The legendary Pestilence will be releasing their new album, Hadeon, in March of 2018, and they’ve just released a brand new song online. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Pestilence
The Lurking Fear – Out Of The Voiceless Grave
From the cover art of their Winged Death (Century Media) 7” EP released back in May, to its 1970s style typeface and the name of the band itself, you don’t have to be a genius to work out that Swedish act The Lurking Fear are about all things old school Death Metal, and Lovecraftian themed horror. Continue reading
Howls of Ebb – Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows
Howls of Ebb’s latest album Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows (I, Voidhanger/Nuclear War Now) is monster of an album. Starting off with track ‘The 6th Octopul’th Grin’ which shows a menacing display of low-end power and ferocity: gurgling death growls and blackened guitar. There’s a real textural vibe to it, reminiscent of Portal, with a mix of blackened death metal and discordant jazz.
The confident predatory swagger of the drumming provides a framework for sheer sonic madness. The atmosphere is permeated with unique riffs appearing relentlessly as snarling vocals swirl around. This gives the song a chaotic soundscape which bristles with dark energy and an undulating yet majestic thumping beat.
The bridge on ‘Cabals of Molder’ is out of this world, a shuffling beat, but with a real organic feel to the production. A soundscape rich with decay punctuated by the wail of screaming guitars; demonic vocals whispering hypnotically throughout like an ill wind and the bass line slithers around the piece rattling with menace. The soundscapes seem to alternate between telling a story and summoning some Lovecraftian nightmare. It really feels like a living entity, pulsating, slithering, crawling and Howls of Ebb have to be congratulated on bringing it to life.
The album takes a slower, more doom laden turn at ‘Maat Mons’ Fume’, jangley soundscapes with a raw underlying power reminiscent of Ahab give the sense of being toyed with by an unknown predator. Howls of Ebb’s world is a dark and scary place and this album is the musical equivalent of psychological horror, and instills the listener with a sense of panic.
The next few tracks take a more traditional approach unlike their other releases, after a few listens this can be a little disappointing given the brilliance so far. It’s still good however and throughout there’s a nice rhythm and pace; varied drumming and some really nice percussion and particularly on track 4 more than a passing nod to Pestilence’s spheres album.
‘Subliminal Lock_ A Precursor to V’ is the most obvious Black Metal infused track with hissy malevolent guitar work and vocals almost providing the rhythm at times whilst the drums go on a free-form whirlwind around the song. But the middle of it is somewhat tame compared to the wild inventiveness of the rest of the album.
Last track ‘The Apocryphalic Wick’ starts of slowly with a feeling of rebirth, reminding me a lot of the atmospheric doom of Botanist before kicking in halfway through with some frenetic drum work, and a flat-out Slayer inspired guitar solo taking the album out on a bit of a high before terminating the journey with an abrupt stop.
8.5/10
RICH PRICE
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Albert Mudrian – Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore (Reissue)
Released twelve years ago, Albert Mudrian’s anthology of Death Metal has stood the test of time; an engaging read taking you on a loose zig-zag through the birth and, um, death of Death Metal. Unveiled through the eyes of its’ progenitors, there is method to the tale that begins in England, moves to Tampa, takes in Entombed and Scandinavia and reserves a special mention for the oft overlooked Dutch input of Gorefest and Pestilence.
Undertaking a task as complicated as trying to find the true source of the Nile (Karl Sanders – badoom tish!), Mudrian begins his tale by trying to uncover the birth of what became known as Death Metal, settling on Napalm Death and their 1985 era hybrid (Siege meets Discharge meets Celtic Frost) of hardcore punk, thrash and a desire to be harder, faster, sicker than everyone else. The book then focuses on the influence of their Scum release (Earache) on other vital artists, like Morbid Angel (via Pete Sandoval, then in Terrorizer) and the incestuous, small nature of the scene where, due to tape trading and pen palling, most of Death Metal’s predominant protagonists all knew and inspired each other.
As the tales unfurl, you find yourself swept up and wanting to revisiting all the classic albums that are mentioned – Possessed ‘s Seven Churches (Combat), Pestilence Consvming Impvlse (Roadrunner), Massacre From Beyond (the story of Massacre’s signing to Earache being another fun aside revealed in the book) and Master Master (Displeased) forming part of my own soundtrack while reading.
