ALTAR
“In The Name Of The Father”
Pavement Music
(provided by Luna Press & Publicity)
rating: 5, 5 of 6
Already fourth work by Netherlands’ ALTAR comes our way, even though personally I, am familiar only with “Provoke”, previous CD by these guys. So, what to say here…? “In The Name Of The Father” is pure death metal with anti-christian attitude, with no visual drawbacks, actually nothing I could cavil at, perhaps with an exception for the rather weak cover of “The Trooper” by IRON MAIDEN. Both, performance technique and producership strike as magnificent ones, as well as compositional structuring and, consequently, the overall result. Tunes like “Spunk”, “In The Name Of The Father”, “I Spit Black Bile On You” and “Walhalla Express” are almost perfect, you see. Brilliant piece of death metal – you’d be a fool missing it. (Herr Stalhammar)

APOPLEXY
“Life, Thoughts And Destiny”
Keep Bleeding Productions
rating: 5 of 6
Oops! INHUMATE and DISABLED are not the only ones to spawn excellent grinding death metal in France, and the city of Strasbourg, in particular! Right after, I’ve got a promo from INHUMATE, “Life, Thoughts And Destiny” CD arrived to my mailbox… for a second time. You see, while Fred and INHUMATE had to re-send their stuff since it was lost (or stolen) in the mail for the first time, everything’s a bit different with “Life…” – it was simply fucking broken on arrival! Anyway, thank you, Romain (as well as rest of the band), for submitting me the second copy. I really appreciate it. Now back to the music. It starts as something pretty much similar to (guess whom?) INHUMATE, later evolving into undoubtedly personal form of art. The second part of album (starting with “The Exemplary Father”) musically is much more exciting and impressive. Basically, it’s death metal, a bit more “calm” (I mean, comparing to the first tracks off “Life, Thoughts And Destiny”, since those were almost grinding ones), though still hellish in their brutality. Furthermore, what really differs APOPLEXY from most of US bands (and European clones of theirs) is the fact they seem to work out each song carefully. Each tune is different, everything seems to be rehearsed for thousand times, although this CD doesn’t have that disgusting “polished” taste. There’re enough tempo changes, however (fortunately!) APOPLEXY don’t have anything to do with techno-death and stuff. And finally, the lyrics also appear of interest. Most of them strike as well-written and thought-provoking ones, few even deal with Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythology. And last but not least, everything else – such as musicianship, sound quality and appearance – is JUST BRILLIANT! Contact ‘em at either <apoplexy@geocities.com> or <lorentz@titus.u-strasbg.fr>

“By the name of Nodens
By the will of your Lord…
… May your wings beat quietly
As your tail lash the air…”

(review by Herr Stalhammar)

ASAFATED
“Kaybolmus Masumiyet”
ADA
rating: 3 of 6
Death metal from Turkey? Perhaps, it’s nothing strange for you, but you is you and me is me. Nevertheless, this is my first acquaintance with Turkish band and I wouldn’t say I’m pleased with what I’ve heard. ASAFATED play some melodic DM spicing it with few tribal (or pseudo-folklore?) elements, and it could be original… hell, it is original, but who cares if I don’t like it at all anyway. Musicians are good and the singer’s growling is one of the most impressive ones I’ve heard recently, but… but… but… (Herr Stalhammar)

AVULSED
“Stab Wound Orgasm”
Repulse Records
rating: 5, 5 of 6
Finally, a second full-length CD from the Spain’s leading death metal act (I don’t consider “Cybergore” to be an album of full value, so…) – and it was worth the wait. “Stabwound Orgasm” comes with great sound and stunning coverart by Danish artist Robert Sindermann (portraying two nude and tortured females), while musically it’s nothing else than brutal death with unusually melodic guitar passages and leads (by the way, those harmonies in “Homeless Necrophile” remind me a lot of that synth-riff in “Black Winter Day” by AMORPHIS, erh…), as well as stupendous drumming. Although, it’s not your regular 10000000-blasts-a-minute stuff, you know. Nor it is a commercial or ultra-melodic death (?) metal in the vein of latest GOREFEST or UNLEASHED. It doesn’t have anything to do with either satanic nor any other kind of religious attitude and message… and it doesn’t feature any black metal elements as well. To conceive the way AVULSED sounds, recall DEMIGOD (remember this one?) and early AMORPHIS (circa “Karelian Isthmus”)… well, perhaps, also early ILLDISPOSED… and yes, now you, at least nearly, know what AVULSED is all about nowadays. This is pure fucking excellence, so check it out! (Herr Stalhammar)

