ALBUM REVIEW: Deadbird, "III: The Forest Within The Tree"

By: Pim Latuny

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 12/10/2018
Label: 20 Buck Spin Records

Deadbird has made a profound, meaningful, crushing record.

“III: The Forest Within The Tree” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. The Singularity

2. Luciferous Heart

3. Heyday

4. Alexandria

5. 11:34

6. Brought Low

7. Bone & Ash

8 Ending

 The Review

After ten years Deadbird is back with their third record called “III: The Forest Within The Tree”. A concept album? Maybe, and if you take a look at the mysterious but brilliant artwork that idea is confirmed again. More than four years they have worked on this album and they sound heavier, proggier and above all more dynamic.

The record has similarities with “Morningrise”by Opeth but with more doom/sludge metal influences. The acoustic parts are a nice contrast against the doomy guitar riffs and there are grunge and punk influences, especially when all the band members sing together. A band like Alice In Chains is obviously an influence, which is always a good thing. But don't be scared, Deadbird does not imitate them, they have their own sound and they realize that. The album contains eight songs and every song is packed with ideas that blend seamlessly, making each song a voyage of discovery. “Heyday” is a good example of this; without warning you are pulled into a deep forest where forest spirits show you the horrors of mankind: capped trees, dead rabbits and bears stuck in bear traps. “Alexandria”sounds like a battle song as if a forest warrior addresses his troops and “Bone & Ash” is a straight-forward sludge punk song.

The music is heavy and at the same time melancholic, and it is perfectly balanced. Just like the sound effects such as wind, insects or birds that are very subtly interwoven within the music. But the vocals are the icing on the cake. Without the scream, the grunt scream or the singing together, this record would be less awesome. It really gives a very dark autumnal atmosphere to this album.

Deadbird has made a profound, meaningful, crushing record. “III: The Forest Within The Tree”, can mean a lot, for me it stands for man's creativity, and how we can let that grow if we take the chance or get the chance to do so. And Deadbird certainly took that opportunity.

“III: The Forest Within The Tree” is available here

Band info: facebook|| bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Extremity, "Coffin Birth"

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 20/07/2018

Label: 20 Buck Spin

To put out an album that stands out in what feels like a tidal wave of high quality releases is no small achievement, and the band should feel immense pride in what they’ve created here. This is mandatory listening.

‘Coffin Birth’ CD//LP//CS//DD track listing:

1. Coffin Birth / A Million Witches

2. Where Evil Dwells

3. Grave Mistake

4. Umbilicus

5. For Want of a Nail

6. Occision

7. Like Father like Son

8. Misbegotten / Coffin Death

The Review:

As seems to happen every so often, we’re in the midst of a gigantic death metal resurgence. Top notch albums are coming out from across the globe and the songwritings as good as it’s ever been. The added benefit this time around is that it isn’t all from one particular sub-style. In the past we’ve seen resurgences in early Incantation worship, Stockholm sweddeath, and others beyond. This time around, it just seems as though death metal as a whole is experiencing an uptick, with a number of bands putting it all together at the same time, across a range of styles.

In a way, Extremity embodies the entirety of death metal’s 2018 rebirth. The sonically massive recording, the inclusion of a wide range of influences, but all under death metal’s larger umbrella. As the album goes along, the songs invoke something familiar, but never outright worshipping a specific band. You’ll hear something that would feel at home on a Bolt Throweralbum, or something that would feel at home on a Carnage or Unleashed album, and even early Deathrears its head in some of the harmonized guitar leads. On ‘Coffin Birth’, Extremity takes all of these different sounds, and brings them together into a single, cohesive whole, and it fucking rules.

