Hey guys, got an early album review for you! One we are all super stoked for ,and that I have already pre ordered…
That’s right, the brand new Inanimate Existence album ‘Underneath A Melting Sky’ which comes out this Friday, August 25th!
Inanimate Existence line up:
Cameron Porras – Guitar & Vocals,
Scott Bradley – Bass & Vocals,
Ron Casey – Drums
Barely a year after Inanimate Existence’s 3rd album ‘Calling From A Dream’ was released, they unleash their The Artisan Era debut. This is also their first release as a 3 piece and damn, Inanimate Existence is not fucking around. They explore new horizons with each release and they seem to absolutely master each new direction they take. This album combines the dark brutality of ‘Liberation Through Hearing‘ as well as the fantastical soundscapes and atmosphere of ‘A Never-Ending Cycle Of Atonement‘. This is a very different album from its predecessor (I personally really enjoyed ‘Calling From A Dream‘).
There is plenty of apparent keyboards and synth that is mixed in perfectly. The synth is done very different than ‘Calling From A Dream‘. Here there are several different tones used throughout and some really fantastic melodies as well. The vibe created this time is entirely different and rather epic. The guitar leads are immaculately written and just soar with the music, and if you thought you liked the bass tone and work in ANECOA, wait until you hear this! Tracks like Forever To Burn, The Old Man in the Meadow, and The Djinn will blow you away! The riffs and overall songwriting is phenomenal here though. The riffs are some of the catchiest in the Death Metal subgenres that I’ve ever heard, and the quality doesn’t drop for a second. There is no lame filler riffs and it all flows really damn well.
There are also some deadly grooves in this album. The title track, In Moonlight I Am Reborn, Blood Of the Beggar & Formula Of Spores all have outstanding groovy parts that will have you keep coming back and will be irresistibly stuck in your head. They leave you no choice but to get right into the music.
Ron’s drumming is completely insane as per usual. I particularly like the grooves he lays out on this album. Super creative with excellent cymbal work. It fits the guitar amazingly and the listener can easily got lost in his sick tightness and creativity. His cymbal and ride and hi hat work in particular just mesmerize me.
Every song is simply outstanding and completely unique. Not only this, but the album flows song to song absolutely perfectly. This album is an absolute masterpiece. Add the amazingly well thought out story behind the albums lyrics and the quite possibly best art I have ever seen to coincide with them, Inanimate Existence has the full package right now. This album is everything they need to solidify their name on some of the sickest tours and get the respect a hard working band like them deserves. Absolute album of the year contender!
There’s still time to pre-order the album!
For fans of The Zenith Passage, Decrepit Birth, Soreption, Virvum, Arkaik
9.9/10 \m/
Music and Lyrics by Cameron Porras
Engineered, Mixed and Masted by Zack Ohren at
Shark Bite Studios in Oakland, CA
Artwork by Justin Abraham
The EP begins with an ominous build up. A drum fill begins the music in “The Silent Prophecy” and takes us into the high paced and catchy riffage with powerful and heavy vocals. Not too brutal, but deep for sure. They beat us apart for the first fifty seconds until we get our first taste of real melody, (besides the touches used in the riffing). Then really nice soaring lead. We get brought back into the catchy fast paced riffage. About a third of the way through the song we get some more really nice melodic touches over the riffs. The vocals seem to go along with the music really well. As this lead part with vocals ends, we get somewhat of an interlude like section, that is spacey and ambient. Slowly they build back up starting with the bass and then a pick scrape into the slower heavy riff. This section is quite dark. It feels brooding, and it flows into the next, brief faster section really well. As that section ends we get another interlude section similar to the one in the middle of the song but it begins with an acoustic guitar. It is a nice way to end the song and also flows perfectly into track 2.
“Ethereal Majesty” begins with an almost white noise building up type ambiance with some more sounds that really remind me of Nomatic era Fallujah. Just after a minute they begin this riffage. It also begins brooding and slower, there is a doomy vibe almost. The vocals are killer and heavy as fuck here, then a nice pause into a sick good paced riff. The drums are constantly switching it up and really keep this section’s pulse. They briefly pause and transition with what sounds like some sitar and go into a slammy riff/ tremolo back and forth riff and the drums continue to switch it up and keep us on our toes. They slightly simplify it near the middle, but not for the worse, its pretty groovy and catchy, right before they pick it up to full force briefly again. This is indeed brief as they fade down to a drawn out chordy part with a really lovely lead, into an almost blackened chordy part with equally almost blackened vocals into – WOAH – definitely a breakdown. They just morphe so many genres and totally killed it. The breakdown does do the classic ‘more dirty’ part and then they nicely flow into a prefectly head bobbing riff to end the song. They slow it ever so naturally and open fade into the last song ending perfectly.
