Infernal Stronghold-Godless Noise

Official Site
Label: Forcefield Records
Released: July 2009
Release Type: LP/CD Full Length
Genre: Black/Thrash/Crust

Further quenching my thirst for the blasphemous cacophony that is Infernal Stronghold is their second full length album aptly titled Godless Noise. As with all their releases I've encountered, the LP of Godless Noise is wrapped in a beautiful package. Gorgeous printed matte jacket covered in obscure and endless details as well as necessary information (song titles and the like). The inner jacket is a slick glossy picture on one side and lyrics and legal info on the other side. Offering to be limited to 700 and only 12 bucks i can't see how anyone could pass this up. I'm sure the cd is just as nice, although to quote the guys themselves "10 songs, 27 minutes. Sounds waaayy better on vinyl."

Now with the music. Infernal Stronghold retain their taste for a rough production that sounds organic, powerful, and cacophonous, but never hazy and obscuring. They have found a perfect match of old school European d-beat mixed with 90's Norwegian black metal and an overall polish that comes from the competence and understanding of a modern day, level headed engineer. The vocals are vicious and strained, mid-range black metal rasps, to crusty shouts, all dirty and raw. The guitars shred through thrashy riffs amidst a razorwire mesh of distortion and static, leaving the bass to be support and the unadulterated drums to maintain its own space. The dirty and thrashy vibe, coupled with the black metal vocals and aesthetic tied to the punky sections cement this lp as heads above the rest.

For the most part, the songs are short and varied blasts of blackened thrashcore(think of Anti-Cimex collaborating with Horna playing old Sodom songs or something along those lines) that manipulate fast sections of blast beats to d-beats, to mid-paced thrash affairs and all that lies in between. "Crippling Blasphemous Persistence" stands to be the most black metal track offered on the album, a catchy tremolo picked riff coupled with a powerful blast beat carry the song and even a slower section with a very somber riff that highlights Infernal Stronghold's arsenal of tricks and abilities; this track is probably my favorite on the album.

Infernal Stronghold do an excellent job of mixing all elements to their sound equally, creating a unique sound that stays true to the title Urban Blasphemy. The lyrics offer commentary on(against) religion, political/societal issues, as well as personal and interpersonal issues. I found the lyrics to be quite good and refreshing when compared with countless bands spewing fuck yous or fuck religion; a bit more introspective than that.

Infernal Stronghold are geniune with their music and don't look to impress anyone or do anything for anyone else besides themselves and their fans. Support them and buy their shit, nice guys and great merch that's dirt cheap. Buy here for the LP/CD, and here for older releases/merch.

-F

Hellacaust - Disgust

Hellacaust Myspace
Released: 2008
Label:Blood Bucket Productions
Type: Full Length
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal

Ever wonder what being buried alive next to thousands of others, then somehow sawed to pieces by some terrible mass-murdering machine? Well if you haven't I don't know what you're doing with your day, but if it had a soundtrack it would be Hellacaust. Grinding black metal with huge flirtations towards the realm of crust and old fashioned thrashcore, Hellacaust pull off a polished release full of spite, anger, malice and misanthropy.

A filth ridden sound matched with a sparklingly clean production create and furious sound and works quite well for these Candian godstompers. The guitarwork jumps from catchy thrash leads to full blown black metal tremolo affairs. The guitarwork is spot on and flawless, very interesting and enjoyable. The drums blast and stomp, ranging from hyper fast blasts, the thudding d-beats, and everything in between; high energy. The vocals stay in the crust/black metal region, becoming quite understandable at times, and at others just venomous and scathing howls.

The in your face attitude reeks of punk demeanor and could be a strong reason why I make this band out to be some kind of punk hybrid. The music is really angry and pissed off, something that makes it a whole lot better. Fuck christians, fuck this, fuck that, fuck the world I say! Serious stuff here, but not without some fun (listen to the gang chorus and beers clinking together in Millennial Regression). Riffs and solos really stand out, Whore sounds like some (un)holy grail of awesome riffs that Destruction left laying around somewhere. Half way through Feeding the Wound a great riff leads to a nod to older metal in a bitchin' solo and all kinds of shit, not to mention the awesome chant- Stand, Stand, Take a fucking stand!.

This album is a great mixture of the nihilism and ferocity of black metal, the riffs,rhythm, and attitude of thrash and the anger of crust punk. Great stuff buuuuuuy!

