Your End -- Le sombre triomphe (review)

Band: Your End
Album: Le sombre triomphe
Genre: blackened death/grind/sludge
Year: 2017
Label: independent

Your End started out as an extreme metal duo in 2017, but they sound as if they've been honing there sound for at least half a decade.  Needless to say, these guys exist to deliver sludgy, HM-2-driven black/death.
The EP opens with my personal favorite track, "Endless Agony."  The sludgy riffing and crushing breakdown set the morbid tone for the hail of frantic blasts and dark melodies that follow.  When the band kicks it into high-gear, the songs sound as if they are on the verge of falling apart, like all the screws are loose and everything is violently rattling.  As a result, the music sounds urgent, as if Your End is trying to record the whole thing before they shatter into oblivion.  That may not sound so good on paper, but the EP benefits from this greatly.
The pacing of the music varies from frantic blast beats to slower sludge metal passages.  There are plenty of riffs and melodies to make each track stand out from the rest.  The vocals are very much a cross between black metal rasps and grindcore growls and grunts.  The track "Dead Before Dawn" even briefly features some more emotive vocals.
Overall, Le sombre triomphe is an excellent, raw debut release from this American extreme metal duo (now a trio).  I highly recommend procuring their full catalog.  You can download this EP (for free/name your price) on bandcamp.


Rating: 4 / 5
Top Tracks:
Endless Agony
Dead Before Dawn
Drain

Slaughterbox -- The Ubiquity of Subjugation (review)

Artist: Slaughterbox
Album: The Ubiquity of Subjugation
Genre: technical/melodic deathgrind
Year: 2011
Label: Amputated Vein Records

My introduction to this band came from my interest in finding the world's fastest drummer.  A number of forums pointed to Slaughterbox, specifically their song "Fit for Human Consumption."  I checked it out, and it's safe to say that this was not a letdown.  Pete Chavez is an absolute machine behind the kit.  Whether or not his playing is legit or computer-aided is up for debate, but the speed of this album is, without a doubt, undeniably insane.  Tracks like "Arrogance and the Loss of Human Dignity" and "The Head Table" showcase the band's ability to play highly-technical compositions at (nearly?) inhuman speeds.
Slaughterbox is first and foremost a tech-death band in the vein of Viraemia, but they manage to bring in unique elements (aside from their ridiculous drummer, of course).  Each track showcases a powerful melodic section that shifts the pacing from a violent wank fest to an emotional, equally wanky one.  The title track even makes use of clean guitar parts combined with buzzing double bass rolls.  These passages set Slaughterbox above their contemporaries in my books.
One last feature that sets this album apart is the vocals.  They are a combination of pig squeals and high-pitched shrieks, and they're all done by the drummer!  His vocals definitely take some getting used to, as he often sounds like he is about to completely blow out his voice, but with time the vocals seem to meld nicely with both the technical and melodic sections.
I highly recommend this album to fans of Brain Drill, Viraemia, and Origin.  Definitely not the kind of music that can be appreciated on the first listen, but this album is a real treat if you give it time.  You can stream the album on YouTube here.


Rating: 4 / 5
Top Tracks:
Fit for Human Consumption
The Ubiquity of Subjugation
Manifest Destiny of the New World Order

Implore -- Depopulation (review)

Artist: Implore
Album: Depopulation
Genre: blackened deathgrind
Year: 2015
Label: Pelagic Records

I am writing this review in anticipation of the Friday release of the band's sophomore album.

Implore are a relatively new trio from Germany, yet they sound as if they are veterans of the European metal scene.  The band's sound is a seamless mixture of crusty grindcore and HM-2 buzzsaw death metal (a la Dismember) with a blackened overtone.
The band rips through fourteen tracks in under thirty minutes like any good grindcore band would, but they manage to pack the record with diverse arrangements.  From short bursts like "Cadavers On Parade" to more drawn out numbers like "Hegelian Dialectic," Implore manage to weave together an aggressive masterpiece that not only pummels the listener but also provides more crushing sections.  "Ruthless Conspiracy" and the aforementioned "Hegelian Dialectic" both showcase the band's ability to slow down the tempo without losing steam.
Depopulation manages to stand as a single body of work as opposed to fourteen individual parts thrown together thoughtlessly.  Each song bleeds into the next by means of brief feedback interludes; therefore, the flow of the album is never broken by silence or a (often tasteless) track fade-out.  Samples are also used throughout the album, but the band does not use them as a crutch to spice up an otherwise boring album.  Rather, brief samples are woven into the compositions as a means of enhancing the dark atmosphere already conjured by the guitars.
Implore does not just ravage the listener with wave after wave of blast beats and riffs.  They also tastefully weave crushing breakdowns into their compositions.  Tracks such as "Sentenced" and "Bohemian Grove" prove to be excellent headbangers amongst the grinding chaos.  The album closer, "Inexorable Malignancy," contains one of the greatest breakdowns I have ever heard (and I've listened to a lot of slam...), and the band top it off with a powerful lead that I feel punctuates the album perfectly.
This is easily one of the best albums of 2015, and it's exciting to see that it is only Implore's first full-length.  Be sure to give this record a spin; you can stream it on YouTube here.


Rating: 4 / 5
Top Tracks:
Inexorable Malignancy
Epicyte / Parasite
Sentenced
Bohemian Grove