Steelwing - Zone Of Alienation

I suppose many of you are already aware of the expanding mass of Swedish traditional heavy metal bands, aside from the turbulent assault of Swedeath monsters. The scene never seems to dwindle and with every new band it grows stronger, even more robust then before, and this overgrowing tumor of bands also boasts the quality of older bands, thus giving birth to an abundance of quality bands. Steelwing made a strong enough appearance with the release of their debut ''Lord Of The Wasteland'', and while their sophomore may not be able to surpass the mark that the debut had set for itself, the sophomore still manages to come close. For people who have little idea of what Steelwing sound like, allow me to briefly explain. Steelwing have the obvious traits of heavy metal, and obvious influences that should bring Maiden and Priest to the mind of many. While they sound a lot like the acknowledged masters, Steelwing still bring a fair amount of melody and their own differing twists and turns into the music, creating something that's still relatively diverse yet succinct and comprehensible by pretty much any listener.

''Zone Of Alienation'' doesn't explore many various elements, and perhaps keeping the music a little too concise may have been a mistake, but in during the collision of harmonious melodies and catchy riffs, one scarcely notices the lack of creativity. Plus, you have to admit, this is music that just sounds better when its plain and not very complex, so I can't really deduct points from the band for sounding simple. I'll still persist on my opinion time to time, but all the positive factors of this album would easily cover up my theories. ''Zone Of Alienation'' is lyrically driven towards themes associated with space and all things alien, while the music is simply a soothing gust of wind that's flurried in a soft way, but at the same time slightly assorted in its own terms, repeatedly shifting between various tempos and styles that are all riffs that could be easily found on classic heavy metal releases, only offering a few peculiar attributes. Most tracks have the typical verse-bridge-chorus structures, plain but very enjoyable and memorable nonetheless, and chorus sequences are usually boasted with that epic power/heavy touch with long duration power chords flying around the high pitched vocals soaring over everything -- a beautiful sight.

The good thing about the album is that it's relaxed and never too serious so that it can have the same sort of effect on the listener, chilling his/her mind, and there's no desperate foraging or search for a crucial sound, so the band doesn't fail miserably while trying to attain something utterly different and complex. I love how spate, harmonious guitars linger around shortly along with the soft, chord driven passages. Steelwing is not a group that's up for violent, forceful music, and you should just let the gentle music ooze viscously and effortlessly, with no display of showing great force. Certain sections of ''The Running Man'' and ''Tokkotai (Wind Of Fury)'' are relatively rapid and spiky, while ''Full Speed Ahead'' is a song that's one with its name, showing some serious speed/heavy badassery and incredibly dynamic riffs, both strong and melodic, and the ten minute mega-chain ''Lunacy Rising'' links together everything that has already been offered on the album with almost unnoticeable, brief passages.

Steelwing did a bloody decent job with their sophomore effort, damn near to their astonishing debut. I hope that the waves of bands that come after this are just as good as Steelwing, for if they are the blossoming heavy metal scene in Sweden will suddenly turn into a bountiful treasure of bands. Steelwing are very good at what they do bringing all the common aspects of heavy metal then offering them in the best way possible, but the good thing is, there are scores of bands that play their metal very similar to Steelwing, and unless you didn't like this, you would torturing yourself by not listening to these other groups such as Katana, Portrait, In Solitude, Trial and many more. I'm almost ascertain that that these bands will continue to go ''Full Speed Ahead'', exhaling the enamoured sound of the 80's with ease.

Highlights:
Zone Of Alienation
Lunacy Rising
Full Speed Ahead


Rating: 87%

Ribspreader - The Kult of The Pneumatic Killrod

Ribspreader are just another band lost in the endless current of Swedish death metal bands that are getting increasingly popular and also increasingly agitating. These guys have been around for roughly ten years now, and so far nothing that they've offered was brought a sort of liveliness or contrast to the already expanding scene of Entombed/Dismember worshipers, and their most recent album ''The Van Murders'' was no exception, a rigid piece of mortal flesh that was lost in the vortex of Swedish bands, outshined by the likes of Tribulation or Torment, bands which have projected the classic Swedeath sound exceptionally, by adding their own aroma to the music. ''The Kult Of Pneumatic Killrod'' is just another face in the crowd, another slab of monolithic death/thrash chugging and hardcore tinged chainsaw chord barrages. Rogga Johansson is a man who has been up to a number of old school Swedish death metal bands, and despite this being relatively derivative, I can't help but wonder if Johansson actually slightly got bored and experimented a little, and toyed with the music, just for the sake of fun.

