Belef-S/T
(Candlelight USA, 2005)

Black metal is a genre that shines when bands don’t try to reinvent the wheel. There are bands doing interesting things with the genre by exploring slower tempos, but Belef definitely isn’t one of those bands. This is full tilt aggressive black metal with an almost endless amount of blasting. The band definitely wears it’s influences on their sleeves, so fans of Mayhem, Immortal and Marduk will definitely be able to get into what the band is doing quite easily.

The unique thing about this band is definitely the vocal approach. It actually reminds me of the higher vocals that Brutal Truth used, and there is almost something grindcore about the vocal patterns and how the band using dual vocals from time to time. It’s something that you really don’t hear often in black metal and it really adds a lot of aggression to an already fast and blistering album.

I wish more black metal bands would try to have albums that sound like this. For starters the guitar tone is very powerful, and while the riffs aren’t extremely heavy the sound doesn’t get washed away by endless treble. It’s more along the lines of a guitar sound you’d expect from a death metal band and it really adds a lot of power to the music. The drums are also very powerful sounding. The performance is tight yet still has feeling. It’s not mindless blasting. There are a lot of interesting fills and cool cymbal work. The drum sound itself cuts through the mix and really helps keep the intensity level up. I think just a bit more volume to the kick drums would have been nice, but it’s an extremely small complaint.

Fans that like black metal just how it is and don’t want it to change will definitely be satisfied with this album from Belef. They know what came before them and aren’t out to change anything about the style. This is fast, brutal black metal played with precision and hate, just the way it should be.

Sewn Shut-Rediscovering the Dead
(Self Made God Records, 2005)

What we have here is a 29 song collection of Sewn Shut’s material from various split 7”s and a few compilation tracks. Basically think classic grindcore, and you’ll know what to expect. Extremely raw guitar riffs meet with blasting drums and guttural vocals. There is definitely an old school flavour here. Don’t expect jazz breaks or anything technical. This is more from the old Earache school of grind, which means its blast, thrash, blast, end, next song.

The sound quality definitely varies from each different recording but there aren’t any tracks that are unlistenable. Everything at the very least is clear. The drums don’t exactly always cut through and the guitars are lost at times, but this is grindcore and taken from vinyl releases none the less.

The tracks here are compiled from the band’s splits with Squah Bowels, Emblaming Theatre, Ulcerrhoea, Mind Collage, and Man in Shackles, as well as a few tracks from the Polargrinder Compilation LP. I think it’s pretty close to being everything the band has released so far, with the exception of maybe the demos.

Fans of harsh and raw grindcore will definitely be into this one.

Comeback Kid-Wake the Dead
(Smallman Records, 2005)

In a time when hardcore is becoming a parody of what it once was, the scene needs a scene like Comeback Kid. Sure, they may be melodic and they definitely appeal to a lot of people, but the band keeps the spirit of vintage hardcore alive and has a speedy approach that is all too uncommon these days.

On first listen Wake the Dead seems pretty similar to the band’s last album. But with repeated listens it ends up being quite different. The band is emphasising the melodic side of the band much more, and there are pretty much next to no breakdown riffs to be found here. Is that a bad thing? Not really. Breakdowns are definitely common place in hardcore, but they’ve been done to death. The band manages to keep a hardcore vibe without using the same old chug riff that has been used ten million times before.

This album is just a hint slower then Turn It Around. The album is definitely fast, but Turn It Around had some songs that were downright blisteringly fast, these new songs all travel at pretty much the same tempo. There are enough tempo changes within the actual songs to keep them interesting though, and you can’t get around the fact that this is an incredibly catchy band.

It’s pretty much a guarantee that this album is going to take the band to the next level. In 25 minutes they manage to bring vigour and passion back to hardcore music. It’s nice to see a band playing fast without resorting to playing badly played tremolo picked metal riffs.

Ghosts of Modern Man-City of No Light
(Smallman Records, 2005)

Smallman has a knack for discovering the cream of the crop for Canadian rock acts. Ghosts of Modern Man fit in nicely beside Moneen, and The Reason but definitely bring a much different style to the label. The band is essentially a rock band with a lot of jangly guitar riffs, passionate vocals and some incredibly catchy songs. It lies somewhere in between post-hardcore or post-punk I guess, but let’s just call it rock and save both of us a headache.

