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tthe good the bad the unsigned VI |
THE GOOD THE BAD THE UNSIGNED 5
Shroud Eater, From Exile, Portall, Al-Thawra, etc...
GOLD by JUSTIN GODFREY
From The Abominable Iron Sloth.
THE GOOD THE BAD THE UNSIGNED 4
Inswarm, Batillus, Final Redemption, Dirt Worshipper & More.
LIVING THE DREAM
by Jucifer's Gazelle Amber Valentine.
AGONIA RECORDS
Impiety, Aosoth, Temple of Baal, Inferno & More.
NOTES FROM NYC'S SCENE
By Flourishing's Garett Bussanick.
IT'S A 7 INCH EXTRAVAGANZA 2
Sons of Tonatiuh, Nazi Dust, Fetus Eaters, Lighthouse Project & More.
EXCERPT #1 "THE GREASE"
From a Book by Jucifer's Gazelle Amber Valentine.
THE GOOD THE BAD THE UNSIGNED 3
Of Legend, No Pity, Isthmus, El Supremo & More.
A JOYFUL NIGHT WITH THE MORIBUND CULT 2
Merrimack, Hiems, Dodsferd, Canis Dirus & More.
TALES FROM THE CUTOUT BIN XIV
Undercroft, Rademassaker, Bitch & More.
METAL REISSUES GALORE XVI
Arckanum, Realm, Brutality, Amen & More.
MILLIONS
Chicago Scene Report.
A JOYFUL NIGHT WITH
THE MORIBUND CULT
Dodsferd, I Shalt Become, Horna, Azaghal, Necronoclast & More.
TALES FROM THE
CUTOUT BIN XI
The Hidden Hand, Wurdulak, Gobblehoof, Insult II Injury, Master & More. |
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THE GOOD THE BAD THE UNSIGNED 6 |
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Here we are with the sixth installment of The Good The Bad The Unsigned. Once again there is a wide range of bands that go from the painfully slow and sludge as fuck of Ommadon to the painfully dynamic and keyboard heavy as fuck of Morgue Orgy. There were no clear winners this time around. Just clear losers. Read on and spread the word...
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While searching for Ommadon’s MySpace page I first stumbled onto another band of the same name. Proving that there is such a thing as judging a book by its cover (stupid hairdos, stupid Affliction t-shirts, stupid rude boy attitude), I determined that I was looking at the wrong band. My copy of this first recording by Scotland’s crushing Ommadon informed me that it was made of former members of Snowblood whom I reviewed here and whose music I enjoyed quite a bit. In this two-song CD-R, musicians David Tobin and Ewan Mckenzie prove that their previous outfit might have been just a little too easy going and palatable. In parts akin to Black Sun’s extreme doom sans vocals and in others offering just plain malevolent sludge dirges, Ommadon’s music overpowers every other recording I’ve heard in the past few weeks. That may just be because the heavily distorted guitars push off this devastating air wave up my nostrils or it may just be that the castigating pace proves in the end to be just a bit too over the top. In any case, high expectations are already set. MySpace |
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With a name like The Rodeo Idiot Engine I was expecting girly haircuts and silly aural nonsense and what I got was partly that. It was nonsense. Kinda. But silly it was not. And it wasn’t girly either. This Spanish band plays ultra spastic math metal. Comparisons to Messhuggah are granted and to the epileptic sounds of bands like Daughters too. Maybe early Dillinger Escape Plan also. You get the idea? No melodies, just plenty of changes, like one every two seconds. Plenty of screams, gutsy screams from a vocalist that is actually vocalizing. In music like this, it is easy to get cheated. Shit often passes for quality. Why? Because people think that intricate patterns and sheer brutality automatically add up to quality and amazing songwriting. Not true. I tell you one thing, these songs ain’t half bad. This EP is called The First Fall and is a great introductory card for this young European quintet. MySpace |
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According to the Encyclopaedia Metallum, San Francisco four piece Walken (pictured above) have been together since 1999, but this self-titled full-length only dates back to 2009. As far as I can tell there are a few previous recordings, it’s just that in this site some are listed under discography and others under ‘additional notes’. Regardless, there is something to be said about self-titled releases. Sometimes this move means a reinvention, others it is a return to the band’s roots. And yet others, it does not mean shit. In the case of Walken, I have no clue what it means. I was not familiar with this band before, but I can tell that you this much, the musicianship is flawless. To my ears, Walken sounds like a traditional metal band gone thrash. By no means do they have a dated sound. And as thrashy as they may sound to some, to me, their music has too much control to be compared to the rambunctious sounds of the Bay Area or of the Teutonic movement. The guitar work is particularly nuanced and in songs like “Thunder Paws” it is downright stellar. Handling one of the axes is Max Doyle, a dude some may know for his involvement in Grayceon. Throwing the modern vibes are the double vocals in songs like “Bitter Red”, it may be iffy for some and to others it may just be what sets the music of Walken in the metal landscape of 2010. MySpace |
