Zombiefication - Reaper's Consecration

I remember vividly that once, before I was aware of this big Swedeath comeback, I searched relentlessly and tirelessly through the internet and through whatever useful sources I could find in order to exhume obscure Swedish death metal bands back to life, repeatedly listening to demos, EPs and numerous compilations with no real intention but to build myself up an abundant library of these Swedish doppelgangers that followed the same path as Dismember, Grave, Entombed, etc. Those were before I was acquainted with the gigantic Swedish death metal revival scene that started to dominate, and then plague the world ove rthe last three-four years. Don't get me wrong now, I still enjoy the buzz-laden guitar tone with copious chord hacks splintering the necks of many, but unlike my previous experiences, bands are now finding me, instead of me digging them out from the dust. And now, there so many bands that they almost seem impervious to kind of improvement, enhancement or distinction as the classic Swedish death metal overtone has settled deep in their hearts, solidified.

Mexico is definitely not the first place you think of when I say death metal, but bands like Toxodeth, Cenotaph and Mortuary were bands that I always had high regards for, and the current scene is also starting exploit better and better material, and yet, I still think Zombiefication is one of the most propitious bands I heard in the scene, not because they carve out utterly original distinct material but because they create some most accessible, heavy and well-balanced Swedish death metal. Zombiefication have been buttering their death metal for only three years, yet their quickness and productivity will affect their global success easily, it would seem. All the traits you'd want in your Swedeath ins pretty much, big, copious guitars with chunky, hefty tones overwhelming them, momentous chugs are eerie melodies bulging into the music at times, catchy chord progressions, and very slightly decrepit production quality, grasping a bit of that cavernous touch you'd always want in your sinister music. It's authentic in pretty much every way, but nuances still tend to be exploited every now and then, like the queer mid paced crunches and craving tremolo spams cutting through the dense, boxy production, as seen on the title track.

Besides its assorted offerings of subtle melodies, ''Reaper's Consecration'' is really not much a different listen than all the other Swedeath albums out there, but the good part is that it can at least keep the music fresh and spiky, vigorous and dynamic, yet the dark aura never leaves the metallic sphere that engulfs the EP. There are some brief moments where the album presents you some melancholic clean interludes, like the brusque breakdown on ''We Stand Alone'', which then alters right back into the aggressive form that it had taken two seconds ago. The drummer lays down some very intense and powerful beats as well, and the vocals have that monolithic, hollow edge to them, but again, this is stuff that I've heard many many times before. I can't really chide or doubt the formula of this EP, because everything is right there for you to see, yet, even though this is just another familiar ring in the ear, its blatancy is formidably enjoyable and the music crushing, so I think I'll just keep urging Zombiefication forward to produce some more for my pleasure.

Highlights:
Death Today, Dust Tomorrow
Necrohell
I Am The Reaper


Rating: 83%


Follow Zombiefication on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/zombiefication666

Corrupt - Slavestate Serenades

There's not much that could be said about Sweden's Corrupt. They started in 2002 as Corrupted and then with a sudden change, they altered their name to Corrupt in 2004, and after a good ten years, they've finally conjured up the material to strap together and form a debut full-length. Corrupt's style can be easily characterized as a simple gimmick of mid/early 80's bitter thrash style, drawing influences from mainly Kreator, Sodom and Celtic Frost maybe, with some occasional bay area violence snatched from Vio-lence, Slayer and Exodus. With it's basics channeling through territory everyone is acquainted with, you'll have no trouble comprehending ''Slavestate Serenades'', so much as you'll find it technical or sophisticated, but either way, it can still grant you a fun listen.

Oh, I've heard the similar intense drumming and generic chugging for a long time, as long as I've been familiar with metal, so there was really nothing new offered. Corrupt do tend to excel at fast, vicious thrash attacks of the most standard kind, I appreciate how the energy is raw and and not canned, with speedy riffs flying everywhere, but even the tone is bleak and relatively weak, so you won't be able to fully pleasure yourslef with the metallic chugs and all. ''Perjury'' and ''To What End'' are prime examples of the album's vicious, rapturous barrage of slashing riffs that attack like barbaric hounds without chains to bind them, and a ''Pleasure To Kill''/''Endless Pain'' influence has a strong dominion over the riffs during their assault. Even when the length of the tracks stretch, the vivacity is maintained and the music doesn't sound half as bad as the better ones, but all in all, I was scarce interested by the musicianship.

