Gatekrashör - Fear Of Attack

Ever get bored of the oppressive heft of atmospheric bands, or the devastating hammers that keep crushing your skull? Ever want something a little different? If you're up for something dynamic, fresh and extremely catchy, then I've got your answer right on my fingertips. Gatekrashör's new Ep ''Fear Of Attack'' is some 80's speed/thrash metal worship done right. As the current scene is being plagued by numerous bands that repeat the same style over and over, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find something that's actually original or enjoyable and easy to listen to. Bands are putting so much effort on the sheer intricacy of their music that they immediately forget that producing catchy, light and simple material is also crucial while writing compositions. Fortunately, bands like Gate Krashör, Infiltrator and Witchtrap are eager to bring pain to our necks by offering some top notch speed metal, the old school way.

Gate Krashör's frenzied incursion of lightweight speed/thrash is no stranger to the old school sound, and you probably aren't such a stranger to their sound, but by adding some lucid twists and sharp turns, they manage to bend their brand of metal for the perfect measure, rendering themselves to sound very comprehensible, yet ridiculously pleasuring and original. All The typical traits of speed metal are here, with a hint of that old school thrash metal evil put in.The first track ''Blastwave'' stands back for its first minute or two, right before exploding into a frantic speed metal assault, with bluesy chords and gallops, swiping the listener away into an undeniable headbang fest right away. The riffs may actually seem slightly muffled and cracked, but that's their charm as the production also offers the same shattered quality in order to boast the whole ''old school'' effect, which works perfectly.

I'm surprisingly content with the vocal delivery, because the vocalist doesn't tend to scream his lungs out, but he actually keeps his voice low with a few evil rasps coming and going with little frequency. The drums usually don't display anything worth bragging about, but I especially liked the beats on this Ep. They're clear, almost as audible as the guitars, and the drummer can really manage to create to amazing fills and attacks that work with ease alongside the galloping, groovy riffs. The riffs are usually all that you'd expect, straightforward tremolo pickings and galloping chugs, but they never cease to entertain me, and they're even flourished with sporadic technical fragments. Gatekrashör are for any kind of people, people who envy the 80's speed/thrash sound, people who love their speed metal, or people who're basically looking for something dynamic and spiking. If you too are on a quest to achieve similar goals, then Gatekrashör's ''Fear Of Attack'' Ep should be your premier destination.

Highlights:
Speed Metal Hammer
Blastwave


Rating: 84,5%

Resurgency - False Enlightenment

Yes, I know that Greece isn't really the first place you think of when I say death metal, and in fact Greece would scarce come to my mind since their metal scene is completely dominated by black metal usurpers and fiends, no that I'm complaining or anything. If I had just listened to the devastating music found of Resurgency's ''False Enlightenment'', then I would have easily taken this as an American or perhaps an Australian band, but Resurgency didn't even allow me to ponder the question as I was struck with an immediate bolt of lightening that took me far away from my thoughts within an instant. Perplexed and dazzled, I didn't know what to do at first, but a second incursion brought me to my feet and this time I was able to embrace it, and appreciate its monstrous manner of delightfully brutalizing old school death metal that took me with absolute shock an amazement.

For the likes of you and me, ''False Enlightenment'' is a thick, horrendous manacle that fits on your brain and your ears, chafing against it furiously as if intending to erase it. This is my second taste of death metal from the already fantastic record label Hellthrasher Productions for this month, and it's the better one, too. The sheer amount of brutality and heft found on this album is enough to outshine any brutal death metal album easily, yet segments of rotting, decrepit old school bowels and shattered bones that link the riffs together restrain the music, making slipping into the much despised form of death metal a very, very hard task. As the colossal manacles slowly crunch and batter into your head, you'll find it even more pleasuring to listen to this sturdy monolith, thus it will become increasingly difficult for you to dislike it.

