REVIEW: PANZER - THE STRONGEST

 

PANZER - THE STRONGEST (Spiral Noise Recs., 2001)

Produced By: Mauro and Panzer

Tracks: 1- Fake Games of Heroes, 2- Red Days, 3- Affliction, 4- Show Me!, 5- Box, 6- Speedy, 7- My Night, 8- Your Blood, 9- The Strongest, 10- Fear of God, 11- House of Decadence, 12- The Strongest (reprise)

Recorded at Alchimia Studio 

Here we have a Brazilian thrash metal who has a really modern sound in the guitars and the drums making them sound powerful. The first thing that got my attention is the singer: he sounds sometimes like Slayer´s Tom Araya, but in many places he is more guttural and in other he makes interesting melodies (fitting perfectly the music, such as a heavier John Bush). Here we have a band with an excellent sound (plus excellent mix of the album) who has composed twelve powerful tracks with technical parts and interesting arrangements. One thing that I liked a lot is the killer drumming with a lot of double bass arrangements that are really well combined with the guitar work (I liked a lot the joke in "Red Days" with the riff of Black Sabbath´s "Heaven and Hell" in the middle). This is a band that can be on top of the thrash metal scene and they have a really modern sound (this is another proof that thrash metal is making a comeback) !

Favorite tracks: The whole CD

Contact: www.panzerthrashers.com.br

REVIEW: OSCULUM OBSCENUM - BODY HURTING ART

 

OSCULUM OBSCENUM - BODY HURTING ART (Lofty Storm Recs., 2002)

Produced By: Lofty Storm Recs.

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Prince Albert, 3- Enraptured by War, 4- Jesus Gay, 5- Hail the Lesbians, 6- Szandor (into my heart and my vein), 7- Caligula, 8- Bleeding like Abel, 9- Orgasmaniac, 10- U.N.G.O.D., 11- Oh Satanas, 12- Shibary

Release Date: December 2002

This is a release that is different from the grind death that Lofty Storm Records usually release. In fact this band is pure hateful black metal in its purest form, with some touches of death metal. The music here is extremely raw and fast with hyper fast guitars that play black metl riff after riff and ultra fast drumbeats (a lot of blast beats here). The production of this recording is extremely raw making the band sound even more wild with a lot of distortion in the guitars and bass (this sound remembered me of old Immortal albums). I would have mixed a little bit different the drums cymblas because they tend to cover some of the guitar arrangements but this raw sound is what this kind of black metal needs to be even more extreme. Lovers of old black emtal will surely love this one.

Favorite tracks: "Enraptured by War", "Caligula" and "Bleeding Like Abel"

Contact: www.loftystorm.hpg.com.br

REVIEW: ONWARD - REAWAKEN

 

ONWARD - REAWAKEN (Century Media, 2002)

Produced By: Toby Knapp and Brett Hansen

Tracks: 1- Reawaken, 2- Night, 3- The Seven Tides of Labyrinthine, 4- Where Evil Follows, 5- Eye of the Nightmare, 6- My Darkest Room, 7- In Due Time, 8- Clockwork Toys, 9- Who Saw the Last Star Fall, 10- The Next Triumph: I) Rememberance, II) Reawakening

Cover Art by Ioannis

Recorded at Audio Art Studios, Las Vegas

Here we have the second album of this band that features in its lineup the guitar virtuoso Toby Knapp. The band plays an elaborated power speed metal with elements of bands like Apocrypha (the ex singer of the band , Steve Plocica, sings here), some Cacophony, Vicious Rumours and bands of the style. Here we have ten really good compositions with heavy guitars and incredible solos and heavy as hell atmospheres. All the tracks have good melodies and they feature an excellent band where the singer Michael Grant shines with his powerful voice. But the main thing here is the combination of good compositions with the extremely virtuoso guitasr work of Knapp. I think that many power metal bands that steal from other bands should check Onward to see how the style can be done with a lot of originality.

Favorite tracks: "Reawaken", "Where Evil Follows" and "Clockwork Toys"

Contact: www.centurymedia.com

REVIEW: O.D.O. - BLINDED BY HATE

 

O.D.O. - BLINDED BY HATE (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: O.D.O.

