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.

Animals Killing People at Myspace

I’m not exactly a fan of extreme animal liberation groups. Whether they’re comparing Holocaust victims to livestock, staging sophomoric stunts involving naked women or completely ignoring the problem of animal-on-animal violence, I wouldn’t want to be even remotely associated with them even if I were a vegan. However, Animals Killing People have been inspired by their ideology to craft a solid album of deathgrind.

After a sample starts off the album, the first thing you’ll notice are the vocals. The vocals are some of the deepest, most guttural grunts I’ve ever heard, like some jagged, rusty chainsaw assembled by the devil himself. Unfortunately, the instrumental backing is just  too low in the mix, making the music too hard to hear. If you don’t normally listen to music with headphones, I advise doing so for this album; you won’t get the full effect otherwise. The music is chaotic, as is typical for grindcore, but without being completely directionless. Samples are used well, but sparingly; the band was smart enough not to put them in every track.

My biggest complaint was that the band put one of those lengthy hidden tracks at the end of the album. I HATE that gimmick. Aside from that, though, there’s really not much to complain about here, unless you’re so set against PETA-style propaganda that you can’t bear to listen to it even when it’s delivered through incomprehensible growling.

Giant Squid at Myspace

I’ll be honest: The only reason I picked this album up was due to the band’s name (I love all things cephalopodic). So I was lucky when this album turned out to be awesome. Giant Squid’s Metridium Fields is an excellent effort; although it has its less than metal moments, an open-minded listener should find much to enjoy here. Both more traditional sludgy guitars and keyboards provide incredibly atmospheric drones that permeate the entire album. The keyboards are used exceptionally well, and a variety of types are used; the liner notes credit Aurielle Gregory with performing on a Moog Opus 3, Micromoog, piano, Rhodes, my personal favorite, the Hammond organ*, and several others.

My favorite track was the album’s titular song, a 21-minute epic soundscape. It’s repetitive, to be sure, but the band members keep making subtle changes in the riffs that reward close listening. I only have one complaint about this release: the vocals are terrible! I know that Giant Squid skirts the edges of being metal, but the vocals here sound like some of those faggy indie bands my sister listens to. I’m not demanding death growls, but I would’ve liked something with a little more punch. I still give Metridium Fields a high grade, though, and am disappointed that they lost their label support. As a result, their upcoming album, “The Ichthyologist,” will be limited to just 1000 self-released copies.

*Seriously, I think it’s been scientifically proven that it’s impossible for anything with a Hammond organ in it to suck. I have a record called “Freddy’s Greatest Hits” which was a tie-in to one of the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels. It’s about as awful as you’d expect, but there’s a cover of Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” with a Hammond organ on it that I just love.

Cannibal Corpse at Myspace

To celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary, Metal Blade Records has released this 3-disc retrospective DVD chronicling the history of Cannibal Corpse, and it is excellent. I’m normally not that interested in music-related DVDs, but this one is packed with interesting information and hilarious footage. Disc 1 contains a three-hour documentary on the band’s history that features all Cannibal Corpse members past and present (except founding guitarist Bob Rusay, who was apparently impossible to track down). There’s scarcely a wasted moment on this disc; my favorite parts were old footage of band members screwing around with a camera and how lead singer George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher gave most of his interviews in front of a bookcase full of action figures that were still in their boxes. I knew he was nerdy, but not that nerdy! I also liked getting to see people associated with the band who I previously only knew by reputation; cover artist Vince Locke looks nothing like you’d expect someone who drew such gory images to look like.

Disc 2 is a set of Cannibal Corpse performances from all eras of the band (although the Barnes era is underrepresented). I liked this disc, but it was my least favorite of the three; I’ve never really cared that much for live DVDs. The second disc also contains all of the band’s videos. Disc 3 contains a bunch of themed collections of footage that didn’t make it into the first disc. My favorites among these were “Sickening Metalocalypse,” which covers Fisher’s recurring role on the Adult Swim show; “Every Ban Broken,” which discusses the censorship problems that the band has faced in countries like Germany and New Zealand, and “Covered With Ink,” which shows how die-hard Corpse fans have gotten images from the band’s notoriously gruesome album covers tattooed on them.

I only have one major complaint about this DVD set- the sound just isn’t loud enough! I watched this on my laptop, and even with the volume turned all the way up, it was noticeably less loud than actual Cannibal Corpse songs being played on iTunes on the same laptop. You’d think that a DVD about a band like CC would be as loud as possible. But despite that, I heartily recommend this DVD set. It’s highly entertaining, reasonably priced (at just $25 US), and has plenty of material (well over seven hours). I give it five out of five skinless, rotting cadavers.

Manilla Road at Myspace

Manilla Road’s latest release, Voyager, is a decent effort, if not quite up to the level of some of the band’s previous work. Mark Shelton’s voice isn’t what it used to be; while his nasal delivery was somewhat hard to get into before, I enjoyed it because it sounded like the Monarch from Venture Bros. was fronting a metal band. Now, he just sounds middle-aged and tired, and makes some truly pathetic attempts at death growls. Fortunately, though, his songwriting skill and guitar playing have not deteriorated one iota.

I didn’t like Voyager’s lyrics as much as those of earlier Manilla Road albums; it’s a concept album, and the story’s some silly stuff about Vikings conquering South America or something along those lines. I greatly preferred the more diverse approach used on earlier Manilla Road albums. There’s a surprising amount of acoustic material here; a few tracks have no electric guitar at all, which is a nice change of pace. I also liked the organ intro to the song “Blood Eagle”. The rhythm section doesn’t  really distinguish itself well on this record; the drums sound a bit clanky and the bass is nearly inaudible.

If you’re new to Manilla Road, this album isn’t the place to start; however, that doesn’t mean that it’s bad; it’s just a bit different from the rest of the band’s catalog. You’d probably be better off starting with the band’s 80s material.

Merciless Death at Myspace

Any album starting off and ending on with a musical homage to Death Angel’s “The Ultraviolence” by a band named after a Dark Angel song is enough to tell any thrash fan they are in for a good time. I would have expected a generic time too truth be told, but Merciless Death are one of the premier thrash revival bands in the world today and have their own distinct style that is pretty hard to compare with anyone else. It’s intense, violent, and is musically as occult as its lyrical themes with eerie Jeff Hanneman-esque solo’s as landmarks amongst the passionately speedy riffs and drum fills. Not a minute is wasted with Merciless Death playing at a faster tempo than most thrash bands thus meaning their album is 28 minutes whereas in the hands of someone such as say Evile it may be pushing towards the 40 minute mark.

Bassist Andy Torres is also the bands vocalist and his punk rock vocal technique has divided some of the more purist Thrash fans. The way I would describe his singing style is to imagine Jerry A of 80’s Hardcore punk band Poison Idea but with a bad throat infection and marbles in his mouth. It’s an acquired taste but although it definitely needs work I think it suits the music much better than someone warbling like they were in say Metal Church. This is thrash for the thrash fans, it’s not going to appeal to people who don’t love this genre a lot, but those who are addicted to the thrash will adore this record.