More or less just as fast and intense as the band’s debut, Socialized Hate, although maybe somewhat more American sounding, this 1990 follow-up album’s only real flaw is a slightly more polished production, which some may even prefer. There are very rare vocal missteps, which I’ll chalk up to the zeitgeist back then, which was one of “growing” and “evolving” with every release.
The bonus features here are the remaining three songs from the ‘87 Chemical Dependency demo (the first three being on the Socialized Hate reissue) and another low quality “bootleg” video clip.

Originally released in 1988, this Thrash masterpiece (I’ll likely be using that term often for these Metal Mind reissues, so get used to it) holds up well today, especially musically. Often when people think of Thrash -US Thrash, at least- they think of the now-ancient Bay Area bands, but many of the Thrash bands back then didn’t fit that mold at all. Atrophy is closer to German bands like Kreator in both the generally fast tempo and raspy vocals. Listening to this, it’s easy to see how only a bit more extremity could cross the chasm into early Death Metal.
Bonus features here are the first three tracks from the band’s six-song 1987 Chemical Dependency demo (the other three are bonus trax on the Violent by Nature reissue) and a poor quality “bootleg” video for “Socalized Hate.”

Saw this band live recently. They weren’t bad for a group with a singer that uses a tambourine. At the very least their set stopped all the fucking 11-year old kids from somersaulting and doing Tae-Bo. The band on CD, not so much. The energy just isn’t captured on disc as well. Too much of the Southwestern-Ranch Rock shit gets in the way of some otherwise decent Metalcore/Thrash hybrid. And what’s with the T-Pain vocal effects? I was enjoying the clean vocals, then all of a sudden I thought I was gonna get served. At All Cost are unique, but take an open mind to digest, and a rare mood to crave.

Artep is an incredibly beautiful woman, described as “the driving force” of this band and a musician since the age of 6. She does the guitar, bass, and synth, while Lord Goatesque handles drumming and vocal duties. As much as I want to kiss what I’m sure is her perfect ass, I can’t. This is merely mediocre, boring Black Metal. Not bad, but nothing I haven’t heard a thousand times today. Artep, if you’re reading this, I would love to make up for this negative review by maybe taking you out to dinner or a movie sometime. I’ll buy.

I’ve never seen a Metalcore band come off as so proud to be a “joke band,” as this West Coast sextet self-proclaim. Aside from the goofy band name and song titles, and perhaps the high-pitched half of the scream/growl vocal combo, there’s not much to joke about on The Game of Life. I personally prefer the band at their breakdown-ready best, but even the keyboard frenzy, schizophrenic style switches, and rabid time changes can’t stop me from enjoying the majority of this disc. Best cuts to burn for the mix: “Shoeshine for Neptune,” “Tourtasia,” “Claiming Middle Age a Decade Early,” and “Taiwanese Troft Trouble.”

It’s time to face facts. These guys are never going to return to form. Somewhere down the line they just decided that Metal was stupid, and that they were much better suited for this ‘70’s Rock/Prog Boystown fuck parade, and I just have to deal with it. Their last one gave me a glimmer of hope. It was a touch heavier with an occasional growl, but at its core, still softer than a wet baby’s ass. And the same can be said of Silent Waters. So at this pace of musical rejuvenation, we can expect the next album to pack about as much punch as Breaking Benjamin.

I remember their first record being okay. I never really got into them full throttle on account of them being Christians, but I recall not being able to deny some of their riffs and breakdowns. The same can be said in 2007 with Get Damned, although their Thrash these days features much less Metalcore bravado. There’s almost a Punk-Metal vibe to the album. Now don’t go calling it Crust just yet. Unfortunately most of what this band does feels more like early Haunted and The Black Dahlia Murder. The every-song-sounds-the-same, check-out-my-one-fast-drumbeat approach. (Sure the same can be said of Crust, but it’s just cooler somehow.) They are still masters of the start-stop, but a band sadly going the other way. It really doesn’t matter. In the end, they’re just lion food.

I will say this about mega-hottie vocalist Alissa White-Gluz, she successfully pulls off what few female vocalists in Metal can. That being a convincing but smooth transition between alternating clean and harsh styles. Most gals only excel at one or the other. Still not my cup of tea, though. The clean bits just murder it for me. It takes a special female voice to reach me, that which is discovered few and far between. And on behalf of George Carlin I must insist that Alissa “pick a fucking last name, would ya please?”

