| Reviews for Bathory's Octagon |
| Heavy Metal Sledgehammer - 85% |
| Written by Tepes_The_Unweeping
on November 5th, 2009
|
| I wondered how much pent of anger Quorthon must have been holding in while he made all those fruitcake Viking albums and the highly underwhelming "Requiem". Well, this answers it: A LOT. He had to have been sublimating his urges and saved it so that he could unleash it all in a hellstorm of fury and desolation in this record. Aggression and hostility are so absolutely leaking out of every part of this that it makes anarchist punk bands sound like the guys who write romantic comedy muzak by comparison. That's how pissed off sounding it is! In short, it sounds (suspiciously) like a Slayer demo. To me that's a good thing. There is nothing on display here but ultra primitive, hyper violent, amelodic thrash. The riffs are great, they come slicing straight through the soundscape to the forefront, invoking the distinct feel of a punch to the gut with flat razor, long ways, with a slight twist. The feeling is only reinforced by the low pitch, atonality, minimal effects, distinctly sawing electric guitar sound, and precise and relentless playing. Anyone who cares to count the unsubtle nods to Slayer riffs will be unnerved, but it doesn't matter, for the same reason the drum machine's stark, inhuman pounding and dry tone making no bones about being a machine doesn't matter. Everything you hear is in service to a higher aspiration, that of creating a wholly immersive atmosphere of bleakness and utter desolation devoid of human emotion or consideration! This is easily one of the most musically inhuman sounding metal records I've ever heard. Juxtaposing that with Quorthon's all too human almost half whining, at times severely strained, howls and you get a true sense of his anger and despair, crying out against the "machine". Highly ham-handed, yet highly effective; bring on the heavy metal sledgehammer of musical symbolism. There is one point where this all breaks down, though; that being the KISS cover... I'm not a KISS fan, but I'm not a KISS detractor either. I've heard some of their stuff and liked it, though never bothered to own any. From what I can tell, it's played completely straight, down to the solo, and no effort has been made to make it fit thematically or musically with the rest of the album, so it doesn't. It's not bad, but the underground, crunched up demo thrash production does not suit the song at all which is upbeat glamorous rock through and through, and the jaunty melody and fist banging rhythm being banged out with this guitar and drum tone is so unfitting it's physically shocking. I suppose Quorthon needed something to bookend the album after "Schizianity" and "Judgement of Posterity" petered out, both being fine songs in themselves but neither coming to anything like a logical conclusion point for the record. The problem here, though, is that the album already had a perfect closer; "War Supply" It's, more than any other, the iconic song of the album in every aspect. It has the most infectiously gut slicing riff, the most tormented howls, the most ahuman percussion, the most lyrical anguish concerning everything this album has preached about concerning the apocalypictic state of being and loss of all hope, rights, and dignity in the shamefully inglorious end of all things. It's so climactic; the entire song builds up and up, the main riff driving forward unrelentingly like the booted feet trapped in lockstep it describes. Quorthon's voice grows more and more harried as the whole thing is compelled to the inevitable conclusion; the stomping, marching sound effects, the strained, howled chorus, all coming together in one great culmination of anger, frustration, hopelessness, melancholy and encroaching terror. It should have been the closer, and would have perfectly brought everything the entire record strove for into clear summation, as well as ended it on the highest note. Regardless of song positioning, the KISS cover is jarringly out of place and just not interesting or rewarding to listen to. All problems aside, this is a totally radical album and easily one of the most deserving albums in the history of metal of the title "misunderstood classic". I seriously can't believe how much shit people talk about it. It has a couple tracks that fall flat ("GRCY", "Deuce"), and it drags in a couple places ("Century", "Judgement of Posterity"), but none of that really matters that much when the highs are higher than the false gAWDz in heaven and the lows plunge deep into the pits of abjuration in the infernal depths of hell, all for our dis/satisfaction, education, and satiation for our unquenchable thirst for absolute metal. |
| The only decent thing is the artwork. - 25% |
| Written by Sigillum_Dei_Ameth
on November 4th, 2009
|
