Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Vomitor - Devils Poison (Hell's Headbangers release)


Another recent addition to the pile of classic black/thrash taking us back to days of early Bathory,Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, throw in some Kreator and Sodom and even some crust like Deviated Instinct and that's about what you have hear in terms of sound and atmosphere. Raw, brutal, blazing, blistering, pulverizing, audio annihilation!!!!!! The use of echo effect on the vocals, on "Neutron Hammer" screams as much early Tom G. Warrior as it does the lyrics. The guitar is equally distorted and swirling around in a frenzy, but the skill level is clearly displayed. Where the the prior influences mentioned were learning to play as they went along these guys already can, so they not only capture the right vibe and sound, but they can run circles around it as well, creating one of the perfect fusions of "bare-bones" and "skull bashing" style and sound with thrash technicality to yield a massive head trauma from the sheer noise and energy emerging from this band.

As with many really great labels and bands of recent creation, or just recent growth to the point of being more noticeable, there is a definite drive to recapture the genre defining sounds and elements of the classic days, but push things forward a bit as well. Even on tracks like "Caligula", this band manages to blend some elements of doom into the riffs and tempo, so there really isn't anything left out here.

On the surface, as with most things that aren't the weird and absolutely experimental shit (that I really dig as well), this won't appear to break any new ground, and half of that doesn't either these days, but to anyone with a true ear to the ealry underground and knowledge of metal roots, this indeed "DOES", it's just not up front and in your face like the music is. This stuff will kick some ass and rip some new asssholes, so tread with caution, you might temporarily retire some of your classics in place of this because this captures them all into one album.

For more info on the band and audio check out: http://www.myspace.com/thevomitor
and also: www.hellsheadbangers.com for audio samples and info.

Disfigured Dead - Visions of Death (Hells Headbangers Records)


If anyone is unfamiliar with this label and is reading this... then this is your lucky day and welcome to one of the premier labels of the heavy underground. I lucked out and just joined forces with them for my show and reviews and all that I can say is that they have a mercenary of killer titles being released currently, this being one of them. Recently I've been on this old school Death metal kick, started with switching out my usual Death albums for "Scream Bloody Gore" and my Coffins catalog and just went apeshit for the last 3 weeks, including Crust stuff, so where does this album come into the picture? It's absolutely a "Hails" back to early '90's late '80's Death metal ala "Scream Bloody Gore", Malevolent Creation, the Gothenburg sound, some Celtic Frost in spots as well.

The honest sound of Sniveling pukes with attitude spewing out gut-wrenching lyrics over well-crafted riffs and melody. This isn't anywhere near as raw as the stuff it's compared too, which helps because evolution of sound and style has occurred since, but thankfully the attitude is just as much present as before so it remains "true" to it's roots. If you miss the days of full-on garage metal, all the guts, glory, and juvenile F.U. rebellion that we all love and hopefully still live up to...the tapes, bootlegs, scrambling to dub a band in a basement and pass it out at shows days, this band will take you back, but in style. The lyrics are clearly audible, and as ugly as we could hope for, but have a sense of social/political critique infused as if to be an unmistakable middle finger to P.C. society. This stuff is pure old school with a sense of maturity, which I hate to use in a metal review, but it doesn't weaken the aggression or sure gore here, so dig in and be dug into as well by the chainsaw riffs and bludgeoning rhythms. This will split your head clean open upon first listen and you will fester in joyous agony as it rips through you continually like Leatherface and his chainsaw, shredding, gnawing and grinding. Torture of the best kind for us sick fucks that thrive on it!!!!!!