BALATONIZER:

• Occlused In Ottusity (2004) On the wackier side of things we have Balatonizer. Somewhere between death metal (for some of the riffs), grind (for the overall style, short songs and long tracklist) and technometal (for it's use of samples and electronic sounding intros), this 3 piece manages to do something rare, it manages to use a drum machine well. I mean, don't get me wrong, you know it's a drum machine, but it's obvious the band knows enough about real drumming to program something that at least follows that conventions of what a real drummer would do, instead of just hitting the "doublekick 64 notes all the time" button. The riffs are pretty good as well, with just the right mix of slow stuff, fast stuff, and chunky stuff to make them real songs instead of just random riffs. The guitar sound is really big and ballsy, obviously plenty of overdubs. Vocals are low Broken Hope style. I guess if I had to explain the band's overall feel, imagine Blood Duster's "Yeest" album mixed with early Broken Hope with a drum machine. The album comes with a short comic strip about the band's wacky adventures (one wearing a decepticon t-shirt no less!), which shows they aren't taking things too seriously, and that's fine, the music is solid, the album is good clean fun and I can certainly recommend it if you happen to come across your path.
  

BANISHED:

Previous to 1993, this band was called Baphomet, see below for past reviews.

• 7" Banished (1993, EP) A special 7" blue vinyl with two Banished songs from an unreleased 1993 demo session. The two songs are 'Altered Minds' and 'Cast Out The Flesh'. Both songs are available on their later album, although the guitar crunch on this record is (in my opinion) a lot stronger than on the CD. Definitely worth owning.
• Deliver Me Unto Pain (1993) Very cool riffs, big, in your face chunky sound. I wish these guys would release another album. Slick production and a guitar/bass sound that makes them distinct in a world of conformity, as well as great song writing makes the CD a must have.

• The Dead Shall Inherit (1992) After a name change to avoid confusion with another band, Banished went on to produce one of the best death metal albums of the early 90s that no one heard. Their first album, under the band name Baphomet, is a nice glimpse into the elements that made their second album so memorable. Not only does this album include a few tracks that were rerecorded for their second album, but also a number of riffs on this album were stolen and reassembled in their later material. You can also hear the basic crunchy guitar tone that was later perfected, and the rather unique drum style in it's infancy. So in many ways, this is like a demo for their second album. As a stand alone album, this is OK death metal, but in context to its second album, I found it really interesting. If you've never heard of this band before, do yourself a favor and buy Banished's "Deliver Me Unto Pain", and if you dig them, then pick this album up as well. More people need to be exposed to this band, and their (sadly) short career.
  

• Souldead (1995, Demo)
• Perpetual Mockery (1998)
• Resurgence Of Oblivion (1999, EP)
• Recounts Of Disembodiment (2002) Death metal in the style of Deranged. So lots of tremolo picking, catch-your-breath-if-you-can drumming mixed with some slower moshable bits. Think the sound and intensity of "High On Blood" but with some slower parts to break up the pace. Production is good although slightly muffled, and of course a little messy, but that's sort of what the style dictates. Lowish vocals (but not super low). The performance is good and these guys can certainly play some intense music, but without either really, really memorable riffs or something very original about the music, this cd will probably get lost in the mess of other similar sounding bands. I don't want to be too harsh because there's plenty to enjoy here, it's well worth a listen for sure, but not sure if it has the necessary staying power.
• Ominous Bloodline (2005)
• Never to Dawn (2012)
• Beast Incarnate (2017) Good old school death metal. I checked them out last 15 years ago, and they were decent but not spectacular. This album is far better. Pretty straight forward stuff in many respects, very few weird time signatures, it's mostly standard 3/4 and 4/4 with the riff repeated 4-8 times before moving onto the next, but there's way more standout riffs and hooks on this album, stuff that's memorable and sticks with you. Lots of overdubs in the guitar area, makes the band sound like an angry swarm of bees. Vocals are midrange growls and screams, lots of reverb again giving them that epic sound. Most of the material is fast, although in the middle of the album they have this slow dirge that's pretty awesome, reminiscent of Gorguts or Immolation. Overall, good riffs, well worth a purchase.
• Only Death Can Save You (2019) Very similar to their last release. The same nice production, the same general riffing style, the same perfectly precise drumming. The one area this falls flat is in the riffs. The band's last album, while straight forward, had enough riffs that felt fresh enough to grab my attention. This album seems even simpler in comparison, and the riffs that are here just don't seem as fresh. A little more time at the song writing stage would have helped a lot. Well performed with plenty of energy and gusto, but not enough to push the album to the next level. Check it out, but I don't think it'll get a lot of play in my daily rotation after this review.

• And The Forests Dream Eternally (1993, EP)
  
• Sventevith (1996)
• Grom (1996)
• Pandemonic Incantations (1997)
• Bewitching The Promerania (1997, EP)
  
• Satanica (1999)
• Antichristian Phenomenon (2000, EP)
  
• Thelema.6 (2001)
• Zos Kia Cultus (2002) More of the same from the band. They manage to get a lot of mileage out of the same general chord progressions. But in many ways I don't care, the lack of originality melts away to reveal the excellent musicianship and great sound. Highly enjoyable album.
  
• Conjuration (2003, EP)
• Slaves Shall Serve (2005, EP)
  
• Demigod (2005) This is the album we would have had if you take Krisiun's "Conquerors Of Armageddon" and added more variety to the drumming. The guitarwork on this album is very reminiscent of "Conquerors", the chord progressions, the mixture of held chords, low tremolo picking and higher passages, even some of the riffs are damn near identical. There's also a touch of Morbid Angel in here, but not in a copycat kinda way. Vocalwise, the voice is highly processed, they've taken a midrange growl and done some voice harmonizing to it to achieve that "girl from exorcist" voice. While I'm usually not a fan of processed voices except when used as an accent to a normal set of vocals, they do it pretty well, and it's not too over the top. And in a way it helps the album avoid just being a Krisiun clone. As mentioned before, the drumming is top notch, highly triggered, but instead of just doublebass the whole time there's plenty of complexity here without getting overly complicated. Overall, I think this album is really good, the riffs are intense and memorable, the band has just the right level of musicianship and great songwriting skills, the pacing of the album is perfect, my only complaint is how similar it is to Krisiun, but I have to give them credit for possibly even improving in a few ways over the original source material. Highly recommended.
• The Apostasy (2007) If you liked their first cd, you'll like this one too. The same crazy intensity level, the same sorts of riffs. Lots of cool symphonic bits and pieces to help add atmosphere to the songs. The music is really well performed, written and produced, I guess my only complaint is that it sounds too alike to their last album. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily, their last album was good, this album is good, but don't expect any personal growth as a band or anything. This is high quality death metal, and while the lack of uniqueness may hamper its replay value, anytime you do decide to invest an hour and listen to this CD, I'm sure you will enjoy yourself.
• At the Arena ov Aion – Live Apostasy (2008, LiveCD)
• Ezkaton (2008, EP)
• Evangelion (2009) While nothing ground breaking, this album is another high quality release form the masters of blast and blasphemy. Same general style, lots of fast drums, voice processed chanting, tremolo picking and epic songs. If you loved their last 2 albums, here's another chip off the same block.
• The Satanist (2014) After a 5 year wait between albums, after Nergal's fight with cancer, and legal issues over that stupid obscenity case, I was really hoping for an awesome new album, but the results are disappointing. This whole album is really slow. Not slow and heavy, just slow. And most of the songs are just one riff played over and over, the riffs themselves aren't memorable enough to be heard that frequently, and there's even some rock based riffs here. There are a few songs with blasting, but they come across more as a pity fuck, so the drummer doesn't get super bored. A few of the songs are good, and if there were 2 or 3 of these on an album that was otherwise stupid fast or stupid heavy, it would be fine. But an entire album of this material just doesn't grab me. Sorry guys.
  

• Seven Are They (2012) This band sounds very much like modern Vital Remains. Especially in the drum area, lots of super fast triplet blasts and highly triggered bass drums. Lots of tremolo guitar riffs as well, and a vagely similar world view in the lyrics (with songs like 'Fucking Burn In The Name Of Satan'). So the band doesn't win big points in the originality area, but performance wise this CD is solid, really well done, good songs, pure breakneck speed and brutality. Well worth checking out.
  

