Chowder: Passion Rift (2012)

As Good as the Band Name Suggests

Let me paint you a picture: Three metal nerds sit around with a 2 liter bottle of Shasta, watch a few horror movies, smoke weed, and listen to Rush. They proceed to pick up their instruments, jam for a while, and maybe add some synthesizers in post. They call themselves Chowder--like the soup--because they obviously take themselves and their music quite seriously. The album they make, Passion Rift, is about as exciting and dangerous as that sounds. In all honesty, I could end the review right there. But I suppose there are those of you who think it might be fun to listen to an album of progressive doom metal created by Rush nerds who approach their craft in the same way as improvisational jazz musicians approach theirs (that is, as a social event rather than a musical one).

Metal Briefs: Death Metal 2012

Death before Dishonor

I don't think there's been any lack of death metal coverage on this site as of late, but I personally haven't written many death metal reviews this year. It's still one of my favorite genres, behind only doom metal (and maybe dark Americana these days) and it's not like I haven't listened to much of it. Here are just a few of the new ones I've heard.

Doomsday: Doomsday
(4 out of 5 stars)

Chicago's Doomsday play some seriously crusty death metal on their self-titled debut EP. It sounds more or less like early Acephalix (before they went Swe-death), so if you have Interminable Night then just play "Christ Hole" to decide whether you'll like this one. In other words, death metal that's been hit in the head with a brick and then sandblasted. Doomsday can groove, but they are at their best when going balls-out fast. I love the drums on "Empty Vessel," too. They close it out with the much more punk-oriented "I Kill Everything I Fuck," which, incidentally--probably not a good pick-up line.



Buy Doomsday

Ysengrin: To Endotaton (2012)

A Huge Shift

A year ago, I reviewed Tragedies – Liber Hermetis, the second album from the French band Ysengrin. It was fairly unremarkable death/doom with some blackened influence, but had such excellent production that it was well worth listening anyway. Their new record doesn’t even sound like the work of the same band, despite the fact they’ve had no lineup changes.

To Endotaton is not produced nearly as well, though it’s by no means a poor job. This time, it's the production that's unremarkable. The music, on the other hand, is much more interesting. Instead of death/doom, this time around it’s mostly a dark sort of heavy/doom metal, with some very cool heavy metal riffs. The vocals are still death growls, with the occasional spoken/chanted piece (mixed a bit too loud). There are other things at play here, such as the keyboard which sounds as if it were manned partly by King Diamond and partly by John Carpenter, some bluesy guitar noodling in one part, and the black/Viking metal section at the end.