Warfist – Metal To The Bone (2016) – Although a bit on the short side, this sophomore full-length from the Polish black thrashers is quite punishing, which is what we want. It actually managed to get some coverage on Metal Archives as well, with a combined score of 85%. That’s not bad at all, and we can see why with all of the notable Venom and Sarcofago influences in play here. Metal To the Bone is a hugely drum-laden album, where the sound of a raw kit can be as blatantly discerned as the familiar thrash riffs that populate this disc. Frontman Wrath is one of those bassist/vocalist types that play so well in this genre, with his guitar playing coming off just as ravenous as his vocal abrasions. Wrath doesn’t try to sound like a demon or some other kind of evil entity, as his tone feels a bit more human and comes off as a sort of “pissed off individual” that seems to fit the performance much better. Keep in mind, Tom Araya never felt the need to sound like some sort of unholy creature and we’d still consider him a heavy metal legend – one of the major thrash vocalists of our era. This can be applied to the frontman as well. Occasionally, lead guitarist HellVomit will also throw in a few lines, but we’re more interested in his fiery handling of the material in general, which he performs without a hitch – thrashers need to know that this record is definitely a “what you see is what you get affair” in all of the right ways. There are even smidgens of thrash’s early roots in punk to be found in some of the compositions here, which are worth nodding to – especially now that the punk genre has become a fucking caricature of itself. People often forget that thrash evolved from the heaviest of punk bands, and it’s that sort of ballsy edge that really gave rise to one of the most volatile and unremorseful kinds of music out there. While not every track travels at over 100BPM, there are necessary chunks of groove-laden and experimental pieces like “Breed Of War” that add a bit more variety to the listen. Even if you were expecting a straight black/speed effort all of the way through, you really can’t turn down the aforementioned, as it’s just a great sign of musical maturity for these guys. I think when a band shows that it can do more than just copy itself on subsequent records, it’s worth writing home about and Warfist are just that kind of band. Interestingly enough, different vocal styles are implemented shortly thereafter in the album’s short title cut; though you won’t hear them anywhere else on the disc and that’s fine. While most of the disc is another day at the office so to speak – it’s definitely done the genre justice and feels like the very definition of a classic black/thrash record in the modern era. Several bands have attempted similar, but these guys managed to pull it off perfectly. Metal To The Bone won’t revolutionize the genre, nor did it set out to do so. In short, the album sounds exactly like it claims to be and truly feels like metal to the bone.
(9 Tracks, 30:00)
8/10
Misanthropic Rage – Gates No Longer Shut (2016) – Here we have the debut from this Polish progressive/black two-piece with W performing all of the instruments and AR performing some backing vocals. It’s worth noting that both musicians also play in the post metal act Obselence, which just released their debut album this year as well. Chances are, that if these two sound great in Misanthropic Rage (which they do – where are the reviews for this one, Metal Archives?) then they should sound just as fantastic in the post band. Even though I’m not exactly crazy about post as much as I used to be these days, especially post black which I’ve ended up skipping past in recent years.
Due to the odd nature of this release, it might be better just to walk you through it. The first track that we have here is a piece called “In A Blind Dimension” where frightening and slightly delayed bass nodes seem to duet with harsh scowls and what seems to be a bit of a ghostly clean vocal style that feels filtered in a good way. AR sounds like something of a wind, as what I can only describe as awesome lead melodies surround him. A bit of blasting ensues, combined with equally as memorable guitar playing to create a track that almost changes right before our eyes. I daresay that the piece ends in a bit of a solo, and so be it if it does. The next one we have is the title cut, which begins with a slightly more proggy approach. This grows muddy to accompany the harsh vocal before breaking completely to allow angelic leads and common clean vocals. I know, it sounds a bit weird; but it works in retrospect. As you might expect, there’s a section where the whole thing just slips into euphoria before bashing the hell out of you. Towards the end I’m a bit reminded of early Solefald, yet at a more raucous level. The piece totally ends with a light, clean lead that feels almost melancholy. It’s interesting to note that both this track and the previous are exactly four minutes and fifteen seconds. I’m not sure why, but it’s a unique anomaly that you don’t find often in records – at least back to back, anyway. Moving on, we have “I, The Redeemer” which seems to roll into that post territory. I’m almost reminded a little of mid-era Mastodon at first, but then the approach welcomes in more extreme bits, which only help to accentuate it. After a solo, the whole thing goes nearly tribal as it welcomes spoken word bits and yet another one of the album’s many great solos. These sound like very tasteful, very classy solo pieces and I’m absolutely loving each one of them. Yet as I mentioned before, the sound of the piece seems to approach the post metal sense of their other project and may feel a tad out of place. I still wouldn’t turn it down.
