UNBEHELD: Dust

Unbeheld is a Death Metal band from Maple Ridge, BC, Canada, and have been compared to Gojira and Decapitated. They came into existence back in 2014 and then released their debut self titled EP, and have now released their first album.

The album starts with an intro that could have been shortened a bit, but then goes into the title track and is a piece of blistering power and fury. Riffs aplenty, growled vocals and a manic speed to get you moshing. The next song is the longest on the album and also has a touch of progressive rock to it amongst the growling vocals. There are quieter parts and faster than fast parts that make for a great listen and change of pace. “Lamentation” is their newest single and video and comes at you like a charging bull, but then, everything gets quiet and lovely, until the explosion of energy that escapes from the band and we are back to a breakneck pace again. “Destroyer” is a straight up blast of venom and anger that it knocks you off of your feet. “Vultures” keeps up the pace of the previous track and really shows off the technical abilities of this band with tight playing and killer guitar playing that would fit in on a classic metal album. The album ends off with “Nothing” which is another devastating song that will rip the skin off your face and kick you in the ass at the same time.

This is a band that if they continue on in this fashion, will be making a name for themselves and going onto bigger and better venues as they progress. They laid the foundation; let’s see them build on it.

https://www.facebook.com/Unbeheld/

https://unbeheld.bandcamp.com/

CHURCH OF THE DEAD: Vol. 5 Forever Dead: CD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finnish old school death metal band with punk attitude, crushing d-beats, and punk attitude that has the feel of old school death metal, but is fresh and super tight. This is the fifth release with only three songs, this band will destroy you.

As soon as you hit play, this band comes at you at full speed and doesn’t let go until the last note fades. Bass that hangs heavy and is thick as mud, the combined growled vocals and the cleaner vocals combine to give the songs a nice feel and depth, as do the gang vocals. The drumming in pounding and unrelenting, the guitar playing is fast, but has tight licks that you can really get into. The songs are tight, rough and the whole thing is a brutal fest that you don’t want to end. Great lyrics add to this release, as does the nice production that makes everything able to be heard, nothing is buried in the mix.

This is a band that I’ve been listening to for a while now and I look forward to their releases. One brutal and tasty treat that you will want to sample over and over again.

https://www.facebook.com/ChurchOfTheDead/

http://churchofthedead.bandcamp.com/

http://churchofthedead.net/

LACHRYMANOPSIA: Released: CD

This band is from Montreal, Quebec, and plays melodic death metal. Sadly they have broken up, but they have left this debut album for us to enjoy.

The album is full of heavy double bass drumming, thick bass, speedy riffing and guttural vocals. With the album opening and closing with static noise, the songs go very well together like a complete and whole thought. The album has song after song that just grabs you and holds you down, forcing you to pay attention. The instrumental song “3 KM Left” is an instrumental and has such delicate and beautiful piano in it, plus it does have a heavy part that makes you remember where you are and what you are listening to, a metal band that has definite skill at adding texture and depth to their sound. “Le Naufragé” is the last song and has French lyrics makes for a nice heavy ending to this album.

https://www.facebook.com/LachrymAnopsia

http://lachrymanopsia.bandcamp.com/

CHURCH OF THE DEAD: Vol. 4 Meet Me In The Tomb: CD

Finnish death metal that combines d-beat and punk attitude that feels like old school death metal, but is fresh and super tight. This is the fourth brutal release and in four songs, they will crush you.

Started off with an incredible first song, “Bedlam,” the EP gets things going with a song that  goes from frenzied attack to a slow grind and just kills. “The Gallows Pole” has a nice punk / thrash feel to it that gets the head banging right away. Great guttural vocals and some screamed vocals combine to an amazing effect. “The Reckoning (Abyss pt. 2)” just continues the assault with chugging guitar playing mixed with tight leads, thick bass, and pounding drums that are fantastic. Last song “Masturbating on the Grave of Everything” is a short, fast attack that kicks up the thrash and will make the pit a fun place to be in when these guys play live.