''Slavestate Serenades'' is not a tiring listen, though, and you'll be surprised how pleasing you'll find its one-dimensional look upon thrash. The riffs are as I stated, brawny and gormandizing in a muscular attitude at all times, but I've actually enjoyed the semi-cavernous, hoarse rasps of the vocalist, consisting of traits belonging to typical black/thrash suspects. In order to boast my theory of this being related to black/thrash, I'll also bring some of the sharper riffs and tremolo pickings found ''Era Of Terror'', or the completely propulsive exploitation savage riffs on ''Dwell In Disgust'', all simple attributes, but they resemble black/thrash all the same. Even though the compositions and song writing capabilities of Corrupt are clearly futile, their debut record will still hit you like a storming whip on the back, and while it's not wholly hefty, it's as piercingly cunning as an assassin dicing away flesh in the middle of the night.

Highlights:
Era Of Terror
Perjury
Possessed By Evil


Rating: 74%

Necrovation - Necrovation

Necrovation's humble beginnings showed no differentiation from all the other Swedish death metal bands that consumed the scene as they played a generic brand of old school Swedish death metal, complete with all the typical traits; buzzsaw guitars, chubby tones and hardcore-tinged crust attacks. But their self titled tide is no meager gimmick, and it almost seems as very few of the traits on the previous recorded have been bequeathed, and left me in confusion. ''Swedish Death Metal'' is an understatement for the eponymous Necrovation release, a dark, looming apparition born of the shadowy tides shown at the cover art, proving to be a magnificent churning of technicality, surpassing efficiency, crushing all the rules that were laid down by masters like Entombed, Unleashed or Grave, thus renewing the spirit of death metal as we know it, creating a fresh area for the genre to spawn and rejuvenate. Yes, it has only been four years in between two releases, yet the changes are dramatic, and it feels as if the band has aged near ten years.

Necrovation's self titled album is a major departure from their previous sound, so it's basically departing from the generic ''Swedeath'' territory as well. This album is eclectic, and you can notice that from its every move and from all the elements used to create its formula. I can name a vast array of influences that I found effective during the construction of the album; a strong feeling for the old sound is still present borrowing some attributes from Tormented and Tribulation especially, but besides those, there's a keen focus on some more technical details that many tend to omit such as ''Deception Ignored'' era Deathrow, hinted in the usage of queer notes and semi-technical melodies, showing a rather perverse attitude while compared to other Swwdish death acts, some Revenant slithering through the general flow of the record (especially in the vocals), and maybe even some Death circa ''Human'' as the flux of melodic thrums and solos often remind me of Chuck Shuldiner's blazing leads. These are some influences I could think of, but it's obvious that Necrovation have conjured their own sound besides those.

Atmosphere is not the right word to describe the spectral feeling that dominates you while the guitars and drums rage and collide in the background.  It's more of a feeling, a dark, gloomy feeling, but to make a long story short, it's beautiful, and sinister in the right way, without mutilating the function of the record. The guitar tone is something else on its own, thin, metallic, chilling, yet still maintaining density throughout; it cuts deeper than an executioner's blade, but it's lighter and swifter than needle while it plunges into the flesh of the listener.  It's no easy job to avoid the eerie rasps of the vocals, dispersing in a bleak, dark aura not over but in the back of the riffs, muffled and distorted yet still very vivacious and savage, no different than any sort of classic Swedeath vocal work. All in all, the technical prowess and togetherness of the music is perfectly balanced as each piece of the puzzle fits right in, and it is not feasible to construct such a dark monolith.

The level of queerness is parallel to the level of innovation and eccentricity, and whether it be the sudden changes of tempos, varied chugs, bizarre melodies engulfing the record or the most interesting piece of acoustic interludes and symphonic instrumentals found on ''The Transition'', these record is incredibly original and proficient, and in my eye, it's a collection of odd compositions embracing the bleak, dark aura of death metal, with lots of derivation, and it's near perfect. Such assorted diversity hasn't been offered to me by any band this year, and I'm extremely content with the brilliance of this album. A mixture of anxiety, confusion and wonder surrounds me while I listen to this. You will no doubt awe as I did, even if you won't like it.

Highlights:
Necrovorous Insurrection
Dark Lead Dead
Resurrectionist
Ill Mouth Madness (The Many)


Rating: 93%

Backyard Mortuary - Lure Of The Occult

''Occult'', may just be the term I need to describe this unsigned Australian five-piece, and this kind of dark, brooding death metal is something refreshing after getting slammed and devoured by dozens of Swedish death metallers.Backyard Mortuary do their best to avoid simple cliches, which is good news because  they're bringing some much needed contrast to the scene, and it's still entertaining to see a band bring up different old school aesthetics than the ones that are already reaching the point of over-saturation because Backyard Mortuary mash up more than a few bands together while forming their old school drenched formula. They're evil, sordid and primitive, heavily influenced by thrash metal savages like Kreator, Sepultura, Morbid Saint, much like the early 90's - late 80's extreme metal sound.

