I think I’m shock! Somebody help me pick up my jaw off the floor. The sheer simplicity and overwhelming brutality of this band’s Victory debut can only be compared to that of the Death Metal classics of the early ’90s. Without so much as a baby step outside the framework of the modern Metalcore formula, DtF has crafted a flawless album overflowing with teary-eyed rage and unparalleled bitterness. Take the mosh-pit tactics of Unearth and 18 Visions, the Euro-Metal melodies of Heaven Shall Burn, the big production of Diecast, and the bleeding-throat vocals, and you have an impenetrable forcefield of negative energy. Lyrically, I feel this band’s pain and you will, too, as their heart, passion, and fury go unmatched. Highest surges of adrenaline: “Eternal Gates of Hell,” “Graven Image,” and “Cost of a Good Impression.”

In what might be a first for Danzig, the song “Black Mass” has some limited (both artistically and in duration) double bass drum action! But don’t take that to mean that Glenn and company have super-heavied things, because they haven’t. In fact, the very next song, the embarrassingly titled “Wicked Pussycat,” is pretty lame. I guess this album is about covering as many bases as possible, with heavier moments, some goofy stuff, Industrial elements, and so on, encompassing the entire Danzig life-span, and in some ways sort of Samhain, too. I’m glad that the Evil Elvis is still at it, and there are still quite a few gems on here. Pretty good, but not exactly a career highlight.

Taking considerably less time to record than the debut MCD, Iceland’s Curse returns with a full-length album’s worth of material. While the debut MCD (which contained only three songs recorded over a period of three years) had more of a Burzum-esque sound, Dead Sun Rise has more of an Emperor meets NWOBHM style that I found quite a bit more interesting. There are atmospheric keyboards, Traditional Metal riffs and even some fairly adept guitar solos mixed in with the standard Norse Black Metal sound. These things set Curse apart from the rest of the pack, though at the same time, they never actually split off entirely and become something completely unique. While Curse doesn’t chart any new territory, it does gain some identity sorely lacking on their debut MCD. Dead Sun Rise is definitely a step in the right direction for Curse. With Solstafir, Curse is well on their way to putting Iceland in the Metal atlas as a place to look for quality music.

Technical Death/Thrash highly influenced by the latter era of Death’s career, which tells you all you need to know about the level of musicianship. Still, it’s somehow a little boring. It just lacks that certain kick. Big league production and packaging would probably take them to the next step.

Hmm… I don’t know how “legit” this band is because their band photos and such look awfully contrived. They look to be a bunch of Death Metal kids or maybe even a bunch of Crust Punks that have decided to wear corpse-paint and pose for band photos. Musically, this sounds very much like Darkthrone worship. The good thing about Terror Propaganda is that it is Darkthrone worship done well. Most of the time when bands worship the Darkthrone sound, it sounds like shit and contains all of the worst aspects of Darkthrone’s music. Craft has a raw sound but at the same time, it is very powerful. The guitars are up in front and the assault begins as soon as the music starts. This is raw, violent and ugly right from the beginning. For a band that looks like they’re faking it, they sure sound a Hell of a lot better than bands that are “true.” Image aside, Terror Propaganda is some seriously kick ass shit.

It seems like Darkthrone and Burzum are the hot bands to rip off throughout the underground Black Metal circuit these days. I’m all for it, those are two pretty good choices, but none of the recent emulations can quite match the feeling I used to and still do get from hearing the originals. Don’t get me wrong, this is good Black Metal, it’s just not great. Not yet, anyway.

Very well played Death/Thrash with a ton of hooks and some occasional blasting. The vocalist has a piercing shriek of a snarl that, while intense, can become grating. The attempt seems to be somewhat in the vein of the Swedish Black Metal styles (Marduk, Dissection), but not quite as smooth. With all the melody and groove utilized here, this really isn’t that memorable. Still, a valiant effort, and it wouldn’t surprise me if eventually these guys do become an awesome band.

This is the trashy, redneck side of Punk Rock. They play it well, and their songs are sort of catchy, and certainly full of energy. They cover an ancient AC/DC song, and seem to be in league with Satan.

