Review: Cytotoxin – Nuklearth

Review by Sandre the Giant

For fans of the likes of Hour of Penance or Beneath the Massacre, the 4th album from Germany’s Cytotoxin, ‘Nuklearth’, continues their obsession with potential nuclear holocaust, and the way the world is going right now that wouldn’t be the worst way to finish 2020… It is out now through Unique Leader Records.

The immediate downpour of double kicks and brutality that drowns opener ‘Atomb’ is a perfect encapsulation of the kind of crushing death metal that Cytotoxin will drop on us all. A vast mortar campaign of tech death riffing, inhuman growls and brutal low end will leave nothing untouched by its devastation. Cytotoxin concentrate on big thick riffs on tracks like ‘Soul Harvester’, which seemed designed specifically to wreck your neck. They blend the fret wizardry of tech death with the slamming heaviness of brutal death and yet cannot realy be classed as either. Skillfully dancing the line between the genres with hard hitters like ‘Coast of Lies’ and the fucking pit destroyer ‘Quarantine Fortress’, ‘Nuklearth’ is a record with a lot to enjoy.

When you feel like death metal is startng to disappear back in time to the ‘old school’ days a little too much, along comes someone like Cytotoxin to smash those thoughts away with a cutting edge death metal record that drops jaws and breaks faces with punishing modernity. ‘Nuklearth’ is yet another triumph for this remarkably consistent and totally underrated band. Long may they continue putting the fear of fatal irradiation into us all.

https://www.facebook.com/Cytotoxinmetal/

https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/

https://uniqueleader.com/

Review: Gride – Hluboká temná modř

Review by Sandre the Giant

Legendary Czech powerviolence/grinders have been annihilating eardrums since 1996, and their new EP ‘Hluboká temná modř’ is no different. Translating to ‘Deep Dark Blue’, the ultra menacing album art captures the feel magnificently, and this release also continues material from their 2014 split with Sidetracked and their 2009 split with Thema Eleven. It is out now through L’inphantile Collective.

If you’ve come across Gride before, you know what to expect. If not, let me just let you know that this is 18 songs in 28 minutes, and is an incredibly intense experience. Opener ‘Věčná válka s hmyzem’ hits like a bomb, twisting bass lines propel chaotic guitar riffs and a rabid, punkish vocal performance just ramps up the carnage. The whole record is an absolute blast fest, with each song bouncing into another like bullets on a Middle Eastern oil field. Explosive tracks like ‘Nesem si v sobě smrt’ and the vitriolic ‘Přijdu hned’ are just a few examples of the kind of rampant violence exuding from everything. The new material is excellent, and tracks like ‘První Minuta Zbytku Tvýho Života’ and ‘Volání divočiny’ from the previous releases really give you a taste of how long Gride have been slaying this fucking genre.

‘Hluboká temná modř’ is an album for those who like their music chaotic, powerful and straight to the point. Gride leave little to chance, providing some much needed carnage in today’s world of fire, death and disease. ‘Hluboká temná modř’ is the injection of poison we all kinda need right now.

https://www.facebook.com/Gride-182120031803322/

http://www.neonarcis.com/

https://gride.bandcamp.com/album/hlubok-temn-mod

Review: Bloodfeast Ritual – Altars of Sacrifice

Review by Sandre the Giant

If you like your death metal a little bit more of the shred-tastic sides of things, and are sick of all these ‘old school’ bands, then Bloodfeast Ritual’s debut EP ‘Altars of Sacrifice’ might just be for you. Coming hard on the Arsis/Black Dahlia Murder side of things, these Los Angeles dudes are tearing it up. This is out now self released.

Opener ‘Grave Fodder’ is full of spiralling guitar melodies whirling round a hurricane of death metal fury, complete with virtuoso soloing and a certain catchiness that is not easy to nail without sounding twee. ‘Eternally Molested by the One Most Foul’ is just a great song title, as well as having a lot of fiery leads under the bonnet too. Bloodfeast Ritual specialise in that kind of death metal designed to ignite pits and break necks. ‘No More Room in Hell’ drops into guttural breakdowns briefly before tearing your soul apart with a beautiful solo, while the thrashy ‘Chopped Up and Burned’ takes you back a bit towards prime Deicide or Hate Eternal.

