Funebre - Cranial Torment [2012] (Compilation)

Man, I really love these compilations. Reissuing underrated albums for more exposure one thing, amassing extremely overlooked demos and EPs into single packages for gruesome, carnal delivery another. Xtreem Music has now gathered all the pre-1991 material of the Finnish cults Funebre in one case, and now, listeners can enjoy the ''Cranial Torment'', ''Demo II'' demos and the ''Brainspoon'' EP the same way they enjoyed the bands vile splash of vile that was ''Children Of The Scorn'', and what's more is that you can feel the rawness and sheer decomposed splendor of these ghastly tunes the way they were taken out of the oven, fresh but rotten, oldie but goodie.

As I said, the authentic production quality helps reinforce the notably primal disorder the album espouses, and you've got vitriolic churning of traditional decayed Finnish death metal in its most macabre and aggravated form, sticking to the path that Convulse or Purtenance took, with a heavy blend of charnel Swedish chainsaw insanity, the same way Nihilist did it in the late 80's. The amalgamation is, of course, nothing new if you've already witnessed the band's excellent full-length, but I've always considered contemplating certain band's primordial exhalations in order to compare it to their somewhat more polished released. In death metal, old school death metal, I have a strict little rule; the more crude and primitive the band gets, the closer it gets to perfection through dissonance and putrefaction. Funebre are easily one of the dominating Finnish death metal acts roaming around 1993-1988, and this temple of embryonic pain is the evidence, clearly.

Thanks to Funebre's slightly original tendencies, we can feel skull-crushing buzz-saw pressure at the same time as somnolent death/doom drudgery. Tracks vary, because the mix does not equalize them all into one single production quality, so songs from differing releases stand out with marginal qualities, and out of them all, my favorite would probably the ''Demo II'' material, which, obviously manifests the darkest and roughest peak of the band's adoration for esoteric and ephemeral horror, sending a barrage of chills down your spine as the ripping chainsaw fluctuates into a grisly slither of flesh and bones. Funebre are one of the best bands to come of the Finnish death metal scene, as already evidenced on their debut, but for furthermore proof of their crude agility, get this compilation and feed yourself all its disemboweled contents. 

Highlights

''Expunging Mortalities''

''Grip Of Insanity''

''Leprophiliac''

Final Rating

Awesome [8.4/10]

Incantation – Onward to Golgotha [1992]

Incantation has been one of the most consistent long-running death metal bands, releasing killer material on almost every release they’ve put out since forming way back in 1989. Their debut full length “Onward to Golgotha” is one of my personal favourite death metal albums and a total classic of the genre.

Combining a crushing guitar tone and some truly sinister riffs, some of the most guttural vocals ever achieved, interesting drumming and an atmosphere blacker than the Guinness I’m drinking as I write this review, Incantation created a truly evil and cavernous sound that many have since tried to top. Only few bands have come close to achieving such a feat.

The writing on this album is absolutely top-notch. While the songs do follow a similar formula, each one still manages to have its own flavour and fair share of decent riffs. There are moments that will cause your head to bang uncontrollably and moments that will suffocate you in total darkness. Incantation’s formula has always been to suck you in with infectious riffs and then hammer your skull in with that bone crushing bottom end.

Songs like “Devoured Death”, “Unholy Massacre”, “Christening the Afterbirth” and “Profanation” will stick in your head and destroy you from the inside out. It’s a shame that this particular line-up never recorded another Incantation album, as what they achieved here was truly something special. Old-school death metal perfection, if you ask me.

Highlights: 

Devoured Death

Unholy Massacre

Christening the Afterbirth

Profanation

Final Rating: 10/10 Legendary

Manilla Road - Out of the Abyss [1988]

If someone were to listen to Manilla Road's pre-2000 output, they would more than likely notice that there was a constant changing in the band's sound, yet Shelton always retained a signature style that immediately let the listener know that they were in for a Manilla Road album. This listener might also notice that the changes in sounds came in pairs. The first two records clung to a proto-metal sound, while "Crystal Logic" and "Open the Gates" would go on to become masterpieces of the heavy metal genre, and the latter two albums "The Deluge" and "Mystification" would inject a healthy amount of thrash into the epic sound. Enter the band's seventh studio album and once again, there is an obvious shift in sound. "Out of the Abyss" is easily the darkest output for the band to date, conjuring up wicked sounds similar to groups like Iron Cross, Satan's Host, Metal Church, etc. 

