Mortor - 'Shoot Em Up' (self released) 4/5

Now I don't know too much about Mortor. They come from Canada and this is I think their debut full length album, and thats about it, the press info that came with this one was a bit sparse and there aint a great deal of info around on the net either. But when I got my hands on this one and saw the album cover I was interested, after all anything with Nazi zombies on it has to be worth at least a look.

Now this is good, from the moment you click play your hit by a full on metal blitzkrieg that kicks off by sending a stuka like wave of pounding thrash and bludgeon beats  to blast a way into your head, and thus making opening in your minds defenses for the panzer divisions of Cannibal Corpse style speed and grind riffage and legions stormtrooping growled and snarled vocal delivery to punch on deep into your soul and capture your psyche. And this is one occupation I'm not going to object to.

This album is just relentless, cuts like For Glory, Under The Flag, Clusterfuck and Trigger Happy just roll you up with all the subtly of G.I.'s at an Iraqi wedding. This is metal at the bleeding edge, its raw, in your face, mosh pit friendly and very very enjoyable. However theres a softer side to Mortor, (although they do try to hide it). Take the cut Whiskey Surgery, heres a cut that has an almost rock and roll guitar solo in the middle and cuts like Point Blank and  Days Of Our Knives show a little light and shade, as tempo changes and some minor key riffage just work their way into to provide some colour to the relentless blast and batter. And check out the guitar work on Bonesaw... that is to die for.

Now theres a fair bit of this sort of stuff around there and whilst Mortor are no Cattle Decapitation, they are no slouches either and with a bit of luck and hard work they cold become a name to watch for in the future.

Pretty damn good

For fans of... Cattle Decapitation, Cannibal Corpse, Sepultura, Kreator, Carcass.....

Big Viking - 'Fucks' (self released) 3/5

Big Viking come from Michigan in the US, and apart from that I know naff all about them. I stumbled on this three tracker as a random surf find, and I'm pretty glad I did, if only for the opening cut.


Sounding like a motorway horror smash between Cannibal Corpse and Converge, this one kicks off with a superb little cut entitled Ray Romano Chop House, a cut that grinds like a bastard, grunts and screams like struck pig and is generally three and a half minutes of fairly impressive in your face metal punk cross over action. Hell theres even a couple of light tongue in cheek spoken interjections to break up the asre grinding intensity.

The other two cuts Bud Dink and Amulet Dead are a pair of flawed gems. They are well played and very enjoyable, but suffer a little from slipshod production and fairly big volume drops, which after the magnificence of the lead track comes over as little bit frustrating, hence I've docked a mark or two. Still it's nothing that can't be cured with a little playing around in Audacity or other such software but a listener wants to download and enjoy, not download and remix.

However believe me this ep is worth getting hold of for the lead track alone, when its a free download you can't really complain that much.

Check it out now

For fans of... Cannibal Corpse, Cattle Decapitation, Converge, Amen....

(Download this ep for free from - http://bigviking.bandcamp.com/ )

Six Feet Under - 'Undead' (metalblade) 4/5

Formed back in the early 1990's by Chris Barnes (ex-Cannibal Corpse) and Allen West (ex-Obituary) Florida outfit Six Feet Under have become fairly major players on the US death metal underground, with eight previous studio albums and three more albums of 'fun' cover versions theur distinctive brand of groove flavoured death has won them a lot of friends and now we have album number nine to delight us.

Now despite a bit of internal upheaval in the recording of this one (guitarist  Rob Arnold quitting on the day of release having already played the bass on this one following the departure of Terry Butler early in the recording process) SFU have delivered a nice tight, competent and very entertaining record. It manages to comfortably bridge the gap between death metal and the mainstream, being heavy, and brutal enough to keep yer average Cannibal Corpse fan pit happy, whilst heading far enough into Machine Head / Lamb Of God territory without leading to any hint of an accusation of sell out.

There are 12 cuts on offer, all penned, performed and produced to a high standard. Highlights include the post Sabbath riff fest of Blood On My Hands, the groove metal workout of Reckless and the doom fueled plod and pound of Vampire Apocalypse. Impressive stuff indeed, but my fave cut on here is the closing 'micro-epic' Depths of Depravity which manages to compact a full on multi section prog doom epic into under four minutes.