DAMNABLE
“Inperdition”
Cnoize Productions
rating: 5 of 6
Excellent grinding death from Poland – and despite their style, it’s not thoughtless at all. “Inperdition” comes with eight tracks as well as intro and outro, well executed, well performed, featuring certainly grim atmosphere, being quite similar to bands like (early) CRYPTOPSY, (late) DYING FETUS, MORTICIAN and CONSOLATION. Besides naming few killer tracks like “Paranormal Verdict” and “Circle Of Time”, I must admit that “Inperdition’s” outro also strikes as nearly outstanding tune, being a magnificent piano-performed piece. You shouldn’t ignore this CD, even though it’s two years old… (Herr Stalhammar)

DEEDS OF FLESH
“Path Of The Weakening”
Unique Leader Entertainment
rating: 4, 5 of 6
First of all, I have to tell you that I don’t really know if it’s really that “Path Of The Weakening” CD… Unique Leader sent me a promotional copy which has (absolutely) no cover and no album’s title carved on the CD. The only info I can share with you is the following: this is (at least, promo copy) a 10-minutes mini-CD, featuring three songs; “Summarily Killed”, “Sense Of The Diabolic” and “A Violent God”. And yeah, it was released near the end of the last year (1999). Speaking about music, it’s heavy as hell and brutal as fuck grinding death metal in typical US vein, i.e. similar to INTERNAL BLEEDING and early PYREXIA… Just good ‘ol plain death metal in it’s purest form. I like it. (Herr Stalhammar)

DEVASTACION
“… Que Lo Pario!”
Icarus Productions
rating: 5 of 6
Yes, I like grinding death the way bands like SOILS OF FATE or DEEDS OF FLESH do it – while DEVASTACION’s “… Que Lo Pario!” is absolutely different. But so what?! They definitely deserve ‘5’ of ‘6’ anyway. As far as I know, this is one of the oldest bands in South America (among death / thrash ones, of course), however they managed to put out their debut CD only back in 1998 through Argentina’s Icarus Productions. Honestly speaking, I’d rather define ‘em as pure South-American blend of death / black metal, but it seems like I can’t do that due to the fact their lyrics deal mostly with social topics. Anyway, I can’t get into the lyrics since they’re in Spanish (and my Spanish is really bad), so let’s talk about the music they play. You know, it makes to think that they’re pretty similar-sounding to… ehm… yeah, I can’t recall what band(s) exactly at the moment. Perhaps, we could compare them to such acts as IN MEMORIAN, PENTACROSTIC, TENEBRARUM, MASACRE, INQUISITION, SARGATANAS, ARGENTUM… (as well as early SEPULTURA). I.e., those who come from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico etc., and who don’t give a fuck about “hey, let’s figure out what we should do in order to sound as ‘modern’ as possible!”, still staying highly exciting. “… Que Lo Pario!” is comprised of thirteen tracks (+ intro) of rather various, intriguing and atmospheric stuff, with lots of leads and clean guitar passages incorporated. The sound is not archaic, no, it’s pretty underground, even though it seems this CD was recorded in a pro-studio. Vocals are recognizable  and grim; kinda somber grumbling, y’know. These guys managed to make ALL the songs highly impressive to listen to. Each tracks hides it’s own jewel… Especially “Pata, Sudor y Sangre”, “Evolucion” and “El Informador Oficial”. Let me tell you the following for one more time: “… Que Lo Pario!” is very professional and extremely atmospheric album. Most of contemporary black metal acts fail miserably in comparison to DEVASTACION. (Herr Stalhammar)

