The Asteroid Bullet Belt

Making up for lost time.  I’ve always had a vested interest in my hobbies and obsessions being as far removed from consumerism as possible. Obviously, in the big 26, a time where capitalism’s tendrils have infiltrated every aspect of your waking (and perhaps also sleeping) life, it’s nigh-on impossible to avoid it in the things you enjoy. Everything needs to be commodified and turned into an excuse to push you towards rampant consumption and expenditure, the big festival lineups that show up across the world are very much an indication of that, even when it comes to more underground fare. Big events, stacked with bands that people are sure to want to catch live, because “How could I possibly miss out on this lineup?”, and obviously spend money on accommodation, travel expenses, and merchandise. Concert tourism. Furthermore, festivals (and bigger shows in general) stifle the connection between artist and audience, more often than not trading it for a greater spectacle. Due to that, ...

Hit 'em with the brain destroyer. I haven’t gone digging in a while, but I generally take great pleasure in stumbling upon up-and-coming bands, preferably ones that could be defined as “hungry”. Musicians pour their hearts into their art, and then thrust it upon an unsuspecting public in hopes of being seen and appreciated by however small a group. It takes a lot of courage and drive to do that, and it’s such a quality that defines Sacred Serenity, and their debut, Redefining Life . This one-man progressive deathrash (!) project is helmed by the young (even younger at the time of this album’s release) Jonas Doehler, who somehow managed to put together something that one would expect from veterans of the style, all while juggling five more active bands at the time of writing. Talk about having a busy schedule. Clocking in at less than 25 minutes (without the instrumental version of the album), this is a release that operates on “shock and awe” tactics. Though there are moments of re...

Who is your daddy and what does he do? (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on December 28th 2022)  Like many others who spend the majority of their time listening to music, I end up going on “archaeological expeditions”, scrounging up obscurities across a genre, in this case metal. I feel like listening to these types of recordings can provide one with a good amount of insight in regards to how a specific sound or scene evolved over time, and while the work may not be perfect, it can still make for an enjoyable listen. Such is the case with Poison’s very first demo, Sons of Evil , a shining example of a release forgotten by time, despite it being one of the very first examples of extreme metal. For one, this demo might just be one of the rawest recordings I’ve ever subjected my ears to. There’s heaps of ear-piercing feedback laced throughout every song here, with the guitars being reduced to a thin buzz that’s overpowered by the tinny drums, while the bass i...

[Insert terrible "Hammer time" joke here.] (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on December 28th 2022)  It's no secret to anyone who has been following black metal over the 2010s that the Icelandic scene has, for lack of a better word, blown the fuck up in terms of popularity. For how small the country is, it has put out some of the genre's most notable works in recent times, thanks to their instantly recognisable brand of jangly but ever so slightly melodic take on the genre. Bands like Svartidauði and the topic of today's review, Misþyrming have managed to drop some truly excellent projects despite their relatively short lifespan. The latter in particular has managed to survive the pandemic and released their third album, Með hamri at the tail end of the year, inevitably snubbing themselves from many a person’s year-end lists. That being said, it's a project that anyone who will give their time to will find out that it's worthy of...

The threat cannot come soon enough. (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on April 19th 2022)   There’s this saying here that goes “If you don’t honour your home it’s going to come down on you”, and what better way to avoid that by covering a band that not only hails from Greece, but is also from the city where I’ve been living for the past few years? Vile Extortion’s a young quintet I had the pleasure of seeing open for Sodom not too long ago, and seeing as I enjoyed their music in a live setting, I decided to give their Incoming Threat EP a listen. But does their music hold up outside of a concert? After all, most music sounds better live so it's not the best metric to gauge quality with. The answer is yes, mostly. The guys are really skilled and have a very clear vision of what they want to create, and succeed in doing so. Ripping thrash riffs meld together with ferocious tremolo sections, bookended by hefty breakdowns and sweeping melodic solos. It’s a w...

You are being sent to Brazil.  (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on January 27th 2022)   I am admittedly super late to the Sarcófago party, even though I’ve been listening to extreme metal for the past 5 years. It’s just one of those bands I didn’t feel particularly motivated to check out, despite them being right up my alley. But I recently checked out their iconic debut, I.N.R.I. and have gone on to binge the rest of their material. As I was perusing the Archives, I noticed that their The Black Vomit demo didn’t have any reviews written for it, which came as a surprise. I mean, how could one of the most revered bands in the underground not have anything written about its very first release? Upon closer inspection though things become perfectly clear. There just isn’t much material for someone to dig their teeth into. “Recrucify” is an (admittedly cool) intro with wind sounds and growls, and both “Satanas” and “The Black Vomit” showed up on I.N.R.I...

Albums I like a lot: Part IV (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on August 22nd 2021)  This spot on the list was arguably the hardest one to settle on an album for. There’s just so many excellent thrash releases that could’ve ended up here. It could’ve been Voivod’s Killing Technology , Sodom’s Code Red , or Vektor’s Outer Isolation . Despite how many candidates there were for that position, all of which I consider great for a variety of reasons, I ended up settling with Slayer’s fourth outing, South of Heaven , for reasons I’ll explain below. It is known that in the 80s Slayer was a force to be reckoned with in the thrash scene. At the time they were hot off the heels of Reign In Blood , which pushed the boundaries of extremity for thrash (there were actually more extreme bands but that’s besides the point) and was one of the releases that caused them to skyrocket in popularity, thanks to fan favourites like “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood”. South of He...

The album that never came. (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on November 8th 2020)  Metallica. What can be said about them that hasn't been said hundreds of times before? Arguably one of the few bands that has as many fans as they do detractors, their musical endeavours span nearly 4 decades at this point, with albums that are considered classics by many. From the violent thrashing of Kill 'Em All , to the slower hard rock they put out during the 90s, to the much-reviled St. Anger , they've done it all. Seeing though the reception to St. Anger , they decided to take a rather long break, and in 2008 they came back with Death Magnetic . It was at the time celebrated as a comeback by many an old fan and considered a return to the glory days of the band. In 2020 though, a long time after its release, I decided to write about it, free of any biases towards the music and the hype that surrounded it when it originally came out. A slow heartbeat and an acou...

 So, is it pronounced "V" or "Five"? (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on October 22nd 2020)  3 years after the rather disappointing Conformicide , Havok come back with V , an album that shows us a band trying to regain the position they had as leaders of the retro-thrash movement almost a decade ago, while also trying something new with their sound. Thankfully, those experiments aren’t the only thing on offer, as we do end up hearing quite a bit of the Havok we’ve grown to love over the years. Opening tracks “Post-Truth Era” and “Fear Campaign” are some of the more straightforward cuts on the album, which should honestly have had their positions switched, as the former isn’t much of an exciting or interesting opener to the album. Barring the “Blackened” styled guitar fade-in (one of a couple easter-eggs to Metallica’s seminal ...And Justice For All ), it doesn’t have many riffs to maintain the listener’s attention, though the chorus is solid,...