Written in Blood

Mother God Moviestar
Interscope

Put this down on my “surprised the shit out of me” list for ’98. I picked this CD up on one of my routine “shopping” trips at SLUG HQ. I normally only take what’s in my box, then escape before subjecting myself to one of the evil SLUG editor’s amusing little quips. On one recent trip I took a quick glance through the “unclaimed freight” stack of CDs that are destined for use as beverage coasters and found one by a band called Mother God Moviestar. Cool cover, decent name, so-so song titles — I’ll give it a listen. W.O.W.!! This is one of those few bands that define what being a crossover band is all about. I can’t really explain it, nor do I want to, but I remember D.R.l.‘s Thrash Zone as being a good example. Mother God Moviestar sounds like it could be a good techno band, but at the same time has a really good guitar, bass and drum player in the band that keep a solid human feel to the music. I don’t have a bio for this band, but their music speaks for itself (ouch, that cliche hurt). You can tell by listening that Mother God Moviestar is fond of and good at manipulating the music in the mix, but they also like to keep the human touch evi­dent. The last four songs on the CD are remixes and show how capable this band is of being pure techno. I’m not sure exactly who this band is geared to appeal to, but they have the metal vote.

Earth Crisis
The Oath That Keeps Me Free (live)
Victory

Earth Crisis, champions and one of the most vocal bands of the straight edge movement, played and recorded a show in Syracuse, New York. The con­cert was a benefit  to raise money for guitarist Kris Weichmann‘s father who was in need of a costly operation. The Oath That Keeps Me Free is the first live album Earth Crisis and shows that words backed up by action can be a very powerful thing. The CD opens with a cover of Cream‘s “Sunshine Of Your Love”. The CD also contains some of the band’s favorites as well as some other rare nuggets. Earth Crisis will be taking their message of positive living on tour this spring with Hatebreed and Strife.

AREA 51 (Hardcore Compilation)
Victory

So you need more hard-core music to make your pathetic lives more livable? If that’s the case, then take a deep breath and dive into the hard-core compilation AREA 51. This CD marks the 50th anniversary of the Area 51 conspiracy. Will we ever know the real truth? Who knows? One thing we do know is that this CD is one of the most comprehensive looks at what today’s hardcore from around the world has to offer. AREA 51 contains 54 bands with over two and a half hours of music. The CD features Ajuuca, Deviate, No Redeeming Social Value, Surface, Earth Crisis, Next Step Up, Stigmata, Fahrenheit 451, Compression, Transpunk, Celestial Season, Sifter, etc… and that’s just the first dozen bands. Listen to this CD in its entirety and you’ll have all of the evidence that you seek.

King Diamond
Voodoo
Metal Blade

King Diamond, pioneer of black metal, king of darkness — you pick one. The King has released another one of his storytelling albums with long time collaborator, guitarist Andy La Rocque. The theme album Voodoo takes place around a Louisiana mansion in 1932. A couple, expecting a child, move into a mansion which is situated on sacred land. Voodoo, superstitions, the powers of evil and graveyards are all contained in the King’s tale and all play a part in the madness that ensues. Prepare — once a King Diamond album is released, it’s only a matter of time before a Mercyful Fate album follows. Spooky.

Disordered
Documentaries Of Disgust
Slaughterhouse Records

Layton, UT — death metal capital of the…well maybe not, but it is the home of the grind-gore band Disordered formed in 1993 and is Matt Garrett (guitar/vocals), Todd Weir (drums), Mike Kimball (guitar) and John Norton (bass/vocals). Early demos from the band include Within the Mind of a Mortician and Disfigured Corpse. Disordered’s latest (first on CD) recording is Documentaries Of Disgust and includes five new songs, the three songs from Disfigured Corpse and one song from their Within the Mind of a Mortician demo. All of the band’s earlier material was reworked and rerecorded before being added to the CD. Documentaries Of Disgust was recorded at Sound Image Studios. Disordered’s style of metal has been coined “Pathological Grind-Gore”, lyrics dealing with the kind of surgical practices you wouldn’t expect to find going on at the LDS Hospital. The first three songs have the word “carrion” in them and some kind of scraping, cutting, or exhuming is going on in each of the songs. Read the lyrics and expect a gut-churning good time. The band wanted to mention that the member of Disordered that was charged with breaking and entering, theft, etc. had been cleared of all charges by Ogden police (Which proves once again kids — misdemeanor crime and death metal just don’t mix!) You can get Documentaries Of Disgust  at The Heavy Metal Shop or by contacting Slaughterhouse Records.

Unsound Mind
Time Will Pass
S.I.S.

