CD Review: Six Feet Under – Crypt of the Devil

CD Review: Six Feet Under – Crypt of the Devil
Metal Blade Records
All Access Rating: A-

Six Feet Under - Crypt of the Devil 2015

Death-metal defilers Six Feet Under, one of the genre's flagship entities, visit the Crypt of the Devil on their 11th studio album, as Chris Barnes' brutally obsessive study of the warped psyche of a serial killer continues to plumb the depths of human depravity.

The king of terrifying guttural bellowing, Barnes tapped a new partner for this particular project in Phil "Landphil" Hall of Cannabis Corpse, who lined up his brother, Josh Hall, to track the drums and guitarist Brandon Ellis to do likewise with most of the guitar leads.

From this collaboration comes an ever-evolving theatre of the grotesque, the gruesome, violent lyrical imagery buried under mounds of filth expelled by Barnes' growling vocal fury and ever-evolving, riff-heavy grooves and dynamics, such as those unpredictable tectonic shifts underneath the gnarled, maze-like opener "Gruesome."

Anticipating where Six Feet Under is going next is impossible on this Metal Blade Records release. Chugging along in laborious fashion, the thick, heavy machinery of the menacing "Break The Cross in Half" explodes into chaotic oblivion, before the fragments reform and assume another malevolent shape. "Slit Wrists" ponderously marches through a marsh of sludge, then gathers momentum and breaks into a full gallop, while "Lost Remains" doesn't wait to unleash hell, its thrashing, speeding tempo propelled forward with relentless drive.

Amid the nightmarish, earthy environs of Crypt of the Devil – its meaty textures enough for bloodthirsty listeners to gnaw on for hours – are brief moments of beauty, the stained-glass, darkly kaleidoscopic bridge to "Stab" a spellbinding respite from pounding rhythmic intensity and the melodic, arcing dual-guitar leads of the roiling "Open Coffin Orgy" offsetting its militant, snap-to-attention beats and manic energy. Not interested in reinventing the Six Feet Under aesthetic, Barnes and his grave-robbing brethren emphasize what the band has always done best – see how they morph from the stuttering intro to "The Night Bleeds" into the kind of thick, churning riffage they can concoct in their sleep.

That's not to say Crypt of the Devil is rehashing the past. Instead, Six Feet Under drives its rumbling hearse forward, fearlessly confronting all of our horrible fears without mercy and sharpening its attack.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Cannibal Corpse – A Skeletal Domain

CD Review: Cannibal Corpse – A Skeletal Domain
Metal Blade Records
All Access Rating: A-

Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain 2014

Cannibal Corpse has crossed just about every line imaginable in its 26 gore-splattered years of existence.

So, when the band's new producer, Mark Lewis, says of the death-metal destroyers' new Metal Blade Records release, A Skeletal Domain, that "there are moments on this record that have never happened in musical history," he may not simply be engaging in wild hyperbole.

Lewis, who's worked with such heavy-hitters as DevilDriver and the Black Dahlia Murder, replaces Erik Rutan, who honed the sound of the band's last three records. Having updated Cannibal Corpse's extreme sonic assault, Lewis has somehow intensified their already enormous, swirling maelstrom of violent, blood-and-guts imagery, frenzied blast beats, George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher's guttural roar, Alex Webster's impossibly fast bass currents, psychotic tempo shifts and flaying riffs seemingly run through a wood chipper.

Executed with surgical attention to detail and a tortured mix of calculated instrumental discipline and crazed, completely unpredictable guitar attacks from Pat O'Brien and Rob Barrett, A Skeletal Domain is a uniquely brutal rampage of thrash energy. Unleashing a barrage of diabolical progressions that go places that would be off limits to less twisted imaginations, delirious blitzkriegs like "High Velocity Impact Splatter," "Icepick Lobotomy," "Sadistic Embodiment" and "Kill or Become" – "Corpsegrinder" raging, "Fire up the chainsaw" with homicidal intent – become scary aural loony bins, with complex stuff going on in the dark recesses that's truly shocking and unexpected.

There are interludes of heavy, slower crawls, such as those in the title track, that allow for brief respites from the all-out war Cannibal Corpse fights in the closer "Hollowed Bodies," where the chugging guitars grind bones into sawdust, just as they do in "Vector of Cruelty." Amid the malevolent chaos there is structure, and it's strong and flexible enough to withstand this wicked, destructive sonic turbulence.

Inevitably, most Cannibal Corpse conversation revolves around the ridiculously graphic nature of the band's iconic album covers and lyrics, the depictions of mutilation and dismemberment so outrageous they're almost cartoonish. The ferocious ambition and sheer audacity of A Skeletal Domain, suggestive of bands like Meshuggah, might just steer the discussion more toward Cannibal Corpse's technical skill and lethal precision.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Sodom – Epitome of Torture

CD Review: Sodom – Epitome of Torture

Steamhammer/SPV

All Access Rating: B+

Sodom - Epitome of Torture 2013

War is hell, and the concept of it scares Sodom’s Tom Angelripper to death. To deal with his dread, he paints some of the most horrifying scenes of bloody carnage imaginable in the gory, death-obsessed lyrics smeared all over the bombed-out walls of Sodom’s catalog. His fears haven’t abated in recent years; neither has his seething anger.

There’s a bonus track on the limited-edition digipak version of the German thrash-metal juggernaut’s newest LP, Epitome of Torture, called “Waterboarding,” where Angelripper winces at just how far sadistic interrogators are willing to go behind closed doors. And then there’s the blistering “Katjuschka,” which finds Angelripper shaking his head in disgust over a Russian rocket launcher – responsible for death and destruction on a massive scale – that has the same name as a folk song about a young girl. Nobody’s laughing at the irony, especially not Angelripper, whose descriptive lyrics are as intellectually sharp as the point of a spear on the action-packed Epitome of Torture.

Fortunately for him, Angelripper has a vehicle for expressing his outrage, and that’s Sodom, whose latest album – quite possibly one of the hardest-hitting and most rugged of their career, sounding very much like Slayer in their prime or early Metallica – simply spits nails and inhales mustard gas like it was French perfume. “S.O.D.O.M.” and “Stigmatized” are particularly brutal and ferocious sermons of apocalyptic devastation and intensity, with new drummer Markus “Makka” Freiwald setting a frantic pace and throwing down a frenzied gauntlet of double-kick drum fury. And the title track jumps right into the fray, throwing brass-knuckled riff haymakers left and right – as guitarist Bernemann does throughout Epitome of Torture – and repeatedly thrusting its sharp bayonets into the song’s sinewy flesh. Perhaps inspired by Freiwald’s manic drumming, an energized Bernemann unleashes some of the most potent and rabid riffage of his career. And his solos are just as explosive.

Never taking a breather, although “My Final Bullet” and “Cannibal” have their melodic parts, Epitome of Torture is a wildfire that consumes everything in its path, though the songwriting is not quite as multi-faceted as that of their countrymen Kreator. The speed of “Shoot Today, Kill Tomorrow” is blinding, while “Invocating the Demons” flies around in dizzying fashion, like a nosediving fighter jet. And although Epitome of Torture often feels like it is constantly going 120 miles per hour, without ever slowing down, there are dynamic shifts in tempo and moments of crushing heaviness in tracks like “Into the Skies of War” and the closer “Tracing the Victim,” with its gripping, almost seductive hooks closing their fingers around your throat.

Mad as hell on Epitome of Torture, Angelripper is not going to take it anymore. His guttural growls and in-your-face rages demand your undivided attention as he regales you with tales of human depravity and callous disregard for the sanctity of life. It’s tough, hard-nosed and graphic, just like the over-the-top violence depicted on the Epitome of Torture cover, sort of a tamer, but more politicized, version of Cannibal Corpse artwork. Sodom will not be silenced, and with records like this, Angelripper’s roaring voice should be heard. http://www.spv.de/

-        – Peter Lindblad