Each song on ‘Coffin Birth’ feels like a journey, rather than a compilation of great riffs. The band rarely ever dwell on the same idea for long, and each new place a song end up keeps the song interesting. Just looking at “For Want of a Nail” as an example: the song opens up with a lurching, climbing double kick section, before the tempo kicks up somewhat as twisting, limber riffs keep up with Aesop Dekker’s thrashy beat. After that, the song launches into an utterly crushing breakdown, in which Aesop Dekker’s masterful sense of groove and feel take center stage, the moment made all the more powerful by a breakdown riff that’s up there with “Master Butcher’s Apron” off of Carcass’ ‘Surgical Steel’, meaning it’s among the best of this decade. That’s not to mention the fantastic solo work that immediately follows, though I’m not certain which guitarist to credit Marissa Martinez-Hoadley or Shelby Lermo for it.

There’s so much going on in each and every song, and none of it ever feels forced, nor do the transitions ever feel unnatural. Each song is an ever-mutating creature unto itself and yet unified as one greater whole. ‘Coffin Birth’ is the work of musicians who’re at the height of their creative powers, standing out and claiming their own piece of an exceptional time in death metal history. To put out an album that stands out in what feels like a tidal wave of high quality releases is no small achievement, and the band should feel immense pride in what they’ve created here. This is mandatory listening.

‘Coffin Birth’ is available digitally on CD, LP, or Cassette here.

Band info: Facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Tomb Mold, "Manor of Infinite Forms"

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released:08/06/2018

Label: 20 Buck Spin

“…through sheer inertia and boundless enthusiasm, Tomb Mold have gone from impressive acolytes to new standard bearers in death metal.”

“Manor of Infinite Forms” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Manor of Infinite Forms

2. Blood Mirror

3. Abysswalker

4. Final Struggle of Selves

5. Gored Embrace (Confronting Biodegredation)

6. Chamber of Sacred Ootheca

7. Two Worlds Become One

The Review:

If past years have been hallmarks for North Amercianblack metal, North American doom, North American sludge and the various permutations, 2018 may be a new high water mark for underground North American Death Metal.  While the stalwarts of the genre have bounced back some in recent years, the current class of death metal freshmen have been conjuring albums that are among the best the genre has ever unleashed.  Genocide Pact, Gatecreeper, and Of Feather and Bone are putting out some of the balls to the wall best metal in the US of rotten A, while Canada’s Tomb Mold has, with “Manor of Infinite Forms”, crafted a contender for personal favorite of 2018.  Indebted to genre legends but forging its own unholy amalgam of complex riffs and memorable hooks, Tomb Mold have a massive slab with their second full-length and debut on 20 Buck Spin.

Primary songwriter and guitarist Derrick Vella loads the title track with snaky, infectious leads.  Drummer/vocalist Max Klebanoff pulls off remarkable kitwork that runs the gamut from headspinning blasts to punky gallops, with some remarkable fills thrown in for good measure.  While Tomb Mold borders on progressive death metal, and the leads have a refreshing level of clarity (shred worshipers will have two new icons with Vella and second guitarist Payson Power), there is a stomach churning element of crusty decay seeping through the shimmering technical prowess.  When the bridge of “Blood Mirror” slows to a crawl, then gradually ratchets back to midtempo bashing, it’s pure Neanderthal magic. “Final Struggle of Selves” is a perfect martial anthem for the ignorant orcs out there, with a solid, dirty bassline that highlights the sonic balance the quartet has mastered: high leads anchored by thick low end.

Can I mention the remarkable storytelling on display here?  Because Tomb Mold’s wicked lyrical descriptions are cosmic horror that I generally have to turn to Lovecraft or Ligotti or Kiernan to approximate.  The denizens of the Tomb Mold universe inhabit dead planets, unholy underworld dominions, infected by unimaginable decay and contemplating sheer nihilistic terrors.  “Chamber of Sacred Ootheca”, a vicious chugging assault loaded with chaotic guitar work, also has some truly harrowing imagery: “Harness the cosmos from within / This hidden planet / Awaken / Reanimate the remaining petrified / Realign the signals / Usher in the age of universal torment / Hear the calls”.  Klebanoff’s vocal placement in the mix is perfect – just distant enough to be eerie, but also intelligible (with a lyric sheet firmly in hand anyway).  Album closer “Two Worlds Become One” acts as a perfect apotheosis for the Canadian wizards.  Vella displays his prog bona fides with a haunting classical guitar intro, before delving into a nightmare tale of demonic ascension.  Vella and Power craft sinister harmonies, Musgrave lays out precise bass work, and Klebanoff’s maniac drumming and curdled screams elevate the 8 minute closer to genuine epic status. 

