PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS - "CHOOSING MENTAL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE" (2018)

PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS - "CHOOSING MENTAL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE"
(Running time: 46:28 minutes; 10 songs)
("Season of Mist" & "Housecore Records"; 2018; CD):

Hey guys, yes, again after too many days I am finally back @ work again up here. Guys, in all honesty, I am damn sorry but currently I just simply don't get it done to find or make the time to do finally some more new stuff up here again with still all the time far too much hectic and stress in the 'real life departments' right now and also the two already last month announced bigger posts are still overdue, I know, but trust me when I say that I'm still 'at it' and I hope to bring them finally up as soon as possible and for right now untill then and so far I will be happy enough when I finally bring this new post up and online still today respectively tonight, yes, and so here we finally go again: Today respectively tonight you will get my record-review on the new full-length-album of/by PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS titled "CHOOSING MENTAL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE", released (if I now remember it correct) pretty much exactly two months ago sort of in/at the middle of February 2018 via "SEASON OF MIST" and "HOUSECORE RECORDS" and being wrapped-up in an incredible gorgeous digi-artwork. I was and still am a big, a huge fan of the debut "WALK THROUGH EXITS ONLY" of/by PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS (released back then five years ago in 2013) and so I was really curious to get my hands on the then finally released successor release and then... and then I was pretty much confused, at least a bit, because while all the Sludge Core influences and the pissed off extreme Hardcore notes where already on the debut very prominent all this harsh and devastating, bloody reigning and rotten Death Metal paired with some ice cold slaying Black Metal marks are pretty much completly (more or less) new here on "CHOOSING MENATL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE", yes, and so (again like in the case of the above mentioned debut back then) I needed some time and it took me some listens to really get 'this all here' and before I really started to discover this pretty blocky and demanding, harsh and challenging but or and above all incredibe brutal, extreme, nicely clichèe-free, and rousing album in all its sick and twisted, sinister shining glory. PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS created with "CHOOSING MENATL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE" a really sick'n'twisted, distorted'n'distorting and evil droning as well as crusty shredding bastard out of nihilistic'n'apocalyptic Sludge Core, absolutely demolishing and extreme and metallic as well as by crusty'n'noisy Punk fueled Hardcore, 'devastatingly distorted and distorting' Death Metal, and some few hatefilled and ice cold slaying really bitter and harsh Black Metal, all done very, very extreme as well as truly damn independently/self-conatined and maybe best loosely to be located somewhere between EYE HATE GOD on the one side, ARSON ANTHEM and some RINGWORM on the other side, all wrapped up by schizophrenic GORGUTS styled Death Metal (not on that over absolutely every top let us say 'proggy' level but in that insane and harshly extreme tradition), all cultivated by some few icy (early) DARK THRONE marks and all made round by some SUPERJOINT RITUAL impressions, yes, somewhere in between all this devastating noise you will find PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS cooking their very own sort'n'taste of crusty and thick dark soup. The songs carry a lot of emotional weight and are 'highliest' intense and interwoven through'n'through by a very sinister and psychotic atmosphere that really breathes life into the harsh delivered, blocky arranged and demanding composed, challenging songs that offer a lot of strong ideas, fresh surprises, and really demanding twists'n'turns all along the way. Driven forward by the brutal and charismatic lead vocals (brutal grunts and harsh shouts go hand in hand and some sick screms round it all up) and the multi-facetted but all the time incredible heavy and aggressive slaying'n'shredding guitars and all is then backed up beefy and bulky by the full power bass work and the massively smashing and stunning drumming. Strong and outspoken lyrics, an already mentioned fantastic artwork, and a heavy and dirty production-sound then round it all finally up. Sadly some songs just loose a bit of their focus and get lost on their way somewhere in their own noisy droning and über-aggressive 'destructiveness' and you really should prepare yourself to invest your time and yourself quite a bit into this highly extreme and insane, sick and psychotic harsh and also really damn strong album, yes, but then you definitely find yourself a really convincing brutal and extreme manifest of 'self-catharsis' and in all honesty I can only recommend this highly authentic and by all means just damn massive one here to you, period. So, yes, go out and get if you should still don't call it your own. And, yes, it's really, really good that Philip H. Anselmo is finally back again.

(9 of 10 points)

http://philanselmo.com/theillegals/ (-the link to the homepage of the band)

PHILIP H. ANSELMO - "THE IGNORANT POINT" (2018, "CHOOSING MENATL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE")

SADISTIK EXEKUTION - "30 YEARS OF AGONIZING THE DEAD" (2015)

SADISTIK EXEKUTION - "30 YEARS OF AGONIZING THE DEAD"
(Running time: 32:51 minutes; 9 songs)
("Nuclear War Now Productions"; 2015; CD):

