Wooden Stake - Vampire Plague Exorcism

Wooden Stake
Vampire Plague Exorcism
2010 Hexamorphosis Productions
Oddly enough, I don't believe there's any mentions of vampires on this mini-CD. That doesn't make it any less creepy though. Everyone's favorite multi-instrumentalist, how-many-projects-can-he-have maniac, the Elektrokutioner is back and teaming up with one Vanessa Nocera [bass, vocals] to create the
haunted sounds of Wooden Stake. I'm sure some will try to draw comparisons between this band and Canada's Cauchemar... But besides the facts that they're both female fronted and that Vanessa sings in English and not French, the reality is that Wooden Stake are in the Saint Vitus doom vein, while Cauchemar are far more NWOBHM influenced. I'm a little on the fence about Vanessa's vocals. Not her singing though, that's fine, and she sounds like maybe Stevie Nicks mixed with a little Grace Slick. No, the issue I'm referring to is the fact that she's very low in the mix. On the one hand, I'd like to hear her a little better over the music. But at the same time, the fact that the mix has her lower than most everything else gives a whole new dimension to their sound... one of claustrophobia. This mini-CD is very limited, so you probably want to get moving on obtaining a copy. But if you miss it (or if you don't), you'll have other opportunities to hear the band. They've got a couple of split releases coming in the near
future. I'd rather see a full-length release, but corpses can't be choosers.

Intestinal - Human Harvest

Intestinal
Human Harvest
2010 Psycho Records
This Swedish four-piece has only been around for two years, but what they've unleashed here sounds like it comes from the Stockholm scene of twenty years ago. Total old-school onslaught here, in the same vein as early Dismember, Entombed and Nirvana 2002. They keep things moving in a very straightforward direction, with ten tracks at just over a half hour. "Human Harvest" never gets boring, and every track has a "dirty" kind of sound, like they buried their instruments in a graveyard for six months and then dug them up to record this album. To say this stuff is morbid would be an understatement. Practically every riff is of the type that hits you right where you like it. You know that visceral "urghhh!!!" feeling you get when you hear a piece of music you really like? You'll be getting that feeling a lot here. Lyric-wise, you'll be hearing some themes that are straight out of 1990, with tracks about necrophilia, murder, maggot-covered corpses, and just general mayhemic bloodshed. I really wouldn't be looking for socially-conscious or deep thoughts here. I think the deepest thought these guys have is how deep they're going to stab that knife into your gut. For those into high-brow or technical music, look elsewhere. Us neanderthals though, will be totally into Intestinal.