Where The Skeletons Play – Serotonin Blueprints

Last year saw a debut EP from a UK band which had the potential to take emotive and atmospheric enterprise into a new depth of inciting invention. Generation Wars from Where The Skeletons Play was a dramatic and absorbing immersion into thick ambiences and enveloping passion drenched provocation, a release which made a striking imprint on the psyche and opened up a promise which held excitement in its hands. The duo of Stitch (vocals and all vocal effect) and Bones (all instrumentation) return with new release Serotonin Blueprints, an EP which made what came before seem like a mere appetizer. The six track emotive confrontation is a scintillating fire of imagination and invention, a compelling flame which musically and lyrically either burns brightly and vigorously or slowly with a far reaching smoulder, but always with an engrossing searing of thoughts and emotions.

Forming in 2011 as solely a studio project, the band reaped the essences of the likes of Pelican, Deftones Nine Inch Nails, and Tool, seeding them into their own potent form of rock. It is a sound which despite obvious references which can be placed alongside it, especially the Deftones one, evolves a unique breath and presence. Unpredictable and as diverse as any release, it is a sound as evidenced by Serotonin Blueprints which shares its heart and ingenuity not only with the ear, but the thoughts, imagination, and passion of the listener.

As a ‘creaking yawn’ creases the opening ambience of Perspex Queen, there is an instant sense of an impending and possibly intimidating atmosphere brewing. The first song on the EP gently opens its arms as emerging firm rhythms and an equally stoic breath of intensity fill the ear, it all eventually exploding into clear focus. Expressive angst drawn vocals sway and writhe within the now sinewy grip of rhythms and sonic temptation, their hold resisting full muscle but still intimidating within the mutually intrusive and inciting ambience. At times the track feels like it wants to declare its heart and shadows but when it does it comes with a spite and reluctance which overspills in attitude. It is a riveting soundscape of emotion and shadowed beauty, a personal expulsion unbridled in passion and framed by the outstanding bass lure and guitar sculpting.

The following Punctuate The Sky finds its fuel in the same emotive shadows as its predecessor but pushes it through sturdier metallic veins and energy, spearing it with a stoner/blues lilted groove and niggling bass pokes alongside acidic sonic scythes of intensity. Whereas first song had that Deftones/NIN there is a richer Kyuss/QOTSA flame to the second with a Placebo/Mind Museum spice, certainly vocally and melodically.

The outstanding If We Just Pretend…. is a thrilling evocation of mind and emotion, a song which teases and gently coaxes full engagement then expels tension fuelled shafts of sonic provocation and melodic persuasion honed into a lingering and cathartic fire. There is a familiarity about it at times, though there is nothing recognisable, which makes it soundtrack personal doubts and disappointments perfectly, its instinctive understanding wrapping every note and texture.

Your Innocence Exists is an acoustic led haunting, its vocals and lonely ambience casting their voices from a distant realm, a sheltered isolated stance offering whispered anguish. It is a fascinating and mesmeric temptation bringing further diversity to the EP and making a striking counter to the snarling title track. Serotonin Blueprints immediately growls and claws at the ear with resonating hunger but then reins it in with another atmosphere of unreserved impassioned utterances, their touch moving from reserved earnest persuasion to feverish potency, framed and coloured with an equally intense kaleidoscope of sonic imagination and melodic paint. As in every song the dark depths of the rhythms and bass hold everything tightly and set down amongst the blackest expression, and though at times, though not on this particular song, their contribution is a quieter prowl their heavy shadows shape the whole emotive alchemy.

Closing on the provocative piano led Serendipity, a piece of music as powerful and descriptive as anything on the release with its indistinct whispers and heart sourced despair, Serotonin Blueprints is a sensational release which not only feeds that promise we talked of fully but sets up even more staggering possibilities for Where The Skeletons Play, the thought that there is still much more within the pair exciting. This is a must check out release for all emotively bred appetites

www.facebook.com/WhereTheSkeletonsPlay

9/10

RingMaster 24/05/2013

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Unhoped – Nuclear Death

We are not going to try and convince that there is anything particularly new going on with Nuclear Death from Finnish metallers Unhoped, but that the resourceful and fiery album is thoroughly enjoyable is a persuasion which is easy to declare. The six track release is an insatiable and brawling confrontation driven by a thrash metal core wearing at times a coat of death spawned malevolence, one which takes the band from the shadows into a sharper spotlight of promise.

Formed to the end of 2007, Unhoped first made an impression with their debut EP First Blood at the beginning of 2010, the release finding acclaim in the media and amongst fans setting the band up for a busy year. A change of vocalist followed as the band began working on second release Die Harder, the album also gaining strong responses and support. Released by Violent Journey Record, Nuclear Death has all the caustic charm and weaponry to take the Varkaus bred quintet into the widest awareness and as mentioned though it might not be breaking down walls of invention the doors of thrash have been kicked wide open by the band.

