Weird. This is much slower and moodier than was its predecessor, In the Raven’s Shadow. Melancholy at times, even, and a drastic improvement over their last album. For once a band tried some new ideas, had some work and some fail, and actually sorted out which stuff to keep and what to shitcan. So, while still not a perfect release, Third has absolutely forced me to like it, and to respect Himinbjorg’s efforts.

Hey, Metal Blade, if you want an accurate review of one of your releases how about sending us a full-length album instead of just a 3-song promo? Anyway, these new tracks show a slightly heavier side of Gwar than I remember from past releases. Opener “Battle-Lust” is a real killer packed with heavy guitars and speedy riffs. Intense! The second track, “Immortal Corrupter,” has an aggressive mid-paced groove along with some well-produced double-bass plodding. The final track, “Bloody Mary,” is more along the lines of what Gwar have done on previous efforts. It rocks, it rolls, it’s kinda hokey… it’s Gwar! Sure would like to know what the rest of the album sounds like because these three tracks are quite good.

I gotta give Victory some props. Lately the bulldog has been a seal of assurance that the money spent will not be wasted. Just as the ink was not wasted on the latest signing, Sacramento’s pride, Hoods, which features Mike Hood and other members of the mighty Above This World. Much like ATW, this is just tight, brutal Hardcore the way it was meant to be played. Straightforward, Thrashy, with moderate groove, sick throaty vocals, and great lyrics to boot. They even get psychotic Coalesce-style on the standout track “Unforgiven.” This is an all-round monument of ‘Core, blending the Old School vibes with the Metal-tinged feel of the modern era. You need it.

When a band releases an EP with only two new songs and one re-recorded version of an older track, I tend to feel ripped off. Not this time. Leave it to Graveland to release a three song EP that clocks in at just a hair under 30 minutes. I guess that puts it up there with Summoning and their Nightshade Forest EP (which clocked in at 45 minutes but had four songs) when it comes to value for money. Much like Creed of Iron and Immortal Pride, Raise Your Sword! contains huge doses of Slavic Folk rhythms and tempos. Also present in large doses is that Hammerheart-era Bathory Viking chorus. I assume that keeps with the band’s new ideology. If my guess is correct, the change in their logo reflects a conversion to Asatru. The upside-down cross in their logo has been replaced by the Hammer of Thor symbol and a lot of Darken’s lyrics reflect ideas found in the book Creed of Iron. The keyboards are a little more dominant that on Creed of Iron, which was more of a guitar album, but it never seeps into overuse. The song “W Objecia Smierci” is a different version of “Into Death’s Arms,” and though it doesn’t sound a whole lot different than the original, it does have lyrics in Polish. I think Graveland has found their little niche and though I really enjoy their music, my greatest fear is that they will stagnate and keep rehashing the same stuff over and over again.

This is the second full-length album for GBK and what a difference this is! I slagged the debut album (Mocking the Philanthropist - it was released on Woodnymph and is now probably long out of print) for several reasons, one of which was the blatant “ancient” Bathory worship in the music, and another the fact that most of the “cult” songs that GBK did were written with Bestial Luciferian (aka Lord Kaiaphas ex-Ancient/Thokk) in mind when it came to the vocals. This is 1000 times better than the debut. Grand Belial’s Key has now morphed into a Black/Death Metal band with an emphasis on heavy, Doomier guitar passages and more original sounding material. In fact, this sounds so different than the debut that I swear that this is an entirely different band. A few minor gripes I have are concerning the cover art and some of the lyrics. Both suffer from a bit of childishness that, at least concerning the cover art, could have been avoided. If you haven’t seen the cover for this CD, it’s basically a scanned picture stolen from some kid’s illustrated bible where the picture of our favorite dead Jew has been artfully defaced with corpse-paint by someone using Microsoft Paint. Yes, you can see the jaggies. Also, concerning the lyrics, if there were any more references to semen and apostolic homosexuality on this CD, I’d have to call them Profanatica instead. It’s a pretty funny read (and probably true…) but the “Jesus was a fag” humor wears thin after a couple songs. I know these guys can do better, because musically, this is some seriously kick ass shit.

