Instrumental death metal track entitled "Sacrilege" for the upcoming EP "Unholy Divination"

Sacrilege

In this interview recorded May 13, 2023, Xander talks with singer Chaney Crabb from deathcore tech-proggers Entheos during their tour stop in Nashville TN opening for Whitechapel!

Excerpts from the Entheos track "Absolute Zero" (Time Will Take Us All, 2023) used with permission from the artist.

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The Great Metal Debate

Metal Debate Interview - Chaney Crabb of Entheos (05-13-2023)

Welcome back to The Great Metal Debate podcast. Today we are looking at the album Terrasite released on May 12th via Metal Blade Records. 

A band's overall evolution can go in many directions but I feel Cattle have managed to outdo themselves with my personal favorite album Monolith of Inhumanity and they continued to kick ass with their 2015 banger The Anthropocene Extinction. 4 years we have become humanoid cockroaches trying to survive in a bleak uninhabitable world.

The first track "Terrasitic Adaptation" is a decent openerbut doesn't really induce much head banging. Probably not a song I would choose to be on a live set list but it's okay. The next song "We Eat Our Young" has a very "Forced Gender Reassignment" feel to it but with a slowed chorus and even a slight soft spot moment when guitarist Josh Elmore clearly taps a foot pedal.

Another thing to point out is how well the drums sound in the mix and I've noticed that David McGraw seems to really put those cymbals to great use. His capabilities are on full display in "Scourge of the Offspring" along with Travis showing off his full vocal range.

"The Insignificants" begins with more blast beats and the traditional metal riff performed by the band's other guitarist Belisario Dimuzio. Traviscontinues to bludgeon us with his insane gutturals followed by a more haunting sounding spoken word section towards this song's conclusion.

One of the heaviest songs on the albums is  "The Storm Upstairs". I love how Josh and Belisario work together to bring us their chug riff and a guitar screech during the song's intro. Bassist Olivier Pinard helps to tie everyone's instruments together.

The next song "... And The World Will Go On Without You" is a great song but despite the lyrics and vocals not being drastically different from a song from a popular hard rock band, Tell me it doesn't sound like the chorus from the song "Alone I Break" by Korn.

The 3rd single and music video released for this album called "A Photic Doom". This song isn't quite as memorable as some of these other new tracks because the instruments have a cluster of noise structure as opposed to better riffs we've heard thus far. There's still no mistaking that this is indeed a Cattle Decapitation song but there's only one thing that seems to stand out about it. The classic stop and start moment during the halfway point followed by the first and only guitar solo on this entire album. I would like the spoken word section at the end of this song a lot more if it didn't sound so faded out.

"Dead End Residents" is another track on this album that seems to be another filler track that lacks a lot of quality and disappointingly enough, the same can be said for the first half of the next track "Solastalgia" with the exception of Oliver's standout bass riff. However, there's a dark and gloomy redeeming point after that when the track suddenly emanates a sense of foreboding.

The finale "Just Another Body" begins with an eerie vibe only to completely blow us all away with Cattle Decapitation giving us everything they got. Some of David's fastest drumming explodes on this one but obviously not for the entirety. There's a lot to unpack with this one with Travis further expanding his vocal prowess. From the mid-section to the conclusion, he manages to sound like a completely different person.

Instead of giving this album a numerical score like I usually do, I have decided to go with a quick tier ranking list. Out of all ten of their studio albums, I would place this one at 7th place which beats out the previous album at 8th place. 9th and 10th place go to the first 2 grindcore albums. This isn't really a bad thing because the four albums I put before it are just my favorites that I have frequently revisited over the years. Terrasite is only worth a solid honorable mention.

Metal Debate Album Review - Terrasite (Cattle Decapitation)

Welcome back metal heads to another episode of The Great Metal Debate podcast. It's Xander again and today we are going to be talking about the new album titled All Heads Are Gonna Roll from Swedish death metallers vomitory. This is the band's 9th full length studio album that was a bit of a surprise comeback for the group. Vomitory had split up way back in the early 2010s and this is their first album in over 12 years.

Now, I've decided that I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time discussing this album for a number of reasons. First of all, there are quite a few really good albums that came out on May 26th and this is one of many. Reason number two is because of this backhanded compliment I have to give to them.

