CRASHDIET "Cocaine Cowboys" 

They say sleaze is dead. Well, I don´t agree on that. The bands that have built up a strong reputation hasn´t died and withered. This first taste, the (cd)-single "Cocaine Cowboys" of Crashdiet´s new record, coming next year is a natural progression of their last record "Generation Wild". Massive production, strong choruses and well performed sleaze/hair metal/glam or whatever you wanna call it. Their "half-new" vocalist Simon Cruz has a solid voice, he fits this band perfectly with his often melodic voice and sometimes a bit rougher edge to it. I guess this will appeal to both guys and girls as usual. It´s  melodic, but with a "middle-finger-in-the-air" approach which I like. Both dirt and really great melodies. If this is what the rest of the record is gonna sound like, they still got the ability to write good songs with a lot of great body movin´ riffs and good sounding choirs. They give you exactly what you need to get your fix of modern melodic sleaze with a punch.
http://www.crashdiet.org/
https://www.facebook.com/realcrashdiet

8/10

FATHER BEFOULED "Revulsion of Seraphic Grace"

I guess you´ve heard of Incantion if you read my reviews at this website. And I will talk about them quite a lot in this review. Father Befouled started their short career in 2008 and have this far released three albums, with this their latest as the natural continuation of their blasphemous death metal in the vein of, yes you guessed it Incantation. I guess this band have Incantation posters all over their walls and worship before the altar of their records. Now you maybe will think that this band is just a bad copycat, but that´s not the case here. These guys not only worship Incantation, they pass on their legacy in the best way possible. Father Befouled have done everything right to not just become a clone of the clone. The production, the sound, the guitars, the voice of the vocalist and the song titles with names you never remember, they are all there. The slow and doomy passages too. But even with all these similarites this band have some kind of rarely seen ability to make this music sound like they almost invented this sound. The whole record is just pure professionalism and total dedication to the sound of deprevation and misery. One thing I will complain about though is their ugly logo. Change that logo guys, even with my hardened gaze your logo looks like something I vomited  out the night before. And that is not meant in a good way.
https://www.facebook.com/FatherBefouled

8,5/10

PROFANATICA "Sickened by the holy host/The Grand Masters"

This is actually an EP, but it contains a lot of songs, from two different periods. This is some great rotten blackened death metal with a brutally sick twist. I´ve seen that most people call this black metal, but the riffing has as much in common with dm as it has with bm. It´s very raw sounding guitars with the bass very upfront in the mix which makes them sound a bit different than other bands in the same territory. The riffing is like a unholy and great mixture of Autopsy, Incantation and Father Befouled. Plenty of monotony which in this case is a good thing. The production is dirty but clear. On top of that you have the sickest voice I´ve heard in a while. Paul Ledney has a voice like if you would hear the dead screaming at you in your blackest nightmares, more filthy death metal growls than black metal shrieks. Or maybe Paul Ledney is the devil. As I mentioned before the music is based on death metal riffs, tremolopicking riffs and some power chords that sound very much death metal. Well, I could discuss this forever, but to me this is some putrid, raw, filthy death metal and not so much black metal. It has a black metal feeling though, cause it´s very primitive and unadorned.  The whole record is like a trip to the deepest pits of hell, and I enjoy the ride. Get your fix of unholy and totally twisted music. Get in to the world of Paul Ledney.

8,5/10

DISFIGURED "Amputated Gorewhore"

Holy crap, their last record was a great showcase of death metal. But this new one, with a new vocalist is not that good. The music on this one is pretty similar compared to their debut, but the lyrics. Hey, what the fuck did you morons think about when you did this. I know there are some bands  writing shit about abusing women, but if you´re not deranged you can´t possibly like lyrics like that. Not if you are just a BIT mature and have some kind of sensible mind. "Raping a retard" for example has a intro when you can hear a woman getting raped. What the fuck is cool with that???? It makes me sick and I feel terribly bad when listening to that shit. There are also some other RETARDED intros in songs like "Vomit creampie surprise" (Yeah pretty "funny" songtitle, but nevertheless a sick and demented intro in a bad way). How can you mess up some quite well done death metal with such idiotic attitude guys?? Death metal should be about violence, violent lyrics are a part of death metal of course, as long as it doesn´t feel too much like the guys who writes the music are psychiatric patients in a mental hospital. It can also incorporate lyrics about satanic stuff like old Morbid Angel and the gruesome stuff  Cannibal Corpse writes about. But if there are just pathetic lyrics about abusing women all over the record, spit on that fucking band. Except this band I just spit on bands like Artery Eruption and Diminshed. They make me puke. Call me a feminist, I don´t care. I like death metal, not bad jokes like this.