It’s hard to describe why it all works so well.  There are homages to Finnish death metal (like the weird, wonderful Demilich) running through Tomb Mold’s oeuvre, as well as a general obsession with horror fantasy imagery that is fully realized and rarely cliché.  What I’ve gathered from Tomb Moldis total sincerity – these guys put out tons of songs in two short years because they are in love with this brutal, old school, gnarly, weirdly catchy riff-oriented metal.  It shows on all their prior releases.  But with “Manor of Infinite Forms” they’ve broken through to a new level.  Maybe it’s the addition of Power and Musgrave on their first full-length (all work prior to “Cryptic Transmissions” was recorded as a two-piece).  Maybe it’s the step up in production.  But I think it’s also that through sheer inertia and boundless enthusiasm, Tomb Mold have gone from impressive acolytes to new standard bearers in death metal.  With the pace of their output and the abundance of riffs they seem to have on hand, there is a wide, dark universe these guys can explore for decades to come.  I think, somehow, this is only the first phase of a stellar discography.

“Manor of Infinite Forms” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

REVIEW & EXCLUSIVE TRAILER: Khemmis, “Desolation” & Phil Pendergast on Hendrix, Fahey & Sonny Boy

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 22/06/2018

Label: Nuclear Blast |

20 Buck Spin

Six tracks, all uniformly of a high standard and with a production that suits the record perfectly. This is a fine modern American doom album and will feature on many year end lists. This is doom for the doomed!

“Desolation” CD//DD//LP

1). Bloodletting

2). Isolation

3). Flesh to Nothing

4). The Seer

5). Maw of Time

6). From Ruin

The Review

Colorado's Khemmisreturn with this, their third full length and follow up to the very well received “Hunted” from 2016. This is doom metal, for sure- proper doom; with real singing, melodies, dark sounds and tempo changes in the vein of Sabbath.

It is not a million miles away from Sabbath or Dawn of Winter but perhaps closer to Apostle of Solitude  in that it is modern in sound and scope but with a firm grip on the genre's past. It is also distinctly American in approach- no way would you mistake this for Witchsorrowor Serpent Venom. With “Bloodletting”sslow slog to open, the listener is in no doubt that this is traditional doom. “Isolation” may be a few steps quicker, but these Denver cowboys know how to ride a groove: not too quick and they are able to make these songs swing a little rather than just plod. There is dark fare on offer here- “Flesh To Nothing”, for instance is as black as the title suggests.


The rumbling of “The Seer” is impressive and the band plays wonderfully through the changes. My personal favourite, “Maw of Time” (for obvious reasons) is a monolithic slab of sorrow and dark doom with death growls. The nine and a half minute closer “From Ruin” finishes the album off before it outstays its welcome.

Six tracks, all uniformly of a high standard and with a production that suits the record perfectly. This is a fine modern American doom album and will feature on many year end lists. This is doom for the doomed!

“Desolation” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Mournful Congregation,‘The Incubus Of Karma’

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type:Full Length

Date Released:23/03/2018

Label:Osmose Productions (EU) |

20 Buck Spin (US)

This band has always been the gold standard when it comes to dense, emotive funeral doom, but this latest hallmark in their discography takes that heart-shredding melancholy to its furthest extreme yet.  This is Mournful Congregation’s crowning achievement. ‘The Incubus Of Karma’ is a fucking masterpiece.

