V.R.P.I/Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferni/Memento Mori/2014 CD Review

   V.R.P.I  are  a  band  from  Mexico  that  plays  a  satanic  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Vexilla  Regis  Prodeunt  Inferni"  which  was  released  by  Memento  Mori.

  Horror  movie  samples  start  off  the  album  along  with  satanic  ritualistic  spoken  word  parts  which  leads  to  a  more  heavier  death  metal  direction  along  with  some  guitar  leads  and  deep  growls  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  to  add  in  more  faster  parts,  evil  melodies  and  blast  beats  into t heir  musical  style.

  There  is  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and   fast  parts  throughout  the  album  and  the  spoken  word  samples  also  return  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  after  awhile  high  pitched  screams  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  bass  guitars  also  bring  some  primitive  and  raw  aggression  into  the  music  at  times  and  the  band  sticks  to  a  90's  style  of  satanic  death  metal  throughout  the  recording  and  the  last  2  songs  are  demo  tracks.

  V.R.P.I  stick  to  a  pure  satanic  death  metal  direction  from beginning  to  end  of  the  album  and  the  music  is  very  dark,  raw,  heavy  and  old  school  sounding,  the  production  has  a  very  raw,  dark  and  90's  orientated  sound  to  it  while  the  lyrics  cover  Satanism  and  Occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  V.R.P.I  are  a  very  great  sounding  satanic  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ceremony  Of  The  Impure"  "Ravenous  Apocalyptic  Raids"  "Hunting And  Sacrifice"  and  "Towards  Battlefields".  8  out  of  10..

Mortis Dei/Salvation Never Comes/metal Scrap Records/2014 CD Review

  Mortis  Dei  are   a  band  from  Poland  that  plays  an  heavy  form  of  death  metal  with  elements  of  thrash  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Salvation  Never  Comes"  which  was  released  by  Metal  Scrap  Records.

  An  intro  with  dark  sounding  synths  starts  off  the  album  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  more  fast  and  brutal  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  vocals  that  are  in  between  thrash  and  death  metal  and  after  awhile  melodic  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  bands  musical  sound.  

  There  is  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  throughout  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  an  atmospheric  background  being  utilized  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  they  also  use  a  mixture  of  growls  and  screams  and  the  music  brings  in  elements  of  both  old  school  and  modern  day  death  metal  as  well  as  combining  them  together  and  you  can  hear  some  technical  guitar  riffing  being  mixed  in  at  times  and  later  on  during  the  album  the  bass  guitars  get  more  powerful  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  being  added  into  the  music  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction.

  Mortis  Dei  shows  a  great  amount  of  diversity  with  their  music  combing  many  different  style  of  death  metal together  along  with  some  thrash  influences  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  violent  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Mortis  Dei  are  a  very  great  sounding  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Light's  End"  "Journey  to  the  Dark"  and  "The  Way  to  The  Light".  8  out  of  10.     

Sacrificial Blood/Unholy Fucking Hatred/Iron, Blood And Death Corporation/2013 Cassette Review

  Sacrificial  Blood  are  a  band  from  New  Jersey  that  plays  an  old  school  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Unholy  Fucking  Hatred"  which  was  re-issued  on  cassette  by  Iron, Blood And Death Corporation  in  the  year  of  2013.

  An  80's  style  thrash  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  the  music  starts  to  speed  up  a  bit  along  with  a  mixture  of  growls  and  screams  and  after  awhile  solos  and  leads  find  their  way  into  the  bands  musical  sound  and  they  also  add  in  melody  and  more  raw  aggression  as  the  album  progresses.

  All  of  the  music  sounds  like  it  could  off  been  release d in  between  1984  and  87  and  the  bands  musical  style  goes  back  to  the  beginnings  of  the  death  metal  genre  where the  music  was  still  mixed  in  with  thrash  quite  a  bit  and  you  can  also  hear  some  primitive  and  punishing  sounding  bass  guitars  being  utilized  in  the  background  at  times  and  they  also  bring  in  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  at  times while  the  main  focus  remains  on  the  faster  material.
 
