Angelcorpse - Exterminate [1998]

US blackened death metal legends Angelcorpse were the definition of war metal. Everything the band did in the 90’s was gold, and alongside Blasphemy, Gospel Of The Horns, Conqueror, Destroyer 666, Angelcorpse were one of the bands which had a massive impact of the modern black/death scene, pretty much innovating all the bands which featured extremely aggressive riffs with loads of speed, precision and corpulence. Their music is absolutely crushing, devastating, and culminating with aggravating lyrical content of war, war, and war. To make a long story short, Angelcorpse innovated the black/death scene as we know it, and to this day, their tracks reek of nothing but war, destruction and complete devastation and abhorrence against humanity.

Their sound is defined by pummelling drum beats, shattering and scathing visceral vitriol all around, and the closest comparison would be the primal war metal bands of the 90’s with additional blasting elements snatched from the Florida death metal scene to boast the rambunctious, devastating porthole of riffs, sprayed upon the listener within an instant. Although all of Angelcorpse’s albums are robust excursions and perplexing brutality and ravaging decimation, their second offering ‘’Exterminate’’ ultimately lives up to its name, fabricating and culminating the utmost brutality that Angelcorpse ever bestirred. ‘’Exterminate’’ is such a complex warp of constantly deviating disaster that it never seems to cease in speed and the richly layered textures are always on the work, either pummelling guts of rapidly surfacing through flesh, but constantly damaging all the same.

With its intellectual approach to blackened death metal, ‘’Exterminate’’ sounds almost like a slightly technical death metal album, but the fog of seething old school black metal corruption makes sure such an event never occurs, stabilizing the album’s position as old school. Although Angelcorpse take a plentiful measure of black metal and shove them up the furious death metal content, ‘’Exterminate’’ has evolved in a way that renders the black metal influence nearly invisible, and the black metal traits have slowly blended with the death metal traits, forming a fusion that harnesses the energy of both within one wreathed chord whirlwind.

‘’Exterminate’’ will batter down the walls of your ears. It’s monstrously crushing, contemptuous, and writhing. While it can easily shatter with its terrific line of turbulences, it still tends to add some variation into these violent incursions, embellishing the outrageous chord fluctuations with diverse melodies here and there, and you’ll also see a massive breakdown at seldom, where the music channels into one smashing thrash chug all of a sudden. The vocals are raspy and to the point, exhaling words without procrastinating anything, and the drums are just as ill-tempered as the guitars, rolling in and forth between blast beats, blast beats and yet more blast beats. ‘’Exterminate’’, alongside with Angelcorpse’s early work are masterpieces of brutality, and a completely different view of war as we know it. 

Highlights

''Reap The Whirlwind''

''Wartorn''

''That Which Lies Upon''

''Sons Of Vengeance''

Final Rating

Almost A Masterpiece [8.9/10]

Pentacle - ... Rides the Moonstorm [1998]

Fronted by Wannes Gubbels, who you may recognize as a former member of death metal legends Asphyx, Pentacle is an old-school death metal band that was formed way back in 1989 who combine the influences of early Celtic Frost, Death, Asphyx, early Pestilence and 80’s German thrash into a delicious melting pot of old-school metal.

Pentacles sound consists of razor-sharp thrashy death metal riffage with a Celtic Frosted guitar tone, mostly d-beat drumming that occasionally changes it up, Van Drunen/John Tardy-esque vocals and barely audible but solid bass work. The tempos are mostly mid-fast paced and rather thrashy with the occasional slow and heavy intro. The production is standard for mid-90’s death metal; thin and distorted guitars, not much bass and a decent but slightly dull drum sound.

Production flaws aside, and excusing the 50 minute length which tends to drag the album out a bit longer than it should, “… Rides the Moonstorm” is a killer album full of great songs such as; “Yielding to the Scepter of Flesh”, the opening title track, “Baptism in a Fiery Void” and “Raised by Nights Chaos”, to name a few. With a band motto like “Don’t forget the ancient feeling… it still rules!!!”, it’s pretty clear what Pentacle is all about and they do a good job at keeping the classic death metal spirit alive.

Highlights:
"Yielding to the Scepter of Flesh"
"Baptism in a Fiery Void"
"Raised by Nights Chaos"

Final Rating:
Awesome [8.5/10]

Anal Vomit - Sudamerica Brutal [1998] (Demo)

When people think of old-school South American metal, they often look towards Brazil, with its rich and sparse underground scene, ranging from the obvious legends Sepultura and Sarcófago to underground black metal horde Mysitifier and death metal acts such as Krisiun and Headhunter D.C. It seems that a lot of metal fans have forgotten there are other countries in South America that feature great underground scenes, one of the most prominent being Peru; home to the filthy and barbaric underground horde that is Anal Vomit.

