What we have here is a combination of death metal like vocals done by Napalm Death's old singer, Lee Dorrian and backup ones by Mick Harris, who left the band in the early 90's.  I'd have to say that the older Napalm Death releases like this one are where they were at their best.  I would say that this album is better than "Scum" because the music is more catchy and the intensity of the songs are more noticable.  They have all kinds of tempo changes like a slow intro and a slow outro.

The band did justice here for grindcore, them being pretty much the originators of the extreme music.  "From Enslavement To Obliteration" is an album that one can get into easily because the musical quality and production were way better than average for a grindcore act (old Napalm Death I mean).  When "Harmony Corruption" came out with Mark "Barney" Greenway, I think that all of the songs and production were superb as well.  They didn't give up their roots on that one, but later play more death metal more than grind.

The compositions here by Bill Steer on guitars is filled with all sorts of original ideas based on his influences and not duplicating anything, just playing his bar chord exhibitions and shying away from any sort of lead guitars, which is different than when he was and now is again with Carcass.  I think that he puts forth some sounds done like no other and intensity through the whole album except for the intro and outro guitars.  He doesn't contribute anything to the vocals, Lee and Mick were on duty for that.

I'd say that this is like death metal mixed with grindcore.  You can hear what Bill's playing even with the extreme blast beating.  Some of the riffs are going at full speed and it's really intense to say the least.  I'd really say that Mick was the best drummer for the band, I suppose that he left because he sort of lost interest with extreme music.  He was one helluv a grindcore drummer.  I don't think that the drummer that replaced him (Danny) comes close to Mick's talent.

So hearing this album compared to the newer Napalm Death sound, they don't have really brutal vocals anymore, Lee was pure deep throat and "Barney" was better in the early 90's via "Harmony Corruption" and "Utopia Banished."  Well, the music here is what counts the most and you can because of the production hear Bill Steer's riff outputs even when Mick is grinding out blast beats.  Most songs are not extremely long, but longer than the ones from "The Peel Sessions" compilation.

Lee and Mick kept the band brutal and insanely intense on this album.  Bill had some leads here and some songs were very brief.  The bulk of the grind was in the guitar, drums and vocals.  The combination of the low-end grunts by Lee and the high pitch sounds done by Mick gave the band more variety.  Bill does an awesome job on the guitar, even though maybe there were only 1-2 leads on this entire album.  His riffs are immensely good, maybe even better than that.

For a grindcore band during the earlier days, this album sure puts a good impact on the music community because it simply uncompromising.  The lyrical concepts are well thought out too and I think that as a whole, the band made an outstanding contribution to grindcore in itself.  There's nothing compared to the older sound of the band, nowadays I find their albums to be monotonous and that they disbanded from their roots.  Shane has been in the band for the longest time still dishing out great bass guitar.

If you're looking for grindcore at its absolute finest, "From Enslavement To Obliteration" is where it's at.  You can find the full album on YouTube.  It would be good to own even just the actual CD of this one because it's to me one of their best releases.  With Bill out of the band and back to playing guitars with Carcass, Mitch Harris is a good fill.  It's tragic what happened to Jesse Pintado, dead at 37.  Anyway, for grind and extreme music lovers, this one should definitely hit home and 34+ minutes of intensity!

Rate: 100%.

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).

A 20+ minute bout of sheer NOISE.  This CD is grindcore at it's finest!  Low end vocals by Lee Dorrian and high end screams by Mick Harris.  Heavy wrenching guitar work by Bill Steer and on bass the immortal Shane Embury who's been with the band the longest.  What we have hear is almost musically unspeakable.  So intense and BRUTAL!  The guitars are all over the place, mostly fast tremolo picked riffs and heavy duty bar chords with blasting by the amazing drums.

Some songs are 6 seconds and I'd say a majority out of the whole CD there are no songs lasting more than 2 minutes.  In fact, most songs are about 1 minute and a half tops.  Just grind city and a raw production quality.  This is Napalm Death at their most brutal and intense.  There simply is no letting up with the deep throat vocals fluctuated with Mick Harris' screaming!  His drums almost never let up in intensity and the compilation has a little reverb added to that drum set.

There aren't many songs on here that you can really make out what's being played because what you mostly hear are not only the guitar, but bass riffs that have a distorted sound to them.  The band plays some covers on here.  You CANNOT say that this is really music, it's really just a conglomeration of distorted guitar work and because the snare is blasting away constantly, it's hard to hear the music itself.  There are only a few seconds of lead guitar work, pretty much all of this is pure grind.

