Karl Sanders, mastermind behind my favourite death metal band Nile, released one of my favourite albums ever 5 years ago with his first foray into acoustic/ambient work, ‘Saurian Meditation’. Even though at that moment I was yet to fully take to death metal (ironically it was only a year later that Nile’s ‘Annihilation of the Wicked’ changed my life forever), I loved the idea that a member of such an extreme band could write something so wonderfully different from his usual work and not come across as false or money grabbing. Sanders is a proper Egyptologist, fully versed in the myth, lore and instrumentation that caused him to write a brilliantly evocative work. Personally I hoped, but didn’t think there would be another, but here we are, 5 years later and ‘Saurian Exorcisms’ is upon us.
The first thing that strikes you about this album in comparison with its predecessor is the darker tone. The songs are much eerier, more haunting melodies slip in between Eastern percussion, and the chants seem a lot more ominous. It also possesses a deeper, earthier mix that gives the music more weight, which really allows the tribal nature flow more freely. Parts of tracks like ‘Impalement and Crucifixion of the Last Remnants of the Pre Human Serpent Volk’ sound like huge atmospheric pieces from films like Lawrence of Arabia, or the Mummy. The production is top notch, which ideally you’d always want on such ambient/world music albums to really let you hear every nuances and note.
Sanders has also learned some exotic new instruments since ‘Saurian Meditation’. He plays the baglama saz, which is a Turkish lute and the glissentar, an 11 string fretless guitar that is used to imitate a traditional African oud, which is like another form of lute. It is astounding that he has created such Middle Eastern tones using the actual instrument itself rather than a Pro-Tool sample of it, and it lends an air of authenticity to the record, heightened by Sanders’ attention to detail with his writing. Gone are the wailing electric guitar solos from the previous album, replaced by acoustic soloing which suits the more restrained tone. I did enjoy the electric work though from the last album, so was a bit disappointed to discover them gone. Somehow until this album, I imagined Ancient Egypt to be soundtracked by a howling guitar line over Middle Eastern tones. I was wrong, and this is much more appropriate.
‘Rapture of the Empty Spaces’ opens with the sound of wind, and you could almost visualise it flowing through the corridors of pyramids, as tribal beats follow mournful chanting. Opener ‘Prelimanary Purification before the Calling of Inanna’ is a haunting, more delicate piece than ‘Awaiting the Vultures’ which opened the previous album, and it really shows the maturing of Sanders’ writing from instrumentals to pure experimental ambience. ‘Curse the Sun’ is another example of how good use of tempo can create something incredibly evocative. It sways slowly around a percussion line that doesn’t take it beyond a crawl, and yet there is no moment where you wish it would end.
Fans of Nile may find all this too light, but to truly understand the scope of what Karl Sanders attempts to achieve with Nile albums, I think that you should play this in between the death metal, and see exactly where the interludes and intros can lead. Yet more proof that this man is possibly the most talented and inventive musician in the death metal scene, ‘Saurian Exorcisms’ is classy, refined ambient Middle Eastern music with that little touch of darkness and despair that only a death metaller could bring to it. Worth the listen.
Anaal Nathrakh are the epitome of the twisted nihilistic flame that produces the best in black metal. They define uncompromising, each album producing walls of triggered blastbeats, positively insane vocals and rasping black metal riffs. They embody their concept of mankind’s extinction in the face of machine dominance fully, truly sounding like the coming of the Apocalypse.
Their second album, ‘Domine Non es Dignus’, released in 2004, shows the full power of their abilities. I mean, the opening intro track is called ‘I Wish I Could Vomit Blood on All You People’. What do you expect after that, I mean really? It is a more ambient, industrial piece before the full on assault begins with second track ‘The Oblivion Gene’, a raging torrent of a track that encompasses all that makes this such an excellent album; razor sharp riffing, impenetrable blasting and tortured, shrieking howls from vocalist Dave Cunt.
The third track however, ‘Do Not Speak’, is where the band throws us a curveball and prove that they aren’t a one trick pony. Opening with the quote ‘If you want to see the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever’, it tears off with some great blasting and riffs, coupled with screeching and growling before opening up into a monstrous melodic section, complete with grand clean vocals reigning over a blasting hellscape beneath. Imagine if you will, the song as a movie about a battle between the last of human kind and their mechanised enemy. The blasting, fierce sections are the close in shots, right up where the blood and metal fly. The open sections are the moment where the camera shoots up and gauges the massive scale of the event, complete with operatic angel choirs etc. It sounds very cliche I know, but it was the first image in my brain when I heard it.
