Want bizarre, jarring, grind/death psychotic tales?! Cretin – Stranger

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Relapse Records

Cretin’s sophomore album is eight long years in the making. It has been well worth the wait.Stranger has numerous musical changes and pummels the soul with crushing buzz-saw guitars, double kick spurts and punkish rhythms. This is grind that worships Repulsion, which comes as no surprise given guitarist Marissa Martinez’s stint in the band and musical history.

Lyrically, Stranger has some strange lyrics. “Mary is Coming” is a guttural screamed tale about a lady who wants to give birth to a Mary (of the Judeo-Christian Bible variety) who actually inserts a doll in her vagina “but it got stuck in there.” The lady ends up in jail.

On “How to Wreck Your Life in Three Days,” Martinez howls a psychotic tale about a boy who “fixes” a crazy three days of mayhem by setting fires to everything, up to and including himself. Ending with an eerie guitar solo that resembles an ambulance siren while blast beats leave the listener gut wrenched, it sums up this bizarre, jarring grind/death album astutely.

By Serena Navarro

Thanks to Beatroute for providing the album to review.

Pallbearer -2010 Demo released on vinyl

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20 Buck Spin

Heavy metal vinyl collectors rejoice! Pallbearer, an American doom metal band from Little Rock, Arkansas, just released their 2010 Demo on vinyl for the first time via 20 Buck Spin. It features an early rendition of “Devoid of Redemption” and “The Legend” both of which appear on their 2012 breakout Sorrow and Extinction. Alongside those tracks is a cover of the infamous “Gloomy Sunday” written by Hungarian composer Rezső Seress in 1933.

Beautifully packaged, the cover art for the demo was done by longtime collaborator, Animetalphysical, while Mike Lawrence, whose striking black and white artwork is marked by strong lines depicting death and nature themes, did the B-side etching. At first listen, the demo is more emotional and guttural than the tracks heard on Sorrow…, an invigorating change. The guitars are loud, deep and distorted. Brett Campbell’s voice is fresh and soaring. That said there are subtle differences between the demo and polished songs of Sorrow and Extinction such as the missing echo of lyrics in “Devoid of Redemption,” which detract from the song. In a great addition, there are shouting vocals on the demo. Finishing up, Pallbearer does a marvelous job of infusing even more sorrow and pain into “Gloomy Sunday,” the song also known as the “Hungarian Suicide Song.” All told, the release does doom metal aficionados justice.

By Serena Navarro

Thanks to Beatroute for providing the album to review.

Deafheaven, Sumac, Balance at Rickshaw Theatre – December 4th 2014

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VANCOUVER — Thursday night started off with beers at Buick 6, a bar down the street from the Rickshaw Theatre. My friends and I were waiting with excitement to hear Sumac and Deafheaven take over the Rickshaw Theatre. Balance, a band from Vancouver, took the stage a little after 9 p.m. and got the crowd going with a hardcore sound.

Sumac is a supergroup with Aaron Turner (Old Man Gloom & Isis), Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists) and Brian Cook (Russian Circles). Sumac was a treat to watch and Aaron moves and shakes with excitement with every scream and guitar riff. Sumac officially played their first-ever live show and graced our ears with gradual progressive riffs that lead into sludgy crevices but kept the listener afloat with high pitch guitars. It was lovely.

Deafheaven (George Clarke and Kerry McCoy) came up on stage and started setting up their guitars and mics themselves. They then left the stage for a more ambient entrance with dimmed lights. They played songs from Roads to Judah (2011) and their most recent full length, Sunbather(2013).

Heavy metal music is a staple in my diet and Deafheaven walks that metal line well. Their live show was entertaining mostly because frontman Clarke convulses with the passion and love of his music. There is no doubt in my mind that music is his life. McCoy played the guitar with little movement or excitement in his face, a major contrast to George.

The crowd busted over with excitement when George announced they were to play their single, “From the Kettle Onto the Coil.” This fast black metal-laced song with crushing drums, vocals and beautiful guitars ended the night on a high note.

Photo and review by Serena Navarro

Thanks to Beatroute for the opportunity to review this show.

Want grit, heavy, opaque, twisting melodies with some beauty?! Usnea – Random Cosmic Violence

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Relapse Records

Usnea, a Portland Oregon metal band, suggests on their Bandcamp that their second full length,Random Cosmic Violence is “one of those rare records that elevates itself above the boundaries that its genre typically self-imposes.” This is evident on Random Cosmic Violence as it takes a journey through funeral doom, black metal, sludge, death and doom genres. The album clocks in at just under an hour with only four songs. Justin Cory and Orion Landau crafted the album’s artwork, which is simple yet grand.

The rhythm and lyrics of the entire album are tribal in nature with twisting transfixed melodies and a rhyme similar to a beat poet. There are several highlights elevated by vocals drenched with grit, such as the opening of “Healing Through Death.” The title track does exactly what the title suggests. The lyrics are opaque and the sound is piercing and heavy. Usnea even adds acoustic guitar to the mix to calm the spirits before hurling down the cosmic highway with rolling drums. Usnea want to “explore the universe for the origin of how this all happened” and if you yearn for that journey, you should listen along.

By Serena Navarro

Thanks to Beatroute for providing the album to review.

