Avrigus - Beauty and Pain

Avrigus, hailing fom Sydney Australia has existed for many years, and I have yet to hear of their name until now. That is not surprising however, since Beauty and Pain is their first release in nearly 10 years! The band consists of two main members, Simon Gruer (guitars/drums/keys) and Megan Robins (vocals/keys) also featured is Lee Tassaker (bass) and Vanessa Black (Violin) courtesy of Lycanthia.

Beauty and Pain features five songs, two of which are instrumental interludes that intersect the other three songs. The EP has a dark sort of goth doom tone to it combining a good mix of soft sections with heavy brutality and incorporating synth, strings and violin solos as featured in the song 'Banquet of Souls'. The guitars are nice and heavy, and the bass often uses an overdrive to add to the heaviness.

The title and opening track 'Beauty and Pain' builds itself up into a nice heavy melodic piece of music, featuring a string quartet and harps. The first instrumental song, 'Mudita', reminded me a lot of Opeth in some ways with the type of melodies and instruments used. It has a very watershed era acoustic vibe to it, which I found myself really enjoying. It added a nice happy interlude from the somewhat down-tempo gothic style of the previous track.

'Banquet of Souls' is an inspiring symphonic doom piece that leads in to a film score like instrumental before ending the EP on the mostly-acoustic song 'Reborn. As a whole this CD is excellent and a must have for any fan of Draconian, Opeth, Katatonia or general fans of this type of genre. The only disappointments I can think of regarding the release is that it is digital only.

Beauty and Pain is available now through the band's official page.

Mat N.

Review: 29/08/10 Altars of Death 2010 half dayer: Desecration, Dead Beyond Buried, Infestation + Support

The death metal scene in the UK has been working particularly hard over the past few years to reinvigorate itself and gain a bit of momentum, and happily we are now beginning to see the results of the collective effort, with many more hardworking bands from the UK finally gaining slots on the large European festival circuits and younger bands supporting some of the genres true international heavyweights. As a celebration of this, the Altars of Death festival at the Purple Turtle in Central London showcases a varied selection of those bands old and new who have been contributing to the movement, and making a name for death metal in the UK both locally and overseas.

We get into the venue just as one such new band, Decrepid, begin their set, and a super smooth, almost decibel-perfect sound balance does very well to polish what is in reality a well executed but fairly anonymous mix of thrash and old school death metal. The London based band blast through several songs with enough aggression to keep things interesting, but ultimately there isn’t enough creativity here to leave you wanting more once their set finishes. Still, though, by no means a bad start to the day.

Flayed Disciple continue very much in the same vein of thrash and death metal, although their offering feels more incendiary than Decrepid’s. The band, again, benefit from a very good sound mix, but there is a tightness and passion behind the music that drives the band’s performance (and is probably what got them their place on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock this year). The thunderous cover of ‘Angel of Death’ was a nice way to round the set off, and hopefully they will be making their way up from the South West to come and play the bars of London again soon. They will be more than welcome.

Hunger struck just before Basement Torture Killings were about to start, so after getting some food we rejoined the melee in time to catch Gorebound. Taking the stage wearing surgical gowns and covered in blood, the hopes of a tight deathgrind assault were immediately crunched against the dashboard in a complete musical car crash. For the first time, oddly, the sound is all over the place; all members of the band are on vocals, yet only two of them are properly audible (leaving us with one average and one truly terrible vocalist). Aside from the poor mixing, this was all a bit boring. At times the band only seemed half interested in what was going on, and there was very little songwriting on show, each song feeling like a rough copy of the one before it, which is not something you would expect from a band that boasts ex-Gorerotted members as part of its line up. The band needs to spend a bit more time together in the rehearsal room before trying to pull something off like this live. I need a beer…

