Bloodstrike/Necrobirth/2014 Demo Review

  Bloodstrike  are  a  band  from  Denver,  Colorado  that  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  demo  "Necrobirth".

  A  very  dark  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  demo  along  with  some  melodies  before  going  into  a  fast  early  90's  death  metal  sound  along  with  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  being  used  for  a  few  seconds  before  slowing  down  again  and  adding  in  the  growls  and  then  the  music  starts  using  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  demo  sound  very  powerful  and  the  music  also  uses  a  good  mixture  of  both  early  90's  American  and  Swedish  death  metal  influences  and  on  the  second  track  dark  and  melodic  guitar  leads  are  added  into  the  music  and  after  awhile  there  are  some  powerful  bass  guitars  and  death'n'roll  elements  being  added  into  the  bands  musical  sound.

  Bloodstrike  plays  a  very  early  90's  style  of  death  metal  that  is  up  to  par  with  all  of  the  other  bands  from  this  era  and  the  music  sound s like  it  could  off  easily  been  recorded  during  that  time  period,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Bloodstrike  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  demo.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Serpent  Sun".  8  out  of  10.   

Mortis Dei Interview

Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
After recording the new material was a lot of concerts organized mainly through our agency, concert with Belphegor, Christ Agony, or in self-catering with Armagedon, in small steps we make new songs.

Recently you have released a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction of the newer material and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
The new material is a concept album, and totally responsible for its form is Mirek, in self-esteem can be concluded that it is a piece of slaughter in relation to the previous album, and even to "My Lovely Enemy" but still it is the direction of development which goes Mortis Dei.

There has been a 5 year gap between releases, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time?
Yes, 5 years is a lot of time, well, the new material was created, there were a few concerts I join the band, and also entered under the wing of Heart of Rock Agency through which we came to Dominus Svantevitus Tour with Quo Vadis and folk Percival Schuttenbach.

What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
As I mentioned earlier, CD is a concept album that talks about the internal struggle with his own demons.

What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Mortis Dei'?

The name was established on the basis of the translation of the Latin language, in the form of vocative meaning the death of God.

The band has been around for more than 20 years, what is it that keeps you motivated on creating heavy music after all of these years?
Motivates our desire to do what we love, we want to tour, infect people with our music, first of all realize and have satisfaction of this.

What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Here were performances better and worse but we always give all, regardless of the circumstances of the last performances were great in Pila on the Dominus Svantevitus Tour.

Do you have any touring or show plans for the new release?
Yes, we are preparing for a fairly sizable festival in Swiss where we planned release “Salvation Never Comes” in Poland, after the festival in the fall we're going to Torun play on mini-tour "Wrath Of Gods" and further, we hope to move on with our agency.

On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your newer music by fans of Death Metal?
At the moment in network are already two reviews and from what we see is not bad :). I think that people appreciate our point of view on Death Metal music.

What is going on with the other musical projects these days that some of the band members are involved with?
Lukasz creates a project Puki 'Mahlu with ex-Mortis Dei member Piort Niemczewski, there are currently record new material for a third album, and while I play "Execute" and soon will be our debut album "Catharsis".

Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
The future is a great unknown, you can reach the top or go to the bottom, as Polish underground band we do our job and we’ll see what tomorrow will bring.

What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Influence and inspiration go far beyond the scope of Death Metal, for Miras as the main composer important are, for example, Katatonia or Anathema then anyway I was a little infected, generally we listen to music that moves us to action.

What are some of your non-musical interests?
Beautiful women :).  It's hard to set aside some time for yourself, because work is our main source of income, most of us have a family, but if we find a moment, a good movie, book and whatever turns us.

Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Greetings to all fans of Death Metal, look for our latest album "Salvation Never Comes", check also these earlier and have fun with the sound of Mortis Dei!

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.