Local plug...

Chompin' on my Tel-Star burrito the other week at a personal fave mexi-cali joint I was intrigued by a flyer promoting a weekday show by some cooly-monikered band called Hoboknife. Unfortunately the gig was cancelled the day it was supposed to happen but my slightly piqued interest was enough for me to search out their bandcamp page. Amazingly it was worth the visit. A weird death/heavy/black metal amalgam that sounds fresh from the late 90's, Hoboknife play "drunken black-and-roll straight off the rails" (per their facebook bio) and while it's nothing I'd ever kill for it was nice to hear an active RVA band that isn't metalcore. Enjoy.

Straight off the Greyhound

Reinforcing The Stereotype

I'll admit I'm a sucker for offensive shit, especially when it comes to music. Already a guilty fan of Vaginal Jesus and (to a lesser extent) Mudoven, I figured I'd give the off-color death metal outfit Arghoslent a try. While their older material isn't much to speak of (especially the shitty demo compilation album), I did find myself digging 2008's Hornets Of The Pogrom. Typical late-90's death metal with occasional Slayer-ish thrash influences, the band has gained some notoriety thanks to their racially-tinged lyrics. I was almost quasi-digging 'em until I read the LP liner notes proudly proclaiming the record was "recorded South of the Mason Dixon line." Ugh. It's probably not surprising to readers that I'm not a fan of Virginia. Fuck the fact that I've called it my state of residence for the last long-ass thirteen years; I am a hard-headed New Englandah by birth and simply cannot get over the fucking idiotic racist stereotype that so many Southern rednecks seem to embrace as a pitiful tribute to their historical roots. If Arghoslent were more tongue-in-cheek I would be way more forgiving, the fact that living in the Old Dominion seems to give them some legitimacy just makes me bitter. I gotta move...

Clint Z Hilton

Hated Race

 

What a fucking great album. I was really into Fear Factory at the time (Obsolete era) I stumbled upon this and was intrigued by the obvious aliases, especially considering you got Jello Biafra narrating the whole opening as a pseudo-Pete Wilson. Jello may thrive in the counterculture but he's not stupid enough to head down to Tiujana to cut tracks with an underground drug lord death metal band. Smelling of San Francisco, I was happy to discover fave Faith No More veteran Billy Gould and Napalm Death mainstay Shane Embury trading off bass duties in addition to Fear Factory's Herrera (drums) and Cazares (guitar). The album is low rent death metal with a cool political vibe to it and if you took Spanish in highschool you'll be able to figure the lyrics out. "Hermanos Menendez" is my favorite song by far - I want that shit played at my funeral.

Ritmos Satánicos

Influences: Jalapeno Diarrhea Pain

Mildly witty band name aside, there's nothing wholly original from Finland's Brutanal other than the fact that there are a fucking ton of lyrics. Jesus - it seems like the guy never stops talking! I usually take my brutal death metal done by the books with a minimum of token gurgles and "ree's" - it seems like vocalist/guitarist Sir Josif Brutanal is determined to confess his manifesto in the most intricate detail possible. Sucks that I don't understand Finnish - the distortion is restrained just enough that you could probably make out what he is saying if you could speak the dialect. Oh well. Regarding the music, it's pretty tame tongue-in-check death metal (especially the silly "Fuck Jazz") that is replete with thrashcore-esque solos that would make Jeff Hanneman proud. They actually remind me sound-wise of what Anal Nosorog eventually turned into... not that that comparison means anything to anyone. Who knows if these guys are still around, they have a (circa 2009) Facebook page as well as a download one here (which offers their retarded 2005 demo as well). Actually, their Facebook page is worth a look simply for the unintentionally hilarious bio - broken English and all. All I gotta say is it sounds like they have one fucking hell of a live show. Cheers.

Woman! Fart! Now! Never Stop! Oh Yeah!