• Bloodbath in Paradise (1993, EP)
• Obscure and Deep (1994, EP)
• The Last Supper (1995)
• Blutsabbath (1997)
• Necrodaemon Terrorsathan (2000)
• Infernal Live Orgasm (2002, Live)
  
• Lucifer Incestus (2003)
• Goatreich - Fleshcult (2005)
• Pestapokalypse VI (2006)
• Bondage Goat Zombie (2008)
• Walpurgis Rites - Hexenwahn (2009)
• Blood Magick Necromance (2011)
  
• Conjuring the Dead (2014) Blackened death metal, I know these guys have been around for a really long time and I've never really checked them out (I'm not a big black metal fan), but decided to give their latest album a try. Overall, they're actually quite good. The sound is big and powerful, and they have a good mix of the fast strumming you'd expect with Black Metal with more complex drumming and more catchy riffs of death metal. The first two tracks are a good example, lots of strumming and high pitched screams start the album on 'Gasmask Terror', then the title track kicks in with a slower chunky riff with fast double bass underneath. While not as good as bands like Myrkskog or Crionics, who I'd consider being the top of the genre, this album is really solid, and many of the riffs stick in my head. Everyone but me have probably already checked out the band, so I guess there's no point in saying "check these guys out", but if you haven't give them a try.
• Totenritual (2017) Starts incredibly strong, but then fizzles a bit. Track 1, 'Baphomet', is just spectacular, we have an odd time signature, low gargly guitars, we have inhumanly fast doublebass over a slow riff, we have a pick scrape, and we have an odd chord progression, all mixed together into a spectacularly twisted song. It's a cross between Immolation and Morbid Angel's 'Where The Slime Live'. Sadly, the rest of the album is more straight forward. Not bad certainly, competently done, but more standard blackened death metal and without the "hell ya" riffs of the first song. So overall, the album is enjoyable as a whole, but if you want just the spectacular part, grab track number 1.
  

• Evidence Of Inequity (2005, EP)
  
• Mechanics of Dysfunction (2007) Deathcore in the general style of Despised Icon, but with extra influences from Necrophagist and Cryptopsy's "And Then You'll Beg" album. This Montreal band can certainly play their instruments, the album is razor sharp, super tight sound. The guitars play basically three things: Either super fast scales and arpeggios (like Necrophagist), lower chunky bits, and the usual deathcore breakdowns. Thankfully, they don't do breakdowns for every song, but be prepared for a few boring single note breakdown riffs now and again. Vocals avoid any of the pig squealing or shouting, just midrange death metal growling. Drums are pretty insane, with blast beats, doublebass and gravity blasting galore. The whole album sounds like the band at any second might just explode into complete sonic chaos. Thankfully, there are enough memorable riffs to work as landmarks during the album. Fans of super technical death metal and deathcore will probably enjoy the band. The brutality and speed is certainly unquestionable.
• Dystopia (2008) Almost identical to their first album. A few tiny deviations, first, the sound is a little smoother, personally I preferred the more raw sound of the first album, but it's not a big deal. And second, the riffs on this one took me more listens to get in to. The first album has about a half dozen riffs that stuck in my head after only a single listen, this album it took me a number of extra listens to reach the same point. Otherwise, pretty much the same sort of material. Considering the two albums only came a year apart, I suppose it makes sense that there wouldn't be that much evolution to their style. If you enjoyed the first, you'll like the second.
• Marée Noire (2010, EP) 5 song EP from the band (4 songs really, the third song is a 43 second intro). Pretty similar to their previous material. The main change is that the production has mutated a bit, the guitars are way louder in the mix, and overall have a thicker sound. On their previous two efforts, the drums were loud and had plenty of room sonically while the guitars had a tight, focused sound. This time, the drums are a bit overshadowed by the rest of the band, which is fine, it's just a different sort of sound, going from something very clean to something with a bit more of a "roar" to it (the production in fact sounds pretty similar to one of the band's Montreal citymates, Neuraxis). The songs are decent, but I still think the riffs on their first album were the most memorable the band has produced. Overall, a nice EP worth grabbing.
• Incongruous (2012) This album hits all the right spots. Ridiculously fast. Insane musicianship. Complex song structures and time signatures. Excellent production. The only downside is while the songs are all impressive, there's really not much here to differentiate them. The formula that was the mainstay of their first two albums just gets a bit stale for this their 3rd outing. The only songs I feel that deviate are the opener, that has a cool squawk riff, and the album closer that has a fast guitar tremolo picked melody that has a certain John Williams-esque quality to it. Both songs are examples of giving us a little something out of left field to get our attention in all the chaos. Again, a very impressive album, and I'm sure I'll listen to it anytime I just want my head bludgeoned by a jackhammer. But I would like to see the band expand a bit more beyond their core formula.
• Fearmonger (2020) After an 8 year wait, this short but intense album comes back and smashes us in the face. All the core elements we love from the band are here, but there is, believe it or not, an extra sense of urgency in these songs, it feels even faster, even more chaotic, even more mechanical. So it loses points on memorable riffs, but it gains even more points for sheer nightmare insanity. The old team is mostly back, with the exception of new drummer Anthony Barone (who did a number of youtube covers of the band a few years ago, that seems like the new way to get a job, release a kickass video of you playing the songs, and then when a position opens up in the band, they give you a call). If you've enjoyed their previous material, you'll likely love this as well. Still would kinda love a tiny bit more catchiness, but if that's not in the cards, I appreciate the brain in a blender intensity of their direction.

• Subconscious Terror (1990) While it contains some awesome songs, the demo style production doesn't really give them the power they need. So this album is better as a historical document than an album I'm likely to listen to a lot. Thankfully, many of the great songs were rerecorded on later albums.
  
• Grand Leveller (1991) A little slower and doomier than their "Rubicon" album, otherwise, the same general mix of heavy riffs, straight forward skank beat drumming, powerful growling, and scooped sound. Far better mix than their first album with some seriously strong bass.
  
• Dark Is The Season (1992, EP) 5 songs, several odds and ends from the band. Track 1 is a new, good quality fast Benediction song, track 2 is a cover song, track 3 is another new track, very heavy, slow and plodding. Track 4 is 'Jumping At Shadows' from "The Grand Leveler", track 5 is a new version of 'Experimental Stage'. Good production, fans of the band should probably grab a copy for the third track alone.
• Transcend the Rubicon (1993) This album has a good scooped sound with strong song writing and just enough hooks and catchy riffs to make listening to it enjoyable. A good mixture of slow and fast songs. Vocals are mid ranged growls, and the lyrics shoot out fast and complex. No frills, but highly memorable, the band's best album.
  
• The Grotesque / Ashen Epitaph (1994) Two new songs (both of which are good, similar to the stuff from "Rubicon"), and then three live songs played in front of a small audience. The live production is great, well mixed, clear and bassy.
• The Dreams You Dread (1994) This album was sort of a let down. The riffs are muddier than their last album, and the songs are slower, and the whole album just falls a bit flat.
• Grind Bastard (1998) This album rocks a little too much for my taste, but it's actually pretty decent. A combination of old school death / heavy metal and punk. Better than their last album, it has some decent riffs, clear production and well written songs. Above average, but not my personal favorite type of music.
• Organized Chaos (2001) Straight forward, catchy death metal. This album doesn't stray far at all from previous albums, mid paced songs, simple song structures. The new vocalist sounds a lot like Dave (the former vocalist). I'd have to label this album the cake, as in, it may not have as much icing as other albums by other bands (there are still a few riffs here and there that made me take instant notice), but everything is very very solid and consistent, with very little bad material. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. It's not over the top brutal, but it sticks in my head.
• Killing Music (2008) Holy early 90s death metal batman. Listening to this cd brings me back to my first death metal concert in the early 90s. Benediction opened for Bolt Thrower, and while I was mainly there to see Bolt Thrower, Benediction's live energy was certainly impressive. And that's what this CD perfectly captures, the band's live energy. The riffs are a little simple, but really catchy, fun to play and fun to mosh to. Definitely a lot of standout bits here. The production is great, raw without being noisy, and the kickdrum really packs a wallop (it rattled the glass in my window even at low volumes). Overall, a very energetic album with good riffs, strong sound, a really worthy comeback after 7 years of absence. I hope we don't have to wait another 7 for the follow-up.
• Scriptures (2020) So I ended my review of their last album with "hopefully we don't have to wait another 7 years" for this release, and we didn't, we waited 12 years. Holy too long batman! So the band has returned with "Scriptures", and it has some good elements and some weaknesses. First off, great production, the guitars are really sharp, the bass is well mixed in with the other instruments, and the drumming is very booming and precise. That snare, my god, it's like a shotgun. And the songs have some cool riffs that are heavy and pounding, you really feel the energy and aggression in every note. The main downside is I find these songs are a little too simple. As in, most of them are a riff repeated 8 times, followed by another riff 8 times, verse / chorus / verse / chorus / bridge / solo / verse / chorus. Benediction were never super complex in their song structures, but I feel this is a little too straight forward. I can imagine this material working well live though, as they'd be mixed in with some of their older more complex tunes, and the balance would be good. But for this album, I think they should have varied things a little more. In tempo as well, since most of the material is at about the same pace. Overall a solid release from the band. I pray they'll do another one before 2037.
  

• Soul of the Martyr (1998)
• Withering Strands Of Hope (2000) 32 really fast and short songs in the same style as any of Napalm Death's first albums (like Scum). The production is about as good as any of napalm's first albums as well, I assume that's a stylistic choice to go for the limited technology sound quality. Fans of retro grindcore from the 80s will probably like this release, as for me, it's pretty fun, but I tend to prefer modern day production and well thought through songwriting, but if you're in the mood for some mindless oldschool grind, check it out.

