[August '03 reviews - part one] [May '03 reviews] [March-April '03 reviews]

BLACK HOLE Magazine #11

Release date: 2003

Review: Another killer issue for this brasilian magazine... It's still incredibly well-made, wonderfully layed out. Some serious space is actually dedicated to grind and gore, it's pretty cool to see a band like Last Days of Humanity interviewed in a such a professional looking magazine among renown bands like Bolt Thrower. Also interviewed are The County Medical Examiners, Haemorrhage, Mortician, Leng Tch'e and tons more... A really solid review section, news, just plenty to read and see... all in all, great, entertaining mag... And it comes with a really cool compilation cd. What more can you ask?

http://blackholemag.com

BLACK HOLE MAGAZINE - ISSUE #11
- 60 pages
- Free Cd Compilation
- Written in english
- Full coloured cover
- B/W inlay

INTERVIEWS WITH:

NECROPHAGIA, BOLT THROWER, BRODEQUIN, LENG TCH'E, MORTICIAN, LAST DAYS OF HUMANITY, UNEARTHLY, SUTURE THE COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINERS, AGORHY,
OSCULUM OBSCENUM, SKINLESS, HAEMORRHAGE, NILE, DECRYPT, MOURNING BELOVETH

NEWS AND ABOUT 170 REVIEWS WILL MASSACRE YOU FROM BANDS LIKE: Deceased, Cerebral Turbulency, Abbadon Incarnate, Ancient Rites, Depraved, Ghoul, Gruesome Stuff Relish, Necrophobic, Morgue, Hypnos, Imperial Sodomy, Machetazo,
Reek Of Shits, The Chasm, Torture Squad, Without Face, Squash Bowels, and lots more...

-CD Black Hole Comp. Vol. III, TOTALLY FREE (22 tracks)

GRUESOME STUFF RELISH "Last Men in Gore" Cd

(Motosierra Records )
Release date: 2003
Running time: 36:34

Review: This Cd starts with 5 brand new songs in the vein of Gruesome Stuff Relish debut full length cd... Highly effective Goregrind/Death with a horror edge, more heavy and mid-tempo than blazing fast, with a really amazing, clear and powerful sound production. Something in the vein of General Surgery & Necrony, basic and clear-cut loud-as-hell riffs, tight crushing drumming and a mix of vicious shrieking and backing vocal effect growling. Lyrics are simplistic but fun and horror-influenced and filled with movie references. This cd is actually a collection of different recordings, the rest of the tracks being taken from their unreleased Ep called "Last Men Alive" and their first release, the out of print Split Cd w/ Brutality Reigns Supreme... This material has a slightly less good sound production than the first 5 tracks, but it still kicks major ass, big sounding, screaming and gurgling, catchy gore grinding death all the way! With a neat italian horror influence perspiring through the whole thing, Gruesome Stuff Relish is just too cool to be true. An outstanding collection cd then, crammed with 36 tracks of pure unadulterated gory grind fun... Really neat laytout and cover design as well.

Tracks: 1)Zombie creeping flesh (Savage flesh eaters II) 2)Broken gravestones 3)Stone knives 4)Teenage giallo grind 5)Crawling death 6)Last men alive 7)One more victim 8)Walk among the living 9)Don't feel shame 10)Green inferno 11)Swamp carnage 12)Throwin' up the sickness 13)Wild Borneo 14)(They are) The rot crew 15)Mondo freaky II (Jvn's revenge) 16)El Duce Inn massacre 17)I can hear their squeak 18)It'll be the end 19)All they need is blood 20)Cannibalistic bloodfeats 21)Mondo freaky 22)Soft dead skin 23)The bite of the zombie 24)Naked and wide-eyed 25)Redneck apocalypse 26)Lunch time 27)Somewhere at an altar 28)King of psychos 29)I relish the gruesome stuff 30)Eaten alive 31)They are everywhere 32)Exhumed stuff 33)Let's kill somebody tonight 34)Meat is murder!! 35)Zombie wizard 36)Savage flesh eaters

