NVRVD – Coma | Review

Mar 22 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 1680 Views

Mohammad Kabeer reviews the new album from NVRVD titled Coma, released via Hummus Records.

NVRVD – Coma

Tracklist

01. Oberhoe
02. Impartial Eyes
03. We are
04. An Echo to your unbeliefs
05. No Heaven
06. Niederohe

Hello again! I had not been well for quite some time , but here I am again reviewing another hardcore album, this one comes all the way from the land of Teutonic thrash , but if you think I am going to review some Kreator worshipping band than you are far from right .The band in question is NVRVD and the genre that they play is actually one whose ancestors helped give rise to the birth of Thrash in general.

NVRVD is a three piece from Bielfeled, Germany consisting of Stefan Braumschmidt (Bass, vocals) Lukas Heier (Drums, Sound) and Christian Braumschmidt (Guitar, Vocals). Although the band’s music can be described as Modern Hardcore , the band does its best to be more than just that with songs like Oborhoe in which the band uses haunting wails accompanied by very slow , sinister bass which is very reminiscent of the sluggish forms of powerviolence , whereas the second track , Impartial Eyes takes a slight melodic turn with twangy , a little overdriven, slightly black metallish guitars and to top it all. And to add to it there are two interesting post metal songs here as well, especially An Echo to your Unbelief’s which has a very 70’s spy movie feel to it . But honestly all of this is good but where the band really excels is when it comes to just going full speed ahead and knocking the listeners dead with some crushing guitar chugs accompanied by some very complex yet intricately carved dissonance which just go all over the place like a screw ball ,accompanied by some really simple yet powerful drumming.

So the final verdict? Although this band isn’t particularly doing anything which hasn’t been done before, they have managed to come up with a pretty good ep which is good for what it is, and in general, their craft is much more direct, more impactful than their contemporaries.

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Chthonic – Bu-Tik | Review

Mar 22 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 2356 Views

Review of the new album from Chthonic titled Bu-Tik, released via Spinefarm Records.

Chthonic – Bu-Tik

Tracklisting:

1.”Arising Armament (Intro)”
2.”Supreme Pain for the Tyrant”
3.”Sail into the Sunset’s Fire”
4.”Next Republic”
5.”Rage of my Sword”
6.”Between Silence and Death”
7.”Resurrection Pyre”
8.”Set Fire to the Island”
9.”Defenders of Bu-tik Palace”
10.”Undying Rearmament (Outro)”

-The idea of an armed body and mind–

“The image is made of the features of an elder, child, and girl model. The female model depicted in the cover, Bu –Tik, was chosen of nearly a hundred volunteers candidates.”

One can only imagine the immense political allegory behind it, given the band’s penchant for driven political activism. An element that runs the entire gamut of the Chthonic discography.

No Chthonic review is complete without a brief insight into the deep political well of Taiwan from which their work ceaselessly draws from. For instance let us take the case of their last three records. The critically acclaimed Seediq Bale, the one album that put Chthonic on the international metal map talked about the infamous Wushe massacre where thousands of native  Seediq tribesmen were slaughtered by the colonial Japanese. The less successful Mirror of Retribution took to the 228 incident where an altercation between the civilian populace and the then Chinese government developed into a full scale genocide. Finally their last album Takasago Army which portrayed the courage and valor rooted in the heroism of Takasago volunteers.   You ought to read about Teruo Nakamura who made his living off an island for 30 years after the bloody great holocaust did come to an official end. Talk about loyalty.

Come to their new album and it is no different in character. It is a beast armed to the teeth with unbridled fury but sometimes found ailing in a few places. Bu-Tik  much like its predecessor shows the band partially abandoning their uber-cheese symphonic black metal moments. Seediq Bale thrived on this very fact but was more cohesive overall and was in fact one could their own brand of oriental metal. Although the keyboards had a slightly overbearing edge to it, the eerie patriotism soaked atmosphere overall, held its ground. The combination of the Chinese folk instrument Erhu ,catchy riffage and serene female vocals at exactly the right places together formed the centerpiece of the atmosphere. Yet one cannot fail to conceive the cheesy influences of Dimmu borgir and Cradle Filth running the gamut of the entire album. It was more of the same on Mirror of Retribution and rather sloppily done too. Takasago Army on the other hand was more of a departure from the said sound and relied on the more riff oriented approach. Although nothing spectacular by any means, it did appeal to a larger audience with its share of infectious melodies, group chants and ebullient patriotism.