Total Fucking Slam

My first introduction to Wild Rags Records was this sophomore demo from Long Island mosh heavies Internal Suffering. Having gotten in touch with guitarist Chris Pervelis somehow or another (incredibly nice guy by the way) he hooked me up with this amazing 4-song introduction to his band and what would eventually be termed "brutal death metal". Slow, slamming death metal with crunching guitar riffs and breakdown after breakdown, the EP is a moshpit junkie's wet dream. Seriously, if the vocals were modernized (or degraded, depending on your point of view) into the "reee reee" of today's brutal death, there would be little difference - and these guys were doing it in 1994. While the opener, "Anointed In Servitude" is admittely my favorite, all of the crushing, groove-heavy tracks have something to offer. After going on hiatus in 2004 to focus on things like family and careers, I am happy to report the band is back at it and primed to release their new album this fall. Keep up with them at their impressively polished website here.

Extreme Malevolence

Belgian Black Metal

Ridiculously heavy brutal black metal from Europe - this two-man outfit (the eponymous Pek on vox and guitar and Nefasto on drums) has released a handful of demos and random recordings, Preaching Evil is their only official full-length. A 30-minute assault of blast beats and sickening riffs spanning standard death metal (Incantation comes to mind) to Ministry-esque industrial loops, if it wasn't for the album cover (and typical frostbitten song titles) I would probably classify the band as brutal death. But nope, the spiked arm bands land ya in the black metal bin every time. While the band hasn't really done anything since 2010, there still exists a legitimate website you can order shirts and shit - check it here.

Invoke

Lowest Common Denominator

Yep, with a name like Cumchrist, I just had to get it. Call me a sucker. The one and only release (hence the title I guess) from these Chicago blasphemers is a respectable goulash of brutal death and grindcore. Obvious influences by Slayer, Cannibal Corpse and 40 More Reasons To Hate Us-era Anal Cunt, Cumplete is light years better than the dreck I expected when I first spun the CD. Of course this is absolutely nothing you haven't heard before (including the tired movie samples) but then again this was released in 2002 so I guess I ought to cut 'em some slack. The song titles are straight out of Seth Putnam's reject playbook and for something so clearly a one-shot joke it's surprising how much skill and effort went into it all. Some of the songs rumbled my stereo speakers in a way they haven't been fucked with in a while. The Obituary-esque "God Owes Me Money" and the wonderfully-titled "Crucifixion Must Hurt Like A Bitch" are my favorites. The sound quality varies throughout the album which makes me think this was a sort of demo/sessions compilation but who knows. Don't expect more than a tongue firmly planted in cheek from this LP - it's all over in 23 minutes anyway so what the fuck.

Phlegm Phlagm

Serial Killer 101

What better soundtrack to start my whining about 2014's Patriots season than this iconic slab of murder music from Chicago's demented speed metal sickos Macabre? Yet another in the long list of Relapse order "alternates" that ended up being better then the record I intended to buy; Sinister Slaughter is so entertainingly well-crafted for a token death metal album about serial killers that you'll find yourself humming the fucking songs for weeks after you hear it. Mix one part nursery rhymes and folk tales with wicked fast speed metal and a smartly snide sense of black humor and you almost got an idea of how good it is. Even the album cover nails it. Nefarious, Corporate Death and Dennis the Menace are such ridiculously talented musicians (especially Dennis the Menace - that guy hands down is the best fucking drummer out there today) I am always amazed these guys didn't end up conducting symphonies. Essential.

What's That Smell?

Neandercore

Straight outta Kansas City comes the four-man death metal leviathan that is Troglodyte. The album cover had me in a second - a nice homage to any hundred of lurid 1970's B-movie posters (of which I've seen about a million billion of 'em). Initially the song titles may come off as somewhat cheesy - humorous tributes to the legends of Bigfoot and his missing link ilk. But the music delivers so strong that it hardly fucking matters. Fusing a blend of old-school Florida death metal and the current brutal death genre, the band plays a pretty heavy, groovish style which has enough tempo changes within each 2-minute song to keep the most jaded metalhound interested. I haven't been listening to anything particularly heavy lately but this album really hit the spot. "Skunk Ape Rape" and "Fossil" are the standout tracks for me but the whole albums tears the scene a new primal fuckhole. The band is still at it - check out their bandcamp here. Enjoy.

