God damn, do these guys want to be Vader! Amazingly, aside from lacking their unparalleled rhythmic dynamics, they pull it off. It’s quite an accomplishment when you consider how unique and original the techniques of the long-running Polish masters really are. Even Kevin Bedra’s vocals are a dead ringer for a young Peter Wiwczarek. That alone is really saying something! This drummer is no joke, either. He might be able to fill in for the real Vader. You might hear some critics calling this unoriginal for the overtly obvious stylistic inspiration, but Funeral Age has impressed the fuck out of me. Next time your band gets together for practice, you try sounding like Vader. Let me know how that goes. It’s even more impressive when you consider these guys are from the US. A record deal is not far from these guys, in fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were signed already.

This is the second release by “The True” Frost and musically, not a lot has changed since their last outing. The only real difference is that the sound has become rawer and dirtier. Invoking the Aeon of Satan, their first release, had a much clearer (though still a bit on the raw side) sound than this. Open the Portals to Darkness has a lot of similarities to Transylvanian Hunger in that it is very raw and aggressive, yet the sound levels for the various instruments were still balanced so that no one instrument drowns out everything. This is “grim” Black Metal in its better variation. A lot of bands forget to add some bass to their guitar sound, making the guitar thin and annoyingly high-pitched. Frost has pretty much followed the formula from their first release and kept the guitars thick and also kept them up in front. The only gripe I have with this CD is the fact that the drum tones need work. The songs are fairly straightforward Darkthrone/Burzum/Von inspired blasts of Black Metal that sticks to the mid-paced realms of speed. There are no guitar solos, no technical stuff and no frills. Frost isn’t going to win medals for originality, but I will give them credit for writing an album that has aggression, feeling and fairly memorable songs. I liked the production on their first album better, but at the same time, Open the Portals to Darkness doesn’t disappoint either.

While Frightmare is certainly capable of delivering the sickness, their brand of Horror flick-inspired Death/Grind does little to set themselves apart from the growing crop. When you’re dealing with the Razorback camp, the footsteps of standouts like Lord Gore, Ghoul, and Machetazo just to name a few, are not easy to follow in. It’s not as if they do anything poorly, and I’m not saying they don’t have a timeless classic up their sleeve, this just isn’t it. Brutal and drenched in gore, but the most memorable moments of Midnight Murder Mania are unfortunately the samples.

God damn there are a lot of stupid bastards in media journalism. I have not seen any positive press for this album written anywhere, and it makes me sick. What the hell is wrong with this album? A couple filler tracks, fine, but a dismal failure? Not by a fuckin’ long shot. This band essentially is Earth Crisis as far as I’m concerned, and a bit in the vein of Slither (which I also liked, by the way). Albeit with the groove toned down a little and melodic singing introduced. The playing is tight, Karl’s barking is razor sharp, and who could forget the choruses to the title track and “Throwing Rocks at a Drowning Man?” And lyrically, we filthy meateaters and smokers are finally spared in favor of much deeper content. Things every person feels. I find little to complain about here. (And while I’m at it, Freddy vs. Jason was an awesome movie, and In Torment in Hell features some of the best Deicide songs of all time. Stupid fucking critics!)

This NSBM band hails from Russia, a place that is starting to look like Poland when it comes to the number of NS bands emerging from there. Obviously, from the music, Forest is heavily influenced by Burzum (at least, early Burzum). Their sound isn’t a blatant copy of Varg’s early material, though. Forest roughly sounds like the crossing of Burzum, Darkthrone/Isengard and Akrabu, the Dark Ambient side-project of Vampyr Scorpius of Crimson Moon. The main influence, however, remains Burzum. Yes, Forest is fond of creating long, minimalistic (to an extent, anyway) songs filled with droning riffs and tortured vocals. The last song, “Winter Howl,” is perhaps the longest track and is more reminiscent of Akrabu in that it is mostly acoustic guitar and vocals. The production on Forest is also reminiscent of Burzum. It is raw, yet at the same time, the levels of the instruments in the mix are such that you can hear things fairly well. The drums provide a solid base and everything else sort of goes on top of them. Forest is a raw, hateful album that never degenerates into being under-produced or even stereotypical. This band sounds like they were influenced by Burzum, but they never actually clone the Burzum sound. I really like that about them, and it really makes this album more interesting.

