Rigor Mortis - “Welcome To Your Funeral: The Story Of Rigor Mortis - Part 1” DVD (director: Bruce Corbitt)

R.I.P. Mike Scaccia

This documentary, produced with the direct involvement of the surviving Rigor Mortis members as a tribute to their fallen guitar legend Mike Scaccia (later famous for being Ministry’s mid-to-late period guitarist), covers the inception of this influential Texan speed metal outfit until 1987, when they signed to Capitol Records. It’s a solid and reverential collection of rare footage, both live and behind the scenes, with tons of interviews with friends and band members telling all sorts of sordid tales of the band’s legendary drunken brawls, parties, and hellbent live shows that fused brutal death and speed metal with a horror/gore slant.

Narrated by Philip H. Anselmo (yes, he of Pantera and Down fame and infamy), this is a thoroughly entertaining and intimate portrait of one of Texas’ best loved (and hated) bands. Speed and gore metal fans who are familiar with this band need to check this one out, and even those curious as to the genesis of a band who’ve since influenced a shit-ton of metal bands, would do well to see this one. It’s not overly slick or packed with digital graphics, but it’s a great document and a fitting tribute to a real-life guitar hero.

MVD Visual

Napalm Death - "Enemy Of The Music Business Plus Leaders Not Followers" CD

Fine return to form from grind legends...

Combining the band's 2000 album and attendant EP of classic covers, this 57-minute disc opens with the corrosive "Taste The Poison", which signaled a welcome return to form from the Birmingham-based grindcore legends. 

The tracks to follow prove equally worthy, being extreme clots of aggressive post-metal noise & grindcore. "Vermin" captures the unbridled spirit of Napalm's punk/metal roots, being an ultra-speed-fueled ride, complete with clearly-mixed instruments and Barney Greenway's primal, gutteral vocals. "Volume Of Neglect" features a seriously amazing blur of bass-heavy drums and guitar that rivals the band's earliest work. I could go on, and sure, each song is pretty similar, but that's the beauty of Napalm Death. Discount their shaky death metal period, and the countless lineup changes, and you have one of the most stalwart of their crossover breed. "Enemy of The Music Business" is a solid and exemplary work from the band, and offers crunchy clots of abundantly aggressive metal/punk/grindcore noise that just doesn't relent. 

"Leaders Not Followers" is an EP of covers, including works by Napalm influences like Raw Power, Repulsion, Death, and Dead Kennedys. It's refreshing to hear the band making pretty reverential and faithful covers of their heroes -- yet still maintaining that inimitable Napalm blend of blur and bluster. I wasn't familiar much with most of these underground classics, but the cover of the DK's "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" is just classic. 

Secret Records

Napalm Death site

Pathogen - "Miscreants Of Blood Lusting Aberrations" CD

Filipino old-school death metal

This is pure death metal brutality from the Phillippines, and it's a raw listening experience. But that's not to say that this sounds bad or amateurish, just that it's produced dryly, and sounds like there were a minimum of studio effects utilized. 

Opening with the old-school death metal of "Atrocity Exhibit", Pathogen's take on metal isn't about technical virtuosity or complexity. On the contrary, theirs is a punk-like bare-bones attack, with a retro kind of vibe. "Monolith" is reminiscent of classic Slayer, complete with lightning solos. Other cuts are in a similar vein -- pure death metal with a crusty punk edge. It's all good here -- nothing too unique or noteworthy, but these lads' heads are in the right place.

Dunkelheit Productions

Pathogenbook

Dead Awaken - "Where Hope Turns Dripping Red" CD

Gutteral and grim death metal with gonads

After more than a decade of demos, Sweden's Dead Awaken unleash their debut full-length, and it's a death metal beast all the way. Certainly, this duo know how to punish their instruments, as it's a tight and precise attack. "Kingdom Of Damnation" is particularly effective and memorable, with huge riffs and the requisite vomited vocals. "Mudhell" is another crusher, and slows it all down to an almost militaristic yet metallic crawl.

All of this is superbly produced, with a thickness and good mid-range alongside a deep and gutteral low-end. Dead Awaken take a proven, even stereotyped genre and present it with more finesse than most, varying tempos and switching up their game from track to track. "Where Hope Turns Dripping Red" is a must-hear for fans of classic death metal.

Abyss Records

Dead Awakenbook

Burial Vault - "Incendium" CD

Melodic death metal, effective but ultimately generic

On their second album, German metal marauders Burial Vault unleash a torrent of melodic death metal. And it's pretty well solid work, with excellent production and a deadly double-pronged guitar attack that is both refined and sharpened. 

