Resurgency - "False Enlightenment" (full-length, Hellthrasher Productions)

I realized it's been a pretty long time since we had some death metal going on here... and this review has been sitting around for quite a while, so it was finally time to get off my ass, edit it and post it. It's written by one of our favorite contributors... enjoy it together with the undiluted realness of this awesomely-titled, barbarous Greek death metal album!

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How does it feel to be capable to relive some glorious times? How does it feel to hear the maggots crunching in your teeth (well that's a different story)? Anyway, my point is it smells like Florida death metal around here.. and that is definitely a compliment!

These guys seem to bring back the glory of the late 80s early 90s era, when death metal shorts and sunglasses were regarded as poseur antics by Norwegian black metallers. We're talking about an era when Morbid Angel used to live together in the same house, where Nile's Karl Sanders would randomly show up and listen to Pete "Commando" Sandoval constantly molesting his drum set in the basement (source: http://choosingdeath.com/).

Well if these stories sound fascinating for you too, we are born in the wrong era my friends. Nevertheless the seeds of death metal have grown and many bands are keeping the tradition nowadays. One of them is Resurgency from our very own Athens, Greece. They deliver death metal the old way, with razor twisted melodic riffs, excellent drumming, proper production and thunderous growls along dark lyrics.

Tracks like the opening “Cranium of Slain Disciples”, “Black Hole of Antiverse” and  the title track “False Enlightenment” are my personal favorites! The artwork is definitely a plus since it combines harmonically with the music and the lyrical context. 2xDeicide t-shirts in the band photo, this pretty much sums it up. Comparing this release with the split they did (with Desolator), I can clearly say there has been progress, so guys keep up the good work! For the rest of you: Dive in, this is pure old school death metal!

Check them out: Resurgency Facebook

Review by Lord Warm

HELLSPAWN - "Diabolic"

Poland's Hellspawn really have it all: the insane blastbeats, the perfect production, the catchy Satanic riffs, the extravagant technichality, that sick Morbid Angel atmosphere... Fuck yeah! What else do you need to press play on the video below? Strictly for fans of true death metal!

http://www.facebook.com/Hellspawn.Metal

Review: Putrified - "Neurotic Necrotic" (2012, Full length, Hellthrasher Productions)

Genre: Old school death metal

Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Band Website: Myspace

Label: Hellthrasher Production

Most of the death metal that circulates these days has a clean production and tends to focus on technical proficiency and whatnot. This has nothing to do with the type of death metal that Putrified proudly churns out. What we have here is a celebration of unholy and cultish death metal, which focuses more on the deliverance of an unholy feeling rather than a display of crunchiness and speed.

Like all old school death metal, Putrified contains a certain amount of thrash. But fear not extreme metalheads, this is not the kind of lame Bay Area type thrash rehash going on. On the contrary, it is the thrash that bands like Possessed, Hellhammer or even very early Sepultura played back in the day: filled with blood, guts and other wonderfully disgusting ingredients that make simple thrash step up to seriously evil thrash. Of course these elements are melted into the unforgiving death metal pot, creating a fearful and crushing mix of pure old school death. There are enough blastbeats to satisfy you, with a perfect sound on the drums that really needs to be praised and studied. Fuck yes. The snare drum will mercilessly open a hole in your skull if you play this record loud enough. Like you'd expect from a record like this, the guitars and the bass are of course 100% distorted, with a rough but also very meaty sound.

I very much like the fact that some death metal bands still stick to the occult themes and topics. It shouldn't all be about gore and/or and social hate. We need to stay down with the occult! And this is what Putrified does. Song titles like "The Land of Pharoes" and "Temple of Vomit" may convince even the most sceptic out there. There is a good dose of humor but also a lot of nastiness and this is just what we need in death metal today. Enough with the serious posing, make death metal that is extreme and fucking necro! I shouldn't forget to mention that all these dark as fuck themes are sung with furious death metal vocals, which have a very thick, hateful and face melting approach.