• Between the Buried and Me (2000)
  
• The Silent Circus (2003)
  
• Alaska (2005) Something vaguely in the vein of The Black Dahlia Murders, Despised Icon or The Red Chord, crossed with Dream Theater if you believe it. A lot of screaming, fast crazy guitar bits, changing time signatures every few second, most of the usual metalcore staples, but then you get these long instrumental parts with keyboards, acoustic guitars and complex melodies played in unison straight from Dream Theater or other similar progrock bands. At first the combination is a little bizarre, but I really started to dig it a few songs in, it certainly provides some good variety. Like the song "Breath In, Breath Out" has this soft gentle Joe Satriani clean guitar feel going on, then all of a sudden 'Roboturner" kicks in with a vicious scream and super fast drum beat. The contrast is really well done and I dig the epic song thing (many are 7 to 8 min long). The vocalist when he growls sound a lot like Jens Kidman of Meshuggah, but thankfully the music is different enough that there's really no obvious comparison between the two bands. As a fan of prog and metalcore, I would have never thought they'd go well together, but this band has proven me wrong and the combination allows the group to standout as something really different sounding. If you can only buy one album this week, this gets my recommendation.
• The Anatomy Of (2006, Covers) Ever wondered who the bands were that influenced Between The Buried and Me? Well, no, actually I didn't, but since they decided to tell me anyways, I figured I might as well listen. The album starts off with 'Blackened' by Metallica, which isn't too different from the Metallica version (with the exception of a few blast beats, death metal style vocals, and a more synth guitar / harmony oriented solo). Next comes 'Kick Start My Heart' by Motley Crue, which is sung instead of growled, and other than a slightly more distorted guitar tone, is pretty similar again to the source material. You may see where I'm going with this. Now I haven't heard the original versions of all these songs, but from the songs I do know, it seems the band is more interested in staying true to the source material than trying something different or creative. And so the big question from me is why make these recordings if they're not going to be that different from the original? Like a cover of Queen's 'Bicycle Race', I'm thinking "That would be cool to hear all super heavy and angry", but no, it's almost exactly like the original. Why not do 'Blackened' all serene and 'Bicycle' all super heavy? Now that would be cool. Anyways, other songs of notes, Sepultura's 'Territory' and Pantera's 'Cemetery Gates', which, while again similar to the original, is just such an excellent song, and they do a good job. Overall, I enjoyed listening to this cd, but I don't see this as a repeat listen sort of album, because I might as well listen to the originals instead.
• Colors (2007) "Colors" opens with a very Dream Theater-esque piece, similar to the beginning two songs on "Scenes From a Memory", or maybe Devin Townsend's "Synchestra". But they get to the blastbeats pretty quickly. Lots of variety, from the prog elements to the really heavy influences like hardcore and death metal. I feel the songs could use a few more standout riffs, while these songs are far from filler, their last album had a few catchier riffs here and there which gave you something to grab onto. And more than a few riffs are almost direct ripoffs from Dream Theater, it's obvious that the band listened to "Scenes From a Memory" a lot before writing this record. The songs are again, epic in length, 11, 13, 14 minutes long. Overall, a bit of a step down from "Alaska", but still a decent album and worth checking out.
• The Great Misdirect (2009) Very similar to their last album, epic song lengths, plenty of variety from singing to growling to blasts to acoustic guitars. A nice acoustic intro song leads to the usual Dream Theater with blast beats style. The album gets a little overly silly in the middle, with several passages that sound way too much like Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, or possibly something that the piano player in an old western bar would play. But overall it keeps a good mood. Song wise, I still feel the band's got a little distance to go. Many of the album's softer bits are memorable, but anytime the band gets heavy the memorability just sorta goes out the window, and the song gets a little generic. It takes many listens before these parts start standing out as separate songs. But for fans of the band, this is a solid release that showcases all the strengths of the group. I'd just love to see them push themselves that tiny touch further to reach the next level.
• The Parallex: Hypersleep Dialogues (2011, EP) Three song EP from the band, but it's not a short one, most of the songs are close to 10 minutes long in the group's usual style. The first song opens with a musical inspired theme, it wouldn't be out of place in "West Side Story", then it quickly shifts to blasts and growls. All the usual variety is here, from death metal to german "ompa" music, carnival melodies, some atmospheric stuff not unlike Tool, and big Dream Theater-esque song endings reminiscent of the ending to "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence". Good material, but my usual caveat applies of perhaps a little too much variety that makes the songs too chaotic and not catchy enough.
  

• Unhallowed (2003) Pretty similar in style to their followup "Miasma". The album starts with midpaced doublebass underneath a chugging riff, a pregnant hold on the low E string (detuned accordingly of course), followed by a thrash style main riff that I'm sure would immediately get the crowd moving at any concert. They sure know how to start the mayhem. Again, a lot of stylistic influences abound, making for a dirty and ugly thrash/death/melodic hybrid. My only critique would be that perhaps a few intros or something to break the album up a bit, as it stands right now the album does suffer a bit from song sameness. But otherwise, lots of intense music, and well worth getting.
• Miasma (2005) This is the kind of music that can really only be categorized as "metal". There's just too many influential genres here to bother trying to break it down, from black to death to thrash to hard core, they all blend together into a powerful and ugly force, dark and disturbing. Vocals are a tradeoff between high pitched screams and midrange death metal type vocals. Drums range from fast doublebass, blasts to thrash. Guitars are thick and raw, no smooth guitar tone here, just ugly distortion, riffs are primarily fast picking with the occasional lower chunky parts (and some tremolo picking). I'd like to say the band sounds like this band or that band, but honestly, I'm at a bit of a loss. It sounds familiar, and yet there's no obvious lineage, the band sounds like themselves. Imagine fast thrash with black metal vocals and you'll come close. Song wise, excellent material, lots of catchy riffs, there's a certain degree of sameness to the songs, but it's not really a bad thing, it just makes the album feel sort of like one long song. This music is fast, angry and slightly disturbing. Some quality of the sound just makes you feel uneasy in a way that's hard to describe, like watching a twisted horror film. Enough talk, buy this album.
  
• Nocturnal (2007) More of the same for the band, and that's really the problem. I mean, if this were the debut for the group, I'd say it's fantastic, it has lots of great drumming, decent riffs, nice production, and there's plenty of anger and aggression for everyone. But it's identical to their last 2 albums. There's no intro, no interlude, no super awesome riff to differentiate it from anything the band has done before. The music is good, and fans of the band will probably enjoy it, but I've heard this album twice before and the formula is just boring me. Worth looking into, but personally it's just not exciting me anymore, I hope the band explorers other territory with their next album.
• Deflorate (2009)
  

• Black Earth (2001, EP) If you have a hankering for the late seventies / early eightiest right before glam hit the stage, you may find lots to love with this band. The group hits the listener with a strong groove and simple songs. The vocalist sounds a little like Chuck Billy from Testament (all midrange, no high pitched stuff), the rest of the band think motorhead on steroids. None of the music goes too fast, the band chooses the midground and definately puts a lot of soul into what they do. Production wise, the release is a little bottom heavy, but it's still clear (ie, not bottom heavy and muffled, which is a nono). If you're into say the new Soil CD, or grew up in the late seventies, you may enjoy this EP. Not my cup of tea, but good quality stuff. To get a copy of the demo, go here.

• Depravity Through Debilitating Deformation (2023) A one person brutal death metal / slam band much in the same vein as Devourment, Analepsy or Abominable Putridity. While it certainly follows the tropes of the sub genre, the thing that it has going for it are catchy riffs. Brutal death metal can sometimes recycle chromatic style riffs, making them kind of interchangeable in songs. This album has a lot more variety, still plenty of chromatics, but they find ways of spicing them up to create memorable songs instead of just an exercise in pure brutality. Production quality is great, the drums are very obviously a machine, but are complex and inventive. Generally, a really good album, and worth supporting.
  

• No Exit (1989, Demo)
• Back To Reality (1990, Demo)
• Loosing My Mind (1992, Demo)
• Demo (1993, Demo)

• Silent Treatment (2007) While nothing really new, The Bled manages to produce some interesting music I'd have to describe as Melodic Hardcore. Imagine many of the elements that make Devin Townsend so awesome, the screamed vocals, the sung vocals, the choral vocals, the heavy guitars mixed with more melodic guitars and a hint of keyboards for atmosphere, the big thick production. But then sprinkle in a few more influences, like U2, Eighteen Visions, and Between The Buried And Me. You get the idea. Much of this music is super heavy, the songs are generally midpaced, and the one thing I really like is how they incorporate the more melodic bits into the angry bits. Sometimes jumping between these two worlds sounds forced, but the way these guys do it just sounds very naturral. The music has this epic feel to it, everything just feels big, the cover of the CD sorta says it all, imagine the band standing in a barren field screaming up to the sky in anger. A good mix of styles and moods, worth looking into if you like hardcore and don't mind a little singing.