Salt Lake’s very own Unsound Mind is releasing their CD Time Will Pass. Although the band has been in existence for about three and a half years, this is the first time you’ll be able to hear their groove-laden brand of metal committed to CD format. Time Will Pass was recorded at Sound Image Studios in Salt Lake. Members of Unsound Mind include Gabriel Edgar (vocals/gui­tar), Michael Maestas (bass), Darren Mancino (guitar) and Travis Jiron on drums. Travis Jiron appears on Time Will Pass, but remains a mem­ber of his band Wicked Innocence. What does this mean to the drummers of the world? The band Unsound Mind is looking for a drummer to fulfill the human aspect of their line-up. This band doesn’t limit itself to traditional song structure. Once the songs on this CD get started, the only boundaries encountered by this band are their limitless musical imaginations. All of the members of Unsound Mind play an instrument, which is probably at least in part responsible for the long instrumental sections in most of their songs — the CD even features a 6+ minute instrumental (track 4, “420”). Unsound Mind proves that even though Salt Lake’s beer may be weak, its metal will stay strong. You can pick up Unsound Mind’s Time Will Pass at The Heavy Metal Shop.

Mortician
Zombie Apocalypse
Relapse

Those zombie luv’n funsters from New York City, Mortician, are back with another installment of gore splattered mania. This twelve track CD, aptly titled Zombie Apocalypse, is about…well, zombies. (If you’ve heard enough, please move on to the next review.)  Okay, so you’re still with me. It might interest you to know that the band added covers from the bands Slaughter (Canada) and Repulsion. On Zombie Apocalypse, Mortician upholds their strongly-held, single-minded lyrical visions and their music follows suit. These boys know what they like — Zombies and horror films. The question is, if these guys are selling zombies, is anyone buy­ing them? There’s only one thing I ask from my music…more brains please.

Soulfly
Roadrunner

Former head-honcho for the band Sepultura, Max Cavalera, is releasing an album with his new band Soulfly. According to Max, his main influences for the album were the energy he gets from his new bandmates and also the feelings he experienced from the death of a good friend. Musicians enlisted for Soulfly were Roy Mayorga on drums (ex-­Thorn), Jackson Bandeira on guitar (ex-Chico Science), and Marcello Rapp on bass (former Sepultura roadie). There are enough similarities between Soulfly and Sepultura that you can tell Max was in both bands — for instance, his voice and guitar riff selection — but at the same time they are definitely different enough that the two won’t be confused. Soulfly’s sound reflects the experimental nature Cavalera wanted from his new band. Max continues to add a touch of Brazilian flair to his music, but also delves into areas left untouched by his previous band. Guest musicians from Fear Factory, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Dub War, Cypress Hill, and Chico Science were also featured on the album.

Soilent Green
A String Of Lies
Relapse

To mark their move from Dwell to Relapse Records, Soilent Green has record­ed a three-song EP titled A String Of Lies. S.G. formed about ten years ago in New Orleans and from the sounds of it have spent the last decade fine tuning their manic playing style. Stylewise, this band mixes grind, speed, and sludge core to come up with their sound. The ten years the band has been together gives Soilent Green’s music a more mature feel from their multi-styled approach. Track one, “Sewn Mouth Secrets,” is also the tentative title for the band’s full-length due out at the end of the year.

Cannibal Corpse
Gallery Of Suicide
Metal Blade

Take a walk with me through the Gallery Of Suicide. This is 14 tracks of new and improved Cannibal Corpse. On the last album we heard new vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher in action. This time around, we find Cannibal Corpse skimming the cream off of the top of the pool of available musicians in search of a replacement for guitarist Rob Barrett. The band’s newest “corpse” is ex-Monstrosity and Nevermore guitarist Pat O’Brien. O’Brien jumped right in, getting involved with the writing of some of the material, including the instrumental “From Skin To Liquid”. This album is the most musical Cannibal Corpse to date. I don’t know if it’s because of the new “blood,” but this album has more musical layers than previ­ous outputs by the band. Violence and gore are the best words to describe the lyrics: “His blood drips from my mouth. I bit his larynx out. Biting off fingers when he tried to push me back. Chopping at his face in hate (We learn earlier in the song that the chopping is taking place with the help of a screwdriver), I gouge and hack. Crushing the despised.” Gallery Of Suicide will be out on April 21st

Facedown
The Twisted Rule The Wicked
Nuclear Blast

Although I may be stereotyping the majority of bands that come out of Europe, one of the things I really like about Sweden’s Face Down is that they don’t sound like they are European. It just seems to me a lot of  the heavy bands out of that area are moving away from being heavy and are incorporating too many goth-sounding influences in their music. This may be another stereotype, and I’ve said it before, but just about every band that comes out of Sweden is bound to be great or at least really good. Must be something in the water. The Twisted Rule The Wicked is the second full­ length for Face Down. This band’s guitar propelled approach brings the melodies to the front, and is the basis for the structure of their songs. Did I mention that this stuff is heavy? Fans of bands like Meshuggah should check this out. —Forgach

Read more from the archives:
Record Reviews: November 1997
Human Waste Project

If you enjoy digging through the archives, consider joining our community of donors!