Neglecting this record in the pile of "to review" during the last few months makes me regret not looking into it earlier. Boy had I been missing from the real action. From now and on, I'll make sure to review all Hellthrasher Productions records as soon as I get them!

Featured Bands: SICARII - Sheer Brutality & Pure Death

Death metal is a style of music that just doesn't run out. No matter how trends come and go, there will always be bands who form with the sole intention of making some heavy, ugly music that destroys all in its path.

Sicarii is this type of uncompromising band. You won't know what hit you when these guys start delivering their guttural, sickly blasts. This mysteriously named outfit churns out pure death metal in a very punishing manner that could easily be termed as old school. Sicarrii dosn't make any use of contemporary DM musical trends like breakdowns, grindcore parts, burpy vocals and the lile. They have riff upon riff of twisted, heavy as fuck guitar work and groovy, brutal death metal patterns that groove like a motherfucker. This sick, blackened sound owes as much to Immolation as it does to Suffocation, and the reference points couldn't be better really for a DM band. We also have to give extra points for the awesome vokills, which stand out and make such a nasty wall of sound with the concrete guitar riffs. With songs like The Omega Tyrant and Bones of the Fallen, you can understand what this band is all about and that they don't sing about no happy stuff!

You can listen to some Sicarri samples for free on their social media. You can find them on http://www.reverbnation.com/sicarii666, their Facebook page and also click on DMMCOmpany's band page, to listen to the song Abort the Flesh and check out some awesome graphics which together will give you the complete Sicarii experience.

p.s. I had this on full volume and it made my cat mosh like crazy. Enough said.

Fotis TxYxS

Review: DEUS OTIOSUS "Murderer" (American Line/FDA Records)

It is just great to see death metal bands taking their music seriously. Any bunch of deathcore kids who wanna have fun can learn to play brutal and fast after some years of listening to Relapse bands and practicing; but the bands that ultimately stand out from the pack are the ones which have something more worthwhile, the ones with members who live and breathe real Death Metal all their lives. I'm talking about bands that can creep into your subconscious mind and make a nasty home in it. And Deus Otiosus is such a band.

There is a big difference between just banging out some solid DM tunes with the right ingredients (death growls, heavy riffs, double bass drums etc), and making a piece of real unearthly, sick, and disgustingly dark music.  While Deus Otisius do have all the right ingredients for sure, they fall into the latter category of true deathsters, and have offered the world a true old school DM masterpiece.

Their brand of DM goes way back to the roots of old school death metal. That means really brutal, with a thick wall of sound created by the the solid guitar riffage, 100% DM vocals and a crazy drummer blasting out necro beats in the background. What I mean by 'necro' is that the beats are not hyper fast, more like an exchange of mid tempo/fast parts, but coupled with a punishing and selective use of the double bass. If you want references of what this albums sounds, then I'd have to drop in some names like early Death, Apshyx, Sinister, Bolt Thrower, maybe even rocking stuff like Entombed and Dismember. At times, these guys seem to black/thrash it a little bit in the old school style like Possessed, Celtic Frost etc. And that, my friends, is where the real inferno is at.

While Deus Otisius plays straight out DM, they manage to create a ghastly atmosphere without the use of long interludes, keyboards, or any other extras. They manage to collectively use their instruments, lyrics and layout in such a way as to create a real deathly atmosphere that drives your mind into hellish images, cold cemetaries and ghouls running amuck. Some of the riffs have an epic feel to to them and create a war/battlefield atmposhere, hence the Bolt Thrower influence I mentioned earlier. These are some of the parts that really start growing on you after you give this record a few listens.

To sum it up, I'll leave you with a line that the band itself used in order to promote the album: "twisted death metal with the reek of the damned". This is what it is!

PROS: Total old school feel, great vox, some truly epic guitar riffs, nice production, high level of brutality.

CONS: None, but strictly for DM fans

LOWDOWN: A true DM album for those who worship the roots of this music.