All in all this is another very worthy album from a very worthy band that after 20 years or so are still showing no signs of running out of ideas.

Worth checking out

For fans of... Machine Head, Unearth, Lamb Of God, Titan's Eve.....

Cattle Decapitation - 'Monolith of Imhumanity' (Metalblade) 4.5/5

This is the ninth full length release from politically charged Californian death grind metallers Cattle Decapitation and it's a bit of gem.

Musically this album is about as intense and full on as it can get. Cuts like Forced Gender Reassignment, Gristle Licker and the magnificent Lifestalker explode from the speakers with all the brutal force of a unit of the Animal Liberation Front attacking a fur farm. Drums pound out a relentless tattoo whilst guitars scream thrash and shred like a crazed butcher and the vocals of Travis Ryan growl and snarl in vicious righteous fury. If you think the likes of Cannibal Corpse took it to the max then check these guys out, there is none more brutal and none more driven.

Lyrically this album is very much in line with the bands previous releases; tracks about animal rights intermix with vicious attacks on the decadence of western society and the state of the human condition in a ball of very angry social awareness that sock it to 'The Man' in a way few other outfits can hope to match. And in a world where so many of their musical counterparts are STILL banging out endless tunes about corpse fucking and devil worship its a breath of fresh air. I tip my hat to them for that alone.

Highlights? well the aforementioned Lifestalker with it's epic sounding bridge section, the frenzied thrash and pound of A Living, Breathing Piece Of Defecating Meat and the closing cut Kingdom of Tyrants with its vast and deadly dark soundscapes are to my mind the real stand out cuts on offer, but the whole damn album is pretty impressive over all, and it's rapidly becoming a bit of a favourate of mine.

Highly Recommended

For Fans of..... Cannibal Corpse, Black Dahlia Murder, Jon For A Cowboy, Deicide....

Elysian - 'Wires Of Creation' (self released) 3.5/5

Australian progressive death metallers Eylsain (not to be confused with the Greek power metal band of a similar name) are a fairly new edition to the worlds metal scene. They have only been together a couple of years and this is their debut release.

Now as far as debut releases goes this one isn't too bad. Blending elements of old school Pink Floyd style prog rock, with OSI / Dream Theater type prog metal and huge slices of growly voiced death metal stylings the band forge an interesting range of sonic soundscapes and moshable metal workouts.

Now to be brutally honest I'm finding this one a bit of a double edged sword. I'm loving some parts but others are leaving me a bit cold. It all comes down to the vocals of Ben Garner. Don't get me wrong as a deep gruff and growly death metal vocalist he is excellent, and on tracks like Sense Offender and Play The Hand, when Elysian are in full on metal mode he sounds great. But sadly when the rest of the band go off on their proggy trips and Mr Garner is still in growl and snarl mode the vocals don't seam to sit quite right with the music.
This is a shame cos Elysian are a band with a helluva lot of potential, but they need a bit more light and shade in vocal department to bring the best out of them. Maybe they should check out Fornost Arnors amazing 'Death of a Rose' album to see how a more subtle and considered approach to the vocals could really bring out the best of them.

Still this is a new band, still finding their feet, and this album still has a lot to recommend it over all and I'm sure that given time to develop they could mature into an act that could rank up there with the very best of them.

Worth checking out

For fans of... Fornost Arnor, Fates Warning, OSI, Opeth etc....

Job For A Cowboy - 'Demonocracy' (metalblade) 4.5/5

With three full length albums and three eps under their belt Arizona death thrashers Job For A Cowboy have been building a growing reputation as one of the underground metal scenes most likely to succeed, and now we have their latest album to remind us exactly what these guys have to offer.

Now I will confess that I've come late to the JFAC party, It wasn't until last years Gloom ep that I started to really pay them attention; and I'm seriously wondering what I've been missing, cos that aforementioned ep and this album here are a we bit good to say the least. There's a good load of of old school death metal in the bands sound, but also in there are some goodly slices of of Megadeth style thrashings and even hints of Bathory type black metalisms just to broaden the sound and lift the band above the same old same old death metal sensibilities.