The mix of shredding brutality and classical guitar work here is a reason that Bloodfeast Ritual have really go something going on on ‘Altars of Sacrifice’. It is a true love letter to the genre in its myriad forms, and Bloodfeast Ritual have the chops to pull off a variety of styles to really uphold the traditions without losing their modern edge. Check it out

https://www.facebook.com/bloodfeastritual/

https://bloodfeastritual.bandcamp.com/

Review: Expunged – Expunged

Review by Sandre the Giant

If I had to take a wild guess from the cover, I think these guys probably like Entombed a bit. Canada’s Expunged have released their debut EP this year, self titled of course, through Hells Headbangers and it is a fine blast of death metal goodness.

Opener ‘Disposed in Chaos and War’ races from the starting blocks, rampant Swedish death riffs, belching growls and a powerhouse drumming performance helps bolster their credentials immediately. It turns into a big chuggy beast of a track which is brilliant, followed by the crushing ‘Melting Flesh’. Expunged have decided to forgo any attempts to be overly technical, or subtle for that matter, and have concentrated on writing some of the most straightforward death metal around. No bad thing in this world, especially when you have songs like ‘Putrefying Mind’ and the staggeringly brutal ‘Dark Age Crusade’ to compete with. Expunged just fucking get it, they know what they’re doing and they do it so well you’d be forgiven for wondering if these guys have been doing this for 30 years.

I’ve said repeatedly over the years that bands don’t have to reinvent the wheel, they just need to be good at what they do. You could argue that Expunged are a little derivative of their chosen influences. Or you could not be a cunt and just bang your fucking head to some seriously great death metal and enjoy life a little more. ‘Expunged’ is definitely worth your time.

https://www.facebook.com/expungeddeathmetal/

https://expunged-canada.bandcamp.com/album/expunged

http://www.hellsheadbangers.com/

https://hellsheadbangers.bandcamp.com/

Review: Siege Column – Darkside Legions

Review by Sandre the Giant

I reviewed Siege Column’s debut full length ‘Inferno Deathpassion’ a few years ago here, and was wowed by the ferocity of their filthy, d-beat death metal assault, and so their new record ‘Darkside Legions’ is something I’m looking forward to. It has just come out right now on Nuclear War Now Records!

The crusty riffing of opener ‘Devils Nights of Hell’ is a perfect introduction to their sound; lo-fi and murky, they come from a time where genre definitions were a lot rougher, and the death metal was a lot thrashier. Inhuman growls roar over rampant violence, like the unstoppable ‘Echoes from the Underworld’ or the carpet bombing intensity of ‘Snakeskin Mask’. That isn’t to say that the whole album is just balls to the wall crushing speed and violence, there is the more measured menace of ‘Funeral Fiend’ that feels like some prime Autopsy. The unholy black vomit of ‘Gloves of Fire’ is probably my favourite track here, with a particularly grim vocal performance

If you like your death metal raw, crusty, thrashy and/or murky, this is the shit for you. Siege Column have no desire to impress you with flash or technicality. They are here to pummel your soul into the earth. Who can resist that?! Not me, although for the record I did not try, I just opened the door to Hell and through they came…

https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/darkside-legions

https://www.facebook.com/NVNMprod/

https://www.facebook.com/nwnprod/

Review: Pale Mare – II

Review by Sandre the Giant

Canada’s Pale Mare have been around for about five years now, and their newest EP ‘II’ is a continuation of the work they’ve been doing building some great modern sludge doom. They’ve supported a litany of icons on Canadian shores, including Satan’s Satyrs, Windhand and the mighty EyeHateGod, and you can feel their influences here. It is out now through Seeing Red Records worldwide and Ancient Temple Recordings in Canada.

Thr crushing rumble of opener ‘House of War’ is juxtaposed with some nice clean melodic notes, and the driving Kylesa-esque verses have a powerful thrust behind them. Pale Mare have that early sludge doom feel about them, you know ‘Red’-era Baroness or ‘Remission’-era Mastodon. Before more psychedelic and progressive natures took them away from the muddy core of the style. Pale Mare have that in droves, but with a penchant for melancholic melody too. There’s a lot of High on Fire chugging through the thunder of ‘Zealot’, and while Pale Mare stick rather solidly to the genre traditions, their commitment to the weighty riffing leaves you quite satisfied. Weighty riffing is also the perfect term for the stony brutality of ‘Voidgazer’, a hefty piece hewn in Neurosian rock.

