THE REEFER HUT:

• Stoned To Death (1995, Demo) A demo band from Ohio, The Reefer Hut is eclectic to say the least. Death influences, as well as Industrial, even a rap tune. Very brutal stuff, probably the biggest bass response I've ever heard on a demo. The songs have a few inventive riffs and some damn scary vocals, although I've been told by the band that the demo isn't necessarily a good indication of what their working on right now. They've also got a live drummer now (the demo has programmed drums). I'll wait to see where the band goes from here, hopefully they'll record some new stuff soon.

• Fused Together in Revolving Doors (2004) Very similar to their new album, with the usual treatment of brutality, speed and manic craziness. Productionwise, just every so slightly (like hair slight) more muffled than "Clients". Otherwise, not much else to say, the songs are great, the performance is over the top insane. These guys are quickly working their way up the grindcore ladder, and well deserve the praise you've been hearing. I'd still buy "Clients" first, because it is a slightly better album, but this is highly recommended too.
• Clients (2005) The Red Chord combines aspects of Nasum, Pig Destroyer and Dillenger Escape Plan into one crazy package. The music is just manic, nuts, super fast, in your face, tons of screams. It's like your mom yelling at you with her face an inch from your ear. Lots of start-stop riffs, squawks, the music jumps from riff to riff real quick, but it's not so chaotic as to completely lose you along the way (ie, it's not doing the "Disgorge" thing). There's definitely some standout parts to this cd, lots of great riffs and a good groove. Technical without becoming musical masturbation. Vocals are midrange growls with a few shrieks and even a few spoken word bits. The guitars tend to remain on the higher strings most of the time, plenty of out-of-tune bends and such with a few low chunky parts thrown in for good measure. Everything is really tight with a nice razor-sharp production. Awesome major label debut for the band, and highly recommended.
• Prey For Eyes (2007) More carnage from the chord. All the elements are here for a good CD, but they just don't nail it the way they did on their last album. It's tough to put my finger on it beyond a more general feeling that the song writing just isn't quite up to par. Everything else is here, all the ingredients that made their last album are present and accounted for, but there's just way fewer riffs where I go "fuck ya!". After such a great album from Despised Icon last month (I sorta put these 2 bands in a similar style category), this is just sorta a let down. Now that's not to say this is a bad album. There are still some good songs here, but there's also a lot of filler material that doesn't turn my crank. Like the last 2 minutes of the song 'Prey For Eyes' is the same riff repeated again and again, with very little variation. Same with 'It Came From Over There', the first 3 minutes seem to go on and on. A few good songs like 'Responsibles' and 'Dread Prevailed' do their best to save the album, and help elevate the CD's ranking from maybe a C to a B. Worth looking into, but I prefer their first 2 albums way more.
• Fed Through The Teeth Machine (2009) Better than their last album, but not as good as their second. The same general style as before, overall the song writing has improved a lot, way more frenetic energy this time. Production wise, it's got a better sound too, a little more bass and a little more in your face. The band really emphasizes whammy bar theatrics this time, they frequently use it to detune riffs, keeping the listener a little unbalanced. Worth a listen to see if anything grabs you, this is a big improvement over "Prey For Eyes".
  

• Unconsecrated (2008) Australia's version of Job For A Cowboy. Other obvious deathcore influences would be White Chapel and Suicide Silence. Plenty of low gargled vocals, blasting and double bass, chunky detuned guitar mixed in with the odd fast ascending scale, and the usual slow breakdowns. The album has excellent production value, and is played really well, the only problem is it's not very original. We've all heard this sort of thing before, just look at any of the bands mentionned earlier. There's plenty of good riffs, and their songwiritng is decent, but they're gonna need some other element if they want to stand out from an already overcrowded genre. If you're a deathcore fanatic and can't get enough of this sorta thing, The Red Shore is an excellent band. But I'm left wanting something a bit more.

• Embalmed Existence (1993) Standard death metal mixed with keyboards, slow parts, and jackhammer drumming from Alex Marquez. Each song starts with a vocal interlude about the human condition, real grim stuff. The riffs on this album are really good, some very heavy and original stuff, and definitely carries an atmosphere all its own. Almost 10 years later and it still gets time on my CD player, definitely check it out.
• Ritual Slaughter (2007, Promo EP)
• Mistaken For Dead (2008) After a 15 year Hiatus, Resurrection decides to reunite and release a second album. Well, I guess reunite may not be quite the right word, since guitarist John Astl and vocalist Paul DeGolyer seem to be the only two returning members (although they were the core of the original band). Also, the style is pretty different, to be expected for a 15 year break, but in general I think it's almost better to think of this as a totally new band. And with that said, this band kicks some serious ass. It's old school death metal with plenty of groove, fast doublebass and a few blasts in the right spots. Just about every song has at least one standout riff that sticks in the brain. The production is powerful, clear and sharp. The sound style is almost like a faster, more aggressive Obituary. Paul's voice are far more up front on this album, far fewer effects, overall his vocals have gone from spooky on their first album to downright venomous and in your face on this one. I don't dig the new Storyteller voice on this album though, I much preferred the ones from the original (thankfully the new voice only makes a few limited appearances). If you want to hear some early 90s style death metal with 21st century production value, this is a fantastic album, and I hope they continue to produce more albums in the future. Definitely my favorite release of the week.

• Get Dead Or Die Trying (2008) Their name may have changed, but it's the same Gorerotted you've come to know and expect. First off, thankfully, the production has gotten good again, in fact, it's their best production yet. Also, while I've always enjoyed the band's riffs, it seems that this release they spent a little bit of extra time putting in some really brilliant material. Like the main riff in 'the Howling', or the slow beginning to 'The Body Tree', or the chunky riff at 1:40 in 'It's Like There's A Party In My Mouth (And Everyone's Being Sick)'. It's also cool to hear traditional blastbeats this fast, without the need to move to gravity blasts to achieve the speed. Hats off to the Nate. The last track is a bit of wasted space, but the other 10 are solid, fast and brutal as fuck. Short and to the point, this album should please all fans of the band, and anyone who likes no frills blasting and fast picking.
• Anarchogram (2010, EP) 6 song EP from the band. Sadly, the production is muffled again, not nearly as good as their previous album. They start off with two new songs, which are decent, but nothing special. There is one drum bit in the first track that's kinda interesting, some sort of bursting blast beat, I'm honestly not quite sure what he's doing. Then 4 cover songs, they do manage to add their own stamp to the songs, rather than making them a carbon copy, but I can't say they do anything really standout. Like the coolest bit from Sepultura's 'Propaganda' is the dissonant riff at the beginning, and these guys speed it up, making it far less cool. Also, they choose Entombed's "Out Of Hand", if you're gonna do an Entombed song, it really should be from their first 2 albums IMO. Anyways, it's a decent EP, but nothing that's a must have.