Dismember – Soon To Be Dead

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"SWEDISH DEATH METAL": The Metal Injection (Book) Review

Sweedish Death MetalI love death metal. Like, LOVE it. Without the glorious, blood-drenched cacophonies of Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower, Obituary, and Deicide, my tender high school years would have been even lamer, and I’m sure I’d have turned out quite differently as a music fan, and as a person in general. There’s just something about the raw, feral energy and unrelenting brutality of a good death metal album that really speaks to you when you’re fifteen and stuck living in the middle of nowhere, as one particular horde of intrepid Swedish kids figured out a couple decades ago. Were it not for their intense energy, motivation, and de(ad)ication, the world would have never seen the likes of Carcass, At the Gates, Grave, Dismember, or Nihilist, and I’d probably be rocking a Fall Out Boy babydoll instead of a Coffins longsleeve right now. Thanks to Daniel Ekeroth’s mighty guide to Swedish Death Metal, we now know who to thank, and just how much of our extreme metal world they’ve painted with their bloody fingerprints.

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Revelations of Doom

The Darkest Horror: BOOK OF BLACK EARTH

It’s that time again! Grim Kim is back with yet another underground gem that, thanks to a high-profile spot on the almighty Watain’s first headlining American killing spree, may not remain very unknown for much longer. Pay attention, so that when they blow the fuck up and everyone’s rocking the band’s twisted-ass logo on their jackets, you can out-metal your friends by saying, “Maaan, I’ve been into those Book of Black Earth dudes since their split with Fall of the Bastards came out back in ‘05…”

Borne from the ashes of distortion-happy demons TEEN CTHULU, Seattle’s BOOK OF BLACK EARTH have been kicking up a storm of unlight since 2003. After self-releasing their 2006 opus The Feast, the band was snatched up by Prosthetic Records (in a wise move on the label’s part) and have been tour-menting the nation ever since. After catching their set at New York’s Knitting Factory the other night, I decided it was absolutely imperative that these dudes get some more attention, because godDAMN were they good! Intense, unrelenting, and tight as fuck, this West Coast menace does black/death metal right – effectively pulling together the punishing brutality and decimating hyperblasts of death metal with the cruel rasps and epic atmosphere of black metal, then adding just a touch of doomy melody and more than a little grind (unsurprising, considering their drummer Joe Axler’s crusty past in SKARP & SPLATTERHOUSE).

Imagine that – an extreme metal band that uses keyboards, but… DOESN’T suck (I know, I could hardly believe it either, but ladies and gentlemen…they exist)! Imagine a young EMPEROR jamming with the dudes from AT THE GATES and an even younger DISMEMBER, clean up the guitar tone a bit, add in some ashes from a burned-out church, and you’ve got a pretty clear-cut idea of how fucking awesome Book of Black Earth sounds.

Currently making the rounds on the Black Metal Magic tour supporting labelmates WITHERED and blood-chucking black metallers WATAIN, BOOK OF BLACK EARTH very well may be coming to a city near you – unless you already missed ‘em, you sorry fuck. They’ve got a new record out on Prosthetic, which is entitled Horoskopus and is, apparently, a concept album about

“the hidden astrological elements of the Christian church. From its origins as a state sponsored religion in the fourth century to the present day, it has been guided by astrological concepts conceived centuries before Jesus Christ was mythologized as the ‘Sun’ of God,” according to vocalist / guitarist T.J. Cowgill.

Check that shit out…

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