Farsot – Fail·Lure
Farsot are a name a lot of you stateside headbangers probably aren’t familiar with, but let me assure you, these guys put forth some really incredible and artful black metal that is absolutely worth your time. These dudes have a dark, sleek, and narrative air to their avante garde music. The album is brimming with professional and esoteric material from these mysterious Germans, with a lot of interesting progressive leanings. It’s modern emotional black metal mastery. Fail·Lure is wrought with an impressive (and sometimes downright explosive) sense of dynamism that I find really attractive in this corner of black metal. This stuff is for the thinkers out there. Touches of folk and a bit of psychedelic weirdness creep in, but it’s all done in a smooth and expertly fluid way. My girlfriend Casey and I played the hell out of their last outing, 2011’s sublime Insects, and this one is right on par for the next chapter of Farsot’s stunning legacy. 2017 will hopefully see these talented masked deviants spread their wings and to greater heights of popularity and opportunity than ever. FFO: , Waning, Fell Ruin, Secrets Of The Moon, Virus
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Full of Hell – Trumpeting Ecstasy
Remember that part of T2 where Sarah Conner gets burned to a crisp while screaming and holding on to a playground fence? That’s you when you press play on the new Full Of Hell. You might want to write a little note divvying up your most prized possessions beforehand or your record collection could fall into the wrong hands. These guys are hands down one of the best live acts around. It’s fucking furious, I highly recommend checking them out if you get a chance. Witnessing their unbridled feral attack made me wonder if I was ever as angry as these guys are when I was their age… it is truly unreal! It’s been cool to watch them grow and grow from very young players into the respected force they are now. Trumpeting Ecstasy is a Molotov cocktail of caustic grindcore, harsh noise, and raging hardcore fury. It’s a little bit hard to pin down in my usual “they sound like this” approach to music description, and I’m sure they wouldn’t want it any other way. There’s no fantasy land here, that aspect of extremity is lost on these guys. No dragons, no zombies… it isn’t someone imagined war that these guys are fighting. Full Of Hell pull their gritty influence from the horrors of actual life. It’s staunchly abrasive shit and not for the weak of heart. Get this now or get fucked!
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Interminable Corruptions – Xenodimensional Conflux
Yes! This IS as sick as it looks! I had my eye on this ever since catching an add for it, the cover art work by Xeeming is fucking mental and drew me in, along with the Wormed-esque futuristic slant and color scheme of the logos. The music is very much in the vein of Defeated Sanity, Derogation and Cerebral Effusion; Meaning that its technical, interesting, stylish brutal death metal that twists and turns like labyrinth of brutality, just like a good brutal death outing should. It actually has ties to Russia’s Derogation as well as Lack Of Truth, Neurogenic, and Italy’s outlandish Devanglic… quite the pedigree, if you know your brutalz. This recording sounds very typical for Tsun Tsun studios, it’s natural and very easy to understand each instruments technical contribution to this warped album. If you like New Standard Elite’s catalog as much as I do, you will appreciate this fine offering from young label Reality Fade.
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Internal Bleeding – Final Justice single
I knew Bill Tolley was my hero, along with all of the old guard of Internal Bleeding. What I didn’t know is that he was a fireman, and an actual real life hero to the public, risking his well-being on the daily for the betterment of New York. I found this to be really awesome and quite moving. Shocking in a good way. It just goes to show you that not all death metal guys are basement dwelling losers, and that good people can make sick music and still be good people. Great people even. It was a really sad day for death metal and the city of New York when Bill fell to his untimely demise on April 20th, after having just extinguished a fire in the line of duty. My heart is still heavy as I write this. If you’re new to Internal Bleeding, you need to know that these guys are the godfathers of slamming brutal death metal, taking that chunky New York death style to its logical beatdown heavy extreme. I’ve loved the IB clan since first hearing them in 1995-6, in the wake of their landmark Voracious Contempt release. I still remember when I was a dumb little kid trying to order my first t shirts from the ads in the back of death metal cds I had collected (almost always a bad idea unless you got it right when it first came out). I ordered a fucking SWEET Internal Bleeding shirt and waited months for Pavement records (who we all by now know is the shittiest label in the world) just to send me a Pavement Records logo t shirt as a fucking alternate. Gee, thanks!!! Silly memories aside, my love for this band has never waned. Bill was the heart and soul of Internal Bleeding through all of their different evolutionary forms, propelling the criminally under-appreciated outfit with his undying dedication to the death metal craft and stellar groove-laden drumming. He even sang on one of their earliest releases, cataloged in their Heritage Of Sickness discography (which has become my absolute favorite IB release, DO NOT miss it!). You’d be hard pressed to find someone out there with a bad word to say about the guy, he’s always had a reputation of being a smiley and positive force for the scene. Thankfully, Internal Bleeding has shown no signs of stopping, and for them, I am trying to look at the positive here. The sheer amount of people that heard Internal Bleeding for the first time in recent days must be staggering. Long fucking overdue and very much bittersweet, but at least it’s happening. Bill would have wanted this. And he undoubtedly would have wanted the band to carry on without him. It must be surreal to be them right now, gearing up for a massive US tour with Vader and Micawber with broken hearts. I have endless respect for their tenacity. Do me, yourself, and the scene a favor and go check them out. You’ll see why these dudes are legends. Meanwhile, listen to this disgusting new single of streetwise NYDM mastery, Final Justice and soak in Bill Tolley’s last contribution to a legacy that will go on forever in death metal. Thanks Bill, slam on with your horns held high, and hopefully, you will look down and see Internal Bleeding getting the final justice that’s always been deserved.