“The Nebulon Abhorrency” begins a lot sooner than the others. The open fade soon brings some synth and eerie screams. They make us know some change is coming and begin the high paced and catchy verses. There is some sick melodic double picking riffage going on! I absolutely love it. This song seems to have the most notable synth though it is in every song. This one has almost synth leads at times. After one synth lead part over a cool riff we have a sweet groove! They then slowly let it breath with more synth and then totally melt our faces with fast technical ridding and powerful in your face vocals. The drums have some wicked blasts and are coming at a good pace with the blasts and thrash beats. There is also some really killer guitar fills in that section. They then slow it down to a more doomy vibe once more before the end. Fast double kick and powerful slow riffing which fades into synth that takes us to a close.
Godeater has made a strong impact with these three songs. They are catchy and well structured and have enjoyable production. I can tell there is room to grow but I have no quarrels with this EP whatsoever.
For fans of Fallujah, Bleak Flesh, The Odious Construct, TETHYS, Vale of Pnath
Andrew Morris – Drums
Fernando del Valle III – Guitar
Ibrahim Jimenez – Bass
Reece Deeter – Vocals
Ian Burnside – Guitars
Releases on June 22nd, 2017
Premonition
This song begins in an epic sounding way. This is something you put on right before you are ready to start something big, whether it be weight lifting, sparring for boxing or another martial art, to just getting yourself in an amped up mood and ready to attack all obstacles that life will throw at you. If there was going to be entrance music for someone and they wanted to be able to effortlessly project their attitude without a single word expressed. This track gets this E.P. set up very well and based on what Apotheon have delivered in the past. I can say that without a doubt the songs that follow are going to be erupting with some tasty riffs, and killer blasts.
Tyken’s Rift
This song is the song that will make any gamer past or future feel some connection to the music and also vivid scenery. Just wait until the one-minute mark where you will understand the last statement and then you will be immersed in a world of metal, and video game like imagery. Now come back to the track titled Premonition, it really jives with this song. Again you get that uplifting and melodic style form the music and also creates a perception of imagery, scenery, and a different dimension or world. I feel as though Reece is hitting a lower range than on the previous songs but then again. I keep getting wrapped up in what sort of imagery you get while listening to this song and having the dialogue at the 1:09 that sounds straight out of a game. Apotheon are taking the metal making game to some new levels as they are creating music that is not only heavy and addicting but also energizing and spawn images from words and musical notes. However as great as this song is, I know that my favorite track is about to follow.
Mechanically Consumed
This song begins quietly with a really a subtle amount of notes being played almost at random, before a stringed instrument like a cello lays down what one might expect from an old movie, a horror or thriller to be exact. But then the drums and the distortion begins and the pace of the song goes into high speed. This song is my favorite off the E.P. in my opinion this is the heaviest track, it has the most jarring riffs, and the vocals are on point. The hardest part for me is to narrow down what section I like the most, which part of the song gets me the most amped up and excited to listen. The whole song has that effect on me. For example, right around the 1:43 mark the guitars and drums set up a badass section that is contagious. And it hits right before a solo, the vocals give way for the guitar solo, but only for so long before they are layered over the solo and really add to the reasons why I love it. Now if that was it I’d say you have a solid track, but it’s not. Because right around the 2:50 mark they slow things down to an almost sideshow or circus sounding section. Under most circumstances I would have heard this and thought “gimmicks” or “ yea why did they do that, it doesn’t even sound right with the song” but I can’t say that in this situation. It works, it sounds odd, and if they started or ended the song with it, it would have been a flop. But its smack dab in the middle of the most badass song on this E.P. and you haven’t even gotten to the second solo of the song. And this song is minutes less than the previous two tracks. Apotheon have again packed so much into the song it’s almost unbelievable that they managed to make another killer E.P.
The Flesh Machine
All you need to know about this song, is that some things should be left to mystery, I typically will not breakdown the last song on an E.P. only because there aren’t that many songs and I want at least one song to be a little bit of a mystery. I just can’t find it in me to do that for this one. It is just too damn good.
The song begins with a subtle progression of the guitar playing a riff that’s panned from left to right while the drums are playing a jazzed up beat to go along with the guitars, while the bass is holding things down. A keyboard strikes a note at the :18 second mark and continues playing with the other instruments. leading up right at the :44 second mark Reece slices through all that buildup with a growl that sets up his next few lines perfectly. Right around the 1:14 mark they have a section of solid riffing before the next verse. I’m beginning to have conflicting thoughts on which song I like more “Mechanically Consumed” or this one. Right at the 2:43 mark the song takes a deep dive into an uplifting and euphoric section that lasts just shy of a minute and then the vocals attack again. At what is roughly the 3:50 mark, the listener begins to become activated by the music. Whatever you may be doing at this moment in time, whether it be driving, walking down the street, rocking out in your room, or getting your jam on at the office. This is where you lose all of your collective shit and fucking throw some haymakers, air guitar or air drums and rock the fuck out. I dare anyone who listens to this E.P. to not get ready to take on the world when this song reaches this point. As they come out of one of the most badass moments on this, Ian pulls off a whirlwind of a guitar solo. There is no better way to put it, this song wraps everything up brilliantly.