There are nine cuts on offer here, each a finely crafted exercise in brutal metal excess.Vocalist John Davy grunts and snarls like a good un and the twin six stringers of Al Glassman and new boy Tony Sannicandro are to die for as they blend relentless steam hammer riffage and speed blur thrash outs with some some really rather beautiful melodic lead sections and Priest-U-like twin harmony lines.

It's hard to select any highlights as I'm liking the whole album lots but if I had to pick just one track for individual praise it would have to be the epic closer Tarnished Gluttony with its slow and doom laden opening, post sabbath riffs, glorious middle breakdown and relentless build up into a truly earth shattering, yet downbeat climax.

Very very good indeed

for fans of.. Not Above Evil, Exumer, Goatwhore, Megadeth....

Lay Down Rotten - 'Mask Of Malice' (metalblade) 3.75/5

This is release number eight from German death thrashers Lay Down Rotten and the first to feature guitarist Daniel Seifert who has recently joined as a replacement for founder member Daniel Jakobi, who laid down his axe at the tail end of last year due to personal commitments.

Now on first listen I gotta say this one is pretty enjoyable if not groundbreaking. There are ten cuts on offer, all nice and well delivered slices of fairly typical Teutonic death bludgeon; you get the growled vocals, the death and the devil lyrics, riffs that switch frequently between 100mph speed blur and slow and menacing smash and grind, some nice little interludes where monks chant, latin is spoken and people give confession... If you know your death trash you will already know exactly what to expect.

So no marks for originality, but I will give these guys their due and say this is still an enjoyable and very listenable album, and I will give special praise to the aforementioned Herr Seifert and his oppo Nils Forster for some fairly impressive guitar work, both on the riffing and the lead, the slow and plaintiff lead on The Devil Grins is especially noteworthy

Other highlights include the dark and devilish The Serpenta Canta, the pound and grind of Swallow The Bitterness and the opening thrash out of Death Chain.

All in all, although this album is a bit formulaic it is not without merit.

Worth checking out.

For Fans of... Exumer, Charred Walls Of The Damned, Slayer, Testament....

Desaster - 'The Arts Of Destruction' (metalblade) 3.5/5

Since their formation in 1988 Teutonic death thrashers Desaster have been  hellishly prolific, clocking up 23 releases (if you include demos, split albums and eps) of which this is the latest.

Now this lot claim their biggest influences are the likes of Bathory, Slayer and Venom, and its good to see they are still sticking to their roots here. Cos once you get past the short intro track and hit the first full cut The Art Of Destruction, your slapped in the face with a sound that is dripping Venom-u-like riffage and Cronos style vocals, that grabs you by the throat and demands your attention. And so it continues nearly for the entirety of the album. Tracks like The Splendour of the Idols, Queens of Sodomy, At Hells Horizon and Beyond Your Grace come screaming from the speakers, rape your ears and damn your brain to a glorious black pit of metal oblivion.

Its only on the epic cut Possessed and Defiled do you get any real real respite as the band do go in for a little bit of Bathory style light and shade. All in all its nothing overly mind blowing, and is fairly generic, but what the hell, it's still enjoyable and after 20 odd years of doing this stuff and with a large fan base Desaster know their audience and sound and are still delivering the goods their fans want. Besides its well played and produced and I have heard a lot lot worse.

Worth checking if your into black thrash metal

Fr fans of... Bathory, Venom, Behemoth, Asphyx, Waxface....

The Feral Underclass - 'Social Disease' (death to music) 4/5

Taking their name from a speech my Torey grandee Ken Clarke in the wake of last years riots, The Feral Underclass are a Brighton based death, grind, extreme metal project formed by Meads of Asphodel guitarist James Fogarty and vocalist Elliot Wainberg (a drum and bass dj apparently) with guest lead guitar from The Clan Destined guitarist Lee Cassidy, and this is their debut ep.

Now this is a tasty little four tracker, its angry, tight, and dripping in a metallic sauce that references the likes of Bolt Thrower, Carcass, Entombed and Doom. We kick off with the title track, all sweetly controlled riffage, bludgeoning beats, slick lead guitar work and some wonderfully dark and aggressive vocals, we some wonderfully angry and socially charged lyrics, 'we are all guilty, we are the disease on society...' great stuff.

