Horns up. \../

This year we have Slayer and Megadeth touring with Testament supporting their “American Carnage” tour, Morbid Angel recording their first album without Pete Sandoval… and Spawn of Possession, Decrepit Birth, Gorguts, Gorod and a few others recording and hopefully releasing new material.

All in all, plenty of news in the extreme metal world. Stay tuned.

Nile’s music has always been extreme, technical death metal inspired by ancient Egypt. The band started in South Carolina in 1993 and debuted in 1998, with the album “Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka”. By their second release, featuring the use of drummer Derek Roddy and the acquisition of guitarist/vocalist Dallas Toler-Wade… Nile had established themselves as one of death metal’s most formidable and talked about groups. Things really took off for the band in 2005, with the pairing of Sickening Horror drummer George Kollias, whose playing style has complimented the band perfectly ever since.

“Those Whom the Gods Detest” sounds much like the band’s last album, the now legendary “Ithyphallic”. Any diehard Nile fan can tell you that with these two latest records, the band has perfected their sound. The songwriting is top notch. Although, the two records don’t sound all-too alike. Every Nile album is atmospheric to some extent, highlighting the strong Egyptian influence. However, “Those Whom the Gods Detest” is much more vast and atmospheric than “Ithyphallic”. There are more overdubs, chanting vocal parts, and in general the album plays out much more theatrically. At times it reminds me of their 2005 album, “Annihilation of the Wicked”.

The album starts off with the instant classic “Kafir!”… a near 7 minute display of what’s to come. Nile’s records are always a treat to hear from beginning to end. “Those Whom the Gods Detest” is no different… and although it may be the band’s second-longest record, there are no dull moments. The title track is an 8 minute epic, including moments of relentlessness, breaks for acoustic guitar and a slower chorus, with many well-placed overdubs and even clean vocals backing the trademark Nile growl. At first listen I wasn’t crazy about the clean vocals, but after hearing this album a few times through, I am sold on them. They fit the song perfectly and help set the pace for the rest of the album, which I personally enjoy the most.

The sixth song, “Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld”, bursts into breakneck speed and pretty much stays that way throughout, breaking down only once towards its close. It’s followed by a great instrumental with an equally lengthy title (something Nile is also known for) and then the final three songs… which are immense to say the least. Closer “Iskander D’hul Karnon” eases into one of the band’s catchiest riffs to date, and becomes a very fitting finale. In my honest opinion, it’s the best ending of any Nile album. That’s actually a hard thing for me to admit to, since I am a seasoned Nile fan. “Ithyphallic” had previously had that title for me, with its epic 10 minute closer “Even the Gods Must Die”. I can honestly say that I dig this more.

I feel particularly moved to go on about the production of this album. This is the band’s third album produced by Neil Kernon. Neil has worked with plenty of artists in many music genres, including some of the pickiest. His greatest move so far in death metal, is the pairing with none other than Erik Rutan for the drum recording and engineering. If you don’t know of Rutan already, let’s just call him a monster of all things death metal… because his list of achievements is simply too long to go down. The drums on this record sound amazing. There’s definitely more presence, attack and tone in the drum sounds than on any previous Nile record. It sounds beautiful.

All in all, “Those Whom the Gods Detest” is one of the year’s best extreme metal releases… and is sure to age well.

Slayer was of course one of the “Big Four” thrash metal bands from the 1980’s, and continues to be an icon for just about anyone even casually into heavy music. But their legacy goes beyond how cool their logo looks on a t-shirt. Any metalhead will acknowledge Slayer as one of the most influential extreme metal bands of all time, and affirm that their 1986 masterpiece Reign In Blood debuted onto the Billboard 200 at #94 despite virtually no radio play, and set the pace for the entire burgeoning death metal genre.

In May of 1992, after the 1991 album Seasons in the Abyss, drummer Dave Lombardo quit the band. He didn’t return until 2002, and eventually recorded their previous effort, 2006’s Christ Illusion. Slayer sounds like exactly what they were for that album: A band who just got their one and only definitive drummer back after over 20 years without him. Musically Christ Illusion was refreshingly fast and undeniably heavy, but the songwriting wasn’t impressive and the lyrics fucking sucked. Hard. The album might’ve sold well and Slayer may have won a Grammy, but what does that honestly say about it? We heard it for what it was; Slayer getting back into the swing of things. Out here in the real world, the album fell flat on its face and will certainly not withstand the tests of time. Hardcore Slayer fans already wanna forget that it happened at all.

