Although the production is excellent, the songs are boring. The second track on side one, “Dead Kids,” is perhaps the worst offender. Uninteresting riffs, executed with little emotion. The vocals would be okay if only Ryan sounded like he meant them, rather than reading them off cue cards. Keep trying.

The playing is great. The songs are very heavy, and fast. And pretty unmemorable. It’s brutal, though, so that’s something.

Aside from the irritating vocal effects (like making them sound like wind, or whatever it was supposed to be), this is pretty standard Death Metal, with, as you might surmise from the band name, gory lyrics. Better sound would make it easier to determine what all is going on musically, but I think that sometimes it’s pretty good.

High energy Hardcore. I’m a bit reminded of Sick of It All at their insane best. However, the production is shit, but for once that helps. Some music wasn’t meant to have a slick sound, and while a better recording might be a plus, I wouldn’t want to hear this with a super-smooth sound, as it would ruin the feeling and energy of the music. I’m looking forward to hearing more from this band.

I honestly didn’t think it would be possible for these guys to top Into Eternity, but this does it. Everything possessed by Into Eternity, is present on this album, but somehow the intensity has been increased. I don’t know how they accomplished it, but the result is stunning. Get this.

Holy shit. Well, they have certainly corrected the “not so heavy” issue. Parts of this are unbelievably crushing, but the production is a bit cleaner, and thicker, which diminishes the brutality aspect a tiny amount. Personally, I’ll take the thicker, heavier sound of this demo any day. I also notice that they are playing better now, and this was only recorded a few months after the Deadly Spawn demo. The guitar (and bass) work is always excellent, but in some places, it’s unbelievable. A stunning demo. Too bad it’s only two songs. I want more!

A word of advice to all bands: A lot of people like to send cash through the mail, as opposed to a check or money order, for demos (and other stuff), so charging a crazy amount like $4.82 will probably result in less sales than just charging $5. Many people don’t want to bother with money orders, and not everyone has a checkbook. Anyway, the music on this two-song demo is pretty standard issue Thrashy Death Metal, maybe like Demolition Hammer. It sounds okay, but not awesome, which is what I thought of when I saw the words “digitally recorded in a professional 24-track studio.” Fuck man, they could have gone on 16 analog tracks, done a black and white cover, and had enough money to record more than two songs. But what do I know, right? Their flyer says something about a “fold out lyric sheet.” Well, the band asked me to review this, and I received no lyric sheet, fold out or otherwise. Their flyer also mentions that their “first release” (which I am assuming to be this demo [the band actually released its debut 4-song demo the previous year, 1993 - Editor]) is available in “record stores near you.” I have the nagging feeling that these gentlemen are extremely new to the Underground scene, which doesn’t really make them bad guys, just rather uninformed. I hope I helped.

This is the best looking and sounding 7-inch ever released by Psycho-Slaughter records. Decrepit’s brutal Death Metal seems almost eerie coming out of a clear piece of vinyl, though. Hopefully we’ll be hearing more from them soon.

This is a very tricky review for me, because this album is pretty different, and thus difficult to describe. It is heavy, in its way, I suppose, and it certainly is moving and emotional. It’s almost like a soundtrack in places, while in others it grabs a bit more guitar meat. Always a lot going on, and always very interesting to hear. I understand that this was recorded on an 8-track, so I’m pretty anxious to see what they can do in a larger studio. I sure hope Metal Blade (or someone) grabs up all the Witchhunt stuff!

The intensity meter is off the scale! This may take the coveted “best sound on a demo” award away from Sindrome’s Vault of Inner Conscience. But, like that demo, despite the awesome sound, and exact playing, this could be more memorable.

Kinda groovy, but heavy music. The vocals are mostly yelled, but occasionally sung in a smoother style, and sometimes quickly rapped. It’s an interesting sound, something like Exhorder. Pretty cool, and the songs are fairly memorable, too.

This is more ambient than the De Eerste Sneeuw recordings, and is almost like being in a room with the members of Dawn while they try out various sonic experimentations. Some work well, such as the track which has a dully throbbing synth sound, with screaming in the background - almost as if you were hearing a murder in the next room. But not everything is as dark or scary as that track. I do think that every recording is supposed to be different, and they certainly accomplish that.

Dawn is a more “musical” project from the Steinbock camp, but his Noise influence is still strong. The collage of sounds is harsh and not always as well assembled as, say, Smell & Quim. But the really fucked up part is that every now and again, Rat will sing over the top of it all, in a sort of nursery rhyme voice, and that sounds really crazy, but it’s evil. An almost scary release.

More Hard Rockin’ songs. The vocals grate on my nerves, but if you like this sort of thing, then this is the one.

For being recorded live, using only two microphones in their practice room, this sounds great! David is the hardest working man in Rock, and it always shows in his music. If you like plain Hard Rock, then look no further, as it shall not get better or more honest then this. I, however, do not like Hard Rock, but I do respect this man and his work.

Somewhere under the 666 layers of tape hiss is Darkthrone’s 4th album, and sad to say, it’s the worst yet. I worshipped these guys’ first two albums, but this is just ridiculous. The first song, which is the title track, displays two riffs. Both riffs contain two notes a piece, and are repeated a combined 44 times (yes, I counted)! And this is the album’s best tune. I can’t understand why this LP only has one drum beat, or why the production is so horrible that it’s degrading at best. The only cool thing about this record is that Burzum mastermind Varg Virkenes wrote the lyrics for the last four tracks. Too bad he couldn’t have written the music also.

Some live recordings sound really terrible, and some sound like the studio versions of the songs with two seconds of crowd noise between them. D.R.I. manage to really pull off a difficult trick, and have recorded a live album that actually sounds live, but still clear. They also amazed me when I discovered that the lyrics for all the songs are included. That’s certainly a first in the history of live albums. Hey, I don’t really have to tell you what probably the first Punk/Thrash crossover band sounds like, do I?

Weird Industrial, with possibly Techno and Ambient elements thrown in. Sometimes interesting sounds are produced, although not very often. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about this style, but this did very little for me.

Another new label and another new singer. Fortunately, Sonny seems to be an excellent choice of vocalist - very aggressive and energetic. Fulton has again written some excellent songs, as he always does, and all of their Building Errors… EP is also here (one track as a “hidden” bonus track - which I think is a goofy idea, although the song is fine), but in re-recorded form, since I guess it’s now out of print (so I suppose the review of it is useless). Awesome job guys, but let’s hear more new stuff soon.

The live versions sound great - no heaviness was lost at all in the transition to live recording. The “+1” track, “Numb Sensitive,” sounds just like their other stuff, which is to say, thick and pretty heavy. The real question is: Do you like live albums? Or: Are you willing to pay the cash for only one new track? Their singer is wearing a Motorhead shirt in the back cover photo, so that helps a lot for me.