REVIEW: MY MINDS MINE - SCENES OF THE COMPLETE ANNIHILATION OF THIS PLANET

 

MY MINDS MINE - SCENES OF THE COMPLETE ANNIHILATION OF THIS PLANET (Amenta Recs., 2002)

Produced by My Minds Mine

Recorded at Sing Sing Studios

Artwork by Bert

Tracks: 1- Nothing, 2- Signing Up, 3- Lockup Volunteers, 4- Anti-man, 5- On the Soil of Greed, 6- In Decay, 7- I Lied, 8- Empty Figureheads, 9- Sociopath, 10- Cyberchrist, 11- Easy come-easy go, 12- Numbered Corpse, 13- Pest, 14- Seen and Not seen, 15- Remote Controller, 16- Switch Blade Attitude, 17- Imago Mundi, 18- Confront, 19- the Game, 20- Reproach, 21- My Minds Mine, 22- Mobilization of Chaos, 23- Born Tired, 24- Pretentious Idols

This band is really extreme and crazy with really hiper fast tracks in the most extreme grind style. In fact the 24 tracks contained here are short and are like small bursts of energy and power. I like the longer tracks better beacuase it is where the band shows more what they are capable of doing. This is a band to see live (As you can see on the "live in japan" video that comes on this CD) because of the energy that they deliver on stage which is amazing. The drummer here is a machine doing all the blast beats through every track and he accentuates a lot the guitar riffs in the slower parts. This is a CD for fans of crushing and brutal grind !!. Favorite tracks: "In Decay", "On the Soil of Greed" and "Born Tired". Contact: www.amentarecords.com

REVIEW: MERCYFUL FATE - 9

 

MERCYFUL FATE - 9 (Metal Blade, 2001)

Produced by Kol Marshall and Mercyful Fate

Recorded at Nomad recording Studios

Artwork by Thomas Holm

Tracks: 1- Last Rites, 2- Church of Saint Anne, 3- Sold My Soul, 4- House on the Hill, 5- Burn In Hell, 6- The Grave, 7- Insane, 8- Kiss The Demon, 9- Buried Alive, 10- 9

Better late than never ! Here Music Extreme brings you the review of Mercyful Fate´s latest album. As always King Diamond and Hank Sherman deliver their metal with conviction and strength. In fact I liked this recording much more than some of their latest material. Why? Because this has all the elements of classic Mercyful Fate but it includes some new interesting riffs and ideas that were not present before. Also the sound here is really good and allows Sherman´s riffs to be listen better and you can appreciate what a good guitarist Mike Wead is. Mercyful Fate is a classic band that still makes great music ! Favorite tracks: "Church of Saint Anne", "Burn In Hell" and "Kiss the Demon". Contact: www.metalblade.com

REVIEW: JOHN LATARTARA - PENETRATIONS: SONIC EXPLORATIONS IN SEXUALITY

 

JOHN LATARTARA - PENETRATIONS: SONIC EXPLORATIONS IN SEXUALITY (Sachimay Recs. , 2002)

Produced by John Latartara

Recorded at WGBH Studios

Tracks: 1- Perverse Implantation, 2- Interlude, 3- Ripe, 4- Touch Through, 5- Interlude, 6- Hitotose, 7-Interlude, 8- Trust and Betrayal, 9- Simone´s Confession, 10- Interlude, 11- Chateau La Coste

Welcome to the realm of extreme sonic experimentations. John Latartara is a musician dedicated to the exploration of the deeper sonic possibilities in the music world. And here he has designed eleven tracks to reflect the different aspects of the sex realm. Latartara delivers a lot of different styles within a track like "Perverse Implantation", going from a repetitive phrase to a burst of noise within a few minutes. His main exploration is within the realm of cacophony making notes clash one against the others (a heavy use of dissonances). Check as an example the track called "Ripe" where all this elements are even more evident as there are more musicians improvising and creating a really weird musical environment. For lovers of experimentation this is a must. Favorite tracks: "Ripe", "Touch Through" and "Trust and Betrayal". Contact: www.sachimayrecords.com

REVIEW: INCARRION - INTO THE EXPOSED ABYSS

 

INCARRION - INTO THE EXPOSED ABYSS (United Guttural Recs., 2002)

Engineered by Greg Conrad

Recorded by Greg Conrad

Artwork by Zig

Tracks: 1- The Creature Experiment, 2- The Darkest City, 3- Untangled from the Flesh, 4- Encapsulated in Ice, 5- Skeffington´s Cyves, 6- Desperate Procedure

