JUSTIN’S METAL REVIES W/C 2/2/09

 

 

CANNIBAL CORPSE / EVISCERATION PLAGUE

 

If you like Death Metal then you must know of Cannibal Corpse, they are one of the most successful Death metal bands on the planet out selling most other bands and listening to this CD you can see why, only Six Feet Under can do as good and they were started by an ex member.

 

You cant call yourself a true Metal fan and not have at least one of the CD’s in you collection and I strongly recommend that you get this one into your collection as soon as possible, “why?” I hear you ask, the answer is simple, and it’s good.  The music, as you would expect, is brutal, as hard edged as a steel sword and as full of gore as a morgue after an autopsy, (now there’s another band!), just as we have come to know and like.  All the songs are as tight as any digital technology you will find, filled with sunning, mind bogglingly fast guitar licks and a drummer that must be possessed, or a cyborg.  Whether you’re listening to “Carnivorous Swarm”, “Skewered From Ear To Eye”, and the title track or “To Decompose” the guys give it their all, with total conviction, passion and fervour and without compromise that it’s impossible to ignore.

 

This may not win any new fans to the Death Metal cause but for those who are prepared to open their minds and really listen, the rewards are well worth it and unreservedly I make this my album of the week.  There is a limited edition with a DVD and an extra track, so look out for it.

 

WEBSITE      http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/ & http://www.metalblade.co.uk/

 

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 39 mins + 12 TRACKS  

 

 

DARK MOOR / AUTUMNAL

 

This one has taken me completely by surprise, Dark Moor are a Spanish Power Metal band signed to an Italian label, I came across some years ago on a Helloween tribute album that I cant remember but I do remember that it was good.

 

I played the track “On The Hill Of Dreams” on my HFM show and was so impressed by it that I bought the album and I am very glad that I did as this is a real gem.  Musically they are not to dissimilar to Rhapsody Of Fire and you know how I love that band, they start off with a completely over the top version of “Swan Lake”, the famous ballet, this is so over the top that it borders on brilliant, if fact inspired is not too strong a word to describe how good this is and the rest of the album is just as good.  The track “Phantom Queen” powers along like its life depended on it and has so many things going on its impossible not to like it and that how the rest of the album strikes me.

 

If you like bands like Rhapsody and Helloween you will definitely love this album, listen out for; “Sphinx”, “The Enchanted Forest” and “Don’t Look Back”, all of which will get played on my show and a well deserved album of the week.

 

WEBSITE      http://www.dark-moor.com/ & http://www.scarletrecords.it/

 

DOWNLOAD            “On The Hill Of Dreams”

 

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 47 mins + 11 TRACKS

 

 

NAPALM DEATH / TIME WAIT FOR NO SLAVE

 

If you ask any non Metal fan to name on Extreme Metal band chances are they will quote the name Napalm Death, if only for the fact that they are famous for the now legendary 6 second track “You Suffer”.

 

The bands first album came out in 1987 and started a new sub genre called Grindcore that actually started the Earache record label, throughout the years the bands fortunes has varied but one thing has remained contestant, their uncompromising attitude to their music, which remains as true on this CD as it did with their debut “Scum”.   From the first track “Strongarm” to the last “De-evolution Ad Nauseum” the bludgeoning power chords just keep coming and don’t know when to quit.  There are some subtleties in here but they are buried in layers to dense Metal but they are there non the less, listen out for the vocal harmonies during “Time Waits For No Slave” where the vocal layers are harmonised in t jazz type style that the late Layne Stayley used to favour.

 

Its good to know that Napalm Death refuse to sell out to the music business and even better to know that there are labels out there with sense enough to give bands like this full reign in their creativity without trying to get them to go more main stream, take a bow Century Media and Earache.

 

WEBSITE      http://www.napalmdeath.org/  & http://www.centurymedia.com/

 

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 50 + 14 TRACKS