Ossuaire - Mortes Fables

France's Nihilistic Holocaust once again delivers an exceptional rerelease of the obscure. This time the full length from Ossuaire, a French Death Metal trio who's Mortes Fables surfaced in 2010 and then submerged forever into the abyss of unknown murk that so often obscures worthwhile material. Rooted firmly in old school USDM, a blend of Morbid Angel's Domination and Immolation's Dawn of Possession, those looking for quality underground death metal in this vein would surely be impressed by the twisted rhythms, abnormal harmonies, and Azagthothian lead work. It would be a fair assessment to claim there are the markings of Erosion of Sanity era Gorguts in the structural and pacing of tracks. The 2009 recording was originally self-released on digipak; the cassette format's durability and layout is a nice addition to collections and, as always is the case with the format, should better suit the nostalgic Death Metal fan than a digi-pak, even if the J-card provides only rudimentary information. 

The release reproduces several excellent 2009-recorded tracks such as the opener "Le Siege", the album best "Feeria In Anus Deflore" or the superb capstone to the album, the devilish instrumental "R.S.P.E". Opening track, "Marche Noire" is essentially a two minute intro, setting a dark and nocturnal tone through sample usage, howling winds, and the brooding guitar lines which lead into "Le Siege", the true album kick-off. Truthfully, the top track is a toss-up between "Le Siege" and "Feeria...". This is not to detract from the other two tracks present, "Liber Mortis" and "In Scatorks Excrementis" which are ripe with interesting ideas as well. 

The guitar playing of duo Fred and Groms is a major highlight, as creative leads and details are a major factor in elevating songs from purely foundational rhythms to complete and evocative constructs. Bassist Vince, at first, does not seem to be adding a lot to the mix, however careful inspection reveals that his booming on-the-edge-of-speaker-capacity tone carries a mass of weight filling out the bottom end of the album mix. Most impressive to me, though, is Drummer Kyste who doubles as vocalist. his drumming remains energetic, creative, and precise throughout. His deep bellowing vocals are top notch as well. I'm sure in a live setting, the combination was quite the spectacle. Recommended!

Gorgon - French Spring Gigs

Chris from Gorgon, who's new album Traditio Satanae will be getting a full review with an interview to appear in the next issue of Contaminated Tones Zine, asked me to share some flyers for him of some Spring gigs which are confirmed for the next couple of months. If I lived in France, I would be at all three. 

Ireful - The Walls of Madness

Thrash. That could be the whole review, but it would do a disservice to these Italians to not differentiate between their approach to the genre, because what is to be found on their debut EP, The Walls of Madness will lead the listener not to the dollar menu of Bay-Area thrash, but to a much more refined group of influences. Yes, there will always be influence from Slayer and Dark Angel at the more extreme end of the thrash spectrum, but Ireful share more in common with Voivod, Sodom, or Razor than they do with Metallica or Megadeth. Guitarist Matteo Thunderbolt: "Actually we wanted to be an hybrid between Bay Area style and Teutonic one. You can find many influences, sure stuff like Exodus, Vio-Lence, Kreator, Tankard…". Ireful bring the right type of attitude along with their thrash. It is aggressive, serious, in your face thrash with grit and growl. There is a sense of creativity throughout the tracks which elevates this EP above many newcomer bands. 

The album opens with "Panzerschreck" which may give off an Agent Orange or Tapping The Vein Sodom vibe from it's opening rhythmic chugging riff. High speed picking ensues thereafter; a whizzing blur of aggressive and angry riffs and gritty harsh vocals sets a nasty attitude which carries throughout. "Fear and Loathing On U-96" offers the type of creative elements previously mentioned in both name, as well as in the vocal approach of Anselmo Medusa, who imbues his performance with a bit of the psychotic and insane mentality expected of a song which seems to reference the excellent Depp led cult classic. "Sicko's Short Fuse" has the tang of Rrröööaaarrr Voivod in it. "Rusty Nail" is a favorite of mine. It's under two minutes long, reeks of atonal violence, and reminds me most of Aspid and Voivod. The EP ends with the title track, "The Walls of Madness." Another scorcher, it shows a more mature structure through the central instrumental portion of the song. 

I asked Matteo about the production of the album. "The Ep was recorded in multitrack way, but honestly we’re satisfied for the result we obtained. Our sound engineer Marco has perfectly understood the sound we wanted. For me, there’s no reason at all to record Old School Thrash with modern sounds, but that’s our humble opinion." It's hard to disagree with Matteo on that final point, even if it can be hard to objectively cite what a 'modern sound' is, in terms of thrash. But the Old School Thrash sound is something intrinsically known by metal fans; spectral in a way. We know when that tone is there and when it is not there, but that 'knowing' exists in a subjective realm. It's possible to objectively detail it using specific language regarding scooped mids, Marshal JCM-800 cabinets, and 'the thrash beat', but that all would be missing the mark somehow. Ireful nail the objective thrash requirements but more importantly have discovered that integral subjective element that often evades bands. 

So I really love this demo. It's refreshing to hear a thrash band that only likes to play really fast. I can't think of the last time a traditional thrash band omitted a mid-paced or slower track completely and recorded everything as if they were guzzling rocket fuel. For an EP, this speed works great, and there is a lot packed into the five tracks. Twin lead guitarists M. Thunderbolt and Fabrizio Madpig are impressive throughout with leads and solos throughout the twenty-three minute EP. My beautiful highlighter blue tape copy came from Life After Death but I believe there are a few different CD versions out there as well as a 12" vinyl press. I will not be thinking twice about future releases from Ireful.