This album is pretty cool on the first few tracks, but then it starts to feel like it is not going anywhere. Some parts of the album just do not feel like they’re going far enough into the creative potential that I think this band has. They’re capable of writing cool riffs, and they have an ability to write catchy choruses, but they’re not going far enough to break the mold. Something is missing.
The band definitely draws a comparison to lot of respected influences in the metal community. Guitarist Brett Schlagel definitely has a Demonaz (Immortal) thing going on, and the vocalist Tim Green certainly can conjure some powerful screeching death metal vocals on command. Unfortunately the drumming is soulless, and although their DIY effort to put out the album is admirable the mix is not tremendously impressive. Lyrically they’re not entirely inspiring, but then again this could be said for a lot of metal bands.
Brett Schlagel is the key to this band. His breakneck riffs and ability to play all over the neck are really what will get you through all seven tracks. I think that with the right motivation the rest of this band will be able to catch up and write a really solid follow up.
INTOLERANCE. MEANS. WAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRHRHHOOOOH! Woah. Nervosa slays. I was just about to get a cup of coffee before I threw this on, but I think their new album Agony has served a better purpose by pepping me up with a South American export that may surpass kawa beans; of course the export I speak of is death thrash.
Nervosa are among the best thrash metal bands you’ll find. As my New Noise Magazine comrade Nicholas Senior once said of High On Fire, “This isn’t tofu metal. This is 200 lb pig roast metal.” Could your appetite possibly be more enticed by anything than three thrash metal women burning a pig somewhere in Brazil? Hold that thought for a moment before we carry on.
Oh man those riffs… They’re crushing the divine. Each track sounds like an anti-matter bomb going off in my room. Not only are Nervosa spewing killer crunching metal rhythms, but they’re delivering the goods with lyrics that deal some serious spite to the injustice of our world. Corruption and violence are about as synonymous with Brazil as Christ The Redeemer and soccer are, and that frantic environment may have been a wicked inspiration on this album. That’s just a guess. For real though, the apocalypse seems to be happening everywhere these days, and Nervosa’s lyrics can apply to a lot of experiences anywhere on Earth.
Agony is going to take several listens to appreciate. It’s a gem that sounds like it has been dug up from beneath the remains of 1989 – and from Beneath The Remains. If nothing else, Prika Amaral’s ear slicing solos and the heavy metal thunder foot of drummer Pitchu Ferraz are going to utterly shock the lethargy out of you, but then there’s something special in vocalist and bass player Fernanda Lira. This is not a fantasy. Fernanda is real.
After decimating my ear drums with destructive thrash for forty seven minutes, the lovely ladies of Nervosa drop the bomb with an incredible bluesy track called “Wayfarer,” and the vocal solo at the very end comes from beyond the realms of mortal men. It’s like some Nina Simone type shit. That’s the sign of real artistic talent. They’re emerging on their second LP not just as a formidable force in metal, but they’re pounding their boots in the dirt with a declaration – they’re really fucking good. This is the most powerful speed metal band out right now. Agony sounds like it is going to be one of the best if not the best speed metal release of 2016.
“Back From The Dead” is an appropriate title for the first song off of the new Assassin album. It’s been just about five years since the band released anything of note. Breaking The Silence was an unfocused onslaught, and I think there were some huge lessons to learn as the band suffered the fall out of that album. Unfortunately there are still some problems that haven’t been worked out yet on this new release.
Assassin have the misfortune of living in their own shadow, and it is a big terrifying shadow in the halls of old school thrash legends. The Upcoming Terror is often regarded as a masterpiece and a gem among old school German thrash metal albums, but it is thirty years old now, so it’s time for the remains of this cult legendary outfit to show they’re still in tank 410. For those not in on the reference, check the album cover of their debut. Crushing over everything in their way is what Assassin tries to do on Combat Cathedral, and they hold nothing back when glorifying the old days as they push through. Unfortunately Assassin running on the fuel that they are Assassin isn't going to raise my eyebrows when bands like Nervosa are out there tearing their way through everything in sight, so these old timers have to really show that they still have something to prove. So do they? They are keeping up, yes, but I don’t think they’re slaughtering fields of elder gods here.
