This cd has some killer riffs. It is similar to Dark Funeral but done really well (technical and genius, with riff recycling). The recording on this cd just spoils the whole thing. Their first three EP's/Demo's had a much better recording why did they have to change it. It is highly produced, over-produced, it sounds like a bunch of machines. The drums sound like a drum machine, and the bass is pretty hard to hear. The whole cd stands in my cd collection as if it were a piece of plastic. The production almost goes against every rule ever made by black metal. I think the recording on plaguewielder sounds more natural then this (though both are equally as bad). The material most of the time is pretty good but who cares if I can't enjoy it. I prefer their other cd's, the material is just as good with a decent recording.

Best Thrash-band since 80's! - 100%
DevourerOfSouls, May 29th, 2005

Aargh, Pyöveli's debut full-lenght The New Reneissance of Speed & Thrash Metal strikes hard and fast. Songs are fast and there's a lot influences from the German thrash metal bands like Kreator, Sodom & Destruction.
Side Thrash:

1. Pyöveli Attack
Song starts like Metallica's Hit The Lights and goes on with furious fast riff & drum beat. Vocals are just like Kreator's Endless Pain. Like in every good thrash song, there's a fucking fast solo! Good start for a better album.

2. Thrash Hammer
Thrash Hammer is one of my favourites from this album. One riff is taken or just accidently copied from Death's song Infernal Death. T Metal N's screams are just like Tom Araya's in the beginning of Angel of Death! Cool song!

3. Possessed by Metal
Thrashy song, like every song on this CD. Nice and cathcy chorus, ''Possessed by metal!!!''. The most heaviest song on this album!

4. The Hangman
This is my favourite one of the album, not so fast in the beginning, but still fast. Sounds like early Destruction and there's a nice roto-tom sound in the drums. A lot of hooky riffs and vocals. After the first two verses comes the fast chorus, ''hangman hangs, can you smell the death of god?!''. Nice solo!

5. Predator
Again not-so-fast song, but this fucking rocks! Sound's alot like Kreator's Bonebreaker on Endless Pain. Like The Hangman, starts with no-so-fast beat but goes on very fast and thrashing.

6. Metal Revolution
Maybe the fastest song on the album. Inside first 30 seconds there is 2 very nice and high-pitched screams. Sounds alot like Possessed By Metal.

Thorngoat.Fucking.Kills - 85%
DevourerOfSouls, June 5th, 2005

''Demo 2005'' is the first demo of Thorngoat, and the cover / layout is cool, although it's cd-r format. You can hear that there's alot of influences of the Canada Death/Black Scene (Conqueror, Revenge, Blasphemy) and that's not a bad thing. So let's stick to the music.
First song, Bury This Earth, is a fast song, starts with a ultra-fast chainsaw riff and J. Dominus low-pitched growls. The demo is recorded live, so it's hard to play drums and growl at the same time, but J. Dominus attends it very well. Vocals sound much like Beherit's Nuclear Holocausto. Althoug the song is very fast and brutal, it's quite long compared to other bands like this.
Decay of Life sounds alot like Revenge, first a fast riff and then the drums kick in. Like the first one, this song is fast and brutal, again, low-pitched growls, extremely fast riffs and fast beating. Drummer seems to be much influenced by James Read, and that's not a bad thing. There is also a short slow part in this song, and after it, there is a short fast blasting and that's it.
Mass Grave is another fast blasting. Vocalist screams quite high and low one after another and the beats are again much influenced by J. Read, chaotic and fast. There is no solos on the demo but that's OK when there's only guitarist and vocalist/drummer. Thorngoat is quite a littlebrother of Revenge and still it isn't a bad thing.

