Bloodbather : " ANAYNGSTTA'

 

This album came out in April, and I am just now catching up with it. This hybrid of SLAM and metal core carries a great deal of deliberate groove. The vocals are sometimes a gurgled death growl, at others a higher pitched scream, and then sometimes a more spoken rap. This finds them flirting with the line between hardcore and nu-metal. Despite its clever title, "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off" is all abrasive metallic force without anything to really hook me in. 

Then things take a wild turn as "Closed Curtains Close Caskets' is a rap song. They are more deliberately catching a groove for "Dog 2 God". This is a pounding with a purpose that I can get behind.  There is some creepy dissonance to the guitars, so the yare working on more levels than we have heard from them up to this point. The vocals are screamed, but you can still discern what is going on. They have an eponymous song on this album that is more syncopated and has a call and response between the lower gurgle and the scream, with a more drugged-out nu-metal vocals muttering in the din. There is a even actual singing which works well in this context. 

One thing I like about this album is that it is dark. The last two tracks are pretty short, so they are almost like two thoughts' worth of an outro. It is a shame because 'Consequence" has a cool that would have been fun to hear them develop it further..The tits track that closes the album is under a minute. I will give this album a 9, as they are tapping into something cool here. I just wish they would grow the songs out, as the promise is there. As is, if you are a kid looking to do your karate dancing to heavy shit, this band has you covered.

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Death is June- Devourment : "Pious Impiety"

 

No one could have predicted that slam bands would be playing arenas. Granted, it took some refinement. But it brings us to a place where the first new music from these guys in seven years is a big deal. The vocals and the underproduced snare sound are the consistent qualities that root them in what they do. Here is where saying genres don't matter, because with them  come expectations. This band is sticking to the expectations almost to a fault, though you can hear how it's not too far of a stretch to take them to the more mainstream death metal of a Cannibal Corpse. 

The title track that kicks off these three songs, with some horror movie sound bytes, gives the karate chopping kids what they want first, before you begin to hear how the riffing has matured. The drumming is impressive even if tinny in tone and more of a patter than the thunder of bands hitting bigger stages. There is a great deal of blasting, which is not my favorite part. It's the groove that resonates more and makes the song worth more than one listen to fully absorb.  They are not changing the game here, just playing it well. The second song flies in under a flurry of hyper-fast drumming. None of the lyrics can be understood, leaving the vocals as a low-end frequency doubling up the bass.

The last song is "Advanced Stage Decomposition," which highlights another thing about a genre that just goes heavy. Which is the first song that will fly by as you are stunned by how dense it is? The second song had me asking, but can you write a song that they are at least willing to lean in that direction? Then, by the third song, it began to sound like them. So maybe that is where the band is concerning this sort of thing as well, any more than three songs would be redundant. One of my favorite death metal bands came out of this genre so it can be done. It is not happening here, but they are true to who they are.I will give this an 8. 

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Internal Bleeding : "Settle All Scores"

 I should review this album today since the band's drummer, Bill Toley, was killed when the Trade Towers went down in what some call the 9/11 Attacks. I think the 9/11 incident is more fitting. I would say it's a shame Toley had to die, but everyone dies, and death metal should be a celebration of death. Hopefully, his death has been an inspiration for this band ever since. For this band to have been around since the 90s, I would say they are inspired and were ahead of their time.  Kids now call this Slam, but it's really just hardcore-influenced death metal. I think it's fair to say these guys are also big fans of Cannibal Corpse. After all, Cannibal Corpse, formed in Buffalo, three years before these guys.

The first three songs found me really digging the crushing breakdown-like grooves I was being hit with. By the time I got to "Forced Compliance," I was ready for some new sounds, and they hit me with marginally different syncopation. This is the first album to feature Sacrafical Slaughter vocalist Steve Worley, who sports a very commanding grunt and gurgle. His lyrics are growled in such a manner that, despite their brutality, you can still make them out. This song also shifts into a more traditonal metal riff that was enough dynamics to make me happy. 