  As  the  album  progresses  you  can  hear  some  elements  of  classic  metal  being  mixed  in  with  their  raw  death/thrash  sound  and  they  also  bring  a  cover  of  Rainbow's  "Kill  The  King"  towards  the  end  of  the  album  and  this  cassette  has  3  bonus  tracks  that  where  not  present  on  the  original  version  of  this  recording  with  the  first  4  being  their  own  songs  and  the  last  2  being  The  Godz  and  Riot's  cover.

  Sacrifical  Blood  plays  a  very  old  school  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal   that goes  back  to  the  darkest,  and  rawest  beginning s of  this  musical  genre  as  well  as  adding  in  elements  of  traditional  metal  as  the  album  progresses.  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  yet  professional  all  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  Death,  Satan,  Evil,  Hated  and  Metal  Themes.

  In  my  opinion  Sacrificial  Blood  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw  and  old  school  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Sacrificial  Blood"  "Unholy  Wrath"  "Evil  Force"  and  "Warrior"  which  is  a  Riot  cover.  8  out  of  10.  

Bane Of Bedlam/Monument Of Horror/2013 CD Review

  Bane  Of  Bedlam  are  a  band  from  Australia  that  plays  a  progressive  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2013  album  "Monument  Of  Horror".

  Acoustic  guitars  and  clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  and  after  a  minute  thrash  metal  style  guitar  riffing  makes  its  presence known  in  the music  along  with  some  blast  beats,  melodic  leads,  and  a  mixture  of  screams  and  growls  and  all  of  the musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  

  You  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  melody  being  utilized  in  the  bands  musical  style  and  the  band  also  uses  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  adding  in  elements  of  groove  metal  into  their  musical  sound  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  acoustic  guitars  of  the  first  track  also  make  a  return  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  they  also  enhance  the  progressive  nature  of  the  bands  musical  style.

  Bane  Of  bedlam  go  back  to  the  old  school  styles  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  add  a  more  progressive  tinge  to  them  as  well  as  a  great  amount  of  groove  metal  elements  which  takes  these  genres  into  a  more  modern  direction,  the  productions  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent,  dark  and  horror  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Bane  Of  Bedlam  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Woken  By  The  Horde"  "Monument  Of  Horror"  and  "Vultures  Of  War".  8  out  of  10.      

Entrails/Resurrected From The Grave-Demo Collection/Metal Blade Records 2014 CD Compilation Review

  Entrails  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  an  old  school  style  of  early  90's  Swedish  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  demo  compilation  "Resurrected  From  The  Grave"  which  will  be  released  in  July  by  Metal  Blade  Records.

  An  intro  with  thunder  and  church  bell  noises  start  off  the  album  and  a  few  seconds  later  horror  movie  soundtrack  style  synths  are  added in  and  a  couple  of  minutes  you  can  hear  some  demonic  sounding  vocals  which  leads up  to  a  90's  style  Swedish  death  metal  sound  which  utilizes  both  screams  and  growls.

  You  can  hear  a  decent  amount  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  throughout  along  with  a  great  amount  of  riffing  that  utilizes  melody  and  the  guitar  solos  are  very  raw  and  melodic  old  school  death  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads  and  there  are  also  times  the  music  gets  very  brutal  and  adds  in  some  blast  beats  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  on  the  demo  recordings  and  as  the  album  progresses  there  are  a  few  epic  tracks  with  one  of  them  being  heavily  influenced  by  doom  metal  along  with  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  being  utilized  at  times  and  one  of  the  later  tracks  has  a  brief  use  of  melodic  clean  singing  female  vocals.

  The  second  demo  on  the  compilation  starts  off  with  some  depressing  sounding  synths  along  with  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  and  the  musical  direction  of  the  second  demo  goes  for  the  same  musical  direction  as  the  first  one  but  also  has  a  more  raw and  dirty approach  to  old  school  death  metal  and  the  growls  and  screams  also  have  a  more  dark  presence  to  them  this  time  around  and  the  synths  also  make  a  brief  return  on  one  of  the  later  tracks.  

