Austrian Death Machine Is Brootal

So I came across the goofy, 1-man, testosterone fueled, metal band that is known as Austrian Death Machine and I have to say, it isn't too bad. For those of you that haven't heard of this, it's basically a metal tribute to the great action star Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying apparently recorded the vocals, guitars, bass, and drums for the entire album himself, with a little help from As I Lay Dying band mates and some dude who does a pretty good Arnold Schwarzenegger impression. The songs basically quote all of his movies and have the dumbest lyrics I have ever read. But then again, in that sense, the lyrics are basically perfect for this type of album.

"You betrayed me
You betrayed me
Now you're out for blood
To make me your kill
I must put a stop to this
By impaling you with a drill
Screw you
Screw you
Screw you Benny" - Screw You Benny, Austrian Death Machine.

As for the music, it's really just re-hashed As I Lay Dying songs with less complexity and tons of random-ass guitar solos. I guess you could call it mosh music or just straight up thundering metal that doesn't hold much weight in terms of brilliance. However, seeing as this isn't meant to be serious, each song was written in under an hour, and some songs are called, "Who is Your Daddy, and What Does He Do?" "Get to the Choppa," and "Screw You Benny," how can I not like this? And I mean the album is called Total Brutal, c'mon now. Plus, 7 of the tracks are just the Arnold impersonator doing comical skits with Tim Lamesis. So if you're willing to just have a good laugh or have nothing better to do I would consider checking this out. If anything it's just funny to hear "Schwarzenegger" tell Lambesis that he sounds like a dying moose.


Focus Tracks:
Get to the Choppa, You Have Been Erased, All the Songs Sound the Same, What It's Like to Be a Singer at Band Practice, Screw You Benny, If It Bleeds We Can Kill It, It's Not A Tumor

War of Ages: Melodic Metalcore Masterpiece

War of Ages seemed to start as a very harsh, yet tight Christian metalcore act in 2002. Not that the Christian part necessarily matters because honestly, without reading the lyrics I don't think it's possible to tell. Anyway, every release they've had (I believe the latest is technically their fourth album because their debut was re-released on Facedown records) has become more technical and more melodic, which is a damn good thing. I can't say how annoying it is when metalcore is looked down upon for being too repetitive because all of the bands sound the same. I got my hands on their newest album, Arise and Conquer, and all I can say is, War of Ages brings fresh meat to the table to be fully and heartily enjoyed by open-minded metal fans.

Arise and Conquer is like a non-stop battle of good against evil told through dueling guitars, thundering drums, and a fierce vocalist. This album gives War of Age's band name true meaning. The album really grabbed me as soon as I began to listen, which is always great because no one likes to force themselves to listen to something boring. The album is upbeat and head-bangable, the rhythm isn't uncontrollable and fast so you loose your mind trying to keep up. The thundering and pummeling drumming fuses nicely with the slower yet more melodic and technical guitars so I could really listen to the layers that each song had. Songs like, "Generational Curse" and "Salvation" really illustrate the band showcasing their knowledge of how great melodic metal can be fused with the fury of metalcore to make an amazingly unique sound. And even though this is metalcore, it has enough variety to keep anyone interested to hear more.

Well it looks like War of Ages has it again, they've constructed a well mixed album that blends awesome guitar harmonizing, a vicious vocal performance, perfectly clean melodies, and a sick album cover to top it all off. Compared to Pride of the Wicked, their previous release, I would say that War of Ages has matured in terms of song complexity and branching away from the traditional, old, re-hashed metalcore scene, and formed into a band who has finally found their own sound.

Focus Tracks:
Generational Curse, When Faith Turns to Ashes, Salvation, Sleep of Prisoners, Yet Another Fallen Eve, The Awakening

Whitechapel: Deathcore Take-Over!

Has anyone else noticed the large amount of deathcore bands rising from the bloody carcass of the earth these days? I sure as hell have. Whitechapel's Metal Blade debut: This Is Exile shows us a great example of the deathcore genre and how it's practically taking over with brute force. A solid release on a pretty big metal label, without sounding like every other up-and-coming band. Whitechapel mix just the right amount of gut-wrenching violence with the pummeling blast-beats that death metal drummers are so good for. The whole vibe of the album gives you a feeling like you've been cast into the deepest and darkest pits of despair and turmoil without an escape of any kind. The album cover alone makes me feel like that anyway. It's not even a gorey portrayal of destruction either, it's a person covered in razor wire with a bag over their head, talk about creepy...

This Is Exile is jam-packed with pig squeals from hell, guttural growling like that of Job For A Cowboy and Winds of Plague, a fair amount of guitar proficiency (there are 3 guitarists), although there is still a lot of very fast yet very heavy chugging, and bone-shattering double-bass brutality. This Is Exile is just one of those album that never lets up, just keeps dragging you through the broken glass and torn bodies of the fallen without a second glance. "This Is Exile," "To All That Are Dead," "Daemon (The Procreated)" and "Exalt" are fantastically arranged songs that bludgeon you to a bloody pulp and then feed on your entrails, while "Of Legions" and "Messiahbolical" just give you that eerie feeling of being trapped in a pitch black torture chamber with only the sound of your own breathing to keep you company. The only downside of this album is the constant use of the word "fuck" throughout almost every song, which makes it difficult to play on the radio. Apart from that though, Whitechapel make a definitive impact on the deathcore genre with their primal rage and infernal wrath.

Focus Tracks:
The whole album is a journey, just listen to it all the way through.

