My death metal week

Well following on from my last article on my favourite recent death metal finds, I went on a big spree of death metal listening. Normally I like to vary my metal styles, keep it fresh but just for the past few days it has been solid death metal. Carcass, Death, Bolt Thrower, Immolation, Cryptopsy, all have passed through my ears and more. Overall I think I've made it through 20 death metal albums in the past 4 days:

1. Decapitated - Winds of Creation
2. Vader - Litany
3. Hate Eternal - King of All Kings
4. Death - Leprosy
5. Nile - Black Seeds of Vengeance
6. Obituary - Slowly We Rot
7. Morbid Angel - Covenant
8. Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos
9. Immolation - Here in After
10. Deicide - Once Upon the Cross
11. Cryptopsy - Whipser Supremacy
12. Vital Remains - Into Cold Darkness
13. Carcass - Necrotism
14. Suffocation - Souls to Deny
15. Immolation - Harnessing Ruin
16. Fear Factory - Soul of a New Machine
17. Death - Human
18. Hypocrisy - Virus
19. Cannibal Corpse - Kill
20. Nile - Ithyphallic

Thats just going my iTunes recently played list. I tried to make a mix, old and new, technical with all out brutality, satanic to gore, and I have to say my overwhelming favourite has been Black Seeds of Vengeance by Nile. It combines wonderful technicality with suffocating atmosphere to a devastating effect. I once heard Nile being described as 'like being pummelled repeatedly over the head with a pyramid'. Can't think of any description more suited. But the thing I loved most about Nile's masterpiece is the impressive use of ethnic instrumentation. It creates a great originality and signature sound for the band. It would be a style perfected on Annihilation of the Wicked and Ithyphallic, but probably never bettered than right here.
I can't wait to see them when they tour here soon!

Unsung death metal

Well I decided after taking a sweep through my album collection, to try and raise the profile of some of my favourite and less vaunted death metal albums. My first choice is Hate Eternal's Conquering the Throne, the debut album from Erik Rutan and his horde. I have read a number of reviews saying that it suffers from a level of sameyness throughout, but personally I feel the album shows off a promising start for a band which would later release one of my favourite death albums I, Monarch. It thunders along, propelled by a rain of blastbeats and Rutan's bellowing growl. There are some great guitar interplay sections and Nailed to Obscurity is probably the best track. Up next would have to be Into Cold Darkness from Vital Remains. This was one of the early VR albums, well before they were dragged into the limelight by the infamous bark of Glen Benton, and outside the opening track most are of a shorter length than the later albums which would occasionally slip into the 'a few minutes too long' category. Into Cold Darkness is a great album, where the band began to develop their epic leads, but appear to have left a lot of their slower, more mid pace material. The album's name is also suited to the music, as inputs of keyboards at crucial moments to create an icy cold atmosphere. Sweden's Grave is our third band, with their Into the Grave debut from 1991. It contains the traditional Swedish guitar sound, a thundering buzz with the same technique and style as we can see from Entombed and Dismember. Into the Grave is a great debut, its raw, its filthy, its violent, and it's classic early 90s death metal. Finally, I chose Vader's Litany. These Polish death metal veterans have rarely disappointed me since I first heard Xeper a few years ago. Like their countrymen Decapitated, Vader provide a powerful, bass drum heavy attack and propulsive riffs that I simply love. Xeper still reigns as one of the catchy death metal tracks I have heard, and definitely in my top ten. So there you have, any more unsung death metal classics out there?

Mayhem live in Glasgow

Well I've just got back, breathless and confused and yet hugely impressed, from the Mayhem gig in Ivory Blacks in Glasgow. If you've heard the newest Mayhem album, Ordo Ad Chao, you'll know its a bleak, harsh, punishing experience; a black hole of nihilist torment that you never know quite what to expect is coming next, and yet its exhilirating. And their live show was of the same calibre, completely mesmerising. Attila Csihar, the legendary voice of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, has returned to the fold, and he is the focus of their live show. Tonight, he appears through the crowd, dressed like a bishop but with a head mask that could only really be described as a cross between an elephant and a fly; a bug eyed horrific specimen which ironically matches the demonic 'Satan with a sore throat' vocals he somehow produces. Its unholy, its inhuman, and yet he holds the entire crowd in the palm of his hand, only removing the mask for a thoroughly violent rendition of Anti, the closing track for the gig and the new album. I left the gig completely bemused, confused to whether I'd enjoyed myself and to be honest, drunk on the atmosphere generated. Looking back, its definitely the most unique gig I may ever attend, and one of the best of my year so far.