Mosh Angel - Old School Demo!!! - 70%
Morbidian, February 8th, 2006

Well, this is very positive and symphatic demo recording, that combining music elements of old school thrash/speed metal, and blackish like way of treating vocals. Production is standard for demo thus everything can be heard good. In moments bass lines are very cool, and guitar is story of it's on, and she is very good. Band mostly sounds like combination of ''Sodom'' and ''Kreator'', but you can not say that they are copycat of these bands, cause you can here some originality in music of ''Mosh Angel''.
Most catchy songs on this 4-track demo are ''Fire In The Night'' and ''High Speed Metal'', a real head banging/moshing thrash hymns. Other two songs are also good, with chorus vocals, hype guitar rythms and stuff, but their not so wild as titles mentioned above.
Band coming from Finland, which is well known by pussy whipped Gothic metal bands, and towards them, ''Mosh Angel'' are real refreshment.
This is demo, and they are young ''metal fuckers'', so there is time on their side, and if they continue in future, following this line of old scholl thrash metal, they could be next Finish big time.
Very good Demo

Great debut release ! - 89%
Skyklad, April 16th, 2004

DEVIATED PRESENCE actually started out as a solo project of guitarist / vocalist Felix but eventually morphed into a full band. Here they present an interesting, very good and rather long album, clocking in at almost 70 minutes, that successfully combines the best of Death, Black and Atmospheric Metal styles. All songs except for track 5, 'Amok' are over 7 minutes each with lots of variety and depth infused within. You´ve got slower parts, faster parts, brutal parts, acoustic parts and very atmospheric parts. It´s beautiful at times and vicious at others. Perfect contrasts all around. The vocals are growled in a Black Death style but often times clean vocals are used. Personally, I prefer the growling vocals over the clean ones. The whole aura of this made me think of SCYTHE but whereas SCYTHE are more Death Metal these guys lean more towards the Blacker side of things. Also a bit of old DARK TRANQUILLITY can be heard here and there and definitely some older OPETH has been influential. If you like any of those bands then I highly recommend checking out this great debut album. Considering the CD is very professionally made and costs only 7 Euros (plus a few more for postage) I´d say it´s very worth the purchase just for the price alone. The album is closed out with a cover song of Nick Kershaw´s 'The Riddle'. As a side note the band are currently looking for a drummer who is serious and able to play shows and dedicate time to recording albums. Contact Felix at [email protected] if interested.

A busy band - 80%
Skyklad, August 4th, 2004

FALLEN ANGELS don´t waste any time and present their second 4 track demo, an excellent follow up to the awesome "Fall From Heaven". Again the artwork is amazingly attractive and the production has improved a lot this time around, as it´s a lot more fuller, crisp and all instruments are balanced well. The scrumptous lead guitar that I liked so much on the previous demo got even better here. I´m talking about lead guitar work that gets in your head and wraps around your brainstem like a parasitic alien ! It´s highly addictive. This time the vocals are a bit higher and more in the direction of IN FLAMES style but not whiny like those that Anders Friden has nowadays. I think also at times, like in the opener track 'Soulstorm Splinter', they sound sort of forced and not as natural as before but they´re still good. FALLEN ANGELS are a band I will be keeping my eye on. My favourite track is 'Where The Black Lotus Grows'.

Straight ahead Death Metal - 95%
Skyklad, September 30th, 2002

Intense and Brutal Death Metal is what´s offered on this second release by young US band BEYOND FATAL. This is no frills straight ahead Death Metal the way it should be played that´s extreme and hard hitting with growls from the depths of maggot filled caverns. They take most influence from the old school Death Metal days (CANNIBAL CORPSE) and fuse it with a bit of the more modern styles (DYING FETUS) for an excellent, well balanced release. Highly recommended for Death Metal purists. Visit their official website at http://www.beyondfatal.com.

Thunder Reigns ! - 90%
Skyklad, May 21st, 2003

It´s sort of hard to review a single song but since that´s all we have we´ll have to make do so... First positive aspect of this band is the vocalist, Mike Hutchings, whom sounds very similar to JD Campbell of OMEN fame. That gets a plus automatically in my book ! The music and production is indicative of their obvious old school, 80´s Traditional Metal influence. If this is going to be representative of what´s on the full length album (if it ever comes out) then I will certainly be picking it up. A definitely great first impression ! Visit their website at http://www.thunderreigns.com for more info and to also download the song yourself.