The sources are blatantly obvious. Entombed, Dismember, Carnage, God Macabre and alike, though perhaps due to the change of technology over the years, this monster weights a few kilos heavier than classics like ''Left Hand Path'', ''Like An Everflowing Stream'' or ''The Winterlong''. What I found really boring and uninteresting about the album is that it tends to contain numerous passages that I find completely irrelevant, passages where dual guitars all of a sudden break loose of the frantic battle that was happening a second before and slowly harmonize, change the mood of the album in an instant, thus reducing the quality of the album. Sure, I have a fair amount of respect to raging mammoths like ''Flash Psycho'', but even during its short lifespan, the song transforms into sludgy, melodic turtle. And I found ''The Hegemony Of The Hammer'' to be a completely unnecessary element, its rigid personality mangled with black metal chord sequences and doomy melodies lingering about. This melodic attribute that seems so dominant over the music could be only transmitted from one source: D-i-s-s-e-c-t-i-o-n. It turns out that these guys have experimented a little here, and they've experimented in the wrong way, resulting in a most impotent incursion of simplistic riffs.

Had Ribspreader inserted differing styles and sounds in a more elaborate way, with more focus, precaution an care, then perhaps I could have enjoyed this slab of futile death metal. Even so, Ribspreader still offers some decent death/thrashing Swedeath from time to time, and being extremely accessible is another advantage that the riffs always hide under their cloaks, and the traditional Swedish groove-like sensation is never far apart from the monolithic riffs, battering the listeners neck relentlessly. ''Into The Filt'' can be a prime example of the band's choppy rhythms with a very small amount of that Dissection-esque black metal melody injected into the riffs. The good news is that the music is still fun because it's nothing that can be taken too seriously, and the shortness of the songs increase efficiency, thus enabling the construction of able-bodied, robust tracks that still pretty catchy. No doubt, this album had its flaws, yet its strength is undeniable an it's still a pleasuring listen for those who don't mind it when their meal is too cold, or poor in variety, but just gobble their food for the sake of saturated stomach.

Highlights:
Enter The Megaflesh
Flesh Psycho
Nocturnal Manslaughter


Rating: 73%

Exorcised - Reflections Of Horror DEMO

Although I can't seem to dislike any of the new bands which carry out the essence of death and thrash metal in of 80's and 90's, there are just scores and scores of bands, that you just loose count and lose your self in an infinite vortex of filthy, grinding metal. Many bands achieve queer sounds by flourishing the already present sound, thus resulting in a sort of peculiar aroma of death metal, something which can grab hold of a good number of listeners from the start, whilst numerous bands fail to add a sturdy spice to their music, managing to sound very simple and basic, nonetheless still very efficient. Exorcised are quite a young band, and judging by their simplistic approach to death metal with typical tremolo progressions, hefty mammoth riffs and relatively basic song architecture, we could really dub them as basic old school death metal, like Ominous Crucifix, only a little more evil and with a larger hint of thrash metal. I already heard the same ''Da Da Da Dum, Da Da Da Dem'' style chugging riffs millions of times, and since the originality department is incredibly futile and decrepit I'll take ''Being Creative'' with a grain of salt.

Even though the music is pretty simple, Exorcised manage to consume bits and pieces of the listener along the way by varying slightly at certain points, and swiftly channeling between different kinds of riffs to capture some attention. And they do. Due to the demos short longevity, Exorcised manage to successfully spurt out some catchy riffs and keep the level of dynamics at a steady course by continuously harassing the listener with the vicious spikes that spawn from the riffs. A diverse tactic, though let me inform you that this strategy is nothing completely new and will start to loose efficiency along the way for veteran listeners. People who have rarely tasted such disgusting, abominating metal can have the sublime joy of diving in this ocean of filthy death metal. Since the demo's short, many people would probably find it easy to enjoy the simplistic chugs and distorted tremolo pickings, but I'm alert that unless Exorcised step up their game in near time, a full-length album may not interest larger audiences, but so long as they keep the spike sharp and polished, and as long as it can grind flesh and tear down internal organs, these guys have it covered.