Fleshrot have been one of the more reliable exports of brutal death metal in the UK, endlessly performing shows around the country and, most notably, being offered a slot at Neurotic Death Fest in the Netherlands last year. They have clearly benefitted from all this touring experience, blitzing through tracks from their latest album ‘Traumatic Reconfiguration’ with a real professional intensity and grit. Fleshrot’s music, although not quite technically mindblowing, contains plenty of hooks and tempo changes that prevent the material on display from feeling one dimensional, and it translates seamlessly from CD into the live arena. Thankfully we witness a very, very solid performance from the South Londoners that manages to reinstall a confidence in tonight’s event that hasn’t exactly been shaken, but has been questioned a couple of times so far during the proceedings. The final sentiment of “thanks for checking us out, we have some CDs at the back there, if you’re interested pick one up, because we need petrol money to get home” is testament to their work ethic, and it is safe to say that any money they received from tonight’s show is money well earned.

Infestation are hugely enjoyable to watch, and demonstrate why they have earned themselves a slot supporting the mighty Entombed at the up and coming Mammoth Fest this September. A thoroughly inebriated David Samuel, clutching a microphone in his right hand and a crutch in his left, proceeds to growl and bark his way through a brilliant set of old school death metal that plays by new school rules; the Morbid Angel meets Cannibal Corpse groove is a good mix of fun and musicality in equal measure, all of which is tight and efficiently played. Admittedly, there isn’t too much else that can be taken away from this set, and aside from the drunken antics at the hands of David Samuel, and Jamie Ilsley looking positively possessed as he screeches out the backing vocals, the rest of their show passes without much incident, but Infestation are responsible for cementing this entire evening firmly back in my favour.

By now, it is late and most people are fairly drunk. It’s Sunday, and we are all beginning to think about train timetables and cups of tea. What the evening definitely does not need is a slightly monotonous, sludgy set from London’s Dead Beyond Buried that doesn’t really do anything apart from delay the introduction of the evening’s headliners. It’s not that their music is inherently bad, as such, but there isn’t much here that we haven’t heard a fair few times before, and their brand of blackened death metal feels a little pedestrian in light of what has gone before them already this evening. On a smaller billing they might have stood out a little more, but if I’m being honest, Dead Beyond Buried need a bit more muscle behind their delivery to set them apart from the rest of the pack.

When in need of some reliable music, listen to Desecration. Waltzing onto the stage to Tom Jones’ “Delilah”, they blast into their brand of simple yet unassailably aggressive death metal. Genuinely pleased to be back in London, they grind through a set comprised of both older and more recent material (although the differences between the two are practically non-existent), with crowd pleasers such as “When The Heart Stops Beating” and “Bacterial Breakdown” serving as ‘the hits’ of the setlist. Some believe that watching Desecration isn’t the most varied of experiences, which is a fair criticism: it’s fast and it’s brutal, nothing else. But by the same token, the moment Desecration express a shred of progressive influence is the moment they lose their fan base; no one listens to this band for the melodic passages, and the final salvoes of ‘Aim, Fire, Kill’ should convince most of you that this is exactly how it should be.

This was an important gig for UK death metal. It was a great night out, but it also illustrated the fact that the movement right now is as successful as it is diverse, and we have a lot to be proud of in our local scenes as well as our internationally recognised acts. After a quick chat with some of the band members, I leave the venue full of optimism for the younger bands of death metal in the UK, but with plenty of faith in the old guard to pick up the baton should the youth fail to deliver.

Matt L

Review: Hellbringer - Forgery

I picked this release up at one of the bands shows when they were known as Forgery, but since then they have been signed to Iron Pegasus and as a result changed their name to Hellbringer so for the duration of this review I shall refer to the band as Hellbringer. This excellent collection of 6 classic style thrash songs was mastered by Harris Johns who is known for his previous work with Coroner, Kreator, Sodom and a bunch of other well known bands which has really worked in Hellbringer's favour. The overall sound of this record is awesome, the guitar tone is raw and powerful and really suits the style they are playing.

