Tag: Malta

Beheaded- Beast Incarnate- Album review 8/10 \m/

on By

Beheaded

Beast Incarnate

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Released January 27, 2017

David ‘Cejca’ Cachia – bass
Omar Grech – guitars
Simone Brigo – guitars
Davide Billia – drums
Frank Calleja – vocals

Track List

  1. Beast Incarnate
  2. The Horror Breathes
  3. Crossing The House Of Knives
  4. Reign Of The Headless King
  5. The Black Death
  6. Cursed Mediterranean
  7. Fid-dlam Tadejjem
  8. Punishment Of The Grave

The guys in Beheaded waste no time with their title track opening for this album, that quick set up and then the drums rolling into a truly menacing riff. That riff is 100% responsible for my uplifted attitude and mean mugging while air drumming right now.  These guys have no subtlety to their brutal intentions from what I have heard in only two minutes of the first track. I can’t even begin to describe how much I am enjoying the title track. What a way to kick off an album. I must admit I have looped the title track several times now because they hit you with such explosive force and god damn those guitars and drums. The drums are a driving force and the guitars back it up with brutal and unwavering showmanship.  The album continues on the same destructive path, track after track.  I have yet to hear any particular track on this album that made me feel differently from how I felt listening to Beast Incarnate for the first time.  By the time you get to “The Black Death” the listener has already succumbed to the relentless pummeling they have endured for the first half of the album, but The Black Death has a slower approach, but the beginning with the sounds from an old ship just creaking as it sails through the open water with the wind as the only other background noise, growing louder and louder with the occasional waves crashing against the side of the ship. The drums and guitars fade in, slowly over the course of a few bars to build up to this eight minute long track. I really enjoy this track as it breaks the album up enough to show that they aren’t going to be sticking to a specific formula of driving guitars and blast beats.  They have more to this album than what’s on just the surface, the second half begins at almost half the tempo of the first four tracks. But it’s how they end the album with “Punishment Of The Grave” that brings back an old school melodic death metal feel and that guitar solo halfway through the track seals the deal.  I am very impressed by this album, and have enjoyed my time spinning this these past few weeks. The vocals stick to their style that works for them, I find nothing bland about them either. They just seem to follow the rule “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” approach. The guitars have a great tone, but the talent and craftsmanship is modestly distributed. They are not showboating their skills, and they have great skills they bring to the table.  The drums are on point, never over the top and keep the listener engaged. and it is worth mentioning that Dave also plays the drums for Hour Of Penance. So the drums kick ass as you would have expected them to.  8/10\m/

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You can grab your copy of this kick ass album over at the Unique Leaders BANDCAMP page by clicking HERE

-Badger \m/

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http://www.badgersmetalbreakdown.com

Ascendor-Drive My Demons Away-6/10

on By

Ascendor

Drive My Demons Away

2015

Steve Muscat – Vocals,
Joe Costa – Guitars,
Andy Fava – Guitars / Backing Vocals,
Blasio Muscat – Bass,
Paul Formosa – Drums

 

  1. Fear of God

This song starts out with a fast guitar introduction, and then the band fades in with double bass and ad off timed snare for a few bars to build the song up. The rhythm for the first verse is solid, something you can really head bang to, and got locked into the groove. They have an old school thrash death sound, then they give a short little solo to transition to the next section. I love the simplicity of this song. The change at the 2:52 mark is great, it has that pre solo buildup, and then a shredding guitar solo following.

 

  1. At The Gates

This song starts out with a lone guitar tone and then some hammer on sounding guitar licks. This has a blackened feel to it, bringing a different guitar distortion than the previous track, and a really sinister feel to the song altogether.

 

  1. Drive My Demons Away

Starting out with a guitar riff that has that sound that can get you ready for something big, while the hi hat is getting hit on 2 and 4. Then we get a quick paced thrash style rhythm that plays out for a good forty seconds. This song had a great beginning, but really lost me when the vocals came in, I just didn’t care for the sound they were going for on the second half of this song.

 

  1. Where Angels Lay to Die

This song has an old school thrash sound to it right from the beginning, and sounds like something Megadeth would have done in the late 80’s. First minute of the song is good, and I dig the guitars, this song seems promising. Heavy yet spoken dialogue happens to be the first form of vocals on this track. Yet they build up to a heavier form towards the tail end of the first spoken verse. They give us a solid guitar solo starting at the 4:00 minute mark and shreds for just shy of a full minute. This song is a great track on this album.

 

  1. With Broken Wings

The song has a slower and darker beginning, for the first fifty seconds, and then picks up in tempo. They have a rock solid rhythm for this song, and the buildup for the chorus section is great. The guitar solo shows of the talents and influences from the guitars, this is a great song.

 

  1. War Inside My Head

This is a pretty simple song, the opening lines consist of the title of the track, and a heavy rhythm for just shy of a minute. The tempo is right around the 130 BPM area, and has a solid beat to it, something you can tap your foot to. Not a truly exciting song, but they keep it simple with this one and a guitar solo can be heard during the last leg of this song.

 

 

  1. In The Hangman’s Shadow

This song had a lot of build up for the first two minutes, and then the vocals join in, I can’t say I really enjoy the vocals for the first sequence of vocals. But the beginning rhythm I liked. This song could have been a really solid instrumental track.

 

  1. Turn water to blood

A long guitar tone can be heard, and then an orchestral melody is being played, for a few bars until the drums come in hard. This is the longest song on the album clocking in at around 11:13 minutes long. They seem to have no issues playing out for the first few minutes to get the song going. That’s when the vocals join in, and they come in with a better delivery than the previous track. They sound almost the same but it’s how they are delivered, that makes it sound better. They hit us with guitar solos and higher tempos throughout the song, while also bringing it down for a melodic section just past the half way point of the song. Only to come back out of it with high intensity.

 

This album was a solid effort, not all tracks were equal, however the tracks that lost my attention wasn’t because they were bad, and it was because they were a little more basic than the previous tracks. It is still a worthwhile album, and really brought in some tones that sounded like the older thrash and other metal bands like Megadeth, and Slayer at times. The guitars were awesome in their solos, they gave a classic shredding guitar solo approach and executed them nicely. I rate this album around a 6/10.

-Badger \m/
http://www.badgersmetalbreakdown.com