The band almost has a bit of a Dischord like sound. Fugazi is definitely an influence although it isn’t an incredibly obvious one. They definitely come from the lighter side of things though. There is a lot of energy to the playing, but the band really doesn’t use distortion all that much and when they do it’s not exactly overpowering.

The vocals tread the line between a shout and singing. You definitely won’t hear any harsh screaming or typical clean vocals either though. The singing has a lot of swagger and seems very rock influenced. It’s almost an indy rock vocal approach but with absolutely no whining and without the off key notes.

This is quite a change for Smallman and the band definitely fits in well with what the label stands for. This is quality music that deserves to be heard. With the band’s touring schedule seemingly never ending, I’m sure this will be a band you’ll definitely hear much more about in the next year.

Immolation-Harnessing Ruin
(Olympic Recordings, 2005)

Immolation is a band that has been together for an incredibly long time, but still hasn’t managed to break into the same levels of success as Cannibal Corpse or Deicide. Quite possibly this could be because the band’s style isn’t easily digestible. They continue to push themselves with each release, and Harnessing Ruin is no different.

The band is playing with a lot of intensity, but there is something dark and ominous about the album. The riffs are epic in nature and even the simple moments really stand out as being well written. The band also seems to be writing some of its most memorable music to date as well. The riffs definitely stand out much more this time around and the band is definitely writing the best material of their careers right now.

If you are expecting this album to be blast after blast, you’ll definitely be disappointed. There are definitely blasting moments, but this is much more dark and the tempos reflect that. There is a certain amount of doom to the band’s sound and the slower tempos really help emphasis that aspect of the band.

As with most Immolation albums the production is the only subpar aspect. This album is incredibly muddy, but at the same time the sound of the album fits the dark nature of the music perfectly. A bit more clarity in the drums would have been nice though. The album actually sounds a lot like early Incantation circa Mortal Throne of the Nazarene. The sound definitely fits, but a bit more clarity all around would have been nice.

While long time fans may not think this is the best album to date from the band, there is no denying the power behind these songs and overall maturity of the song writing. Immolation is in a class all their own when it comes to dark and twisted death metal.

With Resistance/Twenty Inch Burial-split
(State of Mind Recordings, 2004)

With Resistance kicks this split off with three songs that really remind me of Every Time I Die but without the clean Glassjaw influenced vocals. It’s raging and heavy technical music with a bit of a rock feel a times and some incredibly vicious screaming. A bit of the Swedish style comes into play but they manage to fit it into the context of the song. There are also some surprising clean moments that almost bring to mind emo or rock I guess. They aren’t doing much to separate themselves from what is going on out there right now, but they definitely are better then a lot of the bands around right now.

Twenty Inch Burial is much more metallic with a stronger thrash and Swedish death metal influence. They definitely have similarities to Killswitch Engage, but with a much more emo slant to the clean vocal sections. I think that these guys are the more typical of the bands on the split. It doesn’t stop me from enjoying the songs, because they are well written, but the whole combination of metal and clean choruses has been done to death really.

It’s hard to really get an opinion on a band from just three songs, but both bands definitely have a lot of potential. They might be playing styles that are fairly common place, but neither band is typical to the point of it being not worth listening to. Fans of metalcore will definitely be into this.

Allfather-Weapon of Ascension
(Invictus Productions, 2005)

Allfather is a war metal/black metal band from British Columbia of all places. Despite the surprising location the band definitely has a lot to offer to fans of the chaotic and blistering subgenre of metal.

The band’s songs are short and to the point and definitely don’t beat around the bush. The album has 12 songs and the running time doesn’t even break 30 minutes. The longest song on here doesn’t even break three minutes so you know that you aren’t in for two minute guitar solos and long drawn out instrumentation. It’s one bulldozing riff after another coated with vocal venom and pounding drums.

Similarities could be drawn to Angel Corpse, but without a lot of the old school death metal influence and the crazy guitar solo. Both bands are equally fast, but Allfather bring an almost grindcore like bluntness to the genre that definitely gives the sound an extra amount of aggression. Stylistically they may not be doing anything new, but structuring wise they definitely are.

Fans of everything from Angel Corpse to Dark Throne will find something to like here. The band is fast and chaotic but manages to keep things concise and extremely tight. This is one of the best new chaotic metal bands to come along in quite sometime.