REVIEW: SIX FEET UNDER - TRUE CARNAGE

 

SIX FEET UNDER - TRUE CARNAGE (Metal Blade, 2001)

Produced by Brian Slagel and Six Feet Under

Recorded at The Factory Criteria Studios

Artwork by Paul Booth

Tracks: 1- Impulse To Disembowel, 2- The Day the Dead Walked, 3- It never Dies, 4- The Murderers, 5- Waiting For Decay, 6- One Bullet left, 7- Knife, Gun, Axe, 8- Snakes, 9- Sick and Twisted, 10- Cadaver Mutilator, 11- Necrosociety

Strangely this CD starts with a mid tempo track. And it is one of the best tracks of the CD...and maybe a good option for Six Feet Under to add more variations to their music. As everybody knows Six Feet Under´s music is pure death metal in the vein of Cannibal Corpse (Chris Barnes previous band). And the music here is brutal and deadly, but it has one problem: there are not much variations and I think that the musicians are good enough to do it better. One of the main problems is Barnes himself who sings very similarly since his first recording with Cannibal Corpse "Eaten Back To Life". Maybe a little variation would do some good to the music. The sound of the recording is really good specially on the killer drumming and on the guitars that are devastating. Favorite tracks: "Impulse to Disembowel", "The Murderers" and "Cadaver Mutilator". Contact: www.metalblade.com

REVIEW: SHADEWORKS - SOOTY LIMBS

 

PRESS RELEASE:

SHADEWORKS - SOOTY LIMBS (Independent, 2001)

Produced by Shadeworks

Recorded at the Shade Studio

Artwork by Gib, Fae and R-NO

Tracks: 1- Sooty Limbs, 2- Blind Healing, 3- Terra, 4- Silky Birds

What a great release. But it left me wanting more songs!!! I want more !! Form beginning to end you have to recognize Mr. Nicolas Arnaud´s talent. He is the only man behind Shadeworks. And he is only helped in this recording by the wonderful female vocals that Mae sings here. The tracks have a lot of great elements: I will make a list: interesting riffs, great melodies, many atmospheres (in fact Arnaud in some places creates melodies with the bass and then the guitar plays a solo or does another melody), good guitar solos and the excellent vocal performance that Mae does in all the recording. There are many atmospheric moments, specially when the vocals are combined with keyboards or some melodic line. One more thing: I want more !!! Favorite tracks: The whole MCD: A lovely ethereal yet heavy release. Contact: anicolas777@lycos.com

REVIEW: SEPULTURA - NATION

 

SEPULTURA - NATION (Roadrunner Recs., 2001)

Produced by Steve Evetts

Recorded at AR Studios, Rio de Janeiro

Artwork by Shepard Fairey

Tracks: 1- Sepulnation, 2- Revolt, 3- Border Wars, 4- One Man Army, 5- Vox Populi, 6- The Ways of Faith, 7- Uma Cura, 8- Who Must Die?, 9- Saga, 10- Tribe To a Nation, 11- Politricks, 12- Human Cause, 13- Reject, 14- Water, 15- Valtio, 16- Bela Lugosi´s Dead, 17- Annihilation, 18- Rise Above, 19- Revolt (demo), 20- Roots Bloody Roots (live)

Here we have Sepultura´s latest offering. This time the Brazilian guys have continued the path started with their previous recording, "Against". That is adding some simpler elements in the songs. And obviously there are Derrick Greene´s vocals which are notoriously different from Max Cavalera´s ones. They have more of a hardcore flavor. The CD has some high points and some not so high (in fact I think that the simpler tracks are not so effective as the other ones and could be from other band different from Sepultura). A step forward but I think they have to recover the spirit of the last three or four albums with Max. Favorite tracks: "The Ways of Faith", "Who Must Die?" and "Reject". Contact: www.roadrunnerrecords.com

REVIEW: SCREAMING AFTERBIRTH - PUKE PILE

 

SCREAMING AFTERBIRTH - PUKE PILE (United Guttural Recs., 2001)