This E.P. is an awesome little banger to be dropping at the beginning of this summer like this. There is soooo much killer music coming out in 2017, but summertime is the time of year where I look forward to killer tunes and having speakers blasting with the windows rolled down. This E.P. follows their 2016 E.P. titled The Acension (which gathered attention among Facebook groups following the Technical metal and deathcore scene) and then also the single Tyken’s Rift from January. Apotheon are making a name for themselves, and in a very short amount of time I might add. I am very pleased with this E.P. and has been some solid music to listen to while working on projects. While the E.P. is great I must admit, I have been listening to the advance copy, including instrumental tracks. Whether or not the guys decide to release this with the instrumental versions or not, my recommendation would be to do it. The music is so damn good. An amalgamated blend of equal parts technical, melodic, and and heavy. I strongly suggest anyone and everyone who is looking for something new to jam to this summer. Get yourselves over to their bandcamp page and get your copy ordered up because this drops on Friday. 9.3/10 \m/
****UPDATE****
I had to find out about the instrumental versions and I cant tell you how happy I was to hear from Fernando that they will be releasing an instrumental version of this E.P. as well.
“On streaming sites (Spotify being one of them) will have the ep + the instrumental tracks. Bandcamp will be vocal and instrumental versions sold separate.” “Going forward we will always be offering instrumental mixes. We love the offering, and while we love our vocalist and what he brings to table, we also write this music without vocals considered! And as fans of instrumental music ourselves, it’s always cool to hear A different version of a song!”
So there you have it, there will be instrumental versions available. Now imagine how many, videos can be made by people doing vocal or other instrument playthrough covers over the instrumental copies. I think Apotheons view on instrumental versions is a brilliant idea. Metal fans, and metal bands, lets make that a thing shall we?
Hi guys! I am honored and extremely stoked to bring you my review for the brand new release from my Chilean brothers in Bleak Flesh!
First, let’s look at a bio of the band…
Formed in 2004 in Santiago de Chile by Matias Quiroz under a different name. By 2009 the project had evolved to what is Bleak Flesh. Soon after, bassist Enrique Carvajal joined ranks. By 2012, talented drummer Sebastián Vidal had joined the ranks and they had recorded some demos which would later be released on a compilation in 2015 called “A Glimpse from the Past: The Unreleased Demo Collection”. In 2013 the band was complete with addition of Nicolas Martinez on guitar and Paulo Carcamo on lead vocals. The band would the release their 2013 debut EP, THE GATEWAY, presenting an interesting mix of genres like technical and melodic death metal with progressive touches and nice synth mixed in. In 2014 Bleak Flesh released their first full length album called TRANSCENDENCE. The album got great reviews from fans and critics alike and I even reviewed it a while back! The CD’s even sold out! This EP should be highly anticipated based on the great response Transcendence got, not to mention the brand new vocalist. On January 1st 2016 Radial Velocity came out as the first song recorded with Ngen Kerruff on vocals, being the first single for the new OVERCOMING REALITY EP. On December 19th 2016 they released the second single for the EP, The Spectral Path, along with a sweet music video.
Their music is extremely well rounded within seamlessly molding different subgenres together. Not the same way Cyborg Octopus does, but these guys are still completely unique. They mix Progressive Metal with synths, Technical Death Metal, Djenty and other groovy and sometimes funky riffs, melodic Death Metal and more!
The vocals are powerful and have a great tone. His delivery isn’t quite as enunciated as their previous vocalist Paulo, however he makes up for it by having a really excellent tone and range. He does have enjoyable delivery as well and a wide range. He can go from gutturally low, which he only does on occasion, to a powerful, almost Polish DM sounding mid low and some soaring awesome highs which are also kind of dark and intense. They remind me of the blackened highs heard in Slugdge. Though overall, the bands are very different, they are both slightly experimental and incorporate similar vocal traits at times.
There is still clean vocals on this EP, like their previous work, but it is different and it isn’t coming off forced. That being said, no vocoder. Which I am OK with because I don’t really like vocoder and their previous work war the only use of vocoder I have ever managed to enjoy in any band. In fact the clean vocals in songs like Overcoming reality, where the cleans come in right away, before they even proceed to get brutal, and Sunshine, which has some great epic but totally add to the overall vibe and epic-ness of the songs. Sunshine by far has the most cleans and I think they are really fitting. It also has some great riffs and beats and grooves. The cleans remind me of the cleans that Cyborg Octopus lays out in their Neo-classical influenced song, Divine Right (In D Minor). I personally like them a lot.
