Well, guess you saw this one coming. With last week's post of some of the more beautiful, ambient sounds being brought into the Ripple Office by our fearless postman, Sal, it was only a matter of time before we did a little round-up of some, maybe not so ambient sounds. Yeah, that sounds good. We'll call these discs "non-ambient" and leave you fully warned and prepared for what awaits you.
Hellmouth - Destroy Everything, Worship Nothing
Just butt-ugly, brutal fucking slime metal coming at you with the ferocity of an entire division of hellspawned artillery shells aimed right at your bowels. The title for this disc just about says it all; this is the musical equivalent of gargling with live hand grenades. Expect to be shredded and bloody when it's over.
No matter which way you slice it, this is a non-stop assault of crawled-out-from-under a rock detritus. But what the title doesn't tell you is that these decrepit punk metallers can play. Forget their world view of universal disdain, the choking on their own spit vocals, and their general hatred for everything ever created by humanity, and what we have left is a brutalizing attack of perfectly performed punk hardcore melted to a nasty underbelly of ferocious thrash metal.
Songs like "Pick A Coffin," blast your cerebral cortex apart like a neutron bomb zeroing in on a rabbit unsuspectingly let loose in the target range. Bile. Venom. Disgust. Yep, it's all here, as is the otherwise intense ugliness of "Overtime in a Shark Cage," and "Heathen Son in the Eyes of Blood." But what you may not suspect is the textural mood changes of the slowed down bass-throbbing intro to "Oblivion and Utopia," or the old-school NWOBHM riffery of "Pawnshop St. Christopher," or the straight up thrash of "Dust." You definitely won't be prepared for the standout track "Blackest of Voids," with its grand epic nature and downright perfect melodic guitar attack. Black Flag, Venom, Sabbath, Celtic Frost, yeah, they're all here too, but there's so much more. A screaming mound of vomit metal, still steaming in it's own juices. So fantastically ugly that in the end, it's actually beautiful. Definitely worth checking out for the fearless. I know for a fact, that I'll be spinning this disc at the Ripple office often. But be prepared. As the Hellmouth boys like to say, "Hellmouth is a fucking place to call home."
www.myspace.com/666hellmouth
Helltrain - Rock 'N' Roll Devil
Continuing on our hellbent journey, plunging down to the depths of the netherworld and traversing the waters of the River Styx, wouldn't it be nice to have a grotesque, smoke and bile spewing, chugging, hell-spawned locomotive waiting to carry us along? As if to answer our pleas, Helltrain come raving out of the mad, fire-belched underbelly of Sweden, roaring with all guitars ablaze as if singed by the flames of hellfire itself. Mixing clean and distorted guitars, and vocals that can only be described as the sound of a man eating his own pancreas, Helltrain's latest disc keeps us motoring headlong on this mad journey at a blistering pace.
"Rock 'N' Roll Devil," starts off with just about as near perfect a charging riff as a metal song can have. Mixing up their sound with open strumming and palmed riffing, Helltrain literally explode out of the speakers with this flaming, horned, slime-coated beast. The open passages remind me of the recently demised and sadly missed Sentenced, echoing with a chiming, nearly-light sound, while the palmed riffing is just a freaking perfectly chugging assault. Instantly captivating, this mother catches your attention all the way to the end, introducing us quite effectively to the devil these guys know. A flat out raver and worthy of every second it plays!
"My Little Stars," throws in some near ambient keyboard textures, before the massive guitar sound kicks in. Sounding even more reminiscent of Sentenced here, the boys manage to plow a fertile field between the terror of death metal, the passion of thrash and the taste of a more pop flavor. Big open guitars dropping down into a terrorizing chugging riff, while the singer spews his self-cannibalized voice over a lost lovers lament. Amazingly brutal yet grotesquely beautiful at the same time. The Helltrain gang, call this ungodly noise, "death and roll," and I gotta go with that, employing the sheer brutality of death metal but branding it kicking and screaming to a rock and roll heart. Forget blast beats, here we just get a freaking assault of everything we love about rock. This is made most clear on "You're the Man," as infectiously engaging a death metal/rock hybrid as you're ever going to find. "Hear Them," is a full-on attack of the senses, punctuated by a blow-the-subwolfer awesome bass solo and some strong riffing. "Ghouls," plays up the theatricality of the hell-spawned theme to disgustingly putrid effect, with a big, otherworldly vocal chorus declaring the intent of the grim reaper's visit to your house tonight. If I were you, I'd sleep with one eye open.
Start to finish, a non-stop gem. Besides "death and roll," I've seen the band call themselves "punk ass rot n roll." Yeah, I'll go with that one too. This is music to make you tear up the floorboards and confess to murder. Yeah, it's that good.
