Crÿptic Shift – Beyond The Celestial

“Beyond The Celestial” is the newest demo from UK extreme metal band Crÿptic Shift. Though it offers just two tracks, there is plenty of material here to enjoy. In fact, this demo is features an absurd number of riffs, each and every one of which will induce immediate neck trauma. The band doesn’t play at full speed for the entirety of the demo, but they do serve up some pretty absurd tempos. Their riffing style is abstract, and unlike anything I’ve ever heard. “Voyage Through Dimensions” in particular has a riff that starts out like an extreme thrashy riff and then ends with a technical, modern-day Cannibal Corpse-styled riff. If that description made little to no sense, it really is a perfect description then; at times, this demo gets downright weird. The aforementioned track also features plenty of riffs that are harmonized, and at times, some of these sections sound like the guitars are competing against each other, rather than working together.

Aside from the weirdness of this band, Crÿptic Shift does provide more normal metal elements. The vocals are a death/black hybrid-sounding rasp, with more than enough aggression to suit the music. The drumming is stellar, coming up with some unique patterns (see the intro of “Voyage Through Dimensions” for the best example). The bass playing is difficult to hear (except for when neither guitar is playing anything on the low end), but that is more of a function of the production, which admittedly is not the best. This album is noisy, and it will take a few listens to really decipher what is happening. In that respect, it actually reminds me of early Voivod, which might also be an apt comparison for the general sound of this band. They use interesting chords and dissonant sounds to take familiar metal tropes and put their own spin on them. While more Crÿptic Shift is extreme than Voivod, they share that same twisted vision.

Be sure to check out and like Crÿptic Shift on Facebook!

Highlight

"Voyage Through Dimensions"

Final Rating

3.9/5 or 78%. 

Written by Scott 

Suffer The Pain – Midnight Sacrifice

“Midnight Sacrifice” is the first full-length from Swedish band Suffer The Pain. At less than 30 minutes, this 14 track ripper is a short, but sweet offering of crusty, punky death metal. The songs on this record tend to be largely in the same vein: fast-paced, driven by solid buzzsaw riffs (check out the tremolo-picked riff in the title track for the best example, though quite a few tracks have a similar-styled riff), and drums that worship at the altar of punk. This sound means that not too many of the tracks stand out from one another, but they all offer lots of aggression and quality riffs. The vocals tend to be standard growls. They’re not excessively guttural, which means that you can pick out words here and there, and would likely be able to follow along easily with the lyric sheet. Though the vocals and guitars are quite competent, the highlight on this album is the drumming. They're incredibly active, both with fills and standard beats. They help to keep the record going at full force for its entire playtime.

One potential area of improvement for Suffer The Pain is the production. With this style of release, it is understandable that the production isn’t exactly crisp or clear sounding; however, because the guitars are so distorted and the album sounds so quiet, it actually doesn’t make things particularly heavy. What the band plays is heavy, but it just doesn’t sound as heavy as it could, especially when compared to the giants of Swedish death metal like Entombed or Unleashed. Another minor complaint is in the lyrics on “Nightmare”. The band starts doing some counting, which, to be honest, sounds kind of lame. This music is supposed to be brutal, but it ends up sounding like a kid’s version of a death metal song.

In any case, these two issues are definitely not problematic enough to ruin the album. In fact, “Midnight Sacrifice” is a pretty solid ball of energy, and will likely appeal to anyone who wants their death metal to start crossing over to punk. Though the band is firmly rooted in metal, the outside influences on this record are clear, and add something unique to the band’s sound.

Be sure to check out and like Suffer the Pain on Facebook!

Highlight

"Midnight Sacrifice"

Final Rating

3.5/5 or 70%. 

Written by Scott 

Gruesome – Savage Land

Somewhere along the way, it feels like death metal took a wrong turn. As the genre slowly stripped away elements of thrash, it became a very different beast from what it once was. Of course, this is part of what makes it unique, but it feels like there aren’t many modern bands that still carry this old-school spirit. For this reason, Gruesome is the most intriguing death metal band around at the moment. Their focus is on worshipping Death’s earlier work, and in particular, “Scream Bloody Gore” and “Leprosy”. Given how instrumental Death was to death metal, it’s amazing that there haven’t been more bands that are just blatant worship. Maybe it’s because nobody could imitate Chuck Schuldiner’s disgusting vocals, or because his riffs were difficult to recreate, but Gruesome is truly the first of their kind to sound this authentic. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think this was the direct successor to “Leprosy”.

