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BACK
ABOVE
THIS WORLD
End of Days (Thorp)
I was pleasantly surprised by the punishing might of Above This
World, but when a new band like this features ex-members from bands
like Hoods, Sworn Vengeance and Powerhouse, there is bound to be
a hefty dose of intensity in the music. Above This World don’t
hide their sound behind a thick cloud of production magic and multiple
styles mixed as one, they play a tough metal/hardcore crossover
sound that would please fans of Hatebreed and Pro Pain. And in case
you think it is all brawn and mean looks, these guys write some
violently charged lyrics ("What I Give," "No Justice")
that would send your mother packing. Good, tough music.
<Adrian Bromley> -6-
Contact: Thorp Records, P.O. 2007, Upper Darby, PA 19082, USA
URL: www.thorprecords.com
AGE OF RUIN
Autumn Lanterns (Tribunal)
With a clever hardcore/metal crossover feel to their music, Washington,
DC act Age Of Ruin swagger through a raw, but still slick mound
of aggressive musical creations that are catchy and punchy (they
got an In Flames sound coating most of the album), but lack any
kind of variety. All of the songs on this 5-song EP sound the same
after a few listens and that does get annoying – though closer
"Water To Wine, Blood To Ink" is unique in many ways.
The music of Age of Ruin is a lot more technical and tough-fitted
than a lot of the meatier sounding acts of this genre. While I may
dig this album, they are no match for their scene chums, and my
favourite band of the year, Darkest Hour. Better luck next year.
< A. Bromley> -5-
AGNOSTIC FRONT
Dead Yuppies (Epitaph)
Rife with hardcore clichés such as quick stop/start rhythms
and "hate society" lyrics, ‘Dead Yuppies’ is
a dead contribution to music. Way back when, Agnostic Front rewrote
the book on how hardcore could be played. It now seems like they’re
set in their ways, their days of creativity long, long gone.
<Paul Silbiger> -3-
APHOTIC
Under Veil of Dark (Independent)
Those acquainted with last year’s eponymous debut release will
already know the capacity of this band. As it is, Aphotic are pretty
much the knight in shining armour for today’s underground metal
scene, which so often is painfully bereft of quality, sensibility,
and innovation. The Green Bay, Wisconsin three-piece’s "ambient
death," an expedition of melancholic yet forceful tunes not
always that distant from Katatonia’s ‘Brave Murder Day,’
will surely strike a chord with the more sentient listener. Amid
the more usual deathy proceedings, tokens of diversity (clean vocals,
acoustic guitars, contemplative parts) play their ephemeral yet
significant role adamantly. The sound is sharper and better coordinated
than on the previous release, the playing and songwriting replete
with confidence—even the drum machine speaks of sobriety—yet,
as the description of their style hints, it’s ambience that
this is first and foremost about. One can always cram a thousand
notes into a second of technical hyperbole, but a quality many remain
in want of is the capability to handle anything that goes beyond
the exact and precise aural realisation. Certainly mastering forethought,
style and execution, Aphotic are a good enough reason to leave the
halter at the store, and instead shop for ‘Under Veil of Dark.’
A light-affirming experience.
<Mikko Kuronen> -8-
Contact: P.O. Box 8236, Green Bay, WI 54308-8236, USA
ARE YOU GOD?
Demo 2001 (Independent)
The band calls their music ‘freestyle deathgrind’ –
I couldn’t have said it any better, boys. From the rampant
death metal style flow of the guitar riffs onto the sinister grinding
vocals, the brutal and diverse attack (check out "Deep Rise")
from these South American metalheads hits a mammoth groove for the
most part. There is room, for improvement however, especially in
the production area, as most of the songs on this demo sound low
in the mix. Whatever the case may be, I’m interested to see
where this band takes their sound as the 3-song offering only offers
up a snippet of where they could be musically in 2002.
<A. Bromley> -6-
Contact: Rua Orlando Ferraiuolo, 133 Sao Paulo, BRAZIL 04158 040
URL: www.mp3.com/areyougod
ASTRAL
Filicetum Lunare (Mercenary/WW3)
Unlike a lot of bands out there who are willing to go the extra
mile to explore new realms and bring new sounds into their music
(i.e. Tiamat, Samael), Czech dark metal/gothic act Astral get caught
in confusing assemblage of sounds, styles and mood swings that seem
forced and weak at its foundation. This is an annoying record, a
pacing of sounds and ideas that rarely reach a level of interest
for the listener. Instead it’s just a pitter patter of ideas
thrown on top of one another, smothering any kind of creativity.
