Ha ha! Darkthrone!
Now here is a much deserved tribute album and personally one that I have
been waiting sometime for. Hopefully Darkthrone will be releasing some
new material sometime soon though. All the covers are pretty much
strictly true to the originals with the exception of Thorns version of
“The Pagan Winter”. Now, I’ve heard Darkthrone’s Nocturno Culto was
impressed with this version but I am not at all. Not only does it
utilized computerized effects w/ vocals and instruments but it
completely loses the hateful, misanthropic feeling of Darkthrone, which
for me, is the main ingredient. The Enslaved and Gorgoroth covers of
“Natassia In Eternal Sleep” and “Slotter I Det Fjerne” respectively are
my favorites. Both are also carbon copies save for the production. In my
opinion, there is no way to do a Darkthrone song better than the
original as no band can re-create that feeling, so a strict cover is
nothing to mock. Other songs consist of Satyricon’s “Kathaarian Life
Code”, Emperor’s “Cromlech”, Dodheimsgard’s “Green Cave Float”,
Immortal’s “To Walk The Infernal Fields” and Gehenna’s “Transylvanian
Hunger”. Besides Immortal’s thick bass heavy production and Gehenna’s
noticeably sped up version of “Transylvanian Hunger” , these songs are
very close to the originals, just the way I think it should be done. It
is great to see these bands pay their respects to the mighty Darkthrone
and if you are listening to any of these bands and not Darkthrone you
should remedy that fast! - JEFFREY KUSBEL
PHD Canada, C-1445
Crown St., N. Vancouver, B.C., V7J 1G4, CANADA Email = phdcan@axionet.com
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Wow! It took a few
listens before it sunk in, but damn this is some bad ass shit. The sound
on here is rather organic and rich. Mix a heavy Iron Maiden influence
with some of the best facets of thrash & death metal alongside small
hints of black metal and sharpen the point ever so slightly with a
progressive edge. That is a basic overview but doesn’t but doesn’t do
just to the skills of this heavy band or the maturity they display with
imaginative songs structures. Vocals by John and drummer, Chris are spot
on and run the gambit of growls/screams/cackles to powerfully deep and
commanding clean which highlight the cover tune (which I cannot place
but surely know it!) “Untold”. Great album and I only see this band
getting better, which is scary!
Twilight Records,
P.O.
Box 416, Devault, PA.19432, USA
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I am stoked to have
gotten this! I had no clue this band was still around! I enjoyed this
bands demos “Far Beyond Your Imagination” & “Slaves To The Abysmal
Perversity” and later their split CD with Regurgitate. Now here is their
2nd album (the 1st eluded me completely) . Dead
are wicked sick, crusty death/grind that even brings back sweet early
Autopsy flashbacks. Dead always were known for their warped sense of
humor and that is presented here on tracks like “Evil Go-go Babes From
Outer Space”, “In Gang-Bang City”, “Chew-in-cum (Sperm-int mix)”.
Fucking classic and a must have!
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My copy of this CD
arrived cracked and broken. W.R. was nice enough to send along another
copy. I hated this bands last CD also on W.R. reviewed last issue. They
played a death/hardcore/industrial hybrid. Now they dropped the
industrial element thankfully. Now doing the death and hardcore mix or
deathcore as they call it. This time around we have some very rhythmic
music and it is pretty quality stuff. As opposed to their last release
“Bitter” which was awfully generic and boring. I’m not floored but I am
impressed by the large progression in a short amount of time! Deathcore
freaks will masturbate over this one.
W.W.R., 22O7 W.
Whittier Blvd., Montebello, CA. 92085, USA or band website = www.pcpltd/deathpenalty/
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Deicide, at the
House Of Blues in Chicago. There’s not too much more to say about this
release. Although, I’m sure it has been anticipated for years from the
die hard fans. I for one enjoy this first live release of their career
as Deicide are a great death metal band, blasphemous to the core. The
production is not as bass heavy as one would expect, but still as heavy
as satan would appreciate. All albums are visited here fairly equally
but the majority of the tracks are taken from “Once Upon The Cross” and
“Serpents Of The Light”. Not much between song banter from Glen here
just a straight- forward death metal concert, just the way I like ‘em.