This is one of the most intense 20+ minutes of sheer abomination!  I have never heard a most extreme noise terror outlet by this band, it's simply amazing in intensity and total musical destruction.  Yes the guitars are loud enough on here, but when you hear the drum blasting, I can't really make out and actual music.  When the tempos are slower, then you can definitely make out what's being played.  I think that Napalm Death did something here that is quite amazing if you want an adrenaline rush.

There are 25 songs on here most of which you can find the lyrics of, but from a musical standpoint, this is what grindcore should sound like and definitely should be at its most intense.  These guys put in so much energy in each track, even if one was 6 seconds long like the song "Dead."  There's only maybe 1-2 tracks that are slower.  The bulk of the release is just a good caffeine boost to have in the morning to get you going.  This compilation is one of N/D's most notorious ones in just 20 minutes.  It's hard to believe they were able to make this really work.  If you want extreme noise terror, The Peel Sessions is for you!

Rate: 100%.

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).

BRUTAL!  That is the bottom line here, just utterly devastating release.  I'd have to conclude that Butchered At Birth is still my favorite, but this one ranks up there with it also.  It has totally rapid tempo changes, gutteral vox, blast beating frenzies, gore lyrics, and blazing intensity.  I'd say that Butchered At Birth and this one are Cannibal Corpse's most admirable albums.  Nothing compares to the originality of the song structures and blindingly rapid changes with a solid production quality.

There concept I think here is just to put out something that just simply blows fans away ad nauseaum.  They've achieved that between the blistering intensity and leads that simply crush in whammy bar going off of leads that leave listeners just in awe.  The way that each song is put together features bar chords along with a ton of riffs that are mind boggling.  Barnes on vocals just crushes and most of his voices spews these gore lyrics and also there are a solemn few screams, but still there.

Mixing/production/sound quality is definitely a boon here and Tomb of the Mutilated is in a league of its' own regarding originality in songwriting quality.  These guys are so fierce and ferocious when it came to putting this one together.  A definite CC classic in my book.  It simply devastes from start to finish.  All of the riffs are put together with a total precision and it leaves the whole album up to analysis.  I hear chunky guitar/bass throughout and the quality of the vocals accentuates the songwriting quality.

It's good that they made an awesome follow-up from their previous, the rest of the CC albums with Corpsegrinder seem to sound the same -- not really different from the rest of their albums with Barnes out of the band.  The Bleeding was a little different than this one, but it was Barnes' last effort with the band before Corpsegrinder took over.  I'd say that Barnes made CC more brutal even though the guitars aren't way tuned down like they are now.  I think all of the succeeding albums are in B-Flat.

If you're looking for quality in brutal death metal that measures up to one of the band's finest releases, Tomb of the Mutilated hits home.  Even though this came out in 1992, the intensity, brutality, production quality and guitars are what really hits home here.  They seem to keep declining nowadays and this one along with Butchered At Birth are in my own voice 2 of their greatest ever.  Never stopping with fury and intensity along with disgusting artwork, you'll find this a classic I think as well.  Own it, now!

Rate: 90%.

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected])

Definitely better than Khaos Legions without a doubt, Arch Enemy steps up with fury on here.  Alissa sounds like a replica of Angela though with moderate variety.  The music and intensity is strong and the compositions are reflecting of older AE, sticking to the core of melodic death metal.  Nick, their new guitarist replacing the amazing Amott, Christopher that is, of whom I think did a great job here.  I still favor Christopher, but his endevours are different now that he's no longer with the band.

If this is to be the last AE, it would be a tragedy, but I'm hoping with this newer lineup, they still have some more albums to belt out.  The music on here is a blend of the first 4 albums and the bonus track "Shadow On the Wall" is a good cover.  The guitars are heavy and the lyrics are brutal reflecting the songwriting from Michael and Nick.  I'd say most of the guitars are in C, making them thick and chunky.  There is a mixture too with keys as intros among outros with melodic guitars.

Here it seems like the ideas of the past have reiterated themselves, especially reminiscient of Burning Bridges especially on the outro song entitled "Not Long For This World."  Very much like Burning Bridges outro track.  The album intro is a lot like what you'd hear from something Cradle of Filth would do.  Not saying that they're copying them, just with the keys/synthesizers are much like that of COF.  Track 2 belts out some ferocious guitar and vocals not to mention tremendous blast beating that's only on this track. 

