Withdrawn - Seeds Of Inhumanity (1998)

Sadly it has turned out to be nigh on impossible to track down any pictures of Withdrawn, let alone much information on them. That is why you get a flier rather any sort of exciting live picture. ( edit : changed) As far as this goes, I had this Household Name Records comp back in 1998/99 that opened my eyes to a lot of good stuff. Out of everything on it, Withdrawn stood out the most. Nasty, straight edge, vegan inspired metal. Hardcore in attitude but not in sound. Sort of like crossing Carcass, Integrity, Merauder and Slayer into this angry, militant ball of fury. They even got Leckie from Voorhees to lend his bark as full time vocalist. Most of the songs deal with the popular issues of the time such as drugs, smoking, animal rights and the sort. Now, this attitude wasn't for everybody. I know my old guitarist got into a fight with Leckie when they played together on some all-dayer once. Alongside a lot of the H8000 lot in Europe I always found it funny that they managed to create music that was way more metal than a lot of the "real" metal labels where putting out.

Withdrawn - Seeds Of Inhumanity

After this album they got a different vocalist and changed names to Evanesce. Sadly some other bigger band with the same name took offence and they had to change it again. Leckie carried on with Voorhees and the rest have done time in Walk The Plank, SSS and numerous other bands. If you hunt out you can find this massively convoluted family tree that stretches across the country and nearly every band that was kicking around in the late 90's.

Pine Barrens - Demo 2010 (2010)

Some nasty, local noise right here. Pine Barrens have been slowly getting there shit together for a while now, a few gigs, few mentions. They completed this demo late last year. I say demo, its a self released 4 track affair really. I don't know how to describe this other than its a very dark sounding, black tinged, thrash laced barrage of desperate rasped vocals and minor melodic riffage. Does that make sense? They even throw in sax and violin on the closer. Nearest thing I can think of is maybe Crestfallen ( I proper used to love that band, got that to post soon) with the core toned down and the BM turned up? Maybe? Dan Shaw is involved which means brutality is more than guaranteed over any sort of labelling or niche. Get it downloaded.

 

Pine Barrens - Demo 2010

Those nice folk at Power Negi and Big Mountain Tapes are making it available on the trusty C90 sometime soon. Sweet.

Albums that influenced Oliver #3 : Cryptopsy - None So Vile (1996)

Hands down, the finest example of technical, brutal death metal going. Not only was it unbelievably fast but so precise with its song writing. I was sat in my friend Solon's house as was the custom at least 5 nights a week, when he put this on. Straight away, that sample from Exorcist III and then the berserk opening blast of Crown Of Horns ( which is still one of the best intros on any death metal album) smashed out of the speakers with Lord Worm's howl over the top.
That is reason enough in my mind, but then the album continues as it starts. More blasting, more crazy riffs, tons more guttural rumbling and high pitched screaming and then the bass. That is what still stays with me on this album, and the next two they followed this up with, the bass work of Eric Langlois. That is a huge influence on my own style and as far as finger style playing in extreme music goes, no one beats Langlois. Of course there is the piano and bass lead into Phobophile that everyone remembers and there is no denying the power when that blast rips in but Langlois brings quite a few of his own tricks to the table. Subtle little string pops and twangs. Tiny little dynamic shifts that benefit the album fully. This was the first album he played on and you can see the huge difference his style brought to the table. Listen to Blasphemy Made Flesh then this. No contest. They did follow this up with Whisper Supremacy and ...And Then You'll Beg which are both pretty solid albums and even more technical. They lost Lord Worm, had a few other vocalists, Lord Worm returned then left again, they recruited new members, changed direction as bit ( pretty shonkily if you asked me, they invented this style) and continue to tour and record. I sorta lost interest after ...And Then You'll Beg. I still blast this out all the time tho. The ultimate in technical death metal without sacrificing brutality and speed for technique. Something a lot of so called tech bands could do with taking note these days.

Cryptopsy - None So Vile

Here they are in there rehearsal space in 1996.............

Albums that influenced Oliver #1 : Mr Bungle - S/T (1991)

The 15 albums post got me thinking. I can't possibly settle with those 15. There are so many albums that have influenced me through life that it would be pretty pointless trying to list them. So taking a leaf from the old blog and my friend Paul's series of similar posts over at Because I Said So, I have decided to revive the infamous "Albums that influenced Oliver" series like Jason Voorhess in Friday 13th Part IV when he gets that huge spike through his chest and gets struck by lightning.
I was going to waffle lyrical about how awesome and influential this album was to my impressionable young ears. If you can be bothered hunting out the old  piece of shit blog then you can read about it all there. Suffice to say there was a time when I could nearly play all the bass on this album track by track, back to back ( sadly I no longer have the discipline or stamina to do that these days). Other than that I can't really say anything about this album other than it is truly one of those lifetime albums that stays with you. It has stayed with me.

Mr Bungle - Mr Bungle

This is going to be a continuing series. More than likely not very regular, just dropped among my other posts like dirt out of a trouser leg.

The Crown - Crowned In Terror (2002)

Awesome Swedish death thrash with one, Thomas Lindberg providing the caustic voice. Probably the most metal thing I have ever posted. Awesome stuff.

The Crown - Crowned In Terror

Lindberg only did this album with them. They cheekily rerecorded the vocals with the original vocalist and then re-released this album as Crowned Unholy in 2004. That was a bit gay really.

Ronnie James Dio 1942 - 2010 RIP

Wolvhammer - Dawn Of The 4th (2010)

YES! Hellhammer worshipping, crusty, Black Metal inspired dirty hardcore played by punks. Wolvhammer have captured my attention with there sound. So so good. Here is there latest recording which they are giving away free. Sorta like Breach if they grew up on Celtic Frost and BM.

Wolvhammer - Dawn Of The 4th

Gorguts - Obscura (1998)

In anticipation for the fact Gorguts have another album on the way and it features John Longstreth and Mick Barr in the line-up ( think about them playing alongside Luc lemay ). I offer you one of the greatest death metal albums of all time. Incredibly twisted, discordant fret abuse from 1998 by way of Canada. A classic.

Gorguts - Obscura

What I watched this week

80's animated boobananza Heavy Metal.