Blasphemer (It) - Ritual Theophagy

Artist: Blasphemer (It)
Release Title: Ritual Theophagy
Year: 2016
Label: Comatose Music
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Suicide for Satan
2. You Are Nothing
3. Jesus Rapes
4. Worship in the Void
5. Antichristian Extremism
6. Annihilated Divinity
7. Obscuring the Holy Light
8. Crucifix of Shit (Stench of Prophet)
9. Fetishistic Idolatry of the Cross
10. I Deny
11. Ritual Theophagy

Furthering their finely-honed style, Italian brutal death metallers Blasphemer have carried along their style nicely throughout their career which continues into their newest release with a blistering onslaught of their traditional sound. With an eight-year release gap that introduces Darren Cesca as the new drummer, the second full-length album was released October 14, 2016 on Comatose Music.

Much like their previous works, this one tends to rattle along with traditional brutal death-flavored material that makes for a wholly frantic attack. Featuring flaying riff-work with tight, short patterns and impossibly blistering tempos within their sharply-honed rhythms that strike with jagged precision and frantic speed, there’s a prominently-displayed attack here which is quite fun overall here at delivering the blisteringly brutal rhythms. These are made all the better with their startlingly up-tempo and frantic speeds, as the fact that there’s very little deviation here with a few offerings of more technically-challenging series of riffing that turns their tempos into a slightly more plodding pace that still packs in plenty of charging riff-work within their twisting rhythms. While these here are quite an impressive overall display of attack, there’s a few minor problems throughout here. The album as a whole is quite one-sided and doesn’t really strike itself all that well here with the rather familiar attack that runs itself into the ground here. Running through the same general riffing patterns and arrangements here makes this one a really predictable affair here quite early on, and it’s not really helped all that much with the other minor facet striking this one in it’s too-short length. Only one track here is longer than three minutes and most are kept well under that length which never really allows this a chance to really adapt any kind of identifiable march of signature attack here which is a slight issue to contend with. While the overall attack makes for plenty to like, it gets old rather quickly.

Though it’s really fun in places and does have some enjoyable elements, far too much of this one is caught up in keeping itself tied to that one impressive charge that it really loses itself here once there’s been enough exposure to this one which really leaves this one strictly for the most devout and hardcore brutal death enthusiastic.

Score: 79/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
https://blasphemer666.bandcamp.com/album/ritual-theophagy

Endemise - Anathema

Artist: Endemise
Release Title: Anathema
Year: 2016
Label: Self-Released/Independent
Genre: Symphonic Black/Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Nocturne
2. Anathema
3. Blackening
4. Procreator
5. Fragments in Stone
6. Soma
7. Come Serene Dark
8. Fragments in Flame

Managing to offer more of the same, Canadian symphonic black/death metallers Endemise have contributed to their main style of attack throughout their career which really brings a new showcase for their grand sound. With a three-year gap between releases that sees Graham Murphy settling into the second guitarist role for the group, their third full-length album was originally released October 28, 2016 on Maple Metal Records.

From the start this here finds itself contained within a fine mixture of the two main genres featured by utilizing a strong display of swirling black metal amidst the predominantly death metal stylings here. Featuring the keyboard-laced symphonics for the most part here with plenty of utterly bombastic and dynamic rhythms that offer the grandiosity typically found here, and then wrapping it all in a truly engaging and wholly appropriate black metal series of stylings that make for a rather impressive contrast. The near-Gothic stylings here with the grandiose drumming stylings and full-on orchestrations add another fine layer alongside the swirling tremolo rhythms and generate plenty of truly enjoyable elements with some fine melodic leanings throughout here, and these leave this one somewhat enjoyable. While these are quite fun, they bring up the album’s main problem here which comes from the fact that there’s just not a lot of really strong and varied series of rhythms throughout here which really tends to make this go by without really finding out where you are in the album as a whole.that lowers this one somewhat. Despite unleashing a strongly-performed album for the most part, there’s just not a whole lot really here to give this much of a coherent style or identity as it’s just not all that dynamic to really make a different impression here. It’s what really holds this one back even with the positive elements.

Though it’s got some positive work throughout here with the strong orchestral elements and some energetic work at times, there’s still plenty of work here that drags this down enough to really leave this one for the most undiscerning fans of symphonic black or death metal for the most part as most others should heed caution with this one.

