CD reviews - T

TEARS OF DECAY (GER) "SAPROPHYT" CD 2002 CUDGEL. c/o MICHAEL EDEN, ALTHUSIUSSTR. 92, 26723 EMDEN GERMANY. www.tears-of-decay.de
TENEBRAE (FIN) "DYSANCHELIUM" CD 93 SPINEFARM
TENEBRARUM (MEX) "ALTA MAGIA" CD 2000 AMERICAN LINE/MORBID GHOUL. I remember of another TENEBRARUM band that hailed from Colombia I believe... This one obviously comes from Mexico (because MEX means Mexico fuckin' ignorant!) and they have a grinding approach to their obscure guttural Metal tunes similar to HARDWARE (also from Mexico, fuckin' ignorant bastards!!) but they use more keys and not always in the good way for me as it sometimes sounds sweet like a soundtrack to these erotic movies from the 70's...something fairy too! But the whole brutality in their song is occulting those sweet interludes, remaining obscure & doomy while at the same time they go fast & their Brutal heavy grinding blasting Dark/Death erases the sweet ambience with horrorful tunes from down under the ground. The raw sound has something Evil, magick & magnetically cavernous like the ORGANIC INFEST CD (of course if you don't have this one you can't understand the review, haha!!) or BRAINSTORM and INFAMY's Demos. Just to say that TENEBRARUM from Mexico has something similar to TENEBRARUM from Colombia (this one was complete atmospheric) but a lot more Brutal and combining too much of atmosfairyc moods in between the songs. I like their brutal raw grinding sound but I can live without the atmos-partitions... It's an original & obscure piece of Grind Metal Magick, interesting but I won't listen to this everyday. For the curious underground metallers interested listening to something uncommon with an old styled raw sound from the early nineties.
TERATOMA (SPA) "THE TERATO-GENUS REBORN" CD 99 FLESHFEAST. Starting with an acoustic intro suddenly annihilated by pounding Brutal Death/Grind Metal the U.S. vein. Some good solos, morbid low tuned guitars & deep guttural vocals, yes somewhat in the vein of old Incantation, Imprecation & Magus, Entety but the drums are way too predictables & linear sometimes boring... Spanish brutality in the same way as old Avulsed & Fermento but more grinding, unrelenting, faster & pounding from Hell! Fans of total gutturalizations can get into this no problem! FLESH FEAST Prods: c/o MICHELE MORABITO, C./ SARDENYA 151 APT.16, 08013 BARCELONA SPAIN. morbidmike@jazzfree.com
THANATOS (HOL) "ANGELIC ENCOUNTERS" CD 2000 HAMMERHEART. A new one!! And still in the same vein, more old-school Death Metal that reminds me the one & only album of dutch CEREMONY but more Thrashy & speed! Killer album of true Death/Thrash fucking morbid Metal!!! Argh! This kills me by the skills of the musicians and the damn great well-thought arrangements, twists & turns, leads from beyond... This rules from Hell!!! I have not heard another such a soulful album like that this year, it's good to know that a band like THANATOS stayed true for more than ten years now and keep going thrashing & glowing the absolute cult Metal of Death! 41mn of pure excellence as we now get accustomed to hear from The Netherlands of Death! This one is to be linked with ancient albums from mid-late 80's to early 90's when bands like SLAYER, MORGOTH, the french MERCYLESS & AGRESSOR, ASPHYX were fucking great & totally inspired & possessed by Death! Everywhere is Death, BUY OR DIE!!! BIERENS DE HAANWEG 105, 3076 DB ROTTERDAM HOLLAND. sgebedi@hotmail.com
THANATOS (HOL) "EMERGING FROM THE NETHERWORLD" CD UNVEILING THE WICKED (HAMMERHEART). Album from '89 re-released now with bonus Demo tracks from "The Day Before Tomorrow" Demo '87, "Rebirth" Demo '86 and an unreleased track "Howling" taken from '87 Demo session. This is an awesome technical old-school aggressive Thrash band from Holland, a lot better than the Portuguese one reviewed in the MCD section! Their logo reminds me the old Nocturnus. That album is old but deserves to be re-activated because of its excellent catchy old-school vibes in both sound & style, simply a classic and with 70mn/19 songs, it is well worth the money of death! No shit groove, no shit mosh or industrial influences of trendy modern days, only true & pure raw Metal of Death performed in the right dark spirit with excellence for all real thrashers only, I got it from NouNourS, BUY OR DIE!
