extreme metal, black metal, crust punk, kemado records,west coast hardcore punk

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After reading a comment pertaining to my last review (thank you Posh) it prompted me to re-read my previous submissions. It was at this point I realised I was the kind of reviewer that fucked me off - you know, the ones that seem to take no pleasure in anything. I took a step back and decided not to review any more and not to be that reviewer. Unfortunately, and I can only put it down to the hallucinations that come with complete lack of sleep, it apparently slipped my mind to inform anyone in the AltNation hierarchy of my momentous decision and shortly after a package of CDs arrived at my door. Then I had an epiphany! What if, in some sort of cosmic balance see-saw, the AltNation ethereal heard my tortured reviewer cry and, in a fit of pity, sent me a tome of awesomeness for me to dip my pen into? I grabbed the first CD to hand, Into Abaddon by Saviours, and sat back waiting for the positive vibes to flow. I was reading the first line of the promo blurb as the first notes...

Glasgow metal band show there's more to alternative music than floppy fringes and eyeliner.

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...it's just plain, fucking, heavy.

Old Brits still thrash

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The heaviest album I've heard yet this year, Killing Peace is nine tracks of rampant thrash metal, not sounding dated at all in its retro eighties style of sound and execution. The mix is big and crisp, with the guitars speeding in and around the piston drums and sneered vocals. Cuts like Burn and Planting Seeds Of Hate are the kind of fare you want from a nasty metal album, and Onslaught deliver in the bone crushing material offered. There's not much to say about Killing Peace though, it's a one trick pony in aggression over song writing but since when is that a bad thing. Perhaps I should listen to less Razorlight and dig out some more shit like this. Surely more essential for fans of this stuff than what is offered by the likes of Megadeth these days, this is simplistic metallic K.O. fun. Not bad for a band formed in Bristol in the early 80s. Out now on Candlelight Records.

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Dragon Force Glasgow Cathouse, 30/9/4 A sold out Cathouse provides evidence that ‘if you book them they will come’; the growing interest in power metal coupled with the lack of European bands willing to make the short trip across the channel makes any power metal show in these parts an event. As a result, long before doors are even open, a queue stretches far off into the distance. With the venue packed by the time local metallers Mendeed take the stage, the openers have an excellent opportunity to win over many new fans. Despite playing with a conviction and urgency that was lacking when they supported Anthrax eighteen months ago, their material - sounding somewhere between Shadows Fall and The Haunted - is possibly too harsh for the majority here, and thus they fail to garner the reaction they deserve. A strong and convincing performance but possibly an ill-advised choice of support for as melodic an outfit as Dragon Force. As Dragon Force appear they are greeted by...

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My love affair with Kreator started way back in 1986 with the “Pleasure to Kill” album back when album art was worth looking at because… well, because records were big and you could actually see what it was instead of peering at a CD for ages trying to make out what the hell it is. If you want the classic Kreator cover you would have to wait until the “Behind the Mirror” picture disc… excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin. Anyway that was then and Kreator have brought us firmly into the here and now with their new album “Enemy of God” complete with another excellent piece of cover art. Is this a good thing? Okay so the old skhool… eh school thrashers out there will be divided firmly into two camps about this one. There will be the diehard fans that think Kreator have done nothing good since the “Out of the Dark…” EP and there are those that have their entire back catalogue including the 2000 compilation album “Past Life Trauma”, but don’t get me started on...

It's Slayer again after six years

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It has been six years since Slayer’s last album and while that didn’t set the word alight, unlike any of the other thrash bands still on the go people still universally seem to look forward to Slayer records. You couldn’t say the same for Anthrax, Megadeth or even probably Metallica anymore. Perhaps more than ever folk are wanting to hear this record, featuring as it does Dave Lombardo back behind the drum kit since 1990. The stupidly named Christ Illusion is an old fashioned machine gun paced metal album with no nods to any modern traits of production or sound. Apart from the slow churning build up to Cult, the pace is whiplash fast. Teeth rattling riffs are the order of the day, with some surprisingly tuneful squawls of guitar solo work smothered on top, most memorably used in the gnashing opener Flesh Storm and the extended screech at the end of the afore mentioned Cult. Over these pounding buzz monsters you get the usual tirade of Slayer’s singer Tom...

Electro tinged 'eavy raging against the machine.

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A pleasant find in my single pile, this deserves a solo single review as rarely have I heard something truly as different as Enter Shikari's Mothership in the last two years, especially in British metal circles. Out of Hertfordshire, Mothership offers up raging rock built on really old school dance beats and rave trills. There's honestly a million things going on within the four and a half minutes of this number, all of it exhilarating. With a melodic refrain yanked from any number of so-so modern metal tunes, Mothership takes it to another anthemic level, amid bellows of bile and well sung verses. A good stonking tune that should be heard by anyone who likes Pitchshifter, Primal Scream or even Slipknot. Available on legal download sites or via Ambush Reality now at www.entershikari.com or http://www.myspace.com/entershikari.

The first and only DVD release by Sweden's Dissection .

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The first and only DVD release by Sweden's Dissection brings to us the band's first concert following the release of singer and song writer Jon Nodtveidt from prison. Filmed in Stockholm on October 30th 2004—just six weeks after Jon was released from jail where he served seven years of a murder sentence—in front of a rabid crowd, the set features only one song that was unfamiliar to the gathered hordes. The crowd eat up classics such as Where Dead Angels Lie, Soulreaper, and The Somberlain, and feverishly chant "Die Section!". Featuring 15 tracks, the DVD captures the classic Dissection sound, despite not featuring the classic Dissection line up. The sound production is crystal clear and suits the Nodtveidt guitar sound perfectly, making this the ultimate Dissection live release, eclipsing Live Legacy recorded in 1997. This aural excellence is tempered by the fact that Dissection are obscenely boring visually, with the stage decorated with only a simple black and white...

"Extreme pan-world metal"

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Female-fronted, New York 5-piece Mahavatar promise "extreme pan-world metal", from their debut album 'From the Sun, the Rain, the Wind, the Soil'.

Swedish Metallers return with first album in 11 years.

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Dissection emerged as the top Swedish black metal act in the early 90’s: they released two excellent albums, 1993’s The Somberlain and 95’s Storm of The Light’s Bane. Sadly, internal strife and creative differences lead to the band effectively splitting in 97. Frontman and songwriter Jon Nodveidt’s conviction for murder in 1998 compounded the problem. Following Nodveidt’s release from prison in 2004 he assembled a new group of musicians—reforming the classic line up was out of the question as the former guitarist had testified against Nodveidt during his trial—and took them out on tour under the banner The Rebirth of Dissection, playing classic Dissection tracks. Upon completion of this tour, which took in most of Europe and was very well received, the band recorded the album that Nodveidt had written while in prison. Dissection were set apart from the other Scandinavian metal of the time due to their unique harmonies and sense of melody that they blended with the extreme sound...