They´re coming to take me away haha... - 95%
Skyklad, July 23rd, 2002

ORIGIN - Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas (Relapse~2002)
If I didn´t suffer from epilepsy or mental instability before I sure as hell do now ! This latest release from Kansas Death grinders, ORIGIN, is brutal, technical, progressive, dark and advocates all out chaos and mind destruction. Certainly not an album easily digested all in one sitting as well as not for the weak. It´s no surprise why they are on Relapse. Aggressive, unrelenting and extreme are only some of the words that can describe this album effectively as ORIGIN ignite your soul with their "aggro-tech". You´ve got to experience this and no amount of adjectives will do justice so pick up "Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas" today and perhaps we´ll meet up in the same doctors office during our weekly mental check up.
-Cheryl

Nothing impressive... - 45%
makaze, October 21st, 2004

Seraphidian are hailing from the city of West Midlands (England) and playing a combination of older thrash metal and nu metal, with growling vocals and a bit of hard/heavy sound. The description sounds pretty good, but actually it's not. Now, when we need bands that are doing something fresh, new, original, it's hard to say something good for bands like Seraphidian which are playing kind of music thats really old. They sound like type of the band that's playing every weekend in your city's Hard Rock Caffe. Anyway, this is their second release - the first one was a live CD which I don't know why was done. The era of live-demo recordings is over - it's 21st century - none of the labels won't even put live CD in a player. Without proper studio record, it's useless. If you would like to know how would Sepultura sound like if they didn't put up much nu metal sound, listen to this. But i doubt this EP will deserve more than few spins in your CD player.

New Change Of Direction - 85%
CallerOfTheCthulhu, February 23rd, 2005

Finally, arriving in the inbox was the one promo CD that all the other metal DJs practically creamed themselves over. The two track sampler simply wasn't enough, and it was about damned time this released showed, even if the version here is censored for radio airplay.



Anyhow, everything I have read bashing Soilwork is in comparison primarily to Figure Number Five and Natural Born Chaos. Those are the obvous idiots who have only heard those two and feel that is their "sound". Thanks to the faltering suckcess (heh, impressive word, isn't it?) of Figure Number Five, the band decided to try to reinvent themselves once again, but not into something new. They went back to the style that adorned their Chainheart Machine album, but still keeping hold of some melody.



Many of those who bash this album only listened to the promo two song sampler, or to a few moments of a song, only sampling each off the album, according to many reviewers later on. The fact of the matter is that the band has progressed into a melodic act that can serious destroy any other band, quite possibly In Flames with their pedastols and torches held high. The music is simply fast, catchy, and brutal at times. The vocals are absolutely amazing, ranging from screams to singing (and yes, singing is allowed in a MELODIC act. If everyone sounded like Dark Tranquility metal would be boring), with some pretty impressive lyrics thrown in as well.



Sure Stabbing The Drama isn't the best album compared to their earlier releases, but it can definately hold a torch to them atleast with some of the tracks (i.e.: "One With The Flies"), and is definately their best release in the past couple of years. Those who haven't been fans from the start definately won't like it, and if you though Figure Number Five was the greatest album ever created, then you should just shoot yourself point black with a 9mm if you think you'll like this one. Soilwork isn't nu-metal. They are "gothenburg", and are one of the best...with the two blemishes prior to this release stricken from the record, of course...

