
HANZEL UND GRETYL:
- Ausgeflippt
(1995) Heavier than their 2nd album, but still lighter than
their 3rd album, this album remains spacy while containing more guitar
work than the album's followup. Plenty of fun startrek samples (photon
torpedoes and red alert anyone?) and a good groove overall, even if
it's not the heaviest thing on the planet it's got memorable songs and
a few chunky industrial sections. Songs such as 'Galaxia Malakia' and
'Essen Sheiben und Geld Machen' (Eat Shit and Make Money) are
definitely the best stuff. Hard to find, but worth the cash.
- Transmissions
from Uranus (1997)
Probably my least favorite of the Hanzel Und Gretyl albums. This album
is very low key, while still metal in a very broad sense, there's far
more electronica here, and the songs overall are very laid back with
very simple drum machine beats (that remain pretty similar between
songs). There's plenty of spacy samples, but no real songs stand out as
being super killer or anything. This album is fine if you want some
background music for 3am, but there's really not much high energy here
to bang your head to. Check out album number 3 instead.
- Uber Alles
(2003) Part Rammstein, part Coal Chamber, part Rob Zombie, this
"german" industrial band manages to pull off probably the best album in
the genre I've heard all year. But before we deal with the details, one
might be a bit concerned with this band initially, considering some of
the group's imagery, and some of the song titles like uber alles, third
reich from the sun. It seems they are a little overly obsessed with
germany during the 2nd world war era. But I did some poking around (not
to mention some translation, since much of the CD's vocals are in
german), and I am reasonably sure there are no neo-nazi overtones here.
Just good riffs, a twisted sense of humor, and a good sense of
showmanship. Hanzel for example wears Lederhosen and aviator goggles on
stage, I mean, how can you take that seriously? What is serious is some
seriously good music, very heavy stuff, these guys and gals write
fantastic songs that are catchy and instantly memorable. Really nice
production helps the package as well. It's primarily Gretyl singing,
although much of her voice is processed and distorted, which works
great with the music. Did I mention the songs? It's really nice to get
something this heavy and at the same time so tight, there's no filler
on this album, if they were interested in singles, just about every
song on the disc could be a single they're that strong. These guys are
a lot of fun to see live as well. Highly recommended.
- ScheissMessiah
(2004) So they tackled outer space, they tackled war on their last
break-through album, what are we going to have this time? Religion, of
course. Unlike "Uber Alles", this album starts off a little slow with
an intro and 2 ok songs (the riffs are a little too derivative for my
taste), "ScheissMessiah" really doesn't start rockin till track 4 with
"Disko Fire Scheiss Messiah", which is awesome. But then it keeps a
pretty frenzied pace for the rest, with the occasional atmospheric song
to break up any possible monotony. They also perform a metalized
version of the Hallalujah chorus that's just hilarious. Song style
wise, it's pretty much like "Uber Alles", with plenty of chanting and
sirens overtop crunchy guitar riffs and industrial style drumming.
Production is top notch again, with tons of heavy bottom end and top
end crunch. Overall, a worthy album, although the songs aren't quite as
memorable as their last album, where every song was a jem.
- Oktotenfest
2006 (2006, EP) A short 4 song ep. Well, 2 song really, the
first song is an intro, and the last is an outro. The first real song
'Stern Krieg' is really freakin cool. Tons of distorted guitar, and a
very fast upbeat feel with lots of electronic sounding doublebass.
Right up there with any classic HuG song. Track 3, 'Fukken Uber Death
Party', is a more midpaced danceable song, which gets brownie points
for using a speak and spell, and its deliberate use of the song title
in the chorus, but loses a point or two for a slightly bland main riff.
This EP does what it sets out to do, it's saying "Hey, remember us?
Prepare for a new full length album in the near future." And so, bring
it on.
- 2012:
Zwanzig Zwolf (2008) So Uber Alles was their top (in my
opinion), their last album was decent but not spectacular (I don't
think I've listened to it since). This album? Not quite as good as Uber
Alles, but damn close. 2012 (are they taking a page from Van Halen's
book with regards to album titles?) is the perfect blend of heaviness,
speed and silliness. First, many of the songs are much faster with lots
of robotic double bass spurts and fast shredding guitars ('Kaizerreich'
is a great example). The 2 main songs off their 2006 EP make an
appearance on this album, but the majority of the material is brand
new, with jems like 'Heil Hizzle Mein Nizzle' and 'Number 1 In
Deutchland' where the number 1 is spoken by a speak'n'spell. Hilarious
stuff. Plenty of sampled crowd chanting, sirens and random german
stuff, including references to lederhosen. Lots of variety to the
songs, a lot of stuff is heavy, a lot of stuff is fast, and the thing
that I felt was a bit lacking on their last album is almost all the
songs are memorable and catchy. Awesome album, fans of Uber Alles will
be very pleased.