• Declaration (2008) Talk about a mashup of styles. We have hardcore, we have death metal, we have thrash, we have violins, we have blackmetal style keyboards. But somehow they manage to make it all blend together seamlessly. The album starts with a spooky intro that would make Danny Elfman proud, followed quickly by a powerful jump to the brutal part of the cd, with blast beats, screams and thick guitar riffs. Production on this album is thanks to the legendary Devin Townsend, and it has all the bells and whistles you'd expect from him, basically sounding like any modern Strapping Young Lad album, and some of the keyboard parts sound a little like Devin's solo material. Song #3 is a nice thrashy song with a fun "John Williams" style orchestra bit. Track 4 is again awesome, with a nice dissonant tremolo picking riff. A few songs in the middle don't hold my interest too much, like Track 5, 'There Was A Flood' is kinda slow and doesn't go anywhere musically. But overall there are some fantastic songs, and enough variety to make each song stand out as it's own entity. Vocals are primarily screamed and shouted, this guy must have really messed up his throat on this one. Like the rest of the band, there's some vocal variety too, like spoken word stuff (think Unearth), and there's a few sung bits, but they're brief and generally not too annoying, more like Burton from Fear Factory. Overall, imagine what a stage play like 'Sweeny Todd' would sound like if the orchestra was backed up by a death metal band and the satan was the vocalist. This probably won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it, and recommend checking the band out.
  

• Breeding Death (1999, EP) 3 song EP. The sound is a little more stripped down than their first album, the guitar tone isn't quite as huge, but still good production (if "Entombed" were a sound, this would have an Entombed value of 6 instead of 10). The songs are straight forward death metal, good hooks and simple structure. A good indication of the album to come, while I may not go out of my way to find and get this EP, if you happen to see it in the CD rack, it's worth picking up.
  
• Resurrection Through Carnage (2002) Labeled as the ultimate Swedish supergroup (considering the band members, including Mikael Åkerfeldt and Dan Swanö, I'm not surprised), this album is, well, basically the best Entombed style band I've ever heard. For fans of "Left Hand Path" or "Clandestine", this is about as close as you're gonna get. I wasn't surprised at all when I went to the band's website and both of these albums rate in the top 1 or 2 of each band member's favorite album list. But anyways, similarities aside, this stuff is done very, very well, the songs are very memorable, mostly midpaced with excellent production. Track 9 is now one of my now all-time favorite heavy chugging / slow double bass riffs ever, you'll know what I mean when you hear it, it's the kind of musical moment you only get once or twice a year if you're lucky. If I had to have any critique it's that the drums are sometimes too simple, a straight "boom-chick" beat could have been replaced with something a little more complex now and again. Anyways, if you like old Entombed, you absolutely, positively need to get this album.
• Nightmares Made Flesh (2004) Their first album slowly but surely worked it's way up to being one of my favorite albums of a few years ago, and so when I heard that the european market was going to get their new albums months before the North American market, I was like "fuck that!" and paid the premium to have it shipped over (please Century Media, I don't know what the issue is but it would be really cool to have simultaneous release on the music worldwide.) The resulting album is fantastic, not quite as good as their first, but still great. Productionwise, the guitar's are still very thick and heavy, but there's a little more mids this time which makes it sound less like Entombed. Songwise, the thing I love about this band is they somehow take chord progressions we've all heard before and put a fresh spin on them, plenty of great songs, my favorite so far is probably 'Eaten' which is this slow sludgy song in the same vein as 'Where the Slim Lives' from Morbid Angel. The drumming has more blast beats this time while retaining the original midpaced style of their first album. Basically this sounds like their first album but ever so slightly modified in a few subtle ways. "Nightmares Made Flesh" should be considered mandatory for any classic death metal head.
• Unblessing The Purity (2008, EP) New 4 song EP from the band. My first impression, this is Bloodbath? While their last 2 albums had the strong Entombed sound, this CD has very muddy and echoey guitars, far way sounding and filled with reverb. After getting over the production shock, I guess some of these riffs do sound like the band, but they sound more run-of-the-mill. Despite the fact the band's style was never original, there were always a lot of really catchy, standout riffs, and the riffs on this EP just don't stand out to me. This EP isn't bad, the songs are decent, but I expect better songs and a more vicious sound from the band. So hopefully any CDs they release in the future will be closer to their earlier material.
• The Wacken Carnage (2008, Live CD/DVD) The band's first, and I believe still only live show, recorded for your pleasure on CD and DVD. The main thing I look for in a live album is some sort of experience that you don't get from listening to the album versions. That could mean extended songs, different production, or the sound of the crowd adding an extra dimension to the music. In this case, the crowd is almost non existent except between the songs, the songs are identical to the songs off their 2 albums, the main difference is the sound. It's still the core Bloodbath sound (i.e., sounds a lot like Entombed), but it has a little more depth to it thanks to some extra reverb, and a highly scooped mix. Many of the songs are faster as well than their album counterparts, which is a nice change (not that the slow versions are bad, it's just an enjoyable difference). The song selection is good, they play a number of songs off their original hard to find EP, as well as lots of stuff off their main 2 albums. They also play my favorite Bloodbath songs 'Like Fire' and 'Eaten', so I'm well pleased. The DVD contains the same songs as the CD, it's fun to see the group all covered in blood belting out some powerful metal. The band members move around plenty, the camerawork is great, and it's nice to see a crowd of like 10,000 people banging their heads in unison. The concert is 1 hour, so just enough time to get some good songs in there, not so long as to become boring. While nothing revolutionary, this CD / DVD combo has enough good points to warrant picking it up if you're a fan of the band.
• The Fathomless Mastery (2008) Similar to their latest EP in style, but a big improvement overall. While the production quality is noisier than their first 2 CDs, it's not as noisy as "Unblessing The Purity" was. In some ways, the band seems to be headed in a slightly more black metal direction, with lots more blasting and a more epic reverby style guitar sound. Thankfully the riffs on this CD are really great. 'Mock The Cross' has that 'Where The Slime Lives' (by Morbid Angel) vibe to it, other parts remind me a bit of Myrkskog, and of course, the band hasn't shed all of their Entombed inspiration, although it's far less obvious on this CD than on "Resurrection" or "Nightmares". Fans of the band will enjoy this one as well, just be prepared for a slight shift in the band's sound.
• Bloodbath Over Bloodstock (2011, Live CD/DVD)
• Grand Morbid Funeral (2014) A decent album, but not as good as their other 3 albums. First, this CD has the right attitude, the sound is excellent with this huge thick Entombed's "Clandestine" sound. And the music is really fast and energetic. So the atmosphere the band is creating is great. But my main 2 issues are the riffs and the vocals. Riffwise, there's just way less here that's memorable. The other 3 albums have lots of really catchy riffs that stick with you, after listening to this album a number of times, I still can't remember any specific riff. And second new new vocalist, I liked the raspy shouting and growling of their previous CDs, but this guy is basically doing raspy talking all the way through. It sounds evil, but lacks energy. So overall this album is good, but it could be better. Who knows, maybe the songs will grow on me over time.
• The Arrow of Satan is Drawn (2018) Big improvement over their last album. Basically, its all the elements you've come to expect on their previous albums, but the vocals (still handled by Nick Holmes) have a little more variety to them, and the riffs are far more memorable. The sound is especially huge on this one, like a giant army of angry bees swarming around your head. I really dig the album closer 'Chainsaw Lullaby', which walks that line between rock and metal perfectly, basically it does what Entombed tried to do on "Wolverine Blues" but does it better. And 'March Of The Crucifiers' does another Bloodbath staple of the mid / slow riff with driving double bass underneath, again coming up with another successful variation of their core riff style. Again, a big jump forward from 'Grand', I expect this will get some decent play on my stereo.
• Survival of The Sickest (2022) This album harkens back to the vibe of their first album. So the songs are a little simpler, more riff driven, and more catchy. The last couple of albums have added a very slight blackened death metal vibe, this one is far more straight forward death metal. Songs like 'Death Parade' have melody to them that is reminiscent of songs such as 'The Soulcollector' or 'Death Delirium'. But then they also keep the intensity with blistering blastfests such as 'Zombie Inferno' or the skank beats of 'Malignant Maggot Therapy'. And love the chorus of 'Carved'. Still not in love with Nick Holmes vocals, but the music is so big and intense, maybe we need something a little more understated in the mix. Great album, so glad this band continues on despite being a "super group".
  

