The Radavist

“This Horrifying Force (the Desire To Kill)” off Forever Abomination

I’m really beginning to wonder when Chance Garnette begins to lose his luster because as of now, Skeletonwitch is three albums deep in a stomping circle pit of blackened thrash anthems. Like many, my introduction to Skeletonwitch was their 2007 release Beyond the Permafrost, which was trumped by Breathing the Fire in 2009 and now, Forever Abomination attempts to mark their catalog as the best release under their spiked belts.

And it’s doing just that. Forever Abomination is a no bullshit experience. 11 tracks and 32 minutes of blackened thrash that is only trumped by their live show and chants of “EAT SOME FUCKING PUSSY”. “This Horrifying Force (the Desire To Kill)” and “Reduced To The Failure Of Prayer” introduce Skeletonwitch’s almost comedic song titles. I say comedic because when you watch them live, you can tell these guys are all about a fun time. Behind the sneer is a beer.

Check out more below!

“Astral Blood” off Celestial Lineage

Ok, so it’s been a while but what a perfect album to bring about the return of Tuesday Teardown!

I’m a hypocrite. When Oregon-based Wolves In the Throne Room released Black Cascade, their homage to the Cascade Mountains of their home state, I sang praises for weeks about it. Then I started to really listen to the album and after putting it on heavy rotation, I lost interest. Why? I still don’t know. Maybe because there were much better black metal releases that year, or because I felt like they were getting too much praise for too little work. Years later, I’m back into Black Cascade but I’ve yet to warm up to their Two Hunters EP. Again, I’m not exactly sure why.

This year, the whole metal industry has been salivating for the release of Celestial Lineage, the new Wolves album. People wondered what they’d cook up for this release and me being the cynical fuck that I tend to be when it comes to overhyped music, already had an idea what it would be like. Was I right? Kind of. Wolves makes such an effort to break up their music with angelic singing and other sounds, focusing on the composition more so, at least in my opinion, than on their actual music. Celestial Lineage has, in many ways, lived up to my preconceived opinion.

“Thuja Magus Imperium” begins with windchimes and a harmony sung by a women, straight out of Lord of the Rings. This creates a contrast that in my opinion, muddles the album as it morphs from this introduction to Wolves’ signature tremelo picking and distortion. And it’s like a beast escaped from a cage. This is a whole new Wolves. The writing has improved immensely, the drums, guitars and basslines are fucking sharp and before you know it, it’s a jam fest. Now if only this momentum would continue.

Check out more below!

“Of Death” off Of Death

Oh my fucking god. Ahhhhhhhh. Pardon my enthusiasm, let me turn this album off because I can’t even concentrate long enough to write this review. Byfrost‘s second full-length, Of Death kicks the fucking shit out of just about other thrash album of 2011. Remember back when you were a whipper snapper and you got your first intro to the Swedish tech death craze of the early 90’s? Think about At the Gates but blackened and with a much better production budget (and blast beats, oh god the blast beats!)

Rip open the top and chug down “May The Dead Rise”. This is what Immortal would sound like if they weren’t such huge fucking pussies. Gah! Chop their heads off. “Eye For An Eye” just hammers away for over 5 minutes. The blast beats arise out of the chasm and demons are let loose, ripping your soul to shreds as they dine on your finger tips. If you haven’t caught wind of how crisp and icy this album is by now, you’re an idiot. This shit is sharp. The band produced Of Death themselves with help from Enslaved’s producer, Herbrand Larsen. Usually high-production equals douchey show-boaters. Remember, I said this wasn’t Immortal. Byfrost is about as gnarly as you can get when it comes to blackened thrash. Their shit-kicking, FUCK YOU, attitude continues with “Buried Alive” where we’re bent over on madame guillotine herself and await execution.

Check out more of this review over at the Mishka Bloglin!

Why it’s taken me this long to review the work of Judd Madden in a Tuesday Teardown post is beyond me. Drown is a part of a triptych of self-released albums from Melbourne-based musician Judd Madden. While it’s easy to call albums “ground breaking”, “monumental” and “epic”, Drown definitely hits all of those on the head with precision, especially when compared to the other albums in the series: Float and Waterfall. What makes this doom-ridden series so dynamic is that each of the albums are entirely different beasts. Drown makes up the most recent in the series of experimental albums and is by far my favorite. Featuring crushing riffs and menacing drums, Drown evokes a sensation that’s understood immediately.

