Malignancy - Inhuman Grotesqueries

Artist: Malignancy
Album: Inhuman Grotesqueries
Genre: Brutal/Technical Death Metal
Year: 2007
Label: Willowtip Records

Tracklisting:

1.	Inhuman Grotesqueries	02:06
2.	Neglected Rejection	03:11
3.	Indigenous Pathogen	01:19
4.	Skeletal Integrity	02:22
5.	Predicted Malformations	02:03
6.	Protagonist Complacence	03:41
7.	Embryological Teratomas	01:55
8.	Benign Reabsorption	02:20
9.	Organic Machinery	02:58
10.	Genital Hemangioma	02:00
11.	Xenotransplantation	02:57
12.	Pathological Imperative	03:49
Total playing time		31:57

Rating: 9.4/10.0 - A lobotomy in sound

Unfortunately for me, this album was released last year, 'cause were it to have been released in '08, it would have been on the top 10 list faster than Lindsay Lohan at a free cocaine and cigarette party. Although the semi-legendary band Malignancy have been in the New York metal scene ever since I was a tyke, this is only the 2nd full length album they've done. Since the first blasphemous congregation of these musical maniacs, they have progressed from being a run-of-the-mill brutal death/grind outfit, and now, many years and lineup changes later, they've arrived at this, this... thing that they've created, aptly named Inhuman Grotesqueries.

It's not very easy to go about describing this album in any way, because it's just so damn different from anything I've ever heard. After a short and deceptive acoustic intro, you instantly and unwillingly become the unfortunate casualty of this reprobate quartet from Yonkers - spastic, squealing pinch harmonics are venomously spat out repeatedly and unpredictably, tearing through chainsaw-like tremolo riffing with schizophrenic zeal. All this while vocalist Danny Nelson belches out guttural odes to a grotesque fascination of pathology delivered in impeccable medical terminology, a-la Carcass. Seismic yet ultra-precise basswork lumbers underneath the twisted riffing of Kachnic's tortured guitar, while Mike Heller lays down some of the tightest, most innovative, and most complex drumming I have ever laid ears upon. Patterns are established and stressed before being effaced and replaced with utterly foreign sonic themes in mere seconds. Leaping, ducking, and diving between a veritable riff-salad (if that term is to be used, it is more on this album than any other), seemingly incoherent at first but in reality programmed with the intent of laying forth an atmosphere of manic, chaotic aural surgery. It's a musical mess of slicing, fetid, putrescence in sound, with a soulless logic and subtle structure hidden well within the depths of an apparently random amalgamation of squealing harmonics, churning bass lines and time signature shifts erratic and sudden enough to break vertebrae.

This album is not for the faint of heart. You will be delivered 45 minutes of some of the most intense and violent technical/brutal death metal ever created. One must work to like this album. If you're looking for catchy hooks or breakdowns that you can bang your head too, look elsewhere. If you're looking for melody, you're nowhere close. If you're looking for the musical equivalent of a spasmodic autopsy performed on living men, you're in the right place. Also of note is the fact that despite the shifting, liquid nature of the songwriting, this album is very listenable and in fact replayable, once one has wrapped their head around the madness.

There really isn't too much more to say other than this offering is pure gold. After one is capable of digesting its immense complexity and unpredictable nature, visions of beauty through pain will seep through the deep lacerations in your skull that this album will surely inflict. Get your hands on this modern masterpiece, and let yourself become the next unwilling victim of Malignancy's Inhuman Grotesqueries.

The Best of '08 - Part 3: Antithesis

Artist: Origin
Album: Antithesis
Genre: Technical Death Metal
Year: 2008
Label: Relapse Records

Tracklisting:

1.	The Aftermath	04:39
2.	Algorithm	03:32
3.	Consuming Misery	04:06
4.	Wrath of Vishnu	04:44
5.	Finite	03:08
6.	The Appalling	02:55
7.	Void	00:40
8.	Ubiquitous	05:34
9.	The Beyond Within	03:20
10.	Antithesis	09:32
Total playing time		42:10

Rating: 9.3/10.0 - "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds"

Origin have been one of the leaders of the technical death metal scene for years now, and Antithesis is the latest (and in my opinion, greatest) offering by this inhumanly skilled quintet. All of Origin's trademarks are to be found in this album: Longstreth's furious gravity blasts (that he is (in)famous for), the steroid enhanced riffing, and unrelenting quadruple vocal attack of Lee and company. However, as tempting as this formula may be, it was in fact what led to the rather repetitive nature of each of the offerings this band has given. Their trademark sound as it seems, in recent years, has been their weakness as well as their strength. Fear not however, as on Antithesis, the band has overcome the pitfalls of their rather sterile previous efforts, and have proven that evolution is in fact possible, even for a band with a history as far-reaching as theirs. And the evolution that they have displayed on this monster of an album will kick the sorry shit out of your ass like no other album you've ever heard.