For those of you unfamiliar with Dutch Death masters Centurian, just try to imagine the fastest, most ripping, shredding, vile Morbid Angel / Deicide worship this side of Angelcorpse. Unfortunately, Liber Zar Zax is not the best place to start. Though this record does have its moments like “Heading for Holocaust” and “Ritually Slaughtered for Satan,” not to mention its fair share of precious lyrical blasphemy (“Christians were born to be smashed / Beat them to death with their bible / Their god is a cockroach, made in their image”), it just cannot live up to the standard set by Of Purest Fire (1997) and Choronzonic Chaos Gods (1999). For one, I miss departed vocalist Seth van de Loo, even though his replacement, Jerry Brouwer, is almost a dead ringer with the same style. But most of all, this album suffers from a lackluster production. A sound so muddy and low that the instruments are stifled, creating a mundane atmosphere in which the constant speed becomes redundant. In summary, there are some gems here, but a tough album to listen to all the way through.

Take a ton of Spazz, a dash of Anal Cunt, and a smidge of old Cryptic Slaughter and you’ve got Catheter. Do they pack the same punch as their influences? Not really. But this is extremely intense, spastic Powerviolence, and the stuff doesn’t grow on trees. If Spazz, Lack of Interest, Asshole Parade, or even Engorged is your thing, these guys are highly capable of producing the same results (and sampling Airplane and Conan the Barbarian in the same song is just cool). Features a decent cover of Napalm Death’s “Unchallenged Hate,” and the lyrics to “Korn Bisqit” are priceless.

Huh… Is that “No Remorse”? It is! Weird! But not very good at all. Wait, is the CD already over? I must have drifted off to sleep. For all it’s speed and want of aggression, this album really falls flat. Maybe it’s that the vocals and music seem to be in different universes, with little relation to one anther. Or maybe it’s that they just didn’t have time to really perfect things, for some reason. Or perhaps the Cannibals are running out of ideas. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. There are plenty of ideas here, they’re just not… right. That makes Gore Obsessed the band’s most boring album since Tomb of the Mutilated, but not half as heavy or brutal. I’m probably too generous with my rating.

This band might have an inverted cross in their logo but they are quite a long way from being a Black Metal band in the traditional sense. This band’s music is more akin to that of Moonspell or Tiamat with a little bit of the more Classical moments of Cradle of Filth. Yes, this is a Goth Metal band. Long on Goth, a little short on the Metal, but all of it is pretty good. I kind of figured that Caledonian was going to sound this way based on the fact that they have a female vocalist who is a permanent member of the band - and yet they have a session drummer. That kind of tells you something right there. When the female vocalist is more important than having a full-time drummer, you know this spells Goth Metal right away. A good Goth Metal band, however, must have the heaviness of Metal with the feeling of Goth. Caledonian manages to capture a good dose of both on Acolyte. The songs have that sad, melancholic air that makes for good Goth music. The Metal parts are a bit on the Traditional Metal side, owing more to the melodic bands than the brutal aspects of Death or Black Metal. If you like a little depression but don’t want to plunge headlong into suicidal Doom, the likes of Caledonian will no doubt appeal to you.

This might as well be on MTV. Right on TRL with all the rest of the Pop, except that I think that anything on TRL would be heavier than this is. Notice that I didn’t say “Pop Metal,” because this is in no way even related to Metal at all. In fact, the airy lightness of the album is just weird. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like acoustic guitars. And I guess this chick has an okay voice - in a Lilith Fair sort of way, if you see what I mean. But if I wanted to listen to Joan Baez, I’d just break out my dusty old copy of Judas Priest’s Sin After Sin.

Apt band name.

According to their press release, Boulder once (or I should say, at least once) performed as “Motorhead USA.” Anyone with the balls to do that is okay with me. Also according to their press release, Boulder used to be way heavier, more along the lines of the Sludge-side of the Melvins, which I’m sure is true, but somewhat weird, since they’re now more like early Kiss. Sorta. I wish I’d gotten their previous CD (which also contains the band’s debut album), since it sounds as if I might have appreciated that more. But it’s impossible to deny how easy-to-remember these songs are. They bore into my brain like the bug from Star Trek II. I may just have to track down their other CD, because if these catchy, ultra-energetic songs were also super heavy… well, shit that would be even better! And it’s not bad as is.

