Dire Fate - Ritual/Rehearsal MMXI

Dire Fate is a 3-piece traditional doom metal band hailing from Melbourne. They’ve been around since 2008 and have release a couple of demos so far. Their most recent demo “Ritual/Rehearsal MMXI” was passed on to me by my good friends at Graveyard Shift Records.

This demo begins with the longest track “Ah Satan… (Do You Know Him?)” which opens with a droning intro leading into the drums and the first riff. You are giving a huge Black Sabbath vibe here. This song gives off a ritualistic vibe with it’s slow and monotonous riffing and almost chant-like depressingly epic vocals. There are some interesting guitar moments as well, including a chugging riff and solo section which would normally seem out of place in this type of song but works exceedingly well here. All in all a good track that doesn’t get boring in it’s 8 minute time span.

Next up is “Cast the Spell”, which reeks of early Candlemass and Pentagram worship! Heavy riffs, soaring epic and melodic vocal lines, thundering bass and pounding drums abound in this track. A slow and heavy dirge that any self-respecting doom metal fan would enjoy.

The third, final and shortest track “Spire of War” is my favourite on the demo. It opens with a crushing Sabbath-inspired fuzzed-out riff, pounding drums, and I think the vocalist is at his best here. Again, I get a huge Candlemass vibe, but there are certainly other forces of doom active in the influences. I find this song to be a catchy, fist pumping masterpiece of doom that could easily contend with the best the genre has to offer, and a fine example of an up-and-coming band finding their sound.

5/5 An excellent demo that I would play to any doomster with confidence.

Check them out.

Gorphyryac / Nexwomb - Infernal Warbeasts of the Necrotorium

Recently, I reviewed the debut demo by Nexwomb, a “Ross Bay” style black/death metal band from Portland, USA. “Infernal Warbeasts of the Necrotorium” is their second release, a split 7” with Gorphyryac, a young band from California who play black/thrash metal heavily influenced by Bestial Warlust and the like.



SIDE ONE: Gorphyryac.

Gorphyryac’s side of the split features two tracks of blistering shark bastard warfare. Imagine if the members of Bestial Warlust decided to get hammered and play thrash. I don’t think I could choose one track over the other here as they’re both very similar in style and complement each other well. Looking forward to hearing more from these boys.

Raw batshit fast angry metal is what Gorphyryac does and they do it well.

3.5/5



SIDE TWO: Nexwomb.

Those of you who read my recent review of “Militant Heretic Aggression” would know that Nexwomb worship at the altar of Blasphemy. The track on offer here “Subversive Exhortation of Carnal Blasphemy” isn’t much different, stylistically speaking, from what’s on the demo. What you do notice, however, is the band has improved quite a bit as musicians since the demo.

The song begins with a bit of a blasting intro, leading into some slower riffing that gives off a very dark vibe, then leading back into more blasts! This all builds up to an epic slower/mid-paced section starting at around the 2.30 mark which carries on for most of this nearly 6 minute track.

All in all this is a great song. I hope Nexwomb continue to make excellent material such as this.

5/5

A great split, both sides are stellar and I wish the best of luck to these two up and coming bands!

POLLS POLLS POLLS!

I will be occasionally featuring a poll in the upper right corner of the site (above my ugly mug!) with suggestions I have come up with that may or may not help me improve this blog and perhaps keep more active.

I will also be happy to take suggestions via email at shoutat_thedevil88@hotmail.com

GET VOTING!!!

Terra Australis – Slave to the Moon-Shadow

Terra Australis are a two-piece black metal outfit hailing from Melbourne, Australia. They’re a fairly new band, having only formed in 2008, but so far, they’ve put out 4 demos, a compilation and two full length albums. “Slave to the Moon-shadow” is their second full length, released in the December of 2010.

Musically, Terra Australis clearly worship Norwegian style black metal such as Burzum, Mayhem and (early) Darkthrone. Lightning fast tremolo riffing, blast beats, strange “ambient” moments and high-pitched shrieks are to be found aplenty on this release.

Most of the album is your standard 90’s black metal but mixed up with synths (non-gay synths, mind you!) and aforementioned odd bits of ambience. One of the highlights would have to be the song “Satan’s Soldiers Elite”, which I actually didn’t like very much at first but after a few listens has grown to be my favourite track off the album. The weird “chorus” is what threw me off, but after repeated listening it “clicked” in my mind and fits the song just as well as the kick-arse guitar solo near the end. The other stand-out song here is the epic "Black Candles Black Wine", trust me here, this song is just killer!

I’ve not much else to say about this album, except that it is definitely a grower, with my personal favourite song being a perfect example of what I mean. I have to point out, though; I don’t usually listen to this style of black metal, but this release has been getting regular play on my stereo recently.

4/5 Give it a chance, if it doesn’t stick with you at first, give it a few more listens. I’m looking forward to hearing where these guys take their music on future releases.

