Slavearc- Structural Damage In The Blueprint Of Humanity

Slavearc is a hardcore, death metal, metalcore band from Sheffield, England. This record was released by Screams Of Salvation in 1999. What I really like about this album is that it's so death metal sounding and I love the death metal genre. I also really like the record label that put this out called Screams Of Salvation. They have released many amazing metalcore bands like Absence, Pain Runs Deep, Slavearc. This band is just brutal and the vocals sound almost inhuman. You can't understand at all what the singer is saying as his lyrics are impossible to understand. That doesn't matter when the music is this good though. I have always loved Slavearc and to me when you have the kind of vocals that are really scary and inhuman sounding that is a definite plus in my book. The music can be very slow and powerful when it moves at the pace of cascading maple syrup to finally reach the seven minute mark of the song. The fast songs are also impressive because they can fit so many different genres of extreme metal in each song. The pacing of the songs is mostly fast and that is where I see that the hardcore genre is really present here. This is a really raw sounding album and death metal is all over this release. The drumming is just outstanding and is incredibly precise. Is that man or machine behind the drum kit? Right now I can hear sprinkles of metalcore in the song structures. I also heard hardcore dance parts which was a surprise on such a death metal sounding release but they fit in very well with the rest of the music. The guitars sound really intense and have this feeling of domination. I really like the vocalist and his growling and bellowing vocals. His singing is so intense that I think if Slavearc didn't have him they would have quite a loss. He is so engaging and has such a presence that he really is the backbone of this band. The guitars never sound forced because they sound perfectly placed and we have some major shredding going on here. We have some definite metalcore moments on this album and they're really well done. This is an amazing death metal record that only Slavearc could produce. What makes this so incredible is this release mixes together hardcore, death metal, metalcore. This is a classic album and one of my favorites from that period. This album does transcend when it was originally released and has become an all time classic in my opinion. Slavearc has been slept on for far to long and it's time to revisit this record and give them another chance. If you have never heard them then this is the perfect time to give them a listen. So check them out and see what England has to offer.  Thanks for reading.
Kevin

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Aria- As If Forever Really Exists

Aria is a metalcore band from Charlotte, North Carolina. This album was released in 2002 on Tribunal Records. Paul Genet who was the former vocalist for Azazel is now the current vocalist for Aria. This record is also very original sounding and that is really hard to find these days. Paul Genet's vocals are just sickening and could peel the paint right off any wall. The melodic death metal guitar leads fit perfectly if you could marry good to evil on a metalcore album. The shrill vocals next to the beautiful buzzing guitars fit perfectly. Hardcore breakdowns are present very frequently and really keep this album moving. Paul Genet uses death metal growls to perfection and the drums are just all over the place and they are simply brutal. This album has a real and complete flow to it and the melodies are gorgeous. This music is epic and filled with surprises at every corner. The vocals are just demonic sounding and they are here to frighten you like a horror movie. The drumming doesn't let up for a second like it's firing on all cylinders. This album is done so well. It must not have been easy to combine elements from hardcore, metalcore, death metal. Aria sound like they are having so much fun making this record. The vocals are just maniacal and he sounds like a crazed madman. I love these off kilter rhythms that the band uses that I can't get enough of. They are so strange sounding and they totally go with the rest of the music. This band is so confident sounding in the way they play their music. It is like they are seasoned veterans when playing this style of metalcore. I think this is because Paul Genet used to sing for Azazel and now he sings for Aria. I believe this has given them real veteran leadership from one of the best singers in metalcore. The wailing vocals meeting the heavy breakdowns was just a perfectly placed section of music. These fast paced sections fit really well with the overall feel of the music. The guitar leads are done to perfection and sound like they could come from Sweden. Aria are from the hardcore scene and they play metalcore so there is no doubt that they are from North Carolina. I have reviewed Azazel for my webzine and talked about how amazing and how essential they are. Now I have reviewed Aria for my webzine and I want to tell how amazing and how essential they are as well. I would say you need to have both bands because they both have the same singer. The truth is right now I want you to listen to Aria. This is a classic album like no other because it's a very original sounding metalcore album and that is hard to find these days. I think fans of hardcore, metalcore, death metal would all be fans of this album because it borrows from all of these genres of music. If you like my review of Aria please check out my review of Azazel.  Thanks.
​Kevin

