Nervous Impulse - Time to Panic (2015)

   True to their name, Nervous Impulse have placed quite high standards by their debut if it's about intensity and musickness. Therefore probably it wasn't easy to exceed the first album, but by looking at the details, "Time to Panic" could be marked as a successful attempt.
   The suddenly switching song structures are as insane as ever, and by this step diversity and a constantly frustrated tone is given. But still, some improvement could be sensed in both the themes and the song structures. It's still not the easiest music to go into, but everything comes somehow better organized than before. There are still plenty of unexpected switches that are keeping up the listener's attention and increasing the enjoyability the same time, but this time it's a bit more than pure chaos somehow. And this is proved to be an advantageous improvement. The sound is also heavier than previously, and probably this is responsible for the impression, that this time the band might have focused more on brutal death influenced features. But in truth it's just the side effect of the sound preference, that highlighted heaviness a bit more than on "Enough for Dementia". In total, "Time to Panic" is another excellent death/grind masterpiece, strongly recommended for the fans of the genre. 

Parfumerie - Transmundane and Unprofessional Delocation of Superfluous Extremities and Rare Tissues (2014)

   Parfumerie was a short lived goregrind project of thrash/death band Besieged guitarist Nolan Smit and Joe Belanger, known from grindcore band Archagathus.
   Weird, but the different background of both musicians could be sensed on Parfumerie's short one and only demo record. Compared to the raw simplicity of Archagathus, the songs seemed a bit more complex (by goregrind standards), and simply having better riffs. This slight difference proved to be enough to provide some diversity for the music, and even if it's about songs that barely reach 1 minute in length, this is mainly responsible for the higher enjoyability compared to Archagathus. Heavy, old school riffs giving perfect ground for the insane grinding that follows, and even the demo sound turned out to be pretty advantageous for the exaggeratedly filthy disharmony of the songs. These are brief moments of course, but endlessly sick and effective moments. The same could be told about Parfumerie in general in the extreme metal scene. However, even if Archagathus switched their style to goregrind later on, their music was never really able to outpeer the sick greatness of this short Parfumerie demo. If it's about musical minimalism in the era of the increased importance of sound, such similarly subtle differences could be quite determining. Parfumerie might be a potential favorite for the fans of grindcore and goregrind!

Phobocosm - Deprived (2014)

   Phobocosm had a quite impressive debut by "Deprived", that didn't really sounded like an experimental first hit of newbies, but more like the well composed work of already experienced musicians.
   "Deprived" is interesting from another perspective too. It was mentioned before that the New Wave of Old School Death Metal had advantageous influence on the late '80s, early '90s inspired bands. This combined with the minimalist trend from the late '00s brought back the long forgotten and back then also short lived and underrated death/doom subgenre by slowly increasing numbers of new bands. The focus was mainly on noisy sound and on its possibilities, and slowly, step by step complexity have returned. Phobocosm was one of the first newly formed bands whose music reflected this tendency from the beginning. They relied on the combination of overwhelming heaviness and noisy sound assisted by deep growling vocal style. The slow, ominous themes are frequently switching to brutal intensity. Similar switches did appear previously at some funeral doom bands with a more modern and therefore diverse approach like Ataraxie for instance, but their speed ups were kinda occasional. Similar, longer lasting intensity and complexity  might remind more to Incantation. In fact similar bands are mainly responsible for the afterwards increasing importance of Incantation's music, since their name is impossible to avoid when it's about this specific direction. The creation of such great song compositions, that are basically balancing between musical minimalism and technicality by actively applying the effectiveness of both, definitely needs skilled and well practiced musicians. In total, Phobocosm debuted with a masterpiece that's strongly recommended for the fans of death metal and unfriendliest form of death/doom.

Bloated Pig - Made for Hell (2012)

   Bloated Pig was formed in 2006 as a southern/stoner rock band, and by their wild intensity and quite party compatible music they've kind of exceeded even the original scene of the genre. With time their themes turned heavier, their sound dirtier, and they drifted closer to sludge.

   "Made for Hell", their third full-lenght album was their first and quite determined step into this heavier direction. Those specific kinds of old school hard rock and heavy metal elements embedded into groovy themes, that are essentially coming from stoner and southern rock, did remain as their music's main feature, but this was something different. Something that broke through the ordinary borders by intensity and heaviness. It includes the very familiar feeling that comes from most related styled music, but in this form all that sounds more aggressive, more energic, and more rebellious than how it was used to be in the '90s. The main concept is also one step further into an exaggerated direction, that doesn't seem to care much about written or unwritten rules if it comes to this style. The album has a wilder, groovy sludge sounding aspect, such as a more traditional southern rock/stoner side, and it also reaches doom influenced depths. This made the album also more diverse than usual, but without taking any consolidatingly and boringly badass southern bad boys switch that seems difficult to avoid for most, and always gets committed to serve mainstream tendencies. The badass effect they've reached by sounding dirtier, heavier and wilder than usual, and that could totally wipe the floor with the current tendencies and the currently popular bands of the genre. 