  On  both  of  the  demo's  that  are  on  the  compilation  Entrails  stick  to  the  early  90's  style  of  Swedish  death  metal  that  they  expanded  on  up on  later  recordings,  the  production  sounds  very  dark,  raw  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  suffering,  doom,  the  undead,  and  occult  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  double  album  from  Entrails  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  check  out  this  compilation.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Evil Obsession"  "Depression"  "Evil  Terror"  and  "Casket  Garden".  8  out  of  10.  

Ecocide Interview

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

Ecocide: The main thing we are focusing on right now is finishing all songs for our new album, which we hope to release somewhere at the end of this year.



2. In 2013 you had released a new album, how would you describe the musical direction you have taken with this recording and also how does it differ from the demo you had released in 2012?

Ecocide: The demo from 2012 is way more Thrash Metal. With our album we took a big step towards Death Metal. You can still hear some Thrash influences though since some of those songs where written just after our demo.  



3. The lyrics cover a great amount of science fiction and Lovecraft themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in those topics?

Ecocide: Our guitarist/vocalist writes the lyrics so he is the one who is most interested in those topics. But all three of us are big sci-fi fans so when we were thinking up lyrical themes, we came to that topic very quick.



4. The band originally start out as Toxic Napalm, what was the decision behind the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Ecocide'?

Ecocide: Toxic Napalm was actually a “non-serious” band of Sten (guitar/vocals) and myself (drums) that started out because of a school talent show (we covered a few Thrash songs). After that show we were asked to play on HIT, a band-contest in Haarlem between school bands. We came 2nd and a bit later we decided we could seriously start a band, that’s when we started searching for members and Ecocide was born.  


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

Ecocide: That’s a difficult question since all shows have their own awesome moments but if I had to choose one I would say Essen Death Fest in Germany. We had an amazing time over there and the crowd went nuts during our show. The whole venue was packed with people so that was also really cool – to play for that many people.
When we play live we truly give it all we got, constant headbanging and a lot of energy on stage. I think this is what sets us apart from most bands these days that just stand still and play.


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

Ecocide: We are not touring yet but a big show is coming up on September 20th. We will play in a big (free) festival called Baroeg Open Air with Bolt Thrower!



7. Recently Disharmonic Records, re-issued your 2013 album , what are your thoughts on the final product?

Ecocide: We are very happy how it turned out, the new cover looks great and Disharmonic Records was very communicative in the process which made things go very smooth.



8. According to the Metal Archives page the band is signed to Dan's Crypt Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

Ecocide: Dan’s Crypt Records is a label from Spain that releases some great old school Death Metal albums from smaller bands like us but also bigger bands that were very well known in the ‘80s/’90s Death Metal scene.



9. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death and thrash metal?

Ecocide: Very positive! We have received so many reviews, almost one every week in the beginning. All of them are very positive and encourage us to bring out an even better album. Also we sell a lot of merch worldwide, from Germany to Japan to Australia, all over the world!



10. Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Ecocide: We try to keep our Thrash influences but I have a feeling this next album will be a bit more Death Metal focused than the first album, also I can tell you the drum parts will be a lot faster and aggressive! We have all grown as musicians and I hope this will shine through on the next release.

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

Ecocide: We are heavily influenced by the Florida Death Metal bands like Death, Massacre, Morbid Angel, etc. I myself listen to all kinds of music nowadays, not just metal, to get inspiration.



12. What are some of your non musical interests?

Ecocide: The bassist and I draw a lot so from time to time we make some artwork for Ecocide or another band. We also like to watch bad horror movies or play games.



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

Ecocide: Thank you for this interview! We would like to thank everyone who supports us by buying our merch or coming to our shows.



Disharmonic Records - http://www.disharmonic-records.com/


Bandcamp Page - http://disharmonic-records.bandcamp.com/

Shards Of Humanity Interview

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

Shards Of Humanity is a metal band out of Memphis, TN. Formed by myself, Todd Cochran (vocals/lead guitar) and Ryan McAlister (drums) in roughly 2009. We began playing shows as a two-piece in 2011, but as of 2013 we have joined new member Larry Mercado as a rhythm/lead guitarist and creative aid. Our current discography includes a s/t EP (2012) and our soon to be debut album "Fractured Frequencies" on Unspeakable Axe Records.