Afgrund play pulverizing Grind in the vein of Nasum, Rotten Sound, and Gadget. A crushing display of speed and skill that equals, if not bests, their peers’ precision, passion, and professionalism. Relevant Few also shred with the same ideas in mind, although their Grindcore attack is much Thrashier. As intense as they are, they honestly can’t hold a candle to their splitmates this time around. Hail Afgrund!

A lot of Metalheads and Punks want to throwdown at the mere mention of Emo. I say life’s too short to pose. If it’s quality, I can appreciate it regardless of genre, and if it helps you sleep at night we can call this Indie Rock. The Ability aren’t great, but they’re good. A very mellow approach with big hooks and typical Emo lyrics. Somewhere between Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab For Cutie with more balls, and Taking Back Sunday and Northstar with less pep, you’ll find The Ability’s Pop sensibilities. When it works, it works well, when it doesn’t work it’s just boring, but it’s never terrible. Favorites: “Home and Coffin,” “Elusive,” “So This is Distance,” “Jubilee,” and “Driving on Water.”

Not blown away at all by their debut, I wasn’t expecting much from this one. Well, maybe that’s the ticket, because you can officially now consider me blown the fuck away. This is a relentless non-stop assault of Gore-drenched, gut-wrenching, gurgle-spewing, Grind-happy, grime-eating, go fucking apeshit savagery. Not too many records can spellbind on pure brutality alone, but this is one of them. This fucking flattens! I think I need to go back and listen to their first one again.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, Krisiun aren’t just about blazing speed anymore. Starting with 2003’s Works of Carnage, the emphasis has been much more on songwriting and dynamics, with AssassiNation being a continuation of that approach. While certain aspects of the album are a throwback to the unbridled fury of the Black Force Domain days, it’s for the most part in the same vein as Works of Carnage and 2004’s Bloodshed. The stop-on-a-pinhead precision is quickly becoming Krisiun’s new trademark, and it’s overflowing in every nook and cranny of AssassiNation, ensuring that standout cuts like “Bloodcraft,” “Vicious Wrath,” “Refusal,” “House of God,” and “United in Deception” are not only dizzyingly brutal, but also instantly memorable. Cheers to Krisiun. Brazil’s finest Metal band ever.

What much can be said of a reissue with no bonus content? Surely we already all have this one in our personal archives, don’t we? Well, maybe this will serve as a history lesson for the new blood. While this was never my favorite Immolation LP (I always thought Here in After blew this away), listening to it 15 years later makes me appreciate it all the more. These guys were brutalizing their strings and experimenting with odd timing when all these new Mathcore bands were sucking on Mommy’s tit. Hail Satan.

Another solid offering from the true kings of German Metalcore. It picks up right where 2004’s Antigone left off, and it just might be their most brutal and energetic recording to date. Granted, I’ll probably always be partial to 2002’s Whatever It May Take, or the classic Asunder (my official Heaven Shall Burn cherry pop), but it must be noted that Heaven Shall Burn is not a band that changes much from album to album, they just get tighter and tighter. This is definitely their most focused material, lyrically and musically. Not to mention their best production ever. Truth be told, you’re really doing yourself a disservice if you don’t own everything that bears their name. It doesn’t matter where you start.

I’ve never liked The Haunted. Just never have. But it was because they were boring. Fast and aggressive, yes, but overwhelmingly boring. It wasn’t because they did gay pussy shit, because they never did gay pussy shit. Until now that is. With The Dead Eye, they have officially begun doing gay pussy shit… Oh, and they’re still boring, too.

This concert starts with “Deformed” and ends with “Into the Grave.” Do I need to even continue?!? Okay, if you want more… I saw Grave on their very first ever US tour, way back in 1991, at a place in Chicago called Medusa’s, which I think is apartments or something now. I had already proclaimed the band’s debut, Into the Grave, as probably the best Death Metal album ever, and hearing the guys play it live only further solidified that Sweden was the place for Death. Well, Chicago was that night! This live performance isn’t as massively mind-crushingly heavy as they were back in ‘91, but it is a pretty radical improvement over 1997’s disappointing live effort, Extremely Rotten Live. Sure, there are several songs that I wish had been included (where is “Hating Life”?!?), but the only way I’d be 100% satisfied with a live Grave show is if the guys played literally every single song from their flawless masterpiece Into the Grave, plus all of You’ll Never See…, Soulless, and “I Need You” (from 1993’s …and Here I Die… Satisfied EP), in addition to the newer stuff. Grave is just that awesome. I do kind of wish that Ola wouldn’t introduce “Bullets Are Mine” by saying that it’s the “one and only ‘Gangster Metal’ song ever written,” though.
I should mention that the video (16x9 anamorphic, of course) is up to the very high quality by Metal Mind releases. And the audio (5.1 Dolby Digital surround) is truly stunning. The band’s sound is clear and crisp, although maybe not quite as thick as I might have optimally liked. Still this is in line with how they actually sound now, and I’m just being nostalgic.
The bonus features include a couple extra live clips, filmed in Germany, and the video for “Soulless,” which I’d never seen before, making it one of the coolest extras of all time. Plus an interview, bio, photos… you know, the standard assortment of good stuff. Get this and continue hating life!

