I think this is Birdflesh’s first full-length studio album, after several EPs, and it’s about time! For all its intensity, this Grind is just weird enough to be sort of easy to remember. But not too strange. It’s a hard line to walk, but somehow they manage.

I don’t know a whole lot about this band except that they are from Minnesota and that they are a three-piece (only two of them participated in the recording of this MCD, however) band that plays Black Metal. I’m not sure they are in with the NSBM scene, though the cover art suggests it. The cover art shows a picture of what appears to be some kind of swastika turned inverted cross kind of thing and the whole picture is pretty lame looking. It essentially looks like some kid’s art project from high school. Musically, this band is in serious need of a good engineer, as the sound on Obdurate is horrible. The bass is muffled and almost inaudible, the vocals are muffled and almost inaudible and the drumming is muffled and though it is audible, it is partially buried by the incredibly noisy guitars. Actually, I take that back. Only one of the guitars is incredibly noisy. The other one is muffled and almost inaudible. The noisy guitar sounds like a distorted chainsaw with all the bass taken out, and it is also the loudest thing on this MCD. I think there may be some kind of a Burzum thing going on behind the wall of white noise but it is hard to tell for sure. This could have sounded fairly good if someone at the studio knew what the fuck they were doing. My guess is that the band decided they wanted to sound “cult” and that sounding “cult” meant that their music had to sound like shit. The extremely noisy sound on that one guitar makes this MCD almost unlistenable. This band is now apparently signed to the Moribund Cult so hopefully this means that their next release will show how good this band really is. As it stands, this MCD just doesn’t do that.

This is my first encounter with this band, and I really like what I’m hearing. I was expecting Black Metal, but that’s not the case. Try to imagine, if you can, a faster, Thrashier version of old Paradise Lost. I know that sounds crazy, but there is a surprising abundance of Doomy melody interspersed with the double bass-fueled Old School rage that is the soul of this opus. Vocally we have a mid-range, gruff style that is very understandable and patterned around the riffs, almost like a Glen Benton with less depth. Lyrically there seems to be a theme of racism, but I can’t tell if it’s objective or subjective. Doesn’t really matter to me. Everything here is done well, and I’m definitely making it a priority to check out this band’s back catalog. Favorites: “Quelling the Simian Surge,” “Heirs to Perdition,” and “Hereditary Taint.”

I’m certainly no expert when it comes to ambient, experimental music, but I can say that what Arcana is doing is elegant, graceful, and downright soothing. Not very far removed from what little Dead Can Dance and Black Tape for a Blue Girl I’ve heard. Definitely not something I could listen to exclusively, but you could not set a better tone for relaxation and/or mourning.

This band really doesn’t impress me much for some reason. Maybe it’s because the main riffs from their songs are rehashed from other bands or derivatives thereof. The first song had me thinking Mayhem and the next one was Darkthrone. Can you see where this is going? Their Blackened Death Metal style is very derivative and essentially speaking, this is not all that different from any number of bands doing something similar. Their sound is kind of bass heavy with the guitars being very much on the thin side. In a way, this is good because the heavy bass action makes up for the lack of lower end in the guitars. The vocals are kind of buried in the middle of all of this and though the singer’s Black Metal screaming is audible most of the time, it sort of degenerates into background noise. You can hear him, you just can’t make out a damn thing he’s saying - not that you could have if he was louder but still… Their best material is the slower stuff as their sound isn’t all that conductive to faster playing. The faster the band plays the more muddled their riffs become. The song becomes a ball of chaotic noise that only gets orderly when things slow down again. Add to the fact that a lot of their songs sound the same and you get something that is mediocre at best.

This album is not pretty. I don’t mean that in a good way, either. Do any of you remember the episode of Cosmos (yep, the show on PBS) where Carl Sagan imitates whale songs? Do you remember how gay it not only looked but sounded? Now imagine, if you will, the same audio gayness (the sounds of some stupid motherfucker attempting to sound like a fucking humpback whale) set to some droning wannabe organ music (it’s done on a synth - a bad one) mixed with strange distorted moaning and whispering. Now stretch that mish-mash of droning “Dark Ambient” “music” over six tracks that average about ten minutes each. It’s boring, it’s repetitive and you can leave the room for five minutes and not a thing will have changed while you were gone. Your best hope - should you somehow get this CD foisted on you somehow - is to try to get some stupid motherfucker to buy it from you on eBay.

Once again the DNA of Metal and Opera have been unnaturally spliced to create a hideous, useless abomination, much like the four-assed monkey.