Buy here: Rock 'n' Roll Devil
www.myspace.com/punkassrotnroll
Sinner - Crash and Burn
Continuing on with our hellish theme, '80's metal monsters Sinner have come raving back with an effort worthy of taking a high spot in their extensive catalog. And let's face it, you don't get to hell unless you've sinned quite a bit. Brandishing their tightly crafted, Accept-styled metal with some fiery virtuosity and a flash of NWOBHM, Sinner enter the later part of the millennium's first decade with all pistons motoring. "Crash and Burn," is as strong a slice of pure German metal as I've heard in ages with a tyrannosaurus-sized guitar riff slicing through the air raid siren intro. Immediately it's clear that Mat Sinner has lost none of his fire as a vocalist, his tone deep and throaty, adding a leatherclad touch of menace to the hard-edged guitars. Like Saxon at their best, this is a pure riff-mad raver, holding deep to melody while never forgetting how to rock the fuck out.
"Break the Silence," enters with the albums best riff, chugging along at a mid-tempo pace with feedback flourishes, down and dirty, deep and heavy. This is an instant neck whipping, fist pumping, future Sinner classic, complete with a mid-song solo that'd make Micheal Schenker drool. (If he isn't drooling already.) "The Dog," picks the speed back up like some demented AC/DC-early NWOBHM Maiden hybrid, or Rose Tattoo on crack, with a snarly gangland, punk-energized call-and-response chorus. "Revolution," is perhaps the most straight-ahead rocker on the album, blasting straight outta the 'eighties with all the brim and fire of a modern classic. Big looping, blues-twisted guitar hooks over an incessant percussive heartbeat. Add in a melodic, nicely harmonized chorus and we got ourselves the formula of another winner. The song that was too heavy for AC/DC to make, or Coverdale with a full nut sack? You decide.
Big Lizzy flourishes add energy to tracks like "Connection," and "Heart of Darkness," twin guitars flying as if time had stood still. But it hasn't. After nearly 30 years in the business, Mat Sinner has to be thought of not only as a rock and roll survivor, but one of it's more consistent assets. Don't go looking here for any IQ testing noodling albums, just full on kick in the scrotum rock and roll. And damn if that isn't a good thing.
Thanks for joining us on your journey to hell. Tray tables and seat backs up for landing. It's going to be a rough one.
--Racer
Buy here: Crash & Burn
www.myspace.com/sinnerofficial
Sinner - Revolution
Hellmouth - Destroy Everything, Worship NothingJust butt-ugly, brutal fucking slime metal coming at you with the ferocity of an entire division of hellspawned artillery shells aimed right at your bowels. The title for this disc just about says it all; this is the musical equivalent of gargling with live hand grenades. Expect to be shredded and bloody when it's over.
No matter which way you slice it, this is a non-stop assault of crawled-out-from-under a rock detritus. But what the title doesn't tell you is that these decrepit punk metallers can play. Forget their world view of universal disdain, the choking on their own spit vocals, and their general hatred for everything ever created by humanity, and what we have left is a brutalizing attack of perfectly performed punk hardcore melted to a nasty underbelly of ferocious thrash metal.
Songs like "Pick A Coffin," blast your cerebral cortex apart like a neutron bomb zeroing in on a rabbit unsuspectingly let loose in the target range. Bile. Venom. Disgust. Yep, it's all here, as is the otherwise intense ugliness of "Overtime in a Shark Cage," and "Heathen Son in the Eyes of Blood." But what you may not suspect is the textural mood changes of the slowed down bass-throbbing intro to "Oblivion and Utopia," or the old-school NWOBHM riffery of "Pawnshop St. Christopher," or the straight up thrash of "Dust." You definitely won't be prepared for the standout track "Blackest of Voids," with its grand epic nature and downright perfect melodic guitar attack. Black Flag, Venom, Sabbath, Celtic Frost, yeah, they're all here too, but there's so much more. A screaming mound of vomit metal, still steaming in it's own juices. So fantastically ugly that in the end, it's actually beautiful. Definitely worth checking out for the fearless. I know for a fact, that I'll be spinning this disc at the Ripple office often. But be prepared. As the Hellmouth boys like to say, "Hellmouth is a fucking place to call home."
www.myspace.com/666hellmouth
Helltrain - Rock 'N' Roll DevilContinuing on our hellbent journey, plunging down to the depths of the netherworld and traversing the waters of the River Styx, wouldn't it be nice to have a grotesque, smoke and bile spewing, chugging, hell-spawned locomotive waiting to carry us along? As if to answer our pleas, Helltrain come raving out of the mad, fire-belched underbelly of Sweden, roaring with all guitars ablaze as if singed by the flames of hellfire itself. Mixing clean and distorted guitars, and vocals that can only be described as the sound of a man eating his own pancreas, Helltrain's latest disc keeps us motoring headlong on this mad journey at a blistering pace.
