That this band is all too infatuated with old school thrash black metal (I am using the word black metal as it was used a dozen of years ago or more) is plain and evident. While there is a strong OBITUARY mood all over the music the riffs are 90% thrash metal in the vein of old CELTIC FROST (the CD even starts with a Tom G. Warrior speech at a festival in ’85). When I talking about OBITUARY I am referring to the stomach gripping roars and the soul lacerating guitar sound that was their unique landmark over years (too commercialized, very little understood band). If you have a remotely nostalgic reminiscence when you listen to your oldest vinyl you can’t shit over this disc. Then again, this is a CD which has really not much right to be recorded as of today, seems like a jump in the past. Now some of you that know me would be prepared to see me kick in their leather and denim wrapped testicles a bruning review. But then this is one of the rare times when I don’t feel like doing this. This band is true to itself. I don’t know if I like the whining and crying over old days when denim was blue and spiked bracers sharp. Especially when I see this attitude from persons which were not aware of this music when I (yeah ME) was banging at SLAUGHTER, SACRIFICE or EXODUS with shoulder length hair, a sleeveless jacket with logos by CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER, SEPTIC DEATH, PROTECTOR, NAPALM DEATH, CARCASS, METALLICA, POSSESSED, SODOM all over it… then they have something which convince me they’re honest in what they do. And they’re the best of the revival bands so far… Thumbs up this time for me. But don’t indulge in my benevolence too much.
Archives: Reviews
PATH OF DEBRIS (Ger): “The Eyes of the Basilisk” CD 1999 Pavement
This band just has no spin, no magic. Just the same run of the mill death metal with small capitals with several melodic bridges and vocals like 1000 others. Cheers to their steadiness for keeping the same music for almost 40 minutes without attempting to experiment, judging by how mediocre this music is, any experimentation would have ended up as disastrous as the miserable attempts of the latest AVULSED album at melodic death metal. No glory, lot of infamy for bands like this. And they didn’t even manage to get money over this. Absolutely wird for such skilled musicians. Away from me, away please, let the next come in….OPPRESSOR (USA/Il): “Elements of Corrosion” Cd 1999 Serious Entertainment
Already dead from quite some time, (this is one of the bad things when delaying this much the release of a fanzine) OPPRESSOR didn’t manage to raise my head ever since the good “Solstice of Oppression” CD at the beginning of their career. Portrayed as a intense technical death metal band, their clean, crisp approach to deliciously methodological Floridian Death Metal has always hurt my eyes of AUTOPSY/IMPETIGO-like Death Metal fan like sharp light to a mole eyes. Some swirling twist in the vein of new GORGUTS/DYING FETUS help to add variety to this American Death Metal album. I grant em even the good solos, and I am even able to tolerate the barking vocals as they somewhat remind me (very fairy) of the new killer DIABOLIC singer. Though not the most original of the long queue of American bands the likes of BRUTALITY, OPPRESSOR had the passion for their own instrument pretty clear in their music. Well played old school Florida Death Metal although gets a bit repetitive on the long run. Lacks some filth but it’s OK.OBSCENITY (Ger): “Human Barbecue” Cd 1998 Morbid
Fucking prolific as rabbits when we’re talking about releasing one CD after the other, OBSCENITY, the remaining diamond head in Morbid stables, gets back in the tracking ground with some rather classic Death Metal, which can’t neither been despised nor praised in awe. Deep, grunting brutal vocals and a clean churning guitar work grants them a fair, deserved sufficiency in my publication. Not that I was expecting something different from them after all. From an honest perspective, I have respect for this work although it still lacks some dose of raw intensity to let them surpass the line of memorable music. This is one of those CDs you can readily show your friends with a plastic smile and put up when they ask you what is Death Metal. As far as they stay sincere, it’s fair for me.NYCTOPHOBIC (Ger): “Insects” Cd 2000 Morbid
Powerful grind core with a explicit crusty backbone, this is NYCTOPHOBIC. While the clean vocals fail sometimes to valorize their music, well after all this is not my favorite style of singing I admit, the rest of the instruments are able to create a pretty compact bundle of sounds of pounding grind and punk and hardcore. Sometimes I can perceive a drop of newest NAPALM DEATH color into the tracks, with its powerful, unrelenting crushing thumping, although most of the times they just bring forth memories of ENT, DISCHARGE and the new BLOCKHEADS (although in my uninteresting opinion, BLOCKHEADS are definitely more interesting). Short songs, lot of good sense, politically correct lyrics in the vein of the NAPALM DEATH of “From Enslavement to Obliteration” are whet is needed to get a picture of these veterans of grinding music. Didn’t happen very often just a handful of years ago, to listen to a Grindcore band with such a careful recording.NOVEMBERS DOOM (USA/Il): “The Knowing” Cd 2000 Dark Symphonies
Actually if I was into this music a bit more, well, if this music had still some soul or interest at all and were not completely drained of any attraction or magic by overuse and abuse of the same expedients again and again, NOVEMBERS DOOM would have been not bad. Actually their music is much varied, as they displays a certain competence in handling different atmospheres in a flowing weave that prolongs for over 60 minutes, a music that could be compared to the first THE GATHERING (when they still had guttural vocals) with lots of variety and some (I must admit) class that sometimes remind the old ANATHEMA or even PARADISE LOST at their first days. Unluckily, there is a bit of excess of clichés and pizzicatos, arpeggios and the constant solemn vocals bla bla bla stuff, which drops them on the brim of the chasm where bands such as 3rd AND THE MORTAL and company crowd the dreams of teenager riot girls and the pockets of labels such as Black Mark. Playing this music is a very dangerous affair for my humble tastes. I am not unreservedly against this style, but it needs to be played with a special touch, if you don’t want to fall into banality and ball breaking tediousness, which is the ground where NOVEMBERS DOOM reside, all in all, they seem a bit too brash for my taste.NILE (USA/Nc): “Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka” Cd 1998 Relapse
Ancient. Immortal. Once every 10 years or so comes a band that change the face of a music style, a band so damn unique and dazzling to flatter everybody forever. First it was SLAYER, then MORBID ANGEL and SUFFOCATION, bands that have such a strong coherence and identity that create something unique that last forever. That’s the reality behind NILE. In a time where everyone is looking for experimentation to soften music styles that absolutely have nothing to do with tenderness such as Black Metal and Death Metal, NILE showed the whole world how they could recreate atmospheres through concept albums weaved with an incredible taste, astonishing musicianship and without losing a single ounce of substance. NILE is a legend already to me, every time I hear their album I am completely overwhelmed by the complexity and the in depth study of Egyptian mythoi. The packaging is perfect, the lyrics totally glue you to your seat as you swallow em while listening to the disc. The production is flawless.. Well enough for now, I hope you’ll get the point. Oriental atmospheres reign in a release of absolutely unstained Death Metal to the core music.