Morbid Messiah - "In the Name of True Death Metal" (Self-released, 2016; Godz ov War Prod, 2017)

Band: Morbid Messiah
Title: In the Name of True Death Metal
Genre: Death Metal
Year: 6th October 2016 (Self-release); 16th April 2017 (Godz ov War Prod)
Time: 21 min
Rating: 75/100












"In the Name of True Death Metal": this is a fuckin' great title! Especially because this debut EP of Morbid Messiah, self-released in 2016 but reprinted on demotape by the Polish label Godz ov War Prod, is truly fuckin' amazing! But we are talking about a very young band because born in 2015 and that, at the time of the recordings of this EP and in according to Metal-Archives, was a trio composed by the singer José Rivas, the guitarist Roberto Trejo and the female drummer Anubis Sandoval, 3 hyper-angry Mexicans influenced mainly by bands like Sadistic Intent, Possessed and Maim and that are now a quartet thanks to the addition of the bassplayer Guillermo Lopez. But now we have to see what is the "True Death Metal" made by Morbid Messiah!

Rebel Souls - "The Forces of Darkness" (Art Gates Records, 2017)

Band: Rebel Souls
Title: The Forces of Darkness
Genre: Death Metal
Year: 24th February 2017
Time: 28 min circa
Rating: 74/100












The story of Rebel Souls is very tormented. In fact, they were born in 2000 by the will of two 17-years old diehard metalheads from Turingia (Germany) named Thomas Pliewna and Stefan Hielscher, and their intensions were to play an impetuous and brutal death metal in the wake of bands like Vader, Vomitory and Krisiun. But these intentions were realized only in some demos because Rebel Souls ceased to exist very soon in 2003, also because one of the two guys moved to Spain, so it became impossible to continue together their project. Surprisingly, Thomas and Stefan, after their experience into the death metal band Dead Entities' Realm with which they released an album in 2009, raised Rebel Souls in 2014 while, two years ago, they started to record the songs for their long-held debut album that was preceded in December 2016 by the "Descent" single, released by the Spanish label Art Gates Records. And incredibly, do you know who recorded the drum parts of "The Forces of Darkness"? But by James Stewart, the current English drummer of Vader!  So, Thomas and Stefan realized finally those intentions and dreams born in the now far 2000, and this is to show you that the perseverance must have its rewards.

Profound Grave/Occult Pantheon - "Immortal Chaos Ascends" (Ex Nihilo Music, 2017)

Bands: Profound Grave/Occult Pantheon
Title: Immortal Chaos Ascends
Genre: Black Metal/Occult Death Metal
Year: 24th March 2017
Time: 33 min
Rating: 61













After a looooong time, the Chilean extreme metal, adored by me, is back on these pages! All the credit of this goes to Ex Nihilo Music, a very young label proudly Chilean but located in Toronto, Canada that contacted me 3 months ago to review it first production, released, curiously, in the same birthday of mine! This first production is titled “Immortal Chaos Ascends” and is a split between two Chilean (obviously!) bands very different called Profound Grave and Occult Pantheon, and each of them run wild with 5 songs.

Lubricant - "Swallow This" (Svart Records, 2017)

Band: Lubricant
Title: Swallow This
Genre: Death'n'Roll
Year: 10th March 2017
Time: 41 min
Rating: 74/100













I wonder why many early Finnish death metal bands were never able to realize their long-held debut album releasing, at most, an EP of big success among the tape traders. An example of this is given by Abhorrence, a band now considered even fundamental by the death metal fans despite they lived only for one year in which they released a demo and an EP. But, in addition of them, there are also Lubricant, another relevant Finnish band that chose their current moniker in 1990 after 2 years as O.V.D. and that are reunited recently. Precisely, Lubricant reunited in 2015 with EVERY original member. And, as usually happens in cases such as this, a compilation with the better works of Lubricant was released during these times by the Finnish label Svart Records. More specifically, "Swallow This", that yet it is noted for one of the most absurd cover artworks in the death metal history, is composed of the "Swallow the Symmetric Swab" demo (1992) and the "Nookleptia" EP (1993), two very different productions that were remastered here in according to the original intentions of the band.

Evil Cosby - "Ridursi al Niente" (Slaughterhouse Records, 2017)

Band: Evil Cosby
Title: Ridursi al Niente
Genre: Sludge/HC Punk
Year: 13th April 2017
Time: 16 min
Rating: 73/100













When Evil Cosby contacted me one month ago to review their new EP "Ridursi al niente" ("reduce yourself to nothing"), their moniker sounded strange for me because I thought already it cited the known US comic actor Bill Cosby. This impression of mine was confirmed immediately by the funny intro of the EP in which there is even a sketch taken from an episode of the TV sitcom "The Cosby Show", known in Italy as "I Robinson" (Italian for "The Robinsons" because the original surname "Huxtable" was considered unpronounceable for the Italian market). But if this isn't enough, the mascotte of the band is an hallucinated Bill Cosby that wear a makeup worthy of a Black Witchery's member! All this is very funny and parodistic but Evil Cosby, a duo from Milan (Lombardy) that released only the demo "Belzecult" and a split with the Mexicans Bala Fria (both in 2016) before to publish "Ridursi al Niente", has nothing in common with the parody as regards the music and lyrics, as you will soon.

Ascended Dead - "Abhorrent Manifestation" (Dark Descent Records/Invictus Productions, 2017)

Band: Ascended Dead
Title: Abhorrent Manifestation
Genre: Death Metal
Year: 17th March 2017
Time: 37 min circa
Rating: 92/100













The debut album of Ascended Dead has finally arrived! "Abhorrent Manifestation" has come after 6 years into the ranks during which Ascended Dead released a demo in 2012 and the very acclaimed "Arcane Malevolence" EP in 2014. Especially this one, released by the Swedish label Blood Harvest, made Ascended Dead an underground cult pushed also by a certain Gene Palubicki of Angelcorpse fame because he foresaw that this band from San Diego, California, formed by 4 musicians very involved in other many projects, could've accomplished great things in the near future. After that EP, the discography of the band was filled by not one but even two compilations, and the last of them, the interminable "Ritus Mortuus", was released in 2016 by the same Ascended Dead. So, the hype for their long-awaited debut album was incredible into the most extreme sewers of the metal underground in a way very similar to "Hero" of Bölzer or "Primordial Malignity" of Tomb Mold. And the nice thing is that "Abhorrent Manifestation", released in North America by the strong label Dark Descent Records and in Europe by the Irish Invictus Productions, has completely respected the expectations of the fans through 10 strongly killer and memorable songs. But now, how justified is all this big enthusiasm about an album yet considered by many as a death metal classic?