Tuesday 30 October 2018

Hallas - Excerpts From A Future Past


Labels: The Sign Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Tape/Digital
Release Date: 13 Oct 2017

Tracklist:

1. The Astral Seer
2. Repentance
3. Nebulon's Tower
4. The Golden City Of Semyra
5. Star Rider
6. Shadow Of The Templar
7. Illusion Sky

I've felt the need tonight to delve into something different and less abrasive. Swedish 70's hard-rock worshippers Hallas and their debut full-length from 2017 should do nicely. Release on Swedish retro/hard-rock/heavy metal label The Sign Records, it follows their 2015 self-titled EP. They're about to head out to support Graveyard on their Scandinavian tour, so they're keeping very esteemed company. 

There’s nothing wrong with venturing into territory that’s easier on the ears from time to time. Retro rock (as some like to call it) is really growing thanks to a huge number of bands from across the globe, with Scandinavia very much at it’s forefront. Hallas is a band that’s gathering more momentum and it’s easy to see (and hear) why as album opener The Astral Seer brims with progression. keyboard flourishes and clean singing that hasn’t been affected by the usual Americanisation. It’s all very natural sounding and true to heart.

With Repentance, Hallas increase the length of their instrumental passages and layers, enhancing their music with subtle psychedelia, while vocalist/bassist Tommy Alexandersson sounds akin to Sting during his days in The Police when he reaches the higher registers. Nebulon’s Tower is an engrossing instrumental piece that highlights the folk-elements within their sound. “Excerpts From A Future Past” is very much an album for people who genuinely like music. There’s so much musicality present on songs like The Golden City Of Semyra that it’s so easy to get sucked in to it all. Again, the band’s progression is present as well a tempered but meatier percussion element, which give the music extra bite. 

Nicklas Malmqvist’s keyboard work that opens Star Rider is ridiculous, as it breezes through the scales from low to high. This is a super catchy song with some nice pop-like melodies and crunching guitars. I’m not afraid to say that It’s got me feeling quire sleepy in a cosy sort of way. Before you know it (or if you’re in a completely blissful trance), penultimate song Shadow Of The Templar is whisking you off on a journey into the star-filled night sky of the album’s cover. There’s a slight cosmic feel to it all and an upbeat one at that. The album’s final song Illusion Sky is a slower and more melodramatic song. Ultimately, it sums up the Hallas signature sound perfectly and rounds out a record that’s definitely worth more dues than it’s received so far. There are times when a different perspective is needed and this record gives you that without being showy or obtuse. Fantastic.

You can stream and download "Excerpts From A Future Past" via The Sign Records here:-




Physical copies are still available to purchase here - https://freighttrain.se/en/the-sign-record/

Friday 26 October 2018

Invoker - Cursed To Feel


Labels: Grim Reality Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 12 Oct 2018

Tracklist:

1. Black And Blue
2. Cursed
3. The Novel
4. Cease To Exist
5. End Me

When I first started this blog one of the music genres that really excited me was hardcore. It still does and that's why I've chosen to feature Swiss modern hardcore band Invoker as way to belatedly celebrate the blog's 8th anniversary. After releasing their debut EP "Loose Lips Sink Ships" in late 2013, this Lucerne trio has gone onto release their first full-length :Four Wall Nightmare" and are carrying on that momentum with new EP "Cursed To Feel". The European hardcore scene stretches far and wide, encompassing many bands of differing styles yet Switzerland seems underrepresented, until now that is!

I was expecting “Cursed To Feel” to sound very much like a melodic hardcore record but Black And Blue is a furiously-blasting slab of hardcore with crazy kick-drumming, cinematic guitars and vocals that belong in a power-violence band. This is angry stuff but it also transcends those negative emotions and makes you feel elated. There’s a throwback to European metalcore bands like Caliban towards the end of the song too, with clean/semi-clean singing and memorable hooks.

The momentum rages on through Cursed, which is a mix of solid, abrasive hardcore and atmospheric post-hardcore. Invoker aren’t content with following the crowd on this EP and using their raw emotion to deliver a sound that’s this infectious, shows that they should be very much bigger than they are. As you may expect from it’s title, The Novel is slightly more laid-back initially though that feeling of relaxation is soon shattered as the band launches into a song that’s got a rhythm section to die for and a running time that has no reason to stick around. It’s songs like this that leave their mark.

