Outcast have been around for almost 14 years now, but not much has been heard about this five-piece outside their native France since then. Something that will soon change as 2012 is set to be a big year for the Parisian fellows with the signing to a new label Listenable Records and the release of their storming third album “Awaken the Reason”, which is already making some significant waves in the metal scene.

Recently we caught up with guitarist Jean-François Di Rienzo to know more about the band’s upcoming third album and their future plans.

Congrats on releasing such a strong record as “Awaken the Reason”. I take it you’re proud with the way it came out right?

“Yes, indeed, signing a deal with Listenable Records is such an awesome thing for a band like us, those guys are super professionals and I think that deal is going to bring the band to the next level.”

I learned that you worked on this album without a record deal, and once it was finished you’ve sent it to some record labels and try to get some offers. Why did you decide to do such move instead of securing a contract first?

“There’re two reasons for that move: firstly, in France it’s really difficult to get a deal before having a strong fanbase or a finished and strong album, the second and probably the main reason is that we wanted to keep an entire control on the writing and recording process without any kind of pressure from a label who would have told us a release date before the album is finished. We really wanted the album to sound exactly as we wanted it to sound.”

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Twelve studio albums, over two million records sold worldwide and countless tours, one of the most successful and controversial death metal bands around returns with a new record three years after their latest effort “Evisceration Plague”.

With a Cannibal Corpse record, you know what you’re getting. These guys don’t fuck around when it comes to churning out some vicious and bone-crushing death metal and that said, “Torture” is another massive achievement for the New Yorkers, it’s an utterly vicious, maniacal and brutal slab of extreme music.

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Pharaoh have been churning out some classic and powerful heavy metal since 1997, but to most people they’re still remembered for vocalist’s Tim Aymar involvement in “The Fragile Art of Existence”, the debut album of Chuck Schuldiner’s project Control Denied. Well, that classic record dates from 1999 and since then the Philadelphia-based quartet has recorded four strong and well-crafted albums that should definitely make the metal world take notice, including the newest “Bury the Light”.

This is classic ’80s metal with unbelievably ear-catching melodies, bringing to mind the best moments of Fates Warning, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.

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Five albums in for this Florida-based quartet and “The Ultimate Deception” is the first time I have heard of them. Cannot say I’ve been missing a lot as I have mixed feelings about Wykked Wytch’s newest record. Although I admire the band’s effort to combine numerous influences instead of drawing exclusively from one source, sometimes the convergence of such disparate styles as black metal and deathcore doesn’t work in their favour and sounds a bit clumsy.

The album opens with “Birthing the Beast”, a fierce and dark theme that sees Wykked Wytch exploring the pompous and theatrical black metal popularized by acts like Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir.

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Purveyors of ass-kicking grind, Terrorizer are back with their third album (second since reuniting in 2005) and fans can expect more relentless and ultra-guttural grind. “Hordes of Zombies” shows little variation in the band’s proven formula, the band has retained their maniac and frantic edge that revolutionized the grind scene back in 1989 with their classic debut “World Downfall” and I guess we wouldn’t want it in any other way.

With drummer extraordinaire Pete Sandoval at the helm and Anthony Rezhawk of Resistant Culture once again providing indecipherable and inhuman roars, Terrorizer are now joined by Morbid Angel’s David Vincent on bass and Katina Culture also from Resistant Culture replacing the late Jesse Pintado, who died in 2006 following the release of their second album “Darker Days Ahead”.

The task of replacing Pintado is unbelievably arduous, but the Resistant Culture’s guitarist proves that is up to it by providing some viciously brutal and ripping riffs that do justice to the legacy started with the late guitarist years ago.

Rezhawk’s guttural bellows are as brutally strong as ever, and the drumming of Sandoval is still absurdly fast, which is absolutely surprising for someone who had just recovered from a back surgery. Yet unfortunately, underground legend Dan Swanö manages to ruin the bass drums to the point where they sound completely sterile, like a typewriter or similar.

Aside from that minor grip, “Hordes of Zombies” still is top-notch material, and certainly deserves a place on any grindcore fan’s record collection. (7.6)

Byrant Thomas

Band info: www.terrorizergrindcore.net

Label info: www.season-of-mist.com

A little bit of caveman roars and screams, abrasive and sludgy riffs, groovy rhythms and some nods towards black-metal make up the main ingredients for the debut album from Hazzard’s Cure. This four-piece band from Bay Area plies the same type of raucous and caustic sludge that acts like Buzzoven and High on Fire revolutionized, blending Sabbath-driven grooves with some hardcore punk nihilism and layering it with some deranged and tortured vocalizations.