Unitted Guttural records is a label dedicated to the release of the music of the most extreme bands over the planet. And they have Incarrion among their artists. Incarrion´s music is a burst of energy from beginning to end and the main thing here is their brutality that can be listened from the first second of this recording. The tracks are fast and brutal in a clear death metal / grind style but despite the speed the band delivers incredibly good guitar riffs with a great guitar sound that makes the result even more brutal. The vocals are extremely guttural as they should be on a band from this style. I like the riffs which are a little bit slower but are more crushing like the ones in "The Creature Experiment" (3:50) for example or the beginning of "The Darkest City". This CD can be described as a lesson in brutality. Favorite tracks: "The Darkest City", "Enacpsulated in Ice" and "Desperate Procedure". Contact: www.unitedguttural.com

REVIEW: HALFWAY TO GONE - SECOND SEASON

 

HALFWAY TO GONE - SECOND SEASON ( Small Stone Recordings , 2002)

Produced by Halfway To Gone

Recorded at W.O.M. Studios

Artwork by Mike Saputo

Tracks: 1- Great American Scumbag, 2- Already Gone, 3- Black Coffy, 4- Escape from Earth, 5-Thee Song (A Slight Return),6- Whiskey Train, 7- Brocktoon´s Wake, 8- Outta Smokes, 9- Lone Star Breakout, 10- Never Comin Home, 11- Tryptophan

Rock´n´roll !!! Yes, here we have a band that plays heavy rock with a lot of southern influences and some doom and stoner rock touches. The music is catchy and has this seventies like sound which all the fans of the style love. One thing that I liked is the feeling that all the tracks here have and that is like some sort of rock meets psychodelia. The guitar is really distorted and has a lot of lower range which is emphasized by the distorted bass (the band is a trio and havinga a bass player who plays chords with a distorted sound makes the sound much heavier). The gorilla in the cover art has a whisky bottle in his hand and I think this is a great album to listen in a hot noon with a cold whisky in your hand. A great rockin band !!! Favorite tracks: "Great American Scumbag", "Black Coffy" and "Lone Star Breakout". Contact: www.smallstone.com

REVIEW: HAEMORRHAGE - MORGUE SWEET HOME

 

HAEMORRHAGE - MORGUE SWEET HOME (Morbid Records, 2002)

Mastered by Peter Neuber

Mastered at Mega Wimp Studio

Tracks: 1- Mortuary Riot, 2- Oozing Molten Gristle, 3- Midnight Mortician, 4- Virulent Mass Necropsy, 5- Funeral Carnage, 6- Obnoxious (Surgeon of the Dead), 7- Exhuming Impulse, 8- Unlock the Morgue, 9- Sublime Anatomy of Revenge, 10- Morgue Sweet Home, 11- Mangled Surgical Epitaph, 12-The Forensic Requiem, 13- Dirge for the Sick, 14- Intravenous Molestation of Obstructionist Arteries (Opus IV)

If I had to label the music of this guys I would surely like to put a label like morgue death metal or forensic death metal or something like that. The music is pure death metal with some grind touches in some places. There are certain influences from the first two Carcass albums and a brutality beyond boundaries through all the tracks. The music is hyperfast and brutal with rotten vocals and a sick sense of humor which I like. The recording has a good sound but is really difficult to mix clearly the drums cymbals played at such hyperspeed. The lyrics deal mostly with forensic themes and the dead and putrid things. Fans of this style would love them. Favorite tracks: "Mangled Surgical Epitaph", "Unlock The Morgue", and "Virulent Mass Necropsy". Contact: www.morbidrecords.de

REVIEW: GODLESS - LET THERE BE DARKNESS PROMO

 

GODLESS - LET THERE BE DARKNESS PROMO (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Chris Muimbwa and Nick for ''Useful Bass Production''

Engineered by Nick Georgiou in Studio ''N''

Tracks: 1- Godless, 2- Hordes, 3-Tale of a Gothic Cathedral, 4- Heavens Final Failure

