Goreaphobia - Apocalyptic Necromancy : Album Review

Goreaphobia was formed in 1988 in Philadelphia, making them among the earliest Death Metal bands from Pennsylvania along with Incantation, but unlike them, Goreaphobia managed to get a cult status only through years of Demos as they never released a single Full-length till 2009.

The album cover slays just as much as the album itself.

With Apocalyptic Necromancy, Goreaphobia proved that they are among the most consistent bands when it comes to making dark Death Metal with good songwriting. The album has a modern-styled production, but they still maintain an organic and fairly old school sound, which is a good thing. The album's material isn't as powerful as the new songs heard on Vile Beast of Abomination compilation, but more powerful than that heard on Mortal Repulsion. Apocalyptic Necromancy sounds an extension to Mortal Repulsion, so can get boring at times, but as each song brings forth a new and engaging riff, it manages to draw back the attention of the listener. Chris Gamble does a good job on vocals as always. His growls are decipherable, and have a good range, but lack heaviness, but that can be excused because they sound evil enough to go with the sound of the rest of the instruments. Don't expect bowel-churing Chris Reifert screams, but Gamble's vocals are unique in their own way. Alex Bouks does a good job with the riffs. Each one of them written and played well. The band, like always manages to come up with interesting mid-paced riffing in each song with occasional, catchy palm-muted riffs. The bass is crystal clear and audible everywhere, but follows a simple pattern. Even though all it does is add to the heaviness of the already heavy record, it does its job well. The drumming is well done, precise and follows a Thrash Metal pattern than the usual blast-till-no-tomorrow. The snare sound can get a little annoying, though.

Like earlier mentioned, Goreaphobia are masters of the art of creating absolutely sickening and sinister Death Metal in a way that the modern production couldn't take any of its essence away. Chris Gamble's horrifying vocals reciting tales of horror and sickness, combined with Alex Bouks' and VJS's guitar riffs spewing evil through sound waves, and Jim Roe's ritualistic drum pounding definitely make Apocalyptic Necromancy among the better releases of 2011 so far.

2011 has certainly been a great year for Death Metal. Who knows what the coming moths have for us. Till then, enjoy this corpse-infested crypt of an album.

Azarath - Blasphemer's Maledictions

Poland is known among metal fans as the home to some of the most intense bands. Azarath ranks among the highest in that matter, as almost all of their releases - barring their weak 2009 album, titled Praise The Beast - were very intense and powerful.

Despite the fall in intensity and memorable songwriting, Azarath return to their form with Blasphemer's Malediction, with a slight change in lineup, i.e. a new vocalist, who adds a different flavour to their music, but lacks the commanding power of their ex-vocalist, Bruno. In spite of this, the music presented by the band in this album is top-notch with only little flaws and drawbacks. Each song is filled with catchy riffing, brutal drumming and fairly audible bass, which is only partially drowned by the guitars like in earlier albums. The album, judging by the cover has a Sumerian theme and a slight mid-eastern tinge in the music, yet is far from being gimmicky. The production job is well done and suitable for Death Metal, even thought it is slightly modern (somewhat like early 2000s). Bart Szudek does a good job on the guitars with chaingun riffing, which manages to be catchy as well as evil, and blazing, yet melodic solos, reminding the listener of Diabolic Impious Evil. Inferno executes drums with perfection - no sloppiness, no errors - with aggressive blasting, blazing double bass and tasteful drum rolls and fills. He is, as always, the highlight of the album. The vocalist has a rather Blackened Death Metal style, that works well for Azarath, despite being different from Bruno's possessed, low-pitched growling, which perfectly suited their sound. Still, Necrosodom unleashes his vocal chords with full fury, in resonance with the band's aggressive and brutal sound.

Blasphemer's Malediction does not surpass their Magnum Opus, but comes close enough to it and is equally enjoyable. Recommended for Death Metal fans who can survive a continuous onslaught on their eardrums.

