Originally published in ‘zine issue #26, 2002
Cattle Decapitation To Serve Man
(Metal Blade)
Well, Cattle signed to Metal Blade. I guess they don’t give a fuck about their true fans, and let us all give out one big yawn. This album was recorded at Trident Studios by one Juan Ortega from Vile. One thing I’ve noticed: most recordings that come from Trident have a very clean and sterile quality to them, as well as this album. I prefer a more harsh-sounding element, like Pig Destroyer’s 38 Counts, but in the same sentence, I can appreciate the craftsmanship on Mr. Ortega’s part to create this sound. The first time I witnessed this band was a show in L.A. when Gabe from The Locust was still in the band. Let me say honestly nothing could come close to them. They were beyond sick. Now Gabe has left to focus on The Locust. One element is definitely missing, but the quality of musicianship isn’t. This is quality tech/death metal. (Please excuse my lack of terminology. To keep up with the current catch phrase would require me to give a shit and I don’t.) For those who love Carcass, this album is a must. Like gore? Buy this album. Just buy it for crying out loud. If you get a chance to see them, do it.
(by Pete Ponitkoff) ■
Danzig Danzig 777: I Luciferi
(Evilive/Spitfire)
Danzig is back again with a new record. Compared to what Danzig has done earlier in his career, this shit sucks so I’m trying to forget that I know that he is capable of much better than this while listening to it. And it isn’t that bad … Glenn is singing about some evil shit over some stale rock riffs. The real disappointments about this record are when the guitars go from stale rock riffs to stale “new metal” riffs. You know, the “chugga chug eeeee chugga chugga chug eeeeee” riffs that we’re hearing way too much of these days. Danzig still loves the devil. In the insert of the CD, all the band members have their own page where they get to salute the dark lord by throwing up the horns to the camera. There is also a few tasteless photos of Glenn and the boys ravaging a scantily clad female in the name of Satan. But I have noticed in the photos that Glenn is starting to get a little chubby but still insists on being shirtless in the photos. It might be time for him to either start hitting the gym again or start wearing a shirt. No one wants to look at a fat midget ravaging the ladies, or at least I don’t. This record is definitely very far away from any of Glenn’s work with the Misfits, Samhain, or early Danzig records, but it’s really not that bad. At least its not the techno shit I was expecting.
(by Jeff Kane) ■
December Wolves Blasterpiece Theatre
(Earache)
Wow … these guys really need to get Earache to pay for them to go to a real studio. This record sounds like shit. Drum machines used in grindcore can often make a band go to shit real fast if they don’t know how to make the thing sound good. There is absolutely no low end in this recording. It sounds very tinny and computerized. They also use a sample of something, whether it be just a weird sound or a quote from a movie, probably every five seconds which is extremely annoying. This music could be interesting if it was recorded better and some quality control was used in the sample department, but I’ve heard bands do this many times before––and much better.
(by Jeff Kane) ■
Hate Eternal King of All Kings
(Earache)
I must mention that Hate Eternal is comprised of Erik Rutan, formerly of Morbid Angel and Ripping Corpse, along with short-lived Morbid Angel frontman Jared Anderson, and Derek Roddy. They now have two albums out and have been touring for the past couple of years. Hate Eternal’s new record, King of All Kings, is proof that death metal still has some blood in its thinning veins. With certain releases by faceless, nameless acts that have been forcing boring tech riffs onto CDs with cheap, abstract thoughts for lyrics, we all have needed something to step in and deliver the real goods. Not to say that Hate Eternal’s first album was not doing this, but this new record shows that the crew is back with a second course of blood-red metal meat to stuff down your gullet. The older material had a few flaws, but with this album they have repaired what can be fixed and served up something new. Song-wise, the slower parts (of which there are few) are put together with more thought and the fast parts are faster than before. The structures are still very similar, but when you buy a Hate Eternal record you’re buying death metal and that is what you shall get. As for the sound, I feel that the drums sound better, with the exception of the unneeded snare trigger on certain songs (I say unneeded because you can hear the mic’d snare trigger simultaneously). The kick drum trigger is quieter and the guitars have a great high-end-yet-meaty scrape to them that you could shave your nuts with. And just like Morbid Angel and earlier Hate Eternal, you get more of Erik Rutan’s heartfelt, winding solos. In the end this is a fast, grinding death metal album, not a fast. grinding tech album. If you’re into music that is undeniably extreme without all the pretentiousness of modern death/tech metal, then get this record. Otherwise just continue listening to the new Origin record and don’t stop eating my anus.
