DEATHMETAL.ORG: THE ULTIMATE DEATH METAL RESOURCE

Death Metal Album of the Week: Infester – To The Depths… In Degradation

Drawing a fine and transcendent line between the atavism of Autopsy and the technicality of Suffocation, and conveying a dark, narrative sense of atmosphere that brings to mind the best works of black metal acts such as Samael and Mystifier, Infester presented here an example of music that is progressive and sophisticated yet skillfully veils common, trendy perceptions of what makes certain music unique.

The guitars are muddied and have a distortion not unlike what you would hear from Hellhammer’s ‘Death Fiend’ and ‘Satanic Rites’, though with better treatment and not obscuring the musical execution. On occasion, to add punctuality to the songs, we get to hear the notes of a rumbling and trebly bass, which has a tone that resembles Mayhem’s ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’. A church organ often voices itself throughout the album, melodious and playful in a Bach-lite manner, enhancing the unpleasant dissonance. Vocals consist of multi-layered barks, grunts and shrieks, unintelligible as desired, yet with a great sense of rhythm, making for a more ‘open-ended’ listen and fulfilling momentum. Drums are like a cross between Fenriz and Mike Smith, one foot in loose ambience, the other in precise, free-formed battery. Added to this is the lyrical content which for its time was more or less oblivious to ‘political correctness’, a penchant for the grotesque that was typical of Carcass was combined with sickening, almost G.G. Allin like carnal desires which aside alleged ‘ideological sympathies’, which will offend some, and arouse curiosity in others. A nightmarish, cinematic, and well thought out album, it is almost in many ways a soundtrack that is all the artistic aspirations of Black Sabbath taken to an ultimate conclusion.

Possibly one of the genres most overlooked efforts, this marked a merging of disparate styles and broke new ground for musicality and how listeners observed content within the metal genre. Highly recommended by all means.

Death Metal Album of the Week: Carnage – Dark Recollections

You know the feeling how the seasons of the year, the temperatures, the colours of leaves, the hues of the sky, the various astronomical alignments and events across the world seem to create energy fields that concentrate around certain art pieces more than others? In more mundane terms, I mean that often an album comes across that me and several death metal comrades find ourselves listening to intensely at exactly the same time, say, this week. The Album of the Week series aims to provide the reader with quality death metal as long as we don’t run out of albums and when that happens, it’s truly a sad day.

“Dark Recollections” was the only album of the Swedish grindcore and death metal pioneers Carnage, whose lineup was basically Dismember with Michael Amott, of later Carcass and Arch Enemy fame. As such, it has remained relatively obscure, regardless of the vast musical expanses suggested here (much beyond something like “Heartwork” if you ask me). The album is an abyssic conglomeration of late 80′s grindcore and old Swedish death metal, with the malevolent lead work of Amott, reaping light with the traditional Sunlight Studios sound, bringing to life the infernal visions captured by Dan Seagrave in visual form on the cover art and Fred Estby’s tight drumming, which unsurprisingly resembles the sharp mummification needle well timed blasts of “Like an Everflowing Stream”, imposes the pulsing rhythm of a magniloquent wave of darkness. The organicism of the album resembles something out of vegetation and plant life allowed to sprout on black fucking vinyl.

This metal is doom, capturing the nerve of a mangled existence, wounding and disease. It exists in a driving field of groove, like Black Sabbath themselves praising death at Stockholm’s ritual altars. If there is anything that the listener finds averse, it is probably the bludgeoning simplicity, able to induce the reaction of late 19th century audiences to Richard Wagner‘s barbaric proto-metal chromatics. In par with the contemporary black metal hate of Grotesque or Samael, this kind of dramatic pacing and cavernous mood does not let Carnage impose much finesse, but as such it manages to also foreshadow the nucleatic chaos of the “war metal” phenomenon.

Interview
Voices from the Darkside

Incantations of death in New Jersey

We’ve been going on about the insane lineups of Maryland Deathfest for some time now, but it seems New Jersey a bit over 200 km away is rising to the challenge to cause some serious headbanging and contemplation of deathly things. New Jersey Death Fest is going to be held October 16th to 18th – probably worth attending if you’re in the vicinity.

Here’s the deal:

MORTICIAN
GOREAPHOBIA
PHLEGM
INCANTATION
EVOKEN
DISMA
GRAVEHILL
DRIPPING
PUTRID PILE
WAKING THE CADAVER
ACHERON
LIVIDITY
WOMB
DIGESTED FLESH
CRIMINAL ELEMENT
MALIGNANCY
MORTAL DECAY
MUTATED
INHUMAN DISSILIENCY
COMPOSTED
NJDOTS
MALAMOR
ABACINATE
HEINOUS KILLINGS
DYSENTERY
SEXCREMENT
CALL THE PARAMEDICS
BLESSED OFFAL
ABORTED EXISTENCE
VOMITOUS RECTUM
MERCILESS MUTILATION
WITHOUT REMORSE

Goreaphobia, Incantation and Acheron should be familiar. Plus there are lots of names there we haven’t heard before. Some of them are bound to be interesting, some crappy, but hey, it’s a big festival, what do you expect? Is nothing happening in Florida? When’s the next time there’s good death metal in Europe? Now we go to summon some Elder Gods to answer us these questions.