The bass work sounds great! The opening and title track, Overcoming Reality has some sweet bass lines, especially during the parts with prominent synth. It sounds like there are some cool slapped bass licks and fills.
Expanding the Existence has an excellent bass solo when it mellows out and then goes in to a beautiful guitar solo section. They mellow it out the first time and he plays a great bass line and then they go to a nice upbeat riff for a bit and mellow it back down to the amazing solo sections.
The guitar is very enjoyable as well. Matiaz is an amazing player who can create beastly riffs and beautiful solos. The riffs are exciting and very upbeat. Expanding the Existence has some super catchy and quite intricate riffs and that absolutely lovely solo mentioned before after with wicked bass sections. Galactic Monolith is a great and varied song. Several awesome grooves and lots of really wicked fast parts too. I particularly love the little melodic lead near the end of the song!
The instrumental track, The Dawn of the Ancient Realms, is simply outstanding!
They soften it down at just before 2:00 and the bass has some totally awesome lines, then they go into a rather freely and super epic solo, into a sick groove with more awesome bass! This then leads into another fantastic solo! Love the tone too! The riffs are extremely exciting and quick with really blistering drums, though he has great feel when they need to let the song breathe too. The synth is pretty prominent through most of this song and it is used well. It fades out with a kind of tribal feel.
The guitar solo in Radial Velocity, which was one of the first singles for the album, released last year, is absolutely amazing. It is fairly lengthy and goes through several different ‘sections’ and is extremely well written. The solo section in the more recent single they released at the beginning of this year is out if this world as well. The Spectral Path has all sorts of incredibly catchy riffs, wicked intense drums and roaring and soaring vocals. But that solo is just absolutely fabulous!
The drums are killer. Great beats and mix. The cymbals sound great as is but when the synth is going, it is mixed really well too. The frequencies add a really nice angelic feel. He sometimes tastefully incorporates gravity blasts as well. Such as in Galactic Monolith, which also has some wicked groove at times and some excellent fast double pick and ride beats that I lust love. And also such as in Spectral Path, which has awesome blistering fast beats that are perfectly placed and not only speed, but excellent feel as they give this song room to breathe several times and every instrument totally plays into making it work, especially the guitar and drums in this song. All sorts of other enjoyable cymbal work as well. not only on that song. The EP is packed with awesome grooves, sweet super fast yet creative beats with lots of great cymbal and especially ride work, and seamless transitions.
It makes me proud to hear this EP. These guys are amazing people and musicians, creating truly unique and inspiring Death Metal. Fans of original and slightly experimental sounds with great melody and groove, this band is for you! The vocals are well ranged and have an exciting delivery and great tone. The drums have incredible speed and excellent beats and fantastic groove and feel when called for. The riffs are creative and very intriguing, with tons of stand out bass through this EP! I strongly urge you to give this a listen! I know this band can have a bright future in this genre if they reach the right amount of fans! It would be a dream come true to see these guys live or play with them some day!
For fans of Atlantis Chronicles, Between The Buried And Me, Dark Matter Secret, Cyborg Octopus, Slugdge, Flub, Black Crown Initiate
Mike Low – Mixing
Zak Denham – Mastering
Justin Abraham – Artwork
I am thrilled to bring you guys my review of the highly anticipated debut Virulent Depravity album, Fruit Of The Poisoned Tree.
The line up for Fruit Of The Poisoned Tree is; Colin Butler – Composition / Guitar / Bass / Vocals
Malcolm Pugh – Guitar
Kévin Paradis – Drums
I believe for the next album, the lineup will remain the same, with different guest appearances to look forward to. This is some of the most complexly composed material I have ever heard. The riffs are unreal, but retain catchiness, and are melodic in their own, incredibly technical way. Lots of great harmonizations and riff counter points.
Some songs with particularly great riffs are; “Beyond The Point Of No Return”, there is a SICK harmony melodic riff that repeats. Definitely one of my favorite riffs I have heard in a long time. The solos are insane. Some very creative licks and a unique, but epic feel utilized. All of the solo tones sound awesome, and fit, but sound individualized, especially the difference between Colin and Malcolm’s tones. Malcolm’s seems to sound more melodic, similar to his “A Loathing Requiem” tone, but still fit for this project. Where Colin’s tone seems a bit more alien in sound. The guest solos are all rather distinct as well. Mark Hawkins (Devolved) rips the first solo on the entire album with a very crisp tone right into a killer solo by Malcolm and a sweet melodic solo by Colin. The most similar of all the guest solos to Colin’s tone is Elijah Whitehead, who performs a killer solo after Colin on “Mechanized Defilement”. One of my favorite solos on the album by far as well.
