Utopium – Vicious Consolation / Virtuous Totality

If you are looking for nasty then Vicious Consolation/Virtuous Totality from Portuguese grindcore annihilators Utopium will feed your desires and then some. It is a fearsome atrocity of sonic viciousness and intensive malevolence but equally a compelling and deceptively contagious violation of primal enterprise and howling malice. The band bring an additional brawling hateful crust and sludge animosity to their grind driven destructiveness and though arguably it takes a few listens to truly make its persuasion the album is one you cannot refuse or escape.

The quintet from Lisbon formed in 2007, making their presence known strongly at home with their first demo Rehearsal the following year and their audience wasting live appearances. A few line-up changes came across the years but Utopium has gone from strength to strength, their strongly awaited debut EP Conceptive Prescience in 2010 easily living up to brewed expectations whilst receiving impressive acclaim, and a 7” split release with Lifedeceiver the following year only enhancing their growing status within extreme metal, as did their shows alongside the likes of Rotten Sound, Misery Index, Despised Icon and Wormrot as well as festivals appearances at places like Bracara Extreme and Milhões de Festa.

Released via Bleak Recordings, Vicious Consolation / Virtuous Totality has all the armoury, invention, and ‘charm’ to lift the band to the next level of recognition. From the opening torrent of aural abuse of Null Rousting through to its last primal second, the album is not an experience for the weak hearted or kneed but from start to finish it leaves an exhausted but certain intense satisfaction in its place. The opener arrives through dark intimidation, its corrosive breath wrapped around a lumbering oppressive energy and pressing hungrily upon the senses. The bass offers a resonating growl alongside serpentine vocals and sonic squalls, all brewing towards the expulsion of malicious unbridled destruction. Into its now octane fuelled charge the track rips the ear apart, its riffs searing flesh and rhythms cracking bone but it is all ok as an impossibly addictive groove spines and seduces the whole annihilatory confrontation. The climax of the song returns to the intense heavy massed rummage through emotions whilst its lingering sonic farewell leads the senses right into the fury of Lodging In A Rut. It is mere seconds in presence, every one a blight upon the ear but equally a very pleasing scourge.

The song is like many, barely around long enough to blister the senses even once, though that is all most need to make a lingering impact and it has to be said that the varied range of lengths from seconds to at most four long tortuous minutes, only emphasise and brings further light the wealth of imagination and inventiveness beneath the constant ruinous attack. It also allows eighteen venomous predators to wreak real potent havoc across the sonic battlefield that is Vicious Consolation / Virtuous Totality.

The likes of the excellent Held Tombstone, with its thick black tar embrace gnawing away with each vehement driven riff and crippling rhythm soaked by punk rage, leaves disorientation and greedy hunger for more whilst the contagiously grooved Jarred Into Newtons recruits any remaining doubt and resistance with carnal bred ease, its insistent and sharply honed riff driven scything another irresistible violation.

The first nine tracks hold their own with those mentioned the biggest highlights but the Virtuous Totality portion of the release is its most compelling stance and immediately makes that declaration with the monstrous Dissolution, its carnivorous rabidity merciless and demanding especially through the throaty bass prowl and sonic searing unleashed. It is powerfully backed up by the spiteful Retrace and Rummage, all of its thirty eight seconds a scalding toxin, and the ravenous Thrive A Starch, a track which towers above the senses with leviathan intensity and iron clad metal aggression and proceeds to enflame the passions with caustic aural irreverence and undefined but unavoidably addictive grooves from guitar and bass.

The best track follows soon after in the black-hearted shape of Owner of A Kept Abidance. From an ear plundering slow vindictive consumption with vocals dripping malignancy with every intelligibly growled syllable, the song explodes into a torrentially driven flume of rancor sculpted sonics and similarly bred rhythmic abuse. It is a maelstrom of hostile intensive virulence and vitriolic grooves which are irrepressibly seductive as is its open enmity, and by far the best track on the album.

