Terminal Nation : "Echoes of the Devil's Den"

This dark hard-core band opens up their new album with a bleak doomy sound of dystopia burning. The vocals snarl and bark with animalistic anger. When they gain momentum it's difficult to hear where the metal ends and the hard-core begins. The chug driving this album is powerful. "Written By the Victor" gains more speed and finds them attacking with the hyper aggression of death metal. His vocals even focus more on a lower guttural growl. Todd Jones from Nails lends his voice to this song as well.  This might be one of the heaviest albums you have heard in some time. "The Spikes Under the Bridge" starts at a more deliberate pace, then gains steam from the double bass that bubbles up beneath it. 

The ebb and flow of this album seem to find them in a tug of war against the need for speed and this weightier chugging. It is not a perpetual breakdown being fostered, but a more metallic spirit that flows through their musical DNA. They are raging against the system pretty well, and seem pretty angry at the police, In fact, it is the album's angriest moment so far. They push further into death metal, while still balancing things with a hard-core stomp. They are riff-oriented enough to keep things hooky, even when the vocals lock into a barbaric chant. There is a Metallica feel to "Embers of Humanity" where they indulge in impressive guitar solos. 

They pour on the death metal speed for "Merchants of Bloodshed". They are skilled enough to not attempt rushing the song, by but allow for grooves to develop. Lyrically it's about the military-industrial complex which I can appreciate. Jesse from Killswitch Engage lends his voice, to provide a more soaring climax to the song. "Bullet For a Stone" has more of a modern metal groove to it. "Dying Alive" finds them stomping onto the gas, and accelerating to more of a thrashing speed that brings earlier Entombed to mind. While the logic to their songwriting is influenced by hardcore, they do not conform to the breakdown formula. 

The production of this album is very raw and in your face. Despite being incredibly dense, the guitars sound like they are being cranked through blown-out speakers. "Immolation" has more of a death-metal feel to it. They also bring back more of the Entombed influence that lurks in the background. Dwid from Integrity joins them on the last song. He fits well within the scope of what they are doing here. Dwid has an almost Lemmy-like rasp here. I will give this album a 9.5, it's a dark and gritty take on metallic hard-core that crosses it with death metal in a manner that is more deserving of being called metal core or deathcore than the kids who have taken on those labels. 

pst173

Death is June - End Reign : " The Way of All Flesh is Decay"

A project formed by Integrity guitarist Domenic Romeo, who enlists the talents of Pig Destroyer and Bloodlet's bass player. We know it will at least be dark. There is a tone of cross over hard core coming out, so let us have a listen to hear how these veterans are faring among the current crop. There is almost a black metal feel to it at times. Their is a tortured mood to the vocals that cries out amongst the apocalyptic perishing around it. They remind you they are from hard core bands by including some muscular stomping break down like riffs. Lyrically this has more in common with metal as they are talking about astral planes. There are also more guitar solos than you expect from hard core. 

The first clear cut death metal song is "Divine Abysmal End' which lashes out with an Obituary like sneer. The riffs have all the hook of classic death metal, but propelled by hard core anger. Romeo also brought aboard Exhumed guitarist Sebastian Philips to join him on guitar so that leans them in more of a death metal direction there. "Serpent Messiah" feels like something Starkweather would have done, back in the day. Hyper aggression is a mood shared by both death metal and hard core, here it is hard to tell where one begins and the other ends, I think this would be better called death core than a band like Whitechapel, who has little hard to their core. 

"House of Thieves" finds the punk part of the equation settling in. "Giving Life to Tragedy" finds melody expanding the emotional range of the sonics they hit you with. They declare  they speak for the dead on "Chasing Divinity" which stays around the same sonic zip code most this album has raged within.   They remind me of when Slayer would embrace their more unhinged punk roots on "When Death Comes Crawling". They are at their most effectively metallic on the last song that howls with great feeling. Benefitting from a organic production that is mixed to put the action in your face, you get a feeling this is what they sound like live as well. I will give this album a 9, it is being released on Relapse Records on July 14th. 

