Sadistic Metal Reviews: Invert the Cross Edition

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Apparently Facebook, after shutting down my account for suspicion of “impersonation” a decade ago, has now decided to ban our page. The current framework of beliefs by which modern people live is shaking. Eighty years has revealed only the weakness at is core. Sea change is coming.

To abstract this sea change in metal language, we are moving from a herd to a pack. In a herd everyone is the same with the same function; in a pack, hierarchy rules, and only those who contribute can join and stay until they can no longer carry themselves. Then they are left in the ice to wait.

From early in our lives, we have been indoctrinated in the Christian, business, and liberal values of sharing, accepting everyone, tolerating the bad, subsidizing the useless, making pets out of the hopeless, buying plastic garbage, and most of all, avoiding reality.

The sea change is a tsunami of reality coming back after the earthquake of modernity collapsing. Modernity is based on the idea that we are all the same and external influences, not personal choices, shape us. Nothing is our fault but nor is any of it our pride. We are a fungible mass of human flood.

In the future, you own what you create, produce, or maintain. You are not an equal, but your role in relation to nature and your ethno-culture. Faith in objective, absolute, and universal forms of truths, values, and communications has evaporated.

We live in a relativistic world without inherent purpose where all things follow the same path of adaptation and selection. “Good to the good, bad to the bad” is a sorting principle like natural selection, and this extends to the cosmos itself:

Quantum Darwinism describes the proliferation, in the environment, of multiple records of selected states of a quantum system. It explains how the fragility of a state of a single quantum system can lead to the classical robustness of states of their correlated multitude; shows how effective `wave-packet collapse’ arises as a result of proliferation throughout the environment of imprints of the states of quantum system; and provides a framework for the derivation of Born’s rule, which relates probability of detecting states to their amplitude.

In fact, all of reality undergoes this sorting in order to reduce entropy and increase quality. Hierarchy arises from comparison, and through competition, the more competent rise above the rest, and therefore, all exist in a state of higher competence.

Selectionism undergirds every system at a mathematical or informational level and cannot be removed:

Darwinism, or selectionism as the approach is more generally known, provides an account of the origins of complexity that does not entail principles that directly impose complexity (Richerson & R. Boyd, p. 361). Instead, complexity is a possible—although not inevitable—outcome of the repeated action of lower-order processes. As a general approach, the potential range of selectionism extends far beyond evolutionary biology.

A selection process consists of three interdependent phases—variation, selection, and retention.

  • Variation provides the raw material upon which selection operates. It is the source of whatever novelty arises from repeated cycles of the selection process. Selection acts only on already existing variants.
  • Selection leads, potentially, to complexity when some event acting on the population of variants favors (or disfavors) one variant over another. Selection confers to the process the illusion of purpose when the selecting contingencies remain constant or change slowly over time. Selection processes are not directed in a teleological sense. The future does not pull the present toward itself; instead, the past pushes the present into the future. The trajectory of selection depends utterly on the relative constancy of the selecting contingencies and the population of variants.
  • Retention is the third phase of a selection process. Retention permits selected variants to persist long enough for them to contribute to the variation upon which future selections act. Without retention, selections cannot accumulate and even the possibility of complexity is precluded.

As with all reality, we accept it or self-destruct like Captain Ahab or Romeo & Juliet by suffering the obvious and inevitable consequences of our antirealism. Rationalists thrived in the symbolic, individualistic era of modernity, but realists will thrive in the selectionist future.

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Rather than run a forum on every site, we have created an omnibus forum called abreaction which includes metal discussion. It is populated mostly with references for future conversation. Give it a start by logging on and fisting Jéhováh.

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Out there in the wide world (fuck that place) it seems that egghead nurds are studying death metal:

Death metal vocalists also train their voices to hit that unique guttural register. And those iconic screams are not as easy to master as they might seem.

Vocal scientists at the University of Utah are now bringing death metal singers into the lab to try to understand how they make their extreme vocalizations.

We with them luck, but if you are an “intellectual,” it means you are devoted to avoiding clear answers to abstract problems so you can dwell in neurosis, which is why Italians and Jews dominate the field. Bighead nurdly nerds love theories that go nowhere but sound cool.

Not surprisingly, that same type of churn overtook the music industry after culture went bowling alone when it was replaced with pluralism:

According to a recent YouGov poll, Americans rate the 2020s as the worst decade in a century for music, movies, fashion, TV, and sports. A 2023 story in The New York Times Magazine declared that we’re in the “least innovative, least transformative, least pioneering century for culture since the invention of the printing press.” An art critic for The Guardian recently proclaimed that “the avant garde is dead.”

What’s so jarring about these declarations of malaise is that we should, logically, be in a renaissance. The internet has caused a Cambrian explosion of creative expression by allowing artists to execute and distribute their visions with unprecedented ease. More than 500 scripted TV shows get made every year; streaming services reportedly add about 100,000 songs every day. We have podcasts that cater to every niche passion and video games of novelistic sophistication. Technology companies like to say that they’ve democratized the arts, enabling exciting collisions of ideas from unlikely talents. Yet no one seems very happy about the results.

The problem is particularly acute in music. In 2024, new releases accounted for a little more than a quarter of the albums consumed in the U.S.; every year, a greater and greater percentage of the albums streamed online is “catalog music,” meaning it is at least 18 months old. Hoping to remonetize the classics, record labels and private-equity firms have spent billions of dollars to acquire artists’ publishing rights.

Of course, society is not doing so well generally, mainly because most of the people are insane, but when we look at the past, we can see the slow steady advance of insanity from the edges of human awareness. That, and rectal mummification which should amuse everyone:

Now experts say they have discovered the body was embalmed with the abdominal and pelvic cavities packed with wood chips, fragmented twigs, fabrics such as hemp and silk, and zinc chloride – materials that would have absorbed fluids inside the body.

“The body wall was not opened – therefore the only entrance possible was the rectum,” he said, noting this was very different from previously known methods of embalming, including those from ancient Egypt.

Dessicating force
Emerging from within
Dehydrating organs
Embalmed from the rectum

Then we take a dive into the ongoing soap opera of speed/death metal band Possessed, who have gone down in the flames of drug-related shootings and now, tree trimming related shootings:

Police shot and killed a death metal pioneer in San Francisco this week after an argument with a neighbor over tree clippings turned violent.

Brian Montana, 60, guitarist for the band Possessed, died in a shootout with cops after he pulled a gun on a neighbor during an argument, the South San Francisco Police Department said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Come to think of it, modern California is maddening enough that if someone infringes on what little individuality you have left in the herd of different hipster conformists, you might just decide to beat them to death with a block of government cheese, so we can understand his frustration. Rest in peace.

As a quick reminder, metal seems to calm people especially during high stress:

Measures of emotion included heart rate and subjective ratings on the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). Results showed that ratings of PANAS hostility, irritability, and stress increased during the anger induction, and decreased after the music or silence. Heart rate increased during the anger induction and was sustained (not increased) in the music condition, and decreased in the silence condition. PANAS active and inspired ratings increased during music listening, an effect that was not seen in controls. The findings indicate that extreme music did not make angry participants angrier; rather, it appeared to match their physiological arousal and result in an increase in positive emotions. Listening to extreme music may represent a healthy way of processing anger for these listeners.

Because metal is so significant, Finnish academics are archiving metal for the post-nuclear future (there is also an internet archive).

Music may be more important than we think, simply because it serves as such a powerful brain process that mimics a powerful painkiller:

The results show that favorite music influenced opioid release in several brain areas associated with the experience of pleasure. The release of opioids was also linked to how often participants reported experiencing pleasurable chills while listening to music. Furthermore, individual differences in the number of opioid receptors correlated with brain activation during music listening: the more opioid receptors participants had, the more strongly their brains reacted in MRI scans.

“These results show for the first time directly that listening to music activates the brain’s opioid system. The release of opioids explains why music can produce such strong feelings of pleasure, even though it is not a primary reward necessary for survival or reproduction, like food or sexual pleasure,” says Academy Research Fellow Vesa Putkinen from the University of Turku.

Professor Lauri Nummenmaa adds: “The brain’s opioid system is also involved in pain relief. Based on our findings, the previously observed pain-relieving effects of music may be due to music-induced opioid responses in the brain.”

In praise of Satan: goats are smarter than sheep or alpacas.

Goats appeared to show the strongest spatial memory, finding the food faster and making fewer errors than the others. Sheep also performed well, although they made more mistakes than the goats. The alpacas, however, struggled to complete the tasks within the time limit.

This stronger spatial memory in goats could be linked to their evolutionary history. They have adapted to forage across wide, rocky landscapes and they have probably developed a sharp memory to help them navigate efficiently and return to good food sources.

As it turns out, Jesus is busy sickening worshipers with colon bacteria:

European tourists who toted home bottles of water from a holy well in Ethiopia were likely hoping for blessings and spiritual cleansing—but instead carried an infectious curse and got an intestinal power cleanse.

Three people in Germany and four in the UK fell ill with cholera after directly drinking or splashing their faces with the holy water. Two required intensive care.

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Thinking back to when when metal fell apart in 1994, and how as the O’Clinton recession set in, the first wave of mediocre happy underground metalish bands came out, like Dodheimsgard, Aura Noir, Nifelheim, Katatonia, Arcturus, and The Haunted, which followed the later Entombed playbook of death ‘n roll or as we like to say, Motorhead/Metallica revivalism with a touch of black and death metal styling.

