Cauldron Born - Blood Crusade 90%

Cauldron Born is a death metal band from Pakistan. This is their first demo, two songs, called Blood Crusade.

The first track, Blood Crusade, starts out blasting with a pound-your-face in type riff, fast and thrashy as hell, but headbangable, kind of like a riff off ov Scream Bloody Gore. It then slows down into a bit simpler riff, sounds even a bit Egyptian with the higher notes alternating with open strings, the thrash influence is very apparant. Catchy and brutal, just the way I like it. After an acoustic part and a short solo, the Egyptian influences are really fucking glowing now like a bitch after getting fucked. To mix things up even more, they throw in a drum solo that is like a beat to a fucking war-march. It goes on like this for a while, multiple interesting riffs, before going into a breakdown. At first I'm thinking "Shit, here comes a boring metalcore-esque breakdown" but after about five seconds I realized it was groovy as fuck, and again was like something to play to a marching army. The vocals in this song are either phlegmy highs or brutal, indecipherable lows. Very nice vocals, I don't see many bands doing highs like these guys. By the end ov this track, I had already decided this was going to get an 85 or higher.

The next and last song, Exit Wounds, starts with an interesting enough war-movie intro. A short drum intro, and the band breaks into a thrashy Slayer mode. This song stays in a semi-interesting thrashy midpace groove. The problem with this is, they gallop the open E constantly without any breaks for a lot of the song which gets old if overused. It's far from a bad track though, later it gets some high riffing and sounds pretty good. An average thrashy song, but enjoyable nonetheless. Right when I'm getting bored, they finally mix things up with a very nice clean guitar and a far-off, dreamy sounding guitar solo. This really improves the song a lot. It breaks back into thrash mode again, with a very good and interesting solo.

To conclude this review, this is a very good peice of modern death/thrash, has a nice blend of old and new school vibe to it as well. Interesting vocals, very pheghmy and distinctive, I enjoy them. The guitar got kind of boring in the riffing of the second song, so I'd suggest they'd have more variation though. Drums I think are on a machine, but while simplistic, they get the job done. You should check out this band, www.myspace.com/cauldronborn666

Decaying Citadel - Where the Ancient Bones Are Laid To Rest.

This is the first demo of New Jersey funeral doom band Decaying Citadel. It's a two track demo, lasts about 22 minutes and I fucking love it =D

The first song, Chaos Ivocation starts out with an admittedly horrible intro. It sounds at first like someone just fiddling around with a wannabe doom riff. This lame riff goes on for about 2 and a half minutes, right before you are about to turn it off, it gets amazingly better. Fucking heavy ass chords come in, sludgy and demonic, slow and grinding. Here, it gets good. As you are starting to fall into trance that funeral doom puts you into after a few minutes, the vocals start. The vocals are distant and distorted shreiks, remenicant of Burzum or Xasthur. Now, about seven minutes in, it goes into an even slower riff, throwing you deeper into the atmosphere. The song ends this way. You should have your head just about crushed by now.

The second song starts out with a short melancholic acoustic intro, it's nice and a good change of pace. Afterwards, we have a trippy, slow, bass solo. I caught traces of traditional doom influence in the last song, but here is where it really manifests itself. The guitar chimes in after a minute or so. For some reason, the tone is different than on the first track, but it's a lot better. Deeper, heavier, just a much better tone, louder too. I don't see why he didn't have this tone on the first song, it would have been an improvement. The vocals are a lot more prominent on this one, they are great with the again slow, sludgy and crushing guitars. After a bit, there is a short acousic interlude for some variation. The crushing riffs continue on for a few minutes until another acoustic part, this one a bit longer, with chords. We get a different riff after, this one oozing traditional doom influence. Continues in all it's glory until the end with an acoustic outro.

This demo is amazing, fucking trance-inducing funeral doom, crushing, interesting, varying, absolutely everything you could ask for in a funeral doom release. The intro and tone of the guitar in the first track is the only problem. Other than that, it's perfect.

Scordatura - Garrote

Scordatura is a British death metal group, this is their two song demo, Garrote.

The first track, Bones of Hades starts out as some bilsteringly fast, tremelo picked death metal, with some chunky palm-muting here and there, and stays on this course before a kickass little drum and bass solo. Then goes into a section a bit slower, with small bass breaks, before going back to the speed again for about 45 secs. Right before it starts to get boring, they throw in a melodic riff to mix things up, I love this band's style. And to finish, fuckin hits you in the face with a kickass breakdown to get you headbanging. Fucking awesome.

Next and final track, Garrote, has a small drum intro, before going into an alternate picking frenzy, ala Gorgasm. Then we get some melodic riffs that sound bit classical influenced, I wish they had kept the second riff section going longer. The rest of the song is pretty much melodic brutality. Melodic in an Aborted or Gorgasm way, not melodeath.

Well this shit kicked ass. I was expecting just an average modern DM band when I was first doing this review, but it's way more than that. These guys play modern death metal, but with REAL variation, that keeps you there. Also, good production as well. Probably my one complaint is the vocals. They are good, nothing wrong with them, but they're not too interesting. They do their job and help the music alright, but it coud use some screams, maybe a few squeals, some predators or something. Vocals are the one thing on this album that need more variation. Wish it was longer too. 96/100

WinterRealm - Twilight

WinterRealm is a black metal band from the USA. This is their CD, Twilight.