(by Jake Cregger) ■
Khanate 2002 album
(Southern Lord)
Being a long-time fan of James Plotkin’s OLD, and having recently been floored by his absolutely unhinged collaboration with Discordance Axis/Burnt By The Sun percussion god Dave Witte on the Atomsmasher LP, I was chuffed to see this in the review pile. With ex-Burning Witch guitarist Stephen O’Malley in tow, Khanate bridges the gap between “classic doom” such as St. Vitus, Winter, and O’Malley’s former outfit with the noise gluttony of early Swans. Imagine Godflesh circa Streetcleaner and Sore-era Buzzov•en slowed to a sluggish crawl, combined with a drunken, wholly nihilistic bent: guitars swell and lurch forth, collapsing into discordant sludge, repeating and somehow growing more looming and powerful through repetition; the perfect soundtrack to entropy. Honestly, this is the first record since Impaled Nazarene’s debut that’s genuinely creeped me the fuck out; if it’s not the harrowing, locust-swarming guitar noise of Plotkin and O’Malley, it’s Alan Dubin’s feral howling and serial killer prose. The percussion here fits perfectly, reminiscent of Swans’ Filth opus, somehow sounding as cold and “industrial” as a machine, though less predictable. A remarkably harrowing listen deserving of your attention and awe.
(by R. Mason) ■
Maggott Colony Prepare to be Colonized
A grind-death three-piece that just rips your face off. I saw them last week and they were heavy and fast as fuck. Labels, would one of you grab your balls and check these guys out and put their stuff out, like, yesterday?
(by Pete Ponitkoff) ■
Nile In Their Darkened Shrines
(Relapse)
I’ve always appreciated the hard work Carl Sanders and company have always put in their craft. I must acknowledge, the new vocalist/bass player and drummer are both technically proficient and both carry Nile to another level and both have more talent than I do if I live to be a hundred. But I must say I miss what both Chief and the old drummer Pete brought to the table. The only gripe I have about this album, and believe me, I had to get a bulldozer and dig, is that I didn’t like the spoken word thing in the middle of the album, waaaaaaaaah! This is a flawless, kick-ass death metal album that should put Nile up there with Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Deicide, and Origin (yuk yuk yuk).
(by Pete Ponitkoff) ■
October 31 Visions of the End
(Old Metal/RIP)
October 31 will mainly appeal to an old school heavy metal crowd, although no matter how old you are, if you are into metal for the right reasons you’ll be into October 31 from the start. Certain songs stand out much more than the others, such as “The Chosen One” or “Legend of the Haunted Sea.” Keep in mind that I am not saying that the other songs are lacking, but everyone will have their own favorite. From beginning to end the guitar work and the vocals prove to you that this is serious metal and that October 31 means business. Look elsewhere for blasts and low grunts, but look no further for classic solos and riffs with a lot of attitude. So if you’re into Arch Enemy, Warlord, or Deceased, this is a release for you.
(by Jake Cregger) ■
Place Of Skulls Nailed
(Southern Lord)
Former Pentagram guitarist Victor Griffin is back in action following an aborted reunion attempt with his former bandmates and an extended hiatus “cleaning up personal problems,” according to the band’s bio, finding a home on Southern Lord for his new band’s debut. To put it simply, Place Of Skulls is to Pentagram what Spirit Caravan is to The Obsessed. With this batch of songs, Griffin seems to place less emphasis on the outright Sabbath-esque doom embraced by his former band, instead concentrating more on incorporating vintage ’70s elements into an otherwise rather traditional heavy rock album. Griffin’s vocals are powerful and the man still knows how to lay down a pretty bad-ass lead, and his formidable backing band delivers classy performances all around. The comparison to Spirit Caravan is hard to shake, with Griffin and Wino having collaborated in the past (unfortunately to no avail), although while Wino has steered his band away from pure doom towards a odd flirtation with ’60s psychedelia (much like later Trouble), P.O.S. are happy to reference their alma mater, with evidence of Pentagram-style plodding doom running throughout Nailed, much to my delight. Any fan of classic doom will certainly find Place of Skulls’ debut a worthwhile purchase.