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Raw Meat is the 2008 EP from Arizona quartet Slut Sister. And I know what you are thinking, ‘what a cool name! How come no one thought of that before?’ After all, we all have a slut sister, right? Well maybe you do, not me asshole! In any case, Raw Meat comes to a strong starter called “God Bless Our Dead Marines”. It is 70% seventies rock (the likes of which now would be called stoner rock) and 30% Panter-isms, the likes of which were used and abused in the latter part of the 90’s. You know what I’m talking about? Drums and guitars locking into a groove. Slut Sister keep that to a minimum, as a result leaning more to a soft hybrid between metalcore and stoner rock. Unlike every other band that’s been broken off the Black Sabbath mold, Slut Sister feature very rough vocals which is a totally un-stoner move. Dig the cover artwork. MySpace |
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And keeping the sexual themes alive we have Birmingham’s sextet Morgue Orgy. They practice a blend of melodic death metal that makes good use of all their members. There are two-to-three vocalists going on at all times and dudes don’t stop. The lyrics weren’t printed in the insert and I imagine that’s because they would have needed like 20 pages to fit them all. And I mean, nearly every second of music is decorated with vocals that go from Dani Filth-esque to cavern dwelling monster belching. And then, of course there are all those hideous clean vocals that smartly do not show up all the time. The music is incredibly dynamic and melodic. Like a lightweight Cradle of Filth, The River and I is packed with very fast melodies that showcase what these Brits have to offer; from dexterous guitars to almost virtuoso keyboards. It is the latter that ruins it for me. There is a rule of metal that says that this style and full-assed attempts at sounding grandiose don’t work and Morgue Orgy is not the exception. MySpace |
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A couple of years back I reviewed The Druid, the first demo of England’s Corvus. Then I said it sounded like ‘the drunken child of Sabbath and Motorhead’. Months later, a second demo called Lamentations followed and with it, my expectations went out the window. The vocal performance (like a drunken Lemmy) had been emptied of all the stupor and the drums had been reduced to the soulless exact tapping of a drum machine. I was disappointed. Adust is Corvus' third demo and it’s a step back in the right direction. If music careers went from good to bad, Adust would be placed right between the Druid and Lamentations. The vocal performance of Corvus Nash is still not up to par. Like in Lamentations, he sounds like an inhibited adult, like an artist in desperate need of a good producer willing to confront him and to extricate the performance he so clearly has within. Corvus sounds tipsy, but in the world of good doom, that ain’t nearly drunk enough. The music has gotten back to the levels of The Druid, awashed in stoned out psychedelia. Some of the songs here flow like good psychedelia with wet guitar melodies (the end of “Don’t Deny the Woods”) and paced beats and wisely, Corvus has also abandoned the horrible sound of a drum machine. MySpace |
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Not only do I have no desire, but I also have no reason to like a band named Your Divine Tragedy. For starters their moniker sucks. It reeks of modernity, pseudo poetic modernism that passes for depth but reveals nothing. Musically, to be honest, Awaken the Rise and Fall, isn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. You won’t find any of the hideous musical features of current rock radio. Whether they wear white belts, girl jeans and Affliction shirts remains to be seen. What you will find here is the type of alt metal that gave bands like Jimmy’s Chicken Shack their ten minutes (not even fifteen) of fame. Solid melodies, decent musicianship, a vocalist who can almost scream and whose softer side is more appealing than Antonio’s Bandera’s accent. Not my cup of tea. Too soft, too heartwarming, too radio friendly, too easy, I just can’t take it anymore. MySpace
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