Swift and agile movements can guide the listener with ease, and even death/doom sequences that can be found on the title track have a pleasuring groove and flashiness to them. ''Oppressed By Unreal'' is rather long and a little depressing, and the gateway of boredom in never too far, but some top notch drumming, another robust aspect of the music, even mid paced stompers can carve fairly large holes into a listeners skull. Exorcised have even constructed robust yet vivacious bridges between those doomier riffs and faster riffs, and I have to say they've done a good job on that part as the tempo change doesn't rapidly evolve, and nor does it escalate in the speed of a turtle, something in between. Despite my adoration for all of those bands who conjure a vile sound with ease, the ''Reflections Of Horror'' demo did have some flaws and for the most part, there was no stimulating innovation to boast the quality of the album, and more elaborate song structures would also never hurt, with tiny decorations encircling the music. A pretty good start for a young band, but let's just hope that the bacteria infested tooth doesn't decay.

Highlights:
Pestilent Curse
Unholy Awakening


Rating: 76,5%


More Exorcised on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ExorcisedOfficial

Coffin Texts-The Tomb Of Infinite Ritual

Coffin Texts were starting to get on peoples nerves after not releasing an album for over eleven years, and I have to admit I would be pretty pissed offed about that too if I were a fan. Although I haven't heard their 2000 album ''Gods Of Creation, Death & Afterlife'' I can't say they really offered much contrast, but rather a robust combination of styles which are growing more and more popular these days. I suppose the most interesting aspect of Coffin Texts is their lyrical content; Egyptian mythology, something that would actually bring Nile to many the mind of many people. Musically though, Coffin Texts vary from the notorious brutal tech/death giants, bringing forth a style that's sludgier, more evil, and perhaps, even heavier. I'm not going to grant merits to the band for their capability with song writing and creative compositions, but that whole queer Egyptian scheme may buy them a fan or two, and the music much more.

''The Tomb Of Infinite Ritual'' is one hard-hitting abomination. There's good news on this album, much more than there's bad news, but unfortunately the whole basis of the album is built upon one very strong aspect, that although may be very tough and robust, is still outnumbered by the number of negative factors of the album. The biggest gap is that there aren't many benefactors, many highlights to render the album sturdy, thus setting a small gap in the stone laden bulk that holds the album together, negating it from being ton asunder. This single benefactor that I'm talking about is the element that fuses together brooding old school death metal melodies and sounds with more mainstream, and rather brutal death metal elements that draw heavy influences from early  Malevolent Creation and mid-old Cannibal Corpse - your most standard USDM material. The good part is that the album comes with a sublime heft and sinister energy that blends surprisingly easily with the Egyptian riffs, riffs that possess the same kind of mystical feel that Nile does, only with less concentration on the speed and more focus on the convincing force that each riff belches out with each blow. The drums are a fantastic feast of utterly pulverizing percussion, with double-bass drums thumping and following the riffs everywhere, and riffs are made of hard material, thus forging a compelling force of sinister brutality from the start, a very tempting effort.

The lesser sections of the album rapidly grow and reproduce whenever the brutal death metal influence swaggers on top of things a little too much, and that's when the album fails to deliver the same diverse Egyptian elements that it delivered successfully previously. Thankfully, the riffs are rather acrobatic and very versatile and thus complex and not very spacious, therefore, pummeling riffs constantly shift and channel in and forth among themselves, and during this rapid change, the listener scarcely understands what's happening. Just as it it's confusing, the album's a crushing vortex of riffs that hit and run within mere seconds, and whether it be embalming palm mutes chokes or vivacious tremolo bursts, the listener is always dazed. The songs tend to get longer than usual, which may be a hypnotizing experience for a listener, especially when outrageous double bass attacks suddenly transform into slower, doomier dirges. Though with the help of a few drum chokes and some good screaming and juicy solos, the one would easily evacuate the dazzling coma that he/she was swallowed in.