Backyard Mortuary are primitive and subdued, but they're not crude or wholly apart from technical issues. They're not entirely embracing atmosphere or anything like that, but they keeps their riffs rock solid and the guitar tone corpulent and boxy, and the thrash primitivism gets a few bonus chugs and stomps in there for additional crust and power, and once combined, the mixture sounds perfect. I'm feeling a little bit of Autopsy here with some Cannibal Corpse circa ''Eaten Back To Life'' and plenty of old school USDM elements are fashioned as well, but the most important aspect is that the record's drooling with evil, occult-laden filth, and that alone can make a very big difference. I see the much adored Swedish death metal sound is not snatched this time, not one bit as it's been replaced by other influences many will be very enthusiastic about, but at the same time, Backyard Mortuary inserts much of their own brand of old school death metal oddity into the mix, and that's the main reason I can't quite put my finger on influences and directly name a band.

Like most who spread a similar overtone of evil, ''Lure Of The Occult's'' anatomy is a riff laden barricade of cavernous savagery, meaning that the entire focus of the riffs is the same, crushing, desecrating and relentlessly pursuing with either rich thrash chomps of Incantation like tremolo merges, but with a hint of that Autopsy taste I mentioned earlier, a small outburst of sinister notes among the hefty crushers. All of the songs are longer than four minutes and majority can reach up to five or six minutes with two mega tracks; the seven minute punisher ''Mutation'' and the eight minute monolith of a song, ''Demon's Blood''. Groovy and semi-technical touches may adorn the most of the record, but doomy section a re prominent, usually reeking heavily of Asphyx with a similar chunky, full tone, doused with the occasional sprinkling of chaotic stench.

Backyard Mortuary proves to be catchier, faster and more entertaining than many other obelisks that stand and fight, while they could have, to my dismay, fought with a little bit more aggression and energy, fueling their blood. ''Macabre Butchery'' is a prime example of the formula I'm talking about. With a tiny bit of brutal death, sheer blasphemy and raw anger becomes a much more entertaining dish, and that's probably the main idea of the whole record. Ectovoid, Anhedonist, and now, Backyard Mortuary. The latest addition to my list of more ''inspired'' death metal bands of the year, and I'm adding these because their style is definitely engulfing and interesting, if not utterly innovative and surpassing in originality. Australia is gathering a mighty fine cluster of deathly old school death metal bands and they're growing each day--it won't be long before we're besieged by an army of these brain drilling monstrosities.

Highlights:
Macabre Butchery
Lure Of The Occult
Beyond The Grave
Mutation


Rating: 86,5%


Follow the macabre butchers from Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/backyardmortuary

Metal Minis #1 - Innsmouth/Mongrel's Cross - Uncanny

This is the first of the ''metal minis'' series wherein I will shortly review EPs or demos that I can't find much to say about. I will generally review two releases in each part of the series, though sometimes I may review more than two releases. It's really up to me.

The names up there in the title are not release names, but the names of the bands that have released the demo/Ep that I am to review. So now, I give you two fantastic bands:

Innsmouth/Mongrel's Cross - The Plutonian Drug/Starfire Communion [Split]

Here, we have a two way split done with two Australian bands; Innsmouth and Mongrel's Cross. Mongrel's Cross already impressed me beyond belief with the release of their debut full-length, ''The Sins Of Aquarius'', a filthy chunk of spiteful blackened death/thrash with tons of crust and cunning, but Innsmouth are a stranger to me, and if truth be told, the only reason I was drawn towards Innsmouth at first was because their name and content reeked of Lovecraft, and ''Shadow Over Innsmouth'' has to be one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. Books aside, Innsmouth play some seriously heavy, buzz-driven filthy Finnish death metal for the most part, and their brand of old school death metal is surprisingly catchy, melancholic and distorted. There's a heavy stench of Finnish death metal snatched from bands like early Sentenced, Purtenance, Convulse, Abhorrence and alike, flourished with a raw production tone,again, resembling the Finnish death metal bands. Mongrel's Cross also bend towards a more raw and blackened overtone, disposing of the heavy death metal influence that was present on the debut album and leaving dirty, crusty thrash with a chaotic black metal spice on top of it, just the way old schoolers like it. Innsmouth have enough material to make a full-length, and I'm already highly content with the Mongrel's Cross album, so we'll just have to wait while salivating over the thought of a new album.