With the likes of Revamp The Disinfection and the brilliant Thin-Skinned Skill ensuring Vicious Consolation / Virtuous Totality finishes on a pinnacle of vitriol, Utopium has delivered one of the best extreme releases this year. If the likes of Brutal Truth, Nasum, Extreme Noise Terror, and Terrorizer do it for you, then this will surely thrill.

www.facebook.com/utopiumgrind

8.5/10

RingMaster 13/05/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

Nails – Abandon All Life

   

    There is nothing at all comfortable about the new sonic scourge from Californians Nails, in either listening to its primal rage or in its furnace borne construction, but the rewards and intrusive pleasure reaped from its caustic presence far easily outweighs any pain suffered. Brawling with ten tracks at just over seventeen minutes combined, Abandon All Life is a ravenously vicious express train of grind and hardcore soaked in a death metal malevolence, a record with a sonic dexterity which sculpts varied textures and sounds into a multi-levelled tsunami of violent passion and destructive attitude.

Recorded with Kurt Ballou of Converge, the Southern Lord released album follows up the acclaimed debut full length Unsilent Death with a similar intent but a further honed venom and craft from the quartet of vocalist/guitarist Todd Jones, guitarist Saba, drummer Taylor Young (Crematourim), and bassist John Gianelli (Fell To Low). It gives no respite or mercy just drives its howling anger and pissed off breath with a revengeful malicious intensity and sonic blistering which sears the senses long before notes place their lethal hands on the ear. Strike a match whilst listening to the album and it would be no surprise to see the world go up in flames such the vitriolic fumes given offer by this exceptional raw release.

Opener In Exodus takes a mere scorch of sonics before chewing on the ear with rabid riffs and spiteful rhythmic provocation, all coming together to explode into a pungent ferocity of impassioned toxicity. There is no respite from its brief but corrosive maelstrom which transfers seamlessly into the following Tyrant. The second song snarls and brawls like the first but incites its storm bred climax with a rhythmic build up which is as infectious as it is the devious portal into the closing savagery. The drums cage and abuse the senses with villainous expertise whilst the bass offers a carnal presence which equally seduces and ravages. Their union is bestial adding the darkest shadows to the burning sonic rage of the guitars and the equally mordant vocal squalls of Jones.

There is an open diversity within the air expelling surface of the songs with God’s Cold Hands one of the keenest and most compelling examples. The outstanding track is as abrasive and sonically torrential as any song on the album but underlines it with a barbed groove which erodes the senses with an understated yet siren like potency. The track savages the senses in its jaw, thrashing them from side to side but then coats them in a sludge/doom prowl of sound to further excite and captivate before leading to a final toxic crescendo. The invention continues with Wide Open Wound, a predatory crawl of blackened sludge veined with exhausting punk spite and acerbic chugging metallic borne riffs. The song chews and growls with a hateful passion yet invigorates the fight and inspiration to stand defiant, as does the album as a whole across its biting tracks.

The following merciless title track with its barbaric rhythms and volcanic emotive fire, the sadistic and irresistible Pariah, and Cry Wolf all exhaust and vaporize the air around them, the latter of the three mutilating synapses with a ferociousness which can only be classed as sonic assassination. Their contagious violence hands over to the closing might of Suum Cuique, a track which incorporates all the qualities which came before into one lasting ruinous confrontation with a slight bedlamic nature to its satanic mastery.

Abandon All Life is an album which defies the expectations and anticipation set in place from the previous album to offer a violation beyond not only what Nails brought before but most of the efforts of their fellow sonic conspirators.

http://abandonalllife.com/

8.5/10

RingMaster 04/04/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

Instead of a Kill: Divination

    It is fair to say extreme metal is a potent beast right now with a multitude of bands and releases unleashing towering devastations with extensive enterprise and insidious venom within the expansive genre. To these riches of violating triumphs you can now add Serbians Instead of a Kill and their debut album Divination. The release brings deathcore into an agitated union with electronic invention, though both aspects seem to lie alongside each other on the album rather than entwine their creative hearts, as well as other heated flames of sound. It is an album which intrudes upon and incites the senses as well as emotions for an enthralling and deeply rewarding confrontation.

Formed in 2009, the Belgrade sextet of vocalist Jay H. Dee, guitarists Marko Galantic Gale and Uros Andrijasevic, bassist Aleksa Milosevic, drummer Marko Danilovic Tihi, and Nemanja Trecakovic on electronics, have a strong pedigree and experience behind them with various bands within their homeland. Their sure and accomplished styles skilfully shine within the album and sound of Instead of a Kill as well as bringing a sure intent to stretch and explore their ideas with imagination.

