Thursday, April 30, 2009

Dissassemble - Demogrinder (2008)



Disassemble are a sludge tinged grind band out of Baltimore, Maryland. They are new band to the scene, but they definitely show a lot of promise for such young musicians. They've got a split coming out soon with Man Will Destroy Himself.

Not a whole hell of a lot more to say. This is a four track demo, get this and be sure to keep an eye on this band in the future.






MADNESS

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Philip Glass - Koyaanisqatsi (1983)

Cinematography has proven itself as an art form time and time again. I'm not going to make a fool of myself and say it's superior to, say, literature, given the fact that you really can't compare them, but I will say that, with the possible exception of theatre, nothing can be as challenging to the senses as the synesthesia a great movie provides. Synesthesia achieved thanks to, in no small part, that atmospheric device so brutally ignored by most of today's filmmakers: the soundtrack.

Flash back to 1960. Bernard Hermann's score for Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho", particularly during the shower scene, became an auditory icon of terror. 8 years later, Stanley Kubrick used Richard Strauss' "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" to make one of the most instantly recognizable openings in cinema history. Go to 1972. Andrei Tarkovsky's highway scene is a hallucinating journey through technological anxiety, that gives me the chills every time.

Cue in Koyaanisqatsi, Godfrey Reggio's cult visual poetry about the condition of modern man. Now, I haven't seen the film yet, even though it's on my desk, staring me in the face every day. I will get to that, eventually, but for now, let's focus on the sonic part of it - the brilliant soundtrack scored by contemporary classical composer Philip Glass. First released in 1983, after the movie, it was only 46 minutes long, even though the movie was, like, 87 minutes long. In 1998 it was re-recorded and released as a 73 minutes long album (note: the link here is for the '98 release). I'd like to say that I've been a huge fan of this guy for quite a while now, but, in all honesty, I first heard his music while watching the "Watchmen" movie (Who watches the Watchmen? I am!). It contained two tracks off this album, namely Pruit Igoe and Prophecies. Yet I was not aware of that. They popped in during Dr. Manhattan's story about his past, when arriving on Mars. I heard a cello-based melody so awesome, that I didn't believe it was composed for the film. It had a baroque styling that reminded me of Vivaldi, yet had balls in a Beethoven-esque 9th Symphony (Ist Part) sort of way. I was puzzled. What the fuck could it have been? Surely the creator of such a piece is long gone, and probably has a statue in the park of some European capital. The second song there, "Prophecies", made me think of Bach, with it's mournful atmosphere and key progressions. Seriously, if there was one part of that movie that I couldn't have imagined doing better, it was that. Good job, Zack.

So, I've headed home and searched for the movie soundtrack, only to find that 2 of the songs were composed by Philip Glass. I saw no Bach, no Beethoven, no Vivaldi or anything like that on the track listing. The name rang a bell and I was like, "What the fuck, Quatsi?"; having not seen Koyaanisqatsi, I thought that the much-fabled soundtrack would be some sort of avant-garde starving artist pseudo-intellectual new-yorker with a keyboard type of thing. "Fine, fuck it", so I searched Pruit Igoe on YouTube and came across this. Goddamn, that's the song. That magnificent cello. That grandiose atmosphere. Philip Glass, you're the man. I downloaded the album right away.

Well, it's not classical through and through, as it sort-of uses samples and keyboards and other electronica shit I'm not quite able to name, but don't worry, they're used in traditional symphonic ways, so you won't find dance music or techno here. The entire thing flows great, and Mr. Glass seems to have a boner for droning, repetitive sections, so drone fans might like this. Also, there are vocal harmonies to be found. The ritualistic chant in the first track is great, but sometimes, they're a bit too much, as in the 21 minute epic "The Grid". However, the flow of the album may also be it's weakness. While great in theory, some sections do seem to wander off or linger for too long, making the album a bit tiresome after a few listens. However, I guess they need the visual support of the movie to overcome that, given their symbiosis.Philip Glass' work here is not flawless, but it is indeed a mindfucking experience that's sure to leave you in awe. Get at all costs.

The last movie with a good score was There Will Be Blood, but still, the world needs another musically-inclined director like Kubrick or Reggio, should cinema climb out of the gutter it sank into for the last decade or so. I'm gonna go watch Koyaanisqatsi later, hopefully, and I suggest you do the same. Sit back, relax, and enjoy pure cinema at it's best.

-Radu

Download

Monday, April 13, 2009

Ripping Corpse - Splattered Remains (1989)

Most of you are familiar with Ripping Corpse's only full-length, 1991's "Dreaming With The Dead". Most of you consider it a masterpiece of deranged, shrieking and insanely fun death/thrash metal. But what if I told you that things were dirtier, sloppyer, madder and overall more fun in 1989? Some of the tracks on this demo went on to be re-recorded for their debut, but the absoulte highlight of Ripping Corpse's career (in my opinion) is here - "Exhumation Day". Man, that groove. Those riffs. Those excentric vocals. Those lyrics. Pure, sloppy, unadultered FUN. The songs on the album might have been a bit more well-played and polished, but a touch (or a helping) of dirt works wonders.
I guess that's all I need to say about this. You know what to do next.

