OZ
Burning Leather
2011 AFM Records
We all hope to see certain bands reunite and release new music. Yet when they do, we inevitably end up disappointed each and every time. The magic just is not there. Maybe the result is that while the new music is good, it just doesn't stand up when compared to the original material. Probably the biggest exception to all of this is Deep Purple and their "Perfect Strangers" album. Another might be Celtic Frost's "Monotheist." It's a short list for sure. We can now add one more name to that list: Finland's OZ. Granted, five of the songs here are re-recorded versions of old tunes (and three of them are off the legendary "Fire in the Brain" album), but here's the thing... they didn't piss all over them and do some half-assed versions. The same fire and spirit are there, just as they were in the originals. Even more important to take note of is that the new songs measure up to the same standards. This is definitely not an album with a "crappy new song" followed by an "awesome remake of an old song." OZ still have the same fire in the brain, and hopefully this is the start of a new successful chapter in their career.
Asphyx
Deathhammer
2012 Century Media
Asphyx waste no time on their latest album. No atmospheric intro, no movie samples, just a headlong dive straight into their style of death metal. Personally, I would have switched the order of the title track and opener "Into the Timewastes," just because Martin van Drunen's exclamation of, "This is true death metal, ya bastards!" would have been better right up front at the start, rather than on the second track. But that's just me. both of these songs are fairly fast for Asphyx, and it's not until the third track, "Minefield," that we get into the death/doom aspect of the band. Finally. This is where things get heavy. One thing I love about Asphyx is that they don't progress. Or at least they don't progress in the usual sense of the term. Here, "progress" means going darker and heavier. Yet at the same time, if you had no knowledge of the band, but were handed this album along with "The Rack" and "Last One on Earth," you wouldn't be able to tell what order they were released in. That's the mindset the members of Asphyx have. Stay true to what you've done before. I thank them for it. About the only real true complaint I have here is that the production on "Deathhammer" is a little too much on the bright side of things. I expected a much murkier production, and I know I'm not the only one who has noticed this. All in all though, 2012 has barely begun and we've already got a strong candidate for album of the year.
Throneum
Death Throne Entities
2011 Pagan Records
Looking back, "Deathcult Conspiracy" was a little different for Poland's Throneum. Those songs had a lot more Hellhammer/early Celtic Frost influence than what had come before. I think that's something the band took notice of in retrospect, as "Death Throne Entities" has a completely different tone to it. The production is darker, with the instruments all a little murkier in sound mostly the guitar and bass), with a little graveyard dirt thrown on top for good measure. But vocalist The Great Executor (Tomas Hanuszkiewicz) is mixed in slightly above it all. I don't hear a lot of influences from the works of TG Warrior here. "Death Throne Entities" features more of a return to their older, more chaotic style, with vocals blasphemies hurled forth from an ever-churning hurricane of cacophony. It's almost as if Throneum felt they were becoming too mainstream (which they are definitely not, despite the sheer volume of releases they seem to crank out), and took measures to turn off any trendy followers they might have picked up (although I'm sure that none ever existed). This is an underground band for underground fans, and forever will remain that way. Primitive thrashing death/black for followers of the old ways.
Chemical Disaster
Third Wound
2011 Violent Records
This was a complete and welcome surprise I found while browsing through the Hell's Headbangers catalog recently. I had no idea Chemical Disaster were still around, much less with a new album. I don't think you can blame me though. Their last album, "Scraps of a Being," was released back in 2000, and before that, their debut, "Resurrection," was released in 1993. While I have yet to hear the debut (I'm waiting on a proper reissue... come on already, Cogumelo!), I became an instant fan when I heard "Scraps of a Being" many years ago. Even managed to interview drummer Arthur Justo back in some issue of Metal Nightmare. So obviously, this was an immediate purchase for me, no questions asked, no samples checked out online first. Once it arrived in the mail, I found that the band was still the same as they were eleven years ago. Pure death metal, nothing more, nothing less. They've been around long enough that they can't really be compared directly to any other Brazilian band from the old school, much less the new school. In fact, whatever influences they have, I can't name outright. They've managed to incorporate their influences into their sound to the point where it's next to impossible to say, "Oh, this part sounds like ..." or "That reminds me of...." Or at least I can't. But then I've also never been one to go in and really try to analyze music. I like what I like, and I hate what I hate. This I like. A lot.