From an atmospheric and scene setting intro loaded with dramatic breath and a sampled sound bite from the original The Day The Earth Stood Still movie, the album immediately rubs, niggles, and sears the ear with new single Flying Spaghetti Monster. Its initial senses scorching sonic provocation is aided by escalating rhythms and predatory bass taunts guided by excellent vocal squalls which share serpentine malevolence and guttural malice. Into its stride the song consumes with a tempest of death and metalcore completed with veining flames of nu-metal and grindcore. The electronics simmer and spread their colour throughout the track and though they are often submerged within the intense storm they pick their moment to voice their presence perfectly and with real strength.

The outstanding start is continued by the following The Creator of Lies and Eyes of the Sickest, the first a ravaging scourge of energy and primal hunger honed into a contagious brawl upon the ear. It is uncompromising from first maul to last but in between evolves through melodic metal enterprise and swine coated malignity. The second of the pair spreads its purpose further with vocals at times finding a caustic graze Lemmy would be proud of and the music taking on a technical almost djent seeded manipulation which bewitches and corrupts. The track also marks an increasing darker intent coming over the album. The song is not necessarily the most corrosive on the album, especially with the mesmeric and emotive rain of sonic guitar invention creating its climax, but the hate and vindictiveness certainly intensifies the further in to the album you go.

The glorious opening guitar caresses of Observing What is Stored in the Subconscious underpinned by a distressed ambience brings in the destructive bitterness of the hardcore bitten vocals and the merciless marauding sounds to again overwhelm the listener. Though the track does not light up the same ardour as previous songs its almost dizzying invention and vengeful presence is impressive and eager consumed as is its successor the title track, a song with a tsunami of crippling rhythms and edacious riffs which does re-ignite the previous ardour with a vengeance.

With a couple of brief atmospheric pieces similar to the opener included, the remaining tracks on Divination stand with their own individual execration to succumb and enthral the senses. Plastic Pelvis takes the lead and highest plaudits with its erosive and hostile brutality whilst the equally peace resenting Fetal Ethanol leaves no room for breath or escape from its insatiable bruising.

The album is an outstanding despoiler of the ear and beyond brought with imagination, striking craft, and pure undiluted passion. It is not an easy listen at times but never comes without an intriguing ingenuity which captivates and thrills to temper the carnivorous stance of the release. Instead of a Kill deserve to find a wider recognition well outside of their homeland and on the evidence  of Divination you would not bet on it being anything but a sure deal found soon.

https://www.facebook.com/insteadofakill

9/10

RingMaster 16/03/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

www.audioburger.com

MESSiAHLATOR – Brain Killer

The truth is we cannot tell you much about Canadian metal punk band MESSiAHLATOR such the surprising difficulty in googling the distinctive name and lack of info online with any successful search, but we can tell you their latest EP Brain Killer is a raging spiteful assault that all hardcore, punk, and extreme metallers should take time to investigate. A free download from the band’s Bandcamp profile and available in cassette form, the five track intensive abrasion is an uncompromising violent attack on the senses and very satisfying indeed.

Consisting of Pavs (bass, vocals) and Brett (guitars, vocals), and Eric (drums), the trio from Edmonton combine an unhealthy mix of death metal, hardcore punk, crust, and grindcore resulting in a very beneficial and inspiring corrosive confrontation. The first vicious grazing comes from opener Righteous Man. It is a torrent of corrosive riffs and pummelling rhythms forced further home by the caustic sprawling vocals. The reoccurring groove which switches off and on is a grinding tease which excites the ear within the merciless intensity. The song is a testing and exhausting aggressive rampage which is powerful in its simplicity and provoking in its nastiness.

The following Canada Dry chews the ear with the sonic jaws of a predator who knows its victim cannot escape, flinging its carcass around the limits of the bruising aural cage with glee and unbridled aggression. It is a brief bitch slap with little respect for mercy and with an unrelenting hunger, something which is echoed by Ride The Plague. The third song is a surge of metallic enterprise and the continual vehemence which pervades every track on the release. The song offers diversity too, the rolling avalanche of rhythms and scorched melodic guitar strikes new contagious lures within the tempest of intensity and ferocious annihilation. The fluid mix of destructive metal and hardcore malice is impressive throughout but on this song at its most formidable and enthralling.

Who Won’t Wear The Ribbon is a slower consumption compared to what came before though still a raging violating fury across its towering presence. The track is the least successful on the EP yet still captures the imagination through an inventive enterprise which sparks from within the caustic sensory trespass.