Pestilence opens up the ferocity, its immediate assault of crippling rhythms and raging riffs a squalling turmoil upon the ear, a sonic maelstrom of carnivorous hunger which the senses have to take a firm grip to stand tall in the face of. Once the opening strike has settled the band unleash a barrage of merciless destruction through the drums of M. Huisko, co-instigator bassist S. Parviainen growling with equal rabidity. It is prime thrash with the rapacious riffing from guitarists K. Laanto and A. Paasu as exhausting as it is enterprising in its unfussy but greedy barrage. The band’s influences such as Slayer, Testament, and Exodus are certainly more than strong breezes within the rampant fury working on the senses adding to an invention which is not unique but wholly captivating from Unhoped.

The vocals of Jyrki Luostarinen steer and guide the opener through creative waters, his snarling breath and choppy textures when shuffling things up richly pleasing and it continues into the following Modern State Of Sodomy. The track admittedly does not have the ability to hook the listener as its predecessor and most of the subsequent songs, but as a tempest of well-crafted and effective intensity it leaves one wanting little else.

The album steps up another gear with the excellent Eternal Infernal and gets better and better across the remaining songs. The track abrases and slaps the ear from start to finish, again the tempestuous invention across the stance and delivery of the song unpredictable and thus riveting, whilst the chugging appetite of the beast is insatiable and infectious. Originality maybe scarce but passion and imagination has a prime seat in the adrenaline powered song and release.

Empire Of Lies is the best track on the album, its chunky throaty bass grind and sabre sharp riffs welcoming in the impending furnace whilst the drums scythe through bone with thunderous and honed spite. In full gait and muscular expanse, the track exploits the air with venomous enterprise, offering a range of grooves either of serpentine of carnal spawning and shards of sonic flame in searing solos. As ever the vocals graze and scowl with potent antagonism to intimidate and accentuate the strength of the provocation elsewhere.

The closing title track is old school thrash and shows there is nothing wrong with returning to roots and rejuvenating them with fresh maliciousness and energy. It completes a thoroughly pleasing release which makes no demands or promises but leaves a deep depth of pleasure to feed upon regularly. For thrash fans of all tastes Nuclear Death and Unhoped is a contagious treat to keenly devour.

www.unhopedband.com

7.5/10

RingMaster 24/05/2013

 

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Burial Vault – Incendium

Taking the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury as its theme, Incendium the new album from German death metallers Burial Vault is an intensive and dramatic expanse of atmospheric provocation. A release which works with a concept ‘that embodies a metamorphosis of a human in an inconvenient future both on musical as on textual level’, it triggers full thoughts and emotions across its dark and diverse confrontation. Musically as with the song writing it is superbly crafted and riveting in its intrigue and imagination whilst sonically it sears and entices full engagement but, and it is a pretty big but, the album despite pleasing throughout and defying any predictability or expectations fails to fire up the passions as strongly as maybe it should have. The thirteen track album does everything right though and for the main sets itself apart from most other recent melodic death metal albums and releases. Our review will seem, and rightly so, nothing but a continuous praise and recognition of its impressive creativity and invention but that one important ingredient to truly fire up the senses and passions is lacking.

Since forming in 2006, Burial Vault has forged a sound distinct to them from a thrash and black metal spiced melodic death envelopment additionally washed with loud progressive whispers. From appearances at festivals and shows alongside the likes of Drone, Jack Slater, Lay Down Rotten, Cripper, Torture Squad, and Sinister (o.a.), as well as a pair of EPs, There Is No Resort and Come To Grief, and their first album last year, the Papenburg quintet has earned acclaim and a rich place within extreme metal, something Incendium will only enhance.

The follow-up to their highly regarded debut Ekpyrosis, the Apostasy Records released album is certainly an absorbing encounter which works on and with the imagination through a continually shifting expanse of ideas and skilled enterprise, a craft which colours and chews the air around the imagery spawned narrative. It opens with flames shooting through the air as a melancholic grandeur lifts its emotive head to follow the embers of paper and freedom sweeping on the melodic breeze. The intro to Stench Of Burning Thoughts sets the scene ready for the rest of the emerging track to unleash its malevolence.  The song rips through the ear with the rhythms of Immo Groeneveld caging and provoking the senses whilst the rabid riffs of guitarists Tobias Schaub and Alexander Petri incessantly snarl and gnaw the already forged tenderness. It is an impressive and scintillating start which takes a step back for the guttural squalls of Raimund Ennenga to lay out the lyrical premise, his raw throaty rasps a contrast to the sonically harmonic and acidically melodic enterprise conjured by the guitars. The song is a fascinating persuasion, one which is as caustic as it is a dark beauty, and pushes the doors open to incendiary imagery and emotion.

The following A Blind Follower And A Watchful Hound unleashes its individual blackened shadows next, the predatory breath and tone of the song a heavy fire consuming the ear with the intense and inventive drumming of Groeneveld driving and punctuating each aspect pushed on by the equally rapacious crawl of David Speckmann’s bass. As exploratory and dramatic as its predecessor the track does fail to find the same lure and grip on the attention even with a striking and pleasing adventure to its sonic tale.

