TORTURE KILLER

"phobia"
Year:  2013
Country:  Finland
City:  Turku
Label:  Dynamic Arts
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  9
Time:  39 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Death Metal

When one sees song titles like "Fuck Them When They Bleed," "Cannibal Gluttony," "A Violent Scene of Death," and "Day of Cadavers," it is safe to assume that the band in question is providing death metal -- and death metal has indeed been the focus of Finland's Torture Killer, who have been responsible for all of those song titles as well as others that are equally grindcore-ish. Known for gross-out lyrics dealing with things like cannibalism, mutilation, and dismemberment, Torture Killer has thrived on shock value. But they have done it in a very ironic way, and their albums have been an exercise in dark humor more than anything. Lyrically, Torture Killer gets a lot of inspiration from early-‘90s grindcore bands like Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, and Cancer, but musically, they have never been a grindcore band in the strict sense. Rather, Torture Killer's work has combined death metal elements (including the stereotypical "Cookie Monster" growling vocals) with elements of thrash metal. Formed in Turku, Finland in 2002, Torture Killer started out as a cover band and played songs by Six Feet Under and Obituary. In fact, the name Torture Killer was inspired by a Six Feet Under song. But the Finns soon began writing original material, and their first full-length album, For Maggots to Devour, was recorded in early 2003 and released by Karmageddon Media. Two years later, the band was approached by American singer Chris Barnes, leader of Six Feet Under and the former lead singer of Cannibal Corpse. Torture Killer was experiencing lineup problems in 2005 -- which is hardly uncommon in the death metal/black metal fields -- and Barnes ended up becoming Torture Killer's new lead singer, although he continued to lead Six Feet Under and divided his time between the two bands for a few years. In 2005, Torture Killer signed with Metal Blade, which released their second full-length album, Swarm!, in 2006; in addition to singing lead on that album, Barnes wrote more than half the songs. In early 2008, Barnes announced that he was leaving Torture Killer, and Juri Sallinen was hired as his replacement. In March 2008, Torture Killer's lineup included Sallinen (who has also been with the bands Krypta, Ghost Realm, Funeral Feast, Occult Astral, and Wormfarm) on lead vocals, Tuomas Karppinen and Jari Laine (formerly of Crimson Midwinter) on guitar, Kim Torniainen on bass, and Tuomo Latvala (formerly of Hellbox and Torn) on drums. ~ Alex Henderson.

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ALL OUT WAR

"give us extinction"
Year:  2017
Label:  Organized crime
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  40 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Hardcore        Metal







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"into the killing fields"
Year:  2010
Country:  US
City:  New York
Label:  Victory
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  9
Time:  38 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Hardcore        Metal





















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REFUSED

"this just might be... the truth"
Year:  1994
Label:  We Bite
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  32 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Hardcore        Punk








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"songs to fan the flames
of discontent"
Year:  1996
Label:  Victory
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  36 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Hardcore        Punk





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"the shape of punk to come"
Year:  1998
Country:  Sweden
City: Umea
Label:  Epitaph
Format:  CD , LP
Tracks:  14
Time:  60 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Hardcore        Avantgarde

Refused is a Swedish hardcore punk band originating from Umeå and formed in 1991. Refused is composed of vocalist Dennis Lyxzén, guitarist Kristofer Steen, drummer David Sandström, and bassist Magnus Flagge. Guitarist Jon Brännström was a member from 1994, through reunions, until he was fired in late-2014. Their lyrics are often of a non-conformist and politically far-left nature. On January 9, 2012, the band announced their long-awaited reunion (which was also highly contested considering the band's original and explicit declaration to never reunite), confirming shows at Coachella, Rock am Ring, Ruisrock, Roskilde Festival, Groezrock, Way Out West Festival, Sonisphere Festival (Cancelled), Download Festival, Rock for People, Primavera Sound, Hellfest, Fuji Rock Festival, Øyafestivalen, Pukkelpop, Resurrection. After embarking on a world tour for nearly a year, Refused went on hiatus again in 2012, but announced another reunion in November 2014. The band released five EPs and three full-length albums before originally splitting up in 1998, and released their fourth full-length album Freedom on the Epitaph Records label on June 26, 2015. "Elektra" was released as the first single from the comeback album on April 27, 2015.

