Tracklist:
1. Ugly Noise 04:10
2. Gitty Up 03:09
3. Run And Hide 05:28
4. Carry On 04:19
5. Rabbit’s Foot 04:17
6. Play Your Part 05:29
7. Rage 03:25
8. Cross The Sky 04:45
9. Motherfuckery 03:07
10. I Believe 02:53
11. To Be Free 03:08
12. Machine Gun 03:17
I’m only intermittently familiar with Flotsam and Jetsam’s back catalogue, but here are the broad strokes: in their early days they were fierce thrash contenders, by the mid-90s they’d arrived at a more polished sound, with Eric AK’s vocals tempered to a tuneful yawp which, combined with a considerably streamlined riffing style and melodic interludes, made them sound like a heavier Queensryche at times. A lot of old school thrash fans dismiss material like their 1992 album, ‘Cuatro’ as an attempt to access a mainstream audience, but the music definitely had a drama and intensity of its own. However, it didn’t seem like they could muster up the same level of creativity from album to album and their subsequent albums are pretty inconsistent in quality.
I haven’t heard the previous albums they released after their brief post-2005 hiatus, but ‘Ugly Noise’ sounds like more of the same phenomenon – a middle-of-the-road, middle-aged thrash sound that’ll never recapture the youthful energy of the early speed-maniac days and that has only sporadically benefited from the additional depth and songwriting maturity that this many years in the saddle should confer. The main problem is that everything here has been done before; these songs often sound less like original compositions than collections of tried and tested maneuvers and stratagems. Even the newer elements in the sound are a couple of decades old.
In a way, the mid-paced stomp of ‘Play Your Part’ sums up the juncture the band finds itself in: they haven’t blazed the kind of protean, self-contradicting trail some of the thrash giants have in the past decade, but they haven’t arrived at the hard-won consistency of an Overkill either. They’ve mainly been treading water, playing a part they’re pretty much locked into by now, churning out material that’s just a bit proggy, kinda thrashy and not likely to light a fire under listeners – or to alienate an equally aging thrash audience who are willing to settle for something, anything, with a familiar label on the cover if it doesn’t sound core. There are some out and out clunkers like ‘Rage’ and ‘Motherfuckery’which chug along, some ill-advised electronic layers and never seems to go anywhere, sometimes sounding like a rejected pro wrestling anthem, and no out-and-out classics.
This is competent metal music that sounds like it’s stuck in the mid-90s retrograde action undertaken by metal acts who could have dreamed of mainstream glory a few years back and now had to find ways to evolve without overtly selling out to grunge or nu metal. There are lots of quasi-breakdowns and dissonant bits mixed in with the more melodic segments. The musicianship is effective if rarely stellar, dressing up some very prosaic ideas with facile embellishments. There’s no real reason to slam this album or to offer it anything more than weak praise, just remember not to set your expectations too high when you choose to spin this one.
Mohammad Kabeer review the new album from Full of Hell titled Rudiments of Mutilation, released via A389 Recordings.
Full-of-Hell-Rudiments-of-Mutilation
Tracklist:
01. Dichotomy 02:10
02. Vessel Deserted 02:11
03. Coven Of The Larynx 01:03
04. Throbbing Lung Fiber 01:02
05. Indigence And Guilt 01:51
06. Embrace 03:37
07. The Lord Is My Light 04:21
08. Bone Coral And Brine 01:54
09. Rudiments Of Mutilation 02:06
10. In Contempt Of Life 03:56
Full of Hell is one of the most exciting bands to watch out for in modern hardcore. Their last album Roots of Earth are Consuming my Home was probably one of the darkest, most “malicious” sounding hardcore I have ever set ears on. Vii caso’s description of their live performance at Maryland Death Fest made the band even more intriguing as according to him It was pure evil with the dark lighting and harsh noise transitions in between songs and too add to that a rabid, visceral frontman. So it was obvious that there new album had some huge shoes to fill.
