Mocking the Philanthropist

Grand Belial's Key are probably my favourite American black metal band. Now, because all of their album covers are defaced Bible storybook pictures and they hail from Virginia you might think that they play some kind of redneck retardo sloppy basement-recorded black metal (not that there's anything wrong with that in and of itself...). But make no mistake, these guys churn out some ballsy, melodic, groovy stuff. There's some seriously godly (ungodly?) riffs here that any fan of Heavy Metal could appreciate. Definitely have their own sound and have never just aped what their contemporaries were doing overseas. Here's their debut full-length from '97.

yoink

Grotesque

Here's some spooooky classic Swedish death metal for Halloween. In the Embrace of Evil compiles Grotesque's Incantation EP from 1990 and some earlier demo tracks. There's elements of early black and thrash metal present rather than the straight-up chunky riffing of their countrymen (there's some of that too). Tomas Lindburg went on to front At the Gates, but this is more primal, potent stuff.

bleeargh

Slice of Doom

Dig that tribute to Blue Cheer in the cover art. One of my favs, Finland's Reverend Bizarre played (they split a year or two ago) Doom Metal in the style of the slow n' low heavyweights of the 80's without sounding like an insincere "retro" cash-in. Fantastic vocals, solos, and RIFFS goddammit. This is the re-release of their demo with bonus tracks from the couple of different versions of the original release, and it starts out with a killer cover of the theme song from Doctor Who. I mean, c'mon.
And if anyone out there is thinking of starting a Rev Biz collection, Svart Records has just started to release super-sexy vinyl editions of their main releases starting with Harbinger of Metal. Mine should be here within the week.

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A Fallen Unicorn

Fuck yeah, unicorns! Here's a cool little EP from Greece's Nocternity with tracks that were recorded at the same time as 2003's Onyx. I cant help be reminded of Graveland with their medieval armour and the way they use synthesizers to add atmosphere rather than over-the-top pomposity. The riffs, overall, sound more like the nordic black metal bands rather than the typical "Greek black metal sound". There's a fantastically successful cover of Bjork's "Pagan Poetry" to close out the EP proper. This is the 05' reissue with the tracks from the splits with Akitsa and Kawir as bonus tracks.

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Take as Needed for Pain

Keeping with the "music that I like to listen to in warm weather" theme of the last few posts, here's a sludge classic from Eyehategod (before the warm weather is replaced by 6 or 7 months of cold). This shit's bleak, maaaan. Powerfully heavy, Sabbath-worshipping, pill popping, bottle-smashing doom-sludge. BUT, there's enough head-nodding grooviness to keep you from slitting your wrists and the nihilistic lyrics are actually pretty interesting.

"enjoy"

Vulcano

Ah summertime, the perfect time for 80's Brazilian death thrash. Bloody Vengeance is the first album by one of the first South American bands to play this kind of music. Chaotic and ugly, but still classy, Possessed and Venom are good reference points. Whenever I look at the back of the CD I read the first track "Dominios of Death" as "Dominos of Death". That is all.

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Jalamanta

I went to the beach today for the first time in ages and I listened to this on the way up. It's Brant Bjork's (former drummer for Fu Manchu, Kyuss and others) first solo album of laid-back desert rock from waaaaay back in 1999. "Let's Get Chinese Eyes" indeed. Maybe later.

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The Archives of Rotten Blues

Greenmachine's last album before breaking up has next to no blues on it, besides maybe a couple of solos that have a blues-rock feel to them. They play doomy sludge with a hardcore punky gallop. The vocals are hoarse, somewhat guteral, and delivered with a very Japanese accent. They got lumped in with "stoner rock" because of their first couple of album's being released on the Man's Ruin label (and probably due to them naming themselves after a Kyuss song), but there's a broader appeal to people into punk/hardcore and thrash metal. Whatever, it's catchy and it's good driving music. Enjoy.

linky

Brocas Helm

Here's something a little more upbeat and a little less grim than my last couple of posts. Brocas Helm have been around since the early 80's but this is only their third full-length album, released in 2004. They put out a couple of records in the mid-80's then only a small handful of demo tapes and singles until this album. Most of the material from those rare, barely-heard releases were re-recorded for this album, which they released themselves. And it's all fucking AWESOME. The two 80's records are solid slabs of classic metal, but this is definitely my favorite of theirs. They've always had a frantic punky vibe and they don't take themselves quite as seriously as some of the other bands playing "epic" metal. Here's a sampling of the lyrics from "Drink and Drive";

"I drink and drive,
drink and drive,
got mothers against me,
but I'm still alive!"

