Brutal, noisy Death / Grind. When they’re not trying to hard to be weird and different, that is. Well, I think my review is now longer than the name of the band, so my work here is done.

It’s difficult for me to take a band seriously when they are named something is stupid as “Chinchilla.” I mean, this band thought it would be a good idea to name themselves after a little mouse-like animal. At least pick a tough rodent! But, then again, I suppose that the name does fit. The members of Chinchilla are all good at what they do (Power Metal), but it’s all so wimpy and sugary that I almost went into a coma. And I’m not a fan of lyrics such as “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” They cover the ancient Kiss chestnut “I Stole Your Love” (inserting some double-bass drum action), and while fairly close, the original is actually heavier. So, that really should tell the whole story.

This is album number two for Chaostar and much like their debut (also on Holy Records), this is much more along the lines of Classical than Metal. In fact, this has absolutely no Metal in it at all. Though there are some Darkwave elements here and there - most notably in the drumming - the bulk of this album sounds like a movie soundtrack or an opera. As a huge fan of that Classical/Opera sound when done right, I was really impressed at how well most of this album flowed. It’s not like a collection of tracks but it almost sounds like this album is one big track where all the songs flow into one another. The only thing that kept this from being called absolutely fucking brilliant by me was the abrupt ending. Everything was going along great when all of a sudden, the CD was over! Aargh! I hate it when that happens! It’s like watching a movie and having the ending credits roll before the climax. This album builds and builds but there is no climactic sequence nor is there any wrap-up at the end. Threnody just stops. I was so disappointed that this was over that words can’t describe it. I found myself mumbling “No! That can’t be all! There has to be more!” repeatedly as I sat there hoping that there was one of those “hidden” tracks that magically appeared after a minute or so of dead silence. No such luck, I’m afraid. If it wasn’t for that, Threnody would be rated much higher, but that really blew it for me.

This keyboard-heavy band hails from Finland and though the immediate comparison to Dimmu Borgir is going to come up, there is still plenty of good music to be had on this album. The keyboard work is the most dominant feature of Ceremonial Embrace and they definitely shine in that department. The arrangements where that particular instrument is concerned are great. This is clearly a band with a very talented keyboard player. However, like most keyboard-heavy bands, one has to wonder why there are two guitarists? If you can barely hear them most of the time, why bother having them? The riffs are pretty hard-driving and aggressive, but you can’t really make them out too well when the main atmosphere and melody are coming from the keys. The other thing about them that I found was that their songs, while good, just don’t encourage me to listen to them again and again. I’ve listened to this twice and I think a third listen may come - just not soon. This doesn’t mean that they suck. There are plenty of bands that fall into this category. They have talent, but in the end, their songs just aren’t engaging enough to get me to listen to them over and over.

This band sounds like they are heavily influenced by two very different styles of Black Metal. When they play fast, they sound dead-on like Dark Funeral. When they aren’t playing fast, they sound very much like Dissection. In fact, the bulk of Mirrored Revelation is in the Dissection style of Melodic Death Metal. The strength Celebratum has is rooted in this style. The fast stuff, while powerful and ferocious, loses a lot of memorability. You also have a situation where the production works fine for the slower material but gets muddled when the speed kicks up. The sound problem is centered around the snare drum. When the blast-beats start, the snare partially drowns out the guitars, making things hard to discern. When things are in the mid-paced range, everything clicks properly. The riffs are melodic, memorable and clear. Mirrored Revelation is mostly good, but I think Celebratum still has some rough edges to work out when it comes to their style. For my first exposure to this band, I have to say that I like what they’re doing and if they can work out a sound that can make their fast stuff sound as good as the slower stuff, these guys will fucking kill.

