The Mosh Pit 11.20.09: New Death Metal

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 11.20.2009

This week the Mosh Pit looks at a few of the Death Metal albums to come out in 2009. We’ve got Napalm Death, Hypocrisy, Behemoth, Nile, Obituary, Suffocation, Supreme Pain, and Cannibal Corpse. Click the link for the best of the brutal this week in the Mosh Pit!

Before we get into it I just want to give a shout out to the mighty elfin one Dio. For those who don't know Ronnie James Dio was set to embark on a European Tour for his solo band when it came down the pike he was rushed to the hospital last Tuesday. His wife hasn't said what is wrong but the fact the whole tour was canceled and fans have been asked to get their money back is not good. All of us here in the Pit wish him well.


Death Metal

It's been a good year for metal. I was a little worried for a while and even resigned myself that a few favorite stalwarts were going to carry the year. Not that I would expect nothing less from Black Sabbath Heaven and Hell or Megadeth. But, I mean, come on, there is more to metal than that. Even an old school punter like me can admit that.

But as the year winds down some real fine death metal has come about to add to the year in carnage. After a quick run through the site, I decided it was high time to talk about some releases that has not made the review circuit here on 411 or did but was worthy of another look. Some of these I touched on lightly also. Either way, it was time to drag them out and highlight some of the tough stuff that makes metal the black sheep of the music family.

The interesting trend I see emerging is the same thing that happened to thrash two years ago. Retro is in, and when combined with some expansive experimentation widening the field death metal is a subgenre that has become just as varied as it once was considered ground zero for brutality.

But there is still plenty of that a well.

That being said here is some death metal that gripped this year by the throat.

	Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest I talked about this one two weeks ago with a quick review after two days of listening. This is the update and I'm happy to say my opinion of this album has grown. By the way, for a proper review you can check out Wilcox's review here. I peeved one reader a bit when I made the side remark that this was less technical than previous albums. He's right due to the way I worded that remark. This album is still filled with Nile's technical skill, the proper thing I should have said was that the band at times slows it down and lets the riffs crush and stomp about. It's a brief almost doomy inflection that gives the songs loads of atmosphere before they go back to blasting. That was one of three things that struck me right out of the gate with this album. One, the band mixes some classic headbanging in with the turbo blasted shrapnel. Second, the band adds loads of atmosphere akin to Sanders' side project. That gives the album loads of textures to make it a unique experience in the band's catalog. Third, the sound is a lot warmer and full bodied compared to their last one. The production is excellent. A lot of people are looking for Nile to go back to their origins, or hoping for Black Seeds part 2, or another Wicked. In fact, I'm sure 90% of Nile fans are all chomping to get decimated by Annihilation of the Wicked II. It's not going to happen, at least for a while. Nile did that already and frankly a band as technical as Nile is going to, for better or worse, grow in ways that challenge them. With that in mind I'm seriously digging this album because it combines the best riff blasting that we love from the beast, but is fresh and unique on its own. It does what Keith Richards once said, and that is not fill the spaces unnecessary. Sometimes it lets the notes and tone crush you on their own massive heaviness then when you are pasted to the ground under the weight it goes back to full throttle to scatter your remains to the four winds. Obviously big thumbs up here. Pit Score: 9
	Hypocrisy - A Taste Of Extreme Divinity No secret I'm a big fan of Swedish death metal and while Hypocrisy took a left turn into melodic territory early on in their career there is no mistaking that rabid guitar tone. Tägtgren has managed to capture a very specific sweet spot in the death metal style and as far as I'm concerned he can ride that idea for the rest of the band's days. This has a wicked guitar tone that you would expect; plenty of axe grind work to chop things up, and loads of melody. Death metal is, as a rule of thumb, a neck breaking affair. It isn't "catchy". This is catchy at times and that riff pattern from "Weed Out The Week" has been playing ear worm with me for the last month. The band captures perfectly the idea of groove and ground ‘n pound and it's a fine thing indeed. Please note when I say groove I mean the catchiness of the riffs and not the actual genre. But the melody is "Hypocrisy Melody" which means it comes with that 90's style of toughness that is basically Gothenburg with a bad attitude. A corrosive deluge of hooks and groove built around the almighty riff in an axe bash that makes you feel like you're at the top of the food chain. Not a bad feat for melodic death. One of my favorite Hypocrisy albums in years for sure and a dark horse that might make the year end lists from metal aficionados. Pit Score: 8.5
	Behemoth - Evangelion Hats off to Nergal at company, they've managed to occupy that rare position in metal where they gain mainstream recognition (well, mainstream in the greater metal community) while managing to keep their underground cred. That has been done by building a black metal band up by slowly mixing death into the sound for a truly brutal monstrosity. Outside of the elitists sneering at the "expensive yet underground" look, the band is traveling as day walker in both camps for the time being. The Apostasy was a good album, but a bit of a let down after the visceral assault that was Demigod. That one raped your ears. I tend to wonder if The Apostasy will grow on people with time as they wrap their minds around it, a sort of technical free for all where the band had to go there once. Thrash had the same issue in the later 80's. Bands took the style to its limit then expanded into progressive metal to prove their chops for an album or two (see Metallica and Metal Church). Either way, the guys return here and open up the guitars on a full speed attack that is all about slicing and dicing. It's sort of a combination of the last two albums with shades and textures breaking the tie. It's tough enough to make the speakers bleed while carrying enough sharp edged cuts and hooks to tear your attention about. You get the screech and 666 BPM neck snapping symphonic of black with the bottom end and bloodshed of death. Nergal throws obscenities from religious doctrine that is so out of date with modern theology that it becomes pagan despite its link to our modern religions. The band also slows it down some at times to give the force wrecking your spine time to crush with heavy weight, then it's back to ripping your ears off. This is brutal but it has a lot of gravitas backing up the riffs. Oh hell, who am I kidding? You listen to this because it kicks ass. Outside of (possibly) Vader, this is the metal band from Poland. Pit Score: 9
	Cannibal Corpse - Evisceration Plague There are many ways to make an axe crush skulls, and while the Corpse is back to basics in the riff department the production on this makes the sound of these guitars sound like they are cutting through red meat. It makes this album just as fresh and bloody as any Cannibal Corpse album. Under the hood there are some subtle changes, although it's going to be gut wrenching to the uninitiated. And let's face it if you're picking up this album odds are you're a ‘Corpse fan so the nuances are going to be appreciated. It might be the same template that Slayer laid down on Reign In Blood two plus decades ago - come out and just quickly blow the house down then get the hell out (note the song lengths) - but the fact is it works. Sure, Kill was a pleasant deviation and is the stronger album for it, but it's also good to hear the guys just stick to basics now and again. Especially when "the basics" is the band ripping peoples ears to shreds with a simple head-bangable assault. No doubt about it, if you want tremolo picking, blast beating, insane solos, evil songs that crush then you're in the right place. Those nuances? The lyrics take a wicked turn (at times) away from slasher film evisceration into wicked licks of evil enterprises. The opener "Priests of Sodom" is about the rites of an ancient forbidden cult for example. That is rather unique for the crve but it works well with their style. Another interesting aside is the couple of longer tunes that actually evolve a bit and develop musically. Well, develop for CC. "A Cauldron Of Hate" has an almost doomy chug as the riff progression evolves from skull crushing to skull smashing. Fun stuff really and I hope the band explores it further on the next album. This is a fun album that does what it is suppose to - Nothing more and nothing less. A good album but it's going to sit comfortable in the middle of the band's vast catalog. Pit Score: 7.5
