Necrophagia – ‘The Divine Art of
Torture’ (Season of Mist)
These
guys, along with the late Chuck Schuldiner’s band Death, pretty much invented
the death metal subgenre back in the late eighties. After seemingly vanishing
from the face of the earth after their debut ‘Seasons of the Dead’, Necrophagia
resurfaced a few years ago with a new line-up that included original vocalist
Killjoy and Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo on guitar. Phil sat this one out
(considering how many side projects he has, something had to give) but otherwise
this is pretty similar to their comeback album ‘Holocausto de la Morte’.
Killjoy vomits forth gore obsessed lyrics over some of the ugliest, most evil
sounding death metal around. Although the band sometimes crosses over into
cheesiness, for the most part the creepy vibe is convincing. You get the
impression that given the chance, Killjoy and company would like to act out some
of their favorite horror movie scenes. ‘Blaspheme the Body’, ‘Parasite Eve’,
and ‘Ze Do Caixao’ are my favorite tracks on here, and I probably would have
bought the CD for the cover art alone – a great painting of Brazillian horror
icon Ze Do Caixao (aka ‘Coffin Joe’) himself by “Famous Monsters of Filmland”
cover artist Basil Golgos. (Bob Ignizio
Considering the rate that Cleveland’s Rick Ray puts out
albums (about 3 a year) I’m somewhat amazed at his consistency. There just
aren’t very many tracks that would qualify as filler on any of his albums.
Although a lot of Rick’s stuff is solo material in the true sense (he writes,
sings, and plays just about everything), this time around he gets by with a
little help from his friends. Unfortunately for me that leads to mixed
results. The songs are still good, but Rick shares the vocals with three other
band members. I liked drummer Jon Cek’s voice, but wasn’t as fond of bass
player Gary Wood’s or vocalist Phil Noch’s. Rick himself sounds great on the
Beatles-esque “You’re Not Alone”, the hard rocking “From One Side to the Other”,
and the bluesy “Supreme Court Jester”, but I wish he would have been on the mike
more. Still, even when the vocals weren’t to my liking there was always a
smoking guitar solo just around the corner. Rick’s mix of seventies guitar hero
stylings and jazz fusion always sounds good to my ears. As for lyrics, the band
deals with the justice system (“Supreme Court Jester”), Christianity (“You’re
Not Alone”) and personal doubts (“Only Human”) among other things. Despite my
feelings on the vocals I’d still recommend this, especially for guitar
aficionados and of course anyone already a fan of Rick’s music. (Bob Ignizio)
Sofa King Killer – ‘Lust,
Crime, and Holiness ep” (At a Loss Recordings)
‘Lust, Crime,
and Holiness’ delivers a small taste of what Ohio’s Sofa King Killer are capable
of. Hopefully they’ve got enough songs like these left for a full length,
because this is some pretty good stuff. “Die Like an Astronaut” is all about
seeing death as just another journey that blends slow heavy riffing, raw vocals,
and a hint of psychedelia. “Blues Couch” is an appropriately named mellow
instrumental that provides a nice break before “CLE” returns to the heavy stuff
to tell the tale of someone who can’t break away from the drudgery of life,
forced to live vicariously through others. The ep ends with “Burn the Fields”,
a more up-tempo number that shows how much the band really loves people,
as they offer to “put them all out of their misery and cull ‘em so they’ll never
breed again”. Party music this ain’t. Good heavy rock with a streak of
misanthropy is more like it. (Bob Ignizio)
Say what you
will about Voivod, but they’ve always been unique. While other second wave
thrash bands pretty much followed in the footsteps of Metallica, Slayer, and
Anthrax these Canadian weirdos were mixing metal with avant garde influences
like Chrome, Can, King Crimson, and Hawkwind. The band garnered a strong cult
following, and at one point headlined a tour with Soundgarden and Faith No More
as their opening acts. Unfortunately their label, MCA, never seemed to know how
to market them. When the group’s distinctive vocalist Denis “Snake” Belanger
left in the early nineties, the remaining members soldiered on with a new singer
but the albums with this line-up failed to excite much interest beyond a loyal
core of fans. Now “Snake” is back with his old bandmates Denis “Piggy” D’Amour
and Michel “Away” Langevin along with a new bass player in the person of Jason
Newstead. This self titled album for me breaks down into two sections. The
first five tracks are more straightforward rock than anything Voivod has ever
done, sounding a bit like the material on their ‘Angel Rat’ album. Songs like
“Rebel Robot” and “Gasmask Revival” aren’t bad, but I found myself wondering if
the guys were ever going to cut loose. Thankfully, they do. Starting with
track 6, “The Multiverse”, the rest of ‘Voivod’ is everything I’d hoped for.
