Dying Fetus - Reign Supreme [2012]

Mother of all slams! This is everything you could want from the mighty Dying Fetus!

Don't you just love it when an album you have been waiting on for so long delivers beyond your expectations?! The newest album from the Brutal Death Slammers Dying Fetus. The instrumentals make you want to stare in awe. And then the slams kick in and it forces you to grasp the nearest poor fellow and beat his face so hard his mother will never recognize him! If there is any fetus albums anyone thinks is a little less impressive than others... prepare to get very excited.

You will instantly feel a great feeling of joy and excitement the second you hit play. The sweeps hit you right away in the first song, "Invert the Idols". And you find yourself thinking, this is going to be a masterpiece! This song is a perfect choice to open the album with, because not only does it rip right away with the sweeps and blasts, but it has all the characteristics of the ideal Dying Fetus track. About mid way through there is a build up with the guitars holding out that low open note just before the bone breaker riff. There is also choice guitar lead/sweeps in "From Womb to Waste" at 2:07. That riffage will definitely remind the fans of their earlier albums. And the riffage that follows that is stunning! They break for a second then go into an upbeat mosher! The thrashers might take interest in this!

But alas! DAT FUGGIN SLAM!! That is what we are all listening to this for right? They are just impeccable in this monster release. They make the guys like myself want to throw some elbows and bench press 400 pounds! It is incredible how they can pull of the brutal death slams with out sounding too much like slam death or hardcore. And there isn't any songs on here that one would just skip over. There is literally legendary beat your face in slammage in every track! I would choose some favorites but there is literally so many! The first track would definitely be up there. And all over the "In the Trenches" track. However this is some brutal death slams in the next track, Devout Atrocity, around the one minute mark. This is a track they better perform live. It is just death metal genius.

This is something any fan could run their mouth about for hours. The point could have been made in a few short sentences: "Maybe the best thing they have put out. This bad mother slams and will not let you down." Neither one of those statements is ever used lightly. This is a must have. Get excited.

100% (Seriously, it was that good. It had everything I wanted to hear from a Dying Fetus album. It deserves a 100)


Favorite Tracks: All of them were equally amazing. But Editors Choice: From Womb to Waste, In the Trenches, and Devout Atrocity.

Cripple Bastards - Senza Impronte [2012]

Very impressive grindcore that is impossible to put down!

This is just such a great listen! These veteran grinders from Italy really know how to rip you a new asshole. Seriously, keep a clean pair of pants nearby. The key to really first class grind album, and any genre for that matter, is the keen ability to keep ones interest. And it is easy to say that these men are experts at just that. Especially in grind though, because grind moves pretty fast (duh!) and if it gets boring... it gets boring fast! Not to mention the rapid fire vocals that keep it brutal as fuck! This album is like concentrated "PISSED OFF" played through amplifiers.

It's as if every few seconds there is a crazy transition that forces the mind to pay attention. You have to do something to keep the attention of all the psycho A.D.D. grind fans out there! How many lifetimes must one live to think of all these things! Of course the riffs matter, like always but it is the little things in this album you just have to treasure. And like all things grind they happen so fast you almost don't notice them but subconsciously they keep your attention. This is all probably because of how quickly they move between riffs as well. For example in the first song; those intro hits are only like 2 seconds long and the break at around the 1 minute mark is just to die for!

The first song also sounds a lot like Napalm Death; still Cripple Bastards but any fan of Napalm will hear it. Also, while on the topic of riffage and transitions; the dissonance in the notes is just terrific. It gives everything that classic, legendary, unsettling feel. Things like that go overlooked far to often. Choice riffage at :35 of Mondo Plastico BTW. It doesn't get much better than that fellow grind heads. You just gotta love that hot nasty bad ass tri-tone!

Another thing that is structured well in the tune-age is the vox! The vocal patterns really stand out and really add a lot to the riffs. You'll notice in the title track, and really all the tracks, that you have lower pitched vocals that growled more legato when there is a fast blast beat; and more staccato in the upbeat sections. This isn't true of all the songs, that would get boring, but there is a lot of truth to it. The best part of all the vocals however, is when they go back and forth between vocalists. It is orchestrated perfectly.