While most of the riffs may seem somewhat bleak to many people, they're actually extremely enjoyable, and Resurgency is always sticking to a formula where similar riffs are played with queer elements spread out sporadically, and even though there is not much of an indicator to set riffs apart, they're all exceedingly robust and enjoyable throughout. Also, this album is probably another ''In your face'' to those who believe brutality holds no atmosphere. ''False Enlightenment'' is crude and dark as it's face pummeling, and the whole abysmal aura of the music is altered by swiftly shifting tremolo bursts that descend slowly, with ease and finally come to a certain perspective where they can change the position of the battlefield with one single stroke. The opener ''Craniums Of Slain Disciples'' is the first taste of horror and densely populated chaos for the listener with both its music and title, and the album gradually escalates in a crazed, yet patient manner, altering the direction only slightly with each track. ''Ending The Beginning'' starts where the previous opening track left, with dual guitars playing brooding tremolo pickings with nuances and pummeling grooves. The vocals are just as frantic and energy laden as the riffs, and monstrous barks and growls never seem to be far from sight.

For the first few tracks, the listener will enjoy a very good measure of blasting old school death metal, and on the fourth track ''Dark Revival'', things will start to differ. ''Dark Revival'' is just another crazed, chaotic slab of disorganized tremolo pickings jumping onto each other and the title track is the oddest side of the album yet. Title tracks are usually meant to be special, maybe not always good, but somehow different than other tracks with their own unique twist. The title track on here is both good and diverse as it shapes into numerous shapes during its four and a half minutes, channeling between mid paced Bolt Thrower grooves and morbid dirges adorned with melodic melodies that will no doubt call fans of Autopsy and Incantation to the banners. This album is dark, chaotic, and absolutely mind numbing. Not only does this record stand out as one of the best death metal releases of 2012 alongside ''The Chills'', ''Netherwards'', ''Excruciating Existence'' and ''Contragenesis'', but it also expands Hellthrasher's wings even further, enabling them to grab hold of quality bands with ease. A magnificent dedication to the eternal gods that shaped the genre of old school death metal as we know it.

Highlights:
Hideous Premonition
False Enlightenment
Where Despair Dominates
Psychosis


Rating: 90%


Follow Resurgency on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Resurgency/150010435055711

Ectovoid - Fractured In The Timeless Abyss

There are moments where I really question myself about why I dislike the whole metal scene today, and why I can't enjoy them to the fullest. Old school bands come in malicious hordes and decimate everything in their path, but there are also old school bands that love their atmosphere, and can incorporate the perfect measure of hard-hitting riffs into their atmospheric tendencies. I really didn't see Ectovoid coming. Hellthrasher productions are signing better and better bands every month, and I would have had no doubts about this band's quality had I known they were releasing an album. Ectovoid really has a short discography, consisting of just one demo and their full-length ''Fractured In The Timeless Abyss'', a subterranean obelisk of cavernous brutality. Yes, that's what these guys are all about. They bring so much nostalgia to the listener that it just strikes like a bolt of lighting, thunderous and effective.

At first, I questioned the Metal Archives for dubbing this as black/death metal, because all I heard was dense, doomy, even Incantation influenced death metal, swaying along a crude path with a substantial amount of groove. But as I listened with more care, I tiny details that adorn the blasphemous death metal power that the album already possessed. These tiny details I'm talking about are buried beneath a ton of hefty music going on above, and sometimes their dispersion isn't not spread out equivalently, but the main point is that these guys actually have a small amount of black metal influence around them, and that can only mean good news. The atmosphere is right there, and a dense current of ambiance is always supporting the riffs from the back, enabling them to go atmospheric as well. The album delves a lot into death/doom territory as well, a fine line of decrepit, sludgy riffs maintaining the the balance of the music. Black metal tremolo passages are incredibly common, but they're rather a resultant of Incantation and black metal riffs combined, exploding with a thick sound and some queer twists that happen to occur during the execution of the riffs. The vocals are also a shadowed mass, grisly guttural lows that fit into the music perfectly.