The sound is somewhere between ‘Dimension Hatross’ and ‘Nothingface’ and songs
like “Don’t Wanna Wake Up” and “Strange and Ironic” are classic Voivod. The
first single, “We Carry On”, comes from this section of the album and it’s
catchy enough to possibly garner some airplay while still remaining true to the
Voivod sound. The only beef I have is the production is a bit dry. (Bob
Ignizio)
These
guys, along with the late Chuck Schuldiner’s band Death, pretty much invented
the death metal subgenre back in the late eighties. After seemingly vanishing
from the face of the earth after their debut ‘Seasons of the Dead’, Necrophagia
resurfaced a few years ago with a new line-up that included original vocalist
Killjoy and Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo on guitar. Phil sat this one out
(considering how many side projects he has, something had to give) but otherwise
this is pretty similar to their comeback album ‘Holocausto de la Morte’.
Killjoy vomits forth gore obsessed lyrics over some of the ugliest, most evil
sounding death metal around. Although the band sometimes crosses over into
cheesiness, for the most part the creepy vibe is convincing. You get the
impression that given the chance, Killjoy and company would like to act out some
of their favorite horror movie scenes. ‘Blaspheme the Body’, ‘Parasite Eve’,
and ‘Ze Do Caixao’ are my favorite tracks on here, and I probably would have
bought the CD for the cover art alone – a great painting of Brazillian horror
icon Ze Do Caixao (aka ‘Coffin Joe’) himself by “Famous Monsters of Filmland”
cover artist Basil Golgos. (Bob Ignizio
Considering the rate that Cleveland’s Rick Ray puts out
albums (about 3 a year) I’m somewhat amazed at his consistency. There just
aren’t very many tracks that would qualify as filler on any of his albums.
Although a lot of Rick’s stuff is solo material in the true sense (he writes,
sings, and plays just about everything), this time around he gets by with a
little help from his friends. Unfortunately for me that leads to mixed
results. The songs are still good, but Rick shares the vocals with three other
band members. I liked drummer Jon Cek’s voice, but wasn’t as fond of bass
player Gary Wood’s or vocalist Phil Noch’s. Rick himself sounds great on the
Beatles-esque “You’re Not Alone”, the hard rocking “From One Side to the Other”,
and the bluesy “Supreme Court Jester”, but I wish he would have been on the mike
more. Still, even when the vocals weren’t to my liking there was always a
smoking guitar solo just around the corner. Rick’s mix of seventies guitar hero
stylings and jazz fusion always sounds good to my ears. As for lyrics, the band
deals with the justice system (“Supreme Court Jester”), Christianity (“You’re
Not Alone”) and personal doubts (“Only Human”) among other things. Despite my
feelings on the vocals I’d still recommend this, especially for guitar
aficionados and of course anyone already a fan of Rick’s music. (Bob Ignizio)
‘Lust, Crime,
and Holiness’ delivers a small taste of what Ohio’s Sofa King Killer are capable
of. Hopefully they’ve got enough songs like these left for a full length,
because this is some pretty good stuff. “Die Like an Astronaut” is all about
seeing death as just another journey that blends slow heavy riffing, raw vocals,
and a hint of psychedelia. “Blues Couch” is an appropriately named mellow
instrumental that provides a nice break before “CLE” returns to the heavy stuff
to tell the tale of someone who can’t break away from the drudgery of life,
forced to live vicariously through others. The ep ends with “Burn the Fields”,
a more up-tempo number that shows how much the band really loves people,
as they offer to “put them all out of their misery and cull ‘em so they’ll never
breed again”. Party music this ain’t. Good heavy rock with a streak of
misanthropy is more like it. (Bob Ignizio)
Say what you
will about Voivod, but they’ve always been unique. While other second wave
thrash bands pretty much followed in the footsteps of Metallica, Slayer, and
Anthrax these Canadian weirdos were mixing metal with avant garde influences
like Chrome, Can, King Crimson, and Hawkwind. The band garnered a strong cult
following, and at one point headlined a tour with Soundgarden and Faith No More
as their opening acts. Unfortunately their label, MCA, never seemed to know how
to market them. When the group’s distinctive vocalist Denis “Snake” Belanger
left in the early nineties, the remaining members soldiered on with a new singer
but the albums with this line-up failed to excite much interest beyond a loyal
core of fans. Now “Snake” is back with his old bandmates Denis “Piggy” D’Amour
and Michel “Away” Langevin along with a new bass player in the person of Jason
Newstead. This self titled album for me breaks down into two sections. The
first five tracks are more straightforward rock than anything Voivod has ever
done, sounding a bit like the material on their ‘Angel Rat’ album. Songs like
“Rebel Robot” and “Gasmask Revival” aren’t bad, but I found myself wondering if
the guys were ever going to cut loose. Thankfully, they do. Starting with
track 6, “The Multiverse”, the rest of ‘Voivod’ is everything I’d hoped for.
The sound is somewhere between ‘Dimension Hatross’ and ‘Nothingface’ and songs
like “Don’t Wanna Wake Up” and “Strange and Ironic” are classic Voivod. The
first single, “We Carry On”, comes from this section of the album and it’s
catchy enough to possibly garner some airplay while still remaining true to the
Voivod sound. The only beef I have is the production is a bit dry. (Bob
Ignizio)