Very raw vocals, very heavy music. And fast, too. I’ll admit that these guys don’t do much that’s groundbreaking, but for solid brutality, look no further. Making the songs more memorable would have helped for me, but I understand that some people forgive that as long as the music is pit-inducing enough, which it is.

This CD compiles the two tracks from the band’s The Wake 7-inch, their 6-song Hymns of Grief and Pain demo, and one unreleased cut into over 40 minutes of pulverizing Death Metal. Although I normally despise the term “groove” (as in Groove Rock, or Groove Metal) and all it implies, these songs have, in the true sense of the word, groove. They are brutal Death, but at the same time, easy to remember and they make you want to smash into stuff. Hopefully we’ll get to hear some new material damn soon.

King Fowley and company return with some more Death Metal from the grave, as they say. This is their best album yet, which is saying a lot. The songwriting, intensity, and musicianship are all turned up a notch or two, and King is as sick a vocalist as he was from day one. Miss it not.

The production isn’t quite up to that of Rebirth, although it’s still better than most demos. Anyway, these two songs have lost no intensity, and are a little heavier. And Randy, who always had an excellent sound, treats us to some very interesting basslines, which, being a bassist myself, is what I always listen for. The first track, “Self Hate,” is, like before, not all that memorable. However, the other track, “What You Fear Most,” certainly is. Have they discovered the secret? Their next release will tell the tale.

The (minimum) things necessary for a Death Metal band to kick ass: Crushing riffs, raw vocals, intense drumming. This band has mastered all of these elements, and have used them to create some very brutal, yet somewhat catchy, music.

I think that this must be the album that Chuck has always wanted to make. The production is flawless, as is the playing. I noticed the loss of Steve DiGiorgio on bass, but new guy Kelly Conlon is no wimp, to be sure. Gene Hoglan has remained on drums, and his playing is beyond belief. I’ll put Gene up against Pete Sandoval, or anyone else, whenever you want. This is the best Death album since Leprosy, and although certainly not as heavy, maybe even better.

As far as Hardcore is concerned, this might be as balls-out as it gets. Musically very intense, but vocally even more so. I have seldom heard anyone sound this pissed off, and this level of ferocity remains a constant for the entire album. Very impressive release.

Anyone for a little gory Death/Grind? The weird cymbal sound annoys the hell out of me (it sounds like beating two thin metal sticks together, in the bad way), but other than that (which is pretty hard to just ignore), this is okay, but really nothing too special.

Here we have more excursions into the minds of Steinbock and Rat. Minimalistic music (drum machine, bass, flute) and subdued vocals (except in the strangely obvious “I Lick Your Cunt”) are the norm, but this pair is certainly not afraid of trying some other things, such as varying the vocals from tortured spoken passages and whispers to Black Metal like shrieks, and even a more rough, low-pitched, style. This recording is not as eerie is their earlier material, nor really as overtly sexual (although I can’t translate Rat’s lyrics, so I might be wrong about this part), but it is every bit as eccentric.

In a live setting, Dawn stretch out their compositions to make them more Ambient. I was going to say that doing this makes them somewhat less ominous, but that’s not really the case. This is some evil-sounding stuff, especially the long instrumental passages, or when Rat softly invokes some evil spirits in the background. For this recording, the band forgot their drum-machine, so there is absolutely no percussion, and its lack serves to add to an already suffocating feeling of hopelessness. It’s strange that Cold Meat Industry hasn’t discovered the weirdly sexual, suicidal soundscapes of Dawn.

About the first 40 minutes of this are comprised of a slowly mutating drumbeat, and nothing else. At first I was interested, and kept waiting to hear what was going to happen, but after ten minutes or so, this sort of faded off into the background. Then it abruptly ended, and the tape had to be flipped over. The 3 cuts on side two were a bit closer to what I was expecting of Dawn, but now that I think about it, having expectations of a band that’s known for constantly altering their style is probably not wise. Anyway, the remaining tracks return to the eerie instrumentation and creepy vocals of both Steinbock and Rat. A very dark and odd release, and certainly not for everyone.

I don’t know what effect was used on the vocals in the first composition, “The Dead Lady of the Breakwater,” but they’re the most disturbing, frightening vocals I’ve ever heard. The next track, “Lusty Mountain Traveler,” is sung by both Steinbock and Rat at the same time, and sounds like a sing-along. Each of these songs is different. The next is a poem, read kind of behind an absolutely ominous flute. After that, a spoken-word intro to Rat fisting herself while the soundtrack to a nightmare plays in the background. There is more. This is the darkest, most intense, and horniest thing I’ve ever heard.

Let’s run through the list: Tape hiss - check. Terrible mix - check. “Atmosphere” - check. Vocals which totally drown out the music - check. Was this recorded using two microphones in Darkthrone’s practice space? Or maybe it was the classic direct-to-stereo-jam-box, with Intellivision sound blocker controls… Whatever the recording method was, these desecrators are adamant that their music be buried behind multiple layers of tape hiss (I swear that it sounds like they added extra hiss, or maybe used a 10th generation analog tape for their master copy), and terrible production. And that’s really a shame, since when there are no vocals to hide them, the riffs almost obliterate the hiss, and the drums can sometimes be heard. Why they think that “true” Black Metal must have terrible production is anyone’s guess, but if they would have recorded in a studio more suited to music than Necrohell (which is clearly the studio to use if you ever want to get a great hiss sound), and didn’t use all their recording money for hookers and Ripple, this might have really been the unholy monster they wanted it to be, rather than the noisy mess it is.

From the name of this album, I had expected a more depressing band. Darkside surprised me; they are actually a fairly technical Death Metal outfit, and sporadically kind of speedy at that. However, sometimes they do slow it down and that’s when their vast skill really comes to the front. Towards the end of the first track, “Deadly,” there is a slow atmospheric passage with a guitar solo woven through it that would do Steve Harris and Adrian Smith proud. If every second of this album were that good, it would be flawless. As it stands, there are some things that could use a touch of work, but considering that this was recorded in 1994 (and just now seeing the light of day here in the US), I would think that Darkside have probably perfected their sound by now, and I’m very anxious to hear their next release.

A Black Metal band from my home state of Indiana? Yes… But we’re not too proud of the fact, let me assure you. These guys create only noisy, poorly recorded, “soundscapes.” When done right, that can be a very honest and interesting form of expression, but these guys do it because they want to say that they are “too evil” to write actual songs, and that if you were as “evil” as they are then you would like this bullshit. The only evil thing about these guys is the spell they cast on Odin [the owner of Moribund] to get them signed!

I’ve always been a D.R.I. fan, so I knew what to expect, but this just went ahead and kicked my ass anyway. In all their years these guys only get more and more intense. This is just beyond belief in some places, while the rest is merely amazing.

Not unlike a heavier, groovier Soundgarden, right down to the vocals. Funkier bass-lines, though. Some of the tracks were recorded by a Mr. Steve Albini, which may or may not be good news for you. They have exactly the same sound as the other tracks, though, so it doesn’t really matter, I guess. I am really tired of this pro-pot hysteria, but other than that, this is not bad at all. I just skip track 4.

Pretty speedy and Thrashy, with distorted vocals - which in this case sound odd. Interesting, but not very convincing.

Here we have five songs of generally fast, always well played Deathrash, with raw, but very understandable vocals. Curse have a lot of energy and even more personality.

Fast and technical from the first second to the last, Crystal Age obliterate the listener with their Black / Death Metal combination. Excellent production, and flawless playing push this close to perfection.