Crematory @ MySpace

How are you doing today, folks?  I’m back, and it’s time to break out your old denim or leather jacket, make sure your mullet is unkempt, and you have a plane ticket to Haninge, Sweden, because that’s where I’ll be taking you today.  These days you will see a lot of old-school death metal revival bands, and while they are certainly doing what they can to try and off-set the amount of garbage that is polluting my beloved sub-genre, it isn’t and won’t ever be enough, so what is it that we must do?  We must continue to look back and pay homage to the classic bands that have helped spawn what true death metal bands should strive to be, and right now I’m talking about the legendary Crematory.  The band existed from ’89 to ’93, and while I have no clue as to why they broke up, they certainly left their mark in the Swedish death metal scene, and are still remembered quite fondly by guys like me.  For those of you who are still young and have for the first time ventured into the world of death metal, pay close attention, and realize why all of your favorite young bands today cannot hold a candle to the first players in the game.

Now, while they have released quite a few demos and one EP, I’ll be taking you through my favorite demo of theirs, “Netherworlds Of The Mind“, and it was released in the wonderous year of 1992.  After the band broke up in 1993, Mats Nordrup (drums) and Urban Skytt (guitars) formed goregrind Gods Regurgitate, so, there was certainly an upside to the band breaking up.  Also, keep in mind, this is not the crappy Crematory that hails from Germany and does a god-awful goth/death metal mash-up; it’s the only true Crematory from Sweden!

“Netherworlds Of The Mind” only has four songs on the cassette, so while there isn’t very much to say about it, the music clearly speaks for itself.  They couldn’t have chosen a better track opener with “Enshrouded (In The River Of Eternity)” that kicks in immediately with a speedy riff with cymbals backing it, and the rest of the band joining in, immediately immersing you in the raw and nasty production that was given to this fantastic song.  It is easily one of the most memorable Swedish death metal songs from back in the day and could not have set the atmosphere better, making sure to give the listener a real miserable and evil aural experience, and with it being about four and a half minutes long, there’s nothing a death metal fan can complain about.

Now, the title-track, “Netherworlds Of The Mind“, has one of my favorite opening hooks in a death metal song ever.  It is a slow and plodding attack, that once again calls upon true human suffering to really get you into it.  The vocals fit the music perfectly and follow the riffs almost to a T.  Normally, that would bother the hell out of me, but the band really makes it work for them, and not one second is wasted in this song.  They even go ahead and inject a bit of the famous Swedish melody into their work, and it makes things even eerier than before.  I love this song so much, and is my favorite off of the whole demo.

The third song is “Souls Astray“, and almost sounds like it’s going into crossover territory, but you can tell that it is going to firmly plant its feet in the death metal soil and rip your face off.  While it is still death metal and adds a bit of Interment-like melody, it still feels like one of the tamer tracks off of the demo, but is still very good.  One thing that I really appreciate about Crematory is their ability to seemlessly mesh style of blistering thrash-like riffs with straight-ahead-take-no-prisoners death metal song-structures.  There is absolutely nothing in this song that is any different from the previous tracks except maybe a couple spots where the tempo drastically changes, but overall, you can really still hear the true Crematory sound, with Urban Skytt wailing on his guitar and Rikard Jansson giving off his fantastic deep growls; now that’s how you do it!  Even at the very end of the song is a small acoustic interlude that just gets the listener ready for the final eruption of Swedish brutality.  Are you ready to take the last turn with me?

Finally, we have the ending track, “Dwellers In Twilight“.  At first listen, it’s a bit disappointing because my copy seems to have quite a bit of popping and sounds fading in and out in the left earpiece, so I have no idea if my cassette is screwed up or if something with the recording process caused it, but after quite a few years of listening, I’ve learned to tune that little annoyance out.  Much like “Souls Astray“, the track on its own is slightly slower than the first two, but again, it has absolutely no effect on the pacing and fantastic musicianship on this album.  However, just to play Devil’s Advocate here, I would say that out of all four songs, this one would be the weakest in my mind.  Now, while it has its weak point of being somewhat forgettable, it is still a very good track once you listen to it and let it rattle around in your brain for a while.