Fortunately, World Painted Blood is not another Christ Illusion. It isn’t incredible, but it’s definitely better in every way. The record is shorter, faster and well… Slayer! The lyrics are overall better than anything they’ve written in a long time, the riffs are memorable again. I must say that I think the album would be a lot stronger without Americon and Playing With Dolls. But when was the last Slayer record that only had two weak songs?

The album starts off with a very Slayer, practically old-school “creepy intro” that leads into the title track. The next two songs, Unit 731 and Snuff are bona fide thrashers that really take you back. After those we come to Beauty Through Order. The song starts off evil-ballad style a-la Seasons In The Abyss, and builds up to another helping of speed and solos that fit perfectly, then breaks down with an old ‘classic Slayer’ constant 8th-note ride cymbal pattern over a slowly down-picked guitar riff. I have to say, I didn’t see it coming at all. It really makes a good Slayer song great, especially at the end of 2009. The icing on the cake is that the song’s lyrics are about the first known female serial killer.

Another song I can’t help but mention, is the colossal Public Display Of Dismemberment. It’s two minutes and thirty-four seconds long, has an awesome breakdown, and at its fastest moments the beat is a bomb-blast. Yes. A Slayer song with a bomb-blast (not the only one on the album that does, too) that fits perfectly. It’s quickly and easily landed itself on my list of all-time favorites.

Unfortunately, singer/bassist Tom Araya isn’t certain if this will be the last Slayer record or not. World Painted Blood is the last record of their deal with executive producer Rick Rubin, and apparently discussion about the band’s future is now on the table. I can’t say that I know how to feel about that. It comes down to whether or not the members of the band feel like it’ll be worth it. If they can’t put out another album on this level, I think this is a great place to call it quits as far as recording goes. It sounds like they’ve still got it.

World Painted Blood
November 3, 2009
American / Sony Music

1. World Painted Blood
2. Unit 731
3. Snuff
4. Beauty Through Order
5. Hate Worldwide
6. Public Display Of Dismemberment
7. Human Strain
8. Americon
9. Psychopathy Red
10. Playing With Dolls
11. Not Of This God

The beginning of the 80’s marked the melding of the newly formed hardcore punk music, which was gaining popularity on both sides of the Atlantic, and the speed metal sound with which many heavy metal bands had been experimenting. This new sound was dubbed thrash metal, and the age of excess began.

So here we are… 30 years, dozens of countries and a million bands later. We’ve come from up-tempo polka beats and poorly picking power-chords as fast as we thought we could, to 32nd note double bass drumming being a main-stay, and legato swept scales decorating half of our favorite songs… even on bass guitars. We’ve had our periods of growth and we’ve slowed down to progress musically. We’ve withstood the tests of time and managed to better ourselves all the while.

In the early 90’s most death metal fans didn’t care to hear especially technical songs… The mighty Atheist wasn’t even popular until after the group disbanded. They have now in fact regrouped in time to see a slew of precision-minded bands releasing albums that totally eclipse everything they and their contemporaries had ever played, let alone recorded… a dozen years in musicians’ music will do that. At the same time, a dozen years of brutal death metal has lead to less gory lyrics and more intricate songwriting, all the while maintaining the same low-end mix, jarring musicality and guttural vocals. Even thrash metal is more sophisticated than ever before: look at what Kreator and Megadeth have both done this year.

So where does this leave us? Thrash can be pretty, grind can be in-time, and melodic death metal can be whatever it wants? Hardcore subgenres can use blastbeats? Across the board, the answer is yes. As time goes on the lines are fading faster, and different styles of extreme music are becoming even harder to distinguish from one another. One thing is for certain: just as it always was, the virtuous musicians are the ones pushing this music further.

