Degial - Death's Striking Wings

Degial
Death's Striking Wings
Sepulchral Voice Records
I listen to a lot of metal.  But for all the bands I listen to and like, I find that very few of them really truly manage to strike a chord in my soul and stick with me.  Degial are just such a band.  Without a doubt, they are as dedicated to their music as they are to living.  You've probably heard the notion that someone "bleeds for their art"?  Well, I am positive that Degial do just that.  Not surprising though.  The guys in this band are also either in or have been part of acts like Undergång, Repugnant, Die Hard, Watain and Unpure.  And here they've banded together to form Degial, which can be summed up as what might have happened if Morbid Angel had come out of Sweden instead of Florida.  Seriously, this is the Swedish answer to "Altars of Madness" and "Abominations of Desolation." High praise, but more than well deserved.  Any true fan of death metal who has been disappointed with the direction Morbid Angel have taken in the last several years (especially in the case of their atrocious "I" album, the full name of which will be unspoken here), will be more than satisfied with the songs on "Death's Striking Wings."  Which isn't to say that Degial should be written off as just a clone of older Morbid Angel.  They're more than that.  It's just that their main influence can be heard so plainly.  Definitely one of the real finds of 2012.

Binah - Hallucinating in Resurrecture

Binah
Hallucinating in Resurrecture
2012 Dark Descent Records
Back in the early 1990s, the UK was rife with death metal bands... Bolt Thrower, Carcass, Benediction, and the unholy triumvirate of doom death:  My Dying Bride, Anathema and Paradise Lost.  Many of these have since taken different paths.  Some have stayed true to their roots, others added some experimentation, and still others have given up any resemblance to death metal entirely.  Recently though, there has been a resurgence.  It may well be that alongside their brethren of Grave Miasma, Spearhead and Cruciamentum, Binah is at the forefront of a revival of the spirit of old.  The ancient feeling can be heard throughout all of the songs here, as Binah channel the likes of Autopsy, Asphyx and Demigod.  In fact, the old Finnish scene plays heavily into their influences.  The same kind dark vibes can be found here.  The Finns had a real talent for taking what the Swedes in Stockholm were cranking out in 1990 and 1991 and putting a more twisted spin on things.  Entombed may have pointed us to the "Left Hand Path," but the likes of Demigod and Abhorrence were the bands that strayed off that path and led us to even darker depths of sonic brutality.  To put it bluntly, Binah learned from those bands, and learned their lessons well.  They've taken the old school sound to heart and given us something that evokes those old feelings, but at the same time is not just a simple derivative of them.  "Hallucinating in Resurrecture" is an album that could not have been written or even conceived of in death metal's golden age.

Mongrel's Cross - The Sins of Aquarius

Mongrel's Cross
The Sins of Aquarius
2012 Hell's Headbangers
Mongrel's Cross is a trio of Aussie maniacs who just happened to have come up with one of the best newer bands from down under, specifically Brisbane.  That would be the same area that Vomitor, Spear of Longinus and Portal hail from.  Old gods Misery came out of there as well, so the scene has a good amount of history to it.  As far as their sound goes,
think of a slightly more Bathory influenced Bestial Warlust, and you've pretty much got Mongrel's Cross nailed (any pun intended).  This is one of those bands that understands how to mix things up in their songs, going from full speed to slower breaks built for headbanging, and then right back to blasting away.  In doing so, their songs tend to be longer than you might expect.  The shortest here is 4:32, with the other six being over five minutes, and the longest at 7:22.  So at seven songs, it's definitely a full album, and not an ep like you might have gotten from other bands.  The production is nice and dirty, but not to the point where it sounds like it was recorded in a highway rest stop.  It's lo-fi enough to give that good old primitive feeling and not sound like a demo.  I want more already.  Yet another fine example of why Australia has some of the top-notch metal on the planet.

Ectovoid - Fractured in the Timeless Abyss

Ectovoid
Fractured in the Timeless Abyss
2012 Hellthrasher Productions
Alabama?  Seriously?  Not only is Ectovoid an American band, but they're from Alabama?  Not exactly one of the states that's known for metal, but that could very well be seen as an advantage.  Without a well known or sprawling scene like those of Florida, California or New York, Ectovoid have been able to simply exist as a band and find their own path without distractions.  Yes, it's true that Incantation and Immolation both form the base of their sound, and yes, they could be called at least somewhat derivative.  And most of the reviews I've seen write them off because of it, with claims that whatever "old school revival" that's going on is without real merit or creativity.  Well, anyone with that attitude can just fuck off, because those same reviewers go on to praise bands that lack something very important to anyone creating music:  soul.  I don't care how technical a band can play.  Music like that tends to be technical for the sake of just showing off.  There's no real soul in it.  No emotional investment by either the musician or their audience.  If you don't have any passion, then you have nothing.  That's something that people who put down the old school revival don't have and don't understand.  They never will either.  Which is fine, because those of us who live and breathe the old ways don't need them.  But I digress, and chances are that Ectovoid could really give a shit about what those people think.

