I believe most of our visitors don’t know Crowbar. Well, you should. They are one of the heaviest bands on the planet. Kirk‘s riffs are heavy as shit. He’s the heavy-riff master! He also has one of the most original voices out there. Maybe not in a good way [you might not like it at first] but he’s one of a kind.
Crowbar´s style is a kind of sludge metal but not as doomish / stoner as EyeHateGod, for instance. Crowbar is more direct, HEAVY and, sometimes, has some punk roots [mostly on the early albums].

“New Dawn” opens the record. It’s a typical Crowbar song. It’s slow, heavy and with memorable riffs. Pretty much in the vein of Crowbar’s latest records.

“Slave No More” follows in the same style. Maybe a bit more catchy tough. Ends up with a very cool heavy riff. This is one of Crowbar’s trademarks. Head banging all the way!

“Angels Wings” it’s one of my favourite tracks. Hell yeah! Old Crowbar style! Starts up with an aggressive pace, kind of punkish and then ultra-heavy chorus. God I love Crowbar… The middle section has a evil sabbath feeling. Great track.

With “Coming Down” the other side of Crowbar steps in. It’s a kind of ballad, but an heavy ballad. Throughout the albums, Crowbar always had some tracks like this, and most of them are pretty cool.

“Fall Back to Zero” starts with clean arpeggios. Very calm… But as soon as the chorus comes in, the head banging begins! Nice track, with very cool heavy-to-clean passages.

“Underworld” reminds me those «Broken Glass» days. And that’s a good thing – «Broken Glass» rules. This track could, in fact, belong to that album. Heavy playing with a more punkish pace.

“Dead Sun” rocks. Starts up with one more memorable heavy riff. The chorus is very well conceived. Melodic but heavy at the same time. Kirk really knows how to do it.

“Holding Something” reminds me of the melodic tracks on «Broken Glass» record. One more cool track.

“Moon” has that ballad vibe again. The chorus it’s pretty damn heavy. I’m Repeating all over myself, I know. But this is Crowbar’s style – there’s always an heavy passage that make you head bang! It finishes up with another heavy riff. Crowbar style.

“The Violent Reaction” is another favourite track. Starts with a demonic Black Sabbath kind of riff. Then, oh my god, what an heavy riffing. Kirk shows, once again, who’s the riff master. The pre-chorus it’s punk paced – «Broken Glass» style again. The chorus reminds me of “Like Broken Glass” track chorus and you know what that mean… Hell of a slow heavy chorus. This track is great and finishes up with the starting riff, doing that classical rallentando thing.

“Lifesblood” is the closing track. It’s a calm, acoustic track. Crowbar has some of this kind of tracks on the other records. I don’t enjoy them very much tough. Their nice tracks but I don’t see the purpose of them on the context of the record.

Final notes:
It’s another Crowbar album. Has a bit of more “melodic” then “heavy” tracks. I prefer the heavier ones. My favourite albums still remain «Broken Glass» and «Odd Fellows Rest». They are the heaviest ones. Nevertheless, it’s a good album and probably a nice one to get into Crowbar. Try the predecessor «Sonic Excess In Its Purest Form» also, very good record and heavier then «Lifesblood for the Downtrodden».

Crowbar – Slave No More

When I heard that, from the ashes of Gorguts, a new band was being assembled, I became very curious to know if it was Gorguts alike or a complete new band. Well… Surprise surprise! It’s Gorguts alike. «Obscura» alike, to be more precise.

The question is: Is this EP up to the Gorguts high-standards?.

Yes and… No.

In this three song EP we are taken to a place were Gorguts had left us with the «Obscura» album. But the thing is: Gorguts had already grabbed us by the balls in «Obscura» and taken us to «From Wisdom to Hate» – an album close to perfection. With this Negativa EP, it’s like going back instead of going forward. Don’t get me wrong, the songs are pretty good, but after all this years I expected a bit more, an evolution. Damn, I expected much more. Nevertheless, I’m happy Gorguts soul is back and I’m still salivating for a new full-length record.

