Death is June -Fleshcrawl : "Epitome of Carnage"

 

This is the 10th album from this German death metal band. They have had a few incarnations under different names, but this version of the band emerged in the 90s. They have a dense, almost Entombed-like production feel, but the vocals on the opening are buried in the wall of guitar. They grind with a more deliberate feel on the second song. The vocals snarl out from the guitar a little, but the wall of riffs is the heart of what they are doing here. "Grave Messiah' finds them speeding up into the more typical death metal sound. It's fine for what it is, but since the vocals are just an obligatory texture, it does not lend itself to the catchiest songwriting. 

"Embers of Wrath" has a little more memorable riffing, which works better than the more bludgeoning assault of "Committed to Suffer." Though even that song finds its purpose more with the more accented punches. While death metal is not known for being subtle, they could have employed more atmosphere and melody on "Reign Forever," as it's just a churning blur of distortion. None of the songs really sprawl out, nor could they, in any way that makes sense, thanks to the high intensity they maintain at all times. At times, they use a Decide formula where they start off fast but take their time and find their groove, which happens to some extent on "Orphan God," which, to their credit, benefits from huge flourishes of double bass. 

"Pain of Thorns" is more deliberate in some passages, but the fast parts feel rushed. The gritty grind of Entombed now a signature of this album. There is a section that could have been cooler if the bass had been given a tone with more balls to it. "Heralds of Death' is where the songs begin to run together for me; unfortunately, what separates it from the previous songs is some feral blasting in places. The last song rides the ave of double bass and does little to dynamically seperate itself either. Though I will say the mix to this album is better heard through headphones. If you want to know the growls are there but don't need much from them and love the Entombed style of burly death metal, then this band will be worth your time. I am giving it an 8, as if want to hear Entombed. I will go listen to them, but this band created the album they wanted to and care about songs more than most death metal bands that are this heavy.Out on Reigning Pheonix Music.   

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Classics? - Accept : "Restless and Wild "

Here is a new column where I am going to give another listen to album long hailed as classics and see if they have rightly earned their places in the revered halls of hollowed metal worship. This German band I have always respected, and liked some of their stuff but never clicked with me I picked this album because it does have my favorite song "the Princess of Dawn" on it. I caught these guys in the late 80's opening for W.A.S.P , but Udo wasn't in the band so it almost doesn't count. I always thought of them as a poor man's Judas Priest and while I can hear that on the opener "Fast as a Shark" , I like the title track better. Udo 's rasp gives them more of an edge than most Priest, though Halford is twice the singer he is.

"Ahead of the Pack" kind of wants to be "Heading out On the Highway"  which only proceeded this album by a year. The riffing is pretty straight forward arena metal, which now almost borders on hard rock when put in the context of today's metal. I like the reverse delay put on the song before the solo. As 80's metal guitar solos go , they are not memorable, but tasteful for what it is. "Shake Your Heads" has the deliberate Scorpions like beat with the pulsing bass following it. Udo's goes up higher into more of  AC/DC like register. The sing along chorus is a little on the silly side and if some did that today it would seem dated.

I think their songwriting is at it's best on a song like "Neon Nights". It has a darker side than the more cock rock bluster we have heard on this album up to this point. I think Udo's voice sounds great in the lower croon here as you can feel more emotion in his singing. But then there is the clownish "Get Ready" . You tend to forget about this song as it's followed by the much heavier "Demon's Night". This song hits all the right places for when it came out. For 1982 this was some pretty heavy shit and you can hear how it certainly influenced a band like Exodus.

When it comes to song titles it certainly doesn't any dumber than "Flash Rocking Man"  It is dumb Camaro drinking beer rock, "Don't go Stealing My Soul Away" is marginally more metal. Lyrically it is not as silly. Then comes the best song" Princess of the Dawn". The longest song on the album has some stunning guitar interplay.In how this album finally pans out I'll give it a 9 so it falls short of living up to "Sin After Sin" or "Number of the Beast" if we are talking about what the truly classic metal albums are, but to know where your metal came from it's worth a listen or 3.