Score: 76/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://endemise.bandcamp.com/album/anathema

Stagewar - Killing Fast

Artist: Stagewar
Release Title: Killing Fast
Year: 2016
Label: Bacillus Records
Genre: Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Living Hell
2. Trapped in Life
3. No Place to Go
4. Isolated
5. Multiple Murder Death Killer
6. The Song I Wrote for You
7. My Place My Rules
8. No Fucks Given
9. Still Alive
10. Waste of Time
11. Inside Your Head
12. Crash Course
13. Killing Fast

With a fine set-up within their style, German thrashers Stagewar have built a fine following with a strong dedication to the live format which has made their tight, short and to-the-point thrash stylings all the more potent and devastating. With the quartet taking a five-year break from releases to hone this style, the groups’ second full-length effort was originally released October 28, 2016 on Bacillus Records.

While at first glance the band is clearly influenced by the shorter, raging punk-influenced end of the thrash genre, there’s more at work within this one. While the riff-work is definitely fiery and engaging as is to be expected with the punk influences shining through, there’s also a prominent crossover theme running in here with the penchant for tight, confined swirling rhythms played in simplistic, straightforward manners here. There’s little time to get bogged down in completely irrelevant areas like rhythm changes or tempo dynamics, as the band instead chooses to fly through the vicious material with a straight-laced intensity that comes off with very few moments without that let-up and lack of aggression, which is a lot of fun throughout here. That does end up making this feel incredibly one-note and quite bland for the later parts here as once this one gets a few tracks in it’s already signaled its intentions and tricks by then and the realization that it’s not going to really deviate much from this style throughout here does undo some of the good will and enthusiasm featured as it’s not going to get much different from what’s on display there and that ends up causing this one to feel somewhat overlong despite the tight, confined rhythms here. Still, that this is quite fun and energetic at this style anyway does serve this one quite nicely anyway.

Despite the fact that there’s not a whole lot of original or variation within this one, there’s just not much really wrong here with the energy and intensity of their attack which is much more important in this regard so that those hardcore/crossover thrash fans or like the punk-infused thrash will find more to like here while more traditionally-minded thrashers should heed caution.

Score: 79/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Fast-STAGEWAR/dp/B01M0GBAAM/ref=tmm_acd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Carnophage - Monument

Artist: Carnophage
Release Title: Monument
Year: 2016
Label: Unique Leader Records
Genre: Brutal/Technical Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Incandescent
2. Second Genesis
3. Resistance Against Mind Clouding Heresy
4. Same Old Circle
5. Unbroken Fortitude
6. At the Backside of Our Civilization
7. Ode to Corruption
8. Sparks of the Experiment
9. Inertia and Failure

Taking their sound to it’s fullest, Turkish brutal/technical death metallers Carnophage have worked their chaotic brand of controlled musicianship as they keep honing their wildly technical brand of death metal into new heights of extremity. After six years between releases that sees founding guitarist Berkan Başoğlu being replaced by Serhat Kaya, the groups’ second full-length album was released September 23, 2016 on Unique Leader Records.

From the onset here this one really seems to dwell quite heavily in the realm of introducing a strong blend of technicality and brutality together into their music. Taking a more methodical mid-tempo approach to the material by introducing the predominant chugging-style riffing for the most part here while still employing a strong series of tightly-wound and generally controlled patterns that employ the brutal aspects of the music quite nicely. As this fine sense of brutality is matched by elements featuring a charging technicality here with a far more pronounced array of technically-challenging riff-work that manage to vary their tempos and aggression throughout here for a much more pummeling burst throughout the album. That mixture is wholly appealing and quite impactful at times, yet does run into the minor issue of being unable to really offer the deep, churning grooves that would’ve made for a much heavier impact. The album is full of tightly-wound, generally impactful rhythms and riffing throughout here that’s quite well adept at this style, but it doesn’t generate the kind of heaviness needed to really pack the kind of punch of other bands in this style as the album varies only with the tempos of the material present here. There’s never any real sense of dynamics in the recording that gives the material a heavy, thumping burst here with it’s relatively clean production that does capture everything nicely but it comes off too well and really does need more of a mixture here to really work. Beyond this, there’s not a whole lot here that works against it.

Though there’s a bit of a messy situation here with the album not really offering the kind of production that brings out the dynamic sound qualities the music requires, the rest of this is a blistering affair of charging brutality-laced technical death metal that should be quite at home with any fanatic of either style or the genre in particular.

