Brain Dead MLP and Nocturnal Graves/Hell Spirit CD Out Now

Brain Dead “Live Demo 1991” MLP
ANTI-GOTH 114

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While many, if not most, bands feign hatred and contempt to fit in with current metal standards, some bands’ music seethes with a sense of loathing so authentic that it cannot be manufactured. Very often such bands reside on the fringes of the scene, and it is their position in this outer realm that instills within their music the hunger and animosity necessary to breed a truly barbaric sound. Brain Dead’s “Live 1991” Demo exudes this barbarism. This Malaysian band’s cruel rituals have been undeservedly neglected in many circles of the underground for nearly 20 years. However, the vinyl re-release of this demo will finally expose Brain Dead’s misanthropic bestial Deathrash to the world again. This style of music simply cannot be made today with the same effect. It is for that reason that the unearthing of classic bands such as Brain Dead is such an important endeavor. At a time when there seems to be so little genuine within music, it is a powerful reminder to look back to an era and geographic region capable of producing such aural hostility. Brain Dead’s style is reminiscent of the Brazilian and South-East Asian bands that emerged in the late 1980’s playing a heinous Deathrash which placed a greater emphasis on the delivery of the music than on the technicality of it. These scenes were striving to evoke the feeling of endless evil and, to that end, placed factors such as recording quality secondary to their blasphemic passions. This live recording captures the essence of this unholy pursuit. This sound is not refined, but it is possessed with an imminent intensity that supersedes all else within the music. While it may be convincingly argued that the modern technology is causing a general weakening of music in this new century, there are still untapped reservoirs of the putrid remains of the past that, as in the case of Brain Dead, sound as fulfilling today as they would have two decades ago.

Die Hard version will be released together with the Brain Dead “From the Ecstasy” LP in a few weeks.

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Nocturnal Graves / Hell Spirit “The Grave Spirit Sessions” CD
ANTI-GOTH 140

(Description originally written by J. Campbell for the vinyl version)
As the sickness of this festering world swells and vice and degeneracy seep out from the cracks and crevices of the continually eroding cities we have built around us. Hatred reigns supreme between men and violence abounds. You can feel it in your blood that the end is at hand. The “Grave Spirit Sessions” LP is the ideal soundtrack to the impending apocalyptic downfall. Nocturnal Graves’ songs on this split seethe with a madness and insane deathlust that drenches the air. Their expert incorporation of melody and their obsessive precision demonstrate clearly that Nocturnal Graves have perfected their craft and their side of this split LP is a testament to their tyrannical reign in the deathrash subgenre. Sharing in this bloodbath is Finland’s Hell Spirit who cover much the same ground. With only two self-released demos to their name, Hell Spirit have remained relatively unknown until now. Yet their driving attack and the impenetrable evil of their riffs render them an ideal and complementary selection for this split LP.

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