Black Metal History Month- Black Priest of Satan : "Element of Destruction"

This duo's name might not be the most original, but it does give them a lot to live up to. They act as priests opening the album in a more ritualistic manner, before vomiting up a grime coated churn. Not slow enough to be doom, but far from reaching the speed typically associated with black metal, they still work in some of the staples like tremolo picked guitar. The drums keep things steady, rather than blasting. This creates a more musical climate. This German band is  raw enough to keep most fans of black metal happy. Even some chanted clean singing enters the fray. They cover a lot of ground on the first song and raised the bar to a height the second song falls short of .  It's more aggressive, but not as focused of a song. When it speed up things sound a little clunky around the edges.

There is a death metal like attack to "Blazing Fires in the Night".  Two and a half minutes into this the song breaks down for the band to lock into a steadier march into the darkness. The dramatic layered vocals are weird, but effective in that you can't put your finger on a band with a similar sound. Some times they do remind me of a moodier version of Mortuary Drape, though they are rougher around the edges. Dynamically this album has a lot going for it. The atmospherics they employ before "Unheard Prayer" help break things up as they drag themselves into a more cryptic doom heavy riff. Lyrically this is the first song that strays from the occult undertones to call out Jehovah, which I'm fine with as they seem pretty sincere. Once they reach the five minute mark this one begins to lose it's steam. This song also changes the course of the album as 'Ritual of 3 Candles" also follows a more doomy path. This song however is more air tight in it's construction. The synths that eventually come in add a lot to the song before it descends into ringing distortion.

The final song "Guided By Two Moons". This song is very dense. It's not until two minutes in that they begin to gain control over it.The guitar holds a static tremolo picked line in this that gives it more of a black metal feel.I'll give this one an 8.5 and see how it sits with me. If you are just looking for blast beats then this album is not for you. But if you like the more classic early black metal than it is worth a listen or two.

Leaves Eyes : King of Kings"

I Haven't reviewed any big overwrought symphonic metal in sometime so lets take a stab at this one. It opens with more of a folk metal feel, which I prefer to a horde of cellos chiming in, but it's merely an intro piece as the more Nightwish like title track proves to be the first song. The first thing I notice is that former Theater of Tragedy singer Liv Kristine's vocal has gotten stronger and more operatic. The album is a concept album that tells the story of Harald Fairhair the first King of Norway. "Halvdan the Black" finds things getting really Nighwish like, with layers of vocals and a pretty straight ahead power metal chug. Truth be told this kind of music has always been power metal for goth kids who outgrew Lacuna Coil. These guys can play and know how to fuse dynamics, in fact this album has more kick than what I have previously heard from them.

There are a few formulas these bands tap into one of them is get off to a delicate start, driving drum beat, not metal but not quite pop either though the vocal could have come from any anime soundtrack and then build it up from there. They mix the guitars a little further back than some to achieve this effect. The drummer doesn't relent on the double bass when this comes about. So now in rating this album I find myself looking for the moments that are uniquely Leaves Eyes and are not afraid to stray from the book of Symphonic Metal 101. Its moments like the Bag pipes and other folk instruments frolicking in the interlude before "Vengeance Venom" that is a clearer direction of where the band should go and while these elements are sprinkled about if pushed forward in the mix then the band would be onto something. Never the less the elements that are there keep things varied enough to make this one of the first real stand outs to me. There is a more melodramatic take on the folk thing on the double bass driven "Sacred Vow" which finds a more pop tone taken while she sings about the viking nation waging warfare.But like this kind of thing or not you have to admit Leaves Eyes are just as formidable as any of the other diva metal bands.