The release is completed by Sky Burial, the groove driven best track on Brain Killer. It is a sonic malefaction leaking infection from inside its tumultuous intense assail. It overwhelms the ear with a compulsive and appetising mix of flesh grinding riffs, taunting melodic hooked grooves, and rampaging energy. It is a discord wrapped ravishment and quite punishingly delicious.

Brain Killer is not a release for everyone but certainly extreme noise fiends will find a thrilling challenge and adversary from the EP and MESSiAHLATOR themselves. Go and stand before their violence is our recommendation after all it is free from the link below.

http://messiahlator.bandcamp.com/album/brain-killer

RingMaster 10/01/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Haut&Court.: La vie

If you have not yet discovered French destructors Haut&Court. then read on to learn about your first essential purchase of 2013. Formed only in June of last year with this their debut EP being unleashed in the closing weeks of the 2012, the trio from Strasbourg has announced themselves with a quite incredible and irresistible onslaught of sonic intensity driven magnificence. It is wonderfully raw and unpolished, a cancerous corruption which uses your testicles, real and imaginary, as a malevolence drawing punch ball and the senses as passion soaked whipping boys. For a debut from a band arguably still learning their craft and way around their sound it is one of the most promising and rewarding releases in a long time.

Consisting of vocalist Arnaud, guitarist Bernard, and drummer Ravind, the band has fused the essences of grind, mathcore, crust, and hardcore to name a few of the flames which heat their sound to create a sonic furnace which is tagged as mathcrust. Whatever title you wish to give it, the music is a compulsive and invigorating abrasion which just sparks rapturous reactions. Describing the release as a mix of Dillinger Escape Plan, Pig Destroyer, Kabul Golf Club, Kunz, and Extreme Noise Terror is a mere hint but the best we can do for this unique and inspiring confrontation.

Let It Burst sets to upon the ear and beyond first with its sonic squalling, corrosive breath, and vicious growling vocals. Mixing up its pace and pressure throughout, the song is either gnawing away at the synapses with tight insidious manipulation or pummelling with a tempest borne energy and might. The track in hindsight is the mere appetizer for the violent imagination to follow but is still an impressive and stirring opening for the release.

The raw almost suffocating edge to the production only adds to the strength of the EP, which has its pinnacle across the remaining rages of sound. Krokodil is a sensational infestation of serpentine guitar licks, crushing rhythms, and enveloping erosive energy. The soft undergroove of the song is a sirenesque beckoning from within the scything sonics and ravenous presence of vocals, intent, and simply the song itself, all merging to consume the senses.

The excellence of the song is exceeded by the following This Genesis, a track which is like a rabid beast playing with its victim, twisting, slapping, and slicing it into a bloodied whimpering husk. It is a staggering riot of invention and sound which sucks the breath away and turns thoughts and emotions to a quivering mess. We all know the term noise annoys but here noise is an orgasmic pleasure which is continued with the almighty bruising depths of Colision. Like a tsunami of sound the track overwhelms and snakes into every corner of the psyche and heart. It is a giant brawl of rhythmic malice, guitar mayhem, and vocal spite which triggers every positive acclaim possible especially with its squirrelling hornet nest of sonic nastiness.

La Vie is completed by the aural swipe Life, an avalanche lasting less time than it takes to grab a breath and the final triumph Wasted Time For Wasted Minds. The ingenuity of the EP continues into this last slab of brilliance, its vindictive presence crawling into the deepest corners as it lies on the ear with a richly ominous weight. It is a brutal swamp of intensity to perfectly end a release for which only the highest acclaim can be offered.

With La Vie being just the first introduction for Haut&Court. it is frightening of just how immense the band could become and very exciting. Released as a name your price purchase this is the only way to start your imaginative noise driven 2013.

http://hautcourt.bandcamp.com/

RingMaster 03/01/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Berkowitz: Sent To Dominate

    Listening to Sent To Dominate, the new album from German extreme metallers Berkowitz, you can feel your senses and sanity being eroded away under the sonic tempest and destructive breath of the release. It is an uncomfortable encounter veined with dark melodic enterprise and grooved invention which soothes the wounds whilst provoking their own unique damage. A festering blend of black and death metal with blistering spikes of grindcore, Sent To Dominate makes a solid impact on the senses.