HATE:
- Awakening
of the Liar
(2003) Very reminiscent of Decapitated (and by association,
Vader), a quick peak at the credits and this band is from Poland as
well, do all death metal bands from Poland sound like this? Anyways,
plenty of blasting and double bass with fast tremolo picking, and some
good squawks. The production is good, a little bass deficient but only
a touch. I really dig these songs, some really good riffs here, better
than a lot of the stuff Vader's been putting out recently, so despite
the lack of originality to their sound, I have to give them high marks
in coming up with songs that I actually care about.
- Anaclasis
(2005) While the core of the band is still the Vader /
Decapitated style, this album expands on the formula with some
interesting sounds / effects that take an established style and give it
a bit of a fresh perspective. The first track 'Anaclasis' is a great
example of what I'm talking about, they have very precise doublebass
and blasts combined with a razor sharp guitar riffs (chugging and
tremolo picking, with the occasional smooth ringing chord on the high
strings), and then underneath they have these vocal effects that sound
like tortured souls screaming. 'Necropolis' contains more background
shrieks and a few industrial style hammer noises. The effects are very
subtle and used sparingly, but show up just frequently enough to give
the album a bit of a different twist. And I can't say enough about how
precise this band is, every note is so perfectly placed and performed,
tight without becoming computer-sterile. Good songs, interesting chord
progressions and a spectacular mix help round out the package. This
sort of album is a great way to say goodbye to 2005, and I highly
recommend picking it up.
- Morphosis
(2008) So-so followup to 2005's spectacular Anaclasis. First, the style
and sound is almost identical to their last album, which is a major
bonus. The thing that's a bit of a let down is the songs. The first
full track 'Thredony' is spectacular, as good if not better than any of
their previous material. But many of the songs that follow just don't
have the same spark. The riffs seem tired, they seem reminiscent of
something you've heard before, they seem too simple, too slow, too
repetitive. For example, much of track 3, 'Immum Coeli
(Everlasting World)' is the same note being tremolo picked over and
over again. Track 4, 'Catharsis' is a step back in the right direction,
but all the remaining songs are pretty much in the ok category, as
opposed to the "wow" category. They break up the album a bit with a
nice acoustic intro to track 7, 'Omega', and end with a slow but decent
track called 'Erased'. Nice try guys, but next time spend a little more
time in the song writing phase. Everything else is top notch.
HATE ETERNAL:
- Conquering the Throne
(1999) Super fast and brutal death metal, all in all, a great release
from
a new band. Well, almost new, you'll see a few familiar faces in terms
of the two guitar players, Doug Cerrito from Suffocation (RIP) and Erik
Rutan from Morbid Angel, who also does vocals and wrote most of the
songs.
The music is a lot simpler then the suffocation material, possibly
overly
simple. The drummer has three areas he covers: super fast double kicks,
super fast blast beats, and sometimes super fast blastbeats over top of
super fast double kicks. And I do mean super fast, they're also
incredibly
accurate and loud in the mix which is great, but there really isn't a
lot
of variety or fills. And the guitar players are tremolo picking 90% of
the time. The guitar sound is great, very, very thick (almost Bolt
Thrower
thick), lots of overdubs, the production is perfectly mixed. The riffs
are also great, lots of memorable passages, all fast tempos at all
times,
with almost no slow or chunky parts. As I said, all in all, a worthy
album
for anyone's brutal death collection, it's got aggression, speed, good
songs and cement truck thick production, but needs some more variety in
tempo and style for it to get a 10.
