Johnny Touch – Inner City Wolves – Shadow Kingdom Records

Imitating the days of old.

How surprised I was when I discovered that Inner City Wolves is not a re-release but a brand new album of the Aussie band Johnny Touch!!!

Everything from the past is there, the production, the feeling, how they got this kind of sound is a secrecy they must keep.

All the more, the band has an ex member of Denouncement Pyre which is one of my fave bands from down under.

But the surprises and qualities stop here, since Johnny Touch are happy to make a kind of generic sound that doesn’t do more than just sound old.

Sometimes they get it right like in the second track The Metal Embrace (Ozzy can sue them for using Barking at the Moon riff), which is good.

Other times they try to put some progressive touch like in the last track Black Company which is a little epic with melodic acoustic guitars, changes of tempo, obeying no rules.

But some parts like Radiation Axeposure trying to imitate Malmsteen are just not right. More so, you expect pure speed metal attack but this band is content in doing a kind of hard/heavy.

But the real problem here is the vocals which are boring.

Okay kudos for them to try to give to the kids of today some real feeling of the past, this task alone is Herculean and heroic. But music isn’t just about how “true” you tune your instrument. Anyway die-hards will love it.

Inner City Wolves is out now on Shadow Kingdom Records.

---

(Daniel Death)

Please, follow Dark Souls United on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUblog
Also you can communicate with us directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darksoulsunited

Atara Vs. Miserable Failure – Hang Them – Kaotoxin

Double shot of grindcore from France!

This release is what I call true grindcore! Two bands, 18 minutes of pure and merciless brutality to bleed poser ears, this is a delight to the extremists!

First band Atara, attacks with shortest songs, one after another and while there are no highlights I can securely say they do their work with fervor to deliver their dystopian word of pure aggressiveness! Harsh production, punkish and quasi-black metal approaches in a mincecore basis, the desperation and urgency will take you by assault leaving no prisoners.

Notwithstanding, Miserable Failure is the band that will shoot you in your tracks: noise core with grind makes them a confluence between Aghathocles and Sore Throat, this shit is really disgraceful: nihilistic cacophony to wreak havoc in the brutal turf of extreme moshpit. Not for the virgin ears to the style.

This is an ACE release limited to 1000 copies with no possible re-release, so run and get your copy or lose these two great attacks! Totally indicated!

Hang Them are out now on Kaotoxin.

---

(Daniel Death)

Please, follow Dark Souls United on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUblog
Also you can communicate with us directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darksoulsunited

DESTRUKTOR / THRONEUM – A Prophecy of Nihilism (Split 7″) – Hells Headbangers

Killer split for brutal and insensitive headbangers!

No quarter and no compromise!! Fuck off the universe! This is the message that Destruktor and Throneum carry out together with this split 7” that was made to destroy the denizens of the world with nuclear hate!

This opus has only two sounds, the Destruktor song, called Besieged is a demonstration of non-stop brutality into the pure death/black mode resounding  Angelcorpse and other bands of the style. The drumming is unmerciful, pounding all the way through the sonic waves of cataclysmic rifferama to pollute this world with warlike despair in an ocean of disgracefulness. Non plus ultra!

Throneum and its song Chtonian Lust sounds a little bit more old school, with an introduction alike Sepultura’s Necromancer, and the sound is an encyclopedia of influences raging from Sarcófago to Beherit and Blasphemy. It’s kind of impossible to ignore their oxidized sound that cuts the eardrums like an old razor. A hellrazor of course.

This EP is for the most dedicated and die-hard fans of the style ONLY. Poseurs, don’t even try or you’ll get busted.

A Prophecy of Nihilism (Split 7″) is out now on Hells Headbangers.

---

(Daniel Death)

Please, follow Dark Souls United on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUblog
Also you can communicate with us directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darksoulsunited

Protokult – No Beer In Heaven – Self Released

Give me fucking beer!

Protokult is a Canadian band that practices a folk metal in the vein of Alestorm, Finntroll, Trollfest and the likes: the great difference here is the intricacy of their songs…

In this sophomore album, they put on folk tunes for over an hour, so if you’re not into the style, you better stop reading this review…

But for the fans of the style, they keep on changing on melancholic tunes and upbeat songs and those are very interesting!

For example, the opener Get Me a Beer is pure cheery sound, with anthemic choruses that will get the fans of aforementioned bands point blank!

However the second track called Heaven Cast Me out is a bit gloomier with female vocals that give the north of the other songs.

Flight of the Winged Hussar is the best track of the CD with all elements interwoven in a complex structure of musical influences, all seamless of course which empower the band with the necessary respect!

This confluence of styles continues in tracks such as Summer’s Ode which is a folk ballad with male vocals with the female voices in the background.