The leads on this album are almost none, but I do like the cavernous tinge of brooding melodies found on ''Locked In Dismal Gaze''. Most of the riffs are actually robust combinations of simple, mid paced chord progressions and Incantation-esque tremolo bursts. The most apparent aspect of ''Fractured Into The Timeless Abyss'' is its fair share of atmosphere and brutality and groove, thriving passion and moods more prominently than crushing sections which are usually sections that are commonly used in death metal. Sure, this may not be as cavernous or aura laden as say ''Netherwards'' or the maniacal demo by Hellige, but it does exclude an amount of sharp, piercing riffs in order to increase the dominance of the thick fog of timeless abyss surrounding it. Many typical headbangers may find the lack of crunchy, headbang friendly riffs as a big flaw though people who give more importance to musical quality will admire, if not enjoy the classy riffs and aspects created on this album. I now salute you towards your journey into the timeless abyss.

Highlights:
Shapeshifting Mass
Splintered Phantasm
Locked In Dismal Gaze


Rating: 88%

Mutant Supremacy - Rotting Season

There have been numerous death metal combos that adopt an thrashy, rather straightforward death sound into their old school basis, and as most of them were a deal of ''hit or miss'' for me, I focused more on bands who actually reflect passion and hate with their music with queer, tormenting formulas. Mutant Supremacy is just another typical crude death metal bands to evolve from the front rears of the grave and act as a very standard piece of death metal infantry. Bands like Writhing, Ad Patres or Ominous Crucifix are some bands that come to mind when I am to describe their brand of simplistic, yet still pulverizing death. Perhaps Mutant Supremacy does slightly differ from these bands as they tend to be more passionate and slightly more concentrated while writing their primal compositions. I heard this many times before, and I do mean many, yet for some odd reason, these guys are turning out to be more attractive then I would have imagined.

Perhaps people who've tasted their debut album ''Infinite Suffering'' may have had a better idea when they needed expect what was coming, but I was left almost completely clueless against what was about to hit me. The cover art and logo font usually tell a lot, and judging from decrepit skull infested with rotting maggots, I could tell that this was some crude, unpolished death metal, the way I liked it. I was actually correct with my answer, though only up to one point. While this reeked of old school stench, it's hooks and grapples didn't sink on me the way I had expected them to. There is almost a typical USDM sound in the riffs, and most riffs are just simplistic chugs and crushing breakdowns and stomps. A fairly enjoyable listen, but sadly not very bountiful when it comes to the originality department. ''Rotting Season'' offers the the same kind of grinding death metal chops with similar crunches all the way, but the intensity of the music is ineviable especially during ''Kill Without Question'' which is only a two minute impulse of furious riffs, or the title track, a frantic slaughterhouse, altered by the hellish screams of the vocalist.

With the whole Ep lasting no more than eleven minutes, you'll definitely be parting with the riffs sooner than you think. Obviously, 'Rotting Season'' lacks the efficiency of other great OSDM albums that are being released as we speak, just as they lack that morbid death metal feeling that should be a mandatory element for all. ''Memento Mori'' has its certain nuances, with a slower tempo and somewhat darker riffing guiding the music. Yes, its a decent track and it does help the Ep gain some variation, but that's all. This a solid release, but only because its lack of length kept the listener interested and the music fresh. Mutant Supremacy are probably aiming for a second full-length, they have to something about the quality of their music NOW. As far as the Ep goes, though, I had little complaints, and I actually enjoyed this raunchy monolith in its way of reflecting simple, catchy death metal with little loss in vivacity.

Highlights:
Rotting Season
Memento Mori


Rating: 75%

Shroud Of The Heretic - Boiled To Death

The blasphemous cover art should already reflect much of SOTH's music if you're a complete stranger to the band. An angry mob of crazed heretics wickedly boiling an innocent human being, and hate, dread and blasphemy altering the night. What ''Boiled To Death'' is, is actually something that offers some contrast and diversity to the listener instead of just robust worshiping of popular sounds which is also never a bad thing. SOTH have Incantation at the base of their music, but the inner depths of their music is far more complex. You'll notice a huge amount of atmosphere and ambiance swarming and encircling the album, and much of the evil feeling of the riffs come from the great deal of Portal and Blasphemy worshiping. The riffs are confusing and even dazzlingly chaotic, plus these guys can incorporate a good amount of groove into their music, coming from the chainsaw driven incursions of old school Swedish death metal guitars. An exceedingly tasty, yet forlorn feast.

