Southern Lord classifies this band as “Dark Metallic Hardcore.” I’m not the resident expert on Metalcore (I defer to Jack’s far superior knowledge in that department), but Belgium’s Hessian A.D. [until recently, simply known as Hessian] doesn’t strike me as being a Metalcore band. Maybe the Sunlight Studios production is what does it, but Manegarmr doesn’t sound remotely like anything I classify as Hardcore. When I think of Hardcore, I think of either bands like Minor Threat, Agnostic Front and Sick of It All, or bands like Crass, Discharge or Napalm Death. Hessian A.D. doesn’t sound anything like any of those bands. The fact that Manegarmr was recorded at Sunlight Studios by Thomas Skogsberg should give you a clue as to what this band really sounds like. The next clue is that singer Bram Coussement is a vocal dead ringer for Matti Karki. If your answer was “Old-School Swedish Death Metal,” you’re correct. Yes, Hessian A.D. sounds very much like a band that worships at the altar of Like an Ever Flowing Stream and Left Hand Path. While not as melodic as Entombed or Dismember were, Hessian A.D. does pack a powerful punch. This is some ferocious shit. If, as the press release indicates, this LP was named after the wolf that devours the sun [isn’t that Skoll?], it’s because these guys attack the listener like a pack of hungry wolves. Each track is a short burst of anger and aggression that gets your head banging right away. If this band could capture even half of the brutality and rage that’s on this LP in the live setting, you’re going to be looking at mass casualties coming out of any venue that they play at.

I’ve listened to this EP approximately 666 times, and I’m saddened to report that this is all that I can remember about it: The first two cuts, the title track and “Venial Sin,” are apparently new. There’s a cover of Satyricon’s “Possessed” that has an obnoxiously loud keyboard hit, I guess I’ll call it, at about 1:18 (it’s in the original Satyricon version, too…), which is really jarring and the only noticeable use of keyboards in the song - but that said, it is very well translated into Grave’s style. We’ve also got a “remixed,” shorter version of “Epos,” from last year’s Endless Procession of Souls album. And finally, a re-recorded demo track (“Reality of Life”) written about a quarter-century ago, initially appearing on the 1989 Sexual Mutilation demo, and evidently never deemed worthy to be redone for an album in all this time. Everything may possibly be leftovers from the Endless Procession of Souls recording sessions, which I bring up because I am hoping that they are, and thus not necessarily indicative of whatever Ola and company will do next. Make no mistake, this EP is good, solid Death Metal, and if some unknown band handed it to me, by now I’d be deep into how amazing it is, if not exactly memorable. But this is Grave! Go back and listen to anything from Into the Grave (the perfection!). Or You’ll Never See…. Or …and Here I Die… Satisfied. Or even some of Soulless. Holy fucking HELL. It’s not my fault that Ola set the bar so high that even he can’t reach it anymore. Don’t feel bad, man, very few can or ever could. Morbid Ascent is certainly worth a listen, and I know that I’m being a dick for expecting the Grave of old, but I can’t help it. Hating life 2013.

This is my first exposure to Canada’s Ov Hollowness, but I can immediately tell that Mark R., the sole member of the band, is a huge fan of Burzum. The entirety of The World Ends is the abject worship of Varg’s minimalistic, yet dark, style. While this isn’t an out-and-out clone, you can’t help but see the Burzum influences coming to the fore. The sound on this LP, though, is nothing like what Varg has done before or after his incarceration. While the other worshippers at the altar of Det Som Engang Var prefer the “cold and empty” sound, Ov Hollowness has a slick, bass-heavy production that adds considerable heft to the band’s songs. This is some heavy shit. I mean borderline Doom heavy. As someone who has dabbled in playing the bass guitar, I like that The World Ends both mesmerizes with its near-hypnotic ambience and shakes my fucking walls. Fans of other Burzum-esque bands (Weakling, Wolves in the Throneroom and Chasma, to name a few) will surely enjoy this. The World Ends has definitely made me interested in tracking down the rest of the Ov Hollowness back catalog. I play this LP and Dead As Dreams by Weakling back to back a lot these days. On repeat.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard from Ireland’s Mourning Beloveth, and it isn’t for the lack of trying. I only own two previous releases by this band, the 2001 debut LP, Dust, and its follow-up, The Sullen Sulcus. There have been two other full-length LPs since then, A Murderous Circus (2005) and A Disease for the Ages (2008). They also have a trio of split releases out there, too. Considering how good these guys are, I’m surprised they aren’t on a bigger label. I’d actually like that because their records are kind of hard to find unless you like downloading MP3 files from iTunes or Amazon. Frankly, Mourning Beloveth is as dark and heavy as you’re going to get when it comes to guitar-based Doom/Death Metal. Imagine My Dying Bride or Eye of Solitude, but without keyboards or violins. These guys squeeze a lot of atmosphere and heaviness out of their basic instrumentation. Using varying vocal styles (ranging from the brutal Death Growl to clean) and slow but melodic riffing, Mourning Beloveth has managed to capture an air of anguish and despair that flows throughout the entirety of the first of the two CDs that make up this album. The second disc only contains one track, “Transmissions,” which stands out as an oddball because it is mostly acoustic guitar and vocals. It still has a dark and ominous atmosphere, but it contrasts sharply with the other songs. I consider it to be an outro or a bonus track. It keeps this from perfection because it breaks up the flow of the album, but I don’t consider it a serious detraction. The other five tracks are more than enough to highly recommend this LP if you’re a serious Doom/Death Metal fan.

