Artist: Created to Kill
Release Title: Death's Construction
Year: 2013
Label: Horror Pain Gore Death Productions
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1.Fascination with Your Death
2.Object of Perfect Torture
3.Into the Frozen Tomb
4.Murdered and Mutilated
5.Corpse Collector
6.Machete
7.Suffocated in a Bodybag
8.Self Inflicted Flame Engulfment
9.The Reaper Always Wins
10.Death on the River
Continuing to deliver the brutality, Kentucky-based brutal death metallers Created to Kill have been built around their dedication to old school brutal Death Metal that is uncompromising and intense. With a five-year gap in between releases that sees long-time bassist Abe Simmerman put down the instrument in favor of bringing Phil Good onboard to join brother Paul, the group releases its second full-length album October 30, 2013 on new label Horror Pain Gore Death Productions.
From the outset, this here is pretty much a consistent and constant blast of frenzied, brutal death metal delivered with plenty of old-school verve. This is featured with the utterly ravenous and deep, tight riff-work full of frenzied arrangements and utterly frantic arrangements that give this one plenty of dynamic speed-drenched arrangements that makes for some truly impressive times. The loose, rattling rhythms mixed alongside these elements create a fine old-school approach in the riffing by offering up a fine series of thrashing patterns with plenty of furious and utterly savage arrangements while still giving plenty of fine tightly-wound riffing which is part of the wholesale approach to the genre which makes for quite the appealing time playing into the rules of that genre. That indeed is one of the main flaws here in that it’s quite formulaic and goes for the prototypical frenzied brutal death approach even with the inclusion of the more stable riff-work here and it does become somewhat of a massive blur as the album goes along due to the bands’ stature giving them so little room for refining the riffing and plays itself into that familiar playbook. There’s a dynamic and enjoyable crunch to the riffing that elicits quite the fun enthusiasm and competence at the style to overcome this slight flaw as it’s not the biggest detriment, but it does come up throughout this one and does hold it back somewhat.
Despite coming across as quite a familiar blur of frenzied riffing and pummeling rhythms that dozens of other bands in the genre offer, there’s still plenty to really like with this one’s generally furious approach and competence at their performances that it should be a worthwhile choice for aficionados of brutal death for the most part.
Artist: Ragestorm
Release Title: A Thin Line Between Hope and Ruin
Year: 2013 (2016)
Label: Self-Released/Independent (Sliptrick Records reissue)
Genre: Death/Thrash Records
Tracklisting:
1.The Meatgrinder Theory
2.Debt Ritual
3.Polysilicotetrapropryvinylfluorethalene
4.Moloch
5.Idiocracy
6.Acid Tears
7.Interlude: Hari Seldon's Speech (feat. The Boylerz)
8.The Thin Line Between Hope and Ruin
9.Soldiers of a Lost War
10.New World Disorder
11.Reaching the Impossible
The debut full-length from Italian death/thrashers Ragestorm shows the effects of a band in such a situation while also offering plenty of promise for what’s to come in their career. For the most part this one carries along the type of melody-infused riff-work that seems to play through that style without any deviation. Switching between tight chugging and extra-sloppy swirling melodic runs in the guitar-work, there’s a pretty simplistic energy attributed to the tracks here that occasionally brings up some fire from time-to-time, though the majority of this one gets stuck with those chugging rhythms holding the paces down in the mid-tempo for the most part. These tend to feature so many rather bland and plodding rhythms that they’re wholly lifeless at worst, while the best effort about them is that they’re decent-if-unspectacular. This applies to an overwhelming majority of the album as well, which tends to leave this staggeringly overdone and seemingly just filler material on the whole. Even more to the point there’s a wholly unneeded and just plain needless interlude to the album which is a droning and endless industrial collage that plays over a sampled speech that’s just pointless and seemingly included for no real reason which makes this a deviation to the whole effort since this one doesn’t bring up the points in the speech overall and the whole thing is just such a painful experience. This pointlessness of this really showcases the early point of the bands’ career at the fullest and should not be continued in the future.
The first half here is decent enough if not all that impressive. Opener ‘The Meatgrinder Theory’ features a sampled chainsaw reviving intro leading into driving drumming and stellar riff-work through the steady mid-tempo series of riff-work through a fine charge as the soaring melodic leads carry through the solo section and bringing the tight chugging through the final half for a solid opening effort. ‘Debt Ritual’ brings tight, crunchy riffing and blistering drumming churning along through a frantic, mid-tempo pace with plenty of slight chugging rhythms and steady riffing carrying along through the stuttering main patterns carrying into the solo section and working through into the finale for a somewhat decent if overall unimpressive effort. The short and brutal ‘Polysilicotetrapropryvinylfluorethalene’ features immediate blasting drumming and rather frantic swirling riff-work charging along at butal, blistering charging patterns with the choppy rhythms leading to the tight, driving final half for a rather enjoyable effort for the album’s clear highlight. ‘Moloch’ features light acoustic riffing amid crackling noise before quickly turning into a simple, straightforward plodding chugging series of riff-work with plenty of pounding drumming keeping the simplistic elements firmly along through the utterly ferocious finale for an impressive finish to a bland effort previously. ‘Idiocracy’ takes churning drumming and swirling riff-work through the mid-tempo chugging paces with simplistic rhythms and frantic patterns churning along with the chugging riff-work leading along to the fiery solo section and bringing the energy back into the final half for a decent if unspectacular effort. ‘Acid Tears’ immediately blasts through frantic razor-wire riff-work with plenty of solid swirling patterns charging along through the simplistic paces charging along into the dynamic, fiery solo section and carrying the straightforward rhythms along throughout the finale for a rather enjoyable effort.
