Thursday, October 31, 2013

October 31 - The Fire Awaits You (1997)







Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Helstar - Nosferatu (1989)

'Neo-classical' might not be the right word to describe Helstar's later 80s material, but records like Nosferatu, or its mutually superb forebear A Distant Thunder were certainly culled from the same classical 'shred' inspiration that spawned the popularity of personalities like Yngwie Malmsteen or half the artists on the Shrapnel Records roster. But what separates this Texan USPM icon from so many of its smarmy, overly showy and self-indulgent peers is just how well they've incorporated the scales and techniques into a strong metal style. Despite the obvious technicality employed by Larry Branagan and André Corbin in the structure of this record, it doesn't feel like an exhibition so much as an extremely classy and unexpected take on a horror legend...

In fact, in covering the 'horror metal' theme lately, I've often complained about how particular records failed to approach their subject matter with anything bordering on an appropriate atmosphere or aesthetic, that they never in fact feel chilling or frightening like their original inspiration. Nosferatu is an unusual exception, in that succeeds despite this lack of scares. The only thing 'terrifying' about this music is the players' acrobatic ability to fly up and down scales to the point that it can impose a sense of vertigo or acrophobia on the listener, but what I truly enjoy is how it lends a credible degree of majesty to the Bram Stoker masterpiece. It's a little confusing that the cover art seems to imply that the theme is centered around F.W. Murnau's follically impaired Nosferatu film, when lyrically its based more on Dracula itself, and possibly various other movie adaptations (like the 1979 flick, which is wonderfully sampled); and I also don't always subscribe to this notion of 'half-concept albums', which I'll get more into later, but for at least 20-25 minutes of this album, provided the listener isn't too intimidated by the constantly complex, noodling riff progressions, Stoker's archetypal antagonist is transformed into this culturally sophisticated entity through Helstar's musical vision, and it's truly a unique treat.

That this record is ambitious is an understatement...gone are the majority of the paraphrased post-Priest or Maiden riff cycles you'd expect, replaced by twisting and winding scale patterns whose veils of proficiency are occasionally parted for some kick-ass, storming power/speed metal surge like the verse riff in "Baptized in Blood". It's as if the Texans arrived from some parallel evolution of the form dated straight back to Mozart or Beethoven with only a cursory influence from the Downing/Tipton or Murray/Smith combos, and only faintly cognizant of Iommi. Best are the points at which the delicate, dextrous picked scales are integrated directly into the verses, such as in "Sleep, Perchance to Scream" where they contrast wonderfully with James Rivera's emotional delivery. Shred-nerds are thrown several bones here, especially the brilliant instrumental "Perseverance and Desperation" with its lush classical acoustic passages and arching solos, and I can fondly remember this being one of the few harder metal records that I and some friends introduced to our Musical Theory class, junior year in High School, which managed to impress all the Vai/Satriani/Rhoads fanatics who represented about half the class. I managed to turn a handful onto Deception Ignored, too, but the colder clinical atmosphere there wasn't as huge a draw as the more accessible, familiar classical overtones of this.

To pull this level of intricacy off, the guitars are mixed with a very thin, but warm and clean tone which reveals each harmony with a crisp and effective clarity. Lots of delicious, mute picked sequences with scale fills that flow seamlessly into each loop. The drums are also somewhat emaciated with a lot of snap and pop to them, the kicks dialed back a little but loads of great fills that fill in whatever blank spaces remain from the dazzling onslaught of the dual melodies. Jerry Abarca's bass lines do take a backseat to the rhythm guitars through much of the content, though he's equally capable and complex, and if you listen closely you're hear that. It's just that the music is already choked with such busyness that to have him performing disparate layers of fills might have resulted in too mindbending a structure. As it stands, this is just accessible enough for the more traditional speed/heavy metal fan while earning its thrills for the musician crowd that was so heavily drawn to it. However, the more the band rages along into pure power metal momentum, as in "Harsh Reality", his lines seem to materialize more forcefully. Plus, Jerry's also pulling double duty here, responsible for some of the pianos and synthesizers that are occasionally incorporated in good taste.

As good as the musicianship is on this disc, what really ties it all together is Rivera's performance which brings a heightened sense of urgency and tension to the 'action' of the plot, vampiric or otherwise. If you asked me to short-list 10 of the greatest melodic singers in US metal history, James would be a goddamn guarantee, and I'd be happy to punch anyone who claimed otherwise in the nose. He's not some technical marvel, perhaps, like Halford, Tate or Dane in their primes. He's not always 'perfect' in execution, but it's actually the wavering pitch of his delivery, the minor flaws that make his voice so memorable. He never fails to sound excited here, and the result is that the narrative force becomes equivocally actors portraying Harker, Dracula and Van Helsing shouting their lines across the theater so all can hear. Don't get me wrong, the man is capable of pulling out some smooth, melodic and 'safe' lines, but it's that frenzied fragility of his pipes that really push this past the limits. Not unlike David Wayne, Bobby Ellsworth or John Oliva, there's a real pain there, it's simply expressed differently. All I can say is that, in an age where so many power metal voices have become vapid and uninspired in their pursuit of pitch perfection, Rivera was and remains a treasure. I might not be able to pick out a Fabio Leone or ZP Theart from a lineup (not that they're bad), but James fucking Rivera? I'll know that voice anywhere. The man is fantastic.

