Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction

Reek of Putrefaction is one of those albums classed as legendary or influential due to its proximity to the start of a specific genre or style, or one that’s been copied so widely that the original idea is almost lost within reams of copyists and wannabes. Carcass would later create some essential death metal cuts, such as Symphonies of Sickness and Necroticism, but their debut reeked of grind, and ugly grind as it was. Its sound is truly horrifying, a cauldron of gurgled growls and screams, played over a raw, hurtling soundtrack of grinding riffs and thundering blastbeats. Carcass members have been notably disdaining of their first offspring, Jeff Walker describing it as ‘great for what it is, which is shit’, and you can understand their point; the production is very murky, its a sludgy mess of noise in general and possibly wouldn’t even be released widely in today’s polish-and-play market but yet you can traces its heritage through the racket of modern grind, and anything that gains a bit of cult following because of the so-bad-its-good production style. It almost singlehandedly spawned the goregrind subgenre of extreme metal, and its eerily knowing song titles just add a bit more to the pot to create such a hellish brew. Ultimately it is the grimy, swampy blast of inspiration that creates the magic, creates the inspiration that it has provided to countless bands. We have seen old records produce so much in the scattered and crowded fields of metal bands these days, and many don’t have the shiny production that we are so used to today, and perhaps in that lies the answer. Would this be as revered if its production were clearer? Who knows, but again who cares, as its still a hell of a sound and a hell of an album. If its great cause its shit, then shit it shall be, but I still revere it as a classic, even if the band doesn’t! Plus, its perfect to scare these emo kids off our metal lawns!

Scar Symmetry - Holographic Universe

Now they say a third album is the difficult one. Your debut sets out who you are and what you do. Your follow up should be a reaffirmation of that modus operandi and yet show you have scope for progression and are not merely just treading water. Of course the third can be a marker for the continuation of the career, whether you are destined to be a mediocre band whose releases are met with indifference, or a band that can genuinely be considered as a bringer of good to the metal community. Thankfully, Scar Symmetry appear to have taken the more positive route, crafting a powerful and excellent successor to Pitch Black Progress. Their sound is similar to the melodic death of Soilwork, but Scar Symmetry reach into prog, so called Euro-metal and melodic death and mix it up into a pleasing blend of insanely catchy metal anthems. Huge sing a long choruses infect every song with a commercial quality, and although it may not be good game for the more hardened death heads out there, for those of us who find it difficult to resist some shiny, catchy metal with anthems the size of the sky (see Morphogenesis), there’s been little else this year that’s captured that feeling as well as Holographic Universe.

Dr. Acula - S.L.OB.

Grindcore albums tend to scream past listeners with the force of a glass tornado, tearing apart everything within a two mile radius of it until, generally about half an hour later, it ends. I've tried to get into grind more recently. I read the Improbable History of Death metal and Grindcore, an excellent history of the two most extreme genres of music and after some test purchases of Pig Destroyer, Nasum and Napalm Death, decided to get more. This is a very odd little album. With titles mainly stolen from Goosebumps novels (kiddy horror books which I was a big fan of as a child), Dr. Acula have crafted a truly insane blast, spliced by hilarious movie quotes, ear shredding screams and inhuman gurgles. Monster Blood opens with a charming little ditty before exploding into some truly insane grind, and the maniacal vocal performances continue on How I Got My Shrunken Head and Cuckoo Clock of Doom. This vocalist is clearly a bit out of whack, but instead of being annoying, it adds an element to the music that hurtles between full force grind, slower death metal and occasional clean sections. The addition of the deathcore trademark 'pig squeal' vocal appears to be more ironic than as a serious employment but to be honest, its a bit difficult to tell. Imagine Strapping Young Lad fighting with Pig Destroyer. A bit mad for the uninitiated but ultimately insanely worth it.

Cryptopsy Controversy

I have read a lot about this new Cryptopsy album, and before I write my review I will be determined to properly listen and assess its full merits rather than its online reputation. But I have managed to find two tracks from my online blog friend Cosmo at Invisible Oranges, who has written a great article about the online stramash that this album has created. Some of the comments on its content have, admittedly, made me feel a bit sceptical about listening to this, being a big fan of past Cryptopsy albums. None So Vile is a particular favourite, an explosion of crazed technical death metal that is part astounding, part bewildering, but all incredible. The new tracks I have been able to hear, Bemoan the Martyr and The Plagued, have confused me. Traces of the old, blasting technicality still occur but they've been streamlined into a more, dare I say, 'modern' metal album, with less of the chaotic brutality that made the older albums so vital and an awesome production that brings everything into a sharp focus. And of course the new vocalist employs clean vocals which has been a huge departure from the previous guttaral belchings of Lord Worm. However, these are enjoyable songs for me. Sure the clean vocals appear to be almost of a metalcore variety, and maybe more important Cryptopsy seem to have lost that intensity and chaos in the shiny production that fans have previously enjoyed. But one wonders whether if this was not them, would the album have received such an online slating? If this wasn't a Cryptopsy album, would it have been so derided? I feel not, as Bemoan the Martyr and The Plagued are two strong tracks that give something new to the Cryptopsy bow, and I think i'm gonna enjoy the album when I get a hold of it.

