Lacerated Metal Weekly Playlist III

To make up for last weeks playlist, I thought of including a peculiar little list of old school thrash stuff I've been repeatedly listening over the last two weeks. I think I might make some more of these old school exceptions every once in a while. Anyway, here it is, my delirious thrash binge:

Right To Die, by Hydra Vein, off the Rather Death Than False Of Faith album
1988, Thrash metal, UK
Sounds like: Regular Bay Area thrash with charismatic, static vocalist.

Afterlife, by Sacrifice, off The Forward To Termination album
1987, Thrash metal, Canada
Sounds like: Early Exodus and Slayer mashed together.

Wildfire, by Sabbat, off The Dreamweaver album
1989, Speed/thrash, UK
Sounds like: Ulysses Siren, early Demolition Hammer, Sadus.

U.S.S.A, by Indestroy, off the Indestroy album
1987, Thrash metal, USA
Sounds like: Street/Anti-Poseur thrash, Possessed, ''Kill 'em All'' era Metallica.

10,000 Days (Of Bloodshed), by Blessed Death, off the Destined For Extinction album
1987, Speed/thrash, USA
Sounds like: A crude Holy Mosses, Detente, Holy Terror.

Sudden Fall, by Coroner, off the Punishment For Decadence album
1988, Technical Thrash metal, Switzerland
Sounds like: Coroner (duh), Voivod, Watchtower, Annihilator, Mekong Delta, ''DI'' era Deathrow.

I'll Only Say It Once, by Razor, off the Violent Restitution album
1988, Speed/thrash, Canada
Sounds like: Whiplash, Sacrifice, Exciter, dirty street thrash.

Cloak Of Darkness, by Cancer, off the The Sins Of Mankind album
1993, Death/thrash, UK
Sounds like: Early Death, Obituary, Possessed, Massacre

Halloween, by Bezerker, off the Lost album
1989, Thrash metal, Australia
Sounds like: Bruce Dickinson + Slayer/Demolition Hammer/(Insert brutal thrash band here)

I was actually surprised there were three bands from the UK. And as you can see, 1988 is easily the winning year for thrash, closely followed by 1989/1987.

Daemonicus - Deadwork

Daemonicus are just another group aiming to emulate their countless peers and components, who, like themselves have committed entirely to the now culminated fashions of Swedish death metal. With a fairly large history in the background, Daemonicus possess certain experience, and moreover, after channeling the borders of Swedish death on their previous thread of simplistic compositions, they now in expectancy of better, augmented results with their ravenous melodious rage, ''Deadwork''. In all its non-encompassing glory and primordial frenzies, ''Deadwork'' is not a record set to enlighten the band's impoverished burden, nor is it made to thrill hardcore fans of Swedish death metal, but it's rather made to deliver what has already been delivered, in gore-soaked bombastic melodic boombox of pain.

Perhaps it is a conjecture, but I can scarcely imagine that this group will ever reach stupendous heights. This is something concerning the band's desire than potency, because, after all, the group has projected a professional sound robustly, especially by using modernized, crushing Swedeath furnaces, and the band is quite potent throughout their crazed, inimical anger, but I feel that if the band really wanted to do something different, they would have already flourished the basis of such a formula by the sophomore; yet, this is the result. I can still be quite content with this semi-melodious attachment and immense tone, shattering my spine though, and although there are a few hooks that might not quite get hold of you, within its massive circulation, Daemonicus sounds damn fine. The chord conjunctions sound squeky clean, as is the modernization polished the entire plethora of riffs, the melodious are fluent, abrupt but follow into each other logically, and the dual guitar harmonious are spewing fourth tangible despair, good enough for me.

Even the vocals, while still far from excellent have a subtle cavernous edge to them which provides a substantial boast for aggressive energy. ''The Hymn Of Ubo Sathla'', example, is where the vocals shine in my opinion, along with plenty richly textured riffing stretched upon mournful clean guitar arpeggios, growling out an obscure, guttural murkiness into the heaving chugs, so clearly, these bastards have gotten a good grasp on that Swedish formula. This, while offering absolutely nothing renowned, has got to be one of the more vigorous ejections we've come across this year, all thanks to its bulbous tone and explosive mechanism, but even so, I can't say any death metal fan will disdain this. After all, throughout the whole thing you feel as though some cannibal is about to pounce out of its unknown whereabouts and gobble you up ravenously.

