Death Metal

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    Abysme – Strange Rites (2012)

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    Breaking away from the standard US Death Metal sound, today we have Abysme and their Swedish-infused mid-tempo Death Metal with their debut album “Strange Rites”. In this ten-track headbanging extravaganza, the band focuses on creating gritty sounding songs with a dash of melody, rather than blasting away at their instruments and just trying to be brutal like most bands.

    The band’s early Entombed and Grave worship is immediately made present with the dark and gritty “Scribbled In Dust”. We particularly love that there are absolutely no traces of any modern DM variants in the bands raw and old-school sound. Slithering away with foul tracks like “Beyond the Seventh Door”, “Formless”, and “Annihilated Memory”, the band delivers crunchy riffs, crafty drumming and raspy growls that make their sound very authentic and quite rare these days.

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    War Possession – Through The Ages (2012)

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    Merciless and Raw are the first two words that come to mind when it comes down to describing War Possession’s latest EP titled “Through The Ages”. Featuring five tracks of crushing Death Metal the old-school way, this Greek band has a very traditional approach to the genre that reminded us from bands of the late 90’s and their raw and uncompromising sound. Be prepared to headbang from beginning to end with this intense 21-minute release.

    Opening with the catchy “In The Shadow Of The Ancient Gods”, the band delivers killer super-catchy riffs and very demonic sounding vocals. The excellent production of this release really aids in accentuating the band’s traditional and direct sound in a raw and brutal way. “Medieval Bloodlust” fires on all cylinders with crushing drumming and even more powerful riffs. The band holds nothing and delivers another intense performance with this very catchy song filled with meaty hooks.

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    Engulfed – Through the Eternal Damnation (2012)

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    Arriving today from Poland’s Hellthrasher Productions we have Engulfed’s debut EP titled “Through The Eternal Damnation”. Featuring four tracks of furious Death Metal, this Turkish band brings back the days of catchy riffs, crushing vocals and powerful drumming with a certain similarity to Immolation, Suffocation, and such bands.

    Wasting no time with the opener “Triumph Of The Impious”, the band’s razor sharp riffs make a grandiose entrance. Pounding away for 5-minutes, this track is very well crafted and shows the band’s abilities to craft catchy Death Metal songs with a higher emphasis on brutality. The growls are top notch, and the typical guitar solos are very well carved into the song structure.

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    By The Patient – Premonitions (2012)

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    Delivering their sophomore release through Deathbound Records, today we have Denmark’s By The Patient and their brutal album “Premonitions”. With a very unique mixture of traditional European Death Metal and some melodic elements, this band does a great job in keeping things interesting and the listener engaged until the last second of this release. Through nine songs we have a journey of incisive guitar work, blasting drumming and very aggressive vocals, exactly what the doctor ordered for a Tuesday night of drinking.

    Opening with the crushing “A Distorted Mirror Image”, the band’s traditional DM chops jump off immediately, but they gracefully progress to more melodic and catchy riffs. Very interesting in our opinion since they seem to switch the focus of the music and manage to create an engaging song structure, the same can be said for “Hours of Mist”. The almost Black Metal-esque riffs of “Veil of Depression” really give the track an even more aggressive edge, but it is ultimately the massive drumming that really stands out as the most aggressive element of the band. The particularly like the melodic passages of this very unique song.

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    Burial Ritual – Exterminating The Masses (2012)

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    Delivering nine pummeling tracks of meaty Death Metal, today we have Burial Ritual and their second full-length release “Exterminating the Masses”. Taking a more Swedish approach to their Death Metal, this band has been around since 2005 and seems to be ready for a shot at the top with this solid release. Banking on cutthroat riffing and intense song structures, this American band manages to sound different than your average run of the mill Florida Death Metal bands from this country.

    Things start off pretty standard with the hard-hitting tracks: “Accosting The Mindless”, and “Radioactive Rain”, all of them good examples of powerful death Metal tracks with a raw feeling to them. Is not until the album titled track that the band delivers an excellent and funky melodic opening section that really shakes things up, this song also features odd tempo changes that seem to work very well for such a chaotic, yet awesome song.

