Krupskaya - Clouds Over Pripyat

Tonight, I'm bringing you harsh as shit Powerviolence straight of the fucking west midlands (Stoke-on-Trent, to be exact).  I actually haven't listened to this that much because it's so grating, but I know some of you get a real boner from this shrill shit.  I first heard of this band during the medieval myspace times through their former project Kzzzch!, which I still think was the better band, but this one is pretty hot too.  While Kzzzch! was more of a light-speed Grind band, Krupskaya was a noisier and looser sounding band with a significant Screamo influence and a political lean.  Expect only the most dissonant of chords and the sharpest screams and a loose performance tying it all together.  Definitely a more punk, intellectual and radical take on an uber-tough genre.  If you like Powerviolence, but wish it was skinnier, nerdier and less belligerent, this band is for you.

still in love with Judas, baby

Miserable Australia double post

Misery's Omen - Misery's Omen

This self-titled album is a comp of their "To Worship Stone Gods" ep and their split with Cauldron Black Ram.  It's still in the same style as "Hope Dies", but definitely more deppressive and less melodic.  The vocals on these earlier works are in constant fluxuation between almost every known Black Metal vocal style: bird squawks, semi-clean yells, growls, and the ubiquitous screech.  It adds tons of dynamics, but maybe a tough first listen for those used to a more "Darkthrone" type vocal.  The sonics are actually quite good and relatively consistent for this type of comp, despite some volume difference between tracks.  All the complex instrumental work is still there, in case you were expecting a more primitive affair.  Nope, even in their beginnings, these guys could play their asses off.  Download it.  Do it.

no youtube video?

Mars, the windy planet


Misery - Revel in Blasphemy

There's not a whole lot to say about this one besides that it's really rare.  I'd been searching for a download of it for a good year.  Stupid, huh?  Why don't I just buy it?  Because I'm a cheap, poor bastard like most of you probably are.

Ok, but what does it actually sound like?  It's pretty straight-forward early 90's Death Metal, sounding most like early Malevolent Creation with some early Morbid Angel in there too.  The riffs are pretty simple and satisfying, as are the vocals.  There are some gradual slow-downs and speed-ups as well as some proto-Slam breakdowns to add a challenging flair.  What you see is what you get here.  If you think the 90's were the "golden age" of Death Metal, you should surely give this a shot.

revel in ass for me

Thy Infernal - Warlords of Hell

What does a Black Metal "flop" sound like?  Ok, so maybe this wasn't quite a "flop", but I did indeed buy this in the fabled bargain bin for 2 dollars.  You'd probably be hard-pressed to find a new copy of this album for sale.  For all the hard time I give it, and for how forgotten this band has become, this album is actually pretty damn good. 

Thy Infernal actually made some waves ten years ago with this release, people were even considering them one of the best US Black Metal bands.  Of course, this was before the "myspace era", cheap digital recording, and the current hipster fascination with the genre.  Thanks to the first two, there's now seemingly a wealth of good Black Metal coming from America.   Half of this band went on to form super-campy Goregrind bands Engorged, Splatterhouse and Frightmare.  So, you can definitely expect some cheesiness sprinkled on this dish, but not overwhelmingly so.  The riffs and even the vocal lines are quite memorable and good.  Had this album been produced better and some of the cheese cut out, it could have been rather "stellar". 

thy-in-girdle

Evoken - Quietus

Do you ever stop whatever you're doing and let your mind wander?  Do you ever notice that every thought that seems to run through your head is negative?  That happens to me all the time; so is this common to all people?  Listening to Evoken certainly makes it seem so...

In a style where bands are only concerned about being slower and even more minimal than the next guy, Evoken towers over their Southern Lord contemporaries as they showcase actual songwriting ability.  Although they still manage to be appropriately lethargic, they write real riffs and arrangements that allow songs to actually develop.  The production is properly thick and clear to let the oppression of the music eclipse your day.  This is very much like a Death Metal answer to The Austrasian Goat's debut, which happens to be my favorite Funeral Doom album by far.  Coffins, Winter, and Mournful Congregation fans must hear...

is it supposed to sound like that?

Hellwitch - Syzygial Miscreancy

After that last post, I feel like I need to regain some of my "cred", and what better way to do that than to dig up something really old.  Hellwitch, like many bands of the late 80's, straddled the line between Thrash and Death Metal, but few did so as well as they did.  While still having the "attack" and basic tone of yester-years Thrash bands, the sparse sprinkling of blast-beats, tremolo-picked riffs, and technical starts and stops hinted at the impending new era of heaviness.

