Decatur - Badder than Brooklyn

Sometimes a bio just lets you know what you're in for. Toronto-based Decatur were recommended for fans of Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage and In Flames. Right off the bat, there's a problem here. Metallica? (which period-thrash metal or their first major music video period, dominant snare drum period or ....?), Pantera (OK, same problem but most people only know the Phil Anselmo era). The bio also states that Decatur play real metal for metalheads but later it's stated that they get their unique sound be being open minded to other genres such as blues, rock and roll and even pop.


There are plenty of chugging riffs in "Internal War". It's now clear that the Metallica influence is from their thrash metal period and the vocals are Phil Anselmo style shouts. An 80's style thrashing intro opens "Into the Night" and the band sound great until the vocals kick in. They are nice and clear but the vocalist sounds like he has been chain smoking Malboro and Camel cigarettes since coming out of the womb, which would be great if Decatur were a death metal band but they're more in line with retro-thrash. There is, however a great guitar sound, which is close to being a constant throughout this album but more about that later. The opening to "Vegas Girl" borrows liberally from Pantera's "Walk" and descends into hair metal territory. Maybe this is an intentional tongue and cheek parody of Motley Crue's "Girls Girls Girls" and the singing is supposed to sound like an off-key Vince Neil with a nose and throat full of mucus. A relief comes in the form of Metallica style riffs in the next track "Worst Enemy" and the vocals edge towards Martin Walkyier but sadly miss that mark. This band who claim to play metal for metalheads open the title track of this album with a Sex Pistols riff then go thrash metal. On this tune the vocals fall somewhere between Lemmy and Rob Flynn.







"Bottled Inside" is some mighty fine thrash but for the most part the vocals sound like they're being read for an audio-book after the narrator just came home from a night spent boozing it up. "Tear You" opens with the lyrics, "I just can't take this". I know what the band mean. Actually they get back on track and lay down some righteous thrash here but there's still a mismatch between the song's tempo and the vocals. "Abbaddon" is some fine thrash but there are products you can buy to solve constipation and they could have saved this track. "Shatterproof starts out as a mid-paced metal tune with shouted vocals and then Decatur turn out some tight thrash. The final track is called "Internal War pt. 2" and sounds about as original as the title and pretty much like an instrumental by the band that title reminds you of. This is the best track on the album because it not only ends the album and thankfully, there are no vocals.



There's no way this album is getting post-review play. Brooklyn must be pretty bad.



1/5


Release Date: 6 October 2017


Decatur on Facebook

Pathology - Pathology

Bleeeeeurggggggghhhhhm, blurggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, beeeeeeeelchhhhhhhhhhhh. society, bllaaarggghhh, basically sums up both the vocals and the lyrics for brutal death metal band, Pathology. It sounds like the vocalist is trying to escape from inside a washing machine while it's doing a spin cycle but he is a complete failure as a soldier in the war against machines and is also crying his eyes out. The music is relentless fast brutal death metal with very little time to slow down and honestly when Pathology slow down and abandon the vocals, they sound like a good band unfortunately these parts are a very small percentage of this release. The drums are absolutely punished at a speed that sounds like the man handling the sticks has either never heard of or desires repetitive strain injury. The guitar sound is clear but those annoying vocals are way too loud in the mix. It's really difficult for a casual listener to distinguish between the bursts of noise (let's not call these creations songs) as there's no obvious starting and stopping points as Pathology take the same stand to intros. Despite the fact that Pathology are now up to album nine with their self-titled, there's definitely no desire from these parts to explore their back catalogue as this release totally misses the mark.





1/5


https://comatosemusic.bandcamp.com/album/pathology




Pathology on facebook

Sanctification - Black Reign

Sanctification – “Black Reign”, 2009
(Pulverized)

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Neither should a paragraph start with a cliche but convention and rules were invented to be broken. Swedish death metal band Sanctification either missed the memo about crushing the rules or the meaning got lost in translation. “Black Reign” is like when you get a packaged box for Christmas. You give it that shake that lets you know that someone was incapable of thinking of a more imaginative gift than a box of chocolates. The blame clearly lies firmly on the shoulders of the “Forest Gump”scriptwriters.

