Last Rites - "Nemesis" (MASD Records, 2017)

Band: Last Rites
Title: Nemesis
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Release Date: 23rd December 2017
Time: 32.43 min
Rating: 88/100













What can I suggest you today that is the day of the dead, otherwise known as Halloween? LAST RITES! Write this name down because we're taling about a veteran Italian band that realized an outstanding fourth album named "Nemesis"! Hailing from Savona, Ligury (North Italy), Last Rites started their path in 1997, so "Nemesis" represent a special release for the band because, through it, they celebrated their 20th anniversary. For this, you'll find, on two pages of the nice booklet of this album, some pics (also on stage) that cover the career of the band from the early days to the recent ones. In this range of time, the band has been always strongly leaded by the singer/guitarist Dave, the only current member remained of the original line-up. Another interesting thing to underline is that "Nemesis" has been dedicated to the memory of Vic Mazzoni, a talented metal musician died in 2016 at the age of 42 years old. Now, let's start to talk about this memorable piece of metal!

Gnida - "S.Y.F." (Self-released, 2012; Defense Records, 2017)

Band: Gnida
Title: S.Y.F.
Genre: Brutal Death Metal/Grindcore
Time: 14.54
Release Date: 22nd July 2012 (self-released)
                      November 2017 (Defense Records)
Rating: 62/100












After the reissue of that first black/thrashing demo by Ragehammer, this is another reissue and, made by Defense Records, it's about "S.Y.F." (that stands for "Sturdy Yawping Faeces"), the first album by Gnida (Polish for "scumbag"). Today we'll shortly talking about an album that lasts only almost 15 minutes per 15 songs!

Backjumper - "Scorpion Democracy" (DIY release along with some labels, 2018)

Band: Backjumper
Title: Scorpion Democracy
Genre: Hardcore Punk/Stoner with Thrash Metal and Noise influences
Time: 14.40 min
Release Date: 26th October 2018
Rating: 70/100












Sometimes they come back! And we're talking about a very welcome return! In fact, I received some weeks ago the EP here reviewed from an old acquaintance of this 'zine: Mauro Garbati. He is the singer of the hardcore punk band MuD (whose some releases were reviewed on these pages) and also one of the guys that runs the label THC DIY Productions. This one, along with other labels and with the same band, released "Scorpion Democracy", the new EP by Backjumper. Coming from Bari (South Italy) and born in 2003, Backjumper is a really experienced band that, throughout the years, had the honour to open the shows of famous acts like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Sick Of It All, Municipal Waste and others, but without forgetting even their participation at the Wacken Open Air 2013 in an edition that saw on stage bands like Motörhead, Deep Purple and Rammstein. Ok, all this is truly nice but...the music?

Ragehammer - "War Hawks" (Mythrone Promotion, 2012; same label, 2018)

Band: Ragehammer
Title: War Hawks
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal
Time: 18.54 min
Release Date: 21st December 2012 (Mythrone Promotion)
                      23rd July 2018 (same label)
Rating: 73/100












"Ragehammer would like to emphasize that no matter of your political or religious beliefs, skin color or nationality we do fucking hate you all. FUCK YOU ALL!"

Fetor - "No Poems Just Slam" (Mythrone Promotion/Infernum Media, 2018)

Band: Fetor
Title: No Poems Just Slam
Genre: Slamming Brutal Death Metal
Time: 26.39
Release Date: 19th May 2018
Rating: 60/100













Slamming brutal death metal...I confess: I never liked so much this sub-genre. Why? Because, for my broken ears, it has too slow parts and also too generic riffs, so, as a fan of the pure pure speed aggression, I think I'll always prefer the most violent and hysterical forms of brutal death metal. Unfortunately, this Polish band called Fetor, that recently released a live album which shows pure slam starting from its title, isn't an exception for me.

Chaos Synopsis - "Gods of Chaos" (Black Legion Productions, 2017; Defense Records, 2017)

Band: Chaos Synopsis
Title: Gods of Chaos
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Time: 41.57 min
Release Dates: 25th March 2017 (Black Legion Prod)
                      2017 (Defense Records)
Rating: 75/100











Very interesting is the lyrical concept behind "Gods of Chaos", the 4th album by the Brazilian quartet Chaos Synopsis. In fact, its songs are about chaos gods that belongs to different religions and mythologies, so the album ranges from the classic figure of Satan ("Raising Hell") to lesser known entities like Guabancex ("Storm of Chaos") or Unheegila ("Badlands Terror"). The nicer thing is that, in addition to the lyrics, on the booklet you can find short descriptions about each god. To say the truth, it isn't the first concept album by Chaos Synopsis since, for example, their second album "Art of Killing", that was completely about real serial killers (apart Dexter Morgan from the TV series "Dexter"), so we'll face today a band very attentive to the lyrical side of their songs.

