Originally published in ‘zine issue #36, 2006
Cretin Freakery
(Relapse)
I’m not going to waste time beating around the bush with a quasi-creative, adjective-bloated review of Santa Cruz’s Cretin. If you splurge over late ‘80s grind vis-à-vis Repulsion, put this one at the top of your list. If not, then fuck off, shitbrain.
(by Lenny Likas) ■
Dissection Reinkaos
(The End/Novus Diabolus Evangelum)
What happened to this band? Their first two albums were great. Now they’re back after nearly 10 years off, armed with even more hardcore Satanic doctrines and a completely different line up. Dissection of 2006 doesn’t resemble the entity it once was in the early-to-mid ’90s. Every earmark represented in their early music is gone, from the speed and ferocity of the execution, to the sweeping production sound, and most of all, the amazingly creative guitar work. This is lacking energy. It almost sounds like it’s dragging a bit. If I had the vinyl I’d try it out on 45 to see if that’d help, but I seriously doubt it would do much good.
I’m sure our world leaders are sacrificing many goats and babies at the altar of darkness while listening to this record. Or maybe not. They’re probably listening to the actual recorded sounds of third world genocide; the bloodcurdling screams and gunshots and people being run over by tanks. George W. Bush is a well known Satanist and member of the Order of Death, a.k.a. Skull & Bones, in which you are required to give your soul to Lucifer and pledge to wage war against humanity for all eternity. They seem to be succeeding in doing so, which makes them 1000 gazillion times more evil than this record, so there.
(by Adam Perry) ■
Heuristic Parapraxes
(Black Box)
Bloop. Bleep. Arggggghh!! Boom. Boom. Diddle-daddle-whiddle screech. Chunk. Ratatatatatatat. Tat-Tat. Chunk-chunk. Noodly-naddly-noodly-naddly. Arggggghh!! Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat. Jingle-jangle. Ah, the clean electric interlude has arrived. The guitar histrionics speak to me of tech-metal-trained mofos with no attention span whatsoever––truly a recipe for our times. Now here’s a departure from all that screaming head business with a spoken word part. Heuristic can play, but does that matter?
(by Lenny Likas) ■
Ninnuam Process of Life Separation
(Crash Music)
Another slab of Swedish death for the death consumer. These guys probably already have a new album out by now, with four more owed to the record company that signed them. It just goes on and on. If you absolutely have to have every death metal album produced in Sweden, I would recommend you hunt this one down for the archives. Hell, write me here at D.U. and I’ll send you my copy for free. Just throw me a little money for postage, and this puppy is all yours. Commercialized, melodic death metal for 15-year-old Scandinavians is not really my thing these days.
(by Adam Perry) ■
Nortt/Xasthur Split CD
(Total Holocaust/Southern Lord)
Slow, brooding, atmospheric black metal expression from Nortt. A piano and varying keyboard tones accompany the extremely distorted guitar chords, enveloping the listener in melancholy. His guitar sounds a little out of tune at times; what a pity. The same somber style persists throughout the Nortt tracks, but some are more effective––and chilly––than others.
Xasthur has a somewhat smoother sounding production, yet an equally fuzzy sounding guitar. His style is just like Nortt’s, but layered with a clean, chorused guitar in places. He’s got a bit more variety in the drumming department, too. Overall, Mr. Xasthur’s songs have more of a “mysterious” vibe than a “dark’’ one. This is, I suppose, a decent “cult-esque” release, but I’m sure not even grandpa will shit himself over it.
(by Lenny Likas) ■
The Numb Ones Everything In Between
(Cleopatra)
If you like Christian rock or pop country, you might like this. Not that The Numb Ones play either of those styles, but they do play shit, and if you like shit, you might like them. These yawn-inducers peddle excruciatingly bland pop rock that some major label development team obviously thinks will appeal to people without much interest in music as anything more than just something to buy at Wal-Mart. When you look at the booklet, a vapid hodgepodge of corporate buzzwords springs to mind. And when you discover the disc includes a nearly uncredited and utterly lifeless cover of The Cars’ classic “Just What I Needed,” you can almost picture some label slob saying, “Corporate wants guarantees––we need a hit, fellas––record the song.” And if you need to know more, a sticker on the front of the jewel case boldly announces this was produced by Fred Coury of Cinderella. Sold now? I know I am.