At this point you might think that my review is somewhat contrived but I genuinely mean what I say, or else I wouldn’t be reviewing this EP. Penultimate song Cease To Exist sees Invoker going back to their PV-esque best while filling the it with off-kilter riffs and stomping breakdowns. Despite the negative connotations of EP closer End Me, you’re once again dragged up from the brink and left feeling empowered by the violence that you’ve just experienced. The moments of introspection really accentuate the heaviness that’s presented and while i’d stop just short of saying that the golden age of metalcore might be returning here, “Cursed To Feel” and indeed Invoker is not far off at all. This is massive and easily one of the best modern hardcore releases of 2018. 

You can stream and purchased "Cursed To Feel" digitally below:-




Pre-orders for the 12" vinyl pressing of "Cursed To Feel" have just gone live via Grim Reality Records here - https://grimrealityrecords.bigcartel.com/product/preorder-invoker-cursed-to-feel-12

Sunday 21 October 2018

New Caina Track - Resurrection Tantra

Apologies for the lack of anything this weekend, I've been busy. Thankfully I've not been too busy to notice that I've been tagged in a Twitter post by UK black metal act Caina. Said post drew my attention to the band's new song Resurrection Tantra.

For those of you who're unaware, Caina is (and has been) one of the UK's most revered black metal acts for many years. From the band's humble beginnings in 2006 with founding (and sole member) ACB at the helm, to the releases "Setter of Unseen Snares" and "Christ Clad In White Phosphorus", in 2015 and 2016 respectively, Caina as always pushed UK black metal further and further on.

Anyway, this video is a stark visual accompaniment to ACB's new song. please enjoy it below:-


Wednesday 17 October 2018

Scolex/Mortuous - Split 7"


Labels: Carbonized Records
Formats: Vinyl/Digital
Release Date: 31 Oct 2018

Tracklist:

1. Scolex - Black Pyramid Ritual
2. Mortuous - Desiccated

I'm moving back into more familiar territory now with a review of the soon-to-be-released split 7" featuring Californian death metal bands Scolex and Mortuous, which is being release by new US label Carbonized Records. Scolex has been plying their horror-filled death trade since 2010 with their only previous release being the self-released EP "Torn From Beyond" from 2013. Mortuous has been a band for a similar period of time, putting out two demos in 2010 and 2012 respectively, before unleashing their debut full-length "Through Wilderness" earlier this year via Carbonized Records and Tankcrimes. Both bands include personnel with years of experience within the US death metal scene.

This split contains two ripping and disgusting death metal tracks. Black Pyramid Ritual by Scolex is a filled with old-school mid-paced riffs, low dirty growls and a rumbling low-end that will have you running for cover. Scolex’s music is also technical, but not in an overbearing way. It’s more of the thrashing and headbanging variety, with lead work that’s more Autopsy than Cynic. 

Mortuous presents an even bleaker image via Desiccated with a sound that’s even more rooted into the deepest depths of the extreme old-school. The percussion is deeper in the mix, the vocals are delivered via deep gargled rasps, while the guitars themselves still provide melody and riffs aplenty. 

While these two tracks aren’t enough to just both bands on, this split shows that the ever moving US death metal production line is continuing to spit out bands with the chops and technical prowess too hard to ignore. Scolex and Mortuous are both excellent and keep the fires burning. 



Pre-orders for the both physical and digital copies can be placed via the below sites:-

Tuesday 16 October 2018

The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic


Labels: Pelagic Records/Metal Blade Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 02 Nov 2018

Tracklist:

1. The Cambrian Explosion
2. Cambrian II: Eternal Recurrence
3. Ordovicium: The Glaciation Of Gondwana
4. Silurian: Age Of Sea Scorpions
5. Devonian: Nascent
6. The Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse
7. Permian: The Great Dying

Early November will see the release of the new album from German/Swiss post-metal band The Ocean Collective (probably better known as solely The Ocean. This will be the first of two records focusing on the Phanerozoic period of the earth's geological evolution, with the second coming in 2020. "Phanerozoic 1: Palaeozoic" will be released on cd and vinyl (both in separate full-band and instrumental forms) as well as special collectible box sets. For a band that's always followed a similar trajectory music and presentation-wise, this new record promises to be something special.

Beginning with the dramatic instrumental intro The Cambrian Explosion, The Ocean creates intrigue and anticipation through the use of keys and ambience that leads straight into Cambrian II: Eternal Recurrence. The guitars loom large as the melody from the keys and synths form continuation. When the full band kicks in it’s an aural cacophony of harsh vocals, clean singing and stellar musical progression, which is what The Ocean is known for. The Ocean’s heaviness is plain to see on Ordovicium: The Glaciation Of Gondwana. It’s a magical song and while it’s shorter in length, there’s no passing up on the layers of warmth that come from the whole band. When The Ocean fires on all cylinders, they are a cut above.