Download

-Radu

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Cirith Ungol - Frost and Fire (1980)


Metal only got faster and more distorted, but never heavier (and better?).

Cirith Ungol will be known to many of you these will possess this one maybe the CD, or even the LP, maybe they even have built an altar for this band. This is their debut which is a really mindblowing experience: It seems to be perfectly molten metal forged with some hard rock and even punk influence to some kind of indestructible space-titanium. The instrumentalization is flawless, riffing and baselines are beyond perfect the soloing blows you away. Every Song is a merciless killer suited in an indestructible armour of indestructible space-titanium who enters your brain does not leave it till you die. Unique.

Download

Warlord - ...And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun (1984)


Warlord ...a bandname which automatically leads to the assumption that this band will play some kind of metal. Since we are in the year of 1984 it is quite imaginable that they neither play black metal nor metalcore, what's left is the good old american way of heavy metal - the epic way.
If you are into guttural blastbeatz this will scare the fuck out of you: A frequent usage of keys support the fairly efficient riffs (sometimes classical heavy, sometimes even speed metalish) and the well done vocals (The combinations will remind you of Cloven Hoof's dominator which is outstanding as well but still feels less epic than this effort). Yeah talking about good catchy NWoBHM we can come to the point that this album is pretty catchy, you will get into this one in a fast way if you are open towards 80s metal in general.

Download

Saturday, April 11, 2009

ADX - Exécution (1985)



Mesdames et Mesieurs, je vous presente un album d' ADX une bande de speed metal fondé 1982 à Paris!

As most other french heavy metal associated acts ADX sing in their native language which should not bother you if you understand the universal language of speed metal.
This album sounds like the ultimate weapon forged of speed, melody and metal by a bunch of talented musicians who knew that they were capable to cope with the strong international "rivals". They did never reach the fame of Exciter, Razor, Anthrax or Metallica who made it to the top (3 of these 4 by changing to a thrash metal sound) anyway they would have deserved it.

Download
or die!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Cianide - Ashes To Dust (2006)



Disc I
Tracks 02 - 03 from the "Funeral" demo.
Tracks 04 - 08 from the "Second Life" demo.
Tracks 09 - 12 from the "Kills" demo.
Tracks 13 - 14 from the unreleased 1993 demo.

Disc II
Tracks 01 - 05 from the "Rage War" demo.
Track 06 from the unreleased 1997 demo.
Tracks 07 - 09 from the "Promo 1998"
Tracks 10 - 12 from the unreleased June 1999 demo.
Tracks 13 - 14 from the unreleased October 1999.

Disc 1
1. Morbid Restitution (Unreleased Song) 03:44
2. Funeral 04:06
3. Choose Your Death 02:26
4. The Dying Truth 05:43
5. Mindscrape 05:29
6. Human Cesspool 03:29
7. The Suffering 03:58
8. Second Life 05:45
9. The Gates of Slumber 03:33
10. Eulogy 06:12
11. The Undead March 03:04
12. Darkness 05:42
13. The Luciferion Twilight 05:43
14. Beyond the Fallen Horizon 05:47
Disc 2
1. Rage War 02:13
2. Metal Never Bends 02:34
3. Envy and Hatred 05:51
4. Deadly Spawn 03:06
5. (We Are) the Doomed 05:43
6. Thou Shalt Not Kill 06:13
7. Divide and Conquer 02:28
8. Throne of Blood 03:36
9. Death Machine 02:28
10. Bastardized 02:56
11. Battle-Scarred 03:18
12. Filled with Hate 03:02
13. Remain in Hell 07:22
14. Apocalyptic Fears 03:39

Well almost 2 hours of great solid death/doom. Dare I say that this is the best compilation CD I have ever heard. While I was already a big fan of Cianide considering how great their albums "This Dying Truth" and "A Descent Into Hell" were. But this demos made me worship the band. Right from the opening riff of the song Funeral to the outro of Apocalyptic fate, this is pure fuckin WIN. And to my surprise, the quality of the recording is brilliant considering these are just demo songs from early 90s. If you already possess their entire discography, You might give this an escape because most of the tracks have featured on some full-lengths but if you think that Cianide was all about ADIH and TDT then think again and get this album. Pretty much due to this compilation, Cianide are now among my top 5 death metak bands.
-EyeHateDoG
Get This Or Die!