‘The Incubus Of Karma’ CD/LP/CS/DD track listing:

1. The Indwelling Ascent

2. Whispering Spiritscapes

3. The Rubaiyat

4. The Incubus of Karma

5. Scripture of Exaltation and Punishment

6. A Picture of the Devouring Gloom Devouring the Spheres of Being

The Review:

I sit here struggling to find the right words, or really any words at all, to convey the weight and impact of ‘The Incubus Of Karma’, Mournful Congregation’s first new album in over six years. I’ll do my best, anyway. This band has always been the gold standard when it comes to dense, emotive funeral doom, but this latest hallmark in their discography takes that heart-shredding melancholy to its furthest extreme yet.

To get this out of the way immediately; the lead guitar work throughout ‘The Incubus Of Karma’ is absolutely incredible. I’m not just talking about their trademark thick, layered guitar harmonies. I’m talking about those ascendant high-fret leads that sail and glide above them. Each and every one of them is immaculately composed and performed in a manner meant to cut even the most callous facades to the quick. Whether it’s during a devastating funeral crawl or a plaintive low-dynamic interlude, the sorrow just doesn’t let up. It’s mercilessly sad.

The crux of this entire album is the band largely deciding to stay out of the way of the guitars. Drums, vocals, bass, and keyboards: they’re all in almost exclusively supporting roles. Drummer Tim Call is also known also for his work in bands like Aldebaran, Nightfell, and Weregoat, and in each of those bands, his drumming is considerably more active than his performance here. I’d be shocked if he averaged more than one actual drum fill every 2-3 minutes in total.

This isn’t a criticism, by the way. It may be a uniquely bare bones performance, but it’s exactly what the music calls for. Even his drum sound is subdued, with a snare sound that recalls that of the first Danzig album, drenched in reverb, and the cymbals mixed even quieter than normal for a Mournful Congregation album.

Again, the guitars are the axis on which ‘The Incubus Of Karma’ spins. If you’re looking for a specific example, look no further than the album’s instrumental title track. The song is an absolute testament to the astonishing emotion that lead guitar can conjure, as these ultra expressive solos cascade over gentle acoustic guitar. And there’s equally brilliant leads all over the album. These aren’t note-spamming, “virtuosity for its own sake” solos. It’s all about the articulation, the bending of notes in a specific way to wring every last ounce of passion and sadness from the strings.

Look, if it feels like I’m just spouting label and band-friendly hyperbole, I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to do because as I sit here writing this, that’s all I feel does the album justice. One of my biggest pet peeves in metal is an album going longer than an hour. This album is damn near 80 minutes and I can’t think of any section I want shorter or cut altogether. That just doesn’t happen for me. It’s made the strongest early impression of any album so far this year, and the strongest early impression of any funeral doom album I’ve ever heard. This is Mournful Congregation’s crowning achievement. ‘The Incubus Of Karma’ is a fucking masterpiece.

‘The Incubus Of Karma’ is available in Europe through Osmose, or through 20 Buck Spin in North America.

Band info: Facebook

RIFF REWIND (28/10/2012): Samothrace - "Reverence to Stone"

Samothrace 2016

Bio (2012)

 

The band is named after a Greek island that is the home of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, a site of important Hellenic and pre-Hellenic religious ceremonies. The most famous artifact from this site is a large, half-crumbled statue of Nike, the goddess of victory in ancient Greek mythology.

 

Having relocated to Washington, Samothrace originally formed out of Kansas and surrounding areas sometime in 2006. Due to the turmoils every band inevitably encounters, they had a few halts such as line-up changes and the occasional incomplete song, which we get to experience on this LP with the first track 'When We Emerged' having originally appeared on their 2007 demo.

 

Samothrace's lyrical theme revolves around social unrest, political corruption, and the resilience we carry to bounce back from otherwise shitty conditions inherent in life.

The band features highly talented members, past and present, involved with acts such as Oroku, Splatterhouse, The Fucktards, and Short Bus Kids. Their beginnings were as friends within the punk/hardcore scene, which gave rise to this almighty band, Samothrace. 

