Saturday 28 May 2011

Condate Records - Split Roast

Split Roast ft. Colonel Blast – Cancerous Womb – Magpyes – Dyscaphia – Diascorium

Condate Records 2011


Colonel Blast
1. Power By Proxy 2. The Crime is Passion

CB open this 5 way split perfectly with two tracks (Power by Proxy and The Crime is Passion) of blackened death metal with hints of grindcore. Rasping, gnarly vocals, blasting drums and dense, suffocating guitars feature throughout both tracks. The songs are well composed and CB isn’t afraid to experiment either, introducing slower sections and acoustic passages into the mix, which works well given their black metal tendencies.
8/10

Cancerous Womb
1. Torn From Gunt To Cunt 2. Tepid Decrepit 3. Austrian Basement (Live) 

CW are pure, in your face death metal, with hints of the ‘old school way of doing things’ on show here. CW certainly know how to write and play well crafted death metal and like Colonel Blast, aren’t afraid to slow the pace in between the barrage of blast and grind. Highlight for me was the live track ‘Austrian Basement’, excellently recorded; this track shows off all of CW’s song writing ability excellently. 7.5/10

Magpyes
 1.Lord ov Swords 2. Warning 3. The Creeping Hand 4. Willem Fucking Defoe
5. Sir, You Forget Yourself 6. Wolf Bukkake 7. North West Smash Test

Magpyes enter the fray with noisy, chaotic ‘all over the place’ technical grindcore. The seven tracks on offer here are excellently played and create an audio barrage that kicks you right in the face from the opening riff of ‘Lords Ov Swords’. Even when the pace is slowed to a crawl, which happens frequently throughout the tracks, listening to this you feel like you’re been tortured to your last breath. It brutal, its nasty, its fucking excellent!
8/10

Dyscaphia
1. Impious Conflagration 2. Altars To The Wretched 3. Enshrined In Pestilence

Dyscaphia open up with an atmospheric piano intro and then blast into ‘Impious Conflagration’. Technical, brutal as fuck death metal on show here, all played with maximum precision. Dyscaphia all handle their chosen instruments expertly, each song an example of a band at the top of their game. Again, as with all the bands on this cd, they are very good at writing solid, memorable songs that punch you full force in the face with no apology! The remaining two tracks ‘Altars To The Wretched’ and ‘Enshrined In Pestilence’ follow the same path, flowing perfectly, an absolute whirlwind of brutality being created. Reminds me of Origin, and that cant be a bad thing can it!
8.5/10

Diascorium
1. My Own Eagles 2. The Mechanics Of Serenity 3. Interjection...
4. Reduction To The Absurd 5. Self Modifying Game

Diascorium offer up 5 slabs of extreme, technical metal, diving in and out of genres to create one hell of a racket. They mix it up perfectly, creating a wall of sound that completely fucks with your head, from grinding, blasting madness, to heavy as fuck doom passages, to ‘tech’, maybe even math metal, its got it all. There’s even a gothic sounding piano interlude! Confused? Don’t be, it works!! You wont get bored listening to this ‘cos there’s so much going on here. Fuck convention, Diascorium are re-writing the rulebook on writing extreme metal songs!
7.5/10

Overall – 8.5/10. An excellent 5 way CD that showcases some of the UK’s more talented extreme metal acts.

Sunday 22 May 2011

Massacre Of The Megafauna - Demo


1.Say What you mean, mean what you say 2. Kill your boss 3. Rumsfeld’s unspoken fourth epistemological insight
       
Sheffield’s Massacre Of The Megafauna is indeed a strange beast judging by this three-track demo. The first track, ‘Say what you mean, mean what you say’ lends it’s self musically to thrash, topped by harsh vocals and interlaced with ‘clean’ sung passages.
Thrash-core maybe? The sung passages do move towards the metalcore cliché, but the overall sound is definitely not that. Backed up with excellent guitar work and good solid drumming, the foundations are laid for the remaining two tracks. The second track, ‘Kill your boss’ introduces a touch of groove into MOTM’s arsenal, moving to a more doom rock sound. However, the thrash element to their sound is ever present, lurking in the background, ready to be unleashed when needed. Third and final track ‘Rumsfeld’s unspoken fourth epistemological insight’ is the highlight to this disc, with groove; doom-laden passages leading into metalcore influenced technicality before unleashing an all out thrash attack. MOTM’s more brutal edge is on show here and it works reasonably well.


Their influences (thrash, doom, rock, metalcore) may seem a mix that might not necessarily work, but MOTM have managed to create quite an interesting sound. I’m not sure that hardened death and black metal fans would take to this (not that MOTM should be trying to impress fans of those genres in particular)…BUT, fans of metal in general, maybe hardcore and metalcore might enjoy this. It's all well played , the production isn’t the best in the world, but it’s a demo, you don’t expect a polished, professional high budget studio production. With hard work and a bit more song development, MOTM may have a bright future ahead of them and I can see the style they have created appealing to many. If these guys do get picked up by a label i am sure these tracks will work well if put onto a full length CD, enhanced by a better production.

