Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit

http://www.secret-face.com/

#FOR FANS OF: Brutal Techno Death

Canadian giants unleash another top-notch death metal release that's a little bit slower than their competing band Cryptopsy though Tomb Mold is a lot slower in their tempos but still ranked as death metal. These guys are more on the brutal end of the genre. Brutal vocals and guitar work. All is sounding original in their riffs and some of the songs contain clean portions, especially the outro song. It's rather good, however.

The sound quality is good as well. Good mixing and production. Those breaks between the heavy guitar sound is refreshing. So it isn't "brutal" the entire way through, but rather their mixing heavy guitar licks with clean portions. There are some melodic parts too as well as some guitars which are fast and ferocious, the few that there are. This band seems to cover a lot of different portions of metal, but they still hold the death metal label. So that's good! They keep it ever-changing and eye-opening through your cranium.

This is one of a better release of 2023 that has them on the top of the charts, despite the "C" average I'm seeing on here. My rank is above for them. And like the tempos, even though it's somewhat odd to have a death metal band that uses quite a bit of clean guitar. Reminds me a little of the older Opeth, but not exactly. The hoarse vocals to the clean guitars keeps them into a realm of their own. No clean vocals here, deep throat here and guitars that are mostly death metal. And leads that well accompany the music. Quite technical, but pretty well flawless!

I would venture to say that this is a release that's got a variety of good licks in it and brutal vocals. I like the diversity, makes it more interesting and fluctuating. They don't mess around, as with their style, they keep you guessing as for what's going to happen next! Own it! (Death8699)

(20 Buck Spin - 2023)
Score: 78

https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/the-enduring-spirit

Maul - Desecration and Enchantment

#PER CHI AMA: Death/Doom

Un po' di sano marcescente death metal dalla Svez...no ho sbagliato, dagli Stati Uniti. La band originaria del North Dakota mi ha un po' spiazzato in effetti con questo 'Desecration and Enchantment', visto un sound che sembra essere devoto, almeno inizialmente, a quello "made in Sweden" dei Grave, ma che in realtà nel corso dell'ascolto, muterà più volte, abbracciando anche influenze floridiane (e penso agli Obituary). Questo è quello che si evince dall'iniziale "The Sacred and The Profane / Hovering, Sinking", song che li per li, mi stava portando a bollare questo EP come l'ennesima proposta priva di personalità. Invece, il dischetto palesa influenze esoteriche, doom, sludge e quant'altro. Signori, questi sono i Maul, quintetto di Fargo, che vi saprà ammaliare con la propria proposta estrema si, ma al contempo melodica, oscura, malefica, contraddistinta da profondi chitarroni, growl mefitiche, ma anche parti atmosferiche e mid-tempo ("Disintegration of the Soul"). La seconda traccia mostra anche il lato più progressive, dei cinque brutti ceffi americani, in una song comunque ricca di colpi di scena tra break acustici, ripartenze black e un sound comunque coinvolgente. La versione in cassetta include anche una terza song, "Worshipping Self-Deviance", ma ahimè non è nelle mie mani. Quindi cercate voi la tape e date una chance a questo lavoro. (Francesco Scarci)

(20 Buck Spin - 2023)
Voto: 72

 

https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/desecration-and-enchantment

Torture Rack - Primeval Onslaught

http://www.secret-face.com/

#FOR FANS OF: Brutal Death

Talk about brutal death metal, this band has it all. Blast beats, burly vocals, sick guitar riffs and a great production. They don’t let up on the brutality factor either. The riffs are insane. I thoroughly enjoyed this less than 30 minute abomination! I’m not sure about their older material but this one really hits home! Always good to hear some from brutal death metal in the vein of say Suffocation. No holds barred here!

The vocals mix well with the music and the blast beating galore is rampant. This album fluctuates between fast riffs to laid back sort of brutality. The leads are insane and the music is unrelenting. What a great album! I would urge you to buy the CD and show support for the band! They really hit home with their music. The vocals can be insane at times. Really a lot of screaming mixed with deep throat galore. They have it all.

