Immolation - Descent (Nuclear Blast)
When death metal was in it's infancy there was a particularly fertile scene in New York City with bands such as Suffocation, Incantation and Immolation producing what would become genre classic albums and forging long careers destroying stages around the world.
37 years later and Immolation is still an absolute steamroller of a band, flattening everything in their path with ugly, ferocious death that pummels and punishes, occasionally giving you a moment of atmosphere, using orchestral moments or slow burns, to clear your head before the death machine fires up again.
Descent is their 12th studio album and it's wrapped up in all the dogma the gnostic teachings that the material world is actually hell and only with learning divine knowledge will humans be able to break free of it. So it has a sense of hopelessness about it that is easily captured by the crushing death charge of Immolation.
They're a band who have always moved in more cinematic/philosophical realms than their contemporaries, a testament to their stoic resiliance, they've never split, never aimed at the mainstream, never really had too many members change (a few drummers).
Mostly it's been Robert Vigna (lead guitar) and Ross Dolan (bass/vocals), driving Immolation forward with drummer Steve Shalaty on board since 2003 and guitarist Alex Bouks having been locking down the rhythm for a decade.
The disillusionment of the subject matter is brought through dynamic riffage, constantly switching pace, the melodic strains at the beginning of These Vengeful Winds soon destroyed by technical brutality, as they shift into full bore death on The Ephemeral Curse.
Thankfully as I've said they know when to slow down the pace a little drawing from doom on tracks such as Gods Last Breath and the rolling dissonance of Attrition, while the interlude Banished is a proper stop and movement to something else. These all help control the flow of the record, most still heavy and mechanical but it means that it's not just one blast fest from beginning to end.
Playing with dynamics and taking an intelligent approach to death metal has always been the way Immolation do things. So if you're new here and you love bands like Gorguts, Ulcerate and even Gojira, they all owe a debt to Immolation. 9/10
Archspire - Too Fast Too Die (Self Released)
There's a couple of ways you can describe Canadian band Archspire, they have dubbed themselves "the worlds fastest band", you can call them tech death but I suppose the most accurate would be absolutely f*cking ridiculous.
Their music is inhuman, right at the fringe of what extreme metal can be, virtuosity bleeding through every instrument with the most intense blast you'll ever hear, guitar solos and melodies that would scare Yngwie Malmsteen, bass playing that would require fingers made of steel and fry screams from Oliver Rae Aleron, that are often totally unclassifiable as sounds that can be made by the human throat.
This is their first album released independently, choosing to take the route of Kickstarter rather than a label due to royalties and cut labels make on bands records. It's also their debut with Spencer Moore behind the kit after winning a contest to be their drummer, though I'd demand a recount as he's clearly not a real person but some kind of percussion robot with sticks for hands and a jackhammer for feet.
His drumming is immense even when the riffs do slow into melodic chugs on Carrion Ladder, he's still going full pelt. However when every member of a band is playing at their highest level you need to be good, Dean Lamb (guitar), Tobi Morelli (guitar) and Jared Smith (bass) all fighting over who gets to play lead, shifting between technical carnage, classical acoustics and piano driven atmospheres.
Archspire are far Too Fast Too Die on album five, it's D.I.Y tech metal that will cause an aneurysm if you think about the complexity too much, exactly as it should be. 9/10
Dying Realm - Siege The Walls (Dry Cough Record/Cavernous Records)
Siege The Walls is the debut EP from Brummie death crew Dying Realm. Comprise of ex members of Iron Tomb, Bound By Blood and Nerve Agent, it's a four tracker that's an ode to the British death metal scene, which was so important to West Midlands back in the early 90's.
The ghost of Bolt Thrower coming on the mechanical chug of Grave Of Gods, while there's also inspiration from Carcass, Benediction, placing them firmly in the same group as Celestial Sanctuary and Cryptworm, as a new band playing an old school sound.
Villainous Incantations brings some harsher tones, inviting evil with pummelling blast beats and rapid grooving riffs. While the hardcore/grindcore influence comes with Mace Buried Deep, smashing you in the face with tremolo guitars and a lot of pit inciting.
Siege The Walls has all the UKDM/OSDM best hits across four tracks and as Abundant Mutilation keeps your head banging until it fades out. Dying Realm tell you exactly what they are with their debut EP, not big not clever but damn good death metal. 7/10
Hamarr - Necrotic Rituals (Iron Fortress Records)
It's called Necrotic Rituals, it's on Iron Fortress Records, it's got to be death metal right? Correct young grasshopper, Necrotic Rituals is the debut full length from Indianapolis duo Hamarr and it's going to be a must listen for those who love the buzzsaw riffs and occult darkness Entombed and Dismember.
This is raw, gnarly, d-beat driven death that has punk and grindcore moments of nastiness strewn through it. Languishing in the mid-pace crush with tracks such as Boneless II, Headstone, Necro and Wither, there's pinched harmonics, punishing hammer blow grooves and throat shredding shouts as they counteract these grinding marches with blasting on songs such as Mausoleum, Lich and Catacomb.
Chris Issac (vocals/guitar) and Nick Stephens (drums) bring the vulgar death display, as Caleb Lewis manipulates it to sound deafening (and gives it the low end). Joining them for extra clout are Alex Cloutier of Primal Horde and Kurtis Hall of 1 Body 6 Graves, resulting in debut album of HM-2 savagery. 7/10
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