Four songs, not one song wasted, just insanity from the get go with a bit of diversity to break things up and show the skill that these guys have, This band has not recorded a clunker yet, buy all of their releases today!

https://www.facebook.com/ChurchOfTheDead  http://churchofthedead.net/index.html/

http://churchofthedead.bandcamp.com/

FALLEN JOY: Inner Supremacy: CD

This is the debut long player from the French melodic death metal band that I previously reviewed on this blog and I can hear the growth from them. The five piece really upped the ante and played harder and with more feeling than on their debut EP.

Starting off with a very mellow instrumental called “Back to Life,” they don’t give you any clue as to the intensity that is coming on the next track. “Destroying Fate” grabs you and slams you down with the power that they put forth on this track and you just take it from them and you want more of it. Thankfully the next song “Hymn to Silent Soldiers” gives you even more to be thankful for with the incredible guitar work that will get your head banging and make you want to play the track over again. I loved that you could understand the vocals, although they are deep and guttural, they are easy to understand and enjoy, something that always improves my listening pleasure. The dual vocals really work well together, the drumming is crisp, and thundering, the bass is nice and thick and the guitar playing is simply outstanding, some of the best playing that I’ve heard in any metal, not just death metal, and the songs have a terrific amount of melody that makes them stand out from the crowd.

One of, if not my favorite melodic death metal bands ever and it’s such a treat to be able to hear them grow and expand their abilities as their career goes forward. If you are a fan of this genre or just want to hear a great metal album, you need a copy of this…get one right now!

https://www.facebook.com/fallenjoy  http://fallenjoymetal.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/spreadthemetalrecords  http://spreadthemetalrecords.bandcamp.com/

http://www.spreadthemetal.com/

FREYA: Paragon Of The Crucible: CD

Fronted by Karl Buechner, (EARTH CRISIS, PATH OF RESISTANCE), Syracuse, NY’s FREYA has been around for ten years. They have produced three full length albums re-imagining classic thrash, and death metal, while infusing dense melodies throughout. The new record features a guest solo on the track “Serpentine” by Paul Waggoner (BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME).

“In The Span of Seconds” has a great opening riff and hits you right away with some fast-paced double picking leading into great double-bass pounding that sets off the album to a great start. The album is a behemoth of non-stop riffs, destructive bass, gruff vocals and devastating drumming that it just demands to be played loud. The songs come at you like a steamroller, running over top of you and flattening everything in their path. There is melody on the album, like the great track “Through The Flames,” but the intensity of the album is what really sticks with you and keeps you coming back for more.

An album that just screams at your soul and wants to rip your ears off of your head and it needs to be a part of your record collection today. Play this one loud and often, make your neighbors hate you just a bit more than they already do.

https://www.facebook.com/freyaband  http://deadlightentertainment.bandcamp.com/album/paragon-of-the-crucible

https://www.facebook.com/Deadlight.ent  http://www.deadlight.fr/

http://holymountainprinting.com/site/artists/  https://www.facebook.com/HOLYMOUNTAINPRINTING

ZOMBIE INC: Homo Gusticus: CD

Since getting together back in 2009, this Austrian death metal band has mined the theme of zombies and mined it well. You get ten brand new morbid, but humorous songs on this sophomore collection.

The added sound bites from horror movies add to the atmosphere of being in a zombie movie, add in the talking / guttural vocals and you have a creepy and evil bunch of songs. The humor in the lyrics keeps things grounded in the more fun aspect of their schitk and keeps this from being another cookie-cutter death metal album. The vocals are actually mostly intelligible which is rare for this genre and I applaud them for it, the deep bass and the pummeling drums work in tandem to give a nice groove to the tracks and the riffs and solos add a lot to the power of these songs. The songs are well done with the band giving their all and playing tightly and with passion. I really liked “The Rocking Dead”, “Cum Undone”, “Bust The Food Chain”, “E=MCarnage2”, and “All Corpses Are Bastards”.

