Posts Tagged ‘Travis Ryan’
Tuesday, January 29th, 2013
Called to Rise ( Self-Released )
Hailing for the California Bay Area, OBLIVION come out the showing their teeth and ready for blood. The most noticeable member of the group is bassist and mastermind BEN ORUM (ex-ALL SHALL PERISH) he has clearly upped the game for himself and this band. This album is full of grindy, techy, beatdown goodness. Produced by Nick Vasallo and former DECREPIT BIRTH drummer ZACK OHREN. This massive sonic opus was recorded, mixed and mastered by Ohren, at Castle Ultimate Studios in Oakland.
The first song “Black Veils of Justice” just gives you a taste of what’s to come. Nick Vasallo’s vocals come across as FRANK MULLEN (SUFFOCATION) meets TRAVIS RYAN (CATTLE DECAPITATION) There are a few well placed bass drops. It’s always nice to hear them not get over used. Guitar wizards Ted O’Neill and Victor Dods lay down some of the most tech infused solos I’ve heard in awhile. “Multiverse” is so good I almost want to say it is ‘Epic”but I refuse to. It’s a very surreal track with so many layers it warrants repeat plays. I get a strong ABIGAIL WILLIAMS /THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER vibe and its not a bad thing at all. Drummer Luis Martinez is a beast. This kid is definitely one to watch, songs like “Binary Souls” and “Reign of Fire” show off some mature chops for a guy not yet twenty. Depending on what version of the album you get, it comes with a few sweet bonus tracks. An instrumental version of “Black Veils of Justice”, as well as a string version of “Multiverse”, which is just awesome and closes out the album.
This doesn’t sound like a debut album, rather a band that has been at this for years. I look forward to what they do next. Hell, I want to hop a flight to the Bay Area and catch them live! You can get the album from their Bandcamp page.
 OBLIVION: One of the best releases this year, so far. GRADE: A
by Omar “OJayy” Cordy
Tags: abigail williams, all shall perish, Ben Orum, California Bay Area, Castle Ultimate Studios, cattle decapitation, Death Metal, Decrepit Birth, Frank Mullen, Luis Martinez, Multiverse, Oakland CA metal, Suffocation, tech death, the black dahlia murder, thrash, Travis Ryan, Zack Ohren
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews | No Comments »
Friday, June 22nd, 2012
SickDrummer.com, Perseverance Holdings and our friends at Relapse Records are among the sponsors of the DEATH TO ALL TOUR which kicks off tonight in that most metal of cities San Francisco, CA. The tour celebrates the life and music of CHUCK SCHULDINER of DEATH. With DEATH and later CONTROL DENIED Chuck blazed an innovative trail in music and has been followed by nearly every death metal that followed in his shadow. This is not an exaggeration, but widely acknowledged and not just by his peers and loved ones, but by many bands both from yesterday and the present. Performing music from a career spanning set list with be an all-star group of Chuck’s former band mates and giants of death metal like GENE HOGLAN (Individual Thought Patterns/Symbolic), SEAN REINERT (Human), STEVE DIGIORGIO (Human/Individual Thought Patterns), Scott Clendenin (The Sound of Perseverance), PAUL MASVIDAL (Human), Shannon Hamm (The Sound of Perseverance), and Bobby Koelble (Symbolic). Handling vocal duties will be by Steffen Kummerer of OBSCURA and Charles Elliott of ABYSMAL DAWN/BEREFT who are both greatly influenced by Chuck. Some of the guest artists who will join certain shows are RICHARD CHRISTY of CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED (ex-DEATH), Alex Skolnick and Chuck Billy of TESTAMENT, Paul Ryan of ORIGIN, Craig Locicero of FORBIDDEN, Travis Ryan of CATTLE DECAPITATION,Trevor Strnad and Ryan Knight of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and Emil Werstler of DAATH/CHIMAIRA. GORGUTS will open most of the shows.
Not only will this be a celebration of Chuck’s life, but will help make a lasting impression for the future at every show. Each night is a benefit show to raise awareness for the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund which provides support to career musicians in need of support while facing illness, disability or age related issues. This cause hits especially close to home for Chuck’s family and friends and one he’d gladly support. Please come out to this rare opportunity to pay tribute to a legend, see an amazing collection of talent and hear some songs that haven’t been performed anywhere since DEATH was active as a band. Please come out to support this tour and support live music, especially underground bands.
DEATH TO ALL 2012 TOUR DATES:
6/22/2012 – The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
6/23/2012 – House of Blues – Los Angeles, CA
6/26/2012 – House of Blues – Chicago, IL
6/28/2012 – Irving Plaza – NYC, NY
6/30/2012 – The Beacham – Orlando, FL
*Postponed until 2013* 7/01/2012 – The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
*Postponed until 2013* 7/03/2012 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX
Tags: abysmal dawn, alex skolnick, Bereft, cattle decapitation, Charles Elliott, Charred Walls Of The Damned, chimaira, chuck billy, chuck schuldiner, control denied, daath, death, emil werstler, forbidden, Gene Hoglan, Gorguts, individual thought patterns, Obscura, Origin, Paul Masvidal, Paul Ryan, Richard Christy, Sean Reinert, Steffen Kummerer, Steve DiGiorgio, symbolic, testament, the black dahlia murder, The Sound of Perseverance, Travis Ryan, Trevor Strnad
Posted in The Bunker | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
Monolith Of Inhumanity (Metal Blade Records)
Pure, unadulterated, terrifying death metal. That sentence is Cattle Decapitation’s newest album Monolith Of Inhumanity in a nutshell. They’ve come a (very) long ways from the earlier days of Humanure and Karma. Bloody. Karma. by a long shot. The level of technicality is much, much higher on this album than it has ever been before and that really sets this album apart.
On the first track “The Carbon Stampede,” they employ a variety of different grooves all in one song. With a couple of riffs that slowly get faster and faster, it all goes down and they head off into insane territory with compressed packed guitars and drums. The drums seem like they’ve gotten a hell of a lot faster than before, most notable with the rapid bass pedals. The drums don’t get too technical, but at the speed they’re played, it’s arguable at what level of progressive death metal is played here. The vocals are more in line with the song “Regret And The Grave” from their previous album The Harvest Floor. The guitars have a couple of very different but both impressive solos. One being a noisy and technical solo, the other being a more groove oriented solo. All stops at once when they find a heavy and simple groove at the end of the song.
Listening to these tracks, you can see how many different progressions are played within the median song length of three minutes and fifty seconds. The harsh and unique vocals that made “Regret And The Grave” stand out on their last album is put into almost every song. “Dead Set On Suicide” is about as straight forward death metal they get, with the band following the bass player’s cue throughout the song. But not one thing really stands on its own on this song as they all have their chance to shine at any point. This shows the extreme amount of song writing that they all put together into this album and is the main reason why it out performs the rest of their catalog.
“Forced Gender Reassignment” is another track that employs the more straight forward death metal as well. I could see this track being an introductory track that fans can show new people who would be interested. Let this one grow on you, then head into the rest of the album. For being the heaviest track, “Projectile Ovulation” takes the cake on that one. It has some really unique and creepy guitar lines that, when coupled with the bass, provides an immense sound that blows away most other death metal bands.
Grade: A+
By: Ridge “Deadite” Briel
Tags: cattle decapitation, David McGraw, Deadite, Death Metal, Derek Engemann, Grindcore, Josh Elmore, metal blade records, Monolith Of Inhumanity, Progressive Metal, reviews by Ridge, Travis Ryan
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