Category Archives: Death Metal

Albums, Black Metal, Death Metal, Genre, New Releases, Record Collecting

New Releases – 13th July 2018

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Quality over quantity today!

Blasphemy – Live Ritual: Friday the 13th and Victory (Son Of The Damned)

Nuclear War Now! Productions offer up two exciting archive reissues from the Canadian bestial black metal terrors Blasphemy. Live Ritual: Friday the 13th was recorded on a mini-disc recorder at a show in 2001 and the recording became the first release from the fledgling NWN! Productions. Following the show, the band were given the mini-disc recorder and put it to good use, recording a basement rehearsal (by placing it on top of then-bassist Bestial Saviour of the Undead Legions’ washing machine). The recordings sounded brilliant and were released as a bonus disc with the live release. Both of these recordings are sought-after rarities and rightly so, they’re a magnificent and unholy racket. Much more in-your-face than the band’s studio albums. Essential stuff for black metal fans. CD and Tape editions were already released back in May but the vinyl editions are released today. Looks like maybe Europe is getting these later. It’s all a bit confusing. Look out for them, anyway!

Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury

Don’t know much about this band but I remember their previous album Abyssal Gods getting rave reviews. It’s avant-garde black metal with synths and horns and all that kinda stuff. They’re from New York and supposedly they trying to embody the sound of their city “from top floor luxury to the rotten underground.” Sounds pretty interesting so I’ll be checking this one out.

That’s about the lot for me this week. What will you be buying or checking out today?

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Black Metal, Classic Rock, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, New Releases, Record Collecting

New Releases – 6th July 2018

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The new release bonanza continues… this is an even better release week than last week.

Immortal – Northern Chaos Gods

One of 2018’s major releases here. The black metal giants return with their first album since their split with frontman Abbath. And by the sounds of it, I don’t think anyone will miss him. This is vintage black metal with enough glacial riffing to cover the whole of Blashyrkh with an impenetrable and grim permafrost. Or something like that! It’s great basically, that’s what I’m trying to say.

Bundle with bonus single and signed certificate!

Rotting Christ – Under Our Black Cult

Peaceville cover the Hellenic black metal bands’ early days with this 5CD box set. Covers the bands early demos and also contains the Passage To Arcturo mini-album and also has the albums Thy Mighty Contract and Non Serviam. Throw in a 72 page book and a bundle with The Call 7″ and you’ve got a must-buy. I pre-ordered this the moment I found out about it.

Death – Death By Metal DVD

The great Chuck Schuldiner and his seminal band Death get a welcome and long-overdue documentary feature. As well as covering the man and band, the doc also gets into the early days of the death metal scene too. This is such a fascinating genre, guy and career… I don’t see how this could be anything other than essential viewing.

Mortuary Drape – Necromantic Doom Returns

I’ve been wanting to get into this Italian band for years but it’s quite hard to get their stuff on CD or vinyl. So I can’t possibly pass on this compilation of their first demos. Absolute raw demo sound but you know that sound totally fits necro music like this. Reminds me of a gruffer version of the other big Italian band Death SS. Hopefully more reissues of the early albums will follow.

Lucifer – Lucifer II

I checked out this band’s first album because of the link to Cathedral but I found it quite disappointing. But the band has changed a bit for album No. 2. Now Nicke Andersson of Entombed fame has joined and I’m intrigued again. Sounds like better songs this time around but I’m not totally convinced I could go a whole album. Worth checking out though, might be a dark horse.

Y&T – Earthshaker, Black Tiger and Mean Streak

Three classic Y&T albums get the Rock Candy treatment. It doesn’t look like there’s bonus tracks here though, just the label’s usual quality remastering and liner notes. Got these albums on vinyl and CD already so can’t see me being tempted by these. But if you like fun, catchy meat-and-potatoes LA hard rawk then look no further!

And that’s the lot for me, tons of great stuff coming out lately. What are you going to be buying or checking out today?

Albums, Death Metal, Genre, Reviews, Thrash Metal

Pestilence – Malleus Maleficarum (Review)

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Pestilence are now known as death metal masters but on their 1988 debut album the Dutchmen were still in the process of pushing the Kreator-style thrash of their demos to increasingly aggressive extremes. The crunchy riffs, violent tempos, moshing breakdowns and vocal phrasing are pure thrash but the sickening bludgeon of the delivery and the Schuldiner-esque bark of Martin Van Drunen put the band on a collision course with the emergent death metal of the era. The lyrics aren’t much of a read but obsessions with science, atrocity and surgery also push things deathward (“bifurcation of the tumour”) and provide great vocal hooks for Van Drunen’s authoritative vocals in tracks like Parricide and Chemotherapy. Although they had yet to mature stylistically, Pestilence’s formidable songwriting and precision brutality makes this a must for fans of death and thrash. It’s named after the infamous “Hammer Of The Witches” treatise, yet Malleus Maleficarum is so magical from front to back that you could well suspect this band of sorcery.

HMO Rating: 4.5 Out Of 5

[Pestilence – Chemotherapy]

Bonus-filled Hammerheart Records Edition
Albums, Black Metal, Classic Rock, Death Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal, New Releases, Progressive Rock, Record Collecting

New Releases – 29th June 2018

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Tons of new stuff out today… mostly reissued stuff. I’ll try and be nitpicky but this is going to be a long one I reckon.

