King Minos - The Minos Touch

In Greek mythology King Minos, the first King of Crete, was a bit of a grim bugger. In life, he made made King Aegus choose 7 young boys and 7 young girls to send to a labrynth to be devoured by a Minotaur every 9 years. In death, he was judge of the dead. He could often be seen with a snake attached to his pecker via it's teeth. 

All in all a gruesome, hard bastard. So basically, King Minos is a FUCKING GREAT name for a metal band. I think it was either that or 'pecker snake', and the UK based thrashy trio made the right choice......just. 

The opener, Destroy By The Use Of Violence, has a vocal performance with growl and grit. Musically its busy and interesting with some nice touches with the bass and drum stabs. There is a brilliant seamless transition between deep heavyness and high end melody on guitar. The track has a definite groove element and at points also took me back to Diabolos era Slayer, an album which holds many great memories for me. 

Get All The Knives doesnt hang about in giving you a shot to the jugular. This tracks grinds and pounds relentlessly and repetitively which accentuates the first breakdown when it hits and adds to it's effectiveness. Towards the end of the track it again slows, this time creating a chilly, menacing feel, added to by the evil laugh seeing he track out!

As soon as Eschaton begins you can tell this is going to be musically excellent. Heavy and choppier than a pork cut, with chaotic but tight drumming, this is intense. The vocal is abrasive at first but you soon adjust. Melodic elements of the guitar work and the way the vocal cuts through remind me again of Slayer. This is not their only similarity with the behemoths of thrash, as they're not afraid to take on things that are high on the political and worldwide agenda lyrically. For me, they saved the best 'til last.

Conclusion

This is a musically excellent release, all instruments in crushingly heavy tandem, creating a dirty, thrashy, grinding, bowel adjusting noise.

The vocals, shared between all three members, are at times Serj Tankian, at times Tom Araya and at times Max Cavalera! Abrasive on the first listen, but once you adjust to the tones you realise their almost another instrument adding to the heavyness.

A good EP offering some sound song writing and raw energy. I think theres scope for some great music from these guys and I'm looking forward to hearing it.....

Score 3.8/5

Get it here

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Written by Jonny Radley

Gravehuffer - Your Fault

Crust is a term I seemed to have missed on my musical journey. And no I don't mean the best, most tasty slice of bread, or the strange gritty stuff you find when picking your belly button. I mean the musical genre!  Whislt this is the case, the style is very familiar, a dirty bastard offspring of extreme metal, hardcore, anarchic punk with a sprinkle of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.

Gravehuffer are a self described 'Crusty Metal' band from Joplin, Missouri we received the upcoming release of their album 'Your Fault' to review.

Your Fault 

Opening with what sounds to me like the sounds of someone enterering a graveyard, digging a grave and then using it for an unsuspecting victim , you kind of get the idea of the kind of imigary the band are about. Gravehuffer (the first track) flits between slower chugged out riffs, thrashy melodic lines, blasted out extreme metal and even groove all of which sound pretty awesome.

Of Fish And Men, Dead Peace and Death Caprice definately show a more 'punk' ethic approach, having hallmarks of classic punk delivery musically and vocally whilst remaining very heavy and aggresive. This is Crust through and through and I think will be a treat for fans of the specific genre.

The main riff in Kill for Sport is so good, it is made to move to and forms the highlight of a decent track. But the winner on awesome riffage all the way through has to be he monumental Destroyer Of Worlds. Great riffs, heavy as a an Anchor in the temple and an awesome breakdown. This for me is the most complete track on the album.

Destroyer Of Worlds is closely followed by Worms Of God with its heavy mechanical riff and psychotic short guitar solo towards the end and Prince With A Thousand Enemies which is full of thrash intent, as two more highlights on the album for me.

Gravehuffer, genre wise, cover a lot of ground on this album and Chains Around You kind of brings this all together in one track. It nicely reminds you of what you've just heard through the last 10 tracks rounding the album off nicely.

