HATE ETERNAL "INFERNUS"

Erik Rutan must be one of the most angry guys on this planet, despite the fact that he always is polite in interviews on the internet. But as usual we can recognize this band by its extreme brutality, you can be sure there will be no wimpy melodies, no clean singing, no cheesy parts. You know it´s gonna be brutal and this time is no exception. Erik & Co delivers throatcutting neverending brutality and their new drummer can easily run a marathon with his stamina. Their are slower parts to (give the listener) room for some breathing, but then again you will be hit by that fast train without any fucking mercy. In other words Hate Eternal sounds the way you want and probably expect. The problem for HE has never been the musicianship but the production and the songs.

On a few records like "Fury and Flames" you can talk of so called faceless blasting and a drumsound that is way too upfront, in the end it just becomes a blur of brutality. Their debut album and King Of All Kings but also Phoenix Amongst the Ashes are my favourites in their catalog. Effective and brutal, yet semi-catchy.

This time around the production is crisp and no intstrument is overshadowing the other, though the bass isn´t that audible. Yes you can hear if you pay attention, and wear a good pair of headphones but not that much. So overall the impression is good.  Still the songs are a bit generic for me. I really like most of their stuff except the fact that it´s hard to top their best albums to date. If this is the first time you hear them you will probably love the record, because it´s not bad at all, it´s just the fact you´ve heard it before. As usual Erik Rutan has one of the best voices in death metal, extremely hateful yet very clear and crisp. Along with Ross Dolan and a couple of other guys he is the best growler around.

I will give this record a pretty good grade though cause it´s always good to kill your ears (in a good way) with some top notch brutality and the music and musicianship is always above average, so fuck my criticism in some ways and go listen to this with an open mind. The masters of brutality is back and they will destroy you!

7/10

DESECRAVITY "Orphic Signs"

Have you been to Japan? Not me yet, though I have realized that the people of this country seem to be so polite, so in control so very sophisticated. The outcome of this is usually that the energy and frustration has to come out somewhere. This is an example of that. It happens a lot on this record, every second actually except for a few seconds of breathing. If Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal) and Paul Ryan of Origin sat at a café and planned a project togheter it would probably sound like this. The riffing and the structure of the songs reminds me of both bands mixed togheter. Aggressive, technical and absolute supertight!  If you have a lot of time and a lot of technical talent, I bet this record could fit I you wanna put out some mindmelting guitar- and drumcovers on Youtube. I have often been talking about the ability to make the songs sound interesting despite the fact that a lot of things are goin´ on at the same time. There are not a lot of catchy riffing, since so much is happening every moment but since I like speed and technical talent I really like this record, it has been circulating a lot lately. Intensity with a lot of dynamics is the key I guess. I can´t really pinpoint what it is that keeps me on my toes but it certainly does. The only flaw on this album must be the production, this music deserves to have a thicker and crunchier production. Well, don´t mind the production, listen to the album and be amazed by the power.

8/10

RECIPROCAL "Order Of The Ages"

A relatively unknown band from USA that combines great musicianship with lyrics about the declination of this world. The cover is terrific with the withered and torn Statue of Liberty.The snakes are about to consume "her". A whole lot of the songs are about conspiracy theories and intros that tells us about the greedy american government and other unpleasent things that occur every day.The intros are the only big flaw on this self funded record. They are far too long and take away the interest of the song. I don´t need 1,5 minutes long intros. The music itself is extremely tight and well performed. Reciprocal can easily compete with any technical death metal band out there. People like to label things, and some people claim this is deathcore. Well I don´t care that much, for me it´s techical and quite brutal death metal. Yes it´s dual voices as in many deathcore bands, but almost no breakdowns at all. I should´t call these guys a clone of hundreds of technical death metal bands, usually I get bored by music that tries to impress the listener, but somehow they manage to keep my interest up through the whole record. What I really like about the record is that Reciprocal don´t play any supermelodic solos or parts of songs. It´s mostly evil sounding music in your torn face. Put away your  Unique Leader stuff, Necrophagist and Spawn of Possession records for a while and listen to this! This band sound sort of like a mix of those bands...

8/10

 

HANDFUL OF HATE "To Perdition"

In some way I have missed this bm band that has been around since 1993, maybe due to lack of promotion and as you all know internet has made the searching for music so much easier nowadays. Anyway I was totally blown away by these bastards. The intensity they deliver is overwhelming and in this kind of brutal headcrushing bm you gotta be able to create an evil atmosphere with scary riffs and a whole lot of attitude. And yes they have the right evil attitude and the skills to play both fast as hell(yes that´s right) and incredibly tight with loads of lightning fast blastbeats. The production that is clear but at the same time gritty really does the music justice. It gives you that punch in the face that you want so badly. They really deliver razorsharp songwriting and great musicianship, there´s not a sloppy moment on this record! Actually the skills of these italians reminds me a lot of their countrymates in Hour Of Penance, though the music isn´t exactly the same, but there are some death metal influences here and there. This band is like a combination of Marduk, Belphegor, Behemoth and a little taste of the just mentioned band HOP. But, and there´s a big "but", these guys have a sound of their own. Actually they kick so much ass, that I HAD to get a shirt of this band. The only flaw I can find with this record is the bassdrums, they are sometimes a little too high in the mix, but that´s just me being very picky.

