Filed under: Brighton, gigs, Heavy metal, people | Tags: Afterlifelines, Jean Bormann, Peavy Wagner, Rage, Vasilios Maniatopoulos
I have never reviewed a new release by Rage, a band I absolutely adore, but I think the release of their new, double album, Afterlifelines, presents the perfect occasion to do so. To be fair, I did review the album that Peavy released together with Manni and Chris under the Refuge moniker a few years ago, but, strictly speaking, that was not Rage. The return of the band to its old style with The devil strikes again (2016), would have been an appropriate time to review this monumental band, but, for some reason I did not do it back then. Since that record, Rage has released four albums (not counting Refuge’s Solitary men), and the newest one might be my favourite one of the reborn Rage yet.
Peavy is among my 10 favourite song writers of all time, and he’s never been short of song ideas. A truly prolific composer, he only showed signs of slowing down during the period when Victor Smolski was in the band (my least favourite era of Rage, especially the second half, an era I want to forget). I saw Rage live in 1996, then in 1997, and then 26 years later, last December in Brighton, UK. The latter was an emotional experience for me, but I won’t get into this now. At the end of the show I got to talk to Lucky (Rage’s drummer) and he revealed to me that the next studio album would be double, one album showcasing Rage’s fierce side and the other their more lyrical/orchestral side. I am not a big fan of the latter, so I was not particularly thrilled, but Afterlifelines is definitely not what I expected.
Afterlifelines has 21 songs. The first 11 songs are grouped under the title Afterlife, and they are (with the exception of the instrumental intro) straightforward, stripped down, some fast and aggressive and some slower tunes played by electric guitar, bass and drums. The next 10 songs are grouped under the title Lifelines, and they are a mix of fast and more mid-tempo tunes, metal ballads, and an orchestral medley of some classic Rage melodies, all accompanied by classical orchestration alongside the traditional heavy metal instrumentation. The first time I listened to the album the first few songs felt underwhelming, but when “Toxic waves” came in I got chills down my spine. Peavy’s voice, the verse melody, and then the catchy and dynamic chorus, are to me what makes Rage so unique. That was followed by the awesome “Waterwar”, and Peavy’s vocal pattern during the verses took me back to the Black in Mind (1995) era. The next thing that captured me was the choruses of “Justice will be mine” and “Life among the ruins“. The latter has these weird melodic progressions that Rage uses from time to time, where the melody almost goes off tune momentarily, but makes everything so distinctive. Anyway, although I was kinda hooked listening to the first half of the album, it was the second half of Afterlifelines that completely blew my mind. “Curse the night” has one of the best verse vocal melodies in Rage’s history, I get goosebumps listening to it, and the way the chorus comes in resolving the tension built up during the verse is pure brilliance. The one constant and most distinctive thing about Rage has been Peavy’s vocal melodies. That one-sentence bridge in “Root of our evil” is absolutely breath-taking. This song, by the way, is very reminiscent of the XIII-Ghosts era of the band, but it is superior to almost every single song in these albums, in my opinion. “It’s all too much” might be the the definition of a perfect song; I can’t get used to how much I love it, I’m speechless. It is one of the songs where Jean’s guitar-playing stands out the most (that razor-sharp riff during the bridge is fantastic), together with “Lifelines“. Speaking of the latter, what an epic masterpiece! It took me a couple of listens to appreciate, but when I got my head around its structure I was left dumbfounded. What a rollercoaster of melodies, riffs and emotions! And the way it incorporates the chorus melody of “Afterlife” is masterful. In my opinion, it stands proudly next to “Lost in the ice” (1993) and “In a nameless time” (1995). One of the great assets of the band is Lucky, whose drumming is absolutely flawless and very creative. From time to time, he slips in some really tasteful licks, whether it is an interesting phrasing on the cymbals, or an impressive drum fill (and there’s loads of those!) which either offer great hooks or nuance the bottom end. Lucky is the busiest he’s been on a Rage album yet, and he is not merely offering a steady beat – he is effectively composing music with his drumming. Eventually, I started appreciating the rest of the songs, and now I am obsessed with the album (the only two songs I am not feeling are “Mortal” and “The flood”). I have listened to it at least 30 times so far, and it’s the last thing I listen before I go to bed and the first when I get up.
I also love the album art; it is my favourite one since End of all days (1996), maybe with the exception of The devil strikes again artwork, which I also love. I read somewhere that the illustrator used AI, which has been the cause for backlashes from fans and professional illustrators alike in the case of other bands recently. I will not delve into this debate now, although it is worth remembering that every time a disruptive technology comes about it faces resistance and other extreme responses from various actors that occupy the field in which it operates. From the point of a music fan, and not knowing anything about the artist’s credentials, whether they do indeed use AI, or to what extent financial constraints guided decisions regarding the commissioning of the art, I have to say that this is a classic artwork. I love the colours and especially the yellow-grey contrast. The band’s mascot looks misshapen and deformed (which, I think, exemplifies the AI aesthetic from what I’ve seen), and jaded, as if it’s given up in the midst of a world that has destroyed itself. In that sense, the album cover successfully captures the mood of the album’s lyrical theme. Peavy has written some great lyrics about the domination of nature, exploitation, dehumanisation and growing inequalities within our capitalist systems.
I will conclude this review by saying that this album is a testament to Peavy’s brilliance and passion. What a unique way to mark 40 years of music-making and what a fantastic gift to true Rage fans! Peavy, Lucky and Jean, you are really spoiling us.
Filed under: death metal, horror cinema | Tags: Alex Bouks, exhumed, Expulsion, Goreaphobia, Horror, Impaled, repulsion, Ross Sewage, The dead shall dead remain, Vile beast of abomination
In this 3rd instalment of the Records and friends series of posts, and the first post for 2024, I present three albums of pure death situated in everyday, domestic settings.
This photograph was bound to be taken. Impaled‘s awesome debut, the cover of which shows someone who shat out their entrails and have fallen off the toilet seat is a classic. I bought this album in the year 2000, when it was freshly released, from an Athenian record store called Dark Side. That year was a great one for brutal death metal releases, and it feels like my friends and I would buy anything new that looked disgusting (around the same time, for example, I got the vinyl issue of Disgorge’s Chronic corpora infest). I actually bought this solely based on the cover and logo, which was a risky thing to do. It wasn’t cheap either, I think it cost around 15 euros. Anyway, I loved it when I first heard it and still love it to this day. It’s rawer and a bit less melodic compared to the rest of their albums, but it’s still catchy as hell. My favourite song off it is probably “Trocar“. I love the colours in this photograph too. The walls of the toilet are this deep orange, which picks up the blood and entrails, and the fact that the album is a picture disk creates a weird effect; it looks like we are looking inside the toilet although the seat is clearly down. There’s also a cool mirror effect, when you notice the toilet inside the toilet.
I first listened to Goreaphobia 11 years ago. I remember because a friend of mine visited during xmas of 2013 and I got Mortal repulsion (2009) off his mp3 player. When I first listened to them I was instantly enchanted, like the first time I appreciated Immolation, and I knew I’d stumbled upon something great. Alex Bouks was the main composer in Goreaphobia, a death metal legend who has also contributed music to two Incantation albums, the one album by Ruinous (they’re recording another one), and is the current second guitarist in Immolation. I really hope he gets to contribute music to future Immolation albums, other than guitar solos; I think it would revitalise the band’s sound. The album in this photograph is a compilation titled Vile beast of abomination, and it contains their first demo, their EP and a few songs written in the early 2000s, which are more reminiscent of their two full-length albums than their super-brutal past. I love the cover on this one, which is definitely better than the CD version of the album. Here it is resting against the cave of the cat-tree, which has a similar colour, so I thought it would look nice.
Here we have another representative of the American school of gore metal. Exhumed and Impaled have shared members over the years, and, to some extent, have shared a sound. I have always preferred Impaled, I love Impaled, but Exhumed has also released some great albums (Slaughtercult is lush!). This one, titled Horror, was the album that re-ignited my interest in them. I knew that Ross Sewage had joined them already in the previous album, so I wanted to listen to it carefully (Ross is a fantastic lyricist and vocalist, and one of the great assets of Impaled), but never got the chance when it was released. Then Horror came out and I instantly fell in love with it. The reason I like it so much is because it is raw, to the point, total Repulsion worship. Matt Harvey’s (guitar, vocals, main songwriter) stint with Expulsion (includes Matt Olivo, of Repulsion) probably had something to do with the direction of this album. The album cover taps into old horror VHS aesthetics, so I thought it would be appropriate to be photographed alongside some killer horror films on video tape. Most of the horror films on display here are consistent with Exhumed’s (and especially Impaled’s) mix of gore and silliness. The inclusion of Polanski’s Repulsion (1965) is a nod and a wink to the origins of the sound of the album.
Filed under: Best of the year, death metal, Heavy metal, punk | Tags: Asinhell, Bloodphemy, Dawn of malevolence, Deities of deathlike sleep, Deteriorot, Expendables, Fake Names, Grand Cadaver, Host, Impii hora, Memoriam, Rise to power, Siege of Power, Tanith, The death of Randy Fitzsimmons, The Hives, The rebirth, This is tomorrow, Voyage
Some great music from 2023 on the sofa
The year 2023 has been a relatively unexciting year music-wise. Lots of bands released new music, some bands that I’ve loved since the 1990s, but there were hardly any albums that blew my mind. Still, some expected and some unexpected gems made life a bit less shitty this past year, again. Lets start with the albums that I didn’t like: I enjoyed Enforcer‘s new album, titled Nostalgia, even less than their previous album, which I didn’t like very much. The slow ballad-y songs I find really cringey. I never particularly liked Wikstrand’s voice, but especially on these slow songs I can’t stand it. There are moments that are reminiscent of their brilliant works like Diamonds (2010) and From beyond (2015), but they’re thin on the ground. Vomitory‘s new album did not change my opinion of them. I’ve never been a fan of this band, although I’ve always liked a few songs off albums like Redemption (1999), Revelation nausea (2001) and Blood rapture (2002). Once again, some songs really stand out and are devastating, like the opening track, but overall, I cannot listen to the album from beginning to end. Dying Fetus is a band I fell in love in the late 1990s, but completely lost interest after the departure of Netherton and Talley. Since then, I listen to their new output from time to time, but fail to enjoy it. I listened to the new album a couple of times and it’s pretty cool, if I listened to it back in the 1990s I’d have loved it, but I kinda feel like I’ve outgrown this style. Cannibal Corpse released another album which, after listening to for a few times, left me disappointed. In my opinion, it sounds like the band is plodding along, refusing to die, when it is clearly sick and tired. I feel bad writing these words about Cannibal ‘cos I love them, the whole Barnes era is really close to my heart, as well as the beginning of the Corpsegrinder era, but the last 20 years it’s been hit and miss. When I came across the title of Cadaver‘s new album I thought to myself, Anders Odden is an aging, Norwegian, extreme metal musician with affiliations to bands like Satyricon, so it’s no surprise that so late in his career he decides to be political in such an unimaginative manner. To be fair, reading the lyrics of the eponymous song, the meaning is a bit ambiguous, I’m not sure he is lashing out at people who call out offensive behaviours. Anyway, the album has some good moments, I liked a couple of the songs (like “Crawl of the cadaver” and “Deadly metal”), but overall I didn’t feel the need to listen to it again. I thought it was funny how the nostalgic sounding “Deadly metal”, has an intro riff that sounds like Blind Guardian (compare it, for example, to “This will never end”). Suffocation released the follow up to Of the dark light, and marks the first album after Frank’s departure. Frank actually appears on the re-recording of the classic “Ignorant deprivation”, and although his vocals do not have the power they once had, they are unique and, sadly, that is what’s missing from his replacement. Musically, I was not impressed by this album, but, to be fair the last Suffo album I loved was the eponymous one from 2006. It didn’t grab me, so I haven’t listened to it carefully, but because it’s Suffocation I think it deserves more careful listening so I might eventually change my mind. I first heard Pest Control at the Obituary gig in Brighton, UK, last August (they were the opening band). Good crossover which sounded to me better on the recording than live. Their album titled Don’t test the pest is cool, the eponymous song is killer. Along similar generic lines, the new side-project by Paul Mazurkiewicz called Heaven’s Gate released the eponymous EP, and is not bad, I listened to it a couple of times. Static Abyss‘s second offering feels a bit rushed. It’s only been one year since the debut, and this new album lacks standout numbers in my opinion. Rotten Casket is a relatively new band with Martin van Drunen at its helm. I listened to their debut, titled Zombicron, a couple of times. It feels like an album that Rogga Johansson would have released. I think I might eventually enjoy it more.