The record begins on an epic level with a short intro consisting of chanting and bells ringing out alongside other ambient sounds. As soon as the first riff of the title track 'Hellbringer' rings out, you know this is going be a fun ride down the old school thrash road. This record is certainly in the vein of most old thrash bands, and I'm sure if you're a fan of any or all of those bands I could mention, you would certainly enjoy this. 'The Banished' is a song I swear slayer could have conceived back in the day, particularly with the opening riff which instantly made me think of them for some reason. The vocals are very much suited to the style here too, with what you may consider to be the typical sort of thrash 'scream/growl'.

Each track is solid, fast and certainly played well by Hellbringer. The final song 'The Hammer' starts off sounding like an inversion of Unleashed's 'The Immortals' which was created well before Hellbringer were even thought to exist. Though the originality of their music is questionable, keep in mind that they are playing a genre that has endured many bands already and though they may carry a sound similar to countless other bands, they have added their own twist to the music which makes it very listenable and memorable.

Hellbringer's debut EP is a great introduction to the band, and of this is anything to go by, they are sure to get even better as they grow. Forgery is available for order from the band's Myspace page.


Album: Forgery
Year: 2009
Label: Inedependant
Country: Australia

Tracklisting:

1. Intro
2. Hellbringer
3. The Banished
4. The Rapture
5. Spawns Of The Void
6. The Hammer

www.myspace.com/hellbringeraus

This review is also on Voltage Media.
Review by Mat

The Third Degree - Redmist Destruction

This weeks "The Third Degree" is with Dawson and Ryan, guitarists with English thrashers Redmist Destruction.

T. - How long have you been playing together?

Dawson - I and Ryan have always jammed and learnt music together but it wasn’t until October 2008 we had a practise as a full band. We turned down going to see Municipal Waste and wrote a couple of songs instead. We’ve been active since Nov 2009.

T. - How did you meet?

Dawson - The local music scene and previous bands we were all in. Ryan’s known John since they were 4 years old however.

T. - What kind of gear do you use?

Dawson - We use Ltd/Esp guitars, Peavy and Engl guitar heads, Marshall Cabinets, Warwick Bass and Tama drums.

T. - Is there an album that inspired you to join a band?

Ryan - We’re not gonna make out we’re hard as f**k and say “Reign in Blood” by Slayer or “Master of Puppets” haha, despite them being influences. But the albums that made us want to be in a band were for me “The Offspring – Americana”.

Dawson - “Green Day – Dookie.” I was 10 at the time.

T. - What was the last album you bought?

Ryan - August Burns Red – Constellations.

Dawson – Make Do And Mend – Bodies Of Water

T. - What do you think of downloading music?

Dawson - I download music all the time! I don’t see a problem with it seen as half the bands I listen to encourage it. I support every band I listen to if I don’t buy their album, I’ll buy heaps of merch instead.

Ryan - I don’t mind, but I always buy albums more than download them.

T. - Who would you say was your personal biggest influence?

Dawson - Musically, my personal biggest influence is a band called As I Lay Dying, they’ve been my favourite band for as long as I’ve been into metal.

Ryan - Slayer.

T. - If you could trade places with another musician for a day, who would it be and why?

Dawson - For me, probably James Hetfield just to have that control over huge crowds, and to front the biggest metal band in the world!

Ryan - Same haha. When you can make 80,000+ people do whatever you want... I’d think that would be fun to do for the day.

T. - If you weren’t playing in a band, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Dawson - I actually don’t know cos it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’d probably just be wishing I was in a band.

Ryan - I would continue training to be a biomedical scientist doing a s**tty 9-5.

T. - Where do you think the best metal is coming from at the moment?

Dawson - I actually have no idea, it depends what we hear and what we like. There are too many awesome bands to say a certain place. I can only say Earth!

T. - If you could only eat one kind of food, would it be savoury or sweet?

Dawson - Savoury, I f**king love crisps way too much. Chocolate and s**t gets boring.

