Jan 142015
 

 

Welcome to Part 18 in the continuing rollout of our list of 2014′s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. For the other songs we’ve previously named to the list, go here.

I failed to post another installment in the list yesterday, due to the annoying distractions of the job that, unlike this one, actually pays me for services rendered. However, I’m resuming the rollout today with two songs by bands who are among the best-known in the American extreme metal scene and who both released very strong albums in 2014. The cover art for both albums is also wonderful.

JOB FOR A COWBOY

Andy Synn review JFAC’s new album Sun Eater for us, and I thought he hit the nail on the head:

The struggle for credibility and acceptance by the Death Metal elite has been a long and arduous one for Job For A Cowboy. Their Deathcore roots and that name certainly tend to prompt a rather knee-jerk reaction from a certain section of the Death Metal community, despite the fact that the band’s purposeful progression from internet darlings to legitimate contenders has been an absolute joy to behold. Continue reading »

Oct 062014
 

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the forthcoming new album by Boston’s Revocation.)

Sometimes I think the best thing a band in Revocation’s position can do, with as many releases into their career as they are now, is to take a musical step back, in the interest of maintaining the essence of what the band are about.  Their previous self-titled album was good, but I and others felt that the music was stagnating a bit.  Oddly, this wasn’t because the band were getting too comfortable. Instead, I think the S/T suffered from attempts to include more progressive elements, sections, and song structures in the music, which detracted from the adrenaline and the intensity, while the core death/thrash sections felt a bit phoned in at times.  I can see where Revocation may have wanted to integrate more “out there” moments into their music, but I think maybe even Revocation themselves realized that they needed to get back in touch with what made them stand out in the first place.

In a lot of ways, Deathless feels like a back-to-basics record, at least within Revocation’s own sonic domain.  It finds the band more in the straight-up riff-driven death/thrash quality of their debut, Empire of the Obscene, and the album that catapulted them to notoriety, Existence Is Futile.  The result is Revocation’s best record since Chaos of Forms. The idea of moving in a more pure, riff-driven direction with more maturity was a really smart move, and it proves that Revocation are in fact still 100% in touch with the intensity and the knack for inducing adrenaline rush that they were founded on.

“Deathless” is 100%, back-to-front, Revocation-patented thrash-driven death metal at its best. David Davidson, as per usual, makes this record, and this band as a whole. His signature thrash/death/fusion riffing style is definitely in top form here, but those fusion-y elements of his style also feel dialed back in order to bring the thrash and death metal elements to the forefront.  It’s an interesting choice, considering it’s one of the things that “makes” him as a guitarist, but it also gives those moments when they come around an even greater impact. Continue reading »

Sep 212014
 

I haven’t had much blog time available since last Thursday because of job-related travel and activities, so I’ve fallen behind in posting about new songs and videos that I think you might enjoy. To catch up, I’m including a giant fuckload of them in this two-part post. And in a rare display of brevity, I’m letting the music speak for itself.

I’ve also salted this post with a smattering of older music that I discovered only recently. Part 1 of this large collection can be found here. Beginning with that post and continuing through this one, the music is presented in alphabetical order by band name.

THE HAUNTED

New video: “Eye of the Storm”
Album: Exit Wounds
Label: Century Media
Band location: Sweden

https://www.facebook.com/hauntedofficial Continue reading »

Aug 132014
 

Revocation’s new album Deathless will be in stores on October 14 via Metal Blade (and on slightly earlier dates in Europe). Minutes ago the label began streaming the album’s title track on YouTube, and with a little net snooping I also found an image of the album’s cover art, created by painter and tattoo artist Tom Strom — which I like a lot.

I’m enjoying the song, too. It’s downright ferocious — fast, feral, and of course filled with blistering fretwork, but it bludgeons as well as it strips skin and the melody sticks. Also, those throaty clean vocals you’re going to hear work quite nicely. Check it out after the jump.

Metal Blade is accepting pre-orders for the album here. Continue reading »

Feb 062014
 

Welcome to Part 20 of our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. To see the selections that preceded the three songs I’m announcing today, click here.

I guess it’s about time we thrashed the bejesus out of da place. I’ll hold the verbiage to a minimum.

REVOCATION

The album: Revocation  The song: “Invidious”

Dat banjo.  Doze solos.  Dat bass drop.  More words here and here. Continue reading »

Oct 172013
 

In this post we bring you two excellent new videos that premiered this morning.

KATAKLYSM

The new video from Canada’s Kataklysm is for a new song — “Elevate” — that will appear on this veteran band’s latest album, Waiting For the End To Come. The song is somewhat surprising, in that it’s a bit of a departure from what might be considered the band’s typical style. It still thunders and howls, but as my colleague Andy Synn put it, it’s a lot more spacious and has a big central melody. There were even moments near the song’s end when I was thinking “melodic black metal”. I haven’t listened to the song more than twice yet, but so far it is solidifying my impression that Kataklysm are coming back strong and that Waiting could be one of their best albums in a long time.

