Category: Reviews by letter

  • GRAVEYARD (Spa): “Into the Mausoleum” demo Cd-r 2008 s/p

    GraveyardNow we’re talking, baby. While it’s true nobody can clearly state when the Death Metal phenomenon came out, I guess everybody would agree the peak of it was just cross 1990 (year more, year less). That’s the time when it attained its clear identity, still freshly rooted in the carcasses of other musical genres soon to be dead like punk and thrash metal. It is in that rotting, dark, gloomy and worm infested environment that we first perceived Death Metal was getting a status as a genre on his own, instead of being just an adjective for other forms of metal. I gave up long time ago any hopes that the spirit would come back again, but at least I hoped that people could understand a glimpse of how magic that period of my youth was. Even if there are several things I don’t like in reunions of legendary bands and teenager revivals, I admit the Death Metal scene has never been so healthy in over 15 years.

    All this bullshit to introduce one of the best results of post-2000 retro-Death Metal phenomenon. Graveyard from Spain are just playing with the same convincing spirit of the real founders of the genre. I have dug deep in my lexicon to find words to describe this music, but I realized there was no need to describe it, it is just Death Metal with capital “D”. Obscure, murky and grotesque as early Finnish demo bands like Depravity, Abhorrence or Funebre, yet with a few bursts of the galloping ride frenzy of early Unleashed (curiously this is limited to a few riffs, you just can’t hear that kind of songwriting all through the songs).Even if I adore this shit, I have to admit other bands like Dead Congregation or Crucifire are preparing the same dish but with a much improved recipe. In other words, you probably have to do something more to stand out of this new wave of old school bands flooding the underground. Much appreciated by me however, since the sound is flawless. Great roaring, slightly echoing vocals, crunchy super distorted guitar sound, and an eerie, disturbing melody all over make this band a must have for a good collection, I hope someone does it on vinyl one day. I can live without the melodies however, if you know what I mean.

    No comments on the packaging today, since it’s just a home made Cd-r with xeroxed cover. I find the cover art a bit too ironic too.

  • ALTAR OF GIALLO (Spa): “s/t” demo Cd-r 2006 s/p

    Altar of GialloGreat zombie worshipping intro! Just when all the Carcass/Impetigo inspired bands initially exploited by Razorback rex started to sound gay at last we have some new hot petrol reviving the flames. Or maybe it’s human fat that greasy, sticky, flammable substance? With all that acrid smoke, it couldn’t be otherwise. Cannibals and Italian movie cheesy acting is revived in these tracks. Not only this band gets inspired by cool old horror and thriller flicks in the lyrics, but the sound itself (the flyer itself defines it a “very cool sound”) is an hybrid of Cannibal Gore Metal and Riz Ortolani/Fabio Frizzi kind of chilling composition. This band features members of Gruesome Stuff Relish and Repugnance and well, it just plainly kills. It has a nice share of the sound of both bands, plus a character of its own – equally balanced between eerie melodies, growling gore gargling, phlegmy vocals and all the good shit this music can offer. I cannot recommend it enough, especially now that their full length album is out on Yurkiewicz’s label Last House on the Right – I can speak for these tracks only but I bet the Lp is equally good. Never exceedingly fast, yet definitely gore to the (gnawed) bone. Lovers of Impetigo would definitely find this band much more convincing than that shit that is Lincoln Love Log (try telling me that “Amazonia” is not a tribute to “Cannibale Ballet”). Lovers of good old movies too will undoubtedly find a lot of references as well…!

  • MORTORIUM (Ita): “Whore of the Liar” demo Cd-r 2008 s/p

    MortoriumI knew I was hearing right even beneath the folds of inexperience when I first heard Mortorium. The first demo (review soon, damn! I still need to review the first one and I already got the second ahah, that’s what makes you understand how slow you have become) was not one of face paling blasphemy, but things have improved ten times so far.

    They sadly give up to some mellow Black Metal clichès at times (in the second half of “Bleeding Wounds” – I have to skip the track becouse I cannot stand it), but mostly they’re good at composing brutal Black Metal with throat ripping roaring vocals. The singer knows his due, sometimes reminds me of Funeral Mist‘s Arioch (now Marduk I think, not sure) , in which the vocal range is broad, but always evil. You get 12 minutes in all on this demo, but the material is pretty intense, I am quite happy we have bands like this in Italy after all the incredible mass of shit I had to hear in the ’90’s (and sadly today still going strong with all that shit about witches and trolls). Bands like this and Mefitic or The Krushers make me hope for a better future of burned down churches and Satan-centered Black Metal. Mortorium plays straight ahead Black Metal with raw structures, slightly Swedish riffing and a good balance of South American madness..

    I am not a fan of war imagery, so I’ll skip comments on the machine gun in the back. But the rest of the demo follows the big principles of “good demo design”: no advanced Photoshop tricks, just a b/w cover with gothic fonts and a picture of Padre Pio (which is the whore in question) with an upside down cross on his forehead, ahah!

    Cut the second song at 1.50 and we’d have a killer demo!

