I’ve always been of a fan Darkest Hour’s passion. Their power, delivery, live performance, and stick-to-your-guns mentality has kept them afloat for over a decade in a very fickle genre. But even their most diehard fan would have to agree that their last couple albums were somewhat of a blur of non-discernable songs. Just a constant blast beat, Gothenburg melodies and John Henry’s rangeless rasp. Well, with a new year and a new album on a new label, the DC natives have apparently found a new lease on songwriting, because they have crafted their most emotive record since 2000 debut, Mark of the Judas. Not that they have completely abandoned the Darkest Hour formula. Still plenty of blast beats, Gothenburg melodies and John Henry’s rangeless rasp, but the pain has returned. The sorrow is back in full force musically and lyrically. There’s more variation of tempo, more dynamics, and although I’m not the biggest fan of instrumentals (let alone 9-minute ones), “Terra Solaris” was a surprisingly interesting injection right before the album’s climactic closer. Consider the ante upped.

I have heard these Finns described as Melodic Death Metal, which is suppose is accurate, although they are certainly on the lightweight, Prog Rock side of that spectrum. “Prog Thrash/Rock with keyboards and a Death Metal-ish singer” might be closer to what’s actually going on here. My old friend Dan Swano lends a hand with intermittent (distracting) clean vocals, and also mixed and mastered this album. So, it does sound amazing, and these guys are tremendously talented musicians, but I just keep falling asleep while listening to this. Even at what passes for its most intense moments, New World Shadows is a lullaby, and the other 90% of the time is like popping Ambien with a Nyquil chaser. And that’s completely ignoring the occasional insane/terrible riffs. To be fair, there are some excellent moments on this album, such as the instrumental bits of the final song, “Deep Cold,” that are so good that I think I’m being waaaay too mean here - for a few seconds until something goofy happens or I pass out.

The last I heard from Aurora Borealis was Time, Unveiled, way back in 2002. Somehow I had my head completely up my ass and missed 2006’s Relinquish. I feel like an idiot about that, because not only is new AB mandatory listening and a cause for celebration, but main-man Ron Vento has always been one of the coolest guys in the entire Metal underground. So, I’m going to track down a copy of Relinquish immediately, and in the meantime I have already given Timeline about a dozen spins. This concept album (about nothing less than the entire history of the universe, from beginning to end and beyond, to the birth of the next one) is an intense, vicious, complex work of art, and the recording and production are absolutely flawless. Recording technology has improved so much over the years that when I first started Metal Curse zine (a jillion years ago, in late 1989) an album that sounded this amazing would have cost literally millions to record, if it would have even been possible. It’s difficult to review this because I want nothing more than to simply sit here and experience its majesty. Ron has always been a genius songwriter, so when I say that this is exactly what I was expecting from Aurora Borealis, please understand that it’s a compliment. These intricate Death Metal compositions feature a little Black Metal injection, partially due to Ron’s snarly vocals. New drummer Mark Green is amazing and apparently indefatigable, and with the addition of Jason Ian-Vaughn Eckert back on bass (last heard with AB on 1998’s Praise the Archaic Lights Embrace), this is the strongest lineup Ron’s ever assembled.

In 1997 when these Canucks unleashed their debut album, Imagery, on an unsuspecting underground, I thought they were the absolute shit. The bees knees, his legs and his arms. In league with countrymates Cryptopsy, if not better. Just a savage technical onslaught of brutal Death Metal with guttural vocals that was actually memorable. Fourteen years, five albums, and virtually no original members later, the band still have hella chops, but seem to have forgotten that brutal/memorable part of the equation. Each album seems to get a bit more lightweight, a little safer, a little more bent towards the mainstream area of the Metal spectrum. Don’t get me wrong, 2001’s A Passage Into Forlorn and 2002’s Truth Beyond… were great records, but with Asylon the band is almost completely sterile. Basically 40 minutes of unmemorable melodic Thrash licks with typically boring Tech lyrics. Example: “Suddenly, deception appears as a malformation to the being. Unknown to suffering, the metabolism into crisis…” Excuse me, but what the fuck did you just say?? Maybe it would help if I could pick newest singer Alex LeBlanc’s non-threatening harsh vocals out of a pantheon of Hot Topic Metal bands, but I can’t. The fire is just gone.