A Distant Thunder has almost always been the pinnacle of Helstar's full-lengths in my estimation, since it was just so forceful and the marriage of potent, complex classical riffing with the subject matter in "The King is Dead", "Tyrannicide", or "Abandon Ship" is a spectacle, and it took the hints of brilliance from the first two records to an entirely new level. That said, there are some evenings in which you might catch me swaying towards Nosferatu's favor. Certainly the subject matter is perfect for this sound, but I will also point out that this also leads to the album's greatest flaw: Helstar half-asses the vampire theme, which encompasses only the former half of the record and then seems to skirt off into some real-world issues, all the rage in the thrash and power metal of the later 80s. I'd have had no problem with that on the earlier outings, but Nosferatu deserved 43 minutes of Transilvanian unity, coherence to its subject matter. You could probably squeeze a trilogy of albums out of Stoker's tale, so 10-11 tunes (including interludes and instrumentals) would have been a breeze. It's simply too distracting to have the lyrics to "Harsh Reality" hammering at me after being taken to this shadowy, enchanted fictional realm. 'Why is the world so fucked up?' feels quite out of place after the tragic magnificence of Count Dracula, and ultimately the Stoker tribute ends up seeming rushed.

"Benediction" and "Harsh Reality", which kick off the non-Dracula arc, stand out a little too much, the former for all the gang shout arrangements, which are, to be fair, also present on some of the theme tracks to a lesser degree. Both are good songs with some killer moments, but they do feel like rougher outtakes from A Distant Thunder and lack some of that fragile eloquence dominating Nosferatu. "Swirling Madness" and "Aieliaria and Everonn" do fit the aesthetic better, the first being one of my favorite songs on the album, but I wish they were lyrically streamlined to the concept. In the end, the record just doesn't feel complete, and whilst this might seem a nitpick in the age of .mp3s and most of mainstream media/culture not giving a shit about the actual format of a 'full album', it definitely holds Nosferatu back from its full potential. Beyond that, though, this remains a timeless and kick-ass exhibition of metal at its finest hour: when it strove for something greater than what had been presented before. Hey, I got no problem with blue collar, down to earth 'eavy fuckin' metal...I've got my shrine to Lemmy like anyone else. But don't forget, when those guys started doing that, it WAS, in its own way, forward-thinking and innovative. Helstar, through the 80s, were a band who honored that rich history by forcing at the limits, and records like A Distant Thunder and Nosferatu a just reward, deserving their legacy. Which is, of course, the reason that unproductive six-year gap to Multiples of Black was such torture, and the end product such a shocking icon of dismay and suckiness...but that, friends, is a horror story I'm not yet ready to deal with, so I'll stick with the bloodsucker.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (you are the victim I've chosen)

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Mercyful Fate - In the Shadows (1993)








Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (clearer than daylight)

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Candle Serenade - Nosferatu's Passion (1995)

One of my 'goals' this Halloween season was to head back in time to the 90s/early 21st century and revisit a lot of the cheesy Gothic/black metal hybrids that were once making waves in the wake of Cradle of Filth and Therion's success over the same period. Not to imply that all of the bands were all biting off these more familiar names stylistically, but there certainly seemed an era when that lowest common denominator 'haunted house' factor was this fresh, unexplored aesthetic in extreme metal that bands were diving into with vampiric lyrics, synthesizers, and of course the implementation of wailing female vocals. Some of the recordings I hold dear despite their obvious limitations, and others not so much, but after storming through the catalogs of Hecate Enthroned, Ancient, Graveworm, Siebenbürgen, Abyssos and numerous others, I suddenly remembered this 'gem' of a disc gathering dust in one of numerous forgotten boxes of my CD collection...okay, not exactly a gem.

I picked up Nosferatu's Passion some time in the later 90s, at one of Koshick's Milwaukee Metalfests. Remember when those were a thing? Remember when they were THE thing? At any rate, this wasn't exactly an blind or impulse purchase, as I had read some zines that placed Candle Serenade in that whole Gothic black and doom metal scene emerging from Portugal (Moonspell, Heavenwood, Desire, etc), but I was also drawn to the grim packaging, sloppy but symmetrical logo, and frankly I had a 'thing' for that whole vampire mythology drawn from a fascination with Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, and White Wolf tabletop RPGs like Vampire the Masquerade, Vampire: The Dark Ages, and so forth. No, I wasn't so much a dork that I was drinking wine and pretending it was blood, or engaging in mutual wrist-cutting rituals with the few ladies who might be willing to sup upon me, but I was pretty fond of classic horror, and even though my preference was for the raw black metal shit like Deathcrush or A Blaze in the Northern Sky, I had no real issue with those imaginative, dreamer bands who were trying to turn it into some kind of symphonic spectacle in lieu of limited resources and oft-substandard songwriting skills.