The heaviness on this album can be fucking clutch from time to time, but it can also be really overbearing in a sense that it takes away from the quality of their music. It’s just a wall of distortion and sound that is so fucking thick that it unfortunately robs from the fact that the guitarists Scholi and Micha are really skilled guitar players. Also what is up with these drums? I mean the drummer is great, but who decided to make Burn sound like he is dribbling a basketball over a trash can lid for an hour?
Assassin are killer. Their music is groovy as fuck. Interstellar Experience and The Upcoming Terror are fantastic albums that shall never be robbed of their glory, and Interstellar Experience especially showed that this band is just out of this world. This band was giving Kreator a run for their money in 1988. What happened? I want to hear a new Assassin album that sounds like someone cares about this band, but the production and songwriting on Combat Cathedral sucks the life out of my hopes and expectations. There are times when it is really good, like on the intro to “Serpent of Fear,” it’s just perfect – but then it goes off of a cliff less than two minutes into the song. On another note, classic vocalist Robert Gonella is gone, and Ingo Bajonczak isn’t really shining too brightly here. Okay he’s not shining at all. It’s not his fault either. He’s just stuck in this really dry cardboard cutout of that really cool speed metal band Assassin. You know it's a nice cardboard cut out, but it's not really necessary, and you don't have to take it with you anywhere. 410 is still running, but she’s not running at the “Speed Of Light” anymore.
The new Bat is a terrorizer. Conjured from an acidic pool of groovy riffs, combining talents from Municipal Waste, Cannabis Corpse, and Blunt Force Trauma, Ryan Waste leads an all out assault with his new school thrash band on their first full length LP. From first track to last, Wings of Chains is complete with 12 face ripping ragers.
Although this is their first full length, Bat have had plenty of time to perfect their craft. Since their demo in 2013, Bat have been carving their niche into the blackened speed genre.
Wings of Chains is a short album, clocking in at just under a half hour, but that's the way these Richmond speed metal freaks would prefer it. It's in and out, and leaves you wanting more.
Dark Funeral Where Shadows Forever Reign (Century Media)
Unleashed from the cosmic nether comes the new and highly anticipated Dark Funeral album Where Shadows Forever Reign.
A legacy in black metal as genuine and mighty as Dark Funeral's is difficult to achieve. In a genre that often prides itself on being unpopular, and usually loses itself within a heap of stereotypes, Dark Funeral have burned their way to the top of extreme metal without being fake - ever.
Where Shadows Forever Reign is a thick cloud of terror pushing against the listener. The fear is real. Something terrible is happening in the atmosphere, and Dark Funeral are once again on top of it. The thickness comes from an incredibly produced sound made over at Dugout Studios in Sweden. The primal mood of a true black metal album was not betrayed by the attentive ears of Lord Ahriman and producer Daniel Bergstrand (In Flames, Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir). Lord Ahriman and Chaq Mol bury the listener in an unrelenting cadence of tortured riffs that dance around the blistering drumming of Dominator, while singer Heljarmadr recites the prophetic lyrics of eternal night through nine tracks of elite black metal.
Dark Funeral fans have waited years for this album, and the band has answered their summoning call with one of their finest albums in Where Darkness Forever Reign.
Unholy goat blasphemy, Batman, this album rapes angels.
For new fans and old fans alike, the re-release of Sadismo promises power riffs drunk with the power of an ancient abyss. The album was out of print for a while, but Power From Hell's 2007 release has come back to haunt you with Brazilian blackened thrash metal, thanks to Hells Headbangers. Power From Hell went full speed to please your hessian ears on album number two. Sadismo is evil leather metal done right. You could pause this album, but that would be no fun. Play it straight through, 11 tracks of the crazy shit. Stripped down to the core of blackened speed metal's ethos, Power From Hell deliver no bullshit. It's time to go back and appreciate the hell out of this.
