QHARINTH "The Valley Of Humiliation And Contempt"

QHARINTH "The Valley Of Humiliation And Contempt" EP CD (Crambeat Production)

Though this was released in 2010, I still think it is relevant to write a thing or two, especially when I finally managed to get a thorough listen of "The Valley Of Humiliation And Contempt". I have to mention the well produced nature of this EP, the band certainly did their best with it. And it is one of the better sound production to come from the often used underground Metal friendly I Seek Music Studio. The nice layout was done by a band member himself. And it's not hard to categorize the band's music too. QHARINTH can be described as atmospheric, symphonic black Metal and the main ingredients are the heads of HECATE ENTHRONED and DIMMU BORGIR. The first song (not accounting the short intro) is totally trademarked HECATE ENTHRONED, while the one that followed has DIMMU BORGIR in abundance. The rest are the mixes of both. While the influences are overbearingly obvious, the way QHARINTH managed to emulate them is worth applauding. The keyboards are well utilised and truthfully one of the main instruments in their compositions, and some guitar works are quite good too. A little strenghtening on some obvious sloppiness and they will surely become a great act, because "The Valley Of Humiliation And Contempt" is a worthy release, showing that touch of good song crafting ability.

www.myspace.com/qharinth

qharinth@yahoo.com.my

APARAGONIS "Human Error"

APARAGONIS "Human Error" demo CDr (Angka Kematian Production)

"Human Error" presents 10 tracks of grindcore the way you know it. Blast, the occasional break, blast, occasional break again. You know the rules. APARAGONIS strictly play it by the book. You got the picture then. Maybe they should opt for a better production to heighten the impact, it's a little thin here. But of course, you have to make do with whatever that's available, I totally understand that. If you're content with the productions then you won't find it that difficult to swallow the offering. And of course if you're a devout grindcore fan, rest assured with this release, because APARAGONIS does it the way you want it.

angkakematianprod@gmail.com

www.myspace.com/wanmetalcombat

www.myspace.com/aparagonisgoros

PUNAHRANAH "First Chapter Of Killing Process"

PUNAHRANAH "First Chapter Of Killing Process" demo Cdr 2010

This is some very good Malaysian death grind, believe me. Instantly attracted to the band name, the material impressed me even more. This self-released material lasted slightly below the 15 minutes mark, and I found myself listening to it 5 times in a row. "First Chapter Of Killing Process" recalls the early years of ABORTED to me, the impact is pretty much the same to my limited listening experience. PUNAHRANAH does their stuff immensely at ease and exuberated an air of confident and flair. They certainly breathe the Metal that they play, evidence that evaporated from this release. Everything is perfectly executed here, at least at the time of the recording. They seemed to be more than ready when getting this recorded. Highly interesting Malaysian death grind release for quite some time, I bet on that.  Unfortunately my copy suffers from uneven levelling of the sound, not sure if every copy is affected by this as well. And I'm not sure about the limitation of this demo too, so if you have the chance, I can only advise you to keep it. The first chapter is (almost) flawless, I'm eager to hear more.

www.facebook.com/PUNAHRANAH



IMMOLATE "Confession Of The Enchanted"

IMMOLATE "Confession Of The Enchanted" single 2010 (Eastern Voice Production)

Another single from Eastern Voice Production that manages to make its way into my possession, this one even dating back in 2010. I think some of these might still floating around, there's a repress being made if I'm not mistaken. My copy is the first 100 which comes with sticker and handnumbered. From the word 'go' IMMOLATE serves sweeping black Metal which came across as a mixture of the eastern and the european kind of it. Eventhough IMMOLATE emphasize on being fast, the highly melodic picking is a constant feature throughout the song. It is fast, but being melodic as it is, "Confession Of The Enchanted" appears less aggressive than expected. Nothing wrong with that anyway, that's the way IMMOLATE craft its dark art. There's a demo being released after this single, but I haven't had the chance to hear it yet. Most probably it will be in the same vein and from the same recording session. This single serves as a teaser or something for what's to come. I have to complain about the sound though, it is badly compressed I think, poor mp3 conversion might be at fault.

www.myspace.com/eastern_voiceprod

eastern_voiceprod@yahoo.com

www.myspace.com/immolatetian

immolate@live.com

DAMOKIS "Grinding Mother Whore"