This album isn’t just technically proficient though. Your mind will be blown with its feel and passion as well. “Only Human” begins with a beautiful, clean section into an almost classically influenced lead, into the brutality. It comes back to awesome soulful sections later on as well, one, after an awesome guest solo by Craig Peters (Deeds OF Flesh, Destroying The Devoid, ex-Arkaik), flowing incredibly with a nice bass part into a sweet groovy riff and beautiful solo by Colin. The song has some more badass verses, a chorus and a few more killer solos by Colin. The ending is very soulful as well and goes back to that Neo-classical vibe.
The closing track, “Crushed By Futuristic Filth”, is one of the most well-rounded. It is crushing and beautiful and so much more. It has an amazing soft section with a keyboard solo by Jimmy into a completely heart wrenching, beautifully written, emotional but uplifting solo by Malcolm. It is really fantastic! After smoothly going back to brutality it then sounds like it is over at about 5 minutes in and it kind of spirals into a beautifully written guest solo by the young virtuoso, Sims Cashion, over a soft section with keys and more beauty as well.
The bass isn’t overshadowed either. Often in albums when it is performed by the primary composer who is a guitarist, the bass gets the role of simply “holding down the low-end”. Not here. Not only does it have an “EXCELLENT” tone, but Colin steps in and out (mostly out) of the guitar work and throws in a lot of perfectly placed, totally sick fills. He mixes up the technique a lot as well. Between finger picking, slap parts and cool tap licks. The bass has it all on this album. All the tracks have awesome bass. We’ve established this, but some songs have especially great parts that are worth mentioning. Such as “Only Human” has a great bass part during a soft instrumental section in the middle of the song. “Mechanized Defilement” has awesome fills, strategically placed to grab your attention through the entire song, and there is a stop with a nice bass sweep which everyone loves when done right. In the last song, “Crushed By Futuristic Filth”, following the guitar solo is a piano solo with an amazing bass line under it. Not overly shred-dy, just so good. The piano continues after the rest of the instruments stop to give a bleak, but slightly hopeful sounding end.
The vocals are just “WOW“! He utilizes so many different tones as tasteful accents, while the main tone seems to be a low mid to a low that are very aggressive. The delivery is what really gets me here. Most of it is well enunciated and while crushingly brutal and technical, still fairly easy to understand. At other times he uses what I call, “vocal artistic integrity” and just massacres us with some of the sickest deliveries I have ever heard. Especially during certain techy riffs, the speed and ability to manipulate words slightly to fit perfect, is incredibly impressive. The vocal speed and delivery in “Serpentine Messiah”, some of the line in “Your Demise” and, the vocals in “Beyond The Point Of No Return” are ridiculous and some of the verses in “Crushed By Futuristic Filth” are nearly inhuman. Simply astonishing performance. Hard to keep up to even reading along at times. “Your Demise” also has some really great delivery in lines that are not incredibly fast. My favorite being “as you sleep in your cocoon of ignorance, night approaches and we are coming for you” before Malcolm’s solo. The delivery is simply sinister and perfect. The whole song has excellent vocals, not to mention the whole damn album.
The drum performance is also totally crazy. Ridiculously fast blasts with meticulously placed but sporadic at the same time fills. He is capable of basically any type of beat he demonstrates. He tastefully and strategically places occasional gravity blasts, but mostly keeping to jarring blasts and crazy bursts and fills. The snare beats and kick bursts in the first verse of “Serpentine Messiah” is just nuts. Incredible doubly kick speed and stamina through the whole album. especially on that song, “Spineless Obedience, Your Demise”, “Bad Drug”, “Beyond The Point Of No Return”, and “Only Human”. As well as super tasty cymbal word with the changing between crashes / Chinas / splashes and even super tasty hi-hat use between hits. It is my understanding that Colin composed all of the riffs, and wrote general ideas for the drums, but it was all basically Kevin. He even records in his home studio. Which is a huge plus to me. The drums have a very refreshingly organic sound, which can especially be heard during the softer instrumental sections. The cymbals sound amazing and are panned great. Everything about the drum performance, engineering and mix is completely stellar in my opinion.
One thing I really love about the album is that while being absolutely mind-boggling-ly technical, it remains cohesive, and often even has a psychedelic vibe. At times the lead tone helps achieve this, such as the solo in “Spineless Obedience” and a lead section, in “Desecrating Eden”, which comes back at the end also and I just love it and the way the guitar mixes with the Keyboard solo in the middle. This is a largely unexplored sound in the genre and it has been demonstrated magnificently here. With classical level intricacy in the composition and a modern spin to the technicality and riff style mixed with the perfect levels of brutality and passion in the right places. There is even some Neo-classically influenced licks. If this isn’t one of the most creative and well-rounded albums in Death Metal history, then I must have a lot to learn. Definite contender for album of the year! Get on this people! Soon! … I want vinyl.