There are a couple of reasons why "Out of the Abyss" has a much darker edge to the sound, but the main reason is once again, the absolute genius of Mark Shelton. Whether he's using sinister sounding and mysterious clean guitar sections ("Return of the Old Ones") or a much more insane vocal style with gruesome lyrics ("Whitechapel"), the music is undoubtedly more evil than it's been before. It would be a stretch to say that the Shark's vocals improved, but they definitely take on different forms throughout these nine tracks. The man sounds fucking deranged on the opener "Whitechapel" as his vocals perfectly convey the insanity of the man who the song is about (Jack the Ripper). "Rites of Blood" is another track that follows the precedent set by the album-opener, as the palm-muted riffs, catchy basslines and vocals all contribute to a more diabolical sound. Songs like "Black Cauldron" and "Midnight Meat Train" have a similar thrashing vibe to them that songs on the previous records have, and it wouldn't be much of a shock to see fans of tunes like "Masque of Red Death" and "Divine Victim" thoroughly enjoy these tracks. 

Of course, Manilla Road is a heavy metal band, and what kind of album would "Out of the Abyss" be without some epic songs that hearken back to the days of "Dreams of Eschaton" and "The Ninth Wave?" "War in Heaven" features the familiar clean guitar passages that serve as the perfect backdrop for Shelton's vocals that sing of battles between deities, before the song eventually turns into a distortion-laden one filled with incredible solos and faster riffs. The album closer "Helicon" is a stellar track to say the least, and one of my all-time favorite Manilla Road songs. Mark has one of his best vocal performances on this song, and every other part of the music followed suit to deliver a heavy metal classic. While I don't enjoy "Out of the Abyss" as much as the few albums before it, this record is still an enjoyable listen with some decent to amazing songs, that would only add to the band's legacy as one of America's premier metal bands. 

Highlights

"Whitechapel"

"War in Heaven"

"Helicon"

Final Rating

Awesome [8.5/10]

Conqueror - War. Cult. Supremacy. [1999]

Your old mate Vagabond has been a bit busy with actual real life recently, so I haven't had much time to contribute to Nightmare Reality. With that being said, I've decided to transfer over some of the reviews I wrote last year for my "Arisen From The Crypt" monthly special which I stopped doing once I started doing old-school reviews on here....

Conqueror formed way back in 1992 and featured J. Read (Blood Revolt, Revenge, Black Witchery, Axis of Advance, Cremation, Kerasphorus, Arkhon Infaustus) on drums and vocals and R. Förster (Blasphemy, Domini Inferi, Revenge, Godless North) on the axe.

They played the most unrelenting war metal ever recorded. Constant blast beats, insane vocals that make your average black metal vocalist sound like Madonna and extremely fast distorted riffs all over the place are what to expect here, although it’s best to go into a release like this with no expectations, because whatever you’re expecting will be wrong.

In all honesty, this is the most savage album I have ever laid ears on. Most people who listen to “War. Cult. Supremacy.” will hear nothing but mush and noise, but the ones who actually “get it” will hear complete, utter primitivism and barbarity. This release is an audio war against humanity. No one is safe.

I have no other words for this. Get your hands on this any way you can and prepare to have your perspective on “music” changed forever.

Highlights: 
The whole thing.

Final Rating: Legendary [10/10]

Snyper - Manifestations [1988] (Demo)

Introducing Snyper, a carnal and highly overlooked British thrash assault. For many people, these UK thrashers are just another addition to a growing old school thrash demo collection, but for me, or any other thrash-obsessed metalhead, it's simply a marvel of the Internet. There are many reasons why this five-piece never made to the grand league, and probably the most crucial ones is that they were from the UK, which, although mustered a fair amount of convincing thrash acts including my favorite Xentrix, never actually got the attention or support they required, and the second one, is an even more obvious reason; the band could only spew forth a handful of short demos and a split with numerous English thrash vandals, and so, here is their premier demo, ''Manifestations''; where is all began, in a way.

Snyper's style was probably renowned and copied countless times before it was even released, so yeah, in terms originality, Snyper scarcely stands out. I suppose we can call it an estranged mingle of semi-technical thrash with raw Bay Area elements and a few speed/thrash twists here and there, and the reason I can't quite describe the style of this demo is that it consisted of only one damn song, which pretty much erases the hope of a long paean emerging out of nowhere. The sole ephemeral track ''Manifestations'' can nonetheless boast a fair measure of energy, and besides espousing this sort of dark undertone to go with raw projection of riffs, Snyper has a burden of happy, almost ecstatic melodies springing out of nowhere, and a vile sound that I can relate to Mercful Fate with bits and pieces of Venom and Bathory. No, this isn't black/thrash, but the vocals can deliver harsh and ruinous growls, which makes it sound as if a madmen of a surgeon were plucking out bits of your intestines with a blunt scalpel while you're still conscious. Yep, scary shit.

