Mortalized – 呪われた …Complete Mortality (2016)

Mortalized was the other grindcore band of Gridlink guitarist and riff master Takafumi Matsubara呪われた …Complete Mortality is the total and complete collection of everything the Japanese grindcore legends ever recorded. Since Mortalized is a grindcore band, Complete Mortality is effectively a giant collection of effective riffs in various styles: grindcore, death metal, heavy metal, black metal, Gothenburg, hardcore, post-hardcore, crust, speed metal, you name it and Matsubara probably had an original riff resembling that style of metal or hardcore on this release. Complete Mortality is a true riff bible from the mind of an incredibly creative and talented guitarist.

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Ossuary Insane – Possession Of The Flesh (2016)

ossuary-insane-possession-of-the-flesh
Article by Lance Viggiano.

A few years ago a mallcore band named Waking the Harbinger posted demo tracks on Metal Archives. The music was assailed by regulars whose corrective actions coerced the young upstarts into adopting a formulaic approach to Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse tier artistry. Ossuary Insane play relentlessly empty upgraded pizza parlor speed metal with all the bells and whistles of intensity innovated by that movement within the metal tradition.

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Necrophiliac – Maze of Forking Paths Set Announced

Necrophiliac - Maze of Forking Paths

Xtreem Music is reissuing Necrophiliac‘s Chaopula: Citadel of Mirrors and all of their demos on a two cd anthology titled Maze of Forking Paths.

If there’s a pioneer band in the Spanish Death Metal scene, that’s NECROPHILIAC! Emerged in ’88, the band released various demos until ’92 when their classic album “Chaopula – Citadel of Mirrors” was released. After that, the band did split-up and it’s now when, after 6 long years trying to get this release out, Xtreem Music is proud to announce the release of a 2-CD containing this album with all demos, unreleased 7″EP’s and live tracks with unreleased tunes on it.

“Maze of Forking Paths” is a complete collection of the band’s studio & live recordings from ’88 to ’92, all remastered with the best possible sound and a killer booklet full of photos, liner notes, demo covers, lyrics, flyers, etc. This is a mandatory release to understand where the spanish Death Metal scene comes from!

Release date for “Maze of Forking Paths” will be September 1st through Xtreem Music on 2-CD format with limited T-shirts available at the same time. You can visit NECROPHILIAC’s official Facebook here: www.facebook.com/necrophiliacdeathmetal and listen to an advance song on the following links:

http://soundcloud.com/xtreemmusic

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From Blackened Crypts Still Available in Limited Quantities

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A limited amount of copies of Morpheus Descends‘ all-encompassing CD compilation, From Blackened Crypts, are back in stock at Dark Descent Records. This is only a small number of copies being found in storage, not a reprint. Morpheus Descends are also currently working on material for a comeback album.

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War Master Japanese Anthology CD Available For International Buyers

war master anthology cd

Obliteration Records’s War Master anthology CD containing both Pyramids of the Necropolis and Blood Dawn in addition to bonus tracks is still in stock and now available for international order according to a post on the label’s Facebook page:

WAR MASTER limited CD for Japan tour still on stock.

$25 for ovearseas (inc postage and paypal fee)
No wholesale outside Japan.

Purchase
harumagedoATgmail.com

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Incantation – Unholy Massacre Demo Compilation Released

incantation - unholy massacre
Necroharmonic Productions has released a two CD compilation of Incantation’s early demos. Fans may be interested but Necroharmonic has a certain “history” of poor customer relations so buyer beware.

Disc 1 : Contains the original mix of “Demo # 1 – 1990 ” featuring Will Rahmer from Mortician on vocals and a live soundboard recording with Will on vocals, which was recorded in Buffalo,NY, in late 1990. This CD also features the 1st live recording with members of Profanatica from early 1990. Also included is the 1st rehearsal demo of Incantation with Paul Ledney on vocals in its uncut format.
CD contains 14 Tracks.