Lepra - Leprosos Satanicos (1995)



Sorry for that pathetic image. That was the only one I could find. I guess I posted this in the group too. But no one seem to take notice except RectalMorbidity and Estanford.This has been a really long time since i rated a death metal album with a 4.5 stars on RYM. I must say that this band absolutely slays. Great death/grind with riff fest. The vocalist is an absolute monster, I must say there are very few dudes who deliver better vocals in death metal than the guy in this band.He uses pitch shifts to excellnt results. Too bad the lyrices are in Spanish.Anyone who hasnt yet heard them should definitely check them out.This is going to be on my playlist for a long long time.
And finally to quote our death metal veteran Necrobobsledder aka Rectalmorbidity - "That guy makes Glen Benton sound like Madonna!" (referring to the vocalist).

Megaupload
- EyeHateDoG

Paramæcium - Exhumed of the Earth (1993)


Genre - Death/Doom

Yes motherfuckers your eyesight is perfect, the band name has "a" and "e" clubbed together. May be that was done to look kvlt, but yeah that was one of the reasons I was curious to check out that band when i first laid my eyes on it. Exhumed of the Earth is a brilliant album. Nice Old school death metal mixed with melodic doom(not like Katatnia or MDB). There are occassional use of female vocals which are pretty unique (i used this word because its unlike many gothic bands out there). And believe me there are very few bands that have used violins and flute to better results (Folk Metal is boring, So lets forget it for a while, I am talking about doom fuckin metal). Must for any death/doom fan.
-EyeHateDog
Megaupload

Finnish Death Metal Megapost

Now I am no expert on Finnish death metal, oldschool death metal, or even death metal in general really; but I find that Finnish death metal has a certain dark grimy aspect not present in Swedish death metal. The Finnish scene is and has always been smaller than either the Swedish or US scenes, but it has still plenty of quality material. I am still exploring musically and finding new bands everyday, so this should just be considered a mere scratch of the surface.

Abhorrence

Taken from last.fm: "Abhorrence was a death metal band from Finland, which was only active for one year. They recorded a demo tape, that was in heavy circulation all the way to mid 90’s underground scene and an EP for the Seraphic Decay records, infamous for ripping off the bands whose music they released."

They were approached a about a record deal by Relapse, but unfortunately it was too late, and they had already broken up. This is all a real shame because if they hadn't been ripped off by Seraphic Decay (who also ripped off Xysma, Derketa, and Incantation) they may not have broken up, and if they had been able to accept Relapse's record deal they may have become more well know and been able to further developed their sound....

Speaking of sound, what do they sound like? Abhorrence play a fuzzed out unearthly brand of death metal. The fast parts are brutal in an old school sense, but the slow parts reveal a more melodic doom influence.

The production isn't amazing but it's acceptable. Their demo has pretty much shit sound quality, but the s/t 7" is actually probably helped by the production as it adds to the otherworldly feel.

Excrement

Excrement seems to be a very mysterious band. They formed in 1990 as Apoplexy released one demo, changed their name to Excrement released a demo and an EP and promptly split forever.

Excrement seems to me to be the Finnish Dismember, they chug ahead with reckless abandon. This is classic old school brutality. The production here is great as well, perfect guitar tone and drum sound.

Purtenance Avulsion

Purtenance Avulsion is one of the most soul crushingly brutal bands I have ever heard, they capture the spirit of death metal in a way that modern bands do not. Their blasting sections are killer, but when they slow down the tempo every thing dissolves into one vicious wall of murk. The slow murky parts of this album are everything that I look for in death metal, dark brooding, and filthy. Absolutely amazing. They only released one four song demo under this name then changed there name to...

Purtenance
Purtenance released one EP and then one full length before splitting up in 1992. This release shows a lot of musical maturation form the Purtenance Avulsion days, but it still shows a lot of energy. They developed a style mixing heavy sludgy doom sections with faster death thrash sections. Purtenance also managed to incorporate some melodic elements lacking from their early days. This release rips just as much as the Purtenance Avulsion demo and the mix of Doom/Thrash/Death gives it a unique character.

I have compiled the following releases into the two links below:
Abhorrence - Vulgar Necrolatry (1990)
Abhorrence - S/T 7" (1990)
Excrement - Scorched (1994)
Purtenance Avulsion - s/t (1991)
Purtenance - Member of Immortal Damnation (1992)

DL Link 1
DL Link 2

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

In Disgust/Sidetracked - split (2007)


This is one hella tasty nugget of grind. In Disgust play a brand of grind violence immediately reminiscent of Insect Warfare. This is some brutal shit; extremely rapid changeups, heavy sludge mosh parts and blazing blast sections.

Sidetracked play an interesting youth crew influenced brand of power violence. Sidetracked's side is actually better in my opinion simply due to the fact that they play serious mind games. They'll start to settle into a stereotypical hardcore mosh riff, only to suddenly rip out a blazing blast section. They will use multiple tempo changes in a 10 second song. You never know what to expect. Crazyness. *interesting note*: none of Sidetracked's songs are scrobble-able, they're all under 30 seconds.

In Disgust/Sidetracked