And so it continues, Bitter Milk kicks off sounding a bit like Panzerchrist jamming with the Amebix and coming over in a series of brutal hammer blows that take no prisoners, and again featuring some sublime lead work from Mr Cassidy. Sociopathy - in my mind this eps outstanding track, is a wonderful exercise in death grind with lyrics that drive home the very valid point that how can people care about a society that doesn't care about them. Chuck in a spot on cover of the old Carcass classic Death Certificate and you have a really impressive little debut release from a project that shows a helluva lot of promise.

And whats more you can download this little gem for free!!

In short a great debut from a project I for one want to hear more from.

For fans of... Bolt Thrower, Somnus, Carcass, Police Bastard....

download this ep for free from here -  http://www.deathtomusic.com/main.htm

Goatwhore - 'Blood For The Master' (metalblade) 4/5

This is the fifth studio outing from New Orleans black death thrasher Goatwhore, a band formed some 15 years ago by former members of Acid Bath, Solient Green and Crowbar.

Now I like albums like this, there's no pretensions here, you look at the cover, look at the band name and read the track listing; full of titles like Judgement of The Bleeding Crown, Death To The Architects of Heaven and My Name Is Frightful Among The Believers and you know what to expect. Then you play the album and you get exactly what it says on the tin. There are 10 tracks on offer here, all sweet and neat packages of good old no bullshit black metal attitude that vary in pace from the headlong thrash and smash of Collapse In Eternal Worth to the more controlled grind and bludgeon of In Deathless Tradition. OK there's no marks here for originality, but lots of marks for a band doing what they do best with near perfection.

Vocalist Sammy Duet is in fine form, his intelligible grows and death grunts manage to stay just the right side of understandable and cliche, while the rest of the band support him perfectly by laying down layer after layer of really quite enjoyable metallic soundscapes that should put a smile on the face of headbangers and pit junkies everywhere

In Short - a pretty good album, recommended

For Fans of... Onslaught, Slayer, Anterior, Revoker, etc....

Cannibal Corpse 'Torture' (metalblade) 4/5

For a shade under a quarter of a century US splatter metal kings Cannibal Corpse have been offending everybody and their dog with their distinctive brand of musical gore-no, and now we have studio album number 12 to shred the nerves of the moral majority and subvert the children of the Christian right.

Now like many of the 'think of the children' brigades hate figures, there is nothing here to really cause that much offense. There are 12 tracks on offer here and whilst listening to this album, or any other Cannibal Corpse opus for that matter, is a bit like watching yet another edition of the SAW or Hostel movie franchises, its all good blood soaked fun. Although this album is played for maximum shock and full of mummy baiting possibilities there is nothing here really to take offense at, and fans of the band know that from the off. Tracks like As Deep As The Knife Will Go, Torn Through and Sarcophagic Frenzy are all nice and horrific little studies in death and psycho slaughter that sounds like a collection of short stories by Shaun Hutson, all played out in the bands trademark death thrash style.

And musically Cannibal Corpse are really rather good, although the band stick firmly to their tried and tested formula of brutal as fuck ear ravishing riffage, blast beat drumming and menacing death grunt vocals, they show enough imagination and creativity to still keep themselves interesting and listenable after all these years, and every so often, such as the bass lick in the middle section of The Strangulation Chair, you get hints to remind you that these guys really do have a bit of talent in the old playing department as well.

All in all this is another worthy offering from the Cannibal Corpse guys and one I would recommend to fans of gore metal everywhere

For fans of... Whitechapel, Hell Hammer, Decapitated etc.....

Dawn Of Ashes - 'Farewell To The Flesh - EP' (metalblade) 0.5/5

Oh dear no.... I hate albums like this. When I write reviews I do try to find something good to mention about a record no matter how bad it is, but sometimes you get something to write about with no redeeming features what so ever, and this new EP from LA death metal outfit Dawn of Ashes is one of those.

This is another case of a band jumping on the new and oh so trendy dance-rock fusion bandwagon. There are eight tracks on offer here, three new tracks (well two and one mercifully short and pointless synthy outro) and five remixes of tracks from the bands earlier albums.