Whether it is a memorable one is debatable and will differ from person to person, but in its company the effort and time taken to engage its presence is well rewarded. Released via Gravity Entertainment, the album ebbs and flows in originality and diversity bringing moments which stand out like corrupting beacons and other times manages to fails in igniting focused interest due to sapping similarity. Overall though the Berlin based project has unleashed an album which is satisfying and well worth investigation.

Formed in 2008 by Robert “Unas” Zimmermann who provides everything on the new album apart from session guitar/bass which come from N.K. (Der Weg Einer Freiheit), Berkowitz has followed up their well-received debut Five Thousand Years To Hate with an album which concentrates on a theme ‘calling for resistance against any kind of oppression and violence against innocents’. It is a potent and powerful collection of tracks lyrically and musically which shows no mercy in its intensity and scant regard for respite across its destructive delivery. It is a sonic scourge upon the ear and beyond which moves from compelling grandeur to aversion walking but ultimately returns back to the former as prime reward for standing before its might.

The album for personal tastes hits its highest pinnacles right at the beginning with opener Endurance and the following Dictate Destruction. The first is a primal furnace of riffs and acidic melodic invention which consumes within the first notes and continually lays waste from there on in. With towering rhythms to match the height of the intensity of aggression and sonic mastery unleashed, the track coated in a delivery of verbal spite is a magnetic storm which is elevated at its climax when a dark crunching gnawing groove reminiscent of one the band Wire conjured on their album Chairs Missing emerges. It was a joy back then and in the hands of Berkowitz chews up and spits out the heart with carnivorous malice for a full pleasure.

The second of the pair again is an unrelenting caustic wave of sound and malevolence thrust through a constant tide of vindictive noise, venomous vocals, and swamping corrosive intensity whilst all the while a taunting and magnetic groove mesmerises from within its grinding breath. Infectious and intimidating to equal might, the track is a delicious violation which is welcomed and basked in.

The likes of Zehntausenddreihundertfünfzehn, with its thrashy and brutal thuggish badgering and eagerness within the senses scoring tempest, and the insidious Paveway To The Gods without reaching the heights gained by the first tracks both unveil a rampaging energy and twisted embrace which still hold a hypnotic lure. Sent To Dominate overall is a slow burning adversary, the strengths and distinct elements taking time to come into view so a couple of listens is not really enough to appreciate or fully investigate the release, this pair of songs prime examples as they eventually persuade their strong quality over time.

Though never installing the same rapture as at its beginning, Sent To Dominate through songs like the evocative instrumental Från Helvetet and the constantly evolving Defects ensures the experience is a stirring one whilst within its malicious arms. Whether it is an album which will be able to emerge as a noticeable contender in a wealth of strong extreme metal releases this past year is sadly unlikely but for the rewards it does give it is certainly is worthy of an investigation.

http://www.myspace.com/absolutegrandeur

RingMaster 14/12/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

 

I’ll Eat Your Face: Hot Brains Terror

Just the title Hot Brains Terror alone had anticipation firing on all cylinders as the latest album from Irish metallers I’ll Eat Your Face lay waiting to be investigated. It ignited hopes of a sonic creature feature type release, an album casting horror soaked manipulative fingers upon the psyche and it did not disappoint though it exceeding all wishes with its sensational  encounter. The album from the Cork duo is a delicious creative incursion upon the senses which fires up a furnace of passion towards its startling sounds.

Released on Grindscene Records, Hot Brains Terror is the second album from the band and an insatiable corrosive triumph of grindcore or as the band self declare “supergrind”. It employs extra noise, psyche additives, and more to bring a unique and explosive collection of tracks, each stirring up hunger and unbridled enthusiasm for more and more.  Consisting of guitarist The BOY and drummer Barrytron, the release is made up of nine rabid raptorial instrumentals gripping and twisting thoughts and senses out of shape whilst thrilling them with glorious corruptive sonic imagination. Formed in 2006, I’ll Eat Your Face has earned strong acclaim through numerous split, EPs and releases reaching a pinnacle with previous album Irritant. The new album is another step up in quality and sound which you can only imagine the attention and acclaim around it imitating.