Vomitory has always been a great death metal band however; they've always been very formulaic in their approach to songwriting. Don't get me wrong, I love vomitory! There is a good reason why I have their patch on my battle vest. But they are among one of the best generic death metal bands out there. Are you looking for something that is just plain death metal with no flare or gimmick? Then look no further than the band vomitory.

Vomitory is a band that is always a crowd pleaser because they never change their sound. Is the reason why people love every Black Dahlia Murder album that has ever come out. It all sounds the same but at the same time it is all really good. Vomitory is the death metal equivalent to a shark. They have no reason to adapt or evolve because they have always been the perfect musical specimen.
If you are a die-hard fan of the band vomitory then there is no reason for me to mention the names of the band members because you already know who they are.

All Heads Are Gonna Roll is yet another crushing album to add to their discography and hopefully we won't have to wait another 12 years to get another album. If we do have to wait another decade, then at least Tobias and Erik can put out a new album from their side project Cut Up to tie us over.

My favorite songs on this new album are "Ode To The Meat Saw" and "The Deepest Tomb". Because this album is great but at the same time nothing groundbreaking, I will give it a solid 7.5 out of 10 rating. Not a favorite of this year but I will definitely keep it on a list for honorable mentions.

Metal Debate Album Review - All Heads Are Gonna Roll (Vomitory)

War Curse are releasing a new album “Confession” via Metal Blade Records. I’m going to briefly touch on each of the album’s 10 tracks, and then give a longer exposition of my thoughts.
 
First up is “The Nothing (That Is Me)”, which begins with some light acoustic guitar transitioning into electric and then riffs generated at a stomping pace. It’s not very thrashy at all, just seeming to awkwardly build but not exactly going anywhere. Track 2, “Fortress Of Agony”, has an unwieldy bridge that transitions into a somewhat dull verse. The solo here is decent if brief. I’m not sure what they’re trying to accomplish with this song.  Frankly it’s not very metal to my ears.
 
Next is the title track, “Confession”. There’s some decent crunching guitars at the beginning, but then the lackluster verse transitions into a chorus that is absolutely horrific. Just terrible execution – this is a full-scale failure on every level. That abortion is followed by “Miracle Broker.” This song is kind of groove metal-ish and perhaps a little proggy at points. The lead break isn’t bad, either.  Not great, but not terrible and probably my favorite track on the album. Next is “Power of the Powerless” which is upbeat in the versing but slows and devolves into an unenergetic chorus. There’s a nice interlude and I appreciate some of what of they do with the drumming. But those points aren’t enough to make up for the overall shortcomings.
 
“The Convoy” starts with some interesting guitarwork and vocal melody. I was hoping those would continue and we’d get some full-blown black or folk metal elements introduced, but alas forthcoming was just mid-paced guitars, vocals with a pretense of anger, and another shit-show chorus. The seventh song is “Return To Dust.” We have an initial quasi-thrashy intro and a touch of a melodic riff before the song turns away from promise to an unappealing shouty sing-song. The sad thing is that I think there’s a decent set of riffs there, but the song construction is so poor that they aren’t allowed to breathe. “Return To Dust” is followed by “Sowing Division” which evinces more of the same poor songwriting featuring faux angst vocals comically assembled. There’s a few nice flourishes by the guitarists here, but putting a scoop of ice cream in a bucket of turds still doesn’t make it taste good.
 
The penultimate track is a cover of a Grip, Inc. song, and finally we end with the upbeat “Illusion Of Choice” which does have a nice kinda proggy intro… and then back to another boring set of verses and a lame chorus.
 
As I listened to this I just kept thinking to myself: what on earth were War Curse trying to accomplish with this album? This doesn’t seem to incorporate any appealing elements of metal music.  Again, I’m not a huge thrash fan, but I think there are some outstanding thrash acts today doing some truly interesting things.  I’m thinking about artists like Vektor, Havok, and Revocation.  Not only has War Curse not moved in the direction of those bands, nor brought in engaging influences from other metal sub-genres like death, power, black, folk, symphonic, tech, etc., they seem to have eliminated what thrashy goodness they previously had.  What metal band sounds like this?  I can’t think of a single one, at least that I’m familiar with.
  