- JEFFREY KUSBEL
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I am highly
impressed with this, melodic but still heavy and aggressive death metal
from Slovokia. Their music is highly sophisticated and the musicians
obviously are talented. The catchiness grabs you and draws you in to
Depresy’s world, the sheer emotion of their music keeps you there
listening for more than 50 minutes. The sound of this disc is very
pleasant, a professional and class release all around. Drahos’ vocals
are deep and semi-descipherable growl/whispers that are commanding and
well suited. Depresy are also solid song writers and this album as a
reference point reminds me at times of Hypocrisy on their “The Final
Chapter” opus. If that doesn’t make you want to listen to this, I don’t
know what will!
Shindy Prod., c/o
Martin Brzbohaty, Sandova 17, 579 04, Adamov, CZECH REPUBLIC
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This is a re-release
on this bands classic debut w/ no less than 6 (4 studio, 2 live!) bonus
tracks not on the original. This album fucking rages and reeks of pure
power/heavy/speed metal. They bring to mind peers of the time such as
Iron Maiden, Dark Angel, Hallows Eve, Metal Church and the like but in
the Destructor style. This album has all the ear marks of an overlooked,
under appreciated blazing heavy metal classic! Get this yesterday!
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Nice heavy & brutal
death metal (never slipping into the grind area ‘tho) on this east coast
Canadian bands debut. I was surprised I had not heard of this band,
being so, quality and being of course Canadian. It’s all here for the
extreme fan. Fast parts, momentary slow parts, deep growls, precise and
pounding drums & a nice production to boot. Dichotic like to throw in
some cool counter flow guitar noodling parts ala Gorguts or Cryptopsy.
Send $10 CDN/$15 US to:
Lost In The Fog, 86
Nelson’s Landing # 216, Bedford, Nova Scotia, B4A 4C6, CANADA.
Band contact:
Dichotic, 2476 Robie St. # 8, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 4N1, CANADA
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I was sent a review
of this, by C.A. writer, Jeffrey Kusbel, my apologies to him for not
printing his review here. I have a disturbing story to tell you about.
Besides the fact that all of my dealings in the past with Necropolis
Records (and Necropolis ‘zine before the label formed) were either
negative or just non-existent as they never wrote back a number of
times, even after I sent I.R.C’s to them. I won’t bother to mention his
name (but it should be easy to figure out from my past issues who I am
close friends with that has a label & ‘zine) but I was talking to him on
the phone and I greatly respect this person. He is a longtime
underground supporter (back into the mid-80’s!) and I trust his word
100% as he is no shit talker. Well, this gentleman told me a story he
about his dealings with Necropolis. It started with him ordering a vinyl
version of a Nifelheim album - he was returned his money in the form of
a credit slip and no explanation. So he sent back the credit slip to
Necropolis with a flyer he kept that the label themselves had put out
and he circled where it said “Vinyl LP version now available”. They once
again returned his credit slip again with no explanation. Pissed by now
my friend sent back the credit slip once again and said “Just send me
the CD”. As a side note here each time he wrote, he put flyers for his
label and ‘zine in each letter to them. Then and here is the kicker,
FINALLY sent him what he asked for the, which was the CD. The package
had lots of padding in it, THE STUFFING AROUND THE CD WAS THIS DEDICATED
GENTLEMAN’S LABEL/’ZINE FLYERS ALL SHREDDED UP INTO PIECES!!! Beware of
Necropolis they don’t care about you or the scene, only themselves and
the money they can take from you! There will be no support from this mag
to Necropolis. They can just FUCK OFF!
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Mix up Deicide
(hello Glen Benton vocals) and Repulsion with a small dash of original
spice and you have Divine Empire. Extremely heavy and ploughing death
metal, that is well played and comes with a nice production. Not ground
breaking but a damn good listen and I like it.
Olympic Records,
P.O.
Box 7217, Elgin, IL. 60121, USA
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I’ve known of these
crusty fuckers for a while but the only material I have by them is was
their ’92 demo and ’96 split 7” w/ Morticite. I thought they were decent
but nothing special. After hearing this new killer release I would have
to say they are one of the best grind bands in the US. This is a really
interesting album in that it spans their career but most of the old
songs have been re-recorded for this and thus the production throughout
is pretty even. In all there are 29 tracks of ‘explicit grind’ for over
60 minutes for us freaky mothers to writhe to. Drogheda really like
straight-ahead ball busting grind as evidenced on tracks like “Terror,
Fucking Terror”, “Stygian Nightmare” and “Clean Up The Chunks”. Then
there is another side to the madness where they mix traditional sounding
catchy metal riffs and structures with their trademark grinding with
good results. Great garage band grindcore, I mean they are no Venom but
what do you expect!?
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