Single Minded: Impending Doom - "Deceiver"

It was a few years ago that I first experienced the music of Impending Doom. I would not say it was great, but it was good. It is heavy, punishing, screaming style metal. It is interesting to note that they are Christian deathcore. Yes, you read that right. There are just some combinations I never thought I would come across.

Single Minded: Despite Exile - "Perfection Neutralized"

I cannot say I have ever heard of Despite Exile. What I can say is that only having heard one song, I want to hear more. The band hails from Italy and released their debut album in 2011. This track comes from their forthcoming 3-track EP. If the rest is along these lines, they are definitely a band I want to get to know a litle better.

Music Review: The Acacia Strain - Wormwood

With the opening sounds of "Beast" I can picture a pit full of hardcore kids letting out a roar, arms raised to the sky with balled fists, followed by a quick burst of applause, a flash of light and the start of a violent fury that will not end. A swirl of bodies, fists and feet pierce the air over their heads, bodies getting tossed like rag dolls. All of this happens while The Acacia Strain turn the stage into splinters. This music is angry, violent, and goes right for the throat. If you like a god dose of chug with your metal, get yourself a cup full of this strain. You won't be disappointed.

Music Review: Carnifex - Hell Chose Me

If there is one thing you can always rely on from a deathcore album, it is that it will likely be to the short side. There are cases where more is not always better and deathcore is one of them. Deathcore is a particularly brutal style of music, it is kind of like taking hardcore and the violence it brings (in this comparison I am thinking of hardcore like Emmure) and injecting it with a good dose of evil like Venom or Behemoth, for example. The resulting combination of musical gene-splicing may result in a band like Carnifex who seem to go for the jugular and the cranium with their attempts to shock (just check the album art) and bludgeon into submission. Does it work? Somewhat.

Music Review: Whitechapel - A New Era of Corruption

In 2008 I picked up an album by a group called Whitechapel. I was completely unfamiliar with them and to be honest I am not quite sure why I did. The album was called This is Exile and I was treated to forty-minutes of solid deathcore. I liked it. It was aggressive, unrelenting, and came with a lot of energy. Great? No, not really, but I liked it well enough and that was all I needed. I do not always approach music with a critic's ear and this was one of those records. Well, now it is two years later and the young quintet is back with their second album for Metal Blade and third overall. It is time to turn on critic side and think about if I really like these guys or not.