ENTHEOS SHOW THEMSELVES AS WORTHY SUCCESSORS TO ANIMOSITY'S THRONE

Reviewing a release like Entheos' Primal EP is a difficult thing, ever since Evan Brewer announced his departure from the infamous Tech Death group The Faceless I was half begging for the bassist to reform San Fran Deathcore legends Animosity and with Entheos, that is basically what he has done. It would be rather safe to say that I am perhaps a little too invested in Primal.

...All that said, I would be amiss not to talk about it.

In a very real way Primal is exactly what everyone expected from Entheos and in that way alone could it be said to be disappointing. Considering all but one member of the band hails from the aforementioned Animosity, it is not surprising that Entheos sound rather a lot like the later works of their precursor. Animosity were known (or not as the case may be) as an OG Deathcore band, and are one of the few, in my mind, that successfully merged Deathcore and Hardcore into one whole. In the same way 90s Metalcore ala Earth Crisis, Deadguy, Shai Hulud and similar were Hardcore bands playing Slayer, Animosity were a Hardcore band playing Cannibal Corpse; they took the technical aggression of Death Metal and added Hardcore elements to an even greater extent than Suffocation did before them.

It was a very different world back then, when genre names actually had some basis in the music being played and Screamo didn't just mean angsty Pop-Rock.

As has already been said Entheos share many similarities with Animosity, especially their Animal era, though the Hardcore influence has been lessened somewhat. These riffs from Entheos are equal parts pin-point precision technicality and bone breaking, ear destroying heaviness. Guitarist Frank Costa has seemingly lost nothing since his days in Animosity. The rhythm section is comprised of technical and progressive heavy weights Even Brewer and Navene Koperweis. Since their time in Animosity Brewer played bass with The Faceless and Koperweis drums with Animals As Leaders, there are arguably few better places that each could further refine their chops. It is possible that the perfectly balanced production makes it more obvious than the murky fuzz of old Animosity albums, but Evan Brewers bass work reaches dizzying heights on this release. Never content to keep it simple, Brewer manages to find new and interesting ways to match the progressive ferocity of Costa's riffs. The EP’s name sake track, Primal, shows perhaps the best example of this, where Brewer unleashes a slap bass part unparalleled in modern Death Metal. Koperweis’ beats fit in perfectly too, with drum patterns often sounding deceptively simple when compared to their actual complexity. Some of those timings make my head spin. If you don’t believe me, check out this play through:

The odd player out in Entheos, is vocalist Chaney Crabb, who isn’t just in the band because she’s dating Navene Koperweis. Her vocals are absolutely monstrous and Veil of Maya really missed out when they didn’t hire her after Brandon Butler left in 2014. Her audition performance was so good it was considered news worthy by Metal Injection and it’s not hard to see why. Crabb is a great choice to front the second coming of Animosity and I’m sure Veil of Maya are regretting their choice now.

As I said before the only complaint that can be truly leveled at the Primal EP from Entheos is that a band comprised of mainly members of Animosity, sounds basically like Animosity. For those who have missed Animosity has much as I have, this EP is a perfect return to the heights of that band. For those who have never heard of Animosity and like heavy music that knows how to groove as well as tech the fuck out… well where the hell have you been. Don’t wait another second, listen to the Primal EP... and then some Animosity.

4.5/5

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MAKE SURE BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME ARE IN YOUR MEMORY PALACE

Okay, okay, let me come clean. While there isn't exactly a STREAM of the new track, Memory Palace from Progressive Metalcore titans Between The Buried and Me's new album, Coma Ecliptic (even though the single is apparently officially released today) you can buy it off of iTunes. Though for the rest of us, here's a sample:

A video posted by Between the Buried and Me (@btbamofficial) on Apr 2, 2015 at 10:37am PDT

It's certainly a BTBAM track, but it has a certain old school funkatude which we've not heard from these guys before. It sounds almost Dream Theater-esque! I'm awaiting the full release with baited breath, as I'm sure, are many others.

If and when the full track becomes available, it'll be put here, totally invalidating the first half of this post.

UPDATE: Well that didn't take long.

“Memory Palace” is the debut single from BTBAM’s new album, Coma Ecliptic, which comes out in July of this year.

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LET SULPHUR AEON TAKE YOU TO THE ANTISPHERE

Sulphur Aeon's 2012 release, Swallowed By The Ocean's Tide, is perhaps the best Lovecraftian Death Metal album ever released.