Hey guys, I hope your easter(n)-days were so far as great as mine and after currently I have a little bit of time that I can spend with doing some new stuff up here, yes, and so I now do. Continuing sort of an old tradition up here you now get a record-review on an already a bit older release on which I got my hands more or less recently and this time things are about to become damn extreme up here with now all being about the 2015 compilation-rerelease CD release "30 YEARS OF AGONIZING THE DEAD" of/by none other than the legendary SADISTIK EXEKUTION, the glorious Extreme Metal sickos from the continent and country down under known as Australia. SADISTIK EXEKUTION called it in or around 2004 a day (sadly enough) but if this wouldn't have been the case then they would have been around for 30 years back then in 2015 and this was taken (thankfully and rightfully) as a proper chance to show them some honour and pay them some tribute still eleven years and so over an decade after going seperate ways by the canadian roughnecks of "NUCLEAR WAR NOW PRODUCTIONS" who rereleased in 2015 the first two SADISTIK EXEKUTION demos "SUSPIRAL" from 1991 and the infamous "AGONIZING THE DEAD" from 1992 all together and compiled it on this CD together with the "DEMON WITH WINGS" EP from 1996 and the (at least to me) pretty 'obscure' "SADISTIK ELEKTROLUTION" EP from 1997 and titled it all (pretty good fitting) "30 YEARS OF AGONIZING THE DEAD", hell yeahr, and after I finally bought it sort of more or less directly one month ago at the TANKARD gig here in Goslar at the very early beginning of March 2018 here we now are with me doing a little review on it for you and also showing this way my tribute as well as my love for SADISTIK EXEKUTION and their chaotic and extreme Metal the australian way, yes, and so now here we go: SADISTIK EXEKUTION served us one hell of a raw and rough, harsh shredding, angry sawing, and heavy slashing, pretty sick and sort of chaotic mixture out of noisy and roudy Death Metal with some good doses of old school very early really pissed-off and evil-nihilistic and incredible raw Black Metal and all melted together with brutal force and (again) damn raw and by all means fucking rough'n'tough Death Grind and sick'n'morbid Grindcore with some thrashing notes to it all (especially in the guitar department and especially on the latter tracks) and all served with a sort of a 'punky' direct approach, damn it, and I really think that terms or categories like 'just' Extreme Metal or maybe even 'simple' Chaos Metal really match(ed) SADISTIK EXEKUTION pretty well. But don't make the mistale and think that this would (have) be(en) just unstructured noise, hell no, because SADISTIK EXEKUTION knew very well how to write proper and real songs with a lot of grapping moments and in all the brute force and raw extremity of the musick we find all the time elements and moments that can be described by no terms better than 'simply' catchy hooks and the hellish raging inferno that SADISTIK EXEKUTION used and knew to unleash on us with overwhelming force and deadly precision showcased right from the beginning a very strong own identity and unique character and this you can perfectly experience here with this rerelease compilation titled "30 YEARS OF AGONIZING THE DEAD", hell yeahr, and still sort of torturing their instruments in a damn proper way SADISTIK EXEKUTION also knew how to execute. And also let me mention that the levels of energy and intensity are incredible high and that this early material of/by SADISTIK EXEKUTION still today doesn't need to shy away from anything/anyone and this (to point it out one more time) even not today, yes, and I would really and deseperately wish that we sort of would have at least one band like this again around today in this our far too often far too stereotypical and by all means by far too often over-digitalized and so (sort of) definitely 'über-sterelized' day and age. SADISTIK EXEKUTION had back in the day the reputation of being one of the extremest and sickest and personally I would add one of the most unique bands in Extreme Metal and this 'twisted' spirit of them this rerelease compilation catches perfectly, especially also because the sound quality isn't anyhow noticeable overworked and so expect a fucking raw crushing and from featured release to featured release pretty varying production or recording sound and this CD benefits massively from this, yes, and I also love how you can experience quite a strong development from the two early demos to the later releases (even "SADISTIK ELEKTROLUTION" and I somehow never were the biggest of friends and so also still not that much today, why the damn fucking bloody hell ever). Anyone into thrashing and blackened, chaotic and damn extreme, also sort of pretty sick and raw and rough grinding Death Metal massively driven and mercylessly pushed... hammered forward(s) by no prisoners taking harsh sawing and stunningly heavy shredding guitars, whipping bestial screamed, shouted, and throaty grunted sick vocals, roaring bass lines, and skullfucking drumming really should need to know (and then will damn fucking love) SADISTIK EXEKUTION and this devastating rerelease compilation CD that comes also with a gorgeous and authentic artwork and with an as a bonus added cool interview and a lot of old photos and flyers and orginal artwork(s) (no lyrics printed but you somehow still understand them pretty good and I think that you already anyway have a pretty good imagination of what SADISTIK EXEKUTION served to us on the 'lyrical front') could serve you as a perfect starting point if you want to discover SADISTIK EXEKUTION to/for you and to anyone who's already into SADISTIK EXEKUTION but doesn't own (like me, myself, and I) all the original releases (that are compiled on this rerelease) I can also only recommend SADISTIK EXEKUTION's "30 YEARS OF AGONIZING THE DEAD" and so I do here and now, hell yeahr, and so, yes, better just get it as soon as possible and then: "PLAY IT AT VOLUME OF ONE THOUSAND ARMAGEDDONS OR DIE!!!"

(8,5 of 10 points)

https://www.facebook.com/Sadistik-Exekution-230857420260167 (-don't ask me if this facebook site is an official one or not but at least there's this one)

SADISTIK EXEKUTION - "DEMON WITH WINGS" (1996, "DEMON WITH WINGS" EP /// 2015, "30 YEARS OF AGONIZING THE DEAD" CD)

ASENBLUT - "LEGENDEN" (2018)

ASENBLUT - "LEGENDEN"
(Running time: 22:32 minutes; 5 songs)
("AFM Records"; 2018; CD):

Hey guys, yes, I'm back on track again. So for now you will get this post and this very one will be or better is my record review on the current ASENBLUT Mini-CD "LEGENDEN" that was released pretty to very recently via the pretty big and active "AFM RECORDS" label, yes, and then tomorrow you will get the 'obligatoiary' "CLASSICK OF THE MONTH" post and then that will be pretty much all for this month... the two bigger posts that I've announced and promised you earlier this month for coming up still this very month I will serve you pretty soon and early at the beginning of April 2018 because... I was just too damn lazy to get it still right now done and I was especially far too lazy during my current (easter) holidays/vacations... I know, shame on me... to get the finishing touches done on 'them'... sorry folks... and, okay, after you now know 'what's up currently?' up here let's kick this 'thing' here really off and so now let's go: ASENBLUT are a Viking themed Death Metal band from Germany (I think, more precisely, from the City of Göttingen, pretty much near-by where I live) and they are already around for a bit over a decade or so I think and for all what I've read they seem to be a bit 'controversially discussed'... to be honest, yes, I don't see any reasons why. First of to this pseudo- and wannabe-political bullcrap farce that ASENBLUT would be a right winging Nazi band I won't even say anything but just: Hell no, they are definitely not, period. Just get a real life you AFA nutjobs and your most worst problems (especially those that you have with yourself) will  surely and simply vanish. And second or 'secondly'... music-wise... oh mighty Buddha, stop talking them down just because you don't like their german lyrics or because you are full of complexes and so you don't like that their frontman and singer is outspoken about being an active Strongman and an inactive Bodybuilder or because you just have to talk them down because they are 'just a band from near-by' because anyone and everyone who likes AMON AMARTH will also like ASENBLUT simply because at least today with what they show us here on and with "LEGENDEN" they are already next to the guys from Sweden, point and fact. I used that phrase 'at least today' because their earlier relases I don't know properly so far, but this very one here, ASENBLUT's "LEGENDEN", I know very, very well and it features four own old songs of them that are for what I know more or less completly re-done on their current level of skill(s), and this four songs namely are "DIE LEGENDE", "HELDENBÜRDE", "ASENBLUT", and "VON DES VERRÄTERS UNTERGANG", and then they also add a pretty nice and cool cover of MANOWAR's "GOD OR MAN" to it (no match compared to/with the original but still a very decent one). Heavy forward(s) pushing bulldozing Death Metal with a clear and strong Viking (or Pagan) vibe and spirit to it and with a focus on rousing mid-pace slashers with some few faster up-paced outbreaks and with very massive and the songs strongly marking melody lines to it all. Very compact and focussed songwriting that creates a pretty huge intensity and shines with a tight atmosphere. Crushing guitars, harsh grunts and screams (but still also pretty easy to understand), and a thundering rhythm section to back it all up. Imagine a good and strong mixture out of AMON AMARTH, with some UNLEASHED and some BOLT THROWER (especially if we talk about the general approach and the pace work of the songs), add some skullsmashing Thrash Metal to it with some few blackened notes to it all and you're pretty much right there. I would just wish that ASENBLUT would maybe work some more variations into their song arrangements to fresh it all up and maybe work out your own identity at least a bit more but maybe that's also just me (and after I like my Death Metal more of the brutal and U.S. american kind I am also maybe surely just not in the main target group of ASENBLUT as well, just that you know that) and other than that I really like what ASENBLUT serve us here with their "LEGENDEN" Mini-CD and I can calmly recommend this little shining disc to you. Some 'genre-typical' lyrics, a also 'genre-typical' and pretty good artwork, and a fat bombing production sound we get on top of it all. So, yes, even I am surely not in the main target group of a band like ASENBLUT they definitely convinced me with their "LEGENDEN" and made me pretty curious for a new longplayer of them hitting the scenery in the future and if you are into the above described and named styles of music and bands you now get right here and right now my honest and clear recommendation(s).