Bu-Tik picks up where Takasago Army left off, but does so in a far more memorable way. Bands that seek to ride the wave of success of their last album usually end up just regurgitating the same ol.. The result being of a slimy and pallid nature. Well this is not the case here, for one there seems to be a sudden flux of more memorable songs here than on their previous outing. While Takao and Quell the Souls in Sing Ling Temple were probably the only standout tracks on Takasago Army, Bu-Tik  have five to six of them in a total of eight proper songs (the other two being the intro and outro). Be it the incipient thrash attack of Rage of my Sword, the rabid groove of Resurrection Pyre or the absolutely majestic closer Defenders of Bu-Tik Palace. Jesse Liu’s exquisite solos populating ably crafted bridge sections and absolutely massive choruses that serve to invigorate the dying conviction in one nation’s past are some of the conspicous highlights. And yes the Erhu ..the serene Chinese folk instrument.. Freddy Lim’s erhu playing elevates the said choruses to a near sublime level which is basically at the heart of every Chthonic  song.

Lyrically rather than sticking to a single all-pervading theme, the songs draw upon a vast array of different illustrious incidents dotting Taiwan’s fractured history. The details of which have been neatly rundown by the charming Doris over at Terrorizer. And this is probably one of the reasons why the album feels a bit disjointed in terms of flow. The songs stand on their own, but sadly don’t really develop into a self providing unit. I guess this was deliberate work on the band’s part, for they seem to be more inclined to deliver a bunch of one hit scorchers than make a statement on cohesion. The faults don’t really end there as well, songs such as Sail into the Sunset’s Fire, Set Fire to the Island and the first half of Between Silence and Death are just too lack luster to be given any serious attention at al. On the instrumental side you have the drums just managing to stay above average , a casualty of the now ubiquitous modern sound, and Doris despite her innate eye candyness seems to be doing nothing more than following the lower end of each riff.

These pardonable blemishes aside, this really can be one real good session of oriental metal. With a sound lyrical approach to consolidate their musical output this makes for an interesting listen which grows in catchiness on repeated listens. This is not of a work of ultranationalist and over the brim jingoism; this represents a band mourning and celebrating the travesties and glories of a nation littered with a turbulent past, Taiwan.

 Watch their brand new video for their song ‘Defenders of Bu-Tik Palace’ below.

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Anciients – Heart of Oak | Review

Mar 22 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 1837 Views

We apologize for the dip in our review rate… Gosh! You ought to know that we’ve got lives as well!!

That said, Jayaprakash Satyamurthy reviews the new album from Anciients titled Heart of Oak, released via Season of Mist.

Anciients – Heart of Oak

Tracklisting:

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The Korea – Saturnus (EP) | Review

Mar 22 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 2785 Views

Today we have our close friend Nikhil Bejai talking about the new EP from The Korea titled Saturnus, released via Rogue Records America.

The Korea – Saturnus (EP)

Honestly I was initially unable to completely appreciate whats going on with The Korea’s ‘Saturnus’.   The Compositions sounded relatively fresh, and brought something new to the table and yet still I couldn’t really tell. It took a bunch of looped listens to finally figure them out. Yes they can twist it around back and forth all they like, but all they are is a cleverly arranged deceptive ‘slip-knot! Oh yes you heard me right. And as you would have figured, I’m definitely NOT talking about the band slipknot; rather the word.., as my English teacher once clarified to me. You could probably look ‘slip-knot’ up in a dicktionary. Oh! pardon my typo error. Silly me  0:)

Well where was I ah yes, Slip-knot. Well.. er, I mean The Korea’s New EP ==> Saturnus.

The Korea belongs to Russia it seems. Oh dear oh dear… No Mr. Kim Jong! Now don’t you run along with that missile wrapped between your thighs! Lets leave that act to Harry Potter shall we 😀

We are talking about a Progressive METAL BAND here! Duh!  And pretty good one at that if you have the ear for this style! Beware There is a subliminal Korean Connection here which most of you may not like the sound of :O  No ! Mr Kim not again..  I meant South Korea this time! Well get to that in a while.

I’d like to start of with a small note, which I never fully understood. But I’m pretty sure it applies here, as with most other music around the globe.

–          Correlation does not necessarily imply causation. (Let us call it the Law of Anti-instinct)

I’ll break it down in a bit for you .. in a while

The EP They’ve Released is a Three Song set but repeated twice. i.e English and Russian Lyrics. I’ll stick mostly to the musical aspect of it though. A focused listen to the first two tracks i.e Saturnus and Zion will give you a fair idea of their stylistic direction and probably influences.

Stream the entire album below:

The Intro to both Saturnus and Zion both have this strong dark ambient build up which fades into a juicy melodic sequence with a hint of synth that serves as the backdrop throughout most of the song, while a blast of bouncy groovy djenty riffs take you for a ride while showering on top of it all are the shhhrrrrill but tight  growls. Notice the emphasis on the word shrill.  Overall the musical composition and the Growls strike strong resemblance to works of Swedish giants Vildhjarta. Have a listen to this one.       [Go read The Law of anti-instinct once again and come back!]