Yes, the riffs are laden with crawling and ghastly hooks that are no doubt very chaotic and distorted, but the main thing that drives the black/war metal influence towards excellence is the incredibly low, dispersing delivery of the guttural vocals. I hear some Pillard in there, but mostly they're pure, rotting war metal vocals that could have easily fitted bands like Blasphemy, Archgoat or Revenge. The riffs really do shows a ton of variation and contrast during the Ep's thirty-five minute lifespan, which is by the way unusually long considering there are only six tracks on the Ep, each clocking near or more that six minutes. For people who aren't used to the grisly, raw nature of death metal, this may be quite a tormenting experience, but for people like me, this things is an eternal riff fest, laden with deliciously evil riffing all around. As I stated, the Incantation influence lingers on pretty much every track, showing prominence with thick, down tuned tremolo chugs an ponderous drum-guitar chokes, but there are songs where the other influences have their moment of glory and outshine the others.

''Frigid Waters'' is as evil as it can be, and what's more is that it's garnished (or should I say distorted) with infectious Swedeath grooves and particularly faster riffs, with lots of sharp turns and decisive blows, it stands  as a stellar track. And even if tracks show variation, I can't really be picky with them and choose several highlights as the whole Ep acts like a whole. If I had to choose stand out tracks, however, I would, but it would be no easy task. The accessibility that you can attain even through that thick, shadowy atmosphere is amazing, and SOTH can do something that many have failed to achieve, thus, even though this may seem eternally numbing and very futile in the energy department, the sharp delivery of the riffs capture the listener's attention right away, and won't let go of it without a fight. This is a very good mixture of black and death metal, and the correct way to dub it would be to call it blackened death metal, as it leans more of the death side. For fans of revolting and blasphemous death metal that's chaotic and doomy as it's cryptic, then this should be damn near an essential considering the current metal scene.

Highlights:
Frigid Waters
Womb Of Darkness
Mourn


Rating: 86%

Inverloch - Dusk|Subside

During the early 90's, hordes of Australian black and death metal bands spread chaos and fear all across Australia. Even now, their presence is feared, but on one side there was a band called dISEMBOWELMENT, who really changed the way funeral doom was heading. Many filthy Fins and New Yorkers were working with similar tricks, but the mighty ''d'' was the first band to create such depressing doom metal, heavy, gloomy and brooding, additional strong death metal overtones. Almost twenty years after the release of the drowning release that changed doom metal, ex two members of dISEMBOWELMENT reform along with a fresh crew of three, and together, they urge to re-create the monstrosity that was created before them. Inverloch play in the exact vein of ''d'', and thus they enable the restoration of disemboweling funeral death/doom once more. Welcome.

Obviously, all the tracks are gloomy and sludgy beyond belief, and too keep the listener sucked in, brooding melodies vaguely appear and disappear, while the meat grinding heavy rhythms infinitely flow and crush anything in their path. The music is atmospheric and very, very desolate, just as it's meant to be. Since this is an Ep, Inverloch offer no more than three songs, and although they have great length, they are just not long enough to build up for a brain-drilling experience. The first song ''Within Frozen Beauty'' is a crushing dirge of unpolished, suffocating death metal, its fantastic array of drum beats and its tremendous arsenal of riffs is a devastating bonus for the Ep from the start. The following track, ''The Menin Road'' slows things down even more, and generally focuses on atmospheric sequences guided by sinister melodies, all played an a turtle's pace. I'd say the main weakness of this track is that it doesn't have sufficient material and adequate density to keep the listener interested throughout, and there too many spacious sections where the only sound you'll hear is a faint glow, slowly dwindling and dying.

Yes, this funeral doom and you need to keep the speed at a turtle's pace for the most part, but unless you gave something to fill those spacious gaps, then the listener would be bored, rather than immersed. ''Shadows Of The Flame'' is also a fine track, sounding like a combination of the previous tracks. The starting sequences are the perfect funeral death/doom riffs with that classic brooding melody swaggering on top, the middle section is just a flurry of crushing down tuned death metal tremolo madness, just like the first track, and the concluding segments end a bit like like the previous track, faintly, with little emotion and even less energy. I love how Inverloch easily slip into doomy riffs from crunchy chops, and the breakdowns are also quite excellent. Although their glow may not be very strong at the moment, Inverloch can surely grip on to that ancient sound that dISEMBOWELMENT, and pull themselves further above. For fans of fatiguing funeral doom metal with sharp death metal influences, this a very nice find indeed.

