Corpsessed - Corpsessed

Even though just the thought of it makes me despondent, I cannot run from the cold, hard truth. Finland’s current death metal disposal is host that’s not on par with what it was twenty years ago, although there are still bands who try motivate and commit to the genre that emerge from Finland, but these bands are shamefully outnumbered by other hosts gathering in other countries. Even in this time of grave depression and lack of productivity, Corpsessed, a fresh face to the modern metal universe, commits to the decrepit Finnish underground as best as it can. With last year’s ‘’The Dagger And The Chalice’’, a frightful rock of solid and embodied dark death metal, the band already gathered a fairly large audience, and in 2012, they have lead that small group towards their following, self titled release, a relatively concise outburst of occult death metal, simple, yet painful and vicious.

Corpsessed proves to an ambitious act, with consecutive releases, even though their sophomore EP is no more satisfying than a slice of plain bread. There’s no departure from their previous sound, but there still are some nuances. ‘’Corpsessed’’ is more efficient on the crushing, heavyweight stomps rather befouling the listener with sporadic incursions of twisted tremolo splinters and dense consummations, but there’s still plenty of what was going on in the previous EP, a twisted, corpulent sound that places itself somewhere between Bolt Thrower, early Incantation, a heftier version of ‘’Leprosy’’ era Death with even some Finnish worshiping done for the minimum amount. The riffs circulate fluently and smear through like fresh like cutting butter, and there’s even an enveloping aura to be found, spectral and dominating, but besides its meat-flailing and evil content, the EP serves as nothing more than an appetizer, causing you to salivate over the fantasy of an upcoming album.

I’m not really going to compare this to ‘’The Dagger And The Chalice’’ because their traits are roughly the same and this release delivers all of its use within a few spins. It should however, intensify and radiate Corpsessed fan base, and hopefully even expand it (with the help of the fantastic Dark Descent Records), so now, get this, and even its predecessor if you like, and simply sit in your cold, damp room, waiting for these monsters to eventually blow up their cadaverous tumour, spewing forth a debut full-length. That is all that can be done.

Highlights:

Of Desolation

Demonical Subjugation

Rating: 80%

Xpulsion - War Is Imminent

Thrash  has been gimmicked and manipulated so many times that at times I find it hard to separate each band from each other, and even worse, I’m pretty sure what the ‘’Old school thrash’’ sounded like, that was, until Belgium’s most latter brigands knocked against my door. Belgium was a chest full of treasures in the past, housing great old school acts like Patriarch, Target, Cyclone and Yosh, but let us put all those aside, for Xpulsion sound nothing like their forefathers and fellow countryman, driving their crusty edge towards the classic Bay Area sound with a tinge of vicious 80’s speed/thrash, and their demo, ‘’War Is Imminent’’ bears for tracks encrusted of atomic aggression and sordid chugging, nothing more, nothing less.

I’m actually quite content with the ‘’old school’ worshiping done here, because melodic and modern thrash is becoming an increasingly popular trend these days, and one which just does not boast the family name. Technical/progressive elements have been scattered throughout the majority of the scene forcing them to slowly bend their knee to it, omitting the rigorous and sordid sound of the 80’s and early 90’s, and even when a band can join gritty guitar tones with propulsive, interactive textures, the execution is not done properly for the most part, and the experiment finalizes itself miserably once again. The number of thrash bands who take their job seriously have also diminished rapidly over the years, and so, many of the acts sew old school traits together are obsessed with beer and party, resulting in yet another fail. Xpulsion, however, sound surprisingly solid and crunchy for one that looks exactly like its peers, but looking down, with only a few minor tweaks and adjustments, the frantic spectrum of riffs expand into a much more versatile and savage nature,  disentangling itself from the cheesy roots it was once plagued with.

