I can taste the sin on this cd! Unholy Fuck , this cd is 15 yrs old! Pavement music sent me this to review for my old zine and i wanted to review something for this blog that I was familiar with so I popped this in. Back in 1998 when I first reviewed it I thought it was good ; not the Death Metal juggernaut that The Ultimate Incantation is but pretty good. Listening to it now Black To The Blind has just gotten better! what I notice most about it is that this is the VADER album where guitarist Peter had really found his own voice and kinda let go of the nondescript Death Metal growl. and like always they add something to each song that will differentiate it from the next while still delivering the straightforward balls to the wall molten Metal we desire. and listening to Black To The Blind reminded me that there are still alot of VADER albums I need to get and that VADER should be considered one of the top Metal bands in the underground for all they've accomplished and been through withing their career. So if you neglected Black To The Blind and still have interest in VADER do not hesitate to pick it up 'cos it's a humdinger of a Metal album and delivers the goods. 10 songs in a little over 30 minutes and on this one we got Shambo on bass , doc on drums and Mauser on guitar.......Mauser. Arty
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"It's a black day when you realize that your life's been a waste of time." SPEEDEALERS got some good lyrics to their songs. If you never heard of SPEEDEALER this album was released in 2002 and SPEEDEALER play super fast rock n' roll. I'ts the hardest punk combined with the speed and agrression of hardcore with a tinge of thrash metal quality to them. Vocals pissed off and growled though gritted teeth by guitarist Jeff Hirshberg , rattling off inspired and meaningful words of wisdom along with harsh insults and scathing criticisms on all our sorry asses. I read some bad reviews on Second Sight but I myself really enjoy it. I have Here Comes Death and I just ordered their first album when they were called REO SPEEDEALER and while I do like Here Comes Death more than Second Sight , Second Sight is nowhere near as bad as some reviews I read make it out to be. It's still mostly fast as a jackrabbit fuckin' but interspersed with some sludgy interludes and moments of thoughtful , somber , introspective clean guitar like on "Fractured." "Kill Myself Tonight" is a great anthem for the suicidally downtrodden and would be a great song to leave on repeat before you do yourself in so friends and family could discover your corpse while it's good time jolt is blaring in the background on your cheap bloodstained boombox.
So this is a worthy purchase if you are into thrash , and or the nastier , sleazier , redneckier side of hardcore pun especially since you can get it on amazon for about $3.00! It has 12 songs in less than 40 mins and comes in a digipack. Arty
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Sure the worldwide Metal scene is vastly overpopulated , it's collapsing in on itself and most Metal fans are poor drunken drokkin' bastiches but DEFLESHED could of stayed around. Why did they call it quits? At least they churned out about 5 or so albums of high intensity neck wrecking war lusting Metallic Death/Thrash! I mean it , these fuckers are fast and the drums are almost out of control , almost but they are tight as fuck and focused , firing for full effect. Gustaf , lord of power and pain/bassist/vocalist , has a good growl/shout and he sounds even better when you got the lyrics on hand. 11 trax including a DESTRUCTION cover. I'm still listening to this trying to digest the first 4 songs when "Metalbounded" speeds in and cranks it up even more. DEFLESHED called it a day but left behind a legacy of Metal worthy of taking a nose dive into! Arty Flores
Reply
I was drunk enough to where I missed SOLSTICE when they played to 2011 Gore Growlers ball or do not remember! Pretty fuckin' stupid of me but I do remember buying the tape version when this was first released by century Media. And I remember calling up my friend Aaron ,(who also threw the Gore Growlers Ball), and telling him about my latest metal purchase who shot right back at me that he had also bought the SOLSTICE album that very same day but on cd format! what a coincidence! In my opinion I think this cd went kind of un noticed when it hit but with the current state of desolation in the worldwide metal scene , through the ashes and the fire and the death this album has stood the test of time and become a classic and is mandatory to a death/thrash fans collection. I mean , starting with the sound they achieved on here. It's raw , brutal , caustic but sounds great and you can hear everything , every note and riff and the bass is very loud and a little distorted. Guitarists Rob Barretts vocals are so raw and tortured and PISSED!! I finally got the lyrics for it and I believe him when he's barking and growling about these things he has written about which are good lyrics to boot! Then we got drum demigod Alex Marquez on the drum throne , Mark Van Erp on bass and Dennis Munoz , who resides in San Antonio , on guitar. A superstar lineup to be sure but a group of Metal musicians who were in the right place and time to create a Metal masterpiece.