Mütiilation - Vampires of Black Imperial Blood - album review

Mütiilation was one-man Black Metal band (featuring Meyhna'ch as the sole member), and a part of Les Legions Noires, an underground group of Black Metal musicians in France, known for releasing numerous demos, EPs and splits.Vampires of Black Imperial Blood is the band's first full-length released in 1995.

The album is the polar opposite of good musicianship, and has received acclaim as well as criticism, solely for the fact that it is an ugly, misanthropic work of sonic interference, dripping with muck and blood. Out-of-tune guitars, fuzzy riffing and almost inaudible bass, and sloppy drumming are the main characteristics of this album, yet, this is the perfect non-music album for expressing hatred towards humanity. The slower parts are nothing less evil than early New York Death Metal or Norwegian Black Metal, and the vocals are demented screams and vomits befitting the misanthropic atmosphere created by the fuzzy guitar riffs. The riffing is varied - sometimes catchy, sometimes depressive, sometimes downright grim. The sloppy drumming does almost nothing to add to the music, but because this isn't music in the first place, it doesn't matter - it just plays, blasting in fast sections, plodding in the slower ones. All songs are just sonic impersonations of hateful ramblings of a misanthrope confined to an asylum and surrounded by white walls, and in a straight jacket. The fact that Xasthur chose to cover one of Mütiilation's songs is enough to support that.

Every song in the album has a slightly depressive tinge to it, leading a lot of people to tag it as Depressive Black Metal, but this is something much primitive, and a lot more deranged than that. This is the epitome of rawness in the genre. It may not be musically good, but this is something what Black Metal has always been about, according to a lot of purists. It's solely the emotion and the hatred of the man behind it, encapsulated in the form of audible violence.

Mütiilation's Vampires of Black Imperial Blood is recommended ONLY if you like raw, badly produced, non-musical Black Metal. Otherwise, you will hate it more than you've hated anything else. Either way, this album achieves it's objective of invoking hatred in the minds of listeners.

No amazon link. Good luck finding an original Mütiilation record.

Disma - Towards The Megalith - Album Review

Disma appeared out of the blue in 2009 with their demo titled The Vault of Membros, and quickly gained attention attributed to the fact that it comprises of musicians from Incantation and Funebrarum. The fact that Disma is fronted by Craig Pillard was enough to send waves of excitement down any old school Death Metal fan's spine.

As with their demo, Disma prove with this album, that the immense amount of attention they got had a lot more to do with their music, and not with the mere presence of members from respected bands. Towards the Megalith is musically similar to a lot of new old school Death Metal bands - heavy, downtuned-as-fuck, and production similar to a mid-90s band. The riffs are slow to mid-paced, and the faster riffs are similar to those played by Disciples of Mockery. They evoke a sense of evil, not unlike a lot of early 90s Death Metal bands. The drumming is sharp and precise, which is a good break from the sloppiness shown, sometimes purposely, by a lot of Death Metal drummers. The snare sound is perfect and loud enough to support the crushing wall of sound created by the riffs and bass, and the bass drums sound neither too high nor too low in the mix. Craig Pillard's vocal delivery is sinister, low, and guttural as always. Though nothing compared to what he did on Mortal Throne of Nazarene, they can still be compared to dragging a heavy boulder on a gravelly road. The songwriting here is much more refined than that in their demo, and the songs are a lot more memorable and even catchy. The album includes the 3 songs from Vault of Membros, but with a much more refined sound, which isn't a bad thing, considering they sound even heavier and better than they did on the demo. The doom element is clear and obvious in this album, and is apparently something Craig Pillard really digs, as evidenced by the fact that almost all the bands he has been in, and has been involved with the songwriting, have slow, doomy sections.

Disma continue their assault throughout the album, constantly demolishing eardrums with their bass-heavy riffs A highly recommended album and among the best albums of 2011, right up there with Autopsy's Macabre Eternal. and powerful drum sound, with intense vocal delivery. The album cover artist did a very good job with the album art, as that is a near-perfect description of Disma's sound on this album - evil, horrifying and heavy. Disma is a perfect band for fans of old school Death Metal in the vein of Incantation or anything that sounds like it was recorded while performing occult rituals.