http://www.motosierra.cjb.net
http://www.gruesomestuffrelish.ht.st

MAGGUT Promo Cd-R

Release date: 2002-3

Review: This great Cd-R sent by the band contains their first 13 Tracks Demo, the 6 tracks off the upcoming Split Ep w/ Intumescence, 2 Gut covers to feature on the Gut tribute cd and 3 tracks off the "Grind Osaka comp."...
Maggut is the new japanese sensation in terms of Gore/Grind, their style is of the basic and filthy type. Straightforward, expeditious songs, crushing heavy grind riffs, amazing and distorted bass sound, inhuman gurgling vocal effects, abrupt drumming... This is a really excellent, pure Gore/Grind band that's really worth getting excited about! The whole thing is very downtuned, and the bass sound is especially prominent, the band's got one of these really thick and heavy vibe but still keeps it raw and harsh. The drumming is more effective on the crust-core-type midtempos than on the blast beats, but it always stays very very catchy and driving.
The first demo is cool, it's nice and effective and the sound is clear and heavy. The material for the upcoming Split Ep w/ Intumescence is also very nice. The 2 Gut covers are very faithful versions and even keep the original intros, only one of these songs will be used the actual Gut tribute cd I think. But the best stuff on this Cd-R are the last 3 tracks from the "Grind Osaka comp." Their sound on these 3 tracks is great and the drumming is maybe tighter than on the rest of the stuff. This is mind-blowing Gore/Grind in the vein of old Regurgitate mixed with a slight Gore Beyond Necropsy touch. In fact, Maggut is more faithful to old Regurgitate style than Regurgitate themselves nowadays, so if you're in need of some dirty, downtuned, gore spewing grind, look no further... Maggut kicks major ass!

Tracks: Demo: 1)Pickled Punk 2)Cannibalistic Bonehaeds Disorfer 3)Frozen Gut 4)Vicious Vivit Vomit (VxVxV) 5)Rotten to the Core 6)Tear Into Dismemberment Corpse 7)Elephantiasis of the Testicle 8)Hermaphrodite 9)The Mule Fased Women 10)Lockjaw 11)Shrunken Heads 12)Cannibal Carnival 13)Total Dismemberment of a Female Corpse (Regurgitate)
Split Ep w/ Intumescence to be out on Festering Deathfuck Decomposition (www.murdergrind.de): 1)Maggots Swarmed Gut 2)Victim of Minchslaughter 3)Elephantiasis of the Testicle 4)Ultimate Torture Recurrence 5)Putlid Slut Fucking Fire 6)Total Disablist Murders Inexorable Bloodshed Assault
Gut Covers (Gut Tribute: www.alprods.com): 1)Consequence 2)Confessions of a Necrophile
Grind Osaka: 1)Nameless 2)Tear Into Dismemberment Corpse 3)Nameless

Maggut E-mail: maggutgrind@hotmail.com

FUNEBRARUM "Beneath the Columns of Abandoned Gods" Cd

(Necroharmonic Productions - Sleazy 003)
Release date: 2002
Runng time: 30:58

Review: Funebrarum is an excellent throwback at early 90's death metal. With really downtuned and heavy riffs like early Grave, strictly guttural, roaring growls which made me think of early Sinister (mixed with Grave). The band has some great song writing talents, and the material is actually quite diversified. It starts with a slow, doomy opening, but it occasionally gets faster on a number of other songs... Still, most of the stuff is heavy and obscure with sometimes some striking, thrashing guitar riffs or surprising rythms sticking out... Musicianship is solid, songs are tightly composed, sound is great, slightly dark the way death metal should sound! This stuff is just great. Another influence must be a band like Demigod (Finland), musically but also lyrically and for the artwork... Lyrics are very dark and with a welcome touch of putrid gore as well. Bonus points for using the Nightmare City poster for the inlay (the screaming zombie girl with a part of her jaw torn to shreds), I love this poster! I got the wrong impression from the band name, I thought Funebrarum sounded more like a black metal name, but the music is really old school death metal, definitely not modern type brutal death metal... So, well, yeah, great stuff here! It made me want to crank up some good old death metal cd's too! This material is actually the band's second demo remixed, remastered, retitled and released on cd... Hope we'll get to hear more from this cool band in the future. Definitely recommended to all the amateurs of fine old style death metal out there!

Tracks: 1)Tombs of Sleeping Darkness 2)Adoration of Abscessed Cadavers 3)Miasma of Pestilence 4)Dormant Hallucination 5)Depths of Misery

Necroharmonic Productions Website: http://necroharmonic.com

FUCK THE FACTS "Discoing the Dead" Cd

(Black Hole - BHP 008)
Release date: 2003
Running time: 30:19

Review: This is a new re-released version of "Discoing the Dead" by canadian band Fuck the Facts. This is catchy and vivid grind, with grinding, ultra-fast drum-machine beats, blazing guitars, a mix of hysterical screaming, roaring and out of whack, shrieking vocals... This is some very original, non-conventional grind we've got here, there are also alot of groovy and fun parts including some clear guitar parts, some noise experiments, tons of movie samples mixed inside the songs and even some disco music bits for some reason... Very interesting band really, devastating grind with a bizarre sense of humour. A fitting comparison would probably be something like Agoraphobic Nosebleed meets Exit 13... The sound production is slightly raw but clear and effective... Very nice cover artwork and layout too.