I think this is one of the better releases in 2023 where death metal is concerned. Yes, it is a short release but the music and vocals make it out to be a successful conglomerate of noise terror! It seems as though the leads are pretty successful on here fast and furious. The vocals vary between deep throat to screaming heavily. And the music keeps up with this strain of extreme metal. I like how they change it up all the time. 

They definitely earned a “75” for this album. It’s totally in the vein of Suffocation and Suture. There’s a somewhat strong resemblance to those bands. They just don’t seem to let up in intensity. I thoroughly enjoyed this and the sound quality hit home with me. The mixing did them well and their unique blasting alongside slower tempos did them well too! I think that this one is going to be one of the top notch performance this year. The fact that they were able to weave in sounds so sorrel they showed what the scene can produce in terms of these less well known bands. Own it! (Death8699)

(20 Buck Spin - 2023)
Score: 75

https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/primeval-onslaught

Vastum - Patricidal Lust

#FOR FANS OF: Doom/Death Metal, Lie in Ruins, Vallenfyre

With only six tracks at roughly over a half hour total, this second release from Bay Area Doom/Death newcomers Vastum is about as old-school as it gets. Churning with those heavy, sprawling Doom-laden guitar rhythms that slowly boil over the pounding, heavy drumming and loud, clanking bass-lines, there’s a rather impressive old-school sound that runs throughout the album. While the band can impart a speed to the riffs that makes this approach even deadlier, what really works for them is the fact that they’re so sprawling heavy that the slower tempos and enlarged running time for many of these pieces, since the shortest running time is just a shade under five minutes, allows the compositions time to stew in their dirty, heavy flavor a longer amount of time than most normal old-school Death Metal bands and gives the Doom influence a lot of time to breathe in the action. The heavier, chug-based patterns these employ are more for atmosphere than tempo, as they’re not that fast at all but instead supplement the few speedsters in here with a fluid riffing style that’s absolutely infectious and really makes the question as to why they’re not employed more as they certainly fit the atmosphere quite well but are clearly not as well-versed in the band’s style that they’re more at home on the slower stuff so the competency is certainly there but not put in quite as often as they should’ve been. While all this deep, thumping Doom Metal is going on, the most overt Death Metal influence here is actually the cavernous vocals on display, which are shockingly deep and hoarse and give that extra special touch to the material in helping to cross the boundaries quite well, and overall this provides a pretty decent mixture since it sounds dark and evil against the heavier riffing and sprawling tempos. Surprisingly, the quickness of it works for and against the record at the same time, seemingly set in the bands’ craft and offering some quality songs in a brief, impacting stance that never really gets a chance to instill boredom or restlessness, but yet never gives off a full-length release feel because it’s length is so short due to the limited number of tracks. Intro "Libidinal Spring" is pretty much the standard bearer for what to expect here, with heavy riffs, chugging rhythms and that old-school ‘cavernous’ approach to the vocals that so many modern bands employ, just wrapped up with slower, sprawling tempos and less impact from the Death-ier side of the coin. "Enigma of Disgust" and "Incel" are both pure crawling, epic Doom Metal with Death Metal growls, the former working well with the deeper growls that permeate the first half as the darkened atmosphere and deep vocals mix well together before picking up speed in the later half that really helps to save it from mediocrity while the former gets a little quicker tempo and more time to work in some heavier mid-tempo chugging and psychedelic-like soloing in the later half, therefore being the better of the two. Certainly the first single off this, "3AM in Agony" carries the faster tempos quite well with more intense rhythms and tighter chugging for a faster, more vicious attack than the previous entries but certainly has the toughness and overall heavy riffs to stand against the more Doom-influenced material before it. The churning title track comes close to the speedier side while offering plenty of rumbling bass-lines and heavy, chugging riffs but doesn’t match the power or impact of the previous efforts here despite all the signs displaying a quality track otherwise. The epic finale, "Repulsive Arousal," offers some impressive speed riffing among the heavy, churning drumming and deep, rumbling bass-lines and switches tempos quite well, making for a rather impressive and imposing finale that gets this off with a flurry and ends on a real high note. Overall, this is most assuredly a crushing release with a lot to like but probably could’ve used another track or two to keep from feeling like a stop-gap release or an EP due to the length. (Don Anelli)

