ISSUE #2 - Reviews

5 - Killer 4 - Great 3 - Good 2 - Needs Work 1 - Bullshit 2 CANNIBAL CORPSE - Gore Obsessed : The band, the myth, the legend.  CANNIBAL CORPSE, always one of the originators of modern death metal serve up this musical abortion for the new millenium. Gone are the incisive biteing tracks like Hammer Smashed Face & Stripped, Raped & Strangled. Tracks that tore the genre away from the cartoon devil worship of DEICIDE & the mystical satanic mumbo-jumbo of MORBID ANGEL & sent it instead to the graphic psychopathology & gruesome gore that are now a standard in the genre. Gone are the disturbing confessions & graveside vocals of original vocalist, Chris Barnes. To say this band shot its final load a very long time ago would be an understatement. The inclusion of blastbeats & manic playing don't make up for this CD's lack of quality songs. If you desire those, then check out SIX FEET UNDER's Haunted or that bands latest & I feel nearly greatest release, Bringer of Blood. (??? editor) Disgustingly brutal, this CD might be but what even average death metal release nowadays isn't? Drums rage, guitars thrash & cut like razorwire while Corpsegrinder bellows like an insane werebeast but it still amounts to very little. The band seems over the last few releases to be attempting to replace the enormous blackhole left by the departure of Chris Barnes with musical savagery. Fine, the genre has changed since the band first arrived over a decade ago. Extremity is now the norm but, this CD keeps one asking time & time again. But where are the good tunes?! NOX 4 ICED EARTH - The Glorious Burden : ICED EARTH are the most perfect power metal band in the world! With this release, one continues to understand why. This CD is not a musical progression, nor does it stand high & proud above their other CDs. It simply retains the bands crown as the premier power metal band in the world & reminds you why as well. The distinct ICED EARTH sound we've all come to know & love is still there. Plodding but not boring metal guitars, chorus dominated songs, John Schaeffers distinctive & powerful backing vocals, backing up virtually every track on the CD, & epic-length songs complete with daring & evocative lyrical concepts. The usual horror, fantasy & comic book imagery replaced this time with a timely & relevant war theme. Epic concepts as well abound. All are present this time around & all are welcome. Not that the band is treading water, there are moments on this CD that are amongst the finest the band have ever commited to record. Still, the CD oddly could be considered one of the groups weaker efforts. Still I love it. I've seen the band live recently & I'm happy to report they are more than capable of pulling off the materials intricacies live. Still I have a few complaints. Tim Owens is a poor replacement for Matt Barlow. Though a great singer, his voice is too different. The ICED EARTH sound has lost something without the Paul Stanley style strains of Matt Barlow's voice. Still, Owens is fantastic. Though he will never completely do away with the Rob Halford clone accusations, his singing is concise & razor sharp. He genuinly brings these set of songs to life like very few heavy metal singers can, still I miss Barlow & I couldn't help from wondering what these songs would have sounded like being sung by him. A fantastic CD & an essential purchase. NOX 4 HAGALAZ RUNEDANCE - Volven : I can hear my ancestors calling as vikings astride mighty steeds roar through the wilderness, sword in hand, prepared to do battle. The myths & legends of lore are alive within this pagan bands impressive CD. Powerful female vocals, rolling acoustic guitars, pounding tribal drums & ancient folk instruments all combine to send you upon a journey to an ancient time. A time when our ancestors were one with mother nature & each other. A CD for those of Germanic, Scandinavian & even Celtic blood. The bands vocalist & main songwriter, Andrea Haugen, a former background singer for CRADLE OF FILTH, serves up a potpouri of mythology, Germanic mysticism, folk melodies & the magic of nature itself. Blending it into an extraordinary mixture of passion, racial heritage & music. NOX 4 HILLS OF SEFIROTH - Fly High the Hated Black Flag : Through forests of hatred, one can hear tormented screams as the mind contemplates, murder or suicide? Do not listen to H.O.S. to try & get some feeling of enlightenment, unless your feeling of enlightenment includes the human self-destruct sequence. Not for the faint of heart. The contents are very primitive. Anyone with any mainstream leanings would totally shit on this, but that is why it is what it is. After the many spins of H.O.S., I know the mainsteam has to be killed! Reaver 3 INHUMAN DISSILIENCY - Dismembered & Decapitated : Super hyper gore grind! Another band that utilizes a drum machine. Ultra mega low vocals, which on track 2 "Mutilation of Self-Extracted Entrails" takes me to the Bayou with one lone bull frog bellowing in the moonlight. Uh? Though I do find this to be better than most bands in this blood soaked corner of the genre. The guitars hold a better tone than I expected, making them more intelligable than most of the gore grind bands in the underground. If ultra brutal grind & sicko gore zombie lyrics tickels your fancy, then I highly suggest checking this band out. Reaver 3 KING DIAMOND - Deadly Lullabye : I don't know about you but I'm not really a fan of live CDs. Even ones by artists I love. Most are nothing but cash in jobs released to get a band out of a binding record contract or to kill time between releases. They also rarely feature any songs you'd like to hear. Live CDs are usually a retrospective of a bands career not their current tour so they can also drag a great deal. With the original recorded versions readily available, I've always considered live CDs a novelty. Case in point, King Diamond's new release "Deadly Lullabye". Yes there is quite a bit of classic King on this & a tiny bit of early Fate, the classic"No Presents for Christmas" makes an appearence & is very welcome. Fate is always a plus. The sound is alive & kicking, not muddy & overdubbed like a large number of live CDs. The songs are