Saturday, April 30, 2016

Necrot "The Labyrinth"


    The unforgiving and brutal musicianship that comes from SF Bay Area Old School Death metal maniacs, Necrot, is unmistakable. Their mammoth sized riffs of distorted terror conjure dark noises capable of tearing apart listener’s ears and devouring their souls. Finally, after only releasing demos the band has put together an eight tack release titled, “The Labyrinth.” Thanks to Tankcrimes Records and Sentient Ruin, fans can finally get themselves a physical copy of the release.  

    The tracks featured on this album are actually the old demos remastered, which  gives the pieces a new breath of extreme and unholy life. Necrot is one of the most respected bands in the SF Bay Area extreme music underground, and even though they formed in 2011, they have influenced a fair amount of current acts. This trio captures the energy and passion of old school death metal, while grinding away at some of the most brutal sounding cuts of music. Singer and bassist Luca Indrio commands the attention of listeners with a vicious sounding vocal delivery. Adding to the band’s behemoth world demolishing sound, guitarist Sonny Reinhardt shows off his versatile guitar abilities, while maintaining a wicked sounding riff attack. Drummer Chad Galey is the guy in the back who feverishly pounds away at his kit. When he strikes that bass drum, the sound echoes like the sounds of a malicious thunderstorm. 

    Honestly, these guys have such a massive sound that you find yourself asking, is this really a trio, or is their some hidden member from a world beyond adding to the band’s sound? The opening track, “Consume Control,” begins with such a thick sounding guitar riff that is complimented by Chad’s rapid attack drumming from behind the kit. Necrot even adds a bit of sludge and hard punk into their sound which some listener’s might catch. It definitely shows how the band is able to offer more than just repetitive old school death metal worship. “Contagious Pain,” “Into the Labyrinth” and “The End,” are ferocious sounding tracks with perpetual sounding brutality inflicted upon listeners. 

    The final four tracks on this release remain very true to Necrot’s extreme music making identity. “Cycles of Pain,” happens to be one of my favorites and I really like the old school sounding guitar riffs Sonny hammers out. Songs like “Scattered” and “Rebirth in Chaos,” capture the spirit of old school Swedish death metal, which might appeal to fans of Entombed, Grave and other groups in that vein. The final piece to the album, “The Abyss,” is Necrot’s last intense sounding offensive. All three musicians contribute such an equal amount of talent and energy that you can really tell these guys are a solid band. 

    I think Necrot’s, “The Labyrinth,” has been well worth the wait for those fans wanting to get a full-length release from the band. Also, the recording of each song truly reflected their extreme songwriting skills, so whoever recorded this release deserves some major credit and respect. Necrot may not be the most progressive and technical old school style death metal band around, but their straightforward approach is undeniably top notch. If you are looking for a blazing no nonsense sounding release of old school death metal, you need to get this album! 



Necrot Facebook Page:

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Game Over "Crimes Against Reality"




    The fierce ambitious drive of Italian thrashers, Game Over, is back for another full-length release full of killer riffs and stage diving songs. “Crimes Against Reality,” marks the band’s third full-length release and is the follow up to their crushing sophomore release, “Burst Into the Quiet.” 

    Upon receiving this album for review, I was quite aware of Game Over and I knew what these dudes were capable of delivering. I reviewed, “Burst Into the Quiet,” which I thought captured the true spirit old school thrash, while offering listeners an exciting and enjoyable sounding release. Of course, they are not reinventing the wheel, but the quality of music and talent level is still very impressive. For their new album, “Crimes Against Reality,” I can honestly hear where the band has become even stronger, for example their songwriting. On their previous releases, they seemed to offer a very straightforward headbanging rapid riff assault in the vein of bands such as Municipal Waste and Nuclear Assault. The new material in my opinion is written in a very thoughtful manner that compliments the band’s creative social issue and horror movie inspired lyrics. 

    Opening the album is the epic guitar driven and massive sounding drum build up instrumental piece called, “What Lies Within...”. Shortly after a slight fade out, the next song, “33 Park Street,” kicks off with a unforgiving explosion of palm muted guitar riffs. The lead guitar playing bleeds with technical passion and instantly draws my attention. I am thinking to myself, damn these dudes are raising the bar right off the bat! The following song, “Neon Maniacs,” has a very thrash based sound, but also gives off this punk vibe that I think really constructs a solid song. There is no need to constantly push unnecessary technicality on listeners, because if the rhythm is catchy the lyrics sound badass that is all that matters in the end. Again, the leads are incorporated when necessary and the recording of all the instruments allows listeners to follow along and not get lost in a blizzard of random notes. 

    Track number four, “With All That is Left,” is another impressive piece and the use of different tempos stands out the most. There is this mellow acoustic part that grows until it reaches a powerful climax of raw emotion that comes from the singers strong vocal tone. It reminded me of the band Xentrix, because there is diversity in the compositions to where the thrash riffs do not dominate the song and it allows for more thoughtful songwriting. The next thrash’n song, “Astral Matter,” begins with an astral sounding bass riff and the song’s overall atmosphere is rather science fiction like, which I of course find to be completely awesome. Game Over even offers a fun classical thrash fusion piece called, “Fugue in D Minor.” They lay down some very impressive guitar playing as the drums attack with insane double base force. Until the very end, this album offers solid song after solid song. 


    Overall, I think Game Over put together a great sounding third release that shows their hard work and determination. Three full-length albums since 2012 is pretty darn good. Also, they are improving with each release, so I am already expecting the fourth album to be another headbanging smashing release. From the songwriting, to the musicianship, to the old school thrash looking album cover... (Yes, I sometimes factor album covers in reviews, so sue me)...Game Over is an up and coming band waving the flag for global thrash fanatics. Seriously, give them a listen and get this album! \m/ 

Check out this video for "Neon Maniacs": 


Game Over Facebook Page: