Artist:  Noisem
Album:  Agony Defined
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Label:  A389 Recordings
Release: June 15, 2013

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The album opens with an instant kick in the teeth with the blistering “Voices in the Morgue”, and keeps going for 25:47 of pure death/thrash aggression.  The dual guitar attack of Sebastian Phillips and Travis Stone harkens back to such classic bands as Demolition Hammer and Morbid Angel, while Yago Ventura’s bass playing on tracks like “Desire and Disgust” is definitely influenced heavily by Cannibal Corpse.  In fact, the entire album gives me a very “Eaten Back to Life” feel, which is an EXTREMELY good thing.

One of the most impressive things about the album, to me, is the drumming, especially when you take into consideration that they were recorded by a sixteen year old.  As a matter of fact, the oldest member of the band is bassist Ventura, at a fresh 20 years old.

And of course, what would this album be without the vocals?  Tyler Carnes’ vocals tear through you like a perfect mix between Repulsion’s Scott Carlson, Morbid Angel’s David Vincent (Before his Genitorturers ‘Evil-D’ days), and Obituary’s John Tardy.  Tracks like “Chronic Dementia” and “Severed” showcase his vocals perfectly, with the latter having some of the coolest lyrics I find myself singing along to when I blast this album down the street (The mortician is about to begin/to lay to waste the bodies he’s defiled/Raping the dead, the most unspeakable sin/Rotten stench of the bodies left piled/YAOOOOOGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!)

The production on the album is another high point for me.  It’s clear, but it doesn’t suffer from being TOO clear, like a lot of modern thrash albums seem to.  The album tears into you with visceral aggression and doesn’t let up until it’s over.

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtZRu5cl060]

Overall, this is a seriously kickass album, from front to back.  Every single song is fast, aggressive, short and to the point.  Noisem doesn’t fuck around, and one look at some live footage of these kids shows that perfectly.  Catch them live this summer at Maryland Deathfest (I’ll see you fuckers there!), Scion Rock Fest, or on tour in the Midwest with Ringworm, Mutliation Rites and Encrust.

The post Music Review | Noisem’s “Agony Defined” is the Definition of Kick-Ass Death/Thrash appeared first on Der Metal Krieger.

What is Djent you ask? Don’t be afraid to ask! In fact, applaud yourself and give your ears a high-five for sparing them from the aural slaughter that is djent. Congratulations, you’ve managed to create another “genre” (and that’s only in quotes because most fans of djent will argue that “DJENT ISN’T A GENRE, IT’S A TECHNIQUE!”), based solely around ONE technique.  Much like Dubstep is based only around the “SICK DROP, BRO”, and deathcore is based solely around the “SICK BREAKDOWN, BRO”, djent is based around palm muting in one specific spot between the pickups of you guitar in order to obtain the most shrill, empty  sounding, grossly percussive palm mute you can get.  And it doesn’t help that all the guitarists turn the bass down to zero on their amps, and turn the treble and mids all the way up.  After all, who needs low range frequencies WHEN YOU PLAY AN 8-STRING GUITAR?

Perhaps the thing I hate the most about the djent movement, however, is the fact that you couldn’t even come up with a clever name.  Seriously?  Djent?  At least dubstep came up with something new, and deathcore just bastardized the name of death metal by adding metalcore to it.  But djent?  You named your new genre after an onomatopoeia, coined by Fredrik Thordendal?  How about you name your genre after the thing anyone with a functioning pair of ears calls it: Shitty….

Fuck Djent.

This is in no way an attack against the unique sound created by the aforementioned guitarist of Meshuggah.  Merely the idiot “musicians” who took something unique and turned into a drag queen stripper. 

The post Zak Hates Djent appeared first on Der Metal Krieger.