In summary the musical aesthetic on “Confession” is unappealing and devoid of anything memorable or interesting.  I’m shocked at how bad this is because War Curse’s previous two full-lengths were decent and I had no reason to think they couldn’t at least create another adequate album.  Perhaps the most damning critique I can give – and one I don’t give lightly – is that musically this sounds as much or more hard rock than metal.

Album Review - Confession (War Curse)

Welcome back to the Metal Debate podcast, breaking down the new release from British metallers Ingested titled The Tide Of Death And Fractured Dreams.

The album begins with “Paragon Of Purity.” This song is exceptionally tight and focused, with the band unleashing a healthy helping of slam riffs, but also an outstanding reoccurring melodic guitar lead which, two-thirds of the way through, morphs into an intense solo. The song closes in violent fashion with a rolling breakdown and vocalist Evans exploding in a cascade of demonic spit-growling. Track two, “Endless Machine,” is a mid-tempo number in the classic slam vein, although it wanders toward tech death territory as it progresses. 

“Where No Light Shines” has an eerie synth overlay that creates a simple but effective basis for the song’s melody, with the guitar later replicating the synth. It’s a great example of how to seamlessly integrate the death and slam approach. I absolutely love the atmosphere that’s created - just smart, considered songwriting. Probably my fav track on the album. Next up we hear the brutal harmonization of “Starve The Fire.” Evans pulls out nearly every vocal tool in his arsenal, with growls, screams, vocal fry, pig squeals, and rock singing. Guitarist Sean Hynes stays in a support role on this one laying a heavy foundation on guitar with mostly slam riffs and eschewing any lead break. Unfortunately, and despite some memorable lyrics and melody, “Starve The Fire” didn’t seem to be building to anything as an overall composition, and then it just kind of ended awkwardly. On “Expect To Fail” we have plenty of brutality but also the addition of clean vocals performed by Josh Middleton of Sylosis. It’s another mid-paced track, with Jeffs occasionally revving the engine, but mostly the band taking a moderate, meandering approach throughout.

Mid-way through this ten-track album comes a twist with an instrumental number called “Numinous.”  This one is splendid with gorgeous melodic lead and outstanding backing orchestration. When I first heard this, I thought I had inadvertently started playing some Insomnium, because you get a lot of the same ambience here. In truth, there are hints of that melodic death vibe – albeit with different riffing style – throughout The Tide Of Death And Fractured Dreams. Track seven is “In Nothingness,” a fairly straight-ahead composition, mid-paced, with another guest vocal appearance, this time from Mark Hunter of northern Ohio groove-core act Chimaira. The pairing is an interesting one – not what I would have anticipated – and while there is some appeal to the versing structure, the differential created between singers didn't quite work for me.

The energy gets kicked up a notch on “Pantheon” with more slam riffs and pig squeals if you are in the mood for ‘em, as well as classic breakdowns toward the end. Yet still, if you listen carefully, there’s some melodic elements below the surface, and even a bit of catchiness in the versing. Nothing commercial in any sense, but definitely catchy.

Equal in brutality to any other track on the album, but also with a quasi-epic metal feel to it - is “Kingdoms Of Sand.” Somewhat tech-deathy in its precision, at this point you’ll have to have come to appreciate the sophistication of Hynes as a guitarist and composer. The album’s closer “A Path Once Lost” spends its first few stanzas with undistorted guitar and emotive, melancholic singing from Evans. Further in we get some overlapping cleans and growls. The contrast in sound was great, but the lyrical pacing seemed off. A decent track overall, but not among the strongest in my opinion.

This album is excellent, although admittedly there were a few tracks that didn’t quite resonate for me. I’m giving The Tide Of Death And Fractured Dreams a strong 8 out of ten rating. You can purchase the album digitally and in a variety of physical formats through metalblade.com or wherever you buy music.

