Rants: Hellcut Propaganda Releases Deep/Animist Split. no comments

The Split of Awesomeness

1- I would like to thank the good people from Hellcut Propaganda for their effort in releasing this Deep/Animist split. I seriously thought that the idea was scrapped and was quite surprised myself upon my stumbling of this image but here it is and I think the artwork is fucking awesome.

2- Basically Deep was my personal melancholic and depressive black metal project. The original name for the project was Filsufatia but sometime earlier this year I decided to change the name to Deep. Released a promo (the songs which eventually end up as the tracks in the split) and changed the name back to Filsufatia after being pointed out that there were like 7 other bands from everywhere with the same name. Shouldve figured that out earlier.

3- So the name of the band is no longer Deep but Filsufatia, the old moniker. But seriously, the photo artwork is so awesome. Stare at it. Stare at it. Cool huh (pun not intended)..

4- I have been doing the band for 5 years now. Each year with a new demo/promo. Not really looking forward to sign to any labels although the people from Carnage Records and Kult 666 have been so kind to release my shitty songs all these years. I think Im gon start writing for a new demo. So inspired right now thanks to that awesome cover photo. Sejuk. Sejuk.

Bands: Medusa. no comments

Medusa.

1- Previously my favorite new band was Irotori but now after experiencing the awesomeness of Medusa, I am really contemplating to overthrow Irotori and put Medusa on top of the reigning list. Medusa is a progressive and very melodic metal band of awesomeness from Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Started out as a jam band Medusa is truly a new young force to be reckon. I will tell you why.

2- The songs man, the fucking songs. They blew me away with their fucking songs, the arrangements, their senses and ears for nice melodies, the nice breaks and the leads. When I first feasted my ear holes with their songs via their Myspace page, I was and am still hoping that the band is not a fucking metalcore band. All the songs available on their myspace have no vocals so it was kind of hard to judge but judging from the style of their songs, I doubt that Medusa is a fucking metalcore or else I will be very much frustrated. Do not waste your time with fucking metalcunt fellas.

3- Their first song is called Donnie Brasco. The started with some heavy guitars and blast beat drums before launching into a fully melodic riff assault. The kick drums were a bit all over the place here and there. 2 minutes into the song, the song went into some Gothenberg shits before going into some lame slam breaks. A lot of different tempos but they managed to stay groovy. The solo was decent and short to give more room for some dual guitar riff trades.

4- The second song is called Paradox. The sound quality for this song was horrible with the drums being too high in the mix. But being a drum enthusiast myself, I do not really mind that since I can still enjoy the awesome drum works from the talented drummer. Nice double paddle work and the groovy time play with the cymbals.

5- They got a couple more songs in their myspace. This band is highly recommended by The Bullet Belt. Medusa consist of Iffat (vocals),Ayai (guitar), Fixx (guitar), Pithang (Bass) and Rudi (Drums). and I believe none of them are over 26. It would be a mind fuck if Irotori could team up with Medusa and release a nice split tape. Visit them: http://www.myspace.com/medusamalaysia

Download: Logam Melayu - The Essential Collection of Malaysian Extreme Metal. no comments

Logam Melayu - The Essential Collection of Malaysian Extreme Metal.

1- I have compiled some old and classick songs from various Malaysian Black Metal and Death Metal bands and put it up here for you download. Witness the majesty of Malaysian Heavy Metal. The songs compiled in this so called compilation were old songs from the veterans in the likes of Sil Khannaz (Death Metal), Langsuyr (Black Death), Infectious Maggots (Industrial), Silent Death (Death Metal), Brain Dead (Death Metal), Nebiras (Black Metal), Suffercation (Death Metal) and Slum Scum (Grind Death).

2- Most of these songs were taken from the bands debut albums/EPs/Demos/whatever respectively. Download this and experience for yourself how Malaysian Black Metal and Death Metal sounded like back in the early 90's. Way too many death metal? Wait for volume 2.