The vocals are also well phrased, accenting the guitar in a purposeful manner that gives "Crown of Insignificance' its hook. The syncopated call and response between the hard-core vocal and the growled vocal work well here, too. "Empire of Terror" is still effective, and perhaps it might need to grow on me, or my ears have grown numb, but it does hook me as hard as the first five songs. But when there are only eight songs and the first five smacked you pretty hard, it's a good sign. It should be noted that three of their former growlers also lend their voices to this album in guest spots, which is cool. Jay Lowe is on "Glorify the Oppressor". The other two are on the last song. It starts off with a slower, more dramatic intro that is a welcome change.  It turns into a pretty crushing affair, though it does not feel as hooky as the first half of the album. I will give this one a 9.5, one of the year's best death metal releases. Drops October 17th. 

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Peeling Flesh : "the G Code"

 Whut da fuck is up Oklahoma? Not the first grooving slam grind I have heard, but is is amusing when these sorts of bands flirt with hip-hop and nu-metal. At least they care about songwriting even if the gurgled growls of the vocals are one-dimensional. To fully grasp what was happening regarding the hip hop elements being used I watched a clip of their performance as Soun & Fury in California. Was this a rapper who could growl or did someone else come on stage for these parts. The answer was the rapped vocals are all backing tracks, and the vocalist was more of a hype man whose gutturals live sounded like shit. However, in the studio, they used all the technology to their advantage and a song like "Perc 3000" is a great deal of mindless fun.

By the time we get to "Full of Lead" I am going to need a little more dynamics from these guys so let's see if they deliver.  It's more of an interlude and "Skin Blunt" which uses more samples feels more like the song. The guitarists in this band are the saving grace as everyone else aside from their vocalist clocks in and gets the job done. The growl vocals are just a human layer and wait til you hear how bad they are live, I wish I had not heard that before reviewing their album, but in some ways I am glad I did hear past the studio smoke and mirrors. "the Fuckening" feels like they are beginning to run out of creative gas. 

The title track finds the use of samples as the only thing different from all the other bands doing this sort of thing, the blasting does not help things either. There is a more purposeful hard-core vocal in place that works better. Matti Way from Disgorge lends his voice to "Creepin Out Da Cut". He brings a less gurgled roar.  The last song is supposed to be an outro but has one of the album's best riffs , go figure, after hearing how much love these guys need from the studio and samples, I am going to give this album an 8, which is still better than I thought it was going to be. It's the "Ju Ju on Da Beat" of Slam. 

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Death is June -Devine Defilement : "Age of Atrocities"

 

Thanks to the inner webs the brutal style of death metal known as "slam" has found its way to Iceland. Not sure why this band requires two vocalists for what Corpse Grinder does on his own, but perhaps the truth will be found later in the album. The first song is just sonic blunt force trauma, but fans of this sub-genre do not require more stimulus than what is being dished out here. I find this sort of thing to be done better by bands like Left to Suffer but I am only one song into it, so let us hear how the rest plays out. I can say I will have a more critical ear after the number wears off from my first exposure to their brand of metallic violence. 

I would say this is my least favorite genre of death metal but bands like Sanguisuggabogg have won me over before, but this band does not possess their knack for groove. I let the album play and the next thing I knew after being hit with a bunch of down-tuned thick guitar tones the songs began to run together until I realized I was already at the 5th song. Meaning dynamically five songs it everything sounds the same and I can't one song from the next. Though they have nailed down this sound. They are even playing a great deal of the right riffs, and adding things like dissonance at times to get a more sonic sound, but the guitar tones are machine-like because of the effects being used and I am not feeling the emotion of who they are just hearing what they intend to be. 

