Human Infection - "Infest To Ingest" Review

Human Infection hailing from Virginia mean business! I hadn't heard of these guys before so I wasn't sure what to expect from them. I was underwelmed by the cover art of this album and to be honest kinda had them written off in my head but my god was I wrong. Kicking the festivities off with opening track "Sheer Terror", were met with the now mandatory opening horror sample which is pretty much "colour by numbers" by today's standards but what followed was a real treat. If one could blend the technicality of modern day Dying Fetus, tied in with the grooves of Skinless and wrapped in barbwire with Cannibal Corpse you'd be pretty close to what this is all about. Track after track, it's packed to the throat with slams, sweep picking sections, blast beats and guttural vocals. The production is second to none here and sounds absolutely magnificent in just about every sound system I have heard it on so thats a real plus. For everytime I thought maybe a riff was going on a lil bit too long it changed about 3 times in a flurry of seconds. These guys really know how to write songs for the pit! Look no further than "Perversely Possessed" and title track "Infest To Ingest", 2 real jem of tracks that are literally in a treasure chest of brutality.
The production is super clear and super punchy in delivering these 11 tracks to your ears. The drums are very natural whilst maintaining a pulverizing tone, the guitars are thick and menacing, the bass sits beautifully in the mix whilst not drowning out kick drums or detuned guitars, all capped off with the vocals ripping your head off in the mix. Lyrically, it's the usual fare, gore/murder/mutilation but sure were all used to that by now. It really does sound that good and it needs to be commended for it so.
This CD hasn't left my car, I love it that much and I've been racking my brains trying to something negative to say which I truly can't. Track after track this album absolutely punishes the listener whilst trying to incite the mosh pit to go crazy. So the moral of this review is never judge a book by its cover.

Review from brutalism.com

Aborted - "Global Flatline" Review

I've always felt that brutal death metal as a whole was a genre that never reached its potential. For every Suffocation or Fleshgod Apocalypse, there are two dozen bands who are content to chug on single notes and perform off-time blast beats with no respect for songwriting. Thankfully, Aborted has managed throughout the band's career to avoid the worst aspects of the genre, while giving fans everything there is to love about it. Between lyrics straight out of a 1970's Italian exploitation flick and heavy riffing, Aborted has always been way ahead of the band's peers, to say nothing of the songwriting ability of band mastermind and sole original member Sven de Caluwe.
“Global Flatline” is still very much a continuation of Aborted's previous work, showing off Sven's unique vocal patterns, unconventional, but always interesting, song structures and B-cinema sound clips. In short, it's another Aborted album, which is very much a good thing. Those worrying need not fear, as not much has changed from the lineup changes, except for the level of musicianship greatly improving. “Global Flatline” fully cements Aborted as one of death metal’s elite, and there hasn't been a collection of brutal death metal songs this catchy since Cannibal Corpse’s “Kill,” or possibly even Suffocation's “Pierced From Within.”
Jason Netherton of Misery Index and Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder, among others, provide guest vocals, which really help Aborted expand their sound without breaking out of their comfort zone. It goes to show exactly far the band has come in terms of diversifying its sound. The best part about the guest vocals is that they aren't anything that Sven couldn't pull off live, while still making the album sound collaborative, rather than just including random guest spots. This is ultimately what brutal death metal should be, and the rerecording of “Nailed Through Her Cunt” really shows how much Aborted has not only refined their sound, but has always been awesome.
This is the kind of album that knows how to use blast beats tastefully (i.e. not using them all the damn time) and really gives off a sense of, dare I say it, class to death metal. While not a finely-aged wine, it's still way more Franziskaner than PBR; something that the masses can enjoy, with enough quality for the elite to take pleasure in it.

Highs: Catchy riffing (especially in “Of Scabs & Boils”), complex songwriting, more guest vocals than a rap album
Lows: Some of the material was copied from the band’s previous EP and another track was taken from “Engineering the Dead”
Bottom line: "Global Flatline" is more refinement than revolution, not that that's a bad thing.

"Aborted has always been way ahead of the band's peers, to say nothing of the songwriting ability of band mastermind and sole original member Sven de Caluwe."