Highlights:
A Deadwork Of Art
We Feast On Your Flesh
The Hymn Of Ubo Sathla

Rating: 76%

Of Spire And Throne - Vagary

Indeed, the sludge scene is a scene that has been much better familiarized by mainstream audiences than its legendary yet somehow degraded counterpart doom metal, but is comparing these two genres was ever the situation, I'd choose doom every single time. One of the prime reasons of my verdict, is a growing rumble of underground vibrations which find themselves hooked upon the lugubrious styles of doom, now broadening their spears and axes to dabble their material in even more primal succession than before, instead of keeping true to the traditional bloodline set by the masters Cathedral, or Candlemass. This fresh surge has revivicated the murky and ultimately dismal power of death/doom along with other provokers of sadistic and incomprehensible tyranny such as Antediluvian, Portal, Vasaeleth or Mitchondrion, who, although have certain differences, still aim to grasp that dark and drowning filth riddled subtext of torment, and these ghastly explorations continue for my latest discovery, Scotland's Of Spire And Throne, is the definition of monstrous death/doom.

Alongside my second death/doom favorite of the year, ''Serpentine Path'' by the infamous Serpentine Path, OSAT's ''Vagary'' has evoked a cunning sense of degraded mutilation and clawing, incessant yet drudging torture in me. These rank, befouled golem-fiends are actually a relatively new wave of bands. They do not intensify any of the olden death/doom masters in a way of ripping them off, but they bathe themselves in this tempestuous momentum some seek to find so often these days, creating Cylopean monoliths, swaggering slowly, painfully. Vagary exposes all the filthiest material they have and collapse in one single twenty-minute fall, and the earth around you literally quivers in response to this lurch. In such a drowning, asphyxiating cauldron it's merely impossible take a break through all that fog and plumes of dark dense smoke and breathe, which is pretty much the gold of the EP. The rhythms are immense, layered with exceedingly simple crunches and crushes, plodding along the elephantine obelisk, but every lurch is an all-encompassing spasm flushing through your thoughts and smoldering your brain - the perfect mind fucker.

The vocals are scarce, as they seldom jump into action and prefer abusing the rhythms from afar with distant gurgle growls, but the best thing is that they're laid down with a nice hint cavernous murkiness, a stupendous manifestation of evil. ''Vagary'' is simply excellent if you are into such mourning drudgery of doom and death, and even fleshier a treat for those who devour funeral death/doom combos emerging from the cthtonic debts. However, even though I am a huge sucker for death/doom darkness in the vein of Winter, I need to confide that the material here can be overly boring and far too monotonous for those of you who seek more vivacious experiments; but even so, I don't think many will manage to overcome the encompassing murk of this album, and albeit I don't love the drudgery here, I'm still going to show my support for this mischievous quartet and abominable creation. Keep it up.

Highlight:
Vagary

Rating: 80%

Tumbleweed Dealer - Death Rides Southwards

Though the sludge genre has gained immense popularity over latter years compared to its peer and forefather (in a way) doom, I still find it hard to enjoy any upcoming sludge bombasts coming my way; and worst of all, with prodigious quantities of bands preferring sludge over doom, my grasp on snail-paced quality metal is becoming aggravatingly tenuous. Yes, there are still a few high calibre and true doom metal bands out there just doing their job, slurping around and splattering ominous drudgery all over, and there even a few acts that are capable of mashing the two genres up and still sound good, but the numbers are dwindling. Tumbleweed Dealer are an interesting and little known act that became known to me only in recent weeks.

The band can be mostly qualified as sludge, though I think I’m more fortunate than that. The Dealers basically put chunks of emphasis on sludge’s bluesy tendencies, which, I believe, according to the tenets of sludge can be thought as a rather unorthodox thing. I’m usually not very open to changes or modernization in metal, but when these nuances are stretched upon characteristics that I find agitating, I can be pretty content; and these guys are a perfect example of it. It’s hard to even call this metal, because I’d certainly dub it as a bastardized overtone of blues, and really, it’s the subtle extremity and heft of those bashing blues chords that make all the difference. The EP is pretty short in truth, ranging at ten minutes, but the band, using all sorts of jiving bluesy manoeuvres, crams a lot of material into the brief box of riffs. The two tracks both commence with rumbling, boisterous sludge trudges, and the staircase of progression begins.  As the rhythm section progresses, the band starts fitting in blues-tinged leads upon each riff, and further on the orchestration becomes even more complex as more and more leads bind into each other, ultimately creating a sorrowful web of melodies that are neither excessively convoluted nor too simple for the seeker of interest.

