Death SS - Schizophrenic

Death SS is one of those bands I always see mentioned here and there, but actually never heard before, so I have no idea if all their music actually sounds like this. Funny, it reminded me of Dead Kennedys at first, with a little punk-hc attitude... oh look, just when I thought the track had ended, it seems to continue, with a middle, slow part, crazy laughs in the background and a smooth music with a clean voice and keyboards... no wonder the song is called the way is called. A demented atmosphere, quite experimental (yes, I'm writing this while I listen to the song) and now the song ends... in a pretty disturbing way. I kinda liked it, Gotta check them out some more.

Oh, look, I wrote this quite without reading Headless420's 'foreword'... I should have done it...

Now my turn...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmm_olgLax0

WOW. I was totally not expecting that. Iron Maiden-esque heavy metal. It was solo-tastic, and had short, sweet, poetic lyrics, which flowed well in English as well as Portuguese when I translated them. Wonderful song, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes traditional heavy metal or Melodic Death metal.

This will be fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wRF-6wwwCQ

Further on KYPCK:

SunLess Rise - Awakening

Absolutely not my style of metal. Cheesy, jumpy, super-melodic. Rhythmically the song followed the European power metal formula, with some complexities placed here and there. Though the song was labeled by the uploader as melodic death metal, it was essentially power metal with harsh vocals. Not even extreme power metal, for the lack of abrasiveness or harsh soundscapes. Even the growls were quite tame. The guitar was excruciatingly low in the mix, and as the song was compressed to hell, I had an aversion to turn it any louder. There were enjoyable parts, especially the guitar solo-esque thing before the annoying as fuck keyboard solo, after the forgettable passages of growled verses and "emotional" melodic sung choruses. The band used every trick in the modern metal book to add intensity and speed to the thing, and while it was fast, implemented technical musicianship and played it quite safe with chord progressions and riffs (and never went completely overboard with the power metal cheesiness), it was ultimately quite tame, even though it was annoying. Something about it struck to me as musically dishonest; I can't put my finger on what it is, but it is something I feel in much Russian music. Doubtless many enjoy such boundless melodicness and this particular portrayal of vigour. It failed to translate well here, and thought the music was by no means an insult to my taste or intellect, I couldn't enjoy but small parts of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JuqPLs4vyE

speaking of english skills...

Behexen - under the eye of lord

This is some pretty fast, dirty, thrashy black metal. this is really unrelentless and the melodies are nice! they definitely wear the early enslaved influence on their sleeve, which in this case is a good thing. i'm loving the guitar tone... pure bandsaw. this is some ideal music to go for a run to - not overly complicated, not too many tempo changes, nice and fast, etc. it gets the blood pumping. minimalist, brutal and atmospheric... can't go wrong, really. it's gonna be hard to pick a song to beat it, tbh. (edit: not that it's a competition haha, but i don't want to lower the bar TOO much!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZW8GPsCMnk

Decameron - Satanize
I'm really digging the intro riff. It really grabs you and pulls you into the song. Unfortunately, there really isn't much to this song aside from that riff. Aside from overusing one riff, the song develops into the standard neoclassical melodic death metal "creepy waltz". Aside from a couple forgettable noodling solos, it's pretty easy tune out from this song. That said, it's not bad. Not by a long-shot. It's quite an enjoyable foray into melodeath, but I think it's definitely the type of stuff for fans of the genre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HpkbOFRCS8

Hehe, the intro reminds me of Black Flag's 'Rise Above'. I've heard a lot of good things about this band, but this is kinda boringly sloppy metal. The really rough vocal production doesn't do much for me; I prefer cleaner vocal production even for harsh vocals... better than you can tell the vocalist is really shredding his throat rather than just slapping on some vocal distortion. So, basically we've got a punk beat, Hellhammer riffs and a Motorhead guitar solo. Okay? These modern "old school" bands sure do wear their hearts on their sleeves, right? And guess what? It just washes right over me... primitive is fine and there's some spirit there. Well, I just wish they'd do something other than being old school for old school's sake!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl9tnevdrxs

Black/Thrash goodness! I haven't listened to this band before but actually was thinking of it tonight. Good song overall, the only downside is the singer's accent kind of annoys me in the chorus. Overall I'd say it's a solid song but not quite outstanding, and I especially hate the long silence after the music itself ends. Still, this is a band I'll definitely look more into now.