Anal Vomit has been around for a long time, forming way back in 1993 when I was a wee toddler and releasing their first demo tape in ’93 and still pumping releases out to this day. “Sudamerica Brutal” is their fourth demo, which was released in ’98 and was subsequently rereleased the next year on the “Sudamérica Brutal 1” split with Funeral (from Paraguay) and Carnarium (Argentina). It was also rereleased once again in 2011 on CD, featuring new artwork and two bonus tracks; this is the version I actually own, and so for the purposes of this particular site, I won’t be mentioning the bonus tracks again in this review.

Anal Vomit play a very raw and old-school blend of straightforward South American black/death/thrash, most obviously influenced by Sarcófago and Vulcano as well as the other usual suspects. The music is really filthy and energetic, featuring one of the most insane drummers I’ve heard, the guy is a total maniac! The riffs are all over the place, yet still follow the song structures, having a “controlled chaos” type effect on the songs. The bassist/vocalist reminds me of the possessed missing link between young Tom Angelripper and Wagner Antichrist, having one of the most bestial and aggressive deathrash voices I’ve ever come across! It’s these very elements that have allowed Anal Vomit to become a recent favourite of mine. 

The production is exactly what you would expect from this type of bestiality: filthy, raw and completely merciless! The mix is surprisingly bass-heavy, which strives to help Anal Vomit stand out from the other rotten hordes paying tribute to ancient South American death cults. Whilst the mix is very raw, you can still hear every instrument clearly and tell what’s going on in each track. What more could you want from a band that worships at the altar of Sarcófago, Vulcano, Possessed, Sodom and the like?

Anal Vomit is a must-listen for fans of old-school South American terror. It is bands like this that separate the men from the boys and put hair on your pasty suburban chest. Falses need not entry.

Highlights:

Into the Eternal Agony

Slaved Mind

Kingdom of the Cruelty

Final Rating:

8.5/10 Awesome.

Nuclear Tribunal - Attack of the Salami-Smokers from Venus [1998]

This release sounds like thrash, grind and death metal all got together and spawned the not so perfect child. Nuclear Tribunal aren't the most known band on the block and there's fairly good reason for that. This isn't the greatest album in exsistence, but the eye catching artwork and the humour on the album alone make it pretty great and worth reviewing. I really do enjoy this album a lot but I could picture someone hearing this and asking themselves why they're listening to this garbage. "Attack of the Salami-Smokers from Venus" is definitely interesting enough to look into further.

The music on the album is pretty simple deathgrind played at a mid to slower pace which does pick up often enough to create a hammering assault. The drums are mainly blast beats and just a lot of use of the high hats and snare. The bass on the album is unfortunately not very audible (I'd be surprised if you could hear it at all) and the guitars are pretty straight forward with the music. The tone is more of a crunchy thrash tone than a grindcore or death metal tone but the tempos are definitely those that you would find in death metal or grindcore. The vocals are honestly, the worst part of the album, in my opinion. The production or whatever was done to them makes it sound like the vocalist is trying to perform underwater.

I bought this album off of Amazon for about four dollars (including shipping and handling) just because of the artwork. It was a random purchase that I'm not disappointed about at all. It's a fun album and I enjoy the music enough as uninspired and simple as it is.

Highlights

"Nuclear Tribunal (Hate Their Audience)"

"WW III"

"I Came to Shoot Your Dicks Off"

Final Rating

Mediocre [7.0/10]

Nasum - Inhale/Exhale [1998]

Sweden's pretty well known for always putting out fast music. Evil death metal, heavy grindcore and brutal crust and d-beat. Nasum was definitely one of the best bands to come from this country and their debut full length album, "Inhale/Exhale" is proof of that. Nasum's sound was very fast and very death metal and d-beat influenced. They blended the signature Swedish death metal riffs with the speed and agility of d-beat bands like Discharge.

 "Inhale/Exhale" is an incredibly fast, heavy and insane album. It's also one of the first albums to have that signature Scandinavian grindcore sound. That heavy, groovy, fast and punk as fuck sound made famous by Nasum and Finland's Rotten Sound. That signature sound still remains strong in the Scandinavian grind scene nowadays with great bands like Coldworker and Gadget.

The guitars on the album have a very fast, death metal sound to them but there is absolutely no doubt that this is a grindcore album, with the extreme use of d-beat tempos and hardcore punk riffs. The solos are also very influenced by those of the old school Swedish death metal tyrants like Entombed and Dismember. The drums are a lot of fast blast beats but there's also of use of d-beats in the drumming as well. There is a lot of groove on this album that adds to the music. It's the kind of groove that is just perfect for a good mosh pit.

Unfortunately, the band came to an end when Mieszko Talarczyk (vocals & guitars) was a victim of the 2004 Tsunami disaster in Thailand. The band declared that it would be quits on May 26th, 2005. Although, Nasum have stated that they will be playing shows and festivals all over the world in 2012 in celebration of their (would be) 20 year anniversary. So if you like fast, groovy, brutal, punk as fuck grindcore, then you should listen to Nasum. Get prepared to have your shit blasted to bits.

Highlights
"The Masked Face"
"Time to Act!"
"When Science Fails"

Final Rating 
Awesome [8.7/10]