74 MINUTES
OF BRUTALITY
Pure Hate
Records
rating: 3
of 6
“74 Minutes
Of Brutality” is the first-ever release from this neophyte label, appearing
as a compilation of fifteen bands (mostly with 2 tracks from each). Unfortunately,
most of them appear as rather ordinary hardcore acts (like ZERO-SRI, WITHDRAWL,
RESTRAIN, ELEMENT 115 or ACT OF RITES, for example…), however here we have
few bands which may be marked out anyway. F.ex, DESTRUCTION 33 with their
brutal hardcore / death metal in the vein of late NAPALM DEATH although
lacking any industrial elements, DYSPHORIA with extremely raw and brutal
stuff, in the same time being mid-paced and surprisingly well-executed,
featuring a singer who definitely had a tragic childhood… DEATH PENALTY
is definitely a ‘death penalty’, heh heh… Both, “Suppressed” and “Race
Of Hate”, feature mid-paced but hell as brutal, skullcrushing death metal
with mighty vokills… Guaranteed to smash your brain immediately after you
play it. JUSTICE UNKNOWN is a hardcorish thrash / death metal in the vein
of late DESULTORY. THE INFERTIL appears as a hardcore band, sounding more
like the one totally into “oi”, with the singer possessing a typical voice
for suchlike stuff… 4 IN THE CHAMBER brings some hardcore with extremely
weird atmosphere (!) and ‘declamation’-alike singing somehow reminding
me of Henry Rollins, while HEAVEN FORBID seems to be something rather melancholic
(!), standing quite close to death metal and hardcore in the same time…
All in all, this CD seems to be a perfect gift for a hardcore fan, but
as to others… Actually, I don’t know, and again it looks like it’s up to
you, whether to buy it or not… (Herr Stalhammar)
BLOOD TRACKS
II
Brave Words
And Bloody Knuckles
This is a
second compilation CD from famous Canadian magazine, this time consisting
of eighteen tracks by bands whose style varies from glam rock to black
metal. Ok, let’s go and talk about each act presented here…
DIMMU BORGIR
“Behind The Curtains Of Night – Phantasmagoria” – do you need any comments?
I think not.
(rating:
5, 5 of 6)
FLOTSAM AND
JETSAM “Dream Scrape” – this band is one of the oldest thrash metal acts
being still alive. Moreover, they’re not only ‘still alive’ – their music
also remains worthy throughout all these years. Featuring new drummer,
Craig Nielsen, “Dream Scrape” perfectly proves that it’s a bit early to
bury this genre.
(rating:
5 of 6)
CASUAL DAMAGE
“Sanctuary’s Flight” – unfortunately, this one doesn’t have any chances
to get a good mark. CASUAL DAMAGE’s style lies somewhere between heavy
and thrash metal featuring weak vocals as well as lacking any originality.
Not exciting at all.
(rating:
2 of 6)
GRIP INC.
“Challenge” – aaaarrrrgggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! A band with Waldemar Sorychta
on guitars and Dave Lombardo on drums… - could we expect anything less
than ‘killer’ from such act? And yes, it’s really killer thrash metal with
aggressive, hateful vokills Gus and perfect musicianship. This one just
catches you and doesn’t let up.
(rating:
5, 5 of 6)
CASTLE OF
PAIN “Dungeon Of Doom” – what?? Should I review this track once again…?!
Nonono, you’d better read the review on it in “demo” section.
(rating:
- )
BAD BLOOD
“Aplify” – some ‘muscle metal’ coming my way again? We already have BIOHAZARD,
so – thanks, no.
(rating:
1 of 6)
KUTHE “Vertigo”
– this is interesting. KUTHE’s style is so-called “sludge metal”, awaking
the reminiscences of KYUSS, ACRIMONY and COUNT RAVEN, although surprisingly
being enough intriguing. There’s nothing really special here, but I like
it.
(rating:
4 of 6)
DEICIDE “Serpents
Of The Light” – live massacre by DEICIDE, taken from their latest “When
Satan Lives” CD – will it leave anyone alive? Yes, but these ones will
be just begging for more…
(rating:
6 of 6)
BLOODWURM
“Oh Yeah” – weird thing it is. BLOODWURM’s ‘pub thrash’ (as it is described
by Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles) sounds more like a cross between crust
and death metal, recorded in a raw way. But what’s most strange, BLOODWURM
only gain by this ‘raw’ recording… G-o-o-d.
