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Introduction by Global Domination

17/05/11 || Global Domination

What the fuck is this then? Well… Since labels and bands think we are Teh Shit (and rightfully so) they send us fucken piles and piles of albums to review. Most of them suck the cocks of goats, hence why we won’t spend our valuable time giving them a 16-paragraph review since they don’t deserve it. That’s why the STUBS section has been created. Here you will get short reviews for alot of crap, with the, perhaps, occasional decent offering included. Just look at the score and you’ll figure it all out.

Yeah, the formatting is reminiscent of that of Audio Autopsy, only this is not… tada!… Audio Autopsy. Magic, huh? If your album ended up in here – you most likely suck it. Live with it. You should be happy we have decided to cover your shit band at all.

TOW: Feast on your gone

24/05/13 || gk

Tomas Hallbom, vocalist for Sweden’s Breach now has a solo project called The Old Wind and the strangely named “Feast on your gone” is the debut album. What we have here is some pretty standard doom meets post metal that is so mundane and faceless that listening to it is a bit of a chore. There’s nothing actively wrong about this but with the sheer number of bands doing this whole post metal sound you have to be really really special to stand out of the pack and “Feast on your gone” just isn’t good enough to make any impression. It’s kind of like a carefully constructed collection of genre clichés that checks all the boxes but lacks in spirit and energy.

4/10: Just really dull.
Ars Macabra: III

17/05/13 || Cobal

Unlike most staffers around I don’t pre-hate Italian metal. Matter of fact, there’s one or two Italian acts among the list of my faves, except Ars Macabra is not one of them. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against this bunch of evil pandas playing occult black metal for fans of Watain and the likes. As for me, this is pretty worth-listening music and I’ll probably keep it for my collection. Indeed, it has its highs and lows, and I trully enjoyed listening to it. Once. Now, that doesn’t mean that I’ll remember their monicker, and if I ever hit the play button on their third full-length again, chances are I won’t be able to recognize a riff. That’s the problem with black metal these days.

6/10: Have you noticed the gamma of colours on their cover matches the site’s perfectly?
Jungle Rot: Terror regime

16/05/13 || Smalley

For this latest edition in the “Smalley reviews a rec from a band he’s never heard before” monthly series, I’m actually stubbing the latest effort from a relatively well-respected band, Jungle Rot. And yes, the stubbing means it was my mandatory AA assignment from the May edition, and I’m actually glad I only had to stub this, since I wasn’t too taken with “Terror regime”. Not that I hate it or anything, but some amount of disappointment was still had. First, the good stuff, which includes the band’s solid energy level, decently catchy songwriting, and Dave Matrise’s distinctive growling/the all-around competent performances. Otherwise, I might have complained about Dave’s level of power, as he does sound a bit thin, but with so many anonymous Cookie Monsters out there, I’ll take it. Damning with faint praise or not, it’s still something.

But overall, that amount of compliments, and how they relate to such important aspects, must mean I found “Terror regime” solid at least, correct? Not quite; while, with a different sound, I probably would’ve enjoyed this to some extent, it’s ultimately hampered by one major prob, which is its inappropriately slick production, a production that tries for “rough” surface guitar textures, but still keeps a hi-fi nature at the core. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve liked slick productions before, and I’ve liked rough productions too, and I’ve even liked certain slick-but-still-somehow-rough productions, but that style just doesn’t work here. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t. It’s a negative sonic contradiction for Rot, where they end up defeating themselves on the whole, and execute neither quality very well. Not the right time to have your cake and eat it too, boys. It really is a minor shame, cuz I definitely think I would’ve had some fun with TR otherwise. For your next time around, just keep everything the same way (well, maybe modify the growling a lil’), but try a different production, please!

6/10: Definitely not rotten, but not quite “fresh”, either. Pity.
Revel In Flesh: Manifested darkness

15/05/13 || Ironpants

“Revel in Flesh” shows up to the party with their second album of safely cooked Swedeath and this time they have altered the recipe slightly…very slightly. It’s an even thicker and fatter Boss HM-2 sound than before and the riffs are a bit more developed, but still staying true to their heritage. The vocals are a way lot more guttural than the standard Swedeath though, and that separates them a little bit from the rest of the bands praising the old tradition. Another detail regarding the vocals is that they use a higher pitched growl as backup for the main growler, and it is working quite well adding some more punch to the atmosphere. This is not straight up copying though, and you hear several tries to think outside the box. Some of the songs brings a little more to the table, “Deathmarch” and “Operation citadel” for example, that stands out with above average guitar melodies, and the tune “Rotting in the void”, were someone have brought some piano skills that lifts the song a few notches over the competition.

This album is not bad, and if you’re into old school Swedeath you will find this album very pleasing, they are bringing some fresh thinking into this overcrowded revival and stand quite steady with both feet buried in maggot infested soil.

7/10: Rotten corpses rise when listening to this one.
Neferion: The primordial mode

14/05/13 || jaimeviejo

This Tampere band has a big problem: clean vocals. While I’m not against melodic female/male singers in general, I think is one of the hardest things to do unless you are Christian Älvestam. In this case they just sound weak and out of tune most of the time to my ears. Besides that, this is a pretty good sounding demo.