(7,5 of 10 points)

http://www.asenblut.de/ (-the link to the homepage of the band)

ASENBLUT - "ASENBLUT" (2018, "LEGENDEN")

HOUR OF PENANCE - "CAST THE FIRST STONE" (2017)

HOUR OF PENANCE - "CAST THE FIRST STONE"
(Running time: 34:05 minutes; 9 songs)
("Prosthetic Records"; 2017; CD):

Oh man, only why... I mean why the hell bloody hell did I never heard of HOUR OF PENANCE before... why?!? I think for all what I've read "CAST THE FIRST STONE", released via the mighty "PROSTHETIC RECORDS" label, is already the 7th full legth album of/by this truly outstanding Death Metal four piece thundering out of the dephts of Italy over here in good old mother Europe... and it is one larger than life manifest of damn-very strongest Death Metal, period. If my informations respectively if what I've read online is correct then the band FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE (years ago back then in 2011 I did a review up here on their then current full-length-album "AGONY" and you can still find and read it up here, of course) consists of earlier members of HOUR OF PENANCE; just in case that namedropping of this kind 'does something' for you. So, yes, here we get everything and anything demolishing sheer full-force and pure'n'brutal Death Metal with huge doses of highly rich'n'varying and highest skilled technical skills and this all delivered on a level of the highest quality grade. This is crushing and devastating and 'mercylessly' no prisoners taking harsh, ultra-heavy, and truly extreme Death Metal of the most brutal style sort of somewhere drifting between a hard as nails modern approach with still breathing a really fresh 'true and old schoolish' spirit, yes, so that fans of acts like for example MORBID ANGEL, DEICIDE, VITAL REMAINS and KRISIUN will definitely also love HOUR OF PENANCE's "CAST THE FIRST STONE" as well as fans of Modern Death Metal like for example the above mentioned FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, yes, and also fans of Brutal Death Metal like BROKEN HOPE so as fans of really forceful Deathcore like for example WHITECHAPEL, ALL SHALL PERISH, and ABHORRENT DECIMATION will surely if not definitely also love this glorious harsh slasher. This is purest 'savagery' set to musick. This is by any means through and through real Death Metal; and Death Metal that despise its sheer brutality, violence, aggression, and force offers all the time an incredible amount of playful and soulful surprises and twists'n'turns all along the ride so that HOUR OF PENANCE's "CAST THE FIRST STONE" turns out to be one hell of an exciting and grapping journey with a truly larger than life intensity and a very tight, dense, and battle-scarred atmosphere that's interwoven into the whole album from start to finish and it all shines bright in a through'n'through militant and gladiatorial spirit. HOUR OF PENANCE's "CAST THE FIRST STONE" is definitely and massively strongest and 'highliest' marked by the absolutely outstanding and brilliant songwriting that really gives the whole album that special unique flavour to it all and it is also damn high skilled and despise the fact that the pace of 'nearly' all the songs and so mostly of the whole album is in general a damn fast one, with in its whole majority mainly focussing on harsh'n'fast raging up tempo killer tunes as well as sheer blast speeding savagery with slightly 'more silent moments' that hide on very, very well-chosen strategic positions here and there in the center of this surely and truly atomizing grim and harsh slashing storm, the album is filled to the exploding max with great exciting arrangements, fresh compositorial ideas, grapping song architectures, and highly energetic and rousing, overwhelming and demolishing riffs and rhythm structures, oh hell yeahr, so that you really need to take some intense listening sessions to get HOUR OF PENANCE's "CAST THE FIRST STONE" in its whole harsh, grim, and yet incredible beautiful glory and that you discover all of the greatness that it offers and holds in store for all of us, yes, a glorious one it is and a demanding one and this not (only) so much because it is a very, very extreme one but also because it is a challenging and multi-layered, a pretty complex one, yes, and so make sure you really give it some time to grow (on you) and so make sure that you not only enjoy its devastating extremity but also its overwhelming complexity that holds so much for all of us in store, oh yes. It's all drastically (and this for all the right, good and justified reasons) marked by the intense, incredible harsh'n'heavy, and also highest skilled and diverse'n'multilayered, sheer fantastic and outstanding guitar work with ist special own tone and that offers so much excitment and class that it will nothing but take you by storm and it will decapitate your head and then chop you in half, hell yeahr, because above all it is first'n'foremost pure and sheer savage intensity. Amazing!!! The harsh grunted'n'shouted very powerful vocals deliver the very thoughtful and thoughtprovoking and outspoken and by all means just incredible damn great lyrics with huge doses of passion and overwhelming force and I would just wish that the vocal delivery or the arrangement of the vocal lines would only here and there vary a bit more (but I honestly think it is more a 'thing' of the delivery, and not of the arrangements), then it would be perfect. The grim raging bass work and the sheer thunder'n'lightning drumming then add sheer tons of massive muscles and beefy'n'bulky meat to the loadable backbone of HOUR OF PENANCE's "CAST THE FIRST STONE", oh bloody hell yeahr, and with doing so they make it all just even more devastating and convincing. Again: Amazing; absolutely!!! To name you my personal favorites is a damn hard thing to do, yes, because this whole album is a damn masterpiece and platinum Death Metal and so you won't find only one only slightly anyhow weak(er) song on "CAST THE FIRST STONE" of/by HOUR OF PENANCE, but I think personally for me "XXI CENTURY IMPERIAL CRUSADE", "CAST THE FIRST STONE", "IRON FIST", "THE CHAINS OF MISDEED", "HORN OF FLIES", and "WALL OF COHORTS" probably stick out the (very) most. Fantastic lyrics, an absolutely awesome and top notch artwork, and a heavily bombig production sound then finally round it all up, yes, and this in all the right way and manner. So, okay, I think I've said it all what I've had to say so far right here, right now at this point, yes, and so I think I can calmly close this review with letting my final sayings here and now be my clearest recommendation for you to get this larger than life masterpiece that is the almighty "CAST THE FIRST STONE" of/by HOUR OF PENANCE and best get it instantly, yes, this is a damn amazing album, point and fact.
(9,5 of 10 points)
http://www.hourofpenance.net/ (-the link to the homepage of the band)