Here's mine. I had posted a cover of one of my high school band's songs earlier in this thread that a friend of mine did. I recently was home and got together with him for another version where I did the vocals after he re-did all of the instruments. We also added in a black-metal ish part at the end just for the fun of it. Whether you like it or not, we had fun. Here it is:

http://soundcloud.com/devo-galiano/inde ... -lightning

Acrobat, you really like some Aura Noir? I think I remember you posting it before.

Indecent Xposure - Lightning

The song started off as some W.A.S.P. influenced heavy metal, disturbingly reminiscent of what one of my friend writes. A spider chord verse followed with a bombastic solo and completely atrocious vocals. The vocal performance in the chorus reminded me of that Metal Enterprises fake Thrash Queen. The song is based on the most elementary chord progression in all rock music. The "black metal" outro was just as excruciating as everything else. Glad you had fun, but the music is worthless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jqLy6B0m2E

Warloghe: "Opened and Tainted Graves"

Ah, Warloghe. I listened to this band once before, a long time ago, but I don't think it was this album/recording, and I'd rather forgotten about them. This sounds better than what I remembered, too. The Darkthrone influence is plain as can be, but the band has clearly mastered this style. Production is really perfect, I must say, with everything sounding very live and natural, which, as if I haven't said it enough already, is something I always want to hear from metal bands. The guitars have some high-end bite but are perfectly distinct, playing what I think are a few variations of the same sort of melancholy riff. Around two minutes in is particularly nice, I say. The drummer does a good job of switching up the beats, from that "sprinkler blast", to a rock beat of the type commonly found in FOrgotten Woods songs, to a speed metal pattern, to the triumphant "stomp beat" that ends the tune. When they transition to the rock beat, as in thirty seconds or so, I'm particularly enamoured...it's like a massive release of tension and it really helps those sharp guitars to stand out...basically I don't think the song would be as good without those brief sections. I might have to get this album. You really are into your country's black metal, aren't you?

http://youtu.be/6aMz5F3qJec

Warloghe - Opened and Tainted Graves

That's on heck of a brutal, merciless, and interesting Black Metal. The riffs are crushing and intense and the vocals are fantastic with great mood and darkness. The lyrics are, of course, is about our favorite over-sized red goat mascot to enlarge his testicles. Anyway, the best part of the song is all the way to the end after some instrumental break from about 3:30 to 4:00. So, all in all, it is great song and very intense and I'll be honest, I'll be checking more stuff about this band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIglAsBi9z0

simonitro, cool, but I already did the Warloghe song. ;P

Mandator - Black Rose

Normally not my cup of tea, but this midpaced thrashy heavy metal song is just so damn catchy! From the twin guitar attacks to the simple but well delivered vocals, everything about this song screams "METAL". I love the over the top solos and the three power chord riffing, it just gets back to what metal is all about, emotional visceral responses. The mid-song breakdown and solo is one of the more inventive tempo changes I've heard in a long while, especially with the clean guitar riffs and the cheesy dual layer clean vocals ("At the hands of the devilll"). I'd say more, but ultimately, it'd be redundant, this is just some kickass and really fun stuff. Only thing I'd fault it for is the production, definitely a product of its era :/

Now I gotta think of one;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOTHegEn7Gw

some hardcore bros.

Frog, I'm almost convinced that you would have liked my song better.

Modern life is war - The outsiders (aka hell is for heroes pt. 1)

Really digging this song. The resignedly serene intro really builds a certain sense of anticipation. The hardcore screams had a good low rasp to them preventing them from ever getting grating and overbearing like a lot of hardcore I've heard before. And the morose main riff, while reminiscent of alt rock, had a surprising depth to it. I think a good amount of variety in the guitarwork keeps it from getting boring, that and the fast pace of the drumming creates a pretty interesting contrast to the moody slowness of the guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5tsQ7gX4bE

Furze - Earlier Than The Third Might Of The Cosmos

After opening the link and staring an Atari 2600 graphic which supposed to be the cover, the song is slow but interesting. The first part starts simplistic and we get to the vocals and as much as I like them, it just reminds me of The Joker for some reason but it is still good. In the middle, the song does change yet stays simplistic and raw which I like. The lyrics are about SURPRISINGLY about the balloon monster living downstairs... I mean, seriously, this is becoming as shocking as having fingers in your hand. But overall, it is fun to listen if not dragging a bit but not bad... me likey.

But still, it is reminding me of The Joker... the last part is nice... I like the keyboard icy touch to the riffs. Cool stuff

.........................................

