Lord Dying – Summon the Faithless | Review

Mar 23 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 1800 Views

Mohammad Kabeer reviews the debut album from Lord Dying titled Summon the Faithless, released via Relapse Records.

Lord Dying – Summon the Faithless

Tracklisting :

1. In a Frightful State of Gnawed Dismemberment (5:10)
2. Summoning the Faithless (4:43)
3. Greed Is Your Horse (4:41)
4. Descend into External (4:53)
5. Dreams of Mercy (4:58)
6. Perverse Osmosis (4:03)
7. Water Under a Burning Bridge (4:52)
8. What Is Not…Is (6:33)

Relapse Records have played a huge role in supporting the contemporary sludge metal scene. All of the great bands that today’s generation associates sludge with have been a part of this roster. Baroness, Kylesa, Mastodon and of course the band which partly sowed the seeds of this genre, Neurosis, comes to mind. Another band, which has now joined these names, is Lord Dying.

Lord Dying is a four piece from Portland Oregon, and their music can be best described as simple straightforward sludge metal and that’s pretty much it really. These guys take the best from what’s already been done and apply it to a much more simpler, a somewhat more mid tempo format. There are tracks here that do flirt with other genres such as Greed is your Horse, which sounds like a cross between something Portal would do and traditional doom, and Perverse Osmosis, the starting of which is very powerviolence-ish , but  mostly  the band stays directly under the shadow of sludge.

However that being said, they do stay firmly attached to their roots. For this album  has everything a good sludge metal, should  have ,  really dirty heavy guitar riffs, a very detailed yet heavy drum sound,  and  changing dynamics  between  massive guitar chugs and a more overdriven hard rock style, which makes this a fun album. Although not revolutionary by any means, this will definitely stay in my playlist for those times when I want to hear something a bit off kilter than the usual grind routine. I wouldn’t really recommend this to people who are new to sludge but avid sludge fans should definitely lap this up.

Stream the entire album below

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Witches Mark – Witching Metal Ritual | Review

Mar 23 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 2009 Views

Achintya Venkatesh reviews the new album from Witches Mark titled Witching Metal Ritual, released via Heaven and Hell Records.

Witches Mark – Witching Metal Ritual

Witching Metal Ritual is a rather deceiving album title. Having picked out this album to review upon first glance of the title, quite instinctively, given that I’m a person who bows at the altar of the FWOBM, I was slightly taken aback when I heard the actual sound of the band, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all. Glaring 80’s metal worship is an ordeal that can swing both ways and Witching Metal Ritual, released on Heaven and Hell Records, is a 40 minutes experience of murky heavy metal invoking the various sounds and ultimately amalgamating the plurality that characterised the heavy music of yore. Onto the obligatory band history, Witches Mark is an Austin-based band whose only release prior to this debut is an EP titled A Grim Apparition. These Texans boast a slew of guest appearances which are nothing short of impressive for a debut album, such as Ross Friedman (Manowar), Jason McMaster (Dangerous Toys), Jack Starr (Virgin Steele / Burning Starr), and Martin Debourge (Damian Throne/Head Transfer Process) being among the contributors.

Starting with the opening track, it is rather clear that Witches Mark are not hell-bent on distinguishing themselves in terms of stylistic and genre divisions, and instead embark on a journey to rally legions of old school adherents to stand as one in unison. ‘Bringers of Heavy Metal’ is a fervid story-telling session of sentient beings descending upon earth and reducing all that exists on it into ash and rubble. The guitar work is standard speed-metal fare, with good measures of heaviness, courtesy of the muffled, explosive power chords, and catchy melody, with Robert Williams’s vocal approach being somewhat reminiscent of a consonant Paul Baloff. ‘Salem’s Fire’ is a track that invokes the likes of Running Wild infused with a thrashier edge with some extremely catch lead work, while the vocals become more sinister and even mischievous in a sense as opposed to the easy route of chanted shouts and shrieks that many bands choose to adopt. ‘Swarm’ is nothing short of a charging and invigorating number with the vocals being the focus here, with Bockman adeptly infusing both a foreboding and anthemic mood. The next track, ‘Slaves to their Own Sin’ sees the band once again chartering the territory of exaggerated ominousness.

Stream the entire album now!

