Bizarre/Inner Necropolis/Xtreem Music/2016 EP Review

  Bizarre  are  a band  from  Spain  that  plays  an  dark,  brutal  and  old  school  form  of  death metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  ep  "Inner  Necropolis"  which  was  released by  Xtreem  Music.

  A  very  dark  sounding  piano  and  demonic  vocals  start  off  the  ep  bringing  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  horror  movie  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  heavier  and  darker  direction  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  while  spoken  word  parts  are  also  heard  at  times  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard.  

  High  pitched  screams  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  and  also  sounds  like  it  could  of  easily  been  recorded  and  release  during  that  era  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  remain  true  to  an  old school   style  of  death  metal  and  they  also  mix  a  few  seconds  of  keyboards  in  with  the  heavier  parts  and  you  can  hear  a  lot  of  influences  from  the  underrated  bands  of  that  era  and  one  of  the  tracks  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  while  the  main  focus  remains  on  a  heavier  style. 

  Bizarre  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  heavy,  brutal  and  old  school  bringing  in  some  of  the  Finnish  influences  along  with  some  of  the  other  forgotten  bands  of  that  era,  the  production  has  a  90's  sound  to  it  while  the  lyrics  cover  death  and  iner  demon  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Bizarre  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  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Damp  Earth"  and  "Inner  Necropolis".  8  out  of  10.

Damage Source/...Come Deterioration/The Crawling Chaos Records/2016 Cassette Review

  Damage  Source  are  a  band  that  started  out  in  more  of  a  Teutonic  style  of  thrash  metal  with  a  touch  of  the  Bay  Area  sound  but  have  evolved  into  more  of  a  death/thrash  metal  style  on  this  recording  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016 ep  "...Come  Deterioration"  which  was  released  by  the  Crawling  Chaos  Records.

  A  very  hard  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  cassette  and  adds  in  an  old  school  thrash  metal  section  a  few  seconds  later  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  once  the  music  speeds  up  death  metal  growls  are  added  onto  the  recording  along  with  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats.

  At  times  the  riffs  can  be  very  melodic  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  true  to  an  old  school  style  of  thrash  and  the  songs  have  a  mid  80's  to  early 90's  feeling  where  death  metal  was  still  evolving  out  of  thrash  and  the  whole  ep  remains  hard  and  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording.

  Damage  Source  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to t he  thrash  style  of  previous  recordings  but  takes  it  in  a  heavier  direction  by  mixing  it  in  with  death  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  Satan  and  aggression  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great sounding  recording  from  Damage  Source  and  if  you  re  a  fan  of  death  and  thrash  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  cassette.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Erection  Of  The  Cross"  and  "Into  Grind  Storms  Of  Flesh".  8  out  of  10.


     

Backdawn/I Shall Burn Your Empire/2016 Full Length Review

  Backdawn  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death,  thrash  and  groove  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  released  2016  album  "I  Shall  Burn  Your  Empire".

  Sounds  of  war  start  off  the  album  along  with  soem  aggressive  screams  a  few  seconds  alter  which  also  takes  the  music  into  a  heavier  direction  along  with  melodic  guitar  elads  making  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  and  elements  of  groove  metal  can  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  songs.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  blast  beats  and  back  up  gang  shouts  are  added  into  the  music  giving  the  music  more  of  a  thrash  feeling  while  the  growls  add  elements  of  death  metal  into  the  music  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  clean  playing  can  also  be heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  mount  of  melodic  singing  along  with  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to t hem  while  some  songs  add  in  prog  and  djent  elements.

  Backdawn  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  death  metal,  modern  thrash  and  groove  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  elements  of  prog  and djent  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  profesisonal  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  apocalyptic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Backdawn  are  a very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death,  thrash  and  groove  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "You  Raised  Me  To  Fall"  "The  Path  To  Glory"  "Condemned  To  Suffer"  and  "Kill  Yourself".  8  out  of  10.   

Gorgosaur/LurkingAmongCorpses/Memento Mori/Lurking Among Corpses/2016 CD Review

'  Gorgosaur  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  an  old  school  style  of  Swedish  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Lurking  Among  Corpses"  which  was  released  by  memento  Mori.

