DGR REVIEW COLLECTION: SECTIONED, BORN TO MURDER THE WORLD, PSYCHOTIC PULSE, CLANDESTINE REVELATION, THE BREATHING PROCESS, DEPTHS OF HATRED

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 052018
 


Sectioned

 

(DGR prepared this large collection of reviews and streams, addressing some older and some newer music, and some things that haven’t yet arrived in full.)

This poor review collection saw more permutations than I’d be willing to admit, with so many different groups being added and removed for fear that I hadn’t spent enough time with a disc and so wouldn’t be able to speak about it properly, that the body count has to be in the double digits by this point. What this thing did move into was something of a themed archive of releases — bookended by earlier albums but with two that are much more recent, and with preview songs from two upcoming releases in the middle to help transition over the two.

What I found I was listening to recently was the real heavy and destructive forces of powerviolence, death metal, and grind, and on the other side of the spectrum, some real caveman level prefix-core styled music as well, just ones with a taste for the symphonic and speed on top of it. It was fortuitous then that on top of that I had a small collection of singles for upcoming (maybe? in one case) releases that I wanted to talk about that felt like suitable bridges between the two, so that our esteemed editor would’ve have to cleave this poor baby in twain; it kind of felt like a perfect thematic walk along the admittedly arbitrary spectrum brought before you.

Much like my much larger review nightmare collections, this one includes four albums but with somewhat shortened reviews, and all come highly recommended. Fingers crossed, maybe you’ll find something to enjoy as well, once you’re able to scrape your face off of the wall behind you. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (BY DGR): ROTTING CHRIST, HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY, PSYCHOTIC PULSE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 292018
 

 

(DGR presents the following round-up of new music.)

 

My last appearance with a news roundup was, admittedly, a little ridiculous. I will say, however, that I was not initially aware it had gotten so huge as I just kept adding things that I had noticed we had missed in my vain effort to cover everything I thought the NCS crowd might be interested in.

The nice thing about that method, though, is that the act of doing so with such a large dragnet, combined with the massive three-part Shades Of Black post that went up shortly after, means that we’re able to keep this roundup small, covering just three groups that barely missed the bus when those posts went up. One in particular was released right after the post that was perfect for it went up.

So, we return once again to do a little globe-trotting, skirting around the edges of heavy metal and talking about three more newly released songs that have popped up over the past week and a half. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VOLTURYON, DECREPIT MONOLITH, PSYCHOTIC PULSE, BLACK CROWN INITIATE, REVOCATION, NAILS, DEATH I AM, THE LUNA SEQUENCE, WITHERSCAPE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Jun 172016
 

Mr. Trash Wheel-Baltimore

 

(DGR takes over round-up duties today, featuring commentary and a wide array of recent song, video, and album streams. This would have been posted much earlier in the week if our editor weren’t so lame.)

If you’ve been reading the site recently you’ve no doubt noticed that quite a few of us shirked work and decided instead to go out to Maryland for the Maryland Deathfest shindig that the internet likes to talk so much about. However, the internet doesn’t take time off like we do and quite a bit of stuff came out during that period that despite our best efforts slipped right by us.

On top of that, since we’ve been playing catch-up for the last two weeks, a veritable pile of new music landed on top of us as well. And so I find myself opening my great maw wide in order to capture as much of it as possible — as well as using this as an opportunity to share some stuff that flew right past us long before we had MDF as an excuse for being terrible people.

Contained in this here news roundup is a veritable smorgasboard of new music, some of which came to us by the bands themselves and other times was discovered whilst I was spinning in circles on the internet. Either way, there’s a ton of stuff what floated down the river here — only to be captured by my net/boat/if only there was some sort of metaphor or object I could compare my news capturing ability to… ah well, maybe next time. Let’s get on with it. Continue reading »

A YEAR-END LIST FROM ALEX RISE (TYRANT OF DEATH, PSYCHOTIC PULSE)

 LISTMANIA 2013  6 Responses »
Dec 162013
 

(Alex Rise, the man behind Tyrant of Death and also a member of Psychotic Pulse, kindly agreed to tell us about his favorite listening during 2013. As you’ll see, not all of it was actually released this year.)