T. - What’s your favourite movie?

Dawson - Power Rangers the Movie or Wayne’s World 1!

Ryan - Terminator 2 – ALWAYS NUMBER 1.

T. - What was the last live show you went to (not including your own)?

Ryan - I saw our friends in While She Sleeps at the Plug in Sheffield the other day at their album launch.

Dawson - I saw my friends band Summerlin in Leeds last.

T. - What do you have lined up next?

Dawson - Tour and a show with Bonded By Blood prior to that. We’ve nearly finished our album so that should be complete soon.

T. - Why should people check out your band?

Dawson - Because we’re genuine about doing what we do and aim to be at the forefront of UK thrash in the future! We have a laugh and encourage people to come head bang and hang out with us. We’re not d**kheads either! You’ll get a free CD to prove it!

For more information on the band, and to see where you can catch them on tour in the UK, head on over to their Myspace page at:
www.myspace.com/redmistdestruction

Hannah

The Third Degree - Facehandle

This weeks "The Third Degree" is with Jam, vocalist and lead guitarist for Scottish punks Facehandle.

T. - How long have you been playing together?

Jam - About 2 years, I doubt anyone in the band can remember exactly when we started.

T. - How did you meet?

Jam - We all met through a love of punk rock and getting mashed.

T. - Is there an album that inspired you to join a band?

Jam - Nah, not really. Just love making noise eh.

T. - What was the last album you bought?

Jam - Facehandle by Facehandle

T. - What do you think of downloading music?

Jam - I think even though people download music there's still enough people out there buying the albums to make up for the loss of money. It’s not about the money anyway.

T. - Who would you say was your personal biggest influence?

Jam - Life, my mates and family......and probably Leatherface.

T. - If you could trade places with another musician for a day, who would it be and why?

Jam - Myself cause I wonder what it's like to be him.

T. - If you weren’t playing in a band, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Jam - Flinging myself about and slavering on myself.

T. - Where do you think the best metal/alternative rock is coming from at the moment?

Jam - Edinburgh's scene is alright, Glasgow too. I know there are good things happening down south like Wales and Manchester.

T. - If you could only eat one kind of food, would it be savoury or sweet?

Jam - Savoury, I'm sweet enough.

T. - What would you do if someone gave you a dildo to sign?

Jam - Stick it up my arse and sign it in s**t.

T. - What’s your favourite movie?

Jam - Blade Runner. "TIME TO DIE!!!!!"

T. - What was the last live show you went to (not including your own)?

Jam - It'll have been a local band like SPAT or DADDY NO. Last big show I was at was GBH.

T. - What do you have lined up next?

Jam - Cramond Island of Punk on August 14th, few other gigs comin up too, check our page www.myspace.com/facehandle.

T. - Why should people check out your band?

Jam - Coz we like to have a laugh. Catchy songs and we'll make yer eyes bleed. 1 2 3 AAAAAH!

Facehandle will also be playing Sneaky Petes in Edinburgh on the 2nd of September, Banshee Labyrinth (also in Edinburgh) on the 23rd and Mucky Mulligans in Perth on the 24th. For more information on the band, head over to their Myspace page at: www.myspace.com/facehandle

Hannah

Review: Bleakwood - Blood & Faith 7" (2010)

Bleakwood is a one man black metal band from Sydney, Australia conceived by Dan Nahum (Ironwood, Sword Toward Self, Infinitum, Greed & Rapacity). Blood & Faith is Bleakwood's second release (if you count the previous demo cd) - and a very limited one at that as a 7" vinyl of only 150 hand numbered pressings. The fact that this release is on vinyl only may seem like a drawback, however with it was included a link to download the songs as MP3s - which in my opinion is awesome since as a collector I can leave the vinyl unplayed and mint!

