Dimension Zero - He Who Shall Not Bleed [2007]

Powerful opening track. Production is heavier, but it seems like it's right-speaker heavy, especially with the vox. Songwriting is improved with more catchiness than TiH. However, there are still plenty of points during the album that fall flat and lose the album's energy.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.dimensionzero.se/

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Dimension Zero - This is Hell [2003]

Cool intro track that goes into a bashing first song. Good production. Heavy guitars, thrashy drums, BM vox. Second track introduces a slower catchy chorus. Pretty good CD. It's very thrash-oriented. However, it's a fairly stock melodic style. There's also little-to-no variation and by the end of the album I was able to accurately guess what was coming next.

Rating: 7

http://www.dimensionzero.se/

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1349 - Beyond the Apocalypse [2004]

Nice start. Very solid album It definitely builds off of Liberation with the speed and guitar style being largely carried over. However, the production is infinitely better than past albums. Even so, it's not the huge leap forward in style and writing that Hellfire was.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.legion1349.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

1349 - With Full Force [2003]

Oh fucking lol… it's a bootleg live album. Half-decent quality, too.

Rating: 6

http://www.legion1349.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

1349 - Liberation [2003]

Brutally fast. More catchy. Fast. Fast. Fast. Fast. Fast. Good album overall. The songwriting is definitely good. The whole thing fucking screams "Black Metal!!!" My only complaint is that the production could definitely improve.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.legion1349.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

1349 - Chaos Preferred [1999]

Yeah, shitty production like I expected. Pretty boring overall, but I guess that's to be expected from a promo.

Rating: 5.5

http://www.legion1349.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

1349 - 1349 [2001]

Better production than CP. The fast songs are much faster and more like what I'm used to with Hellfire. Decent. Nothing special, though, and not really catchy or anything.

Rating: 6

http://www.legion1349.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

1349 - Hellfire [2005]

From the beginning of the first track, it's clear that this is going to be a brutal Black Metal album. Ridiculously fast drumming. The excitement dips a little bit in the middle of the album, but it's still good songwriting and the atmosphere is still black as fuck. The guitar riffs are well constructed and the songs are generally pretty catchy. The production is definitely unique. The guitars sound like they have multiple types of distortion. The production is still clear enough to make everything out pretty damn well. It's not really pushing any envelopes, but all of the songs are really well-written and they've definitely got their own unique style. It's hard to bash the production because they probably did it on purpose to give it that underground feel, but I still would've liked to hear less distortion on the guitars.

Rating: 8

http://www.legion1349.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Aborted - Coronary Reconstruction [2010]

Production ramp up again! This is much better and more heavy than the last album; more in the vein of S&A. This is much more of a return to their older Grindcore style. The more modern elements are still there, but they are much less intrusive and follow the TAA-style of inserting modern influences. Even though there is still some modern influence, it never feels like they're trying to make the music more "accessible" like they did with Strychnine. Extremely solid EP from start to finish. Much more caustic and brutal than Strychnine, this is a huge step in the right direction: more focus on their Grindcore roots.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.goremageddon.be/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Aborted - Strychnine.213 [2008]

The production has taken a bit of a side-step. It's not as in your face heavy as S&A, but it's more clear. This is a strange album… it's partly a return to form with more grinding elements and style that I'm used to with the older albums, but it also incorporates more accessible and melodic riffs (which I'm not really a fan of). There are many more solos on this album as well. There's still plenty of brutality to be found on this album, but much of the writing has lost its sting.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.goremageddon.be/

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Aborted - Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done [2003]

A step forward and to the side for the production quality. There's much more treble on this album than any other. Fast grinding, catchy, and heavy riffs permeate this album all the way through. It does get a bit dull at times with filler riffs.

Rating: 8

http://www.goremageddon.be/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Aborted - Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture [2007]

Increased production quality from TAA. It's not quite as grind-oriented as some of the previous albums, but it's still well-done. One negative addition to the music is the melodic riffs. This album feel much less like a Death Metal album than TAA did and I think that the songwriting is mostly to blame. One nice change is that there is much more darkness to the songs. On its own it's a good album that has catchy riffs, heavy guitars, some grinding drums, and awesome production.

Rating: 8

http://www.goremageddon.be/

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Aborted - Engineering the Dead [2001]

Starts off really weak and slow compared to the live version of the song. However, immediately after the first track, it opens up into a fucking awesome and blazingly fast Death Metal album. This album has even better songwriting than Goremaggedon and The Archaic Abattoir. The only thing that it really lacks is a better production, but it's still heavy enough to get the point across. This album get's high marks for it's superb songwriting.

Rating: 8

http://www.goremageddon.be/

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Aborted - The Archaic Abattoir [2005]

Damn good production quality. Heavy. Extreme. Lots of grinding. The first song threw me, though. It almost sounded like it had a rap part in the middle, but that never comes back again in the rest of the album. So, it was probably a coincidence. This is a fucking awesome and brutal Death Metal album with only one or two songs that feel like filler.