You could make obvious comparisons at times to a certain US progressive metal band but that would be pointless and disrespectful to say the least. Silurian: Age Of Sea Scorpions sees The Ocean’s dynamic flipped with ocean vocals taking the lead to great effect. The piano definitely adds to their progressive nature as well. No one texture rules over the other despite what I said earlier on in this paragraph. Dense, engaging metal and classical elements work in harmony to make it one of the more conventional (in a listening sense) song’s on the album. Devonian: Nascent follows in the same vein and it makes me realise that I was a bit rude when calling Silurian… conventional. Both songs are soaring metal songs that seem happy to tread further from the genre’s confines and Devonian.. contains a grunge-like clean vocal tone that makes the hairs on your neck stand up, especially when backed up by the harsher growls. Being the longest song on the album, you might be fearing something pretentious but this couldn’t be further removed. 

The Ocean return to heavier realms on penultimate song The Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse, which is mostly instrumental, save for the subtle screams that can be heard deep within the music (at least that’s what i’m hearing so correct me if I’m wrong). Album closer Permian: The Great Dying is the progressive beast that every album of this ilk should end with. This whole record is astounding and it’s made me fall in love with proper progressive music again. The Ocean may be leaning further away from the post-metal that helped them to make their name, but it’s no bad thing when they can produce music of this quality. They are set to become the biggest progressive metal band on the planet.

You can pre-order the album's closer via The Ocean's bandcamp page, where you can also pre-order it digitally and stream two songs:-




Physical pre-orders are available below:-

Sunday 14 October 2018

Autumnwind - Endless Fear


Labels: Symbol Of Domination Productions/More Hate Productions
Formats: CD/Digital
Release Date: 20 May 2018

Tracklist:

1. The Panic Attack
2. The Hallucination
3. Lost And Alone
4. Forever Insomnia
5. Endless Fear

The weather conditions here are terrible today and I don't much feel like going out. Instead, I've decided to surround myself with music and try to be productive on here. For this first review I wanted to write about a project from a far-flung nation, that's going against the general populous in what is still a war-torn country. Autumnwind fit that bill perfectly, being an instrumental ambient/black metal band from Syria. This is Autumnwind's third album and it was released in May via Belarusian label Symbol Of Domination Productions and Russia co-conspirators More Hate Productions. 

It’s always interesting to hear music produced by individuals from countries like Syria, as often the hardship they face comes through in the music. On “Endless Fear” though, Autumnwind projects a feeling of hope and positivity though the use of ambient keys and uplifting black metal featuring subtle riffs and a drum machine. The Panic Attack opens the album in a calm way and is structured really well. The lack of vocals doesn’t affect it either. There’s a cosmic feel to The Hallucination and the melodies that comes through provide a glimpse into the Middle-Eastern roots of the band. It’s more heavily synth-led, which helps to add more atmosphere to it’s mid-paced tempo. Haunting is a word I’d use to describe this song and it sums up the emotions of those behind the band.

The lengthy compositions on “Endless Fear” are meant to be listened to with no distractions or stoppages and as such are oddly relaxing, with Lost And Alone being the longest piece on the album. The ambient instrumentation led by pan pipe effects make it quite hypnotic and the minimal use of dissonant guitars also helps. Forever Insomnia is filled with strings that add a slightly more jarring edge to Autumnwind’s sound, though that’s maybe just me being a bit unfair. The song itself is more urgent and of a slightly higher tempo, with more prominent guitar melodies. Ending with the beautifully calming title-track is a masterstroke as it’s quiet instrumentation washes over you with no threat of heaviness to break the mood. The ominous bell closes it out and leaves only silence. This album may not be extreme (musically) but it is when consider the band’s roots and the work that has been put in to release it. Excellent in it’s own way and worthy of further support.