Nonstop Death/Grind devastation from beginning to end! And a re-recording of “Holy Pedophile” to finish off the onslaught! What more could you ask for?

Apparently you can’t judge a CD by its cover, either. From looking at this one, I thought that Flamethrower would be some kind of terrible Stoner Rock, or something, but that’s not the case at all. Actually this band is a weird Punk/unknown hybrid, I guess. The second song on this disc, “Coked Up,” even, umm, “borrows” a bit from the Suicidal Tendencies classic “Suicide’s an Alternative.” Not all the tracks are quite that cool, but the guys do invoke the name of Lemmy in the track “I Want It All,” so, that’s something.

Another completely uninteresting homemade CDR of boring beyond belief Death/Thrash. Jesus, was this recorded on one track? The drum programming is a joke, the guitars are barely audible, I don’t hear any bass. The music is jumbled, chopped, and totally void of direction. Every song has a different mix with varying levels and a different vocal style. Hey, Fiend, I don’t mean to be a dick, I know what your aspirations are, but do you really think that a living soul is going to give a shit about your sub par underdeveloped free-time noodlings? You’re not ready yet! So don’t put anything out until you are. I got shit to do.

In a sickeningly desperate effort to appeal to everyone, and thus “convert” and “save” everyone, this pack of blind followers incorporates all the musical styles they can think of from Hardcore to various kinds of Metal to Emo to whatever Meshuggah is supposed to be. I should have asked Jack to review this so that you could be reading the lyrics to a Deicide song or something right now!

This brutal, Cannibal Corpse style Death Metal from Germany is impressive, and this self-released album is completely professional from the recording to the packaging. There are flashes of perfection here, and I certainly recommend this disc, and plan on keeping an eye on these guys.

The Exploited live is intensity defined, and this DVD does an amazing job of capturing that. In a way, it seems almost strange that this seminal Punk band would even agree to this DVD release, with its fancy 5.1 Dolby sound and wide-screen video, and so on. I don’t know how “Punk” that is, but I’m not about to argue with Wattie and company! Filmed in 2003, the live show, not surprisingly, is just devastating from the beginning, starting with “Fuck the System,” on through “The Massacre” and “Troops of Tomorrow,” all the way to the last seconds of set-closer “Sex and Violence.” It’s about 75 minutes of severity all told, and most of the classics are here, although, as with all live albums, I suppose that more would have been better. Speaking of “more,” this disc also has the standard bonus features, such as discography, biography, photo gallery, and a very interesting interview wherein Wattie trashes pretty much everything under the sun.

This is the standard Goth Metal formula with the chick singer and all, but it’s certainly better than average and even contains some heaviness and aggression. I’m a little reminded of Darkwell, with just a touch of latter day Therion, although Epica isn’t quite as good as those comparisons would imply. Still, this is a worthwhile album, but it does have a few missteps. And I don’t really understand the need to have both the album and “single” (edited) versions of the title track on here. More is better, I guess. The Phantom Agony was a pleasant surprise.

I certainly like Enslaved’s Viking Black Metal, and have since I first heard their seminal split CD with Emperor, but I was surprised to see that they have a DVD. And this thing is ultra-pro all the way, with Satan-knows-how-many cameras, and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. It looks like Live After Death, for fuck’s sake! I’ve watched it several times, and at nearly two hours, that’s saying something, and I’m still just stunned as I sit here. Normally I would think that only fans of a band would really care about a live video, but I really must suggest that anyone into Metal (and that’s probably everyone reading this) check this disc out immediately. In addition to the very impressive live show, there are six bonus rare audio tracks, an interview, and the standard assortment of screen savers, band bio, discography, and so on. Truly a must-buy situation if there ever was one.