Vault Dweller - Messenger Of Doom

This song has interesting Black Sabbath Doom style especially in the bass like mood with Black Metal and some Crust elements. This is really good with the downtuned guitars and bass that gives a thick sound to it. Very nice... the screeching vocals are great and there are some growling too. It gets faster at the end and the guitar solo is great.

Very fun song worth checking out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE8XoLzDEFs

@ simonitro

ahhh damn, missed your post! I'll still listen anyways. Damn confusing topics!

Edit: oh it's Furze! Oh yeah Furze is bad-arse. I remember you saying you were on a kick lately, I haven't listened in a long while, but there's such an awesome sense of atmosphere in the music.

@simonitro:

Heavenly - Spill Blood on Fire

I'm kind of divided on this one. On the one hand, the keyboardist obviously knows his stuff, the guitar solo's pretty good, and it's really catchy as well. On the other hand, the wimpy and poppish vocals and cheesy lyrics kind of turned me off. But hey, it's Euro power metal, so there's a certain amount of cheese I can accept. Overall, I'd give it a 70% if I was reviewing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nWVQ4CCh0E

Amazingly this is even more wank-tastic than the usual breed of melodeath. It starts off with an auditory diarrhea of high notes that's more gratuitous than DragonForce. When it gets to the bread and butter of the song, there is a good riff trapped amid the cyclone of high note noodling, but it's really muted and mostly overshadowed by admittedly decent harsh vox. But my god, there is more soloing in this song than guitar riffs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4onw_Fa0-ZQ

Well. Really had no idea where that was going with that intro, one would have assumed somewhat eighties (euro) thrash of some kind, BUT that intro was slightly misleading. Once that was disposed of, some maniacal, and at times breakneck thrashing riffs start to make themselves well and truly known. THE riff at around the .58 mark is pure headbang wet dream stuff, pity it doesn't last for very long though. The bulk of the song is well written and paced, with several decent leads to add more depth, and they are quite tasteful, great drumming too. This was quite cool, with the exception of the vocalist, who sounded strained, and a little weak, which loses them some points. Not too bad.

Hell yes.

Drawn and Quartered - Procession of Pain

Sounds like Immolation worship off the bat, though the riffing is also reminiscent of Incantation and their kind, and sounds more downtuned. The vocalist is a complete clone of Ross Dolan, and the lead guitarist's style is quite obviously influenced by Vigna, but probably also those numerous solos on Altars of Madness. Not always as highly memorable as Immolation, however, and not as strongly atmospheric as Incantation. Still, good death metal with some excellent riffs. Could've benefitted from a more vicious and abrasive production. I will be getting something by this band, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfEeXh_07i4

Ninkharsag- The Dawn of the Age of Aquarius.

Damn,I really liked this a lot! Every riff was epic as all hell,and the transitions were seamless. The fact that the drummer dosen't just constantly blast beat was a plus too. It's a simple kind of black metal,but they pull it off awesomely. Biting vocals too. 9/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKcY8OZTsd4

Dodecahedron - Vanitas

I may simply be not in the right frame of mind for this, but it feels like the beginning of this song is going too much for some ambience of creepy, ghostly romanticism and it just ends up a little contrived . The occasional ghostly "ooo"'s in the beginning just come off as a little cheesy. Then the song just sorta meanders a bit, initially led along by roboticized vocals, then normal harsh vox, experiencing moments stereotypical of Opeth somnalent dirges, then even more avant-garde meandering. I mean don't get me wrong, there are some aspects of this song make me think that I might like other material by them. This particular song just doesn't grab me in any way and the atmosphere they attempt to set, just collapses from the get-go for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tsjP2F5jDQ

SubRosa - Borrowed Time, Borrowed Eyes
The short intro is fairly intriguing, what with those tribal drum beats, but once the rest of the instrumentation kicks in, I'm left baffled. This extremely dense, psychedelic form of doom (well, I think you could call it that) it's not something I'm really used to, and the addition of ethereal female vocals and violins to accompany the sombre Sabbathian riffs and steady rhythm makes it all the more confusing. Don't let that description fool you though, as this has nothing to do with gothic doom such as Virgin Black or My Dying Bride. It has a certain charm, indeed, but overall I don't know what to make out of it, although it seems that this band requires more than a passing listen to "get" them. I'll keep track of these guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLZnP1rUn3s

