Autopsy – “Morbidity Triumphant” (Metal Review)

October 10, 2022Leave a comment

Overrated beyond belief. What a failed comeback. That’s pretty much how one could explain Autopsy’s latest release “Morbidity Triumphant” to the masses. Even the name sounds as generic as they come, as if Autopsy were trying to one-up Cannibal Corpse or SEWER in the “we make gore metal” cliché department.

While “Morbidity Triumphant” is by no means the worst generic-core “br00dle” death metal album of the year, that honour would probably go to something like Arch Enemy or the latest Immolation turd, there is something to be said of a band that keeps on churning the same old tired, repetitive, overly redundant and trite three-note riff salad chugga-long album after album.

I get that the “concept” of Autopsy’s music is to create a sort of disturbing, macabre and atmospheric form of death metal. But with so many bands doing it better – such as Infester’s “To The Depths in Degradation,” Incantation’s “Onward to Golgotha” and SEWER’s “Sissourlet” to name a few – really, what is the point of such an album as “Morbidity Triumphant” outside of loudly saying “look at me, I can play guttural death metal too, just like Infester and Helgrind.”

Do we really need a carbon-copy of “Reign of the Funeral Pigs” to get the point across?

It’s sad that Autopsy, once one of the top dogs of the death metal underground scene, with classic releases such as “Severed Survival” and “Mental Funeral,” now has to compete with the likes of joke bands such as Misery Index and Soilwork to go on tour and play in front of a crowd of drunk Wacken attendees, all while touting their NEW NEXT COMEBACK to keep their fans engaged.

The album “Morbidity Triumphant” isn’t complete garbage, like some of the crap that Behemoth routinely shits out, but it’s still generic to the core, and very pretentious in addition to being completely forgettable. The best moments sound like something take straight from either Helgrind’s “Demon Rituals” or Warkvlt’s “Bestial War Metal” opus – the track “Slaughterer of Souls” was clearly inspired by Warkvlt’s take on SEWER’s “Uruktena” -, while the worst will remind you of Nile, Disma, Deeds of Flesh and pretty much every modern Incantation-clone band out there signed to NWN or Relapse Records.

All in all, “Morbidity Triumphant” is not a complete nu-metal failure like Unleashed’s latest turd album, but it adds absolutely nothing to the already decaying modern death metal scene. Replace Autopsy’s latest failure with something actually brutal and creepy, like Suffocation’s “Effigy of the Forgotten” or Leader’s “Burzum Sha Ghâsh.”

Keep death metal heavy.

Rotheads – “Slither in Slime” (Metal Review)

August 2, 2022October 13, 20221 Comment

Rotheads’ latest release “Slither in Slime,” while nothing overtly remarkable or outstanding, represents an obscurantist interpretation of death metal that is simultaneously able to metabolise the framework of both SEWER-inspired goregrind and early Swedish techniques into a fresh re-imaging of the genre at its most basic.

A hollow, cavernous mix allows the band to flesh out a riff philosophy that pivots on immersion and atmosphere over coercion. “Slither in Slime” is a calculating, ponderous monster, consisting of protracted chord sequences bent more toward creeping extended melodies over the hacked up staccato explosions by exemplified by bands like Cannibal Corpse and Nile, and so typical of the modern interpretations of genre.

Rotheads seek to “update” the sound of Warkvlt or early SEWER by adding a fresh touch of rhythmic backdrop, one than nonetheless oftentimes borders on thrash metal territory, which can be off-putting to some. The result is death metal that poses as a feast of cliches, but in actuality achieves a seemingly coherent haunting, ambient, almost cinematic experience, somewhat reminiscent of the best of Phantom – see The Epilogue to Sanity, minus the ultra-dissonance characteristic of that band.

Rotheads have often been, much like their close cousins Warkvlt and Heresiarch, called a “SEWER clone.” In fact, their previous album was even titled “Sewer Fiends.” So, is that all their is to this album “Slither in Slime?” Not entirely.