Now No Clean Singing are streaming the follow up, Gateway To The Antisphere  in full!

It's around this point you're meant to get down on your knees and pray to uncaring Gods in the face of a vast and unknowable void. You should probably get to it. Ola Larson's album art alone is enough to send you insane.

Sulphur Aeon capture the horror and insanity of Lovecraft's work brilliantly and have here put out a journey to the deepest, non-euclidian depths of R'lyeh, where dread Cthulhu waits sleeping.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

Stream the album here; open the book, turn the pages of forbidden knowledge.

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ROCK SOUND MAGAZINE DO THEIR FIRST (AND MAYBE LAST) INTERESTING THING

Rock Sound is the UK version of Revolver… or is Metal Hammer the UK version of Revolver? What does that make Terrorizer?

Oh never mind… point being that Rock Sound is a “Metal Mag” in the same way that Nescafe Gold Blend is a proper cup of coffee; weak, bland and flavourless.

However even the most repetitive of mainstream alternative mags can sometimes do something great, and in this case this thing is this rather ridiculous looking covers album Rock Sound are putting out in an upcoming issue. This is no Pop Goes Punk, re-releasing of Master of Puppets, Video Game sanctioned series of War songs, or anything like that; there’s no forced theme here. As far as I can tell it’s just bands recording songs they like.

The line-up is mixed between things no-one in their right minds would think about twice (and some I've never even heard of) and some real interesting looking combinations, take a look-see.

In this writers opinion at least, Stray From The Path covering seminal Deftones radio hit Back To School has potential to be the most ridiculously great thing since Upon a Burning Body covered Turn Down For What. Enter Shikari covering Chop Suey! and The Defiled covering the good era of Bring Me the Horizon has potential too.

Read Rock Sound's own hype-jargon on the matter over on their website.

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LAMB OF GOD DRUMMER CONFIRMED FOR MEGADETH ALBUM

There were rumours flying about a plenty as of late in relation to Lamb of God drummer, Chris Adler, playing with Megadeth for the, surely not as awful, follow up to the really awful Super Collider. 

Well it turns out to be true in a rather unsurprising twist, considering Adler seems more than happy in being a hired hand for an album, playing with Protest The Hero in a similar capacity.
In an interview with Wondering Sound, Adler talks on how bands like Megadeth were the first infection that caused his lifelong struggle with the incurable raging drum fever.

Dave's the guy that made me want to go fast. There's so much power in what he does — both him and Gar Samuelson, who was the original drummer from Megadeth,. I think Gar was a little more jazzy, which I really liked, and I probably spent more time trying to emulate Gar than Dave, but both those guys were the guys who made me want to get faster. Now I realize that's kind of a fickle goal, but [Dave] was obviously one of the innovators, one of the first to do what metal is kind of known for now, with double kicks, and he's still absolutely one of the best.

Dave Mustain has a few kind words for Adler in return... whilst tooting his own horn of course:

Chris is a tremendous talent, and an amazing person. He is going to bring a new level of excitement and energy to Megadeth that the fans are going to lose their minds over. I have nothing but respect for my previous drummers, but this is going to absolutely KILL! Back in 1989, Megadeth originally worked as a three piece — guitar, bass and drums — when we laid down the framework to our Grammy-nominated platinum album Rust in Peace. I want to thank the other members of Lamb Of God for allowing this opportunity to take place for all of us in the metal community.

I would exposit on how the addition of Chris Adler’s incredible skill and hard hitting metal stylings will be a huge benefit in the recording process of the as yet un-named Megadeth album. This is Dave Mustaine we’re talking about, and while he may have mellowed in recent years, he is still Megadave and Megadeth is still his baby. I would not be surprised if Adler’s creative input on the writing process was minimal, but we shall see. I think I can speak for everyone when I say, I hope I'm wrong.

Adler is said to be joining new Megadeth guitarist Kiko Loureiro, best known as part of the Brazilian band Angra, for the recording of their new album at some point in the future.

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INTERNET NEARLY COMES TO END AFTER H&M'S SPRING LINE IS TROLLED HARDCORE

Rock and Metal fans are no stranger to more mainstream outlets co-opting their music of choice. From UK retailer Sports Direct stocking Burzum shirts to various pop musicians sporting boutique battle jackets in some misguided trend attempt, alternative music fans have seen it all... And more importantly love to get on their high horse about it.

