FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
A little bit of background information: the record is a collaborative project between two Mikes — Mike Mare and Mike Gallager (of Isis fame). Amigos is a 40-plus minute single-track of ambient guitar textures and carefully pieced-together layers of sound that, just as they are on the verge of overstaying their welcome, shifts gears so as to keep things from getting too boring.
Forget all of your cardboard cutout third division skidthrash bands that have been popping up all over the place in the last few years, Sacrifice has returned to show how it is done, period. These Canadian thrash icons have come back after sixteen years of hibernation to create what is possibly the best work of their career.
Rob Kachluba reviews the brand new, long-awaited return album by Canadian thrash legends Sacrifice.
Ok, I admit when I offered to review this CD I didn’t realize it was a reissue. Since I had never heard of the band before I couldn’t possibly know they had a discography and haven’t been together in ten years. On a good note, if I hadn’t actually looked at the date and saw this was recorded in 1997 I wouldn’t have thought the album sounded dated.
Apparently it’s pretty cold in Murmansk. Less chilly is Death Nord Kult, the latest release from Old Wainds. They hail from northern Russia, and thus it’s not overly surprising that their brand of black metal is all about darkness, the arctic, and geographical isolation.
Culted’s MySpace biography makes much of the fact that the band’s impressive first full-length album is a “truly collaborative effort across international lines.” One can only hope for more musical cooperation in the future from the jointly Canadian/Swedish band.
For me, anything that Massacre/Denial Fiend vocalist Kam Lee is involved with gets me excited and I am very happy to report that this new Bone Gnawer project is no exception. In fact, it is possibly some of his finest work.
The Corpse of Rebirth is not always an accessible record, but like many of the deeper novels from the historical period that have clearly influenced the band, the time devoted to it is well spent.
Even with all the feedback, distortion and weird sounds this is an album that anyone interested in droning, ambient sounding metal should have a listen to.
While Clutch traditionally is known for its forays into hard rock and metal, the all-instrumental Bakerton goes off onto other musical tangents that are also engaging although they can be very different from their main gig. El Rojo finds the group heading succinctly into jamband territory, creating an engaging mixture of funk, blues and classic rock that gives the musicians lots of room to breathe and let their musical chops shine.
This third full length album from Glasgow, Scotland’s Man Must Die is an amazing listen from start to finish.