Episode 49 – Bad Character (right click to download)

This is one proud, barbaric, dangerous dude of an episode. REALLY GOOD stuff.  Black/thrash nuggets from nine different countries. Some new stuff, some demo stuff, some obscure stuff from good times gone by. AND we have all the adjectives you would expect from such a show: perverted, thick, sick, impenetrable, vicious, revolting, cool, fresh, harsh, commendable, extraordinaire, sinister and, above all, relentless. So get in, get on, get off and listen like your life depended on it.

Click for show notes and a complete tracklist.

Death Metal double feature right off the bat.

We don’t know much about opener Ruin, but considering the information available on their official website and bandcamp, no one else does. Quoting: “The small amount of information that we do know is that the band was formed back in 1991, somewhere in the United States. Due to various members of the band being incarcerated and institutionalized, RUIN was disbanded at some point later that year. Rumors have also swirled that the band members were/are part of some sort of cult”. We don’t know how much of it is true, but we take it with a pinch of salt. What we DO know is that “Perverted Lunacy” is one hell of a track. We browsed through our notes and after “Perverted Lunacy” it just said “cool”. Also, the cover for their “Spread Plague Hell” demo looks like a Mion’s Hill cover artwork, and that’s a good thing.

After that comes Pissgrave, who not only have one of the most sickening album covers EVER, but are also able to fabricate some of the most impenetrable and downright vicious and revolting brand of death metal today (produced by Arthur Rizk, the guy behind stuff from Prurient, Power Trip or Inquisition). We have to admit, lot’s of new cool and fresh death metal bands coming from the States lately.

This is one beast of an episode. The intro for Bathory’s classic “Call from the Grave” is probably the one moment you will have to catch up your breath, so you better enjoy it before getting buried.

Already this is one helluva trip. “Relentless” certainly comes to mind. It wouldn’t make much sense to stop now, so, here, take it! “Walpurgisnight”, the “Queen of Siam” version by Holy Moses. Tell you what, the 1985 demo version sees Sabina Classen sounding a lot like Quorthon. Fuck, that whole demo has some of the harshest vocals in metal for 1985. Impressive through and through. The sound there was just too rough for what came before on this episode, so we decided to go with the album version this time. Still, make sure to check the earlier incarnation of this track.

Next, what do you know? It’s Necrodeath with their brand of evil thrash, not unlike Teutonic classics. “Pleasure to Kill” came out a year before this and you can tell. This doesn’t diminish the “Into the Macabre” album at all, mind you! The album has a nice and good sinister aura throughout. That has always been a trademark aspect of Italian metal bands, actually. Another trademark: fucking cool English pronunciation haha We just can’t get enough.

Then, it’s 2^nd wave black metal extraordinaire Urgehal. Still an amazing band to hear after all these years. A commendable achievement playing a very classic, very overused style, and not sounding outdated. It indicates actual good taste. This time we went with the 8+ minute long “The Night Armageddon Comes”. Every second counts!

We featured Birth Ritual before. This track comes from another cool demo of theirs, the “Kumagaya Demo”. It’s distinctively underground Japanese: depraved, demo like quality, punk attitude, just plain weird and, again, fucking cool English pronunciation. Fun stuff, really. Not one single review on Metal Archives? C’mon!

Two more demo tracks. First one we just found out about. By accident, to be honest. We were looking for Plague Spreader from Sweden, couldn’t find anything about those guys, and in the process ended up stumbling on Plague Spreader from Greece. It’s a demo track. A bit uncooked, and voice is not so good, but sounds honest and enjoyable, so we decided to feature it here. As a celebration of life’s undesigned events. You know. Track is “Spreading the Plague”, from Plague Spreader. While looking for Plague Spreader from Sweden. And back there we had “Spread Plague Hell”, from Ruin. Already this sounds like a conceptual episode! Ah!

Next up is “Unholy Speed Attack” from the really promising Dungeon. Hard to get our hands on stuff from these guys. It’s like they don’t wanna be listened to. Which is a shame, because we’re expecting things from Dungeon. Good things. They’re playing on the Berlin edition of Live Evil. Wish we could be there. :-(

We bid you farewell with Malthusian. Don’t know why we haven’t featured this fearsome foursome from Ireland before. Time to make amends. Deal with it.

— Tracklist

1. Perverted Lunacy | Ruin (USA) | Spread Plague Hell [demo], 2015 https://ruindeath.bandcamp.com/
2. Pain Enchantment | Pissgrave (USA) | Suicide Euphoria, 2015 https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/suicide-euphoria
3. Call from the Grave | Bathory (SWE) | Under the Sign of the Black Mark, 1987 http://www.discogs.com/Bathory-Under-The-Sign-Of-The-Black-Mark/master/5784
4. Walpurgisnight | Holy Moses (GER) | Queen of Siam, 1986 https://www.facebook.com/official.holy.moses
5. Internal Decay | Necrodeath (ITA) | Into the Macabre, 1987 https://www.facebook.com/necrodeath.official/
6. The Night Armageddon Comes | Urgehal (NOR) | Arma Christi, 1997 https://urgehal.bandcamp.com/
7. Holy Destruction | Birth Ritual (JAP) | Kumagaya Demo [demo], 2010 https://www.discogs.com/Birth-Ritual-Kumagaya-Demo/release/3531658
8. Spreading the Plague | Plague Spreader (GRE) | Spreading the Plague [demo], 2016 https://plaguespreaderpatras.bandcamp.com/releases
9. Unholy Speed Attack | Dungeon (UK) | Unholy Speed Attack [demo], 2015 https://www.facebook.com/DungeonLondon
10. Forms Becomes Vapor | Malthusian (IRL) | Below the Hengiform [EP], 2015 http://malthusian.bandcamp.com/