• SHRT REVWS • This condensed version of short(er) reviews focuses on releases arriving in the first week of September covering death/groove metal, power thrash metal, traditional heavy metal, stoner/doom rock, black/death metal and thrash metal. // In an attempt to be more conversational these are more easygoing and casual than longform reviews, so relax and think for yourself. — If you find something you dig go tell the band on social media and support them with a purchase! If you’d like your music reviewed, read the FAQ and send promos to: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

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‘Manifest of Aversion‘ is the fourth album from Chilean death metal band ATOMICIDE who continue to put an (early) Incantation-esque hammer upon death-thrashing bestial death metal. Always known for their maniac, chaotic vision of bestial death metal applied with an ‘old school’ sensibility you could tell they were moving in an even darker atmospheric direction beyond the ‘Furious and Untamed‘ 7″ EP I’d reviewed back in 2018 but it seems this particularly cavernous, violent album is the complete result. While this album makes an incredible first impression and smokes through its nine songs in about ~35 minutes it didn’t necessarily stick in mind too readily in terms of riffs beyond a few bestial death/grindcore feeling moments early on. Perfect album art and strongly stylized production values otherwise make up for this as the album slaughters its way through these relatively uncomplicated attacks one after another.

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‘Immaculate Pain‘ is the latest EP release from Atlanta, Georgia-based death metal band FATHER BEFOULED who’ve been around long enough to instill nothing but confidence in their pure and punishing style of United States death metal. This’ll be the first release from the band to feature drummer Chris MacDonald (Ectovoid, Seraphic Entombment) who is of course is a natural addition for their brutal yet doomed sound. This EP features three new original pieces which generally grind through slower, doomed-out atmosphere alongside covers of well-known Morbid Angel and Abhorrence (Finland) songs. The big song here for my own taste is the sauntering zombified step of “Abomination of Flesh” with its pinch harmonic punctuated riffs and the loud, raw sound of the drums which stomps through the whole record. Otherwise some of the more intricate guitar work on “Impertinent Faith” caught my ear more than once. Solid EP in terms of overall style and the songs themselves though not my favorite album art/production sound from their discography thus far.

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Zwickau, Germany-based death metal quartet APEP return with a second full-length album and of course there’ll be no escaping comparisons to (early) Nile per their aesthetic, technical death metal style and use of arabesque melody in most cases. Their sound is familiar in that it invokes a style most popular in the early-to-mid 2000’s but otherwise finds its own path where brutal death metal rattled moments aren’t as prominent and a focus on leads points us a few more generations down that same path. The ‘old school’ feeling of their first album isn’t as prominently set here but the production values are appropriately slick here, allowing the bass guitars to really shine through on songs like “Tombs of Eternity”. Much as I appreciate a classic-era third gen brutal death approach to technical death metal I’d felt the points where the band slowed up and hit bigger grooves were far more memorable and distinct for my own taste.

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You might think I’d sneer at yet another death metal record buzzing up quick with ye olde Stockholm sound, the overdone Boss HM-2 cranked type of deal, but these Hagen, Germany-based folks are using it in honest homage to the early-to-mid 90’s Swedish death metal sound… at least in the sense that they’re not writing lazy-assed, generic songs which rely on it. Denomination weren’t all that mind-blowing on their debut LP back in 2020 but this time around you can tell they’ve put in some work toward a higher standard both in terms of their aesthetic and more importantly cranking out songs which hit their riffs quick, loom large, or at least chug out a sinister progression or a horrified lead before moving on. They rip through these ~12 songs fast and with just enough variety that some of the death n’ roll type grooves (“Cremation Ground”, “Army of the Rotten”) still work within the greater ride of it all. While I think this record would’ve been more of a thrill-ride if they went for more variety rather than the simpler chargers (re: “The Last Companion”) and leaned into death-doom (“The Beginning of the End”) type pieces more often it’d have broken up their big block of songs int more of an experience. Overall a solid sophomore LP and well above-average work if you’re prone to dig into giga HM-2 powered death metal.

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Swedish kängpunk quintet WOLFBRIGADE are a well-known institution today in terms of classic crust punk inspired music that’d broken down many borders to metal and melodicism along the way. Their first incarnation (Wolfpack) as an ex-death metal crew with the fellowe from Anti Cimex on vocals is probably more infamous in the underground mindset anymore but they’ve been made favorites as the popularity of bands like Disfear, Skitsystem and such kicked up in the early 2000’s alongside the band’s eventual inspiration taken from speed metal and death metal along the way. If you’re looking for somewhat original takes, plenty of variety attached to this style of music these folks have managed a style which I’d consider arena-sized Scandinavian crust, still raw and confrontational but also eclectic in a way that separates them from the usual d-beat band hitting the distortion with a death metal guitar pedal. With ‘Life Knife Death‘ being their eleventh album and I believe first for Metal Blade they’ve clearly put some time into each of these short and bruising pieces, making sure their full range is entirely covered within these 12 songs and ~28 minutes. They’re still in touch with some kind of vital energy here despite plenty of mid-paced and semi-melodic pieces hitting along the way, obviously going for a darker atmosphere with that ‘Morbid Tales‘ inspired cover art and all, but without shrouding their attack. Big fan of this style and these folks still have it in terms of putting together an easy to pick up record. Favorite songs: “Nail Bomb”, “Disarm or be Destroyed”, and “Cyanide Messiah”.

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Oakland, California-based sludge and psychedelic doom inspired heavy rock band PHANTOM HOUND have the goods buried deep, a grunge inspired style that sparks up when called for, but man do they take their time getting there. There is plenty enough substance to sit with as they go on making their points on human greed (and the repercussions of) via this sophomore full-length, having a good time as they stretch out slow within twelve minute opener “Eyes Upon Riches”. But hey, since I’d shown up for the major impact of single “Claims & Prospects” I couldn’t figure why they’d kicked things off -that- low and slow but I get these folks are out to jam, to play in a live setting in longer stonier sessions. The bluesy, grunge-era stoner metal side of things digs in a bit more between the psych-doom walk through “The Locksmith” and the choice harmonies they pull on “Gold Fever”, one of the more direct songs on the album, but it isn’t ’til we hit “Claims & Prospects” that we get that nugget of Alice in Chains style harmony via vocalist/guitarist Jake Navarra which catches my ear most. Patient as I typically am most of these songs wandered about a bit too long, prattled on to the point that I’m more inclined to get a gauge on the band in a live setting rather than return to this record on repeat. Still, if I was the type to make playlists of the best shit I’d heard every month “Claims & Prospects” definitely hits, I want more of that.

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