HOUR OF PENANCE - "XXI CENTURY IMPERIAL CRUSADE" (2017, "CAST THE FIRST STONE")

WOLFBRIGADE - "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" (2017)

WOLFBRIGADE - "RUN WITH THE HUNTED"
(Running time: 26:51 minutes; 10 songs)
("Southern Lord Recordings"; 2017; CD):

Hey guys, yes, I am back at the regular work up here and so here already now incoming is the first 'really new' post after the (sort of...) 'mandatory' retrospection post on 2017, yes, and so now here you get my record-review on the larger-than-life 2017 masterpiece of/by the absolutely almighty WOLFBRIGADE from Sverige titled "RUN WITH THE HIUNTED", the successor album to/of their 2012 immortal masterpiece "DAMNED" (also released back then via "SOUTHERN LOTRD RECORDINGS"), and it was released at the 28th of april of 2017 and this of course (again) by/through/via "SOUTHERN LORD RECORDINGS". WOLFBRIGADE's "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" features ten new songs in roughly half-an-hour of a total running time, yes, and this would be sort of the only 'critical-point' of it because that's simply not much of a running time anyhow anyway... but WOLFBRIGADE really manage to make up for this with two huge points: (1.) "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" is so massively and 'overwhelmingly' intense that it definitely 'devastatingly' destroys absolutely everything and atomizes de facto everyone in its way in this shortly twenty-seven minutes so that it leaves no questions unanswered and no wishes unfullfilled; (2.) WOLFBRIGADE are simply that incredible damn good, nah, they are that larger-than-life great that this roughly twenty-seven minutes are packed up full with a so high skilled songwriting that beneath the overwhelming intensity and also all the high'n'tight atmosphere, beneath the brutal and yet all the time melodic and diverse massacre an incredible amount of multi-variations and diversity is waiting, enriching and cultivating it all massively and just waiting there to be discovered by all of you outta there. WOLFBRIGADE were founded back then in 1995 as WOLFPACK and they conquered me sort of instantly back then with their massively impressive debut full-length-album "A NEW DAWN FADES" and from then on and on and on and on, all the time, always. In 1999 then they changed from WOLFPACK to WOLFBRIGADE and... continued to conquer me supremely and this also all the time. Their 2012 masterpiece "DAMNED" was (in my book) back then their so far crowning chapter of their impressive career and discography... and now we have 2017 and... nah, sorry, bullshit... we (have) had 2017 and "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" was unleashed at the world, hell yeahr, and I don't know how they did it but they 'at least' hold on to "DAMNED" on the exact same larger-than-life level but I would even go so far to/and say that "RUN WUTH THE HUNTED" even is a step ahead, yes, that totally amazing and absoultely fantastic it is. This is at its core highest intensity Crustcore with some beefy'n'bulky D-Beat roots in it as well as truckloads of devastating (Sverige) Death Metal and just looking at respectively listening to some of the melodic and symphonic guitar leads and also partly because of the nihilistic atmosphere also some Black Metal marks here and there in it, too, yes, and this all done on or from a very, very unique and characteristic stand-alone position with a gigantic and forceful own identity to it all. At a very loose description I would say that if you imagine a very high skilled and 'amazingly' fresh and self-contained and stand-alone mixture out of the glorious old WOLFPACK masterpieces (like "A NEW DAWN FADES", "LYCANTHRO PUNK", and "ALLDAY HELL"), THE EXPLOTED (especially "THE MASSACRE", "BEAT THE BASTARDS", and "FUCK THE SYSTEM"), and DISCHARGE on the one side, yes, and Sverige Death Metal somewhere between AT THE GATES, ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, and UNLEASHED on the other side, yes, then you do have a pretty good starting description of what to expect of/from WOLFBRIGADE in general and of/from "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" in particular, yes, and fans of the GENOCIDE SUPERSTARS, SKITSYSTEM, and DISFEAR will find here in and with WOLFBRIGADE's "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" surely their new holy grail as well. But with facing that namedropping here and now please keep in mind that WOLFBRIGADE absolutely do their very, very own thing, point and fact. All is done by surely high skilled musicians that/who deliver it all via outstanding songwriting: Forceful, intense, massive, brutal, harsh, stunning, and yet very melodical and also hymnal arranged and 'impressively' playful and soulful, yes, and also beneath the 'surface' of this high-intensity raging massacre it's all very diverse and enriched with fresh ideas and clever subtle enrichments and exciting twists'n'turns all along the ride that grant us 'ongoingly' grapping moments without end that really shine bright and are nothing else but absolutely overwhelming. The same it to say about the all the time incredible sheer exciting and grapping highest intensity and the very intense, tight, and breathtaking atmosphere of all the songs and the whole album. Carried out is this all via razorsharp cutting and sledgehammer-like banging guitars that deliver powerful raging riffing and crushing rhythm work as well as (and especially) stunningly intense and breathtaking atmospheric melody lines and leads'n'solos, yes, and that are marking the songs strongly and heavily and this also for sure for all the right reasons; the pretty much same is to say about the great and very charismatic vokillz that are brutal done 'throaty' shouts that still deliver melodies and anthemic/hymnal lines (verses and Refrains a-like) and that totally (over)shine bright, too. The fast raging and harsh thundering rhythm section then finally tears down every resistance and smashes through everything and everyone, yes, and that's a total wrecking ball going highest skilled to work. The pace of the songs is mostly up-tempo to fast pace but take the time and listen intense and you will find so much exciting and impressive surprises, yes, that will absoultely leave you breathless in all positive ways. My personal favorites? Forget it. The whole damn album is my personal total favorite, period. Strong and thought-provoking lyrics, a great artwork, and a powerful blasting production sound round it all finally up, yes, turning this absolutely into the real deal and the complete package. I know I did this time no real 'ranked list' of 'my top albums of/for 2017' but if I would have done one then WOLFBRIGADE's "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" would be clearly in my top three of/for 2017, yes, and this without a single doubt. I love this band and album. Okay, I think I've said so much all what I had to say so far about WOLFBRIGADE's "RUN WITH THE HUNTED", yes, and everyone into Crustcore, D-Beat, really hard Punk and Hardcore (Punk) musick, and (Sverige) Death Metal (that's slightly blackened) simply definitely and desperately needs to have this absolutely mindblowing and breathtaking surely larger-than-life masterpiece and this (in case you really should not have or even know it) best 'yesterday than today', if you get what I mean. Anyhow, my last words: Get it!!!