War is Coming - 45%
MachX, April 3rd, 2005

Yeah a war between SFU fans and everybody else. The real credit to Six Feet Under is the fact they REFUSE to let any speed influence creep into their music. They have actually created their own sound/groove by NOT using typical death metal stylings. Unfortunately throughout this one, and their debut 'Haunted', they sound like watered down CC and Obituary. I rate this one lower than Haunted because it just seems to be way less catchy, which is bad for a slow groove album. Highlights:
War is Coming - mostly ill-fitting lyrics, but I do like the 'so stand in front, or kill yourself right now' posturing Chris uses here
Tracks 2-8 - bunch of stoned filler
Revenge of the Zombie - Holy shit, they're ALIVE! Uncharacteristically lively sounding here, I love this track with the way the chorus jumps back and forth across the sound stage 'butcher's knife clenched in my fist/revenge of the zombie/stabbing you to fucking death/revenge of the zombie'
Tracks 10-12 - see tracks 2-8
Overall this seems to be more of a pot endorsement than any real kind of serious musical endeavour, but it is still cool for an afternoon of chilling with your favorite beer or bong.

So I have this really tight space between two of my upper right molars, and when I chew gum I usually get some of it stuck in there. I was chewing some Winterfresh gum for a while, and when it lost its flavor I spit it out.

Then I started munching on some "zen party" trail mix, which has rice crackers, sesame sticks, green peas, almonds, cashews, and wasabi peas. This was new to me, as I had never tried it before. It was kind of OK, but not great. There were some familiar flavors mixed together in a way that wasn't all that compelling. Then some of the gum stuck between my teeth got dislodged, and I tasted the mint with it. It wasn't horrible, but who wants minty, salty, wasabi crackers and nuts?

Are you wondering where I'm going with this?

I'm more of the Cosmo Lee school of thought, which is that good metal writing should be, first and foremost, good writing. I don't always succeed. But it is, in my humble (or not humble) opinion, better than what often passes for good writing around here.

Religon of Spiritual Goodness - 80%
Mecha, January 26th, 2004

I'm not quite sure what an Old Waind is but I'm pretty sure its a synonym for good, becuase thats what this band is, good.

This album is raw, fast, and good. Double bass is a constant and there seems to be a lot of fast guitar riffs. The production is bad but I have heard worse, the guitar and drums are audible but the bass is hard to hear. Though the vocals can be heard well. The album seems a little repetitive because the drums seem to be the same double bass through out the whole abulm, and there seems to be about 3 styles of riffing for the guitars.

My favorite tracks are probably Portals of Winter Holocaust, Religon of Spiritual Violence, Unholy Nordic Metal and The Apogee of Prosperity. Those were the songs that stood out the most.

In Conclusion, this album would make a good contribution to your collection but I beleive it is hard to find. The album is very melodic too, so if you like melodic black metal then this is an album for you.

Midgard - Dawn of Martyrdom - 75%
Satanic_Warmonger, March 16th, 2005
This album was given to me while visiting my friend in city of Bratislava. Vlad told me this is a very interesting band and so i trusted him when he handed me this interesting looking demo from a Persian band. Expected would be some very raw black metal, or in this case, raw national socialist black metal. But instead, there is very much synth and atmosphere with random sound wavs of Arabic chanting and bombs and war. Very little metal on this demo, the only metal found is on the second track. The metal found on the second track is very very limited, not entire song. Instead, it is just a few random points in the song where during it, abrupt screaming emerges with Zealous playing guitar and drums doing beat. Impressive not at all, but interesting very. That is what i like about this demo by Persian NSBM band, tons of monumental atmosphere, every song has lots of unique feelings, and messages that Zealous wants you to receive. Obvious national socialist black metal this demo is. This demo is something that will never place Persia on the map for being a country of great metal influence and creation. Instead, this is a demo that puts out message to hate jews and mussulman which i think is just dandy and fantastic. I consider this to be a kvlt recording because of how rare and hard this is to put hands on. If you are in Slovakia with me and Vlad, or in Persia, much easier to put hands on, but if youre not, well, only one solution. Wait for this bands split with some Latvian band named Aryan Ablutions. The split with this eastern european band is made up of Dawn of Martyrdom i am told, but with better adjustments made. It would be good to listen to this if you are a warrior.

The outline is uncomfortably similar in those two, like half-idiot twins.

Triplets they were.