Metallica‘s new album did not impress me, and for a while I considered it among their worst output, alongside Reload (1997) and St. Anger (2003). I absolutely love Death magnetic (2008) and Hardwired (2016), and I thought that the new album lacked some of the elements that made those albums awesome. There are many riffs in 72 Seasons which, in my opinion, are super generic, sounding like jams by any person who gets a guitar in their hands. In my opinion, the band sounds like in their Load-Reload-St Anger period, in the sense that the songs feel like they emerged out of jams and that they’d use every single riff they’d come up. Still, most songs have good moments in them, whether it’s a bridge or, more often, a good vocal melody. There’s lots of Black album (1991) and Load (1996) moments, and the three more fast thrashy moments of the album (“72 seasons”, “Lux Aeterna” and “Room of mirrors”) are standout tracks. The main riff of “Lux Aeterna” is pretty similar to the verse riff of “Heaven’s on fire” by Venom. Hetfield’s voice is the best it’s been in two decades and, for me, the highlight of the album alongside the melody lines he came up with. For my tastes, if “Sleepwalk my life away”, “You must burn!”, and “Inamorata” were omitted the album would be superior. Favourite songs: “Room of mirrors”, “Lux Aeterna”, “Crown of barbed wire”. I thought that the new Brujeria album had too many songs, not enough standout moments, and overall it felt kinda tired. Moments of absolute insanity are few and far between. Songs like “Bruja encabronada” and “El patron de reventon” are deadly but I find the drum sound a bit weak. Those two, together with “Mochado“, are my favourite on the album. These are songs which I consider can compete with any Brujeria release. Some of the other songs are cool, some really pissed off and some cool 
grooves (“Bestia de la muerte”), but also some filler. Sadus returned after almost two decades with a good album. It starts with an intro similar to the main melody of “Lost reflection” (Crimson Glory) and evolves into a manic thrash attack that is trademark Sadus. That opening song, “First blood”, is up there with the top Sadus songs of all time. I like a lot the first half of the album, but after that it gets a bit boring for me. Jon and Darren’s performances are absolutely stellar though. At the same time, I cannot help but being disappointed by the contemporary sound of most classic bands, especially those who once worked with great producers. What a flat and lifeless sound, especially the drums. Guts is a new band I discovered this year, and their album Decay is pretty cool. Very simple and catchy death metal that’s fun to listen to.
Among the albums that almost made the top-10 list is Obituary‘s new album, titled The end of everything. It’s been many years since I enjoyed a new Obituary album. The last album they released which I loved was their comeback album, Frozen in time (2005), but I also enjoyed Executioner’s return (2007). The last few albums did nothing for me. I don’t know if the new album is “better” than the last few albums, or simply it had been a long time I paid attention to Obituary so I was hungry for their unique style, but I really enjoyed The end of everything. There’s nothing terribly new here, as expected, although I have to say that the break in “Barely alive” (around the 1:53 mark) contains more notes than any other riff Obituary ever played, so that was a new element, I guess. Fantastic break and riff, by the way. Some of the songs stand out and command their unique place in Obituary’s body of works, especially songs like “Wrong time“, “Weaponize the hate” and that main riff and vocal pattern of “By the dawn” are pretty cool too. As usual, certain riffs and vocal patterns are identical to some of their classic riffs and vocal patterns from the past. A blast from the past was Mezzrow‘s new album titled Summon thy demons. This is a band I first listened when a friend got their debut album back in the late 1990s from a second hand shop. That album made no impression, it was your typical Swedish Bay Area thrash rip-off. The comeback album has some killer stuff in it though. I find the vocals a bit cringey, but musically it’s really cool. The opening song is a highlight, an energetic thrash attack that sets the mood for the rest of the album. The album is generally super catchy, check out the chorus on songs like “What is dead 
may never die” and “De mysteriis inmortui“, for example. I listened to it loads and it almost made my top 10 list. Nasty Surgeons is a band I discovered when they released their previous album, and I thought that it was awesome. I was looking forward to the new album, and, initially, I was a bit disappointed, as it felt a bit simpler. Eventually, I enjoyed it much more. A positive change has been the drums. In the previous album that was the weak point in my opinion. But, here they are better produced, the drum fills are simpler and more to the point, and the grinding is at times a lot faster. Everything else is pretty much following the same recipe; well-composed, catchy grind with heavy doses of old school death metal riffs. The Grifted is the continuation of Mr. Death, and their album titled Doomsday and salvation released earlier this year is pretty cool old-sounding Swedish death metal. Its biggest flaw I guess is that it does not feature exactly the tightest performances, especially the blasting bits on the drums. “Hope for death” is one of the most catchy moments in the album. “Days of the end” is another interesting song, with a happy main riff, which is not common in this kind of music. Overall, I’ve listened to it a few times, and I’d like to enjoy it properly with lyrics and all, but this album is another casualty of small record labels with poor distribution making it costly and difficult to get hold of a 
physical copy (the vinyl especially). Another sickening addition to Autopsy‘s discography, Ashes, organs, blood and crypts has a set of cool tunes. Still, if I had to compare it to last year’s album, I’d say it’s inferior. Morbidity triumphant is more brutal, more reminiscent of the band’s early days, with Reifert using his deep growls more often than not, and has more songs that stand out. The highlights in this album in my opinion come from the sick minds of Coralles and Cutler. Songs like “Rabid funeral“, “Marrow fiend”, “Bones to the wolves”, but also Reifert’s “Well of entrails”, are the ones that stood out for me. The rest of them, I’m not too crazy about. Incantation‘s newest album impressed me more than the last couple. Unholy deification is more straightforward and faster than the band has been in a while. McEntee’s vocals sound awesome, riffs are catchy, and there’s hardly any long, drawn-out, swampy sections, in which the band is known to often indulge. When I say it is more straightforward, I mean that the melodies are a bit more conventional, not as warped as in the past, so less consistent with the Morbid Angel/Immolation school of death metal, with which Incantation align themselves. Having said that, the chords at the beginning of “Invocation” remind me of the ending of Immolation’s “Those left behind”. “Concordant”, “Megaron”, “Offerings” are among the best in the album. I don’t consider it a highlight in their career, but it’s another good addition to their legacy. The thing on the cover is like one of the monsters from the TV series Stranger Things.
Without further ado, here are the 10 albums that I’ve listened to and enjoyed the most during 2023. There is an ostensible lack of established bands in this list, but the more discerning eye will notice that all the bands that follow include experts in their respective genre.
1. Siege of Power – This is tomorrow
Siege of Power’s sophomore album was this year’s surprise, personally. Their debut was one of the worst albums of the year it came out, so, I didn’t have any expectations for this album. For some reason I decided to give it a listen, and I couldn’t believe my ears. I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say that this is the best thing Reifert has released in the last nine years, but it’s definitely my favourite album of 2023. It contains 11 songs with distinct identities, super catchy, fantastic lyrics, Reifert gives the performance of a lifetime. This is a truly inspired death metal album that combines in a meaningful way Autopsy, Asphyx, Slayer and Motorhead. Asphyx can be heard on songs like “Scavengers“, or “Sinister Christians”, especially the guitar melody during the chorus. Bagchus’s drumming is, as always, simple but pummelling. The song “Sinister Christians” feels like Reifert’s homage to Asphyx’s Theo Loomans, and his masterpiece God cries (1996), as it contains lyrics that point to a couple of songs on that album. For example, similar lines to the “…as they stab you in the back” and “…who falls for this shit?!” can be found in the Asphyx songs “God cries” and “Cut-throat urges” respectively. The lyrical themes vary, but there seems to be a few songs about a dystopian future created by uncaring humans. “Ghosts of humanity” is one of the top moments in the album; fantastic atmosphere, very unique juxtaposition of growling vocals and arpeggiated chords without distortion, catchy chorus, and the built-up to the fast Slayer-esque break in the middle is God! A truly great album overall, with no mediocre moments.
2. Fake Names – Expendables
Now this is what I call a fantastic album. Fake Names impressed me with their debut a few years ago (which is still in frequent rotation), and their new album is at least as impressive. It contains ten wonderful tracks of old school punk rock combined with more modern indie sensibilities, expertly played and produced, the way only seasoned musicians can deliver. When I listen to this band, I feel like someone worked out exactly the music that I want to listen to and wrote a bunch of songs especially for me. Despite the simple song-writing formula that underpins the whole album the melodies and riffs are absolutely addictive. Each song conforms to the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle section recipe, and the fact that this band does not stray much from this but still manage to write beautiful and timeless music is inspiring. Some of my favourite moments include the middle-section on songs like “Too little, too late” (starting at 1:40) and “Don’t blame yourself” (starting at 1:50), and the main riff and melodies of “Damage done”. Production-wise there are not many gimmicks, all the instruments are prominent in the mix and the different guitar layers contribute to a rich, for the genre, guitorchestration. If you like punk-rock do yourselves a favour and listen to Expendables.