"Peculiar" breaks down with a section of melodic (non-regurgitated) vocals, which is quite a shock within the band's usual sound. But the following cut, "The Nightly Horror" returns to the standard speed-laced death metal, and it's quite effective indeed. And the rest of the album proves to be a more than amicable selection of epic metal sounds, too, with "cookie-monster" vocals and lightning fast guitar solos. For fans of the style, Burial Vault deliver.

Apostasy Records

Burial Vaultbook

Torture Division - "Evighetens Darar" CD

Compiling 3 of the Swedish band's 2009-2010 demos, this 10-song, 28-minute set shows the Swedish metal band's ferocity amiably, without question. The first thing I noticed here is the clear, punchy sound. Turns out this is mixed and mastered by the legendary Dan Swano, so that explains part of it.

Musically, though, Torture Division bring an ultra-heavy death/power metal sound on their own. The opener, "Traumatic Inhuman Severance" is violent and potent. "Eld Och Plagor" mixes it up with an evil atmospheric breakdown before returning with another fearsome onslaught of machine-like tension and menace. "Righteous Fore Ensemble" is pure death metal, but with such great production, I can't help but appreciate the precision and, though I hate to use the word, brutality. Simply said, this is a superlative recording.

Besides making some tight and devastating metal, the band is known for "giving" their music away. They retain all rights to the music, and invite anyone to download (name your own price) and reproduce for your friends. So, in effect, Torture Division is a non-profit band. Support these guys as they smoke. 

(Abyss Records)

Torture Division site

Diseim - "Holy Wrath" CD

8 songs and 32 minutes of down-tuned doom/death metal, "Holy Wrath" is the debut from this Latvian band, and it works well. Opening with the mid-tempo groove metal of "Black", the band then lapses into more stereotypical, grumbly, rumbly death metal on later tracks. "Sinner" evidences this, being fairly silly death metal, It is simple and to-to-point, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. "Insanity" fares better, with a rolling thunder rhythm and solid fretwork alongside the cookie monster vomit vocals.

No pretensions here, Diseim are a competent metal act capable of several directions, though they are clearly representing the death metal genre on this release. Here's to them branching out a bit more next time. 

(Abyss Records)

Diseimspace

Bane - "Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness" CD

Bane was a black/death metal band from Serbia, and this 2010 debut album showed great promise. A principal member moved overseas to Canada after a followup 2012 album, and although he hopes to reform the band, it's still dicey whether Bane will continue. Which is a shame, as this is certainly a strong offering.

Separated into three distinct "movements" (Chaos, Darkness, and Emptiness), the Chaos part of the album opens with a symphonic intro before diving headfirst into a strong black/death metal assault ("The True Insomnia"), using alternately screeching/grumbled vocals and a thick, heavy, and propulsive rhythm section. "Pandemonium" is much more technically precise and well-produced than most black metal, though still most certainly referencing it.

Going from the frenzied black & death precision of Chaos, to the introspective, almost prog/doomy Darkness stage, Bane seem to lose a bit of steam on "Lost Shadows" and "Plague Upon Yourself", both of which include melodic acoustic interludes that seem quite out of place. They do provide a fair respite from the typical assault, though.

Emptiness includes the clean and structured "Inherited Infection" (which ends with an almost medieval melodic guitar), and the slower, doomier "The Haunting Presence". "Dysthymia" is another mellow, orchestral piece to (almost) close it out, before the "bonus track", a cover of Dark Funeral's "The Dawn No More Rises" rears it's head in a killer fashion.

The production works well for bane, providing enough crunchy highs and lows and clean mid-range. And the wide array of sounds and styles here are a nice change-up, proving Bane to be a diverse and mature black/death act capable of much more. Superb!

(Abyss Records)

Banespace

"The Lost Realities Of Hog Caller" DVD (director: Tom Richards)

Less of a narrative film, and more of an extended promo video for Pennsylvania gore/grind/noise/metal duo Hog Caller, this one is all over the place, and not in a good way. 

Mostly, "The Lost Realities Of Hog Caller" is an overindulgent mess of offensive imagery. You'll get plenty of gore, some breasts, comedy skits, pig costumes, Three Mile Island, messing around with dead animals, G.W. Bush hanging out with Bin Laden, magic mushrooms, LSD trips, eviscerating Elvis, and plenty more. Trouble is, there's no order to the madness. And the music? Messy, sloppy, and fairly well unlistenable. A great gift for friends of the band, but anyone else? Seen it before, heard it before, and done better on both counts.