Moving onto the core of the album, we have “Into The Crypt” which comes in as one of the much longer cuts on the disc. It also opens up with one of the most fascinating melody nodes in the performance thus far. To say that these gentlemen are skilled in an understatement. But as we might (and should) expect, the piece eventually dirties up to allow for harsh vocals and thumping bass riffs. Yes, that’s the kind of groovy black metal that I dig, melding in perfectly with all of the melodic nodes in play here. Especially when the mid-section of the piece comes into view, where what I would consider to be “genius” riff compositions play like dancing fairies. Small acoustic bits then follow, making for more of an instrumental powerhouse than a straight-forward track, but I’d simply have it no other way. After all, the point of a debut is for a band to show their mettle, what they’re made of and have to offer the entire world at large – this is the digital era now, the entire world is listening to your album rather than just a few secluded areas. I can honestly say that Misanthropic Rage have done just that with this amazing album, which stands on far more than just the strength of this song – despite how amazing it is. The next piece, “Niehodowlany” is in the band’s native, as it begins with a fierce progressive section that only continues to grow in strength as the song moves forward. The vocal edge remains harsh, as several tinges of technicality and black metal coagulate together to form a very intriguing listen. Just the drumwork alone is quite exciting, even if the kit is programmed – and if it was, then they’ve really fooled me as it sounds very professional. Djent riffs definitely appear here, but in a (I know, this sounds weird coming from me) very tasteful manner that doesn’t djent because “it djents” and rather because these riffs are indeed useful in compositions to build muscularity. Misanthropic Rage are one of the very few bands out there that seem to remember that a song should consist of several layers and not be based around one small gimmick, especially in the progressive field. Once all the techy/proggy stuff is done, we’re greeted to what very well might be the best damn solo effort on this record, period. The man simply just finds a nice spot to shred after belting a pained vocal effort that feels very Primordial, very Pallbearer. Impressive, I had no idea he had pipes like that. Perhaps we’ll hear more like this in the future – or maybe not. Doesn’t really matter, as of right now I’d be happy with any direction this band wants to move into as long as it isn’t over-simplification. “Cross Hatred” comes next as a more straight-forward piece that places fierce avant-black stylings in with more impressive guitar playing, even though it does seem to overuse the djent a little more than necessary. It might be the only real song that has lost me thus far, making even the impressive guitar solos feel like filler to a mediocre track that is heavy for the sheer sake of being heavy. “Cross Hatred” just feels like slightly intelligent “grr” for the sake of “grr” and I guess I don’t really get it as much as some of the other more inventive pieces. But as I’ve said before, you can’t win them all. Closing the listen, we have “I Took The Fate In My Hands” which is the longest track on the album. It begins with some proggy tremolos and spoken word vocals that fit nicely. Obviously, the piece becomes a great deal heavier as speedy drums and frosty black metal decorate what sounded like a sort of ritual prog. I almost feel like I’m listening to a piece from Secrets Of The Moon, but with a little more oomph. Towards the second half of the piece, that ritual sense definitely comes into place, as does yet another solo – but if you’ll listen closely there is also a bit of clean harmonizing in the background of said solo that makes it even more magical. As the piece grows in fury, I find myself only becoming more excited by the performance and feel that Misanthropic Rage will have a very difficult time topping this one. A bit of clean followed by some of the deepest growls that you’ll hear on the album work to end it on a very satisfying note.
The listen concluded, I’m quite astonished. Misanthropic Rage have to be one of the best progressive black metal acts that I’ve heard in recent memory. Yet they’re just so much more than that, as they take nodes from the old and the new styles of the metal genre as a whole to bring us something that I feel is truly satisfying. I still don’t think that that “Cross Hatred” is all that strong compared to the rest of the pieces on the album, but it’s not nearly terrible enough for me to not recommend a marvel like this. If I’m given a forty minute album and only wind up bitching about five minutes of it, then chances are the majority of that listen is going to be mesmerizing – and it is. It really and truly is. So, if you missed out on this record before for some unknown reason, please click the link below to listen to some of it yourself and purchase a copy. I’m very happy to have a physical version myself, and with a record that is this damn appealing to my senses at least – I hope that you will to. The Grim Tower highly recommends Misanthropic Rage’s Gates No Longer Shut.