Uncanny - Path Of The Flesh [EP]

Ah, yes. The Swedish death metal trend continues to spread across the circulatory system of the metal universe like an infectious disease, so common that many already show symptoms of the plague, but fortunately this time we have a band who's actually among giants like Entombed, Dismember and Grave as Uncanny had their debut album released way back, in 1994. So thankfully, they're not exactly imitating anyone, bu they're not exactly bringing fresh meat to the butcher either. Nonetheless, I have a substantial amount of respect of chainsaw oriented madness with the corpulent and copious guitar tone, and Uncanny are inserting a very good measure of groove into their music, sensationally pummeling the listener whilst driving neck towards the edge to destruction. It's frantic and it's still rotten, and even if you don't enjoy this sort of music that the current scene is plagued with, it's good to know that some purveyors of death are coming back from the graveyard dust to smack metalheads with a heavy current of old school Swedish filth. The Ep has only two songs, and it can still be counted as a departure from their former sound, but fans will enjoy it nonetheless.

Innsmouth/Mongrel's Cross: 8.50/10
Uncanny: 7.75/10

Altar Of Oblivion - Salvation

Doom metal is not something I often encounter, but when there's some good doom around, you can bet I'll be up for chunks of it. The last doom record that I found absolutely pummeling and earth shaking was Anguish's ''Through The Archdemon's Head'', a tantalizing brutalizer of a stomping monolith of an album, and it was dark, intense, intricate and massive, bestirred masterfully, and although these Danish doomers make their doom quite hefty and powerful, it still tends to differ with the huge traditional heavy metal influence lingering about. I'm mentioning Anguish because I found them incredibly effective but these two releases aren't necessarily parallel to each other. Anguish is dark and cryptic while Altar is much more epic and melancholic for that sense, and Altar manages to perfect the ponderous chugs while keeping the speed at a moving mid paced level, but Anguish inserts tons of cuts into their music, sounding sludgy rather than moving.

With five songs (in which one of them is a two minute somber interlude) ranging at thirty minutes, the ''Salvation'' Ep is more of an album than an Ep. I suppose they didn't bother searching for a more original album cover though I'm quite content with the huge cross amid the dark grey sky, seething bitter despair and sorrow as it stands there. As stated, Altar Of Oblivion explores the epic portion of doom metal, roots deeply  planted in the heart of the likes of Candlemass, Saint Vitus, etc. I just loved the combination of traditional heavy metal and epic doom metal, but I'm bot certain if it was the boxy, oppressing production quality that rendered the music so gravitating, or Altar's stellar execution, but either way, I can't seem to find anything in this to scoff at as subdued, mournful doom metal has always been something that I adored. Like most bands to enhance their music with that whole ''epic'' touch, the atmosphere becomes boundlessly cloudy and epic during the chorus sections, adorned with sparse and rich melodies coming from under. ''Salvation'' also has a crucial implement to support the music; a thick guitar tone much like the production quality, only even more crushing.

The great thing is, the moods and tempos are linked together so there's no sudden change of speed like other  [metal genre]-doom hybrids. This allows the album to move cautiously and sequentially, and the pace of the music is always kept low, channeling between mid paced chugs or completely drowning doom metal riffs. Well, at least for the majority songs. The title track gets a little bit more spunk at the back and keeps things fresher and faster than before even though it's still bound to the classic formula of the Ep with iron shackes and chains. The main idea here is obvious; Altar Of Oblivion implant tons of traditional heavy metal aesthetics into their enjoyable brand of epic doom metal, and while at basis their music is simply crafted and plainly garnished, it shows that both punishing crushers and melodies of sorrowful pulchritude can coexist at the same time. This doom, is true beauty and true traditional doom, a hefty slab of epic metal you won't forget so easily. It's impact is still palpable on me.

Highlights:
The Believers In The Mist
The Narrow Gates Of Emptiness


Rating: 86,5%

Follow the doom n' gloom masters from Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Altar-of-Oblivion/139296410507

Axevyper - Metal Crossfire

Most of the products that come from Italy may be stale and inorganic, but I'll admit, over the last few years, they've been housing scores of traditional heavy and thrash bands, and they just can't seem to stop. Seriously, it seems that most of the prime thrash/heavy countries are mostly out of material, it looks like Italy's starting to suck more and more fans towards their cheesy thrash/heavy masses. Axevyper isn't a completely new story, but they've incorporated chunks of happy power metal elements and USPM cheesiness into their Maiden-esque brand of heavy metal, no an exceedingly rare sight I must say. And even though brawny hippies alongside with armored lizard mutant fighting space vanguards with machine guns isn't the compelling cover that can exist, I still felt sublime relaxation flow through my body as the swayed and swaggered, and the groovy beats always made by head bob rhythmically.