| You see an album with good, interesting artwork and you think to yourself "Hey, maybe this isn't as bad as I may think. Maybe there is something worth listening to." No. Not on "Octagon.” It's a trap. It lures the listener with a cool fucking front cover of a chaos star/pentagram drawn in blood on some blue stone and it exposes them to some of the worst retro 90's thrash you can imagine. I mean, I can expect this kind of shitty wannabe-thrash from a band like Chimaira on Roadrunner who took all the groove out of their music and wanted to attempt at thrash. I can expect Pantera trying their hardest to even make-up for releasing "Reinventing The Steel". Hell, I even expect modern-day Exodus for releasing this and having their record label hype the piece of shit up at the best thrash metal album ever even though that have hyped up every Exodus release since "Pleasures Of The Flesh" as the best thrash metal album of all time. But for Quorthon, this album comes off as nothing more than a cash-in on shitty fucking thrash metal. The production is dry. It's clear but it's just dry. No bass. The drums can barely be heard. The guitars? Fuck that shitty guitar tone. It's so fucking stock-sounding. Everything about the sound production and style is just pure shit. I can express how goddamn awful it just enrages me to the point of nausea and headache. And let's not go into the lyrics. I mean Quorthon is no Shakespeare but goddamn bro....YOU'RE NOT 16 YEARS OLD. You're a fully grown adult. I mean just look at these lines; "Conservatism. Communism. Paganism. Nationalsocialism Liberalism. Satanism. Christianity. Slavery. Anarchy. Lunacy. Insanity. Mediocracy. Assorted Century." - Century "Authority. Society. Parents. Teachers. Employees and God. Authority. Society. Parents. Teachers. Employees and God. Fade into grey. Fade into grey. Fade into grey." - Grey and finally the coup de' grace; "Drink my cum. Take my rum. Blooded hole. Twisted soul. Eat my shit. Suck my dick. " - 33 Something The songs range from wannabe-Dark Angel to wannabe Hardcore Punk in the way Pantera covered Poison Idea. More or less Corrosion of Conformity minus the Slayer riffs....wait, there are a lot of bad Slayer riffs that...god, what or who the fuck am I trying to explain this to? It's just really HORRIBLE fucking music. But beyond all that I have painfully described, the worst part of "Octagon" is Quorthon's vocals. Quorthon's vocals is a sign of a man who desperately wants his fame back and it trying to be cool with the kids in 1995, but unfortunately for him, nobody told him that grunge and alternaive was what the kids were banging then. And even in the extreme metal underground in 1995, the very music he helped created had already progressed to violent extremes and was on the beginning of a third wave of artists who were about to take black metal even further. The song titles themselves are fucking pointless; "Schizianity"??? Hey Quorthon, you may try to bash Christianity, but Trouble never had trouble coming up with material. Not to mention your attempt at trying to sound like fucking Dave Mustaine/ doesn't help. Oh and a KISS cover? Fuck you Quorthon. That's all there is to say. I cannot name one decent track on this album. Yeah it's that terrible. If you are a fan of Lamb of God, Chimaria, newer Exodus, or newer bands that are passed off as Thrash, you may like this....otherwise avoid this piece of shit album like an Egyptian plague. |
| Octagon: The (Underrated) 8th Opus. - 80% |
| Written by SoulCancer
on September 23rd, 2009
|
| It seems that Quorthon tires of one style and moves onto another rather quickly: with the first two black metal albums, the new two being an introduction to the Viking themes (and slowly losing the Satanic influences in favor for Norse mythology), the fifth and sixth albums being unadulterated Viking metal classics, and the next album being a somewhat overrated "return to form", Octagon tends to get little to no respect, and I really can't understand why. This is raw, ugly and dirty blackened thrash, plain and simple. Anyone who would expect Quorthon to sit still and continue to ride out any of his eras for any limited time would be foolish. First, let me say that while the production is dirty, it is very listenable. You can decipher everything that's going on, so this shouldn't be a complaint. It seems that a lot of people would've loved for Quorthon to continue on the Viking theme, but as a musician, I believe he was prone to low attention levels at times, and this is proof of it. If anyone was hoping for the quality of Hammerheart or Twilight of the Gods, you're going to have to wait until the epic Blood on Ice and the Nordland releases. But, the change in style doesn't make this a horrible release - on the contrary, it comes off as a breath of fresh air after having Thor's Hammer shoved down our throats for a while. As for the album itself, overall it has a dirty feeling, which I can only attribute to the Motorhead influence, or a lack of money (I believe he was still recording the the garage / studio, so it makes sense in that context). The drums are a bit tinny, but they're still very listenable. And, unlike what other people want to say, the riffs are definitely there. Quorthon's voice also seems to be a point of contention with many fans. I ask this: was the culture shock from Blood Fire Death to