As far as the most basic structures of the riffs go, I can only divide songs by speed and perhaps a few flashy moments, and that indicates the ''The Tomb Of Infinite Ritual'' is for fans of numbing, pulverizing death metal. The good news is that this definitely has some old school essence in it, for all of its nuances that destroy that brutal death metal sound for the most part, and as I said before, there's little bad news really, but Coffin Texts should watch out for those holes in the walls, for the next attack may expand that hole, and turn the decrepit bulk into mere debris and rubble. This is quite a devastating album, and a good one, but beware Coffin Texts. You have been warned.

Highlights:
Divination
Final Transformation
Deities Of The Prime Evil Chaos


Rating: 85,5%

Morbidity-Pits Of Eternal Torment DEMO

Death metal is spawning from every single hole, every crypt it can find and fit in, and finding some old school death from Bangladesh was no huge surprise to me. Singer Defiler of Morbidity contacted me and I received this monster of a demo, totally by luck. What I love about certain new death metal bands is that they keep the main essence of old school purity in themselves and project that unto the listener in the most ghastly, most horrifying way, and Morbidity is no exception in this concept. Just take a look at the cover art. It's raw, it's grim, it's morbid - it's what old school is all about. What's more that while scores of bands worship either Autopsy/Incantation, and many others emit that groovy thrashiness of Swedish death metal, Morbidity sink even lower than these bands, exhaling some utterly grotesque, indecipherable death metal that may bring acts like Nunslaughter or early Morbid Angel to mind.

As I said, the cover reflects what the album is in the most vivid way, a morbid death metal ghoul with shackles strapped to its arms, screaming, suffering, urging to devour and contaminate. Unless your ears are well hardened for this sort of distorted production quality, I advise you listen to something rather raw before you listen to this, as every aspect of ''Pits Of Eternal Torment'' is raw and unpolished, the way it ought to be.  The riffs are thunderous and even groovy for some reason, and the the rapid current of vicious death metal never culminates, thus attaining great speed and velocity and at all times. The introduction track ''Morbidity'' kick the album off in a fast, thunderous and vicious manner, and thus the main material and essence of the demo is born right from the start. Although Morbidity is not primarily influenced by Swedish death metal, there is very thick and noticeable odor in the air that undeniably reeks of old school Swedish death metal. The deliverance of the riffs are also super sharp despite the muffled, distorting production quality engulfing it, there is a totally sinister, brooding atmosphere encircling the riffs that work they way through the thickest, most inundating sections of the atmosphere by cutting through it. The only complaint I can think of is that the demo is far too short to enjoy to the fullest, and the hopefully the arrival of a debut album.

Being so sharp and agile has scarcely sounded so downright evil and chaotic, and the modern old school Swedeath monsters Tribulation instantly come to mind, only they had a better production and thrashier riffs. The main basis of that evil sound that I praise so much comes from the chaotic riffing, the mangled production and the cavernous growls of the vocals, all three elements that are actually quite simple, but sound ultimately callous and evil once they collide and Morbidity even put a Nunslaughter cover song to indicate that they were influenced by such acts. Creative riffs with a substantial amount of groove, the sheer grisliness of the music which make your blood curdle and an excellent, sturdy delivery showing the band thrives in the art that they produce, the art of archaic death metal, lost and buried within centuries of mainstream insults and mockeries, yet know the night has returned and the caskets have cracked. The grave is readying itself, readying armies of monstrous ghouls and macabre entities that will soon awaken from their dreams and rise from their cemetery to besiege Earth and all things good and positive. Morbidity will most definitely take part in this most gruesome incursion, and lead the assault from the front line. Well done gentlemen, well done.

Highlights:
Let There Be Chaos
Morbidity
Pits Of Eternal Torment


Rating: 85%


More morbid death metal on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Morbidity/133630130030339

Katana-Storms Of War

Anyone acquainted with the current metal trends should know that that Sweden tops off many other rivals when it comes to producing the best material, and recently the great tide of Swedeath monsters have also been boasted by an additional force of traditional heavy metal bands, In Solitude, Portrait, Steelwing and Trial to be some of them. With so many bands forming an thick blockade, it would be naturally a hard task to surpass the quality of all the other bands, but Katana seems like a band that shows promise. I can't really scoff at the waves of traditional heavy metallers, even though they come in abundance and repetition is inevitable in each one of these bands, but lots of bands have tasty and fresh sound to them, rendering all the doppelganging almost useless. Katana is one of these bands. I haven't collided with their debut before, and I enjoy the more traditional, somber side of heavy metal more than this style, but Katana still manages to cut through your flesh.

