Blastbeat Reviews: Behemoth, Gridlink, MEASURE X UP

Here are some quick reviews for some awesome releases, cause I haven't posted anything since forever. Ludicrous speed, go!

BEHEMOTH - THE SATANIST

After punching his leukemia in the dick, Nergal regrouped with his blaspheming bandmates Inferno and Orion to craft one hell of a "reunion album", Yeah, yeah, I know, Behemoth never actually broke up, but whatever, I don't care.

The Satanist is Behemoth reconstructed out of all the great parts of their different musical eras. It isn't the outrageous speed-for-speed's-sake Behemoth of Evangelion or Demigod, but it isn't the mediocre (read: pretty shitty) black metal Behemoth of yore. This is a blend of technical horsepower, bleak and dark atmosphere, and most importantly, competent songwriting. Nergal and the boys stepped back on the wankery, stepped up their black metal soundscaping, and made sure that every note, beat, word, and fill on this album was exactly where it was supposed to go, and nowhere else. This Behemoth has some restraint, and I like it. Score: 3.5/5

GRIDLINK - LONGHENA

Gridlink have quickly shot up through the ranks of my favorite grindcore bands, notably for their hyper-speed playing, outrageous technical chops, and consistent quality of musical output, even if everything they've ever recorded fits into less than an hour's worth of time (Hey, it worked for Minor Threat).

Longhena sets the bar to an impossibly high level for any band that plays this strain of grindcore. Chang's banshee vocals, Matsubara's rhythm playing that somehow fits under the category of "shred guitar" (not to mention his actual lead playing), Fajardo's accompanying drumming, the string sections, the interlude track, holy shit people, everything fits so nicely together that I honestly cannot find a weak point to this album. It even comes with a set of "karaoke versions" of the tracks for those of you who hate Jon Chang.

This album should be the soundtrack to the hardest video game bosses ever (I'm looking at you, Sephiroth from Kingdom Hearts), because once this shit gets going, you notice how sweaty you've become even though you haven't budged an inch, and that whatever you were previously doing, you're now doing with the intensity and ferocity of a New Jersey guido grinding on an orange chick with bolted on tits. Score: 5/5

MEASURE X UP - DEMO 2014

You guys remember MEASURE X UP from my last Blastbeat Review, don't you? This Halifax straightedge hardcore band's appropriately titled Demo 2014 is more of the same of last year's equally appropriately titled Demo 2013. These dudes dish out hardcore the way it's supposed to be, a la Minor Threat and Youth of Today. I find that in this new demo, everything's been beefed up. Production is heavier, the vocals seem more powerful, and everything sounds crushing and purposeful. Every d-beat hits you right in the face and every word hangs out in your head, even well after the demo's less than 7 minute run time. This is just as good as their last demo, and I'm pumped to hear anything else these guys churn out in the future. Listen to it here and download it for free! Score: 4/5

That's all for now folks, hopefully I can put up some more reviews for you guys soon!

-DG

Album Review: Večan - "Frost, Reminiscence"

You guys remember Warseid, right? That awesome folk/ black metal band from Wisconsin? Turns out that Warseid guitarist Andre Cailliet is also the six stringed warrior of another band, Večan (pronounced ve-chan).

Večan is another black metal band, whose origins I can only assume are also from Wisconsin. Their name is a Serbian word for "Eternal", and they seem to drive home a sort of dark, atmospheric sound more than anything, keeping with some of the elements of Scandinavian folk metal for extra flavouring. Frost, Reminiscence is their debut album, out only about a month ago.

I'll be dead honest here. Frost, Reminiscence was a really ambitious project undertaken by Večan. It's got massive songs up to and exceeding 10 minutes in length, and it goes for what seems like a big cohesive concept. It's supposed to be a fully enveloping album of mysterious and mystical atmosphere, but unfortunately, it wasn't. I think that Frost, Reminiscence is a great piece of music in theory, but Večan really fumbled on the execution. So, no. I didn't like it. I don't think it's so bad I would draw a parallel between the music and kicking puppies to death again, but overall I'd didn't enjoy my time listening to Frost, Reminiscence.

