HACKNEYED:

• Burn After Reaping (2009) Old school death metal in the style of early Cannibal Corpse, Iniquity, maybe even a touch of Bolt Thrower thrown in. The band's music is low, heavy, and mostly medium paced. The vocalist stays mostly gurgly, with a few shouts here and there, again, reminiscent of Cannibal Corpse's own vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fischer. The music stays mostly in the Iniquity territory, lots of chunky bits mixed with tremolo, squwacks and tapping on the low strings. The riffs are more memorable than most, although nothing leapt out as pure genius. A really solid album, and worth adding to your collection.
• Carnival Cadavre (2011) Very similar to their previous album, in terms of sound, production, song style etc. Good songwriting is what elevates the group above other similar bands, not much icing, but lots of high quality cake to be enjoyed by all. May not be the first thing you run out to buy this week, but well worth checking out.
• Inhabitants Of Carcosa (2015) Very disappointing album. All the songs are just way too simple. I get the feeling they were going for more catchy, and instead took all the brutality out. Most songs are just a bar of strumming one note, then a bar of strumming another note while the drums play a slow simplistic drum beat. While there were elements of this in their other albums, that's basically all we get on this album. The band wasn't super technical before, but this album strips everything away and the result is a very boring album. Sorry guys, better luck next time!
  

• Senium (2014) Old school death metal at its finest. I want to call this stuff "melodic", but it's not melodic in the current use of the word, its just melodic in the sense that the music is very memorable and catchy while staying brutal. Plenty of fast and slower parts, the rhythm guitars have a bit of that "Brutus" distorted sound to them, while the lead guitar plays more melodic held note stuff over top. The drums have some nice fast parts but in general stay really groovy, very pounding. Vocals are midrange screams. Really, really great song writing. Impressive debut from the band, if you like something catchy but still pummels you around, look no further.
• Olm (2017) Influences are a funny thing. Sometimes an influence can be subtle, other times blatant. Upon hearing this album, I thought to myself "This sounds like newer Gorguts material". At first I thought the influence was new, but then went back to their last album, and realized the influence was always there, it was just more subtle last time around. So imagine a slightly groovier modern Gorguts and you'll have some vague idea where this album is at. More melody, more groove, generally slower songs, and lots of atonal harmonies. Sadly, I do miss some of the more straight ahead brutality of their debut, so despite doing some interesting things on this album, I still prefer "Senium", but if you're want to listen to something a little more experimental with more complex sonic structures, there's plenty to enjoy here.
• Charlatan (2018, EP) 5 song EP, very much in the vein of their last album. So expect modern Gorguts flavored songs, lots of atonal riffs, complex time signatures, and a little more focus on some doomier elements. The mix is still good, a little more reverb this time, but otherwise clear. Overall, if you like somewhat experimental death / doom metal, or dug their last album or any of Gorguts' albums after and including "Obscura", you'll love this stuff.
  

HANZEL UND GRETYL:

• Ausgeflippt (1995) Heavier than their 2nd album, but still lighter than their 3rd album, this album remains spacy while containing more guitar work than the album's followup. Plenty of fun startrek samples (photon torpedoes and red alert anyone?) and a good groove overall, even if it's not the heaviest thing on the planet it's got memorable songs and a few chunky industrial sections. Songs such as 'Galaxia Malakia' and 'Essen Sheiben und Geld Machen' (Eat Shit and Make Money) are definitely the best stuff. Hard to find, but worth the cash.
• Transmissions from Uranus (1997) Probably my least favorite of the Hanzel Und Gretyl albums. This album is very low key, while still metal in a very broad sense, there's far more electronica here, and the songs overall are very laid back with very simple drum machine beats (that remain pretty similar between songs). There's plenty of spacy samples, but no real songs stand out as being super killer or anything. This album is fine if you want some background music for 3am, but there's really not much high energy here to bang your head to. Check out album number 3 instead.
  
