The Everscathed-Scars To Bare (2015)

Most of this album is steeped in the slower grooving character mixed with maddened frenzies of thrashing beats and tremolo riffing. The intermingling of slower grooving sections with pummeling chug riffs vs. the faster, mid 80s Slayer-inspired thrashing is marked by a somewhat moderated sense of build up through mid-tempo bridge sections. as well as some midpaced riffs that are absolutely crushing. "The Grand Leveller" is most reminiscent of the band's fellow countrymen (and woman) in it's creeping, midpaced mayhem but the title track here shows off the band's ability to go at much faster tempos and it sounds good. Vocal performance here adds a darker atmosphere to the sound. The drumming on here does it's job just fine so no complaints here. The bass is pretty good throughout, thumping along audibly while also providing some nice fills. A cool death metal record, so if you haven't heard these guys then you now have some homework to do.
www.facebook.com/TheEverscathed
www.THEEVERSCATHED.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Inverted Serenity-Integral (2015)

Speed with loud, ear-splittingly heavy snare drums and torrential blast beats, brutal voice, guitar chops and solos, and you get intimidating songs. One of the reasons I fell in love with death metal many years ago was because right from a very young age I’ve had a thing for no-holds-barred, unapologetically violent music. That’s not to say I like brutal music just for the sake of its brutality, or the gory lyrics; there are countless brutal death metal bands as lacking in shame as in talent doing just that. But when the violent tone is subordinated to quality songwriting, and innovations in sound engineering subordinated to musicianship, out comes a rare album this deserving of praise and preservation. Death metal today is better than it ever was. Inverted Serenity testifies to the validity of that statement. "Integral" is the album I’ve been waiting for !
www.facebook.com/invertedserenity
AsherMediaRelations.com
ashermedia@gmail.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Silent Line-Shattered Shores (2015)

What impressed me the most is the music, vocals, production and mixing as well as the lyrics. I can't see myself writing off this release to just be total crap because I wouldn't be being honest, but I'm not. So keep in tune to what I have to say here, there are heavy guitars, talking more about the music,melodic death and groove metal. They also throw in some thrash sound into it showing their influences of genuinely. This I think is good. and made the music so much more desirable. I like every song on here. I think the rhythm guitars show their brutality even though they're not playing at fast tempos much. The riffs here are thick, but they still have that melodic feel to them. They're expressing art-work with this one.  Definitely worth checking out. Don't just consider though what I think or others think of this album, consider what you think. I don't think that I'm totally off on this, I think that this album is a "A" to me, but it's just what I think. Think "melodic/groove/thrash" and you'll have all of those styles in here. Silent Line put out quality music!
www.facebook.com/silentlinemetal
AsherMediaRelations.com
ashermedia@gmail.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Synapses-Devoutness (2015)

It actually surprises me that I like this so much. Yeah, this might happen to be a death metal album, the obvious industrial influences are here. This album is pretty awkward, very clumsy and perhaps a bit compromised in its weirdness, but it still manages to hold up well against more obvious death metal sounding.Yes, you read it right though, "Devoutness" is a death metal album, and a very unique one at that, but there's also the obvious industrial elements that characterize the band's sound, but what's arguably even more unique is that there's actually a healthy dose of early grindcore found here as well. Vocalist does a nice job at imitating Napalm Death's vocals. I have to say, the brutality actually works pretty fucking fantastic. Sure, this album is unintentionally somewhat pretentious and awkward as a result, but again, it's that charm that keeps the majority of the album very enjoyable and most of the time the result is great no matter what.Technically, this album gets the job done. It's not anything special as it's somewhat basic for death metal riffing standards, but these italians made full advantage of their supreme knowledge of how to make simplicity work by creating what is hands down one of the catchiest death metal albums in 2015. It's obvious that this doesn't need stark technicality or complexity to be good, as this isn't really a riff-dependant album, the fact that the riffs are pretty catchy is a nice bonus, but I feel the complete package of a band mashing as much as they could into basically every song here is largely responsible for what makes this such a joy to hear.This is a work of immense depth, songs are somewhat clumsy but it's obvious that a lot of thought and care went into making each song awesome in its own right.I urge basically everyone to give this a spin, this album is just well-rounded and doesn't really lack anything it shouldn't lack. It's clumsy, awkward and probably not very self-aware, but it doesn't hold the album back more than strictly necessary. This is one of the most diverse death metal records ever, succesfully combining brutality, and it sounds awesome. This is Synapses,experimentation done oh so right.
www.facebook.com/Synapses.official
synapses.death@live.it
cimmerianshaderecordings.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Caelestia-Beneath Abyss (2015)