Through contrast, instrumental efficiency and intricacy, the band has earned accolades from me, and their performance, though not unbelievably impressive, is solid enough to catch the attention of pretty much anyone who has some interest in sludge or blues, and with its semi-ominous overtone flanking the listener vaguely, I believe that Tumbleweed Dealer can achieve something that’s truly inspired and different – and even if they somehow flounder, this EP is a recommended piece. 

Highlights:

Death Rides Southwards

Crawling Through Cacti

Rating: 79%

Ataraxy - Revelations Of The Ethereal

Spain has become, over the years, one of the more prominent old school death metal fields worldwide. There seems to be substantial bands popping out during tumultuous bull races, and some have especially proved to be quality acts, Morbid Flesh, Graveyard, Mass Burial and Necroven for example, (not to mention some of the ruling tyrants of war metal Teitanblood and proclamation), and its densely threaded web is only growing denser. The simple truth about Ataraxy is that the moment I was acquainted with them, I knew I would like them. How? The brilliantly drawn cover suggests a semi-epic surge of atmospheric convulsion, and so does the album title, bearing a charismatic and almost subconscious surge of infinity, thus the music produced is an almost exact copy of the album art itself.

I have to emphasize on the cover one last time because I really, really like it; it heavily resembles Horrendous' self titled album, or Necrovation's self titled record, taking on the same ephemeral hue, and moreover, the album feels as if you're floating over some immersing dense liquid, swooshing and fluttering slowly, steadily. The mesmerizing atmospheric beauty of Horrendous meets Asphyx and it ripens in cauldron of Finnish macabre, infusing into a sort of dark, somber orchestration. These Finnish tendencies of course know when to froth and blast into dominant outburst, and besides its doom laden outputs and crunchy Finnish overtone, Ataraxy has a brilliant subtext of heavy fucking Swedish death metal; which especially fascinating because until now, nearly the entire catalog of Swedeath gimmicks had a subtext of contrast, and even sometimes, no contrast to revitalize their artillery, but the Spanish prove to be crudely antithetic somehow, ending up as the caveman yet still managing to become the exemplary specimen.

The production is somewhat terrific. I don't why I actually felt awe-stricken about it, and I definitely prefer a dark, less radiant production qualities over semi-atmospheric ones, but the production on ''Revelations Of The Ethereal is cavernous yet cleansed of impurity, and it supports the heaving momentous burden of the drip-drop trudges linked together, becoming ultimately rich and quite engrossing. The band certainly loves starting tracks off with ominous drudgery, first heaving a hefty body out of the bed as if awakening from a thousand-year slumber, them focusing on a more dynamic sound, and eventually bursting into blazing tremolo incursions. And as if the artillery weren't sufficient to keep the ears pulsing and bleeding, we also have a collision of sounds reminiscent of a demon raping Martin van Drunen and Chuck Shuldiner both, something that I will pitifully dub as ''vocals''. Overall, this entire output is just short of excellence. If you ever want to free yourself from the merciless incarceration of these retro death metal bands, take a brief forty-four minute voyage upon this ghastly little boat and sail out to find the obscurities of life, set sail towards Ataraxy.

Highlights:
Ominous Putrefied Ground
Demons Of The Storm
Ceremonial Storm

Rating: 88%

Into Darkness - Into Darkness [Demo]

Death/doom is a genre that has not been cultivated as frequently as its notorious counterpart, old school death metal, and this is not because it is not preferred among bands, but because few are able to fabricate it in it's ways of being gory, obsessed and stretched upon dark imagery. There has been a few acts in latter times, such as Undergang or Anhedonist who have worked these mysterious and ghastly nuances of death/doom as if contemplating a multi-threaded web, but the majority of the genre, as far as I can see, focuses on the inclinations of death/doom that developed after the primal beginnings of its aesthetics, mainly having a bloodline on par with such Gothic death/doom bands like later Paradise Lost or As I Lay dying; and even that vein of bands are now tainting their efficiency with modern influences, and thus a handful of long-lasting heroes are now left to carry this archaic art. Fortunately, after bastardizing thrash metal with a horrid and substantial wave of retro-thrash acts, Italy kicks in, with a brand new face in the cemetery - Into Darkness, probably one of the brightest hopes of the revival of old school death/doom.

