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.
Divine Heresy – Bleed The Fifth
Humm Divine Heresy’s “Bleed The Fifth”, of course i had to talk about Divine Heresy, after i knew that Dino Cazares of Fear Factory fame had a new band and that it was kinda deathmetalish and that it had Tim “The Missile” Yeung on the drums and on the bass Joe Payne from Nile fame (even though he had no part in the making of this album), and some metalcore guy for vocals, well thats a kick ass lineup, but as well we all know sometimes a great team doesn’t play a great game hehehe, so i guess Divine Heresy play above all else Melodic Death Metal, with a lot of touches of Deathcore and Metalcore, sounds good to me… well we will see.
Vidcult is Online
Well, still in a beta status (there are some refinements), but for now its the official soundcult forum as well as the place for all videos and media regarding the bands that we review here ^_^ heheeh so go to www.vidcult.com and enjoy.... any problems or questions or whatever, just contact me there also from now on to comment on soundcult you have to have a Vidcult ID (just sign up on vidcult for one), sorry but it helps to join both the site here and the network there, more news soon.
Melechesh – Emissaries
Uhh Melechesh, even though i was going to review this, still someone had to tell me i HAD TO REVIEW THIS ONE, so ok… here it goes, Melechesh hails from Jerusalem but its actual headquarters are in the Netherlands, playing a self titled “Mesopotamian Metal”, well i don’t know about the self titled genres… a bit more and well see a bunch of bands saying ohhh no we play “Manhattan Death” or Amazoniancore hehehe, so for everyone that finds that silly, we’ll just call it a fusion of Black Metal with traditional Middle Eastern instruments, well lets have a listen, shall we.
Machine Head – The Blackening
Oh Machine Head?, do you like good music?… then probably you don’t know Machine Head too well hehehe since hummm since The Burning Red… i just don’t give a fuck, their albums sounded like thrash, but they were mostly… how can i put this gently… shit? a big pile, well more because they had such an interesting first album, that everything after that should have been at least somewhat good, seems not, so… after 2 or 3 albums, here comes “The Blackening” (and i’m only reviewing this cause a friend told me i should check it out).