Infuneral reminds me of a more straight-forward Black Metal version of newer Necrophobic, perhaps replacing their Death Metal base with a hint of Thrash. The music is somehow intense and majestic at the same time, and very memorable. The short instrumental first song/intro, simply titled “I,” is absolutely amazing, and this album was well on its way to earning a perfect ten… until the vocals kicked in. Truthfully, Grave’s raspy vox have grown on me with repeated listens, but they’re just not quite raw enough to perfectly fit with the astonishing music. A touch lower and growlier, or more agonized, or… something… would have pushed this over the top. I don’t think that I’ve ever wanted Black Metal vocals to be more extreme before, and it seems like a weird thing to say, but it’s all that holds Torn for the Abyss back from perfection. And only just barely. I can’t remember the last time I liked a Swedish Black Metal album this much.

Have you ever remembered something as being cooler than it actually was? I don’t know how many years ago I last heard any Assassin, but I could swear that back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, I used to like the band’s 1986 debut, The Upcoming Terror, and the 1988 follow-up, Interstellar Experience, so I was really looking forward to hearing this. Apparently I was thinking of a different band. Breaking the Silence is far from the worst Thrash I’ve ever heard, but it’s bad enough (especially the final track, “I Like Cola,” which is perhaps sort of a sequel to Interstellar’s “Junk Food”) that I actually did something I normally don’t: I re-listened to the band’s first two albums to see how much of a change this one is. Honestly, it’s not that much different (i.e. cut-rate Thrash that Kreator is probably embarrassed to admit is also German), so if you did like Assassin and somehow want to hear more riffs that were already worn thin when they used them in ‘86, then maybe check this out. Admittedly, I completely missed these goofy Krauts’ resurrection album, 2005’s The Club, but I now feel confident in assuming that I don’t need to hear it.

Old School Swedish Death Metal always sounds good to me. Puteraeon play this style very expertly, with perhaps just a touch of Thrash injected here and there. And The Esoteric Order is perfectly serviceable, but not amazing, or even really very memorable, which is strange, since these songs seem as if they’d stick with you. Despite the excellently raw vocals and amazing production, at no time while listening to this did I stop and think, “That was fucking awesome!” Nor did I think that anything was even remotely bad, or done poorly, but I need more than that. The song titles are all H.P. Lovecraft worship, but that only goes so far… This album sounds great while its playing, but it’s somehow missing the intangible that would make me want to put it on “repeat” and listen to the entire thing 666 times in a row.

Sweden’s suicidal misanthropes want nothing less than a love/hate relationship with their fans, and don’t expect any different on Sjukdom, the band’s fourth full length since a botched abortion led to their inception in 2005. When I say love/hate, I literally mean it. As with every Lifelover release since their 2-song, 50-minute demo, you will love it and hate it simultaneously, as is the desired effect. Take despondent, morose guitar passages that would appeal to any fan of Katatonia or Alcest, hammer them home with a Burzum-like repetitive work ethic and aura, then shit all over them, like GG Allin in concert, with more vocal oddities than can be described with words. Seriously, there are more vocal styles on a Lifelover record than there are Wayans brothers. What’s weird is that more often than not it actually works, and seems to paint such an accurate depiction of insanity that poignantly corresponds so well with the musical depression. Sometimes, however, it gets taken too far and the song is completely ruined. But don’t think for a second that these guys give a fuck. Think of it as a bizarre movie that is visually stunning with phenomenal acting, but a plot that doesn’t make much sense. Still, when they hit their stride it will stick with you like herpes, bad vocals or not.

Much like a deep-fried Baconator with griddle cakes used instead of buns, Emmure’s music is in no way healthy, nutritional, or good for you. But god damn is it delicious! The fifth release (fourth full-length) from Frankie Palmeri and company boasts the most ridiculously heavy bass drum/palm muting synchronizations ever recorded, and the lyrics are just as bitter, foul-mouthed, and ghetto as ever before. These guys seem to take a lot of shit for aping The Acacia Strain’s style, and comparisons are undeniably obvious, but would either band’s current sound exist without 2004-2006 era Bury Your Dead? Just saying, everything sounds like something, and in this case at least it’s something good. The production on this album is fucking immaculate, even more so than 2009’s Felony, and that is really the only change. The happily non-forsaken breakdowns crush, while skillfully manipulated squealing harmonics pop, lock and drop, and Palmeri’s voice can go anywhere from demented wigger to demon from the deepest abyss of Hades. Some of that more sonorous Deftones-style melody rears its pretty face here and there, although the majority of the record is the business end of the wine bottle. Forty minutes of ferociously heavy, bitter negativity somehow makes me happy.

