Page 31 - the NOISE MAY 2016 Edition

Re’VieW By MiKe WilliAMS
STORMBRiNGeR
Apocalyptic Awakening
Metal Zone / Imperial Mind
This album ... yet again, Todd, Andy, and Pauly have outdone themselves. Apocalyptic Awakening is a molten slab of crushing brutality that grabs your eardrums straight out of your head, touch-down spikes them on the floor, and stomps them into jelly. From start to finish, every track is a screaming tribute to the extreme music scenes that spawned them. It’s albums like these that are the reason people tattoo “Death To False Metal” in giant script on their chests.
The first track,“The Aslyum,”immediately steamrolls the listener with insanely technical death metal riffage in the vein of Morbid Angel and Death while still nodding to early sepultura. “Chill Mode not Kill Mode,” clocks in at a whopping one minute, eight seconds and moves into classic grindcore territory reminiscent of scum-era napalm Death with the addition of haunting echoed vocals and math rock breakdowns.
Track three ... “Cosmic Carnage ...” is technical death metal meets math rock with punk-inspired gang vocals. It’s songs like this that highlight why Pauly is, hands down, one of the busiest drummers in the state. The ferocity and intensity he brings to the table on every song is consistently astonishing. It’s also why he’s in pretty much every band in the city, too. no kidding, the guy rivals Joe Axler of skarp, Book of Black earth, samothrace, and Theories fame in both sheer volume of projects he’s involved in and technical ability. He could tastefully put blastbeats into a hippie drum circle given half a chance. “Cosmic Carnage” also gives us our first taste of what Stormbringer can do when they slow it down with some classic hardcore chugga-chugga right at the end.
next up, “Cry havoc,” is an epic anthem in the vein of Bolt Thrower and sodom. This track illustrates the attention given to the album’s sound in the studio with some fantastic echoes that supplement Todd’s innate talent as a vocalist. Did he record this in a cave on the side of a volcano? we may never know.
“Hidden Vortex,” the forth track, is a crushing tribute to the band’s favorite secret spot in sedona where they charge their crystals before every show — Kidding!
The shortest on the album at 46 seconds, track six, manages to cram more verses into it than most songs ten times its length. The sheer volume of sonic ground covered in such a short time span is amazing. Played live, this is the track the crowd’s smartass inevitably yells, “Too long!” I know this because frequently I am he.
Track seven, “nauseated” is a full-frontal grindcore assault showcasing Andy’s unbelievable solo abilities. Upon the first listen, my face melted completely off. The following track, “Psychosis” sees a return to classic death metal ala early Cannibal Corpse. Right around this point in the album, it becomes glaringly obvious that this is a band of genuine fans. The amount of respect and detail put into each song truly shows their decades of adoration of every genre that goes into each song. The influences are immediately apparent — however, their take is as fresh as it is brutal. Fantastic!
“slaves to Design” moves the listener into some classical thrash metal territory with some incredible high and low dueling vocals and mind-blowing technical riffage. The speeding chorus that follows should have been the only music played during Mad Max: Fury Road. Just that. On repeat. For the entire movie. It would have been perfect!
“self-Mutilated ecstasy” moves into near epic metal territory and is followed by a more contemporary take on grind and technical death metal breakdowns. The hardcore outro was a refreshing finish to the track too!
The next track, “stareway (sic) To The Underworld” is literally everything you love about Deathkolk without having to worry about a fan biting off your fingers and having them smoked by the bass player. The chorus also interjects some very scandinavian black metal overtones before jumping back into grind.
Track 12, “subjugate To Obliterate,” is the closest wander toward hard punk on the album and they nailed it before running full steam back into deathgrind. “The Krypt” sees another foray into black metal before alternating out into smashing technical death metal breakdowns. And it has a near-doom outro! The second to last track,
“Tsunami of suicide” would be a great soundtrack to a sword fight. epic metal at its finest! Apocalyptic Awakening ends with “Unseeing eyes,” a perfect capstone to an album that brilliantly captures whatever sound they set themselves on. Hands down, one of the best metal releases in the state this year.
| mike Wiliams would like to hear from your local band.
mike@thenoise.us
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news •
MAY 2016 • 31