Things get underway with “Psilocybin”, weaving a head-nodding and sludgy rhythm that recalls the powerful impetus of High on Fire, and then midway abruptly blows into some rabid thrash attack that pays homage to the early days of the Bay Area thrash boom.

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How can I sum up a band that sounds like everything from Drowningman to Fuck the Facts all at once? This could be post-hardcore. This could be tech-grind. Whatever it is, Burn Everything rolls through bewildering mathematical permutations on the most aggressive side of hardcore just as easily as they unfurl some relentless grindcore attack that decimates all in its path.

On the “Last Run through the Ruins”, the Rochester, NY based five-piece displays an impressive amount of proficiency and viciousness as they fuse elements of hardcore, mathcore, grind and metal altogether, delivering an abrasive and technical sonic mayhem that will surely enthral fans of acts like Botch, Deadguy, Dillinger Escape Plan, Psyopus and Ed Gein.

This is probably too bloody extreme for most, so approach with caution, and a nice pair of earplugs. (7.4/10)

Byrant Thomas

Band info: www.burneverything.bandcamp.com

Thorun’s debut EP “Reprise”, released early last year, didn’t make huge waves, but did garner positive reviews and a small following of loyal fans. Their new EP “Chorus of Giants” sees the Wales four-piece improving their songwriting skills, shifting between loose and swinging grooves to powerful, bone-shattering doses of sludge, conjuring up a vibe that is comparable to a grittier Karma to Burn. Just like those US instrumental rockers, Thorun ditch the use of vocals altogether, which means guitarists Keeran Williams and Jonny Evans not only have to pluck out some killer riffs that burn with the same raging fire as a V8 engine, they must also have to carry some infectious melodies to hold the interest of listeners. Something they masterfully accomplished on “Chorus of Giants”.

There’s not much more that needs to be said about this band and this EP; the music speaks for itself. Anyone who appreciates engaging, swinging and instrumental driven stoner/sludge rock will surely enjoy Thorun. (7.2/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.thorunband.com

Swedish group Coldworker are on the verge of releasing their third full-length album “The Doomsayer’s Call”, their first record for independent label Listenable, following two consecutive releases on Relapse Records.

It took the band almost four years to come up with the follow-up to their second album “Rotting Paradise”, so I must start by asking if this was a difficult record to piece together?

“It might appear so if you look at the release dates of the last albums. “The Doomsayer’s Call” has been finished awaiting its release for a whole year so if you subtract that, it’s suddenly “only” three years… We’ve had a couple of slow years, but once we started to write the songs for the album it was done without any complications. We might have put a little bit more time into the song writing, though.”

“A New Era” is the lead-in track from the album, and from the significance of the title I gather you’re issuing a statement claiming this is a new chapter in the band’s career right?

“No, it was actually just a coincidence. The idea to put “A New Era” as the opening track came quite late in the process. It was the last song written for the album and I think most of us wanted it to be the closing track of the album, but then it was suggested as the exact opposite. It’s a daring choice for a band who blasts most of the time to start of a new album with a slow and menacing song when the obvious choice would have been to start off with a bang, but we wanted something different this time. I guess that a lot of people will draw the same conclusions as you, but it is just a title and no hidden meaning.”

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A side-project for Cretin/Citizen’s Matthew Widener, Liberteer’s debut album “Better To Die On Your Feet Than Live On Your Knees” regurgitates the maniacal and unhinged grind Widener is renowned for, albeit with a experimental edge that surprisingly creates an interesting and captivating sonority .

One listen to the 17 songs will be enough to conclude that not only Widener, who plays all instruments, is seriously committed to crafting some vile and ugly grind, he’s also determined to push boundaries and forge a sound that is distinctly their own. As such, “Better To Die…” is grind like I never heard it before, it’s wacky as Exit-13 and Antigama, yet it doesn’t delve into jazz or noise experimentalism, and it’s raging and vile like Nasum and Brutal Truth, yet it also features the sounds of trumpets, banjos and horns. Take a song like “Build No System” for example, it surges with a raging grind fury but soon takes a left turn into some odd instrumentation filled with trumpets and flute sounds that wouldn’t sound out place in some spaghetti western movie. Then, there’s “Rise Like Lions After Slumber”, a highly invigorating and infectious instrumental that you surely wouldn’t expect to hear in a grind record, which is followed by “That Which Is Not Given But Taken” where the guitars rehash the same harmonies, but in a faster pace and harsher tone. In “Usurious Epitaph”, the relentless grind onslaught ends with some traditional instrumentation that could certainly soundtrack the battles of civil war. Then, I swear if I don’t want to mimic Rocky Balboa and run the stairs to Philadelphia’s’ City Hall when I hear the epic and appropriately titled “Sweat for Blood”.

