Oct 182023
 

(Here’s Todd Manning‘s review of a new EP from the Salt Lake band Deathblow.)

It’s a bit baffling to me that the word ‘crossover’ does not appear a single time in the press release for the latest E.P. from Salt Lake City-based Deathblow because that’s exactly what kind of damage they’re dealing out. Rotten Trajectory spewed forth into this decaying world on September 29th, courtesy of the appropriately monikered Sewer Mouth Records.

For the youth not familiar with the term crossover, it was used to describe that late eighties-early nineties blend of punk and thrash characterized by acts such as D.R.I., Crumbsuckers, and early Excel. Deathblow tread similar territory but update their sound with a smidge of death metal brutality. Continue reading »

Apr 012015
 

 

About 10 days ago NCS contributor KevinP introduced us, in cryptic fashion, to a thrash metal band from Salt Lake City, Utah, named Deathblow, and their new EP The Other Side of Darkness. At that point, Deathblow had released the EP’s title track, and today we bring you yet another song:  “Means To An End”.

In that earlier post KevinP hinted at the EP’s thematic subject matter, but only in a way that would be understandable by those already in the know — which did not include yours truly. I had to do some googling to figure it out. I’m not going to give the game away, so I’ll just mention the name “Seinfeld” and move on to the music — which kicks massive amounts of ass.

From the way the song begins, you wouldn’t guess that you’re about to be thrashed within an inch of your life. It’s a lead-heavy, doom-drenched dirge — but it’s a fitting introduction, because the music stays heavy even when it erupts in a volcanic spray of molten riffs and thundering percussion. Continue reading »

Mar 212015
 

 

I’m about to enter the home stretch of the out-of-town project for my paying job that has been severely constricting my blog time. Four or five more days, and I’ll be done. Those remaining days are going to leave me with even less time to blog than I’ve had since the project started three weeks ago, so this morning I decided to carve out some time for one last round-up of new music before running the final gauntlet.

ZATOKREV

I discovered the Swiss band Zatokrev through their 2012 album The Bat, the Wheel and a Long Road to Nowhere, which turned out to be one of my favorite albums of that year. Their fourth album, Silk Spiders Underwater… is now finished and scheduled for released on April 13 by Candlelight Records. It is reported to be the first of a two-part conception and features artwork by Maks Loriot. Continue reading »