Tag Archives: Earache

Death Metal, Genre, Thrash Metal

Bolt Thrower – Forgotten Existence (1988 Peel Session)

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“Past the point of no return”

Bolt Thrower scored a good deal of buzz and a record deal from their 1988 Peel Session. When you listen to the radio session’s opening track Forgotten Existence, you can hear why. This is thrashier than the lumbering tank-tread riffing the Brummies would become known for but it’s crusty and hefty stuff and, like a lot of the BBC recordings, sounds incredible. The riffs are very Slayer-inspired, which is a very good thing, and original vocalist Alan West has a punkier voice that reminds me of the early Kreator stuff that Ventor sang. This is also a very good thing. Throw in the band’s perennial “tragedy of war” theme and you’ve got one hugely promising banger. Forgotten Existence is a great start to one of extreme metal’s most memorable careers.

Doom Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal, Song Posts

Cathedral – Midnight Mountain

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“Oooohhhh… c’mon now”

Can you feel the groove? Doom metal doesn’t have to be heads-down misery all the time so Cathedral dial in some fun on the wonderful Midnight Mountain. Cathedral started their career by ploughing a miserable, glacial-paced furrow but they weren’t the kind of band to let themselves get pigeonholed for long. Their heroes like Sabbath and Pentagram had room for some swagger and boogie so Cathedral did too. Midnight Mountain‘s snake-hipped rhythm, hand claps and Lee Dorrian’s funky exhortations just never get old. And if that sounds a bit too disco for your liking, don’t forget it’s also thunderingly heavy. Check out the quaking riff four minutes into the song. Can you feel your bowels move?

Death Metal, Genre, Song Posts, Thrash Metal

Nocturnus – Destroying the Manger

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“Chronometer reading 0 B.C.”

As my Top 10 Albums of the Year proved, “death metal in space” was a big thing in 2016. So let’s travel back in time to 1990 and the album that started it all: Nocturnus’ The Key and this excellent blast of sci-fi horror. Some sort of evil cyborg has invented a time machine and set a course for the date 0 B.C. He has only one goal: kill the baby Jesus!

“Blasting away Father, Mother, and Child/laughing hysterically all of the while” the cyborg proves to be devastatingly successful in his mission. And Destroying the Manger proves devastatingly successful too: a wild shred-fest of riffs and solos that gets down to serious moshing business at 4:10. And check out the prominent keyboards too… Nocturnus going where no death metal band had gone before.