Dave's Underground Laboratory: January 23, 2012

Unholy cow! What’s this, the second coming of old Cryptopsy, circa None So Vile!? Nope, it’s Japan’s Desecravity releasing their monstrous debut on Willowtip, a label with a keen eye for exceptionally well done, rather quirky death metal. Not only does Willowtip recognize the potential within Desecravity, but so does über death metal guitarist/front man/producer extraordinaire Erik Rutan, as he becomes the genius behind the production of Implicit Obedience, a coup for a little known band if there ever was one.

Frankly, if you miss the heady days of technical death metal before the genre became oversaturated with self indulgent wankery and guitarists with flowing hair practicing their scales, then look no further! Implicit Obedience is a massive swirl of riffs, out and out speed seamlessly blended with jarring tempo changes, guttural vocals, a fluid bass, and a welcome mix of technical precision and, dare I say it, hooks, riffs, and arpeggios that seem to suck you in the further you wade.

Giving the album tremendous weight is the thick production, courtesy of Mr. Rutan, and Implicit Obedience is an immediate contender for tech/death metal album of the year. And we’re barely three weeks in!

Dave’s Grade: A

Here’s the first of two gorgeous digipack releases sent to me by Ahdistuksen Ahio Productions, a quirky Finnish label. Ahdistuksen Ahio Productions, like I, Voidhanger Records, really know how to present a product with excellent artwork, booklets, and layouts included in a lot of their releases. The label also has a keen eye for avant garde black metal with a roster of bands that are a bit off the beaten path.

The first of the two releases is Chapter I from Ave Maria, a German duo playing a mid-paced form of black metal with deep vocals, plenty of artsy atmosphere, and the odd progressive and/or melodic touch or two. Ave Maria never quite descend into typical, blastbeat ridden territory (although one or two such moments fleetingly appear), as Chapter I explores semi-progressive realms without losing the necessary touches of brutality.

Chapter I is a good album for those looking to go a bit out of the mainstream of black metal, yet still desire a release in such regions to retain the harsh soundscapes of the genre.

Dave’s Grade: B

The second release from Ahdistuksen Ahio Productions is another glorious digipack, this one featuring Finnish black metal band Saturnian Mist. Although the cover art is suitably artsy, at first glance, Saturnian Mist present themselves as a rather typical black metal band with corpsepaint, black and white band photos, and a dripping logo replete with inverted crosses.

However, Saturnian Mist choose to blend their avant garde cover art presentation and corpsepaint with plain ol’ black n’ roll (with just a touch of crust). The result is a very dirty sound that sort of reminds me a bit of old Sodom and/or Motörhead, but beefed up considerably with solid production.

But, wait a second! That’s just the first song! Afterwards, Saturnian Mist downshift the speed a bit and let loose some fluid riffs to go along with some growled screeching that carries some emotional weight. The result is an album that ends up as not quite what I expected and is a bit melancholic without going overboard.

Truth be told, the songwriting is a bit hit and miss and the drums could use a fuller production, but Gnostikoi Ha-Sheitan is a decent, mid-paced black metal album.

Dave’s Grade: B-

Mexico’s Ominous Crucifix play mid-paced metal on their debut full-length from upstart label F.D.A. Rekotz, a label that’s a little hit or miss when it comes to quality. Unfortunately, Ominous Crucifix is a definite miss with their uninteresting, mid-paced death metal that consists of simple riffs, growled vocals, and not much variation in tempo. In addition, the musicianship on The Spell Of Damnation is very suspect with some noticeably poor guitar playing, and we’re not exactly talking about an attempt at technical death metal here.

Ominous Crucifix do have one thing going for them, however, in that their style does actually verge on having a droning, almost soothing, quality to accompany the metronome like pacing. Although this piqued my interest for a moment, it’s not enough to sustain an entire album. Next!

Dave’s Grade: C-

Metallic hardcore giants Nails return in a self released split with Oxnard, California’s Skin Like Iron, a relative unknown. Skin Like Iron contribute three songs of metallic hardcore that lean a bit towards the lighter side of the spectrum, and are much closer to hardcore than metal.

Certainly, fans of traditional hardcore will enjoy Skin Like Iron, but of much greater interest to us is the contribution from Nails. Two quick songs of Entombed-like blastcore with high pitched vocals are greatly aided by a thick production, and easily provide the anchor for this split. However, are two short songs worth a purchase? You be the judge.

Dave’s Grade: B

Eclipse Eternal are a semi-melodic black metal band from Canada that play black metal as if they’re caught somewhere in time around the year 2000 or so. Somewhere in between a toned down Dimmu Borgir or Emperor and Dark Funeral, Eclipse Eternal sound like about a million other bands playing the same style, a style that, frankly, ceased to be interesting at least five years ago. In fact, I do recall that Eclipse Eternal’s debut full-length from 2005, Reign Of The Unholy Blackened Empire, was pretty good album in the style. But the band has since completely dropped off my radar.

Eclipse Eternal do have a few things going for them, mainly some pretty fast riffing that, at times, borders on interesting. However, the songwriting on The Essence Of Hopelessness leaves much to be desired, and Eclipse Eternal end up about five to ten years too late to be worthy of your time and hard earned dollar.

Dave’s Grade: D