I must admit that the only reason I initially checked out Necromorph was because I had hoped Grinding Black Zero was a concept album about the kick-ass Dead Space video games. It’s not, and the band’s name actually predates the games’ use of the word by over a decade. But that got me to listen to Necromorph and I’m glad I did! These German sonic scholars borrow the seminal Sunlight studios guitar sound, and perhaps a few other ideas from early Entombed as well, and filter their Death Metal onslaught through Extreme Noise Terror and some Napalm Death, for a heavy Crust influence. It’s my understanding that the Necro-men started out as a Black Metal band back in 1995, and I can detect more than a little Impaled Nazarene here and there, but it may be the Crust connection the groups share. As one might surmise, the intensity throughout this album is typically off the chart, with the songs wisely kept short. Occasionally everything else is sacrificed to that intensity for a moment, but it’s rare. I’m surprised that Fritz handles all the vocals himself, as they are sometimes double-tracked, with him providing both parts of the traditional Crust high/low dueling-vocal attack in impressive fashion. The lengthy sample from the 1976 film Network in the otherwise-instrumental, flawless final track, “Black Zero,” really made me want to give this a 10, but all of this short (28:24) album isn’t quite as perfect. Awesome way to end it, though.

I was a little shocked to learn of a new Burzum release so soon (barely a year removed from 2010’s return to civilization, Belus), and perhaps a little more surprised to discover the album was recorded in only two weeks. I guess after so many years incarcerated, and considering the large financial debt owed to Norwegian authorities, the creative juices must be overflowing. In retrospect, I suppose Varg does vomit out releases at a fast pace, with the first five Burzum albums unleashed in only four years. So, the cause for concern may not be warranted, that is until you listen to Fallen and realize it is by far the most different, diverse record of his career. Another strange minute-long intro leads into “Jeg Faller,” probably the best song on the album, yet plagued by a chorus that sounds like he’s saying, “egg farmer.” Given his levitation towards extreme hypnotic repetition, this produces an unintentionally humorous song. Which leads me to the high percentage of clean vocals used on this album. It’s not so much a complaint, as Varg’s voice isn’t bad at all, more like a fear that he’s eventually going to go full-on Bathory on us. The next two tracks (“Valen” and “Vanvidd”) have a very melodic Filosofem vibe, but don’t really go anywhere and aren’t very memorable. “Enhver til Sitt” has a lot of pure, raw aggression like that found on Belus’s heavier tracks, and the 10-minute “Budstikken” drones on leading to a rather pointless outro. So, easily the weakest album in the Burzum catalog, but still volumes above many. It is great to have the Count back, but I just hope quantity doesn’t replace quality.

I hate longs intros to albums, and Wrath Upon the Earth starts with one of the longest (2:24) and weirdest in recent memory. Svartsyn plays fairly by-the-numbers, straight-forward, repetitious Black Metal. However, the production is excellent - amazing, even. I can actually hear the bass guitar! How often has that ever been said of a Black Metal album? The repetition of the riffs gets a little annoying from time to time, though, and Ornias has a tendency to just cram ideas together without any kind of flow from one to the next. His vocal patterns are even worse in that regard, and often aren’t really incorporated into the music at all, sounding as if they’re from a different song. That’s not a knock on Ornias’s tormented vocals in and of themselves, which are painfully well done (excusing a minor bad idea or two). Even with these flaws, there are quite a lot of interesting elements here, but they rarely all work together simultaneously, and a collection of good ideas, riffs, drumming and vocals isn’t exactly the same thing as a good song or album.

