Insain/Enlightening The Unknown/Kaotxin Records/2014 EP Review

  Insain  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  very  brutal  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  ep  "Enlightening  The  Unknown"  which  was  released  by  Kaotoxin  Records.

  The  ep  starts  out  with  an  intro  which  uses  dark  sounding  synths  and  spoken  word  ritualistic  parts  before  going  into  a  fast,  heavy  and  brutal  death  metal  sound  along  with  blast  beats,  growls  and  screams  and  after  awhile  the music  starts  mixing  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  together  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  which  also  leads  up  to  guitar  solos.

  As  the  ep  moves  on  the  band  stick  to  a  very  fast,  heavy  and  brutal  death  metal  sound  while  also  having  a  good  amount  of  darkness  in  their  music  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  the  same  formula  while  still  being  done  in  the  right  manner.  

  Insain  stick  to  a  very  fast,  heavy  and  brutal  death  metal  direction  throughout  the  recording  and  barely  ever  use  melody   and  the y concentrate  more  on  creating  some  of  the  best  brutal  death  metal  than  what  you  can  expect  from  an  average  band.

  Song  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  occultism  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy,  brutal  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Insain  are  a  very  great  sounding  brutal  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Absorbing  the  Masse"  and  "Enlightening  The  Unknown".  8  out  of  10.    

Infectious Hate/Insanity Begins/2013 EP Review

  Infectious  Hate  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  groove  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2013  ep  "Insanity  Begins".

  The  ep  starts  out  with  a  very  fast,  heavy  and  brutal  sound  along  with  some  growls  and  groove  metal  elements  in  the  mid  paced  sections  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  before  the  groove  parts  take  over.

  When  the  ep  goes  to  other  songs  the  band  sticks  to  mostly  a  mid  paced  death/groove  metal  direction  as  well  as  bringing  in  a  small  amount  of  melody  and  speeding  up  to  a  brutal  sound  in  certain  sections  of  the  music  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  a  mixture  of  screams  and  growls  which  also  leads  to  to  some  guitar  solos  and  on  one  of  the songs  there  are  spoken  word  samples.

  With  this  ep  Infectious  Hate  take  a  brutal  form  of  death  metal  and  mix  it  in  with  groove  metal  and  melody  to  create  a  very  heavy  recording  that  does  not  rely  on  excessive  speed  or  plenty  of  blast  beats  while  still  proving  that  you  can  still  be  brutal  with  mostly  mid  paced  sections.

  Song  lyrics  cover  dark  and  hateful  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  for  being  a  self  released  recording  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  ep.

  In  my  opinion  Infectious  Hate  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  and  groove  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Insanity  Begins"  and  "Corroded  By  Time".  8  out  of  10.

    

Mass Infection/For I Am Genocide/Comatose Music/2014 CD Review

  Mass  Infection  are  a  band  from  Greece  that  plays  a  very  brutal  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "For  I  Am  Genocide"  which  will  be released  by  Comatose  Music.

  The  album  starts  out  with  a  very  fast,  heavy  and  brutal  death  metal  sound  along  with  blast  beats  which  also  leads  up  to  along  with  a  mixture  of  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  after  awhile  they  bringing  a  good  amount  of  old  school  death  metal  influences  and  mix  it  in  with  the  more  modern  variation  of  the  genre.

  As  the  album  continues  it  sticks  to  a  brutal  death  metal  sound  while  also  adding  technical  parts,  melody  and  solos  which  are  only  used  briefly  on  a  couple  of  songs  into  their  music  to  give  the  album  a  bit  more  variation  and  they  also  bring  in  a  brief  instrumental  before  the  last  song.

  With  this  album  Mass  infection  combine  the  modern  brutal  sound  with  the  old  school  death  metal  sound  to  create  an  album  that  is  very  heavy,  fast  and  technical  and  they  rely  more  on  rhythms  than  flashy  guitar  solos  or  a  million  notes  to  get  their  point  across  the  recording.

  Song  lyrics  cover  dark,  occult,  violent  and  hateful  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  along  with  the   bass  guitars  being  mixed  down  low  in  the  mix  as  well  as  the  last  song  being  long  and  epic  length.

  In  my  opinion  Mass  Infection  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  old  school  and  brutal  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Praised  by  All  The  Entities"  "Beholding  the  Throne"  "Unearthly  Legion"  and  "The  Genocide  Revealed".  8  out  of  10.   

Exhumation/Hymn To Your God/Dunkelheit Produktionen/2014 CD Review

  Exhumation are  a  band  from  Indonesia  that  plays  an  epic  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Hymn  To  Your  God"  which  was  released  by  Dunkelheit  Produktionen.

  The  album  starts  out  with  a  dark  and  heavy  sound  which  starts  going  into  a  more  death  metal  direction  after  a  few  seconds  before  speeding  up  a  bit  and  adding  in  growls  and  blast  beats  along  with  a  good  amount  of  melody  as  well  as  a  mixture  of  slow  and  fast  parts  which  also  leads  to  solos  and  leads  becoming  a  part  of  the  recording.