Even tough “Better to Die…” is full of weird-ass experimentalisms, this is still a viciously crushing grind album and at just 28 minutes, it feels like a guerrilla raid, they get in, beat you senseless and steal all your belongings and then, they get out. (8/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.liberteer.bandcamp.com

Label info: www.relapse.com

One of the first death metal bands that Century Media Records commended, Holland’s Asphyx are still ranked among the elite of underground metal and if there’s one reason the Dutch stand out is because that they can’t really be mistaken for anyone else.

That said, “Deathhammer” is unmistakably Asphyx, and the brutal and corrosive old-school death metal tunes contained on this record would sound right at home on classic records like “The Rack” and “Last One on Earth”. When their sound is as ravenously aggressive and savage as this, there’s certainly no need for improvement so older fans, knowledgeable of their initial catalogue will certainly appreciate the crushingly heavy nature of songs like the neck-breaking “Into The Timewastes”, the straight-up brutal “Reign Of The Brute” and the venomous “Vespa Crabro”. The title theme is another triumphant tune as it possesses all the elements that make Asphyx so damn good: the demolishing drumming, the savage and brutal riffing, the stripped-down and meaty grooves, the thick bass lines and the corrosive growls of Martin Van Drunen.

“Deathhammer” is a crushingly brutal and vicious record and it comes as no surprise considering that the Dutch has yet to disappoint me, still I’m glad to find out that Asphyx show no sign of slowing down with the ageing. (8/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.centurymedia.com

Label info: www.myspace.com/officialasphyx

For those of you who don't know Golden Dawn, I guess a brief introduction to this Austrian act is in order. Originally conceived as a one-man-project by mastermind Stefan Traunmüller aka Dreamlord, Golden Dawn has released two strong records in the late 90’s, including their seminal debut “The Art of Dreaming” which is still heralded as one of the strongest black metal released in that decade. Although the records were critically acclaimed, they never really attained the level of popularity of their Norse peers and following some hassles with record labels the group disbanded leaving Traunmüller on its own once again. In the ten years since their second album “Masquerade”, Traunmüller has been spending his time setting a recording studio and producing a variety of other projects like Wallachia and Bifröst. During this period he also had enough time to prepare a new album that is now released by Non Serviam Records.

Despite the long interregnum, “Return to Provenance” does not differ that much from its predecessor as Golden Dawn pick up right where they left off, composing a dynamic and majestic black metal record that feels like one dark, intriguing and malicious story is being narrated. The songs marvelously flow from feverishly paced vitriol into slower and compelling atmospheric moments, where Traunmüller is often willing to experiment with Eastern notes and grandiose melodies. Starting with the folksy and equally storming “Nameless”, the band shows they’re are completely capable of switching between harsh, dissonant moments and contemplative, dark harmonies within compositions without ever loosing the momentum. As such, “Return to Provenance” is highly successful record that any black metal enthusiast should check out. (8/10)

Alex Grimm

Band info: www.goldendawn.at

Label info: www.non-serviam-records.com

I often complain that I don’t receive a wide enough variety of music to review as sometimes, it seems that everything just sounds the same. Then, this record turns up, and I sincerely don’t know what to call it. There is almost no way to place Antipope in a single genre as this Finnish combo merges a wide variety of styles into a record that sounds ambitiously schizophrenic and irreverent, but has its flaws.

“House of Harlot” ranges from melody-laden, gothic undertones to aggressive mosh grooves and occasionally sways into a corrosive blend of industrial and black metal, and although the constant musical shifts sound mesmerizing and fitting in places, sometimes those transitions get a bit awkward and tend to break down the record’s flow. Antipope sound most effective when they’re churning intense and catchy grooves and layering some compelling guitar harmonies overtop as in “Morning Star” and “Rapeman” for instance. Another weak aspect of “House of Harlot” is singer’s Myllykangas terrible tendency to yell in an exaggerated impersonation Dr. Frank-N-Furter from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, which certainly detracts the potential of some songs.