• Uber Alles (2003) Part Rammstein, part Coal Chamber, part Rob Zombie, this "german" industrial band manages to pull off probably the best album in the genre I've heard all year. But before we deal with the details, one might be a bit concerned with this band initially, considering some of the group's imagery, and some of the song titles like uber alles, third reich from the sun. It seems they are a little overly obsessed with germany during the 2nd world war era. But I did some poking around (not to mention some translation, since much of the CD's vocals are in german), and I am reasonably sure there are no neo-nazi overtones here. Just good riffs, a twisted sense of humor, and a good sense of showmanship. Hanzel for example wears Lederhosen and aviator goggles on stage, I mean, how can you take that seriously? What is serious is some seriously good music, very heavy stuff, these guys and gals write fantastic songs that are catchy and instantly memorable. Really nice production helps the package as well. It's primarily Gretyl singing, although much of her voice is processed and distorted, which works great with the music. Did I mention the songs? It's really nice to get something this heavy and at the same time so tight, there's no filler on this album, if they were interested in singles, just about every song on the disc could be a single they're that strong. These guys are a lot of fun to see live as well. Highly recommended.
• ScheissMessiah (2004) So they tackled outer space, they tackled war on their last break-through album, what are we going to have this time? Religion, of course. Unlike "Uber Alles", this album starts off a little slow with an intro and 2 ok songs (the riffs are a little too derivative for my taste), "ScheissMessiah" really doesn't start rockin till track 4 with "Disko Fire Scheiss Messiah", which is awesome. But then it keeps a pretty frenzied pace for the rest, with the occasional atmospheric song to break up any possible monotony. They also perform a metalized version of the Hallalujah chorus that's just hilarious. Song style wise, it's pretty much like "Uber Alles", with plenty of chanting and sirens overtop crunchy guitar riffs and industrial style drumming. Production is top notch again, with tons of heavy bottom end and top end crunch. Overall, a worthy album, although the songs aren't quite as memorable as their last album, where every song was a jem.
• Oktotenfest 2006 (2006, EP) A short 4 song ep. Well, 2 song really, the first song is an intro, and the last is an outro. The first real song 'Stern Krieg' is really freakin cool. Tons of distorted guitar, and a very fast upbeat feel with lots of electronic sounding doublebass. Right up there with any classic HuG song. Track 3, 'Fukken Uber Death Party', is a more midpaced danceable song, which gets brownie points for using a speak and spell, and its deliberate use of the song title in the chorus, but loses a point or two for a slightly bland main riff. This EP does what it sets out to do, it's saying "Hey, remember us? Prepare for a new full length album in the near future." And so, bring it on.
• 2012: Zwanzig Zwolf (2008) So Uber Alles was their top (in my opinion), their last album was decent but not spectacular (I don't think I've listened to it since). This album? Not quite as good as Uber Alles, but damn close. 2012 (are they taking a page from Van Halen's book with regards to album titles?) is the perfect blend of heaviness, speed and silliness. First, many of the songs are much faster with lots of robotic double bass spurts and fast shredding guitars ('Kaizerreich' is a great example). The 2 main songs off their 2006 EP make an appearance on this album, but the majority of the material is brand new, with jems like 'Heil Hizzle Mein Nizzle' and 'Number 1 In Deutchland' where the number 1 is spoken by a speak'n'spell. Hilarious stuff. Plenty of sampled crowd chanting, sirens and random german stuff, including references to lederhosen. Lots of variety to the songs, a lot of stuff is heavy, a lot of stuff is fast, and the thing that I felt was a bit lacking on their last album is almost all the songs are memorable and catchy. Awesome album, fans of Uber Alles will be very pleased.
• Born To Be Heiled (2012) After a great last album, this one is only ok in my book. The main beef is the songs are generally a lot slower, less energy, and more rockin and less industrial stuff. A lot of the songs sounds more like Genitorturers material than Hanzel Und Gretyl material. Lyric wise though, this album is pretty awesome, lots of great songs (the album title alone is fantastic), my favorite being the album closer 'More German Than German' (I assume a nod to 'More Human Than Human'?). The song is simple, but the lyrics are hilarious: "More wiener than schnitzel, more German than schiza". So for the music, I'd give this a miss, but if you buy it for the lyrics, this album is comedy gold.
• Black Forest Metal (2014) As I said in the review for their last album, the music is 'meh' but the comedy is awesome. On this album, the songs are 'meh' and the comedy is 'meh' too. The songs are mostly slow, not a lot of energy here, the riffs are uninspired, and the lyrics are pretty pedestrian. I have to classify this as a must miss, sorry guys.
  

HAVOC UNIT:

• h.IV+ (Hoarse Industrial Viremia) (2008) Some really good industrial math-metal from Finland. Riff wise, we start with some odd-rhythm stuff not unlike Meshuggah, then layer ontop a lot of industrial noise, keyboards and fast programmed drums. Overall, imagine that members of Meshuggah, Ministry and Hanzel Und Gretyl got together and tried to play Fear Factory songs (circa "Soul Of A New Machine" era). Lots of vocal variety, from processed yells to midrange death metal vocals, to more raspy voices, even a few sung bits (but good singing, not weak singing). My favorite song on the album is 'Man Vs Flesh', probably because it's got the fastest drums and is the most death metal sounding. But there's a lot of song variety here showing off all the band's influences, from fast to slow, pounding to ambient. If you're cool with heavier industrial music, it's well produced, decent songs, a good length, and a lot of fun.
  

HATE:

• Abhorrence (1992, Demo)
  
• Evil Art (1994, Demo)
  
• The Unwritten Law (1995, Demo)
  