(rating:
4 of 6)
WITHERED
EARTH “Colossus Nebula” – ‘apocalyptic metal’ is the best definition for
this act. Seeming to be ordinary US death metal at the first listen, it
turns out as complicated, non-typical stuff with a touch of mysticism.
As I always say in such cases – “highly recommended”.
(rating:
5 of 6)
SEPULTURA
“Against” – bullshit. Total bullshit. Once being mighty death / black /
thrash metal band, SEPULTURA turned into regular hardcore act with a nigger
vocalist, and I doubt if I will ever get into their new stuff.
(rating:
1 of 6)
HADES “2YK”
– this is the first time I could get myself acquainted with America’s HADES
(don’t confuse ‘em with those Norwegian vikings!), and I should say that
I’m more than impressed! I’m totally amazed! This band seems to be one
of the best power / thrash metal bands I’ve ever heard! Combining brutal
and skullcrushing though intelligent riffs with brilliant high-pitched
vocals (some growling can be found here too!) and certain originality,
HADES will certainly conquer the Throne they deserve…
(rating:
6 of 6)
SWIRL “Sweet
Love” – yuck! This is some usual, cheesy hard rock… Nothing exciting, nothing
original… Sorry, but I don’t even want to review suchlike crap.
(rating:
1 of 6)
PLATYPUS
“Standing In Line” – featuring the guys from KING’S X, DREAM THEATER and
DIXIE DREGGS, this is prog metal band, sometimes almost turning into DEEP
PURPLE-alike stuff. Well, I can’t say it sucks – it’s just not for me and
my ears…
(rating:
3 of 6)
PORNO COMA
“Black Lungs (George)” – grindcore never dies, ha ha! However, speaking
honestly, there’s not only grindcore here – these guys seem to be influenced
by lots of other styles. Sincerity + enough deversity and originality =
well executed and pleasant stuff.
(rating:
4 of 6)
MEMORY GARDEN
“Wasteland Foretold” – I love this one! Sweden’s MEMORY GARDEN entered
the circle of my favorites at once, few years ago, when I got their “Tides”
CD. Someone may consider them to be prog metal band, although I’d better
define it as slow, tortured, atmospheric metal, some sort of a mixture
between typical ‘doomy’ elements with ‘progressive’ stuff and power metal
when it comes to vocals… If you’re into stuff like SOLITUDE AETERNUS, this
is definitely a must for you. Especially taking into account the fact that
they’ve just released their newest CD, “Verdict Of Posterity”, through
Metal Blade Records.
(rating:
5, 5 of 6)
OUT “Left
In Limbo” – I’m wondering if there’re any MACHINE HEAD fans still left
out there? If yes, come over here and take it! OUT strikes as something
that could please you… In fact, I usually don’t get into suchlike music,
although this one is good enough.
(rating:
4 of 6)
YEAH RIGHT
“Chemical Reaction” – and finally, here’s the last, eighteenth band. It’s
really hard to say what are they all about and what is their style… “Chemical
Reaction” features COAL CHAMBER-inspired metal music with female vocals
by the girl with a truly strange name, Rinat… I don’t know, really. It’s
nothing special and nothing bad in the same time. I even think, it’s rather
pleasant… Let’s see what the future will bring for this act.
(rating:
3, 5 of 6)
(review by
Herr Stalhammar)
INDUSTRIAL
BABY!
Delinquent
Records
rating: 5
of 6
This double
CD compilation, featuring 36 artists (US, Finnish and Australian bands
only) and nearly 160 minutes of music, seems to be a good gift for any
industrial fan or anyone who itches to know what this stuff is all about.
INDUSTRIAL BABY! is a journey through all kinds of industrial, from bands
like NAKED LUNCH (their “Wonderful” is my favourite track on the first
CD), who invoke a mixture of grim industrial-alike stuff and black metal
vocals, while the atmosphere also appears as an incredibly anxious one,
through pure industrial acts (i.e. the ones producing a cross between metal
and techno beats) like CHAINGUN OPERATE or STATE OF BEING, to the groups
like NEUROGOD and DEISIX which stand closer to ‘techno’ side of things
being less brutal and more comprehensible. Here we can also find stuff
like GRACE OVERTHRONE: weird, disturbing, almost vanguard with those ‘broken’
structures and sick female voice. I guess it’s useless to name all the
bands featured on this compilation and describe their style – you’d better
do it yourself inside your mind after listening to these splendid CDs.
