Six In Line - U Shud Hev Invtd Me

Despite Six In Line's choice to butcher a simple sentence for the title of their EP, the crossover stylings of these Swedes is quite good. You may have heard of another new crossover band that hails from Sweden that seems to be sweeping the metal underground by storm, that band being Dr. Living Dead. Well, Six In Line can definitely hang with those guys and they prove it with just three simple tracks on "U Shud Hev Invtd Me." (Cringes as I spell that out)

The sound here is pretty normal for a crossover band. Sweet headbanging riffs more along the midpaced speed, barely understandable vocals that stem from the hardcore punk style more than thrash, and an all around intense atmosphere made to cause destruction. One thing that stands out about Six In Line compared to other bands of the same style is the length and structure of the tracks. Most crossover bands write a lot of material with each song ranging from about a minute to two minutes long, but the three tracks on "U Shud Hev Invtd Me" are all around the three to five minute range. "Plata o Plomo" is the longest song here but it contains the same reckless energy that any two minute punk song has, with plenty of moments that will get your headbanging and singing along with the catchy choruses (Thanks to some very sweet gang vocals). 

There really isn't much more to be said about this EP. It's 12 and a half minutes of some fun and catchy music that any fan of crossover or thrash can enjoy. Also, Dr. Living Dead had better watch their backs, because it wouldn't surprise me if Six In Line makes a bigger name for themselves in the underground of Sweden. 

Be sure to check out and like Six In Line on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/sixinline

Highlights

"We Intend to Hang You"

"Plata o Plomo"

"You Should Have Invited Me"

Final Rating

4.3/5 or 86%.

Top 11 Death Metal Albums of 2011

As already mentioned in my previous top 11 list, this year has been fucking fantastic as far as metal releases go. I haven't kept up with every scene as much as I'd like to and thus the only lists I can conjure up are for thrash and death metal, but these lists feature the best ones around, well the ones I've heard. If an album you felt should have been here and it isn't I either didn't hear it, never heard of it or I thought it wasn't up to par (I'm looking at you Deicide, Morbid Angel and Vader). 

#11. Maim - Deceased to Exist
The first album of today's list is none other than Maim's newest effort "Deceased to Exist." A very cool album that reminds one of the more well known new force in Swedish death metal, Tribulation. Some very cool, thrashy death metal, although Maim brings some more doom with them than the aforementioned Tribulation. If you like Bolt Thrower or Autopsy then you should like this one. 


Highlights
"Gravedigger Sacrifice"
"Deceased to Exist"
"Screams of the Mutilated"

#10. Funerus - Reduced To Sludge

It's amazing how Funerus managed to actually make music that sounded as if it were reducing one to sludge. Some very filthy, and doomy death metal here but what would you expect from a band featuring John McEntee of the legendary Incantation? Seriously, this is some catchy stuff sure to get your headbanging so check it if you haven't. 

Highlights

"Behind the Door"

"Bedpan Commando"

"Reduced to Sludge"

#9. Disma - Towards The Megalith

This album may not have won the album of the year award, but they definitely have the coolest album cover. Another effort featuring a member who was once affiliated with Incantation, Craig Pillard absolutely crushes everything in his path here with his Goliath-like growls. Oh and having some extremely heavy death metal music behind the vocals helps too. Some top notch heaviness right here that any fan of ridiculously heavy music can enjoy.

Highlights

"Chaos Apparition"

"Lost in the Burial Fog"

"Purulent Quest"

#8. Autopsy - Macabre Eternal

This album is definitely a grower. Not Autopsy's greatest moment, but it's a stellar release nonetheless. Unlike other old-school death metal giants (*cough Morbid Angel *cough), Autopsy delivered on their latest effort. They didn't detract from their traditional sound or innovate much, they just did what they do best and that's suffocate the listener with their brand of doom-laden metal. 

Highlights

"Dirty Gore Whore"

"Macabre Eternal" 

"Deliver Me From Sanity"

#7. Acephalix - Interminable Night

You've gotta love that crusty death metal, and if you don't then you need a reprimanding of epic proportions and I'm sure Acephalix would be more than obliged to give said reprimanding. "Interminable Night" is a slab of heavy, old-school sounding death metal intertwined with that d-beat driven assault, and there isn't much more to be said about it, other than it's awesome.

Highlights

"Daemonic Sign"

"Rebirth Into Perversion"

"Interminable Night"

#6. Cannabis Corpse - Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise

They're back, only this time these stoned bastards aren't parodying Cannibal Corpse but other Floridian metal legends, Morbid Angel and Deicide. Really, the whole "marijuana parody" gimmick isn't what should be focused on because these guys can conjure up some wicked death metal and that's all that matters. Some seriously great stuff here, so check it out. 

Highlights

"Sworn to the Bag"

"Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise"

"Immortal Pipes"

#5. Vanhelgd - Church of Death

The amazing amount of music to come from Sweden is absolutely astounding, but what's even more mind boggling is that these guys don't sound Swedish! In place of the constant d-beats and HM-2 pedal, are dark melodies and evil atmospheres reminiscent of Asphyx and Morbid Angel. This some grade A death metal that everyone should take note of. 

Highlights

"Nec Spe, Nec Metu"

"Church of Death"

"Total Apokalyps"

#4. Horrendous - The Chills

An album that I only recently became acquainted with, but it kicks severe amounts of ass all the same. There's enough variety and brilliance in songwriting here that could please any fan of death metal. For fans of Autopsy, Deicide, Bolt Thrower, and Dismember. 

Highlights

"Ripped To Shreds"

"Fleshrot"

"The Ritual"

#3. Morbus Chron - Sleepers in the Rift

Ok, I take back what I said about Disma having the coolest album cover, because... Well look at that thing! It's pretty cool that Morbus Chron's music takes as many twists and turns as the cover. There's plenty of fast parts and there are plenty of heavy parts that trudge along, as well as a general weirdness that not many death metal bands today have got. Cheers to these guys for that. 

"Creepy Creeping Creep"

"Ways of Torture"

"Red Hook Horror"

#2. Bastard Priest - Ghouls of the Endless Night

What happens when you take that filthy old school Swedeath sound and mix it with the intensity of crust punk? You get “Ghouls of the Endless Night.” This album is stellar from beginning to end. There are plenty of ripping tracks to get your headbanging, while there are also some tracks that are extremely doomy and hit you like a brick. This one finds itself comfortably a top this list, as well as places Bastard Priest at the top of the new death metal scene. 

Highlights

"Ghouls of the Endless Night"

"Last Scream"

"Enormous Thunder of the End"

#1. Miasmal - Miasmal

And coming in at number one is the debut album of Swedish death metallers Miasmal. This album did everything right and hit everyone of my musical "g-spots," mixing in the perfect amount of Dismember worship with undeniable Wolfpack and Autopsy influences as well. Fucking get this album if you haven't, or I'll find you. 

Highlights

"Mesmerized"

"Mists"

"Toxic Breed"

Horrendous - The Chills

If you think that album cover is cool, just wait until you take a listen to the music. While I have no problems when bands play strictly old school metal with no intentions of finding their own sound or showing any intent on achieving anything remotely innovative, it's usually better when a band can show some originality. Horrendous is one of those bands, and their debut full-length "The Chills" is a very fun trip full of twists and turns that every death metal fan can enjoy. 

There isn't a single style of death metal that this album could be compared to. It's got some bits and pieces of Swedeath, Floridian death metal, and some of that good ol' fashioned doom/death. The opening track "The Womb" kicks off with a slow and sinister sounding melody that sets up the rest of the song perfectly, featuring plenty of death metal style tremolo sections and midpaced riffs created for one purpose: to wreck your fucking neck. The song "Fleshrot" is probably the most Florida sounding track. It's extremely fast and heavy. Seriously, the midpaced riffs in this song are some of the best that I've heard all year and put a lot of young thrash and death metal bands to shame. Another amazing track here is the doom-laden monster "The Ritual." I'm not sure if Horrendous did this intentionally, but this track's name is near identical to a song by the legendary Bolt Thrower, but that's not the weird part. This song more than any other on the record has a large Bolt Thrower influence, with the brilliant mix of heavy, doom riffs and melodies with the faster parts made for headbanging. 

Having all of this variety in sound is one reason why "The Chills" is such a great record, but it's not the only reason. It always comes down to how well a band can write a song, and Horrendous can definitely do this. There are several instances throughout this album where you are tapping your feet along to the death metal tremolos and then suddenly you're leveled a heavy riff that forces your head to bang, with the song "Ripped to Shreds" being the best example of this. Along with the songwriting, the band excels at such little nuances that they place throughout the album, that when they're all mixed together the overall sound is magnificent. There are plenty of instances when Horrendous' guitar players weave in some fast solos while the vocals are doing their job at the forefront, and it takes the listener back to the first time they heard "Dreaming with the Dead." There are always some nice solos and melodies being thrown into the music, but it doesn't hinder the overall sound or sidetrack the listener, but it intensifies the bleak atmosphere created by all of the moving parts that make this record as terrific as it is.

It's near stupefying that such a well-written record like "The Chills" was written by such a young band, but masterful albums in the past were written by young punks who were just playing what they wanted and that's exactly what Horrendous has done here. If you're looking for quality death metal that sounds undeniably old-school from a new band, then this is exactly what you want. 