Okay, I admit that I was a little concerned about what U.D.O. would sound like without Stefan Kaufmann, but I needn’t have been. Other than a couple slightly White Zombieish nu-groove riffs (or perhaps variations on the same riff) in the song “Mean Machine,” which are more distracting than ruinous, this might as well be Rev-Raptor 2. Which is to say that it’s great! Kaufmann’s… I’m hesitant to use the word “replacement,” because you can’t really replace a guy like Stefan, but whatever term one uses, the new Russian guitarist, Andrey Smirnov is perfectly serviceable, and I doubt than anyone expected him to outshine Kaufmann. Main-man Udo “Bastard!!” Dirkschneider sounds just as good and gruff as always, even singing one song, “Basta Ya,” in Spanish to prove that U.D.O. truly is an international band. That’s one of the standout tracks, along with “Never Cross My Way,” and the deadly one-two punch of the mid-album duo “Devil’s Bite” and “Death Ride.” Dirkschneider sneaks in a piano-and-vocals softie with the strangely effective “Heavy Rain,” which benefits from its brevity at a hair under two-and-a-half minutes. It’s no surprise that the man with the metal heart has delivered another in an endless line of albums chock full of Metal anthems. There isn’t a song on Steelhammer that you won’t be singing along with after a couple listens (or, immediately, for some!), and other than that 2.5 minute break I mentioned, you’ll probably be working out your neck for most of this, too. The only real flaw —and I hate to beat a dead horse, but this trend must die— is that you’ve got to buy this twice to get all the songs. And even then, you’d better know which two versions to get. Don’t worry, though, because Metal Curse has your back. So, let’s break it down: The normal jewel-case CD has 14 tracks, and the Limited Edition digipak adds one more, “Shadows Come Alive,” which you don’t want to miss. The Japanese version has a different bonus track, an English re-do of “Basta Ya” called “Dust and Rust,” which, while excellent, is less of a must than the LE digipak’s entirely new song. No idea about the vinyl, cassette, 8-track, reel-to-reel tape, DCC, MiniDisc, DVD-Audio, or SACD tracklists. However, in what may be a first, the iTunes/Amazon/wherever mp3 download has two less songs than the standard CD! It felt good to type that. Fuck you, iTunes! So, if you download this (legally), you’re only getting 12 of the 16 songs. That’s three-quarters, for the arithmophobic among you, and I’d say that not getting a fourth of something you’ve paid for is a problem. Imagine you’ve just bought a 20-piece box of McNuggets and it only has 15 in it. Let there be an end to the Bonus Track Wars! May all formats have the same tracklist! In Metal’s name, Amen!

In the realms of Black Metal, Von has become something of a legend. One demo tape (Satanic Blood) and a handful of live shows were all that this band had under their belt before disappearing into the fog that shrouds San Francisco most of the year. Satanic Blood became a highly sought after recording, mostly because Varg of Burzum pumped this band incessantly in interviews. Their minimalistic style became a serious influence on Norway’s seminal Black Metal scene. I actually got to see Von ages ago at one of their few live shows. In Black Metal circles, that’s akin to having met Jesus. I’ve seen twenty-something Black Metal kids damn near shit their pants when I tell them that I was in the audience at one of Von’s concerts. I’ve never quite understood the hype, mostly because I don’t worship other humans like they were gods. I’ve met members of Metallica, who are billionaires. Michael Bordin, the drummer for Faith No More and a guy that Ozzy Osbourne himself handpicked to be his live drummer, lived across the street from me. They’re just people. I look beyond the superficial layer of celebrity and see their work for what it is: art created by flesh and blood humans. Some view the reemergence of Von as a form of blasphemy. Those who have built shrines and altars devoted to Satanic Blood fear that the return of Von is some sort of cash-in. The re-recording of Satanic Blood may have been a cheap cash-in, mostly because the original recordings have been released, re-released, and re-released again so many times that pretty much anyone who wanted to hear the material has already heard it. Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves is an entirely new album. Some people are going to hate this simply because it exists. Those people are never going to be happy. They want Von to remain an obscure cult phenomenon that only the “true” deserve to hear. They want the Satanic Blood demo recordings to be the alpha and the omega for the group, regardless of what the founders of the band want. The question being, is this a Von album, or should the music on here have been released under a different name? Musically, this does have elements of the old Von sound. The structures are minimalistic, though unlike Satanic Blood, the songs are longer and more developed. Where Satanic Blood was a burst of raw anger akin to getting blasted in the face by a steel pipe out of nowhere, Dark Gods is more focused and complex. It isn’t Progressive Black Metal by a long shot, but it’s definitely a step up from the one-riff “kill your mom for Satan” Black Metal that was on display back in 1992. The new material has a darker atmosphere and it’s definitely heavier. It has a vibe that I remember from listening to old Corpse Molestation or Disembowelment. It almost seems as if Von decided to reinterpret Satanic Blood in a Doom/Death Metal style. It has that Burzum-esque minimalism, but with a slower, heavier sound. While I did grow to enjoy Satanic Blood for its minimalism and in-your-face brutality, I find myself liking Dark Gods because it’s so different. Venien could have rehashed Satanic Blood and milked it for everything that it was worth, but he chose not to do it. I’m also a sucker for dark atmosphere, and Dark Gods definitely has it. I asked earlier if this was a Von album, and for me, it definitely is. Just not the Von album that people were expecting.