Tracks: 1- Fusion man Weapon, 2- Blinded by Hate, 3- New Torment for Mankind, 4- Dominator

Recorded at Vision Studio

This release is pure thrash metal in its purest form. Here we have those thrash riffs that made the style famous played with a much more modern sound and with vocals that sometimes remind those of Kreator and sometimes those of bands like Sodom or Destruction. There azre multiple riffs here as the most complex thrash metal have, with many melodies and rhythm changes. There are breaks and good arrangements along with a corrosive voice that adds a lot of the thrash feeling to O.D.O.´s music. It is good to listen to bands like this one because they have taken the best of the eighties bands and added a more modern sound creating what I would call a New Wave of Thrash Metal. The sound of the recording is good and at the same time raw giving the band the clarity that they deserve. Thrash is back!!

Favorite tracks: The four

Contact: www.odiodistruzioneorrore.it

REVIEW: NOVEMBER´S DOOM - TO WELCOME THE FADE

 

NOVEMBER´S DOOM - TO WELCOME THE FADE (Dark Symphonies, 2002)

Produced By: Neil Kernon

Tracks: 1- Not the Strong, 2- Broken, 3- Lost in a Day, 4- Within My Flesh, 5- If Forever, 6- The Spirit Seed, 7- Torn, 8- the Lifeless Silhouette, 9- Dreams To Follow, 10- Dark Fields for Brilliance

Cover Art by Travis Smith

Mastered at Ocean View

It is amazing how each time that November´s Doom makes a new album they achieve great results....their previous "The Knowing" was really brilliant, and this one is even better. Here we have ten tracks of pure November´s Doom style metal with all what that means: Good riffs, excellent melodies, strong vocals and a great klnowledge of song structure. Plus this time we have Neil Kernon producing this album and adding some great mixing. Each of the songs here has that depressive quality that November´s Doom´s music has and that have made them an unique band. And that is due to the combination of one heavy guitar with some melodies and because of the use of some keyboards and some clean guitars. Plus, to add to the anguished and dark feeling of the recording we have the female ethereal vocals by Nora O´Conner in some palces adding a lot of beauty and darkness with her voice. A must

Favorite tracks: "Not the Strong", "Within My Flesh" and "Torn"

Contact: www.darksymphonies.com

REVIEW: NO FLESH SPARED - STORMS

 

NO FLESH SPARED - STORMS (Independent, 2002 )

Produced By: No Flesh Spared

Tracks: 1- Storms, 2- The Ennead, 3- Trapped, 4- Dread, 5- Awake, 6- No Flesh Spared, 7- Gilles de Laval de Rais, 8- The Emperor, 9- Burial

Cover Art by Axeman Productions

Recorded at Wave Work Studios 

This CD opens up in a very climatic way with rain sound, clean guitars and a spoken voice speaking about the storms. Then it gets into a heavier part with some complex riffs and drums patterns. The tracks here are really heavy and at the same time technical (this guys have complete control of their instruments and they play riffs and melodies that are sometimes really complicated). But above everything is the heaviness of the tracks, each of them played with heavier than hell riffs (supported in a great way by the bass players). The vocals are guttural and fit perfectly the heaviness of the music, and in many places they change into a cleaner voice that along with the guitar melodies add a more atmospheric aspect to No Flesh Spared´s music. I think that people who enjoy listening heavy things with originality and good technical skills will surely like this album.

Favorite tracks: "The Ennead", "Awake" and "The Emperor"

Contact: www.nofleshspared.com

REVIEW: NEGLIGENT COLLATERAL COLLAPSE - R.S.D.E.

 

NEGLIGENT COLLATERAL COLLAPSE - R.S.D.E. (Obscene Productions, 2002)

Produced By: Robocop

Tracks: 1- Black Hole Monster in A Spin Releases Energy, 2- Billion Suns, 3- One Thing is Sure, 4- Buzz, 5- The Paul Dirac Medal..., 6- A Generalized Lie Derivative...., 7- KMM-Newton, 8- Electric Dynamo Effect, 9- Literate Phycisist Gets taste For Fiction, 10- Abalysis of Iron line, 11- The Hunt, 12- Payload Specialists, 13- Not Out, 14- MCG-6-30-15, 15- New Generation of Neutrinos..., 16- Something is Collapsed on my analbase, 17- Focused, 18- ON the Return Trip Home, 19- The Brain is Classical, 20- Two Dimensional Penrose..., 21- Quantum Modelling of the Mind, 22- Spacetimes Admitting Isolated Horizons, 23- Chain Reaction´s Domino Aka Termic Firer

Cover Art by Negligent Collateral Collapse

Recorded at Professional Sound Studio

The Czech underground scene must be really big because day after day there are extreme bands coming from that country. Here we have twenty three short compositions of this extreme grind death band. There are songs that are more grindcore than others but each of them is extremely brutal and each of them is played at full speed throwing here and there some rhythmic riff that adds more heaviness to the tracks. The songs are like a sudden burst of deathly energy: they are powerful, extreme and short leaving wanting more. The vocals are extremely guttural, in the grindcore fashion. Also, here there is some programming that gives an industrial feeling to the music that fits perfectly the music, specially when combined with one of the most processed vocals. If you like extremely brutal music with some twists then check this one.