This one-year-old trio does not rupture into an assertive display o completely fresh material, instead, as I said, it's a concise offering to the olden masters themselves. Mainly the band fluctuates between Derketa and Mythic, boiling in bleak broth of early Asphyx, and I was also surprised to hear no trace of Incantation here, because, after so many gimmicks the legend has become the trademark sound of countless albums, yet here, there's no infatuation with those indulgent inclinations, which is, in a way, a breath of fresh air. Into Darkness like cosmic and esoteric horror, galactic evil, and stuff like that which can pull you further in to the primeval coordination of the daunting gears that get the formula of the album going. Into Darkness can be ferocious at times, abruptly breaking into carnal and ruinous assaults, but the band likes to channel between heftier and sludgier riffs, keeping the pace volatile and fresh.

The demo has another upside besides its astronomic adoration. The tone is crisp but slightly cavern-riddled, which is perfect in bestowing that crisp and slightly haunting sense upon the listener, and the vocals, fierce and uproarious in their own voracious manner, are perfect for ripping flesh out of deaf ears, settling somewhere between Van Drunnen and John Walker of Cancer, and inimical overtone possessing the gutturals. With it's atmosphere, it's canal efficiency and every other dark aspect it possesses, Into Darkness have truly won my respect. It's a long way from here to composing a full-length, but already they're mustering a fairly convincing audience, and have signed with the great Unholy Domain Records for further trudging damage, perfecting their rather shortly anticipated kill streak. Well, almost. The band will still need to strive to obtain dominance over the gory seat of death/doom, but I have hope, that one day, the combo shall be complete.

Highlights:
Into Darkness
Shadows

Rating: 82%

Funebre - Cranial Torment

Man, I really love these compilations. Reissuing underrated albums for more exposure one thing, amassing extremely overlooked demos and EPs into single packages for gruesome, carnal delivery another. Xtreem Music has now gathered all the pre-1991 material of the Finnish cults Funebre in one case, and now, listeners can enjoy the ''Cranial Torment'', ''Demo II'' demos and the ''Brainspoon'' EP the same way they enjoyed the bands vile splash of vile that was ''Children Of The Scorn'', and what's more is that you can feel the rawness and sheer decomposed splendor of these ghastly tunes the way they were taken out of the oven, fresh but rotten, oldie but goodie.

As I said, the authentic production quality helps reinforce the notably primal disorder the album espouses, and you've got vitriolic churning of traditional decayed Finnish death metal in its most macabre and aggravated form, sticking to the path that Convulse or Purtenance took, with a heavy blend of charnel Swedish chainsaw insanity, the same way Nihilist did it in the late 80's. The amalgamation is, of course, nothing new if you've already witnessed the band's excellent full-length, but I've always considered contemplating certain band's primordial exhalations in order to compare it to their somewhat more polished released. In death metal, old school death metal, I have a strict little rule; the more crude and primitive the band gets, the closer it gets to perfection through dissonance and putrefaction. Funebre are easily one of the dominating Finnish death metal acts roaming around 1993-1988, and this temple of embryonic pain is the evidence, clearly.

Thanks to Funebre's slightly original tendencies, we can feel skull-crushing buzz-saw pressure at the same time as somnolent death/doom drudgery. Tracks vary, because the mix does not equalize them all into one single production quality, so songs from differing releases stand out with marginal qualities, and out of them all, my favorite would probably the ''Demo II'' material, which, obviously manifests the darkest and roughest peak of the band's adoration for esoteric and ephemeral horror, sending a barrage of chills down your spine as the ripping chainsaw fluctuates into a grisly slither of flesh and bones. Funebre are one of the best bands to come of the Finnish death metal scene, as already evidenced on their debut, but for furthermore proof of their crude agility, get this compilation and feed yourself all its disemboweled contents. 