Hammerheart that bad? Did it make you hate Hammerheart? I agree, his vocals did change: for the better since the Requiem album. You can understand him - he pronounces the lyrics instead of making them into a long lost Viking warrior, or a demon possessed. They work. Keep in mind, his vocals changed many times; this is just another facet of his ability. Musically, this isn't the thinker's album that the Viking trilogy (Blood Fire Death through Twilight of the Gods) were; this is simply a fun, dirty rock 'n metal album that is the meeting place between Quorthon (his "rock" band) and the many faces of Bathory. The music is a bit more simple - the guitars have more bite than flow and it seems a record for tossing on when you feel like listening to some good metal when you don't want to imagine the longships or Valhalla, To that effect, if anything, this is Quorthon's "party" album (sorry, but that's the only way I can put it). Lyrically, we go all over the place. Immaculate PinetreeRoad #930 is about a kid who kills his parents with an axe, then kills himself with a gun. Okay, maybe "party album" isn't exactly fitting unless you're like me - if find the topic fascinating. Charles Manson is also lyrical fodder (Sociopath)and John Wayne Gacy gets a turn as well (33 Something). Then there are the flat out "Fuck off" songs in form of Born to Die and Psychopath. Political statements come to play in Grey, Century and Judgement of Posterity (which, interestingly enough, could be a song an environmentalist could get behind). The cover of Kiss's Deuce is interesting, but isn't really a favorite of mine. It's fairly faithful to the original (save for the vocals), but it just doesn't do anything for me. Also, to the people criticizing the "immature" lyrics, I'd only have to point out that Swedish was Quorthon's home and more than likely some things were lost in translation. And, let's face it, Bathory and The Return were "marred" by lyrics of the same (or lesser) quality, yet that's both hailed as classics. This divided a lot of the fans of Bathory back in the day as well. I think it's a good, solid metal album. When Blood on Ice came out, it was a masterpiece, but this is a damned fun listen if you like your rock and metal to be down and dirty and sound like something you could have some drinks to. It's not black metal, it's not Viking metal - it's simply good old fashioned metal played directly from the gutter and into your stereo. I'd advise any fan to give this a fair listen, and to remember, this is a different beast than anything that came before or after. |
| It's too bad for Bathory... - 35% |
| Written by CHRISTI_NS_ANITY8
on October 22nd, 2008
|
| Quorthon always wanted the best for the fans and when many of them wrote him because they wanted rawer black/thrash in the debut style, he tried to do it. The epic metal was, at the time, the best that was coming from Quorthon’s mind and I think he forgot how to do black, raw metal in a proper way. He was fixed on another genre and I believe it was a quite drastic and violent change. However, I find this album quite bad, like many here say. Yes, the peaks of the first three albums cannot be reached in this genre and this is just a quite weak sample of the old years gone. Already with its predecessor, Requiem, the things were changing with a return to a more violent and brutal approach and now the things were exasperated. This is a blasting attack under the sign of the most raw and primitive sound; a quite immature and unpolished mixture of old school genres and, already from the opener, we can taste the essence of this album. The first thing you can notice is the ultra plastic/metallic production that gives the drums a fucking sharp and hammering sound. The guitars are the thing I like the most here because the distortion is fucking low and massive. The structures are really simple and the drums almost cover everything in volumes. The vocals by Quorthon are far more childish than in the past. Forget completely the black metal screams because they are thrash metal in timbre with lots of influences from hardcore too! It’s so strange hear this stuff from him…”Born To Die” is even groove! The violence is, in this song, far less present and the tempo is slow. Damn, this song is quite terrible. The way he plays the guitars is very simple: the open chords riffs are the main technique and he borrowed lots of styles from Hellhammer band. The palm muting riffs are not so present. Forget the goodness in a song like “Psychopath” because there are strange effects too and the whole track is just annoying. The vocals are simple, childish and almost intolerable. In “Sociopath” we return to speed and it’s a bit better but it’s like in the following “Grey”: he simple couldn’t play this genre; he wasn’t able, no more. There are even wa-wa solos and they sound incredibly strange for Bathory. Also the vocals patterns take lots of speed and timbres from hardcore/thrash metal and I’m a bit stranded. “Century” is mid-paced with more groove (it’s incredibly boring…) while “33 Something” shows ultra fast bass drum triplets and up tempo on the snare to return to dementia death/thrash. “War Supply” and “Schizianity” are two boring, weak and totally senseless tracks. Quorthon seems completely drunk at the vocals and the slow progression is utter shit. “Judgement of Posterity” features a bit better riffs and some good structures but it’s not enough. This song once again slowly sinks into the limb of mediocrity also because it’s too long to contain three riffs and few ideas. It’s better to fly over the Kiss cover… I really don’t know what to say. Two or three riffs are not that bad but the rest is to throw away. Ok, you wanted to please the fans, but fuck. I’m sorry Quorthon, you just couldn’t play this genre anymore. |