For those who don’t know and would like to get some background about this band ,Full of Hell is a four piece from Maryland/Pennsylvania , now that that’s taken care of lets get down to business. When compared to their last album the production is much more cleaner, however that does not really take anything away from the band as these guys still sound evil, nasty and at some points even frightening in a completely new way. Whereas the previous album was all about the high gain heavy hardcore, that mixed some doom and sludge, this album is much more experimental , an example of which can be seen in the track Coven of the Larynx which has your typical chord driven guitars played to a skank beat which is layered with oddball dissonance something that would fit well with Deathspell Omega, in fact another track Indigence and Guilt has the skank played along to very detailed, wicked and almost black metal sounding guitars not too dissimilar to other black metal bands today like Nightbringer and Aosoth. This reaches its peak in the track when the bands brand of technical, chaotic hardcore is juxtaposed with weird flanger guitar effects and power electronics. There are some tracks which move away from hardcore as well, for instance The Lord is my Light opens up with somewhat drone-ish guitar work which brings images of insanity, loneliness and desolation which later builds up to a sonic nightmare with weird guitar effects that makes you feel as if everything around you is melting and there’s no way you can run(damn this band fuels me to write!) , and the last track In Contempt of Life where the band experiments with really crushing , sludgy/doomy guitars, which is accompanied by some really chilled laidback stoner rock drumming. But with all of that being said, these elements don’t really take away Full of Hell’s signature sound and in fact adds much more to it, making it much more elaborate.
Thus keeping everything in mind I would say that Rudiments of Mutilation is a challenging, yet highly rewarding release., that will be enjoyed by anyone who is into extreme music, not just hardcore. One of the best hardcore releases of 2013 so far.
Let’s say we have 10 bands being spawned each minute and as per the current fad cycle, out of these a good 3-4 will be/are throwbacks. Said bands seek to time travel and ride on the novelty value of bands of yesteryear. Some do it with much finesse and put their own spin to it, while some make a mockery of themselves by belting out insipid rehashes. Havok is a band that belongs to the former set. Adding enough doses of technicality, Havok play thrash as it was in its heyday. Today our very own Raj Sharma catches up with the newest bassist to the Havok lineup, Michael Joseph Leon. Micheal is also the bassist for the melodic death metal band The Absence.
1. Greetings from Metalspree, how are you doing Michael??
Good dude! Just recovering from the Depise the World European Tour with Suffocation, Cephalic Carnage, and Fallujah! It was an insanely fun trip to say the least!
2. Tell us about your new album, how nasty is it?? In your words, how is it different from all previous Havok releases??
It’s pretty nasty in my opinion! It’s a bit more dynamic than the previous records, in that a few songs are a bit slower than your average Havok fan would be used to! The songs are great though, and each one rocks hard! Also, it is the first record that i’ve recorded with the band, so expect a change in the bass playing, there’s alot of sweet slapping riffs im sure you’ll enjoy!
3. Havok has been often mentioned as a retro-thrash metal outfit by the critics, how much do you agree with that and why so ??
In someways, I do agree with that “title” because let’s face it, the first few releases are really…well, thrashy haha! But I do believe the music does have a certain vibe to it that transcends the “retro-thrash” ideas. When people who are unfamiliar with the band ask me what kind of music we play, I just say “heavy metal”!!
4. Tell us how did the guys get you on the bass duties after jesse’s departure ??
I have known the dudes way back in 2010 when my band The Absence was on tour with Havok, Full Blown Chaos, Beyond Terror Beyond Grace and Malevolent Creation. We grew to be great friends immediately, and since then, we have stayed in very close contact. Pete actually played drums in the Absence for one tour in 2011 with Evergrey, Sabaton, Blackguard and Powerglove! This past winter, I was doing sound and merch for Havok on the Skeletonwitch tour, and the Barge to Hell Cruise, so when I got the call a few weeks later that Jesse wasn’t going to be in the band anymore, we all knew at that point that I was the dude that would replace him. Best wishes to that dude, he’s a very important part of the bands history and i’m lucky to have the same opportunity he did for so long!
5. How’s the tour life going on with Havok?? As the newest member, tell us your favorite Havok song to play live? Just one though. 😉
Touring with Havok is just as fun as ever! Like I said before, i’ve toured with the dudes quite a few times before, the only difference now is that i’m playing on stage and posing in the pictures haha! Honestly, its a blast to play the songs, but my personal favorite to play live is probably “Fatal Intervention”! It’s a very aggresive song with some fun stuff going on in the bass department!!
6. You guys have been constantly touring right after the release of PONR’, how fun was it supporting Suffocation? Have you heard their latest release yet?