Blood & Faith is the first of the two songs on this release followed by Disruption Hymn, and as to be expected there is no farting around here. This is straight up black metal chaos! Both songs display a great display of talent through all instruments, which for a one guy band is quite impressive. But forgetting that this is only one guy - the music itself is really quite unlike most black metal I have heard (such as Immortal, Hades, Burzum and the like). Unlike the mentioned bands, it doesn't have the (comparatively) simple structures/riffs or drum beats you'd come to expect from the genre. It is rather tense, yet aggressive, with the use of dissonance and odd counter melodies, which I find makes this so unique and interesting.

It is still heavily based on uber fast tremolo picked riffs that tend to blend into noise, though the guitar sound still allows you to hear the riff as opposed to not - and it does have some nice 'breakdowns' so to speak. Disruption Hymn features a really cool section towards the end which brings the attention to the string section; which initially blends in quite well with the guitars and bass. It's a rather tense and unsettling section - mostly void of guitar - which builds itself up to an abrupt and chaotic ending for such a short display of musical proficiency.

Though this release lacks in quantity with both songs being under 4 minutes in length; I find this is made up to the listener with the quality and intriguing aspects of these songs. Bleakwood is a band I'd highly recommend to anyone after something differently awesome in metal.

You can check it out for yourself on Bleakwood's Myspace page where there are excerpts from each track and the Bleakwood Demo in its entirety.

http://www.myspace.com/bleakwood

Mat

Interview with Oblivion's Eye

Foraging through the wilderness that is Myspace, I stumbled upon a band by the name of Oblivion’s Eye. A young Canadian band who have just released their debut album, I felt that these newcomers needed to be exposed to a greater audience, and managed to nab an interview with them!

T. - I found your page on Myspace, and I thought you had a good sound from the tracks on there. Do you find Myspace a good way to promote your music, or do you feel that Myspace has had its day?

Damian - I'd say MySpace is still pretty relevant. Personally, I don't think we would have reached as broad an audience as we have without it. It's a great tool for new bands to be heard, and for old bands to establish new fans. If someone tells me to listen to something, MySpace or YouTube are almost always the first place I'll go.

Brad - Yeah, I think Myspace is probably the best way for any band to be able to promote itself. It's just easy to reference someone to your Myspace page, or YouTube channel.

T. - You formed in January 2010, and released your debut album “Radiance” in June, that’s quite a short period of time, which is pretty impressive! Had you played together before, or was there just a good understanding of what direction you wanted to go in with your musical style?

Brad - Well, Damian and I have been playing music together since high school, trying to form bands and such. But we were fairly immature as artists, and it didn't help that the island doesn't have much in the way of musicians. After I had finished school, we got together and figured we had to get our s**t in gear or we weren't going to go anywhere, so we formed a melodic death metal band with my brother on vocals and some other guy on bass... That didn't quite work out, so we broke that up. Then one night we were playing together and we wrote Astral Projection, and the album just sorta took off from there.

T. - What kind of response have you had to the album?

Damian - Surprisingly positive to be honest. I think we both knew that we were on to something when we first started writing, but it's gone over a lot better than we ever hoped.

T. - Did you record and produce it yourselves?

Damian - The recording process was a bit of a weird one, actually. We have a friend by the name of Jess Tipton (he also plays drums and did all of the clean vocals on the album) who lives in Saskatchewan. We recorded our tracks here and then sent him the files to be mixed.

Brad - It was a royal pain in the a*s.

Damian - A royal pain in the a*s is an understatement. We probably ended up recording the album 3 times in total, haha.

T. - Three times? Ouch!

Damian - Yeah, he picked us apart, but the final product was well worth the criticism and hard work.

Brad - We've definitely evolved as musicians because of the whole experience.

T. - There are only the two of you in Oblivion’s Eye at the moment; are there plans to secure yourself a full line up in the near future? Are you wanting to play shows or is this just a recorded musical project?

Brad - Well we've definitely wanted to play shows, but out here it's very difficult to find drummers and bassists that like the same kind of music, and can play it as well. The current plan is to move out to Saskatchewan and start playing with Jess, considering he's probably the best fit for a drummer we could ever find.