I, for one, was disappointed after the solid Epic (The Poetry of War), the band’s best full length up to that point (coming eight long years after their debut EP in 1993), at the sterile attempt that was 2004’s Serenity in Fire. I had all but written them off as a lost cause, that is until now. Twelve years is a long time to wait for a band’s magnum opus, but better late than never. In the Arms of Devastation is a flawless album and easily the best thing Canada’s Kataklysm have ever put out. Produced by the band’s guitarist Jean Dagenais and mixed by guru Tue Madsen, the record’s sound is magnificent. What the “Kings of Northern Hyperblast” have lost in speed and insanity over the years, they have made up for with big riffs, catchy choruses, and memorable song structuring. There is not one filler moment that sneaks anywhere into these nine colossal cuts, and the melodies are rich. While the heaviness sweeps, swirls and slowly grinds, Maurizio Iacono’s bestial but intelligible roars collide with his demented witch-cackling screams in a schizophrenic battle. He even trades off with Kittie’s Morgan Lander on “It Turns to Rust,” one of the album’s standout tracks. Then again, this LP is nothing but back-to-back standout tracks. This is simply everything a Death Metal album should be. It’s about god damn time they got it completely right!

More like an invasion from the tight-rolled, acid-washed jean dimension. My how far Crossover has come in the last couple decades. Not the usual Death/Gore/Grind fare we’ve come to expect from Razorback, this is total Cryptic Slaughter, Suicidal Tendencies, D.R.I. and S.O.D. worship. Don’t get me wrong, I love those bands, but this is 2006. Why would I reach for the 20-year late carbon copy when I can spin the actual vintage? Nowadays mixing Hardcore and Metal calls for an increase in heaviness and precision, two things Funerot abandon completely. They will bust out a Slayer riff now and then, but sometimes this even lapses into the sloppy, unfocused Punk vibes of shit bands like Black Flag and Murphy’s Law. The vocals probably hold this back more than anything. They are pure shit, no talent whatsoever. These guys are all probably cool, harmlessly paying a little homage, and I’ve got respect for the throwback types, but I don’t see their affectedly juvenile effort uprooting Heaven Shall Burn or Bleeding Through from my stereo anytime soon.

I hate to say anything negative about a Grecian Metal band, but Firewind reminds me of nothing more than a Dehumanizer-era Black Sabbath cover band, with the singer doing his best Dio impression most of the time. That’s not really terrible, I suppose. These guys are very skilled, and the recording probably couldn’t sound better. So, as well-crafted as this is, with the great drumming typical of Power Metal, there are no “holy shit, I’ve got to rewind that!” riffs, choruses, solos, or anything else. The song “Deliverance” comes close, but is damaged by the last few minutes of Arena Rock “ooooooh”s and so on. All this leaves the talented Firewind stuck firmly in the very crowded good-but-not-great category.

A lot of the bigger magazines, your Terrorizer s, Revolver s, and Metal Maniacs, all seem to really get behind this Southern California quintet, which is why I was certain this album was going to suck. I just automatically lumped them in with other criminally overrated bands that always receive high praise, like Mastodon, High on Fire, Neurosis, Isis, etc. Plus, this band features ex-members of the very forgettable Mindrot, so I was sure I wasn’t missing anything. Well, I was a little wrong. This album is far from flawless, but these guys are capable of delivering a goosebump here and there, and definitely leagues above the aforementioned boring slop. They do sound a lot like Neurosis, I can’t deny that, but the difference is that the vocals are much better, and the raw emotion and gloom is not buried under a megaton of dead ambiance. I am also reminded of Swedish gods Burst (talk about a surpassing Neurosis influence). So, while Prisons contains its fair share of filler (including “It All Dies Today,” the worst possible choice for the record’s first single), there are certainly diamonds in the rough, and I’m glad I actually gave Eyes of Fire a chance. Suggested mix selections: “Blood,” “Gone Forever,” and “Dead to the World.”