And when "Skullfucker" comes on in the car, I just gotta yell along with the chorus. I'll let you hear that one for yourself. Reccommended for fans of Slough Feg, Thin Lizzy, Manilla Road, ect., as well as any male human with testicles intact.

Skullfuckerrrrrrrrrrrr!

The Devil and the Whore

You'd think that Satan wouldn't have to pay for sex. Here's the first full-length album from Megiddo, one of Canada's best black metal bands. Happy Canada Day, by the way. This shit is killer. Sounds like early Bathory together with all sorts of 80's metal/black metal goodness. Enjoy with a beer.

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Weapon

This 7" (Weapon - Para Bhakti... Salvation) arrived in the mail this week and I've been enjoying it immensely, so I thought that I'd share. I don't know how to describe this other than really great black metal with balls and depth (balls-deep black metal?). This only came out last year, but if it's not sold out already it's damn close and they have a new album that just came out through The Ajna Offensive label. And check out this amazing logo:


The main dude moved to Canada from Bangladesh and they're now based in Edmonton, Alberta. The drummer and the bassist have played in bands such as Revenge, Axis of Adavnce, and Rites Of Thy Degringolade, so you get the best aspects of Canadian black metal together with a certain je ne sais quoi. Aren't I a fancy-pants? Here you go:

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Thy Mighty Contracy

Thy Mighty Contract is the very good debut album from Greece's most known black metal band Rotting Christ. I picked this up on a whim years ago and for whatever reason it took a while for it to click with me. I was probably comparing it to the Scandinavian stuff that I was listening to a lot of at the time. The riffs were more warm and melodic instead of shrill and frosty. The vocals more gruff and less shrieky. There's tasteful keyboards used sparingly and I think that they used a drum machine on this release, but it's not too obvious. Good stuff, have a listen.

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Nuns Have No Fun

Sometimes known as either A Corpse Without Soul or Nuns Have No Fun, this is Mercyful Fate's self-titled debut EP from '82. If King Diamond's vocals annoy the fuck out of you, like they do to many, you might find them more palatable here, being more raw and Halford-esque. It opens with a ridiculously awesome solo and only gets progressively more awesome. Awesome to the max. I'd almost take this over Don't Break The Oath.

face like a dead

Black Thrash Attack

An apt title for Aura Noir's first full-length album. This was another sweet used bin find that I was pretty sure that I'd like based solely on the album title. I guess that you could call them a "supergroup" of sorts, being made up of current/former members of Mayhem, Satyricon, Ulver, Immortal, Ved Buens Ende, yadda yadda. You can probably guess what you're going to get with this. It's good.

Black Thrash!

Protected by the Ejaculation of Wolves

This is a 2005 split release between England's Moss and Wolfmangler. Moss starts up the album with some really bleak, ugly doom metal played live in Holland in '04. Then a noisy remix of the track from the split they did with Nadja. Lots of feedback, lots of stressful heaviness.
Wolfmangler sound like some kinda funeral doom played with stand-up bass, guitar, a couple of electric basses and violin. There's a shuffling, creepy, demented folky vibe to the whole thing, and a strange cover of a Hank Williams Jr. song to boot.

Have a relaxing weekend!

Winterhawk - Revival

Here's some 70's rock-sounding rock from 1982. Hailing from Chicago, I can imagine these guys playing a lot of bar shows and not getting the recognition that they should have. A few years too late, perhaps. Features some ridiculously awesome guitar-work from Jordan Macarus and some great wailing vocals. And the winged centaur on the cover rounds out the package nicely. Enjoy.