Black Pestilence - Tradition is Obsolete (2011)

 If Black Pestilence did something unusually weird by their debut, than with their returning album they successfully exceeded that. And it also couldn't be determined as some "let's just stay at the good old recipe, since that worked out last time too" thing, cause they tried to introduce their twisted perspective from another way. 
   As the title already suspects, they drifted further from the traditional sound of black metal, and on this album blackened themes also had smaller role. Instead the mix of punk and noise based industrial-like insanity was put into focus. As the atmosphere used to take quite noteable background role in classic black metal mainly as the side effect of poor sound quality, the same background role black metal influences had on "Tradition is Obsolete". Also it took the frequently returning framing role that punk themes had on "Vice". Even though the debut was everything but chilling, this switch made the second album somehow even more intense. For this feeling probably the lack of blackened sound could be judged for that, as the intense bass lines was led to hear, and also the audience friendlier punk basics had bigger chance to prevail. This more melodic and kind of simplified approach might be easier to go into, but only until the industrial noise sets on. That sometimes recalls the cheeping-beeping sounds of ancient nintendo or tetris games, and sometimes reminds to a rightfully forgotten remix of some terrible '90s europop song. And the chaos lets loose again. Interestingly the same features are giving the reasons why this music is easy to go into and why it's not. Even though the punk-black metal elements reminding to Barbatos somehow; after listening to "Tradition is Obsolete", the commonly shared theory that makes Japanese responsible for the creation of the sickest productions, might needs deeper reconsideration.

Nervous Impulse - Enough for Dementia (2009)

   From the mid '00s the Renaissance of grindcore has begun and that new wave was represented mainly by porngrind and slamming grind/death bands. It was like a new, modern sound for the genre, but except this and some exact overly exaggerated topic/concept preferences it didn't gave anything new. However, this new wave brought other, more old school oriented bands too, like Nervous Impulse.
   Their short and very intense debut was somewhere between the modern and the old school tendencies of grindcore. The sound, the song structures, switching distorted guttural/high screaming vocal styles, heavier sounding basic death metal or goregrind themes instead of groovy punk influences are definitely the signs of the new wave. Still, the style and the main impression reminds more to the roots of grindcore, and it's more similar to European grind, than to American. In old school American grind/death the songs used to be more unified and they're not building on contrast and themes switches that much. Sudden theme, vocal and speed switches are the most specific solutions in Nervous Impule's musical toolbar. Fast thrashy hammerings switching to mid speed, than to ultra fast gravity blasts, that are usually pulling the other instruments to speed up too. Than the switches keep repeating or they stop for a second suddenly before an outbreak, and everything goes over again. All that gives a very rageful impression that's sometimes unbearably anxious and ends up extremely insane. This fastly repeating diversity might give the feeling that the album is way longer than how it is, and it may be a bit harder to go into, but all-in-one quite effective, and could be enjoyable.

Black Pestilence - Vice (2009)

   It's nothing new that since the middle '90s the metal scene wasn't able to renew itself, or to form new styles. New styles still showed up though, but these were usually the simplified or dummy versions of something that was already made before; or the mix of different, already existing styles and genres were introduced as new styles. However it seems like limitless experimenting and avantgarde ambitions still could produce some pretty weird but impressing things. 
   Black Pestilence is a perfect example for that. Their  music could be described as something extraordiarily weird that's still working well somehow. On their debut they approached the traditional sound of black metal by involving punk and industrial-like noise influences. It's definitely one of the most unusal ways as possible. Their sound reminds to bands who tried to mix industrial with black metal, but while most of these tryings didn't end up well, Black Pestilence managed to create something genuine and unified. The embedded noise based intensity proved to work well to reflect the atmospheric tendencies of black metal, except it has quite raw touch and  it's not really emotion based. This twisted atmosphere is nothing more than a reference in this case, but it proved to be enough. The main impression is quite insane, but the blackened guitar themes ar able to create a frame to hold the chaos together. The returning simple punk beats having some simplifying effect, and also offering some catchy basic beats and themes to not let the whole thing to slip too far. Even though the band didn't seem to intend to follow any written or unwritten rules, or to keep any style limitations. They definitely pushed the envelope as much as they could, and by that they were able to create their own genuine characteristics. 

