– After a relatively quiet January 2004, the year’s first heavyweight release dropped rather quietly onto store shelves.  Hypocrisy, always what I consider a criminally overlooked and underappreciated band, have been soldiering through the death metal underground practically since it began, and should be at near-legendary status – except they don’t seem to get the respect they badly deserve.  Their reputation was likely further damaged by the poorly-received Catch-22, an album largely influenced by American nu-metal band Slipknot.  In a controversial move, Tatgren decided to keep this new album firmly on safe territory, treading absolutely no new sonic ground whatsoever and releasing an album that for all the world could be Abducted Part Two.

The cover is eye-catchingly gorgeous, done in unified blue hues that represent the concept perfectly.  The three aliens, I presume, represent the trio of band members (drummer Lars has since dropped out of the band and has been replaced by former Immortal powerhouse Horgh) and their new – or, I should say, old – mindset: the alien theme that has made Hypocrisy so unique in the past is back in force.  Lyrically, Hypocrisy has always been about two things: alien cover-up conspiracies, and the (as they perceive) evils of Christianity.  The graphic inverted cross on the disc itself should erase any question as to their stance on organized religion.  The album opens up with an eerie chord progression and some experimental vocal effects reminiscent of Fractured Millennium, before kicking into a high-tempo thrash theme.  This is a rare occurrence, however, and most of The Arrival sticks to the tried-and-true Hypocrisy formula: slow or mid-tempo and crushingly heavy. While the album boasts nothing but solid songwriting, it is also largely repetitive of previous works, particularly songs like Eraser.  Criticism aside, I consider this album to be largely an artistic success, boasting the mid-period Hypocrisy that we know and love while seamlessly blending previous-awkward influences into a cohesive musical unit.  New World and Dead Sky Dawning are sure to be future classics.  Bottom line: heavy Hypocrisy returns with a vengeance.

Guest review, MarK

The real deal Disgorge, the singular brutalists from Mexico… churning out the most indistinguishable noise and splatter. The production value is left to nil, maybe a little pocket change and a one attempt to finish the disc. The sound is unlike anything I’ve heard before, I suppose most would lump this in with grindcore, but I think the tracks to have distinction and purpose, not just an ability to produce a noise maker. Disgorge (mex) is definitely not something you would bring to introduce somebody to death metal, this would more than likely humor them and they will go on about how its noise, and you can’t understand what they are saying, its the obligatory speech you get from anyone when you play death metal.

Disgorge (mex) have a frightening detail into gore and sickening song titles like “Crevice Flux Warts”, “Jaundice Of Hookworm” and “Jism Adipose Carbonization”, a forensic nightmare in audible format. For such an underground masterpiece it’s a bit surprising to find out George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher took a stab at some vocal duties. I think this track alone (Crevice Flux Warts) epitomizes the sound they attempt at capturing, it delivers mood and a noticeable details that entertains the ears and distracts you from the monotony.

The cover is disgusting with a dead fetus coming from a vagina. I mean these guys really pulled all stops when making this disc. It’s offensive  and repulsive to look at. I think that is exactly the response they were looking for.

Overall this is a pretty unique experience, and really delivers and captures a darkened and sick mood/atmosphere. To the untrained ear, this will be the most monotonous, noisy, pots and pans kind of racket that will make you want to throw the stereo out the window. People will either love it or hate it. I think there is enough here for me to enjoy. Even if the sound does come off as rather monotonous of the same recycled riffs. It has its moments though, and it fucking a great experience. They are definitely the top contenders for the name Disgorge, forget about the guys in California. The band most deserving of the title, is the guys out in Mexico, making sick music for the masses. 

Oh God, save me from this eternal boredom.  Meshuggah is sometimes entertaining and sometimes a drag.  Unfortunately, this horribly disappointing release makes a minute feel like an hour.  It’s the complete opposite of I, and a middle-of-the-road album compositionally.  Not enough experimentation to make it weirder than Nothing; not as chaotic or frantic as Chaosphere, and too self-derivative to be as revolutionary as the classic Destroy Erase Improve.  The tempos plod along, rarely breaking 100 beats per minute, and while the playful rhythm-tricks are there, by now we’ve heard it all before.  Meshuggah appear to be descending into formula: the kiss of artistic death for most bands.  There are some softly spoken vocals, which are the only surprise to come on this album.  All in all, it’s my biggest disappointment of 2005 as of August.  I shudder to bear the thought of struggling through it another time.

