The unmistakable pall of monochromatic fear and fright begs the question: should Dystopia A.D. have named their latest record Doomsday Bible? Instead calling it Doomsday Psalm, the album presents an anthology of horrors; a plethora of terror. The end of the physical world becomes the least of your worries.
Disquisition On An Execution surpasses the confines of being a meager release. It’s The Last Ten Seconds Of Life’s eighteen-minute soundtrack to accompany a lecture on the best way to snap a victim’s neck in one fell swoop. The four-track EP – courtesy of mammoth label Unique Leader – is an inescapable assault – a hodge-podge of dense, declarative deathcore. Fits and starts of feral madness fuel the Pennsylvanian foursome.
The Chernobyl disaster rocked the then-Soviet Union in 1986. Ronald Reagan was the president. Gas was just over a dollar a gallon (Editor’s note, gas was $2.14 per gallon nationwide in 1984). Times were much different so many decades ago, which makes it all the more remarkable that epic doom metal pioneers Candlemass – who formed in 1984 – continue to wield the torch of the scene, guiding the masses and collecting newcomers along the way.
Nothing about Skin Failure resembles the status quo. The artwork is cartoonishly metal; the band’s logo is metallic spray paint; and their debut is a concept album that follows the travails of an interdimensional Jesus.
The cutting room floor after a Worm brainstorming session must be quite the sight to see!
Making something out of nothing is human nature. We are consistently forced to scrap together meager funds or make the most out of a much-too-cramped living arrangement. Continue reading
If a band or artist releases a record under the Pure Noise banner, one of two things are true: it’s a towering masterclass in metallic hardcore rife with searing vocals, or it’s a provocative, introspective piece of songwriting excellence. Obvious examples include recent Fit For A King and Senses Fail.
To follow the seven-year trajectory that is Languish’s ascent from debut to their third and most recent offering is rewarding and comforting. The Arizonan death grinders were born as an independent group that had neither the backing of a record label nor even song titles for their first album, opting instead to use Roman numerals. Now, the foursome has harnessed the support of Prosthetic Records and is finally starting to carve out a compelling identity, and that journey crescendos with Feeding The Flames Of Annihilation, the first full-length to feature artwork that isn’t monochromatic.
Split albums – content shared by two or more bands, as opposed to an album by one band that’s logistically divided into obvious sections – are effective ways to show off the firepower a label wields. But they can also act as a double-edged sword if one band categorically steals the show.
There are (at least) two ways to ascertain if metal is going to be technically inspired: the cover or the song titles.
In fact, with an album entitled At The Foothills Of Deliration, maybe it was obvious all along.