Murkocet – Digging Mercy’s Grave (2017) – Arizona’s Murkocet, which has nothing to do with the painkiller Percocet; are a blend of modern groove metal that should come off palatable to fans of acts like Lamb Of God, Slipknot, Gryn and maybe even Mushroomhead. Though there isn’t a true definition for the work murkocet, the band likes to compare it to aggressive and violent actions created by the user of this substance. (Perhaps it is a play on words for the drug Percocet after all?) The record itself comes in at eleven tracks (which includes a short intro and interlude) with song titles that range all of the way from three to five minutes, respectively. Though the majority of the music is definitely downtuned groove with scathing vocal nodes, there are some surprisingly abstract backing riffs in the formula which nearly give it a psuedo-prog vibe in some sections, at least. I know that’s a bit of a mouthful, but this dose of technicality/prog (or whatever you want to call it) gives the band a bit of substance among similar acts, which is always appreciated. I will say that the band utilizes entirely too many breakdowns in sections, but because of the vocal sections here, I find that I don’t mind these parts so unlistenable as I would in an act like Chimaira, especially around the time of ’09s The Infection (which I nicknamed The Breakdown, because that’s all it fucking was). Murkocet however, do not fall into this category and know how to keep me entertained with their very modern-tinged take on aggressive groove, even though I’ll admit that the record doesn’t really start to hit until later on in the listen and by then it has faded into the background a bit. At least that’s what happened while I was in the break room the first time. Even so, I cannot deny the simple fact that these guys just plain write great grooves. There is a slight melodic interlude called “Tranquil” that hints at them being more than just a common groove act, but I’m going to have to see it put into motion before speaking out of turn on that one. Unfortunately, when you get to a song like “California Smile” the band doesn’t really do anything to make it stand out among the others, despite it being over five minutes of material. All that time is spent inhabiting just another groove track, with nothing really intriguing or different about it. “Overdose” has plays with a slower tempo and some technical riffs here and there, but there’s nothing in the piece that really has me boiled over with passion. To make your purchasing decision easier, I just have to ask a few questions. Do you like modern groove metal? Do you like rapped lyrics? Do you like breakdowns? Because those three things are really the epitome of what you have here, and there’s really nothing wrong with that. Sure, I’ve heard better – this is a genre that I’ve been a fan of for about fifteen years now and I think Gryn’s Our New Earth and the majority of Lamb Of God releases would definitely top it. But in no way does that mean it’s bad, it just hasn’t exceeded it’s influences yet. There’s no doubt that fans of groove metal will eat it right up and I will say that it definitely makes for a jammable experience, but there’s not much else here to chew on. I don’t think that Digging Mercy’s Grave is one of the best modern metal discs out there, but it’s much better than some of the other crap that’s out there these days. I’d vastly prefer it to anything that 21 Pilots are up to right now, that’s for sure. How is that even considered rock music?
(11 Tracks, 36:00)
7/10
For All The Emptiness – MT EP (2017) – Fans of acts like Depeche Mode and VNV Nation will absolutely love the work done here, as it shows a prime example of electro-pop at it’s most volatile. When we’re working with this kind of material, we’ve got to focus on how much staying power it has and how well each of these five songs will stand as a whole. It is only five tracks, but there’s enough here in twenty minutes to leave a lasting impression on the listener. The Canadian act have been around for a good while and are nearing a decade’s worth of musical activity, as this EP continues to showcase their continued staying power. The disc begins with “Seduced By A Disease” an airy, yet gothic atmosphere that reminds me a little of The Cruxshadows. What really sells the piece is it’s chorus, which is right out of the dark pop manual. Yes, this is decidedly poppy material with love/hate relationship lyrics, but I’d certainly rather listen to it than ninety percent of the material that they play on Wal-Mart Radio. Next we get to “You Hurt” which I have a slight issue with. It seems that the band opted for a backing vocal approach in which a screamed or harsh vocal approach follows several lines in the piece, but the whole time I was listening to it, I was getting more and more aggravated with the second section of the track. Here, the backing vocals oddly began to follow the verse structure, which as you might expect, comes off hugely disjointed and sounds like a complete mess. During the chorus lines, these few shouts actually accentuate the piece, but it would have been much better if the second verse of the track followed the same approach as the first. This over-exaggeration was complete overkill for me. For All The Emptiness is not a heavy metal band, nor is their music all that fierce, so