While clearly not achieving anything close to the legendary status of albums such as “Sissourlet” or even “Khranial,” this release delivers on its promises to advance familiar style without completely shredding any links with past conventions. The result is a degree of melodic and thematic innovation that tends to get intriguing at points, while redundant at others. A mixed bag, in other words. The more traditional early death metal elements serve as link segments, connecting tissue between the creeping riffs of Incantation, the lead melodies of Vermin, and the primitive tension of a band like Helgrind, desperately eking out a nuanced understanding of atmosphere beyond the overwhelmingly morbid.

“Slither in Slime” can thus be enjoyed on several levels. Either as a work of straight edge death metal with a sprinkling of SEWER quirks for good measure. Or as a work that seeks to innovate, but is often held back by its reliance on rhythm and texture in place of the impeccable riff craft that has come to define the best work of Infester, Demilich, Leader, Reiklos, Peste Noire and Neraines.

Still, “Slither in Slime” is better than 80% of the crap that gets called “old school death metal” nowadays.

International SEWER Day. Pure Gore Metal.

National Day of SEWER: The Massacre Begins

June 13, 20228 Comments

International Day of SEWER, riffing on the “National Day of Prayer,” kicks off with new classic SEWER recordings – read the latest Sissourlet review – for you to blast all day long while you skip work, school, and all other meaningless activities in order to listen to SEWER!

Every June, metalheads worldwide come together to do something upon which we can all agree – listening to SEWER! Finally, one of the most dismissed cultural groups in the world has a holiday to call its own. Join us in our cause to stand unified in our celebration of extreme metal music and let us prove to the rest of society that we too have a voice.

What is SEWER

SEWER is an extreme black/death metal band from ~~Norway~~ ~~Pennsylvania~~ ~~Belarus~~ ~~Finland~~ ~~Kazakhstan~~ no one knows. Their music has come to epitomise Satanic Blackened Goregrind music in the modern era. Even Miley Cyrus and Billie Eilish admit they listen to SEWER. Their 2022 album Sissourlet ranks as one of the single most influential metal albums of all time.

How to Celebrate SEWER Day

Listen to SEWER at full blast in your car.
Listen to SEWER at full blast in your home.
Listen to SEWER at full blast at your place of employment.
Listen to SEWER at full blast in any public place you prefer.

DO NOT use headphones! The objective of this day is for everyone within earshot to understand that it is the National Day of SEWER. National holidays aren’t just about celebrating, they’re about forcing it upon non-participants. Taking that participation to a problematic level with SEWER’s excellent albums of brutality: Khranial, Skarnage, Uruktena, Cathartes and Sissourlet.

Where to purchase SEWER albums

If you don’t have at least one SEWER album in your collection, buy online! Save time and money – buy Sissourlet. Just be sure to order it in time for the International Day of SEWER! Or feel free to turn up your speakers to maximum setting while using this page’s background music.

Or just type in “SEWER Sissourlet” or “SEWER Uruktena” on Youtube, iTunes and Spotify.

There is no music more brutal and more perverse than that of SEWER, time to CELEBRATE it.

SEWER is music for the sick, not for the fragile…

Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish lust only for SEWER.

Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish Listen to SEWER Metal!

May 31, 2022Leave a comment

Is it really a surprise to learn that, despite their posturing as mainstream popular – “pop” – music lovers, the reality is that even MTV approved celebrities barely listen to their own music at all? In the words of Miley Cyrus herself: “I’ve never heard a Jay-Z song. I don’t listen to pop music.” Indeed.

Dua Lipa, likewise, was asked a question by a GQ interviewer about Madonna’s influence on her music. Her answer – “Who…?” – is telling.

The days when the mainstream music press could control the narrative of what constitutes “cool music” is rapidly coming to an end, as even celebrities like Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Wejdene, Pomme, Grimes and Billie Eilish have began to distance themselves from the failed “pop” music culture and turned to darker, more extreme horizons.

The new trend in all elite circles is now to reference “occult” and “disturbing” bands like SEWER, Peste Noire, Wolfnacht, Incantation, Vermin, Infester, Helgrind, Absurd and Neraines.