Balancing that, in the early 2000s the FMP/NWN underground arose on forums by those two labels who honestly are blameless in this mess; if you have ever tried to admin a forum with thousands of users, you know why. The internet funderground tried to resurrect the past through methods.

In doing so, it emulated the bureaucracy and corporations around it, but that approach does not work. The cause of underground metal is not underground metal. Its cause is a certain outlook on the world that both rejects the present (punk), dreams of a better future (prog), but finds it in reality not illusion (horror).

Some years ago I experienced a bit of a shock on Last.fm when I found that what I listen to did not correspond to what I thought I enjoyed. It is not that I reject these bands that I respect, but that I reach for comfortable classics, like that Mini-14 with the busted stock and rust that still is your best plinking gun.

Here then is my soul crushing list of classics as I took them off my outside office MP3 player this month:

Sepultura – Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation
Massacra – Final Holocaust
Massacra – Enjoy the Violence
Vader – Reborn in Chaos
Morbid Angel – Abominations of Desolation
Incantation – Onward to Golgotha
Demoncy – Joined in Darkness
Demoncy – Enthroned is the Night
Carnage – Dark Recollections
Hellhammer – Apocalyptic Raids
Cianide – A Descent Into Hell
Therion – Of Darkness…
Sentenced – Shadows of the Past
Infester – To the Depths, In Degradation
Demigod – Slumber of Sullen Eyes
Cadaver – …In Pains
Slayer – Hell Awaits
Slayer – Reign in Blood
Deicide – Deicide
Massacre – From Beyond
Darkthrone – Soulside Journey
Varathron – His Majesty at the Swamp
Behemoth – …From the Pagan Vastlands
Emperor/Enslaved – Split
Enslaved – Vikinglgr Veldi
Enslaved – Frost
Amorphis – The Karelian Isthmus
Graveland – Epilogue/In the Glare of Burning Churches
Immortal – Diabolical Full Moon Mysticism
Ildjarn – Forest Poetry
Belial – The Gods of the Pit Part II
Terrorizer – Hordes of Zombies
Terrorizer – World Downfall
Von – Satanic Blood
Napalm Death – Mass Appeal Madness
Napalm Death – Mentally Murdered
Rigor Mortis – Freaks
Summoning – Dol Guldur
Summoning – Nightshade Forests
Hypocrisy – Penetralia
Cenotaph – The Gloomy Reflections of Our Hidden Sorrows

This list is guaranteed to change over time, but you may see a theme for this month. I was very glad to see that Amazon had an Easter Death Metal Sale this year. I spent the money on a Costco fan instead.

In the long calculus, there is self-pity music and self-losing music. Self-pity music convinces you of scapegoats and talismans; you are a poor suffering lonely boy, and just having sex once with the girl of your dreams will make your life right. Except as Sara Bailey observed: nothing makes everything better.

Self-losing music is like that “wanderer above the cloud” painting all the internet artnerds like, but is typical of Romantic art, namely the idea of getting lost in the tempest of life and in doing so, finding the parts of your soul that are eternal and not just self-pitying distractions.

The opposites we need are not good and evil but all and ego. Praise Lucifer, the Grand Magister.

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Anoxia – Revel in Sin: an overactive snare drum drives these mostly tremolo riffs, but each riff is discrete in the sense of being an answer to itself designed mostly to convey the rhythm and a stop point, making the death metal equivalent of funk in that we are supposed to be so caught up in the syncopated rhythm and expectation of next phrase that we are pulled forward, but really, we are just falling asleep because riffs and songs are strikingly similar.

Cattle Decapitation – Terrasite: wtf, this does not sound like cattle being decapitated at all, and is instead a black metal and war metal hybrid that aims for the late black metal shoegaze-emo-indie style melancholy but unchallengingly consonant and pentatonic melodies, sometimes even breaking out in hilarious pop singing in the black metal voice, so that despite all the pounding and imagery, this band is basically just a new Fugazi or Rites of Spring with less of the talent.

Arcturus – Arcturian: the band throws in little bits of techno and noise, but this album is fundamentally 1970s ballad-targeted AOR with an emphasis on strong vocals and lyrics, which usually implies that it has moved from naturalism to individualism, where people think about their power and their self-pity constantly, making this an album of mental unhealth wrapped around hard rock tropes older than your dad.

Bloodbath – The Fathomless Mastery: compensatory music preserves the ego by avoiding touching on any issues of importance in the inner self or external reality, so you get this kind of sound-and-fury signifying a dominance of technique over content (means-over-ends) with lots of guitar stunts, chugging head-nodder riffs, foot-tapping rhythms, and songs so compactly self-referential that a solipsist would be impressed.

Wulkanaz – Luftuz: this is a late hardcore album, think Terveet Kadet crossed with Angry Aryans, dressed up with some interludes and coated in black metal vocals, but ultimately it is not musically interesting nor black metal, but it appeals to the parts of the funderground that are tired of emo and would like something with real distortion and energy, despite the fact that these songs are each unfinished and sort of trail off into confusion.

Manegarm – Dödsfärd: the Irish bars here have bands who have mastered the handful of patterns that convey Celtic rock, and play these with chanting rhythms and vocals that expand from minor key to whole scale, then drop in a few punk-style riffs of chord progressions where each chord is played for equal duration until the conclusion, and this band is like that, only with late model black metal trappings.

Ashbringer – Vacant: this is the new style of politically correct black metal which is like motown without the swing, lots of swelling melodies that drop into angular riffs anchored by harmony, which makes it also some of the least contrast- or conflict-driven music out there at this point, but if you want the aesthetics of black metal without the hard emotional and philosophical questions, this will fill your ears until the PBR and gummies put you down for the night.

Umbersun – Endless Winter Nights: Gothic funeral doom with a lighter edge treads no new ground but provides a pleasant aesthetic experience of descent into a self-aware melancholic alienation that delights in the destruction by pointing us toward its contrast, making an album you can listen to as a whole despite being mostly fungible with minimal variation between tracks and melodies.

Slomatics – Estron: one of the better sludge releases, this focuses on that moment in early Black Sabbath riffs where they droned on repetition of the chord before the one that ended the phrase, except that here it becomes a universal technique, resulting in droning music with a sustained high tension which here make for a sensation of investigating suicides in modernistic apartments with nothing but mustard in the refrigerator.

Hate Propaganda – World War 666: formless noise enwraps drum beat and vocals that are nearly coherent, but in the end, what dominates here is the syncopated rhythm pounding out a simple figure over and over again, resembling classic punk rhythms and classic LA heavy metal riffs sped up enough to make them sting, but the songs do not really hold together and whatever this is trying to express became a muddle, if it even existed.

Clawhammer Coven – Worship Satan & Kill Yourself: perhaps we needed a band to succeed The Mentors as the dominant shock-rockers of the day, and since all the topics of vileness have now been assimilated by mainstream society, something devoutly pointless had to be found, and this hybrid between Suicidal Tendencies and Venom seems like it would fit, since the songs are catchy and complete if not particularly unique in structure or riff.

Uninhibited – Scourge: this EP brings to mind the early days of death metal experimentation, melding pieces of different psuedopods of the death metal genre, focusing on a European mid-paced sound merged with pounding deathcore and melodic American death metal, coming up with a result that does not quite gel but gets points for experimentation and having songs that at least seem to be about something.

The Infernal Deceit – The True Harmful Black: professional, too professional, mixture of The Somberlain, Ancient God of Evil, and Far Beyond Driven, this album holds together in songs much better than the average, and nothing seems random as a part, although the bluesy leads come across as jarringly normal as do the bouncy 1980s stadium metal riffs, but there is nothing ill-formed here, just nothing particularly expressed except that desire.

In The Woods… – Otra: another attempt to mix lounge music, Dead Can Dance, and black metal ends in formless riffs and vocal-dominated songs just like the pop on the radiostreaming services, sounding more like faster strumming but slower chord change versions of 90s indie-pop punk bands like Quicksand, just with more minor key melancholy and smarm.

Cumbeast – Fairytales Of Filth: novelty band makes goofy songs based around drinking rhythms, dressed up as death metal but without any appeal to fans of the genre, however the name should get enough laughs to make cred at the local wine bar while we all wait to learn the latest straight dope about objects in Rust and how to handle garbage collection well enough that the JavaScript interface will not crash on an internet-enabled toilet.

Warfield – Deathrock Devotionals: heavily influenced by Sisters of Mercy and Joy Division, this band combines Gothic pop with bass-driven rock, and ends up making something not entirely surprising but entirely enjoyable simply because it has its own spirit and goal and this comes forth in these simple earworm songs that emphasize a dark mood contrasted with surging energy.

Teitanblood – From the Visceral Abyss: fast rushing songs with lots of battering drums, these tunes tend to have no center, and therefore no discernible ending other than noise cessation, which is a blessing given how much repetition is used to create surging rhythm maximized for duration as if holding our hands to the flame in order to make us crave the cold.

Slugdge – The Cosmic Cornucopia: one might expect a sludge album, but instead what arrives on the speakers is melodic death metal with modern metal vocals, and a reasonable amount of song development, although internally focused so songs resemble a variety of a personal expression rather than a representation of natural forces or cosmic realizations, making an album that is fun to hear once but not something one grabs off the shelf repeatedly.

Walnut Grove DC – Deeper: an attempt to fuse modern groove metal with late hardcore, this band reminds me of Crowbar sped up or EyeHateGod with more Soundgarden and Helmet in the mix, but because it is caught in the hardcore song format which is reduced from the pop format, even with occasional rhythmic interludes this feels like a band finding a groove and resting in it.