3. Grand Cadaver – Deities of deathlike sleep
The release of Grand Cadaver’s sophomore album has been met with some dithyrambic reviews (at least the ones posted on FB by the band). It’s a cool album, with some great moments, but in my opinion it’s a bit less complex and less dynamic than the mind-blowing Into the maw of death (2021). Nevertheless, all of the songs are interesting, the mood is deathly, and Stanne’s unique growls and delivery patterns raise the album above the middle-of-the-road old school Swedish death metal wannabees. Just like the debut, there are mostly fast songs, but also a couple of slower numbers. One of the latter is “True necrogeny”, which has some great melodies, especially the bridge and chorus; very melancholic. Other highlights include “A crawling feast of decay”, one of the most brutal songs on the album alongside “Funeral reversal” (a little piece of Swedish death metal trivia: Tormented have a song called “Reversed funeral”), and the closing song “Necrosanctum”. These three songs are, for me, the most imaginative in the album, and the ones with the most powerful dynamics. “Necrosanctum” is one of my top songs for 2023; what a fantastic progression and coda. “Serrated jaws” is one of the singles, and it initially disappointed me, but now I like it, especially that breakdown in the middle of the song is awesome. The opening song also grew on me. It kicks off in a manner that reminded me of post-1997 Dismember, and my favourite thing about it is the post-chorus riff and how it transforms the mood after the melancholic chorus. I love the inscription on the runout groove of side B stating “THE SAW IS THE LAW”, an homage to both Sodom and the buzz saw Swedish death guitar sound. Also, note that the initials of the album’s title spell out DODS, which stands for “death” in Swedish. The design of the album is also really beautiful (and it contains lyrics, thankfully)
4. Tanith – Voyage
I first listened to Tanith when they released their first single (i.e. “Citadel”) and I loved it and looked forward to their debut. In the end, their debut did not impress me. But “Voyage”, their sophomore album, is very beautiful! I’ve only been listening to it for a month or so, but I’m loving it. The vocal trade-offs, and the sweetness of both Russ’s and Cindy’s voice, as well as the rest of the aesthetics of the album really take you on a journey to a lost time in music making, namely NWOBHM but with British prog rock sensibilities (e.g. Wishbone Ash and Uriah Heep‘s more hard rock moments). Overall, Voyage is heavier than the debut, the compositions are imaginative, and it’s awesomely produced. In my opinion, Russ has written songs that could have been in a Satan album, especially the fantastic “Adrasteia“, the fastest cut on the album. “Mother exile”, especially the verse vocal melody made me think of Dinosaur Jr‘s “Forget the swan”. Now that I think about it, Russ’s delivery on the bridge of “Olympus by dawn” (when he says “…the road is long…”) also reminds me of J Mascis. Speaking of “Olympus by Dawn”, what a song! Absolutely brilliant.
5. Host – IX
Greg Mackintosh and Nick Holmes released an album with their side-project Host. The intention of this band is to channel, in a more explicit manner than on Paradise Lost, the non-metal influences of the two musicians, like New Wave and Electronic music, like they did back in the late 1990s. It is pretty cool, it unavoidably sounds like Paradise Lost, due to Holmes’s recognisable sound and delivery and Mackintosh’s mood and trademark guitar leads. Initially, it didn’t make a great impression on me, but after a couple of listens I started appreciating the beautiful atmosphere and catchy melodies, despite the minimalist orchestration (it’d be interesting to know what fans of New Wave and Electronic music would make of this album, as their criteria would be very different than mine). Now I’m loving it; some songs stand out a bit, like “Divine emotion” and “Tomorrow’s sky”, but all songs are awesome.
6. Deteriorot – The rebirth
I had never listened to Deteriorot until recently and the release of their new album, and it is pretty awesome. The style is old school American brutal death metal of the Incantation school of death, particularly reminiscent in my opinion of Funerus‘s first album. Songs like “Return to rot” and “Political evocations” could have been written by Incantation. Other songs have a very melancholic sound, effected to some degree by Swedish Death Metal-esque melodies. The latter can be found on songs like “A nameless grave” (circa 2:30) or “The rebirth”. In the latter there’s also hints of early Paradise Lost (for example the melody that starts at 0:36). It is definitely a very cool album. The vocals are nice and disgusting albeit quite weak I guess, they sound like they are produced mainly in the throat, but that gives the band kind of a unique feel. The slow, swampy atmosphere is often interrupted by fast-paced explosions, like near the end of “Reanimate“. I’ll definitely be checking out their older albums.
7. The Hives – The death of Randy Fitzsimmons
I am a big fan of the debut album by the Hives, and I kinda like their second album too, but I didn’t like the 3rd (apart from the brilliant “Love in plaster” and a couple of other ok songs) and 4th album, so I gave up on them more than a decade ago. Now, it’s been a long time since I listened to something new by them, and the new album really entertained me. It’s an interesting one, it kinda feels like a Greatest Hits album. Every singe song is super catchy, the band explores different styles with each song, and overall, it feels like the album was made to be played live. Personally, I would not be disappointed if I saw them live and they only performed this album in its entirety. I was hooked from the first single, titled “Bogus operandi”; awesome main riff, catchy chorus, and a fantastic coda. The second song, “Trapdoor solution“, could have been in their debut; powerful song, fast and energetic. The third song has a classic Hives groove, but it’s not among my favourite. I love “Rigor mortis radio”, the vocals on “Stick up”, the American folky quality of “Crash into the weekend”, the distortion on “Two kinds of trouble”. The only moment in the album that I don’t like is the song “What did I ever do to you”, which is like a parody of the Arctic Monkeys… Is this supposed to be a dig at Arctic Monkeys, who like other indie rock bands at the time, ripped off The Hives?
8. Asinhell – Impii hora
Asinhell is a side-project by Michael Poulsen, the leader of Volbeat. Their debut is a pretty cool album and I’ve listened to it loads. Music-wise is relatively simple death metal, and riff-wise, Poulsen has drawn upon Chuck’s work on Spiritual Healing (1990) and Human (1991). This is the style that dominates the album, and it’s good, but, at the same time, it’s been done to death in the last decade, so it doesn’t feel particularly fresh. One of the key ingredients contributing to the high quality of this album is Marc Grewe’s fantastic vocals. Yet, it’s not like anything Marc sings on turns out good (for example, the first Insidious Disease album is terrible in my opinion); the music has to be good too, and there are some great moments here. The main riff of “Desert of doom” is pure awesomeness, and overall this song is amazing; much closer to Entombed than Death, by the way. Another song I really like is “Pyromantic scryer“, and that break after the second chorus sends chills down my spine, and is also inspired by Entombed, and a song like “Something out of nothing” (listening to the break in the middle of the song). Swedish death is the second big inspiration for this album, I’d say. Entombed, Grave, and even Arch Enemy (in their early stuff) have definitely influenced the song-writing. That guitar solo on the opening song, “Fall of the loyal warrior”, it sounds like something Michael Amott would come up with. Well done on the amazing cover, which alludes to another Danish album, Mercyful Fate‘s Melissa (1983).
9. Bloodphemy – Dawn of malevolence
Bloodphemy is a band in which I became interested once I found out that Bart van Wallenberg (ex-Sinister, ex-Neocaesar), one of the most genius musicians to have graced this planet, joined a few years ago. Their previous album is pretty cool so I wanted to see if his input in this new album is gonna be more prominent. There are unmistakable moments of his musical brilliance present here, but not necessarily more than on Blood sacrifice. I liked the album – it’s meat and potatoes old school brutal death. At times it reminds me of brutal death bands from Sweden, like Defaced Creation and Deranged. The singer, actually, is reminiscent of Deranged’s current vocalist. “Therapeutic torturing” is a standout track; that main riff is classic Bart! “Crimson redemption” could have been written by Cannibal Corpse during the Gallery of suicide (1998) era. This one is another stand out track, with really cool sections, a catchy chorus, and a great atmospheric middle section. From time to time, there are some melancholic, melodic moments here and there (e.g. the intro melody of the title track) that feel a bit at odds with the overall vibe of the album.
10. Memoriam – Rise to power
Memoriam has established itself by now as a death metal force to be reckoned with. The fifth album in their catalogue of heavy and gloomy death metal is not any different from the previous albums. It has memorable songs and passionate performances. Among the great moments of the album are songs like “Annihilation’s dawn”, “Total war” and “I am the enemy”. At the same time it lacks the ambition of a monumental song like “As my heart grows cold”, but I guess this one was an one off in their catalogue anyway. It is also a bit slower than their previous albums. I would say that it is a bit more consistent than the previous album, as it doesn’t have any “experimental” songs like “Mass psychosis”. I listened to it quite a lot so far, especially when I first bought it.
2023 PLAYLIST
Filed under: Brighton, death metal, Heavy metal | Tags: 747 (Strangers in the night), Balls to Picasso, Bruce Dickinson, Crown of Thorns, Eternal death, Saxon, The crown, Wheels of steel
In this second instalment of Records and friends I present some more examples of my fantastic photographic series of vinyl records in ordinary, everyday, domestic contexts.
I first listened to Saxon back in the mid-1990s, on a compilation CD by the Greek Metal Hammer magazine. I think it was called Wizards of metal and it had “747 (Strangers in the night)” on it. I also saw Saxon in 1996 on the Rock of Gods festival in Piraeus (they were a last minute replacement for Motorhead, who couldn’t make it for reasons unknown), but I didn’t listen to them at the time so I couldn’t care less. “747 (Strangers in the night)” appears on the album represented here, titled Wheels of steel (1980). I bought this album at a flea market in Brighton (in Kemptown, don’t remember the name) for £1, sometime around 2008. This one and the two albums that follow are the only three albums I’ve ever listened by Saxon. I like them, but never been a big fan. This photograph, on the contrary, I love it and it’s probably my favourite one in this series. I had to set my alarm clock to remind me to take it at the appropriate time. This was taken at winter time, so outside is still dark at 7:47 am. The time alludes to the first song to which I listened by them. I love the colours on this photograph.
This one is another favourite of mine. Bruce Dickinson‘s second solo album Balls to Picasso (1994) and I go way back. I first listened to it in late 1995/early 1996. My friends and I were obsessed with “Tears of the dragon“, “Change of heart” and “Sacred cowboys“, but didn’t like the rest of the songs really. Eventually, I fell in love with it, it has mostly amazing songs on it and it marks the beginning of the successful song-writing relationship between Bruce and Roy Z. Attached to this album is one of my most embarrassing memories too. I wanted this album but I didn’t have enough money to buy it. My dad’s birthday was coming up, and I managed to gather some money to get him a present. So, I made the misguided decision to buy him Balls to Picasso on CD, to “help him expand his musical horizons”… I remember he was quite perplexed when I gave him the CD. I tried to convince him that it deserved his attention, and played him “Tears of the dragon”, which I thought was irresistible to anyone. He gave it a go and, I guess, he humoured me, and maybe he liked it a bit ‘cos he’d mention it from time to time or he’d recognise it when I’d play it. Anyway, years later, I got the vinyl version from the same flea market I mentioned earlier, again for the yummy amount of 1£. Here it is leaning against the bathroom wall on the bathtub, surrounded by green objects found in the bathroom.
