Well, this is only one track from an upcoming demo, but if the others turn out as great as this one, I may have to give a demo a 10. Absolutely the best Death/Doom combination I’ve ever heard. At least as heavy as Forest of Equilibrium, but with a sound more like Turn Loose the Swans, and exclusively Death Metal vocals. I’m extremely anxious to hear more from this band. Miss this and die.

The first time I listened to this, I though that perhaps there are two bands called Atrocity, so I checked the line-up. Nope this is the same band that released the amazing _ Todessehnsucht_ (known as Longing for Death in the US) and Hallucinations. Well, gone are the Death vocals, and these crappy new yelled vox are almost never double tracked (a technique which Alex Krull made famous). If you can get past the mostly terrible vocals, which is impossible for me, the lyrics are occasionally stupid now as well. Even the music has lost most of the brutality it once had, although it is at least still pretty technical. Too bad this isn’t all instrumental!

This album starts out with a melancholic violin intro, which leads onward into countless blast beats and melodic Grind spasms. Not much of a change from With Fear…, but when you’ve got such an original and raw style as this, you shouldn’t fuck with it anyway. Very intense and emotional. Don’t miss this. Contains 3 live tracks.

As you know, former vocalist Martin is gone, and the new singer (who also plays bass and did so on the last album, too) does a great job, I almost don’t miss the Van Drunen scream. For the most part this isn’t as basic as you would expect from Asphyx. They seem to have lost a little brutality, but the songs are mostly just as memorable, and certainly more technical.

Mixing Thrash, Death, and Doom, Ascraeus create a fairly unique sound. Likewise, the vocals range from clean, to raspy, to a Death growl. Keyboards make things a bit more ominous when necessary. All this adds up to a very interesting release, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from this talented band.

Generally when a band goes the extra step to put out a CD themselves, you can trust that it will be pretty cool. [Remember, this was back in 1994, and I was talking about a real CD, not a fucking CDR. -Editor] Well, Armoured Angel are a lot more than pretty cool. Their style has become a bit more deadly with this release, but the production is still very sharp. My only complaint is that the vocals are mixed too low, but even with that, this is excellent.

I’ve been waiting to hear this album for years, and I’m very glad to say that it was worth the wait. Okay, once in a great while Charlie succumbs to the temptation to distort his vocals a bit, and I don’t like it. But other than that, this is an amazing recording. These guys are maybe the most “true” band on earth. They follow no trend and have stuck with their unique brand of technical, memorable, and very energetic Thrash since day one. That is something I applaud every bit as much as the music on this disc. And I don’t want anyone to think that Aftermath have a dated sound. They don’t. Their sound is based on an older style, of course, but they have always had a unique identity, full of experimentation as much as anything else. I just hope it doesn’t take them 3 years to get their next album out.

You really don’t see a whole slew of Japanese Death Metal bands, but what they lack in quantity, they make up for with Desperate Corruption alone. Not so heavy as just fuckin’ punishingly brutal. The production is raw enough to add to the music’s inflicted pain. As far as agony is concerned, DC have it spot on. Let’s have a lyric sheet next time, though.

If they weren’t so thick and jowly, they’d really be the mean “enlightened redneck” machine they’d like to be. This is a collection of covers, some new and some from prior singles, and it’s not as hot as I’d hoped. It kicks off with a well-chosen tag-team of Curtis Mayfield’s “If There’s a Hell Below We’re All Gonna Go” and Roky Erickson’s “I Have Always Been Here Before;” both are arranged well but the resemblance to Warren Zevon is too close for comfort. The only items of interest here are the version of the Anti-Nowhere League’s “(We Will Not) Remember You” and a 7-minute bout with Sun Ra’s “Space Is the Place,” reinvented as something that sounds like a new & improved Steppenwolf.

Sometimes the riffs sound pretty familiar, but that’s hard to always avoid. The vocals are raw, Death-style, but the music is more Thrashy, and usually fast, especially the drums. The sound is good, and all that, but I was a bit uninspired, even upon repeated listens.

Heavy. Experimental. Drum machine. Those things are all good ideas. I don’t think so highly of the vocals, which sound like they have been run through an “American Metal” distortion pedal, but I will admit that as far as distorted vocals go, these are the best I’ve ever heard. Imagine a way heavier, and better Ministry, I suppose, and you’ll have a start of what these guys can do. I like it, but some people just can’t get past the idea of a drum machine.

You may recognize the title track from Metal Blade’s Metal Massacre XII compilation, but the other song, “Huldradans,” is new. Well, actually this 7-inch was out way before the aforementioned compilation. But anyway, these two songs are Atmospheric Black Metal, and I think that Ancient are among the best at this style, so of course I like this. The sound is excellent, and the vinyl is, you guessed it, black, although the cover is full color.

This band has since changed it’s name to Damien Kross. As far as this recording is concerned, musically it’s pretty Thrashy, and backed by a drum machine so it has an Industrial edge to it, but with sort of raw vocals, which are mixed too low to really determine if that’s an effect, or if Damien is a mutant. Either way, it sounds okay. Everything was done by one man, and that’s an accomplishment. Admittedly his later work, under the Damien Kross moniker, is more energetic, and probably just better, but this is pretty interesting.

Heavier and even more raw than their Morbid Florist disc, this album will appeal to all Grind/Noise fans. They even mutilate EMF’s “Unbelievable,” and borrow riffs from their favorite bands (which is about the only time actual riffs are noticeable). Sick and weird, just how I like it. Favorite title: “I’m Not Allowed to Like AC Anymore Since They Signed to Earache.”

It’s possible that this demo might be called Bloody Hole, as it says that on the cover, but on the side, and on the tape itself, it says, Puss Blood… Either way, what we have here is a little well produced porno Grind. Anyone who steals both the idea of fucking stab wounds, and rhyming “cunt” and “butt” from the legendary Nuclear Winter, are clearly geniuses and should be recognized as such.

Ahh, a Hardcore/Thrash/Groove crossover band. Sometimes they slow things down and get kind of sludgy, which I like. The vocals are, as you would guess, yelled, and for what they are it’s not bad, just not something I’d listen to very often.

Brutal Death in the same general vein as Incantation. Too bad there are only two songs on here, as I’d love to hear more, but I guess that for only two bucks, you can’t beat the price. Hopefully they’ll put out some more material soon.

I’m not exactly sure if this is really a demo, or an album that S.A. dubbed for me, so it may be in the wrong section. [Note: In the now-ancient print version of Metal Curse, demo releases were for some reason reviewed in a separate section from albums, EPs, and whatever other kind of label releases… That’s just how we did shit back way before mp3s and the internet, when cassettes ruled. Yes, it was forever ago. -Editor] Anyway, S.A. plays really high energy, Thrashy kind of stuff. It sort of has a Punk edge to it, and I like it a lot.

Sometimes pretty heavy, sometimes groovy, doped out, umm, Space Metal, I guess. Every now and then, I hear a part I like, and the sound of the recording is excellent, but mostly this is pretty uninspiring.

Nice Pantera-like distorted vocals. I really hate that. Groove-filled riffs and I’ll bet they use the word “fuck” about 10 million times. Yawn.