Hypocritical complaints from Metal heads about people wearing metal clothing and merch to be edgy aside, there is one thing no-one has seen before. Fake Metal merch. Not only that, but fake Metal merch backed up by fake bands, fake songs and fake record label samplers. This example of bizarre commercial choices comes from clothing retailer H&M with their new Spring line. A series of garments sporting logos from bands that don't exist. Take a look see.

Recently news has spread like wildfire across the internet, mainly from Metalsucks.com that H&M were coupling these bands with demos, fake Metal Archive entries and even a fake record label. People took visceral pleasure it seemed in pointing out that the styled NSBM bands meant that H&M were supporting White Supremacy and Neo-Nazi's. I mean it looks like H&M went to quite a length to create legitimately believable music and profiles, including ones that were accurately cringe worthy.

GREY (Germany), gothic metal from Leipzig.
The band was formed in late 1993 by Draken (guitar, drums ) and his wife Vampiria (vocals, keyboards). Draken (Uli Becker) and Vampiria (Magda Schultz) met each other when Vampiria was studying opera singing at the Rudolf Weingott Musikschule in Chemnitz. Even though she was only 16 years old, she was also considered as one of the most talented singers in Germany. And when her beautiful voice was combined with the genius work of self-taught multi-talent Draken, GREY was found.
In 1995 Napla Records released their debut album "Wine and Tears" (recorded and mixed by Hans Holtz @ Blitzkrieg Studios, Leipzig). The album was praised by the press worldwide (9/10 Mental Hammer), but did not find it's audience.
Band changed their language to German and made one more demo "Der Herbst", but decided to quit soon after that. After GREY Vampiria has visited in various metal albums but due to laryngitis was forced to quit singing.

This however, as funny as it is, isn't quite the case. I mean yes, someone went out of their way to create all this content… but it wasn't the retailer in question.

It was however, a feat undertaken by the folks over at Strong Scene Productions, the totally real label every band is coincidentally signed to. The long and short of it is that a collection of metal musicians came together to a) troll the crap out of everyone, b) comment on mainstream appropriation of metal and how it’s more than an aesthetic. Henri Sorvali of Finnish metal bands Moonsorrow and Finntroll gave an interview over at Noisey that will sum up his involvement, and the general project, better than I can here. Though all you really need to see is this:

The purpose of the group (consisting of literally tens of people from different areas of music and media around Scandinavia) was to create discussion on the fact that metal culture is more than just "cool" looking logos on fashionable clothes, and has many more aesthetic and ideological aspects in different subgenres than what some corporations are trying to express. The metal scene is varied, controversial and a sort of a wolf you can't chain into a leash and expect it to behave on your terms like a dog. Strong Scene as a collective has absolutely no political nor ideological intentions, and is only bringing the conversation to the level it should be discussed at. Think of us as the one-time "Yes Men" of metal music.

If that wasn't enough then see this Facebook post from Strong Scene Productions themselves. Though even this doesn't seem to stop Metalsucks from getting butt-hurt over being proved wrong and they are claiming “who does that” on the entire thing.

YOU ALL HAVE BEEN UNDER INFLUENCE OF THE STRONG SCENE.We have never stated to collaborate with H&M in any way but only...
Posted by Strong Scene Productions on Monday, 23 March 2015

After the chuckle and guffaws subside I’d like to question if it was effective. These generic aesthetics were coupled with generic sonic creations to create a believable entity.

Would Mystic Triangle be out of place on Southern Lord as Sgt D claims?

Can you really not imagine Crepuscular being part of the South American Black/War Scene?

Would it be so hard to believe that Blast were part of the extreme thrash/proto-black metal scene that mixed Teutonic Death Thrash with the sensibilities of Venom?

If it’s so easy to fake it with a mix of corporate marketing and generic metal music then what exactly has been proved? That Metal is easy to fake convincingly? That it’s too easy to rile up Metal heads? That the pallet from which the Metal artist has to so cripplingly small that you can throw random parts together and have something that can be accepted as metal?

Whatever it actually proves I think it speaks more negatively about the limiting nature of the genre's traditional core facets than it does about mainstream appropriation.

Though I think we can all agree that one thing that can be proved for certain is that those clothes are atrocious… but it still doesn't beat this… THING put out by a real, for serious, alternative clothing brand.

(If this picture instantly blinded you then yes, that is a long sleeve shirt printed all over to look like a Denim Cut-off. I'm sorry.)