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    Vortech – Devoid of Life (2012)

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    Hailing from Finland, today we have Vortech and their super catchy Industrial Death Metal release titled “Devoid of Life”. Similar to bands like Shade Empire, the band delivers high-octane songs that feature trippy atmospheric elements that will have the listener begging for more. Perfectly blending aggressive riffs and powerful vocals with a futuristic vibe, this band is catchy and brutal as they come.

    Opening with the solid “The Black Rite”, we have a good dosage of heavy riffs and screams nicely offset by an epic futuristic ambiance. The drumming is pretty intense, a particular strong point of the band since similar acts usually use shitty programmed drums. The synths/programming of “Neurovirus” make this track quite catchy and very well crafted, keeping the intense flow of this release to the limit.

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    Aeon – Aeons Black (2012)

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    Delivering powerful doses of Swedish Death Metal, today we have Aeon and their fourth full-length release “Aeons Black”. In these days when we are plagued by shitty Deathcore bands and kinds trying to pull-off Technical Death Metal and failing miserably, it is quite refreshing to listen to sheer Death Metal brutality the Swedish way with meaty hooks and destructive riffs. The band sticking to their guns delivers quite an exquisite extreme experience, the way that Death Metal should be to begin with.

    Quickly throwing the first punch with “Still They Pray”, the band does a solid job in combining technical skills with catchiness. The instantaneous wall of sound created by the band can be comparable to what Zyklon and now The Wretched End are capable of outputting. The drumming is intense as hell and the riffing is totally crushing, making them a force to be reckoned with.

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    Mandibula – Sacrificial Metal of Death (2012)

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    With a crushing and think as fuck sound, today we have one-man army Mandibula and the CD release of their 2010 demo “Sacrificial Metal of Death”. The band plays homage to the greats of the 80’s namely Celtic Frost, Venom, Bathory, etc. with a very retro and dirty sound that will wake the dead from their graves. Featuring nine eardrum crushing tracks, this release is as raw as you can get while still being able to distinguish everything that is going on.

    Opening with an intro similar to Mortician releases, the band sets a very dark and disturbing mood since the get go. Once the riffing comes through, you can hear that this is not your typical ‘pretty Metal’ release since everything is very raw and a bit garbled up, thanks to some cheap (or intentionally cheap) production. The raw vocals remind us of Hellhammer at times, and ultimately add a great deal of authenticity to the bands killer old-school music.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    The Furor – Sermon of Slaughter (2012)

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    Making its way from Australia, today we have The Furor’s latest EP titled “Sermon of Slaughter”. Being very truthful to its name, this pummeling release features four high-octane Death/Black Metal tracks that remind us of a cleaner and better produced version of bands like Impiety. Funny enough, the mastermind behind this one-man band is Disaster, Impiety’s drummer since 2011 or so.

    With a very furious start, “Conquest of Carnage” opens the release with gut-wrenching vocals and killer riffs. The band’s intensity is hype-fast, like the energizer bunny on crack. The drumming is quite solid and very diverse, something you usually never expect from one-man bands, luckily Disaster is an actual drummer. The brief moments that keyboards are introduced take this song to a whole new dimension since they greatly enhance it and serve as powerful contrast to the underlying brutality.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Hell United – Aura Damage (2012)

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    Arriving on our latest promo pack from one the most brutal labels in the planet, Hellthrasher Productions, today we have Hell United and their sophomore release “Aura Damage”. Hailing from Poland, our first impression of this band was that they are as crushing as their fellow countrymen Behemoth. Delivering 35-minutes of high-octane Blackened Death Metal, this band is sure to turn a few heads and snap more than enough necks in the moshpit.

    Dominating since the opening track, “Aural Damage” is off to an excellent and very violent attack with “Red Limitations”. The riffing is hyper-intense, the drumming is super crushing, and the vocals are as demonic as Behemoth’s, so you know what you can expect from this relatively unknown outfit. The band does a great job in shuffling things around so the songs don’t sound like copies of each other, a problem that has blamed Behemoth in the last few years. The neck snapping action continues with the anthems of destruction: “Apostle of Plague”, “Deathlike Cold”, and “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie”.

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