Well, once I finally trekked back to Massholeville and actually had the chance to go through all my loot, I can't say I was thrilled with this, immediately relegating it to the 'perhaps I will listen again' stack and then moving on to far better stuff. Every now and then I've broken this out to attempt some sort of appreciation, but ultimately I've got to conclude that Nosferatu's Passion, while a well-meaning disc that hovers on the precipices of both black and doom metal, is pretty fucking mediocre. I guess the best way to describe this would be as a mix of Moonspell's first EP, the earlier Theater of Tragedy records, and Therion's Lepaca Kliffoth (which came out the same year, one of my favorite Gothic metal records and infinitely superior to this). The use of the flute tones is somewhat reminiscent of Kawir from Greece, but obviously there's a little bit of a cultural divide and they don't give off that same rustic effect; they're not piping at you from gleeful, sylvan glades where ancient fauns dance, but rather following ghostly lights down corridors, disembodied floating hands with candles in them en route to some ritual. In fact, when it comes to the 'black' metal elements on this recording, which are scarce, there is some other parallelism to the Greek scene in that Candle Serenade tended to play slowly with a lot of simple guitar melodies.

Tunes like "Celtic Lir's Sons (Sad Erin's Legend)", for instance, seem like an alternate spin on the stuff that Rotting Christ, Nightfall or Varathron were putting out, or Root/Master's Hammer from the Czech scene, only nowhere near as poignant or memorable. There's that pervading sense of 'alternate' evolution. Nobody handed these guys a guidebook on 'black metal dos and don'ts', so it bears precious little similarity to the usual Scandinavian sources. Of course, Nosferatu's Passion would not have suffered from some bursts of infectious tremolo picking, some storming surges of energy. The entire album seems too content with its laconic sensibilities, constant glazes of guitar melodies that fail to catch the ear. They're really into using a lot of synthesizer sequences which sound like what you'd hear trekking around a graveyard or necropolis in some old computer RPG from the 90s. Not only in the 3/8ths of the track list that are pure intros or interludes, but also in sizable chunks of the lengthy tracks like "Transylvanic Mistress", which can take a long time to build in intensity and then never offer the payoff it needs to feel as if the song has actually transported you anywhere...honestly, Nosferatu's Passion is rather's biggest crime.

The production seems a little better than I can remember, but then that happens a lot when I'm going these old atmospheric black metal records like Siebenbürgen or Bishop of Hexen. I think a part of me just pines for these simpler times when bands were just lucky to get the instruments to a coherent mix and get something out through an inevitably doomed label (if I'm not mistaken, Guardians of Metal released less than a dozen titles). The drums pop through, the synthesizers are voluminous but contrast enough with the rhythm guitars and vocals that they don't drown them out, and the bass lines, while nothing extraordinary are at least audible. I think my biggest gripe here would be that the guitars sort of stumble along without much impact... not only are the 'riffs' pretty bland, but they simply lack the power or eloquence to successfully provoke the escapism of the lyrics. Vocally, Candle Serenade is also a little scattershot. The harsh vocals have more of a gruff bark to them, slightly reminding me of Johan Edlund on some of the older Tiamat stuff, but there are also some weird clean sections which seem a little 'off' in tuning (something I also felt about a few of the guitar melodies). The female operatic guest vocals are rather inconsequential though not unexpected. The clean guitar tone is also a fraction murky, so these sequences don't really shine on the album like they might with a proper 12-string mix.

All studio gripes aside, Nosferatu's Passion really just strains credibility because for an album that seems so imminently dark, suffocating and possibly undead in inspiration, it never once seems menacing or evil, not at any time visceral or ethereal in its horrors. Granted, not all the lyrics revolve around vampiric topics like Murnau's Nosferatu film, there is also a fascination here for Celtic myth and other history, but I've heard a grade school quartet sing the "Monster Mash" and it sounded spookier. Candle Serenade seems to avoid the incorporation of the darker atmosphere generated through a lot of minor scale exploration and general dissonance, and the riffing lines seem satisfied as seats for the keyboards, only neither is doing much worth a damn. Nothing on this debut is outright offensive or utterly irredeemable, but lyrically and musically you could put on anything by Cradle of Filth, Therion or Tiamat from the 90s, or any aesthetic median between any of the three, and benefit more than Nosferatu's Passion. Hell, pick up Medieval Demon's obscure debut Demonolatria from 1998...much better. I hate to say it, but the most notable thing about this short lived act was its of those handles that seems to just DESERVE better music. No offense, but if I had just spent a hundred years in my coffin and heard someone playing this in an attempt to lull me out, I think I'd just remain in torpor, thirsty, for another century.

