Gallery of Mites – Bugs on the Bluefish
GALLERY OF MITES belong to the supergroup category, as it is made up of members of other big names of the stoner scene. The ten-member line-up includes: John Kleiman, Tim Cronin, Phil Caivano, Joe Calandra and Ed Mundell (MONSTER MAGNET members), Stugollin (HALFWAY TO GONE), Tommy Southard (SOLACE), Jim Baligno and Mike Schweigert (LORD STERLING), now how is this for an all-star gathering of stoner souls?
Damnation – Ressurection of Azarath
All hell breaks loose especially since DAMNATION saw Resurrection of Azarath released, a compilation and celebration of the good old DAMNATION times. There are no new tracks here, only a selection of past hymns, as well as some rare and previously unreleased songs. The sources vary from previous demos to full-lengths, including two bonus cover versions of KING DIAMOND’s Mansion in Darkness and MORBID ANGEL’s Bleed for the Devil.
Ad Inferna – L’Empire des Sens
Once breathing under the moniker DE PROFUNDIS (I still wonder why it is that Symphonic BM and Goth bands seem to choose this name), AD INFERNA play a not very innovative variant of symphonic BM. Generally speaking, there are a number of obvious (DIMMU BORGIR, CRADLE OF FILTH, EMPEROR) and other not so obvious influences. The first time I heard the CD, I even thought there were some LIMBONIC ART touches to it, but fortunately or not, AD INFERNA never come close to what the Norwegian duo create.
Straighthate – Indigenous
Well who are Straighthate, well they come from Greece, uhhh nice place for a vacation, but who cares who they are, we are here to talk about their latest album, that they gave me a copy, how nice of them heheh, called “Indigenous”, the music fits into a kinda “Death Grindcore Hardcore Metal” thing, just like they say on their website, again, how nice, lets check to see if the music is nice as well, shall we.
Meshuggah – Obzen
Meshuggah “Obzen”, ahhh it just flows out so sweetly, well here we go, first of all i would like to say, kind of like a disclaimer that Meshuggah might be my all time favorite band, so please take that into consideration with the review to this piece of shit… wait… maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, i get this very strange vibe, just like with Tool‘s 10000 Days, that the hype did not help at all, well lets start from the beginning, Meshuggah hail from Sweden and play “normally” a form of metal i like to describe as math metal (just like there is math rock) even though i like to call it calc metal, but if you want a more precise category i would say progressive death/thrash metal (wikipedia decided to call this avant-garde metal or experimental metal, but well we all know wikipedia is apparently filled with a bunch of crack heads that think that editing a piece of text on a website makes it true, fuck them), and their new album is out and its called Obzen, we have previously reviewed their albums Nothing and Catch 33, so lets get into it, shall we.
Inhumate – Life
Sometimes, the French scene presents the listener with quite some jewels. Alongside SUBLIME CADAVERIC DECOMPOSITION, French independent INHUMATE are like icons of the UG Grind scene. Never yielding to labels’ pressure and/or demands, the band created their own Grind Your Soul thing, a platform simultaneously used as label and distro, through which they have released most of their (extensive) discography. Independence does not leave quality out, for these blokes do not seem to lack professionalism. A situation which is further enhanced by the fact that he line-up has been stable for the past 10 years.
Debodified – Utopia in the Eyes of a Beast
DEBODIFIED were formed by Jordan Varela (also in the ranks of LUST OF DECAY) in late 2000, alongside guitarist Chris Braunstein. The two musicians set high goals in trying to create the most intense manifestation of Death Metal possible. The debut full-length, Utopia in the Eyes of a Beast, was preceded by a successful 5-song demo which granted DEBODIFIED a deal with Comatose Music. This is the point where Jarrod Sternes joins the band to fulfill his function as a bassist.
«Intense» is a good word to describe the album (although not quite as intense as they would have it), characteristically American in nature (and for once I mean this in a positive sense): technical, brutal and grunted through and through. Drums are good, guitars are now and then hypnotizing, and the songs sound well thought-out. There are breaks, dragged rhythms of chaos, but mostly Death Metal violence. For fans of DISGORGE, IMMOLATION, DISAVOWED or DYING FETUS.
Crotchduster – Big Fat Box of Shit
The name CROTCHDUSTER might surely trigger opposite reactions, depending on the musical inclination, the state of mind, amongst millions of other factors. For some, it might imply absolute grind – when nothing could be further from the truth. CROTCHDUSTER is a gem that means humor, sarcasm, good musicianship, excellent concept and is also an excellent means to sum up in one CD virtually every musical style you can think of.