Onto the doomier side of the record, ‘We Die’ presents the band’s melodramatic and impassioned side, with excellent leads that alternate between vigor and melancholy alongside stirring vocals. ‘Cauldron Born’ is a more versatile track (and also among the lengthier ones) in terms of the tempo changes that it presents the listener, with some evocative and infectious guitar work. The title track is an immensely enjoyable listen – something you’ve subconsciously heard before – think a fusion between European power metal with a good dose of Texan griminess, and is also incredibly anthemic. The closing track, ‘Where None Can Follow’ is a bit stagnant at first but gets incredibly catchy after the initial build up. The track is also rather dynamic – the vocal delivery alternate between raspy shrieks and more impassioned, scratchy melodies; while the guitar work alternates between standard speed-metal fare a la tremolo and triplet rhythms atop velocity-driven drum work, which also facilitates a good number of tempo changes in turn effectively enrapturing listeners lest the listener feels any hint of monotony or musical lassitude.

Witches Mark’s genuine and cruddy blend of power, speed, thrash and hints of extreme metal is supported by solid musicianship and song writing skills, with special mention to the latter, given that bands of modernity are far too concerned with showcasing (some would say showing-off, even) their technical dexterity as opposed to creating enjoyable music. Fans of Risk, Iron Angel, Paradox, Running Wild and even Destruction are sure to find something in this excellently executed album. Is Witches Mark yet another addition to the retro-metal movement, and only contributing towards it becoming a full-fledged resurgence? It’s hard to say, but their sound is thoroughly enjoyable, if you aren’t too finicky an enthusiast and can see past the cheesy and grandiloquent posturing of this album which boasts numerous catchy moments, although I must say that these flagrant moments are by no means uncommon across the album, starting with the cover artwork itself!

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Phil H. Anselmo & The Illegals – Walk Through Exits Only | Review

Mar 23 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 2009 Views

Mohammad Kabeer reviews the new album from Phil H.Anselmo & The Illegals titled Walk through exits only, released via Housecore Records / Season of Mist.

Phil H. Anselmo & The Illegals – Walk Through Exits Only

Phil H. Anselmo & The Illegals – Walk Through Exits Only

TRACKLIST:
01. Music Media Is My Whore
02. Battalion Of Zero
03. Betrayed
04. Usurper Bastard’s Rant
05. Walk Through Exits Only
06. Bedroom Destroyer
07. Bedridden
08. Irrelevant Walls And Computer Screens

Phil Anselmo has always been a part of projects that were completely different  from Pantera, be it  Superjoint  Ritual which was straight up, sludge/hardcore  or Christ Inversion which  features Phil doing  some black metal vocals, and of course  the most  famous of  all these Down, which is just pure southern sludge. On this  album  however Phil tries to revive his glory days.

Philip Anselmo teams up with the Illegals who are Marzi Montazeri(guitars) Bennett Bartley(bass) and Jose Manuel Gonzales (drums).  Their sound  can be simply  described  as a more extreme, gritty form  of Pantera’s  modern  metal ,  the band uses  weird experimentations in the groove metal  genre which  can be seen in the song Battalion of  Zero,  along with  start/stop rhythms and a slight flirtation   with dissonance perfectly exemplified in Betrayed  and also  uses a very weird,  bizarre guitar in the Usurper Bastard’s Rant. Now although all of this sounds interesting on paper, it doesn’t really  work out for me, it has all the elements for a  great album, but where it falls short is the  songwriting. On most of the  album, the parts don’t  really mesh along with each other  and  as such seem like a very  cut/paste kind of a thing,. This is exemplified in the title track  in which  you have a very  fast guitar solo which  then later changes to chugs which just seems very awkward  as the guitar solo is on the melodic side  and the chugs are really hard and heavy, this can  also be said of the last track Irrelevant Walls and Computer Screens which again just seems to ramble on directionless. All seemed  like a collage of different parts from different songs.

It’s a real shame that this album..well at least in my opinion anyway did not turn out to be what it was meant to be,  maybe die hard Pantera fans  will love this one, but it just didn’t do it for me.

P.S.: Nishanth(deckard cain)  said  some cheeky  things to me in my yearly list, well let me tell you that he is a closet Justin Bieber fan  and has all his cd’s underwear’s in fact he has a Justin Bieber Gag as well naughty naughty!

