Their self-titled debut Swallow The Ocean is insanely heavy. Pounding riffs, soundscapes as big as the Grand Canyon, insightful lyrics. The album weighs in at barely over 27 minutes over 8 tracks, not nearly enough time to wrap your head around these guys and their sound. Their lyrical focus is apparently Christian although, I’ve paid less attention to the lyrics themselves and more how the vocals meld seamlessly into the music as a whole. It shows that they’ve taken great care in crafting their sound while not trying to sound like imitators of ISIS or Neurosis which undoubtedly will happen in this genre — it happens to almost every band playing this atmospheric heavy epic metal.

But how does it sound?

Awesome, that’s how. The album starts off with a 19 second instrumental intro, fairly standard for albums like this. Then you’re straight off into track two, Amphibian. Starting off on the right foot, it’s a pounding guitar riff sweetly laced with bass drum and heavy bass. Bass heavy enough that you’re hearing the strings hit, this isn’t something you get everyday as most bands back filter bass lines to simply be a part of the overall rhythm or timing but not these guys. Will Zuconni is a fantastic bassist, we need more guys like him. Amphibian’s lyrical focus is an interesting one. The song starts out about men evolving into amphibians and growing gills and becoming one with the ocean then starts off into ascendancy to Heaven but being turned away, probably because man grew gills. It sounds like a devolution story to atone for sins, but man seems to not want to go (ed. - I’ve gotten a note from Rory in STO that the lyrics are not Christian in nature as I originally had written) But the music, it’s amazing. Throbbing bass the entire time, spotlighted in the bridge segue halfway through, and a monotone but driving lead guitar rhythm. This is a great way to start an album if you ask me, it pulls no musical punches instrumentally and widens the soundscape during the bridge with a beautiful synth piece that’s backgrounded.

Track three, Dancing Upon A Sunken Vessel, starts out with some mournful bells and sounds much like an old wharf or dock may, lending to the overall theme of the band’s name and their oceanic premise. They then interlace the bells more and more with guitars and high hats, ramping up to the song itself. This song continues track two’s heavy but almost somber feel with heavy riffs and non-stop high hat action, intermixed with some serious blastbeats that are set further into the soundscape’s background. Vocal styles sway from typical growls to some heavy/soft mixes. For the song’s laid back mid-tempo, it all works. The song gives you a feeling of the ebb and flow of the ocean itself, segues slowing you down as you ebb back and forth from heavy riffing and throbbing bass. The next track Latitude continues this formula by actually continuing the previous song’s outro with a reverse mix and a shrill continuation of a high chord, it’s a short segue track to number 5. I would say that Sink or Swim ramps up the tempo but it’s a solid mid-tempo song spotlighted with a great drum-centric intro straight into heavy vocals and the same/similar guitar riff that’s been a constant current throughout the previous tracks. There’s a definite pattern to the songs but I wouldn’t say they’re formulaic but I can see that Swallow The Ocean planned these songs as a continuous listening session, something that takes a lot of balls and planning.

After track two, Amphibian, it seems like the lyrics of each successive song revolve around a never-ending battle with Satan and/or sin. However, the lyrics of Sink or Swim seem to revolve around the lack of a savior but choosing to roaming the sea floor for eternity. Since I don’t have a printed sheet of the lyrics around and Amphibian’s lyrics are the only ones officially published, I’m taking guessing at lyrical themes here. I would’ve gone for a more Leviathan/Kraken villain but that may be too cliche for this nautical-themed album.

Hands Folded, Eyes to the Sky, track seven, is definitely the most laid back track on the album. For about two minutes. Then it’s back into pummeling riffs and the heavy high hat action although the bass lines have definitely taken a bigger backseat in the latter half of the album. Fast forward to about 4 minutes and you’re treated to more up-tempo guitars where the band really shines on the culmination of the entire album, it’s definitely a climax that you’d want to leave the listener with. Huge riffs with vocals all over the place, they lay it all on the line in their oceanic battle. The final track, It’s Safe To Sleep Now, is the somber and appropriate outro to an album that never gets too fast and heavy but stays right in the middle of too slow and face-shredding fast. Two blissful minutes of synths and feedback.

Overall, the musicianship on this entire album is astounding for a young band. This post-metal progressive sound melded with a great theme envelope the listener, giving them an idea of what a bad ass metal ocean may sound like at any given time. They’ve got a huge sound that lacks a lot of distortion or feedback but still manages to sound huge, tsunami huge. Great segues with slow and cool to blasting riffs that never teeter too far on the speed gauge. If you’re a fan of guys like Rosetta (and you damn well should be) or ISIS, you will pick up Swallow The Ocean’s self-titled debut from Forgotten Empire Records and feel right at home sonically. I highly recommend this album.

