Xothicon: February 2009

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

PSYOPUS - Odd Senses

Psyopus’ latest studio release, “Odd Senses”, is a mind blowing journey into the psychotic realm of extreme metal music. Assaulting your ears with savage screams, grindcore drumming, lightning fast slap-bass lines, and extremely experimental guitar wizardry, Psyopus unleashes some of the most impressive and aggressive technical compositions that will evoke a gaggle of gruesome emotions hidden deep within you.

Psyopus has been leading the expedition into the realm of all things tech since their first release “Ideas of Reference” back in 2004, and continued their mission to blur the line between the musical genres in 2007 with their second release “Our Puzzling Encounters Considered”. Now in 2009, Psyopus once again continues to reinvent and expand the boundaries of extreme music with their 3^rd studio release “Odd Senses”. Psyopus creates such brilliant and brutal grindcore greatness by utilizing such experimental techniques as spoken word verses, looping of key phrases, jazz instrumental segments, noise sections, odd time signatures, reverse audio tracks, and a plethora of innovative guitar tricks that leaves one wondering “how in the hell did he play that?”

Psyopus’ lyrical content covers a variety of dark subject matters such as possession, drug abuse, torture, hatred, and sanity, to name a few. The CD runs a little over 62 minutes in length, and closes with an epic untitled track that can only be described as a psychedelic descent into madness. “Odd Sense” is a highly original and creative CD that will melt the brains of music aficionados, hallucinogenic hooligans, and metal heads alike.

Track Listing:

1. .44

2. Medusa

3. The Burning Halo

4. Duct Tape Smile

5. X And Y

6. Boogeyman

7. Imogen's Puzzle Pt. 3

8. Choker Chain

9. Ms. Shyflower

10. A Murder To Child

11. Untitled

Source:

http://www.myspace.com/psyopus

HALO WARS Original Soundtrack

Out now is the HALO WARS Original Soundtrack 2-disc set which features over 50 minutes of original score from the Xbox 360 game and includes a bonus DVD with several video segments and plenty bonus tracks. The compositions on this CD cleverly combines a full symphonic orchestra and choir with digital samples, guitars, bass, drums, and a slew of other instruments to create a unique listening experience that will transport the listener into the virtual war zone between the Covenant and UNSC.

The HALO WARS Original Soundtrack is composed by Stephen Rippy and performed by FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir Prague. All the compositions are inspired by the various worlds in the Xbox 360 game, and the twenty five tracks on the first disc offer a variety of musical emotions. Some tracks are somber and atmospheric having a bit of a new age feel, while others are more bombastic and energetic, creating almost an industrial feel. Every track fits comfortably into the Halo universe, and each of the HALO WARS main characters have their own feel that is brought into this Soundtrack.

Included in the package is a bonus DVD featuring three videos tracks, nine bonus tracks, and nine 5.1 mixes of tracks from the first music disc. The nine bonus tracks are more upbeat, adventurous tracks, which are a welcomed deviance from the melancholic first disc. The 5.1 mixes offer an interesting version of the previously heard music, dividing the audio spectrum into clever configurations. The three video tracks consist of two cinematic trailers and one behind-the-scenes video. The first video piece, “Spirit of Fire: Three Cities”, is a behind-the-scenes video that offers an interesting split screen format where we can see how three different recording sessions (Dallas, Prague, and Seattle) were utilized to complete the final mix of the CD’s opening track “Spirit of Fire”. The next video piece “Five Long Years” is a fully animated 5+ minute short, featuring some breath taking images and of course the music from the CD. The third and final video is the action packed “Teaser Trailer” that will surely inspire anyone who’s not familiar with the HALO WARS games to go out and buy it. The HALO WARS Soundtrack is available now through Sumthing Else Music Works, Inc. and the HALO WARS Xbox 360 game is available through Microsoft Game Studios.

Rating: 2 ½ Skulls

Track Listing:

1. Spirit of Fire

2. Bad Here Day

3. Perspective

4. Money Or Meteors

5. Flollo

6. Just Ad Nauseum

7. Unusually Quiet

8. Flip And Sizzle

9. Put The Lady Down

10. Six-Armed Robbing Suit

11. Action Figure Hands

12. Status Quo Show

13. Part Of The Plan

14. Work Burns And Runaway Grunts

15. Freaked Out

16. Rescued Or Not

17. Best Guess At Best

18. One Problem At A Time

19. De Facto The Matter

20. Part Of The Problem

21. Fingerprints Are Broken

22. Out Of There Alive

23. Through Your Hoops

24. Under Your Hurdles

25. Insignificantia (All Sloppy / No Joe)

Bonus DVD tracks:

VIDEO:

1. Spirit of Fire: Three Cities

2. Five Lone Years

3. Teaser Trailer

AUDIO:

1. X-06

2. Fingerprints Are Broken

3. Five Long Years

4. Money Or Meteors

5. Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

6. Best Guess At Best

7. Quite The Vacation Resort

8. Bad Here Day

9. We’re Burning Sunshine

Sources:
http://www.halowars.com

http://www.sumthing.com/itemDetails.aspx?id=4074

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

THIS ENDING – Dead Harvest

Fusing the best elements of death metal, melodic thrash, and industrial, Sweden’s THIS ENDING has formulated their own sound that crosses genres. Their latest release, “Dead Harvest”, is a perfect blend of these dominant musical aspects, combining them into a heavy, hailstorm of thundering drums, powerful guitar riffs, melodic guitar solos, and vehement vocals, resulting in aggressive album that will appeal to large variety of metal fans upon the first listen.

Although their sound is quite new in style, THIS ENDING has been around since 1991 when they were known as A CANOROUS QUINTENT, playing many shows in Europe with metal heavy-weights such as AT THE GATES, DISSECTION, HYPOCRISY and EDGE OF SANITY. The 5 piece parted ways in 1998 to pursue various separate projects, but reunited in 2005 under the new name THIS ENDING, first releasing a 3 song demo entitled “Let The World Burn”, and then unleashing their first full length CD entitled “Inside The Machine” in 2006.

2009 brings us their latest release, “Dead Harvest”, a refreshing new approach to song writing, combining their various musical influences and creating a dark and mesmerizing CD. THIS ENDING utilizes a lot mature composing techniques such as counterpoint guitar riffing, blast beat drumming combined with electronic triggers, layered vocals, and dynamic song writing, that makes each track a unique and satisfying experience. Definitely worth a listen if you’re into melodic death metal, or aggressive nu-metal.

Track listing:

1. Trace Of Sin

2. Parasites

3. Machinery

4. Instigator Of Dead Flesh

5. Dellusionists

6. Army Of The Dying Sun

7. Dead Harvest

8. Tools Of Demise

9. Deathtrade

10. The Asylum

Sources:

http://www.thisending.com/

http://www.myspace.com/thisending

http://www.metalblade.com/

Cannibal Corpse – Evisceration Plague

Cannibal Corpse returns to the forefront of the death metal scene with their eagerly awaited 11^th studio release, Evisceration Plague. Showing no signs of slowing down in 2009, the godfathers of gore prove themselves once more as a formidable force in the ever growing macrocosm of metal music as they unleash all manner of mutagenic mayhem with their latest sonic assault.

Successfully slaying audiences for over twenty years now, Cannibal Corpse has matured musically into a well oiled machine of annihilation that becomes more and more proficient at delivering the deathblows with each outing. Evisceration Plague harnesses their iconic song writing style of catchy riffing, cleaver time changes, and brutal breakdowns, and combines that with increased instrumentation. The guitar harmonies between Pat O’Brien and Rob Barrett are more prevalent on each song, the drum fills by Paul Mazurkiewicz venture into the experimental realm, Alex Webster’s bass playing is consistently tight and impressive, and the guitar solos are very fluid and fitting to each track. George Corpsegrinder’s vocals are intense from the first scream heard to the last growl muttered, and the vocal overdubs are subtle and not over done. The lyrics range from homicidal rage to all out mass extermination. The body count has been increased to global proportions as songs like “Scalding Hail”, “Carnivorous Swarm” and “Evisceration Plague” sees the Earth’s population decimated by unnatural disasters.

Following in the footsteps of their 2006 release Kill, Evisceration Plague was recorded with producer Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal/ex-Morbid Angel) at Mana Studios in Florida. The crystal clear production attained by Rutan reveals the insane intricacies of Cannibal Corpse’s technical proficiency, without diminishing the raw intensity of their down tuned guitar sound. Running a little under 40 minutes in length, this 12 track CD delivers some of Cannibal Corpse’s best material to date. The special edition package includes a bonus "Making Of" DVD, an exclusive sneak peek of which can be seen here on Fangoria.com. Delightfully gruesome and brutally relentless, Evisceration Plague is a masterfully made monstrosity of music created by one of this genre’s founding fathers at the pinnacle of their career. A must have for true fans of Cannibal Corpse, and a highly recommended addition for fans of gore laden metal. I give it 4 out of 4 rotting skulls!