A nice fellow by the name of Krunoslav Žažar has published a web site and book about how heavy metal is Satan’s music.
I think it would be great if a horde of people responded, demanding for their Satanic bands to be included. Or simply sending Satanic propaganda.
On the plus side, his taste in metal is awesome. He includes Averse Sefira, Blood and many other obscure bands as he makes his case.
You can download the whole thing as an ebook:
The last couple of years have seen a artistic renaissance of a genre that throughout the best part of the mid- to late 90′s, and the early reaches of the millennium, was perceived to be a ghost that had long outlived it’s most glorious moments of artistic clarity. Great quantities of ‘gore’ and ‘brutal’ Death Metal acts have over the last two decades, dumbed down the mystical perversity that gave a genre the likes of Blessed Are The Sick, Legion, Cause Of Death, Onward To Golgotha, Imperial Doom, has in years past given way to acts that aim principally for shock value, sidetracking any of the compositional and dynamic attributes that were the essence of what made Death Metal so vital in it’s 1989-1993 heyday.
It’s great that Autopsy should record such a gem as this, as it serves to vanquish the plasticity and dross that once great acts such as Morbid Angel and Deicide have spluttered forth. Not only does it filter out these negatives, but it also does great justice to many artists who embrace an archaic yet craftsmanlike and refreshing interpretation of Death Metal.
In addition to having put out the excellent ‘The Tomb Within‘ EP last year, Autopsy have eschewed the notion of ‘re-recordings’ or filtering previously released material onto this new record. Instead what we have is a colossal, quite lengthy record, lasting greater than an hour but never straying from momentum and vibrancy.
It wouldn’t be unfair to say that in terms of intricate song structuring, Autopsy have perhaps even upped on what they originally achieved on Severed Survival and Mental Funeral, with a more obvious sense of grandeur. This exhibits itself on tracks such as ‘Bridge Of Bones’ and ‘Sadistic Gratification’, which sound somewhat like a logical conclusion of what was being hinted at on their second album. Eric Cutler’s riffs and modes are the usual tritonal, Black Sabbath meets Hellhammer-esque death dirges, which occasionally recycle patterns and forms familiar in early material, yet also giving the album a renewed sense of consistency. It is this grasp of orthodoxy within the metal genre which always makes for contributing to the collective framework of the artists work, which Autopsy fulfill here.
This is however not to say that there are flourishes of ‘experimentation’. Luckily the band have played a good hand of cards, and have not fallen into the ludicrous corner of ‘evolving for the sake of it’. Particular songs on ‘Macabre Eternal’ show the band using greater song lengths than before (‘Sadistic Gratification’, ‘Sewn Into One’), and also display a greater sense of direct melodicism (‘Dirty Gore Whore’). Whilst Autopsy have never been associated with playing at fast speeds, large stretches of this album are more uptempo.
Chris Reifert is on top form as a vocalist. His ability to evoke majestic visions of dismemberment and perversion seem to contain a greater dynamic than usual, as to suggest that nearly fifteen years of prolonged absence has only allowed his strengths to re-accumulate.
Though certainly not a complaint on behalf of the reviewer, what may potentially put off some fans of earlier material is the production, which is undeniably modern in tone. Whilst Chris Reifert’s drumming is still top notch the only minor complaint being that the compression on his drumkit seems to somewhat nullify the sense of ability, flair and aggression that a more analogous production would bring out. Whilst Macabre Eternal possesses all of the right atmosphere and conviction worthy of great death metal, the more aesthetically orientated listener will notice that the overall tonality is not as analogous as what was committed to tape in the 80′s and 90′s.
In spite of this minor specific, this album is superb, and rightly deserves to be considered a beacon of the revivification of a dark and morbid art form that until the turn of the new millennium, was considered a dead horse. Hail the new dawn. Not only in terms of structural and grandiose perversion does this album triumph, but fragments of it’s lyrical scope only serve further as to compliment the metaphysical and transcendental nihilism that death metal eternally symbolizes.
“Under the sign of a skull faced moon
We rise from abysmal embryotic doom
Existence as torment, yet locked in a grave
A sick fragile cycle from which no one is saved”
Within the recent decade, this is the best ‘comeback’ release that has emerged from any of the elder practitioners of the genre. Undoubtedly, this shall also be a worthy contender for being the best album of the year.
-Pearson-
No CommentsTags: American Death Metal, death metal, Gore, Horror, Nihilism, Old School Death Metal
Timeghoul CD/LP Compilation (07/18/2011)
DARK DESCENT RECORDS / THE CRYPT PRESENT TIMEGHOUL (USA) CD/LP
For the first time ever on CD and Vinyl, Dark Descent Records and The Crypt have joined forces once again to proudly present the complete discography from the legendary Science Fiction / Fantasy Death Metal legends TIMEGHOUL (USA).