• Menstrual Soup (1991, Demo)
• Fisting The Dead (1993, EP) This album consists of short bursts of speed and unparalleled brutality (in the style of old carcass) mixed with sound clips from reeeeally corny australian horror films. While it's been done before, the film clips they've picked are completely hilarious, and strangely enough makes the album a must-have.
• Yeest EP (1995, EP) Seven new songs from the band. It has has better production, and some of the riffs are damn good, but there aren't as many sound clips (d'oh!).
• Yeest (1996) Yeest EP + Fisting the Dead released on one CD.
• Str8 Outta Nortcote (1998) Nothing very different from their previous albums. Lots of strange sound clips which are damn funny, lots of screaming, blast beats, and thick, raw, chunky production. Good riffs here and there. Buy it if you like their previous stuff.
• Cunt (2001) It's been a long time since we had new material from the band, and overall, this album is a lot better than their previous release. I think part of what does it is that the album works better thematically. All the songs and soundclips revolve around porn, whether it be a clip from "Boogie Nights" or the simple statement "This is a giant cock" that begins one of their songs. Fisting The Dead was all australian slasher films, their Nortcote album was just too all over the place, sound clips from too many different genres, and too experimental. You won't find an organ on this album, just lots of blasting, noisy guitars, 1 minute songs and garbled lyrics. All fans of grindcore should check it out.
• D.F.F (2002) 6 tracks of mayhem. Well, not much mayhem, while there's a few good spots, there's also some pretty corny parts that sound like old punk with lots of 3 chord progressions, and silly chanted vocals. Track 4 is primarily feedback. Then the last track is over 58 minutes of silence, you know when you have this big silent period, and then a quick sound byte of hidden song at the end of the CD? well, these guys have 58 minutes of silence, and then the CD ends on, well, silence. Damn you!! If you take out all the crap and only keep the good stuff, you have about 2 minutes of material. Now I don't think the band has gone soft or anything, but it seems this cd is primarily a joke, and not a terribly funny one, and as such I really can't recommend to pick this up. Find a copy of "Cunt" instead or their new self titled album which should be out now.
  
• Blood Duster (2004) Sorry, after a really great last album, this is a disappointment. The main problem, far too little grind, far too much rocking out. If I wanted a punk cd, I'd buy a punk cd. The first riff on the album screams 80s glam. Glam, punk, motorhead, what happened to the true evil? Track 2 we get back into grind, but then it deviates again for track 3. It just makes me want to scream "waaaaaooow!!!" The production on the album is rougher than their last album too, more noisy. Sorry, just not digging it. Hopefully this is just something they have to get out of their system and will return to bloody grindcore next album.
• The Shape of Death to Come (2005, DVD) I love music, but I have to admit, I just don't have the time or funds to pick up every single DVD out there, especially since everyone and their mother are releasing one. But when Blood Duster released a DVD, I decided I needed to pick it up, mostly out of curiosity, I had really never seen any good photos of the band, and wanted to put some faces to the name. Sure enough, the band takes the stage shirtless, covered in blood, and smoking up a storm, not only was I seeing the band, but seeing more of them then I really wanted to. After a quick song, the concert shifts to a new venue, and then proceeds to hop from show to show (I really dig the titles at the bottom of the screen that happen before every song saying what the band is playing, wish that happened on more DVDs), with tons of interludes of the band doing crazy shit like bongs in the car, eating vomit (I really didn't need to see that), hell, one of the band members pulls out his dick (in full view) and starts pissing on the cameraman. This goes on for about a hour, concerts from their tour followed by random craziness and destruction. These guys do seem to really live the life, not just sing about it, a bunch of young crazy guys doing fucked up shit. But really, after it was all said and done, I have to ask, why did I need to see all this? Stuff like that is funny when you're doing it with your friends, but just doesn't have the same effect when you're watching strangers on TV (for me anyways, I know that groups like Jackass made a healthy career doing this stuff). I was about to write off the whole DVD when  I noticed on the menu I could switch to a 45min concert from DingDong (clips of which were in the hour long main program), and I'll tell ya, this show is what saves the thing. Yes, the production isn't perfect (with the bass drum missing and the vocals sorta low in the mix), but the band was never about perfect production, it's about crazy fast songs, fucked up lyrics and brutality, and the band provides. The last 20min or so is material off their most recent album and EP which I wasn't a big fan of, but the beginning of the concert is mostly old material. So, I guess I can recommend the DVD, but I recommend watching the concert over the random clips that make up the main program, unless you love stuff like Jackass, in which case you'll probably love this to death.
• Lyden Na (2007) Rock has always been an important part of the Blood Duster sound. Even in their first album, they'd have a crazy grind riff, followed by a more rockin riff, then back to the grinding. But then the band released their self titled album that was almost 100% rock, and I just didn't dig it. So now, in an attempt to make everyone happy, the band releases a 2CD set that has one rock album, and one grind album. Sounds like a good compromise, but after a listen, I really just wish they would go back to keeping the two styles together. What makes an act unique is the way they combine elements into something new. You may have heard the old saying "Greater than the sum of its parts", well, here are the parts, and the results are good but not as good as they'd be if combined. The first CD is the rock album, which is actually pretty decent. Still not really my thing, but some of the riffs are cool, nothing overly original, but good loud music to rock out to. Or maybe I feel this way because I know there's a grind album on CD 2, perhaps that knowledge somehow makes the rock album more enjoyable (because you're not sitting there all angry that these guys have changed style). The grind album should have held my interest more, but unfortunately, the songs are pretty non distinct. One thing I loved about their previous albums is the way the sound bytes formed a little narrative. The first album had all horror films. Their album "Cunt" was porn related. The sound clips were like little landmarks in a sea of grind, which helped make the songs distinct. On this grind album, there are almost no sound clips, and the ones that are there don't seem to follow any common theme. Some of the songs are cool, but it's just not as instantly classic as their older stuff. The album also contains info on downloading a special 20min 3rd album, which is the doom side of "Lyden Na". This song is slow, plodding, lots of slow held distorted guitars, feedback and noise experimentation. I actually kinda dig it, but then again, I am a fan of doom metal. Overall, I enjoyed this album way more than their last, but I still have to rate it below classics like "Yeest" or "Cunt". I appreciate them trying to make everyone happy, but I still believe combining all the elements into a cohesive whole is the way to go. Not a must buy, but still enjoyable.
• Svck (2012, EP) So this album is really less an album, and more a performance art piece. Angry by people downloading their music for free, the band decided to do something a little different with their latest offering. They recorded a full length album, then pressed a number of records of the album, then deleted all of the originals, then took each record and scratched the word "KVLT" into it making them unplayable. So basically, no one will be able to download the new album illegally because it no longer exists in playable form. Although you can get a copy of the unplayable record if you're into such things. As a sort of tease, the band then also releases a 5 song EP called "Svck", which contains the only surviving songs from their album. I'm not sure if the whole stunt is genius or just plain silly, but I have to hand it to them, this band is truly like no other. As far as the EP goes, the songs aren't terribly exciting or unique, some quick grind, one rocker and a few tracks of pure noise, so if you buy the scratched LP or this EP, you're really buying into the idea of the album, and not purchasing it for the music itself. I leave you to decide if its worth it, personally I am all for supporting the band, but the songs on this EP aren't good enough in my opinion to warrant the purchase.
  

• I Dwell on Thoughts of You (1998) 7 song mini-album, very similar in style and sound to "Novella Of Uriel". The production on this one is ever so slightly quieter, the songs have slightly more melody and aren't quite as intense (only by a very slim margin). Otherwise, these two albums are pretty much identical, ie, if you happen across it, definitely pick this up as well.
  
• Novella Of Uriel (2001) Well, I'm glad I listened past the first song. We start the album with some vaguely melodic / black metal stuff, violins, and sung vocals. I quickly spin the cd around and wonder why again did I buy this thing. Then track 2 hits, and it all comes back to me, oh ya, I heard track 2 in mp3 format and liked it so much I bought the album. Track 2 and the rest of the album is far more in step with what I wanted to hear. Vocalwise, lots of screaming, sorta hardcore (think Chimaira) with a few sung bits. While the guitar sound is a little messy and bass heavy (wall of sound style, plenty of overdubs), it really doesn't bother me too much, since it adds to the ferocity of the album. Drum wise, very strong, powerful drumming, this guy hits those skins hard, and he has enough technicality to avoid any obviously simple beats. And the riffs, wow, fucking brutal stuff. You know the deal when the band is playing really slow chunky riffs, and the drummer is following them with the cymbals and snare but on the double bass he's just tearing away at top speed? Plenty of that here, and I'm loving every moment of it. Highly, highly recommended, just skip track 1 please.
• Spirals (2003) Slightly noisier and more chaotic than "Uriel". Think the difference between Meshuggah's "DEI" and "Chaosphere", the stuff on this album has a few more songs that consist mainly of repeated stop and start patterns, there's also some groovier parts that remind me vaguely of Pantera. Neither of these two points should be taken as criticism, it's just variations on a theme, although I do have to admit a few of the last songs on the album seem a little too Meshuggah'ish to me (not that Meshuggah is bad, but you know me, I generally like a band to be doing its own thing). Otherwise, the usual stuff, plenty of screaming, a few sung bits, really low, slow, chunky riffs mixed with the occasional blast segment, production hasn't changed much which is fine with me. Not quite as strong as "Uriel" songwriting wise, so I recommend getting that album first, but this one shouldn't be much further down that list.