Much like how Shane Embury (Napalm Death, Lock Up, Brujeria, Venemous Concept) worshiped the old Terrorizer demos, I do the exact same thing with the old Crematory material.  While on the outside I would wish the band would get back together, I know deep down in my heart of hearts that they wouldn’t be able to release the quality material we have expected of them in their four years of existence, and I am perfectly fine with that.  Out of all of their demos and one EP, “Netherworlds Of The Mind” is easily my favorite, because it is the epitome of the Swedish death metal sound that was still in its infancy back in the ’80s and early ’90s, and thankfully bands like Interment, Grave, Dismember, and quite a few others have grabbed the torch from the rotting hands of Crematory and ran with it all over the world, grabbing our hearts and crushing them in their musically-talented hands.

One thing that a lot of modern death metal fans tend to forget about are the forefathers that really gave this sub-genre a name for itself and something to be proud of.  Crematory was obviously a part of this small select group of individuals that were able to take a fledgling concept and mold it into a beast that nobody could have comprehended, and to them I tip my hat for helping give birth to the most extreme and talented form of music on Planet Earth.  Thank you for all you have done for us, Crematory, and your demo of “Netherworlds Of The Mind” will still be in heavy rotation until it can be pryed out of my cold dead hands.

Ulcerate at Myspace

Ulcerate hails from New Zealand, and have sent out an awesome slab of death metal that balances both technical and brutal aspects incredibly well; “Everything is Fire” truly combines the best of both worlds while not sacrificing songwriting at the altars of either subgenre. All eight of its songs are over five minutes, but none feel overlong Instead of relying on blast beats or just showing off how fast they can play, Ulcerate were smart enough to include some slightly slower and quieter (but still brutal) sections. These do a great job of making sure the record doesn’t bog down in monotony like some other tech-death bands (Origin, anyone?)

The vocals aren’t bad at all, but they’re not quite as good as the instrumental backing, as they tend to sound a bit samey after a while, with a bit too much yelling and not enough guttural growling. I also didn’t like the fact that the guitars drowned out the bass and (to a lesser extent) the drums most of the time, but I don’t really have any other complaints. This is an essential death metal release and one of the best of 2009 to date.

Mutilated @ MySpace

It’s been quite a while since my last review, and I thought I’d give this whole writing business another try.  This time I have a classic brutal death metal album from my homestate of Michigan that came out in ’03.  Who says that all reviews have to be done about new ones?  There’s actually quite a few good bands that hail from Lansing, Detroit and it’s surrounding areas, such as Intestinal Alien Reflux, Gutrot (R.I.P.), Saprogenic and Nocturnal Fear, just to name a few.  However, if I were told which Michigan-based death metal band I enjoyed the most, I would have to say Mutilated (R.I.P.) takes the cake, and I will thoroughly explain to you people as to why I love them so much.

I suppose I should start off with the meat of “Devirginated Genital Pulp“, because there’s no other thing I could ever open with, and the meat would have to be the insanely groovy and thick riffs that are laid throughout this album, and after the short intro to “Hollowed Out Cunt“, you should know by now exactly what you’re getting into.  The way I look at the guitar work on this album is exactly what Cannibal Corpse would be in an alternate universe had the Chris Barnes-era never ended.  I really don’t want to call this album classic Cannibal Corpse worship, because it definitely has an identity of its own, but you could easily swap out a few songs on “The Bleeding” and replace them with “Impetuous Bloodshed“, “Axe Versus Throat“, and “Lactating Blood” and you would never know the difference.  However, I will say that “To Fuck The Rotted” is certainly Mutilated‘s “Hammer Smashed Face“.