(by Lenny Likas) ■
Oxbow Love That’s Last
(Hydra Head)
Kinda violent, kinda scary and very hard to dance to, Oxbow is a band that’s deadly serious about its art. And if that means taking several years in between each record to achieve perfection of some sort, then that’s just how it’s going to go down. They don’t seem too concerned about the fact that actually listening to them is not an enjoyable experience for most people. They do have a following, however; quite a loyal fanbase that’s slowly built up over the years, who appreciate their brand of oozing, cathartic rock. I recently got to see them live twice in one month, and I was brought into the ranks of the believers. I believe that this band is great and has something to say. This collection of odds and ends culled from the band’s 15-plus-year career pretty much enforces my opinion. I can’t speak for the DVD portion of this release, ‘cause it was so mind-numbingly dull that I couldn’t finish it. I didn’t expect them to be Mötley Crüe-style party animals, but jeez, with a tour that uneventful, I’d be embarrassed to release the footage. But hey, they make no apologies. Oxbow: a great band to listen to.
(by Adam Perry) ■
Requiem Aeternam Philosopher
(Icorp)
The back cover of this album shows three very humble-looking guys sitting on the steps of some old cathedral. They look pretty chilled out and non-confrontational. It must be the look of satisfaction you get after recording a small masterpiece like this record right here! I’m not sure if it could be called death metal, but the sound is definitely rooted in it. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill release. These guys must practice four times a week for hours to achieve the level of precision they display on this recording. The vocals are completely tortured and frantic. Fans of Discordance Axis and the like would find this album to be a great listen. There are a few parts where they wander into almost radio rock territory, which is so weird that it works very well. All-around original and worth picking up if you can find it for a good price.
(by Adam Perry) ■
The Smackdown Someone Has to Kill the Head Writer
(Goodfellow)
The Smackdown grabs your shirt and screams at you. Probably literally. I’ve seen bands like this around D.C. for years, but Sweden’s The Smackdown is tighter than most of them. It’s fast hardcore with lots of discordant chords and odd wrestling references flying around. There’s some fast palm-muted pedaling moments at times, but overall a jangly, twangy single-coil guitar tone prevents this from becoming too metallic. Despite their art direction and vague lyrics, The Smackdown are a solid modern punk rock group for fashionable kids who want to rock.
(by Lenny Likas) ■
Tides From Silence
(Teenage Disco Bloodbath)
On this three-song demonstration, Tides build from mellow instrumental soundscapes to heavier ones and back again. Throughout, there’s this nice, glassy reverb and tremolo-flavored lead guitar that reminds me of the tasty guitar work in Godspeedyoublackemperor! But unlike the looser and more sprawling GYBE!, Tides drop into metal distortion sections and use keyboards for effect. The dynamic, well-balanced rhythm section features 100% Neurosis-brand drumming and a non-threatening distorted bass. Overall, the combination yields only a mildly melancholic listen. I would venture to say that Tides seems like a good band, but I definitely need to hear more and stronger material to get a better read and not dismiss them. (by Lenny Likas) ■
Vile The New Age of Chaos
(Unique Leader)
Some of their lyrics are written as dramatizations of current events on the world stage, such as suicide bombings, beheadings, and prisoner torture; I think it’s a great idea for artists to tackle such relevant topics. Unfortunately, Vile approaches these issues in a troubling and dogmatic way. From the first song onward they hail the imperialist cause, point to Muslims as inferior and ignorant people, and call for the slaughter of Muslims (and anyone else standing too close) under the banner of merciless revenge. This sample lyric sums up their attitude: “There comes a time when military might must be unconfined. No holds barred, no hands tied, it’s time to do or die.” In Vile’s eyes, the world is black and white: Muslims are terrorist scum that must be purged, and the United States is a supreme punisher, righteous and above reproach. Throughout, they do not even attempt to develop a discourse between opposing viewpoints, nor do they provide a meditation on the state of the world any more than in a detached “yep, the whole world is gonna blow up sooner or later” way. Their callousness and intellectual slackness in concert with their sterile and generic death metal style makes for a pathetic record that will surely appeal to the ignorant. It doesn’t surprise me that “for distribution within the United States only” appears on the back.
(by Lenny Likas) ■
