Salt Lake City’s SUBROSA have been steadily crafting interesting material for years now with several independent releases under their belts, but their third full length sees the band take their ambitious work to new heights with No Help for the Mighty Ones. While the band’s previous album Strega was an exercise in fuzzed out guitar tones colliding with elegant shoegazing atmospherics, the band’s latest takes the listener on a much more complete musical journey. Violinists Sarah Pendelton and Kim Pack weave a twisting path of strings that is both elegant and serene while maintaining a haunting presence throughout the course of the album. The new rhythm section of Zack Hatsis and Dave Jones also provide a sturdy, rock solid foundation for the band’s involved, often detailed song structures. Meanwhile songstress Rebecca Vernon‘s vocals take the listener on a path less traveled as she tells dark tales of literary folklore that at times evoke some of Edgar Allan Poe‘s best qualities. Her guitar work is simple, yet refined and thoughtful, designing structures that serve as creative backdrops for her interesting lyrical explorations and story telling. In taking a different approach off the beaten path, SUBROSA‘s No Help for the Mighty Ones rewards its listeners with one of the more refreshing and original musical pieces to come from the metal underground this year. (Profound Lore Records)
Author Archives: shady rajah
WORMROT – Dirge
WORMROT took the metal storm last year with the arrival the band’s incinerating debut, Abuse, which saw the band embark on a relentless touring schedule scoring legions of new fans along the way with their explosive live performances. Dirge sees the Singaporean three-piece (no, they still haven’t added a bassist) try to up the speed stakes even more with their latest 18 minutes scorcher. While the length of the “album” may seem a bit short, the sheer velocity of the songs might actually make anything longer excessive and difficult to digest. Once again recorded at TNT Studio, the razor sharp mix cuts through speakers with ample intensity. Despite the seemingly inhuman tempos created by blast master Fitri, the mix successfully captures all the fury one might experience at a WORMROT show. Vocalist Arif growls, snarls, and screeches like a demon possessed by NAPALM DEATH‘s Barney Greenway crossed with PHOBIA‘s Shane MacLachlan as guitarist Rasyid weaves an onslaught of guitarwork drawing from a seemingly endless stockpile of top notch grind riffs. 25 crushers in 18 minutes, gets the job done and quickly , but I leave the band to sum it up best as they did on track 3: “No time to sob over broken hearts, All Go, No Emo!” (Earache Records)
PHOBIA – Unrelenting
PHOBIA has been unleashing furious crust grind for decades now, and while most of their peers have either slowed down or thrown in the towel, PHOBIA just keeps the beatings coming with their umpteenth release Unrelenting. On a release perfect for today’s ADD ridden youths, the veterans manage to cram in 17 songs in under 15 minutes, cutting out the fat and layers of throwaway filler. Instead, the band’s focus is on keeping the pace relentless and the delivery punishing. There are very few “breaks” in this exercise of full throttle blasting. Sure, there’s the 30 second mini intro “T.R.O.G.,” a quick musical guitar solo from guest Dorian Rainwater on “Rehashed” and the brief mid-tempo breakdown action on “Nothing Matters,” but for the most part the attacks keep coming, driven by the band’s 10,000th drummer Bryan Fajardo (also of KILL THE CLIENT and NOISEAR) whose blast patterns drive the songs into the listener’s skull. But if those tracks prove to be too “epic,” there’s also “You Get No Remorse,” which gives you a quick 10 second grind fix, perfect for those grinders on the go. Twenty-one years in and no signs of slowing down, Unrelenting is a testament to the band’s integrity, easily showing the pretenders and wannabes how uncompromising grindcore is done. (Relapse Records)
WORMROT – Abuse
On Abuse, Singapore’s WORMROT offer up a generous 23 tracks in 22 minutes (perfect grind length) of relentless, ferocious grindcore. Drummer Fitri leads the charge with an assortment insanely fast blast beats, flurries of double bass and general cymbal-smashing mayhem. Vocalist Arif can hit the gutterals if he has to but can mix it up with high vocal shrieks and “core” vocals as needed. There’s no time for technical, mastubatory shreddery so guitarist Rasyid relies on delivering plenty of crunchy, aggressive riffing to get the job done. No bassist? No problem, as the three-piece keep the pace furious and unrelenting throughout the short, but sweet running time. While most of the songs keep with grindcore’s pent-up political slant, WORMROT isn’t without a sense of humor as evidenced on “Blasphemy My Ass” and their cover of the YEAH YEAH YEAH‘s “Rich.” The speed keeps coming throughout the 23 tracks, but the band also exhibits a bit of melody on “Fuck I’m Drunk” and the halftime section of “Blasphemy My Ass.” Vocalist Arif also did an excellent job on the mix from TNT Studios as the album cuts through with razor sharp, crystal clear clarity without sacrificing the band’s crusty edge. Despite wearing their influences on their sleeves (the band champions the sounds of NAPALM DEATH, PHOBIA, EXTREME NOISE TERROR, etc.), Abuse unleashes the fury with such conviction, it hardly matters. Abuse delivers grindcore the way it was meant to be played. (Earache Records)
SLAYER, MEGADETH, and TESTAMENT @ The Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ (08/15/10)
While most of WARBRINGER‘s fans had yet to be conceived, these metal masters were carving up cities with sheer volume, speed ,and intensity establishing the blue print for countless imitators to follow, and now some 20 years later, little has changed with each band showing the up and comers how it’s done with a night of shredding thrash. To celebrate the 20 year anniversaries of two of the more important thrash records of the 90′s (arguably two of the best in metal/thrash ever in my humble opinion) SLAYER and MEGADETH would be performing the classic Seasons in the Abyss and Rust in Peace albums in their entirety, much to the delight of the fans who caught the bands on the Clash of the Titans Tour back in the day, as well as those who missed that historic tour.