Highlights:
Within Frozen Beauty
Shadows Of The Flame


Rating: 84,5%


Inverloch on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/InverlochOfficial

Hellige - Demo

There are just so many demos popping out that I just can't keep up with their speed, and even though most of these demos are mostly pretty mediocre, and stand as just terribly standard, there are a few finds that you'll discover that will cheer you up and give you strength to continue your conquest. Hellige's so called ''DEMO'' is to be taken seriously and with great precaution, for the monstrosities that this demo possesses can be eternally numbing. Among tens and thousands of mediocre thrash and death metal demos I finally come across this mega demo, an oppressive monolith of haunting decrepitude, a cavernous monolith that represents all things abhorrent and all things depressive, sending tremulous waves of shattering evil and oppression through its spiral vortex of subterranean power. No, this is not a death metal demo. Nor is it a thrash metal demo, or black metal demo. What Hellige created on their misery laden effort is something that you just do not come across easily, and the execution is stunning, shunning all others who have tried yet failed miserably at this task.

Hellige combine black and doom metal, the most extreme genres of extreme metal in my opinion, and it holds such strength and such insanity within itself that it's an absolutely troubling task for me to explain with words, let alone explain it by writing. This is transcendental black/doom. Hellige have perfectly bestirred the darkest, most abysmal aspects of both genres and they have eagerly pursued the music until it reached its uttermost peak in evil, oppression and heft. This demo's burden consists of two essences for the main part; the atmospheric, haunting feel of black metal, a looming lament of despair, obviously borrowed by acts like Darkthrone, or Burzum and even recent groups like Vattnet Viskar or Obolus, and the crushing, most depressing force of doom metal soaked in a deep, dense liquid that intensifies everything that is possesses. I've heard a very similar drowning aspect on Helvetron's latest album, and the mighty obelisk ''Netherwards'', produced by the death/doom act Anhedonist, but even if we consider these mutants were both excellent in every way possible, the eternal, fathomless crater opened by Hellige manage to surpass these records.

And just like the records I mentioned previously, Hellige drown the listener within a chaotic hole, while sludgy black metal chords slowly inundate, then grind and gnaw. The expression on your face after you experience this album is priceless, and I doubt face expressions will be the only thing that will change after you hear the demo. Demo. What an unnecessary way to call this an album, while it obviously is, consisting of  forty minutes of sheer brain crushing black metal devastation, with a fine yet murky production quality engulfing it. The guitar tone is as twisted and cavernous as it can get, incredibly hefty and blunted, and the vocals are similar to what you would hear on a typical black metal record, eerie rasps that echo and then slowly become one with the hollow monolith. Thus with that eerie, raw touch they have, their importance in the demo's efficiency is no doubt crucial.

Just cause I dubbed this as black/doom doesn't mean that its exactly the mixture of traditional doom and black metal. The doom influence is a drowning mixture that you scarcely hear on traditional doom albums, and perhaps a bit like the hefty impacts on Paul Bearer's most recent album, and the black metal sound is swarming array of splintering arrows, callous and diverse. I also mean to brag about the excellent usage of clean guitars swaggering drowsily upon the distorted black metal chord sequences as their execution is perfect an they're used in pretty much all the riffs, drowning slowly into the dense mixture, much like the vocals. ''The Rotten Waste'' has to be my personal favorite among the other three tracks that encircle it. It's beginning is not dissimilar to the other tracks, but the vocals have interesting guttural death metal twist to them that garnishes the riffs, and towards the ending sequences thousands of power laden riffs start ignite around the inundating riffs and slowly take over the song--until a blood chilling acoustic interlude enters the cavernous aura, only to be ceased by the atmospheric assault of the black metal tremolo pickings and planting an entirely different mood into the music within mere seconds. The last two tracks lean more towards the doomier side of things, disposing of the rare increase in speed that was present in the first two tracks.