• Deamon Qui Fecit Terram (1996)
• Lord Is Avenger (1998)
• Victims (1999, EP)
• Holy Dead Trinity (2001, Comp) Compilation of "Lord Is Avenger" and "Victims".
• Cain's Way (2002)
• Awakening of the Liar (2003) Very reminiscent of Decapitated (and by association, Vader), a quick peak at the credits and this band is from Poland as well, do all death metal bands from Poland sound like this? Anyways, plenty of blasting and double bass with fast tremolo picking, and some good squawks. The production is good, a little bass deficient but only a touch. I really dig these songs, some really good riffs here, better than a lot of the stuff Vader's been putting out recently, so despite the lack of originality to their sound, I have to give them high marks in coming up with songs that I actually care about.
• Anaclasis (2005) While the core of the band is still the Vader / Decapitated style, this album expands on the formula with some interesting sounds / effects that take an established style and give it a bit of a fresh perspective. The first track 'Anaclasis' is a great example of what I'm talking about, they have very precise doublebass and blasts combined with a razor sharp guitar riffs (chugging and tremolo picking, with the occasional smooth ringing chord on the high strings), and then underneath they have these vocal effects that sound like tortured souls screaming. 'Necropolis' contains more background shrieks and a few industrial style hammer noises. The effects are very subtle and used sparingly, but show up just frequently enough to give the album a bit of a different twist. And I can't say enough about how precise this band is, every note is so perfectly placed and performed, tight without becoming computer-sterile. Good songs, interesting chord progressions and a spectacular mix help round out the package. This sort of album is a great way to say goodbye to 2005, and I highly recommend picking it up.
• Morphosis (2008) So-so followup to 2005's spectacular Anaclasis. First, the style and sound is almost identical to their last album, which is a major bonus. The thing that's a bit of a let down is the songs. The first full track 'Thredony' is spectacular, as good if not better than any of their previous material. But many of the songs that follow just don't have the same spark. The riffs seem tired, they seem reminiscent of something you've heard before, they seem too simple, too slow, too repetitive. For example, much of track 3,  'Immum Coeli (Everlasting World)' is the same note being tremolo picked over and over again. Track 4, 'Catharsis' is a step back in the right direction, but all the remaining songs are pretty much in the ok category, as opposed to the "wow" category. They break up the album a bit with a nice acoustic intro to track 7, 'Omega', and end with a slow but decent track called 'Erased'. Nice try guys, but next time spend a little more time in the song writing phase. Everything else is top notch.
• The Litanies of Satan (2009, LiveCD) Recorded in February 2004, this CD features mainly songs from the band's "Awakening of the Liar" album, and a bunch of material from their previous lesser known albums. The sound is clear, although lacks bass, but the performance is energetic and technically well executed. If you love their most recent two albums, you may be disappointed, but otherwise, this is a nice way to hear some of the band's more classic material if you haven't bought a lot of their back catalog.
• Erebos (2010) While not as good as "Anaclasis", a big step above their last album. After a short and moody acoustic guitar intro, the track 'Lux Aeterna' hits full force. What a great song. It starts off with some big pounding guitar, then a really cool drum riff that involves short spurts of blast beats. Very inventive drumming in the first minute or so. Another great one is 'Transsubstance', with a big sludgy main riff that has a few surprising chord progressions. Overall the album is the same general style as before, the production is thicker though, possibly a few extra overdubs to give a bigger sound. My only real issue with the album is that it doesn't change tempo much, everything is pretty much midpaced, and that can get a little boring after awhile. But overall the material on this album is far better than the stuff on "Morphosis". A worthy album for the band, a little bit of variety to song speed and intensity and it would be perfect.
• Solarflesh (2013) Better than "Morphosis", but not as good as "Erebos". Stylewise, it's all the same stuff you'd expect from the band. The big change I noticed right off the bat was a lack of bass, compared to previous albums, the bass sound is really absent, leaving just the nasally guitars. It's like someone accidentally bumped the board during mixing and the bass channel got turned all the way down. Songwise, some good stuff here, again, not a lot of tempo variation, but they do add some nice intros to try and break things up (the album even ends with an industrial type song). Best song for me is probably the title track 'Solarflesh', it has really great energy to it. And 'Endless Purity' has a nice unsettling off-beat riff that I dig. Fans of the band will enjoy this album, but check out their last one if you're new to the group. And please guys, more bass next time please.
• Crusade:Zero (2015) Pretty similar to the band's previous albums. This one may be a bit slower than previous material, as in, there isn't even any blast beats until like 10 minutes in. But what they lose in speed they make up for in epicness. The first song (actually 3 songs, a classical intro, a heavy intro, and then the first real song) is a great example, the band just has this huge sound, great hooks, this really is excellent music to march your army of 1 million orcs to. The heavier bass sound from "Erebos" is back thankfully. Great, catchy riffs all the way through. Overall a very satisfying album, though next time maybe more blasting might make it ideal.
• Tremendum (2017) Hate was never a pure death metal band, they always had black metal influences. But on this album, they shed pretty much every bit of death metal and focus instead purely on the black metal. So gone are the heavier riffs, the super speed. Instead there's lots of droning strummed guitars, riffs repeated again and again and again with little variety, and even an almost rock inspired main riff in the third song 'Svarog's Mountain' (reminds me a bit of Morbid Angel's 'Radikult' song, and that is not a good reminder to have). Maybe black metal fans will dig this, but not only am I disappointed by the departure this album takes, but ignoring what they've done in the past I just don't find any material on this album to be very interesting. A must miss in my opinion, hopefully the band pivots back on their next release.
  