The leads by Nick are quite technical and well composed, Michael's are like that of his traditional approach to his "feel" like talents and lesser technical than Nick's.  It's good that the band decided to put out a couple of music videos before the album was released in the states.  It gave a good feel for what was ahead to hear on here with no surprises.  Their path once again isn't reinventing the genre, just doing a praise for it, never abandoning their roots.  Alissa's energy is reflectant of Angela's, deep throat to about the same degree.

I especially like the title track (which is a given) and though that "You Will Know My Name", of which they also did a video for were 2 tracks that glorified the album.  The heavy guitars accompanying the intensity of the vocals were quite in unison.  All of the tracks to me are good, bar chords, tremolo picking galore, hardcore shredding and music that is with a huge amount of feel thanks to all of the band members efforts.  I think that seeing those videos beforehand gave me hope that this would surpass their previous by a ton!

If your thing is melody mixed with heaviness and production quality that is superb without sacrificing talent in the overuse of technology, War Eternal is some great melodic death metal.  The heavy guitar alongside the melodies really shine here, going back to the older days.  I still feel no one can replace Christopher Amott, but Nick is quite good, implementing some impressive solos and songwriting ideas.  Michael sure picked someone to emulate Angela, Alissa's intensity is sure there.  The band doesn't go mainstream here, they remain true!

Rate: 85%.

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected])

As much as I like the lyrics to this album, I think that the raw production sound made the sound kind of flat.  This release is a mix of death metal combined with grindcore.  This takes us back to the early days of hearing old Napalm Death via Lee Dorian and old Carcass via Reek of Putrefaction.  No surprise that Oscar Garcia (Terrorizer) is on guitar/vocals to have us revisit these days of what early grind was like and the mixing/sound quality reminiscent of those band's grind days.

The music varies, but overall I'd say that it's a good blend between thick guitar chunks immersed in some grind frenzies which didn't exist in eternity with this album.  They are not just blast beating galore, it's a mix and it really hit home with me, especially the efforts of both guitarists and the band as a whole.  A 4-piece here and some solo frenzies via whammy bar plus arpeggios and screechy lead guitar work.  The main focus here I think was to stay underground and dish out about 30 minutes of utter craziness.

Oscar reminds me a lot of Lee Dorian, just not as deep throat as he was.  There aren't a plethora of grind bands that I know of these days.  Napalm Death turned more into death metal as opposed to pure grind of the early days.  Nausea revisits the early days of these bands, not the band themselves, just a comparison when grind really became intriguing with the gruesomness and noise it seemed to be like in the mid 80's to the early 90's.  This band has been a mix of death/grind, but it's the first time ever hearing them.

Expect the rawness sound of the recording and you will hear the guitars blast bar chords mixed with tremolo picking style riffs.  It's a definite good listen to.  I found it on YouTube, this album at least and decided that it was good enough to own a physical copy of the CD.  I like the brutality and rawness, the lyrics are also well sought out in topics that cover war, politics and religion.  I don't agree with the religious aspect, but they have some pretty cool political commentary here as well as rage war of nowadays tyrannys that exist.

If you're into and like that death/grind raw sound to these genres, then Condemned To The System is definitely worth looking into.  Grind is tough to find nowadays and Nausea really hits home with good music alongside some fast riff frenzies and deep throat mixed with some screaming.  So much of what I liked in the early days of grindcore, but they mesh the death metal aspect of the album, so you'll get both combined.  The music is original and addictive.  It's really under 30 minutes of pure awesome music!

Rate: 80%/100%.

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).

After more than 2-3 pure doses of this album, I can't see how I could give it any more than a C-.  The boon was that the songs lasted an average of about 5 minutes in length, but the music was nothing special.  The guitar music contained some fast licks, but the originality lagged and the overall construction of the songs were a tad less than average.  Most metalheads agree that the music is the most important factor in determining the quality of an album, not necessarily the lyrics.  That I agree with remarkably.

The flat production plus the nagging snare drum alongside vocals that were mostly hoarse and deep-throated with occasional screams kind of were annoying.  I couldn't get into this one no matter how hard I tried.  Another boon were the leads, but with the mixing not well done, kind of raw, it didn't strike home with me.  I suppose their whole concept was to build something that was heavy and somewhat fast, but the guitars weren't that special here and I don't see how they can achieve a higher rating than what I'm giving it.

Some of the guitars sounded like something I've heard from other bands, mainly demonstrating their influences.  What are featured here are songs that are much like a thick tone with crunchy licks that don't really stand out.  All 4 members of this band would've probably be ranked higher than mine if the production quality was better.  If you could hear the guitars more fluidly, then it would've been a better album overall.  However, it's tough nowadays to make a death metal album that has a sound quality with unknown bands.