Want some chaotic death/doom?! Swallowed – Lunarterial EP

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Dark Descent Records

Lunarterial is a filth-encrusted, ethereal, and chaotic death/doom album from Finnish duo Swallowed. It has been four long years since Swallowed released their self-titled EP, and the reason why is obvious within the dense song construction. Lunarterial features rolling, deep, double-kick drums, keeping this album on pace while the guitars, numerous crash cymbals and guttural vocals paint a turbulent picture. The songs sway back and forth, swaying between a chaotic balance of slow rhythm and a pummeling erratic tempo.

It works, it’s weird and it’s a strangely beautiful and morose piece of art. Album highlight “Reverence Through Darkness” crafts another dimension of horror and disorientating sounds that swallow (pun intended) your soul and eardrums. Truly, the album inspires one to drift away into a soundscape filled with complex, melodic structures and blast beats. Meanwhile, your heart pumps madly. The second half of Lunarterial is a murky doom swamp ending with the lengthy “Libations.” Clocking in at 25 minutes, it’s a journey of calculated chaos that aptly concludes an excellent album.

By Serena Navarro

Thanks to Beatroute for providing the album to review.

Powerchord Podcast-June 14th 2014

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Powerchord Radio is rocking and silly as hell with Erik, Coleman and I!

Podcast

Playlist:

Kylesa – Insomnia for Months – Static Tensions
Mortillery – Despised in Blood – Origin of Extinction
Iron Storm – Take the Wheel – Wraithwind
Dark Forest – Winds and Waves – Aurora Borealis
Bloated Pig – Age of Slavery – Ways to an Early Grave
Bison BC – Finally Asleep – Lovelessness
Gatekrashor – Sign of the Gatekrashor – Gatekrashor
Ritual Dictates – Track 2 – demo 2
Fuck the Facts – Vent du Nord – Amer
Sepultura – Beneath The Remains – Beneath The Remains
Eyehategod – Medicine Noose – Eyehategod
Gruesome – Savage Land – demo
Skull Vultures – Reclaim – Skull Vultures
Kvelertak – Sultans of Satan – Kvelertak
Bongripper – Satan – Satan Worshipping Doom
Tombs – Thanatos – Savage Gold
Pallbearer – Gloomy Sunday – 2010 demo
Kyuss – Green Machine – Blues for the Red Sun
Immortal – Norden on Fire – All Shall Fall

Hosting Powerchord Radio for the first time – June 7th 2014 Podcast

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I hosted Powerchord Radio for the first time (with help from my friend and fellow co-host, Coleman) on June 7th 2014 and I haven’t looked back since. It has been one hell of a ride. To pay tribute to the history of Heavy Metal I played Pentagram, Venom and Judas Priest as my first three tracks!

Podcast

Playlist:

Pentagram – Sinister – Relentless

Venom – Countess Bathory – Black Metal

Judas Priest – Painkiller – Painkiller

Exit Strategy – Overzealot – The Atrocity Machine

Mitochondrion – Plague Evockation – Parasignosis

Nylithia – Infector – Infector

Gorguts – Le Toit du Monde – Coloured Sands

Crowbar – Ageless Decay – Symmetry in Black

Eyehategod – Robitussin and Rejection – Eyehategod

Iron Maiden – Flight of the Icarus – Piece of Mind

Meshuggah – The Demons Name is Surveillance – Koloss

Pig Destroyer – The Diplomat – Book Burner

Electric Wiazrd – Funeralopolis – Dopethrone

Abnormality – Contaminating the Hive Mind – Contaminating the Hive Mind

The Devin Townsend Project – Kingdom – Epicloud

3 Inches of Blood – Leather Lord – Long Live Heavy Metal

Grand Magus – Self Deceiver – Iron Will

Asphyx –Vault of the Vailing Souls – Embrace the Death

Autopsy – Parasitic Eye – Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves

Mastodon – Shadows That Move – Call of the Mastodon

Metallica – Battery – Master of Puppets

Heavy Metal Helps!

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Hello world.

This is a platform for all things. Seriously. Freedom of speech and art. It will be most likely that this spot will be dedicated to all things heavy and light. What am I getting at…well, that I do not want to be limited to the spectrum of the title, heavymetalhelps – but it really does.

Individuals and society benefit from Heavy Metal. I see it everyday and within myself. Music is close to my heart and specifically, Heavy Metal. I have always been drawn to the heavy rumbling drums, fast guitars, slow guitars, effects, growls and the epic vocals. Not to mention the real, oppressive, and sometimes antithesis themes that heavy metal values.

Why am I writing this you may ask and I ask myself the same question. Well, I have realized I need an outlet. Going to shows, listening to music and creating music is one thing, but to be able to contribute to the community of heavy metal is another entirely.

That is why this blog/website is here. It is an outlet – a fanzine – a publication. Whatever one might call it, it is a step forward in a direction that came so easily and natural.

Below is the first edition of the Heavy Metal Helps radio show from the CITR studios. Songs are paired with research and quotes from fans and musicians on how this music has helped them.

Playlist:

Sanctuary – Exitium-The Year the Sun Died

Ahna – War Games-Imperial Decline split /Cetascean

Obituary – Bloodsoaked-Inked in Blood

Skull Vultures – Reclaim-Skull Vultures

Usnea – Healing Through Death-Random Cosmic Violence

Numenorean – Let Me In-Demo 2014

Pallbearer – Gloomy Sunday-Demo 2010