Madder Mortem
(formerly Mystery Tribe - wise choice in name change) didn’t catch many
ears until their song “These Mortal Sins” was released on Misanthropy
comp “Presumed Guilty”. Upon listening to this 7 track album, I am left
feeling kinda bored. The instrumentation is far superior to many bands
out there but isn’t very original. The vocals are the weakest point for
me though. I have never been a fan of female vocals and the vocals laid
over this melancholic, depressed sounding metal just seem utterly plain.
Most of the disc is slow and uneventful and personally just doesn’t do
anything for me. I definitely find solace in something like Rozz
Williams but this is in another area but possible M.M. were aiming for
that crowd? They definitely should throw out their heavy riffs and
concentrate on their vocals and slower material; that seems to be their
niche. - JEFFREY KUSBEL
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Another great,
Marduk album in a legacy of hateful black metal. Marduk, have always
delivered superior quality with their song crafting skills and this
album, while not my favorite is supremely excellent. Split into two
chapters as to explain a tale, it has an overall concept feel to it.
Chapter one contains some slower fare such as “Dreams Of Blood And
Iron” which sounds very Bathory influenced (title and music alike).
Chapter two contains a re-recorded version of “Deme, Quaden Thyrane”
which originally appeared on the great “Opus Nocturne” album. All in all
this is a great album with plenty of violent, hate inspired lyrics and
music to go around. This is black metal! - JEFFREY KUSBEL
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“Melodic shred
instrumental rock”, I would say that bio snippet about fits. Mark (from
Asteroids), is one talented guy and certainly does shred up the fret
board, something wicked. He plays with a lot of emotion too. Imagine
some Malmsteen, Beck wanking mixed with some cool Rush, Led Zepplin and
Eric Clapton style stuff. Much better than Asteroid, but still not
metal. Same price and addy as the Asteroid CD.
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The American death
metal vets return! They continue to do it - here is another album of top
quality, catchy and heavy brutal death. Bret Hoffman’s growls flow
nicely, a perfect balance between indecipherable and not. Also Dave
Culross steps in and puts down one deadly maelstrom drumming
performance. Great album & they continue to uphold after all these years
the mark of real death metal musically and lyrically. I take great
pleasure listening to this album and much respect is what I feel for
this band.
Pavement Music, P.O.
Box 50550, Phoenix, AZ. 85076, USA
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All 3 of these Czech
bands play fast, heavy and intense grind with belching vocals. M.T. do a
cover of Agathocles during their 7 songs. Gride do 2 covers, one of
Rupture, and a interesting one of Health Hazard which include female
gind vox and all - cool! Nothing to blow you away but still some great
mind-grind to be had on this pro packaged cassette. $5 US to Shindy
Productions (see addy elsewhere).
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Here it is, the long
anticipated (not by me, but by a large portion of the scene) new
Meshuggah album. I loved their first LP “Contradictions Collapse” but
became repulsed after they released their next material “None”. It saw
them dropping their old school jazz tinged speed metal roots and crafty
structuring. Replaced by straight-forward, boring stop ‘n start Pantera
/ MachineHead / Skinlab tough guy ‘jump’ metal (a phrase coined by C.A.
writer Arto Lehtinen). I fail to see where all the hype on this band is
justified! Just to be fair, I have this album a multitude of listens to
see if I was missing something. I will give them one thing on here, they
try some spaced out stuff to distinguish them from the pack but ends
with being a futile effort. This genre is limp, I just don’t get it it
is so fucking boring. Vocalist Jens spoken word/shouted screams really
grate on my nerves after a couple songs. I have to comment on album
closer “Elastic” halfway thru the song, there is this 5 to 6 minute
electronic drone that takes over. It sounds like a video game soundtrack
(I guess in the 3 years, since the last full length, they couldn’t come
up with enough material for a full album so they threw on 6 of filler to
bring it up to normal album length). All else I can say is if you liked
the last one, you’ll probably like this too. So go get a boner & jump
around, jump around, get up, get up & get down!
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As you will read
elsewhere, this label split apart right after this release! Jay went
onto form No Middle Ground and Jill joined up with a partner to form
Razorback Records. Stand out’s for me are: Insatanity, Skinned, Ton,
Sanguinary, Devileech, Viral Load, Fleshtized, and lastly not to be
passed over is The Forgotten. There is only one band on here I flat out
didn’t like and that is the mundane Rotting Flesh. Here are the rest
that didn’t blow me away but are still solid death/grind: Sabbatic
Feast, Malignant Inception, Unhallowed, Incarrion, Unblessed,
Psychophancy. A fine example of what the death/grind underground has to
offer. Get it for a skimpy $5 US:
c/o Jill Girardi,
P.O.
Box 308, Deer Park, NY. 11729, USA
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