Though an aficionado of musical extremity and heaviness, I can’t really express thoughts about these bands I’m about to list in a professional, representative manner. I do enjoy listening to them often and think about mass murder on a subway, bus, or WHENEVER when I do! I know one thing: when they arrive in this miserable city called Toronto, I shall drink and mosh with these fellow bastards when they come over. One, please excuse my terrible English. Two, lets get started with this fucking list. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: PSYCHOTIC PULSE — “AVOLITION”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Nov 092013
 

(DGR reviews the latest EP by Psychotic Pulse from Toronto.)

Psychotic Pulse were initially brought to my attention by their drummer, who was (and is) the proprietor of a project known as Tyrant Of Death. The group had just released their self-titled debut earlier this year, and to no surprise it turned out really, really well. They manifested themselves as a hybrid of industrial, groove, and death metal that strode atop shrieking vocals with many a heavy section that triggered near instantaneous headbanging. I thought the Psychotic Pulse self-titled disc was great.

Psychotic Pulse have the industrialized, machine-like sound hardwired into their system. They’re precise as can be and nail every beat almost perfectly, with enough machine noise and electronics filtered into their sound to bring to mind the apocalypse via The Terminator; metal by way of Skynet, with the machines making as much cacophonous noise as they can unleash as a form of psychological warfare. Continue reading »

PSYCHOTIC PULSE: “PSYCHOTIC PULSE”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Aug 272013
 

(DGR provides this review of the debut album by Toronto’s Psychotic Pulse.)

At some point, I would love to see someone try to take on a collection of discs that they feel absolutely nail the opening minutes, especially from bands where it was some of their first output. There is nothing to be denied about the strength of a strong intro track working, and when it is some of the first music anyone has heard by a band, that strength amplifies exponentially.

Personally, I’ve encountered countless examples where the best song by a band has been within the opening minutes (right after an obligatory intro track), and that ‘best song’ usually holds on to that title for an excessively long time. Case in point: Soilwork knew exactly what the hell they were doing by putting “Spectrum Of Eternity” as the second song on The Living Infinite — because that song locks you in. It’s so strong that you’re even willing to forgive a couple of the less individualistic mid-pace stompers that lie in wait about halfway through disc two.

All this rambling is prompted by the song “Asylum” off of Toronto, Canada-based group Psychotic Pulse’s 2013 self-titled release. They’ve previously done one small release called Handcrafting The Apocalypse that hit in 2010, but my first experience with the band lay in this year’s collection of music, and one of the songs that really locked me into their industrial death and groove brand was the song “Asylum”, which comes right after the intro guitar bit of “Diagnosis”. It was enough to sink its teeth into my brain and sit me down for what would be a hammering, heavy, almost piston-like percussion-filled disc of high screams, fast grooves, and enough adrenaline-rushing tempo to make one yearn nostalgically for the days of everything extreme being spelled sans letter ‘e’ and capital X. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IMMOLATION, LIAR IN WAIT, AND PSYCHOTIC PULSE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Mar 282013
 

There’s a song in this little round-up of new stuff that’s an outlier on this site. To make it go down easier, I’ve sandwiched it in between two slices of festering filthiness. You’re welcome.

IMMOLATION

One week ago Immolation debuted the title track from their forthcoming album Kingdom of Conspiracy, which will be discharged on May 14 by Nuclear Blast. I wrote about it then, praising it as a song that sinks its teeth into your neck but transfixes your attention while you bleed out with shifting dynamics and the effective incorporation of infected melodies in the midst of bludgeoning riffage.

Yesterday the band released a lyric video for the song, and while I would have selfishly preferred a new track, this one can stand being heard again (and again). Here’s the new lyric video for “Kingdom of Conspiracy”: Continue reading »