Score: 83/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://carnophageturkey.bigcartel.com/

Nex Carnis - Obscure Visions of Dark

Artist: Nex Carnis
Release Title: Obscure Visions of Dark
Year: 2015
Label: Nightbreaker Productions
Genre: Retro Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Darkened Rites of Existence
2. Cryptic Depths of Unlight
3. Dissolution in Vortex of Sanity
4. Descent into Ethereal Realms
5. Abolishing Rancid Thrones of Deceit
6. Murky Pits of Time

Formed in early 2012, Iranian death metallers Nex Carnis have steadily and quickly risen from their humble beginnings to craft a series of impressive old-school-style death metal that becomes quite prominent throughout here. With the group expanding out into a three-piece now with Jirka "Jurgen" Zajíc joining in on drums while Sam works as a session bassist for founders Incruent and Asto Vidato, the groups’ debut full-length was originally released May 23, 2015 on Nightbreaker Productions.

This here was quite the impressive outing in the genre, and really manages quite nicely to get the old-school feeling down quite nicely here. Bolstered by churning riff-work and plenty of tight, straightforward patterns that carry that syncopated style of riff-work along throughout the tight and energetic paces filled with rumbling rhythms pounding out the simplistic riffing as well as more of a plodding mid-tempo series of work carried out by the choppy chugging riff-work throughout here, the album as a whole tends to offer a great variety and dynamic that works itself into a series of aggressive-minded efforts that are quite enjoyable. Though nowhere near the technicality of their brethren, this type of variety makes for a much more appealing attack than necessary while managing to work in the melodic sweeping that gets sprinkled through several tracks here that furthers this balance quite nicely. Though it’s quite an overall effective balance and features a solid enough attack here with these elements, the fact that there’s just not a whole lot else to really glean from these few tracks here as the overall short length here doesn’t really become a huge factor but is really noticeable with the few tracks here. Still, as a debut effort this does serve as a minor point of contention without being too detrimental.

With a truly enjoyable attack and a few slight problems deviating mainly from a slightly too short running time caused by not really providing enough music to really exploit that quality to the fullest, this is a highly engaging and enjoyable album that will certainly be worthwhile to all fans of old-school death metal or those curious about the regions’ specific output in the genre.

Score: 88/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://www.nightbreakerprod.com/store/nex-carnis-obscure-visions-of-dark-cd

Warfist - Metal to the Bone

Artist: Warfist
Release Title: Metal to the Bone
Year: 2016
Label: Godz ov War Productions
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Pestilent Plague
2. Written with Blood
3. Convent of Sin
4. Tribe of Lebus
5. Breed of War
6. Metal to the Bone
7. NecroVenom
8. Playing God
9. Reclaim the Crown

For over a decade now, Polish blackened thrash metal power-trio Warfist have steadily gained their experience and their style of explosive underground-flavored thrash and black metal which was fully realized with their previous release. Now, two years after that initial charge, the band offers even more of their fiery charge with a fully-immersive sophomore full-length released October 30, 2016 on Godz ov War Productions.

As was prominent on their previous release, the majority of the album here comes from a series of rocking and explosive high-energy mixtures of black and thrash metal. The vast majority of the album charges along with high-energy riffing and straightforward, charging thrash metal rhythms that keep the material tight, crunchy and utterly rabid in their speed and energy that keeps this centered around the tight charging energies from these patterns. With the ability to wrap these high energy efforts with more tight, plodding tempos featuring some heavy-handed chugging which counter-balance the ravenous, thrashing here the end result is quite nice and makes for some well-rounded times. Given that this material is all meshed together with a dirty, blackened atmosphere with the inclusion of several series of tremolo-based riff-work into the thrashing, this energetic and rousing material is given quite a healthy and impressive boost and further solidifies the bands’ connection to both genre style-points. They also manage to strike up the biggest negative which is the rather overt and seemingly one-note attack which doesn’t alternate any between these ravenous rhythms which are played out throughout the album. By staying so straightforward and unyielding in it’s approach there’s not a whole lot of chances to really get the variety going throughout here and it leaves the album so straightforward that there’s a pretty simplistic attack. This here is really the only thing that really holds this one back.

With some rather straightforward and unyielding attack that doesn’t offer up much of any chance for variety or deviation here, the sheer speed and utterly blistering attack is for the most part far more effective and dynamic that it really overcomes a lot of these issues and makes for quite an appealing effort for black/thrash fans or extreme thrash aficionados.