If you want death metal that you can understand and has a sense of humor, then this is your album. If you just want the cookie monster vocals and songs about how gross the lyrics can be, please move on and find the generic crap, I’ll stick with these guys.

https://www.facebook.com/zombieinc666  https://www.facebook.com/massacrerecordseurope

http://www.massacre-records.com/

TOMBSTONERS: Dissolution of Astral Order: CD

This two-piece band, three when playing live, play heavy-duty death metal that will rattle your windows and get stuck in your ears after one listen. They’ve been around since 2006 and dropped their newest EP of blistering metal that makes you want to hear more from them.

This four song EP starts off with the intense first track “Sacrilegious Impiety”. With the booming bass, the heavy riffs, the pummeling drumming and the guttural vocals really grab you right from the start. They start on a high and just keep the intensity and energy going throughout the rest of the EP. As the EP plays on, you can hear the anger and aggression that these guys put out on this taste of their devastating songs. The production gives the songs more grit and a dirty sound, the only complaint is that I wish that the drumming was mixed a bit thicker and heavier, but it doesn’t take away from the intensity of these songs, it would only add to it.

With only four songs, you feel sad that it ends too quickly, but with continued support, these guys will get out and lay down some more tracks to head bang along to. I’m really looking forward to hearing more from them in the future, this was a definite pleasure to listen to.

https://www.facebook.com/Tombstoners  http://tombstoners666.bandcamp.com/album/dissolution-of-astral-order

DARKANE: The Sinister Supremacy: CD

This melodic death / thrash metal band from Helsingborg, Sweden has been together since 1998 and has released five previous albums and a DVD before this. These five guys throw down an album of blistering tracks that you can crank up loud and bang your head to until you need a neck rub to take away the pain.

Starting off with a classically inspired intro that gives no a nice relaxing interlude before the title track comes on and rips your face off. Tight played and full of energy, these guys really give you their all in this huge, riff filled album. The band has just enough death metal in their thrash to give it that evil, angry edge, but it doesn’t go overboard with the gore or violence that it becomes a parody. The machine gun drumming just hammers away, the shouted, guttural vocals give the songs a nice angry sound that I loved, the heavy bass pounds away, and the guitar playing has a ton of riffage and blazing leads to satisfy the air guitarist in you. The addition of softer, more gentle and orchestral parts really added a nice bit of depth and texture to a heavy group of songs. I really liked “The Sinister Supremacy”, “Mechanically Divine”, “Ostracized”, “Insurrection is Imminent”, and “Humanity Defined”.

This is the kind of album that begs to be played on repeat and loud as hell to get the full listening experience that is required. These guys turned out an album of terrific songs played with the exuberance and power that will get you stuck on this CD for a long time so why fight it…go out and get a copy now!

https://www.facebook.com/darkane  http://www.darkane.com/

https://www.facebook.com/prostheticrecords  http://prostheticrecords.com/

http://darkane.bandcamp.com/releases  http://prostheticrecords.bandcamp.com/

DESTROYERS OF ALL: Into The Fire: CD

From Coimbra, Portugal, and started in 2011, DESTROYERS OF ALL have released their debut E.P. independently. These six songs of intense death / thrash metal will kick your ass.

The songs incorporate a few other styles that mesh really well, groove metal, hard rock, progressive, and power metal all come together to create a powerful release. With the exception of the intro and outro tracks, the band have managed to create fairly long song with each of the four main songs  between almost four and seven minutes long which gives the band a chance to go through all sorts of different styles. Vocals are mostly death / thrash metal style screaming and growling along with some clean singing at times, the drumming ranges from slow / mid-paced to fast with blast beats being added at times, the bass playing is very strong and powerful, the guitar playing ranges from slow / mid-paced to fast playing that combines thrash, death metal, black metal, prog and hard rock influences together to create melody that you wouldn’t think would be there. Lots of great riffing as well as some great solos and rhythm guitar playing.

This band has gotten off to a great start with the power and intensity that they have managed to create on just four heavy tracks. The intro and outro are very cool, but it just made me want to hear more of the metal, not the instrumental tracks. If they keep on going like this, you will be hearing a lot more from DESTROYERS OF ALL.

https://www.facebook.com/DestroyersofAll  http://destroyersofall.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-fire

http://www.destroyersofall.com/