CRUCIAMENTUM - Convocation of Crawling Chaos

Today's review is an offering by fellow partner in crime and long time contributor, Rigas. This guy may look like an outgoing peaceful rastafari dude on the outside, but he actually has a soft spot for brutal, underground and uncompromising music. He has gotten me into loads of bands in the past and UK's Cruciamentum just got added to the list. This guy knows his shit; read on to see what he had to say about this ultra-brutal band's new offering and be forewarned: this is some of the heaviest stuff we've ever featured here!

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Death metal in 2011 bares the long history of one of the most extreme musical expressions. The genre had ups and downs in popularity but also quality; nevertheless there is a rich legacy with numerous landmark releases. Therefore, the bar is set high for new bands and I believe there is only room for dedicated people and crucial stuff, like this one.

Learn more  out the awesome cover by Alexander L. Brown here

Cruciamentum play death metal - just that - and that is very refreshing in times saturated by music overproduction where every band is blending countless styles in their songs (deathcore is now on demand, following the metalcore hype). While others try to broaden their sound in a superficial cut & paste fashion, Cruciamentum take the time to focus on their sound and devote themselves to the long tradition of death metal. As they go deeper they bring much more for us to listen: three death metal epics with manifold yet ‘organic’ shifts in exciting flow, ultra-heavy ‘buried’ sound, low guttural and relatively discreet vocals and a ritualistic occult feeling.

There is a cryptic ambience omnipresent; Cruciamentum are interested to create a specific sound and atmosphere in which to deliver their music. Knowing how to play authentic death metal, they are not exhausting themselves just playing as fast and brutal as possible. Their sound draws parallels to Dead Congregation, Disembowelment, Funebrarum, Demigod, Immolation, Incantation and Winter (less). It somehow reminded me also Morbid Angel of ‘Gateways to Annihilation’ era, but much more low-fi.

Cruciamentum shift skilfully a lot of tempos yet they incorporate also some slow, doom parts (remember Disembowelment! e.g. the 3^rd minute mark of ‘’deathless ascension’’) which are very effective in their music. They also throw in some ‘morbid’ yet majestic melodies which at times are even reminiscent of early 90’s atmospheric doom/death (they use synths at the end of the EP). Surprisingly, there is a crushing beatdown part in ‘’Rotten flesh crucifix’’ which fits great and is very functional in the flow of the song, while later is coated with an obscure, bitter melody. Frankly, it is one of the best death metal releases I heard in years with its superior black & white aesthetics.

Cruciamentum hail from UK and they were formed back in 2005, but their line-up solidified in 2009. “Convocation of Crawling Chaos” comes in MCD and 10’’ MLP formats from the Greek Nuclear Winter records. It is a re-issue of their 2009 demo. ‘Rotten flesh crucifix’ has been already released as a demo in 2008. They are part of a stream of serious, original, crafty, quality death metal bands (Dead Congregation, Ectovoid, Swallowed, Eibon etc.) which are well-distanced from the gore death produced by the kilos. This wave of bands has been also visualized by committed artists like Alexander L. Brown (check also Timo Ketola, Toshiro Egawa, Mark Riddick and Scott Stearns among others), who illustrated this magnificent cult cover.

Support and disseminate original music!

http://www.last.fm/music/Cruciamentum
http://www.wikimetal.info/wiki/Cruciamentum

http://www.nuclearwinterrecords.com

ENTRAILS - "The Tomb Awaits" Review

I see death metal in the same way I see a lot of hardcore; that is, as a style of music that metaphorically destroys everything in its way, and which gives the listener a sense of absolute strength and raging power. Heavy music has a magical way of destroying weakness and depression, and we have bands like Sweden's ENTRAILS to thank for that!

