Local Review: Gaza – East

Local Review: Gaza – East
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Gaza East Exigent Records Gaza = Soilent Green + Today Is The Day + Eyehategod + Pushing Up Daisies Probably unfairly lumped in with many of the metalcore bands coming out these days, Gaza are unique and don’t deserve such categorization. Elements of raging, pissed hardcore are evident, but with a very kick-ass mix of

Local Review: Circuit Surgeon – Self-Titled

Local Review: Circuit Surgeon – Self-Titled
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Circuit Surgeon Self-Titled Self-released Circuit Surgeon = Skinny Puppy + Noise Unit + Twilight Transmissions + Download Ever wondered what happened to Skinny Puppy? They broke up and reformed as Circuit Surgeon! OK, not really, but this disc sounds like it! This two-man industrial brain surgeon has so much going on in each song that

Local Review: Beyond This Flesh – Self-Titled

Local Review: Beyond This Flesh – Self-Titled
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Beyond This Flesh Self-Titled Beyond This Flesh = At The Gates + The Black Dahlia Murder + Kreator + Total Chaos   Scream as high-pitched, loud and hard as you can—really hard!—for half an hour straight. You now have a feel for the vocals of Beyond This Flesh. Imagine the intense, technical yet thrashing riffs

Local Review: All Systems Fail – Self-titled 7″ vinyl EP

Local Review: All Systems Fail – Self-titled 7″ vinyl EP
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All Systems Fail Self-titled 7″ vinyl EP Loderback Records All Systems Fail = Discharge + Nausea + Chaos UK Remember the good old days of punk, before the intervention of Hot Topic, AFI, Green Day, mall punks and other assorted corporate shit? Then you need to pick up All Systems Fail little vinyl beast! Metalcore? No! Emo?

Review: Funerus – Festering Earth

Review: Funerus – Festering Earth
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Funerus Festering Earth   Ibex Moon Records   The first demon to escape the gates this month is Funerus, a side project of Incantation mastermind John McEntee. Funerus play abysmal and turgid death metal, with the occasional outburst of speed. They usually keep things slow or mid-paced, though. This is a good example of what

Review: Estuary – To Exist And Endure

Review: Estuary – To Exist And Endure
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Estuary To Exist and Endure Ibex Moon Records Also from back east is Estuary, with To Exist and Endure. This band started out as Estuary of Calamity, and had a more melodic beginning, adding keyboards and black metal vocals, among other effects. Now, they’ve stripped down their sound, ditched the pretty keys and sissy black

Review: Enthroned – XES Hareticum

Review: Enthroned – XES Hareticum
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Enthroned XES Hareticum  Napalm Records Ah, Enthroned … one of the best and most underrated black metal bands around. While most BM bands annoy me with their vocalists constantly screeching into the microphone, Enthroned’s vocalist is actually the focal point of the band for many people. The band has learned that light-speed fast all the

Review: Death Du Jour – Fragments of Perdition

Review: Death Du Jour – Fragments of Perdition
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Death Du Jour Fragments of Perdition  Golden Lake Productions With a silly name like that, you would expect these guys to sound like Lawnmower Death or something, but instead, it’s Finnish death metal, the old-school way—fucking heavy and fast. If you are into Drawn and Quartered, Mortician, Centinex or anything in between, you should own

Review: Carpathian Forest – We’re Going To Hollywood For This DVD

Review: Carpathian Forest – We’re Going To Hollywood For This...
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CARPATHIAN FOREST WE’RE GOING TO HOLLYWOOD FOR THIS DVD  Seasons of Mist Carpathian Forest = Satyricon + Dark Throne + Bethlehem + Dissection   From Norway, Carpathian Forest play black metal. Not interested yet? What about seeing them live? Still not interested? What about the nude dancers they have come out on stage during every

Review: Bloody Sign – Vana Vingala Loits

Review: Bloody Sign – Vana Vingala Loits
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Bloody Sign Vana Vigala Loits Ibex Moon Records Like their fellow death-metal countrymen Mercyless and Phazm, Bloody Sign manage to combine the speed with guttural heaviness while keeping things interesting the whole way through the disc. You might say they come across as sounding like a slightly less sepulchral and less down-tuned version of Incantation.