This shit makes me feel like I am about to get run over by a 1000 elephants. Just as catastrophe is about to strike, I am dragged down into some Lovecraftian depiction of Nyarlathotep's chaos, and each note sounds like I am going to stabbed by a spear.
This is Immortal Bird.
This album is a culmination of so many good trends that have happened in metal through many decades. Empress/Abscess sounds like Megadeth’s Rust In Peace and Eyehategod’s Take As Needed For Pain weremixed together with eight or nine brilliant death metal albums in a bizarre dark matter ritual that could only happen somewhere you don’t want to be very long. Perhaps that’s why this album only lasts a half hour long. I mean the conclusion is fucking creepy. These musical geniuses leave you off with a really eerie dissonance that belongs somewhere in the I Don’t Think I’m Alone In This Room… category of shock factor. After a relentless melodic groove technical death orgy traumatized my third eye, I only want to think that maybe something is watching me. Thanks Immortal Bird.
Let’s talk about the vocalist, Rae. Now on one hand some readers are going to say it doesn’t matter that she’s a woman, because the music takes precedence, but on the other hand someone is going to say, well you should have mentioned that the singer is a woman and musical genius. Well alright – yes, it’s true, the lead singer is a ferocious she wolf, and an incredibly talented one at that. Rae is also a fucking tempest on the kit, but she’s diverted her focus away from drums to center on her viscous growls and screams on Empress. Immortal Bird are gifted with some captivating lyrics as well, and it only goes to show that death metal is a thinking man’s genre, or a thinking woman’s.
Let’s not overlook the hard work that went into this album either. Layers and layers of cool shit emerge from the murky labyrinth of Empress/Abscess.
I am glad there is no eternity I sleep in the hope that shadows will find me All I want is quiet A place to wait it out Until the demise of the earth in volcanic ash Or blankets of ice
Detroit has always been a place where the vibe is dangerous, and the rock is raw. It comes as no surprise then that Detroit’s latest contribution to thrash & roll is a serious and energetic band called Nuke. Nuke could take their name from a lot of things, like the fictional drug in the RoboCop film, or it could be a reference to the most powerful weapon on the planet. Either way they do not come up short of my expectations. A band named Nuke has to be cool, and Nuke certainly is a blast that you can’t contain.
Slated for release on July 22nd, Nuke promise to deliver a megaton destroyer with their debut album. The band keeps their brand of thrash mania fresh with some old school Maiden inspired riffs and melodies. This is really good music reminiscent of the old days without actually trying too hard to be an old days band. It’s just a true genuine thrash group with a gritty back beat and fire in their veins. The songs inspire a lot of energy, and I can’t help but imagine that their shows are off of the wall.
From the get go this album crushes. Under Attack’s title track is vicious and point blank, and there’s no stopping on this German speed metal train. For 47 minutes you are locked in with the masters of three decades of aggression hammering into your spine. The new Destruction will make your ears bleed bullets.
Destruction have never been shy about expressing their vehemence toward a decaying society. With corruption and madness unleashed all among us, the band are in a better position than ever to furiously attack the senses.
Destruction fans should be familiar with the melodic overkill of these Teutonic titans, but those just stepping into the master’s den should expect nothing short of the best hooks, and some of the cruelest riffs in the arena of thrash. Schmier’s vocals are an unforgiving hail storm of lyrics that revolve around a tornado of guitarist Mike Sifringer’s shredding chops. That’s two tornados, because Schmier’s bass is a bodacious twisting killer along with every lick. Everything is excellent here, and Vaaver (drummer) may be strongest of all. The third piece of this band is as essential as the classic downstage pair.
This album does not fall short. Buy it, play it, and mosh.
