Salem - Necessary Evil

Today I bring you one of Salem's newer albums, the one they made the switch from their mid-period style to the new one.

This sounds more like modern death metal. This version of Salem seems to have lost those charming Doomi-ish undertones... which is not to say this is bad; just different. But indeed, many people don't like different.
I guess it's not their best album, but it's not half bad in my opinion.

Regardless, I'd recommend this to anyone that likes Salem, modern death metal or the so-called oriental metal movement.


Salem - Necessary Evil

Tracklist:

1. Blood
2. Amona
3. Idle Worship
4. Mindless
5. Hypatia
6. Strife
7. Resentment
8. Making A Difference
9. More Blood
10. Once Upon A Lifetime (Part 1)
11. Once Upon A Lifetime (Part 2)
12. Once Upon A Lifetime (Part 3)
13. Once Upon A Lifetime (Part 4)
14. Once Upon A Lifetime (Part 5)

Salem - Collective Demise

Today I thought I'd post another Salem album.
As I said before, Salem is the first Israeli extreme metal band, and pioneers of the Oriental Metal movement.
As such, they have a historic significance of sorts, especially with the rise to fame of many bands whose way was paved by this one, such as Orphaned Land and Melechesh.
But unlike many bands that are historically significant, I think this band is fucking awesome!

This is their third album, where they seem to return to their brutal roots a little.
It's considerably heavier than the previous effort, A Moment of Silence. Musically, it's faster and it has a thicker, crushing, dissonant sound.
Lyrically, it's also heavier. While the album before dealt much with grief, sorrow, regret, suffering, fear, the deaths of loved ones, and other similar topics, this one seems to lean more towards war, destruction, misanthropic hopeslessness, and specifically the second Intifada.

In conclusion, this is a great album in general, but it'll be enjoyed most by those who appreciate slow-paced death metal or the doom-death thing, and especially those who want different lyrics than the usual death metal stuff.

Salem - Collective Demise


Tracklist:

1. Broken Yet United
2. Coming End of Reason
3. Slave
4. Act of Terror
5. Act of War
6. Collective Demise
7. Dead Eyes
8. Feed On Your Grief
9. Decadence In Solitude
10. Recall
11. Al Taster
12. Inhuman Greed

Gorelord - Force Fed On Human Flesh

"10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 6... 6..."
That's how this awesome album begins.
As I described in my previous Gorelord post, this is a one-man project that plays brutal, groovy, fun death metal with memorable riffs.
In the style of Necrophagia, a band Frediablo played in at one point, the lyrical content is based on horror movie scenarios --including samples of horror movies-- and death metal clichés, and sometimes are so overdone, it feels a bit satirical. Whether that's Frediablo's intention or not, I ignore; but I find it slightly amusing.

Of interest to some may be that the final track of this album features guest performances by Frediablo's former bandmates in Wurdulak, Killjoy of Necrophagia and Maniac of Mayhem.

I highly recommend this to people who like the more atypical death metal and those who value cool riffs. This is probably not to the liking of most people who indulge in more traditional, well-known death metal, like Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Vital Remains, Morbid Angel, Necrophagist, Six Feet Under, etc...; especially if you take your death metal very seriously.

Gorelord - Force Fed On Human Flesh

Tracklist:

1. Dismember Virgin Limbs
2. Crushed Skull On Christian Shoulders
3. Crucified Goat Drenched In Blasphemic Blood
4. Force Fed On Human Flesh
5. Necrophilic Orgy In Entrails & Cum
6. Chainsaw Ripping Skin
7. Alive When Fucking The Dead
8. Maggots Impaled
9. Hell's Kitchen

Macabre - Dahmer

Macabre is one my favorite death metal bands. They started playing together in 1985, in Chicago, Illinois. Notably, they've never had a line-up change.