Normally, I wouldn’t write a track-by-track review for anything other than a various-artists compilation, but I can’t think of another way to plump this up beyond one sentence. So, let the ever flowing stream of consciousness begin! I’m not sure that I understand why Evocation wanted to record an all-covers EP when they wear their influences so clearly on their collective sleeve, but they’d have been hard pressed to pick better bands and songs to cover. Up first is possibly the greatest Death Metal song ever written: Bolt Thrower’s beyond-flawless “…for Victory.” Evocation’s bright, modern production does this one no favors, as it needs the thick radioactive grime of the original. And do not tweak the fucking riffs! Add to the poor decisions the terrible multi-tracked vocals that come in towards the end, and… it’s a disaster. Guys, this isn’t a call to arms, it’s a lamentation. Do you think that you somehow know better than the masters?!? You do not. Up next is every non-Carcass-fan’s favorite Carcass song. Yes, it’s “Corporal Jigsore Quandary.” And although sadly missing its intro, this is fairly by-the-numbers, and impressive in the appropriately precise and surgical performance. But it’s missing… something. Maybe it’s due to the slightly faster tempo? Whatever it is, the song’s emotion is gone. As for the following cut, it will take you longer to read this sentence than the duration of the 2-second blast, “You Suffer” (Napalm Death), so… moving on… Edge of Sanity’s “Enigma” is an interesting choice, with its cello intro and minimal use of clean vocals. Unfortunately, Evocation ditches those elements, which I think are important parts of the original, and I was curious to hear how they would be handled. Ex-Edge of Sanity mastermind Dan Swano mixed and mastered this EP, so don’t tell me that he wouldn’t have done the clean singing, too. I’d be surprised if he didn’t make the offer. Finally, we come to Evocation’s take on At the Gates’s “Terminal Spirit Disease.” It seems like an odd choice to me, but nevertheless comes the closest to capturing the “spirit” of the original, with the more modern recording/production actually helping out for once. Evocation is very good at delivering the Metal of Death, no question, but not really in the same league as any of the big boys they’re covering here. Don’t feel bad, though, almost no one is in their league - especially the gods known as Bolt Thrower. Cover songs are tricky things. A band needs to translate the original into their own style, while not changing the essence. Check out Entombed’s Venom and Motorhead covers. Or Aborted’s Entombed covers. They get it. I understand that Evocation wanted to pay tribute to their influences, but they don’t always seem to understand exactly what makes these songs classics, and a little alteration of the wrong kind goes a very long way, indeed. I will happily check back in with these Swedish sickos when their next LP comes out, but this one-listen novelty EP is certainly safe to skip.

Alex Krull, the only remaining original member of Germany’s Atrocity, has been all over the Metal map. Atrocity has played everything from Grindcore to Folk Metal to Gothic Metal to shit that can only be described as “Experimental,” for the lack of a better word. Okkult, though, rests primarily in the gray area between Gothic Metal and Death Metal. Where Atrocity shines is when things stick primarily to the Death Metal style. The straight-forward Death Metal on Okkult is brutal and aggressive. When Alex and company start kicking ass, my neck starts making more snap, crackle and pop noises than a fucking bowl of Rice Krispies. The Gothic Metal influence is on the schizophrenic side. On one hand, there are bits that sound like Horror soundtrack parts that heighten the evil sounding Death Metal and makes it more potent. On the other side of the coin are the bits that sound like rejected parts from the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, which are campy and distract from some otherwise good Death Metal. These parts are thankfully rare, only coming into play on two or three songs. I liked that Atrocity wove in some interesting atmospheric stuff into the mix, but mostly stuck to their strengths. Okkult never strayed too far from the reservation and while it had some interesting flourishes, it was pretty orthodox compared to a lot of their back catalog. Hopefully Atrocity will keep up with this formulation and refine away the campy stuff. One of the things I’ve always disliked about this band is the fact that each record tends to be radically different than the one before it. Atrocity did an album of reworked Pop songs, if you remember. If that wasn’t a nasty surprise, I don’t know what is. Alex Krull has changed styles so many times that you wonder if he is in a constant state of identity crisis. If anything, Okkult is a mostly solid album that does a lot of ass-kicking. Hopefully, their next one will do the same. Knowing Atrocity, though, means that there is no guarantee of that actually happening.