One of the members that really drew me to this band in the first place would have to be Brian Forgue (vocalist) of the insanely awesome and brutal Gutrot, because his vocals in that band are quite frankly some of the best gutturals I’ve ever heard, and when I saw he had something to do with Mutilated, I figured I would get the exact same treatment.  While he does show off his gutturals every once in a while, it seems that Brian has reverted to doing regular death metal growls that emulates Chris Barnes’ old style pretty well.  As decent as he is at the generic growls they can actually get quite monotonous rather quickly and I would much rather hear his sick croaking.  However, Brian has fantastic timing with his vocals, knowing exactly when to shut his mouth to let the riffs and drums just pummel you, and while in a somewhat predictable-yet-still-awesome fashion, he comes back in to finish you off.  I guess if I wanted to hear nothing but his gutturals then just stick with Gutrot or Syphilic.

The only thing that really bothers me about this album is both the lack in creativity when it comes to the Zach Gibson’s drumming  and barely being able to hear Qyet Kevin’s bass.  The problem with Zach is exactly the problem that Paul Mazurkiewicz; there is no creativity on their part other than just jamming with what is given to them by the guitarists.  Seriously, Zach has done some interesting things in Gutrot, so why can’t he inject some of those ideas into Mutilated?  Both bands aren’t that different fundamentally, so the same approach should be able to work in theory.  As far as not being able to hear Qyet’s bass, I know the guy isn’t any Alex Webster, and I respect that, but Jesus Christ, why the fuck do bands think putting the bass so low in the mix is a good idea?  It’s a fantastic instrument, and when utilized correctly, it can enhance the music to an entirely different degree.  Those are my only real gripes about this album, so they are quite minor to how good everything else is.

In the end, “Devirginiated Genital Pulp” is exactly what any brutal death metal fan should be looking for; especially those of you who can’t get enough of Chris Barnes’-era Cannibal Corpse.  These guys manage to take the best elements of their former days and multiply them ten fold, and what we get here are some really catchy and groovy brutal death metal.  When the local music scene is being populated with shitty deathcore acts and moptop metalcore/screamo girly-boys, I really wish that Mutilated would come back and destroy those worthless fucks with the main-riff of “Hollowed Out Cunt“. Seriously, this is how brutal death metal should be played, and all those other younger bands can really learn something from Mutilated, and you can too.

Kalisia at Myspace

Despite the fact that the French progressive death metal band Kalisia was founded in 1994, Cybion, released earlier this year, is their debut. With choral vocals and the heavy use of keyboards, I felt that this album is best looked at from the perspective of progressive metal than death metal. When I want to hear death metal, I want something sickening and I want something brutal; this doesn’t deliver on either count, despite the frequent use of harsh vocals. It’s just too melodic to be a really great example of death metal.

Cybion is considerably better as a progressive metal album, but it still has its flaws. It’s supposed to be some sort of sci-fi concept album, but I never really understood it (the fact that many of the vocals are growled didn’t help). It also seems more than a little derivative of Ayreon, what with the multiple singers, squelchy synthesizers and Arjen Anthony-Lucassen himself appearing on one track. It’s messy and overlong, but there are lots of interesting musical passages so it evens out fairly well in the end. I can’t recommend Cybion to death metal fanatics, but prog metal fans should like it. I think it’s decent for a first effort, but I’ll probably never listen to it again.

Heaps of Dead at Myspace

This is the debut release from Heaps of Dead, an Ontario-based quintet that plays brutal death metal. “Deceased, Dismembered, and Left to Decay” starts off fairly well; the first few tracks are fairly simplistic, but they’re effective despite their simplicity. They reminded me a bit of early Six Feet Under (I know they’re a controversial band, but I enjoyed their first few albums a lot.) The singer does a pretty good job with both high-pitched screaming and death growls. I got the impression that Heaps of Dead was a young band that needed improvement, but had lots of potential.

Unfortunately, starting on track four, a new vocal style rears its ugly head- horrible “BREEE!” pig-squealing. I don’t know what possessed them to incorporate this  awful style, but it just doesn’t work one bit, and should have been left out entirely. These vocals rarely take center stage, but they’re horrible enough that they ruin the tracks where they’re used, and completely ruin what could have been a decent album. Aside from that, I really liked the use of samples from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. If the singer quits the horrible pig-squealing/toad-croaking vocals, Heaps of Dead could be a band to watch in the future. If he keeps using them, though, not even wild horses could get me to listen to this band again.