Dead Awaken - When Hope Turns Dripping Red

Here's some more death metal from another Swedish trio.  This time round though it's largely of a more generic variety, which spells boring to most reviewers and this one is no exception.    The vocals are the belched out cookie monster variety and the drum beats are slow.   "Rocket Symphony" and has a standard rock beat which betrays the song's title.  If this what a Swedish rocket sounds like then their sports cars must be of the silent variety. There is a lot of promise in "Deutches Afrika Corpse" with its brutal blistering  riff salad intro and the song holds together well although unfortunately the drum sound lacks any major punch.  "Mudhell"  is an interesting beast as it starts out deathly and then has a military marching beat in the middle and only in the dying seconds does the song speed up again.


Overall, this release is strictly for fans of generic death metal.  All others will find little of interest on "Where Hope Turns Dripping Red".    It might be an idea to hide the drummer's copy of "And Justice For All" somewhere it can't be easily be found and slip in any Slayer album in the case or MP3 file.

2/5

Masquerader - Singular Point

 Here's another sophomore EP but this time it's from a Taiwanese thrash metal band who make no bones about being anything other than a thrash metal band.  The reference points are definitely 80's thrash and the geographical reference is definitely once again the Bay Area although "Singular Point"'s science fiction cover is more akin to Canadian's Voivod or their young devoted acolytes, Vektor.

Ian Hsiao's vocals  bring Exodus to mind especially in "Thrasher Commandos" which will take many back to a time and a place where those uniformed in high tops and denim jeans and jacket  fought weekend battles against the "glam fags".  There are a few high pitched moments but thankfully no silly falsetto screams.  The drumming is tight and furiously fast and the guitar riffs are weighty and tight despite their seemingly frenetic pace.   The guitar sound is very much in the San Francisco mold although there although there a moments that the aforementioned Canadians come to mind.

There will be some that will say that the lyric could have used a bit more work but for a band whose second language is English, I found these well written compared to a crop of other bands who sail in the same boat.  They deserve bonus points for writing about nuclear power, which is very much a current issue in their homeland of Taiwan.  The S.A.T.A.N nonsense should have been left in the eighties, although Masquerader are hardly alone in writing cliched satanic lyrics.    The overall production is slick.   Masquerader are a force to be reckoned with live and this EP backs up their live show.  All fans of eighties thrash metal should check "Singular Point out.

4/5

Masquerader on facebook

Septekh - Apollonian Eyes

(Abyss Records)


  Whether it's fortunate or unfortunate that geographical locations are often used to describe a band's music is difficult to say, especially in the case of metal.  References such as Bay Area thrash, Japanese hardcore don't really hurt but rather aid both a listener and give a reviewer an easy reference points.  It's fairly easy to know what you're in for when you're told a band is Swedish death metal although on Septekh may well be from Sweden, the band's  latest release "Apollonian Eyes"  is much more than run of the mill old school death metal.  There's a potpourri of metallic styles at work that is reminiscent of Demontage.

Vitriolic deathly vocals are spat out in the title track but there are mixture of blackened death metal riffs with chunks of Maiden.  It's also  clear that these guys are fans are of early Kreator especially in "Burn it To The Ground" which sounds like it could have been written in the early eighties by the German thrashers.   In places the drums don't sound quite as tight though but that only contributes to an even grittier death and roll sound.  Tasty  power metal and new wave of British metal chunks are dealt out on "Vlad Tapes" and regardless of your poker face,  it's definitely a winning hand .  The usage of both the traditional metal riffs and blackened metal within their old school death metal style, it's clear Septekh are not content to keep to the stale cookie cutter pattern.

The main complaint with this release is its too short.   The band keep this listener wanting to hear more from them.

4/5

Septekh's band website

Septekh on facebook





Small Takeover on Facebook

The Gates of Slumber - The Awakening

Abyss Records

The Gates of Slumber are a band I've heard a lot of good things about but never really paid attention to although the three words that surround the band's reputation are essential doom metal.  Whether or not you think music of any genre is essential is entirely your decision unless of course doctors have started prescribing it in doses to their patients.  "Take two grindcore tablets, you might feel a quick sharp shock and acquire the taste but the initial digestion will be immediate with no side effects".