(Wild Eye Releasing)

Hog Caller Music

"I Spill Your Guts" DVD (director: James Balsamo)

This ultra-micro indie trash film follows closely in the footsteps of director Balsamo's previous film, "Hack Job", as it also features celebrity cameos from Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus of Gwar), Lloyd Kaufman (of Troma), and Debbie Rochon. As well, we get Andrew W.K. making a brief and bloody appearance. Anyway, in "I Spill Your Guts", a greedy military veteran double-crosses his war-hero friend, leaves him for dead, and steals his glory. The friend exacts his revenge by becoming a sort of undead serial killer.

Viewers will undoubtedly be pleased to see plenty of bouncy (usually pierced-nippled) breasts, limb hackings, and gallons of gore. The soundtrack is jam-packed with death metal and industrial sounds, almost to excess. Sure, the acting, dialogue, and storyline are all pretty forgettable and awful, but this is a fun film and made with tongue thoroughly in cheek. Maybe I lost interest, but many fans of sleazy Troma-style cinema will find something of interest in "I Spill Your Guts". (Acid Bath Productions)

Rumpelstiltskin Grinder - "Ghostmaker" album

The third album from this Pennsylvania band consists of 12 tracks and 45 minutes that instantly rage with an assault of death/grind riff and pummel. But these guys have a sense of humor about things, which is always refreshing. That's not to say that tracks like "Get Out Of My Grave/Gigantic Graveyard" or "Nightworms" are light listening, though. Quite the contrary. 

The dual guitar pyrotechnics of Ryan Moll and Matt Moore are thick and tight, and the rhythm section follows suit. Moore's vocals are of the throat-throttling death metal variety, and Moll's solos (as in "Run Through The Bastards") are impeccable. Production is deep, making "Ghostmaker" a superb album in every respect. Thumbs up here. (Candlelight Records)

RG website

Rumpelstiltskin Grinderspace

Malevolent Creation - "Death From Down Under" DVD

American death metal recorded live with 4 cameras in Sydney, Australia. It's a raw, unadorned production, capturing the band at their blurry, riffy, grunty best. Highlights include the fearsome speed/death of "Blood Brothers" and the well-oiled machine that is "Man's Demise". "Fine Art Of Murder" is another churning, gutteral assault.

Over the course of 60 minutes, you get tons of hair-tossing, guitar-thrashing, speed/death metal madness from a band that's been around for almost 25 years. Definitely a treat for converted fans, but this band knows their craft well enough to convince me, too. Bravo, boys! (Arctic Music Group)

Malevolentspace

Post Mortem - "Message From The Dead" CD

Hailing from Boston, this classic and early death/gore/punk metal band returns anew with this 11-song release (plus bonus unlisted tracks). But as new as this material may be, vocalist and founder John McCarthy passed away during the recording, so several cuts are present with guest vocalists respectfully finishing up in his absence. Despite this discontinuity, the album works well as a whole.

Tracks like "Human Pinata" slow it down to almost doom-metal levels, but still with throat-scratching vocals. "Pray Before You Die" echoes this sentiment...a churning metallic riff with more than a nod to classic punk ala Black Flag. "Field Trip" rages with a thrash-punk tempo, like if Megadeth covered Minor Threat. This is old-school crossover that just isn't heard much anymore, and a shame that is, as "Message From The Dead" is a killer album.

Post Mortem's punk-metal was never too well-known, but their legacy lives on, and here's to hoping this posthumous release garners them some well-deserved notoriety. (Taboo Productions)

Post Mortemspace

Post Mortem website

Beer Corpse - "Keg Nuts" 7"

10 songs, 11 minutes. Beer Corpse are an Aussie band who scientifically examine the correlation between gore/splattercore and, umm, beer. Or, in other words, this is an ear-clogging boat-load of drunken grindcore metal. Either way, it's a fun, if juvenile and sick set of blurry and grunty noise silliness. Me likes. (Give Praise Records)

Beer Corpsespace

Portal - "Lurker At The Threshold" picture disc 7"

Veteran Australian death/grind group Portal here unleash a reissue of their 2006 cassette demo, pressed on tasty (and highly-limited) picture disc 7" vinyl. The two tracks here remain somewhat muddy, but the sinister, blackened Lovecraftian vibe is intact. The A-side, "13 Globes", begins things off with an insane blast of grindcore that resembles a multi-tentacled leviathan battling a huge pirate ship, weapons flailing and hacking demonic flesh. Side B, "Omnipresent Crawling Chaos", is a frenzied lawnmower of sludgy grindcore madness with unintelligible gargled/grunted vocals. There's nothing lovely or melodic about Portal, not in the least. This is energetic death grind at it's best.
(Chrome Leaf)

