Sathanas/The Spawn of Satan Split (2012)

Some Fine Christian Fellows

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Released on Halloween this year, this split features a band from the same dank depths (Cleveland, OH) as the almighty Nunslaughter, and another one from the even more depressing Pennsylvania. I was not previously familiar with either band so this split serves as a nice introduction to two very deep underground American blackened death metal bands. Sathanas has been around since the late 1980's and have released a number of full-lengths over that time, yet somehow eluded me. The Spawn of Satan has only been recording music since 2002 and has never released a full-length, though they have been active for almost as long as Sathanas.

Nunslaughter: Christmassacre (EP 2004)

What Does the Laughter of Nuns Have to Do With Anything?

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Well this is certainly interesting. A little bit of background on this release first. This is not a new release. It was initially released on Christmas Day in 2004, in a variety of formats. It was reissued this year to celebrate Nunslaughter's favorite holiday. So this is not a new release, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Nunslaughter has released a filthy little EP full of good times and Christmas cheer. We have the immortal classic "Deathlehem", the positively uplifting "Jewrusalem", and who could forget the popular children's song "Unholy Scriptures". It is pretty obvious how Nunslaughter feels about all of this.

Nunslaughter/Abigail: Fucking Satan (2011)

$7.77

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Japan's Abigail and Ohio's Nunslaughter share some things in common, not the least of which is their prolific output of recordings. It was only a matter of time before these two bands, who each manage to put out a dozen new releases every year, paired up. Well here we have it, with the none-too-subtle title Fucking Satan. I am sure we are in for a hell of a ride with this one (pun not intended, but definitely appropriate).

Nunslaughter kicks things off and we are immediately treated to their style of punk-inflected death metal insanity. The first track is actually one of the longer ones Nunslaughter has done, a much more complete song than the usual one quick riff with some Satanic lyrics and done. It actually goes on for a couple of minutes and is one of the better Nunslaughter songs I have heard. The second track is much more typical Nunslaughter and lasts about 30 seconds.

Fistula: Northern Aggression / Loser (2012)

I'm Told You Shouldn't Do an Image Search for "Fistula"

Review by Patrick, proprietor of Beards, Etc.

Fistula, a Cleveland-based sludge band, have been around for a little over a decade. In September they released their 6th full-length album, Northern Aggression.

This record is extremely abrasive. If I had to sum up the entire album in one sentence, that would be it. Fistula seem to be one of those bands that goes out of the way to make their music as ugly, raunchy, and offensive to the ears as possible. In most genres, that would be a vicious indictment. But in sludge, it's pretty high praise.

Midnight: Complete and Total Hell (Compilation 2012)

Drunken Debauchery Metal

Guest review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Midnight is a band that I have been wanting to check out for quite a long time, but for some reason I never really got around to it. Midnight is pretty much the prototypical Hell's Headbangers band, besides the mighty Nunslaughter of course. They pay tribute to a lot of the early black metal bands while remaining firmly rooted in the NWOBHM and speed metal.

Summary Judgments, Vol. 2

The same drill as last time: Here are five releases that I began listening to, but decided that either I wouldn't enjoy listening to much more, or that I wouldn't be able to write a decent review. The number assigned (X out of X) is how many songs I got into the record.

Hero's Fate: Human Tides: Black Light Inception (2012)
(4 songs out of 12)

I sampled a little of Human Tides: Black Light Inception by Hero's Fate and heard one of those melodic metal ballads with some Amorphisms, and thought I might like it. As I got further into it, I realized that's all it was: melodic metal ballads, packaged as melodic death metal purely because of the vocals. In truth, it's a dull, slow- to mid-paced rhythm section with morose leads and growled vocals. A song or two would be OK, but a whole album of this?

Unbodied: Unbodied (EP 2012)

They're from The Ohio

Ohio's Unbodied contacted me with a review copy of their self-titled debut EP. It has some gorgeous, colorful, psychedelic artwork that recalls some of John Dyer Baizley's best works, like Phantom Limb and Kvelertak. As anyone who's gone blind buying knows, cool cover art is a strong indicator that the music will be cool as well.

Their Bandcamp page has a grocery list of different genres name-dropped, but as the Baizley influence might suggest, their main influences are sludge and grind. They also have a little bit of metalcore in the sound, but really, doesn't every young band have that these days? And apparently, they don't even realize it, because that's about the only genre they don't use to describe their music. Thankfully, metalcore is not an overpowering influence.

The Approach & the Execution: The Blood March (2011)

Review

I was contacted by the bassist of Cleveland "epic metal" band The Approach & the Execution with a copy of their self-released debut, The Blood March. A sizable concept album about a medieval philosopher whose beliefs are unpopular, featuring a full band (including keyboardist) and three vocalists (including a female) using a variety of vocal styles, this was certainly an ambitious first attempt.

To be quite honest, I've been putting off this review for some time. It is impressive in many ways, and there are parts of it I like. But in the end it's not my kind of thing. Maybe it's yours.

Skeletonwitch: Forever Abomination (2011)

Review

Athens, Ohio is known for three things: being a college town (and therefore home to hipsters), the former site of Midget Motors Corporation, and the home of one of the Midwest's most treasured metal bands, Skeletonwitch. They released their fourth full-length this year in Forever Abomination.

The album does not bring anything new to the table. This is clearly Skeletonwitch-brand blackened thrash, with short, fast-paced thrash attacks with some blackened riffing and rasped vocals. It's raw, pure, and simple. If it ain't broke, as they say.