  Dark  sounding  pianos  start  off  the  album  and  after  the  introt he  music  goes  into  a  heavier  musical  direction  along  with  the  fast  parts  using  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  the  vocals  are  done  in  a  death  metal  growling  style  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  style  of  Swedish  death  metal. 

  Melodies  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  there  are  2  different  vocalists  in t he  band  with  different  styles  of  growling  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples  while  the  songs  sound  like  they  could  of  easily  been  recording  and  released  more  than  20  years  ago  and  when  guitar  leads  are  finally  utilized  they  remain  true  to  an  old  school  Swedish  death  metal  and  pianos  also  make  a brief  return.

  Gorgosaur  plays  a  style  of  Swedish  death  metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early 90's  style,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  yet  professional  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  death  and  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Gorgosaur  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  Swedish  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical genre,  you  should  check  out t his  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Terror  Incarnate"  "Pyromaniac  Narrations"  and  "Burial  Of  Rats".  8  out  of  10.   

Area Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We founded Area in 2014, after our previous band kind of fell apart. We’ve decided to try something heavier and darker than before (we’d played old school thrash with our previous band). We also tried to introduce a different model of work (in short: more music, less screwing around), and to focus on writing more complete tracks, both in terms of music and lyrics.

2.Recently you have released a demo, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
It’s definitely very raw. I’d say it reminds me of a debut album from Decapitated (especially the drum sound). I gotta say, I would’ve produced it in a slightly different way, but actually this way it has some character, and I think it also fits well to the overall raw feeling of the whole recording. Also we’ve introduced some electronic ambience and samples, especially in “Awaken…” to add a slightly more “cinematic” vibe, and steer the tracks towards the lyrical themes more accurately.

 3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
When writing the lyrics, my goal was to write something unsettling and disturbing. The general topic of the whole thing would be misanthropy and hatred towards humanity. Personally I don’t hate mankind, although I am critical, but this approach is mostly an artistic choice, made to “darken” our image. Also this topic is represented in a different way in each song. We’ve got a general approach in “Human Distortion”, then something about human experiments, machines slaughtering men, nuclear warfare, and the final track (being sort of an outsider) is about a dream that I’ve had long ago.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Area'?
I don’t know if there’s any deeper meaning. None that I’d know of. We had some trouble agreeing on our name, and in the end we decided to pick up something very ambiguous that would make people think “What the hell?”. Having come to a conclusion that weird things make people uneasy, we named our band “Area”. Makes sense.

 5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Alas, we only performed once. The idea was to add some visual aesthetics to the shows to complete the feel of the music itself. We wanted to play wearing hoods and surgical masks. Unfortunately, we didn’t do it then, because it was too hot there. We still tried to play while being very still and emotionless, as that was the part of the aesthetic.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Right now, no. Don’t know about the future tho.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
We’d love it if anybody were eager to release our tracks. Right now we’re sending out our material wherever we may, and hoping for some results.

 8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?
I don’t think we can talk about “worldwide level”. We’re a local band, barely anyone knows we exist. The few people that listened to our music seem to like our sound. That may be the start, and we’ll keep trying to reach anyone craving for some raw, brutal death metal.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I have honestly no idea. Right now, there’s not much going on in the band, so I can’t really tell where we’d be in the future.

 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’s definitely some classic death metal in our influences. Bands like Obituary, you know. As a drummer, I also tried to add some technical vibe, not unlike Decapitated. Results were mostly limited by my skills. As for the musical taste, I can’t really speak for my bandmates. Personally, I listen to many various genres of music, especially progressive rock/metal, death or thrash metal, but also some ambient or shoegaze. I think having a broad interest in music, may get you far, regardless of the genre you want to play. The influences are everywhere if you look for them.

 11.What are some of your non musical interests?
Again, I’ll get personal here. Other than playing/composing music  I write lyrics, sometimes paint and engage in nearly pathological hoarding of useless items (claiming they have “a sentimental value”). I also study psychology, and play video games. A lot.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
To whom it may concern, stay creative!