(10 of 10 points)

https://wolfbrigadeofficial.wordpress.com/ (-the link to the sort of homepage of the band)

WOLFBRIGADE - "KALLOCAIN" (2017, "RUN WITH THE HUNTED")

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER - "NIGHTBRINGERS" (2017)

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER - "NIGHTBRINGERS"
(Running time: 49:18 minutes; 14 songs)
("Metal Blade Records"; 2017; CD):

Hey guys, okay, time to give you some new stuff to read up here again and so here now comes the next dose for you which means the next record-review by me for you and this time it will be all about the (brand)new THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER full-length-album "NIGHTBRINGERS" released at the 6th of october of this very year of 2017 via the mighty "METAL BLADE RECORDS" label. THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER were always pretty to very much under my radar-screen because somehow they never really (sort of...) 'spoke to me' so far and so their newest release "NIGHTBRINGERS", which is their 'all-in-all' already 8th studio-full-length-album, is my real first 'meeting' with them. I have the limited edition that comes in an absoultely amazing artwork and that features five bonus tracks of which two are live recordings of (I would guess...) older songs of/by/from them ("ABYSMAL" and "WHEN THE LAST GRAVE HAS EMPTIED") and two cover versions, one of AT THE GATES' "THE SWARM" and one of CARCASS' "THIS MORTAL COIL" and these two cover-tunes point pretty much in the right direction of what THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER give us music-wise: Melodic Death Metal, hyper-aggressive and 'technically' truly high-skilled, and with a modern touch to it all that will surely make them more than only a little bit like-able for all you Metalcore and Deathcore fans outta there. (Btw, the 'normal' version crosses the finishing line in about 33 minutes or so.) This never was and still isn't that much 'my thing' and so... hm... so where or how to start... maybe here and so: Like already said this is truly and through and through hyper-aggressive and filled on and on with a forceful guitar work that delivers so damn sharp cutting, precise slaying, and mercylessly slashing, damn heavy guitar riffing and such headcracking rhythm work that you mostly instantly start to bang your head, yes, and where the guitars really shine is when it comes to the delivered highly melodic leads and the absoultely amazing solos, oh hell yeahr, and there's no need of any further mentioning of how strong and also of how heavily marking the guitars are for the songs and the music of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER. Pretty much the same (when it comes to being heavily marking for the songs of the music of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER) is to say when we talk about the high pitched, hysterical, diabolical, and just also hyper-aggressive screamed lead vocals that sometimes change to deep and dark guttural grunts but mostly settle in the mentioned territory of the very harsh delivered screams and that are by any means also pure aggression set to music and that deliver an nearly if not sheer incredible amount of lyrics in/with/through the all-in-all anyhow anyway not that long songs; and that also mark the songs heavily. All is then backed up by a very tight and precise and stunningly heavy rhythm section. The songwriting is also pretty to very strong and definitely far above average and delivers truckloads of energetic rhythm work, dynamic pace changings, and a pretty intense atmosphere pretty much all the time; and that the guys in/of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER are really high skilled musicians should need no further explanation here and now anyhow anyway. All in all THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER's "NIGHTBRINGERS" I would locate on a pretty self-contained position somewhere between AT THE GATES (think of their larger than life masterpiece "SLAUGHTER OF THE SOUL"), CARCASS (think of their groundbreaking "HEARTWORK" masterpiece), some modern Metalcore and Deathcore somewhere between acts like HEAVEN SHALL BURN and ABHORRENT DECIMATION, as well as some up-to-date pseudo Death Metal like ARCH ENEMY, yes, I think somewhere between this bands and styles and influences you should find THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and their "NIGHTBRINGERS" and you should find them pretty quick (and also surely pretty strong). The only problem that I have with this album or maybe sort of with this band and album and that certain style of music, hm, I miss a special flavour and really exciting moments because at the end it is all pretty equal to one another (song- and also band-wise in general) and that's also here the case; but maybe that's just me and it's anyhow surely a matter of personal preferences but just that you know mine and don't wonder why my final rating on it is or will be how it is/will be. But this a more general problem I have with this Modern Melodic Death Metal'n'Metalcore'n'Deathcore stuff and this out of the way a particular problem with "NIGHTBRINGERS" is definitely that the songs are too short and offer in that short space'n'time simply (but definitely) far too much lyrics so that the songs are far too damn often simply too 'overloaded' and the music itself is put too often in the background and sort of 'sinks down under/beneath the words' and also so-this-way it turns out to be that the songs simply  again'n'again are a overly hectic and stressful affair (and not the good way of being 'hectic'n'stressy' which means demanding and challenging... but instead of this from time to time quite annoying)... damn it, I mean: longer songs or less words - one of it would have been the golden way, definitely. Also I would wish, like already mentioned a few passages above, that the songs as single songs would have a stronger own identity because (also, at least if you ask me, due to being 'overflooded by the lyrics') for my personal taste the songs sound too often too equal... but maybe that's just and nothing but a matter of my personal taste, who knows. But anyhow, more or less, despite all this THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER's "NIGHTBRINGERS" definitely is still a good to damn good album and if you are into the named style(s) of music and/or the named bands then you should definitely risk an ear and give it a fair try. A big bunch of sick, sinister, and pretty 'evil' lyrics, a (like already mentioned) absoultely beautiful artwork, and a heavy bombing (but maybe a little bit too 'trigger-happy') production sound finally round it all up. So, yes, I think now you know all what there's from my point of view to know about the "NIGHTBRINGERS" of/by THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, yes, and so why not give it a good round and a fair try and this best right now.