Not even an interesting number like the eerie "Oblivio"
could salvage this mess. It may sound cruel, but art like this needs
to be locked away and forgotten.
<A. Bromley> -2-
BLACK DAWN
Blood For Satan (Necropolis)
What the hell is this? It's the black metal version of Mortician,
complete with the obligatory movie samples between almost each track!
How amazingly low the standards have gotten in black metal for something
like Black Dawn to be released and hyped to hell by the promoters
at Necropolis. But I would not even call this black metal, despite
the corpse paint and Satanic imagery. It's more a kind of black/grind/punk
thing, akin to bands like Blasphemy and Impaled Nazarene who have
passed through this portal years ago, and with much better results.
The best part of the entire release I suppose is in the random quotes
that are cited throughout the booklet (the one by Peter Kurten,
for example, was particularly disturbing). For those just becoming
familiar with black metal and extreme music in general, this might
be of interest to you... though I think getting a hold of the bands
I've mentioned would be a better option.
<Yury Arkadin> -5-
BOLT THROWER
Honour Valour Pride (Metal Blade)
Having been a big fan of the war machine Bolt Thrower over the years,
and pleasantly impressed with their last album (1998’s ‘Mercenary’),
I was expecting a lot from the band with the new album, especially
seeing that they were debuting their new frontman Dave Ingram (ex-Benediction).
To be honest, after the first few listens, I wasn’t getting
much out of the new record, save for a few numbers like "The
Offensive," "Suspect Hostile" and "Inside The
Wire." The music just wasn’t doing anything for me, a
rather boring set of material from a band that had once ruled the
intense death metal scene in the early ‘90s. Was it the new
singer? Had the band lost the spark? I personally think that Dave
Ingram does a good job here, but the music just suffers under what
has to be (at best) mediocre production. The music seems buried
beneath the vocals, acting more like background fodder, rather than
a devastating death metal attack. I hate to use this word in the
a Bolt Thrower review, but this record seems a bit ‘weak.’
Lately I’ve been playing this record more and more, and while
not a classic Bolt Thrower album, it will do for now. Hopefully
album number two with Ingram will be much more charged up with the
Bolt Thrower sound from yesteryear.
<A. Bromley> -4.5-
CANYON CREEP
Hijack the World (This Dark Reign)
‘Hijack the World’ has one of the goofiest/coolest spoken
intros I’ve heard in sometime. It starts, ‘Once upon a
time in a land called Suburbia, there lived a noble breed of men,
men who spent their lives on a never-ending quest for honor, glory
and fine chicks…’ and it totally goes along with the feel
of the music that Canyon Creep plays. The sound, a concoction of
Corrosion of Conformity, Fu Manchu and Roadsaw, is a delight to
the ears as the band storms through their luscious set of fuzzed-out
numbers, dynamic harmonious and bizarre lyrics. Produced by Billy
Anderson (Neurosis/L7), ‘Hijack The World’ gets the push
needed to make this music seem larger than life, a tidal wave of
ideas that just comes crashing down upon the listener. Canyon Creep
loud barrage of music will no doubt make those out there who don’t
like to rock out squirm and for those that do, it’s a party
every listen.
<A. Bromley> -7-
CAUSE FOR EFFECT
PQ-2 (Ubble-Bubble Records)
File this under ‘Fucked Up Finns.’ With 20 songs in just
over 14 minutes (average about 45 seconds per song), Finnish duo
Cause For Effect play some rather bizarre jazz/fusion/grindcore.
With just a bass, growling vocals and drums doing the damage, CFE
leaps into a world of insane speeds and short and to the point lyrics.
While I’d say this is worth checking out, I think that judgment
must be left to those who actually give this a listen. Good for
what it is, two guys playing music as fast as they fucking can and
adding in some odd time signatures, but in the end it is all up
in the air if ‘PQ-2’ will pique your interest or not.