The album starts off with a somewhat black metal ambient track, it's an ok track, but kind of long and boring, not too great of a start. But if you keep listening, the second song, Perdition (The White Light" hits you with a dark, cold black metal riff, and it, unlike most black metal, really does give me a feeling of ice, cold and desolation. Not a lot of black metal can actually do that. The track also mixes in some synths as well, this is an exeptional, beautiful song. Next one, Winter and the Spring, is slower. Good. I like down-tempo black metal. The song, like the one before it, give a landscape, it grabs at you. The next song, Fractal, takes you out of the trance of the songs before it. It's an ambeint/industrial track with a simple beat from a synth. It's ok, but I'd like it better if it were only a 45 second interlude. With the next one, Autumn's Gate, we get back into the real music again. The song is my second favorite on this. It gives me the same feeling as Burzum does. Full of wonder and darkness. I absolutely love winding songs like this one, this will take you on a fucking journey. The last track, Memories in Crimson Haze, is my favorite track on the album. It has a clean guitar picking an arpeggio while a distorted guitar behind it plays one of the best melodies I've heard in black metal. Captivating, melancholc, but also that feeling of wonder and hope is there. I don't understand why a just decent track like Fractal was four minutes long yet this masterpeice is only 2:30.

The thing that I have to mention is the vocals. The vocals do nothing for this album. They don't add to the music at all, but they don't take away either, I think the album would be better with proper screaming or insturmental. The vocals are not too great, but they don't take away anything from the atmosphere of the album.

All in all, this is a great peice of art. I love it. It has quite a few flaws, but it manages to take me on a little journey and make me feel good. Get this. =]

Vomit Trough - It's Grind!

Vomit Trough is a death/grind band from the USA and I believe this is their debut EP called "It's Grind". When I first see the CD, I wasn't expecting that much, just some cool noisy grind, when I pop it into my computer to listen to, within about 30 seconds I realized it was a lot better than what I had expected. It fucking hits you with an awesome bass intro to "Stained By Stench" and then speeds up with a kick ass riff that is fast as hell. The vocals then kick in, and are a raw yelling style, which I like. Something I would like to point out is how fast this album is, but it is still catchy, I can hear and remember the riffs easily, and it is also somewhat technical, and great musicianship. Throughout the whole listen, it doesn't get boring, they manage always to keep things blasting but also keep things very interesting. This is near perfect grind guitar, really kickass. The bass in this album is great too, it has a few solos, and I fucking love bass solos! Drum machine in this album is pretty good, has a bit of variety in the beats, not just constant blasting, so they did a pretty good job with the drummachine. The vocals are cool, just kind of shouting like an 80's death/thrash vocalist. I like it, I just wish there was a bit more variety, maybe some growling and screaming along with the yells. Also, my only other complaint is there is not enough slow riffs or grooves, I love midpaced and slow brutality, this would be even better if it had some groove riffs.

In concusion, this is an above average death/grind EP, very enjoyable, fucking kickass grind, very little flaws, and I definitly reccomend it to any grind fans. 91/100. http://www.myspace.com/vomittroughgrind

Puter Deus- Anti All

Puter Dues is a one man black metal project, and this 2 song demo is (I think) their first release.

This, being a black metal demo, is of course very raw. The production on this is pretty bad, not horrible, but it could be better. I guess it does add a bit to the atmostphere, but I personally prefer a Burzum or Darkthrone style production.

On this, there are two tracks. Enter The Path To Tranquility and Anti-All.

Enter the Path To Tranquility is very good. It is very strange and weird, in a good way, it is definitly reminicent of Behemoth's first demo. It starts out with organ and synthesysed violin in a strange melody. About a 30 seconds into the song, it has a singing angelic choir and it brings in a distorted guitar. The feeling it gives off is definitly the best part about this song. It gives a feeling of grandness, but also chaos. It's hard for me to describe, but this song hits me hard. This is definitly a very good peice.

The second and final song of this demo is Anti-All. I have to say, I fucking love this title. The song is more straightforward than the first one. It is more a raw, thrashy, black metal song. It has guitar tone that I can really appreciate, there's a lot of treble and not much bass, a pretty good tone for black metal. The vocals are good, and would be even better if the recording quality was better. These are like a better version of Dimmu's vocals. Good shit =]

To conclude this, this is a pretty solid demo, very good for a first release, and enjoyable, with a kick-ass atmosphere as well. I'd suggest you hit this guy up on myspace www.myspace.com/puterdeus

Onicectomy- Promo 2008

Onicectomy is a slamming brutal death metal band hailing from Italy. Their style can be described as brutal and fast, with an occasional slam breakdown to punch you're fucking face in!

The riffs off of this cd are very memorable, it's pretty fast, but not so fast you can't hear the guitar. The guitar players are very talented, and good songwriters, they make use of various tecqniqeus throughout, and it really is a perfect combination of fast, slow, and mid-paced riffs.

The bass for this is the best brutal death/grind bass I've heard since Neoanderthals, in most songs it is audiable, and it just sounds really good. I can't really describe it, but it's good.

I also really like the drums because they do their blasting job most of the time, but the drummer also knows when to slow down into some groove beats. I wish more death metal bands drummed like this guy.

The vocals for this are mostly gutturals reminicant of Putrid Pile, but there is an occasional pig squeal or scream here and there, making for some nice variation, which I love in brutal death metal. The vocals also go along great with the guitar.

In conclusion, this is a fuckin kick ass CD by a great up and coming brutal death/grind band, I'd definitly fuckin reccomend you hit the band up! =] 9/10

Their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/onicectomy