METAL TO THE BONE!
"The Forbes Critique"
August / September 2010
All Reviews by Chris Forbes
NECRODEMON/Reclamation Of The Stygian Throne (Reaper Records) Prepare
to be assaulted and prepare to be slayed, beaten, and crushed into submission.
This is easily the best thing this band has done and is a crushing slab
of old school death/black metal played with a fury, aggression and feeling.
The singer screams and growls with a pure hate and evil that would make
Satan proud. The production is raw, but it fits with what the band is
doing and just has that old 80’s feeling about it like those old
demos I used to get back in the day. The riffs on this just totally 80’s
worship and this is pure evil and this is the way death/black is meant
to be played. Just pure evil feeling at it’s core. Info:
www.myspace.com/necrodemon
or www.metalcorefanzine.com/Necro
OPPRESSOR/The Solstice Of Agony And Corrosion (Mortal Music) This is
a re-issue of sorts as it features songs from the bands 3 releases which
are now out of print. There is also a bonus DVD which has interviews and
live footage as well. It is a great package for those unfamiliar with
the band and for those like me who were a fan back in the day. 2 great
covers of Motley Crue and Ozzy as well. This band played semi technical
death metal with some thick heavy riffs and total growl vocals and were
one killer pure death metal band back in the day and it is great that
this stuff is seeing the light of day. Info:
www.mortal-music.com
or www.mvdb2b.com
TAUNTED/Bleeding Black (Self Released) Some very cool heavy metal with
a touch of speed metal thrown in the mix. Very cool riffing going on here
and I like the song structures and the singer has got a good solid voice
and he fits the music well. Thank god no female vocals or tough guy or
low and high pitched vocals on this puppy. This I would compare musicwise
sort of like Judas Priest "Painkiller" era with some speed and
double bass drumming which was fine by me. 10 bone crushing heavy metal
tunes that will have you raising your fist to the sky. Good job on this
one guys. Info:
www.tauntedmusic.com
or www.myspace.com/taunted
PILLAR/Confessions (Essential Records) This is some really good rock/metal
stuff with some solid, catchy tunes and a singer who has a great voice
and he sings the tunes on this disc with a lot of feeling and passion.
The tunes are catchy numbers that had my feet tapping and this style of
rock/metal is something that I am not a big fan of, but when the band
deliver the goods, I stand up and notice and this band more than deliver
the goods. This to me easily blows away stuff like Nickleback and bands
of that nature. The production is solid and this is no doubt heavy and
the band just crank out riff and melody and riff after melody with a singer
with a set of balls to him. Excellent new modern rock/metal. Info:
www.skhmusic.com
AWAKEN DEMONS/The Mirror (Trustkill Records) This is to me just another
faceless jump metal band that sounds like every other band doing this
style with the tough guy vocal thing and the breakdown parts and then
some fast parts ever now and then. They also have some chanting vocal
parts that every other band doing this does. This is just another faceless
band doing something that has been done to death and then some. Info:
www.trustkill.com
INFINITUM OBSCURE/Sub Atris Caelis (Deathgasm Records) This is some crushing
old school death metal played with tons of feeling and power. The music
just claws you in the face and never lets go unti the last note fades.
The vocals are great as well as the singer belts out the lyrics with conviction
and none of that generic tough guy crap. He actually reminds me of Bathory
at times. The band mix up the slow and fast parts, but the music doesn't
go a million miles an hour and even the slower parts will have that next
moving. The bottom line is this is a killer release that should be in
everyone's
collection period. Info:
www.deathgasm.com
NOMINON/Omen (Deathgasm Records) 4 tracks of some decent death metal
eith some solid vocals. The band rip through the 4 tunes with plenty of
power and I like the guitar sound the the singer has a good death metal
style voice. The production allows everything to flow and I was playing
air drums to more than a couple parts. The band also doesn't sound like
any band I can pick out right now and the last track was a live one which
again didn't sound bad to these ears at all. Will be looking forward to
a full length that is for
sure. Info:
www.deathgasm.com
NINETAIL/Half Truths & Hand Grenades (Level Nine Entertainment) This
is another generic nu metal band with the breakdowns and tough guy vocals
down to at. This is 100 times worse than earlier nu metal band I reviewed.
