it, while standout cut “Trip in Your World” starts out with a Death tease before morphing into an array of swirling start-stop hooks. Elements of old Fear Factory and Spheres-era Pestilence rear their heads throughout also. All in all a solid Death Metal album, save for the occasional tendency to drag on and a few passages of Italian fagspeak.

Decent Death/Doom offering from the UK. Certainly nowhere near the brink of desolation treaded by the country’s all-time gloomy greats. (Do I really have to name them? Either you know or you don’t care.) Still, a good misery revel nonetheless. I like the vocals, I like the pace, but, there’s really no other way to put it, it needs to be sadder.

Holy shit! They’re back! Dark Tranquillity is back! They’re Metal again! They’re Metal again! Satan is in his Hell and Dark Tranquillity is Metal again! No longer do they walk the Samael / Tiamat path of gayness. No more getting blown out of the water by bands who have cloned the style they helped create. Not only are they Metal again, this is as vicious and vital as they have ever sounded. I’m not fucking around. Every song is flawless beginning to end. Mikael Stanne’s tormented rasp is back and better than ever. In fact, only “Empty Me” features his clean sung style, and admittedly this is one of my favorites amidst a sea of soon-to-be-classics. I just can’t believe it. Over a decade later, we finally get the album that should have followed Enter Suicidal Angels, and every song is written to perfection. I’m in shock. I just want to scream it from the highest mountain top, Dark Tranquillity is back!

It is not very often anymore that a 3-song demo blows me the fuck away outright, but this Swedish quintet have done just that with Swarm of Death, their second demo since forming in 2006. Their style flawlessly embodies the work of their country’s Death Metal forefathers. A mid-paced, crushing display of heaviness and groove highly comparable to more recent Grave, but actually much better. Flawless riff follows flawless riff, as the spirit of Nihilist and Carnage is reborn and captured perfectly in a clear, modern production. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In just under thirteen minutes, these 20-something lads have taken me through a whirlwind of nostalgia. Seance, Entombed, Hypocrisy, Dismember, Necrophobic, Unleashed, you name it, the influence shines through these three instant anthems. Comparisons aside, make no mistake, Daemonicus is no tribute band. They are not simply paying homage, but in league with these greats, and I am in awe of them. If only I had a record label. Outstanding. Not one flaw.

After sitting through the gayfest of the Strange and Beautiful reissue, I was not looking forward to reviewing this 2-disc set at all. However, it starts with a pretty good instrumental. Of course, it’s the vocals that I didn’t like before… Then I realize that this album (the band’s fourth) came out eight years later, in 1999, and this is a different singer. This new guy is still very much in the Hard Rock vein, but he’s superior to the old guy. Perhaps not oddly, the music seems better, too. Heavier, even. Well, that’s not saying much, since anything would have been heavier than Strange… But this is a dramatic improvement in all areas, and I’ve never gotten to say that about very many bands. Favorite song title: “Lucifer’s Hammer.”
To make up for there not being any bonus tracks on the previous album’s reissue, this one comes with an whole extra CD of live and demo tracks.

Of all of the Metal Mind reissues, Crimson Glory was the one band I somehow wasn’t familiar with. Now I know why. This 1991 album was the band’s third, and is not something I’d have really liked much back then. Or now, honestly. There can be no question about the ability of these guys, but this kind of Prog Hard Rock / Heavy Metal hurts my ears, mostly due to the wailing vocals. This is so lame that I’m surprised that Crimson Glory never made it big in the early ’90s. Thankfully, mercifully, this is one of the Roadrunner / Metal Mind reissues without any bonus tracks.

When enough people like something, it becomes cool to say “it’s dead.” You see this in every fucking Metal magazine you pick up. “Metalcore’s dead, metalcore’s dead!” Even the Metalcore bands are saying it. “Metalcore’s over, we should all go listen to god awful shit like Mastodon, Genghis Tron, Baroness and Gojira now!” Then you read the mag and find raving, glorious reviews of nearly every Metalcore album, not to mention 173 Metalcore ads. These cocksuckers were saying Death Metal was dead during the Columbia era. Never afraid to stray from the herd, I still like Metalcore, like everything else, when it’s done well. Which leads me to this review. Caliban’s new album is awesome. They could give less than a fuck about these trendfucking haters, they have essentially not changed a thing since 2003’s Shadow Hearts. Hey, if it ain’t broke… ? Brutal breakdowns, heartfelt choruses, At the Gates-worship, it works when you’re good. Caliban still stand aside Heaven Shall Burn as Germany’s Metalcore kings. Tell me it’s dead after listening to: “I Will Never Let You Down,” “My Time Has Come,” “I Believe,” and “I’ll Show No Fear.”

45 minutes of well-played but tiresomely unmemorable Death/Thrash. I seem to remember liking their last one a lot better. There was at least a cool Pestilence cover. This album is just a boring blur of speed, shredding, and snarling. Nothing stands out except my desire to listen to something else.

About all these guys have going for them is a cool name. Stupid-on-purpose Joke Thrash that isn’t funny in any way. 21 songs, most of them about a “green skull?” That’s probably a hilarious inside joke at the elementary school these guys attend, but nobody who’s ever been laid is going to get it, or want to.

Well, I’ve been lied to my whole life. Apparently, you can judge a book by its cover. When you receive a homemade CDR with a 36¢ layout by a band called Bad Blood from the Midwest stating their group influences as Slayer, Van Halen, The Sex Pistols, Mushroomhead, Coal Chamber, Disturbed, Dope, Pantera, Metallica, Drowning Pool, Ramones, Iced Earth, Iron Maiden and Kiss, guess what? It’s going to fucking suck! And, oh my, does it ever.

Mid-paced, sloppily performed Thrash. I knew when I saw this ridiculously drawn, hideous cover “artwork” (not to mention their band/demo naming genius), that I was in for a real missing-a-few-chromosomes musical endeavor. Horrible.

This definitely is not Metal, which isn’t a huge deal for me, but it’s so unconventional it borders on questionable if it even qualifies as anything at all. The first couple “songs” are pure Electro-Dance Bubblegum Pop with church choir vocals and Classical instruments. The rest of the “album” is basically violin practice with moody backing synths. I’m sure there are people out there that think the unorthodox coupling of violins and keyboards with Techno and sparse background noise is a viable form of music. Then again, there are also people out there who think that the PT Cruiser is one bad ass looking automobile.