“Chaos in Motion” opens up the EP. It starts with a string pick-tapping and some dissonant chords. Then the blast beats comes in. Typical «Obscura» playing [Prepare to listen to this EP several times before you can truly enjoyed it. You all know how «Obscura» sounds and how dissonant, complex and chaotic this sound is].

Great verse-to-chorus section. I missed these passages. Gorguts are back! Ermm… Negativa… Negativa are back…

“Taedium Vitae” is a more slow doomish song. Maybe more in the vein of «From Wisdom to Hate» but more dissonant and sick. The middle section is close to… Well… Close to… Close to the opposite of a beautiful melody ^^ Very sick passage. A more speed-up passage follows end then it finishes up with a similar start but with guitar noises in the middle and the end of the section.

All three tracks end up with noisy stuff, it’s kind of boring.

“Rebellion” brings up the fast blasts again. More typical «Obscura» playing. Fast dissonant stuff. Did I mention “chaotic” riffs? Oh, and chaotic riffs. There’s a slow passage also in «From Wisdom to Hate» style. Well, it’s Luc’s style to be more exact.
The track finishes with some more guitar noises. *ironic mode on* Wow how cool, ending all tracks the same boring way *ironic mode off*.

That sums it. Nothing new with this EP. But, for the sake of Gorguts, it deserves a few listens. I’ll be waiting for the full-length album.

Negativa – Chaos in Motion

First of all, we have new cover art and a bonus DVD. But let’s dig a little deeper. Basically, we have all the rhythm guitar re-recorded, some subtle changes in some tracks – like the end of “Closed Eye Visuals” and “Nebulous” was slowed down [Nebulous... Hmmm that sounds familiar somehow... Hm! Weird].
The drums were also tightened down and mixed from scratch [and I might add: a little over-compressed].
In the vocals we now have some delays here and there.

Is it good? Well… yes and no. Some tracks are great but… some tracks are way worst. In my humble “MESHUGGAH ARE GODS” opinion.
Before the track-by-track comparison, two things stand right away: The rhythm guitars are brutal. When comparing, the old guitars sound like crap. The new ones are very tight, very clean and heavy. On the other hand, the drums sound more mechanical and “hidden” under all that grooviness – particularly the cymbals.

“Stengah”. This track sounds great on some parts. Much more heavy and clean that the previous version. But, there it is… The drums…… The original mix had the cymbals rocking all the way! I really enjoyed that. Hearing all the cymbals in that syncopated rhythms, that was fun. Now the cymbals are quiet down… But that’s not the worst in this track. Didn’t enjoyed very much the removal of the clean chords right before the verse. That creepy chords were great. Too bad…
“Rational Gaze”… Well… This track sounds good. Didn’t notice any changes on this one. Just that, it’s less groovy somehow. Can’t explain it. The guitars sound heavier and cleaner but… Less groovy.
“Perpetual Black Second” did lose on the drums too. I loved that cymbals on the beginning. Now they are down there, under that monster guitar sound. It’s a pity. Delays were added on the vocals giving more power to the chorus.
“Closed Eye Visuals” it’s nice. Subtle change in the end with a re-recorded fill melody. The drum rolls sound worst [like in all other tracks...].
The beginning of “Glints Collide” lacks on the drums. That power groovy organic drums are now a synthetic compressed sound.
“Organic Shadows” it’s an OK track. Didn’t notice any big difference…
“Straws Pulled at Random” is one of the best “new-sound” tracks. Very powerful indeed. The new guitars do squash like a bug the old ones. I do miss that china cymbal pounding all the way tough – right after the intro.
In “Spasm” we have another big loss. Once again, the drums… of course. In the middle part there’s a drum solo kind of thing. Well, with the new drum mix it sounds very “plastic”. The old mix was way more organic.
“Nebulous” is the winner of the new mix. Why? Because it’s my nickname ^^ Now honestly, the new mix is great. It’s slower, heavier and punches you right on the stomach.
“Obsidian” is the final track and it was extended. Never listen to this track many times on the old version, at least on it’s full length, but I must confess that, after the 8 minute therapy, listening to “Stengah” again is very refreshing.