The first thrill is opener Weasel Tank Slime, the track emerging from a swamp ambience to unleash badgering rhythms and psychotic sonic teases from the guitars. It is a schizophrenic joy which in its slightly longer than a minute presence is too short such the pleasure given, though the band takes no time in bringing an equal contagion to the ear with Acid Worm Monsoon. This track is a caustic dance with the senses driven by ravenous snarling riffs within scorching sonic fires and seeping smouldering melodic glaze, and stunning

As the likes of the insidiously shadowed Brainwolf: Revenge of the Priest which just demands ardour with its irresistible playful groove within the corruptive dark of the song, Drowning Dogs in a Swamp with a presence and energy as unpredictable and intimidating as the sounds it uses to subjugate the heart, and the blackened  Enslaved by the Prawnmaster grip with inventive and boundary stretching enterprise, the album elevates itself to what one can only declare as classic status. It would have taken a car crash of a second half to knock the release from this early pedestal and of course that was never going to happen.

Reverse Eagle Embeastment is a perpetual swash of acidic light and magnetic brilliance from both members of the band, the rhythms a crusading adventure within the blustery sonic squalls of the guitar, and a glorious union. The majority of the pieces are short which ensures tracks never come near to over staying their welcome though arguably they also depart too soon. It is certainly not a negative though just evidence of how greedy and devoted to the immense creativity and unpredictability to each song one becomes.

The album is completed by the excellent track The Eels of Love Lake, the even more outstanding Castle of Vomiting Owls, and the titan of a closer Forever Sealed in the Electric Brains’ Melting Slug-Ray. Again each song shows the impressive diversity across the album leaving one breathless and basking in their challenging and enthralling imagination. The first of the final trio is an incessant hypnotic layering of serpentine textures alongside niggling sonic rubs which just leaves one transfixed whilst the second gnaws away at the senses, tearing their surface asunder though not before luring one in with seductive melodies and soothing caresses. Now deeply tucking into its victim the track further lashes the remnants with spiteful groove laces for a totally bewitching experience.

      Forever Sealed in the Electric Brains’ Melting Slug-Ray closes the album with a final disturbing nightmare complete with bedlam screams and primal carnage masquerading as riffs. It is a mighty end to an equally immense album. Certainly a release for fans of bands like Pig Destroyer, Cephalic Carnage, and Devilman, Hot Brains Terror stands as the best instrumental album of the year alongside 7^th Direction from Stinking Lizaveta, and to the fore of all releases.

http://www.ill-eat-your-face.com/

RingMaster 11/12/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Humanity Delete: Never Ending Nightmares

   

     Enveloping the ear with old school death metal and confronting the mind with paranormal and post-apocalyptic themes, Never Ending Nightmares is an album which squalls upon and consumes the senses until its corruptive deed is done. Across twelve rampaging furnaces of crushing intensity and debilitating riffs not to mention vicious rhythms, the release from Swedish band Humanity Delete is an impressive and satisfying onslaught. It does not offer anything particularly new musically but inspires and fires up a potent enthusiasm through its skilful delivery, and driving energy within its towering walls.

Humanity Delete is the project of Rogga Johansson, a prolific musician with plenty of acclaim upon him for his work with Paganizer, Ribspreader, Revolting, Demiurg, Bone Gnawer, and more. The band first formed in 2003 and worked on demo material aimed for an album which was along with the band shelved for many years until being resurrected this year. Johansson has refreshed that earlier demo work up with new sounds to finally release this album via Dead Beat Media. He has single-handedly recorded the death metal driven grind and punk veined release, bringing in Jill Girardi who has been living in Malaysia to write the lyrics based on the theme of Asian ghosts and creepy legends.  The release also features guitar solos from Lasse Pyykkö (Hooded Menace, Phlegethon, Ruinebell) to add further startling fire to the confrontation which overwhelms and rewards the listener.

The album starts with the title track instrumental which certainly sets the atmosphere for what is to come, its chilling imposing ambience evocative and having the perfect title. From the sinister embrace The Eight Ice Narakas steps forward to challenge the ear with blazes of riffs and scorching sonics alongside formidable rhythms and the bestial growls of Johansson all unleashing one part of the continuous hell of purgatory, the even more malevolent and nasty part of the realm represented later in the release by The Eight Fire Narakas. The song has an insidious hunger which makes it an incessant opponent and companion, the melodic solo at the end making a tremendous end to a formidable start to the release.

The lyrical content and themes are as rich in compulsion and menace as the sounds themselves; the likes of Black Oil Defiler (Orang Minyak) and its source about a demon who offered a man worldly desires, riches, and power if he doused himself in oil and defiled 21 virgin girls within seven days, and that of The Toyol, the resurrected spirit of a stillborn foetus or baby who died young used to acquire ill-gotten gains which inspired the song Necromantic Sorcery, leading to the need to delve more into their background outside of the release.

