“Are there bands that sound like Slipknot? Has for long been an unanswered question. However, with the following description, Dropbunny certainly made me think I found the answer: “Ferocious Melbourne seven-piece dropbunny have returned with their highly anticipated second album, “IO”. (…) Continually pushing their musicality to new heights, dropbunny supplement their crushing guitars, mind-bending rhythms and roaring vocals with violins, sitars, xylophones and electronics, including ad-hoc instruments made from rat traps, fish tank motors, and a power saw. This combines to make a furious yet eerie psychotropic landscape that explores the darker side of the human psyche.”

It’s weird, considering the name of this blog, but for some reason I’m not doing too many Death Metal reviews. I think I this is my second or third one, and to be precise, it’s my first Brutal Death Metal release. Exciting.

About half a month ago the boys themselves approach us via Facebook, and their description of “Death Grind / Black Metal / Melodic Brutality” appealed to me, so I took the job. At first though, I was hesitant as in my experience, Brutal Death Metal bands got fairly low grades. That is, in comparison to bands from other genres like Black Metal and Hardcore. However, when I first turned on this 17-minute long piece, I was quite surprised to hear something which grabbed me. Usually, I feel that in Brutal Death Metal, the heaviness is drowning out in its own blood, and together with this, my interest for the music. Corpse Filled Caskets does not contain the loudest riffing, but there is some really interesting drumming and riffing going on which, together with the witty dialogues in between make for an enjoyable quarter of an hour.

The boundaries of Doom-Death Metal has been stretched again, this time by Greek act Hedon Cries. Their self-labeled “Atmospheric Doom-Death” is not quite as funereal or elegiac as expected, and adds a much faster tempo than the genre implies. After releasing two albums since 2001, the band underwent new changes in the form of bassist Stathis Karoutis and vocalist Christos Aidonis, and adding Thanos Lois on keyboard. The band, as a result, has shifted styles slightly into a gloomier Melodeath approach, akin to Novembre’s and Sentenced’s lovechild, with several other smaller influences hidden within The End of the Path is Nigh.

The record kicks off in style with a speedy number; the pounding drums from Papadoulas and Sentenced-like guitar-work of Boufas and Kopsaftopoulos keep the rhythm whilst injecting some melancholic melody in the chorus. The real center stage, and where the band excels, is in the guitar-work, combining a mixture of Tales…era Amorphis, Novembre and a touch of Agalloch circa Ashes… to create many a swirling melody within the songs.

More non-Black Metal from Norway. It’s like it’s just raining down on me! This time it’s an outfit called Zaed, consisting of four dudes that have been jamming together since late 2009. Two years later, Ragnar (vocals), John (drums), Thomas (bass) and Bjarne (guitars) released their first album together and they titled it simply ‘I’.

It’s been a while since I wrote a review, since my life has been filled with mock exams, auditioning for pop-rock bands (sorry guys, there’s more girls in that area), and the like. Encirclement has been lying around for a long time, so I decided to give it the final eyes closed spin, and jump onto it.

Although some people would’ve put old-school Death Metal as the genre for this album, I’m a bit hesitant. Yes, Encirclement clearly shows a Death-influence. But, where Death is clean, sophisticated and tight, these guys are harsh, raw and heavy. So, style-wise I’d place them somewhere between old-school death metal, for their death influences, and death ‘n roll for their rolling rhythms. Old-school Death ‘n Roll anyone?

Where my prejudice about Norwegian Metal makes me expect all Metal from Norway is Black Metal, I’ve got a similar – and equally fucked-up – rule of thumb about Sweden. It’s either Old-school Death Metal type of stuff or Melodeath that they produce there. Absolute rubbish of course and the examples are numerous. Still, it’s a bit of a default thing to expect I guess.

Today we add another entry to our list of examples that counter that coarse generalization: Humanity’s Last Breath. They’re a five-piece from the city of Helsingborg, where I know also Soilwork is from. A typical line-up of two guitars, a bass, some bongos and a voice, these guys produce something undeniably brutal and aggressive, often a shit storm of blasts and chugs, but also often melodic and harmonious. That is what I pulled from the band’s latest release, which was sent out into the world in early 2011 as their second EP since forming in 2009.

My naïve self always held Norway responsible for the world’s main supply of Black Metal. The same brain responsible for that belief thought up that then also pretty much every Norwegian Metal band would be a Black Metal band. But lately I’ve been proven wrong in my generalization quite a few times. Like by Aspherium and Okular rather recently.

But I have noticed that Progressive Death Metal outfits like these two often do add in a thick and acid splash of Black Metal darkness here and there. The same is the case for The Fallen Divine as Toreignimmortal has already commented when he pointed you towards the free streaming album these guys have released in late November. Following in his footsteps, I’ve been listening to this highly promising debut release a bit as well.

I had a hard time making my mind up about this album. This album just pulled me two ways, and I couldn’t choose whether I liked it or didn’t. In the end, I found that this album is just what it says, it’s an album for the heretic.

It’s funny that for days, no weeks I couldn’t make sense of this record at all. Started it more than a few times, but I often just quit half-way through, often out of pure boredom. However, now it has gotten a little more depth for me, I can finally start on pulling this apart properly. When I skim through the song titles, the first thing they make me think of is Warhammer 40,000. The whole god-thing, the power, the Latin phrases etc. really make my mind go towards my two best friends who play this shit, but I don’t because it’s too damn expensive. Anyways, I still don’t know what it is with this album so let’s just dive in.

Sometimes you wish bands would just stop making demos. Like (Psychoparalysis) for example. This four-pieced group of Fins from a town called Uusimaa just aired its third demo since forming in 2009. All of them are lengthy buggers, chuckin’ in well over fifteen minutes of music in just three or four songs. I reviewed their second demo, titled Forest of Ignorance which they released in 2010, in August and totally dug it. I called it a ”cunning display of musical abilities”. That wasn’t because it’s technical or fast, but because it’s just so well bolted together.

Well, now there’s more from where that came from; that third demo. It’s called Escalation and contains three songs, together clocking in 17 odd more minutes of Progressive / Melodic Death Metal that’s built very fuckin’ well. Where Forest of Ignorance already gave me enough proof to think these guys should start work on an album, Escalation adds to that and now I’m just going to say it out loud: get started on an album guys!

These guys are good! Phase Reverse. I had never heard of these guys before, but I’m glad I did now, despite that they are ”not quite Metal, not quite Rock, but the best of both”. I guess that’ll depend on your point of reference. If you look back in music history and think about bands like Sabbath, this will definitely fall within your definition of Metal. If by Metal the first think you think of is gutturals, it won’t. In any case that band itself says ”our music is just Rock… Heavy Rock”.

In the end I don’t care much, this stuff has struck a chord in me and that’s all that matters. Out of Athens, Greece, these three boys don’t come from where their music would make you expect them to be from. That’s because they have intertwined their Retal / Mock with a thick, juicy, Bourbon-lovin’ Southern influence. How that becomes apparent? Well, music-technically I have no fuckin’ idea. It’s just an atmosphere they breathe and a feeling you get as a listener.