What a pointless waste of plastic this is. By no means am I insulting the almighty Hypocrisy (who have stood the test of time, if you haven’t noticed), but for Nuclear Blast to try to compile a greatest hits collection for a band who has never written any filler! What clueless poseur doesn’t already have the entire domestic discography of Hypocrisy’s releases? And should the tragically uninformed need a sampling of this band’s power, why not just start from the beginning and work your way up? Witness the natural evolution of pulverizing Satanic Death Metal to a brand of extremity without category. After all, a true Hypocrisy “greatest hits” would simply be all the band’s albums in a box set. Then you would have more than 7% of this band’s choice cuts to commit suicide to. However, the bastards at Nuclear Blast have me backed in a corner. While I despise the idiocy of the concept, all the songs on the CD subject to review are flawless. I have no choice other than to give it a perfect rating. The first ten I didn’t like.

To be honest with you, I didn’t like their last release, Obscura, at all. It was way too technical and just plain weird! From Wisdom to Hate isn’t a whole lot different than the last release. This is still extremely complex and technical Death Metal. Yeah, these guys are highly talented musicians, but if they can’t write memorable songs, who cares! I’ve given this disc at least 7 or 8 spins, and nothing about any of the eight tracks presented here has any effect on me whatsoever. I can’t tell one song from the other. Where are the riffs? Where are the melodies? Where are the blasts? There is no cohesiveness to these songs. It’s just too chaotic. Oh, how I miss the days of Considered Dead.

God Forbid is an extreme music lover’s dream come true, but a critic’s worst nightmare! There is not a category, tag, or witty group of paragraphs that could even begin to do these guys justice. Just look at how fast Century Media recognized this gold mine. One listen to their last record, Reject the Sickness, on 9Volt Records, and you knew you were dealing with a force to be reckoned with for years to come. These guys can do it all. The soul of the band would arguably be Hardcore-based. Driving aggressive rhythms and start-stop riffing that would put Meshuggah to shame (check “Broken Promise”), but they also command the speed and precision of the tightest Metal band you’d care to mention. And then there’s the Maidenesque melodies that intoxicate, like those found on the powerful instrumental “God’s Last Gift.” The vocals? Pure agony. A scratchy throat of inherent pain that wraps up the total package that is God Forbid. Flawless!

The Danish hellions have returned, pissed as ever, with a throat-slashing motherfucker of an incredible album! Ravenous may just well be God Dethroned’s crowning achievement, possibly securing them a spot in the Death Metal Hall of Fame. This new batch of songs seems to have been created utilizing the finest elements of the band’s back catalog. The song-writing abilities of Henri and Jens are as brilliant as ever, and Henri’s seething vocals are concrete proof of his convictions. The guitars are screaming-mad, and session-drummer Tony Lareno (ex-Angelcorpse) plays with an intensity that takes the music to the next level. From the moment opener “Swallow the Spikes” kicks in, a relentless onslaught ensues. The momentum continues to build until track six,”The Iconoclast Deathride,” which, unfortunately, breaks the continuity of the music. I’m not sure why they placed that song at the mid-point of the album, but it definitely seems out-of-place. No need to worry though, because they redeem themselves on the very next track, “The Crown for the Morbid.” An excellent cover of “Evil Dead” appropriately closes the proceedings. This album is undeniable proof that these guys are at the top of their game. No doubt about it - Ravenous has all the subtlety of a Viking berserker at the peak of rage!

With each album God Dethroned has improved and refined their sound, making it more powerful and their songs more memorable. That cannot truthfully be said about a lot of bands. The Black Death assault found on Ravenous is not the most brutal or the fastest you’ve ever heard, but it’s probably some of the best. The Macabre End cover went by more or less unnoticed, but the Death cover (“Evil Dead”) just about ripped off my head, and was the perfect way to end this monsterpiece.

About a thousand times better than the last Kataklysm record I remember hearing. The music stays consistently awesome, going from Thrashy Death Metal to all out blasting Grind, and they actually use vocal patterns and melody this time. It’s almost like a completely different band. By far the best thing this band has recorded since the almighty The Mystical Gate of Reincarnation EP.