Holy fucking Hell on fire! The disc-opener, “Cathedral Flames,” is an unbelievably heavy throwback to the Forest of Equilibrium days that had me ready to change my entire rating scale so that I could give this album an 11. When the second track started, I knew this was still a classic, but my venerable rating scale was in no danger of rearrangement - although just barely. Lee seems to understand that a somewhat more restrained vocal style can be a big plus, and these songs see him going back in time to an approach similar to that used on the Soul Sacrifice EP. Some complete assholes will probably say that this album represents a “step back” for the band, but that’s pure insanity, and anyone who would say otherwise is an idiot. Endtyme is clearly the result of a look back over the years to see what worked the best for this band, and a synthesis of those styles and influences into a sometimes depressing, sometimes rocking, sometimes groovy, sometimes retro sound. Personally, I have always liked the Doom elements of Cathedral the best, and this is their heaviest since their flawless debut. It’s also a more individual sort of heaviness, and likewise for the “groovy” parts. The rather obvious Black Sabbath worship of the past is mostly gone, and their sound is more entirely their own. I understand that they have various styles that they like and want to include, and of course also fans of the different facets of their musical personality, but as far as I’m concerned, if all the songs had been as brutally heavy as the instrumental first track, or even the oppressive Doom slow-motion suicide of “Requiem for the Sun,” or the beyond-heavy bits of “Ultra Earth,” this would have been as easy 10. The less Doomy songs, such as “Whores to Oblivion,” are also improved from past releases, making this, I guess, the most complete and versatile Cathedral album yet.

When I heard that Trevor (Obituary) Peres had teamed up with NY Death Metal band Pyrexia to form Catastrophic, I knew I’d be in for a treat, but I didn’t really expect something of this magnitude. Within the realm of Death, they cover all the bases, and these guys are very clever in their use of speed, often keeping things at a slower, heavier, and dare I say it, more groove-influenced, pace, although the songs are kept short. That, mixed with bursts of high-tempo drumming, makes these songs extremely memorable and durable. What all this means of course, is that The Cleansing is an awesome slab of old-meets-new Death Metal, featuring the added bonus of Keith DeVito’s utterly flawless vocals. This will certainly end up as one of the best albums of the year.

Other than the extremely rare lame high-pitched scream, this is a fine example of memorable Death Metal.

Much like their previous album (I hear both were recorded around the same time but released almost a year apart), Morbid Fascination of Death sounds a lot like Celtic Frost. The whole thing just reeks of Frost, down to the production. The guitar tone has that familiar sound to it and the only other place I’ve heard it was on Morbid Tales. Carpathian Forest isn’t a direct Frost clone, however. There are other elements that play with the traditional Frost sound though none of it really changes the fact that you can tell who the most glaring influence is. There is a bit more experimentation here and there on Morbid Fascination of Death, but on the whole, if you liked the stuff this band has done since Black Shining Leather, you’ll probably enjoy this album too. The standout stuff for me is the darker, more atmospheric stuff they do towards the end. Track 7, “A World of Bones,” in particular struck me as being able to capture a feeling of darkness, nihilism and a touch of pure evil somewhere inside it. The music is slower, and the atmosphere is heavier. Unfortunately, they immediately throw off the vibe by making the next song (“Carpathian Forest”) sound so much like Sodom that you’d swear that Tom Angelripper was guesting on the album. They then go back to the dark, atmospheric stuff with “Cold Comfort” (a track that features a saxophone, of all things…). As a collection of songs, this is quite good. As a full album, however, these guys still have a ways to go before they can come up with a “complete” album - one that actually goes somewhere instead of being just a collection of tunes. They seem to be getting closer but when you start to build an atmosphere, you want to continue with that vibe rather than throw a song so completely opposite it right afterward. If there is any one fatal flaw in this album, that’s it.

Remember the old Death Metal band Cadaver? This is the reincarnation of that outfit for the new millennium. What are they like? High-speed Death/Thrash in the vein of Angelcorpse, but not quite as earth-shattering. Maybe it’s overexposure, but a snare drum being rapped 200 MPH no longer is enough to sustain my interest. Not that I don’t appreciate their extremity - I certainly do - but the faster tunes on this LP are easily forgettable. Some songs like “Kill Tech,” “Rupture,” and “Point Zero” are a little easier to get into with their sinister mid-paced riffing, and the vocalist has a decent snarl, but most of this album is a blur. Most definitely par listening for any speed freak, but it needs to be more memorable, more dynamic. Nonetheless, good to see more veterans back in action.

For those of you floored by the vast extremity and technical precision of this Death Metal supergroup’s debut, Eve of the Entities, expect nothing less than the same with this dynamic follow up. Richard Christy’s phenomenal drum work is unparalleled, and the drill sergeant-like hollering of Jamie Prim hasn’t changed at all. It doesn’t get much more intense or instrumentally dazzling than Burning Inside. It’s hard to believe that one of the dorks in Iced Earth could be in a band this awesome.

