Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Punk, NYHC
Label: Punk Core Records

Seven years after forming, The Casualties put For the Punx out, their first LP. Straight forward street punk anthems that hearkened to bands like GBH and The Exploited.
The original release from Tribal War Records had twelve tracks, but this version that I have from Punk Core Records (who seem to be defunct) has four bonus tracks, recorded in a radio studio.
This is not the radio friendly pop punk that seems to be what people think when they view punk; it’s the raw, vicious stuff that is politically charged and socially aware. One thing I’m really noticing about this album is that The Casualties also sing about the scene, the punk scene where they were born and punk rock in general. In a Digipak, the booklet is pretty sweet, full of live pictures and promos, and some of the biggest fucking mohawks I’ve ever seen.
This is the epitome of punk and should be owned by anyone who’s a fan of NYHC. And if you get the chance to see them live, do it! I saw them opening for GWAR in 2010 and it was a fucking smash!
7 out of 10.

The Casualties on Facebook.

Genre: Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal
Label: Roadrunner Records

Machine Head. Legends in their own ways, underground underdogs in others. It seems these guys couldn’t really catch a break. But then they released The Blackening, which tore down the doors to the Halls of Metal and MH took their places inside as metal masters, rather than great players who were accidentally left looking through the windows.
The album is thrash as fuck, with traces of Nü, punk, and traditional metal, showing Machine Head’s influences while in itself being influential. As an added bonus in being thrash, the songs are longer, the shortest song being “Beautiful Mourning” clocking at 4:46. Robb’s voice is vitriolic, the riffs as strong as a bulldozer to the head, and still catchy enough that you’re going to be air guitaring to the solos the day after.
The thing that makes this the Special Edition version of the album is that it includes two bonus cover songs (Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name” and Metallica’s “Battery”) as well as a DVD that has enough stuff on it that it could have been marketed by itself as a stand-alone product. Live stuff, music videos, and the making of The Blackening are all here, adding intense amounts of awesome to an already killer album.
9 out of 10.

Machine Head on Facebook.
Machine Head Official Site.
Machine Head on MySpace.

Genres: Brutal Death Metal, Medical Death Metal
Labels: Willowtip, Tankcrimes

I bought The Last Gasp based solely on the cover, and I’m so glad I did.
First I ordered it from Tankcrimes on 12” vinyl, which is a gorgeous piece of art in itself (the Impaled logo and the title on the cover are foiled!), and then I found the CD at HMV finally last night (no foil on it though). The cover that inspired this purchasing is both disgusting and awe inspiring for me.
Just like the music contained within.
This is the kind of death metal that a lot of fans of the genre are going to want to hear. Fast, catchy riffs that are sometimes heavy (“All Gut, No Glory”) or sometimes just brutally face kicking (“You Are The Dead”) with solos that are little mini-songs in themselves, and even have their own titles (“Debris All That You Can Be”, “The Obesity Epidemic”, etc.). I think these guys have definitely listened to their classics like Entombed, Death, Carcass, and the like, but also tons of punk seems to have been a steady diet of at least one of the members. It’s got a little bit of that feel. Add in the fact that members and ex-members were part of Exhumed, Engorged, Hoarfrost, Ghoul, and more, it’s like a death metal orgasm, covered in cow parts.
Lyrically, these guys are very medical, using text book terminology to sicken as well as make you laugh, complete with a band photo with the caption “The Thanatologists of St. Julien’s”, a modified prescription Rx logo (Rxxx) and other fun bits.
Get a copy!
9 out of 10.

Impaled on MySpace.

Genre: Death Metal, Grind
Label: Independent

Geez! This extreme metal is EXTREMELY extreme metal! What? It’s from Costa Rica? …well that explains that! South American metal tends to be earth shattering and Azterion is no exception.

An amped up version of Exhumed playing Deicide covers while listening to Sarcofago, Azterion’s Destructural is any death metalers’s/grindhead’s wet nightmare! Vocally, isn’t about as brutal as it gets with the dynamic duo of dual death growls and blackened death ghoul screams. And it doesn’t matter that I don’t understand what the fuck he’s saying since he’s going at it in what I’m going to guess is Spanish. Every track in Destructural is almost literally bleeding with a vile hatred anything (or possibly everything, given the sheer intensity of it all)!

The last track however, Kanashimi, is a few keys tickled while a distorted voice regales you with a melancholy sounding story… but again, I don’t know for sure. At any rate, it’s an calming ending to this chaotic romp through a blitzkrieg of metal most violent!

Overall: Gutturally gruesome in all of the right ways! Azterion is on my Hot Shit list and will be tapped for future releases without a doubt!

9.5/10

Azterion On MySpace

Also Posted On E-MetalSpace

Genre: Death Metal/Doom
Label: Largactyl Records

Originally released on Largactyl Records but now apparently distributed by Paragon Records as well, Amores Defunctus Tuus Mater is a split CD containing three tracks of death metal from repeat offenders Dimentianon and three tracks of funeral doominess from E-MetalSpace first timers, Rigor Sardonicous. Let’s see how these flavors blend, shall we?

Dimentianon – My first experience with this band was a five track live demo that blew my mind (as far as recorded live shit is concerned)! This time around, they’ve only got three tracks to do equal or better… Their brand of death metal starts off with one hell of a kick and then begins to slosh back and forth from fast to slow paced. The vocals sound alright, but they don’t come off as menacing or as deathy as one would expect from traditional death metal. But to be fair, these guys aren’t exactly traditional… so I’ll chalk it up to my pickiness about vocals then. While this trial is wholly entertaining, I’m once again left wanting more (again, only three tracks). I’ve really got to get a full length release from these guys…

Rigor Sardonicous - Remember that scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit when Judge Doom got stuck six was from Sunday in all that industrial glue and then was flattened by a steamroller? I, am Judge Doom, Rigor Sardonicous is the glue and the tracks Anima Interius, Somnus Pulchritudo and Blood Of The Seraphim are the steamroller. RS’s brand of super thick doom is some of the most vile stuff that’s ever been through my ear canal! I do have a single gripe though; the vocals. Waaaay too much distortion. It’s like they’ve got the techno-devil on the mic! Other than that, this shit is raw, apocalyptic DOOM!!!

Overall: As far as non-thrash splits go, this one is pretty damned good. The production is top notch stuff and much better than I expected it to be as well. Amores Defunctus Tuus Mater is pretty high up there on my recommendation list… so, I recommend that you give this little gem a listen.

8.5/10

Dimentianon On MySpace

Rigor Sardonicous On MySpace

Also Posted On E-MetalSpace