Closing with the epic ‘Remains’, which is basically what post metal sounds like if it is filtered through a sludgey filter then injected with a copious groove, Pale Mare’s second EP is a triumphant exercise in barebones heaviness. ‘II’ is four tracks of massive riff worship, with just the right amounts of melody and atmosphere to elevate it.

https://www.facebook.com/PaleMareBand/

palemareband.bandcamp.com

Review: Incantation – Sect of Vile Divinities

Review by Sandre the Giant

First published here: https://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/incantation-sect-of-vile-divinities/

As a good friend of mine once said, there’s death metal and then there’s Incantation. As a band who are responsible for eleven great albums and at least five stone cold genre classics, it isn’t always easy to find anything else to say about then other than it’s FUCKING Incantation and you need to prepare yourself for some dark and dense death metal greatness. Their newest, ‘Sect of Vile Divinities’ is out on the 21st of August through the venerable Relapse Records.

The straightforward and streamlined steamroller of ‘Ritual Impurity (Seven of the Sky is One)’ provides an instant reminder of how potent the songwriting has always been in Incantation. Sure, the smothering murk that often accompanies their greatest moments isn’t as immediate, but the pacing and soloing is impeccable, and when ‘Propitiation’ arises from the blackness, the uncomfortable miasmic crawl is back, ready to absorb everything beneath it. There’s a certain elegiac beauty to this track, before the devastating battery of ‘Entrails of the Hag Queen’ bulldozes its way forward with the kind of bassy rumble you want in life.

But there is definitely some of their almost iconic murk and filth missing on this album. It feels like the band decided “let’s see what all this songwriting sounds like when we haven’t drowned it in mud”. To their credit, it almost works on tracks like the crawling crush of ‘Unborn Ambrosia’ or the rabid snarling ‘Chant of Formless Dread’. I can’t lie and say I don’t miss it a little bit though. It’s great they tried something a little different, but Incantation should make you feel like that lad’s horse in The Neverending Story. No, not the bit when it turns out it’s really ok. The bit where the life is slowly drowned out of you by unconquerable slime.

But if I’m going to bemoan the fact that Incantation sounds a little too clean here, I must admit that ‘Sect of Vile Divinities’ is still stunning and a definitive death metal album of the year contender. There’s a new appreciation to be found for their swaying, sickening doom riffing style that doesn’t always shine through the muddier productions. The band feel as vital now as they ever have and cleaning up their act has, if anything, unleashed a new virulence. The bestial ‘Furys Manifesto’ and the funereal dirge of ‘Scribes of the Stygian’ are just examples of how the old guard can still put all young whippersnappers to shame when asked, and Incantation continue to prove themselves an essential cog in death metal’s history, and its future.

https://www.facebook.com/IncantationOfficial/

https://www.incantation.com/

https://store.relapse.com/

https://incantation666.bandcamp.com/album/sect-of-vile-divinities

Review: Draghkar – At the Crossroads of Infinity

Review by Sandre the Giant

I’ve reviewed a couple of Draghkar’s releases on the Killchain before, here and here, but ‘At the Crossroads of Infinity’ is actually their debut full album, and it has just come out on Unspeakable Axe Records. This is the kind of murky death metal fury that fans of Incantation or Autospy will lap up.

Opening with ‘The First Death’ was a good call, with its murky virulence feeling like the perfect encapsulation of today’s nightmarish hellscape. A smothering, rabid guitar tone thrusts and stabs at your mind while the cloying production adds a nice swampy feel. ‘Beyond Despair, the Dawn of Rebirth’ is thunderous, with those dark melodies you normally find reserved for Finland’s deathly hordes. Some of them disappear into a little atonal territory which adds tremendously to the unease you can expect here. ‘An Erosion of the Eternal Soul’ is the album’s monolithic centrepiece; a seismic tour de force through rumbling doom, rampant death metal classicism and even a little heavy metal soloing virtuosity.