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Lock Up – Demonization
I’ll bet there were some fools amongst you who doubted if this band could still have life after Tompa, and my answer is, that these old war dogs never say die! Kevin Sharp does an excellent job of filling the fan favorite’s enormous void, his being the unhinged schizophrenic screamist of the recently laid to rest Brutal Truth is certainly nothing to scoff at; a legend out, and legend of equal sickness in! Offering the venomous prose this time around he hoots and snorts and screeches like ain’t a day passed since 1997’s fantastic Sounds Of The Animal Kingdom. His lawless approach is psychotic and I have long been a fan of the amorphous, shapeshifting style he took in Brutal Truth’s latter years. He sounds vital in his age, as do all of the seasoned players here. Pentagram (chile) guitarist Anton Reisenegger continues to do a killer job of honoring Jesse Pintado’s godly riffing legacy, hurling an endless barrage of wrist breaking brutality that never, ever fucking lets up. Nick Barker (ex-Cradle Of Filth, ex- Dimmu Borgir) is relentless. His snare sounds woody and crisp and like he’s beating the mother fucking shit out of it. Have you ever done your ears the solid of hearing the live Lock Up record? It’s official, this dude is still a freak at the kit! Last but never ever least is my old buddy from Napalm Death Shane Embury who provides his signature indecipherable wall of bass madness replete with flesh peeling distortion for maximum violence! Lock it up, lock it in, Demonization is a win!
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Phrenelith – Desolate Endscape
Here we have an earful of gloriously graven OSDM rottenness sure scare from the mighty Phrenelith! Shit is dark and stanky, just how I like it! These Danish denizens of doom-ridden death and drek (featuring ties to casket crushers Undergang) are here to deflesh you, and painfully at that. With a semi-lucky guess I was actually able to pin down the roaring low indecipherably bellowed vocals of D. Torturdød without any prior knowledge of his association with the band, dude has such an iconic sewer hole of a voice and some of what these guys do musically is even in that same dirgey, lumbering vein. Throw in a major doseage of early Incantation worship, heavy on the ‘upset stomach’ harmonies, and a splash of Morbid Angel’s slowest and slimiest moments and you’ve pretty much got the monstrous Phrenelith equation all chalked up. The fear inducing Desolate Endscape is host to an oozing primordial and intensely macabre feel, like a shapeless horror is inching toward you with every passing moment while all you can do is tremble in fear and crap yourself. You can almost smell the stench of death seeping from your stereo speakers. Frightening, monolithic stuff, my friends. Don’t miss it!
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Repugnizer – Face Melting Apocalypse
Excellent throw back here in this unruly Repugnizer demo out of Rennes, France! These energetic hell raisers have ties to the more (in)famous Cadaveric Fumes who I posted a while back, but unlike the deadly serious nature of Cadaveric Fumes artfully psychedelic death metal craft, Repugnizer know how to have some demented fun with what they do! With the awesomely named Face Melting Apocalypse, these French freaks offer up a blistering concoction of raucous garagey grind and late eighties death metal that is damn entertaining. This stuff sounds straight off the B side of a lost tape from the days of death metals cassette-trading infancy. Campy classics like Repulsion, Impetigo, Atrocity (US), and Slaughter (Can) are summoned here in the duration of this tongue in cheek racket, and authentically so. It’s a genuinely ghoulish and horror fueled time that could scratch that itch for of that old school Razorback Records styled gold that’s become so rare these days. Fans of Death Curse, Cretin, Castle Freak may have found their latest fiendish fix! Thanks to Aleks for the tip on this one.
