Category: Reviews

MISANTHROPIC EXISTENCE “Death Shall Be Served” (Aesthetic Death) UK death metal. I know that I have complained about not getting sent enough UK death metal. But it is not a staple diet on my turn table (computer) these days. So when I do get sent one of these rarities I take extra notice. MISANTHROPIC EXISTENCE is a brutal death metal act that serves us 11 slabs of unrelenting death metal assault. There is nothing redeeming about this. As I listen to this I try to find any band that I can compare it to but I come up short of … Continue reading

MÖRK GRYNING “Live At Kraken” (Black Lodge) If there ever was a cult Swedish black metal band MÖRK GRYNING would make the top five list. This is a live recording from a rather recent gig they did in their home town of Stockholm, Sweden. I gotta say that if this is the whole gig it must have been one of the shortest one. This recording only contains 4 tracks, and they are not even long tracks. That makes this feel like a cheat. Had it not been for the fact that the music is so bloody good this would not … Continue reading

NORTHERN “Desolate Ways To Ultima Thule” (Moribund) The No1 US Viking/pagan metal band. That is big words. But this is not bad at all. Sure, they are no Bathory but then nobody are but this is still some really cool metal. It is epic and that I like. It is full on black metal attack and that I like. You get so many different moods on this album that the 71 minutes it lasts doesn’t feel that long. I have heard NORTHERN under their previous name Cold Northern Vengeance but that was their debut album way back in time. That … Continue reading

ONE DAY IN FUKUSHIMA “Ozymandias” () Grindcore. What other style could it have been with a name like ONE DAY IN FUKUSHIMA? This is what I associate grindcore with. It makes me think of Filthy Christians and Nasum. Extreme to the bone but not totally non-listenable. This you put on because you want to hear an album of tracks and not because you want to hear single tracks. This is not one track at a time music. Over 18 short sharp attacks we are subjected to what feels like all the ailments of the world compressed into grindcore. This is … Continue reading

ORACLE « Into The Unknown » () For some reason Mobile, Alabama feels familiar. It must be that some other band calls it home too like ORACLE does. But I cannot remember what band that should be because I don’t think it is ORACLE themselves that triggers that memory. This is death metal with an edge. Not entirely true to being death metal they like to call it extreme metal. A description that I subscribe to any day of the week. This has the edge of death metal but it also has a melodic side to it that is almost … Continue reading

PACT «Enigmata » (Moribund) Back in 2012 I reviewed my last PACT album, their debut album. Since then they have managed to release a second album too. And a third one, the one I am reviewing now. This is USBM. Yeah I know, it doesn’t really say too much because USBM is not just one single style. This is the kind of black metal that feels like you just gone a mma match and been beaten to a pulp. This is the unforgiving kind of black metal. But it is also some of the coolest black metal there is. Even … Continue reading

PETRIFICATION “Hollow of the Void” (Sentient Ruin Laboratories/Dawnbreed Records/To The Death Records/Memento Mori) Another US old school death metal act. But this is not old school as in old school Swedish death metal. Instead it is old school as in a cross of Death and Bolt Thrower twisted to 13. It took me a while to really nail what this reminded me of but once I had done so it all came to me like a Sunday morning. This has got all the right things going. If you were there back in the day you like this. if you weren’t … Continue reading

PISS RIVER “S/T” (The Sign Records) You cannot miss this band’s name. Sure, it is not as bad as Satan’s Penguins but it is not far behind. Just imagine having to introduce the band you are playing in; “hey, we are PISS RIVER”. The name sound like some sort of juvenile punk band. But the fact is that the music is much better than the name. And once the music starts you forget about the band name and you just concentrate on the punkish hard rock (hardrock) that they play. This is another cool Swedish band that rocks out like … Continue reading

QUANTUM HIEARCHY “Neutron Breed” (Everlasting Spew Records) This is the debut EP from Italian blackened death metal troupe QUANTUM HIERACHY. I love all the stuff that Incantation has done, and I love early Morbid Angel. This is like a marriage between those two. This is what is so good about music; how you can merge different influences and come up with something new. Not the most original but still something that has never been heard before. If you like me like the before mentioned bands you really ought to check this out too as I am sure that you will … Continue reading

RAIN OR SHINE “Seize The Night” (Lions Pride Music) I find it strange that I am not a bigger fan of melodic hardrock than I am as I quite like it once it does come my way. And now that I have become older I can even appreciate all the bands that I did not like in the 80s and 90s. As I listen to this debut by Greek RAIN OR SHINE I find myself wanting to this to be more of everything. It feels a bit too polished. But I guess some of my hesitance is down to me … Continue reading