Bloodbath - Year of the Cadaver Race

Bloodbath is always a solid band, more or less consistent with some good groovy but blasting death metal, and this song is no exception. There's a lot right with this song, but the tempo changes sound forced, and the song structure is abrupt. However, the middle of the song, with the bass breakdown churning into that massive release is utterly badass....this part is almost ruined though by the obscene amount of shit going on in the background though. Not the best BB song, but it has its moments that are pretty cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zFkYbCm ... re=related

@PhilosophicalFrog;

Oh, cool intro! Kind of like if Varg Vikernes wrote a horror sound track. The whole track has that ominous two-note "bing-bong" effect that Varg used on Filosofem. Unfortunately, things got a little bit too rutted in the "wall of noise" effect, and the song didn't really go anywhere interesting for a couple of minutes. The production is pretty cool, though, raw and effective... but I feel like they're hiding behind it, to some extent. I wanted the song to move on and develop from that really cool intro... but alas, it just kept bishing and boshing along with that droning riff. I guessed the band were from the USA and I'm not at all surprised to find out that they're from Alabama. US black metal just can't get it wholly right! I think I would've preferred this as just an ambient track with the cool intro repeated over and over. What can I say? It was minimal... a little too minimal, if you ask me.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keKbJGVxUK4

Ah, Taake! Quite a nice surprise. This track brings fond memories. This was actually the first song I ever heard from them and the one responsable for getting me hooked on their sound. The first minute riffing keeps you intrigued, like "what would the vocals be like?" and they do not dissappoint. Average BM vocals, of course, but the whole production has this nasty-noisy-raw-yet-enjoyable feeling to it. Now the odd part. Around 2:48 comes a nice ryth-tempo-riff change, a more slow part of the song... nice, nothing surprising... and then... *boing!* (I remember the first time I ever listened to it I was like WTF?) Oddly enough, the mouth-harp fits the song perfectly... hilarious at first, yes, but it doesn't ruin the song... and it only appears for a shor time. The final part, with the guitar following the bass line, is just a perfect way to end the song.

Now let's go for something... a bit different
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHl53xXPxhE

Helstar - Baptized in Blood

The riff was really intense and memorable, and the guitar tone accompanying it was top-notch. Having not heard the band before, I was expecting thrash/extreme metal vocals, but the falsetto/clean vocal work came as an interesting and enjoyable suprise. The lead work on guitar also benefited from the tone and production, and the soloing was very tight and sounded delicious. The thrashiness combined with the clean vocals is a definite juxtaposition, but works really well, as opposed to sounding odd, after the initial suprise had passed. All in all, despite not nearly listening to enough speed-metal, this will be another step on the road to listening to enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjuWgdoJOXw

Stob Dearg- Nocturnal Witchcraft

I was really thrown for a loop on this one. It started out like those minimalist, Burzum-esque, I-recorded-this-through-a-pair-of-Skullcandies (no offense to Burzum; he did record Filosofem through headphones though) black metal. Then I started hearing some death metal, and lots of grooves later on. It ended up a death metal song with heavy black metal influences and a trace of groove. The drumming was fast, the guitars were groovy and well executed, but I couldn't really hear the bass, if they had any. I liked the vocals; they weren't terribly original, but they did the song justice. 4.5/5

Judging from my previous two Melo-death posts and subsequent reviews, I have decided to post something completely different:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajnYNAj70fE

Die-Execution Room
Pretty bland I think. Kind of reminds me of Bloodsoaked, not saying it's bad or anything, but it's just another Cannibal Corpse clone. The riffs, though. Man, that's some good stuff, aggressive and pounding. But, the downside is that they don't throw anything in that makes me want to actually listen to the more, though this might be biased since I'm not a pure loving death metal fanboy. But, it's not bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIQ0g3IpocU

Heathen Foray- Dragon's Eyes

I wasn't going to write another review, but then I saw that it was by Heathen Foray, and I was like, holy shit, a band I have heard of. (I have one of their other songs.) And from Oabbasi nonetheless?!? It sounds like a standard melodic death metal song, with folk influences. The rhythm guitar consists of lots of medium-paced chugging, and the lead plays a high pitched, folky tune. I must mention the solo; they are proficient guitarists, and it sound like guitar playing is second nature. The drums consist of mostly slow blasts, nothing spectacular, but appropriate. The vocals are standard melodeath screams, which reminded me of those of Amon Amarth; they really add to the "epic" atmosphere. Inaudible bass. It is a solid composition well worth listening to. 4/5

You should really watch as opposed to listen to this one.