Review: Straight Opposition – Path of Separation

Review by Geary of War

Straight Opposition, hailing from Italy and bringing with the fury and rage, distilled into 30 glorious minutes. ‘Path of Separation’ is available via the group’s Bandcamp and also via Time to Kill Records.

Opener ‘Outsider by Choice’ starts with a buzzing, swirling opening, blending hardcore and death metal with a black metal nod. It’s a relentless start and the tone is set. ‘July 019’ is more by the numbers. Groove, pace, intensity. ‘Workstation Dead-Box’. What a title. It builds to a slow brooding groove prior to a switch to a familiar attack. Very cool chanting section. ‘The Next Revolution’, some demons are definitely being exorcised here. Nice clean section as well. Allows the heavy to speak for itself. ‘Delusions of Omnipotence opens in an almost happy, bouncy way. You can feel the band enjoying the moment. But then things return to normal! Fear not. To this point this track offers the biggest insight to what this band can do and it’s quite exciting.

The very topical ‘(She’s Still) Pro Choice’ has the filthiest tone yet. Groove and channelled fury, what more do you need? ‘Path of Separation’, a departure again from the business-as-usual blasting and very welcome. The brooding, dark aspects remind me of ‘The Dead Eye’ era of The Haunted. ‘Persona’, we are back to intro and smash. A balance of delivery once again on display Something maintained through ‘The Secrets of Your Militance’ however a nod to the downright filthy riff mid song, oooft. The next track, ‘It’s Killing Time’ sounds exactly as you would expect it too. However it should be noted as the album progresses, the use of a cleaner vocal really lends itself to the album’s various levels. ‘From the Cradle to the Grave’ has a heavier nod to death metal with the bowels of hell vocals, all the while throwing in more cleaner vocals. The combination really works. ‘No Age to Xclaim’ is a classic punk inspired hardcore feeling track which leads into another genre feeling with ‘No Father’s Flag’. More hardcore than anything else, the clean vocals remind me of when Gojira do that softer approach. The almost whisper. You know what I mean. The big hook at the end is sure to be a crowd pleaser and a solid way to bring us home.

This is an excellent 30 mins. It’s got infusions of all genres, accomplished playing and for me, enough variety in the vocals to keep it going. Memories of buying Hatebreed’s ‘Perseverance’ by accident (the band I thought I remembered has breed in the name too, years later Hatebreed was the happy accident!) and feeling the joy that genre crossing madness brought was what I had here. Yes it’s hardcore. But with a twist, and that is what is excellent.

https://www.facebook.com/StraightOpposition

https://straightopposition.bandcamp.com/album/path-of-separation

https://timetokillrecords.bigcartel.com/category/straight-opposition

https://timetokillrecords.bandcamp.com/

Review: Fulci – Exhumed Information

Review by Sandre the Giant

The newest record from Italian brutal death metallers Fulci is called ‘Exhumed Information’, and is due out towards the end of this month through Time to Kill Records. Fulci take their name from acclaimed Italian horror director Lucio Fulci, so you can guess where a lot of their lyric and thematic inspirations come from. Ten tracks in barely over half an hour? Sign me up for what is coming…

Opener ‘Autopsy’ is your typical sampled intro, featuring you’ve guessed it, an autopsy recording with creepy childlike music over it. ‘Voices’ is where the brutality starts, and the work is slow, crushing and decidedly guttural. Thunderous double kicks batter into chugging slam riffs and hellish growls, a pattern which repeats in other tracks but isn’t the only form of attack. The grinding rumble of ‘Nightmare’, the straight forward bulldozer of ‘Funeral’, the retro cinematics of ‘Glass’; Fulci are the full sum of their parts. Their death metal is old school but in a totally different way from the identikit revivialist bands. ‘Exhumed Information’ takes the mesmerising, creepy darkness from classic European horror and attaches it to thunderous death metal in some kind of Herbert West style experiment. This unique flavouring comes to the fore most prominently in latter tracks like ‘Child’ or ‘Fantasma’ when haunting synth work becomes the driving force in creating atmosphere, before the darkness of ‘Cemetery’ closes this book entirely.

‘Exhumed Information’ is not like a lot of death metal albums you’ll find. The heaviness is concentrated up front, with the latter half of the record slowly becoming more of an old school horror movie soundtrack, mostly synth and atmosphere. It is an interesting approach, and one that definitely works up to a point. Personally, I’d like a bit more metal and a little less cinematics but what is there is well written and executed. Maybe they’ll go completely Goblin on us next time?

https://www.facebook.com/fulciband

https://fulcicult.bandcamp.com/

Review: Heidra – The Blackening Tide

Heidra hail from Denmark, and ‘The Blackening Tide’ is their second album, coming four years after their debut ‘Awaiting Dawn’. Musically, the band bring us a majestic, sweeping form of pagan melodeath, and the album is out now through Time to Kill Records.

From the moment ‘Dawn’ rises from the pagan shore you’re immediately engulfed in a grandiose, multilayered epic story. The opener in particular is blessed with a seriously fist pumping chorus, and you can believe that this is merely the tip of the iceberg. The galloping twin guitars of ‘The Price in Blood’ are excellent, and the clean vocals are powerful without ever being grating. ‘The Blackening Tide’ is full of great solos, enhancing these striding battle anthems that capture a world of silver swords, ancient kings and corrupted realms. There’s also a liberal sprinkling of piano and other orchestral elements that speak to the influences of more power metal fayre like Hammerfall or Sonata Arctica as well. None is more epic than ‘Rain of Embers’, although the duelling guitars of ‘Corrupted Shores’ push it close.

If there was ever to be any doubt that Europe produces the best bands with the flair for classically influenced heavy metal, then Heidra’s latest should put that to bed. A great example of thunderous melodic power/death, where symphonics meet galloping In Flames-isms to create a record that the ancient guitar gods would smile about. Cool shit

http://www.timetokill-records.com/

https://heidra.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HeidraOfficial/