However Razbival Okovi Perun is very SLAVIC (?????) which is tailor-made for fans of bands such as Nokturnal Mortum or Темнозорь!!! The following track called Water of Life continues this great animist experience in full glory!

Their modus operandi is quite original for folk metal style making them a great option for one who seeks new horizons of bucolic metal music.

No Beer in Heaven is an indeed a CD that deserves to be listened with attention to like it but it’s a worthy experience!

No Beer In Heaven is out now and it’s Self Released.

---

(Daniel Death)

Please, follow Dark Souls United on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUblog
Also you can communicate with us directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darksoulsunited

Slaughterday – Ravenous – FDA Rekotz

Pure death metal cult from Germany.

After a proper album, Slaughterday is back with a four track EP bringing to the fold the most competent death metal, with bulks of good soloing, heaviest bellows, and putrid old school attitude.

Ravenous, although it resounds Entombed a little bit, has all the identity to put Slaughterday into the circuit of the true Death Metal bands in Europe: Hardcore Death Metal, no compromise, no fucking quarter. It throws you back to the days of Autopsy as well. Great number.

Crawling In Secrecy is pure headbanging and old timers will have an orgasm while listening to the the growls from the cemetery and heaps of satanic rifferama with occasional changes of tempo.

Abyss Of A Nameless Fear is the most brutal of them all, cavernous sounds which are impossible to not headbang. A real neckbreaker for sure.

Last track is a cover of the greatest Acheron, the song Ave Satanas. Excellent choice.

Ravenous is a win-win situation, a totally well made effort, a CD for those about to death.

Ravenous is out now on FDA Rekotz.

---

(Daniel Death)

Please, follow Dark Souls United on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUblog
Also you can communicate with us directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darksoulsunited

Shaved Women – Just Death – Ektro

Punk noise, noisy punk.

Shaved Women hails from St Louis /MO and they are releasing their first “full length”, after a couple of EP’s released. This full length has 9 songs clocking in at 23 minutes.

Their punk rock is muddy and sludgy, mid-tempo, and the vocals are almost inaudible. The guitars are buzzing like drones and the drumming is 4/4 all the way.

Songs like No One Gets in and Paranoia make the punk rocker party while the best song is Relapse with the shittiest solo ever, but I dug it. Lots.

The tracks are in the face although they are not heavy (they are pretty “alternative” to be honest). By the end of the disc they lost velocity in a Black Flag way.

Shaved Women is a great surprise for those who like direct sound, no frills, no anything. I liked this album, because it’s shameless punk attitude, no stardom, no bullshit. I wish all the American punk rocks were this way.

Just Death is out now on Ektro.

---

(Daniel Death)

Please, follow Dark Souls United on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUblog
Also you can communicate with us directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darksoulsunited

Abysmal Lord – Storms of Unholy Black Mass (12″ MLP) – Hells Headbangers

Underground and satanic as fuck!

It’s strange when we hear a disgraceful band like Abysmal Lord and take a rapid survey on the internet and see that nobody is giving a fuck about them except half-dozen of die hards. You feel like a hipster: Hey I knew Abysmal Lord before they were cool. Hehehehe It was the same when I heard Beherit for the first time, only hardcore fans would like the band. Now it’s a cult, it’s always this way so…

Okay Abysmal Lord is the ultimate satanic band around: their sound comprises infernal noises forged in the bonfires of hell itself, the execution of the songs resounds a lot of Satanic Bloodspraying and of course bands like Blasphemy, Behererit and Morbosidad: true satanic attack.

Terrorist Dawn (Introwehrmacht) works more as a prelude to destruction while Gnashing Of Teeth is so raw and oxidized that tetanus is almost certain. The sound is somewhat harsh on the final cut which gives the band incredible heaviness and brutality from the depths of hell. This is fucking cool because I imagine they sound exactly like this alive.

 Angels Of Persecution is even more putrid and miasmal. Destructive vocals along with a bassline forged in the chasms of nothingness, the vocals are truly raw over again delivering the “alive session” sensation. Perfect to say at least.

You’ll think that I’m kidding and make jokes with you but guess what? Storms View is EVEN (I like the word even, don’t I?) more noxious and rapid and everything that I said before but doubled. Man this band is truest stuff.

Revelation is blasphemous as fuck as sounds like a thunder striking through the ears (if thunder can strike anything). Hardcore Black Death Metal to die-hard entertainment!

Storms of Unholy Black Mass is seriously an excellent release and its legacy will stay in the future as everybody will claim they were die-hard fans of the band in the “heyday”. For now you can do me a favor: Say that you heard about it first on Dark Souls United.

Storms of Unholy Black Mass (12″ MLP) is out now on Hells Headbangers.

