Death metal: An inside look of 2012 (part I)

Death metal as a genre can be scorned for becoming stale over the years, but in reality if you know where to look, you'll discover bands that are pushing the genre further than death growls, bullet belts, and wonted song structures. Look at what Chris Bruni of Profound Lore Records has unearthed and released under PFL; Last year alone the label delivered albums from Mitochondrion, Antediluvian, Disma and Loss – without a doubt amongst the most talked about and appreciated albums within the genre that year!

You can't bring up forward thinking death metal without mentioning the likes of Portal (who are expected to unleash their latest album "Vexovoid" this February, 2013), whom will likely continue to breathe fresh air into the genre with their horrific and abstract dirge.

BUT who this year has been among the ranks in further developing death metal? A question that demands a lengthy answer I'm glad to say, and not one I'll fully cover in this post – But let's delve into a few of the bands who positively contributed to death metal this year:

Revenge - Scum.Collapse.Eradication

Oh Canada, are home and untamed land! True putrid death in all thy scum command. With feral hearts we see thee fall… Canada is no stranger to abyssal death metal, conjuring up the likes of Mitochondrion, Auroch, Antediluvian, Blood Revolt, Weapon, Begrime Exemious, Blasphemy and of course Revenge! Besides all playing a similar blend of chasmal black/death metal and living in the same country, there is one other thing that unifies them – They all come out of the west region of Canada! How can that be? Why the West? A good question, and one I'd like to further pontificate upon, but not here nor now. Fucking Revenge though, they are one of the foulest of them all, sounding akin to a pack of ravenous wolves snarling over a fresh kill. Nay, feasting on a fresh kill, raw and fetid.

  

Bestial Holocaust - Into The Goat Vulva

Call it blackened thrash, call it barbaric blackened death, call it bestial and filthy, whatever. Just don't throw around the words tame or "familiar ground", because it isn't. By now we're all pretty accustomed to hearing females in all forms of extreme music, we get it, chicks can belch out some growls too. Though Sonia really does help add a welcomed dynamic to this, her gurgles and shrieks carry on a higher note, sounding possessed and putrid. Like with Teitanblood, the Spanish lyrics give it a rather hoary quality parallel to babbling incantations .

Ignivomous - Contragenesis

Aptly named after the archaic meaning for "vomiting fire", Ignivomous spew a cavernous blend of death metal with its hands dipped deep in the old-school. New grounds aren't being paved here on Contragenesis, rather it delivers exactly what you would expect in the form of stalwart tenacity crusted in sewer scum.

 Putrevore - Macabre Kingdom

Besides the vocals sounding like they are being fleshed out by a hulking lich overlord, Macabre Kingdom down to the instrumentation and production sound stout and primordial. It is straight forward in its approach but not to the extent of lulling into familiarity, it crawls through murky waters and treads on familiar soils but it does so very well.

Part II will find its way out soon, until then, please do throw in suggestions for the next one in the comments. Bonus points to those that show me something I have yet to discover, that would be rad!

LOGN - Í Fráhvarfi Ljóss, Myrkrið Lifnar Við (In depth review)

I recently did a review for my pal Birkir over at Halifax Collect, I went in-depth on Logn's "Í Fráhvarfi Ljóss, Myrkrið Lifnar Við"… below is a small except from it, I suggest grabbing the album, enjoying it, and reading the words on your screen.


- This young (albeit mature in sound) band hailing from Iceland's capital, Reykjavík, set out to assail your auditory meatus with a cornucopia of musical influences. Audible throughout the unpronounceable album Í fráhvarfi ljóss, myrkrið lifnar við (say that 5 times fast - Icelanders, you can't play) is a palatable blend of crust, grind, hardcore, d-beat and nuances of death metal and sludge that take form in a muddied, non-polished aesthetic. A grizzly host of dark and pissed off tracks that seamlessly teeter in an out of pace, one moment being lulled into a foreboding melancholy that suddenly shifts the calm of the storm and your back on your ass being barraged by a flurry of blasts, pummelling riffs and shattering screams. The tone that permeates throughout the entire album gives everything a very woeful personality further enforcing its grittiness - it's presentation is decorated with subtleties that help it escape the clutches of "heard this before"... (click here for full article)

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To head to the bands bandcamp, click this fucker. (name your price buckos!)
To waste your time, click here.

The Body - All the Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood (in-depth)

Haunting [adj]; Remaining in the consciousness; not quickly forgotten. Why the  definition to the word 'haunting'? I'll explain, gather around the hearth children for I will tell the tale of how "All The Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood".

The year is 2010, a robust duo hailing from Rhode Island set out to create the soundtrack of nihilism. An album that is both harrowing and grim in all of its facets; sonically, atmospherically, lyrically, structurally, and yes even visually.

Lyrically outlining the failures of science, humankind, deities and just about everything else negative tinged and forlorn through shrieks that barely pierce through the ensuing chaos, as if the words are being swallowed up and buried under its own instrumentation.

The atmosphere is a swirling wind carrying negative vibes your way, causing an uneasiness through its entirety. The Body doesn't give a fuck about your fragile feelings, in fact, they intend to smash them along with your rather whimsical take on life. Structurally scattered adding to the foreboding nature of the beast, with riffs weaving in and out of the labyrinth of molasses paced drone/doom. The guitars are thick and glacial as the drums beat on in hypnotizing fashion, both seemingly recorded louder than the recording equipment could handle.

What you hear is entirely unique (as unique as something can be while still being influenced), which can be a rarity in todays day and age, but these two burly dudes deliver bizarre soundscapes through a bounty of interesting ways; The Body collaborated with "Assembly of Light" choir group to add their ethereal gospel like chant into a few songs, most notably the opener track  "A Body" where it is used brilliantly to create immense tension for a solid 7 minutes (Demanding patience) until a wall of noise comes crashing in.

There are a number of other oddities that take shape on "All The Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood", in the song "Empty Hearth" which features unusual throat singing and a ongoing nonsensical chant by a religious separatist movement woven throughout the dense sound of guitars and droning drums where its use is edited quite intriguingly. "Song of Sarin, The Brave"  has fragmented quotes from Charles Manson, a man who often goes on these (sometimes brilliant)nonsensical tangents that have manipulating power, it's a suitable voice for misanthropy.

I'll quickly dabble into the visual element, an album cover that only conjures up impenetrably eerie vibes and peculiar intrigue. The two members are shown standing in a barren scenery brandishing guns,… but here's the odd part, they are wearing outlandish garments (I read somewhere that it had something to do with traditional ceremonial wedding garb) that fester up an uneasiness that was surely intended.

Behold, an album that succeeds in just about every way it means to; Create the misanthropic funeral dirge of nihilism, buried in a devastatingly heavy sea of mid-tempo riffing, hypnotic drumming, and unsettling atmosphere through careful layering. The Body will reward patient listeners with fresh frissons of palpable tension and sonic vertigo. This is how all the waters of the earth will turn to blood.

Get it. (thanks to The Elementary Revolt for the download link)