The re-issue picks things up as the roots of recovery were just sprouting through the top soil at the tail end of the 90’s, highlighting the rise of a new DM general in Nile. After touching on the diversification of Death Metal of this millennium, including the mind-sucking brilliance of Portal and their focus on eldritch, dark atmospheres, Mudrian covers the popularity of technical Death Metal (a section that introduced me to Necrophagist and Obscura as you can’t help but be enthused to check all the recommends as you go) over the last decade. The tome now concludes by covering the return to the scene of the apex predators with Carcass, At The Gates, Death (DTA) and others reforming to reap the benefits of their respective legacies and the rewards of the now lucrative and high profile festival market, and to satisfy an urge that, in the case of Bill Steer, they didn’t even know they had. If you read the original, the added content is an agreeable appendix.
Peppered with short anecdotes, but above all an informative and enjoyable potted history of Death Metal, all imparted with the enthusiastic love that a doting parent has for a child, Choosing Death is an affectionate, if whistlestop, walk through of the story of Death Metal to date. In the authors’ own words, he is “Just a fan. Just like you.” He just happens to be a damn good writer who has written The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore. And updated it.
8.5/10
STEVE TOVEY
Horrified – Descent Into Putridity
Death Metal is a scene that welcomes reverence to the masters and is happy in its conservatism, providing certain aesthetics are adhered to. So, set your HM2 pedals to stun as Newcastle’s (England) Horrified pay tribute with grand devotion at the altar of Entombed as they channel the Sunlight Studios spirit to the max on their crunky Death Metal debut Descent Into Putridity (Momento Mori).
‘Tomb Of Rebirth’ lurches into aural consciousness with a crawling opening riff not entirely dissimilar to ‘Dismembered’ by, um, Dismember, from the legendary Like An Everflowing Stream (Nuclear Blast), before the pace is picked up, and Horrified churn down the Left Hand Path (Earache). The lo-fi production gives a sense of timelessness, like this album could have been a product of the Scandinavian Death Metal explosion of the early 90’s. This is also to their detriment at times, as the power and scything rage of closer ‘Repugnant Degeneration’ is hamstrung by a biscuit tin snare and disappearing toms, while the double kicks sound like a 1970’s typewriter.
But the production is only a small element, and adds to the homage Horrified undertake. Dan Alderson’s sandpapered-throat pitches around the Martin van Drunen mark, and helps draw ‘Narcolepsy’ into the Consuming Impulse (Roadrunner) ballpark, before the song swerves off via Leprosy – era Death (Relapse) and ‘Fall From Grace’ (Blessed Are The Sick, Earache) style Morbid Angel tectonics, raging to a close.
Diversity is not necessarily the name of the game here, but neither have we ventured into the land of the pony with one trick, as a slew of gratifying vari-paced old school riffs tick various boxes, with Horrified parading and espousing an obvious love of classic, dirty Death Metal to their benefit. As the band name may suggest there are also plenty of Repulsion references in some of the grindier and grimier passages, such as the blast that opens of ‘Veil Of Souls’.
You do have to be careful with Death Metal as it’s very easy to end up with a collection filled with thousands of bands not saying anything new or exciting, but all churning out decent enough music that references, but doesn’t better, the greats. That said, a quick dip and a descent into putridity is a good a way to spend half an hour as any.
7.0/10
STEVE TOVEY
Abysmal Dawn – Obsolescence
Whisper it softly around these parts so as not inflate the head of one of our sterling writers, Richie HR, but he is right. In his recent review of Annihilated’s XIII Steps To Ruination (Unique Leader) here he commented about how “Average is the new bad, and it’s far, far worse than rubbish ever was”, casting light on the fact that we are inundated with decent, OK, average, not bad, it’s alright metal (especially Death Metal) these days. Passing muster isn’t the same as it was, and if you were ranking on a Bell Curve (curb your tittering at the back), what would have passed for decent would now be at the bottom, as the overall level has come up.
There are also way more Death Metal bands per head of metal fan than any other genre, and far too many average, going nowhere bands. Labels used to be a filter for this sort of stuff, but it now seems even those labels that should know better have gotten into the conveyor belt mentality of it all (and Relapse really should know better, having gestated some of the cream of the DM crop). We have a sea of the unimaginatively named Wretched, Annihilated et al producing the unimaginative; the differences between them each are minimal, very few of them have any identity or any chance of releasing anything essential. Good Death Metal is great, and there still is good new Death Metal out there. Average Death Metal is mediocre and uninspiring.