(7,5 of 10 points)

http://www.tbdmofficial.com/ (-the link to the homepage of the band)

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER - "NIGHTBRINGERS" (2017, "NIGHTBRINGERS")

CANNIBAL CORPSE - "RED BEFORE BLACK" (2017)

CANNIBAL CORPSE - "RED BEFORE BLACK"
(Running time: 46:28 minutes; 12 songs)
("Metal Blade Records"; 2017; CD):

Damn it, I can't tell you how long it is now since I have listened to any new CANNIBAL CORPSE album, nah... really not, the last two albums that I am aware of that I have listened to constantly and regulary when they were released were the first two albums with Corpsegrinder on the mic: "VILE" and "GALLERY OF SUICIDE". Since then sort of nearly two decades and a big bunch of 'much newer' CANNIBAL CORPSE albums passed us by but of all this many albums I only took more or less 'slightly notice' and so since sort of the days of my youth now "RED BEFORE BLACK" is my first real proper new experience with this almighty legends of Death Metal carrying the name of CANNIBAL CORPSE; and before you ask, hell yeahr, I loved (and like I know now again still love) CANNIBAL CORPSE and so I can't really tell you why I was this long 'abstinent'... but who cares, fuck it, now it's (still) 2017 and pretty recently via the mighty "METAL BLADE RECORDS" the new CANNIBAL CORPSE album "RED BEFORE BLACK" saw the light of day and also finally made its way into my collection, yes, and so now here we are and now you're reading my review on it, yes, and so now let's go: To be honest I don't really know where to start because... fuck it, this is behind, but only very close behind, IMMOLATION's "ATONEMENT" the Death Metal album of the/this year of 2017 or, if you want so, the second best Death Metal album of 2017 (but very, very close to the first rank) and I'm massively impressed and this again and again or all the time, choose what might seem to you the more proper match. I have it now since two weeks and it is constantly on heavy rotation since then and I am again and again totally blasted away, hell yeahr, CANNIBAL CORPSE and their "RED BEFORE BLACK" masterpiece absolutely conquered me and this in a more than just supreme way. This is a bloody, devastating, brutal, atomizing, harsh raging, and mercyless shredding and thrashing massacre of pure, honest, real, and unbelievable heavy and brutal Death Metal with its very own very unique identity and over and over and again and again filled with a lot of catchy hooks that really also have a fist-in-the-air-and-sing-a-long potential and all on one hell of an outstanding level of tecnical skills, songwriting skills, and in general musicianship, oh bloody hell yeahr, it's nothing but totally overwhelming and absolutely mindblowing in a more than just supreme way, point and fact. "RED BEFORE BLACK" is filled with highest skilled very complex songstructures that offer incredible much to discover and again and again surprise with a massive amount of exciting and grapping changes in the pace, the arrangements, and the rhythm structures as well as the general dynamics of the songs while still yet flow and melt absolutely perfectly 'into one' at the end and will only and nothing but leave your mouth and eyes wide open because of the rousing and overwhelming excitement it offers from start to finish and again and again while your head will bang constantly in a nearly deadly intensity, ah, and yes, and if CANNIBAL CORPSE's "RED BEFORE BLACK" is anything/something before anything/something else than it is intense, hell yeahr, this is purest and absolute intensity set to musick, period. Corpsegrinder delivers one of the most charismatic and skilled, most brutal and intense vocal performances I've heard/listened to in quite a long, long while and that's really and truly leading the no prisoners taking and every resistance annihilating assault in a massive and simply bonesmashing way that it is just absoultely outstanding amazing. Then there are the phenomenal heavy and brutal, intense and diverse thrashing, shredding, sawing, slashing guitars that unleash one bloodthirsty and fiery inferno and will shed'n'shred easily skin from bone, it's like a thunderous storm of steel unleashed ripping right through you. The everything down into the ground harsh and heavy bass work and the nothing but devastating drumming then really give the songs their blood-dripping crown, enriching and cultivating it all to the highest levels of quality. And all is above all else so totally 'masterly' stunning intense and also so rich and diverse and multi-layered, hell yeahr, beneath the surface of this hellish massacre, this bloody inferno there's waiting such a high skilled musicianship creating such outstanding songs and musick that you really again and again all the time discover new surprises and exciting, grapping, overwhelming gems'n'treasures, yes, it's absolutely amazing, yes, and this all makes or turns CANNIBAL CORPSE's "RED BEFORE BLACK" really into one outstanding larger than life masterpiece that's one of the very, very, very best to find out there... definitely in years - and surely for years to come. Great slasher lyrics, a bloody zombie artwork, and one massive heavy and yet dirty and 'earthy' production sound then finally round it all up. So I guess that's it... and maybe you also get how massively euphoric I still am because of CANNIBAL CORPSE's "RED BEFORE BLACK"... and I will now close this review with clearly stating that if you are into Death Metal or anyhow brutal and extreme musick in general then by any means you need to call this outshining larger than life masterpiece definitely your own and this best right now, period. Amazing!!!

(10 of 10 points)

http://cannibalcorpse.net/ (- the link to the band-homepage)

CANNIBAL CORPSE - "FIRESTORM VENGEANCE" (2017, "RED BEFORE BLACK")

MORBID ANGEL - "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" (2017)

MORBID ANGEL - "KINGDOMS DISDAINED"
(Running time: 47:42 minutes; 11 songs)
("Silver Lining Music"; 2017; CD):

