Friday, January 19, 2024

A.K.U. / False Faith - Horde of Black Metal Warriors ( 2020)


This is an split whose streamlined approach to BM suggests a controlled fury and hatred, a power that is cold and vile. Elegance and efficency aren't qualities that spring to mind when talking about BM, this split is 

A.K.U. is demoniac, and totally hateful, like a lunatic madly slamming himself against the walls of his cell. The production is high and scratchy. The guitars are shrill and droning. The drumming is very simplistic. The bass is only semi-audible, and the vox… are completely fucking insane. Spitting, screeching, roaring, sneering, the vocalist sounds like some sort of infernal creature inciting his followers to slaughter. 

False faith side of the split, begins with an incredibly menacing intro Then everything explodes. Whereas A.K.U. is shrill, chaotic and crushing, False Faith are more deliberate and methodical, and still crushing. They know exactly what they’re doing, and that just happens to be utterly destroying you. The production is much lower and murkier which works nicely.

35 minutes of undiluted hatred, fury, and chaos. Highly recommended.

abyssalproductions361.bandcamp.com

akuband.bandcamp.com

falsefaithbm.bandcamp.com

Review by Paul Caravasi

Fetid Zombie - Where Worms Crawl (2023)

 


...would be a more than accurate description for this masterpiece of absolute heinous death metal. It's both sharp and savage, tearing away at your face like a rabid pitbull. The guitars are sludgy as hell, Fetid Zombie is one of the most utterly METAL death metal bands nowadays. Every riff and lead break on this thing is an expertly crafted sledgehammer to face, drumming is an animalistic pounding menace, constantly mashing your skull with it's barbaric power, the rhythmic structures constantly shift to perfectly complement the riffage, always appropriate to the musical needs of the songs. And of course, no Fetid Zombie review would be complete without ranting about the vocals and lyrics. Conveyed as they are in an inhuman vomited bark, seriously pure gore and sickness here, covering all sorts of insane topics. Basically, if you like death metal, you need this. If you don't like it, you're a dick and would be better off listening to metalcore. "Where Worms Crawl" features 6 tracks of crushingly heavy DEATH METAL. Everything you could ever want out of a death metal album is here. And there are tons of guests...

Chris Monroy (SKELETAL REMAINS) 

Dawn Desiree' (AUTUMN TEARS) 

Dylan Jones (ROTTED) Steve Miller (LOCULUS)

Andrew Lee (RIPPED TO SHREDS) 

James Malone (ARSIS) 

Malcom Pugh (INFERI) 

Terrance Hobbs (SUFFOCATION) 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!

fetidzombiedm.bandcamp.com

Review by Paul Caravasi

Fetid Zombie - Transmutations ( 2021)


If I had to describe Fetid Zombie with one word, that word would be "Unique". It's quite rare to see a band go through so many different phases, while still maintaining a very recognizable brutal-sound and a strong sense of identity. Transmutations is a very ambitious album that marks the transition from an interesting, nasty death metal act to full-fledged doom/death metal . It stays true to the band's brutal beginnings, while increasing the presence of some gothic elements and displaying stronger songwriting and a more proficient approach to song-arrangement. The album feels a lot more diverse than the debut thanks to the inclusion of more complexly structured tracks and melody. The songs flow incredibly well from section to section and feature many tempo changes and a refreshing dynamic diversity, it creates an atmosphere that is like no other, seamlessly blending menacing doomy death metal with some gentle female vocals as well and orchestral flourishes. From a production standpoint, Transmutations is still on the raw side of things, it works well when combined with the female vocals and orchestral parts. Much like the musicianship, the raw nature of the album's sound creates a very particular atmosphere. It captures a significant step in their evolution perfectly. It's an album that combined different musical styles in an organic and elegant and extreme. An absolutely essential listen!

fetidzombiedm.bandcamp.com/album/transmutations

Review by Paul Caravasi

Monday, May 29, 2023

Goatfyre - Goatfyre (2022)