well played while the King is in good voice. This CD could be a good introduction to the King's work, especially his solo career but really most would recommend an inquisitive listener to start with his early work. Either "Don't Break the Oath" or "Abigail". With quality sound, fine playing & great packaging, it's hard not to immediatly order all of you to run out & buy this, still to me, it's just novelty. Something very cool to own but rarely listen to. You decide. NOX 5 LAMB OF GOD : I have to be honest, I've got a warm spot for any band that plays late eighties thrash metal, whether it's a modern variation or not. This record is devastating. The guitars are savage & intricate with riffs that are far beyond the reach of most modern nu musicians. Groups like GOD FORBID & SHADOWS FALL would actually make it into my CD player if they could come up with quality material like this. The music scene known as metal-core is so played out that a quality group like LAMB OF GOD stick out like a sore thumb. Hard not to, with lame bands like HATEBREED dominating the scene as well as the metal presses attention. But not for long. LAMB OF GOD are the future of thrash metal. Forget about SLIPNOT, HAUNTED, DEW SCENTED etc. Delete as applicable. Also forgot about songtitles. There isn't a weak one in the bunch. To put it simply, this is the new face of American Metal. Buy it. NOX 5 SAPTHURAN - ...In Hatred :Very old BURZUMesque black metal. Six songs that really creates a mood of hatred. To me this is what black metal is all about. A nice aggressively raw production that is able to hold an element of clarity. This is one of three killer releases from the new label, Wraith Productions. A label that seems to have it's sights set on some much needed regression in the black metal scene. If you are a person who feels a little jaded over bands like DIMMU BORGIR& MAYHEM making mad dashes for somewhat mainstream success, then I totally encourage you to check out this band as well as Wraith Productions.  Reaver 5 SATYRICON - Volcano : So the eruption has finally occured & the serpentine Volcano has finally arrived with an official release on these shores. Volcano though a great CD, might not come as much of a surprise to many fans. Who are used to the band changing their image & musical styles each CD is truely less a departure & change than a progression from their last CD. From the medieval black metal of Shadowthrone to the industrialized futuristic thrash of Rebel Extravaganza this CD is simply a progression from there previous work. If you don't approach it expecting ground breaking sounds, you won't be disappointed. Still a few alterations have been included. Gone are the blast beats of their past work & in are the grooves of such tracks as Fueled By Hatred. Even Satyr's voice has been altered from the venomous croak of their earlier releases to something more commercial & accesible. The songs are now more based in traditional metal. Still the blackened pumping heart of SATYRICON remains. All be it in a more approachable & less caustic form. It might be saddening to many within the underground that bands are feeling the need to move into a more commercial direction lets just hope if it continues, their releases are as good as this one. NOX 4 SUPER JOINT RITUAL - A Lethal Dose of American Hatred : No reason to debate or argue this is the CD Reinventing The Steel should have been. To all who were disappointed by PANTERA's last offering before their surprise break up & reformation as SUPERJOINT & DAMAGE PLAN this is the CD for you. Unlike both DAMAGE PLANS debut & Reinventing The Steel, both of which hid behind nu metallisms in an attempt to stay modern & current. The guitar riffs here aren't downtuned but savage & memorable. The bass & drum interplay is locked & loaded & Phils delivery is so intense his words border on the unintelligable. This shit is ugly man  & brutal. SUPERJOINT are one angry group of motherfuckers. Anselmo is a rock star who lives in a swampland mansion so I'm not sure what he's pissed off about, I just know that he's pissed. Maybe it's the other guys in the band. I don't know. I'd prefer not ask! This CD is the equilalent of going six rounds with Mike Tyson in a bare knuckle fight. It leaves you groggy & bleeding from the face. Little nitpicking like the weak sound, the lack of variety in terms of the songs, & Phil's rapid fire vocal delivery are probably best not brought up if not out right ignored. Phil was probably to stoned to care. So will you. NOX 4 THUNDERBOLT - The Burning Deed of Deceit : When I first got this CD, I wasn't sure if it was a promo advance or an EP advance, so here it is in this coloumn. From the get go, it reminded me very much of old (but better) EMPEROR. Very scathing black metal! 4 tracks in all. Track 3 "... Where the Plague Touches..." initially breaks fromthe jackhammer pace with a more moodier beginning but does not loose the urgency contained throughout the release. Track 4 "The One Who Sleeps" has got to be my favorite though, for being able to somehow capture the energy of the whole CD in one song. Moody & Scathing! Reaver 3 TRIUMPH OF A DYING CULTURE : 5 tracks in this one. Well produced but rather run of the mill metal-core. The music & vocals remind me more of good ol' Swedish Death Metal ( where did all of you emo kids think metal-core got it's aggression? THE DARKEST HOUR & KILLSWITCH ENGAGE sucked it from the veins of ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER & AT THE GATES.) But at times T.O.A.D.C. possess the very average gift of the "stutter stall riff" made famous by PANTERA on every song on every album. BANG! Fuck I'm dead! All silly play aside. I was quite sickened by the fact a cover of KSE's "My Last Serenade" leaving me to wonder, "how many other demo metal-core bands attempted the same mad grab for a stray coat tail or two. Being that I owned that particular KSE CD (guilty pleasure, don't ask), I was very impressed to find T.O.A.D.C. kicked that songs ass. A lot of weird spacy mechanical sounds on this demo. Mostly in small doses, but more upfront on the last track. That is unfortunatly the main thing that sets it apart from other bands in that genre.