The Apparatus

 Friday, 14 November 2008 Extreme death metal is a genre well-trodden, and it takes a whole lot of ingenuity to make one band stand out from the next. Hate Eternal is a St. Petersburg, FL-based death metal band that fails to do anything new, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. What we have here is an extremely solid, by-the-numbers account of ten reliable songs balancing speed with technicality. Sound familiar? It should.

Having spent quite some time away from the genre, this release only cemented my viewpoint on this genre: it's not going anywhere, but it doesn't really need to. I have no prior experience with Hate Eternal. Chalk it up to my relative disinterest with finding new, exciting death metal bands. Chalk another one to my disappointment with those over-hyped death metal bands that I wanted to deliver exciting and groundbreaking music but didn't cut it.

Bands like Hate Eternal, and there are lots, stick themselves in a rut, only to further refine and develop their sound in future albums. This particular album features the addition of Shaune Kelley of Ripping Corpse and Dim Mak, two legendary acts with a legendary guitarist. Even though Kelley only has few writing credits on 'Fury & Flames,' his involvement is felt and is much appreciated. The solos he performs on some of these tracks are so spacey and melodic in a way that most bands of this caliber do not possess.

The general writing style is good, if predictable, and the technical playing skills are superb. It's hard to play this music. It's probably a bit hard to write, too. That makes me think of why so many talented folks that have this kind of physical and mental dexterity, yet continue to make music that doesn't really push new grounds? I'm not talking about revolution of music here; I'm talking about simple evolution. Death metal music has evolved a lot since its beginnings, but as of the last ten years, it hasn't done much of anything else.

Most of the record has a lot of mood for a death metal album. The intro and final tracks are effective, but I feel the best songs on the album are the first five. Usually, a lot of death metal albums run out of steam halfway through, because I've already heard the bulk of all available ideas at that time. Then, it's just retreading the same stuff for the next twenty minutes. This was more or less the case with 'Fury & Flames.' It's not a bad album; in fact, it's quite good at what it does. It has a lot of care, tact, and conviction behind it. The players are spirited and are experts at their craft. I believe that Hate Eternal is a band that will push for the evolution of the genre. This album has the genre essentials down so well that I feel it's time for the band to lead the genre to step in a more interesting direction.

 Monday, 20 October 2008 I can't think of a stranger mix of music to blend than breaks and hardcore. I also have trouble swallowing remixes, as they oftentimes critically miss the point of the original work (Aphex Twin -- '26 Mixes for Cash'), or deviate so far in the other direction that it is a non-issue (Ephel Duath -- 'Pain Remixes the Known'). Happily, this release from Berlin-based artist Drumcorps (Aaron Spectre) not only captures the spirit of Animosity, but he uses the talent and originality already present in those Animosity tracks to create an EP that is ultimately better than the original recordings.

I wasn't too wild on Animosity's 'Animal.' It had great promise, and even a couple amazing starting songs, but the whole thing cannibalized itself by the halfway point and became a mish-mash of tired hardcore music pitfalls and half-baked deathcore tendencies. Thankfully, Drumcorps came to the rescue. The insane IDM noodling he performed ended up bringing out the intensity and aggressive nature of Animosity.

The song titles are anagrams of the original tracks--wild re-workings of "Tooth Grinder," "Progression in Defeat," and "Bombs Over Rome," respectively. "Thin Retro God" is the best track, as it is the most telling of the whole experience. Vocals are distorted, drums are inhuman and turned up way too loud, guitars end up being a fuzzy mess...but it all sounds wonderful. I had a huge smile on my face the entire time, and it was still too short of an experience at just over ten minutes. There needs to be a full-length of this album. It elevates the status of both Drumcorps and Animosity. This release also compelled me to listen to 'Animal' again.

This should set the gold standard for all remixes: take the original track and make what worked in its favor even more pronounced and hyper. Everyone with a passing interest in either band, hardcore, IDM, remixes or sound in general should download this. It's free, and the file quality is better than what you will get on CD. True fans should buy the increasingly rare, limited to 1000 copies, vinyl version of this. This kind of brilliant artistic avenue should be rewarded with monetary support. Note that there are four different versions, but many are sold out. On top of that, the vinyl's presentation is one of the most beautiful pieces of work of all time. Real care was put into this from all fronts and it shows.

 Monday, 29 September 2008 Coming from Lancaster, PA, this melodic hardcore band does share similarities with fellow statesmen A Life Once Lost and August Burns Red in the guitar department. All these bands take some present-day American hardcore riffs -no doubt influenced by European metal bands of years past- and put a heavier, breakdown-tinged spin on it. However, TOTA is a bit classier, as many hardcore music cliche's don't come all the way through, and this will probably attract many more users than initially intended.

There are, fortunately, scant few breakdowns in sight, and the ones that are here are off-timed and interesting. This band, led by some lightning-fingered guitar playing, manages to carve a great sound out of a genre that was starting to get old four years ago. This album is very successful in making metal that is both tonally pleasing, yet is technical enough to satisfy some discerning ears. Granted, I don't consider myself part of the core audience, but I see the value in this album. The playing by all members is very solid, if somewhat traditional given the genre's trappings.

The downside to this album is a persistent one. Because the avenue in which this band operates is so well-trodden, this band exists as a flipside to a familiar genre. There is very little that truly stands out as groundbreaking and revolutionary, but since the actual arrangement of the songs lends itself some authenticity, this can be overlooked by fans. You'll know within one minute if you'll like this act. It's solid, if predictable, melodic hardcore.

 Sunday, 10 August 2008 The long out-of-print, sought-after debut by NY's now-defunct The Sawtooth Grin still remains one of extreme technical metal's most unsettling releases of all time. At a short fifteen minutes, these seven tracks have more changes, odd notes, and strange creative choices that still entertain many years later. For those unfamiliar with the band's sound, imagine the noisy grind of Daughters or Robinson, inject some Psyopus for wackiness, and then filter it through a broken Nintendo soundcard. This album sounds like crap, is extremely hard on the ears, yet it has an unbelievable amount of staying power.

These talented musicians have thrown every semblance of traditional songwriting out the window to create something that can only be called metal. Yes, it's grindcore, avant-garde, hardcore, but it's all of these things to such an end that you can't really figure out what it is. It's The Sawtooth Grin, and that's all I can figure out. Tracks four, five, and six are probably the brightest moments on this album, because they are the most tonally diverse and very representative of the band's sound. There is no ground these guys aren't afraid to cover.

I can't help but imagine that the songwriters here purposefully wanted to piss of their listeners and give them an experience they will not forget. Nobody will feel apathetic to this album; you will get an extreme reaction either way. Personally, I really like the intent of this band: go where few have gone before and make it super caustic. However, it does remain kind of same-y at the end of the day. After ten seconds, you know what to expect for the remainder of the album.

For a band that only released around twenty five minutes of material, what we are left with is very entertaining and worthwhile. It's most certainly not for everyone, but those that do find joy in this kind of aural abuse will intensely love this. This kind of stuff begs to be rereleased by Debello or 187 Records. It's too strange to be forgotten.

 Sunday, 10 August 2008 I have had no previous experience with this long-running French band, but under brief review of previous albums, it seems that this act has had a diverse career. Formed in 1996 in Lyon, Destinity played black metal, and then transitioned into symphonic black/death metal. Now, the band has delivered their sixth full-length - 'The Inside' - and has found itself comfortably settled in the melodic death metal style with some symphonic touches thrown in. In this overcrowded market, how can Destinity stand out?

If you can ignore the bland cover art, you will find an album of extremely tight playing and solid songwriting. The key phrase here is care. The overall songwriting and presentation feels very meticulous and genuine, if it doesn't do anything remarkably different. The songs all have a very similar structure and don't stray too far from what the previous song set up. Vocals are typical of the genre: raspy and from the gut. However, the vocalist shows very good range and is quite adept at delivering subtle tone. Guitar playing is fine, allows time for clean breaks and soloing, and is generally on-the-ball and technical. The drums, while centered on consistent double-bass, do change it up now and then, but remain reliable.

The hook here comes from the symphonic arrangements. Many songs during the second half of this album close out with a beautiful orchestral arrangement with lots of strings and flourishes. Additionally, there are clean back up vocals that punctuate key passages ala Blind Guardian. These little details make what would have been an average melodic death metal album into a very classy record.

The aforementioned symphonic touches and overall ease of listen will help fans of this genre decide if Destinity is right for them. Fans of Anata, early The Haunted, and early Children of Bodom will undoubtedly find something great here. For me, Destinity's approach is a good one. I have been disinterested in melodic death metal for many years now, yet this band brings me back in. It's good, solid music by anyone's definition.