Verdict: Fail [4.5/10]

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Howling - Tear the Screams from Your Throat (2013)






Howling - A Beast Conceived (2013)






Monday, October 21, 2013

Being Killed - Massacre of the Living (2008)

As I was picking through some gory stuff to cover this October, I admit to selecting Massacre of the Living because the cover was so similar to Chainsaw Dissection's Zombie Decimation, another disc I wanted to revisit. Sure enough, this is also a Mike Hrubovcak piece, and nearly the same, with a female victim about to be overcome by ravenous undead; only here she's got most of her clothes on (sans the nip slippage) and she's been taken in an alley as opposed to a graveyard. Admittedly, I found this a bit more colorful than Zombie Decimation, and wouldn't you know is the music itself. Though it's marginally comparable in style, thanks to the drum programming, this benefits from a cleaner and more clinical production sensibility that helps the riffs shine through.

And there ARE riffs, aplenty, over the 20 tracks in 23 minutes. Some of them are even pretty goddamn good, if not unique. I've seen several comparisons of this to Mortician, but I have to think those are based solely on the lyrical subject matter, use of drum machine, samples and the brief length of the average track. In reality, Being Killed is quite different. The songwriting is centered heavily on the rhythm guitars and doesn't use the oozing bass line technique (circa Will Rahmer). Also, the riffs here aren't nearly as place of the bludgeoning, drudging dichotomy you find in the New Yorkers, these Californians are more meticulous in how they construct guitar progressions. Not incredibly technical, no, but the punchy palm-muting and use of tremolo riffs is far more redolent of Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation and Deicide than the deathgrinding side of the equation. In fact, the only 'grind' aesthetic here is the short duration of the tunes. Other than that, this is Sevared-class brutal death through and through; the band just seem to wanna get it over with, light fuse and run away from the zombie horde chasing them.

Which is honestly a pity, because even where a song has some decent ideas it's finished in a flash and I came away dissatisfied. I mean, it's great that I could listen to this entirely on a subway ride or a morning jog, but I would have preferred the 23 minutes be devoted to 4-5 songs of substance. Being Killed could do a pretty good 'Corpse, Severe Torture or Severed Savior if they took their time with it, but most of the tunes that are 90 seconds or under here have barely begun before they're over, so only the lengthier 2 minute tracks like "Collapsing Society" and "Brushstrokes in Blood" have a chance to stand out. That's not to say that Massacre of the Living lacks some variety, because they'll experiment with some different riffing techniques and tempos, which only gets you so far in a 50 second song. Basically, the conciseness, which is often a boon to certain grindcore efforts, is a detriment to what otherwise might be a solid death metal records, and the primary reason that success eludes this debut. They did, however, release another record the same year (2008) through Comatose which had fewer and longer tunes, so apparently they learned their lesson quickly, or perhaps it was the idea all along to try their hands at both approaches...

Either way, Massacre of the Living gets few complaints in the production department. The drum machine is rather loud and brickwalled like a lot of modern brutal/tech death outings, but beyond that the levels are fairly balanced. Rhythm guitars are thin, punchy and effectively clear, not that they perform anything truly complex or bewildering that would be difficult to follow, but I enjoy the ability to feel out the riffing progressions and Being Killed does not deny me that pleasure. Bass is almost always a backdrop thing, you can hear a few distorted lines where they're left thrumming on their own (like in "Skull Matter") but by and large they are used to give the riffs more breadth and impact. Vocalist Dave Astor (who drums in Pathology) has a fairly stock guttural that occasionally takes on a fraction of the toilet bowl flush texture you expect in some of the genre's most ridiculous acts; it's not loud or particularly gruesome, but it does serve as a decent contrast to the brighter drumming and guitar tone. I liked the ambient bits that bookended the first and last cut, they definitely have that apocalyptic 80s vibe...the Ghostbusters sample in "Global Shutdown" might seem a little obvious though.

If you're more interested in Being Killed's ability to construct a proper song, then I'd advise you check out that other album Kill Yourself instead. The production is a little grainier than this, but they better fill out their potential on those tunes. Massacre of the Living sounds a little slicker, and has a half dozen killer riffs that secured my attention, but its ultimately annoying that most of the songs can't really generate any momentum for themselves before they're gone. It also affects the lyrics, which are, as you can imagine, short, lacking a lot of effort and rarely going anywhere. Some groups can pull off such ditties, but it's no longer a humorous thing in my book. Maybe when Sore Throat and Napalm Death did it, but I don't even get a rise out of "Hang the Pope" these days. I like death metal best when it immerses me in a torture chamber and then turns me to pulp with a number of devices. Half of Massacre of the Living is like getting a series of insignificant paper cuts, even if it's ultimately not a major commitment just to sit through the entire experience.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10] (disfigured mortal cores)

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Chainsaw Dissection - Zombie Decimation (2005)







Verdict: Fail [3.5/10]

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Halloween - Terrortory (2012)

Perhaps I was taken in by the great cover artwork, or perhaps I was expecting too much in the 21st century of the Midwestern metal band that was lucky enough to snag the much-desired Halloween brand in the 80s. Perhaps I was even privately hoping that for a little of that heavy metal magic that has recently reignited the careers of long defunct or merely off-the-radar bands like Warlord, Satan and Attacker. But I'm sad to say that Terrortory not only fails to break into any new territory, or live up to the promise of its archetypal jack-o-lantern-faced Samhain graveyard usher, but it's a bland and insipid experience which just does not know when to quit...72 minutes of uninspired riffing and 'mileage may vary' vocals that aren't even remotely interesting, not to mention lacking in any of the cheesiest 'chills' apart from maybe the narrative intro thing before the title track, and that's really stretching it...