Disc 2 : Contains an unreleased 2 song demo from 1990 with Craig Pillard on vocals and a live soundboard from New Jersey. as well as previously unreleased pre- “Onward to Golgotha” line up rehearsals from early 1991.
CD contains 17 tracks.

incantation - unholy massacre track list

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Depressor – Filth / Grace (2014)

Depressor Filth Grace

Article by Lance Viggiano.

In its best moments punk music transcends volk-rage by serving as a cracked mirror reflecting the forlorn realities that industrialization and intangible goal of perpetual progress wrought as this civilization awaited technological rapture to deliver its destiny among the stars. The reflection was always unclear because of its nature as folk music, marred by smudges and dust that lead it to misdiagnose the cause of its own woes. Depressor spiritually and musically channel this ethos while stepping into the well-worn boots of Godflesh resulting in a body of work resides between industrial, doom/death and punk music. The artists understand that heaviness is not merely a novelty or a token, but a vessel.

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Upcoming War Master Anthology

war master compilation

Japanese label Obliteration Records is releasing a War Master anthology CD consisting of both the debut Pyramids of the Necropolis LP and the Blood Dawn EP, along with a slew of bonus tracks from demo tapes and splits. The Houston, Texas throwers of bolts are one of the better modern death metal bands and a perennial on Death Metal Underground’s best of lists. This release will be an easy way for Hessians in Asia to obtain the band’s material on a physical format.

For all Death heaz in Japan,
Finally, Bolt Death Metal WAR MASTER attack in Japan!
They will change battlefield here and take no prisoners!
Are you ready to die??

Obliteration records proudly release their Blood Dawn EP + 1st album and bonus trax on CD format.
Limited of 500 copies in Asian coutry only.
First sale on their Japan tour in May.

Join us.
May the Metal be with you

Listen to War Master and “Sever the head that does not bang!” on their Bandcamp page.

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Sarcasm – Burial Dimensions (2015)

Sarcasm-Burial-Dimensions-44488-1

Article by Corey M

Burial Dimensions is a compilation of releases by Swedish death metal band Sarcasm, featuring six demos (released between 1992 and 1994) and a full-length album (also recorded in 1994, but first officially released in 2011). For most of this review, I’ll be talking mainly about the titular full-length album when I use “Burial Dimensions”, and not the compilation as a whole.

As for the compilation as a complete package – It has cool cover art and all the demos you could want, but they sounded redundant to me, though in full disclosure, I was unfamiliar with Sarcasm before getting this release, and didn’t know any of their demos before listening to this compilation. Fans will no doubt find more value in having this large collection of demos on two CDs, even though casual listeners may not spend much time listening to them. The full-length features the best songs with the best production quality, so I focused in listening to it the most.

Some listeners might be able to guess that Sarcasm are Swedish by the first riff, and most of the musical techniques they use had been well-developed by 1994, so this album is more about refining a craft than innovating. Except for a few incongruent flourishes, Burial Interludes is mostly sinewy, sometimes fluttery death metal, but melodically bears resemblance to some contemporary heavy metal-influenced black metal like Rotting Christ’s Thy Mighty Contract, with a lot of tense, enigmatic harmonies and an emphasis on keeping songs flowing smoothly throughout dynamic transitions between high- and low-intensity passages. However, due to the band’s admirable unwillingness to shift dynamics too quickly, some of the more low-tension parts in songs drag on for too long, dispelling the sinister insinuations of the more intense passages as we are lulled by comfortable but impotent consonance. These soft sections subvert the dark spirit that these songs aim to conjure, and are almost always too off-putting to ignore. Examples include a brief break for a female operatic vocal to take over a song which is otherwise made of imposing, sharp riffs, and some dull segments that showcase an unmotivated (and unmotivating) lead meandering over a melodramatic chord progression. These parts always sound insincere and drag the album down because other parts of the songs really rip into you.