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Resurgency – No Worlds… Nor Gods Beyond
I definitely don’t see enough of love for these guys, Resurgency are just too damn good. Hopefully, this insanely hellish sophomore outing will do some good in rectifying that, as well as a jump to the awesome F.D.A. Records, who I consider to be one of the front runners of releasing killer old school death these days. These guys have a lot of Floridian death metal (Brutality, Monstrosity) in their humongous sound. Dark, gripping, thick old school sickness with riffs for days! No Worlds… Nor Gods Beyond could have come out in the nineties on Nuclear Blast, and I mean that in the best way possible. Grab this now, and get nasty with one of Greece’s finest!
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Sarcasm – Within the Sphere of Ethereal Minds
Obviously I have a place in my heart for old school Swedish black metal. I mean look at half of TBDM’s output. We’re still mining influence from those classics! Really radical to see these guys kicking again. People barely knew about them the first time around. I cherish their discography cd, A Touch Of Burning Red Sunset, in all it’s sublime melodic black perfection. Where I usually greet reunions with trepidation, this delivers in spades! 2017 sees Sarcasm is fit fighting shape. Within the Sphere of Ethereal Minds is vital sounding, absolutely classic Swedish black/death that would’ve sat nicely on the No Fashion label back in the day. If you like the sounds of Thy Primordial, The Moaning, Vergelmer, Sorhin, Sacramentum, or Dissection, this will have your hair whipping around in no time flat. Out now on the unstoppable Dark Descent records!
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Sinister – Syncretism
Hell yeah man! Sinister is back and I gotta say this pretty is damned good. Admittedly, I kind of fell of following these guys for a while after the disappointing Legacy of Ashes. While I can’t really identify the music off the bat as the Sinister I know and love when compared to the their first handful of classic records (which I’ve stated my adoration of previously in this column), the music is still really damn good and lone original member Adrie Kloosterward deserves praise for his undying dedication their cause. It stands on its own as relevant vital death metal steeped in the old school but still modern enough for the youngsters out there. A whole new chapter for the band. It’s not as overly technical and angular as what Bart and crew were doing back in the bands heyday, in fact I find the modern Sinister’s sound to be pretty Slayerized. I definitely feel some Vader vibes when they really get going. Some mid era (The Fine Art Of Murder/Will To Kill) Malevolent Creation in here too. Lots of tough sounding chugs syncopated with cymbal chokes. The music is fluid and professional, changing paces and feels expertly. The guitar playing is stellar. The riffs sound absolutely mean and come across very energized. Pure muscular death metal mayhem! songs are interspersed with cool synth laden atmospheric parts, which does remind of their masterpiece Hate in way. It helps the song pop into a third dimension that adds a lot of memorability. Drummer turned vocalist Ad Kloosterward has gotten only more impressive behind the mic, he is a booming and powerful force on Syncretism. The second song opens with a cool Deicide-esque riff worthy of a few headbangs before ripping into more Slayerized territory. It sounds great. Truly an impressive recording that is natural but huge enough for these modern times. Overall, this is really strong and I regret falling off with these guys, perhaps I’ll see what I’ve missed. Highly recommended!
