Mantic Ritual at Myspace

Mantic Ritual’s Executioner is an example of the thrash revival being done right. Although it’s never too original, the riffs, leads and songwriting are strong as hell, resulting in an album that’s strong all the way through, and Mantic Ritual don’t make the same mistake as Blood Tsunami and make sure that the songs are actually heavy; there’s no over-melodic frippery here.

Executioner is a re-recording of an album recorded under the band’s previous name, Meltdown. I haven’t heard the original version, so I can’t comment on it, but the production on this is excellent throughout. Dan Wetmore’s vocals are excellent; at times, he appears to be invoking Kill ‘Em All-era James Hetfield in his delivery, but he mixes it up enough so he doesn’t feel like a total clone. The solos and riffs are also excellent; the album’s only real weakness is the rhythm section. The bass is barely audible and the drumming is especially weak; it just sounds repetitive, dull, and overly mechanical most of the time.

Still, despite that one major fault, this is a fine album and a worthy successor to the original wave of thrash bands. If only the rest of the movement was this strong…

Heaven and Hell at Myspace

It’s really a shame that this didn’t come out under the Black Sabbath name. Oh, I know how Ozzy, Bill and Geezer forced Iommi to sign a contract saying that the name couldn’t be used without the participation of all four original members, and how this was justified due to Iommi’s dragging the name through the mud during the late 80′s and early 90′s, but this is a quality release, arguably better than any of the “real” Sabbath albums with Dio (it’s certainly better than the the mediocre-as-hell Dehumanizer).

That said, The Devil You Know doesn’t really have a sound that’s much different from the other Dio Sabbath albums, but it’s really, really good despite its lack of innovation. Dio sounds amazing for a senior citizen (would that all vocalists could sound this good this late into their careers), Iommi’s riffs are as good as ever, and the rhythm section is solid throughout. There’s even a little bit of synthesizer that’s used sparingly but effectively.

The album’s tone is also remarkably consistent- it’s completely dark, with no silly excursions into other moods like the Ozzy-era songs “Planet Caravan” or “Changes.” It’s also fairly slow-paced throughout (but not in a boring way). This leads to a few songs sounding awfully similar, but it’s not quite as much of a fault as it might sound. The lyrics are sometimes pretty cheesy, but they don’t really stick out a lot when the music is this grim. All in all, this is an excellent album and a more than worthy addition to the Sabbath catalog, even if it is technically apocrypha. I wouldn’t begrudge anyone who changed their MP3 tags to “Black Sabbath” for this album at all.

Giant Squid at Myspace

Giant Squid’s second album is similar in style to the first, with layers of keyboards and cellos supplementing the more traditional metal instruments, although they’re just that, supplements, rarely taking over completely. The album just oozes with atmosphere, both in the metallic sections and quieter passages, and the unusual instrumentation is a big factor. Both male and female vocals are utilized, and I greatly preferred the latter; there’s something about the male singer’s voice I find a bit irritating. When he sings high, his voice has an annoying nasally quality to it, and when he tries to sound gravelly, the result is just cheesy. This doesn’t come close to ruining the album, however. Most of the songs have subtitles which are the scientific names of sea life; I’m not sure what that fact is supposed to mean.

My favorite track on the album was one which stuck out as being atypical- “Throwing a Donner Party at Sea” isn’t a stereotypically slow doom metal song, as it clips along at a nice pace. I also liked the song’s use of harsh backing vocals, which is fairly unusual for this band. Another standout track was “Mormon Island;” I enjoyed its near-ambient use of the piano. If there’s one thing I didn’t like about this album, it’s that it lacks an extra-long track like the title track on Metridium Fields; I loved that song and its extremely repetitive but undeniably hypnotic groove. All in all, though, it’s a worthy second effort, and it’s well worth checking out.

Cannibal Corpse at Myspace

Cannibal Corpse’s latest is pretty typical of the Corpsegrinder era. It certainly starts off well, with the insanely brutal “Priests of Sodom” and “Scalding Hail,” but some of the other numbers are unmemorable. “To Decompose” starts out strong, but the rest of the song feels awfully like they were phoning it in, a feeling I get from some other tracks on this album. Other strong tracks include “Evidence in the Furnace,” “Carnivorous Swarm” (which has a great intro and solo which evoke the titular horde), and the title track, which manages to convey CC’s trademark sense of hatred without being especially fast.

I don’t think the band’s albums with Corpsegrinder are terrible or anything, it’s just that they’re not as consistent as the Barnes albums (particularly the first three). If I listed my favorite Cannibal Corpse songs, there would be plenty from the later albums, but more recent albums just have more throwaway tracks, and Evisceration Plague is no exception. I do prefer the rougher production that the disappeared after “Tomb of the Mutilated”; producer Erik Rutan makes things sound just a bit too clear, although it’s not like this is the first CC album where that’s the case. As usual, Alex Webster’s bass is buried in the mix, which is a shame since he was so good with Blotted Science’s “The Machinations of Dementia.” Fans of the band will enjoy it, but newcomers should start with one of the Barnes-era albums.

Lich King at Myspace

Amherst’s Lich King combine Bay Area thrash worship with goofy lyrics to create an album that’s mostly for die-hard thrash fans only. Although the band claims to be a quintet, I suspect that it’s a one or two-man project, as the band lists among its personnel Darth Vader on bass, Hulk Hogan on drums, and A Fucking Tyrannosaur on vocals. Say, could you imagine what would’ve happened if Mr. A. F. Tyrannosaur had wanted to play guitar? They would’ve had to have custom-ordered a huge one to accomodate him, and even then his playing would’ve been highly constricted due to him having only two fingers on each hand. But I digress.

Songs include “Black Metal Sucks” (which is just a regular thrash song until the last 30 seconds, which are a riotous parody of the title genre), the hilariously-titled “Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast,” and “Office Politics” (which is complete with a sample of Milton from Office Space). Although the lyrics are humorous, the music never quite manages to transcend its Bay Area influence, and just feels like thrash worship. Of course, this is a comedy album, so the music isn’t quite as important as the lyrics, which begs the question of why the mediocre instrumental “I Destroy” was included. Another track, “Predator,” recounts the film of the same name; Arnocorps already did this about a million times better. All in all, Toxic Zombie Onslaught is competently executed but fairly dull, and only moderately amusing.