On “Caustic Attack” Terrorizer at times sound positively apocalyptic.
“Caustic Attack” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Turbulence 2. Invasion 3. Conflict And Despair 4. Devastate
5. Crisis 6. Infiltration 7. The Downtrodden 8. Trench Of Corruption 9. Sharp Knives 10. Failed Assassin 11. Caustic Attack 12. Poison Gas Tsunami 13. Terror Cycles 14. Wasteland
The Review:
There are few bands in the history of grindcore as significant as Terrorizer, and yet they remain unsung heroes. Napalm Death lay the foundations, alongside contemporaries such as Extreme Noise Terror and Repulsion, but one could argue Terrorizer’swork has seen more of a direct influence.
The band is perhaps most acclaimed for their wildly savage debut, 1989’s “World Downfall”, which famously featured extreme metal demigods, David Vincent of Morbid Angel and Jesse Pintado, who would later join Napalm Death. With the incorporation of a more guttural vocal style as well as more technically accomplished riff work, while still maintaining the necessary socio-political aspect, this interpretation of the style has shown longevity, present in bands such as Wormrot, Nasum, and Insect Warfare. The album was more arcane and menacing than any grindcore album that had come before, and tragically, for 17 years it appeared to be the sole, defiant statement this band would make.
The band has since reformed twice. Firstly, in 2005 to release the so-so “Darker Days Ahead”, which displayed the band performing in a more linear fashion, instead of performing more of the straight-forward death metal Sandoval had been producing with his long-time day-job, Morbid Angel. The album would prove to be the final release featuring Jesse Pintado to be released in his lifetime, and while many look back on it as a fairly unimpressive swansong for an extraordinary character, the album still had moments which would please any fan anticipating their return. The 2012 follow-up
“Hordes of Zombies” proved to be a further disappointment, virtually disregarding the savage hardcore that is so vital to impressive grindcore, and instead striving for a sluggish take on death metal. All hopes appeared dashed in relation to Terrorizer, as many began to forgivably disregard interest in their future.
When a long-standing band releases an album, fans often struggle to resist comparing it to their classic works, for better or for worse. In most cases, it is a valid comparison to make.However, in the case of Terrorizer, it is important to make such a distinction; on “Caustic Attack”, they are down to just a single original member. With the exception of Sandoval, everyone on this album is making a debut performance. This could lead one to question the chemistry of this group; a band with a 30-year legacy ought to have remarkable chemistry, and this could prove difficult when 2/3rds of the band joined in 2013. However, it immediately becomes clear this is not an issue for Terrorizer, as “Caustic Attack” proves to be their most artistically successful album since their 2005 reformation.
It appears Terrorizer(or perhaps just Sandoval) have acknowledged they are a far more impressive grindcore band than they are a death metal band, and for the first time since coming back, they are leaning on that crutch. This provides an immediate refreshing quality to the album; gone is the continuous dirge of low-energy death metal the band have been pedalling for years, and present instead is a more violent, splintered attack. While still not as savage as the band's contemporaries, with Napalm Death and Pig Destroyer still proving they can be more menacing and grotesque than ever, there is an obvious improvement here. The band is clearly superior when they focus on 1-minute displays of brutality, highlights of the album including “Turbulence”, “Invasion”, “Poison Gas Tsunami”, and the intoxicating title-track.
The album is by no means flawless; firstly, some of the tracks are still overly long. Numerous tracks approach 5 minutes, and all of them prove to be the most tiresome moments on the record. The attacks feel dulled when they’re stretched out in this nature and these longer songs are simply not warranted.The production is also a curiosity; it sounds more sharp and well-shaped than any of their past albums, and yet it feels lacking in the low-end and, in some moments, almost sparse. Were this given a production job courtesy of Kurt Ballou, Will Yip or Arthur Risk, this album would see an immediate improvement, and perhaps the tiresome ‘long songs’ would feel more digestible.