(by R. Mason) ■
Severed Savior Forced to Bleed
(The End)
Let me say I’ve known most of the kids in this band for years; my brother grew up with them. Severed Savior is one of the SF area’s best death metal bands, hands down. End of story. This disc is a comp of two recordings. And here I go griping about the clean recording style, but regardless the guitar work by guitar virtuoso Mike Gilbert––yes, you heard me right: guitar virtuoso Mike Gilbert––cannot be matched; pure genius. The drummer Troy Fullerton, much like Dave Witte or John Longstreth (Origin), is purely unstoppable. Rounding off the lineup is Jared Deaver, formerly of Deeds Of Flesh, Dusty Boisjolie, the poster child of death metal, on vocals, and Murray Fitzpatrick on bass. To get an idea of how fuckin’ intense these guys are toward their craft, they practice, like, three times a week, and the days they’re not band practicing they individually practice. People have accused Severed Savior of not being original. Oh, boo fuckin’ hoo. What is? Severed Savior will have a new disc out on Unique Leader Records entitled Brutality is Law. Fans of Cannibal, Suffocation, Dying Fetus: prepare to have your face caved in.
(by Pete Ponitkoff) ■
Sunn 0))) Flight of the Behemoth
(Southern Lord)
Giving any release bearing the Southern Lord name less than a stellar review feels just plain unnatural, but I’m afraid I’m gonna have to, for once. Thankfully, SunnO))) isn’t characteristic of Southern Lord’s current stable; in fact, aside from the band’s creepier-than-your-gay-uncle aesthetic, SunnO))) appears to have more in common with Merzbow than they do Burning Witch. Granted, whereas Merzbow’s intention is to provoke grand mal seizures, tongue swallowing, and smoldering speaker wires, Flight of the Behemoth is something like mood music for somnambulists, its warm-milk effect evidenced by the fact that at some point during my first spin of the record I was lulled to sleep by the sub-woofer’s bowels-of-Hell groan. The emphasis here is on the unholy “drone,” kind of a demonic take on Indian raga music; guitars tuned to Y sustain ugly-ass notes for eons, bass feedback suspended for so frickin’ long you can hear the strings rusting, reverb-sick amps, and truncated fragments of incidental noise tossed in and trampled for good measure. Unfortunately, unless the intention is to create an antidote to insomnia (and in that department, it sure as hell is, NyQuil be damned!), I guess I’m missing the point of this, much as I did with Boris’ very similar Absolutego CD from a couple years back. While I can understand the appeal Flight might have to anyone with an appetite for mind-altering substances, my appreciation of all things doomy hinges on the presence of the almighty Riff, something which Sunn 0))) isn’t even remotely interested in. Recommended for those intrigued by the prospect of “ambient doom.”
(by R. Mason) ■
Today Is The Day Sadness Will Prevail
(Relapse)
Okay, first things fucking last … I tried to separate the song titles that were typed out fully justified across the entire back of this CD case, but lost track/interest around song eight or nine. I refuse to go to the website to get the individual track titles because I believe any CD, or book, or movie should be able to stand on its own without having to refer to another source for explanation. Likewise with lyrics. If the lyrics aren’t important enough to be included (which I would assume, in a supposed “concept” CD such as this, they would be), then they aren’t important enough for me to read. I mean, Rush’s 2112 was a great concept album about saving the world with rock and roll, but it didn’t need to be a concept album. Lyrics weren’t supplied, nor did they need to be. But Styx’s Kilroy Was Here, while similar in concept to 2112, was far too complicated in its scope to survive a listen without the inclusion of lyrics. You know, concept albums are just weird. I digress …
I also refuse to go to the website because I’m lazy and have better things to do. I have precious little time to spend on the web anyhow, but when I do get the chance to hop on, I’d much rather browse a BB to see what people are talking about or even go to that cute little website with the dancing Jesus guy. That site’s funny. This new TITD CD is not funny, however. It’s evidently a concept album about sadness. It made me sad. Seth Putnam screaming over a piano loop and wind chimes in a track called “Butterflies” is very sad. Noisecore with the string section from Amber Asylum is also very, very sad. I flushed over 120 minutes of my time right down the growler. You tell me you wouldn’t be wicked sad. So, I guess TITD is right after all.
(by Scott Hull) ■
Today Is The Day/-(16)- Zodiac Dreaming
(Trash Art)
It is a hard task to admit what has been shown to me, but it is official: Today is the Day has truly lost its venom. The same venom that once coursed through my veins and yours alike has been diluted and spoiled, possibly by drugs and maybe writer’s block. One thing is for sure, and it is that the unbridled and naked aggression that was shown on such great records as Willpower and Temple of the Morning Star is no more. The technical ability is there, and the new drummer filled Brann Dailor’s monstrous shoes fairly well, but the material just does not cut it. The lyrics lack the vulnerable backbone that was so apparent with Steve Austin’s vocals, and the musical content is just not heavy enough to stand next to the older stuff. It seems drawn out and forced. This is really beyond what I will accept from Steve Austin and I never thought I would say that.
