Do you want total war? / Unleash the beast in man once more?

Total War - 8 Track Demo
2011

On this brand new demo Vancouver's Total War unleash eight tracks in just over nine minutes and it's all about raging hardcore punk. I hear similarities to such notables as World Burns To Death and Tragedy, as well as an apparent love for Japanese and Scandinavian metallic dis-core. It's unceasingly aggressive and anthemic yet somehow vaguely melodic. The pace is intense and seldom drops below whiplash speed but it never gets anywhere near boring; the songs simply aren't long enough to become dull. Each and every one of them is like a punch in the face, with lots of ripping metallic riffs and lots of bouncy d-beats. Nothing fancy just shit that gets the job done. Me likes.



Obsessor - Obsession EP
2011, Tankcrimes

Here we have two fairly short tracks of perfectly executed old school deathrash with a huge dose of crusty punkiness thrown into the mix. This is raging hardcore as much as it is metal and I keep thinking of British 80's metalpunk act Warfare when I hear this. This is a killer ep with a really cool retro-style of metal that's much in the same vein as that of Toxic Holocaust, only rougher and less frilly (and considering the almost complete lack of frills in Toxic Holocaust's music you know this is some rapid fire no-nonsense shit). The pace is frantic but never really blistering fast, just thunderous midtempo blasts with a huge Motörhead, G.I.S.M and Venom influence, with gruff shouted, rather than screamed, vocals. The production is kind of raw and rugged but it works pretty well even though it feels a bit too brittle at times. I'm pretty pissed off that there are only two measly songs on this thing. More! Now!



Suffering Quota - Suffering Quota Demo
2011

This demo blew me clear the fuck away on the first initial listen and that's not something that happens very often. These five short tracks are some of the very best I've heard in the genre for quite some time. It's a rare thing to have a blend such as this where really memorable grindcore bleed so easily into both hardcore and thrash as well as death metal and to have it played so astonishingly well is nigh on unheard of. The songs are all short but they are constantly moving forward, continually throwing in little twists and turns into the mix. I really dig the vocals as well, because they aren't the usual fare of high pitched shrieks and cookie monster growls. They rather remind me of Scott Hulls vocals for Pig Destroyer. In fact alot of the music on this way too fucking short demo remind me of Pig Destroyer. Perhaps that is why Suffering Quota's music clicked so strongly with me. I'm truly looking forward to hearing more from these guys.


All three above releases are available for free downloads. Just check the links and you'll find them.

I will ride the wings of darkness/fuck your blessed trinity

Toxic Holocaust - Conjure & Command
2011, Relapse Records

There is no doubt in my mind that Conjure & Command not only is the crowning achievement of the career of these yanks so far, but also one of the absolute top five metal record to be released this year. It's an album I've been awaiting eagerly for quite some time now. I'd previously heard the leaked track, Nowhere To Run, and was instantly blown away by the simplicity and stripped down-ness of it and I was fucking itching to listen to the rest of it. And now, finally, it's here. And, man, does it deliver. Conjure & Command seethes with truly wicked old school deathrash, bringing to mind such seminal eighties greats as Kreator, Destruction, Venom, Warfare, Sodom and Slayer.

This is what metal used to sound like in the 1980's before it morphed and split into death metal, speed metal and thrash metal. This was before anyone really gave a shit what they called their music, beyond the vague, but perfectly fine, descriptor 'metal'. This is music defined by, but not at all limited to, eighties deathrash metal, so there is never that odd sense of irony and out of place humour that often cripples bands like these. There is never the sense that the band is desperately trying to relive or re-capture some golden era of heavy metal, which is a venture that almost always fails. There is enough speed on C&C to remind one of Toxic Holocaust's earlier releases, for example in raging opener Judgement Awaits You, but also a greater mix of styles and tempos than before. The already stripped down style of their past body of work is now being eaten down to the bone, leaving only the necessary bare minimum, resulting in top notch song writing. The band delivers ten tracks of crushingly intense punk infused metal that very often reminds me of Venom, though several orders of magnitude better. And speaking of Venom; there is an apparent stylistic vocal turn towards a very Cronos-y style of deep growling coming from frontman Joel Grind, which is awesome. Not much else to say except, this is one of the very few metal albums that actually delivers everything the hype has promised.