LP Review: "Paramnesia" by Destroying the Devoid

Paramnesia

My preferred mode of travel, be it commuter or long distance, is by rail.

Riding a train, well there's just something majestic about that. It's easy to think about the people who laid those tracks across the country or how easy it is to get around in Japan by Bullet Train.

Here in the United States we don't have the relationship with trains that other nations do, but part of that is probably due to our great (already) country being so vast.

Most European nations are the size of one of our states, so it's much easier to travel by rail that way.

Spending time in Philadelphia and San Francisco, I saw just how awesome commuter travel can be in other cities not named New York. But what's great about travelling by rail is that the next stop is going to change everything.

Album Review: "Dominion of Misery" by Omnihility

Dominion of Misery

Technical Death Metal today.

I'm trying to figure out the difference between Technical Death Metal and Brutal Death Metal.

I really have no clue what razor thin line separates these two sub-genres of a sub-genre.

I'm sure it has something to do with what they sing about or how the vocals are just a touch different. Perhaps it's that the drums are slightly different in the mix?

I think of these sub-genres of death metal just as modern death metal. They could easily be thought of as the second generation of Carcass. As we all know, English Death Metal was legitimately different from Tampa Bay Death Metal right? Oh heavy metal sub-genres, I will always have something to say about you.

Album Review: "A Maze of Recycled Creeds" by Gorod

A Maze of Recycled Creeds

In our modern age, metal has really grown up.

The days of metallers just being able to offend parents with an offensive album cover with a picture of a buzzsaw on the bass player's crotch...

Well that's music (and antics) from a (mostly) bygone age.

Metal is no longer just played through a wall of amplifiers that cover up all the sloppy playing and mistakes.

That leads me to a conversation I had with an old friend of mine who was a big fan of punk rock. We talked about the mastery of the instrument that many bands had and she said, that doesn't impress me at all.

Well, if you've mastered your instrument and you can make it say whatever you want it to say and you have another four likeminded friends....that impresses the hell out of me.

Album Review: "XIII Steps To Ruination" by Annihilated

XIII Steps To Ruination

Annihlated was formed in 2008 by guitarists Eric Mantanga and Robert Fimbres not long after the Los Angeles band, Excretion unraveled.

They desired to make important music that didn't follow the mold and trends of modern metal.

Their lyrical themes rebel against the sheep mentality of society and seek rational thought in regards to our government.

XIII Steps To Ruination was produced by drummer, Scott Fuller and will be released on Unique Leader Records.

The album features cameos from many metal performers like Sven De Caluwe of Aborted, Monte Pittman of Prong, Peter Truax of Vesterian and Eyes of Fire, and Eric Stobel of Plaguereaper.

"Imperium" by Internal Bleeding

Imperium

New York City.

Thinking of the Big Apple, my mind wanders to a ridiculous campaign about salsa not being from New York.

However, this isn't about salsa or TV, but a death metal band that's been together for over twenty years. So few acts reach 20 years, much less any interpersonal relationships, but here they are.

Of course Death Metal's not from New York either...

They reared their heads in 1992 with the demo, Invocation of Evil, and went through some serious trials and some serious metal eating its own young.

They refer to their style as "Total F------ Slam." They saw what they were doing as a different kind of death metal, though they have been written off as generic death metal, a close listening shows that's not really the case....