This awesome band has just released 12 songs of pure Swedish death metal at its best, similar to stuff like early Entombed, Dismember and Sinister (even though the last band is Dutch).  This album really  brings us back to a time when metal albums actually had substance to them and carried their own distinct identity. This is exactly what happens in The Tomb Awaits: there is plenty death metal carnage but at the same time the whole album is filled with a nice diversity which makes it so much more of a pleasant listen. At the end of the day, this is exactly what Swedish DM is traditionally all about: clever ideas combined with aggression!

What I mean by the above is that even though ENTRAILS do play pure and solid death metal, there is enough space for musical expression and a somewhat darker (compared to brutal death) atmosphere. The guitarists are capable of creating some pretty sick atmospheric riffs with the lower guitar strings that will send shivers down your spine and make the zombies in your local graveyard rise up. At the same time, the drums and vocals show no signs of compromise and just beat your brain and ears with endless aggression! Add a tiny dose of Swedish crust to the mix and you will get what I'm talking about!

The production sound also carries the recognizable Swedish identity, with the distorted bass on equal levels with the guitars and the overall outcome sounding brutally bubbling, but in a way controlled.  Finally, I will also give the band kudos for the awesome acoustic guitar introduction, which gets the cemetery atmosphere going before all hell breaks loose.

http://www.myspace.com/entrailsreborn

For an extensive ENTRAILS interview go here.

PROS: Definite old school death metal feel, quality riffs, excellent Swedish production, wide variety of extremely brutal death metal vocals, crust-core rhythms here and there.

CONS: If you listen to this late at night you might sh*t your pants.

DA LOWDOWN: Awesome, solid Swedish death metal with room for sick melodies without being overly technical.

Only death is real: the top ten of death metal

While we are on the death metal subject, I thought I'd reblog this awesome article which goes over the 10 most classic death metal albums, according to the author.

Only death is real: the top ten of death metal

Death Metal revisited: SUFFOCATION's "Pierced From Within" (1995)

Yesterday it was my birthday, so I threw a small party for friends, fam and bandmates. Like it usually happens, in the end it was just me and a couple of dudes lounging on the sofa talking about music and taking turns playing stuff on youtube until the early morning hours. As these two particular friends happen to be experts on death metal, I tried to get some info on a band that I know has been around for ages, but I never got a chance to listen to an entire album of theirs.

In particular, I was interested in a little album entitled Pierced from Within (1995) by Suffocation, because I had heard parts of it here and there and thought it sounded pretty damn brutal and super tight. I wasn't mistaken; This classic Suffo album consists of 9 songs of relentless brutal death metal from the band which pretty much invented / pioneered this sound that goes on until today.

Everything I like about a solid death metal album is here: huge aggressive riffs, super-fast drumming with  constant double-bass use, disgusting guttural vocals and of course, a pretty high damn level of technical proficiency. Add to that an early huge production and a crazy bass sound that boosts the whole thing up like a motherfucker, and you got exactly what you need.

There is absolutely nothing soft about Pierced from Within; I believe that with some work on behalf of my side (that means 5-10 listens), it could easily enter my top-10 of death metal records. It is just a senseless display of brute strength and a definition of uncompromising attitude in the face of all that is watered down, preppy and weak (in our times, that's pretty much everything). A must-find, must-listen to!

LEGACY - "First Assault" - Demo Review

Yes goddamn it! What we have here is some serious evil metal by guys who have put out something totally original and fun, perhaps without even realizing it.

Legacy are from Italy and play a mixture of monstrous, punky deathrash (yes, deathrash!) with some classic, cult-status metal influences that will crush your skull before you even realize it.

The production isn't perfect and the overall outcome is by no means 'pro' but who cares about that shit. There are many 'pro' underground bands and most of them are boring. These guys may have not mastered the english accent, but they have mastered the 'fuck you' attitude.

Legacy come at you like a tasmanian devil, with four songs filled with razor-sharp guitars, quick tempos and aggressive crossover death metal vocals. The influences come from stuff like Death (especially), Destruction, Nuclear Assault, Annihilator and many others -- but only the good stuff. I want to give a thumbs up to the classic metal influences from bands like Manilla Road, King Diamond, Death SS, Paul Chain and other metal beasts of the past!