While musical irreverence is always a welcoming feature in the current metal scene, Antipope only partially pulls it off as their versatility sounds a bit disjointed at times. If they could let their disparate musical influences just flow naturally and not force them into their sound, they may be able to produce something truly groundbreaking next time around. (5/10)

Luca Niero

Band info: www.antipope.info

Label info: www.violentjourneyrecords.com

Vallenfyre is the new project formed by Greg Mackintosh from Paradise Lost, incorporating members from My Dying Bride, Doom and At The Gates. Whilst the band was incorporated during a shroud of dark unpleasant times for Greg, the music is brutally heavy and unrelenting. This marks a significant departure from the music Greg is known for making. Scratch the Surface caught up with Greg himself to find out more.

Hey Greg how’s everything going?

“Yeah, it’s fine. I actually moved house two days ago so that was a bit stressful but all living out of boxes right now, but yeah, it’s all good.”

Your debut album with Vallenfyre is about to be released, can you describe the sound of the music?

“Well I guess its very specialist music. It’s influenced by stuff that I used to listen to between 1984 and 1991. A mixture of early death metal from that time and a mixture of doom metal from that time and crust punk. Stuff like that all mixed together really, into a filthy package.”

You say that the music written on this album was never meant for public consumption, what made you change your mind?

“It was a gradual thing I guess. It started out as something that was kind of a catharsis and when that become less of a catharsis and became more self-destructive I just decided to get friends involved one at a time, start a gradual process and just to try and turn something that was becoming a bit destructive into something that was productive, and I want to make it fun, and it’s always more fun when you’re with your mates. I just got a load of mates involved and we turned it into a band and we started knocking some songs out. Then a couple members of the band said send this to your mate over at Century Media, which I did. He said he really liked it and did I want to put an album out. So it was all very off the cuff. There was no big plan behind it, It just kinda happened slowly over the course of 2010.”

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Djent maestro’s Vildhjarta have pulled it out of the bag again with their latest offering “Masstaden”, with their music uttering bowel-moving lows and riffs which are complemented by some discordant beautiful melodies which prove to show both a light and dark side to the band.

The riffs are brutally hard and the melodies are haunting, this is exactly the remedy the already over saturated genre of djent needed. Their mix of harsh brutality and melody brings a breath of fresh air to the listener and whilst it pummels them from one side, it gently soothes the wounds on the other.

“Nojja” is a perfect example of the melody side with a hauntingly dark section which then goes into some blistering full on metal which will break your eardrums if listened to too loudly.

“Eternal Golden Monk” is another example of beautiful meets deadly with a brutal opening and then going into a beautiful melodic section.

The only thing I could ask for from these would be to have some more clean vocals in over the melodic parts as it starts to sound a bit formulated only having vocals over the heavy and nothing over the melodic.

Overall this is a brilliant album and one of the best of its genre. Nearly flawless. (9/10)

James Merrett

Band info: www.vildhjarta.com

Label info: www.centurymedia.de

When “Five Scars”, Night in Gales first album in 10 years, kicks in, you do wonder if you’re listening to a metal album here, or if it is the start of a weird classical album as the first track has only orchestration, no vocals no guitars or drums, just classical music. However once the second track “This Neon Grave” kicks in, you’re left with no doubt as to if you’re listening to a metal album. You are and you’re in for a break-neck ride.

Night in Gales claim to be melodic Death metal, but some of their music has more in theme with Metalcore heavyweights Atreyu and Killswitch Engage. Even so much so as I kept on picking out similarities to Atreyu’s classic album “The Curse”. Whilst no bad thing as I love The Curse, it feels like they’ve slightly missed their target demographic with it, and with ten years’ worth of catching up to do, this could be a crucial mistake.

This is by no means a bad album, and it mixes classical instrumentation along with metal brilliantly, which provides a nice change. The music seems more like Atreyu meets Cradle of Filth meets In Flames. Not a bad mix, but one that doesn’t flow brilliantly.

When this album started up I really wanted to love it after the beautiful intro, but everything became too generic and I could start spotting similarities to other albums that I already liked.

Stand out tracks include “The Tides of November“and “The Days of the Mute” but they weren’t enough to help move this album above mediocrity for me.

This is an album for fans only I’m afraid. (6/10)

James Merrett

Band info: www.facebook.com/nightingalesmusic

Label info: www.lifeforcerecords.com