Macabra - Blood-Nurtured Nature

Wow this album is hilariously bad.

I don't really know what to say, other than this is probably the most insipid and derivative death metal album I've heard in the last two years. It has some of the ugliest pinch harmonics, some of the saddest production, some of the most pathetic sounding guitar riffs and half-hearted rasps, and dear god the title track...where to begin? It's got some of the most trite, obnoxious keyboards I've ever heard. Not a single track on here is worth devoting your time to. Everything sounds like it was recorded in my fucking basement.

It's a pretty funny release though solely for that reason.

There is an appeal in that humor. It's in the fact this album is absolute garbage. It feels so unclean, so unwashed, and so vile, that I can totally see this album appealing to some people for those reasons. The shitty production, uninspired riffing, and dull song titles and artwork...it all feels very DIY and honest. Actually on first listen it reminded me of a terrible version of Autopsy's sound on Mental Funeral. So if that's what you're looking for, be my guest. However I look for good music, and you certainly won't be finding that here.

2.25 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Life Is the Symptom
2.	Fragments of Torpor
3.	Hominal Peel Diggers
4.	Blood-Nurtured Nature
5.	Consuming the Fleshly Wax
6.	Thick Slabs of Moribund Fat
7.	Contribution to Your Dis-Elaboration
8.	Exile of Sanity

Fleshgod Apocalypse - Agony

I don't know what possesses some bands to sign contracts with the big name label-brutes. I guess it's the promise of "fame," fans, or money. I mean obviously any band would want to get their music out to as many people as possible with all the benefits of scheduling big shows and getting professionally done merch, perhaps making some cash in the process. However what I don't get is when the label asks them to change literally everything about their sound or image just to appeal to more people. It makes sense for the label which operates as a money-hungry corporation, but for the band to see this and still sign the contract? There's got to be some pretty deceptive people in the upper echelons of these big labels to make a band willfully sign away their integrity like that.

Fleshgod Apocalypse did it, whether it was of their own volition I have no idea. It's irrelevant. Their hit debut Oracles released with people raving over how well it combined brutality and technicality while having its own neoclassical flare. I liked it enough that it inspired me to see them live where I picked up physical copies of both Oracles and the decent Mafia EP as well as some merch. If the mediocre track "Thru Our Scars" was anything to go by, I should've expected the worst. Come 2011 Fleshgod Apocalypse have signed on with major metal label Nuclear Blast, much to the dismay of everyone who gave a shit. Then they revealed the artwork for Agony along with a preview of "The Violation."

My eyes turned red and steam started fuming from my ears and nostrils.

I refused to even listen to this piece of shit until long after release because it angered me just to look at the cover. Their logo cheapened to a "classy" font, after listening to it I feel like the dull gray artwork fits this album perfectly. I applauded Oracles for being one of the few neoclassical technical death metal albums that remained brutal despite having an extremely dry production. On here there is none of that brutality with fluid guitar melodies replaced with sterile, annoying high-register symphonics. I don't even know what they were thinking with some of these tracks. "The Forsaking" is absolute garbage. It sounds like Nightwish attempting death metal, and these guys don't even have the benefit of a full orchestra to back them up. Then you have all the sporadic clean choruses (or crescendos I should say) on tracks like "The Deceit" and "The Oppression." They aren't evocative. They're flat-out irritating. At least the latter of those two has a riff close to the end. Isn't it sad when the only compliment I can give a death metal song is "it has a riff?" I guess this is hardly even death metal anymore but you get my point.

The production on Agony isn't good either. It's extremely clean to the point of sterility. The guitars are a humming harmonic buzz in the background except for during the completely inane soloing, while electric symphonics dominate the mix overpowering both the nonstop blastbeats and operatic vocals. The album ends with a piano outro just like Oracles and Mafia did, and that's probably the best part about it. "The Egoism" and "The Betrayal" aren't too unbearable either. Maybe because the symphonies are properly harmonized with the guitars on those tracks. Who knows.

2.5 out of 10

Tracklisting.

1.	Temptation
2.	The Hypocrisy
3.	The Imposition
4.	The Deceit
5.	The Violation
6.	The Egoism
7.	The Betrayal
8.	The Forsaking
9.	The Oppression
10.	Agony

Monumental Torment - Element Of chaos

Two things that Monumental Torment is devoid of.

One of the most overbearingly stupid albums of 2011, Monumental Torment burst onto the technical death metal scene with their debut album Element Of Chaos. Ironically enough they broke up shortly afterwards, and certainly not to my dismay. Monumental Torment seems to be of that brand of technical death metal: the kind that is devoid of low-end, lacks brutality, and is filled with frenzied noodling and pointless sweeping. It's a first-class exercise in guitar douchery and the whole album feels like an attempt at appealing to teenagers with ADD rather than discriminating fans of metal.

Being overly harsh on this blue turdstain of an album? Not in the slightest. This abomination is everything wrong with technical death metal today. The electronic drumkit and the obnoxious lack of low-end on the bass and bass drum really kills any sort of aggression. Similar to Brain Drill, there's buttloads of predictable blastbeats and "off" rhythms that I'm sure the band thought were classy showcases of their supposed talent. The bassist's dry tone is really apparent in the few emotionless solos he plays. Throw in an overabundance of sweeps (even piano arpeggios!), like those found on the throwaway tracks "Lethargic Sleep" and "Mental Slavery," and suddenly Element Of Chaos feels like it should have "TRYING TOO HARD" stenciled on it in big, blocky hXc scene letters. If you're looking for virtuosic talent, look elsewhere because Element Of Chaos will beat you over the head with its blatant disregard for decent songwriting.

The good part about riff salad is that there's always a few pieces worth ingesting. This album has a few notable standout riffs, like the outro on the aforementioned "Mental Slavery." There's a few semi-interesting tapping solos, and the song "Paradox" is actually listenable. The title track is the definition of obnoxious, and the band decided to take the never-done-before path and include an ambient outro. Go figure. I guess I shouldn't have been expecting too much considering their Oppression Submission demo was pretty subpar and included the three forgettable tracks "Millenium Of Death," "Oppression Submission," and that annoying-as-sin "Lethargic Sleep." Oh well. We can't all be winners.

2.0 out of 10

You're better off listening to Archspire, or just about anything else that came out in 2011.

Tracklisting:

1.	Nameless One
2.	Slaughter House
3.	Lethargic Sleep
4.	Mental Slavery
5.	Oppression Submission
6.	Seek to Destroy
7.	Paradox
8.	Millenium of Death
9.	Element of Chaos
10.	Last Voice of Future