Caelestia are not that impressive to say the least but their music is beautiful enough to keep me interested for another listens. Well at least they sound hell a lot better than Lacuna Coil of today.This record shows significant originality. Dimmi V exhales some of the most enchanting yet powerful melodious air of noticeable talent. Yes. She is gifted with quite a decent vocal that fits for this type of music that borders between extreme and melodic metal. Instruments wise, there is a remarkably sound for the fact that band members use quite one-dimensional approach to their sound in general. Thankfully, Caelestia are able to add some spices to their offering, employing decent amount acoustic plucking. For a young band from Athens to play in this style, it may not really take much to create a fairly standard art. The vibrant production allows enough room for each member to breathe in life to their weapons. Drums are quite in the mix, so do the cymbals and the guitars. Everyone is on top of their game here, which is a plus as well. keyboards are performed well. The primary instruments are so powerful that keyboard got quickly drowned by the enthralling cacophony. Well, that again is good thing for me because a lot of purists tend to assault Keyboards as mere faggotry driven by nothing but excessively cheesy sound to cover up band members’ lack of talents. Again, this record is not entirely keyboard driven. As I said, I am not sure where the keyboards are anyways 'cause the guitars and drums are powerful. Most tracks are good and memorable. Decent performance. Each song provokes visual hallucinations to those who can actually appreciate minimal but in-depth works of art. An overall enjoyable release by this band that incorporated hard rock elements into their extreme outlook. If you like straightforward, fuss-free, simplistic approach to Gothic metal / rock, extreme metal go and buy this full length.Track highlights? None in particular. Each song is good enough for repeated listens. This means the band had invested all their best to produce this decent record. Check them out !
www.facebook.com/caelestiaband
caelestiaband.com
www.facebook.com/clawhammerpr
clawhammerpr@gmail.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Nuclear-Formula For Anarchy (2015)

With the thrash metal resurgance of late a lot of old bands have been coming back to party one more time. Original thrash metal stahlwarts like Kreator, Death Angel and Testament are releasing up to par new albums and newcomers such as Havok, Hatchet and Toxic Holocaust are carrying the torch for the next generation. Nuclear from Chile belonged to a small new wave of thrash bands that never really broke through yet who released a decent album that unleash their thrashing metal upon the world...and the world is better for it! There was a sense of concern when first sliding the disc into my cd player. Those concerns where immediately blown away however by the stellar riffing of opening number "Offender". Pure f'**king thrash metal!!! The main influences here are no doubt Exodus and Kreator. The backwards type of riffing ala Gary Holt is vicious and the aggression of mid-career Kreator is ever present. The vocals however remind me of the mighty Schmier (Destruction) at his angriest and most vile. The album is absolutely jam-packed with anthemic tracks. The slaying riffs and the catchy chorus make this an immediate classic! The songs are ballcrushers for the books but it doesn't stop there. There are no weak points to this album. I think anyone into true and honest thrash metal will enjoy this disc immensly. No matter if you're into the "old school" or the "new school" this oughta please your urges from start to finish. Southamerican Thrash Fkn Metal direct to your skull !!
www.facebook.com/nuclearcl
www.nuclear.cl
www.facebook.com/clawhammerpr
clawhammerpr@gmail.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Sonick Plague (2015)

