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MORBID ANGEL-...BLESSED ARE THE SICK '91

After the great and very influential debut, Morbid Angel went back in the studion between '90-'91 and all the death metal fans were anxious to see if they can put a record as good as the first. They did. It's alot better!
This is their best, this is their peak, nothing like this will be ever released from them. The energy combined with breathtaking musicianship is just...fantastic.
The lyrics are satanic, but with a cult of old beliefs and gods, written well with a dose of mysticism compose with great deep and brutal, but focused growling in a blender of a destroyer machine. The music, it speaks for itself, it is truly outstanding, brutal, heavy and sometimes fast, but always progressive and creative. This album explodes with ideas, there are so many, it is like an atom bomb that you're afraid to turn on, because it's too much for you. That's BATS.
Without losing any of its initial energy Morbid Angel explores new fields, which is especially showcased in the 5 intros, of those 4 are great written. The technical playing by Trey is sometimes unbelievable in creating different moods, chaotic depression and frenetic speed, combined with the 8-legged legend of the drums Pete Sandoval it is so brutal and interesting at the same time for me it's...beatiful!
The solos are very very original, sometimes very catchy, melodic, sometimes seem totally out of key and chaotic without a clear structure, but that chaos of theirs is well organized to lit up different emotions in the listener.
Mistakes? Little, very little, some parts could have the riffs more complicated, production maybe rawer, that's all, hard to find them.
Concluding: a blast of ideas, progressive, fillout with great, ever changing solos, sometimes heavy, almost doomy combination of guitars, drums and vocals and sometimes races at the speed of light, but all kept in a brutal and heavy way.
Rating: 9/10
Marcin Michalski(Metal.666) - Admin


MORBID ANGEL-COVENANT '93

Signing a major label, actually being the first death metal band to do so, made alot of fans have their hearts stop for the musical direction MOrbid Angel will approach. When they got the album their hearts could restart the monotonous pumping, another great piece of art has been released.
And though selling alot of copies, due to great clips on MTV Rapture and God of emptiness, didn't match, as it usually does, with crappy music.
Now in 3 Morbid Angel is back, more powerful than ever. I rank this album second only becuase of the genius included on Blessed, if it wasn't for that, this would be the unchalleneged champion of theirs. First i have to warn that, as with all great death metal pieces, it is very hard to get into this album entirely, at least basing on my own expierence. But when you finally get in, you don't want to get out, if you only appreciate ambitious music. After the somewhat clear and pounding production of Blessed this may seem a bit muffled, and i agree the production should be either rawer or bassier depending on what approach the band wanted to make. But the riffs totally repay us the little loss in sound, being a mix of brutal melodies and fast unmelodic, ambitious riffs and solos, at least that is an impression of mine. But the solos need a different chapter of discussion, Trey once again, places himslef firmly in the pantheon of the greatest writer and players in death metal, if not the greatest. His solos contain so many ideas, tones, tempos, but also energy, vitality and this unique style that they become unbeatable by any other. And still when he play them Vincent and Sandoval manage to make an excellent background for them, having their highlights as well. Especially the drums amaze, although after Blessed'd drum work arrangement Sandoval won't propbably top himself ever, he still delivers those famous fast races with the guitars, twisting the frenetic pattern into a pounding, complex arrangement.
What i cherish the most in Morbid Angel is that still being brutal, they give us albums each different, with a new portion of musical ideas all arranged well that we can then swallow with joy.
Rating: 8/10
Marcin Michalski(Metal.666)-Admin

NAPALM DEATH-HARMONY CORRUPTION '90

The Gods of Grind have flought to Tampa to produce a death metal album with the popular producer Scott Burns. This was surely a sell-out and an outreagous move for many of their old fans.
I like both genres, so i enjoy their move althought i think they'd produce a better album, according to their style, being totally grind, as represented on the their next LP(Utopia Banished 92).
First thing on what most complain, and i have to partially agree with them is the production. It doesn't sound alright, it is alot more blurred, bassy, missing the rawiness of their previous efforts and should be louder.
Though when you turn your stereo at max it doesn't sound that bad, at least to me, at all.
I love Barney's vocals, Tom from Celtic Frost is the obvious influence, i like all these grunts, screams and growls. It is a good manner of vocals, it gives some freshness, and an additional instrument to some parts of the album.
The riffs are a mix of the clearer death metal ones, and those chaotic from the mighty grind.
It is an interesting mix indeed, some of the riffs, especially the bass one in the last song, tend to go towards a bigger progressivness, which isn't bad at all. As long as kept brutal and true.
I love these blasts of drums, a trademark of Napalm Death, they are well combined with more complexity-focused parts, which makes musical art with the relentlessity. Solos are not a stand-out, just some nice, new ideas, all arranged together.
Overall a good statement, showing they can do something else besides grind only, they can incorporate other, still brutal, styles in their music, taking their musicianship to a new level.
Rating: 7/10
Marcin Michalski(Metal.666)-Admin