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"freedom"
Year:  2015
Label:  Epitaph
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  10
Time:  33 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Hardcore        Avantgarde








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"war music"
Year:  2019
Label:  Spinefarm
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  35 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Hardcore        Punk








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CARCASS

"symphonies of sickness"
Year:  1989
Country:  UK
City:  Liverpool
Label:  Earache
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  10
Time:  42 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Death Metal

If this album had been my introduction to death metal years and years ago, I probably wouldn't have shied away from the genre. Symphonies of Sickness seems to have more of a death metal mentality to the way everything is structured and to the instrumental and vocal approach. A bit more grandiose and disciplined than most other interpretations of grindcore I've heard, this is an obvious bridge for death metal enthusiasts trying to get into grind and, more than that, it's simply an excellent extreme metal offering. Given the brevity releases in this genre tend to have, this album could be considered “epic grind.” The songs here clock in at 4 to 5 minutes apiece and all contain a great deal of progression. As previously mentioned, they often feel like death metal tunes with frequent tremolos and drum patterns that sound like they emigrated to this album from Leprosy or Altars of Madness. 'Reek of Putrefaction' starts the album off with some slow, grandiose riffs juxtaposed with ghostly symphonic effects and continues the dark atmosphere with its menacing riffs through the rest of the song. Though the faux-symphonic elements are almost nonexistent from here on out, the rest of the album largely follows suit, with well-executed grinding interspersed with all sorts of spacier, more calculated riffs. Even within some individual songs, there's a good deal of variability. ‘Empathological Necrotism’ has some grooving that anticipates Pantera as well as an ominous guitar-driven fadeout. The sections where Symphonies of Sickness reaches its peak in terms of extremity are fairly nondescript, though the muddy production lets everything, including the sickening rasps and howls, slosh together in evil maelstroms that are plenty effective in their own right. Where the album truly shines is in its more disciplined moments, though, when creepy guitar lines poke their heads up above the carnage or a satisfying riff or groove takes over, which I’m pleased to say, happens through most of the 43-minute runtime. This monumental release blurs the line between grindcore and early death metal, providing fans of the latter a great introduction to the former, as well as a listening experience as intelligently written and passionately performed as it is savage (*Review by Valfars Ghost ).

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"necroticism descanting the..."
Year:  1991
Label:  Earache
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  8
Time:  46 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Death Metal






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"heartwork"
Year:  1993
Label:  Earache
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  11
Time:  45 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Death Metal

When the three English behemoths of death metal (Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Death) started marching in the mid/late-80’s, the fanbase knew instantly that the metal scenery would never be the same again; its brutalization was going to take much more tangible forms in the years to come… If we have to be very honest, though, grindcore didn’t spring from the metal field; it was entirely a product of the hardcore arena and, partially, the punk one. Still, it was inevitable the merger of the two fractions at some point in time, at least when the grindcore practitioners had acquired bigger musical skills… Of the three mentioned bands Carcass are by far the most commercially successful and the most creative outfit. They were constantly pushing the boundaries of what was possible within the metal template, unlike the Napalms who settled for their hyper-active death/grind/core barrage on “Harmony Corruption”, and haven’t looked away; or Bolt Thrower who found their doom-laden, battle-like niche with “Warmaster” and stuck with it throughout their subsequent discography. This wasn’t the Carcass way, though, as the Liverpudian gang already sounded more proficient on the death/grindcore hybrid “Symphonies of Sickness”, not to mention the fabulous “Necroticism…” which twisted cavernous riff-work must have thrown half the wannabe technical death metal practitioners at the time in despair. “Swansong” is “a swansong”, what the band could possibly do after such a tell-tale album-title… They had to split up, but only to rise from the medical textbooks in the new millennium with the excellent “Surgical Steel”. A tasty compendium of their last three instalments, this opus brought the band back in the game with full force seeing again hordes of fans ready to worship at the altar of these unique “death medical examiners”. Yes, the guys were badly missing from the scene, and it would be up to them to bring back the glorious days of British death metal in a heartbeat (*Review by Bayern ).

