Praiseworthy
enterprise containing more than 65 minutes divided into 15 tracks presenting
us the best 15 France's Death/Grind metal unsigned bands.
The start is entrusted with the best band in this compilation, Absurdity;
old-styled aggressive Death-thrash, easy to remember, with lots of stopped
riffs. Reminiscent of Judecca as for sounds and riffs; the vocals are
never guttural and there're also tribal drums in the end. "Leader
of Herd" is a true masterpiece with very well-chosen sounds.
I'd really love to hear more of them.
Anorexia's "Decline of Humanity" is a long song with
fairly good harsh sounds, demonic and guttural vocals, a bit a là
Deeds of Flesh; lots of stop 'n' goes and fast riffing. A tight song
with occasional hysterical vocals added to the the 2 previously cited.
Darc Mutcer play a sort of thrashcore death with extremely wicked and
contemporarily original vocals; "Psychotouch in the Megamix",
"Troudbaltroud", "Vouminik" and "Fecalhome"
are the 4 songs included in the same track, all very low-fi, brief,
fast and - most of all - mad!
If you prefer old school death doom, Deep Vein are the right ones for
ya; and not with a banal track; as a matter of fact the riffing and
the drumming are intricated, while the vocals are high and low here
as well. "Maniac" ain't bad at all!
Should you never have enough of Cannibal Corpse, Dislocation show a
medley to feed your hungry minds. 2 kinds of vocal styles, interrupted
by a 'liquid' bass; their death is rather modern, although some riffs
and solos are Morbid Angelesque, because they also have Swedish guitars
and a break with a violin, making them sound very original. Yes, My
Dying Bride have already done, but Dislocation are less sad and more
brutal. Some well-grounded reasons to enjoy "Profanateurs",
"Devotion" and "Rebellion".
Things change completely with Gastrik Burst's "Patrick Burst"
and "Blen Gras", 2 songs of funny and hysterical hardcore-death-grind;
their bass is cheerful, but they are skillful and may make you think
of Dying Fetus quite clearly. Nice, brutal and guttural.
A violent intro is a luxury that Hemafrost are afforded to take to introduce
to their composition, "Cox in Hell"; it deals with
guitar-oriented death and power metal, with a few Bay Area thrash choruses!
Wonderful drum parts, stop 'n' goes and superb recording make this song
one of the CD highlights. A fast, precise and fresh enough song with
very few diabolical vocals before the cool guitar solo put them close
to the latest Kreator.
Rich of bass sounds is Heresy's "Bloody Ophiuchus";
grind in the beginning, later Floridian death metal. Dynamic and rife
with at least 3 excellent groundbreaking riffs and monophonic vocals.
Don't expect anything new but whatever, keep an eye on them!
Heritiers de la Haine are into a fast and demolishing death, with a
great deal of Glenn Benton-like vocals; worth reminding the final shrieking
axe solo, the unmerciful riffs and the lively frantic drumwork in "Lambs
of Christ". They fucking rule and are a welcome surprise to
Rock Metal Bands.com webzine favourites.
"Sword of Sin" presents an impious and fairly various
band, but not mature yet. The fast-paced death of Horrid Flesh isn't
helped by the recording actually, but I must admit that their biggest
problem is that their songwriting still needs improving a little. Just
a simple sufficiency for them.
Manslaughter deal with fast death, guttural and screamed. Delightful
are the break and the few clean vocals here present. "Etre Seul"
includes strange riffs and vocal parts and this is what makes it memorable
in my view. Interesting newcomers.
Full of rage and adrenalin the 3 songs by Peach Her. "On the
Rocks", "Pop Corpse" and "My Fork
Is a Poltergeist" are 3 wonderful patterns of how to play grind
and death and not bore at all; I suggest you them very warmly, as they
display an amount of tasty riffs, the bass slaps in an enjoyable manner,
the technique is high and the recording done very well. Between Soulfly,
funky metal and death, Peach Her teach how to be innovative in the year
2004. Excellent!
Psychobolia probably all have Slayer's posters in their rooms, and by
listening to "Faust" you'll realize that in this case
it's a good thing and not a fault. And besides it's positive that they
try not to adhere Tom Araya's band's patterns excessively. Simple, fast
and raw: what more can you want from a drummer who could replace Dave
Lombardo perfectly well?
The last but one combo is introduced by liturgical choirs and notes;
their genre could be described as death metal with guttural vocals,
dark and dynamic; after a break we find an arpeggio and then Start of
the End explode one more time. "Live in the Blasphemy"
consists of excellent sounds, and proves these Transalpines surely deserve
to be signed by a prestigious label such as Osmose, Overcome or Bones
Brigade. Sometimes they reminded me of Unleashed, nevertheless Start
of the End's vocals are different and at the same time the only thing
to better.
Trepan'Dead's track contains 2 compositions of ultrabrutal death-grind-core
with 2 titles leaving no possibility of ambiguity: "It's Crap"
is dedicated to all the shitfaces we meet or deal with everyday and
we have to stand without having the legal permission to suppress, just
because democracy is a utopia; the second song goes to men who could
never work in porn industry, and that is: "Suffer from Premature
Ejaculation". Concerning the music aspect, pleasantly
in-your-face the former, variegated but nothing extraordinary the latter.
The level is not so low as I expected first, which confirms the healthy
condition of the French death and grind scene; moreover, there're 4-5
bands ready for a record deal and with remarkable demos released, so
I invite all labels and fans to contact them a.s.a.p. Finally, a mention
about Skull Fucked: this is its 3rd release and I believe there should
be more compilations like this helping the owrthy bands to find a deal
and less acts signed when they're not ripe yet. I've been in contact
with them for some time, and I can say Fred Anton's and Phil Catt's
label gives an effectual example the way all true underground should
be handled. Don't underestimate fellows like those two, you metal couch-potatoes!
MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - 4/6/04
Contacts:
Absurdity
realmofchaos@noos.fr
www.absurdity-music.com
Anorexia
anorexia@free.fr
www.anorexia666.com
Darc Mutcer
Tel: 0610532345 - 0616998152
Deep Vein
cbeautour@aol.com
Dislocation
cedricauthier@wanadoo.fr
www.dislocation.fr.st
Gastrik Burst
dead.cirkus.rec@wanadoo.fr
http://members.lycos.fr/gastrickburst
Hemafrost
krottoss@free.fr
www.hemafrost.fr.fm
Heresy
heresy@wanadoo.fr
www.heresy.fr.st
Heritiers de la Haine
david.soulier@planetis.com
www.heritiersdelahaine.fr.st
Horrid Flesh
fleshkult@hotmail.com
Manslaughter
dmonein@free.fr
Peach Her
nervous_lardon@hotmail.com
www.peach-her.com
Psychobolia
psychobolia@hotmail.com
www.psychobolia.fr.st
Start of the End
yannik.p@wanadoo.fr
www.startoftheend.kicks-ass.org
Trepan'dead
trepan@wanadoo.fr