Favorite tracks: Tracks 3, 7, 16

Contact: www.obscene.cz

REVIEW: MYRKSKOG - SUPERIOR MASSACRE

 

MYRKSKOG - SUPERIOR MASSACRE (Candlelight Records, 2002)

Tracks: 1- Intro, 2- Domain of the Superior, 3- Detain the Skin, 4- Trapped in Torment, 5- Indisposable Deaths, 6- Over the Gore, 7- Blood Ejaculation, 8- Utter Human Murder, 9- Bleeding Wrists, 10- Outro

Here we have one of the most brutal releases of the year. This band features Destructor from Samoth´s band Zyklon and also drummer Secthdamon (Odin/Zyklon) who is extremely bestial on this recording playing rhythm after rhythm, blast after blast in a really brutal manner with an extremely good sound, adding a lot of the brutality that the band has. The guitar riffs here are extremely fast and have a huge sound that combined with the mentioned drums give the extreme heaviness tat this band has (I think this will be an album that a lot of death metal bands will take to the studio in order to have a similar sound when they record). Here we have eight brutal tracks that will not let a piece of your brain in its place. Thumbs Up for the killer sound that this recording has making each instrument shine and adding even more brutality if that is possible!!!!

Favorite tracks: "Domain of The Superior", "Trapped in Torment" and "Blood Ejaculation"

Contact: www.candlelightrecords.co.uk

REVIEW: MUCUPURULENT - SOULREAVER

  

MUCUPURULENT - SOULREAVER (Morbid Records , 2002)

 

Produced By: Mucupurulent

Tracks: 1- Again, 2- Pain Lasts Forever, 3- Spine of Madness, 4- Back to the Bones, 5- Unbreakable, 6- Soul Reaver, 7- Nightcrawler, 8- The Return of the Squad, 9- Vermin, 10- Like Gasolin, 11- Drive Me Dead

Mastered by Timo Reichert

Recorded at Grind Master Flash Studio

Having never heard anythin of this band before I though Mucupurulent was more of a grindcore band but here we have this band that plays death metal with guttural vocals and with interesting guitar riffs. And I think this is the essential feature of Mucupurulent´s music, their riffs while being ultra heavy and fast have a rhythmic quality on them that makes each of the tracks extremely rhythmic (close minded purists will sure don´t like this) and the band has some keyboard that plays chord progressions in the background giving a lot of originality to this recording. The vocals are extremely guttural but you can understand the lyrics (the mix of this album is really good, specially on the killer drumming and the guitars). If you thought death metal was becoming stagnant then you should check Mucupurulent.

Favorite tracks: "Pain Lasts Forever", "Again" and "Nightcrawler"

Contact: www.morbidrecords.de

REVIEW: MOZEK MOTORS - TWIN TOWER TORTURE SESSIONS

MOZEK MOTORS - TWIN TOWER TORTURE SESSIONS (Independent, 2002)

Produced By: Mozek Motors

Tracks: 1- Luzifers Elektrik, 2- Slaughterhouse Fuck, 3- Twin Tower Torture, 4- Rising Hell, 5- Dealing Pain

Cover Art by Mozek Motors

The first track here starts with silence and then an electronic drumbeat. Then, all of a sudden you get into "Slaughterhouse Fuck" which is a full speed grind track with extremely distorted bass and deathly vocals. The next track is even faster, with processed vocals in the background that are different from the ones in the previous track. One thing that is really particular here are the electronic drums doing blast beats and hyperfast rhythms: there are ultra fast double bass patterns and a lot of hihat smashing parts. The riffs are well constructed and my absolute ones favourites are the ones in "Rising Hell (kind of heavier and more rhythmic) and I think this is the way Mozek motors should go in the future. Grind freaks rejoice with Mozek Motors but be open minded because here you have other elements that are not common in the style.

Contact: brookrec@gmx.de