By the way, Incantation will also practice their art in South America soon, according to this kind of dates:

October 30th – TBA – Guatemala City, Guatemala
October 31st – Museo de Antropologia e Historia – San Pedro Sula, Honduras

The latter date receives the credit for one of the most inspiring and appropriate venue choices of the year! Prepare for the diabolical conquest…

Virus – Pray For War

Britannia was throughout much of the 1980’s, with the exception of the grindcore movement, a musical wilderness ever since the general decline of the NWOBHM movement, which globally had given way to the speed metal movement, and subsequently what were then ‘embryonic’ or otherwise non-foundational forms of death and black metal.

The year here was 1987. Onslaught had already made their mark with their first two full-lengths, and Sabbat were yet to release their debut. Virus’s debut will remind some of Onslaught, as both bands have seem to have inherited a lot of their influence from the music of crossover act, Discharge.

Virus take a more primitive approach to their music, both in execution and production. In the guitar patterns we see a heavy influence from the early music of Sodom, the melodies tend to be fashioned in the same NWOBHM- indebted manner as their ‘In The Sign Of Evil’ E.P. whilst they are executed at a more quick and furious pace that resembles their first full-length ‘Obsessed By Cruelty’. The drums are not as chaotic and more or less run more fluidly with the pacing of the guitars, and are of a low volume, giving an almost ‘cautious’ sound that is rather similar to Bathory’s self-titled debut. Vocals are a direct shout, English-accented, and an obvious paean to Discharge or Subhumans. Lyrical content focuses on themes of post-nuclear society, and the consequences of chemical and agent warfare, lyrics and song titles almost laid out as if to honour the broken English vocabularies of early Sepultura and Sarcofago. In short, like a lot of classic speed metal it sums up the way the genre analysed the Cold War world; decades of pacifistic tension and the foreknowledge of ultimate conflict.

In hindsight this band were quite unique; the hybridisation of styles into a rough and cohesive song format, all bound by a common theme appears to have shown it’s influence on various bands throughout the years. Like countrymen Onslaught they were deeply rooted in the attitude of early 80’s British punk hardcore, and although minor, crafted a minor sub-style within the trappings of their era that was uniquely English. They are still an obscure act today, but given that in said period tape trading was considered a norm, it would be hard to not to imagine prominent bands today. Some of these would easily include Beherit, Conqueror, Bolt Thrower, Impaled Nazerene, Blasphemy, Angelcorpse, Spearhead, among others.

Whilst not a ‘direct influence’ per se, if we consider many black/death hybrids we see today, amongst modern underground crazes such as ‘war metal’ for example, it is easy to establish on listening to this release where some of these acts derived and later advanced their themes and concepts. As well as this it serves as a nice example of music that borrows forms from the metal and punk traditions, and comes across as honest and original without going out of it’s own way to do so. Worth a check.

August 29th, 2009 – Low End Festival, Waterford

By the time the doors opened at the Forum at 2pm, individuals were already gathering outside the venue. As the hours passed themselves by, more people congregated in accordance with the more prominent bands that were playing.

Cork duo Ghost Of Medina began proceedings just after the doors opened, and played purely instrumental music that bore strong resemblances to the music of post-hardcore acts such as Isis and Neurosis. At this early stage of the day, the venue was under packed and more or less saturated the impact of their live performance: both guitarist and drummer were highly able, and performed compositions that were well thought out, though like most bands of their ilk, it seemed at times like a disorganized pastiche of ideas. Nothing particularly special, but an otherwise necessary means to begin proceedings.

The next band to play, Belfast’s Overoth, played an excellent short set, and played mid-to high pace death metal that were of a consistent formula: the simplistic song structures of Swedish acts, such as Unleashed and Dismember, combined with the techniques not uncommon on the early works of New York metal acts Suffocation and Immolation. The production on their studio output is the clear, crunchy tone not unlike the sound of classic Entombed, though their live acoustics this day had a rough edge to it, sounding raw yet discernible, like Morbid Angel’s ‘Covenant’ it was well treated yet free of artificial compressions. For a crowd that was not yet numerous enough at that early stage and somewhat less participant than could have been, Overoth had quite a commanding presence in the midst of what could do lesser acts a complete lack of justice.