The snare drum the whole way through was kind of what I thought to rather brainwrenching.  But it is do with the average production and if the band had more income, maybe all instruments would've been done in justifiably.  So yeah, the music just wasn't anything that stuck in my head.  They just took on average riff ideas and turned them into 50+ minutes of boredom.  The band has a bright future if they can make more honorable music.  It was difficult to hear exactly what they were playing riff-wise.  Heavy muting totally.

All in all, the music wasn't very strong and the vocals were kind of boring even though there were 2 members doing them.  I'd say if they could've constructed more memorable riffs, then that would've made up for the lousy sound that the production emitted.  The band has a bright future if they write songs that were more bearable, not just average, or a tad below average.  You can possibly YouTube this album and see if you think the same way about this one.  I would recommend holding off on purchasing this one, no flare really.

Rate: 70%.  

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).

All I can say in one word is: BRUTAL!  Well, much more than just that, but it's my contention in full summary of this 11 track/40+ minute death metal frenzy.  Solid production quality along with crunch tone guitars and tempos that fluctuate somewhat rapidly.  However I'd say that their guitar riffs are thick as well as original sounding.  The good production makes use of these heavy palm muted axe's strings and solos that are blistering.  Definitely a good investment though I can't really relate that well with the lyrical concepts, but that's alright, the music is what counts to me.

What you'll hear aside from what I have described already are all sorts of heavy guitar and deep throat vocals plus a modicum of blast beating.  I'm glad that this album is more than just like that of Kataklysm (not to discount them) in blasting because what I heard is that they are pretty much to the frontman of Cardiac Arrest "slam stuff."  On Controlled Elite, Dehumanized doesn't offer anything that is superly original, but they do have good ideas in terms of how they formulate their music.  The vocals most of the time are just deep throat like Glen Benton on Insineratehymn.  Kind of in the vein of that sound if you own that album.

I'm not certain what these guys have in store for their future, but on here what I heard is definitely quality.  They are not a rip off band or boring in any way.  They are a band that you can listen to especially this release and just totally get into if you're in the mood of hearing some thick death metal.  The drums aren't too overpowering and the double bass doesn't sound augmented by too much technology like some bands are doing now.  They seem pretty well done and well in tune with the whole of the guitar work.  Definitely a good job there.

Some chaos yes, some high end screams, but like I said, most of it is deep throat.  This band is a 5-piece and let it be known the band members as follows including their place in the band: George Torres - drums, Anthony Cossu - bass, Michael Centrone - vocals, Rich Nagasawa - guitars and Paul Tavara - guitars.  Both guitarists show tremendous talent in the lead department and the music that they created here certainly kicks some serious butt.  I would say for a 2012 release, this album definitely shines in all departments.  I especially respect the fact that most songs range between 2 and 1/2-7+ minutes in length.

If you are big into death metal with innovation in the guitar department or just want to hear something that's brutal if you're not a guitar player, but are big into Metal, Controlled Elite is definitely an album that I truly respect immensely.  Their concept here it seems to just focus mostly on brutality.  The blast beats are there yes, but not extensively.  Tons of double bass kicks to augment the music and make it sound even more mind blowing.  What a great album and if you're not convinced after you hear this respecting death metal, something is wrong with you!  Pick this one up ASAP!

Rate: 85/100.

Reviewed By Death8699: ([email protected]

It's hard to believe that this release is 20 years old now!  What a great contribution to the metal community though, Slayer didn't lose it here even with Lombardo not in the band.  The music at times is intense, original and aggressive.  Definitely worth checking out for Slayer fans who don't own this one.  Araya still dishing out some hardcore lyrics and throat that defies the laws of logic.  Tempos vary widely and everything here is totally original.  The riffs really keep the songs ripping!  I would definitely emphasize aggression, atmosphere and sheer domination with songwriting as well as production quality.

Lyrics filled with hate, leads blistering fast and furiously by King and Hanneman (RIP), the entire band really did a great justice here with this one.  I was so used to hearing the amazing 80's era of Slayer, they slowed down a bit on this one and focused more on catchy riffs as they are definitely notorious for.  Less of an emphasis on the "antichrist", more on just negativity and "real life" scenarios.  I would say what grabbed me the most here is the music and vocals plus Paul did good behind the set.  There are a lot of tempo changes on this one as well as some clean tone guitar work.