Conclusion

Kudos has to go to Gravehuffers drummer, who gives a powerful performance throughout. Also some of the riffs on display are simply brilliant. I can't see it being anything other than a hit amongst fans of Crust, Extreme Metal even Thrash and whilst not all to my personal taste had enough to keep me listening and wanting to hear what was next. I for one will be following these guys as a fan from now on.

Score 4/5

You will be able PreOrder the album soon via Swamp Metal Records so get following Gravehuffer on Facebook and Twitter and have a spin of this when it comes out on these formats;

Ion Dissonance - Cast The First Stone Review

Hailing from Quebec Ion Dissonance are Extreme Mathcore Metal supremo's who as you'd expect incorporate dissonant tuning, syncopated drumming along with varied, unexpected time signatures but with their own distinct brand of energy and agression to create a anarchic symphony of destruction.

On 18 November they're unleashing Cast The First Stone into the world and we at Behind The Beat Music Blog care enough about your personal aural preservation to prepare you for this monumental event.

Cast The First Stone

Ion Dissonance cast the first stone (I'm here all week) with Burdens which smacks you straight in the flaps with its psycho-chaotic abbrasiveness. Any sign of melody has the vocal cutting through it unsympathetically, like the bad guy you secretly want to win. It's really well performed extreme and technical metal and leaves you under no illusions as to what your going to get with this album, a fucking good bludgeoning!

The track To Expiate sounds like someone pissed on Sikth's chips and they decided to write a song about it. Even the melodic parts are dissonant, and this works so well, again the intensity has continued. With the pace of the album so far I'm starting to wonder if these guys have a defibrillator offstage to give them a quick jump start between tracks. And it's exciting, angry and interesting to listen to.

To Lift The Dead Hand Of The Past blows my mind. It has everything for me that I'd want. The vocals are gutteral and relentless, it has some incredible, almost jazz like in parts, guitar work which is something to behold from the chugs to the melodic lead lines. I realise at this point, this is more than just a good Mathcore release, but something that could stand up there shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Sikth (you may never hear me say that again) and Meshuggah.

Suffering...The Art Of Letting Go provides an element if groove and more normal structure which is a nice break from the joyous chaos in the album. Its also an absolutely storming track that I found myself involuntarily head banging to all the way through.

D.A.B.D.A A State Of Decomposure in parts has the deep satisfying heavyness of Meshuggah but with Ion Dissonance's personalised machine gun delivery. This track is, simply, epic and note for note, it's my favourite on the album and I can see this being a fan favourite as it hits every mark, including a slow jazzy breakdown, providing the perfect opportunity for their lead singer to get his defibrillator action stage left.

The album is seen out the same way it came in with Perpetually Doomed: The Sisyphean Task. Whilst it maintains intensity it has an almost orchestral feel with some of the guitar work which makes the track seem to fly by as you really get into it. A great end to a great album.

Conclusion

This is an album that not only improves as each track goes by but improves also with every listen. You can only sit back and admire the pure skill in musicianship and composition, and as far as Extreme Metal and Mathcore metal goes, personally for my taste, I've not heard many better albums.

Score 4.5/5

Label: Good Fight Music

Ion Dissonance Are:
Kevin - Vocals
Antoine - Guitar
Sebastian - Guitar
Jean-Francois - Drums
Dominic -Bass

Track List:
1. Burdens
2. The Truth Will Set You Free
3. To Expiate
4. To Lift The Dead Hand of The Past
5. Untitled II
6. Suffering: The Art Of Letting Go
7. Ill Will
8. D.A.B.D.A State of Discomposure
9. Treading on Thin Ice
10. Virtue
11. Perpetually Doomed: The Sisyphean Task

Released 18 Nov, Pre order on Bandcamp/Amazon (US)/Itunes

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Author: Jonny Radley

Skin Drone - Evocation

Skin Drone are an extreme metal duo who incorporate elements of tech metal, industrial and avant garde. Sound scary yet? Well it is, like Freddy Krueger is scary, it's exhilarating, fascinating and scary. (Yes that's how I feel about Krueger, best monster ever, deal with it). 