Torturous listening? - 75%
Apophis, March 18th, 2004

This was my introduction to Necrophagia, and I'm told that the standard of their work varies from album to album, often greatly.

What first struck me was the mixture of the crunching dirty (either down to crap production or intent) riffs combined with the usual B-movie samples about Satan, death, blah blah.

What i really appreciated on this album was the input of Mirai from Japanese 'avant-garde' black metallers Sigh, on keyboards. The work he provided added an almost eery, horror feel to it, probably something of which Necrophagia have been trying for all along. The combination between the haunting old-sounding keyboards/organs and the riffs so crunchy they almost snap, is what makes this album as appealing to me as it is.

That said there are some sounds and riffs on here that are about as death metal as Slipknot, namely some of the riffs on the album opener.

Nevertheless, enthused by the more or less positive experience I had listening to this, i went out and bought 'Holocausto De La Morte!' hoping that 'The Divine Art...' wasn't just a one-off.

Unfortunately it is,

Novelty is not music - 9%
Sportswear, March 11th, 2004

Utter shite. What a waste of my listening time and a general disgrace to the beautiful word "Music". In general, the vocals are quite good. Now, I ADORE brutal and evil music, sure, but this is about as evil/brutal as Little Red Riding Hood with diarrhoea problems, putting a microphone in the toilet and trying to pass off as a serial killer committing mass murders. Just fuck off and quit making music. Typical talent less Goregrind that disgraces metal. Weak ass, pointless riffs over the top of a drum machine, that is remotely rescued (if you call losing over half of your body in a shark attack "rescued", that is) by the decent vocals.
I don't care how fucking "cool" it is to like shitty grind bands with "cool" and supposedly funny names to try and compensate for any real meaning, passion or even talent. Calling this "grind" is an insult to good grind. It's just crap and pointless.
Now, I know a lot of people who may like this style/band/etc might read this and think "why review it if it's not your kind of thing", well, bullshit, music is my kind of thing and there is a lot of good grind that I do like, so my opinion is just as valid as the next person's.

FUCK OFF!! Play some real metal.

A paragon of mediocrity - 50%
noinnocentvictim, December 22nd, 2005

By giving this a 50% rating, I mean that this was the album that turned me onto death and black metal, in a sense. I had been listening to lots of metalcore (The Black Dahlia Murder, Lamb of God, etc), and when I came upon this band, I became entirely sick of the genre - how can someone fuck up THIS BAD? So I searched out better music.

The opening track, "94 Hours," is what perked my interest in this album. If only someone had told me that every single track on this album is identical to this one, I might have reconsidered my purchase. There is absolutely nothing special about this album. The drums are hardly noticable, there really isn't any bass to be found, and the guitar lines create no atmosphere at all, and are far from technical. The only perks of the guitars are the occasional melodies, which aren't anything fascinating, either. It's simple hardcore melodies, for the most part.

The vocals aren't even noticable - just your typical growl/scream found in metalcore.

I don't recommend purchasing this album, even if you HAVE heard "Forever" and "94 Hours." Just stick with those two tracks if you like them so much. There's nothing worthwhile to be found here.

I refuse to review the Black LP.. But this I will. - 92%
Sportswear, March 12th, 2004

Right, firstly I refuse to review that piece of shit of an LP “Metallica”/Black LP/Self Titled. Fucking disgraceful, abandoning your thrash roots? What the fuck, change the name of your band if you’re going to do that, wankers.
But, this song, wow, truly does stand out. It is one of the most beautiful songs they have ever made (second to Fade To Black). If it had been released by a non Metal act, I think it would gain a truckload more respect than it does now. A shame, but Metal pride seems to be a big and powerful thing, that can be good can be bad, whatever, I don’t care. I think this song is immense. From the vocals and lyrics to the general simplicity of the song itself. The chorus is truly amazing, as is the melody in the background.
ha ha ha, I see this song is the fastest poor old Lars Ulrich will ever be able to go, fucking retard sperm bucket. The solo just short of the 4 minute mark is fucking good enough for Hendrix. Technical, but beautiful as fuck. Truly great song, I don’t care how “unmetal” it may be. Fuck you! Whatever.