The divas battle it out as Simone Simons shows up for "Edge of Steel" which has some of the albums most metal riffing on it. There voices blend well. After the more folkish interlude "Blazing Waters" Linda Fay Hella from Wardruna lends her voice to this one. For what it is it is well done, it just depends how much frilly shirted bombast you can take with your metal. They do combine this with more folk on the closing song "Swords in Rock". You know for what this is it's well done , there is nothing on it that makes me cringe , I will acknowledge I am not the biggest fan of this sort of thing aside from Kamelot, who is a little darker and heavier , even with the more growled death metal vocals that sometimes scream out from the background on this album. There is not a lot of darkness , however they have pulled off the preformance they intended which is ambitous so they deserve and 8 for that.

Instinct of Survival : "Call of the Blue Distance"

This German band's sound is so impressive it kicks you past points of contention such as song writing. The opener ends rather abruptly . They seem to want the death-rock and the melody to the riff in "Salvation" comes the closest to being death-rock. Not unlike Cemetery, they do not relent on the more bombastic elements of punk, yet these guys are not as creepy as Cemetery. The crusty punk vocals punch their way out from the metallic riffs. Sure Killing Joke is one influence that stands out and the band comes from that forgotten purgatory where punk and goth met. They carry much more Exploited than Bauhaus. A darker version of Hotwater Music is how it hits me at other times, with dashes of Motorhead and Hawkwind are scattered about like ashes along the way. On "Walls" is obvious the guitars carry some great dissonance to them and these guys have a knack for coming up with good heavy riffs.

"To Forget" is almost like old Voi Vod, but without the prog leanings. Imagine an angrier take on "Nothing Face". The songs are very straight forward despite some of the sonic innovation found in the way the chords are sprawled out with the eerie tone of the guitar that like Atriarch can flip from overt metal to something closer to death rock with a click of the drum sticks."Violence Silence"carries some moodiness in with it's full frontal assault. At it's heart it still hits me like punk rock. "Lapsed in Absurdity" tests the bounds of how much punk I can endure. The vocals begin to sound like the late Oderus from Gwar.

They find a better balance on "Drown in Sorrow". I can hear how this sort of thing relates to old "Pain of Mind" Neurosis. Some of the sing song chants of course carry a more drunken punk cadence. To my joy they step into the more shadowy nature of the now defunct Alaric on "What will you Do?". Even then their punk roots are not going any where. I think it's fortunate that they play a thrashy metal infused brand of punk. At times sonic throb alternates with the chug to make the most of their darker leanings. The thrashier elements are highlighted on "Fading Footsteps". It almost touches on Cro-mag's like hard core. But you would still be hard pressed to call them a hard core band. They have more metal moments, but that tag doesn't really apply either.

They take the album out on a more dismal note with "Endzeit". The song has a stomp to it, but is still down trodden in it's contemplation. I'm am not sure how this can be lumped in with positive punk, as these guys seemed morbidly pissed. I will give this one an 8.5, I like where they are headed, it just is a little too straight forward when it reverts back into the more punk rock moments of this album, and with all the hype it had gathered before hearing this I was hoping for something much darker. Not that it's not darker than most punk out there that doesn't rightly earn the goth title. So give these guys a listen.

Equilibrium: "Erdentempel"

We recently started D&D nights on Sunday at our house, and of course the fitting soundtrack is to put Last Fm on "folk metal" radio. Last night my girlfriend rediscovered this band, so I decided to give their latest album a shot. It's much more symphonic than I expected almost like Night Wish without the female vocals. The Folk metal scale tends to be very major and happy so that is one thing the genre normally has going against it for me.

These ale swigging Germans have been pumping out this sort of thing since 2001. They know what they are doing and all the songs flow very smoothly. The 3rd song "Karawane" is the first song on the album that strikes me as being heavy, the frolicking is in full effect early on. The first two songs employ things like speedy almost power metal like gallops and growled vocals, the rousing clean vocals are sparser than expected. They do join in on the chorus like movements. The Celtic like instrumentation rolls along the same lines as the Night Wish riffs. Composition is one of this band's strong suits as the songs are relativly catchy and pieced together in almost movements, so the chorus are more like a dynamic melody that swings in rather than the typical arrangement.

