DEADMASK - UNDER LUCIFERIAN WINGS [2008]

PsycheDOOMelic Records
2008

[8/10]

www.myspace.com/deadmaskdoom

Deadmask is a duo from Spain. Even though [of violence] is quite aware of the ongoing interest in music biz about this whole male vs. female duo phenomenon, fortunately we have a whole lotta different case here.
Spanish extremists Machetazo’s Dopi and vocalist Nuria blended a fine mixture of proto metal’s production trademarks with doomy riffage and infectiously loud bass & drums. Constructed two timeless sounding Deadmask compositions and four covers- carefully choosen from their “influences to be hailed immediately” textbook. Clocking barely over 18 minutes, Under Luciferian Wings EP features what we all miss in today’s polished-to-the-bone heavy music. Catchy heaviness of first two tracks, Your Other Side and Damned resembles Deadmask is not even an inch behind their equivalents performing the same genre. Nuria’s voice and accent gives the songs a unique touch that only have a resemblence to the late 60s acts. Occult doom pioneers Coven’s Wicked Woman and Sabbath worshipping veterans Pentagram’s You’re Lost, I’m Free can be considered as quite obvious choices for genre’s die-hard fans but Deadmask manages to pull it off, leaving you with nothing but a grim smile on your face. The last track of the EP, a The Coffinshakers cover, is an acoustic cut with chants of “no rest for the wicked”setting up the calmer grande final for this short but pleasing experience.

ADAMAS - EXARCO EP [2008]

Self Released
2008
www.myspace.com/metaladamas
[6/10]

Italian metal scene is on the rise… It has been always an active seen, partly because of the bands sounding identical to Rhapsody (now known as Rhapsody Of Fire) with that unique Italian accent and partly because the country itself has a history of penning fine quality music. But nowadays whole metal scene in the country seems to be gearing up. We, at [of violence], have been bumping into more and more bands hailing from Italian shores recently. So now you know why this entry is babbling about Italy now. We’ve received a 4 -Track EP titled Exarco.

Adamas is the brainchild of Castellani brothers (yes, now it sounded totally like a family name you’d be hearing among the dialogues of a Coppola movie). Once they’ve managed to gather a proper line-up the usual cover songs eventually replaced by self-written genuine Adamas tunes. Exarco EP kicks off with destined to be a live-set opener The Cradle Of Judas. But that is not the first song that caught [of violence]’s attention. With its right-in-yer-face thrash riffage, Baghdad Singin’ In The Raid is the one gets the shoot at first sight. The title says it all, Castellani brothers like their metal served with a slight political twist reminding what’s going on in the real world. The thrashy riffage and lyrical concept somehow turns into a Children Of Bodom-esque guitar-keyboard marriage. And that is moment one rebellious eye-brow raises with “i’ve heard this before” suspicion… Even though we are quite familiar with the European Metal’s keyboard cliches are spread all over every single band featuring a Roland or Korg enthusiast. We just can’t help but think that sometimes it’d be very good idea to hear some unique additions of keyboards to heavy music. Into The Fit (nope, no mispelling, it’s Fit not Pit!) is the second track of the EP and has headbang encouraging pace representing a song form perfected by Flight 666 veterans, Iron Maiden. Luigi’s vocals which are quite in the vein of early Sentenced meets British thrashers Xentrix, manages to pull to the song to a different level. These two tracks are no doubt appears to be the highlights of the EP. The other two, Revenge (Best Served Cold) and The Cradle Of Judas can’t match up with the aforementioned ones neither arrangement wise nor songwriting wise. Both sounds still they have to be worked on more. Some fine ideas here and there but as a whole both sound they were quite rushed to get caught on tape. Especially Revenge (Best Served Cold).
Adamas is one of those bands you’d definitely want to hear what they will do next… They are young (& restless) and more they play live more their songwriting skills will be sharpened. No need to have a sixth sense to realize they are armed and ready to move forward and hit the next step.

-- Atrocious Abnormality interview

.:a history [of violence]:. has just conducted a brand new interview with Steve Green of Atrocious Abnormality & Comatose Music. Some of you will probably remember him from his now-inactive band Lust Of Decay. He is a busy guy and he kindly agreed to answer [of violence]'s questions.
so well, here is the interview...

