THE KENNEDY VEIL: “TRINITY OF FALSEHOOD”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Jan 202014
 

(DGR reviews the new album by The Kennedy Veil, which is being released on January 21 by Unique Leader. Stream the full album at the end of the end of the review.)

Every city has its own musical niche and story to tell. Sacramento is no different. Our heavy metal scene has grown and shifted into a thrashing beast over the past decade. Instead of the kind of city that seems to produce one big band per decade, it has become one that has delivered some of the heaviest groups out there, making Sacramento something of a force to be reckoned with.

We may not do ambient too often, but it seems that right now Sacramento has decreed that we can do brutality with the best of them and that we eat death metal for breakfast. It was in this atmosphere that The Kennedy Veil was founded way back in 2009, a group that served in part as a reaction to the -core side of metal invading the death metal side a little too much for their tastes. While they never fully eschewed that sound, the group became known as one of the faster and more technical death metal bands out there.

They released an album in 2011 entitled The Sentence Of Their Conqueror, and it was on the strength of that, as well as a relentless live push, that the band signed with Unique Leader — which honestly felt like a forgone conclusion, because if there was a label that the band would’ve slotted right into, it was the young upstart Unique Leader. Continue reading »

VIOLATE: “BURN THE MEMORY”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jan 172014
 

(TheMadIsraeli penned this review of the 2013 debut album by a Croatian band named Violate.)

I’d like to know who is actually in the know about the Croatian metal scene.  It’s not exactly somewhere “on the map” as far as global metal goes, and I’ve certainly heard very few bands who really stood out to me, but I may be missing some.  Violate are one worth taking note of though. They play a style of slightly modernized thrash that’s at the same time buried heavily in the roots and initial tremors of the post-thrash movement of the really early 90’s.  Things are very much set in a strict 50/50 split between speed and groove in their music, and the combination of killer riffs, face-melting solos, and leonine roars of guitarist and main composer Dario Bulatovic and his partner in riff-driven crime Darko are the primary elements that turn Violate’s Burn The Memory into a solid, memorable, and intense debut.

A lot of Violate’s sound is soaked in Burn My Eyes Machine Head and Vulgar Display of Power Pantera, mixed with a lot of Testament, Anthrax, and Exhorder.  As such, while a lot of thrash action is going on here, Violate bob and weave between that and a metallic hardcore edge.  The metallic hardcore elements are really where a lot of the groove comes in.  They have that feel. Continue reading »

SUICIDAL ANGELS: “DIVIDE AND CONQUER”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jan 172014
 

(TheMadIsraeli wrote this enthusiastic review of the latest album from Suicidal Angels, released earlier this month by NoiseArt Records.)

Much like I have viewed Evile, I’ve viewed Greek death thrashers Suicidal Angels as a reliable source of pure adrenaline-pumping high-quality technical thrash metal.  I’ll admit that while I enjoyed 2012’s Bloodbath it lacked.  It lacked a lot.  So much so that I wondered if the band had run out of steam.  Then the video for Divide and Conquer‘s lead single “Into the Grave” came out and I was proven way fucking wrong.

Suicidal Angels decided to rejuvenate their sound.  How?  By removing the death metal and diving purely into their thrash roots. Divide and Conquer is bathed in the technical violence of Dark Angel, Slayer, Sepultura, and Artillery so much it’s like being served all-you-can-eat rare ribeye steaks.  This shit is so whiplash-inducing and air-guitar-compulsion-facilitating that it’s unbelievable. Continue reading »

MECHINA: “XENON”

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Jan 152014
 

(DGR reviews the latest album by Chicago’s Mechina.)

My story with Mechina is one that is somewhat strange. If you’re in a band and people tell you that services like Last.fm are fucking useless, they’re lying to you. I am an old technology grognard and believe me, I have found tons of bands through Last.fm, and Mechina was one of the best surprises to ever come out of that service.

My discovery dates all the way back to when Andromeda came out at the end of 2011, and my review would prove to be one of the last things I wrote for my former site, an article that I titled, “I keep getting lost in Mechina’s Andromeda”. The song was a revelation. I am a complete sucker for symphonic elements in metal bands. Fleshgod Apocalypse, Dimmu Borgir, and Septic Flesh, for example, have been frequent go-to’s, yet they’ve all been in the black metal and more intense side of death metal realm. Mechina were different because they were more groove-oriented, with the industrial flair that made the band seem futuristic, not to mention that the concept behind each of the albums was slowly morphing into a science fiction epic. Continue reading »

NAUSEA: “CONDEMNED TO THE SYSTEM”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jan 152014
 

(TheMadIsraeli has been on a reviewing roll, and the subject of these thoughts is the latest album by Nausea.)

Nausea is a death grind powerhouse that includes guitarist/vocalist Oscar Garcia of Terrorizer fame and guitarist Leon De Muerte of Murder Construct.  Nausea have also been around forever, having been formed while Terrorizer were still together (there is a split with both bands from ’88), yet this album, Condemned To The System, is only their second full-length, their catalogue mostly consisting of demo’s and EP’s (lots of them). Their only other full-length is Crimes Against Humanity from ’91.