| Time to piss on Quorthon's grave... - 33% |
| Written by Shadespawn
on October 3rd, 2008
|
| Sorry. This just doesn't do. 13 years have passed and this album still just points itself out in my collection. This is so to say, Quorthon's evil twin, making a pathetic attempt at thrash, utterly failing. This is supposed to be how Bathory should be remembered? The answer is very simple. No. This is just plain comical. Why? Let me tell you. After the majestic and epic Twilight of the Gods back in 91', Quorthon decided it's time to make some great Scandinavian thrash metal attacks (or let's leave it at 'attempts'). So he went into his little cellar and records Requiem in 94' (after releasing two best-ofs with some unreleased tracks from the old blackish era). Requiem was actually not all bad, but still, very deceptive. Quorthon completely dropped the viking and epic themes he had adopted, for whatever reason he had, and moves to thrash. Now, thrash is a great type of heavy metal, just the thrash that you get on Requiem's follow-up, "Octagon" is simply downright stupid and lame. Riffs are almost completely ripped off and uninspired, resembling Slayer and early Sodom almost to, say, 80%. The problem is also, that the guitar tune and the recording itself is anything but thrash. It sounds like you would have taken the first Slipknot album or some other "nu"-metal abomination and sent it back to the 20s, recording tunes on a phonograph or something similar (by the way; didn't Slipknot actually adopt the octagon into their "Maggot-crops-overalls", or whatever they're called). The song structures are more boring and uninspired than a squished slug near a manhole. In fact, this is exactly what this sounds like: the soundtrack to a squished slug near a manhole on "Immaculate Pinetreeroad #930", because that's exactly where it goes. The sound on this is vastly inferior to his earlier works, with annoying hissing and dry guitar riffs overlapping themselves, resulting in a complete mess and cacophony. Actually I am beginning to think that this is a joke of the record label into tricking fans of Bathory to buy this atrocity under the name of Bathory. Or another possibility would be that Quorthon was completely drunk when he decided to spawn this. That would also explain the highly intelligent and epic lyrics: "Drink my cum, Eat my shit, suck my dick, [...] With every breath inhale the stench of lubrication shit and sweat.". And with every gushing sonic surge out of Quorthon's ass I descend further into a migraine state. There is simply no escape and less than 20 seconds on every song is enjoyable. The reason this album still manages to reach a 33% is not because of me thinking "33 something". No, no, no. It's because of the cool KISS cover song "Deuce". I like the cover, it really has a dirty tone to it and gives it a really cool individual touch. Just download the song somewhere off the Internet and revel in it, but don't think the rest of the album is as cool as that song. |
| The Retro Thrash Disappointment - 10% |
| Written by Frankingsteins
on February 6th, 2008
|
| I wanted to start by saying that the most positive thing that can be said about ‘Octagon’ is that it’s not quite as bad as some people claim, but that would be untrue. If this had been a terrible first release from an unknown band it would be easy to dismiss, but as the seventh album in the mostly perfect Bathory chronology (yeah I know, the seventh – an octagon has eight sides, it doesn’t even make sense) this is one of those albums that it physically hurts to listen to. To this day I can’t even look at an octagon without screaming in despair and pummelling the ground with my bloodied fists, which is why they threw me out of the University of Sheffield’s conference centre. What an obscure joke. While its predecessor ‘Requiem’ was content to replicate the sound of European thrash bands such as Kreator, keeping more in line with the evil Bathory ethos, this follow-up sounds like nothing more than a cheap and lousy attempt to imitate Slayer, and none of it works. Quorthon’s usually exceptional guitars are only decent when directly stealing from that other band, as is the case in ‘Century,’ and Vvornth’s drums have achieved the unfeasible and actually become significantly more annoying than on the previous release, starting the proceedings as they mean to go on with a far-too-long drum roll on