2.You have your first full length coming out in September, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction of the new album and also how does it differ from the ep you had released in 2012? The material on this album has a lot of influence from, but hardly limited to, bands like Death, Carcass, and Atheist... some have even pointed out similarities with Massacra and Sadus. Its thrashy, death metalish at times, technical, and has melodic tendencies. We spent more time and effort on recording the new album in comparison to our EP, which was recorded quickly in 3 days for minimal cash. This album has better, heavier production and displays a tighter performance. Two songs from the EP have been re-recorded for the album. 3.The music is heavily rooted in the early death metal style, what was the decision behind going more into this direction as opposed to a more modern day variation of this genre?

There was no formal decision made by me personally concerning our sound. My riffs/lyrics/approach came about without thoughts of "what genre is this" or "what will people think" or "what band am i trying to sound like". The analysis and categorizing comes about afterwards when the idea is completed. Concerning modern metal bands, i simply do not connect with the attitudes and approaches of most, and therefore do not listen. 4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music? My lyrics usually come about in a stream of consciousness type of style and touch on themes which i think you described well in your review as "dark,  scientific,  philosophical,  and  metaphysical". I might also add the adjective "political" in a song or two.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Shards Of Humanity'? The name came up in the lyrics of the song "Shards Of Humanity", written by an ex vocalist Kanon Autry around 2008 or 09. The song is loosely based on an apocalyptic dream.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe oyur stage performance? Some of our best shows have been in Memphis at a bar called Murphy's, the same place where you can find videos of the late Shawn Lane shredding in back in the day. Our second performance was a trip down to NOLA with memphis friends Process Of Suffocation. Great time down there, cool scene. Our stage performance is high energy and we like being as loud as possible. We use real tube amps and do not use triggered drums. We like crowd movement and involvement as well.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
We have a couple shows back to back coming up next month: July 11: Nashville, TN. Dinos. w/ Thetan, Process Of Suffocation, and Bleed The Pigs July 12: Johnson City, TN. Mountains Of Madness Fest @ The Hideaway. w/ Mangled, Coffin Dust, Manic Scum, Ectovoid, Putrisect, etc.... Event page for Fest : https://www.facebook.com/events/214427138767021/

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death and thrash metal? I suspect people worldwide are still mostly in the dark about us... Although, once our debut drops with Unspeakable Axe, i assume more people will be in the loop internationally. Seems that all feedback thus far has been greatly positive, which is appreciated to say the least.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future? All aspects of our sound have been evolving for a while now and i don't see it stopping. Ive already got close to another album worth of riffs in the closet waiting to be demo'd and im very excited about some of what are the skeletons of new songs. Having Larry contribute to the guitar writing has introduced a whole new dynamic and excitement. Expect another album in the not so distant future. We'll leave it at that.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays? There are so many bands that influence our creative output that id feel strange making a connection to just a handful... Although, some of my favorite metal bands include Death, Carcass, Brutal,Truth, Napalm Death, and Atheist, my musical appreciation is hardly limited to extreme metal. One of my passions is playing blues/rock guitar and even exploring jazz fusion styles. Some of my riffing on this album even contains chords commonly used in jazz settings, although not used in a jazzy context whatsoever. As of late ive been listening to some of my Dad's old cassette tapes and vinyl including ZZ Top "Rio Grande Mud" and Van Halen II. Ive got Macabre's "Sinister Slaughter" loaded in my work truck currently. I listen to a bunch of different shit.

11.What are some of your non musical interests? Seems as though most of my interests are music related somehow. I like collecting rocks although i lost most of my collection. I also like watching cool/funny shit on youtube but usually that is musically related too. I know Ryan has heavy interest in things like infrastructure and buildings and such. He's very knowledgeable on a broad range of subjects. Larry is exceptionally good at video games.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts? Keep your eyes on us and Unspeakable Axe because we've got new material and fire under our asses.