The album and tracks do not outstay their welcome by any means, the album demanding only around half of an hour of any ones time but ensures they are soaked in a wealth of accomplished skill and imagination for the while encounter. As mentioned there is not much new to contemplate and some songs are possibly too close in similarity to stand out as memorable but overall the album is just a storming violation which you can devour with unrelenting enthusiasm.

Further greater highlights come from the haunted Dismal Corridors, Retribution Of The Polong with its outstanding blues start and towering chewing of the senses through carnivorous riffs and sapping weight of sound, and Frozen Apparition. The last of the three is a mordant sonic acid which makes a tempest of intensity and cancerous intent which just lights the passions.

Never Ending Nightmares is an album certainly death metal and extreme metal fans need to take an interest in for what are quite simply strong and gratifying rewards.

https://www.facebook.com/HumanityDelete

RingMaster 08/12/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Bingo: Ett grindslagsmål I 2 delar

    Offering 23 abrasions in just over 25 minutes, Ett grindslagsmål I 2 delar is a ferocious grindcore assault which is not for the faint hearted. Unleashing the rawest and most chaotic mass of sonic bruises the album is a debilitating collection of tracks from Swedish grindsters Bingo brought together in one lethal release. It is a festering expanse of spiteful venom, merciless aggression, and insidious invention. It does not play nice, or fair, but for fans of the genre the album is an eagerly awaited and rewarding intrusion.

Bingo is/was a band formed in 2004 consisting of bassist Ivan Hermansson (now in raw punkers Lars Adaktusson), vocalists Anders Nordberg (now with crust band Eskatologia and also Lars Adaktusson) and Gerda Berglund (now ‘screaming’ for Misantropic), drummer Anders Inga (now in hardcore band Kidnapped), and guitarist Johan Larson (now in hardcore act Spela Snabbare). The band entered the studio in 2006 for what was intended to be their debut album Mer grind än din morsa (More grind then your mother). Shortly after recording the tracks Hermansson left and was replaced by Petter Karlsson (now guitarist with Lars Adaktusson). 2008 saw the band recording the follow-up release with legendary underground producer Erik Lindbergh, and it is both recordings which get their proper release as the double grind album Ett grindslagsmål i 2 delar from Discouraged Records. The tracks have been remastered to gain a consistency across the expanse of the album but without removing the raw harshness which makes them stand out and be so effective.

The release is a caustic onslaught with extra crust tendencies which takes no prisoners sonically or lyrically, the tracks dealing with the likes of politics, social issues, and the greedy consumer led society man has become, or simply as the promo states it is ’the soundtrack to your job resignation, your defence speech for a meat free lifestyle, or why not a “fast” tutorial to political activism.’ The vocals are a constant squall of energy and spite which thrust forth the predominantly real life story based songs and though sung in Swedish the emotion and anger is undisguised, even if the actual content is unavailable for us of limited language skills. As mentioned the album is for true genre enthusiasts but also offers plenty one suggests, to grab the attention of extreme noise fans everywhere.

The tracks at first engagement offer a similarity across the album, the surface sound cored by a constantly sapping attack but bravery rewards and determined venture into the release in time and effort reveals a wealth of variety and invention, you just have to work for it and swim against the sonic tide. The twin male and female vocals is the first notable thing about the band, the pleasing vocal attack an excellent distinct proposition which arguably can be best described as a violent union of Iwrestledabearonce and The Agonist. Behind them the sounds are a caustic maelstrom of violence occasionally speared by destructive grooves and shards of discord caked melodies. It is a compulsive combination which many will fear and just as many will revel in.

Highlights on an album which is maybe surprisingly high on consistency for so many crippling brief furies, arrive first with the twistedly grooved En Dor Cirkus Dar Folk. The song is immediately addictive as the serpentine groove entrances the ear whilst rhythms, riffs, and vocals unleash their barbarous intent. The longer it stays around, barely a minute actually and shorter than it took to write this particular paragraph, the more searing and nasty it becomes to result in a very satisfying encounter.

