"Exitus Letalis" is the first demo recording by Finnish death metal act Disinter. The demo was indpendently released in February 1993. It was recorded on a 4-track recorder at the band´s rehearsal space in February 1993. It´s the only item released by Disinter before they disbanded.

Considering that this is more or less a self-produced effort and it´s not recorded on professional studio recording equipment, Disinter have managed to produce a both powerful and well sounding demo. Of course it´s not a professional sounding release, but the rawness of the sound production perfectly fits with the brutality of the music...

...and brutal this is. Which isn´t surprising given that many contemporary Finnish death metal artists were also quite brutal in nature, but what is more surprising is that the material on "Exitus Letalis" doesn´t sound Finnish at all. Instead Disinter have gone for a brutal and technically well played US, Florida influenced death metal sound, which is strongly influenced by Deicide in particular. Disinter have two vocalists. One performs brutal deep growling, while the other performs higher pitched snarling vocals (often doubled), and together they mimmick Glen Benton pretty well.

So it´s fans of Deicide and their ilk who should find "Exitus Letalis" an entertaining release, rather than fans of the more traditional Finnish death metal sound. That doesn´t make it any better or worse than most other contemporary Finnish death metal demos, and although it´s certainly not the most original sounding demo from 1993, it´s both well performed, well composed, and decently produced. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

"Addicted" is the eleventh full-length studio album by Canadian artist Devin Townsend. The album was released through HevyDevy Records (Townsend´s own label) in November 2009. It´s the successor to "Ki" from May 2009, making "Addicted" the second Devin Townsend album released in 2009 (both were released under The Devin Townsend Project monicker). During his near 2 year hiatus from touring and recording, Townsend wrote around 60 tracks, some of which ended up on "Addicted".

Stylistically the material on "Addicted" is very different from the non-distorted, non-metal oriented, organic and brooding progressive rock style of "Ki". "Addicted" is instead a heavy, uplifting, melodic (even occasionally mainstream oriented), and accessible progressive metal release. Townsend is complimented on vocals by former The Gathering vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen, which makes the vocal part of the album varied. The combination of the male and female vocals is a strong and defining element of the sound on "Addicted". Tracks like "Addicted!", "Supercrush!", and "Numbered!" feature pretty heavy riffs and rhythms, but still manage to be accessible and melodic, while other tracks may not be quite as heavy, but still feature memorable vocal lines and intriguing songwriting ideas.

The re-recording of "Hyperdrive!" featuring van Giersbergen on lead vocals (the original version from "Ziltoid The Omniscient" (2007), features Townsend on lead vocals) is an example of one of the not so heavy tracks on the album, but even more so "Ih-ah!", which is basically a melodic rock song. "Hyperdrive!" is one of the standout tracks on the album, but "Addicted" is generally an album loaded with quality material. The three heavy tracks mentioned above are definitely also among the highlights, but tracks like "Bend It Like Bender!" and "Awake!!" are standout tracks too. The latter is to my ears an absolutely brilliant composition, which makes sure that the album is closed in great style.

"Addicted" features a powerful, detailed, and quite massive sounding production job, which suits the material perfectly. Some of the riffs on tracks like "Addicted!" and "Numbered!" are produced to sound crushingly heavy, which is a great and effectful contrast to the otherwise very melodic direction of the album. Upon conclusion "Addicted" is arguably among the most accessible releases in Townsend´s discography, but it´s still an intriguing listen, full of adventurous songwriting ideas and high level musical performances. Packed in a professional and very well sounding production, it´s through and through a high quality release and a 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.

"Ballcutter" is an EP release by UK death/thrash metal act Cancer. The EP was released through Peaceville Records in July 2019. It´s a follow-up- and companion release to Cancer´s 2018 sixth full-length studio album "Shadow Gripped".

The EP features five tracks and opens with an alternate master version of "Ballcutter" from "Shadow Gripped". It´s a nice heavy death metal track, but I´m not sure I needed another version of that song. "All the Curses" and "Crocodile Itch" are new original songs, which are outtakes from the "Shadow Gripped" sessions. Both are consistent in style and quality to the material found on that album. The two closing tracks of the EP are demo versions of "Garrotte" and "organ Snatcher", which are both songs which appeared in their studio versions on "Shadow Gripped". The demos are actually pretty powerful and feature a well sounding production job.

"Ballcutter" is well produced and well performed but if you cut away the fat the only tracks of real interest here are "All the Curses" and "Crocodile Itch", which granted are really good death metal tunes, but unless you just couldn´t get enough of the sound and style of music found on "Shadow Gripped" this EP shouldn´t be your first buy. The quality of the material is fine though and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

"Corporation$" is an EP release by UK death/thrash metal act Cancer. The EP was released through Copro Records in May 2004. It bridges the gap between Cancer´s fourth- and fifth full-length studio albums "Black Faith" (1995) and "Spirit in Flames" (2005). Cancer originally formed in 1987 and disbanded in 1996 after releasing four full-length studio albums. They reunited and were active in the 2003-2006 period, but no new releases came out in that period. They reunited again in 2013 and "Corporation$" is their first release after reforming the band.

You won´t however get much new original material on this EP. "Oil" opens the EP and it´s a new track showing the more thrash oriented new direction of Cancer. "With Hunt" is a 2003 live in the studio cover of the track which originally appeared on Cancer´s debut full-length studio album "To the Gory End" (1990). "Dethroned Emperor" is a Celtic Frost cover (also recorded live in the studio) and the two closing tracks on the EP are remixes of "Oxygen Thieves" and "Oil". The first three mentioned tracks are worth the price of admission, although none are in the excellent catagory, while the two latter are pretty redundant industrial tinged remixes.

So upon conclusion "Corporation$" left Cancer´s fans guessing what they could expect on their forthcoming full-length studio comeback release, and as it turns out "Oil" pretty much showed how that would sound. "Corporation$" is a both well performed and well produced release and while it doesn´t exactly make my blood boil a 3 star (60%) rating is still warranted.

"Demo #2" is the second demo recording by UK death metal act Cancer. The demo was independently released in 1989. It´s the successor to the 1988 "No Fuckin Cover" demo.

There´s been some obvious musical development from the first demo to this one. Cancer are now more brutal and heavy, and lead vocalist/guitarist John Walker has changed his voice and vocal style to a caustic sounding aggressive snarling. Five out of the seven songs on the 28:09 minutes long demo would be re-recorded and included on Cancer´s May 1990 debut full-length studio album "To the Gory End". Cancer always had a lot of brutal and aggressive thrash metal riffs and rhythms in their music, so in that respect they never been 100% pure death metal, and that´s of course also the case on this early release by the band.

It´s a relatively lo-fi recorded demo, and I wouldn´t be surprised if it is a rehearsal demo recorded in one take. No matter the circumstances of the recording process, Cancer more than proves why they would soon be signed for the release of their debut album...they simply sound ready. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.