Morbid Saint - Swallowed By Hell (High Roller Records) [Patches]
Initially running from 1984 to ’94 Morbid Saint are back with their new LP Swallowed By Hell
The thrashiest thrash that has thrashed in quite some time. Rapid alternate picked riffage with that constant thrash snare. Rise From The Ashes demands a circle pit. Lyrics like “Dieeeeeee, die, die, die die, die, die, dieeeeeeeee” followed by an angry shredding assault almost make you forget that Slayer retired. The title track opens with the detuned reverberated voice of that demon that lends his pipes for opening thrash tracks. Some nice evil triplet chugs give character to the twisted tormenter found when Swallowed By Hell.
Bloody Floors starts with the grooviest bass line I’ve heard in a thrash song in a long time. Bob Zabel pummels his bass like Dave Ellefson pummels his ….. bass…. And when the guitars mimic the motif it’s magic ( the black kind of course). Battered by more brutal right hand technique and a drummer with an infinite stamina bar, Bloody Floors plays like Slayer and Megadeth had a meth fuelled baby, reared by and fed on the teat of the hound of Hades (it produced Buckfast by the way, Cerberus was a strange creature) and mentored by a radioactive wasp. “IN THE BURN PIT” chanted “You know you soon shall DIIIIIIEEEEEE” shouted. Hallmarks of the heyday. Such chants could be considered a little cringey these days but In this instance, why not. A call to the tribal actions found when letting loose in the pit. You can smell the beer, sweat and leather through the headphones. For those who were there at the birth of thrash here’s a song to dislocate your knees to.
Fear Incarnate rises with screams and a military snare leading to half time feel changes perfect for stomping around like an angry gorilla and riffs to get in those Corpsegrinder neck gains. Some may argue that Metallica invented thrash metal with Kill ‘Em All, as time has gone on and music evolved we now have the future classic Fuck Them All charmingly chanted repeatedly over a tom groove for the chorus. Bleed Them Dry makes great use of the kind of muted diminished triplet licks found in songs like Pantera’s Shedding Skin. A detriment to my typing ability, forcing hair into my eyes due to its capacity to cause involuntary head-banging.
Pine Tuxedo mixes things up with a neo-classical pedal tone intro. The time change to chromatic chug genuinely causes the reflexes in my face to contort resembling Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman
from American Psycho … I know you’ve seen that meme. Fuck that’s a tasty riff switch. As Killer Instinct comes across like more of a filler song (although not a bad one to say the least, pulled pork is a filler and pulled pork is fucking lovely).
I’ll take this opportunity to celebrate guitarists - Jay Visser and Jim Fergades, bassist - Bob Zabel and drummer - DJ Bagemehl for the ferocious and tight violence they commit upon their instruments of choice. Ending with Psychosis, Guitar mimicking a repetitious siren solidifying the strained settings of the squashed and sinister shift in sanity. Barbarous battering beats pan through the skull as crushing chords carve through the centre for the kill culminating in the sirens return as we fade to black from this relentless rendition of extreme thrash.
In the last year we’ve seen a resurgence in old school thrash with David Ellefson’s Dieth, new releases from Kerry King, Megadeth keeping the guitarists happy and Metallica …. ummm, never mind . Morbid Saint’s Swallowed By Hell is more extreme than the lot. Although nothing overly original and I believe I counted 13 “dies” in the first song, this album is balls to the wall, break your neck death/thrash metal!
Bloody Floors is now joining my best thrash songs playlist as the song is just the tits! Precise speed tremolo riffing, an onslaught of heavy percussive artillery, surprisingly audible grooving bass lines and the hostile yelling and blood-curdling screams that compliment the chaos make Swallowed By Hell a high recommendation for fans of the pit and the genre. Heavier than a biomechanical grizzly bear with the rage of a steroid abusing honey badger with rabies. 9/10
Spectral Voice - Sparagmos (Dark Descent Records) [James Jackson]
You know you’re in Doom territory when the opening track, Be Cadaver, is well over 11 minutes long; it opens with a resonating guitar sound, a solemn chord/note (I’m no musician) struck and left to ebb amidst an eerie ambient background. The Colorado based death/doom outfit Spectral Voice release their latest EP this month and whilst I am a fan of doom metal, the more death metal influenced material is that which I tend to avoid, as a fan of My Dying Bride, it’s their more melodic works I hold most dear, avoiding their earlier, rawer and more death metal inspired albums and EP’s. It’s a full six minutes before any real resemblance of death metal however and the melancholy riffs are thrown to one side in brutal fashion, it’s this juxtaposition that makes the song and indeed those that follow interesting.
You know you’re in Doom territory when the opening track, Be Cadaver, is well over 11 minutes long; it opens with a resonating guitar sound, a solemn chord/note (I’m no musician) struck and left to ebb amidst an eerie ambient background. The Colorado based death/doom outfit Spectral Voice release their latest EP this month and whilst I am a fan of doom metal, the more death metal influenced material is that which I tend to avoid, as a fan of My Dying Bride, it’s their more melodic works I hold most dear, avoiding their earlier, rawer and more death metal inspired albums and EP’s. It’s a full six minutes before any real resemblance of death metal however and the melancholy riffs are thrown to one side in brutal fashion, it’s this juxtaposition that makes the song and indeed those that follow interesting.