Granted, this is only about 2/5ths of the lineup that recorded the classic Don't Metal With Evil disc in 1985, one I happen to enjoy and break out at least once every October, but even then I wouldn't have thought they could issue such an idea-free, accessible record that lacked almost all of the messy, enthusiastic charms of the debut. Now, to be fair, I haven't followed the Detroit Heavy Metal Horror Show very closely in the years between then and now. The snippets I've heard from albums like Victims of the Night and Horror Fire did little to whet my appetite to pursue them further, but neither felt quite so dated as what I'm hearing on Terrortory. And by 'dated', I don't mean in a good way, but in the dull construction of the riffs that at best emit a passable dual-melody, but at worst are reduced to pitiful chugging rhythms in tunes like opener "Traipsing Through the Blood" that are a piss-poor attempt at generated some power and momentum. Hell, even your lowliest group of corner metalcore kids puts together a bit more excitement with their palm muted effluvium. Here it just seems like Halloween are trying to integrate a little hint of 90s groove or thrash metal influence into their more 80s NWOBHM-flavored writing, and it comes across as wholly unnecessary.

Not to mention, it kills off about half the songs on the record, the rest of which are often more dramatic, slower building numbers where they implement these very bland, cleaner guitar progressions to try and generate a more mournful atmosphere. On the whole, though, the real tragedy is the ubiquitous sense that I'm never in Halloween-land here, nor a graveyard, a haunted house, a slasher flick, or even a candy shoppe buying goodies for the neighborhood kids. You don't write a song called "Scare You" and then not fucking scare anyone with it! And the obvious tribute tunes like "Where is Michael?" don't musically live up to their inspirations (and that's coming from someone who found the Halloween films bland and non-frightening even as a child). On their first record, 27 years ago, these guys put out the sort of wild party metal us kids in the 80s loved, without going all glam-tarded. But Fastway's Trick or Treat soundtrack this isn't. Brian Thomas was once this total wildcard front man whose flawed timbre was all part of the charm...with Terrortory, even he seems to have mellowed out just a little much. Don't get me wrong, he can still hit some screams, and he remains the most unusual or unique feature of the group, but the songs just lack that primal vitality bands once captured in their youth.
I could forgive this if the more seasoned, mature style produced some memorable songwriting, or even a big and compelling evolution in style, but this all feels too 'business as usual', only interspersed with the lame groove/thrash/speed metal riffing in tunes like "Darkside Inside" or "Say Your Prayers". Not all is totally lost here. The lyrics are decent in about half the songs, paeans to classic horror stories or similar imagery being used as a metaphor for relationships. The bass playing, courtesy of George Neal, the other long time member of the group, is quite good for such a clean tone. He has a good sense for subtler fills, and gets into these deep grooves even when he's just playing along the guitar line that sound nice in the speakers. The drums, while not entirely powerful are also fairly flexible, and both the rhythm and lead tone on the guitars are fairly classy. They put echoes on some of Thomas' vocals, probably to compensate that he's just not as crazy as he once was, but really, after decades, who is? Terrortory's polished presentation is certainly not its weak points, rather that it sounds at best like a mix of generic power/thrash and Tony Martin-era Sabbath with inferior riffing.

Also...16 tracks?! I understand this was their first record in about six years, and some of the songs are older tunes from decades prior that hadn't been released, but there are simply too many here that serve the same purposes, so even if the individual riffs and choruses are different, it's aesthetically repetitive. I'm sure I am not the only person that would settle for 8-9 really good tunes with a lot of attention to detail. Alas, this record would fail to produce even a maxi-single's worth of quality. "Scared to Death" and "Trick or Treat" off the debut are light years better than anything here. Not because Halloween have turned to total shit, because they still know how to put together a tune, just not one that has any legs to stand on. The energy levels here feel too maintained, controlled. You look upon Terrortory and you really want it to be cheesy and fun, but it's neither of those things, nor particularly effective in serious mode. Once upon a time this band made me wanna whip my mullet about, pound Old Milwaukees and crash my Trans Am en route to a witch burning. 30 years of 'Motor City Metal', guys...lube this engine, screech these tires, hit us with a wrench and get dirty and greasy in the process.