HATE ETERNAL:

• Conquering the Throne (1999) Super fast and brutal death metal, all in all, a great release from a new band. Well, almost new, you'll see a few familiar faces in terms of the two guitar players, Doug Cerrito from Suffocation (RIP) and Erik Rutan from Morbid Angel, who also does vocals and wrote most of the songs. The music is a lot simpler then the suffocation material, possibly overly simple. The drummer has three areas he covers: super fast double kicks, super fast blast beats, and sometimes super fast blastbeats over top of super fast double kicks. And I do mean super fast, they're also incredibly accurate and loud in the mix which is great, but there really isn't a lot of variety or fills. And the guitar players are tremolo picking 90% of the time. The guitar sound is great, very, very thick (almost Bolt Thrower thick), lots of overdubs, the production is perfectly mixed. The riffs are also great, lots of memorable passages, all fast tempos at all times, with almost no slow or chunky parts. As I said, all in all, a worthy album for anyone's brutal death collection, it's got aggression, speed, good songs and cement truck thick production, but needs some more variety in tempo and style for it to get a 10.
• King Of All Kings (2002) A very worthy followup. The songs are pretty similar in structure to the last album, except the drumming has a little more variety this time (still sickeningly fast, thanks to our friend Derek Roddy). In fact, according to the liner notes, there was no editing done in this album, hence all the performances were one takes, which is really impressive considering how well everything is performed. My only complaint is the guitar sound, the last album had this Bolt Thrower-ish wall of sound that was fantastic, while still thick, the guitar sound on this album has a little too many mids for my taste without as much bass. This drawback is most evident at the beginning of the album when the guitars first come in, but by track 2 or 3 you just get swept up in the great songs and it doesn't stay noticeable. Very impressive album, this one is going to rate very highly in my album of the year picks.
• I, Monarch (2005) The first thing that hit me was the return of the good production with a thick guitar sound, plenty of bass and an only slightly muffled highend. Not quite as good as "Conquering the Throne", but 95% of the way there, and way better than the nasally "King Of All Kings". Otherwise, not much else to report, the riffs are cool, many of the songs are memorable, all are brutal (with the possible exception of the album's instrumental closer 'Faceless One' that has a more tribal beat). Plenty of blasting, tremolo picking and screams in unison. Some excellent drumwork by the main man Derek Roddy, including some odd sounding stuff in a few parts which keep things from becoming repetitive. The songs tend to breath a little more on this cd, not that there isn't plenty of speed, but a few of the songs go just a tad slower, not quite as frantic, and it helps the songs that are frantic seem even moreso due to the contrast. A sign of songwriting maturity perhaps? 'Behold Judas' is probably the best song on the album, with it's crazy speed and vicious chorus, you can just imagine the band playing it live with Erik Rutan's hair blowing in the wind, screaming into the mic, and Derek's feet a blur. While nothing mindbendingly new, this material manages to remain intense without it swinging past brutal towards monotonous. Another winner from the band, and an improvement over their last.
• The Perilous Fight (2006, DVD) At just under an hour, this is a short but intense concert taken from England in June 2006. First thing of note, no Derek Roddy on rums. This took place right after he left the band, so the DVD has a new drummer on it named Reno Kiilerich. He does a great job with the songs, especially considering the short time he had to learn them all before going on tour and performing on this DVD, but it still feels a little odd not seeing Derek back there. Maybe after he has an album under his belt, Reno will feel a little more like part of the band. The concert definitely favors material from "I Monarch", in fact I believe they play almost the entire album, but that's not a bad thing since the album was so good. Video wise, I think the cameras switch a bit too fast, not enough to make you ill, but still, a little slower would have helped the eye focus on what's going on. Otherwise the footage is professional, a bit grainy, but in a evil and dark sort of way, not a bad production kind of way. Soundwise, the guitar and drums are super clear and big sounding, but there is no bass guitar. I mean, the production has bass, but every time Erik goes for a solo, you hear guitar and the drums, and nothing else. If you didn't see the bass player on the stage moving his fingers, you'd assume he wasn't even plugged in. The DVD also contains a really interesting 20 min interview with the band, where they get into a lot of good topics, and a 30 min tour of Mana studio, great for anyone interested in tech talk. Overall, not the best DVD to come out ever, but a lot of good material, and worth picking up if you like the band.
• Fury and Flames (2008) Your enjoyment of this album will be completely dependent on what stereo you listen to it on. I started off on my usual home stereo (with giant sub woofers, of course), which plays 100% of my other music just fine, and I couldn't hear a damn thing. Erik did something to the bass on this recording that is flatly incompatible with a sub woofer. You know that huge "BOOM" noise that you hear coming out of a car playing rap music? Well, that's what you hear with every single bass drum hit, and it completely obliterates any other sound. So what you get is static and this ridiculous bass hit sound, even playing with the eq didn't seem to get a satisfactory sound. I was about to write a scathing review until I tried the CD out on my ipod with headphones, and then all of a sudden, oh there's the music! The reduction in bass that comes naturally with the weaker device allows the other frequencies to come through. So I'll still have to take points off this recording because the CD is not mixed to play nice with regular stereos, but if you plan on listening to this on your computer or ipod, the production quality is decent. Song wise, it's obvious that Erik is angry, and why not, as he points out in the album's dedication, he lost his good friend and former bandmate Jared Anderson. The riffs are not quite as interesting as their last CD, "I, Monarch", but stil decent. The drumming is thanks to newcomer Jade Simonetto, it's very fast and furious, although not as experimental as what Derek Roddy was doing on their last CD. Overall, this CD is way more pissed off than their last one, the songs are a little simpler (but still retain all of that trademark Hate Eternal sound), and you'll need to move the album around from stereo to stereo to find one that plays it well. Hopefully next time Erik will choose a different mix.
• Phoenix Amongst The Ashes (2011) Not as good as "I Monarch", but far better than their last one. The big difference, a mix that lets you hear the instruments. Yay! No more booming bassdrum. That said, the bassdrum is still super machinegun like, which works sonically, although it's overused some, like the song 'Phoenix Amongst the Ashes' is five and a half minutes of continuous fast doublebass. I give the drummer credit for his athleticism, but it makes for a somewhat boring song, I much preferred the variation that Derek brought to "I Monarch". The songs are generally good, the later songs are a little weaker, but song like ''The Eternal Ruler' and 'Haunting Abound' have really good hooks. Overall a very satisfying album.
• Infernus (2015) Fans of the band will know what to expect. Overall it has the unrelenting intensity of "King Of All Kings", but with the better production of their last album. Unfortunately while the intensity is high, the many of the songs aren't as memorable as their best albums "I Monarch" and "Conquering The Throne", or even "Phoenix". But there are still some high points, I really like the heavy instrumental 'Chaos Theory' towards the end of the album. And 'The Sygian Deep' has a pretty memorable chorus. So overall this is pretty decent, but not to the level of their best work.
• Upon Desolate Sands (2018) Generally what you'd expect from the band, but the song writing has gone up a notch from their last release. It's as simple as more memorable riffs, more riffs that stick in your brain, that drill themselves deep into your subconscious and strangle what they find there. A generally good mix of fast and slow songs, moshable bits, furious blasting bits. My favorite song is 'Nothingness Of Being', which has some similarities to 'Where the Slime' live from Morbid Angel, but new drummer Hannes Grossmann's feet basically go twice the speed that Pete did on that song. The doublebass just mows down your ears like a machine gun nest mows down soldiers trying to crawl across a battlefield. One of the band's best albums in years, highly recommended.
  