From the late 80's, Sonick Plague bring the classic Thrash Metal sound. Sonick Plague have finally managed to re-recorded a consistent thrash metal album that is well produced. Overall this album is not "amazing", but is certainly great! By point of fact, just about every song on this album is worthy to be heard, the drumming on this album is rather impressive, especially in the double bass department where the drummer delivers speed and power. This album also seems to be aggressive in the lyrical department, as its "in your face" type of record. Check out the tracks "My Gun" and "I don't wanna relax".  Lyrics definitely lean towards a rebelious realm and the message is lound and clear...Fuck You! This album is actually very heavy, both in terms of songs as well as the production, and that's definately a good thing. Overall a decent Thrash metal album with some very memorable tunes.
www.facebook.com/sonickplague
www.facebook.com/clawhammerpr
clawhammerpr@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/Pavementent
Review by Paul Caravasi

Paralysis-No Turning Back (Ep-2015)

Each song on this Ep is a drive-by ass kicking, rarely lingering around long enough to repeat riffs. It is this sheer intensity that makes this band interesting. The band does a hell of a job making it work here and I’m quite content with the final product. There's always the subject of originality to ponder with these new Thrash metal bands, but I say fuck it, enthusiasm and attitude are much more vital to this stripped-down style of thrashing fury. And the band somehow manage to keep the pace frantic through all this teenage vio-gression. Subject matter? violence and more violence. No deep sentiments to ponder here, just straightforward, juvenile thrash lyrics yelled over delightfully juvenile speed anthems, nasty guitar tones reminiscent of mid to late 80’s bay area bands. In short, this is heavy, catchy, fast, and fun. It's kind of retro-minded in it's execution. Fans of this style, past or present, should very well have heard it by now.
www.facebook.com/paralysisnj13
www.facebook.com/paralysisnj
Review by Paul Caravasi

Hatchet-Fear Beyond Lunacy (2015)

The quiet melodic intro shouldn’t fool you, because what you will find here will blow you out at once! Hatchet make an outstanding display of complex raging thrash from the first song to the last. With no exception, the incredibly consistent riffs and hooks attack without compassion during the whole record. Each composition is an admirable exhibition of inspired riffs that build a strenghtful wall of sound, along with the constant velocity of the tempos. The aggression with exquisite technical arrangements. They don’t get stuck in the same riffs at all, they prefer to modify them into several alternative sequences that create skilled instrumental passages, with lenghty brilliant pickin’ parts and unpredictable rhythm changes. The result is totally professional, complex, competent. These guys definitely reached next level with supreme cuts like “Living In Extinction”, “Lethal Injustice”  and the epic “Tearing Into Hell”. The quality and power of the riffs are extraordinary, I must insist. The very convincing skilled ways to vary the riffs during the songs demonstrate that the musical basis of this material was intended to be direct to your skull. No simplicity, no primitive patterns. This stuff is the culmination of the previous release, so the merciless sonic violence and brutality of the last album can still be found here. Although, now that relentless aggression is more polished, cleaner.The stunning quality of these numbers prove their splendid abilities, virtuosism and inspiration. This record makes a difference and Hatchet should get more attention and recognition. If you like bands as Destruction and Kreator don't hesitate to get this. HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED,
www.facebook.com/hatchetofficial
www.facebook.com/theendrecords
Review by Paul Caravasi

Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus-The Child Must Die (2015)

Ok, right off the bat there is something that I can say, I like the production quality. There is no hissy noise to drown everything out. You can actually hear every instrument, yet it still has that hazy black metal atmosphere. I could somewhat compare the sound that I'm talking about with something that would be found in many albums from Norway. So that is a plus. On this one, everything is audible (with maybe the exception of the bass). That being said, everything sounds pretty great, especially instrument wise, it kinda makes me feel like I'm outside in a forest. So there's a great start here. The drums on here are outstanding, as there are tons of blast beats and rapid fast playing. The cymbals are used very effectively along with it in many parts, and overall sounds incredible. The guitar work is great too, and hey, I can actually hear it really well! It has riffs that are surprisingly melodic, maybe melodic isn't fully accurate, but more so than a lot of black metal. This album is dark and evil, don't get me wrong, but it isn't ugly or even grim in the slightest bit. The evilness that this work conjures is more of a gothic, seductive, sorrowful or beautiful type instead of traditional black metal's use of minimalism and brutality to get the evilness done. No, my dear friends, this is evilness set about due to complexity and the beauty of evil. This is utterly sophisticated black metal art. Basically, the album starts off rather fast and brutal hits its peak around the middle then gets more beautiful and complex towards the end. I don't normally like Black Metal,but Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus from United states set the standards. If you've never heard black metal before, and need a starting point, this album would do you good. Not bad at all !
www.facebook.com/nihilistinenbarbaarisuus
Review by Paul Caravasi

