HATEFUL (Ita) Coils of a consumed paradise CD. 2010.

Undead hopes.
Floating... in the envelope of the dead.
My second imaginary skin,
revives energies and strengths so long buried.
And I revive,
at the source of what is nothing.

This is quite some time since Italian Hateful released their last recording, which was a 3 tracks CDr demo, and the style didn't change as it's a continuation and development of the genre they embraced: Quite complex and quite technical death metal with an appeal for what's brutal and blasting.In this music, I hear a clear taste for what could be called "old school brutal death", understand something taking from the vibes (And ways of riffing) from more or less the first 3 SINISTER albums (It's not exactly the same style and atmosphere, but...), blasting assaults à la old MORBID ANGEL and something "modern" like later polyphonies à la Trey Azagtoth, complicated stuffs from mid old IMMOLATION, some mental chaos à la GORGUTS (Last albums), the "composed" aspect of SUFFOCATION on "Souls to deny"... Well, I know quoting a couple a famous bands doesn't help so much to have an idea, but the music is quite varied in the brutally obscure spectrum so a precise description would be quite unclear...This album could be misunderstood as "grind" at the very first unfocused listenings, because of the quite in-your-face approach, short duration of the songs, and fact it often changes of riffs... But if you really listen you'll hear the guitars have much more to do with metal.A particularity is the fact riffs do not repeat very often, it's articulated around a lot of different themes and changes... It won't make it easier for peoples to get into it, contrary to the usual chorus stuffs, and I know some peoples would reject it... But I think this is not so hard to get into since the whole keeps an in-your-face aspect.The production wasn't triggered at all, and sound natural, which gives a quite "hot" atmosphere and natural rendering to the whole... It doesn't displease me."Coils of a consumed paradise" could be an interesting alternative for those who like brutal death/ death metal in a quite "complicated" manner, with some atmosphere, and don't feel concerned with the escalations of ultra brubrubrutal, mind-over-feeling technical stuffs or unreasonably computer manipulated performances this scene has fed us with. I don't say it's a perfect or killer album, but it might be worth the money, which becomes rare in this genre... http://www.myspace.com/hatefuldeathmetal

OCEAN OF ZERO (Australia) The wake Demo tape. 2010. BLOODY OATH Recs.

Look what the cat dragged in... Another piece of plastic with two big holes and various other smaller cavities... I had no other choice than to introduce it in the player for the brutal rape begins! (Think about it, each time you listen to a tape, it's deflorated by a rapping machine and its erected pieces of iron or plastic!)The OCEAN OF ZERO moniker reminds me some American brutal death or grindcore influenced bands who released demo around 2002... So it this the same genre? Did our cat forget the frolics through the park, or is there something edible to gnaw as angry hungry rats from Hungary?Just put your fingers on the table, and listen while I randomly strike with the knife... The genre of this Australian band is located somewhere between regular Death metal from the beginning 90's and old school brutal death, but the playing is a bit more complicated than old school revisionism and contains more technical elements... I hear quite a lot of similarities with early CRYPTOPSY (When they were good) minus the blasts and in a possibly more "evil" manner, while I also happen to think about DEFLESHED's first demos/ MCDs for the early brutal death that came with evil touches, but you can also hear the appearance of evil-mind patterns and chaotic leads à la early MORBID ANGEL (Before "Altars of madness"), a bit of midly brutal stuff à la old old DEICIDE, some regular US brutal death from 1998, a touch of early ANGEL CORPSE ("Hammer of gods"), and our malestromic shaker is quite full (Too many ingredients doesn't make good cocktails... Unless you like the taste of vomit).This might not be "old school" in the meaning you expected, there's no AUTOPSY influence, not much of early DEATH neither much Swedish riffing; But it's quite fast, it sounds quite refreshing to listen and I guess some peoples will find it kicking.I do not really enjoy of all their elements, some old Us brutal death riffs in the "Fast and groovy" manner sound a little "goofy" in my mind (Not the cookie monster, it’s not the same level) but globally the structuring of songs is quite compact and OOZ are quite catchy in the most epic technical moments.This demo is very short, it contains 3 songs for about 10 minutes, but at least it shows this band can make something dynamic and not too generic... So let's cross our defleshed fingers and see what happens in the future.(If you didn't notice, the first words of this review were stolen to the glam faggots POISON... Fuck you! We hate the pink!)Email: bloodynoize(a)yahoo.com