71TONMAN - 71TONMAN

Written by Ulla Roschat.

Cover art by Damian Augustyniak

71TONMAN are a five piece Sludge/Doom Metal outfit hailing from Wroclaw/Poland. They formed in 2011 and released their self-titled debut album Dec. 2013.

The album is kind of a concept album creating scenarios revolving around a post-apocalyptical world. It comprises of six tracks, of which the first one, the "Intro", is mainly a short narrated introduction to describe the situation, accompanied by sounds that deliver the eerie menacing atmosphere to it as well.

The second track "Bacon Bomb" is a relentlessly slow, heavy sludge monster displaying the band's personal take on the genre, which is in addition to being "fat, low and slow" - the bands own description - also very groovy, heavy like a steam roller, intense and atmospheric.

The songs are carefully constructed and each has its own dynamic character and atmosphere. "Dr Psycho" has an extra pinch of insanity which is very much carried by the vocalist's breathtakingly punchy vocals and some reverb, slightly chaotic drumming and a grand atmospheric build-up with an excellent instrumental work.

"Cyborg Jesus" (my favorite track of the album), picks up the strong atmospheric intensity, adds different facets of moods of melancholy and desolation with an extra pinch of dissonances, dirge-like melodies and again this is very much carried by the vocals.

"Face Fucking Machine" is a classic stoner rock style booze fueled bluesy steam roller and shows a brilliant work of bass and drums.

The title song "71Tonman" at the end of the album and its longest track (12:14) pretty well sums up what the whole album is about. This one is full of all the different moods, cleverly constructed with changes of melody, tempo and rhythm thus creating a dynamic driving build-up with exciting drumming and an extremely abrupt ending that leaves you in a complete, somewhat alarming, empty deathlike stillness.

Throughout the album there's an overall atmosphere that truly captures an apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic sense, and with each song this sense increases, everything is getting just a bit more intense, just a bit heavier and there's just another little twist in this or in that direction and all these "just a bits" and "little extra pinches" of whatever, keep the album in a constant dynamic, very organic and exciting. Nothing sounds forced or overdone.

This is an absolutely stunning debut album and a complete DIY venture on top of it.

Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence

An Autothrall classic. Originally published here.

Cover art by Urban Skytt

There are classic albums and there are cult albums. The Nocturnal Silence is both, one of the best early statements of the Swedish death metal uprising of the early to mid 90s. Unlike a Left Hand Path though, this one wasn't an instant personal attraction. It took several years to develop on me, but one drunken evening I was listening to it with a friend at university and it suddenly dawned on me...this is awesome.

Necrophobic tend towards the occult side of the death metal spectra, with grim lyrics about hell and vile philosophies. They have a similar guitar tone to their contemporaries, but otherwise do not sound quite the same as far as how they present their riffs. I once thought this album was a rambling mess, but it is in fact pinpoint in its delivery of grinding guitars and the barking of ex-vocalist Anders Strokirk. The album is produced by the infamous Tomas Skogsberg so you know what to expect.

As a complete work The Nocturnal Silence is extremely consistent, each of the nine tracks destroys. "Awakening" begins with some spooky keyboards, soon joined by some slower leads before the churning guitars herald the apocalypse. Simple old school death rhythms commence a dark mood on the diabolic "Before the Dawn". "Unholy Prophecies" has a few rhythms which recall Slayer when they were good. The title track begins with haunted acoustics, again building into a grim lead melody. "Inborn Evil" has a slower groove to it, while "The Ancient's Gate" starts with the sickest groove on the album. Also of note are the barbaric and fast-paced "Sacrificial Rites" and the creepy "Where Sinners Burn".

Though the album has been remastered, it still sounds great in its original form. There is nothing overly polished about it, it simply manages to retain a dark intonation that many death metal albums only wish they could have. So often we forget what the pure evil of this genre used to sound like, jaded from endless overdubbed albums with focus on technical precision to the detriment of atmosphere. The Nocturnal Silence remains my favorite of Necrophobic's albums, and a true relic of extreme Swedish metal.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Big Dumb Skulls presents: Filtheater - Tenebrae

Big Dumb Skulls is a blog with a simple but brilliant concept. Each day a metal album cover sporting a skull is presented, and both the skull and the music is reviewed (or more often than not, thrashed). The skull is selected on these criteria: "It must be a metal band. Nothing too fancy, nothing too oblique, nothing too busy. No multiple skulls. No animal skulls. No piles of skulls. Just one skull. One big dumb fucking skull". The writing by Friar Wagner and Friar Johnsen is incisive and often hilarious. Big Dumb Skulls is, well basically it is the best thing, ever.

But don't just take my words for it. Check out the glowing endorsements from these honorable members of the Metal Society:

• The esteemed Full Metal Attorney. "This is the greatest blog idea ever...."
• E, mysterious drummer from Ashencult. "The best blog. Period."
• Steve, Infiltrator shredmeister extraordinaire. "I check this every day when I get home from work to unwind."
• I.s. Lander, editor-in-chief at No Clean Singing. "Pure fucking genius."
• The mighty Autothrall. "I have seen the 'big dumb skulls' blog, and it is indeed hilarious."

And now, for your reading (and listening) pleasure, here's SKULL396:

Artwork by Jared Moran

The skull:
The largest picture we have of this cover isn’t huge, but it looks like those are maggots shivering out from under the skull, having fed on the fleshy gunk left behind by the poor decomposed subject. Looking at the bigger picture, one wonders: At what temperature do maggots melt? It must be an extremely high one, and I’ve arrived at this conclusion because not only did the candles flanking the skull melt, but it appears to be so hot in there that the skull’s cheek bones turned into Richard Nixon-esque jowls. Take a look! We have not seen the likes of this before here at Big Dumb Skulls HQ, and likely will never see it again. [The Elders of the Council of the Skull have awarded a special badge of honor to Filtheater, as every single one of their releases features a skull, skulls, or a human head that's real close to becoming a skull.]

The music:
Now this is chaotic noise-drenched death metal a guy can rock out to. I quite like this little EP, a caustic, ripping, raw 20 minutes that sort of sounds like Brutal Truth covering Nuclear Death. The drumming and overall production aesthetic resembles Brutal Truth, and the noise-factor, including riffs that sound like they were written by a tone-deaf guitarist, are evocative of my beloved Nuclear Death. The ability is here, with every member capably delivering their part of the bloodthirsty, unhinged madness. It’s clear this band truly believe in what they’re doing and their sound is more convincing than many modern-day US death metal bands content to rip off Incantation a little too closely. There’s a crust vibe in spots, and big chunks of Fiend for Blood-era Autopsy too, yet Filtheater emerges from the wreckage with a sound that, while showing its influences, is pretty much all their own. I don’t yet own anything by this band, but as soon as they compile these tape and ridiculously-limited EP releases into some sort of collection, I’m buyin’.
– Friar Wagner

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

As Friar Wagner mentions the artwork for Tenebrae isn't in the highest quality; so I thought I'd share a couple more Filtheater EP's, so you can appreciate Jared Moran's awesome skulls (and more delicious death metal of course). It is not exactly the collection Friar Wagner requested, but the entire Filtheater discography is available very cheaply on their Bandcamp. Here's Noctivagant from 2012, and their latest Crepuscule from 2013.

Artwork by Jared Moran

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Artwork by Jared Moran

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]