Fuck the Killing Time cover on this, I don’t care for that.

Bringer Of Blood? - 20%
Apophis, March 11th, 2004

more like Bringer Of Crap.

My previous introduction to Six Feet Under was the track Amerika The Brutal... and whilst I'd heard in interviews Chris Barnes state that it sounded nothing like the rest of the album, i still half expected something better than the tripe on this waste of time and money.

Yeah sure, Barnes was in Cannibal Corpse and Terry Butler in Death, but that only serves to show just how mediocre and just plain bad this music is.

Monotone lyrics sounding like they were sung by someone recovering from the flu, generic riffs, average drumming and a sense of metal rhythm and general likeability surpassed by even that of the likes of Superjoint Ritual's dismal second offering.

I really don't understand why there are people out there still buying albums like this.

If they continue to make records like this, I'm afraid Six Feet Under will always be remembered not as a great/ good, or even a has-beens, band but as a bunch of 'could-have beens' that ultimately failed to deliver the goods.

Decapitate this! - 100%
Apophis, March 18th, 2004

Well.

What more do you want from an album?
This has energy, riffs to die for, spiralling solos kept on the side of just whats needed and never too much, precision like never before, more groove than a freightload of kingsize records, and of course it's damn fucking heavy.

Some (magazine) critics have taken it upon their overpaid underappreciative fat arses to try and label this as being "too Vader". Well I'm sorry, but if Vader released albums like this every time, then quite simply I'm going to have to go out and build a shrine to Vader as this album in my opinion is both unique and damn good.

The appeal for me tapered off gradually with the subsequent releases, 'Nihility' and the recent album 'The Negation', with the band losing a lot of the creativity and awesome potential shown on this album.

Forget what you've heard about death metal. Forget all the other bands. Believe the hype. THIS is how 21st Century Death Metal should sound.

Out Of This Gloomy Light - 91%
Sportswear, March 6th, 2004

The moment I pressed play on this CD and heard that intro that was it for me, I loved it. Truly beautiful piano melody that drops into guitars 30 seconds in or so.. The song has a great feel to it. This CD gets my vote for that song alone. Sure the rest of the Demo doesn't stick out so much, but the rest of the songs have a nice down tempo feel to them, played well. The vocals are simple, but suit the music well, some nice changes in vocal styles in the song “Swallow”. Good musicians, good CD.. A must for most Doom fans

Giving 100% for LP's is stupid, not here it's not - 100%
Sportswear, March 8th, 2004

Wow! A musically infallible and untouchable LP. Sweep picking and arpeggios to the extreme. Exorbitant in quality and metal professionalism. The level of technicality is unreal, each riff is to be listened to, examined and carefully analysed. The LP starting (“Foul Body Autopsy”) with a nice roar, great drum beat, simple riff. Breaking into sheer technicality after just 9 seconds, from then onwards it is just intelligent and tech as fuck metal. The vocals are brilliant, a complimentary growl and roar that suits the music perfectly. The first solo is executed immensely.
The next song (“To Breathe In a Casket”), has this manic riff that is repeated, chopped up and changed over and over. Throwing in slides here, pinches there. This person really fucking knows how to write great music. But not only that, he puts full chaos and technicality into this great “song writing”, without the obvious and the normal “mess” that comes with the usual layman norm of bands trying to be technical and extreme. The time changes really are musical genius, the tempo throughout the whole CD is fast but catchy, and the time changes aren’t so crazy that it puts you off (yet still enough to leave you scratching your head).
The riff 0:18 in on “Mutilate the Stillborn” is silly, but funny and is soon exterminated from thought the moment the intensity of the riff on 0:42 kicks in.
The solo in “Intestinal Incubation” is literally from another time warped planet, absolute beautiful solo, which is strange, as most “beautiful” solos are not used in Death Metal, but fuck me, I am not complaining. The riff after the solo stops is superb also.
The solo in “Culinary Hyperversity” also as crisp as fuck. A tech guitarist that can write fucking superb solos is a rare thing also, the fact that the solo in “Advanced Corpse Tumor” is the third invincible solo in a row proving that.

