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One last victim - Nothing cures your pain

Links: Band Website

Yet another review with a Japanese band and I can bet that everyone that are about to read this are going wild since Japanese band has this HUGE hype going on, "everything from Japan is br00tal as fuck deeeeed!" and for some reason I got a feeling that the hype will grow even bigger. One last victim contains at least one former Defiant Manner member if I'm not completely mistaken (most people from Defiant Manner that have been R.I.P. now can be found in Infected Malignity) and from seeing the logo the first time I kinda had a hunch of what these guys would sound like. But I was wrong... Compared to other japanese bands, One last victim have taken aim at the groove and the breakdowns, because this is definantly the most grooviest band I've ever heard coming out Japan, blending death metal "slams" with some really heavy hardcorestyled breakdowns. Then for the vocals there are two guys handling them, one doing some pretty mediocre, but alright hardcore screams and some other guy doing pretty deep lows, a good contrast actually and they end up completing each other pretty good. What would've made this review a more fair one would've been if the soundproduction was better, because this dosent prove O.L.V. justice as it should be. The music is good and you can make out whats going on, but the guitars tend to "sway" if you know what I mean and the drums are pretty thin, almost sounding "electronic" at sometimes. So for the next recording I hope that these guys record something a bit more "pro", maybe something for Keisuke perhaps? I know that many will check out this band out because its from Japan and everyone involved in this scene LOVES death metal from Japan, its just how it goes. I hope that these guys will be accepted for their qualities as probably the grooviest band out of Japan in a long time because they deserve it. /Ulf

Orchidectomy - Demo 2005

Links: Band Website Label Website

Coming out of Ontario and been around since 2004, this three-piece consisting of Tom, Alfie and Justin, Orchidectomy released their debut demo march 2005 and already they are signed to Unmatched Brutality, one of the better labels releasing albums with such bands like Brodequin, Bloodchurn, Massmurder and Guttural Secrete just to mention a few. So, what hides behind the rather unreadable logo and songtitles that dosent mean shit to a retarded swede like myself? Well, to start you are literally mauled down and you can definantly hear that these guys are influenced by Brodequin, Liturgy and maybe a hint of Disgorge (US) as well, mostly fast paced stuff (drummer is amazing for his age!), but of course you get slower parts and breakdowns, just what you would've expected really since its nothing really new and its within the framework of this scene today, this dosent mean that I'm nagging on any bands or anything, I personally love this kind of shit, but in a way you kinda expect this band to have include something like that in their music and its necessary as well since I personally think it adds more diversity with grooves and stuff like that between the fast and intense parts.Then again there are some people like my dear friend "Anders" that loves anything that goes fast as fuck all the time. There's one thing that I think could've been better and that would be the vocals that are pretty boring to listen to, not really because of the vocals themselves, but more because of the arrangements. Just straight forward inhales (at least thats what I think it is) a bit similar to Pustulated and maybe Wormed (the inhale sounding parts). The lack of diversity is shown here as well when it comes to the vocals, but since its their first release I bet that by the next release that Justin Boehm (vocals/bass) sounds even better since he shows here that he has potential to become better. Productionwise its really raw and sometimes thats good, but in this case it takes away some of the "punch" and it tends to sound, well, not sloppy and not weak either, I dont really know the word for it, but it sounds a bit messy. Guitars are pretty good though, crispy, but not that heavy. Drums has a nice "attacking" sound to them (snare is wild during the fast parts!) and the kickdrums are not overely trigged either. Too bad I cant make out the bass though. The best way to describe this recording would've been to say that this is the result that Brodequin would've had if they put more time in the studio or whatever they were up to while recording their albums. If you are into fast and intense shit, then you should love these guys, support Canada, support Orchidectomy! Over and out! /Ulf