New Reviews 11/28/2009 @ Absolute Zero Media
Sigh- Scenes from Hell-CD (The End Records)
Sigh has always been one of those bands that is love hate by all that hear them Early Sigh I never got with it was over Avant Black metal with an extremity that just seemed out of place. As the years have gone by Sigh have gone way more Post Black metal with very Oriental and Jazz element and this is really where they have found a home. If you could mix Bal Sagoth, Arcturus and Mr Bungle into one band you would have where Sigh have really found there nitch if you can even really say that. Symphonic, Jazz and Scathing Black metal on paper something that would never work but some how Sigh makes it happen. This is always an art film sound track in the making with the Spaghetti Western vibe going on as well. When the band goes raw BM its still in a most 70's freak out of ways. They like to add very trippy elements to it all then I swear Danny Elfman is a member of the band at times. What more is there really to say Sigh is extremely fucked up as a band and listening experience but I would have it truly no other way. Long Live SIGH!!!!!
http://theendrecords.com/
Fatalist- The Depths of Inhumanity-CD (Ibex Moon Records)
This piece of Old School Swedish Death metal mastery is just what the doctor ordered for this listener. Are you fan of Entombed or Dismember then do not pass go and get your funds ready to buy a release that is going to firmly kick you in the ass. The low end bass and guitar tone. The clearly growled vocal style and the amazing harmony guitar riffs that you would old hear in bands of that genre. Fatalist maybe from California in the USA but this band knows how to make this classic Death metal sound all there own. I love the uber fuzzed out guitar mixed with the mid tempo double kick drum attack. This makes me long for the old earache days my friends.. I will end the review with this .... Long live the days when Death Metal was a way of life not a fashion statement.....
http://ibexmoonrecords.com/
Urgehal- Ikonoklast-CD (Season of Mist)
Raw , dirty and primitive in all of the best fashions is what Urgehal gives you for your listening pleasure or displeasure in the Black metal realm. This is nothing flashy or scenic about this journey this is on the hateful and powerful side of the darkened visions the members of Urgehal are presenting to you. You can feel the pain in the vocals that are coming out here there is a war like hunger that needs to be express as well. The vocal are washed in that nasty verb that works so well with the edgy vocal style a band like this gives. Ikonoklast gives me that feeling labels like Osmose, Avant-Garde, Misanthropy and Moonfog gave me in the mid 90's . The production is very pure and full for the much more guttural feeling a band like Urgehal presents. There is even some tasteful solo work going on here. Where the rest of the music is much more for the throat in they approach they give you. Season of Mist has a really classic in the making here.
http://season-of-mist.com/
Rimfrost- Veraldar Nagli-CD (Season of Mist)
Black thrash has seemed to become a big thing in the euro nations over the last 10 yrs and hasn't really caught on as much here in the USA. Rimfrost is very much that in total mix the 80/90's Thrash attack of bands like Kreator, Sodom and Exodus with the Black metal of bands like Saytricon and Darkthrone and you come damn close to what this band is trying to create. I love the very bombastic creation on how this release was done in whole. There is again a feeling of pain and aggression all at the same time and that is where all the good extreme metal bands come from. There is a strong kinship with a band called Khold for my ears as well. There are some very driving riffs going on here. Rimfrost at times even hits what I would call full on viking metal fury and there is nothing more near and dear to me then this metallic sound coming from the guitars and drums of any band. Check out Rimfrost I think they will not only surprise you but win you over in no time at all.
http://season-of-mist.com
Hirax are the missing link to Thrash to Death Metal this is one of the few bands what was a brutal enough thrash band to make the Death metal fans have a jaw dropping event as well. Hirax is a wall of sonic madness that is just amazing . If you like the more extreme moments of bands like like Overkill , Testament, Nuclear Assault and Forbidden then this will be the band that will kick you to the floor each and every time . The ultra deep chugging riffage of the bass and guitar work so well with the thrash attack on the drums think of Slayer in a lot of the musical manners going on here and the vocals are throaty and strep as hell going on here and the work oh so well. Thrash in the greatest of lessons is being created here. Hirax is one of the few bands that can just keep that Thrash flag flying higher and higher. Check this release out or you are mission on a legendary band still in there songwritting prime..