This is another nice composition. One of the most delicious things that happened in the last few years, is the re-issuing of The Crown‘s catalogue on vinyl records. I was never a big fan of this band, until their most recent album was released. Royal destroyer (2021) blew my mind and made me want to give the older albums a second chance. I got this one, their sophomore album titled Eternal death (1997), off Ebay for £9.79. I first listened to it back in the late 1990s but didn’t particularly like it. The sound is a bit weird. Sonically, I think the band went for a production consistent with the aesthetics of the burgeoning, at the time, black metal scene in Scandinavia. Nevertheless, Marko Tervonen has written for this one some of The Crown’s best songs, including the now classic “Angels die“, “In bitterness and sorrow“, and “The serpent’s garden”. The other main songwriter, Magnus Olsfelt, has also offered a couple of gems, like the furiously grinding “Kill (the priest)”. Here, the record is placed on the hob, with two fire-extinguishers pointed at the crucified Jesus who is in flames.
Filed under: death metal, Heavy metal, horror literature, Is this where I came from?, sweden | Tags: Clandestine, Entombed, H. P. Lovecraft, Kenny Hakansson, Nicke Andersson, Shadow out of time, Through the collonades, Yngwie Malmsteen
In this 19th instalment of the Is this where I came from series of posts, I present another example of a fantastic death metal song inspired by Lovecraft. These days, every other death metal band has Lovecraftian influences, although it feels more like Lovecraft is used as a promotional vehicle – and a sign of conformity to generic rules – than a genuine source of horror for death metal lyrics. Lovecraftian song titles, album titles, album covers are a trend in contemporary death metal. So, lets go back to a time when masters in their craft, like Keny Hakansson and Nicke Andersson, tapped into Lovecraft’s work to create nightmare sonic landscapes that could send chills down the spine.
H. P. Lovecraft – The shadow out of time
This is a truly awesome story of alien time-travel, definitely one of my favourite Lovecraft stories, where a human’s body is occupied by the member of an alien Great Race and the human’s mind is displaced into the body of the alien. When the two minds return to their respective bodies the human forgets everything that he experienced whilst occupying the alien’s body for five years, and this period is experienced as amnesia. Eventually, the protagonist of the story starts experiencing dreams of otherwordly vistas in his mind. These dreams end up being memories from when he occupied the alien’s body. The alien realm that the protagonist experienced is described on various instances in the story: “I would seem to be in an enormous vaulted chamber whose lofty stone groinings were well nigh lost in the shadows overhead” (p.478), or, “beyond the colossal stone piers of an enormous town of domes and arches” (p.482). There’s also frequent mentions of the vaults where the histories of stranger worlds and universes – which the Great Race witnessed through the process of mind projection and displacement – are kept archived.
Entombed – Through the collonades
“Through the collonades” was composed by Kenny Hakansson (lyrics) and Nicke Andersson (music) for the album Clandestine (1991). I am pretty sure that Kenny (a “guest” lyricist for the band) drew inspiration from “The shadow out of time” to write this little masterpiece. There is no explicit mention to this story, yet there is ample evidence that supports this hypothesis. The song is about someone who is tormented by otherwordly visions of a terrifying world in their dreams, only to wake up inhabiting this same world. The verse “I close my eyes as if to die, entering again the labyrinths of deep within, beyond where conscious ends”, could be referring to the state of dreaming, leaving consciousness behind and accessing memories of the alien’s realm hidden in the unconscious. The line “the insane watching eye, staring through my bones” could refer to the alien’s projected mind, the alien’s eyes looking through the human’s bodily apparatus. Moreover, the line “shreds the soul out of my skin” could refer to the human body being stripped of the human mind making room for the alien occupation. The song ends with the protagonist waking up finding themselves in the nightmare realm of which they dreamed. Accordingly, near the end of “The shadow out of time”, the protagonist is part of an expedition exploring ancient ruins that resemble the realm of his dreams, and we find the sentences, “My dreams welled up into the waking world”, and “I was awake and dreaming at the same time” (p. 519). It’s such a truly haunting song – especially Andersson’s delivery of the lyrics – that perfectly captures the terror and madness of being confronted with the alien realm.
As a side note, it is also worth pointing out that the word ‘colonnades’ is misspelled on this song. The same misspelling appears on Malmsteen’s song “Judas” from the Eclipse (1990) album. Could be a coincidence, but I think that lots of those early death metal musicians paid attention to what Malmsteen was doing, some of his riffs were massive, and he doesn’t really get much credit for this.
Reference:
Lovecraft, H.P., 2000. Omnibus 3: The haunter of the dark. London: Harper Collins.
Filed under: death metal, Greece | Tags: Ancient god of evil, bolt thrower, domesticity, Excursion demise, For victory, Invocator, photography, Unanimated, visuality
The visuality of metal music has always fascinated me, so recently I started experimenting by pairing records with everyday domestic artifacts. It’s really just another excuse to admire my records and be playful. Here are some of the results, accompanied by brief commentaries on each album.
Invocator‘s Excursion demise (1991) is an album I bought in the late 1990s, from the now defunct record store Happening at the centre of Athens, Greece. This one must have cost around 2,000 drachmas, so around £4. A truly breath-taking album – not many match its intensity. It’s what most people would call death-thrash, but really it’s just extreme metal, super-fast, complex, with top musicianship. Seriously, the sheer attack of “Inner contrarieties” makes me wanna jump out of my skin. The sound is a bit too plastic and clinical for my taste, but you can hear everything clearly and, I guess, that is important with this level of complexity. I have always associated this album with Assorted Heap’s The experience of horror (1991), ‘cos that’s another obscure death-thrash album I got from Happening, and with Hypnosia’s fantastic Extreme hatred (2000). The latter owes a lot to Invocator; there are riffs on Extreme hatred that definitely allude to Excursion demise (compare “The persistence from memorial chasm” to “Act of lunacy“). In this picture, the album is embraced by the blue door-stopper snake made out of old tights.
For victory (1994) is the first Bolt Thrower album I listened to and my all time favourite one of this band. I’m pretty sure I bought this one in the summer of 1997, from the now defunct Rock City (the underground one) in Akademias street, in Athens, for 3,500 drachmas, so around £7. I also bought Sinister’s Hate (1995) on CD from the same shop on that day. Good times. “When glory beckons” and the eponymous one instantly blew my mind. The whole album is an epic death metal masterpiece; after all these years I still can’t get used to it… I mean, the way “Remembrance” explodes is sending chills down my spine, and that ending of “Lest we forget” sends adrenaline through my bloodstream! Anyway, in terms of the cover, a very different visual approach on this one, after the cartoonish second and third albums and the Romantic fourth one, here we have a photograph of soldiers walking in the sunset along a shoreline. In this picture, two little wooden animals walk alongside the soldiers down the path to victory, or defeat, and a third one stalls the procession and looks up towards the skies. To quote Peavy, “killing people’s not a job”.
This is the Century Media re-issue from 2020 of one of the most beautiful death-black albums ever made, Unanimated‘s Ancient god of evil (1995). I first listened to it when a friend bought the CD in the mid-late 1990s, but I didn’t like it back then. I appreciated it maybe a decade later, and I love that I could finally own this on vinyl after so many years of listening to it on mp3. I bought this off Amazon for £21 a year and a half ago. Here, the album is enveloped by various signifiers of Christmas. The result is quite funny, ‘cos the little Santa and the snowman are smiling, a mood completely at odds with the mood of the album, an album steeped in misery, nihilism and hopelessness. Not to mention a bunch of Christian symbols sitting happily next to a massive inverted cross.
Filed under: death metal, popular music, punk | Tags: Bathory, Black Mark records, Blind Guardian, Century Media, conflict, Doctor and the crippens, FETO records, Fired from the circus, For the fallen, Grave, In requiem, Increase the pressure, inner groove distortion, Manic Ears records, manufacturing, Mastic Scum, Memoriam, Mortarhate records, Nightfall in middle earth, Nuclear Blast, paradise lost, problems, Threeman recordings, trypes, Trypes ston paradeiso, Under the sign of the black mark, Unleashed, victory, vinyl records, Virgin records, you'll never see
The format that has come to signify authenticity in music consumption more than any other is the vinyl. The vinyl record has become synonymous with the authentic and to offer a, supposedly, unique listening experience by virtue of being associated with one of the very first sound recording and reproduction technologies, namely the gramophone. In other words, it happened first on vinyl… The discourse of vinyl as an exceptional and authentic music-carrying format has been further advanced by audiophiles, music fans, and record labels. The stakes associated with praising vinyl records vary, ranging from claiming expertise, showing off or being fashionable, fan completism, to record companies attempting to maximise profits by increasing repeat consumption (read Tsukuda and Goto 2020) and imposing artificial scarcity on music artifacts (read Oakley and O’Connor 2015). (Repeat consumption refers to buying/consuming the same product again and again, for example, owning the CD version of an album and buying the vinyl version too, and artificial scarcity refers to the practice of any company directed towards protecting its intellectual property by controlling its distribution.) In any case, vinyl records are generally praised and the last few years we see similar discourses produced about cassette tapes. But, although cassette tapes are fraught with problems at the use stage of the product life cycle, I’d say that vinyls are second to none when it comes to manufacturing problems.
1. Wrong labels or labels on wrong sides
The fault of wrong labels being used I came across for the first time ever on the most recent re-issue of Blind Guardian‘s Nightfall in middle earth (1998) released by Nuclear Blast records. It is a double album, the second record has the last few songs of Nightfall on one side and three bonus tracks on side B. Both labels on this second record, however, belong to the re-issue of Imaginations from the other side (see image). The case of labels being placed on wrong sides I’ve come across a few times, and the one I remember is my copy of the original You’ll never see (1992) by Grave, released by Century Media. The label for side A is on side B, and vice versa. Neither of these faults constitute serious problems, as once the listener works out what’s wrong it won’t affect listening again. Another related problem, however, which is not a manufacturing problem but rather a misguided design decision, is when neither of the labels on an album include information about track-listing or which side it is (see Napalm Death‘s first pressing of Order of the leech 2002 by FETO records).
2. Both sides are the same side
This is by far the worst error I have come across. Back in the early 2000s I bought a 7inch by a band called Mastic Scum. The EP was full of cover songs, and one of them, the song “Pink machine gun“, was by a band called Doctor and the Crippens. Sometime in 2008, I came across the album containing this song, titled Fired from the circus (1988), released by Manic Ears records, in a charity shop and got it for £3. Both cover and record are in mint condition and it includes the printed inner lyric-sleeve. When I put side A on, however, I realised it started playing the songs found on side B. Classic case of misplaced labels, I thought to myself, but when I put side B expecting to hear side A, I was horrified to hear the side B songs again. It’s a shame, as it is a pretty cool album of typical for the time humorous violent crossover, judging by the songs on side B… This purchase traumatised me, as since then I always check carefully the song-lengths on the surface of any album I buy in person to make sure the two sides look different.