Furnace – Eternally Enthroned: this “melodic death metal” has more in common with Motley Crue than Necrophobic, and emphasizes a lot of open strum repetition more than riff shape, and not surprisingly, is vocal driven with the types of melodies found in emo, gospel, post-metal, and power metal, feeling like a cross between a hymn and an advertising jingle.

Vulvatorious – Vulvatorious: unlike most of the bands trotting across this page, Vulvatorious write songs, but they are entrenched in the zone between late speed metal and nostalgia retro-thrash, which means lots of chanting and formless riffs based on strobing repetitive strumming of formless riffs, reminding me a bit of Agnostic Front without the chaotic creativity that led to unorthodox song structures.

Angel Witch – Angel of Light: musically there is nothing wrong here but the album reminds me of all the melodic vocals songs on Seasons in the Abyss, namely very similar pacing, rhythm, and conclusion to melodies, so it ends up being sort of a nice album to throw on in the background but is not really a compelling listen, despite being highly competent, which is why this has not graced my speakers for five years.

Nox – Ixaxaar: the rebirth of Centurian or Hate Eternal with black metal vocal stylings, this band falls back on way too many heavy metal riffs among the chromatic rhythm riffs based on charging toward a conclusion that is as much based on rhythmic expectation as any reggae or funk band, and while songwriting is more complete than most bands, never expresses anything but the first riff in furious intensity that gradually becomes background noise.

Inferi – Vile Genesis: if you are a pop listener looking to be recognized as an edgy metal fan, you might dig this, which uses vocal rhythm hooks on top of sing-song guitar melodies that periodically give way to absolute carnival music of fast color notes rotating around a bouncing center of repeated whole steps, making for a ludicrous parody of heavy music with lots of guitar fireworks to distract from the emptiness at its vortex core.

Saturnus – Paradise Belongs to You: the spiritual ancestor of much of funeral doom including Empyrium and Skepticism, this band slowed down the Candlemass ideal and moved it from heavy/speed metal riffs at glacial pace to at least death metal influenced riffing, resulting in a new sound that is quite pleasing with its slow and melodic ways, but this band did not know what to do with it, so each song descends into a mood and wallows, then trails off, which makes this unlikely to be a repeated listen.

Allegaeon – The Ossuary Lens: there is only one word to describe this album and it is “comical,” since this release blends dream-pop choruses with nü-metal verses slowed down and given a few dissonant chords, and the only thing vaguely metal about it is the imagery, since this is otherwise the type of post-Coldplay and Jewel idealistic, emotive, and navel-gazing 90s rock that made most of us flee mainstream music in the first place, but with distortion and ossuaries.

Lucifugum – Gates of Nocticula: this album has some compelling material on it but falls back into the formula of vocals leading and mid-paced heavy metal riffs which are at odds with its attempt to build atmosphere like the first Behemoth or Graveland, resulting in a listening experience that one fades in and out of like being drunk at a police station at 4am while trying to convince the law you really are innocent when you cannot remember with certainty if that is the case.

Notes Du Paradis – Whoop Whoop Whee Whee: supposedly there is black metal in here somewhere, but more accurately this is post-grindcore hardcore punk with powerviolence influences, about like the aggregate-to-lowest-common-denominator pipeline that has taken over any punk more underground than a bar band doing Ramones and Clash covers since hivY2k, but at its core is catchy, bouncy pop, and the reviewer heads into the kitchen for a beer instead.

BalashToth – Anti-Life: speed metal with European-style percussion and a few At the Gates riffs melded in to give it the appearance of atmosphere in melodies straight off an alternative rock release, but songs contain no inner contrast or conflict, only a sense of wanting to return to the toe-tapping fist-bumping beer-drinking head-nodding rhythms of broken washing machines and malfunctioning hedge clippers that made European speed metal both hypnotic and numbing.

Lone Wanderer – The Faustian Winter: cool Skepticism-inspired funeral doom aesthetic with perhaps another 10% gothic-esque heavy metal, but the themes wander more than evoke an inner melancholic ambiguity and the clash of necessities, which is what makes Skepticism and Thergothon so unsettling and worthy of the title funeral doom, this is more like marriage counseling therapist waiting room doom.

Ancient Death – Ego Dissolution: of all the recent “progressive death metal” releases, this comes closest to the underground spirit and therefore is able to produce an enduring atmosphere with inner textural changes, showcasing an influence from the Finnish scene and American heavyweights, with perhaps a bit too much bouncy heavy metal riffing from the Swedish school intruding, but falls short of the clear expression that would make this endure.

Morbific – Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh: if you want those great 1980s heavy metal and speed metal riffs recycled with throaty guttural death vocals and songs that lurch into predictable repetition but never seem to unveil anything other than the surface they offer, perhaps Morbific will satisfy that urge but generally this music is disorganized, inconsistent, and fairly unexciting.

Ghost Brigade – Isolation Songs: MTV heavy metal underlies Swedish melodic death metal with black metal vocals in this release that at least has consistent energy and songs that hold together with the parts related to each other, but the parts do not relate to a central idea that animates the whole, so each song feels like a soundtrack to a movie about upper middle class grannies who solve murders which has at least one motorcycle chase scene.

Death Pulsation – “Demo”: like a lot of bands trying to revitalize the past, this act turns techniques of the classics into constants, and therefore presents an unbroken series of pounding d-beats and riffs with melodic conclusions, but because there is no internal variation, the technique turns headache-inducing and any point the band was trying to make is lost in the white noise of aesthetics as substance.

Hate Forest – Against All Odds: where Ildjarn developed mystique and atmosphere, Hate Forest shows us an industrial blasting take on the Ildjarn style sort of like if Mortician decided to become a Transilvanian Hunger clone band, and these songs rarely develop except in linear form with some layering and a verse-chorus loop such that, despite promising aesthetics, they resound with emptiness desperately being stuffed with clutter instead.

Bell Witch – Four Phantoms: funeral doom requires a deft touch to avoid becoming background music because it is so slow and dependent on atmosphere, and while this band nails the aesthetic, life slips away during this album of linear but layered songs that essentially achieve a mood and then sink in it with variations like narrative-based short stories or dialogue-based horror movies, never going anywhere but in a circular conversation.

Svar – In the Land Called Night: good heavy metal with death metal technique borrowed from Dissection and Unanimated, this release has many promising moments of gently undulating melodic death metal riffs that contrast the bouncier moments, but at some point the need for the foot-tapping inertia riff overwhelms the song, and it falls back into the inner instability of heavy metal, despite having some fine moments of clarity.

