Jan 312019
 

 

Don’t worry, I’m not going to make a habit of jamming four songs together in these installments of the list (tomorrow, there will only be two more). But I was convinced that putting these four tracks together was exactly the right thing to do. Apart from being infectious (duh), they’re all lethal forms of death metal savagery, with spectacular soloing, excitingly malignant vocals, head-cracking rhythms, and killer riffs discharged through a certain kind of chainsawing guitar tone that many of us lap up with glee.

Not coincidentally, I wrote about all of them when they first appeared, and even premiered three of them, so this gives me plenty of chances to quote myself, which is always a real pleasure.

MORGENGRAU

Nick Keller created the album art for the new second full-length by the Austin-based death metal band Morgengrau — and he did his usual spectacular job. Only part of his creation is shown above. More is visible here: Continue reading »

Apr 112018
 

 

The Peruvian band Fervent Hate launched their recording career with a 2013 album named Roads Of Insanity and followed that with a 2015 EP entitled Diablo. But I missed both of those, and so I had no expectations when I first encountered their new album Tales Of Hate, Lust And Chaos, other than the recommendation of Satanath Records that it would please fans of Entombed, Illdisposed, Grave, Dismember, At The Gates, and Gorefest — and that it was mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö.

Of course, for this listener those were all very enticing names, but even so, large questions remained. Many bands have chosen to toil in the fields furrowed by those groups, but not all have been successful in bringing forth the kind of abominable new growth that would feed and satiate the endless hunger of their many fans. How have those questions been answered by Fervent Hate? Continue reading »