Make Them Suffer - Lord of Woe EP (2010)

Deathcore and Black Metal are two genres I’ve wanted to experiment with myself for a while. That was until I found this: 'Make Them Suffer' have gone and done it for me already! I’m sure they’re not the only one to have done so, but it’s still a relative novelty to me I’m afraid, and I kinda like it!

They describe themselves as ‘symphonic death metal’, which would put them in the same bracket as the likes of ‘Cradle of Filth’ and ‘Dimmu Borgir’, where I believe they don’t entirely belong. To me this is more the psychopathic love child of ‘Abigail Williams’ and ‘Whitechapel’, and to my great satisfaction, the combination works.

I’ve already stated my general distaste for bland and predictable deathcore, and while the deathcore influence in 'Lord Of Woe' does come awfully close to that dreary unoriginality, it is – for me at least - completely counteracted by the more innovative symphonic black metal fused into it. In fact, it’s enough to make the breakdowns sound better!

               

I think it’s easy to tell that Make Them Suffer are not trying to replicate ‘True Norwegian Black Metal’, and so criticising them on failing to do so is significantly pointless. But denying that it is black metal is equally idiotic. For normal black metal fans who don’t regularly feel  the urge to burn churches and kill your band mates, this offers something fresh to have a bit of fun to. To some metal fans this may show that just because a band plays breakdowns doesn’t instantly make them ‘emo scum’ or some fail like that.

I know what these guys are doing isn’t so innovative that it needs a patent or something: War From A Harlots Mouth have black metal influences, Winds of Plague have symphonic influences, and it can easily be argued that Abigail Williams have been impacted by the hardcore / deathcore scene. However from what I’ve seen this is the purest blend between the genres. It’s done well, and to make it even better: They’re still unsigned.

They’ve got a way to go until it’s really ‘hitting the spot’, but this EP is certainly a good listen for deathcore and black metal fans alike.

6/10

1. Summoning Storms
2. Lord of Woe
3. The Eternal Cold
4. Affliction of the Dead
5. Weeping Wastelands


VISIT THEIR MYSPACE!

Foreboding Ether - Prolonging the Agony [Demo] (2010)

This demo was thrust into my hands outside a The Black Dahlia Murder gig back in August. I was a little sceptical of it at first. Ok, I lie; I thought it was going to be awful. But I decided ‘why not give it a try’, and stuck it in the player the next day.

I was actually very pleasantly surprised. Simply, at first, by the quality of the recording: The demo was held on an Asda’s own CD, in a cheaply produced sleeve. Perhaps I was wrong to assume that the music would be of the same quality. In fact the mixing and production are actually very good considering its only a demo.

The music itself isn’t anything incredibly original; nor is it, however, incredibly predictable or samey. It is in the same ballpark of Melodic Death as ‘The Black Dahlia Murder’, but they do have a couple of breakdowns thrown in for good measure; and even some progressive parts. All the members seem pretty competent with their instruments, and there are even some flashy guitar parts which do add to the record.

An all round solid effort, then. It’s only about 10 minutes long, and so I’m now eagerly anticipating anything else they produce. But the 10 minutes showcase some of the best local music talent in the genre that I’ve heard. I would have much rather have had Foreboding Ether warm up for The Black Dahlia Murder than ‘Dyscarnate’ who were fairly awful. Certainly worth checking out: I’m sure they’d appreciate it.


7/10


1. Faces of Stigmata
2. Columbian Flu
3. Deadline

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undermorphine - Healing (2010)

There is no word I can use to accurately describe this record. Angry, relentless, insane and brutal all spring to mind, but those words all conjure images of dreary brutal Deathcore and the likes, which this isn’t.

What it actually is, I don’t know. No description will really make it seem desirable, but for some unearthly reason, it is – quite frankly - awesome. The whole thing should sound rubbish: The guitar tone is horrible, the drums are too loud and the vocals are... well. Different. Yet the chaotic sound that somehow slides from berzerk verse into thumping breakdown just has a very odd charm about it.

I’ve never heard drumming so angry. It sounds like the snare breaks every time its hit. To describe the vocals to someone who hasn’t heard them, I’d have to say ‘imagine a standard shouty hardcore vocalist who’s just found the bastard who killed his family and his dog. While shooting morphine’. Not, then, one for the faint hearted. Certainly this pummelling wall of aggressive noise is not for everyone. Not for most, I’d say. But if you enjoy psychedelic, somewhat trippy journeys into the realm of insane aggression (so basically, if you’re a psychopath who enjoys hallucinogens), then this will be perfect for you.

