Hemotoxin - Biological Enslavement
Pittsburg, California’s Hemotoxin really deliver the goods with their new full-length entitled “Biological Enslavement”. Despite a decent discography dating back to 2011 and contaning a handful of demos, EP’s and even a live album, this new release is my introduction to the band. I must say it is a damn fine introduction at that! Being labeled as a progressive death/thrash band really hits the nail on the head here and the blending of the 2 genres has not been done this well since the late 90’s. This release is about as perfect as a bi-genre release can get.What you hear in these 9 tracks is nothing short of love and the utmost respect for these 2 genres of metal, and it is to the point that you can almost feel the passion for this music bleeding from the speakers.
The guitar work here is fabulous! Pretty straight forward in presentation yet with a slight technical edge that seemingly straps you in for the ride. I would have to say that there is a 50/50 blend of thrash and death metal riffing. Just when you hear 1 thrash riff, they follow it up with a death riff and it goes back and forth like this through each tack. This band has a certain “flow” to their playing. Nothing is forced or made to sound more brutal that it is in the conception stage. Everything from this aspect of the music is laid out for you to just soak in. At some times, you can even notice a very slight power/progressive vibe in the riffs. Mind you, it is slight and just enough to accent the material. Same way with the solos. Crisp, clear, and positioned at just the right moments in each track to help in this continuous “flow” I spoke of earlier. The drums on this release are just as precise and deadly as every other aspect of the music. It doesn’t sound like to me that anything is triggered which is a plus. I don’t consider triggers a bad thing, I just feel that on some releases it’s not necessary. With that being said, if the drums are triggered it would surprise me. It is a typical style of drumming, but played with a lot of passion and 100% on-point accuracy. No overly fancy drum-rolling or any other spectacular tricks to oversell the album. None of that is needed with the talent and ability this drummer has. The first time I put this CD in it absolutely floored me. As soon as I heard the music, it reminded me so much of what Death recorded during the Human/Individual Thought Pattern albums. Then, when I heard the vocals, my jaw dropped and i had the coldest chill run through my body. In many aspects and from my perspective, this guy sounds a lot like Chuck did on those albums. This is no joke people. I swear that if you didn’t know about this album and band and you heard this CD, you would swear it was an unreleased Death album. It is that damn good. I would hesitate to call Hemotoxin a copycat band and the reason being is that there are enough twists and turns in this release to make this sound their own. They are another band that has taken the blueprints and foundation laid before them and have continued to build upon the visions that Chuck Schuldiner and other metal masters and grand masters had in their minds when they were creating music. This release is completely other-worldly and you can hear it in every riff, snare, bass line, and vocal.
This album was released by the always and ever impressive Unspeakable Axe Records. I highly recommend this release to fans of any genre of metal as I believe this band has something to offer every fan of the genre as a whole. The unrelenting talent of this band is evident and shines through without a shred of doubt. This band deserves everyone’s support and I can say that they have definitely earned mine. Releases like this are why metal, and more specifically, death/thrash metal will never die!
The guitar work here is fabulous! Pretty straight forward in presentation yet with a slight technical edge that seemingly straps you in for the ride. I would have to say that there is a 50/50 blend of thrash and death metal riffing. Just when you hear 1 thrash riff, they follow it up with a death riff and it goes back and forth like this through each tack. This band has a certain “flow” to their playing. Nothing is forced or made to sound more brutal that it is in the conception stage. Everything from this aspect of the music is laid out for you to just soak in. At some times, you can even notice a very slight power/progressive vibe in the riffs. Mind you, it is slight and just enough to accent the material. Same way with the solos. Crisp, clear, and positioned at just the right moments in each track to help in this continuous “flow” I spoke of earlier. The drums on this release are just as precise and deadly as every other aspect of the music. It doesn’t sound like to me that anything is triggered which is a plus. I don’t consider triggers a bad thing, I just feel that on some releases it’s not necessary. With that being said, if the drums are triggered it would surprise me. It is a typical style of drumming, but played with a lot of passion and 100% on-point accuracy. No overly fancy drum-rolling or any other spectacular tricks to oversell the album. None of that is needed with the talent and ability this drummer has. The first time I put this CD in it absolutely floored me. As soon as I heard the music, it reminded me so much of what Death recorded during the Human/Individual Thought Pattern albums. Then, when I heard the vocals, my jaw dropped and i had the coldest chill run through my body. In many aspects and from my perspective, this guy sounds a lot like Chuck did on those albums. This is no joke people. I swear that if you didn’t know about this album and band and you heard this CD, you would swear it was an unreleased Death album. It is that damn good. I would hesitate to call Hemotoxin a copycat band and the reason being is that there are enough twists and turns in this release to make this sound their own. They are another band that has taken the blueprints and foundation laid before them and have continued to build upon the visions that Chuck Schuldiner and other metal masters and grand masters had in their minds when they were creating music. This release is completely other-worldly and you can hear it in every riff, snare, bass line, and vocal.
This album was released by the always and ever impressive Unspeakable Axe Records. I highly recommend this release to fans of any genre of metal as I believe this band has something to offer every fan of the genre as a whole. The unrelenting talent of this band is evident and shines through without a shred of doubt. This band deserves everyone’s support and I can say that they have definitely earned mine. Releases like this are why metal, and more specifically, death/thrash metal will never die!
- Decadence
- Regression
- Minus Human
- Not Of This World
- Forgotten Faces
- The Alchemist
- Bleak Prognosis
- A Journey Through Dreams
- Transparent Eyes