Accept was one of the first bands I ever really got into when I was a kid, and I’ve been a big fan ever since. With that in mind… First up here is the 1985 documentary/concert video, Staying a Life. Unfortunatley, the show was edited for the video release, and is missing six or seven songs that are on the CD version (released in 1990). Worse yet, the show is occasionally interrupted with the documentary voice-over and/or footage. It’s not that the documentary isn’t interesting, but it should have been a seperate feature, and we should have gotten to see the entire, unedited, show. The CD version of Staying a Life is one of my all-time favorite live albums, so I must admit being a little disappointed that I don’t finally get to see the entire show. That would have made this an easy 10, even without any bonuns features. Still, what’s here is pretty fucking awesome. Admittedly, the video quality is not flawless, but this was recorded a million years ago in 1985. The audio also isn’t 5.1, but I wouldn’t expect it to be. Where this really shines is with the wealth of bonus material. It’s got seven video clips (including “Balls to the Wall,” of course), a three-song live show from 1993 Bulgarian TV (not exactly of the highest video/audio quality, unfortuantley), plus “behind the scenes” footage, a career-spanning photo gallery, compelte band discography, biogrpahy, and even audio samples from every one of the band’s albums. And although not branded a DualDisc, this is a DVD one one side and a CD on the other. The CD side nine previously unreleased songs! Well… okay, while that’s technically true, only two of the songs are really previously unheard. The rest consists of demo versions, an acoustic version and a Japan-only bonus track. For fans of Accept and/or main-man Udo, this disc is an absolute must. For non-fans (if such a thing exists!) a better introduction would be the aforementioned 1990 Staying a Life live album.

Wacky, zany, spastic Czech Grind that is way too insanely fucked up for me. The older and balder I get, the less patience I have for the weird-for-the-sake-of-weird variety. My brain hurts just looking at this band’s “name” [The band is really called The Obliteration of Humanity, but it almost exclusively goes by its initials. -Editor] so I guess it’s not too big a surprise that their “music” isn’t easily digestible, also. The lyrics aren’t in English, so I can’t understand those, either. Luckily, the vocals suck dirty dog dick, so I don’t really care to.

After an eternity of feedback, distortion and other noises, I wasn’t sure if this CD was playing of if my ancient player finally gave up and died. As it turns out, I wish it would have, since that would have spared me the pain of listening to this minimalistic stoned-out Sludge mess. The music, what little of it the band even bothers to produce amid the cacophony of overdriven squawks, is nothing short of mind numbingly banal in its extreme simplicity. And then we get to the vocals… I’m sure the idea is to sound tortured and miserable, which I certainly was while listening, but otherwise this entire disc is just an ounce of plastic crap.

I hardly even know where to start with this excellent album, except to say that for some strange reason they put maybe the least-great track first… Okay, now let’s get to it: the singer/guitarist, Sam, used to be in the seminal Crust band Amebix! However, her vocals, along with the music, are drastically more far ranging than you might think. Musically Iowaska seems to be almost boundless, effortlessly moving from Punky Metal to seemingly Bad Brains inspired Reggae-Hardcore (“Woman”), to Crust (“Big Deal Get Real” - althought it is somewhat lightweight by today’s standards). And Sam has no problem matching her enchanting voice to the music, no matter should she need brutality or sensitivity. Okay, she also has a hot English accent, plus she could probably kick your ass. I like that.

From what I hear, there were a lot of problems due to the cover art from this CD. You’ve probably heard about it, but just in case, it’s a brand-new-born baby about to get decapitated by way of hacksaw. And it’s also the most cartoony, obviously not real thing I’ve ever seen. Or maybe I’m such a sick fuck that it just doesn’t affect me. Anyway, who gives a shit about that? This CD is a collection of rare and demo tracks, along with Carcass and Impetigo covers. How can you not love “I Work for the Street Cleaner” and two different versions of “With Shit I Am Adorned” on the same disc? Obviously this is for fans only, but Impaled would make anyone with sense a fan in a just a listen or two.

God damn Hell fucking yes! After their awesome Dead King’s Eyes, Vore has finally returned to once again kick the asses of true Death Metal freaks worldwide. This album may seem strange to newer fans of extremity, because there is no Grind influence here, unlike most other current Death Metal bands, but I assure you that this is plenty brutal and intense. And also just this close to perfection.

This 2-CD set features differently mixed versions of most of the songs from their debut, the Death Metal classic, Imperial Doom, as well as the tracks from their Horror Infinity and Slaves and Masters demos. And that’s just disc one! It’s really great to hear the demo stuff and have it on CD. The second disc is a much more recent live show, which features excellent sound and more or less all the songs you’d want them to play, including their deadly cover of “Angel of Death.” I think it’s really a good idea to package these two discs together like this, because it ensures that long-time fans won’t be able to resist the one-two punch of live and rare tracks, and it’s also a lot of material for neophytes to check out.