When I first heard of Sidious, all I had to go on was the band name and the title of this, their debut EP for Kaotoxin. Based on that, I assumed that the band was from Poland. A lot of Polish bands use “ov” instead of “of” for some strange reason. I think Behemoth started this, but other bands in that scene have picked up on it. It came as a surprise, then, when I found out that this group isn’t from Poland. They’re actually from London, England. Two of the members of Sidious are also in Eye of Solitude. That was kind of a shock because Eye of Solitude isn’t exactly known for fast and aggressive music. They usually explore the slower and heavier realms of the Metal sound. As for Sidious, their music sounds like what would happen if Behemoth did a bunch of Dimmu Borgir covers. The guitars have that Polish Death Metal crunch, but there are more atmospheric elements to this, including extensive use of keyboards and melodic guitars. When these guys get aggressive, it is some brutal and heavy Death Metal. When they get atmospheric, things are dark and epic. If there is a downside to this band’s style, it’s that there’s a lot going on at all times. The drumming is a tornado of blasting snare, double-bass, cymbals and just about everything else except for cowbell. The guitars are fast and technical. Tom Allen’s vocals are harsh and abrasive, sounding like Peter from Vader most of the time. What keeps everything from becoming a whirlwind of blasting, grinding Death Metal are the atmospheric parts. The keyboards and other atmospheric elements break up the brutality enough so that your brain doesn’t go numb from all the punishment. It takes a little while to get your head around what Sidious is doing, mostly because there is so much going on. Once I did, I found myself thinking that this was too short and that I wanted more. If this EP is to give you a hint of what is to come, I’m definitely interested in seeing what this band’s next release is going to be like.

There are only two songs here, and normally that would make a review difficult. But Brutality is far from a normal band. It has been 17 long years since the classic In Mourning was unleashed upon mankind, and although there have been some demo collections and a live recording in the interim, I have been very anxiously awaiting this new material. All three Brutality albums (the aforementioned In Mourning from 1996, 1994’s flawless When the Sky Turns Black, and 1993’s Screams of Anguish) are prime examples of how to properly write, play, and record Death Metal. Every aspiring band should dissect these masterpieces and study them intensely and ceaselessly. Do you want to learn the secret of writing riffs that are both brutal and memorable at the same time? Guitar solos that actually enhance the songs they’re in? Drumming that is always intense at just the right times and allows the music space to breathe when necessary? Brutality will show you the way. Are you curious about how to achieve the perfect blend of rawness and understandability in your growls and screams? Look no further than Brutality’s bestial bellower, Scott Reigel, who is inarguably one of the very top Death Metal singers of all time. And Ruins of Humans picks right up where the band left off, obliterating everything in its path. At a mere 14 minutes, this isn’t much more than a teaser, but holy Hell it is utter perfection. So, consider my appetite officially whetted for a hopefully soon-to-be-released new full-length album. However you get new music, you need to check this out immediately, as if your life itself depends on it - because it does. The masters have finally returned! Death Metal does not get better than this. Period.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Gamma Ray, but I’ve always had a lot of respect for Kai Hansen, the founder of the band and ex-Helloween guitarist/vocalist. While I gave up on Helloween after one spin of Pink Bubbles Go Ape, I would still listen to Gamma Ray every now and then when I felt like getting a quick dose of Power Metal amidst the sea of Death and Black Metal that I was listening to. Master of Confusion, the band’s latest release, shows that Kai and Gamma Ray still have the ability to pump out some rocking tunes. For a guy who is past the half-century mark, Kai still has a good voice and he can still shred on the guitar. The problem, though, is that Master of Confusion is fairly predictable. The songs are well played, to be sure, but they’re unadventurous. This is Power Metal by the numbers. Gamma Ray has an impressive back-catalog that spans over twenty years. If they put together a greatest hits album, I doubt that any of the new studio cuts on this EP will even be in contention for a bonus CD full of secondary tracks. The live songs, which comprise the bulk of this release, are where the real meat is located. They show that, in a live environment, Gamma Ray can deliver the goods just as competently - if not more - as in the studio. These guys may have gotten to the point where they’re just releasing new material as an excuse to tour. With two plus decades of recordings to draw from, they have more than enough songs to fill up a full set. If you’re looking for something special or if you’re already a Gamma Ray fan, my guess is that you’re going to be disappointed. The new songs on this EP aren’t especially great. The live cuts are better, but still nothing that absolutely has to be tracked down (unless you’re a super-fan and you have to own everything the band puts out). It’s good Power Metal, but unfortunately it isn’t great Power Metal.

I’ve been listening to this album over and over for months now, trying to figure out what is left to be said about the ever-amazing Jungle Rot. If after nearly two decades you don’t know how consistently impressive (and impressively consistent) this band is, there is just no hope for you. The only “review” that should really be needed is, “There is a new Jungle Rot album!” If there were any justice in the world, people would be lined up miles deep at the few remaining records stores to buy this CD, and fucking iTunes.com would be so overloaded that their servers burst into flame and melt down. But… back to justice-less reality. If you have absolutely no clue about JR, you likely won’t get my reference, either (and so why would you even be reading this?!?), but imagine something like an American Unleashed and you’d be on the right track, at least. And if that doesn’t sound like the coolest thing ever… Well, suicide is always an option. But, I digress. Now that mastermind Dave Matrise finally has a solid label behind him with a record-setting two albums in a row on Victory Records, and a hopefully stabilized line-up (featuring my old friend Jimmy Doomed on bass!), the sky’s the limit for these Midwest masters of Death Metal. From the very beginning Dave has known the secret of writing simple, heavy riffs and making them instantly memorable. This straightforward approach has served him very well over the years with a string of invariably nearly-flawless albums, and of course Terror Regime is no exception. I don’t fully comprehend why they would turn in a D.R.I. cover (“I Don’t Need Society”) that’s so close to the original version, but it’s about as far away from a problem as things get. D.R.I. is legendary, and any band paying tribute to them gets nothing but respect from me. It’s often very difficult to pick a standout track on a Jungle Rot record, because they all stand out. There has never been a Jungle Rot song that didn’t immediately claw its way into your brain and cause a severe case of Headbanger’s Neck! But even with the bar set this high, this album’s final song, “Pronounced Dead,” does poke up ever so slightly above the others, way up in the Exosphere, and is the perfect way to close out yet another astonishing album from this unstoppable band.