3- You are free to spread and re-distribute this so called compilation else where, as long as you credit The Bullet Belt blog properly and well, as long as long you wont go out and sell this compilation for any monetary gains, I dont think the bands would mind. The only reason why I put this up here was to promote Malaysian Metal to the whole wide world and I hope you can help me do that.

4- If you are offended with this download, you can always email me and I will pull this compilation out and let Malaysian Metal die in obscurity. Fuck you. 

DOWNLOAD

Bands: Punah Ranah. 4 comments

Punah Ranah

1- Punah Ranah is a political grindcore + brutal death metal band from the muddy banks of Kuala Lumpur. Punah Ranah (a malay word for Collateral Damage) consists of Epul (growls and shrieks), Azan (Guitars and shrieks), Ashie (drums) and Bess (Bass). I believe the band will be recording and releasing a proper record pretty much soon I guess. Their debut two live tracks promo have been circulating through out the net for quite some time now. Search for it your self, fuckers.

2- There are 3 songs in their Myspace page and man the songs were heavy. The first song, R.M.P.P, started with some radio excerpts before the heavy guitars came down plundering the earhole of any unsuspecting assholes with your typical five fast notes of grinding riff with a nice chugging parts at the end of the riff. Headbangable. The second song, Trichuris Retaliation, was supposed to be a live song. If it was really a live recording then I am impressed. The guitars were heavy. The vocals? Your typical cookie monster growls doubled with your typical banshee shrieks. Typical from top to bottom but give this one a chance.

3- Visit the band at their Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/punahranah   

Rants - New Malaysian Metal Releases. no comments

1- Since it has been a while since I last myspace walk so some of the releases below may be not as up to date. Well, better late then never, right.

The grim regiment of Immolate.

2- Immolate is a black metal band from Sarawak. The band was formed way back in 1998. It was in September this year that the band finally released a demo titled Immolate the Night Clewoon. You can try and give their songs a listen via their myspace page. There are a couple of songs in the page for those out there who like grim, dirty and raw black metal, one being the title track and another called Confession of the Enchanted. Nothing outstanding with those tracks, same old same old. Try and check their Myspace out at: http://www.myspace.com/immolatetian. Get their demo for RM10 or USD6.

Larrong Mighty Death Squad.

3- I believe the Malaysian metal scene is familiar with Larrong. I was introduced to this band through a compilation called Panggilan Pulau Puaka, a compilation produced and released by Psychic Scream Entertainment a long long time ago. But the band itself was formed somewhere in 1992 unleashing their first demo called Curse of Devastation. Blackened Death Metal? I do not know since I was never any good in determining the genre. The MCD was called Dakan Perana Tana and it was released way back in March, earlier this year. They got some catchy riffs. Check the songs out at their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/larrong.

Books: Heavy Metal In Baghdad - The Story of Acrassicauda. no comments

Heavy Metal In Baghdad - The Story of Acrassicauda by Andy Capper and Gabi Sifre.

Title: Heavy Metal in Baghdad - The Story of Acrassicauda.
Authors: Andy Capper & Gabi Sifre.
Publisher: MTV Books/Pocket Books.
Additional Information: Paperback, 290 Pages, RM 60.17, Kinokuniya Bookstore Kuala Lumpur.

1- I have watched the awesome video, Heavy Metal in Baghdad and now this is the book version of the same video. For those who have watched the video I believe you are familiar with story of Acrassicauda, a striving heavy metal band from the war torn city of Baghdad.

2- While the movie received a lot of positive attention and I personally think that the movie was awesome, unfortunately there is nothing awesome about this book really besides the fact that this is just another channel to milk for some more extra cash from the acrassicauda phenomenon. The book followed The Dirt formula, instead of an author telling the story of the band from a third person point of view, they let the band members themselves do the talking and story telling, a style made famous by that awesome Motley Crue autobiography, The Dirt.

