Month: August 2020

2020 Albums

Album Review: Harbinger Of Storms – “Talos EP” 7/10 (Doom/Gothic)

August 27, 2020 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

Harbinger of Storms is the work of one-man bedroom producer Shane Edward Semler. “Talos” is the companion to his last EP release, “Jupiter”. Everything about this EP has a mythical quality to it. Always having a strong interest in mythology myself, I was sucked in by the cover art. A huge winged automaton towers over a scene of fleeing livestock and peasants. Guarding them? Or poised to wreak havoc? Defined as Epic Doom Metal, I’m hoping for havoc and impending doom. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Onslaught – Generation Antichrist 9 (Thrash Metal)

August 26, 2020 hardalbumreview

Thrash metal in the UK may not be nearly as well-known and popular as its American, German or even Canadian counterparts. You may count on one hand the thrash bands hailing from the UK who were actually able to garner global recognition and establish a solid fanbase. Nevertheless, they also had their own “Big 4 of Thrash Metal” with Acid Reign, Xentrix, Sabbat and Onslaught back in mid-1980s, a tad bit later than other widespread scenes. But much of the bands’ vigor and stamina burnt out quite shortly after their formation and some underwent long-term hiatuses (Xentrix 1997-2013, Decimator 1993-2020, Acid Reign 1991-2015) and some others disbanded altogether (Sabbat 1991). But luckily, in 2000s, a second wave of British thrashers came to life with such bands as Evile, Savage Messiah, Divine Chaos, and Gama Bomb to spearhead this movement alongside some veterans like Onslaught and with others like Eradikator or Reign of Fury to follow and make this genre more prominent in the island. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Sleepscultper – Sleepscultper 9 (Math/Hardcore)

August 26, 2020 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

I took a second listen today just to make sure what I heard is what I heard, and fair enough the very opening seconds shot right down the back of my neck and down the spine. This appears to be a vinyl re-release combining their EP and debut LP, put out by Silent Pendulum Records on Bandcamp as Name Your Own Price. I seriously recommend the labels discography for the 10 bucks just to have them in collection and support the label. It’s run by the current drummer of The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Michael Kadnar, and they put out vinyl reissues of The Number Twelve and many amazing new releases from upcoming bands. You can hear all about it in my interview with him and DJ Scully here. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Earth Rot – “Black Tide of Obscurity” 9.8/10 (Black/Death)

August 24, 2020 destroyerhands

I’m sort of angry that no one ever told me about this band before. It’s got everything I love and nothing I don’t. The album is tailor made to my music taste and I’ve been sitting around like a dumbass not even knowing this band existed. This record has easily made it up among my favorite extreme metal records this year and Earth Rot are finding a comfortable spot in my regular rotation. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Primitive Man – “Immersion” 8/10 (Sludge Metal)

August 24, 2020 zaxrecordreviews

The main objective of Denver 3-piece sludge metal band Primitive Man seems to be to obliterate the eardrums of anyone who listens. I’ve been aware of these guys for long time and I’ve liked a good number of their tracks, but this was my first full length sit down with them, and it was a truly suffocating experience. There were a few parts of this album that were genuinely so heavy and raw that I had to turn it down a couple notches just for the sake of my ears. This is their 3rd official full length, and it’s farthest thing from accessible, folks. […]

Carcassbomb's Reviews

Switch Review: Pokemon Sword 4/10

August 18, 2020 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

If you’re a 30 year old gamer boy like I am then you’ve probably played every generation of Pokemon from Blue & Red to Black & White, very much like myself. We spent months playing a single game as a child, binged them in weekends as a teen and as adults we still revisit some of the games every year. When a new pokemon game comes out we all get this pang of curiosity, we ask ourselves “Am I STILL ready for my very own pokemon adventure?” but we aren’t sure what the deal with these new graphics are, or what half of these new pokemon are and what’s the deal with these kids and their motion controls? Don’t worry, I’ll set everything straight and you’ll probably still want to give a couple of addicted weekends to this game. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Intercepting Pattern – The Encounter 8.5 (Jazz Metal)

August 17, 2020 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

People may be apprehensive when seeing jazz in the genre descriptor for a metal album but Intercepting Pattern manages to overcome many of the failings typical to this style. At first you may suspect it is an instrumental album which is very common for jazzy metal – fortunately there are great vocals on this album and without them it would be more run of the mill. There’s also the use of programming elements such as electronic harmonies or other artificial sounds to accompany the alien like guitar tones. It’s a well written story that plays out in a thoroughly entertaining manner. […]