Toxic Holocaust - Chemistry of Consciousness

There have been a lot of bands lately that are bringing back the thrash black sound (some call it “first wave black metal” it was pretty much the movement that branched away from thrash metal into darker and more aggressive territories) that bands like Hellhammer, old Venom, old Bathory, Von,  and Root. Although, unlike those bands, that were basically thrash bands playing new (at the time) and more aggressive “black metal” sounds, this new “revival” is more of the combination of modern-sounding thrash metal with traditional black metal. Still in a similar sound, but somewhat different. Bands like Goatwhore, Skeletonwitch, Melechesh, and Varg are seeing a lot of success. Toxic Holocaust is always a name that gets thrown around during topics of overly-aggressive thrash metal or even just thrash black. Here’s what sets this band apart from most of these other newer bands: they’re doing the exact same thing as the bands from the 80s were doing, except instead of branching away from the CLASSIC thrash sound, Toxic Holocaust is simply playing a more aggressive (you could even say “blackened”) form of the MODERN thrash sound. So Toxic Holocaust is almost like a modernized Venom.

Hard, catchy thrash metal grooves and epic shredding solos are coated with black metal vocals and grim atmospheres. With this formula, Toxic Holocaust have managed to develop an unusually diverse fanbase. I’m an avid concertgoer and have developed a (what I would like to think) fairly good understanding of the metal scene here in Washington State. The reason I say that is because when I saw these guys live (with Mammoth Grinder, Exhumed, and Ramming Speed), everyone seemed to be there to see Toxic. And there was a very diverse crowd there; hardcore kids, thrashers, black metallers, grindcore fans; they were all there to see one of the opening acts and Toxic. And although on record, Toxic Holocaust sounds much more thrashy, seeing them live really exposed the underlying grimness and the black metal type aggression. For years, Toxic have been thriving in the underground thrash, black, and death metal communities, and it seemed that, while touring in support of Conjure and Command, something happened and they broke out of the underground; acclaiming far more success by the time this new album, Chemistry of Consciousness rolled around last year.

I never really took much of an interest in Toxic Holocaust until this album, and I feel really bad for missing out on this band for so long! This band has managed to achieve great success without losing their respect from the underground. The production of this album is far better than any of the previous records, but unlike a lot of the modern extreme metal albums being released today, there’s very little compression. Everything still feels very gritty and rough. It’s extremely bothersome when bands think it sounds good to water down and soften the entire production of their album and compress the guitars so much that it cuts out literally all high end. Those are the albums I rarely buy physical copies of, because they feel so digital and fake! The production on Chemistry of Consciousness, on the other hand, maintains the raw qualities while still having a refined, crisp sound. A problem that I do have with this album (and every other Toxic Holocaust album) is that I can’t hear the bass guitar. Obviously there’s plenty of bass in the mix, but I can’t hear the notes that the bass guitar is playing or the metallic rattle of the thick strings that I would prefer to hear in thrashier music. But, like most albums of this style, the guitars drown out the bass.

The drumming is a bit monotonous. I completely understand the whole classic hardcore punk thing that the drummer is going for, but the majority of every single song uses that exact same drum pattern that’s already overused in punk AND thrash metal. Would it hurt do throw in some blast beats here and there? Maybe even get a cowbell and pick a song or two where you use that instead of the snare; or even a different drum to make more room for variation! Whatever works; because it only sounds like you’re using half of the kit I saw you using on stage. And there’s nothing wrong with working with a small drum kit, it just means that you have to be very good at coming up with tons of different patterns and ways to use that small kit. The drumming on this album is very tight and everything fits the mood perfectly, but if I were to have my moment as a nitpicker, I would say that there should be more going on with the drums, that there’s not enough. So now that he’s proven to us that he’s truly mastered this, I would like to see him do some experimenting and exploring with different patterns before it gets old.

Other than that, this is enough to make just about any Toxic fan happy. There isn’t too much variation in song types; the band maintains the same general sound/vibe for the duration of the record without letting things get too monotonous. Honestly, after taking the time to listen to the band’s entire discography, this is by far my favorite release they’ve done so far. Although they don’t seem like it at first, this is a band that pleases a wide-variety of heavy metal fans, and I would recommend it to just about anyone. I would give this a 17/20. 

