Yet another German doom rock band! Actually, the singer, Phil Swanson, is American but whatever. Here we have sEAMOUNt (officially spelled like that) and these guys play doom rock of the heaviest order. Kinda standard doom singing, lots of open-E chugging when it's heavy and groov-y drumming. Obviously, the bass playing is good and fluid. They're a bit more rock-y than metal, much like in the vein of Thin Lizzy in terms of melodies and metal-ness and very Devil's Blood-ish in a contemporary sense. I think that paints a pretty good picture.
Not much else to say, really, other than this is doom done good. Worth listening to!
Sorry for the giant gap between updates. There really isn't any excuse I can say for this other than me being super busy with my "real job" and other things.
Anyway, I'd like to introduce to you people Germany's heavy/doom rock/metal band MIDNIGHT RIDER. The core of the band is made up of Wayne, Cliff Bubenheim and fronted by Blumi (also of Metalucifer Germany). That in itself is pretty great since we all know how amazing and credible one must be to be in the ranks of Metalucifer. Rounding out the band as session members are Shinji "Samm" Tachi (of course, of Metalucifer) and Kenji Naruse from Japan.
Sound-wise, we get a really hard rockin', doom-tinged type of heavy metal much like the Seventies Pentagram stuff and all of the bands of that style. I also get a feeling of a little psych-rock in there, as well. Think Hawkwind.
Interested yet? You should be, since you can't really go wrong with bands that play in this ancient style. Unless, of course, you're The Sword.
I've been in a very black metal mood as of late and even though I don't exactly like many newer black metal bands (or what some people call "black metal"), I'm really digging this new find from Germany - Leipzig's NO EMPATHY. It's pretty obvious after listening to "Chalice of Vaus" and "Rust" that these guys totally understand the black metal aesthetics: raw, gritty, unpolished, riff-based and bleak as hell. I sense some influences from early Watain and Secrets of the Moon and the tortured vocals are just perfect (not over-the-top). Their debut full-length, Rust, seems to have come out earlier this year and is available through Iron Bonehead but I guess you can probably get it from the band as well. Enjoy!
And here we have yet another band from Germany: the blackened thrash metal horde INFERNÄL DEATH! If you like bands like Old, Nifelheim, Trench Hell or, of course, Venom, you'll feel right at home (or hell) with these guys. They've a tape out, Gods of Chaos, which you can get on the band's MySpace or Hell's Headbangers Records.
The Teutonic bastard child of early Anthrax and Blood Feast, Germany's ELIMINATOR is a no-joke thrash metal beast that sounds more like they're from New Jersey than Nordrhein-Westfalen. Speed is the name of the game with these guys and the vocals are the tried-and-true style of the harsh thrash style (think Possessed or, again, Blood Feast). Their demo, Violence and Death, is out now. Get it!
It's a pretty crappy Sunday, what with all the rain and shit going on outside. Anyway, I was just browsing through YouTube and decided to surf through some really obscure heavy metal (not necessarily just NWOBHM). Feast your ears upon these treasures!
Finally! Germany's OLD finally gets a place here! As their name suggests, these dudes play a very ancient and sinister style of speed metal in the vein of early Bathory, Celtic Frost, Sodom and Destruction... you get the idea.
I was first introduced to them by my friend Anton a while back and these guys totally blew me away. If I can recall, Old were the first band in this style that I really liked. Anyway, much thanks to Anton!
Anyone know what's going on with these dudes? They've been keeping silent for months and the Metal Archives listed them as "On Hold". Interestingly enough, it appears that 2 of the guys play in Nocturnal now (!), another fine German thrash band. Great, but... we need more Old!
I woke up this morning sore as hell from carrying around a crate full of records, but it was damn worth it. Thanks to Tooth and Ryan for hookin' it up! If you haven't heard already, they're in a sick old-school heavy metal band called Natur. I wish they can play their own music on their own show. That would be something.
As for me, it was an experience DJ-ing for the first time. I got some pretty good feedback and allow me to use this post as a doorway to check out some of the bands I played. "Pick your poison" is the phrase but I say, "fuck it - pick 'em all!" You'll find some new bands, not-so-new bands, and everything in between.
*****
Ketzer - this is a band that Tooth was raving about when I played them, and he has every reason for it. These German youngsters play an insane style of blackened thrash metal that is as sinister as their debut album's artwork. You can get Satan's Boundaries Unchained on Kneel Before The Master's Throne's distro. If you're into Nifelheim or early-1349, you'll dig these guys.
Midnight - Here's a band from a few of Ohio's black rock n' rollers. Basically, these guys play 100% pure blackened rock/metal in the vein of Venom and Motörhead with some punk-feeling splashed on top. I blind-purchased their great EP Farewell To Hell a while back and it's still being spun around here. You can find it on Nuclear War Now! Productions' distro.
Skitsystem - Sweden's finest crust band! They broke up a while ago but thankfully reformed and will play shows again. Whew! These guys were the first crust band that I listened to back in like '05 and there was no turning back. Tomas Lindberg from At The Gates/Disfear and Adrian Erlandsson of At The Gates was in the initial line-up but have long since quit. These guys are as brutal as ever and you can get their albums at Havoc Records.
Ulysses Siren - These fucking guys! For those of you not aware of the glory that is Ulysses Siren, let me give you a heads up. These Bay Area thrashers only released 2 demos in their entire career and lasted for maybe 2 or 3 years total. Relentless Records just put them out in one package called Above The Ashes. You can get the super-limited vinyl version at The Omega Order. Do you like your trash fast? Look no further.
This is a band that I've been raving about for a while now. Germany's Violent Force sticks out of the thrash scene over there in that they do not possess the early black metal vibe like the early Kreator, Sodom and Destruction releases. I guess this is why them and Tankard never got that same "recognition" as the "Big 3"? Whatever the case may be, those of us in the know have another band that we can all worship and glorify. Violent Force are truly a gem.
After much search for their sole album, Malevolent Assault Of Tomorrow, I finally got it a few weeks ago through The Omega Order. Don't check there now, though. It seems that I've purchased the last copy and when a product is "on order" with them, it never comes. Sad, but true.
With that bullshit out of the way, let me discuss this album briefly. Basically, it's another "classic cult" album that's reissued by Metal Mind Productions of Poland and thank goodness for that. Violent Force's brand of thrash is more in tune with the way thrash first started out as in America - which was super punk and super Motörhead-like. The album's opener, "Dead City", could easily be a G.B.H. song had I not known any better. "Sign Of Evil" has a nice speed metal (sorta like Running Wild) edge to it while "S.D.I." shows the band's more "proper" early-German sound (which was all about SPEED!). The guitarist/vocalist, who's name is for some odd reason Lemmy, has what I believe is the ideal thrash vocals and I can put him up there with Paul Baloff of (duh) Exodus. It's harsh, but clean, and not in a James Hetfield-circa-1984 way (nothing against him, of course).
Violent Force performing "Dead City" in the 1986 German film Verlierer
All and all, a fine slab of Teutonic thrash attack. Not much is known about these guys today. Their official website is in German and their official MySpace hints that they are still active, though I don't see any hard proof. Well, whatever - just get this fucking album.
Violent Force's official website is over here and their MySpace is over here. I hope you know German.