In just 7 tracks, Judd brings the weight, totaling an hour of playing time. Doom metal ain’t that tough to nail down and yet, Judd Madden’s work is so effortless in achieving that classic sound that it really makes you wonder how smart he really is. “Path” and “Riptide” begin their reign of bass and riffage, raking in an impressive 14 minutes for the pair. Drown‘s sound is a familiar one. There’s obvious Sleep influence but it’s not as monotonous as Isis or Pelican can be. If I were to compare it’s sound to anything, it’d come in close with Flood. For a more experimental and softened tone, check out “Waterlung” with its ripping opening riff and cascading symbols. This classic sludge track echoes the days of Sabbath and Vitus.

Check out more below, including the entire album streaming for free!

Melbourne ain’t exactly the sunny, surfer bro city you’d expect it to be. Where there are foreboding skies, there will be metal. This week for Tuesday Teardown, I thought I’d give you a look at the premiere metal music and book shop in Melbourne, Ritual Music and Books.

So yesterday, a local reader named Dylan hit me up asking how I’d feel about featuring Ritual for Tuesday Teardown. Sure enough, I was stoked to see a grassroots record store and was eager to check out what people were digging here.

Check out more from my special edition of Tuesday Teardown below!

“Weight of the World” off The Cold Testament

I was beginning to wonder about Book of Black Earth. Especially with frontman TJ Cowgill’s new found love for Satanic Folk and Actual Pain’s success as a clothing label. But we all know that metal is eternal and the newest album from Book of Black Earth, The Cold Testament is living proof. The band is back with its fast-paced and brutal approach to metal. It’s not exactly black, death or power metal and yet it speaks clearly to fans across all genres.

Check out more of my Tuesday Teardown featuring The Cold Testament below!

“Sex Tape” off Sex Tape/Snuff Film 7″

It’s Tuesday Teardown and this one will make you break your chain in a furious sprint!

All hail the mighty motherfucking BONGRIPPER. The Chicago four-piece has been wrecking speakers and houses for so long that any other band with BONG in their name must drink their bong water. When this band releases an album, much less a 7″, marijuana plants worldwide bud up and release a pheromone that entices pot smokers and riff-heads to spark one up!

Sex Tape/Snuff Film picks up right where the god dammed juggernaut Satan Worshipping Doom left off last year. Expect the gravity defying riffs to crunch your speakers and Beelzebub himself to grace your opium den with pentagrams and naked whores. Put on “Sex Tape” and daze the fuck out. As the first riffs drop, the sky rumbles and walls collapse as the heaviness sets in, obliterating everything in its path. BOOM!

Check out the rest of this review at the Mishka Bloglin!

“Inhume” from Diotima

NYC black metal and I don’t get along too well, unless it’s Krallice. Over the years, Krallice has been honing their sound and after two successful albums, Krallice and Dimensional Bleedthrough, the band has created a great album entitled Diotima.

Where do I begin with their sound? The initial track, “_” sounds much like their earlier work: tremelo picking, blast beats and endless loops of chaotic bliss but there’s something different now. In Diotima, the lead singer’s vocals have begun to take dominance over the tracks. But it’s not the typical black metal vocal stylings, they’re more akin to death metal and they compliment the fast-paced chaotic sound perfectly. There’s a power behind the music now and the dainty presence their music has had in previous albums is now irrelevant.

Just listen to “Inhume” for a key example, it’s fucking kick-ass! Same goes for “The Clearing”, another quasi-artsy composition that would normally be too shoe-gazey for my taste but the vocals just balance it all out. The title track “Diotima” is a bit slower and more epic than the other tracks. One slight critique of Diotima is the way most of the songs begin. They all start with the same reverb but the beast that lies sleeping is about to awaken.

Check out the rest of this review over at the Mishka Bloglin!

“The Fate Before Fate” from Guiltless

Here I was, thinking to myself that there needed to be an album in 2011 that gave Richmond-based Cough a run for their money. A few hours later and I came across the new album from Chicago’s Indian. This is one of the first 2011 albums that I see making through the metal masses and sticking around for years to come. As their first album on Relapse and forth in their collection, Guiltless delivers on all fronts.

The guys have come a long way since their 2008 album, Slights and Abuse / The Sycophant. Their sound is bigger and the production kicks ass. Not to mention the anger that was evident in Slights and Abuse / The Sycophant has been sharpened and honed for a much more impactful delivery. The twisted vocal stylings of Dylan O’Toole bring their sound to new, emotional lows in ways that I can’t even come close to describing. While the wretched sounds are heavy, they do lack that refinement that other doom acts posses after years of playing. Don’t look to Guiltless for a modern-day Burning Witch or Electric Wizard, these guys have a different tinge to their music.

