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.
  

• 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.

• 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.

• 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)