• Sadistic Deeds... Grotesque Memories (2009) I saw a video for 'Rotting In Filth' on Headbangers Ball of all places, the riffs were good, but why is there only one guy in the video? A visit to their myspace page solved that riddle, Bloodsoaked is a one man project with Peter Hasselbrack playing all the stringed instruments and doing vocals (The drums are a drum machine). The style is old school early 90s death metal, like early Cannibal Corpse, or the European bands Altar or Obscenity. Not super technical, pretty straight forward song structures, just good riffs and performance. And the drum machine sounds reasonably natural, not overly mechanical. This CD is definitely worth checking out, hope that Peter gets a full band together and does a little touring.
• The Death of Hope (2011) Our favorite one man band is back with more, and overall it's another great album. While I'd still love to see him get more live musicians, he proves that the last album was not a fluke, he can still write a killer riff and back it up with a great performance. I really do want to focus on the riffs here, as he has a knack for writing music that in one respect is very traditional, no super complex or ultra technicality here, and yet the riffs have enough spice to make them sound unique, and instantly catchy. If you dig old school death metal with highly infectious riffs, check these two albums out.
• Religious Apocalypse (2014, EP) A decent EP, for some reason the sound on this one is a little less in your face, a little more reverb, but still good sounding. And the inventive riffs that we've become accustom to are all here, again, this band lives and dies by the memorable riff. The first 3 songs are new songs just as good as any full length album songs, the next 2 are cover tracks that are kind of fun, but nothing special (both hair metal covers), then the last 4 are live tracks. The live songs are really well performed, but the recording quality is very nasally with almost no low end. Worth it for the first 3 songs alone.
• Desolate Paradise (2018, EP) Two song EP of new music. Nothing unexpected here, two quality tracks in the usual Bloodsoaked style of fast tremolo, blasting, and the occasional slower moshable bit. Absolutely worth the $2, support Peter in his continuing conquest of one man metal!
• Disgorging The Wretched (2018, EP) Another new 2 song EP. This is supposed to be a more "slamming" album compared to "Desolate", and while the focus certainly is a little more on the moshable bits, it really isn't a big departure for the band, same elements, just a slightly different focus. So still expect some blasting and tremolo, just with a few more slower bits, and lower gutteral vocals taking the front seat. I also like the production quality on this more than the other EP, a little more bass and stronger distortion. Worth grabbing for sure.

• The Walls of Oblivion (2021, EP) Short 3 song EP very much in the same vein as Angelcorpse, with just a touch of Origin and Krisun. So basically unrelenting blasts and double bass with fast tremolo picked riffs, and mid range growled vocals. The songwriting is decent, and there's enough standout riffs amongst the mayhem to catch the ear. Just love this intensity, maybe a whole album of this pace would be too much, but for 12 minutes of material this is perfect. Well done.
  

• In Battle There Is No Law (1988) This was the band way back in their early days. The sound is very muddy, the riffs are faster than in any other album by them, but they're not very inventive (yet).
• Realm Of Chaos (1989) I do like this album (even though the sound is horrible). Shows a glimpse of the brilliance that will appear later in their career.
• Warmaster (1991) While not as powerful as more recent albums, this album was the beginning of the "Bolt Thrower Sound". Good riffs, very arabian sounding. The production is clear, but it could have been a little more in-your-face.
• Cenotaph (1991, EP) See my review for "Who Dres Wins".
• The Peel Sessions (1991, Earache) A compilation of sorts with re-recorded versions of songs from their first three albums. The production is ok.
• 4th Crusade (1992) This is the album that really brought everything together. They have this huge wall of sound, the songs are well thought out, and the riffs are very inventive. Apparently they layer 8 guitars on top of each other on the CD, which should give you an idea just how big their sound is. An instant classic.
• Spearhead (1992, EP) An EP that exists only on 12", it contains an extended version of Spearhead, as well as some new songs including this great song called "Crown Of Life". The EP has been discontinued, which really sucks because I don't have a copy of it (although I have heard it).
• Where Next To Conquer (1993, Live) A bootleg album that has pretty poor production, but the songs are still brilliant. Gives you a taste of how Bolt Thrower sounds live.
• For Victory... (1994) Although not as strong as the 4th Crusade, it does offer us more songs in generally the same vein. If you liked the last album, get this one as well. A special double CD pack released in England has this CD as well as a live CD entitled "War". It's a sound board recording, and you really can't hear the crowd (so what's the point of a live album?).
• Mercenary (1998) The album is decent, but it just doesn't seem to live up to the Bolt Thrower name. Mid-tempo songs keep the album in a "4th Crusade" vein, but the riffs don't have the same freshness, inventiveness and intensity. The production is ok, but too bass heavy without any top end, it sounds pretty muffled, and not nearly as layered as in previous albums. I really expected something more from the band. Try before you buy, you may like it, but I'll keep listening to their previous albums.
• Who Dares Wins (1998, EP) An EP filled with hard to find Bolt Thrower material. The first 4 songs are from the out of print "Cenotaph" EP, 'Cenotaph' (the same as the version on "Warmaster"), 'Destructive Infinity' (available as a bonus track on some copies of "Warmaster"), 'Prophet of Hatred' (available as a bonus track to "Realm of Chaos") and a really badly recorded live version of 'Realm Of Chaos'. The second 4 songs are from the equally out of print "Spearhead" EP, which includes the extended remix of 'Spearhead', 'Crown of Life' and 'Lament' (new songs, but available as bonus tracks on some copies of the "IVth Crusade"), and Dying Creed (from the "IVth Crusade"). Lastly, 2 new songs including a rerecorded version of 'World Eater' which is great, and a copy of a rare song called 'Overlord'. Controversy has surrounded this EP since Bolt Thrower left Earache, and yet the label is still releasing Bolt Thrower material. The band has urged fans not to buy this EP, but it has so many hard to find goodies, it's tough to avoid. My recommendation is to follow your heart on this one, but I personally couldn't give up a chance to finally own the material from all of these out of print EPs.
• Honour - Valour - Pride (2002) To see how this album works in the grand scheme of things, it really need to be discussed with respect to two other Bolt Thrower albums: "the IV Crusade" and "Mercenary". The reason being that these two albums in my opinion are the perfect examples of the very best and very worst the band has produced. And "Honor Valour Pride" seems to fit nicely in between. Thankfully the thick Bolt Thrower production that was missing on Mercenary is back, big wall of sound with lots of overdubs. The new vocalist seems to fit in well with the band, not straying too far from Karl's style while remaining unique. My only complaint is that while the riffs are good, very few of them reach the spectacular level, the songs just don't remain as instantly memorable as stuff from "the 4th crusade" or "for victory". But overall, the album is very solid. I think most Bolt Thrower fans should be happy, if "4th crusade" is a 10, this hits a consistent 8.
• Those Once Loyal (2005) The two key elements to a good Bolt Thrower album are memorable songs and a big thunderous sound. And unfortunately this album has neither in much abundance. It's just beyond me how a band that produces such masterpieces as "The IVth Crusade" and "For Victory" could produce 3 ho-hum albums in a row. I mean, a few songs are kind of catchy, the last track 'When Cannons Fade' has a good intro, but comparing say 'The Killchain' to 'Cenotaph' (which both open the same way), it's not even a competition. Two listens all the way through and there's just not much sticking in my brain. And the production is missing that huge overdubbed feel, the army of 1000 guitars that made "The IVth Crusade" so monumental. It's certainly not a horrible album, and I'm happy to hear Karl back on vocals, but I just don't foresee this cd getting a lot of play in my daily rotation.

• A Higher Place (2009)
• The Discovery (2011) Sort of a deathcore version of The Faceless. At its core (if you don't mind the pun), a pretty standard deathcore act with breakdowns, complex Meshuggah like poly rhythms, growled vocals, etc (no singing thankfully, except in a few techno/electronica based interludes). But then you add the element of keyboard and samples. Bands like The Faceless have used these elements before, but this band uses them pretty much all the way through every song. It's a bit of an odd combination, you have this brutal band and over top you have these happy, comical, almost nintendo-esque sounding keyboards. It's almost like two completely different songs and moods being played simultaneously. Does it work? Well, it certainly does show the band is willing to experiment, and it does sound pretty unique, so I have to give the band credit for trying something new and progressive. But in general I feel the two musical directions are a bit at odds, and instead of enhancing each other, they clash a bit too much. Still some good songs, I really like the blast beat riff in 'Devastate'. This is definitely a try before you buy, I expect this band will polarize people, you'll either love it or hate it. I'm not quite sure which side I'll take yet, maybe a few more listens will help cement my opinion.
  