Former Benediction growler Dave Ingram has done little to change the classic BT sound, and I’m happy about that. Heavy and plodding old style Death Metal is what I expected and what was delivered.

The reformed Bloodlet is back to kick our asses with their unique, and sometimes too-weird, version of Hardcore. But occasionally things just get too strange, with the different vocal styles and even constantly mutating riffs. The Steve Albini production is suitably think and dirty, and even powerful, but it makes this whole thing feel Sludgy, like Grief, maybe. The majority of this album is great, but there are moments of… insanity.

When an album moves your soul like it hasn’t been moved in years, it’s hard to find the right words to translate the feeling. Add to that the trials of filtering the hatred I’ll experience when I read the multitude of reviews writing this off as merely a decent, retro Death, just-for-fun gag. Well, sorry Terrorizer, your Niles and Dillingers can’t hold a fucking candle to Bloodbath’s simplistic mastery of the not-so-ancient art. (Death Metal never died, the labels and the writers just jumped onto a more prosperous bandwagon.) Metalheads take note, the modern day Reign in Blood is upon us. I’m not even going to go into the members that comprise this project. If you don’t know, you don’t matter. This LP is a little different from the classic Breeding Death EP. The musicianship is upped a notch, that is to say the riffs are a tad more complex, and there are actually a couple solos, albeit they are in the vein of the spastic fretboard-slaughter variety a la Deicide’s first album. So, it’s not quite the same first-listen flooring as the EP, but after a week, I was twice as addicted. This album, more so than the EP, embraces the old Swedish sound that bands like Entombed, Grave, and Dismember brought to life in the early ’90s, and it’s none more evident than on the album’s standout opener “Ways to the Grave.” Layered in the Sunlight sound with one of the most diabolical melodies ever recorded, this song begins the journey, with the best vocalist in Metal today as your guide. Before you can pick up your jaw, up next is “So You Die,” with a chorus so infectious your grandma would growl along, and “Mass Strangulation,” with an opening riff almost Burzumesque in its misanthropic flow. The heart of the album then forges on with unparalleled intensity and dynamics leading up to the final two cuts, the chunky groove-laden “Like Fire,” and the apocalyptic closer, “Cry My Name.” By the end of this sinister opus, you’re drenched in sweat, your jaw’s sore from grinding your teeth, and you’re twitching from the adrenaline rush you’ve just endured. It’s almost as if you become this album. Death Metal has never sounded this alive.

I would list a few of the more inspirational quotes from this album, but I’d more or less have to transcribe all of the lyrics as well as the between-song rants. Allow me to say instead that the lyrics here are just as antisocial, and in fact anti-everything, as ever, even if the band’s sound is perhaps slightly less thick and heavy, and a little more traditionally Punk, than it has been in the past, which is fine with me. They also rerecord their own “A Bitch Called Hope,” retitling it “She’s Still a Bitch (Called Hope).” This is not quite the flawless album I was hoping for (which is what I get for hoping at all, right?), but it is close.

This album, the first rumblings from Blasphemy in almost a decade, is a live concert recorded in Canada on July 13, 2001. Frankly, I’d thought that this band had broken up, but apparently they’re still together and this is the result. Note that Blasphemy also played a much-advertised concert with Black Witchery. This particular gig occurred a couple days earlier than that show, so if you know about the gig with Black Witchery, this is not the same show. The whole gig was recorded directly to minidisc so this live album fucking sounds amazing. Blasphemy is still the king when it comes to old-school chaotic fucking Black War Metal (kind of similar to the Aussie sound, but these guys came first). It’s dirty, raw and almost out of control, but this LP honestly made me wish I was there getting my head torn off my shoulders. The vinyl is heavy duty and the whole product is well put together, complete with Chris Moyen (who did album covers for Beherit and many other early Black and Death Metal bands) artwork on the cover. This is only available on vinyl and in 666 copies. The first 100 copies came on red vinyl and contained a bonus CDR of a Blasphemy rehearsal also recorded onto minidisc (which actually sounds better than the concert) but the 100 “diehard” copies are completely sold out. (If, however, you happen upon a copy of that particular edition on eBay, make sure it has the CDR before bidding on it. If it does have everything included, sell your soul if you have to, because the additional stuff you get with the “diehard” edition is well worth it!) Get this while you can!!!