NILE-FESTIVALS OF ATONEMENT and RAMSES BRINGER OF WAR '95/'97

Nile are, in my opinion, a really original Death Metal. They are the only band
who combine Egyptian music with Death Metal, and believe me, its a really cool
blend. In the Beginning is the combination of their two first demo, Festival of
Attonement and Ramses Bringer of War, so its worth buying since you get two
album which are out of print. In the Beginning is their less brutal album. Nile,
in this album more than in the others, plays very progressive Death Metal,
sometimes weird egyptians instruments, sometimes slow and heavy riffs and
sometimes ultra-fast riffs with ultra-fast solo. Songs like Wrought and Extinct,
who are about 10 minutes long, prove of what I just said. Nile have three
vocals, and they are all great. Even the drummer is a vocalist. The lyrics are
all about egyptians stuff, and for those who like to follow the lyrics along
with the music, its possible since, in this album, the vocals are clear and
well heard. They are very talented musicians. I suggest t!
his album for those who don't want ordinary Death Metal, you will not be
deceived. But if you want more brutal Death Metal, I suggest Amongst the
Catacombs of Nephren-Ka or Black Seeds of Vengeance.
Rating: 8/10
Nicolas Verreault


OBITUARY-SLOWLY WE ROT '89

The most extreme album to date. I should end up here, but i would betray the guys that made this fella, so i'll continue.
This is a legend, some people couldn't believe you could play so raw, so maniacly, having the guitars so heavy and...singing so...did i say singing? I'll leave the vocals at the end, it's a whole new chapter.
The lyrics aren't anything original, but i like them, deathy subjects, though i know little of them, as it's hard to understand anything at all(ahem), and the lyrics aren't included(maybe they could understand neither, only John could, heh).
I'll just say one thing about their image, i remember not knowing death metal, and seeing the booklet, they are all hanging by their necks, i did a nice impression on me.
I think alot of people that fall in love with the extremity of this record, forget its really good musicianship, and let me tell you it is good.
There are alot of parts with just straight brutal riffs, but alot of the writing process is hard to catch up. You have to focus on the playing and you get the, simply technically, but, interesting and original riffs, which are never enough, right?
The arrangments are real good, you notice a big talent in writing both fast and slow(intro to the title song) parts. They know how to make certain impressions on the listener, even if from simple riffs with a little touch on their own.
Mistakes aren't really seen(if so, little for such kind of music), maybe the brutality of the record disguises all the little lacks, that's even better!
Now about the vocals, no one before and no one after had ever such vocals, such a growling, making your hair go up, like a beast screaming through the night, you like at the picture, you don't believe, not a human? Who knows...
Extreme and well written, very influential at that time as well.
Rating: 8/10
Marcin Michalski(Metal.666) - Admin

POSSESSED-SEVEN CHURCHES '85

This is the first death metal album ever! This is so ahead of its times i cannot believe how these highschool attenders came up with something This brutal in Those times! The influence it had, and still has, on the death and black metal scene cannot be expressed. Ok, let's leave those matters and let's review objectively the contenent of this effort.
Vocals, production, lyrics and the whole instrumentarium is brutal as you could possible be. The vocals are unbelievable in those times, it had to sound like an apocalypse even to the thrashers from those days, and let me tell you something: it is great! The guitars are sharp and thick, drums beating the hell out of your ears, bass thundering in the background, in one word the production is awesomely crunchy! Today it isn't anything very original, but in '85 it surely was, and as such should be reviewed.
The lyrics along with the image of the band is totally satanic with no compromise for non-believers. It is amazing that these guys were able to put some melodic parts in their work(look the intro and main solo in Exorcist), and then hit you with brutally written riffs, both musically extreme and extremely musical as i like to say.
The structures of the riffs and the musicanship itself is very good in some parts, somewhere just straightforward focused on speed and heaviness and somewhere else just headbanging races.
To mention the mistakes(with such an ambitious record it's hard to find any) i would change few riffs and passes, sounding a bit out of place, but these are minisculus things in this ocean of organized, atrocited chaos.
A brutal classic, the beginning of it all!
Rating: 8/10
Marcin Michalski(Metal.666) - Admin