Goatwhore - Carving out the eyes of God

Thrash black tends to be one of the smaller genres out there. But one thing is for sure, there are a small handful of some pretty damn big bands from there. All of the ones that I’M aware of are Skeletonwitch, Melechesh, Hellhammer, and Goatwhore. I originally was introduced to Goatwhore when I saw them live in 2010 at a show headlined by DevilDriver (my first time ever hearing them as well) along with Suffocation (the only reason I was there) and Thy Will Be Done. Due to my lack of interest in Goatwhore at the time, I wasn’t really that impressed by their set. Then, sometime in the last year, Goatwhore set out on a headlining tour with Hate Eternal and Fallujah (Cerebral Bore didn’t show up, which is why they’re making up for that by being on Summer Slaughter this year). Of course, for me, I was going for Hate Eternal since they completely blew the fucking place apart the first time I saw them, as well as Fallujah. A couple of days before the show, I decided that since Goatwhore was the headliner of the show that I should at least check out ONE of their albums. Well, this was the one I got and after my second listen, I was hooked.

Probably what most everyone likes about thrash black is the catchiness it has. Hellhammer is obviously filled with it; that’s what most people know about them. Also, when you listen to Skeletonwitch and Melechesh, along with the extreme grimness of the black metal sound, you can hear the slight catchiness that comes from the old school thrash metal sound. Goatwhore is the black sheep, though. They don’t have a black metal base with some thrash weaved about there and there and sprinkled around; their sound is of that description, but reversed. That’s the typical Goatwhore sound; but this album in particular is the most unique album they’ve put out so far.

This album is Goathwore’s most unique primarily because they’ve chosen to implement more death metal than they did in previous releases like A Haunting Curse. So think of it like this: the really fucking catchy thrash death sound of DevilDriver plus black metal equals Carving out the Eyes of God. That’s what I think is the overall best description of this album. So as far as influence goes, I would probably guess that DevilDriver had a HUGE influence on the sound of this album because of the resemblance it has of them. To the elite black metal listener, this album wouldn’t be at all enjoyable because it lacks the signature grimness that we black metal fans both expect and love to hear. Also, another aspect that has been completely taken out during the writing process of this record is atmosphere. You listen to the earlier works of Darkthrone, listen to Immortal, and just about any at least half-decent black metal band and hear ATMOSPHERE. Hell, even Skeletonwitch and Melechesh managed to stick atmospheric elements into their music while still keeping the thrash black sound they were aiming for. But in this album, no way in hell will you find any sort of atmospheric or traditional black metal elements.

It’s for that very reason why I initially labeled this album as a black death record. Because the death metal and thrash metal combination completely enclose the core black metal sound, there actually isn’t much black metal left. For those of you that can sniff out even the faintest scent of black metal in any situation, you’ll be able to hear SOME black metal sound in this record; but very little. When you listen to their most recent release, Blood for the Master, you hear that most of the death metal sound from Carving out the eyes of God was removed, therefore re-exposing the pure catchy thrash black sound.

What I love most about this album is the amount of energy it contains. I’m not talking about how the shitload of bass and the sound of the guitars give it grit and energy; I’m talking about how you can literally FEEL the energy that the music itself creates. You can hear that the individual members are literally putting every last drop of energy they have during the recording process and were probably sleeping for the next two days in order to regain it back. Of course, many of you will beg to differ, but that’s certainly the feeling that the album gives ME.

The song structure is completely organized and without flaw. The way everything was composed keeps the different elements evened out and keeps the different sounds from clumping together. Doing this has kept the general sound of the album fairly consistent. But the reason why it doesn’t feel repetitive is because the mixture of the different sounds aren’t COMPLETELY blended together. Think of it as like when you mix red and yellow paint; right before it turns to pure orange, it just looks like a bunch of red and yellow swirls with a tad bit of orange here and there. You can tell that there’s a blend of different sounds, but they aren’t tightly pulled together in order to make it extremely easy for the listener to digest and enjoy. In some cases this is a bad thing, but Goatwhore defy that thought by doing just the opposite and making it a good thing.

