Rotting Corpse Records: Reviews

The fine folks at Rotting Corpse Records have a knack for finding some of the sickest players in America's underground. The blackened thrash of Massachusetts' BABY.STAB.HORROR is certainly no exception to that statement. In fact, they may very well turn out to be the MVP of the label's roster. BABY.STAB.HORROR takes an approach that sees the straight-forward pummel you'd expect to hear from LAMB OF GOD's unwashed little cousin and slams it into a mountain of melodic malevolence. The elements of black metal, prevalent as they are, are not polished enough to site the likes of DIMMU BORGIR as a reference nor are they muddied enough to be pigeon-holed as a "basement band". In other words, to paraphrase that porridge-stealing bitch Goldilocks, this is just right. With technical riffs, artful soloing, the chilling ambiance of keyboards and vocals evil enough to drive nuns to suicide, Manifesto Infernale shows the world that BABY.STAB.HORROR have not come to fuck around.

True metallic fury has been unleashed as Deadnight blasts forth with Messenger of Death, one of the most hammering, true METAL albums of the year. The brainchild of the man known just as Mike (Vocals, all Guitars, Percussion & Keyboards), Deadnight creates a twisted, brain-blasting, wall of metal chaos that will leave riff-crazy metalheads in a state of nirvana. Tracks like "Burned Alive", "Keeper of Souls", "Unholy Revenge" and "Die with Me" are tight-as-fuck, blistering assaults packed to overflowing with enough Destruction/Kreator-like riffwork to transport you back in time to the mid 80's faster than you can buckle your fucking bullet belt. Throw in a cover painting by Ed McCormick that would have been right at home on any King Diamond vinyl and you have one of the most essential metallic purchases of the year.

Metal fans in Roanoke, VA have been treated to the roaring speed metal of DOOM SYNDICATE for a while, and now it is time for the world. Beyond Salvation is the first full-length album from DOOM SYNDICATE and it hopefully will not be the last. This album is as fast and technical as you can imagine and every track on it keeps you banging your head from beginning to end. The standout tracks on the album are the title track and "Product of Environment", but don't discount the other seven tracks because they all deserve their day in court. This is definitely an excellent debut from a band you'll surely hear from in the future.

The easiest way to sum up Chicago based Ebonmortis' _Reconstruction by Force_ is simply brutal, super speedy, crunchy death metal with blackened vocals. Tearing and utterly wailing guitar work adds a ton of technicality and artistry to the album. Contrasted with chuggy breakdowns and the standard testosterone fueled hardcore vocals, _Reconstruction by Force_ seems to contradict itself with where it's going at times. Sometimes feeling like some new pseudo-Scandinavian black metal experiment gone a little mainstream, other times feeling like it's standard American Midwest death metal, and still at others the aforementioned thrashtastic guitar solos on a few of the tracks are a direct call back to 1985 black denim and white high top days.

For what it's worth, the record definitely conveys an appreciation for metal as a whole, and it pulls from every aspect of the music. It's pretty standard death metal with a ton of traditional hardcore influences. The vocals run the gambit from the higher pitched thrash-speak to black metal wails, but stay almost exclusively to deep death metal rising up into hardcore chants. This isn't an album for purists but for crossover fans, and for the typical metal listener, Rotting Corpse found a good one with Ebonmortis. _Reconstruction by Force_ definitely will satiate the appetite of young metal fans everywhere.

Blast beats are played bestially in tracks like "Resurrection of Ancient Evil", combined with some old school influences in the raw sound that the guitars sound. The vocals sound as agonic and powerful as always, giving that deathly unholy feeling o the lyrics and showing all the aggression that the band unleashes. Ultra fast guitar solos are another trademark in the tunes, contrasting with the big wall of sound delivered by the rhythm guitar and the bass. This album has better sound than the other ones, even though there is not much difference when comparing to the re-recordings, since is the newest one and it shows that the band has worked a lot with the instruments mix. A crushing black metal releases from this classic band.

A name in metal you should probably get to know is Pete Altieri. A highly ambitious headbanger with a DIY mentality, Altieri’s self-created “Heavycore” movement, stemmed from his native Illinois, features associates from some of the deepest reaches of the underground such as SOULTORN, SYSTEMIC and OMINOUS as well as familiars like PRO PAIN. Having stamped down cancer, Altieri’s resilience and dedication to “pure” metal has shown through his Low Times quarterly magazine and his Brutality Report website, along with a ninety-minute DVD of underground metal videos, Roasting Posers, and the controversial Maggot Ridden Rotting Movie featuring Altieri’s band LOW TWELVE, once packaged with their Unfit for Human Occupancy EP. Now LOW TWELVE comes out with a dark and disturbing concept album This Side Toward Enemy that is equally vicious as it is entertaining.