As the sun went down, a decent crowd slowly filled in to witness the arrival of TESTAMENT, who got the evening off to an explosive start with “More than Meets the Eye” from their latest, The Formation of Damnation. As an opener, the band was given a limited of time (unfortunately, The Legacy or The New Order would not be getting the same treatment as the headliners). But they made the most of it, mixing up classics, “Into the Pit” and “Sins of Omission,” with the near-death metal stylings of “Dog Faced Gods” and “D.N.R.” before closing out with the title track of Formation delivering a short, but killer set to get the get crowd started.
Dave Mustaine immediately arrived after a short changeover to launch in to the scorching “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due.” Seemingly effortless in their performance, the band delivered spot-on renditions of the entire album with drummer Shawn Drover and former JAG PANZER/NEVERMORE shredder Chris Broderick filling in admirably, almost as if they had played on the album all along. Dave Ellefson marked a welcome return with simple “Dawn Patrol,” which led into Drover‘s tom pounding of the rarely heard “Rust in Peace (Polaris).” The band could have left after that since they had just delivered a pyrotechnic display of technical speed metal that challenged any guitar virtuoso band in the world in terms of technicality, while still retaining that cutting thrash edge. Luckily for the crowd, MEGADETH offered up a mini encore featuring “Trust,” “Head Crusher (the sole new track from Endgame),” “A Tout Le Monde” before Ellefson unleashed that all too familiar bass line from “Peace Sells.” Normally after such a set, it would time to split, and what band would want to follow such a charged performance?
The band that inspired everyone from HATEBREED, WATAIN, PUBLIC ENEMY, as well as a countless glut of thrash, death, grind, black, and hardcore bands…the mighty SLAYER that’s who. Getting down to business, SLAYER delivered “World Painted Blood” and “Hate Worldwide” from their newest album, quickly clearing the new material out of the way so the fans could hear the coveted “old shit.” The blistering “War Ensemble” got the pit swirling with bodies and beer crashing in to one another with reckless abandon. I’ve always found it amusing how often any number of black metal, death metal, and hardcore bands desperately try to demand that fans “get a pit going” while SLAYER simply unleashes flurries of double bass, evil, sinister riffs and twisted bizarre guitar solos that their fans need no encouragement to cave each other skulls in. As a fan favorite, many of the Seasons in the Abyss tracks have never been performed numerous times, so it was great to catch the band whip out rarities such as “Expendable Youth,” the piercing “Hallowed Point,” and the plodding, possibly slowest song in their catalog “Skeletons of Society” – which while slow, rumbled through like a tank plowing through the crowd. The catchy, but little played “Temptation” also delivered, setting up the headripping “Born of Fire” and the ominous closing title track. For the encore we had “South of Heaven,” “Raining Blood” and a classic from the first album, “Aggressive Perfector,” before “Angel of Death” did what is does, which is crush everything in sight. Hands down one of the best shows of the year thus far, and felt more like an event as opposed to “some bands playing.” Witnessing veterans who helped create a genre nail it in their prime is always rewarding, so if you haven’t already, get tickets ASAP and witness three headliners deliver at the height of their powers before time runs out.
IMMOLATION with ARSIS and DISMA @ The Studio at Webster Hall, New York City (07/28/10)
Webster Hall has long been known for bringing in mainstream acts and hosting lavish dance parties, but fortunately for the metal faithful, who crammed in to the small darkened recesses of the joint (The Studio) there would be none of that as one of New York’s longest standing underground legends IMMOLATION played a rare NYC club date as the band prepares for their tour with VADER.
Upon arriving in the dark basement of Webster Hall, I witnessed openers DISMA, a last second addition to the show. Featuring ex-members of INCANTATION, and members from a slew of veteran underground bands, I had high expectations for the band, but sadly the performance and overall delivery was a bit bland. The sound didn’t help matters as it was pretty blurry and wasn’t particularly powerful. The band offered slow, plodding material much in the vein of INCANTATION and our evening’s headliners, but the songs weren’t especially memorable, and the heat of the venue only made the performance that much more sluggish.