3- I dont know but some of the word structures used were quite week grammatically. I am not a grammar nazi and not even grammatically proficient myself but come on, I paid a hefty lot of money to buy and read the book, I expect at least a good structure of sentences. So uninspiring for a very inspiring story. They even got one third of the book filled with the movie transcript. What the fuck? Why the fuck would I wan to read the fucking transcript? Was this a move to thicken the book?

4- Well, unfortunately I am not going to recommend this if you have already watched the movie. It's a waste of good money. By the way, if you are curious, Acrassicauda is now in the States and they have recorded an awesome EP, Only the Dead See The End of War with the mighty Alex Skolnick of Testament behind the producers chair. Get the EP not the book. Will they release a book about the process of recording that EP? I guess only time and greed will tell. Haha.

Rants: Understanding Metal. 1 comments

Unable to differentiate the various genres of metal music? No worries. Here are some fun and easy definitions of each main genre of metal which might solve your problem. Just for fun.

Heavy Metal: Rock music played with heavily distorted guitars, wailing vocals and weighty drums.
Glam Metal: Heavy Metal with make up.
Thrash Metal: Heavy Metal played fast.

Death Metal: Scary Heavy Metal played fast with deathly lyrics and sweat pants.
Melodic Death Metal: Less scarier Heavy Metal played fast with harmonies.
Black Metal: Scarier Heavy Metal played fast with satanic lyrics and make up.
Grindcore: Short Heavy Metal played ultra fast with political lyrics.
Porno Grind: Short heavy Metal played ultra fast with sick sexual lyrics.
Gore grind: Short Heavy metal played ultra fast with lyrics on human anatomy.
Speed Metal: Heavy Metal played faster.
Power Metal: Heavy Metal played faster with dungeons & dragons lyrics.
Industrial Metal: Heavy Metal played with a computer.
Doom Metal: Heavy Metal played slow.
Sludge Metal: Heavy Metal played slower.
Gothic Metal: Sad Heavy Metal with make up.
Groove Metal: Heavy Metal played with a groove.
Nu Metal: Groovy Heavy Metal played by douches with baggy jeans.
Metalcore: Groovy Heavy Metal played by douches with skinny jeans

Rants: Current Playlist. no comments

1- I am still playing Helloween's newest CD, 7 Sinners. I must say, all the songs in that album really grew on me. Of course 7 Sinners will never be as epic as the first three albums but for me it's already up there among the best Deris era albums of Helloween. Deris dominated the songwriting for this album with the other members contributed at least two songs each. The mighty main weenie, founder and guitarist Michael Weikath only contributed 2 songs; Raise The Noise and The Sage The Fool The Sinner. One thing for sure, there are a lot of double bass drum attacks in this album.

2- I do not know why but it seems to me that good heavy metal music nowadays only came from the more veteran bands rather than the newer ones. As of right now, I am waiting for Manowar to re-release their epic debut Battle Hymns with Donnie Hamzik on the drums and of course, their newest album, Hammer of the Gods. 

3- Well for me it's not really that big of deal who is behind the drum kit because Manowar's songs were always heavily revolved around Eric Adams's powerful vocals, solos from Karl Logan and the epic song writing capability of Joey Demaio. Manowar had always been straight forward with their heavy metal. There is no room for no Portnoys nor Lombardos of drums in Manowar. Sorry Scott, you will not be missed.

4- Metallica will start writing some new tunes somewhere in 2011. Hopefully they will try and get a better sound engineer this time and for the love of God, properly mix the songs lah this time around. Death Magnetic, a good but not great comeback and return to form album but the sound was pretty fucking horrible. I dont know about you but Slayer's World Painted Blood also got that same horrible vibe. Rick fucking Rubin.

5- I am no Malmsteen fan but if you like his stuff, be warned that his newest album, Relentless, will be out in store sometime this month.

