[size=12pt]Neuraxis - The Thin Line Between [/size]
[size=10pt]Technical Melodic Death Metal[/size]

Prosthetic Records
July 22nd, 2008


"The Thin Line Between" track listing:

01. Darkness Prevails
02. Wicked
03. Versus
04. Deviation Occurs
05. The Thin Line Between
06. Dreaming The End
07. Standing Despite...
08. Oracle
09. Phoenix
10. The All And The Nothing

Zitat:Canadas technical death metal warlords NEURAXIS have posted a new track, "Darkness Prevails", on their MySpace page. The song comes off the groups forthcoming Prosthetic Records debut, "The Thin Line Between", which is scheduled for release on July 22. The album was recorded by Jef Fortin (ANONYMUS) and the band in February and March of this year and features guest vocals from Luc Lemay (GORGUTS). The CD artwork was created by Dennis Sibejin (CHIMAIRA, JOB FOR A COWBOY).

Zitat:Urban Cancer was apparently originally recorded in 2006 and ended up shelved thanks to a series of label snafus. Fortunately, Nefastus Dies managed to get this one properly supported and out the door on Candlelight imprint Siege of Amida so that you can actually find it in stores after two years in limbo. I’m sure glad they did—Nefastus Dies win points with me from the outset for playing black metal but flouting virtually all of the usual black metal conventions. Armed with a modern, non-grym production courtesy of Yannick St-Amand and Alan Douches, and eschewing everything from corpsepaint to Satanic lyrics, these Canadians draw on a diverse background (members of Ion Dissonance, Unquintessence, Ether, etc.) in crafting a very enjoyable and actually fairly distinctive black metal effort. Imagine Dissection or maybe very early Dimmu Borgir adopting Anaal Nathrakh’s stupidly fast rhythm section.

Now, those are flattering points of reference, and Nefastus Dies is definitely a little less than the sum of its parts. Even so, Urban Cancer was a pleasant surprise for me. Though I enjoy black metal, I’m often put off by its tradition-bound and elitist adherents. Fortunately, as a genre it seems to be opening itself up to greater variety and weirdness, thus allowing for the existence of bands like this one. These guys trade in lengthy, melody-laden compositions driven by Scythrawl’s (stage names being the final vestige of black metal goofery here) hyperactive skinsmanship. Guitarists Void and Auriel steal the show here—they weave countless windswept harmonies and despondent arpeggios, impressing with their taste and execution more than their originality but impressing nonetheless. Though the guitars (as usual) steal the show, keyboardist Iraabbas might be the band’s cornerstone. He plays his role perfectly; his left hand fills in for an absentee bass guitar while his right provides the melodic foundation over which the guitars rage. More importantly, he does so while remaining unobtrusive—Nefastus Dies never strike me as deserving the ‘symphonic’ tag with which they’re frequently associated. For his part, Scythrawl’s drumming is straightforward brutality. He pretty much blasts all out more often than not, often reaching inhuman gravity-blast tempos, and his performance is very solid despite horrendous over-triggering.

So the instrumental unit is hard to complain about—in all likelihood, Ill Fates vocals will be the turning point for most Nefastus Dies listeners. Honestly, the guy is sort of a mixed bag. His most-used delivery is a strained, wildman howl that thankfully spares my ears another album of reverbed-out black metal croaking. Ill Fates often short on enunciation, but his intensity more than makes up for it. Unfortunately, he attempts a few other vocal styles as well, and here things start to go awry. His death growl is decent but definitely underpowered relative to his higher vocals, but the real issues arise when Ill Fate attempts some inward-breathing pig squeals. Now, I actually like the idea of using inwards in black metal. It’s a different tack and metal needs as much different-ness as it can find. Sadly, though, Ill Fate just doesn’t have the vocal chops to make it work—his inwards aren’t so much squeals as an extremely high-pitched and grating squeak that completely diffuses the intensity of Nefastus Dies’ music whenever it appears. Evidently the guy is actually a guitarist/bassist by vocation and has been doing vocals for something like a year or two, so it’s entirely possible that he will further refine his voice on later releases (and fortunately he’s sworn off the inwards). For now, though, he’s the occasional weak link in Nefastus Dies’ chain.