Tracks: 1)Ninja sweater 2)Proud to be a canadian 3)Disco rage 4)Wake up call 5)Whisper dependancy 6)Rattlesnake 7)The burning side 8)123-223 9)Appliance jam session 10)Perpetrator 11)Ninja sweater

REGURGITATE "Deviant" Cd

(Relapse Records)
Release date: 2003
Running time: 32:09

Review: Well, it seems Regurgitate pretty much changed dynamics for this album. Gone are the usually systematic vocal effects in favor of more natural-sounding leading high shriekings, the guitar riffs are still ripping and aggressive but these riffs are not always the plain and basic grind riffs the band used to write, they're now occasionally played with some kind of a more rock-oriented/progressive approach and perhaps not always as heavy and downtuned as before, the drumming is still tight and fast as hell no change there, though maybe it's a little more diverse now, song writing is slightly more complex too, with subtler arrangements... The more refined song structuring is akin to Nasum's last 2 albums, and the overall screamy grind style is also very similar to Retaliation on "The Execution"/"Violence Spreads Its Drape" (strangely the song titles are also pretty close to Retaliation, trading sickening pathological gore subject matter for nihilistic catch-phrases). Now that the vocal effects have been booted off, the band has very little to do with early Carcass anymore really, this record definitely strays away from their old gory days. What remains is still a remarkable, raging, pissed off album, the sound production is perhaps the best, clearest and most powerful treatment Regurgitate has ever benefitted from (A vast improvement over "Carnivorous Erection"). Musically this is excellent, and in terms of grindcore this is still incredibly fast, and the raw ultra-violence behind their songs is still intact but the more metal-oriented feel to it and the toned-down gore touch will probably leave some long-time fans with a half-hearted feeling. Personally, I still think this is an amazing album, I'm sure Ill play tons of times, however, I will also definitely miss the good old basic, grinding and gore-gurgling Regurgitate sound, "Effortless Regurgitation..." & "Concrete Human Torture" are still my favorites.

Tracks: 1)Drowning In Filth 2)Embrace Obscenity and Kiss the Eruption of Destruction 3)Seal Your Doom 4)Grotesque Anoplasty 5)Blind Fiends Of Chaos 6)Visions of Sodomy 7)Severe Necrotic Manifesto 8)Annihilation Meets Depravation 9)Amphigory 10)Screams of Death Your God Won't Hear 11)Reeking Hellhole 12)Lethean Sleep 13)Waging War On Benevolence 14)Exterminate the Virtuous 15)Alone in Oblivion 16)Deviant Malpractice 17)The Ultimate Enslavement 18)Systematic Demoralization 19)Unfed 20)Manipulation Reigns Supreme 21)Charred Remains 22)Crossed Out Existence 23)Vice and Iniquity 24)Lobotochrist 25)Twisted Rhymes Of Perversion 26)Depopulation of the Human Race 27)Life Falls Before Our Feet

www.regurgitate.net

INTUMESCENCE/CAMP Split 7" Ep

(Brigade of Natural Genocide - 002)
Release date: 2003

Intumescence Review: Wonderful, pure grind-gore here! Absolutely no death metal influence on display here, and that's quite refreshing actually. Ravaging, straightforward and basic grind assaults complete with downtuned guitars, menacing grind riffs devoid of any technicity, great grindy bass sound, apalling vocals with degenerate grunts, twisted gurgles and some nice vocal effects if I'm not mistaken... This is raw and chaotic, but not just noise, this is riveting grind-gore with an edge, one that captures the spirit of Carcass on "Reek of Putrefaction"/Xysma "Swarming of the Maggots" perfectly! The drumming is messy on the fast parts but gives some solid and catchy mid-tempos, which increases the "Reek of Putrefaction" feel as well! Great stuff really... Oh and Intumescence also has a Malignant Tumour grind-gore era feel, a great talent for writing short, catchy and basic grind tunes. The sound production is raw but sufficiently clear to hear what's going on... Everyone must check this band out, they rule! Fun pseudo-pathological gore song titles as well!

Camp Review: This is quite basic and direct grindcore/death in the vein of Blood (Germany) and maybe old Napalm Death, some very catchy and fast-paced tunes, roaring, growling vocals, very potent and effective pounding drumming, nice dynamic guitar riffs, quite prominent bass sound, effective, concise, "to the point" song writing. The sound production is also really excellent, very clear and powerful... Overall, two very cool bands, one great split Ep! Absolutely recommended.

