Last year, Earache Records released Heavy Metal Killers—a compilation of the best up-and-coming traditional heavy metal bands around the world. Not surprisingly, most of the bands that were featured hail from Scandinavia and Europe. Only two bands—Cauldron and White Wizzard—represent North America, with the latter being the only one from America. I asked myself, where the hell are the other American bands? For a country that spawned such great bands as Manowar, Agent Steel, Riot and Abattoir, there must be some young bands out there carrying the torch. Well, there aren’t many but I have found one. That band is Rhode Island-via-Brooklyn’s Natur.

Natur’s sound can be best described like this: Roky Erickson, after having one drink too many, singing over the heaviest riffs from the Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate catalog. Unlike White Wizzard, who in my opinion are too polished and glam-sounding, Natur are extremely raw, aggressive and full of attitude, similar to Iron Maiden’s Paul Di’Anno years.

The self-titled demo starts off with “Metal Knights,” an intro/instrumental track that sounds as glorious as the title. In true heavy metal fashion, it’s packed with lots of solos and melodies—thanks to guitarists Dino Destroyer and Weibust (who also supply the great vocals). Immediately following the intro track is “Zorched,” which is very reminiscent of early Angel Witch and Diamond Head, if “Fast” Eddy Clarke (Fastway, Motorhead) was swinging the ax. Which is to say: the song is built upon lots of different riffs rather than ideas, and has a punk-ish, “fuck you” attitude. More importantly, the songs are memorable. The excellent rhythmic foundation is layed by drummer Tooth and bassist the Mexicutioner, and is best demonstrated on “Goblin Shark” and the closer “Spider Baby.”

The reason why I love these four tracks so much is that it’s heavy metal done the way it’s supposed to be done. Not only does the band have loads of authentic attitude, and just the right amount of catchiness (if you heard Tank’s “Honor & Blood,” you’ll know what I mean). The lyrics and themes are not the usual Satanic or H.P. Lovecraft themes employed by so many bands in the genre. But Natur’s tongue-and-cheek humor doesn’t take away from the actual music.

Natur reminds me why I got into heavy metal in the first place—the riffs hit so hard that you can’t help but headbang. True heavy metal isn’t dead, and these guys prove it. But don’t just take my word for it: head over to their MySpace page to stream this demo for yourself.—Henry Yuan

Batillus’s Fade Kainer. Photo by Tommy Kearns & Chloe Rice

Brooklyn doom crew Batillus have stepped up their game on their latest effort, the Beard Destroyer Tour CDR-EP. This release is limited to 75 copies, featuring handcrafted packaging by Northern Owl, and contains three songs that clock in at a total running time of 24:10. The EP was recorded at Sterling Audio in Brooklyn, NY, by Brendan Tobin (Red Sparowes, Made Out of Babies) and mastered by Josh Bonati.

The EP kicks off with “The Division,” which features the debut of new vocalist / synth-monger Fade Kainer (Inswarm, Jarboe). Kainer adds some deep, crispy flavor to the band’s mid-tempo riffage and snaking, psych-doom lines. So if you like doom–and we know you do–get some below:

Click here to download “The Division.”

You can also download the band’s early Batillus EP HERE

Batillus also features guitarist Greg Peterson, bassist Willi Stabenau and drummer Geoff Summers.

To kick off the New Year and the new decade, we must first go back all the way to 1988. Why? The answer is simple: Jersey City’s Grind Bastard just released their debut EP, 200grind (pronounced “two thousand and grind”), and it’s quite possibly the best grindcore and death metal EP I’ve heard since the late-Eighties.

The band, featuring Annunaki vocalist Tony Stanziano on bass, former Funebrarum drummer Brian Jimenez, former Cyber Christ guitarist Mike Stecz on vocals and former Lethal Strike guitarist Marcus Acosta, plays no-bullshit grindcore and death metal the way the legendary English bands did.

If the band’s name—which was taken from Benediction’s album of the same name—didn’t tip you off, their riffs surely will. The opening to “Worthless Generation” is extremely hardcore punk influenced, which was the way grindcore was and should be. The guitar tone is insanely vicious and dense, and brings in mind bands like Extreme Noise Terror and Napalm Death.

