Reviews written by: Dave Ingram Jr.

Reviews

Sodom - In War And Pieces

Let's get one thing out of the way right off the bat here: Sodom fucking rule. They've released what are now considered mandatory thrash classics with the likes of "Agent Orange", they're one of the few thrash bands that managed to brave the rather bleak 90s when thrash was deemed 'uncool' - though admittedly, they did three more crossover-sounding...

20/11/2010

Laceration - Realms Of The Unconscious

Writing death-thrash is a very fine art with an exceptionally acute balance needed - those who manage it do it exceptionally well, but those who don't fall flat and sound rubbish. Perhaps this is the reason that there have been next to no real death-thrash bands and/or albums since about 1995, despite some former giants such as Protector continuing...

18/10/2010

Groan - The Sleeping Wizard

Every so often a band will come out of absolutely nowhere and deliver an album that will knock you on your ass, and here we've got a prime example. Considering the fact that they've only been around for about a year, Groan's debut album could easily fool the casual listener into thinking the band has lay dormant for the past thirty or forty years i...

07/10/2010

Clockwork - Clockwork

If you're a guitar player and a metal fan who really knows their stuff, then the name Tommy Vetterli will make you really, really excited. Perhaps best known for his career with Coroner and a brief stint with german thrashers Kreator (playing on the "Outcast" and "Endorama" records), Tommy is without question one of the greatest and most underrated...

02/07/2010

Soulfly - Omen [Special Edition CD + DVD]

Yes, I've decided to review this again. After the album's official release I felt it neccessary to purchase the special edition of "Omen" for completion purposes, only to find out that this album isn't (quite) as bad as I initially thought. I still find some aspects of the main record extremely disappointing ('Bloodbath and Beyond') or just plai...

13/06/2010

Neuroma - 2010 Promo

As you can probably guess from my review of their songs on the "Northern Discomfort" split, Neuroma are batshit insane. An extremely good death metal band with some of the most brutal songwriting around these days, but any band that has songs about how annoying homeless people are and dingoes eating babies are going to be thrown into the loony bin...

08/06/2010

Sleep - Dopesmoker

There's nothing better than some good old fashioned Black Sabbath style stoner doom - and Sleep are the best of the best, even being hailed by Ozzy Osbourne himself as the band that sounds the closest to classic Sabbath that he's ever heard - now that has to account for something. After the release of 1993's astonishing "Sleep's Holy Mountain", the...

24/04/2010

Soulfly - Omen

I think anyone who likes their metal will agree with me when I say that Soulfly's last two records were pretty fucking good. After spending the best part of a decade trying to expand upon the foundations Max Cavalera made with Sepultura on "Roots", he finally decided enough was enough and released the frankly brilliant "Dark Ages" album in 2005 - a...

23/04/2010

Gorguts - The Erosion Of Sanity

There's nothing like some good old fashioned death metal. Back in the early ninties it was probably the biggest thing since Metallica, with bands like Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent Creation and Benediction doing the rounds... but what about Gorguts? They're another band who tend to get shoved aside, yet they're relished and hailed by their f...

09/04/2010

Annihilator - Annihilator

Let's face the facts here people: Jeff Waters is a genius. He's a man who has managed to brave the relentless waves of trends and make a near flawless track record for himself with Annihilator - bar a few dud albums, he's done pretty well for himself. Everyone may cite 'Alice In Hell', 'Never Neverland' or 'King of the Kill' as his best works, but...

08/04/2010

Neuroma - Northern Discomfort

I'll get this out of the way first and foremost - "Northern Discomfort" is a split album, with Liverpool's Neuroma on side A and Hartlepool's Dawn of Chaos on side B. The reason I'm listing this as a Neuroma release is because I am only reviewing Neuroma's part of the record here since Dawn of Chaos' side is pretty atrocious and I didn't want this...

18/03/2010

Solstice - To Dust

I absolutely loved Solstice's self-titled debut (or "The Sentencing" depending on which version you got) and I thought that their second record "Pray" was a pretty brilliant album too - so when I heard that they were going to be releasing a new record, to be honest, I crapped myself with joy. How couldn't I? Solstice are one of my favourite death-t...

28/01/2010