Keep of Kalessin: Untraditional Black Metal

A few months ago, several friends and I went to see Dimmu Borgir and Behemoth at Mr. Smalls in Pittsburgh, PA. Needless to say the show put on by both Dimmu Borgir and Behemoth was flawlessly filled with Satanic rituals, anti-Christian rants, blood spewing, and Nergal of Behemoth ripping up a bible. Before all of that though, there was a smaller band that none of us had heard of that opened for these larger black metal acts. We were all blown away by the sheer intensity that this band displayed, as well as the fact that the bass drums were so incredibly loud it was difficult to breathe properly. This band is known as Keep of Kalessin.

Keep of Kalessin recently released their 4th album, Kolossus, which I have to admit is a damn fine representation of untraditional black metal. It's fast, brutal, full of fury, and straight to the point. Unlike more traditional Norwegian black metal acts like Darkthrone and Mayhem, that feature high pitched screams, hyper-speed drumming, and very raw and grisly guitar work, Keep of Kalessin, add deeper guttural growls, more experimental drums, and some aspects of symphonic black metal and thrash to the mix. These additions make Kolossus an album full of variety and a lot of fun to listen to. With that said, it is safe to say that Keep of Kalessin may very well be considered a more progressive black metal band than anything else, kind of like Enslaved.

"Warmonger" is a very good example of the band experimenting with different types of extreme metal because the song promotes the usage of groove-oriented drumming, guitar soloing, much deeper vocals and that lyrical rawness that every black metal fan adores: deep hatred for the Christian religion. Not to exclude the epitome of machine gun double-bass drumming, blast beats, and pure, unbridled speed, but I think that Keep of Kalessin enjoys a bigger variety of playing styles than just those. "The Rising Sign" is another track that stands out because it features a long section of peaceful symphonic sounding instruments that bring everything to a calm state before hurtling the listener back into the blood-soaked war between corpse-painted demons and Christian angels.

Whether you're a black metal fan or not, this album is definitely worth checking out just for the sake of hearing something different and full of variation. Traditional Norwegian black metal is relentlessly evil and a great inspiration to many, but seeing a black metal band willing to branch out a little is definitely something to look out for.

Focus Tracks:
Kolossus, The Mark of Power, Warmonger, Against the Gods, A New Empire's Birth

Bonded By Blood: A Modern Thrash Attack

For those of you that think that thrash metal is a dying breed, I have some important news for you... I haven't seen this many thrash albums come out in a VERY long time. If anything, thrash metal has been refurbished and is now taking over with tremendous force. With that said, I just got Bonded By Blood's debut, Feed the Beast from Earache records and I have two words: FUCKING AWESOME! Does the band name sound familiar? Well, it is in fact a tribute to the famous thrash band Exodus and their debut in the 80's. This is genuine thrash at its best, these guys are young and ready to rip your face off with 12 ridiculously fast-paced thrash assaults, including a cover of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song.

This is the kind of thrash album where the riffs and solos are comparable in terms of intensity and complexity. And with song titles such as, "Necropsy," "Self Immolation," and "Feed the Beast" it's clear what these guys' intentions are: total fucking destruction. With lyrics like, "Blood boiling heat, what a wonderful treat, like getting fucked with a knife" how can you possibly say no? But apart from the songs and their undeniable "bang-your-fucking-head" mentality, the production of the album is really fantastic. Not only is the album mixed very cleanly, the sound of all the instruments together sounds very fresh and deep. More often than not I will hear a thrash album that I like, but it sounds like it was recorded in someone's garage. It's got almost a tinny feeling to it. Feed the Beast is heavy, fresh, has great production value, and will leave you wanting more bloody carnage because from start to finish you are force-fed unrelenting classic thrash straight from the blood drenched soul of Satan.


Focus Tracks:
The whole god damned album rules!

DragonForce's New Video

While this may not be the news for everyone, it's definitely news for me, DragonForce just released a music video for the song "Heroes of Our Time" off of their new album Ultra Beatdown, which is set to be released in August. I know these guys get a lot of criticism for their outrageously fast playing style and from what I hear, their live shows not being that great. But so what? I think as a power/speed metal band known for playing ridiculously fast, how can anyone deny that they are fun to listen to? After watching the video on YouTube, I found that the dudes from DragonForce are definitely attempting to play even faster than they did on Inhuman Rampage. And after seeing the dueling guitar solo that ensued about half way through the video I think it's amazing to see that Herman Li and Sam Totman have kept adding more strange and unique ways to use their whammy bars and fancy guitar techniques. And with their new Ibanez signature guitars on hand, Herman and Sam are really able to tear it up to no end! I really cannot wait to see how the rest of the album turns out.

Check out the video here.

Cavalera Conspiracy ≠ Sepultura

I have been bothered to no end by this little bit of controversy over the new flavor of metal created by the Cavalera brothers. For all the haters, the Cavalera Conspiracy is not supposed to be a reinvented version of tribal infused death metal cult that is Sepultura. It seems that people are so hung up on the fact that Max and Iggor left Sepultura separately, went on to different projects, but are now back together that they should just rehash the old stuff they're known for. So many people get upset because they're unimpressed by this un-Sepultura creation. The Cavalera brothers aren't going back to Sepultura, get over it. Instead of tribal death metal, the Cavalera brothers bring a whole new form of fucking hateful music to the table, what I like to call curb-stomping metal. Self-explanitory songs like "Must Kill" and "Nevertrust" are two especially hateful tracks worth checking out for the titles alone. With mind numbingly fast guitar work and blistering drumming, Cavalera Conspiracy are unrelenting, fierce, unstoppable and every other adjective necessary to describe primal rage. And with the help of Mark Rizzo of Soulfly and Joe Duplantier of Gojira, the four musicians are able to create a bludgeoning assault of gruesome fury. They are not Sepultura or Soulfly, but they should not be overlooked.

Focus Tracks:
Inflikted, Sanctuary, Ultra-Violent, The Doom of All Fires, Nevertrust, Must Kill