Their songs have a savage structure but have these moments of coherent classic Metal to them or a really heavy part that dives into some blasting chaos all weaved and intertwined that works on a basic level of death/thrash mayhem! This is a album that never gets old for me that I can depend on and say "This is Metal and it kicks your emo-nu-rock-mall metal bands ass!" But it's in desperate need of a re-release and I hope someone like Metal Blade or Relapse picks up the ball and puts it out again with it's bad ass Ed repka artwork , lyrics , liner notes , classic photos and pictures of show flyers , and whatever bonus trax they can dig up and a extra disc of one of their early live shows! I want it all!! Arty
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They wear suites and wield chainsaw? This is a really well put together cd. The packaging is great with a thick booklet full of pics and lyrics and killer artwork for the cover and the first track "New World Terror" is a hard oldschool thrash attack and like the sticker says on the cd case TORMENT really do a good job at being VENOM/MOTORHEAD impersonators. Very good in fact because what Metal Head woth their weight in bullet belts and broken beer bottles does not like VENOM and MOTORHEAD? Other than that all you need to know about Tormentation is that the vocals of bassist Jorn Rutter have a hardcore punk feel to them that reminds me of bands like COCKNOOSE , HAMMERLOCK , LIMECELL , and ANTiSEEN and if your familiar with those bands then your interest should be peaked. And that there are 18 trax on this cd which clocks in at about 61 minutes or so including covers of "Please Don't Touch" and "Outbreak Of Evil". Arty
Reply
Yes , long live Mexican thrash! And I bet when MORTUARY opened up for SLAYER back in 94 that was one wild fucker of a show! Bet someone got stabbed! I got the tape version of blackened Images back in 91 , maybe 92 and while I did like it and the novelty of discovering a Mexican Death Metal band it did not have the Florida Morrisound sound that I liked and it was nowhere near the Swedish sound and miles removed from the Bay area thrash scene so it just didn't hit me as hard as those other bands , but listening to it now over 20 yrs later I finally appreciate Blackened Images for what it is to me , and to me it is a cross between Slayers - Show No Mercy and Massacres - From Beyond. A bloody violent twisted mass of infected flesh pulling and ripping to form a grotesque jagged monster of teeth , claws , hair , and tumors that flips over a bus load of little kids and guts them , rapes them , and eats them! Primitive , raw , brutal , but ultimately satisfying and alot of fun to see that go down.
Primitive in the sound , the low rent production value does hinder Blackened Images just as it helps it , giving it charm and underground Metal street cred and a cool dirty vibe. But I can't help but wonder if for their next album if MORTUARY had gotten into Morrisound or Sunlight studios and busted out something with a top notch sound. I think MORTUARY played it by the numbers on this album with the speed , galloping rhythms , chugging riffs and whammy bar overkill solos. Tried and true Heavy Metal formulas on every song. The drums are good and I noticed the stuff the drummer does and it sounds good to me and the bass is actually audible which is suprising. And with the way Death Metal is these days Blackened Images sounds fresher than it did back in 91 and that's saying something! Something like almost every new Death Metal band today sounds the same!
There's not one song in particular that I like more than the rest , it's Blackened Images as a whole experience and how it makes me feel and the enjoyment I get from it. finally I just discovered that it has different artwork of some demons cutting jesus to pieces on a altar or slab and that a cd copy of Blackened Images run from $60.00 up to $150.00!!!! but almost as suprising as that is that MORTUARY is still active. Long Live Mexican Thrash! Arty
Reply
STUMP has a song about digging up graves and shitting on the corpses face! What the fuck!?! This is one of the grossest cds I have in my collection! The first few times I listened to CARCASS - Reek Of Putrefaction it really did make me a bit physically ill and STUMPS - Holy Shit gives me that kind of feeling when I listen to it and read the lyrics. Which are mostly about eating shit! And stuff with piss. Butt! STUMP truly know how to craft a catchy ass song and write some good simple sounding riffs that really stick in your ear. Most of the songs are midpaced to slow heavy crunchers with a few speedy parts and a bit of blast but the majority is mid pace stuff. The sound is great , thick , clear , crisp and very identifiable to STUMP and the vocals are gurgly , bubbly , vomited , sloppy , toilet mouth spews that rather work with the disgusting lyrics. Overall I really like this cd and it sucks that STUMP called it quits because I bet they would of put out some great albums on par with other sick ass bands like IMPALED , GHOUL , and EXHUMED , i really think they were that good. And again if anyone is interested please get in touch so we can smear this shit all over the fuckin' place! Arty
Reply
Hell Of The Living Dead is one of my favorite Italian zombie movies and would benefit greatly if they could redo the soundtrack and include "The Curse Of Death" on the soundtrack during one of the zombies eating flesh scenes. Any ENTRAILS song would be great, actually! This is fantastic death Metal that is everything Death Metal is supposed to be! Using the Swedish sound as a base and building on that with some U.S. style and giving it a horror movie feel with some key song intros and effects. Be it fast, slow and heavy, or blasting madness ENTRAILS use everything in the morbid side of Metal to create a mood and they do it well. Vocals are great , grueling , swampy , guttural , but understandable curses of doom from beyond! Plus the artwork and lyrics exude a smothering atmosphere of doom , gloom , and DEATH! Excellent Death Metal release! Arty Flores
Reply
Not to be too sentimental but I just saw the best double penetration scene ever! Ya know GROINCHURN is a cool name for any kind of band. I hesitate to label this grindcore 'cos GROINCHURN are pretty loose with the genre and throw all kinds of styles around in this cd. Hardcore, thrash, punk, groove, death, and a sense of irony and humor and mix it all together and firehose it back at ya. But yeah, grindcore 'cos they do a CRIPPLE BASTARDS cover. To be honest I wasn't feeling it when I listened to it earlier but if it catches you at the right moment you will recognize it's worth. and this cd is from 1998 and GROINCHURN has called it quits but you can get this one cheap from amazon.com.