HATRED
“The Offering”
Hatred (US), Demolition Records (Europe)
Rating: 5 of 6
Finally, the long awaited full-length CD by US-based HATRED. “The Offering” contains ten songs of brutal death metal, although it doesn’t have much to do with typicality American DM bands are known for. Fast, intense and harsh, though enough melodious and variable. Actually, you should read reviews on their former works, such as “Suffer” MCD and promo tape ’98, featured elsewhere in my mag (issue #3, I believe), to get full and in-depth reviews, since basically HATRED kept their style the same, although this CD is a bit different anyway. First of all, strangely black metal voice is the leading one, while growling appears here and there; secondly, “Trust No One”, which is, no doubts, among the best tracks off this CD, features “clean” voice which is excellent (read my lips – EXCELLENT), reminding me a bit of early METAL CHURCH… Furthermore, finally I had a chance to get myself acquainted with their lyrics – and surprisingly, they appear as highly intriguing ones! Besides that, overall production is VERY good, so are the song writing and arrangements. Generally speaking, if you want hellishly brutal, yet different death metal from United States, this is your chance. (Herr Stalhammar)

IMMOLATION
“Failures For Gods”
Metal Blade Records
rating: 4, 5 of 6
What we have here is the third album from IMMOLATION who already contrived to become a legendary band… To tell you the truth, I didn’t like “Dawn Of Possession”, the album they made their debut with back in 1991, too much – and I missed “Here In After”, their “comeback” CD – however I liked this one, since “Failures…” features definitely better material in comparison to their debut. This album brings eight songs of mind-twisted, dark, unholy death metal in a true American way (that was meant as a compliment), sometimes being a bit similar to MORBID ANGEL (circa “Domination” times). “No Jesus, No Beast” and “Stench Of High Heaven” are the songs I liked most, as well as “The Devil I Know” which seems to be most weird and anxious track off this CD. Good. (Herr Stalhammar)

INHUMATE
“Ex-Pulsion”
Inhumate / Grind Your Soul
rating: 4, 5 of 6
I’m not much acquainted with French death metal scene; or to be completely honest, INHUMATE is only the second France’s DM band I’ve heard so far (the first one was DISABLED). And it turned out as a pleasant surprise, no doubts. “Ex-Pulsion” comes with 13 + 1 tracks of a perfect cross between death metal and grindcore, well played, melodically exciting, with actual thought put into each song… and, of course, brutal as fuck. It lasts for less than thirty minutes, however I guess it’s a normal CD length for such kind of music. Furthermore, I’m really glad it’s not as chaotic and noisy as most contemporary grindcore acts… and besides that, it features few tracks that definitely stand against the background of INHUMATE’s musical canvas (style-wise, of course). These are: “Mother Fuck Her” strongly soaked with hardcore spirit, and “Grindub” (that +1 track) which appears as some kind of techno mixed with industrial and (a bit) death metal. To say the least, I really fell in love with this dub!!! And by the way, these guys managed to stay original also when it comes to this disk’s appearance and the principal idea behind the band… To know more on this subject, contact them at: INHUMATE@ifrance.com
(Herr Stalhammar)

MARTYR
“Murder X (The End Of The Game)”
System Shock
(provided by SureShot Promotion)
rating: 4 of 6
I’m not sure if I quoted the album’s title right, but does it really matter anyway? MARTYR came to life in November 1999, however they already managed to make their debut with this CD! Actually, it’s a project formed by Skull and Christopher from KRABATHOR and MASTER’s Paul Speckmann, but such a speed in creating and putting out ten songs of quite worthy stuff still seems to be a surprise to me. Moreover, “Murder…” was executed in three days only! Musically, this is… death metal. Or what else did you expect?! This is kinda cross between MASTER and KRABATHOR… nothing more to say. Good death metal with variety and highly impressive lyrics (although, the last track, “Face To Face”, sounds somehow similar to PANTERA). You won’t find anything special here, but I believe that creating a special CD definitely wasn’t their aim. And yeah, by the way, I like this project much more than both, KRABATHOR and MASTER. (Herr Stalhammar)