Excavate

Jeff Hanneman 1964-2013

R.I.P. You will be missed.

 
Currently watching: The Wire (Season 1)

Currently listening to: Organized Konfusion Organized Konfusion

Hard Drive Deadbeats: DEATH METAL

I really thought I had a winner when I picked up Ulcer Uterus's 2008 effort Agonizing Degradation. Blackened death metal tending towards a more political angle than the typical (and tiring) scatological stuff. Once again, the album's not actually bad, just painfully dull. Riffs and grooves that would have been incredible in the mid-90's seem overused and tired. Additionally, some of the song arrangements seem a tad out of synch ("Elite" especially) as if the instruments were recorded at different times. Finally, the album gives off a strange heavy metal vibe, don't ask me what it is, it just seems like there's a whole lot of treble for a death metal album! Honestly, if all the songs were simply downtuned one or two steps, I think we'd have a winner.

Nothing Is Not

Currently watching: Libido Mania

Currently listening to: Carnifex The Diseased And The Poisoned

Words Of Evil

After last week's Macabre post I thought I'd rip another live DVD, this time showcasing perennial death metal titans Obituary. Performed nearly 5 years ago to the day in Warsaw, Poland; the set features the Cause Of Death-era lineup belting out twenty-one tracks of old school death up to their 2005 Frozen In Time release. The band plays tight and sounds great - of course like most shows they never play all of the songs I want (I would have loved to hear "Intoxicated" or "End Complete") but regardless, the show is long, heavy and brutal. Ninety minutes of Florida's greatest export destroying the Stodoła Klub. Enjoy.

Rot

 
Currently watching: Bully
Currently listening to: Black Sheep Wall I Am God Songs

Murder Metal

Without a doubt one of my favorite bands is Chicago's Macabre. I stumbled upon their ridiculously ingenious version of death metal when I randomly added 1993's Sinister Slaughter as an "alternative" on some token Relapse Records order. Wow, how times have changed, no? Anyways, whatever I initially ordered was (of course) out of stock and via USPS came my introduction to Macabre. Amazing. What still gets me to this day, other than the fact that they're a trio, is the fucking drumming. I am so tired of hearing about Joey Jordison or Jimmy Sullivan... Macabre's Dennis the Menace (Dennis Ritchie) has been at it since fucking 1985! Hearing him absolutely destroy a double bass drum with cunthair precision is easily one the highlights in my music library. And since their Sinister days, Macabre has only gotten tighter and more witty. Because you can find pretty much everything they've ever recorded already online, I thought I'd throw up the live set from Dordrecht, Netherlands in 2005 which made it onto their Live In Holland DVD. Ripped straight from the disc at 256kbps - sound nice and a great setlist too. Here's to another decade and a half of crazy, fucked-up murder metal guys. Shit, the way the news is these days, the damn songs are writing themselves!

Downloaden

 
Currently watching: My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
Currently listening to: Obituary Slowly We Rot

жестокой дэт-метал

Forgotten 2009 demo from Russian brutal death metal fiends Amidst The Bloodshed known some places as Can You See An Exit. Pretty standard slam with some better than average riffs and squeals. Not much else to find or report about the band, but it's one of the better DIY demos I've heard in a while.

Dismember Cadaver

 
Currently watching: Lost Highway
Currently listening to: Mr. Bungle Disco Volante

Solid Cali Death

West Coast death metal outfit Penalty morphed into the similarly-monikered Death Penalty in 1997, releasing a solid demo of gurgled riffage with a rather refreshing political slant. Tight production and musicianship elevate this one above the typical drek. Death Penalty stayed together long enough to record a full-length (1998's Conviction) before fading back into Vista, California obscurity.

P.S. I recently realized my old rip had a lot of skips and shit in it so here's a new clean rip - enjoy!