Final notes about the new «Nothing»: the guitars are great, the drums are… worst. Nevertheless, I like having both options. If I’m into some drum madness I’ll listen to «Nothing» v.1. If I’m into some crazy sick guitar groove insanity I’ll listen to «Nothing» v.2.
If this is your first contact with «Nothing» I recommend the new version. Way better sound and you’ll not miss that drum sound I was talking about. Ignorance is bliss.

Meshuggah – Straws Pulled at Random

With their first record they got my attention. I didn’t expect much from a possible second record. The truth is: they did a great record. In the beginning I didn’t dig it very much, but the first song was really cool and I gave this record a second chance. Hell I even gave a third and a fourth chance. Next thing I knew, I was addicted.

“A New Shape of Desperation” is a very melodic record [yeah they're Swedish! It seems melody is in their DNA] with great guitar work, a bit of calc / math metal [fuckin Meshuggah riffage] and a nice production ["Destroy Erase Improve" style but more up-to-date].

First track “It Starts Within” is a small intro that leads into the first song.

“The Truth Is Sold” has a great riff. When I first played this track it just blowed me away. My favorite track, no doubt. Headbanging all the way.

“People Like You” is next in line and is a blast. The pace is increased and my headbanging too. This one is a heavy motha’fucker. In the middle section we got a cool heavy groove, Meshuggah style ["Nothing" era] far from rip-off though [for those who like Meshuggah rip-off clones, I recommend Coprofago].

Next track is “Through Ashes We Crawl”. This track starts with a more melodic vibe but soon we fall into some heavy riffage. Meshuggah style once again.

“Same Old Story” follows and the heavy grooves are back. The chorus has a cool melodic riff. It reminds me “Descent” from Fear Factory‘s “Obsolete” album [check out Soundcult's review to Fear Factory latest work. Did I said "work"? I meant "crap"... latest crap... latest piece of crap... piece of latest... pile of... Ahhhhh crap. Metallica better release their new album really soon, I'm trying hard to forget Fear Factory's crappy album. You know what they say: Fight Fire With Fire ^^ ]. Anyway… Another nice track.

“Dead Eyes See No Future” is next and it’s kind of an instrumental track. Slow melodic riffs really well conceived. Really really nice track.

“Walls of Insecure” starts and is probably my second favorite track. The pace is back up-to-speed and we even got a little blast beat on the drums. Really cool section, mixing this kind of Hardcore playing with a bit of Death Metal. In the middle we have a melodic section with a guitar solo. It fits like a glove. Near the end we have another of those Meshuggah heavy grooves. Really powerfull stuff.

“Idiot” is a 50 second track and is like By Night went berserk. This track could almost be an Hate Eternal [check out Soundcult's review] track, but with a more hardcore feel to it, can you believe that? Sounds a bit out of place, but, I’m a Death Metal freak so…

“Forsaken Love” starts with a cheesy riff. Didn’t dig that at all. The next section is more interesting, Meshuggah strikes again! I’m re-considering the “take By Night of the Meshuggah wannabes pot” decision. Hmmm, but there it is. It’s influenced but has something different. Something that makes it a By Night riff.

OK, “Cursed by the Thought” is another of my favorite tracks. It starts with old Fear Factory riffing style but it’s just an intro. Then By Night’s melodic side steps in once again. Very nice. Heavy riffs but very melodic. I think this might be By Night’s strongest skill. The chorus has another heavy melodic riff. This track has a very nice epic ambiance. It’s this kind of tracks that make all the difference in a record.

The record finishes up with “Time Is Running Out”. Another instrumental. I do not think that this track fits very well with the record. Maybe it’s the piano parts, maybe is the sad feel to it.

OK, so, overall, this is a great record. By Night really surprised me with this second work. I think they now have all that it takes to be a great band. All the conditions to stick around for a long time are created.

