Sadistic Metal Reviews 05-19-2015

BundesarchivBildDieppeLandungsversuch

Like the clueless cannon fodder that most sacrificed soldiers end up being in major wars, so too are the hordes of albums of clueless “musicians” working on a way to cash in on the lack of attention span and seriousness of the masses. Lazy music for lazy minds, candy music for people wearing rose-colored glasses. It all ends up here, sadistically reviewed, their corpses lying on the ground. Perhaps comparing these releases to massacred soldiers is giving them too much life. These sterile releases are more akin to cardboard boxes with Andy Warhole (yes, War-HOLE) colored stupidity.
torche-restarter
Heathen Beast – The Carnage of Godhra

Scream lyrics in monochromatic vox, make cavemannish groove riffs that mimic the vocal rhythms, and then overlay or alternate with middle-eastern instruments from a keyboard. Apparently Heathen Beast thinks this is enough to make some sort of progressive folk music. Of course, you need the narrated sections, or the dialogues. Then this becomes a conceptual release. Just because you can release your musical creations does not mean you should unleash your turds on the world. Some of the cheapest music to hit the mail this month.
torche-restarter
Osculum Infame – The Axis of Blood

Make-believe black metal that grooves like alternative metal. The nonsensical juxtaposition of sections to surprise and contradict expectation is rampant. The point is not to make the music coherent in any sense. The point is to posture. We are black metal, man, we are hardcore black metal.  The reliance of this music on grooving rhythms and macho-man vocals ala Phil Anselmo is as sickening as it is disgraceful. The true black metal fan will do well to stay away from this one. Save yourself some precious minutes of your mortal life.

torche-restarter
VoidCeremony – Dystheism

The epitome of the riff salad disaster in the so-called atmospheric death metal. The trick here is simple: make obscure, messy riffs, lots of them, more than you can count. They do not need to progress in any particular direction, they do not need to be necessarily related. They do need to keep a character, at least. This will make the fans laud your music for creating “such a dark and oppressive atmosphere”. You will hear poser hipsters like Anthony Fantano who know nothing about the graceful art of musical construction praising poorly thought-out death metal such as this. They equate “I do not know what the fuck is going on with the music but I can get the feeling” with good quality in death metal.  Tough-sounding ambient music for blockheads.

8 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

No God Only Pain releases music video

no_god_only_pain_-_joy_of_suffering

No God Only Pain has just released a music video for their new album’s title track, Joy of Suffering. No God Only pain play a brand of primitive black metal with heavy Oi! component which brings to mind early absurd at moments but distinguishes itself with more dynamic songwriting. Atmospheric and at the same time driving, this music maintains coherence and stylistic consistence while never stagnating, an improvement over past approaches to this particular musical blend. While still having loose ends, this music shows a lot of promise.

No God Only Pain contact:

https://www.facebook.com/nogodonlypain?fref=ts

http://nogodonlypain.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AClnNyXudAE

23 Comments

Tags: , ,

Dolentia set release date for highly anticipated album

altare

Altare Productions is proud to present Dolentia’s highly anticipated second album, Iniciação Eversiva, set for international release on June 22nd. The vinyl LP version of Dolentia’s Iniciação Eversiva was released earlier this year the UK’s Mordgrimm, and that release featured six songs. Now, a CD version will be released by Portugal’s Altare Productions in conjuction with Mordgrimm, and will feature two bonus re-recorded songs from the 2007 demo A Idade da Morte, Liturgia do Sangue e da Agonia: “Lapidis/Sacrificium” (two songs glued together, like the band uses to play live) and “Era Portucalensis.”

Tracklist:

1. Voragem
2. Guardião das Almas
3. Entre Túmulos Esquecidos
4. Supremo Desígnio
5. Do Fundo dos Abismos
6. A Noite
7. Lapidis – Sacrificium
8. Era Portucalensis

3 Comments

Tags: , , ,

Undergang – Døden Læger Alle Sår

undergang

Playing a cavernous underground music, Undergang have crystallized a style in Døden Læger Alle Sår that harks back to the sound not only of obvious Scandinavian forefathers but also to that of Morpheus Descends and Demoncy. Rather than spiraling through serpentine corridors as Incantation does, Undergang uses vocabulary from the Swedeath lingo here, and then the atmospheric death metal riff of Morpheus Descends there, only to descend into a the more inconspicuous atmospheric tremoloing of Demoncy to further the expression. Enriching this mixture of influences, we can also find unexpected doom-like moments with the economical and spacious approach of Worship.