Through the inspiring instrumental Soil & Green and the excellent Peculiar, where the vocals from the deepest venomous growl switch to a strong clean temptation within a constantly changing musical landscape, the release arguably makes its strongest persuasion yet whilst the likes of The Nightly Horror with its exceptional bestial call and hunger as well as rampaging imagination, the atmospheric aftermath like unsettling scene offered by instrumental Prelude to Peripety, and Fatal Accident explore and incite further compelling shadows and corners to discover. The last of these intrudes with blazing sonic eyes, its leer and touch a scorching on the senses and startling evocation to thoughts, especially with the delicious additional string inducement supplying its own emotive caress.

The mesmeric acoustically coaxed Struggling Doubt with again strings and especially the cello toying with the passions, seamlessly follows the previous song for a solemnly colourful embrace though the vocals here slip in quality, before just as smoothly evolving into Moment of Truth, a song which merges light and dark, beauty and abyss, into an emotional sonic portrait. From this point though the likes of Awareness, Catharsis, and Black into White impress strongly enough, there is no longer the focussed attention bearing down upon the release; no song deserves to be ignored or passed over easily though. Incendium is a fine album even though it does not switch on the passions, but for its craft and imaginative adventure satisfaction and enjoyment is the only reward.

www.facebook.com/burialvaultband

7.5/10

RingMaster 24/05/201

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Electric Swing Circus – Self Titled

Electric swing is not a genre or sound to have made a previous invitation to our ears but if the rest of the scene is as impressive as the debut album from UK sextet The Electric Swing Circus, these hips are poised for a future of swerving passion. The self-titled release from the Birmingham swing troupe is sensational, a mischievous seduction which takes feet, senses, and heart by the hand and leads them on a non-stop dance of melodic rascality. Fusing 20′s swing with fiery electro beats with extra teases of dubstep, breakbeat and jungle, the band has conjured an album which has the cure for all ills, shadows, and musical frigidity, a thirteen track release that entices thoughts and body into a quick step of bone swaggering, hotfooting devilment.

Formed in 2011, The Electric Swing Circus took no time in taking up residency of the Hot Club De Swing and Electro Swing Club UK wide. Within three months their live performances and sound earned the band the coveted title of Best Live Act in the ElectroSwing Peoples Favourite Awards 2011, this recognition enhancing the almost instantaneous seduction the band has brought to the scene and continued to reap growing recognition and acclaim within as they continually light up venues and festivals. Add the fact that the video for their track Penniless Optimist since its release late 2011 has been swamped with over 100,000 views this is a band on a potent ascent.

Fronted by the ‘sassy Sisters of Swing’, Eleanor Rose and Laura Louise, the band combine the skills and temptation of Tom Hyland (guitar), Patrick Wreford (bass guitar/double bass), Chandra Walker (drums/keys), and Rashad Gregory (synth, samples and programming), with a delicious vocal temptation to spark the warmest spirited tease possible. The enterprise and frisky adventure of band and songs riding the senses and emotions with class and ravenous hunger igniting the listener and their bodies into a whirl of movement and pleasure, each and every song in their individual stances and devilry succeeding with fascination and imagination.

The album opens with a twenties tease, a vintage breath driving the initial sound before big arching electro beats and pulses resonate from within the distant coaxing. The vocals of the girls court and glance the ear with shafts of beauty, their whispers soaring through the mystique and lush lure of the brief intro ESC. It is a gentle beckoning soon exploding into a riotous shuffle of melodic invention in the form of Bella Belle. Romping with crisp beats, a sizzling electro rub, and brass flames around the sirenesque tones of the leading ladies, the track is a mesmeric stomp which leaps around the senses like a mix of Molotov Jukebox, Art Of Noise, and the Andrews Sisters.  It is a song where if not even a toe is moving its flesh in time to the rhythmic suasion, paramedics are needed to check for signs of life.

From the excellent introduction the album continues to take the listener on a vibrant and invigorating stroll through melodic and passionate aural sport, both Swingamajig with its kaleidoscope of sonic colour and creative tempting and Big Ol’ Bite complete with roaming rhythmic fingers and provocative bass licks not forgetting sultry vocal wantonness, opening up varied halls of smouldering elegance and blazing glamour whilst the outstanding Valentine brings another level to twist and let loose rapid shoe enterprise upon. Opening with French vocal enchantment over an eager Parisian melodic sway both Eleanor Rose and Laura Louise lay down their strongest emotive beckoning before combining for an intense union coated by a dark synth lined electro caress. It is an impressive switch leading into a thrilling infection baited chorus which climbs up and down the passions like a lustful puppeteer, the alchemy bringing them out in full bloom to continue romping in the sweltering sun of the track. The stunning and unexpected electro mastery and ingenuity is another irresistible contributor to one of the best tracks not only on the album but heard this year and take a potent place alongside the equally enthralling and incendiary melodic twenties inspired revelation.

