CD REVIEWS OF BRAINSTORM, DEATHCULT, DEATH ANGEL OVERKILL, ++

April 4, 2008

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BRAINSTORM

DOWNBURST

METAL BLADE

!!!

This band has been at it for a while now. Listening to their latest, you can easily discern that they aren’t your typical power metal band. They add so much muscular sophistication into their tunes. They are catchy without being overtly simple. Riffs are very sharp, and the melodies are solid, especially when it comes to ballad-time (which are more like power-ballads rather than the love song typical power metal ballad). Brainstorm is recommendable because it can really stand out albeit minimally in this over-crowded power metal scene. Of notable mention is also the vocalist, who sounds powerful and determined. Too bad the material of his other band, Symphorce, isn’t as strong and as good.

Douglas Ventura

DEATHCULT

CULT OF THE DRAGON

KARISMA RECORDS/DARK ESSENCE RECORDS

!!!! .5

What a solid debut. While this sounds -traditionally speaking-Norwegian, it isn’t another brick on the wall. Nor does it plagiarize the country’s monumental past dark glories. To those who think black metal easily traps itself into corners, that there’s isn’t artistic progression, and that everything simply sounds the same, I dare them to listen to Deathcult and prove me wrong. Raw, yet catchy. Ugly, yet refined. Did I say ugly? Not to mention horrific, Deathcult scores big in all areas, bringing a smile to Lucifer and those who never grow tired of the old ways of black metal. A bit of a thrashy feeling in some areas expands the band’s sound, rightfully adding barrels of variety to the spectre. Behold black metal’s continuing evolution…..

Douglas Ventura

STRIBORG

JOURNEY OF A MISANTHROPE DVD

DISPLEASED RECORDS

!!!!

Hard to believe there’s a Striborg DVD. In any case, if pure nihilistic black metal music could be accompanied by a visual nightmare, then this DVD is pretty much that pure essence. This “product” consists of slow-mo scenes of (presumably) Sin-Nanna, walking in a forest in black & white photography as a Striborg song plays on the background. This serves as minimalistic imagery for nihilistic savagery. Most of the shots revolve around forests, the night, nature, etc. Some of the night shots resemble those of The Blair Witch Project. There’s quite a lot of songs in here, and it could get a bit repetitive for those who aren’t used to this stuff.

Douglas Ventura

THREE

THE END IS BEGUN

METAL BLADE

! .5

What is being billed as a “progressive metal album” could be true only to a certain extent. Yes, without a doubt this is a complex, ambitious work. On the same line of thought, complexity mixed with irrelevance isn’t the best of mixtures, especially when Brit-pop-like vocals adorn the songs in such a way that they become hated. Musical hooks are so friendly and so “alternative” that they can easily pass off as an Oasis or any other lame Brit Pop band’s tune. Well, at least these guys do know how to play their instruments. They throw in odd structures, bizarre lines, and just ‘weird’ ideas. But I guess it all falls under the progressive tag. Metal this is not, the vocals are awful, a lot of the passages here are just accessible and there was really very little in this that kept me interested. It’s a bit out there, and it just isn’t something that I’m usually attracted to.

Douglas Ventura

DEATH ANGEL

KILLING SEASON

NUCLEAR BLAST

!!!!

Death Angel has always been a really cool thrash band. From the classic days of “Thrashers” to their triumphant comeback, these guys have maintained a youthful and energetic formula going on in their music. The good thing about this album is how it marries the old and new school eras of thrash metal. Songs like “Carnival Justice” and “The Noose” just hit you straight to the point, while the rest of the tracks are just, well, fun! But Death Angel isn’t just a standard band. They’ve always had this innovative angle to their music. While some songs here are your standard in-your-face metal anthems, when there’s room to breathe the band injects moody experimentations that never go out of their way to become pointlessly showy. Rather, it keeps the intent of the song glued in its totality. Great work from these guys!