Holy fuck, Jungle Rot has always kicked ass, but, this much ass?!? Not very many bands any more even try to play straightforward Death Metal, with no Grind influence, but Jungle Rot does, and over the years they have virtually perfected their deadly craft, as is evidenced here. The addition of a couple re-recorded demo tracks only serves to push Dead and Buried ever closer to a flawless rating. In every issue’s worth of reviews, there is an album or two that I’m not quite sure if it’s exactly perfect, or just really god damn close, and this is one of those, no question about it. I might well look back and wish I’d given this monster a ten.

Hot chick, lame band. That sums up this re-release of cheeseball Industrial Rock garbage, and this group in general. Musically this is little more than second rate White Zombie with a female vocalist, singing about her pussy and how bad you want it. Ladies, I have no problem with you using sex to sell something, but if you want my entertainment dollar, try the porn industry. Music is sacred to me. And a dominatrix theme for any band is such a poser concept, by the way. You know this bitch is at Wal-Mart right now with Davey buying toilet paper and Pop Tarts with her Disney Rewards Visa card, don’t you? Extreme listening… for 8-year old girls.

Standard Rock arrangements, occasionally channeled through AC/DC , with a “heavier” production, and sort of gruff Thrash-style vocals. Can they be serious?!? Anyone who might like this musically would have to be turned off by these vocals and probably also the production. This is just a bad fucking idea. I’m sure that the guys in the band think this is really “original,” or whatever, but stapling your dick to your forehead would be “original” too, and almost as insane.

Gammera play Stoner Metal in the vein of Kyuss. Although they play this style competently, there is nothing about Gammera’s music that is original. This is just Kyuss-worship. I hate to be harsh on a band that obviously has talent, but these guys need to put some of their own ideas into their music.

This Grind assault is intensity personified, but despite what the press release tries to tell me, there isn’t a single “catchy riff” on here. In fact, almost everything is buried beneath the unrelenting onslaught of the inhumanly fast, machine drumming (isn’t it “cheating” for a Grind band to use a drum machine?). I’ve got to give this band points for sheer sonic brutality, but as evidenced by virtually every band on the Czech Republic’s Obscene Productions label (and quite a few others), it is possible to be this brutal and also “catchy” at the same time.

This album, their debut for ISO666, is their second overall. I get the feeling that this band listens to a lot of Hades Almighty as the songs kind have that feeling. The song structures are similar to Hades Almighty and their use of acoustic guitar and keyboard parts to make their songs more interesting calls that band to mind when I listen to them. The use of Death growls mixed in with the raspy Black Metal shrieks adds to the musical diversity which, when added to the acoustics, makes for a more interesting listen. There are only two major gripes I had with this album and they were that 1. The production isn’t the best, as the guitars are too low and too thin, something that hurts when they bump up the speed; and 2. Even though this is their second album, the songs don’t really show all that much maturity. There are parts that don’t flow well and transitions that aren’t very good - things that could have been worked out in rehearsal but weren’t. The good news is that their song structure problems don’t pop up too often and the bulk of this album is only marred by the drumming drowning out the guitars. I get the feeling that Frostmoon Eclipse works best in the mid-paced realms of speed, and when they go fast, things just get generic and their thin guitar sound hurts them more.

This is the “true” Frost - at least according to the words on the back of their CD - and they play “Extreme Black Sodomizing Metal.” I don’t know if there are any “fake” bands out there called Frost, but I do know that what they play is essentially Darkthrone-influenced “grim” Black Metal. In a way, this band reminds me a bit of NSBM stalwarts Absurd, in that their Black Metal assault is tinged with a bit of the Oi! style. There are a lot of hooks in their music that makes the songs on Invoking the Aeon of Satan a bit more memorable and a whole lot easier to headbang to. If anything, the fact that the music on this album is so easy to get into helps Frost a lot. The sound on this album is also a cut above your average “grim” band as well. It’s rare to hear a band like this have audible bass and a guitar sound this clear. Between Frost and Bestial Mockery, they’re going to add a level of quality that this particular sub-genre of Black Metal sorely needs.

Checking the press release, I see that these “New Metal” poseurs are from Chicago. They must never go out in public, or I’m sure that Cianide or someone would have executed them by now.

More “new wave” Power Metal. At least these guys are from Germany. As you would expect, this is well played, and superbly recorded, but this kind of lighter-than-helium Rock/Metal really has to be awesome for me to even take notice anymore…