The expected down-tuned guitars, blast-beats, asthmatic elephant blowing through a snorkel vocals are all present on this album. The clear but gruff spoken chorus of the title song is the closest these guys come to any semblance of melody. “Thirst for Blood” is relentless with crushing riffs over pounding drums. Soundwise Sanctification edge closer to Deicide than Dismember. However most of the songs are the songs are mid-tempo so they blur together. Instead of invoking the feeling of being run over head on by a Mac truck which then reverses to make sure the job’s completed and leaving the victim flattened and incapable of passing on stories to his grandkids, “Black Reign” just leaves a listener flat due to its generic nature.


1/5


The small takeover on facebook

Dead to Me - African Elephants

Dead to Me   “African Elephants”, 2009
(Fat Wreck Chords)

Even if you’ve never watched “Day of Our Lives”, you’ll have an awareness that ignoring the sands passing through the hourglass is tough.  It’s apparent that despite gray hairs, wrinkles and senility taking over the mind and settling into stay, music and fashion trends often come and go.  Whether it’s the Nirvana alike closer “Blue”, reggae of “X”, the or the album’s more commonplace Down By Law pop punk, it’s clear that Dead to Me would have been more at home in the nineties.

Dead to Me mix up of “alternative “ styles that were edging towards mainstream over a decade ago and as a consequence, the songs not only sound dated but the band’s personality shines through about as clearly as the invisible man without the bandages. If you lived through the nineties, you’ve likely heard much better versions of this album without the cut and paste compilation album effect.   If you’re over ten, can tie your own shoelaces and are capable of wearing a baseball cap correctly then pass on this pop punk Miley Cyrus equivalent.

1/5

Band website

Microtia - Spacemaker CD

Microtia Spacemaker

The press blurb on the back describes Microtia as Bjork pumped with four hundred cc’s of testosterone and put her in a rough edged rock band and the end result will sound something like Portland’s pride powerhouse rock ensemble. Anyone that looks into this due to the Bjork reference will come away disappointed because this is straight ahead rock and offers nothing at all like the Icelandic oddball.

This band borrows liberally from Muse. “1000% sure” could easily pass for one of that band’s songs and many of the others compete for similar cloning. It’s difficult to fault the musicianship of Microtia however that could be said of thousands of bands out there. It’s telling that the most interesting song on this album is entitled, “Add Insult to Injury”. The packaging is more interesting than the music. The CD cover is made from a Bud Light beer box and the song list is on a cutout from a pack of Malboro Lights. Apparently they make their own instruments too. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were light versions of the real McCoy too.

1/5




http://www.myspace.com/microtia

Giorgio Maggiore - Radioanima

Around here, a well-packaged CD solicited for review often sends shivers down the spine due to a foreboding sense of dread. All too often the quality of the music is overshadowed by the quality of the packaging. Admittedly there are rare as hen’s teeth exceptions to the rule. After tearing the shrinkwrap off this disc I discovered that GIORGIO MAGGIORE , who plays the synth, drums, tambourine, bass, guitar and sings on this album, is a solo musician in the truest sense of the word. The music is ambient soundtrack fare.

The title track is divided up into three parts, two of which are dreary instrumentals. “Sperance Tradite” starts with lengthy and repetive keyboard tinkering before traveling to a more tranquil destination. Latin guitar in “La Porte” and Giorgio Italian accented crooning would appeal more to the elderly blue rinse brigade. The criteria used for judging albums on this site is based on the rock factor and from the opening track it’s clear that this disc would score higher on the snooze factor. This is an album for those who speak of Vangelis and Clannad in revered tones. It’s a perfect gift for someone who only listens to music as background noise.

1/5