Whilst savaging their way through death metal’s finer elements with a muddy, ravaging glee, Draghkar’s sharp songwriting is always at the fore. The galloping, cavernous roar of ‘Pursed by Black Forms’ is a triumph, as is the towering sweep of the epic closing title track. ‘At the Crossroads of Infinity’ is an album that is both excellent on first listen and is complex and subtle enough to warrant repeated plays to really appreciate some of the finer work at play. Highly recommended!

https://www.facebook.com/DraghkarBand/

https://draghkar.bandcamp.com/

https://unspeakableaxerecords.bandcamp.com/album/at-the-crossroads-of-infinity

Review: Defeated Sanity – The Sanguinary Impetus

Review by Sandre the Giant

If you know brutal death metal, you will be intimately familiar with Defeated Sanity. Ploughing a devastating furrow since 1993, it took over ten years for their debut ‘Prelude to the Tragedy’ to appear, but they haven’t rested since. ‘The Sanguinary Impetus’ is the band’s sixth full length, and their first in four years. It is out now through Willowtip Records.

‘Phytodigestion’ ravages your speakers with uber complex riffings, devastating vocal brutality and an almost inhuman drumming performance. As an opener to an album, it is difficult to ask for much more. Dissonant and jagged, it is a perfect example of how you could never accuse Defeated Sanity of resting on their laurels. At times playing with an almost mathcore level of disdain for time signatures and melody, songs like ‘Imposed Corporeal Inhabitation’ and the nuclear riffing of ‘Entity Dissolving Entity’, you’d be hard pressed to keep up. The void scraping crush of ‘Arboreously Transfixed’ is a monster, while the last duo of ‘Drivelling Putrefaction’ and the relentless oppression of ‘Dislimbing the Ostracized’ are both a lot longer than the rest, and give the band time to flex their creative muscle.

At a nice, tight 33 minutes, Defeated Sanity prove once again that their way is best, as ‘The Sanguinary Impetus’ is an album of jaw dropping technicality, earth shaking brutality and incredibly satisfying reliability. Defeated Sanity could write albums like this in their sleep now, but it is always a great feeling when those albums turn out to be even better than you originally imagined. Classic.

https://www.facebook.com/DefeatedSanity/

https://defeatedsanity.bigcartel.com/

https://defeatedsanity.bandcamp.com/

https://www.willowtip.com/bands/details/defeated-sanity.aspx

Review: Kavorka – Internal Rituals

Review by Geary of War

‘Internal Rituals’ is the debut album from Iceland’s Kavorka, which is not quite a concept album but thematically approaches mental illness and substance abuse. It was self released by these desert rockers back in March.

Opener ‘Juggernaut’ opens with the fuzz and twang which is familiar to those fans of desert rock (I really do not like the stoner rock term at all), with the vocals delivered in that classic gravel throated way. ‘The Cadavers’ kicks you hard with a great turn of pace with hooks for days. ‘Black Halo’ is cut from the same cloth and features some excellent dual vocals. However it is also where the limitations of the main vocals come into focus. When it is the lead vocals only the lyrics are delivered in groups of three or four words before the last word is drawn out in the same way as it has been on all the album. It is more shouting than singing or a classic vocal performance. Once you hear the pattern and tune into the tone of the delivery it grinds away at your sanity. Which, I suppose, is appropriate given the theme of the album.

More of the dual vocals are present here, which despite my observations above on the main vocals, does work well as a contrast for the softer, cleaner secondary vocals. ‘Wino’ shows a band who musically can keep it fresh while maintaining their signature sound. ‘Great Peril’ raids the Fu Manchu locker of driving riffs and has refrains which can get stuck in one’s head easily. ‘Hindsight 20/20’ features some of the most beautiful guitar playing on the whole album right in the middle of more groove and stomp. ‘Crossbearer’ features all the classic hallmarks, hooks, dual vocals and aggression. ‘Iron Tomb’ takes us home with a sense of forbidding which you would expect from an album handling such real and serious topics.

I find myself conflicted on this one; musically the band are solid and avoid the classic desert rock trope of having one of two great songs and a lot of clone sounding tracks. While on the other the primary vocal delivery grates upon my mind. That is not to say the vocals are like that all the time but I tuned into it and I can’t look past it now. I really hope they can find a way to mix up the vocal delivery in the same way they delivered musically. If that happens we are in for a real treat.

https://kavorkarvk.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/kavorkarvk/