To cause some debate...

So I thought I'd kick off a debate on this blog, if anyone ever visits of course, but I'm wanting to find out any ideas for the albums of the year so far? Can be any type of metal, but metal only please, I'd like this as a genuine debate. I feel that we've already had some beauties since January kicked off, and my first front runners are the new Mars Volta (The Bedlam in Goliath) and The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull from drone titans Earth. My vote goes for Earth though, after seeing them in Stereo, Glasgow just the other week was an awesome experience. Its a mesmerising experience, and listening to the album is the same. Dylan Carlson and his troop have crafted a wonderful album that has moved far from the drone roots but yet retains the simplistic, cyclical riffing and hypnotic drumming that keeps you hooked. Instrumental music is all about landscapes, what it makes you feel without the influence of lyrical content. Earth create, for me, the feel of an American desert plain, stretching out into the distance as far as you could see, sun high in a clear sky. It is music for your soul, for the times you need something for you to imprint your self on while contemplating. Now, any other takers?!

First album recommendations

I might as well start off this thing with some recent album finds that any metal fans would be interested in. Obviously these will depend on your particular tastes in metal, be it progressive, death, black, doom or whatever, but I'm pretty open minded so I have some good finds out there for anyone who may have missed them. On the progressive/power metal side, look out for Andromeda Unchained by Danish band Anubis Gate. They have crafted an excellent album, full of heavy riffs, epic choruses, great progressive sections and the kinda spacy ethereal sounds you'd expect from a power metal band whose album is a concept about other galaxies! Fantastic. Moving toward the darker side of music, my recent favourite finds in the death metal world are Slovakian band Wayd's 2001 album Barriers, and Gojira's From Mars to Sirius. Now the latter is obviously much more well known and reviewed, but I got a burst of Ocean Planet on my iPod the other day while walking into uni, and it hit me again just how head cavingly heavy it is. I mean people say heavy is speed, heavy is technicality, but I'll tell you, nothing can beat that opening riff. When you are lulled in by that soothing whale song then get hit over the head with what feels like the ocean, thats the future of death metal, right there. The rest of From Mars... is as heavy as this, and with riffing like this, you gotta own it. As for the former, it was a random find after getting an email about a supersale at Grindethic where loads of records were down to £1.99. The term 'experimental death metal' sucked me in, and it was worth it. I'm guessing its quite unknown, as I'd never heard of them before and not seen any reviews for their newer releases, but if I'm wrong, sucks to me and I need to work on my underground credentials! But its a definite recommendation for anyone who enjoys a blast of technical death from Eastern Europe. Final album to get a hold of is This is Gun City by Sanzen. Sanzen are a British metallic hardcore band, shot through with rock and roll influences that give it an angular riffing brilliance. Throw in touches of Botch and Refused and you've got the makings of a fine album. They have a great t-shirt and cd offer on at their record label, In at the Deep End, check it out...

First Post

Well, how to start... I decided to start this blog to get out there with my love of metal music. I was inspired by a blog i became an avid visitor to, www.invisibleoranges.com, i'd recommend it. The author is a music reviewer, and as you do, you read thinking, oh I could do that! But thats not wat I intend, I just want to help spread the awesome world of metal to anyone who is interested. I'll add postings about new albums I get and recommend, music stories that may cause interest and other issues that hopefully we can get some good debate going on. I encourage any comments, recommendations for albums for myself to get a hold of, and any debate we can have. But please, no stupid posts for the sake of it, and i welcome criticisms but not without reason or decent argument. happy reading!