If you think it’s the perfect time to wider your musical horizon while the music became boring – which it’s actually f*ckin’ true -, One Morning Left might be your perfect choice and from where you kick out. Merging trance flavoured electronic layers, dubstep drops and mad wobbling, with death metal rooted extreme metal butcheries, One Morning Left delivers all. This is fun and simultaneously deadly serious. Screaming like a slaughtered pig (Mika “Miksu” Lahti), or singing loud and clear (Tomi “Tomppa” Salonen), banging on techno beats (Veli-Matti “Vesku” Kananen) or heavy basses (Tuomas “Tumppi” Teittinen), murderous guitar riffs (Ari “Arska” Levola), blood vomiting growls and total brutality – One Morning Left covers all. And – surprisingly – this sounds great and make sense! Or not really surprisingly. Geerally speaking, Scandinavians delivers quality stuffs. Eventually, in the particular case of One Morning Left, blame it on the Finnish climate, Scooter, Lauri Tähkä and the mental hospitals… Read more One Morning Left – Our Sceneration (2013)
Metal
Dirty Shirt – Freak Show (2013)
The circus it’s back to the town! Run and hide while you still can, the freaks are out of leash! Or just turn up the volume, dig out from the corner of your soul your rusty air-guitar and bang the hell out of your head!
Formed in 1995 in a small town called Seini from Maramureş, Romania, by four young and enthusiast musicians, Dirty Shirt released their third (and deadly) album these days. The vivid mixture of Western, Industrial fueled Hardcore Metal and Eastern folklore never sounded better and more cohesive. It’s a rarely happy marriage between different sounds and aromas, a smartly conducted collision of cultures and concepts. Although, Dirty Shirt reminds me of Tankard, Leningrad Cowboys and Faith No More, and they have solid roots back to the late 80’s, mid 90’s metal, this still sounds powerful and alive. Alternative metal, smartly layered and tastefully flavoured with nu-metal, metalcore and genuine (home made 🙂 ), secret ingredients. Read more Dirty Shirt – Freak Show (2013)
Vuyvr – Eiskalt (2013)
Über brutality – total aggression. But it feels good and sounds murderous. Raw, unpolished, furious and totally grinding into the ground type of black metal with well determined roots back to the traditional Nordic sound, but simultaneously looking boldly into the future and exploring yet virgin outer limits of the genre. Vuyvr are the new Swiss challengers and they are definitively the most devilish offspring of some glorious predecessors as Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Samael or Coroner.
My favorite butcheries are “War Of 100 000 Centuries”, “Idolatry”, “Dead Trees Are Wandering At” and the epic “The Wyvern”. Read more Vuyvr – Eiskalt (2013)
Bullet For My Valentine – Temper Temper (2013)
After a three years gap, “Temper Temper”, the fourth album by one of the finest Welsh’s new generation heavy metal band was finally released on February 8, 2013 in Australia, and February 11, 2013 worldwide under RCA Records. Produced by the same Don Gilmore, who worked on the group’s previous album, the 2010’s “Fever”, and mixed by noted engineer Chris Lord-Alge, “Temper Temper” consist of 11 powerful, but melodious, heavy, but simultaneously sticky, modern metal anthems. Songs like “Breaking Point”, “Truth Hurts”, “Temper Temper”, “Leech”, “Saints n Sinners” or “Riot” are bloody hard to erase from our memory once we heard them. And this mixture of Iron Maiden taste like classy heavy metal with the modern sounding, emo rooted metalcore, really make sense in the forge of Bullet For My Valentine – although, all this generation and their not so flying metalcore seems more and more hollow. But, by aggressive marketing and bought-up media, still popular. Read more Bullet For My Valentine – Temper Temper (2013)
The Phantom Carriage – Falls (2013)
Back in 2011, the debut album, “New Thing” by the French band, The Phantom Carriage, literally rocked my world, it was an exciting and tumultous mixture of black metal rooted extreme metal and jazz fueled experimental, avant-garde contortions and envelop-pushing. It was one of the best releases of 2011 and I was very anxious about the follow-up. Well, “Falls” unfortunately pulled off all the experimental tooth of the band and this second turn they focused exclusively on the post-modern, hardcore fueled, nowadays more and more trendy extreme metal side of the band. Don’t get me wrong, “Falls” it’s brutally good, but I miss those experimental, jazz flavoured passages, those dark and adventurous breakdowns.
“Falls” it’s a grinding to the ground collection of slaughters, you can run, but you can not hide, The Phantom Carriage will get you and rip you apart! Read more The Phantom Carriage – Falls (2013)
Hate – Solarflesh (2013)
Considered as one of the leading extreme metal acts coming from Poland, Hate are back with their 8th – and probably deadliest – studio album. This is a masterpiece of dark power and absolute aggression, a perfect blending of their ambient and industrial fueled black metal and the chainsaw ferocious death/thrash metal. “Solarflesh” seems conceived and inspired by the same wicked God who breathed life into monsters like “South of Heaven” and “Seasons in the Abyss”. This album it’s brilliant and brutal just like those pillars of metal delivered by Slayer. “Solarflesh” it’s merciless, atmospheric, brutal, hypnotizing and addictive like any other vice or joyful sin.