Books: The Bloody Reign of Slayer. no comments

The Bloody Reign of Slayer by Joel McIver

Title: The Bloody Reign of Slayer.
Author: Joel McIver.
Publisher: Omnibus Press
Additional Info: Hardcover, 286 Pages, RM157.65, Kinokuniya Bookstore Kuala Lumpur.

1- My third Joel McIver book after Justice For All - The Truth About Metallica (the most complete Metallica biography ever) and To Live is To Die - The Life and Death of Metallica's Cliff Burton (the only authentic biography of Cliff Burton. Yes, ever). I have already reviewed the later HERE and will later review the former. Stay tune for that. I would also like thank Mr.McIver for emailing me the other day. An absolute honor man.

2- You can now buy the paperback edition which is way cheaper than the hardcover version that I had. I bought the hardcover version because I just could not wait for the paperback edition. There goes my one hundred and fifty bucks out of my pocket for Slayer but  fuck, it's all worth it. Every Slayer fans should get a copy of this book.

3- I am quite familiar with McIver's style of writing by the time I got this book due to my repeat read of Justice For All. Although an avid metal fan McIver provided a balanced story telling from a metal fan point of view and from those who are outside looking in.

4- In this book, you will be able to read about Slayer's early formation to its finest details. The book also got one whole chapter dedicated to the detailing of the fearsome four's early lives way , pre 1983, before the formation of Slayer. It has a chapter each for every phase of the band's progress. I mean you will have a chapter for each of their albums, from their Metal Massacre days to the Show No Mercy phase and the latest being their 2006 album, Christ Illusion. I believe there will be a revised edition to include World Painted Blood.

5- This is by far the most complete Slayer autobiography I have ever read, well not that they got a lot of that anyways. Get this.

Bands: Flesh Desecrated. no comments

1- A brutal death metal band from Kota Bharu, Kelantan. I like this band a lot, may due to the precisie and sharp drum beats and patterns. Wait. Is that Affare from Diman/Humiliation? Well, no wonder the drums were so precise. Affare is one of the better young metal drummers from Malaysia up there with those in the likes of Lan Bye of Sil Khannaz/Infectious Maggots/Brain Dead or Ly Razak of Suffercation or Wira of he got too many bands to mention.

2- Flesh Desecration was formed somewhere in 2005 by Wan Slaughter with a few other friends heavily influenced with Suffocation, Disgorge and Cannibal Corpse. The band was later disbanded and reformed in 2007 with a new line consisting of Wan Slaughter on the guitars/vocals, Abe on the bass/vocals and Affare on the drums. 

3- You can try and have a listen to their one song on Myspace. Crazy riffs and crazy drums with that extremely deep gurgling vocals growls made famous by pioneering band, Demilich. Musically I like the song but I was never a fan of those deep gurgling vocals. 

4. Those kind of vocals are so insignificant to me that it always spoiled my mood whenever I try to listen to a particular song with that particular vocals in it. Its like listening to an instrumental track but not really an instrumental track because the vocals are there, it's just insignificant that it made me feel like I should bust a cap on the singers head. Stop doing that! I miss those brutal "normal" growls. Maybe I should just listen to Humiliation instead.

5- Visit Flesh Desecrated at their Myspace page: www.myspace.com.com/fleshdesecrated

Bands: HellTerror. 3 comments

1- Again not much information from the Myspace. Hellterror is an awesome grindcore band and due to my ignorance and the lack of information, I do not know from where they came from.

2- Their debut demo War Of Idiocracy featuring 11 grinding tracks was released by Dis-Organ-Zed Netlabel somewhere earlier this year. What do you expect? Heavily influenced by Scum era Napalm Death with your typical dual vocals and your typical under 1 minute songs and once in a while that typical 3-4 chords of a song. You know, those extremely short songs first made famous by Napalm Death with their world record song The Kill back in the early 80's.

3- You can listen to all 11 songs of the demo here or you can visit their Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/hellterror