-- Debut full-length “Echoes Of The Rotting” was released in the year 2007... what has been going on at the Atrocious Abnormality front since the debut’s release?
S: Just playing a lot of shows and fests. Also did a tour back in April... so we have been staying pretty busy. We are preparing to start writing for our next CD soon.
-- It says “over year went into the creation of this release” at Comatose Music’s official website...A year in the creation is something we mostly hear from the major label bands with a huge budget.. What took you so long in this creative process?
S: We just took our time writing and arranging the songs. We wanted to make sure everything was as brutal as possible. We also spent some time in the studio to achieve the best production possible.
--You guys were on tour with labelmates Bloodsoaked in April.. how was the whole road adventure? As far as i read from your blog you guys had amazin' time :]
S: It was wonderful! We had a killer time and some sick shows. Hopefully we will tour together again soon!
--Atrocious Abnormality seems to be havin' a habit of performing nearly all annual US death metal/extreme metal fests :] Do you find these kind of bigger events more fun or let me put it this way, do you think they are really a good opportunity to expose your band?
S: It is definitely a good chance for massive exposure at some of the larger fests. So we try to get on as many as possible. We enjoy all shows regardless of size or turnout. We just love to perform live more than anything.
--And what about Europe and European festivals?
S: We are hoping to do a tour in Europe in 2009. Lots of time and planning will be required, but we certainly want to do it.
--I wonder what are the plans for the sophomore full-length?Are there also any plans for splits or MCDs?
S: As I said before, we are getting ready to begin writing. I would imagine we will have our second album wrote by the end of this year. No plans for any splits or MCDs at the moment... just going to focus on our next full length.
--What about your other band Lust Of Decay? Any news you wanna tell us about?
S: Not much happening with Lust of Decay right now. Me and Jay still talk, but we are both busy with our other projects and not really looking to do anything with Lust of Decay at this moment. But maybe in the future we will return with a new CD!
--Supreme Pain, Prion and Execration are Comatose Music’s latest offerings.. Are they essential must-haves for any brutal death metal fan? :]
S: Absolutely! Every death metal fan must own every Comatose Music release, haha!
--Running a label and performing in a quite active band must somewhat exhausting... But it seems you are fully satisfied with your job..
S: It is tough sometimes and I stay very busy too. You should know this because it has taken me a month to finally answer these interview questions, haha! But I am enjoying every minute of it... very satisfying!
--What are the current records spinning at Steve’s home stereo? And which albums are on your regular playlist, all-time favorites?
S: Usually spinning promos and demos because I get so many of them in the mail. I tend to listen to my newest Comatose Music releases when they first come out, so I have been spinning the Supreme Pain, Prion, and Execration quite a bit. As for all time favorites... hmmmmmm, I have many! Definitely listen to the Misfits often even though it is not death metal. I like some old Suffocation, Internal Bleeding, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Severed Savior, Lividity... and plenty more!
--It's some kind of a tradition for a member of a extreme metal band to be a fan of horror gore and/or porn flicks .. Can you tell us which movies are your favorites? And what i relly wanna learn more about is your guilty pleasures, the movies you are a big fan of though not very proud of and not mentioning much about them to anybody :]
S: I love some good zombie films, my favorite would be Return of the Living Dead... I remember watching that as a kid. I enjoy raunchy comedy movies too like American Pie, Jay and Silent Bob... shit like that. And of course I like porn, probably too much, haha! Thanks for the interview. Check us out at www.myspace.com/atrociousabnormality or www.comatosemusic.com

-- As We Fight comes up with a new singer!!

Danish ready-to-explode dynamites As We Fight just announced the addition of their new voice Esben Elnegaard Kjaer Hansen.
"Esben is by no means new to touring life, which his work with Numbnuts, Stomped and stand-in duties in Nightrage demonstrates. Esben has already performed with us on five occasions, and we are very excited to have him on board!" states bass player Soren Hvidt.
Esben Elnegaard Kjaer Hansen is currently locked away in the Smart N Hard Studio with producer Jacob Bredahl (Hatesphere, Koldborn) recording vocals for As We Fight's new album "Meet Your Maker", which will see a release later 2008. "Meet Your Maker" will follow up on "Midnight Tornado", the band's last album, which was released by Dockyard 1 in 2006.
As We Fight is, furthermore, planning tours for the Fall and Winter in support of the new album. The first couple of shows have already been announced and more will follow the next couple of weeks.

As We Fight @ myspace

WITH BLOOD COMES CLEANSING - HORROR [2008]

With Blood Comes Cleansing
Horror
Victory Records
2008

With Blood Comes Cleasing, is one of the bands that some of you out there reading this review will (probably listening to some "extreme" bad ass stuff) eventually call generic. This whole new generation of bands (mostly coming from U.S. for sure) made the extreme music scene a bit over crowded, that's an undeniable fact. It became really hard to figure out which ones are really worth listening and which ones worth "the recycle bin" treatment. With Blood Comes Cleansing is in my very humble opinion not of those worth "dragging and dropping" to the recycle bin type bands. Though their 2nd release (debut for victory rec.), Horror, is nowhere near a groundbreaking gem. At least with the lyrical content of christianity issues. They seem to not preach anything to anybody, but well, (am i the only one thinking this whole breed of bands who have just "seen the light" before releasing an album, got a bit overrated?) as long as they use the "christian" tag this willingly, not everybody will probably believe their sincerity. Anyway what we've got in our hands is an above average band playing mostly highly average tunes of modern metal. Still worth waiting for their best shot to come with the next release though. [6/10]


www.myspace.com/withbloodcomescleansing

-- New track available pre-release

ORIGIN have just made a new track available from their upcoming album Antithesis @ their myspace page.

www.myspace.com/origin666

here is the official statement from Relapse Records:

"Antithesis, the follow-up to 2005’s Echoes of Decimation, brings what is widely considered to be the band’s strongest line-up back together (Paul Ryan – guitars / vocals, Jeremy Turner – guitars / vocals, James Lee – vocals, Mike Flores – bass / vocals, and John Longstreth – drums) since the band’s Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas album. Antithesis was engineered by Rob Rebeck at Chapman Studios, mastered by Scott Hull at Visceral Sound, and is set for an April 1 North American release date, April 7 internationally.