The album is a continuous treat of gentle kisses such as the emotive Harvey and energetic exploits of varying gaits such as from the atmospheric heat offered by Mellifluous and the rampant Minnie with its busy and rich tapestry of electronica and swing, the song a reimagining of Cab Calloway’s classic Minnie the Moocher brought in a jazz/dub like persuasion. Every twist and venture of the release is intriguing and deeply compelling with more tracks like The Penniless Optimist leaving no room for indecision about their glory. The song with wonderful throaty bass badgering and fizzing keys brews up its appetite and that of the listener to lurch into a heavy treading irrepressible waltz around the ear, its call and hook impossible to resist as feet and assorted limbs let alone emotions, jump on board with unbridled energy. As with most of the songs it is an irrepressible invitation and offers full clarity as to why it helped propel the band forward back on its first appearance.

Both the tender Put Your Smile On and the dubstep fuelled Ruby unveil further diversity and individual beauty, the latter an exciting unpredictable expanse of invention before the fire that is Little Phatty takes hold for one last course around the dancefloor. Its excellent blend of swing, jazz, and electro is a striking strut for passions and body which makes the perfect ball of energetic climaxing for the release before allowing the closing cover rendition of Everyone Wants to Be a Cat to bring a gentle relaxing sunset to the album. Well that is until midway the drums rustle up the energies for another contagious fling of grinning swing and electro taunting to leave the appetite lost in hunger for much more.

If you have yet to make acquaintance with one of the best bands around and a genre which just might hold the key to your passions, then to go to Electric Swing Circus and their the self-titled debut, this is not a recommendation but a command….what still here?

http://www.electricswingcircus.com/

10/10

RingMaster 23/05/2013

 

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Cynical Existence – Beholder EP

With the creative dust of last album Come Out And Play still filling the air in the wake of its release in February, industrial/harsh EBM project Cynical Existence has decided it is time to up the ante and unleash new EP Beholder. Usually you would suggest a band should allow an album to drain all of the acclaim and recognition it deserves before tempting the world with the next release but such the fire and immense step forward in the new EP there is no such sense here. The six track release makes a scintillating companion to the excellent album but at the same time shows that the invention and creativity of Fredrik Croona has already found and explored a deeper darker plateau to take his project to new expansive realms.

As most are probably aware now, Cynical Existence began as a solo project for ex- Project Rotten founder/vocalist Croona who also is the former vocalist of dark electro/industrial act Menschdefekt. Initially just an experiment, the project fuelled itself with the aural invention of the man into a real musical proposition. The excellent 2012 EP A Familiar Kind of Pain instantly setting a place for the band at the head table of the industrial/ebm underground reinforced later in the same year by the following EP Ruined Portrait. It was Come Out And Play though which merged earlier tracks and more recent ones to set a benchmark by which we would grade subsequent releases from Croona. Now with the addition of Steve Alton of UK project System:FX in the studio on guitar in the line-up, Cynical Existence has not only met the bar but surpassed it whilst venturing into another striking depth of exploration.

Opening track The Mindless Filth in many ways is a bridge between releases, its contagious rigid beats and compelling electro

Artwork by OneTwoTree Designs

weaves a resonating and thumping puppet master for limbs and emotions demanding dancefloor attention. It has a foot in the infectious commanding call of the last album and its wealth of insatiable board treading irresistibility but equally is set in what emerges in the new release as darker more intense shadowed textures. The variety of vocal from Croona hints at depths within song and release yet to be trodden whilst his synths light the way with acidic radiance and rhythmic temptation. It is a mighty start if arguably what you would expect in quality and direction from the man though he soon sets thoughts facing new ventures with its successor.

Mardröm, meaning nightmare in Swedish, lays down a web of sinister ambience and crystalline electro hints to tempt in thoughts and emotions, its atmosphere sinister and under a veil of shadows before sonic shafts of light break through their cover. Opening up its sinews to their fullest length the oppressive dark corners crowd in to accentuate the elegance and potency of the synths whilst the brewing dark forces seemingly at play with the vocals from Croona, sung in his native tongue, add to the black edged mystique and latent venom prowling the scene. The cleaner delivery alongside the regular rasping serpentine tone of his vocals and the caustic sonic winds which slowly embrace the ear bring further uncertainty to the dangerous atmosphere eventually making the persuasion, and add to the riveting intrigue of the excellent track.

The outstanding Hail To The King Baby takes over next and elevates things to yet another level of pleasure and invention. Initialising attention with computer game teasing and atmosphere, which continues throughout with samples from Duke Nukem also employed, the track is an unrelenting ride through corridors of impending walls and hidden intimidation, its ride twisting and turning down avenues of sonic and melodic enterprise. Imagine games where you are on a constant run and are persistently changing direction to face more options and suspected dangers, like life really, this track is the equivalent with its imagination.

The Beginning Of The End continues the striking height of its predecessor, firstly by knocking at the ear with a hollow like voice to its call and then by reaping the seeds of those earlier nightmares to breed a wash of rhythmic provocation and evocative melodic intrusion, the haunting consumption seducing and threatening every pore and thought whilst the beats tease and taunt the whole intimidation. The guitar of Alton equally riles up the situation to reward the listener even further within the thoroughly thrilling and incendiary incitement of emotions and fears.