Sectioned - "Purulent Reality" CD

Hailing from England, this is the debut full-lengther from Sectioned, and their classic death metal roots are all showing here. With an unabashed affinity for old-school Florida-style death/thrash, Sectioned's dual guitar attack brings smoking leads, solos, mighty thumping kick-drums, and growly-vomit vocals. It's a hearty and potent mix, with tracks like "My Love Of Decay" standing out, does the raging "Village Of The Sun". It all ends with the melodic and reflective acoustic intro of "Purulent Reality (Outro)". This interesting bookend is evidence that Sectioned may yet have another side waiting to come out. That said, if death metal by the numbers appeals to you, there's a lot worse out there, and Sectioned know how to make a serious racket. I like this one. (Paragon Records)

Sectionedspace

Temple Of Baal - "Lightslaying Rituals" CD

This French act considers themselves "black metal", but their third album shows echoes of speed, death, and thrash metal (and some other fringe elements) in their considerable arsenal. Indeed, "Triumph Of Heretic Fire" is a solid collision of these sounds, and, for once, the vocals are (sometimes) intelligible! It's lightning-fast, with superior drumming, crisp dual guitars with both high and low end, and a deep production by Andrew Guillotin. I like the band's diversity and adeptness at different tempos and styles. "Black Sun Of The Damned" slows things down to a crunchy classic grind sound in spots, while "Angstgeist" is a cruise missile of death metal. And this is just the first 4 tracks! Further on, the disc kicks out all kinds of blasting metal bruisers, culminating in the progressive "Blessings Of Blackfire", that brings a classic and doomy melodic angle to nuzzle itself near the blastbeats. A fine release, with something to please nearly any metal-oriented listener. (Agonia Records)

Temple Of Baalspace

Mr. Death - "Detached From Life" CD

Hailing from Sweden, this new outfit features a former member of Tiamat, and the focus here is on classic, gut-churning gore/death metal. Production by Tomas Skogsberg (Entombed, Amorphis) is thick, clean, and alive, giving the band's crunchy and gutteral attack a powerful wall of sound, with a perfect high/low balance. "Misery's Womb" is among my favorites, with a ripping dual-guitar power-symphony. It's all strong work, certainly some of the finest death metal I've heard in some time. These lads know what they're doing, and they are at the top of their game here. (Agonia Records)

Mr. Death's site

Mr.Deathspace

Faust - "From Glory To Infinity" CD

Apparently oblivious to the fact that there's already been a prominent and influential group called Faust which has been performing and recording for decades, this Italian death/speed/thrash metal act bludgeons away with unmistakable technical prowess, electing to leave any semblance of originality far behind them. This particular Faust, the brainchild of vocalist/guitarist/producer Aleister, chooses silly cartoonish gurgled vocals that epitomize and pigeonhole this style. And let's not get started with the sophomoric lyrics, which are mercilessly included here. Yikes. On the positive side, the band's strongest point is easily the double-pronged guitar attack, which displays a tight-knit and melodic, almost-classical temperament. No doubt the experience of the band, which includes former members of Sadus, Testament, Death, Iced Earth, and Dimmu Borgir, is evident here. The production is also quite good, allowing space for all the instruments to shine clearly. It's just a shame it all gets lost amidst this formula and cheesy death metal posturing. There's better and heavier music out there. Sorry lads. (Paragon Records)

band website

Faust2space

Shadowfost - "Essence // Mindscape" CD

From Italy comes this quartet who have a sound noticeably founded on black metal, but with an added technologically-curious thrash element. Like early Fear Factory, Shadowfost harness breakneck tempos, but add their own contemporary spin on the tired and overplayed death/thrash genre. Stellar production and dense layering of sounds (are those samples?) make this one a definite bass-bin boomer with a good amount of sound depth. "Fear Shaped World" is a winner, with a super-huge guitar and scathing vocals that remind me of Carcass (which several other tracks do, too). The drum sound is also notably huge and pummeling, and "Essence // Mindscape" is a fast and furious album of inhuman speed, intense drums, and hellish vocal torment. My complaint here is that the band so rarely change up tempos during the album's 30+ minutes. It's a strong showing for a debut, but without at least some book-ended ambient or atmospheric flourishes, this one's positively numbing, and ultimately forgettable. (ATMF)

Shadowfost website