Ghoul - We Came For The Dead

1. Graveyard Mosh / Ghoul
2. Rot Gut
3. Tomb After Tomb
4. We Came for the Dead
5. Soon, They'll Scream
6. From Death to Dust
7. Coffins and Curios
8. Suspicious Chunks
9. Skull Beneath the Skin


We Came for the Dead!!! is Ghoul's 2002 debut album released by Razorback Records. The lyrics in this album are based on the stories of the three band members (Dissector joined Ghoul after the release of We Came for the Dead!!!), as well as the introduction of their conspirator, Mr. Fang.

Album Reviews:
This is an album that makes death metal and thrash proud. This is pure metal worship, paying homage to bands like Carcass, Death, and Megadeth. Catchy thrash riffs that gives you the urge to violently thrust your head back and forth. You could really hear the old school Anthrax and Megadeth influence in the riffing. Three different vocals attacks: the decipherable growly Carcass-style vocals, deep thick death metal growls, and those inhuman gurgles coming from the bellows of a monster. Drums never get all blurry, that's a good thing. You could hear the clear pounding unlike in a lot of other death/grind bands that do nothing but blindly throw in sloppy blast beats just because they can. There's solos in just about every song, not the most technical but damn good and still requires guitar shredding skill, works with their formula of simple old school hardcore thrash modified with the intense elements of death metal. Easy to get caught up in their infectious grooves, which they produce continuously. The intros some of the songs have got a creepy Halloween atmosphere. There really isn't anything to complain about, they give you all the solid qualities you want in metal: Good riffs, good solos, good drumming, good growls, good everything, nothing to bitch about. If you haven't heard Ghoul yet, you have no idea what you're missing. Death metal, grind/splatter/gore, thrash, hell, maybe even power metal fans, can salute Ghoul for this pure metal masterpiece that reminds us all of why we love metal in the first place. Gotta love that violent comic-style album cover too.


GHOUL - We Came For The Dead !!! (Razorback Records~2002)
Wow ! This is top notch Gore Death that has a good amount of humour and skill involved. The band, who has taken a liking to the old style horror movie themes, is made up of three guys who all take on vocal duties providing a multi faceted arrangement of gurgling, throaty and rough growls. The guitar excellence is demonstrated by the fact that not only is it full and crunchy but you also get some kick ass solos throughout ! These guys pay homage to some of the top Death / Grind bands (CARCASS, AUTOPSY, MACABRE) and do it damn well ! As an added bonus they also manage to spice up MEGADETH´s 'Skull Beneath The Skin'. So, if you miss CARCASS (especially, as I see the strongest influence coming from them) and love quality Death / Grind then don´t hesitate for a minute to head to http://www.razorbackrecords.com and order yourself this latest release by the undead. An outstanding album !

Download? - Click Here ( Ghoul - We Came For The Dead.zip)

Ghoul - Splatterthrash

Ghoul - Splatterthrash
Releases: 06/06/2006
Razorback

A definite potential member of the Top 3 Albums of 2006, Splatterthrash seizes the nipples and rips flesh quicker than Lloyd Kauffman releases trashy b-movies for Troma Entertainment. Come to think of it, the album might make a good soundtrack for any number of Kauffman’s future releases.

Though these are supposedly the same musicians that comprise Impaled, Ghoul is a completely different animal. Incorporating enough elements inherent in a number of separate genres, Splatterthrash is an interesting listen, and, to say the least, makes it hard for a critic to pin down any one genre for comparison. Thrash, death, grind, punk, and even what might be described as psychobilly, courtesy of “Psychoplasm” and “Baron Samedi,” make themselves welcome guests on this collection of a wonderfully diverse thirteen songs.

Gang vocals work well for such a delectably schizophrenic aesthetic and contribute to the greater sense of variety (and fun). The effect is a bit different from Impaled, because song structures actually seem a bit tighter here, with choruses acting as glue for the insane thrash solos, grind sections, and mosh parts. Each vocal style contributes to an instrumental element, with the cleaner vocals highlighting the mosh parts and the raspy vocals slicing through the harsher, denser and technically demanding passages.

