Reviews - August 2006

bAlarum Review

Fair suck of the sav! Australia's Alarum delivers an astounding blend of metal with their second studio album Eventuality. Expanding on the sound they have experimented with and developed throughout the '90s, Eventuality is a cross between prog, tech death, thrash, jazz fusion, and soaring emotive instrumental. Imagine, if you will, that the former members of Death (R.I.P. 'Evil' Chuck), Cynic, Atheist and Portal all decided one night to pay homage to Dionysus and a very loud and rambunctious orgy ensued, the result of which were the members of Alarum. That's essentially what seems to have happened. With that said, each member has something to offer. Matt Racovalis lays down some very impressive drum tracks, segueing in and out of the breakneck changes in the progressions with masterful speed and grace. Mark Palfreyman, lead vocalist and bassist, isn't who I would call the world's greatest vocalist, but he seems just right for the job, with a diverse range of styles. I just wish his instrument could?ve been more prominent, e.g. Atheist?s Piece of Time. Both guitarists can shred your ass off and, unlike most other blokes out there, know how to apply their technique with intelligent musicality. I mean, can you really go wrong with influences like Vangelis and Planet X? Rest assured, this is a real bottler of an album. If you're one of those people who are sick of bands who employ the same watered-down trash with the same manufactured riffs in every song, I seriously hope you're not wearing sweatpants because this album will no doubt give you a reason to crack a fat once again.

- Robert

Sakrefix Review
Dark Spells Cast Under the Eclipsing Moon - Sakrefix

First things first, this is raw as hell, if you don't like that then you won't like this, and if that's the case then I feel sorry for you because this is an awesome piece of work. The festivities begin with The Burning World. The track opens with a cool little rhythmic hook before slowing down for a few seconds and then diving into the fulll force of the song. It continues this pattern of alternating between slower rhythmic sections, including an awesome headbanging riff about two thirds of the way through, and full force for the length of the song. From there it continues on into three songs, Gathering Forces, and God of the Deep, that really never let up. These two songs are fast and punishing and carry a deep headbanging rhythm all the way through. Riders from the North slows things down, barely though, and continues on with the aforementioned headbanging rhythms. Denial of Existence, arguably the rawest track here, closes things out. This is the one that makes it feel like the skin is peeling from your body, ever see the scene from the end of 'Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark' where everyone's flesh is melted, well that's a perfect visual representation of this song. But really, is there a better way to end an album than that? No, so go download the tracks now: sakrefix.metalhordes.com

- Jarrod

Cannibal Corpse - Kill

To start off let me say that this is classic Cannibal Corpse. They don't use any big new tricks, but rather unveil 13 tracks of straight forward brutal death metal that will pummel your eardrums until they're bleeding so profusely the mere sight of it could inspire a new Cannibal song in all its bloody glory. The album opens with The Time to Kill is Now, and 'Corpsegrinder's' scream 'killlllll' over pounding riffs and drums. From this point forward the album doesn't lose an ounce of its crushing intensity, yet the listener isn't subject to the same repetitive song over and over. Rather, each song seems to be made up of several different riffs which stick around just long enough to pound you before the next one comes along to continue smashing your head in. Necrosadistic Warning is the best example of this, it opens with a short intro which transforms into a crazed storm of riffing and drumming, followed by a slower more focused section, and then back comes the crazy riff storm to hammer you again. Many songs from Kill, some of the best in fact, take a similar approach. They hammer a listener before ripping the ground out from under them and then coming back to strike them again. The production of this album also deserves mention, the sound comes through clearly yet is crushingly heavy. I could easily ramble on for a few more paragraphs about this album, instead, I'm going to summarize. Awesome bloody tracks like Five Nails Through the Neck, Necrosadistic Warning, Make Them Suffer, and Submerged in Boiling Flesh make for an awesome album that is Cannibal Corpse strongest performance to date, and should be a part of any death metal collection. Aptly named, this album kills.

- Jarrod

Hails from The PitGoddess.

Scrapyard Magazine