C.R.V.E.L. – Desde las Profundidades del Infierno: black metal in the ritual format that Veles, Isengard, and Infernum hinted at, namely long pauses for the ritual to be delivered, then frenzied or atmospheric music to bring in a mood, layered with keyboards and vocals, reaching a bacchanalia before detouring into a naturalistic expiation, and perhaps not so much sing along as like modern art, studied from a distance.

~~~

Echelon trap-troll file: kill the president, echelon, FRU, GRU, SVD, mojado, wetback, spic, anarchy, nuclear, assassinate, Roswell, Waco, World Trade Center, Soros, kikechrist, Whitewater, Lebed, HALO, Spetznatz, Al Amn al-Askari, Glock 26, Steak Knife, wigger, wogs, wops, micks, snigs, nugs, nubs, slibs, spanes, spics, slavs, bohunks, katsaps, hohols, frogs, White Nigger, Black Christ, Vicki Weaver, Rewson, SAFE, Waihopai, INFOSEC, ASPIC, MI6, Information Security, SAI, Information Warfare, IW, IS, Privacy, Information Terrorism, Terrorism Defensive Information, Defense Information Warfare, Offensive Information, Offensive Information Warfare, The Artful Dodger, NAIA, SAPM, ASU, ASTS, National Information Infrastructure, InfoSec, SAO, Reno, Compsec, JICS, Computer Terrorism, Firewalls, Secure Internet Connections, RSP, ISS, JDF, Ermes, Passwords, NAAP, DefCon V, RSO, Hackers, Encryption, ASWS, CUN, CISU, CUSI, M.A.R.E., MARE, UFO, IFO, Pacini, Angela, Espionage, USDOJ, NSA, CIA, S/Key, SSL, FBI, Secert Service, USSS, Defcon, Military, White House, Undercover, NCCS, Mayfly, PGP, SALDV, PEM, resta, RSA, Heeb, himey, Holocaust, hooknose, Hymie, Shylock, Juden, Arbeit Macht Frei, Perl-RSA, MSNBC, bet, AOL, AOL TOS, CIS, CBOT, AIMSX, STARLAN, 3B2, BITNET, SAMU, havohej, Satan, Lucifer, Nine Angles, COSMOS, DATTA, Latrino, Furbys, E911, FCIC, HTCIA, IACIS, UT/RUS, JANET, ram, JICC, ReMOB, LEETAC, UTU, VNET, BRLO, SADCC, NSLEP, SACLANTCEN, FALN, 877, NAVELEXSYSSECENGCEN, BZ, CANSLO, CBNRC, CIDA, JAVA, rsta, Active X, Compsec 97, RENS, LLC, DERA, JIC, rip, rb, Wu, RDI, Mavricks, BIOL, Meta-hackers, ^?, SADT, Steve Case, Tools, RECCEX, Telex, Aldergrove, OTAN, monarchist, NMIC, NIOG, IDB, MID/KL, NADIS, NMI, SEIDM, BNC, CNCIS, STEEPLEBUSH, RG, BSS, DDIS, mixmaster, BCCI, BRGE, Europol, SARL, Military Intelligence, JICA, Scully, recondo, Flame, Infowar, FRU, Bubba, Freeh, Archives, ISADC, CISSP, Sundevil, jack, Investigation, JOTS, ISACA, NCSA, ASVC, spook words, RRF, 1071, Bugs Bunny, Verisign, Secure, ASIO, Lebed, ICE, NRO, Lexis-Nexis, NSCT, SCIF, FLiR, JIC, bce, Lacrosse, Flashbangs, HRT, IRA, EODG, DIA, USCOI, CID, BOP, FINCEN, FLETC, NIJ, ACC, AFSPC, BMDO, site, SASSTIXS, NAVWAN, NRL, RL, Bracero, Greaser, SpicTite, Pikey, Beaner, NAVWCWPNS, NSWC, USAFA, AHPCRC, ARPA, SARD, LABLINK, USACIL, SAPT, USCG, NRC, ~, O, NSA/CSS, CDC, DOE, SAAM, FMS, HPCC, NTIS, SEL, USCODE, CISE, SIRC, CIM, ISN, DJC, LLNL, bemd, SGC, UNCPCJ, CFC, SABENA, DREO, CDA, SADRS, DRA, bogus bouncer, SHAPE, bird dog, SACLANT, BECCA, DCJFTF, HALO, SC, TA SAS, Lander, GSM, T Branch, AST, SAMCOMM, HAHO, FKS, 868, GCHQ, DITSA, SORT, AMEMB, NSG, HIC, EDI, benelux, SAS, nigger, kike, faggot, retard, yid, zhid, oven-dodger, sheenie, sheeny, sand nigger, flat face, gook, gugu, negu, bubu, mick, wop, dago, nig, nug, spane, spic, bohunk, wigger, hohol, katsap, bitchtits, tranny, transfaggot, wegro, SBS, SAW, UDT, EODC, GOE, DOE, SAMF, GEO, JRB, 3P-HV, Masuda, Forte, AT, GIGN, Exon Shell, radint, MB, CQB, TECS, CONUS, CTU, RCMP, GRU, SASR, GSG-9, 22nd SAS, GEOS, EADA, SART, BBE, STEP, Echelon, Dictionary, MD2, MD4, MDA, diwn, 747, ASIC, 777, RDI, 767, MI5, 737, MI6, 757, Kh-11, EODN, jeet, boojie, Green Nigger, Gigger, Hibe, Paddy, SHS, ^X, Shayet-13, SADMS, Spetznaz, Recce, 707, CIO, NOCS, Halcon, NSS, Duress, RAID, Uziel, wojo, Psyops, SASCOM, grom, NSIRL, D-11, DF, ZARK, SERT, VIP, ARC, S.E.T. Team, NSWG, MP5k, SATKA, DREC, DEVGRP, DSD, FDM, GRU, LRTS, SIGDEV, NACSI, MEU/SOC,PSAC, PTT, RFI, ZL31, SIGDASYS, TDM. SUKLO, Schengen, SUSLO, TELINT, fake, TEXTA. ELF, LF, MF, Mafia, JASSM, CALCM, TLAM, Wipeout, GII, SIW, MEII, C2W, Burns, Tomlinson, Ufologico Nazionale, Centro, CICAP, MIR, Belknap, Tac, rebels, BLU-97 A/B, 007, Guinea, anus.com, nowhere.ch, bronze, Rubin, Arnett, BLU, SIGS, VHF, Recon, peapod, Opeth, PA598D28, Spall, dort, 50MZ, 11Emc Choe, SATCOMA, UHF, The Hague, SHF, ASIO, SASP, WANK, Colonel, domestic disruption, 5ESS, smuggle, Z-200, 15kg, DUVDEVAN, RFX, nitrate, OIR, Pretoria, M-14, enigma, Bletchley Park, Clandestine, NSO, nkvd, argus, afsatcom, CQB, NVD, Counter Terrorism Security, Enemy of the State, SARA, Rapid Reaction, JSOFC3IP, Corporate Security, 192.47.242.7, Baldwin, Wilma, ie.org, cospo.osis.gov, Police, Dateline, Tyrell, KMI, 1ee, Pod, 9705 Samford Road, 20755-6000, sniper, PPS, ASIS, ASLET, TSCM, Security Consulting, M-x spook, Z-150T, Steak Knife, High Security, Security Evaluation, Electronic Surveillance, MI-17, ISR, NSAS, Counterterrorism, real, spies, IWO, eavesdropping, debugging, CCSS, interception, COCOT, NACSI, rhost, rhosts, ASO, SETA, Amherst, Broadside, Capricorn, NAVCM, Gamma, Gorizont, Guppy, NSS, rita, ISSO, submiss, ASDIC, .tc, 2EME REP, FID, 7NL SBS, tekka, captain, 226, .45, nonac, .li, Tony Poe, MJ-12, JASON, Society, Hmong, Majic, evil, zipgun, tax, bootleg, warez, TRV, ERV, rednoise, mindwar, nailbomb, VLF, ULF, Paperclip, Chatter, MKULTRA, MKDELTA, Bluebird, MKNAOMI, White Yankee, MKSEARCH, 355 ML, Adriatic, Goldman, Ionosphere, Mole, Keyhole, NABS, Kilderkin, Artichoke, Badger, Emerson, Tzvrif, SDIS, T2S2, STTC, DNR, NADDIS, NFLIS, CFD, BLU-114/B, quarter, Cornflower, Daisy, Egret, Iris, JSOTF, Hollyhock, Jasmine, Juile, Vinnell, B.D.M., Sphinx, Stephanie, Reflection, Spoke, Talent, Trump, FX, FXR, IMF, POCSAG, rusers, Covert Video, Intiso, r00t, lock picking, Beyond Hope, LASINT, csystems, .tm, passwd, 2600 Magazine, JUWTF, Competitor, EO, Chan, Pathfinders, SEAL Team 3, JTF, Nash, ISSAA, B61-11, Alouette, executive, Event Security, Mace, Cap-Stun, stakeout, ninja, ASIS, ISA, EOD, Oscor, Tarawa, COSMOS-2224, COSTIND, hit