(20 Buck Spin - 2013)

Score: 85

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vastum

Cauldron Black Ram - Stalagmire

#FOR FANS OF: Black/Death Metal, Doom/Sludge, StarGazer, Crowbar

Never one to follow a strict releasing schedule, this third release from the Australian Black/Death Metal act comes four years after their last release, itself six years after the preceeding offering so there’s clearly no need to put out music constantly from the band with an output like that. Certainly, though, that relaxed pace has certainly caused a more relaxed vibe to enter their music for this band’s output is decidedly plain and quite sluggish, as the album rarely manages to make a lasting impact with its chosen style of primal Death Metal, Doom and Black Metal while laced with dashes of Sludge for what is a wildly inventive mix but one which doesn’t always make for entertaining listening. The slow, droning Doom tempos are mixed with brazen, heavy Sludge-like riffing patterns recorded with a level of slime and fuzz that incorporates the occasional fast-paced Death Metal section against a hoarse, demonic rasp that brings the Black-ness into focus, but overall this conglomerate of influences manages to come up with a hodge-podge of discordant sounds and off-kilter passages that make for a scattershot and disorganized-sounding album that doesn’t know to keep itself in line for the track as it has to go off into its own little world almost as if distracted by something else in the room. That the production is so weak and bland certainly does this no favors, rendering the guitars into a pile of mush that further offers their Sludge listing while making riffs bleed into each other with so much distortion going on as to make it nearly impossible to determine the actual melody being played. As well, the drums are just merely pounding percussion notes playing the background and really don’t do much of anything to distinguish themselves while the blaring, muddy bass-lines throughout make for a rather sloppy mess that it can’t really recover from. There’s no bite at all to the music and when mixed with generally boring and disorganized music as this it really makes the whole effort hard to get into. This isn’t all the fault of the songs, as intro "Fork Through Pitch" signals their intentions immediately with plodding riff-work, stagnant paces and churning, slow-broiled rhythms at odds with each other as the thrashier sections clash wildly with the sluggish tempos, awful production and decidedly obvious lack-of-life within the arrangements, clearly gives a noticeable warning. "Maw" is slightly better with a tight riffing set and some spirited sections, but again the lousy production, plodding rhythms and generally heavy-handed forcing of the different elements into a whole makes for a rather troublesome outing. "Discarded Death" is a bit better as it focuses more on low-slung Death Metal riffing and a generally faster vibe that comes off as one of the faster tracks on the album and stands out because of that. The album’s worst track, "A Litany of Sailor’s Sins," is just too slow and plodding to offer anything substantial here with a lame central riff, no speed or even heaviness until the later half, which is generally too little too late to matter with this one. This plodding, generally uneven pace is repeated throughout "From Whence the Old Skull Came," the rumbling bass failing to make the bland, plodding riffs stand up against the uninteresting drums and makes this one undoubtedly disposable. "Bats" tends to focus itself a little better with some fine mid-tempo riffing and a generally enjoyable pace, while the fine instrumental "Cabin Fever" certainly offers up some interesting up-tempo riffs and sections that actually comes across as one of the better tracks without the vocals to hold it back and lets the band rip away with abandon. "The Devil’s Trotter" does get things back on track with the bouncy rhythms and actually fun tempo throughout, but tends to wander around too much with the eerie vocal chants and go-nowhere final half that really makes it hard to finish off strongly, which certainly aligns itself with the plodding closer "Speliogenesis," as the extended vocal chanting, plodding riff-work and generally numbing riffing throughout manages to end on a feeling of euphoria at not enduring anymore as the final up-tempo notes sign off once and for all at the general lack of interest it has in sustaining that pace. The credit for mixing the genres is certainly commended, but the fact that it’s so weak and disorganized as this is certainly troubling. (Don Anelli)

(20 Buck Spin - 2014)

Score: 40

https://www.facebook.com/cauldronblackramofficial