Sphere - Homo Hereticus Review

Rooted in a mix of old school and brutal death metal, Sphere are from Poland, often a country associated with promising death metal bands, and Sphere are no couch potato either. Twisting the very fabric of musicianship coupled with pure brutality, these gents hold dear much of their forefathers in musician’s terms have fought fro from relative obscurity. The links of Vader and Behemoth have helped somewhat, but it is more the former mixed with say Immolation’s speed and Deicide’s riffing precision that makes ‘Homo Hereticus’ a healthy buying option.

But, I really don’t like pig squealing vocals, this is mixed in certain quarters, this is a shame because for me there is no need for Sphere to do this, the music is brutal enough, especially the remainder of ‘Third Scent Carcass’. Double bass thunder and blast beat speed mixes with a few of your more expected death metal entities, groovy in places whilst infrequent pitched artificial harmonics give some atmosphere amongst its chaos. ‘Grave’s Cold Darkness’ has an old school feel, wonderfully groovy, powerful and the vocal delivery matches the speed changes from the drumming perfectly. There is a good balance between technicality and the arrangements that Sphere produce, it’s heart-warming not to hear a constant barrage of riffs, Sphere emphasis is on “songs”, very much a group product rather than individual headline opportunities. When you hear something like ‘Devils Reunion’ and the war machine that is ‘Beyond Madness of Gods’, this justifies just that little bit of excitement, a little wonder, but ‘Homo Hereticus’ is a solid effort and well worthy of your time and investment, every bit of ‘Homo Hereticus’ is competent and precise Death Metal.

Exhumed - All Guts, No Glory

If you ever find yourself losing faith in death metal, thinking that something you once devoted your black t-shirt clad existence to has been taken over by a bunch of swoop haircut-sporting, skinny jeans wearing, ironic mustache growing pre-teen wastes of DNA, look to the old schoolers. They will show you the way. Like Autopsy before them, Exhumed is back to reclaim death metal for all that is right with the genre with its first full album of original material in seven years, “All Guts, No Glory,” a gory slab wrested from the primeval days of metal of death.
From the outset, as the album steamrolls in with the eponymous intro track, an instrumental number with layered whammy dives and mid-era Carcass galloping gore, it is plain as a congealed cadaver that Exhumed hasn't come back to pull any artistic 180s. This is the same exulted Exhumed we remember from days past. The dual vocal attack of guitarist Matt Harvey and bassist Leon del Muerte is as potent and dripping with putrid slop as ever, and the songs are a combination of the aforementioned Carcass, General Surgery, and Exhumed's own brand of tech gore interspersed with Harvey's solos that are as fluid as an ever-flowing stream. Of course, that tongue-in-exit-wound sense of humor is still there as well. The album rips along with “As Hammer to Anvil,” followed by song cum T-shirt slogan “Your Funeral, My Feast,” on which Exhumed speeds and powers through rivers of gore in a jet-propelled military precision vehicle. The music is dense and overwhelming, but precise, reveling purely in the blood-soaked insanity.
Then there are those trademark Harvey harmonized leads and rhythm sections, with his unmistakable tone, huge and crystal. The key to Exhumed's sound is in the layers—the vocals and the guitar tracking are stacked like spare parts in the morgue on songs such as “Through Cadaver Eyes.” Soaring bridge leads and solos with Euro influences and hints of such disparate players as Ralph Santolla and even the Amott brothers can be heard. Drummer Danny Walker hits near gravity blast levels of speed on “Death Knell,” as del Muerte and Harvey rip through rapid spit vocals, the low end countering Harvey's mid-range drip.
The band stitches together variations and makes the songs flow naturally, rather than trying to stuff 250 pounds of emulsified tissue into a 200 pound body bag. “Distorted and Twisted to Form” is pure gore punk fun, all guts and attitude that go together to create the anthem of the album that will have pits a circlin' and choruses shouting. The long layoff did no damage, and may have even done some good. The gurgling, brutal scream at the end of “I Rot Within” seems to be Harvey's way of exorcising half a decade away from the band he birthed in his mid-teens. Then listen and learn, oh ye blast fiends of the future, and despair at the years of leg punishing practice it will take to reach the level of proficiency heard on “Dis-assembly Line.” This amount of intensity is tough to match, and doesn't let up for a second. The vocals strangle every instant, unwilling to let go, except when there is a tasty morsel of horror-inspired solo on the table.
I could go on and on, but all you really need to know is that you know what you're going to get with Exhumed, and the getting is good. This is pure gore virility, spreading its seed. Few shredders have the instinct and ability of Harvey in death metal today, and have the benefit of being paired with such uncommon brutality in the vocal department in the form of del Muerte. “All Guts, No Glory” is utterly revolting in all the right ways, but doesn't just sit back and rely on disgust. The songs are tight and structured, with no lag or filler. The album simply lunges for the kill, and carries it out in the sickest, most bizarre, inhumane, unusual, and cruel way imaginable.
Highs: Exhumed are back, hungry, vicious, and unrelenting.
Lows: No gripes, just gore.
Bottom line: Another old corpse crawls out of the grave to show the rest how it should be done, always.

