Blut Aus Nord 777-The Desantification Debemur Morti

Blut Aus Nord is a strange animal; their distance from the “scene” enables them freedoms that many can only speak of. Having that absolute freedom leads them down bizarre and unique paths allowing them to drop trip-hop beats alongside Middle Eastern guitar passages within a black metal construct. The 2nd installment of the 777 trilogy leads with slower and more deliberate steps to the dark and nightmarish places Vindsval continues to obsessively create. Again, Blut Aus Nord masterfully straddles mechanized coldness with organic fluidity. The Desanctification, unlike the preceding album, does not blaze down the corridors of nightmares but slowly and methodically walks you through ,allowing you time to truly know the horrors put before you. (10/10)bob

Chthonic Takasago Island Spinefarm

To start a novelty metal act, just pick a culture to exploit, use ancestral/indigenous instrumentation of that culture in the most rudimentary manner, get a costume to reflect a myopic yet recognizable aspect of your ancestors and rock the fuck out. You can find a symphonic/blackened/homogenized death metal band with the theme of dead cultures from dozens of countries. Pirate, Native American, Viking, Eskimo, you name the expired civilization and there will be a band using its mythos and aesthetic. It's as simple as looking some shit up on Wikipedia and then heading to the costume shop.POOF! Point is, this is novelty music and unless you are Weird Al Yankovic (or Bjorn Hellfuck), novelty music, metal or otherwise is just that, novel .In my opinion band's like this ,no matter what angle they take or what culture they trivialize won't stand the test of time, won't make a lasting impression and is in a word, lame. The songs are like taking the short bus through Chinatown in the center of Generic City. Can Chthonic play metal? Sure, but I can also drive a truck, does that make me a truck driver? Point being, this is as metal as playing distorted guitars and blast beats can make it , in other words the elements are there but it's just a vehicle for their lame schtick. I gave them a .5 rating because I like to look at their scary make up and they have never caused me any physical harm. I do not wish the members any specific ill will nor do I doubt they can play their instruments better than I, but I find this sort of gimmicky ass music tiresome. Maybe I need a nap or maybe metal can be a goddamn circus? Either way, Takasago Island is an overproduced, keyboard heavy, originality light, black/death/traditional metal mix bag of crap, go buy it. (0.5/10)bob

Fuck the Facts Die Miserable Relapse

Fuck the Facts is a freak show, a well-oiled and surgically precise freak show. Call them what you want, they obviously walk the side of grind sometimes bordering on the math-rock side of the fence but never abandoning the classically metal sensibilities .Die Miserable ‘s schizophrenic violent assault blitzkriegs your face only to drop your ass into a dissonant head spin and THEN drop a groove on your genitals so goddamn heavy you can’t ignore it and must destroy everything and all those around you. When FTF grooves it gets fuckin ugly. Utilizing changes and dynamics that are prevalent and typically utilized with far less effectiveness FTF manages to avoid sailing a sea of cheese and instead find ways of fucking up grind intelligently yet insanely. (10/10)Bob

The Atlas Moth An Ache For The Distance Profound Lore

An Ache For The Distance is a monumental album, complex and adventurous while still keeping a well maintained rawness about it . The Atlas Moth keep their hands dirty and their feet firmly planted in the Earth while still exploring the outer realms of heavy music. Thick textured rhythms are accompanied by an ethereal bed of keyboards and lead by the immensely powerful and varied vocals .I don’t care what the ID tags say on my itunes this isn’t sludge or stoner metal, which would imply limits that just do not exist for this band. The Atlas Moth bludgeons but never bores, weaves beauty without pretention and wields chaos like a master magician. (10/10)bob

The Fucking Wrath Tee Pee

If your band is called The Fucking Wrath then it is my opinion you better be really, really fucking awesome…no, REALLY FUCKING awesome. The Fucking Wrath lures you in with a sinister elixir of serpentine 70’s riffage then pulverizes all under the speeding metal train. Think St. Vitus bred with Kill’em All era Metallica, with Rollins fronting. Catchy bong soaked straight up stoner doom riffs that amazingly never sound tired, an amazing achievement given Black Sabbath has only so many riffs you can rip off. This is a band for you if you miss the good old days when Clutch still had a toe in heavier waters ,not to say you should expect to hear a Clutch clone, far from it, these songs are far dirtier ,uglier and more than anything, darker. Not so dark as into be heavy handed but stained with the natural grimness and grime of life. In fact it is most likely going to be requirement to have a beer in hand when jamming this amazingly catchy and bad ass rocking mutha-fuckin album.(9.5/10)808

A beer in hand is a requirement.

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