It is almost hard to believe that there are people out there who still play metal like this. It's like they just busted out the time capsule they entered back in '85 or something. This is awesome; it's evil, it's mean, it's raw, it's how metal should be! There is not one single new age element in this demo, and this is something which makes it VERY new age. You know?

www.myspace.com/legacyitalia

www.facebook.com/pages/Legacy/34548283753

www.youtube.com/user/Legacyitalia

www.reverbnation.com/legacyitalia

AS HEAVENS COLLIDE- 'What They Fear the Most" Review (Full-Length,2011)

When I listen to stuff like AS HEAVENS COLLIDE, it makes me angry for the amount of whack musicians and bands out there with no technical proficiency and inability to put together good songs. AHC is the exact opposite of that. I had their new release sitting on my "To Review" list for quite a while, and now I am furiously asking myself WHY I didn't listen to this earlier so I could groove to it and mosh like a mad dog!

This may very well be the best brutal metal/hardcore I heard in 2011 so far. AHC go all out and manically destroy everything that stands in their way, moshing all the way through - breaking, ravaging and tearing apart. They only stop every now and then to throw you into some mysterious avant garde halts that give you the creeps and throw you in a meditative state of altered consciousness... of death!

It is so hard to pin down this band; they may base their shit on metallic downbeat hardcore, but have so much technical skill that they can go from tech-deathcore to epic symphonic metal to old school hardcore breaks like it ain't no thing. There are so many influences and mixed genres in What They Fear the Most that I cannot even begin to explain, I would just bore you. What YOU need to do is go and find this album and get ready for some really heavy stuff.

If you like listening to cool music with tons of layers and are not afraid of mixing melodic death metal with rabid, huge hardcore parts and a new age feel, then please do yourself a favor and listen to this band. It's totally TYS approved!

www.asheavenscollide.com

www.asheavenscollide.com

www.asheavenscollide.com

www.asheavenscollide.com

xAFBx Reunion!

xAFBx aka Armed for Battle has been one of the most crucial straight edge bands of the previous decade. During times that the only straight edge music around was fast hardcore and neo-youthcrew, xAFBx held the flag for no shit, metallic hardcore that totally kept in touch with the movement's essential characteristics. As far as I know,  xAFBx is also one of the most popular bands for all the die hard, militant, hardline etc straight edge kids worldwide. Dudes got some pretty legendary status. Now they're back, and I can't wait to see what the remaining straight edge members (Tony Battle and co) will give the world through their upcoming release on 7th Dagger!

Better Left Buried - 'King of Kings' EP Review (2011)

Holy shit! These Dutch maniacs are back to deliver a crushing dose of downtuned deathcore with their aptly titled King of Kings ep!

I am quite selective when it comes to deathcore and beatdown/downtempo hardcore these days, but Better Left Buried definitely know what they're doing. I liked their pervious ep which came out last year, but this new 4 song ep is so much heavier and so much meaner than their previous stuff. They have gotten more techinical and more death metal for sure, and they have a huge production sound that crushes your head and destroys your happy feelings.

To be honest this ep is quite a surprise for me, cause BLB have erased all their old school dark heavy hardcore elements and have moved to more modern, downtuned metal territory. There is a sick range of death metal vocals, 7 string (?) heavy as fuck guitars and anxiety inducing, freaked out lead parts that accompany the dead-serious mosh. There are also a lot of manic blastbeats and some distinct industrial black metal influences. Hell if I know how BLB manage to fit all these influences in one ep, but they do it - and they do it WELL.

There are many bands doing the beatdown/death metal thing nowadays, but most of them sound like babies compared to BLB. These guys don't only fuck around with open chord riffs, they take this genre to the next level! Not head nodding fake gansta metal, but KILLER MOSH!