- King Of All Kings (2002)
A very worthy followup. The songs are pretty similar in structure to
the
last album, except the drumming has a little more variety this time
(still
sickeningly fast, thanks to our friend Derek Roddy). In fact, according
to the liner notes, there was no editing done in this album, hence all
the performances were one takes, which is really impressive considering
how well everything is performed. My only complaint is the guitar
sound,
the last album had this Bolt Thrower-ish wall of sound that was
fantastic,
while still thick, the guitar sound on this album has a little too many
mids for my taste without as much bass. This drawback is most evident
at
the beginning of the album when the guitars first come in, but by track
2 or 3 you just get swept up in the great songs and it doesn't stay
noticeable.
Very impressive album, this one is going to rate very highly in my
album
of the year picks.
- I,
Monarch (2005) The first thing that hit me was the return of the
good production with a thick guitar sound, plenty of bass and an only
slightly muffled highend. Not quite as good as "Conquering the Throne",
but 95% of the way there, and way better than the nasally "King Of All
Kings". Otherwise, not much else to report, the riffs are cool, many of
the songs are memorable, all are brutal (with the possible exception of
the album's instrumental closer 'Faceless One' that has a more tribal
beat). Plenty of blasting, tremolo picking and screams in unison. Some
excellent drumwork by the main man Derek Roddy, including some odd
sounding stuff in a few parts which keep things from becoming
repetitive. The songs tend to breath a little more on this cd, not that
there isn't plenty of speed, but a few of the songs go just a tad
slower, not quite as frantic, and it helps the songs that are frantic
seem even moreso due to the contrast. A sign of songwriting maturity
perhaps? 'Behold Judas' is probably the best song on the album, with
it's crazy
speed and vicious chorus, you can just imagine the band playing it live
with Erik Rutan's hair blowing in the wind, screaming into the mic, and
Derek's feet a blur. While nothing mindbendingly new, this material
manages to remain intense without it swinging past brutal towards
monotonous. Another winner from the band, and an improvement over their
last.
- The
Perilous Fight (2006, DVD) At just under an hour, this is a
short but intense concert taken from England in June 2006. First thing
of note, no Derek Roddy on rums. This took place right after he left
the band, so the DVD has a new drummer on it named Reno Kiilerich. He
does a great job with the songs, especially considering the short time
he had to learn them all before going on tour and performing on this
DVD, but it still feels a little odd not seeing Derek back there. Maybe
after he has an album under his belt, Reno will feel a little more like
part of the band. The concert definitely favors material from "I
Monarch", in fact I believe they play almost the entire album, but
that's not a bad thing since the album was so good. Video wise, I think
the cameras switch a bit too fast, not enough to make you ill, but
still, a little slower would have helped the eye focus on what's going
on. Otherwise the footage is professional, a bit grainy, but in a evil
and dark sort of way, not a bad production kind of way. Soundwise, the
guitar and drums are super clear and big sounding, but there is no bass
guitar. I mean, the production has bass, but every time Erik goes for a
solo, you hear guitar and the drums, and nothing else. If you didn't
see the bass player on the stage moving his fingers, you'd assume he
wasn't even plugged in. The DVD also contains a really interesting 20
min interview with the band, where they get into a lot of good topics,
and a 30 min tour of Mana studio, great for anyone interested in tech
talk. Overall, not the best DVD to come out ever, but a lot of good
material, and worth picking up if you like the band.
- Fury
and Flames (2008) Your enjoyment of this album will be
completely dependent on what stereo you listen to it on. I started off
on my usual home stereo (with giant sub woofers, of course), which
plays 100% of my other music just fine, and I couldn't hear a damn
thing. Erik did something to the bass on this recording that is flatly
incompatible with a sub woofer. You know that huge "BOOM" noise that
you hear coming out of a car playing rap music? Well, that's what you
hear with every single bass drum hit, and it completely obliterates any
other sound. So what you get is static and this ridiculous bass hit
sound, even playing with the eq didn't seem to get a satisfactory
sound. I was about to write a scathing review until I tried the CD out
on my ipod with headphones, and then all of a sudden, oh there's the
music! The reduction in bass that comes naturally with the weaker
device allows the other frequencies to come through. So I'll still have
to take points off this recording because the CD is not mixed to play
nice with regular stereos, but if you plan on listening to this on your
computer or ipod, the production quality is decent. Song wise, it's
obvious that Erik is angry, and why not, as he points out in the
album's dedication, he lost his good friend and former bandmate Jared
Anderson. The riffs are not quite as interesting as their last CD, "I,
Monarch", but stil decent. The drumming is thanks to newcomer Jade
Simonetto, it's very
fast and furious, although not as experimental as what Derek Roddy was
doing on their last CD. Overall, this CD is way more pissed off than
their last one, the songs are a little simpler (but still retain all of
that trademark Hate Eternal sound), and you'll need to move the album
around from stereo to stereo to find one that plays it well. Hopefully
next time Erik will choose a different mix.