Buy here or here
Listen (link courtesy of Attila)

-F

Hayaino Daisuki- Headbanger's Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire

Tracklist:

1. Into The Throat Of Berserk

2. Haiiro Ikotsu Gakidou

3. Horobit Monogatari

4. AKA

So, here it is, my first-ever review in all its glory. Unedited since the very first time I posted it in the Metal-Archives. I pretty much hate it, and was going to massively edit it before posting it here, but I decided I'd rather give all you Chainsaw Justice readers a chance to mercilessly mock and humiliate me.

Have fun:

Really, you shouldn’t even be reading this review right now. The fact that Jon Chang is in this project gives you a reason to buy it. Everything the man touches somehow becomes musical gold. From his work with Discordance Axis to his newer project Gridlink, I’ve yet to hear a bad album with the Changster on it (I’ve still got a few Discordance Axis splits before I truly have all of the Chang-man’s work, but, meh, close enough).

So, on to the music.

Chang and his mischievous little cohorts have left us a lot to love here. Matsubara (of Mortalized fame) tremolo picks his way through the majority of the songs, and does it with style and speed. The riffs are very catchy and very fast, when he isn’t tremoloing, he’s breaking out some juicy riff or hitting a blazing solo. The drums are well done, Eric Schnee proves that he’s a fast and efficient drummer whose style fits the music quite nicely. Jon Chang’s vocals are great as always, that madman shriek of his is still intact and shrill as ever. He doesn’t use his low grunts though- their absence on both this and the new Gridlink record is a bit disturbing, and a bit of a disappointment. Their occasional inclusion in some of Discordance Axis’ recordings were a real treat, it would be a shame if Chang were to stop using them. But, as always he efficiently delivers a solid vocal performance, one that complements the music quite well and pierces through my speakers like a audile spear. Collectively, the music absolutely rips, Hayaino Daisuki prove their ability to write catchy and fun thrash/grind at absolutely blazing speeds.

The only real problem I have with this record is the production. I’m no audiophile or anything, and can tolerate and enjoy lo-fi production when appropriately used, but the production on this record is sub-par at best. The bass drum is too loud while the guitars are not loud enough, which causes some problems. The constant rumbling of the bass drum renders the guitars near inaudible, making it difficult to discern Matsubara’s succulent riffs. When Schnee stops clanging on his blasted bass drum (which he does for about 98% of the whole record), the guitars come bursting out in full color, and you get to hear small sneak-peeks of how great this record would have been had the production not sucked.

Another small mention: This record is incredibly short. Even for an EP, Headbangers Karaoke Club is extremely brief, clocking in at a mere 14:02. Ultimately though, it isn’t a huge problem, it just leaves you wanting more Hayaino Daisuki to sink your teeth into.

Once you get past the shoddy production, though, you realize that this record truly shines. It’s everything that modern thrash/grind should be: fast, catchy, and fun as hell. Definitely worth a download, at the very least. Hayaino Daisuki released this EP in 2007, so we’ll hopefully get more out of these guys soon.

(Originally written for metal-archives.com)

Huh, that wasn't too bad, it's certainly better than I remember it being.

How was my writing, folks? Feel free to send me either criticisms or praise via comments or e-mail, I appreciate both.

Oh yeah, woohoo first post!

-Gravemarker

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?jzz2ymtwdzm

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/hayainodaisuki

Purchase:
Amazon

Demolition Hammer - Epidemic of Violence

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/skullfracturingnecrology
Release Date: 1992
Label: Century Media
Release Type: Full-Length

Alright kiddies. Face-ripping thrash is the order of the day and I hereby present you Demolition Hammer's Epidemic of Violence. And believe me, this rips. Except not. For a band packing this many headbanging riffs, this powerful a guitar tone, this much double-bass blast runs, this many blistering Slayer-esque solos, these guys don't shred your face as much they completely fucking cave it in. Yeah, that's about right. These guys are armed to the teeth with riffs, and almost every single one of them will make you headbang like a maniac, provided you aren't afflicted with some disease of the bone which rends you incapable of showing your appreciation for thrash metal in the simplest and most common way. In that case, you should just try and try not to give a fuck about the consequences. This is music best listened to with a bottle of beer in one hand, horns raised high with the other, and your neck and head in constant headbanging motion.

Show your appreciation for this fine headbanging masterpiece by doing some fine masterful headbanging.

Purchase:
- Amazon