So, it’ll probably come as no surprise to hear, Abysmal Dawn, Obsolescence (Relapse), sound a lot like a lot of other bands. It’s a bit technical, predominantly chuggy, Death Metal, with vocals more bark than growl. It’s inoffensive (which is another problem… ) and has good cover art. Their version of Dissection’s ‘Night’s Blood’ is several shades shitter than the original (aren’t they always). They aren’t as good as, let alone better than, the bands they were influenced by, which probably includes Malevolent Creation, Pestilence and The Black Dahlia Murder.
Other than that, it’s not shit. It’s not brilliant, either. It’s dictionary definition meat and potatoes meh Death Metal. And one thing Death Metal should never be is staid enough to be ‘meh’.
5.0/10
STEVE TOVEY
Skeletons In The Closet – Daniel Finch of Devilment
In the first of a new feature, Daniel Finch, guitarist and songwriter for Devilment shared with Ghost Cult his five closet albums – albums he loves but most people hate – as the band celebrate the release of The Great & Secret Show (Nuclear Blast), which was released on Halloween.
Pestilence – Spheres (1993, Roadrunner)
Fourth album, and last before a fourteen year hiatus, from the Dutch band who brought us the pure Death Metal classic of Consuming Impulse. Seen as Patrick Mameli straying a bit too far off the beaten track…
Daniel – “People loved them for their death metal sound, but I really liked it when they started using guitar synths and took on the whole Jazz Fusion vibe on this record.”
Mushroomhead – XIII (2003, Universal)
Surprisingly, this Ohio quasi industrial/nu-metal mish-mash of members of other (failed) bands are still going. XIII featured hit single ‘Sun Doesn’t Rise’ and is their biggest selling release to date.
Daniel – “People never got this band. I think the trouble was people saw them as a Slipknot rip off, but to me they were more freaky than Slipknot – just check out some of the footage from their last tour! I loved the whole mask thing, and this album is just killer from start to end. great heavy riffs and melodies”
Korn – The Paradigm Shift (2013, Universal)
Although well received at the time, the first Korn album to feature Head since Take A Look In The Mirror seems to have flown under the radar, possibly due to a poor run of Korn albums leading up to it, and then predecessor, the dub (mis) step heavy Path of Totality (which I actually rate…)
Daniel – “People kind of slag off Korn now, and yes in places this is a commercial record. But it’s got some really strong hooks, is it a return to form of the first album ? No its not. But it’s a new Korn, but it’s without maybe the those things that annoyed people before about the band. It’s a solid big record.”
Psychotic Waltz – Into The Everflow (1992, Dream Circle)
The second of four albums from the Californian progressive metal band, who apparently reformed for a tour (do bands ever completely die these days?!) but have dropped off the radar again….
Daniel – “This is one of the most underrated bands of all time, (though) I can see why. (It’s) heavy riffs, progressive music, odd time changes and flutes, played by guys smoking weed. But now with the whole interest in progressive metal surely this band should have a place!”
Paradise Lost – Symbol Of Life (2002, GUN/Koch)
After embarking on electronic, gothic and less guitary dalliances, Halifax’s finest returned to their heavier roots in a move that was treated with cynicism and skeptisim. Twelve years on, the band have yet to return to the popularity levels they had prior to their initial move away from metal.
Daniel – “Everybody always talks about the good old days of Icon (Music For Nations) [yup, I know I do… ST], but from that album they moved in different waters, taking on different sounds, maybe more towards 80s pop and goth. But this is a straight, heavy album with great songs, hooks and riffs. It doesn’t sound like Paradise Lost and their natural sound, and it’s an album they regret making, but it’s a shame they didn’t do this sound from day one.”
Devilment are currently touring Europe with Lacuna Coil and Motionless In White (tour dates here)
Read our review of The Great & Secret Show here
WORDS by STEVE TOVEY
Neurotic Deathfest: Day 3 – Live At 013, Tilburg NL
The Sunday started a little bit late due some technical problems with my mode of transportation. But luckily enough Grave was there to cheer me up. Grave gives you a full force band with the strength of a bulldozer. The filled up room might have given them that little bit of extra energy, to give us a hell of a show. Although Grave can sometimes disappoint you because of the typical show they put on, they pumped you up with their well known classics, they didn’t live up to their reputation at all. It was the best show in ages, according to the voices all around me.
Misery Index is a known force at the Neurotic Deathfest and didn’t surprise me at any point. But they did interest me and this is a very good live act! For those who don’t know this band, they are pretty versatile with their sound and play with different styles in the death metal genre. The biggest mistake for me was to stand in front of the pit, that hurt.