Metal Briefs: Djent

The term djent was coined by Meshuggah's Fredrik Thordendal, who also pioneered the extensive use of the sound. Misha Mansoor (a.k.a. Bulb) of Periphery defines it as

The onomatopoeia of a heavily palm muted distorted guitar chord which is usually played as but not limited to a 4 string double octave powerchord, and as a result sounds much more metallic and sonically present than a 'chug' 'chugga' or 'djun' per se, and which is basically how Periphery would describe its palm muted guitar sound.

Whether or not you view it as a distinct subgenre of metal, there is a growing number of bands who identify with a particular djent-based sound, focusing on Meshuggah worship (the tone and love for odd time signatures) and with a Dream Theater-like appreciation for virtuosity and technique. Often, they'll use 7- or 8-string guitars (like Meshuggah), and they seem to be gear-heads, interested in different tones they can get out of different equipment. Many bands incorporate industrial sounds into the music.

Even though Metal Archives seems to be taking the extremely unreasonable position these are not metal bands, I think it's pretty clear they are, even if they're coming at it from a different attitude.

Let's take a look at three examples of the style.

Animals as Leaders: Animals as Leaders (2009)

Washington, D.C.'s Animals as Leaders is probably the best-known act from the djent movement, having toured with technical-minded death bands like The Faceless, Cephalic Carnage, and Decrepit Birth. It's an entirely instrumental project of guitarist Tosin Abasi, and despite the silly name the music is quite good. The music alternates between heavy ("Thoroughly at Home") and light ("On Impulse"), often within the same song. The guitar playing is superb, and besides djent, a variety of unique playing techniques are used ("Behaving Badly" has a particularly interesting picking technique). Being instrumental, and being about virtuosity and exploration of techniques over songwriting, it's not exactly for everyone. But highlights "Inamorata" and "Song of Solomon" are fully fleshed-out cuts that will resonate with just about anyone. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Cloudkicker: The Discovery (2008)

Cloudkicker is another instrumental djent band, although this is a one-man band from Columbus, Ohio. The approach here lacks the electronic sounds of Animals as Leaders. In an interview he explained why he tends to release EPs rather than LPs: "I get bored listening to an hour of instrumental music . . . ." Well, The Discovery is an LP, and you'll probably get bored with it by the time it's over, too. There just simply isn't enough going on here, with the same riff getting repeated way too many times without much interest layered on top of it. There are several short interludes on here (all boring and soft, except "Triumverate!"), and a handful of full-length songs that sound like they're simply unfinished. It still sounds pretty cool, and would make great background music to a video game or movie/TV show, but background is all it can provide. I give it 1.5 out of 5 stars.

Periphery: Periphery (2010)

Maryland's Periphery sets itself apart from the above bands by actually employing a vocalist, and being more obviously metalcore. Having a vocalist must have sounded like a good idea at the time, but he's one of those generic metalcore vocalists with that whiny, irritating clean vocal style. Well, I'm sure they'll have mainstream rock radio success because of it. Musically, this band is even more Meshuggah influenced than the others, so on the songs where he stays away from the clean vocal they sound really good (there's only one where he stays away from it completely, and another where he does until the last minute or so). But holy crap, that irritating vocal style makes the power ballads (like "Light" or "All New Materials") unlistenable. Even though these guys sound different from the others (a little), I can't shake how much all of these bands sound the same, with each of them using the same weird techniques they probably learned on Youtube. Throw in the faux old-timey carnival promoter joke at the end of "Icarus Lives!" (an annoying attempt at being charmingly funny), and the fact "Racecar" is about twice as long as it should be, and I could barely get through this album. I give it 1 out of 5 stars.

I went into this thing with the attitude that I was really going to like these, since they're all Meshuggah lovers like me. It turns out I was wrong. I think part of the problem is, the sound they're going for is not dynamic--it's all processed and played through modern-style amps, no tubes involved. Shame.

Skeletonwitch: Beyond the Permafrost (2007) Review

Metallattorney introduced me to Skeletonwitch, a band from Athens, Ohio, USA with an unapologetically old school extreme metal approach to things. I picked up their 2007 sophomore release Beyond the Permafrost.

Like many albums I've reviewed, these guys are a little tough to really pin down in terms of genre. Many have called them a melodic death / thrash metal band, drawing apt comparisons to At the Gates's classic Slaughter of the Soul. While this is a good description, I think it's more fitting to call them a thrash metal band with some death metal influences (the latter mostly confined to the vocals and drums). The sound, to me, seems about two parts Dark Angel's Time Does Not Heal with one part Death's Leprosy.

The songs are compact, mostly hovering around three minutes in length, and largely they don't go under 99 miles an hour. Because of the speed and economy of the arrangements, and the generous helping of guitar solos, there is not a dull moment on the album.



Like other practitioners of retro metal (such as The Sword), they have also injected the retro flavor into the way they recorded the songs, for good or ill. The performances are extremely raw, retaining the energy and brutality of of a live recording--something which can be lost if you insist on a note-perfect mix. There is also a sense that they are using vintage equipment, either in their amps or recording equipment.

The Verdict: Skeletonwitch perfectly captures the metal attitude of two decades past, from their name to their album art to their music, but does so without merely rehashing what's been done before. It does lack a little polish, though. I wish they could have managed to get note-perfect recordings while still retaining the high energy level; others have managed to do it. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

After writing this, I went back to reread MetallAttorney's review, and am surprised by how similar my take is.