Time Is Up - Havok - Album Review

Time is Up, by all American Thrash Metal outfit, Havok is a very nostalgic yet mad-mad release, people! Yes, where all the star bands sold out, Havok still sticks to its roots, you might call it a tribute band or a keeper of thrash metal. Not to forget, CHECK OUT that artwork, it's just MAD!
 
The album starts with 'Prepare For Attack', a hardcore thrash metal song with cutthroat riffs and solid solos, followed by 'Fatal Intervention' which has sufficient groove, pounding drums and hyperactive solos similar to the first track. You should totally check out that scream in the third track 'No Amnesty'(you'll know what I am talking about when you actually hear it!), thrashy as expected. The fourth track 'D.O.A' is comparatively melodic and it totally reminds me of Slayer, very catchy tune, and then Tom Araya's screams! Killer riffs. 'Covering Fire' is another track where you should totally check out the solos and the chops, the crispiness of the sounds followed by 'Killing Tendencies' which is very much on a similar note, layered vocals, razor sharp riffs and chops. It does sound very Iron Maiden or Slayer-ish though, but then that's how it is.The next track 'Scumbag In Disguise' is tilted a bit to power metal, with more instrumental sections in between and master solos! 'The Cleric' is the 8th track of the album, and is a very general thrash metal track, the melodies and leads are pretty predictable, it's not as speedy as the rest, chops are noticeably okay. 'Out Of My Way' makes you get hooked on to their music all over again, it's chuggy, it's aggressive, it's old-school like the way you want it to be, riff-crazed, it's the kind of track that gives you major adrenaline rush! The last track is the title track, 'Time is Up' which sums up the album, in-your-face kinda thrashy sounds, speedy percussion's overall, love it.

The album was thoroughly not a disappointment at all, they started out as a steel guardian as thrash and they are keeping that title to themselves, and 'Time Is Up' is one of their very mature releases with all the melting leads and exceptional solos, pummeling rhythms. I dare you to head-bang to this!
 

Black Autumn (Ger) - Rivers of Dead Leaves - Album Review

Combining Black and Doom metal has always been a challenge for musicians and the output is usually very interesting. The same applies to Michael Krall's solo project, Black Autumn. Even though Black Autumn was intended to sound something in the vein of Norwegian Black Metal, and the album preceding to Rivers of Dead Leaves, ie, Ecstasy, Nightmare, Doom had a thin sound and typical Depressive Black Metal atmosphere, this album shows a change in sound as Black Autumn takes a more Doom Metal-oriented sound.

The experience of listening to Rivers of Dead Leaves can be described as taking a walk along the coast in a cold, foggy morning. The sound of the album, rather than being outright depressing, or having a feeling of impending doom, has a serene and mellow feeling to it, despite its basic genre, which is a combination of Depressive Black Metal with layers of thick guitar sound akin to Doom Metal. Don't get me wrong, the riffs generally play a melancholic pattern in all but one song, and the lyrical themes, though atypical, do not deal with anything bright or shiny or colourful. Yet, its not the usual tremolo-picked riffs and high-pitched wails deal here. The vocals are rather drowned and rasped, or whispered. The drum machine never sounds annoying, even though it plays a rather repetitive pattern, thanks to the fact that it is mostly hidden beneath the bassy, thick guitar riffs so it doesn't grab any more attention than needed. The songs always maintain their pace, but the variations in the riffs are enough to keep a person listening to it and avoid redundancy. One of the few downs in the album is that certain songs are not very notable or memorable, but songs like the title song, A 1000 Years In The Water, Oath and Ophelia are highly memorable songs, which still brings us a good ratio of 4:6. Another down is that the album takes some time to grow into You might feel like skipping a few songs when they're halfway over, unless you take time to listen to each one carefully.

The album has it flaws, is not perfect, and its sound may not be what people expect from it, but from my side, Rivers of Dead Leaves is a great effort by Black Autumn and is definitely up there among my favourite Black Metal releases.

(No CD available at Amazon.com, and the title is sold out. Buy other Black Autumn titles from http://www.wrecked-up.net/blackautumn/distro/

If you like Black Autumn, check out Gris)

Dystopia - Human = Garbage - Album Review

They say Black Metal is the most hate-driven genre is music. They're wrong, and Dystopia is the reason why. Crust/Sludge giants Dystopia have released numerous EPs and Splits and one full-length throughout their career, but their 1994 compilation is the high point.