I'll start with the two new songs. Farewell To The Flesh and Torture Device (part 2) aren't that bad songs over all, however any enjoyment you may have got from these cuts is immediately shot down by some terribly shocking production; the drums sound like they are in fact boxes of matches shaken in time inside a large biscuit tin, the guitars sound like a couple of bored wasps trapped in a jam jar, the vocals are flat and one dimensional and the whole lot is buried behind an over loud and all intrusive one finger synth line which washes over and at times drowns out everything else on offer. Believe me it's that bad, I've had demos from groups of 14 year school kids recorded on lap -tops in bedrooms that are better produced and mixed than this.

Then we have the remixes, five track, but only two songs, (Carnal Consummation In The Empty Space being murdered no less than FOUR times is quick succession). Once again we have what may have been once good songs totally wrecked by drum machine monkeyisms, mindless insertion of bleeping noises and inane repetitive patterns that after just a few seconds have this reviewer choking down the bile and reaching for the off button. OK it could be that I'm an old hippy and just don't get dance music (I never have done), or maybe I don't do the right drugs; but I like my metal rocking, brutal and metallic not sold out and diluted for the pilled up rave heads.

In short this is one of the worst releases I've encountered for a while, and one I will be deleting from my hard drive and trying to forget about.

For fans of.. inane dance music.

Lay Siege - 'Obolus' (self released) 3.5/5

Milton Keynes hardcore / metalcore outfit Lay Siege are angry young men, but when you come from a neo-brutalist new town populated by concrete cows its only natural that the blood will boil from time to time. Now this lot have been around since 2010 and as far as I can tell this is their debut mini album.

Now there are six cuts on offer here, all short and sweet workouts in the old metallic hardcore style of things, nothing too ground breaking but all more than competently performed and penned. You get all the trade mark sounds you would expect from this sort of outfit; pig grunt vocals, a nifty selection of riffs that range in tempo from the death grind via the post Priest old school metalisms to some sweetly controlled neo-thrash, blast beat drumming etc etc etc...

OK to be honest I'm finding this one enjoyable, but to my ears its lacking a real wow factor. There's a lot of bands out there doing this sort of stuff at the moment, and there is nothing here to make Lay Siege a stand out outfit. Although I will say that there is promise on show, a couple of tracks, namely Snarling Teeth and Solitary Confinement are pretty good and show that this band could yet develop into something noteworthy. I will be watching their development with interest.


Worth a quick look

For fans of... Somnus, Screaming Eyes, Terakai, Cindersfall.....

Not Above Evil - 'The Transcendental Signified' (self released) 4/5

Early last year I received a copy of 'Deification', the debut full length release by Manchester multi influenced metal outfit Not Above Evil. Sadly I didn't review it as I wasn't running this blog at the time, but I played a few tracks off it on BCFM, and it got good feedback, and the Radio Satan 666 listeners loved it; so marked them down on my mental list as ones to watch. Now, less than  year later Sideeq Mohammed and his crew have issued their second album The Transcendental Signified.

Now this is pretty good, NAE take their musical cues from a number of diverse influences. There are large slices of Behemoth and Bathory style black metal in their sound, a fair bit of old school Slayer type thrash as well, and then, just to take the edge off the bang and bludgeon there are bits of Lamb Of God and Mastodon-U-Like southern metal thrown in the mix as well. The result is most pleasing to the ear and makes for a far more complete and rounded sound than on the preceding Deification opus. It's almost as if NAE have come of age musically.


All the extremely brutal slash smash and slay of the proceeding album is here in abundance. Tracks like the opener Crossroads crawl from the speakers dripping menace and metallic mindfuckisms like and H.P. Lovecraft novel made sonic reality. Yet where as Deification tended to steam roller along laying waste to all its path, this album is more controlled, more considered and is all the better for it. We get tracks like Nexus where raw speed is sacrificed in the name of darkly controlled riffage and almost Machine Head style song structures and Amon Amarth type epic storytelling.

Just to select a few more highlights; we have Death and Transformation, one of the best thrash-outs I've heard since Onslaughts seminal album The Force; Legion with its Behemoth referenced attack and drive and my fave cut on offer here, the epic closer of The Duel, a classic in the making that build from a deceptively sweet and mellow introductory riff into a multi-sectioned meisterwerk that showcases exactly how good a band NAE really are.