Tracks: 1- Entangled in Entrails, 2- Stump Fucked Piss Flaps, 3- Open Pussy Surgery, 4- Anal Volcano, 5- Completely Stuffed Bitch, 6- Writhing and Contorting, 7- Cottage Cheese Between her Legs, 8- Epidurial Emissions, 9- No Orifice Shall Remain, 10- Mongloid Whore, 11- Puke Pile, 12- Stabbing Faces and Kicking Guts

The Music that Screaming Afterbirth makes can be described as Bestial Death Grind. Yes, it is incredible the wild brutality that this guys have transmitted to this CD. In fact this must have been one of the most brutal releases ever. Fast as hell riffs with blast beats vocals that go from screaming to guttural, then back to screaming. The guitars have been tuned down a lot to make the riffs much more crushing and it really amazes the rhythmic riffs which are like a hammer in your brain. One of the main things here is the amazing drummer who is killer in the blast beats and even has sometime to add some interesting patterns to the guitar riffs while kicking the double bass drums. Extremely brutal !! Favorite tracks: "Writhing and Contorting", "Completely Stuffed Bitch" and "No Orifice Shall Remain". Contact: www.unitedguttural.com

REVIEW: RAIN FELL WITHIN - REFUGE

 

RAIN FELL WITHIN - REFUGE (Dark Symphonies Recs., 2002)

Produced by Rain Fell Within with Ron Vento

Recorded at IQ Studios, Clinton, MD

Artwork by Mike Riddick and Erika Swinnich

Tracks: 1- Torn Apart, 2- In the Knowing of You, 3- The Child Beneath, 4- In My Dreams, 5- Save Your Soul, 6- Winter´s Embrace, 7- Into the Tower, 8- Sirens, 9- Burned Away, 10- Passing Time

How wondeerful can be a female voice?? I don´t know, but I can mention many female vocalists that I really love: Kari Rueslåtten, Tarja Turunen, Erika Swinnich. This women have voices that can be as delicate as cristal and as powerful as a thunder. And Rain Fell Within have two great vocalists: Dawn and Laurie who sing duets in many parts of this CD. Rain Fell Within´s music is played with the heart, brain and soul from this amazing musicians, having a key role the omnipresent Keyboards and the heavy guitars. How heavy can be a band without being brutal? Well, Rain Fell Within is heavy as hell and yet they are extremely subtle with all their dark melodies. The sound of the recording enhances a lot the results. One of the albums of the year !! Favorite tracks: The whole album. Contact: www.darksymphonies.com

REVIEW: PREJUDICE - REALITY

 

PREJUDICE - REALITY (Firebreath/T.E. Recs., 2000)

Produced by J.P. and Prejudice

Recorded at Art Sound Studios

Artwork by Kris Verwimp

Tracks: 1- New Breed, 2- Act of Despair, 3- Deformity, 4- Disctated lives, 5- Embrace, 6- Betrayed, 7- In-Vitro, 8- Shadowed Thoughts, 9- Vicious Conduct, 10- Nuclear Malediction, 11- Spheres

Prejudice is one of the best metal bands ever coming out from Belgium....that is for my taste. I really like their brutality and the good sound that this recording has. They have complex riffs and many riffs on each track courtesy of Tuni, a great guitarist who sometimes uses a seven string guitar that adds a lot of bottom end to the riffs. Also there is a killer drummer here whose double bass drumming can be listened really clearly (I liked a lot the way in which the bass drum is mixed). The music is extremely brutal and that does not mean fast. In fact this guys go for extreme brutality without abusing blast beats and things like that (in fact the drummer makes some interesting technical things that make the result better). There are multiple changes in some tracks like on "Embrace", sort of a mix between brutal death metal and free jazz. An excelent release from an excelent band!! Favorite tracks: "Deformity", "Betrayed" and "Nuclear Malediction". Contact: www.prejudice.be

REVIEW: PHILIP GAYLE / RICHARD CHOLAKIAN - HUD PES

 

PHILIP GAYLE / RICHARD CHOLAKIAN - HUD PES (Yabyum Prods., 2000)

Produced by Philip Gayle

Recorded live by Marco Saenz at Aztlan Recordings

Tracks: CD 1: 1- Sick Bones, 2- OK (part 1). CD 2: 1- OK (part 2), 2- Available Jones

