Audio Assaults 420666 Vol. 3

Deiphago / Into the Eye of Satan / Hells Headbangers

(12” picture disk diehard edition with banner)


My next door neighbor (who I never see and rarely leaves his apartment) has never complained about my loud music playing. But I’m sure there are many times he’d been blasted by strange unnerving “noisy” music at 2am in the morning and felt pissed off.

But that dude keeps ungodly hours like me. I’d like to think that because he doesn’t complain, he strangely seems to like it? I’ve heard him say whoo a few times though when I play some “rock”, just to set things up for the next albums on queue.

Then the extreme stuff comes next. Ha.

Deiphago’s new record is a perfect way to destroy normal people’s brains. One of the most recent tests of sanity he went through with me is Deiphago’s new record “Into the Eye of Satan”, on die hard pic disc vinyl and played at still moderately loud levels that fateful early morning, as it should be.

The OG Philippine black death power trio harnessed more twisted insanity here with a few experimental flourishes and oddtime rhythm checks, applied to their acidic evil skronk, power doom riffing, and black dissonance, adorned with evil psychedelic lead solos haunting the deep subconscious.

And, they also topped up the brutal killing spree they raised highly on the previous album. Fully accentuating everything are Savnok’s drums of hate, murder, chaos, with sharp battery and concussion. It’s his best work so far.

It’s a much deeper scarring, jarring nightmare from the all out death black brutality of Satan Alpha Omega, already a lethal and highly destructive album on its own.

Here, glimpses of the haunting presences hidden in the abyss are slowly going forefront via non traditional black metal sounds.

In tunes such as “6 x 6 x 6”, the idiosyncratic lead run breaks of Sidapa sounds like what a black metal John Zorn would do. But on guitar. After an overdose of bestial metal and free jazz. And on acid.

“Red Dragon of Chaos” erupts in a slow grand peak, carries on with oddtime accents, then hits you again with blasts and oddtime rhythms until the solos arrive to dissect you to pieces, and some discordant background guitar begins to crescendo, as V666’s killer vocals continue to annihilate all throughout: SATAN. SATAAAAAAAAANNNNN.

“Ritual Death of the Enemy” solders power electronics-like noise, disintegrating lead solos, and insidious vocals from the abyss – all in the same parts, being sliced by oddtime drum accents, while still maintaining brutal destruction.

The title track presents a slower, almost sludgey bulldozer bass intro, like dragging dead bodies down to a cracking and disintegrating black hole before it ignites. At this point of the album you’ve already surrendered to the black chaos (if you haven’t already) and realize there’s no turning back.

It’s the curveballs like these that momentarily throw you off the speeding train – only to realize you’re still trapped in the utter chaos as it speeds to your death.

Colin Marston’s engineering perfectly captured Deiphago’s total black brutality, adding a newer clarity to reveal even more sick tones and riff details along with the black metal distorto bass and killer drums. The mix is just perfect for these songs, without taking out the evil noise and “tearing corrugated roofing in acid rain” sound as previous reviewers had suggested. Play these to all dumbass brainless sheep Filipino masses to hardwire their brains to death and self destruct. {VVV}

Ataul
Demo MMXIV + Dawn of Cataclysm
(Limited Edition Tapes & CDRs)

Total Death/Doom immersion, while being slowly buried six feet underground. That’s the slow and mid-tempo doom dirge procession of Ataul, Laguna’s best kept secret. These releases were only of limited quantity, enough to just fill out the demands of knowledgeable doom/death diehards, and quickly sold out even before the underground can catch up.

The Demo MMXIV is the first corpse excavation, featuring songs in their rawer, primal phase with a bonus cover of Goatlord’s “Acid Orgy”. Dawn of Cataclysm is their first full length release this year. There are slow evil meltdown doom passages, with an added dash of older obscure death metal sound, (anything pre mid 90’s) for a slow torturous lethal dose. Those who prefer faster tempos and shred can check out their other bands Rabies and Pathogen, but for those who also understand the evil power of playing slower and using true heaviness and doom over speed will find grave rewards with these releases. Buy or die. [R Ibanez]

Pathogen / Visceral Infinity / Counter Culture Excess / tape

This features an old school Pathogen track “Sacrilegious Profanation” I remember from their older release “Into the Subconscious Void” as a killer update for their lineup today. Visceral Infinity is a limited edition demo for true death metal that sounds more like an older cassette release (everything up to pre -mid 90’s) that you only saw in ‘Maniacs Mag or more underground oriented zines, when death metal was about pure evil atmosphere and power playing brutality.