I was a fan of Norway’s Aeternus in the late ’90s, back in the days of their Beyond the Wandering Moon and …and So the Night Became albums. Their early material was often described as Black Metal, but I always considered them an Atmospheric Death Metal band. Ares, the vocalist/bassist (he played guitar on the older albums), always used the Death growl instead of screaming like his nuts were in a vice, so I never lumped Aeternus in with the rest of the Norwegian scene, even though he did play in a number of Black Metal bands. I kind of lost track of them over the years, and when I heard that they were going to release a new record, I was interested in hearing how they’d evolved. It had, after all, been close to a decade since I’d last heard Aeternus. I even saw ads saying that they were returning to their Dark Metal roots. After having listened to …and the Seventh His Soul Detesteth, I have to say that the idea that Aeternus returned to their roots on this LP shows a lack of knowledge about the band’s history and their back catalog. This LP really lacks a lot of the atmosphere that the older albums had. There are some good acoustic interludes, but the songs themselves are mostly straight-forward Death Metal. I was pretty disappointed by that because what I liked about Aeternus was the atmospheric element that they brought to their music. The first release version of this CD also contains the band’s long out of print 1995 debut EP, Dark Sorcery, as bonus tracks. Of all of the songs on this LP, I actually liked the Dark Sorcery tracks the best. The Dark Sorcery tracks sounded a bit dated and the recording was definitely not as powerful as the newer stuff, but even with that, they had that missing atmosphere that I really wanted to hear. While their straight-forward Death Metal songs are competently executed, they weren’t anything special. Without the atmospheric element, Aeternus has completely lost the thing that made them stand out from the crowd. They may as well be a Morbid Angel tribute band at this point. Maybe one of these days Aeternus will truly rediscover their roots. I’ll be waiting for that. This particular incarnation of Aeternus just leaves me cold.

I remember first hearing about Dream Death back in the early ’90s. I had just begun to listen to Death Metal, and I also started hanging out at the indie record stores on Haight Street (Rough Trade Records and Reckless Records, both of which have long since disappeared into the mists of time). I’d occasionally see their 1987 debut album (Journey Into Mystery) in the racks and I always wanted to check them out. Each time, though, I ended up having to choose between Dream Death and another album that I really wanted (like Blessed Are the Sick or Left Hand Path). I finally got to hear them from a friend who was a tape trader. Their debut album is best described as “Doom/Thrash” because they had a serious Doom influence (all of the members are or were involved with Penance, Mike Smail, the drummer, was also involved with Cathedral and Pentagram). Brian Lawrence, the vocalist/guitarist, has a voice that’s fairly gruff and it comes off as being Hardcore-influenced. Musically, though, they sounded very much like Celtic Frost, sporting a guitar tone that was heavy as fuck. Somnium Excessum, their first full-length LP since reforming and second album overall, isn’t what I expected. Compared to their debut, it’s seriously disappointing. Journey Into Mystery was a bit uneven, but most of the songs were good and the whole album was brutal. This LP still has good sound but the songwriting isn’t there. The transitions are hit-or-miss, sometimes flowing well, but other times sloppy. The riffing is likewise hit-or-miss. Some of the riffs are good, but others are jarring. The combination of sloppy transitions and erratic riffing makes the songs on Somnium Excessum sound thrown together. I don’t know if these guys were rushed or not, but the songs sound like they needed more rehearsal time and a lot more refinement. I listened to this album almost a dozen times, and each time I did, I went in wanting to like it. I kept thinking that I was missing something, but in the end I came away with the idea that this should have been a demo recording instead of an actual album. I can’t, in good conscience, recommend this. Even if you liked the first album, this doesn’t live up to it.

