Soulless - Forever Defiant

An Autothrall Classic. It's rare that an American band can truly capture the form and feel of Sweden's Golden Age of melodic death metal, generally the attempts devolve into metalcore masturbation and tacky moshpit manipulation. The third album from Ohio's Soulless

An Autothrall Classic. Originally published here.

Artwork by Matt Cavotta.

It's rare that an American band can truly capture the form and feel of Sweden's Golden Age of melodic death metal, generally the attempts devolve into metalcore masturbation and tacky moshpit manipulation. The third album from Ohio's Soulless is a monster of an effort, however, a firm yardstick across the knuckles of their pedestrian peers. It's almost as if this one album makes up for all the garbage the US has been spewing into this genre for nearly a decade.

Soulless does it all correctly. Jim Lippucci's vocals snarl with the proper dosage of Lindberg venom, the songs are well-structured, just about every riff here meticulously crafted and applied with melodic grace amidst a technical death-thrashing blunt force trauma. The result isn't just another notch in the belt of the melodeath genre, but an album that will appeal to most fans of the metal riff. Technical enough to keep the interest of basement virtuosos aplomb, but savagely catchy enough to stand alongside the Rusted Angels and Jester Races of the world as a timeless celebration of the carefully balanced attack so intrinsic to this style.

Each of the 14 original tunes is consistently superb, you are getting a lot of meat for your money. Among my favorites were "The Price of Life" and "As Darkness Dawns", the latter of which has some of the best riffs I've heard this year. The band is not above a break in the action such as the great acoustic piece "D-Composition", and the album is capped off with a cover of "Kill the King".

Amidst the endless, leaking, stagnant vats of Swedish wanna-be Black Dahlia Earmurder porridge in the States, Soulless have crafted a timeless entry into a genre many have given up for dead. The next time you are shuffling through your records, fawning over Heartwork and Slaughter of the Soul and wondering why 'they don't make 'em like these anymore', stand yourself corrected. Forever Defiant may just be the greatest American melodeath album I have ever heard. It actually matters.

Humanity Defiled - Mankind is the Disease

By Master of Muppets. With but a bit of patience and a willingness to wade through wave after wave of underwhelming works, one can wander the wide world of Bandcamp and wind up with a wide array of wonderful finds for a grand total of $0.00. My point: it's downright insane how much unknown Name Your Price greatness is lurking out there

By Master of Muppets.


With but a bit of patience and a willingness to wade through wave after wave of underwhelming works, one can wander the wide world of Bandcamp and wind up with a wide array of wonderful finds for a grand total of $0.00. My point: it's downright insane how much unknown Name Your Price greatness is lurking out there, just collecting digital dust in the darkest depths of the underground. Belgium's Humanity Defiled are among my favorite of such victims of underrepresentation, but if death metal riffs for days at potentially non-existent prices is your thing, now's your chance to stop being the problem and begin your new and improved existence as part of the solution!

A one-man project conceived with the intent of channeling mastermind Iwein's own feelings of negativity, the name of Humanity Defiled's game is Riffs. With song titles like "We Deserve an Unspeakable Death" and "War Will Be Our Heritage," Mankind is the Disease is every bit as cheerful as one might presume it to be, but oh my sweet baby Satan isn't the rage therein just righteously rifftastic. Iwein tears the world a new one by way of blistering fretboard savagery and scathing lyrics, opting not to bow his head in defeat but instead forcing those bearing witness to his pain to bang their own heads in enthused enthrallment.

When I say that the guitar sound is savage, I'm talking Hypocrisy and Bloodbath blended together and sprinkled with a dash of Slayer, delivered with a serrated guitar tone perhaps best described as 'pitch-corrected bandsaw.' At its chuggiest, Mankind is the Disease recalls the lethally thick tones of Slugdge's rhythm section, and the lead work is comprised of pick-squeal dive bombs that hearken back to the glory days of old school death metal without ever getting overly noodly. Simply put, this killer EP is nothing but to-the-point, in-your-face, no-frills death metal, the kind that unites meatheads and fretboard wizards alike in the great circle of mosh life.

