I haven't listened to nearly as much music this week, because i've been incredibly busy. Here's a few albums I managed to pack in though:
-Morpheus Descends'
Ritual of Infinity: I've long since held that this band was criminally underrated, mostly because the record label they signed to badly ripped them off (see also:
Acheron and
Mortuary from Mexico) and had poor distribution. This is a shame, because these guys were one of the masters of
Brutal, rhythmic, yet atmospheric and
Morbid Death metal. This takes on a much more meticulously calculated take on the NY
Death Metal style, with sharply honed songs, filled with bludgeoning riffs, a prominent bass presence, and pretty easy-switching sections to these tracks. The riffs are excellent, complemented by the aforementioned bass - New York bands LOVE the bass - the precise yet powerful drumming. The deep gutteral vocals add even more to the dark atmosphere of the record. The performances are tight and the production, while inconsistent (sometimes it's a bit thinner and buzzier), is also good enough for the songs to come through. This is really just an excellent, consistent, and inspired
Death Metal record from a badly undervalued band.
-Incantation's
Onward to Golgotha:
Incantation are possibly my least favourite of the NYDM big three (the other two being
Immolation and
Suffocation), but i'll be damned if they don't completely fucking rule in their own right. This album is an
Absolute Death Metal Monstrosity, with twisting, spiraling tremolo riffs eventually leading into intensly suffocating, doomy riff passages. The closest comparison I can give is
maybe Black Sabbath meeting
Morbid Angel, for those that have never heard this band, but that's not quite right either.
What makes this such an excellent album is just how well put together it is, and how incredibly atmospheric it is. This might be one of the heaviest metal records ever; the riffs are absolutely crushing and brilliantly written, while Jim Roe's superb drumming matches them with some huge patterns. Craig Pillard's vocals add even more to the suffocatingly
Evil feel of the record; his vocals rival Frank Mullen and Antti Boman in terms of utterly
Insane depth, complementing the music like few can. This album is absolutely brilliant, and while it's not particularly technical or even all that memorable on a pure song level (though later listens do reveal the individual qualities of them), it still gets its point across.
-Abramelin's s/t: this band was another that ended up being put under into obscurity, mostly because of the fact that these boys came from Australia, a country that obviously was much slower in joining the metal fray than most, by
Virtue of their isolated geography. However, when they finally joined the party, they delivered some strong bands, like this group.
Abramelin's s/t is not particularly innovative, its style owing quite a bit to the grinding yet oddly melodic approach of
Carcass, combined with the percussive rhythms of bands like
Deicide or
Sinister, but what sets it apart is how well written it is. The riffs are absolutely punishing, with plenty of memorable ones, and this band knows how to shift rhythms and riffs without coming unglued... this band certainly knew when to lay off the gas pedal when they needed to and work on the somewhat melodic and even atmospheric moments. The performances are tight, and the production is fairly good (though I should note that
Kick drum is WAY too fucking loud - it just about punches through the thick, churning guitar tone in the worst way possible. It's also high-pitched without being clicky). It's not quite extrodinary, but it does have quality and consistency on its side.
-Rottrevore's
Inquitous: Continuing the general theme of New Yorker
Death Metal would be this band, who might've been one of the heaviest bands to emerge from that scene. The guitar tone is the audial equivilant of a sewer, only Sweden's Wombbath and Autopsy compare to the sheer filth of this guitar tone, and the absolutely massive, churning bass guitar. That's not all this band was, these guys also wrote some huge, meaty riffs that remind me of a less thrashy Asphyx and some fairly politically minded lyrics. (NYDM generally tends to have that more than most of the other sects of death metal, i've found) The songs are basic, but well written, and the performances and production are great. If you're a fan of heavy-as-fuck, bare-bones death metal in the vein of Asphyx, Autopsy, and even fellow NYDM'ers like Deteriorot will find this right up their alley.
-Eucharist's
A Velvet Creation: Before the Gothenburg style of melodeath took over, there were small groups of bands throughout Scandinavia and Finland that were re-exploring the use of conventional melody to go with death metal - At The Gates ring any bells? Eucharist was one of those bands as well, and despite the incredibly young age of the musicians involved (16-17 IIRC), this is a borderline masterful slab of progressive, flowing melodic death metal... that suffers from a really terrible production job.
The riffwork on this record is excellent, very melodic without becoming saccharine, with the songs mostly avoiding verse-chorus structures in favour of a really dynamic, progressive style. Daniel Erlandsson, who would become better known as part of Arch Enemy, really showed his chops off with this band, with some interesting patterns and fills that complement the music perfectly. Unfortunately, the production IS complete shit: the guitar tone is really thin and neutered (a HUGE no-no for a metal band), the drums are really loud in the mix and plasticky sounding - the bass drum in particular sounds truly atrocious - and while you can clearly make out all of the instrumentation, it comes across as weirdly weak. (especially if you're one who's heard their demo works - I have, and while they have a more standard Swedeath sound, they're also quite a bit heavier)
It's a testament to how great this band was that they rose above and still delivered a powerful slab of melodic death metal. Their final record would see them go into a more melodeath-esque direction, but if you're wanting a melodic DM record that still firmly remembers that it is death metal, then
A Velvet Creation is an essential record.
Thanks for the posts everybody, i'll be looking into some of these works. What's everybody's take oin Pan.Thy.Monium by chance? They're one of those bands who I meant to look into, but never really did.