The second half isn’t that bad and manages to make for a far more impressive effort. ‘Interlude: Hari Seldon's Speech’ features a sampled speech over a droning industrial sound collage that doesn’t in the slightest bit need to be there and really just eats up time on the album overall. The title track takes militaristic pounding drumming and simple chugging rhythms that swirl around through rather tepid plodding paces with the occasional flurry of stellar melodic leads that whip along through the fiery solo section and continue swirling along through the melodic chugging patterns in the final half for a solid if generally decent effort. ‘Soldiers of a Lost War’ takes heavy melodic riffing over a gradual build-up style drumming that leads to the simplistic chugging riff-work bringing along the simplistic charging rhythms with plenty of rather dynamic, dexterous drum-work bringing along a sense of energy on through the finale for another wholly unimpressive effort. ‘New World Disorder’ uses thumping riff-work and charging drumming carrying along through the swirling frantic rhythms with plenty of melodic charging flying along through the stylized twisting rhythms that lead along through the solo section and bringing the tight chugging into the final half for a decent-enough effort overall. Lastly, album-clsoer ‘Reaching the Impossible’ takes frantic swirling riff-work and plenty of chugging patterns whipping along through the frantic up-tempo rhythms whipping along through the rather dynamic stuttering patterns holding along through the charging solo section and leading into the extended soulful piano finale for a somewhat enjoyable lasting impression.
While the band is clearly still going through the learning curve when it comes to their style and energy, there’s enough elements at play here to work with in the future that it could serve them well whenever they carry on which leaves this one still only for the most devout fans of the style as a whole at this point.
Artist: Skoll
Release Title: Grisera
Year: 2013 (Original Ewiges Eis Records version)/2014 (Fallen-Angel Productions reissue)
Label: Ewiges Eis Records (original version)/Fallen-Angel Productions (reissue)
Genre: Pagan Black Metal
Tracklisting:
Original Version-
1.Grush
2.Grisera
3.Hrothaharijaz
4.Wolves in the Mist
Reissue Version-
1.Grush
2.Grisera
3.Hrothaharijaz
4.Wolves in the Mist
5.The Bard
The second full black metal album from Italian pagan black metallers Skoll features a rather decent and enjoyable take on the style which gives this some rather enjoyable times here. Based rather fervently on the notion of the swirling tremolo picked rhythms that are wrapped together in sprawling, majestic patterns dosed with plenty of sporty woodlands-flavored arrangements and interludes that give it a naturalistic touch like the best of the pagan style albums here. The nature sounds here coming from the riff-work is further augmented by the use of spacious, sprawling keyboards that pop up throughout here which manages to get an even more overt pagan sound in combination of that kind of swirling rhythms and it’s a patently dynamic example of this style. However, this style inadvertently becomes it’s own worst enemy when it tends to become all the more obvious here that this riffing style is repeated ad nauseum to the point of becoming one-dimensional for the most part. The epic length of the tracks simply causes this one to keep the songs going around in pretty repetitive patterns keeps this one tuned into that ability as well, featuring the kind of arrangements to get to that sort of style of extended style, and does tend to lower this one somewhat slightly.
The first half here gives this a stylish look at what’s on display. The opening epic ‘Grush’ offers light melancholic acoustic guitar riffing alongside ambient nature sounds turns into raging simplistic tremolo riffing featuring plenty of clattering drum-work over the majestic airy keyboards that leave the extended atmospheric instrumental interlude with a return to the raging riffing and extended rhythms throughout the overlong final half which starts this off in grandiose, epic fashion. The title track uses winding rhythms and plenty of springy bass-lines with melodic buzzing tremolo rhythms throughout as the folk-like ambiance continues swirling throughout as the up-tempo riffing gives way to melancholic acoustics and howling winds limping along through the finale for a still enjoyable effort. ‘Hrothaharijaz’ takes stylish mid-tempo riffing and grandiose keyboards alongside clattering drumming though a stylish mid-tempo pace with occasional bursts of thumping, galloping drumming alongside the swirling riff-work and pagan-styled keyboards leading through the final half for the album’s overall highlight effort.
The second half isn’t all that bad and has some solid moments. ‘Wolves in the Mist’ uses light acoustic guitars before turning into a steady mid-tempo series of swirling tremolo riffing through the simplistic patterns accompanied with simple charging drumming and frosty pagan keyboards swirling around the sprawling, plodding tempos full of melodic rhythms throughout the final half for a decent enough effort here. Lastly, bonus track ‘The Bard’ features stylish mid-tempo riffing and rumbling rhythms through a plodding, mid-tempo pace with churning riff-work throughout as the stylish keyboards continually buzzing along into the lighter tempos bring about the plodding paces with the churning rhythms continuing through the finale for a well-deserved skippable bonus that ends this rather weakly.
While it tends to meander around a bit too much for it’s own good, there’s enough to really like here with this decidedly one-note pagan black metal experience that it really shouldn’t be that much of a challenge to those interested in the experience or find this kind of minimalist black metal appealing.