2,5/10

BEHEADED "Never To Dawn"

Malta´s premiere death metal band is back! 7 years after the highly appreciated "Ominous Bloodline" they hit us all with an intense offering with a little new influences. This time I can hear traces from bands like Gorgasm, Incinerate and even the german band Disbelief in some parts. You can also hear some melodies here and there, but these melodies aren´t "melodic" as in "weak sounding" if you get the point. Have they developed their sound? Yes, I would say that without a doubt. But without losing the brutality. For brutal it is. And it´s technical, a bit more than last time I guess. Death metal this brutal yet technical rarely has the intention to be very catchy, but impressive and headbangable. The songs are very complex and a bit hard "to swallow" the first times you listen to the cd. I have listened to it for a few days now, and it´s hard to pinpoint any direct flaws. It may take a while to really appreciate all this well arranged madness but what really got me this time is the production which is a lot better than their other records (more crunch and less mud) and their new vocalist Frank Calleja has a much better voice than the guy who did the cookie monster vocals on their previous record. I talked about the band Disbelief in the beginning, and if you listen to the song "Towards an abducted Sun" you will hear the similarities. You can also hear this in "Descent Into Sanguianary Seas". The last song "The Ancient Acumen" is very complex and you can hear they have  a slightly different approach on this one. Well worth waiting for this one. Excellent mix of brutality and complexity.

8,5/10

DEAD BY APRIL "Incomparable"

What? I am reviewing Dead By April? Yes, I wanted to review this album because they have become ridiculously big in my homecountry and they claim themselves to be a metal band. The have been participating in a music contest called "Melodifestivalen" in Sweden, and their popularity has reached to levels I can´t understand. Almost every trendy kid with cool clothes and trendy haircuts listen to this lame computerized music with a small amount of guitar riffs included. Do they even play their instruments themselves? Ok, maybe their drummer does, that is a bit hard to fake. Prove me wrong. I would never mock a band that hasn´t got an audience or hadn´t sold some records, but this band has, quite a lot also. And their concerts are full of girls screaming their lungs out.  Well, they got one guy who sings clean, lame clean singing. And a guy who screams randomly, just for effect no purpose. They are all tattooed and having that "cool attitude" except the sweet guy behind the microphone who sings "lovely". This band was and is made just to get the attention from teenagers with no reason to seek music with soul and mind, but just music which is on the charts for some odd reason and tries to be "rough" .I guess they call it metal.... How on earth can this music be this popular? Well, I can´t find any reason at all actually. I don´t have anything against the guys personally but the music they play is soulless crap. This is not a vendetta, this is a true fact. I give them one point for having the perseverance to record this at all.

1/10

FLESHRED "Bloodtorn"

Finland has a pretty great plethora of good grind and death metal bands, and this finnish band make their kind of death metal with a moderate part of grind. The foundation of their sound is based in the typical "Stockholm" or "swedish" sound. The tremolo picking technique, mixed with power chords you´re all aware of, with a lot of distortion in the production. Grave´s latest record sound quite the same as this one. I think it sounds quite fresh and not some bland copy of the copy. The grinding is a nice adding to their sound as it adds more brutality, yet they have lots of catchy riffs in almost every song. They don´t  need to grind to "cover" they can´t write good songs. I was a bit surprised I haven´t heard of them until 2 months ago. But you can´t hear them all, can you? What really got me into their music was their ability to make good songs and never lose the edge to the music. There is always a good hook or a nice heavy part. The guys in the band are good at what they do, I guess they don´t intend to play any kind of Yngwie leads or Flo Mounier stuff on the drums. They play death metal, not music from outer space. Right? I appreciate technical music, but there is always a place in my dark heart for classic death metal with no "look at me, I am the greatest fretboard athlete" tendencies.

7,5/10