Cardiac Arrest 'Vortex Of Violence' review

CARDIAC ARREST

'Vortex Of Violence'

(Ibex Moon Records)

I have been lucky enough to follow this great band since their debut CD from 2006, 'Morgue Mutilations', now up to their fourth masterpiece of old-school horror-gore drenched style of death rot. The band has unleashed 'Vortex Of Violence', their most devastating release to date featuring 11 songs of uncompromising, aggressive death metal in its truest form - heavy, straight forward riffs and solos that are both relentless but also original and varied as you can tell each of the songs apart of one another which is not easy task in this form of metal. Adam Scott's vocals have never sounded more sick or vicious, his growls are definitely some of the best of the best in scene today. 'Vortex Of Violence' will definitely go down as one of 2012's best death metal releases of the year. Do yourself a favor and buy this, it will please both long-time and new fans of this great Illinois band.

(Patrick)

Cardiac Arrest MySpace 
Cardiac Arrest Facebook 

Lifeless review

LIFELESS 

‘Beyond the Threshold of Death’ 

(Ibex Moon Records)

Strangely enough, but despite being probably the biggest metal market in the world, Germany has not been able to produce a single death metal band that will make the fans of the style go apeshit wild about. And I know for a fact that there’s a myriad of death bands in the country, and that most of them are sounding well rehearsed and rather decent, still somewhat missing that little special extra bit that could elevate a band from being ‘good’ into ‘godlike’. I’d like to be proven wrong (keep your promos coming, pals) but this Lifeless’ album hardly goes against this trend. This just doesn’t seem to be as gritty and menacing sounding as their influences seem to require – and I can bet these guys are heavily into the good stuff from the 90’s. Dismember, Grave, Entombed, Deicide, Morbid Angel – everything you’d care to mention of this ilk is on here, and it shows. The songs are never sloppy and the added blast beats could be great occasionally but despite all that I’d be hardly pressed to give this album much more spins now, after my little review for it has been completed.

Lifeless Myspace 

Cardiac Arrest review

CARDIAC ARREST

‘Haven for the Insane’ 

(Ibex Moon Records)

Don’t you just love it coming across an album that gives you an extra energy boost, especially in this gloomy time of the year? Well, apparently I do, as evidenced by the fact that Cardiac Arrest’s third full-length has remained in my player for some heavy, and well deserved I hasten to add, rotation for the last couple of days. Yeah, screw the coffee and give me more of this – extreme death metal that puts you in a sort of battle mood that I find absolutely essential in order of overcoming the daily grind. Speaking of which, Cardiac Arrest have also added bits and pieces of both grindcore and obnoxious crust punk to their already lethal death metal arsenal(the good ole “One-two, fuck you” has always been a winner !), which to me explains the immediate catchiness of the tunes. A good time should be had by all while this comes out of the speakers – it has some seriously monstrous vocals, loud bass lines, hard hitting drumming and quite a hefty amount of driving guitar riffs and solos, resulting in songs that are bound to stuck in your head. Seeing this band live should be a real thrill, I reckon.

(Vladimir Petrov)

Cardiac Arrest Myspace 

Reviews : Ibex Moon

GRAVEHILL 

‘Rites of the Pentagram / Metal of Death’ 

(Ibex Moon Records)

Bullet belts, whisky bottles, spiked armbands, old school death metal and thrashing madness aplenty. How could one not love that? Well, don’t ask me that question since I really dig this band’s music and couldn’t care less for those unfortunate wimps who’d prefer their metal clean, nice sounding, sterile and devoid of hellishly unclean fun. Yep, I said ‘fun’ in a death metal review, get used to it. Gravehill sound as if they have been put to hibernation in the late ‘80’s/early 90’s and awaken now, going straight to the jugular, like the barbaric entity they really are. Ugly, gritty, powerful and genuinely dedicated to the metal of death, this is a real die hard’s delight that shouldn’t be missed. Matt Harvey has joined Gravehill recently, now that’s good news for the fans, and a good prediction for the next full-length of the band.  

Gravehill Myspace

CALIBER 666 ‘Blood Fueled Chaos’ 

(Ibex Moon Records)

These guys have incorporated in their name the number associated with that particular band from ‘Europe, Victoria, Australia’ that I simply love, so we’re on a dubious start already. Caliber 666 is a Swedish band, however, and it shows on this debut album of theirs, as musically this certainly is a nod to the works of all those bands that made Sweden synonymous to death metal back in the early and mid 90’s. The band more that clearly pronounces their influences, as both L-G Petrov and Matti Karki make cameo appearances on a song each, so you know what you’re in for, even if I’m not big on such moves generally. By now everyone should have guessed the sound – solid rhythm section (extra points for mixing the bass guitar loudly), melodic guitar chops that sound quite Dismember-inspired overall and a growling vocalist who manages to be coherent enough for the style. Not surprisingly original, mind you, but a decent catch of death metal, just check them out whether they’re up to your own standards of cool, or not. Don’t be a lazy bastard, nowadays a good find could be two mouse clicks away. Oh, the times…

Caliber 666 Myspace