Victims of Contagion – Parasitic Unborn

One of the easiest styles of metal to mess up is technical death metal. Over the years, bands have written songs that continue to get more and more complex and often forget both the death metal part of the music and the songwriting part. Sure, bands like Brain Drill are fun for the sheer novelty of extremism, but that sound makes it hard to maintain interest. For that reason, I’m always a little skeptical when exploring a new tech-death band. In this case, Pittsburgh’s Victims of Contagion opens things on the right note, as the beginning track on their first EP, opens with a clearly death metal tremolo-picked riff. It isn’t too long before the technoodlies come in, but the band is wise to quickly return to heavy riffs. The band does a good job of making music that is complicated without sacrificing brutality. As a result, this EP is filled with great riffs and headbanging moments. Part of the way the band injects more technical moments into their songs is through unique rhythms and time signatures. They don’t go overboard on this aspect, but vary things up enough to keep the music interesting. Victims of Contagion do use a lot of lead sections over top of pounding rhythms, but often times these guitar parts avoid those little two-second tapping sections that many other bands use, and instead are more fluid scalar patterns. 

In terms of both the playing and the production, things are up to par on "Parasitic Unborn". Obviously a tech-death band has no issues with playing anything out of time, choosing the wrong notes, or anything like that. The vocals display a decent range, with the ability to do some truly sickening stuff on the low end. They are difficult to understand, but there's nothing wrong with that for this style of music. The EP sounds pretty good, but is definitely not too clean so as to ruin things. Perhaps more importantly than anything, the drums are mixed incredibly well, and do not spend the entire time playing blast beats (though they are definitely present).

There are the occasional times where it feels like the band might overdo it. The very beginning to “Terminal Evolution” has a harmonized guitar/bass-tapping lick will scare off many intermediate guitarists. The song has other sections that are a little excessive, culminating in a clean guitar jazzy break (and this is not the only one of these on the EP!). Overall though, these moments are not as pervasive as they are in many other tech-death bands. For that reason, the only real criticism I can put on this release is that the songwriting isn’t really memorable enough for me. There are things about each track that come to mind quickly, such as the somewhat tame solo break in “A Miscalculation”, but the EP lacks the catchy vocal lines of an album like “Human”. Nevertheless, if you are looking for competent technical death metal that contains very few of the pitfalls of the style, Victims of Contagion will get the job done.

Be sure to check out and like Victims of Contagion on Facebook!

Highlights

"Neurohoarder"

"A Miscalculation"

Final Rating

3.7/5 or 74%. 

Written by Scott

Impalers – Prepare For War

Remember the first time you heard “Pleasure To Kill”? It was one of the most satisfyingly brutal experiences in existence because of its pure anger. Impalers is somewhat of a modern version of that era of Kreator. The band offers riffs that are off the charts when it comes to headbanging ability, and singer Søren Crawack’s vocals are like what Mille would sound like if death metal existed when Kreator started. In other words, they are guttural beyond belief, while still retaining a thrash sound to them. This sets the stage for the aptly titled EP “Prepare For War”. This release is designed for just that (war). The two original tracks on the EP showcase the band’s incredible songwriting abilities. Both songs are memorable and manage to be quite different from each other.

The first of these two songs, the title track, stands out for its demonstration of the rhythmic domination. The guitars downpick with great speed for much of the song, and you can’t help but groove along to it (sidenote: don’t mistake this for groove metal; it’s more of a Metallica/Anthrax style downpicking than anything else). Though the song eventually speeds up in the middle, it returns to its primary form near the end of the track. The only slight complaint I can levy against this song is the fact that it opened the EP, and that’s only because the next track, “Destination: Warfare”, is both faster and more brutal than this track. This song opens with a riff that would not be out of place on “Power and Pain” or any other number of rifftastic 80s albums. Despite the fact that the song barely cracks 2 minutes, it manages to leave quite an impact. This is achieved because, while the main riff is quite speedy, the verses are not built around incredibly fast alternate picking, creating plenty of variety within the song.

The other half of this EP consists of two covers: Sodom’s “Napalm In The Morning” and Motorhead’s “The Hammer”. The former cover is perfect. For one thing, it’s an incredible song choice, as the band previously displayed their ability to create a somewhat rocking “mid”-tempo song (this version sounds quite a bit faster than Sodom’s). Another reason why this cover is worth hearing is because Crawack’s vocals are even harsher than Tom Angelripper’s, giving the song even more power.