Be sure to check out and like Horrendous on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/HorrendousDeathMetal

Highlights

"Ripped to Shreds"

"Fleshrot"

"The Ritual"

Final Rating

4.5/5 or 90%.

Disma - Towards the Megalith

The year 2011 has seen a lot of great releases and has been one of the better years for metal in general. Most of these releases have been from bands consisted of younger members, some so young that they were either a small child or infant when bands like Slayer and Kreator were shattering boundaries in the thrash realm or when Death and Possessed were spawning the death metal subgenre. So, when a band like Disma comes along, featuring members of many terrific bands from the past (Incantation and Funebrarum being the most notable) and there is nothing but praise resounding through the metal community about them, it's a very refreshing and positive thing to hear. I have yet to come across any bad press about Disma's debut full-length album "Towards the Megalith," so me getting my hands on this album was practically inevitable, and there is no disappointment or regret about getting this at all. 


"Towards the Megalith" is one of the heaviest albums of 2011, without a doubt. To say this album slithers along and crushes simultaneously would be a major understatement. If one were to allude to this album as one that slithers like a serpent they had better mention that the serpent is a 500 pound constrictor that collapses your windpipe and smothers you with it's heaviness. Seriously, the guitar tone on this record is undeniably doomy and creates a brilliant atmosphere that hails back to the great death metal bands who filled the Finnish scene. With members coming from Incantation and Funebrarum, the doom-laden riffs and evil sound were to be expected, but the music found here isn't completely ripping off the members' former work. In fact, Disma was bringing that sound into 2011 with their own twist, taking influence from bands like Autopsy and disEMBOWELMENT to achieve that filthy and ridiculously heavy sound. These guys just hit you with one heavy riff after another, and then throw in a doomy interlude or a nice midpaced death metal tremolo section for good measure. Songs like "Chaos Apparition" and "Purulent Quest" really highlight this sound, never giving the listener a chance to escape the constricting suffocation of the serpent that is "Towards the Megalith."


Other than the stellar vocal performance from Craig Pillard (What do you expect though? It's fucking Craig Pillard) and the onslaught of heaviness from the guitars, there really isn't much more to discuss. Disma are exactly what an older band should be doing these days. They aren't changing much from the traditional sound, but they somehow manage to sound fresh, rather than generic or trying to hard to sound old-school. "Towards the Megalith" will drag you down into an abyss and it will not let you escape until the album is done, so if you have a short attention span and can't handle the doomy, slow pace that this record takes, we will not miss you. But, if you enjoy being buried by music heavier than a semi-truck, you have to hear this album. 


Be sure to check out and like Disma on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Disma/137903672940606

Highlights
"Chaos Apparition"
"Lost in the Burial Fog"
"Purulent Quest"


Final Rating
4.4/5 or 88%. 

Maim - Deceased To Exist

Here we have yet another new death metal album played with the same filth and intent to smother the listener with the old school Swedish goodness of the nineties. I've come across a lot of albums that play in this style and a lot of them come off as generic or repetitive, but this is not the case with Maim. One of the biggest names in this new wave of Swedeath is Tribulation, a great band that mixes the sound of the ancients like Grave and Entombed with some thrash influences. Maim follows a similar path, but they also bring in some doom influence and the results on "Deceased to Exist" are great. 

One album that this one reminds me of is Bolt Thrower's "War Master." Why you ask? Well, that album saw the band take their doomy sound to another level, but it also saw them speed things up for their fastest record since their debut. The same thing applies here on Maim's sophomore effort. There are a lot of fast moments that possess some thrash influence, like on the tracks "Nuclear Funeral" and "Screams of the Mutilated." But in the same breath, there are moments of pure Autopsy and Asphyx worship. Just listen to the title track and near five minute instrumental "Crematory." Of course, this is a death metal album and the songs "Purged Through Napalm" and "Resurrected From Hell" are two slabs of pure, relentless death metal that puts the listener in a time travelling machine, sending them back to the early nineties when they first heard albums like "Into the Grave" and "Dark Recollections." 

There isn't much more to be said about this album. The other instruments all do their job exceptionally well, but nothing extraordinary. "Deceased to Exist" brings forth quite an amount of variety to the table, especially for an album that consists of a sound mainly considered to be another Swedeath revival band. If you're a fan of Tribulation, Autopsy or Bolt Thrower, then you should have no problems welcoming this collection of evil music into your home. 

Be sure to check out and like Maim on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maim/166087683425331

Highlights

"Gravedigger Sacrifice"

"Deceased to Exist"
"Screams of the Mutilated"

Final Rating

4.25/5 or 85%.