Add in the fact that every member of this band delivers the goods in playing their parts to almost perfection and the production, which the band did themselves, is spot on, and you have an album that will do NAE's grow reputation no harm at all and will only add to their status as one of the UK's most promising up and coming metal acts.

In short - a damn fine album from a band to watch

For fans of... Lamb Of God, Elimination, Anterior, Behemoth, Slayer etc....

Pilgrim - 'Misery Wizard' (metalblade) 4/5

Until yesterday I knew three things about Rhode Island. 1) It's the smallest state in the union, 2) its the home to a fictional family in a popular US animated sitcom and 3) The place gave its name to a breed of chicken. But now I have a fourth fact, its the place where doom metal titans Pilgrim hail from.

Now Pilgrim are a classic power trio of The Wizard on guitar and vocals, Elric The Soothsayer on bass and a certain Krolg, The Slayer Of Men on drums; and they play doom metal of the darkest and doomiest kind. Imagine the sort of stuff the likes of St Vitus and Candlemass were doing back in the late 80's and you'll get the idea.

Now the first thing you notice about this album is how slow it is. Its SLOW, very slow indeed; so slow in fact it makes a lot of Black Sabbaths early work sound almost speed metal in comparison. In fact its not until half way into the the third track Quest, that the tempo even lifts beyond funeral march speed, when Pilgrim go off on a Witchfinder General style trip for a minute or so before slamming on the breaks again and grinding out the rest of the track in fine funeral metal tradition.

The second thing that hits you it that this album is epic in scope. There are six songs on offer, half of which top the 10 minute mark - in fact only one song, Adventurer (a surprisingly snappy tune that sounds not unlike NWOBHM gods Pagan Alter) comes in at under five (don't go expecting much mainstream radio play guys).

Now I know what your thinking, this has gotta be one boring album. But you'd be wrong in thinking that. Despite the fact this album moves along with all the pace of an arthritic tortoise it still keeps itself very entertaining and listenable. This is partly due to some cleaver production that positions everything in the mix perfectly, with plenty of space around each instrument so every power chord and cymbal splash has room to breath and resonate to maximum effect and turns the whole listening experience into a gloriously dark sound-scape. The other key factor is that the vocals here are clean, not a pig grunt or death groan in sight, this means you can hear exactly what The Wizard is singing about as he spins his dark tales of swords, sorcery, death, damnation and daring do. All of this results in a very entertaining listen that holds the attention for the entire album and makes the whole work stand up to repeated plays.

In short I'm pretty impressed with this album. it's been a while since I last discovered a new doom act of the old school, and a long time since I've found one as good as this. Highly recommended.

For fans of... Black Sabbath, St. Vitus, Candlemass, Pagan Alter, Witchfinder General.....

Austrian Death Machine - Jingle All The Way' (metalblade) 4/5

This is the latest seasonal offering from Californian Arnold Schwarzenegger worshiping outfit Austrian Death Machine (actually a side project featuring As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis) and this time its Arnies Chrimbo comedy flick 'Jingle All The Way' thats set up for equal doses of praise and parody.

There are three songs on offer here, all very over the top and very silly looks at various Arnie one liners from the movie. We get I Am Not A Pervert, It's Turbo Time and Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies? All of which are packed with some gloriously over the top power metal, self parodying shred solo breaks and off course some fairly passable Arnie impressions delivering some very much tongue in cheek comments through out. "What the hells the mater with you, you totally forgot the guitar solo, you idiots, play it, play it now..." It's not big and it's not cleaver... but it is highly entertaining, and like the movie that inspired it, mercifully short, so the joke is not worn thin at the end.

In fact I'll be honest I like Austrian Death Machine, which is more than I can say about As I Lay Dying (never a band that has done anything for me) and I also find it refreshing that this is a seasonal record that doesn't feature cheesy sleigh bells and Santa references, which is another big plus.

In short this is the best Chrimbo release of the year, Highly recommended.