The harsh vocals are a mix of Jens from Meshuggah with a raspy edge, pretty good. When it comes to the songwriting department, the band plays it professionally safe. There are thrash elements, some blast beats, double kick stomps, melo-death riffs and cool but heard before solos.

5/10: A more than decent band that needs better vocals and more personality.
Primary Target: Defiant

13/05/13 || jaimeviejo

I think I’ll have to move to Finland someday. With so many bands out there and a population of 5,387,000 it seems like everybody is a metalhead. Anyway, no surprises here, another band from Finland and another band that could have a record deal right now.

I’m not a big fan of the constipated gorilla vocals because the music is so upbeat that it needs a more versatile vocalist. The demo sounds great and it has an old school edge but without sounding dated. The songs are great, frantic, relentless and melodic at times. Great dual guitar work guys!

8/10: Hello? Record labels listening?
After Oblivion: Stamina

09/05/13 || Lord K Philipson

In 2011 I was kinda blown away by this band’s demo “Vultures”. I foresaw great things for these fuckers and have been waiting for another sign of life from them for quite some time. It’s obvious that I sometimes miss out on shit in the scene – After Oblivion releasing a full-length being one of those things. Thanx to magnificent staffer Ironpants I was informed that this album is available on Spotify, meaning I naturally have to share the news with you all in the shape of a quick stub.

Naturally it still sounds like material the late Chuck could have written for Death before he passed away. And it’s fucken killer except for the weak production (the demo had better production values) that kinda take away a lot of the joy of listening to this. It doesn’t matter too much though, After Oblivion’s semi-technical death (pun intended) metal is quite great but would, as mentioned, have benefited from a much punchier sound. Either way, and even though I expected more from this album, I truly recommend this becoz it’s quite fucken ace at times despite its flaws and the feeling of it being a little bit rushed just too get it out there.

7,5/10: Give it a listen.
Goodbye To Gravity: Goodbye to gravity

08/05/13 || jaimeviejo

This Romanian quintet has a clear idea of the music that they want to write: super catchy, melodic and powerful alternative metal. Don’t be fooled by their apparently generic sound and ideas, this is a band that can create really good but familiar songs.

The singer is a mix of Corey from Slipknot and Machine Head’s Rob Flynn and besides the, at times, weird English accent, has a good and versatile voice. The drums, guitars and bass are there pounding and complementing the already round compositions. There are some metalcore elements here and there that while a little bit generic, are well integrated within the songs. The production is very good too and the album was mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street in Sweden.

Recommended for fans of Sevendust, Slipknot and even Machine Head.

7/10: A good debut from a talented band.
The Flight Of Sleipnir: Saga

07/05/13 || Cobal

Viking metal from the States? Why not? I mean, there are Russian and Netherlander acts writing songs about ancient Mayans and Aztecs, so I think everything goes, uh? Specially, when a band like TFoS take it so seriously and do research about Scandinavian literature.

For what I’ve just learnt, this is their 4th full-length album. I gotta admit I’m surprised I wasn’t aware of their existence for their sound is fully accomplished. “Saga” is made up of three elements mainly: doomy profoundity, Viking epicness and progressive trippiness. I’m glad to report these two guys know their thing and integrate them all well.

Meat and potatoes style lovers, beware! It’s not heavy riffs what you’ll find here, you know. Although there are a couple really cool and groovy guitar solos here that I’m sure everyone can enjoy, the sound of “Saga” is rather ethereal and even mystic, if you like. As it often happens with concept albums, “Saga” works pretty well altogether, but it would be pretty hard to highlight one song from the rest.

8/10: Simply put, it won’t work for you unless you’re eagerly waiting for Game of Thrones’ upcoming season.
Moloch: Stiller Schrei des Winters

06/05/13 || BamaHammer

This is a compilation album by a one-man Ukrainian black metal outfit with a total of 81 fucken releases (demos, splits, compilations, full-lengths, EPs, old shitty cassettes, etc, etc., et fucken cetera) according to their Metal Archives page. What the unholy fuck am I reviewing here?

For the four of you fuckos who are still reading this after that introduction, it’s definitely some crusty, nasty black metal from a dude who is pretty fucken tr00, to be honest. It’s not particularly great or anything, but it is very dark and grim, and if you’re looking for something along those lines, this may do the trick. Also, according to the band’s page, “This release is a compilation of old, rare and most important tracks from 10 years Moloch activity”. Fucken awesome. Glad I’m listening to it. The musicianship on here is borderline garbage, and the riffs are almost boring, but I think it actually adds to this guy’s charm. Vocals consist of monotonic chants that give way to wailed Varg-esque shrieks at times, and it definitely creates a seriously misanthropic atmosphere. The production is everything you’d expect from a tape that was recorded and mastered with your uncle’s old Tascam 4-track. If you’re into the grimmest fucken necrohell imaginable, it couldn’t hurt to give this shit a try. You can even try to track down one of the 100 tape copies out there.

7/10 cave trolls agree. This shit’s decent.