Amoclen - "Diagnosis: Grindcore" (Defense Records/Maximed Records, 2018)

Band: Amoclen
Title: Diagnosis: Grindcore
Genre: Grindcore
Time: 20.52 min
Release Date: May 2018
Rating: 92/100













"Diagnosis: Grindcore": a title that says already very much about the second album of these 4 breackneck speed lovers called Amoclen. Coming from Czech Republic, Amoclen were born in 2006 and, two years later, had the honour to release a split along with Agathocles (a band whose absurd prolificity remain, for me, an absolute mistery!). Instead, in 2011 they managed to release their first album, "Cymbalta", and, after 7 years of discographic silence, they are back to infest our minds with a new auditory torture whose (new and old) tracks are (almost) all titled after a medicine. But it's a very very pleasant auditory torture, I must say!

Top Sekret - "Piggy Op" (Defense Records/Maximed Records, 2018)

Band: Top Sekret
Title: Piggy Op
Genre: Grindcore
Time: 20.12 min
Release Date: May 2018
Rating: 64/100












Graphically speaking, the third album called "Piggy Op" by Top Sekret is pure madness! Apart the fact to title an album in this way, its simple 4-page booklet (made by Lucka) without lyrics contains some very strange drawings (on an absurd white background) that are very rare to see on a release of this kind (as you can see below in the band pic)! Less rare is the noise played by these 3 masked lunatics from Czech Republic.

Dekapited - "Sin misericordia" (Suicide Records, 2017; Defense Records, 2018)

Band: Dekapited
Title: Sin misericordia
Genre: Thrash metal with some Black Metal influences
Time: 36.34 min
Year: 1st June 2017 (Suicide Records)
           2018 (Defense Records)
Rating: 72/100












After a long live report about a grindcore/power violence festival, today we'll back to talk about a thrash metal slaughter released by Defense Records. For the truth, "Sin misericordia", the new EP by Dekapited, was originally released in 2017 by the small Chilean label Suicide Records, and, then, reissued by other labels, included the same Defense Rec. Its version is a little bit special because it contains not only the original 6 tracks of the EP but also other 6 numbers taken from a 2017 show in which these 4 Chilean maniacs (whose singer/guitarist Camilo Pierattini plays also in the raw black/deathsters Invocation Spells, that belongs to the roster of the infamous Hells Headbangers Records) opened for nothing else than Slayer! I notice you already that there is a great difference in quality between the studio and the live tracks, as you'll see soon.

Go! Fest 8 (Rome, 29th September 2018)

Bands: Crisis Benoit/Dr. Gore/Igioia/Neid/Faršas/Riistetyt/Lugubrious Children/Reproach/Failure/Scheletro/Maxcarnage
Date: 29th September 2018
Location: CSOA Spartaco
Price: 7 €

















Do you remember that I mentioned in a live report of some months ago the 8th edition of Go! Fest, an International festival specialized on grindcore/power violence? Well, Go! Fest 8 was a fantastic experience and this is the live report about it! 12 bands on stage, plenty of wild moshing heads (included some also coming from USA!), good friends, a lot of mad moments, some distros with their own stuff, a nice sensation of unity between the attendants and the bands, and a sound engineer throughout the entire fest like Daniel Casari from Tibia and Onryo: this has been, in brief, Go! Fest 8! But now let's go to discover in the details what was happened during this festival in which the speed in its purest form reigns tyranically!

R.O.D. - "#Societykill" (Defense Records/Mythrone Promotion, 2018)

Band: R.O.D.
Title: #SocietyKill
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal with Hardcore Punk influences
Time: 22.16 min
Year: 4th May 2018
Rating: 90/100












What a tremendous slaughter! This second album by R.O.D. (acronym that stands for Razor of Death) is essentially a total slaughter from start to finish that leaves no fukken prisoners such is its violence! And we're talking about a violence not only musical but also lyrical since these 4 Polish maniacs love to face socio-political themes by taking them from positions able to be controversial, as you'll see soon. In addition, all this was released, in cooperation with Mythrone Promotion (that sent to me the physical version of this album), by a Polish label that now you might know very well considering it is a regular presence on these pages (as the same Mythrone): Defense Records.