The Suffocation tour was insane! Every person on the tour was cool as fuck, including all the dudes in Cephalic Carnage and Fallujah! We did some things on this tour that would make the dudes in Jackass proud thats for sure haha! I watched a bit of Suffo’s set everynight, all their shit is so brutal! I did enjoy the new songs they played in their set everynight!
7. You guys went out and recorded drums for the new album in a theater for the first time? How was the experience? And was it Pete’s idea of recording it in a theater?
The whole band agreed that recording in the Gothic Theater would be the best option for the new album, and it was pretty damn fun! Well, im not sure how much fun Pete had playing drums from sunrise to midnight 2 days in a row haha! It was a great learning experience, and the drum tracks turned out just as rad as we hoped they would!
Album art for the new ‘Unnatural Selection’
8.Your song “From The Cradle To The Grave” is about America’s first serial killer H.H Holmes, does the new album have any particular storyline/concept to it?
Unnatural Selection has a few different directions lyrically. There are a few songs with strong political views, a few about human civilization at its worst and finest, and a couple about the stressful process that is touring, writing, recording, and producing a new album! Overall, there are a lot of positive messages for self-realization, and education in worldly events, you’ll see what I mean when you hear the songs!!
9. On a personal note, I think your covers took more of the attention from the crowd than your original songs in the early release of PONR. This time you are just doing a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Children of the grave”? Was it a mutual decision by the band on covering this particular Sabbath song or does the cover somehow fit your new album??
The decision to cover that song in particular was made before I joined the band, but I’m still really stoked about it! It ended up sounding really awesome, and who doesn’t love the shit out of Black Sabbath!! I’d say that the lyrical theme of the song is what ties it into the record the most!
10. Any new bands that you’ve been digging lately, or might have crashed into on tour and also want to give a shout out to??
There are a few rad bands that I’ve met on tour in the past that im totally stoked on right now! Fallujah impressed the shit out of me on the Despise the World tour, and i’m very excited about their new full length release! Those dudes have a bright future ahead, love those guys! Revocation is another one of my favorite bands these days, their new record is sure to be a sick one as well! My brothers and sister in Blackguard have a new release in the works that im very stoked on! So many good bands these days!!
11. Thanks a lot for the interview; we are definitely having beers once you get Havok to India, any last words to the fans??
My pleasure dude, any time!! We would more than love to come play for you in India, let’s make it happen! Thank you for supporting and promoting the band, you are what keeps us alive and kickin’ ass! Make sure you pick up a copy of the new album “Unnatural Selection” and play that shit as loud as you can for all your friends! Let’s bring Havok to India!!!!! \m/ Rock on! \m/
1. Mt. Abraxas
2. Mind Crawler
3. Poison Apple
4. Desert Ceremony
5. Evil Love
6. Death Valley Blues
7. Follow the Leader
8. Valley of the Dolls
9. Devil’s Work
Uncle Acid and the Dead Beats’ 2011 album, Blood Lust, was a coup, one among the handful of instant classics of the doom genre I’ve heard in this decade. With a mysterious, shrouded and infectiously tuneful sound, like some bizarre 60s pop-influenced version of Electric Wizard, and a lyrical approach that was the equivalent of a learing, homicidal seduction by a 70s B-grade British horror villain, and most of all, with intensely hummable and memorable tunes like ‘I’ll Cut You Down’ and ’13 Candles’, it was a near-perfect breakthrough album.
The news isn’t quite so good on the follow-up, ‘Mind Control’. First, the good: Uncle Acid and his Dead Beats haven’t really altered their basic sound. Although the mesmeric opening track, ‘Mount Abraxas’ and ‘Follow The Leader’ are more sprawling, and in the case of the former more openly Sabbathoid than anything on the previous album, we’re obviously in the same soundworld of sinuous, insinuating, dreamy vocals, louche, swaggering riffs and uncanny sex magick. What’s changed is the consistency of song writing. Some of this material is forgettable, and at least one song, ‘Valley of the Dolls’ is simply a badly written song: dull, overextended and repetitive.