THANATOS (HOL) "REALM OF ECSTACY" CD 92 SHARK/CARGO. Second album, this time the original version that I personally checked out in a second hand records shop, how people can get rid of such a good album like this one?? Out on the same label that released the two first Massacra's albums and also produced by Ulrich Pösselt at RA.SH.-Studios too! Still performing their Thrash as mentionned above with more & more of those original ideas and catchy as Hell! This is one of the most interesting and original Thrash/Death albums that I carry in my collection of undead souls now still retaining that dark & morbid spirit that ruled in the old days of pure Death & real Thrash Fuckin' morbid Metal, BUY OR DIE!
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (FRA) "3992: SOPHYA" CD 2000 THUNDERING/AGE. I am the only one to blame, I should not spread my contact everywhere without knowing what others are all about, that's the bad side of the internet mailing! The result is here: fairy music, trying-to-be-dark-but-ended-boring-&-trendy-black-metal-influenced... That kind of music isn't underground to me, you can hear that in many movies soundtracks from TV shit! Fuck off boring weakness! musdiv@aol.com www.musicdivi.com thundering@musearecords.com
THE KUNTAUTKULT (HOL) "FROM THE PITS..." CD 99 DISPLEASED. This one has something reminiscent of DAMNABLE & REINFECTION, maybe the sound and the twisted brutality makes me think about these two polish bands. Fast & Brutal, crushing Death/Grind that also reminds me of old CRYPTOPSY and ORDER FROM CHAOS, this has many mega-blasts and also an American influence in this style from track 5 which is very grindy, MORTICIAN-alike. The whole album remains very original and uncommon, may it be first from the name of the band, for the TV-inspired artworks & lay-out or the weird intros & acoustics instrumentals, a quite strange concept surrounds this release for sure! What is sure is that this disc is a weapon against wimpy trends and if you're open-minded enough & looking for something different, you can check this one out no problemo, BUY OR DIE! RONDE TOCHT 7D, 1507 CC ZAANDAM HOLLAND. displeas@xs4all.nl
THE RAVENOUS (USA) "ASSEMBLED IN BLASPHEMY" CD 2000 HAMMERHEART. Featuring Killjoy, Chris Reifert & Dan Lilker...! Giving birth to a new mutating form of old AUTOPSY, old IMPETIGO, fucking dirty, noisy & raw as fuck, Evil! This is a pure dooming underground abomination where the atmosphere is real sordid & apocalyptic, you just can't escape the inevitable Death's scythe of Black doomingations... Remember the first SEPULTURA's releases and then you'll see what THE RAVENOUS is all about with some twisted & morbid ambiences a la new Gorguts, old Grief, Winter, old Samael, etc. Fans of old AUTOPSY & true Death/Doom/Evil should be glad listening to this, it really keeps the old spirit alive! What is important in this album is the insane blasphemous atmosphere, it makes you bleed forever...! A complete annihilation of any actual forms of life, an obscure presence from below arises like a living-dead... BUY OR DIE!!
THORAZINE (CAN) "SEED THE BLACK SKY" CD 99 INJECTED. Canada isn't breeding so much brutal bands lately, were they all burnt-out...? No!!! Here comes THORAZINE and their musical, technical Death Metal with leads, sort of a Brutal Death answer to Belphegor, very interesting and aggressive, brutal Extreme Death! The raw sound exploses with spurts & spews of total rage infecting my eardrums for brain's enchantment! Definitely the musicianship of Canadian bands enters the legend, I rarely got disappointed by that country of blasting sickness!! They all stick to their very own & personal style, obviously one of the most original Extreme Metal scene in the world with Brazil & Australia! These three lands of Death revealed a flood of talented bands like nowhere else in the world. This new band is very original and unpredictable, lots of arrangements, atmospheres, breaks, etc. The whole staying morbid & insanely skilled the way Death Metal should be, this is a great new turn and a necessary album in my eyes, BUY OR DIE!!