Amazing duet improvisations of this two great musicians !! Philip Gayle is joined here by percussion master Richard Cholakian for a serie of duets. Here we hacve in two CDs four extreme and spontaneous tracks. Some called this intuitive music and I think this is a great term top classify the music that Gayle and Cholakian make. It is increedible to see howgood this two guys interact. It seems like there is a mental conection between them. They explore their instruments in all the possible ways. Experimentation at its best. Favorite tracks: "OK" (thius track is the best...is divided in two parts, one on each CD and the total duration is almost 78 minutes)Contact: www.philipgayle.com

REVIEW: PHILIP GAYLE - SOLO LIVE 98

 

PHILIP GAYLE - SOLO LIVE 98 (Yabyum Prods., 1998)

Produced by Philip Gayle

Recorded at different live shows

Tracks: 1-Otoko No Tsuwari, 2- Uvula Pipe Cut, 2- Sic em Slobber, 4- Bibimbap Statement, 5- Paboya No Papparapah..., 6- Hagishiri, 7- Keguri Pulgbnluh, 8- Uppii to Pepe Monogatari, 9- Santoki Pnmbmna, 10- Easily Inquisition Trial, 11- Chlebulah Blhnbnlhnjhnha, 12- Narunun Kohttakchi

This is a Cd where Gayle shows his improvisations and spontaneity in a live environment, for example in some radio shows that he did. The music here is really improvisational and the same time there is a feeling of intimacy. There is only Gayle and his instruments (here he uses mandolin, 6 string guitar and a modified 3 string toy guitar). He is always playing with dissonant sounds and bordering extrema cacophony but he seems to always remain under his own control without making the dissonance sound bad. In fact I think this guy can be compared to excellent musicians in the same vein like Eugene Chadbourne, Derek Bailey or the guys in The Vertrek Ensemble. I would love to see Phillip collaborating with other musicinas in some weird improvisational project. Favorite tracks: "Uvula Pipe Cut", "Santoki Pnmbmna" and "Easily Inquisition Trial". Contact: www.philipgayle.com

REVIEW: PHILIP GAYLE - KEGURIBAP

 

PHILIP GAYLE - KEGURIBAP (Yabyum Prods., 1997)

Produced by Philip Gayle

Recorded by Birgrumbacher

Tracks: 1- , 2- Pustular Eruption, 3-, 4-,5-,6- Gambrinous Sapcicle Scuddies, 7-, 8-, 9- Billy Homemade Paste, 10-

Here is another Cd with Philip Gayle´s amazing improvisation. As you may have seen here I only put some of the name of the tracks. That is because many of them are written in japanese charachters and I didn´t want to make awful mistakes trying to put them. On this recording Gayle uses a lot of different guitars, mainly the 4 string and 5 string guitar, and some banjo too. The songs have really demential parts and others that are extremely melodic and harmonic. Also he experiments in the realm of sounds and noises adding a lot of variations to his improvisations. For people who like musicians that try to break boundaries always. Favorite tracks: "4", "Billy Homemade Paste" and "7". Contact: www.philipgayle.com

REVIEW: PHILIP GAYLE - PNBNA

 

PHILIP GAYLE - PNBNA (Fleece Recs., 1998)

Produced by Philip Gayle

Recorded at Aztlan Recordings

Artwork by Tricia Moreau Sweeney

Tracks: 1- Leaning Tower of Dust Bunny, 2- Onion Smoke, 3- Crescent Moonflower, 4- Gallinule Legs, 5- Arasha Korosha, 6- Flower is a Pinata, 7- Lenvoy Lirp

Philip Gayle´s main goal on this recording is experimentation. And he has chosen to do it here through many different instruments: mandoline, 12 string guitar, cello, waterphone, just to name a few of the many that he uses through all this recording. The music contained on this recording is extremely spontaneous (they are solo acoustic improvisations) and boundaries breaking. In fact Gayle is constantly exploring new paths with his instruments in the search for the ultimate sound. Lovers of improvisation and experimentation will surely like this album that while melodic in many places is constantly surprising the listener with new sounds. Favorite tracks: "Crescent Moonflower", "Flower is a Pinata" and "Onion Smoke". Contact: www.philipgayle.com