The punk riot of Jag Ville Hångla Men Började Slåss steps to the fore next soon followed by the best two tracks on the release in Gröna Vågen är wiped and Valkommen. The first of the pair is a stream of intensity built to waste the senses but beneath the fire there is a persistent drone like groove which wins the day as it climaxes the song accompanied by a sampled vocal piece. It is intriguing and openly different to what came before and what follows. The second is an infectious again punk driven track which reminds of bands like the Buzzcocks, its melodic hook irresistible, though at barely a few seconds long it could not go wrong.

Further peaks come with the sensational slight folk/progressively tainted Ålidhem, the contagious metal hooked For Istället Musik – Organisering with a great bass performance, the rampaging Grind Mot Reindfelt, and closing track Cancersvulst Kan Du Va Själv. Overall though the album is a great tempest of unbridled noise and passion which will be a pleasing treat for grindcore and extreme metal fans though maybe not quite as appealing for others.

http://www.discouragedrecords.com/artists.php

RingMaster 30/11/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Pig Destroyer: Book Burner

It has to be said that over the opening songs of Book Burner, the new grindcore corrosion from Pig Destroyer there was a slight wonder of what all the fuss was about in regard to this their forth full length release. It was not because the tracks were weak or poor, to the contrary they were as devastating and acerbic as any previous assault from the band but they just did not spark anything extra to appease the built up expectations from what had been shouted out before hearing the release. Pig Destroyer is of course a band one should never make assumptions with, even when they are directly in the ear and it was not long before the Virginian quartet had donkey punched those thoughts and fully unleashed one undeniable classic.

On a relatively quiet year for the genre, Book Burner has ignited grind and extreme metal with a fury of brutal and greedy malevolence wrapped in corrosive riffs and air extinguishing grooves. The album is arguably their best to date and easily rivals previous confrontation Phantom Limb with its possibly more concise yet equally destructive wares. Released through Relapse Records, the album thrusts nineteen tracks through the ear in thirty minutes of unbridled and uncompromising intensity fuelled by adrenaline soaked energy and uncomplicated inventive craft. It takes no prisoners and shows no mercy but what else would you expect from Pig Destroyer.

Opener Sis spits in the ear with crushing riffs and scything sonics to give an experience like being backed into a corner by a lustful bear and just as uncomfortable. The following tracks The American’s Head and The Underground Man do not hold back on the rabid intent and staggering assault either, both continuing the colossal start though as mentioned none truly spark any extended passions to what one would expect to dish out towards the band. This is not a bad thing but just made one question others unreserved praise.

Once Eve stepped forward though, things fell into place, the track itself an insatiable and intense toxic eruption of twisted meanders and senses exploiting menace. There is no respite from its intrusive sonic leers and in its mere minute plus canker, as is the usual from the band, it holds more substance and disturbed heart than most bands muster in a whole release. The maniacal grind of the melodic inflammation that is The Diplomat opens up the already forming sores with infectious ease whilst its successors, All Seeing Eye and Valleys Of The Geysers both bear mutated visions and sand blasted emotions to salt the wounds. The vocals of JR Hayes as always provide a ‘cerebral viciousness’ to match the sounds, his face to face scathing directness and provocative razor blade dissension a battering dispute which overwhelms all resistance, whilst guitarist Scott Hull and new drummer Adam Jarvis oppress and erode every atom and emotion with their merciless ferocity and creative irreverence.

Further towering highlights with Book Burner come with the brilliant Baltimore Strangler, The Bug, and the final piece of devastation to close the album, Permanent Funeral. All tracks leave one drooling in their own smouldering juices but this trio for personal tastes steer the album to further greatness. The first of the trio is a furnace of hate and intimidation cored by a delicious tight groove to beckon and seduce the senses before their demise whilst the second from its opening sample and mesmeric ambient whispers conjured with great skill by Blake Harrison, just severely stomps with unmitigated malice all over the senses, the dual vocal acidic grazing painful and fiery yet as deeply compulsive as the entwining grit laded groove. No pain no gain the saying goes and Pig Destroyer takes it to its openly fulfilling extremes.

The final song on the album is the perfect finale to complete the sanity grasping experience with relish, the persistent niggling hornet groove and bone splintering beats of Permanent Funeral as irresistible as they are deeply scarring, which sums up the album as a whole. Book Burner is easily the mighty and commanding release being declared worldwide, no arguments here, and Pig Destroyer still the band to forge grind and extreme metal a new and irrepressible presence each and every time they choose.

https://www.facebook.com/TheRealPigDestroyer

RingMaster 23/10/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright