PSYCHE Re-Membering Dwayne
INDUSTRIAL
ARTOFFACT RECORDS Prior to joining seminal industrial group Skinny Puppy in 1986, the late Dwayne Goettel (who died in 1995 of a heroin overdose) was briefly a member 1980s darkwave band Psy- che, who are remarkably still active and residing in Germany. Released here for the first time – on the fif- teenth anniversary of Goettel’s death – are the tracks that the keyboardist recorded with Psyche, as well as remixes by several modern acts. Re- jigged numbers, such as the dance- able and sinister “The Crawler,” remixed by Dead When I Found Her, are the most accessible songs on the album, serving to bridge the current generation with the scene’s silver- backs. Yet the originals offer a raw look at the developing Goettel, with tracks such as the coarse “Screaming Fire” and darkly playful “Nightmare” indicating the influential aural horror to come. Perfect for Skinny Puppy completists and those dusty goths who covet the glory days of early ’80s industrial. JE 000½
tually the quartet’s first full-length; their legacy reliant upon splits, demos and EPs since forming in 1988. As Swedish death metal is enjoying an underground renaissance of sorts – no small thanks to Daniel Ekeroth’s killer book Swedish Death Metal – the band should be hitting all the proper dirty devil’s notes, right? And with ti- tles such as “Night of the Undead” this just has to be good, horrifying fun. Well, sort of. While their hearts and collective groove are in the right place – “Where Death Will Increase” and “Sacrificial Torment” steamroll bluntly with that patented oompa-oompa Swedish death thunder – the album fails to cut a memorable swath through listeners’ grey matter due to the fact that many of the musical ideas here prefer to roll ’round within the Swe-death heritage, rather than add any new electricity to the mix. Best stick to Entombed and Dismem- ber’s classic catalogue than delve deep into this, lest you arise a mite disappointed in the end. GP 00½
THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE Pins and Needles
ROCK
METROPOLIS Never as abrasive as industrial, but nei- ther toothless as most synth-pop, The Birthday Massacre has spent a decade polishing its brand of macabre melody. Pins and Needles is the Toronto sextet’s follow-up to 2007’s Walking With Strangers, and it’s the group’s most ac- complished work yet. First single “In the Dark” (the video for which was co-directed by RM’s Rodrigo Gudiño) pairs singer Chibi’s sweet vocals with beds of creepy keyboards and aggressive washes of guitar courtesy of six- stringers M. Falcore and Rainbow. It’s a style (some might say formula) that gets repetitive but mostly serves the band well over the album’s eleven songs. Other highlights include the menacing title track and the sinister “Sleepwalking,” while the most horror-heavy cut, “Shallow Grave,” refer- ences wannabe actress Elizabeth Short, a.k.a. The Black Dahlia, and sees Chibi singing “she wears her dress like a body bag.” Consider Pins and Needles as danceable as it is damned. SP 0000
Before Dying” and “Re-Organ-ized” wedged between intros by a Crypt Keeper-like narrator, who actually sounds more like that Gatekeeper dude from Nightmare, the old video board game. Musically speaking, Not for the Squeamish is hardly essential, but it’s still a catchy piece of nostalgic metal, with a sickly comic aesthetic that’s best kept hidden from your overprotective mother. AVL 000½
TOMBSTONES Not for the Squeamish
METAL
INTERMENT Into the Crypts of Blasphemy
METAL
PULVERIZED RECORDS Though Sweden’s Interment pos- sesses a legitimate pedigree – mem- bers having trooped in such grim/true/real outfits as Centinex, Dellamorte and Uncanny – this is ac-
RAZORBACK RECORDINGS Impetigo vocalist Stevo Dobbins is back with his new band Tombstones, an ’80s death and thrash metal tribute to the illustrated horror magazines of yesteryear, such as Creepy and Tales from the Crypt, and a departure from the gurgled exploitation movie lyrics that fans have come to expect from this goregrind master. There’s no denying that Tombstones’ sound bears more than a passing resem- blance to fellow Razorback label mates Crypticus; after all, Patrick Bruss plays guitar and bass for both bands. But this is really just a fun, not- to-be-taken-seriously effort, with cool, gory titles such as “Shriek Well
METAL
record to five brutal songs, which don’t stick around long enough to wear out their welcome. Inspired by Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide, frontman Mike Hranica alternates be- tween screams and Cookie Monster growls to narrate the story of a zom- bie apocalypse survivor, with guitarist Jeremy DePoyster providing melodic choruses in counterpoint. The accom- panying soundtrack is a maelstrom of double-kick drums, bowel-scraping bass, melancholy keyboards and Slayer-style riffs, delivered at a veloc- ity faster than the band has ever at- tempted. The limited-edition Hot Topic version includes a fourteen-page comic written by Day by Day Ar- mageddon author J.L. Bourne. SP 000½
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Zombie EP
METAL
FERRET MUSIC Concept albums are tricky beasts. Too often the “concept” escapes the band’s grasp, the results becoming overblown and ridiculous, akin to a feature film that should have been a short. Dayton, Ohio metalcore outfit The Devil Wears Prada grasped this danger and kept its zombie concept
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