Revenge - Triumph.Genocide.Antichrist (2003)

    Revenge just picked up the line where Conqueror dropped it. James Read was the common point in both bands and that explains the similarities and the direct influence.
     The band proved to be more persevere and more productive than Conqueror was. "Triump.Genocide.Antichrist" was their first full-lenght album, but they released already two EP's before as a worthy introduction. The similarities with Conqueror in the cover arts and the music are not accidental, it's exactly the same concept: pure satanic madness about war, destruction and anti-Christianity. Still there are some mentionable differences. Even though Revenge was the same insane, their song structures were less chaotic by sometimes showing some well composed themes. There are also some frequently returning middle speed slow-downs too with more black metal-like vocal style. That sounds like an old school reference and made their music a little bit more diverse and more enjoyable. Except that it's again the endlessly exaggerated brutality on the line on Blasphemy, just how like black/death metal should sound like. No dark beauty or aesthetical masturbation should be expected.

Conqueror - Hammer of Antichrist - History of Annihilation (2003)

    For those who missed Blasphemy, the appearence of Conqueror could have been satisfying. The band was formed by their guitarist Ryan Förster and James Read, and that's already enough to guarantee the expected quality.
    Anyway this band wasn't a long living project and so active neither. "Hammer of the Antichrist" was a compilation that summarized their discography including their one and only full-lenght album and their demo releases. So it's a nice lenght for long term enjoyment. The same insane feeling returned in their music like in Blasphemy a decade earlier. The difference is that Conqueror sounds even more intense and the vocal style is closer to ordinary black metal. Just like the most exaggerated direction of black/death, Conqueror's music completely lacked atmosphere, melancholy, melodies and any aesthetical features. It's raw, compromise-less noise about war, apocalypse, satanism and hatred mostly in rehearsal quality. And like usually in this style, the primitive sound puts the raw brutality in main focus, that is exactly why this style could be preferred. Strongly recommended for he fans of blasphemous musickness.

E-Force - Evil Forces (2003)

   Thrash metal was forced to take a back seat since a while, but fortunately some newer reinforcements came from time to time to refresh the scene.
    One of them was E-Force from French Canada. Their intense debut summoned a feeling that was missed since a long while from the main scene. They sounded a bit different compared to old school thrash, because some modern influences also could be sensed in their music, but it still had the needed nostalgic characteristics. Probably the softer kind of thrash and the Bay Area scene was also between their influences such as the more aggressive direction. The improved features are that they tried to substitute the typical softer themes and yowling vocal style of the first one with something more actual. In the early '00s it's was hardly possible to reach any serious impression with the musical toolbar of the '80s, so some modernization was needed. That they performed creatively by their own way, and that made their music more colorful than usual. By the lyrical themes they followed the classical tone and topics of the genre."Evil Forces" was a reinterpretation of an old school style that didn't run down only by intense thrashing, but also had some renewing ambitions.

Kittie - Oracle (2001)

   Since nu metal was not a so unified style, it had various opportunities to mix different influences. But not many bands lived with the opportunity and they just stucked at some mix of hip-hop and metalcore. Fortunately Kittie was not one of them.
  The appearence of Kittie was also interesting because they sparked attention with their full female line-up. It was nothing new to see women in aggressive bands, in the underground scene there were plenty of examples for that before, but for the mainstream audience it was still new and extraordinary to see women growl, scream, headbanging and to play heavy music. The band never kept in secret that they sympathized with extreme styles, and death metal influences appeared in their music too. In general their song structures kept the simplicity and repetitive style of nu metal, but they often operated with heavier riffings than it was usual. That gave more reason to their heavy sound than bare attention seeking or contrast, unlike at most other nu metal bands. Even though they had plenty of girly moments and clear singing on "Oracle", the screaming vocal style they had in it's contrast was also wilder compared to others and uncommon to hear in mainstream music. It was definitely not the Linkin Park, Korn and Papa Roach-like line, their music was easier to find in the playlists of Slipknot and System of a Down fans. 

November Grief - To Live... In This World of Chaos (1995)

   After first listening November Grief may sound like a death metal band with such brutal ambitions, that the question may show up, why were they gone so soon? After gaining some plus information, things would seem more complex, but the question stands still.
    Similar to Mythic, November Grief was a female death metal band, but compared to Mythic they were musically more progressed, and intense, raw brutality was their concept. It wouldn't be easy to find out that female vocals could be heard. "To Live... In This World of Chaos" was only a demo, but it's clear that their music was updated both in style and sound. Even though lyrics about equality, weed legalization, or world crisis problems doesn't fit to the musical concept that much, the main impression is enough stunning. But after Christian death metal, why not? If this is the best way how to emphasize their message, and without reading the lyrics, nobody would expect that. We could also say that November Grief was ahead of it's time since nowadays plenty of bands appeared who may sound rough, but they are not into horror/gore, based topics, or anything negative at all. The difference is that while this actual direction had some specific subcultural-fashion prelude, November Grief had not such influence that time, only came with their genuine imaginations.