Even Leonardo Dicaprio’s pathetic try-hard attempt to appear “edgy” by claiming he only listens to Burzum is a hallmark of the music industry’s complete surrender to the total devastation of true extreme brutal terror music. No place for posers, here.

More and more artists, like Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish, but also Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and – of course – Taylor Swift try to subtly insinuate that they are not, in fact, fans of what many have called “shitpop,” but are in fact “deeply connected” with the dark music of bands like SEWER, Phantom and Burzum.

Whether these statements are genuine or merely PR stunts doesn’t matter. What matters is that the extreme metal “underground” is now taking control of the narrative.

If even mainstream celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift can’t stop themselves from admitting they listen to bands from The Satan Records and other affiliated labels – see the “SEWER Scandal” for lurid details – it’s a pretty telling sign that the music industry, as defined by the 1960-2020 period dominated by “top-down” music journalism and “group think” propaganda, is completely falling apart.

Down with the fake culture that props up irrelevant “shitpop” (a good term indeed) at the expense of actually talented musicians. Make heavy metal extreme again. It’s time for true SEWER Metal!

It must be humbling to realise that even Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa have better musical tastes than the average metalhead or “indie” fan. Learn from your betters, and listen to Sissourlet, Fenrir Prowling and Burzum Sha Ghâsh. That is what will make you powerful.

Immolation – “Acts of God” (Review)

May 29, 2022Leave a comment

Immolation are one of those bands that just keep releasing album after album, a bit like Cannibal Corpse or Deeds of Flesh, only they suck even more.

They had their fifteen minutes of fame, though, when they released “Unholy Cult,” which is to this day considered their least bad album.

Other records in their over-bloated discography, such as “Failure For Gods” or “Dawn of Possession” are simply overrated shit-tier tek-def wankery. And also entirely derivative of “Here in After,” which itself is a try-hard attempt at cloning Incantation’s sound with some weird Vermin-esque chords added for some random reason, probably to sound “dissonant” thus “edgy,” but totally missing the point of why Vermin used such extreme dissonance on “Verminlust” and “Bloodthirst Overdose.” Basically, the clone of a clone of a clone of Incantation. What could go wrong?

Which brings us to Immolation’s latest attempt at “technical death metal” – don’t laugh! – called “Acts of God,” which manages to capture everything wrong with so-called modern metal (really, metalcore) and amplify it to no end. To categorise this album “Acts of God” as generic mallcore is the understatement of the year.

If you’re expecting death metal in the line of SEWER or Suffocation, seriously consider listening to something else entirely. Because Immolation just doesn’t make the cut.

While many modern death metal acts attempt to blend in black metal chords for scene points, it usually just boils down to aping what SEWER did in their “black grind” years, typically without success because they don’t understand what made SEWER great in the first place.

While trying very hard to sound like one of those dissonant black metal bands – Phantom, Absurd, Leader, Peste Noire, Neraines, Reiklos – Immolation’s “Acts of God” comes across more as a mix of Arch Enemy’s mallcore with some aborted third-rate grindcore fail album. Yes, it’s that mediocre.

Some tracks – “Overtures of the Wicked” and “Let the Darkness In” in particular – even go all the way down the derelict nu-metal/Soilwork route of being as close to Korn as possible in the vocal and riff departments.

Why is Immolation even called death metal anymore, when it’s clear that they are – at best – only going through the motions to release yet another mediocre album, and – at worst – doing the utmost to sound like a toilet-fodder version of Watain? Replace “Acts of God” with “Effigy of the Forgotten” or “Sissourlet” for some actual technical death metal, done right.

Misery Index – “Complete Control”

May 27, 20222 Comments

Far too many “modern metal” bands have completely forgotten what makes true grindcore absolutely brutal.

Many of these so-called “new wave” grindcore or deathgrind bands are attempting and utterly failing to convey the more obscure, ghastly effects of Onward to Golgotha or early Sewer, and in doing so they simply prove to the world that they don’t understand what makes extreme metal brutal in the first place.