Speaking of metalheads uniting, the vocals on this EP are manned by a miniature army of mic slingers. While previous Humanity Defiled projects have typically featured Iweins death growls, Mankind is the Disease features different - and sometimes multiple - vocalists on each track. Stylistically there are several similarities to the screamers' sounds, with everyone largely favoring deep 'n dirty guttural growls, yet each player brings their own piece to what is otherwise very much Iwein's game, and everyone's the better for it...

...or are they??? Fancy a vulgar display of powerful riffs without a mouth for war? Mankind is the Disease includes instrumental versions of each track, and said songs still slap even sans screams. There's an audible sincerity to Iwein's playing, and the absence of inhuman roars allows the instrumental tracks to feel - wait for it - all the more human.

All in all, Mankind is the Disease is a wicked fun little EP, well worth whatever price you may name. It's the kind of find that institutes inspires you to pick up your own axe and shred the world around you, and the kind that highlights the exciting potential to be found in Bandcamp exploration. Between the riffs and the pricetag, there's nothing and no way to lose with this or any other offering by Humanity Defiled, and anyone even remotely interested in banging their heads whilst pinching their pennies absolutely needs to head over to Iwein's neck of the Bandcamp woods.

From The Metal Archives Vol. 8 - Soulseller Records

[When I add labels to the Metal Labels on Bandcamp page I usually scan their releases looking for anything interesting I might have missed. The reviews on The Metal Archives are a great help when doing this: a couple of great reviews

By the reviewers from The Metal Archives.

[When I add labels to the Metal Labels on Bandcamp I usually scan their releases looking for anything interesting I might have missed. The reviews on The Metal Archives are a great help when doing this: a couple of great reviews means an album I should probably check out. With this series I'd like to share some of my finds - in this edition we feature three releases from Soulseller Records, two classics and a hard rocker of recent vintage, but with a soul of the classics.]

Cover art by Lise.

[The Metal Archives reviewer Thamuz said]

The compositions evolve eloquently, often displaying several dynamic shifts per song, combined with a neo-classical spirit that entails subtle evolutions within. The opener “I Sang With The Swans” is an excellent example of this, starting with a minimalistic melody surrounded by subtle atmospheric drum-beats before slowly progressing and building up to climatic proportions, before settling in back to the original tempo. This is only the first three minutes, before a vocal has even been sung - the start of a recital of epic proportions.

[read Thamuz' full review here]

[The Metal Archives reviewer dismember_marcin said]

I don't think there were that many new bands and albums, which came out in new millennium of 2000's that made such a big impact on the death metal scene as Repugnant's "Epitome of Darkness" did. Sincerely I think this band and album, together with Daniel Ekeroth's "Swedish death metal" book is responsible for influencing a bunch of youngsters to play this obscure style with passion and style, which haven't been seen since the early 90's! Repugnant and "Epitome of Darkness" probably also directed them to take the image of cult horror movie freaks, with all the empty tombs, zombies and stench of cadaver around it, by writing some cool, horror lyrics and using an adequate front covers.

[read dismember_marcin's full review here]

Cover art by Joe Petagno.

[The Metal Archives reviewer CHAIRTHROWER said]

Erik Sugg's (also active with Lightning Born) eerily wobbling vocals are as groovy as ever while the battery comprised of bassist Paul Walz and drummer Bill Eagen certainly doesn't play second fiddle to Sugg and Larry Burlison's heady, melodic chops and bluesy showmanship, as attested by its dominance on the late 60s/Jefferson Airplane & The Doors sounding title track and all-around solidity, from the opening, triplet based "The Waters and the Wild" to the swinging and twirling Black Sabbath evoking closer "Mourning Son", which halfway in devolves into a super nostalgic, Mountain/Leslie West sounding wind-down.

[read CHAIRTHROWER's full review here]