Evil Reborn - Throne of Insanity

Artist: Evil Reborn
Release Title: Throne of Insanity
Year: 2016
Label: Evil's Records/Satanath Records
Genre: Retro Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Black Dahlia
2. Evil Reborn
3. Adicción visceral
4. Possessed Angels
5. A Morbid Encounter
6. Destroying the Trinity
7. Throne of Insanity
8. Night Killer
9. Bendita malevolencia

Formed just in 2012, Venezuelan death metallers Evil Reborn have quickly set about taking their love of old-school death metal to their quickly-released first EP before taking a slight gap to deal with their lineup issues. With bassist/guitarist Armando Henriquez departing to let Alfredo Herrera join in on guitar while being the first-recorded output for bassist Jesús Maneiro, the debut full-length was issued as a co-release between Satanath Records and Evil’s Records on May 17, 2016.

Throughout here the group is dependent upon the old-school style of attack here which manages to run through a rather simplistic attack for the most part here. There’s a huge proficiency of deep, churning riff-work on display here which is carried along by the ravenous rhythms present which makes this one all the more tight and intense by making the riffing fly through the faster, up-tempo paces here. With this approach balanced along quite nicely by a hard-hitting, chugging intensity that gives this a charging, vicious attitude that owes to slight influences from the chug-heavy Deathcore scene which strangely still goes along quite nicely with the old-school swirling rhythms, the overall approach and design along the way here gives this one a lot to really like and really offers a lot to really enjoy about this one. This makes for some rather good times here though it does have a rather small factor involved here that brings it down somewhat. There’s a rather strong attitude here that’s really not that concerned with the more prominent death metal aesthetics throughout here as the chug-heavy riff-work keeps this one strangely mid-tempo for the most part. It’s mostly fiery and enjoyable enough, but the pacing here really could’ve been livened up by having more thoroughly atmospheric death metal patterns here, and it really does stand up here as the main issue for the most part.

Though there’s not nearly as much fiery and lively work here that really could’ve exploited the greatness of their attack to the fullest, there’s still more than enough on this one that works well that it becomes a curiosity piece for those who appreciate this kind of slow-churning death metal as a whole or those that enjoy Latin American death metal as well.

Score: 80/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:

https://evilreborn.bandcamp.com/album/throne-of-insanity

Harvest (Pan) - Omnivorous EP

Artist: Harvest (Pan)
Release Title: Omnivorous EP
Year: 2016
Label: Evil Records/Symbol of Domination Productions
Genre: Death/Thrash/Groove Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Intro (Wicked Beauty)
2. Lavinia
3. Medusoide
4. King of Nothing
5. Hellraiser
6. Omnivorous
7. Letchworth Hell

Formed in late 2012, Panamanian death metallers Harvest have completely taken several years to produce their sound and have taken on their rather intense and aggressive styling through rabid live appearances which have brought them to their current state. Finally able to generate enough material for their first release, their debut EP was originally released May 31, 2016 in a co-release between Evil Records and Symbol of Damnation Productions.

Bringing their sound to the forefront, the bands’ main strength here is the ability to generate a high degree of churning death and thrash metal with plenty of churning groove elements. Though the main formation is built around the death/thrash mixture here where it’s heavily focused on the deep, churning riffing and fiery energetic patterns that add a great deal of energy into the patterns to make for a mostly fun and engaging up-tempo burst of aggression which manages to keep this one going along at a pretty rapid pace for the most part. When that gets added to the groove-centered rhythms added alongside these engaging and generally straightforward patterns the result is a fast and violent affair with the deep, churning crunch offered by the riffing turning into a prominent attack here with the album shifting from the galloping thrash to a stuttering groove charge alternatively within the tracks. On the whole this is quite fun and really gets a lot out of the music here, though it’s still not all that well-developed here with some awkward and clunky transitions into these different sections within the album standing out and causing it to result in some sluggish tempos here within the tracks rather than simply generating a more coherent feel with album feeling a little too scattershot because of the different transitions. While this is still a debut release and can be overlooked quite easily, there’s still this aspect that needs to be brought up.

Not necessarily the most advanced or competent at generating this desired kind of mixture that others are far more capable of accomplishing, there’s still some fine work done here that overcomes those flaws somewhat, which should still be taken into account of being their first work, that this is a band to watch for fans of death/thrash or big on violent, aggressive modern metal.

Score: 75/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
https://symbolofdomination.bandcamp.com/album/sodp063-harvest-omnivorous-ep-2016

Sabbat (Jap) - Envenom

Artist; Sabbat (Jap)
Release Title: Envenom
Year: 1991 (2016 re-issue)
Label: Evil Records (Fallen-Angels Productions re-issue)
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Bewitch
2. The Sixth Candle
3. Satan Bless You
4. Evil Nations
5. Devil Worship
6. Reek of Cremation
7. Deathtemptation (Kanashibari Part 2)
8. King of Hell
9. Eviler
10. Carcassvoice
11. Dead March
12. Reminiscent Bells

Reissue tracklisting:
1. Bewitch
2. The Sixth Candle
3. Satan Bless You
4. Evil Nations
5. Devil Worship
6. Reek of Cremation
7. Deathtemptation (Kanashibari Part 2)
8. King of Hell
9. Eviler
10. Carcassvoice
11. Dead March
12. Reminiscent Bells
13. Satan Bless you (Rough Mix)
14. Evil Nations (Rough Mix)
15. King Of Hell (Rough Mix)

After starting as Evil since 1981, Japanese black/thrashers Sabbat quickly changed to this more-famous moniker and have made a name for themselves toiling in the underground with their ravenous first-wave style mixture of black metal and thrash. Taking their style to the very beginning of this wave as the album was originally released in March 1991 on the bands’-own Evil Records imprint, there has been various re-issues throughout the years including the latest one by Fallen-Angel Productions released June 3, 2016.

Being that this one goes for the first wave style of the genre, from the opening marks this one manages to really utilize the rather simplistic and charging nature of the band’s punk-laced roots by focusing on the simplistic riffing with a prominent punk attitude. The lack of the traditional black metal riffing style is given a much higher work here with the swirling thrash-style rhythm patterns that are much more prominent here alongside plenty of choppy drumming and stuttering patterns that really bring about a much more evident thrash influence here rumbling along while containing the same rabid riffing and darker atmospheres as the earliest practitioners of this style. Likewise, that also manages to infuse the album with a variance of styles and tempos throughout here, as there’s a healthy amount of ripping thrashers while also making enough room for a couple plodding doom-laced epics that slow the tempo down to more of a crawl, the bands’ trademark mid-tempo style charge complete with discordant riffing and even manages to thrown in a few enjoyably decent instrumentals that wind through a nice array of tempos as well which really completes the picture nicely. While all of these elements work rather well, the album does seem to stumble somewhat here with the amount of instrumentals present here as this one manages to fire off four different ones here that bookend the album in both cases, and it’s somewhat striking that it would chose to do so as it disrupts the momentum somewhat. Likewise, the album’s rawer sensibilities might be another challenge for those getting into this one as there’s not a whole lot of traditional elements here and it comes off with more of an earlier feel that might take some getting used to. Otherwise, this one was highly enjoyable and had quite a lot to really like.

Though it’s got some minor flaws that are barely worth mentioning in the grand scheme of things here since this one has quite a lot of worthwhile material, this one manages to start them off on a strong note here and manages to go for a wide amount of appeal for those into the rawer, first-wave black metal scene or fans of the bands’ career overall.

Score 88/100

Does it sound good? Order the reissue here:
http://fallangels.cafe24.com/product/detail.html?product_no=2973&cate_no=1&display_group=2