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Preludium – Impending Hostility | Review

Mar 23 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 2045 Views

Achintya Venkatesh reviews the new album from Preludium titled Impending Hostility, released via Transcending Obscurity.

Preludium – Impending Hostility

Humanity’s fascination with war is nothing short of confounding – destructive and degenerating in actuality, but war has somehow wound up as one of the most prominent themes of the creative canvas of various art forms. This fascination is almost macabre, given the cadaverous nature of war, but it also seems to serve as a point of transcendence – the mindless slaughter and carrion that war is riddled also goes hand in hand with the bravado, glory, manhood and noble sacrifice associated with war – in effect, war is nothing short of paradoxical. Luridity and heroism are both romanticized in war, making it an all the more powerful subject. The genre of heavy metal, which has in modernity continued to serve as the bombastic bastion of alternative thinking served with a good dose of rebellion, hasn’t been too far behind as far as the thematic obsession with war is concerned. Bands like the pacifist-driven thrash veterans and extreme metal forefathers Sodom, to the British old school death metal legends Bolt Thrower and even more recent projects like Hail of Bullets have all incorporated war as the backdrop for their music. Preludium is Mielec-based band that continues this legacy in metal – this infatuation with war, a phenomenon that their homeland has been subject to through the ages. One would think upon first inspection of the band that being a blackened death metal seems to be a national cliché of sorts for Polish bands. So, does Preludium distinguish itself from a sea of stylistic clones? Read on.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBMzDCYLTO8&w=420&h=315]

‘Legacy of Destinations’, the opening track of the album immediately establishes the atmosphere of the album, opening with a pacing drum beat similar to the war beats upon which soldiers march, after which the band soon descends into a frenzied orchestration of mayhem and wreckage. The riff-work here is certainly biased towards more death metal styled tremolo riffs, and one is immediately impressed by the intense precision of drummer Piotr Ungeheuer. ‘Realm of Void’ is an experience comprising of sheer speed and intensity through and through. ‘Desolation’ is a brief and to-the-point track with some excellent usage of groove-driven, engaging harmonic pinches. ‘Hostile Area’ brings to the fore the more blackened quality of their music in comparison to the tracks that precede it with some excellent soloing to boot.  The band seem to have mastered the art of track placement, given that ‘Bitter Cold’ is just the right break from the relentlessness of the rest of the album, with the plodding doom it presents the listener, alongside melancholic leads atop bludgeoning riffs and double-bass work that invoke some sort of bizarrely tight savageness.

‘Blessing of War’ is a solid slab of definitive audile decimation with some passages that are direct nods to the likes of Bolt Thrower and fellow countrymen Vader. ‘Death Campaign’ is in a similar vein with some impressive drum fills and appropriate doses of melody that project the hardships of war to the listener. ‘Execution’ is a bit of a filler track in comparison, but the excellent closing instrumental track ‘Warfare’ saves face after a rather generic preceding track. The track paints a picture of war-ravaged soldiers reliving the drudgeries and horrors that characterizes war in itself. The hints of melody at times remind one of Desultory, but the band’s uniqueness is not lost, courtesy of the heavy grooves and mid-tempo, marching percussive quality of the drums.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyJpRm6xr10&w=420&h=315]

The production is crystal clear, and the sound samples chosen are tasteful and only serve to reinforce the atmosphere of war – such as the sounds of blowing wind in the beginning of the album, in effect creating a bleak atmosphere, or the hair-raising, fearsome sounds of explosion. Of course the highlight is the sheer carnage that is portrayed by the instrumentation, from the ferocious guitars to the blast beats, as well as a good measure of tempo changes. The vocals lean on the death metal side of things, although certain tracks certainly show case black-metal oriented shrieks and rasps. In light of the same, the well paced tracks dispel any notions of monotony, that the listener may well feel initially. Łukasz Dziamarski and his soldiers have created a solid slab of blackened death metal with this album that manages to distinguish itself a fair degree from legions of bands in its genre. Kudos to Transcending Obscurity for roping in the band, as well as invigorating the local Indian metal scene by serving as one of the premier extreme metal labels in the nation. The release doesn’t particularly bring anything new to the table in terms of stylistic growth or innovation, but its precision and tightness is nothing short of invigorating.

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