Death Metal

Gorod, The Orb (2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

French tech prog death metal band Gorod mesmerize with their seventh album, The Orb.

Gorod began life in the late 1990s as Gorgasm, changing their name to the more familiar moniker in 2005. After the name change, they followed up by producing three memorable albums in fairly quick succession, Neurotripsicks (2005), Leading Vision (2006), and Process of a New Decline (2009). They have been on a three year publishing cycle since then, with a couple extra years tacked on to this last span due to the pandemic. For me, the new album is some of their best and most bewildering work so far. The band is Mathieu Pascal (guitar), Benoit Claus (bass), Julien “Nutz” Deyres (vocals), Nicolas Alberny (guitar), and Karol Diers (drums).

“Chrematheism.” Holy shit. It is an overwhelming assault from the first note. A challenging, killer piece from the jump. Harsh, coarse vocals are the most discernable element in the opening bars. The riff and keys are jagged and piercing. It is chaos with no regard for whether you can find the order in it. Of course, order is there, and in this kind of technical death metal, order is the structural characteristic. It is the rod that straightens your spine. There is a crazy lead shred as well. It is like dunking your head in a bucket of ice water – ice water with a razor blade vortex. “We Are The Sun Gods” is, if anything, more surgical with a mad central interlude. And then the title track comes along and shows a soothing calm nose that quickly turns away. Melodic-ish vocals prey on your emotions, moving you to drop your defenses right before the riffs hit hard. Mmm.

Technical progressive death metal is actually quite unusual. It is typically one or the other, isn’t it, tech or prog. Here, though, it is both, and each input is equally important. The death metal element is integral as well, which is not a given in other bands that are described in similar fashion. Gorod is fully committed in this music, and they are doing what other musicians don’t. Keep an ear out for “Victory” because it is a degloving experience, and also “Strange Days,” the closer and the shortest song of the set. It is very theatrical and one of my favorites on the album. Recommended.

The Orb can be fully yours on Friday, March 3rd at the Bandcamp link below or wherever you get your stuff.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://gorodmetal.bandcamp.com/album/the-orb

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/GorodOfficial

© Wayne Edwards

Gorod, The Orb (2023)

Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 4

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Anthrax at Blue Ridge Rock Festival
Exodus at the Newport Music Hall, Columbus
Atilla at Blue Ridge Rock Festival
Casket Robbery at Tennessee Metal Devastation
Black Veil Brides at Blue Ridge Rock Festival
Gravehuffer at Tennessee Metal Devastation
W.A.S.P. at BMI Event Center, Versailles, Ohio
Warbringer at The Vogue Theatre, Indianapolis
Voivod at Pure Filth Festival

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

© Wayne Edwards

Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 4

Soulfly at Skully’s, Columbus, February 28, 2023

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

Max Cavalera and Soulfly put a crack in High Street outside Skully’s in Columbus this week on their Totem tour.

Soulfly

Skully’s Music-Diner is a regular stop for metal bands when they are in the middle of the country. With no pit and not even a barricade, really, fans can get right up to the stage. When the circle pit swirls open, it can engulf the bulk of the room, putting everyone in play – or in jeopardy, depending on how you look at it. If that sounds good to you, now you know where go.

Soulfy brought two bands with them on this leg of the tour. First up, Skinflint, a three-piece metal band from Botswana. I had heard of them but had never seen the band in action, so I was ready go. Their new album is their seventh, Hate Spell, released just days before the show. Their music is infectious metal with incredible rhythm and masterful guitar. They played a couple cuts from the new record, and dipped into their deep catalogue for a few well-seasoned favorites, too. Great set.

Skinflint

Bodybox middled. Bodybox is a Florida deathcore band, and they are a very different act compared to either of the other bands. I didn’t know anything about them before the show, so I went in unencumbered by expectations. A relatively new group, they have released a demo and an EP so far. Their sound was tight while it lasted, but they unfortunately experienced technical difficulties for a large part of their time on stage, leading vocalist Harry Brown to riff off the top of his head and to drink a number of beers handed up from the crowd while the troubles were addressed.

Bodybox

Soulfly has been on my bucket list for a while now. I saw Max Cavalera last year and that show was a highlight of my concertgoing for 2022, no question about it. Soulfly released a new studio album last year, Totem, and that was one of the better albums last year, too (there is a link to our review of that record at the end of this article). My interest in the band has therefore been heading toward a peak in recent months. Max with his four-string ESP was joined on stage by Zyon Cavalera on drums, Mike Leon on bass, with Mike DeLeon playing guitar.

Max Cavalera

The show opened on “Back To Primitive,” and the packed room starting jumping immediately. The pit opened on that first song, which doesn’t usually happen – even with the headliner, there is often a song or two of grace before the pushing starts. Not this time. Everybody was ready to party with Soulfly.