Despite the title, this was recorded in September of 1999. That odd bit of trivia aside, this is an impressive disc, if for no other reason than to see a human being play drums at the insane speeds and precision of Hellhammer. I would have preferred seeing a show from a lot earlier in this band’s career, but then I’d be looking at a one camcorder shot with laughable mono audio, and not this multi-camera, 5.1 surround sound masterwork. And, although Dead and Euronymous won’t be forgotten, the current line up is great, and of course they rip through all the old classics like “Deathcrush,” “Chainsaw Gutsfuck,” and “Pure Fucking Armageddon,” so there isn’t much to complain about. Even the songs from Grand Declaration of War sound better live. The bonus features aren’t much to speak of, but the blasphemers do apparently really want blood, as thy cut up the arm of some poor female fan in the “backstage footage.”

Recorded at several (unlisted) places around the world during 2000, and featuring songs from their entire career, this live CD is a lot easier to listen to than Grand Declaration of War, and they even play “Chainsaw Gutsfuck” and “Pure Fucking Armageddon.” It’s almost worth the price just to hear Hellhammer beat the drums as fast and precisely as he does. Maniac’s between-song comments are often entertaining, as well, but not usually for the right reasons. You’d think he might try to sound more “evil” or something, but that’s just not the case at all. Still, his vocals are suitably sick, and that’s the really important part. There’s a funny bit before the last live song, where some dickweed who must work for whatever venue they were playing, gets on the mic and tries to lead the crowd in a “Mayhem! Mayhem!” chant to bring them back out for the encore, but he sounds completely uninterested, and I’m not sure the crowd responded at all. The band returns anyway, to play “Necrolust.” After that, we’ve got five “pre-production” studio versions of songs from Grand Declaration of War, which remove some of the Electronic/Industrial lameness, but are still a far cry from really being any good. I am glad to see that at least the band, or someone, realized that Mayhem should not be Marilyn Manson. Maybe this means that their next studio album won’t suck ass. We will see.

You know, after the all-out speed assault that was Panzer Division Marduk, some slowdown was inevitable, but Great Satan Incarnate! Compared to Panzer Division…, this sounds almost like a Doom album! Well, maybe not that slow, but there is a definite and noticeable reduction in their speed. If you want to compare this to anything Marduk has previously done, the second half of Nightwing is a good example of this album’s direction. It’s slower, heavier and more memorable than the bulk of their previous work, though at the same time, the new material is still brutal as fuck. Legion still has one of the most horrific voices this side of Dead (R.I.P.) and that only helps things. The production is very clear - and we wouldn’t expect anything less from Abyss Studios - which makes every instrument audible. I still can’t believe that I can hear the bass so well. I could probably make out every note if I actually bothered to try. The only thing I thought this was lacking was a fuller guitar sound, though I think this has to do more with the fact that there is only one guitar on this album instead of the usual two. In the past, there were two guitars used for the studio work with Morgan playing both and a session member filling in on second guitar live. For those of you out there hoping for Panzer Division Marduk Part Two, you’re going to be disappointed a little, but La Grande Danse Macabre is still a sick ass album.

This has got to be a Marduk fan’s biggest wet dream. A double live CD with three MPEG videos on it. What more could you ask for? Well, not much really. Some of the serious classics are missing (such as “Wolves,” for instance or any of the slow, heavy stuff from Nightwing), but I guess if you wanted live versions of those, they did some of them on the Live in Germania CD a while back. In a way, this isn’t that far removed from their previous live album in that this isn’t one show. It’s a compilation of live tracks recorded at multiple shows with the best version of each song appearing on this CD. Personally, I like the “one whole show” approach better because you get more of an idea of how a band really sounds live. This is more like a greatest hits record with live stuff instead of studio cuts. Granted, this is some of the most deadly fucking Black/Death Metal in the world today and I should be thankful that this is available, but Marduk can pull off one of the most amazing live shows ever because they never have to slow down throughout the whole set. A “one whole show” recording would not have been that different (sound wise) than this and you would have had more continuity instead of the fade in, fade out stuff. Still, that’s a minor gripe and takes nothing away from how fucking great this is.

Krisiun stand tall as a testimony that man is capable of astounding achievement. This band’s talent has been heralded by many and with undeniable reason. The speed factor is one thing, being able to write, memorize, and play full-on blast for 6 1/2 minutes boasts its own glory, but Krisiun are able to make it stick, and more so on Ageless Venomous than ever before. “Dawn of Flagellation” hammers the listener with Covenant-era Morbid Angelic hooks, while gems like the title track and “Saviour’s Blood” employ perhaps the fanciest start-stop mechanics ever (made all the more viable by drummer Max Kolesne’s mind-boggling footwork!). Taking in something this extreme, and then using a great Doomy album as a chaser, has proven to be for me the most euphoric high the mind and body can experience.

Aside from one awesome brand-new track of patented power-mosh pit riffery, longtime fans of Internal Bleeding will find nothing new here other than a documentation of the horrible sound productions that plagued this band’s first three demos ($1 Demo, Invocation of Evil, and Perpetual Degradation; the latter two featured here in their entirety). But surely for the newer fans this is absolutely essential. As we know, one must be “anointed in servitude” to truly comprehend the impact this band has made on the scene over the years.