The release closes with firstly Draining Me featuring Russian project Freaky Mind and lastly Wake Up Call featuring the guest vocals of Sindelle Morte of Scream Machine. The first of the two is like a rumbling storm in the distance, its throaty hunger residing in its electro honed skies but making known its intent through the rhythms and oppressing ambience, whilst the second is a doomy crawl with funereal breath to its mesmerising and enveloping intent. The mix of vocals between Croona and Morte works a treat, her shadow dwelling melodic whispers lighting up the darker tones of the narrative and its realisation.

It is fair to say that Beholder needs more time to make its full and lingering persuasion compared to previous Cynical Existence releases but in return for the intensive focus rewards in ways the others never dreamed of. It is an outstanding encounter which only excites anticipation for one hope what will be a deeper investigation of the dark plains started here.

https://www.facebook.com/cynical.existence.official

9/10

RingMaster 23/05/2013

 

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Hells Fire Sinners – Confessions Of the Damned

As rampant and hungry as a single Katie Price (non Brits feel lucky not knowing who we mean), Confessions Of the Damned from hillbilly rioters Hells Fire Sinners is one of those bruisings you just cannot get enough of. Consisting of ten tracks which refuse to take a step back from vigorously seizing and rampaging across ear and senses, the album is a thrilling and devious instigator of and conspirator with the passions.

The Columbus based Hells Fire Sinners began in 2006 going through different members alongside the constant, vocalist and guitarist Alan Dude. Bringing together a blaze of rockabilly, punk, country rock and plenty more psychotic teased flavours, the band from a first show which according to their bio was in a ‘a piss smelled, burned out basement on the OSU campus’, have tirelessly exhausted the east coast with their energetic live show, playing for anyone who will listen. It has been a steady unrelenting ascent which finds a pinnacle with the excellent Confessions Of the Damned.

The Psycho A-Go-Go Records re-released storm begins with the outstanding Ninety Nine, a track which leaps for the throat gripping tightly whilst screaming through the ear with abrasive riffs, crisp rhythms, and the excellent expressive slightly scorched vocals of Dude, who is also not averse to throwing a great guttural squall into his assault. It is a direct and uncomplicated confrontation with a great emerging bass groove and fiery riffing all wrapped in a contagion which refuses to be told no as it takes feet and voice on a recruitment drive into its scintillating brawl. The song provides one of those starts to a release where you instantly think it is going to struggle to follow it up without slipping in standards such its impressive first engagement, but no such worries here as of A Little Gone A Little Crazy and Muddy Water Murder lay out their feisty temptation.

The first of the two is a cowpunk lilted stroll with delicious twang to the vocals and a greedy appetite to the roaming guitar enterprise both accompanied by the bass with its flavoursome prowl adding extra depth to the brief but again easily recruiting suasion, whilst the second reaps the essences of heavy metal to drive its adrenaline soaked rock ‘n’ roll for an intensive charge of high octane rockabilly. To be honest you can cast many spices as references to the song, all valid and all just showing the tasty tempest of enterprise it is.

As it continues to chew on ear and thoughts with attitude and at times middle finger raised belligerence, the release leaves stronger epidemically laced hooks in the passions to cement the need to regularly return to its raucous embrace. Every track spreads their irresistible toxin upon those barbs to ensure full subservience but of course there are some with more potency as with Psycho and Almighty Dollar. The first of the pair like the opener has an uncompromising intent to rile up the senses and take them on a dirt track ride of mischief and sinew clad devilry. With a murderous breath to its air and a sense of ruin coating its fingertips, the song stomps and swaggers to spark the fullest satisfaction and hunger for its psychobilly rustling. Following this glorious moment the second of the two puts on its country boots to open up a bottle of liquor fuelled riffs and melodic flaming which simply inspires another blaze of greed.

     Thick Of It walks the highest plateaus of the album too, it’s virulently catchy hook and searing sonic riffs a spicery of enterprise and invention which rages with veins of passion and is only surpassed by the opener and closing song Zombie Killer. The last track assaults the ear with a muscular hold whilst riffs assisted by talons of rhythmic rabidity rampage, though the song has the delicious skill of reining it all in and then unleashing the barbaric attack in spasms. It is an excellent track which perfectly ends an equally impressive album, its psychobilly core generously enhanced with some blues seeded imagination and blustery intensity for a scintillating tempest.

Hells Fire Sinners is a name which suits the band and their creative ferocity well whilst Confessions Of the Damned is the natural title for a collection of songs you can imagine the devil having a horn or two in. A must have release for all fans of rapacious rock ‘n’ roll.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/hells-fire-sinners/156090107896

http://www.hellsfiresinners.com/

9/10

RingMaster 23/05/2013

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BCD –Split Album

If you are someone afraid or reluctant to face your deepest fears through aural provocation than staying away from the BCD split release is probably your wisest move this year but if staring into the unknown and dealing with infernal incitement sounds like it is for you than this surprising and uncomfortable release might just be your gateway to invigorating adventure…or insanity.

The release features four bands which instigate primal and sonic hostility upon the senses to spark intimate, exhausting, and imaginative violating atrocities. It is not an easy listen, and to be honest at times leaves you wondering why you stood before its malevolence as you lay whimpering in your molten synapses and emotional debris, but throughout the trio of Dethcentrik, Corkscrew No 4453556, Imperfect, and B.A.M.H. offer more than enough rewarding enterprise and vitriolic temptation to want to suffer and feast on its menace again and again.

B.A.M.H. open up the release with the excellent haunting tones of Eternal Sin. The band is an electrogrind project from Texas around founder Kolton Primeaux and as their contribution here shows it is a project which uses ambiences in tandem with sonic destruction. The track starts with a discord teased piano invitation, its presence offering a sepia coloured atmosphere of old and sinister suggestion. It is soon speared by a caustic sonic lance of sound which opens up a fissure for a rasping harsh wind of melodic distress and concentrated rhythmic primal assault to lay out their caustic declarations. It is a viciously snarling encounter from this point on which is unrelenting in its ravenous chewing until its departure.

The following Zero Day walks the same portentous scenery as its predecessor, unveiling more of the distorted reality before crushing it under a tsunami of treacherous and carnivorous rhythmic hatred and sonic entrapment. It is painful and disorientating but like a drug tantalises thoughts and visions to make a play for clarity. Imagine Eraserhead the movie on LSD and you get an idea of what the invention of B.A.M.H. entails. The rest of their offerings bring their own individual bedlam with Raping Your Corpse featuring Nolon Lawrence especially standing out with its great guttural swinish vocals gnawing on the ear.

Imperfect, the electronica alias of Californian Adam Davis, offers just the one song in the corrosive electronic shape of The Wanderer and features BAMH within its blistered squall of sound. It is a song which leaves an undecided view on its intensive embrace, the stark harmonic mix of vocals with their acid burn of a touch and the equally scathing sounds working well in their own right but together make an uneasy union but maybe that is the intention. It is hard to tell and say if it was enjoyed or not but certainly it offers enough to want to check out more.

Next up Corkscrew No 4453556 bring something different again to the release starting with Fatal Armpit Job. The band started by Zabuba Nevresky in 2009 and basing their songs on Hermeticism, creates what is self-penned as experimental guttural dancecore, and after standing eye to eye with their opening track alone it is the perfect description of the pummelling confrontation. Nintendo electro spots poke the ear first as gently concussive beats and infectious dance seeded enticement explores the senses. It is soon overturned and swept aside as resonating predatory yawning leviathans of noise and intensity lay heavily upon the senses before just as quickly leaving themselves to allow the opening dance to end things off. The destructive middle part of the track reminds of the band The Devilzwork which is never a bad thing and leaves an appetite open for the following N.D.A.L. and Symphony of Ditto’s Carnage. The first emerges from a warning siren to ravage and torment with again a sonic tempest of synapse diseasing invention whilst the second is a caustic aftermath of what came before taking over the now exploitable wasteland beyond the ear. Both are mere breaths in length but add to an impressive experience provided by the band.

Dethcentrik is an industrial metal band which was formed in Colorado in 2009 by vocalist Stefan “Død Beverte” Klein, and guitarists Justin Torres and Michael Glass. Line-up changes were rife in the band and led to the project being put on hiatus before returning in 2011 with guitarist Gunner “Jackie T” Harkey alongside Klein. With an ever evolving sound since returning, the band hits this split with a wall of intensive destruction in their first track The Beast Escapes. It is a furious sonic hug which obliterates any peace still left in the air as its heart, the beast, explores avenues to freedom, eventually settling upon a more restrained but no less intrusive wrap of malevolence. Like previous tracks it has no mercy for the ear just as equally neither has the following Visitors, its own haunting danger and temptation coursing with sinister portents and threatening breath, though the danger is behind a constant sonic veil. Through the initially brutal and then suffocating Airlock and Factory Ghosts the band lay out more expanses of post-apocalyptic like scarring whilst closing track The Machine Continues To Churn is a final lingering savage ambience leaving deeper fears and provocative shadows.

Released by Død Incarnate Records this is definitely not a release for everyone but driven by extreme invention and creativity honed into a ferocious diversity brought my raging artistic minds, this split has plenty of rewards for those daring to face its turmoil.

http://www.deathincarnaterecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Dethcentrik

http://www.facebook.com/corkskrewno

7.5/10

RingMaster 23/05/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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44 Fires – The False Flag Agenda EP

     

     44 Fires has brought a confrontation of bruising rock n roll to London and the UK for a while now, the band which just gets better and better with each year and new song they unleash, earning a strong reputation and loyal fanbase for their fusion of metal, alternative rock, and grunge. The release of their new EP, The False Flag Agenda shows that their rise and increasing presence within UK rock is not going to be slowing down any time soon, in fact with the release being as impressive as it is they might just be leading the scene very soon.