Honestly, it’s not an arduous job to carve out these riffs, because they lack for originality and the song writing process obviously did not take too long, but there’s a really propulsive spray of callous riffs, sharp and fresh, so you really can’t go wrong with these four songs. Influences are blatant as well, as the band hints the massive Exodus and Slayer influences quite frequently, but while you indulge yourself into the record, you’ll also notice a nice speed/thrash touch, forcing the album to sometimes take angular, sharp turns and twists. The four songs are packed with such massive and piercing riffs, but what surprised me is that the songs rang at over five minutes each, with two of them pending at eight minutes. This demo is fresh and dynamic, constant and shattering, and it sticks to the ‘’old school’’ sound of thrash (which is a notion I find queer), and while it’s devoid of the technical prowess that it requires to reach another level, it’ll punch through your skull with ease.

Highlights:

Anaconda Plan

Welcome To Yourself

Rating: 82,5%

Grave Upheaval/Manticore - Grave Upheaval/Manticore

Manticore, Antediluvian, Proclamation, Grave Upheaval, Mitochondrion, Impetuous Ritual, Adversarial, Pseudogod; these bands have become some of my favourite black/death acts, not only because they present material in the most quality form present, but also because they bring a sort of evil, blasphemous niche and attach it to their music, forming an impeccable wall of sheer, profane victory. The crazed masterminds behind Portal and Impetuous Ritual are once again working on their side project Grave Upheaval, and US war metal savages Manticore join forces, and as if there weren’t enough splits worth praising, they fabricate a four song split, devoid of human sense, ill natured and completely hostile against light, and all things positive. It’s such a fathomless pit that sucks you in with no regret at all, slowly consuming your pitiful cadaver and renders you naked towards the upcoming assault of converging chaos, scathing in an orgy of impious bile and vitriol.

As stated, both bands come with the whole of their most vital forces behind them, which makes the fourteen minutes a most excruciating experience. Like the latter Antediluvian/Adversarial split, despite playing a similar style of death metal, Manticore and Grave Upheaval don’t quite fit the same bill, but the slight nuances only make the split more colourful, and there’s a fairly wide spectrum of sounds that anyone should be sucked in with first sight. I honestly had no doubts about Grave Upheaval, after all, the Australian death/doom project complemented the genre hugely with their sequential 2010 demo, an asphyxiating travesty of a ritual, noxious and utterly blasphemous, but Manticore were a band that I wasn’t familiarized with very well, but in as the epilogue came near, it became obvious that both bands have something to say, and they say it well. Manticore presents approximately six minutes of bestial black/death, unlike their split-mates who offer eight minutes of hefty, dark prowess, and Mantciore’s psalms conduct a much more vivacious brand of blight and dynamic electricity, eccentric, eclectic, nonetheless still very moving and rambunctious, thus, the band espouses sounds which are more barbaric than drowning, merging together the boundless speed and aggression of Blasphemy, Weregoat, and even Watain with raw tones that many a black metal fan should be familiar with, ultimately driving the riffs towards a more metallic and blunt edge, rawer and faster.

Grave Upheaval’s traits allude the deep presence of Impetuous Ritual with every stomp, every drowsy, fatal crunch, and the inundating aura calls forth even Portal-esque elements to the table at times, making their eight minutes an experience no less tormenting than a rack. Of course, I’m sure that Winter, Disembowelment, Autopsy and Mordor had some sort of effect on their ponderous movements, their accursed swagger, and the doom influence makes all the difference for Grave Upheaval. It’s pitch black during the whole of the Grave Upheaval side, with not a single ray of light shedding enlightenment across the textures, and one guider that that effect each accent enormously, is the drums, yet another majestic wonder of the record. The aforementioned death/doom veterans had a fantastic set of cadaverous beats and punctuations, and I can safely say that the monotonous sprinkle of the toms and the ominous thump of the snare used here are nearly THAT good, and I still recall the melodramatic thumps of the ending sequence, made even mightier with the heavily distorted tone and bulbous bass line:

Da, du, da, dum; DUM DUM DUM DUM. Oh so heavenly heavy.