Despite having mentioned that all of the band's traditional musical elements are intact, they have improved and perfected areas which they were lacking (for instance, songs flow a lot more smoothly into one another this time around, and are structured FAR more intelligently). But most importantly they have made one major realization that most technical death metal bands these days seem too stupid to realize: restraint is sometimes GOOD. Because seriously, for bands such as Necrophaggot and the like, put your musical cock back in your pants, 'cause I don't give a shit how many notes you can play in a millisecond; if you can't write good songs for shit put away your instruments and fuck off. Don't get me wrong though, this is still very much a tech death metal album. It has enough lightning fast sweeps, lengthy solos, and odd-time signatures to keep the average fan happy, but this time around the band have placed the right chops at the right time and place. Also, Longstreth finally has got it through his head that smacking those skins at three-gazillion beats per minute with fills every half second while loaded on amphetamine tends to cause headaches. Instead of the technical self masturbation that was seen on Echoes of Decimation, songwriting and structure takes prominence here, and that's a much needed breath of air in the stale scene that is technical death metal.

Songs are arranged and composed excellently, and also of note is the way the songs follow each other on the album. From the opening track, you will be inevitably and mercilessly destroyed in a blaze of the tightest, most well structured death metal you've probably ever heard. From then till the epic nine minute title track (also the last track), you won't get a chance to breathe due to the aural beatdown that this album delivers the way only Origin can. All instrumentalists are at their finest hour here, staying perfectly in tandem despite the mind-numbingly complex songwriting. There is not a single damned imperfection in their playing that I can spot, and trust me, I've searched for them. These fuckers (bassist included) are able to pull off sweeps so fast and so smoothly at tempos exceeding 300 bpm, and Longstreth is right behind them executing gravity blasts and double kick fills that would make Kollias hang his head in shame. However, as mentioned above, you won't be drowned in the technicality, as the band has their slower, more groove oriented moments as well. It's a good mix, and quite a leap from the blasturbation-fest that is their previous albums.

I do harbor a few minor complaints with this album, mainly the production. It's clean as fuck (which isn't neccesarily a bad thing), but doesn't favor either end, meaning the album lacks punch unless you crank up your volume knob. And then there's the deal with the drums: they're triggered to the point where it can become a blur of clicks. I commend Jon's stamina, but when your drums are triggered to the point where you can effectively be replaced by a machine, it don't mean a damn thing. Finally, there's a 40 second break that seems to have been thrown in to the tracklisting for no apparent reason. It serves nothing, and just seems to be there. I have no clue what sort of purpose it serves whatsoever, but it's a completely useless sound effect that just seems to have been shat there by someone who thought it would add to the album somehow.

So in the end, Antithesis doesn't contain profound, thought-provoking lyrics, innovation of any sort, and doesn't breach any new ground, but it doesn't seek to do that in the first place. The album is merely another addition (and evolution) to the band's fruitful discography, and by extention, of the whole genre in itself. And damn does it do a good job of it. If you're looking for a furiously complex and addictive album in equal measure; you've found it - Origin's Antithesis will do you well.

The Best of '08 - Part 2: Hornets of the Pogrom

Artist: Arghoslent
Album: Hornets of the Pogrom
Genre: Death Metal
Year: 2008
Label: Drakkar Productions

Tracklisting:

1.	In Coffles They Were Led	04:16
2.	Swill of the Knaves	05:01
3.	Manacled Freightage	05:00
4.	The Nubian Archer	06:21
5.	Dog and Broom	03:31
6.	Oracle of the Malefic Rhizome	05:50
7.	Hornets of the Pogrom	06:33
8.	The Grenadier	05:34
Total playing time		42:03

Rating: 9.7/10/0 - "All that is injurious to our existence must be annihilated"

Despite having been in the death metal scene for nigh two decades now, I only happened to hear of the Virginian group known as Arghoslent quite recently. Referring to themselves as "totalitarian death metal" and sporting such inventive names as "Holocausto" and "The Genocider", combined with the fact that they hail from one of the more hick-infested parts of America, I expected this band to be comprised of retards born of incest and drunk off their asses on moonshine.

I was so fucking wrong.

I won't lie to you; these men are white nationalists. They are proud to be Caucasian and their songs are entirely comprised of re-tellings of the history and legacy of the white race. If signs of disgust are already materializing on your face, know this: these men are not uneducated rubes from the backwaters - on the contrary, this is some of the most addictive, intelligent, and dare I say, convincing metal I've heard in my life.