some bins, or whatever it is he’s using. The production sound here is terrible – not good-terrible, like the early Bathory albums that reeked of an evil tomb, but practically unlistenable, and the double bass drums ticking away in the background almost sound like a CD fault. But most tragic of all is that the flaws can’t be placed solely on the production, but more squarely on Quorthon’s lousy performance, songwriting and lyrics. While ‘Requiem’ attempted a sort of snarled approach to the vocals, here Quorthon opts for the singing style that worked so well on ‘Hammerheart’ and ‘Twilight of the Gods,’ where it didn’t even matter that he can’t sing. Here it matters a great deal, especially as songs like ‘Grey’ basically see him talking over fast thrashing riffs that should probably be conveying a sense of power and urgency, rather than a bored Swede spouting ridiculous lyrics like “your clothes will always bite big chumps right out of their concrete ass.” ‘Schizianity’ (nice pun there, Quorth) attempts something different, which at least shows some hope, but ends up being even less coherent than the rest in its near-doom style with the worst vocal performance of the lot. And there’s a Kiss cover that’s even worse than the original, figure that out for yourself. And now it’s in my head, goddammit. This is a horrible album that should never have been released, but at least things only got better from here on, to the point where the final two Bathory releases rank among the best Quorthon would ever record. I love Quorthon, in fact he’s probably my favourite dead guy after Graham Chapman, but I have no idea what possessed him to release this. Certainly not the inspiring demon that influenced his classic early works. |
| Heh, it's not COMPLETELY worthless - 25% |
| Written by UltraBoris
on March 21st, 2004
|
| Having given out my daily "zero" already, I can't possibly give a THIRD consecutive null rating to this album. It's not that bad... well, it's close, but not zero point zero level. After listening to about 20 minutes of this, it dawned on me EXACTLY what this sounds like... the 1985 home recording done by Jeff Hanneman as a quick demo tape to share with his bandmates before they went in and formally wrote the songs to Reign in Blood. Note that that was a "quick demo", and is thus grim and kvlt. This is an actual release, and thus it gets no such leeway. It's SHIT. And Quorthon sounds exactly like Hanneman but with an accent. There's a good reason why Hanneman is not Slayer's vocalist. The production is awful. Clangy drums, inaudible guitars... then the songwriting is also awful. Lots of bad Slayer ripoff riffs, and in fact this sounds EXACTLY like what would happen if Hanneman made a riff tape right before Divine Intervention. I won't even bother counting the exact moments where songs sound like Slayer songs... but I noted Hell Awaits, Temptation, Criminally Insane, Killing Fields, and that's when I stopped noting. Oh yeah, some of the lyrics are just plain hilarious... "eat my shit! suck my dick!" Thanks, Quorthon. I can't really name any highlights of this album - to do so would imply going back to listening to it again, which is not something I plan on doing. |
| What the hell was Quorthon thinking? - 0% |
| Written by chaossphere
on June 22nd, 2003
|
| Geeeeez... I swear this album was released solely to prove that some people will buy ANYTHING with the Bathory logo on it. It really has to be some sort of sick joke on Quorthon's part. Now, I actually LIKE bad production, when it's done well, if that makes any sense. This abortion, on the other hand, sounds like it was recorded using homemade instruments fashioned from old pieces of rusty aluminium and driftwood, while the drum machine sounds a lot like, well, a rubbish bin. Probably the same rubbish bin Lar$ used on St Anger, in fact. The liner notes claim that it was recorded over a period of several weeks. The only explanation for this is that Quorthon painstakingly took his time to make sure it sounded as awful as possible, to make sure not a trace of atmosphere or anything remotely listenable appeared on the album. I won't even bother breaking down individual songs, since they all sound the same. What we get is a monotone, pounding machine rhythm with some horribly played half-assed thrash riffs being belted out while the formerly-invicible Quorthon delivers a bunch of moronic "social-conscious" lyrics in a voice that resembles an angry drunken sailor reciting a monologue about his health problems. There is literally no variation here, no interesting riffs, not a shred of anything that made Bathory's previous efforts so great. Even Requiem, which is quite mediocre, shits all over this from a great height. Then, just as you think it can't get any worse, he pukes up a cover of Kiss's "Deuce" that manages to sound even worse than the original. Yep, that's right, a Kiss cover that sucks more than Kiss. Words cannot describe how pointless this album is. But still, i've done my best, in the hope that I can save some unsuspecting new Bathory fans from wasting their money on this. |