3. No visible separation between tracks
This is not a common issue in my experience, but I’ve come across it a few times. A classic example is Grave‘s You’ll never see (1992), a death metal masterpiece, and a pretty awkward vinyl record overall. Not only the label for side A is on side B, and vice versa, but there’s no visible separation between tracks (if you look carefully at the photo on the left you can see that it’s like one long track), so it has always been almost impossible to manually choose a song. Never bothered me much though, because when this album is on I always listen to it all the way through. The other record I can think of with the same problem is side B (the live side) of Conflict‘s Increase the pressure (1984) on Mortarhate records.
4. Badly placed labels
I have come across this problem a couple of times only, if I remember correctly. The worst case I can think of is on the album Trypes ston paradeiso (1990) by the Greek Rock band Trypes, released by the Greek subsidiary of Virgin records. I bought this album sometime in the early 2000s from Fokionos Records, a record store in Kypseli, Athens. I don’t remember the price, but I remember buying it quite cheap, probably because of the label problem. The label is not centred properly, and although it doesn’t affect any of the songs it’s a close call. If you look carefully at the photograph on the left you’ll see that the label ends exactly where the engraving of the last song ends. You’ll also notice the place where the hole was supposed to be and where it ended up being. (in Greek “trypes” means “holes”.)
5. Song engraved twice on the record
In my experience, this is not a common problem with vinyl records. Nevertheless, my copy of Bathory‘s Under the sign of the black mark (1987) (aka The most shamelessly imitated album of all time), a 2003 Black Mark re-release of the album, has “Enter the eternal fire” twice. More specifically, side A ends with “Enter the eternal fire” and side B starts with “Enter the eternal fire”. On the picture on the left, the last song close to the centre of the album shouldn’t be there. Funny thing is, I love this error, because this song is one of the best songs ever written, and I don’t mind at all listening to it twice without having to get up and move the stylus.
6. Sound
Finally, the worst problems have to do with sound, and there’s loads of them. The problems range from the presence of a tiny piece of plastic between the grooves, or any surface mark, that will cause a skip, to a vinyl being recorded to sound distorted. To be clear, I am not talking about second hand albums here, but albums I bought new and sealed. In my experience, Century Media back in the mid-late 1990s released some pretty bad sounding records. My copy of Unleashed‘s Victory (1995), the picture disk edition bought from Metal Era in 1996, you can hear a hissing sound during most of the opening track when the needle passes by a specific area of the record’s surface. Another album with a similar problem is my copy of Old Man’s Child‘s Ill-natured spiritual invasion (1998), also released by Century Media, also bought when it came out. Entombed‘s Inferno (2003), released by Threeman Recordings, has by far the worst sound I ever heard on a vinyl record that even put me off that album (I still consider it one of the most mediocre this band ever released). I cannot describe it properly, but it feels like the low frequencies are too loud resulting in a terribly distorted sound. I came across a similar situation but not as bad with Memoriam‘s first album, released by Nuclear Blast. This one is suffering from what is called “inner groove distortion” (read Richard 2022) whereby the closer you get to the end of the side the sound deteriorates. Finally, my copy of Paradise Lost‘s In Requiem (2007), another one released by Century Media, is absolutely terrible, as the sound fluctuates; it has the same effect as when the elastic band of the record player needs replacing. All these problems I have come across throughout the years make me feel less bad for downloading music for free from time to time.
References
Oakley, K. and O’Connor, J., 2015. “The cultural industries: An introduction”, in: K. Oakley and J. O’Connor, (Eds) The Routledge companion to the cultural industries. Routledge: London and New York, pp. 1-32.
Richard, D., 2022. Record player sounds distorted (possible causes and fixes). Top Record Players.
Tsukuda, K. and Goto, M., 2020. Explainable recommendation for repeat consumption, in: Proceedings of the 14th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems, pp. 462-467.
Filed under: Greece, Is this where I came from?, popular music | Tags: Depeche Mode, Little 15, Music for the masses, nyn kai aei, Stavros Xarchakos, Vυν και αεί
In this, the 18th instalment of Is this where I came from series of posts, I contend that a British electronic band, Depeche Mode, was inspired by a Greek popular music composer, Stavros Xarchakos.
Stavros Xarchakos – Vυν και αεί (1974)
Xarchakos is a Greek composer who wrote some of the most enduring and recognisable songs that have defined Greek popular music. Just like Manos Hatzidakis, he combined classical music with more folky Greek music. Just like with Theodorakis and Hatzidakis, Xarchakos’s music became known beyond Greece, and, I presume, the fact that he had connections with European music circles, as well as prestige by virtue of being a bone fide trained classical musician, and a contract with a multinational major (i.e. EMI) had something to do with his international success. The song “Vυν και αεί” (which means, now and forever) is a very popular one which I’ve known since my childhood, but I only recently bought the album in which it appears from a charity shop in Brighton, UK. “Vυν και αεί” has this amazing riff over a C-sharp minor – G-sharp major chord progression. Once I re-acquainted myself with this song (it must have been several decades since I last heard it), Depeche Mode‘s “Little 15” instantly sprang to mind and I couldn’t stop thinking about it whilst “Vυν και αεί” played over the speakers.
Depeche Mode – Little 15 (1987)
I was never a big fan of Depeche Mode, and I first became interested in them after Paradise Lost‘s Host (1999) album, and the fact that a friend of mine was a fan. I have only listened to two of their albums, Violator (1990) and Music for the masses (1987) which includes “Little 15”. Although the album title supposedly is a joke regarding writing commercial music, it is worth pointing out that the phrase “music for the masses” also refers to a movement in 19th century Britain, where the state and the capitalist class promoted music education as a means to “cultivate” the working classes, with the aim to make them more tame and lure them away from the pub and drinking (see Russell 1987). Anyway, although I think I prefer Violator, Music for the masses is a fantastic album and it contains “Behind the wheel”, my favourite Depeche Mode song. The main melody of “Little 15” reminds me a lot of the main melody of “Vυν και αεί”. “Little 15” has this main riff on top of a E minor – B major chord progression, which has a similar pattern and evokes a similar feeling as the Xarchakos song, and the voice melody of every other lyric-line reminds me of the melody on the top of the G-sharp chord of Xarchakos’s song. Since I do not know music theory this is the only rough picture I can paint, but, where words fail me, the ear intuitively recognises the similarity. See what you think.
Reference:
Russell, D. 1987. Popular music in England: 1840-1914 – A social history. Manchester University Press. Manchester.
Filed under: Best of the year, death metal, Heavy metal | Tags: 2022, Acts of god, autopsy, best of, Blind Guardian, Cycle of contempt, Defleshed, Earth infernal, exhumed, Eyes of oblivion, Grind over matter, Hellacopters, immolation, Labyrinth of veins, Morbidity triumphant, Necropolitica, Ratos de Porao, Razor, Satan, Static Abyss, The god machine, To the dead
The past year, the trend of me learning about new music from algorithmic suggestions has been even more prominent than previous years. Most of the time, these suggestions were nothing special, but there was also some good stuff which ended up among my favourite of 2022. Sadly, algorithms have effectively replaced my friends since the latter don’t seem to be very interested in contemporary metal. As opposed to what I usually do, I will start with a discussion organised around genre on albums that I enjoyed, or not that much, before I move on to my top-10 list of the year.
Music from 2022 on the carpet
Starting with the more traditional metal albums of 2022, Nite‘s Voices of the Kronian moon was very enjoyable. It’s heavy metal with dark, kinda growled vocals, I guess they must have been influenced by Tribulation’s approach to song-writing, but they also remind me of what Septic Flesh did for a couple of albums in the late 1990s. Really catchy tunes, and songs overall despite the monotonous vocals. The singer uses the inflection used by people like Satyr, whereby he holds the last letter of words at the end of sentences. Rage released an EP containing songs off the recording cycle of their fantastic Resurrection day album from last year. I really liked the three new songs, especially “To live and to die” and “The king has lost his crown” and I’d prefer them on last year’s album in the place of “Travelling through time” and “Resurrection day”, which I don’t like much. I also like the acoustic version of “New land” in this EP more than the metallic version of the album from last year. I can’t wait for Peavy to deliver another full-length. From time to time I give a listen to some new wave of traditional heavy metal band, most of the time to my eventual discomfort. Maule‘s self-titled album did not change this trend. If it was just one song in one collection among other NWOTHM bands, I’d think it is great; nothing wrong with energetic Tokyo Blade-esque metal. But, listening to the entire album, with many songs sounding identical, with riffs blatantly ripped off (from well known songs too, like Black Sabbath’s “A national acrobat” and Tokyo Blade’s “Attack attack”), does not make a great listen for me. I never paid attention to what MSG has been up to, although I love their first two and the fourth albums. I decided to give a listen to their new full-length, titled Universal, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. There’s absolutely nothing new or remotely adventurous about it, but, at the same time, it is much more than your middle of the road heavy metal. Well-constructed tunes, with some great voices singing them. My favourite one is Ralf Scheepers on “Wrecking ball”. Calling the new White Spirit album a reunion would be catachrestic, as there’s only one original member in the band now, the keyboard player (i.e. Malcolm Pearson). The album is also very different from their Deep Purplesque debut from 1980, an album which, in my opinion, has been very influential. Majestic epics like “Fool for the gods” (in my opinion influenced Maiden and Blind Guardian), or heavy tunes like “Way of the kings” (influenced Rage), “Midnight chaser” (influenced Maiden), “No reprieve” (influenced Mercyful fate), are nowhere to be found. Instead, the new album is much closer to AOR, with some really catchy and, at times, poppy tunes. The opening song, “Right or wrong”, which, to be fair, starts with a riff that could have been written by Blackmore, is a fantastic tune – such an earworm! The rest of the album is ok, but it didn’t capture me. An album I enjoyed quite a lot is Friends of Hell‘s eponymous album, which is pure Candlemass worship. I really liked the vocals and the variety in song-writing, which in my opinion can be a problem in doom metal. I am not a fan of doom metal generally, I often find it lazy, but I was enchanted by this album. The singer is amazing, what a beautiful voice he has. Also, that dude who plays guitar, Jontix, reminds me of Christopher Lee, which fits well with the vampiric and satanic thematology of the album. The last three songs on the album are for me the highlights, I cannot stop listening to them. On the song “Orion’s beast”, the melody into which the last word of the verse bleeds is very death metal-esque. The fact that one of my cats freaks out when “Wallachia” starts also tells me there is something genuinely evil about this album. It almost made it into my top-10 list.
Sweet Teeth is the outlier, in terms of genre, among the albums I listened to this past year. The band returns after last year’s awesome EP with their debut full length titled High anxiety. It sounds like the EP, short, catchy and energetic pop-punk songs owing loads to Late Husker Du and late 1980s Dinosaur Jr. I prefer the EP, but there’s some good songs in this one as well.
