Mind Scans Volume 3

grab a beer, sit back and prepare to take a trip across the innards of my metal mind......

Kudos to my fellow Global-Mindian Chris for getting this great little MIND SCANS section up and running. It’s a great idea and a really good way to ensure that we are are introducing you guys to as much new music as possible. So here’s my first ZeeZee’s Mind Scan, I’m going to try and make mine a little different from Chris’ in the fact that I will feature predominately bands that may not quite suit the main section of the site but should be checked out anyway. I’ll be going for a bit of a harder edge in general, featuring genres like Black Metal, Brutal Death Metal, Grindcore and all things extreme, but that being said, one of the best things about this section is that there will never be any real rules to it…So don’t be surprised if in one of my future MIND SCANS features a new JOURNEY album followed directly by a new CANNIBAL CORPSE album, well maybe not quite that much of a differential, but you get the idea.

All that being said, grab a beer, sit back and prepare to take a trip across the innards of my metal mind…. And please be sure to leave us a comment below if you are enjoying this section…

 

 

1. CHAOS THEORY – BIO-DEATH  (massacre records)

How many bands get picked up by a record label after one short demo?  Not too many I’d wager, but when you are ready-made like these Italian old-school thrashers CHAOS THEORY it does make sense. BIO-DEATH is an album steeped in the all-out thrash attack from the genre’s golden age and while there’s some elements that I am tempted to say are almost progressive in nature, and also the first eleven seconds of the album almost sounds like some sort of aggressive Power Metal hybrid, it’s still safe to class this one straightforward thrash madness that at times reminds me bands like EXODUS, early day TESTAMENT and SLAYER. In regard to the SLAYER reference there’s also some similarities here in the vocal approach taken by front-man Claudio Peterlini who uses a similar technique to the almighty Tom Araya, so you’ll either love the vocals or hate them. CHAOS THEORY show enough on their debut full-length to make me think there is room for them in the current day thrash movement, but they just need to somehow find a little ‘wow’ factor to help them stand out from the pack. Maybe it’s worth exploring the slight Power-Metal feel of the intro a bit further, could be a winner.  7/10

 

2. HOLY KNIGHTS – BETWEEN DAYLIGHT AND PAIN    (scarlet records)

I’m not too sure about the personal story of this band, All I know is that it taken them ten years to record and release the follow up to their debut back in 2002. This is the first I have heard of these guys and I’ve got say, why in the hell would a band this good only release an album every ten years. Epic, Operatic Power Metal is the main aim here and these Italians do it amazingly. Good thing for the rest of the world too that the vocals here don’t suffer from that overly strong accent a lot of Italian albums seem to. Definitely one of the unexpected surprises of the year here and one you guys should all check out as soon as you can.  9/10

 

3. THE FORSAKEN – BEYOND REDEMPTION  (massacre records)

If you haven’t heard of THE FORSAKEN for whatever reason, then let me just say that they are one of the most underrated Swedish Death Metal bands in history. After nine years in the wilderness the band has returned with BEYOND REDEMPTION, their most aggressive and complete album yet. The band has always had that slight Melodic Death vibe going on and that’s fair enough considering they are from Sweden, but the band don’t base their sound around strictly Melodic passages like a lot bands, the Melody here is more a by-product due to the fact that these guys are just really, really good songwriters with an obvious natural ear for music. Also, there’s so much more happening on this record too. This is definitely better being considered as Technical Death Metal in reality and should please fans of the genre easily. BEYOND REDEMPTION feels like a much darker record too, mainly due to growl-master vocalist Anders Sjoholm sounding deeper and more menacing than ever. It probably goes without saying but the drumming displayed here by Nicke Grabowski is some of the fastest and cleanest I’ve heard this year and probably worthy of the entry price alone.  9/10

 

4. EXODIA – SLOW DEATH  (art gates records)

For a debut album SLOW DEATH is pretty bloody good. A mixture of old-school death/thrash sensibilities and the newer wave of melodic thrash metal. Some of the lyrics on the album don’t quite suit the music and would be more at home on a grindcore or brutal death release, but credit goes to the band for doing things a little differently.  It might sound a little unimaginative and cliché, but the best comparison here is a half-way point between MEGADETH and SLAYER. World-Class cover art helps to make this one a worthy pickup.  7/10

 

