The Asteroid Bullet Belt

Slamen Rider. (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on May 19th 2021)  Every once in a while I come across an album I am fully prepared to dislike, but end up enjoying way more than I’d like to admit. This time it was Rest In Gore’s Culinary Buffet of Hacked Innards , which I originally dismissed as another slam album without any substance. After multiple listens, I can safely say that there’s still not much in the way of substance, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t one of the more entertaining albums I’ve listened to recently. There’s one thing worth getting out of the bat right now; this release is dumb as shit. There is nothing overly technical about it and like other slam albums it’s completely focused on slow and mid-tempo caveman riffing. The closest thing you’ll get to a fast section here is Ryu Tsuchida blasting away underneath a mid-tempo riff, giving things a slight sense of urgency. Masaki Hidaka’s guttural vocal performance provides yet another laye...

If the angel's headless, where does the halo go? (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on November 21st 2020)    Kentucky's Akephalos is a brutal death metal act that has been around since 2009, yet has only released a single EP in 2011. Headless Demon Angel is the band's 2017 debut, which I only heard about thanks to a certain someone stumbling upon them and showing them to me. What we have here is 41 minutes of well executed brutal death metal, which is sure to leave any fans of the genre more than satisfied, if not wanting more. An organ and some female vocals set the stage, and almost immediately “Spewed Forth From the Womb of Hell'' lurches at the listener with a slow riff, which slowly ramps up to blistering speeds, with leads to match. From that point onward the band expertly alternates tempos and speeds and throws a slew of memorable leads at us along with a bunch of catchy riffs. It’s a very strong start to the album and perfectly sho...