THORIUM (NOR) "OCEAN OF BLASPHEMY" CD 99 DIEHARD. Pretty classic Death Metal, well done and catchy as fuck in the old swedish style/trend. Good feelings, the first song "Crest For War" has a strong & memorable refrain. This is a fine release but I must admit there are too much repetitives & predictables Heavy Metal melodies in their songs, they aren't twisted nor extreme enough for my own taste and I found it a little boring like if I had already heard that kind of stuff before them many, many times... Band's like DEMIGOD but not that dark and sounding too much Gothenburg-trendy, somewhere in between if you know what I mean...(yes: gay!) Oh, there's a cover of DEICIDE's "Lunatic Of God's Creation" and I found it good enough, they're lucky I'm in a good day! Some songs were good while some others sucked...! This is fishy as I have not figured what their point is, releasing such a doubtful, hesitating CD is just half-acceptable to me, be Metal or be gay but don't mix'em together! DIEHARD: VINDEGADE 101, 5000 ODENSE C DENMARK. diehard@diehardmusic.com www.diehardmusic.com
THORNS OF THE CARRION (USA) "THE GARDENS OF DEAD WINTER" CD 93 WILD RAGS. Raw Doom from Hell with two long intros and a total running time of 55mn including two Live tracks which is interesting for that I never experienced a total Burning Doom ambience on stage! Well, the band seemed not to be ready at recording this, some untight & untuned mistakes revealed in the first song but maybe that was their own choide as the rest of the album is correctly performed. Sometimes reminds me of Magus with a violin passage, don't worry this isn't another of those boring melodic classical music influenced bands, this is completely underground & disharmonic guttural Doom/Death music that will send you down under the surface of the Earth! The synth is just used occasionally and voluntarily de-tuned from the guitars, that's why I found it strange in the first song, that's a good idea, it makes the music more sick, morbid & insane, unsound! Fans of slow agonizing Metal should find here something good for their twisted minds, BUY OR DIE!
THORNSPAWN (?) "WRATH OF WAR" CD 2002. Quite great album, a brutal raw Black Metal one including 7 tracks + intro/outro, in the vein of BLOODSTORM completely! That's what they make me think about the most. What can I add except that I like it of course! That's how I like Black Metal to be done: Evil & Blasting aggression! Some Death Metal influences this way of SADISTIK EXEKUTION as well enhance this monsterpiece of pure Metal degradations, punishing & astonishing by the warrioric doomed atmospheres from Hell, a winner in all battles: BUY OR DIE!
THOU SHALT SUFFER (NOR) "INTO THE WOODS OF BELIAL" CD 97. (re-edition of MLP 91 + "Open The Mysterrïs Of Your Creation" 7"EP 91) Old stuffs here, this is the kind of old obscure Death Metal with some malignant dooming synths like many Swedish & Finnish bands did perform at that time, totally in that vein of ancient Death Metal spirit resounding from Hell, insane! Old Carnage, old Darkthrone, old Amorphis, Incantation, God Macabre etc... kind of raw & heavy Death Metal you know, rising from Black! That was the real underground back at that time and I still love that kind of darkened Death Metal 666%! Some bands did really transcribe into music what dwelled in their black souls, THOU SHALT SUFFER was one of the countless number of these bands, devoted to obscurity with a raw sound from the deepest pits of Hell, especially the 7" which was very similar to early INCANTATION stuffs! Remember the ancient time & BUY OR DIE!
THRON (Rus) "SubjeCt to damage" CD 2000 MUSICKNESS.