Guest Review by MarK

Sentenced goes out with a bang, or at least one last slab of ridiculously catchy, old-school heavy metal with amusing lyrics and sometimes disappointingly simplistic guitar playing.  But so what?  There may not be any Petrucci’s in Sentenced, but this is a band that remembers that heavy metal can be fun!  No screaming, no death metal elements remain, but Sentenced somehow found a way to be extremely catchy without playing power metal.  The catchiest, most sing-along songs are May Today Become the Day, Vengeance is Mine, and Drain Me.  I wouldn’t call this music depressing, but Sentenced love the negative lyrics and this is no different.  One of the songs, a short instrumental track, harkens back, for no apparent reason, to the North From Here days and seems out of place on this kind of album.  It may be a quick nod to the past for Sentenced’s swan song.  I love this album.  Basically, if you hated The Cold White Light, this won’t interest you either.  If you’ve enjoyed everything post Down, you’ll love this one too.

Guest Review by, MarK

1998
Credits: Piotr, or Peter – vocals guitar. Doc – drums. Shambo – bass. Mauser – guitar.

I love Vader.  There’s no way I can write a totally objective review of a Vader album; I am just predisposed to liking it.  Black to the Blind is no exception.  This is their third major full-length, and the album where Vader really started coming into the style that was fully explored with the succeeding album, Litany from 2000.  So why do I have so much respect for Vader?  These Polish musicians don’t just have the musical skill that death metal demands, they go in deep with their lyrical content as well.  No shallow “I love Satan! Kill God!” hollering here: Peter uses his strong tenor voice to educate and inform the listener about Vader’s favorite occult and magic figures from the past and present.  Names, dates, and quotes are given to clarify the details of each song, along with the printed lyrics.  These guys actually make you interested in learning more about the people and ideas they’re interested in.  Way to use music for communication, Vader!  This is serious death metal.  Not very melodic; blast beats abound, the tempos are fast, and the guitars are heavy.  What more do you want? Note: if you have the Pavement USA version, you probably noticed there’s a set of lyrics with no song to go with it on the actual disc.  I think it’s a foreign bonus track.  Despite this hiccup, Vader remains among the best.

Guest Review by, MarK

Band: Broken Hope
Album: Repulsive Conception
Year: 1995

When I was first introduced to death metal music it was by bands like Slayer and Venom, two of which it took me years to appreciate on their own. But one thing bands like the aforementioned did accomplish, they lit the spark that spread like wildfire over the genre. That being said, I started to get on my own two feet about the genre and started to discover the big names like Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation. And lesser common names like Prophecy, Hate Eternal and Broken Hope. The last name I mentioned is the band I want to talk a little bit about today.

Where has truly sickening and outright disgusting lyrics, alongside the most inhuman vocals come from? Joe Ptacek and company. The successor to the untouchable Bowels of Repugnance, a feat I thought almost impossible. But Repulsive Conception, lifts its spirits on high. Melodic shifts, acoustic interludes, which have almost become a trademark in their releases. It drives along this mighty beast. Including the contrast of downright evil and evil, into a softer interlude.

This was one of the introductory releases that got me into death metal in the first place. And I think this was one of the more polished and heightened releases from the stock. I wish their newer stuff could reflect on their earlier discs.                                                                                    Repulsive
Conception  a blend of memorable riffs and excellent drums and guitar assemblage. I wish the bass could stand out more in this release, but I guess its absence in sound, makes up for it in the other stand out instrumentation.

As I think I made it clear this album has some nostalgic value to me. Their newer work is almost becoming a distasteful reflection. It was cool to get the dvd with their new album. Repulsive Conception is a album not to miss. To me this and the Bowels of Repugnance are their key and elemental releases. 

1 Embrace of Thorns – Darkness Impenetrable Here is a band that plays admirably old school death metal, at an appreciable scale. Dark and disgusting, it drives away into a melodic cast, and halts to a stop to maintain the traditional sound. I hadn’t heard about this till recent, and out of a lot of the flock this band really struck a chord with me. It plays out perfectly, and is definitely a contender for some excellent future work. This and Praying For Absolution are
pretty damn good.

2 Cruciamentum – Charnel Passages   Another excellent release to join the stockpile. This bellows in, in a beastily speed and production. The drumming really pummels, all the while being at the utmost of complexity. If I had to singlehandedly pick the album of the year, I am almost certain this release would take the reward. This just melds together so well. It delivers a melodic section, and pummels your face with speed complexity. They have a solid discography, embrittled with the core ingredients that made this album so good.

3 Desolate Shrine – The Heart of the Netherworld I like Desolate Shrine, they manage to deliver their trademark sound on each release. Which is good, and band… because they do little in the way of changing their sound up. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like things to go into the direction of commercial and simplicity that would attract a less than desirable crowd. This album hits incredibly hard, it has a bombastic tone, just heavy as hell. It has its melodic parts, few classic guitar melodies sound in the background. I like their sound, but I just cannot separate each album, it all maintains their copyright sound.