This album is a fantastic album and I would recommend it to just about any extreme metal fan. A good cacophony of black metal, death metal, and old school thrash metal gives this album a 15/20. As well as that, it’s just a motherfucking BLAST to listen to!

Melechesh - The Epigenesis

Melechesh is one of Israel’s biggest metal bands. If you’re a fan of Skeletonwitch or Goatwhore, I would HIGHLY recommend reading this review because you’re in for quite the thrash black treat. I discovered this record early this year through my favorite record label, Nuclear Blast. Having confidence that the label wouldn’t put out a poor record, I decided to give The Epigenesis a listen. Before I found this album, I was positive that Nile was the only Ancient Egyptian-themed extreme metal band, but obviously I was wrong. But unlike Nile, Melechesh doesn’t exactly put as much focus on the mythology part of their music. Melechesh has a wider range of topics that can go as far as having a science fiction view on Egyptian-based Satanism with songs like Grand Gathas of Baal Sin and Sacred Geometry As well as that, you can also find topics of anger towards the corrupt state of Israel and the Middle East in the lyrics. But I’m not really one that likes to pay attention to lyrical themes; it’s all about the music for me.

Melechesh implements more thrash metal into their music than most thrash black bands. Either that or they just took out the melodic and atmospheric aspect that comes with the black metal sound like Marduk and Behemoth have done. But UNLIKE Marduk and Behemoth, they haven’t filled up the hole where the melodic element used to be with speed and brutality; they just leave it barren and empty. Obviously taking a considerable amount of influence from Nile, you can hear those weird Egyptian harmonizations in the guitars every once in a while. Here’s the thing, remember that Nile is a brutal death band, not black metal, so those ambient chords aren’t played in the same fashion. Melechesh place those chords in the thrash metal section, where they’re played in a sort of 90’s hard rock styled progression.

Here’s another thing that will cause to refer me back to Nile: singing. Those Whom the Gods Detest was released one year before The Epigenesis, which means it was possibly during the writing process of the record. I know that Melechesh had some singing in the album before this one, but it’s not buried by the distorted guitars and black metal vocals like in that one. In Sacred Geometry, you get to hear singing that is very crisp and that is obviously wanted to be heard because it stands at the front of the line. There’s nothing wrong with the singing at all, but the sound of his voice doesn’t fit the music at all and actually distracts the listener (not good).

The overall song structure tends to fall apart towards the end of each song. It seems that the band had their creative juices flowing at full-blast for about 80-90% of every song, but then came to the point where they were out of ideas…but they forgot to cap-off the end of each track. In other words, the songs are fantastic but with weak endings. Here’s something that ALL good musicians know: the most important parts of ANY song is the BEGINNING and the END. If you have a weak song, but a very solid beginning and a memorable conclusion, it’ll make it MUCH harder for the listener (with the exception of critics like myself) to notice any negatives and much easier to forget the bad parts. It’s not covering up, but if there’s potential for fuck ups during songs when playing live, as long as the intro and the end of the song are as tight as a baby’s ass, it won’t sound NEARLY as bad.

The end of each song seems to just drag on and grow monotonous VERY quickly. Yes, I can hear that in many of the songs, the band takes a guitar riff from earlier in the song and simply plays it again at the end. But for me, in black metal, I like to hear a completely new section that was crafted specifically for the end of that particular song; it makes it sound like the band cares THAT much more about their music. But then again, sometimes it is in fact the best idea to go back to the intro riff or something like that at the end because it can still sound extremely epic (depending on the riff, of course).

There isn’t much that I can think of to say about the individual members. The drummer is fantastic and was obviously built to be a thrash metal drummer, the guitarists and bassist stay VERY tight with the drummer. The vocalist isn’t THE BEST black metal vocalist that I’ve ever heard, but he fits the music. His screams are pretty weak and have an emotionless and dry sound that doesn’t bring up the music to that extra height. Having some of the old-school thrash sound in the black metal base sounds like it could have been inspired by Goatwhore (for this album in particular). I would give this album 12/20 for being good and solid, but not completely satisfying.