In a December 2007 interview with extreme metal drummer Derek Roddy in Modern Drummer Magazine, Roddy is quoted as saying, “I don’t feel this genre has ever had proper representation. I think you’re going to see a level of maturity develop in this genre in a few years that will impress all drummers. Extreme metal is musician’s music, like fusion and jazz.” While in this instance he’s talking to drummers about drumming, this is an outlook that many share, myself included. Not even two years later we’re seeing almost all extreme metal genres displaying a surprising amount of maturity. If I’d been writing an article like this ten years ago, evaluating the state of our music, I’d probably be preaching about how we all needed to be more progressive and forward-thinking in our song-writing. The fact of the matter is that it’s been happening… and in the past five years the number of bands focused on virtue has grown tremendously.

In every generation we’ve given a nod to our predecessors and done what we could to improve. In every generation we’ve covered new ground and worked through what physical challenges presented themselves. In every generation we’ve matured as musicians. As long as we remember where we’ve come from and where we’ve been, I think the future will be just as bright for every generation to come.

The show dates are:

Nov. 04 – Sonar – Baltimore, MD
Nov. 05 – The Palladium – Worcester, MA
Nov. 06 – Webster Underground – Hartford, CT
Nov. 07 – The Blender Theater @ Gramercy – New York, NY
Nov. 08 – Foufounes Electriques – Montreal, QC
Nov. 09 – Imperial de Quebec – Quebec City, QC
Nov. 10 – Mod Club – Toronto, ON
Nov. 11 – Penny Arcade – Rochester, NY
Nov. 12 – Peabody’s – Cleveland, OH
Nov. 13 – The Pearl Room – Mokena, IL
Nov. 14 – Rave – Milwaukee, WI
Nov. 15 – Station 4 – St. Paul, MN
Nov. 16 – Royal Albert Arms – Winnipeg, MB
Nov. 17 – The Exchange – Regina, SK
Nov. 18 – The Underground – Calgary, AB
Nov. 19 – Starlite Room – Edmonton, AB
Nov. 20 – Roll-A-Dome – Prince George, BC
Nov. 21 – Bourbon – Vancouver, BC
Nov. 22 – Sugar – Victoria, BC
Nov. 23 – El Corazon – Seattle, WA
Nov. 24 – Satyricon – Portland, OR
Nov. 25 – Regency Grand Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
Nov. 27 – Jumping Turtle – San Marcos, CA
Nov. 28 – Chain Reaction – Anaheim, CA
Nov. 29 – The Key Club – Hollywood, CA
Nov. 30 – U.B’s – Mesa, AZ
Dec. 01 – The Rock – Tucson, AZ
Dec. 02 – Gator’s – Farmington, NM
Dec. 03 – Club Vegas – Salt Lake City, UT
Dec. 04 – Bluebird Theater – Denver, CO
Dec. 05 – Marquee – Tulsa, OK
Dec. 06 – Scout Bar – San Antonio, TX
Dec. 07 – Scout Bar – Houston, TX
Dec. 09 – The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Dec. 10 – Peppermint Beach Club – Virginia Beach, VA
Dec. 11 – Volume 11 – Raleigh, NC
Dec. 12 – Rex Theater – Pittsburgh, PA
Dec. 13 – The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA

Considering the billing… this is something you don’t wanna miss out on.

Behemoth has long been one of the most extreme Death Metal bands in the world… and it’s clear that they intend to stay the course. While the band has never wanted to confine themselves to one specific branch of extreme metal, the formula has almost always been a cross between the brutal side of Death Metal and the blurry, menacing atmosphere of the finest Northern European Black Metal. Evangelion does not deviate from that legacy.

As a longtime fan of the band, I can confidently say that for me, this is the band’s greatest achievement. The songwriting is easily on par with albums such as Thelema.6 and Zos Kia Kultus, but effortlessly blended with the band’s last two efforts’ speed, power and density. Personally I enjoyed 2004’s Demigod and 2007’s The Apostasy. But I still feel that both albums sounded unfocused, and at times, overproduced. I think many Behemoth fans would agree. Evangelion sounds much like a cross between the epic moments of the last album, and the very natural yet relentless sound of Zos Kia Kultus: Here And Beyond.

As far as brutality goes, the tremolo-picked and bomb-blast laden tracks are just as cacophonous and nasty as anything off of Demigod. Yet, the band’s vision for this record is nearly as diverse as The Apostasy. All around, this is the quintessential Behemoth. A honed and perfected version of the dense, blackened blasphemy we all know and love… Broken english and all.

