Written by: The Administrator
Here in the ivory tower of our dusty scriptorium, we slumbering scribes often get caught up in our own machinations and obsessions. The other residents of Ye Olde Sleeping Village find us aloof, at times, and in the interest of furthering their musical opinions, a little intervention is rightfully required. Take this morning, for instance, when the guy who rubs cow brains on cow skin shouldered his way through our door and demanded that we leave the highfalutin horseshit behind and set our quills to a death metal review for once. I, for one, am not prepared to argue with anyone drenched in cow brains, let alone a burly tanner, so here we are, presenting a death metal review. Extensive intro aside, let's get bloody, shall we?
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The Sleeping Village has been around for a few years now, and during that time, a lot of reviews have unceremoniously disappeared into the dark confines of our archives, destined to never see the light of the front page again. Music appreciation, however, is a timeless affair, and in that spirit, here is a review retrieved from the depths.
Written by: The Administrator
Asking if you are in the mood for riff-slangin' death metal born of a war-torn future is hardly a question worth asking...because of course you are. Asking if you are in the mood for some furious Bolt Thrower (and/or Warhammer 40k) worship is a similarly worthless question...because of course you are. Despite seeming somewhat niche, one-man death metal wrecking crew World Eaters carries a wide appeal. 2021's EP--the mighty Grinding Advance--delivers a pugilistic blow befitting its source material. World Eaters has been quite prolific over the past year or so, releasing a demo and several killer splits, and I'm happy to report that this beast is a very strong showing indeed--David Gupta's best work yet, in my humble opinion. This is a release worth celebrating, so let's get to it.
Every Friday, a wagon arrives at the Sleeping Village’s crumbling gates, stuffed to the brim with our sustenance for the following week. Today is the day we must offload all this new music, and so, in the process, we thought it would be worthwhile to share some of our choice picks from this veritable mass of fresh meat. This is what we’ll be--and have been--listening to today here at the Village HQ. We hope you join us in doing so!
On the docket for today, June 10th, 2022: Yatra, Dust Prophet, Adamantis, and Pillärs
Written by: Blackie Skulless
Since the band’s earliest demo at the crack of 2019, I’ve been following every Undeath output that gets tossed out at a close range due to the band’s immediate ear for outstanding writing in the death metal genre. 2020’s Lesions Of A Different Kind would take the structural brutality of the demos and bring them to a refreshing light. This quickly cemented the New York quintet as one of my favorites in modern death metal. There’s no sign of this discontinuing with the latest, entitled It’s Time…To Rise From The Grave. Fitting the imagery of the name and artwork, Undeath sees their second full-length as a step forward in technical tactic while strongly maintaining their ground in memorable riffing. Never is the muddy and unforgiving bottom lost with harsh and disgusting tones that draw the guitars as deep as the guttural vocals. 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
I first discovered Fetid Zombie through their Death Covenant EP in early 2020. While pretty impressive, channeling the strong Obituary and rotting vibes, I certainly didn’t foresee them jumping to this level of intensity (this is also going in with no knowledge about the earlier full-lengths). Enter Transmutations, an absolute beast of a record that swings in a completely different position. Not only is the songwriting longer and more advanced, it’s so much more cohesive than I would have pictured. Across the board, you have a friendly dose of hoarse and cavernous wailing (vocally and instrumentally), melodic traditional metal riffing, dissonant and intense lead passages, and a plethora of different vocal varieties. Almost never does a death metal record of this type pull off the traditional growls, roaring echoes, and even clean singing at times, like in the soft intro of “Dreamless Sleep Awaits.” But don’t mistake this for some generic melodeath accessible serving; it manages its accessibility with writing tactic that winds up being catchy. Lots of bells and whistles, synths, and effects are tossed in for wonderful measure. FRESH MEAT FRIDAY - January 28th, 2022, Feat. Rotborn, SARTORI, Mt. Echo, and Depleted Uranium1/28/2022 On (regrettably infrequent) Fridays, a wagon arrives at the Sleeping Village’s crumbling gates, stuffed to the brim with our sustenance. Today is the day we must offload all this week's new and noteworthy music, and so, in the process, we thought it would be worthwhile to share some of our choice picks from this veritable mass of fresh meat. This is what we’ll be listening to today at the Village HQ. We hope you join us in doing so! On the docket for today, January 28th, 2022: Rotborn, SARTORI, Mt. Echo, and Depleted Uranium
Written by: The Administrator
The first track on Abyssus' stellar Death Revival is entitled "Metal of Death," and if that alone doesn't tell you what to expect in the following 33 minutes, we should probably just pack it up and head home. No gimmick necessary: this is fun death metal that thrives in an environment where the genre's intrinsic over-the-top absurdity and bombastic flair is celebrated. It's an admirable dedication, and after digging myself out of a recent glut of gross death metal that reveled in putridity, some crisply high-octane fare serves as an excellent palate cleanser. Nothing here is drenched in gore or ensconced in the increasingly prevalent "cavernous" aesthetic. Rather, everything here is aggressive, and boisterous, and coated in a slick sheen of late 80's nostalgia. If you like that furious romping energy of Consuming Impulse-era Pestilence, or Beyond The Gates-era Possessed, or Cause of Death-era Obituary, or Spiritual Healing-era Death, you're most certainly in capable hands. Long live the ugly mutation of thrash into death. The golden age lives on. 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
While Conjureth took me by storm, being the best album released through Memento Mori this year, Hexorcist is another band that came out alongside it. In a similar OSDM vein, they hail from Miami, Florida, much like many of the style’s originators. The striking debut is entitled Evil Reaping Death, and it shows little interest in subtly. Rather, it stays as straightforward as it possibly can. Musically, think something very similar to the likes of Morbid Angel. So it should go without saying that this effort consists of raw guitars resembling aggressive thrash acts, alongside pummeling and simplistic drumlines. All of the Azagthoth-like guitar tricks are there, including the screeching and wailing solos topped with harmonics to invoke panic and confusion. Fret-happy tapping and similar guitar tones? All checks out. Admittedly, this can feel a bit same-y, and obviously isn’t really anything original, but the brevity and incredible execution allows me to give this a pass.  Written by: Blackie Skulless
Amongst the massive wave of heavily influential death metal acts of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s came some that held just as much merit but got far less attention over the years. Electrocution is one of these bands. Based out of Italy, they only dropped one record in 1993 titled Inside The Unreal (before more recently reforming), along with several demos that can also be found on disc two of the recent reissue of this beast. Riding heavily on the technical rails, as well as hitting some jazz fusion, picture something along the lines of Unquestionable Presence meets Beneath The Remains. Abundant standout features are going to creep in more and more as you give this repeat listens. Ascending riff repetition is used wonderfully, especially with how it mixes in so smoothly beside the more traditional death metal rhythm patterns. For the most part, the vocals avoid taking the forefront, glazing as a nice topping from the back seat to give the guitars the most focus. Some may view that as a disadvantage, but I personally like it, especially since it is still a noticeable factor. |
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