Pathogen continue to meld their Choronzonic Abyss DM with a patter of doom, heaved with the heaviness of true death metal while shunning modern slick sounding, triggered but useless sound productions in favor of the classic cavernous DM sound. The vocals, guitars and bass rip, peppered by insane otherworldly solo runs to destroy frequencies in the brain, while the drums favor true heaviness over machinated artificial drumkit playing for the perfect sound no one else can get right except the wiser ones like Pathogen. [R Ibanez]

Pathogen / Abhumans – From Phobos to Necros / Threshthold Records / CD

Fresh label in the underground Threshthold (sic) records deals with underground damaging tunes and is well worth investigating with a batch of fresh underground metal audio drugs.

This split CD is one of the more sought after splits with a twisted bent in two evil ways: We all know Pathogen already kill here and you need these four tracks. This is already a given so if you’re a fan like me, this is a must have; Abhumans is a rather enjoyable horrorpunk rocknroll combo / power trio blend with singalong melodies and rocking riffs.

They’ve got 7 tracks (with an extended version of “Cobweb Girl”) for the pre-metal show / party at the bar, where the band can be visualised playing a rowdy set as warm up. Phobos is their side name, which perfectly gives way to the Necros side of Pathogen with unfortunately only 4 tracks, but still killer, replete with personal fave “Locust Invasion” and a live version of “Heretical Wisdom” to end the disc lethally. [R Ibanez]

Rabies / Death Sentence to Mankind / The Third Inferno Records (Digipak CD)

Laguna has another killer export that destroys as great as their other aforementioned bands in this issue.: Rabies, assassinating everyone with their sharp lethal attacks using neuro paralytic nuclear strains, fused within Rabies-style insane ripping thrash. I have their previous tape release “Survive the Slaughter” that already proved their mettle, and now this is the lethal dose, a full digipak trifold layout album with eight intense shred tunes.

Twin axe aggression, and murdering and thrashing ensues with a steady neckbreaking rhythm section that just keeps on throwing more lethal death wish ace cards from the deck. It also features appropriate artwork on front and back depicting your fate when you are mangled by this CD and played f’n loud. The Third Inferno does it again. [R Ibanez]

Toxemia / Holocaustic Ritual / Threshthold Records
(Pro CDr)

This is an instant (stoner) collector’s item from The Hammer himself, Ken Toxemia, who I bought this copy from. An excellent release / single from this murderous deep Cavite woods band with their own concoctions of swamped out death that crawls with doom in one part, then as well igniting with breakneck speeding on the others.

This also features lead solo shredding insanity from Peto and MG Diestro of Rabies and Ataul on bass. This CD features the Toxemia  hit carrier single “Holocaustic Ritual 4” and its instrumental  version, which has an eerie feel of horror death as best adorned on the cover  by local comics legend Alfredo Alcala, who perfectly visualised a swamp demon somewhere in a deep full moon night in the Cavite death swamps, waiting for the next kill / feed ritual. [R Ibanez]

Negative Plane / Stained Glass Revelations / The Ajna Offensive 
(2LP black vinyl in gatefold)

Without warning, without preparation, I dove head first into the unknown realms of this mysterious New York black metal anomaly. I didn’t even listen to the acclaimed 2006 debut, Et in Saecula Saeculorum to get a sense of where their collective heads are at. But sometimes this is a good thing.

But nothing really prepared me proper for this head-on assault that fateful night. Alone, at the now extinct claustrophobic blue room at the Morning Star Temple, a single potent dose of lysergics served as my only guide.

Theirs is a sound and a haunting presence: a concoction of weird, otherwordly elements that in their sum, produce intense lysergic black metal trips to dissolve brains: fusing doomy atmospheric relics, deep, fluid, creeping bass, call from the grave fuzzed out riffs of the undead, and echoey huge drum work with an incredible sense of swing, and vexing and hexing intent, all filtered through a cavernous, reverb heavy booming evil production. And those evil vocals that call forth from high ceiling caves somewhere.

The guitar harmonies that waft around and corrupt the soul will sometimes well up and build strange counter melodies and note choices. They will imprint in your brain like good LSD flashbacks. Words escape their definition. However, imagine taking shrooms or acid in an old graveyard – the patterns, colors, and shapes suddenly go awry and psychedelic-loose. The strange beauty and morbid atmosphere melt into parts you haven’t heard of before and are fascinating.

Of special mention: the piano interlude “The Third Hour” suddenly appears like an unexpected apparition. It is like encountering an unknown spectre – you’re too frozen to avoid, but too mesmerized to leave from. It is enhanced by ancient keyboards left at the mausoleum, that send chills up the spine, a perfect break for the next strange, unnerving tune. There’s those classical / old music macabre choice of notes again.

The same ancient organ sounds appear on unexpected moments, as well as on “Stained Glass Reflections” – haunting pieces that may have appeared in your dreams (nightmares). Maybe a soundtrack when you were unknowingly talking to long dead persons. In waking life, you realize it too late. The imprint has been left there eons ago: some strange night, some familiar looking but non existing place. Negative Plane create heavy psyche/atmospheric black here that is as unique as it is expertly crafted. [VIVIsectVI]