Just the cover art, and the band name tells what Katana is all about. Samurai, Asian tales and wars and of course, the decisive slash of the katana. In each song, the band is obviously telling tales, and the story progresses thus gradually comes to a conclusion as the song ends. The stories are a good way to keep the listener entertained, so that he/she can swiftly channel between classic NWOBHM galloping chord sequences and soaring vocals as well as some classy shredding solos that never fail to garnish the music. I love that there's always something spiky, something dynamic around the corner. The riffs are composed using simple aesthetics, but they display substantial amount of groove and catchiness and they're hard-hitting effect is also backed up by the force of the vocals. The vocals principally act as a guider, a narrator to tell the tales picked up from the the seven corners of earth, but at the same time, they're a mighty force of their own, an ear-shattering experience once they're set to their max, and although I've heard many heavy and power metal singers that soar on top of their lungs and excel in epic, melodic moments, vocalist Johan Bernspang really stands out for some unknown reason. Naturally, the riffs have a hint of technicality even though it's nothing mind blowing, and headbang-friendly speed/heavy metal tremolo pickings pop up every once in a while, adding a refreshing ferocity to the music.

I don't know whether I can appreciate this form of traditional heavy metal to the fullest, but Katana definitely did a fine job, and many songs have a subtle diversity to them, giving the album color and aroma in a bountiful measure. For example, ''Wrath Of The Emerald Witch'' is one ridiculously catchy track in particular, having both versatile riffs and having an extremely memorable verse-chorus structure that even mainstream people can get a hang of easily, ''Khubilai Khan'' offers a more melodic sound with more epic moments rather than striking moments and I just can seem to stop listening to the vigorous bursts coming from the group vocal attacks on ''City On The Edge Of Forever'', a stimulating experience. Many people are probably engulfing themselves in the vast majority of Swedish death metal ghouls, or perhaps other heavy metal bands coming from Sweden, but heed my words, because Katana is a band that ought to be contemplated with. ''Storms Of War'' is a good album, and I hope Katana can conjure up even better material for the upcoming album, so that the katana's next blow will be more decisive, more deadly.

Highlights:
Wrath Of The Emerald Witch
Khubilai Khan
City On The Edge Of Forever


Rating: 84%

Follow the Swedes on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KatanaOfficial

Kill-Burning Blood

Due to the increasing number of war metal bands popping up, my Mp3 player is starting to fill up with more and more of these bands and my ears are starting to taste even better meals than before. What Kill offers on their album ''Burning Blood'' is simply nothing new, but all the great aspects of war metal are gathered in one package, and thus the pure essence of dark, chaotic, blasphemous black/death is renewed once again. I see many great bands slowly dwindling and dying with each release, and I also see a great number of bands emerging from the decrepit passages of evil black metal, and thus turning into the modern masters of black/death. Kill, is no doubt one of the flag bearers in this evil society and with ''Burning Blood'' they will show that the war metal world still lives, with all its strength and they'll also bring forth numerous other bands to rise from Sweden's underground metal scene, giving a big ''Fuck You'' to the massive death metal underground that never seems to cease (Not that I don't enjoy Swedeath).

''Burning Blood'' is a venomous chalice of pure corrupted black metal, the way the old schoolers did it. It's abundant in riffage as well as it keeps channeling through black and death metal, as some riffs may tend to focus on the opposing genre. The production on here, is not as raw as you'd expect it to be, yet the vocals have a somewhat sharp and a very provoking edge to them. They sound very close and very raspy, and during the climax of those hoarse screams and barks they add the raw feeling that the album seems to be missing. The cleaner production quality is no major deal to me, because too raw is a displeasing experience for me. Anyway, onto the riffs now. As I said, the riffs come in a huge abundance and they constantly fluctuate between death-laden and black-laden riffs. There's also a fresh thrashing energy added to the substance that gives ensures the listener that he/she will be in a headbang fest, and perhaps most of the clean ambiance comes from the invigorating feel of the freshly baked thrashy black metal riffs. Of course, the album is not at all that clean. The ending sequences of ''Veni Satana'', ''Poison Chalice'' and songs rich in similar styles have lots of atmosphere to them thanks to the frequent usage of classy, epic black metal tremolo attacks, enabling the album to maintain that wreathing and dense ambiance.