It's all too easy to be cynical about re-issues where there are too many bands vying for your attention, music is mainly kept in digital form on a computer and most re-issues are just cash-ins on a band's previous success.  This trio produce some of the most well-played and well written doom metal that it isn't surprising to be mentioned in the same sentence as Candlemass and the more obvious, Black Sabbath.  This re-release of the bands 2004 output is well worth getting your grimy hands on.

4.5/5

The Gates of Slumber website

Midas Fall - Wilderness

Midas Fall -Wilderness -

 Being a sado-masochist is the only reason I can justify my  downloading of this second album by Manchester based band, Midas Fall as the promo material compared the band to Portishead, Radiohead and Oceansize . Portishead are boring and annoying with horrible female vocals. Radiohead haven't really been on my radar since they stopped being a cross between Echo and The Bunnymen and Straitjacket Fits.  The Oceansize, I received for review(and the only output of theirs I have heard) I wrote off as highly suitable as background music for coffeshops due to its inoffensive pleasantness.
All of the above comparisons do make sense in the case of Midas Fall, however they've managed to be more listenable than the bands they are clearly influenced by.  The vocals of Elizabeth Heaton are band's major strengths as they are neither too syrupy or too harsh.  An easy comparison would be Kate Bush.  

 "Wilderness" could be easily written off as another album that would be more suitable for coffee shops seeking inoffensive and unintrusive background music although there are multiple times throughout the album where both electronic sounds and guitar work attention grab although in "Fight First" the electronica is a bit much for my tastes but thankfully the song is brief.  

The fact that the band actually have a website is to be applauded in this day and age as so many bands just stick with  the bland facebook and bandcamp route.  "Wilderness" is the band's second album and it's going to interesting to see how the band develop in the future but for now, "Wilderness" is well worth venturing into.

3.5/5



Midas Fall's band webpage


 

Electric Jezus

 Throughout the world, it's widely known that Russian fudge is pretty sweet.  Russian sludge though remains a well-kept secret probably because not that many people play or maybe even like it in the former Soviet Union.   I'm guessing that the reason that both Electricjezus and Noye elected for the two man approach is more out of necessity than anything else.

I'm going to take the lazy approach and quote from the information the band sent me...."The group consist of 2 people, but a set of instruments remains classical – guitar, drums, bass. It became possible by installing single bass pickup in the neck of guitar. Also we use very thick strings for best bass sound and use two 22” rides or piece of metal for hi hat. All our lyrics on the album arein Russian.

The band’s style is very, very multifaceted, you can find here post rock, sludge metal, doom metal, power violence, black metal, hardcore, stoner and everything you want. This is partly due love for groups like Melvins, Electric Wizard, Earth, Jucifer, Today Is The Day, Sunn O))), Monarch, Flipper, Acid Bath, Scratch Acid, Burning Witch, Dystopia, Pantera, etc. We took a piece of these groups, added our surrounding reality (dirt, noise, monotony) and got our music. With this concept we played about a dozen shows in various cities including Moscow, Moscow region and St. – Petersburg.
Not long ago, we recorded a rusty, damp and dirty album titled «Mud of generations», and want to introduce it to you! It was recorded entirely on analog equipment and it fully live record, we recorded the album close to reality and it sounds exactly as we sound on live performances. During recording, we used analog equipment from different years and from different countries, old Soviet synthesizers, old piano, use ride cymbals or broken crash with pieces of metal for hi hats, old microphones.
For the integrity album we decided to insert audio from popular and not so popular horror films, these inserts reflect the character and mood of the songs, so we recommend you listen to the album  from the beginning to the end."   

The horror movie samples definitely play an important part and the lyrics being in Russian is definitely not a bad thing as the atmosphere created relies mainly on the music and samples. Reading back over the materials the band used making this music, it's a little mind blowing how good this sounds and those that feel that they need the most up-to-date expensive equipment for the best sound should hang their heads in shame. This slab of Russian sludge is pretty sweet.

Check this album out on the band's bandcamp linked below.

4/5


http://electricjezus.bandcamp.com/