Street of Possession - 'The Wolfman' EP (self-released) Review

Just how much ambient instrumental beatdown death metal have you heard lately? Probably not much... Nevertheless, this crazy 'prog meets mosh' band from Lyon, France is here to create a new niche and satisfy your insatiable need for new, crazy, and heavy as fuck music.

The thing with Street of Possession's amazing new EP The Wolfman is that it is actually has no vocals and consists only of heavy downtuned guitars, sick groovy rhythm patterns and beatiful ambient layers to accompany all the unsurmantouble heaviness. A one-man project on this one, SOP also work on stuff with death metal vocals on other recordings, but here Jeremie (guitars, bass, drum prog, samples) ventures on his own to create a masterpiece of avant garde post-deathcore. This is really like nothing else I've heard before, as this kid takes the ball from bands like White Chapel, Misery Index, For Today etc and keeps running, stripping it all down to the bare essentials.

SOP manages to combine the heaviness with some hair raising type of melodies, thus balancing between the extreme and the almost catchy, even mainstream sound if you like. The record is also based on something like a concept theme, about the cruel transformation of a man into a wolf. Sounds kind of crazy (or maybe typical if you're a metal fan), but as I am into all that anarcho primitive, back to wilderness feral type thinking, I can surely dig! Our feral edge is always calling, waiting to make a beast out of us again... Another interesting fact is that  since there are no lyrics, each song leaves you on your own to start making a plot in your head based only on the song title and the complexity of the music.

Awesome work from this French beatdown eccentric! I easily give it a [9.5/10]. I am just curious to see how the next stuff (with vocals) will sound like...

Heavy Sh*t: Trail of Lies, Abysmal Dawn, Doomsday Mourning, Without Remorse

Yeah so as the title shows, we have quite a few releases from some heavy as hell bands waiting to be reviewed. Light hearted punks and people with pop sensibilities might want to skip this one! This post only deals with death metal/deathcore/brutal hardcore etc.

Trail of Lies - Demo

I will start this off with Trail of Lies and their amazing new demo. This brand new band from Syracuse do one thing and do it well: they fuck shit up. Their brand of heavy hardcore is reminiscent of the good old 90s, when bands actually wanted to do some damage with their core. This is the type of hardcore that is coming back: no BS, pissed off and straight to the point. TOL mixes the heavy NY sound with some old school hip hop attitude (check the artwork) and just punishes the listener with heavy, phat guitars, distorted metallic bass, heavy hardcore vocals and some relentless - but not overused - double bass drumming. Fans of Neglect, One Life Crew and other 90s metallic hardcore need to get this [9/10].

Abysmal Dawn - 'Leveling the Plane of Existence'

Moving on to some clean death metal territory, we got Abysmal Dawn's killer new album amazingly titled 'Leveling the Plane of Existence'. Fans of Krisiun, Malevolent Creation and Suffocation gather round these new kings of brutal death metal. These perfectly technical metalloids also mix some dark, black metal elements to their sound as well as some black metal vocals, thus making the outcome all grim and disgusting. Hail! Everything is done with such perfect precision that you can really admire the music amidst the brutality. At some points, I can even make out what the singer is saying! If someone asked me what I am listening for metal these days, this is the album I would play them! All killer, no filler, seriously blackened technical death metal. You bet [8/10].

Doomsday Mourning - 'The Science of Exploitation'

I can't say I am overly excited with Doomsday Mourning's downtuned deathcore. It sounds a lot like Emmure and despite 4 out of 6 songs featuring well known personalities from today's metal scene, I'm afraid this doesn't cut the cake. It's all mid tempo with a lot of beatdowns and I guess it does have some head nodding quality to it, as well as some cool psycho, stress-inducing guitar work over the heavy riffs. But every song is kind of repetitive and there is really nothing innovative musically to keep things really interesting. In times with so much good stuff coming out from everywhere, another downtempo deathcore band with nihilistic rap stoner attitude giving it all on the open chords doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid. The kids out there do seem to like this for some reason (maybe cause it's all brutal with no melodies whatsoever), but what do the kids know, really [4/10]?