This noise is created by Erik Martin (vocals and multi-instrumentalist) and Otto Kinzel (multi-instrumentalist and production). What is particularly impressive is that they create this whilst living very far apart, one in Boston MA and one in Hot Springs Arizona. They don't sit in a room together jamming this out, it's done cross country.

Evocation

Tracks such as Scarlet Road and God Complex don't hang about in telling us what this album is all about, with relentless double bass and technical heavy and in parts melodic guitar work.

Scarlet Road itself breaks down into a dark spoken interlude then it smacks you in the teeth again very quickly. Whilst extremely heavy the vocal is understandable, a great skill.  A second breakdown of ambience offset by the demonic vocal leads into my favourite heavy part of the track, which displays interchanging off riffs that are fat and heavy.

God Complex also has an atmospheric haunting section that leads into the best guitar riff of the track. Lyrically, to me, this track is interesting. My interpretation is that it is commenting on the tyranny and control of organised religion but it can just as easily be seen as addressing faceless corporations who control us through advertising and building a religion of consumerism. Deep I know, but I appreciate the way it gets you thinking, it's intelligently written.

Death Sentence whilst insanely heavy, is slightly more reserved and has elements that remind me of less underground acts such as Slipknot. Whilst Skin Drone would have the masked fellas running scared as a general rule, the riff work has its comparisons.

Shepard Of The Damned starts musically dark, moody and quiet with spoken vocal parts. It feels like mad ramblings and sounds in a murders mind. When I read the lyrics, it seems to portray a revenge killing, and this goes to show how well these guys paint a picture through music and vocal delivery. So far this is the most laid back track and it has a beautifully played guitar outro.

Ghost Reflection is a very nicely written airy light interlude, still slightly menacing but juxtaposed by the sounds of nature creating a relaxing feel, which is well timed on the so far intense offering.

But don't get too comfortable, City Lights opens up with a thrashy riff. This soon becomes and amalgamation of thrash and tech metal style guitar with the million mile and hour drum beats. Guitar wise some of the riff work is impressive on this track. A story of a man mutilating himself under the instruction of God reinforces the macabre subject matter throughout this album.

Witching Hour takes us back to the incredibly heavy side of life following the effective previous formula of including a breakdown, taking it a different direction within a breath.

Darkness Within throws in a nice surprise. It's a more straight industrial metal track in parts which holds back on the relentless drum speeds for the most part.

Salvation ends the album on an epic note weighing in at over 8 minutes. It is also by my favourite track. There is lots of elements on display, from magical programmed sounds, to straight heavy metal, to extreme metal. It also has my favourite drum work, with the bass drum having less speed and more form than in any other of the heavier tracks. This is a great way to see out the album.

Conclusion

This is one of the hardest albums I've had to give a score to, but I like a challenge.

At times the relentless heaviness of the bass drums was too much for me, especially when I heard the finesse of programming ability in tracks like Salvation. Having said that, for fans of extreme metal and/or industrial metal I don't believe it'd be a negative, and that is ultimately the target audience.

The album is well thought out in terms of track order, the softer tracks appear at the right time, to relieve some of the intensity. Whilst the tracks at times have a similar formula in terms of the mood driven spoken word break down but in terms of composition and delivery it has some incredible moments, I particularly enjoyed the sound scapes they create in some of the breakdowns which scope from sublime to sinister.

Finally the way the music supports the lyrical content in creating mental imagery is second to none.

This music is immensely heavy, busy, dark, tense, rage driven and almost psychotic. And this is exactly what fans of extreme metal want. So this is not a negative, in fact it delivers in droves.

This is their first album and they promise to get more complex and heavier! Now THAT I gotta see......


Highlights: God Complex, Salvation; Shepard Of The Damned

Score 3.8/5

Buy It

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Writer: Jonny Radley