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.