	Obituary - Darkest Day Since the band rearmed in 2005, they have been working like clock work. Literally one of the building blocks of Florida death metal the band has a storied legacy with extreme metal fans going back to 1989. The first thing I had to take note of was the cover. I think it's the first death metal album I've seen that sports traditional power metal art, albeit on the bloody side. Thought that was interesting but then again I get into little things like that. The music? Well, just as you can set the clock to Obituary's work ethic so can you pretty much count on the band to deliver more of the same thing their fans want. Solid American death from the band that helped put it on the map even if a little on the safe side. And by safe I mean the mid part is way to mid paced. The first two songs crank, with the first ripping nicely and the second having loads of atmosphere making it a cool dark song. "Violent Dreams" also runs nicely while some of the songs go mid-paced but plow the earth under. Otherwise we get a lot of pace. Some of it good, others are just there. Santolla steal the show at times with his solo and lead work, the man a love it or hate it affair for his way of hooking notes as fills. The mid pace crushers are boosted by his presence as he becomes the dynamic. Really, this is a good Obituary album that is a couple of songs to long. Like many bands they should have saved a few for a single of EP. That would have kept this album quicker and focused, and allowed the good tracks to dominate the show. Still fine album, a 7 album hiding within an 8. Pit Score: 7
	Suffocation - Blood Oath From Florida death metal to the American band credited with creating the brutal and technical end of the deep zone in the metal pool. Here the band has hooked up with Nuclear Blast and we get all the fun heavy as hell axe cutting with a huge bottom end production. And yet, I'm a little put off… Really, it's everything us Suffocation fans have wanted. The classic riffs and the ear hemorrhaging, all with a budget that allows the guy to give it all up, it's the kind of album fans have been wanting. One of the odd but actually cool things is that the band has slowed down (notice a trend here) a bit but has managed to become heavier. Those axe structures and ripping leads thunder above a rhythm section that works more like a machine pounding damnation. That band still rocks out, but the pace has sacrificed a little speed for control of the axe swinging at you. Yet that big production job finds the guitar to distorted and all of that wonderful techniques and change ups we get from the guys gets loss in the fuzz. That works fine for doom where the riffs need room to breathe and walk about, but in death metal you can go too far and lose things in the controlled chaos. Plus some of this album feels like I've been here before, just with better production. But really, some of the songs (Dismal Dream) smoke and this still stand tall with the bands output since their return. The album is a good one and fine, it just doesn't click for me. Pit Score: 6.5
	Supreme Pain - Nemesis Enforcer Picked this one up from another site, and boy was that a good thing. This has a decidedly classic old school feel that also manages to be modern and relevant. This one will likely stay off the radar exactly because it's adherence to the simple code of conduct old extremists use to use in the glorious fanzine days will be loss on people dependent upon the ear candy of modern big label (for metal) bands. Nothing wrong with those bands, obviously as you can tell from this column, but there is a purity of destruction to the tone and cutting blows of this album. This is old school brutal in ways that demonstrates that death metal is still about doing a few things really damn well. The extras are just part of the modern arms race. When you get down to it this is just brutal first and everything else second. It's not brutal for brutal sake although it comes damn close. There is a very interesting melody that carries these tracks even if they're played and plied with a heavy dose of red bull. But really, this just goes back to those tape trading days when it was cool to see who could crack the plaster while maintaining musical structures somewhere in the carnage. A 9.5 when I hate my job. Pit Score: 8
	These Are They - Who Linger These Are They is a side project of November Doom's vocalist Paul Kuhr. The idea was to form a band that would be a break from November Doom's usual heavy rumbling death by doom to just let it out with some classic American death metal. After a rather atmospheric intro that is a slightly more plugged in affair one might expect from a Novembers Doom record, the album jumps straight into a double fisted bass pummel of "When The Voices Sound Deadly". Again this could easily pass for a Novembers Doom tune, save for a more riff oriented assault that packs less atmosphere and more axes. Well, this has atmosphere, but that atmosphere is the axes. The hype behind this tags in at old school Entombed but I'm hearing a lot of Bolt Thrower. Basically Kuhr has stripped away the doom and gothic ambience of his main bands more cerebral moments and replaced it with that tight pocket of thrash/death that bridged the bands back in the day. It's an interesting juxtaposition as the album at first blush can be called a Novembers Doom album, but a serious listen will show it to be that groups brother by a different mother. They're similar but also different. The gloom is replaced by death, the acoustic machinations have been replaced by hooks, and the ambience is focused around a warm guitar sound that supports some damn fine riffs. The jury is out because I just got this but a review will be in this weekend Pit Score: Punt
	Ex Deo - Romulus This would be the side project of Kataklysm's Maurizio Iacono (vocalist), accept he did bring along the band members to play some of the parts. Add in guest appearances from none other than Nergal, Karl Sanders, and Obsidian and you have a nice who's who affair for a death metal album. Somewhere between what you would expect from Kataklysm and some epic atmosphere (read symphonic-like moments), and out the other end comes a fun concept album based on the Roman Empire . A subject that should, I might add, not be a surprise to anyone familiar with past themes Kataklysm has touched on, only Lacono goes all out to separate his interests here. This has something for your death metal fans, a little hardcore, some concept grand epic moments, and overall an interesting meat grinding take on Roman history. I'd recommend this to fans of Kataklysm, but also punters who like death metal since the leans more that way outside of the concept extras. It's a good album but a bit of a mood play. Pit Score: 7
	Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave This one I did already, but I've gotten enough comments that I'm going to let it stand on its own. Good times… Oh yea. The patrons against fascism and the masters of subtle political opinions *ahem* Napalm Death are in the house. If anyone thinks time will wear these guys down, let it be known that the hardcore punk band turned death metal/grindcore is still delivering albums that are literal assaults on the senses. By the way, if you want brutal then this is how you do it. This thing just rips you a new asshole track after track, and when it's done you realize you can't go back to safer, easier, softer kinds of music so you meekly ask "Mother, can I have another?" From here you hit play and the band starts to rape your ears all over again. This group is the master of tight, neck breaking speeds thanks to their early 30 second song days, and now that they have turned that power to the riff we have officially reached Armageddon. I hope your soul belongs to the God you invented because your ass just got kicked by Time Waits For No Slave. Score: 9.5

That's a wrap folks. Give a silent prayer or whatever to one of metal's Gods and play something loud. We'll see you back in seven with some more clsssics and metal fun.