That’s not to say that tracks like the two previously mentioned aren’t worth listening to, or that ‘Desert Ceremony’ and ‘Evil Love’ don’t strut about in platform shoes and bell bottoms and make darkly veiled threats of rapine and murder with as much verve as anything on the preceding album, but they aren’t the norm, this time around. The somnolent ‘Death Valley Blues’ marks a descent into a set of slower, less memorable tracks that trade the tension between glorious melody and insalubrious ritual that was such a great part of ‘Blood Lust’s appeal for a tired, over-extended doom rock formula that isn’t half as unique or arresting as I’d come to expect from this band.
So this is only about 1/3 of a really good album, and that’s a shame. I hope Uncle Acid can power through whatever songwriting slump he’s caught in and deliver the goods again with his next album. In the meantime, we’ll always have Blood Lust…
Achintya Venkatesh reviews the new album from Joel Grind titled The Yellowgoat Sessions, released via Hells Headbangers.
Joel Grind – The Yellowgoat Sessions
Tracklist:
01. Ascension
02. Hell’s Master of Hell
03. Vengeance Spell
04. Foul Spirit Within
05. Cross Damnation
06. Grave Encounters
07. Black Order
08. The Eternal One
09. Hail to Cruelty
10. Descension
In this age of preppy and generally trendy derivatives of metal with squeaky clean production and played down imagery, that lack the ardor, rebelliousness, anti-conventionalism and rawness that characterized the genre since its inception, this album is certainly an unapologetic beckoning to the roots of black metal, dating back to the early 1980’s. This is not to imply that metal is entirely about being over-the-top, extreme or exaggerated in its approach. But personally, the sort of metal found on this album is something like a comic book. If it doesn’t have that bit of edge and theatrics to it, it just doesn’t do it for me. Fortunately, Joel Grind, known for his work in the retro-thrash metal band Toxic Holocaust has presented us old schoolers a slab of grimy exaltations and invocations to the overlords and archons of the dark realms of metal. Oh so primordial, ancient, chthonic and down-right filthy. One wouldn’t expect this to be heard in 2013 of all years. But apparently the underground resistance (sorry for the reference, Darkthrone!) is alive and well, and stronger than ever. Did Quorthon have some sort of bastard son in his various peregrinations, or did Thomas Warrior let Grind use the very same bunker he used to record the infamous but ever so eternally influential Triumph of Death?
On the same note, the album starts with an eerie intro, Ascension, and bears an incredibly strong resemblance to the intros used on the early Bathory albums (think Storm of Damnation or Nocturnal Obeisance) and jumps straight into Hell’s Master of Hell which is absolutely blatant Bathory worship but a kickass album opener. I’ve seen many people saying that this could’ve well been an omitted track from Bathory (1984) and I couldn’t agree more. It has a great degree of sonic semblance to War from the very same album, in fact. Vengeance Spell is in the very same vein with a speed-driven, blackened quality to it. The riffs are very catchy and the guitar solo, albeit simplistic perfectly fits in. The fourth track Foul Spirit Within is more plodding and has a slower pace, but features rather similar riffs.
Stream the entire album below:
Cross Damnation has an easily recognizable blackened speed metal quality to it, and is a bit of a filler but very enjoyable nevertheless. The next tracks, Grave Encounters and Black Order continue this trend but the former is far more relentless, aggressive and amusingly over-the-top that would make some question whether Joel Grind was being serious at all while penning down these accursed tunes. The 8th track, The Eternal One, and my personal favourite is malevolent, rancorous Hellhammer worship from start to end in the vein of songs like Buried and Forgotten. The album closer, Hail to Cruelty has a more speed-driven edge to it in the vein of Venom and Motorhead with a smattering of Canadian speed/thrash metal (a la Razor, Exciter, etc). The album ends with an outro, Descension, once again a direct nod to the outros found all over the Bathory catalogue.
This album would get any enthusiast of the First Wave of Black Metal absolutely ecstatic. It’s short and crisp with a comical but honest aggression to go along with it. I’ve said this many times before and I’ll say it again – the efforts of artists like Joel Grind serve to preserve a specific sound, that might well get lost in the sands of time lest we lay an excessive emphasis on constant musical innovation and change. By that virtue, this album is one among many underground gems. In short, Joel Grind keeps it real. He should definitely continue releasing stuff in a similar vein as opposed to the comparatively generic retro-thrash, taking us back to a time when there were no limiting, stylistic borders such as thrash or black metal..