The Antichrist Imperium – Volume II: Every Tongue Shall Praise Satan

This is an essential new release from one of the many Akercocke-related bands on the go at the moment. You know I’m nuts for this stuff. Ex-Akercocker Matt Wilcock is joined by current Akercockerers David Gray and Sam Loynes and Sam “I’ve never been in Akercocke” Bean. I loved their 2015 debut and album number two sounds like their upping their game. Ripping, blasting satanic death metal but this time round its blacker, more avant-garde, more eclectic. Pure devilry.

Bruce Dickinson – Scream For Me Sarajevo

It’s not every week you get some Bruce solo action! This is a documentary about the great man’s Balls To Picasso-era solo tour of war-torn Sarajevo. I’m not sure how much live music footage is contained in the movie but it looks fascinating and there is also a soundtrack disc which is pretty cheap. Mainly just a solo best-of, but it does have a Japanese bonus track from the Tyranny Of Souls era that I don’t have. So it will get bought just for that.

Paradise Lost – Believe In Nothing (Remixed/Remastered)

Gloomy northern nihilists Paradise Lost reissue another album from their electro-pop years. This was widely regarded as their worst album by most people, band included. But it’s been remixed, remastered and re-covered and now it’s a lost classic! Yippee. I can’t comment cause this is the only Paradise Lost studio album I’ve never heard. Will probably buy it for that reason alone but I wasn’t a big fan of the preceding album Host and this is in that vein too.

Coroner – Mental Vortex and Grin

Here are two more Coroner reissues to follow the recent Sony reissues of the first three albums. This time it’s Noise doing these though so they’ll probably be done a bit differently. Not sure why different labels are handling these… I got all this stuff already so I reckon I’ll just sit this out. Great albums though. All five will probably get reissued again before you know it. It’s a funny old business.

Guns N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction

The classic debut gets a long overdue expanded, remastered reissue. There are many variants, but if you want the maximum audio/video content you’re looking at over £100 to get the super deluxe. The 2CD will do me, might buy some more bonus tracks as downloads. I should be excited about this but instead I just feel like I’m missing out on something.

David Bowie – Welcome To The Blackout (Live London ’78)

CD edition of the live album that was released earlier in the year on vinyl (as part of 2018’s RSD slate). They did that with the previous RSD live release Cracked Actor too so I saw this one coming and avoided the over-priced RSD version. Kinda bugs me that I’ll have one on vinyl and one on CD though…

Various Artists – Winds Of Time: The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal 1979-1985

New comp of NWOBHM goodies. I’ve been hoping for a big exhaustive box set that would do this era justice and really tell its story. Not sure this is it… but there are a lot of tracks here and it looks like fun. I’ve slept on a few NWOBHM comps over the years and usually regretted it when they’ve went out of print so I really should buy this one. Probably not a priority though.

And that’s about it for me. Like I said, loads being released today so let me know what you’re after.

Albums, Black Metal, Death Metal, Genre, Now Playing/Mini-Reviews, Thrash Metal

Now Playing: Blasphemy – Fallen Angel Of Doom

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Today’s listening of choice is Blasphemy’s 1990 seminal debut album Fallen Angel Of Doom. This one still gets regular spins at HMO Mission Control. A ferocious and cult mix of grindcore and early black metal like Bathory and Sarcofago, it’s not especially memorable or kind to the ears but it’s totally addictive. And it’s massively influential too. Tons of bestial black metal and/or war metal bands still devotedly follow the template set here.

Album Cover of the Week, Albums, Black Metal, Death Metal, Genre

New Releases – 15th June 2018

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Let’s keep this short and satanic. Apart from a few interesting(ish) reissues there’s only one new release that truly matters today.

Blasphamagoatachrist – Black Metal Warfare

Bestial black metal demo from members of Blasphemy, Goatpenis and Antichrist. Absolute metal bombs going off left, right and centre on this one. I love Blasphemy and this stuff is hitting that spot… which makes it essential. Hilarious band name a plus. The fact that it’s only available on tape or streaming a negative. But hopefully there will be more to come. And it’s CanCon so you have to listen to it. It’s the law!

And that really is it for this week. There’s also a reissue of Sepultura’s Arise that I quite fancy but I couldn’t be arsed writing about it and didn’t want to detract from the importance of Blasphamagoatachrist. See you next week!

Death Metal, Doom Metal, Genre, New Releases, Record Collecting, Thrash Metal

New Releases – 8th June 2018

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I’m fairly skint (blame Ghost and Def Leppard) so hopefully there’s nothing good out today… fingers crossed!

Various Artists – Contract In Blood: A History Of UK Thrash Metal

Ahh baws. Writer/musician Ian Glasper turns the spotlight on the overlooked UK thrash scene with this exciting box set and companion book. The CD set has five whole discs (separated into various areas of the UK) and it looks like a total blast and great value too. There are always going to be gripes and omissions with this kind of thing but who cares? Both the book and box set are getting bought pronto.

Megadeth – Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good: The Final Kill

Double baws! The incredible, bonkers Megadebut gets reissued (again) with bonus stuff and some sort of re-recorded version of These Boots. Glad I’ve got the original version on LP but I want this too. You can never have too many versions of albums like this! A must(aine) buy.

All that metal thrashing madness leaves me with little interest in the snail’s pace doom of Yob and their new album Our Raw Heart. But it sounds like a good ‘un so I daresay I’ll have to investigate it eventually. Tomb Mold’s Manor Of Infinite Forms, their second album of putrid death metal, sounds more up my alley. And then there’s Zeal & Ardor’s second album Stranger Fruit. Lots of people loving this but I don’t get it. What am I missing?

And that’s the lot. Looks like my wallet isn’t getting a week off after all… ah well…