After the atmospheric, incantation-like intro of “Watchful Eye Of Doom”, “Eternal Might” it’s intense, brutally grinding and memorable like any of the Slayer anthems from the South/Season era. The guitar riffs and solos are impeccable while the vocals are blood spitting deadly growls. Just a perfect way to rip your head off right from the beginning!! Read more Hate – Solarflesh (2013)
Amerakin Overdose – Amerakin Overdose (2012)
Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Amerakin Overdose it’s a more metal then industrial, heavy sextette. Strong riffs, subtle electronic layers, furious vocals filled with consistent message and all the shock rock weaponry turn this project into a deadly machinery. Reminded me of Bile (and their killer “I Reject”), but also their style and sound can be associated with the music of Rob Zombie, Slipknot, Static X, Killswitch Engage, Schnitt Acht, Filter, Cop Shoot Cop, 16 Volt, Marilyn Manson, etc, a powerful, groovy mixture of groove metal strength, modern beats and industrial rock intensity.
Amerakin Overdose has been forged from six very unique individuals. Cody Perez (lead singer), “The Brick” (drums) Freeman Manfree (Guitar),“The Human” (Keyboards /Sequencing ), Enygma ( hype and shenanigans) each member embodies and personifies an element of modern Amerakin culture , power, corporate greed, pride, death, war, sex, money etc…. While the whole planet has overdosed on Amerakin culture and been consumed by double speak and cross talk , western society has lost all hope and embraced the living dead mentality. Amerakin Overdose urges you to “free your mind and see what’s inside” scare yourself to death and be reborn a free soul. Read more Amerakin Overdose – Amerakin Overdose (2012)
Best releases of 2012
You’ve seen the movie “Branded” (IMDb)? The basic idea was simple and pretty cool: the public is manipulated to follow the brands and trends, not the brands follows the public taste. The consumer it’s modeled to satisfy the need of the products and not the products are build and developed to satisfy the consumers needs. Sick idea in twisted and sick world! But true!!
We can say now, 2012 was the year of the definitive death of MySpace. DeadSpace would be a more proper name for that mammoth cemetery. On the other hand, Facefuckingbook reached a total world domination, most of the people not even leave those pages anymore, but eventually giving likes there – mainly by default and completely uninvolved. We’re getting stupider? Yes we do! Because… yes we can! 😆 And because the cancer of the crises which will eat up the whole world while we were sold out to the world finances, Obama – not really surprisingly – was re-elected. We’re f*cked! Hard! Who thought that a democrat president will be even worst then John Bush Jr.?!! Anyway, while he won in advance a Noble price for peace, I’m looking forward to see what stupid excuse he will deliver to start the war on Iran!! al-Qaeda my ass! Argo (IMDb), the film directed by Ben Affleck might be the clue: Iranians are evil! The greedy bankers are the real terrorists while the politicians are only the marionettes in their hand!! Zeros are the poster heroes nowadays. Praise the TV! Praise the radio! Praise the internet! Praise the almighty goddamn Dollar!!
Musically, 2012 was the year of Read more Best releases of 2012
Triptych – 3 Melbourne based bands split, promo CD (2013)
3 Melbourne based bands, Asperity Within, Belle Haven and Glorified! released this free promo album, each band featuring with two original tracks. Not at least, can grab the 6 tracks for free (“name your price”) from each band’s Bandcamp page. Cool and a smart, efficient, joint way to promote their bands.
The sonic slaughter starts with Asperity Within, “Mutatio” begin smooth and quietly, but shifting into a contorted, technical and gloomy, death metal fueled butchery build upon solid riffs, schizophrenic harmonies and blood vomiting vocals. “Atrophy” starts pretty the same, gentle and misleading, but with the menacing riffs turn into another depressive and maniac metalcore massacre. The breakdown it’s very tasty, the swinging between the spacier and smoother passages and the total grinder moments it’s very efficient. The solos are also adding a nice colour to the tracks. Promising start!
“Spite Conception”, the first track by Belle Haven Read more Triptych – 3 Melbourne based bands split, promo CD (2013)
Hatriot – Heroes Of Origin (2013)
This is a journey back in time. The perfect (metal) time capsule which bring the listener back to the golden age of thrash metal, somewhere between 1986 and 1992. Maybe because this is partly the music of my restless, headbanging youth, maybe because the nowadays fancy metalcore mainly sucks, Hatriot was a quite pleasant surprise. Those wicked riffs sounds familiar, the tempo it’s fast (as a shark!!) and the Hatriot machinery seems unstoppable and exhaustless. And well, who would expect anything less from a legendary singer as Steve “Zetro” Souza? And to have a real bridge over time, there are two other Souza’s involved in the band, Steve’s son, the bass player Cody Souza, and drummer Nicholas Souza. What a murderous family business!! Impact is Imminent!!! Read more Hatriot – Heroes Of Origin (2013)