If you've ever wondered what the missing link between, say, Venom, early Slayer and Motorhead may have been with female vocals, look no further. The shouted vocals, seriously dark and grim atmosphere, lyrical concepts of war and killing, the aggression and overdriven basslines, it's all here. Goatfyre took the power of Motörhead and Venom, the lyricism of Slayer and combined it with their own hardcore punk background and created extreme music. Goatfyre easily can be listened by a thrash, grind, black metal, hardcore punk and dozens of subsequent genres followers. How can any fan of extreme music resist the chainsaw guitar sounds? No matter your depth of metal knowledge and history, if you don't know and respect Goatfyre you know nothing. Loud and ferocious music, All of these songs for the most part are the best representation of youthful energy, anger when it's dealt with properly and productively, this is a must-have album for any self-respecting metal head, or fan of extreme music in general !!

jawbreakerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/goatfyre

jawbreaker.se

Review by Paul Caravasi


Blasphemaniac - Bestial Occult Ceremony ( 2022)


This is ther first full length from Brazil's finest extreme metal band Blasphemaniac. Though the band has gained notoriety for their most recent demos and compilations, this eight track chunk of rabid raw old school worship set the tone for Blasphemaniac's career to come. Raw and savage in all of the right ways,  plain and simple. While Whipstriker also from Brazil brought Hellhammer tone to Motörhead these maniacs brought thrashing, blackened, bastardized thrash metal. Despite being quite raw and rambunctious, the album is extremely listenable. Everything is remarkably clean and surprisingly upbeat. The guitars deliver punkened heavy metal riffs loaded with tons of classy double stop fills and blazing solos, vocals are delivered as a cleaner, raw shout instead of the deeper growl, "Bestial Occult Ceremony" is basically a homage to classic southamerican metal with a bit of metalpunk flair: Motörhead; Tank; Warfare; Venom; you name it. The music is catchy as hell and all but requires the listener to headbanging. The album's lack of polish only serves to enhance it's charm, this is pure savagery debut album. Any fan of the style owes it to themselves to find this brutal gem!!

blackheartsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/bestial-occult-ceremony

jawbreaker.se

Review by Paul Caravasi


Armory - Mercurion (2022)


The 80s was a great time for metal. Judas Priest, Helloween, Maiden were all releasing career-defining work, and alongside death, thrash, black and hair metal, speed metal emerged with good bands all forming and gaining fame. It is for this reason that upon first hearing - and indeed seeing - Armory you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in the 80s. This band sounds like just the sort of fast-paced, gritty metal you'd expect from such long-haired, denim-wearing metalheads, and this is no bad thing. The band wear these influences on their sleeve  full-length "Mercurion" is an excellent homage to one of metal's most crucial time periods. 'Message from the stars' sets the scene for much of the album, both in name and sound. It's Judas Priest style double-guitar assault is a metalheads dream, while the loud pounding drums and screeching vocals complete the Armory sound. The 80s may have been great for metal, but let's not pretend there isn't a ton of high-quality metal around today. In Mercurion Evil Invaders combine these two truths to emerge with a strong-as-hell album. It's dirty, thrashy and in-your-face, it's also pretty brilliant.  Essential listen, especially if speed/thrash are your forte!!

armory417.bandcamp.com/album/mercurion

jawbreaker.se

Review by Paul Caravasi


Monday, February 13, 2023

Overlord - Fake Salvation (2023)


I really hope this review will give this album all the praise it deserves. The killer riffs makes this album an absolute stand out record for me. The song writing is excellent and the arrangements are well chosen which makes it easy to listen to the album as a whole. The song topics range from atrocities of war and the dark side of the human mind to straight out gore and horror, there are so many great riffs that it is almost insulting to highlight only a few examples. In other words, this isn't technical death metal, this is brutal death metal. Another thing that I like about this album is its structure.  The drumming is really awesome on all of the tracks. There is not one moment on this album where the drums sound bad. The blast beats are done with such great precision, they executed extremely well. If you’re looking for an album with the best blast beats, get this one. You will know what I mean. Production-wise, this album is clear keeping its brutality, clear enough to hear every note, which is nice since there are a lot of them.  Overall, "Fake Salvation" is an album that anyone who is a fan of extreme death metal that recalls an old-school vibe should check this out. It packs one hell of a punch with the interesting nature of its riff work and has more than enough variety in it to keep you interested. In the vein of CANCER , MASSACRE , early DEATH & BOLT THROWER !!

greatdanerecs.com/eshop/web

greatdanerecords.bandcamp.com/album/fake-salvation

Review by Paul Caravasi