Of course, INDUSTRIAL BABY! has some drawbacks like few really worthless
bands (RASH, for example) which bored me to death with their attempt to
create certain crap which has to do something with music - while it hasn’t.
Few boring and even irritating tracks are also here, but who knows, maybe
others will praise ‘em to the skies and doubt my competence. Secondly,
when it comes to shortcomings, I should admit that the whole packaging
could be MUCH better, although it’s not that bad. All in all, I truly hope
that this review made you to lift your lazy ass and order INDUSTRIAL BABY!
If you’re into industrial, these CDs will please you like nothing (and
no one) else could. (Herr Stalhammar)
SUBCON.01
“Dark Beats
* Techno (V / A)”
Magnetic
Resonance
rating: 1
of 6
Too many
compilations this time, don’t you think? And too much industrial… Or better
to say – pseudo-industrial. This CD includes 15 bands with 14 tracks (MAGRO
appears with two songs here), and I almost hate most of them. This is not
even industrial, it’s more like pure ‘techno’ stuff. No brutality, no atmosphere…
no impressions at all. Even BYTET with their “Mary, Mary” sound too dull
to be marked out of this crap. SUBCON.01 has some so-so (at least, not
that disgusting) tunes like “The Pulse” by EFESAR, but all others aren’t
worth a shit. It was really hard for me to listen it till the end… I still
can’t understand why I have received this CD – do these guys think that
Vae Solis is going to be a kind of edition dedicated to the ‘rave’ and
alike ‘music’??? They’re wrong anyway. (Herr Stalhammar)
TERRA FIRMA
vs. THE ATMOSPHERE
“Part 3 Of
The Cataclysm Singles”
Blacklight
Records
rating: 4
of 6 (in the whole)
6 of 6 (RACKETS & DRAPES track)
This is a
third CD, appearing as the final chapter in the “Cataclysm Singles” odyssey.
Unfortunately, I haven’t heard the second one, but in contrast to “Machines
In The Garden” (part 1), which brought us pure black / noise / industrial
and ambient stuff, this CD features mostly industrial / cyber / techno
tunes like the ones by A DIFFERENT KIND OF COP, SKINDOT (their “Distraught”
sounds almost like a rave song!), INCORPORATED, TOXIC CHURCH and FATAL
BLAST WHIP’s “Invasion (X-Files remix)”. The second track on “Terra Firma…”
belongs to Joshua Bourke (I’m wondering if there’s any link with Peter
Bourke of DEAD CAN DANCE???) and his perturbed, eerie “Seven’s” remix.
TEMPLE OF THE TIMES heavily remind me of late FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY with
those motionless voice in the background, wicked atmosphere and obtrusive
rhythms, while EVONICA surprised me a lot with their “Denial’s Hypodermic”
track. I always considered them an ambient band but this tune is more industrial-oriented,
in the vein of FRONT 242 – the same goes for GLOBALWAVESYSTEM. THE WAY
SECT BLOOM’s “Subsidize” is done being inspired by THINK ABOUT MUTATION
and early NIN; JAGGED DOCTRINE is pure industrial stuff with incredibly
brutal guitars, rather close to NEW SOCIETY’s “Altered Self”, although
this band has more individual and anxious sound. CULTURE WHORE’s track
may be listened with interest thanks to strange, depraved rhythms and absolutely
insane programming. Besides aforementioned bands, here we also have Singapore’s
SEEK with “Revelation” and “Scorched” by SHURIKEN – these acts appear as
pure black / noise / industrial stuff, influenced by projects like MEMORANDUM,
BRIGHTER DEATH NOW and DEUTSCH NEPAL (at least, that’s what I thought after
listening to their creations). But the best song here is, no doubts, “Lullaby”
by RACKETS & DRAPES, based on Gerschwin’s melody, extremely sublime
and atmospheric… evocative and fascinating… it sounds more like a song
by a doom metal band (especially when it comes to guitars and synths)…
All in all, “Terra Firma…” is definitely a worthy compilation for the lovers
of suchlike stuff. (Herr Stalhammar)