Soulfly

They went back to the beginning next with “No Hope = No Fear,” and there was never any hint of slowing down. They did play a couple of songs from Totem, but mostly this night was a greatest hits affair, with a couple of covers thrown in the mix as well. I thought the Max and Iggor Cavalera tour was great last year, and it was, but this Soulfly performance cranked up even a notch higher. It was a great show, and now I am scanning the calendar to see if there is any way I can see them again before this tour is over. Highly recommended.

Max Cavalera

Soulfly is on the road through April Fool’s Day. Check out the dates and cities on the tour poster below and make plans to catch the show.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Soulfly, https://www.soulfly.com/

Skinflint, https://skinflintmetal.com/

Bodybox, https://bodybox.bandcamp.com/

Scully’s Music – Diner, https://skullys.org/

FFMB review of Totem, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/08/08/soulfly-totem-nuclear-blast-2022/

Photo Galleries.

Soulfy, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/03/04/photo-gallery-soulfly-at-skullys-in-columbus/

Skinflint, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/03/04/photo-gallery-skinflint-at-skullys-in-columbus/

Bodybox, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/03/04/photo-gallery-bodybox-at-skullys-in-columbus/

© Wayne Edwards

Soulfly at Skully’s, Columbus, February 28, 2023

Plague Bearer, Summoning Apocalyptic Devastation (Nameless Grave 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

After thirty years, Plague Bearer releases its first full-length album, Summoning Apocalyptic Devastation.

Plague Bearer started out in Seattle in 1992. They released a couple of demos before changing their name to Drawn and Quartered in 1994. But there was always something about that original formulation that the founders could not let go of. As the story goes, “guitarist K. S. Kuciemba was determined to keep the Satanic flame alive, slowly amassing simpler, eviler blackened riffs with partner H and putting out a demo in 2001 and [an] EP in 2006 with Nuclear Winter Records. In 2017, K and H reunited with longtime ally T on drums, along with vocalist Nihilist…” So, Plague Bearer is a side project of the principals from Drawn and Quartered, but it is more than that, given the long history. After all this time, the musicians have decided a long-player is in order, so we have Summoning Apocalyptic Devastation.

The opening song is “Unholy Black Satanic War Metal.” What a title, huh. It sounds brutal. It sounds aggressive. It sounds chaotic. The actual song is all of these things, turned up past ten. It is a rampage, with a “Gates Of Babylon” feel to it from time to time, but colored by a darker brush. The title track follows, and it has a slower cook at the jump. The blast beats do come, and the growling, curdling vocals. With recklessness at its center, the black embrace of this music cannot be shaken. “Defiled By Sodomy” alternates between gatling gun and pile driver in its rhythms. Impossibly, there is also a groove thread. That is a characteristic of this music that other music does not have – the ability to take buzzsaw constructions and play them over and around a catchy execution. If you listen to this one with your head held just right, the vocal melody is almost a shanty. Amazing.

There is a lot more to admire on this record. Spend some extra time with “Decapitated Angels” and “Churches Are In Flames” to appreciate their depth and impulsive verisimilitude. The closer is “Christbane” and it is a banger. I love this track. This album rips and roars and kicks in your doors. Highly recommended.

Summoning Apocalyptic Devastation is widely available on Friday, March 3rd through Nameless Grave Records. Look over the label’s website and Bandcamp to see the available formats and variants at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://plaguebearerwa.bandcamp.com/album/summoning-apocalyptic-devastation

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/drawnandquartered

Nameless Grave Records, https://www.namelessgraverecords.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Plague Bearer, Summoning Apocalyptic Devastation (Nameless Grave 2023)

Nuclear Holocaust, Sailing The Seas Of Nuclear Waste (Selfmadegod 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Sailing The Seas Of Nuclear Waste is a fitting return to full-length form for Poland’s Nuclear Holocaust.

It all started 2015 when the grindcore first started to percolate in Poland as Nuclear Holocaust. To me, it is the thrash punk elements that stand out brightest on their newest work, but in it and in their music from the past you will find a variety of styles and essences. They have so far released two long-players and splits with Leb Prosiaka, Expurgo, and Straight Hate (among others) to go along with their live record and a compilation in 2020. The band is Bloodseeker (vocals), XXX-Bomber (guitar), Overkiller (drums), and Doomtrigger (bass).

There are sixteen tracks on the new album ranging in length from fifty one seconds to one hundred twenty eight seconds. So, in every case, we could say these are sharp punches to the throat, a loud battering to your ears. For example, the first track, “The Last Day of Serenity,” is those things in spades. It is a menacing blender, with gruesome, croaking vocals and belligerent rhythm. The very next song has those underlying qualities in general, too, but it is lighter in aural spirit, despite its title: “Mutant Blitzkrieg.” It is almost pop punk in its clippiness. “The Finishing Blow” has the harder edge of the first song and takes that idea even farther and darker. So, no, the music does not all sound the same even when fundamental similarities are present – each son has its own festering essence.

