METAL BLADE RECORDS COMPILATION – Metal Hammer Magazine August 2008

I just picked up the new Metal Hammer. One of the CD’s with the mag is a Metal Blade Records spotlight comp. If you don’t know much about MB then fuck off. The longest running (over 25 years now) METAL label in the world is still going strong…

AMON AMARTH – Asator (from With Oden On Our Side)
Another track of epic viking metal from the masterful With Oden… album. A smashing mid-tempo gallop carries this track full of riffs of both the thrash and power metal variety. A nice, fluid solo rounds out the track. Catchy as hell as always.

WHITECHAPEL – This is Exile (from This Is Exile)
Blasting death/grind right out of the gates with brutal dual vox. As the track moves along the tempos downshift into a mid-section that is almost melodic with sparse, spooky guitarwork only to erupt back to the controlled chaos for a moment ending with with a staccato machine gun riff that the double bass follows to the last second.

AS I LAY DYING – Nothing left (from An Ocean Between Us)
Mid-tempo thrash riffing underneath melodic note-based riffs dominate this song with basic powerful death vox. The chorus is layered with clean vocals. It works. Cool track.

SHAI HALUD – Misanthropy Pure (from Misanthropy Pure)
This song is vocal based. Meaning everything else takes a back seat to the up front screamed/yelled vox. Guitarwork is mostly melodic with open chords throughout. This song almost sounds emo…it flirts with it anyway.

THE ROTTED – Nothin but a Nosebleed (from Get Dead Or Die Trying)
Cunt-ripping grind starts this song off with exploding riffs and hectic blast drumming. A brief breakdown centers this track. This fucker actually has a chorus amongst the chaos. Cool cool shit here.

HAIL OF BULLLETS – Red Wolves of Stalin (from …Of Frost And War)
Filthy, crusty, downtuned blackness is what we have here. Nothing fancy. Just suffocating dirt with a vocalist that sounds like Lemmy swallowing glass. This makes you want to smash yer fist through someones goddamned face.

PRIMORDIAL – Empire Falls (from To The Nameless Dead)
Very emotional mid-tempo metal with swirling riffs. This song is pissed and depressed at the same time. Over the years this band has been branded both death and black metal. This track is close to Sentenced mainly due to the almost clean vocals. Very well written song here. Killer.

SOILENT GREEN – Antioxidant (from Inevitable Collapse In The Presence Of Conviction)
Ben F. is a cool fukker. New Soilent is killer as always. Never a dull moment. Ever-changing tempos. Vocal styles all over the place. Blast here, doom there. Nola Metal. Nuff said.

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER – What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse (from Nocturnal)
Swedish influenced madness yet again. Blasting drums. Vox between death and black (think old KREATOR). Very cool solo over a blasting from hell backline. A brutal track that pounds throughout with plenty of note-based riffs riding atop thrash workouts.

BRAINDRILL – Swine Slaughter (from Apocalyptic Feasting)
Thick as hell Death fucking Metal. This shit rules. The first chorus is simple yet effective spilling into a stellar solo section that drops into a breakdown. I’m telling you, the goddamned riffing in this song is manic to say the least.

HATE ETERNAL – Hell Envenom (from Fury And Flames)
Speaking of manic riffing. Holy hell this will make you dizzy. Riffs that defy logic running with blasting drums is what these insanely talented fuckers have laid to tape here.

JOB FOR A COWBOY – Altered from Catechization (from Genesis)
Technical death metal cleanly produced. Not a bad thing to say about this song. Great riffing and solos. Sick vocals. Awesome drumming. Nothing makes this stand out but its very fucking good shit sonically all the way around.

ONE WAY MIRROR – As You Are Now (from One Way Mirror)
This band is by far the most “mainstream friendly” on this comp. Verses are screamed, chorus is clean and melodic. Musically this recalls Only Living Witness which is not a fucking bad thing!

HATCHET – Awaiting Evil (from Awaiting Evil)
Holy shit. For me this is the best song on this comp. It sounds like I’m listening to an early Metal Massacre comp now. Total 80′s thrash/traditional Metal here. Everything about this track (right down to the production) sounds like it was forged in the basement in the mid 1980s. Hell Yeah. A nice way to to end the comp. HATCHET SLAYS.