Xentrix
Moving on to thrashier territory, Xentrix‘s reunion album did not impress me much, although it included some fantastic moments that made me feel very nostalgic and gave me goosebumps. The new album, titled Seven words, is really cool, and I think I like it more than Bury the pain, as there are no songs I dislike in it. Still, it doesn’t come close to the excellence of the first three albums. The choruses, especially on songs like “Spit coin” and “Everybody loves you when you’re dead“, are very imaginative and beautifully laid out. On the latter song, as well as on “Reckless with a smile”, the band revisits it’s old tradition of songs were the verse music is played by only the bass. The instrumental parts of a few songs are highlights, with some amazing solos by Kristian. I’ve never been a fan of Witchery, although I’ve followed them sporadically ever since their first album. The new one is pretty cool though. I generally don’t like slow thrash, but here some of the slower songs are pretty good, and the fast ones are lush. Kreator‘s new album titled Hate uber alles, was not something I was particularly looking forward to, but again I haven’t been on the edge of my seat with Kreator since Violent revolution (1999). Just like all albums since the latter (apart from Enemy of god (2005), which I actually dislike) there are some really cool songs in the vein of Coma of souls, just with more happier melodies (which kinda sucks). In this album, the closing song brings back the vibe of Renewal (1992) and Cause for conflict (1995), and can we please have a bit more of that, Mille? Other really cool songs include the eponymous one and “Midnight sun”. After a few listens I wasn’t craving it any longer, and most of the songs I don’t really like. Besieged is another band I learned from a suggestion by YouTube if I remember correctly, and I am grateful, ‘cos Violence beyond all reason is sick. The vocals remind me at times of early 1990s Max Cavalera (listen to “Descent into despotism“, for example), and the riffs are razor sharp attacks of the Solstice school of violent Thrash, as well as late 1980s Kreator. This band has many facets to it; I love the haunting melodies on top of the palm-muted insane riffs (exemplified in “One world coma”). “Paragons of brutality” has one of those Kreator-esque riffs (Terrible certainty era) which are extremely catchy and exciting. Really good album. Megadeth‘s new album was not something I was looking forward to, but I ended up listening anyway. It’s not bad, how can it be, after all there’s a reason this band occupies the prestigious position it does. Like their previous albums, it has elements from all the periods of the band I like. There are some good choruses and riffs, but overall Mustaine’s delivery tires me.
Trog copying Macabre
Entering deadlier territory, Trog is a band I found out through algorithmic recommendations and their nice slab of brutal death metal pleased me. Their EP titled Of vomit reborn kicks off nicely with a sweet horror film-inspired piece. There is lot of classic death metal in the mix, and I would say they sound quite a lot like Krabathor, especially their Lies (1995) era. The main vocal line on “The mangler” is reminiscent of post-Once upon the cross Deicide, and there’s also Cannibal Corpse moments in the album, especially the more “happy” riffing. Desecrecy is a band I came across on a file-sharing platform and checked out. They are cool, I listened to the album a couple of times but I didn’t feel there was much for me to want to go back to it. Castrator released their debut full-length and it is, as expected, cool, albeit by the numbers, old school American brutal death metal. It reminds me a lot, actually of various Dutch death metal bands of the 21st century. It could easily be one of Aad’s bands. A band I discovered via Memoriam is Deathfiend, which released their debut album titled Beyond life. It’s in many ways classic British death owing to Sacrilege and Bolt Thrower, with an awesome vocalist, but lost interest after listening to it for a couple of times. Two members of Deathfiend form the hardcore band Point Blank which released a great piece of hardcore music in Eyes wide open. It’s nothing new, at times it reminds me of Portland’s late 1990s hardcore scene, but I guess that’s due to the brutal vocals, and classic Exploited. Catchy songs, nice lyrics. The melody on the chorus of the last song reminded me of Gorefest’s “When the dead walk the earth”. Death Breath has returned with a 2-song EP titled The old hag. Both songs are cool, especially “The old hag” which has a killer section near the end, but overall did not impress me much. Who knows why this band was put on ice for so many years, but I have the theory that upon listening to Morbus Chron Nicke (who also produced their first album) felt that Death Breath wouldn’t be able to compete with this band, so he effectively decided to pass on the death metal torch. Maybe he recently felt that the time is right, given that demand for new Death Breath is going strong and there are not many particularly great Swedish death bands around. Anyway, lets see if there’s a full-length in the cards, I’ll be looking forward to that. Also, here’s a little piece of trivia that you’re unlikely to read in any of the poser publications out there; the “old hag” appears in the Entombed song “Supposed to rot”. Troops of Doom released the debut full-length album, and it is also pretty cool, with an aim to please fans of early Sepultura and generally Brazilian extreme metal. In this album there is really some stuff that is hard to find these days, despite the efforts of many bands to sound old school. That main riff of “Dethroned messiah”, for example, has the simplicity and genius of riffs like the main one from “Escape to the void”, that give me goosebumps. Interestingly, there are a lot of elements in Troops of Doom that resemble more the Schizophrenia (1987) and Beneath the remains (1989) era of Sepultura, like the dissonant melodies introduced by Andreas Kisser, a time when Jairo was already out of the band. The first couple of songs contain some blatant Celtic Frost ripp-offs. Overall, I didn’t listen to it loads, as I lost interest quite quickly, I guess the song-writing didn’t impress me much.
Septicflesh posing
I was in love with Septic Flesh is the late 1990s. It’s been many, many years since I enjoyed a new album by them. Modern primitive has some of the elements I loved about this band, and songs like “Modern primitives“, “A desert throne” and “Neuromancer” brought back some of the magic of their 1997-1999 period, specifically the beautiful lead guitar melodies and catchy choruses (often utilising Sotiris’s clean vocals). Still, there is no doubt for me that if the band hopes to approximate to the unreachable heights of its mid-1990s period, Sotiris needs to get in charge of the music again. It’s all about the lead guitars and rich narratives, they don’t need fucking orchestras, although some orchestral bits are not bad at all, for example the violin riff on the blast-beat section before the chorus of “Psychohistory”. Also, the choir at the end of “Modern primitives” is fantastic. But, a song like “Hierophant” means nothing to me; repetition, no dynamics, poor narrative. Bloodbath released a good album. I have only been a fan of their debut, and that was solely because of Swano’s involvement. The new album, however, ticks lots of the right boxes; great vocal patterns, some great riffs and catchy sections, some good choruses. I didn’t listen to it much though, despite initially being impressed. Massacre released a good EP titled Mythos. The songs are more straightforward than the ones on last year’s album, and especially the opening song is killer. At the same time, it kinda feels like these songs are a bit lazy. As soon as someone taps into the particular compositional logic of the classic Massacre sound, it’s not that hard to write decent songs, in my opinion, but I don’t find anything particularly inspired about these ones. What makes these songs noteworthy is Kam’s voice, really. Another death album that I came across and thought it was cool is Death revival by Abyssus. The vocals are a mix between John Tardy and Paul Speckmann, and the music is not that different from the more up-tempo moments of both Master and Obituary. The songs are relatively simple, at times a bit thrashy (listen to the beginning of “Uncertain future” or the post-chorus of “The witch“, for example) and the last song is the deadlier one, in terms of being a bit more complex and heavier. One of the verse vocal lines on “The beast within” is identical to “Sacrificial suicide” by Deicide. Overall, I found it hard to listen to this album without comparing it to the bands that inspired it. Maceration reformed and released an album which feels, in every single way, like it’s released in the early 1990s. It’s absolutely dark, brutal and straightforward death metal. Swano’s voice is a miracle, it is the undisputed advantage of the album, and it’s a shame he doesn’t sing more often. Musically it feels quite prosaic, the songs are simple and they lack the colour and flair usually associated with Swano’s voice (think of Edge of Sanity). So, I really like hearing the first three songs and “Engulfed in agony“, but beyond that I lose interest. Sarcator is a relatively new extreme metal band and Alkahest is their second album, after a tornado of a debut, which I only recently listened to. The album starts with “Ascend“, a furious tune which brings to mind fellow Swedes from 30 years ago, like Grotesque and Liers in Wait, and more contemporary bands, like Temisto, who also play fleshripping blackened death. But, this is where Alkahest‘s similarity to their first album ends. Alkahest tries to be more ambitious musically. Here, we have more complex arpeggiated riffs, heavy metal-esque palm-muted strumming, slower sections and melodic chord progressions and guitar solos, in contrast to the pure brutality of their debut. Because of the more traditional heavy metal aesthetics they even remind me a more complex Sentenced of the Amok (1995) era and recent Tribulation. I just hope they don’t go too far down the road Tribulation did. Alongside “Ascend”, “Grave maggot future” and the instrumental “Sorrow’s verse” are my favourite songs on the album.
Ripped to Shreds emitting hipster vibes
Entering grind territory, Ripped to Shreds is another band I was introduced to by an algorithm and their new album is pretty cool. It has many great songs, some fantastic riffs and the drummer knows how to make things sound intense, but it also has some happy riffs that do not interest me. Now, whenever I put it on I listen to the opening song (in my opinion, the best on the album) which is a grind masterpiece, “Reek of burning freedom” and “獨孤九劍 日月神教第三節“, whose awesomeness at the beginning compares to the brilliance of “The essential salts” by Nile. Kill Division is a new band that has close links with Malevolent Creation, and their side-project Hateplow (which is an insult to grindcore’s history). Gus Rios’s decision a few years ago to celebrate Eternal I thought was extremely misguided and made me question his politics. I get it that he thinks we can separate politics from music and we should just enjoy death metal for the music, but I disagree (to quote Extreme Noise Terror, “if you’re only in it for the music, fuck off!”). The songs are inspired by Terrorizer, Napalm Death, and Malevolent Creation. For example, “Walking dead” has a riff similar to “Upward and uninterested” off Utopia banished (1992), and the drum beats clearly reference Sandoval. It’s not a bad album and Simmons’s vocals are killer. Misery Index‘s new album, titled Complete control, has some good tunes. I haven’t enjoyed Misery Index much since after their Retaliate (2003) years, but this album has some catchy and straightforward grind songs that I really enjoyed. “Now defied!” is one of those in your face tunes. “Necessary suffering” has a really catchy chorus and touches of dissonance on the lead guitar during the intro of the song reminiscent of Andreas Kisser’s work on Sepultura. “Administer the dagger” is also fast catchy goodness. The main riff on this song is very similar to the main riff and chorus vocal line of “Terrible certainty”, by Kreator. Napalm Death released another collection of amazing songs, in the form of an EP with eight songs recorded during the Throes of joy recording cycle, and, as expected, they are deadly. All five new ND songs are fantastic, and then there’s a remix of one of the song in Dark Sky Burial style, and two covers. ND have done some fantastic covers over the years, and added their own flavour to already amazing songs by bands like Cryptic Slaughter, Septic Death, Offenders, Repulsion, and Hirax, but the two covers here didn’t impress me loads. The Bad Brains cover is cool I guess, but I obviously prefer the original. The Slab! cover is pretty cool. Barney is doing more of his shrieking vocals, now that Mitch is minimally involved in the band (again, sadly, no writing credits), and they sound great – they remind me a bit of Die Kreuzen. If I included EPs on the top-10 list, this would be in there for sure.