This is worth the listen even if you are not a fan of the genre. It is FAR from boring. These Italian grind experts prove their excellence in this gnarly release. The evidence is in the vocals transitions and riffs. And if you are one of those that believes that grind is talent-less obnoxious noise... then you and your Opeth sounding, melo death bullshit can fuck off somewhere. HA! But on a serious note, the promo description says it all, "Senza Impronte = total grindcore legends writing legendary grindcore...fucking CRIPPLE BASTARDS MOTHERFUCKER!"


90%


Favorite Tracks: Agony of a Reformed Band, Mondo Plastico 

P.S. - Sorry for my lack of posts recently. I have been extremely tied up with work and it has been very physically and mentally draining. But I didn't forget about you! 

Spawn of Possession - Incurso [2012]

Spawn of Possession - No one is worthy of their musical genius!

My hope is that Erlend reads this himself; I am such a big fan. You are truly my favorite bass player.

...Mother of God. This is one that the death metal world has been waiting for, for a LONG time! If one wants to talk tech death, one only needs to know Spawn of Possession. After listening to just one of their tracks, you may find yourself a little light headed, because it is hard for your brain to absorb all of this all at once. Not literally, but this is a band that the music nerds will trip out on a lot more than usual. Most of the members are from other incredible bands; Erlend is also in, Blood Red Throne, Incinerate, Vile, The Allseeing I, just to name a few. And the guitarist is made famous by Necrophagist, Obscura, and Defeated Sanity. The only member that isn't in a billion and a half bands in the guitarist, Jonas. Albums like these would be much easier to review if mastery of every instrument was showered upon thee.

The album begins with a quick 5 notes and then a short rest before, what sounds like synths, kick in. This short intro track is very ambient but somehow technical at the same time. Leave it to Spawn of Possession to write a technical atmospheric track.  The drums in the intro track are out of this world too. He manages to highlight notes and the progression, and when the double bass kicks in around :52 it almost sounds like a Immolation track. And, then right when things start to really pick up in the intro, the second track kicks in and will have you fall in love with this album at first listen. It is always hard to put in a new album from one of your favorite bands and then it turns out the album sucks. And its the greatest thing ever to hear 20 seconds of one song and fall in love. The guitar solo in the second track, "Where Angels Go Demons Follow", is beyond incredible at 3:08, and it is stellar how there is a bass and drum solo immediately after that.

The bass in this magnificent album is far beyond amazing. Erlend Caspersen would have to practice a lot LESS to be considered just a god. Every single riff, every fill, is astounding. Track 5 "Servitude of Souls" begins with a mosh worthy (you don't hear too many of those in tech death" riff bass fill thing that will have you swinging your elbows in your computer chair! And there is a bass fill at 1:17 of "Deus Avertat" that is hard to tell if he is trilling at lightning speed or he is tapping on the same note he is trilling on. Either way that is one monstrous bass fill. The leads this guy can play at 15 second into the seventh track is note worthy as well. It is very easy to ramble, so let's leave this at he is awesome and the bass doesn't let up for a second.

There is one minor imperfection in this beastly bastard however, in Deus Avertat, there is a breakdown at 3:12. Granted this is Spawn of Possession and they can do whatever the fuck they want. Leave core with the core bands. It is not a straight up boring breakdown though. I really admire the snare work pulled off by the drummer here. They are also incredibly easy to solo over as well. Which is awesome for the guitar player, and breakdowns are usually boring enough that when a solo comes in that ALL the attention can be focused on him with no distractions. The best guitar work is found on The Evangelist at around 7:40, face ripping solo there. And choice drumming in the last track right when it kicks in at :56 is gnarly as hell. This guy can kick as fast as Morbid Angel. After this you should check out the Stephen Hawking special on how time travel to the future is possible by moving at near light speed. It was really sweet of Steven to do a special on Henrik's feet.

An entire album full of winning. Everything in here is greatness, the review could have simply read, "Holy crap the new Spawn of Possession rules buy it now", and everyone would know exactly what I am trying to convey. But alas, normally tech death albums are a snooze-fest and INCREDIBLY OVERRATED, but the Spawn is most defiantly an exception. They possess some of the best musicians in the world.


94%


Favorite Tracks: Where Angels Go Demons Follow, Servitude of Souls, The Evangelist

Bonus bass videos!