Yana Raymi-Guerreros Del Sol (2015)

I was curious about this band,and when I put the disc in my CD-player, the surprise: probably the best definition for Yana Raymi's well-crafted music is "Peruvian folk death/thrash. With this album, Yana Raymi is able to blend influences of Thrash and Death metal from the 90's adding elements of Peruvian folk music. The result is impressing. We have here some vigorous metal, that is heavy and extremely well played. The vocals are aggressive and melodic in some parts. There is another interesting facts about this album: The guitar sound is perfect for the kind of music this band plays, as it is solid and heavy, but still clear enough to allow the listener to feel all the details of the riffs and solos. The quality of the recording is perfect, it's important to mention. The bass and the drums are heavy, solid and creative too. But what really calls my the attention in this album are the typical instruments from Peru. I mean the flutes, Charangos  and all the others. These amazing instruments add a great atmosphere to the songs and are very well placed too. Songs like "Resistencia Andina","Donde los dioses aguardan",and the epic piece "Guerreros del sol" are 100% flawless, pure genius. Wait until strange folk-laden instruments and death metal influences softly stroke this typical sound, making it what these Peruvian shredders are all about. If you have the opportunity of buying this, do it. this band is fkn good. Definitely this album already have a special place in my collection along with "Testimonios" of the legendary Kranium. Fantastic !
www.facebook.com/yanaraymi
www.pentagramrecs.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Tsar Bomb-Exterminans IX:XI (2015)

It must say that this band from Spain is trying to perform brutal and blasting death but maintaining their identity. Sure their music is as wicked and gruff as death metal has any right to be, but it’s also (un)blessed with eerie structures, memorable anti-melodies, and an ever present, nearly tangible sense of doom and desperation. It's obvious these guys understand how to write songs well. The riffs come up with high caliber. It's something that every old school death metal enthusiast should be familiar with, and something that might carry appeal to a younger crowd that craves the rabid minimalism of brutal acts populating the scenes of 2015. This is brutal as fuck !
www.facebook.com/tsarbombofficial
cimmerianshaderecordings.com
csrecsinfo@gmail.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Cemetery Lust-Orgies of Abomination (2014)

Supreme unholy devastating thrash. The production here is very thin and high end. The drums favor the thrash style, but you will find plenty of blastbeats as well. The songs overall are a bit faster than your average thrash however. There are a couple gallop beats here and there as well, the drummer does a good job of keeping it fresh, yet staying aggressive throughout. The guitars are pure Hellish riffage. Sounding dementedly brutal an insane , and at other times a thrashy, fast-forward version of Venom but more intense - evil thrash and black riffage. The vocals are something of a throaty mid to low thrash styled yell with an occasional black metal scream over top. Songs like "Malice in the Morgue" and " Sexually transmitted death" will demand that you bang your fucking head till your neck is sore. Just great stuff. Like blackened thrash? Then get this !
www.facebook.com/CemeteryLust
hellsheadbangers.bandcamp.com/album/orgies-of-abomination
Review by Paul Caravasi

Wakas-12" Ep (2015)