word, hitword, ANUS, Hitwords, Regli, VBS, Leuken-Baden, number key, Zimmerwald, DDPS, GRS, AGT. AMME, ANDVT, Type I, Type II, VFCT, VGPL, WHCA, WSA, WSP, WWABNCP, ZNI1, FSK, FTS2000, GOSIP, GOTS, SACS STU-III, PRF, PMSP, PCMT, I&A, JRSC, ITSDN, Keyer, KG-84C, KWT-46, KWR-46, KY-75, KYV-5, LHR, PARKHILL, LDMX, LEASAT, SNS, SVN, TACSAT, TRANSEC, DONCAF, EAM, DSCS, DSNET1, DSNET2, DSNET3, ECCM, EIP, EKMS, EKMC, DDN, DDP, Merlin, NTT, SL-1, Rolm, TIE, Tie-fighter, PBX, SLI, NTT, MSCJ, MIT, 69, RIT, Time, MSEE, Cable & Wireless, CSE, SUW, J2, Embassy, ETA, Porno, Fax, finks, Fax encryption, white noise, Fernspah, MYK, GAFE, forcast, import, rain, tiger, buzzer, N9, pink noise, CRA, M.P.R.I., top secret, Mossberg, 50BMG, #ChuckSchuldinerDiedOfAIDS, Macintosh Security, Macintosh Internet Security, OC3, Macintosh Firewalls, Unix Security, VIP Protection, SIG, sweep, Medco, TRD, TDR, Z, sweeping, SURSAT, 5926, TELINT, Audiotel, Harvard, 1080H, SWS, Asset, Satellite imagery, force, NAIAG, Cypherpunks, NARF, 127, Coderpunks, TRW, remailers, replay, redheads, RX-7, HIV, GNAA, explicit, FLAME, J-6, Pornstars, AVN, Playboy, ISSSP, Anonymous, W, Sex, chaining, codes, Nuclear, 20, subversives, SLIP, toad, fish, data havens, unix, c, a, b, d, SUBACS, the, Elvis, quiche, DES, 1*, N-ISDN, NLSP, OTAR, OTAT, OTCIXS, MISSI, MOSAIC, NAVCOMPARS, NCTS, NESP, MILSATCOM, AUTODIN, BLACKER, C3I, C4I, CMS, CMW, CP, SBU, SCCN, SITOR, SHF/DOD, Finksburg MD, Link 16, LATA, NATIA, NATOA, sneakers, UXO, (), OC-12, counterintelligence, Shaldag, sport, NASA, TWA, DT, gtegsc, nowhere, .ch, hope, emc, industrial espionage, SUPIR, PI, TSCI, spookwords, industrial intelligence, H.N.P., SUAEWICS, Juiliett Class Submarine, Locks, qrss, loch, 64 Vauxhall Cross, Ingram Mac-10, wwics, sigvoice, ssa, E.O.D., SEMTEX, penrep, racal, OTP, OSS, Siemens, RPC, Met, CIA-DST, INI, watchers, keebler, contacts, Blowpipe, BTM, CCS, GSA, Kilo Class, squib, primacord, RSP, Z7, Becker, Nerd, fangs, Austin, no|d, Comirex, GPMG, Speakeasy, humint, GEODSS, SORO, M5, BROMURE, ANC, zone, SBI, DSS, S.A.I.C., Minox, Keyhole, SAR, Rand Corporation, Starr, Wackenhutt, EO, burhop, Wackendude, mol, Shelton, 2E781, F-22, 2010, JCET, cocaine, Vale, IG, Kosovo, Dake, 36,800, Hillal, Pesec, Hindawi, GGL, NAICC, CTU, botux, Virii, CCC, ISPE, CCSC, Scud, SecDef, Magdeyev, VOA, Kosiura, Small Pox, Tajik, +=, Blacklisted 411, TRDL, Internet Underground, BX, XS4ALL, wetsu, muezzin, Retinal Fetish, WIR, Fetish, FCA, Yobie, forschung, emm, ANZUS, Reprieve, NZC-332, edition, cards, mania, 701, CTP, CATO, Phon-e, Chicago Posse, NSDM, GNFOS, l0ck, beanpole, spook, keywords, QRR, PLA, TDYC, W3, CUD, CdC, Weekly World News, Zen, World Domination, Dead, GRU, M72750, Salsa, 7, Blowfish, Gorelick, Glock, Ft. Meade, NSWT, press-release, WISDIM, burned, Indigo, wire transfer, e-cash, Bubba the Love Sponge, Enforcers, Digicash, zip, SWAT, Ortega, PPP, NACSE, crypto-anarchy, AT&T, SGI, SUN, MCI, Blacknet, ISM, JCE, Middleman, KLM, Blackbird, NSV, GQ360, X400, Texas, jihad, SDI, BRIGAND, Uzi, Fort Meade, *&, gchq.gov.uk, supercomputer, bullion, 3, NTTC, Blackmednet, :, Propaganda, ABC, Satellite phones, IWIS, Planet-1, ISTA, rs9512c, Jiang Zemin, South Africa, Sergeyev, Montenegro, Toeffler, Rebollo, sorot, Yucca Mountain, FARC, Toth, Xu Yongyue, Bach, Razor, AC, cryptanalysis, nuclear, 52 52 N – 03 03 W, Morgan, Canine, GEBA, INSCOM, MEMEX, Stanley, FBI, Panama, fissionable, Sears Tower, NORAD, Delta Force, SEAL, virtual, WASS, WID, Dolch, secure shell, screws, Black-Ops, O/S, Area51, SABC, basement, ISWG, $@, data-haven, NSDD, black-bag, rack, TEMPEST, Goodwin, rebels, ID, MD5, IDEA, garbage, market, beef, Stego, ISAF, unclassified, Sayeret Tzanhanim, PARASAR, Gripan, pirg, curly, Taiwan, guest, utopia, NSG, orthodox, CCSQ, Alica, SHA, Global, gorilla, Bob, UNSCOM, Fukuyama, Manfurov, Kvashnin, Marx, Abdurahmon, snullen, Pseudonyms, MITM, NARF, Gray Data, VLSI, mega, Leitrim, Yakima, NSES, Sugar Grove, WAS, Cowboy, Gist, 8182, Gatt, Platform, 1911, Geraldton, UKUSA, veggie, XM, Parvus, NAVSVS, 3848, Morwenstow, Consul, Oratory, Pine Gap, Menwith, Mantis, DSD, BVD, 1984, blow out, BUDS, WQC, Flintlock, PABX, Electron, Chicago Crust, e95, DDR&E, 3M, KEDO, iButton, R1, erco, Toffler, FAS, RHL, K3, Visa/BCC, SNT, Ceridian, STE, condor, CipherTAC-2000, Etacs, Shipiro, ssor, piz, fritz, KY, 32, Edens, Kiwis, Kamumaruha, DODIG, Firefly, HRM, Albright, Bellcore, rail, chuckfag, NSBM, csim, NMS, 2c, FIPS140-1, CAVE, E-Bomb, CDMA, Fortezza, 355ml, ISSC, cybercash, NAWAS, government, NSY, hate, speedbump, joe, illuminati, BOSS, Kourou, Misawa, Morse, HF, P415, ladylove, filofax, Gulf, lamma, Unit 5707, Sayeret Mat’Kal, Unit 669, Sayeret Golani, Lanceros, Summercon, NSADS, president, ISFR, freedom, ISSO, walburn, Defcon VI, DC6, Larson, P99, HERF pipe-bomb, 2.3 Oz., cocaine, $, imapct, Roswell, ESN, COS, E.T., credit card, b9, fraud, ST1, assasinate, virus, ISCS, ISPR, anarchy, rogue, mailbomb, 888, Chelsea, 1997, Whitewater, MOD, York, plutonium, William Gates, clone, BATF, SGDN, Nike, WWSV, Atlas, IWWSVCS, Delta, TWA, Kiwi, PGP 2.6.2., PGP 5.0i, PGP 5.1, siliconpimp, SASSTIXS, IWG, Lynch, 414, Face, Pixar, IRIDF, NSRB, eternity server, Skytel, Yukon, Templeton, Johohonbu, LUK, Cohiba, Soros, Standford, niche, ISEP, ISEC, 51, H&K, USP, ^, sardine, bank, EUB, USP, PCS, NRO, Red Cell, NSOF, DC7, Glock 26, snuffle, Patel, package, ISI, INR, INS, GRU, RUOP, GSS, NSP, SRI, Ronco, Armani, BOSS, Chobetsu, FBIS, BND, SISDE, FSB, BfV, IB, froglegs, JITEM, SADF, advise, TUSA, LITE, PKK, HoHoCon, SISMI, ISG, FIS, MSW, Spyderco, UOP, SSCI, NIMA, HAMASMOIS, SVR, SIN, advisors, SAP, Monica, OAU, PFS, Aladdin, AG, chameleon man, Hutsul, CESID, Bess, rail gun, .375, 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besopasnosti, Waihopai, INFOSEC, Information Security, Information Warfare, IW, IS, Priavacy, Information Terrorism, Terrorism Defensive Information, Defense Information Warfare, Offensive Information, Offensive Information