For fans of Spawn Of Possession, First Fragment, Anomalous, Archspire, Inanimate Existence, Ending Tyranny
9.9/10 \m/
Guest Musicians:
Jimmy Pitts – Keys (Track 4, 10)
Mark Hawkins – Solo (Track 1)
Nick Padovani – Solo (Track 6)
Craig Peters – Solo (Track 8)
Elijah Whitehead – Solo (Track 9)
Sims Cashion – Solo (Track 10)
Nathan Bounds – Guest Vocals (Track 10)
Jim Gregory (Solium Fatalis) and Charles Ayala (owner of the Wreck Room) on lyrical content
This is the solo project by guitarist RHK. This is also his debut E.P. as a solo artist. He has amazing talent that has has graced listeners ears over the years whether it was in Mortis Deveia, Alterius, or simply demonstrating or reviewing guitar amps, pedals and others on his YouTube chanel. He is an endorsed artist by Airis Effects, Xvive, and is the founder/owner of RHK studios. He has shared the stage with many bands and notable musicians like Within The Ruins, Shadows Fall, Misery Index, Lord Dying, The Human Abstract, Die Cast, God forbid, Arsis, 1349 and even when Angel Vivaldi did his first mini tour as a solo artist. Since the last time we heard him on a recording was with Alterius from their E.P. “Voyager” it has been a pleasure to hear his music again only a few short years later with a solid E.P. as this one is. With guest musicians like Ryan Knight, Dmitri Demyanenko, Jim Gregory, and Alterius band mate Nick Scarfo. The first track is “Industrial Demise” a heavy track with plenty of Djent feel, and is a killer song with copious amounts of shred. The guitar work between RHK and R. Knight is an impressive instrumental track. It has so much flavor in that track right away. This E.P. is saturated with talent right from the beginning. The following song veers towards a slightly darker blend of metal. Not exactly what you were expecting after that first track. The title track features vocals by Jeff Demarco from Solium Fatalis giving the music a darker and more abrasive edge to it. It helps to hear Rithiya’s guitar skills against vocals of a different style than his other bands/ projects. It also allows people who may have not heard Alterius or Mortis Deveia to grasp the talent, that he can play to different styles and still end up sounding great. Maelstrom of War follows up the title track quite nicely. But the track that has gotten the most play from me has been Voyager II which is the follow up to Alterius’ E.P. with the title track. while that one had vocals this one is an instrumental track. it certainly shows how far Rithiya has gone with his guitar abilities. This track also features Alterius band mate Nick Scarfo and the two of them pull of an amazing job with this track. right at the :39 second mark you experience one of the most infectious riffs of the year. They just build and build on this song, it is bursting at the seams with talent. Because this is a five track E.P. I don’t want to give up too many details, but its worth mentioning that Rithiya has immense talent when it comes to music, the guests he landed on this E.P. are also very much impressive. This E.P. is killer and you need to check it out. 8/10 \m/
You can order this E.P. by going to the RHK store if you click HERE
Louis Thierry // Vocals
Ryan Rauch // Guitar
George Fenton // Guitar
Kenny Rentz // Bass
Parius are at it again this time with a brilliant four track E.P. featuring Ryan Knight of Black Dahlia Murder fame, and Michael Keene from The Faceless. So without getting too carried away from those guest spots let’s check this E.P. out. First off this E.P. drops today so it’s available on Parius’s Bandcamp page .
Let There Be Light (Feat. Ryan Knight)
The song begins with a slow melodic acoustic guitar melody being played alongside a violin played by Michaela Nachtigall. They rock that melodic introduction for just shy of forty seconds before they come in fast and hard. Now I want to point one thing out that they didn’t have on their last album. And that comes around the 1:20 mark in the form of mildly clean vocals. I mean they aren’t your normal caliber of clean vocals, they are layered and it sounds like are more than just Louis doing vocals at this point. I actually like them, it’s not like they are trying to get the points for clean vocals here. They aren’t trying to sound like All That Remains with Phil’s over the top use of clean vocals. No they are orchestrated in a way that gives the song another element altogether. Not to mention they do it again a few times throughout the song and I can’t shake the fact that I really enjoy those clean sections. I am digging the drums on this track, and let’s not forget the solo at the 3:07 mark that is a short and sweet shredding solo that fits the Ryan Knight format. If this is how they kick off the E.P. with a solid track like this one. Than I am eager to listen to the rest.