Though the riffs and the vocal style harken back to the glory days of English grindcore, there is an equal amount of New York hardcore influences. “Product of a Mindless Scene” displays the band’s sense of groove in similar fashion to New York Hardcore pioneers Madball and Sick of it All while the EP’s closing track, “Unchallenged Fate”, flawlessly blends the two styles together with a healthy dose of blast beats, two-step beats, primitive death metal guitar solos (think old Sepultura) and tough-guy gang vocals.

Grind Bastard are a band who’s not afraid of wearing their influences on their sleeves. Interestingly enough, they are also simply not a tribute act, either. They are so well grounded in their classic-Earache and hardcore roots that they manage to sound extremely fresh in today’s streamlined, polished, saturated and overly technical extreme music scene. If they existed back in 1988, there would be no doubt that the late, great John Peel would champion them the same way he did Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Heresy and so forth. Hell, they probably would have even entered Digby Pearson’s radar.

200grind can now be streamed on the band’s MySpace page, where you can also purchase a limited CD version. This is strongly recommended if you are fed up with the constant garbage that is labeled as grindcore, hardcore and death metal these days. —Henry Yuan

“We want to speak the truth and keep it as brutal as it is,” says Witchaven vocalist/guitarist Demolition Henry. “We were driving through New York City and we saw that giant board that has the national debt…it’s fucked up! We’re trying to wake people up and show them what’s real. We don’t want to bullshit anyone.”

Combining black metal and politics isn’t exactly a new phenomenon, but Southern California’s best-kept secret aim to deliver their far left views through whatever means possible. Through their MySpace bulletins and blogs, Witchaven shed light on every possible mishap in the American and capitalist systems. And what better way to grab people by the ear than with an insane blend of black and thrash metal…a method Witchaven perfectly execute (most recently on the Totalitarian State of War demo compiliation).

The band—rounded out by co-guitarist Jerry, drummer Lerby and newly recruited bassist Jorge—takes the raw metal-rock sound of Venom and injects it with a blasphemous dose of 1349-style black metal and a bit of Discharge-worthy punkish mayhem.

I first encountered Witchhaven on Bonded By Blood’s Masters of Disaster’s tour. They they played on top of a bowling alley here in New York City, and I was instantly hooked. Then, a couple months ago when I got the chance to see them kill everything in their path on their home turf in Montclair, CA, I knew that this is the band to look out for in 2010.

After Witchaven’s half-hour long unholy thrash assault at the Mutant House in Montclair, I caught up with the guitar duo of Demolition Henry and Jerry, and discussed politics, the curative powers of weed, the influence of James Brown and how to make it as an unsigned metal band in the digital age. —Henry Yuan

For those unfamiliar with Witchaven’s history, tell us about how you guys first started out.
DEMOLITION HENRY We started back in 2006. We were originally a Venom tribute band that would just play a couple of shows. We actually called ourselves Witching Hour since that’s our favorite Venom song, but we soon found out that some other band already had the name. We decided that a similar name was Witchaven, and we stuck with it. When we first started, it was just me on guitars and vocals and my friend Tommy on bass. We eventually found some members, did a few tours and released a few EPs.

Fast-forward to today and we now have a solid lineup and are ready to release a full-length album in December/January. In the spring of 2010, we’re gonna go on a full-throttle tour of the States where we’re gonna play, party, drink, smoke weed and have a hell of a good time. [laughs]

How did you promote yourselves with no label support?
HENRY All we really did was use MySpace, internet forums and things like that. When we released our demos, we usually just let people download them for free.
JERRY A lot of it was just word of mouth.
HENRY Yeah, just like back in the old days. People just talked about us because they liked us. It’s crazy. Like, our name would just pop up in random forums in these “best new wave of thrash bands” lists.
JERRY We would go to places we’ve never been to before and people would recognize who we are. I don’t really know how, but it happens [laughs]

You guys play a unique blend of black and thrash metal. Who are some of your influences, both past and present?
HENRY Hands down our influences from the past are Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. A little later on, we started to go in a more Motörhead-style sound. Now we’re incorporating more of a technical sound like Kreator, Necrodeath and Merciless. Some other bands we really like are Aura Noir, Nocturnal Breed, Deströyer 666… Nowadays, we look to a lot of death, black and a lot of punk… You could even call us metal-punk I guess.
JERRY A lot of D-Beat and shit’s that not even metal at all, like weird funk shit, James Brown… just everything, you know?