Municipal Waste - Hazardous Mutation

Leaders in the 'new wave of thrash' currently thundering around the ears of metalheads, Virginia, USA's Municipal Waste possess something that detractors of such a musical rejuvenation as a pointless retreading of classic works cannot complain about; genuinely good songs. The Waste thrash like its only gonna be cool for thrash to be retro for the length of their albums and thus must get all their quality out there before its done. Their latest release, 'The Art of Partying' is probably a better album than this, but there's something fresh and exciting about Hazardous Mutation that appealed to me so much the first time I heard it. Unleash the Bastards is not only a great song title, but a great track, one of many that grab you by the hair, throw you around for a few mins then release you to catch your breath before it does it again. Municipal Waste thrash like titans, the title track and the brilliantly titled 'Thrashin' of the Christ' provide an awesome pairing in the middle of the album and its fantastic to see a genuine sense of humour still apparent in modern metal and not just raging about the ills of the world. 'Mind Eraser' must be given a special mention for its lyrics about the joys of binge drinking, and the thrash-blast of 'Black Ice' is commendable for the quality of a 45 second riff explosion about crashing on, surprisingly, black ice. Long let the Waste continue with this awesome thrash, and I hope that once the fad is over and the retro-thrashers disappear back to 1985 that Hazardous Mutation will still stand high as a pinnacle of 00s metal, regardless of genre.

Morbid Angel Live 24/06/08

This was a performance I'd been looking forward to ever since I became a Morbid Angel fan. It is not often that you can come across what can be considered as a bona fide legend in the music world. The longevity, quality and influence of this band can never be underestimated, and Domination stands as one of my most treasured musical belongings. Arriving rather early by accident to the Garage, I got a chance to properly peruse a merch stand rather than running up at the end going, 'I want XL in that one, ok you have none left, that one!'. A side note and not overly important to the gig but it was great to see a selection of 7 different designs of shirt, rather than the paltry two or three I am used to at concerts these days. Anyhoo, supporting act and local band Achren were a decent support, although yet another whose enthusiasm for the slot wasn't matched by the crowd response. A shame really because they were solid and entertaining.

And so to Morbid Angel. What a performance. David Vincent is every bit a frontman, his witty banter between songs keeping the crowd entertained, such as imploring a young lady not to dive off the balcony because she was too pretty to die. He almost looks like an evil(er) verion of Gene Simmons, surely the only man who can still get away with a skin tight plasticy-leather black shirt with a big silver pentagram on the front, and the usual cliched remarks about how metal fans strength comes from within and it doesn't matter what people think of you take on a new passion when spoken by an elder statesman of the genre. His performance was awesome, belching forth the classics: Maze of Torment, Chapel of Ghouls and Pain Defined were all dropped early in the set, and was followed almost by a greatest hits set, although disappointingly devoid of anything from Blessed are the Sick, which I felt was unfortunate. But it was a small disappointment, minature at best when the band created an effort like this. Tracks like God of Emptiness and Where the Slime Live take on a new level of malevolence in a live setting, Trey Azagthoth's labyrinthine style of riffing creates such a frenzy that he doesn't even need to head bang to create a pit frenzy. An excellent example of how quality musicianship is more important to a live performance than enthusiastic headbanging! Destructhor of Zyklon was an excellent second guitarist and Pete Sandoval's drumming was simply phenomenal. How he doesn't suffer from some form of muscle strain after every song astounds me. A rarely heard outing of 'Bill Ur-sag' from Formulas Fatal to the Flesh and a new track, Nevermore from the upcoming album were also both warmly welcomed. The new track was particularly excellent, a lurching behemoth with a catchy refrain and remiscient of their slower, later work rather than the hurtling intensity of Altars of Madness.

The gig did end rather early for my liking, only an hour and a quarter or so after they first strode onto the stage, but Morbid Angel slayed tonight. If they can create yet another essential album and come back for a longer set, there's going to be more than enough life in the old beast yet. Awesome

The Agony of Reviewing

Well, maybe a strong word for it, but anyone who does this will understand my issue I am having at the moment. In order to create, not a portfolio as such but I suppose it could be described as such, but a balanced way of reviewing music, and especially of such extreme stylings, it is important to me that I don't come across as overly positive all the time. I like to think i could create a review of an album that if people bought they could either agree or at least see where the thoughts came from. But I found, as I looked at my past writings, that almost all have been of an album I have greatly enjoyed and only one was anything that really approached a negative response. My problem is this; that if I don't enjoy an album, a band or a genre of music, than I don't listen to it. I'd much rather sit through a metal album that captured my attention, challenged me and more often than not, kicked some ASS! If an album doesn't grab me within the first, say, 3 or 4 tracks then I start to wonder whether it is worth listening to the rest.

And yet I have come across a number of albums in my time that grow on me over time, or that get better when the later tracks start. Its a conundrum for someone who would really like to do this kinda thing for, well maybe not a living, but certainly as a hobby, because as you know, when you come across an album that truly gets to you, truly speaks to you and influences you to check out a band or a genre, its a great moment. Everyone can remember the albums that got them into certain styles, no matter what it is. Death metal was unattractive to me until I heard Lashed to the Slave Stick from Nile's Annihilation of the Wicked cd (2005). I subsequently heard the rest of the album and was awestruck by the power, ferocity and above all the inventiveness of the band in such a previously unopen genre to me. I then began with their work and moved onto more stuff, and now own a massive collection of death metal cds. Its all about albums that strike you, but if an album doesn't, is it fair to stop listening and declare it shit before you evaluate the whole piece?

I review albums I enjoy listening to because that's what music is about, what you enjoy, what invigorates you, speaks to you, for you, what can brighten your day or simply make you wanna bang your head and jump into a pit with a large group of sweaty folks and go nuts. It doesn't even matter what makes you do it, as long as it does. Maybe I'll be able to put something up soon that was a proper disappointment to me, and that I wouldn't necessarily recommend to people. But in the end its all subjectivity. You may think an album that I love sucks, and vice versa, and therefore opinions almost seem redundant in such a field. On the other hand, most people get into bands due to a recommendation from a friend or magazine, so maybe subjectivity has some life in it yet...