For fans of.... ARNIE. (Girly boys should give this one a miss)

Hellish Outcast - 'Your God Will Bleed' (Transend Music) 4.5/5

Norwegian metallers Hellish Outcast are a bit of a supergroup, comprising of former members of such acts as Byfrost, Breed, 66 Crusher and Keep Of Kalessin, they first raided our shores earlier this summer when they laid waste to the bloodstock festival and left us with the impressive 'Raping Killing Murder' ep. Now anyone who knows their dark ages history will tell you that once the Vikings have raided, they will be back in greater force, and now we have again dark sails on the horizon as the band once more are set to return with their full length debut in the form of 'Your God Will Bleed'.

Now first impressions of this album are very favourable. What we have here are ten slices of deadly and effective Norse steel that make longships out of your ears, sail straight into your brain, lay waste to all they can find and make such an impact that you know your gonna remember the event for years to come.

The first assault comes in the form of The View, So Disgusting (a comment on a popular US day time talk show?) - a track that is dripping brutal riffs, and features a vocal approach that comes over like some weirdly compelling death metal hip-hop. From there on in its death and sonic slaughter all the way, we gets cuts like the violently short You Will Scream, that is a sub two minute berserk assault of unbelievable fury; the prolonged battery of tracks like Muffled Screams (lots of screaming going on here), which do show a fair degree of subtly in the bludgeon, with some slower paced riffs to counterpoint some blindingly fast blast beat sections; and my fave cuts on show the frenzied Face Forced Down and the masterfully epic closer Hubris.

Maximum praise must be given to the guys performing this act of metallic conquest. The music here isn't groundbreaking, it follows naturally in the footsteps of previous viking raiders such as Bathory, Darkthrone, Amon Armath etc, but it is particularly well penned and performed, instantly likeable and is a worthy edition to Norways metal heritage.

In short this is a damn fine record, and one that will win Hellish Outcast a lot of friends indeed.

For fans of... Tyr, Forefather, Amon Armath, Noctem, Glorior Belli....

Betraeus - 'Towards The Sun' (siege of amida) 4/5

Manchester prog metal outfit Betraeus are fairly new additions to the uk metal scene. Formed in 2009 they have been build themselves a bit of a reputation lately thanks to a show stopping appearance on the New Blood stage at this years Bloodstock festival and support slots for the likes of Blaze and Beholder. Earlier this year they signed to Siege of Amida records and now have issued their debut ep. Towards The Sun.

Now there's a lot of good stuff going on on the old prog-death scene in UK, recently we've had some corking releases from the likes of Spires, Impaled Existence and Fornost Arnor that have really been showing what a depth of talent there is in the uk at the moment, and now we have this little gem to ally any doubts you may have that UK death-prog is here and means business.

There are three cracking tracks at the business end of this one. We start with Towards The Sun itself a true epic as just a few seconds short of the 10 minute mark. Sounding not unlike some of the early work of Opeth, this track alone shows what an interesting and versatile outfit Betraeus are. It starts out like Van der Graaf 

Generator on a Behemoth trip develops through some tasty death metal passages with some licks and motifs that come straight from the Fish era Marillion song book, slides neatly through some good old school trashage and dark gothic acoustic moments before winding up with a section that reminds me of the sort of stuff Dream Theater used to cook up before they started the serious exploration their own backsides. Damn good it is too.

The other two studio tracks on offer are equally noteworthy, Frustrate Recluse is a touch less prog and more old school thrash, pounding Toranaga style rhythms and heavy bridge damped chuggs a-go-go; and Blossom Into The Void is a true classic with a beautiful acoustic vibe that feels very Wishbone Ash.

Add in two storming bonus live cuts, Obsolete and Locust lifted from the band Bloodstock performance, which show whatever this lot can do in studio they can do on stage and a shortened single edit of the title track to round things off and you have a cracking release from a great new band with a lot to offer. I got a feeling this lot could go places.

Highly recommended

For fans of... Opeth, Spires, Impaled Existence, Elimination, Hammers of Misfortune.....

Behemoth - 'Demonica' (metalblade) 4.5/5

It's been a difficult year for classic Polish black metal merchants Behemoth, with main man Adam 'Nargal' Darski fighting off a potentially fatal bout of leukemia all things Behemoth have been put on hold for the past year or so. However the band have taken the opportunity to do a spot of archive raiding. Earlier this year we had the 'Abyssus Abyssum Invocat' compliation which resurrected a few lost gems and unreleased live archive material and now we have this double CD package that looks back to some of their earliest recordings.