This split doesn’t surpass the recent ‘’Initiated In Impiety As Mysteries’’, but proves to be very worthy match and a strong contender for the top releases of 2012, too. And like its peer of a split, it divides the profane ritual into two marginally different attributes, the fast and the slow, if we need to categorize it simply. It’s choleric, strict, most blasphemous, tantalizing with subdued elements scattered all around it, and it simply swallows all that is spurious in its eye. It’s artistically crafted, embroidered with dark decorations, and in the end, it suffocates you as quickly as a heinous disease. This split may not be the most cathartic expression of black/death I’ve heard, but it emulates many of its rivals, but it’s so short that it’ll run out of material before it can even cauterize a third of many of its opponents. Otherwise, unless you’re retarded enough to neglect its impious power, get this, and you will be appeased, I guarantee you. It's all about the atmosphere. 

Highlights:

Untitled

Untitled (Second one)

Insemination Of The Sycophant 

Unleashing Unholy Temptations

Rating: 89,5%

Heretic - A Time For Crisis

Heretic actually has lots of history behind them, their humble beginnings dating back to 1985, and to many (like me) who are well acquainted with their early work, including their brisk effort ‘’Breaking Point’’, their revival is a good tiding, or so we shall see. The US power and thrash scene was always profuse, and scores of bands were always putting out demos and displaying their talent, and the early Heretic was no exception. Despite the fact that ‘’Breaking Point’’ was still superior to some of its peers at the time, Heretic, for some reason didn’t gain the recognition they requited to step up to a next level, but years later, they sign to Metal On Metal Records(who are perfect for their style) and record a sophomore album, ‘’A Time For Crisis’’. While still principally sticking to the old school side of thrash, Heretic definitely made a change in their sound, preferring to use massive amplification and blatant riffs, occurring at one time each, and closing the gateway to a more raw sound.

Although they’re dubbed as power/thrash, to me, heretic seem to be mustering a heftier, spacious thrash, supporting huge riffs mainly driven by palm mutes and semi-technical melody attacks, and instead of charging forth with swift, slightly hazy forays, the band chooses to display the nudity of their riffs with obvious chugs. This may beguile to some who seek the adventurous and crushing strength of thrash, and believe me, they do their best to maintain catchiness and dynamics at a steady level, but seldom, I feel though the riffs are bland and should be served with more decorative dashes rather than huge, naked portions. Sure, there’s a fairly entertaining usage of melody and such aspects that make the plain textures slightly richer, but the main focus is the solidity of the riffs. Yes, they do omit certain elements what could have made marginal difference, and they don’t always stick to their atavistic aesthetics, but that doesn’t mean the music is boring, because with the full force pounding going on 7/24, it’s hard not to enjoy the crunchy simplicity of the riffs, which may even ring in your ears for a day or two.

The songs have some distinct traits which negate them from getting all mixed up, but variation only happens in the deeper sections of each song, as all worship the same monolithic, rigorous tone and each track applies a lot of tasty chops into its fairly large arsenal of riffs. While the riffs may be fairly sordid on their own, their main purpose is to let the rhythm flow viscously, but the vocals are relatively harsh; not quite your classic power metal vocals, even they though they add sublime aggressiveness and vivacity to the music, they don’t quite fit the ‘’epic’’ portion on the power metal bill, despite the fact that his utters are strong and he has a fairly high voice. So I can see that the band has definitely deviated from the power metal sector (although only marginally), with solid riffs forming a brickwall torso of rigor and stiffened huskiness, and lacking much of the band’s previous sound which was rather pliable, assuring vivacity alongside agility.

Even so, ‘’A Time For Crisis’’ is a damn solid piece of thrash, and since non-beer/party/poser-killing thrash has become a rare treasure these days, I’ll treat with special care. The records may generally consist of bulky thrash beats and such, but it should still gather resident power/speed/heavy freaks around it, because it’s one package that compliments each of the mentioned genres, and despite its flaws, I’m still glad Heretic didn’t turn out to be just another victim lost to the adored sensation of melody and modern sounds that seem to engulf the current thrash scene as we know it. And moreover, I’m surprisingly zealous about a third album or even an upcoming Ep.