Guilty

 
Currently watching: Watchmen
Currently listening to: Macabre Grim Scary Tales

Lo-fi Death Metal

Hailing from the worthless tourist scab known as Little Rock, AK, the first (legit) LP from the two-man death metal outfit known as Shredded Corpse shows how different a climate existed for death metal bands back in the mid-90's. Nowadays, with any band able to get a cutting edge PC for less than $500 at Wal-Mart (and pirated music software just a few RapidShare clicks away), the glut of death/grind/gore bands that sound well-produced number in the thousands. Back in 1996 though, you just sounded like you had no money. Oddly sterile, completely humorless, and sounding like it was recorded on a cassette deck, Exhumed And Molested is worth more as a piece of nostalgia than anything to raise your fist to. Interestingly, guitarist/keyboardist William Rocky Gray joined the platinum selling rock group Evanescence in 2002. And who said death metal isn't a gateway genre?

Shred

 
Currently watching: The Prophecy

Currently listening to: Faith No More Introduce Yourself

Blood Flows Like Chicken Gravy

Yeah, I know I posted a Post Mortem 7" just the other day but I was getting some more records together and found this gem. Not only is the cover hilarious (love the Gerber Baby) but the album is a perfect acid-trip slab of Boston metal. "Reconciliation Of The Fish" is easily the best song although "Burning Sinister Turnip" is almost just as good. What the fuck was (sadly R.I.P.) singer John McCarthy on when he wrote those lyrics? Incredible. I ended up getting their full-length Festival Of Fun a couple years ago but it didn't do all that for me - this is really the band at their best.

More 'Mortem

 
Currently watching: Fast Food Nation

Currently listening to: House Of Pain Same As It Ever Was

Boston Death Metal?

I'll admit, I initially only got this 7" because Seth Putnam (of A.C. fame you retard!) sang vocals on it. What a nice surprise once it hit the turntable because it fucking kills! Most of the "metal" webpage archives classify Boston's Post Mortem as "death metal" but I hardly agree - side A's "Noodles In My Bile..." is down-and-out sludgey goodness. Putnam's wailing vocals contrast perfectly with the downtuned chugga-chugga guitar. Side B's "Anal Drip" is a little bit more standard thrash fare but still worthwhile. Best $2 I ever spent.

Wicked Sick

Currently watching: North Shore

Currently listening to: 311 Evolver

Answered my own question...

Well, ask and you shall receive, no? No sooner had I posted some babble about Regurgitate's first split 7" I got word that the "forgettable" A-side band Vaginal Massaker actually DID forge along through the 1990's and even released a CD! Of course they completely changed their sound from grindnoise to a somewhat restrained death metal vibe (think very, very generic Death) and that's about it. Nothing noteworthy whatsoever, even the album cover screams generic (or terrible, depending on your point of view). Actually, the scans I could find of the cover were so awful that I actually rebuilt it myself, it was so poorly done. Oh well. The band's lineup completely changed from the Regurgitate days as well so it begs the question is it really the same band or just someone grabbing onto the coattails of a (somewhat) offensive name? Who knows. As a final fly in the putrid stew, I listened to the album several times and the numbered track names simply do not fit with the given names of the songs (i.e. on song #3 "Grunge" they repeat "Fuck Off And Die" over and over which makes me think that's actually the supposed song #8 "Fuck Off And Die") so I've tried to adjust it to what my poor German skills (c'mon I'm only on level two of Rosetta Stone!!) can deduce. Enjoy the timeworn tunes....

Olli no more

InFuckingWhat?

Dude, I don't know what to say about this nonsense. Is it a demo, an album, or just a bunch of retards trying to play instruments they just bought? The little info I can find on this band calls InFuckingCunt a demo and boy that's giving the band a lot of credit (and forgiveness). In Cunt is a "brutal death metal" (yeah... right) band from Vila Franca de Xira (Portugal) and this is their gift to the world. Amazingly, the last track is recorded live, wow. I would have loved to see the six confused Portuguese watching this mess unfold on stage. Enjoy these eleven minutes of vapidity.

Merda Terrível