The three tracks making up The False Flag Agenda grip the ear and thoughts with skill and invention from the very first second of all their individual declarations, each a snarling and provocative encounter lyrically and sonically leaving long lasting impact and pleasure. That ability to make a lingering mark has been a trait of the quartet since it first formed though the new EP is undoubtedly their finest moment to date. Emerging from ‘a collective desire to return to the musical roots of each of our band members’, 44 Fires took shape in 2011 with the union of guitarist Jay Franklin (War Criminals/The Final Hour/The Duvets & Big Twin) and drummer Aaron Beard (The Final Hour/Latch/HOYB). They were soon joined by vocalist Brian Small who joined from No Silent Order and bassist Dan Turton, since left before the recording of the EP. Infusing a mix of essence from inspirations such as Clutch, Pantera, Rage Against The Machine, Metallica, Alice in Chains into their own distinct ideas, uncompromising politics, and invention, the four piece was soon riling and inspiring audiences and fans whilst earning a growing positive response from the underground media. It has been a rolling brawl of a rise for the band which has grown with each year and will surely explode once The False Flag Agenda rampages through the senses of the country.

Previous songs have always had a hook and eyeball to eyeball intent which has gripped and recruited strong attention but as opener Army Besides Me alone shows, the band has honed it into a potent weapon and persuasion which compares with anyone. The song lays a blaze of guitar across the ear first before the throaty bass of new member Tony Hampton dances slowly upon the grazing. It is an instantaneously inviting embrace soon employing greater sinews through the challenging narrative of Small, his forceful and expressive delivery the perfect vehicle for the intent of the song’s attack, and the ear snapping rhythms of Beard. Not so much in sound but in stance and construct, the song reminds of One Minute Silence and the band easily rival the Americans with this scintillating start. The bass is a persistent incitement throughout the song too, the spine to which the guitar and sonic imagination inflame their enterprise around, all combining for a powerful and enthralling encounter.

The following Idiot unveils an accelerated hunger to its press upon the ear, riffs and rhythms snarling and biting with elevated aggression and intensity soon matched by the vocals of Small. With a contagion soaked chorus making its play not long into the song too, the track stomps with insatiable appetite upon the listener to spark a mutually greedy response in return, the blend of rock and metal with a shifting and unpredictable blaze of enterprise and virulence, ensuring full involvement. Not content with succeeding in seducing the passions to its anthemic cause the song also sneaks in a spicy groove at one point which offers scything discord and delicious venom to brand the connection is permanent.

The band follow up the best track on the release with one which decides rather than stand toe to toe to win the affections it will offer a smouldering lure  with an incendiary potency to its call. Merging a slow suasion of melodic rock and grunge enticement with a spine of metal entrapment, Freedom is the most intense and provocative track on the EP resulting in a presence as distinctly different and equally impressive as the other more direct finger poking riff loaded songs. It is a stirring fire for thoughts and emotions completing an outstanding release which places 44 Fires to the front line of not only underground but we suggest UK metal in general but do not take our word for it check the band out @

http://www.44fires.com

9/10

RingMaster 22/05/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Satan – Life Sentence

We must come clean and say that heavy metallers Satan escaped our attention when they came around the first time in the early eighties. They were a less noticeable entrant at the time when the explosion of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal erupted in the UK, a period which lit no fire or thrill personally it has to be said so understandable our miss, and it is only over the years since that their position and importance to fans of the era has been recognised. Now they return with new album Life Sentence and such its impressive and rich invitation a retrospective investigation of the band might well be in order if still not finding a hunger to embrace the movement they frequented back then. The album of all new material is certainly not breaking free anything not heard before or re-inventing aspects of heavy metal but boy is it fun and enjoyable.

As said the Newcastle quintet made their mark at the beginning of the eighties after forming in 1979. Debut album Court In The Act in 1983 made an impact, if reserved compared to the heavyweights at the time, which helped inspire the considered thought over the years since that the band was influential for following bands with their a form of proto-thrash metal. Still relatively obscure though the band went through many line-up changes and band names, Satan becoming Blind Fury and then Pariah for subsequent releases up to 1990 when Pariah disbanded. A one off gig at Germany’s Wacken Open Air in 2004 brought Satan back together before the original line-up of vocalist Brian Ross, guitarists Steve Ramsey and Russ Tippins, bassist Graeme English, and drummer Sean Taylor came together for the 2011 Keep It True festival. In the period from Pariah and the reunion of Satan, Ramsey and English had formed folk metal band Skyclad whilst Ross had reformed his original band Blitzkrieg as well as starting new project Metalizer. From their return at the second festival though Satan performed at several  other festivals across Europe in 2011 and 2012 and now on the 30th anniversary of Court In The Act they unveil their brand new and it has to be said thoroughly enjoyable album.

Time to Die opens up the new release and instantly lures in attention with a waspish sonic beckoning from the guitar before stretching sinews and energy in to a rampant excitable stomp of crisp rhythms and badgering riffs. It is an immediately infectious declaration enhanced by the clean vocals of Ross. To be honest a desire for more snarl to the vocal attack does rear its head across the album but there is nothing you can give as valid reason to dismiss the great tone and delivery of the man and their impact on the rigorously tempting songs. With impressive guitar invention veining the track it is a pleasing start to the album soon backed up by the following slices of rock n roll.