Rating: 9

http://www.goremageddon.be/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Sigh - Hangman's Hymn [2007]

Starts off with all the power of a baseball bat to the groin. This album is heavy and thrashy with lots of orchestra arrangements and orchestra stabs. It's an extremely well-written Black Metal album that never looses it's punch throughout. There are only about two songs that feel like they drag. I can't decide if the production quality is perfectly fitting or if there's room for improvement. The guitars are pretty low in the mix, but they're so well-distorted that it adds to the heaviness of the album. Also, the orchestra stabs are a little bit over-done with a few parts being exactly the same as in some of the previous songs. However, the stabs are so well-done and fitting of the style that I never really mind.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/sighjapan

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Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk [1997]

Starts off with a beautiful clean-guitar intro riff and some cool effects. Gets fucking evil and doomy. Suddenly goes into some medieval fanfare like thing… interesting. Second track kicks in fucking hard and fast, bitchin' riff! Holy fuck is this track awesome. Cool use of keys. Unique riffs for Black Metal. Wow, track 3 starts with an almost jazzy riff. Track 4 and it's still fucking black as hell. Killer riff at the verse. I can tell that Vesania got a lot of their influence from this song in particular. Track 7 is fucking amazing. Overall, this album has some really well-structured and unique riffs that I haven't heard anywhere else. Excellent use of keys. Superb songwriting; everything combines so well together. Perfectly blends the feel of fucking fast, beautiful, and evil Black Metal into one insane album. My only real complaint is that the keys could be a little bit more forward in some of the more hectic parts. Definitely Emperor's best album.

Rating: 9

http://www.emperorhorde.com/

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Bloodbath - Nightmares Made Flesh [2004]

Punch-in-the-face beginning to the cd. Damn good Death Metal vox from Peter. Really heavy production and guitars; very clear, too. Different songwriting style. It's not the typical straight forward Death Metal grinding and schizophrenia. "Brave New Hell" is fucking heavy. Bitchin' middle guitar riff, too. Lots of heaviness in these first three songs and it will carry through to the end of the album. "The Ascension" starts off with a really evil vibe to it, cool. "Draped in Disease" is badass with a killer main riff. Overall, this was a fucking surprisingly heavy album. It's not all that fast for Death Metal… actually quite slow, but the brutality is in the songwriting instead. Some of the tracks are a bit boring and end up feeling a bit like filler crap. On the other hand, the tracks that are really great are a fucking treat to listen to over and over. Peter does a great job on the Death Metal vox. The production is awesome and really fucking heavy. Definitely better than the sum of it's parts, but the album as a whole doesn't really push any boundaries for a new Death Metal band.

Rating: 7

http://bloodbath.biz/

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Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery [2008]

Another punch-in-the-face beginning, but more along the technical lines before it drops into the more established Bloodbath sound. Blends technical aspects more into the mix. It's still got the cool drops into clean guitars. A major complaint is the production quality… while it's heavy on its own merit, it's still nowhere near as heavy as NMF. It's a shame, too, because the drums are better recorded and produced, but the guitars are completely mid-range heavy. Besides that, it's cool to hear Mikael do vocals in this type of setting and the songwriting as definitely made an improvement. The album as a whole is much more interesting to listen to than NMF with less of the drops in energy.

Rating: 7.5

http://bloodbath.biz/

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Cephalic Carnage - Lucid Interval [2002]

There's a lot more mid-range in the guitar production this time. "Scolopendra Cingulata" is an extremely slow intro to the CD, with "Fortuitous Oddity" picking things up with a scathing grind. There's a lot more short-tracks that break up the longer songs on this album. I'm really not a fan of the really slow stuff in "Anthro-Emesis". "The Isle of California" brings in some really cool and creative use of guitar harmonics. "Pseudo" really grabs your attention from the onset with an awesomely technical riff. Overall, this album doesn't really feel as chaotic as Exploiting Dysfunction, and that may be partly due to the production quality. However, the creativity carries through the entire album at a high level this time, which keeps things more than interesting.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.myspace.com/cephaliccarnage

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Cephalic Carnage - Anomalies [2005]

Starts off very strong. Good production. Some really cool riffs. There's some crazy ideas that are very different for Death Metal. Good creativity and awesome technicality. So far, there's some really cool songs, but there's been a few flops and I really just don't know what to think of "Piecemaker" at all. "Enviovore" picks back up with a killer heavy riff. Gets a little melodic in "Dying Will Be The Death of Me". Killer fucking chorus, but it's only played once in the damn song… definitely a bad choice. "Inside is Out" starts off really really cool and creepy with the clean guitars. "Kill for Weed" is pretty fucking chaotic and cool once it gets going. Cool ending to "Litany of Failure" that blends right into the final track. Overall, it's a good album with some creativity. Nothing too insane, though, and certainly not as good as some of their other stuff.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/cephaliccarnage

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Cephalic Carnage - Exploiting Dysfunction [2000]

"Hybrid" really starts on the right note (lawls!). Punch-in-the-face opening and then directly into a trippy riff to really let the listener know what they are getting into. The production is one of my favorite types for Grindcore: punchy, heavy, overly-compressed (but not too distracting), and all-around brutal. There is some amazing creativity on this album mixed in with the thick brutality, insane speeds, catchy riffs, and awesome technicality. The songs are extremely varied within themselves, but to add to that is how varied the album is in its mixture of tracks. Some of the tracks toward the end slow it down quite a bit for the beginnings of songs. Overall, this is a great album with great Grindcore production. However, some of the creativity drops off towards the end of the album as does the energy.