Serious aspects of the Metal scene are capable of being even more ridiculous than people who don’t really “get it.”

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FREE MUSIC MONDAY: 23/03/2015

Free Music Monday does exactly what it says on the tin. Every Monday I will scour BandCamp for only the best free albums.

Free Music.

Every Monday!

Got that? Good.

Let's begin. 

Desolate Horizons - We'll Never Fade Away

I feel it’s vaguely lazy to compare the work of Russian Shoegaze/Ambient musician known only as “C. Horizon” to the work of Andrei Tarkovsky. I could easily be blamed for likening to two simply because they’re both from the same part of the world, but I’m going to do it anyway, but for good reason.

Listening to this latest album from Desolate Horizons, my first thought was of Tarkovsky’s Soviet era film STALKER (yes the one the game was based off of.) STALKER is a snapshot of an empty, pointless world that yields not but fear and uncertainty to those foolish enough to probe into its barren corners in search of an ill-defined “more”. We’ll Never Fade Away has that same feeling. It is an album brimming with both hope and emptiness, light and airy float through grandiose melodies that are brimming with sadness. It is the sun rising gloriously over a dead world. The song titles don’t help the sad mood, with tracks such as we loved each other long before we met... when we were just a lonely dreamers and as long as there's a light in the sky, i'll be waiting for you; it is an album packed to the brim with as much quality as feels.

I can imagine this acting as a perfect score to Tarkovsky’s STALKER possible an even better one than the unofficial soundtrack written by Lustmord and Robert Rich. If beautiful melodramatic depression in the form of ambient music sounds like your thing, then you’ll feel right at home here, for what it’s worth.

Lights & Motion - Chronicle

Bleak Russian Dark Ambient isn’t the only highly atmospheric free release we’ve come across this week. Chronical is a Cinematic Post-Rock release from Swedish One Man Project Lights and Motion. If We’ll Never Fade Away is the soundtrack to a movie released decades too late, Chronical is the optimistic soundtrack to what you hope your future will be and the sepia-toned score to the life you’ve already lived simultaneously.

Chronical is an organic merger of crescendo driven Post-Rock ala Explosions In The Sky and ethereal dream pop worshipping at the churches of M83 and Coldplay; even at times seeming to channel Neo-Classical composers such as Craig Armstrong. While you’re not going to find the complexities found in Post-Rock’s best works (such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor) you do find an immensely beautiful album that gives you as much as you give it. This is an album to sit in the dark drinking a glass of scotch with whilst reminiscing over the good ole’ days. The emotion and drama found in Lights and Motion’s output proved tenfold by the Swedish Solo artists recent breakthrough into film scores, with works gracing trailers for Homefront, Transcendence, Lone Survivor and even being used by Google for a commercial.

Guitars shimmer darkly, a Violin murmurs distantly and a Piano twinkles beneath a sky lit only by stars. Tomorrow is another day and you wish you could take everything you have forward with you. 

But you can't. 

Revel in it. 

treestepstotheocean - Migration Light

Why stop at two? Why not make this article a trifecta of mildly pretentious instrumental music? Migration Lights is the 2015 release from the Italian Post-Metal outfit threestepstotheocean (one word, lower case; that’s probably important.)

Migration Lights is a brash yet introspective affair channelling Post-Metal releases from bands like Isis and Neurosis and mixing it with the sludgy dragging qualities of Metallic Hardcore and the more ethereal qualities of Post-Rock. Sneeringly introspective Migration Lights isn’t trying to relax you, but that doesn’t prevent it from reaching for echoy guitars and breathy synths and drones to couple with the crushing distorted guitar tones. Instead threestepstotheocean focus on the negative aspects on life, hate, loss, aggression, depression, all conveyed without a word.

As with the other two albums featured here, Migration Lights is an incredibly powerful experience. Where as We’ll Never Fade Away is existential thought on the futility of being and Chronical is an emotional scrapbook, Migration Light is a punch to the gut and a swift knee to the face, coupled with the realisation that this is real life and that it’s a difficult place to be. As the album art implies, it’s an exploration of a world turned on its head. A grit filled, aggressive rollercoaster of brutality and contrasting fragility. If the artsy-ness of the previous two albums turned you away, you can get all your emotional pretence with your brutal credibility intact with threestepstotheocean and Migration Lights.  

Interested in having your band featured on this weekly article? E-mail us at pyramidnoise@gmail.com with the subject line "Free Music Monday" with links to your Bandcamp page. 

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