I suppose it would be false to say that Axevyper make their formula up completely out of old school touches because a modern sound is dominant, blatant from the crystal clear production and subtle melodies urging into the music frequently, but ''Metal Crossfire'' does tend to surface the prime aesthetics of old school power and heavy metal. That being said, Axevyper experiments the cheesy face of power/heavy unlike many other who like to engage the listener with shadowy riffs, and the chorus sections usually overflow with ridiculous positive might, with sequential chords and melodies adding up to the previous in a chronological matter, following a build-up process for the most part of choruses. The good news is, the verse, break and pre-chorus sections (basically anything that's not the chorus) are vigorous and totally neck snapping, crunchy riffs exploding energetically. The epic side of things are explored quite often, leading to lots of harmonious semi-technical riffs and melodies, but in every moment you'll notice that intricacy was disregarded and the songwriting process wasn't at all that sweaty, all though I still have some admiration for the slightly messed up song structures.

Axevyper may stall you with arrays of harmony laden melodies and such, or they may keep the beat going and their wheels hot; it's really not up to us. All I can say that the offering was mighty fine and the delivery was robust, the melodies subtle and triumphant like some previously encountered bands such as Hyborian Steel and Wishdoom, and all in all it sums for a solid release, but I couldn't help but notice that it was still generic in a way and wasn't properly distinguished or clothed decoratively, and I felt the album's heart accent at seldom. It's far from climactic I'll give you that, but at the same time, let's not forget that simplicity can kick heaps of asses when it's properly composed, and I guess it's say to safe to say Axevyper's sophomore album is enough to make a small buzz in the metal underground community without completely being able to avoid plaguing cliches so many are infected with these days. It still made my bowels gurgle for more epic heavy/power metal.

Highlights:
March Of Metal Rockers
Crossfire
Heroes For One Night


Rating: 77%

Vattnet Viskar - Vattnet Viskar

I found Vattnet Viskar (meaning water whispers in Swedish) to be a very appropriate name for this atmospheric black metal act, and there are many reasons why I enjoyed it. I'm no resident black metal fan boy, and when I listen to it, I usually like it decorating my savage black metal, or my crusty thrash, or even on top of some doom for that matter, but this rapid increase of black metal acts all around the globe sort of forced me to give at least a few a listen, and Vattnet Viskar is one of my first bands in this experiment. In a way, this Ep omits everything I enjoy about black metal; the savagery, the chaotic outburst of evil, the blasphemous approach, but only leaves me with atmosphere, and shit loads of atmosphere at that. Vattnet Viskar is monotonous and drowning all the way, so maybe a relation with doom metal is considerable, and it's perpetual and miserable, in other words boundless and spiritual. It takes you through time and space and you feel as if you're on the edge of a cliff, slowly, somberly, falling.

Yes, it's that mystical and mesmerizing. Of course, it's blatant that even though the music is very passionate and convincing, it's not necessarily something new for atmospheric black metal fans. Surely, there's been scores of bands who have excelled in a producing a similar reservoir of chaotically enchanting riffs, and even if not, you've still got traditional black metal elements firmly attached to the music. It's deep, dense and you don't whether it's spacious or not, and it's numbing. The one thing that I really like about this sort of black metal is that with the atmosphere channeling into epic moods, the music naturally obtains a bleak and melancholic stance, which is thrived even further with the passionate complexity of the music underneath blankets of ambiance. The music is may actually seem simple because the band tends to often stay in one form for along time, with tremolos lingering about for a substantial amount of time, but the music is abstruse and complex. The doom influence, as I stated above, might be hidden amid the music, drowning and sinking them as they linger, though I'm not certain that this influence completely accurate. In addition, the raw production quality has a shaking impact upon the Ep itself, proving to be very powerful and influential upon the music. The guitars are muffled yes, but the drums are even more distorted and resonant, and the cymbals almost broken and delayed.

''Intention/Oblivion'' has to be my favorite track among three, mainly because its melodies are relatively more harmonious and somber than the other tracks. It also bestows a breath of fresh air onto the album, with its distinct, comprehensible features catching the spotlight immediately. ''Weakness'' descends to the lower sections of the fret board whilst carving out some melodious tremolo pickings, and it has an atmosphere boaster during the middle; synthesizers. The Ep is also adorned with some cavernous clean guitar interludes and breaks here and there.Vattnet Viskar's self titled Ep will pleasure black metallers much more than it pleasured me, but I still learned to like it, and it certainly is an artistic and flamboyant effort, and it shows that these black metal-less halcyon days will shortly be over as I start my blistering search for more.

Highlights:
Weakness
Intention/Oblivion
Barren Earth

Rating: 78,5%