Vallenfyre – A Fragile King

2011 might as well be dubbed the year of Swedish Retro Death. Band after loathsome band has burst from the underground to pay rancid homage to genre legends like Entombed, Dismember and Grave. Despite the sheer volume of the stuff, Steel Druhm has remained supportive and for the most part, the trend hasn’t worn out its welcome. Now we get Vallenfyre‘s debut full length from a veritable death metal super group featuring members of Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Cradle of Filth. With such a pedigree, it shouldn’t be too surprising when A Fragile King has everything you would reasonably expect from a Swedish death album. It’s chunky, thick, nasty and vile. It’s an ode to all things Entombed with a sizeable injection of Celtic Frosty goodness as well. At times, its so much like the immortal Left Hand Path it’s uncanny, yet it also brings in plenty of dire dirges to shake things up. This MOFO was conceived in unholy sin, birthed in ungodly filth and raised on bloody carnage. There’s a guitar sound heavy enough to fracture your vertebrae and vocals so grisly they’ll disturb the deranged. But, you rightly ask, is it actually good? Oh yes, it’s really good! This is unapologetically retro and doesn’t strive for innovation but it nails home the tried-and-true Swedish sound with the subtlety of a Panzer division. How this will sit with you depends entirely on your tolerance for more Swedish death. If 2011 has fed you all the old-time death you can stomach, move along and I won’t think less of you. If not, belly up to the death buffet and chow down on this meatloaf of the damned.

As soon as the guitars roar to unlife in opener “All Will Suffer,” you know you are in for a harrowing experience. The basic Sunlight Studios guitar tone is there but sounds even more murky and raw that it did back in the salad days of the style. The tempo is slow to mid-paced and the riffing will remind old-timers of the pummeling might of Celtic Frost. One hell of an opener for sure. “Desecration” ups the speed and throws in creepy, slithering riff patterns and mournful, forlorn solos not unlike those heard on the first Entrails album (listen at 3:57 for a very moody, glum example). Elsewhere, songs like “Cathedrals of the Dread” and “Seeds” feature super doom riffs  of Trouble and Saint Vitus proportions accompanied by raucous death metal. “Seeds” in particular works very well as a creepy, doom-death gem. Numbers like “Black Siberia” and “The Divine Have Fled”  go right for the classic Entombed playbook and get it pretty close to perfect. At no point are things technical, progressive or clean. It’s all raw, dirty and crushingly heavy. The writing is crisp, the songs all have memorable aspects to them and there’s plenty of variety in tempo and dynamics.

The guitars are the guts of Vallenfyre and the ridiculously heavy riffing is admirably rendered by Hamish Hamiliton Glencross (My Dying Bride) and a gentleman simply known as Mully. The tone is gigantic,   hideous and the riffing will give   you the sensation of being run over by an armored column, which later backs over your corpse just to be dicks. Gregor Macintosh’s (Paradise Lost) death croaks are low, phlegmy and very convincing (this album is his attempt to work through some personal tragedy and loss). His bellowing, along with the relentless sledgehammer riffing will cause you to feel a touch of bell’s palsy in and around the facial area (it’s just a partial paralysis). The production is solid, nicely raw and basically serves to amp up the guitar buzz to insane levels of sonic abuse. It’s distortion for distortion’s sake and I never argue with that (it’s death metal, after all).