It’s not perfect for me, though. There are too many obvious drawbacks to the record for it to receive a perfect score. But it is the first time anything like this has grabbed my attention and kept it. And made me go back for more. Although the record maintains a fairly predictable structure, the sound doesn’t really change, and as I’ve said, the actual sound of the instruments is pretty abominable, I just feel that this is a record that’s just so damn outrageously fun that it doesn’t even matter. The line ‘live fast die young’ in one of the songs is enough to suggest that these guys don’t take themselves too seriously anyway, so why should you?


6/10


1. Morphine: Another Trip Is Beginning
2. Psycho
3. Healing
4. Skyscrapers
5. Just Flaming Chaos Recieve My Fall
6. Burnt By The Dawn
7. Inhaling the Poison
8. Water
9. Burnt By The Dawn (Zombie Vs. Zombie Remix)

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE HERE(uploaded by the band)

Sentinel - Demo (2010)

It’s been out a few months now, but it’s certainly worth a mention. By far one of the best, highest quality demo records I’ve ever heard: If I didn’t tell you they were unsigned, you almost certainly wouldn’t have guessed it (unless you know them already, obviously).

If you like The Contortionist, and the stuff on the new Djent scene, the chances are you’ll probably like this, too. The guitar tone isn’t anything like as djenty as the likes of Periphery, but the feel of the record isn’t that dissimilar from the djent world. Certainly it sits in the segment of ‘Progressive Deathcore’ of which ‘progressive’ is the key word.

It’s certainly Deathcore though: There is no shortage of breakdowns. In fact, ‘Spire of Humanity’ fits perfectly into the bracket of 1-minute-40-ish instrumental breakdown intros or interludes (Grave Danger by Broadcast the Nightmare; Transcend by Elitist; Introlude by Red I Flight to name but a few other examples). The breaks don’t tend to have quite the technicality of Sumeriancore or the relentless intensity of Brutal Deathcore, but that certainly doesn’t make them bad.

All the members of the band clearly know what they’re doing. There’s some nice drum fills, and confident lead guitars. At some points the vocals do sound a little weak, but I put that down to the lack of after-production that goes into most signed artist’s records. The music itself isn’t exactly simple: They have transitions from heavier to softer parts within the songs and they don’t always play on monotonous time signatures, and it’s all done well, so more kudos have to be given there.

I think they have a very realistic chance of following in the footsteps of The Contortionist in making an album so exceptional that they won’t even need to sell their souls to a huge corporate label to flog their albums for them. Keep your ears peeled for anything new coming out of these guys in the near future!

7/10

STREAM IT HERE

1. Channels
2. Spire of Humanity
3. To Shape An Ocean
4. Universe

Painted in Exile - Revitalized EP 2009

This EP really is something special. There are very few bands out there who are able to seamlessly span numerous styles of music across an album, and fewer still who can do it on one song.

‘Revitalised’ really does deliver everything; from rap, to deathcore, to jazz. You’ll listen to it struggling to understand why or how each song actually works, but for some reason they always do. The transitions are brilliant, literally going from smooth-jazz ‘elevator music’ style interlude to a pummelling deathcore breakdown is certainly an achievement not to be overlooked.

It really isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, though. The minute long rap section at the start of ‘Skylines’ will be enough to put some people off, and there are some parts that do sound like commercial pop. In many cases, this would be enough to put me off. But not here. ‘Revitalised’ really is something different. The fact that they use a couple of genres that may not be to everybody’s taste doesn’t make it bad: I think they should be admired for daring to try it, and making it work.

The EP is only 3 songs long but the total playtime is nearly half an hour, the shortest song being 8 minutes 35 seconds long. If you don’t like long songs, this is not the band for you. The songs, however, are not like your standard progressive metal epic. I’ve already mentioned the switching of genres, and this really helps keep the songs sounding fresh and new for the entire duration, without losing the flow of the tune.

Their earlier EP (3.14) maintained a more regular blackened deathcore sound, which is still prominently featured in ‘Revitalised’, especially in some of the vocals. There is no true stand out song on the record, as there is only 3 songs and they are all fantastic. They are yet to release a full-length, though there are suggestions of one being crafted and appearing at some point within the next year. It is certainly one to keep an eye out for: It will be very interesting to see what these still-so-young guys can do over a LP. They may even one day rival Between the Buried and Me!

8/10

1. Revitalized
2. Distanced By Dissonance
3. Skylines


DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM HERE