ORIGIN will embark on a European headlining tour at the end of May with support from IMPALED and HOUR OF PENANCE. Additionally, ORIGIN have been confirmed as one of the headliner’s at this year’s Central Illinois Metalfest in July. A complete listing of ORIGIN tour dates will be announced shortly."

-- Melechesh says no to renew their contract..

Inventors of "Sumerian thrashing black metal" genre Melechesh, officially stated they will not be renewing their contract with Osmose Productions. They have fulfilled their 3 album agreement with the label and will announce their new label soon.

read the official statement from the band below:
"After circa eight years with Osmose Productions, we feel this is the right time to move on. This does not change our high opinion of this cult record company who truly does good old-fashioned A&R work and builds bands over the course of time. I, on behalf of MELECHESH, extend our best wishes to Osmose Productions and their staff, especially Herve and Nicolas, who have become with the years people we can call our friends; we also extend our regards and appreciation to The End Records, the exclusive licensee label in USA, for their efforts on the North American continent."

www.myspace.com/melechesh

-- Listen GrindMinded's new full-length online!

Dutch band Grindminded made available their new album for an online treat!
so if you're interested in a quickie click here!

to learn more about how to get a copy of the album visit : http://www.opengraverecords.com/

-- Brand new live & loud recordings from HELL WITHIN

Brand new live recordings of two tracks has just been added to Massachusetts' Hell Within's myspace.
www.myspace.com/hellwithin is the link as you can guess quite easily :)

..and a video of the band for those who like their news items served hot and visual!

-- Arch Enemy's Eurotrip in April

here are the newly confirmed dates:
April-13-2008 Helsinki, Tavastia (FINLAND)
April-15-2008 St Petersburg, Port (RUSSIA)
April-16-2008 Moscow, DK Gorbunova (RUSSIA)
April-19-2008 Amsterdam, Melkweg (HOLLAND)
April-20-2008 Paris, Bataclan (FRANCE)
April-21-2008 Antwerp, Hof Ter Loo (BELGIUM)
April-23-2008 Birmingham, Academy (UK, with OPETH)
April-24-2008 Glasgow, Barrowlands(UK, with OPETH)
April-25-2008 Manchester, Academy(UK, with OPETH)
April-26-2008 London, Brixton Academy (UK, with OPETH)

for more about Arch Enemy :
www.myspace.com/archenemy
http://www.archenemy.net/

-- Mix Mankind Is Obsolete

Mankind Is Obsolete spreads out the word for their desire to have their fans to do some remixes of their tunes for a in-the-works remix CD scheduled to be out later this year.

here is the statement from the band:

" We added a feature to our website for anyone to remix our music from the new album "Trapped Inside." We're planning on putting out a remix cd later this year with some of the remixes that our friends and fans provide us. Go to the link below for the sound files. Be sure to email us here and let us know when you've got something for us to check out. Thanks!!

http://www.mkio.com/remix"

and here is their myspace page:

www.myspace.com/mankindisobsolete

-- Morphosis out February 8th

Polish extreme haters tentatively titled HATE will be unleashing their new demons on February 8th via Listenable Records worldwide.

check out their myspace profile for the new stuff and a detailed bio of the band..

www.myspace.com/hatepoland

-- Atrocity is back with a new covers album

Alex Krull's band Atrocity is back with a new covers album. As you probably recall they once released a very commetcially successful covers album in 1997 called "Werk 80" speacializing on synth-pop hits of the 80's era. Now they are ready for the second installment tentatively called "Werk 80 II".

click here to download a full track taken from the album provided by the band's official website.

-- WDHR posted 2 new songs online

Minnesota's With Dead Hands Rising made available 2 new songs via their myspace page. Both songs are taken from their upcoming release "Expect Hell".

click on the banner to listen to the songs and check out upcoming live dates:

-- Eric Rutan's hate is eternal..

Follow up to 2005 critically acclaimed album "I, Monarch", Hate Eternal is back with a new record. On February 19th the new cd "Fury And Flames" will be hitting the stores.
This will the first album with Hate Eternal's four-piece band formation. With the addition of Shaun Kelley, the band will be touring as a quartet.

here is the cover artwork done by Paul Romano:

-- Nominees for Best Metal Performance

This year's Grammy Awards nominees for Best Metal Performance are :
As I Lay Dying with "Nothing Left"
King Diamond with "Never ending Hill"
Machine Head with "Aesthetics Of Hate"
Shadows Fall with "Redemption"
Slayer with "Final Six"

The award ceremony will take place on February 10th in Los Angeles.