How do you review the comeback album from a band that’s been defunct for 17 years? This sickness fest of a band that used a copy of a medical textbook as a lyrics sheet broke up in 1995 and released their last record a year later, so what do you expect a new release straight out of nowhere to sound like? The answer is that this is a pretty decent offering from the UK foursome, and long story short, it sounds a lot like if the original band had gone into the studio in 1993 after the release of the Tools of the Trade EP and continued down that road.
Let’s catch up with a bit of history, first. In 1995, Carcass fell apart, largely because of problems with Columbia/Sony and the hurried recording of Swansong. Michael Amott had already split after Heartwork; everyone except Steer started Blackstar, with Steer forming Firebird, both bands significantly different than Grindcore. Ken Owen had a cerebral hemorrhage, spent a year in a coma, and eventually went back to school. Everyone else wandered, and extreme Metal fell out of the limelight, going into a dark era of Grunge, boy bands, modern Country, and whatever the hell else happened between the mid-90s to present. In 2007, the band more or less reformed, to play live and do the festival circuit in Europe, with the Steer/Walker duo rejoined by Michael Amott, who recruited drummer Daniel Erlandsson from his group Arch Enemy to replace the I’m-lucky-I-can-still-barely-walk Owen. (Owen does contribute some backing vocals to this new album, however.) Going into the studio for the new release, swap out the two Arch Enemy guys for Daniel Wilding on drums and Ben Ash on guitar, and you’ve got the whole family tree for the last twenty years.
I should add a disclaimer here, as this is a huge point of discontent among Metal fans. Of the Carcass studio albums, my personal favorite is Necroticism. No huge controversy there; I think most people would agree. But I don’t hold any grudge about Heartwork or Swansong. Agreed, they are different, but I don’t like it when a band who has hit a near-perfect stride with an album continues to try and record that same thing over and over. I always feel that even (and especially) when a group records an almost flawless album (like Necroticism) they should always try something new that stays true to their sound, but reaches a bit more, into new territory. And, of course, studio technology evolves and advances, and either bands get bigger budgets or the cost required to record an album decreases, so you get those improvements over time. I’m not saying this always works, or that the intent is always correct. A good example would be Entombed, who went from the sheer dark and evil perfection of Clandestine to the cock sucking Butt Rock of Wolverine Blues. But I never strongly disliked the later work of Carcass, and simply saw it as the next stage of their evolution, just like they evolved from a Grindgore sound on their first two albums to a more produced and Death Metal-oriented structure by 1991.
Okay, I’ve burned three paragraphs without mentioning anything about what this record sounds like. Surgical Steel is really two albums mixed together into a single disc of music, with a rough concept related to medical tools used in operating rooms. (Don’t think Operation: Mindcrime concept album; it’s more thematic than conceptual, along the lines of Necroticism, maybe dialed back 10%.) The band alternates between a fast, almost blistering Grindcore, maybe not as Grind-derived as their 1991 outing, but certainly higher-RPM than their last two albums. The other half of the tracks are much more melodic Death Metal, which is more in line with the last two. It’s maybe enough to appease those who liked Swansong, but not enough to completely piss off those who hated it. The album is laid out for the most part with the first half being the speedy stuff, and the more melodic tracks making up the B-side, with a few exceptions to mix things up. (Kids: go look up “LP” on wikipedia or ask your grandfather about “records” that had “sides,” which were used a century before you downloaded shit off the internet.)
For example, take the song “Thrasher’s Abbatoir” (which is actually the same name as the first song the band, then called Disattack, ever wrote) is a quick 1:51 of straight-up velocity. The next track, “Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System,” is also a short 2:24 of blast beat drumming that drops out of hyperspeed for a bridge with thick leads before returning to the previous pace. “A Congealed Clot of Blood” slows things down, but then “The Master Butcher’s Apron” gets right back into Necroticism-style double bass attack runs punctuated with chunkier bits. (Oh, the opening track, “1985,” is a guitar instrumental intro, before the album launches into full fury. What’s interesting is that this riff is basically taken from a very early Disattack rehearsal recording.) These first tracks, structure-wise, sound like they could have been slotted in right before or after a song like “Incarnated Solvent Abuse” on Necroticsm.
A few things help to make this true. One is that Wilding’s drumming is very close to the same style as Owens’ work. He’s a very technically precise player that patterns his foundation of the music well, and can get in and out of the different tempos required in these song structures with good aptitude. I have found that some Death Metal drummers master the ability of laying down that insane, speedy double-bass blast, and then feel a need to keep it going constantly, which then causes their slower transitions to sound inauthentic or just plain stupid. I’ve always appreciated Owens’ ability to mix things up and get in and out of different types of rhythm without faltering, and Wilding keeps with the same spirit here.
The other thing is that Colin Richardson returned as producer of this recording. I realize he’s produced all of their albums, so if you hate Swansong, you can assign blame there, but I’ve always associated his production work with Necroticism, and thought he did a stunning job there, in being able to present the amazing lead guitar work on top of an immaculately crisp drum sound. Here, he does not disappoint, and twenty-some years of evolution in recording technology makes everything even better, which I would have never though possible back in 1991. (Do an A/B on the two albums and you will be amazed.)
As far as guitar work, I’d say that Steer is at his prime here. I had great worries that his long foray outside the world of Metal would have made this album as riffy as a remember-the-70s AOR marathon of Bad Company hits. But, like Necroticism, his main competency is laying down extended soloing over the top. It’s not a shredding “look how fast I can sweep pick every note in a Hungarian minor scale a dozen times in a row” soloing, but an extremely melodic sort of lead. Granted, in Necroticism, he was trading off leads with Amott, but here every lead is meticulously sculpted and performed, and fits the structure of the songs extremely well. I should say something about Walker’s bass playing, which is great, although it’s not as up-front as I wanted. If you listen to their latest live festival work (there are no official releases - go hit YouTube) you’ll hear him with a very bright bass sound, up front in the mix. The bass does cut through, and it ties together the rhythm of the incredible drums with the melody of the guitar, but it’s not like Les fucking Claypool front-and-center. It doesn’t need to be, though.
As for that melodic Death Metal stuff: if you thought that Swansong was gayer than fellow Metal Curse reviewer Jack Botos’s unnatural obsession with that Behind the Candelabra movie about Liberace, you might not be as into some of the longer tracks. But for me, this is where the band really shines. The best example of this is the finale, “Mount of Execution,” which is an 8:25 masterpiece starting with acoustic guitars, and no drums, then slowly building to a steady gallop that’s a good foundation for Steer’s haunting melodic leads. It’s the perfect end to the album, and shows the versatility of the band, how they aren’t just a bunch of blast beats and lyrics about guts and autopsies.
A big part of my rating for Surgical Steel is what this record isn’t. I really feared that it would be like that last Morbid Angel album, with just a slight ghost of the Death Metal past, mixed with healthy servings of Dubstep remixes and prostate massages. It’s not. There are no samples or St. Anger douchebaggery, no attempts at Industrial Dance music or DJ scratching. And given the band’s involvement with non-Metal music, there were legitimate concerns that this would be some Blues-based Yardbirds wankery here, which there is not. Even worse, I feared that the band would just phone in a pale imitation of the albums they did twenty years ago, a collection of new songs that are the same as the old songs. But it isn’t. This is a strong contender, a complete album that continues from where the band left off in the ’90s, and I really appreciate that.