The Bronx Casket Co. features D.D. Verni and Tim Mallare of Overkill, Jack Frost of Savatage, Charlie Calv of Shotgun Symphony, and ex-Misfits singer Myke Hideous [When was this guy in the Misfits?!? - Editor] who now goes by the name “Spy.” The press release describes their music as Goth/Doom Metal. There is a Goth element, but I don’t think there is all that much of a Doom presence. These guys are somewhat of a more Hard Rock version of Type-O Negative minus the deep vocals. Spy delivers a superb vocal performance nevertheless. Clear production gives the guitars a good sound. Well-done creepy keyboard passages lurk in the background and don’t dominate the songs. Although Sweet Home Transylvania is a little too average to be something I would normally listen to, it is fairly decent music, and fans of Type-O Negative should definitely give it a try.

This is album number three for France’s Blut Aus Nord and the first in a number of years. Something about this album is soulless. It just feels dark and fucking evil. I don’t know if it has something to do with the sound or the feeling but something just doesn’t feel “right” about The Mystical Beast of Rebellion. It’s almost like sitting in a room with a serial killer who is getting his kicks by fucking with your head. For a Black Metal album, that’s a good thing. The guitars on this album are dissonant and churning, like a dense fog or a rough sea. It’s almost hypnotic, in a way. The drum sound is kind of odd, like they glued a quarter or something onto the bass drum to get a strange clicking sound instead of a deeper tone. The snare tone is deep, though. I found it odd that they would do this, but even stranger is the fact that it works for them. The pacing is generally slower and more atmospheric though the atmosphere is generated from the guitars rather than any keyboards. There are brief interludes of weird sounds or dead silence before the music kicks in again which sometimes heightens the tension or just shocks you when things get rolling once again. From what I could figure out, this album is supposed to be a concept piece as the tracks have the same title, just different chapter numbers attached to it. No lyrics are enclosed and the inlay book, while having six pages (not including the cover and the back), is composed mostly of blank, black pages. Strange? Yes. Good? Definitely.

This album starts off with the usual atmospheric intro that blasts into some furious Black/Death Metal that kind of reminds me a bit of Thornspawn or Summon. The music is more in line with an American Death Metal take on the European Black Metal sound which comes off a bit heavier and a bit less melodic but still powerful. Vocally, this is raspy Black Metal style delivery mixed with occasional Death growls and multi-tracking. The production is fairly clear though there are parts where the drumming overpowers the guitars. Though I can hear everything pretty well, I still think the guitars could be turned up a bit more because they seem to lack volume compared to the rest. I also think that a rawer sound would have helped this a bit more, because Storms of Apocalypse sounds a bit on the sterile side. I don’t know if the band is just not into it enough or if the clean sound sucked some of the life out of this, but I know for sure that this should be more intense and mayhemic. This is still a band to look out for and if this release is anything to go by, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

This Norse horde is back again for their third full-length release (they also have a split “versus” album with …and Oceans), and when you compare it to their previous two discs, this is almost a complete 180 degree turn from what they were doing before. They’ve gone from being an epic, atmospheric Black Metal band to being a brutal as fuck quasi-atmospheric Death Metal band - and it kicks fucking ass, too! The guitars are thick and powerful, the drumming is tight and as far as production qualities go, this is some seriously awesome sounding shit. When the synth kicks in, there is an element of atmosphere, but you can clearly tell that the intention was to keep the keyboards in the background this time around. This is a guitar based album, not a keyboard-heavy one. There are some sound effects between songs that sort of connect all of the tracks, but I’m not really sure if there is a significance to them or not. Yes, the sounds of people screaming and shit getting shot up and explosions sound cool, but is there a purpose? I guess I’m going to have to read the lyrics again to see if there’s a theme… There is even a cover of Mayhem’s “Deathcrush,” and though it seems a bit out of place on this album, it does sound pretty good (when compared to the original). I thought, however, that they could have tweaked it out a bit more and made it more of a Bloodthorn sounding song than sticking so closely to the original. All in all, a very solid release by a very talented band.

Recorded once again at Sunlight Studios, the considerably upped level of brutality is immediately evident with Skullcrusher. The approach here places more emphasis on Death Metal than Black Metal this time around, and it definitely works to Bloodshed’s advantage. These four tracks are heavier, faster, and more aggressive than those on the Laughter of Destruction demo. Glenn’s vocals are deeper and more sinister as well. In fact, the overall production is more polished and effective especially where the drumming and guitar riffs are concerned. Bloodshed seem to be improving exponentially. Their debut album should be nothing short of brilliant.