Highlights:

Heretic

Child Of War

The End Of The World

Rating: 78%

Gorephilia - Embodiment Of Death

If you have the slightest idea of what today’s old school death metal scene looks like, then you obviously know which influences plague and which trends are more pungent.  Incantation worship is a much popular fashion in the scene, and Gorephilia are yet another band displaying a crunchy brand of Incantation-esque old school death metal. Their 2011 Ep ‘’Ascend To Chaos'’ gave then some recognition and it set the base structure of their developing sound, but enter 2012, and their debut album ‘’Embodiment Of Death’’ is easily one of the most brutal old school death metal albums you’ve been acquainted with, and it’s easily more sophisticated than its predecessor, intensifying skull crushing heft with the ultimate eloquence. Perhaps the record does not entirely deviate from the norm, but it certainly erases the Incantation mark left in your ears from the previous release, proving to be both a deathlier and more cunning effort.

Well, it is a deal more brutal than the previous Ep, but it’s devoid of the ritualistic mysticism laden in the early Incantation albums, and there’s little room for passionate, dark instrumentation and spectral aura, as the muscular power is widely preferred an element on this record. The cadaverous, macabre approach of death metal is always a treat for me, and I like it even more when its doused with a pinch of looming and a dash of brawny prowess fit for certain sequences, but on ‘’Embodiment Of Death’’, the brooding, abysmal overtone is nearly gone, and instead, the riffs are dominated by an ominous tide, and are fuelled with constant energy and husky power, save for some doom laden sections which embrace the gloom n’ doom myth slightly more than their peers. This approach may put off listeners who seek atmosphere and perilous evil, hinted amongst the riffs, but fans that enjoy the stomping charge and fury of death metal will still appreciate this, and maybe even love it with as they are surrounded by the album’s spray of suffocating gas, teeming with density.

Incantation still reigns as the most dominant influence on this record as far as I can see, but I can also sense riffs that reek of Asphyx, Cianide and even early Morbid Angel and Immolation. Songs which puff up and turn into formidable yet ponderous bulks like ‘’Gods Stand Aghast’’ are easily influenced more by the likes of Asphyx, inserting tons of heft and crushing chugs into the mid paced death metal texture, engrossing it with simple, yet maiming chomps. It’s not exactly doom, but it’s still relatively more sluggish, intensified with speed only in certain passages wherein thin wisps of tremolo pickings descend in a forlorn fashion. Other tracks like ‘’Pantheon In Flames’’ or ‘’Forget Mortality’’ are frankly more spacious and brisk, and the two minute supercharged riff exploitation ‘’Bloodspawn’’ is as simple and quick as a grindcore song, only a deal heavier and more callous. With the guitar tone favouring massiveness and airy heft over darkened vagueness or thinner, more metallic touches, it can actually be a problem to hear the vocals properly because they’re muffled and far too cavernous to make a direct impact on the listener.

I don’t have many complaints about this record, but some more originality would certainly be good. Gorephilia have only embroidered their riffs with vague melodies and tremolos, and with little deviation from the path that has been set, the album sometimes sounds dull and not as efficient as you’d hope it to be, even though its full force assault is a crushing one. With some more atmosphere, and ore variation, the band can expand their style to one that’s less muscular and more spectral (which is the path that they should take), and this record is far from bad, but, I was slightly disappointed only by some of its subtle nuances. 

Highlights:

Pantheon In Flames

Vision Of Hell

Gods Stand Aghast

Rating: 86%

Antediluvian/Adversarial - Initiated In Impiety As Mysteries

Because I’m relatively new to the modern metal scene, there has not been many releases that I felt excited about so far, but I can see that the tide is definitely changing. Nuclear War Now! Productions have an incredible roster, consisting of bands which mainly devote themselves to the darker aesthetics of death metal, and in the near past, bands like Weregoat or Wrathprayer have clutched me with their woeful hooks and pulled me down into abysmal and fathomless pits, fuelled by constant anger and fury, and their most recent offering, a two way split played by two of the most deadly Canadian bands has crashed onto my shore, and the moment I saw which bands were making it up, I literally felt a warm, sublime wetness in my pants.