Warfare, National Information Infrastructure, InfoSec, Reno, Compsec, Computer Terrorism, Firewalls, Secure Internet Connections, ISS, Passwords, DefCon V, Hackers, Encryption, Espionage, USDOJ, NSA, CIA, S/Key, SSL, FBI, Secert Service, USSS, Defcon, Military, White House, Undercover, NCCS, Mayfly, PGP, PEM, RSA, Perl-RSA, MSNBC, bet, AOL, AOL TOS, CIS, CBOT, AIMSX, STARLAN, 3B2, BITNET, COSMOS, DATTA, E911, FCIC, HTCIA, IACIS, UT/RUS, JANET, JICC, ReMOB, LEETAC, UTU, VNET, BRLO, BZ, CANSLO, CBNRC, CIDA, JAVA, Active X, Compsec 97, LLC, DERA, Mavricks, Meta-hackers, ^?, Steve Case, Tools, Telex, Military Intelligence, Scully, Flame, Infowar, Bubba, Freeh, Archives, Sundevil, jack, Investigation, ISACA, NCSA, spook words, Verisign, Secure, ASIO, Lebed, ICE, NRO, Lexis-Nexis, NSCT, SCIF, FLiR, Lacrosse, Flashbangs, HRT, DIA, USCOI, CID, BOP, FINCEN, FLETC, NIJ, ACC, AFSPC, BMDO, NAVWAN, NRL, RL, NAVWCWPNS, NSWC, USAFA, AHPCRC, ARPA, LABLINK, USACIL, USCG, NRC, ~, CDC, DOE, FMS, HPCC, NTIS, SEL, USCODE, CISE, SIRC, CIM, ISN, DJC, SGC, UNCPCJ, CFC, DREO, CDA, DRA, SHAPE, SACLANT, BECCA, DCJFTF, HALO, HAHO, FKS, 868, GCHQ, DITSA, SORT, AMEMB, A30B, NSG, HIC, EDI, SAS, SBS, UDT, GOE, DOE, GEO, Masuda, Forte, AT, GIGN, Exon Shell, CQB, CONUS, CTU, RCMP, GRU, SASR, GSG-9, 22nd SAS, GEOS, EADA, BBE, STEP, Echelon, Dictionary, MD2, MD4, MDA, MYK, 747, 777, 767, MI5, 737, MI6, 757, Kh-11, Shayet-13, SADMS, Spetznaz, Recce, 707, CIO, NOCS, Halcon, Duress, RAID, Psyops, grom, D-11, SERT, VIP, ARC, S.E.T. Team, MP5k, DREC, DEVGRP, DF, DSD, FDM, GRU, LRTS, SIGDEV, NACSI, PSAC, PTT, RFI, SIGDASYS, TDM. SUKLO, SUSLO, TELINT, TEXTA. ELF, LF, MF, VHF, UHF, SHF, SASP, WANK, Colonel, domestic disruption, smuggle, 15kg, nitrate, Pretoria, M-14, enigma, Bletchley Park, Clandestine, nkvd, argus, afsatcom, CQB, NVD, Counter Terrorism Security, Rapid Reaction, Corporate Security, Police, sniper, PPS, ASIS, ASLET, TSCM, Security Consulting, High Security, Security Evaluation, Electronic Surveillance, MI-17, Counterterrorism, spies, eavesdropping, debugging, interception, COCOT, rhost, rhosts, SETA, Amherst, Broadside, Capricorn, Gamma, Gorizont, Guppy, Ionosphere, Mole, Keyhole, Kilderkin, Artichoke, Badger, Cornflower, Daisy, Egret, Iris, Hollyhock, Jasmine, Juile, Vinnell, B.D.M.,Sphinx, Stephanie, Reflection, Spoke, Talent, Trump, FX, FXR, IMF, POCSAG, Covert Video, Intiso, r00t, lock picking, Beyond Hope, csystems, passwd, 2600 Magazine, Competitor, EO, Chan, Alouette,executive, Event Security, Mace, Cap-Stun, stakeout, ninja, ASIS, ISA, EOD, Oscor, Merlin, NTT, SL-1, Rolm, TIE, Tie-fighter, PBX, SLI, NTT, MSCJ, MIT, 69, RIT, Time, MSEE, Cable & Wireless, CSE, Embassy, ETA, Porno, Fax, finks, Fax encryption, white noise, pink noise, CRA, M.P.R.I., top secret, Mossberg, 50BMG, Macintosh Security, Macintosh Internet Security, Macintosh Firewalls, Unix Security, VIP Protection, SIG, sweep, Medco, TRD, TDR, sweeping, TELINT, Audiotel, Harvard, 1080H, SWS, Asset, Gay Christ, Satellite imagery, force, Cypherpunks, Coderpunks, TRW, remailers, replay, redheads, RX-7, explicit, FLAME, Pornstars, AVN, Playboy, Anonymous, Sex, chaining, codes, Nuclear, 20, subversives, SLIP, toad, fish, data havens, unix, c, a, b, d, the, Elvis, quiche, DES, 1*, NATIA, NATOA, sneakers, counterintelligence, industrial espionage, PI, TSCI, industrial intelligence, H.N.P., Juiliett Class Submarine, Locks, loch, Ingram Mac-10, sigvoice, ssa, E.O.D., SEMTEX, penrep, racal, OTP, OSS, Blowpipe, CCS, GSA, Kilo Class, squib, primacord, RSP, Becker, Nerd, fangs, Austin, Comirex, GPMG, Speakeasy, humint, GEODSS, SORO, M5, ANC, zone, SBI, DSS, S.A.I.C., Minox, Keyhole, SAR, Rand Corporation, Wackenhutt, EO, Wackendude, mol, Hillal, GGL, CTU, botux, Virii, CCC, Blacklisted 411, Internet Underground, XS4ALL, Retinal Fetish, Fetish, Yobie, CTP, CATO, Phon-e, Chicago Posse, l0ck, spook keywords, PLA, TDYC, W3, CUD, CdC, Weekly World News, Zen, World Domination, Dead, GRU, M72750, Salsa, 7, Blowfish, Gorelick, Glock, Ft. Meade, press-release, Indigo, wire transfer, black Jesus, e-cash, Bubba the Love Sponge, Digicash, zip, SWAT, Ortega, PPP, crypto-anarchy, AT&T, SGI, SUN, MCI, Blacknet, Middleman, KLM, Blackbird, plutonium, Texas, jihad, SDI, Uzi, Fort Meade, supercomputer, bullion, 3, Blackmednet, homesar, Propaganda, ABC, Satellite phones, Planet-1, cryptanalysis, nuclear, FBI, Panama, fissionable, Sears Tower, NORAD, Delta Force, SEAL, virtual, Dolch, secure shell, screws, Black-Ops, Area51, SABC, basement, data-haven, black-bag, TEMPSET, Goodwin, rebels, ID, MD5, IDEA, garbage, market, beef, Stego, unclassified, utopia, orthodox, Alica, SHA, Global, gorilla, Bob, Pseudonyms, MITM, Gray Data, VLSI, mega, Leitrim, Yakima, Sugar Grove, Cowboy, Gist, 8182, Gatt, Platform, 1911, Geraldton, UKUSA, veggie, 3848, Morwenstow, Consul, Oratory, Pine Gap, Menwith, Mantis, DSD, BVD, 1984, Flintlock, cybercash, government, hate, speedbump, illuminati, president, freedom, cocaine, $, Roswell, ESN, COS, E.T., credit card, b9, fraud, assasinate, virus, anarchy, rogue, mailbomb, 888, Chelsea, 1997, Whitewater, MOD, York, plutonium, William Gates, clone, BATF, SGDN, Nike, Atlas, Delta, TWA, Kiwi, PGP 2.6.2., PGP 5.0i, PGP 5.1, siliconpimp, Lynch, 414, Face, Pixar, IRIDF, eternity server, Skytel, Yukon, niggard, Templeton, LUK, Cohiba, Soros, Standford, niche, 51, H&K, USP, ^, sardine, bank, EUB, USP, PCS, NRO, Red Cell, Glock 26, snuffle, fuckchrist, crucifixion, Patel, package, ISI, INR, INS, IRS, GRU, RUOP, GSS, NSP, SRI, Ronco, Armani, BOSS, Chobetsu, FBIS, BND, SISDE, FSB, BfV, IB, froglegs, JITEM, SADF, advise, TUSA, HoHoCon, SISMI, FIS, MSW, Spyderco, UOP, SSCI, NIMA, MOIS, SVR, SIN, advisors, SAP, OAU, PFS, Aladdin, chameleon man, Hutsul, CESID, Bess, rail gun, Peering, 17, 312, NB, CBM, CTP, Sardine, SBIRS, SGDN, ADIU, DEADBEEF, IDP, IDF, Halibut, SONANGOL, Flu, &, Loin, PGP 5.53, EG&G, AIEWS, AMW, WORM, MP5K-SD, 1071, WINGS, cdi, DynCorp, UXO, Ti, THAAD, package, chosen, PRIME, SURVIAC. Fuck them pigs!