Every element of “Savage Land” is directly traceable to the early Death records. Whether it is those classic tremolo-picked patterns, the eerie mid-paced melodic riffs, or even Matt Harvey’s uncanny ability to sound like Schuldiner, this album is the ultimate tribute to Death. What makes Gruesome worthwhile though, is the fact that this is some of the highest quality death metal the world has seen in recent times. Of course, nobody will ever top Death, but Gruesome puts in an unbelievable effort. At times, they might get a bit too close to the originals for their own good (the intro to “Trapped In Hell” was definitely influenced by “Zombie Ritual”, and one of the early riffs in “Gruesome” has a clear counterpart on the “Leprosy” record). On the other hand, there were really only two Death albums that sounded like this, so more are always welcome.

As mentioned above, Harvey is a dead-ringer for Schuldiner, but what is equally amazing is the fact that he has nailed the vocal patterns. Every single word spewed forth was carefully crafted based on the way Chuck would deliver lyrics. Even the lyrics are absurdly catchy: “pleasure turns to be pain; you will not return again”. It really brings back sections like “rotting while they breathe, death comes slow” that are insanely fun to growl along to. As you might imagine, "Savage Land" is littered with sections like this.

If there’s one area where Gruesome didn’t nail Death’s sound 100%, it would be the guitar solos. This is me being excessively picky though, because they came close. For one thing, the Rick Rozz worship is in full effect with excessive tremolo bar abuse happening on many tracks (see the second solo in “Savage Land” for a great example). The more contentious issue is emulating Chuck’s solos. Sometimes, the sound is spot on, particularly as Gruesome often goes into slower sections that allow the solos plenty of space to breathe (not unlike Death would do). There are some solos, however, where it sounds like they couldn’t quite get Chuck’s style spot on. Again, this is beyond an excessive nitpick, and really won’t effect anyone’s enjoyment of the album. 

Though this album is largely focused on the first two Death albums, it does bring in elements from “Spiritual Healing”. “Demonized”, for example, features a lick that sounds like it involves some tapping, as does the band's title track (not unlike “Spiritual Healing” itself). More importantly, however, Gruesome’s drummer has channeled the spirit of Bill Andrews. This may be a disappointment to some, as Andrews often takes a lot of heat for his performances on “Leprosy” and “Spiritual Healing”, but his drum tone on the latter is the heaviest sound in existence. The criticism against him comes more because he wasn’t as busy with his fills as later Death drummers would be, but that sound just wouldn’t work for the records he played on. For this reason, the drumming on “Savage Land” is perfect, as it emulates that tight, brutal, yet more simplistic style of drumming. There are still a lot of fills, but they don’t exist simply to be complex. Instead, they complement either the weird riffs or the speedy sections. The only slight exception of this is the opening to “Gangrene”, which feels like a tribute to “Flattening of Emotions” with the way the drums roll in.

It’s hard to really criticize anything about “Savage Land”. Though the album lacks originality, that is the entire point of it. There simply aren’t any bands around that have studied and replicated Death’s music to this level of authenticity. Whether or not this is a one-off release to celebrate Death’s early career, it has joined the ranks of my favourite old-school death metal records (even if it came 25 years later) and will be in regular rotation right alongside “Leprosy”. This album isn’t just the death metal record of the year, it’s the death metal record of the decade.

Be sure to check out and like Gruesome on Facebook!

Highlights

"Savage Land"

"Trapped In Hell"

"Closed Casket"

"Gruesome"

Final Rating

4.75/5 or 95%. 