Rating: 9

http://www.myspace.com/cephaliccarnage

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Cannibal Corpse - Evisceration Plague [2009]

FUCK YEAH!! Starts off heavy and quick with a unique riff for CC. Goes into a very uncharacteristically long blast section, slows down into classic CC groove. The fucking production is goddamn mother fucking phenomenal… the bass drum is like a sledge hammer to the face and the guitars crush you with every note. There's some seriously cool new things that CC do with the break sections that are very different from their previous songs. I was expecting this album to start off with a thrash track like the last three did, but I guess not. The solo is fucking good and technical. Track 2 is the thrash track I was expecting for track 1… it's fucking amazing. Purely brutal masturbatory stuff there. The riffs are fucking perfect and very unique and different for CC. This album is going to fucking own. Whoa, track 3, almost thought that they were gonna go into sweeping shit like Brain Drill. Unique riffage again… fuckin' sweet. Tracks 5, 6, and 7 pick up the pace a bit. I'm at track 8 of 12 and every song has been fucking awesome and unique in some way compared to CC's previous material. Overall, god damn, This album is fucking phenomenal from start to finish. Production is incredible. There's creative riffs and song ideas littered throughout. It's unique as hell but it always feels like a CC album. There's much more blasting on this album than on any previous one. I expected a damn good album, like "Kill" before it, but I never thought that it would be this fucking amazing. One thing keeping it from a perfect score is that the opening track was a little weak which had me slightly worried. Plus, the album doesn't have too much lasting appeal after the 10th listen.

Rating: 9

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

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Arcturus - Sideshow Symphonies [2006]

Much more natural drum sound. The overall mix of the album seems to follow what was done on La Masquerade, but with the quality of The Sham Mirrors. I'm missing a bit of the heaviness from TSM, but I like the more experimental feel taken from LMI. There's some more focus on the vox. They've done away with the overly drawn-out sections. This is much more of a calm and beautiful album than TSM.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/arcturusnorway

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Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale [1997]

Starts off strange with crazy vocals. Pretty damn creative and different. First track is way less heavy than the start of The Sham Mirrors. Whoa…. "Alone" completely took me by fucking surprise. Damn interesting album. The song writing is actually unique even for Arcturus and it doesn't feel gimmicky or old-hat. This album's songs are much less energetic and heavy than The Sham Mirrors. However, they are more artistic and creative. Also, the song writing is much more satisfying. None of the really-amazing-section-that's-only-played-once stuff. The production is adequate. Certainly not the best and it definitely reminds me of The Sham Mirrors. However, it's still a clear and well crafted recording. Especially high marks for creativity and awesome song writing even though heaviness and energy were sacrificed in the process.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.myspace.com/arcturusnorway

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Arcturus - Aspera Hiems Symfonia [1996]

Sounds much more like normal Black Metal than the other albums. Really don't like the fact that the vox are mostly unbalanced, coming out of the left speaker… I hate unbalanced shit. The rest of the production isn't bad at all. Actually, it's quite good, especially for the time period. It eventually settles into a sound more easily identified with Arcturus. However, it's not quite as polished as the later albums.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/arcturusnorway

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors [2002]

Starts off really strange but cool as hell. Very unique songwriting. Really cool blend of effects and keys. The vocals are beautiful, of course. Heavy production, especially the bass-drum, and it's still pretty clear. Really creates the feeling of being on a space journey. Second track is really cool, but the middle section feels a bit drawn out. Followed by possibly one of the best song sections ever, shit. Track 3's awesome, but I think that the haunting riff towards the end of the song is drawn out and I would've liked to hear more vox in the second half. Track 4 is pretty damn good. Track 4 starts off with this insanely cool piano part (probably borrowed from every piano concerto ever, though). Track 6 uses more Black Metal vox with blasting and evil! Some really fuckin' bitchin' riffs in this one and an awesome and smooth solo towards the end. Track 7 has an amazing chorus, best on the CD. Drops into this really long key-section and comes out of it with a fucking killer riff… very well-done. Ends on kind of an off-note. Overall, it's a really creative album executed very well. However, some of the songwriting doesn’t sit well with me. There could be more vocals in some of the songs instead of the extremely drawn-out key/effects sections. Plus, there are some truly amazing riffs that only get played once and leave me with a feeling of emptiness wishing for more than just that taste.

Rating: 9

http://www.myspace.com/arcturusnorway

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.