Destruktor - Nailed

What we have here, is the long-awaited full-length album by Australian War Metal horde Destruktor. Something I spent a LOT of time anticipating!

These boys play a mix of Black, Death and Thrash Metal. Over the years they have combined the mixture in different ways, starting off with a more straight-forward Black Metal approach on their first demo, then going for a bestial Black Thrash assault on the Brutal Desecration EP, then a more Death Thrash sound on the Nuclear Storm EP. Nailed, however, goes in a very Death Metal direction, whilst still keeping strong Black and Thrash Metal influences, it is clear that the old-school Death Metal sound is now the most dominant influence.

The album kicks off with a slow, brooding intro that kicks into a smasher of evil Death-thrashing awesomeness that is the song “Embrace the Fire” which hastily sets the mood for the rest of the album. Every song on this album is a relentless blasting assault on your ear-pussy that simply crushes and forces it’s way into your head. The songs are generally mid-length, catchy, fast and evil. There is a bit of overkill when it comes to blast beats, but it seems to work here, it just fits with the mood.

My personal favourite tracks would have to be Violence Unseen and Meccademon. It’s hard to choose a stand-out, though, as every track is killer. This album is not for the faint hearted, it is old-school, heavy, evil and has riffs that kill! This is Australian Metal played the way it should be played.

5/5

www.myspace.com/666destruktor

Some Australian Metal recommendations!

Alright so I'm back! Gonna try and update this thing a bit more now.
To start off with, I'm gonna recommend some cool new-ish Australian releases/bands, then soon I'll be back to posting a review or two a week, hopefully!

Destruktor - Nailed



Took these boys a while to finally get around to putting out a full length. They unleashed this beast of an album on the world in late September 2009, and HOLY FUCK it was worth the wait! I have a backpatch of this album for a reason, instant classic.

Ignivomous - Death Transmutation



Now this band is a bloody gem and a half! Straight up Old School Death Metal that worships at the altar of Incantation. Hell.Fucking.YEAH!

Stormbane - Tortured in the Arms of Salvation



Judging by the name, it's pretty obvious where Stormbane draw a lot of their influence from. Their interesting blend of Dissection and Destroyer 666 worship is very cool indeed. Watch out for these guys!

Vomitor - Devils Poison



God damn I was anticipating this release for a while. It did NOT disappoint! Bloody great straight up Deathrash, played the old school way!

Cemetery Urn - The Conquered Are Burned



Fast, demonic, intense, bestial. Old School Death Metal played in the most chaotic way possible!

Rampage - The Rampage Begins...



Straight up Bay Area Thrash from my local area! Great fun!

Darker Half - Duality



Melodic yet thrashy Power Metal in the vein of Dungeon/Lord. Excellent stuff.

And that just about wraps up my return post! I highly recommend each and every one of these albums to ANY Heavy Metal fan! Check them out, enjoy, maybe leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Cheers! Vagabond.

I have a Forum now.

Check it out and please join here: http://witchingmetal.forum-motion.net/forum.htm

Will also FINALLY get around to writing more reviews etc soon. Been very busy.

Cheers!

Sorry for the lack of updates!

Life's been a bit hectic lately what with the end/start of the year, trying to find a new job and a bunch of other shit.

I'll get my arse into gear soon and write a bunch of reviews.

Watch this space!

Vagabond.

Mangled Condition - DEMO 2009

Grinding their way out of Semarang in Indonesia comes MANGLED CONDITION, A brutal two piece Deathgrind band with enough originality, bludgeoning riffs, brutal blasts and sickness to leave their listeners brutalized and craving more!

This demo released in 2009 contains 2 songs showcasing the sickness and technicality of Mangled Condition. The first is a 41 second intro track called "Violent Killer" which starts off with a great sample to get you ready for the brutality that will ensue. The audio sample paints a picture of a "world where violence, fear and murder are a way of life". Just as the track is coming to an end, with only 5 seconds left, the band grind their way through the speakers with some ultra brutal riffs and blasting drums, and vocals so guttural they would make Will Rahmer himself jelous!