Pseudogod - Deathwomb Catechesis

Pseudogod
Deathwomb Catechesis
2012 Hell's Headbangers
Pseudogod hail from Russia, a country from which my metal knowledge is sorely lacking.  I'm familiar with Ария, Teitanfyre, Korrozia Metalla, Тиран, E.S.T. and a handful of others (as well as bands that I know the names of but have not actually heard the music).  But in what I have encountered so far from there, I have never heard anything even remotely like Pseudogod.  Without a doubt, they are Russia's answer to the Canadian so-called "war metal" scene, of which Blasphemy is the best known band.  Other similar bands hailing from all corners of the globe would be Proclamation, Diocletian, Beherit, Archgoat... you get the idea.  Bestial, vomitous, evil... all good adjectives for Pseudogod.  They are absolutely the type of band that when someone says they listen to "everything," you know damned well that they've never even imagined music like this exists.  Everything about this band just reeks of hateful intent and total conviction to what they do.  Not just in the music, but in the coverart of the album and the overall layout.  One of my favorites of 2012 for sure!

Resurgency - False Enlightenment

Resurgency

False Enlightenment

2012 Hellthrasher Productions
Somehow or another, my collection and knowledge of Greek death metal is woefully lacking.  Black metal? No problem... I can give you names like Varathron, Necromantia, Nergal, Rotting Christ and Dark Messiah. Death metal... well, there's Dead Congregation and...uh.... That's about all I can come up with. Until now, at least. Resurgency are doing their best to make Greek death metal more known, and to get it out of the shadow of their more popular black metal scene. And they're doing it with one hell of an apocalyptic sound, drawing off influences such as Morgoth, Massacre, and Atrocity's masterpiece, "Longing For Death" (Todessehnsucht for those of you in Europe).  I won't go so far as to say that this is the album that the former death metal masters of Austria should have released instead of "Blut," but... oh what the hell... why not? ... This is the album Atrocity should have released instead of "Blut."

Coffin Texts - The Tomb of Infinite Ritual

Coffin Texts

The Tomb of Infinite Ritual

2012 Dark Descent Records
This album has been a long time coming. Coffin Texts' debut was released in 2000, and they've been very quiet since. I suppose that's not much of a surprise, since bassist/vocalist Robert Cardenas (who just happens to be the driving force in the band) both has been and still is involved with a variety of other projects, including the reactivated Malice, a short stint in Diabolic, Agent Steel, as well as his other band Engrave. At the same time, drummer Emilio Marque has been busy with Sadistic Intent, Asesino and Possessed.  During all this time, there have been a lot of rumors about the second Coffin Texts album. It's being released next year, they're in the studio right now, they've signed to such-and-such label. None of that matters anymore, because we've finally got the second album.  Is this what would have been released ten years ago? Or even two years ago? I know not the answer to that, and it is irrelevant anyway.  Chances are that a lot of reviews are going to again focus on the lyrics about ancient Egypt. All I'm going to say is that I don't give a fuck that Nile does the same thing, or that they arguably do it better.  Mercyful Fate, Metallica and Iron Maiden all had songs about the pharaohs, mummies and the afterlife long before anyone else did.  So fuck off to that subject. Let's talk about the music instead. If there's one thing I hear when I listen to Coffin Texts, it's this:  they play a wholly American sounding style of death metal. I'm talking in the purest sense here. No thrash metal, no black metal, and no doom metal has made its way into their sound. There was a point in time at the dawn of the 1990s when you could tell where a band was from by their sound. This is sometimes still true today (like with Swedish bands).  But a sound like this one? Unmistakably American in origin, and since we're talking early 90s here, that would mean a combination of Florida and New York. In other words, the bastard offspring of early Morbid Angel, Immolation, and Incantation.  I'm well aware that such combinations have been heard before. But very rarely are they done so well, with a result of a band greater than the sum of its influences, rather than being merely a derivative of them. In closing, I'm going to appeal to the members of Coffin Texts and ask that they not wait until 2024 to release a third album.