T. - You note Devin Townsend, Strapping Young Lad and Jeff Loomis as influences, what else influences you as a band and as individuals?

Brad - Well musically, I think Devin Townsend has to be the biggest influence towards our style. He has a very wide variety of sounds, but the particular ambience style he created has a huge influence on a lot of the stuff we've done on “Radiance”, and the stuff we've written after. Also, the stage presence he has live is incredible, and it's definitely the sort of thing we're going to go for live as well. Also, bands such as Loomis, Mastodon, The Amenta, A Perfect Circle, etc, have a big effect on what we write. All of the different styles they have play a role in what we write. As an individual, I'd have to say death metal, and watching the comedy channel for hours on end are my influences.

Damian - I think we've managed to craft a sound that is entirely our own in spite of whatever influences we may be drawing on, and I think that's important to include. Furthermore, a lot of our content has a surreal nature to it and we're both very interested in that kind of thing. I'm personally influenced by life in general. I'm sure that's the most clichéd answer anyone could possibly give. But, if I've had a shit day at work or something, I'll come home and beat the fuck out of my guitar for a while. There again, sometimes it's just nice to go to the river and let the positive vibes flow, man...

T. - I found it quite difficult to think of questions to ask you, you don’t give much away about yourselves on your Myspace or Facebook pages; is that so we concentrate on your music, or is the mystery of who Oblivion’s Eye are a sneaky ploy to make us more intrigued?

Damian - Haha! Well, I'd like to tell you there’s something to it, but we're just not really that interesting! I did read quite a while ago that Tool likes to reveal as little of themselves as possible, so that the music is what you focus on and I find that quite admirable. Having said that, though, our pages could probably use some revamping...

Brad - I think in a lot of the stuff we do though, we try to focus on the music we have. Hell, most of the songs we write, we keep the lyrics minimal, so the song itself can come through more.

T. - Coming from Canada, do you feel that there is a good strong metal scene there, or do you feel Canadian metal bands are overshadowed by your southern neighbours in the United States?

Brad - Well, the metal scene isn't too bad here. I mean, Devin came from right here in BC so it can't be too bad for the musicians. But out here in Nanaimo/Qualicum it's pretty minimal, which is one of the reasons we're leaving. Every show I've played here I've had the same group of 10-20 metal heads come, and I've probably met all of the bands in the area. Not saying they're not good shows, but it'd be nice to have a better ratio between drunken old guys and moshing metal fans.

Damian - Yeah, I agree. There are a lot of talented bands on Vancouver Island, but there really isn't a lot of opportunity short of loading all your s**t on to a ferry and going over to the mainland.

T. - So for you it's perhaps more a location within Canada than Canada itself that might hold you back?

Damian - Yeah, for sure. There's a lot of great talent in Canada, but our location in particular is almost always neglected.

T. - What is the future for Oblivion’s Eye? I noticed that you have a “Sign Me To” page on Roadrunner Records site, is that your main goal?

Brad - Well a label is definitely a good direction to go, but that’s probably gonna be a bit down the road. We're mostly going to try and establish more of a presence around Canada and on the internet to start with.

Damian - Yeah, the Roadrunner Records thing was just a shot in the dark. I guess that's how they're seeking out bands these days, and we figured we would put ourselves up there just for the hell of it.

T. - If people want to get a hold of your album, where can they purchase it from?

Damian - You can purchase the album directly from our MySpace page for sixteen Canadian loonies ($16, in other words)

Brad - Or 16 live birds, which ever is easiest for you.

Damian - Yeah, we'll accept 16 live birds as payment. I appreciate craftiness.

Head over to their Myspace page to listen to a couple of the tracks from "Radiance" at www.myspace.com/oblivionseyeband, they're certainly a band I will be keeping an eye on (ho ho)!!!

Hannah