The Ukraine has spawned a number of Pagan/Folk Metal bands over the years. While Paganland isn’t exactly a newcomer to the scene, they aren’t exactly prolific, either. Metal-archives.com has their founding year listed as 1997, but their this is their first full-length LP. Their previous releases were in 1999 (Gods of Golden Circle demo) and 2008 (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors/Carpathia split with Тіні Забутих Предків (which translates to Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors), their side of the split was Carpathia). With such a long time in development, the music of Paganland is very refined. Unlike most debut albums these days, the overwhelming majority of the songs on Wind of Freedom are good. Musically, these guys mix a number of different styles, going from Slavic Folk to Black Metal to some elements of Power Metal and even a little atmospheric Doom. Their sound is comparable to bands like Arkona (Russia) or maybe Butterfly Temple. I’m a bit hesitant to include Butterfly Temple because I’ve only heard one of their albums. I’ve always had trouble keeping track of the Eastern European scene, particularly Russia and the Ukraine, because the record stores around here only seem to focus on a few of the larger bands (like Drudkh). Realistically, I should be glad that any record store in the Bay Area stocks music other than the latest Pop trends, but it still makes following underground music hard. But I digress… For the most part, Wind of Freedom is a solid slab of Slavic Folk Metal. There were a couple spots on this LP where things got a little too “beer tent at the Renaissance Faire” for me, though. This happened primarily in songs where they tried to incorporate flute into the mix. A flute is one of those instruments that tends not to work too well with Metal music because it’s a bit too high pitched. The only ones that seem to work are the Asian ones (Shakuhachi or Pgaku), mostly because their pitch is lower in comparison to their European counterparts. I know that it is a traditional Folk instrument, but its inclusion often makes the music sound hokey. Other than that, this is a good album that fans of Folk Metal in the Eastern European/Slavic style will enjoy. Given how long it took these guys ages to put out a debut LP, I hope it won’t be another five to ten years before they come out with a follow-up to it.

I’ve known Witherscape mastermind Dan Swano for a long time. Twenty-plus years ago we used to tape trade. I’ve got cassettes (Google it, tadpoles!) for which he hand-wrote the track lists. I’m not about to go over Dan’s CV for the uninformed, but suffice to say that Swano has been involved with more amazing bands than possibly anyone else on Earth, and he is without question one of the coolest people in the universe. So it just cracks my black heart in two to say this, but with all due respect (which is immense), despite the absolutely flawless recording/production/mastering, The Inheritance is unlistenable. The combining of Death Metal and I’m going to say ’70s-era lighter-than-hydrogen Prog Rock (I don’t have a good frame of reference for horrible things), is an idea that almost never works. Opeth had some success in employing these kinds of different styles in their music before they went utterly batshit insane. But what style-blending Swano does here just never gels for more than a second or two at a time. The full-on Death Metal bits are fine (although always quickly ruined). It sounds like he’s using the old Bloodbath gear and settings. But this only makes the mellow/weird/goofy Rock stuff sound that much worse. And it’s not even that the music gets as soft as a whisper (sometimes literally). It’s that if you’re going to have such extreme dynamics, the not-heavy parts have to at least be dark. The darker the better! And while Dan’s Death-growls are excellent, as expected, his clean singing (I hate to type this!) often sounds like Trey Parker making fun of someone. There are brief moments when the divergent styles start to kind of work and it seems as if things are going to get good, only to be abruptly devastated by a Moog solo and/or some Butt Rock and/or fifth-dimensional Art/Space Rock vocalizations. I’m sure that Swano loves this album, and he’d better, because I can’t imagine how anyone else could. It seems to me that someone who would like the mellow/Prog majority of this record might be completely turned off when the production becomes heavy and the vocals get raw. And for those seeking brutality or intensity… well, if you only need a couple seconds at a time, you’d be all set. However, any consistency is not to be found here. I listened to this so that you don’t have to, and I have the migraine to prove it. You’re welcome. So, while I could not possibly suggest inflicting this audio-torture upon yourself, I do highly recommend buying The Inheritance anyway and simply never listening to it. Or if you don’t want to take up the shelf/hard drive space, just PayPal Dan $10 and be done with it.