I saw Destruction perform once in the terrible Schmier-less days, at the Milwaukee Metalfest (may it rest in festering slime). It was a sad thing to behold. After their set was mercifully over, a friend asked me why I’d bothered. She laughed, “Did you think Schmier would show up?” Of course I didn’t think that (although he did rejoin the band a year or so later), but I had hoped that Neo-Destruction would be better. Well, main-man Schmier is thankfully still here, but I’d hoped that Day of Reckoning would be better, too. Don’t misunderstand: If this were from an unknown band, I’d be singing its praises. And I’m also overjoyed that whatever happened to Exodus and Onslaught has not befouled the Mad Butchers. But… for all the intensity and energy on display, there are a couple lame riffs here and there (like the one that starts just after the 2:00 mark in “The Price”), and unnecessary backing vocals (Power Metal-style in the “Armageddonizer” chorus) which don’t help. Some versions of this CD have a bonus cover of Dio’s “Stand Up and Shout,” which I appreciate in theory, but does not translate well at all to Destruction’s style. The real issue, though, is that it feels as if the band was somewhat rushed with this release, perhaps to have a new product out in time for a Spring tour and Summer festival dates. That said, even a less-than-perfectly-polished Destruction album is still easily at the top of the Thrash heap in 2011.

What a roller coaster ride the career of Belphegor has been. Is a little consistency too much to ask for from these sick Austrian fucks? Starting out as a raw, lower tier Black Metal band is understandable and common, but looking at their last few releases shows a good-album, bad-album, good-album, bad-album pattern that is hard to explain. One would think by your 9th studio full-length you would have some kind of formula down. Why not stick with the dynamic Behemoth/Nile-infused Blackness that made Goatreich-Fleshcult and Bondage Goat Zombie such devastating albums? File Blood Magick Necromance under their “bad album” category. Maybe bad is the wrong word, how about excruciatingly boring? Speed, speed, speed, tired vocal, speed, tired vocal, speed, goat, speed, scream, goat, speed, cult, speed, sex, tired vocal, semen, goat… it’s even boring to read isn’t it? It’s such a waste of their ferocious talent. Even the Doomy “Discipline Through Punishment” has the same tedious feel as the fast songs due to Helmuth’s “somebody please wake me up” vocal vibe. Perhaps they are as tired of making the same recycled shit over and over again as I am of hearing it?

Afterlife is the first release from this new Italian Melodic Death Metal band, but you’d never know it. I have nearly zero information on these guys, but they must have been in some other bands before this, or they’ve spent their entire lives so far practicing their instruments, because they’re very impressive. The amazing recording and sound quality really allow the complexities of the music to be heard, from the bass to the well-integrated keyboards, and everything else. Ranging from intense to moody and melancholy, this EP never fails to impress, especially considering that as far as I can tell, it’s the debut of a previously unheard-of band. Oblyvion “hide” a cover of Iron Maiden’s “Fear of the Dark” after the last song (why not make it its own track?), and it is musically dead on, with the added bonus of more intense drumming. It can be difficult for Death Metal growls to sound good with something like an Iron Maiden cover, but Vincenzo’s raspy snarl somehow seems to fit. I can hardly wait to hear what Oblyvion can do with a full-length album. Hopefully I’ll find out soon.

Oh man, The Meads of Asphodel is so fucking schizophrenic. The guys just keep getting weirder with each new recording. Their Black Metal base is still there, but they juxtapose that with Prog Rock wankery, horns, choirs, Punk Rock influences, Medieval Folk goofiness, spoken word passages, possibly a kazoo, and other various insanity within the songs. It’s just too much. If the different elements were somehow layered, maybe this many diverse styles could work together (although I don’t see how), but one thing after another like this destroys any flow the tracks might have, and makes these more collections of disparate ideas (and many bad ones, at that) than songs. Imagine a steak. You’d likely want some type of spices on it and a potato to go along. Some people add grilled onions or even disgusting mushrooms. And all that might make sense, like Black Metal with some Death Metal or Doom added in for flavor. But The Meads start out with perhaps not the best steak and then season it with coconut, burnt wood shavings, and snail slime, roll it up like a burrito, beat it with a small hammer, and sprinkle on some Ortho Max pesticide, and then declare that if you don’t like the resulting toxic mess, well, you just don’t understand gourmet food! My point being that some things go well together and some do not. The Meads of Asphodel is weird for weirdness’ sake alone, and would like for you to believe that constitutes art. Write a song that actually makes sense, and that I can remember, and maybe I’ll call that art. The frustrating part is that these eccentric Englishmen could easily compose compelling songs -there are hints of them all over this album- but apparently have no desire to do so.