For me, ‘Do Not Speak’is the benchmark for quality in this album. ‘Procreation of the Wretched’ is a more typical black metal attack coupled with more grindcore esque vocals, and ‘To Err is Human, to Dream: Futile’ is a more subdued beast, reminiscent of Satyricon’s more regal moments. It is however Emperor that Anaal really seem to emulate, with the huge vocal arrangements on some tracks, especially some of the falsetto work in ‘Revaluation of All Values’ which is very Ihsahn-like. Its not a bad thing, and it is good to see them taking a more mature black metal approach than just the riff/blast/shriek combination that has afflicted a lot of the black metal scene. In fact ‘Revalution…’ actually possesses a very groovy riff section at the 3 minute mark before exploding into craziness yet again.
The album continues in such a destructive manner, destroying everything in the wake of ‘The Final Destruction of Dignity’, pounding the remains mercilessly into the ground with ‘Swallow the World’ and then producing yet another melodic break with ‘This Cannot Be the End’. Closing with the Dylan Thomas-inspired ‘Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light’, Anaal Nathrakh continue to rally the listeners to fight the coming dehumanisation of the world and to fight mankind’s extinction. You could almost imagine the band being asked to write the music for the new Terminator movie, as it would sit in perfectly with the theme.
If you are a fan of such nihilistic, destructive music, Anaal Nathrakh are the band for you. I prefer their later work personally, especially ‘Eschaton’ and ‘Hell is Empty and All the Devils are Here’, but ‘Domine Non es Dignus’ is as devastating as this band can be. A work of uncompromising brutality, rage and quality from a band who are probably going to be the voice of the Apocalypse.
I finally have managed to get a hold of ‘Southern Storm’, the latest album from Brazilian death metal titans Krisiun. I first got into the band when I heard ‘Vicious Wrath’ from their previous effort, 2006’s ‘AssassiNation’, and heard a promo version of this CD last year. I finally got it cheap on Play.com, only 4.99, what a deal.
This is an album designed to destroy crowds at gigs. Plain and simply, this album contains so many brutal riffing segments that it makes your head spin. Wailing guitars crash into melodic solos, which in turn melt into thunderous chug sections (’Sentenced Morning’) or just rocket off into earth quaking blast fests (’Twisting Sights’). Krisiun have always been about the blast; they don’t try to overwhelm you with too many melodies or technical passages, they just stay true to their death metal roots and insist on slaying everyone in their way.
Vocally the band is standard fare, but personally its nice to hear a death metal vocalist who doesn’t try to pig squeal or scream these days. Alex Camargo rarely gets above a low growl, but there’s a strength behind his vocals that hooks you in, plus a good standard of clarity in them too. He sounds particularly malignant and menacing on brooding masterpiece ‘Minotaur’. Lyrically he stays close to topics like Satanism, darkness and anti-Christianity, all your standard fare for this sort of music but he delivers it with a certain raw threat that adds to the theme.
The main flaw in this album is, surprisingly, the Sepultura cover. Yes, Brazilian death metal titans playing a classic of Brazilian death metal should have been golden, but they picked the wrong song. ‘Refuse/Resist’ is a good cover, it’s well executed and there is a certain magic to it but why not something more suited to Krisiun’s sound like ‘Beneath the Remains’ or ‘Dead Embryonic Cells’? To be honest its a pretty small gripe, and when compared with the quality of the rest of the record, I mean come on, how many bad covers have you heard in your life? It’s not bad, not at all, but it could have been better. Track highlights are the face melting opener ‘Slaying Steel’, the rumbling, atmospheric ‘Massacre Under the Sun’ and the all conquering closer ‘Whore of the Unlight’, which refuses to let the album finish with anything less than full on rage.
When you get this record, and I truly suggest you do, you will hold in your hand one of the best death metal records of the past few years. Krisiun’s level of playing skill is excellent, their riffing is dense and powerful, the blast is intense and sometimes relentless and the vocal delivery as brutal as they come. ‘Southern Storm’ is probably the best description this album could ever get, buy it and submit yourself to the barrage. Essential.