First and foremost, I need to comment on the vocalist. I think that he was the reason for my dislike of this album. As I wrote down little notes on the album while listening to it over and over, I noticed I had written either "bad gruff vocals", "bad grunge vocals" or something similar for most of the songs. I hate anything that has anything to do with grunge, and vocalist "Mad Max"'s delivery almost consistently reminded me of a certain flannel covered era of music that I loathe. The weird part, though? Mad Max has got some serious chops. In the first couple songs, as well as the song "Lost", he barks out some old school black metal howls and gets down deep into some brutal guttural vocals. He does a great job with those passages, but why is it that he doesn't keep it going for the rest of the album? Does he not like to do them? Can he physically not do them for long periods of time? Does he think his other vocals sound better? I think it's a damn shame, whatever the reason.

Other than the proper extreme metal vocal delivery and his grungey vocals, Mad Max also brings in a lot of spoken word bits. These spoken word passages really remind me of old folk metal bands or black metal bands who would have some sort of narrative or something in spoken word either in the intro or a bridge of a song. These spoken word bridges in Večan's music sound pretty good and authentic (many, if not all of them are in a foreign language that I cannot understand. My guess would be Serbian.) but they crop up so god damn often that they really feel in the way by the end of it all.

The music on Frost, Reminiscence isn't too shabby. Again, everything is there for this album to be totally rad. All the musicians have awesome chops, but the way everything is pieced together leads to certain parts that seem out of place. While Andre can shred like a motherfucker, there are times where he lets loose in 6th gear, flying across the fretboard when he really should be slowing down. When the guitar playing is tasteful and the riffs are solid, the music really shines, but for the zillionth time, once the vocals kick in, everything just turns sour.

Now after saying all that, I need to say that the parts that are done well, are done really fucking well. The last two songs, "Lost" and "Solstice" are really fucking good. The former is an amazing modern black metal tune, full of emotion and dripping with frostbitten atmosphere, while the latter sounds like a tribute to viking-era Bathory more than anything with it's chanting and horns. Again, it's beautifully atmospheric and really brings you into a completely different world, but to me, the fact that only the last two out of all eight songs are great tracks can't really save an album.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Equinox, Lost, Solstice

On a Playlist With: Bathory, (old) Woods of Ypres, Agalloch

Overall Score: 2/5

Večan bite off a bit more than they can chew with their debut album, Frost, Reminiscence. All the ingredients were there for this album to be an absolutely awesome experience, and you can hear how awesome it is when everything does come together properly, but for the most part, things seem to be put together hastily and executed rather poorly.

You can check out Večan on Facebook and you can stream their entire album for free over on their Bandcamp page.

That's all for now, folks!

-Grave Dave

Album Review: Shadows in the Crypt - "Cryptic Communication"

First snowfall in Guelph happened just a couple days ago, so I think it's appropriate for another black metal review, no? There's no other genre more appropriate for the cold, blustery winter season, so let's embrace the frost and dive into Cryptic Communication, Shadows in the Crypt's newest full length!

Shadows in the Crypt is another American black metal band who have nailed that dark Scandinavian sound with modern production, much like their labelmates Fiends at Feast. Cryptic Communication is ripe full of brutality, pure evil and hate, and musical technicality to boot.

While I would say Shadows in the Crypt have a much more traditional black metal sound than Fiends at Feast, there's still no shortage of catchy riffs and face melting solos here. I have to applaud guitarist Lawrence Wallace for his mastery of the instrument, because while many of the riffs are tremolo picked, classic to the black metal style, they're also very hook laden, sometimes with melodies very unorthodox to black metal. The final track, "Disgracing the Pulpit" has probably my favorite riffs on the album. I can't really choose any individual riff off the song to praise the most because they all flow so perfectly together. The solos are wild and ripping, which I think is great considering black metal's lack of solos, let alone ones that shred.