As if the opening track wasn’t long enough Red Feasts Condensed Into One takes the lead, topping in at over 13 minutes it’s a rude awakening of Death Metal tropes blowing the somber echoes of the last few minutes of Be Cadaver; from that initial release it’s a dive into discordant ambience and funeral march tempo riffs. Gregorian like chants back a solemn melody, notes ring like church bells and the whole atmosphere is borderline Hammer Horror, once lulled into a false sense of security that death metal influence is back. I cannot do the song enough justice for its ability to change genres at the slightest touch, its equally atmospheric and haunting, harmonious and melancholy and unashamedly brutal.
Sinew Censer was realised as a single last month and whilst only a shadow of the epic grandeur of previous tracks, it’s only 7 minutes long, it’s still as complex and varied as that which has come before it. Death’s Knell Rings In Eternity carries the torch and is a crushing example of the death and doom Metal that has fashioned this EP, as with its predecessors Death’s Knell hits hard, is as multifaceted as I’d come to expect and takes no prisoners, and yes in that ambient mix is a glorious sounding church bell. One of the things that grates me on this is the production quality, it’s got that underground black metal sound to it, that fuzzy sound, like an echo of a conversation that at times you’d struggle to make out and it’s so frustrating because there are some absolute genius moments on this EP.
The other thing is something which is of pure personal preference, NO CLEAN SINGING; actually I’d have liked to have heard some; I think that contrast of clean and growled vocals adds to the overall tone and feel, with other artists of a similar ilk, you can feel the anguish, the despair through the clean vocals, those emotions further amplified by a fiercer sounding vocal; desperation to a point of animalistic fervour. 7/10
Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She (Loma Vista) [Matt Bladen]
One of the most engaging, evocative, experimental artists in heavy music, Chelsea Wolfe emerges like a gothic chanteuse from the ether with another album of atmospheric wonderment. Music of this album is about rediscovery, rediscovery of oneself, letting the inner part of you come out, whether it be soaring highs or crushing lows, this album navigates every facet of coming to terms with change but realising that your power is inside.
As with all previous Chelsea Wolfe albums, the music often becomes unclassifiable, hybrid genres blend into one another while Wolfe crafts magic. She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She does this and then some, the electronic thump and drum machine of Whispers In The Echo Chamber has a wooziness of Apex Twin, the breakbeat of House Of Self Undoing counteracting the haunting vocals. There's a rawness to the singing that Wolfe has always had, but somehow it's more affecting here, possibly due to the personal nature of the record. Everything Turns Blue, delicately balances strings with dream pop while Tunnel Lights is claustrophobic.
The use of silence is deafening on tracks such as The Liminal and the harrowing Place In The Sun, Wolfe's amalgam of multiple soundscapes blending together, meaning that multiple plays are needed. Collecting the inspiration from PJ Harvey, Dead Can Dance and Björk, Chelsea Wolfe has emerged as the successor to these acts, if you want ambient atmospheric, introspection. 8/10
Demon Seizure - Murder Tales (Self Released) [Rich Piva]
Demon Seizure play what has been labelled “horror stoner” and I get it. The Swedish band brings the riffs on their debut album, Murder Tales and it is pretty scary. I think I would put this more in the death and roll category, but either way, the band play some nice heavy stoner metal, but the one thing that will cause listeners to turn this up or turn it off is the vocals. You must be cool with the death growl to go along with your riffs, and if not, you may prefer something where the singing is a little less harsh on the ears.
Demon Seizure play what has been labelled “horror stoner” and I get it. The Swedish band brings the riffs on their debut album, Murder Tales and it is pretty scary. I think I would put this more in the death and roll category, but either way, the band play some nice heavy stoner metal, but the one thing that will cause listeners to turn this up or turn it off is the vocals. You must be cool with the death growl to go along with your riffs, and if not, you may prefer something where the singing is a little less harsh on the ears.
Demon Seizure brings the riffs and the heavy though, regardless of how you feel about the death vocals. The opener, Thirst, and a track like Venom Trip are chunky slabs of stoner metal that lean more towards the metal side of things. The band sounds more like Amon Amarth than they do, say Sasquatch, on a track like On Frozen Fields. Blood Chamber is another stand out track that incorporates some spooky keys with the chugging riffs. I have to mention Eaten By Yetis, not just because it is the song name of the year so far, but it is also a nice chunk of heavy death doom. The yeti in the room however would be the vocals, that will make of break someone’s pinion of Murder Tales.
If you are good with the death growls and you like your riffs to chug along, check out the scary Swedes from Demon Seizure. Murder Tales is a nice first effort from a band who bring the heavy, growls or not. 7/10