Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Man Destroys Himself - Mexico /San Diego Deathgrind
When it seemed that nearly every single band in the Greater San Diego area was a pile of filth striving to be “BRUTAL” but falling short of anything interesting, I happened upon Man Destroys Himself.
Man Destroys Himself originated in Mexico, and then moved to San Diego. That seems like a horrible idea, from a music-scene standpoint. Nonetheless, they were entirely capable of grasping the fundamentals of metal, drawing influence from bands among the highest ranks of death metal and grindcore, unlike hundreds of metalcore and deathcore clones that infest the area, thereby forging their own brand of deathgrind.
There’s nothing special here insofar as technicality, but they’re fairly skilled. Their vigor reflects itself in their music.
Of particular interest on their Myspace was the track “Macrocosm of Torture”. The music, highly saturated in noise, with drums pounding through with clarity, kept up in pace with the imagery evoked in the lyrics in an ever-changing yet self-similar fashion, matching the intensities of the violent, metaphoric lewd acts described in the lyrics to the music. Vocals are surging in and out where the bass guitar should normally be, but it is hardly missed here.
And then this video here exemplifies how much more awesome their music is. Suck on this, Cannibal Corpse:
Man Destroys Himself - Cloak of Martyr
Man Destroys Himself on Myspace
Album reviews coming soon.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Good Death Metal
So that this blog doesn’t become dedicated to exposing bad shit from California, here are some classics to help you recognize the difference between good and bad.
All songs here are embedded in high-quality format.
Possessed - The Exorcist
Morbid Angel - Chapel of Ghouls
Autopsy - Ridden With Disease
Massacra - War of Attrition
Demilich - The Sixteenth Six-Tooth Son of Fourteen Four-Regional Dimensions
Amorphis - Black Embrace (Privilege of Evil version)
Atheist - …And the Psychic Saw
Gorguts - Inverted
Martyr - Warp Zone + Virtual Emotions
Friday, August 8, 2008
Garbage Bag 2
In this edition of the Garbage Bag, my research easily concludes that MySpace should be avoided for finding anything both new and authentic in metal, especially at the local level.
Suicide Silence - “Death Metal/Grindcore/Hardcore”
Riverside, California
These guys rip out rhythms in trve Cannibal Corpse-listening scenester fashion. Loosely connected, savage song segments which change ever so predictably will give you something a bit faster or slower to hardcore-dance to in each song, serving as yet another great reason to not listen to them.
Carnifex - “Death Metal”
San Diego, California
What a shame. This local San Diego band sounds like the others from the area - Cannibal-Corpse-esque with inherited developmental retardation from its father/brother, metalcore. Similar to other San Diegans, Gortuary, in both form and execution, but just like their local peers, Carnifex sacrificed the contemplative vigor of greater death metal for much groovier tuneage (and funky d-beats and breakdowns), maaaaaan.
Gutted With Broken Glass - “Grindcore/Death Metal”
Riverside, California
Self described as “Pirate-Grind”, whatever the fuck that means. You would never imagine that pirate grindcore would sound so much like deathcore played by yet another fucking hipster band. How odd. Regardless, they’re nearly cast from the same mold as Suicide Silence, all the way down to potentially copyright-infringing merchandise.