Demolition Henry

A lot of thrash and extreme metal bands are coming out of the L.A. area these days. What makes you guys stand out?
HENRY When we write music, yeah, we write thrash, but we’re not trying to recreate anything. We want to progress from what our originators did. Nowadays, everyone wants to write the same kind of thrash with the same intro, same riffs, but we’re trying to do something different. We’re thrash, but we have so much more in the music on top of that.

The L.A. scene seems to have a real unity to it. When you guys were out on the road, how did the other scenes across the country stack up against it?
HENRY Every scene seems to be the same to me. There’s a unified scene in metal in general. You can always expect a great time when you go to a metal show. I guess a good or bad time, depending if your nose is broken or not. [laughs]
JERRY I’ve also noticed that everyone in a scene knows each other, much like here. When we play a show, we will always see familiar faces, even if we’re in Portland or something. It’s the same exact thing but with different faces. It’s the same with Texas, or Boston, or wherever.
HENRY Every scene out there is keeping it true and they’re only getting bigger. A lot of younger kids are coming out, too. We’ll be out on the road for a few months and when we return, we’ll see those same kids with long hair and they’re rocking the denim. It’s awesome because it’s finally spreading! Realistically, there are a lot of posers, too, but you know what? (more…)

Because I’m an unrepentant, and slightly obsessive, metal fan, I often find myself scouring the record bins and online portals for the filthiest up-and-coming bands. As a reader of MetalKult, you’re no doubt familiar with this obsession. Once in awhile I come up empty handed, but more than not I’m pleased to find that the underground is alive and well.

The most-recent gem I found in my scavaging was a band of young Norwegian death metallers called Repellent. I first discovered them when I saw they were among Aura Noir’s top MySpace friends. I figured if the mighty Aura Noir vouched for these guys, they’d be worth checking out. Boy, was I right.

A few weeks after I reached out to Repellent through their site, I was stoked to open my mailbox and find that their self-released demo had crept its way across the Atlantic. When I spun the CD, I was stunned by what I heard: eight songs (in 15 minutes!) of straightforward, no-bullshit death metal attack boosted with a healthy dose of early Bathory-style riffs.

Sven-Erik Dœhli (left) and Christoffer Bråthen

Much like their Swedish peers Tribulation, Repellent—made up of bassist/vocalist Sven-Erik Dœhli, guitarist Christoffer Bråthen and drummer Jørund Losnegård Skjervøy—stay exceedingly true to the grim, European extremity of pioneers like Celtic Frost, while managing to harness the ripping thrash power of Sodom and Destruction.

Songs like “Desolate in the Dust,” “Torture Cave,” “Putrid Death” and “Rotten Grave” are fast, brutal tracks in the lineage of Dismember, while “The Smell of Vomit” and “Maniac Killer” reveal the extent of Repellent’s love of Celtic Frost.
Repellent’s 2008 demo shows a ton of potential. The tracks featured here are, on average, a minute and a half to two minutes long and are, admittedly, more like really good ideas than fully fleshed-out songs. But mind you, it’s is only a demo, and a strong one at that.

I don’t fully understand what those Scandinavian kids are doing over there to nail such classic sounds so early in their careers. Maybe it’s their pedigree, or the extreme landscape and climate. Whatever it is, Repellent have it in spades. So when your grubby metal claws come across Repellent’s forthcoming full-length, snag that shit! I know I will. —Henry Yuan

As a metalhead born and raised in New York City, I have noticed there’s a lack of support and attention given to local metal. It seems like people think the scene ended when bands like Type O Negative, Biohazard and Anthrax made it big. But that’s far from the truth.