  • MERCENARY COCKROACH (Hrv): “s/t” split Cd with BOLESNO GRINJE (Hrv) 2007 Endless Brutality of Men

    BOLESNO GRINJENever in a million years I would have guessed that a band with a shitty loser name like this would be this good. They are a fucking bulldozer of a band with a sound that initially reminded me of Extinction of Mankind and Self Hate. Powerful, in your face bulldozer grindcore with ultra fat, sinewy, bulging sound and super deep vocals. And have a listen to the drummer, a non stop machine. And what about the solos (!!!), even the solos are good in an almost Morbid Angelesque way. Hell yes, I am nuts but all this brutality blends flawlessly with its simplicity. There are no million metal riffs, just cut throat blasting, guttural growls and this metallic wrapping sound. And for some reason it doesn’t sound metal at all, which is good in a weird way. I must say I have fallen in love with this band, I just wish it had some skulls in their logo and some guts on the cover artwork, sigh! But you know how it is with Eastern Europe, they have to make fun of everything, I guess it must have been all that gray, humorless communism they went through.

    Seriously speaking this band KICK SOME SERIOUS ASSES. Once picked out two or three weak tarantellas in the whole side, the rest is untainted brutality without frills and embellishments. We need more bands with this linear approach to grindcore. It might be a bot too clean for some palates but other than that they shred. Very recommended. Just cross your fingers that one day they will change name!

  • BOLESNO GRINJE (Hrv): “s/t” split Cd with MERCENARY COCKROACH (Hrv) 2007 Endless Brutality of Men

    BOLESNO GRINJEAnother solid hit from our Croatian friends Bolesno Grinje. From what i understand this album is dedicated to a community of people and bands that live in an ex-barracks building in the city of Pula. It is kinda strange for me to hear because I probably have some distant parents in that city, since my grandfather is from Koper and my Grandmother from Piran. They are not in Croatia but all these cities belonged to Italy before the last war. I also hardly heard any good grindcore bands from Croatia other than Bolesno Grinje that I can remember of, but this band definitely has definitely made some good stuff in their albums: their songs are strong and their chemistry tight and convincing.

    Powerful metallic grind with an edge is the formula they have stuck on, and so far it’s the 4th release I hear from them and they never slowed down nor wimped out an inch. Their style is personal and not particularly easy to pigeonhole. Fast paced rhytms are abundant as in any grind band but their sound is thick and powerful in the best Agathocles/Cripple Bastards way. The vocals are still that kind of gruff barf typical of old English grindcore bands, but they fit real good here. No special tricks but each and all of the guitar riffs save a very bad song in the end of their side (“Nervoza”…. completely useless experiment IMHO) are arranged with taste. This is a good album for people into Mince Core and grind with a lot of muscle. Good shit even if not strictly my favorite thing.

    One doubt still bothers me… what the fuck is the thing on the cover? My best bet so far is a close up of a white chocolate bar with nuts. Your guess?

  • BOLESNO GRINJE (Hrv): “Pobjeda Je Nasa” Cd 2002 Cryptas/Endless Brutality of Men

    BOLESNO GRINJEI am not 100% sure about the release date of this album, but it says it was recorded in April 2002, hence I guess it was released the same year. That makes it three years older than “Od Nesvijesti Do Grinda”. The music is however not extremely different. We still have fairly political oriented grindcore with rough, drunk vocals a la Extreme Noise Terror/Concrete Sox/Nausea etc., groovy riffs, and a couple of close up pictures of fleas on the booklet. This time the cover looks even more deluxe with the use of this gold pantone color, I like the way it turned out. The lyrics are not extremely readable but that’s part of the design that wants them on the same line. I can just repeat my appreciation like I did for the other album: this music has the constant crusty swing which is fundamental for fun-enjoying grind, this must be excellent to see on stage. There are some attempts at using dissonant vibes which have been dropped on the newer stuff, but they were really not fundamental. The overall sound seems even a bit fatter here, with some added bass distortion and a strong metallic bass backbone. We’re far from minimalist though, the sound is clear and the guitar riffs diverse, more oriented towards the pure mosh. Hmm. Not much to add, get this if you liked the other one, can’t say much more. This is good honest groovy grind.

  • BOLESNO GRINJE (Hrv): “Od Nesvijesti Do Grinda” Cd 2005 Cryptas/Endless Brutality of Men

    BOLESNO GRINJEI know I sound irritating when I repeat myself, and I know there is surely a load of grammatical errors in my reviews as well, since I never double check them and my English is surely not transcendent, but why, exactly, don’t labels supervise the layout work and act on correcting the lyrics before they go to the printer? Why I do have to read lines like “I am must fuck”? Sarcofago were justified by the time and place they were born, but a band can’t make thus kind of mistakes in 2006. The lyrics are not hugely advanced, half about fun things like fuck frenzy, holidays in Paraguay and drinking oneself out at the local pub, while the other half is about fucking the police, daily routine (“Walking Corpse”, anyone?), fucking the national radio broadcast etc. The layout and artwork are both nice, on super glossy paper, with a microscope caption of a flea on the cover which must be Bolesno Grinje’s lucky charm (looks like the same flea that resides in the logo). Bolesno Grinje play forceful grind/crust with a huge groove, not much dissimilar to Neuropathia in the approach, but with a rough, bleary sound that would make the Dark Throne of “Transylvanian Hunger” envious. The energy level is constant, even during the slam dance riffs chock full of sing along choruses. The guitar riffs are razor sharp and full of punkish vigour, the vocals sounds a bit like old Extreme Noise Terror, coarse and drunk as fuck, a mix or orc blood and nicotine, the drums pounding unerringly from start to finish, again this is a band which is surely a big fun to watch on stage or to play at full volume on a beer festival. All the attention here is pointed at the fun element, even if I probably prefer Birdflesh if we talk about purely crusty mosh-grind. I especially like the double vocals, they add much breadth to the mix. I am not much into fun grind, but this is a band which is a must have for those into powerful rocking and rolling groovy grindcore. Let’s crack on!