Antediluvian and Adversarial are two very cunning black/death acts that have proved themselves in the year 2011 more than many people would have really expected. While Adversarial’s ‘’All Idols Fall Before The Hammer’’ was speedy train full of airy confessions of splintering death metal, juicy, carnal and ultimately destructive, ‘’Through The Cervix Of Hawaah’’ was a strong redolent of Portal and Impetuous Ritual, yet, it was still much praised for its eerie and corrupted nature, bettering the listener into crumbling bits with the drowsy grooves of a darkened pendulum swing, slowly exterminating and vomiting relentless evil. Both bring the best of their sound to the table and join them under one banner, deviating little from their previous style, on this split.

The first half of the split belongs to Adversarial, spewing forth three hymns of malicious evil and completely perplexing speed, utterly frenzied and eruptive.  Both bands play their own distinct style of naturally evil-bred death metal, but because they grasp the largely consuming notion in a way that they make almost tangible, both their formulas somehow crash and cross at some point, and with half the product belonging to Adversarial and half of it belonging to Antediluvian, you get a much saturating portion of each band’s inventive style of presenting cantankerous evil. Adversarial’s material flows much more viscously than the other half, as the band unleashes a devastating barrage of gritty energetic and simply pulverizing riffs, overflowing with catchiness and cosmic reverb drenched horror. The super fast discharge of riffs follow each other like a spiralling vortex of brutal terror, streaming to the surface at some point, yet still keeping its existence robust in underground territory, and the mass exploitation of inhuman snarls and constantly grinding tremolos are supported by both a crispy production that allows the cathartic vigor to replenish itself repeatedly and a massive, beat laden pursuit, attached to the riffs, culminating devastation and monstrosity as the train passes. Adversarial’s side of the split, ‘’Leviathan’’, is simply cunning, razor sharp and laden with terrifically composed queer chord sequences, summing to be a most efficient collection of three songs.

Antediluvian’s side of the split, which is the actual reason I came here, is a direct delivery of what was in ‘’Through The Cervix Of Hawaah’’, an oppressive, inconsistent and non-accessible cloud of sickening blasphemy, a shower of constantly diffusing gobs of shadowed evil. Constant buzzing and crushing evil is what dominates ‘’Lucifer’’, their side of the split, and yet, in a way, Antediluvian’s brand of suffocating blackened death metal, is just as effective as Adversarial’s, despite the extremely slow passages blocking some of their cunning and shrewd usage of evil putting them a back the second half. Either way, this split is no competition, only and intense and suspense expression of unholy evil. One thing that really makes Antediluvian’s music a traumatizing experience is that they like to slightly experiment with even more bizarre techniques, and in the end each song possesses a cloudy aura of cosmic reverb and befouling bleakness. Each song is encompassed by megalithic columns of depressive aura which is just as pungent as the evil one, and believe me, Antediluvian thrive the atmosphere present and the atmosphere develops in to something utterly inhuman, and there are truly very few band which can manage to do such wonders with atmosphere.‘’Force Of Suns Of Adversary’’ is simply an excellent beginning for ‘’Lucifer’’ swaying and swaggering in mid paced tempos, dancing ponderously around a pitch-black pyre, while the next track, ‘’Dissolution Spires’’ expands the atmosphere and draws the listener into a more spacious ground, and spurting out a vicious cluster of rapid riffs, but the true Magnum Opus of the B side of the split is ‘’Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh (I Am That I Am)’’, a repulsive, intensified and inhumating lump of inundating density, swallows you and sucks you in with its vacuum like hole, opening the gates to a void of ethereal darkness within mere seconds.