This long-lived group seems to have used two main different styles throughout the years.
The first is more 80s-like: fast, thrashy, somewhat low-fi, like many other bands in the genre at the time.
The second, newer sound is more of a "modern" sound, with cleaner production, but also slower, groovier, crunchier.
I really enjoy both styles. This band has always features a signature black humor in their lyrics almost exclusively dealing with serial killers and mass murderers, which combined with the afore-mentioned playings styles - which always feature amazing performances from each musician in their respective field - makes for a great, fresh sound, that despite being perfectly able to define the genre as an exmaple, is far from generic.

In this particular album, released in 2000, they only talk about one particular serial killer. As you might've guessed, that's Wisconsin's most (in)famous killer of all time, Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, The Milwaukee Monster.
The album is a biography of the killer, and is therefore in chronological order.
I believe one of the bandmembers attended to Dahmer's trial, where he was found guilty of 15 of the 17 murders he was initially indicted with.

Macabre - Dahmer

Tracklist:

1. Dog Guts
2. Hitchhiker
3. In The Army Now
4. Grandmother's House
5. Blood Bank
6. Exposure
7. Ambassador Hotel
8. How 'Bout Some Coffee
9. Bath House
10. Jeffrey Dahmer And The Chocolate Factory
11. Apartment 213
12. Drill Bit Lobotomy
13. Jeffrey Dahmer Blues
14. McDahmers
15. Into The Toilet With You
16. Coming To Chicago
17. Scrub A Dub Dub
18. Konerak
19. Media Circus
20. Temple of Bones
21. Trial
22. Do The Dahmer
23. Baptized
24. Christopher Scarver
25. Dahmer's Dead
26. The Brain

Gorelord - Zombie Suicide Part 666

Today I bring you my favorite album from one of my favorite death metal bands. Well, actually, it's a one-man project, but still...
This man is Frediablo. Some of you might recognize him... he's the guitar player who stepped in around the time when Anton Crowley (Pantera's Phil Anselmo) was in Necrophagia.
He also played with his brother Fug on Killjoy's other more black metal-ish project, Wurdulak, a prominent band as Mayhem's Maniac formed part of the line-up; Gorelord would release two splits with Wurdulak in 2001 and the following year.

In September 2005, Frediablo issued a statement, announcing that he was quitting all of his numerous bands, except Grimfist, so he could focus on this solo project.

This is the second of three albums released so far, with another one supposedly in the way since 2007.
Groovy death metal, with solid instrumentation and memorable riffs... that's how I can describe this album, briefly.
Check out for yourself:

Gorelord - Zombie Suicide Part 666

Tracklist:

1. Stench of Flesh Decomposing
2. Screams Choked To Silence
3. Dreams Of The Macabre
4. Horror Gore & Unreligion
5. Outback
6. Shrieks Of The Undead
7. Cumfucked Face Of Death
8. Four Ways To Heaven One Way To Hell
9. I Am Master Here
10. Alive When Fucking The Dead (Demo)
11. Necrophilic Orgy In Entrails & Cum (Demo)

Salem - A Moment of Silence

Today I bring some great Israeli metal, from a friend's request.
This band is Salem, the first extreme metal band from Israel and pioneers of the Oriental Metal movement. They play a form of Doom/Death Metal that features Oriental scales, which sound pretty exotic to us in the West, but it also sounds great in metal.
Definitely check them out if you're into the more well-known Melechesh or Orphaned Land!

Salem formed in 1985, and have released six full-length albums since then. This is their second, and considered by many, including myself, their best album to date (probably the most accessible, too). Then again, I haven't listened to their new album, though the reviews are not favorable so far.
This album has many songs I consider classic, not only for Salem, but songs that should be metal classics. One such song is the title track, without a doubt.

But I'll let you see for yourself and decide...

Salem - A Moment of Silence

Tracklist:

1. A Moment of Silence

2. Winter's Tears

3. Hour Glass

4. Flames

5. Set The Controls

6. In Another Dimension

7. The Worst To Come

8. An Unwanted Guest

9. Symbiosis

10. Eyes to Match A Soul

11. Who Will Comfort Me Now?