 

Even though all these are present in Døden Læger Alle Sår, the style parade that a collection of influences often results in is not present here. It is also very important to stress that Undergang does not fall into trope repetition nor does it wink at the listener with a cliche here and a cliche there. The band expertly appropriates the different stylistic conventions under a overall Swedish death metal mantle and, more impressively, escapes the cliches of the latter as well. The reason why it can work is because the grindy Nihilist, the American Morpheus Descends and the decorative ends in Demoncy and Worship – like breaths are all compatible. It is only unfortunate that while all this has been accomplished, Undergang’s own voice still seems only visible as a blurry image behind this coherent, translucid tapestry.

4 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Classical String Quartets for the Death Metal Fan, episode three

haydn schoenberg

Today we will visit the works of two great composers in their own right who were also the teachers, directly or indirectly, of other composers who are considered musical geniuses. These geniuses were Mozart and Beethoven after Haydn, and Webern and Berg after Schoenberg.

In a way, Haydn and Schoenberg represent opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of the relation between composer and society. Haydn was employed by the Esterhazy family for many years, serving as personal composer for their events and whims. An honored servant, making music in the styles fashionable to the aristocracy. Schoenberg, on the other hand, was a product of a much different era, a century and a  half later, when composers had attained a position of independent eminence and power as a result of a process that had started in Mozart’s time and made more clear with Beethoven. Schoenberg’s attitude and music widened the gap between an artists pursuit of perfection and the audience’s taste and preferences.  This, of course, was a result of larger historical processes and not the work of a composer; Schoenberg was a result of these, not a cause.

Franz Joseph Haydn: Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross

Originally written for a classical orchestra as a commission for the Oratorio de la Santa Cueva in Spain, Haydn reworked this music intended as accompaniment for the mass as a string quartet at the petition of his publisher. Irrelevant here, but it is worth mentioning that the composer later adapted this work as an oratorio as well.

Arnold Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2

Powerful and particularly lyrical in its melodies, this quartet is unusual in its use of a soprano in its last two movements.  About this quartet, the composer says:

“I was inspired by poems of Stefan George, the German poet, to compose music to some of his poems and, surprisingly, without any expectation on my part, these songs showed a style quite different from everything I had written before.” – Arnold Schoenberg (1937)

The work uses a wide array of work tools, starting with a very late romantic feeling and moving into atonal experiments; the last movements in which all chromatic tones are used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzgFd0eDaMQ

4 Comments

Tags: , ,

Greyhaze Records Reissuing Mystifier’s Goetia

mystifier01

Greyhaze Records is set to reissue Goetia, the second full-length album from Brazilian black metal horde Mystifier. Originally released in 1993 by Osmose Productions, Greyhaze Records has restored and remastered this black metal milestone to ensure each venomous track permeates the listener’s senses to the fullest effect. In addition to the 10 tracks that appeared on the original release, the CD version of the Greyhaze reissue features three live bonus tracks. The album is available a six-panel digipak CD and double vinyl LP (black vinyl or red w/ black smoke vinyl). The vinyl version does not include the bonus live tracks.

Goetia is available at store.greyhazerecords.com.
www.facebook.com/mystifier666
2 Comments

Tags: , , ,

The Negation releasing Memento Mori in July

thenegation2015

The album Memento Mori from Black Metallers The Negation on July 6 (July 7 digital and North America). The first pressing comes as a limited edition (500 copies) DigiSleeve CD.

The Negation’s second full-length, Memento Mori was produced at the Hybreed Studio (Temple of Baal, Glorior Belli, Azziard), with artwork by Metastazis (Morbid Angel, Behemoth, Watain), influenced by famous acts with whom they’ve toured (Marduk, Belphegor) as well as bands such as Dark Funeral and Deathspell Omega. Enough said!

Tracklist:

  1. Intro
  2. The true Enemy
  3. Sacrifice the Weak
  4. Parasite Fall
  5. A Prayer for the Ones I Will Have to Kill
  6. Faith in God’s Corpse
  7. End of Cycle
  8. Visions of Doom
  9. Résistance
  10. Outro

Check out their mega-awesome nihilist and modern music in their album teaser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey-eejNacFY

4 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Dying Humanity – Deadened

deadened01

Dying Humanity are the perfect metalcore product. They’ve got all the moves, they know every trick in the book. Trope-masters Dying Humanity present us with a compilation of metalcore cliches titled Deadened which at its most lucid moments almost reaches the sobriety of Blinded by Faith‘s Chernobyl Survivor. Here and there we find nods to more mainstream acts like Killswitch Engage and then back to more extreme modern metalcore and other so-called melodic death metal bands following in the steps of Slaughter of the Soul. Tying mostly unrelated melodies in riffs in that last style, Dying Humanity supports them by the same square, straight-up d-beats ala Adrian Erlandsson.

