Alright beak freaks, it’s that time again: time for me to spout a whole lot of horseshit about some upcoming releases that you fools should cram (or not) into your filthy ear holes soon.
The metal community has been abuzz about Horrendous are releasing their third LP, and this won’t disappoint fans, and may even garner some new ones. Horrendous have been progressing throughout their career, and the evolution on Anareta is obvious, but still doesn’t lose any punch. This is old-school death, with a tad of Swedish death thrown in, and while not as visceral as previous efforts, the songwriting here has grown leaps and bounds. There are times when this record gets jazzy — well, maybe not jazzy per se, but one can hear the Chuck Schuldiner influences pumped through the Horrendous filter (can we make that an actual preset in Pro Tools) where it just doesn’t come off as derivative; it instead comes across as just all-around good songwriting. There is a certain aspect of accessibility here, and that may turn people off, but all around this is a cohesive, full effort by a band that’s sure to keep cranking out solid death metal. The riffs and the vibe are there, though, so, like, suck it. 8 Fucking Pecks.
Way back in the doldrums of the late ’90s and early ’00s, when death metal was at a particularly low point in popularity, there was a band from Baltimore called Pessimist, who made a splash in the underground, but didn’t go on to achieve much attention. Now, someone has decided to release Slaughtering the Faithful and give it a little more “life.” This is your standard brutal death metal fare, with technical riffs and a little black metal thrown in (sort of). To call this a classic would be WAY too generous, and after a couple of tracks, the listener kind of feels the same. Don’t get me wrong: this is a perfectly serviceable death metal record by a perfectly serviceable death metal band; it’s just that there’s nothing super exciting here, which may just be a product of the time. For those who don’t know, there are blasts (the drums sound a little dated) and the bass is still kind of nonexistent, with somebrutal riffage and death metal growls. To call this boring would also not be fair. So, even though the master has given this production a kick in the ass, this is what it is, which is a decent brutal death metal record. I dig it, but, like, I don’t dig it dig it. 6 Fucking Pecks.
Alright, my word count is up. I promise I’ll hate on some more stuff nest month. It’s just, I dunno, there seems to be too many easy targets. I’ll come up with some more hateful bile nest time.
Waldo out.