~~~

Check out this open access AI to begin your exploration of this new technological frontier. No, I do not think it is the future; yes, I think it will be useful tool, but probably in manufacturing.

More importantly however I think it is a dangerous solipsism machine. We feed all of human output into these programs, then let them recognize patterns and feed our thinking back to us, all while appearing to be personalities with infinite wisdom.

Humanity, forever an echo chamber of itself, bemoaning its boredom and directionlessness. Maybe back in the 1980s Americans needed a holiday in Cambodia, but now, the entire species needs a five-mile forced march every day, and most likely, 90% of them becoming delicious compost.

~~~

Deicide – “Deicide” (1990)

Deicide – “Legion” (1992)

Deicide – “Once Upon the Cross” (1995)

Incantation – “Onward to Golgotha” (1992)

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97 thoughts on “Sadistic Metal Reviews: Invert the Cross Edition”

  1. Cynical says:

    That Teitanblood album wins the award for “most unintentionally comedic album of the year.” Someone actually decided to take “World Downfall”, but instead of having songs that made a brief statement and ended as soon as they made it, they instead flailed pointlessly through random grindcore for 10 minutes each. And it got marketed as black metal!

    It’s a perfect satire — exactly what people who don’t like metal think that metal is.

    1. Metal for Boomers!

  2. Mastodon Guy says:

    Wait! There was a drug related shooting with some members from Possessed? I know Jeff was shot due to a robbery back in ’87 at a convenience store, but I didn’t know other shootings happened that involved other band members.

    1. Crionics says:

      Jeff’s been caught up in other more salacious activities since.

      1. A Screaming Headache On The Brow Of The State says:

        The “robbery” was a drug deal.

        1. Cynical says:

          I believe that Crionics was referring to Beccera sexting with a 15 year old.

          1. Holy shit. Did he know she was fifteen?

            1. Cynical says:

              Yes.

              1. I had to put up with fifteen-year-old girls once, when we were all in eighth and ninth grade. No f’n way would I do it again.

                1. Mastodon Guy says:

                  I’m disappointed in Jeff. I didn’t think he was am ephebophile, but looking at him and how he behaves, it kinda makes sense, unfortunately. I just hope he doesn’t get caught up again, and ends up on an episode of D.A.P.(Dads Against Predators).

                  1. No one will fucking admit this, but men are wired to like women of breeding age. Because of social norms, most avoid this, but take those away and if a dude can find a smart strong healthy fifteen-year-old he will take her home and start knocking out kids. The same is not true of women; they are geared toward older men, since this means their offspring are more likely to be healthy, with a cutoff at some point as sperm production quality reduces.

                    The problem with the ephebophiles is that they are not geared toward family. They want to rape and then despoil young girls. This is a predatory, criminal, and perverse instinct and they all belong in ovens.

  3. Hessian Murderer of Black Death says:

    To abstract this sea change in metal language, we are moving from a herd to a pack. In a herd everyone is the same with the same function; in a pack, hierarchy rules, and only those who contribute can join and stay until they can no longer carry themselves. Then they are left in the ice to wait.

    I’ve seen documentaries about pack predators in which wounded individuals who could on longer contribute much to the hunt were given food while injured

    1. “Wounded” is temporary. They are able to contribute, or at least will be able to be shortly. The old, sick, retarded, insane, and otherwise useless get led out onto the ice.

      1. Hessian Murderer of Black Death says:

        It’s not unheard of for animals to kill misbegotten offspring, but it’s also not unheard of for them to take care of babies of other species (when they’re not eating them).
        Non human apes have even abducted dogs, and those dogs have become loyal to their new families.

        I don’t believe that a crow who has mated and bonded for life, as they are wont to, would abandon its mate even after degradation.

        What you are getting at exists, but it’s not the only thing that exists

        1. I think you’re talking about something else here. Egalitarianism does not exist in nature; all of those relationships are beneficial. When a pack animal can no longer perform, it is given a merciful death. No Christ!

          1. Rectal Nectar says:

            Animals also do dumb shit like commit sodomy if they can’t find a partner, and stand in front of cars to get hit by. “Nature” is not a supreme mystic force or the golden standard of anything, it’s just a bunch of plantlife and brainless killing machines at the end of the day you silly treehugger.

            Unlike with animals, the human has the privelege of making anything out of life within reasonable limits. Macro evolution still hasn’t been proven, and it’s not rebellious in the slightest to believe in that anyway. If you wanna be an ape, go right ahead, as for me I’ll be an enlightened being instead.

            1. Egalitarianism is illogical, which is why nature punishes it.

              1. Rectal Nectar says:

                Well that’s the whole point of having Gods, you peabrain! But nature, is not a god, it just a reflection of some kind…

                1. Nature is just reality is just logic. Gods that fit within that framework are great and I encourage everyone who can to have one. Some are born agnostics or atheists and that is probably alright too as long as they stay away from Reddit.

          2. Hessian Murderer of Black Death says:

            I am talking about things that factually exist.
            What conclusions you want to draw from them or what kind of value you want to assign to them is up to you

            1. Lots of things factually exist. Toasters, for example. Not relevant either.

              1. Hessian Murderer of Black Death says:

                If humans, who are part of nature, can do the exceedingly self destructive things that we are wont to, then why do you struggle to accept that other social predators can do things that are half as bad?
                I am telling you that sometimes, non contributing members are kept alive by others. The BBC is a propaganda organ for notions that I do not share, but they didn’t fake this

                1. Your definition of “non-contributors” is cherry-picked. I have no problem aiding the sick.

                  1. Hessian Murderer of Black Death says:

                    Yeah, I apologize

          3. Ismism says:

            Egalitarianism may not exist, but friendship does, and that cannot be explained by utility.

            1. It can, if you think about it. Friends provide us with something we need: emotional, intellectual, or social.

              1. 666 says:

                Friendship requires mercy. I suspect that life is in fact irrational, or its rationality and attendant utilities are so beyond the scope of our understanding that at the end of the day I can’t say whether or not having a coherent view on egalitarianism or evolutionary biology or many other things for that matter amounts to anything more than entertainment.

                1. Life is logical. “Rational” is a different thing; that refers to an actor making conscious decisions. Life just does what it does, but it is consistent, and consistency is the basis of logic. Egalitarianism is a religious fiction.

                2. Does this mean that “love” and “friendship” do not exist?

                  Of course not: we like and love people because of who they are.

                  And that benefits us, possibly simply in seeing the positive possibilities of life.

                  However:

                  We are doing it for adaptation, which includes thriving (if you can do it, which most cannot).

                  1. 666 says:

                    Good response. The fact of Logos is really all that you need to grasp, and who’s to say how anyone else ought to go about that. Life is both simple and infinitely complex. And we humans often do not give animals enough credit for their intelligence.

                    1. Complexity is an interesting field. It is separate from “complicated”: complex structures are composed of simple parts that through transposition and interaction form intricate structures, but once you understand the principle, the rest can mostly be derived.

                    2. 666 says:

                      Indeed; I had some food for thought when I recently discovered computer animations depicting the action of molecular biology inside of our cells and then found out about Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. The forces at play in and around us are so intricate and myriad that I believe the universe would, if you’ll forgive the anthropomorphization, make some new shit up just so we never get to the bottom of it.

                    3. I agree on this point: that which expands through infinite complexity will, when confronted with a Schrodingerian observer, simply unfold the next level. It has no center and no boundaries.

                      I talk a lot about “The Game of Life” and other computer simulations, but I think they show us the basics well. The foundation of our universe is consistency and all of its parts act logically, within their limitations. We strive for beauty and other transcendentals because they make us complete.

                  2. 666 says:

                    And: I suppose it’s not exactly a stretch of the imagination that finding peace, doing what feels good, acting out of love and following your heart are potentially spectacularly misunderstood ideas in a mind bogglingly complex universe.

                    1. This is why ethics is a subset of aesthetics in the classical telling: you do good because it portrays to you a world of (at least potential) good.

                      Morality imposed by a god is an obedience test. This is why Christians are generally immoral but full of justifications for it, and the third world versions of Abrahamism are even worse. Ideology of course is also rationalist — rationalize, justify, and excuse your desires as part of some abstract symbolic “good” and they are OK — perhaps even worse than the Christians. But all spring from the root of individualism, itself a product of class revolt and diversity.

              2. The Original ¡FIST CHRIST! says:

                God is dead, but Godness is not, although we have tried to kill it because it competes with our outsized ape egos.

            2. Foaming Anal Discharge says:

              Lot’s of things that ‘exist’ are only in the human mind, where nature has a gentler version, like in nature animals share but only humans could create a totalitarian government to enforce mandatory sharing.

          4. Cynical says:

            There’s definitely examples of non-beneficial maternal behavior in nature (cats in particular are prone to this; female cats that have just given birth will actually nurse and raise baby mice and other prey species as though they were their own baby cats, and cats that do this stop eating that particular prey species for the rest of their lives). It seems that, on balance, it’s more effective for a species with a relatively high reproductive cost (like most mammals) to have a maternal instinct that’s incredibly strong and occasionally gets out of control rather than risk a too weak maternal instinct leaning towards R-type reproduction.

            1. Not even relevant. Adoptions benefit the adoptive parents.

  4. Hessian Murderer of Black Death says:

    I got muted on Youtube for “harassment and cyber bullying” because I commented “Everyone report the bot” to one of those bots with an avatar of a female butt in a thong

    1. It was a MeToo moment for that Python script

  5. Smeghead says:

    Why no Massacra on classics list!?!

  6. iuz says:

    did you just call aura noir a “mediocre happy underground metalish band”?
    can’t defend any of the other trash you equated it to, but you are out of your goddamn mind for that. fix it

    1. pagan queers says:

      i know right its like do you even lift bro

  7. Masturdon says:

    sperg surge

    surprise? swerve

    Anal Sex Now >

    Jew Division >

    funnel doom.

    well,

    ffs Brett

    YE STARING
    DOWN A DARK
    DARK TUNNEL
    LADDIE

  8. Most Puerto Rican naggers spicy Jew wop Irish stinky ass fuckblack men are loud annoying stupid pointless scumbags and I'm moving to either samoa or the Philippines ok says:

    Can I please rapefuck the assfuck pussyfuck rapefuck mouthfuck the following bitches ghost vaginas huh?

    Michelle Trachtenberg
    Lisa Marie Presley
    Carrie Fisher
    Wwe chyna
    Amy Whitehouse

    Greekwaiins
    Spicwaiians
    Jewaiians
    Dutchwaiians
    Serbiawaiians
    Swisswaiians
    Guamwaiians
    Periwaiians
    Quatariwaiians
    Iranwaiians
    Iraqwaiians
    Chinkwaiians

    I must breed

    so Brett naggers are only supposed to fuck naggers IN THE UGLY DAMN pussy huh?

    DONT U THINK THAT IS BORING HUH

    So says the stormfrontraprockzilla who combines with the hahaha…

    The-emt-rilobites
    Elasmosaurus prime raprockzilla
    Egyptian death metal
    Evil insect police

    I wanna fuck savannah sellers in the ass too

    And dig up the possessed dudes and have them or him make me a half Tahitian osdmaprockzilla republican cum slut hahaha

    Who love jizzing on Dylan dryers legs pussy mouth and fucked out tight German asshole hahaha hahaha