Reply
Ya know , there comes a time in every killing spree when you just gotta turn the gun on yerself. TURN IT,TURN IT,TURN IT!
Lord Of storms is a saving grace of monumental and prolific Death Metal. They give us almost a hour of crushing mid paced Metal , Heavy as a herd of elephants doing battle with a gang of hippos! Unstoppable, thunderous, soul crushing, VORE certainly deliver the goods and while most of the songs are half speed, when they do turn up the velocity it has more impact. Guitarist Pages vocals fit almost perfectly with their style and he does these great long growls and you can understand him! VORE really harkens back to the likes of AUTOPSY, CIANIDE, and DEATH but add their own identity to it and make it sound new. Like the 8th track "Opaque" shows VORES softer technical acoustic side giving them more dimension and off setting their ground and pound attack. Really enjoy this disc and I bet their new one, Gravehammer is even better! Arty
Reply
Mondo Sleazo fanzine / Blog
VADER - Black To The Blind quick review
I can taste the sin on this cd! Unholy Fuck , this cd is 15 yrs old! Pavement music sent me this to review for my old zine and i wanted to review something for this blog that I was familiar with so I popped this in. Back in 1998 when I first reviewed it I thought it was good ; not the Death Metal juggernaut that The Ultimate Incantation is but pretty good. Listening to it now Black To The Blind has just gotten better! what I notice most about it is that this is the VADER album where guitarist Peter had really found his own voice and kinda let go of the nondescript Death Metal growl. and like always they add something to each song that will differentiate it from the next while still delivering the straightforward balls to the wall molten Metal we desire. and listening to Black To The Blind reminded me that there are still alot of VADER albums I need to get and that VADER should be considered one of the top Metal bands in the underground for all they've accomplished and been through withing their career. So if you neglected Black To The Blind and still have interest in VADER do not hesitate to pick it up 'cos it's a humdinger of a Metal album and delivers the goods. 10 songs in a little over 30 minutes and on this one we got Shambo on bass , doc on drums and Mauser on guitar.......Mauser. Arty
Reply
SPEEDEALER - Second Sight cd
"It's a black day when you realize that your life's been a waste of time." SPEEDEALERS got some good lyrics to their songs. If you never heard of SPEEDEALER this album was released in 2002 and SPEEDEALER play super fast rock n' roll. I'ts the hardest punk combined with the speed and agrression of hardcore with a tinge of thrash metal quality to them. Vocals pissed off and growled though gritted teeth by guitarist Jeff Hirshberg , rattling off inspired and meaningful words of wisdom along with harsh insults and scathing criticisms on all our sorry asses. I read some bad reviews on Second Sight but I myself really enjoy it. I have Here Comes Death and I just ordered their first album when they were called REO SPEEDEALER and while I do like Here Comes Death more than Second Sight , Second Sight is nowhere near as bad as some reviews I read make it out to be. It's still mostly fast as a jackrabbit fuckin' but interspersed with some sludgy interludes and moments of thoughtful , somber , introspective clean guitar like on "Fractured." "Kill Myself Tonight" is a great anthem for the suicidally downtrodden and would be a great song to leave on repeat before you do yourself in so friends and family could discover your corpse while it's good time jolt is blaring in the background on your cheap bloodstained boombox. So this is a worthy purchase if you are into thrash , and or the nastier , sleazier , redneckier side of hardcore pun especially since you can get it on amazon for about $3.00! It has 12 songs in less than 40 mins and comes in a digipack. Arty
Reply
DEFLESHED - Under The Blade cd
Sure the worldwide Metal scene is vastly overpopulated , it's collapsing in on itself and most Metal fans are poor drunken drokkin' bastiches but DEFLESHED could of stayed around. Why did they call it quits? At least they churned out about 5 or so albums of high intensity neck wrecking war lusting Metallic Death/Thrash! I mean it , these fuckers are fast and the drums are almost out of control , almost but they are tight as fuck and focused , firing for full effect. Gustaf , lord of power and pain/bassist/vocalist , has a good growl/shout and he sounds even better when you got the lyrics on hand. 11 trax including a DESTRUCTION cover. I'm still listening to this trying to digest the first 4 songs when "Metalbounded" speeds in and cranks it up even more. DEFLESHED called it a day but left behind a legacy of Metal worthy of taking a nose dive into! Arty Flores