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Unfortunately, I didn’t really get any of that. The first 6 tracks are from Bile Nephrosis and are very drum machine-heavy and I can’t reason why they’re a three piece. The tracks are sort of middle-of-the-road death grind, more grind than death with that blazing drum machine, with guttural vocals and fairly straightforward but boring guitar lines. I’ve been listening to a lot of grind in the last year and I’m fairly let down by all 6 tracks, they’re too generic. You feel like you’ve heard this stuff somewhere before and changes are, you probably have. For a second, I thought Mortician dropped a bunch of ecstasy and made a new album. I was almost disappointed that it wasn’t them. Frankly, these 6 tracks are forgettable as they all sound very similar with the exception of track 6, Repeatophile, using a stock sample from some movie and then it blasts into a song that doesn’t such as much as the other five as it sounds like they actually tried. This is their stand out track. It’s a decent mix of programmed drums with an actual melody slapped right in the middle of the track. How this one track trumps the other five is beyond me. Again, comparisons to Mortician come to mind.

Tracks seven through thirteen are from Dash The Brain Out and instead of being tracks they simply put on a split album from their back catalogue, this sounds like they just put a whole album on it. A roughly 7 minute album but hey, it’d be a full grind EP. This stuff just starts off right: blistering programmed drums and extremely modulated pitchshifted vocals. This is more of what I was expecting from the first six tracks. While it’s not the best goregrind out there, it’s definitely fast and ear splitting. Due to the track length, each song is over before you know it but there’s plenty of down-tuned crunchy guitar riffs and drumming that sounds like it could come from a real drummer, that’s a plus in my book. Dash The Brain Out’s fifth track, Blood of Her Vaginal, is a stand out track with punishing guttural vocals and a drum track that simply slays. It’s fast and on the verge of ear bleeding. The next track Grind De Killer is a mid-tempo number that was over before I realized it was another track but its drum line is simply pummeling. Their final track weighs in at nearly 4 minutes, entitled Untra Sound Exsamination. Yeah, I don’t get the title but they’re from Thailand so I don’t expect an excellent English title. However, it’s 3:40 of hyper tempo black metal-influenced speed guitar riffs and mile-a-minute drum programming. I enjoy the track but its length does start to grate on you since the track doesn’t really vary from the first minute to the third. Overall, this is a much better place to start listening to the album than the beginning.

The final band on the split is Corpse Dismemberment which is one guy with his drum machine and a guitar. It’s five tracks of sheer speed and modulated vocals but has very decent production values, the best on the split honestly. Mike Neste, the band’s sole member, started the band only a year ago and he sounds like a seasons grind pro which unfortunately, isn’t saying much. I wish I could say there’s a number of influences here at work but really, there’s not. A lot of grind sounds almost identical and this is no exception but for some reason, I like it quite a bit. Punchy hyper tempo programmed drums through all five tracks, pit of hell guttural lyrics, and down-tuned guitar riffs. Again, this isn’t really stand out stuff and this is the band’s first appearance on an album but I get the feeling it’ll get better as time goes on. Best track of the five? It’s Corpse Dismemberment’s last track, A Vile Disgust. It has a searing bass line that doesn’t quit and has some different vocal stylings on it than the other tracks which really gives it a good deal of variety but almost on the verge of being a “kitchen sink” song. Almost too varied but it shows that Mike can be more than a one trick pony. I’ll be keeping an eye on this band as I expect some good releases from them in the future.

Overall, this is a pretty generic three-way split between two decent bands and one that’s not very good. I found the beginning of the split to be nothing but a letdown but that’s how it is with grind, extremely hit or miss. Almost anyone can make grindcore and it’ll sound similar to their peers but it takes a lot of work to make something good, something stand out. Truthfully, skip over the first five tracks and save yourself a few minutes of listening time. Both offerings from Dash The Bran Out and Corpse Dismemberment show promise but each band’s catalogue is a bit thin at the moment so there’s not a lot to compare with for variety or signs of growth. The split was released by Gut of Dash The Brain Out’s own label Darkroom Productions and in roughly 100 copies so if you want a copy, trust me, there won’t be many left. I guess two out of three ain’t bad.

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Their latest EP, aptly named A Need to Defy, was recently released via Australia’s own Truth Inc. Records. Can’t say they picked a bad label with stellar label mates such as Black Like Vengeance. The EP’s name is appropriate as A Red Dawn are setting themselves up as forerunners of the South Australian metal scene with up tempo riffs, thunderous drum lines, and brutal vocals handled by singer Wayno. The EP weighs in at just a hair over 20 minutes and 5 tracks, averaging 4 minutes in length, not bad for a sophomore demo. The album starts off with a mid tempo intro to Smoke, Mirrors, & A Razorblade, aside from the double kick drum, it’s got a nice jazzy feel to it. Then you’re immediately showered with a flurry of strong riffs, up tempo blast beats and Wayno’s own mix of metalcore’s good cop/bad cop vocal stylings — but don’t worry, there’s no girly singing here, it’s all guttural from start to finish.

