Having moved on from Victory Records, Earth Crisis have more or less remained the same, sound-wise. Which is to say, intense Hardcore. But I don’t remember the vocals being exactly like this. I think they’re mildly overdriven most of the time, but it usually isn’t bad enough to really detract. And it is a little hard for me to like an album that has a member of Machine Head making a guest appearance… But all things considered, this could be their best release so far. Keep in mind that I did not receive a lyric sheet, which was probably very smart on the part of Roadrunner.

It’s not too often that you hear new songs on a live album, but Earth Crisis provides us with three previously unheard songs, including a pretty interesting cover of “Sunshine of Your Love.” All the old songs come across heavier live, and their Hardcore has never lacked in that department anyway.

Their straightforward Black Metal is hardly original, but it is energetic and pretty memorable. Very intense and dark.

For the most part, this Dark Metal is very cool, even possessing a somewhat more raw and aggressive sound that I had thought it would. But occasionally the vocals slip into a “Death Rock” mode that is just too smooth, too lacking in energy, and that brings things down a bit. However, other than that, this 7-inch is hard to beat, from the excellent sound, to the packaging, to the blue vinyl on which it’s stamped.

Holy Hell, these guys are fucking awesome! There are only three songs here, but there’s enough intensity for 30. Their brand of Deathrash is technical, but heavy and super memorable at the same time. I’m reminded of Ghostorm’s flawless Frozen in Fire album, in some places. Drowned are really that good. And while the production and sound are very good, especially for a demo, they’re not as amazing as the music, and so just barely keep this from perfection. With a label to pay for their studio time, Drowned could easily release an all time classic album. I’ll be keeping my ears open for anything new from these maniacs.

This may not really be a demo, since it says it’s on Ill-Omen Records, but there’s no address for Ill-Omen anywhere, and the band’s address is all over the place, so I’m sticking it here with the demos [which were in a separate section from album reviews in the print issues -Editor]. Anyway, this is well played, heavy Thrash, with a really thick, bassy production.

Weird, avant-garde symphonic “Black Metal.” But without much Metal. This is mostly drum machine and keyboards, with some guitars and pretty female vocals. When they’re not trying so hard to be “original,” this isn’t bad, though. [This band would later change its name to Drastique. -Editor]

Something about the name of this band told me to expect Hardcore, and I wasn’t let down. Drained play a solid, in-your-face style of Metallic Hardcore in the vein of Sick of It All. While I do enjoy this, I can’t help but feel that it’s kind of lacking in originality. Still, if you’re one into no-frills mosh riffs and angry vocals, this band is worth checking out.

This band hails from Chile and plays Satanic Doom/Death Metal in the old Florida style. The thing that stood out the most about this band was the fact that they sound exactly like about three or four dozen demo tapes that I got from various now non-existent bands back in the early ‘90s. Remember when every Death Metal band wanted to sound just like Morbid Angel, Deicide, Death and Obituary? Remember how they all “sort of” sounded like one of those bands but never matched up with the talent or the production qualities that these bands had? Dominus Xul brings all that nostalgia back. This reeks of old Florida Death Metal and has production so muddy that if it were Black Metal, I’d call it “Grim.” The music is completely generic by-the-numbers Death Metal and I know that there are people who just love this shit to death. If you’re one of them, I’m sure you’re dredging your local record store as I write this. I’ll give Dominus Xul credit for staying “old-school,” but rehashing the early ‘90s isn’t going to do anybody any good unless you take the influence and go somewhere with it.

If you’re into the newer Fear Factory sort of abrasive start/stop “New Thrash” crap, then you will want to check out DFG, as they do it about a billion times better, are way more aggressive, and don’t have all the queer “sweet” courses and that shit that FF do. When they let go and just get down to solidly kicking ass, this is great, but they spend a lot of time with the “chug chug, pause, chug chug, pause” sort of thing, and I can’t stand that. But the production is so awesome, and the vocals so pissed off, that I’m tempted to like this anyway. But those half of the riffs that are dorky just kill it for me.

It’s not too surprising that this band sounds like Malevolent Creation, since everyone in Divine Empire was at one time or another in MC. But that’s about as far away from being a detraction as things get. I have been a huge Malevolent Creation fan for about a decade, and although their sound has changed over the years, I think that their only completely flawless album so far (and keep in mind that I’ve not yet heard The Fine Art of Murder as I type this) was In Cold Blood, which featured the brutally perfect vocals of Jason Blachowicz, now the front man for Divine Empire. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Redemption is as completely perfect as is the aforementioned In Cold Blood, it’s close, and certainly an awesome debut. The songs are kept to short, intense, memorable assaults, and Jason’s vocals are in fine form. That’s an unbeatable combination.

Well, the songs are probably pretty cool Thrashy Death Metal, but the “production” here is so bad it’s hard to tell. The vox are so loud as to nearly obliterate everything else whenever they’re present. I’m sure a live release seemed like a good idea to the band, but this must be is a bad representation of what they sound like.

For once a press release is accurate. I think that describing Dissent as “Progressive Hardcore” is about as accurate as you could be. There are some riffs on here that I don’t like, but far more that I do, and the playing is always impressive, sometimes very much so. The super thick production is cool, too, and a great idea.

I reviewed this last issue (so check there for more about this excellent album), but it has been re-released by the very cool people at American Line. Extreme Death/Grind. ‘Nuff said.

Ghouls, attack the church! Crush the holy priest! Turning the cross towards Hell, writhe in Satan’s flames. Crush the priest! The feeble church! Dead - your god is dead. Fools, your god is dead. Useless prayers of lies. Behold Satan’s rise. Crush the priest! The feeble church! The family of dog. Lust upon the altar. Demons, attack with hate! Satan, in the fires of Hell, awaits. Death against you all! God, hear my death call.

A lot of people whose opinions I respect have a problem with these blasphemers, due to that they supposedly have a “Rock Star” attitude. Well, any band that covers Accept’s “Metal Heart” is okay with me. In fact, this whole CD is great! Sure they have some “sweet” new wave Black Metal keyboards, but I don’t have a problem with that, and all the songs (a couple new ones, a couple old ones redone, the Accept cover, and 3 live cuts) are memorable and really pretty intense.

Starts out pretty mellow, and then evolves into a Doomy melancholy with Black Metalish vocals. Sometimes this is a great combination, but all too often it’s just way too wimpy, complete with ultra sappy, cleanly whined vocals, as in the song “Epidermal Macabre” (which would mean, what “scary skin”?). Dies Irae are excellent musicians, but all the skill in the world, and even the occasional moments of greatness, can’t save this. The weak parts are too many and pull it down too far.

Brutal, yet memorable, evil Death Metal, which is helped by its outstanding production.

These guys play a somewhat melodic style of Death Metal, but wisely keep the vocals very brutal, and a real raw edge to the guitars. That ensures heaviness. They’re also not afraid to speed things up or throw in some acoustic guitar work, when it fits well, and only then. And that makes this really stand above the competition.

Intense, brutal Death Metal, with an occasional touch of groove.