Here we have a good example of a band reaching a little too deep for a theme. Hoping to become the Macabre of the librarian circuit, Seattle’s Bloodhag have devoted 100% of their subject matter to their favorite authors. So much so that they actually name their songs after the literary figures, with the lyrical content for the tracks being information about that particular writer and/or critique of their works. A bit puzzled? Yes, I think you’re supposed to be. Look, I love a good book as much as anyone, and it’s good to know that Metalheads can still read, but it just comes off as odd, and honestly, flat-out lame. Maybe if they’d put more into making the music innovative and unique I could get into it more, but this is pretty middle-of-the-road Death/Grind with a touch of Thrash, and it doesn’t quite get the blood flowing. I appreciate and sympathize with an extreme band trying to say something other than the same old same-old, but that understanding doesn’t make this any less annoying. I wish Bloodhag all the best of luck in their quest to globalize Dewey Decimal Core, but I think I’ll make the bold move and avoid the bandwagon.

This latest release by Bloodstorm is quite chaotic and quite polished at the same time. The riffs are jarring and the vocals have nothing to do with the flow of the music. The production, on the other hand, is great. You can hear every note clearly and the whole thing is thick and powerful. In a way, this band reminds me of older bands such as Profanatica/Havohej or Beherit but in the quasi-out of control way much like the USBM band Krieg. The music is fast and brutal and so in your face that it takes a couple listens to figure out just what they’re doing. The thing that annoyed me most about this album was the vocals being out of sync with the music. It sounds like Mezzadurus is singing along to a different song half the time because his delivery doesn’t flow with the riffs. This is why bands like Profanatica and Beherit come to mind. I get the feeling that the lyrics were written independently of the music and they just decided to throw them over whichever song they happened to be doing at the time. And the lyrics… I want what these guys are smoking, because this shit is just too fucking far out. I read an interview with Mezzadurus where he tried to explain them, and all this did was confuse me more. It’s like he was trying to explain quantum physics to a bunch of kindergarten kids. It’s definitely esoteric. I’ll commend them for trying to inject some new ideas into the rather stale Black Metal universe, because it is definitely needed - but trying to understand this makes my head hurt.

Former Emperor bassist Tchort must be a happy guy these days. Not only has he been on three albums this last year, he’s been on three albums by three radically different bands. Carpathian Forest is pure Black Metal, Green Carnation is more Atmospheric Doom and this album is pure Death Fucking Metal. Blood Red Throne sounds a lot like the Florida style mixed with some of the Thrashier elements of seminal Death Metal bands like Autopsy, Death and Death/Thrash bands like Slayer and Exodus. The thing that makes this band stand out is the fact that they have very developed songs. They might stay within the confines of Death Metal but you can tell them apart and they each have some little hook or break that gets your head banging uncontrollably. From what I’ve read of the band, their aim is to craft songs that they, themselves, like to listen to. Well, I have to say that they have good taste because this is some amazing shit. This album doesn’t dwell on little issues like “brutality” or speed. Monument of Death is just that. This is what Death Metal should be. There is song diversity, solid playing, good production and most important of all, kick-ass music.

“…this next song goes out to the fantasy people out there, it goes out to all the wiggers, all the white people that wear FUBU gear, all the fuckin’ MTV faggots who can’t stand on their own two fuckin’ feet and be fuckin’ themselves…” Thus starts the last song (a live version of “Paper Gangster”) on this 73+ minute look at the career of Blood for Blood. In fact, the last 11 songs were all recorded live at a show from January, 2001. The sound on the live tracks is excellent, and it’s great to finally hear this Hardcore behemoth live, even if they do come off a little more like Gang Green than Carnivore, at least in the between-song rants. But, although the live show would be plenty of reason to own this CD, it’s hardly the only one or even the most compelling. What I found to be the most indispensable part of this release is the first half, which is comprised of tracks from 7-inches, demos, compilations, and one less-than-awesome previously unreleased track (for which the band apologizes in the liner notes: “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I hear that thing”). These songs include several covers (Wretched Ones’ great sing-along “Goin’ Down the Bar,” Slapshot, and Deadboys), as well as the cuts from the Hurt You demo, the absolutely incredible “Soulless,” and more. If you ask me, this is about as essential as things get - a must buy situation, if you will.