You can stream "Endless Fear" below:



It's available to purchase digitally and on cd from Symbol Of Domination Productions above and you can can also purchase it from More Hate Productions here - http://www.morehate.com/release

Symbol Of Domination Productions - https://www.facebook.com/SymbolOfDominationProd/

Friday 12 October 2018

Fauna Timbre - Altering Echoes EP


Labels: Red Orchard Records
Formats: CD/Digital
Release Date: 31 Oct 2018

Tracklist:

1. Heart Murmurs
2. Violent Waves
3. Turn The Sun
4. Umbra
5. Memory Leak

As another Friday evening rolls around it's time to start thinking about becoming more consistently productive (from a writing point of view anyway), which is why I'm committing to writing at least 3-4 times (and hopefully more) from now. I need to for my own sanity and for the love if it. Tonight I'm focusing on new Norwegian doom band Fauna Timbre. The band started in 2016 as a duo, but are due to release their debut EP at the end of this month, as a trio. 

Fauna Timbre’s take on doom rock is cleaner than most. The opening song Heart Murmurs is melodic and mournful, but it never becomes truly heavy. The vocals feature that ever so slight hint of autotune, while the instrumentation is sensitively delivered so it doesn’t take too much of limelight from them. The layered and progressive nature of Faun Timbre is really endearing as the slow march of Violent Waves takes over. They’ve been compared to the mighty Katatonia and I suppose that’s an adequate comparison given the clean nature of their sound. They are very good at what they do on here and they do add more crunching riffs to the song, but that level of name dropping only adds to the expectation. The abrupt end to Violent Waves is clearly inspired by the title itself. 

Turn The Sun is the most expansive song on “Altering Echoes” and it’s at this point that Fauna Timbre’s sound begins to truly click. They’re dreamy composition style really comes through and whisks you off to a completely different place with almost no effort. The melody is back with Umbra, which is a minimal number to begin with. It’s a flowing ballad but it features bass lines that could easily be mistaken for harsh vocals at times. EP closer Memory Leak is the psychedelic piece that Fauna Timbre’s been threatening to deliver throughout and while that may not be exactly the sound they’re going for here, it works thanks to some great guitar/bass effects. It’s also the longest song on “Altering Echoes” and at times it becomes ambient, avant-garde and subtly jazz-like. Less doom-like then and more alternative, but it works extremely well as a whole and shows that this trio aren’t afraid to experiment. There’s lots of promise within these five songs. 

You can stream Heart Murmurs below:-


Pre-order "Altering Echoes" digitally here - https://faunatimbre.bandcamp.com/


Thursday 11 October 2018

Brain Fragment - Fungus EP (Mikey Ortega)


Labels: Hellasaurus Records
Formats: CD/Digital/Tape (Coming Soon)
Release Date: 19 Sep 2018

Tracklist:

1. Trust
2. Too Late
3. On Your Own
4. Enough

It shouldn’t be surprise that hardcore punk and jazz are a great match. Both music genres were really big on the youth during the times. They’re both fast and chaotic. Their beats make your body want to move. And of course both music genres were looked down on by the status quo. When bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Candiria brought jazz influence to hardcore, it took extreme/underground music to a whole new level. It made every band want to push the limit. For a while, many bands doing the Jazz/Hardcore sound, pretty much tried to be DEP jr. But one band from the SGV/IE area some how gave Jazz/Hardcore a breath of fresh air and that is Brain Fragment. Originally, the band was a two-piece that consisted of Dave on bass and Luis on the skins. Their first album, LSD Is Good For You, was a juggernaut of a debut. Luis’ jazz/hardcore/grindcore drumming is like nothing else and Dave’s use of effects on his bass gave Brain Fragment their identity. Now when it came to stepping it up, what did they do? They got beautiful and talented Ash as their new lead singer. For a while, this new line-up has been kicking arse live, in the local SoCal scene and  they have gone on a West Coast tour with Rock N’ Roll Suicide. Finally the dudes and dudette of Brain Fragment have made time to hit the studio and record new music with Ash busting those pipes, to bring us Fungus.

If you’ve been to Brain Fragment’s live shows, you pretty much know what to expect. Now we can bring it home to piss off the neighbours or freak out that bus full of nuns, while cruising around. The first track, Trust just comes in charging out of the speakers. Dave goes full-throttle on the bass, as Luis comes in like a beast with his powerful blast beats and then we finally hear Ash come in with some jazzy vocals, with a mix of Soul/old-school R&B. Think early Aretha Franklin fronting Melt-Banana, but take it to supernova. Things get funky on Too Late. This is a track that makes you want to shake, rattle, and roll. It really has a great hook that just grabs you. On Your Own is a personal favourite and I always loved it when they play it live. It’s a song that brings me back to my high school days listening to 90’s punk. To me, this is a song that goes to show that Brain Fragment can evolve and write a killer tune.  It’s also one of Ash’s best vocal performance. If anything, Ash could be the female Mike Patton. Her range is like nothing I’ve ever heard before and to end “Fungus” is Enough.  Hearing this track makes me feel like I’m in a David Lynch film (like Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks).  Think of a beautiful nightmare. Things may look terrifying, but you don’t want to wake up. Dave’s bass sounds like a total acid trip. For some reason, you would think Luis has 10 arms and I think we can hear Ash do some guttural vocals, which you gotta give her some mad love for.