DAMOKIS "Grinding Mother Whore" (Grundar Production)

The XL grinders strike back after some hiatus. Yes DAMOKIS is alive and well, as witnessed with the fittingly titled "Grinding Mother Whore". As the case with most grind releases, it is pretty hard to add to what has been established. You are already familiarised with what to expect. It is the way a band juxtaposed it to create their own that makes the difference, no matter how small it is. With DAMOKIS we have some experienced people at hand, thus a well-baked grind concoction is guaranteed. "Grinding Mother Whore" is 17 tracks of DAMOKIS grind that equates total belching chaos and a sense for hooking grooves, which is vital for a grind-related release to grab my listening attention (and many others, I assume). How long can you stand a straight forward non-stop instruments thrashing in a discreet and singular scope? Not that long, assuredly. This is when variations are needed, and DAMOKIS utilise that whenever they are on call. Yes, you can go through the 17 tracks without skipping, a justified valuation of your hard earned $$$ is guaranteed. Top it off with their tongue-in-cheek humour sense, and you got yourself a well worth grinding album in hand. Nicely packaged too.

http://grundar.com

http://facebook.com/grundarproduction

http://twitter.com/grundarprod

grundarprod@gmail.com

agigi_gore@hotmail.com

www.myspace.com/damokis

www.facebook.com/jbgrinder

FACE OF DECAY "Freedom Of Suffer"

FACE OF DECAY "Freedom Of Suffer" CDr (Angka Kematian Productions)

Naming your band after a REPULSION song would be a sound choice indeed, but it also leads to undeniable expectations. I approach "Freedom Of Suffer" with possibly a slightly higher demand, hoping the band will be able to exceed it. This was meant as a demo, released under Angka Kematian Productions for better circulation I think. What we have here is predominantly some standard brutal death Metal with grindcore tinges on the fast parts. And what you would expect here is of course all the norms that you will encounter with bands playing this genre. Nothing so damnly wrong with FACE OF DECAY, but I found their version of the massacre is a bit simple and 'hollow'. It lacks of something 'extra' that I couldn't exactly pinpoint on to. What is apparent for instance is the lack of some punishing drum-works which I think should be vital for music like these to reach its extreme nature. And everything else is so predictable in "Freedom Of Suffer". For anyone who is remotely interested only.

angkakematianprod@gmail.com

www.myspace.com/wanmetalcombat

www.myspace.com/fodfaceofdecay

face_of_decay@yahoo.com

GOATLUSTING CHAOS / REFICUL ESRUC "Majestic Coronation Ov Lucifer's Worshipper"

GOATLUSTING CHAOS / REFICUL ESRUC "Majestic Coronation Ov Lucifer's Worshipper" (Goat Ov Mendes Productions/Nusantarajim Productions/Horror Distro)

A split in honour of Lucifer and of course, The Goat, GOATLUSTING CHAOS and REFICUL ESRUC complements each other fittingly here. REFICUL ESRUC starts the ceremony with an intro, an originalsong and a cover of SARCOFAGO's 'The Black Vomit'. Though with only one own proper composition to boot, I would like to hear more about them in the future. After the climaxing intro aptly named 'Black Thrash Attack', REFICUL ESRUC marches forward with 'The Burning Wrath', a track that serves as an epitome of what their black thrashing hymns is all about. Adequately, deliberately executed with all the right ingredients of a good underground black thrashing mayhem. This song was recorded in 2008, wonder why they took so long to finally unleash it to the masses. The SARCOFAGO cover was done justice here, I'd rather leave it at that. Enter GOATLUSTING CHAOS then, and they still never lost that horny forni-goatlust in them. In fact I think they sounded more vicious here than their debut demo, providing a little more hatred into their wicked  harmony. They still made me think of early IMPIETY at times, but that is not a bad thing either. The blueprint is already there with "For I Am The Goatlord" demo, this only further strenghtening the fact. Released in CD and tape version, a worthy addition to your collection no matter which format that you choose. I'm sure The Goat is satisfied with this for the time being, His corrupted souls does it decently on this split.

Jazzazarkh@yahoo.com

ask_whatra666@yahoo.com

horrordistro@yahoo.com

g_l_c696@yahoo.com

reficulesruc@yahoo.com