'Tortured and Sodomized" starts off with another choice audio sample before slamming into one of the finest cuts of extreme metal I have heard in a long time. The riffs are razor sharp and showcase the technical abilty of band members 'Ekky'( Guitars, Drum Programming), and Ardi (Bass, Vocals). The riffs twist and turn along with Ardi's insane brutal vocals before the song takes a break from the blasting and slows down into a crushing venemous riff at about the 2 minute mark.. This doesn't last long however, Soon after we are treated to a bridge with some very tasteful lead work that adds an element of evil and depth to the song, And then its back to the blasting for the last 20 seconds of the track!

I can't recommend this enough, The best part is you can listen to both tracks for free at http://www.myspace.com/mangledcondition , The band have also just released these songs on a Split CD with French grindcore band "Decomposed Asthetic", The split is called "Innards Exposition" and can be purchased from Human Discount Records http://www.myspace.com/humandiscountrecs.

I may have taken an age to discuss just 2 songs, But this band is not your average death grind band. Which has me excited, I can't wait to hear more music from Mangled Condition, And if this demo is anything to go by, We're all in for a real treat when they put out a full length release.

4/5

Forgery - Hellbringer

Australian Thrash Metal, what's not to love about it? Since the 80's we've been blessed with a ton of great bands (Slaughter Lord, Mortal Sin, Armoured Angel, Addictive, Destroyer 666, Grenade and Gospel of the Horns to name a few.)from this wonderful land down under. Forgery are one such Australian Thrash band, hailing from Canberra these 3 young men proudly wear their influences on their sleeve (there's obvious Sodom and Venom influences to be found all over the place here) and are here to do one thing, and that thing is; THRASH!

The EP kicks off with a haunting intro that leads into the ripping title track which thrashes without mercy and lets you know you're in for one hell of a neck-snapping listen. The best way to describe the sound on this EP is Venom jamming on Whiplash songs with Tom Angelripper on vocals (The bassist/vocalist, sounds a LOT like Onkel Tom).

The riffs in every song simply slay and are varied enough to keep you from getting bored. The guitar tone is violent and evil which fits in perfectly with pounding drums and thumping bass (that you can actually hear!). What you are in for here is a thrash assault that does not let up until these boys are done.

My personal favourite track on Hellbringer is "Spawns of the Void" which builds up with a Metallica-esque intro that leads into an evil sounding mid-paced thrasher. It is hard to choose a stand-out track on such a consistant EP, though.

Watch out for these guys, true THRASH METAL runs in their blood. Posers need not apply.

4/5

Support the band and buy this EP by messaging them over myspace at www.myspace.com/forgerythrash or emailing them at forgery101@hotmail.com.

Simplistic Genocide - Hazardous Thrash

Simplistic Genocide are a Thrash Metal band hailing from Connecticut USA. I don't know much else about them aside from the fact this is their first demo and it shows a lot of potential, under the low quality production and obvious DIY attitude.

The intro and opening track set the mood quite well and you know right from the get-go that you're in for some straight up, punky as fuck Thrash Metal. The production quality is pretty bad, but you can still hear enough of what's going on to know what these guys are all about, and it adds a touch of personality to the music. Not that this group need any more personality added, they have great charisma.

While the production may be low-fi, you can still here all the instruments (yes, even the bass!) and the songs still kick plenty of arse. The best way to describe their sound would be a mix of crossover punk attitude and thrash metal aggression. My favourite track off this demo would have to be the second track "Dying on the Front Line", it's simply a kick-arse fast thrash number that reminds me of crossover era Sodom.

All in all, Simplistic Genocide aren't trying to do anything new or original, rather just sticking to what they like and having a good time doing it. There is a lot of potential shown in this demo, and I would love to hear more from these young'uns in the future.

3.5/5

www.myspace.com/simplisticgenocide