(7 Tracks, 40:00)
9/10
Dead Asylum – Death Always Wins (2017) – Even though they’re considered death/thrash according to Metal Archives, this sophomore album from the Canadian quartet sounds more like a mix of modern metal and some of it’s more old-school roots. I bring to mind acts like Daath, Chimaira, Lamb Of God and Deathchain albeit with a bit more color. It is the kind of record where frontman/rhythm guitarist Mike Lister’s hefty growls nearly drown everything else out, making his vocal element sound very aggressive in a Phil Anselmo kind of manner that feels like a veritable fist to the face. That being said, there’s still quite a bit of technicality and melody to be had when you can discern it, even though the band seems about as simplistic enough in force and approach to jump on Sirius XM tomorrow. This is the kind of stuff that appeals to the modern metalhead, and I’m not going to lie that I’m jamming the shit out of it myself. Dead Asylum know what kind of metal act they want to be, as the record fills with heavy groove and almost feels like that of a groove/death disc. I love this style of aggression, so of course I’m going to love this album too. I’m not going to say that the approach here is the best thing since sliced bread in heavy metal terms, but if you’re looking to get rid of some aggression, this will work for you. Best of all, Lister has to be heaving the time of his life up there. I remember when I recorded some vocals on our first disc for a groove/death portion (which isn’t very common for us, but we have a few more pieces like that on the new one that I’m really excited about) and more or less went off, because you can be overly brutal and dirty for the hell of it – kind of like when you record for brutal death metal, which is also fun. Yeah, I said it – making this kind of aggressive music is fun and you should try it if you ever get the chance. In any case, something needs to be said about Eric Morrison’s guitar skills when you do get the chance to hear them, he’s clearly trying to sprinkle a little bit of class onto this hodgepodge of dirt and aggression, which as you might expect only helps to accentuate the main performance as a whole. The composition in “Forgotten Sacrifice” actually reminds me of the kind of music we played in Unholy Sacrifice which never took off, but was also a hell of a lot of fun to play in. Morrison also gets to play a couple of solos too, which helps. Let’s see, who did I forget? Oh, the band have a secondary vocalist in bassist Roger Mowat, who uses that screechy vocal style similar to what I used in Unholy Sacrifice here. When I was playing with those guys, they wanted me to go into a style more like Lister’s growl, but at the time I was a bit more tight-laced then I am now and wanted to kind of mix modern metal with black metal, even though I see now that it wasn’t really the best approach to take in that kind of band. It’s funny that I’m talking about old projects, but it’s very rare that I’m handed a disc that reminds me so much of what I used to play and some of the other bands around that time that were playing this style. This was a bit before deathcore had really become popular and feels like one of those 07’/’08 discs that might have come out around the age of emo and the very birth of deathcore and what we consider modern extreme metal. One more thing I should mention is that the band has a chick drummer – or Samantha Landa (as she’d probably prefer, sure beats the hell out of “chick drummer”) who also used to play drums in Scythia. I’m sure you know who they are, because we’ve reviewed them a few times before. Her performance here is everything that it should be, especially when you’ve got a product that is all about pounding your face to the ground in the way that groove/death should. Yeah, there’s a hell of a lot of Lamb Of God influence here but you should know that myself and Bleak Bill are both fans of that style, so we’re not going to bitch about it. As a matter of fact, AXS TV played a full Lamb Of God set one time and I wasn’t even complaining. Hell, for the amount of money I pay for Satellite, they ought to have metal concerts on that son of a bitch 24/7. But that’s a rant for another time. The last cut here I found particularly entertaining, as it comes off like the true death/thrash that Metal Archives mentioned from their debut ’13 album, General Carnage (is that a reference to the Genesis title, General Chaos? Because that game was awesome and still holds up today. Apparently Sega is porting all of their titles to android, so go check it out for a few bucks) and more or less features the band playing what feels like a The Crowned style approach with a bit more Slayer influence in the riffing, almost like a sort of deathier tribute to Slayer. I’m not going to turn it down though. As a matter of fact, I’m not going to turn anything down on this very solid groove/death/thrash/melodic and whatever else you want to call it record that I’m going to be going back to for a while. It reminds me of the kind of music I used to make with a full band before my back injuries, when I would jump on our makeshift stage and belt my guts out through a bass amp. Those were good days and this band gives me quite a rush of nostalgia. It’s fun to listen to, so if anyone tells you that metal is the devil’s music and makes you become some kind of evil monster (although a Zoanoid style would be nice, especially since you can go back and forth from human to monster form – I’d love that) and just go around and slaughter people and cats (hopefully not) or something, you can just tell them to fuck off and get with the times. Dead Asylum aim to do exactly what you’d expect, delivering a just plain good performance that should appeal to most modern listeners. So load up a game of General Chaos with your best friend and blast this album (it deserves to be blasted) while you drink, party and have a good time. Life is short, and as the album states; death always wins in the end.
(8 Tracks 31:00)
8/10