Bastard PriestGhouls of the Endless Night2011 Blood Harvest RecordsDammit. The debut album, "Under the Hammer of Destruction" from Bastard Priest, ripped my face clean off when I first heard it.I've only just now healed from that, and the scars from the plastic surgery were starting to fade. So here comes "Ghouls of the Endless Night," and I'm back to square one with no face. These guys really took things to the next level on this album. Their mix of old school Swedish death metal and crust was dirty and filthy to begin with, but this... this is even dirtier and filthier. I have no idea what kind of equipment the band uses, and I don't know where this was recorded, but it has a real DIY feeling to it. It's like the instruments they're playing were borrowed and beat to shit, the amps and speakers had blown out a few times, and they did the recording in someone's garage. In other words, it has the feeling of real death metal, played with passion and a love for the music instead of worrying about crap like their "marketing demographic" or similar nonsense. This is real brutality (not brootality), and this is the way it should be done. Ugly music can be so beautiful, and here's a prime example. Only question I have is whether I should bother to get my face sewn back on, since I'm sure the next album will rip it right off again. If I'm lucky, that is. I've got a feeling that next time I'll be splattered all over the ceiling.
Vulcano Drowning in Blood 2011 Renegados RecordsThe name "Vulcano" and the term "Brazilian death metal" go hand in hand. Sure, Sarcofago might be the first Brazilian deathmetal band that comes to mind, but Vulcano have been going strong for quite some time, while Sarcofago have long since splitup. Vulcano's place in the underground was all but set in stone with the release of "Live!" and "Bloody Vengeance," but the later years were not quite so kind. "Ratrace" remains what is probably their worst album, and I found that "Five Skulls and One Chalice" was very lackluster. But dammit, I knew I'd still buy anything new they put out after that one, simply because it's "Vulcano!" So here's "Drowning in Blood," and all is again well in the Vulcano camp. Vocalist Angel is gone, now replaced with Luiz Carlos Louzada, also in Chemical Disaster. I think the change has been a good one, although one can't deny that Angel ruled all back in the "Bloody Vengeance" days. Luiz has more of a death metal kind of voice, while Angel sounded more like he was just yelling with a very hoarse voice last time around. "Drowning in Blood" is a huge improvement over "Five Skulls..." on all levels, and it shows all these new school kids just how death thrash is supposed to be done. But guys... what about doing a reissue of "Who are the True?" That's the ony album of yours that I'm missing!
MausoleumBack From the Funeral 2011 Razorback Records The fact is, I've had a copy of this album for months before it was released. By pure chance, a pleasantly buzzed Rick "Slim" Boast [drums, vocals] struck up a conversation with me at the 2011 Maryland Death Fest, and he handed me a promotional copy of this album. I think it's been recorded and done for a while., as I'm fairly sure I saw a review of it sometime in the previous year over at Metal Core Fanzine. I decided to hold off on reviewing it until I had the actual real pressed CD with all the artwork in my hand, because it pisses me off when I read a review of something not officially released, and I know I can't get a copy of it for that reason. I'm sure it pisses off many of you as well. But at long last, eight years after the debut "Cadaveric Displays of Ghoulish Ghastliness," we finally have the followup, "Back From the Funeral." Nothing but old school worship here, complete with all kinds of similarities to the first two Death albums, Massacre, Autopsy, even Unleashed at times.Production-wise, things have a much brighter sound to them, than what was heard on the murky debut. But there's also a"thinness" to it, something that I'm not used to hearing in 2012. Twenty years ago, maybe. It could be that this was intentional on their part, or not. Either way, while not sounding all that "modern," "Back from the Funeral" also doesn't sound like a recently unearthed artifact from the early 1990s either. It lies somewhere between, much like the zombies that are in the lyrics to the songs. Not alive, not dead, instead it is somewhere between the two but belonging to neither. Fortunately,I don't think they're out to eat our brains. But do give them some money out of your wallet and buy this album.