Highlights:

Expunging Mortalities

Grip Of Insanity

Leprophiliac

 Rating: 84%

Putrevore - Macabre Kingdom

Four years ago, the Swedish/Spanish death metal collaboration imploded their gory malevolence with the discharge of their sole release and debut album, ''Morphed From Deadbreath'' a much mighty suffusion of Incantation and cadaverous Swedish death metal, and despite its distinct prowess and immense effect upon deeply-intrigued listeners, the album did not draw half as much attention as some of the much more dominant retro death metal releases of the same time, such Dead Congregation's glorious disembowelment of evil, ''Graves Of The Archangels'', which no doubt led the upcoming pack of horrendous Incantation worshipers which would shortly envenom the world. Putrevore, on their debut, displayed a relatively fresh formula, a gory soup of rotten Swedish heft and imposing blood, and now, four years after the release of that swampy bulk of an death metal album, we're fed with the real deal, as Rogga Johannson and Dave Rotten, who are now proven veterans of the genre's differing varieties, present their AA material here, and we are enlightened with the fact that the debut was merely the starter meal, and the main dish has just arrived.

Admittedly, my first reaction to this was not at all positive. I didn't leave me flabbergast with its prowess and durability, and it was not what I had endeavored to hear after such a non-apprehensive process of excitement, but everything on the album seemed like tasteless hulk made up of brutal death metal and the subtle, depriving and compellingly evil aesthetics of ''Onward To Golgotha'', but it was the second, or perhaps the third listen which crammed hope into my ears, for the very moment that I realized and comprehended the album's brilliant succession and manifestation was the moment I learned to love it, and it was the moment I was sure the record would be the epitome of many, many retro death metal releases that would come afterwards, or that were already unleashed.

Macabre Kingdom lives up for its name, and that's just the least I can say about it. It's content is made obvious by the savvy album cover that enriches its course. Just think about it; the music on ''Macabre Kingdom'' perfectly fits the ghoulish fiend stalking its subtle minions whilst seated upon a fiendish, emaciated throne of gore, glazing at the undead which kneel before it. A truly gruesome and ghastly image of vividness, and moreover, the monolith that is ''Macabre Kingdom'' is still, so much more. There's a thick, almost charismatic enigma buried beneath the cylopean grooves and the elephantine grooves never cease to slam the listener with the embryonic excellence, stretched upon a base of carnal Floridian brutality, immense Bolt Thrower potency in heft and chomps, and a befouling, rotten contemplation of Incantation-esque everything, from tremolos, to bombastic bombards to swaggering ramparts. I still can't imagine how Rogga took his time to pen these compositions while dealing with a dozen more projects, and yet still elude boredom and add excessive competence and efficiency into the mix, making this the best effort he has ever worked on.

A hybrid on brutality and moist danger and thickness is one thing, evil another. In ''Macabre Kingdom'', you get all of that in one single compiled suitcase. In addition to its tremendous and substantial reservoir of riffs, and its unbridled hostility, the album can effortlessly display its love for cthtonic horror, as on ''The Mysteries Of The Worm Part 2'', which feels as if you're further dragged into a pitch-black void after the barbarous Part 1, and get swallowed by the band's darker tendencies, an emission of gore-laden shadow and cosmic miasma spiraling onto you as you descend further and further down a barren black hole. While the sporadic keyboard is trait specifically belonging to that track, there is a murkier blast of sound waves which evoke evil and raise the hairs on your back that support the album the whole time; the vocals. It's almost as if Dave Rotten reaches the subtlest tone he possesses and then spurts it out in a pernicious gurgle, and believe me, if the instrumental section of the album didn't hold them from exploding, the rafters would have shook, and the cavernous murmurs would have tinged in the core of your ears for hours. Dave Rotten's incredible delivery sounds rather like the product of a brutal rape by a demon, adding impious murkiness into Craig Pillard's already copious voice. Seriously, Dave Rotten sounds like Satan whispering through a hundred-and-fifty meter tunnel. And you're on the other side of it.

Flawless with its combination of brutality and wicked Incantation-esque creativity, ''Macabre Kingdom'' does not merely ''appease''. The underlying creativity and musicianship under its subtext of churning monstrosity is its prime tool and one that can outshine almost the entire race of retro death metal acts, and even a number of the genre's first-comers. This megalith is built upon total and immense doom and evil, and this single 35-minute rupture we received is only a mere flick of the giant's finger. Rogga and Dave's absolute climax is reached with this record and although I don't think this will cease to blow my ears for a very long time, I am still eagerly gathering my courage to face the extremities of a third primal obelisk. With ''Macabre Kingdom'' you will experience brutality, experience pain, experience primordial prowess, experience engulfing evil, with ''Macabre Kingdom'', you will experience immensity.

Highlights:
The Morbid Mass Of Swarming Entities
The Tentacles Through Time
The Mysteries Of The Worm Part 2
Beyond Human Comprehension 

Rating: 92%