"Rock 'N' Roll Devil," starts off with just about as near perfect a charging riff as a metal song can have. Mixing up their sound with open strumming and palmed riffing, Helltrain literally explode out of the speakers with this flaming, horned, slime-coated beast. The open passages remind me of the recently demised and sadly missed Sentenced, echoing with a chiming, nearly-light sound, while the palmed riffing is just a freaking perfectly chugging assault. Instantly captivating, this mother catches your attention all the way to the end, introducing us quite effectively to the devil these guys know. A flat out raver and worthy of every second it plays!
"My Little Stars," throws in some near ambient keyboard textures, before the massive guitar sound kicks in. Sounding even more reminiscent of Sentenced here, the boys manage to plow a fertile field between the terror of death metal, the passion of thrash and the taste of a more pop flavor. Big open guitars dropping down into a terrorizing chugging riff, while the singer spews his self-cannibalized voice over a lost lovers lament. Amazingly brutal yet grotesquely beautiful at the same time. The Helltrain gang, call this ungodly noise, "death and roll," and I gotta go with that, employing the sheer brutality of death metal but branding it kicking and screaming to a rock and roll heart. Forget blast beats, here we just get a freaking assault of everything we love about rock. This is made most clear on "You're the Man," as infectiously engaging a death metal/rock hybrid as you're ever going to find. "Hear Them," is a full-on attack of the senses, punctuated by a blow-the-subwolfer awesome bass solo and some strong riffing. "Ghouls," plays up the theatricality of the hell-spawned theme to disgustingly putrid effect, with a big, otherworldly vocal chorus declaring the intent of the grim reaper's visit to your house tonight. If I were you, I'd sleep with one eye open.
Start to finish, a non-stop gem. Besides "death and roll," I've seen the band call themselves "punk ass rot n roll." Yeah, I'll go with that one too. This is music to make you tear up the floorboards and confess to murder. Yeah, it's that good.
Buy here: Rock 'n' Roll Devil
www.myspace.com/punkassrotnroll
Sinner - Crash and BurnContinuing on with our hellish theme, '80's metal monsters Sinner have come raving back with an effort worthy of taking a high spot in their extensive catalog. And let's face it, you don't get to hell unless you've sinned quite a bit. Brandishing their tightly crafted, Accept-styled metal with some fiery virtuosity and a flash of NWOBHM, Sinner enter the later part of the millennium's first decade with all pistons motoring. "Crash and Burn," is as strong a slice of pure German metal as I've heard in ages with a tyrannosaurus-sized guitar riff slicing through the air raid siren intro. Immediately it's clear that Mat Sinner has lost none of his fire as a vocalist, his tone deep and throaty, adding a leatherclad touch of menace to the hard-edged guitars. Like Saxon at their best, this is a pure riff-mad raver, holding deep to melody while never forgetting how to rock the fuck out.
"Break the Silence," enters with the albums best riff, chugging along at a mid-tempo pace with feedback flourishes, down and dirty, deep and heavy. This is an instant neck whipping, fist pumping, future Sinner classic, complete with a mid-song solo that'd make Micheal Schenker drool. (If he isn't drooling already.) "The Dog," picks the speed back up like some demented AC/DC-early NWOBHM Maiden hybrid, or Rose Tattoo on crack, with a snarly gangland, punk-energized call-and-response chorus. "Revolution," is perhaps the most straight-ahead rocker on the album, blasting straight outta the 'eighties with all the brim and fire of a modern classic. Big looping, blues-twisted guitar hooks over an incessant percussive heartbeat. Add in a melodic, nicely harmonized chorus and we got ourselves the formula of another winner. The song that was too heavy for AC/DC to make, or Coverdale with a full nut sack? You decide.
Big Lizzy flourishes add energy to tracks like "Connection," and "Heart of Darkness," twin guitars flying as if time had stood still. But it hasn't. After nearly 30 years in the business, Mat Sinner has to be thought of not only as a rock and roll survivor, but one of it's more consistent assets. Don't go looking here for any IQ testing noodling albums, just full on kick in the scrotum rock and roll. And damn if that isn't a good thing.
Thanks for joining us on your journey to hell. Tray tables and seat backs up for landing. It's going to be a rough one.
--Racer
Buy here: Crash & Burn
www.myspace.com/sinnerofficial
Sinner - Revolution
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