Overall, Terrorizerand their fans can call “Caustic Attack” a success; the band has cured some of the glaring ills present on their post-reunion works, as well as writing some songs that fans can genuinely look forward to hearing live and have earnt a place in their set list on merit alone. Grindcore is at its best when it feels like a disaster and on “Caustic Attack”, even if only for brief moments, Terrorizersound positively apocalyptic.
All in all it’s another good album that sees the band dishing out shorter and faster songs than we’re used to getting from them, while not losing the razor sharp edge of that classic Vallenfyre musical mastery and might.
“Fear Those Who Fear Him” CD//DD//LP track listing:
01. Born To Decay 02. Messiah 03. Degeneration 04. An Apathetic Grave 05. Nihilist 06. Amongst The Filth 07. The Merciless Tide 08. Dead World Breathes 09. Soldier Of Christ 10. Cursed From The Womb 11. Kill All Your Masters 12. Temple Of Rats
The Review:
Vallenfyre is a band that should need no introduction. The group has been kicking all kinds of ass since their 2011 debut and continue to release quality albums approximately every three years, up to and including this year’s new release, “Fear Those Who Fear Him,” which just dropped on June 2, 2017.
This third full length instalment consists of twelve songs, half of which are under three minutes in length, which is somewhat of a departure from their usual repertoire. The album opens with slow-burner, “Born To Decay,” which gradually warms up and lasts for only about a minute before all cylinders are firing and “Messiah” rips in full force with a classic grindcore blast of spinning buzzsaws that make you feel like you’re trapped in the middle of a drug induced late night knife fight. Then “Degeneration” comes in like a lion and pounds your meat into a tenderized patty with repeated blows of led boots to the head. These first three songs blend together for me, even after repeated listens, seeming as if the three parts make up one mass movement amounting to a seven minute long frenzy. This is most likely due partially to very brief gaps between songs with the best possible outcome. I actually found myself going back several times to figure out exactly where one song ended and the other began. I don’t know if this was the intended effect the band was looking to portray when they laid out the songs of the album but I thought it was a pretty cool experience which left me a bit bewildered in a good way.
When “An Apathetic Grave” kicks in as song number four, this is when the album noticeably shifts gears for the first time and gets down to that sweet and sour Swedeath molasses that Vallenfyreis always able to lay down so masterfully. This one song is just about as long as the flurry of the first three combined. It puts the album right where it needs to be and not a moment too soon as it leaves you with an uneasy feeling in your stomach and radiation poisoning in your mind. Shortly thereafter, “Nihilist” chimes in for a two minute blast like Napalm Death high on a fistful of Swedish crack. “Amongst The Filth” is a dastardly mid-paced head bobber that gallops and grooves over trampled, broken bodies, and gives us a few minutes to reflect on the previous hail storm before the madness returns with the dying world anthem, “Kill All Your Masters.”
“The Merciless Tide” comes in with more grimoire and groove-laden layers of lightning bolt guitars and “Dead World Breathes” unapologetically jams your face into the bench grinder with no mercy shown. Drums and bass crack the whip and sink your ship as they shove you down further with powerful rage for the most punishing forty seconds of your life. “Soldier Of Christ” has some really interesting shuffled grooves with galloping hooves. The new drummer really shines with an abundance of creative beats and fills on this one.
“Cursed From The Womb” brings us back to that menacing Swedoom and gloom for what is only the second instalment of slowness on the album. This is the longest song; the epic proportionately speaking, the lyrics of which are where the album title comes from. This is one cruel slab of menacing death doom with an abrupt ending that leaves you empty and questioning your own shallow existence. Album closer, “Temple Of Rats” just feels like the perfect album closer. It’s a belligerent blast of eloquently expressed brutality. It feels like the band put down some serious thought when it came to laying out the order of the songs.