This is death metal with interesting riffs and some epic parts and a sound that reminds me of late eighties/early nineties death metal bands like Morbid Angel or maybe Asphyx. And despite coming from Greece it has no similarity to all the famous underground greek bands. This recording is a rough mix four track of the Godless CD "Let there Be Darkness" which has seven trckas (61 minutes) of pure death metal!! The good thing here is that despite being a raw one man band (Chris Muimbwa is behind all the music here except for the lead guitar) Godless music has place for melodies in the guitar riffs that make a really interesting contrast with the rawer parts. Chris vocals fit the music perfectly and he has imagined very interesting phrases like the ones at 2:17 of the track "Hordes" which is really crushing. Even if I like the four tracks my absolute favourite is "Tale of A Gothic Cathedral" which is more than fourteen mnutes long and it has a lot of changes and different parts and sounds. I would really love to listen the other three tracks that are not contained on this promo. A death metal band designed to blast youFavorite tracks: The four contained here. Contact: godlesstheband@yahoo.gr

REVIEW: GENOCIDIO - REBELLION

 

GENOCIDIO - REBELLION (Destroyer Recs., 2001)

Produced by Ciero and Genocidio

Recorded at Da Tribo Studio

Artwork by Marangoni Junior

Tracks: 1- Rebellion, 2- Reflexion of Down, 3- Hidden Army, 4- Nephilins, 5- Lost Children, 6- As The Gods, 7- Dominion, 8- Harvest of Souls, 9- Social Sterility

Brutal Death Metal directly from Brazil !! The music here is raw with a great sound specially on the guitars which are really clear and crushing at the same time. The band really likes speed but also they like to make breaks like on the second track "Reflexion of Down". The vocals here are really guttural and they are mixed very well with some reverb on them that makes the result better. There are a lot of interesting drums patterns where the main feature is the double bass which is really up on the mis as I like. The main thing here is power...and this band is really powerful doing a great job. A killer work also by the bass player who accentuates in an interesting way the drum beats as can be heard in "Nephilins". This CD contains a Napalm Death cover "Social Sterility" taken from their classic "From Enslavement to Obliteration". Favorite tracks: "Hidden Army", "Lost Children" and "As The Gods". Contact: www.destroyer.com.br

REVIEW: FLOTSAM & JETSAM - MY GOD

 

FLOTSAM AND JETSAM - MY GOD (Metal Blade Recs., 2000)

Produced by Bill Metoyer and Flotsam and Jetsam

Recorded at Vintage Recorders, Phoenix, AZ

Artwork by Bryce Prevatte

Tracks: 1- Dig Me Up To Bury Me, 2- Keep Breathing, 3- Nothing To Say, 4- Weather To Do, 5- Camera Eye, 6- Trash, 7- Praise, 8- My God, 9- Learn To Dance, 10- Frustrate, 11- Killing Time, 12- I.A.M.H.

It is a pity that this band has always been recognized for being the band where Jason Newsteed used to play, even if he played only on their first recording "Doomsday For the Deceiver" before going to Metallica. Flosam and Jetsam has changed a lot since that times (but they have not changed their thrash spirit). One of the main changes were Eric A.K.´s vocals which are not as high pitched as they used to be....then the guitars have a much more modern sound and they are much more fat. Also they have mixed their thrash roots with a lot of the modern styles that arised in the metal scene, and they have obtained a new Flotsam and Jetsam´s sound (the evolution of Bill Metoyer´s mixes has been crucial here). This is a really underrated band which deserved a better destiny because of their great quality. Favorite tracks: "Keep Breathing", "Weather To Do" and "Frustrate". Contact: www.metalblade.com

REVIEW: FATIMA HILL - AION

 

FATIMA HILL - AION (Worldchaos Prods., 2002)

Produced by Ajio Kino

Recorded at Crew Studio, providence Studio and Studio Ride.

Artwork by Takamichi Koeda

Tracks: 1- Ares Dragon, 2- Babel Dune, 3- The Black Bat, 4- Aeon, 5- Ultimata, 6- Other, 7- Stigmata, 8- The Song for Beatrice part 3 / the Se ven Songs

Fatima Hill is one of the best bands to come from Japan (I also like a lot other Japanese bands like Sigh or Manipulated Slaves). They are a heavy metal band with many elements of eighties thrash and a lot of keyboards and orchestration. On this recording they feature eight elaborated tracks which are a big step forward from their previous album )specially in sound, I consider this one much better).I liked specially the way in which Takamichi Koeda´s keyboards are mixed up in the front and the combination that he does when the guitars make the more melodic solos (Takamichi orchestrates the solos with interesting passages). Yuko´s vocals are great and she does not abuse the high pitched tones, using a lot of vibratos in the phrases. The recording is really well mixed and that adds a lot to the final result. If you like classical metal with some new elements, then check this band. Favorite tracks: "The Black Bat", "Ares Dragon" and "Stigmata". Contact: worldkdm@syd.odn.ne.jp or www.fatima-hill.com