I was into the slow/mid-paced heaviness of -(16)-’s songs; they have real honest anger pulsing through the tracks and that’s pretty much what I expected. If you’re into Helmet’s Meantime and maybe some Jesus Lizard, then you may like this -(16)- stuff. It’s good and heavy and that is what a lot of people are looking for. -(16)- is definitely good enough to stand on its own without the former “Amphetamine Reptile Lords” Today Is The Day.
(by Jake Cregger) ■
Uphill Battle 2002 album
(Relapse)
Let me first say I think it’s so fucked when you read reviews by some jerkoff who starts trashing a band when he or she doesn’t even listen to the particular genre. I will be honest: I am not really into this type of music. I apologize to Uphill Battle for throwing a lame-ass label on them, but the math-thrash-post-hardcore thing isn’t my cup of tea. But this doesn’t take away the fact that they are tremendously talented musicians, more than I am or ever dream of being. I played the disc for friends who do appreciate this brand of music and the general vibe is that Uphill Battle has enormous potential, that like The Dillinger Escape Plan. In southern California, where Uphill Battle is from, they have a huge draw, and as a booker I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to put them on a show. As with Time In Malta, The Locust, et cetera, if you do appreciate this brand of music, I have good word from reliable sources that this disc is well worth the price and then some.
(by Pete) ■
Various Artists Created to Kill
(Bones Brigade)
This is a four-band split CD. All of the bands fit more or less under the death metal or grindcore genres. First up on this CD is Drowning from France who play pretty generic but well-executed death metal with plenty of blast beats. Their drummer is pretty good, but overdoes the double bass a bit. There’s really not a whole lot interesting going on here. Next is the U.S. band Brodequin. They are one of the worst death metal bands I’ve heard in a really long time. The recording quality is horrendous and the vocals overpower everything else and have obviously been doctored with effects to sound evil. But this is a truly horrible band. Not a second of their three songs (two of which are covers) is worth listening to. Aborted from Belgium provide the next two songs on the comp, one of which is a cover of Napalm Death’s “Suffer the Children” and is pulled off well. Their original song is in the vein of Napalm Death with some more “tech metal” guitar parts. Really not anything I’m into. Finally on this CD is Misery Index from the U.S., definitely the highlight of this comp. This is the first time I’ve heard Misery Index, and I was quite impressed with what I heard: a very eclectic mix of different styles of metal and hardcore to form a sound that is very much their own. They are all over the place, from melodic guitar harmonies that sound similar to At The Gates to excellently executed hardcore breakdowns. The thing I probably like the most about this band after listening to the rest of this CD is that they have restrained themselves from using irritating stereotypical death metal vocals, unlike the rest of the bands. This CD is worth it for the Misery Index tracks.
(by Jeff Kane) ■
Vulgar Pigeons Summary Execution
(Deathvomit/Necropolis)
Bias, unibas, who fuckin’ cares. If you don’t own this album go get it now. Stop reading, get it now, now, now, now. Flawless pure grind perfection leaving you with a major erection. The guitar work by guitar virtuosos Jeff Lenormand and Mike Gilbert (Severed Savior): sick as fuck. Both guitarists compliment each other at every turn, twist, and break. Both Jeff and Mike share vocal duties and do the job everyone, including myself, should be doing. Rounding off the vokill barrage is Paul Ponitkoff (huuuummmm, why does that name sound so familiar?) who is quite the bass prodigy and no, not because he’s my brother! John Gotelli’s drumming only has gotten faster and more innovative in time and no, not because he plays in Benümb. This album just kills. Take my word on it, it’s hard to say your younger brother kicks ass on what you do and hope to do. And if there’s anyone who is out there that is bothered by me reviewing my brother’s band, try finding a life and a sense of humor. It helps.
(by Pete Ponitkoff) ■
Without Face Astronomicon
(Earache)
Without Face is part of the whole Earache “thing,” which means if you are looking for Morbid Angel or Napalm Death, keep looking. Not all new Earache is horrid but I was not expecting much from this release. If you are looking for tunes along the lines of Tristania, Amorphis, or even Rush, this is your band. Without Face is very melodic with male/female vocals alongside lots of keyboards and synth intros. This stuff is much more elaborate than I anticipated and the instrumentation is quite good. The whole group, and mainly the drummer, is very influenced by Rush while some of the vocals remind me of Tori Amos. Without Face is not what they seem and I was pleasantly surprised by what they have done. As the silly cover art, which is quite bad, may suggest, this album is not setting out to brutally punish you with metal, but to apply atmosphere with a prog/metal vibe.
(by Jake Cregger) ■