This actually sounds a lot like Sadus, but a bit less mature.  If you're into early Death Metal, or the faster Crossover styles of S.O.D. and Cryptic Slaughter, this super-short LP is for you.

although stupid, this cover is kind of endearing in it's immaturity, which is going to save it from the "shitty album covers" label.  I also think it's a rip-off of this.

more and faster

Moonspell - The Antidote

I have here Moonspell's 6th album, and not only is it their best, it's also the best Goth Metal album ever made.  Now, most of you are going to be totally phobic to anything Goth Metal or will just roll your eyes because you think Moonspell is just a Portuguese Type O Negative, which is pretty true, but that doesn't change the fact that this is one monumental album.  The consistency, songwriting, and production have been taken up several levels since their ho-hum 90's albums and uber-crappy "Butterfly Effect".  These changes were evident in in their previous album, but really came to fruition here.  The songs are all memorable, the playing is damn tight, but what really pushes this work over the edge is the production.  The tones are super-warm, the instrumentation is concise and uncluttered, and the delays have a perfect shimmering quality.  The only drawback I would say is the vocals being a bit over the top; there seems to be too many "whispered" parts, and there's still a heavy Portuguese accent to the English lyrics.  But hey, in either Goth or Metal good singing is pretty hard to come by, so finding someone that can do both effectively might as well be impossible.

For the two of you that might like this, here it is...

goth talk

Kvazar - Flatlined

I've got some pretty sweet Greco-Grindcore for you in this post.  Influences of several great bands can be heard here: Cephalic Carnage, Malevolent Creation, and even Suffocation.  Even with the mention of those bands, their sound is still pretty straight-forward Grindcore, and not Deathgrind like those influences may imply.  Expect some sweet riffs, throaty vocals, and varied drumming (instead of one contiuous gatling gun blast).  I detect some vague Metalcore influence here too, but maybe that's just me.  Definitely, if you like Cephalic Carnage, Pig Destroyer or Fuck the Facts, you should like this.

fat-lined

Misery's Omen - Hope Dies

I honestly don't know why I waited so long to post this, as it's easily one of the most impressive Black Metal releases this millenium.  A very basic way to describe this would be the Black Metal equivalent of Stargazer, except far more melodic.  It definitely follows in the path of the progressive and groundbreaking metal that Australia's incestuous scene has been known for the past 6 years.  The fact that this band features members of Portal and Stargazer should be no surprise, and only incite further enticement.

This album really has it all: great songs, musicianship, production value, dynamics, amazing artwork.  What's also impressive is these guys manage to be challenging and unique while still maintaining the essential deppressive and sorrowful qualities of Black Metal.  They're progressive without turning into another "genre-salad" band.  If you've been digging the melodic bass of Beyond Creation, this album's got that too.  Seriously you guys are gonna shit yourselves when you hear this.

 

 

pope dies

Murder Squad - Unsane, Insane and Mentally Deranged

Once again, it's time to look into the future...  All the way to the year 2001 (cue "La Bamba's" high-pitched voice).

Hey, have you ever wished Swedish Death Metal was even more muddy and sluggish, and then dumbed-down to an almost Mortician-level stupidity?  Members of Dismember and Entombed had united to make such a puke pool of music, and you probably slept through the whole thing because you suck.  Luckily for you, I'm not a poser and bought this album when it came out, and am ressurecting it so your pseudo-bohemian-hipster ears can hear what real brutality sounds like.

Of course, stupid music can still be good.  Just like Extreme Noise Terror, these guys do stupid right!  You're in for some lumbering masses of distortion and bass, without any advanced playing techniques to distract from the aural punishment.  If you like obese, neanderthal Death Metal like Autopsy, Cianide, Carnage, or Acephalix, you know what to do.

the "other" Murder Squad

Probe me

Monstrosity - Millenium

Sorry it's been forever since my last post, but I was on a short vacay to the Big Island.  I didn't post about it because I figured no one would care.  No pictures or anything, just use your imagination for what it was like.

This brings us to the end of highschool week at triple B.  I bought this album sometime in junior or sophomore year (not really sure), but I'm sure the purchase was partly due to George Fisher being their vocalist at the time (which should be considered a drawback).  Thankfully, this is arguably Fisher's best performance, so he's not nearly as annoying as he would become in the next few years.  Once you get past the vocals though, you'll find a bountiful booty of supremely technical and very musical Death Metal.  The riffs, the beats, and just the synchronization of all the instruments are surgically precise.  All of this technical precision is spearheaded by the insanely tight and dynamic drumming of Lee Harrison, who ironically didn't drum, but played guitar for Prog-Death gods Atheist.  "Tight" playing might seem ultra-common today with all these so called "progressive" Deathcore bands, but Monstrosity were (and still are) even tighter, before Beat Detective and time-editing software even existed.  They did this shit for real. 

Death Metal fo' real