Without Remorse - 'The Truth Hurts'

Moving back to more familiar and more worth talking of territory, we have groovy hardcore kids gone death metal, Without Remorse. Here is a band that knows what it's doing, by delivering 8 songs of heavy ass, unforgiving death metal with strong hardcore elements. The vokills are not exactly death metal, but bounce back and forth between DM and hardcore (and some gore-metal), while the guitars create a huge wall of sound which is led by the ongoing double bass drum action. This is the new millenium's death metal sound: groovy, phat, jump up and down, let's fuck shit up music. Just utter craziness and grooviness for fans of death metal and brutal hardcore alike. No matter if you're a metalhead who's shaved his head or a hardcore kid that gets carried away listening to Job For A Cowboy and Dying Fetus, you will like this record. The only downer with this record are the tiring cannabis references, but that seems to be a tie-in with a lot of modern death metal for some reason I cannot understand [7/10].

Dead At The Scene's 'Sharktopus': FREE download!

A few months ago, we did a review for Dead At The Scene, the Scottish progressive deathcore pioneers. At TYS, we consider their debut EP Sharktopus to be one of the best records in 2010 for all of heavy music. This record really tears down the boundaries between genres and creates a worthwhile piece of music that you want to keep in your record collection and frequently revisit. Isn't that the purpose of all good music? To create feelings and thoughts that the listener wants to revisit and recreate over and over again? DATS managed just that with Sharktopus. They made an honest album that sticks with you like a good old friend, even though at times it is so heavy that it destroys your ears and unsettles your nervous system!

For all of the above, we are pleased to let you know that DATS has just released Sharktopus as a free download - a thank you to their fans and the support they've received so far. It is available through the band's website, www.sharktopus.co.uk. Now everyone can dig into that awesome, mystical death metal meets prog hardcore meets I don't know what! It is also a great move for independent bands to release their music free online. It shows that what DATS wants is to get their music around and don't fuss so much about the decreasing record sale rates and whatever. After all, experience shows that the bands who make it financially are the ones who tour like madmen and have merch to sell, not those that count solely on their sales of their CD!

So go download Dead At The Scene's awesome EP and have fun listening to it! Just remember to give it the time it needs to grow on you and you will be rewarded!

A Death Metal Day

Today was a chill day. I accompanied good friend and TYS collaborator Mr.Rigas to Saturn (the  electronics chain store) in his search for a new ass-kicking digital camera. While he was doing his search for the best buy, I took some time to wander about and check out what they had on their detestable CDs section. It was like... pop crap, more pop crap, washed up Rock bootleg comps, Blink 182 (hmm...), 50s easy listening, meditation CDs, and then somehow I bumped into the following two death metal classics for an insanely good price:

What the hell.., Obituary in a Saturn shop? Whatever! These guys are one of the most classic death metal bands and if you ask me, sometimes they sound pretty close to heavy/brutal hardcore. Allen West is an undoubtable solid riff-making machine while studio legend Scott Burns handles all their productions, so I didn't need to learn much more.  I instantly grabbed the CD and went looking for more. And, lo and behold, this was my second discovery:

Obliteration come all the way from Norway and play brutal old school death metal like Morbid Angel and (mostly) Death. I didn't really know that until I played the CD, but the fact that they are on Tyrant Syndicate, Darkthrone's death/black metal label, made this CD a score. This is awesomely heavy and disgusting: it has brutal as hell vox, and a very old school fast/slow feel to it. No epic/majestic stuff, just straight on death metal banging!

And all this for a total of 4.99 measly euros. This is the kind of shit that makes my day! When we hopped back in the car, I ejected the Path of Resistance CD which was playing before, and placed the Obituary disc in the player... Just perfect. And so another perfect summer day rolled on!