Verdict: Fail [4.5/10]

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Deceased - Luck of the Corpse (1991)






Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Avulsed - Ritual Zombi (2013)

Avulsed is about as synonymous to Spanish death metal at this point as my Keurig coffee maker is to breakfast, but when you break down the band's trajectory they've been all over the place. Taking a 'tour' of the death metal genre, from the humble 90s brutality of their first proper 90s full length Eminence in Putrescence, which was itself rather old school in nature with a clear lineage to the first few Death outings like Stabwound Orgasm and Yearning for the Grotesque which took on slightly more 'gore drenched' characteristics that one might relate to US acts Cannibal Corpse, Exhumed or Impaled. They even failed at a techno-death metal remix thing in Cybervoid. But thankfully, through most of their career, they've focused on baser songwriting aesthetics like simplified riffs and grooves, sparse but well-formed melodies, and I've always had the impression that they've just never properly shaken off their roots to surrender to the ranks of brutechnicality that became ever more prominent upon the turn of the century. At its core, Avulsed has always characterized the 'retro' death metal theme, before it WAS retro, even when it seemed, from their often explicit cover images, that they were escaping that. And speaking of cover art, Ritual Zombi, their 6th full-length, absolutely slays...

By and large, so does the music, to the extent that I might safely cite this as one of their strongest efforts to date. I'm a little biased, being a sucker for veteran Dave Rotten's vocal performance on the two Putrevore records he released with Rogga Johansson, and his decrepit, rumbling, nihilistic growls remain an immense feature here, but in the riffing department this is a balanced and entertaining affair which runs the gamut from late 80s death/thrash picking progressions redolent of Scream Bloody Gore (ignoring even the cover of "Zombie Ritual" itself), to Carcass's Heartwork, to traces of melodic Swedish influences like a few nods to Slaughter of the Soul-era At the Gates, and ending off with some sheer blasting brickwork brutality like the intro to "Zompiro", one of my favorites here. Pacing and riff construction is well enough varied among the 10 originals, and the guitar-driven intro and outro pieces that envelope the album work well to give it that 'overall package' feel that reminds you that you're listening to an album and not a bunch of .mp3 files. I'd also mention the songwriting exhibits an astute lack of overkill, with zero overt technicality or showing off, just a throwback sense of extremity which, had it arrived in that precious 1991-95 period, would have probably proven an undisputed, not so much, it's just a fun excursion through the annals of undead flesh and quite apparently doesn't take itself so seriously. An homage to the saturated zombie culture.

I've already mentioned Rotten, who gurgles like a human sewer spewing forth flesh-eating plasma, but other highlights are the guitar tone and drumming. They've got this cloying, filthy, ripping presence to the rhythm guitars which seems somewhat Sunlight in origin, but also resembles the classic grind grime found on an effort like Repulsion's Horrified. When they brush out some leads or melodies, with a cleaner tone and some mild effects, there is a great contrast which really transports the listener back to the classics. Oskar Bravo is a positive find for the band, the sole new member here, having played on a bunch of underground stuff I've never heard, and he delivers a lot of organic fills standing out in the mix. The kick drums seem slightly more mechanical but the toms and snare are nearly as prominent as Dave's guttural and the rhythm crunch. I did not pick up a lot of bass guitar, apart from where it's alone (the opening of "...Was Not My Blood"); whether because its being performed with a timbre that is simply absorbed the rhythm guitar or its just not loud enough, but the punch of the guitar riffing is enough to establish a proper low end on my speakers and it's not entirely absent. The distortion is actually a little less buzzing than on the previous record Nullo (The Pleasure of Self-Mutilation), and in fact Ritual Zombi seems not so much brash or in your face as several of their prior offerings, but the songwriting more than compensates.

Ultimately, if you're not entirely jaded on the shambling corpses, which many justifiable are by this point, this is a great lead-in for your Walking Dead viewing parties, and just a pretty fun death metal record to boot. Not the best I've heard this year by a longshot, but the attractive artwork is certainly not sold down the river of viscera by its musical component, and with this and Putrevore it seems like Dave is undergoing some Rotten Renaissance, releasing some of the strongest work since he started this all in 1991. Riff patterns and ideas aren't exactly unique to Avulsed, and they were never a band that was able to make much of a name for itself with so much else making waves internationally, but to be honest I can't think of a single release (out of their full-length albums) which wouldn't be worth spinning this Halloween season, and there's a profound 'music first' mentality here that eschews goresoaked, unending intensity for balance; otherwise they might not have included the classical guitar interlude "Elegy of the Rotting". The cover of "Zombie Ritual" seems a bit too safe a choice, and it's not likely I'll be listening to this with any frequency in six months, yet it's surely feast-worthy for all brain-flesh connoisseurs, and a raunchy, Romero-esque stimulant for the dead nerve endings.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Atrocity's Blut (1994)









Friday, October 11, 2013

The Grotesquery - Tales of the Coffin Born (2010)