Area/Obsolete Flesh - Part I/2016 Demo Review

  Area  are  a  band  from  Poland  that  plays  a  very  brutal  and  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  demo  "Obsolete  Flesh  Pt.  I'.

  Dark  soundscapes  and spoken  word  samples  start  off  the  demo  and  after  a  few  seconds  the  music  goes  into  more  of  a  brutal  and  old  school  death  metal direction  along  with  some  growling  vocals  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90s  and  high  pitched  screams  can  also  be  heard  at  times.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  true  to  an  old  school  death  metal  style  and  elements  of  thrash  can  also  be  heard  in  the  music  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  spoken  word  samples along  with  electronic  sounds  also  return  briefly  while  the  main  focus  remains  on  a  heavier  style.

  Area  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  rooted  in  the more  brutal  side  of  the  early  90's  genre  along  with  a  touch  of  thrash,,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Area  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  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Subject"  and  "Radioactive  Sun".  8  out  of  10.   

Horricane Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band since the recording and release of the new ep?

It's been fairly busy and we're really on a roll! The EP "Synthetic Forms" is part of a bigger project and all the work we have been doing with the release will eventually lead to the release of a full album. So as it happens we're promoting the EP, booking new gigs, rehearsing for both live performances and studio work - all at the same time!

2.Recently you have released a new ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Massive. It's pretty damn massive and I can say with all confidence that it is a very good sampler of how our next album will sound like. We are very happy with the whole process, especially mixing and mastering at the acclaimed Fascination Street studios. In my personal opinion the new stuff is much more mature in riffs and I'm glad to hear the craftmanship of all musicians shines through. We're looking into the lower end of the sonic spectrum and the accompanying synths and samples are less orchestral and more into the eerie atmosphere of the tracks.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?

It looks like I'm doing most of the lyrics now and as the concept of the EP revolves around the relation between Man and technology and how this will inevitably lead to a clash. Let's just say that I'm betting on metal, rather than flesh and bone. The album will continue on that path with some gloomy revelations.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Horricane'?

It's just a play of words - a devastating hurricane meets a touch of horror and there you have it!

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?

The best shows are yet to come! That's really not just a a joke, but with the lineup we have now, we're crossing new boundaries. The band has a vivid history with lots of festivals and support roles for Fear Factory, Behemoth, Obituary, Napalm Death... and others, but eyes are on the future and we're getting even better with every passing gig.

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

Absolutely. We don't know how far the road will take us this year, but we're very open for all suggestions and we love playing in new places. We have confirmations for some of the main metal festivals in the Baltics and a row of club gigs where we promote our EP.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you open to working with another label again in the future?

Now that we have the EP in CD form we're doing our best to find contacts all over the industry and hopefully this will result in a deal with a dedicated label for the full album. It's easy to get a disc out these days, but not that easy to find a reliable partner that believes in your music and doesn't just release a small batch for the sake of trading and longer roster of bands on their website.

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

Nowadays everybody is so connected and it's great to receive attention on all continents, even if it's in small numbers. The feedback has been exclusively positive, but that's no wonder since nobody's gonna bother writing you how much they think you suck! So it's been great and we're just getting started.

9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

We've all been in various metal bands and project since the '90s. Some of these bands have been quite well established in the scene, but right now Horricane really takes the cake for all of us. With so much stuff happening there is not so much time for other bands, but I'm still an active member in bands like Tharaphita, Aggressor, Manatark.

10.When can we expect another full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We are very much hoping to have the release ready this year and the EP is the best indication of our current heading! Check us out at https://horricane.bandcamp.com/ and watch our video "Synthetic Forms" on YouTube.

11.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?

People would be thinking we're hiding something if we didn't mention Gojira, Morbid Angel, Behemoth... Favourite bands of the week: Skuggsja, Batushka, Alder, Ulcerate, Oceans of Slumber, Solution.45, Avishai Cohen

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

From IT to martial arts, literally! Music is sometimes both work and hobby and I am very often mixing bands, booking and promoting bands or just helping with production at major gigs.

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

Horrrrns up!