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"swansong"
Year:  1995
Label:  Earache
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  50 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:      Hard Rock        Death Metal

controversial album which was some kind of disappointment for their fans and followers then, in 1995. Do you remember Metalllica's "Load" and "Reload"? this one could be a similar example. Carcass has never stopped their interest to discover, to experiment and to know other music styles and to record albums according this interest. "Swansong" can to remind hard-rock, heavy metal or even alternative rock, with the particular Carcass touche, influence and point of view. "Swansong" has became little by little in a very important Carcass album, cause its originality and way to record these twelve songs. classic rock sound and 70s music influence, was the formule to got this excellent recording. Perfect balance between hard-rock and death metal with Carcass personal way to do. Excellent job

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"surgical steel"
Year:  2013
Label:  Nuclear Blast
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  9
Time:  60 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:       Death Metal






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IRON MAIDEN

"idem"
Year:  1980
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  8
Time:  40 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal





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"the number of the beast"
Year:  1982
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  8
Time:  45 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal






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"piece of mind"
Year:  1983
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  8
Time:  45 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal






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"powerslave"
Year:  1984
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  8
Time:  51 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal






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"somewhere in time"
Year:  1986
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  8
Time:  51 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal

Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. The band's discography has grown to thirty-eight albums, including sixteen studio albums, twelve live albums, four EPs, and seven compilations.

Pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal, Iron Maiden achieved initial success during the early 1980s. After several line-up changes, the band went on to release a series of UK and US platinum and gold albums, including 1982's The Number of the Beast, 1983's Piece of Mind, 1984's Powerslave, 1985's live release Live After Death, 1986's Somewhere in Time and 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Since the return of lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith in 1999, the band have undergone a resurgence in popularity,[2] with their 2010 studio offering, The Final Frontier, peaking at No. 1 in 28 countries and receiving widespread critical acclaim. Their sixteenth studio album, The Book of Souls, was released on 4 September 2015 to similar success.

Despite little radio or television support,[3] Iron Maiden are considered one of the most successful heavy metal bands in history, with The Sunday Times reporting in 2017 that the band have sold over 100 million copies of their albums worldwide.[4][5] The band won the Ivor Novello Award for international achievement in 2002. As of October 2013, the band have played over 2000 live shows throughout their career. For over 35 years the band have been supported by their famous mascot, "Eddie", who has appeared on almost all of their album and single covers, as well as in their live shows.

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"seventh son of a seventh son"
Year:  1988
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  8
Time:  50 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal







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"no prayer for the dying"
Year:  1990
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  10
Time:  50 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal







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"fear of the dark"
Year:  1992
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, 2 x LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  58 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal







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"the X factor"
Year:  1995
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  11
Time:  70 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal







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"virtual XI"
Year:  1998
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, 2 x LP
Tracks:  8
Time:  50 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal








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"brave new world"
Year:  2000
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, 2 x LP
Tracks:  10
Time:  90 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal








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"dance of death"
Year:  2003
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, 2 x LP
Tracks:  11
Time:  70 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal







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"a matter of life and death"
Year:  2006
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  10
Time:  70 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal







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"the final frontier"
Year:  2010
Label:  Universal
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  10
Time:  70 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal








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"the book of souls"
Year:  2015
Label:  Universal
Format:  2 x CD, 2 x LP
Tracks:  11
Time:  90 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Heavy Metal








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XENTRIX

"bury the pain"
Year:  2019
Label:  Listenable
Format:  CD
Tracks:  10
Time:  50 min.
Lyrical themes:  social issues, politics
Genre:  rock
Style:        Thrash Metal