Another notable aspect is the tone/sound timbre of the riffs . Even though it’s one of the In-your-face djenty sorts, that’s hip currently in the metal scene.  If you lower the compression on the Guitars or slide up the eq on the lows / undertones maybe the distortion will sound very close to that of Korn. Vildhjarta, I mean you more or less have This!  Its does not mean anything on the downside, just a random observation to screw with your head if you hate Korn, Haha. They were epic you know (once upon a time).

The KoRn connection became apparent to me when I first heard the Poles (Track III) on the E.P. The riff seemed like a fast paced , rearranged and compressed version of the intro riff on Here to stay. Poles is a pretty good track, and personally the best of the three track E.P! It does not necessarily follow the Vildhjarta formula as much as the first two tracks, rather marks its own territory.

It could either be a choice or a compromise I can never really tell but I’d have wished the track Poles had a mammoth Riff tone of the sorts of the Mighty Gojira. However, the composition is pretty great here and true to the essence of a promising progressive metal  act who know exactly what they are doing.

Last but not the least, the most important thing about The Korea. At first, I was surprised the Weird asian accented screechy rap/shouting vocals the singer sings in between to fill in the shhhrrrill growls here and there heard often in Saturnus and Zion. I had a long discussion with Mr. Kim Jung who was adamant that the Rap was not done by a North Korean.  Yes fellow metal heads our guess may be right !

Recent Secret tapes forwarded by Wiki leaks, suggests the infamous Ga(Y)ngnam style artist – PsY doing vocal rehearsing for Saturnus, which suggests he may be involved with the album. I however cannot share it here cause Mr.Kims already kind of furious. He’s hopping on Missile cum Broom stick again. Your gonna get it Russia – The Korea’s Collaborating with a south korean rap singer for the E.P Saturnus is a blunder an entire nation might regret. Beware Russia, Kim Jongs might just drop by!!

P.S –  Kim Jong in this context is an average elitist metal head who believes anything sounding remotely new or different than what he likes is bull crap.

I think The Korea Band are pretty good at what they do.. with albums to come I’m sure they have a potential shocker in them.  If you don’t like them, it just may not be your staple diet. That.. is all.

Sanath Kumar • No Comments on The Korea – Saturnus (EP) | Review

Unholy Compilations: Candlelight, Deathwish

Mar 22 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 1872 Views

*crowd chant*   Hail Beelzebub!!!  Hail Beelzebub!! Hail Beelzebub!!

Beelzebub to his acolytes- “Silence you secretly god worshiping heathen scum!!… *silence follows*.. Thats more like it. Now crank up that stereo and let those compilations roll.”

Well here we are with another batch of feel good yet heavy as hell compilations, jam packed with songs of an equally heavy nature. And anything free, is number one on the cards for us Indians.

CANDLELIGHT RECORDS

1. CANDLELIGHT RECORDS

Ah! Candlelight Records. Ring a bell??  For all you laymen, Candlelight Records is the same international label who’s got our own Demonic Resurrection on their roster. Now to all those who are hungry to gorge on some blissfully brilliant new music, well here is their brand new Winter sampler. But be advised that what you’ve got here is slow marauding music, more in line with the cold and harsh winter climate, which yes, calls for more on the black metal side. They’ve got some real great bands on here and probably those that might have escaped your poor obsolete metal radar.

DEATHWISH INC.

2. DEATHWISH INC.

Deathwish Inc, who have risen among the ranks to become one of the premier labels supporting the hardcore punk scene have come up with a massive 27 song compilation. Given that hardcore/punk/grind songs are known for their short song lengths, it still does run for an hour and a half. For people who have no idea who or what Deathwish Inc are, well folks this is Jacob Bannon’s label. And i hope you know the fact that Jacob Bannon  does vocals for Converge.

“Bands in order of appearance: Touche Amore, AC4 (unreleased), Blacklisted, Loma Prieta (unreleased), Code Orange Kids, Heiress, Birds In Row, Narrows, Gaza, Oathbreaker, Converge, Hesitation Wounds, Punch, Living Eyes, Mindset, Vigilante, New Lows, The Mongoloids (unreleased), Palm, Whips/Chains, Single Mothers, Stomach Earth (unreleased), Deafheaven, Cold Cave (unreleased), Self Defense Family, and Dad Punchers.”

DOWNLOAD from any of the following links:

Download from Mediafire
Download from Sendspace
Download from Yousendit
Download from Deathwish

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