6/10

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Basement Torture Killings - The Second Cumming


The Second Cumming (Arcane Productions 2010)

 1. Human Body Part Jewellery 2. Outback Murders 3. The Burner 4. Severed Head Fellatio 5. Caught Twice But Never Convicted 6. Priceles Life Death Art
7. 31 Stab Wounds To The Face 8. Crucifix Sodomy 9. The Trucker 10. Gore Bukkake 
Bonus Tracks** 11. Drill Bit Erotica** 12. Foetus Eater**


Murder obsessed sickos BTK unleash ‘The Second Cumming’, 12 tracks of sick, perverted ‘murder metal’ (not to be confused with Macabre’s brand of murder metal as BTK out perform the afore mentioned on so many levels). It’s pure brutality from start to finish. A short intro unleashes a bloody barrage that continues to bludgeon the listener through every track on this disc. Songs are enhanced by samples, sounding like news clips reporting on the horrors of murder. These ‘news clips’ work really well and add to the horrific atmosphere BTK have managed to create. Tortured, snarling, high-pitched vocals are complemented perfectly by the deep, aggressive, growling backing vocals, which only adds to the sense of horror. Backed up by blasting drums and frenzied guitar work, this is a monster of a cd. The production is top notch, being clear, yet utterly devastating and more importantly, its heavy!!! All involved handle their instruments with precision and ability, which is one of the reasons the end product is so utterly compelling to listen to (I’m reminded of Aborted while listening to this). BTK prove it is possible to write good, well-crafted death metal songs AND be totally brutal and devastating (and not get lost in a cess pit of noise and over the top technical nonsense). All twelve tracks stand out, never letting the listener down by changing the pace or direction. Packaged perfectly, ‘The Second Cumming’ is the soundtrack to a killer’s wet dream…. Perverted, sordid and disgustingly orgasmic.

9 / 10

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Dawn Of Chaos - Promo 2010

Promo 2010

  1. Force Fed Embryonic Slurry 2. The Need To Feed 3. Muffocated (live) 4. Blind Torture Kill (live)
I have always had a problem with bands that call their releases ‘promo’, I don’t know why, I just thinks its lazy, effortless and lacks inspiration (just a personal opinion). On offer here on “promo 2010” are 4 tracks (two studio recorded and two live) of in your face death metal. Noisy, chaotic, raw - the way death metal should be right? On the plus side, the two live tracks have been excellently recorded, each instrument clearly audible, even down the rumble of the bass. However, you could (almost) be mistaken for thinking the live tracks were recorded in the same studio as the first two tracks. There isn’t much that separates the quality of the sound between the studio and the live tracks.  I’m sure hardened underground fanatics will love this, but I’m not too convinced (a good job done on the live recording and a bad one done in the studio? It’s a close call!)



If this promo was meant to showcase DOC at their best, I think they could have done better than release two live tracks on a promo, as the two studio tracks just don’t give us enough of a clue as what the band is truly capable of. Its all there, the guttural vocals, the blasting drums, the American death metal inspired riffs, all well played, but uninspiring and nothing original and not enough of it to grab your attention. Assuming the band is hoping to gather some attention from labels with this release, I think a lot more effort and foresight is needed. Presentation is everything, some might say, “Let the music do the talking” but in this case there’s not even enough to start a conversation.

5 / 10

Friday 13 May 2011

Old Corpse Road - Interview


Thanks for speaking with UNITED KINGDOM EXTREME METAL, how are things with you?
Very well thanks. We’ve been busy the last couple of months playing up and down the country and it’s nice to have a small break from the gigging over the end of May, beginning of June.

For those unfamiliar with you guys, tell us more about the band?


Old Corpse Road is a UK black metal band with a lyrical theme based around UK folklore. Musically we play a blend of fast and intense death/ black metal, haunting passages, doom laden breaks and ambient music. Vocals range from harsh black metal screams, deathly growls, spoken passages and multiple voice chants.
We currently have two releases available which is the demo “The Echoes of Tales Once Told” and the split CD “The Bones of this Land are not Speechless”.
The band has also toured extensively over the UK over 2009, 2010 and 2011.


Would it be fair to say that folklore and history play an important role within OCR?

History plays a very important role within our music, although we have avoided any specific historical period by focusing on the folkloric aspect of our countries history. Folklore is essentially timeless and is passed from generation to generation, this allows a lot of freedom in how our songs can be experienced.  A key role in our music is the atmosphere created by these tales thus all of our songs are based on specific UK folk tales and legends.

  You guys released a split with WOS. How was this received at the time?


