The Trouble wiTh DeaTh MeTal


“Scream bloody gore” DEATH


Napalm Death. Exhumed. Carcass. Gorguts. The band names are the


stuff of nightmares. The song titles (“Vomited Anal Tract,” “Fucked with a Knife”) are even worse. But the truth is, death metal makes me laugh. It’s just so overblown – the complexity of the playing so absurdly fast, the vocals distorted beyond all recognition – that despite the gruesome- ness of the lyrical themes and album art, I find it hard to consider it all that terrifying. Still, three decades in, death metal remains the go-to genre for fans of


both sonic terror and blood and guts, and so each time a new record comes across my desk with a title like Death at the Gates of Delirium (from British band Contaigeon) or Opus Mortis VIII (out this month from Swedish group Vomitory), I listen, hoping to hear something truly freaky. Yet so rarely do the hairs on the back of my neck go up that I have come to believe that death metal is not in fact horror music at all, it’s just exploitation. Or even comedy. Now, if you’ll allow me


to take a step back (and out of the way of the hate mail no doubt headed my way) to how this whole thing began, I will sing some bloody praise for the debut album Scream Bloody Gore by metal icons Death. Had I actu-


ally heard this when it came out in 1987 I have no doubt it would have given me night terrors. The musical equivalent of Evil Dead (which in- spired at least one song here), it pushed the boundaries of violent, gory lyrics and intensified heavy metal’s sonic brutality so powerfully that it practically launched the entire genre in America. Even today, its creep factor remains high. Ditto the aforementioned “Fucked with a Knife” by death metal superstars Cannibal Corpse, from 1994. That shit is pure evil, and not just for the way singer Chris Barnes graphically de- tails “killing as I cum” like a psychopath possessed. It’s the way both of these efforts exercise a modicum of restraint: they let you fill in the blanks. And that’s fucking scary. Admittedly, I’m no expert on death metal. But I’m tired of bands that


seem to care only about being faster, heavier and more obscene than the next. Let’s face it – at this point the growling, unintelligible vocals are as scary as the Sesame Street puppet monster they’re jokingly named after (Cookie Monster, of course) and there’s even a cartoon death metal band (Metalocalypse’s Dethklok). A crazy extreme roller coaster is still just a roller coaster – safe. But if you’re making some truly horrific death metal, I’d like to hear it.


LIISA LADOUCEUR


THE BLOOD SPATTERED GUIDE CAN BE HEARD WEEKLY ON RUEMORGUERADIO.COM RM 46 A U D I O D R O M E


word and actual dark rites. But despite its stripped down, lo-fi leanings, there are many layers to be peeled away dur- ing repeat listens and the decidely po- etic lyrical content, which questions the true nature of good and evil, effortlessly lures one even further down the rabbit hole. The Devil in Love is a reminder that musical examinations of Satan also have a place outside of their more usual stomping grounds of metal. MSK 0000


DEICIDE To Hell with God


METAL


CENTURY MEDIA Deicide is one of the longest-running and most controversial bands in death metal history, but after twenty years and ten albums, cheap shock tactics such as burning crosses into your forehead or pledging suicide at age 30 aren’t going to sell records – you need to, as bassist/vocalist Glen Benton roars in “Hang in Agony Until You’re Dead,” “kill everyone!” The quartet’s latest isn’t total annihilation, but at least Benton’s back to bellow- ing blasphemy, after the divorce- themed lyrical diversion of previous album Till Death Do Us Part. The pace has quickened, and not-so-new gui- tarists Ralph Santolla and Jack Owen have cut back on grandiose soloing in favour of groove-laden and furious riffs, which works particularly well on the anthemic title track, the breakneck “Save Your” and the Slayer-like “Con- viction.” The band hasn’t forsaken shred, though, as evinced in “Angels of Hell” and the awesome closer “How Can You Call Yourself a God?” Not quite classic Deicide, but certainly one of the band’s better efforts. GM 0000


Cleveland outfit at the legendary CBGB’s in New York City, I can person- ally attest to Crucified Mortals’ raging old school credibility as a live act. However, questions arise as to the rel- evance of this self-titled debut in 2011, given the unoriginal nature of the material and that some of these songs sound as if they’ve been ges- tating since the band originally formed almost a decade ago. Though the group smartly opens the album with their strongest songs – “Sordid Treachery,” “Hidden Tomb” and “Res- urrected Fiend” – the disc’s lasting impact is dubious at best when com- pared to its stylistic forebears (Celtic Frost, Death, Deceased and Mas- sacre). Passion, dedication and fury abound, but as evidenced by the litany of demos and splits that preceded this effort, some conceptual expansion of the songwriting may be in order be- fore world domination appears on the horizon. GP 00½


THE GEORGIAN SKULL Mother Armageddon,


METAL


CRUCIFIED MORTALS Crucified Mortals


METAL


HELL’S HEADBANGERS Having once shared a stage with this


Healing Apocalypse SCARLET RECORDS If Down and Clutch stopped being pansies and started playing real dark, twisted fucking metal, they might sound like The Georgian Skull. These dudes may hail from the same geo- graphic vicinity as RM, but they cook up a Southern metal recipe that also includes classic Black Sabbath doom, Killers-era Iron Maiden guitar har- monies and insane, chaotic hardcore. Vocalist/lead guitarist Al “The Yeti” Bones performs some impressive throat gymnastics, going from a Danzig power croon to the wail of someone being stabbed in the throat with broken glass practically simulta- neously. The band is best when it takes a multi-layered approach, no- tably on the track “Possessed Ob- sessed,” which seemingly has twelve different guitar parts all played at once, to a common goal of sonic de- struction. If you like doom and stoner metal that’s less about getting high and more about hellfire and violence, look no further. AVL 0000


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