this implementation was questionable for me. If I’d noticed that the backing vocals were getting in the way of the main verse, I would have simply deleted those tracks. It’s all about breathing room, in which there simply isn’t any there. Thankfully, the rest of the record is free from such unnecessary experiments and instead follows a rather common formula which comes off a bit more appealing to the ear. Obviously, by taking a “less is more” approach, the fragile approach offered within the vocal stylings feels more genuine and less polluted. “I’ll Remember Confusion” is decent enough, but I don’t think it’ll be the kind of song that For All The Emptiness will play live very often. “Hearts Against Minds” on the other hand, comes off just in the style of VNV nation and gives us a shiny and memorable chorus that finds itself perfectly lodged in between the dance-friendly beats of slightly dark-tinged EBM. The band is incredibly rooted in VNV Nation worship, but that doesn’t really bother me as it feels like they want to follow in the footsteps of such an act. The last track here is “Stronger Than Before” which along with the album opener is a major standout for me. Maybe some of the soundclips aren’t necessary as they take away from the experience, but the overall performance more or less defines the band. The track is obviously a little different in nature from the romantically themed opener as it deals with “ripping the system” as KMFDM coined it back in the eighties, but it is good to see that For All The Emptiness have more in their lyrical coffers than a vast trove of these kinds of bands, who usually just focus on bad relationships, making this kind of gothic pop the alter-ego of it’s bubble-gum relative. It’s not that I mind either, (I grew up listening to the bubble gum stuff before I found out about other genres of music) but let’s not title this something that it is not and say to another that you are better because your record isn’t Sia, Adelle Lana Del Rey, Lorde or Rhianna. To Adelle’s and Lana Del Rey’s credit, they’ve performed several songs right along the lines of “Seduced By A Disease” even though stylized in a slightly different manner. At least For All The Emptiness knows what kind of band they are, and with this record they feel comfortable in their own skin. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely recommendable to fans of the genre, and possibly even those who are entirely new to it.
(5 Tracks, 21:00)
7/10
Torrefy – The Infinity Complex (2016) – Hailing from Canada, we have progressive/technical thrashers Torrefy. These guys can be compared to acts like Vektor, Coroner, Sodom, Skeletonwitch and Starve For The Devil era Arsis. When we look at the album art and even some of the packaging, it can seem a bit deceiving as we think that we might be getting something a little more brainy (that’s not to say that it isn’t) and far less fierce than the actual product. These Canucks perform a very aggressive, yet slightly shiny brand of death/thrash with all the trimmings of the above erudite acts I’ve mentioned and all of the intensity of some of the others in that list. You’ll even hear a little bit of Acid Bath here and there, which I surely wasn’t expecting. This definitely brings on a bit of a sludgy nature to the piece that coupled with slight technicality feels remarkably interesting. Frontman John Ferguson can get a little ahead of himself at times, sounding like a screaming lunatic, on the mic, but at least this performance goes well with the rapidly changing structures that axemen Adam Henry (leads) and Ben Gerencser (rhythm) carefully craft with the changing of each song. In some ways, the record can seem like one hour-long track, but at least it is a track with enough depth and variety to keep you hooked until the end. You can clearly see that these gentlemen are playing along the lines of Vektor, and now that those dudes have called it quits (shockingly) perhaps Torrefy will take the throne. It’s not all that hard of a moniker to recall, but it makes me think of some kind of peanut-butter like substance that you’d put on bread. If I have any real complaints about the album, is it that Ferguson’s vocals can be a bit overbearing and grate on my nerves after a while. He does try for a growl approach in addition to the horrific scowl that he’s driving me crazy with right now (listening to the record once again, as I review – per the usual) which helps, but it simply depends on how much you’re willing to stomach. I can say that the combined approach of Daniel Laughy’s impressive drum calcluations and the dual-axe warriors that this band have employed make it more than worth checking out despite my complaint, and I’ve no doubt that Torrefy would be just as enjoyable to listen to without the vocals as they are here with Ferguson’s approach. There’s still no reason as to why these guys can’t be famous, so if you like their approach here (and technical death/thrashers should) make sure to pick up the record and tell other heads about it at shows. Go see these guys live too, because I’m pretty sure that some of this will come off pretty well on stage. It depends on how loud the amps are turned up – I’d really love to be able to hear the defining leads and solos featured on the album and would be really muffed if those were drowned out on stage.