At the end of the day, there’s a shelf life to the whole Swedish death retro wave and its expiration date is drawing ever nearer. I love the sound, I love the style and I really enjoyed most of the retro releases this year, including this one. But, even I can’t handle the volume with which this stuff is currently propagating. However, I have no hesitation recommending this platter of plague and pain. It’s brutal, skull cracking music done by vets of extreme music, for fans of extreme music. Ponderous man, fucking ponderous.

Putridity - Degenerating Anthropophagical Euphoria

Italy’s Brutal Death purveyors Putridity are on the way and come back soon with the second full-length album “Degenerating Anthropophagical Euphoria” as a newness form of musicality of their explicit brutality. More solid than the last album as in this CD they try to build the sound more progressive and complex due the shape. As long as the path from 2004, US death metal seems stick deep from the comprehension between Europe death metals to its countless implementation. Artificially implicit to adopt Disgorge, the past Decrepit Birth and some styles to create an incredible dimension of brutal death maturity. The cultural boundary is hardly made Putridity ignored among the Italian bands such as Hour of Penance, Faust, and Fleshgod Apocalypse where the horde is raised progressive from this recent years and appropriate to be leveled same in the universal scene from their definitive strength, however. As fact, Putridity have stood firmed and promising than the other bands that have been risen from the country -trusted be one of Willotip Records legions with the sub-urban and characteristic musical thesis of their existence without omitting the Italian death metal magnificence.

A little to describe how this album is very defensible and vigorous is where the arrangement platforms are fulfilled by some kinds of technicality such as: picked-twisted riffs, guttural pattern, boom-clanging bass and blast-beat drum or so- called the anticipated heavyweight brutality to its meaning. As it’s on the measure, the mediocrity is so rapid and due the doubly velocity which almost songs -created faster and strong to the horrid aware atmosphere. It’s so bearable to view deep the groove column from guitar with the slap-slide of the snares, pinched-harmonic also slam-intuitive to the styles. Also the progressive touch to the refracted passage. So forth, the drum appearance that’s full of punctuality to announce splattered speeds, unpredictable calculation and the multiple- hyperspeeds. As the anthological description, it may be to obviousness to some songs such as “Sodomize Epileptic Chunks”, “Masturbating The Infibulated”, “Innate Butchery Aptitute”, “Draining Necro Anal Disgorgement” and “Living Decomposition” as the best compositions in this release without leaving the others. And from 9 tracks there is an instrumental addition “Wallowing in Aftermaths” in the middle row that compromising by the guitar leads influenced from Cannibal Corpse habit. Enormously technical, wherein also the vocals are sent grunting, guttural and cricketing to fill the difficult parts forcibly with the aforementioned themes. Sex matter to the necessity with the psychological or gory quorum, whatever they take for the ambiguity it still be on the limit of perception. ...”The true man is always on the true way”… and that’s all if all are confused. As wideness, the soundness is constructed original and due the rigid heaviness, somehow the bass is severely collaborated with other instrument plays from solo until interlacing. The ordinary thing is where the blend is separated each other from each element that has to be mixed if it’s not prevented. But Putridity were in the mixing at the neat and dense results. This is that become an excellent capacity of this release besides production and the song writings.

On the rate, "Degenerating Anthropophagical Euphoria" is even to the new albums of "Human Mastication’s Persecute" to Bloodbath, “Realms of The UnGodly” by Condemned, "Annihilation Of Races" from Thirst Of Revenge and some more in the coming death metal releases todays including the specific genre. It may check them to how Putridity confers the grade to the audiences incepting the professional attitude. And if you are into death metal it’s awesome to collect this CD to support Putridity doing the promotions internationally, the last album is the great concepts, indeed this album is so ultimate farther to its corrective congruity of death metal art. Mentally, Putridity puts a sanity to the mass with their paradoxical expression to the unrecognizable reality that brutal death is one of the most intelligent genres in metal/ underground music, instead the best leaving the worst assumptions by the mainstream apostates. Absolutely goaled that Putridity efforts strengthen a brutal death term in the new standard of substantiality from year to year for decades introduced broadly. Putridity are in the time to handle the plurality attention and a nominated band outside the rip-off culture and commercialistic purpose. Find Putridity in your hegemonic way, forget your fear at the war of conception! Take it.