While Dying Humanity will not appeal to fans of the old school, it will not appeal to fans of any kind of music that revels in attention to logical construction and detail. Deadened may nonetheless prove to be a satisfying commercial success with the casual head-banging crowd which only needs a catchy dose of sterile, well-produced music that has as much staying power as a Big Mac.

1 Comment

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sadistic Metal Reviews 05-18-2015

smr-machinegune

The cause: Too many labels, too many resources, too many enabled idiots. The result: tons and tons of mediocre music. Occasionally a decent release or two. A handful of good albums each year. A classic every few years. In the advent of such a shitstorm, should we ignore the fecal matter covering our windshields, obstructing our view as we look for actually worthwhile releases?

torche-restarter
Groteskh – Code: END

Some think death metal is all about brutal riffs. The brutaller your riff, the awesomer your music. And if you pack your music with brutal riff after brutal riff, then of course, your music will be the brutallest. Some also think that black metal is “all about the atmosphere”. And what does atmosphere mean, according to simple minds? Well, come flat-sounding strummed riffs with an “evil” feeling. Groteskh plays in the modern style of boring death metal pretending to be black metal. And in doing so, trying to excuse the lacking death metal the band produces. Code:END amounts to “brutal riffs with atmosphere”, a delight for the moronic modern extreme metal commoner. Add in some parts with groovy drums, bopping bass and strummed “evil sounding” chords, and you got your death black party metal formula.

torche-restarter

Seven7 – The Follower

Best described as Mike Portnoy syncopations, Matt Halpern groove poserism,  power metal inclinations with Fred Durst and Chester Bennington deciding the musical direction, Seven7 make Nu Metal bent on taking the fraud of  Dream Theater’s pseudo-prog as part of its language. Frankly, it sounds like a Dream Theater unveiled to what it truly is: pretentious pop music. Disgusting at every level, this album is a collection of tropes from the mainstream melodic extreme metal appropriated to a Nu Metal and Alternative Metal context.

torche-restarter

Jarun – Pod niebem utkanym z popiołu

Jarun gives us a musically consistent Blackwater Park that is only folk in name.  Lose melodies out of context, racing double bass drums and “progressive” riffs riding under disorganized music that attempts to hide its simple structure under a lot of flare and affectation. The music here is essentially rhythmic appeal to headbangs and slightly bittersweet melodies ala Pink Frothy Aids. The introduction of purposeless riffs is a clear sign of a lack of vision in composition, but this crowd and those who surround them are oblivious to what this means. Condemned to live in delusion and pretension, this music appeals to those who want to pose as if they listen to deep or complex music but only want music that is easy to digest and headbang to.

4 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Desolate Pathway updates

valleyoftheking

Tread the Desolate Pathway, and follow the great Prince Palidor as he reclaims his throne. Formed by ex-guitarist Vince Hempstead of doom legends Pagan Altar, Desolate Pathway are a traditional band for the modern era. Their début album,Valley of the King, weaves a grandiose and fantastical tale, a quest of a prince claiming his rightful throne of lights, wrapping the tale in true epic doom stylings and powerful sonorous vocals.

Desolate Pathway have a string of live shows coming up, taking them all over the country in the next few months. The band also announce an additional guitarist to their ranks: Portuguese-born Nuno Silva, who brings his love of hard rock to the table, and an extra boost to the band’s top-notch live performance.

The dates are as follows:

  • Jun 18th: The Cave, Addlestone, Surrey, w/ Hagstone & Famyne
  • Aug 29th: Power and Glory Festival, Hatfield w/ Stampede, Savage, Martyr, Sacrilege, Lord Volture, Toledo Steel, Salem, Dealer and more
  • Aug 30th: The Carlisle, Hastings, w/ Lord Volture & Toledo Steel
  • Sept 19th: The Carlisle, Hastings w/ Famyne
  • Oct 31st: Fest of Hades, Wakefield w/ Hamerex, Kaine, Aonia, Promethium and more.
  • Nov 13th: The Haunt, Brighton, w/ Temperance, Seventh Sin & Proscenium*
    Nov 14th: The Anvil, Bournemouth, w/ Ded Orse, Bitter Divide & Seventh Sin*
  • Nov 28th: The Unicorn, London w/ Sir Admiral Cloudesley Shovell

Desolate Pathway are currently working on new material, including an EP and second album, with a concept based on Greek mythology.

No Comments

Tags: , , ,

Classic reviews:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z