Nausea appears to be Oscar’s way of carrying on the legacy of the World Downfall Terrorizer sound, and he succeeds magnificently.  If you ever wanted something that could serve as an evolved sequel to that legendary grindcore record, Condemned to the System is it.  The gritty as fuck, sharp as nails guitar tone is back; the grooves and the power chord, slide, and tremolo-picked heavy riffing are there; and of course Garcia’s rancid, bestial roar remains perfectly intact. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: “ASYLUM” BY TALANAS

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jan 142014
 

(In this post, Andy Synn reviews the forthcoming EP by Talanas, which will be released on February 22 by Eulogy Media.)

It’s always nice when bands throw out an unexpected curve-ball, something designed to both challenge and reward their listeners.

Progressive Death Metal proto-titans Talanas have decided to do just that with their new, about to be released, mini-album Asylum, putting a markedly different spin on their signature sound.

Whereas the band’s usual approach – akin to Akercocke and My Dying Bride copulating in a field of dead flowers and broken dreams – gives the listener the sensation of being choked and pummelled by an iron fist in a velvet glove, they’ve taken a decidedly different turn on Asylum, stripping out the deathly aggression and metallic distortion, accentuating instead the ethereal wonder and decayed glamour of their gothic roots. Continue reading »

FRAMEWORK: “A WORLD DISTORTED”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jan 142014
 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the debut album by a New Jersey band named Framework.)

Framework (formerly known as Exorbitance) are the kind of band you listen to if you miss that fast as fuck thrash-based style of melodic death metal you got from bands like Carnal Forge, The Absence, or the most obvious culprit, At The Gates.  Their debut under the Framework name, A World Distorted, is a fucking amazing record, showcasing these blood-hungry Americans’ ability to craft melodic death metal that retains the militancy and commitment to crafting brutal, yet epic songs that give you whiplash.

It’s very rare that you find a band playing just straight-up, no-nonsense melodic death metal this well and writing an album THIS good that doesn’t feel at all like a rehash, even if the influences are worn on their sleeves.  A World Distorted is frankly one of the best debuts from a melodic death metal band I’ve heard in YEARS.

The music is all about killer riffs, captivating melodies that make you want to charge into battle in slow motion, and those delicious old school Lindberg-esque snarls.  Guitarists Andrew Pevny and Devin DeCicco and bassist Chris DeBenedetto know their shit, and they know it so well that they sound like they were around during the inception of the Gothenburg scene itself.  Vocalist Glenn Ferguson sounds like he’s straight from the mid-nineties and drummer James Applegate is an insanely tight, precise, and brutalizing drummer to listen to.  These guys really bring back that Gothenburg vibe while retaining the developments by American counterparts like The Black Dahlia Murder and The Absence. Continue reading »

AEONS CONFER: “SYMPHONIES OF SATURNUS”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Jan 132014
 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the 2013 debut album by Germany’s Aeons Confer.)

This was one of the best albums of 2013 and somehow it completely flew under my radar.

Fuck.

No seriously.  Aeons Confer bring the fucking business.  This shit is like being in the blast radius of a grenade that opens a black hole upon explosion.  Their debut Symphonies of Saturnus is frigid scorn-borne fury and death incarnate.  It’s rare you hear a melodic death metal record this apocalyptically explosive and dimension-devouring.

To be more exact, Aeons Confer play a clusterfuck style of symphonic industrial blackened death metal.  Not only is the core sound in itself vicious, the way the band play with their sound results in an album that’s quite diverse while also being monstrous in its crushing impact. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: “ABYSS CATHEDRAL” BY GOD DISEASE

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  6 Responses »
Jan 122014
 

(TheMadIsraeli provides a brief introduction to a murderous new EP by God Disease.)

“Soul crushing old school death metal” are the words Finland’s God Disease use to describe the music contained on their debut EP Abyss Cathedral.  The band’s forte is of the doom-influenced variety, channeling Autopsy, Penetrelia-era Hypocrisy, Winter, and Immolation.  I’m pretty impressed.

I’d recommend checking this out if you want something to satisfy that “shit production, terrific music” itch.  It’s unapologetically old school and brazenly soaked in its influences and is downright killer, back to front.  Definitely a cool early 2014 release to have stumbled upon.

Enjoy the sickness and pestilence next. (The EP is now available for download via the Bandcamp link below.) Continue reading »

KATATONIA: “DETHRONED AND UNCROWNED”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  3 Responses »
Jan 112014
 

(DGR catches up with another album from 2013, Katatonia’s Dethroned and Uncrowned.)

We’re still running around here at NoCleanSinging like chickens with our heads cut off, the whole date-rolling-over thing and the idea of the year restarting still generally blowing our minds. It’s a constant thing, as we usually get used to the idea of a month happening again along about the July timeframe. We’re also still extending our looking glass into 2013, trying to talk about discs we either never got around to or, in the case of most of my upcoming ones, discs I had intended to review and have listened to a lot and just never got the chance to write about.

The beginning of the year usually has about a week-long lull where you have the ability to catch up before the new 2014 releases start to stack up, though the groups who have started to put out new releases on January 1st have really taken to shooting that idea in the foot. Such is the case with Katatonia’s 2013 re-imagining of their 2012 release Dead End Kings known as Dethroned and Uncrowned. It’s an album that I have listened to a ton, in both of its forms, and with this brief respite at the beginning of the year we finally have time to sit down and chat about it. Continue reading »

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