New York City is crawling with great, up-and-coming metal talent, and I’d like to call your attention to one band in particular, Theater of the Absurd. TOTA consist of just two members—Patrick Curley (drums, vocals, keyboards, programming, and Shakuhachi) and Mike Neumeister (guitars, bass, vocals, keyboards, and programming). These multi-instrumentalists come from Staten Island, a place where literally nothing happens.

Patrick Curley

If you haven’t heard of TOTA I wouldn’t be surprised: in true, kult fashion these guys don’t make it easy. Not only do they live in the bleak shadow of Manhattan, but they chose to release their self-titled debut on 12-inch vinyl limited to only 500 pieces. These guys also shun all mainstream promotional tools, like MySpace and even Last.FM. The only way to get any sort of updates is by going to their official homepage, where you can also purchase the vinyl.

This independent, isolationist stance is built on top of the fact that Theater of the Absurd believes its only reason for existence is to create true and honest music. As abstract as that concept sounds, if you can get your hands on Theater of the Absurd one thing becomes apparent: these guys love their metal. The album is an avant-garde trip (in the best possible sense), like sitting in a car that’s doing 150 through the Nevada desert. In the dark. Without headlights.

Mike Neumesiter

The album begins with the in-your-face, super-fast title track, which serves as the perfect intro to the album. Next is the epic “Isles of Judgment,” which boasts a droning tempo and wall-of-sound guitars that give it an early black metal vibe. However, this song is anything but slow, and Neumeister rises to the task with some lightning-fast picking. He also lays down a surprisingly bad-ass solo on the bass.

Side B opens up with eight-minute “The Raincatcher,” which, like the runt of the litter, is both the shortest and slowest track on the album. Its MIDI-sounding keyboards are weak, but Curley’s drumming is pretty mind-boggling. Fans of extremely progressive metal will love this song.

The final track is the incredible, 12-minute “The Human Puddle.” The intro has an eastern atmosphere to it, which acts as a great build-up to the pummeling riffs that kick in later. The gang vocals really add to the intensity and hint to their love of crossover like D.R.I. Curley even pulls off a solo on a Shauhachi, which is a traditional Japanese stringed instrument. All this leads to the tortured, powerful finale, complete with screams and dissonant noise.

Overall, Theater of the Absurd’s LP can be summed up with these words: metal, challenging, fast and experimental. However, I must warn you about the vocals. They are not good. The screams and the harsh vocals fit the sound perfectly, but the clean vocals are just not happening. I can only assume they didn’t find a singer on time and had to do it themselves. Also, the production is kinda lacking, too.

It’s also worth mentioning how the lyrics are presented. There are sections in the lyrics that have been omitted in the actual songs heard on the record, which have been printed in the liner for proper representation. Plus the packaging looks great, too, with cover art by Zoran Velimanovic and a logo illustrated by the legendary Christophe Szpajdel. I highly recommend buying this album. Not only will you be owning a little piece of metal history, but you’ll be supporting some bleak, head-crushing Staten Island metal! —Henry Yuan

One of the cooler packages to come across my desk in a while was the 10-inch red translucent vinyl EP, Turk Street (Wordclock Records), from San Francisco pummelers Kowloon Walled City.

Like their namesake—a neglected tenement in British Hong Kong unclaimed by both China an Britain and home to gangsters, junkies and whores—Kowloon Walled City generate filthy atmospheres, jerking rhythms and good-old suffocating sonic congestion.

Turk Street’s five songs are led by frontman Scott Evans’ down-tuned, torched guitar work and power-shredded vocals, with the seriously bulldozing rhythm section of drummer Jeff Fagundes, bassist Ian Miller and guitarist Jason Pace in tow.

This is some violent sludge for fans of Torche, early Neurosis and, of course, the mighty Melvins.

To purchase this limited edition vinyl head over to inthewalledcity.com, where you can also download Turk Street EP for free. Score. —Brad Angle