Hate Eternal - “Fury and Flames” [Metal Blade] … woe to any Death Metal band releasing an album in 2008 … your rage, technicality, and overall heaviness will be measured against Metal monolith Erik Rutan’s brainchild, and most likely be decimated … fueled by the death of friend/founding member Jared Anderson, Rutan expertly channels his emotions throughout this unsettlingly powerful opus … now a quartet for the first time, the disc features Alex Webster on bass (who IS returning to Cannibal Corpse) and new permanent members in Shane Kelley (Rutan’s former Ripping Corpse bandmate; also guitarist for Dim Mak) and Jade Simonetto (Camilla Rhodes), [...read more]

Genghis Tron - “Board Up the House” [Relapse] … a veritable symphony of intelligent, low-fi Hardcore … fidelity does not diminish complexity, however … the brilliant palette elicited from such minimal components is astonishing (track 2 features toy drums, for example) … they are as comfortable with the heaviness as they are with the electronic passages, bringing to mind the latest from Dillinger Escape Plan (PS – Greg Puciato does guest vox on 9) … 4, 7, 10 are instrumentals … Converge’s Kurt Ballou produced … FCC OK … Try  1, 3, 5, 8 … 2008Feb12 01. Board Up The House 02. Endless [...read more]