I understand that this 7-inch EP is supposed to be “Necro and back to the roots of ugly Black Metal.” Well, mission accomplished. Everything about this is raw and noisy, from the simplistic music, to the painfully wretched vocals, to what could be humorously called “the production.” The title track is the more horrible of the two here, especially the sloppy drumming, which was apparently done by Urgehal main-man Trondr Nefas himself, who should really stick to his usual guitar and vocal cackles. The other song, “Beyond the Nightmare,” is more tolerable, at its slower tempos even sounding a little like Celtic Frost. I had never heard Urgehal before this, despite this Norwegian Black Metal horde having been around for nearly twenty years, so I don’t know if this is the band’s normal style/sound, but if I had to guess I’d think that it’s more refined than this. It would almost have to be. Death Is Complete is strictly for Urgehal completists only - if such a thing exists.

Sometimes I take a chance on an unknown band based on something stupid, like the group’s name, album title, cover art, or back in the old days, even the record label (which I might still do with labels like Obscene Productions or Razorback). So, as a true worshipper of Godzilla and most things Japanese, how could I pass up on a Death Metal band called Kaiju?!? I could not. A quick look-up on Encyclopaedia Metallum tells me that these fellow monster-lovers are from a Chicago suburb, and they use stage names, so I am holding out some hope that noted daikaiju otaku, and Cianide bassist/singer, Mike Perun, is secretly among their ranks, or at least a consultant. Although, were that the case, I think that he might have suggested altering the Anthrax tribute riff (from “Be All, End All”) in “Oath of the Pentagram.” Honestly, all the songs on this EP seem a little undercooked, with the occasional out-of-place Thrash riff, or sudden ending spoiling the vibe. There are, however, a lot of great ideas here, and all Kaiju needs is to take more time to fully explore and develop those ideas before recording them (hopefully in a better studio next time).

Motorhead is my favorite band and the best band on this fucked-up planet, so this review is going to be a little biased. Some people say that you always know what you’re getting with a new Motorhead album, as if that’s a bad thing. Those people are fools, of course. Yes, Lemmy, Mikkey and Phil have what might be called a formula when it comes to writing songs, but really they simply know that you don’t mess with perfection. And that’s what The World Is Yours is. Even on a flawless release, some tracks can stand out, and “Get Back in Line” and “Brotherhood of Man” are the gems of gems here.
We even get a bonus DVD this time! Unfortunately, I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing it yet, and there seems to be some confusion about what’s on it (video clip and bonus track, or live show - perhaps different territories get different bonus DVDs?), but who cares. All you really need to know is this: There is a new Motorhead CD available. Track it down immediately!
And while you’re at it, pre-order a copy of the upcoming Lemmy documentary movie, Lemmy: 49% Motherfucker, 51% Son of a Bitch.

I or anyone I know haven’t really given a shit about Deicide in many years. Their last two albums for Roadrunner (Insineratehymn and In Torment in Hell) were the last time I was really feeling them, and just about anyone will tell you that the band phoned those albums in. They were leagues above the next three albums that would follow for Earache, however, when Glen and the boys stopped writing Death Metal songs and started playing inhumanly fast, unmemorable Satanic Tech/Grind. So, will a new record label mark yet another change? Yes and no. They’ve started writing actual songs with actual good riffs again, and the patented riff-following vocal patterns are back, but it might be too little too late. Lyrically I shouldn’t even have to explain what’s going on here. In fact, if I have to hear Benton bark “your god is dead” one more fucking time I’m going to become a Christian just to spite him! Musically, as I said, there is improvement. They’re back to aping Slayer riffs (“Conviction”), while “Witness of Death” and “Empowered by Blasphemy” stand out as the album’s highlights, short and fast songs with actual hooks. The solos are higher quality than I ever remember on a Deicide album (see “Witness of Death”), while closer “How Can You Call Yourself a God” begins with a very unique, dynamic intro piece. Those are the positives. The negatives being basically any song not listed above is pure filler, plus Glen Benton’s voice just isn’t what it was decades ago. Listen to his “tone” on “Into the Darkness You Go.” Is that not a dead horse being beaten by an even deader esophagus? Maybe I’m being too hard on them, but they spent the better part of the ’90s setting their own bar legendarily high. Maybe I’m not being hard enough. Listen to any Deicide output from 1990-1997 and then pop this one in. Night and day. In summary, much better than their last three records, but most things are.