Ulcerate – Shrines of Paralysis (2016)

These dudes are from New Zealand. Cross A Perfect Circle with Vader, Fear Factory, and Immolation and you get Ulcerate.  Taking a listen to this band, I want to thank your country for Dead Alive, but cannot help but think this album begins with an instant headache.  I love the mid range DM vocals, and feel that they are really strong.  The guitar comes across as missing something. At the 3:37 mark the guitar starts coming through with some darker, catchier moments.  I cannot help but think the drums are a bit over-processed, and are being a bit overplayed. The snare sounds cool, but the double kicks are a bit distracting.  To its credit, these songs are unpredictable. However, they could use more of a hook.  There is a bit of a 90s industrial thing hidden in there, along with a little bit of Immolation off-balanced riffs.  You have to listen real hard to hear it, but it sounds like bass distortion with a pick on the low end, adding some gnarleyness.

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Ghoulgotha – To Starve the Cross (2016)

ghoulgotha - to starve the cross

Article by Corey M.

To Starve the Cross sounds like the result of having chopped up a dozen good death metal songs and pasted the bits back together in such a way to eliminate any sense of continuity. Ghoulgotha is obviously made up of experienced and skilled players including the drummer of Ascended Dead and the guitarist from Father Befouled and Decrepitaph (among several other projects).

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Interview With Deathcore Band Monument Of A Memory

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Paramus, NJ band Monument Of A Memory creates what some call “modern death metal” and others, with a nod to its origins in a late punk/death metal hybrid, deathcore. The band is about to release its second recording, Catharsis, and vocalist Tommy Gehringer and bassist Josh Correa took the time to give us some insight on music and the theory of being a metal band in the current age.

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Hail of Bullets employs SJW David Ingram on vocals

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Modern death metal (speed metal song form, static riffs) band Hail of Bullets has appointed censorious SJW David Ingram to vocal duties for their show at Maryland Deathfest. The band states:

Mister DAVID INGRAM (ex-Bolt Thrower/Benediction) will be teaming up with HAIL OF BULLETS for our show at Maryland Deathfest, Baltimore USA, May 28th 2016!

This will be the only HAIL OF BULLETS show until the Summer of 2016. We’re happy to have David on board and we will see and announce what the future brings us after the MDF show.

And yes, we intend to start working on new material next year.

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Insision – Terminal Reckoning (2015)

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Insision take on the dying underground by combining brutal death metal, early technical death metal and adding in mild touches of modern death metal, creating a sound that hammers its listeners with intensity but works melodic leads and song construction into the mix for variety and depth. The result is a cornucopia of charging riffs and melodic turnarounds, in a style similar to later Gorguts mixed with Deeds of Flesh.

The band makes skillful use of dynamics to intensify songs and carefully presents each as a standalone concept. Guttural vocals ride the rhythm riff but break away to freestyle over the more open patterns. This allows Insision to work atmosphere into the blasting and otherwise violent guitar work. Fans of classic German speed metal like Destruction and Kreator will notice similarities as the album goes on; like the best from those bands, Terminal Reckoning uses single chord riffs with chromatic fills for pure rhythm effect.

If this album could improve, it would be in more internal diversity of riff and pace. Its use of melody thrusts aside the modern metal conventions and instead serves to develop songs, which avoids the becalming effect of too much similarity, and the interplay of vocals and guitar follows the mid-80s style instead of trying to constantly contrast the riffs. That and its inherent aggressive attack allows this album to escape the modern metal doldrums and bring back much of what fans adored in old school, technical and brutal death metal.

Thanks to Cátia Cunha from Against PR, Sevared Records and Insision, we can present to you the following streaming track from Terminal Reckoning

You can find out more about Insision at Facebook, YouTube or via Sevared Records.

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Hail Of Bullets part ways with singer Martin van Drunen

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Dutch modern death metal act Hail of Bullets has parted ways with vocalist Martin van Drunen (Pestilence, Asphyx). The band issued the following statement:

We are sorry to announce that Martin van Drunen is no longer part of Hail Of Bullets. On a personal level it’s no longer possible for us to continue the cooperation with Martin.
Unfortunately this means we have to cancel all upcoming shows until further notice.
This does not mean the end of Hail Of Bullets. The main reason for starting this band 8 years ago was our mutual love for real Death Metal and to have fun playing our favourite kind of music and we did not want to lose this ‘fun part’. We acknowledge the fact that Martin’s a good singer with a distinctive voice but he’s not the only great singer on this planet. For the record, there’s no hate or anger here, but this simply wasn’t working out anymore.
We wish him all the best in his future career. To be continued…
Stephan, Paul, Ed, Theo

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Upcoming tours: Suffocation

Poster for Suffocation's "Obliterating North America 2015" tour
Suffocation has taken a previously scheduled show at Housecore Horror Festival III and apparently expanded it into a short tour. Not a great deal of notice for possible fans, but this gives fans of Suffocation throughout the USA (but mostly the southern parts) a few chances to see the band perform. There probably hasn’t been enough time since the band semi-officially announced an upcoming studio album for them to actually perform any new tracks, but you never know. As usual, the balance of formative early work and less powerful later work may vary throughout the tour, so be ready for the possibility of either should you choose to see Suffocation in concert.

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