The following are the albums I have listened to the most this past year. Some of them, like the first four on the list, are instant classics, albums which sound timeless, full of energy and inspiration and have already taken their place among the ever-expanding list of my all-time favourite albums. The rest are also great albums that offered me loads of enjoyment. With no further ado, here is the list of my 10 favourite full-length albums of 2022.
1. Satan – Earth infernal
This band has something magical going on. They found it with their reunion and they keep perfecting it. Once again the new album left me speechless. And, if that is possible, the performances feel even more intense and out of control than the past. In some songs (for example the opening track, “Ascendancy“), the bass and lead guitar on the background are running wild. The first single, “Burning portrait”, is shockingly beautiful from the heavy intro, the majestic riff that concludes each verse, and the classy ending. The first songs that blew my mind were “A sorrow unspent” and “Luciferic“. The former, especially the way he sings ‘…in the age of Aquarian minds…’ and the grief expressed through the voice and guitar melody on the chorus send chills down my spine. The chorus on “The blood run deep” is one of the catchiest things I’ve heard in a while. Once again, the guitar solos are pieces of art, and the juxtaposition of the two distinct guitar tones of Russ and Steve is fantastic. Lyrically there seems to be certain themes like earth’s demise, rise and fall, science vs faith. In many ways Earth infernal is an amazing feat, as it is a contemporary heavy metal album played with only the basic instruments, with no studio effects and overproduction that, in my ears, is an instant classic. The intro melody of “A sorrow unspent” reminded me of Santana‘s “Smooth”; after all Santana without the first “n” and the last “a” is Satan. Another masterpiece that I can’t stop playing.
2. Blind Guardian – The god machine
Every time this band releases a new album is a cause for celebration. There are only a handful of bands I have loved as much as Blind Guardian, and there are even fewer bands who consistently put out albums that are masterpieces and can easily compete with their biggest achievements. Blind Guardian do not rest on their laurels; 35 years into their career they release another magnum opus. I called it a few years ago when they released the symphonic album that they got it out of their systems and the next albums will be heavier/faster. It’s nowhere close to the first five album, but it’s not A twist in the myth either. It is characterised by much more stripped down sound than their last album, more fast songs, much less classic orchestration. Although it is not as complex and varied as their previous album, The god machine is indeed breath-taking. The fantastic narrative of “Deliver us from evil” which, alongside “Blood of the elves” and “Damnation” has one of the best codas Guardian ever created, sets really high standards from the get go. In my opinion, the first three songs on the album are some of the best stuff that the band has ever written. The things that happen in these songs are from another planet. I cannot get used to Hansi’s delivery of the phrase ‘Come share the disgrace, come share our pain’ on “Secrets of the American gods”, it sends chills down my spine. More generally, this song is a miracle! The way the vocals build up across the first five verses is mind-blowing. “Life beyond the spheres” and “Destiny” could be on the previous two albums. Some of the melodies on the former, especially the keys on the chorus and the post-chorus, remind me a bit of post-Projector Dark Tranquillity. Some of the melodies also take me back to A twist in the myth, especially the post-chorus melodies on “Damnation” (especially the first time around). I’m not gonna talk about the production in detail. I am sure Bauerfeind is a great engineer, after all it’s not easy to record the complexity of a band like Blind Guardian, but once again I find myself wondering why certain fantastic rhythm guitar parts are buried and boring guitar parts, at times, are emphasised.
3. Ratos De Porao – Necropolitica
RDP return with another worthy addition to their catalogue of awesomeness. I’ve loved this band since my teenage years, and in my books RDP is to hardcore/thrash what Napalm Death is to grindcore/death metal: the absolute top! The previous album the band released in 2014 is my favourite of theirs, absolute masterpiece of unparalleled inspiration and brutality. Necropolitica is neither as complex nor as furious as the last couple of albums, but once again expertly played, imaginative, intense music with lyrics that call out the right-wing scum that rule this world. Gordo’s vocals have not lost any of their remarkable strength, Jao’s riffs and dissonant chords are unique and instantly recognisable and Juninho and Boka contribute amazing song-writing too. Among the songs that stand out is “Agglomeracao”, a classic RDP thrash tornado that could have been found in Brasil (1989), “O Vira-Lata“, which is absolute Dead Kennedys worship, especially the beginning, utilising East Bay Ray’s trademark Surf rock echo effects on the guitar, “Neonazi gratiluz“, with its haunting verses, but, all songs are amazing, really. RDP is the best thing in extreme music that I’ve heard this past year.
4. Autopsy – Morbidity triumphant
After listening to the Static Abyss album Reifert did with Wilkinson I was intrigued to see how the Autopsy album would compare, and indeed it sounds nothing like it. Autopsy haven’t released a full length since 2015 but I think that the wait was worth it, as the new album contains some of the deadliest stuff they’ve released, and it contains strong doses of Severed survival (1989) and Mental funeral (1991). One of the things an Autopsy fan would probably notice is that Reifert uses more of his deeper growls than he has in a long time. His voice is totally gross in this album. Another noteworthy change is that, unlike the most recent mini-LP, here we have minimal hardcore-punk references. Instead, this is full on death metal. The bass is really prominent in the mix and sounds way more involved and has a more leading role than in the past. In terms of songs, I was instantly hooked to “Maggots in the mirror”, “Tapestry of scars”, “Born in blood” and “Flesh strewn temple”. That section that starts around the 0:59 mark on “Maggots in the mirror” is one of the best death metal moments of the last 10 years, and the vocal pattern on that section is pure Severed survival. “Born in blood” has a unique urgency which is almost anxiety inducing, and the riff on top of the last verse is pure genius. The last two songs penned by Danny did not impress me initially but are now among my favourite, especially “Your eyes will turn to dust” which is pure insanity and intensity. He sure has managed to pack these songs in with awesome riffs; especially when the intro riff on “Your eyes..” is played during the fast bit, is sick.
5. Razor – Cycle of contempt
If I learned something from the new Razor album is never to piss off Dave Carlo. Razor is a band I got into around 2008, although I was familiar with the names Carlo/Campagnolo since Hypocrisy’s The final chapter (1997) came out. I never became a big fan of them, although their first couple of albums are quite impressive and distinctive. Their comeback album has kept me good company these last few months. I have to admit that fast thrash is one of my favourite styles of music, so an album as pummelling as Cycle of contempt was made to please me. At times it is pure Slayer worship. The opening song, for example, is very similar to “War ensemble”, especially the verse riff and the breakdown, the riff on the chorus of “Set-up” is also very Slayer-esque, and, overall, the band continues down the path it has taken since Malicious intent (1986), that being fast Slayer- and Whiplash-inspired thrash, as opposed to the mostly Metallica-inspired thrash of the first two albums. “Crossed” sounds a bit like Rigor Mortis, especially the chorus. I am also a sucker for catchy rhyming patterns and this album is full of them. The drummer’s fast skank beat is really good, and it’s worth noting that he’s not cheating on the high-hat or ride cymbal when counting. The guitars are a bit buried in the mix sadly.
6. Immolation – Acts of god
For quite a few years I have felt that Immolation have been writing albums that are more about the formula than songs that actually stand out. The last album I thought was a masterpiece beginning to end was Harnessing ruin. When I started listening to Immolation they had just released their first two albums, so I’ve been blessed with having experienced some of their most inspired years as they were happening. The previous album had “Lower” and “Destructive currents” which stood out. It took me a few listens to appreciate the new album, and I have to say that I prefer it to Atonement. Production-wise I’d say it is absolutely crushing. Ross has come up with some very catchy vocal patterns, which has always been one of Immolation’s advantages, and I felt they were relatively absent from the previous album. His delivery on “Blooded“, “Overtures of the wicked” and “When halos burn”, are highlights in my opinion. There are also some minor novelties in the lyrical delivery, for example the ‘lost beneath a shroud of night, the sun’s warm rays never in my sight’ bit on “Let the darkness in” is quite different than Ross’s usual delivery. At times, however, I can’t help but feel I have heard a pattern before (for example, compare the chorus of “When halos burn” with the chorus of “Sinful nature”). Music-wise, there are a couple of new elements, like the layering at the beginning of “Incineration procession”, particularly the riff starting at 0:35. Finally, I have the following questions: you have Alex Bouks in the band, a legend who has written some of the best death metal ever, so why not let him contribute some stuff? Secondly, what’s with the large number of songs? Some of the best years of the band, between 1991-2005, was when they had eight to 10-song albums.
7. The Hellacopters – Eyes of oblivion
I didn’t have high hopes for the reunion album by the Hellacopters, as the last Imperial State Electric album didn’t impress me, and Nicke’s involvement with Lucifer has also been lacklustre. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed Eyes of oblivion. It is comprised of simple songs reminiscent of ISE and the By the grace of god–Rock and roll is dead period of the band. To me, it sounds like a watered down version of the band, but Nicke’s voice is better than ever. The bass (played by Nicke – I wonder what happened to Kenny), sounds amazing too. Most of the songs are really beautiful, although in my opinion there’s a slump in the middle of the album, between “A plow and a doctor” and “Tin foil soldier”. The first four songs are fantastic, and the same goes for the last three. I guess the issue I have with it is that having devoured The Hellacopters and ISE over the years, all of the songs on this album remind me of something Nicke did before.
8. Static Abyss – Labyrinth of veins
The new album created by Reifert and the new Autopsy bassist is killer. Based on the promotion I expected to hear a slow, swampy claustrophobic doom-death album, but fucking hell, are they kidding us?! The album is faster than most things Autopsy has done. There’s some Cannibal Corpse vibes, mainly by virtue of the trilly riffs at the beginning of “Nothing left to rot” and “Mandatory cannibalism”. Predominantly the pace is fast and furious, although eventually most songs will also slow down to a swampy section. The only entirely slow song is the eponymous, and this one is also an example of how this album is different to Autopsy; that melody on the eponymous song is melancholic, and nowhere close to be dissonant enough to appear on an Autopsy album. The opening song has this awesome vocal pattern which is reminiscent of “God told me to” from Dr Know. I love the madness at the ending of “Contort until death” and the disturbing verse riff of “Morgue rat fever”. Many songs have a very linear progression, with a new section appearing every once in a while without going back to the previous one. Reifert does, a couple of times, those ad lib-y statements (e.g ‘Who fuckin’ cares?…I don’t fuckin’ care…’ on “Mandatory cannibalism”) that are sick! It is worth pointing out that the sound is fantastic and the drums sound sooo good. The only shortcoming of the album, in my opinion, is some repetitiveness, namely, the verse riff on the opening song which also appears, slightly different, near the end of “Nothing left to rot”, on “Jawbone ritual”, before the doomy section, and on “Tectonic graveyard”, during the fast-paced section.
