MCD reviews - A

7th CHILD (UK) "BLED TO DEATH" MCD 99 DEADSUN. Speed & brutal skilful Death Metal attack from England! Raw & energetic tunes as early SUFFOCATION, yes this is in the american vein with sometimes more actual influences like REGURGITATION, CRYPTOPSY, DEEDS OF FLESH or DEPRECATED, some could say "modern" but they don't do the boring mosh-shit and it damn works extremely good and tight as fuck! This one is really extreme & catchy, better than Desecration and more brutal, original with some really cool breaks and twisted structures while staying brutal & technical all the way. I'm into encouraging that new promising revelation a lot with a fuckin' BUY OR DIE! Highly recommended! FLAT 4, 6 SUMMERHILL ROAD, DARTFORD, KENT DA1 2LP ENGLAND. steve@7thchild.freeserve.co.uk DEADSUN Recs/IMPERIUM Agency: 10 RUE DES CAPUCINES, BF 333 ETG 04, 22300 LANNION FRANCE.
7th NEMESIS (FRA) Promo 2002. What? This is damn killer!!! I love this new Extreme Metal wave that France is currently enduring, you see: IMPERIAL SODOMY, ARKHON INFAUSTUS and so on! 7th NEMESIS are fuckin' fast, brutal and very original at the same time, keeping up with real obscures arrangements and extreme skilfulness, looking for something real new for your ears, you shouldn't miss them as they're extremely promising, only 3 damn tracks... I want more!! BUY OR DIE!
9th PLAGUE (SWE) "SPREADING THE SATANIC GOSPEL" MCD-R 2002. Great to hear that kind of old-school Dark/Death Metal, some (many!) of the riffs are comparables to those of BELPHEGOR but of course, it's just a similar way of playing because the band delivers something of their own all along the 4 tracks/12mn39s of this unholy recording! The production is great, a morbid heavy sound has been well scrapped, this means that it sounds real professional in every aspects: all instruments & the voice relate to each other superbly, so that a coherent headbanging emanates at the first listening from the darkened twisted catchiness, I think they are with KAAMOS the most exciting bands ever to emerge from Sweden in the last 3-4 years, proof is that I'm giving them a good review! I love the fact that this band doesn't sounds like many others and prefers the obscure side of the underground Metal music, ...fuck! The Demo is already finished, I want more! BUY OR DIE!! c/o TONY RICHTER, PO BOX 9048, 25009 HELSINGBORG SWEDEN. nekrologium@hotmail.com www.angelfire.com/realm2/9thplague
9th PLAGUE (SWE) "AGE OF SATANIC ENLIGHTENMENT" Demo CD-R 2004. Three newer tracks slightly different than the first Demo which was a little less extreme and more old-school rooted than this new effort, now having more old Morbid Angel into their Evil Death Metal vibes. Also reminds me of Hate Eternal at times, certainly due to the vocals and the twisted morbidangelistic riffs. I personally found their first Demo more original and darker with a better sound, but who cares of my opinion nowadays? This appeals to the technical Death Metal fans and there is absolutely no disappointment at listening to "Age Of Satanic Enlightenment", I must admit the more I listen to it and the more I like it but in the meantime I will not soon forget their previous Demo "Spreading The Satanic Gospel", reviewed elsewhere in this Hell: BUY OR DIE!! c/o TONY RICHTER, PO BOX 9048, 250 09 HELSINGBORG SWEDEN. nekrologium@hotmail.com www.9thplague.com
ABOMINATION (USA) "The final war" MCD METAL AGE. Old fuckin' school returns!!! I don't know when it was recorded but it doesn't lose the old atmosphere typically ABOMINATIONesque, underground & raw Metal like only this band could create and I can say they invented their own style because you'll immediately recognize that is ABOMINATION from the first seconds, their unique brand of Metal will be forever remembered, hail to them, horns up! BUY OR DIE!
ACHERON (USA) "Xomaly" MCD 2002 Warlord. Always making the same satanic & dooming Death Metal stuffs with synths for more than 20 years now, who will complain about it? Not me! First track is the intro, the rest is typical ACHERONic feelings, Hail Satan, & BUY OR DIE!!!