• The Parasites (2006, EP) A cross between Origin and Dying Fetus (with maybe a touch of Spawn Of Possession thrown in), this album proves without a doubt that if some band is trying to be the fastest, there's always someone else trying to be even faster. And that's the best way to describe the aptly named Brain Drill. Holy mother of god are these guys speedy. The drumming is just unrelenting, with tons of hyperblasting, gravity blasts, every sort of blast imaginable. The twin guitars (both performed by guitarist Dylan) are lightning fast with plenty of tremolo picking, tapped riffs and harmonized sweep picking. Vocals are midrange and high pitched screams. The production is good, although the inclusion of a bass to the band would certainly help round out the sound a bit. Areas to work on, a catchy riff or two extra would help solidify the songs (although there are some good riffs in here already). And the chaotic sound could be ever so slightly tighter, but that only comes with a band performing together for awhile, and these guys seem to have only been together for a year or so. This 6 song EP is only 20min long, but that's the perfect length IMO for such craziness. These guys have managed to create a really cool, totally enjoyable, short but sweet mini album that just put a huge smile on my face. Listen to it while you're eating your breakfast, it'll get you totally pumped for the rest of your day. Highly recommended.
• Apocalyptic Feasting (2008) If someone had told me there would be a band faster than Origin, I would have told them they were smokin crack. But it seems the people smockin crack is this band, because that's the only way they could possibly play this fast. This debut album for Metal Blade contains all the songs from their previous EP (rerecorded with better production), and 4 new compositions. The addition of a bass really helps the sound. And the production is way louder and more in your face. Otherwise, see my review of their EP, since most of the same stuff applies. A worthy debut, and well worth checking out, especially if you didn't pick up their original EP. Brain Drill is the new band to beat in the speed arena. Highly recommended.
• Quantum Catastrophe (2010) A slight step down from their debut. My main beef: me thinks they noodle too much. The first album had the novelty of being the fastest band in the world. And there was promise in a few slower catchy bits. But now we're at the second album, and a band needs something a little more the second time around to keep the momentum going. There are a few good riffs, like in the middle and end of 'Beyond Bludgeoned', or the middle of 'Awaiting Imminent Destruction' or 'Mercy To None', they are strong riffs that you can mosh to, but the memorable groovy moments are a little too shortlived for my tastes. Far too much of the CD is ridiculously fast scales that are never played more than once. The band is obviously super talented, they are fast, tight and accurate. And I totally understand that the scales are part of their style. But I just feel like they're going overboard, the formula is starting too wear a little thin, and the guitar/bass noodling becomes almost comical, which I assume is not what they're going for. If they accentuated the groovier bits, had a little less of the scale stuff, and the scale stuff they did have was repeated more than once to hammer the riffs into your brain, we'd have a great album. As it is, it's decent, but I don't think it'll have much staying power.
• Boundless Obscenity (2016) It's been awhile since the band's last album, and the results are an improvement over their second album, and a natural progression in their style. The core ridiculous speed and riffing style is the same, but they've made a few small tweaks. First, more moshable bits and memorable riffs, which is always a plus. Second, the drumming (this time provided by Alex Bent of Arkaik) has a slightly different vibe. It feels more "controlled" this time, I think the songs are ever so slightly slower (like 280 bpm instead of 305), he hits the drums with more precision than previous drummers, and he used splashy sounding symbols less. So the results don't sound quite as "out of control" as I'd usually expect on a Brain Drill album, which in a way may be a bad thing, I sorta liked the chaotic feel, but this is cool too, just different (don't worry, there's still plenty of gravity blasts). Finally, the band has added some symphonic keyboard elements to the music during key parts of the songs that actually blend amazingly well with the songs. So overall, it's the same band we all know and love, with just a few elements that either improve or make the band a little bit different sounding. I gotta give it a big thumbs up, and despite my eternal love for their first EP, objectively, this may in fact be the best album the band has made.
  

• Swamped In Gore (1991) Lots of strong riffing, lots of slow grinding parts along with some brutal blasts of speed. The lyrics are a bit warped (ok, maybe more than a bit), but you don't have to read them. And boy is that vocalist low.
• Bowels Of Repugnance (1993) Probably my least favorite of their albums. The songs are super fast and brutal, but they're too short, and the whole album goes by way too quickly.
• Repulsive Conception (1995) Starting to show a little more song writing maturity, an explosive bottom end dominates this album. Some great riffs, and some very off-key acoustic interludes.
• Loathing (1997) More slow stuff, more fast stuff, their accuracy and brutality have increased (if that's possible). They've lost a bit of their bottom end that was in previous albums, but you won't care after you hear these riffs. I highly recommend this album.
• Grotesque Blessings (1999) Very similar to Loathing. Even more high end crazy scale based riffs, lower chunky riffs and harmonized solos. The CD has slightly bassier production then the last album, but still remains very treble oriented, I think they should try adding more bass to the mix and see what happens (although I admit, more bass might muddy up the incredible accuracy of these riffs). The songs and riffs are good, and will probably get even better with more listens (and I love these song titles, I mean: "Chemically Castrated" and "Necro-Fellatio", ya). The vocals are still super low, although not as booming as previous albums, they could have been pushed up in the mix a little bit. But all these critiques are small details, overall a solid album, if you like the band already, you'll like this CD.
• Omen Of Disease (2013) This is a good death metal album, but I'm not completely sure it's a Broken Hope album. Some of the songs are definitely Broke Hope, like 'Ghastly' and 'The Flesh Mechanic'. But others just sound very different. To be expected I suppose, since the only remaining members are founding member Jeremy Wagner on Guitar and Shaun Glass on bass. I think the main issue is trying to recapture what really was a very unique sound. Vocalwise, the new vocalist does a great job, but he just doesn't have that super bassy thick gargled vocals that Joe Ptacek did. He's low, but it's just not as booming. Then the drummer does a good job of imitating original drummer Ryan Stanek's style (especially in the blast areas), but then he introduces other death metal beats that just are very atypical for Broken Hope. Then riff wise, I heard that some of the riffs came from 10 years ago, while others were written more recently, so I have to assume most of the more Broken Hope sounding songs are using those older riffs. I sorta feel bad going on about this, after all, bands evolve and change, and you don't want necessarily the exact same sound album to album, and even Broken Hope's albums changed a lot over the years, but considering this is a comeback type album, something a little closer to the original sounds may have been a good idea. But again, that said, this is a good album with good riffs and an excellent performance, but it is a bit of a departure. The Special Edition of the album has a 2 hour documentary on DVD showing the history of Broken Hope. It is very detailed, and could have probably been condensed to 1 hour and been a bit stronger, but it certainly does give you an excellent overview of the band's career. And it was interesting hearing the full story about the turmoil the band went through in the late 90s, since I observed the issues as a concert goer but didn't know the full behind the scenes story. The documentary is well worth watching.
• Live Disease At Brutal Assault (Live Blu-ray / CD) Despite some reservations, this is a decent concert DVD / CD from the band. I'll get to the reservations in a bit, but lets first focus on the details of the DVD itself. Its a Blu-ray, so expect excellent picture quality and sound. The camera moves around a lot, but it's not as distracting as some I've seen. The band is hard working to say the least, they are on stage thrashing around a lot, no standing in place for this concert (except maybe a few in the crowd). And they play a good mix of old and new songs, although I'm annoyed they decided to play only the first few minutes of "Swamped In Gore", I love the full song from their album and wished they played it in its entirety. So overall, the concert is good. But my main reservation is I feel it may be a little too early for a live concert of this kind. There's only 2 members of the band left from their original lineup (only 1 now, as the bassist left the band shortly after this concert). So despite the new band members doing a great job, they are still in my mind "new guys". If they had waited for a few more studio albums till the lineup felt solid, then maybe I'd feel differently. But since this happened so soon after the new band members joined, it sorta feels a bit like I'm seeing a very high quality cover band. And my last issue is the album is only 40 minutes long, would have loved a longer set. In general I give this a thumbs up, with my few notes, its well worth taking a peak.
• Mutilated And Assimilated (2017) A step above their last album. "Omen Of Disease" ended up growing on me after I did my review, but this is even better, a very worthy Broken Hope album. The vocalist still isn't quite Joe, but I feel his vocals are a bit more guttural this time, the songs fall a little more squarely in the Broken Hope style, also the production is really big and thick, a true wall of sound that bashes you around. And the lyrics are as vile as ever :) It feels to me that the new band members have now really gelled, the time together touring has solidified their efforts, and the result is a far richer, more intense and consistent album. Nicely done!
  

• Raza Odiada (1995) Ok, figure this. Dino and Raymond from Fear Factory, one guy from Sepultura and a few more musicians get together, pretend to be mexican bandits, and then produce 40 minutes of metal all in Spanish. While the production is ok, they're a bit sloppy at times, and the songs are not exactly the most original in the world (the riffs sound like stuff that didn't quite make the cut on a Slayer or Sepultura album). It sounds a little like some guy setting up a few mike's in his basement, practicing for a few hours with some friends, and then cutting an album (which is apparently what they did). This sort of vibe helps out the fictitious plot to this CD, I wish I knew Spanish so I knew what they were saying. About the only song I can figure out is the title track which is subtitled 'Pito Wilson', where they pretend to kill Peter Wilson, the controversial political candidate who didn't hide the fact he wasn't fond of immigrants. All in all, as a concept album it's fantastic, but if you're looking for well thought out, well produced original sounding metal, look elsewhere. This album is about fun (in an angry mexican sort of way).

• Society Kill Catalyst (1999, Demo) What starts off as an old ragtime piece that my dad would enjoy all of a sudden explodes into some pretty powerful grindcore thanks to this 5 piece. The quality is good for a demo, obviously a full studio recording would make it better, but all the instruments are still clear and lots of bass with only a slightly muffled treble. Pure grindcore has never been known for innovations, so don't expect something you've never heard before (similar in nature to Exhumed or Blood Duster), but this band has many memorable riffs, as well as a few goofy moments that makes the genre so much fun to listen to. Vocals are the standard low guttural stuff with the occasional scream, lots of bast beats, overall not unique but well done, you won't hear any complaints from this camp.

