Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Hardcore, Punk, Grind
Label: Independent 

After submitting my review for Seizure Crypt a couple of days ago, it was suggested that I gave another hardcore band from New York a shot. After a couple of days of letting Expendable Humans sink in, it is crystal clear that I owe my brother-in-metal, Dave, a big ol’ THANK YOU!!! I’m not ashamed to say that Vise Massacre had me won over in a matter of minutes with their hyper aggressive hardcore style and filthy, almost grind percussion tactics!

The overall sound that Vise Massacre spits out is a grimy hardcore masterpiece full of fresh ideas and time tested structures. There are tracks here that are reminiscent of If He Dies… He Dies, Oroku and even a little bit of a sped up Fog Wizard. So it’s safe to say that I had a massive erection forming over the first two tracks of this album.

I mentioned aggression just a few sentences ago and I don’t think that that description alone does the mood that this album conveys any justice whatsoever. Imagine walking through a crowded shopping mall, the day after Thanksgiving. You’re overheated, tired from getting up super early and fed up with all of the idiotic mouth breathers that are usurping your oxygen. An overweight house frau steps on your toe and doesn’t so much as break her waddling stride to apologize for crushing your big toe under her bovine hoof that’s crammed inside a two sizes too small croc.

Getting pissed yet?

Well, now imagine that in your hands, you’re holding two .357 Desert Eagles that never need reloading and all of the doors leading out of the mall have been locked from the outside…

Expendable Humans is the soundtrack pumping out of the P.A. system overhead as you mow down the annoying and tolerable alike.

Aggressive! Psychotic! Hateful! Fucking Perfect! Vise Massacre unlock the homicidal maniac in you through their blend of loud pounding drumwork, hardcore bellowing and grinding riffs. Expendable Humans is a hardcore adventure unlike any other that I have gone on before and couldn’t wait to take it again as soon as the album was finished. And I did. Over and over again. Once while I was strolling though the mall even…

Overall: When all is said and done, a recommendation  to listen to this album couldn’t be glowing enough from me. This is easily an album that I could listen to for days on end, tell a friend about it and listen to it with him/her for more days on end! Vise Massacre may prove that humans are expendable, but they themselves are invaluable to the metal/hardcore community!

10/10

-  Typhon

Vise Massacre On ReverbNation
Vise Massacre On Facebook 

Genre: Death Metal, Grind

Label: Comatose Music

Modus Delicti started up after the band Nobody broke up in 2005. In 2006, they broke up again and reformed within the same year… yeah. After hearing that, I wasn’t expecting a whole hell of a lot from this band either. But the test of their mantel is in their metal, not in their tumultuous history. After giving Nobody a spin, I have this to say:

If you like spastic grind in the vein of Kill The Client and more groove heavy death metal by way of Skinless, then this six year veteran of the Italian metal circuit and their first full length album are right up your awesome choice of alley!

I don’t really need to say a whole lot more than that for this review. Modus Delicti plays some fairly technical, yet eerily relaxed grindcore that’s akin to countrymen Tsubo’s style. The guitar buzzes through riff after bloody violent riff and even slows down for a little melodic break in Beyond The Mask. Claude De Rosa, Modus Delicti’s drummer, is a killer. Plain and simple. ADHD pummeling and controlled, technical blasts move this band out of the shadows of mediocre grind and into “keep your eyes and these guys” territory.

The vocals aren’t terrible most of the time.  But every once in a while, there’s that irritating Cookie Monster growl that pops up and ruins the flow of an already brutal song. And as for flow breakage, at the end of The Teeth Collector, there’s about thirty seconds of silence that just annoys this piss out of me. Why the hell is that even there?

Overall: Modus Delicti’s debut album, Nobody is about twenty four minutes of a brutal groove ‘n’ grind fest!

8/10

Modus Delicti On Facebook

Modus Delicti On MySpace

Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Label: Comatose Music

Oh no… did Lance Ozanix start another band?

Or, if you’re not familiar with Skitzo…

“I do so love those incredibly generic/over used to the point of “regurgitation” death metal monikers.” he said with a layer of sarcasm so think that you could slice through it with a cutlass. Ugh. Really guys? Not, “Violent Eructation?” Not, “Pharyngeal Ejection”? Not even something as simple as “Puke”, “Vomit” or even, “RETCH”? You had to choose one of the single most uninspired medical nomenclatures in the death/grind genre?