The new Candlemass is a promising offering from the crypts of antediluvian Swedish doom metal. While doom metal has certainly changed throughout the years, and seen many trends and trendies crowding in its shadow, one band remains an unchanged monolithic apex for the genre. Candlemass are the forebearers, and this heavy metal stallion still rides through the cryptic nights.
While I’m loath to consider that Death Thy Lover is anything in the ballpark of my good friends Epicus Doomicus Metallicus and Ancient Dreams (and they truly are good friends who have spent many nights in my company), their newly released EP is still something to be immensely grateful for. In fact it’s a step up from Psalms For The Dead. Production wise there is a lot more strength in this EP compared to Psalms. The music sounds eerier, and the guitar solos are quite haunting. Also the songwriting is a lot better. It feels like some vitality has been kicked into the band.
From the first track “Death Thy Lover,” the heart pounding intro will hook you in, and then the power of the riff takes hold. Lars Johansson and Mats Bjorkman are exceptional hard rock machines. As lead and rhythm guitar players respectively, they weave in and out of each other throughout Mats Leven’s captivating lyrical spell song, evoking crushing fantasies and fears. Such is the craft of ancient Candlemass, mighty and immortal are they in the halls of doom. At points the songs feel like a melodic rock album, but I don’t think these strange sections which repeat through the EP should steal from the brilliance of this doom metal offering.
Interview with vocalist/guitarist Samy Elbanna | By Nicholas Pendergast
(Photo: Ville Juurikkala)
1986 was a big year for thrash metal. To its credit, it saw the release of quintessential albums like Metallica’s Master of Puppets, Megadeth’s Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?, and Slayer’s Reign in Blood, three albums that established the genre for the 30 years that followed after, leading to today. In 2016, that thrash metal calling is still hammering away into eardrums around the world. Along with contemporaries like Bio-Cancer, Warbringer, and Dr. Living Dead, Finland’s Lost Society are tearing up show after show, paving their way and paying their dues. Lost Society are a fierce force in the New Wave of Thrash Metal, and they should be expected to shred for some time to come. In the grand tradition of thrash metal, their focus is on speed and energy, but also on substance.
Lost Society are amped about their third full-length, Braindead. Expect a ton of riffs and solos that will cut you in half.
“The songwriting period started pretty much in the end of 2014 when our shows were done for the year,” vocalist and guitarist Samy Elbanna says of Braindead’s origins. “We’ve always wrote all of the material together at the rehearsal place, because that way, all of us get to throw around cool ideas with our own style into the songs to make them even more dynamic and interesting. One of the cool things we did did a bit differently this time around was that, after writing all of the songs, we went through them one at a time just to see if there was anything we could add or take out. Basically, we produced the songs in some way before we hit the studio.”
When asked what it is about the ‘80s thrash metal scene that makes it so influential, even for the younger generations of fans who weren’t around when the music first blew up, Elbanna says, “I’d have to say that the raw aggression in the music is the biggest reason—for me, at least.” He adds that there was a genuine passion behind the music, noting, “It’s just one of those genres of music where no one is faking anything, everything comes straight from the heart, and it’s all about the music and no bullshit. Also, the fact that the live shows are out of this world, with so much energy and passion, that makes the genre so special.”
Lost Society have been able to distinguish themselves from their peers in the thrash metal community partly because of their fantastic songwriting and guitar work. The Finnish rager, Elbanna, concludes that he and fellow guitarist Arttu Lesonen came through with the best solos of their careers on Braindead. “During the time after the release of 2014’s Terror Hungry and the recording sessions of Braindead, we’ve been practicing a lot,” he emphasizes. “We’ve practiced not only individually, but together too, which has made it really easy for us to make the harmony solos, and I think you can hear from the album that me and Arttu just work really well together on the solo parts.”
Check out Braindead—and its cover art by Jan Meininghaus, which Elbanna says fits the album perfectly—especially “I Am The Antidote,” “Riot,” and “Only (My) Death is Certain,” which Elbanna calls his favorite tracks on the album. Make sure to crank those up and blast out those apocalyptic feels. Time to riot!