Check out this epic song ^^

By Night – Cursed By The Thought

Fortunately “Sacrament” was a nice surprise. Not as nice as: “ohh my GOD there’s two oiled up naked blonds on my bed”, but, a nice surprise nevertheless.

First thing I noticed, when I played “Sacrament”, was that they are more melodic. The second thing was that Pantera incarnated in LoG. At least on track #3 “Redneck”, It’s Pantera all the way. Even the vocals reminds me Phil Anselmo on some parts.

So… LoG sharpened their melodic side, some tracks are more speed up than the ones on the other albums, I noticed the solos are better too, the songs seem more balanced and less boring, but still, I do not think LoG is here to stay. The melodic approach might be an attempt to capture more audience, and that’s going to happen for sure. Even with the other albums I had kids talking to me about how LoG was great and whatever, but I don’t think that’s enough. They are OK. But OK bands do not survive for years to come. And you know what? the kids will, eventually, grow up and, probably, will get into other type of bands. See what happened to Limp Bizkit. They and their infants ruled the world [yeah, right] and now it’s like: “Limp who?!”. It’s not the same type of audience but is just an example.

“Sacrament” is surely better then “Ashes of the Wake” but my favorite still is “As the Palaces Burn”. If you’re are a LoG fan buy “Sacrament”, you’ll like it. If you’re not, I don’t think you’ll be amazed by this record. Highlights for the tracks “Blacken The Cursed Sun” and “Requiem” though. Really nice tracks.
Personally I’ll stick with Pantera, Meshuggah and At The Gates [the GODS of Melodic Death Metal]. Better check those blondies now ^^

Lamb of God – Redneck

Every Vader fan knows what to expect from a new Vader work. Vader is Vader. They don’t change and I doubt they ever will. The question here is: do they still continue to smash us in the face when we listen to new material? Absolutely! I don’t know how they do it but, even with their “limited universe” [Vader developed they own style in the band early days and 98% of the songs are in that same style. All the riffs are Vader like, if you know what I mean] they always managed to create great anthems in all their works.

OK, now let’s talk about “Impressions in Blood”.
First of all, the only big change I noticed on the Vader sound is the addition of some orchestral intros [already explored in the previous EP]. I’m not sure if I like this yet. It doesn’t seem necessary somehow and some parts sound like black metal orchestration – like in Demon Burger. Hmmm I guess it doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t help much either.

First track is an orchestral intro. I tend to skip it…
Second track is on and VADER starts playing. Typical Vader’s slow riffs in the intro, only to speed up one minute later. Hell yeah! Blasting all over the place. I think this album is one of the fastest albums in the Vader’s career, possible due to Darek Brzozowski faster skills. Doc [R.I.P.] has a great replacement, no doubt about that. Another slow part comes in right after the solo section. Very cool “Revelation of Black Moses” style passage, and then, blast away! once again.

“As Heavens Collide…” is fast as hell [yeah that was funny: as heavens collide, fast as hell. I rock ^^]. This 2:40m track really kicks you in the nuts.

“Helleluyah!!! (God is Dead)”. The intro is pretty evil. With that orchestral stuff it almost seems like a DB song. But soon we blast away into the chorus and Vader hyper-speed riffage. Very strong chorus by the way. I can almost see the mosh pit going nuts with this one in live concert. The middle part has a very cool mid-tempo riff.

Next in line is “Field of Heads”. This one starts with that Vader catchy-strong-fast kind of riff. I became addicted to this track. Another Vader anthem right there. I would lose the drum fill in the end tough.

“Predator” starts with another orchestral intro. This track as “filler” tagged all over the place. It’s a slow song, but that’s not the issue. The riffs are kind of lamme and boring. I would trash this five minutes track without thinking twice.

Thank god we have “Warlords” coming in. Another monster song! What a discharge… This track in a live situation can, and will, ignite the audience. This track rocks!

“Red Code”. This song as much of the “Revelations” vibe going on. Always enjoyed that album very much, so nice tune.