Unfortunately, Wallace is the only shredder on Cryptic Communication. The drums are wickedly fast and perfectly on time, not a common combination when it comes to black metal. As the old saying goes, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and since the drums sound absolutely flawless, it doesn't come as a shock that they're programmed. That being said, they aren't too over the top and crazy (a la Agoraphobic Nosebleed's grind classic, Altered States of America), but if you listen carefully, you can tell they're just a little too inhuman. It's nothing too distracting from the music, and for the most part, the ridiculously fast playing is kept pretty tasteful. [EDIT: I've just been informed that the drumming is not programmed, but is handled by Jesse Beahler. This proves that Mr. Beahler is a fucking beast on drums. I'm sorry for the mix up, everyone.]

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Baphomental Affliction, As Shadows Cover, Disgracing the Pulpit

On a Playlist With: Fiends at Feast, Emperor, Taake

Overall Score

3.0

Shadows in the Crypt do a pretty good job of making a modern black metal album with Cryptic Communication. Any fan of black metal will definitely enjoy it, and even if you aren't a big fan of the genre, the phenomenal guitarwork should be enough to reel you in.

You can find Shadows in the Crypt on Facebook here and you can pick up Cryptic Communication from Horror Pain Gore Death here.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Album Review: Fiends at Feast - "Towards the Baphomet's Throne"

I hope everyone is feeling as grim and dark as the frostbitten North because today I'm going to take a look at some brand spankin' new black metal! We've got Towards the Baphomet's Throne, the debut full length from California based black metallers Fiends at Feast. Now I know you think that sunny California and bleak black metal don't seem to mix, but if I didn't know  beforehand, I would have thought that Fiends at Feast hailed from the snowy mountain peaks of Norway.

Fiends at Feast hit the spot when it comes to black metal for me. I'm a big fan of the cold and grim atmosphere that a lot of old school black metal has, but I can't stand their DIY style of production. FaF have a sweet mixture of dark, evil, and menacing atmosphere and solid thick production.

The guitars follow a solid blend of tremolo picked madness and full on riffage. It's pretty standard stuff for modern black metal, and a lot of the riffs are pretty catchy to boot. There are some pretty wicked solos and leads on Baphomet's Throne, something a lot of black metal doesn't have enough of. A testament to guitarists Sammer and David's shredtastic skills are the solos and leads in the midsection of "With Blood and Vomit". They're brutally facemelting, and uncompromisingly sinister. Another feat of guitar wizardry is the acoustic instrumental track "A Despondent Theme to Thy Own Demise". It's less impressive in it's technical execution and more about its atmosphere and coherence with the rest of the album. Black metal rarely has any acoustic music in it, so to hear an acoustic piece that captures the bleak and dark atmosphere of the rest of the album is really cool. Kudos to Sammer and David for that one.

Honestly, there's not too much to say about the rest of the album. Towards the Baphomet's Throne is a pretty meat and potatoes modern black metal album. Nothing ambient or orchestral, just unrelenting death and doom. The drums are wickedly fast, blasting away and double-kicking into the blackness of the night, while the vocalist keeps to mid to low range growls, screaming out like a demon from the depths of the abyss.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: With Blood and Vomit, A Despondent Theme to Thy Own Demise, Hedonistic Heresy

On a Playlist With: Taake, Goatwhore, Dissection

Overall Score

3.0

Fiends at Feast have made a pretty textbook example of modern, no-shits-given black metal. Towards the Baphomet's Throne has got its shining moments here and there that set it apart from the rest of the genre, but it's nothing too, too special. I am excited to see what Fiends at Feast put out next. Hopefully next time they step a little out of their comfort zone and make a more ambitious release.

You can find Fiends at Feast's music at their Bandcamp page, on Facebook, and you can pick up Towards the Baphomet's Throne through Horror Pain Gore Death Productions.

That's all for now, folks! Stay kvlt.

-DG