  As  the  album  continues  it  sticks  to  mostly  a  Florida  style  death  metal  sound  while  also  having  more  epic  structures  than  a  good  amount  of  those  bands  and  they  stick  to  a  more  old  school  than  modern  sound  and  on  the  6th  song  tribal  drums  along  with  esoteric  female  vocals  are  brought  in  and  the  last  song  is  a  Blasphemy  cover  and  they  start  adding  a  more  black  metal  feeling  to  their  instruments.

  With  this  album  Exhumation  show  a  different  side  of  old  school  death  metal  than  what  most  younger  bands  doing  with  the  focus  being  being  on  America  death  metal  than  the    European  style  which  most  modern  bands  stick  to  and  they  display  a  good  amount  of  darkness  and  heaviness  with  their approach  to  epic  death  metal.

  Song  lyrics  cover  darkness,  old  theology,  and  philosophy  meaning,  while  the production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  along  with  the  bass  guitars  being  mixed  down  low  in  the  mix.

  In  my  opinion  Exhumation  are  a  very  great  sounding  epic  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "All  Seeing  Eye"  "Omnipotent"  and  "Ritual".  8  out  of  10.  

Monsterworks/Universe/Eat Lead And Die/2014 CD Review

  Monsterworks  are  a  band  from  New  Zealand  that h as  plenty  of  their  material  reviewed  by  this  zine  over  the  years  with  a  musical  style  that  mixes  thrash,  death,  prog  and  power  metal  together  and  this  is  a  review  of  their    2014  album  "Eat  Lead  And  Die"  which  was  released  by  Eat  Lead  And  Die.

  The  album  starts  out  with  a  heavy  and  melodic  old  school  metal  sound  along  with  solos  and  leads  which  also  leads  up  to  clean  singing  vocals  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  being  going  into  a  more  heavy  and  extreme  direction  along  with  blast  beats  as  well  as  mixing  in  clean  parts  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  after  awhile  death  metal  vocals  become  a  part  of  the  music.

  As  the  album  continues  it  sticks  to  a  more  traditional  metal  sound  while  also  having  a  good  amount  of  death  metal  and  thrash  metal  influences  which  also  update  the  genre  for  modern  days  and  there  i  also  a  great  amount  of  melody  in  the  music  and  at  time s they  also  bring  in  70's  rock  elements  and  at  times  acoustic  guitars  are  added  into  the  recording  and  on  one  song  they  bring  in  a  slight  black  metal  feeling  which  also  leads  up  to  more  traces  of  prog  rock.

  With  this  album  Monsterworks  continue  their  mixture  of  thrash,  death  and  power  metal  while  also  utilizing  the  prog  and  70s  rock  influences  which  they  have  brought  into  their  recent  material  and  they  demonstrate  a  great  amount  of  skill,  talent  and  originality  with  their  album.

  Song  lyrics  cover  a  concept  about  the  universe  from  birth  to  death,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  along  with  all  of  the  songs  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.        

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Monsterworks  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  thrash,  death  and  power  metal,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Universe"  "The  Bridge"  and  "Heat  Death".  8  out  of  10.

Brood Of Hatred Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

I consider Metal to be an extreme form of expression that permits our greatest feelings as humans to manifest themselves, so for the love of it I chose to form this band and let my own music be heard. Brood Of Hatred was brought together in 2010 by Mohamed Melki (me). The project came after an extensive experience in the Tunisian Metal scene through which I played with numerous Extreme Metal Bands. Brood Of Hatred started as a solo project but it didn't take long before I found members who are ready to commit to the band. The name followed naturally when I first started the project, it came spontaneously as I thought about all the hypocrisy and lies in peoples lives


2.Recently you have put out a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction it has taken and also how does it differ from your previous recordings?

The skinless agony record contains 9 tracks and it’s as if a continuity of the EP we released before “new order of intelligence”, and the new thing in it that made us raise the bars of our music is the new professional mix and mastering that we did with our mate Maciej Dawidek at Widek Records, Gdynia, Poland.


3.You new album seems to have a concept, can you tell us a little bit more about the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

While the lyrics themselves are intentionally ambiguous and obscure, it's clear that inspiration comes mainly from our concern about the past, current, and future state of our civilization and the place of Men in the universe. I view our lyrics as lying between the borders of a mystical and a scientific world view while intriguing the listener into trying to come out with different personal interpretations of the songs. While this is how I conceive our lyrics, it should be said that my friend Nidhal Selmi is the one who mainly worked on finalizing them.


4.According to the metal archives page, you released a VHS video a year ago, what was the decision behind using this format insted of the more modern dvd or blue ray?

We created the video with that format using the options we have to make it come to life while we are not intending to release a commercial product but an artistic one so the last thing that come to our mind is the Quality.. and we made the video aiming to spread our music and to deliver our ideas to the fanbase, so the only trick that came to our mind is to use an image display, and the message that shows in the end of the video is the one that resumed the whole idea!