Damn it, too much days passed by without allowing me to do some new stuff up here finally again, fuck, but so far currently I still haven't given up (...completly...) on my plan of delivering you all the record-reviews on 2017 releases up here for you before christmas... no, not yet given up (at least not completly)... but I'm preparing myself for the 'happening' that it maybe could take me longer... but at least I'll try everything to get it all done latest before the change of the years 2017-2018... and so without any further talking straight back finally into the action again, yes, and so now finally here comes my newest post for you which means my newest record-review for you, yes, and this time it's on the brandnew MORBID ANGEL full-length-album "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" that's released still very recently this very year of 2017 via (the to me so far sort of totally unknown) "SILVER LINING MUSIC" label. So, yes, MORBID ANGEL... the (so it seems to me) highly controversial precursor release never 'came to my ears' and so MORBID ANGEL sort of always were and still are absolute Death Metal kings to/for me... okay, even "HERETIC" never sort of speaked to me, hm, but maybe that's also just me and not 'something of general concern', who knows... aynway... you maybe get already sort of a good impression of how excited I was when I finally got to listen to MORBID ANGEL's "KINGDOMS DISDAINED", yes, and now to what used to hit me and what will hit you: Metal of Death!!! Steve Tucker is back in the camp of the morbid angels and Trey Azagthoth also recruited with Scotty Fuller a new drummer and this bestial three piece created "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" and for all what I got so far this seems to be a pretty often more or less heavily discussed album. A lot seem to see and judge MORBID ANGEL's "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" pretty to partly even very critical, and not only the so it seems anyhow only few fanboys of the precursor album (and if they are anyway more than only a few then they seem to be not very vocal at all) do so... to be honest I don't really get what this whole bitching is all about... MORBID ANGEL are around since freaking fucking decades and they very much established what extreme Death Metal is all about and set the standards again and again so when I now read that they would not 'newly-invent-the-wheel' (while at the same time- at best- still being critizes for the more experimental songs on the precursor release...) I can only wonder and not at least because from my point of view MORBID ANGEL created with "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" a very fresh and mostly from start-to-finish very rousing, alive-lively, and grapping album with a good to big bunch of really strong to excellent new songs, yes, and this is high skilled headcracking and bonesmashing, harsh and brutal and yet incredible technical and massively diverse blasphemous Death Metal on a very high skilled level of quality and that's packed up full with exciting and grapping moments and elements that enrich it all massively and all is cultivated with one of the very best and most unique guitar work ever outta there, yes, and all is surely very demanding and no easy-listening-affair but that were MORBID ANGEL never and Death Metal  in general should never be this. Surely not all songs are gold or even platinum and some few more fillers sort of songs are (surely sadly enough) to be found on "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" and the sort of the very 'muddy' and strangely powerless production sound comes close to being a farce but at the end of the day "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" is damn strong, fresh delivered extreme Death Metal from the get-go on. Guttural and very harsh grunted vokillz, an amazing rhythm section (and especially the drums shine phenomenal bright and wide above all), and all is massively marked and cultivated by the fantastic and brilliant, breath-taking and mindblowing guitar work, yes, it's all here; and all is mostly melted together by a very strong songwriting and the songs are marked by a very sinister and nihilstic, a through-and-through apocalyotic and very intense atmosphere that's very tight and that's nearly perfectly interwoven into the songs and the album, yes, and allow yourself to work yourself deep and deeper into MORBID ANGEL's "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" or respectively give it the good and fair chance to grow on you, yes, because this it will surely do. There's a mssive and highly energetic dynamic-work of/to the songs that's only waiting to be discovered by you, with massively high and surely very often 'hyper-blasting' high speed and high'n'fast pace of the songs, yes, and yet there are so incredible much varying passages and elements 'woven-into' the songs with a great and often more than great harmonies/disharmonies-work and still we find in all the 'at first sight' mostly up- to high- and blastspeed songs absolutely great changes of the rhythms and also the pace and especially one devastating assault armada of riffs on such a high skilled, massively and brutal, stunning and yet diverse level of arrangements and composition that for the very most parts MORBID ANGEL's "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" simply will leave your mouth wide open wondering what currently invades your head and your heart and your soul through your ears from out of your stereo-speakers, yes, and it only got or gets better all the time when you realize again and again how technically skilled and 'proggy' demanding the songs truly and really are and yet still they flow'n'float so perfectly gentle together that there are no songwriting holes or any blank holes in the songs, yes, the songs work on and on as songs and are no egotrippin' pseudo-'proggy' farce. Fresh and grapping song arrangements and a very to incredible forceful compositorial work that offers strong ideas, a very unique own identity, and sheer force are the key-elements to let "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" conquer you, hell yeahr, carried out by MORBID ANGEL via and through-out a phenomenal unique and highest skilled guitar work that totally will leave no bone unsmashed such stunningly heavy and massively brutal is it and yet it's so full of truly symphonic sinister, sick, apocalyptic, and just nihilistic leads and absoultely mind-opening solos, and also the guitars add a lot of the already somewhere above mentioned very intense atmosphere, yes, an evil buzzing and a lot of meat to the backbone of "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" adding heavy bass playing, incredible highest skilled drumming that totally stets the standards new in the department of technial and extreme musick, and not at least via and through-out the very charismatic very brutal vokillz that give the songs finally and really their dark shining crown. My personal favorites are the everything done smashing opening duo tracks "PILES OF LITTLE ARMS" and "D.E.A.D.", the sheer larger-than-life fantastic "GARDEN OF DISDAIN" that holds its very own ground with ist outstanding strong rhythm work and 'staccato-grooves' (in that particular way a totally unique MORBID ANGEL trademark) even in comparison with the still absolutely outstanding "DOMINATION" era of MORBID ANGEL, the totally evil and atomizing massive wall of sound that simply is "ARCHITECT AND ICONOCLAST", the overwhelming and  very technical and (in all positive meaning) demanding "THE PILLARS CRUMBLING" with its very 'proggy' rhythimc structures, the catchy and just sort of hymnal "FOR NO MASTERS" (definitely the über-hit here of and on MORBID ANGEL's "KINGDOMS DISDAINED", yes, definitely), the sinister grinning and unstoppabel forward to war marching "DECLARING NEW LAW (SECRET HELL)", and also the final track "THE FALL OF IDOLS" that is simply nothing but pure hate set to musick and this in an overwhelming way. If only the (in my book) sort of much too (especially for a band like MORBID ANGEL) lame and stale stereotypical Death Metal tune "PARADIGMS WARPED" (it offers of course some great guitar solo work and some nice very 'doomy' marks but is just a too mid paced stereotypical boring Death Metal roll-on-track with no real own identity) and the sort of incredible shocking uninspired and to me sort of a HATE ETERNAL ripp-off seeming'n'sounding "FROM THE HAND OF KINGS" with its too boring superficial blasting mostly 'all the time' wouldn't be, two really, really weak songs especially for a band like MORBID ANGEL, than my final rating would be even better/higher than it already is anyhow. The only 'just' solid mid placed song on MORBID ANGEL's "KINGDOMS DISDAINED" (so far) is "THE RIGHTEOUS VOICE" and beside this track we only get true killer tunes and two (in my book) absoultely and sort of shocking crappy songs that especially a band like MORBID ANGEL should be able to do far better even while half-a-sleep... but anyhow this one here is a damn strong, a very strong album for that other bands would sell their soul(s) to the almighty Gods of Rock & Roll to get it done in that way only once in a lifetime. Thoughtful and thought-provoking, very strong lyrics and a first class 'diabolical' artwork then round it all up. A truly damn good album by one of the still very, very best (Death Metal) bands outta there and I can only recommend it to you if you are into Death Metal or extreme musick in general, yes, and so go out and get, period.
(8,5 of 10 points)
www.morbidangel.com/ (- the link to the homepage of the band)