• Everybody Dies (1998) While not even remotely original, this is a decent album. The band consists of Phil Fasciana from Malevolent Creation, Rob Barrett formerly of Cannibal Corpse, and Crazy Larry Hawke, who died shortly after finishing the drums for this album. The songs tend to sound a lot like Malevolent Creation, although the production is a lot muddier. But there are lots of good riffs, and crazy Larry has always been, well, crazy on the drums. The lyrics get special mention for being really brutal, no poetry or metaphors here, they just pick a disturbing topic and bark about it in the most straight-forward, explicit way possible.
• The Only Law Is Survival (2000) The infamous sideproject continues. No Larry on drums of course, so Dave Culross takes over. Dave does his usual jackhammer combination of doubles and blastbeats, and lyrics are yelled at top volume, usually rants about the goverment or society in general. I'd like to speak of the guitar sound, but the overly treble guitar/bass sound is VERY low in the mix, making it almost impossible to hear overtop the crash when they tremolo pick. Some good riffs here and there, and no real boring spots or anything, they keep a good variety of slow and fast riffs that keep the intensity level high. Although not getting any points for originality, I have a feeling this cd will be in my usual rotation for many months to come, because it's brutal, honest, straight forward death metal, and about as speedy as it gets.
• Moshpit Murder (2004, Live) 9 live tracks from their "The Only Law Is Survival" tour in 2000 and then 9 tracks from a 96 demo, and 1 track from a 99 demo. The live tracks are all good and mixed well, but way too soft. As in, you have to crank your stereo to 11 to hear it at a normal volume. But everything is clear and there's even some good bass in there. Nothing too new here that you haven't heard on the albums, but still fun to hear the songs with live energy. The demo songs are just that, fuzzy demos of songs off of their two albums, with "Crazy" Larry on drums of course. These recordings include a bunch of volume fluctuations and such, but apparently they're in the originals so there's not much to be done. Not sure if I can label this cd as a must buy since it doesn't offer anything their two studio albums don't, but fans of the band should definitely check it out, there's some good stuff to be found.

• The Haunted (1998)
• The Haunted Made Me Do It (2000)
• Live Rounds In Tokyo (2001, Live)
• One Kill Wonder (2003)
• Revolver (2004) So despite the fact this band has been around for awhile, in fact I think I may have accidentally seen them live once at a festival somewhere, I really never sat down to give them a listen. Thrash? Well, I enjoyed thrash in the 80s, but the only new thrash albums I listen to now are new releases from old favorite bands. But when a random mp3 from this album happened across my desktop, I decided to give the album a try. Basically, the band takes the riffing style of Slayer and infuses it with a much larger and more vicious guitar tone reminiscent of Entombed, and then puts overtop some ultra pissed off vocals that make Slayer's Tom Araya sounds almost meek. I could also draw parallels to Arch Enemy or In Flames, except this band has far less to do with melody, and far more to do with anger and aggression. Each song is a well crafted composition with just the right levels of speed, slower bits to mosh to, and the occasional spooky intro with acoustic guitars. As mentioned earlier, the vocals get a special note, as this guy's voice and delivery are just excellent, there's a difference between trying to sound angry and actually sounding angry, and this guy is pissed off. So if you're not digging what Slayer's been up to recently (or even if you have), and haven't checked this band out, stop procrastinating and give them a try.
• The Dead Eye (2006) Not sure if it's my mood or this album, but this cd just isn't grabbing my attention like the last one did. Overall, the songs are way slower, there's more melody, and the vicious anger that the last album had seems to be gone. Now don't get me wrong, melody can be good, but to use melody properly the riffs need to be super cool / stuff I've never heard before. These riffs for the most part sound like b-side Slayer material. A good example is "The Medusa", the riffs are sort of generic, it never gets above like 130 bpm, and there's more singing than screaming. Even faster songs like 'The Shifter' start off quick, but then slow down. Even the guitar tone is more generic, what happened to that cool Entombed style sound? I don't want to label the album as bad, but it's just not above average in any way, and I doubt I'll be listening to it again now that the review is done. Check out "Revolver" instead.

