Global Domination

Audio Autopsy - December 2013

01/12/13  ||  Global Domination

In Solitude: Sister

7.2/10

Lord K: Quite hyped, this one. While the production is lacking all kinds of punch, it is very suitable for the occultish hardrock that’s so hip right now thanx to Ghost and whatnot. While I take a greater liking in the mentioned Ghost, In Solitude’s “Sister” is a good fucken piece that’s bound to gain some attention. 7

CadenZ: Clearly these guys want in on the Ghost hype, even though these guys are more Sisters of Mercy than Mercyful Fate. Good melodies take ‘em at least halfway there. 7

Cobal: Since when does The Cure play… METAL?!?!?!? Intriguing as this may be, I found the songs particularly well written and enjoyable. 7

sincan: Good ol’ metal with vibes from the 80’ies. The cover “Jesus i betong” which is a b-side (or the final track on the record when using spitifuck) on the single is perfectly executed reminding me of some Swedish punk. 8

Ironpants: Even if this guy have said it already, I can write down some notes with hindsight. At times this is really good, but there are also moments that piss me off. Two months after my review, I find myself listen to their older album more often than this one. 7

Inquisition: Obscure verses for the multiverse

7.0/10

Lord K: Absolutely not on my watch. I’m not tr00 enough. 3

Habakuk: Now this is fucking badass. Menacingly spherical, uncomfortable black metal. Killer stuff. 9

CadenZ: As hypnotic and massive as ever, and still in need of that bass. Not many bands can pull off being a duo on stage and on record, and though Inquisition actually manage to do just that, they still would benefit from having a bassist in their ranks. Still, this is some fucking good shit. 7

Cobal: Death black metal with a strong Immortal vibe. Fine to me! 7

sincan: Excellent black metal is excellent. No need to say anything more. 9

Ironpants: Black metal doesn’t usually get me going that much, but there is something here that makes me listen over and over again. A little repetitive, but sort of hypnotic in a way. Also, awesome song titles. 7

Sahg: Delusions of grandeur

6.7/10

Lord K: “Sagg” in Swedish means “spunk”. Go figure. 5

Habakuk: Space clouds and hipster triangles – looks like a Glitch Mob album, but sounds like Stoner with some Sabbath flows. Now which mob rules? 8

CadenZ: Doomy space rock/metal, a 21st century retro version of Black Sabbath. Cool arrangements, hazy atmospheres, groovy riffs, a winner. 7

Cobal: I don’t know about delusions of grandeur, but these guys really have an appetite for writing progressive approached songs. Another proof that there’s tons of different ways to be heavy. 8

sincan: I guess I should have problems with this one but I don’t. Solid shit that stands out in its own way. 7

Ironpants: I know a couple of guys who has listened a lot to Black Sahgath, Mastodon… and Deathspell Omega… no wait?? 5

Hail Of Bullets: III – The Rommel chronicles

6.6/10

Lord K: The Dutch death metal bastardos return with album number 3. You already know what kind of quality these guys possess, so I need not rant much longer. Ace production, ace musicianship and van Drunen’s trademark grunts on top of it. That’s a fucken recipe for death metal supremacy on all levels. 8

CadenZ: I just realized that Asphyx is exactly the same as Hail of Bullets, the only difference being that they play everything at half the tempo HoB do. Result? Asphyx = boring as fuck. Hail of Bullets = groovy as… a small fuck. 6

Cobal: Meh. 5

sincan: I find this a bit too trendy and flat. Not completely bad but too polished. 5

Ironpants: This is how it’s done my friends, a solid death march through the battlefields of WWII with the soldiers in HoB makes Mr. Ironpants happy and if he is happy, everybody is happy. 9

Necrophobic: Womb of Lilithu

6.5/10

Lord K: The last months have been pretty goddamn tumultuous for Necrophobic with the firing of vocalist Tobias Sidegård in the aftermath of his domestic abuse case and whatnot. Bad timing when they have this new album coming out now, meaning it will quite possibly be forgotten in the shadows of said events. Necrophobic’s been one of my fave bands for quite some time, but this disc prolly needs time to grow on me coz it’s more blackened and less melodic than what I prefer. We’ll see how this holds up in the months to come. I have hopes… Necrophobic shouldn’t be capable of letting me down after all these years. 7

