Today we have reviewer Mohammad Kabeer (from Necrofilth) doing the review of the album ‘Abandon All Life’ from the band ‘Nails’.

Tracklist
1. In Exodus
2. Tyrant
3. Absolute Control
4. God’s Cold Hands
5. Wide Open Wound
6. Abandon All Life
7. No Surrender
8. Pariah
9. Cry Wolf
10. Suum Cuique

When Nails released their sophomore album Unsilent Death in 2010, they made quite a name for themselves in the hardcore/power violence/grind scene.  This album found its way to many top 20  lists  of  many  reputed  music   blogs.  Some even credit the band for creating a new subgenre called Entombedcore, which  I am  not sure I agree with, however  I do  agree with one thing, that Unsilent Death was awesome and with that being said,  they  had a lot of expectations  riding on this album, which  I was confident  that they would fulfill,  and they did.

Nails is a four piece band from California. The music that they play can be  generally summed up as  Metallic  Hardcore  which has a very strong Grindcore influence , the  result of which  is  music  that is loud,chaotic, heavily distorted  and very  pissed off ,  they have strayed too far away from their  “core”  sound, however  Grind over here is  now  more   than  just an influence and is  slowly  becoming   an integral   part of their  genre, this can be seen in the fact that there are a lot more  blast beats in  this album , it’s a lot faster, and the guitar parts that accompany  the blast beats  fall distinctively  into that genre rather  then being on the borderline as was with the previous album, this is exemplified perfectly on the track  cry wolf. This tempo is maintained pretty much throughout the album save for Wide Open Wound  and   the album  closer  Suum Cuiqe which go into sludgier territories , with the former adding a certain  mystical  touch to it,  and  the title track abandon all life which   adds a twist by going all death  metal  a la  morbid angel  in the second half of the song. All of these factors don’t really create any drastic changes to their genre, but they do  add a little extra  to their already  intense, crushing ,sound  which is also  aided by the production  which  has improved a lot since Unsilent Death, not that it was bad then but it’s a lot better now,  this album sounds  much  more  massive,  much  more dense  and In short…  just  so much more fucking heavy!

So my verdict?  If you  think this  album  will change your opinion about nails. Don’t   bother, however if you loved the previous album you are going to love this one even more! As for me… I fucking love it!!   Its just got everything I love about this genre packed into seventeen face melting minutes!!  In fact, if you’ll excuse me I think I’ll go back to listening to it now.

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Tracklist:
1. Introeon: Perpetual Beyond
2. Blessed Entwinement
3. Open The Crypt
4. Dormancy Of The Ancients
5. Inhale…
6. The Black Smoke
7. Day Of Reckoning
8. Beneath The Archaic

Gargantuan grooves make out with dildos of doom (WTF??? Oh yes..)

2012 was to witness the resurgence of dark, occult, death-doom genre. At the forefront of this back- to- form, were and still are, small time record labels such as Dark Descent and Profound Lore.  With brilliant releases from Samothrace, Indesinence, Evoken, Monolithe, Hooded Menace(to name a few) last year, the genre is well on its way to global domination, albeit on a very much ‘Underground’ scale.

Today I’ve got myself another one of the said releases and it’s suffice to say that I’ve been floored once again. The album in question is’ Krypts – Unending Degradation’ on Dark Descent Records.

Now Krypts are a Finnish trio consisting on Antti Kotiranta on Vocals/Bass, Ville Snicker on Guitars and Otso Ukkonen on drums. They have just come up with first LP.What you have before you is essentially a death/doom record drenched in an infinitesimal amount of absolute hatred for humanity. Given the atrocities that mankind has conjured upon itself, it is only right that a person is likely to be overcome by a deep sense of disdain for his own kind. Here is an essential death/ doom record leaning more towards the ‘death’ier side of things. There is absolutely no enjoyable melody here, but in its place are huge monolithic riffs combined with crushing grooves which paint a dark and brooding auditory landscape. The mention of the term death/doom will usually have the listener imagining an album that moves at a crawling pace. But just when things get comfortable, things pace up to give that necessary shot of adrenaline.

Now this beast of a song is what got me interested in the band .

The album comprises of eight tracks, three of which appear on their debut demo in late 2009. Nonetheless they have been reworked and jacked up all of those tracks to fit in seamlessly. Of particular notice is the opening track ‘Blessed Entwinement’ which i wager will be one of the best death metal songs of the year already. Vocalist Antti belts out cavernous gutturals that will suck the breath right out of you. The riffs are what makes or breaks a death metal band, and this is where the band truly shines. The downtuned badass riffery will batter you slow and low, for they rely on weight rather than technical wizardry. Melody is absent in the true sense of its term, for a melody is supposed to stand out to the listener as a single entity. Instead, hiding behind the main rhythm, are vast undercurrents of discordant guitar wails that coalesce into its own single entity. Yet tracks such as ‘Dormancy of the Ancients’ (another personal favorite), has its share of dystopian lead work that will twist the insides of every uninitiated listener.

To backup all this is one of the thickest,murkiest and filthiest bass tones I’ve heard in a bloody long while. It is the ballast that keeps the weight of the record together and afloat. Overall, the tracks do lack in variation, as is staple in the genre, but makes up for it by maxing out the ‘pure evil’ factor. This is a must listen for every death/doom fan out there. Or if you are a person who loves reveling in the occasional misanthropy, then this my friend, shall be your bible.

Follow them via their blog.

Check their self titled EP below

Today we have reviewer Mohammad Kabeer (from Necrofilth) doing the review of the EP  ‘Vessel’ from ‘Abriosis’

Tracklist:

1. Crypsis
2. Vessel
3. Peering Into Oblivion
4. Apochra

Canada is the  Hub  of technical  metal  with all time legends   like Gorguts  and  Voivod   to the  more modern  genre benders   like Despised Icon  and Strapping Young  Lad.   Abriosis is a new band trying to fit in the niche carved by these giants.  Does it live up to the expectations?  lets find out.

Abriosis  is a four piece  from Vancouver, British Columbia consisting of Alxs Ness(Vocals),Taylor Lipton,(Guitar) Ryan Mcdonnell(Bass) and  Robin Iwasiw (drums). The band’s music can be categorised as Technical Death Metal. They have an interesting approach towards their sound,  they  combine  the dissonance  odd time signatures and independent , distinguishable  bass lines  of the more technical, experimental side of Metal like Gorguts, Deathspell Omega   with  the more straight forward crushing riffage of  Brutal Death Metal  in a way  that is  quite  fresh and celebrates   the nuances  of both the  genres equally. . But despite all of this Abriosis  have  one  major flaw, and it’s a flaw  that’s  quite common in this genre. They are not able to put all of these elements together in a complete cohesive manner, this   ultimately prevents the band from creating music that goes beyond things like notes, tone , accents syncopation  and  reaches a higher  level , creating  art  that   cause s a deep surge of emotion   or creates an atmosphere which  one can almost  feel. And this unfortunately,  is why there is a line of separation  between Abriosis  and the bands  mentioned above.  However there was one song   which did all of these things and did them rather well, that being the third song  Peering into Oblivion  which creates  a chilling atmosphere which I could  sense  right from the start of the song  with  that  haunting  guitar dissonance  which  is  built  up throughout the song  perfectly, and balanced well  with   their brand of brutal death metal.

So now when all is said   and done all I can say is that although I did enjoy this E.P.  but I am not going to be going back to it a lot  maybe  occasionally , well until they  make  more songs like ‘Peering into Oblivion’.

Visit their Facebok Page ——-> Abriosis

Also DOWNLOAD the entire album for free!!!