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Temple Of Void – Lords Of Death
Detroit’s sons of absolutely CRUSHING Death/Doom return with a vengeance! Seems like a ballsy thing to call your album, no? Not when you wreck shit as hard as Temple Of Void! Lords Of Death is a monolith offering of perfectly slow and graven death metal supremacy that is going to turn a lot of heads this year. I would dare call this America’s finest contribution to this style in a long time. Truly exciting stuff! Masterful pacing, perfect riffs, I simply wouldn’t change a thing here, not a single note of Lords Of Death has gone without serious intent and consideration. Their last album brought them endless props to these guys from Finnish brethren Hooded Menace, Ad from Sinister and a lot of other respected old schoolers… these guys are the band your heroes are listening to. Lords Of Death is even better, and will surely garner unanimous praise across the board! “Metal” Mike Erdody has ties to many great bands out of the Detroit scene (Nuke, Acid Witch, Failed, ex-Borrowed Time) but only Temple Of Void sees him take to the mic to unleash the fury of the undead. His voice is a booming, humungous bellow of substantial proportion and his mic stand favoring swagger is as old school and awesome as they come. Out soon on the awesome old school centric label Shadow Kingdom records out of Pittsburgh, PA. FFO: Runemagick, Hooded Menace, Thergothon, Paramaecium, Evoken, Grave
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Venenum – Trance Of Death
Germany’s Venenum return with their long-awaited debut full length offering in the stunning Trance Of Death, an outing of shadowy death metal somewhat reminiscent of Swedish legends Necrophobic. Imagine Necrophobic, sister band Nifelheim and Formulas Of Death era Tribulation all in the same hot tub. Too damn good. Holy shit I wish this was my band! It must be wildly satisfying to play this music live. At its most loud and violent, it has a very sinister spikes n’ leather black thrashing flair to it. Much of it is brimming with a confident attitude of absolute defiance and devout Satanism. Their message of death is as important as it is real. Dire fucking shit here. But this intensity is only part of their clever party trickery. Like the adventurous Tribulation, Venenum manage to inject a lot of great progressive ideas that help color the album as the dynamic and exciting beast that it is. They get downright psychedelic at times, more like the soundtrack to a movie than a death metal song and then back again to take your head off. This shit transcends the genre, breaking all the rules in such an incredibly fulfilling way. It’s deep, its sprawling, huge inventive music and I love it. From moment one, Trance Of Death grips you by the short hairs of the neck and will not let go until you are sitting slackjawed in amazement as the last notes decay. It’s probably a good thing this band’s name starts with the letter V or you might not even made it very far into this month’s Obituarist… it’s that enthralling! The swirling and trance like (no pun intended) moment of the first song that erupts into that breathtaking climax is the perfect example of the power of this band… jesus christ, guys, I haven’t been excited like that in a while! The songwriting employed by these hellions throughout the duration of Trance Of Death is nothing short of amazing, second to fucking none. I urge you to join me amongst the converted legions raving about this milestone. FFO: Deggial, Necrophobic, Invidious, Cadaveric Fumes, Tribulation
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Vomit Remnants – Hyper Groove Brutality
A newly revitalized Vomit Remnants has risen like a wigger slam phoenix from the ashes, and I’ve got to say flat out that I wasn’t expecting this much. Hyper Groove Brutality friggin’ rules, hard! As with the classic VR output, the kick samples are very high and clicky, that’s really the most familiar part here, Kesuike’s triggered to the titties drum sound and trademark groove. He is the sole original member of the band and has always been the heart and soul of Vomit Remnants. This crew of players seems like a vast improvement from the 2004 Promo they put out before fizzling out entirely for all of those years. The lackluster two song effort was the debut of Kesuike’s first post-Indefensible Vehemence line up with some American soldiers and it actually sucked pretty badly and didn’t honor their legacy at all. Thankfully that is not at all the case here, Kesuike has chosen to surround himself with a new gang of real pros and reclaim his rightful throne as head of one of the best slamming outfits the scene has ever seen! Hyper Groove Brutality is a return to full stride for the band, seeing them in an even more crushing form than ever. Truly a wigger groove festival of the highest order! Hyper Groove Brutality has a bit more dimension than I remember from the old Vomit Remnants… this is a good bit more professional, a nice modern facelift, but still recognizable. It’s tough, groove-filled, streetwise and brutal, a knuckle sandwich right to the chops. There is a definitely a fuck ton owed to Dying Fetus here, it seems like they’ve gotten even more adept at aping them, even more so than Swedish comrades Soils Of Fate. The vocal contributions by Russian Dimitry Orlov from Fetal Decay and Human Enslavement are definitely ganked right from DF, he manages to do both Gallager’s booming guttural and the midranged tough guy style employed by Sean Beasley (and also Jason Netherton and Vince Matthews in their respective tenure with the ‘Fetus). Overall I would say these guys sound like Dying Fetus but without as much focus on the techy noodling parts, just groove after groove and beatdown and beatdown. In spite of the limitations of the genre, there is enough variety to keep the listener entertained, it’s surprisingly versatile for what it is. This really has nothing from the post-Devourment school that SO many modern slam bands strip-mine, and I like that actually. It’s all Fetus, Internal Bleeding… the old school of slamming death that I could never get sick of like a lot of the boring z string garbage with the same ole rearranged Molesting The Decapitated chugs. The solo festival in the last song was a nice surprise, it did feel like it was closing time for the album with its climatic nature and cleverly melodic departure. This simply rules. Hail to Vomit Remnants!
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That’s all for now deviants! Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to pick up some physical or digital copies and support the bands. They worked hard to bring you their unfiltered and unfucked with art, and it’s really the least you can do if you like what you’ve heard. Please tell your friends about the column, word of mouth is the most powerful means of spreading the death metal gospel there is!
Read past editions of the column here.