There is a little more deliberate crunch to "S.C.U". I hear a little more of the second vocal on this one, it's higher almost black metal-like, but I am not sure why it requires separate vocalists to do both. They begin to crunch into nu-metal grooves by the time we get to "Betrothed to Blasphemy" a cool title, but there is no way to make out the lyrics with that gurgle. The pig squeal thing now feels dated. Most of the songs are around the three-minute mark so you are not in pain for long. At best on a song like "Embedded in Filth," it sounds like Cannibal Corpse filler songs.  "Wraith" starts off as a blast fest despite the guitar going in a different direction with doomy guitars. They cover Slipknot's " Sic" for the last song, while they do not sound to be a huge influence on this band you can hear I suppose. They do a better job with it than expected, they need to take more notes in the songwriting dept from Slipknot. I will give this album a 6, it's not my thing, but if you like slamming grindcore it might be yours. I love Cannibal Corpse and they are not far removed in some ways they just missed out on writing something hooky no matter how heavy you are. 

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Iron Front : "Hooked"

The first track of this Oakland-based band's sophomore album opens things up in a manner that really gets my hopes up. It blends the groove of hardcore with the grime and gruesome narrative of Death Metal perfectly. They raise the bar pretty high for themselves. Last year bands like 200 Stab Wounds and Sanguisugabogg. However, those bands used a similar guttural approach that rode the riffs in a manner that compensated for the gurgled grunts' lack of range or dynamics. "Slug Rounds" does groove, but it does not feel like the arrangement gives things the same sense of space, making the song feel more generic and a mush of chugging riffs that this subgenre is known for.  It is not until the slowed breakdown riff that it gets, interesting. 

Then the question becomes what are these guys doing that I have not already heard before. The answer is not much., "Burned By a Crack Pipe " is not only a great song title but it is more interesting than the previous song. By the time we get to "Pig Splitter" things have devolved into sounding like everyone else. The vocals are a one-trick pony which plays against them the most as the riffs are not carrying all the weight as well as the bands I mentioned earlier. The title track just chugs by without really catching my attention. I like the riff to "Intestinal Siphon" but the drumming is kind of boring. 

The last song "Slam of 87" finds the band sticking to the formula that has been in place for the bulk of the album.  I understand that this genre is not the best when it comes to the use of dynamics that create a broader sonic spectrum and it does one thing. That one thing has its place but also requires greater attention to detail to create a worthwhile album. These guys are effective at what they do and for fans of what that is . This is something I like when done on a higher level of songwriting and just something that invokes a feeling I have an appreciation for when not. They prove themselves capable of doing both so I will give this album an 8. If you are just a fan of this slam style, then it takes less to make you happy and this is more worth your time.Coming out on Creator-Destructor Records.  

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Death is June - Snuffed on Sight : "Smoke"

 

I went into this hoping it would have more of a Left to Suffer, given some of the brief glimpses of hip-hop influence of the lead single "Time to Dip" . Alas, this death core band, but nothing with that level of hook drives their sound. In some ways the slam / grind components of their sound have more in common with Sanguisugabogg, but they are not as skilled in their arrangements , not are their guitars wielded with the same level of finesse that Sanguisugabogg pummels you with. The vocals are the most grating part of their sound as the pig squeals  and gutturals have been gurgled like this since metal core first hit Myspace, back in the day. 

The drummer almost saves the song "Slippin" as it shifts out of riffs with a manner of dexterity. However the purpose of the song is unclear, and there is nothing that hooks you into it's herky jerky fray. No terrible just not purposeful in the song writing. "DTD" offers up more of the same, but with less charm in so doing. If I was impressed by just heavy alone this song might have more of an impact. It is a shame the interlude "Smoke Break" could not have found the sounds used in a more effective manner by incorporating it into their songs in order to break the monotony that has fully set it by the time we get to "Repeat Offender" which is just more of the same. 

"Dummy" propelled by the kind of  death metal blast that hits the snare in a flat manner. It is one of my metal pet peeves, though punk music also does it at times. The more deliberate pound of the title track works better , but the band mucks things up with the chaos that is vomited forth. I will give this album a 6, so not the worst metal album I have heard. This is their debut album so hopefully they learn a great deal if they take these songs on the road. If you are millennial into metal core I guess it does not matter as this sounds like everything else.