If anyone out there remembers the Wendy O. Williams horror thrash concept album Maggots: The Record, there’s a small ambience of that gem reflected on This Side Toward Enemy, particularly with the dramatic sequences staged between the songs that traces the background of a serial killer on death row named Nolan Weeks. Featuring staged news flashes and various sound effects and screams, the story of This Side Toward Enemy isn’t anywhere near as cheeky or schlocky as Williams’ Maggots, but LOW TWELVE creates an ambient story of death that makes their brand of metal subversively more lethal. Particularly unnerving is the news clip talking about Weeks’ victims being found with panties stuck in their mouths. Tres sinister…

Beginning with “Stay of Execution,” Weeks is spared his initial death sentence and granted a final interview with a journalist that uncorks the details of his murder spree that were once blamed on satanic cults. The wake of the story and album of This Side Toward Enemy allows LOW TWELVE to crunch out Weeks’ narrative on such brutal tracks as “Kill Everything,” “Not Alive,” “A Private Hell” and “Death Draws Near.”

Altieri’s bulldog yelps are one of the most appealing elements to LOW TWELVE; his voice is menacing and unique, even in the midst of his agro-toned hardcore brethren. As LOW TWELVE has been lurking about since the late nineties, the raw quality of the band’s sound may astonish some people, but when you hear the mosh rhythms of “Your God,” you realize that LOW TWELVE is a band that has been long pounding bricks with every heavy note they peel off. The way Altieri scats his verses like Tom Araya does on SLAYER’s “Stain of Mind” from Diabolous in Musica keeps things pumping as the revelations behind Nolan Weeks’ atrocities are recounted through LOW TWELVE’s punishing grooves.

One thing about LOW TWELVE and Pete Altieri, there’s no accusing them of lying about lackadaisically. Roasting posers one minute and fighting lawsuits from principals appearing in Maggot Ridden Rotten Movie, Altieri sticks to his vision of a Heavycore underground where people get what he’s about. When you’ve fought back as much as Pete Altieri’s had to, it’s no wonder LOW TWELVE comes off sounding like a fistful of studs into your cavity-laden teeth.

Reminiscent of CRYTOPSY or even older SKINLESS, New Jersey's OMINOUS bring track after track of intense, no-frills, death metal. Pounding drums and exceptionally deep growls work in conjunction with adroit guitarwork to provide ample entertainment from start to finish. "Tears Of Fear" stands out with its blackened riffing and well-written chorus, while "Infected Flesh" is an entertaining bass instrumental track which proves how truly competent the members of OMINOUS are in regards to their instruments. "Rank" even utilizes some particularly powerful breaks and an uncharacteristic but welcomed hint of doom towards the ending. While not necessarily revolutionary, the band has created something that is suited for anyone who enjoys their death metal in its most brutal form. Hopefully next time around, the band will continue to even further show off their talents across the fretboard and behind the drumkit.

Break out the knives and start cutting - Psychomancer is walking the streets of hell. Butchered is exactly that, as these Indaian boys rip through nine tracks of smoking Death Metal. Up front are the guitars of Brad Calkin & Mark Shultz, both of whom tap into Thrash Metal to set down some heavy riffs, screaming the hooks, and friction-inducing leads. Spattering the room with Blood are the rhythm section of Drummer Rob Lawrence & Bassist Duston Bullard , And then there's Vocalist Shawn McCormick whose guttural spews and occasional rasps somehow manage to enunciate every word clearly - Not an easy feat by any means. It's all business with respect to pace, as speed and density vie for supremacy, but Psychomancer also has a solid sense of groove, injecting each song w/ some captivating rhythms and foot-stomping guitar licks (one listen to "Casting Shadows by Moonlight" and you will be hooked). As for the words, expect the usual depravity, with tracks such as "Butchered by Me" and "Now You Die" reveling in the ultraviolence while "Cumstains in the Casket" and "Hypothermic Demise" need no further explanation. Put this one on your essential-purchase list!

Drawing inspiration from the vampire culture, Chicago's URN offer up an 11-song journey into the darker regions of hard rock/metal. Something of a hybrid of TYPE O NEGATIVE and AMORPHIS, the core of URN's sound is rather straightforward and hook-heavy riffage, relying on keyboards and non-metal instruments like the flute and piccolo to add an interesting level of texture to the music. Throughout the disc vocals, duties are split between Dominic St. Charles (guitars), Ian Nothing (bass) and Sophia (keys, ect.), with the female tunes standing out as the album's better tracks. Sophia's haunting, siren-like voice gives the tracks "Shadow Dancer" and "Firechild" a chilling, ethereal quality unmatched by those penned by her male counterparts. Other standouts include the morose, folk-inspired "Passover" and the collaboration with occult author Michelle Belanger "Cry Freedom". /Dancing with the Demigods/ offers plenty of good material and is worth checking out.