DEATHMETAL.ORG: THE ULTIMATE DEATH METAL RESOURCE

Obituary – The End Complete

It’s nearly impossible to assess the value of this album without first referencing the classic that preceded it. Despite the almost riskily simplistic style of ‘Cause of Death’, it still remains an undisputed and unmatchedly brutal Death Metal monster. Little had changed since then with the release of ‘The End Complete’ and yet something essential was missing. No, not the haunting, melodic appeal of James Murphy’s lead guitars. Something slightly less tangible, but is terribly apparent when listening to the album. All the components of a quality Obituary album are there, because they are basic enough to reproduce over and over again (how they failed at doing even this with their following albums is a great mystery) but where the magic has gone seems to be due to it’s misplaced sense of rhythm. Obituary were essentially beginning to streamline (read: commodify) their sound, so that none of the parts related to the themes, that of disease, dying and death. Where this was most apparent was in the rhythmic dimension, which just grooved and nothing more. It was catchy but it still sounded like Death Metal to the less discerning of ears, and so it sold more than the average Death Metal album at the time. Although it plays innocent, blame this album for every crime the band has commited since.

diSEMBOWELMENT – Transcendence into the Peripheral

diSEMBOWELMENT’s only full-length release is one of those classic Metal albums that takes the most rudimentary elements of the previous generation and arranges them in accordance with a unique and evolved artistic and spiritual vision. Though initially reminiscent of the blasting, grinding chaos of bands like Necrovore and Napalm Death, diSEMBOWELMENT waste no time setting in motion the epic, spiritual journey that they have clearly defined through the course of the album. The resonant tremelo riff that suddenly mystifies the raw and brutal, typically Death Metal soundscape is actually the centerpiece of the entire album. It’s a phrase that will recur throughout, and as it strummed, chanted, plucked and synthesized, it reflects an elevation of consciousness from the realisation of mortality, suffering and the nothingness that envelops it all to a state of serene understanding. The frenetic riffing more often gives way to monumentally heavy and meditatively slow passages, crafting a sense of silence or stillness that is at one with cold and impersonal reality. These are punctuated and layered with primal rhythms and manifestations of that central theme, as the journey unfolds to illustrate the gruelling path of spiritual awakening. ‘Transcendence…’ is an album that should be approached with the same discipline that the band itself put into it’s creation. It’s one of the most thoughtfully crafted works of Death Metal that deserves a place as more than just an unusual, cult classic.

Maryland madness, a new dimension

Only a few years ago it seemed that the ancient death cults were left as pickings for ravens and metal festivals were mostly interested in metalcore and other more marketable forms which, after a long resistance, invaded even Europe. For the first time in a wide scale since death metal left MTV and Billboard in mid-90′s, USA sees a new resurgence of brutal growls, chromatic riffs and obscure dialectics borne from studies of Sumerian myths, underground art and cemeteries by the light of a full moon.

Or what say you about this line-up of confirmed bands for Maryland Deathfest 2010:

AUTOPSY
GORGUTS (Canada)
OBITUARY
ENTOMBED (Sweden)
POSSESSED
PENTAGRAM
ASPHYX (Netherlands)
EYEHATEGOD
PESTILENCE (Netherlands)
NAGLFAR (Sweden)
MALEVOLENT CREATION
CONVERGE
NECROPHOBIC (Sweden)
MELECHESH (Netherlands)
SINISTER (Netherlands)
INCANTATION
PORTAL (Australia)
WOLFBRIGADE (Sweden)
HAEMORRHAGE (Spain)
THE CHASM
COFFINS (Japan)
IMPALED
DECEASED
SADISTIC INTENT
NAZXUL (Australia)
GRIDLINK
ROMPEPROP (Netherlands)
BIRDS OF PREY
STORMCROW
GRIDE (Czech Republic)
INGROWING (Czech Republic)
GOROD (France)
16
JESUS CRÖST (Netherlands)
MASSGRAVE (Canada)
FUCK THE FACTS (Canada)
TOMBS
HOWL

If you ask me, it’s nothing short of insane. First of all, there’s Autopsy, Entombed and Possessed, who are practically the founders of death metal as a phenomenon. I can confirm from their Tuska Festival appearance a couple of years ago that Entombed can still crank out vicious early Swedish sounds when they realize that’s what their setlist should be filled with. Possessed might be a living corpse but it has a historical purpose. Autopsy is a black horse. There are many other interesting cases such as the in-depth musical fusion of Gorguts (heirs of Voivod), almost everyone of note from Netherlands, one of the least devolved Swedish melodic death metallers Necrophobic, the ever-relevant Incantation, the weird Aussies Portal and Nazxul, The Chasm, Sadistic Intent, powerful stuff all around.

Go there if you can! Hell, I’m considering it even if it might mean economic disaster for a student from overseas.