Snyper's beginnings were humble, but the band showed proficiency, and they were apt to improve, but that never happened, unfortunately. Their augmenting potential was probably obliterated somewhere in the early to mid 90's after they released their final demo ''Something Illusionary''. I don't think even most die-hard thrash fan will become deliriously addicted to this demo, or any of Snyper's material for that matter, but giving this demo a spin every now and then for the sake of its some what evil and spurious contents can never result badly, and what's more, is that Snyper's arsenal has just begun to expose its frivolous afflictions, so be warned, for the band's best is yet to come.

Highlight
''Manifestations''

Final Rating
Mediocre [7.7/10]

Snyper - Obituary [1988] (Demo)

For a demo being released in the same year as the previous and somewhat immature installment ''Manifestations'', UK hit n' run thrashers certainly stepped up their game up by a good pace. Not only does Snyper ameliorate the material on the previous demo to form a robuster demo, but ''Obituary'' also stands out with its dexterous approach, its leaps and frivolous excursions, all building up into a single fifteen minute demo of three songs - possibly the best the UK thrashers will ever conjure. Seriously, you can never go wrong with such vigorous splashes in the face like this, and with a itsee bitsee bit of experimentation, Snyper are in the top of their game.

The ''experimentation'' I'm talking about here is lucidly not any major change in the bands style, and in fact, it would be wrong to actually call it an experimentation, but the thing is, on ''Obituary'', Snyper adorn the bloodthirsty thrash craze with fragments of queer twists, which, probably belongs to the same kind of ecstatic  diversity on the previous demo, only more embraced. First off, there demo has a far crisper and cleaner production than ''Manifestations'', and second, with the improved clarity and crunch, the riffs sound better executed, not to mention better penned. The band has obviously grown fonder of tremolos and brusque plods of melody entwining with carnal, raw chops and speed/thrash ruptures, and they utilize these blithe melodies to congeal with the tremolos, forming a solid hooking line of strident narrating riffs.

The vocals have stayed pretty much the same, which is something that I'm very glad about; they're still ghastly and throaty, the way I like it. This time, however, the importance of the vocals have increased. With the band sticking to the primal hostility that they had fancied quite a bit on the previous demo, the vocals become an essential part of the savagery department, emanating the raw insanity throughout the veins of the riff patterns and ultimately, pervading the primal energy. You're bound to have boisterous headbanging time whilst you listen to this, and moreover, this demo deserves accolades for having such a primitive and brisk feel to it, quite literally topping a good number of its fellow peers and countrymen during that time. My only complaint was that it was far too brief, as with all the band's demos, to fully enjoy, but hell, I still like it a lot.

Highlights
Sacred Blade
Deathright At Sunset

Final Rating
Awesome [8.3/10]

Manilla Road - Mystification [1987]

Talk about being productive. Mark Shelton and the rest of his musical entourage continued to hammer out one awesome album after another, year after year. After releasing another terrific release in "The Deluge," it would come time to hit the grind once again, and the result was Manilla Road's six full-length "Mystification," an epic record that carried on where the previous full-length left off. To be honest, there isn't much of a difference as far as the overall sound is concerned between this album and "The Deluge," as both boast thrashy riffs that make the bulk of the rhythms which serve as the ideal backdrop for Shelton's constantly improving vocals and every fantasy-riddle theme that he could conjure up. 

Once the first song bursts through the speakers (or whatever you use to listen to your music) there's a huge sense of deja vu, as "Haunted Palace" kicks off with basic chords and intense drumming that reminds one of the opening song from "The Deluge," "Dementia" which has an almost exact same sound. The similarities do not stop there, though, as "Spirits of the Dead" blends clean passages and thrashy riffs perfectly to create a very memorable song (Something that this band doesn't lack whatsoever). The title track is another stellar song that takes the listener on a fun ride that starts with the oh-so familiar clean guitar passage and Shelton's instantly recognizable, nasally vocals that are very pleasant sounding on the ears, before it escalates into some thrashier riffs and solos galore. "Valley of Unrest," "Masque of Red Death," and "Death By the Hammer" are all songs that could easily be described as thrash songs, but of course with the signature Manilla Road flavor, which makes the songs much more multi-dimensional as opposed to just another thrashy song. 

To keep things simple, this album is almost "The Deluge" part II with different lyrical themes and different riffs, but the same spirit and structuring are present. I don't mean this in a negative way, because these guys could have kept releasing material that was just a re-hash of what they did before and I probably would still love it. But all of these songs are worth listening to, and some of them I would consider Manilla Road classics. If you're a fan of "The Deluge," or any of the band's earlier metal records, then "Mystification" is a record that should find no problem joining your collection, as this is epic thrashing metal in top form. 

Highlights

"Spirits of the Dead"

"Mystification"

"Masque of Red Death"

Final Rating

Awesome [8.7/10]