Prayer For Cleansing- The Rain In Endless Fall

Prayer For Cleansing is a metalcore band from Raleigh, North Carolina. The band plays hardcore, metalcore, death metal, black metal. This album was released in 1999 on Tribunal Records. This is my favorite metalcore record of all time and this is also my favorite extreme metal album of all time. When I first heard this band the North Carolina hardcore scene was starting to produce some amazing new metalcore bands. They had bands like Bloodjinn, Undying, Azazel, Prayer For Cleansing. These bands are so metal sounding and I liked Prayer For Cleansing the most because they sounded the most metal of all the bands. All of these bands are metalcore bands but when Prayer For Cleansing infused hardcore music with black metal that just wasn't being done at this time. They just mixed so many different styles of extreme metal together that they were simply groundbreaking. They have these melodies that are simply sublime and unforgettable. The vocals are very raspy and very serpentine in their delivery and they cast a long shadow all the way out to the lands of fire and ice. The singing is a nice touch and sounds very pretty. I love the creepy whispers and that you can sometimes hear the lyrics clearly. The growling vocals are incredible and make me think of the best death metal bands ever. The guitars are done so well that they make beautiful music together and they are the backbone of this album. The guitars can go from such a fast pace to such a melodic pace at the drop of a hat. The drumming is outstanding and just brutally fast but it also slows down when melody is present. Prayer For Cleansing are such amazing musicians that it seems like this album was a breeze for them to make and play the music that they recorded. I really love their vocalist David Anthem because he can sing so many different vocal styles and it just seems easy to him. His vocal range is so impressive because he is screaming all the time and he never lets up for a second on this record. The mood of this album is very triumphant but also very sorrowful. The mood of this album is also very victorious but also very gothic. The hardcore breakdowns on this album could turn any moshpit into a feeding frenzy of hardcore kids trying out their best mortal kombat moves. The black metal parts on this record will take you to a far away place where black metal is magical and infamous. It will take you to Norway to the cities of Oslo, Norway and Bergen, Norway. This record is so breathtaking and so strangely otherworldly that it can transport you to North Carolina the home state of Prayer For Cleansing or all the way to a far away galaxy. If you have read my reviews you will notice that I didn't use funny metaphors in this article. This is because Prayer For Cleansing means so much to me as a metalcore band. Since I first discovered The Rain In Endless Fall in 1999 I have never heard a record like it and I have never heard an album this good since. I wanted to start a band in the same style as Prayer For Cleansing. When Prayer For Cleansing went on tour and I saw that they weren't playing in Chicago I had to convince them to play here and what an amazing show that was. Prayer For Cleansing makes you think, they make you feel, they make you happy, they make you sad, they make you hold your head up high, they make you feel down in the dumps. A band that can make you feel such a wide range of emotions is an important band. I'm not a big lyric guy but I really love their lyrics because they speak to me. The music of Prayer For Cleansing is very original sounding and the lyrics are also done in a very original way. I implore you to listen to this album because it is so special and done with so much reverence and honor to the metalcore genre. If you like Prayer For Cleansing you might want to check out my review of Azazel because you may like them also. This was a pleasure for me to write and thanks for reading this.  Thanks again.
​Kevin

Deformity- Murder Within Sin

Deformity is a death metal and metalcore band from Belgium. This album came out in 1999 on Blasphemour Records. The album cover is sick and disgusting just like a classic death metal release should be. Deformity is so death metal sounding that it's not even funny. They are absolutely vile and brutal in the truest sense. But they do have some metalcore mixed into all the death metal chaos as well. This is what makes them truly awesome in my book. The singer lurches forward and releases growls and bellows from his mouth in a reptilian style. The vocalist is amazing because he uses so many vocal techniques including different styles of screaming and wailing. The drumming sounds so tight and it just sounds incredible. Here we have some classic metalcore sections that sound amazing. The guitars sound blazing fast and really hold all the chaos together. I really love how fast these guitars are because it brings this album to the next level of greatness. The singer is like a salt water crocodile growling and biting the hands and feet off of poachers. These poachers should have never messed with a death metal crocodile. I really love how raw the recording sounds yet it still sounds very professional at the same time. It has just the right amount of rawness for a record like this. The drummer is like a maniac with two machine guns in each hand who is going to murder all the death metal haters around. Oh he has found a crop of death metal haters at the local mall and with all guns blazing he kills them all. We have more incredible metalcore right here. The whole song "Stained Red" turned out to be a metalcore song. What a great song and I did promise you more of that here. The death metal is back again in full effect and you better brace yourself for the brutality. So why is this album so amazing? I don't believe this to be a deathcore record but rather two clearly defined genres of music. I believe this to be a death metal and a metalcore album. This is a clear distinction and it would sound very different if it was done any other way. Many deathcore releases can sound boring and formulaic but records like this can sound lively and refreshing. Even though this album is extremely heavy it's still entertaining to listen to. This album is deliberate and purposeful with it's sound so it has been all planned out. I have listened to death metal even longer than I have metalcore but I love both genres. This is a really special release to me because of how strong of a record this really is. I think that this album is classic and essential for fans of death metal and metalcore.  Thanks.
​Kevin