Eblis, I believe, is a Polish band that plays Atmospheric Black Metal in the vein of Emperor with influences from Cradle of Filth and a little Darkthrone. The material for this release was originally recorded back in ‘97 - as were a number of recordings that are just now making their way into record stores. CD demo represses by Namataru and Black Pentecost are also from that year and I got those two at the same time as this CD (at the same fucking record store, no less)! Musically, the songs are much like Emperor in terms of structure but Eblis adds some acoustic guitar, clean male and female vocals as well as some other flourishes that prove that they can take the early Emperor sound and advance it beyond a cloning. The lyrics on …and Our Time Announces Black, like the title, are in badly broken English, but the feeling is more important in this case. Nazgul (the singer) has a very grim voice that reminds me a whole lot of Fenriz. The lower, throaty rasp that he uses adds more menace to the songs. Eblis may not be well known yet, but I can see them kicking some bigger bands off their pedestals should more people hear this album.

I’ve never understood why any would voluntarily put a “Parental Advisory” sticker on anything, but here we have one. Maybe they think that this will somehow make its way into Musicland, and thus “need” such a sticker. At any rate, Dying Breed are musically aggressive Hardcore / Metal, but their singer gives away their tough-guy mentality, which I have a hard time tolerating.

The Drogheda side is a pleasure to hear, as the intensity of their Death/Grind shines through the improved production. The Dismembered Fetus side is even more intense, extreme Death/Grind, and has some very cool between-song samples. For only $2, you’d have to be insane (in the bad way) to not get this.

Finally, these bastards have a recording powerful enough to showcase the intensity of their Grinding Death Metal onslaught. This CD compiles their excellent A Celebration of Violence full-length cassette, their half of a split tape (with Dismembered Fetus - see review), re-recordings of older songs, and various other rare gems, including a great cover of **Cryptic Slaughter’s “Set Your Own Pace.”

I’ll be damned - a Cutty Sark cover. Well, I’ve heard it all now. The flyer I got with this disc mentions Cutty Sark as if covering them would be impressive. I know Doomstone/Deceased/October 31 main-man King likes some goofy old shit, but I just hope he’s not covering Whitesnake on his next project. Anyway, I probably shouldn’t say this, since I think that Oct31 has released about 50 new albums that I’ve yet to hear (hey King, how about you at least let me know when you have a new release come out?!?), but I thought the point of the myriad bands King is in was to explore different sounds and styles… But they’re all starting to sound the same! Not that it’s a bad sound, retro though it may be, but more or less any of these tracks could be Oct31 or Deceased songs, with just a very little tweaking. I guess that’s okay. So, what we have here, to get to the point, is Pre-Thrash with an evil attitude. Everyone involved would love it if I compared this to early Venom, but it’s really not that intense or raw. Mercyful Fate is also mentioned on the flyer, but clearly someone was extremely high when it was written, as this bares utterly no similarities to MF, other than also being guitar-based music. I respect them for being anti-image and anti-trend (although “retro” is a trend), but this album did little to really get me excited one way or the other. Maybe it just takes more listens than I can afford to give it.

Some of the tracks on here are from the band’s forthcoming CD, and the rest are from their ‘96 CD. They’re all well played Thrashy Death Metal, that’s maybe a little too technical to be very catchy. But the intensity is certainly there. I’d bet that this is a great band to see live.
[Note: After this demo, this band changed its name to Demonicon. -Editor]

I’m split on this album. On the one hand, it’s technical enough to make the guys in King Crimson take notice, but on the other hand, it’s technical enough for the guys in King Crimson to take notice, if you see what I mean. If you want to hear absolutely amazing playing within a classic Metal setting, then Ocean Mind is nothing short of perfection. If you want any aggression at all, or you’d like to hear some catchy songs, or worse of all if you can’t stand high pitched (and flawlessly sung, I hasten to add) vocals, then this is a zero. For me it kind of depends on my mood. And the vocals, while technically prefect, are too sterile for my tastes. If this were an instrumental album with a bit more aggressiveness (like Steve Morse Band), I could wholeheartedly recommend it, but the Rush/Queensryche influences that make them such great players probably insure that they consider this to be supremely heavy. But you couldn’t hope to hear more technically skilled musicians. As odd as it sounds, Divine Regale are both amazing and disappointing at the same time, and my rating reflects that confusion. Fans of ultra technical, lite Metal (Angra, for example) should consider this a 10. Fans of Cannibal Corpse should consider this a 3.

