Eatmyfuk-Wet Slit and A Bottle of Whiskey
(Bestial Onslaught, 2003)

I'm pretty sure that this is a side project featuring members of Autopsy and Abcess. It actually sounds a bit like Abcess, minus the metal and upping the punk rock side that the band used to have on their early demos and the first LP. It's raw, nasty punk rock that shows more then just a little GG Allin influence.

The packaging is of course littered with pictures of porn and the lyrics are about as tasteless as they come. It's the perfect packaging for this whiskey soaked release. For those easily offended, you probably won't like this band. It's not sexist, just perverted. So this is one that will definitely appeal to perverts.

Not much else to say about this one, for fans of dirty and old school punk rock this is an essential purchase. Fans of Abcess would definitely be able to get into this as well.

Ellipsis-Comastory
(Adipocere, 2002)

There are only so many ways to say something sucks. So this cd presents me with a challenge, how exactly do I find a new way to say that this is garbage? Now that I think about it though really, this isn't even worth trying to think of new ways. This sucks. I guess if you are into boring, rock/metal that tries to sound progressive you might be into this, but like I said earlier, it sucks.

Embalming Theatre-Sweet Chainsaw Melodies
(Razorback, 2003)

Embalming Theatre are an amazing death/grind band whose debut album Sweet Chainsaw Melodies is among the best stuff the label has released so far. They somewhat remind me of Impetigo or Mortician, but are much better then Mortician. Are they as good as Imeptigo? It's a close call, but come on is anyone better then Imeptigo? The band is full of blasts, sick vocals and catchy riffs. It's everything you'd expect from a Razorback bands.

Even when the band is blasting the riffs remain simple. They don't try to be technical, they just keep things raw and straight forward. None of the songs are too long, most being around one to two minutes in length. You can't really say they are doing anything new, but fuck, if it ain't broke don't fix it. This is some of the sickest and catchiest death metal I've ever heard!

The album definitely benifits from a powerful sounding production that let's everything be heard easily. It's as raw as it needs to be, but the sound remains tight. The guitar sound is very heavy, but I think they could have made them a little bit louder. The vocals however are mixed perfectly and are tremendously powerful sounding.

This one is definitely for fans of Mortician, Impetigo and death/grind of all sorts. It's catchy and memorable, what death metal should be. It's not bogged down in tempo changes and masturbatory guitar solos.

Emmaunel 7-Machines in Routine
(Thorp, 2003)

I'm a big fan of diverse bands, but sometimes band's just need to find a niche and stick to it. Emmanuel 7 are diverse to the point that almost every song sounds like a different band. The opening track is burly metalcore with lots of chugging riffs, fast beats, and screamed vocals. The next song has similar elements but introduces some doom influenced guitar riffing. From there is basically goes all over the clean, clean guitars, clean vocals, and pretty much everything in between. It's a big combination of hardcore, classic doom ala Black Sabbath, and emo. I like the fact that they go all over the place, but I definitely enjoy the heavier tracks the most.

I'm really having a hard time getting into the entire album. It's just doesn't gel or flow very well. I like the band, but it's hard to get into a band that sounds completely different on some songs. I think the strengths in songwriting is to find a uniform sound between songs, but still have them sounding diverse. You don't have to totally change styles to write a diverse album. I'm not saying this isn't a good band, because they are good, I just wish they would stick to the more caustic and violent side of their music. I'm not huge on the more doom styled songs.

Ensoph-Opus Dementiae
(Cruz Del Sur, 2004)

Cruz Del Sur is quickly becoming one of my favorite labels these days. Very few labels house one band that is original, and these guys seem to have the knack for releasing only original bands. The latest band to be added to that list is Ensoph. This album is such a mindfuck that I don’t even know where to start.