Metal Debate Album Review - The Tide Of Death And Fractured Dreams (Ingested)

Metal, thrash, punk and more w/ DJ GR/EG. Listen live, 4th Tuesdays, 8-10PM ET on www.greatcircles.net

--METAL BLADE EDITION--
Flotsam And Jetsam - Hammerhead, 1986, 00:00
Hallows Eve - Plunging To Megadeath, 1985, 5:40
Dark Angel - Welcome To The Slaughterhouse, MM VI, 1985, 10:26
Sacred Reich - Administrative Decisions, 1987, 15:09
Hirax - Bloodbath, 1985, 18:33
Slayer - Tormentor, 1983, 20:27
Omen - Dragon's Breath, 1983, 24:09
Overkill - Death Rider, MM V, 1984, 27:06
Armored Saint - Lesson Well Learned, 1983, 30:54
Nasty Savage - Metal Knights, 1985, 33:23
Sentinel Beast - Dogs of War, 1986, 36:04
Savage Grace - Fight For Your Life, 1983, 39:18
Heretic - Let 'Em Bleed, 1988, 43:48
Liege Lord - Cast Out, 1987, 46:49
Scepter - Taken By Force, MM 4, 1983, 49:48
Warlord - Child Of The Damned, 1983, 52:29
Fate's Warning - The Calling, 1984, 56:05
Cirith Ungol - Doomed Planet, 1986, 1:01:06
Trouble - Revelation, 1984, 1:05:24
Tyrant - The Battle Of Armageddon, MM III, 1983, 1:09:50
Attacker - Slayer's Blade, 1985, 1:14:59
Lizzy Borden - Give 'Em The Axe, 1984, 1:18:01
Bitch - Damnation Alley, 1982, 1:20:57
Obsession - The Execution, 1983, 1:24:54
Thrust - Thrasher, 1984, 1:29:45
Bloodlust - Soldier Of Fortune, 1985, 1:33:32
L.N.S. - Deadly Kiss, MM III, 1987, 1:36:47
Voivod - Live For Violence, 1984, 1:39:37
Metallica - Hit The Lights, MM, 1982, 1:44:40
Detente - Shattered Illusions, 1986, 1:48:50
Snowhite - Hell Bent, MM III, 1983, 1:51:58
Viking - Bezerker, 1988, 1:53:43
Hellhammer - Crucifixion, MM V, 1984, 1:57:24

Hessian Aggression w/DJ GR/EG 28May2024

Instrumental death metal project based out of Nashville, TN. Follow me on Instagram --> @ohmygoshitsjuan

Philadelphia-based label, Internet radio and streaming A/V sessions. We document the grit. 

Label Catalogue [digi available for all releases via Bandcamp]
GRCR-001 - Jason Carr - Athletic [12"]
GRCR-002 - Tony G - Tous la Part le Même Sort [12"]
GRCR-003 - _moonraker - m_type [12"]
GRCR-004 - _moonraker  - remota instruere [12"]
GRCR-005 - Westov Temple - Messiah Drugs [12"]
GRCR-006 - Dan Trevitt - The Missing [12"]
GRCR-007 - Dan Trevitt / Westov Temple  - 2.2 mi [12"]
GRCR-008 - M//R - Gathering Response Data [12"]
GRCR-009 - Chaperone - P O N D [12"]
GRCR-010 - Mid-Atlantic Death [2x12" label comp] 
GRCR-011 - WOLF DEM - Hydrophobia [12"]
GRCR-012 - THRIVE - Nested Structure [12"]
GRCR-013 - Prefix Moniker  - Plasmas [LP]
GRCR-014 - Chaperone  - Snapback Balaclava [12"] 
GRCR-015 - M//R - Among The Methods [LP] 
GRCR-016 - Heckadecimal - Murder Tape  [12"]
GRCR-017 - Radere - I Do Not Want What I Have [LP]
GRCR-017R - Radere - I Do Not Want What I Have Remixes [DIGI]
GRCR-018 - M//R - Forever Intended [DIGI]
GRCR-019 - WOLF DEM - Chatter From A Dying Planet [DIGI]
GRCR-020 - Westov Temple - What's Left [DIGI]
GRCR-021 - M//R - Slo Cerebral [Cassette]
GRCR-022 - Chaperone / WOLF DEM - Live August 14, 2021 [Cassette]
GRCR-023 - Grant Bouvier & Simon Martinez - Live at Passages [Cassette]

Podcast where Brian and Gomthog engage in a lively debate of heavy metal music as well as interviewing artists and talking to fans.  Occasional explicit language.

New tracks tagged #Metal Blade