“Amongst the Ruins” is the next track. One more fast song, hurray! God, this IS the fastest Vader album till date [at least is the fastest since "Litany"]. As soon as this one starts you will realise that Vader rule and fuck the rest! [OK... maybe I'm overreacting, but this first riff really rocks! And is fast as hell!]. Towards the middle the pace slows down. Fifteen seconds pass the third minute and the bomb ignites again. Killer song.

“They Live!!!” is a two minute track with some kind of different vibe. It’s an OK track but it didn’t kicked me right on the nuts.

The record finishes off with “The Book”. I probably would cut this track also. Not as boring as “Predator” but hmmm it’s nothing special.

So, we have eleven tracks in total. One orchestral track and two tracks I would dump. We are left with eight great songs. That is a pretty good average. It is a fine Vader record and much more heavier then the previous album: “The Beast“. If you are a fan, you will love it. If Vader is not your cup of tea then “Impressions in Blood” will still not convert you. Try “Litany” first.

Check it out Warlords and bang your head!

Vader – Warlords

Let’s see. You know Morbid Angel right? So you must know Erik Rutan. Erik Rutan left Ripping Corpse to join Morbid Angel. Later he left Morbid Angel and assumed full-time Hate Eternal [he's side-project at the time]. So what happened to Ripping Corpse? The guys formed Dim Mak. Named after the Chinese Death Touch, this tech death metal band has as a lyrical theme martial arts and stuff. I know it sounds weird. Forget about that. Dim Mak rocks.

“Knives of Ice” is their third album. And shit, they are better then ever. If you know Hate Eternal [check out Soundcult's review] you’ll love this motherfucker.
By the way… Do you know Origin? [check out Soundcult's review] Well, John Longstreth from Origin joined forces with Dim Mak and hell yeah he thrashed that drum kit.

This is the most Hate Eternal’ish record of Dim Mak. Erik Rutan and the guys in Dim Mak have some elements in common, like some kind of riffs and the solos are pretty similar – you know that slow harmonies stuff.

I’m am not going to do a one-by-one review on this one. Consider this an informal review.
The album follows pretty much the same vein I described anyway. Expect killer riffs, amazing oriental melody hooks and shit.

I consider this Dim Mak album to be in level with the Hate Eternal ones. Do I need to say more? I can only imagine what this guys would sound with Erik in the band. Fuck yeah.
Check out “Intercepting Fist” and “Enter The Dragon” too, if you dig this album.

Dim Mak – Seeing Crows in Silver
Dim Mak – Incident at the Temple at Leng

So let’s see what Coprofago did on “Unorthodox Creative Criteria”.
God damn! You didn’t? No… I must be… oh… No.
This is “Destroy Erase Improve” all over the place. Why oh why. I can’t believe this shit. I would expect you guys would stop ripping-off Meshuggah and start to have your own stuff but nooooo, you had to rip-off Meshuggah once again. This time even more perfectly, since the production is better and the vocals are even more Jens Kidman alike. I could swear that this was Jens Kidman singing. I had to triple check the credits. Twilight zone if you ask me.

OK. I have to be honest. It’s not all Meshuggah. We have thirteen songs. Some of them are like Extol and we still have room for some experimentalism, to bad that they are Allan Holdsworth all over the place. Surprise surprise Allan Holdsworth is the major influence of Fredrik Thordendal [Meshuggah's guitar player].

This album has a lot of work, I had to admit it. But… Man, this is identical…
I’ll try to describe the album anyway.

First track is “Crippled Tracker”. Meshuggah all the way. Vocals start and, is this Jens Kidman or what? You’ll have the chance to compare them.

“The Inborn Mechanics”. This is a major rip-off of Meshuggah’s style and I can compare it with one particular Meshuggah song. Check this out: Transfixion
The middle part even has that jazzy [Meshuggah riped-off Allan Holdsworth, and Coprofago ripped both of them] clean parts. That arpeggio chords are so unique.

“Neutralized” is different. Less Meshuggah. More Extol tough [older Extol, not the new pussy Extol]. I have to state that the solos are identical to the ones Fredrik plays also. Bet you didn’t see that one coming -_-

“Merge Into” is an interlude. Allan Holdsworth all the way. Just in case your are thinking I’m crazy check this out: Allan Holdsworth

Next in line is “Fractures”. This is a two minute track. Kind of different. Probably the only not “a major rip-off track” in the record. Weird track nevertheless.