Reply
SOLSTICE - 1992 release titled The Sentencing
I was drunk enough to where I missed SOLSTICE when they played to 2011 Gore Growlers ball or do not remember! Pretty fuckin' stupid of me but I do remember buying the tape version when this was first released by century Media. And I remember calling up my friend Aaron ,(who also threw the Gore Growlers Ball), and telling him about my latest metal purchase who shot right back at me that he had also bought the SOLSTICE album that very same day but on cd format! what a coincidence! In my opinion I think this cd went kind of un noticed when it hit but with the current state of desolation in the worldwide metal scene , through the ashes and the fire and the death this album has stood the test of time and become a classic and is mandatory to a death/thrash fans collection. I mean , starting with the sound they achieved on here. It's raw , brutal , caustic but sounds great and you can hear everything , every note and riff and the bass is very loud and a little distorted. Guitarists Rob Barretts vocals are so raw and tortured and PISSED!! I finally got the lyrics for it and I believe him when he's barking and growling about these things he has written about which are good lyrics to boot! Then we got drum demigod Alex Marquez on the drum throne , Mark Van Erp on bass and Dennis Munoz , who resides in San Antonio , on guitar. A superstar lineup to be sure but a group of Metal musicians who were in the right place and time to create a Metal masterpiece. Their songs have a savage structure but have these moments of coherent classic Metal to them or a really heavy part that dives into some blasting chaos all weaved and intertwined that works on a basic level of death/thrash mayhem! This is a album that never gets old for me that I can depend on and say "This is Metal and it kicks your emo-nu-rock-mall metal bands ass!" But it's in desperate need of a re-release and I hope someone like Metal Blade or Relapse picks up the ball and puts it out again with it's bad ass Ed repka artwork , lyrics , liner notes , classic photos and pictures of show flyers , and whatever bonus trax they can dig up and a extra disc of one of their early live shows! I want it all!! Arty
Reply
TORMENT - Tormentation cd
They wear suites and wield chainsaw? This is a really well put together cd. The packaging is great with a thick booklet full of pics and lyrics and killer artwork for the cover and the first track "New World Terror" is a hard oldschool thrash attack and like the sticker says on the cd case TORMENT really do a good job at being VENOM/MOTORHEAD impersonators. Very good in fact because what Metal Head woth their weight in bullet belts and broken beer bottles does not like VENOM and MOTORHEAD? Other than that all you need to know about Tormentation is that the vocals of bassist Jorn Rutter have a hardcore punk feel to them that reminds me of bands like COCKNOOSE , HAMMERLOCK , LIMECELL , and ANTiSEEN and if your familiar with those bands then your interest should be peaked. And that there are 18 trax on this cd which clocks in at about 61 minutes or so including covers of "Please Don't Touch" and "Outbreak Of Evil". Arty
Reply
MORTUARY - Blackened Images cd review
Yes , long live Mexican thrash! And I bet when MORTUARY opened up for SLAYER back in 94 that was one wild fucker of a show! Bet someone got stabbed! I got the tape version of blackened Images back in 91 , maybe 92 and while I did like it and the novelty of discovering a Mexican Death Metal band it did not have the Florida Morrisound sound that I liked and it was nowhere near the Swedish sound and miles removed from the Bay area thrash scene so it just didn't hit me as hard as those other bands , but listening to it now over 20 yrs later I finally appreciate Blackened Images for what it is to me , and to me it is a cross between Slayers - Show No Mercy and Massacres - From Beyond. A bloody violent twisted mass of infected flesh pulling and ripping to form a grotesque jagged monster of teeth , claws , hair , and tumors that flips over a bus load of little kids and guts them , rapes them , and eats them! Primitive , raw , brutal , but ultimately satisfying and alot of fun to see that go down. Primitive in the sound , the low rent production value does hinder Blackened Images just as it helps it , giving it charm and underground Metal street cred and a cool dirty vibe. But I can't help but wonder if for their next album if MORTUARY had gotten into Morrisound or Sunlight studios and busted out something with a top notch sound. I think MORTUARY played it by the numbers on this album with the speed , galloping rhythms , chugging riffs and whammy bar overkill solos. Tried and true Heavy Metal formulas on every song. The drums are good and I noticed the stuff the drummer does and it sounds good to me and the bass is actually audible which is suprising. And with the way Death Metal is these days Blackened Images sounds fresher than it did back in 91 and that's saying something! Something like almost every new Death Metal band today sounds the same! There's not one song in particular that I like more than the rest , it's Blackened Images as a whole experience and how it makes me feel and the enjoyment I get from it. finally I just discovered that it has different artwork of some demons cutting jesus to pieces on a altar or slab and that a cd copy of Blackened Images run from $60.00 up to $150.00!!!! but almost as suprising as that is that MORTUARY is still active. Long Live Mexican Thrash! Arty
Reply
STUMP - Holy Shit cd
STUMP has a song about digging up graves and shitting on the corpses face! What the fuck!?! This is one of the grossest cds I have in my collection! The first few times I listened to CARCASS - Reek Of Putrefaction it really did make me a bit physically ill and STUMPS - Holy Shit gives me that kind of feeling when I listen to it and read the lyrics. Which are mostly about eating shit! And stuff with piss. Butt! STUMP truly know how to craft a catchy ass song and write some good simple sounding riffs that really stick in your ear. Most of the songs are midpaced to slow heavy crunchers with a few speedy parts and a bit of blast but the majority is mid pace stuff. The sound is great , thick , clear , crisp and very identifiable to STUMP and the vocals are gurgly , bubbly , vomited , sloppy , toilet mouth spews that rather work with the disgusting lyrics. Overall I really like this cd and it sucks that STUMP called it quits because I bet they would of put out some great albums on par with other sick ass bands like IMPALED , GHOUL , and EXHUMED , i really think they were that good. And again if anyone is interested please get in touch so we can smear this shit all over the fuckin' place! Arty
Reply
ENTRAILS - Tales From The Morgue cd
Hell Of The Living Dead is one of my favorite Italian zombie movies and would benefit greatly if they could redo the soundtrack and include "The Curse Of Death" on the soundtrack during one of the zombies eating flesh scenes. Any ENTRAILS song would be great, actually! This is fantastic death Metal that is everything Death Metal is supposed to be! Using the Swedish sound as a base and building on that with some U.S. style and giving it a horror movie feel with some key song intros and effects. Be it fast, slow and heavy, or blasting madness ENTRAILS use everything in the morbid side of Metal to create a mood and they do it well. Vocals are great , grueling , swampy , guttural , but understandable curses of doom from beyond! Plus the artwork and lyrics exude a smothering atmosphere of doom , gloom , and DEATH! Excellent Death Metal release! Arty Flores
Reply
GROINCHURN - Fink cd
Not to be too sentimental but I just saw the best double penetration scene ever! Ya know GROINCHURN is a cool name for any kind of band. I hesitate to label this grindcore 'cos GROINCHURN are pretty loose with the genre and throw all kinds of styles around in this cd. Hardcore, thrash, punk, groove, death, and a sense of irony and humor and mix it all together and firehose it back at ya. But yeah, grindcore 'cos they do a CRIPPLE BASTARDS cover. To be honest I wasn't feeling it when I listened to it earlier but if it catches you at the right moment you will recognize it's worth. and this cd is from 1998 and GROINCHURN has called it quits but you can get this one cheap from amazon.com.
Reply
VORE - Lord Of Storms cd
Ya know , there comes a time in every killing spree when you just gotta turn the gun on yerself. TURN IT,TURN IT,TURN IT! Lord Of storms is a saving grace of monumental and prolific Death Metal. They give us almost a hour of crushing mid paced Metal , Heavy as a herd of elephants doing battle with a gang of hippos! Unstoppable, thunderous, soul crushing, VORE certainly deliver the goods and while most of the songs are half speed, when they do turn up the velocity it has more impact. Guitarist Pages vocals fit almost perfectly with their style and he does these great long growls and you can understand him! VORE really harkens back to the likes of AUTOPSY, CIANIDE, and DEATH but add their own identity to it and make it sound new. Like the 8th track "Opaque" shows VORES softer technical acoustic side giving them more dimension and off setting their ground and pound attack. Really enjoy this disc and I bet their new one, Gravehammer is even better! Arty
Reply