Check out the rest of this review at the Mishka Bloglin!

“Epitome II” from 777 Sect(s)

With their sound bouncing and reverberating all over the place in the last few years, it’s hard to determine where Blut Aus Nord is taking their unique approach to black metal next. Maybe that’s a by-product of the genre dying out, or at least changing scope. Bands that take it seriously are often led down the path of mockery to the original intent of a cold and essentially compressed, low-fi genre. Gone are the compressed vocals and distorted sounds and now all that remains are the few lone acts who consistently nail down the feel by using their own experimentation with cross-genres. That’s where Blut Aus Nord’s new album, 777 Sect(s) comes into play. It’s clearly black metal but it’s a redefinition of said genre.

777 Sect(s) may just be the most significant black metal release in years. Its cold and cavernous feel creates the same depressed and compressed sound made popular by the early Norwegian acts. From their 2009 release, Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue… and into their more recent EP, What Once Was… Liber I, the French band effortlessly turn the dials of the apocalypse with one finger. Each track is entitled “Epitome” and they range from 1-6 offering a solid 45-minute experience.

Check out the rest of this review at the Mishka Bloglin!

“The Psalm” from The Psalm

Where do I begin with Monkeypriest? The last I heard from them was their first EP entitled Defending The Tree and I was not into it at all. The main reason I like doom metal, well good doom metal, is the power that’s inherent in the genre. I want fierce drums, heavy riffs and some damn strong vocals. Maybe my disdain for Defending The Tree was accentuated after hearing their newest release The Psalm. After sitting through this heavy-as-fuck rain of power, Defending The Tree seems like it may have just been a bit of musical foreplay.

“Hanuman’s Dance” becons to the gods. The elder ones who created the Earth. This precession of percussions and muddy riffage opens up the book that is The Psalm. It’s all instrumental, with simple drum rolls and head-dropping breaks. “The Word Of The Priest” begins with a war drum. Slow and steady riffs overlay and finally the doom and gloom sets in. Quickly the pace picks up and we’re introduced to Monkeypriest#1 and Monkeypriest#2′s vocals. How killer is that? They’ve reduced themselves to numbers. This track is Sabbath worship if I’ve ever heard it but the vocals and production are fucking killer.

Check out the rest of my review of Monkeypriest’s The Psalm at the Mishka Bloglin!

“Evil Smell Of Death” off Deceased To Exist

If there ever was a band to perfect the OSDM sound, they’d have to hail from Åtvidaberg, Linköping, Östergötlands län, Sweden. Maim is just that band. Their 2009 release, From the Tomb to the Womb is only outshined by their newest release, Deceased To Exist. While I can rattle off a dozen or so bands that purvey the classic vibrations and virtues of the late 80′s death metal sound, Maim’s one of the better class acts.

Deaceased to Exist, even on the first rotation is one of the better OSDM releases of recent months. Everything is carefully orchestrated and through the distortion and reverb, stellar songwriting shines through the murky depths. “Gravedigger Sacrifice” and “Morbid Desecration” are perfect examples. Both songs are commanded by Rikard’s vile and vomitous vocals. Various shifts in tempo, breaks and collisions dogpile on top of the already complex song craft. The lyrics somehow flow and each track packs a kick to the gut.

Check out the rest of my review of Maim’s Deceased To Exist at the Mishka Bloglin!

There’s not that much that needs to be said about this band. Alehammer destroys it and their gatefold LP with Tyrant is straight-forward blackened thrash from Sweden. If you think Alehammer’s album art is sick, check out Tyrant‘s below.

“Black Funeral” from Capricorn

San Francisco based Orchid created quite the stir when they released their first EP over a year ago. Now, one of the most anticipated releases of 2011 is upon us and what is my verdict? Pretty solid. While it’s easy to get hung up in the “It sounds like Sabbath” mindset while you’re listening to Capricorn, you have to appreciate their sound craft.

Orchid’s songwriting and production is almost mind-numbingly precise. These guys executed one solid doom album in the time from their first EP to Capricorn‘s release. While it’s easy to capture the sounds of Sabbath, it’s difficult to capture the 70’s in that same breath. Many bands attempt to emulate the sounds of the Ozzy-era Sabbath but finding that delicate balance of context and construct is rare.