Almost half the record is gone and it’s time for more Meshuggah!!! Shit, I meant Coprofago.
With “Hostile Silent Raptures” we have another element of the Meshuggah style. Yes, the three man singing chorus. End section has a Fredrik alike solo and whatever. This is just absurd.

“Isolated Through Multiplicity” is another Allan track. This guys are great musicians with great technique, no doubt about that. To bad they record this massive rip-offs.

At this point the album becomes a little boring. Not compact at all. Scattered songs with no flow. One Meshuggah track, one Allan Holdsworth track, one violin with synths track ["Glimpses"], another Meshuggah track ["Constriction"] and the album finishes up with two seven minute tracks. “Motion” and “Wavelength”.

What can I say. Very disappointing record. I tough they would improve but, instead they sticked with the Meshuggah rip-off songwriting. Personally I have no interest in this kind of bands. I stick with the original stuff. I stick with MESHUGGAH.

Coprofago – The Inborn Mechanics
Coprofago – Isolated Through Multiplicity

We got eight tracks. Two interludes, so we got six tracks.

Press play and we have the first interlude “Jezebel”. Skip.

The Ladder starts playing with “Close The Window”. Hmmm let’s see. Normally I would not comment the production of a new band first CD. But, since they let us know in advance how great the production is, let me say that I’ve heard demos with better production. The guitars are so muddy that the only thing we can understand is the palm muted chords. They must be playing marvelous things on the other strings but it’s all noise. The drums sound like plastic drums. Really “amazing production” indeed.
Let’s see the song. Coprofago comes to my mind as soon as this one starts. Those Meshuggah wannabe riffs are so old fashion by now. We have a solo section in the middle of the track. Never mind, that’s no solo. A ten year old could play that melody. Damn, I’m almost sure I had read that the guitars were “pretty technical”.

“Movement In The Treeline” is next in line. More Coprofago / Meshuggah wannabe riffs. Then comes the noisy part. The technical part that we can’t understand jack shit. Thank GOD “the production is amazing”, or else, how knows what I would be listening now. Probably static.

“And They Kept Whispering…” is another interlude. Great! Because you have few songs we have to listen to stupid interludes.

“…Cycles…” follows. Oh no, more Coprofago stop-go riffs. How many riffs can you do holding just that power chord? The middle part is kind a cool tough. Then it just mellows out. Weird mix. Stop-go riffs with Primordial [black / folk / lol] ambiance. Then the noise returns. When I say noise I mean “amazing tech riffs”. That crystal clear production really helps.

OK, it’s almost done. “…Yet They Kept Plugged”. Why oh why?. This track has some violin – or sampled violin. That’s perfect. Math / noise / death / folk and now Celtic influences. I confess I didn’t see that one coming -_-

“Failure” is next. It all makes perfect sense now. This ultra tech riff sounds like Biohazard in a bad hair day. This was the first track without that Coprofago riff in the beginning. Cool. To bad that I don’t like metalcore, otherwise this might be an average song.

The end of this “amazing record” [label's own words, as all of my quotes] comes with “Recall”. Coprofago once again ehehe That’s great. Five tracks with the same beginning. That must be original in some way ^^. Well, this is the track that is available to download, and, lucky us, that is the nicest track.

Overall, this is not a bad effort for this new band. Take this review as a reminder that you are not as great as you want us to believe. I’ll wait for the new LP hoping you’ll be a little more honest and humble next time. Cheers!

P.S.: Very nice cover, by the way -_-

The Ladder – Recall

So… First track is “Luminum”, an instrumental track.

“In The Kingdom Where Everything Dies,The Sky Is Mortal” follows. And GOD damn!. Cryptopsy rocks or what? Brutality invades. Cryptopsy are so complex and technical that you got to love it [or hate it]. With this track I noticed several things. Cryptopsy lose the jazz elements [great] and the riffs are, once again, more interesting and catchy ["And Then You'll Beg" was kind of boring. One or two great songs and the rest of the album just drag us until the end].