Habakuk: Good shit, but I wouldn’t instantly have recognized it as Necrophobic. Slowed down a bit, huh guys? 7

CadenZ: A solid album with some unexpected chants and melodic vocals. Folkare’s lead guitar chops are a welcome addition, as they would be in any band in the genre. 7

Cobal: Is it just me or this guys are beginning to sound just as COF or Dimmu Borgir? There’s nothing wrong with that, I guess. 5

sincan: “Womb of Lilithu”, an album name which gives you a rather big hole to fill (muehehe). Some tracks are in my opinion very similar to Watain, but not as superb, and some more pompous tracks are actually carrying this album over the finishing line. 6

Ironpants: Pretty solid stuff from this ancient institution of blackened death metal. I enjoyed this album more than I thought I would, even if it lacks of that last bit of epicness that you could call for. 7

Toxic Holocaust: Chemistry of consciousness

6.5/10

Lord K: Which part of “I don’t care about today’s thrash metal” don’t you guys fucken understand? I’m too old-school for this revival crap.3

Habakuk: Instant thrash gratification. So they CAN do it? 9

CadenZ: Very nice thrash metal with the heart in the right place (penis) and not too many brain cells being used. Unfortunately the vocalist sucks ass, and his distorted rasping is extremely annoying. Fuck him. 5

Cobal: And yet another bunch of effective thrashing riffs with a black-punk attitude. Just can´t say no to this. Songs being so short definitely helps. 7

sincan: I must be honest and say that I don’t know my Toxic Holocaust as much as one might want. I just wanted to tell you, puh, it already feels a lot better! How about you? After listening to this record I still don’t know much more, since I think that it lacks strong songwriting with its tracks entering my ear and exiting my penis faster than a goat can say sheep. 6

Ironpants: The man who is born a couple of decades too late is back with a smoker. If all bands had this passion and soul for their music, there would be potential “Album of the year”-albums released every day. This is great, and even if it’s not on my Top 5 in 2013, it´s pretty darn close. 9

Motörhead: Aftershock

6.0/10

Lord K: I have noticed that Motörhead holds a pretty huge fanbase and that they have turned more into a band that is cool to like than actually like. They have become a trademark more than a band who’s churning out fucken excellent music. Good for them. I own the Motörhead Vodka. Simply becoz the bottle looks cool. See what I mean? 4

Habakuk: Well, what did you expect? 7

CadenZ: Lemmy sounds a bit more tired, other than that nothing has changed. 6

Cobal: Motörhead’s always right, but just that. 6

sincan: Well, it is Motörhead. 7

Ironpants: I guess these old geezers can’t really go wrong can they? You know how it sounds even before you click “play” and they have nothing to prove. If you don’t like it, tough luck, they won’t ever change their ways. I admit that I never really listen to them, but I don’t have to, I’m satisfied with just knowing that they will continue and make albums as they always have been doing. 6

Gehenna: Unravel

5.8/10

Lord K: “True Norwegian Black Metal”… that tag is making me yawn just as much as “brutal death metal”. And if you read my opinion in the Death Angel section here in AA you know that I don’t care about today’s thrash metal, just like I absolutely do not give a fuck about “True Norwegian Black Metal”. Never have, never will. 2

Habakuk: Going through the motions, nothing more. You really have to like black metal to find anything interesting in this. 5

CadenZ: Back to basics. No need to search for anything fancy here, only bleak and fathomless depths of misery and anguish. 8

Cobal: Black metal just the way I like it: sinister and overwhelmingly dreamy. Exactly the kind of record that makes me remember how much I despise most idiots out there. 8

sincan: Either this is just pretty good or a grower. I don’t know yet with this rather progressive black metal but I find it kind of monotonous after a couple of tracks. 6

Ironpants: Oh, so you like proper black metal? This one should be for you? 6

Skeletonwitch: Serpents unleashed

5.7/10

Lord K: Take 2 useless words which are very common in metal, put them together and make a band name. There we go – Skeletonwitch. As far as I am concerned they could have used Skeleton and Shit as well. 4