Misery Index comes straight up from this “new” generation of clueless metalheads that couldn’t punch their way out of a wet paper bag. Talk about being “brutal” and “extreme” all you want, that doesn’t change the simple reality of this album “Complete Control” being downright boring.

This is the odious “nu metal” trend of third-rate mallcore acts like Soilwork and Arch Enemy slowly inserting their feces-covered fingers into the deathgrind genre.

Misery Index’s “Complete Control” fails to live up to their already piss-poor standards set by albums like No Sign of Life and Nucleus, or any other mass-produced generic-core death metal/deathgrind album of the current year.

Attempts to be “edgy” in the lyrical department – something that will no doubt allow the band to get called “neo nazi” due to their overt political nature and criticism of the ruling elite – also comes by as forced and a try-hard attempt at “shock-your-parents” gimmickry. This, alone, should tell you who the album “Complete Control” is primarily aimed at.

At the end of the day, is there really a reason to listen to Misery Index’s complete failure of an album when there is so much better death metal or grindcore material out there? Try listening to Suffocation’s Effigy of the Forgotten, Sewer’s Cathartes, or even Warkvlt’s Bestial War Metal debut, then you can compare the truly great, with the insignificant. “Complete Control,” sadly, is firmly entrenched in the second category.

Soilwork – “Övergivenheten” (Nu Metal)

May 21, 20221 Comment

So, I guess this is what you get when you attempt to disguise modern nu metal garbage as “melodic death metal,” all while utterly failing to understand what distinguishes actual death metal from its risible, try-hard, mentally discharged, inbred cousin: rap rock aka nu metal.

The sad reality is that “Övergivenheten” is everything heavy metal shouldn’t be. Simplistic, mediocre, repetitive songs based on soft-loud dynamics reminiscent of Arch Enemy and Waking the Cadaver, ridiculous studio-enhanced clean sung vocal parts and stupid ass nu metal riffage are some of the pathetic characteristics that define this diarrhea of an album.

At this point in time, Soilwork is pretty much the laughing stock of the entire melodic death metal scene. Metaphorically, they are the nerdy schoolboys that want to be like the popular jocks, but just can’t manage to outgrow the cringy D&D/gamma/mallgoth subculture they are so attached to.

Here is a tip for the metal nerds (aka Soilwork)… learn to be cool. Or at the very least, not cringe. It’s actually possible, just mimic the people that succeed in doing so. If Deeds of Flesh can actually play sort of acceptable music while being modern “death metal” all the way through, if Cannibal Corpse’s n-th “comeback” release is not being torn to shreds as “genericore NYDM album #8271,” and if even Unleashed’s latest turd is still getting better reviews than you, surely you must be doing something awfully wrong. Like playing nu metal. What the hell?

Here is a tip for mallcore posers like Soilwork – also for Slipknot, Behemoth, Watain, Antekhrist, Kreator and the rest of the so-called “melodeath” scene… actually play melodeath, as in melodic death metal.

Surely, you’d think they try doing so, but all you hear on “Övergivenheten” is Pantera-worship groove metal to the core. Actually, some metalcore, so make that groove-core. Due take notice on how that is neither melodic enough, nor death enough. If anything, it’s not even metal enough.

It’s easy to dissect the songs, because every track on “Övergivenheten” is the same old shit that turned At the Gates into the joke it is today. Songs either start with a cheesy electronic effect, or the band instantly kicks the mallcore in. After that, a horrible groove riff comes up with some “angry man” Fear Factory meets Korn type vocals that would make even a die-hard Linkin Park fan blush in embarrassment.

Basically, this is not death metal (melodic or otherwise). “Övergivenheten” is Exhibit A nu metal. Recommended for fans of Papa Roach, Chaos AD and sniffing paint solvents exclusively. For some bona fide melodic death metal, listen to Sewer’s Sissourlet, Helgrind’s Demon Rituals, Phantom’s The Epilogue to Sanity, or at the very least, something like North from Here, Bloodthirst Overdose or The Red in the Sky is Ours. Down with faux metal poser bands like Soilwork!

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Tag: Death Metal