Music Review: Abscess- "Seminal Vampires and Maggot Men" LP

For Halloween we're looking at another classic piece of metal, finally reissued on vinyl in 2011 by Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. I don't often post about death metal albums, but this one was too brilliant to exclude from my collection. After Autopsy's initial breakup in the mid-90's, drummer/vocalist Chris Reifert gave his attention to this disgusting death metal and punk rock hybrid. The band's sick sense of humor and sickeningly catchy take on ear-grating metal has made them an absolute legend in the death metal underground, and this album, their proper debut, holds the honor of being one of my favorite death metal albums of all time.

The packaging of this reissue alone is worth the price of admission: a urine yellow piece of vinyl with "shit specks" of brown comes with an Abscess patch, an 11x17" poster and a refrigerator magnet, just in case. Additionally, with the high quality sound of vinyl, you can practically hear the phlegm being spat through your speakers as the band tears their way through this landmark death metal album. This wretched collection of songs should appeal equally to fans of punk, grindcore, crust, and death metal with great ease. The songs are short and simple, heavy on the low-end with vocals that sound like they're delivered by the villain in your favorite campy slasher flick. While the demise of Autopsy surely saddened metalheads worldwide, I feel like this album more than makes up for their temporary absence. Songs like "Patient Zero" and "Worm Sty Infection" are instantly memorable yet ugly enough to scare away casual fans of the more polished and sterile death metal bands that have oversaturated the metal community in the past decade. If the punky style presented on some tracks isn't enough to sicken you appropriately, then the creeping agony of songs like "Fatfire" will certainly test your threshold for ugliness.

This album is one of the best things to put on when cooking a delicious and unhealthy meal or when having friends over to drink and get wild. It's sick, it's fun, and it's fast. It makes me want to put on a leather vest and headbang until I'm sore and exhausted. When more bands start playing death metal like this, it's likely I'll be enticed to start listening to more new death metal again. Until then, I'm incredibly fortunate to still own a copy of this slab of thrashing insanity. Despite this album's cult status, the label apparently hasn't yet sold all 500 copies, and you'd be a fool if you didn't stop in and pick up a copy for yourself before the supplies dwindle into nothingness. Crank this one LOUD tonight and terrify the piss out of your neighbors.

Music Review: Din of Awakening- "Demo II" Cassette

Din of Awakening are an entity that have been drawing my interest for a relatively short span of time. Just a few months ago, I'd never heard of them. After noticing their debut cassette was featured on SVN OKKLT, I decided to give them some attention. An initial listen didn't fully capture my attention, yet I felt compelled to listen again. The first demo from Din of Awakening eventually grew on me, with its hazy and oppressive songs pairing nicely with its obvious inspiration from cult film Begotten. When I learned they had a second demo being released so shortly after, I was quite excited and decided to obtain a copy for myself. As a shared release from Fallen Empire in the US and Mordgrimm in the UK, this is another promising release from this young one-man project.

This second slab of filth is instantly very different. These three untitled tracks carry a strong death metal influence that the first demo lacked. Vocals are more present and aggressive and there's a greater sense of urgency here. The packaging is well designed yet sparse, primarily calling for support for the Animal Liberation Front, a group whose intense and urgent message pairs quite well with the aggression presented on this demo. The first track switches between melodic leads and bass heavy beat downs that would put modern day hardcore bands to shame in the best way possible. The second track comes in more slowly yet with equal aggression and almost has a groove you can pick out and move along with. About halfway in the volume drops considerably, making time for a quick bass solo before the entire song comes back with redoubled force and purpose. The shift in music gave me a slight alarm and I believe it was intentional. The unpredictable nature of this music is what makes it so compelling, after all. The closing track opens with feedback and fuzzy riffs that remind me of material from the first Din of Awakening demo, yet the production here is still much meatier and more balanced. This is probably the most typically black metal track on the album, although it's currently my personal favorite.

If you're interested in hearing these three hideous enigmas, you can listen in full before making a purchase. As with a handful of other recently reviewed albums, this cassette can be obtained in the Fallen Empire store for the pretty reasonable price of five dollars. With such a prolific project, I expect there will be many more Din of Awakening albums to come. Get on board before these sell out. For a beer pairing, I recommend any thick, dark beer. Even a standard Guinness will do the trick. You want something intense and thick, just like this music.

[Sic] Monic

Somnambulist (2009)

Ouça a Illumination e você terá uma boa ideia do som que essa banda faz. A [Sic]Monic (grafia estranha) é uma banda de Death Metal que se diferencia por usar nas passagens melódicas um vocal que lembra New Metal e Rapcore. É como se pegassem uma banda como o P.O.D. e a enchessem de guturais e pig squeals (aqueles vocais que imitam um guincho de um porco). Eles são oriundos do Arizona, EUA. Começaram sua carreira a relativamente pouco tempo, em 2005, mesmo assim já possuem três álbuns lançados. Esse aqui sendo o mais recente deles.

1. To The Fiendz...
2. Till The Morning Light
3. Somnambulist
4. Illumination
5. Of Blood And Grace
6. Requiem
7. Oxygen
8 . No Conscience
9. Just How Far Down Do You Want to Go?
10. Paradiseum
11. Acidic Epiphanies