Great intro on “Extreme Unction”. quick but effective. Another time change based phenomenal song, this LP doesn’t have a song below 9 out of ten at least.

And now for BY FAR my favourite part of the LP, the last song, “Fermented Offal Discharge”, drum patterns perfect throughout, but 3:01 in (seemingly, I am totally dismissing the rest of the song here, nonsense), the solo is literally mind blowing, fuck the English language trying to describe this solo, or this LP in fact, or this fucking band.

EVERYONE, get on your fucking knees now and pray to and hail the almighty NECROPHAGIST!!!! Can’t wait for the new shit.

Anselmo contributing to an immense LP? :-O - 97%
Sportswear, March 11th, 2004

An absolutely brilliant LP, which is ironic for the gibbering monkey that sung for them on it. Truly is one of the only GREAT things Anselmo has touched. Forget his reputation as being a daft nonce that knows fuck all about metal, yet perpetuates this nonsense to the general media and metal public about being truly metal this whole time. This LP is thrash as fuck and his vocals are the absolute peak of his career (maybe the odd part on "Cowboys From Hell" also).
Apparently, this was meant to also be a concept LP relating to his near death experience or something like that (hey, only what I read years ago), which obviously enhances the emotion level within his screams, singing parts and each riff as well.
The music is truly beautifully constructed, double catchy and talented as hell. Every song is a great one, the odd bit of Sabbath worship here and there(*the mellow track, AHEM, “Jail“, AHEM, “Planet Caravan”*). But still a lovely song.
"Stone The Crow", being undoubtedly one of the greater songs on the LP, fuck, even the lyrics are bloody great throughout the whole CD.
Just check it out, and dump your Pantera LPs (ok, I didn't mind "Great Southern Trendkill")
bye

Great Sludge - 87%
langstondrive, September 15th, 2003

Out of the bowels of Louisiana comes this piece of sludge metal from an all-star band of guys. Phil Anselmo does a great job on vocals, showing that he can sing AND sceam and his voice seems to be perfect for this style of music. Guitars churn out incredibly killer riffs (Eyes of the South, Stone the Crow, Temptation's Wings, Swan Song). Basically every song on here is a winner and it's something great for me to listen to when I want something more laid back then say, Slayer. The songs are greatly diverse. Jail is a very slow, melodic stoner ballad. Rehab is a mid paced basic rocker. Eyes of the South has a defenite blues feel to it. Swan Song sounds like Led Zeppelin on speed and Bury Me In Smoke brings the metal feel to the album. Not to mention Stone the Crow, which sounds a bit mallcore to me. Nevertheless, this is a terrific album, and like I said, something to listen to when you need a rest from death metal, black metal, thrash or the like.

Best Songs - Eyes of the South, Swan Song, Bury Me in Smoke, Rehab, Losing All.

Worst Songs - Stone the Crow, Jail.

This album is a classic, no doubt about it. - 95%
Throat_Slasher, December 11th, 2002

Put aside all the Exhorder/Pantera bickering, forget the glam make-up, and PLEASE don't ever let me hear Pantera's song, Pussy Tight ever again. But i will listen to Down's 1995 effort named NOLA as many times as i can in a night. Phil Anselmo, Pepper Keenan, J. Bower, Todd "Don't forget to pass that box of donuts my way" Strange, and Kirk Windstein all mainly from Pantera, C.O.C. Eyehategod and Crowbar unveiled the legendary NOLA. Mr. Phil-core himself provides the vocals on this album which are very similar to his Pantera bark, but sometimes he sings as if he were fronting Lynyrd Skynyrd, which isn't a bad thing at all. Of all the albums i have heard Jimmy Bower play the drumkit on, this one stands out as being the best in my mind. One might describe these guys as the Black Sabbath of the Southern US. Stand-out tracks include: Lifer, Temptation's Wings, Eyes of the South, Bury Me in Smoke, and Hail the Leaf. So if you feel like banging your head, get up off your ass and buy this album.