The Grotesquery, along with the more primitive Bloodgut, is one of the more conceptual projects assembled with the prolific Swedish death metal personality Rogga Johansson, who handles the guitars here. He is joined by a number of longtime collaborators (bassist Johan Bergland and drummer Brynjar Helgetun), but the real draw to this is probably the involvement of death metal 'royalty' in vocalist Kam Lee, who most will recognize from Massacre, but has himself featured in a number of other projects since that time. In fact, this isn't even his first dance with Rogga, the two having put out the Bone Gnawer debut Feast of Flesh the year prior to this, which featured a more brutal and churning style of death metal. Not that Tales of the Coffin Born lacks some punches of its own, being pure throwback death metal, but the inclusion of the atmospheres and story elements curb it from being a total zombie-mosh slug-fest. Actually, outside of some of the Putrevore, Revolting, Ribspreader and Paganizer material, which I'm quite partial to, The Grotesquery is one of Johansson's strongest acts.

Now, I'm on record as never having been the biggest Massacre advocate, finding them average at best even when their style was a novelty. Far less interesting songwriters than Death, Pestilence or Obituary of the time, with an air of 'me too' written about them in the miasma of early Earache, Metal Blade and Nuclear Blast signings. They were also later responsible for Promise, one of the worst fucking records ever recorded by a death metal band in history, or ANY metal band, for that matter (I've certainly scored that abomination lower than every studio record other than the Hellyeah debut). Yeah, I know it's an anomaly and half the band either denies taking part in it or wants very badly for us all to forget it out of existence, but you can imagine I just don't approach a Kam project with a lot of high expectations. To be fair, it's not because of 'Master' K. Lee's vocal prowess (with that one exception). He was fine on the first Massacre disc as well as his stint in Denial Fiend, and in truth his personality is a large part of what makes Tales of the Coffin Born an enjoyable experience. Ghastly guttural growls with a lot of gut-saturated sustain, balanced off against a higher pitched snarling voice that very often felt like Deicide if not so closely conjoined. He's also got a gruffness that resembles Rogga himself in some of the bands he has growled for.

Musically, this is a total old school hybrid of American thrash-influenced songwriting aesthetics reminiscent of bands like Massacre, Malevolent Creation and Deicide with the meatier Swedish tone inspired by the usual suspects who influenced many of Johansson's other projects. Brynjar's bullet train double bass builds an undertow beneath the largely mid-paced material comprised of a lot of primitive tremolo picked riffs, palm muted chuggery and few craftily carved open chord sequences. A few of the grooves felt like faster Bolt Thrower, but the major difference is all the sampling and 'narrative' stuff used in the songs, from faint industrial clanking to cheesy intro monologs that set up the tunes proper. Although I mostly enjoy this, there are absolutely a number of pretty generic rhythm guitar progressions like the lazy groove in "This Morbid Child" that simply feel too familiar to stand behind. The Lovecraftian horror which spurs on the lyrics isn't exactly represented with a lot of interesting musical ideas, though I'd say Rogga gets into it in a more complex, varied manner than many of his bands, with a goodly number of riff shifts, and a badly needed bit of lead and melody work.

The bass lines sound tight with a plodding tone, some squirmy fills, and as mentioned, the drums are executed with robotic accuracy, but not in a bad way... they simply sound flawless and voluminous in both the kick and snare-work. Like the recent outings of Paganizer or Ribspreader, The Grotesquery really goes for a deeper end effect that stirs your entrails as if by a spoon in a cauldron, but there's also a lot of studio clarity here that won't turn off fans of more contemporary, technical death metal who don't require it to sound as if it was recorded in a cave in 1993. Tales of the Coffin Born isn't terribly eerie or compulsory like its lyrical subject matter, so don't expect the slowly building terror of a Lovecraft tale to translate itself meaningfully into the song structures. It's more of a brutal and clinical sort of old school modernization that just happens to target a more eloquent brand of horror than the usual misogynistic gut-spilling. Aesthetically there have been dozens of other records on which the music and lyrics fit better together, but just on its riffing, vocals, and production alone, Tales of the Coffin Born is a really solid effort that holds up across a number of listens. You might not remember the album long after spinning it, but when engaged in the neck straining experience itself it won't let you down, especially if you're a sucker for old Massacre, Cancer, Bolt Thrower, Jungle Rot, and the like.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Diabolical Masquerade - The Phantom Lodge (1997)

The Phantom Lodge is another of those 90s curiosities which begs of the listener: just how serious do you need to take your black metal? For at least the first three records, Anders 'Blakkheim' Nyström was clearly taking the piss with Diabolical Masquerade... first with the personal and ludicrous Ravendusk in My Heart, an introspective journey of this silly alter ego he created, which straddled the dangerous line between symphonic, Gothic bombast and genre parody. Next, he puts out The Phantom Lodge, which seems like some fairly adept caricature haunted house black metal with a few strange choices, namely various examples of overt idol worship and then a few more bare-bones riffing tracks that lack the cheesy eloquence of others. Don't get me wrong, I have a very soft spot for this band and others like it (Gloomy Grim, Cradle of Filth, Hecate Enthroned, etc), and once enjoyed this even more than the debut, but I've shifted opinions in recent years since The Phantom Lodge just seems to suffer ever so slightly from an identity crisis, a lack of consistent now I think they're equivalent quality.