It has often
been said that Dave Mustaine wrote all ofMetallica'sriffs onKill 'Em All, but that's simply
not true.
Brian Tatler
did.
At the very
least, Tatler and his band must be respected for really formulating the
groundbreaking speed metal hooks that would set off an iconic undertaking that
changed music forever.
It’s been
nearly a decade since the band released material, but a decade is merely a
fraction of what this band has been writing solid music for.Diamond Headmay be recognizable to you for the
very simple fact that they inspired nearly every first wave thrash metal band
out there.Metallica'scover of their song “Am I Evil?”
has been played on radio stations all over the world, much to the delight ofDiamond Head'spublicity. With the albumsBorrowed TimeandLightning to
The Nations,Diamond Headestablished themselves to a point
where they would never need to write an album again.
Despite
releasing two of the most important metal albums ever written, a problem with
line-up changes during the recording of their third album Canterbury stalled
the album’s release, and by then momentum was shifting away from most NWOBHM
bands to the new scenes emerging in California.Diamond Headstruggled to find relevance and faded
into obscurity all together until calling it quits soon after Caterbury, only
to reunite again for a short lived second run in the mid-‘90s. It’s a shame
that a band so good with so many great hooks would have to suffer such a fate,
but in the metal world there’s no shortage of chances, and especially not for a
band as recognizable and important asDiamond Head.
The
self-titled album shows signs of that special something that ignited a movement
thirty five years ago, which the first two albums had. The new album sounds
really fresh and young, and the recent addition of Rasmus Von Anderson as the
vocalist surely delivers a whopping punch. Of course Tatler’s powerful solos,
and riffs are a part of the repertoire. As far as I am concernedDiamond Headdelivers a fine rock album with this
release. Okay, you may not get screaming legions of fans to pump their fists to
“Our Time Is Now,” or “Wizard Sleeve,” as easily as you would “The Prince” or
“Love Suck,” but those aren’t reasons to turn your head away from this
legendary band.
GiveDiamond Head’snew album a try, and you may also be
blown away. Brian Tatler is still the mastermind behind bluesy solos and speed
metal riffs to hook you in. GiveDiamond Heada chance to wear on in you, because
this gem is worth it. The album comes out on April 22nd.
PS: I know Brian Tatler did not write a single note on Kill 'Em All. It's a joke. Please do not swing me upside down from a tree.
If you’re
familiar with Moonsorrow, then you know that their formula is to write each
track as an opus. I feel like I’m going on an adventure when I listen to Jumalten Aika. There’s certainly the
sense that each track is a different stage on this journey through peril. I can
imagine myself as a heathen on hill in the mist, or as a sailor on a boat off
of the coast of a Finnish isle. It’s really beautiful, and their music is very
organic. They’ve done it again. They’ve
raised the bar with Jumalten Aika. This is already going on my favorite albums
of 2016 list. How can I choose a favorite song on the album, when they’re each
an individually and carefully orchestrated piece to fulfill a part of the
experience? It’s like asking me which tale from the Silmarillion I enjoyed the
most. I couldn’t tell you. It’s all like one big long sad epic poem for a shelf
designated masterpieces.
After
several years bouncing around miserable in my post college daze, I’ve found
myself back in my roots as an avid metal listener, and I couldn’t be happier
that Moonsorrow have released this magical album at around the same time. Is there no triumph at the end of this sad,
long, and lonely road? Where are the gods to lift one up from the torment of
this trial? Alas, as I said earlier there’s a distinctive charm here, and you’ll
find it at certain points in each song just before the storm. Honestly, I think a track like “Mimisbruun,”
which is a 15:55 song that takes the listener all over the place, is as much of
an exegesis on northern European heritage and heathenry as anything a scholar
or historian could put out there.
How does
this heathen expedition end? By a crackling fire, and a blowing wind…