The first track is a nice introduction to the band as it’s not too fast but not mid tempo enough to sound cookie cutter, it’s got a very nice hardcore feel to it. The lyrics of all the songs have a hardcore feel to them as well, empowerment and not backing down in the face of adversity. Track two, Draw the Line, is possibly my favorite from this all too short EP. Between upper mid tempo pacing and less-blast-beats-more-cymbals, the band intelligently mixes in some sweet time signature changes with a very jazz-influenced — and technical death metal-influenced — guitar-heavy chorus. It’s not entirely free-form but there’s definitely a hint of more to come on future albums, I’m sure. Between these interludes, which are on almost every song, A Red Dawn have masterfully paced each track to drive you forward only to pull you back and slow you down with the chorus. These down-tuned choruses must be their version of the breakdowns so prevalent in many bands today. Jazzy, crunchy, drop D choruses? Bring’em on, they’re excellent.

Each track flows well into the next with track three, The Harbinger, bringing you face first to Aussie brutality and speed and tossing you into track four’s technical-influenced and slowed intro. Wish Yourself to Death may start off slow but it’s a track of ebbs and flows, hyping you up only to drop you dead on their technical hardcore-styled chorus. Another excellent track, I want to hear more like this from them in the future. The track takes you out on some seriously blazing kick drum blasts that, while not the fastest, sure as hell kick you in the teeth. These guys lace every track with a little groove and a lot of bloody punches, a beautiful mix for Australian death metal.

When you hear the EP The Need to Defy, you’ll be sad that it’s a mere five tracks but more than happy at its constantly changing pace and time signatures with the band mates’ own personal musical influences shining through on every track. This album takes me back a few years when Florida’s technical death metal scene was in full swing and the bands cared about their music first and foremost. No one down here wanted to fit into a mold and A Red Dawn certainly don’t fit the mold of their Aussie brethren who, outside black metal and one of the sickest grind scenes on the planet, are busy one upping each other with tight pants and two step breakdowns.

If you’re in Australia, pay these guys a visit on their summer tour and prepare to get pummeled. If you’re not down under, grab the album from Amazon. You won’t be disappointed.

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I Shalt Become is a band of questionable band status; since it’s a one-man outfit an infinite hiatus without disbanding is common. Neither their Myspace nor Metal Archives gives much of a hint on what the band is up to these days. When reading over other reviews of this CD, what’s most prominent is the many references and comparisons to NSBM bands such as Drudkh or Burzum or Graveland. I can see the valid references to Drudkh or Burzum, but Graveland? Not so much. The mid period Burzum influence is immediately noticeable, from the sheer bleakness of the soundscape to the “lyrics” of groans and screams. Physical instrumentation has taken a backseat to programmed drums and samples, this is expected in ambient black metal. The album In The Falling Snow is a tad under 35 minutes and flows over 10 tracks. One review I read said the tracks stretched into “nearly epic proportions”, but don’t let this fool you. Only the second track Burning actually passes the 6 minute mark, the title track is the only other track to surpass 5 minutes. I wouldn’t call this epic by any means. Given the number of tracks, it’s an average of 3:50 per track, fairly on par for short LPs. But I digress.

Over the span of ten tracks, I played the album three times through without noticing it had actually looped. Normally, I’d be a bit ticked off since I’d be able to tell the album doesn’t cleanly flow together but this one does. The outro flows seamlessly into the intro and all tracks segue into each other nicely. As I stated, the drums are programmed and there are samples here and there. This is bleak and depressing music so don’t expect dual guitar lines or hyper tempo drumming. Their American peers such as Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice, Nightbringer all have similar misanthropic and downright dreary albums. This is the stuff I love. Bands like I Shalt Become may be blips on the global BM radar but these guys end up influencing someone and that’s what makes this album so good. Their reach may not extend past US soil but the incestuous nature of the USBM scene will ensure their music gets out. Each track is infused with fuzzy feedback and has a crusty feel to it, lending to the dirty and depressing feeling portrayed by S. Holliman (that has to be a stage moniker). It’s very hard for me to pick out a truly standout track as I don’t think it’s really possible, this isn’t a track-for-track album, it’s about a soundscape of solitude and utter despair. I’m not saying a favorite couldn’t be picked out, I just think it’d be a poor choice to do so since each song is intertwined with the others.

From what I gather, this album was released in January 2008 but there has been some confusion as to whether In The Falling Snow is an I Shalt Become album or a Birkenau demo/bootleg (Holliman’s other “defunct” project). Either way, it’s a stellar and depressing album released on No Colours Records but they may no longer be in stock. Finding any of I Shalt Become’s releases is difficult enough so hopefully NCR still has some in stock because I highly suggest you buy it if possible. You will not be disappointed when all you want is something depressing on a rainy, death hallowed night.

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