Intumescence Tracks: 1)Intro- TDGen 2)Intestinal dead meat regurgitator 3)Urethra ripping rectal afterbirth 4)Drowned in defecated entrails 5)Medical martyr 6)Sarcoma 7)Frenzy bonesaw dissection 8)Purulent necrogestational excretion

Camp Tracks: 1)Stonecold snowball 2)Kamikaze killings 3)Rollercoaster ride 4)Chaos and conspiracy 5)Shut the fuck up!!! 6)The Dead Area 7)Blue boat

Camp Website: http://www.camp-groovegrind.net
Intumescence Website: http://www.angelfire.com/band/intumescence

Brigade of Natural Genocide Contact: totaldeath@totaldeath.com
Intumescence Contact: Rob v/d Meij, Rhijnhofweg 13, 2342 BB Oegstgeest, Netherlands

EXHUMED "Anatomy is Destiny" Cd

(Relapse Records)
Release date: 2003

Review: First time I heard Exhumed was when their Split Cd with Hemdale came out. Back then, their sound was slightly muddy but still heavy, I thought they sounded like a crossover between Carcass-type grind-gore and Us death metal in the Suffocation vein. A few years forward, I don't think their style has really changed , their sound production is now crystal clear and their musician skills improved tenfold, but the aggressivity hasn't been toned down and their death metal kept its grind edge. You'll still find all the key Exhumed elements on this new album, the Jess Walker-y tortuous mid-range shrieks, the backing deep guttural growls (alot better mixed on this new album than they were on 'Slaughtercult", in that they're now actually audible...). Guitar riffs are still trenchant and ripping but also delivered with a higher level of intricacy; within this album can be found some of the most demented songwriting by the band, complexly composed and extremely well-balanced songs, and always preserving their sharpness and force. Violent grinding, vicious thrashing, crushing double-bass drumming, some morbid melody and technical guitar solis... the band blends everything so well... There might be a slight increase of slower parts than before, but the stuff always remains catchy and it's still pretty fucking fast for the most part. Taking the best from genres such as thrash metal, death metal and grindcore and creating a coherent style of their own. Exhumed just keeps on evolving musically but they didn't change a bit to me, this is just death metal the way it should sound to me. With this album, Exhumed has reached a level of metal craft it could almost be called Exhumed's "Necroticism"... More elaborate, slightly less straightforward but still pretty darn brutal. I'm sorry I can't comment on lyrics and artwork because Relapse's cardboard promo cover is very limited in these areas, I might update this review when I get the actual cd... Anyway, this is some of the finest death metal I've ever heard, don't miss this.

Tracks: 1)Anatomy is Destiny 2)Waxwork 3)The Matter of Splatter 4)Under the Knife 5)Consuming Impulse 6)Grotesqueries 7)In the Name of Gore 8)Arclight 9)Nativity Obscene (A Nursery Chyme) 10)Death Walks Behind You 11)A Song For the Dead

www.exhumed.us

Ulcerrhoea Review: This is quite far from Ulcerrhoea's grind-gore origins. What we've got here is violent, rugged and fast grindcore... just raw and aggressive; alternating growls and screams, very angry and pissed off, mincing riffs, dirty guitar sound and out-of-control fast drumming. Solid performance, fair sound... Lyrics are of the crust-type, dealing with social issues and the like... The 2 bands are a quite nice match, great grind, good sound, nice layout (some pretty extreme imagery too...) - Killer piece of vinyl, don't miss it!
Tracks: 1)Charred remains 2)Fall to extinction 3)Cycle of despair 4)Contamination 5)Deteriorate

Price: 5 Euro ppd (Europe) $5 ppd (World) 35 SEK ppd (Sweden) from:
Label Contact: SOUNDS OF BETRAYAL
RODRIGO ALFARO
BOX 7092
20042 MALM�
SWEDEN
Email: PUTRIDFILTH@BIGFOOT.COM

Embalming Theatre Review: Begins with a nice and chilling intro taken from Dario Argento's Suspiria... The rest is pounding and aggressive death-grind, extremely fast and blasting drums, grinding heavy sound and some thrashing guitar riffs, devastating growls. The band has a very basic approach to the style, straightforward but also extremely speed-fueled death-grind is what you're getting here... The recording is a little rough but still quite thick and clear. 4 songs including one Filthy Christians cover version. Kinda weird lyrics. In summary, killer Split Ep here... You know you want it!
Tracks: 1)Intro 2)The asian penis-elevator 3)Combustible mummy 4)Satanist (Filthy Christians) 5)Deadly jewellery 6)Outro

Price: 5 Euro ppd (Europe) $5 ppd (World) 35 SEK ppd (Sweden) from:
Label Contact: SOUNDS OF BETRAYAL
RODRIGO ALFARO
BOX 7092
20042 MALM�
SWEDEN
Email: PUTRIDFILTH@BIGFOOT.COM