The split was original planned with the Worms of Sabnock, however it later developed into a split with The Meads of Asphodel (who feature two members from the WOS). The split came out around April 2010 and was received very well. I think it was great for us to share the split with one the UK’s leading black metal bands and gave us exposure to many new people and media across the world.


What releases do you have planned for the future?

In between gigs we have been focusing on our debut full length. The songs are all written and we are currently putting finishing touches to them with a view to record in the near future. All being well we would hope to have the album ready for release before the year is out. We are also planning a vinyl split with another band, but this is so early in the planning stages I can’t reveal any more at present.


How would you guys describe your sound?

It’s quite hard to describe our sound. In its basic form, our music is black metal. To this we add many different layers and styles to our music so you will also find death metal, doom, classic metal, ambient and folk music. It is important to us to try to keep a very British sound to the music. You can hear many of our British inspirations in our songs from the likes of early Cradle of Filth through to Iron Maiden.


The extreme metal scene in the north east of England seems quite healthy at the moment, with bands like WINDS OF GENOCIDE, THE OBSCENE, TODAY THE SUN DIES etc and yourselves. What are your thoughts of the local scene?
There are certainly more good bands coming out of the woodwork recently. I still feel the gig scene in the north east is a bit stale and we barely ever play up here. It would be nice to build on the live scene and try to bring more extreme bands up here.
Lyrics are an important aspect of extreme metal, where do you draw influence from and what are the lyrical themes?

As previously mentioned all of our lyrics are rooted in British folklore. With this there is also a tie to anything dark and mysterious, occultism and witchcraft and also a strong link to nature and history. These themes are very important to us as a band and as individuals we feel a strong kinship to the old tales.


Thanks once again for speaking with us. Any last words you wish to share with our readers?

Thanks to UKEM for taking time to ask us these questions. Please check us out at www.oldcorpseroad.co.uk. Here you can find song samples, videos, news, live dates and all that is Old Corpse Road!
Hails and regards, The Bearer,OCR


What should we expect from the band in the near future?

In November we will also be playing a mini tour entitled “The Great Exhibition”. So far the mini tour has 4 dates in Derby, Sheffield, London and Wakefield and we will be playing alongside Victorian black metallers Eibon La Furies, progressive folksters Northern Oak and classic UK death/doom band The Prophecy.



Monday 9 May 2011

Necrotize - Grievance




Dissected Records 2010

 1.Grievance 2. King 3. Hordes of God 4. Wretched Life 5. Proud, I Fall 6. Messiah
7. Walking The Footsteps of Saul



The first aspect of this disc that really impressed me was the production. Punchy guitars layered over a really bright drum sound make for a solid listen. Mid paced, melodic death metal is order of the day in the Necrotize camp (a less brutal Dew Scented springs to mind). ‘Hordes of God’ is an excellent example of the melodic edge to Necrotize, with the ‘sing along’ chorus and almost anthem like moments that keep the listener engaged. ‘Wretched Life’ shows us that the band isn’t afraid to wander from the melodic path and treat us to some ‘blast’, which works well (some more would have been nice, but that’s just my personal preference). The tracks on offer are easily accessible and easy to listen to, which some may find a turn off, as the listener isn’t ‘challenged’ into wondering what will come next. But thats not really a major issue as the riffing is extremely catchy and doesn't threaten to become monotonous. A good, well played solid death metal album which I’m sure will have many banging their heads after a few ales – The UK’s answer to Dew Scented? Nothing groundbreaking, but still a good listen and another great example of healthy the UK extreme metal scene currently is!

7 /10

Saturday 7 May 2011

Towers Of Flesh - The Perpetual Paradox


Dissected Records 2010

1.The Becoming 2. As Above So Below  3. Bringer Of The Flame 4. Renounce Thy Flesh
5. Forbidden Gnosis 6. The Perpetual Paradox


The Perpetual Paradox opens up with an acoustic passage, and to be quite honest it sounds a little uncomfortable and out of place, I was expecting the second track to blast in which just didn’t happen unfortunately, but that’s just my expectation, not a real criticism. Things really get going with ‘Bringer Of The Flame’, an unholy 'Dissection influenced' monster of a track. I don’t think that T.O.F would mind me using the mighty Dissection as a reference point, as the whole CD (for me) shouts "unholy blackened death metal". Acoustic and melodic interludes slow the songs down, but then the barrage of harsh, yet melodic riffing opens up again. 'Renounce Thy Flesh' and 'Forbidden Gnosis' continue this theme perfectly. For me T.O.F are at their best when the pace is fast, however the slower passages work well to add variety to all of the songs, making them sound almost ‘epic’. This disc sounds better the more you listen to it, the band seem to ‘find their feet’ the further through this disc you delve. Really well played, unholy, epic blackened death metal, fast riffing, blasting drums, tortured vocals. All the boxes are ticked. T.O.F are a shining example of what the UK underground currently has to offer. They should be proud of this effort.

8/10