Following up after DISMA came the sleek, polished sounds of ARSIS. Upon graduating from delivering DEATH-inspired material, Jim Malone and company have since opted to lift the shredding skills of CHILDREN OF BODOM, (as heard on their new album Starve for the Devil) making them an oddball choice for this show. After nearly dozing off several times during the previous set, the band’s hyper active noodling and busy fret work actually lifted the energy mode a bit. They had several of their fans out there pumping their fists with great enthusiasm as the band delivered several of their numerous crowd motivating anthems. IMMOLATION fans weren’t as easily sold, but begrudgingly declined to taunt the band of fret burners. The sound was also bad for them making it difficult for their songs to really cut through, but the band soldiered on well enough.
Finally the hometown (by way of Yonkers) heroes arrived unleashing “The Purge” from their latest effort, Majesty and Decay, before releasing spot on renditions of Unholy Cult and World Agony. Fortunately, the sound was finally crystal clear and cut through with great clarity as Bob Vigna‘s guitar acrobatics, disjointed, dissonant riffs and leads squeezed the life of any Christian foolish enough to venture in the vicinity. Bill Taylor‘s riffage perfectly complemented Vigna‘s organized chaos with an underlying crunching drive, and octopus-like drummer Steve Shalaty‘s intricate complex drum patterns kept the rhythm alive and pounding. Let’s not forget Ross Dolan‘s bludgeoning bass lines and throat scraping growls eithe, as the frontman was menacing throughout the set, but equally humble when expressing gratitude towards the fans for their 25 years of support. IMMOLATION focused a decent amount of time on tracks from their killer new Majesty and Decay album, delivering the title track as well as “A Glorious Epoch.” Classics from the band’s substantial catalog were brought out for the occasion as well, including “Burial Ground” from their debut, and “Father You’re Not a Father” from Close to a World Below. The band mixed and matched various tracks from their extensive discography before closing it out with a blistering version of “Passion Kill.” Another convincing performance from these death metal greats, easily wiping away much of the shred-first songs later mentality of most of the new death metal acts out these days in one quick and deadly blow. If you couldn’t make it out for this one, make sure to catch them on their tour with label mates VADER later on in the Fall for a textbook performance in death metal ass-kicking.
IMMOLATION – Majesty and Decay
For over 20 years, IMMOLATION has continued to raise the bar for quality underground metal and on their eighth full-length, Majesty and Decay, the Yonkers NY quartet shows no signs of softening up or slowing down. “The Purge” sets the stage for the onslaught to come, taking the listener through a labyrinth of twisted, convoluted riffs and blasting drum patterns. But to the band’s credit, they allow plenty of room for the riffs to breathe and the listener to absorb them which makes the onslaught a little easier to digest. The pace continues with urgency throughout most of Majesty and Decay. However, the band’s subtle use of dynamics and ability to pull back on the aggression speaks volumes of the band’s maturity as they are able to interject plenty of atmosphere into the proceedings that balances out the audio beating the listener experiences. The band also benefits from an overall clearer, fuller mix courtesy of Zach Ohren (DECREPIT BIRTH, ALL SHALL PERISH) then on previous releases, allowing the album’s more intricate details to come to the forefront. Majesty and Decay’s greatest strength maybe the overall feeling of dread and doom throughout the album, punctuated by the band’s continuous ominous atmosphere throughout. Perhaps their strongest, most mature effort to date, yet nonetheless as vicious and relentless as when the first unleashed Dawn of Possession on an unsuspecting public so many years ago. It should go without saying, but if you are a fan of quality death metal, you need to pick this up right now. (Nuclear Blast Records)
IMMORTAL @ Masonic Temple, Brooklyn, NY (03/30/10)
Having experienced some heavy storms that past weekend, New York residents eagerly awaited the arrival of Spring. But before April would usher in the sunshine, there would be one more night of rain and darkness. As irritated patrons waited impatiently through the unnecessarily long security lines, many (adorably adorned in corpse paint) waited with baited breath for the arrival of Norway’s darkest northern sons.
I missed 99% of BLACK ANVIL‘s set due to the lines. However, I was still able to catch their staple song “777” a dark catchy mid-tempo track that comes across as an unreleased CELTIC FROST song with Jeff Walker from CARCASS on vocals. The band has made a name for themselves with a relentless touring schedule and should definitely be checked out for all those interested in another band that worships at the HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST altar. Plus, they usually end with a solid rendition of “Dethroned Emperor.”