Human = Garbage consists of 12 hateful Crust Punk tracks taken from 2 of their earlier splits and the EP titled the same. The amount of misanthropy and hate filled in this release is evident from the first track itself, with an intro in which the vocalist recites his disgust with the modern society in a frustrated voice, and a straight-forward crust song follows. The band doesn't stick to the usual punk formula of writing a single riff and playing it through a 1-minute track, but instead varies the riffs and speed, occasionally slowing down and becoming sludgy. There are samples scattered throughout the songs, and used very well and fit the mood of the songs, especially songs like Sanctity and Love/Hate.

 

After track 6, the band gets into a full Crust Punk mode and all songs after that are much faster and aggressive, sometimes as brutal as Grindcore with blast-beats and super-fast riffs in Slaved Chain and Ruptured Silence. These songs explore the less sludgy sound of the band. Throughout the compilation, the vocals are the main feature of interest, as all 3 members of the band handle the vocals, and each one of them has a different vocal style, so there's a good amount of variety to them. The frustrated high-pitched vocals, and hardcore screams and angry growling, all perfectly suit the lyrical themes of the band. There is a slight drop in aggression level with like Green Destroyed and Weed of Wisdom have a catchy groove to them despite some grind parts while Broken Shell is a slower, sludgier song but still has a catchy sound to it. The relentless crust assault keeps going with the song Sleep, which is taken from their split with the Sludge band Grief, and work very well as a closing song due to the memorable acoustic passage accompanied by sludge riffs near the end of the song after 2 and half minutes of destructive crust punk assault.

The compilation is recommended for Metal and Punk fans alike, and Dystopia is undoubtedly one of the most hateful and aggressive band one would ever come across.

Nocturnal Breed - Fields of Rot - Album Review

Nocturnal Breed, a Black/Thrash Metal band from Norway have come up with really good releases in the past, efficiently combining Black and Speed/Thrash Metal to give their music a harsh, yet catchy and groovy sound. Fields of Rot, the band's 2007 album, is no different. Despite their ability to compose extremely memorable songs one can keep coming back to, Nocturnal Breed never got the attention they deserve.

To cut the review short, just try describing this album cover

Fields of Rot is the band's best effort so far. The album starts off with Wicked, Vicious and Violent and you know it is not the typical Desaster and Deströyer 666-style Black/Thrash, but rather old school Speed/Thrash with only a few Black Metal elements. The intensity of the vocalist and relentless Thrash drumming is continued through the album, but the band throws in variations everywhere. While Fields of Rot and Code of Conduct are straight-forward Thrash Metal songs with a great Black Metal vibe, In Sickness and In Hell has a groovy and catchy chorus, a memorable line in the first 1 and half minutes which says "When you fucked with us, and army was born", and a very simple yet memorable guitar solo. The riffs are intricate and the band carefully avoids single-note riffs or simple chords wherever possible, and yet, in each song make sure you have your head swaying and banging to them. A very good example of this would be the album opener and songs like Too Damned To Conquer and Scything Harrow. The vocals take some time to get into, as they're high-pitched, yet neither screamed, nor screeched or rasped nor sung. They're somewhere in between. The vocalist changes his style midway through certain songs and speaks in either a rather-evil voice or imitates Lemmy. Lemmy imitation is particularly notable in Iron Bitch, which is a Motörhead-worship song, with Motörhead written all over the riffs, vocals bass, and the overall song-writing. It is easy to mistake it for a cover. While most songs on the album have a traditional Speed/Thrash Metal approach, they maintain a dark, blackened sound, especially songs like Code of Conduct and Scything Harrow, trading the "fun" sound with a darker, more sinister sound.

The album, though short, is long enough to keep one entertained and sprain someone's neck due to furious headbanging induced by each track. Every track is a standout here with no specific weak point. The riffs and vocals make this release highly memorable, but the drums and bassline is not particularly notable and follow a standard formula seen in every Thrash record, which is the only shortcoming of this album.

Highly recommended for Black/Thrash or Speed/Thrash metal fans

9 out of 10.