Written by Scott 

Killtide – From Gates of Hell

It is always a treat to discover yet another traditional heavy metal band from Toronto. Just when you think the scene can’t possibly have any more bands, a new one pops up. In this case, it is Killtide with their 2014 EP “From Gates of Hell”. This release is very interesting when compared to many of Killtide’s Toronto peers, because while it undoubtedly is rooted in the sound of the 80s, Killtide is able to inject more modern influences into this music. This is particularly noticeable in the drums, which uses a lot of double bass and rhythmic patterns (see the intro of “Pray With Me” for the most blatant example) that you tend to hear in more modern metal bands. Nevertheless, the riffs are largely born and bred in the old-school vein, with bands like Judas Priest, Dio, and others seeming to be of inspiration.

Of course, this release features all of the other elements that make traditional heavy metal so great: incredible melodies and solos, bass playing that you can actually hear, and a passionate singer. Killtide’s vocalist is one of those guys who is great because of his enthusiasm. I don’t think anyone could argue he’s a better technical singer than guys like Rob Halford or Bruce Dickinson, but he doesn’t try to be. Instead, he gives a rocking performance that is a perfect fit for the music.

One of the really interesting elements about “From Gates of Hell” is the progression in the songwriting. Killtide is not a prog band, but it feels like most of the songs have really strong transitions between riffs and sections. This is in large part due to the drums, which refrain from playing standard rock beats all the time, and instead switch things up a lot. The drums are probably a bit too high in the mix, but it does help to reinforce these changes. It would not surprise me to find out these drums are programmed, as they don’t sound the most organic, but this sound doesn’t really take away from the EP at all.

Amongst a very crowded scene, Killtide does enough to stand out. Though this is a short EP, it manages to leave an impact. The songs might not be quite as strong as Skull Fist’s or Cauldron’s, but they good enough that this EP is worth purchasing, and Killtide is worth following. Ultimately, “From Gates of Hell” is an inspired work that has set the stage for some incredible future releases.

Be sure to check out and like Killtide on Facebook!

Highlights

"Fearless"

"Pray With Me"

Final Rating

4.0/5 or 80%. 

Written by Scott 

Bloodrocuted – Disaster Strikes Back

“Disaster Strikes Back” is the second album from Belgian thrash outfit, but it marks the band’s first record for the thrashiest label around: Punishment 18 Records. It would be fair to say that Bloodrocuted’s music is very much in line with what most of the label has to offer. This means that “Disaster Strikes Back” is a very standard modern thrash effort. The production is in your face and aggressive, which goes well with the numerous thrash riffs. As expected, these riffs generally feature lots of palm-muting, excellent rhythmic dexterity (both in terms of down-picking stamina and throwing in gallops and tremolo picking), and lots of speed. Of course, you’ve probably heard these riffs many times before. A familiar sound isn’t bad, especially given the nature of thrash metal, but as the album wears on, some of the riffs definitely feel a little too close to specific riffs from 80s giants. Nevertheless, you can’t fault Bloodrocuted for paying homage to bands like Destruction or Exodus with their riffs.

The band’s singer is likewise in line with what you might expect. He’s more on the harsher side of things, though not quite brutal enough for death metal. His voice is largely restrained to the low end, and while this means you’ll only really hear him barking out lyrics, it is appropriate for the album. Though he doesn’t provide much melody, the guitars certainly have the ability to do so. This is done largely through solos, but there are some melodic lines thrown in as well.

While “Disaster Strikes Back” is a formidable effort for all fans of thrash, it lacks a few things that could elevate it to the next level. Firstly, the songs just aren’t that great. They don’t aim to be memorable, and as a result, all that you are really left with are the riffs, which are the second problem. Yes, they’re good, but everybody in the scene has good riffs at this point. These riffs don’t exactly match Destruction in terms of how brilliant they are. So while this album does everything it should do well, it fails to capture the more human elements that make thrash great. The final problem is that Bloodrocuted doesn't have any sort of distinctive quality. With certain bands, even if you enjoy their riffs but can’t remember any songs, if there is something that separates them from the pack, it’s easy to justify going back to them. Unfortunately Bloodrocuted is very run-of-the-mill thrash. This doesn’t mean this album isn’t worth buying, it just means that you won’t remember too much when it’s over.

Be sure to check out and like Bloodrocuted on Facebook!

Highlights

All/none of it

Final Rating

3.3/5 or 66%. 

Written by Scott