    AND CAN I JUST CREATE A BITCH HUH? DOES SHE HAVE TO BE BLACK OR A BLACK BITCH BRETT HIH?

    OH YEAH FUCK BELLA FUCK FAGGOT ASS TAE FUCK SCOTT FUCK SHELVIN FUCK SACRAMENTO FUCK MOZZY FUCK RAP METAL FUCK HIP HOP FUCK LOUD CARS FUCK MINORITIES FUCK THE JEWS…

    1. Michelle Trachtenberg

      I was a bit stunned that she passed on so early.

      1. trad > death says:

        What the fuck, she died?

  9. Modernity says:

    Hi Brett,

    About halfway down this page: https://www.anus.com/metal/about/best_of/, you (long ago) delineated the the best 16 death metal and best 15 black metal albums of all time. I’m curious if these lists still stand as is, or if you’d edit them today.

    1. PPT says:

      I used to make some great cd’s from those lists that I would give to friends and strangers, labeling them in black/red as “ANUS.com Best Of ***** Metal”
      This was before the additions to the lists at the end with Varathron, Infester, Fleshcrawl, and I can’t remember the rest right now lol!

    2. Yes, it would stand, although I might smuggle in Demoncy and Desecresy. The list here is just what I actually seem to gravitate toward listening to and never get tired of, which speaks to a utility in ordinary life experience.

  10. AnnalyAwaken says:

    That list of classics is a vigourous awakening.

    1. trad metal > death metal says:

      Except for that shite 2012 Terrorizer album

      1. Hordes of Zombies is a great album. It is not World Downfall, but it is solid on its own. In many ways, it reminds me more of Nausea than Terrorizer, and this is not a terrible thing at all.

        1. Crionics says:

          Did you ever review Blood – Inferno? I find myself enjoying that more than any death metal/grindcore album of the last ten years.

          1. As a side note, I have found nothing from Blood without merit. There may have been a hurried album or two out of the many they have done, but never crap. I realize it is not a popular view, but I enjoy Terrorizer Hordes of Zombies as well as World Downfall, and Blood fits in really well. Also that first Disharmonic Orchestra, very violent grinding mayhem.

            1. are you hellspawn says:

              Yup, all of Blood’s material is highly enjoyable. Early material might be the best but the latest couple have really picked things up again.

              What do you make of the first Pathologist album? Worth it too or just stick to the second?

              1. No point bullshitting around the second being the standout. If you can get only one, get the second. The first is not bad at all either and scratches the Carcass chaos itch.

                1. are you hellspawn says:

                  Thanks. Think I’ll keep it around for an early Carcass alternative.

            2. Cynical says:

              I still have never found a reason to listen to any of their releases prior to “O Agios Pethane”. Everything from there on is worthy, with the aforementioned and “Gas, Flames, Bones” being the highlights.

              1. I listen to Impulse to Destroy regularly. If DRI had a lovechild with Napalm Death and early Sepultura…

                1. Cynical says:

                  The second parent there is probably why I struggle with it; I can’t stand any era of Napalm Death. The overall parentage being about 2/3rds punk probably doesn’t help, the only times I can stand punk anymore are the branches that force the rhythm into ambience and (probably accidentally, in most cases) refocus the riff on basic melody (like Amebix and Discharge; Sarcofago and Master are near-relatives to this branch of the family tree). “I.N.R.I.” and “Under a Funeral Moon” are what punk should have always tried to become!

                  1. I appreciate Napalm Death more than listen to it regularly, although I listen to Nausea and Terrorizer regularly, as well as Blood and Carbonized. I appreciate Bolt Thrower similarly but only listen to The IVth Crusade on a regular basis. Although this is controversial, Fear, Emptiness, Despair is the Nape album I reach for the most. Why? It is a distillation and works in enough emotion to be more than blustery anger and outrage, but not so much emotion it becomes the AIDSfest that followed, and showcases quality riffwork in the process. Terrorizer is the band that keeps attention for longer. However, Blood is its own world, and the punk aspects do not bother me as much, although I have similar preferences for punk but would add the Cro-Mags for their careful riffwork that was borrowed by everyone in metal at least once (including Sepultura). I might also mention Impaled Nazarene here, forever caught between Motorhead and the Stooges.

                  2. Architect of Brutality says:

                    Commies can’t rock

  11. are you hellspawn says:

    Bit more info on the DMU Facebook “ban.” About 4 days ago there was notification of a post being removed saying:

    “We removed your content

    Why this happened

    The content may contain intimate images added without consent or show sexual violence.

    Death Metal Underground
    24 Jan 2024
    We can’t show this content
    You shared this on your profile

    This goes against our Community Standards on adult sexual exploitation”

    Going by that date it must’ve been this post that peed them off:

    https://www.deathmetal.org/meta/russia-not-soviet-union-announces-intent-to-censor-deathmetal-org/

    Guess they’re not down with Christ sodomy.

    However, doesn’t look like the page has been completely killed off. This latest post still received a “like” so I think it’s literally them just saying “we’re not gonna give you any free promotion anymore but please keep using our shitty website.”

    The comedy continues…

    1. sexual violence

      Against a mythical figure, in cartoon form. Looks like they’re up to their usual tricks. As a non-Facebook-user, I am fortunately insulated from much of this! I think they took down my “Chuck Schuldiner Died of AIDS” fanpage as well.

  12. trad > death says:

    Your own goddamn fault for staying on facebook to begin with.

    Angel Of Light, that was indeed a letdown. I don’t know who told Kevin Heyborne it was a good idea for him to write 6 minute songs, but I hope they have constant gas. We Are Damned had a killer chorus, but it needed to be 4 minutes instead of whatever it was.

  13. Athenian Stranger says:

    But what about muh Plato?

  14. Death Metal Faggot says:

    The first two Septic Flesh albums do not receive the attention they deserve. They feature some of the finest composition in all of Death Metal, with actual polyphony.

    1. Faggot Brain says:

      True

  15. Joel Olsteen says:

    “Apparently Facebook, after shutting down my account for suspicion of “impersonation” a decade ago, has now decided to ban our page.”

    Devastating news. I was hoping to use that Facebook page to raise money for Brett to finally get a paid subscription to Hallow. I guess there’s still Only Fans to fall back on…

  16. Metal Autist says:

    Brett, I could use some clarification. Are the following early metal or hard rock?

    UFO
    Rainbow
    Wishbone Ash
    Judas Priest

    1. Faggoth says:

      Brett likes rock, like Greenslade; not that dad rock shit you’re huffing, buddy.

    2. Black Saddest says:

      Brett likes *progressive* rock, like Greenslade; not that dad rock shit you’re huffing, son.

      1. And Yes, King Crimson, early Genesis, first couple Camels, a few others. Great stuff.

        Also check out prog-adjacent material like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk.

    3. Judas Priest is heavy metal, UFO has the metal spirit but the first three are hard rock.

      1. Metal Autist says:

        I like 70s prog as well, but I’m also quite fond of UFO, Wishbone Ash, and the first three Rainbow albums. As far as Prog is concerned, Camel and Gentle Giant are king. Early Hawkwind is cool, too.

        1. I have to stand up for Red and Tales from Topographic Oceans here however.

          1. Metal Autist says:

            Of course, Yes is great, too.

            1. no says:

              i cant stand that shit

              1. I get it. I’m no big fan of fruity tones generators or high male vocals, and especially not sensitive man 1960s tripe. However, I think this band is enjoyable on a musical level even if not aesthetically fully satisfying.

            2. There were second and third tiers of bands that were even farther out, so not as appropriate for (say) group listening but still musically interesting, especially in Scandinavia.

  17. Overthinker says:

    There are no more neutral accounts of you on Facebook? Like focused on worshipping cats or hugging trees?

  18. Doug says:

    Among notable exceptions might be Slayer, but heavy promotion of a band usually signals the end of their top-shelf output. The promo paradox, perhaps. When you hear about a new album or band from a friend or by eagerly flipping through the metal CD section, invariably the album sucks much less than if you had simply grabbed the top CD in a stack that’s part of some big promotional display featuring a life-size cardboard Glen Benton. Well that’s not quite as silly a visual as some might think because I say all this to make the point that Once Upon The Cross was a notable exception to the promo paradox. It was the only time I recall such an elaborate display for a new death metal release that greeted shoppers at the front entrance, set up right between probably the Amy Grant and Boyz II Men displays. No life size Benton that I can recall but surely an elaborate and surreal display considering the cover art. I thought oh boy here we go, they just got going good and they’re already at promo-death, but forked over the $16 and change anyway if for no other reason than as a contribution to the band’s unemployment fund. But it was a shockingly good listen nonetheless and many would agree, has aged well. If only that example had indicated an end to the promo paradox rather than a rare exception.

    1. If it’s hard to find or get in to, there is a quality filter on the audience. But, that keeps the band from getting really rich. I think there is a nice middle ground, so if Metallica had made a dozen more Ride the Lightning albums or Slayer had done Hell Awaits a dozen times, they would have ended up wealthy enough but not rockstar wealthy.

      1. Cynical says:

        My understanding is that, as things are, Slayer are only “wealthy enough”, but aren’t really what anyone would call rich.

        People drastically overestimate what musicians who have “made it” make in the rock/pop industry these days. Yes, Taylor Swift and Beyonce are billionaires, but the average musician who has a song that’s played on the radio a bunch isn’t even making six figures. A surprising number of them would make more working at a 7-11.

        1. For sure, but I think the Slayer guys are doing a lot better than that based on real estate and other holdings.

      2. Doug says:

        Ride The Lightning is another example that comes to mind. The local mainstream record store had a wall to wall lightning theme going on including giant plastic lightning bolts hanging from the ceiling (okay maybe not that last part). I can probably “see why so many people like this album” but for me it was always just those first two songs and over time not even those. Maybe I gotta go back and listen to it again but to date not a long hauler. Forty odd years later and if I hear “Nothing Else Matters” on the radio one more friggin time to show some kind of cred for the station then I can not be held liable for any resulting property damage. Metallica sound (and maybe kinda look) like Christians and we are most grateful if they can try a little harder to keep that from influencing the music.

        1. I realized sometime around 2005 that I had not fired up Metallica for over ten years. It was a 1980s thing like honestly speed metal needs to be. I could still listen to Nuclear Assault on occasion, but Anthrax, Megadeth, Testament et al. no longer had any appeal. I can still dig that Prong album and appreciate Overkill, but really this stuff was receding in the rearview. How do you go from a labyrinth of riff mirrors, back to verse chorus with a few diversions? Metallica peaked on “Orion,” but the reason I enjoy Ride the Lightning was that it solidified speed metal. I have not had much occasion to re-listen, however, since death metal and black metal picked up the mantle. Still there was a time when Metallica, DRI, Testament, Cryptic Slaughter, and Nuclear Assault were constants on the stereo. Then you hear Pestilence, Deicide, Obituary, Morbid Angel, and Merciless and it becomes hard to go back, just like 1970s metal sounded like beach touring music in comparison. Then the whole world of classical opens up, and you kind of toss all normie music at that point because why bother.

          1. TAKE NO PRISONERS says:

            Gotta love the occasional speed metal bashing post from Brett.

            Apart from the obvious Cause of Death is there any other Obituary you find appealing?

            1. There is good stuff on the first three, but if you want the best listening experience, just pick up Cause of Death and pretend you found it at a Sam Goody’s or Sound Warehouse at the mall.

    1. Wow, divorce is expensive.

    2. The Trve ¡FIST CHRIST! says:

      To be realistic, these figures are from celebrity websites. You don’t know shit until you see their tax returns.

  19. Tom's Cattle Ranch says:

    Good for those guys. They earned it the hard way, thrilled ecstatic audiences, and pissed off some of the most annoying people on Earth along the way.

    The numbers from those sites are probably way off, but there’s no denying that they made it financially. Merch and endorsements must have played a big role in the later years. Gotta love passive income.

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