“Fungus” is definitely a huge step up. It’s really great to hear Brain Fragment progress and still keep their identity. With Ash on vocals, it really gives Dave and Luis time to focus more on their instruments and they really fuck’n own it. To me, this is what experimental music should be about.  It’s taking that risk. Not just play around with different genres, but fuck around with different sounds. Be messy. Be smooth.  Be chaotic. Be disciplined. Be ugly. Be beautiful. Be a fuck’n artist. Each member brought something to the table, which makes Brain Fragment a well-oiled machine.  Words can’t describe how much I love this band and with the “Fungus” ep, it made my heart grow twice it’s size. This ep is why I love music and why I’m a music fan, especially the experimental type. Luis shows that he’s well rounded. His drumming skills are out of this World. He can go from Buddy Rich to Mick Harris in just seconds. Dave's bass is what makes Brain Fragment come alive. The way he brings all these different styles and makes it cohesive is just remarkable and of course Ashley, who was that missing piece of the puzzle to take Brain Fragment to that new level. When I heard her vocals playing along with Dave and Luis, it just sounded astonishingly fucked up. In some ways, it kind of felt like hearing No Doubt or Paramore for the first time. Not that Ash sounds like Gwen Stefani or Hayley Williams (even though I feel like she will soon be in their level), but that she’s a vocalist that sounds like no one else and is totally in a league of her own. For sure, the “Fungus” ep is something that the music scene needs to challenge itself. To not make current music bland. If Brain Fragment keeps up the momentum, I say they’re two albums away from making that classic, which everyone will hold up in high regard. If you want to restore your faith in new music, then please pick up the “Fungus” ep. It will totally open up your mind to a whole different World, that you didn’t think was possible. Be weird. Be proud of it. Embrace it.

I rate this “Five Hitlers Punched In The Face”

You can stream and download "Fungus" below:-



Brain Fragment - https://www.facebook.com/BrainFragmentband/ / http://brainfragmentband.com/

Thanks to Mikey for writing this review. It's great to have him and his infectious love for music on board again. Go and check out Brain Fragment!

Tuesday 9 October 2018

Ravage Ritual - XVIII


Labels: Unquiet Records/Powertrip Records
Formats/CD/Digital
Release Date: 08 Oct 2018

Tracklist:

1. Introduction
2. I
3. II

In August I posted on social media asking for people's recommendations on what I should review. I don't normally do this but I thought it would be a great way to increase the interaction with people who take the time to read my blog. Now, because I'm a slow ares, I'm only getting round to writing these reviews up now and I'm starting with the newest EP from Finnish heavy hardcore band Ravage Ritual. "XVIII" was only released officially yesterday and has been made available digitally and on cd from Unquiet Record and Powertrip Records (with a 7" due soon), as well as via the band themselves. 

Ravage Ritual is a Finnish band very much inspired by H8000 hardcore and the Holy Terror-sound. The Introduction proves this with heavy guitar and drumming that creates a mid-paced mosh-a-long. I is a straight-up continuation of the Introduction, filled with great riffs and guitar effects. When the full backline and vocals kick in it’s pure metallic mayhem. Ravage Ritual goes hard and are as life affirming as an angry hardcore band can get, especially given their penchant for early the metalcore sound.

That early-metalcore sound is even more obvious on II thanks to the awesome thrash tempos and screaming guitar-work. The double-bass will rip you a new one while the screams are delivered with true power and belligerence. This is savage yet rhythmic and as it closes out with a wall of jarring feedback and noise, you’ll still be headbanging uncontrollably. Just when you thought heavy music was being overrun by progression and slow riffs, along comes Ravage Ritual to prove otherwise. Hardcore for the win. 