Born in the Midwest United States in 1987, Doom’s Lyre remained relatively quiet, recording no material before changing their name. In 1991, Doom’s Lyre, now renamed Timeghoul, set out by releasing two demos; 1992’s Tumultuous Travelings and 1994’s Panaramic Twilight.
Largely ignored and mostly forgotten, these recordings did not receive the recognition they deserved until years later. Timeghoul’s eclectic and complex style of US death metal started to gain momentum within the underground as overlooked and classic material.
Prepare for one of the most unique and complex death metal offerings the early 90’s had to offer.
CD version by Dark Descent Records and Vinyl version by The Crypt.
More news to come…
http://www.darkdescentrecords.com
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The new batches of Demilich shirts will be printed soon, but before that, some of the sizes that were sold out are now back in sale in very limited quantities.
By already being deemed as one of the elite bands within America’s death metal underground, and this merely by their one demo, the crushing “Vault Of Membros”, DISMA would immediately come to the forefront of the death metal underground since it features one of the most influential death metal vocalists of all time, namely death metal legend Craig Pillard (ex-Incantation/Disciples Of Mockery/Methadrone) alongside guitarists Daryl Kahan (Funebrarum/Citizen’s Arrest/Assuck) and Bill Venner (ex-Incantation), bassist Randi Stokes (ex-Methadrone) and drummer Shawn Eldridge (Funebrarum). And with DISMA stacked with respected underground musicians in its own right, it is without a doubt that DISMA have crafted their own distinct brand of unbelievably doomy twisted atmospheric death metal that will forge new ground while naturally upholding the ancient old-school death metal spirit.
With the megalith being described in a scenario as the monolithic tomb of humanity, DISMA’s music on their debut serves as the ideal soundtrack to a procession towards such a monument. With the ritualistic down-tuned low-end rhythm section of doom that counterpoints itself with Kahan and Venner’s crawling and twisted guitar chaos, all topped off by Pillard’s unparalleled death metal growls, “Towards The Megalith” will make its mark within the death metal scene as a monument to time end.
Named by Decibel magazine as one of the top 25 most anticipated releases of 2011 and to be released officially July 19th, tracklisting for “Towards The Megalith” goes as follows:
1. Chaos Apparition
2. Chasm Of Oceanus
3. Spectral Domination
4. Vault Of Membros
5. Purulent Quest
6. Lost In The Burial Fog
7. Of A Past Forlorn
8. Towards The Megaltih
Watch here for the release: Profound Lore Records: Disma Towards the Megalith
No CommentsChecking out this latest Google project. They’re determined to create a social network to trump Twitter and Facebook.
This seems like a good way to capture idle consumer cycles as they deskwarm their make-work jobs.
No CommentsMetallica – Orion
If words convey meaning, matter takes form, bodies are avatars and truth can never be held, perhaps a tune is the same way.
No CommentsWe have long said on this site that aesthetics and composition, while they can aid each other (particularly aesthetics enhancing presentation of composition), are not the same and aesthetics — on the whole — is disposable. A great symphony played by a metal band would still be good music, and a great metal song played on kazoo would still be a great song.
Exhibit 1: Angel of Death (Soft Rock Version)
Although this is sacrilege and the person who committed it should be raped to death by pigs, it’s not only hilarious but, in comparison to all other soft rock ever created, total genius.
Exhibit 2: Hipster music
Note how brilliantly contrived the aesthetic is — and how empty, pointless, binary and unexceptional the underlying composition is. If you played this on an acoustic guitar, it would put you to sleep.
Like all hipster music, it’s a surface treatment. Death to all hipsters — well, that’s true, but the bigger point is: the song is not the production, the imagery, the performance or the weird little artists statements these grebo queerballs make in their album liners. It’s the composition.
No Comments*** ATTENTION ALL HESSIANS ***
True Cult Heavy Metal has posted a poll asking who should be the next BIG FOUR of “THRASH,” by which they mean everything from DRI to DESTRUCTION.
Unintentionally, for sure, they forgot to add motherfucking Birth A.D.
It would be great if others joined me in going to the True Cult Heavy Metal Thrash Poll and commenting to this effect:
Great list! You might also enjoy a crossover thrash band from Texas, Birth A.D.!
http://birthad.com/
You can also send email to the author directly with words to that effect.
No CommentsAurora Borealis define “melodic death metal” in the best tradition of the old school: it’s death metal, but it makes use of melody.
It has nothing in common with the new pseudo-genre “melodic death metal” which sounds like a power-metal/metalcore crossover with an emphasis on frilly melodic fills. You and your rape rump roast can go enjoy that elsewhere.
Instead, it sounds like Fallen Christ crossed with Luciferion. It’s good stuff:
Scenes from the making of the new Aurora Borealis album:
And some classic material from early in their career:
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