     Twenty Twenty Five with its shadowed lyrics and pressing intensity wrapping melodic enterprise and evocative basslines continues the strong start whilst the likes of Cenotaph with its muscular hooks and contagious rhythmic inducement and the fiery insatiable energy driven Siege Mentality ignite an even stronger persuasion. Both songs are impossibly addictive and a refreshing adventure in the current metal aggression coursed scene, which applies to Life Sentence as a whole. It is an album which demands nothing and threatens even less for an easy ride but creatively and inventively its gives any current/new heavy and classic metal band or release a course on how to make instinctive and irresistible classic metal.

Songs like Incantations and Tears Of Blood offer up their distinct temptations to push on the appeal of the album with further pinnacles coming with the outstanding title track and closing song Another Universe. The first is a riot of sonic riffing and barbed rhythms with an anthemic chorus and breath, whilst the final song is an intriguing mix of ideas which evolve from a slow melodic temperance to a feisty stomp of incendiary guitar and smouldering vocals veined with precise invention.

Putting doubting expectations in their place with a sure command, the Listenable Records released Life Sentence is a richly satisfying and thrilling release which goes against all personal tastes for its genre seeds to leave a very welcome pleasure in their place. We cannot say if Satan has returned better than ever until exploring their first coming but they certainly have brought a new treat for the year.

http://www.satanmusic.com/

8/10

RingMaster 22/05/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Svart Crown – Profane

Exhausting and demanding, Profane the new album from French extreme metallers Svart Crown is also a rewardingly riveting confrontation, a release which feeds on fears and anxiety to create an intensive ravenous expanse of sound extinguishing light and escape. It is a sonic predator which devours and corrupts thoughts and emotions but equally sends them into a realm of provoked and fired up imagination.

Formed in 2005 by vocalist/guitarist J.B Le Bail, Svart Crown make their first impacting mark with the EP Bloody Crown and then debut album Ages of Decay of 2008, but it was its acclaimed successor, Witnessing the Fall two years later which ignited a strong hunger and recognition for the band. Bleak and rapacious the album made a striking inventive mark within extreme metal like very few others, soon backed up by an onslaught of live shows  ever since. New album Profane immerses the listener in a sonic desolation which seizes every pore and thought through skilled and voracious malevolence, its theme of the sickness of humanity reeking and breeding corrosive unrelenting caustic enterprise through music. It continues the sounds already discovered on the previous album but sets them out with a fresh breath and new adventurous declaration which leaves full satisfaction and fascination.

With a line-up completed by guitarist C.Flandrois, bassist L.Veyssiere, and drummer N.Muller, Svart Crown open up their Listenable Records released album with the insidious charm of Manifestatio Symptoms. The track, from setting a sinister ambience, stretches its sinews through a resonating atmosphere of sonic temptation which charges with eagerness through the ear, its brief instrumental presence impacting whilst opening up the senses for the character laden onslaught of Genesis Architect. Lurching over the ear with muscular rhythms and guitar scorching wrapped in an abrasive embrace, the second track proceeds to intimidate and test with a wealth of toxic sound and equally intrusive invention all guided by the guttural yet enterprising vocals of Bail. As with most of the tracks there is nothing which openly lingers within the song, a hook or groove which you can hang your memory on to but the whole experience is a long lasting and compelling confrontation which stays deep within far beyond the passing on of the sonic furnace.

The following blackened squall of Intern.Virus.Human and the mutually corrosive bedlam which comes in the shape of In Utero : A place of Hatred and Threat continue the impressive start, the first admittedly not quite touching the same heights of the opener but the second setting its own plateau of a maelstrom, deranged rhythms and sonic ingenuity flailing the ear for a rich pleasure. The album never settles into an expected rhythm or course of provocation but is constantly challenging and igniting the psyche and emotions with uncompromising vehemence as in the previous pair of songs and the likes of the lumbering Until the last Breath as well as the rampaging title track, both unleashing their passion drenched spite in a diverse and individual uncomfortable furies.

The album truly reaches its greatest height in its closing stretch of sonic antagonism where songs like the primal instrumental Venomous Ritual, a track with a virulent toxicant seeded in the great bass snarl and repetitious riffing prowling the greedy tempest of sound, and the bestial Ascetic Purification which employs a scathing abrase of hardcore within its savage distortion, rip any remaining thought of safety from the listener.

Closing track Revelatio : Down here Stillborn emerges immediately from the grip of Ascetic Purification to push further the rabid sonic persuasion and invention violence rifling ear and senses. It is a final and arguably the most devastating statement of quality of album and band, a track where grooves and melodic enticement carry the same poison as the brutal rhythms and barbaric riffing. It is an outstanding conclusion to an album which stands on the frontline of recent extreme metal offerings. It carries the flag for invention, passion, and imagination and though you can also say it might fail to be as memorable as other less deep releases, it is easy to hear which is the most rewarding.

http://www.svartcrown.net

8/10

RingMaster 22/05/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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