“Carrionshine” must have the fastest drums in the world. Just check it out at 0:40m. Oh yeah baby! Mr. Flo Mounier has mastered the Gravity Roll technique. This track is just insane. How the hell this guys play this stuff? Amazing.

Next in line is “Adeste Infidelis”. Great riff in the beginning. Then chaos comes in. Only at minute 2:00m we have some “rest”. Great solo section. Then, chaos once again. I must say that this track is a bit confusing. Most of the time I can’t ear the riffs, just the drums blasting away. Great guitar solo section and ending tough.

Track #5 is “The Curse Of The Great” and the pace seems to be dropped with a slow heavy intro. One minute passes and Cryptopsy shows us, once again, who’s tha band. Flo did a tremendous job on this record. I guess he must have earned the Godlike status by now.

The second riff of “The Frantic Pace Of Dying” rocks. I always enjoyed this kind of Cryptopsy catchy melodies. It’s very cool how they manage to create a “theme” and then play it throughout the song. Pretty much like in classical music. Hey, they even have a string chamber doing the riff just before the recall. Great effect. When the band comes in it adds a lot of power.

“Keeping The Cadaver Dogs Busy”. Nice song title -_- This one starts with a ten seconds jazzy riff [it's the only jazz oriented passage in the record]. Soon brutality steps in. One more great riff. It’s very hard to describe this Cryptopsy songs. It’s all happening so fast that there is not much to say.

“Angelskingarden” has another intro. This is the longest song in the record. Near the end there is a very cool passage with a big classical guitar solo.

The next song is kind of weird. “The Pestilence That Walketh In Darkness [Psalm 91 : 5-8]“. It sounds like…. Like… A death metal ballad? Well, just the first riff anyway. The spoken vocals doesn’t help much either. Weird track.

“The End” is another instrumental track. An intro and next we have some acoustic guitars with some tribal percussion. This track links with the next and final one: “Endless Cemetery”

Slow heavy riff in the beginning. Towards the middle we have another cool section with those melodies I talked before. It breaks all the chaos and brutality. Then another guitar solo begins and the song evolves to a softer vibe.

Well, overall: This is a great Cryptopsy record. Probably not as good as “None So Vile” but, at least, better the “And Then You’ll Beg” – the previous one.
They are better then ever, even with the loss of the “None So Vile” mastermind: guitar player Jon Levasseur. Didn’t miss him at all, as strange as it seems. Negative remark for Lord Worm. Maybe he tried to be more versatile but it just backfired.

This is a tremendous extreme death metal album. Pussy metal heads keep out.

Cryptopsy – Adeste Infidelis

OK… Now let’s talk about “Echoes of Decimation”.
Origin really surprised me with this third album. They managed to evolve even more with this record. I thought they would stagnate, I mean, play fast all the time and doing crazy riffs… How many songs can you do that way? Well, apparently, at least enough songs to do three great records. The guitars are absolutely amazing! Imagine Nile, without the Egyptian vibe, with faster pace and sweeping riffs all over the place. The drums are, probably, the most fast I have ever heard, or, at least, with some of the faster parts in the genre. James King uses, and abuses, the hyper blast [or gravity roll] technique – besides Flo Mounier, from Cryptopsy, I don’t know any other drummer that plays this technique so perfectly – increasing even more the brutality of this record.

One thing I love in the album is that even with all this “crazy” playing, complexity and whatever, the record sound pretty catchy. But catchy in a good way. All the songs grab your attention right away. And when a song is over you will feel like a truck just hit you in the face. You will feel this nine times until this thirty minute record reaches the end.
“Echoes of Decimation” is one hell of a record. Check it out or be decimated.

Origin – The Burner
Origin – Staring from the Abyss

Roger Keith Barrett left us a legacy of about 55 songs.
Here is a sample player from his first album “The Madcap Laughs”.

Shine on You crazy Diamond…