The video itself is also excellent. Its jerky-jerky motion and dramatic atmosphere suit the music, and it’s really well-made and interesting to watch. Also, zombies.  You can’t go wrong with zombies. Continue reading »

Sep 232013
 

(Our Nottingham-based writer Andy Synn reviews the live carnage of The Black Dahlia Murder and Aborted in Manchester, England, on Sept 21, 2013.)

What a line-up, right? There was no way I was going to miss this show. Even going so far as to reschedule a Bloodguard practice for midday in order to give me enough time to get back, get changed, and head out again on my road trip across to Manchester.

So that’s what I did. Finished practice, pelted to the car, shot home, sorted my shit, out and dived back in the car. 80.5 miles. Approximately 2 hours travel time. Easy.

Hit a bit of traffic on the way, but no major issues. Navigated Manchester town centre without hassle (I grew up round there, so have a bit of an advantage) and parked up, finally rocking up to the venue just before seven…

Shit…

I missed Revocation. Continue reading »

Jul 182013
 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new self-titled album by Boston’s Revocation. For another opinion, check out BadWolf’s review here.)

I’m pretty sure I should be in the ER right now for all the bones I just broke moshing and headbanging to this album, but duty calls.  Revocation’s S/T is pretty much the shit.  Maybe more than the shit.  Certainly their best album to date, most brutal, most technical, and just downright fucking nasty, grimy, and vicious in every way possible. Last year’s Teratogenesis EP in no way will have prepped you for this bad boy.  It takes no prisoners, it shows no mercy, I’m still trying to figure out how they managed to make an album this malicious and rabid.

Revocation, along with bands like Vektor and Sylosis, have really proved that one of the few ways (maybe the best way) for thrash metal to achieve legitimacy in the current world is to completely assimilate itself into death metal frameworks with jazz influences and black metal touches. In fact, this may be the new standard. I mean yeah, I heap praise upon bands like Evile and Havok, but I have no problem also saying that, as good as they are, they still pale in comparison to bands like Revocation — because bands like Revocation are paving the way for the future of metal as we will know it.

I know some observers already consider Revocation to be a “death metal” band per se, but I entirely disagree.  The band’s character is definitely more in line with thrash; the music is an organized anarchy, a barrage of Molotov cocktails and riot shields crashing into each other, the sound of civilizations collapsing beneath the frantic violence of life itself.  Nowhere is this more evident than on their new self-titled opus.  This record is chaotic as fuck and holds nothing but warriors’ pride in that fact. Continue reading »

Jul 182013
 

(BadWolf reviews the new album by Revocation. For another opinion, check out TheMadIsraeli’s review here.)

You pick up a record, and find one phrase, even one word, on the cover—it sends a message. “This is a singular experience. This word is the definition of these sounds, and vice versa.” A self-titled album, then, should either be a band’s self-estimated masterpiece, or, at the very least, a record that best encompasses a band’s sound.

One should not self-title an album lightly—to do so is to make a major artistic statement frivolously. It’s like a superstition—a dicey proposition. I can think of four self-titled metal albums off the top of my head: Metallica’s 1991 blockbuster, Avenged Sevenfold’s best-forgotten stinker, and Killswitch Engage’s two(!) eponymous records. All four fail at defining those bands. Metallica will always first-and-foremost be the band that recorded Master of Puppets; Killswitch Engage will always be “That band with the black guy that did the heartbreak song.” (Sorry, Jesse Leach).

Enter Boston’s Revocation, releasing their self-titled record just in time for this year’s Summer Slaughter tour. While I don’t see Revocation reaching the mainstream-appeal of the aforementioned bands, it’s realistic at this point to see the band making records as a career for the foreseeable future. Unlike most other bands playing technical-melodic-death-thrash-insert-adjective metal, Revocation can craft a good tune, and have a certain general appeal as well.

That appeal is David Davidson, the band’s lead guitarist/vocalist/songwriter, whose distinctive harsh vocals and expressive guitar leads give Revocation something most modern metal bands absolutely lack—personality. Honestly, the band should just call the album “David Davidson” and be done with it. Continue reading »

Jul 112013
 

Not long ago Metal Sucks premiered another new song from the next album by Boston’s Revocation, which is set for release on August 6 in NorthAm via Relapse. The new one is called “Invidious”. It is . . . how shall I say this? . . . a big-booted kick in the ass, plus banjo.

It romps, it stomps, it rocks, it rolls. It thrashes, it smashes, it swarms, it shreds (of course). It has a bass drop, it has a clean-ish chorus, it has gang shouts. It has hooks, it’s arena-ready. Plus banjo.

My only complaint? Needs more banjo.

Go HERE to listen for yourselves. If you haven’t heard the first song from the album that premiered previously, you can catch that after the jump.

P.S. This whole album is awesome. Continue reading »