Habakuk: I don’t like these guys’ thin, trebly sound in combination with the vocals, but it took me just a couple of songs and the thoroughly well-crafted tunes actually won me over. Not sure though, am I getting a bit of a Kvelertak vibe, or is the cover misleading me? 8

CadenZ: Somewhere in between Amon Amarth, Kvelertak and Megadeth we find Skeletonwitch. I really don’t know what to make of this record, other than that I don’t hate it and I definitely don’t love it. I guess its existence is kind of justified. 5

Cobal: Probably the first Skeletonwitch album that sounds just like another Skeletonwitch album. Huge disappointment. 4

sincan: Well some cover artists uses the same theme on every single cover. But the arrangement here is almost too similar to Kvelertak’s covers to be even a little funny. I also find small similarities with previously mentioned band in the music, for instance the relatively easy listened black metal elements. However Skeletonwitch uses much more “black” in their style and some of the tremolo picking is really good and even catchy. Try “Burned from bone” or “Unwept” if you dare. 8

Ironpants: With their thrashy style music mixed with black metal snarl vocals they gather praise and cheers around the metal community. I´m not convinced, and can’t really appreciate this even when I am in my most “thrashy” mode since the early 90’s. 5

Kataklysm: Waiting for the end to come

5.5/10

Lord K: One of all those “quality” death metal bands who no one gives a shit about. Über-trigged drums and quantized to perfection (or hell, depending how you look at it) – “Waiting for the end to come” is a tiresome modern death metal album that you have heard a million times before and it could have been written and recorded by any given unknown band of today in possession of computers and decent skills. 5

Habakuk: If a Kataklysm album isn’t completely lifeless, that counts as an improvement. 6

CadenZ: If Max Cavalera made death metal, it would sound like this. Except his version would groove. 5

Cobal: Perfectly tight death metal that I can perfectly do without, especially in the most to-the-vein parts. This is much better when they simply slow down and groove. Too bad they do that very few times. 5

sincan: The cover smells like a fantasy novel, a typical place where nerds gets to fuck nice looking ladies (I never read such books). The music is not filled with dragons and wizards though, but rather straight forward death metal. I miss more memorable tracks. 6

Ironpants: Pretty up to par shit. At first I was a little over-excited, but I calmed down after a few spins. Even if it is nothing really wrong with it, I doubt that I will listen very much to this album in the future. Sweet album cover by the way. 6

Sepultura: The mediator between head and hands must be the heart

5.5/10

Lord K: I do not give a single cock about Sepultura anymore. This ridiculously titled piece is yet another testimony to the irrelevance that is what’s left of “Sepultura”, coz we all know Sepultura died after “Roots”. 4

Habakuk: Perseverance pays off it seems, at least Sepultura are miles ahead in the implicit race against Soulfly these days. 7

CadenZ: Sepultura and variation don’t go hand in hand, they go hand in penis. That’s a positive thing. I even like bits and pieces of this confusing soup of aggro riffs and other weirdness. 5

Cobal: The more they step away from what they used to be — “Bestial Devastation” and “Roots” aside, the more I dig into their tribal/groove stuff. Badly looking forward to checking out what Kisser is about to release with his side-project, De La Tierra! 7

sincan: Well who would have known that these guys still can ejaculate out something good for us to wrestle nude in? I like the sludgier/doomier parts and by that I want to say that the track “Grief” is phenomenal. 7

Ironpants: There was a time when Sepultura was my mistress, we had a great time, stayed up and partying all nite, making out and made love over and over again. Then she started to go to samba classes and met other people and I was left alone with only the good memories from our passionate times. 3

Death Angel: The dream calls for blood

5.3/10

Lord K: I tried to like the debut of these guys back in the late 80’s. No success. Then I gave that “Frolic” album a shot. Even less success. I even went as far as watching them live with Forbidden back in 1990. Still no success. This made my then 17-year old self realize Death Angel just wasn’t for me. The fact that they’re still going is impressive, and their thrash metal of today sounds better than what it did in the past. But as you already know, I give very few fucks about today’s thrash metal, no matter what band it is. 6