The Motorhead cover is well done, but Motorhead is probably one of the hardest bands to cover. Much like their early speed metal contemporaries in Anvil and Exciter, it feels like everybody has leapfrogged beyond their music. Don’t get me wrong, Motorhead will always be one of the greatest bands of all-time, but the three tracks preceding “The Hammer” on this EP are just of a different breed. Only Motorhead can really do Motorhead, so while everything is competently played, this was perhaps not the best choice for a cover. Nevertheless, the band has done such a great job with the rest of the EP that this shouldn’t be much of an issue. On the whole, if you want thrash that is absolutely vicious, Impalers fits the bill!

Be sure to check out and like Impalers on Facebook!

Highlights

"Prepare For War"

"Destination: Warfare"

"Napalm In The Morning"

Final Rating

4.4/5 or 88%. 

Written by Scott

Skull & Bones – The Cursed Island

Using pirates as a central theme for your band in metal is nothing new. Of course, Running Wild was undoubtedly the most important band for connecting pirates and metal, but it seems like ever since Alestorm popped up, bands are taking this to a new extreme. This sets the stage for Skull & Bones from Argentina. These guys play a style of metal that is somewhat of a cross between the two aforementioned bands; they’ve got the riffs and attitude of Running Wild, but combine it with the folky Pirates of the Caribbean-soundtrack sounds of Alestorm. “The Cursed Island” is the Skull & Bones’ debut, and it shows not only plenty of potential, but also a lot of great execution.

The album’s intro does a fantastic job of setting the mood for this upon which you’re about to embark. In fact, this album has a number of interludes that all work to enhance the album’s atmosphere. Often times, excessive breaks in the music can get annoying, but Skull & Bones keeps them short and doesn’t have any poor narration to ruin them. For this reason, when the galloping thunder of “The Chest of Billy Bones” kicks in, it’s easy to get into the music. One thing the band does incredibly well is include plenty of hooks in the music, and this first longer track is the perfect example. Both its prechorus and chorus show a penchant for melody and are both incredibly catchy. If you take the band too seriously, the shouts of “yo-ho-ho” might get on your nerves, but it’s hard to deny the quality of the riffs the band delivers.

The best song on this album is “Long John Silver”. Again, it’s all about the riffs. If the folky keyboard melodies are what you hate about a band like Alestorm, Skull & Bones does everything they can to rectify it. There are definitely keyboards for atmospheric purposes, but you won’t hear any keyboard breakdowns or solos. The folky parts that the band does take from Alestorm are largely limited to the interludes. Skull & Bones also shows homage to Running Wild with riffs like the one that opens “Ready For Quest”, which is pure tremolo-picking bliss. The next full track, “Rum For The Crew” continues this trend.

If there is one potential criticism of this album it would be the vocals. For me, they work incredibly well. Skull & Bones’ singer is by no means perfect. You can tell that he doesn’t always hit every note perfectly, but he has enough conviction to make it work. He also doesn’t sound like Rock ‘n Rolf, which is really nice because it differentiates the two bands. With that said, Skull & Bones definitely leans a little more towards the serious approach taken by Running Wild than the more fun approach of Alestorm. In either case, Skull & Bones is incredibly talented and have put out a great record. If the imagery turns you off, take a step back from the seriousness of metal for a second and put this record on; let the riffs speak for themselves.

Be sure to check out and like Skull & Bones on Facebook!

Highlights

"The Chest of Billy Bones"

"Long John Silver"

"Powder & Guns"

Final Rating

4.3/5 or 86%. 

Written by Scott

Freedom Call – Beyond

In a genre built on darkness, power metal has always been the odd man out. Despite boasting many of metal’s most popular bands, the subgenre fails to attract many because of its more upbeat sound. This makes Freedom Call, the happiest band in the world, even more polarizing. For 15 years, frontman Chris Bay and the rest of the band have been pumping out some of the cheesiest metal in existence with varying degrees of success. Like many bands, Freedom Call’s early work was fantastic. After that, however, it’s been somewhat of a mixed bag. With “Beyond”, the band has almost brought back the glory of the first three records. Though this album isn’t quite as good as those ones, it is a formidable effort.