‘’Initiated In Impiety As Mysteries’’ lives up for its name in every way possible. It’s the most intricate and explosive expression of impious inhumanity, for such an incredible release, it would be best if we granted merits and accolades to the band, as it is the best thing we can do. Adversarial resembles the sheer complexity and mind boggling prowess of impiety, while Antediluvian, which appealed to me more than its peer, is the dark, shallow and bleak overtone of mystery, an abysmal aspect, camouflaged as something almost entirely different. Simply put, this split is one of the best black/death releases the year has offered so far, and in such profane glory against all things orthodox and holy, it’s impossible not to lose yourself in what these two hellhound’s have created; a bleak void of evil, absolutely grasping and all-consuming. 

Highlights:

Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh (I Am That I Am)

Dissolution Spires

Swirling Chaos That Swallows Horizons 

Spiraling Towards the Ultimate End

Rating: 92%

Puteraeon - Cult Cthulhu

Swedish death metal is a trend that has been repeated countless times and is yet to be manipulated and manifested by more bands in the future. Although many acts simply copy the tasteful tone and crunchy hardcore tinged incursions of Dismember, Grave, Grotesque or Entombed, one cannot doubt that Puteraeon, a relatively young Swedish death metal band are much more dominant over the genre’s aesthetics compared to their peers, as they grasp the sound and deform it, mangling it into several pieces that are not impervious to changes and queerer influences. This is, at least what seems to be the case in their sophomore, ‘’Cult Cthulhu’’. They show that they’re aplomb and open for new influences, although stricter fans will be happy to know that experimentation is not overdosed, and massive, guitar with a spectral touch of brooding melodies are still quite well working, pummelling their way through the listener’s ears.

Compared to their debut, Puteraeon give more room to cathartic expressions and melodies quadrants that form up most of the diversity of the riffs. Awkward, but I relate them to Necrovation as both bands had a change is sound after releasing one rather standard and eclectic piece of Swedish death metal, simple, nonetheless still very strong by all standards. Necrovation came through with a bigger and far more changed sound, adding almost classical overtones into the heavy churning of hostile old school death metal, while Puteraeon simply added subdued melodies under the hefty cloak of chainsaw driven guitars and bass lines, and expanding their tone into a more spacious one, to give off a nice dose of atmosphere. ‘’Necrovation’’, which came out mere months before this album, worshipped ethereal pulchritude and was musically tweaked a lot, but such a huge change is not seen on ‘’Cult Cthulhu’’, although I still a huge sucker for its thickly embroidered spurts of crushing hostility.

I’m simply very content with the release as it did not turned out to be forty four minutes of chugs and furious barking, but it turned out to be a much more intriguing bag of riffs that lasted forty four minutes, propulsive and lurching. You’ll notice a semi-transparent black metal tide flowing over you spectrally especially in ‘’Children Of Dagon’’, while doomy goodness is laid upon absolutely gigantic magnifications of amplification on ‘’The Great Epidemic of 1846’’ and ‘’Liberation’’, sweltering with epic and atmospheric elements, but Puteraeon always make you feel home with classy, chunky attacks from ‘’Flesh Architect’’ or ‘’In The Vault’’ – both as forceful as robust iron hammers. I suppose some of the increased melodies and gloomy aspects came from their increased love for Lovecraftian themes, and to be honest, as a fan of the horror master himself, I found the fresh attributes to be well placed. As a whole, ‘’Cult Cthulhu’’ redeems you from your lust for massive guitars and filters, but it also offers it with slight distinctions, so you’re bored to death. We have so many Swedish hounds now at hand that I honestly don’t know where to keep them, so someone had better find a solution. 

Highlights:

In The Vault

Flesh Architect 

The Great Epidemic Of 1846

The Azathoth Cycle 

Rating: 88%

Attention - Writer Needed

Ok, I've become desperate. This blog has been going for no more than half a year now, and well, I tried my best to get at least a second writer to aid me, but all my tries failed me miserably. Due to my limited internet access, the blog can't be run as well and as fast as I intend it to run. Therefore, I need a second writer. If you've been following the blog you already know what sort of metal reviews I want the blog to be laden with, and unless someone gets up here and volunteers, then I will continuously post this. We need you! So get off your lazy arse and grab your pencil... or keyboard.