There’s no shortage of blasphemy coinciding with the release, either. The original cut of the music video for the single Ov Fire And The Void got banned from YouTube within one day. Probably due to the demonic themes throughout, such as the band pulling apart and feasting on a fully nude angel. Check it out:

In case it wasn’t obvious, if you work in the type of establishment that frowns upon eating the flesh of nude angels, then this video may be unsuitable for viewing during business hours.

All 9 tracks are great, and in my opinion, this is the best Behemoth album to listen straight through. If you had ever thought that this wasn’t an “album band…”
Think again.

Evangelion
Metal Blade
August 11th, 2009

1. Daimonos
2. Shemhamforash
3. Ov Fire And The Void
4. Transmigrating Beyond Realms Ov Amenti
5. He Who Breeds Pestilence
6. The Seed Ov I
7. Alas, The Lord Is Upon Me
8. Defiling Morality Ov Black God
9. Lucifer

The subject of this review, Gorod, is a Technical Death Metal band hailing from France. France has been putting out great Death Metal for some time. Disavowed has risen far past my expectations, but upon discovering Bordeaux’s Gorod, my outlook on Europe’s impact on Tech Death changed immediately. Their prior albums, Nuerotripsicks and Leading Vision are incredible… but the sheer immense of the new material has found its way into my heart in record time.

The US has always dominated Technical Death Metal. First with Atheist and Cynic and now with such bands as Arsis, Dying Fetus, Decrepit Birth and Sickening Horror. Not to say they don’t have Tech Death bands overseas… Ours have just always kicked their asses. But now, Gorod and Germany’s Necrophagist help prove that the other hemisphere can hack it too.

Founded in 1997 under the name Gorgasm, the band has had their share of bumpy roads to go down, not releasing an album until 2004. It wound up being enough to land them a deal with Willowtip Records, which re-released it in 2005 with two new songs. Simultaneously they changed their name to Gorod so as to not be confused with the long-time Chicago death metal outfit of the same name. 2006 saw the release of their follow-up, Leading Vision and some extensive touring… and then finally things culminated in 2008, when uniting with drummer Sam Santiago resulted in the tighter, even more ridiculous material we have here.

Released the second of this month in Europe and July 28th here in the states, Process Of A New Decline embodies everything a technical death metal release ought to be. It’s fast, needlessly complex and pulls out all the stops. But that’s really not the whole story. What sets Gorod apart from most Tech Death, is their straight-forward melody and syncopation. Not to say Gorod doesn’t exercise their right to start and stop at will, the manner in which it’s done is simply less jarring on this record. Fans of Arsis’ last release We Are The Nightmare will especially enjoy this album’s ample melody throughout the onslaught of gutterals and growls, every category of blast beat, 32nd-note double bass, odd time signatures and unreal guitar prowess.

I especially enjoy the tinges of powermetal on Programmers Of Decline and Splinters Of Life, though I can’t say which of these would be my favorite track. The song The Path somehow manages to have some synth vocals that I don’t hate. The song is still mostly adrenaline and vastness, but the little break is nice. It envokes similar feelings as parts of Between The Buried And Me’s last epic, Colors. There are even many classic rock/hard rock attributes in a bunch of the song’s leads. This band is just all around monstrous.

I suggest attaining this album and playing it straight through, but if you need a sample, here’s Programmers Of Decline:

Bottom line, if you are a Death Metal fan, you should keep your eye on this band.

Process Of A New Decline
July 28, 2009
Willowtip

01. Disavow Your God
02. Programmers Of Decline
03. Diverted Logic
04. Rebirth Of Senses
05. The Path
06. Splinters Of Life
07. Guilty Of Dispersal
08. Gilded Cage
09. A Common Hope
10. Watershed
11. Almighty’s Murderer

Since their debut album Endless Pain in 1985, Kreator have been at the forefront of extreme metal. This year brings us Hordes Of Chaos, their follow-up to 2005’s Enemy Of God. Kreator’s 12th studio album, these 9 songs are some of the best Thrash Metal I have ever heard. Period.

Before its release I had read & heard things about the band wanting this album to feel more like their live shows. Everything besides some additional vocal tracks, a few guitar solos and some other small additions was recorded in a live studio setting on a 4-track analog recorder.  The result is, in my opinion, the most natural sounding Thrash record of this decade.

