Review Massacra "Signs of the decline"

In 1992, Massacra, founded in 1986, which together with Loublast, Crusher, Agressor, and Mercyless formed the spearhead of French death metal, released their third album, “Sins of the Decline.” Just as the first two albums were released on the dynamic Shark Records label owned by the energetic metal pioneer Axel Thubeauville, Massacra were able to secure a deal with the major label Vertigo Records with this album (the Shark Records logo also appears on the back cover, so it was probably a kind of co-production), which also released million-sellers such as Black Sabbath and Metallica—especially at that time, this deal was something special. This makes the album a landmark in music history, as “Signs of the Decline” was the first death metal album released on a major label. Morbid Angel's “Covenant” was released on Warner's sub-label Giant Records for the North American market a year later in 1993.

Review Alastis "...and Death smiled"

After their debut album “The Just Law” was released in 1992 on the now defunct Norwegian cult label Head Not Found, the Swiss band Alastis released their second album in 1995 on the equally cult French label Adipocere, which also released the debut albums of now well-known and successful bands such as Moonspell and Bethlehem. The first thing that catches the eye is the beautiful, mystical, poison-green cover artwork, which leaves room for speculation and stimulates the imagination.

Review Abysmal "The pillorian Age"

Today, I would like to introduce a genuine, long-forgotten underground gem from the distant year of 1995, namely the only album by the Norwegian band Abysmal, entitled “The Pillorian Age”, which was released on the legendary Italian Avantgarde Music label back then. In fact, I can still remember how I first came into contact with this album. As was customary at the time, people copied albums onto blank audio cassettes, and that's how I came to enjoy this band, which was completely unknown to me at the time.

Review Divine Eve "As the Angels Weep"

In 1993, following a previous demo, the four-song debut EP of the US Americans from Texas by Divine Eve saw the light of day. For just under 17 minutes, you can hear the finest death metal with an undeniable Celtic Frost influence. There is a lot of mid-tempo, but also doom-laden parts and occasional excursions into grindcore, which creates a certain dynamic within the soundscape. The CD was released by Nuclear Blast America at a time when the label was still exclusively dedicated to the finest underground material of the day, such as Sinister, Benediction, Hypocrisy, and the like.

Essay: Artificial intelligence leads to decline

Thats why artifical intelligence sucks - because sooner or later we will lose what defines us as human beings

Since artificial intelligence - in the following shortened to AI - is now being used in almost all areas of our society (one example related to the topics discussed here is the shitstorm that broke out over the Dutch band Pestilence when they used cover artwork created by artificial intelligence), I am taking this as an opportunity to express my very critical and yet predominantly negative attitude towards it. Of course, humanity has always continued to evolve. Human labor has been replaced by machines, technical programs replace and/or support people at work or in performing everyday tasks, or even in hobbies or leisure activities. We edit photos with image editing programs and let our cars be guided by navigation devices, use apps for hiking and cycling. We monitor our health data with wearables. The list of these aids, which I also use often and find very useful for the most part, is long. The key difference between this and the use of artificial intelligence is that the aforementioned applications often assist humans, who still do most of the work, as in the case of image editing software. In other areas, machines take over most or (almost) all of the work previously done by humans, but not creative or artistic activities. I admit that the distinction between physical/technical work and intellectual/creative work may be a weak point in my argument, but so be it.

Review Azath "Through a Warren of Shadow"

At this point, I would like to introduce the 2020 debut album by Azath, a US-Canadian collaboration, which in my opinion did not receive enough attention. The album was released by Pulverised Records, which is already a certain seal of quality. The band, which has been around since 2018 and released a demo before the album came out, as well as a 7" with the Americans from Nucleus in 2023 as their last sign of life, plays fast, mangy death metal, somewhere between old school heroes like Incantation or Dead Congregation, or, for that matter, like playing an Autopsy LP at 45 rpm.

Review Runemagick "Last skull of humanity"

As the Swedish doom / death metal act Runemagick led by the energetic Nicklas Rudolfsson is currently releasing its 14th studio album, entitled “Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms)”, the band actually came back to my mind after I had already interviewed Nicklas in 2018. How time flies....read the interview on the occasion of the release of "Evoked from abysmal Sleep" here.

At this point, however, I would like to mention the brilliant gem of an EP called “Last Skull of Humanity” from 2023, which unfortunately has only now received my full and well-deserved attention.