Just like Misery Index, Severe Torture is a name that you can find often on the bills from previous years. I am proud we have these kind of bands from the Dutch grounds and we see that we do take part in the death metal scene. I am not proud that the following band named Pestilence comes from the same land. I heard of their bad live reputation but I wouldn’t believe it. I have to admit they were right. I am sorry for being so negative, but I cant find a single positive thing about this band. They sucked, and this needs to be said. If you read this and you are in a band, don’t follow Pestilence’s example. This band was known for their awesome shows and good songwriting, but with this new lineup, they are on the edge of extinction. They only float along on their former pride.
Once again the national memorial of casualties of the second world war fell on the same date as the Neurotic Deathfest. Strange enough this was one of the most epic moments of the whole festival, all death metal fans were quiet for a moment of silence (exceptions for some nitwits that just can’t keep their mouth shut). It gave me shivers. This is the example that it doesn’t matter how brutal you can look, you can still have some decency. The bands also took part of it and that is why Pentagram Chile started a little bit later than they should have. They gave us a whirlwind of a show with a guitar sound that was beyond recognition. Their debut album came out last year which is pretty late for a band started from the 80s. They played a nice mix of thrash/death with a sound that clearly evolved since the early days of this band.
Pentagram were a pretty good lead in to the final band of the Neurotic Deathfest, which is not a death metal band at all, Dark Angel. They gave us some much needed thrash metal. The band around Gene Hoglan seemed to be a welcome guest at this death metal festival, unfortunately the drums were pretty loud in contrast with the guitars which was a bit of a downer for this show. Luckily after a few songs the sound guy woke up and set things straight. After that we were happily surprised by some nice high quality thrash metal. All hell broke loose when the front man Ron Rinehart turned the venue into a party zone where beer was flowing richly. After this we left the festival with a smile on our faces.
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Neurotic Deathfest on Facebook
WORDS: KAAT VAN DORMALEN
PHOTOS: SUSANNE A. MAATHUIS
Hail of Bullets – III: The Rommel Chronicles
With Bolt Thrower on-hold since 2005 (Those Once Loyal), at least in the full-length department, the super-group Hail of Bullets (with members that have experience in acts like the already mentioned Bolt Thrower, Pestilence, Asphyx, Thanatos, etc.) have been dominating the spectrum of old-school death metal bands that are portraying war-themes. III: The Rommel Chronicles (Metal Blade) is not a left turn in the themes that have been used by the Dutch band, but we can say that’s a left turn in the way things are approach. This time around the quintet of Amersfoort decided to focus his lyrical attention in one person and tell the story of that person’s life: the good moments, the bad moments, the glory and the death. That person? The German Field Marshall, Erwin Rommel. Decorated on World War I with the Pour le Mérite (a described moment in the song with the same name), he was also regarded as being a very humane person and a extreme professional officer, even though he was serving Adolf Hitler on World War II, where he has linked to the attempt of assassination of Hitler himself. That’s the big “game-changing” for Hail of Bullets. Having an approach that can be considerate more “human”, they manage to create a piece that’s a true rollercoaster of feelings and that puts the listener thinking about how life it’s not black and white and sometimes there’s an enormous lack of coherence.
Musically speaking it is Hail of Bullets, like always. They are not reinventing the wheel, changing the game but I think that’s not their intention anyway. They are just focused on creating great songs, great death metal songs with an obvious and rather delicious old-school death metal vibe and took the listener to various changeling and compelling moments. III: The Rommel Chroniceles is another irrefutable proof of the quality of Hail of Bullets and a record that must be present in every death metal fan’s playlist.
8.0/10
Tiago Moreira
The Rommel Chronicles – An Interview With Hail Of Bullets
Hail of Bullets is one of the most interesting death metal bands of nowadays. With members of very reputable bands (Asphyx, Bolt Thrower, Pestilence, Thanatos etc.) they now release their third full-length. III: The Rommel Chronicles is a journey through Erwin Rommel’s life and we talked with the guitarist Stephan Gebédi to know a little bit more about this new album.
Since On Divine Winds (Metal Blade Records) confirmed that Hail of Bullets it’s indeed a relevant and exciting death metal band by critical acclaim and the participation of the band in many notorious festival (Hellfest, Wacken etc.), would you say that pressure was there when creating this new album?
Yeah, I think so. On Divine Winds was the ‘Album Of The Month’ in many magazines and it even reached the charts. So yeah it was a good experience for us, without a doubt, but you don’t want to repeat yourself too much. I mean, we will stay true to the death metal style (it will always be like that) but you want to do things differently and avoid to the same album over and over again. So there was some pressure and that’s why it took us a little bit longer to finish this new record. But I think it worked in the end, the time that we spend on it was worthy and the most important thing is that we are really happy with the final result.