If you are listening to this album, you are looking for thrashy punk metal, and you’ve found the motherlode. “Undead Hordes Special Forces” is a beautiful spout of horrendous menace with killer riffage, and “Suicidal Paranoia” has a fine crackle to, like a good draw on a water pipe and what comes after that. I also appreciate the aggressive determination of “Like Lambs to the Slaughter,” and the unlikely pace of “Synthetic Sea.” In all, this hard-edged set is ultimately endearing in a black hearted kind of way. Recommended.

Sailing The Seas Of Nuclear Waste is out on Friday, March 3rd through Selfmadegod Records. Peruse the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://selfmadegod.bandcamp.com/album/sailing-the-seas-of-nuclear-waste

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Nuclearmetalpunks

Selfmadegod Records, https://selfmadegod.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Nuclear Holocaust, Sailing The Seas Of Nuclear Waste (Selfmadegod 2023)

Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 3

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Buckcherry
Death Angel
Doyle
Gatecreeper
Michael Schenker Band
Prong
The Native Howl
Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf
Year of the Cobra

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

© Wayne Edwards

Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 3

Necrovation, Storming The Void / Starving Grave (Blood Harvest 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , ,

Death metal band Necrovation breaks back into this dimension with a new EP, Storming The Void – Starving Grave.

Necrovation first stirred in Sweden twenty years ago. They laid down a string of reliable heavy metal releases including a couple of EPs, a demo, and two long-players, Breed Deadness Blood (2008) and Necrovation (2012). After that, they went on an extended recording hiatus. Until now. I am not sure what happened between now and then, and maybe it was nothing more than the musicians choosing not to record anything. Whatever it was, the new music is what is important today. The Metal Archives reveals the band members to be Anton Wanstadius (bass), A. Bünger (drums), and Sebastian Gadd (vocals, guitar).

There are two tracks on the new EP. “Storming The Void” is a lunging production, fierce enough the wake the dead. The death metal framework is at first familiar, but the music veers off in obscene directions with no notice at all, playing freely with multiple genres and subgenres. The muted aggression at the end of the song is a withering, frightening affair.

Its companion, “Starving Grave,” challenges the opener in intensity, but at a different pace and approach. After a measured beginning, the engine explodes and shrapnel flies in every direction, opening wounds. The melodic passage that follows is not reassuring, but is instead taunting, and a critical pummeling does indeed follow. There is a constant feeling of the presence of disembodied souls drifting nearby in the midgame, putting an elemental twist on the composition.

There are only two songs here, and they are both great. It makes me want to hear more, but until that comes to pass, this brief return is more than welcome. Recommended.

The new EP is out on Friday, February 24th through Blood Harvest Records. In the US, Bandcamp is the reliable source.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/storm-the-void-starving-grave

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/necrovationdeathmetal

Blood Harvest Records, http://shop.bloodharvest.se/

© Wayne Edwards

Necrovation, Storming The Void / Starving Grave (Blood Harvest 2023)

Coffinborn, Cadaveric Retribution (Xtreem 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

The long-awaited debut album from death metal band Coffinborn has arrived: Cadaveric Retribution.

Coffinborn formed in Szeged, Hungary just over ten years ago. In 2014 they released a demo, Beneath the Cemetery, and went on to write a full-length album at about the same time. It is a little unclear what happened next, but history intervened and the music was not recorded when it was composed. Fast-forward a decade and the band finally has the opportunity to chisel the music into digital stone. Their approach is classic death metal, as in Death and Grave, say, and the execution is absolutely deadly. The stage names of the musicians are Blasphemy (drums, vocals), Churchburner (bass), and Disguster (guitar, vocals).

“Self-Mutilation of the Soul” lays it on with a wail and a chop, gutting at the mid-tempo then speeding up the percussion to gain a rush. Fantastic, killer instrumental opening. “Undead Ceremony” is next, cracking the earth with growling vocals, blast beats, and careening speed. The weight of the music is pulverizing, and the doom downshift in the middle is a thing of beauty. The blistering lead break is excellent as well, with a nod to the classic posture while working new angles. “Flesheater” takes a different approach, with a steady, persistent riff and warning vocals that signal the flesh eater is here. If these first three songs don’t grab your attention and hook you then you are not a death metal fan.

There are no low points on this record. “Infernal Entombment” is a stand-out track for me because of its crushing heaviness, and “Gruesome Fate” turned me around, too, with its penetrating drive. The sets wraps-up on the title track, “Cadaveric Retribution,” which is a malignant beast all its own, chewing and spitting and rending the terra. The album is exceptional all the way through, and I am glad it is seeing the light of day after ten years. Recommended.

Cadaveric Retribution is out on Thursday, February 23rd through Xtreem Music. In the US, Bandcamp is a great place to pick it up, and you can stream it in the usual spots.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://xtreemmusic.bandcamp.com/album/cadaveric-retribution

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/coffinborn

Xtreem Music, http://www.xtreemmusic.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Coffinborn, Cadaveric Retribution (Xtreem 2023)