A Shade Darker Than Black
A quick 1.2.3.4 and then some growling vocals kick this song off, while the vocals are being carried out the guitars are ripping it up the riffs with ferocity. It’s like they took the intensity level of the previous track, and then decided they were going to make something heavier. Because this track has gone to a darker area of bar raising. I’m a big fan on Louis’s vocals, there is literally no weak point in them. For all his ranges it’s like he gives it to you 100% all or nothing, and I find his vocal style to be quite enjoyable. The guitar work on this song is impressive, but then again so are the drums. I know they parted ways with Ian, so I am not sure if he is who plays on this E.P. whether one of the guys played, or the drums are programmed its hard to tell, but at any rate the drums sound awesome.
A Somber Dream
I am really digging how this song starts off with a piano playing, a melody, and just that piano opener is catchy, but then when the drums join in so does the bass. This is a very visual interlude and fits the title perfectly. This is more or less a nice instrumental track that ties things together before the final song seals the fate of this killer E.P.
Another Kind Of Reckoning ( Feat Michael Keene)
I’m not going to tell you how this song is, because I really want you to check this band out and have a listen for yourself. It’s only a four track E.P. and the sound is all there. It doesn’t sound like something that was recorded in a warehouse basement, no this is the product of a group putting everything they could into self-releasing an E.P. just over a year after releasing their debut full length. I remembered hearing their debut album Saturnine and wondering why I hadn’t heard these guys before, and wondering if they would be touring. But the fact is they have been self-promoting and self-releasing everything they have been doing. Which many bands do also, but to get a sound like this, in just over a year, really only 14 months to putting out an E.P. with a few guest spots and sounds so professional. It leads me to believe that this group of guys here are really ready to be making a name for themselves. They are ready to show the world who they are and what they are all about. Picking up this E.P. would be in your best interest because I have a great reason to believe they could be putting out another or at least more music this year. Yup that’s right Parius didn’t record this and decide to take time off. They are already back at the grindstone getting music written and moving forward to deliver another E.P. in the near future. now I don’t have anything more to tell you on an if and when, but I know they really enjoyed putting this E.P. together and have the drive to make some killer metal invade our airwaves sooner than later. I am very pleased with this E.P. they have a unique style and sound. They deliver some intense technical melodic death metal with ease. I really enjoy this E.P. And was surprised to see Ryan Knight and Michael Keene involved in this E.P. I think it goes to show I am not the only one who finds them to be a band worth investing some time in to. Check out Let There Be Light 8/10 \m/
GO grab your copy of this E.P. by clicking HERE to go to their BANDCAMP PAGE
Don’t forget to show them some love on their FACEBOOK page, give them a like and invite some of your metal friends to like the page also.
Today the Devil has brought us a a dark and primitive extreme black metal self titled album by the German metal trio Ctulu. This album is filled to the brim with catchy riffs, drivng rhtyms, dark lyrics, and blistering blast beats. some fucking killer blackened metal! This album surprised the shit out of me. I really dig the album art too, its dark and cult like. its like a page from some H.P. Lovecraft tale. Track after track they really impressed me, the first song was a bit on the slower and darker paced side of things. But it sets up a lot of imagery within the music. I mean the more I listen to it, the more I wonder why I haven’t heard this group before. However the second track follows up with faster pace and and fucking bad ass beginning. The guitars and drums really set up this song and it’s a fucking catchy track right from when the vocals begin. The third track begins to compete with the previous track in speed and contagious choruses and vocals in general. The guitars are a a driving force, even with how straightforward the riffs may be. This level of blackened hasn’t been on my radar for a while. The album has only two dark and slow tracks and those being Serce krwawe and Rozgoryczona, rozczarowana, a gotowa na wszystko. The rest are all a fast paced, with the guitar really grasping out you while the drums are so precise and blistering fast. This is what I love about finding a band I haven’t heard before. When it has a “WOW” factor and really impresses you. This gem came out just about a month ago and has been getting a lot of play these past few weeks. Our top played tracks are Totenhauswinde which means death house winds. And yea the song is about as badass as its name is. Von Mondeswächtern und Menschverächtern is also a killer track. This album is 100% worth being check out and luckily for you its on bandcamp so check it out below. For some really dark, and driving blackened extreme death metal that will certainly impress many of you. 7/10 \m/
If you like what you hear, you can pick this blackened German gem up over at Ctulu’s BANDCAMP page
Also show them some love on FACEBOOK by giving them the thumbs up so you can stay up to date on news.