After a fairly quick set up, an ominous marching snare signaled the arrival of the Norwegian troupe as they launched into the title track of their new album, All Shall Fall. Mosh pits quickly unfurled and drinks were spilled. A thunderous tom pounding from man mountain Horgh quickly followed as he propelled follow-up, “Rise of Darkness,” with driving rhythm. As tight as bolts and nuts, the three-piece sounded like an army as they plowed through tracks from Sons of Northern Darkness, including the title track and the punchy fist-raising anthem, “Tyrants.”
Returning to more All Shall Fall material, the band kept the faithful alive with continuous permeating fog, lights, corpse paint, spikes, and an all encompassing sound that reflected all things great about a metal show. While showmanship these days seems to be heading out as a thing of the past or perhaps deemed as cliché or campy, the band has handled such trends with aplomb, ably backing up their onstage theatrics with strong, powerful, catchy material.
Heading into the past, fans were then treated to classic material from Pure Holocaust as well as tracks such as “Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms,” “Withstand the Fall of Time,” and “Battles in the North” before ending the set with “Blashyrkh the Mighty Raven Dark.” No encores, no nonsense, just a sharp effective live experience from one of the few remaining originators of True Norwegian Black Metal.
SLAYER – World Painted Blood
For almost thirty years, SLAYER has unleashed no-frills, no-bull speed metal setting the benchmark for countless acts to follow. They have stuck to their guns and remained unflinching in their approach to uncompromising metal. On their 10th proper studio album, World Painted Blood, the Cali-quartet digs into their extensive bag of metal tricks with another strong offering. The title track starts with an ominous almost SABBATH-like vibe before drummer Dave Lombardo kicks things in to gear and sets the album’s tone with some effective hard-hitting. This continues throughout the first three tracks and one can only marvel at the fact that most of these veterans are in their 40′s. Nonetheless, the band comes on strong attacking the material with the enthusiasm of youngsters half their age. “Beauty through Order” sees the band adopt a more sinister vibe before kicking in full-throttle throughout the remainder of the song. Lead off “single” “Hate Worldwide” keeps the full-throttle spirit alive, but it’s Dave Lombardo‘s incorporation of blast beats on “Public Display of Dismemberment” and closing track “Not of This God” that really set SLAYER apart from the other “big three” of thrash. SLAYER is willing to go that extra mile and pull out all the stops to keep up with the never ending plethora of metal bands coming out of the wood works as many of their contemporaries are content to sit back or get out of the way of the competition. But while SLAYER is SLAYER, and the band’s commitment and intention is clearly evident, World Painted Blood isn’t without its faults. “Human Strain” plods along in an uninspired manner, coming across as unfinished idea rather than a complete song. “Americon,” with its oddly preachy political bent about oil, drives along like a more aggressive metal-oriented MINISTRY song than something one would expect from these genre leaders. The peculiar “Playing with Dolls” also comes out of left field, delivering an odd curiosity rather than the face smashing thrash or a disturbing sense of atmosphere that the band is usually known for. But those are minor complaints, as the majority of World Painted Blood brings it strong, standing tall against the grain and holding true to the strength of metal that many of have forgotten. (American Recordings)
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GOATWHORE – Carving Out the Eyes of God
On album four from these masters of blackened death, GOATWHORE unleashes possibly their most focused, structured work to date with Carving Out the Eyes of God. Opening track “Apocalyptic Havoc” opens up the flood gates with a fist-pumping metal anthem replete with sing along hook, “Who needs a God when you’ve got Satan?” Relentless and energetic in its pace, the song sets the tone for the album, balancing hooks with aggression. “The All Destroying” keep the blasting on point, but the band tempers the speed with flowing angry riffs that eventually settle in to a CELTIC FROST/HELLHAMMER-worshipping groove that GOATWHORE has become known for. “In Legions I am Wars of Wrath” is the album’s centerpiece – delivering a relentless torrent of speed with a driving attack before changing it up with some clever half tempo sections, highlighted by a Schuldiner-inspired solo from guitarist Sammy Duet channeling the mighty late DEATH guitarist. The bottom heavy groove from Nathan Bergeron keeps things nice and punchy throughout, while drummer Zack Simmons pounds the snot out of his drums. In the thick of it all, vocalist Ben Falgoust snarls, growls, and shouts his way through the proceedings (with some backup help from guitarist Duet), weaving tales of death, darkness, woe, and decay throughout the album. Erik Rutan captures the band’s blasphemy with skill, offering greater clarity than on the album’s predecessor The Haunting Curse as well as the band’s earlier, muddier releases. But the standout is Sammy Duet who delivers his most melodic involved solos to date, and to his credit, offers guitar work that enhances the songs as oppossed to drowning them with flashy overly technical playing. Ominous closer “To Mourn & Forever Wander Through Forgotten Doorways” finishes the album on a strong note offering up one of the band’s better songs to date. All in all, a fine outing from America’s finest blackened metal troupe. (Metal Blade Records)
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