Much faster than its predecessor, Hordes Of Chaos seethes aggression. Despite a return to a more classic feel and lyrical style, this is a very modern album. The guitar sound is brighter and the riffs are fresh… but there’s more than that. There’s something else there now. It seems like after all the experimenting this band has done, they have found a higher ground to trample to death. I don’t mean to imply they’ve pulled an Emperor and gotten pretentious… But there is definitely a new hint of flavor in the mix. Much like Arsis’s last album, there is an underlying Power Metal attitude present here.

Kreator has always been a very fast band, and the melodies here continue that tradition. But much of it is cleaner now… dare I say playful sounding? The song Radical Resistance is a prime example of Kreator’s trademark anthem-writing abilities carrying over into a rockin’, catchy new type of material that I already can’t wait to chant along with live.

I feel particularly moved to go on about the eighth track, To The Afterborn. A song with a title like that usually means a mid-tempo churn-fest for Kreator fans. Not this time. This song has everything. The lyrics are in my honest opinion, the best that Mille Petrozza has ever written. There is so much in this song you’ll find yourself hearing bits of other bands in it. Three quarters into it, the guitar immediately reminded me of something Sepultura would’ve used.

Just as it should, the closing track Demon Prince reflects all the power and presence that the band has made themselves known for.

However you look at it, it’s obvious that the band is tighter than ever before. Mille and Sami’s guitars might as well be singing you the last songs you’ll ever hear. Christian’s basslines are tight, solemn and very proud sounding… and Jurgen Reil’s drumming is tight and monstrous as usual. Hordes Of Chaos is a breathtaking listen and a huge landmark for one of the longest running and most important bands in their genre.

Hordes Of Chaos
January 13, 2009
Steamhammer

1. Hordes Of Chaos (A Necrologue For The Elite)
2. Warcurse
3. Escalation
4. Amok Run
5. Destroy What Destroys You
6. Radical Resistance
7. Absolute Misanthropy
8. To The Afterborn
9. Corpses Of Liberty
10. Demon Prince

My first encounter with the texan metal outfit As Eden Burns was met with both hope and skepticism. Far too many bands have set out to achieve this coveted middle-ground but never managed to sound natural (at least to these ears) in their musical endeavors. After a brief listen, most of my skepticism had dissolved and I found myself going out of my way for their independently released 5 song EP the next day.

I was stunned at how tastefully everyone in the band approached what modern death / thrash middle-ground has become- only exercising bombast when most appropriate and maintaining unapologetic, haunting melodies throughout. To this day I remain awestruck at the depth of the lyrical content, and the placement of the dedicated dual-vocal work capturing it.

Now, just under three years since their formation, As Eden Burns have finally released their debut LP, entitled The Great Celestial Delusion and it is every bit as satisfying as the original EP. Despite their youth, these texans sound as though they had been playing death / thrash straight through the 90s. They’ve got a natural maturity that is supposed to only come with age, and in a relatively short time they’ve managed to develop into a tight, concise outfit despite some lineup changes.

For the most part, the songs are of average lengths. But with vicious, memorable hooks in every song and a dense and epic style (think Protest The Hero meets early Morbid Angel) every one’s an excursion. The hardest knockout comes from back-to-back triumphs Ever Again and Conceptual Decay. The closer, Lost Counsel And Untimely Doom, is a wooly mammoth, the likes of which every heavy metal album ought to end with. Have a taste- here’s Ever Again:

All in all, this album is a top-to-bottom thrasher only stopping to catch its breath (and for one acoustic guitar interlude) between its eight barrages of double bass and tremolo picking, and never once straying from fully focused songwriting. All of the modern death metal adornments are present… swept guitar lines, dual melodies, standout basslines, tastefully executed blastbeats, everything you wanna hear in late 2008 without losing sight of the objective: That balanced middle-ground. The Great Celestial Delusion is a massive debut any extreme metal fan is sure to enjoy.

The Great Celestial Delusion
November 11, 2008
Willowtip

1. The Great Celestial Delusion
2. Endless Rebirth
3. Enemy
4. Ever Again
5. Conceptual Decay
6. Guilds
7. Golden Age
8. Lost Counsel And Untimely Doom