Malformity – The Rapturous Unraveling
Super sick throw back here in this OSDM two song effort from Malformity, who are gaining ground since their 2014 reformation after many years of absence from the scene. The reason it sounds so authentically old is because this band existed once before in another life, circa 1995, when they churned out two fine demos of mid-paced magic. Boris Records, who has brought you such great Georgian acts as Disfigurement, Mangled, and the white-hot alumni Cloak is at the helm here, maintaining their goal of releasing only quality local extreme metal. Classics like Monstrosity and Brutality come to mind as these two well written tracks take the listener on a dynamic and nostalgic ride to the heyday of Floridian death metal. Timeless, catchy and powerful, this EP would sit nicely on your shelf next to your Resurgency and Morfin albums. Recommended. Grab it here
Mammoth Grinder – Cosmic Crypt
Texan multi-instrumentalist monster Chris Ulsh (Power Trip, Hatred Surge, Impalers) is back with his HM-2 drenched baby of punked out old school death metal, Mammoth Grinder, rounding out Relapse Records new trifecta of death metal terror. While Ulsh is primarily known for his drumming in crossover breakouts Power Trip, here he handles the thudding bass and booming vocals, and has enlisted the guitar and drumming talents of Iron Reagan’s Mark Bronzino and Ryan Parrish, respectively. With these skilled players in tow, Cosmic Crypt maneuvers from a pretty riotous d-beat driven pace to some nice dirge and back again; and manage to keep the entire ride exciting for the albums duration. Comparisons to Nihilist or Nirvana 2002 could be easily drawn. I hear some Hellhammer and bits of Swedish hardcore as well in the albums energetic pulse. I enjoy that these dudes record as an unashamed three piece… just one guitar channel… no harmonies and no solo overdubs. Just sheer fist to the face death metal UMPH! Cosmic Crypt is another damn fine installment to Ulsh’s storied career of underground greatness. Don’t miss it! Grab it here
Mental Cruelty – Purgatorium
Hailing from Karlsruhe, Germany, Mental Cruelty deliver a slick brand of slamming brutal deathcore with a substantial dose of tech death influences. An amalgamation of many modern styles, Purgatorium strives to have enough techy noodling for the Unique Leader crowd and enough beatdown for the downtempo deathcore and beatdown kids. Appropriately, it’s produced to the titties… the drums sound huge and fake, machinated to the tits. The whole thing is a very digital sounding, protools era affair. The breakdowns are many and quite menacing, but overall there isn’t an incredible amount of memorable substance here… the reliance is on sheer low-endy decimation. The low guttural vocals are nicely done but I don’t care much for the post Suicide Silence generic high vocals that just reek of youtube bedroom vocalists. There are also some cringe-worthy lines that pop out of the sonic melee that are probably being printed in block lettering on the backs of brightly colored t shirts right as we speak, begging to be shouted in unison by legions of slam adoring crowd killers everywhere. Fans of Vulvodynia, Acrania, Within Destruction and Architect of Dissonance would be all over this stuff for sure. Strap on your flat brimmed hat and get ready to spin kick your way to slam city! Grab it here
Molested Divinity – Desolated Realms through Iniquity
Hailing from Turkey, blasting brutal death bulldozers Molested Divinity are intent to maim your eardrums into submission with their full length debut this Winter. Breakneck savagery is their game, and these Turks are pulling absolutely no punches with Desolated Realms through Iniquity. Not terribly unlike local peers Decaying Purity, these dudes unfurl an endless barrage of woody snare crushes the listener while guitars churn and chug up a decimating din of US style brutal death sickness. Fans of old Deeds Of Flesh, Brutus and Vulnus will find a lot to love in span of Desolated Realms through Iniquity. It’s unbridled lunacy from start to finish. Recommended! Grab it here
Necrophobic – Mark Of The Necrogram
AAAARRRRRRGGGHHH!!!! This is too damn good! I can barely contain my excitement for this album. From the artwork to the songs themselves it really feels like Necrophobic have realized everything that has made them such an iconic band over the years and rolled it all into one killer package in Mark Of The Necrogram. The last years in the Necrophobic camp have been tumultuous to say the least, I’m glad to see my old pals from Sweden persevering through obstacles that may at one time have seemed to them insurmountable. From accusations of domestic violence leading to the departure of longtime vocalist Tobias Sidegård to various guitarist shakeups, there was sadly a time when I was feeling a bit of doubt about the future of one of my favorite bands. Thankfully after all the musical chairs ended what we’ve finally ended up with is a largely the same line up I was able to tour alongside in 2009, save the return of original vocalist Anders Strokirk (who leant his awesome rasp to their original classic The Nocturnal Silence). Rejuvenated, reinvigorated; Mark Of The Necrogram is all this and more. Absolutely classic timeless Death/Black Metal to die for! Grab it here