Opening cut “Union of the Strong” is not only the catchiest song, but also the best. As you may have guessed, Freedom Call’s music lives or dies by the quality of the band’s melodies, whether sung or played on guitar or keyboards. In general, the first 6 songs as a whole tend to have better melodies than the later ones. In fact, tracks like “Rhythm of Light” and “Dance Off The Devil” are tamer and aren’t built around excessively cheerful melodies. This is why these songs fail to be as enticing as the ones preceding them. To be fair to the band, the songs that are in their more typical style are definitely not original. If you are a Freedom Call fan, most of this album will sound familiar, and at times even reminiscent of old records. That isn’t a bad thing, but it definitely explains why there is a bit of experimentation.

One particularly nice surprise on “Beyond” is the lengthy title track. It opens with some piano playing, and the song is defined by its more epic qualities. The melodies are more majestic, and Bay’s vocal performance is otherworldly. “Beyond” brings back the feeling that “The Quest” had from the band’s second album, which is probably my favourite Freedom Call song, so it is a welcomed throwback. Other highlights include the playful “Come On Home”, as well as the great closer “Beyond Eternity”.

“Beyond” is a very strong record from a production standpoint. Freedom Call has found a great mix where everybody can be heard easily and the catchy melodies are always front and center. It would be nice to hear a bit more of the rhythm section. The drums feel a little restrained on this album. It’s almost as if the band is playing it a bit too safe here. The music is supposed to be safe and fun, but some more aggressive drumming would add a nice edge to it. Nevertheless, this is a very minor complaint on an otherwise great record. Much like fellow power metal bands Edguy and HammerFall, Freedom Call has put out their best record in years, and that alone makes it worth a purchase!  

Be sure to check out and like Freedom Call on Facebook!

Highlights

"Union of the Strong"

"Knights of Taragon"

"Come On Home"

"Beyond"

Final Rating

4.4/5 or 88%. 

Written by Scott

Post Mortal Possession – Possessing Entity

American death metal band Post Mortal Possession’s first release is a 5-track EP entitled “Possessing Entity”. The release is a clinic in riffs and brutality. Though it does not offer much else, it really doesn’t need to. The opening riff of the beginning track, “The Harvest”, kicks things off with a bang. It isn’t long before the drums go off like a jackhammer, providing plenty of blasting. The song is interesting because it manages to switch between some techier riffs (not to be mistaken as tech-death riffs, though there are a few of those as well across the EP), as well as heavy, muted riffs like those that would be found in a brutal death metal band. No matter what style of riff the band is playing, they excel at making them both unique and memorable.

Another strong aspect of this EP is the vocal performance. Post Mortal Possession’s singer can do it all. His growl is deep, and just barely understandable (depending on just how guttural he is getting). Similarly, his highs can be discerned with some effort, and are also well performed. Make no mistake; this is a twisted individual, and his abilities compliment the chaos of “Possessing Entity”.

The production on this EP is perfect for the band’s style. Everything sounds clear (but not at Nuclear Blast levels), yet there is an edge to all of the instruments. This is especially noticeable when the guitars are playing unmuted riffs where you can hear pure unfiltered distortion that is incredibly crunchy. From a drumming perspective, the sound is more catered towards the pulsing rhythm of the double bass. Although Post Mortal Possession’s drummer is incredibly active with his fills, his kit sounds best when it is fulfilling its primary duty of driving the rest of the rhythm section.

“Possessing Entity” is relatively strong when it comes to songwriting. Though no song is quite as good as “The Harvest”, every track has something to offer. “Death March”, for example, is driven by a fantastically catchy riff. While it is not particularly fast or brutal, nor does it even feature tremolo picking, it gives the song a distinct sound. "The Arrival", by contrast, has an awesome thrashy riff. Its appearance is brief, but is a nice change of pace. The other songs likewise are chock-full of good riffs, and that is what ultimately makes “Possessing Entity” such a compelling listen. It doesn’t hurt that this release is only 22 minutes, so it never has a chance to get boring. Ultimately, this release shows that Post Mortal Possession has lots of potential.

Be sure to check out and like Post Mortal Possession on Facebook!

Highlights

"The Harvest"

"Death March"

Final Rating

4.2/5 or 84%. 

Written by Scott