Score: 85/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/warfist-metal-to-the-bone

Uncoffined - Ceremonies of Morbidity

Artist: Uncoffined
Release Title: Ceremonies of Morbidity
Year: 2016
Label: Memento Mori
Genre: Doom/Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. The Horrors of Highgate
2. Plague of the Uncoffined
3. Ceremonies of Morbidity
4. Ill Omens of Death and Disease
5. Awakened from their Dormant Slumber

Becoming one of the country’s finest exports, UK-based doom/death metallers Uncoffined have taken the dark and depraved work found in their previous work into a further extreme by drawing even more on the creeping, crawling atmosphere into higher degrees here. With a three-year gap between releases, the group prepares it’s sophomore release October 24, 2016 on Memento Mori.

For the most part here this one plays with the predominantly doom-laced part of their sound for a rather chilling aspect of music that continually churns and oozes with the scalding atmosphere prevalent in that style. The utterly slow, crushing riffing spends an ornate amount of time here readily working through a never-ending series of vile, oppressive rhythms full of these straightforward efforts that take these rhythms into dark passages with the imagery present. As the riffing containing these passages spells out the dark, cryptic atmosphere here with the sound clips edited into here which complement those deep, churning patterns and agonizingly slow, drawn-out rhythms so well by keeping the same consistent atmosphere throughout here. Despite the quality and consistency of the rhythms and atmosphere throughout here, there’s a minor flaw throughout here in that this one doesn’t really offer up much variety or really strike very many creative endeavors throughout here. With the album for the most part incredibly consistent and straightforward in doling out the dark, cryptic graveyard-spawned rhythms here, this one seems to go for these singular style of rhythms here for the entirety of the record so it’s quite easy to lose yourself in the album quite easily with it replaying that here and it creates quite a prolonged, drawn-out feeling here which is enhanced by the extreme length of the songs themselves, but that isn’t all too big of a deal overall here.

While there’s times where it does feel it’s length, especially due to the repetitiveness of the whole affair, the strong darkened atmospheric vibes and utterly pummeling work throughout this one is much more impressive and readily makes this quite an appealing effort for any doom/death fan or horror-centric extreme metal fan.

Score: 90/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
https://www.discogs.com/Uncoffined-Ceremonies-Of-Morbidity/release/9258381

Unmerciful - Ravenous Impulse

Artist: Unmerciful
Release Title: Ravenous Impulse
Year: 2016
Label: Unique Leader Records
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Unmerciful
2. Abscission
3. Ravenous Impulse
4. Sociopathic Predation
5. Kill Reflex
6. Habitual Savagery
7. Enduring Torture
8. Kingdom of Serpents
9. Methodic Absolution

Coming back to active duty, Kansas brutal death metallers Unmerciful had initially set themselves up as a standard-issue band in the genre that hits plenty of the proper notes in that style to create a lasting impression in the brutal death field. With a decade off between releases that has seen numerous lineup changes with guitarist Jeremy Turner returning to the bassist role and seeing new vocalist Kris Bolton and drummer John Longstreth joining the fold, their second full-length is originally released July 22, 2016 on Unique Leader Records.

On the whole this one is plainly based around the furious and utterly frantic blistering rhythms that manage to feature the traditional penchant for tight patterns throughout here. This one goes through the typical sweeping blend of high-speed riff-work full of dexterous, highly-technical rhythm changes and tempo switches that works this into a frenzy of complex arrangements that are displayed with plenty of skill and competence, giving this one a generally dynamic crunch which works well here alongside the utterly blistering drumming. Matched with the band’s penchant for slowing the chaos down and letting the deep chugging riffing and more mid-tempo paces take over, the overall display of tight brutality and unwavering technicality is firmly established from the outset. Despite the unrelenting attack, there’s still a few small issues to contend with. For as great as this approach is, it’s highly familiar and plays way too similarly to dozens of other brutal/technical death metal bands in the genre as well as what’s on the band’s current roster home as well. This attack of complex riffing and tight, chaotic patterns in brutal death metal is quite common-place and results in this one feeling quite familiar rather quickly in here and leaves this one without a great deal of work to really settle into their own spin on the formula beyond its unwavering competence. That works for a while, but after a while it tends to wear off which tends to be this one’s main undoing.

Though it can be quite familiar at times with it running into quite similar areas as dozens of other bands in this style, there’s a fine display of technical proficiency and enthusiasm found here with the energy coming off the tracks more than enough to make this a fine choice for the brutal/technical fanatics or the more undiscerning extreme metal coinessouir.