Why did you decide to have a new approach, lyric-wise? It was a needed challenge?
It’s not a totally new approach. The two previous albums talked about the war, The Eastern Front etc. This time around we decided to approach things a little bit different by talking about this person, Erwin Rommel, so the big difference it’s that now it’s kind of biographical, about the career of that person during the World War I and World War II. I think it’s a little bit more personal because you’re talking about just one person and you walk about his life, the ups and downs, his death etc.
It seems that not only the lyrical concept has changed, but also the music itself. Everything seems more raw and, to some extent, more human. Do you agree?
Tell us a little bit about the concept of this album – Erwin Rommel and his chronicles.
I agree with the rawness aspect that you mention, definitely. The second album, also because of the concept, it was more epic and heroic, but with this album we went a little bit to our first album, …Of Frost And War, which it was also pretty raw and aggressive. I think that’s what you can hear now, with this new record. It’s more intense and dirty, and you can definitely hear it in the songs.
But there’s also the human side. The previous records were talking about certain times of the war, it was more about the battles and the strategies but now you have that focus in the person, like I mentioned.
About the concept: the album starts in World War I, where he’s decorated with Pour le Mérite, the biggest that a general can get for his bravery. And then it talks about his battles in Africa, of course that’s a big part of the album. The thing with Rommel is that he was fighting on the wrong side, in the German army but he was not a big Nazi, not a big racist or anything; he was simply a good strategist and a good general. A man that was feared by the enemies and loved by his soldiers.
Do you see III: The Rommel Chronicles as being an important changing moment for the band?
I don’t know if it’s a big changing moment, I believe that’s more a continuation of what we were doing since the beginning. Sure, we putt some “extras” to have a, somehow, different result when comparing with the other two albums. Our goal is to get a little better with every album. To grow.
It seems that Hail of Bullets it’s one of those extreme metal bands that are always looking to do a good song, instead of being extreme just for the sake of it. Do you agree?
Yeah, definitely. It’s really important for us. We play old-school type of death metal. We grew up with bands like Autopsy, Bolt Thrower etc… Those bands back in the day were trying to have the heavier sound possible, so for us there’s no point of playing old-school death metal and having an 80s or 90s sound because the present is 2013 and we want to get the best and heavier sound possible… We have an old-school vibe, no doubts about it, but we are looking for a modern sound. What’s important is that I think it still sounds organic.
And like I said, making a good song is really important. Nowadays you have a lot of young bands that are playing 300 bpm, blast beats all the time and the most crazy guitar riffs that you can imagine. Ok, that´s cool, seeing the young fellows playing really nice, because you find a lot of great musicians in this young generation, but the problem is: they sometimes forget about the song, they lose the focus. The songs is the most important thing and sometimes you need to go back to the rock ‘n’ roll and hard rock to understand exactly how important is to have a really good song. I mean, we grew up with bands like Kiss, Motörhead, AC/DC… They made great fucking songs. And even if you go back to the first death metal bands you can find that because they were influence by acts like Black Sabbath, Slayer and Celtic Frost, bands that were concerned on making killer songs.
You guys worked again with Dan Swanö. Can we say that he’s like the sixth member of the band, by now?
Yeah, he is very important for us. He’s involved and interest in this project since the beginning. It’s really easy working with him. Why change a winning team?
The same five dudes since the beginning. It’s, in my opinion, one of the biggest factors for the band’s success. Do you agree?
Definitely. It has very important for us to keep this band together. When we started there were a lot of people, especially in Holland, laughing because they thought that it was a band of people with big egos (because of our other bands) and they also thought that Hail of Bullets wouldn’t pass the six-months mark because we would have fights etc. Seven years later and we’re all together.
It’s really important for this band to have these five people together because this is really a strong group.
The World Wars has been the theme for this band since the very first moment. We are now in a very complicated political, social 
and economic situation. Can you find similar aspects between these two eras? Do you see the human race committing the same fucked up mistakes?
Sometimes you almost think that another World War would be the solution, but of course it isn’t… It’s stupid, actually. I think there are differences between the two eras. Back then you had people fighting each other and now you have the war inside of each country with the terrorism and we’re talking about wars that no one can actually win. And yeah, I believe that the human race will never learn with the mistakes from the past. It’s a fucking cycle.
Tiago Moreira