Some of the album's happier moments would annoy me if I wasn't at Dragon Con.From time they dip into a more rock n roll, at others they are more symphonic death metal, so there is a lot going on here. Some of the more progressive elements offset the happy vibe and take it to a more Jethro Tull place. "Freiflug" is another of the album's strong points, it is epic but still has some balls and aggression it, while not forsaking melody. However "Heavy Chill" defaults back into the more power metal mode.

"Wirtshaus Gaudi" brings the heavy back, surprisingly in the days where everything is trying to be black something or another, they do not , instead as the album moves forward the delve in quirky bits of gypsy polka.There are some moments when they hit all the same classic ride into battle glory moments all the other bands of this ilk indulge in, but their song writing generally sets them apart. The seems to be key as "Wellengang" works in the context in which is is used , by taking what could have been a power ballad melody and chugging over it.

They do take more twists and turns on "Apokalypse", which is one of the album's heavier moments.They close on a proggy note with "Unknown Episode" and it's very 80's sounding keyboards.The vocals get even more guttural to offset this with mixed results.Overall I enjoyed this album for what it is, not sure how much mileage aside from Dragon Con I will get out of this , but if this sort of high fanstasy metal is your thing round it up from the 8 I am giving it to a 9.

Necros Christos: "Nine Graves"

With their last album "Doom of the Occult"  the German four piece Necros Christos took the crown of emerging sub-genre called "occult death metal". If you are still shaky on what defines occult black metal, it seems to be a love of "Altars of Madness" and an addiction to re-verb. This creates a spooky cavernous sound with enough ambiance to support a few melodic solos.The word occult means hidden , so if they are hiding something in the caves of metal, the moniker works.

Their latest ep changes the rules , the only spooky are interludes proving not only do they love Morbid Angel, but they also own a few Dead Can Dance albums. The tomb raiding echo, is absent instead the band opts for a much rawer sound. The vocals sound more like black n roll era Darkthrone, lacking the low guttural gurgle. It is a give and take. The solos are still intact and their playing doesn't falter, however this is a much more straight forward sound. To the point I had to double check to see if this was the same band.

The more morbid leaks out slightly on "Va Koram Do Rex Satan". The warmer more organic production  throws off the sound that made their last album work so well. The lyric are more articulated and  add to the clearer structure of the songs. So if you were hooked on the darker more sprawling sound this might take some getting use to.

By the time I was adjusted to this more meat and potatoes approach, they pull out acoustic guitars and fall into an almost folk instrumental jam session. Unless you play guitar or need some background music for you next D&D campaign this seems like a waste of space on this already abbreviated release. They do come back stronger and darker on "Baptized By the Black Urine of the Deceased". With that song title how could they not. Production aside this is a return to what you want from these guys... densely dark death-metal.

The Morbid Angel and Incantation worship is firmly in check and these songs are largely posses with their own sense of identity. They close out this ep with the title track. It is tightly coiled with the riffs slithering around the drive of the double bass. The guitar balances out baring its teeth while holding down the melodic hooks. The bass is much lower in the mix than on "Doom of the Occult"giving the songs more of a Celtic Frost feel.

It is smartly written and deftly executed death metal. Their is more attention to detail than other bands of this ilk, time will tell if this grows on me. I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10, as for what this is it works well and fans of the more generic forms of death metal will eat this up. It is some hard black urine to swallow if you are hooked on their more occult sound. Though maybe this is what the occult sounds like since it was never defined.

Sado Sathanas : "Nomos Harmatia"

It's getting harder and harder to find black metal bands not intertwined with death metal. This German band is exception having got their start as a death metal band and then changing with the times into their current incarnation. These guys don't shun atmosphere, where most of their country men tend to keep things rather stiff and militant when it comes to the blasty side of things.