http://www.blackdevilrecords.com/
Sikfuk - Shitfisted Superman... The Man of Stool-CD (Comatose Music)
I will give you this for being a one man death / gore metal force Comatose loves to work with them as they have the brilliant Bloodsoaked . This is very different in as he is going more for the Meatshits, Analblast or Embalmer side of the metallic spectrum. The music is very well done the guitar is very techincal but I just can not get into the porn loops or silly movie samples also the gurgle metal vocals just don't ever do anything for me. If this had more traditional death metal vocals I think I could have respected this so much more. I going to have to pass on this .
http://www.comatosemusic.com/
Coathanger Abortion- Dying Breed-CD (Comatose Music)
Again this is the case with Comatose bands . The music is very technical and impressive I just can not get past the vocals of the ultra low and gurgled style. Coathanger Abortion a name as brutal as the band so in this case it fits them perfectly is the sum of two parts my friends. The music is fast, complex, multi layers and takes real damn skill to present in this talented of a fashion. The vocals seem like they are just thrown over the top in the last minutes of recording just to add extermity to the picture as a whole and almost seem not needed in any way shape or form. All the bands in this ultra extreme genre seem to need or have a love of movie samples and loops to start off all there songs. I really don't get that need. Coathanger Abortion with out the vocals I would give 9 out of 10 as a killer death metal force with the vocals the best I could do is 5 out of 10 the vocals really hurt this project more then you know.
http://www.comatosemusic.com/
Engaged in Mutilating - Population: Zero-CD (Comatose Music)
Now this is some ass kicking Brutal if not Ultra low death metal majesty. This works on all levels for me . Its beyond fast, nasty, bassy and very very complex in the arrangements in an almost jazz like way. If Opeth was guttural death metal band this is what they would sound like. Engaged in Mutilating is just fantastic at what they are presenting to the listener and the vocals even though low and super guttural they are powerful and can be heard properly and really fit as a full piece of the overall sound of the band. I really love when the bass is active and doing so much more then just being the beef for the guitar. There is so much going on with Population Zero several listens are demanded to really get a full picture of this. This is a great release for The band and a very good death metal label like Comatose. I will be looking for more from Engaged in Mutilating in the future...
http://www.comatosemusic.com/
Abraxas- Wretched Existence-MCD (Relapse)
Why is it alway 4 song Eps that are the most amazing from bands of a ultimately extreme nature. Abraxas to me is the best in Brutal Death, Grind and Jazzcore . There seems to be members from PYREXIA, HATE ETERNAL, MONSTROSITY and VILE in this supergroup of the Death metal world. The production is second to none here and the tracks sound like an army of the undead are recording it all at the same time. if Nile or Morbid Angel were of the more Grind and Progressive metal sound I would say that Abraxas would be their name. There is very Edge of Sanity sound to all they do as well. Again it all comes back to a brilliant 4 song EP that I hope they can live up to and crush. Relapse has a album that will rip the walls of the very metal scene apart. Simple a great release.
http://relapse.com/
Chaos Invocation - In Bloodline With the Snake-CD (Canonical Hours )
Occult Black metal in the highest of orders. There is a very haunting / unnerving sound coming from this Germanic Force of Dark occult metallic sounds it does remind me a lot of Watian and Death Spell Omega in many different moments. There is a thrash element to the release as a whole as well. It's not always blistering which is something I really like with the more Avant/ Post Black metal style. Chaos Invocation works in the slower twists and turns in with the very straight forward raw BM mixed again with a cold melodic overtone. The vocals remind me very much of what legion did in Marduk the slit throat vocal sound of Black metal. The very clean chorused guitar are a big addition to the over all sound of this band. There are rituals inside rituals going on with this band and I love the chanting vocals that come through as we still have. the very harsh vocal mixing into a total blitzkrieg on sounds on the senses. In the Bloodline with the snake is not a simple listen and never should be. This is something that you will understand and be proud to have by your side or it will send you off the deep end into fear, regret and madness.
http://www.canonicalhours.com/
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