(9 Tracks, 62:00)
8/10
Distant Sun – Into The Nebula (2016) – Russian power/thrashers Distant Sun are back with their sophomore album and there hasn’t even been a year break in between. These gentlemen certainly work quick, and although quick, it is definitely the kind of approach that you want from an act of this nature. I’m definitely reminded of bands like Metallica, Testament, Megadeth, Iced Earth and Jag Panzer. Without warning, the record heats up into a fiery flurry of hard-hitting riffs, bright melodies and pounding drum excursions. It is very much the kind of record that you’d expect an act responsible for one of my favorite Russian metal albums (2015’s Dark Matter) to create, though I will admit that there’s a bit more thrash here than on the band’s debut. It’s not a complaint, but it’s definitely a slightly different vibe than the last one, which had more melodies and catchier chorus lines (at least in my opinion). In the same respect, it also took longer to grow on me. I listened to this album once, came back to it again a few weeks later and am now listening to it once again during this review. Once again, thrashers will not find a problem with any of Alexey Markov’s compositions, nor his somewhat near-emulation of Metallica frontman James Hetfield, which sounds surprisingly clearer than ever before. That seems to be because the band have a bit more change in their purse, and the record was better mastered than the last one (despite how much I loved it.) Speaking of Metallica emulation, “Andromeda” gives us a hefty hump of Load/Reload (listen to those damn opening leads, folks) and we could even say Symphony Of Destruction-era Megadeth. Both of these records were fiercely groove-heavy, and a very interesting way to begin an instrumental that works it’s way through several different melody nodes. Needless to say, “Andromeda” is the band’s first lengthy instrumental cut, and it delivers regardless of the unexpected way that it starts. It also shows Markov’s shredding power, which we can never get enough of. I know that he tried the Starsoup thing and it might not have panned out so well among metalheads to perform radio rock tunes (even though I actually liked the album, go figure – there’s a 33% on Metal Archives for it, along with a guy who said he’d rather have a sandwich) and prog numbers, but at least with Distant Sun the band are going into the level of success that might even see them as Russia’s Metallica or Megadeth. That’s certainly not a bad thing, as these guys deserve it. They should be playing massive sold-out shows throughout that continent and I’d hope that they are. They deserve European festival slots and the whole nine-yards, really. I’d just have to see how well these guys can pull these cuts off on the stage. With hard-hitting cuts like “God Emperor” (does that have anything to do with our orange?) and “Throne Of Iron” you can easily see why there’s such a staying power here. Sure, these riff compositions aren’t exactly new, but they strike where it’s most effective and showcase the effectiveness of this act beyond words. Markov was brilliant in Shadow Host and with former Shadow Host bass/rhythm guitarist Artem Molodtsov in tow, we might as well consider Into The Nebula a new Shadow Host album. Regardless of the fact that said act is still together, this record still has that same vibe and enough Game Of Thrones themed cuts to suit your fancy. It’s less technical than a lot of power/metal and doesn’t feature so much cheese to the point where the thrash has been entirely muted. There are some sections that remind me of Blind Guardian, (The Battle That Never Ends, The Tharks) but seeing as Blind Guardian haven’t sounded like that in about fifteen years, it’s a good thing that Distant Sun are carrying that style forward to another generation. It works for them too. (Coughs) Just to be fair, this style doesn’t really creep in until after “Andromeda” which feels a bit weird. Is this a combination of an EP and what was going to be a Game Of Thrones concept album? We may never know, but regardless of how this record was forged, the performance speaks for itself. I do have a few questions though, as I’m mainly wondering why the record is called “Into The Nebula” when there are several songs related to fantasy topics, rather than the science-fiction related material of the last album. The album art also, while cool – doesn’t really fit some of the topics here. This is always kind of an issue with me, albeit more of a personal one. There are about four or five songs related directly to the Game Of Thrones mythos here and they don’t necessarily reflect the title of the piece. Noting that, not everything on this album IS about Game Of Thrones, so I suppose that I can let this dreadfully minute transgression slip by. In spite of all this, Into The Nebula is still a very strong and recommended release despite the fact that parts of me still rather enjoy (and has on my personal playlist) a slew of tracks from the debut just a bit more. Nevertheless, this is a step in the right direction and I certainly would not shy away listeners from giving it a go.