Just as energetic and fierce were England’s Spearhead, whose appearance at the venue was partially beset and delayed by unknown travel circumstances. A somewhat abrupt end to the band’s brief set came across as a slight disappointment. A well respected act on the underground circuit, their style is a hybrid of the British death metal/grindcore that defined Carcass and Bolt Thrower, with the charging tempos and structures of modern acts, Angelcorpse and Axis Of Advance. Guitar technique was skillful yet not over-extravagant, solos bearing a strong resemblance to the classic Trey Azagthoth/Richard Brunelle trade-off style, with vague similarities to the shredding Gene Palubicki, with clicking, compressed and tight drums an aesthetical paean to the acoustics of a machine gun. Their precise, warlike songs again should have generated a much more enthusiastic reception from a venue that was still under crowded at that phase, though they were still a pleasure to watch, and made their craftsmanship known.

Kildare’s Mourning Beloveth were the first act of the night to generate strong passions from the audience. Their morbid, downtempo heavy metal was met with a good stage humour, and they received the warmest of responses from a crowd that was by this time, healthy in a size and possibly spurred on to enthusiastic involvement by the ingestation of alcohol. More fitting to this good performance was the set time they were allocated, which allowed for their lengthy dirges to weave momentum. Musically, they bring about the gothic overtones of My Dying Bride and mix it with simpler, melodic song structures that resemble influential NWOBHM bands like Witchfinder General or Angel Witch, and sluggish, flowing tempos that echo Skepticism.

Onslaught played a very competent and energising set, their Discharge-esque speed metal came across as provocative and inspired. Even with newer songs that seemed watered down at times, and perhaps lacking the chaotic splendor of their early period, their setlist was full of momentum, and was performed with great prowess, the falsetto wails of the vocalist evoking a general atmosphere of nostalgia of an era that pre-dated the mass commercialization of the metal genre. I would conclude personally that Onslaught may be now past their best days, but their excellence as a live band is fitting to a climate where an improving work ethic and a greater respect for artistic clarity is making itself heard amidst what some have called ‘hard times’.

Primordial got the warmest of receptions by a native crowd, and stylistically began where Mourning Beloveth left off; melancholic in a sense that only Ireland could fathom and know, but more triumphal than the former, and almost Nietzschean in the sense that their music makes one stare into the abyss, only to emerge a better man. They played a lengthy set, consisting of material that ran in fluid cohesion, like a more hookish, streamlined My Dying Bride, and a use of guitar dominated forms that reference Burzum as much as they do Candlemass. Impressive as is known the onstage dynamism of vocalist Alan Averill, whose onstage character is that vibrant it comes across as bring rhetorical without having to make use of words. In terms of showmanship, professionalism, a will to evoke the vision of tragic heroism, Primordial were the most impressive band of the entire festival, with little room for dispute.

Legendary grindcore veterans Napalm Death were hotly anticipated though came across as a disappointment due to two factors: the first being the depleted length of their set, and the second being what some perceived as a muddied sound job that permeated the guitars during their time onstage. During the intensity of their set, which given their indisputable live reputation would have made little difference to the highly involved crowd; though due to an unbalanced mix, it was only possible to follow the song forms through memory of having heard them before. Songs were from the mostly from the earlier part of their discography, and in between this were pieces taken from their latest release. Anyone new to the band listening to their performance I am sure would have had trouble trying to appreciate the nature of some of the output, and would have otherwise physically involved themselves in the ensuing crowd actions purely for the sake of doing so. The set did not even exceed forty-five minutes and this was also perceived as an obvious disappointment given the fact that they were given the headlining slot.

In spite of anything that might have at anytime proved to be detrimental, this happened to be an excellent day and evening. It was especially brilliant for an event such as this to actually take place in the south-east of Ireland. By all accounts it was a memorable night.

Return of the Dutch deathmasters

This summer’s festival season of carnage is nearing its bloody end and while drinking beer from skullcaps we have been reading and writing reports, listening to albums and throwing the sign of the horns to all bands that still really understand what death metal is about. Maryland Deathfest 2009 was a success as were of course countless of smaller events in USA, Germany, wherever, and I myself attended the true-as-fuck Jalometalli 2009 in Oulu, Finland. It was truly a pleasure to see that this country still has a metal festival which is not totally invaded by metalcore people and hipsters. It has been getting worse, because metal is trendy now and even though that means more gigs, it also means that corporate rock bastards see the marketing potential.

While old school speed metal bands regenerated themselves with great force, the likes of Agent Steel, Death Angel and Whiplash riffing and headbanging like it was goddamned 1985, the band that really dominated the Oulu proceedings was the mighty Asphyx, always too underrated, always better than pretty much anything else from Netherlands, whose little brother Hail of Bullets didn’t fare that much worse with their Bolt Thrower impersonation. Despite the open air / big stage setup, the underground feeling of it was something that could have happened in one of those legendary “youth center” gigs of the early 90′s death metal scene in Scandinavia. No glamour, no gimmicks, some death metal possessed kids throwing a moshpit, and pure old school musical values dating even back to demo material (the legendary cut “Rite of Shades”).

So, forget the hippie Atheist, boring Pestilence and greedy Carcass, whomever else has made the comeback for all the wrong reasons. Asphyx is here to stay and crush.