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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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.

Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Black Crown Initiate, Necronomicon at Rickshaw Theatre – July 4th 2014

Posted on by

VANCOUVER — Conquerors of the World Tour arrived at the Rickshaw lead by Septicflesh from Greece and Fleshgod Apocalypse from Italy. Black Crown Initiate, a progressive metal band from Reading, Pennsylvania, and Necronomicon, a blackened death metal band from Montreal started the night.

“Stench of the Iron Age,” a track from Black Crown Initiate’s first EP, was being played when I found my way to the stage. It began slowly with a beautiful guitar riff and clean vocals but surged into death growls and fast drums. This band knows how to create a balance and the crowd dug it.

Necronomicon brought the windmills, the noise and the makeup. The set consisted mostly of their new album, Rise of the Elder Ones, and a couple old songs as they have been active for over 25 years. Necronomicon had a clean, heavy sound with lots of double kick, which reminded me of Behemoth.

Fleshgod Apocalypse, a technical symphonic death metal band, began their set with soprano singer Veronica Bordaccini eerily walking onto the stage in a mask and a Victorian dress. They sounded grand and atmospheric which was extremely present in the song “Minotaur.” They ended their set with “The Forsaking,” with a piano driven melody and melodic drumbeat that infused the crowd and got heads swaying.

Suns, moons and skinless bodies adorned several white banners for Septicflesh’s arrival. This Greek symphonic death metal band played songs off their last three albums. Titan, their ninth studio album, has arrived faster and heavier than the ones that preceded it and the crowd wasn’t complaining as a circle pit arrived. The climax of the night came when “Persepolis” was played and the crowd arranged for a wall of death.

By Serena Navarro

Thanks to Beatroute for the opportunity to review this show.

I am really digging Black Crown Initiate

Powerchord Podcast-June 14th 2014

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Powerchord Radio on CITR in Vancouver B.C. Canada

Posted on by

Powerchord Radio has been on air for almost 30 years now! Thanks to Ron for keeping Heavy Metal alive on CITR.

 

 

PicSdropmarch2nd 069

Being a host at Powerchord Radio for almost a year now has been one of the most awesome experiences of my life. Not only do a listen to amazing heavy metal bands but I get to search out awesome bands from all over the world and more importantly, here in Canada! I love supporting the small local artists that do what they do because they love it.

I will be posting many Powerchord podcasts here at HEAVYMETALHELPS!

The Facebook link is where you can find all the updated information on Powerchord radio and all the bands we spin on air!