I guess we could start with the bands core sound being metal. They definitely are a metal band, but this is so all over the map it’s ridiculous. The guitar I would say is almost a little bit power metal influenced, or possibly a bit doom influenced as well. There are certain sections that will remind one of My Dying Bride, but only weirder. You’ll hear flutes, and weird vocal styles pretty much through out, and there is even an industrial influence present on a few of the tracks. If you blink you’ll pretty much miss something. Blast beats seemingly come out of nowhere. These guys definitely wouldn’t be considered a fast band, so when they do play faster it really stands out. If I had to even try to put a label on what they were doing I’d say industrial goth circus metal. Yea, I know, what the hell does that mean? Well, just listen to a few tracks and it’ll make a bit more sense.

Even more varied then the music is the vocal performance. I wish I could tell you what the main vocal style was but there really isn’t one. He uses a variety of clean voices, the highlight one being an almost power metal like one that pops up on occasion. You’ll also hear the standard growling and screeching. Both sound excellent, but aren’t used as much as you might think. One of the strangest vocal styles on here I believe is a female and it sounds like she’s going crazy or crying and talking at the same time. I’m not even sure how to describe it exactly, but it’s damn weird sounding.

A lot of bands that try and cross genres just don’t flow. This flows. For how all over the place it is, I’m surprised it isn’t more jarring. But for some reason it all seems to work together, and while it’s not exactly what you’d call easy listening, it is easy to listen from the beginning of the album to the end. While bands like The Kovenant have tried this in the past and failed, Ensoph succeeds admirably.

Without question, this definitely isn’t for everyone. Fans of straight ahead black metal or death metal probably won’t find much to their liking here. But then again I’m not really even into the subgenres of metal that these guys draw influence from and find this to be an amazing release. This is one of those bands that deserves attention. You might not know what hits you at first, but over time you’ll come to love being smacked in the face by this bands sonic battery.

Eostenem-I Scream You Suffer They Die
(Blackend/PHD, 2004)

I had no idea what to expect from this album, but I was pretty curious to see what the band was all about after reading that the drummer for Scarve played on the album. After a fairly pointless intro, the first song kicked in and I was hooked. Creativity is almost nowhere to be found within the black metal genre, but this is amazingly diverse and yep, even original. Imagine a cross between black metal, death metal, and possibly a band like Messhugah. You have blast beats, melodic riffing, shouted vocals and odd time signatures. It’s an energetic and pretty damn unpredictable listening experience!

There are very few bands that seem to be all over the map like this and still make it work. You’ll really hear elements of everything. I even hear some thrash and hardcore punk in some of the drumming and more simple riffing. I was pretty much expecting typical black metal because of the fact this was on Blackend, but there is nothing typical about this at all. This is an album that will continually leave you guessing. Things seem to be normal, and then they’ll throw in clean vocals to add a new element to the bands sound. Pretty much with each passing song something new is introduced. Hell, I’m sure you’ll hear something new each time you listen to this.

I would almost say that this might be a bit too much for some people. If you like your music safe, then you probably wouldn’t like this. But if you are however looking for an incredibly original and fresh take on extreme music, then you’ve found just that. It might take a few spins to digest, but it’s well worth the effort.

I think that the production might be a little bit too noisy for what the band is trying to accomplish but it doesn’t hurt the overall impact at all. I think the drums could have possibly had a bit more behind them. The snare has a lot of snap to it, and sounds a bit harsh at times. I really can’t complain about the production as it does sound good, and more natural then I would have expected. A lot of bands that experiment this much have almost mechanical sounding productions, but this is a very natural sounding record.

This album is so all over the place that it truly is hard to wrap your mind around it. It’ll take multiple listens to understand what they are trying to accomplish and how much they have to offer. If a futuristic combination of pretty much every metal sub genre sounds intriguing to you, check this out! I guarantee you haven’t heard anything like this before.

Evergreen Terrace-Writers Block
(Eulogy, 2004)

For some reason I just can’t get enough of hardcore and punk bands playing covers. They just manage to add more energy and generally make the song their own in some way or another. So when I found out Evergreen Terrace would be releasing a covers album I was pretty excited. I was even more excited when I discovered that the bands and songs they covered were quite unique and not the same songs that have been done to death.