<A. Bromley> -5-
Contact: Ubble-Gubble, Filip/Marko Jusufovic Ö. Gunnesgärde
11d 417 49 GBG FINLAND
URL: http://listen.to/cfe
CAVITY
On the Lam (Hydra Head)
Aside from some sundry 7"s, the last Cavity long-player this
writer’s caught up with is ‘Human Abjection’ (reissued
with bonus tracks by Bacteria Sour as ‘Drowning’). Despite
this, little has changed in the world of Cavity, save for countless
lineup changes, from then until now, with the quintet’s latest
LP, ‘On the Lam.’ Still locked into doing "Sister
Fucker Part 8," Cavity are about as blinkered as you can get
in the land of post-EYEHATEGOD/Buzzov*en hate-sludge, and ‘On
the Lam’ is the proverbial proof in the pudding. It’s
hard to fault them, really, because it takes balls of granite to
cling so tightly to a sound so caustic, and there are extremely
few bands currently wading in this mire—Sourvein, Beaten Back
to Pure, and the re-formed Fang are the only ones that spring to
mind. Anyway, when they’re not (again) updating the second
side of Black Flag’s ‘My War,’ Cavity here go for
an approach that’s comparatively more breezy and hook-laden,
the band more apt to slog along in a ’luded-out Southern boogie-rock
manner, and then when you factor in their occasional inclination
to shoegaze away, some would argue that Cavity are now putting in
a bid for ascendancy in the stoner-rock stakes. Thankfully, those
semi-patented "CHUD-chud-weeee" crunch ’n’ feedback
song structures are kept to a minimum on ‘On the Lam.’
Granted, Cavity still utilize them, but they’re more economical,
exacting, and effective here. For as familiarly comforting like
a warm blanket as Cavity’s mammoth-sized toothache is, though,
there’s still a dour predictability to it all, and this writer’s
rating reflects as much—calling Cavity a guilty pleasure and
then subsequently upping the rating wouldn’t be fair to you
readers. In any case, Cavity are still the best damn thing to come
out of Florida since show-mates Assuck and brother-band Floor both
broke up.
<Nathan T. Birk> -6.5-
C OF E
Protect Me from What I Want (GWN)
Sounding like a cross between Overkill and Biohazard, Netherlands
act C of E don’t back down from showing their aggression in
both their music and message. While technical thrash metal on one
end, their punishing hardcore drive pushes the music, helping the
music intensify as each song goes along, besides what comes about
with the awful "Boelie" (don’t get me started on
that one). Anthemic cries of fury in the form of "No Fear,"
"Inside" and "Negative" will no doubt rile up
the troops, but after the album comes to a close, those songs don’t
really stick with you. A tough band who have the chops to impress,
but there are bands that do it better.
<A. Bromley> -5.5-
COMADOSE
Re-Up (Screaming Ferret)
There are dozens and dozens of bands like heavy rock-core act Comadose
signed to major labels and independent labels and I just don’t
get it. The music scene is saturated with bands like Comadose, who
play music in the vein of Slipknot, Sevendust and Korn and it just
seems like this whole heavy rock-core scene has spread itself too
thin. All the bands sound the same and no one, not even Comadose,
are doing anything interesting at all. Save for the fast-paced song
"Velcro," Comadose don’t do much for me and won’t
do much for John Q Public. Fuck, they even got the keyboard scratching
like Slipknot does. Man, where is the originality these days?
<A. Bromley> -3-
THE COMMON MAN / PLAGUE THY CHILD
split (Set In Stone)
While some might wonder just how two distinct musical genres work
well with one another, may I direct you to the crazy, yet well-assembled
split CD between abrasive hardcore/noisecore act The Common Man
and brutal black/death metal regime Plague Thy Child. With equal
amount of songs to work with (five each), both bands set their marks
high on getting the most out of their material until it is the other
band’s turn to jump into the spotlight as their split plays
on. The Common Man play solid hardcore/noisecore stuff that kicks
and spits with aggression. The rage and disorder of the band’s
material, especially "The Significance of One," and "One
Thirteen," allows the progression into Plague Thy Child an
easy feat. As the split turns to Plague Thy Child, the band has
turned things up ten fold, detonating drum blasts and black/death
metal vocals growl with sinister results, making their first track
"Altars Of Ash" the standout track. Be it luck of the
draw or just fate, these two bands have managed to put out a split
worth getting. Violence and hatred all in one nice package.
<A. Bromley> -7-
Contact: 102 Havenwood Circle, Daphne, AL 36526, USA
URL: www.setinstonerecords.com
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