It's good to know that DoC friends Rebaelliun are staying busy since their return. Though marketed as a "deluxe re-issue", half of Bringer Of War (The Last Stand) is new material recorded this year. The new songs show how the band has grown in 20 years: Still able to blast with the best of them but unafraid to inject some Bolt Thrower groove into their sound. Released back in 2000 and long out of print, the original Bringer of War EP helped establish a new generation of Brazilian death metal bands (including Krisiun, Abhorrence, and Mental Horror) who were faster and more vicious than any that came before them. This should go without saying, but expect no prisoners to be taken, and no fucks to be given. [€4.90]
Degial were always an oddity, being a Swedish death metal band who rode the old school revival wave with a style more indebted to Morbid Angel than Entombed. Predator Reign, their third album, is their most accomplished to date, and as blistering and frenetic as anything that's come out of Brazil or Poland. Geography is not destiny. [€6.66]
Krallice are nothing if not prolific - scant weeks after releasing their collaboration with Neurosis' Dave Edwards, the NY band has dropped their 8th album (and 11th release overall since 2008). Go Be Forgotten is the band's most straight forward release in years, utilizing the unrelenting speed and eerie atmospherics of second wave black metal and giving them that unique Krallice twist. For all the fluffier and less credible aspects of American black metal, there's no questioning this band when it comes to work ethic and musicianship. Krallice are simply in a class of their own. [$7]
Denver trio Pile of Priests probably don't see "living in the past" as a bad thing. The convoluted riffs and popping bass on their Tenebrous Labyrinth EP put them in closer alignment with the progressive bands on Roadrunner Records circa 1993 than anything in the modern "tech" or "djent" circles. Tacked on at the end are covers of Sadus, Coroner, and Kreator - in case you were wondering how far the fruit has fallen from the tech/thrash tree. [$5]