Razor of Occam are an Australian blackened thrash band that have recently released this, ‘Homage to Martyrs’, a potent metal beast of an album. Their name refers to Occam’s Razor, which is a scientific principle that all things equal, the most simple explanation (theory) for something is likely to be the correct one. Ironically, this is exactly how they pursue their brand of raging blackened thrash, reigning in some of the more dramatic elements of peers such as Melechesh or Absu and replacing them with full blown energy.
‘Homage to Martyrs’ was, to begin with anyway, similar in sound to Melechesh’s last album ‘Emissaries’, with less complex arrangements and Eastern flourishes, but appears to be playing to the same audience. However, they don’t let up with the visceral attack for the entire 33 minute length of the album; no instrumental passages, no acoustic interludes or intros, just full blown war on the senses. The riffs switch between grooving thrash riffs and spiralling solos, and blasting black metal riffing. Opener ‘Altar of Corruption’ is pure headbanging fodder, and seems to be the bastard child of Absu and early Kreator. Epic closer ‘Shadow of the Cross’ boasts a full 3 guitar solos while barrelling through some excellent thrash and groove riffs, while tracks like ‘Bite of Dogmata’ and ‘Heat of Battle’ show the more black metal side of the band. ‘Pattern on the Stone’ slows procedures only slightly but loses none of its presence, and the excellent soloing opening of ‘Flame Bearers’ is a guitarist’s dream.
Razor of Occam have been lucky here. Too often combining black and thrash metals can stunt both the atmosphere or speed of those genres, and can fail to meet expectations. ”Homage to Martyrs’ doesn’t do that. At no point does it feel that the menacing black metal atmosphere has faded behind grooving riffs, nor the impact of some simply excellent thrash riffing stunted by a concentration on black metal atmospherics. Razor of Occam have produced quite a potent album here, its just unfortunate that its so short. Longer tracks like ‘Shadow of the Cross’ show that the band are capable of producing longer material, hopefully they’ll lean that way for the next record, because they’ve made a good start here.
I recently rebooted my PC, and had to re-add all 26789 tracks back into my iTunes. This reset my play count, which was admittedly slightly upsetting considering I was finally over halfway through all the tracks since my previous boot. But it presented me with an opportunity to listen through a number of albums I love and haven’t listened to in a while. I occasionally have a tendency to leave my favourites behind in order to explore every new band, genre or album I can find.
I’m so glad I made this decision, because I have rediscovered one of the most important albums in my life, Nevermore’s ‘This Godless Endeavor’. Released in 2005, it cemented Nevermore’s reputation as one of the most important and consistent progressive metal bands. ‘This Godless Endeavor’ combined all the best elements of Nevermore’s sounds; the progressive, dense riff patterns and tearing solos of guitarist Jeff Loomis, and the intelligent lyrics of vocalist Warrel Dane. Dane’s lyrical topics are much more than just your typical metal lyric, exploring philosophical and theological issues, even venturing into the sad thoughts of a robot on the ballady ‘Sentient 6′. He points his finger of rage at the media in ‘Final Product’ ( “the media loves its latest tragic suicide, they exploit it, then package it, and profit from the people who died!”) and the nation of medicators he feels America has became on ‘Medicated Nation’ (”a medicated nation of blind neurotics”). It is work like this that sets Dane apart as one of the most essential lyricists of our time.
This album contains some of the heaviest riffing in progressive metal. The roaring start to ‘Born’, the more measured attack of video track ‘Final Product’ and the thunder of the title track when it finally ignites are perfect examples of Loomis’ dense riffing. In fact, the title track is probably the best thing the band have ever written, an 8 minute masterpiece discussing the debates about God and theology. It opens with pastoral guitar mingling with Dane’s vocal lines before exploding into a death/thrash riff that is just awesome. Here Loomis shows his best shredding abilities; linking together excellent sweeping riffs and a tearing solo.
I’m admittedly biased about this album, I have listened to this constantly since it was released, and have rarely ever found a track I don’t enjoy listening to. For me, it is the thought provoking lyrical content and heavy riffing that put Nevermore up above their peers. They explore obscure and philosophical topics without feeling at all pretentious or uneducated, and most of Loomis’ riffing doesn’t drop below awesome. His soloing is also incredibly fluid, winding their way round tracks and slipping in and out of the other riffs. Simply an essential album for anyone who likes metal, full stop.
Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s maniacal digital grind first met my ears last year, when I picked up a second hand copy of their double disc ‘Bestial Machinery’. Wow. I didn’t really know what to make of it to begin with; even having listened to grindcore for a number of years, this was something else entirely. The violent energy was astonishing, and I looked forward to their next release.
Well, ‘Agorapocalypse’ is here, and the apocalypse in fast forward is what it sounds like. Opening track ‘Timewave Zero’ approaches like some epic war machine, slowing in preparation for its final assault. From there it powers through two minutes of insane riffing, frantic howls and screams of rage. The opening five tracks all contain this same level of intensity, never compromising speed for brutality except when necessary, but containing some thick chunky riffing, especially in the rumbling intro to ‘Hung from the Rising Sun’.
In fact it appears that Scott Hull and co have been listening to something other than the crazy voices in their head, as ‘Agorapocalypse’ is a much more musically based album than the ‘micro-grind’ flavoured records they have released. ‘First National Stem Cell and Clone’ is a perfect example of this; blending grind, death metal and thrash into the one track successfully, as with the following ‘Question of Integrity’. Of course, they haven’t lost this grind edge completely, with closing tracks ‘Ex-Cop’ and Flamingo Snuff’ both capable of fitting onto ‘Bestial Machinery’, and ‘Druggernaut Jug Fuck’ hitting pretty awesome speeds in places, but in reining in the craziness for a more refined and focused result, it appears Agoraphobic Nosebleed may have found the perfect combination to create excellent works of grind.
Vocally the album retains that quality of the unhinged, especially with the triple layered vocals of Richard Johnson, female screamer Katherine Katz and main lyricist Jay Randall taking turns to assault your senses. Katz does a particularly good job, sounding as demented as possible while never losing a clarity to her delivery.
‘Agorapocalypse’ may be the turning point for Agoraphobic Nosebleed; the moment where their brand of spazz grind evolves into a potent musical weapon. Older fans may be disappointed by the lack of 30 second blast fests, but when that is stripped back, you find a band that is not afraid to compromise in order to find the result they want. They haven’t lost their edge, they have merely refined it into a malignant, musical beast.
I have attempted to write this review three times now. And yet I get halfway through it and I realise it has been futile. Maybe I will do the same this time, but I feel it needs to be out there anyway. I have been a huge Mastodon fan since 2004; the first moment I heard ‘Leviathan’ I knew I was in the company of something special, something quite different. The metal head in me was in love with the stomp of ‘Blood and Thunder’, whereas the more intuitive side of my musical appreciation knew there was more to be found. It became one of my favourite records ever, and I positively lusted after its follow up, ‘Blood Mountain’.
Now that was a head fuck of a record. For a number of listens I didn’t even realise how good it was, I was more in awe of the new moments or weird stuff I noticed with every listen. At first I didn’t like it, after 20 listens it had become an album so good that I don’t think even the band had realised it.
And so to ‘Crack the Skye’. Where to begin with it? Well, it is immediately recognisable as Mastodon. As with French death metal titans Gojira, they are able to mess around with so many ideas and yet retain that unique sound that brings their name to your lips instantly. Opening track ‘Oblivion’ follows a tradition of ball busting openers to Mastodon albums, and yet while not really possessing the power or thrust of ‘Blood and Thunder’ or ‘The Wolf is Loose’, it engages with a more melodic sweep, it feels HUGE in the biggest sense of the word. Mastodon’s full progressive streak sways and lifts throughout, with a solo that drifts amongst the clouds and mountaintops.
Second track ‘Divinations’ opens with a banjo. A banjo, you read that right. In the same way that the ‘laser gun’ vocal streak from ‘Circle of Cysquatch’ completely baffled you, so does this. From there it bursts into more recognisable Mastodon territory, stomping Southern metal riffing wrapped in a tornado of drumming virtuosity from Brann Dailor, the primitive roar is bread and butter to any fan of the band. ‘Quintessence’ follows with some excellent melodic guitar lines, and flashes of psychedelica shine through as the ethereal theme takes full effect; it swirls amongst the heavier riffs, infusing them with mystique. It is also evident in the eastern tinged ‘The Ghost of Karelia’, whose opening would have slid perfectly onto an album by say, Melechesh or Absu.