• Self Skinned (2013) 3 Song EP, generally midpaced old school death metal. Kinda reminds me of Infestdead, just simple straight forward stuff but with good writing and midranged growled vocals. It's short, but all the songs are strong. And the production is excellent. If you're into stuff like Infestdead, Six Feet Under, Monstrosity or Bloodbath, there's plenty to love in this EP.

• Obeisance Rising (2012) Very similar to "Cobra Verde" (Well actually, "Cobra Verde" is similar to this one, since this came first, but I heard them out of order). The sound is almost 100% identical, so close in fact, if you shuffled the songs together, you'd have trouble telling which song was from which album. Also like Cobra, the songs are decent, but not quite yet at the song writing brilliance of their 3rd album. Highly enjoyable, and worth getting, but if you want the best, jump ahead to album number 3.
  
• Cobra Verde (2014) Generally the same vein as Vital Remains or Hour of Penance (with just a touch of Origin), so lots of tremolo picked guitars, fast solos and ridiculous fast blasting and double bass. The riffs have that slight middle eastern feel to them that can be reminiscent of Nile, but without any quiet spots, it's just pummeling all the way through. The riffs are high quality, the performance is solid, the sound is fantastic, nothing here is surprising or unique but a solid death metal release that should keep all entertained.
• Adveniens (2017) So after a lack luster release from Hour Of Penance, this album hits and is exactly what the Hour Of Penance album should have been. Again, absolutely ridiculous speed, intensity and brutality, and with an improvement in the memorable riffs category. A few softer spots would help break it up, but I get it, they are going for pure craziness and they really do achieve it. They end the album with what seems to be a medley song covering songs off Sinister's "Hate", and it's great, I love when people cover a song and change it so much its almost unrecognizable. They basically play all the music twice as fast. Really enjoyed this album, if you like Nile, Hours or Vital Remains, these guys are right up there.
• Simulacrum (2019) After a spectacular 3rd album, I had high hopes for this one. And in some ways, those hopes have comes to fruition, and in some other ways, this album takes a bit of a detour. Whereas the last album had very catchy, distinct songs, the songs on this album tend to blend together a bit more. They are big, they are intense, the guitar sound is huge, the drumming is spectacularly fast, but the song format is just a bit different, with more fast strumming, a little more atmosphere, and not quite the same level of catchiness. So overall, I like this album a lot, but it doesn't quite live up to the heights of "Adveniens". Fans of the band's larger body of work though I think will find this a fine addition to the collection.
• LV-426 (2021, EP) Short EP from the band. The first two tracks are lyrically based off the "Aliens" franchise (I guess I know what these guys were up to during covid times), and in all honesty are tighter and more catchy than the material off their last album. Then the third and final song is a cover of a Coheed and Cambria song, which I'd never heard before. The first two songs are crazy good, so worth a purchase, I hope their 5th album are in the same vein.
• Unextinct (2024) Kind of a continuation of their last album. So rather than the shorter catchier tunes, more atmosphere, and honestly some really long songs, with a 7 min, 8 min, and almost 9 minute track. They're obviously going for something more epic here, and while I do miss the more focused song of their 3rd album, I can appreciate this for what it is. It's almost more a soundtrack to a film than an album. Despite the extra atmosphere, this isn't ambiant, still plenty of crazy drumming, fast strummed guitars and great midrange growled vocals. And session drummer Davide Itri does a great job, not sure if they have a new full time skinsman yet. Fans of the band will be happy.
  

• To The Weight Of All Things (2009) You know, it always annoyed me when people would say stuff like "Steve Vai, he's not a real musician, he just does guitar masturbation". I would object, because, even though someone like Steve is well known for playing ridiculously fast, I also felt that his songs were very unique, they were catchy, and the crazy guitar stuff he did ontop was just adding icing to a very strong cake. Well, I've finally found a band that I consider "Guitar Masturbation", and this one is it. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE technical guitar stuff. Bands like Necrophagist or Spawn Of Possession sometimes walk along that fine line between wanking and awesomeness. Hiroshima Will Burn in my opinion goes right over the line. The cake of the band is deathcore flavored, and ontop is continuous scales and soloing. But despite great skill, it all ends up sounding very lifeless. And the slow breakdown parts sound sorta lifeless as well, as though they're just there because they have to be to satisfy the needs of the style, and really the guitarists want to play more scales. The scales just totally stop any possability of groove or headbanging. Mix in the fact that nothing is in tune, and I don't mean dissonant chord to add texture like in Gorguts' "Obscura" album, I mean, not a single note they play was meant to be beside another note. The album is well produced, but overall, as I'm sure you can tell, this isn't my cup of tea at all.
  