The production of Burial Dimensions is raw (and the demos sound considerably worse), with some gnarly analog compression and heavy reverb on everything, giving the sensation of the sound being squished and distant. This isn’t necessarily bad and allows the guitars space to grind through high and low frequencies, giving the rhythm guitars a dangerous-sounding, shredded, spiky texture. In many riffs, a second guitar will pick out a higher-register harmony that stands separate from the rhythm guitars by having a distinct echoing tone. Usually following the rhythm fairly closely, the second guitar is also sometimes used for counterpoint melodies, and at times these are very effective at bringing out the full impact of the riffs, especially when the bass guitar splits from playing in unison with the rhythm guitars and all three guitar melodies hit you from different directions in three-part harmony. Sarcasm can create an impressively broad and rich sound with the three guitars being utilized this way, but during the worst parts of the songs, the counterpoint will be played in some such off-kilter way that doesn’t synchronize intuitively with the rhythm guitars and some strange harmonies emerge, negatively altering the flow of tension that is channeled so well during the more simply-structured passages.

Sarcasm sound amateur at worst, mainly due to the artificial melancholy that butts in and trips up a series of otherwise engaging riffs. Some of the better examples of riffs that really take you along for a ride begin the songs “Through Tears of Gold” and “Never After”, but frustratingly their momentum falters when one of the more flaccid, weepy progressions intrudes with clean guitars and soft synthesizer washes. “Pile of Bodies” and “Scattered Ashes” both begin with slow, chunky riffs that menace and lumber, but eventually either song gets bogged down in slowly-strummed reverb-drenched chords and leads too timid to venture far enough from the chords to inspire much sense of wonder or foreboding.

All considered, this album probably never achieved wide recognition because of the incongruent dynamics which can leave you with a sense of ambiguity about the whole experience. If you listen closely, you’ll hear lots of cool-sounding riffs scattered throughout, but they are offset by the sappiness that inevitably kicks in during any song’s development. In this way the amateur nature of the band works for and against them; when they get into energetic and fearsome riffing, the sensation is both threatening and mystical, but their inability to maintain tension while focusing more on the mystical than the threatening aspect means that each burst of strong riffs is undermined by a stretch of weak soloing or ostentatious gimmicks.

If you are a fan of Sarcasm, this release is right up your alley; you get some upgraded album art and a collection of demos in their original condition (not retouched or remastered, as far as I can tell). If you are not a fan but curious to see what Sarcasm are all about, I strongly recommend finding some of the music online or streaming it and giving it a close listen before making the decision to purchase. Personally, I don’t see any lasting replay value in Burial Dimensions; Sarcasm are just one of the many death metal bands that fell by the wayside during the ’90s heyday, and for good reason. If you are really itching to hear some death metal from the ’90s with lots of black metal-esque melody and heavy metal leads, compare this album to Necrophobic’s The Nocturnal Silence, which is a perfect example of how these influences (black, death, and heavy metal) can merge fluidly and efficiently. And Intestine Baalism beat these Swedes at their own game with 1997’s An Anatomy of the Beast, which does a better job than Burial Dimensions of combining raw and evil-sounding riffs with dramatically melancholic lead melodies.

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Serpent Ascending – The Enigma Unsettled (2011)

serpent_ascending_-_the_enigma_unsettled

Showing up on the metal radar somewhere between the third Therion album and the single release that Winterwolf put out, The Enigma Unsettled combines Scandinavian death metal with the more nuanced paces of doom metal and the subtler harmonies of instrumentally adept heavy metal. The result creates an atmosphere like a more listener-friendly version of Darkthrone Goatlord, building rhythmic intensity that it discharges through the unraveling of several threads of melody into a final statement of clarity and purpose. Guitars vary between death metal styled tremolo riffing and heavy metal style percussive offbeat riffs, creating a tension like a feral beast racing over land and through water, but these integrate similar rhythmic purpose and avoid the disintegration of song into component parts. Vocals take the hoarse and chanted approach, sounding like the calls of a demonic entity through a wall of distortion; these are probably the immediately recognizable weakest link. Inventive song structures, familiar riffs in new styles, and a tendency to have all parts of the song relate to each other and through multiple layers at the same time make this a well-sought listening experience for underground metal fans.

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