But it is the 10 minute epic ‘The Czar’ that provides the creative pinnacle of, not only the album but possibly the career of Mastodon. Otherworldly notes peel and fade off as a melodic, mournful guitar line sits amongst ambient bass and lyrical drumming. It is the concept of the death of Rasputin, adding yet more atmosphere to the mystic feel of the record. In fact, it is this track that truly embodies that feeling of the uncertain that you’ve felt creeping into you since you put this CD on. Don’t lie, its been there, waiting for just this moment.
It is quite a feat to include metal, hardcore, psychedelica and 70’s prog rock into the one album without it feeling contrived in any way. Yet Mastodon only use each element in their arsenal when and if it is needed. They have somewhat restrained the animalistic fury that saw the majority of ‘Remission’ and ‘Leviathan’, deciding to explore new and more exciting territories. There is a lot more melodic vocals which harmonise together, and considering the more spiritual and introspective direction of this album that is probably the best thing. I sometimes find it difficult to connect to real emotion when it is roared at me, and yet the heartfelt soar of ‘The Czar’ and epic closer ‘The Last Baron’ ring with just that feeling.
Mastodon have managed to do the impossible; create yet another piece of essential metal that cracks and ripples with intensity and yet cannot be pinned down, will not be tethered to this Earth, but is destined to live amongst the ether from which it has been forged. For those of us who thought ‘Blood Mountain’ could not be topped, we were wrong…
I’ve been in quite a thrash mood recently. Classics by Exodus, Testament, Forbidden and Sodom mixed in with more recent fair like the Haunted and Dew Scented have taken over my iPod in recent days, and I finally managed to find a copy of the newest Kreator album, ‘Hordes of Chaos’. As part of the German big 3 alongside Destruction and Sodom, Kreator are responsible for some of the best European thrash has to offer as opposed to their Bay Area cousins. ‘Endless Pain’ is a personal favourite of mine, but I was slightly disappointed with other releases by the band. It appears that Metallica and Testament have not been, however, the only thrashers to be rejuvenated in old age.
‘Hordes of Chaos’ is a great modern thrash album that doesn’t try to over play technicality or speed; instead it is content to rely on quality riffing and song writing. Kreator recorded this live in the studio, and have recaptured some of their earlier intensity without losing the more potent elements from the previous two albums. In fact, sonically ‘Hordes of Chaos’ is more similar to ‘Enemy of God’ than ‘Coma of Souls’, but the early hunger seems to be back, and it shows with surprisingly sophisticated songs played at blinding pace. The opening title track opens with great melodies before ripping into a classic Kreator riff, and this follows into the anthemic ‘Warcurse’, which is very catchy.
But the best parts of this album come when the band decide to mess about with the traditional thrash template and see what they can come up with. Hence the very NWOBHM esque opener to ‘Demon Prince’, or the atypical riff style of ‘Absolute Misanthropy’s intro. In fact the final three tracks, ‘To the Afterburn’,'Corpses of Liberty’, and the aforementioned ‘Demon Prince’ all seem to have a Priest/Maiden esque quality to them; duelling Eighties twin guitars explode into a full on thrash attack, complete with a chaotic solo, a melodic solo and a more headbanging slower section.
Other album highlights include the galloping ‘Escalation’ and the brooding ‘Amok Run’, which throws all thrash rules out the window in the same way Metallica did with ‘Fade to Black’. It’s nowhere hear as good, but then again, what thrash ballad ever has been? The band mix that with some good thrashing riffage, and some soaring melodic sections later on. There are, of course, some issues with the album, namely the less than stellar lyrics (see ‘Amok Run’) and the rhythm guitar occasionally seems to sound a bit muffled, which dampens the overall power of the album.
Overall ‘Hordes of Chaos’ is another old school thrash triumph; the work of a band whose legacy generally has overshadowed their later work. If they had worked out with the muddy guitar sound, it could have been perfect. But the band should be content that their new album has all the riffs and quality to be a 2009 hallmark. Great stuff.