Douglas Ventura

ELUVEITIE

SLANIA

NUCLEAR BLAST

Folk metal seems to be on a rise these days, with various bands emerging and offering something fresh and different from the usual brand of extremity. This is Eluveitie’s second offering, and the band does have a special sound to them. For starters, the Celtic influence is so strong and employed in such a classy way that it almost makes you ignore the metal parts. Midway through the album I was more enchanted from listening to the traditional folk segments in the music that I was able to wisely overlook the melodic death metal-influenced music/vocals. Not being a fan of the Gothenburg scene makes it hard for me to fully enjoy and digest this album. I probably would have enjoyed this work more had it been an exclusive Celtic/Folk record. Seriously.

Douglas Ventura

THRASHING LIKE A MANIAC

16 RIPPING CUTS OF NEW SCHOOL THRASH

EARACHE

!!!! .5

The band Bonded by Blood starts things off here and they naturally sound like you know who. Not bad at all! Next is Evile, who play some really imposing thrash, the old-school way. Municipal Waste follows and I still don’t get them. You might dig them if you’re into M.O.D./S.O.D. and crap like that. Dekapitator is next and as usual, they do what their name implies. Fueled by Fire contribute with a really mean, metallic track full of inventive bass lines, glorious solos, and everything great you’d expect from a great old-school thrash tune. Crucifier (wrongly billed as “Decadence” in here) offers one of the best tracks in the compilation. I was headbanging all the way. Same goes to Warbringer and their song “Total War”. It starts off with a menacing double bass/drum fill combo followed by a fine brief solo transforming itself into a traditional fast old thrash tune. The band SSS follows, and they offer a decent thrash tune with punk influences. It works well. Gama Bomb is next in line and they sure know what true ‘80s classic thrash metal should exemplify. Love those falsettos! Merciless Death follows and it’s already a known fact that they rule at what they do. You can’t get any more old school than them. Deadfall is next and their sound is simply beautiful. True thrash will never die! Lazarus follows (not to be confused with the progressive band) and damn it if their track “Last Breath” didn’t give me a neck ache. Their brand of thrash is simply magnificent! Next is Toxic Holocaust and the song “War is Hell”, a rather known track by now and effective-as is the rest of this fine band’s material. Then we have Mutant (this one, not to be confused with the black metal band) and it is yet another band that knows the classic roots of thrash. Great tune, nice continuity, supreme vokills! Violator might as well pretend it’s 1985 and there wouldn’t be nothing wrong with that! Thank you! To end things off, we have the silly named Send More Paramedics, who play a crossover of thrash/punk/hardcore metal, and at two minutes and half it seemed like it was hard to catch on all those influences. Nevertheless, the song worked just fine and most important, it carried the old spirit. Overall, the title of this record is very misleading as there’s nothing “new school” about it. 99.0% of this album breathes old Slayer, Exodus, old Destruction, old Dark Angel, etc and I applaud the bands for having the guts to stick to what they believe in without trying to appeal to the new school of fans. Since Municipal Waste was the sole loser here, I really can recommend this album. There really is a lot of passion and value in this compilation. All poseurs can refer to Voivod’s second song off Rrrrrrrrroooooooooaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr.

OVERKILL

LIVE AT WACKEN OPEN AIR 2007

BODOG MUSIC

!!!!!

This release doesn’t really need many words. To put it in simple terms, this is Overkill putting a superb performance in front of a German audience and having a lot of fun doing so. With a set consisting of both newer and older classics, the band’s show is awe inspiring, sounding energetic and enthusiastic, and with a lot of charisma (as expected, naturally, from Bobby “Blitz”). It is great to see a few of the band’s classic songs in here, such as their anthem “In Union We Stand”, the always crowd-pleaser “Elimination”, the neck-breaking “Wrecking Crew”, and of course, their trademark song “Fuck You”. This concert couldn’t have come better!

Douglas Ventura

TOXIK

DYNAMO OPEN AIR 1988

DISPLEASED RECORDS

!!!!

Here we have a bootleg with ‘good quality’, of two shows from Toxik from 1988. One is their actual performance from Dynamo, and the other one is a pre-party performance at the Dynamo Club. Surprisingly, both shows have an okay sound, though they are shot from a one-angle camera view. If you’re not familiar with this band, Toxik plays speed/thrash metal, somewhat on the technical side, very headbanging, and quite exciting. I wouldn’t recommend this to a curious fan. Instead, check out their latest re-releases from Metal Mind Productions to get a clearer picture of this band’s brilliant sound.