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Violent Restitution

Razor are Canadian thrash metal of the highest order. They're fast, heavy and pulverizing, yet still extremely catchy and "upbeat". Definitely some Crossover appeal, especially in the drumming and vocals.  Sound-wise, this falls somewhere in-between the American and German thrash bands.

1988

Immortal

How about Immortal's self-titled first 7"? Yeah? Sounds good? Of course it does! It's Immortal! What we have here is an intro and alternate versions of two of the better songs from Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism. It has a great echo-y sound like old Burzum and a galloping epicness that reminds me of Bathory. A good way to spend 9 minutes.

9 minutes

Purgatory Afterglow

Several years ago my lady really dug this album for a while. She didn't give a shit about most of the stuff I listened to, but this struck a chord for some reason.
So gents, if you want to get your girlfriend into Swedish death metal, this is the place to start. Pretty melodic and accessible as far as this style goes, but there's still plenty of those crunchy/chunky toe-tappin' riffs.

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In God We Trust, Inc.

Yeah, it's kinda an obvious post that anyone remotely into any kind of punk/hardcore has probably already heard, but whatever. This left quite an impression on my 12 year-old brain. Harsh and speedy and furious.

I thought this was pretty damn cool at the time as well:

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Church of Misery

Here's some serial killer-obsessed Japanese dudes playing some bluesy, Sabbath-y doom metal. Not much else to say... Track 5 is a Blue Öyster Cult cover. The album's called Master of Brutality and was released in 2001.

here you go

Xibalba

I'm not sure what the "poop" in the album's title Ah Dzam Poop Ek means. The lyrics center around ancient Mayan culure and demonology, so it probably translates to something cool in some dead language.
So. Black metal from Mexico that sounds like what some of the Norwegian bands, namely Darkthrone, were doing at the time ('94) in terms of riffs/drums/guitar tone/production. But Xibalba had a different sense of melody that incorporated, I dunno, Mexican folky-ness into their riffs that makes for an interesting listen.

poop

Assaulter

Definitely one of the best of the current crop of Aussie metal bands, Assaulter are helping to tide me over until the release of Deströyer 666's new album (which can't come soon enough). They also boast Simon Berserker who played bass and contributed vocals for D666 at the turn of the century. For Assaulter he handles the guitar, bass and vocals, so there's a bit of similarity in sound between the two bands at times, but they stand out on their own. Reccommended to any fan of Austrailian metal in general, or just those who appreciate sweet, sweet speed metal riffs.

Omnipotent demo (2006)

Ironsword

Portugal's answer to Manilla Road, but not quite as good. Don't get me wrong; you can be not as good as Manilla Road and still be a pretty sweet band. Here's some good, epic catchy metal in the style of olde. Quoth the Ironsword,

"Fighting for Metal
Till' the last brrreath"

enjoy

Late for an Early Grave

Here's a collection of demos from Victor Griffin, guitarist for Pentagram circa the early-mid eighties, then again in the mid-nineties. Also currently the main dude of Place of Skulls. A pretty cool group of songs, some of which ended up on Pentagram's Be Forewarned album. Nothing mind-blowing, but definitely worth hearing. Hard-rocking doom.

Lank

Cult!

Several years ago I found this (promo) CD used, laying loose without a case among the other CDs in the store. I could tell by the print on the disc that it was some kind of metal, but I couldn't read the logo. The logo was printed on the disc reversed (mirror-image), and it was 'horned' and 'pentagramed' in the typical fashion. It amazingly wasn't scratched, so I took a chance and bought it and did not regret it. It's Impaled Nazarene's 1996 album Latex Cult, by the way.
Maybe it's because it's the first album of theirs that I listened to, but the few other of their releases that I've picked up since don't measure up to this. Ugly black metal mixed with ugly, frantic hardcore punk. Lyrical themes include goats, nuclear war, piss, puke and violence. Track 5 is called "Motorpenis". Can't go wrong.

IMPNAZ

Bolt Thrower

Grindy/crusty death metal out of Coventry, England. Their second album, released in 1989. The cover kinda makes me want to start playing Warhammer 30K. But not really, cause I don't have the time for that shit.
Gritty, mean-sounding and grin-inducing.

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