Soulstorm - From Euphoria to Paranioa (1994)

   Soulstorm debuted as a strongly Godflesh influenced industrial metal band with the ambition to play this style heavier than others do.
   So they tried to mix industrial with death metal. These two genres aren't easy to combine, mostly because the specific metal subgenre features are fading or disappearing by the simple, but strict repetitive themes that are compulsory industrial features. The results were similar like at Meathook Seed, the diversity and the noisy, intense sound gave the main difference in total. The death metal influences are sometimes there, sometimes gone and than a more melodic side is showing up. "From Euphoria to Paranoia" was a large step after the very raw first album. The typical Godflesh references got left behind (like the mid speed bumping the artificially distorted vocals) and their music became more complex, included catchier themes and had progression in sound too. Industrial may softened the general effect of the album, but it didn't made it much friendlier. It's a less known, but intersting classic of metal influenced electronic musickness.

Cryptopsy - Blasphemy Made Flesh (1994)

After their demo gained them some attention in the Canadian death metal underground, Cryptopsy released their first album Blasphemy Made Flesh in 1994. Well recorded and an instant reminder of classic early 90's death metal, Cryptopsy provides a mix of death metal and gritty groove to keep listeners interested. All the while keeping the fuzz and grind of classic 90's death metal. Artistically sloppy and raw, Lord Worm keeps the album vocally overbearing and deep, consistent throughout the album. His vocals can be described as more of an instrument, when you can't pick up the distinct words (which is like 98% of the time).  Some could argue that this album holds a sort of jazzy feel with high snare use and slappy base lines. For fans of early Cryptopsy, it's a hard toss up between Blasphemy Made Flesh and None So Vile when it comes to picking favorites, but BMF holds strong with some of Cryptopsy's best written material. Straight forward 90's death metal punch you in the fucking face sound. For an interesting and heavy dip into Death or borderlind Tech Death, this album is a go to.

Malhavoc - Premeditated Murder (1992)

   Not everyone was so fascinated by the uprising extreme metal waves to follow the same sample in self-expression. Some found other alternative ways to reach the same intensity in music.
   Malhavoc was inspired by thrash metal at the beginning, but soon they turned further into a darker direction of electronic music. They mixed metal with industrial, which was nothing new since Godflesh and Ministry appeared, but it wasn't a common ambition, nor popular before wider audience. And if the location is Canada, Skinny Puppy have to be mentioned as a possible influence too. Malhavoc went even further than the mentioned other projects and created it's own genuine style with the lyrical concept of sexuality and philosophical, societal topics. "Premeditated Murder" was the second full-lenght album of the band, which turned closer to ordinary metal compared to the first one. It shows their various influences and a less unifyed view. While the major part of the album is more into industrial, some songs referring to the ordinary heavy/thrash influences, and only the artificially distorted vocals are telling that it's the same band. The main view is diverse in feeling and impression, balancing between aggression, self-destruction, sexuality and chaotic randomness as the album goes on. A less known, underrated but extraordinary record of the genre!

Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom (1990)

   There is another kind of black/death metal, which is somehow far different from the usual blackened death style. It's also less known and far less popular. The roots of this uncommon style are leading back to Blasphemy.
   The better known black/death bands involved the atmospheric influences of ordinary black metal, and their themes are more melodic. Before their appearence Blasphemy created something that lacks all of these features. "Fallen Angel of Doom" is a brutal, noisy grinding without any melodies, Just aggressive, disharmonic, blasphemous destruction. That means the death metal influences having the main lead in guitar themes and vocal style , while the simple and ultra fast black style hammering giving the basics. The sound is somewhere between the two. Instead of the impression of a sizzling rehearsal, it's like a rough, low budget studio record (usually it is for real). Sounds a bit cleaner than old school black, but still it's endlessly dirty and noisy. This new approach showed an alternative passage in musical extremity.

Skinny Puppy - Remission (1984)

   The dark shades reached other genres too out of metal music, or by the indirect influence of metal. However a darker section started to grow out from the noise based industrial scene by the appearence of Skinny Puppy.
   Their new, less brightening noises are about to portray an ominous, unfriendly, and cold world inspired by horror and the sickest imaginations. Compared to the earlier issues of the genre, it's heavier, more intense, and darker toned. The lyrics were also not written to cheer up and convince the listener to throw a stress removing party at the end of the week, so we can say it was more like an unsual step in the progression of electronic music. The vocals are sounding like the distorted voice of an endlessly wretched minded murderer from a horror film. I would associate to someone similar to Freddy Krueger. So the main view is pretty sick, and successfully closing up to the similar underground tendencies of other music genres. This parallel development itself is quite interesting, and proved that deviance in music could appear in different forms and with different characteristics, and with nearly the same effectiveness.