::Plays Clitoraldectomy once, twice and then a third time, invoking a “friendly chat” with a less that understanding Christian neighbor:: I officially revoke my bitchfest about the name of this band. Regurgitation plays some of the most well composed (albeit, still sloppy at times) brutal death metal/grind that I’ve have heard… EVER!

Apparently, Clitoraldectomy was supposed to be released something around nine years ago as a full length album. I wonder what the story is there, since I’m having a hell of a time finding any information about it online. Nevertheless, I’m about as happy as Arnold Schwarzenegger with an underpaid maid that somebody rescued this five song EP! And I’m even more house help raping ecstatic that one of those five songs is a cover of Suffocation’s Infecting The Crypts!

Oddly enough, this vocalist doesn’t sound like he’s retching all over the studio during these recording as one such as myself (re: an idiot) might of thought based on the band name. Nope. Just some deep as fuck, guttural growls from the bowels with an occational shriek thrown in for goreific effect. Also used with great effect, are the fucking guitars! As speedy as Gonzales and far less annoying. Blazing riffs and lowest registered chords are all over this EP and manage to illustrate just how wrong some people are when they say that it doesn’t take any talent or brains to play guitar in a brutal death metal band. (You know who you are… Jason…)

Overall: This band may seem generic at first glance, right down to the, “raped, strangled and murdered” cover art. But once you’re balls deep inside Clitoraldectomy, you’ll see all the gore hound glory it has to offer!

8.5/10

Regurgitation On MySpace

Genre: Death Metal, Grind

Label: Dynamic Arts Records

Having let Deathbound’s 2007’s We Deserve Much Worse fly under my radar, I’m just going to have to assume that I must of missed something in the evolution to Non Compos Mentis since this album is heavy! I’m not saying that Doomsday Comfort wasn’t, it’s just that the promo disc I received for Non Compos Mentis weighs about a metric ton more!

Deathbound didn’t abound their grind sound at all since most people nowadays seem to equate a “heavy” sound to “gay” or “mainstream” for some reason.  To be more accurate, Non Compos Mentis is three parts grind, two parts groove and one part old school death metal. They must have been listening to a lot of Rotten Sound since 2005…

In regards to the instrumentation, Deathbound’s guitarist “Pete” is a fountain of tweaked formulaic riffs. Like in Death Come For A Visit; classic subsonic grind riffs with a heavy groove influence. Admittedly there are times when I wish he’d experiment some more, but what are ya gonna do? Vocally, you’ve got your standard, sloppy scream/growl hybrid that gets the job done. Percussions? Forget about it! Blast beats out the ass and little more than snare and crash abuse. Live with it!

Overall: A wholly satisfying album for fans of classic grind and newer schools of death infused metal. If I had it my way, all of the little sound bites that litter the album would cease to be, but they don’t really do any harm. I’m just a pickly old miser.

8/10

Deathbound On MySpace

Deathbound Official

Genre: Death Metal, Grind
Label: Comatose Music

Once again I am at the mercy of Italy’s purveyors of putridly perfect death/grind, Blasphemer! Albeit a much shorter outing this time around (five tracks and thirteen minutes worth of cross inverting metal). Let’s see what the filthy bastards have to offer this time around, shall we?

Devouring Deception is… what I’ve come to expect from Blasphemer: super fast, super slick, super guttural and just plain evil. Basically, On The Inexistence Of God and one half. Which bodes well with me since I thought that they hit a nice stride there in technique and production.

And if I may flog a dead horse, this shit is BRUTAL! And not in that hip-to-be-square kind of way either. True brutality comes from within, grasshoppa. And these guys bleed it! Riff after skull crushing riff, Devouring Deception engrains it’s presence in your metal loving memory!

My one gripe is, once again, the vocals. Sure, he added a couple of full on screams and whatnot, but overall it just the same squeals that run together song after song. But hey, if that’s your thing, then keep on truckin’.

Overall: If you dug On The Inexistence Of God, then this will also be right up your alley.

8/10

Blasphemer On MySpace