As mentioned above, this album is a tribute to the long and fruitful history of the Caucasian race, and these men pull it off so well you'd damned well think they were historians. More importantly though, in an almost Romanticist fashion, this album focuses on war, and those men who fought and died for their country and people:

"Cowardice absent from the soul of the trooper
Outnumbered to storm breaches in the siege
Fearsome and mounted grenadiers stand alone"

But lyrics like these are commonplace in metal, and frankly that's not makes the sheer greatness of this masterpiece. It's the fucking RIFFS. 'Cause lemme tell you, you will not find riffs like this anywhere else. Melodic yet potent, flowing yet powerful; these riffs are absolutely fucking killer. They almost sound like they belong in a Gothenburg release, but they are several levels of magnitude superior to any of that pussy trash. The duel guitar attack weave in between each other seamlessly, never losing prominence, never losing focus, and fucking EPIC. Honestly, I could go on praising the immense guitar musicianship for hours, but you'd best hear it to believe it. The bass, drums, and vocals do a fantastic job as well (and are also mixed very well and fully audible, props to the producer there), but are frankly overshadowed by those killer chops. You will be humming these riffs for so long, you'll need to get your fucking larynx replaced.

In conclusion, this is a must have. An intelligently and exhaustively researched journey into the annals of history, of times where the timeless values of glory, honor, and strength overshadowed our bullshit modern values of "morality" and "equality". This album will leave your neck ravaged by the headbanging it brings along, but most importantly it will leave you pondering times of a day and age long gone, and regardless of your ethnicity, you WILL be charged with an intense pride of your people and culture, because as Arghoslent so lucidly displays, ALL cultures are being eroded by the plague of globalization and an incompatible assimilation of traditions. But before I plunge into another one of my rants, I leave you with these three words:

BUY
THIS
ALBUM!!!

The Best of '08 - Part 1: Codex Incubo

Artist: Cosmic Atrophy
Album: Codex Incubo
Genre: (Technical) Death Metal
Year: 2008
Label: Suffering Jesus/Metalbolic

Tracklisting:

1.	Prelude To Phantasmagoria	03:57
2.	Consumed From Within The X-Zone	04:43
3.	Shattering of Terrestrial Reality (Invasion of Aberration)	05:48
4.	Cydonic Adulations	04:02
5.	Doomed By The Cancer Domus	08:38
6.	The Granfalloon	04:25
7.	Adrift In The Lifeless Sea of Black	02:02
Total playing time		33:35

Rating: 9.5/10.0 - "Tentacles of ruination, throttling sanity..."

Remember back in the day, when Demilich released their groundbreaking album, "Nespithe"? That atonal, slithering, jangled riffing? Those otherworldy lyrics? Well it seems t'was a realm far too bizarre and hostile, and since then, no other artist (to my knowledge other than Adramelech) has had the balls to venture into the dimensions in which those drunk Finnish teens so bravely plunged.

Till now.

The Houston duet known as Cosmic Atrophy has gone there, and perhaps beyond. Their debut, Codex Incubo, is a disturbing glimpse into profound and incomprehensible terrors, delivered in a manner so novel and so different, that few will have the aptitude to stomach it.

This album has no pointless intro. It delivers its point from the first second of track one. Dancing, twisting contrapuntural guitar work, out of key, out of rythym, but simultaneouly (and paradoxically) very focused one one thing: creating atmosphere. And these men know how to do it well. Its clashing and shifting structures, its unfathomable riffing, its strangely synced drumming, all add up to create an atmosphere of a place beyond all human comprehension. Combined with graphic lyrics detailing nihilistic, almost Lovecraftian scenes of the meaningless and transient existance of man, this album, upon listen, feels wrong. And that my friends, is awesome.

But don't get me wrong, this isn't an album you'll hate. Like any other piece of music worth listening to, multiple spins will unravel the logic and beauty behind this modern masterpiece. The empty meaninglessness of this music is almost poetry; like the void itself which it so wonderfully and painfully articulates, it will suck you in.

Also, be not turned off by the obvious Finnish influence, these guys are not clones by any means. They have a lot to offer by themselves, and this album is proof. This album will not fail you, get it and let your imagination wander to those forbidden depths of the mind.

The Best of '08

Well folks, the year's nearly over, and we've seen quite a few metal releases with it. Most was stale, unoriginal drivel but there were a few gems that stood out and delivered wonderfully. So for my first post, I'm listing out the top 10 metal releases of 2008. Remember I have not heard all the albums released this year, so apologies in advance if I'm missing something that should be here. If there's something *you* think should be in this list, but really shouldn't be (read: Apocalyptic Feasting, Watershed), kindly fuck off.

In no particular order:

Cosmic Atrophy - Codex Incubo

Arghoslent - Hornets of the Pogrom

Origin - Antithesis

Asva - What You Don't Know is Frontier
Enslaved - Vertebrae
Virus - The Black Flux
Averse Sefira - Advent Parallax
Misery Index - Traitors
Ehnahre - The Man Closing Up
Artefact - Ruins

I will be writing individual reviews for each of these albums shortly. I doubt there will be a release in December that will end up topping any one of these, but if so, I'll make an adjustment to the list.