The riffs may all sound very similar, but once you take the time and inspect them closely, you'll see that they're varied just as they are diverse. All of the songs are ably composed and each link that binds the album together is forged exceedingly well, making ''Burning Blood'' one tough chalice that is simply not easy to refuse. Now, I'm not quite sure which songs to pick as highlights since all of them are great and there can only be a few winners, and even as I'm writing this review, my mind is constantly torturing me, forcing me to pick one song instead of the other. The black/thrashing madness that's present in tracks like ''Nails Of The Cursed Steel'' and the title track are extremely tempting at first, but then we have the engulfing atmosphere of ''Beckoning Grave'',  and even I put those aside I just can't deny the eleven minute epic ''Poison Chalice'', the ultimate numbing enterprise for black metallers. It's not easy to make a choice separately, but it's certainly no big job to accept the effectiveness of the blasphemous monstrosity that ''Burning Blood'' created, because every aspect that Kill made on this album is absolutely killer.

Highlights:
Desecration Temple
Kill
Nails Of The Cursed Steel


Rating: 87%


Kill on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thetruekill

Abysme-Strange Rites

Will Hellthrasher productions ever cease to deliver great old school goods? Well, for now, the answer is obviously no, because everything Hellthrasher offered this year was pure old school filthiness and Pennsylvania's Abysmes' lastest offering ''Strange Rites'' is no exception. Abysme are relatively new death metallers, and although their style may not be too intricate or mind blowingly original, they do the same mid-paced Swedeath worshiping just as good as the hordes of bands that worshiped before them. I can sense lots of doom influence in the turbulent mixture, so that the listener definitely gets an old school vibe, and the gut ripping chainsaw guitar tone is also set to its max. It's obvious that Abysme aren't savvy artisans when it comes to crafting their material, but by know you should know that it's quite possible to ignite a fire for a metalhead by creating simple, filthy and hateful music.

Abysme have extremely prominent Swedish metal tendencies in their music, and the tempos are quite varied, as stomping mid pace crushers all of a sudden burst into pulverizing tremolo picking mayhem, and then the heavy, intense riffing shifts smoothly into a sludgy death/doom dirge. All the tempo variation is really great since it captures the attention of the listener with every stroke, but the album channels between mid-paced grooves and doom laden mammoth riffs far more often than the flashier, more spacious and fast riffs. That doesn't necessarily make the album a doom album, but it shows that there's definitely a doom-oriented sound that's highly prominent and there's also a good number of Bolt Thrower-esque mid paced grooves, resembling ''The Fourth Crusade'' the most. In addition to the churning of these ponderous sludge oozers, Abysme can conjure up a vile and atrocious sound without completely overwhelming the guitar in a distorted tone and enshrouding the whole of the album with a dark, dense, chaotic atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, Abysme can add some atmosphere into the music, but the riffs are set to a more spacious and comprehensible mood, so you'll scarcely witness any inundating riffs on this album.

''Scribbled In Dust'' is a nice way to start off the album, a swift track with short length with some catchy, even groovy moments, mandatory for any Swedeath fan. The next track ''Beyond The Seventh Door'' has some Incantation tremolo picking sequences, and embraces the doom influence much more than the previous track. There are many, many compelling and hard-hitting riff to be found on the album, but you'll have to patient, as your search will need to get much more extensive as the album descends into an end. If you're not really the kind that likes to wait, then I can't say this album is very suitable for you. The people who like to wait, and flow as one alongside the album will get what they want, and complex or not, the chainsaw driven mid paced momentum of ''Strange Rites'' is a distinctive sound, a great attribute that highlights everything on this subterranean force of filthy OSDM.

Highlights:
Scribbled In Dust
Remarkable Conqueror
Annihilated Memory


Rating: 86,5%


More Abysme on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/abysme