MORBID ANGEL - "FOR NO MASTERS" (2017, "KINGDOMS DISDAINED")

IMMOLATION - "ATONEMENT" (2017)

IMMOLATION - "ATONEMENT"
(Running time: 48:53 minutes; 12 songs)
("Nuclear Blast Records"; 2017; CD):

Hey guys, yes, it's me again and I'm back @ work right up here - you may could say: all for you - and so without any long introducing smalltalk we rather jump on straight into the action and here and now this or the action is all about the current new 2017 full length album release by/of no one else than the just pure and simply  larger than life grandmasters of Blasphemous Death Metal from the U.S.A. and I am talking about and I am praising and hailing no one else than the almighty IMMOLATION, the legends from New York City, and their newest full length album release that carries the title of "ATONEMENT" and it's their tenth studio full length album in their 31 years or so spanning career (1986 - 2017) and it was released at the 24th of February of this very year of 2017 via the german based "NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS" label, yes, and here and now I finally get it done to do my review up here for you, yes, and so now here we go... and, just btw, IMMOLATION's "HERE IN AFTER" from 1996 (I guess) is still to and @ this very day one of my top ten all time favorite Death Metal albums ever; but now back to the topic, yes, IMMOLATION's 2017 "ATONEMENT", yes, and so now finally (again) here we go: "ATONEMENT" is one absolutely amazing and awesome, sheer unbelievable high skilled piece of satanic and blaspehmic, sinister and brutal Death Metal that's incredible intense and through and through interwoven with sheer palpable close very deep'n'dark atmosphere and overwhelming huge and massive and all the time very alive-lively emotions, yes, this album is on all levels nothing but the absolutely sheer and pure and full force and might set to musick, hell yeahr, and that this one here is also one of the very most brutal and also technically highest skilled releases (of 2017) I only state here for the record, yes. IMMOLATION's "ATONEMENT" then really comes to life thanks to the fantastic songwriting that's very, very massive and intense and yet very diverse and rich on variations and truckloads of surprising and so not expected moments and that above all is also so damn fuckin' atmospheric and full of a high emotional scale/'scaleing', yes, and that also offers a wide variety of grapping song arrangements and exciting as well as rousing and no prisoners taking rhythm and riff compositions, large pace variations from in sort of  'this all and everything in-between' annihilating blasts to crypt-like Doom parts and 'slammy' mosh monsters, a very lot of massively soul- and playful finishes/'cultivations' to each of the songs, and a very strong and sinister and evil glooming and yet bright shining 'play' with dissonances that anyhow flow smooth (as 'smooth' as Death Metal can be ;-) - if you get what I mean ............) all together, yes, and this so incredible rich songwriting is done and delivered in such a phenomenal highest skilled musical way that it will absolutely take and conquer you by storm and in a very, nah, in an absolutely and totally supreme way, style, and manner, yes, this is definitely absolutely pure platinum and this on all fronts, period. All is packed up to the extreme max full with diverse smashing and yet really sort of symphonic guitars that are delivering the very best of the goods no matter if we look at the briliant rhythmic work or the full force fantastic riffing on the one side or the outshining sinister and dark 'lead' work with its glorious play with disharmonies/harmonies, dissonances and melody lines on the other side, totally awesome, and above the fantastic solo work we don't even need to speak and that/this simply because there aren't not enough words of praise around to do it justice anyhow anyway so larger than life great it is, point and fact. Then there's the phenomenal overwhelming massive and powerful, tight and precise and absolutely to the point played and yet 'amazingly' diverse and varying rhythm section that also really nothing but shines and adds much class and quality beefy and bulky weight and mass to IMMOLATION's "ATONEMENT", yes, and that's above all absolutely superb. All is then made round and finally cultivated and enriched by the deep and harsh, brutal grunted guttural lead vokillz that shine in a bloody and sinister, deadly and devastating way. All in all IMMOLATION's "ATONEMENT" is not just an absolutely breathtaking and overwhelming larger than life masterpiece and it is also not just maybe perhaps the very, very most best album in the anyhow incredible strong and massively impressive discography of IMMOLATION but it is also clearly and far ahead of all the other/potential 'rivals' outta there (that in a lot cases also released strong to great and phenomenal good albums this very year) and so definitely the by far best and most strongest Death Metal album of 2017, definitely and without a single doubt. My personal highlights are clearly "WHEN THE JACKALS COME", "THE DISTORTING LIGHT", "RISE THE HERETICS", "THROWN TO THE FIRE", "ATONEMENT", "ABOVE ALL", "FOSTERING THE DIVIDE", and "POWER OF GODS", hell yeahr, but don't do the mistake and think the other and also anyhow anyway only few not named songs would be sort of 'weak(er) stuff' because hell no also this songs totally rule and destroy everything and everyone. We then also get blasphemous and bestial, sinister and dark lyrics, one of the most gorgeous artworks I've seen this year (and also in years), and a blasting and bombing production sound that's nothing than a deadly striking wall of sound, yes, turning IMMOLATION's "ATONEMENT" then 'finally-finally' into the real deal and making it to the complete package. If you are into real Death Metal and you really still should not know or have IMMOLATION's "ATONEMENT" then do yourself the huge, huge favour and change this and this best instantly right now because this masterpiece definitely needs to be a (prominent) part of and in your record collection, definitely and also without any doubt. So, in short: Get it!!!

(10 of 10 points)

http://www.everlastingfire.com/ (- the link to a very cool fanpage of the band)

https://www.facebook.com/immolation (- the link to the facebook site of the band)

IMMOLATION - "WHEN THE JACKALS COME" /live\ (2017, "ATONEMENT")