THRONEAEON (SWE) "NEITHER OF GODS" CD 2001 HAMMERHEART. Thanx to the label for always sending Promos with booklet/lyrics! Damn right in between DEICIDE & VADER's kind of Death Metal! With some solos in the old Asphyx vein and some obvious liking to old Morbid Angel, this is again an album that I will like a lot! Many catchy riffs, tight as fuck and right to the point, a raging voice and skilful as the ultimate Death's scythe incision! Everything in this album rules, it's perfect and shows a great improvement since "With Sardonic Wrath" previous MCD out on Helgrind & then re-released by The Plague. THRONEAEON don't offer anything real new but damn they know how to play it right with higher quality & insane precision, so they can make the difference with their thoughtful twisted riffs! Killer, not heard such a great band since the Polish HATE released their "Daemon Qui Fecit Terram" upon the underground, I had the same feelings with "Neither Of Gods" but slightly different as THRONEAEON are even more professional! Fans of true & pure Death Metal essence might only worship this album because it shows how to play it in year 2001: BUY OR DIE!!! PO BOX 3091, 72003 VASTERAS SWEDEN. info@throneaeon.com www.throneaeon.com
TORTURER (CHILE) "LIVE FROM THE ASHES" CD 2002. Superb Live album from one of the oldest Chilean bands, morbid Death/Thrash Metal like no other bands can do, ancient spirits arised from their Evil tunes, blasting as only the South-American bands know how to play it with feelings & doomingness/catchiness, thing that we can't hear in nowadays bands now. TORTURER reminds me of INFERNAL from Brazil so you know what I'm talking about! Old-school fuckin' rules: BUY OR DIE!!!
TOTTEN KORPS (CHILE) "Tharnheim: Athi-Land-Nhi; CICLOPEAN CRYPTS OF CITADELS" CD 2000 REPULSE. Good intro in the old SAMAEL ways… The music is mainly into the BOLT THROWER kind, especially in the vein of MORDETH from Brazil of Death! Doomy & oppressing hypnotizing Death Metal with some fast accelerations here & there, thrashing heaviness, way different from their first MCD "Our Almighty Lords" out in 1993 on Hellion Recs. The most strange is that no one in the old line-up features in this new album!?? 100% new members but still the same name, I probably missed some Demos in seven years or what?! The result is here, a good old-school Death Metal album and I won't complain about it! This is brutal, heavy, catchy with a grunting voice from the grave, 40mn of total blasting Death with solos, feelings & all necessary ingredients, support the Chilean scene, if you love MORDETH like me, this is more brutal: BUY OR DIE!! c/o FERNANDO TORO, MIRAFLORES #515, SANTIAGO - CENTRO CHILE. ftoro@miraflores.dportales.cl totten_korps@hotmail.com
TRANSGRESSOR (JAP) "Recollected Limbs" CD 2001 BLOODBATH/OBLITERATION/WEIRD TRUTH. I can't believe that they're still going!! This "album" in fact includes tracks from their Demo 90 "Twisting Brochus", track from unreleased Split-flexi with Jesus Save 91, 3 tracks from the first CD 92 "Ether For Scapegoat", one from CD comp 93, comp CD 98 and the latest being a promo track recorded for this CD, a previously unreleased brand new song! (In fact the first 8 tracks, except #5, are the entire CD 92 with the same sound and the rest is from comps & promo!) What made this band special was that they were creating a style for themselves, mixing Death, Doom, & atmospheric/dark elements sometimes in the first ASPHYX's "Embrace The Death" vein that I always love to hear! The newer tracks from 98 were quite different and more fast, brutal and twisted but still offering materials different from the other bands at that same time. The somptuous heavy, crushing sound of their debut is now gone but a new originality is now born, more brutal, twisted technical attacks! Members from Vomit Remnants helped them recording the 98 songs but now the only remaining member of TRANSGRESSOR is Takashi Tanaka, drums/vocals since day one of this band and in 2001 being a two-piece band with the help of Yoshio Hasegawa previously guitars/vocals in 92, now coming back as guitar/acoustic/bass/vocals but the band is still in a complex situation, breaking up and reforming, it will continue to exist to break the laws refering to the meaning of the band's name! So we can see here very devoted