Don’t be too concerned if you don’t like death, grind or Impaled, because the elements pushed more obviously to the forefront are thrash and crossover, especially in terms of the mosh and thrash passages carrying most of the album through its entirety; think Funerot (for the faster mosh sections) meets early U.S. thrash (strictly in terms of the solos). Horror enthusiasts will also have a field day, because, go figure, the lyrics are well-crafted and pretty poetic given the anxiously psychotic feel of the music itself: “As your casket’s covered, feel the cruel hand of time / Ectoplasmic tendrils, enveloping in slime / Apparitions wail from the mould infested crypts / Skin begins to peel, turn to gelatin, and drip.” Some have complained of the sound not feeling as cohesive as it could on previous releases Maniaxe and We Came for the Dead, but trust me when I say that while I was able to dissect and attempt to isolate differing genre-specific elements, you won’t do this yourself while listening because they are integrated so seamlessly. The lyrics serve as an additional layer and you will want to take the time to decipher them, because they really do act as the core of Ghoul’s horror aesthetic.

Obviously, Ghoul cannot be so simply reduced as to be labeled an Impaled offshoot. With a sound, storyline, and aim all its own, this Oakland foursome, rusty knives in hand, carved its own niche into the dirtied, whorish tissue of metal’s black lungs. For that feat alone, Splatterthrash should be celebrated. The fact that they manage to perfect sound and story on their third full-length in four years makes them worthy of your worship, or at the very least, your money.


Track List:
1. Into the Catacombs
2. As Your Casket Closes
3. Bury the Hatchet
4. Merde!
5. Cult of the Hunter
6. Mutant Mutilator
7. Psychoplasm
8. Splatterthrash
9. Gutbucket Blues
10. Rise, Killbot, Rise!!!
11. Life of the Living Dead
12. Baron Samedi

Download? - Click Here (Ghoul - Splatterthrash.zip)

Graves At Sea - Documents of Grief (demo)

TRACKLIST:
1. Red Monarch
2. Black Bile
3. Wormwood
4. Praise the Witch

The guitar tone on Documents Of Grief make me think of entire cities being assailed by huge, roiling avalanches of poo. The tone is massive, all-encompassing and turgid… aural frequency assault as interpreted by Orange amplification.

20 Buck Spin Records is re-issuing this excellent 2003 debut by Arizona’s desert doom dregs, Graves At Sea. It was originally a self-released effort and quickly went out of print. If you get your jollies from the sludgey end of extreme doomation, Documents of Grief is custom built for your (fucked-up) auditory system. In terms of palpable sound comparisons, I’m thinking perhaps Grief and Burning Witch doing a dual interpretation of Dopethrone. It’s a dismally hypnotic journey into the void, the only caveat perhaps being the vocals of dread-farmer Nathan. He makes Attila Cishar seem like mother’s milk. It’ll scare your pets. Or at least put them off their food.

In a nutshell, brutally heavy with a caustic groove running through the mix. Atherogenic poo-core riffage at it’s best.
Download? - Click Here (Graves At Sea - Documents of Grief.zip)