 

With a live recording of their 2014 performance at The Roadburn Festival issued in April of the same year and some short touring cycles in between, Samothrace remain active as a three piece, but with no new material for 5 years, today we are rewinding the riffs back 5 years to the day when we first review their remarkable second album “Reverance To Stone”. 

 

So if you missed this album first time around or indeed you don’t know this band be sure to remedy your error by checking out our review in full below. 

 

By: Teabag Stallone

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released:31/07/2012

Label: 20 Buck Spin

The emotion felt on 'Reverence to Stone' is bleak, yet uplifting, but remains harmonious as a whole. Style, sound, originality and quality are what we can expect. They do not disappoint and this release proves that.

 “Reverence To Stone” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). A Horse of Our Own

2). When We Emerged

The Review:

Samothrace offer a sound with depth and emotion unmatched by most that fall into this category of doom. I was blown away, yet again, by their latest release 'Reverence to Stone', being a fan of this band since their very first full-length, 'Life's Trade', which is also available via 20 Buck Spin. Both are highly recommended, as they don't trail far from their roots, harboring a characteristic style fans love about this band.

This long awaited two-track gem surpassed my expectations, both tracks are flawless and superb in build-up, delivering everything we expect from this band. They leave their original, yet ever-evolving sound untouched and heavy as ever.

'When We Emerged' starts off very atmospheric with the perfect amount of melody, slowly integrating the down-tempo goodness we all love with progressive sludge/doom. The vocals kick in shortly thereafter, dissonant like that of which many funeral doom bands utilize. Then, shit really starts to get heavy with Axler pummelling away to the sound of his mates dishing out a slighly faster delivery of the same melodies.

'A Horse of Our Own' is even more rewarding in depth and really showcases Renate and Brian's skills on guitars, as well as Spinks' harrowing vocals that give a sense of despair and pain. Both tracks seem to drop off in the same atmospheric fashion they began with, but remain intense throughout.

If you are into deliberate build-ups that offer faster instrumental sections which fade out eerily, then this is the album to dive into. The emotion felt on 'Reverence to Stone' is bleak, yet uplifting, but remains harmonious as a whole. I am really looking forward to future releases from Samothrace, as it is truly a band which lives up to everything I've come to love about them.

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Spirit Adrift - "Curse of Conception"

By: Conor O’Dea

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 06/10/2017

Label: 20 Buck Spin

“Curse of Conception” is a glorious success and a dazzling evolution of an already excellent band. 

“Curse of Conception” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Earthbound

2). Curse Of Conception

3). To Fly On Broken Wings

4). Starless Age (Enshrined)

5). Graveside Invocation

6). Spectral Savior

7). Wakien

8). Onward, Inward

The Review:

I tend to approach reviews with a fair degree of two things: reservation and resolve. Reservation, because it is actually pretty tough to write about music you love and try to convey the message of why you love it to a broad audience without jumping to superlatives in every sentence. It is a task I always approach with trepidation, and this anxiety is in direct positive correlation with how much I love the music in question. Resolve is obviously a corollary of this: one has to steel oneself to 'analyze' what one really just wants to 'experience'. How can I accurately convey not just my enjoyment of art someone else has created, but ultimately, share my profound appreciation with not just other potential fans, but the artist or artists themselves? Particularly without either missing the interpretive boat or engaging in sloppy ellipsis? 

When I was lucky enough to convince THE SLUDGELORD to let me review Spirit Adrift's“Chained to Oblivion”, I had already been listening to it almost non-stop for several weeks. It was one of the albums of 2016 that I was most excited about, that I found most profoundly moving. It had and still has all the makings of a genre classic. That genre being heavy metal, not one of the vast and ever- propagating subgenres. My love of the debut album actually intensified some of my reservations about reviewing “Curse of Conception”: was I going to like it? Had Nate changed direction substantively? Was it still going to be the band I had grown to love? And here I default to throwing around superlatives: “Curse of Conception” is a glorious success and a dazzling evolution of an already excellent band. 