Testament were one of these second tier thrash bands that were never given as much exposure as their massive cousins, the Metallicas and Slayers of this world. It was nothing to do with a lack of talent or good thrash songs. It was the fact that, as good as ‘Practice What You Preach’ and ‘The New Order’ were, they were no ‘Master of Puppets’ or ‘Peace Sells’. I believe its an unfair comparison to make; bands like Testament, Death Angel, Overkill or Exodus were never going to be able to challenge the genius of Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer or Metallica, but all have still written albums that are thrash classics. Testament’s ‘The New Order’ is certainly one of those.
Opening with ‘Eerie Inhabitants’, this album shows a great maturity in song writing. The track contains an excellent mixture of acoustic interludes, arpeggios and nice clean riffing. The apocalyptic title track is next, showcasing yet more great, memorable thrash riffs, a lot heavier than the opener, and the tougher sounding vocals really fit the theme. ‘Trial by Fire’ ignites violently and hurtles off in a more intense Slayer style thrash, yet retains that catchiness that should permeate through all great thrash albums.
Then we hit ‘Into the Pit’. Possibly one of the best thrash anthems ever written, even though its theme is genocide and not moshing! Thrashing technical riffs combine with catchy refrains, face melting solos and thundering drums. ‘Hypnosis’ is a more chilled out interlude, showcasing some more melodic leads before melting into the best track here; ‘Disciples of the Watch’. Definitely my favourite thrash song of the past few months, its moody intro sets itself up for a storming attack, and it doesn’t disappoint.
The main feature of this album is the excellent soloing by Alex Skolnick. He has the uncanny knack of being able to peel off melodious leads, and give solos either the speedy quality or a more emotional touch. Every one here is brilliantly suited to the song, and the instrumental sections are also impressive. I did find ‘Nobody’s Fault’ and ‘Day of Reckoning’ to be slightly forgettable, not that they weren’t great tracks but I needed an extra spin for them to become memorable. It is only a small fault though, rectified by the good but overly long outro ‘Musical Death’. Great idea but probably twice as long as it needed to be.
‘The New Order’ is an awesome thrash album. Fact. It contains one of the strongest opening 4 tracks of any classic thrash album, and while it may tail off a bit later on, tracks like ‘Disciples of the Watch’ and ‘The Preacher’ are still pretty great songs. Any self respecting thrash fans owns this, any new thrash fans should have this on their list.
I recently read a number of interesting articles all about grindcore, and one in particular about goregrind. It appears, at first glance, to be a generally easy genre to dissect (pardon the pun). Hurl lightning pace brutal riffs into clattering drums and a vocal attack that sounds like Cookie Monster with a severe phlegm problem together, enclose within lyrical content of the type that would more suit a pathological report, and wrap up in an album sleeve that portrays some of the most disgusting images you can imagine. I’m not entirely sure how much I enjoy this genre; musically I think the heaviness is fantastic, but the totally indecipherable lyrics and ‘pig squeals’ are a bit off putting.
But there are albums that may make me change my mind on this. ‘Surgical Assault’ may be one of them. The album refuses to go completely hell for leather, possessing a more malevolent grinding chug with some extremely heavy breakdowns. It is sludgy, downtuned and filthy, which to be honest is great. The vocal attack mixes the aforementioned pig squealing with brutal growls and the odd manic scream to keep it interesting and varied.
For such a short release, the band also manage to keep it fresh by injecting new elements; ‘Vast Illumination’ creeps up on you with a protracted opening of bass and drums, an eye of the storm moment before a winding guitar line begins flowing from the speaker. It’s a rare glimpse of melody, and bodes well for any future work by this band. ‘Defleshed’ reminds me of early Dying Fetus, its a pretty powerful track with heavy slam riffing in between the speedier sections. ‘Inertia’ comes across as Pig Destroyer wrestling with All Shall Perish; the lightning pace crossing with brutal deathcore breakdowns, and the towering closer ‘Vaginal Secretion’ takes off in similar style before entering a lenghty ambient section, again showing off the many strings to this band’s bow.
As grind/goregrind/deathcore albums go, ‘Surgical Assault’ is pretty damn good. The band have a lot of potential to be able to write excellent material without becoming stale and boring. The mournful lead on ‘Vast Illumination’ is evidence of that. And maybe you can’t understand anything the guy says. But you can imagine it’s gotta be pretty brutal to sound like that. Recommended.
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