Had it all been in the vein of the first track, "Astray Within the Coffinwood Mill", bearing one of my favorite song titles in history, I'd praise this one to the rafters, but in reality there are only 3-4 tunes showcasing the symphonic, cheesy and superficially spooky synthesizers. Anders actually takes the subtle approach with his key pads, honing in on just one sound of electrified strings of choirs rather than crafting entire orchestras that offset the guitars and vocals. This is primarily a guitar album, just an atmospheric one. Riff-wise, there's a tremendous influence from the classics here: Darkthrone, Bathory, Celtic Frost all form the foundation from which Blakkheim has built this experience, and he utilizes a lot of slow, grooving chord progressions as opposed to endless tirades of blasting and tremolo picking. I actually really dug the drums at points on this, especially the warlike fills that transform into double bass thunder on the first cut, where you even gets some To Mega Therion-like timpani thumping along in the background to the evil ass grooves. That said, I did get the impression that a lot of transitions were just pulled out of nowhere. They're generally interesting and even catchy, sometimes an excuse for Anders to throw on some narration in a manly, deep voice, but they can feel a little patchwork in structure and that persists throughout most of the tunes.

I'm also not so sure how I feel about the 'hero worship' segments of the album. For instance, for "Upon the Salty Wall of the Broody Gargoyle" (told you it was ridiculous), he spends most of the song vocalizing his Tom G. Warrior impression, and a pretty decent one at the extent that I actually thought it was the genuine article on a guest spot. But then the goofy chorus riff where he starts rasping the song title in a malicious black metal imp voice totally takes you back out of it. It's...unusual. In the latter half of the tune "Ravenclaw", he uses this grating inflection reminiscent of Quorthon on the 90s Bathory material, though a bit nastier. Another quirky decision, not only for the change in vocals but also because the pagan/Viking theme of this song doesn't seem to fit the campy horror implied by the titles of "Astray Within the Coffinwood Mill", "Cloaked by the Moonshine Mist" or "The Walk of the Hunchbacked". That's not to say these stranger tracks lack some decent riffs and compelling atmospheres, but they create an unevenness that makes The Phantom Lodge feel more like an EP with some experiments thrown on, despite its 43 minute duration. "Hater" is arguably another oddball, since it seems like a more straightforward black/thrash tune with some screaming...

Anyway, the other 5-6 tracks are all pretty damn solid, often excellent, and themselves contain a lot of variation, like the woozy dissonant chord patterns woven like twisted thread through "The Blazing Demondome of Murmurs and Secrecy" or the glimmering, warmer melodies used in the chorus and bridge for "Hunchbacked". The drumming is generally great, with a few exceptions like "Hater" where it feels too thin in the chorus. Vocals are also a highlight, Blakkheim attempting to sound as delightfully wretched as possible, and as I said, even pulling off some excellent productions. The bass is audible but doesn't add a lot as far as interesting note selections, and the guitar chords (picked fast or slow) have a thin but effective tone to them which permits the kick drum and vocal barking to steer the experience along. Lyrically it doesn't seem to center so much around the assumed persona of the 'Blakkheim' character, though I still got the impression that a number of them were from that character's point of view (certainly in "Demondome"). A lot of the tunes have a fixation on occult horror, though they don't always match up very well with what you think the song will be about from its title. Considering that most people probably think of Diabolical Masquerade as a joke, though, they're well enough scripted, but I definitely wanted "...Hunchbacked" to be more about Quasimodo, or "...Coffinwood Mill" about some creepy undead, and the lyrics are not really that...

The Phantom Lodge is not without its flaws, and it remains a little puzzling even 16 years later, but there's a good chunk of this disc which has become a bit of a staple for me around Halloween. I'll marathon it with the first Gloomy Grim, Cradle's Midian, Dusk and Her Embrace and a ton of King Diamond, Mercyful Fate and 80s Ozzy solo records, and people seem to enjoy the mix. Nothing here is super-serious sounding and it's not likely to please anyone whose universe begins and ends with De Mysteriis dom Sathanas and Det Som Engang Var, but if you're not opposed to a 'lighter' approach to black metal as conceived by someone of the Count's mentality (from Sesame Street), I can't recommend this enough. Atmospheric and dreamy, or downright carnal at other times, it's just another one of those divisive reminders that at one point, a lot of people explored black metal because it was 'fun', instead of using it as a precursor to suicide or shooting someone. Not welcomed by the People Living Under their Parents' Stairs, but, hey, it's all good, folks. If nothing else, we can take away from this that Blakkheim could have done a straight 80s Celtic Frost copycat band and I would have paid to hear it.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (nightshade serenade, diabolical masquerade)