All in all, Urban Cancer is an unusually strong release for a band who have faced as many lineup changes and organizational shenanigans as these dudes have. From what I’ve gathered, this disc tells the story of a band still working its sound out—a number of its tracks have been reworked multiple times since the band’s early incarnations. To me, this suggests that Nefastus Dies’ next album could be truly devastating—in short, ‘potential’ is written all fucking over the place. Keep an ear open, fellow metal dorks.

Zitat:Knoxville, Tennessee-based death/grind metallers WHITECHAPEL are streaming the title track of their forthcoming second album, "This Is Exile", on their MySpace page. Due in Europe on July 14 via Metal Blade Records (July 11 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy), the CD was tracked by Jonny Fay (ex-guitarist of THE RED CHORD) of Backyard Studios in New Hampshire and was mixed by Zeuss, who has produced ION DISSONANCE, EMMURE, BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED, SHADOWS FALL and HATEBREED, among others. The cover artwork was handled by Colin Marks, who has previously worked with ABORTED, THE END, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD and THE RED DEATH). "He [did] a phenomenal job and we are extremely pleased with the outcome of his work," the band previously stated. "He has done a wonderful job of portraying the concept of the record through his artwork."

"This Is Exile" track listing:

01. Father Of Lies
02. This Is Exile
03. Possession
04. To All That Are Dead
05. Exalt
06. Somatically Incorrect
07. Death Becomes Him
08. Deamon (The Procreated)
09. Eternal Refuge
10. Of Legions
11. Messiahbolical

Zitat:Awww yeah! From the buzz of those warm, crusty guitars, the thick fuck off buzzsaw of a distorted bass, the old school snare sound and pounding kick in the intro track, you know this is gonna be good.

It’s been far, far too many years that people have been waiting for a new Captain Cleanoff album but now we have it. Symphonies of Slackness is finally available through the now Australian-friendly Czech Republic label Obscene Productions. If the back inlay is anything to go buy, this CD has also been licensed or distributed through Tri-Star Recordings and Visceral Productions, though I’ve heard of neither.

If you’re unacquainted with Captain Cleanoff I really only have one question: what the fuck is wrong with you? For years Captain Cleanoff have absolutely terrorized Australia with their style of sick mosh inducing, punked out, blasting, thrashing grindcore. Whenever you goto to a Captain Cleanoff show you can count on two things: that they’ll have an absolutely monstrous and full sound, and that there will be one major fuckoff violent mosh pit from the first blast to the last final scream.

This album represents everything that we love about Captain Cleanoff; straight, unabated grindcore with some truly great grooves, sparse but effective breakdowns and catchy punk riffing. It’s old-school grindcore in the vein of Napalm Death and Kill the Client but injected with new energy and life - and catchy as all hell! Muz proves once more that he is a one-pedal blasting maniac behind the kit, and Adrian has one of the most fucked up and unique vocal styles in all of grindcore.

The production is full and thick, yet both the guitars have a nice, crusty tube-amp warmth without destroying clarity, while the bass has a dirty cunt of a sound as it tears at the bottom end like a chainsaw. The drums are nice and full, with a natural, defined kick sound and an tight old school snare sound with a crisp snap and just a hint of reverb that reminds me of the snare on Carcass’s Necroticism or Ghoul’s Maniaxe.

Blunt Magazine just gave it a 9/10 and called it “arguably the greatest grind album in Australia’s history”. In case you haven’t realised yet, this aint something to miss. For old and new school grindcore fans alike, you’re a sucker if you dont already own this. And whenever these guys are coming to your town, dont be so stupid as to ever miss a show.