MERCYLESS
“Cold”
System Shock
(provided by SureShot Promotion)
rating: 3 of 6
Is it thrash or death metal? Don’t really know. In fact, this is definitely not my cup of tea. I haven’t heard the former works by this band, but the promo sheet tells MERCYLESS was a death metal band previously signed to Century Media. Seems like it took them almost seven years before they finally contrived to get a new deal and put out their third CD, but… worthless. Well, not really worthless, but I don’t like it. Weird thrash / death, tranquil in an anxious way, featuring somewhat “floating” keyboards, diverse vocal lines (from somber recitatives through “clean” singing to those annoying “shouting” vocals) and exciting, perhaps even innovative song structures… The sound is great, so are the lyrics. And yes, musicians possess nearly outstanding playing skills… But once again – this is not my cup of tea. (Herr Stalhammar)

NECROLOGY
“Cold Skin”
self-released
rating: 5 of 6
As mentioned above, this is a self-financed MCD, although I feel that it’s worthy enough to get these guys a record deal. “Cold Skin” comes with six tracks of brutal though well thought-out form of death metal, somewhat similar to BROKEN HOPE. There’re two vocal lines present here (low-pitched growling and almost black metallish shrieking) and let me dare to say that this pseudo-BM voice sounds much more impressive (at least, that’s what my ears tell me). The sound is great, so is the musicianship, while the best track off this MCD is “Emotionless”, being more epic and innovative (if talking ‘bout brutal death metal, of course). Generally speaking, this is more than impressive work, consequently I urge you to check it out. Since “Cold Skin” is a self-released piece, let me give you their address so you could contact ‘em:
Email: w.vosbergen@zap.a2000.nl
Phone: +31 (0)75 7716136
             +31 (0)75 6871907
(review by Herr Stalhammar)

ROTTEN SOUND
“Drain”
Repulse Records
rating: 3 of 6
In contrast to the former CD from this Finnish band, “Drain” was recorded at Sunlight Studio… and here it is, typical “Sunlight-sound” that gets us back into early ‘90ties (early ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER) with noisy, dirty-sounding guitars (although production is great… What I’m trying to say: this was done on purpose) and 15 tracks lasting for only 30 minutes. Kinda extremely brutal death / grind / crust / hardcore stuff, ya know. Nothing really special. (Herr Stalhammar)

TAINE
“Cealalta Parte”
Promusic Records
rating: 3, 5 of 6
Hmm… Currently we behold some kind of an uprise of Eastern Europe’s metal scene, don’t we? TAINE is already a third band from Romania I’ve heard lately (VAMPIRA, NEGURA BUNGET… also AGATHODAIMON who have Romanian singer), although unfortunately I can’t say it impressed me too much. To be honest, this is all pro-done work – doesn’t matter what we’re talking about exactly, be it the layout, or playing skills, or sound quality… In fact, I didn’t expect to get such a professional work from that country! However, it’s the music which I don’t like at all. TAINE follows the steps of ATHEIST, CYNIC and others of that ilk, hence their style is… yeah, obviously it’s techno-death metal. You know, despite that it’s very well played and few ideas are very good (just listen to “Psalm I & II”), “The Other Side” (it’s the English translation for “Cealalta Parte”) sounds too dull for my ears… If you like this sort of music, you may try it, though… (Herr Stalhammar)

WITHERED EARTH
“Forgotten Sunrise”
Cnoize Productions
rating: 4 of 6
This is interesting. Some kind of a complicated death metal with mystical verses… «Forgotten Sunrise» consists of eight studio tracks of true metal art lacking any synths, female chants, choirs or anything like that. It seems to be somewhat straight-forward at the first listen, however later you discover that everything’s quite the contrary. This is extremely diverse and pretty well structured stuff, although becoming TOO complicated sometimes. It is well recorded and well performed, however I believe that making their music more comprehensible as well as adding background synths won’t turn them into ‘less metal’ band. Anyway, despite that it has few drawbacks,“Forgotten Sunrise” is a good CD. (Herr Stalhammar)