Not too shabby! - 80%
Throat_Slasher, December 12th, 2002

Basically the only reason this is on DVD is the age we live in. The video quality is mediocre but you are warned on the package. Sometimes the camera changes are a little jumpy like on Chaos DVD, you'll be seeing a split second flash from each member to the next over and over, gets a little ridiculous and annoying. In between songs there is an interview with a selected band member. Hank Williams III says he'd like to bring back Cliff Burton from the dead when he's onstage, a bold statement, i have yet to see this. And lastly the main reason i have not traded this DVD in is because of Phil Anselmo's drunken idiotic statement, "This is the heaviest part in the world!" Mind-boggling.

good brutal death - 83%
Sportswear, March 14th, 2004

Good shit. Brutal, great fucking vocals, nicely tight in the way the EP is structured. Good songs. In general I think it is a good CD.. Great guitar work. Great tempo change, with fills in the first song, with his great vocals kissing the mood part well. The time changes are pretty nice, nothing amazing, but pretty good. Great tempo throughout, nice speed also. Not an immense amount of variations, but I don't think that matters, as it seems that that is exactly what they have gone for.

Go and buy this shit.

Gee, sure IS swell - 86%
Sportswear, March 7th, 2004

This is a very well made CD, very simplistic in some senses (due to no guitarist), yet boasts a mass amount of character in other ways. For example, the lyrics are brilliantly clever, with a humorous and weird twist to them. The novelty of two bassists (which they make work brilliantly) is character in itself and not to mention a few of the time changes and strange vocals etc. Musically, it is slow and gloomy, but changes tempo all throughout, making it quite unpredictable. The odd melodic part to compliment the CD. Seedi’s vocals vicious, tormenting and brutal throughout. Absolutely great CD, check it out.

The band was created out of the mist of swedish Nihilist worship bands at the time, Septic Broiler was the precursor to the band we now know as Dark Tranquillity, and the demo is a more immature version of their brand of metal.

At first the Nihilst worship is apparent; deeper down, not so much. The tape recording even reflects that feel in the same vein, but there is very much something missing with the overall tone of it.

The guitars feel somewhat... off, so to speak. It feels out of tune and the sound quality doesn't help it much either. Having said that, there is some shines of brilliance within it. The usual sporatic guitar-work that one can expect from the next two demos (when they were renamed), and the more melodic touch that is trademark to the music that they make, but more of an immature sense.

The vocals are what one can only expect from Friden... Different from the normal. It is very raspy and it feels rushed.

The drums just exsist. They dont do anything that is awe-inspiring, they just follow the same beat, but they do bring the backing together well, however. The composition, again, is sporadic, and it reflects the needed components for odd time changes well. As usual, there could be more.

It is a decent start, and this demo definitely has to be an aquired taste. After it wears on you for awhile, you start to appreciate the half-assed pirate melodies, and the weird and eerie feel of it. It is too hard to justify why I like it, but one can't deny its significance to Dark Tranquillity after it. A definite eye-opener to the band members to try alot harder and take a completely different approach on their next attempt at a demo.

Rude, racist, ignorant, arrogant... all adjectives I would use to describe Italians based on my interactions with them on the site, but cruel? That's a stretch.

I'm not feeling rejecting this one, the reasoning seems like you are really reaching. Other mods are welcome to chime in, though.

Thank you for demonstrating exactly the behavior I have become accustomed to.

And to be honest, the reviewer can go about stating their opinion many different ways, and so long as there is enough description and the final product isn't excessively self-referential and/or rambling, I don't see how this falls outside of the realm of acceptability. It seems like you disagree with his opinion, or are particularly slighted over an off-the-cuff comment. Get over it.