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"for whose advantage"
Year:  1990
Label:  Roadrunner
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  9
Time:  45 min
Lyrical themes:  social issues, politics
Genre:  rock
Style:        Thrash Metal

The band's second full length is an excellent example of how UK thrash bands were on top of their game in the late 80's/early 90's (reanimator, acid reign, etc.). Although it isn't as fast paced as the previous release, this still has many strong points. Sounding somewhat like label mates Annihilator at the time, these guys delivered no joke, hands down thrash metal with lots of attitude. Vocalist/guitarist Chris Astley has one of the coolest gruff sounding voices I've ever heard, perhaps souding like cross between voivod's snake a little without the accent, and pete steel when he was in carnivore but that's kinda off because Astley is pretty damn original, and Kristian Harvard is a phenomenal lead guitarist. Dennis Gasser is too fast on drums, and Paul Mackenzie backs em up with strong bass riffing. One might say this particular album sounds somewhat like the aforementioned Annihilator, metallica, acid reign and late eighties megadeth a little, riff-wise only. Stand out songs would include 'for whose advantage', for the cool bass intro, 'the bitter end' for all the nicely executed change ups, and 'black embrace' for the pure energy it gives off. Plenty of non-stop fast paced riffs and drumming on these ones, but there's absolutely no room for fillers here though, just quality music through and through. My only reason for 97 instead of 100 is that it' so good it needed just one more song! 97/100 ( *review by Wiplash 50 ).

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GROINCHURN

"Whoami"

Year:  2000

Country:  South Africa
City:  Johanesbourg

Label:  Morbid rec.

Format:  CD

Tracks:  13

Time:  30 min.
Lyrical themes:  social issues

Genre:  rock

Style:     Grindcore

4th album of this south african grindcore three-piece from the Vaal Triangle (south of Johannesburg), formed in 1993. Their first demos were released in 1994, with things looking promising thanks to a run of split singles, compilation appearances, and overseas performances. After a troublesome attempted relocation to Europe, the band returned home. Musically the band plays and excellent, technical and good-produced grindcore in the vein of the mince-core bands as Agathocles, Brutal Truth, Benümb, Fear Of God, Assück, Rot, etc.... but Groinchurn has its original and personal style with a "modern" sound production and a little influences of the called new-school hardcore bands from the USA such as: Snapcase, Earth Crisis, Quicksand, Indecision or Helmet. Is not also a lineal and static grindcore music but there are a lot of changes of velocity, intensity, types of distortion and kind of voice. Its sound is hard and powerful but not excessifly noise but quite clear and "clean". Christo Bester (bass and vocals) has recently gone on to form a b-side project grindcore band by the name of INSEK. It seem the south-african legend continues...

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EVILDEAD

"the underworld"
Year:  1990
Country:  US
City:  Los Angeles
Label:  Steamhammer
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  11
Time:  43 min.
Lyrical themes:  social issues, politics
Genre:  rock
Style:        Thrash Metal

Evildead is an American thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed around December 1986. It was originally conceived as a side-project of guitarist Juan Garcia and bassist Mel Sanchez, but became their main band after their respective bands Agent Steel and Abattoir broke up. They were soon joined by three of the other former members of Abattoir: Phil Flores on vocals, Marc Caro on guitar and Rob Alaniz on drums, although Caro was replaced shortly by Albert Gonzales. Since then, they have experienced a number of lineup changes, leaving Garcia as the only remaining original member left.

During its nine-year existence, Evildead released only two full-length studio albums, one live album, and two self-released demos "The Awakening" and "Terror", released in 1987 and 1994 respectively. After their split with Steamhammer, as well as failed attempts to sign to another record label and record what would have been their third album, the band broke up in 1995. However, in 2008, Evildead reunited and had performed live on several occasions since then. They had also restarted work on a new album, and released their first song in 20 years, "Blasphemy Divine", on their SoundCloud page in 2011. However, Evildead announced their second breakup in October 2012, once again leaving their third album unreleased. A second reunion of Evildead was announced in 2016 and the band touring and working until nowadays.

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