Embodied In Skin

Went into Missing Link recently and picked up the Acephalix - "Patricide" 7" put out by Prank in 2009. Really dug their  "Deathless Master" album of 2012 so figured this would be worth a spin.

The material on this is re-recorded tracks from the 2009 demo and as such is very different to last years effort. This release leans a lot heavier in a Motorcharge metalic crust direction, worlds apart from the atmospheric death sound I was digging. Singer Daniel Butler employs a more typical gruff crust vocal style and the riffs careen along at a suitably cracking pace behind him but i just felt the songs, whilst being catchy enough, were lacking some spark. It's an enjoyable release in it's own right, but i can see it getting listened to a lot less than 'Deathless Master'.

Enter the realm of chaos, your nightmare has just begun.

One of the bands that helped introduce me to grindcore (and extreme metal in general) are England's mighty Bolt Thrower. I really lucked out and picked up first presses of both Warmaster (1991) and the gatefold edition of Realm of Chaos (1989). Both records are absolute masterpieces of their style and arguably their best material.

Guitarist Gavin Ward's dense crushing tone and vocalist Karl Willetts' guttural vocals form the backbone of the classic Bolt Thrower sound, perfected on these two records. Hitting a great mix between the fast blasting material and a slower death metal influenced riffing style are what make the band so unique. Riffs like the epic and catchy "Eternal War" and the grinding mid paced "World Eater" are hardly bettered in the world of extreme metal.

'Realm of Chaos' had the original lyrics booklet featuring the lyrics aside artwork taken from the world of Warhammer 40k, obviously a massive inspiration on the band. For closeups on select pages see below. The dark unforgiving world depicted really adds to the whole experience of the band and the original artwork is infinitely better then the recent CD release. For an interesting read as to why they had to change the artwork and how the band feels about this (VERY displeased) read the Ask Earache blog here.