Sweet thrashing riffage is seasoned with tremolized ambiance and blackened Heavy metal vocals. Goddamn, this rules. Gallops with convincing fury and melodic riff that will stick in your head like an axe. The bass is strong and high in the mix – something you'll rarely find in this style, guitars have a perfect tone. This isn't any crazy technical shit – it's just riff after riff of awesome riffery. At least that's what I think. Drums swing between groovage and speed with ease, tying together the whole package nicely. Raunchy vocal tones, traditional and deliberate guitars, and lyrics right out of a book of Peruvian tales.Hope Wakas will get the credit they deserve. You need to dig a little deeper. Do so and you might just find this cool band. You’ll be glad you did !
www.facebook.com/wakasperu
wakasperu.bandcamp.com/album/wakas
Review by Paul Caravasi

Lectern-Fratricidal Concelebration (2015)

This is a Death Metal album, start to finish, awesome vocal performance, and the riffs and atmosphere are in abundance, drumming is excellent without being over the top, and I really think Marco Valentine does a killer job. Straight up brutal ass-kicking death metal. Anyway, this is a pretty damn good album over all. Personally I think this album is one of those albums where the appreciation of the album goes down if you listen to it every single day. Once in awhile listen for intense headbanging recommended for this album.  I must warn you though, all of this album is pure hate against christianity and it's worth buying if you're into bands like Morbid Angel or Deicide.
www.lectern.in
www.facebook.com/lectern666
Review by Paul Caravasi

Never To Arise-Gore Whores On The Killing Floor (2015)

There is a point where shock value becomes redundant and bands need to be judged on their musical merits. In keeping with this, it is important to note that Death Metal tends to be blacklisted as being “a threat to the children”, and have been decried by culture warriors the world over for more than 3 decades. Some might argue that those crazy Norsemen who took to church burning are the real outcasts, but this style of music tends to have much more name recognition amongst prohibitionist enthusiasts, though I’m sure Mayhem and Burzum might enjoy similar infamy should they become better known to these sorts. But for someone like me who just simply likes good metal, it is little more than poetic aesthetics, and ones that don’t really demand a look at the lyric sheet despite the words not always being clearly enunciated from death metal vocalists throat. Anyway, Let's talk about this band and their album. Each riff, each combination of deep and slightly higher pitched barks, every blast and breakdown comes in exactly where it’s expected, leaving very few wow moments. Within this somewhat overly limited collection of brutal possibilities lays a few really good songs that lend themselves more to individual obsession,  There’s a few intercessions into slower, sludgy sounding riff work before the high tempo pandemonium ensues, also has a couple of nice punchy yet dissonant grooves to change things up amidst a mess of shorter songs that fly at brutal speed. At the end of the day This is death metal by the numbers, putting the pedal to the metal, and frontloading the vehicle with the usual assortment of dissonant and chromatic goodness. Guitar solo enthusiasts will find a better version of what Cannibal Corpse attempts on every single album, something that actually might be close to as memorable as the brilliance normally heard out of Trey Azagthoth circa “Blessed Are The Sick” or even Santolla’s own work on “Individual Thought Patterns”. Nevertheless, a good pickup for fans of old guard death metal before the pig squeals and ham slamming shit. Basically, this album is packed full of memorable songs that are simplistic and to the point. It may not be the most technical, brutal or slamming death metal ever but this is a great achievement in brutality.
www.facebook.com/Never-To-Arise-117489404980631
facebook.com/CimmerianShadeRecordings
csrecsinfo@gmail.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Spirits Way-Brainless Puppets Are Enslaved (2012)