In some ways taking cues from Opeth and/or Agalloch, the Enslaved guys have made their Black Metal at once both more atmospheric and layered. The result is an album that, while neither consistently heavy nor fast (not that it needs to be), is utterly engrossing and mesmerizing. And the band’s best work so far. I may regret not giving this a ten.

Furious, blasting Black/Death Metal from Greece. Highly influenced by the likes of Morbid Angel, Angelcorpse, and Krisiun. Every once in a while they’ll tease you with some slower, melodic parts that really bear an ancient Black Metal feeling of melancholy, but then it’s right back to the blasting. Vocally, there are two styles, a throaty Blackened scream and a standard Death growl. Both are done well as most everything on this album is, although it could be more memorable. I’d like to hear them build more with the depressing vibes, but only because I hate life so much. A very worthwhile effort from a band that has all the potential to explode.

A decent combination of Black Metal’s fury and Death Metal’s heaviness. Try to imagine Darkthrone and old Acheron stirred in the same pot. Certainly not the first or best time these two styles of been amalgamated, but it’s passable. The bio says this features an ex-member of Mortician, but I have no clue who that would be. As far back as I can remember it’s always been just Will and Roger.

For those of you who really miss Hemdale like I do, this will be something you’ll want to check out. Twenty-two tracks of relentless Gore-Grind with the influences worn on the sleeve. Napalm Death, Impetigo, and General Surgery to name a few. The slower parts actually remind me a little of Privilege of Evil-era Amorphis. These guys do a great job of avoiding monotony by mixing it up and keeping things interesting. They grind, blast, hook, dirge, shred, and even throw in a little Punk flavor. All this plus the lyrical charm of gory humor makes this a keeper.

Norway’s second oldest Viking/Asatru/Odinist band (Enslaved being the oldest), Einherjer, returns once again with Blot, a more diverse and oddly compelling album. Imagine if you will, an album that fuses Classical, Thrash, Black/Viking Metal and traditional Heavy Metal with a touch of Folk. Musically, the structures Einherjer employs more closely resembles Classical for the most part, occasionally veering into Thrash or Traditional Metal territory. Though the vocals are still growled (or would the description be more concise if I said they were “snarled”?), but other than that, much of their old Black Metal influence has waned considerably. Blot is an album Power Metal enthusiasts will probably enjoy more than your average Black Metal demon. I would like to stick this album in the same category as Haggard or Therion because they take that Classical element and run with it, creating a sound more unique and orchestral than brutal or aggressive.

This sounds a lot like Burzum. In fact, I’m tempted to say that this has so much of a Burzum influence that Varg should be getting a royalty check in the mail. Musically, vocally and stylistically, this has “I listen to old Burzum all day long, every day of the fucking year” written all over it. I’m pretty sure that everybody’s favorite Norwegian prison resident is probably pretty flattered by the fact that someone would go out of their way to ape his music. Personally, if I wanted to listen to Burzum, I have all of Varg’s albums and it’s not like they’re out of print. In a nutshell, Shadow, the sole member of Dusk, has managed to create an album’s worth of music that blatantly sounds like the first album and Aske EP that Burzum released a decade ago. It has a slightly different production, but you can tell exactly where this album is coming from right away. Well played or not, this is nothing new or different.

Album number two for Washington’s Drawn and Quartered has been a long time coming. Their debut, To Kill Is Human, was arguably one of the better Death Fucking Metal albums out there at the time, but Extermination Revelry is clearly a step up. One of the things that I thought To Kill Is Human lacked was intensity. The crystal clear production made every instrument audible, yet at the same time, it took a lot of the feeling out of their sound. Extermination Revelry is still well produced (I’ve yet to see an album released under the Moribund name that has shit sound), but it is much heavier and more intense. The guitar is also more up front, making the riffs clearer. The music is also a bit more on the Thrash side, adding some more memorability to the songs and the guitar solos are also something to note. This band has clearly aged well, producing an album that not only tops their last, but really stands out amidst the sea of generic-as-all-fucking-Hell Death Metal out there.