5. THE PROPHECY 23 – GREEN MACHINE LASER BEAM   (massacre records)

If there’s one thing that’s been largely missing from the metal world in the last decade or so it would have to be some light-hearted fun. No, not like those dickwad parody bands that are going around these days I mean the fun when moshing was about sharing an experience, not about flailing yourself around to see how much you can hurt fellow pit crawlers. GREEN MACHINE LASER BEAM is an album that harkens back to those days while still incorporating enough brutality to please the younger generation. The music on offer here is a mixture of classic skater thrash, but with a brutal and sometime Death Metal-like undertone and some classic NY Hardcore too. This combination ends up sounding a little like classic era ANTHRAX mixed with early day BIOHAZARD and sprinkled with a little bit of GOJIRA’s brutality. With song titles like WE ARE THE PIT POLICE, ICE ROAD TRUCKER vs. THE SUN and BEYOND THE PURPLE PIPES this is clearly music made for those who still like a little bit of fun mixed in with their metal. It’s an interesting combination but the band somehow pulls it off.  7/10

 

6. MALICE – NEW BREED OF GODZ   (steamhammer/spv records)

MALICE are a traditional heavy metal band that were a bit of a cult act in the early eighties then seemingly disappeared off the grib. Well, they’re back in business now and have joined with Steamhammer to release an album that features four all new songs and eight songs from the band’s early days re-recorded. The new songs are unfortunately the weakest element of this album, but the re-recorded tunes are a great throwback to the high-wailing vocal style of Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford. Not sure what this says about the future of the band from a recording perspective, but with these classic tunes they would be an awesome band to catch live for sure. I would still be interested to hear what they could do with an all-new studio record.  7/10

 

7. 5 STAR GRAVE – DRUGSTORE HELL  (massacre records)

Well this is an interesting release that I’m still having trouble getting my head around, but for the sake of moving forward let’s see what we can come up with. DRUGSTORE HELL is described in the promo material as “Modern Metal”, and while that’s usually a generalization I don’t subscribe to it may well be the best way to go about things this time around. Musically the backbone is a bit of a mixture of Melodic Death Metal, some Modern Thrash Metal/Groove Metal and dare I say even a slight, slight tinge of Metalcore/Deathcore. This is combined with a vocal approach that is closer to Black Metal than anything else but also with a Groove Metal hint here and there. It’s a catchy album really and one I can see the younger generation of metalheads getting right into. It does suffer a bit though from trying to be everything modern and trendy in the metal world. Not really my cup of tea in that sense, but I can respect the fact that it will appeal to a lot of people….check it out if you are curious, you might just like it a little more than I did.  6/10

 

8. HUATA – ATAVIST OF MANN  (zugzwang productions)

2012 has been a pretty darn good year for Sludge/Doom/Stoner fans and even though there has been plenty to pick from this year, one that slipped through the cracks a little bit right at the end of last year was ATAVIST OF MANN from HUATA. Musically, comparisons to ELECTRIC WIZARD are the most obvious, but with extra attention spent on the whole occult side of things which is along the line of what GHOST are doing lately. One thing I did notice though is that this album has some of the fuzziest, dirtiest and sludgiest guitar effects I think I’ve ever heard. A couple of the longer songs spend a little too much time in Drone territory for my personal liking, but overall this is yet another must-hear album that is right up there with the best of the emerging French Metal scene…Doom fans should check this one out immediately!!!  7/10

 

9. DEADLY REMAINS – SEVERING HUMANITY  (deepsend records)

In a song composition sense there isn’t a whole lot on SEVERING HUMANITY that you won’t hear on a lot of other Brutal Death Metal releases going around these days but there are a few things that make these guys worth some extra attention. Firstly is the strong emphasis on good Bass Guitar work, which is sadly lacking in the genre as a whole at the moment, secondly is the way the band have implemented the excellent Bass playing into the production which makes it feel a lot more guttural and nasty than the thin production we find a lot lately. I also commend the band for opting to go for some really good artwork too, the extra cost is worth the end result. A very brutal and punishing album that should see DEADLY REMAINS rated much more closely to big players of the genre.  8/10

 

10. DISAFFECTED – REBIRTH   (massacre records)

DISAFFECTED are a Portuguese band than haven’t released any original music since their 1995 debut album VAST. The band plays a style of Death Metal that is very progressive in nature and while Technical Death Metal doesn’t fit the band there’s no doubt that these guys are a bunch of musical wizards. The vocals on this album are a sort of in-between style that definitely brings the death metal growls but is still left just cohesive enough that you’ll rarely need the lyrics book to work them out.  Think of the song LOW by TESTAMENT….then picture the last line of the chorus “SHOW SOME MERCY”….now that’s the type of vocal approach on offer for the majority of this album. Something else about this album that really does deserve a special mention is the rhythmic backbone, truly one of the better Bass/Drum combos working together out there at the moment. A really strong comeback that should set the scene for some serious success in the future…Buy, Buy, Buy!!!  9/10

 

Well there you go folks and folkettes, I hope you enjoyed my first foray into the world of MIND SCANS, keep tuned for volume 2 somewhere in the near, near future…

 

 

Mind Scans courtesy of Zeezee Dawson

Senior Staff Writer Myglobalmind Webzine

 

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