Episode 44 – Black Vomit (right click to download)

That’s FIVE weeks since our last episode! That’s a first. So far, in almost two years doing SATAN MADE ME DO IT, we’ve skipped one week just once, on New Year’s Eve. We’ve been quite busy, though. First with our first SATAN MADE ME DO IT curated gig at Music Box with the supremely cool BAD GUYS. We can’t lie to you: it’s true; we’ve felt some kind of “post-event blues”. We just wanted to jump on stage and do it again. Then reality crashed in. Work to do, 9-to-5 jobs. A mess.

So, yeah, we’re late and we apologize for not providing you your biweekly dose of sonic prozac (WordPress tell us that Monday morning is your favorite time to pay us a visit, so we guess it’s a privilege to be your first source of energizing for the working week).

But guess what? We come with a vengeance. This episode is out there in terms of sheer aggression, speed and raw power. And we’re featuring a lot of fresh, 2015 stuff. So let’s just lock horns and be pals again. PLAY IT LOUD!

(cover art: http://bit.ly/1IXO861)

Click for show notes and a complete tracklist.

Episode 44 – Black Vomit

Great opening track from Obituary’s “Frozen in Time” album. It was nice to have been reminded of just that after last week’s Deathcrusher Tour in Lisbon. Great riff here. If only the drumming didn’t sound so plastic, you know? This is begging for a good banging. Like the one given us by Instinct of Survival. Cool mashup of death metal and hardcore punk from these Germans. We’ve been wanting to slip them in for some time now. So there you have it.

Diavolos first release basically just came out. Certainly doesn’t feel that way though. Their sound is 100% grounded in the usual 80s suspects, as you, most educated listeners, will be able to tell. Production is very, well, hells headbangers-y. Most addictive chorus, wouldn’t ya say? Nice cover too. Only the bridge is a bit lacking. Don’t get us wrong: we love prettier parts in the middle of hard hittin tracks. Here it just seems like they tried something close to what Sabbat does really well, but kinda fell flat. Whatever, cool track.

Here’s another 2015 ugly. Enter Obscurity has been putting out stuff like crazy this year. Extinction Parade is one of our favorite tracks from the young Norwegians. Seconds into the song you already know everything you need to. Solid.

So we don’t if you’ve heard, but the Swedish hardcore punk d-beat motherfuckers Paranoid went all (especially) crazy and decided to release a new cover track every month starting in January, all from bands that inspired them in one way or another. They just finished the project. Number 10 was a cover of Arise by Sepultura. Now, one of us is fucking nuts about old Sepultura. Basically everything up to “Beneath the Remains” deserves a monument. Then came Arise, which might sound similar to the 1989 masterpiece, but, really, it isn’t at all. The production sucks, plain and simple. And you know what? Paranoid did that title track better and in style. What could be finally is! UGH!

Black Breath and Gouge are two favorites around these parts (as you know if you’ve been paying attention to SATAN MADE ME DO IT for some time now). For different reasons. Black Breath are perfectly in control of what they’re doing. Fucking amazing slick crushing machine, both live and locked in the studio. “Sentenced to Life” was simply one of 2012’s best albums. We dare say it’s already one of the best death metal albums of all time. Because there was a perfect mix of death and black metal with hardcore punk. Unfortunately, this year’s “Slaves Beyond Death” lacks a bit on the hardcore punk stuff, so less points for that. But even so, they’re able to deliver songs like “Pleasure, Pain, Disease”. This is so good they’ll have to stop.

Gouge are on a different league. They’re just starting. But, man, they promise a lot, this pair of Norwegians. Of course, hanging out with people like Obliteration, Condor or Mion’s Hill makes everything easier. Fucking promiscuous the Oslo scene.

And then we have something like “Outlaws”, from Division Speed. Is there any other track on this episode so well prepared to make a crowd get mental on a live stage? No, there isn’t. This is true mosh pit material.

Looking back, 2015 was probably a stronger year than 2014. One of us is basing this solely on a quick check of his notes. But it’s hard to say. There’s so much stuff coming out all the time that we’ll still be finding out about incredible 2014 material next year. Vircolac’s first and only demo is a 2014 release that we discovered this year – and holy shit are they good! They play a kind of atmospheric death metal that instead of really lame (like most “atmospheric” death metal bands end up being) is nothing short of magnificent. In that sense it reminds us of Vampire’s 2012 demo. But this is grimmer for sure.

Less grimmer but a bit more dangerous is Beyond’s Whirlwinds of Chaotic Carnage. This is one of those cases where the title really fits the song. The (old) Morbid Angel and Necrovore inspiration comes through beautifully. A very American release by the German band.

Vorum, from the Åland Islands (an autonomous region from Finland who actually happens to have Swedish as their official language), sound like someone trying to win a 10k race after using up large doses of speed, coke and maybe a bit of krokodil on top. It’s vile, fast, degraded, corrupted, unstoppable noise. In other words, it’s amazing.

Also great is the outro from Embrace of Thorn’s “Aiwaz Arisen” (sounds like they’ve watched Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” at some point?), so we definitely embraced it as our closing track.

— Tracklist

1. Redneck Stomp | Obituary (USA) | Frozen in Time, 2005 http://www.obituary.cc/
2. Subcultural Elite | Instinct of Survival (GER) | Screams of Suffering [EP], 2010 https://instinctofsurvival.bandcamp.com/
3. You Lived, Now Die! | Diavolos (GRC) | You Lived Now Die, 2015 https://www.facebook.com/diavolosrising
4. Extinction Parade | Enter Obscurity (NOR) | Extinction Parade [EP], 2015 https://www.facebook.com/diavolosrising
5. Arise (Sepultura cover) | Paranoid (SWE) | Cover of the month 10/12 [Single], 2015 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqBO28V_tisBLk5sSsOsDuQ/feed
6. Pleasure, Pain, Disease | Black Breath (USA) | Slaves Beyond Death, 2015 http://blackbreath.com/
7. Breath Of The Reaper | Gouge (NOR) | Beyond Death, 2015 http://www.facebook.com/GOUGE.NEKRO
8. Outlaws | Division Speed (GER) | Division Speed, 2015 http://www.facebook.com/divisionspeed
9. Confessio | Vircolac (IRL) | Codex Perfida [Demo], 2014 https://www.facebook.com/vircolacdeathmetal
10. Whirlwinds of Chaotic Carnage | Beyond (GER) | Fatal Power of Death, 2013 https://www.facebook.com/beyondgermany
11. Current Mouth | Vorum (FIN) | Current Mouth [EP], 2015 http://www.vorumdeath.com/
12. Aiwaz Arisen | Embrace of Thorns (GRE) | Darkness Impenetrable, 2014 http://embracethorns.bandcamp.com/