(9 Tracks, 48:00)
8.5/10
Pestifer – Execration Diatribes (2017) – Their debut full-length despite having been together since 2000, it is better late than never to hear frighteningly tumultuous death metal from this portuguese trio. Each member of the band has played in remarkable numbers of other bands, with their drummer Diogo Pererira still playing in Decrepidemic, Grunt and Holocausto Cannibal, as well as filling in for several other acts in the region. He also plays in a couple of non-metal acts, or at least a couple of acts not considered heavy enough for Metal Archives. While the other members of the band (frontman Pedro Silva and bassist Jorge Marinho, respectively) also have played in a number of other acts, none of these guys play in more active bands than their drummer. That being said, is his performance on the kit indicative of this talent? Well, of course. First off, the album is a pummeler. There are more than enough blasts to suit your palette, but Periera doesn’t necessarily blast the kit and he doesn’t trigger his drums either. So there’s no real “lawnmower hitting a brick” sound to speak of here, thankfully. More bands need to learn from his example and actually learn how to master the drums, rather than cheap tricks. In any case, you are going to get severely beaten over the head with this one and it has the same effect that might occur if you received a large boulder through the roof, sent through some sort of massive technological catapult that could hurl such an object all of the way from Portugal to your area. If that’s here in the states, then you can pretty much expect a hunk of granite with the trajectory of an air to ground missile to come barreling through your home and directly into your face. Which is what this does. The pain does not cease, and neither does Silva’s horridly thick salival utterances, sounding like something not remotely human and perhaps a monster that they’ve found in the forests there and trapped in a cage to perform vocals. Most of the record seems to stick with the same pace and tempo until “Awaken By Death” hits, which causes a slowdown in the performance and brings the band closer to that of groove, with a hint of thrash. There’s still plenty of relentless death metal to speak of, but it doesn’t really leave me with anything more than a bruised skull, which is more than enough for most people when it comes to this genre. I don’t suppose I can be too upset with a death metal act for playing death metal, which is mainly what the record offers. For most death heads, you can more or less narrow down the influences here and that’s not entirely a bad thing – it’s just not nothing all that new, exciting or innovative. I can say that we’ve definitely heard similar approaches before, but Silva’s vocals at least give me something to chew on in the way of slight originality that I do love. If you’re looking for a straight-forward death metal album with a hefty amount of bass groove (Marinho performs more than enough of that here) and not so much in the way of differentiation or complete genre-shifts, than you’ll love this one. Best of all, they get a little bit thrashy at times and even throw in some hefty (though sometimes a bit hard to discern) Slayer-esque solos. Pestifer is the kind of album that you give to a young kid somewhere who considers Slipknot and Five Finger Death Punch to be some of the heaviest bands that they’ve ever heard. This is unfortunately very common in the US scene, where when one answers with such monikers when asked “What bands do you listen to?” and ends up looking a bit sheepish to the other person. Just a couple of days ago, a gentleman whom I worked with mentioned having listened to Five Finger Death Punch which was a bit common (the CDs are actually sold in our store) and I disregarded it a little until he said that he enjoyed Metalocalypse. Though Small’s brand of death metal is still a tad watered down, it is a bit closer to this record and more along the lines of what actual death metal is. So if you’re speaking with someone and they don’t really seem to know how unhinged and deliciously volatile this genre can be, make sure to pass them a record like this in order to give them a necessary education. So not only is Pestifer’s Execration Diatribes a smashing death metal release, it is also an educational experience. While several of us have several records just like this at home, a devil-soaked release like this is just what some of these damn kids need in order to experience what real underground blood and gore sounds like, and not just the polished mainstream stuff. Pestifer take no prisoners, they don’t throw in pianos and clean vocals and there’s no harp playing. This record is quite obviously very south of harp playing, very south of heaven if you get my drift…
(9 Tracks, 38:00)
7.5/10