ACT OF GODS (FRA) "DIES IRAE" MCD-R 2002. Ah, a new french Death Metal band saw the light of days from ex-members of ABYSSALS & MUTILATED, its name is ACT OF GODS and musically, I found this very similar to DERANGED but maybe more technical, fine & precise, it has been recorded at Lb Lab studios, so it sounds a little like GURKKHAS production-wise, anyway the result is a killer 4-tracks MCD of raging & blasting Death Metal that is now released officially. I can say that a newer CANNIBAL CORPSE influence is undeniable too! So if over the top skilled brutal Death Metal is what you crave, look no further as ACT OF GODS is sure to please a majority of the Death Metal purists worldwide! The rage emerging from their blasting tunes can be the highlight of this Demo, not for the weak, BUY OR DIE!!! They also did an instrumental that is sort of an outro and reminds me that MUTILATED "Resurrected" Demo also had an instrumental as outro... 36 BIS AV. JEAN JAURES, 01000 BOURG EN BRESSE FRANCE. vortexal@hotmail.com ventylator@hotmail.com
ADNAUSEAM (USA) "LIVES OF LIES, DESPISE AND DEMISE" MCD 98 INDEPENDENT SICKNESS. This being their second "album", they turned to Grindcore and left me unsatisfied: 12 tracks with intros for 25mn47s which can be considered as a MCD due to the poor amount of music… Really disappointed from start to finish, I'd rather prefer listening to their Demo & first real album, avoid this one! PO BOX 9450, DENVER, CO. 80209 USA. yeast66@qwest.net
AETERNUS (NOR) "DARK SORCERY" MCD 95 VIEW BEYOND. (Golden CD Limited to 300!) Seems to be a collector by now, this is not your common "Black Metal" band as many said, they're heavier than their peers while also very atmospheric but the main difference dwells in the vocals, very heavy and haunting, dark like some crushing Doom bands from Hell. In fact it's Atmospheric Doom/Black with some Death Metal heaviness a la Bolt Thrower. Soulful emotions rise from this band that has now some albums out, this is a cool view to their past, if you can find it: BUY OR DIE!
AMOK (SWI) "NECROSAPIENS" Demo CD-R 2003. c/o PHILIPPE SUAREZ, RUE DU-ROVERAY 12, 1207 GENEVE SWITZERLAND. philippe@amoklegion.ch www.amoklegion.ch
ANARAZEL (AUSTRALIA) "RISE OF THE TEMPEST" MCD 99 Self-prod. Extreme, fast & melodic Black Metal that is way similar to DISSECTION. A good band, everything is very professionally released by themselves. Many of the skilled melodies aren't easy to play but they all are catchy and all the 4 songs are different from each other, they don't have the same structures and aren't boring nor linear, so this makes this band quite interesting. Personally not my kind of Metal but if you dig swedish melodic Black Metal, this might be of high interest for you. PO BOX 26, SOUTH OAKLEIGH, VICTORIA AUSTRALIA 3167. anarazel@iname.com
ANTROPOFAGUS (ITA) "Alive is good...dead is better" MCD 2001 BEYOND. Killer Brutal Death Metal band! Amazing from start to finish, it's technical, fast & guttural, unrelenting & punishing, blasting ferocious and catchy with a fuckin' drum-war-machine…! I usually don't like computer drummings but I found this very entertaining, don't know why, that is certainly well played & done with some original ideas here & there. I won't buy it for sure but it's cool & fun to listen to!
APHOTIC (USA) MCD 2000 Self-prod. High quality & very professional, 5-tracks MCD with original packaging that caught my eyes & interest. First I was thinking of a Doom band but that's not the kind of Doom I thought about... The sound is heavy as Hell and their style consists of basic riffs quite similar to old SAMAEL's "Blood Ritual" & "Ceremony Of Opposites" but more atmospheric & gothic, a bit similar to DUSK sometimes too but with a lot more of keyboards. The music is very simple and includes a lot of atmospheric arrangements & effects. This is absolutely not for Brutal fans, I'm actually not too fond of this because of the chanting vocals but I like the overall heavy atmosphere even if sometimes obvious disgusting trends influences are heard... Something original but not too much in fact, they simply include non-metal instruments & arrangements to their easy riffs, is this really original? Tracks 1-2 & 5 were good to me. Wanna make your own opinion? PO BOX 8236, GREEN BAY, WI. 54308-2030 USA.
