Pharmacist – Carnal Pollution (2021)

What if Carcass had gone in a direction like Napalm Death with its post-Reek of Putrefaction material, instead of getting increasingly lighter? While billed as a goregrind band, Pharmacist comes more from the school of a technical version of later Carcass that integrates the heavy percussive aspects of mid-1990s death metal.

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Carcass – Torn Arteries (2021)

The Carcass guys never wanted to be grindcore; they wanted to be guitar fireworks speed metal, and on this album, they stick to roughly where they were on Heartwork: fast and intricate speed metal and power metal riffs based on established patterns with an ear for melody but linear development.

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Interview with Jan Kruitwagen of Kaeck (2021)

Already gaining a lead on all other contenders for the most compelling underground metal album of the year, Kaeck has on Het Zwarte Dictaat made the masterpiece of violent rhythm riffs and melodies that much of the underground wishes it could, combining black metal and war metal with doom metal and death metal to create a constantly changing mood within a fluid style. Fortunately, guitarist/composer Jan Kruitwagen had a few moments to give us his take on the band and state of the metal genre.

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