EDIT: Being the tired half-asleep fuck stick that I am, I forgot to mention what I consider to be the climax of "Slave to the Moon-Shadow"! The seventh track, entitled "Pledge Allegiance "Submit To Satan"" is the absolute peak of this album. At 8 minutes and 32 seconds long, I have no idea how I forgot to mention this in the main part of the review. This song truly represents what Terra Australis (in my mind, at least) is all about. "Melbourne Black Metal Terror" indeed!

Assaulter - Boundless

Assaulter is a three-piece black/thrash band from the central coast of New South Wales, Australia who has been around since 2004. They have previously released two demos, an EP, a full length entitled “Salvation Like Destruction” and a split 7” with Trench Hell. Boundless is their second full length, released on March 11th, 2011.



Their sound is best described as a mix between Australian comrades Destroyer 666 and Gospel of the Horns, German thrash metal titans Kreator and Destruction with a bit of Mercyful Fate flair in some of the songs. Their first album was clearly more black metal influenced, where as this second full length is a much more thrash orientated offering.

This is an album chock full of variety. It begins with two straightforward thrashing tunes to get you in the mood, then leads into something more akin to a dirtier Mercyful Fate with not much thrash except for the snarling Teutonic inspired vocals. There are also some odd yet subtle middle-eastern/ethnic type rhythms and arrangements thrown in here and there, which keep things interesting and are definitely not the type of influences you would expect to hear on an Australian thrash release!

It’s quite refreshing to hear an Aussie black/thrash band who doesn’t ride all over KK Warslut’s dick (which is kind of ironic, considering mainman S. Berserker has played in D666). Assaulter certainly has a lot to offer musically, as you can hear a clear progression from “Salvation Like Destruction” to this release. Not only are there plenty of musical improvements, but the production on this album is perfect for their sound and I feel this band has really found their element with “Boundless”.

It’s extremely hard to choose a stand-out track on this monster of an album, but the 5th track “Perpetual War” is definitely a high point, and an extremely varied song that showcases everything that “Boundless” has to offer.

I really don’t think there is anything else I can say about this album. Buy it. And buy the first one. And buy everything else they release in the future.

5/5 BUY IT!

Ritual and Rampage – Local Thrash bands from my area.

Up until recently there has been a drought of good old-school metal around the area where I live. However, I went to a gig a few nights ago that has restored my faith in the Wollongong music “scene”. It featured two up and coming young thrash metal bands; Ritual and Rampage.

Ritual play an intense mix of early Slayer, Morbid Saint, Kreator, Destruction and Whiplash style thrash metal. Fast, aggressive and violent (with a few cool guitar solo moments courtesy of lead guitarist Dan) thrashing rage is the order of the day for these young men. They haven’t released anything yet, but from what I understand they are working towards getting something out in the near future. Give ‘em time, the boys are still in high school!

Rampage have been making a bit of a name for themselves in Sydney recently, having played shows alongside other great bands such as Hellbringer and Teratornis. They sound like a mix of Razor and Demolition Hammer with a bit of Exodus attitude and showmanship thrown in. They released an EP just over a year ago entitled “The Rampage Begins” and a demo back in 2009. I found out from frontman Rob that they are currently focusing on putting together new material for a full length release.

Now, here are some pictures I snapped on my phone at the show, excuse the not-so-great quality, but I’m not about to stop buying records so I can afford a good camera! (READ: some of the Ritual photos were captured by a friend of the band named Zac who kindly gave me permission to use his photos):

Ritual:











Rampage:

Children of Technology – It’s Time to Face the Doomsday

Children of Technology are a 4-piece from Italy who refer to their music as “Motorcharged speed-crust”. They look like they stepped straight out of a “Mad Max” film and sound like a crust punk band who have been on a massive thrash metal bender. Oh and they forgot that it’s not 1987 anymore!

The obvious influences here are Motorhead and Discharge, hence the “Motorcharged speed-crust” thing they have going on. There’s also a few other influences that stick out, such as Toxic Holocaust, The Exploited and Barbatos as well as the usual crust suspects (Doom, Wolfbrigade, basically anything catchy as the clap that contains d-beats) then chuck in some old-school thrash such as Onslaught, the first Bathory album, Razor, early Voivod and a very healthy dose of early Venom. So, if you’re looking for something fresh and original, do not entry.

So what to expect sound-wise? How about; Lemmy-esque gravel throated vocals, catchy as hell bluesy yet chugging riffs complemented by the crunchy yet twangy guitar tone, the occasional thrash break, intense gang vocals, audible bass and competent drumming? Does that sound like your cup of tea, or should I say your bottle of beer?

My personal favourites on this release are “Racing through the Valley of Death”, “No Fuel…No Hope!!!” and “Escape from the Danger Zone”, although every song has its moments and I can’t say anything bad about a single track.

So to sum it up, if you like your metal and your punk filled to the brim with catchiness and attitude, go on over to Hells Headbangers and order “It’s Time to Face the Doomsday” right now!

5/5