Tag Archives: Exit Wounds

Legendary Rapper DMX Has Died, Age 50

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PHOTO CREDIT: CHRIS MINOR

Legendary Hip Hop artist DMX a.k.a. Earl Simmons, has died following a stroke caused by a drug overdose. He was just 50 years old. DMX was taken to a White Plains New York hospital following a debilitating heart attack and a stroke that left him in a vegetative state for a week. Born in Mount Vernon, and raised in Yonkers, DMX (short for Dark Man X) exploded on the scene in 1998 with his debut album It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot,  followed by  his best-selling album, … And Then There Was X, in 1999, which included the hit single “Party Up (Up in Here)”. His 2008 single “X Gon’ Give It to Ya”  were huge hits used in movies, TV commercials, and movies. DMX raised the game for the genre with his aggressive style, yet showing a rare vulnerability and religious references, at the time not often heard from MCs. He was also an actor featured in films such as Belly, Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, Cradle 2 the Grave and Last Hour. In 2006, he starred in the reality television series DMX: Soul of a Man, which was primarily aired on the BET cable television network. In 2003, he published a book of his memoirs entitled, E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX. We send out sympathy out to his family, friends, and fans, at this time. 

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The Official Ghost Cult Writers Albums of the Year Top 50: 50-41

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It’s hard to believe we’ve already reached the end of another year packed tighter than Joey de Maio’s loincloth with incredible genre-pushing, eardrum-violating, neckache-inducing metal. 

So we can begin to tell the story of a year which saw us give more top marks than any other year so far (and more 2’s and 3’s out of 10, too!), a year that left us inundated with so many great releases, we sought the opinions of our esteemed and respected writing team and we offer forth their albums of the year.  

The countdown to the Official Ghost Cult Magazine Album of the Year for 2014 has commenced. Please consume and enjoy the results of our 2014 Writers’ Poll. We hope it will introduce you to some of the incredible works of art you may have missed that we have had the immense pleasure of listening to and writing about this year.

In our first installment we bring you albums 50 through to 41.

 

 

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50. HARK – Crystalline (Season of Mist) 

Genre-bending aggression with doses of Doom, Prog, Psychedelia and Hardcore. Heavy as a very heavy thing.

 

 

 

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49. THE HAUNTED – Exit Wounds (Century Media)

“The album is filled with urgency and manages to be relentlessly heavy without compromising on those insanely catchy riffs. The Haunted have come back stronger than ever…  easily the band’s best effort a decade” DAN SWINHOE 9/10  Full review here

 

 

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48. THE WOUNDED KINGS – Consolamentum (Candlelight)

“Favouring lengthy yet subtly evolving guitar workouts that never lapse into repetitive dirge territory,The Wounded Kings go about working their dark, smoky magic with grim elegance… Simply put, The Wounded Kings are the quintessential English doom band “ JAMES CONWAY 8.5/10 Full review here

 

 

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47. SCHAMMASCH – Contradiction (Prosthetic)

“The quality of this album is obvious right from the beginning. Schammasch have created a record both challenging and endlessly refreshing, a truly remarkable sonic journey from beginning to end.” CAITLIN SMITH 9/10 Full review here

 

 

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46. AUTOPSY – Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves (Peaceville)

“Tourniquets… continues in gnarly, raw and near sludgy death metal vein, but maintains their run of high quality and in fact tops anything that has come from their return.” CHRIS TIPPELL 8/10 Full review here

 

 

 

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45. KROKODIL – Nachash (Spinefarm)

“With a heavy dose of Mastodon in its veins, Krokodil are a groove juggernaut that pummels all in its path with its three guitarists of fury” DAN O’BRIEN 9/10 Full review here

 

 

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44. INTER ARMA – The Cavern (Relapse)

“The sheer gravity and fulminating power of much of the music here is oppressive yet it carries the weight easily, this blend of raw animal force, aching melody and immeasurable creativity marks out this fantastic band” PAUL QUINN 10/10 Full review here

 

 

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43. DEVIL YOU KNOW – The Beauty of Destruction (Nuclear Blast)

“(with) all the promise of a powerhouse, and it delivers on all fronts. The songs are well-crafted, nicely developed and excellently executed.” LYNN JORDAN 9.5/10 APRIL ALBUM OF THE MONTH Full review here

 

 

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42.BLUES PILLS – Blues Pills (Nuclear Blast)

“…a record that understands and curates its heritage and lineage but is fresh, contemporary and massively memorable. This is the record that you’ll be recommending to your friends for months to come” MAT DAVIES 9/10 Full review here

 

 

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41. ARTIFICIAL BRAIN – Labyrinth Constellation (Profound Lore)

“Technical death metal with sci-fi themes, brilliant, utterly amazing, breath-taking and challenging from the first to the last second.” TIAGO MOREIRA 9.5/10 Full review here

 

 

 

 

 

Compiled by Steve Tovey


The Haunted – Exit Wounds

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The Haunted are one of those bands that peaked early and spent the intervening years trying to match past feats. It’s been almost 15 years six albums and since 2000’s Made Me Do It, but they have finally made an album that is easily on the same level, if not better than their magnum opus.

Exit Wounds (Century Media) sees the return of Marco Aro on vocals, and a return to a heavier, more traditionally ‘Swedish’ sound. Gone are swathes of clean vocals seen on 2011’s unloved Unseen, along with the more hardcore aspects that were a staple of former vocalist Peter Dolving’s tenure. In its place is a furious album of aggressive thrash and classic melodic death metal.

Whether it’s the return of Aro and Adrian Erlandsson on drums, or the arrival of new guitarist Ola Englund (Six Feet Under), the band sound reinvigorated. The album is filled with urgency and manages to be relentlessly heavy without compromising on those insanely catchy riffs. The classic In Flames and At The Gates influences are easy to make out, but there’s plenty of moments that bring to mind Lamb Of God at their most intense.

From the crushing ‘Cutting Teeth’ and the groove-laden ‘Time (Will Not Heal)’ to the catchy choruses of ‘Psychonaut’ and ‘Eye of The Storm’, there’s little let up in terms of aggression or quality. Aro’s guttural vocals are uncompromising, but it’s the array of Jeff Hannemen-inspired shredding and searing solos from guitarists Patrik Jensen and Englund that really make the album. Even at a lengthy 14 tracks, the band manage to keep focus and retain the listener’s interest; the galloping riffs and epic chorus of ‘Ghost In The Machine’ round off an album filled with quality moments.

After the relative hiccup of Unseen and arguably a case of diminishing returns for a while now, The Haunted have come back stronger than ever. Whether Exit Wounds is actually better than Made Me Do It doesn’t really matter. It’s easily the band’s best effort a decade, and if it wasn’t for an impending album from At The Gates, by far the best album from Sweden in 2014.

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9/10

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Dan Swinhoe