This has been done to death by a million other bands and why would you
want to sound like other bands. This is so beyond bad. The front of the
CD has a guy with a gun to his mouth and if I was forced to listen to
this crap over and over I'd consider doing just that. Beyond awful. Info:
www.ninetail.org
DEFAMER/Chasm (Self Released) This wasn't that bad excpet I feel the
vocals are kinda buried in the mix a bit. The music is sort of in the
vein of Cannibal Corpse and stuff, but that was cool with me as they song
riffs were pretty rip roaring and they had my neck moving. The music is
mostly fast, but not too fast, not that it is a bad thing. This is some
solid death metal that has riffs that move ya and this is just ball crushing
death metal that hits hard and fast. Info:
www.myspace.com/defamermetal
WOULD/Self Titled (Dire Brew Records) This to me sounded like a very
bad verison of Machine Head. They are not even in the same class as them.
This is another nu metal band with some god awful riffs, bad singing and
just terrible songs. This didn't have my neck or foot moving and the vocals
are so generic it isn't funny. This didn't do a thing for me and this
is just pure crap in my eyes and ears. Info:
www.worldwidewould.com
LAST PLAGUE/Sex And Murder (Synthetic Entertainment) This is yet another
groove metal band however they have some really good tunes and this was
quite a nice enjoyable CD to review. The riffs had my neck moving and
they inject some melody and speed parts to the mix and I like the singer
this band has as he fits the music rather well and the production is right
on the money as well. This band just deliver the goods and I was buying
what they were selling. Info:
www.syntheticsounds.ca
EMPYRIA/The Long Road Home (Nightmare Records) Ah something I don't get
to review a lot of and that is a good old fashioned metal band. This was
some awesome fists in the air pure heavy metal with some traces of power
metal here and there. The singer has a great set of pipes and even though
he sings in a clear voice he doesn't overuse it and he sounds great with
this band. The music is a just a pure heavy metal delight and no nu metal
riffs and no over done blast beats, this is just straight forward no frills
heavy metal and my ears loved every second of it. Info:
www.nightmare-records.com
NICK OLIVERI/Death Acoustic (MVD Audio) This guy used to be in that band
Kyuss who brought out a couple killer CDs a few years back and this is
an all acoustic music CD. I don't mind mellow music as I love jazz and
stuff, but this pretty much bored me as I felt the songs were boring and
having him sing in an aggressive style with only an acoustic guitar seemed
big time out of place and just felt unusual. Some may like this, but it
pretty much had me bored out of my skull by track 4. Info:
www.mvdb2b.com
CONDEMNED/Contorted And Rotting (Self Released) 5 tracks of Suffocation
like death metal that has just been done to death. The tin can blast beats
and the lower than low growl vocals, I mean come on I have heard 1000's
of bands that sound like this over the years of reviewing stuff. This
band has the formula down with the vocals and song arragements. This just
sounds like every other Suffocation clone band that I have heard for over
15 years now. Boring. Info:
www.condemned.ws
IMPERATIVE MUSIC COMPILATION/Various (Imperative Music) 19 bands on this
and as with most comps you get the good and the bad. Metal X offers up
some killer thrash while Backstabbing Bastard offer a horrible dose of
nu metal with clean and death metal vocals...yuk. I can honestly say I
listened to every band on this and they all sucked except for Metal X
and Toxxic Toyz and Thundasteel who were terrific. All the other stuff
was generic death metal or nu metal shit. Info:
www.myspace.com/imperativemusic
AVENGER/Feast Of Anger (Deathgasm Records) Oh man this just totally blew
me away. This death/black metal band nearly knocked me out of my chair
when this first blasted through my stereo. I could just feel the heat
and hate as the singer screamed out the lyrics. The music is a nice mix
of fast death/black metal played with tons of feeling, power, anger and
just plain aggression. The production is perfect and this also has a CD-ROM
video as a bonus. This is the perfect blend of death/black metal and should
not be missed. This is a pure perfection release. Info:
www.deathgasm.com
KULT OFENZIVY/Radikalni Ateismus-Tvurcum Nadcloveka (Deathgasm Records)
This is 100% pure black metal played in a raw and vicious way. The vocals
are pure black metal too, but the singer has a unique voice and he is
different and in that he almost speaks the words and lyrics, not screaming
them. The one thing I hate on this as the tin can drum sound which really
got on my nerves and also this was just too fast all the time. The band
need to slow it down a bit and let you breath. But this band isn't generic
by any means and are good despite the thin drum sound, which some may
even like. Info:
www.deathgasm.com
AZARATH/Praise The Beast (Deathgasm Records) 11 tracks of some heart
pounding death metal with razor like riffs and pounding drums that will
have you playing air drums in a few seconds. If you like Morbid Angel,
you will love this as this is in that vein. The riffs will slice through
you and the power and pain this band deliver is second to none. Great
production too allows everything to flow with no problem. This simply
crushes. Nuff said. Info:
www.deathgasm.com
July
2009 |