 

The Weekly Playlist : Apocalypse Edition

What is even more discouraging than a wimpy apocalypse play list is a metal musician saying they can not take any more gloom and doom. Yes, this came up on my Facebook feed. No, they were not joking.Well not only will an apocalypse thin the herd, but the very threat of one will show us who the fucking poseurs are. Death should be celebrated. Why listen to death metal and not celebrate death? It is the only thing that is certain. Why be afraid of it ? Oh, people are afraid. Hoping their city gets shut down, so they get permission to give up and not face the world out side. Here I am hoping for some Mad Max level shit so I have an excuse to try out cannibalism and ride the wasteland as Lord Humongous. This could literally come down to survival of the fittest. Could is the operative word. Every apocalypse I have looked forward to has let me down. In a few weeks things will return to the boring status quo and I will still remember all of you who were hiding  under your beds wanting something happy. Here is a fitting playlist for the rest of you who celebrate chaos like I do. Next week I will make you guys the dystopian future industrial play list , until here is your metal.



Obituary- 'Infected"





Sepultura - "Dead Embryonic Cells" 






Voivod - "Bacteria"






 Morbid Angel - "Angel of Disease" 





Anaal Nathrakh- "the Apocalypse is About You"


 


Slayer - " Epidemic"


<



Cattle Decapitation- "Bring Back the Plague "


 


Asphyx - "Last One On Earth"


 

Integrity - "Dawn of a New Apocalypse" 






Behemoth- "Christgrinding Ave" 

Low Estate : " Covert Cult of Death"

The album title must refer to the fact that despite the hipster marketing, this is death metal mixed with Amp Rep styled noise rock more than it's hard core or black metal. There are touches of black metal influences in the guitars , but not enough to make these guys actually black metal. I originally checked these guys out because the drummer from Sannhet is in this band, but they do have a powerfully heavy sound. The fact they deliver this pounding with more smarts than the average death metal band speaks to their strengths in terms of how they have crafted the over all sound.There is a more sludge like tempo to "From A Sliver Tongue". There is a dissonance to their aggressive chugging that keeps things interesting.

There is a smoother more melodic groove to "Comfort In Futility" which is the first song that really sells me on their brand of death metal. There is still a chaos to it. There is more attack on "R- Complex" to the point of going into blasts. Sung vocals eventually crop up on this song. They just call out ominously in the background. A cleaner guitar tone opens up "Circle of Error". The bass tone is pretty fantastic here and the song has a darker creep possessing it. They border black metal here , though dipping their toes into it even to this extent doesn't make them a black metal band. "Days of Days" is more of a full frontal assault. The sung vocals come back in with a Swans like baritone.  Dwid from Integrity joins in on the more Converge like metal core of "Masked Illusion" which works with with it's jagged dissonance.

The mean ass bass tone gives heft to the riff going into "Forced" . They are like a more rabid version of the Jesus Lizard here. The more spoken vocals give a more post-hardcore narrative to this brand of hybrid metal. Three and a half minutes in and its hard to not nod your head to this. There is more of a whiplash to the mean spirited stomp of "Shame". One thing these guys have going for them is they don't drag the songs out .Instead they cram a great deal into each punch these songs throw. I'll round this up to a 9, despite having the feeling I might not get a ton of mileage out of this one. A lot of bands these days thrown genres together to create this kind of hybrid these guys do it in a way that still feels like the own it.