5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Brood of hatred'?

The name followed naturally when I first started the project, it came spontaneously as I thought about all the hypocrisy and lies in peoples lives.. and it came through the inner fight we are living within ourselves everyday in a country where metal folks cannot express themselves so a sort of an inner hatred created itself..


6.This band originally started out as a solo project, what was the decision behind forming a full line up?

The whole concept began as a solo project coz we don’t have a metal scene here already, there’s no folks that wanna play and create some extreme metal here, and when I intended to create the project I wasn’t aiming to release it till I leave the country, but after a while when I found people that urged me to move forward like my band mate the guitarist Muhammed Bouchir I got more encouraged without looking back and said “so be it”!


7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

The band is currently active, yet we still haven't done any live gigs in Tunisia because of the lack of any proper organization. This doesn't mean that we do not aim to perform on a local, national or international level, and we are already rehearsing since a year and let’s see what this year brings after the album is released..


8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Soon some shows will be announced some international shows, we are working on that..


9.The new album came out on Crime Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

Well Crime Records is a label that came across our mind and it’s so in Harmony with the band's aims and we like that a lot, and we are working hard day and night with the label manager Mr. Martin Steene and preparing a summer plan to push the band forward, and we are simply satisfied with the work with them and its whole concept that will push metal music further and further..


10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your album by fans of death metal?

Our fans were waiting since a year for our debut, and the preview for the album is gonna be released this month, and we are sure that is gonna be something descent in every way and time will tell.


11.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

I already started working in the mid of 2013 on some new demos for the new release and that’s gonna be  way to different from “skinless agony” and that’s not to mean that the concept and the aim will change, and there’s a good chance that a new single will be released this summer with a new dimension, new air, and more underrated musicality.. and it sure will be a continuity of what we started coz in BOH everything is related..


12.What are some bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

It's clear that we are a Death Metal band, still we like to experiment with atmosphere and sometimes add some progressive elements to the music. We are mostly influenced by what I like to call Old-school Metal including bands such as Death, Gorguts, Morbid Angel and by newer bands such as Ulcerate.


13.How would you describe the metal scene of your home country Tunisia?

It is very hard to play metal in Tunisia, our main difficulties are: -The Metal scene is very small and underground, we never get coverage from media. -Media portrays metal very negatively and we suffer from a lot of stereotyping and hate. Many accuse us of being Satanists, delinquent, immoral and violent. We are all alone in what we do, we don't have the resources for bands to flourish. It's really hard to find a place for rehearsals, and quite rare to find events where to play. Many of the music festivals just ignore Metal in favor of other genres like Rap, Reggae or Electronic music... The upheavals didn't really change anything, although many metalheads and the metal scene youth contributed to them. The government banned many concerts and we still struggle to change the status-quo.


14.Do you have any non musical interests?

As you know the music is a field that unite us all to the point we all agree and be comprehensive with each other and plus we feel it.. Especially when it comes from the heart and honest and the metal music is a lifestyle not just music to make. And that doesn’t make us prisoners to one thing everyone can make something else with his interests.. for example Muhammed Bouchir (Guitarist) is a body building coach and Melik Melek Kelifa (Guitars) is a doctor.. So to finalize everyone can have his own interests.


15.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Well that’s it for the moment we made our first step to the world and hope we get the support we always wanted and that the project goes to a higher level, and that the music industry pays more attention to this Dark continent, and we want to thank you so much for this amazing interview. Stay Metal!

Lethal Dosage/Consume/Battleground Records/2014 CD Review

  Lethal  Dosage  are  a  band  from  Arizona  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  groove  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Consume"  which  was  released  by  Battleground  Records.

  The  album  starts  out  with  growls  and  a  heavy  death  metal  sound  along  with  elements  of  groove  being  brought  into  the  music  as  well  as  some  screams  and  melody  and  the  music  sticks  to  a  mid  paced  direction  for  the  most  part.

  As  the  album  continues  the  band  stick  to  a  basic  death/groove  metal  direction  while  also  adding  a  bit  of  melody  in  the  musical  instruments  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  awhile  they  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  and  guitar  leads.

  When  the  album  goes  more  into  the  other  songs  they  bring  in  an  instrumental  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  which  they  add  to  their  death/groove  metal  sound  and  you  can  also  hear  traces  of  hardcore  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  With  this  album  Lethal  Dosage  do  not  bring  in  anything  new  and  the  mixture  of  death  and  groove  metal  has  been  done  before  but  they  do  write  some  very  decent  sounding  mid  paced  death/groove  metal  songs  with  a  good  amount  of  melody  as  well  as  bringing  in  solos  which  keep  them  away  from t he  standard  groove  sound.

  Song  lyrics  cover  dark,  hateful  and  everyday  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  as  well  as  some  of  the  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  lethal  Dosage  are  a  very  decent  sounding  mixture  of  death  and  groove  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  album>  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Drink"  "Melody"  "Matter  of  Honor"  and  "Sleep".  7/5  out  of  10.