HATEPLOW:
- Everybody Dies
(1998) While not even remotely original, this is a decent album. The
band
consists of Phil Fasciana from Malevolent Creation, Rob Barrett
formerly
of Cannibal Corpse, and Crazy Larry Hawke, who died shortly after
finishing
the drums for this album. The songs tend to sound a lot like Malevolent
Creation, although the production is a lot muddier. But there are lots
of good riffs, and crazy Larry has always been, well, crazy on the
drums.
The lyrics get special mention for being really brutal, no poetry or
metaphors
here, they just pick a disturbing topic and bark about it in the most
straight-forward,
explicit way possible.
- The Only Law Is Survival
(2000)
The
infamous sideproject continues. No Larry on drums of course, so Dave
Culross
takes over. Dave does his usual jackhammer combination of doubles and
blastbeats,
and lyrics are yelled at top volume, usually rants about the goverment
or society in general. I'd like to speak of the guitar sound, but the
overly
treble guitar/bass sound is VERY low in the mix, making it almost
impossible
to hear overtop the crash when they tremolo pick. Some good riffs here
and there, and no real boring spots or anything, they keep a good
variety
of slow and fast riffs that keep the intensity level high. Although not
getting any points for originality, I have a feeling this cd will be in
my usual rotation for many months to come, because it's brutal, honest,
straight forward death metal, and about as speedy as it gets.
- Moshpit
Murder (2004, Live) 9 live tracks from their "The Only Law Is
Survival" tour in 2000 and then 9 tracks from a 96 demo, and 1 track
from a 99 demo. The live tracks are all good and mixed well, but way
too soft. As in, you have to crank your stereo to 11 to hear it at a
normal volume. But everything is clear and there's even some good bass
in there. Nothing too new here that you haven't heard on the albums,
but still fun to hear the songs with live energy. The demo songs are
just that, fuzzy demos of songs off of their two albums, with "Crazy"
Larry on drums of course. These recordings include a bunch of volume
fluctuations and such, but apparently they're in the originals so
there's not much to be done. Not sure if I can label this cd as a must
buy since it doesn't offer anything their two studio albums don't, but
fans of the band should definitely check it out, there's some good
stuff to be found.
HORROR OF HORRORS:
- Sounds Of Eerie
(1994) You almost want to say "well, here's another bland death metal
band",
except there's something else there. While this album charts no new
territory,
every once in awhile, within a riff, or a hook, or some passage,
there's
that little spark of brilliance. The recording quality is clear, but
changes
a bit during the album (the first three songs have a much more polished
production where the last 6 have more treble). The band also isn't as
tight
as they could be. Standard angry death metal with a few melodic parts,
lots of double kicks and blasts, and tremolo picking. There's
definitely
better stuff out there, but I can't write the band off, with a little
more
polish, a little more tightness, a little better production, and a few
more good riffs (to replace the mediocre ones that show up once in
awhile),
we'd have something.
HYPOCRISY:
- Penetralia
(1992)
This album has killer, vicious licks, great production, super fast and
pounding riffs, not to mention the very biggest double kicks I had ever
heard.
- Pleasure Of Molestation
(1993, EP)
- Osculum Obsceum
(1993) AGGG! They slowed down a lot, the production is muddy, and the
doubles
are missing. What have they done?
- Inferior Devoties
(1994, EP)
- The Fourth Dimension
(1994) They seem to now have become a doom band. Come on! What happened
to that great music from your first album?
- Abducted
(1996)
- Maximum Abduction (1996, EP)
- The Final Chapter (1997)
Apparently
this will be their last album. It sort of sums up their career I
suppose,
it includes lots of doom and a few faster metal pieces (like their
first
album). The sound is huge, although the guitars sound a bit too much
like
Entombed (that's not a bad thing, just unoriginal). Overall though, it
has enough good music to make it a decent album, but I really wish
they'd
produce some more stuff like Penetralia.
- Hypocrisy Destroys Wacken 1998
(1999,
LiveCD)
- Hyopocrisy Destroys Wacken 1998
(1999,
Video)