Integrity - "Howling, For The Nightmare Shall Consume"

I remember this wave of Victory records hard core bands that brought a much more metallic sound to hardcore. Bloodlet and Snapcase were my favorites, but Integrity was after Bloodlet the next darkest of those bands. There is an almost black metal blasting to the first song when it it's not in a more punk rock beat. When it slows down into more of a break down like accent they sound their most powerful. Guitar solos come blazing out of the cracks more than I remember happening back in the day. There are Slayer like diving bombing guitar squealing everywhere with the more mean spirited thrash of "Hymn For the Children of the Black Flame".  The drumming is also very Slayer, but Slayer hasn't sounded like Slayer in some time so I am o.k. with this . But will the band's longtime fan-base ? "I am the Spell" blasts past me, but the more Motorhead thrash of "Die With Your Boots on " catches my ear. The guitar solos are staring to get a little excessive by this point in the album.

The intro to "Serpent of the Crossroads" sounds more like a Kiss song. The vocals are still really gritty in their raps but sound like there is more of an attempt at singing here. They get creepy with the organ leading into "Unholy Salvation of Sabbatai Zevi" . Not the best song on the album, but still pretty solid without getting lost in its momentum. While I am not a fan of the spoken word vocals on the verse of "7 Reece Mews" I think the varying guitar tones and all the sonic pieces that they assemble hear make for a unique sound that stands out on this album and shows their songwriting prowess to a much fuller extent. "Burning Beneath the Devils Cross" reminds me a little of the earlier more Punk days of Bathory or even Venom.

There is a more rock n roll feel to "String Up My Teeth" . It has a mid paced Judas Priest like groove. The more Motorhead like sound returns on the title track to close out the album. It reminds me of "Orgasmatron" era Motorhead with am ore dense and oppressive sound. I think these is a more metal album than it is hard core, but these guys are good at what they do and this is a resounding success so I'll grant this one a 8.5.

Integrity: "Suicide Black Snake"

I was very aware of Integrity when they came out in the whole Victory Records hardcore wave of the nineties, the fact is all of those bands but Bloodlet I assumed where straightedge and at the time I was doing life threatening amounts of drugs so straight edge wasn't some that resonated with me like mmm...Psychic T.v , Swans or Neurosis who were all my my drug soundtrack. I  think if I focused on what a charismatic nut their lead singer Dwid is and some of the things we have in common like Lavey, serial killers, aliens and the Church of the Final Judgement I might have given them a closer listen. Their newest effort is not for nostalgia , it is every bit as relevant a hardcore album today like the scene finally caught up to him and dropped the b-boy thing to embrace the darkness of the real world.

The distortion on songs like "There is a Sign" is thick and dirty with a sludge like density to it. I think this album would appeal to of fans of crust core in it's grit. There are break downs which only have 90's hard core in their shadowy review mirror.The really short punk bursts , weren't my thing then and they aren't now so songs like the barely over a minute  "Orrchida" which is almost half a guitar solo doesn't really appeal much to me. But when they pulls off things like the abbreviated "All is None" they do what Nails does better than Nails , but of course Dwid wrote the book on it. I will give him credit for going beyond just screaming even though he maintains an aggressive coarseness to his vocals at all times there are variation which come close enough to singing to make this approach work for me.  

Songs like " I Know Where Everyone Lives" and "There Ain't No Living In Life" have a bluesy  undercurrent in the latter it drags on a little longer than I might like but the guitar playing that follows is pretty stellar and sounds like an under produced raw version of something from Lucifuge. The harmonica is something I was not expecting or even noticed the first time I played the album . The albums best moments are the darker more experimental... well for this brand of hardcore they aren't trying to be the Black Heart Rebellion or even Children of God here, this is when hardcore had much closer ties to punk rock than it does now.

 So more punk moments have varied result with me something like "Into the Night" works better than "Detonate VVorlds' Plague" just because their is a more crazed element to it, similar to a Converge album where a know the bratty bursts of punk are more of a regressive wink backwards when they are capable of making more interesting music and if you are capable of making more interesting music then by all means do it , who cares where this causes you to fall in the definition of being punk or troo or cvlt for that matter. The production is inconsistent and then there are the couple of regressive moments and a few stale riffs here and there but overall it's dark enough for me and has gotten repeat listens so I'll give it an 8.