Other than being a little sloppy, this is pretty impressive. Not that they’re doing anything out of the ordinary with their Satanic Death Metal, but they vary the speed, try to write memorable riffs, and are fortunate enough to have a deadly growler. All they need is time.

This is a compilation of 7-inch and demo tracks that only fans should get.

[Metal Curse #11 had an additional loose page (“Last Second Additions”) inserted into the centerfold of the zine, featuring a bunch of even-shorter-than-usual “bonus” reviews of stuff that arrived after the deadline for that issue. This is one of those “Last Second Additions” reviews.]

Everyone seems to think that this album is Dismember’s return to the realms of Death. I have news for you: They never left. Dismember are, and always have been, defenders of the Death Metal faith. This is a nuclear powered extreme nightmare, just like all their others.

Being a brutal band is clearly not enough for these sick motherfuckers. They combine their razor-sharp Death Metal onslaught with - are you ready? - catchy riffs. Of course the lyrics are right out of various b-grade horror movies, but I happen to like that kind of gore. The album’s production is not perfect; it often seems to hide the basslines, among other small offenses. If Pulverizer had as much money to spend on their bands as, say, Metal Blade, it might have elevated this into immortal status, but it’s still damn impressive.

Pathological Death/Grind/Gore/Carcass worship. With the sickest fucking Death gurgles I’ve heard in awhile. Death Metal doesn’t get heavier, sicker, faster, or more intense than this. For sheer intensity alone, this reigns supreme, and yet it offers more: thanks to their musical ability, these songs are even a little memorable, but the vocals are so raw that I can’t even follow them with the lyrics sheet in hand. And with this kind of extreme Death/Grind, that’s exactly how it should be.

“Tough-guy” stupidity that’s a little less pathetic than [their previous release] Bleed.

[Metal Curse #11 had an additional loose page (“Last Second Additions”) inserted into the centerfold of the zine, featuring a bunch of even-shorter-than-usual “bonus” reviews of stuff that arrived after the deadline for that issue. This is one of those “Last Second Additions” reviews.]

Very dark and Gothic sounding, but somehow still totally a Metal band. Formed from the ashes of the infamous Liers in Wait, I expected this to be a bit speedier, but am pleasantly surprised. The songs are crafted with the utmost skill and played with even more precision, and are still full of life - or perhaps I should say death. Even the vocals are as varied and well-done as the music, which is rare with this style. Although Wedding the Grotesque isn’t a perfect album, there is little to complain about here. Even the packaging is lavish, with a full color 24 page booklet.

These guys have real potential as Death Metal musicians. Both songs on their cassette possess much speed and mic-cupping vocals. I have to admit, their production wasn’t bad. But, I may have liked this better if I could even partially understand what the vocalist was trying to say.

A lot of bands I hear are intense, but Devolution combine their intensity with an honestly original sound to produce a unique Extreme Metal sound. In addition to the Death Metal influences, there are also some more modern elements, such as the super dry raw yell/growl vocals that sound to me as if they would destroy the singer’s throat in about two seconds, and the weird production that makes this a little more “technological” sounding. If I said that I liked 100% of this, I’d be lying, but it’s certainly heavy and I appreciate and respect their attempt at creating a new sound, rather than following someone else’s lead.

Everything about this is very well done, from the writing, to the playing, to the recording. Deviant have come up with two intense and fairly impressive Thrashers. This was recorded back in 1997, so I’m not sure if they have anything new out by now, but hopefully I’ll be finding out soon.

Simple drum machine programming and okay (sometimes great) riffs. I can’t hear a bass, but maybe there’s one in there somewhere. So far, it would at least be acceptable. But the vox are generally terrible (although they and the songs themselves get better as this goes on); alternately overdriven, or sort of spoken, or whispered, or maybe something like a Pete Steele attempt. The lyrics are pretty interesting, though. But the weird part is that despite all the strikes against this band, they occasionally manage to come up with a part, or a chorus (as in the song “Rise”), or something that is seriously cool. If only they could concentrate on the strong stuff and work on the vocals and programming. A lot of fine tuning is needed, but I can hear the ass-kicking potential.

This sounds great, but it’s no better than they could have done in a studio closer to home. These guys went all the way (more than 1000 miles) to Tampa, Florida [from New York] to record this at Morrisound. They must have money to burn. As for the songs, they’re straightforward Death Metal, and played well. The vocals could, and should, be more vicious, as could the music in a few places.

I guess I like my Black Metal to be more on the Thrashy side, as is Demonic. After the two-and-a-half minute keyboard intro, they start kicking ass, and don’t let up for a half hour. I’d have to check, but this may be the best Necropolis release so far.