If you are new to Evergreen Terrace, they are basically a very heavy hardcore band that utilizes a lot of melody in their music along with the heavy. So a lot of the songs they chose really fit well into the bands sound. The disc opens with a heavy as hell rendition of Maniac. Yes, it has been covered before, but it sounds damn good when ET puts their stamp on it. What follows are two of the biggest surprises here, Zero by the Smashing Pumpkins and Plowed by Sponge. Do any of you actually remember Sponge and their two hits? I do, and they do a pretty damned cool cover of Plowed. It’s actually pretty close to the original, aside from the added heaviness and screaming. The cover of Zero is also pretty close to the original but heavier and with screaming as well.

A covers cd wouldn’t be complete without at least a few 80’s songs and those come in the form of Mad World by Tears for Fears, and Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2. Mad World is a very cool song in it’s original form and Evergreen Terrace manage to do a damned good cover of it. It’s actually probably the most melodic song on here, featuring the most clean vocals. It of course it’s 100 times heavier, but it’s still a fairly faithful rendition. You’ve got to love the breakdown riff they turned the chorus into though! The Sunday Bloody Sunday cover really works. For what is a tremendously mellow and laidback song, they’ve managed to wrestle some dynamics out of it and have made a song that transitions between screaming and singing quite well. I think what makes this album so worthwhile is that the band actually makes the songs unique and doesn’t play it safe with any of them.

Of course this being a hardcore band there has to be punk covers right? Yep. They come in the form of Knowledge by Operation Ivy, The Kids Aren’t Alright by The Offspring, and Dying Degree by No Fx. Once again this aren’t commonly covered songs, with the exception of Knowledge perhaps. The Offspring song is actually a fairly new song, and it’s a surprising choice but works really well. The No Fx is more straight forward, and it’s pretty close to the original. Just a lot heavier, and with much more screaming.

Pretty much the only cover that you could say is a bit predictable is Stars by Hum. But to be honest it’s one of my all time favorite songs so I don’t mind hearing the bands take on it. It’s damned good too!

I know what you’re thinking cover albums are a dime a dozen these days, but damn this may just be the best one that I have ever heard. Evergreen Terrace manages to make each song their own and truly delivers a unique listening experience.

Exodus-Tempo of the Damned
(Nuclear Blast/PHD, 2004)

To say I was surprised to find an Exodus cd in my mailbox would be a definite understatement. I didn’t even know the band was still together, especially after the singing passing away. Well, I guess they got a new vocalist and decided to continue on. I’m fucking glad they did, as this is one hell of a thrash metal album. Don’t think this is retro thrash either, this is the straight ahead classic Exodus style that could have served as an ideal follow up to Bonded By Blood. Even the production sounds like an old thrash album. Exodus is back and yes, that is a good thing.

It seems that most old thrash bands that get back together seem to feel the need to inject some modern influences into their music. You really won’t find any of that on this album. It’s pretty much straight forward thrash from beginning to end. Even the vocals are the classic thrash style, and don’t follow any of the modern vocal styles at all. Chances are death metal vocals just wouldn’t fit in these songs anyway, and that’s not what Exodus is all about. Essentially you can expect no surprised on this album, expect you’ll be surprised by how good the songwriting is. It’s classic thrash played by one of the best bands from the Bay Area scene.

The production while it does have the classic thrash metal sound, could have benifited from a beefier sound all around. The guitar and drum sounds are both fairly flimsy. It’s not a terrible sounding album at all, and possibly they didn’t want to get a modern sounding production. If that was the case they succeeded. I just would have liked a little bit more kick to the entire album.

I’m sure there will be people who won’t agree, but I think this is some of the best stuff the band has ever written. I’d say Bonded by Blood is still number one in my book, but this new album would be a close second. It’s nice to see a band sticking to what made them so great in the first place.