---

(Daniel Death)

Please, follow Dark Souls United on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUblog
Also you can communicate with us directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darksoulsunited

Throne of Sacrilege / Impurium – Unleashing a Cacophony of Destruction – Orchestrated Misery Recordings

Clogged split.

This split album with two bands Throne of Sacrilege and Impurium is a strange business to be honest.

This is noisy for sure, but analyzing directly they are different kind of monsters, one in a good and another in a bad way.

Throne of Sacrilege is very noisy, practicing a death black assault but it seems that they have no inventiveness… they all sound the same, like “hey let’s board the death/black train to see what happens”. After hearing the three tracks one gets to the conclusion that they aren’t the ultimate names of the genre.

But Impurium came to save the day: their sound is much better than Throne of Sacrilege, with actual songs in it, in a mix of death/black thrash, really cool as in the first song Again We Freeze that is really enticing, with various changes of tempos and indeed, styles into just one song.

Midgard has raspy guitars, very underground, and although one can notice the technical limitations of the band, their music still rocks and nukes with genuine nuclear hate for the humankind. The drumming fills the place with greatness and their sound is pure heaviness thanks to the production. I love the lyrics as well, something like. AHHHH, AHHHH, AHHHH, very philosophical indeed. Over again by the last part of the song they go from death/black attack to pure thrash metal, a great idea, let me say… over again they explode into death/black attack.

The last song Ad Secular Impurium starts a little despondent, but it ends up being a brutal metal number in atomic proportions.

The conclusion: Throne of Sacrilege tries and doesn’t get to make quality music as Impurium does! Even though making the very same type of music. An interesting split however.

Unleashing a Cacophony of Destruction  is out now on Orchestrated Misery Recordings.

---

(Daniel Death)

Please, follow Dark Souls United on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUblog
Also you can communicate with us directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darksoulsunited

Mutilated Veterans – Necro Crust Warhead (12″ Mlp) – Hells Headbangers

Metal Punk D-beat to the (hard)Core

Mutilated Veterans is a self-called d-beat band from Spain and this is their first release which is an EP.

Their sound is pure metal punk a là (of course) Discharge and this sole factor makes this band a must-hear and a must-have.

The punkish approach inviting us to the mosh pit is in the very first track March of the Mutilated: Unrelenting drumming, death metal growls, simplest soloing and all the brouhaha.

The second attack called Blood Militia is more thrash than punk, although the d-beat permeates the song in all its glory. Pure military street punk thrash metal marches for the headbanger pleasure.

A Tank Full Of Corpses gives the impression that we are inside the album Why or Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing.

Triumph Of Torture is even shorter, actually it is the shortest track of the mini-album, and it’s fucking ace with the heavy bass and over again nasty solos.

Closer Carnage Warfare brings more reasons to love this EP with more of the same fucking hardcore sound:  what a great sound. The buzzing guitars will rip you apart!!

This is a release that DOES NOT deserve to be relegated to the dust forgetfulness. Necro Crust Warhead is a great release and if you don’t like it you are false!!! Go and get your fucking copy bastard!

Necro Crust Warhead (12″ Mlp) is out now on Hells Headbangers.

---

(Daniel Death)

Please, follow Dark Souls United on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUblog
Also you can communicate with us directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darksoulsunited

 

Sunless Sky – Firebreather – Pure Steel Records

Where were the good ideas gone?

Sunless Sky is an American entity and this is their debut album. The musicians seem to have had experience in the unknown death metal bands and now they called a guy called Juan Ricardo to be their frontman. But is it really a good idea to release an album just for the sake of it?

It seems that Pure Steel gave them the opportunity to distribute their album, and it’s really strange why a European label would pick an adventurous Heavy Metal band from America, but that is anyone’s guess.

The error here starts with the terrible coverart, a bad-photoshopped baby spitting fire seems fit for the album title however it is really one of the worst art I’ve seen this year, honestly.

But the problems don’t stop here of course.

The sterile sound of Sunless Sky packed in 14 tracks and 60 minutes of uninspired music destroys the day of everyone.

Their sound is Power Metal and they seem happy to photocopy every cliché of the style, put up some screaming vocals for the sake of scream, and by the fifth song it starts to get on one’s nerves.

Particularly bad is the track Pandemonium that is the epitome of everything that SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN MADE in this kind of music.

The other tracks, of course follow suit, with uninspired riffs, uninspired solos, uninspired production, uninspired all.

I recommend this to my enemies to suffer in hell. Listen to it by your own account. You’ve been warned.

Firebreather is out now on Pure Steel Records.

---

(Daniel Death)

Please, follow Dark Souls United on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DSUblog
Also you can communicate with us directly through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darksoulsunited