Nightmarer – Cacophony of Terror
Nightmarer are truly the stuff horrifying dreams are made of. The kind you have when you run out of weed for a few days and your short-term memory comes back to haunt you. These twisted dissonant death metal freaks have finally stricken with a full length offering, and not a moment too soon. With members from both Germany and the US, these international sorcerers have managed to make one focused album in the aptly-titled Cacophony Of Terror, defying the odds of distance. The maelstrom of dense blackened matter these three manage to summon is impressive to say the very least. Damaged, artful, dynamic, thought provoking modern death metal for you thinkers out there who are reveling in the post Deathspell Omega/Gorguts world of skronked-out experimentation that has become so prevalent in recent years. FFO: John Frum, Altarage, Dodecahedron, Artificial Brain, Sunless, Gorguts. Grab it here
Pestilence – Hadeon
Holy shit! This is GOOD?! I didn’t know Patrick Mameli still had it in him, frankly. Thankfully after cringe-worthy offerings in both 2011’s Doctrine and 2013’s Obsideo, dude got the memo about why we all liked him in the first place and has returned to the Pestilence sound we know and love, particularly culling from the Testimony Of The Ancients style. The riffs are techy, the vocals are dry and serpentine, and the grooves are monstrous. I simply love everything about this. Hadeon is absolute old school technical death metal paradise and will renew many fans excitement for the Dutch outfit. I know the year is young, but I will surprised if I don’t see this on some year end lists come next December. Grab it here
Requiem – Global Resistance Rising
I love these guys… great band of straight forward death metal magic. Somehow, the world has not caught on to the awesomeness that is Switzerland’s Requiem, and that is a bummer. Dudes have been trucking along for a long time dropping album after album of solid, songful death metal with a blasting energy that I’ve found to be quite addictive to little avail. There is a clean, muscular, almost Polish vibe to their sound that recalls legends Vader. The production here is perfect: clear, heavy, with nice, real drums. I have so much love for bands that continue to record albums in the old ways, bucking quantization for a more pain-staking, time consuming, yet awesome final product. Stunning artwork by the always recognizable Dan Seagrave should be a hint to the quality held within this fine record. Awesome to see Requiem working with F.D.A. Records… a fine label centered on old school death metal mastery. Perhaps with their help, Requiem can finally get a bit of the recognition they so rightfully deserve. FFO: Vader, Supreme Pain, Sotajumala, Vomitory Grab it here
Sacred Leather – Ultimate Force
I just love these dudes… so pumped to finally have an entire full length from these killer spike-clad minions of the Midwest, Sacred Leather! I’d venture to say a lot of you have known Dustin Boltjes as the drummer for Skeletonwitch, but here he claims the microphone with fingerless glove and an earth-shattering falsetto scream as Dee Wrathchild and he does so quite convincingly. NWOBHM fans will rejoice at this faithful throwback to classic times at the dawning of metal as we know it. While there are a lot of familiar tunes here from their tapes, there are some new tracks showing the bright future of this labor of immense metal love. The blazing title track and album opener Ultimate Force has me looking on craigslist for T-birds before the last note dissolves… too good! The street tough sound, tongue-in-cheek (almost) homoerotic machismo of the band photos and fucking awesome cover art combine for one solid outing of classicly informed heavy metal fun sure to please you purists out there. Press play now and get hell bent for Sacred Leather! Grab it here
Sentient Horror – The Crypts Below
Damn, I love theses guys! Stateside worshippers of Old School Swedish Death Metal Sentient Horror are as timeless and real as it gets. So much so that this juicy little EP will have you checking your calendar to make sure it’s not 1990. Spearheaded by the insane talent of guitarist/vocalist Matthew Molite, a 31-year-old graduate of Berklee College of Music, The Crypts below sees Sentient Horror flexing their incredible songcraft to impressive new heights. Since their absolutely awesome full length Ungodly Forms rocked us in 2016, I have eagerly been waiting for a glimpse of this impending EP to surface. Musically, these NJ deathsters are still firmly planted in worship the melody and muscle of early Edge Of Sanity, which I absolutely adore (the EP is even host to a faithful cover of Spectral Sorrows opener, “Darkday”). Vocally, Molite is equally impressive with a booming roar recalling early Grave. Just as with the full-length effort, this wicked five song affair was mixed by Damian Herring of Horrendous and mastered by the man himself, Dan Swano of Edge Of Sanity fame. The mix is perfect for the style and I dig the hell out of the crispy bottom-head-heavy snare. The Crypts Below is a labor of nostalgic love; reading as authentic in every sense of the word… get this now and see the bright future of the old school death metal revival. Grab it here
Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality
I find it truly sick to see these dudes signed up with Dark Descent AND Century Media for the release of their third album of crushing old school death metal intensity, Devouring Mortality. These California natives are moving up in the world! Also, recruiting legends Dan Seagrave for the stunning artwork and Dan Swano for the mixing doesn’t hurt their cred either. Sound-wise, these dudes owe a bit to the Pestilence and early Asphyx schools of death metal, with serpentine mid-rangey vocals and a crunchy death/thrash edge. Skeletal Remains are one of those deceiving three-piece outfits that sound impossibly big for their smallish stature. Devouring Mortality runs over the listener like a tank, leaving all in its path flat and lifeless. I defy you to not headbang to this shit. Grab it here
Syphilic – In The Pen
Brian Forgue (Mouthing The Offal, ex-Gutrot, ex-Saprogenic, ex-Mutilated) is indeed one of the sickest motherfuckers in the entire worldwide brutal death scene right now. He is a truly underrated force, tirelessly churning out immeasurably disgusting brutal death metal year after year with his solo project Syphilic. His vocals are inhuman, his riffs insane, his lyrical concepts are unhinged to a higher level than the competition. Simply put, he just plain works harder than everyone else. Forgue is one prolific basement dwelling weirdo who prefers solitude to social situations where he is awkward at best. His strongest voice on this earth is his absolutely vile and violent music, and In The Pen is far and away his strongest statement yet. We last heard from Brian with his vocal contribution to a project called Mouthing The Offal. Here, in a wildcard move, Brian has chosen to outsource his usual vocal position to Adam Mason (of Goratory fame), to focus sheerly on dispersing the endless barrage of guitar shrapnel which maims from the first seconds to the final drop of this authority-hating album. I cannot understate how goddamn sick it is to hear this project fully realized with real drums, by the machine-like Darren Cesca (Goratory, Deeds Of Flesh, ex-Arsis) no less. While each record has made major strides in quality in the last years, live drums takes this thing from bedroom project (a really great one, mind you) to that next level… professionality all across the board. This is absolutely as extreme as it gets, folks! Grab it here
Usurpress – Interregnum
Tribulation meets Bolt Thrower? Virus meets Grave? Sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it somehow does, and nicely at that. A healthy dosage of inspiration from 70s hard rock and progressive movements are apparent throughout Interregnum’s colorful expanse. The quiet, more sparse sections have a Cobalt-esque cowboy black metal flair… I see tumble weeds rolling by as vocalist Stefan Pettersson croons over the spindly guitars. The dynamics at play here are pretty outstanding… they really do explode into full death metal mode and back again with an artful ease. At full volume, Usurpress shovel on the cemetery dirt; this is still dark, graven death metal at heart. Overall, this is an entertaining ride that I definitely recommend. You can order on many physical formats, but the digital copy is only $3… a pretty killer move to keep the digitals so cheap, if you ask me. FFO: Cadaveric Fumes, Stench, Tribulation. Grab it here
Voracious Scourge – Our Demise
Pretty sick cast of characters here coming together for this international project of memorable old school flavored death metal muscle culling stylistically from both the Floridian and NYDM schools. Two members of underrated Texan brutal stalwarts Suture hold down the strings while Netherlands-based Sinister main man Ad Kloosterward provides a hateful vocal boom that commands with a dry ferocity; he sounds as mean as ever. Rounding out the line up is none other than ex-Suffocation legend Mike Smith on the skins. Owing a lot to the chunky east coast sound which bore legends like Suffocation, Internal Bleeding and Morpheus Descends, it’s definitely great to hear Mike Smith behind the kit with these dudes… some killer groove and NYDM breakdownage that definitely got me looking for the preorder button. There is also a technical yet melodic flavor to some of the material that harkens to mid era Monstrosity. Overall it’s a pretty successful EP, I hope this is an ongoing project for these talented veterans. I could definitely invest in a full length worth of ideas like these. Grab it here
That’s all for this month, mutants. Thanks so much for reading. I hope you’ll feel inspired to purchase some of the releases mentioned… the underground needs your contributions to keep moving forward.
Thanks to all the bands and labels for reaching out, and to the true believers who have been anticipating my return. Last but certainly not least, a huge thanks to Rob and Frank at Metal Injection for their patience and understanding. This one is for you guys!
