HUNTRESS - Spell Eater

The biggest hype in metal this year so far: Fronted by Playboy model, high society DJ and trained opera singer Jill Janus just one video for Eight Of Swords was enough for the band to sign Naplam Records and release their debut album.

The frontwitch claims she's been a metal fan forever and always wanted to form a spiritual metal band while all that other stuff she did was just for financial reasons. I am not really buying that, but everybody has to decide for themselves.

BUT- there is just something about that album that keeps casting spells on me. I've been listening to Spell Eater a lot and there is something that I can't quite explain. Is it the slight Mercyful Fate vibe, the subtle black metal quotes, Jill's erratic voice that oscillates between nerve-racking shrieks and honeyed tones? I just don't know.

All I know is that I don't really want to like this album but somehow I can't help but do.

[Hate/Love]

DEAD NEANDERTHALS - Jazzhammer / Stormannsgalskap

It sounds different from anything you heard of dutch Sax-Grinders DEAD NEANDERTHALS so far. No more short harsh eruptions- just two monolithic tracks, each almost 10 minutes long.

JAZZHAMMER is one unholy matrimony of highspeed drums and a droning sax, STORMANNSGALSKAP a weird battle of a nervous beat pattern and multilayered sax screams.

Somehow disturbing at first listen it gets more and more absorbing and mind blowing the further you go in for it.

Listen to and buy Jazzhammer/Stormannsgalskap here. You won't regret it!


[9.0/10]

EPICEDIUM - Anthropogenic

Album number 5 in their 15 years history was recorded with a new vocalist and a youngster behind the drum kit. There's a little more variety speedwise and a couple more melodic leads on this than on any of their older releases, but this output is still an ass-kicking piece of hyperblast death metal.

Like Cannibal Corpse? Don't mind triggered drums? Dig singers who just grunt vowels instead of whole words? You better give these guys from Frankfurt, Germany a chance.

You can order "Anthropogenic" here. 

[7.5/10]

JUCIFER - Nadir

NADIR was originally released 1994 as a tape that Sludge Nomads JUCIFER recorded on a 4 tracker in a termite infested bedroom with broken windows. Scott Hull remastered these five raw diamonds for a digital re-release on Grindcore Karaoke, (where you can of course download it for free.)

Raw distorted doom sounds with a hypnotic voice that do not sound outdated, but just really intense and highly addictive. Or, as JUCIFER describe their work on Twitter, "two person sonic destruction since 1993. 80 speakers + 6,500 watts can't be wrong."  Hell yeah!

[9.0/10]

CLOUD RAT - Fever Dreams

All you need for some awesome tunes is screams, guitars and drums. You beg to differ? Michigan trio CLOUD RAT will prove you wrong! Their latest output will kick your butt with 18 dirty hardcore tracks always on the edge to blasting grindcore that'll get you addicted immediately.

Download Fever Dreams for free, you will not regret it. And don't forget their S/T LP which is freakin' awesome, too!

[9.0/10]