I Can described Spirits Way from Poland as a monumental proclamation of hatred through music. Done with a burning passion, simple as that. You could argue that other have done the same, and you would more or less be right. But that does not mean there is nothing to be found here. In fact, Spirits Way pretty much gave everything they had here, and the result is nothing less than a colossal and behemoth of a death metal album. So let us dig in a little deeper, what is going on here? The guitars are dense and slow moving like thunder shaking the sky apart, but as for being technical, the guitars instead focus more or less solely at creating a thick barrier of shifting riffs and build up momentum, that usually leads to a neat lead. The bass guitar however, is very much tangled into the guitars, being somewhat difficult to entirely discern between the two. But if paying attention, it is heard, and while not doing anything noteworthy, it does add another layer of density to the music. As for the drums, they play out in a fashion typical for bands like Immolation, mostly following the guitars, but that is not bad, so to say. The proficiency of the overall drumming is very much vital to creating the heavy atmosphere of the music. As for the vocals, they are deep and commanding, yet easy to decipher. They do lack a little in terms of variety, but can still be enjoyable, though a little weak. And then comes the mixing and production, which is all in all pretty good. The issues found are the entanglement between the bass guitar and the guitars, but it ultimately is a rather miniscule issue. As for the music itself, the instrumentation is well executed, with all of the songs feeling very well composed, all directed in a great way, being very easily an album to be heard again and again. Every song flows into the next one brilliantly and each captures the band members in their elements, with some intense riffing, fast drum work, monstrous vocals and bass lines, all of which is captured by a crisp production job. I recommend this to absolutely everyone who enjoys an immensely varied display of death metal done properly.
www.facebook.com/SpiritsWay
Review by Paul Caravasi

Necrocosm-Damnation Doctrine (2015)

Necrocosm is a mix between death and thrash metal, most of the riffs and leads are played more in a thrash manner while the drumming, vocals, and solos are more firmly in the death metal style. In essence you could call "Damnation Doctrine" an extreme thrash album, with a technical edge. First off the songs themselves are mainly played at very high tempos and the solos are almost entirely played in the Morbid Angel, Slayer style which is fast guitar picked distorted soloing that lasts for a short time. Slayer seems to be a big influence on this band style which uses a lot of Slayer’s techniques. Fortunately most of the songs are very entertaining and filler is almost non existent. Even when Necrocosm slows it down to more mid tempo parts the songs are still very entertaining. The band’s playing is very tight which shows they are highly capable musicians who exhibit incredible skill since most of their songs are played at very high tempos. The vocals are quite unique in death metal because they are bellowed in way that is easily decipherable to the listener. The guitar work and riffs are insane and to the point. The drumming is nearly flawless and is very double kick bass driven with some absolutely pummeling rhythms considering its 2015 and every drummer nowadays are fkn beasts. The bass does a killer job as well.  Necrocosm brings a brutal chaos with this album and belongs in any thrash or death metal collector’s collection. The best songs are "Disavow", "Necrocosm" and " Forcefed Progeny" ( insane vocals on this one). I recommend this album to any extreme metal fan who likes technically challenging death/thrash albums. Insane !
www.facebook.com/Necrocosm
necrocosm666.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/clawhammerpr
clawhammerpr@gmail.com
Review by Paul Caravasi

Runa-Bullets Of Annihilation (Ep-2015)

Runa completely fufilled my expectations. Very aggressive give this ep a kick ass old school sound, but still original at its core. I am also glad to hear better production and more varied drum work on this release, not that there was anything wrong with these things on the previous tracks i heard on you tube, but it gives it a much better sound. Featuring Diego Porturas (Zavotage/Kraken) on drums and Giovanni Lama (Epilepsia) on Lead guitars and bass for the recording of this Ep. First I will say that this band is absolutely amazing in both songwriting and overall riffs. While I actually enjoyed Runa at Lima Metal fest, I must say that these tracks rule. As mentioned before, the production on this ep is also a big step up from the previous songs on you tube. It has much more bass added and creates some great stuff for this one. The guitar sounds killer, the drummer rips, and Alex's vocals sound more full of hate. This is definitely a new sound while still retaining most of what made Peruvian metal what it is.If you enjoy savage, raw blackened Thrash metal, I have no doubt that you will enjoy this. You might sense that I'm getting a bit excited about this recording, but its an Ep worth getting excited about. If you see this band on stage you will understand what i'm talking about. While I can't necessarily say that it is my favorite release of 2015, I can definitely say that it is at least as good as anything the peruvian metal scene has done before. Cheers to that Runa !!
www.facebook.com/runa.deaththrash
Review by Paul Caravasi