Slayer borrows from no other as they've always thrived on aggression and hate filled words as well as extreme thrash metal!  Araya was totally crushing here even though you'll hear a few clean vocals here, not much but they're still on here.  The whole band did a lot of work to make this album a definite success.  I would say that they didn't really compromise as they never really have.  36+ minutes of sheer devastating thrash.  The guitars are the key here.  The music was so catchy and tempo changes weren't drastic, though they thrived on definite destruction to your speakers!

Rate: 8.5/10

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).

A strong production quality as not surprising, diving into the musical components one would think that Hypocrisy has done just what they have, which is to be among the realm of melodic death metal output heirs.  This album is solid, the music ever-flowing gist of pure crunch distortion alongside some heavy drums and screaming from Peter.  From the first song to the last, it's never really letting up in the intensity factor.  Pure aggression and great melodies not to mention that the tempos are mostly rhythm guitar oriented creativity galore!

Nothing here really to dislike by me, I think it's one of Hypocrisy's finest outputs since they changed from death metal to a more melodic sound.  I don't really identify with the lyrics, but the music is played out so well and the vocals never get boring.  What we have here is melodic death domination!  The naysayers may tell you differently, but from my aspect, I never got sick of playing this one.  In actuality, it's very complex in songwriting skills, more so than their newer album that was released last year called 'End of Disclosure.'

There are so many tempo changes here, but it's mostly in the vein of fast guitar riffing bolting out some venom in their creation and quite admirable to say the least.  I particularly love the gallops and ultra fast picking Peter explodes on here.  I only have very good things to say about this one.  The music is filled with overtures that devastate the listener and destroy your speakers.  There's a combination of screaming out hatred alongside low bellowing pieces that give you more variety.  It's amazing regarding the guitar/drum work here.

If you're a big fan of melodic death metal, don't pass this one up.  YouTube some songs to see where you can hear that crisp production sound and guitar, intensity in the musical quality, and screaming alongside it.  An excellent effort from the band as a whole, not much let up in madness, Peter has shown listeners something that is really amusing not to mention original.  His songwriting quality is superb here even though I'm not much into what he writes about.  Pick this one up if you're into their "newer" sound and I doubt there will be any dislike!

Rate: 90%

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).

I've honestly never have been a fan of this band, but by word of mouth decided after hearing a song from their YouTube video entitled "Ora Pro Nobis" that I'd decided to give the album a try.  I am quite impressed by the integrity of the musicanship.  This one hear is mostly slow ridden paced with occasional flare-ups in super intensity.  Measuring it on a whole though, it's pretty moderate/slow paced with an outstanding sense of flow and distortion laden ripping guitar.  The recording quality is superb, an album definitely in the ranks of a high rating from myself.

I didn't think that the band had a real ounce of talent in the lead department, but my assumption was flawed.  Not only do you hear true and original guitar riffs, the few leads that their are on this one are executed quite superbly.  An eerie overall performance by the band and hell yeah it is a great listen too, with skeptics included as myself as one.  Don't hold expectations of enormous flare ups in blast beating, while there are some drumming that's quite intense and guitar frenzies galore, as a whole album, the music is quite capitvating and overall evil in content and essence.
Only 3 members here, but several other musicians that added their vibe to the initial musical overtures.   Nergal initiating all of the songwriting including the lyrical content that I couldn't relate to, guitar riffs which dominated and vocals that and vocals that featured a similarity to that of Vader's.  The guest musicians seemed to flood this album to make into a complete jist of unridding evil intention not to mention their powerful monarch of extraganza.  It was mostly the music that drew me in because of its' overpowering ruse.

I don't think it was necessary to have so many guest musicians, they could've excluded them to make something that was not in need of this many contributers, but nevertheless, it made the album more than interesting to hear all of the differing sounds amidst that I never could relate to in previous releases that I heard from the band.  That's why I considered myself to be highly skeptical of this album, but that went away when I heard the whole thing on repeated listens to.  Absolute perfection in the goal to them to stick to the underground and remain their to rot lying stinking in the Earth.

Try out first on YouTube the song that I mentioned if you too were a skeptic of this bands previous releases and behold an experience never before hearing here sounds that just shot in originality and a recording of a meaningful extravaganza.  This was my contention after hearing this, music never before from them to be play in such an array of variety and deathly doom that was axphyxiating and wholly devilish musicianship.  I therefore cast to say that "The Satanist" is the best listen to from this year's first purchase of total Metal onslaught.  Let the experience music of great admiration here!

Rate: 90%

Reviewed By Death8699 ([email protected]).