Score: 84/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ravenous-impulse

Face of Oblivion - Cataclysmic Desolation

Artist: Face of Oblivion
Release Title: Cataclysmic Desolation
Year: 2016
Label: Comatose Music
Genre: Technical Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Embracing Damnation
2. Seismic Anomaly
3. Cataclysmic Desolation
4. Aokigahara
5. Futility
6. Walls of Flesh
7. Irreconcilable Differences
8. Scaphism
9. Paradoxical Undressing
10. Debridement
11. Descent
12. Shroud of Hypocrisy

Staying true to their style, Minnesota-based technical death metallers Face of Oblivion are primed and ready to unleash their cacophonous soundtrack for the inevitable extinction that awaits mankind having honed their attack over the years. With former vocalist James Lee departing and now fronted by veteran vocalist Jesse Watson, the group prepares their highly-anticipated sophomore album November 11, 2016 on Comatose Music.

As befits their style, the band here is quite well adept at displaying an unwavering sense of technicality throughout the album and generally gets plenty to like with this set-up. This one does manage to align itself more in the modern-day school of tech-death as this mostly centers around the straightforward chug-happy style of riff-work found in the genre and then wrapping that into a highly technical series of arrangements that are played at blistering tempos and paces while being blasting by ferocious drumming and clanging bass-lines for a charging blast of technical overdrive. As that requires the majority of the songs played at impossibly blistering speeds, the variety comes from  the slight change in paces by focusing more on the chugging to keep this one slightly more focused on the complexity of the riffing twisting and bending through their arrangements than just blasting along with the greatest speeds possible, and the overall approach within this dynamic is really impressive. Still, this one is slightly undone by the fact that there’s just not a great deal of overall lengthy tracks on display here with the barely three-minute running times for the tracks making this one seem like a frantic, rabid assault despite the rather lengthy track-order and the ability to constantly shift through the various tempos and challenging riffing at these speeds does make this go by quicker than it really should, but overall there’s not a whole lot else really wrong here.

With a rather enjoyable burst of quality technicality and fine-attuned sense of chaos within the rhythms, this one works quite well except for the rather short running time that makes it seem far quicker than it really should even though that doesn’t stop this from appealing quite heavily to any fan of tech-death or modern death metal aficionados.

Score: 91/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://www.comatosemusic.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6452&osCsid=7ra83t600be0bjme2aa07lp2g7

Dawn of Disease - Worship the Grave

Artist: Dawn of Disease
Release Title: Worship the Grave
Year: 2016
Label: Napalm Records
Genre: Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Worship the Grave
2. The Saviour's Tomb
3. Ashes
4. On Trails of Death
5. Prayer for the Dawn
6. Cult of the Fading Light
7. Through Nameless Ages
8. Outsourcing the Brain
9. Enwrapped in Guts
10. The Sky Is Empty

Following the success of their previous works, German death metallers Dawn of Disease have continued to hone their style and skill-set through intensive live-shows while new songs were written diligently throughout this process. Taking a three-year gap between releases, the groups’ third full-length effort will be released on June 24 via Napalm Records.

From the onset here, this one tends to reveal their dedication to the mixture of old-school death metal charges with plenty of impressive Swedish influences that has been present in their work. This one tends to feature a straightforward crunchy style series of riffing that whips along through the generally up-tempo series of patterns and features some utterly dynamic and twisting riffing that’s fully evocative of the rhythms prominently displayed by those groups. That is mixed together nicely with a much more American slant to the arrangements where the typical churning chainsaw-style patterns are replaced in favor of a more agonized, sprawling tone that offers a darker, more vicious bite to them than would be featured in the prototypical measure in that scene which is highly impressive here, especially with the inclusion of some solid melodic lines and harmonies popping up throughout here. Given that inclusion weaving throughout this one, it makes for a great balance of the more aggressive, up-tempo rhythms alongside the lighter melodic sections which gives this one some solid if really formulaic works in this approach. It tends to run along through the rather familiar and pretty similar patterns for the most part which comes from the tracks being in this same tempo and not really given much room for any kind of dynamic variations to off-set these changes. It’s really the album’s one main downfall as the majority of the work here follows the quite tight and explosive work.

Given a few minor and rather unimportant issues to contend with as the album rattles along through quite familiar processes in their particular approach, this one still manages to score well-enough in terms of energy and general aggression that there’s more than enough appeal for fans of Swedish-influenced death metal or those who can overlook the flaws for some crushing traditional death.

Score: 87/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:

http://www.emp.de/art_332195/