Now this is not a new release as such, Demonica first surfaced in 2006 on the Swedish Regain label, but back then it was a very limited pressing of just a few thousand CDs and a few hundred vinyl copies and thus has become a bit of a collectors item. But now it has been re-issued through Metalblade so all of who missed it first time around can enjoy it.

OK I'll confess that I've always had a soft spot for Behemoths intelligent approach to all things doomy and dark and always admired them for the high standard of their music; and listening back to this collection of some of their earliest demo tracks, album out takes and other assorted goodies, I'm more than happy to report that even this primordial stuff from the bands earliest days still shows exactly why Gdansks blackest export are one of the world leaders in their field.

All the bands influences are proudly on show.  We get snippets of early Black Sabbath style riffage, hints of Venom, touches of St Vitus and Paradise Lost, a seasoning of Bathory and Celtic Frost... all the classic ingredients of the trade mark Behemoth sound are on show, and even on the earliest numbers, some dating back to early 1992 they are already being forged into something a wee bit special indeed.

The quality of the musicianship on show is remarkable; its brutal, raw, aggressive and as black as a black cat which has been dropped into a bag of soot; yet at the same time its complex in construction, perfectly controlled and as darkly entertaining as a classic Dario Argento movie.

There are 23 tracks on offer here and I'm not gonna give a track by track breakdown, but a few of my personal highlights are: the Bathory fueled From The Hornedlands to Lindisfarne (you gotta love songs about vikings), the deliciously doom laden Rise Of The Blackstorm of Evil, the Venomesque Cursed Angel Of Doom and the dark and riffy Deathcrush.

Things are thankfully looking up in the Behemoth camp now. Nargal is well on the way to a full recovery, and there is a new studio album and a full European tour in the offering for next year. But in the mean time if you need a black metal fix of the highest quality to keep you going, (or you've not encountered the band before and you fancy giving them ago) then this album (and Abyssus Abyssum Invocat for that matter) are more than up to the task.

Highly Recommended

For fans of ... Venom, Glorior Belli, Bathory, Novel of Sin etc....

Uneven Structure - 'Februus' (basick records) 3.5/5

It's strange, only a few weeks ago I was saying how I rarely get much French music through my inbox, since then I've had new albums from Glorior Belli, The Crooked Axis and now this one from Uneven Structures. Apparently they are from Metz  and have previously put out an ep prior to this their full length debut

Now I'll be honest and say this one has me stumped. I'm not sure if this one of the greatest things I've ever heard or the biggest musical car crash of all time. Style wise it is an eclectic blend, Meshuggah style death metal, Tangerine Dream or Goblin style ambient trip, King Crimson progressive complexity, Pink Floyd-u-like urgency, even hints of Sky's post classical stylings... its all in here, more often than not at the same time and the end result is certainly interesting if not compelling.

The upside is that Uneven Structures do have something verging on unique going on here, there are some very impressive musical soundscapes. Tracks like Exmersion, Buds and to be honest the whole damn album are well penned and produced and expertly performed. The tracks flow seamlessly together giving the whole work a full blown concept album feel that makes for a good entertaining listen.

The downside is that the whole work comes over a tad confused and a little messy on the ears and a bit lacking in dynamics. The death metal sections come over very tame indeed. After all death metal is supposed to bludgeon and kill, but on this one the deathisms are as menacing as a fluffy kitten with a water pistol. And the chilled out ambient moments strike you as being very restless, like trying to chill out in a bed that has been filled with toast crumbs. The end result is an album that promises much and should be a real roller coaster ride of sounds and emotions ends up less of a roller coaster and more of a local commuter train. Compare this album to Fornost Arnors recent 'Death Of A Rose' opus, and you soon see not only what this album could have been, but also how far short of the mark it falls.

Having said all that after a couple of play throughs it is growing on me slowly, and I'm sure after living with it for a few months I'll be really liking this one. Basically my jury is still out, but don't let that put you off giving it a go.

For fans of... Spires, Fornost Arnor, Fortune Favours The Brave,