I would actually be hard pressed to say what 'element' I like most about Spirit Adrift on this album, but the vocals are again what truly set the band apart. Nate's harmonies are epic in every sense of the word, and they are brilliantly punctuated here by cresting on top of a guitar tone that somehow retains the doom-heavy fuzz of “Chained to Oblivion”, yet brings in a razor-sharp brightness that calls to mind the Metallicawith whom I first fell in love. The switch from Orange to the EVH tonal palate works flawlessly, letting Spirit Adrift remain deeply true to everything that made the first album stand out while allowing an adventurous, exciting sonic reframing. Sabbathian elements are retained in vocal passages like the title track without every descending into copy-catting or worship. Spirit Adrift take their influences seriously and respectfully, but there is never a sense of retread or anachronism; this album is grounded in tradition but massively innovative in approach. On tracks like “Starless Age”, this growth expresses itself as a mature fusion of some beloved and sacred moments in the metal cannon with a clear, decisive compositional voice. 

And lest I forget: the album is joyous, fun, revels in the interplay of the aforementioned harmonies with spectacular riffage and never-without-purpose soloing. Check out a burner like “Graveside Invocation”; you know Nate knows he's knocking it out of the park here. The peaks and troughs and dramatic build from song to song work like the best film scripts: pacing is everything. Case in point: the wonderful acoustic country-tinged psychedelia build of “Walkien”. I literally laughed out loud at how perfect the change was here at 1:59. Epic, indeed. I've wasted enough of your time: you should be listening to this album and not reading reviews about it. Go get it. Remember why metal is awesome.

“Curse Of Conception”is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Extremity - "Extremely Fucking Dead"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 07/04/2017

Label: 20 Buck Spin

In this first release by the group, you have what sounds like an incredibly promising start. The playing is top-shelf vicious. Carpet bombed in a death metal growl, the songs are forceful in delivery and unyielding in lyrics.

"Extremely Fucking Dead" CD//CS//DD//LP track listing:

1. Intro (Mortuus est Valde)

2. Crepuscular Crescend

3. Bestial Destiny

4. Chalice of Pus

5. Fatal Immortality

6. Extremely Fucking Dead

The Review:

Yelp is truly eBay for reviews. You can discover the most random stuff assessed by a less-than-forgiving public. There, you can even find a list of the best San Francisco bars that play death metal. Yes, it is a real list and is a testament to how much the Bay Area, for all its contradictions, tourists and big red hop-on-and-off buses, loves extreme music.

Beyond that, Northern California has been an epicenter of sorts for metal for going on 30 years or more. With the debut of the Oakland-based Extremity, you have a group that is reflective of such history. This is not the first band for its members by any stretch.

From Agalloch to Vastum, Cretin to Necrosic, among others, the experience that makes up Extremity is sure to prompt attention. Impressive acts, no doubt. In this first release by the group, you have what sounds like an incredibly promising start. The playing is top-shelf vicious. Carpet bombed in a death metal growl, the songs are forceful in delivery and unyielding in lyrics. Herein tracks like "Bestial Destiny" are impressive, with traces of grind undercutting a faithful death blueprint. Throughout the debut, there is ample space for all-star drummer Aesop Dekker, who counts Ludicra and Worm Ouroborosamong his work, to ballast the carnage.

What makes Extremity such a fascinating addition to death metal, beyond its collective resumes and membership, is its potential. For instance, its similarity to Scolex, bassist Erika Osterhout’s other death/doom project, is glancing at best. As such, Extremity melds some of the exceptional qualities of what its members bring. Osterhout’s contributions on songs like "Chalice of Pus" are as you might expect, searing. In fact, the whole team has it’s A-game on for all six tracks.

If you love the style, Extremity does it in a fashion you’re sure to enjoy. Haters might call it a touch of playing it safe. A longer listen reveals how complex the songs really are. "Extremely Fucking Dead" isn’t the 99-cent-bin death metal, because its collaborators are far from it. Together, the group hints that their best is yet to come.

"Extremely Fucking Dead" is available here

Band info: facebook