You can find cool Ctulu merch and other MDD artists by clicking HERE \m/
Bijan Hennessey-Vocals/Guitar
Alex Elwell-Bass
Erik Matthews-Drums
Today the Devil brings us A Proper Hangman’s Knot by Mass metalers My Missing Half. The way this E.P. starts out, the first track, “The Cell I Call Home” has a very melodic and subtle beginning, but don’t let that fool you, because after a deep breath they slam the MMH mobile to death mode and blow the doors of when the vocals come in. For a three piece band they fucking kill it, the drums are perfect, no over the top showmanship. Erik holds the beat down, and knows when the right time and place to add some cool fills are. I like the fact that when it’s time to play a basic beat, he does that, allowing for the guitars to be doing cool sounding shit like the hammerons around the three minute mark. There is no shortage of cool riffs on this E.P. every track satisfies my metal thirst, and these guys are a bunch of cool bastards. I got a chance to see them a few months back, and they played their entire set with YouTube cat videos playing in the background, they really embrace the metalhead culture and seem to really play off of the influences of the great acts from the 90’s and blend those sounds with a more current model of melodic death metal. They have played with bands like Dark Tranquility, Overkill, Revocation, Havok, and Suffocation. These guys grind out the old school method of being in a metal band. You can hear it in their music that they are giving 100%, and have even given up big opportunities for the sake of metal. They didn’t just put out a 5 track E.P. they put out five tracks of unwavering melo-death with a thrash metal attitude and together form a brilliant E.P. that will appeal to so many listeners. While it may only be five tracks, this E.P. is a solid release and worthy of positive feedback it gets. We really like the whole thing, but if you really need some tracks to check out to give you a taste of whether or not you will like it, The Cell I Call Home, Another Illness, and Erase Me are all solid tracks. But I gotta say, this E.P. is right in line with the intensity of their previous album released in 2014 titled “The Lives I’ve Ruined”. I strongly encourage you to check out both and get an idea of their musical evolution and you will see. These guys have no desire to cut corners, do things that are popular, and strive to put out only their absolute best work possible. The production quality of A Proper Hangman’s Knot is superb, one listen and you will be thinking this is a metalblade records band with an E.P. that took years to finish. These guys came in, and kicked ass with this E.P. We have been listening to this gem for most of the summer and what we liked the most about it, beside the intensity, and the sound quality. But the fact that not many bands sound like these guys, and if you are looking for something cool with a shit load of talent just overflowing form these musicians, and an abrasive vocal delivery that cuts deep. Check out A Proper Hangman’s Knot and find out why My Missing Half are on the fast track to becoming a band that’s coming out of everyone’s mouths, and selling out some big shows. These guys are the real deal, and have given a lot up to become the band that they are, and will become. A proper Hangman’s Knot- 8/10 \m/ fucking awesome and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you anything higher than 8/10, but it’s up to you to decide where this E.P. ranks. But we fucking love it.
Like what you hear, well then check out their BANDCAMP page to order your copy of this stellar E.P.
Don’t forget to give these guys the friendly thumbs up on their FACEBOOK page.
Today the devils has brought us the debut E.P Stars Misaligned from the San Jose California tech death misfits Enigma and what a fucking brilliant E.P. it is too. Did you guys know it’s on bandcamp with a “name your own price” tag on it, which means download it for free or give them a couple bucks and help support them to make more killer music.
This E.P. is the real deal, these guys must have spent a lot of time working on the material for this and making sure it sounded just right. This E.P. has stellar production quality. You have to appreciate their blend of melodic death metal and technical death metal. They are walking on that razors edge of balance and they seem to be able to seamlessly transition between both well within the middle of the song and all without over doing it. For a group of musicians who may not be on everyone’s radar, sure know how to fuck shit up when it comes to playing bad ass music.
I really enjoy the acoustic guitar melody’s that are played throughout the E.P. because it adds that unplugged human element to the music, but hot damn can these guys shred too. I think my biggest gripe about this E.P. is that it is just an E.P. When I first listened to this it blew me away, I wanted more. I still want more, but that’s because this E.P. kicks so much ass. You never heard of people wanting more of something that sounds like garbage do you? I dig the vocals and on songs like “ Of Vile and Bliss” Petr pulls off some Strnad style vocals, also similar to bands like carcass. A higher pitched vocalization but piercing as it has a staccato delivery. Now I’m not saying this should get best album of 2016, but best E.P. of 2016 and it is going to be right up there. The fact that they have it on BANDCAMP for free is insane. But they made a bold statement doing that, I already got mine because it’s a solid E.P. one of the best I have heard in a damn long time. I thoroughly appreciate the fact that the E.P. has no fluff or filler, sure it has that intro on the first track, but that adds to the music, it doesn’t take away from the E.P. The E.P kicks ass, get on it.9/10\m/
I can almost guarantee that this E.P. is going to make many “best of” lists this month, and it looks like they might be working on new material too. So hopefully 2017 will be another good year for Enigma, and the metal heads looking for some kick ass technical melo-deth.
Like what you have read so far, well how about giving this E.P. a listen.
Like what you hear? Then pick up your copy or download for free whatever is clever but don’t fuck up and miss out. Click here to go to their BANDCAMP page
The Metal Breakdown 