ARMOURED ANGEL (AUSTRALIA) "MYSTERIUM" MCD 94 I.D. Very old-school Death Metal, thrashing and haunting like old BOLT THROWER, steamroller Death Metal of Death!! The production is heavy as Hell and the atmosphere induced fuckin' inspiring. That's total Death, completely morbid & insane, unfashionable! I don't know if the band's still going in this world but if they are, I'll certainly try to check anything else recorded by them, it's so good! For the true Death Metal fans only, BUY OR DIE!! PO BOX 253, KIPPAX ACT 2615 AUSTRALIA.
ATROPHY (FRA) Demo CD-R 2002. It was hard to put an ear onto this first Demo, not that the band didn't want to spread it but because they sent me by mistake another CD instead that was meant to be a CD-click for their drummer's practice! So, finally here after some days and emails spread: 5 tracks of skilled Brutal Death with a technical edge, very much american influenced but no copycat, just seemed to be very early-Suffocation and Deeds Of Flesh influenced sometimes. I like the raw sound on this recording and the fact that they play tighter than other french bands I know, also of course because their music is damn interesting and made intelligently with really twisted practiced riffs, in other words very well thought-out structures and keeping it all as morbid as possible. They sure spent very much time at practicing to achieve such a brutal recording: deep & low understandables vocals consumed by vicious riffs and beaten alive by technical drumming, this is a damn recommended mixture that will please all of the Brutal and Obscure Death Metal fans everywhere, BUY OR DIE!
ATROPHY (FRA) "DEDALES" Demo CD-R 2004. After experiencing 4 tracks from this Demo on Obscure Infinity comp tape, I decided to call the band because I wanted the whole Demo, here it is with one more track that didn't feature on the comp. The reason why I got attracted by this band is because of their enormous skills and original, technically tight Death Metal music, I was blown away at first listening! They have gone a step ahead in skilful abilities from their first effort which was damn promising! First surprise is that their lyrics are all in french which you can't notice at just listening to the Demo but when reading texts at the same time, everything suddenly takes senses and I entered more their very own vision. Musically a mix of some old Atheist and Death sometimes extended to the brutal level of Cryptopsy or Suffocation, very twisted songwriting, almost jazzy solos and guttural low but understandables vocals similar to Vehemens (another great underground french Death Metal band). All in all ATROPHY makes me think of the first PAVOR album and the band showed here with five tracks that you can keep up with Extreme Metal while being very technical at the same time, emh..., is NECROPHAGIST a cool band for you? If your answer is yes, look no further: BUY OR DIE!!! c/o FREDERIC DEVESA, 131 PLACE St LEGER, 73000 CHAMBERY FRANCE. atrophy73@hotmail.com www.atrophy.free.fr
AUTOMATION (AUSTRALIA) "MY GUTTER CHILD" MCD 99 ORACLE. Some potent Metal tunes here, sounds old-school and a little melodic with atmosphere, well they damn remind me of an European band but who the fuck is it? Oh, that was only sort of an "intro", the band then is more violent & powerful with cruel savage vocals, pure Death Metal from Australia! Heavy and unrelenting, they benefit of an extremely good and professional production. They also got a Thrash influence for that they remind me of MALEVOLENT CREATION's "Eternal/In Cold Blood" just a little slower but it's the same powerful Metal spirit that surrounds this release! 2nd & 3rd tracks are definitely Thrash with a melodic Death vibe performed with passion & feelings a little like MISERY. That's definitely a band who knows how to write quality song structures. The 4th track starts like a Morbid Angel song with fast thrashing riffs, it's also the shortest song they have in this MCD, others lasting all more than 5mn. Finally the 5th & last track combines all these mid-paced Thrash, Death & melodic aspects with unholy accelerations while they maintain an above average technical aspect, they definitely convinced me completely: Death Metal the original Australian style, BUY OR DIE! PO BOX 23, LANSVALE NSW 2166, SYDNEY AUSTRALIA. mkordek@ozemail.com
AVULSED (SPA) "Bloodcovered" MCD-R Self-prod 2000.