You can stream and purchase "XVIII" on cd and mp3 formats below:-



Saturday 6 October 2018

Snag/Swallows Nest - Split Tape


Labels: Zegema Beach Records
Formats: Tape/Digital
Release Date: 23 Apr 2018

Tracklist:

1. Snag - Violence
2. Swallows Nest - Dark Hamz
3. Swallows Nest - Apathy As An Infinite Manifestation

Yay, I've got some more exciting US/NZ Skramz for you! This is the split tape between Milwaukee (USA's) Snag and Dunedin (NZ's) Swallows Next. It was release earlier this year by the ever faithful and reliable Zegema Beach Records. Snag has so far released a self-titled EP and a split with Social Caterpillar, while the only other release to come from Swallows Nest (as far as I can tell) has been their split with Crowning (also review on the blog).

This split only features one song from Snag but Violence is a joy to listen too. It’s a (pardon me) violent screamo song filled with jangly, off-kilter instrumentation and a mix of harsh screams and what I think are spoken-work samples (though they could be delivered by the band themselves). It’s stark and emotive, especially during the mid-section and that atmosphere carries on throughout the rest of the song. 

Swallows Nest follow on with two shorter songs; Dark Hamz is brooding and slightly bleak, but when the dual-vocals and orchestral guitar-work takes over that atmosphere is somewhat forgotten. There’s real urgency here as you’d expect. Apathy As An Infinite Manifestation starts how Dark Hamz finished and it’s immediacy is obvious, while the band’s delivery is pummelling. 

Three brief songs that give great accounts of both bands. You could do far worse than check out both Snag and Swallows Nest, starting here.

You can stream and purchase the split (both on tape and digitally) here:-

Friday 5 October 2018

Technical Damage - The Introspect


Labels: Self-Released
Formats: Digital
Release Date: 15 Sep 2018

Tracklist:

1. I: Everything Is Forever
2. Reflections
3. Reshape
4. Crystal Angels
5. II: Awakenings
6. Eviscerate
7. The Introspect

The weeks are flying by faster than ever, which is fine with me as it means that I get to Friday night quicker and I get to curl up with my favourite beverage and some awesome music, which tonight is delivered by Canadian death metal band Technical Damage. The band formed towards the end of 2016 with the release of their debut EP " Damaged Nation" and they've only recently released their debut full-length "The Introspect". When a metal band sites influences such as Killswitch Engage, Misery Signals and Opeth, it's usually a good sign so lets see...

Modern metal albums wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory atmosphere-building intro song and it’s present here in I: Everything Is Forever. Reflections is the first sign of Technical Damage’s progressive death metal and it doesn’t initially contain the level of melody that their intro promised. What it does deliver though is low brutal vocals and instrumentation that flits between modern death and post-hardcore. It’s clearly slick but the volume of recording seems a little low on early listen. The guitar work and solo’s are great though! Their music can at times be considered Djent (oh how I hate that term) but as Reshape shows, they are so much more than that. Technical Damage fits a lot into their songs and musically they are incredibly tight. The mathy elements towards the end take things in another direction as well. 

Things get heavier on Crystal Angels, which is definitely a more straight-up death metal song, albeit with a few breakdown-like riffs here and there. There’s some passionately delivered clean vocals that sit well alongside the melodic guitar and make the heavier sections sound heavier still. They break up the album with a rousing instrumental piece called II: Awakenings, which is quite folk-sounding. It leads into penultimate song Eviscerate. The Spanish guitar is a welcome addition that seems to fit the album perfectly and gives Technical Damage a very different sound and feel. It gives way to yet another blast of off-kilter death metal that’s more progressive than technical. The quieter acoustic-led passages are more European than North American. 

With the title-track placed at the end of the album, Technical Damage has one more shot at atmospheric drama and the intro to the song manages to achieve that drama. They follow it with more rhythmically intelligent metal that’s surprisingly easy on the ear. The reggae in the mid-section does nothing to change that either. Overall, this album is very well played and Technical Damage are sound at what they do. This will definitely appeal to those with a modern metal disposition and that’s no bad thing.

You can stream and purchase "The Introspect" digitally below (and from all of the usual outlets):-



Thursday 4 October 2018

Monstrath - Demon Sold (Video Premiere)

Tonight I'm sharing the latest video from Brazilian technical death metal band Monstrath. It's been a while since I featured a video on here and I had intended to share it via my Youtube channel (which is very slowly becoming a thing) but I've decided to feature it here instead. The video is for the song Demon Sold, which appears on the band's debut album "The World  Serves To Evil", which will be released by Downfall Records on 19th October.


Montstrath began life in 2015 and with the release of their debut album fast approaching, they're looking to broaden their reputation overseas. Check them out if you enjoy this video and their take on death metal.

News on the release of Monstrath's debut album can be found via the links below:-

Downfall Records - http://www.downfallrecords.com