Monthly Archives: February 2017

Death metal Battle Royale Round 1: Carnage’s Dark Recollections vs Fleshcrawl’s Descend into the Absurd

Posted on February 19, 2017 by

   Impressionistic appraisal: Fleshcrawl’s Descend into the Absurd (1992) Influenced by Autopsy in both name and timbre, Fleshcrawl eschewed for the most part the necrolibidinal obsessions of that fine band to create a relentlessly dark and epic brand of death … Continue reading →

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Death Metal Battle Royale Round 1: Necrophobic’s The Nocturnal Silence vs At the Gates’ The Red in the Sky is Ours

Posted on February 13, 2017 by

   [Paul Bacque of now-defunct death metal band Condemner was kind enough to offer an incisive, preliminary analysis of the ongoing Battle Royale match-up between these two hard-to-score classics. I have added brief comments in italics below his.] Despite both … Continue reading →

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Death Metal Battle Royale Round 1: Darkthrone’s Soulside Journey vs Master’s On The Seventh Day God Created…

Posted on February 10, 2017 by

   Impressionistic appraisal: Master’s On The Seventh Day God Created (1991) Death metal was always angry music, but Master – founding sinew of the genre – dialed down nearly all pretension to progressive writing and brought a decidedly hardcore approach … Continue reading →

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Who cries for the drummer?

Posted on February 6, 2017 by

My natural affinity and familiarity with the guitar insinuates itself into the posts on this blog. I have formerly expressed the opinion that metal is a predominantly melody-driven form, and since it arose from the ensemble tradition of rock n … Continue reading →

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The lost concept of the demo

Posted on February 6, 2017 by

A promising young band which will remain unnamed released a demo last year and threw the proverbial kitchen sink at it. Chock full of riffs, perhaps far too much so, the demo presented precocious talent getting carried away in their … Continue reading →

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Death Metal Battle Royale Round 1: Immolation’s Here In After vs Demilich’s Nespithe

Posted on February 5, 2017 by

   Impressionistic appraisal: Immolation’s Here In After (1995) A demonic manifestation expressed through death metal of unprecedented baroque flourishes, Here In After seethes with violent emotion and incomparable forward momentum. Immolation when on song presented a seductive counterpoint to the bludgeoning … Continue reading →

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Vastum’s Hole Below, and the feminine in death metal and in life

Posted on February 4, 2017 by

Vastum is an American death metal band formed by guitarist/vocalist Laila Abdul-Rauf, also of heavy metal/rock band Hammers Of Fortune. Vastum‘s lyrics revolve around the topic of sexuality viewed from the female perspective, and therefore have attracted some attention from … Continue reading →

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Retrospective: Pagan Altar’s Mythical And Magical

Posted on February 1, 2017 by

“Beware the Crow that stands alone, the one that watches and waits, Beware that unguarded moment, that subtle twist of fate. It may just be the eyes of the Crow man” Nunhead Cemetery in South London provided a perennial inspiration … Continue reading →

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