9. Exhumed – To the dead
Exhumed’s new album is great, but confirms my suspicion that the Repulsion worship of their previous album was just a brief phase. The new album is more like old Exhumed, with longer and more complex songs of Carcass-inspired grind and death metal. As opposed to their previous album, which was very simple, there’s bucket-loads of riffs on this one, many of which are nor well-represented by the poor production of the album. In any case, since Ross’s return to the band, Exhumed have gone from strength to strength and sound more like Impaled than ever (I’ve always been a bigger fan of Impaled). That melody at the end of “Necrotica” is pure Impaled, for example. Slower numbers like “Rank and defiled” are super-catchy. The last two songs are two of the most complex and distinctive too. The chorus of “Defecated“, especially, is bizarrely awesome. The lyrics, as usual, are really clever at times and quite funny. Although I’ve only listened to it a few times, as I only got it recently, I’m appreciating it more the more I explore it.
10. Defleshed – Grind over matter
Defleshed released a new album after their promising single last year. Grind over matter is a cool album, but nowhere close, in my opinion, to the fantastic and imaginative music they released up until Fast forward (1999). Sadly, Grind over matter is closer to their last two albums, which, especially the last one, I am not crazy about. But, at least, Grind over matter has a much better production than the last one. Maybe I was naive to expect songs of the calibre of “Walking the moons of mars” or “Fast forward”. The album is full of cool rhythm guitars, but actual riffs that stand out are not that common. My favourite song, by far, is the eponymous one, which has a fantastic riff on the chorus and the latter is actually memorable and distinctive. The song is actually comprised of just three riffs (and a variation of the verse riff near the end) which are catchy. “Dear Devil” has cool vocal patterns and intro and it also stands out. The intro riff could have been written by Marco of The Crown. “Blast beast” is a super-fast tune with an absolutely rabid chorus (the intensity during the chorus is comparable to the break on “Speeding the ways” from Fast forward). The same goes for “Last nail in the coffin”, starting with an excellently placed quote for Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltebnerg. Overall, I enjoy listening to it, because I always loved this band’s sound, and it takes me back to my youth, but, in my opinion it does not stand out in Defleshed’s history.
2022 PLAYLIST
Filed under: death metal, gigs, people, UK | Tags: Alex Bouks, Bob Vigna, Camden town, Cancer, Danny Lilker, Dave Gregor, Dave Rotten, Electric Ballroom, Eric Cutler, Greg Wilkinson, immolation, Memoriam, Morta Skuld, Ross Dolan, Scott Fairfax, UK Deathfest, Underworld, Vomitory
I have always envied places that host Deathfests, so when the time came for the UK to have its own I was super happy. UK Deathfest is the only British metal festival I cared about and it ended up being an absolutely amazing experience. Due to family-related commitments I could only attend the first day, but, to be fair, I got so wrecked I cannot imagine how people could do all three days. At the same time, the first day was by far the most appealing to me, as it included the higher number of bands I love, like Immolation, Cancer, Memoriam, and Morta Skuld, as well as bands I’d like to see like Vomitory and Squash Bowels. Also, I had never seen these bands live before (apart from Immolation), as opposed to Autopsy and Benediction which I love, but seen before (Benediction a few times).
Dave Rotten and me outside Electric Ballroom
From the get go the festival promised to be awesome. Arriving at Camden, the venues were right by the tube station, and a minute away from each other. The weather was great, Camden was vibrant, and outside the Electric Ballroom (one of the venues) I instantly spotted John Walker, the leader of Cancer, so like a good fanboy I approached him and shook his hand. My friend suggested I ask to take a photo with him, but I didn’t want to pester him which, eventually, I regretted because I ended up pestering every other death celebrity on that day and nobody was visibly annoyed. Soon after, I noticed Dave Rotten, death metal king of Spain, outside the venue. This guy nurtured the Spanish death metal scene so he is a legend. The first time I listened to him was on Avulsed on the split EP they did with Acid Death back in 1994. I bought that album from Go Underground, a long defunct record store in Athens back in the mid-1990s. To be honest, I didn’t like Avulsed back then – I only bought the record because of Acid Death – but Avulsed’s disgusting breed of death metal grew on me eventually, and Rotten’s vile vocals (Like aaaa vultuuuure!) was one of the main reasons. Avulsed, Christ Denied, Puttrevrore, Repulse records and Xtreem music – this guy is one of the most important figures in death metal history and it was an honour to meet him.
Dave Gregor and me outside Underworld
The opening band at the Electric Ballroom was Morta Skuld. I first listened to them as a teenager when I bought their second album As humanity fades (1994). That’s a big step from their super-brutal debut, and it introduced loads of technical elements and further developed their breed of depressive death metal, which sits nicely alongside label-mates Autopsy and Paradise lost. I never became a big fan though until their comeback album, Wounds deeper than time (2017), and the most recent one Suffer for nothing (2020) cemented my admiration of them, as I consider it one of the best death metal albums of recent years. Their performance at the festival was amazing, the sound was great, and Gregor’s voice was powerful and clear; he is such a great frontman, I was really impressed. Their set-list included lots of songs off the first album, including “Rotting ways”, “Dying remains” and “Useless to mankind”, as well as a few from more recent years, including the fantastic “Extreme tolerance” and “Dead weight“. I met Dave Gregor after the Memoriam performance, which he attended from right next to the stage with a huge smile on his face. What a great guy!
Cancer live at the Electric Ballroom
The next band I saw was Cancer, one of the bands I’ve been thirsting to see for years. Just like with Morta Skuld, I didn’t get into Cancer as a kid. The first album I heard from them was The sins of mankind (1993), which was given to me by one of my school friends as a birthday present back in the late 1990s. I liked it but didn’t go crazy and then another friend bought Black faith (1995), and that didn’t help. I started falling in love with them years later, around 2007, when I re-evaluated The sins of mankind and I finally listened to To the gory end (1990). Their most recent album blew my mind, I consider it maybe my favourite, so since then I couldn’t wait to see them live. I lost my mind during tunes like “Tasteless incest”, “C.F.C.“, “Down the steps” and “Garrotte“. I was so happy with the set list, and their performance was fantastic. I got goosebumps seeing John Walker up there killing it.
Eric Cutler, me and Greg Wilkinson
After that I was a bit exhausted, so my friend and I went out in the smoking area and we got to meet the guys from Scordatura, who were lovely and were playing the next day. During the break, I also came across Eric Cutler and I pissed my pants. Seeing this legend who’s responsible for some of the cornerstones of death metal from close by was unreal. I have to admit that Cutler has been consistently writing most of the best songs on the reunion Autopsy albums, and lets not forget the fantastic Necrosic mini-album from a few years back (I liked it so much that I bought it both for me and for a friend of mine). By that point I was relatively pissed, so I blathered on about a bunch of things Eric couldn’t give a shit about but he was very gracious. I also got to meet the new bass player, Greg Wilkinson, who is also responsible for the music on the recent Static Abyss album, and I told him how much I liked it (I will talk more about it on my end of year best-of list). Around that time we re-visited the merchandise area at the Electric Ballroom, where I got myself a Morta Skuld t-shirt and got to meet 3/4 of Immolation (Steve was nowhere to be seen).
Me and Danny Lilker at the Camden Eye
The next band on the bill was Vomitory. I first listened to them during their Redemption (1999) days, and liked them for a while especially during their Revelation nausea (2001) and Blood rapture (2002) period. I lost interest after the latter album. Since then, I got into the band that the drummer did with Jorgen Sandstrom (i.e. Torture Division) as well as Cut Up. In any case, I decided that I’d attend their performance for a few songs, hoping one of them would be “The corpsegrinder experience”. After three or four songs however I was knackered and quite hungry, not to mention that the kick drums annoyingly overpowered all the other instruments, so we left to grab something to eat in a nearby pub. The only available table was right next to none other than Nuclear Assault! So, we sat down, had a drink and waited for our food to arrive while catching glimpses of Danny Lilker chatting with his friends and band mates. At some point he got up and left the table, so I stopped him to ask if it would be ok to take a photograph with me at some point. Just like with every other legend I met that night I rambled on about the impact he’s had in my life, and how I lost my mind when I first listened to Extreme conditions demand extreme responses (1992). I did not approach any of the other guys in Nuclear Assault, as I was never a big fan, I only owned and listened to Survive (1988) as a teenager.
Immolation and me with a silly smile on my face
During that time, Fleshcrawl were playing at the Underworld, another band I never got into; I only like their first two albums really. Instead, I decided to gather my strength, have another drink at the pub and prepare myself for the gods that are Immolation. Immolation is a band that enjoyed rising popularity the last few years, and I am happy for them because they have created unique and mind-blowing death metal and they deserve the recognition. If I attempted an explanation of their popularity at this stage of their career I’d have to resort to the shift in their production values starting with Majesty and decay (2010), values which are consistent with the orthodoxy in metal, as well as their undeniable cult status by this point. In my book, Immolation was the best death metal band on earth in the late 1990s – early 2000s. In my opinion, their last four albums are great but they pale in comparison to their pre-2007 work. Anyway, their performance was flawless – Ross’s voice was unearthly and seeing Bob performing sent chills down my spine. Also, let us not forget that up there was Alex Bouks, one of the unsung legends of American death metal. Their set-list, however, was not my favourite, not by a long shot. It was centered around the last two albums, with only two songs of their 1991-2007 period, namely “Swarm of terror” and “Into everlasting fire”. Needless to say I lost my mind during these songs, but I also loved “Blooded”, “An act of god” and the magnificent “Let the darkness in” (which, according to Ross, is about depression).
Scott Fairfax and me
Immolation had to cut their set short, and even then it didn’t give us enough time to run to catch Memoriam’s opening. By the time we reached the Underworld, they had already started playing their first song. Memoriam ended the festival for me on a high note. The band played loads of my favourite songs, including “War rages on“, “Resistance”, “Flatline”, “As bridges burn” and “This war is won“. Carl Willets was in a great mood, he introduced Eric Cutler and Dave Gregor, who were attending the performance next to the stage, he kept joking around and talking to the audience and his vocals and overall performance were astounding. I also got to meet Scott Fairfax, whom I consider one of the great death metal composers of our time, and we talked about being in a band with Carl Willets, about how much I love “As my heart grows cold” and how apparently it’s hard to play live because of the many guitar layers.
By the end of Memoriam’s set I was both exhausted and ecstatic. Seeing Gorgoroth was never in the cards; I’ve never listened to them. Also, having a black metal band headlining a deathfest probably says something about the tastes of the British metal audiences, but if that’s what makes events like this viable it’s all good. Anyway, I cannot complain as the UK Deathfest was an unbelievable experience and I really hope this is not the last one (the organisers insinuated something along these lines after the event). Five days on I still cannot stop thinking about how amazing it was, and I still don’t show any signs of covid, so that’s good too.
overground scene 