• The Wrath Kept Within (2015, EP) Melodic Death Metal at its most brutal. As opposed to say a band like Nightrage, which falls a bit more on the melodic side, this band goes for a faster, more intense form of the genre, something much closer to say The Black Dahlia Murder. The double bass is fast and pounding, the guitars touch upon some almost black metal level strumming at times, but then they switch effortlessly into a more melodic riff that for some reason doesn't seem out of place at all. Vocals are a combination of midrange growling and higher pitched screeches. While the songs have a certain familiarity to them (don't expect any chord progressions that are out of left field), the album is as solid as they come, great production, solid riffs, you can just feel the band putting 110% into every aspect of this 5 song EP. Good stuff.
  

• Sounds Of Eerie (1994) You almost want to say "well, here's another bland death metal band", except there's something else there. While this album charts no new territory, every once in awhile, within a riff, or a hook, or some passage, there's that little spark of brilliance. The recording quality is clear, but changes a bit during the album (the first three songs have a much more polished production where the last 6 have more treble). The band also isn't as tight as they could be. Standard angry death metal with a few melodic parts, lots of double kicks and blasts, and tremolo picking. There's definitely better stuff out there, but I can't write the band off, with a little more polish, a little more tightness, a little better production, and a few more good riffs (to replace the mediocre ones that show up once in awhile), we'd have something.

• Disturbance (2003)
  
• Pageantry for Martyrs (2005)
  
• The Vile Conception (2008)
  
• Paradogma (2010) This album has all the intensity of their other albums, but I found the songs to bit a bit of a letdown. They're certainly not bad, but there isn't quite as much variety or standout riffs. They do try something a little different at the end of the album with a more symphonic piece and then an instrumental, but otherwise, the album is a little too self similar. Still decent, but I'd get their two later albums instead before grabbing this one.
  
• Sedition (2012) Imagine an even more intense version of Behemoth. Yes, such a thing does exist, and its this band. They hit you with vaguely middle eastern sounding riffs, huge wall of sound guitar, and some of the fastest and most intense drumming ever. Not as unwavering as say Krisiun (this album also reminded me of a bit of Krisiun's "Conquerors of Armageddon"), the band's drummer does take a break from the fast double bass and blasts now and again to do something a little different, but this guy plays fast with a capital "Fuck!". Vocals are sorta midranged stuff similar to Hate Eternal. Not a lot of variety on this record, would have liked a few breaks to help individualize the songs, but from a sheer intensity angle, these guys are powerful, well worth checking out.
• Regicide (2014) What the new Behemoth album should have been. After behemoth's "The Satanist" totally disappointed me (as they slowed down the songs), this album has gone in the other direction with louder, faster, lower and more intense songs. And the song writing is excellent, plenty of memorable riffs, standout moments, and all of the elements from their last album that made the band so good. Again, maybe an interlude or two would have helped break things up, but overall another very impressive album.
• Cast The First Stone (2017) A bit of a letdown. Overall, the songs tend to be a lot slower than on their previous albums (this recording adds Davide Billia on drums, he can do 280 bpm, why not let him do it?). You have only 9 songs, many of which are 3 minutes. And the riffs overall don't tend to standout very much, I've listened to the album 3 times and still none of the riffs are sticking with me. The album sounds like it was rushed to me, its decent and worth taking a listen to, but after their last 2 amazing albums, I was hoping for more.
• Misotheism (2019) A return to form for the band. The simpler and slower songs are mostly replaced with faster more brutal entries. The riffs are more memorable. Basically everything I liked from the band's 5th and 6th albums are back. Really intense with just the right amount of middle eastern melody to keep it from being too monotonous. If, like me, you didn't dig 'Cast The First Stone', try this one instead. And if you did like 'Cast The First Stone', then you'll like this one anyways.
• Devotion (2024) A solid album, but not as good as previous efforts. First I had to go through the album many times before some of the songs started to sink in, my first impression was it was all very much the same as everything they've done before. But after enough listens I did find some good stuff, mostly track 3 and 5, which are the faster songs and have some nice complex and memorable riffs. But too many of the songs sort of float past me without leaving much of an impression. This album caused some controversy due to their use of AI Generated album artwork, in some ways, I feel some of these songs have the same issue, it feels like a computer going through the motion instead of truly being inspired by the human heart. But maybe I'm being too harsh, again, there are a few tracks on here that stand up to their previous work, but I'll likely listen more to "Misotheism" or "Regicide", and put this more into the category as "Cast The First Stone". Hope to see an improvement on their next outing.
  

• Midheaven (2008) A much heavier Dream Theater. Or perhaps a little closer to Between The Buried and Me. The Human Abstract's songs may not be all epic in length, but the songs are certainly epic in scope, "Midheaven" is a veritable rock opera (or perhaps metal opera). Vocals are a mixture of sung and screamed. Keyboards tend to remain in "organ" mode most of the time, but the piano work is nice and I really enjoy the spacy intros to the songs, sort of reminds me of the soft interludes that Devin Townsend uses on his solo albums. Guitars are decent, but I'm not a huge fan of all the scale based stuff. The rhythms are good, but there are many spots where one of the guitars just keeps doing scales up and down, and they seem sorta pointless. Also, the solo guitar tone doesn't have much body to it, it sounds pretty weak and one dimensional. The rhythm guitar thankfully has some umph to it. Those critiques aside, there's a lot that I really like on this album. The Chorus in 'Breathing Life Into Devices' is very catchy. On the lighter side, the piano ballad 'This World Is A Tomb' is very haunting, and I like how it builds to something heavier, same with the song 'A Dead World At Sunrise'. Also the song 'Counting Down The Days' is a great example of the band's ability to effortlessly move between heavy and light. Not every song on this album is awesome, but there's enough good material here to keep me interested. If you're a fan of progressive material, you may want to check this out.