Despite having been together for so long this is the band's second full length. It's also the first to include their new bassist Robert Blockmann. The clean vocals on the second song are the first thing that really convinces me these guys mean business when it comes to committing to expanding their creative boundaries. Even though this type of low goth moan is not new to black metal, to me it's a gesture of good faith that they want to actually create music and plow you over with bombast.

There is a sense of melancholy to a song like "Ante Bellum" , but they tend to storm the gates too often in their powerful gallop to really fit the modis operandi of Depressive black metal.Even the fact that "Ante Bellu" is an instrumental doesn't bug me as it flows really well, in some ways reminds me of Moonsorrow, speaking of which what do we have to do to get a new album from those guys?

"Invertum" opens with a rumbling bass line and plunges feet first into this double bass explosion of epic blasting . When it does slow to swing into the more epic section of melody the song is most effective. "P.A.N Demonia" rips that a similar speed though swinging in the verses. At times  in some of the breakdowns you might even be inclined to lump these guys in with some of the Pagan Black Metal bands. There is that kind of viking metal quality.

They close out the album on a very dark note with " Codex Diaboli" it touches on that fine line I like where funeral doom meets black metal. Oppressive yet beautiful.This is another instrumental that I don't mind , though how long the instrumentals stay on my iPod when push comes to shove and I am trying to save space... well I don't know. It's not too big of a leap for me to round this one up to 9.

Falkenbach:"Asa"

As the winter nears, I begin to crave more viking in my metal, but rarely can folk metal bands deliever, as most are too happy and sound like silly drinking songs or growling over polka. In the past I had given Falkenbach a listen, but have hardly been blown away by past efforts so I gave the new album by the one man German band a shot, the opener  Vaer Stjernar Vaerdan, has the Lord of the Rings epic feel I like but without being to happy. In fact the clean vocals are mournful, unlike the more triumphant Tyr, who gets so up beat their trip over themselves into silliness.

So the album was off to a good start, but can Markus Tummers, craft a entire album as convincing. Well the harsh vocals and accelerated pace of "Wulfarweijd" sound like a more black metal Finntroll , but more angry than frolicking. It charges head on into battle, but so do most other bands of this ilk, with little variance except onward into the battle.

The acoustic guitars that start the swinging gallop of "Mijn Laezt Wourd" has more personality to it. It drones on the riff until the vocals come in and the tempo modulates to accommodate the melody. The pace of this reminds me of the newer Primordial. Brozen Embrace goes into a more straight up black metal riff ,but it is done much more effectively this time.

The strum of the clean guitars returns to lead off "Eweroun" but the metal guitars are evenly blended with the acoustics.This song chugs along nicely with its flowing sway.It seems the pattern established is to take the riff and sail it across the seven seas, building on it in waves rather than any changes . A mid-period Enslaved riff storms out across the tundra with "I Nattens Stilta". Melodic layers are added in the songs second half and when the double bass lets up it even takes a more folkish tone.

It 's is like every other song has breathing room as "Bluot Fuer Bluot" treads more melodic ground , though still bears a stomp over the ice. It seems like the melodic vocal lines have improved greatly from what I remember of the earlier work. It reverts back to more of a black metal feel in the final two minutes. The formula stays intact as "StikkeWound" goes for the throat with an epic blast, that paves the path for an even bigger gallop, where Amon Amarth, like to play viking, this sounds much more convincing, though will only sell a fraction of their numbers.

And album ends with some breathing room, as the strum of acoustic guitar propels this Germanic pagan  ode. The drumming is pretty tasty here and keeps the song soaring over the camp fire.I'll give this album an 8.5 , it exceeded my expectations, even though it at times can be a little predictable and could use more experimentation with the folk elements, but for a one man band it's fair to say this is damn impressive.