• Screams Of Anguish (1993) A good mixture of brutal death metal and symphonic metal. One minute the band will be blasting, the next it will slide into a powerful and epic doomy riff with tons of guitar and keyboard layers. High quality riffs and good song writing and song structure keeps this music going strong. The drummer can certainly play fast and complex when he has to (lots of blast beats and double kicks), but his tempo changes are equally quick, and he keeps things interesting even when he's playing reeeeal slow. The vocals remain pretty standard death metal the entire time. Guitar wise, a little muffled, but pretty thick, lots of overdubs. Some nice note-for-note clear tremolo picking, as well as sections with simpler held chords. Emotional and heartfelt solos with lots of harmonizing and held notes. Some ok acoustic and keyboard interludes. Nothing super innovative, but I enjoyed it.
• When The Sky Turns Black (1994) Somewhere between their first and third album. The riffs aren't as good as the first, but still quite decent, and worth listening to. Good production. If you liked the first album, this one is really similar in style and sound, so you'll probably like it too.
• In Mourning (1996) I really feel this CD could have been better. It needs more standout riffs & better song writing to catch my ear. The guitars tend to do low tremolo picking in reasonably obvious & unoriginal patterns, not to mention too much repetition. They also never leave the mid paced tempo much. The production is excellent with a good mix, but a little more work on the songs would have gotten this CD a better than average score. As it stands now, there's better stuff to grab.
• Sea Of Ignorance (2016) After a 20 year hiatus, the band is back. And they literally haven't missed a beat. The song style, recording quality, everything sounds like this is a lost album from the 90s. While still not as classic as their debut, the songs on this release are all really strong, they have the same sense of heaviness but melody that the band is known for. The heavier low riffs that bring to mind Obituary are tempered with more symphonic melodic guitar solos. I'm not sure what the new generation would make of this band, but for someone who grew up with early 90s death metal, this album has all the great qualities that made that era awesome, and it's really enjoyable.
• Sempiternity (2022, EP) So after one new album from the band after a 20 year hiatus, the band decided to hang it up again. But before they left, they decided to do one final album / EP with 2 new tracks, 2 re-recorded tracks from older albums, and 4 live songs. But apparently somewhere during this process, the band realized that they still love playing together, and so decided instead of this being the end, they have left the door open for future albums. Nice when that happens! Despite my love of their last album "Sea Of Ignorance", the two new tracks on this album have more of the sound that characterized the band's earlier albums, and as such are a real treat. Then the two re-recorded songs bring back the feels of those earlier songs and how amazing they were. Then the 4 live tracks recorded in 2019 are a good combination of their older 3 albums and newest one, and have an excellent mix with a lot of energy. After it's all said and done, I am so happy that this album isn't necessarily the end for the band, if we can get more albums in the same vein as these first two songs, we are in for something truly spectacular. Keep it going guys!
  

• SlachtBeest (2003) While unique leader is not really known for releasing "unique" acts (what is with that record label name anyways?), this album manages to stay interesting with it's combination of brutality, excellent production and great musicianship. Music wise, very standard death metal in the style of, well, everybody (ok, well, Iniquity, Disgorge, Deeds Of Flesh, you know the lot). Production wise, very powerful scooped sound. Vocals are very low cookie-monster stuff, and the guitars remain pretty low as well all the way through, definitely tuned lower than your average 7 string. The drums are, well, as it says on the back of the album, total blasting time 31:41. But the thing that keeps this from disappearing into the mess of everything else out there is the band's ability at assembling a reasonable song structure so the songs aren't just a never ending collection of random bits and pieces, and having some killer riffs that get your attention. Like Spawn Of Possession's first album, the riffs, production and performance win out over the fact you've heard this kind of stuff before. So personally, I gotta give this the thumbs up.
• Murwgebeukt (2016) I pre-ordered this album in 2010 when it was "weeks away" from release, never realizing I was actually going to receive the album over a half decade later! What an epic adventure! Basically, band turmoil led to the album getting delayed. I had figured I'd lost my money, but the remaining band members did check in every year or so, and finally the album has shipped to all those who pre-ordered. It's kind of admirable in a way, yes, I am pissed it took 6 years, but at least the band did finally live up to their obligations and get everyone what they had paid for. Anyways, to the music. In general, very similar to their first album, very detuned and scooped sound with low guttural vocals. Due to the fact the drummer committed suicide (RIP Ploegbaas), from my understanding, the drum parts on this album are basically "assembled" from bits of recordings, the results make it sound a little drum-machine like. There are a few great songs on this album, 'Verbolgen' has a really nice riff shortly after the intro that's very moshable, 'Geestesziek' has some nice bits, including a nice intense beginning, and the middle of 'Murwgebeukt' has a nice doublebass part with shugged guitars. But the album overall lacks variety. Not that their first album had a ton of variety, but this one goes even further. You do get 16 songs, but for the most part all the songs are the same tempo, the drumming doesn't vary much, and the songs need a few more standout riffs. So after all this time, the album is decent, but I prefer their debut. It will be interesting to see if the band decides to do anything in the future, with all the turmoil surrounding the group before, during and after the recording of this album, I'm not super surprised its a bit rough around the edges, maybe if the remaining members decide to go for it, we'll see a more focused third album. I'll pre-order it!
  

• Heart Of Darkness (2009) Midpaced death metally music with hardcore vocals. Sorta similar to Necrophagia in some ways, but the vocals are more Pantera style. One thing I dig right off the bat is the sound, the guitars are really distorted and sound great when palm muted. The guitars are backed up with some nice distorted bass. The drumming is pounding, a few fast bits, but in general it's midpaced. The riffs are generally good, a few of the riffs lack intensity (for example, I really don't dig the harmonic riff in 'Inner Station', sounds like a timid Machine Head Riff), but then they do these fantastic chunky riffs like the opening of 'F Unit', and that stuff I really dig. Nothing revolutionary, but worth taking a listen to. Apparently the band's last album.
  

• Color Of Money (2005) In the hardcore style of Lungbrush or a heavier Corrosion Of Conformity, this band bashes the listener with some seriously pummeling riffs. A mixture of more rockin material and start / stop chunky riffs, the band keeps the aggression level high all the way through. Vocals are shouted (as the genre defines). Production is perfect, the mix is well balanced. A few oddities do help define the band such as the fact all their songs are named after Tom Cruise films (films that seem to have no connection to the songs or their lyrical content), and all band photos show them in tuxes, I wonder if they perform in that gear? Ok, so it's not the most mind-blowingly "wow, I've never heard a song like that before" kinda deal, but it's well executed, and it'll make you want to scream "Fuck You!" to the person sitting next to you and give them the finger. And isn't that feeling worth the purchase price?
• Beauty And The Breakdown (2006) Exactly like their last album. And that's usually a bad thing, but for some reason I just don't care in this case. Fuck progress, just smack me with thunderous riffs, pounding drumming and hardcore shouts. Oh sorry, there is a difference, instead of all the song titles being named after Tom Cruise films, it's all notable quotes from Fairy Tales. Otherwise, it's the same stuff, great riffs, tons of energy and anger. Not much else to say. Definitely buy this.
• Bury Your Dead (2008) A bit of a departure for the band. While all the core elements are there (tight start stop rhythms and hardcore vocals), they've added some dare I say "melodic" elements, whether it be sung vocals or spooky keyboards and samples. Some of the songs work better than others, I like the first track 'Sympathy Orchestra', the wailing keyboards add to the mood of the song. But the singing in 'Fever Dream' is just lame. I assume they added this extra stuff because they wanted to try something a little different (their last 2 albums were pretty much identical), some may say they've sold out, but I can't imagine adding these melodic elements gaining them any real popularity with people who like lighter music. So in general this album is a mixed bag of good, soso and bad songs, it may be worth listening to the whole album and then buying just the songs that you enjoy.
• It's Nothing Personal (2009) Way more singing on this release. Like maybe two thirds. And not cool singing like Devin or Burt, but really boring generic singing. More singing means the guitars are playing more melodic, lots of strummed single chords for entire bars. The initial riff that starts a song is usually chunky, but then super quickly becomes really, really simple and straightforward, even the drummer is playing really simple beats now. This band went from something cool to sounding very very me-too, afraid I have to give this CD a must miss.
• Mosh & Roll (2011) So after 2 experimental CDs (with lots of singing), the band's original vocalist returns, and we get back to something much closer to their first 2 albums. Which I am happy about, because I really didn't dig the singing. But now my big issue with this album is it really doesn't offer anything new beyond their first two releases. It's brutal, it has big riffs, lots of start-stop goodness, and the vocals are a thousand times more appropriate, but so many of the songs are completely interchangeable with each other. They tried expanding the formula and the results didn't work, and they try to just replicate the formula and the results are a little dull. I guess I just can't be pleased. Worth checking out if you were disappointed as I was with their last two.