Ghoul - Maniaxe

Ghoul "Maniaxe" CD
[Razorback]
Holy crap! If anyone continues to compare Ghoul to Carcass they're stupid. In fact, anyone who continues to compare Ghoul to Carcass should be shot for being a lazy and incompetent fuckwad with no ear for metal, because aside from the vocals (be they nasty low growls or midrange sneers) this is a fucking blistering thrash metal attack like I haven't heard in quite a long time. The speed is there, complete with classic thrash picking patterns and hints of melody, there are tons of raging slow breaks, shredding solos, the works... Awesome. And what's even better is that this reminds me of classic American thrash - a sound that most contemporary bands have yet to successfully harness. I could definitely deal without the cheesy and unnecessary spoken vocals in "Ghoul Hunter", even if they do namedrop Anthrax and Megadeth, but pretty much all of the other songs are rippers, and the title track is so fucking badass that it practically makes up for everything. The cover of "What a Wonderful World" is pretty hilarious as well... who would've thought? The production is pretty nice. The guitar tone is damn near perfect, the bass plunks away in the background, and the drums aren't bad. They even have an 80's sort of sound to them - they're somewhat flimsy at times, but that fits believe it or not. I still think the guitars and bass need to dominate more, but it sounds very fucking good, so fuck it. The cover art is sort of reminiscent of Gwar, and the illustrations are all fucking awesome. But I honestly think the rest of the layout is weak just because it's sort of plain and doesn't fit in with the awesome lettering drawn on the front cover. I don't know. It's not a setback or anything, but it could be a hell of a lot better. Do you really need lyrical examples? All I'm gonna say is that "Boneless" combines the band's usual horror flare with skateboarding, so... choke on that shit! This is a great disc. I'd shit my pants if these guys would drop the humor and be a dead serious fucking thrash act, but whatever. I can't understand most of the vocals anyway, so I can deal with horror and gore as long as they continue to back it up with riffs like these! I really want to give this an 8/10, but weak tracks like "Ghoul Hunter" and "The End?" are a waste of time and really hinder the overall energy and impact that the rest of the album harnesses, making it a little bit frustrating to take in as a whole. This band keeps getting better and better, though. If they keep this up they'll rip everyone a new asshole or two the next time around. (7/10)
Running time - 34:38, Tracks: 10

Download? - Click Here (Ghoul - Maniaxe.zip)

Graves At Sea - Cirrhosis

1.	Cirrhosis	05:46
2.	Atavist Arise	05:29
Total playing time		11:15

Download? - Click Here (Graves At Sea - Cirrhosis.rar)

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Pic + Info from magazine

Bongzilla - Gateway

Album Review #1:
I love to get stoned – who doesn’t? There’s nothin’ like a good bowl or joint to make a day go by that much better, and there’s nothin’ like listening to music while high off your ass, and I think Bongzilla agree with me 100%. It’s no secret that these boys smoke grass, it shows in their name… song titles and the way the fuckin’ music sounds. I mean, you HAVE to be high to write this shit.

Anyway, behind all the smoke there’s some really good music on “Gateway”. The first thing you hear when you pop this album in is static, then a slow, doomy and dirty-ass riff floats its way out like smoke comin’ out your mouth while taking a hit. The riffs on this album are catchy, doomy and groovy. And all of those riffs can be found on the complete monster of a track “Stone a Pig”. Almost 10 minutes of dirty sludge ecstasy, that’s some shit to get high to.

If you’re lookin’ for some fast songs here, you better snort some white lines and put on “Bonded by Blood” cos “Bongzilla” and “fast” don’t go together. You know all us potheads are slow and lazy. The album ranges from slow to mid-paced, and maybe even a little faster (“Sunshine Green”). The band focuses on slow, crushing riffs that’ll…crush you. The vocals aren’t so bad either, loud dirty sounding black metal-like screeching. Not something I would ever think would sound good when you’re stoned, but shit, Bongzilla proved me wrong.

There are some problems with “Gateway”, like every stoner out there Bongzilla tend to get too slow and sometimes boring. I don’t think you’d notice that while high (which is the way you’re supposed to listen to this) so it doesn’t really matter. The album ain’t too long, only 40-somethin’ minutes, so it’s a nice soundtrack to a 666lb bongsession. Go get your favorite bong, put some ice in the water, fill the bowl up with some Killer Cali (I love living in California), pop in “Gateway”, fire up and enjoy a great high.

Album Review #2:
While some bands pride themselves on re-inventing their sound with each release, there are others that you can always count on to stay the same. On their latest release, Gateway, on Relapse, the beloved Bongzilla continues to concoct ridiculously massive riffs attached to a pro-pot message. Screeching feedback drops into a deep, vicious groove of riffs and vocalist Mike Makela’s wicked yowl is almost completely drowned out by the smashing of drums, driving Bongzilla’s THC-induced sound. With songs like “Greenthumb,” “Sunshine Green,” “666lb. Bongsession,” and “Hashdealer,” this Wisconsin-bred band isn’t bashful about their marijuana love-affair. And while Bongzilla carries their attitude and their drug infatuation upfront, at least they aren’t trying to be a band they aren’t.