9/10
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DEICIDE "In The Minds Of Evil"

The legendary Deicide is here with a new album and a new guitarplayer. What will we hear this time, lyrics about the environment and bad politics? Well, not really. But the titletrack is actually about suicide terrorists if I have understood the message right. Otherwise you will get "your" Glen spitting out his rage against Christ and his friends. The rage just never ends. As the last record the production is very clean, almost too clean. But it´s ok for me, just crank the volume and bass up to 10. I have seen different opinions of this record, many praise it like "The Stench Of Redemption" but I have also seen people calling it bland. I am somewhere in between. The approach is aggressive and Steve Asheim blasts like an eager teenager. Glen doesn´t his dual voice attacks at all this time. It´s mostly his low grunts, and he sounds good this time. Full of anger, but he also articulates pretty well. I think the songs are decent, lots of pretty good riffs and very good leads, thanx to Kevin Quirion whom plays most solos(If I am right?) He plays very skillful and the solos really fit the songs, not just wankery for the sake of it. As I said, the songs are decent and really solid, but the riffs that really grabs you by the throat and doesn´t let go are fewer. The no.1 standout song for me is absolutely "Godkill" with a cool chorus, quite simple song but effective. That chorus sticks in my head all day when I´ve heard it. With a band like Deicide you want to get smashed and "riff-alized" until you can´t breathe anymore, but unfortunately I can´t find a lot of those memorable songs here. If this record were made by a less wellknown band I´ve would probably gave it a higher score, life isn´t fair.  If you´re in a band like Deicide, you have pretty high demands.

 After 20+ listens I give this one...

6,5/10

DEATH ANGEL "The Dream Calls For Blood"

My first memory of Death Angel harks back to 1990 when I was about to buy "Act III". Now 23 years later they are back again with their fourth album after their comeback in 2004. And do they sound vital?? My one and only answer is a big fuckin´ YES. Since this monster of an album was released I have been spinning it over and over and over again. They have managed to create an album that is full of catchy songs with hooks and Mark Osegueda is in, what must be the best shape of his life. His voice rips, and shreds like a razor through all the songs like he was in his 20`s and hungry for world domination. Well, they have just made an album that you will not be able to sit still for many seconds, although I am guy far beyond my twenties I just can´t stop banging my head to this. You won´t get a lot of  epic songs with complicated soundscapes, but you will get RIFFS, RIFFS and even more great RIFFS. It´s not full throttle every second, but the slower  moments just makes the faster parts even better. The last song "Territorial Instinct-Bloodlust" is the most thoughtful song with blistering solos. The most important ingridient in this kind of music we all call thrash metal is to be able to create monster riffs. If Testament´s latest release is a monster in terms of epic songs, "The Dream Calls For Blood" is the record you wanna hear if you are a riff addict like me. Are there any downsides of this record? Not really actually, I like all songs. There is about less than 10 seconds of this record that isn´t top notch if you ask me. Talking of Mark´s voice again. In the end of the song "Detonate" his voice reaches heights (or if you wanna call it highs) I didn´t think was possible, incredible. We have a lof of crazy thrash but also with some great melodies and really great solos included. The drumming is  also solid and punchy. Well, I can´t ask for a lot more of a modern thrash release, I hope you feel the same! Thrash and burn, reload and thrash again.

10/10

NEGATOR "Gates To Pantheon"

German black metal has really made an impact on me lately with bands like Endstille, Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult and Negator. I know that their vocalist has been a bit bashed for his shortlived presensce in one of the biggest bm bands in the universe, Dark Funeral. Well, some people will always complain, I have never felt the need of bashing someone on the internet, what´s the point? Well, this review is about Negator´s new opus, and this time they have really nailed (almost) everything. I am very easy to please when it comes to bm though, as long as it not sounds too melodic nor have too much slow parts. Negator knows how to make intense and cruel bm with a lot of great sounding blasting. I love blasting, especially when the drums and the production is this good. Maybe the production could be a bit heavier and dirtier, but the drums sound tight and not too Pro Tools infected. The guitars could also be a bit crunchier but if you want buzzsaw guitars, put on Dismember dude. The guitarsolos on "Gates.." are very well thought out and quite melodic but I like the contrast between brutality and (some kind of) melody. Negator gives us a lot of blasting, but they also give us a lot of catchiness and songs full of  bloodchilling riffs and horrifying soundscapes. Nachtgarm does a terrific job as a vocalist. If I should mention any band sounding similar it would be Dark Funeral. Generic, in a good way of course,typical black metal riffing and a feeling of literally being in hell. There are dirtier and more gruesome bands out there, but the sound of this is evil enough to please me and hopefully several thousands of metalheads worldwide. Chaos and terror can be this beatiful, so get into the warfield  and prepare to bang your head to this  massacre.

Standout tracks: "Carnal Malefactor", this song has pretty much everything you could ask for in this kind of bm. "Bringer Of War",the chorus really sticks into my head.
"The Urge For Battle", great blasts and a feeling of being stuck in a nightmare.
"Epiclesis" Perfect opening track, you want to hear more...

8,5/10