I'll follow any band which follows pieces that Hellige carves out, and I'l follow them to the death. This tops everything that has been released so far and crushes so much more, opening new gateways to metal and also showing that small things can achieve huge things. Although I loved this four track masterpiece, I must admit that I won't be listening to frequently. This a drowning vortex that can suck me whole before it's even concluded, and even if I had the strength to bear the its crushing calamity for a few spins, I'll suffer terribly afterwards. Therefore, I offer this to people who have built up their stamina for such cavernous releases, inhuman releases almost as they swallow what is in front of them whole with no hesitation and this will be ranked as both the most tormenting and the most sorrowful release of the year. This mournful manifestation of heft and darkness is not to be missed, for the ones who can bear it, of course.

Highlights:
Degraded To Mortals
Rotten Waste
Obnubilum


Rating: 95%


Free download of the demo: http://helligearg.bandcamp.com/

Goatwhore - Blood For The Master

Goatwhore have been carving out monstrous black/since they emerged, and their latest offerings lean towards a more accessible thrash metal sound. Goatwhore really started as a pretty blasphemous war metal band, perfectly playing in the vein of Blasphemy, Bestial Warlust, Conqueror and Archgoat who have also been following a very similar path alongside Goatwhore, but their previous album and this build up total adrenaline undeniable power, enabling the music much heavier, and much more accessible. It's almost as if the uncontrolled brand of war metal has been fit into thrashy apertures that were carved out and with each release this crater grows and grows, thus effecting the path of the music even more. While for people who consider the bestial black/death sound this may not be very fitting, but in general the crushing thrash influence is one huge step up for Goatwhore as it adds additional chaotic elements to the music, emphasizing the diversity and straightforward force of the record.

Goatwhore have obviously parted from their original sound on this record, and it shows with every single aspect of the music, even the production has now turned into a spacious area that supports extremely robust riffing and decisive strokes of black/thrashing atrocity. As I said, this departure can only bring new and fresh faces to the music, though Goatwhore suffices with only a small dose of various twists. These guys have been dubbed as black/death, can hear that easily on their earlier recordings, but on ''Blood For The Master'', I'd say the death metal influence acts like a link, a chain that binds the elements together and gathers them up under one roof. While normally you'd hear outrageous tremolo pickings and absurd death/doom sections, Goatwhore sprinkles healthy doses of death metal upon the black and thrash metal influences that the album has a wide rage of. So, ultimately, the death metal attributes end up scattered around pretty much every aspect of the music but as an aura rather than a solid material that you could feel with your hands. In other words, there is no death metal riffing on the album, but the guttural growls and straight up, raw, carnivorous attitude of the album explains everything.

Otherwise, the album is dominated by riffs that come near to what we would dub as black/thrash. I hear lots of Desaster here and maybe some Destroyer 666, especially during the flurried, chaotic incursions of the likes of ''Collapse In Eternal Worth'' and ''Parasitic Scripture Of The Sacred  Word''. The thrash influence is so prominent that you may even get a Sodom vibe from the music, and most of that comes from the intense croaky rasps that sound a lot like Tom Angelripper. Some songs and some riffs tend to take a black metal color as they are generally rich in depressing and melodic black metal chord and tremolo sequences. ''Beyond The Spell Of Discontent'' is such a track, it adopts that straightforward black metal sound in a much more strong way than other examples, but all songs emblazon with an intense punk attitude, savage, wild and brutal beyond belief. Each track holds a compelling force that could even fend off a charging rhino if need be. Although these blasphemers don't bring anything extremely fresh on the table, the spiking feel that listener experiences with each track is one way trip to ''Break-a-neck'' land, and the constant fuel of contempt and hate seems almost infinite. Goatwhore surpass any black/thrash (well almost a black/thrash album) record that I've heard this year, and now,since they've proved themselves for the fifth time, they can safely install themselves upon the throne of darkness, blasphemy and atrocity. The master is thirsty, and ''Blood For The Master'' puts an end to its voracious thirst.

Highlights:
Death To The Architects Of Heaven
In Deathless Tradition
Parasitic Scripture Of The Scared Word


Rating: 90%