Vallenfyre are masters of combining elements of death, doom, crust, grind, sludge, and all other things we hold dear. They put it all in a blender and then regurgitate the slurry into a delightful elixir that many metal heads regard as divine ambrosia. I would say that in general, this album comes off as being faster and punchier than previous efforts, and that the overall tone of the mix is a bit more on the thin crust side with considerably less bottom end than the previous two full lengths. All in all it’s another good album that sees the band dishing out shorter and faster songs than we’re used to getting from them, while not losing the razor sharp edge of that classic Vallenfyre musical mastery and might.
There is no huge introduction needed here. Bolt Thrower may be over, but Memoriam are very much here and ready to take up where Karl Willett's previous troop left off. You know what to expect from the names involved: crushingly slow grooves, like a tank rolling over piles of bones, bursts of thrash tempos and a sound that is thicker than tar.
“For The Fallen” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Memoriam
2. War Rages On
3. Reduced To Zero
4. Corrupted System
5. Flatline
6. Surrounded By Death
7. Resistance
8. Last Words
The Review:
There is no huge introduction needed here. Bolt Thrower may be over, but Memoriamare very much here and ready to take up where Karl Willett's previous troop left off. You know what to expect from the names involved: crushingly slow grooves, like a tank rolling over piles of bones, bursts of thrash tempos and a sound that is thicker than tar. If you combined Cerebral Fix, Benediction, Napalm Deathand Bolt Thrower, surprisingly enough... you may well get a band like Memoriam! From the title track through “War Rages On” and “Reduced to Zero” all of those traits are delivered in spades. The emphasis here is on the slower end of the tempo spectrum and the band are never less than devastatingly heavy.
At only eight tracks, but with half of that number tipping well over six minutes or more, the record is perfectly paced and does not out stay its welcome. It seems almost a moot point, but for fans of Bolt Thrower, this is a must. It also presents a curiously British take on the death metal genre; it has a punk vibe and delivery and certainly none of the tech traits of American bands. This is a master-class in grinding, doomy death metal with a distinctly old school flavour.
“Corrupted System” would be a fine example of the band's crustier side- albeit that the running time and changes it encapsulates lend themselves to more metallic territory. “Flatline” makes for more Bolt Thrower-esque sturm and drang and is very heavy indeed; skull crushingly so. The tracks just keep coming, one as heavy as the next: “Surrounded By Death” has that caterpillar track groove down pat and is head banging heaven. “Resistance” is heavy and dark in equal measure before the finale of “Last Words”brings an emotional depth and weight that is perhaps unexpected from a band operating in this genre.
It would be churlish to find fault here. This is exactly the record you would expect from the persons involved and it delivers on every level that you would expect it to. Many will perhaps dismiss this, or bracket this, as a Bolt Throwerknock off, but there is more here than that and also... you have to expect more than a few shades of that classic band here. Memoriam are only playing one date in the UK for all of 2017 at Manor Fest in Keighley, West Yorkshire on May 13th, so I strongly advise you to get a ticket, get the album and check the band out for yourselves. I will be going and can't wait to hear these tracks played in a live setting.
Austrian grind band SIX-SCORE will release their stunning new album 'Lebensräume' on November 11th 2016. The band's seamless blend of d-beat, hardcore punk and metal makes for a stunning listen. 'Lebensräume'will be released on LP, CD, MC, Digital as a co-release by WOOAAARGH & Hecatombe Records and a few other awesome record labels.
After releasing their first full-length album 'Drudge', the band played shows both locally and around the world, culminating in an appearance at the prestigious Obscene Extreme Festival in 2013. Now in 2016, the band has catapulted itself to the forefront of the grind community with “Lebensräume”, a modern day masterpiece of visceral grindcore in the vein of Human Cull, Nasum, Napalm Death, Pig Destroyer, Fuck the Facts and Rotten Sound.
Today we are exclusively debuting a stunning new song ahead of the album release in 2 weeks, you can check out “Contracts” below. The album is available for preorder here
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