The packaging and care that went into Capricorn‘s release is intense. Inside you’ll find 24 beautifully-printed pages and even an embroidered patch. Sweet! Now enough of the background on this band. On to the music. “Eyes Behind The Wall” starts it off with a somewhat menacing sound that still maintains a rather playful amount of riffage and vocal overlay. Creating this overlay is what gives Capricorn that 70’s vibe.

Check out the rest of this review at the Mishka Bloglin!

I’m from Wilmington, North Carolina, the home of Weedeater and I’ve seen Dixie Dave and the boys tear speakers and ear drums to shreds many a times. What I’m saying is, I know this band quite well. Not them as individuals, but the band’s talent and potential. When they signed to Southern Lord, I was pretty stoked. Finally, some production and money would be backing them. Upon hearing their last release in 2007, God Luck & Good Speed, my hopes had come true. They fucking killed it!

I went from seeing them play venues down by Monkey Junction, outside Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, to catching them in NYC opening for other great acts. Dixie Dave still sucks the ‘Tussin and consumes pills handed to him by the audience just like he used to in the 910. I’m pretty confident in saying that aside from Sabbath, these guys were my first intro to real, down and dirty doom metal in the late 90’s. Now, it’s 2011 and they had a rough fucking time between their last album and now. Dave blew off part of his foot, Shep broke his toe and that set the production for Jason… The Dragon back.

Knowing what Steve Albini has done for bands like High on Fire, I was beyond stoked when I received the press-release announcing their new album. Arik Roper artwork. Check. Kick-ass producer. Check. How could they lose? Well, not that they lost anything but I was pretty bummed when the tracks loaded up to see that it comes in around 30 minutes. 4 years of touring, producing and editing amounted to only 30 minutes? What the fuck? Before you get as pissed as I did, I can assure you that these 30 minutes are still convincing of their “FUCK YOU” metal mentality.

Check out the rest of my review at the Mishka Bloglin and listen to the track “Mancoon” at Soundcloud thanks to Brooklyn Vegan.

“Hungry Wolf, Easy Prey” off their S/T 12″

Damn. Talk about the music from my teenage years! All Pigs Must Die blasted onto the punk and hardcore scene in late-2010 via their new S/T 12″. If you couldn’t tell by their name, this political-driven force cannot be stopped. All Pigs Must Die is hammering it home, track after track on this 5-cut LP.

It’s almost impossible to sit and listen to it. The adrenaline pumps and all you wanna do is get up and thrash a bowl or rip through traffic on your bike. This ST 12″ is a whole-hearted dose of hardcore, d-beat, punk and even some blast beats. Slow, churning breaks loosen it up from time to time and before you know it, the album’s over and ready to be replayed. “Hungry Wolf, Easy Prey” and “Sermon for the End” are two fucking relentless tracks. Hammering away at their perfected sound, All Pigs Must Die slaughter all in their path!

This is the shit that my youth was built upon. Before hardcore got all pussy and filled with skinny fucks with women’s jeans on, bandannas, $200 haircuts and X’s on their hands. All Pigs Must Die lay the transition for a killer drop-in! “Die Ignorant” is a highschool bully of a track. 3-minutes and it’s got it all. “Noxchi Assault” keeps the circle pit alive with a great intro and brutal closer. The last track on the ST 12″ is “Death in My Wake” and it gives you a dose of Tragedy worship. This track gives me goose-bumps! So fucking good. Do yourself a favor, support these guys and order a god-damned LP! I’m pissed that I’m missing all their live shows in NYC!

Burzum is shroud in great controversy. Varg’s past is his past and his future, release after release, is looking promising. With Belus landing in my Top Ten Metal Albums of 2010, I was ecstatic when Fallen was announced a few weeks ago. Surely after a successful return to recording, Varg was back to creating classic black metal. While I wouldn’t classify Burzum’s current work as modern black metal, it does embody the same ideologies as even the earliest albums by the Norwegian scene.

Check out the rest of my review below.

I can never get enough of some OSDM. Grave Desecrator is a gang of Brazilians who deliver dose after dose of crippling blast beats, gastly vocals and surreal soundscapes. Get on this shit! I’m only halfway through the album and am bummed that I didn’t catch it last year. These guys woulda made my Top 10 Metal Albums list for sure! Many maddening thanks to Mark Sirek for pointing these guys out!

Crank it.