4 Vorum – In Grime in Lust To add variety to a list that is in stalemate with one particular taste of death metal, I wanted something that comes off as a barrage of miscellaneous chaos mixing together thrash, death metal, and hell whatever else my untrained ear can find. This is literally a noise maker, Something to piss off your neighbors. I want to give this release a chance so it made the list. Overall this takes a certain mood to listen to. Production has cast aside, wanted is a pure blitz or noise tearing oneself open with a carpenter knife.

5 Horrendous – anareta
Everything about this band agrees with the greatest potential a death metal can be recognized as such. You will hear this, and will hear and have flashbacks of carcass, death, cynic and basically any other technical melodic band from the early 90’s. This shit is hardly accomplished as far as originality is concerned. I admit their latest effort has made strides in attempting to garnish their own name. I know that a lot sjw and political correct pieces of shit, who would love nothing more than throbbing cocked forcibly placed in their ass hole. I on the other hand will not bow in excited praise just because a band knows how to play their instruments. All the same, it made the list.

6 Malthusian – Below the Hengiform [EP] Here is something new, and I had to break the rules and deliver an EP release. This hardly satiates a listener’s ear, when the album ends so quickly. Odd doom portions, agonizing vocals. The music is varied and changes franticly without warning or predictability. It does hover above with some melodic passages. It shares both screaming and gutturals. I would like to hear a full length from this band. It’s definitely a great couple of songs that almost flew under my radar. Great. hard and agony.

7 Degial – Savage Mutiny Here we got some traditional old school death played in the greatest darkened and satanic can deliver. High intensity, their own mutiny of destruction, spoken loudly. The only thing I would enjoy more would be low gutturals. The whole thing comes off as a bit thrashy, and little to do with death. They playing style is odd and discordant, leaving a complexity that while simple, does introduce a nice feel to their chaotics blend.

8 Adversarial – d.e.n.a.t.b.k.o.n An album title so brutal we had to abbreviate it. More solid darkened death metal. The delivery and approach is not the most original, but it delivers at a scale worth mentioning.

9 abyssal – antikatastaseis Darkened and atmospheric death metal. You can barely even understand the vocals, it all plays out as more of an instrument making a noise that collaborates with the sound. The melody’s meld together well, it almost come off as something beautiful. It’s amazing how you can interwoven each part to play together. And just as you are sitting comfortable, it goes again full speed to tear off your face, and gouge out your eyeballs.

10 Shroud of the Heretic – Unorthodox Equilibrium Here is a preferable release, and really embellishes the sound I am looking for when I formulate a list like this. Well deserving of a metal accolade. Vocals that are hidden and meshed with the overall sound. It drives back and forth to chaos and a fueled intermission if you will, where it slows a bit. They really allowed the drums to participate in this album with their tone well lifted. They are acoustic elements, to add a softer depressive route.

11 Cohol/地に堕ちる – Rigen Here is something different, I suppose you could call this black metal, perhaps? I never was the best with titles, and what can become what. This does have an appeal to me. Very dark and depressive but contributes a harmony that is otherworldly. The vocals are acquired taste for me, it comes off as annoying and repetitive, that being said the music does enough to keep my interested.

12 vostum – hole below Here is something that hits hard, I love the drum tone and the overall production. Old school death, done with a modern approach that delivers rather well. Some guitar solos with a promising effort. It has portions where you can hear the gutturals, with some spoken dialogue in the background. The
music deliver on the brutality scale, and come to a crushing halt with no warning. Excellent shit for an unknown band.

13 autokrator – s/t Desolate Shrine, Abyssal something to me that reminds me of this band, but they don’t allow themselves to go full fledged into what Autokrator has become. This is heavy, intensely heavy. Forget about lyrics and trying to decipher the message. This is just a barrage of chaotic noise. It explodes from start to finish, there is no warning there is no letup, no softer interludes or
change in position or speed, it just pummels your speaker without hesitation. To me this is something of a novelty, it always cures an itch I get for a sound like this.

14 overtorture – embrace the end What an incredible tone and production on this release, I have said this for other releases but is really polished and refined. The drumming you can almost feel it being served through your headphones. Nice riffs and musical quality. The guitar solos are a bit uninspired and add efficacy. The leads and riffs put out are incredibly solid and catchy. This is the closest thing to a commercial death metal release I will mess with. Nothing overly depressive about this release, its a release meant to attract fans and maybe get enough money to buy a vw bug.

15 Ur Draugr – with hunger undying I went with a lot of darkened death metal, with a position to destroy the listener. So I wanted to pick out something a little different, much in the same vein as Cohol. Depressive and yet beautiful acoustic melodies melding in and out. Bringing together a nuance of metal and yet softer periods. This whole release come off to me as experimental, and not yet comfortable in place of music, that would define them. Yet I think this a good start, and I expect nothing but greatness from this band in the future. It took me a while to get into this band, but when I gave it a chance, I was happy I did.