Habakuk: I don’t see the greatness. 6

CadenZ: Thrash metal with OK energy equals shit. You need to have A FUCKING TON OF MOTHERFUCKING ENERGY to pull thrash metal off. Like these guys. 4

Cobal: While I can understand the appeal of true metalness here – namely guitar oriented velocity and aggression, I simply can’t put up with the vocals, and the overall result does very little for me. I’ll pass, they won’t. 4

sincan: Some pretty modern thrash with surprisingly annoying vocals. 4

Ironpants: Muscle memory. You know? When your body just falls back into something it is familiar with, and you just go with the flow with something you have been doing ages ago? This album revived my thrash muscle memory. 8

Ihsahn: Das Seelenbrechen

5.3/10

Lord K: Obviously a very talented musician who’s venturing into any fucken territory he feels like exploring, making “Das Arschelsprechen” a quite interesting listen at times. Best track? “Nacl” with its excellent clean vocals and Opeth-ish influences. 6

Habakuk: One thing that I don’t look for in black metal is this sort of thoughtfully emotional tenderness. To be honest, I don’t look for much in black metal at all, but this comes across as very, very unnecessary. 4

CadenZ: Experimental and progressive, yet with the emotional depth and artistic scope intact. Ihsahn has a hard time failing. 8

Cobal: Listening to this I realized that this guy is allowed to do what he does partly because he already proved his huge level of metalness, uh? Confess that if any unknown starter went on this direction from the very beginning, the avalanche of haters would be gargantuan. Confusing at times, but pretty awesome at others nevertheless. 7

sincan: As boring as it is pretentious. 3

Ironpants: Cool album title – The soul crushing! Not so cool music though, but still in the area of interesting progressive stuff, at least the first half of the album. After that, I have no idea what the fuck happened? 4

Running Wild: Resilient

4.5/10

Lord K: I once owned and loved “Under Jolly Roger”. I must have been doing the world’s entire supply of heroin at the time. 3

Habakuk: A step in the right direction again. Decent! 6

CadenZ: Ripping off old Metallica riffs is one thing, putting a pirate label on them and singing in an atrociously awkward manner on top of them is another matter entirely. What both of these things have in common is that they suck. Just like Running Wild. 2

Cobal: Heavy/power metal that gave me a strong Helloween vibe at times. Yes, it’s a bit boring ultimately, but I can’t hate anything resembling those particular Teutons. 6

sincan: I don’t know what to think about this. Well, sometimes I do, then I think it is annoying as fuck, but from time to time it sounds good actually. I hope I confuse you as much as this record confuses me. 5

Ironpants: Haven’t been listening to Running Wild for about 20 years or so, but I must say that it isn’t that bad. Rum-infested, drunken heavy metal with pretty good choruses for old scumbags. 5

Metal Church: Generation nothing

4.3/10

Lord K: The first 2 albums are classics in every sense. Everything after those 2 are not. Funniest thing about Metal Church though is the fact I read an interview with some dude from the band who seriously stated that Metal Church used to be one of The Big 5 who eventually turned into The Big 4 since they, Metal Church, couldn’t get the break they “deserved”. Eh, excuse me? To be perfectly honest, Metal Church would not even get a place in The Big 50. 3

Habakuk: Hey, I’m getting a certain Queensryche vibe. That is, from the time when that meant something. 7

CadenZ: Man, I hate vocalists who don’t know their limitations. If the only thing you can pull off (even if only half-decently) is screaming, stick to that. Do not, and I repeat, do fucking not try to sing melodically if that makes you sound like a fucking sewer rat being molested by Godzilla and his uncle. Fuck you. 3

Cobal: Pretty energetic heavy metal that barely does shit for me. What’s with vocals this month? Damn! 5

sincan: Generation missed the train with this one. Some fragments are good, but too many misses. 4

Ironpants: Balancing between heavy metal and speed metal, Metal Church keeps on giving, but is there someone out there who cares? I could say that it is metal for old guys, but I am a pretty old guy myself so that wouldn’t be correct either. 4