Scotland isn’t a place one associates with Epic Power Metal. Christopher Bowes, vocalist and keyboardist for Alestorm, decided to change that because being in a Pirate/Folk Metal band just wasn’t enough. Gloryhammer was born in 2010 to bring back sorcerers, dragons and an invading army of unicorns to the land of bagpipes and kilts. Yes, I said an invading army of unicorns. There is a song on this LP called “The Unicorn Invasion of Dundee.” I’m not shitting you. This is a concept album that starts off with Dundee, Scotland, being invaded by unicorns. There are also dragons and sorcerers involved, but I’m not exactly sure how. This is Epic Power Metal. There have to be dragons and sorcerers. It’s the law. What saves this LP from being absolute crap is the fact that the music makes the epic tale of Angus McFife (the hero of this mythical tale of alternate-history Scotland’s destruction under the hooves of Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her friends from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic) actually seem fun. Yes, the music isn’t groundbreakingly original. There is an established formula for Power Metal and deviating from it is essentially blasphemy. Nobody does it, and Gloryhammer is no exception. The lyrics are more than a little stupid. A story that begins with unicorns invading anywhere is guaranteed to get you into the stupid Metal lyric Hall of Fame. And a hero named Angus McFife? My Scottish ancestors are spinning in their graves. Shit, does the guy wear a kilt and have a bushy red beard, too? All of this is so fucking hokey that it can’t be serious and treating it as if it was probably defeats the purpose. If you look at this as a bedtime story told to you by your crazy Scottish great-grandfather (one that he pulled completely out of his partially senile/demented ass on the spot) set to the music of Rhapsody or Stratovarius, it actually works far better than it should.

Nine Covens is supposedly a super-group composed of British Black Metal musicians from more well known bands who have chosen to hide their identities. Why they’ve chosen anonymity is never clearly revealed. If you’re already in a Black Metal band and you and your pals decide to form a new band as a side project, why bother hiding? It’s not like this new group is a Boy Band or an attempt at reviving Butt Rock. Maybe they just like the mystery. That would make them kind of like the Black Metal equivalent of Mekong Delta or Brujeria. …on the Dawning of Light is the band’s second album. One of the criticisms that I’ve heard about this group is that they’re boring. I don’t have their debut, so that may have been the case previously, but …on the Dawning of Light is well played, excellently produced and even neck-damage inducing. The downer part is that I’ve heard most of this before from other bands. Everything about this record sounds familiar, though I doubt they lifted anything note for note. You catch yourself thinking that you heard a riff or hook somewhere before on a different album, and I found that to be pretty distracting. It took me several listens before I was able to look past all of it and just enjoy the music. On purely musical merits, this is a pretty solid album of Darkthrone/Mayhem inspired Black Metal. There is some good stuff in here, to be sure. One of the things that I liked was when Nine Covens added some dissonant guitar playing into their songs, using their standard musical instruments to boost the atmosphere, rather than go the Dimmu Borgir route and overload everything with keyboards. “The Fog of Deceit” was a favorite because of that and because they added some Traditional Metal riffing into the song. Another favorite was the instrumental track “White Star Acception,” because there was a lot of weird shit going on in the background. You can sort of hear it, but not too clearly, which drove me crazy initially. Nine Covens was fucking with my brain subliminally and I thought that it was both cool and disturbing at the same time. It was cool in that this is what the religious nuts always think that Satanic music is trying to do, and it was disturbing in that I don’t like it when people try to implant ideas or feelings into my head subconsciously. Though some may slag this as generic, Nine Covens has definitely produced a very listenable album. It isn’t the most awesome thing ever recorded, but it’s definitely getting a lot of playtime on my stereo.

It seems anonymity is the new black. The concealed-identity trend is spreading like wildfire, as every time you open a magazine there’s a new band of shrouded miscreants on the scene. Ghost, The Devil, Dragged Into Sunlight, etc. Knowing who’s in the band is so 2011. Now, with the UK’s Nine Covens, we actually have anonyMetal’s first supergroup… we think. An audacious concept to say the least, it’s alleged that the members of Nine Covens are comprised of “luminaries” within the UK Black Metal movement. So… let’s see… good British Black Metal bands… Umm… Winterfylleth, of course. Can’t forget about Fen. Umm… is Wodensthrone from England? I guess if I don’t know then… Umm… Winterfylleth… oh wait, said that one already. Can’t think of any other… Oh well, I guess we’ll have to take their word for it. It’s really of little importance, because …on the Dawning of Light is a fairly unremarkable exercise in middle-of-the-road Black Metal. You’d expect more from unknown famous people. No wonder nobody wanted to put their name on it! It’s pretty apparent right off the bat that this probably is members of Winterfylleth —at the very least this has to be Chris Naughton on vocals— the only problem being the music here severly lacks Winterfylleth’s passion, majesty, and atmosphere. It isn’t terrible, but it’s about as memorable as your first steps. The melodies are there, the blasting is there, and it should go without saying that the vocals are top-notch, but comparatively speaking it’s a mere Second Wave rehash. Really no need to microwave collective bits of Immortal, Dissection, Satyricon, and Naglfar when the original material itself is so timeless. Where Nine Covens excels is on slower, more mournful jams like “The Mist of Death” and “White Star Acception” —the latter unfortunately being an instrumental— but even these songs are forgotten the second they’re over. Closer “A Burning Ember” definitely sounds like a throwaway cut from The Threnody of Triumph sessions, further cementing my suspicion. Then again, who really knows for sure? And as far as an album of well-played but boring filler is concerned, who really cares?