individuals and that is what the scene needs in years 2000! The new track from 2001 returns more doomy like they used to do at their early days! Wish 'em to get the chance to reform again a complete TRANSGRESSOR line-up so that they could be able to show us their dark visions in doomy spirits, but for now get this CD with complete history of the band & cool layout, BUY OR DIE!!! c/o TAKASHI TANAKA, 1-18-25-601 MUTSUGI, ADACHIKU TOKYO 121-0052 JAPAN. trans_13@yahoo.co.jp cztheday@pop02.odn.ne.jp BLOODBATH Recs: 1-6-2 KOKUBUN, ICHIKAWA CHIBA 272-0834 JAPAN. bloodbathrec@hotmail.com http://fly.to/bloodbath OBLITERATION Recs: 3-41-16 SUMIDA, SUMIDAKU TOKYO 131-0031 JAPAN. grindrock@hotmail.com http://grindrock.hoops.ne.jp WEIRD TRUTH Prods: 2-3-11-301 HAYASHI, ATSUGI KANAGAWA 243-0816 JAPAN. nyar@aol.com http://members.aol.com/nyar
TRAUMA (POL) "Suffocated In Slumber" CD 2001 PAGAN. Return of this band with again their pure Death Metal, raging style with thrashing old-school energies a la old MALEVOLENT CREATION and some great Metal atmospheres, inspiring! The band has evolved greater with time, their creation fucking rules, many leads, interesting, obscures arrangements and blasting, thrashing around their pure technical Metal of Death quite original & refreshing, still 100% fast & brutal with a plus! Contains nothing cliché and offering something new, this album is somewhat groundbreaking compared to what's going on lately, this is really original & welcome in my pages, some of the arrangements are comparables to IMMOLATION but it's definitely made of different feelings. It's always damn great to put my hand onto an album like this, it's so out of trends and personal, many willl be burnt to ash while listening to "Suffocated In Slumber" one of the highlights this issue!! Pure excellence, BUY OR DIE!!!
TRAUMATISM (CAN) "GROSSY UNFAIR..." CD 2000 Self-prod. Imagine old KATAKLYSM with more typical mid-Grind & blast-beats and many old TERRORIZER influences, this is a destructive affair! The production rules, really of high quality and I can hear all the instruments, good mix! Hey, that's really an enjoyable Grind album even if sometimes there are a little too much of those repetitive basic riffing, that's why I can recognize it is Grind! Well, I'm a real big motherfucker, the band is very good and surpass many others in the style with superior production that is high above the average, a la INHUME! Plus this isn't fun Grind, for that they deserve a fuckin' BUY OR DIE!
TYPHOID (SLO) "Intestines of immortality" CD 2001 IMMORTAL SOULS. Back with another great intro but the music seems not to be as exciting as the above review, just some IMPETIGO-alike tunes, of course faster than the original but very basic & predictable now, it's fuckin' disappointing, I can't believe that I gave them a good review with "Ruptured Self-control". The riffs…it's like listening to some debutants or like early SANATORIUM & INHUMATE, the album really contains nothing particularly great but just some very classic & cliché Death Metal tunes, stop the madness, there are better bands around in the scene! C'est vilain comme Death Metal, ça casse pas une brique! I skipped after 3-4 tracks….
TYPHOID (SLO) "RUPTURED SELF-CONTROL" CD 99 IMMORTAL SOULS. Great full-of-Death artworks on this CD! Good haunted intro... Fast forward unholy Death Metal accelerations with uncommon originality, damn their drummer can keep pace so long and frequently with those blast-beats & double-bass from Hell! No similarities found in this new band, they are fast & destructive, technical american Death/Grind sounding, deep hollow vocals from beyond but the screaming backing vocals sound misplaced to me... They are completely unpredictable and intense kicking some serious asses, I did not get into it easily so this is a great sign that I would love this! I can only compare them with DEEDS OF FLESH, GORGASM, old KATAKLYSM, old CRYPTOPSY, they are at least equally talented in technical brutality except for the shitty backing vocals, they have to improve this aspect, the music is greatly thought-out with all those blasts & quick skilful techniques, they are tight, original, fast & ready as fuck to BUY OR DIE! c/o ROMAN REGINA, KOMENSKEHO 337, 97212 NEDOZERY - BREZANY SLOVAKIA. typhoid@pobox.sk www.typhoid.sk