Album Review #3:
Throughout my adult life, I've been surrounded by varying degrees of potheads. One of my college roommates was a twice a day smoker who might as well have been the poster child for proving how many brain cells are supposedly killed by pot use. Other friends used it much more recreationally and in a couple cases, were probably better off with using it. Unfortunately, there's a segment of the population who has taken this illicit drug and turned nearly into a religion. To me, nothing is more aggravating to than to be around someone who is entirely fixated on one specific thing, whether it's football, alcohol, radical feminist politics or marijuana. When one's life is entirely consumed by a single product, there's a good chance that person is lacking much needed balance in order to function and not annoy the living hell out of people around them.

Bongzilla is one such example. They are now three releases deep into their marijuana themed career (two full lengths and one EP) and they're obviously quite content to continue with their favorite subject of choice. Sampling various movie quotes throughout the CD, Bongzilla is making no bones about their drug of choice. Unfortunately, their monolithic approach to making music is likely to drive away anyone who hasn't taken at least three major bonghits. Despite my constant proximity to pot over the years, I never did get around to trying it and I'm certainly not going to light up a doobie simply to find out if Gateway improves while under an "enlightened" state of mind. The entire album is a series of meandering Sabbath inspired sludge rock featuring more distortion than anything coming out of the White House these days. The entire length of the CD comes across as one extended jam session, showing very little dynamic shift from song to song. It's quite easy to tune out the little buggers after the first three or four minutes and they're certainly not going to sneak in any surprises anywhere after that. Just like hardcore marijuana advocates, Bongzilla becomes nothing more than a persistant irritant within minutes.

Perhaps if you like a dingy, heavy, muck-filled record that you don't actually need to pay attention to, Gateway will prove worth digging up. But as for me, Bongzilla reminds me far too much of those wretched middle aged alcoholic men who used to sit at my bar all afternoon, talking in great lengths about booze. I quit that job. Now I'm going to quit listening to this lousy CD.

Artist Review:
Bongzilla. What a name for a band. I stumbled upon these fellas pretty much due to a random recommendation on the internet. Judging from the title of their albums, this band seems to be chronically obsessed with the whole stoner thing and sweet Mary J. I've not heard anything else from Bongzilla, but could imagine that they've had a pretty consistent career, for good and for worse.

First of all, this album would deserve a decent top mark if it was judged on its musical merits alone. For a stoner record, it's one hell of a piece of sludge. Riffage is just absolutely spaced out and groovy, making up nicely for brutal vocals that really sound like the singer had been spending time with the bong. This is not exactly the most original stoner record or band. They rely very deeply on the standard Sabbath-Iommi-rip-off with maybe a tinge of blues to give a bit mellow edge to their onslaught. Yet musically, this is one of the strongest stoner/sludge albums I've come across.

But if you ask me, all this flies straight out of the window when you grab the album, look at the cover and the lyrics. Although Gateway shares a lot of things with other stoner metal albums, it is just so ludicrously over the top that I very much fear that the fellas in Bongzilla might not be joking after all. You've got a devil smoking weed in the cover. Then there are song titles like Greenthumb, 666 lb. Bongsession (an instrumental that pretty much is what is says) or Hashdealer. The lyrics talk about...weed. The message Bongzilla is putting through is such an obsessed praise for weed that it pretty much kills the charm of the album.

In defense you could say that when Electric Wizard did Dopethrone, they also had this horned guy smoking a pipe. Electric Wizard wasn't too subtle about their choice of herb either. The thing is that whereas Dopethrone is a stoner/doom monument, an defining album as such, Gateway is merely one among the dozens. Bongzilla does their thing good, but have nothing new to give musically, and the ridicilous imagery simply works against them.



Download? - Click Here (Bongzilla - Gateway.rar)