• Humanity's Last Breath (2013) Super low detuned Djent metal. This band is heavy as fuck with their super low sound, which ranged from the guitars/bass all the way to the vocals (the vocals are super low growls as opposed to gargles, and lots of double tracking on the vocals to get that super evil "getting yelled at" vibe). While you might want to classify the band as deathcore, their "breakdowns" contain more than 1 note, and so don't really count. The main riffing style is start-stop Djent type rhythms, but they also layer keyboards and sound effects. The songs are generally all slow, with a few more midpaced bits. Powerful doublebass is used to accentuate the slow bits rather than to pick up the pace. Plenty of dissonance as well. The production quality is great, super thick and heavy, really mechanical sounding which works well with the music. The album also comes with an instrumental version of the entire album as bonus tracks, and I can't decide which I like better. Not that I don't like the vocals, but it's fun to hear just the instrumental version, it's like the soundtrack to a really screwed up nightmarish film. Really strong debut from the band, if this is deathcore, this is deathcore done right. Must buy.
• Detestor (2016, EP) 5 song EP. Similar in style and sound to their last album, but a little more industrial, with more strange and dissonant sounds, keyboards (or synth guitar, not sure), more strummed guitar wailing used as texture over the low notes. Some parts of this almost border on doom, with a Zaraza feel to them (the famous Canadian/Polish doom/industrial band). The sound is still super detuned, still good double bass at the key moments. Overall, it's a nice short refresher for the band. Iit comes with all 5 tracks in both vocal and instrumental versions, so you can choose your poison.
• Abyssal (2019) Second album from the band, and another winner. The usual mix of detuned guitars, industrial bits, deathcore bits, pounding doublebass, and atonal riffs. The sound is basically identical to their debut and their EP. Songwriting is great, with this sort of music it's easy to make all the songs blend together, but there's just enough in terms of tempo changes, unique sounds and repeated riffs to give at least some uniqueness to the different songs. Still probably best digested as a whole album from beginning to end, I love the heaviness and atmosphere, check these guys out if you haven't already.
• Välde (2021) Yet another winner! All the things you likely love about the band are back. This time things are a tiny bit slower, a little more on the doomier side with more spooky / disturbing drony guitars, and dissonant squawks, but still plenty of detuned heaviness for all the enjoy. I think their song writing has gone up a tiny notch as well, although they were always good at the riff. But the extra atmosphere here works quite well. The soundtrack to the end of the world!
• Ashen (2023) Not really a collection of songs, this tome is more of a crazy soundtrack to the more epic war movie ever made. I see giant mud fields covered in humans, orcs and giant mech robots. I see trenches with combatants stabbing each other until they all die at once when Napalm is dropped into the pit. I see piles of bodies so high, tanks have to travel over top of them like they were cresting hills. "Ashen" is just filled with audio that inspires such horrible visuals. For anyone whose read my reviews of their previous works, all the same elements are here, the dissonant guitar wailing, the slow plodding drums, the huge djent style chugging. At this point, I'm not even sure they're using guitars, its so distorted and warped it might be all keyboards for all I know. Or some unknowable instrument forged in hell itself. There's also a few extra elements, from symphonic bits to choral vocals. This is an epic masterpiece of sludge.
  

• Torture of Decimation (2007)
  
• Decrepit to Insanity (2009) Fans of Suffocation, Vile, Disgorge, the slower parts of Dying Fetus and Pathology will love this stuff. Super gargled vocals (don't expect to understand a single word), a good mix of faster tremolo picked stuff and super chunky slamming riffs, song structure is more straight forward like Vile as opposed to the more chaotic nature in Disgorge. The thing I really love about this release is it has lots and lots of standout riffs. There's at least 2-3 riffs per song where you just want to shout "Hell ya, that's fucking sick!" Like for example the slow riff at 3:50 in 'Proceed To Terminal Isolate', it's super sludgy, a real punch to the gut. Would love that riff just on repeat for a whole album. Really impressive stuff, they've taken a somewhat played our genre and added a lot of new life to it.
  

• Penetralia (1992) This album has killer, vicious licks, great production, super fast and pounding riffs, not to mention the very biggest double kicks I had ever heard.
• Pleasure Of Molestation (1993, EP)
• Osculum Obsceum (1993) AGGG! They slowed down a lot, the production is muddy, and the doubles are missing. What have they done?
• Inferior Devoties (1994, EP)
• The Fourth Dimension (1994) They seem to now have become a doom band. Come on! What happened to that great music from your first album?
• Abducted (1996)
• Maximum Abduction (1996, EP)
• The Final Chapter (1997) Apparently this will be their last album. It sort of sums up their career I suppose, it includes lots of doom and a few faster metal pieces (like their first album). The sound is huge, although the guitars sound a bit too much like Entombed (that's not a bad thing, just unoriginal). Overall though, it has enough good music to make it a decent album, but I really wish they'd produce some more stuff like Penetralia.
• Hypocrisy Destroys Wacken 1998 (1999, LiveCD)
• Hyopocrisy Destroys Wacken 1998 (1999, Video)