Summary Judgments, Volume 13

This is where I decided I wasn't up to giving these records a full review.

Black TusK: Tend No Wounds (EP 2013)

A little while back, I lamented that I had just assumed Red Fang were another Mastodon clone in a field of Mastodon clones. Since I had put Black Tusk in that same category, I decided to give them another chance. It turns out my assumption was right about them. Not that I have anything against Mastodon clones (to be fair, the vocals are more the male side of Kylesa).

UnfortunatelyMYspaceBARisBUSTED,andIdon'tTHINKiWILLhaveTIMEthisWEEKtoGETaNEWkeyboard.CheckBACKnextWEEK,whenHOPEFULLYthisWILLbeFIXED.

Orcultus: Orcultus (EP 2014)

Not Enough

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Seven inch vinyls are kind of an odd concept. It is kind of strange to me that there are still bands releasing them, though typically they are released by groups who have not previously released anything and just have a couple of songs ready. There is such a limited amount of space available that releases rarely last more than ten minutes. Nevertheless, I have a number of them.

Anyway, this is all pretty irrelevant to the actual review. I am sure a lot of metalheads like vinyl, even these small things. But it does not really have much at all to do with the band here. Orcultus is a fairly new band, as was likely from the format of this recording. This is just their second release and their first one was a similarly short recording. Orcultus plays a style of black metal most similar to the Swedish style of the early 1990's. And being from Sweden themselves, that is not terribly shocking.

Oruga: Blackened Souls (2014)

As Our Age's Greatest Philosopher Said

Review by joanismylover, the third metal attorney.

Many philosophers and great thinkers have observed an earthly truth: without pain, pleasure is diminished; sadness makes happiness better; with loss, joy is enhanced. As Butthead once so succinctly put it: if things didn't suck nothing would be cool. The sludge and doom genres live or die in this dynamic. Most practitioners beat the living tar out of listeners. Too much of this tends to suck. The best also briefly lift the listeners back to great heights, only to beat the tar out of them again. Oruga are French practitioners of the genre and Blackened Souls is their debut long play.

Oruga get this yin and yang dynamic correct right off the bat. Blackened Souls is a great sludge doom title and a good way to describe the bottom while retaining the heights to which most in the genre aspire.* The bottom is HEAVY. It's mostly mid-paced to slow, enhancing the thunder. The vocals here are growled but not in a whiny way, and the singer is almost understandable. He has an Anselmo-like quality to his vocals. Moments of attempted melody with the vocals in that context are not great but constitute a minimal detraction. Sometimes they work ("Cursed"), sometimes they don't ("Discrip").

Dark Americana Briefs, Volume 15

Darker Than Metal

More dark Americana. I hope you enjoy.

Jeff Zentner: The Dying Days of Summer (2009)
3.5 out of 5 stars

Pure country music doesn't often pique my interest, but then again, Jeff Zentner doesn't play a typical country style. The Dying Days of Summer is soft, quiet, and gentle. Despite its lack of violence it's still extremely dark and deeply sad. And not in a stereotypical "My wife left me and my dog's dead" way. It's mostly acoustic guitar and male vocals, but other sounds do assist on the dynamic front (female vocals, mandolin, etc.). Unfortunately, the complete lack of percussion and the extensive length of the record (64 minutes) make it a lot more challenging than it needs to be, and I'm not quite sure the payoff is enough.

Vintersorg: Naturbål (2014)

The Swedish Say "Naturbål," We Say "Going Commando"

Review by Patrick, proprietor of Beards, Etc.

This June brings us the newest release from Swedish progressive Viking metallers Vintersorg. Originally a solo project for Andreas Hedlund (who some may know from Borknagar or Otyg) Vintersorg has existed for many years as a duo, with Hedlund joined by his Otyg bandmate Mattias Marklund. Naturbål is the 9th full-length release from the band.

Vintersorg's music has long occupied the lighter, more progressive end of the Viking metal spectrum, and this album continues that trend. The music is generally smooth and melodic, with plenty of synthesized folk instrumentation. As with most bands in this vein, the material has a black metal core, but in their case it's not very prominent.

Tare: Ritual Degradation (EP 2014)

My Better Judgment?

You may have noticed that I have little regard for the physical objects that the cavemen of days past had to use to store recorded music. Maybe that's because I came of age during the era of the CD, the format with the least soul, or maybe because I pride myself on practicality. But as kitschy as it is, I do in fact have some nostalgia for cassettes, which call to mind my childhood, mowing the lawn, recording mix tapes to play in the half-'84, half-'86 Ford Ranger.

So it is that I'm reviewing the first cassette sent to me by a label, Tare's Ritual Degradation. Contrary to San Francisco's reputation generally, it seems to have a pretty healthy black metal underground, and this is clearly where Tare are coming from. On first liste, it seemed to be just old-school, pure black metal, with no artsy pretensions. In other words, it probably wouldn't have grabbed my attention, but for the physical object. I've gotten plenty of CDs in the mail, which end up immediately ripped onto my computer to play on the trusty iPod, but I couldn't do that here.

Godhunter/Anakim: Vulture's Wake / The Whimper of Whipped Dogs (2013)

Short but Sludgy

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Godhunter was covered here fairly recently and I discussed how it was nice to hear some real sludge metal again. Here we have the same Godhunter paired with fellow Tucson, AZ sludge metal group Anakim. This is an incredibly short split, presented in physical form on a 7" vinyl. Each band has just one song on the split, so it is a very quick introduction to the bands.

I covered Godhunter recently and came away very impressed. This track by the group is a bit more of a stoner doom-styled track with heavier riffs and a generally much more rock-oriented sound. "Vulture's Wake" is a surprisingly catchy track though the vocals are still a little bit too one-note. On just one song though that can be overlooked.

Prog Briefs 2014

No Aimless Noodling

I don't consider myself a fan of progressive rock, but I've managed to bring together a few records that caught my eye so far this year.

Crippled Black Phoenix: White Light Generator (2014)
4 out of 5 stars

This is another predictably great release from the British progressive rock masters. As per usual, they do it Pink Floyd style with doses of all kinds of rock and some country/Americana/whatever else thrown in (mandolin, brass, yes indeed). This isn't my favorite from the band, but they've never released a bad record and they're not about to start.

Cannabis Corpse/Ghoul: Splatterhash (2014)

(Insert Marijuana Pun Here, If You Think That's Funny)

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Oh boy, this is quite the combination of bands to share a split. To be fair, I am actually not very familiar with Cannabis Corpse, but I am a big fan of Ghoul. Both bands are known for their outlandish lyrical content and their obsession with gore. The name of the split is a play on the album Splatterthrash by Ghoul. It of course references Cannabis Corpse's obsession with marijuana.

Cannabis Corpse kicks things off on the split. The band is a marijuana-based parody of Cannibal Corpse, which can probably be ascertained by the band's name. The band was created by Land Phil of crossover/thrash metal band Municipal Waste. He does do a fairly competent impression of Corpsegrinder Fisher. Many of the band's song names are direct knockoffs of Cannibal Corpse songs, such as "Inhalation Plague" from "Evisceration Plague". The references to Cannibal Corpse are pretty clear, though Cannabis Corpse does a pretty solid job of presenting their own style. The dual vocals are an impressive addition that is apparently new to the group these days. I have been previously reluctant to check out Cannabis Corpse. The fact that they were originally a parody band and their obsession with marijuana were turnoffs. However, the music is very strong death metal. I would be willing to give them another chance based on this.